Me: What's this? Two chapter's in one day? Le Gasp! Does this mean I'm going to start updating more often?
. . . .probably not . . . .
Kakashi sat on the ledge of the balcony outside of Yuri's window, reading his Ichi-Ichi Paradise novel with Naruto was sitting next to him, enjoying a cup of ramen. Or at least, they were. After listening to the conversation inside, they had each paused in their favorite activity. Kakashi had his book held between his fingers, letting it rest on his knee while Naruto had placed his half-eaten cup of ramen on the ledge next to him.
They both were deep in thought about the boy (or man, they couldn't decide which) who was left sitting in the room behind them. Finally, they listened as Yuri left his temporary room to go occupy his time with something downstairs. It was unfathomable and a little unsettling how compassionate the King was acting. One would've expected a Demon to scoff off the woman's past. A normal person would've been sympathetic, possibly even disgusted with the fact that Ito-san had fallen in love with a Demon, though they wouldn't have shown it.
Yet the Demon King hadn't reacted annoyed, sympathetic nor disgusted. He had cried for a woman he barely knew. He had practically encouraged her continuing love for her Demon lover and half-demon child. This wasn't sympathy he showed, it was compassion. It was almost as if he had acted the role of a messenger to let a grieving woman know how her family was doing.
Granted, what he said could have been a simple lie. Yet, the way he spoke it. The way he told her about her family was as if he knew. His tone had held absolute certainty toward the happiness of the dead demon and child. It was these words that led Kakashi to the conclusion that this . . .boy wasn't really the Demon King.
It wasn't only his words, either. It was his mannerisms. It was his comfortable attitude toward this entire situation and even how he served the customers. He held no presence of royalty. He seemed to show no superiority toward anyone, not even the shinobi who were being payed to escort him. But more then that, it was the revelation that Yuri was simply a half-demon. If there was one thing that was well-known about the Demon Kingdom, it was the prejudice they held against humans. It was incomprehensible that such a Kingdom would let a half-breed take a seat of power, much less a throne.
It was all these things that led the white-haired shinobi to the belief that Yuri was a decoy. Thinking about it even further, because of his status as a half-breed, he was probably being forced into this. The Maou probably used Yuri as a way to gain trust with other countries. Yuri was a young boy with a lot of compassion, which is probably what led to the Maou to sending him to the Fire Country. Under this logic, it was not a stretch to assume that Yuri had not done this before. It was probably this specific political move that led to other countries to trusting the Demon Kingdom as they had 'trusted' them with their 'King'.
Of course, Kakashi was not stupid. This was all speculation on his part and he knew that. In the end, he opted to keep an eye on Yuri and any evidence he could gather to help prove his theory.
There was the sound of a door opening below them, causing both shinobi to look down from the balcony. Yuri shuffled out from below them, oblivious to their presence, carrying a load of wet laundry. A song was being hummed from the Maou's lips as he placed a wet yukata on the clothesline. Naurto watched the boy that looked his age with interest before jumping down to join him.
Kakashi sighed before picking up his book once again.
"What're you doing?" The blonde shinobi asked with interest. Yuri jumped at the sudden noise, almost dropping the piece of cloth in his hand.
The now brown eyed king turned to look at Naruto with a startled expression. "Oh man, you scared me!" Yuri took a deep breath to calm himself before he continued talking, "I'm doing the laundry that It- I mean - Akiko-san asked me to do." The japanese boy gestured to the three articles hanging behind him.
Confused blue eyes watched as the king turned back around to hand up the dripping piece of cloth onto the line. "Aren't you royalty?" Yuri turned to stare at Naruto with confusion of his own. "I mean, you look way too used to this to be a king."
Laughter spilled from Yuri's lips. The boy clutched his stomach as Naruto only stared at him as if he had gone crazy. "So that's what this is about. I wasn't always a King you know." The darker-haired boy went back to his laundry duty while continuing to speak. "I wasn't even a noble before I became king. Ironically that was why they chose me to be king." He paused as he held a wet kimono to the clothes line.
Looking behind him Yuri saw Naruto looking at him with a look of fascination. "I thought that you were born into royalty."
Yuri shrugged. Generally you were, in human countries. Recounting all of this in his head, Yuri soon realized just how odd the Demon Kingdom really was politically. "In the Demon Kingdom, the King is usually chosen by the ten noble houses, by mutual agreement. But that's only if Shinou doesn't meddle." Yuri was about to turn to his basket when he found a wet kendo-gi being held in front of him. "Thanks." He said as Naruto waited for him to clip it up.
"Who's Shinou?" Yuri paused at that. He wondered if it was ok to tell Naruto about the whole concept of souls. It wasn't like it was a deeply guarded secret and well . . .he was the Demon King.
Making up his mind, Yuri decided to just go with it. He was a terrible liar anyway. "Shinou was our first Demon King."
Naurto's eyes almost popped out of his head, "No way! He should be dead by now, unless your kingdom his relatively new . . .but aren't you the 27th Demon King or something?"
Yuri nodded, taking the hakama that blonde shinobi handed him and clipping it up. "Well . . .he's not alive. His soul is . . .trapped? I think it's either trapped or he likes it there. Anyway, he's in a temple worshipped by the priestess that live there. His word is second only to the King in charge and even then if he has the Great Sage on his side then no one can oppose him." Naruto then handed Yuri a pair of . . .stretchy pants? The young king vaguely wondered what century this country was in.
"So who's this 'Great Sage'?" Naruto asked, his eyes shining. Yuri was now really curious as to why Naruto was curious. It wasn't often that a human wanted to know a lot about the Demon Kingdom. Such curiosity was usually stifled by fear or resentment.
The Maou shrugged, "He was the half brother and tactician to Shinou four thousand years ago. He's been reborn with his memories ever since he died and has a lot of political power." Yuri shook out a t-shirt, a bit puzzled as to where the more modern clothes were coming from. "So tell me, why are you so interested?" The young King eyed the blonde shinobi, "Not that I mind, but usually humans just disregard Demon culture and politics."
Naruto stiffened at the question. His blue eyes lowered at the question as he shuffled his feet in the dirt a bit. He looked like a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I, uh, was just wondering."
Yuri raised an eyebrow but shrugged as he could tell that Naruto didn't want to talk about the real reason he was asking. "I don't mind the questions Naruto, honest. In fact, I was kinda enjoying them. It's not often that people ask me these kinds of things and I'm surprised that I even remember anything."
Naruto gave the Maou a puzzled look, "How would you not remember? You're talking about it like everyone in your country should already know."
Yuri picked up the now empty basket. "Well, I wasn't born in the Demon Kingdom, so I had to learn all of this in the last two years."
Me: Sooo some people asked when this was taking place within Naruto Shippuden and to be honest I never really gave it much thought. Everyone is aware that Naruto is a Jinchurikki and Sai is still pretty emotionless at this point, so you can kinda guess when this takes place. I need those two points in the plot to exist for the fanfic to work with moral and everything so I'm not going to pinpoint a time frame. Think of this as a filler . . .a really long filler . . .so a Bleach length filler!
