A/N: If you haven't noticed, a couple of the characters are rather influenced by their primary sin. It's actually rather interesting to explore. I'm accepting ideas for Peerage members, though I have a certain someone picked out for either a rook or bishop (havent decided) under recommendation of a friend.
Reviewer Replies: T-B-R, Sandman001 thank you both very much. :) ARSLOTHES I'm looking forward to writing them. Trying to take my time and get them pretty though.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool DxD so, you know, whatever.
Chapter II: Avarice is my Sin
(Zekros Gremory POV)
I couldn't help the smirk on my face as I watched the approaching party. Krueger was going amusingly pale at the sight of my face, but it was to be expected. He was very familiar with my antics.
"Welcome Hokage-sama, Krueger." I greeted formally. "My residence is open to you and your people. We have been most eager to host you."
"You are Zekros Gremory?" The Hokage was obviously eyeing my tails and ears. "It is nice to meet you."
I smiled slightly. "Come Hokage-sama, Kushina will likely want to talk your ear off." I gestured for them to follow me inside.
He gave a chuckle as he followed. "That she will, I believe. It will be most entertaining."
"Well... at least you're familiar with her habits," I replied, barely containing a snicker.
He seemed to agree with me. "I can only imagine how... exuberant she became after Minato's death."
"To be fair, she had her son to look after." I stated. "We tried to avoid any mention of the event, and any questions regarding her coping. I was going to try to get her to talk to Krueger, since he has been through something eerily similar, but more... disappointing."
The Hokage frowned slightly. "I take it he's the only survivor."
I nodded. "His wife and daughter were too far gone by the time I got there. I managed to have the chance to give him the choice between going on and joining them, or staying and finding the killer." A mild shrug followed me words. "I'd have killed the fallen myself even if he had chosen to accept death, but it likely would have taken me much longer to find him."
"It has been dealt with?" He asked delicately.
"Permanently." I confirmed.
We'd arrived at my study, and through the doorway we could see Kushina teasing Naruto with her hair, a soft smile on her face. The Hokage and I shared a grin as we watched for a few moments, before he coughed into his hand to catch her attention.
"Hokage-sama, it's nice to see you," Kushina had a wide grin on her face.
"It's good to see you as well. So this is Naruto, hmm?" The old man had an unreadable expression on his face. "He'll grow up to surpass even me, I'm sure."
"Please, sit Hokage-sama," I gestured to the rather nice set of chairs in front of my desk, as I took my seat. "And let me begin a tale."
"I'm sure it will be interesting." He replied as he put away his pipe. Kushina had been glaring at that thing ever since he walked in, much to my amusement. "Kushina has called your people 'Devils' and I'm certain you'd like to expand upon that."
I nodded my head in agreement. "A few hundred years ago my people fought a three way way between a God (wince) and his Angels, Angels who had Fallen from their Heaven, and our kind, the Devils." I paused as Mei-chan carried in some tea, giving her a smile as she left the room. "The war... is in a temporary cease-fire, even now. The war heavily decimated the numbers among the Three Factions, especially among Devils as Angels are our natural counter and we lost our Maou, the four powerful beings in charge. We had 72 Pillars, noble families that led the Underworld, before that war."
Taking a drink of my tea, I contemplated my wording. "We came up with a system to reincarnate other beings into devils as our Peerages. We had to replace our population you see, and we as a people are notoriously long lived and our fertility was never great. So with reincarnated devils coming into our society, the descendants of the original Maou came to despise our current leaders. They spread their belief of pure-blood Devil superiority among our kind and start a civil war."
"The pursuit of power has done terrible things to many people," my guest noted.
"Indeed," I agreed. "It is one thing to satisfy Avarice, one of the Sins that guide many of us, but to do so at the cost of others is not necessary. This Old Satan Faction wanted to continue the Great War, and rejected the Evil Piece System that we had put in place. This civil war continued the devastation of our people, leaving only 33 Pillars remaining, while most of the others were extinct or reduced to one member."
"I cannot imagine this was looked kindly upon by the winning side," the Hokage remarked.
"You'd be right. A distant relative of mine became the Maou Lucifer, and he was directly on the front lines. His great power helped turn the tide in our favor, casting down the Old Satan Faction and sending the members scattering to the winds." I gave a mellow chuckle. "And then we have me. I did business during the war, supplying forces with necessary equipment and transporting things. I had to teach a few foolish devils a lesson myself once or twice, but I mostly stayed out of the big fights."
"Everyone is necessary during war, even if they don't feel like it." There was some truth to that. "Sometimes it is the lesser known people who truly contribute the most."
"Indeed, but while everyone else was filling their Peerage with members, I only recruited Krueger after the war. I was feeling... bored one day, and stole a spell that would allow for the transportation to another dimension. So with that crazy idea in mind, my Avarice acted up rather terribly and I let it overcome me long enough to steal a second set of Evil Pieces, escaping with Krueger to this world before they could realise what I'd done." I gave an unrepentant shrug. "They likely wouldn't have been too mad at me, I'm one of the heirs to my family after all, and I was a pureblood myself, but I hadn't used more than one of my pieces. That would've caused all kinds of issues, and I'd grown bored with my time in the Underworld and wanted to explore."
"And so here we are," he said.
"Here we are," I agreed.
"But how did you... come to acquire the Nine-Tails power?" He was obviously trying to be polite about it, but the strangeness of my tails must be getting to him.
"He interrupted the sealing process of the Kyuubi by teleporting into the way," Kushina cut in. "We were rather shocked when instead of it being sealed the power got absorbed into him instead, turning him into a fox himself."
"Kitsune, thank you. And I only count as half, because I'm still a devil." I replied.
"That creates a bit of an issue," the man said while stroking his chin. "The Kyuubi is technically a military asset of the village."
"Which doesn't exist anymore," I said with a deadpan stare. "And implying otherwise will cost you a lot more lives than you believe, if you push the issue."
"I have no intentions of pushing the issue," he replied, shaking his head. "However there will be other factions even among my people that might try."
"If they come after me for some foolish notion I will kill them, their partners, their masters, and take all they own and hold dear as my own. Women, children, and all." My threat was entirely accurate too, I would allow none to escape my wrath.
He winced slightly beneath my stare. "I will stress the point to the Council, but I fear foolishness will still persist." A slight sigh followed his statement before he turned to Kushina. "I have brought what you requested with me, you can keep the cart and horses, consider them parting gifts. You will always have a home in Konoha, Kushina."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She replied quietly, eyes on Naruto.
"Come Hokage-sama," I gestured to the door. "We can get some dinner, and you can see a bit of the town before it gets too late."
He chuckled, "I certainly would like to see the Land of Wave. I haven't been here in a long time, myself."
"Then let's have some fun, Hokage-sama," I said with a grin.
We spent the next few hours touring the town, taking in the sights, and strolling along the river. It was an enjoyable afternoon to have, and it made me totally want a pipe like the Hokage had just for myself. I'll find one eventually, and when I do it shall never go far from me.
(Krueger POV)
"You want me to bet what?" I heard my King exclaim as I read about the Third Shinobi War.
I gave a sigh, knowing something infinitely stupid was about to occur, but unable to not watch it. Zekros-sama was currently seated at a table playing cards with Tsunade, while the Hokage and Kushina were out at dinner in the village.
"You heard me," Tsunade challenged him. "You wager fifty percent of the land and of your wealth against my necklace."
"Tsunade-sama!" Gasped Shizune, standing behind her.
"Quiet Shizune, can't you see I'm gonna win?" Ah, she was drunk. The stench of the sake filled the air when her movements disturbed it. That explained a lot, though devils usually have a higher tolerance than that.
I glanced over at Zekros-sama and saw him just as heavily inebriated. Dear Maou how much did they drink?
"I've got a better idea," Zekros-sama grinned. From the look on his face, I was hoping he'd survive whatever he said next.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow in confusion. "And just what is that?" They both had gleams in their eyes that I knew all too well.
"Half the land against a date with you."
For a moment the room was silent, though I noticed Mei's eyes go wide. Then the laughter started and Tsunade seemed to preen with victory.
"Deal!" She grinned. "Look upon my victory, full house." Three queens and two tens, not bad.
The predatory look that entered the face of Zekros Gremory caused Shizune to step back. "Full house," he commented as he laid his cards upon the table.
Tsunade froze as she stared at the cards. He had three kings, along with two aces. Even I was surprised at that, until I remembered he was a businessman with the sin of avarice, so I suspected he pulled a sneaky trick.
"There's no way. You had to have had those up your sleeves." She was shaking her head as she denied it.
In response he held up his arms. "Check my sleeves, check the deck. You lost Tsunade-san, never gamble against me, I've got the Devils Luck." The cheeky grin stayed even as she did as he suggested.
He was outright snickering by the time she confirmed that he hadn't cheated, even if I was a little too suspicious of that. With a grumble she declared she was going to sleep off the sake, Shizune and Mei excusing themselves as well. When it was just myself and my King, I turned to look at him with a skeptical eye.
He gave a grin as he made sure they were truly gone, and then his tail came up with two cards sitting on it. "They had been in my sleeves, at one point."
I sighed and shook my head, glancing at him and then the door. I made a universally known motion which he had no trouble picking up.
"Yes, I'm sure she'd flatten me if she ever find out. Hence why she's not going to, right Krueger?" A grown devil should never have puppy eyes.
I gave a shrug and nodded, I'd seen him cheat people out worse. Though, that was mostly because they were former Old Satan Faction members that he felt just had to get cheated somehow. If it'd been more than a simple date I'd likely have told her, but he had to test the limits on just about everyone so I couldn't blame him.
With a small grin I bowed and excused myself, taking the book to my room. Apparently Kushina's husband had caused quite the nightmare to the Iwa ninja, and I was curious to read more about it.
(Zekros Gremory POV)
"Ugh," I groaned as I pulled my head off my desk, attempting to look around before I grabbed my head in pain.
I'd apparently fallen asleep working, if the scattered papers were any indication. I bit back another groan as I tried to rise to my feet, only to have a hand on top on my head force me back down. Before I could turn to see who it was I felt an odd warmth pass through my head before my hangover was almost completely dulled.
"Thank you," I sighed.
"You're welcome," Tsunade's voice answered me.
I froze. "That wasn't a dream, was it?"
She laughed softly as she walked around my desk and plopped down in a chair. "So, when and where?"
"I really shouldn't drink that much," I grumbled under my breath. Her snickered told me she'd caught it. "What day is it?"
"Wednesday," the reply was insant.
"We'll go to dinner on Saturday." I hummed briefly. "That will give me time to pick up another outfit and find something else to do, seeing as the best restaurant around is a simple family one."
More snickers met my ears, and I glared mildly at Tsunade. "Sorry," she said. "My old teammate would kill for the chance, and you're acting like it's massive trouble."
"It is," I replied. "I kind of have to make sure you have a good time, you'll pound me into a pulp otherwise."
"Heh, well at least you're trained already," she smirked.
I twitched for a moment before I sighed and started collecting my work. "Did you come here for something, Tsunade?"
"Sensei wanted you to join him after lunch. He wants to discuss what your plans for the future are." The look on her face was smug. "Apparently when someone has the amibition to become a Daimyo out of nowhere he takes notice."
"Don't go giving my plans away," I whined. "It's no fun if they know what to expect."
She laughed softly before standing up. "Well Mei will be bringing you lunch in a few minutes, so you have time to go get changed."
I winced slightly in reminder before I quickly made my way back to my room. No reason to get Mei-chan on my case, she was scary when upset. Thankfully Krueger wouldn't be able to set her off, but Tsunade and Kushina seemed to take great pleasure in rattling her. Poor Shizune, having to deal with all three of them, I could only imagine the headaches she got.
In just a few short minutes I was back at my desk, stomach growling loudly. Mei entered shortly after I did, carrying a tray loaded with sandwiches, some fruit, and from what I could smell, juice. Though there was an odd amount of it, was I having a guest? I raised an eyebrow as she set the tray down and proceeded to calmly sit across from me.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Mei-chan?" I asked, reaching for a sandwich.
She took a drink from her cup before she looked at me. "You're part of a noble family, are you not, Zekros-sama?" At my nod she smiled slightly. "And you understand the rules of inheritance?"
I swallowed my food before I fixed her with a confused look. "Just what does that have to do with anything?"
"Tsunade-sama is the last of the Senju." I twitched slightly, hoping she wasn't about to say what I think she was going to say. "As the last of her clan, she does have an obligation to continue it. I felt the need to inform you about this before anything happened." She was trying to hide her blush by nibbling on a sandwich, but I wasn't fooled.
"I thank you for your concern." Honestly, she was an excellent worker but the crush was a little annoying sometimes. "Tsunade and I are going on a date, not jumping into bed and trying to make children. I'm already aware that if she and I got together permanently I'd have to take another wife to carry on my name, my people are well practiced in that."
Maybe I shouldn't have said that, she now had a spark in her eyes. "Well as long as you're aware, then I'm happy Zekros-sama."
Dear Maou save me from teenage girls. Ever since I told her I had no interest in underage girls, she seemed to start biding her time. If she didn't try to jump me after she turned eighteen I would honestly be surprised. I knew some devils who would have already taken her to bed, but thankfully Lust wasn't my primary Sin. I was actually more inclined towards Wrath as my second most important sin, but it was rather picky on what triggered it.
We ate in silence for a bit, and then she excused herself and gathered the tray, allowing me to swipe another sandwich before she left. That was going to be a problem, but as long as Shizune didn't join her in her plots I'd survive with my sanity intact. Hopefully.
Shortly after she left I made my way to the wing that the Hokage and his guards were staying in. I took note of the blades his Anbu carried, wondering if they were made from chakra metal. With a shrug I waited for them to announce me, getting permission to enter shortly after they called out to him.
The elder man was sitting by the window, gazing out onto the forest. I cleared my throat softly as I sat across the coffee table from him. He turned to me with an unreadable expression, even for someone of my profession.
"We never got the chance to fully discuss your plans, Zekros-san." Oh, he was being serious. I didn't expect that. "What do you wish to accomplish in these lands?"
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "My immediate plans involve building a compound for myself and my peerage, and creating sources of income." I turned to look out of the window briefly. "Other than that, expanding my peerage as best I can. Somehow get word out to ninja and the missing ninja that a place of work for them exists. Once they know they are safe around me as long as they obey the laws they should come this way eventually." I gave a sharp grin at that. "After all, it's not technically illegal to be a missing ninja, they just tend to commit crimes."
He gave me a stern look. "You do realize that you are practically inviting criminals to terrorize these people, don't you?"
I laughed loudly at that. "I'll even pay people who don't want to work for me to bring the troublemakers to justice. That way we can have them stand a proper trial, rather than political games. It's why I want to be Daimyo, to force the issue if they do crime here, they do their time here."
"You wish to create a neutral prison?" He asked, shocked. "Won't they just kill each other in the jail?"
I grimaced slightly. "No, the prison idea is well intentioned but it would require funding from the other nations that cannot be taken away or stopped. That's just not viable." I shivered at the thought of all that money going down the drain. "If they commit a crime in Wave, they should be captured and tried for this crime. We can then offer other nations a chance to send representatives and evidence to our system to try them for their crimes elsewhere while they are here, so it can be done all at once."
The Hokage blinked at me. "Are you saying you'd keep them safe from other nations hunter-nin?"
"I would indeed. I wish to do neutral business, the best way to do that is to step on everyones toes fairly, so they understand I won't bend for any of them misbehaving." He was snickering just as much as I was now. "Missing-nin could be safe from outside persecution as long as they obey the laws of the land. It would allow for them to work as long as no major crime was committed here. At which point, when we'd tried them for their crimes, we'd send an offer along. There is the problem that I don't want the death penalty in these lands, so if they other nations don't want to let them live to serve out a sentence then we won't try them for the outside crimes."
"I could agree with that," the Hokage replied. "But not everyone is going to. You do realise that you will have conflict with others with this path, correct?"
I shrugged. "Then we simply won't do business with them while we're in conflict, and we'll capture and imprison anyone they send to cause trouble. Though that's a long way down the line, I'd need to become Daimyo first, and to do that I need people and money."
"You have some excellent people," he pointed out. "And Kushina requested a lot of money along with items to come along with me. Though, she did snicker at our attempts to place fuinjutsu that would trap anyone not related to Kushina if they tried to open it. I guess I need more practice."
"Life has a habit of requiring lots of practice," I replied.
"So you plan to truly claim neutrality then, like the Land of Iron?"
I nodded. "In essence, though they stay out of issues not regarding them entirely. I'll have no problem selling to both sides of a conflict, as long as they are aware that I will crush any attempts at sabotaging my business." My wrath was making a slight appearance with my avarice. "I have absolutely no issues with beating an opponent down and forcibly taking reparations from them, at all. The fact that I will punish any attempts on my people with overwhelming fury and do it without care of stations in life or nations will make people more likely to behave. I do believe bolts of lightning falling from the sky and destroying things is equally impressive here, no?"
The old man lit his pipe with a slight snicker. "Yes, I do believe calling actual lightning from the skies would keep most on their toes."
"We're not going to have problems, are we Hokage-sama?" It was always wise to know where you stood.
"No, your belief in protection of others matches our 'Will of Fire' quite nicely, so I will have no issues with legitimate businessmen plying their trade." The grin on his face reminded me I'd have to fill my ranks some more before I could play with the true big boys.
I shook the mans hand even as I thought about the chances of him messing with my plans. As I walked out I decided it was highly unlikely, and I'd be better focused on his people than the man himself. My ideas weren't in his way so he'd have no reason to mess with me, I hoped.
(Krueger POV)
I was tasked with collecting the opinions of the others on the two properties we could buy. That wasn't actually as hard as it sounded. Mei and Kushina had come from water based countries, at least in Kushina's original village, and while both would like the seaside land they found the potential of the land with the lake over the benefits of a private dock. Tsunade and Shizune simply would prefer to remain closer to town so they didn't have to travel far in case of emergencies.
After they all agreed on the inland purchase, I had to go through and mark basic plans and workers we'd have to hire. There were three rivers that cut through the land to form the lake, and two of this rivers split and connected to each other in the north, forming a smaller lake and an island of land among the rivers.
We were definitely going to need a bridge builder. Just at a glance I knew for certain our lord was going to want to build on the island portion. That'd be at least four, possibly five bridges we'd need to construct, and they'd have to look good and last a long time. That was going to be costly. Though the southern river went directly through the town to the port, so that could be used to some degree.
We were going to need carpenters and architects for the main structure on the island, the walls around the land, and the housing and other necessary structures. Some woodcutters would be necessary to clear the land, creating lumber we could use on the construction of the compound.
As I wrote suggestions down, making minor drawings here and there, I realized we'd likely benefit from some farmland inside the walls and marked down the need to find a viable section. I'd have to get Mei to help me deal with all these people, she could handle the questioning before we sent candidates on to Zekros-sama.
"Here is your tea, Krueger-san," Mei said as she set the glass in front of me.
I gave a faint smile as I passed two of the pages I was writing to her to read.
"Oh my," she said after skimming it over. "That's a lot of money we'll have to deal with."
With a shrug I recalled the fact that Zekros-sama and I had converted most of our money into the gold and gems we had brought, along with several priceless items they couldn't risk anyone finding. I'd be granted my own piece of the land if I wished to settle down, but I still remembered two faces far too clearly to think about that right now.
I took a sip of my drink as I read over the final two pages, detailing items we would likely need, and workforces we would have to direct. After I confirmed that every thing I could imagine had been written down, I passed those along to Mei and grabbed a new item to read through.
It was a request for a meeting from the two captains Zekros-sama wanted to hire. This wasn't really my area of the background work, so I passed that one along to Mei for her or Tsunade-sama to handle. Poor Shizune was handling the deals for a clinic to be opened in town, and from what I could tell Tsunade-sama was running her ragged.
Kushina was tracking down merchants who traded in chakra metal, and apparently trying to get in contact with a blacksmith from Konoha that could work the stuff. Zekros Gremory ran his people like a family business and trusted in us to handle the duties to the best of our abilities, and to admit when we needed help before an issue could rise.
I came across a message from the shipbuilders next, and read that they had come to deals for properly treated wood to be shipped from Konoha and Kiri, and that they expected arrival between one and two weeks. They were already gathering all the other necessary materials and setting them aside for the project to begin. That message could go straight to Zekros-sama, so I set it aside.
The Hokage had left earlier today, and once he was gone Tsunade-sama had been asked to contact an old friend of hers for any information on potential recruits. Apparently priority was given to younger or older recruits, since they were at a higher chance of death. We weren't against recruiting from inside a village either.
My lord has a date with Tsunade-sama tomorrow. They honestly don't even seem the types to be interested in each other, but what do I know, my wife had had to smack me over the head to catch my attention. I probably couldn't tell a good relationship from a bad one.
I set to tracking down the owners of the properties, it would seem I'd have to request the blacksmiths assistance. Maybe I could take Kushina and I could get my weapon checked over by another experienced eye. It never hurt to have a second opinion of your hard work towards maintaining your weapon. Maybe the man could help in finding a bridgebuilder? It would be worth asking at least.
(Zekros Gremory POV)
Everyone was giving me disturbing grins today, and I noticed Shizune-san giving me pitying glances when she thought I wasn't watching. Was I expected to crash and burn or something? I twitched slightly when I noticed they just wouldn't stop staring, so I left to my chambers to get ready.
I'd replaced my normal black kimono with one in a deep blue, dark enough to contrast with my hair but not conflict with it. Things like this were important when one had a vibrant hair color, such as mine. I'd planned to have a nice dinner, and then take Tsunade to the one gambling hall in town, though nobody knew about the second part It would hopefully be an enjoyable evening.
I returned downstairs to await Tsunade, and it gave Kushina great amusement to tease Mei-chan, who was blushing a red to match my hair as she looked at me. I tuned them out as my fox ears picked up the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, so I tried to present myself properly. I lost most of my composure when I saw what the girls had convinced Tsunade to wear, a button up shirt that left a fair portion of cleavage showing, and a flowing skirt that reached her ankles.
"I feel like an idiot," she grumbled as she came to a stop in front of me.
"Y-you look great, Tsunade," I swallowed the lump in my throat, desperately trying to keep my eyes from wandering.
Her slight scowl lightened as she saw me twitching to make sure I behaved myself, and she laughed softly before grabbing me by the arm. "Well come on then, no time like the present."
I found myself dragged from the villa, much to the laughter of the others. Tsunade politely returned lead to me when I'd finally pointed out, after a few minutes of walking, that she didn't know where the restaurant was. I gave a slight chuckle as she pouted while following me.
Our destination wasn't the fanciest place ever, but it was clean, the food was good, and the people were polite. We were led to a semi private table in the back, well away from most of the others. The townspeople were certainly happy to have a legendary medic-nin reside here, but they weren't dumb enough to want to antagonize her.
We gave our orders of yakitori, tempura udon, and gyoza . We'd also ordered a decent amount of sake to go with our food. I was definitely going to have to hire a chef if I wanted food that wasn't Japanese, but I found the tastes mostly to my liking when I came here.
"This is a rather nice place," Tsunade commented as we waited for our food.
I gave a small grin. "The yakitori is excellent here."
"You've been here before?" She asked, idly tapping the table.
"I found this place when I was exploring town last week. You're the only one of my Peerage that I've introduced it to." I was leaving out the part where a teen with rather interesting blue hair had led me here. I'd bought the girl lunch in thanks, but she was so shy I didn't get much more than her name, Tsunami, from her.
"Well I'm flattered," she replied with a smirk.
I laughed lightly, "I think you'll like the next part even more."
"Oh? Not going to tell me what it is?"
I was saved from starting banter by the arrival of the food, and Tsunade had her attention firmly affixed to the smells coming from it. We enjoyed the peace as we ate, usually having to deal with Kushina and her antics at any meal together. The sake wasn't all that remarkable, but it did its job and helped make the dinner more entertaining as we began to tell jokes over the meal.
We were laughing as we left the restaurant, and Tsunade turned to me with a gleam in her eye. "So where are we going?"
"I'm not telling," I smirked, as I took her hand and started to gently pull her in the right direction.
She gave a few half-hearted grumbles as she followed me, curious at my plans for the evening. It didn't take long to get there, and when we arrived outside the building the spark that had dimmed slightly came back full force and then some.
"A gambling hall?" She whistled. "You sure know how to treat a lady."
I snickered. "Yes well, you're a rather unique and entertaining lady." She gave me a look, but I just grinned back. "I've got a few thousand ryo to play with, nothing special, but enough to have some fun."
"Right," she grinned back. "Have to limit ourselves after all, with our combined greed we'd never leave."
"Especially with you losing and convincing the idiots to bet against me," I laughed, opening the door. "Avarice is my sin, Tsunade, do you really think I'd bring you anywhere else?"
We managed to make the fun last well into the night, Tsunade losing money and me trying to win it back. Not counting the money which had been spent keeping us drunk, but not stupid, we'd managed to walk away with half of our starting money. They were mostly sad to see Tsunade go, but considering I'd won most of what she'd lost back they were happy for me to leave. We returned home that night with smiles on our faces, laughter in our hearts, and an enjoyable memory.
End.
A/N: I made this a bit shorter than I'd originally intended, but that's because I moved a few ideas into the next chapter planning to create a better flow. I hope you enjoyed the amusing date, my friend and I had a laugh about the idea. And about the cards, I haven't tried to play poker since I was like, 12. I was always more of a blackjack guy myself, so while I did look up different rules on poker, and tried to make it accurate, please point out (with reasoning, please!) if it is incorrect.
