"Of course…."

Shoulders sagged as the blonde stared at the mess before him, momentarily wallowing in yet another stroke of bad luck. The plastic five pound bag of tea now lay empty on the floor half buried in the chai herbs, piled on the grody shop tile. The store employee picked up a large handful of the tea leaves and angrily tossed it at the counter letting the small tantrum slip. He was thankful that there were no customers present. His usual cheerful demeanor was absent, today was not his day.

He shook his fists at the ceiling in frustration, head tossed back in a disgruntled groan as he grumbled incoherently "... woke up late…. missed my fucking train…..haul ass to make it on time…failed my midterm...started raining…...forgot an umbrella…...work a double shift tonight…"

He wiped his hands on his work apron, catching himself before he could continue the fit of rage. What the fuck dude. The inward scold came as he realized what he was doing. He scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to calm himself. Naruto refused to have a mental breakdown over spilled tea. Breathe. He inhaled, letting the scent of cinnamon and cardamom fill his lungs momentarily before exhaling and mentally telling himself to get a grip. Keep it together, Naruto. The man turned and pulled a few remaining tins off the shelf to check if they needed refilling, ignoring the obvious mess for the moment. He was working with Sasuke today and he needed to be civil at least. He definitely refused to give the other man the satisfaction of witnessing an emotional outburst.

"Mortal, you dare summon my name in cinnamon and black pepper?" a brooding voice asked with a clipped tone.

"Goddamn it. Why the fuck would I summon anything with chai?" The young man snapped back before he could stop himself. Naruto glanced back to see a fuming dark figure before him and raised his eyebrows in question realizing it wasn't his ex, Sasuke, talking to him.

The sales associate set eyes on the seemingly tall human being before him. "My bad, you sound exactly like someone I know." Long dark hair pulled back into a low pony tail and sleek business suit stood at the end of the counter, hidden by a pair of dark designer sunglasses. He hadn't been there just a moment before, it slightly startled Naruto.

The dark figure scoffed as he tapped his fingers in annoyance against the marble top counter. "What businesses do you have with me?"

"In my defense you guys do sound a lot alike..." The blond shrugged as he placed a tin full of tea leaves back in its place. Oh great another crazy customer . He mentally groaned at the thought. Normally life was pretty bearable, but given the return of his ex into his life and with this past midterm exams and impending tests, Naruto was a stressful mess. If he could avoid the extra frustrations from annoying customers that would be great… but of course life didn't work that way, and Naruto knew this all too well.

"So uhh... You gonna buy some tea or...?" He absently questioned as he slid another large tin back onto its shelf trying to distract himself from his lingering thoughts.

"No. I did not come from the depths of hell to purchase bags of herbs and spices, besides you summoned me. I have urgent dark matters to tend to so state your business." Pride gave an almost bored response and check his watch with flick of annoyance.

The young man sighed, obviously frustrated with his day. He couldn't deal with this right now. "Geez you even whine like Sasuke. You sure you guys aren't related?" He grabbed the lopsided broom that stood against the wall with the intent of sweeping up the mess of leaves on the floor. "I don't understand what you're talking about. I didn't summon you. I don't summon any of the crazy customers I encounter. I just sell tea."

Naruto just wanted to go for a run already and clear his mind. His day so far was becoming particularly annoying. This second job was shit. He had resulted to working at a local tea shop, anything to make ends meet. Paying for school out of pocket was a bust, so paying back loans was plan b. It was tough but it was better than giving up on school and resorting to being stuck working odd jobs for the rest of his adult life. He only got this job again because Sasuke was able to put in a good word for him. Of course they had still been together seven months ago when he had started working, but now that they had broken up again, for the third and final time, the very last thing that made working here endurable had fallen away.

Pride regarded the young man across the counter. He hadn't been summoned by a mortal in over five centuries. He knew the younger Uchiha as well it seemed. Who exactly was this person who was able to call him from the depths of hell? He scanned over the physical appearance, twenty years, probably a student, although his aura was tinged red. Odd, most mortals varied on shades of gray, regardless he lacked a true dark aura. The deadly sin noted the strange color of the young man's essence for a later time. He continued his observation, the mortal was of an athletic build and had a decent intellect but nothing to brag about. Unfortunately, he no doubt was someone who couldn't wrap his head around the idea of other realms and had disbelief in the supernatural. Great, the commander of the deadly sins, summoned by someone who didn't believe in demons. What a fucking joke . Pride gave a displeased glare behind his dark demon couldn't understand why someone like him was able to summon a Seven Sin of hell with ease. It should be near impossible. Of course he had been summoned in the middle of a meeting with Baal, had a meeting with the Leviathan in twenty minutes and then dinner with the Fates before the ceremony tonight. He didn't have time for this nonsense.

"Are you just gonna stare at me till your eyeballs bleed out or what? I know I'm attractive, but I'm not really interested." the mortal droned sarcastically.

The cocky son of a bitch, Pride frowned. This was getting bothersome, he had to get back to hell soon. The devil shifted so he was leaning his back on the counter staring out at the heathens as they passed, he needed a moment to think of his plan of action for getting back to hell as quickly as possible. His eyes narrowed as he watched the humans through the large front windows, as usual most had gray hues that clouded them, some were a dark charcoal color. Pride smiled, those were his favorite mortals to entice as they were so close to being damned. Just as a smirk played at the sins lips a woman appeared with a deeply ashy aura, balancing her phone between her cheek and shoulder as she pushed her stroller into the store.

"Ok, I'll call you back later." The mother grunted as she tossed her phone into her purse and walked up to the tea sample. "What tea is this?" She sloshed the scalding sample in her hand, spilling some on her gaudy blouse. She didn't bother to clean it up, and tapped her foot with obvious impatience.

"The sign on the dispenser says it's a mix of jasmine and green tea..." Naruto stated bluntly. God he was so tired of customers and their idiotic questions, did they not hear themselves when they speak? All the information about the product was on the label in front of their faces. Why can't they just fucking read ? His pent up aggression was at its limit with these morons. He knew it was a matter of time before he couldn't keep his patience and snapped.

"Oh my god it's hot!" The customer dropped the sample cup onto the floor and stuck her tongue out to fan it, like it would help any. She moved further into the store, not giving the liquid she spilt a second glance.

"Yeah, the sign right there says 'our teas are hot'." The young man scoffed as he set the broom down and pointedly glared at the mess she had made. I'm not a fucking janitor, he mentally shouted . People were so messy. Even after his mom had passed he always remembered how adamant she was about Naruto cleaning up if he made a mess. The thought of his mother pulled at his heart. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it and returned his attention to the dark figure who was now speaking.

"You don't expect idiots to actually read before they greedily shove things in their mouths now do you? You could be serving poison and have it written in neon lights and they would still gladly drink it because it's free." He regarded the child in the stroller and sneered. Naruto caught his breath and waited for the customer to begin attacking with an onslaught of insults, but it never came.

"Hello!? Are you even listening to me? I want a pound of this tea." She snapped her fingers at the employee

Pride crossed his arms, shifted his weight onto one foot and pressed the other one back to rest against the counter."She can't even afford a decent taste in clothing, trust me, she can't afford a pound of quality tea."

"Umm... O- Okay?" It came out like a question, confused that she would let someone talk to her that way and ignore it. Naruto dragged down the teas and began to weigh them out separately. He scanned the price tags and looked up at the customer "That'll be $127.45. Anything else I can get for you?"

"For tea? Like hell I'm paying that much. I just want like five dollars." She snorted and pushed her stroller out of the way so she was leaning over the counter. The child in the stroller caught sight of the dark figure leaning beside his mother and burst out into tears. The mother ignored it.

"Typical. Mother of the year award goes to this one." Pride grumbled. "Oh would you shut the hell up already, you're giving me a headache. Damned mortals." The child only screamed louder, adding to the employee's confusion and frustration.

"I can't sell you five dollars worth of tea. The minimum is four ounces and it's twenty bucks."

The woman whined. "Damn, expensive ass tea. You can't just give me like one ounce?"

"The minimum is four ounces and it's twenty dollars." The blond repeated himself like a broken record, his face blank, hiding all his contempt.

"Never mind then." She grabbed her stroller and strutted out of the store, oblivious to the fact her child was screaming bloody murder.

He poured the unsold tea back into its proper tins utterly confused by the interaction that just happened. "I wish I could get away with calling people out like that."

"Oh believe me, I wish she could see and hear me." The sin grunted and turned his attention to inspecting his fingernails.

Convinced he misheard the tall man, he looked over at him out of curiosity. "Umm.. what?"

"She couldn't see me. You are the one who summoned me so you are the only mortal who can see or hear me. Well, the only one above the age of three that is. Lucky you." He gave the young man a devilish grin. "So, about our deal. What can I do for you?" Pride turned back around to look at his summoner, amused at his confusion.

"Deal? Uhh...sorry. I don't really do drugs." Although, he was beginning to question his sanity by this point. He shook his head and hoped that this asshole would just leave him alone.

"Not that type of deal. You summoned a demon, a deadly sin of hell no less. We can't leave without a deal being made. So let's do business. What do you desire? Revenge? Money? Love? Knowledge? I can give it to you. Just name it. It'll be yours in exchange for a small token of course." The devil drummed his fingers along the lids of the metal tins left displayed across the counter.

At a loss for words Naruto silently began to clean up the customers mess and thought about what he should do. He never had to deal with this kind of crazy before. This guy was either higher than a kite or a legit nut job. He probably belonged in a mental institution somewhere. Should he call someone? He weighed his options before deciding that maybe the police would best take care of this one.

"Excuse me for a moment." He snatched his phone and began dialing the number before something caught his eye in his peripheral vision that made him stop cold. He froze, not wanting to move and witness what he thought he had seen. This is ridiculous, there is no way in hell. Right? He slowly raised his head and met the eyes of the man before him. Sure enough swishing around behind the man was a tail. Long, black and pointy tipped, slithering through the air.

"People usually have a hard time believing I'm real. It's understandable. Your mortal minds can't possibly conceive that there are multiple realms at which other beings are at work, and that all realms connect in some way and influence each other somehow." The devil nonchalantly shrugged and tilted his head showing off a better view of what had grown out of it. Horns. Two of them. Straight out of his head. Naruto blinked his eyes a few times and violently shook his head trying to comprehend what he was witnessing. He tried to speak, but when he opened his mouth nothing came out. The employee just stood there, staring with his mouth slightly hanging open.

"Take your time. It's quite alright. Let me know when you're done gawking." The devil turned back around and leaned against the counter once more.

"I think I may need to lay down for a bit." He managed to mumble before pushing himself to lean back against the wall behind him. It was exhaustion . It had to be, unless he had lost his mind. In which case was really bad. He had to go see a doctor now, make sure he hadn't been seeing things this whole time thinking they were real. His heart dropped to his stomach for a brief second. No, he was overreacting. He came to the conclusion that he was either dreaming or hallucinating from exhaustion.

"Yes, yes. Take a nap. When you wake up, I'll still be here. What will you tell yourself then?" the tall figure shrugged and began walking around the store pretending to find interest in the tea sets on display.

The blonde furrowed his brow staring at the phone in his hand unsure of what exactly was going on. "I-" Naruto managed to get out before being interrupted.

"You look really concerned." Another similar dark brooding figure walked through the entrance to the store. He slipped off the dark leather messenger bag that hung from his side as he walked up to the counter and set his items down.

"Ahh, A man after my own heart." A smile spread across the sins face. He was genuinely pleased at the sight of the man that just walked into the shop.

"Sasuke…" Naruto snapped out of his confused haze at the voice of his ex-boyfriend.

"You ok?"

"The concern for others is a bit unbecoming albeit charming considering the state of your soul." The demon noted out loud almost to himself. It had been a good while since he personally checked up on Sasuke. Though he would never admit it, he was somewhat glad for the chance to see him.

"Umm… I'm gonna go home. I don't feel too good. Tell the manager I'm sorry I couldn't stay for the my whole shift. I'll see you later." the blond stated almost absently, clocked out and bolted from the store without a second thought. The devil watched him go with a sigh. Something told him this was going to be a long night.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke frowned as he clocked in, not even glancing over at the man in the suit.

"Why, I came to see you." He mocked and flashed a smile.

"Don't bullshit me. What did you do to Naruto? You promised not to get involved in my personal life anymore." The raven haired man argued, his temper was short today, as per usual.

"You've gotten soft I see. Relax, I didn't intentionally come to fuck you over this time. Believe it or not he summoned me." The tall man mused as he gestured over to his sigil in the chai still left on the counter.

"Just leave him alone." A pale hand angrily wiped the leaves off the surface and tossed it to the floor. Sasuke had enough shit thrown at his relationship with the blonde to know it wasn't going to be worth working out, but that didn't mean he was ok with outside interference from his family. He had done so well these past twenty one years of life without being dragged into the "family business". He wanted to keep it that way, especially if it meant keeping the few people he somewhat cared about, like Naruto, out of it.

The devil checked his watch and began making his way to the door. "You know how these things work Sasuke. I can't part from him without a deal from the summoner. Believe me there are other things I'd rather be doing. I'll go easy on him, for your sake and because of my promise to not interfere anymore." He said in a serious tone before exiting the store and disappearing into the crowd of people.

He crossed his arms and scowled in disapproval as he watched his older brother walk out the store and follow Naruto. His intuition was screaming danger at him. This was not going to end well.

The low light of the lamp cast shadows across the small room. Naruto stirred from his sleep and rolled over peeking one eye open to check the time on the clock at his nightstand. He had slept for four hours. Why did he still feel so exhausted? He shut his eyes again and lay in silence recalling his dream. A small smile spread across his face, stupid Sasuke and his talk about demons. That old conversation had him dreaming about summoning a devil with tea leaves. He pulled the covers higher up to cover his shoulders and sighed, relieved. Just a dream. A voice through the door made him freeze. So much for his relief. He listened hoping it was his roommates on the other side of that wall.

"My apologies Levi, I know we were supposed to meet today but I had something unexpected come up-…..I realize it's tonight but it can't be helped-…Would you like to come deal with this then?!-... I'll be back in time tonight for it don't worry, just make sure everything goes according to plan. And tell the fates I most likely won't be joining them this evening. Who knows how long this will take."

Naruto buried his face into his blankets.

This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real…

"Tell yourself that all you want but it won't make me go away."The tall dark figure sat at the edge of the bed, legs crossed, staring at the variety of 80's posters on the walls. He twirled his sunglasses in his hand as he turned to look at the mortal. He was becoming impatient, and getting nowhere with this approach.

"I'll call the police! Get away from me!" Naruto shouted as he jumped to the floor and made a dash for the door.

The devil sighed and in one swift movement blocked the door before the young man could reach it. He was going to have to just take this kid along with him until he could make a deal. It was risky though, mortals were not allowed into hell outside of death without justification. Would this be a just enough cause? Then there was the whole chance that he would not return as a sane mortal either. He could become possessed, eaten, burned, tormented. He would definitely become a mental case if he returned in one piece that is, but he couldn't stay here much longer without things in his realm, well, going to hell. Sasuke would be furious. Pride paused and thought as Naruto began trying to swing punches at the demon blocking his doorway. The devil easily blocked them all. He caught the blonde by the wrist and tightened his grip.

"You are making me lose my train of thought! Just sit still while I think." He tossed the mortal to the bed absently, but the power of that mere toss caused Naruto to crash full on into the wall. Sheet rock and plaster rained onto the bed in pieces along with his body. He gasped for air, the hit left him winded and with a few bruised ribs.

"Alright, that's the plan. I think I can risk it. My relations with Sasuke are shot regardless, so that outcome doesn't concern me. As long as you are back in one piece, which I think I can manage, it'll be fine." He snapped his fingers and a large antique dagger appeared in his hand. The devil gave a sideways glance at the clueless man petrified on the bed. "Oh calm your shit, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just gonna drag you to hell."

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…." The blonde panicked as he watch the insane man smirk and slice his finger with the blade before letting it vanish. Naruto gasped and his eyes began to water at the thought of his death by lunatic murderer. He grasped at his aching side and inched himself as far from the devil as possible. This is the worst day ever, his mental commentary cried out not making the situation any better.

"Ok, ok. Bad joke to make. Puns are Shisui's area anyway. " The devil waved absently and humored himself before setting a deceivingly charming smile on his face. He got to work and smudged his blood onto the picture of Def Leppard that clung to the wall, creating an unknown sigil before backing up and nodding in approval of his work. He turned to his summoner and gestured his bloody finger to the man on the bed.

"Here."

"What am I supposed to do with that?" The mortal cringed as the black blood dripped onto his floor. Naruto readied himself to fight back if need be.

"Drink it. You won't survive a second in my dimension without drinking a demon's blood. Come now, it's not everyday a Deadly Sin of Hell offers his blood to a mere mortal. You should be honored." Pride rolled his eyes as the mortal looked in disgust at the mention of drinking blood. "I figured I'd have to force you."

The devil pounced on Naruto with inhuman speed, his uncut hand at his chest, pinning him to the bed with his weight. The mortal threw a punch that caught the sin by surprise as it collided with his stomach. The fell to the floor with a thump, wrestling for the upper hand. Finally Pride caught the man by the throat and watched him gasp for air as the devil took the opportunity and raised his free hand to allow a small trickle of his blood into the human's mouth. Naruto choked, feeling it hit the back of this tongue and roll down the back of his tongue. The demon stood and adjusted his suit, obviously peeved that he had to get it wrinkled. The blonde rolled onto his stomach, coughing from the ingestion of demon blood, his stomach churned as he felt the sharp sting down his throat, like knives ripping at his insides.

"Now then, there are a few rules you will need to keep in mind." The sin stood again in the middle of the room facing his marking on the wall. He stuck his sliced finger in his mouth briefly as he thought. "Nobody can know you are mortal, if they find out I can't guarantee that you will return to this realm. My blood will mask your human aura and render you invisible for the most part but if you attract too much attention to yourself they'll see you." He glanced over at to find the human still gagging on the floor. "Pay attention this is important!" Pride snapped

"What if I don't want to go with you?" Naruto choked out before his body involuntarily forced him to vomit. Blood and bile pooled on the dingy carpet as the mortal finished heaving.

"Well if you'd just make a deal with me already we could have avoided all this but I am already running late and I don't have any more patience to deal with these things so you are taking a little field trip with me to a hostile realm until I can bring you back and settle things. Hopefully you didn't throw up all the blood." The devil motioned for Naruto to stand. "Don't make me force you again." His eyes flashed red and the human jumped to his feet.

"You summoned me, unknowingly, however the rules still stand. We cannot part from each other for too long without a deal being made. As much as I'd like to, we'd both turn to ash if we did." Naruto held back his desire to panic and fall apart and crossed his arms in an attempt to still his nervous shaking as he watched the demonic form pace his room while he spoke.

"This is just a quick fix, I'll have you back before you know it and we'll make a deal and you'll be out of my horns. Just lay low, stick to my side and don't make any eye contact with anyone. There are limits to what I can do to protect you from other demons. Just remember that." Pride turned to make sure the human was listening. "Now, don't be a pain in the ass, put on some shoes and follow closely."

He watched the mortal reluctantly slide into some dirty old sneakers as he stood before his blood sigil and touched it with his now healed finger. "Aperta Regni Inferos" A large red portal opened up where the poster once was. The mortals heart dropped to his stomach.

"Fuck that, dude." He shook his head, eyes widened in fear and began to back away.

"Shall we?" Pride forcefully grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and pushed him through the swirling portal of doom.

"Naruto?" Sasuke knocked again, only to be greeted by silence.

Nobody was home. He pulled out his phone and called for the 5th time. Straight to voicemail, again. He frowned down at the screen in his hands. He knew the blonde had work later on but his next shift wasn't until 11pm, doing overnight stock at a local grocery store. He should be home . He checked his various chats that included his ex-boyfriend but he hadn't been active in them since that morning. He called some co workers that were mutual friends with Naruto but they hadn't heard from him either, his text messages were unanswered as well. Normally Sasuke wasn't the type of person to check in on people, or call multiple times and leave text messages asking where the hell they went, but that run in earlier with the demon that followed Naruto out of the store left him distraught. He knew what the sin was capable of and it left the raven haired man agonizing over the situation.

The chances that a demon of a brother had something to do with the disappearance of the blonde was highly likely at this point. His head spun with worry at all the things that could be happening to Naruto at the present moment. His secret was spilled, that was for sure, damned devil couldn't keep himself out of Sasuke's business. He sighed, there was no way around it. He concentrated and let that part of his psyche he worked so hard to hide and push away take over. He felt his senses become sharper and inhaled the familiar smell of blood through the door. Demon blood. He glanced around to make sure there was no onlookers before grabbing at the locked door handle. Murmuring some latin gibberish under his breath letting the door swing open as it unlocked.

He silently stepped into the apartment his ex shared with a few other roommates. Everyone was out, either working or in evening class. He wandered through the living room and down the small familiar hallway. The halfling had been over many times before, just to spend time with the blonde. Either to study, watch a movie or even have dinner with his obnoxiously loud roommates, Sasuke tolerated them because he enjoyed the company of Naruto. For all the bickering and competitive energy that flowed between them, he truly felt he had found someone who understood him on a level that not many others did. So why did he feel guilty for always declining Naruto's obvious implications when he invited him to spend the night? Why couldn't he just tell him, 'I think I have the capability of loving you but I don't want to have sex with you ever' instead of freaking out and abruptly leaving whenever Naruto tried to kiss him and move things along? Why did it kill him to hear Naruto apologize over and over again for pressuring physical contact between them without asking, when he knew it was only normal for the man to crave some sort of physical intimacy from a boyfriend?

The Uchiha stopped as he approached his ex's bedroom following the scent of the blood, and let his hand hover over the doorknob. Naruto had seemed content with their stance for the most part, Sasuke was the one always afraid of becoming too attached so he would purposely initiate the break ups. He let his memories of their most recent falling out play in his head.

"Look, I understand you aren't comfortable with it but I wish you would just talk to me. I'm tired of playing this guessing game of what's going on with you. I don't want to seem insensitive or pry into your personal reasoning but I can't help feel like it's because I'm not good enough for you. You always shut me out." Naruto sat on his bed with his head in his hands, eyes beginning to water.

"I just can't do this right now, ok? Leave it alone." Sasuke played off a cold demeanor despite his insides screaming at him in panic to abort the situation. He was already standing and moving for the door.

"I am willing to try and work through whatever this is. Please don't walk away from me." The blonde grabbed his boyfriend by the wrist pleading for him to stay.

The Uchiha jerked his hand back and opened the door, eager for an escape from confronting his emotion. "I said leave it alone."

He ran, too scared to open up and deal with his personal demons. He wasn't ready to figure out what was wrong with him so he left everything behind and hid in Canada for six months, ignoring the calls and messages from Naruto. He convinced himself wasn't ready to face it just yet, then he realized he was just too afraid. Despite his cold and indifferent demeanor he showed to the public, he knew that this was just another part of himself he was scared to embrace. So he finally came to terms with it, tired of running and avoiding who he was, he used that time to think it through and find himself during those six months away. Now he was back, he knew he owed Naruto an apology and explanation in the least. But the blonde was avoiding him like the plague, obviously upset with his abrupt return into his life after abandoning him without any word. He shook the thoughts from his head, steadying himself for whatever was behind the door.

The stench sharply hit him as he pushed the door open, the room reeked of it. Sasuke pulled his t-shirt collar up over his nose as he looked around. There were signs of a struggle, and a dent in the wall. His eyes fell to scan the blood dripped along the floor and puddle of vomit before they settled on the burnt looking sigil on the wall, pieces of the Def Leppard poster scattered all over the tile. He gazed in disbelief at what this meant. Naruto had been taken to hell.

"Fuck."