The Devil I Know
Early AN: Hi everyone! As promised a new story by yours truly! This one won't be as ambitious as my other projects and hopefully not as long either, but just right.
I want to shower in praise "ahmadaziz" for helping me out with the name of this story. Thanks a lot!
Now people, this story will touch subjects such as religion, heaven, hell and souls and several things related. But remember, this is a piece of fiction on a romantic/comedy tone so be light of blood here and keep an open mind. Under no circumstances do I intend any perceived slights or insult on anyone's belief!
With that being said, please enjoy this new story and make sure to let me know what you think afterwards!
Chapter 1: A Soul's Worth
What's a Soul? Some say that it is what separates us from beasts, other that is the one thing that outlasts our natural lives on this world.
To me? Perhaps is that one thing that never comes and goes as all other things in this life do. Wealth, Health, Friends and Love do come and go like the waves at the sea; But a Soul is that one thing that we get to keep from the first time the light touches our skin to the last time it does.
In a way it is a treasure box that we fill with everything we experience. The good, the bad and even the weird.
And so it becomes the only thing we can actually carry to wherever we have to leave for.
So think of it as the one precious thing that truly belongs to you and no one else.
"Oh man, I can't believe I really did it!" loudly said a young blonde man walking back and forth in his small one room apartment.
Getting his hands up to his head, he said "Man, what was I thinking?!"
The youth then turned to his small living room and observed the newspaper and the ad he had circled with a red marker.
On it one could read "Make all your desires come true today! Professional, discreet and guaranteed! Call to 6XX-6XX-6XX"
"Should I tell her to split? Or tell her it was a prank by some friends?" thought the boy seeing the clock on his wall nearing 9:00 p.m.
"But what if she wants money? Or worse, if she calls her pimp and has him come over to bash my head in?!" thought the young man turning around to the clock and see it was one minute closer to nine.
"I should just hand her over the money and apologize for making her come all the way here…" sighed the young blonde his shoulders slumped in defeat.
The boy went and sat on his worn couch and observed the clock one last time seeing he still had five minutes before the fated time.
"Then again, if she's hot and I mean really hot…And I bet she must know her trade well…And it's not like I have that much money to begin with…it would be a total waste" thought the boy with a blush on his serious meditative look.
The youth was about to go get a drink from his small fridge to calm his nerves when the doorbell rang loudly making him jump and trip with a battered short table.
Cursing, the young man went to the communicator and quickly pressed the button that opened the building's main door.
He had wanted to speak through it but it has been years since that damn thing worked properly and he was thankful that it was still one of the last ones to still open the main door in the building.
The boy quickly turned to see his room where he had already prepared a scented candle, his mp3 player with a set of music for the occasion, tissues and a box of condoms. All of them had come at a hefty price and a deep frown from the elderly clerk but he deigned the expense justifiable, back when he was determined still that is.
"Oh man…I wouldn't be in this place if I hadn't let Kiba get to me with all his trash talk!" complained the boy standing at hand's reach from his doorknob.
Just as he breathed out, the door was loudly knocked three times making him cough with his own air being trapped in his throat.
The coughing boy stumbled forward and opened the door which was stopped by a thick chain he had installed when the old one broke.
There he peeked outside and instead of finding a mature slutty looking woman, he found a girl his age with bright short pink hair, large beautiful jade-green eyes and a somewhat large forehead that drew him to it.
The girl was dressed in a red jacket with white circles printed on it, a fluttered short red shirt, denim tight fitting shorts and knee high black boots. She also carried a large white bag with apparently a lot of stuff in it.
"I am so going to hell!" screamed the boy in his head wishing now more than ever to never have made that call.
Unknowingly the boy had made a stupid looking face that made the girl smile awkwardly at him and say "Can I come in? I am kind of spooked at the empty building"
Gulping very loudly the boy quickly closed the door and fumbled with the chain for a moment before opening the door fully and stepping aside as the girl entered quickly. Naruto took a glance at the corridor to see if any of his neighbors saw him, but seeing that no one did, he thankfully closed the door.
The girl stood waiting and observing the apartment frowned a bit over the empty cans of instant ramen on the living room table.
The boy saw this and quickly cleaned what he could so that the girl didn't felt grossed at him and his place.
Once finished the girl took a seat on the two seat couch and placed her white bag next to the table.
The boy then timidly asked "Would you like something to eat or drink?"
The girl smiled and said "If you have some water, I would be thankful"
The boy nodded vigorously and moved quickly to the adjacent kitchen and from his small fridge retrieved his last bottle of water.
Returning quickly to the girl he noticed that indeed she looked as young as he was and by her shuffling almost as nervous.
Giving the bottle to the girl he sat next to her though keeping the maximum distance the couch allowed and soon both fell into silence.
The girl opened the bottle and took a couple of sips from it before capping it again.
Seeing that nothing was happening, the boy finally said "I don't intend to sound stupid but…I am not that experienced in this sort of thing…"
The boy turned to the girl to see her reaction and to his surprise she seemed relieved and said "To be honest this is my first time as well, but I'll give it my all to satisfy you completely!"
That made the boy laugh goodheartedly while on the inside he squirmed with guilt, certain that there was a very hot place with his name waiting for him.
Ridden with guilt the boy said "Look…I think I may have rushed things a bit, I'll give you something for your troubles and let's call it a night"
The boy got up to go for his wallet but before he could take a step away from the couch, the girl took him by the wrist and pulled him back to the couch with astounding strength.
"No, please! I can't return empty handed!" pleaded the girl making the boy blink in surprise and reply "But I'll give you something for your troubles…"
"Come on, I need the experience and the evidence or else I'll be in for a lot of trouble!" said the girl making the boy blush furiously over the implications or acquiring experience and getting evidence.
"Well…if she puts it like that…and this is her first time…and she's really cute" thought Naruto observing the worried girl.
Sighing the boy said "Fine…I guess I did made you come all the way here after all and I don't want to get you in trouble, just be careful with your evidence…"
The girl released his hand, which to his surprise was very marked by her fingers, and bumping a fist into the air said "Don't worry, you won't regret it!"
The boy shared in her enthusiasm and said "Well, so how do we get about this?"
The girl then removed her jacket revealing to him her lithe figure which confirmed her youth to him.
She was a woman still developing but already the boy felt greatly enthralled by her innocent beauty and felt all of his doubts leaving him.
Gulping the boy moved to touch her fair unblemished skin but the girl quickly turned to her large white bag and from it quickly pulled a cherry red laptop and an equally colored portable printer.
Naruto froze as the girl turned on the laptop and quickly plugged it to the printer. She then became deadly serious as she began typing on it with a skill that shouldn't belong to a girl of her trade.
"Ah, excuse me?" finally blurted the boy managing to distract the girl who quickly said "Sorry, but would you tell me your full name? It's for the paperwork"
"Paperwork?" thought the boy but remembering that the ad did mentioned professionalism he said "Naruto Uzumaki"
The girl nodded and turned to her laptop saying "Sakura Haruno by the way, sorry for not introducing myself earlier. First day on the job"
"No problem…" said Naruto as he continued to watch the girl with open curiosity.
Before long Sakura finally stopped typing and got to inspect whatever she had written scrolling up and down with absolute focus that didn't ceased to amaze Naruto.
Nodding content, Sakura pressed a button and the printer buzzed to life printing from nowhere a large velum with elegantly designed words that one only found in ancient books.
The velum finished coming out of the printer and Sakura quickly placed it in front of Naruto with a silver pen and placing a small tag where he should sign.
"Once you sign the contract we may begin in earnest!" excitedly said Sakura with a beaming smile and unknowingly allowing Naruto a slight peek into her shirt which made him snort and blush.
Bereft of any reason that would have allowed him to read the contract he grabbed the pen which felt strangely heavy and signed quickly not noticing the slight glow the red ink emitted for a sec after the pen rolled over the velum.
Having signed the document, Naruto handed over the pen to Sakura who also retrieved the document and signed it rather contently.
Putting away the laptop and the printer into the white bag, Sakura pulled from it an arcane looking magnifying glass with several strange glyphs carved on the glass itself.
"What's that for?" asked Naruto while Sakura inspected it with great care.
"Oh this? To inspect you properly and see how much you are worth. The bigger it is the more you get" vaguely explained Sakura to Naruto who blushed and quickly turned to his crotch.
"Oh, I didn't know you did things that way…" said Naruto wondering if he was "big" enough to get a decent deal out of all this.
"Well, it's only fair don't you think? I mean, one gets as much as he gives" said Sakura finishing inspecting her magnifying glass.
"Well, I guess you are right…it would be unfair that only I get to enjoy" reasoned Naruto, considering that her career was quite thankless and rarely pleasant.
"Right isn't it?! I am so glad you are making this so easy for me; I have heard some rather nasty stories from others who went through several hurdles in their first times" replied Sakura as she approached Naruto with the magnifying glass in hand.
Naruto breathed out and reached for his pants, but stopped when Sakura gently placed a hand on his chest and moved it down making him blush furiously.
Sakura's hand reached all the way down and quickly pulled Naruto's shirt up revealing his bare chest to the girl who in turn blushed a bit at the sight of his lean musculature.
Naruto was about to help her get the shirt off from him but she made him stop by placing the magnifying glass on his chest.
"What the…?" began to say Naruto when Sakura whispered a word that sounded as if with an echo.
The glyphs on the Magnifying glass began to shine in different colors and Naruto yelped when a powerful golden light protruded from it washing Sakura with it.
Naruto didn't say anything as a great warmth bathed him from the inside making him feel strangely happy and at peace.
The light then burst forth once again making Sakura scream in surprise while the glass shattered making the light stop coming through.
Naruto was thrown back with a sudden sensation of cold running through his body and finally asked "What the hell was that?! What did you do?!"
Sakura didn't seem to hear his questions and shaking got up saying "That has to be one of the biggest and most impressive souls I have ever seen in my life; it's worth is off the charts!"
"What?! What are you talking about?! My soul?!" asked Naruto feeling his strength return and stood up getting the baseball bat behind the couch.
Seeing the baseball bat Sakura threw her hands up and said "But this is part of your request! How am I supposed to grant your desires, if I don't know how much you are worth?"
"What?! What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were a call girl, not some strange freak!" replied Naruto with the bat at the ready in case the girl tried something.
At that Sakura cocked her head and with a creepy smile she said "Y-You thought I was a c-call girl?"
After saying that a large vein popped on Sakura's forehead and in the blink of an eye was on Naruto's face, who in reflex swung the bat at her aiming for her head.
But the bat exploded into splinters when it stroke Sakura's lifted arm making Naruto fall back with eyes wide in shock and fear.
"Ouch! That hurts you idiot! Who hits a girl with a baseball bat?!" shouted Sakura holding her arm which to Naruto's surprise just a red mark instead of being broken or bleeding.
"W-What are you?" finally breathed Naruto falling on his rear devoid of any answers to his current predicament.
Sakura rubbed her arm and finally looked to the paling Naruto and tentatively asked "You do know that you called for your desires to come true correct?"
Naruto just nodded barely able to continue comprehending what was going on.
"And that involves you selling your soul for them correct?" asked Sakura getting from the floor with her arm already looking just fine.
Naruto was about to nod when finally the words got through his confusion and made him stand up alarmed.
Laughing nervously he said "You are joking right? This is some sort of sick joke, right?"
Sakura then understood that somehow this was a complete misunderstanding the moment she saw the newspaper with the circled ad and the surrounding ones.
Sakura adopted a sympathetic look that turned into one of horror after a second and made her lunge at the bag where she had stashed the velum both had signed.
The girl fumbled with the bag and from it she procured the velum where she and Naruto had placed their signatures.
Smiling awkwardly she turned to Naruto who was looking at her with some hope of having this mess sorted out.
Sticking her tongue out Sakura said "Should have told you to read the contract first huh? But it's a done deal, my bad"
"Your bad?! This is a freaking mess!" yelled Naruto looking as if he too was about to burst a vein.
Raising her hands in apology Sakura said "Alright, how about if you calm down and I explain things to you?"
Naruto didn't want to have the situation explained but seeing he had little choice he nodded and sat cross-legged in front of Sakura.
Before Sakura could begin, Naruto whispered "Is this for real? And what are you?"
Sakura sighed and giving a sad smile, she said "Yes, I am afraid this is very real and as for what I am…I am a devil"
Sakura then stood up and with a growl a couple of sleek black bat like wings sprouted from her back making Naruto's jaw become slack.
Naruto slowly got up from his feet and went to better appreciate the wings which twitch and moved gently. He touched one with a finger and it flapped away making Sakura giggle a bit.
He turned his sight downwards and noticed a long black tail with a pointy end that swaged gently from one side to the other.
He reached down to touch but the second he did Sakura moaned surprised and pried her tail from his hand.
He continued his inspection and noticed that behind the bangs on her face two small white horns protruded slightly curved upwards.
"Unbelievable…" breathed out Naruto still having trouble in believing that all of this was actually true.
That actually made Sakura blush proudly and flap her wings slightly.
"So…there is a heaven and a hell and all that?" asked Naruto taking the chance to have clarity in one of humanity's oldest questions.
"Yup" answered Sakura making her tail swing gently.
"Oh…so how's this thing that I just sold my soul for having my desires fulfilled?" asked Naruto still appreciating Sakura's devil traits.
With that Sakura made her devil traits vanish before Naruto's eyes and sighing with guilt she said "Yeah, you see, we devils trade souls for wishes"
"Why?" asked Naruto.
"Duh, because that's what we do…" replied Sakura looking at Naruto as if he was stupid or something.
"Right…but earlier you mentioned something about my soul being special or something…" said Naruto recalling the weird night.
"Oh yeah, well, as I mentioned earlier, depending on the soul it's the wish you get. Let's say, if you are one of those otaku gamers who are complete perverts and marry virtual girls from dating games then you get at the most a free night on a 5 star hotel. But if you are let's say a world hero or a saint, then you get your own country or even superpowers if you want them" explained Sakura.
"You said mine was off the charts…" mentioned Naruto feeling a bit proud.
"Yup, who would have known? On my way up here I thought you might be some moron wanting to trade his soul for some unrequited love or something…" said Sakura with a smirk that made Naruto feel suddenly stabbed.
"In any case, can I get out of the deal? I haven't made my wish yet so let's just tear apart the contract and be on our way pretending nothing ever happened" said Naruto feeling that this devil was open to negotiation.
That made Sakura sigh irritated and say "And as I said, it's a done deal…Can't believe I made such a rookie mistake!"
"What do you mean? Can't we just tear it apart?" pleaded Naruto.
Feeling somewhat sorry for Naruto, Sakura said "Sorry but no…the moment we signed that contract we became bound to fulfill it. Breaking it apart would have us both severely punished"
And as to demonstrate, Sakura grabbed the contract and attempted to tear it apart but no matter how much she tried the velum just didn't even bent to her mighty strength.
Seeing that indeed there was little to be done, Naruto just turned his back on the devil girl and started laughing sadly.
Sakura observed this and actually felt sorry for the unlucky bastard for he was truly unlucky to live in such a dump.
"Give me a break already!" loudly complained Naruto, making Sakura cringe.
Sakura was about to ask what he meant but Naruto kept talking.
"Bad notes, bullies, no friends, can't keep a part time job and now I just sold my soul!" began saying Naruto with terrible frustration in his voice.
"And now, of all days I get riled up over an idiot's comment and I end up making the biggest mistake of my life" continued Naruto turning to see the signed document and laughing at it.
"And I didn't even got laid…" finished saying Naruto resting his head on his hands.
Those words actually made Sakura feel somewhat sorry though somewhat annoyed for the blonde boy, but seeing the contract she took it and sat next to Naruto who said "But I guess I kind of deserve this…so go ahead and take my soul already, doom me for my idiocy"
That now made Sakura angry and hitting the boy on the head said "Would you stop already?! So what if you are an A-class loser? This contract is your chance to change that"
Naruto rubbed his head and said "What are you talking about? I am going to hell so who cares? It's not like I can wish not to go to hell"
"It doesn't work like that! Besides, with this contract and the size of your Soul you could easily get out of all this" said Sakura pointing to the small apartment.
Naruto made a confused face and asked "Explain yourself…"
"Look, in exchange for your soul, we will grant any wish you have, and given the power of your soul, I would have to say you could truly get any wish you want" explained Sakura as friendly as she could.
Naruto considered it but sighing he said "Who cares? I am going to hell anyway…some years of joyriding isn't nothing compared to an eternity of hellfire"
"Who said anything about hell? You just become bound to our side" said Sakura as if explaining the most obvious thing in the world.
"Your side?" asked Naruto quirking a brow.
Huffing Sakura said "How about you prepare me tea or something and I'll explain"
Naruto nodded and went to his humble kitchen where he prepared a pot of tea along with a box of crackers.
Setting the tea and the crackers, Naruto sat on the floor in front of Sakura who took the tea and seemed to actually enjoy it despite being of a cheap brand.
"So, what do you want me to explain?" asked Sakura deciding to better start from where the boy understood things as to save time.
Naruto cocked his head and replied "How about you explain me all this from the beginning?"
Sakura sighed and said "In the beginning of time there was a cataclysmic war in heaven that forever defined creation. Back then when you know who got thrown from heaven and into the bowels of the young earth, both armies continued fighting bitterly"
Naruto nodded gravely trying to imagine the legendary conflict that only true faith could account for.
"The battle raged on even as the Gates of Heaven and the Bowels of Earth began to close behind them" continued Sakura.
"Despite the clarions calling them to stop and return to their respective realm, the most zealous combatants kept fighting bitterly trying to undo each other" added Sakura adding some expressions with her hands enjoying the awed attention Naruto gave her.
"They didn't stop until they heard the deafening sound of the great Gates closing thus leaving them trapped here on Earth until the end of times" said Sakura unclasping her hands to mimic the moment when both sides stopped colliding.
"Both factions retreated to the far corners of the Earth seeking a way back to their respective realm. But as Creation moved on neither side could find their way back" said Sakura sounding almost sad.
"Humanity came and with them the many events you hear from in the Ancient Texts of several religions across the world. Amidst the many great events were also contacts of both Heaven and Hell that rekindled the hope of their forlorn folk" continued to explain Sakura as Naruto refilled her cup of tea.
"With the promises made to man and the knowledge that an age of reckoning would come, the Angels and the Devils sat about to prepare things for such moment and with that the conflict was renewed in earnest" said Sakura bumping a fist.
"Throughout the ages, the stranded Angels and Devils have dedicated themselves to try and guide humanity down their path but time and time again were thwarted. Either by each other or the incredibly fickle humanity" Said Sakura sounding frustrated.
Making a "Time Out" sign, Naruto asked "There are Angels too?!"
Sakura growled and barked "You are dumb or what?! If there are Devils there must be Angels!"
Sighing Sakura continued "After centuries of failed utopias, both factions decided that humanity couldn't be won as a whole but needed to be done on an individual basis. So both declared a truce by which they would leave to humanity the choice of which side to join"
"So you now try to get more people to join your ranks?" concluded Naruto drawing a nod from Sakura.
"What happens to those who do not pick a side?" asked Naruto.
"They die and are judged to either go to Heaven or Hell" explained Naruto.
"Do Angels also sign contracts?" asked Naruto wondering about his current predicament.
"No, they are less effective. The morons try to inspire mankind to change with heavenly apparitions or timely interventions" said Sakura deflating Naruto's hopes of maybe playing two bands.
Naruto nodded slowly taking all of this into consideration as Sakura started to loudly eat the crackers.
Slightly annoyed Naruto watched the girl finish the tea and the crackers which in turn made him ask "You need to eat and drink if you are a devil?"
"Of course, I am very much alive you know?" replied Sakura wiping her mouth with a paper napkin.
"I thought you were like spirits and whatnot" said Naruto standing up to clean things up.
Sakura laughed as if hearing a childish question and said "When both Devils and Angels became stranded on Earth we realized that we couldn't interact with the world around us. Thus with the coming of humanity we managed to mingle with them and be "born" into this world"
"You mean that you are like half humans?" asked the amazed Naruto.
"You could say that I guess…" said Sakura tapping her lower lip.
"So you have families, jobs and all?" asked Naruto to Sakura who nodded without a care that she was revealing a secret world to him.
"Wow…" breathed Naruto.
"Yeah, yeah…So how about we get to that wish of yours? I got lots of paperwork to prepare afterwards" said Sakura getting serious again.
That made Naruto return to reality and gulp nervously for the prospect of being a soldier of darkness at the end of times wasn't a really attractive one.
"Can I get back to you on that one? It's kind of a huge question and to be honest I haven't meditated on it at all" nervously said Naruto while scratching the back of his head.
Sakura sighed and though she understood his motives, she was on a curfew and she had told that she would be done by midnight since she expected a person who had already thought of his wish.
"Listen, there's a clause on the contract that says that if you don't make a wish before an hour after signing, the thing your subconscious desires the most will become your wish. And who knows? It might be a bowl of Ramen from what I can see here" lied Sakura wanting to be done already.
That actually made Naruto feel pressured for he was actually feeling hungry due to the stress and not knowing how long had passed since signing he quickly asked "Can I revive people?"
Sakura blinked at the wish but shook her head and said "Sorry but no, dead people are beyond our reach, unless you want zombies that is, and in case you wonder we can't make people fall in love or die just like that. Those things are free will and the grand design with which we can't interfere… no matter how much we want to"
"Ok…" sighed Naruto taking long breaths to clear his thoughts and think of that which could make joining the legion of hell worthwhile.
Then a devious thought came to his mind; if he could truly wish for anything then he could wish for something that couldn't really be fully fulfilled.
That way the devils would never be able to truly satisfy him and thus never force him to join their ranks.
But that left him with a question for himself, what could he wish for that the devils were incapable of fulfilling.
Sakura had mentioned that given the size of his soul he could even ask for superpowers so he had to ask for something even harder to grant.
Naruto turned to look at Sakura who had begun to tap her fingers on the table obviously pressuring him to make up his mind.
"Who am I kidding? I am not bright enough to outsmart a devil… Guess I could ask for greater smarts but that's kind of lame…" sadly thought Naruto feeling really worn from all this.
Sighing, Naruto said aloud "Man, I wish I had a girlfriend…If I had one I wouldn't have made the call in the first place"
Naruto opened his eyes guessing he could ask for a truckload of cash but uttered no sound when his eyes landed on the shocked Sakura who held the contract before her very widely opened eyes.
"What? What happened?" asked Naruto already dreading the answer.
Sakura looked up at him and showed him the contract where in clear wording by the end above the signatures said "This contract hereby decrees that Sakura Haruno will be Naruto Uzumaki's girlfriend until his full satisfaction in exchange for his immortal soul"
"Oh boy…" muttered Naruto as Sakura sprouted her wings and growled deeply.
AN: Done!
Well there you have it, love it? Hate it? Be sure to tell me on your reviews alongside any criticism (constructive only please) suggestions or ideas you have.
Hope you enjoy this new story!
Read, Enjoy and Review!