2: The One-Winged Angel
A vast expanse of white would be the best way to describe Heaven. Another would be to say that the buildings, made of strong marbled stone, floated impossibly on the smallest wisps of clouds. Very few Pure Angels resided in this realm anymore, save for the leaders. Michael and Gabriel were among the greatest.
The two great Arch Angels spent much of their time in a vast library which contained very special tomes. Each book was a Book of Life containing the events, past and future, of mortal lives down on Earth. One book in particular had taken up much of Michael's attention. It was an orange volume that had a ruby-colored dragon imprinted into the leather-bound cover.
Gabriel was also interested in the book, and smiled as she saw the golden illustrations on the pages. "He's growing quite strong, isn't he?" She asked softly, smiling down at the spiky-haired character on the page.
Michael nodded, shutting the tome, "He is," he said, smiling at his second in command, "And it seems that he has already begun to attract the attention of the two other factions." He sighed, and set the book down on a large ornate table. "It won't be long until he's forced to choose a side. I can only hope that by then he will have awakened."
Gabriel smiled and picked up the book, turning to the first page. The page showed two characters; one a human, and the other an angel. They were in love, quite obviously for the opposite page showed them blessed with a small babe in between them.
"Do you think that we'll be able to help them once Azazel figures out how to create new Angels?" The girl asked as she turned the page, which showed a black-winged Angel attacking the human, and taking his life. Distraught, the Angel took his soul to Heaven, and the baby was left to grow in the world of humans.
Michael frowned, "I would like to hope so," he said, "they were our tried and true allies for so long until they retired to Earth." He sat back with a sigh, "Our laws are in need of rewriting. What sort of law is that we have made that forbids an Angel from seeing their own child?"
Gabriel turned the page once more, showing the baby, now a small boy, nestled into the massive paw of a Dragon. The next page showed a slightly older looking boy fighting the shadowy images of Demons and Stray Devils. "True that he has gone without a family, but I believe that he's turned out quite finely. After all this time, he hasn't acquired any vices of the Seven Sins. Not even Lust has a home in his heart, and it is the most common of all."
She turned the page again, and squeaked. The image of the Golden Boy was now in the presence of another black-winged Angel, obviously a woman, as the two held each other tight. "It...seems he's very much like his father, isn't he?"
Michael chuckled, "Indeed he is, but I think he has his mother's personality."
=x=
Kuoh Academy
Naruto felt an intense urge to sneeze for a moment before pinching his nose to cut it off. He groaned, 'Ever since last night with those damned ghouls, my sinuses have been acting up.'
'Did you get ash up your nose?' Ddraig asked, half concerned, and half disgusted at the very idea of having something like that in his partner's system. Ghouls were notoriously vicious flesh eaters, but their ashes were prized as magical ingredients. And the potions they were used to make were usually poisons. The disgusting creatures themselves were highly toxic if one were to take a bite out of a someone.
Naruto nearly shook his head, but remembered he was in class, 'Nah, I think I'm just coming down with something,' he said, casting a glance toward Yuuma, who was sitting a few rows over and toward the front. 'Man, she's beautiful.'
Ddraig chuckled, no longer caring about his partner's preference in mates, 'Perhaps it was a bite from the Love Bug that's making you feel so stranger, eh, Partner?'
Naruto rolled his eyes at the Dragon, and went back to his school work.
As the period ended, and he and Yuuma were heading to lunch, he was again approached by Kiba. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the blond, and stepped in front of Yuuma protectively. "What do you want, now, Yuuto?"
Kiba chuckled a the frosty reception, "Nothing much, but the president did ask me to have both of you stop by the Occult Research club," he admitted as the two looked at him in surprise.
"Again?" Naruto frowned, arching his brow, "And why Yuuma, too?"
Kiba frowned and looked around to make sure no one was listening, "There've been some disappearances around the city." He said, frowning, "Miss Sitri heard about the ghouls you incinerated last night, and both of them wanted to ask you about it...and Sona suspects Fallen Angels are to blame."
Naruto's eyes hardened into ice as he glared at the younger blond, "So your master wants to question her since she's one of them?" He demanded, making Yuuma gasp as he admitted to knowing what she was.
"When did you -?!"
Naruto turned to her, a soft smile coming to his features, "From the beginning," he said, grinning, "And yeah, I was warned, but I'm glad I didn't listen."
Yuuma blushed, looking down at her feet shamefully, "I...really do care for you, you know?"
Naruto reached up and petted her hair, "Yeah, I know," he turned back to Kiba, "Just so you know, she was with me last night. And I didn't sense any other beings around when those ghouls attacked me."
Kiba sighed, "They still want to talk to you, and I doubt you'll get out of it," he said, frowning "Look, Naruto, I get that you don't like Devils for some reason, but I've got just as much reason to hate humans, and I used to be one."
"Didn't we all?" Yuuma asked rhetorically.
Kiba ignored her, "For the most part, it's been Fallen Angels that are stirring up trouble, and that isn't to say that it was your girlfriend, but she is making a few others nervous because they see Fallen Angels as their natural enemies. Rias is more open-minded about making friends with them than any other Devil I know of, but Sona is the one you'll have to convince. She'll have her Queen with her, and Rias will have her Peerage as well, so don't be intimidated by us...we're not trying to hurt you at all, alright?"
Naruto groaned, palming himself in the face.
"She's also pulled some strings and released to both of you from the rest of your classes for the rest of the day," Kiba put in, smiling as the couple perked up.
"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place!" Naruto grinned, and slung and arm around the shorter boy's shoulders, "Come on already! I wanna get this over with so I can GTFO!"
Yuuma giggled, and followed after them, though her nerves felt like live wires at the moment. She knew about Rias Gremory, and the power she wielded. Between the power she sensed within Naruto, and the Power of Destruction Rias wielded, she didn't know which one was more powerful, or which one scared her the most. And Naruto felt stronger than he had the previous evening when they'd...
Her face lit up like a furnace, 'Oh, come on, you're five hundred years old! I'm too old to be blushing like a teenager over a simple...hot...mind-numbing kiss...' Her head fell with each thought on the matter, 'Oh, damn, Azazel was right...' She thought with slight depression as she followed after the two boys. She noted just how broad her blond's shoulders were. She hadn't really noticed it before, but he was a rather large person. Tall, and lean he may have been, but he was strong as far as muscles went. She rather liked that. 'Big hands, too.' She noted as she remembered holding hands with him, and her whole hand being practically engulfed by his own.
Her wool-gathering was brought down when they reached the club house. She could already sense several large powers inside, 'Great, I'm not strong enough to take on that many Devils from such powerful families all at once.' Naruto peered back over his shoulder, sensing her nervousness, and reached out for her hand.
"Hey," he said, getting her attention, "Don't worry about it. They won't try to hurt you because they want me as one of their own," he pointed out, smiling at her.
Yuuma nodded, conceding the point.
Naruto grinned at her, and both entered the club building together.
=x=
"So, he defeated my ghouls quite easily, did he?" A dark man frowned as he gazed into his crystal ball, his eyes locked on the blond human Magician accompanied by the Fallen Angel. A growl emanated from behind him, and he thumped his staff on the floor, "Be quiet!" He snapped at the creature, "Behave yourself, else I won't feed you!" The creature quieted immediately.
The man, a Magician dressed in dark druid robes, and holding an oaken staff, frowned into the crystal. The boy was not just strong, he was cocky. He smiled; this cockiness would be the end of him, he would see to that. Then he would dissect the body, and figure out why the boy was so powerful with so little training. He turned around and faced the creature he had threatened.
"You will go," he said to the large beast within a massive cage with thick bars that were bent here and there. The beast inside the cage was a bipedal creature, patches of black-grey fur all over its body. Its limbs were long, and withered from lack of food, its eyes mad with hunger. From an elongated muzzle were rows of jagged, misaligned teeth, some of them sharp, others blunt. "He asked for something better than a pack of ghouls, and he shall have it. What better way to test him than to pit him against my first crowning achievement, eh, you ugly flea-bitten mongrel?"
The creature snarled, rattling the cage with his clawed hands, and bit at the bars.
The Magician chuckled and turned back to his crystal. "Naruto Uzumaki," he sneered down at the ball, the boy being seated on a red couch with the Fallen Angel at his side, "Lord Kokabiel will pay a hefty sum to the one that brings him that left arm of yours, my dear boy." He snapped his fingers, and a magical array appeared under the beast in the cage as it began to sink into it. "Let us see how you deal with my artificial werewolf. Magic doesn't work on him."
=x=
Naruto felt a little nervous as he sat in front of the desk where Rias stared at him. Beside her on her right were Sona Sitri, and Tsubaki, her Queen. To Rias' left stood another of the Great Ladies, Akeno Himejima, who held a polite, yet strained smile on her face as she regarded the girl sitting next to him. Beside her was a First Year student that Naruto recognized as Koneko Toujou, and then came Kiba. All in all, there was a lot of power standing in front of him, and he could feel it.
Naruto kept himself in check, however. Ddraig scared him more than all of these Devils in front of him. He crossed his arms and legs in complete comfort as Yuuma attempted to hide behind him as much as possible. "What do you want this time, Rias?" Naruto asked, somewhat annoyed. "I already told you taht I'd be willing to join you if I was close to death, but I'm feeling pretty good right now, so I can tell you that I'm still a far cry from being near dead."
Rias giggled, completely at ease around the blond Magician and Fallen Angel. "I can see that, Naruto," she smiled at him, "But I didn't invite you here to make another offer." Her eyes hardened then, completely serious, "I'm sure Kiba's told you about the disappearances, and I also heard through my Familiar that you tangled with some ghouls last night."
Naruto nodded, "I did," he said, frowning, "And since the ghouls are taken care of, there shouldn't be anymore people going missing if they're not around to hunt them, right?"
Sona stepped in then, "I would like to believe that, Mister Uzumaki, but ghouls are not natural occurrences." She said, pushing her glasses up her nose, "Though they are the most basic of all, they are created through Dark Magic. Meaning someone killed those creatures as humans, then warped and twisted them into the beasts you incinerated last night."
"And you'd like to say that Yuuma is the one that created them," Naruto glared at her, "Is that right?"
"No," Rias said quickly, and then took a breath, "Listen, I will admit to having you watched this past month because I was suspicious, and quite worried that something would happen to you, but I've seen first hand just what you can do, if only in the presence of ghouls. And Miss Amano there does seem like the type of person that would pilfer dead bodies."
Yuuma shivered in disgust; she'd done a lot in all her time, but ghouls were far from her to-do list. "I don't remember anyone that was able, or willing to create such monsters in our ranks," the Fallen Angel said, thinking on the matter, "I'll admit that some of use can be twisted, and cruel, I was at one time, and probably still am, but no one I know of would create monsters from corpses."
Rias nodded, "A Necromancer, then," she surmised, "Or some sort of Magician skilled enough to create these things." She sighed and drummed her fingers on the desk, "More people have been reported missing, and that was after the attack on you, Naruto. I don't know if you got all of them, or just a small part of them with your spell, but something else is out there taking people."
"A Stray?" Naruto suggested, "I've managed to keep some of the more powerful ones in check, and even killed a few, but I can't watch out for the whole city, you know?"
Koneko shook her head, "It's not a stray. I'd know if there was one wandering around," she said, her golden eyes glinting, "They leave a clear trail, and a smell so bad that I could scent them clear across the city."
Naruto nodded in agreement; Stray Devils reeked of rotten blood, and flesh. Almost as bad as ghouls. "Okay, so what about a Rogue Magician?"
"You're technically a Rogue Magician, Naruto," Kiba pointed out, "A human that can, and does use magic is classified as a Magician, and one that doesn't belong to that faction is designated as a Rogue."
"I prefer freelancer," Naruto pouted, "Besides, I only practice offensive spells, not Necromancy or anything like bringing the dead back to life."
Rias sighed, "Then we still have a Magician on the loose that could and probably has created more monsters through Alchemy, and Dark Magic." She sighed again, pinching the bridge of her nose, "This is getting bad. If anymore people go missing, then my brother's going to get involved, or worse, my father. That's the last thing we need."
Naruto frowned, thinking about the situation. It was more than likely him that the Magician was interested in, and he was more than certain that he was using the ghouls and whatnot to flush him out into the open like a covey of quail. Ergo, it was his fault this was even happening.
'No, it's not,' Ddraig put in, 'No one's making this bastard do this. He's doing it because he's twisted and sick. If he gets you, you'll most likely suffer horrible before he turns you into one of those things.'
"Well, on to more pleasant matters," Akeno smiled, and bustled out of the room, "I'll be right back with tea."
"What else did you want to talk about?" Naruto asked as girl left the room, "Don't tell me you want me to end things with Yuuma?"
Rias shook her head, "Not at all," she said, though her left brow was twitching slightly.
'Liar,' was the collective thought throughout the room.
"What I wanted to talk about was...well, you, honestly," she said, making the blond frown, "I was interested in your past, you see, but when I pulled up your records, I couldn't find anything on you except the orphanage you were raised at. No mention of parents, or any sort of heritage."
Naruto shrugged, "No news to me," he said, "The only thing I remember about my earliest childhood was someone leaving me on the doorstep, and telling me that it was gonna be alright." He frowned as a memory flashed through his thoughts. Red hair.
He looked at Rias, and frowned. It was different, looking at her own vibrant red locks.
"I'm sorry to hear that," the red-head said, "And I'm also sorry for prying even further, but I have to ask; where in the world did you learn your magic?"
Naruto frowned. How was he to answer that?
The blond sighed, "I really don't want to tell you, because I know you'll badger me into becoming a Devil, one way or the other," he said, frowning as he sat back against the couch. "But...I don't guess I have choice at this point." He held up his left hand, and an eerie green glow arose from the back of his hand. His arm became encompassed by a red gauntlet, letting out a loud, "BOOST!" The moment it did that, Rias and Sona felt the power radiating from the blond take off in a steep rise. His power had doubled within a matter of a second as the Sacred Gear came alive.
Yuuma yelped as something sprouted from his right shoulder as well, leaping from the couch, and looking at her boyfriend in shock. Naruto stood as well. There was nothing to hide anymore. Nothing he wanted to hide anymore. Not from Yuuma, and not even from the two Devil heiresses.
A clatter of glass and metal sounded as Akeno dropped her tea tray when she returned to the room and saw the transformed blond. "Impossible..."
Not only did Naruto have an exceedingly rare Sacred Gear, the Boosted Gear, a variation of the Longinus, but from his right shoulder fanned a large, pure white wing so large that the feathers touched the floor.
"I learned from the Welsh Dragon, Ddraig, who is sealed inside this Sacred Gear," Naruto said, holding up the Boosted Gear.
"Greetings," Ddraig's voice rumbled in amusement.
"And I guess I get my talent for magic from one of my parents," he said, looking at the wing somewhat shamefully, "It pisses me off, though. One might be dead, but I know for a fact that one of my parents is alive and kicking back in Heaven." He flared out his wing, "So," he glowered at the two Devil heiresses, "Think you can handle a Half-Angel in your ranks?"
Short chapter, but trouble is building and brewing in more ways than one. Naruto is revealed to be part Angel, and a wielder of the Boosted Gear to his peers, and lover. And now a mad Magician is after that same artifact having sent ghouls, and an enhanced werewolf after him.
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