Baraqiel teleported home with all three kids just as Shuri was waiting by the porch. It was very rare that they left her alone for too long as Kurayami and Akeno still loved to spend time with their mother. It was why they trained mostly on weekends as they could spend the whole week being with her. However the older they got the more Shuri herself wanted them to go train. The world was not a nice place so she wanted her kids to have the best opportunity to live happily. 

However for now they were still children and hers to protect. She walked up to both of them and took them both in her embrace. 

"Welcome back you two." 

They both hugged their mother back, but she noticed their hands. She grabbed the hands of Akeno and Kurayami and saw they had strange injuries on their hands. 

"What happened?"

Baraqiel raised his hands as he knew she was mad.

"Wait, before I explain that I want you to meet someone."

Baraqiel gently pushed Raynare forward which made Shuri stop. She looked at the little girl in front of her who had no idea what to say. Kurayami backed away from his mother as she could be quite scary when made. 

"Her name is  Raynare. I met her while I was walking around."

Akeno nodded.

"She is really nice and my brother finally got a friend." 

Kurayami's face did not change at all as he looked at her. 

"I do have a friend, Azazel"

Shuri shook her head as he did not count. 

"Maybe, but at least now you have a friend your age."

Raynare hid behind Kurayami and looked over his shoulder and introduced herself properly.

"I am Raynare. Nice to meet you." 

Baraqiel explained why she was there.

"She is from the orphanage. Azazel and Kurayami asked if she could stay with us as she does not have anyone else."

Shuri looked at her and smiled.

"Can you come here?"

Raynare looked over and walked out a little shy. Shuri got her in a tight hug.

"You don't have to be nervous. I am Shuri the mother of Kurayami and Akeno."

Shuri smiled as she looked at her kids. 

"You are more than welcome to stay with us, just be careful with Akeno's food dreams." 

That made Raynare look at Akeno with an even more wary gaze. 

"I am not food and I don't taste good." 

Akeno got bright red as it was embarrassing for them to talk about it so much. 

"I don't do it that much."

Kurayami pulled his collar back showing his bite.

"Well look at this. Do I look like a steak?"

Akeno thought back to her dreams. They were so vivid as the steak looked so juicy she just had to take a bite. She just so happened to bite him and would not let go once. Baraqiel had to pry her jaws open as she truly tried to eat him.  When Shuri and Baraqiel saw his neck the next morning they wanted Akeno to wear a mouth guard so she wouldn't bite at night. 

Shuri let go of Raynare and checked on Kurayami. She held his face and looked into his eyes. She checked them every day to see if they changed at all. She smiled when she saw they looked brighter than usual.

"Did anything else happen?"

"I might have talked to Kokabiel. Nice guy."

Baraqiel frowned at that.

"What did he say?"

Kurayami shook his head.

"It's Kokabiel, that I am a half breed and a scourge on Grigori. I plan to take care of him someday. His wings will decorate my wall, I promised him that." 

Baraqiel sighed as he never changed. Shuri was worried as she knew that Kokabiel was a Cadre, but she knew Kurayami had a Longinus. As such, she decided to not say a thing. She had to put faith in him. She walked toward Baraqiel and gave him a kiss.

"Well let's not sit around outside. let's go inside."

They all went into the house and smelled the food. Raynare began to drool when she smelled that. At the orphanage the food was good, but it was not like Shuri's home-cooked meal. When Shuri saw Raynare's look she also felt a little pity. No matter how good the orphanage was, it was after all a military orphanage. The kids were destined to join the war effort of Grigori to prepare for a possible war.

The three factions were in a shitty cease-fire. There was no treaty so a war could break out at even the slightest threat. She even knew that Kurayami and Akneo would be forced to join the war effort, but it was one of the prices for being the children of high-ranking fallen.

"All of you wash your hands. Can't have you eating with dirty hands."

They all went to wash their hands while Akeno wanted to show off her own spear. When she brought it out Kurayami did the same with his sword. She still had not come up with a name for it so she would wait.

"Brother, what do you think?"

He looked at the spear that looked rather large in her hands. She was taller than most 7-year-olds due to her heritage, but male fallen were usually taller. Plus Baraqiel was a very tall man. 

"I am impressed, Azazel knows his craft. Still, this means you will have to put more effort."

She nodded.

"It also works as a way to channel my magic better. Like a staff." 

'Azazel you just turned my sister into a lancer mage.'

Akeno was going to say more, but they felt the stare of their mother.

"Kurayami, Akneno, put those away. Weapons are for outside, not here. Better yet hand them over please."

They both knew what would happen and shook their heads, The weapons entered their arms which confused her when they went up in magical light. Baraqiel explained why they did not hand them over for her own safety. 

"They are doing it for your own good. Those weapons are experimental, living weapons that bind to a user. No one else may touch or use them."

He removed his glove and showed the burn on his hand  She looked at Kurayami and Akeno and sighed.

"Makes sense, next time explain to me why you can't hand them over."

They nodded and washed their hands. Kurayami felt it was a shame as he loved his sword, but it was her rule. 

'Sorry Rebellion. Looks like around her you got to stay in my arms.

Rebellion barely cared and as long as it was not touched by anyone else she would be fine.  He washed his hand and after that went to the dinner table where his mother served the meal which was her beef stew. In his past life, he was an atheist as he never found proof. In this world apparently, God was dead. Azazel told him and made him swear to say nothing about it. He was not a snitch to say anything, so he wouldn't.

That was why he didn't say who Raynare's grandfather was. It was not his place to tell, so he wouldn't. He began to eat and was always amazed at how good his mother's cooking was. When he was with Harold he mostly ate the equivalent of MREs. When Raynare ate it she began to cry. It had been a long time since she ate home-cooked meals. Her mother was a good cook and loved to see her husband and daughter eating happily. They all looked at her and knowing she was an orphan it probably reminded her of home.

She smiled and kept eating.

"It's great."

Shuri smiled knowing that it made her happy. She looked at her son who showed one of his rare smiles. Getting him to smile was hard, so it was nice to see. Every time she saw that she knew she did something right. Baraqiel loved his wife's food as it always was good for his soul. When they all finished eating Kurayami decided to sleep on the couch. Akeno pouted as she lost her snuggle buddy.

"Please can you go with me? I won't bite you this time."

He looked at her with squinted eyes.

"How about you sleep with Raynare?"

Raynare looked at him with wide eyes.

"Uhh. I can't. I am sleeping on the other couch. Can't be a bother."

Akeno looked at both of them and ran away to her room in shame. When she left Kurayami sighed in relief.

"I am not about to risk getting bit again. I don't need more bites." 

He went to the coach and started to go to sleep. Raynare did the same on the other coach and slept well knowing Akeno couldn't eat them. In his parent's room, they were talking about what to do about Kurayami's play on words. 

"Shuri. Kurayami heard us when we were in our activities."

She looked horrified at the idea.

"What did you tell him?"

He looked embarrassed.

"He told me that he heard you hurting me and if he can tell Azazel to save me from your abuse. He thinks you are hurting me."

She looked like she wanted to die of shame.

"What do we tell him? He must think I am some monster who hurts his father."

She raked her brain for an answer, but no answer came to mind. They spent an entire two hours trying to come up with an answer, but nothing came up.  As for Kurayami, he was sleeping peacefully without knowing his mother was afraid he thought of her as some abuser. When he woke up the next morning he went to get dressed and as for Raynare, she was snoring loudly.  Not long after everyone woke up soon after. His mother and father looked at him like they wanted to say something, but didn't know how.

He looked at them weirdly with squinted eyes. Unknown to him his mother felt he was distrustful of her for hurting Baraqiel. She wanted to explain, but had no idea how to explain this to a 7-year-old kid. When Akeno woke up she tried to hide her pillow, but he saw it. It had bite marks all over it. When Kurayami and Raynare went to wake her up they saw the pillow.

He and Raynare looked at her while pulling their collars up. She began to tear up in shame and ran away to her mom. Shuri gave her a hug while chuckling a little. It was a fake chuckle, but she finally got the courage to say something.

"Kurayami. Could you come here to talk to us?"

He felt it was odd, but didn't see why not. He went to her where his father and mother were at the table.

"Akeno, Raynare. Could you leave us alone?"

The two girls nodded and walked away. Shuri looked so ashamed but spoke up.

"Can you tell me what you told your dad?"

He tilted his head.

"That he is cool?"

She shook her head.

"Something a little more serious."

He racked his brain for an answer.

"I want to be as strong as him or I want more wings than him?"

This time Baraqiel spoke up.

"You told me you wanted to say something to Azazel right?" 

"Oh that you enjoy feeling pain and that mother does it to you every night."

They both looked horrified that he knew what it meant.

"It's more than just that."

He looked at them weirdly as he was not one to judge.

"So you don't like it?"

They felt like weights were on their necks.

"I'm not hurting him. It's a massage."

He shrugged. 

"Sounded more like a spanking. We never even got those."

Baraqiel felt his pride was being crushed to pieces.

"Please don't tell anyone."

Kurayami's lack of restraint let him keep going.

"If you like being hurt, does that make you take a hit on purpose? Is that how you got injured when mom found you? Are you some battle masochist or something?"

Baraqiel looked shocked at that.

"No. No. It's totally different."

Kurayami decided to stop.

"Whatever you say?"

To his father it looked like his son's admiration for him was crushed to pieces. He looked pale and hollow. His mom looked at her husband and saw how he looked. She gave him a hug to console him.

"Maybe we try to block out the sound?"

He nodded with a bitter look in his eyes.

"He thinks I'm weird. How will I look him in the eyes from now on."

She looked a little worried.

"Maybe he will forget about it?"

They both hoped that was the case. As for Kurayami, he was in the backyard covered in purple flames on his left side and lightning on the right. He still wanted to combine them both, but easier said than done. Raynare was covered in dark black flames trying to control them. If she was not careful those around her could be hurt, so Akeno kept her distance from both of them a bit. They had flames that were fickle and not easy to get under control.

She brought out her spear and began to train her magic circles. She was young so her magic abilities were still rather limited, but practice makes perfect. To make it harder she had floating fireballs float around her. They all had their specialization and hers was magic.  She still wanted sacred gear in the future as she did not want to be left behind.  Her parents didn't want her to know how it was done as the one who lost their sacred gear would die. It was why they kept Kurayami from telling her.

As for Kurayami, he knew because Azazel told him. He thought to get an evil person's sacred gear and give it to her, but what can he do at this moment? Everything would come into place when he got older as there were limits to what he could do at this moment.  He would have to grow older and stronger before he can do anything he wanted. He was after all going to become the next Governor-General.

After a few minutes of trying to get his fire and lightning to fuse, he gave up for the day. Raynare also stopped using her flames as she felt exhausted. He got his two swords and began to do his usual dual-wielding style which had to change. Rebellion was larger than Submission after all so he had to change how he fought. 

 Akeno did the same with her new spear as it was something new for her. She had gotten so used to a light spear that the weight of a real spear was odd to her. Plus she was not the most skilled with a spear as she was a real 7 year old unlike Kurayami who had 32 years of experience

"Akeno, don't get discouraged. Keep practicing with your spear. You will in time even surpass Azazel." 

She stopped and looked at her brother. 

"Really?" 

"Of course." 

That was enough to keep her training. Either way, they were just 7 at the moment so they were learning plenty fast at the moment. Raynare had talent comparable to Kurayami as her grandfather was a Super Fallen Angel. Not to mention that she had a dragon sacred gear which had a great deal of potential for growth.  

Either way, once Baraqiel got over his shame and went out to help them with their training. He had Akeno and Kurayami attack him with their weapons so he could get them to learn to use their weapons better. He also gave pointers to Kurayami who was a swordsman, but for Akeno he gave her the advice he had on hand. 

More so he also helped them with their lightning abilities and the ability to make spears of light. Kurayami could make up to 50 and make them burn or course with lightning. Akeno had a lower count at 30, but she still was doing well. Raynare had around 38 which was quite good. 

Kurayami had high expectations placed on him as an Anti-Devil agent. It was like he was made to kill devils with him controlling two weapons that went again their nature. When he reached his full potential, no devil would be his foe. While Azazel wanted peace, if he had to he would go to war. Kurayami could be a big part of Grigori in any war. More so against the devils, but he planned to avoid that at all costs. Which was why he was trying to keep Kurayami a secret.  

Any of the three factions controlling a Longinus could tip the balance. They just might try to kill him early. Azazel would not allow a thing to happen to his replacement. If he wanted to retire he had to have someone powerful o take over. Who better than Kurayami?