High School DxD: Scattered Cherry Blossoms

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

After Leona left the living room and went to her bedroom on the first floor of the estate, Grayfia left the room to prepare tea. Meanwhile, Venelana approached the sofa that James was sitting on before she arrived. Then, after pulling James' arm and making him sit next to her, she then pulled his head into her lap and began running her fingers between his braids with a smile on her face.

'*Sigh* The first time she did this, I was in so much pain that I couldn't even relax.' James mused as he enjoyed the feeling of Venelana's soft fingers on his scalp. 'But after I came to my senses, I jumped away as quickly as I could.'

Stopping his thought there, James turned his head slightly and looked… tried to look up at Venelana's face, though her large breasts made that quite difficult.

'But now, I just let her to it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.' James continued his musings. 'On top of that, I'm starting to look forward to having her and Rias in bed together, despite myself.'

"James, give me the controller back." Lilith said, her hand stretched out in James' direction. "This time, I'm gonna beat that bastard for sure."

"Okay." James said, handing the controller that he was still holding back to Lilith. Then, with his eyes slightly upturned, he continued. "But if you break my limited-edition controller I'll be really upset, Grandma."

Waving off James' attempt at making puppy eyes, Lilith turned her attention back to the TV.

"Don't do that ever again." Lilith said, a bit put off with James' expression. "You're a man, don't show me an expression like a little girl."

In response, James simply chuckled. Then, with Venelana still rubbing his scalp, he closed his eyes and continued thinking about how he managed to rescue his grandmother, Lilith, from the Land of the Dead.

===Flashback===

The Land of the Dead.

A few days after the meeting James called with the Devil Council, he found himself, Scathach, and Irene walking through the most uninhabitable part of the Underworld, the Land of the Dead. In front of them was a guide, one of Hades' more elite Grim Reapers, someone whose name James could not be bothered to remember.

"You know, humans probably think of… this…" James said, gesturing all around him, "when they think of the Underworld."

"Well, most humans do think of the Underworld as a realm of the dead, so it makes sense." Irene replied with a shrug.

"I guess that does makes sense." James said with a nod.

"Back in the days of old, even the ignorant humans regarded the Underworld and the Land of the Dead as separate places." Scathach said, adding her own experience to the conversation. "However, over the years… centuries… it would seem that most of that knowledge was lost or combined."

"Well, the advent of science and technology will do that." James said with a shrug. "Fantastical things are not as wide spread with any degree of seriousness anymore."

"I suppose you are right." Scathach replied with a nod.

As the trio continued to chat while following the silent Grim Reaper, they eventually arrived at a large, luxuriously designed castle with many gold accents. Although they all knew this was Hades' castle, they felt it looked more like a Greek temple rather than a castle.

"We have arrived." The Grim Reaper said in an emotionless tone.

"I can see that." James said before walking past the Grim Reaper toward the entrance.

Simultaneously shaking their heads at James' attitude, Scathach and Irene followed him into he castle without a word.

As soon as the trio made it through the castle's entrance, they were stopped by squad of Grim Reapers.

"State your business." The leader of the squad of Grim Reapers ordered as the whisps of soul fire n his skull mask blazed a little brighter.

"We're here to see Hades." James said nonchalantly, pulling out the message they received from Zeus in response to the Devil Council's complaint about Hades.

All though the Gods of Olympus were not happy at the tone of the message they received from the Devil Council, After remembering that James killed Acnologia, they were not about to test whether or not the devils would send him to Mount Olympus if they did not get what they wanted.

Even if Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were all at the God King-rank, Zeus, even weaker than Hades, had no illusions that he could defeat James, who was also at the God King-rank. On top of that, James was the wielder of the [Boosted Gear]. The amount that he could increase his strength with the [Balance Breaker] was not something he was confident in facing. So, begrudgingly, he penned a letter that gave James permission to enter the Land of the Dead.

"Damn, all this gold, in such a gloomy place, is a bit tacky, isn't it?" James asked, while the Grim Reaper read the letter from Olympus.

"Although I don't disagree," Irene replied. "The craftsmanship is truly spectacular."

"Indeed." Scathach said as she observed her surroundings. "I have no doubt that Hephaestus was integral in this castle's creation."

"I still think it looks tacky." James said with a shrug.

Meanwhile, as the Grim Reaper leading the squad read the letter, he visibly twitched every time he heard n insult directed at the castle. Since this was one of Hades' die hard followers among the Grim Reapers, he was tempted to swing his scythe at James for his disrespect. Luckily, he knew he was outmatched. Otherwise, he would have given James a reason to do exactly what he wanted ever since he set foot in the Land of the Dead… Go on a rampage.

"Very well." The Grim Reaper leader said after reading the letter. "Leave any weapons here. Then, follow me to Lord Hades' throne room."

"Yeah, no." James said nonchalantly. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving my weapons anywhere. Considering how shady Hades is, that's never gonna happen."

"Then I will have to ask you to leave." The Grim Reaper leader said, the rage in his tone evident.

"No can do, buddy." James said. "There are several devil soul signals nearby. So, I know what I came here for is here."

"If you refuse to leave peacefully, then we will remove you by force." The Grim Reaper leader said, materializing his scythe in his hands.

While the rest of the squad also materialized their scythes, James watched them with anticipation in his eyes. He was hoping, praying, that they would attack. If they did, considering that he had permission from Zeus to search for Lilith in the castle. Then he would be completely justified in damaging Hades' forces and castle a little bit.

Unfortunately for James, the deep voice of a man echoed through the corridors.

"Allow them to pass." The voice said.

"Yes, Lord Hades." The Grim Reaper leader said, dematerializing his scythe before bowing in the direction the voice came from.

"Tch!" James clicked his tongue in a mixture of disappointment and annoyance.

"Please, follow me to Lord Hades' throne room." The Grim Reaper leader said, pretending that he did not hear James' clicking his tongue.

Like that, with the conflict avoided, James, Scathach, and Irene followed the squad of Grim Reapers towards the throne room. Then, after a short walk, they arrived outside a set of large double doors.

"Damn, those are big." James said while observing the doors. "I wonder if he's compensating for something. Well, he is just a skeleton, so…"

While the Grim Reapers were tempted to materialize their scythes once again, Scathach and Irene could only smile wryly while shaking their heads. James was laying it on pretty thick. It was obvious that he was trying to get someone, anyone, in the Land of the Dead to attack him so that he could justifiably fight with Hades.

After glaring at James with murderous intent, the leader of the Grim Reapers turned toward the doors. Then, after a few deep breaths, he announced their presence.

"Lord Hades, I have escorted the visitors." The Grim Reaper leader said.

"Show them in." Hades' voice sounded from the other side of the doors.

With Hades' order, two of the Grim Reapers pulled the doors open and revealed the throne room, surprising James, Scathach, and Irene greatly because of what they saw and heard, considering they could not hear anything other than Hades' voice before the doors were opened.

Looking through the open doors, James and his [Queens] expected to see Hades sitting on his throne while looking down on them with a gaze filled with superiority. And although he was sitting on his throne, there was nothing superior about the Greek God of Death at the moment. On top of that, they heard an angry female voice scolding Hades as if he were a naughty child.

"Hades, I can't believe you did something like that!" A tall, beautiful woman shouted at Hades. "I thought you were better than that! Every time people compared you to your serial rapist brothers, I defended you. Yeah, you tricked me into living here, but you were always so kind to me. I guess mother was right! You really are no different than the rest. I can't believe you kept a woman in captivity for over a thousand years… !"

Meanwhile, Hades simply sat on his throne with his head lowered as he received the tongue-lashing of a lifetime.

Another thing of note was that there was a young girl, Lilith, lying on top of a table at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the throne. However, the trio was more focused on the woman who shout at and scolded Hades without repercussions.

"Now that is not what I expected to see when those doors opened." James said with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Is that who I think it is?" Irene asked, equally as dumbfounded as James.

"Indeed." Scathach replied. "That is Persephone, Queen of the Land of the Dead as well as the Greek Goddess of Springtime, vegetation, and most recently, the undead."

"Just as I thought." Irene said with a nod. "And that would make her Hades' wife."

"Correct." Scathach said with a nod.

Persephone was a woman appearing to be in her mid-twenties with straight, jet-black hair that flowed down her back, bangs that covered her forehead, and bright green eyes wearing a golden tiara, a gold bracelet on each arm, a long, conservative white dress and gold high heels.

As the short conversation just out side of the throne room occurred, Persephone heard a voice that sounded familiar to her. Then, when she looked away from hades for a moment, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Scathach?" Persephone asked, a bit confused to see the woman she thought was bound to the Land of Shadows. "It's really you! Scathach, I've missed you so much."

A moment later, Persephone rand down the stairs and towards Scathach. Then, when she was close enough, she dove toward her, intending to hug the woman who she had not seen in over a millennium.

*Bang!*

Unfortunately for her, Scathach took a step to the side, causing Persephone to sail through the space she previously occupied and slam face first into the floor.

"Ow! Scathach, why did you dodge my hug?" Persephone asked with tears forming in her eyes.

"One, we are here for business." Scathach said in her usual tone. "And two, we were never that close."

"Aww… But I've wanted to be your friend forever." Persephone wined."

While Persephone lost interest in scolding Hades and decided to pester Scathach with friend request, James and Irene, who watched Scathach's eyebrows twitching in annoyance, approached the throne.

"Just take her and go." Hades said, rubbing his temples in exasperation.

"And what are you gonna do with those devils you made using her?" James asked.

"*Sigh* I'll get rid of them." Hades said, sounding extremely tired. "If I don't, my wife will nag me about it non-stop."

Seeing the tired and worn out man… skeleton sitting in front of him, James almost felt bad for him.

"You know, I came down here hoping for a reason to knock some heads." James said, gazing at Hades with pity in his eyes. "But seeing you looking so tired, I'll let you go for now. I'll even do you a favor."

James then materialized Sixth Sense on his hip. Pulling the sword from the sheath a quarter of the way, the exposed blade turned into petal-blades. Then, they flew away into the castle. About a minute later, they returned and reconstituted the blade. Then, James sheathed the blade again.

"There, now you'll only have to do some disposal." James said with a smile. "You'll find all your devil experiments have died with a pierced heart."

After that, James walked over to the table Lilith was laying on, picked her up in a princess carry, and made his way out of the throne room.

"Well, since our business is done, let's go home." James said.

===Flashback End===

'That's the first time I've gone somewhere looking for trouble and couldn't find it.' James thought to himself while enjoying the softness of Venelana's thighs. 'Whatever, I'll just take a nap.'

After that thought passed, James rubbed his face on Venelana's thighs before peacefully falling asleep with a smile on his face.