"I knew they planned on acting against her. I just didn't know it was going to be so quick." Vali sat idly on one of Naruto's foldable chairs with a white mug in his hand. To his side sat Kuroka in a similar chair with her own mug. The contents of their cups seemed vastly different, with Kuroka's looking as white as the moon while Vali's sat at a dark brown.

Across from the duo sat a rather interesting sight. It was a sight that neither thought they would ever witness in any sort of capacity within their lifetimes or in the afterlife.

Sitting on the sole couch of the room was Naruto and Ophis. The dragon was wrapped in a mass blankets, looking very similar to a swaddled child. The convulsions the girl had been having earlier seemed to have settled somewhat as her body only shook slightly under her wrappings.

What was interesting about the girl was her position. The god was quite literally snuggled into Naruto's side. Her head was laid comfortably in the boy's lap while the rest of the body sat very far into his own personal space. The blond looked only slightly bothered by the development as his hand rested calmly against the sleeping girl's scalp.

"Is one of you finally going to explain just what the hell happened? How did this happen to her?" Naruto glanced down at the shaking dragon with a large frown on his face. Despite everything that had happened between the two, it was worrying to see the dragon in this type of condition.

"That's what we came here to warn you about. I just didn't predict that they would move so quickly." Vali muttered the last sentence before taking a long sip from his mug. A low sigh left the devil's lips once he pulled the mug away from them.

"While I was gone from my 'job'," The devil made sure to throw up air quotes at this, causing Naruto to roll his eyes. "I was observing the Khaos Brigade. I had heard reports from some members of my group that they had been acting odd since Ophis had started visiting."

"Turns out they had teamed up with some evil god to hurt Ophis-san, Nya!~" Kuroka suddenly spoke up. This managed to earn her a glare from the young devil. She quickly responded by blowing the boy a raspberry, causing Vali to roll his eyes at her before returning his attention back onto Naruto.

"As crude as she put it, she is pretty much correct. Recently, a mysterious figure has been spending a lot of time in the dimensional gap. There's been a lot of whispers that the figure was a god. Which one, I'm not entirely sure of, but it must be a major one to cause this much damage." Vali finished. Naruto nodded at the boy's explanation, but a slight confusion still covered his expression.

"Is there even a god that could've managed to do this to her by themselves. Isn't she supposed to be … well pretty much all-powerful? Plus, why leave her like this? She feels more weak than hurt." If someone really did manage overpower the dragon god, the blond was sure she would be dead. Instead, she was left shivering like a child, but still very much alive.

"We're not entirely sure. Like I said, I thought we would have a little more time to investigate. I just came to warn you." The devil's cold nature came into view as he set his mug down and flashed Naruto his usual apathetic look.

"Nya, don't lie, Val-chan. I remember you saying just how worried about Naruto-kun and how you had to warn him as soon as possible." Kuroka teased with a coy smile on her lips. As soon as the words finished leaving her mouth, Vali whipped towards her with a furious look on his face.

"Shut your mouth, woman. I said no such thing." The devil barked out loudly to the Nekoshou. Kuroka didn't look the least bit perturbed by the shout. If anything, the smile on her face only grew larger by the boy's agitation.

"Don't be shy now. When we were living together, you couldn't help but talk about him all the ti-" Kuroka stopped talking in order to duck a flying mug. A loud cackle left her throat as she took off towards the kitchen with Vali hot on her heels. While the Nekoshou looked as happy as she could be as she ran, Vali's face was a furious mask mixed with a tinge of embarrassment could be seen by the blush on his cheeks.

"You keep your lying mouth shut. I am tired of hearing your voice!" The devil's shout was followed by a loud giggle which only seemed to heighten his agitation. He soon disappeared into the kitchen after the Nekoshou. Several seconds later, loud banging and crashing could be heard coming from the room, followed by more giggling from Kuroka and cursing from Vali.

"They better not break any of my ramen packets." The blond thought to himself before standing up from the couch with Ophis in his arms. For some reason, he was slightly caught off guard at how light she was. His view of her as a nearly unlimited being of power had obscured the fact that she was still in the form of a child.

"This is not how I expected our relationship to turn out." Naruto thought to himself as he stared down at the girl. If it wasn't for the sporadic shaking her body was doing, she would've looked oddly at peace. Her appearance really did make her look like an innocent young girl. It was odd how such a simple disguise could hide so much power.

"Though, is it really a disguise?" Naruto thought to himself as he walked her to the guest room of the house. If it were a disguise, he been somewhat aware of the girl's true mass. As a dragon, she should've weighed a lot more than he could carry. Instead, she seemed to weigh even less than Koneko did.

As Naruto debated the idea whether Ophis' disguise truly was a disguise, he entered the guest room. Almost absentmindedly, he laid the girl down onto the room's bed. With the dragon now out of his hands, Naruto stood awkwardly over the side of the bed, looking down at the resting girl with a soft gleam in his eye.

"Should I?" The blond thought to himself as he stared down at the defenseless dragon. Due to the nature of their relationship, he would most likely never get another chance like this.

"Might as well." Naruto reasoned to himself as he began to reach down towards the girl. His movements were slow as his hand steadily approached the girl. He didn't want to disturb the girl from her sleep and see what he was trying to do. Even in her weakened state, Naruto had a hunch that she could still cause quite a bit of damage if she wanted.

It took several long seconds of careful movements but eventually Naruto got to the point that his finger was only an inch or two away from the girl's face. He hesitated only for a second before he pushed his finger forward into her cheek. His eyes widened when his finger met flesh.

"So soft." The shinobi couldn't help but think to himself as he poked Ophis' cheek. As soon as he realized that he had actually thought such a thing, the teen quickly retracted his hand as if he had fire. Unfortunately for him, his sudden movement seemed to have roused Ophis from her unconsciousness as she began to stir. Slowly, her eyes began to open as she became aware of the world. It took her several seconds for to fully awake, and when she did, she immediately locked eyes with Naruto.

The two remained staring at each other for several seconds. No words were exchanged between during the time. The awkwardness the blond had been feeling earlier seemed to fill the room the longer the silence continued.

"Why … am I wrapped up?" Ophis finally broke the silence with her question. Naruto glanced down at her body and saw that the dragon had been silently struggling to break free from her prison of blankets during their silence.

"You were shaking so I figured you were cold. The blankets were supposed to keep you warm." Naruto explained. His explanation earned him a dead-eyed expression from Ophis as she briefly stopped in her struggling.

"I am not cold."

"Oh…" Naruto stated before reaching down to free the girl from her bondage.

"This is pretty tight." The shinobi couldn't help but think to himself as he briefly struggled with the blanket bindings. It took him a bit of effort, but, after several seconds, he managed to undo the wrap. The blankets fell to Ophis' side, allowing to stretch her limbs. The shinobi allowed the girl to do so. In the meantime, he took a seat onto the bed.

"It didn't work." Naruto had to strain his ears to hear the girl's voice. He turned to face her and saw that she had her head angled down towards the bed.

"What?" The blond questioned. He hadn't fully heard what the dragon had said and the curious side of him demanded he know.

"I … asked," Ophis started off in the same soft voice. "They did not listen. So … I killed them. I killed most of them until.." The dragon paused at this point. Naruto watched in shock as she began to shake. With her face hidden from him, he couldn't tell if it was out of anger or sadness.

"They … they took my power. They stole it. That … human and the dragon." Naruto could almost taste the venom within Ophis' voice. As she raised her head, the shinobi could see that the shaking was clearly coming from her anger. Her face screamed murder as her eyes stabbed into his own.

"I'll destroy them. I will erase them. I will get back what is mine. They stole what is mine so I shall reap their souls!" For one of the few times since their original meeting, Ophis' voice rose to a shout. Her face was showing the most emotion it had shown in years as it twisted into a hate-filled visage. Even in her weakened form, her power caused a physical reaction within the room as the bed and furniture creaked loudly in response to it.

As all of this was occurring, Naruto could do nothing but look sadly at the girl. He didn't even need the use of his empathetic abilities to tell that she was in a lot of pain. Any pain she may have felt at being betrayed was probably massively overwhelmed by the fact that someone stole a literal part of her from her.

"I'll help." Naruto's voice managed to cut through the girl's anger. Within a moment, the rage that had been so apparent within her seemed to dissipate as confusion took its place. She slowly settled down back onto the bed while staring at the blond.

"What … did you say?" Ophis slowly questioned. Naruto sighed at her question before looking directly at her face.

"I said I would help. At least in terms of getting your powers back." The shinobi explained almost solemnly to the girl. His explanation seemed to have no affect on the girl's conclusion as she simply blinked owlishly at him.

"Why?" Naruto wanted to groan at the question. The dragon was making it very difficult for him to show his sympathy.

"Because no one deserves to have their home and power taken away from them. Plus … I trust you with your power than any other person." The blond muttered the last statement beneath his breath. Even with the low volume of his voice, Ophis seemed to pick up on his mutterings as the confusion on her face cleared.

"Trust…" The girl whispered before descending into silence. A large part of the shinobi wanted to further explain his statement to the god while his other half demanded that he let it rest. The confused, yet pondering look on her face eventually allowed the latter half to win out as he rose from the bed.

"I'll help you Ophis. But, for now, just try to rest a little. If you need anything, feel free to use the seal." The teen's words seemed to go completely over the dragon's head as she gave no physical reaction to even hearing it. Naruto decided not the press the issue and simply decided to quietly exit the room. He softly shut the door behind him and moved to make his way to his kitchen for a snack before promptly running into a crouched Kuroka.

"Ouchie, Nya!~" The Nekoshou exclaimed as she landed flat on her ass. Her hands moved to rub her sore and rather sizeable rear, only to stop when she noticed the blond was shooting down a disappointed look.

"What?" Kuroka questioned innocently. Unfortunately for her, she had been around Naruto enough for the teen to know that absolutely nothing was innocent about the devil.

"You were spying on our conversation." It wasn't a question in any sense. The shinobi was simply making an inarguable statement.

"I wasn't spying. I just so happened to walk by, Nya~." The look that she received from the blond clearly showed that he did not believe her one bit. Instead of keeping up the facade, the Nekoshou quickly relented as she climbed back up to her feet.

"Fine. I was spying." The girl admitted with a defeated look on her face. The defeat soon turned into a sly grin. "I think you're being so sweet by helping Ophis-chan out. You're such a hero, Nya!~"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the Nekoshou's words before walking past her towards his kitchen. Kuroka pouted at being ignored so easily by the teen before following after him.

"Dont be like that." Kuroka whined out as she followed the teen. Her words went entirely ignored by teen as he opened up the door to his fridge. The blond stuck his head into its cold environment and kept it in there for several seconds, seemingly searching for it. Eventually, he delved his hand into the machine and produced a jug of milk.

"Where did Vali go?" Naruto questioned before taking a quick swig from the jug. Kuroka stared entranced by the sight for several seconds before eventually snapping out of it.

"He left." The girl mewled out as she kept her eyes firmly locked onto Naruto. Because of this, she got to witness the moment that pure trepidation overcame the teen's features at her words.

"He left without you?" Naruto questioned hesitantly. When the girl nodded back at his questions, a low groan slipped through his lips. His arms and head seemed to be suddenly overcome by gravity as they both fell downwards.

"Mmmhm~. He told me he was tired of taking care of me, that big jerk. So~, it looks like we're roomies again!" The girl shouted out excitedly as she threw her hands up. She glanced over at Naruto to see if the blond was mirroring her looks, and found that he was doing nothing of the sorts. The completely apathetic look that she was giving him said the exact opposite.

"Y'know, with Ophis all messed up, the guest room is taken. That means that there was nowhere else for me to stay except for…" The devil trailed off as she shot Naruto a pointed look. Inwardly, she was hoping that the boy would pick up on her hin-

"You can sleep on the couch." And, all the hope that Kuroka had immediately came crashing down. She began to pout childishly at the blond's decision.

"Only on one condition though." The pout on the devil's disappeared at Naruto's words. Her expression turned into one of curiosity as she locked eyes with him.

"You're going to confront Koneko." And just like that, any enthusiasm that the Nekoshou had came shooting out of her at the blond's demand.

"Nya… you know I c-"

"You can and you will if you want to stay with me. Im not going to force you to do anything but I wont let your presence in my home affect my relationship with my girlfriend. You're her sister and you should at least speak with her." Naruto firmly stated, dashing away any of Kuroka's hopes of talking her way out of the situation. The look on the teen's face solidified his seriousness as it was set in the stone cold mask. It was the meanest she had ever seen the blond.

"I … I…" The woman stuttered. Conflict was clear on her face for several seconds as she attempted to think some way out of the situation. Eventually both her mind and body decided enough was enough and relented, causing her to release a defeated sigh.

"Fine. Ill talk to her soo-"

"Tomorrow." For one of the first times since meeting him, Kuroka felt herself become truly agitated at the blond. The stern way he was acting with her now was nothing like the way she had met him.

"Fine! You're so mean now that you're a fancy schmancy god, Nya!" The girl exclaimed as she threw her arms up in frustration. Despite the laws of gravity and motion existing, the movement didn't manage to jostle her breasts out of her dress.

"Well this god is taking a nap. Feel free to whatever is in the fridge. Just dont touch my ramen." Naruto paid zero attention to the woman's gravity defying breast as he walked back to his room. Kuroka watched the teen walk down his hall before disappearing around a corner. Several seconds later, a soft slam resonated through the air.

"Such a asshole, Nya!" Kuroka grumbled out before heading over to the blond's fridge. Just because the teen was going to act mean to her didn't mean she would stop herself from enjoying a well-stocked fridge.


She was nervous. Why was she so nervous? She shouldn't be this nervous. It wasn't healthy for her.

"Stop being nervous." Kuroka thought to himself, unknowingly mimicking the words Naruto spoke out loud at the same instant. Unfortunately for her, she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the teen. This caused him to lean over the counter and flick her temple.

"Hey! What was that for?" The Nekoshou exclaimed as her hands went up to nurse her forehead.

"You nervousness is distracting me. Just come down."

"Distracting you from what? There's no one in here!" Kuroka yelled while pointing to the mass of empty tables and chairs that sat behind her. Naruto didn't seem the least bit put off by the comment as he reached beneath the counter and produced a glass of strawberries.

"My job doesn't suddenly end when there's no customers in here. A shop owner is constantly working to make sure their shops are running at 100% efficiency." Naruto said while popping the top off of the jar.

"Nya, you're full of yourself. All you do is sit here and make treats." Kuroka responded with a roll of her eyes.

"It is much more than just making snacks. Its making a memorable experience for my customers."

"Bullshit!"

"Ask any one of my customers. They leave this shop satisfied hunger-wise and spiritually."

"You are so dram-" At that moment, the doors to the shop swung open. Kuroka stopped herself at the sound before turning her head to see who had walked into the shop. Her heart almost dropped out of her chest when she met with her little sister who was standing in the entrance of the store.

No words were exchanged between the two as they simply stared at each other. It had been several years since the two sisters had met and it was showing now. The nervousness that had been previously present within Kuroka exploded forth with much more intensity while Koneko stood apathetic. The disinterested look the younger girl was sending her only pushed the older Nekoshou's anxiety further forward.

"Shirone…" Kuroka found herself muttering without thinking. Her embarrassment had pushed her to say something and the girl's old name came spilling forth. She immediately knew that it was a mistake, especially when she noticed the devil twitch at the sound of her voice.

Despite the girl's supposed agitation with her sister, Koneko said nothing as she stepped forward into the store. The doors closed almost silently behind her while she made her way towards the counter. Both Kuroka's and Naruto's eyes were locked on her as she walked to the counter's entrance, entered into the employee space and made her way over to her boyfriend. Once again, no words were exchanged as they girl swiftly ascended the blond's lap and made her throne upon his lap.

Then silence. With her seat now captured, Koneko was free to continue her staring at Kuroka. If the older girl had been nervous before, she was much more now that the girl was so close. The Nekoshou actually began to perspire as her nervousness began to eat away at her.

"I … Shiro-" Kuroka managed to stutter out. Unfortunately for her, she would never get a chance to fully complete her sentence.

"My name is not Shirone. It is Koneko." Kuroka shut her mouth at the sound of her little sister's words. The girl had hurt her just then. She had hurt her bad. After all, she was the one who had helped name the girl. Though, her reaction was to be somewhat expected.

"Koneko…" Kuroka said slowly, as if she didn't know how to properly pronounce the word. It was foreign to her and felt foreign leaving her mouth, especially now as she looked down at the girl.

"Koneko." Kuroka stated much more firmly now. Unseen to Koneko, Naruto began to grin.

"I'm sorry." The Nekoshou started off. Her eyes instantly went back onto Koneko's face to search for any sign of a reaction. When she saw none, a small sigh slipped past her lips before she continued talking.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you. I'm … sorry for putting all this pressure on you. Im sorry for ruining your childhood. I'm sorry for making everything so difficult for you." By the end of her statement, Kuroka was basically in tears. Yet, even still, Koneko's face remained apathetic. The girl's face was just a mask of neutrality as she looked at the crying Nekoshou.

"I did it to protect you." The girl let out a hiccup as the tears came spilling out her eyes. "I just want you to know that. All I wanted to do was protect you. I know I didn't do a good job of it, but that's all I ever wanted." At this point, the girl's face was flushed as a constant stream of tears travelled down her face. She leaned her head to wipe her face clean with her sleeve before looking back up at Koneko. Kuroka's heart skipped another beat when she noticed that the young devil's face hadn't moved an inch during her spe. Any hopes of reaching her sister seemed to be slipping further and further away.

"I know." And, just like that, Kuroka's hopes came soaring back up. Her entire attention was focused on the girl as she awaited her next words.

"I know you tried to protect me, but you failed." And with a single sentence, Kuroka's hopes were dashed away. The girl's head fell in a vain attempt to hide the tears that had started to fall again.

"I don't hate you." Like an emotional roller-coaster, Kuroka found herself lifted up by her younger sister's words. "You couldn't have known for sure what would happen to me. You made the decision you thought would be best for me."

"So … you forgive me?" Kuroka questioned as she lifted her head up to look at Koneko. When the older Nekoshou spotted the girl nodding ever so slightly, jubilation erupted within. She rose up from her seat, reached over the counter and snatched the girl up into her arms before proceeding to dance around the shop with her.

"Nya! Imouto-chan forgives me, Imouto-chan forgives me, Imouto-chan for-"

"Put me down." Koneko's voice cut through her sister's excitement, briefly snapping her out of her trance. Kuroka shot the girl an apologetic grin before gently setting the girl back down onto the floor. With her feet back on the ground, Koneko turned to face the counter.

"Can we go home now?" The girl asked to her boyfriend. Naruto nodded at her question before making his way around the counter. While the blond was closing up, Kuroka nervously tapped her younger sister's shoulder, causing the girl to turn towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah .. Koneko-chan. I should've told you this earlier but … Im stay-"

"I know." Koneko said, interrupting the older girl. Kuroka blinked owlishly at her response before confusion came crashing down on her.

"Wait… how did you know that but you didn't know I was going to be here today, Nya?" Kuroka questioned. Things weren't really adding up together well in her mind.

"Naruto told me." Koneko responded as straight-faced as always. This revelation almost floored Kuroka as she quickly turned to face Naruto who had just managed to get out from behind his counter.

"You told her?!" Kuroka screamed at the blond.

"Of course I did. I told her everything when I was 'taking my nap'. I have experience when it comes to surprises like this and it's not a good idea to just spring it on people." Naruto stated flippantly as he moved over towards Koneko. Kuroka could only stare baffled as her younger sister deftly climbed on top of the shinobi's shoulders.

"I really had nothing to worry about." The Nekoshou thought to herself as the duo settled into their piggyback ride. The fact that Koneko had been aware of her and still decided to see her meant that all the stressing she had done had been for absolutely nothing.

"C'mon Kuroka." The Nekoshou was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the blond's voice. She saw that the teen, along with her sister, was standing by the doors of the shop and were looking back at her.

"I'm coming, Nya!" The woman shouted before running towards the duo. As she ran, a large smile was present on her. She finally had the chance to make up for the biggest mistake in her life. She could finally make it up to her little sister.

She could finally step into a new chapter of her life.


AN: This would've been a nice place to end the chapter, eh?


"I'm glad I took that nap." Naruto thought to himself. Kuroka walked slowly behind him, talking excitedly as she did. Nothing that the Nekoshou was saying really registered with the blond, but Kuroka seemed to either not notice or not care as she kept talking. Koneko had her head tucked into his collarbone and had seemingly stumbled off into sleep if her snores were anything to go by.

At the moment, none of that really mattered to Naruto. As cute as he found his girlfriend at that moment, she was only an afterthought. What was really holding his attention were the two people that were currently standing in front of the door of his house.

The first person was obviously female. The flowing black dress she had on did little to hide her body's natural curves. A huge black hat sat on top of her head and managed to hide most of her curly blonde hair. She had on a long blue cape that was covered in sparkles and pink flowers.

The other person … Naruto wasn't too sure if they were male or female. What he was sure of was the fact that this person was not human. The fact that the person looked to be a ten-foot tall wolf creature tipped the blond off to that. The two giant horns that protruded from the creature's forehead only confirmed his thoughts.

"Fey-chan and Wolfie!" Kuroka shouted excitedly before taking off towards Naruto's front door. Her shout managed to rouse Koneko out of her sleep, making the young girl raise her head to see what was going on.

"Giant wolf. Is he here to fight?" The Nekoshou said sleepily as soon as her eyes landed on her boyfriend's two guests.

"I don't think so. Kuroka knows them." The blond said in reply.

"Mmkay. Back to sleep." Koneko muttered before laying her head back onto the blond's shoulder. By the time the teen had managed to make his way, the girl was already back to sleep.

"Naru-kun, look. Some of my friends showed up!" Kuroka was beyond excited as she gestured towards blond. At this point, the blond was on the first step leading to his door, providing him a much clearer view of his guests.

"Yeah, that's definitely a wolf." Naruto thought to himself as he craned his neck upwards to look at the creature. The shinobi managed to catch a glimpse of the wolf's golden teeth behind its maw when the creature stared back at him.

"Why are your friends at my house?" Naruto questioned while looking over at Kuroka. His attention didn't stay on her for very long when the other female of the group cleared her throat.

"Hello, sir!" The girl started off excitedly. Naruto noted that the girl had a very thick foreign accent. He wasn't quite sure from where but it was definitely noticeable.

"You're Naruto, right?" Naruto nodded his head at her question, causing the smile on her face to blossom in size.

"Awesome! Well my friend and I were sent by Vali-sama to help protect Ophis-san." The girl finished with a small hop into the air. Naruto stared at her for several seconds before a sigh slipped past his lips.

"Does this protection involve you being near her all the time?" The blond's tired voice seemed to suck the energy out of the girl. She went quiet and still as a slightly perplexed look crossed her face.

"Well, yes. In order to make sure no harm comes to her, she will have to be under our constant observation." The magician explained. This meeting wasn't going quite as she had expected.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." If Le Fay hadn't been confused before, she definitely was now. The teen's dismissive answer was the exact opposite of what she had expected.

"Why not?" The girl questioned while taking a subtle glance over to her partner. She could see that the wolf was eyeing the dismissive shop owner with no small amount of agitation in its body.

"Well, Ophis is staying in my house right now. You being around her would mean you would have to stay in my house a lot. I don't want that so you guys can leave." Naruto said before walking past the two towards his door. With his back turned to the duo, he missed Fenrir taking a threatening step towards him, only to be stopped by his female companion.

"Naruto," Le Fay started off, only for the sound of Naruto's door opening to interrupt. The girl had to put more strength into holding back her wolf partner as the child of Loki pushed harder against her.

"Even with Ophis in her weakened state, she still holds a significant role in the universe. We cannot let her be assaulted any further." Le Fay said in an attempt to reason with the teen. Unfortunately for her, she was attempting to argue with Naruto Uzumaki. She might as well have been talking to a brick wall.

"And she won't. If she's staying in my house, she is safe." The blond said over his shoulder, not even looking at the girl as he spoke. This seemed to be the breaking point for Fenrir as he ripped his arm out of Kuroka and Le Fay's grip and marched up to the blond.

"Look, you stubborn idiot. Some of the strongest people in the world have that dragon on their kill-list. I don't care how strong you think you are, you cannot protect that dragon. You're not strong enough, you're not smart enough and you can't be in two places at on-"

"Ey boss, Ophis is awake and said she's hungr-" One of Naruto's clone popped his head into the doorway, interrupting the Wolf's point. As soon as the clone realized that his creator was not alone, he shut his mouth.

"You can give her a cup of ramen. See how she likes it." The clone nodded at the originals orders before taking a quick look at Le Fay and Fenrir. The glance lasted only a second before the clone disappeared back into the house. With the clone now gone, Naruto turned back towards the wolf with a raised eyebrow.

"You were saying?" Naruto asked. Inwardly, the blond was cheering at the amazing timing of his clone. That exchange couldn't have gone any better.

"You're feeding the infinite dragon god ramen?" The wolf questioned in disbelief. Naruto turned a hard gaze on to the wolf at the sound of his questioning tone.

"Yeah, I am. What's wrong with ramen?"

"It's absolutely dis-" Fenrir's statement came to a quick close when Kuroka slammed her hand over his mouth. With his voice now effectively muffled, the blond's harsh gaze softened before he turned to Le Fay.

"Look, go back to Vali and tell him everything is good. I can handle Ophis. Also tell him to start coming to work." Those were Naruto's parting words to the girl before he walked into the confines of his house. As soon as the blond disappeared into his home, Kuroka removed her hand from Fenrir's mouth, allowing the wolf to turn to her and snarl.

"What the hell was that for?" The wolf growled out. Kuroka rolled her eyes at his agitated state before putting her hands on her hips.

"I just saved your life, Nya! Don't disrespect ramen in front of Naruto. Ever!" Kuroka yelled. Fenrir huffed at the girl's statement before turning away. It was obvious he wasn't too aware of the severity of his situation. With the wolf dealt with, Kuroka turned over to Le Fay who honestly looked pretty confused.

"Pen-chan, you should listen to Naruto. Go tell Val-kun that everything will be okay, Nya. Don't waste your time here." Kuroka stated cheerfully. Le Fay could only nod hesitantly at the Nekoshou's words. This seemed good enough for the well-endowed woman as she smiled the younger girl a large smile before walking into Naruto's house. The door slammed behind her a second after her exit, leaving Le Fay and Fenrir standing on the doorsteps alone.

"That didn't go well…"


"How's the ramen?"

"It … isn't horrible."

Naruto smiled at the response, knowing that was most likely the best response he could hope to get from the dragon. The duo was sat at the blond's dining room table, each with a cup of ramen in front of them. Kuroka's snores could be heard from the other room as the devil laid passed out on the couch. Koneko was nowhere to be seen or heard since she was buried in a mountain of blankets within the blond's room.

"How are you feeling?"

"...Better." Ophis whispered before taking in a spoonful of ramen. Naruto released a pleasant hum at the answer before going silent. The only sound present in the small room was the occasional scraping of the dragon's spoon against the ramen cup.

"Trust." Ophis mattered, breaking the silence and returning the shinobi's attention back to her.

"What did you say?" Naruto's voice made the girl look up from her ramen. It was at that moment that the two met eyes.

"If you … help me get my powers back … you will have my trust." The dragon said.

"Is that really what it will take?" Naruto questioned. When Ophis nodded in response, the blond grew silent. The silence only lasted for a few seconds before the blond erupted into laughter, slightly startling the dragon.

"If that's really all it takes then. Ophis, I'll help you get your powers back. And that is a promise. I never break my promises!" Naruto shined a bright smile at the dragon to finish off his promise. And, for one of the first times in her lifetime, Ophis found herself returning the smile with a small one of her own.

"Trust…"


AN: Merry Christmas to everyone. My Christmas gift to you is two chapters of ASTSO and two chapters of ROAS. I hope you enjoy. If you feel like you need to return that gift to me, you can do so by having a nice day. Don't let any petty Christmas drama get in the way of having a nice day.

Hey! Plot is actually happening again!

Review or pm me with any questions, suggestions, comments, concerns, recipes, just about anything. Enjoy your day! Peace!