祖たるもの –The Progenitor–

Chapter Twelve: Desperation「自暴自棄」

The park.

Why was it always the park?

Naruto asked himself as he watches Issei and Yūma walk around the park, settling it as their final place to have their first date. Watching the two walk gave Naruto a sense of feeling that Issei probably finally found a way to get rid of his pervasiveness. Grinning ear to ear, the blonde could only hope that that bad feeling in his stomach was only just that, a bad feeling of paranoia. After all, it's Issei we're talking about here. Sitting there silently, Naruto could only groan in frustration.

Why, oh why does Issei always have to make this so hard? It probably didn't help that with his somehow inhumanly powerful empathy skills, Naruto was able to feel a huge amount of bad intent not too far away, aiming directly at the brunette and his date.

… wait, just Issei.

"Neh, Issei-kun?"

"Hmm…?"

Oh great, the idiot's already staring at her chest longer than he's supposed to.

Idiot.

Yūma's face fell. Uhh… maybe she's got a stalker? Or maybe her parents don't want her to go after Issei? Well, the latter does make sense…

"I… actually have something to tell you…"

Uooh, that sounds bad. That's bad. That's really really bad. Hurry Issei! While you have the chance, ask her what's wrong!"

"Yūma-chan? Is something wrong?"

YES! Now hurry! Ask if she wants something-…!

"Yes. Actually, the truth is… I didn't ask you out because I liked you."

… wait, what?

"The truth is… there's somebody who want to kill you because of what you have."

"Y-yūma-chan…?"

"I'm sorry, Issei…" Her voice no longer held that lovey-dovey pitch most girls fawning over their crushes have. "But you have to leave. I'm sorry for deceiving you, but the man who wants to kill you won't hesitate to stop until you're dead. My… boss… however, doesn't want that, so he sent me as a double agent to make sure you live…"

"Huh? Y-yūma-chan, you're not making any sense…! Somebody wants to kill me? Huh? W-was it something I did?"

The girl starts to look impatient as she gazes around for any onlookers. "Look, it's for something you have! Regardless, you have to leave here! I'll make sure your parents won't find out, but please! You have to get out of here!"

Just as she finished her sentence and just before Issei could say anything, the boy flinched violently. Slightly chocking, the brunette looked down just as Yūma's eyes widened. For a strange spear pierced Issei.

"ISSEI!"

Both Naruto and Yūma screamed as the brunette seemed to slow down as he fell to the ground, the spear having struck his chest. Blood gobbled in his mouth before he violently coughed it out.

"Issei!" Yūma, if that was her name, continued to scream, hot tears streaming off her face as Naruto abruptly stood up.

"Oh? And what do we have here? The human who is being lovey-dovey with a devil."

His paranoia senses going off the charts, Naruto immediately ducked another shiny spiky spear. Seeing the shocked look on the perpetrator's face, Naruto cocked his fist back and punched him in the face.

"Gah!" Holding his slightly injured face, the man sneered, "So, the human has some finesse in him after all…"

"Alright, you ass…" Naruto said with a very low voice. "I don't know who the hell you are, but with that glowing light stick… I can only assume that you were the one who attacked Issei…?"

"But of course! We were ordered to after all!"

"…" Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'we'…?"

"Hah! Is it not obvious!? That woman your fellow human is 'dating'? She's a Fallen just like I am!"

Fallen? No familiar with the phrase, Naruto unintentionally asked what it was. The man simply smirked under his fedora. "What's a Fallen? I mean a Fallen Angel, of course."

That surprised Naruto.

"And now, you're going to have to die too…"

That brought Naruto out of his funk as he dodged another swipe. Moving to punch the man, Naruto clicked his tongue when the man simply evaded the punch. Suddenly, he lost his breath when the man stomped on his chest. Skidding across the ground, Naruto barely had enough time to evade another stab. Moving to a low kick, Naruto smirked as he successfully threw the man off balance. His momentum still running, Naruto immediately stood up from his turn-around and moved for another punch, only to be met with air.

Correction, the air where his arm was supposed to be was gone, the face of the gleaming man being the only thing where his arm was supposed to be.

Oh.

Naruto stared, horrified, as blood flew from his amputated right arm. Looking up to see the same spear glowing within the light, the man spoke, "Hah, you're pretty good, for a human that is. Too bad, if you've been born a Fallen, this would have been more fun."

Then the pain began.

"AAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto screamed as he tightly gripped his left shoulder.

The man scoffed, "Oh, don't be such a baby."

And then a hole appeared in the middle of Naruto's chest. Thrown back by the sudden force, Naruto flew and dropped to where a dying Issei and Yūma was supposed to be.

"What the-!? Dohnaseek!"

"Well hello, Raynare!" Well, at least he's got a new name for her. "What a nice little evening, yes? Oh, and I found a little rat eavesdropping on your killing!"

"Cut the crap, you bastard! You're the one who shot Issei down, wasn't it!?"

The man, Dohnaseek, smiled.

"Why you…!" Raynare glared at Naruto for a second. "And this one… isn't he the one who's dating that Devil? We were only supposed to watch him."

"The same with that human brat you dated for only a day! And yet, you've become so fixated on him, I wonder why…?"

Naruto gasped for air as he watched Raynare tighten her fists' grip. Seems like that she didn't want to kill Issei or him at all. Though, it did appeared that she was only trying to save Issdei earlier. Give the girl a brownie.

"Feh, whatever," Dohnaseek dismissed the raven head's frustration. "I'll be waiting for you at the base. Don't be late."

And with that, the winged man left. Her hair covering her eyes, Raynare turned to the dying men. Her arms around herself, she whispers, "I'm sorry. I never wanted this to happen…" Kneeling towards Issei, Raynare once again whispers, "In case you hear this, I just wanted to say that my name is Raynare, and… and, I'm sorry…"

Leaving a light graze with her lips on Issei's, Raynare stands and turns around. Wiping her tears away, the girl offers one last glance before flying off.

Coughing up blood, Naruto rolled over to his stomach before forcing himself up. Crawling towards Issei, Naruto winces at the open gap. Trying to apply pressure onto the supernatural wound, Naruto began trying to keep Issei awake.

"… Sen… pai…"

"Come on… Issei, don't you dare fall asleep on me…" Coughing, Naruto turned around and screamed, "HEY! Is anyone awake!? Call an ambulance!" Violently coughing again, Naruto continued to try and keep Issei awake while simultaneously calling for an ambulance. His strength leaving him, Naruto suddenly stumbled, slipping on the spilt blood, before violently falling to his back. Trying to keep the excruciating pain from showing on his face, Naruto simply settled for gasping for his breathe before resolving to get up after he rests.

"Dammit, ISSEEEI! Don't you dare die!"

The silence was all that was given to Naruto. Cursing, Naruto simply wailed as he could do nothing but watch as his friend slowly, painfully, died. With his last breath, Issei whispered out a wish. In his own agony, Naruto couldn't hear the brunette, continuously screaming at Issei and himself to stay awake.

However, even he knew that he was dying.

"Shit… am I… going to… die…?" The thought itself killed him in the inside. The pain he was feeling from his amputated arm and the hole in his chest paled in comparison. He struggled to keep himself awake.

"I can't… die yet… not like this…! I still… have to keep… my promise… I still… have to… save Rias… from Riser…"

Regardless, Naruto could feel, he could see the darkness creeping from the corner of his eyes.

"… Shit… I'm seriously… dying…"

If the blonde could cry, he would be absolutely bawling. Seeing as he no longer had the strength to even do that, Naruto settled for silently sobbing.

"Fuck… I'm sorry… Rias… I'm sorry… Kā-chan … I'm sorry… everyone… I couldn't… do anything… I'm sorry… Rias…"

As he thought this, a familiar flyer fell from the skies, flying as the wind carried it to its final destination. His arm, now tired from trying to stop the bleeding, fell onto the flyer, refusing to let it go. Unknown to him, another flyer fell from Isse's pants. The blood seeped into the papers, the array of seals within them glowed a majestic crimson. The glow was unseen, however, as even his vision left him, the excruciating pain disappearing. Feeling his heart slowly beating to a stop, he settles for one last desire.

"My only wish… is to see you… one… last… time…"

And the array glowed brighter and brighter and brighter until the park disappeared in a brilliant flash of red blood crimson.

"… I love you…"

And then, the gears of faith moved.

A/N:

Now then, if anyone has any complaints to Naruto dying, please refer to the next two chapters for what will happen next before coming into conclusions.

However, Chapter Fourteen will most DEFINITELY have many of you bitching about, so I'll be preparing myself for it...

By the way, Chapter Fourteen has an important announcement, so please pay attention to it when it appears, ok?

Thanks.