Disclaimer: I don't own either Naruto or High School DxD. Neither do I make any profit from writing this fic.
(AN): It's kind of kek that probably 20% of my reviews are flames. Such hate.
The blue eyes that peeked back at Naruto through the mirror were tired, ringed with shadows and perched over sallow cheeks.
Licking the tip of his fingers, Naruto made one last effort to tame his flyaway red strands before giving it up as a lost cause. He'd managed to force his shaggy mane into some semblance of neat order, but Naruto was beginning to doubt anyone could ever force the last bit of spiky wildness out of his locks. No matter the life, polite just wasn't in his follicles.
He hadn't even made it to the ball and Naruto was already choking in his stiff formal clothes. The black silk waistcoat and trousers were comfortable enough, but the heavy ruby pendant hanging from his teenaged neck was a constant heavy reminder of the duties he'd inherited. The duties of marriage and fathering the next generation of clan leadership.
Marriage contracting wasn't something that had ever really hit Naruto before. The fact that he'd likely be arranged off and married to some stranger had never seemed real until the moment he realized Souji wasn't taking the piss. And after Naruto had discovered it was no joke, he'd spent the next month in a hurricane of emotion.
There was anger at his parents and grandparents for agreeing to it in the first place. There was guilt as Naruto couldn't make himself accept it even after finding out that his marriage had held off a national crisis. There was despair at the loss of the freely chosen future he'd been taking for granted. There was even self-hatred as he couldn't stop himself from wishing the Phenex girl had never been born, or that it had been Rias sold off like a broodmare instead.
Forcing himself to keep his head on straight and not lash out at everyone had been a monumental effort for Naruto, but he'd powered through. When the going got tough, and he was needed, Naruto still felt he willing to sacrifice his own safety and-slash-or happiness for the good of the many. It was a trait Naruto had managed to hold onto through both lifetimes, and something that put guilty pride in his parents' faces.
Blood and ashes though. No amount of moralizing and rationalizing and telling himself he was hanging the fucking moon was making it easier. He wasn't ready. Naruto would never be ready. A month of preparing hadn't made Naruto any more willing to meet his betrothed and speak to her.
Naruto's deep red cotton topcoat was shoved into his hands, dragging the Gremory heir out of his depressed musings as Sasuke grounded him back in the real world.
"Enough with the preening." Sasuke sneered. The rough tone would be brutal to anyone else, but Naruto knew Sasuke well enough to recognize the concern in his friend. He appreciated the effort to give him some of their confrontational banter to hang onto.
Scoffing back, the redhead shoved his arms through the sleeves and left the coat hanging open. Ruby cufflinks found their place in short order, further emphasizing the Gremory family colouring. Red hair, red magic, and red clothes – if they'd had red eyes, it would have completed the set.
"No need to be rude, servant." Naruto mocked, giving himself a final once over in the giant mirror. "Keep that act up and I'll never promote you being to my personal ass kisser."
"As if anyone would want to put their mouth near that filthy unwashed crack of yours."
"I'll have you know that lots of women are ardent admirers of these beautiful cheeks."
The cuff Sasuke gave Naruto about the ears had little force behind it, and Rias' Pawn rolled his eyes. "We done here, Lord Shitty Arse?"
Giving the Uchiha a considering glance, Naruto wondered if the black tuxedo was appropriate. Yes, the fashions of the human world bled over into the Underworld very easily, but they were more popular among the young devils and the nouveau nobility. The stubbornness of the old nobility was why Naruto dressed like someone out of Victorian Britain.
But as a servant, Sasuke was probably given more leeway. It might even look better to the other families if Naruto's friend looked noticeably less done up than the household which was at least nominally lording over him.
"Yeah, we're done here. You better get back to Rias. Wouldn't want her to cry that I'm stealing you from her." Naruto dismissed.
Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes again before summoning a teleportation circle. "You're assuming you could steal me from anyone." Purple underglow the same colour as the Uchiha's Susanoo had been in another life sinisterly lit up the older teens' features. Opening his mouth, the raven seeming to struggle to find something to say before Sasuke's jaw clicked shut again and he vanished in a shower of radiant motes.
As much as Naruto wanted his friend at his side, the right observances had to be made. Sasuke was in Rias' peerage, not Naruto's, and would have to at least enter the room by her side.
Naruto had no peerage, and he was old enough not to be tagging along with his parents' entourage.
For now, he was alone.
The champagne that cloyed over his tongue was lighter and more bubbly than anything Sasuke had tasted before. His family might have been considered of high breeding in Konoha, but the utter extravaganza surrounding him seemed like fairytale nonsense compared to the few formal gatherings Sasuke had attended before the massacre of the clan.
If there was a point where displays of wealth ceased to be tasteful and became ridiculously gaudy, the Phenex clan had long since passed it. Rias had warned him before they'd entered to expect the riches of Naruto's betrothed's house to be on display, but even that wasn't enough to prevent the initial shock.
Faded frescos filled every inch of the marble ceiling, inlaid with precious metals and gems. Two dozen chandeliers hung overhead, heavy multicolored crystal suspended with thick red gold arms. Not an inch of the original ivory colour of the marble was visible beneath all the decoration and jewelry. The walls were no better, festooned with jewel encrusted candelabras lit up with deep red magical flames. The combined effect was somewhere between Italian Renaissance, nouveau rich, and modern mosh pit, and the winding staircase that led up to a landing looked remarkably out of place.
Marquis Phenex seemed a base man, Sasuke scorned inwardly, keeping his polite mask screwed on tight.
The family was the third richest in Gehenna, but far from the third highest ranked. That the Lord of the house felt due a princely title was no great secret, and all the bribering of lesser houses for their votes the Marquis did was just an attempt to make up for the lack of recognition. For Naruto's sake, Sasuke hoped the granddaughter was less grasping, and that the father-in-law was more humble than the current lord of the clan.
Turning with the gentle pull of Rias' left hand in the crook of his arm, Sasuke twisted to face yet another pair of minor nobles. There might be only 33 old families, but the extended branches of those produced dozens if not hundreds of scrabbling leeches that had no semblance and nothing to them beyond their name. Combined with the new nobility made up from commoners and reincarnated devils that had crawled up through the Rating Games, there seemed to be no end to the well-wishers and arse kissers that wanted an in with the Ruin Princess. Rias might no longer be the heir, but she was still connected.
Sasuke kept a discreet eye on his mistress, watching as she navigated the arena with a practiced tongue and a falsely friendly disposition. Offering the required niceties when greeted and false prompts about needing to go see old acquaintances when the frown between Rias' brows grew too obvious, the Uchiha felt more like a gravure idol's manager and less like a date.
Not that Sasuke was burning with romantic urges for the young woman, but he was at least nominally her plus one. Himejima, Toujou, and Kiba had all been sidelined into the shadows along with most of the other servants, leaving the Uchiha in the hot seat to handle all the shit that popped up.
Look like pretty arm candy. Chat with all the meddling geezers that liked to offer wistful commentary about youth romance. Offer the appropriate lies to escape when Rias seemed to be worn out. Scare off horny teen devils that couldn't take one of her hints with black glares.
"Next time, don't wear something so eye-catching." Sasuke criticized, confused by the sunny smile she responded with.
Whatever. If she hadn't wanted to be accosted by so many people, Rias shouldn't have worn the sweeping emerald charmeuse gown. While it covered her very modestly to the neck and to her wrists, even the long wrapping scarf failed to conceal the tight strain of her woman's curves against the fabric.
Naruto was… somewhere. Sasuke had heard him announced almost an hour past and had caught distant glimpses, but the Uchiha wasn't about to ditch Rias and go shoving through the crowd to find him.
For one, Sasuke had suffered enough of Naruto's moping for the month-long period between the invitation and the party itself. While Sasuke wasn't unsympathetic, there was a limit to the Uchiha's ability to play counsellor. Rias might have practically lent him to Naruto for the month, but that didn't make Sasuke any better at being touchy feely.
Second, even if Rias had freely chosen to nag Sasuke into playing babysitter, the crimson haired girl was no shinobi. Her mask was good, but not that good, and the Uchiha knew that her own act of kindness had made her desperately unhappy. The inferiority complex was borderline ridiculous, and if Sasuke hadn't suffered one of his own for practically all his life, he'd be less willing to tolerate her insecurities.
As it was, Sasuke did know how it felt to consider himself constantly inferior to a sibling or rival. So he couldn't quite kill the prick in his heart that told him to hang around and look after her for the first time in weeks instead of her nephew.
A flash of red drew Sasuke's dark eye, and there Naruto was. The younger devil still looked slightly pale, but at least Naruto was functioning. Keeping the Gremory heir in his line of sight, Sasuke bent down to murmur in his mistress' ear. "Time to go play backup?"
Rias laughed off another comment from a wrinkled old crone, waving her away with exaggerated amusement and fondness even as her sea-green eyes tracked along the ground to find Naruto as well. Pink lips curved back up in a false smile, portraying the image of beautiful young socialite as she weighed the idea.
"Yes." Rias decided, reaffirming her grip on Sasuke's arm as they began to meander forward. "I know you've been looking after him for the last month, but I think he'll still need the support. The wife-to-be is still somewhere about after all, and we might need to run damage control."
Grunting in agreement, the Uchiha took the lead and with his greater bulk pressed through the crowd. Sasuke heard her faint "Sorry, we're just going to greet my nephew" repeated several times along the way.
As the redhead brushed off yet another puffed up noble, a whirl of blonde and pink broke through the crowd near Naruto. Sasuke didn't need to know who she was to recognize the sharp-eyed expression of expectation.
Sasuke cursed beneath his breath, changing their course from polite wandering to a rude beeline directly through the crowd. The welcoming expression on the Gremory heir's face froze as Ravel politely curtsied with a child's exuberance. They were too distant for the Uchiha to make out the words, but Sasuke knew that there was limited time before Naruto managed to put his foot in his mouth.
"They're already together." He informed Rias after a particularly rough push from the crowd drove an annoyed huff out her lungs.
Rias made a noise of comprehension, leaning against him to add her weight to their shoving. The crowd parted like the Red Sea before Moses, and the pair burst through the press of bodies just quick enough to catch the tail end of Naruto's nervous chuckle.
"Aha, well it was really nice to meet you. I'm gonna have to step out for a bit though, I'm not feeling too good. I'll see you later." With that, the Gremory heir turned and fled back into the crowd.
Untangling her arm from Sasuke's, Rias gave her Pawn a push to the small of his back. "You go, I'll handle this." The Ruin Princess watched as the Uchiha wordlessly nodded and broke away before spinning to give a smiling curtsy.
"Good evening, Lady Phenex."
Ingrained courtesy derailed Ravel's progression from confused to offended, and the blond girl curtsied back. "Good evening to you too, but Lady Phenex is my grandmother. I'm just Ravel." For an eleven year old girl her motions were well-practiced and elegant, but Ravel hadn't quite mastered the 'mask', and blazing anger created by being spurned shone in her blue eyes.
Rias decided she felt sorry for the poor thing.
"Nonsense." Rias winked one turquoise eye as the redhaired young woman straightened. "Stuffy old rules are for stuffy old men, and I think you look more like a real lady than everyone else in the room."
Watching the way the little girl's cheeks pinked with pleased embarrassment, Rias stepped closer and bent down to whisper conspiratorially "Just between you and me, I'm bored to death of all the puffed up fossils here. Want to walk with me a bit?"
Biting her lip in indecision, Ravel scanned the mingling crowd and smoothed down her pink gown. The blonde eventually gave a small but real grin, tugging at the drill-like curl of a pigtail. "Okay, nee-san."
Rias grinned back, taking the child's hand and gently leading her away from the center of the ballroom. The areas near to the walls and corners were where the servants milled, but were more private and would be less likely to overwhelm the girl than the constant press of strangers. "Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rias Gremory."
"I know that, Miss Rias." Ravel puffed with a smile. "I've never seen anyone with hair like yours. Except Lord Gremory and Lord Lucifer. And Naruto." The last name trailed out with a hint of irritation, and Rias capitalized on it.
Wagging a well-manicured finger at the younger girl, Rias cut right to the root of it. "Turn that frown upside down, missy. No girl should be sad at her own engagement party. Especially a beautiful young lady like you."
Ravel's lips thinned with displeasure, and as the little girl fisted the pink silk of her dress Rias reflected that leading her to the shadowed corner had been the right thing to do. "It's a little bit difficult to be full of joy when my own betrothed hates me. I simply tried to say hello and he ran away."
"Well of course he ran away." Rias chuckled lightly, beckoning the girl closer with a finger. "But it's not because he hates you. It's because he's scared."
The look the Phenex girl offered was confused, but at least the boiling resentment had stopped. "What? Why would he be scared?" Annoyance shifted Ravel's mouth into a pout. "Did one of my brothers go and tell him they were going to beat him up? Seems like the kind of thing Riser would do."
If only they had. It would be such a convenient little white lie.
"Nothing like that." Lowering her voice to a whisper, Rias made a show of casting an eye out for eavesdroppers. "The truth is – ah, I shouldn't tell you. Naruto wouldn't like it if I spilled his secrets."
All traces of anger fled the blonde's face, and Ravel transformed into something very familiar to Rias – a child eager to hear gossip. "I can keep secrets." Ravel promised instantly, staring up at the redhaired girl with spellbound excitement. "I'm the best at keeping secrets."
Pretending to consider it, Rias held off until Ravel looked fit to burst before caving. "Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't say anything to anyone. Especially Naruto."
"I swear!"
"Pinky swear?"
Ravel held up a dainty little finger, which Rias shook with her own with all the solemnity of a priest conducting a funeral.
"Okay, so the secret is that Naruto is a romantic. He's a huge one." Rias emphasized when Ravel only looked confused. "When we were younger, he used to beg me to read him love stories. And now that he's older he spends his time watching romcoms and reading girly romance novels."
Building on the lie with a sense of sadistic humor, Rias only smirked when Ravel's face filled with shock.
Ravel cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "No way!"
"Yes way! That's why he ran away. Naruto's been dreaming all his life about meeting a wonderful girl, getting married, and having lots of babies. But now that he actually met you, he's so afraid he'll muck it up that he wanted to run away. I was surprised he did because he spent the whole month talking about meeting you tonight, but Naruto can be really shy."
Ravel clasped her hands together, barely able to contain her amusement at Naruto's supposed sappiness. "That's so cute! I don't think any of my other suitors were like that. Most of them were boring and loved to talk about money. Why didn't I think of it before? It's so simple."
Satisfied that engagement had been repaired for the night on her end, Rias wished Sasuke luck in straightening out her nephew. She held her pinky up again. "I know! That's why I want you to promise me that you'll remember – no matter how much he runs away or how shy he is, Naruto is really just a softy that wants to be loved. So you hang in there, and never give up."
"Alright. I'll pinky swear!"
Sasuke burst into the restroom like a bat out of hell. Taking one look at the pale faced Naruto staring into the mirror like a zombie, the Uchiha flipped the taps. Then he scooped up a handful of water and splashed it directly into the redhead's eyes.
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke bit out, watching as his friend spluttered and rubbed the wetness away with a sleeve.
"Fuck off, Sasuke."
Waiting until the redhead had scrubbed his face dry, Sasuke threw another handful of water into Naruto's eyes. "Want to tell me what the hell that was, dobe? Because that sure looked to me like you forgot your balls at home."
Blue eyes glared balefully at the Uchiha for a breath before Naruto shook his head and fled into the toilet stall.
Sasuke stood alone in the rich ebony and silver accented washroom, thankful that they were alone and that he'd thought to lock the door. Then he raised a leg and kicked the stall open with a crash.
"What the hell Sasuke? Can't you just piss off and leave me be for a bit?" Naruto growled, rising from his seat on the toilet and glowering. "I'd have thought you understood the idea of needing a little fucking space, fuck!"
Taking in the younger devil's defensive stance, guarded face, and clenched jaw with a considering glance, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Nope. Fuck this. I'm not your fucking psychologist."
Then Sasuke fled, leaving Naruto momentarily befuddled until the Uchiha returned with an armful of blue glass bottles. Watching as Sasuke popped the corks on a pair of the bottles, Naruto accepted one and held it up to his nose.
"The fuck you giving me booze for?"
"Drink it." Sasuke ordered, taking a swig and grimacing faintly at the sweet bubbling champagne. "I'm not dealing with your delicate girly feelings sober, and we have until the end of the next hour to get your shit straightened out. If you're not on the floor when old man Phenex decides to give his speech, this whole night will be a clusterfuck."
Swirling the bottle but not lifting it his lips, Naruto dubiously watched Sasuke pound back the thousand-dollar wine like it was illicit moonshine. "Not that I'm going to judge if you decide you need to live a little, but I'm pretty sure this is illegal. I am a minor."
"As if you care." Sasuke snorted, setting aside the empty bottle with a quiet burp and stepping forward.
"Wait, what are you-"
"Hold still, dumbass."
And that was how Naruto found himself pressed to the bathroom wall by another man at his own engagement party, alcohol being poured down his throat despite his protests. If they didn't reek like a pair of boozehounds by the end of Sasuke's escapade, Naruto would eat his own boxers.
"Fuck!" Shouting and spluttering, Naruto shoved the other boy away. "I should kick your ass for that you bastard!"
"Oooh, I'm so scared." Sasuke mocked, opening another pair of bottles and passing one to Naruto. "I might start taking you seriously if you get enough liquid courage into you. Otherwise, I don't think you've got enough spine left."
Nursing his bottle with a mutinous frown but more cooperation, the Gremory heir kicked at the Uchiha's knee. "I've got more spine in my pinky than you've got in your whole body, shitbird."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but subsided, waiting for the alcohol to take its toll. Long minutes passed in silence, broken only by the popping of corks and Sasuke's impatient urging for Naruto to drink faster.
Judging the other devil intoxicated enough after the fourth bottle, Sasuke passed Naruto a fifth with a repeat of his earlier demand. "Feel like telling me what the fuck that was out there?"
"What the hell are you talkin' about?"
The sweetness of the champagne became more pleasant the drunker Sasuke got, and he barely remembered to grimace at the taste. "I mean the whole 'haha excuse me while I run away and hide in the bathroom like a little bitch'?"
"Fuck you." Naruto rejoined with little heat, peering through the open end of his bottle at the emptiness inside. The alcohol burned pleasantly in his bloodstream. "I wasn't ready for it."
"Ready for what?"
Throwing up a hand, Naruto whipped his arm in a vague circle. "I wasn't ready for this. All of this! I'm thirteen years old! I'm not supposed to be getting engaged and married off for at least another three decades at the earliest."
"Don't bullshit me." Sasuke snorted, loosening his green bowtie with one hand and leaning back against the counter. "You're thirty-three or thirty-four, you grown-ass man. Back home you'd be married with a few brats on the way, if not comfortably middle aged given how long shinobi typically lived. Why is the Hero of the Hidden Leaf hiding in some rich snob's bathroom?"
Seizing Sasuke's coat by the lapels, Naruto shook the older devil. "That's not who I am anymore!" the denial was full of such anguish that Sasuke's mouth dropped slightly open. "Don't you get it? This is the life we've got now! All the suffering, everything we fought for, all the sacrifices our friends made, it's nothing!"
Naruto's hands dropped away, and the redhead rubbed his eyes with a sleeve. "Uzumaki Naruto doesn't exist anymore. Only Naruto Gremory does, and he's still a kid. A kid that wants to hold onto his family. A kid that doesn't want to have to bury his friends. A kid that wants to grow up properly, and make all the stupid little memories everyone takes for granted. He wants to meet a nice girl and fall in love with her, and get married and start a family of his own when he chooses it – not because he had to do it for the sake of the world!"
"Stop whining, it's pathetic!" Sasuke ordered sharply.
Running his thumb over the lip of his bottle, Sasuke set it aside. "You're wrong." He declared after a beat, carefully observing the play of emotions across Naruto's face with dark eyes. "Uzumaki Naruto is not dead. He still exists, and he always will. Naruto Gremory wouldn't have known to treasure those bonds. He'd take them, and the future he wanted for granted. But you value those things, and that's how I know that Uzumaki Naruto will always be alive in you. So dispense with your excuses you big baby. I have nothing else to say to a loser that forgot everything we learned from our hardships."
In a way, Naruto had it more difficult in the new world than Sasuke had. Sure, the Uchiha had suffered poverty with a body that had little natural talent. He'd been alone and weak, threatened with death many times over. But he hadn't had to give up dozens of bonds. He hadn't had to leave the Konoha he wanted to build behind. The sacrifices his family had made for him were for him to live, which Sasuke was doing in any world. The sacrifices Naruto's friends had made were for a Konoha he'd promised them but would never be able to see.
"That was almost profound, bastard." Chuckling thickly, Naruto opened another blue bottle and took a sip. "Careful now, I might think you're growing soft."
Sasuke's lip curled with contempt. "Think what you want. I just can't help but feel like it's fucking sad that Uzumaki Naruto is scared of a little arranged marriage. Get your shit together. I didn't lose the Hokage's hat to a pansy."
"Yeah, yeah, you're as bad as a woman. Everything is about you and your emotional clusterfuck."
"I'm telling your mother you said that."
"Fuck you!"
Rias glanced up at the enormous staircase with a worried expression. Her Pawn and nephew were cutting it pretty close. There were scant few minutes until the elderly Marquis Phenex would appear at the top of the stairs leading down into the ballroom to give a speech, and if the husband-to-be was not in the room, there would be unfortunate talk.
Smoothing over everything with Ravel had been easy enough. The eleven year old girl was sweet and pretty – and even intelligent – but she hadn't yet grown perceptive. Ravel hadn't really considered that all of Rias' friendliness and informality was a deliberate attempt to repair the bad impression Naruto's poor behavior had created.
It was good to see that some youth even in the Underworld were still that innocent.
Sasuke reappeared like a whirlwind, stepping closer than was strictly polite as her formal 'plus one' and giving one of her admirers such a filthy glare that it was a wonder the boy didn't wet himself as he fled.
Rias could smell the faint woodsmoke aroma he always had clinging to his skin, along with the familiar smell of the champagne the servers had been offering. "Are you drunk?" she hissed, growing more incensed when he only smirked roguishly.
"I can't believe you! Did you get Naruto drunk too?" Grabbing the crook of her Pawn's elbow with far more force than necessary, Rias screwed on a polite look of interest as Marquis Phenex appeared at the top of the marble steps.
Sasuke's face took on a mask of its own, one friendlier than the face he'd been wearing before he'd disappeared with her nephew. "There's no need to get so jealous, Rias. I'll get drunk with you any time you want."
Heat flared in her cheeks, and the Ruin Princess discreetly stepped on Sasuke's toes. "That's not the point! He's thirteen years old – he's an underage minor that has no business getting mixed up with such things."
"I think you might be expecting a little more innocence from him than he actually has, especially for a devil." Sasuke commented wryly. "He's an old hand at this. See him over at the front there? Looks perfectly sober."
She was appalled and indignant, and maybe just a teensy bit jealous. "An old hand? Are you telling me he's some kind of alcoholic? Even if that's correct, that doesn't mean I want you enabling him. Besides, aren't you also underage? Who's enabling you?"
"That's enough, mom. It's starting."
"Fine, but don't think I'm forgetting this."
Marquis Phenex was a dignified looking man. Silver blended seamlessly with the blonde hairs at his temples and peppered through his goatee. Blood red robes clung to a body more muscular than was to be expected from a middle-aged man, and a single thing gold chain hung from his neck. It was in all far less gaudy and grotesque than what was to be expected from the kind of man that had designed the ballroom they were standing in.
Settling a hand over the banister, the Marquis smiled generously down at his milling guests and servants and waited for the low buzz of chatter to subside. It was a testament to their breeding and training that the crowd quieted within the minute.
"Welcome, my friends." Lord Phenex boomed, settling a hand over his heat in a dramatic display of approachability. "Thank you for coming to take part in this momentous celebration. Truly, it is an honor to have so many familiar faces here – and even unfamiliar ones!"
The Marquis might be given to lavish and crass displays, but he wasn't stupid. He knew he wasn't the so-called 'star' of the evening, even if the real victory belonged to him, and the crowd wouldn't stand for him to self-aggrandize. "It warms my heart to see so much support for my granddaughter and her betrothed. To Ravel Phenex and Naruto of the Gremory family. This night is for them, and for the bright future!"
Hoisting a flute full of pink champagne, Lord Phenex assumed a mantle of false magnanimity. "A toast, to the future!"
"The future." The crowd echoed back dutifully, a smattering of glasses raised here and there. Dozens of faces turned towards Naruto and Ravel, who stood side-by-side at the foot of the staircase. Both young devils were the picture of regality, their finery without a single crease and their faces welcoming but formal.
Smirking with self-satisfaction, the Marquis snapped his fingers with a glow of scarlet magic. "Now, let the dance begin!"
Music filled the air, and Rias turned to offer her other hand to Sasuke. "Well, at least you managed to get him here. Let's just hope the two of you don't end up making drunken fools of yourselves. I'm going to take revenge for every smushed toe you give me."
(AN): 5100 here.
There were a couple of different predictions about how Naruto would behave. I felt that this would be the best. Sure, he's not going to run out. But I can't see him being happy about it either. His entire first life has been built on him having to give up stuff for others, and then he's had a second life to get used to not having to do that. The sudden reversal is a bit of a shock for him, and while he'll do it he's not in any way happy about it.
Marquis Phenex – is an OC, yes. Don't cite the wiki at me. I knew about that going in. I just felt that given how in real life most lords will hang onto their titles until they die, that most actual lords (i.e heads of house, voters in the Senate) are going to end up being on the older side. The canon 'Lord Phenex' is actually his son and not the lord yet in this fic. Thus Riser et. all are the Lord's grandchildren.