Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Highschool DxD, and I make no profit writing about it.
(AN): Once moar.
Naruto threw his hands up, dragging a wave of the Bael Power of Destruction with them. Fire and electricity lashed into his makeshift shield, punching through the cover of the Gremory heir's magic to crash around him. More than one elemental spell almost hit him, and with an adrenaline fuelled laugh he pushed forward. His black and crimson swirling enchantment rolled, cresting over Ximon like an inexorable tide.
"You're better than I thought." the redhead admitted as he leapt to the side, fists and feet spinning in precision strikes as he took advantage of his opponent's distraction to mow down more of the mob boss' followers. The back and forth battle of magic was almost like a turn-based little game. Ximon would attack, Naruto would defend and strike back, and then while Ximon was busy fending Naruto's magic off he'd take the chance at beat up a few more mobsters. Then the cycle would start all over again.
Ravel made the odd appearance here and there, popping in to drag unconscious criminals away and hand them off to the police waiting outside. It was something Naruto appreciated, because while he had no problem cracking a few skulls he didn't intend to kill anyone today. Ximon wasn't prodigiously skilled, but he was skilled enough that someone might end up dead in the crossfire if they weren't gotten out of the way.
"I'll choose to take that as a compliment." Ximon frowned, cutting through the famed Bael family's power with a focused slice of wind and stepping into the gap. The rest of Naruto's magic passed on by harmlessly, and calling up twin runic orange circles; Ximon conjured knives forged out of glittering ice. Mist floated from the cool crystal, giving hint at the real frigidity of Ximon's spellcasting. Then he whipped his hands forward, throwing the blades at the impertinent devil teen.
Twisting around on his heel, Naruto caught one knife out of the air and winced at its chill. The other tore a rent in the fine cotton of his military uniform, creating a small hole where his tan skin peeked through time and again. Naruto flipped the knife point over end, balancing it with the careless ease of a shinobi before launching it back at Ximon. He'd aimed at the blond man's knee, rather than somewhere more vulnerable like the throat.
Not that it would have mattered considering the contemptuous ease that Ximon slapped the projectile away with.
More ice knives followed, flying back and forth between the devils as they struggled for supremacy. Reluctantly, the redhead let Ximon set the pace. There were still a few more bodies lying around, and he couldn't really let loose until Ravel came by and dragged them out. Hot pain struck over Naruto's cheek as one of Ximon's projectiles came too close to home, slicing over his skin and letting a trickle of blood run free.
"Screw this." Naruto decided, crouching low to the ground and re-summoning his Guudodama. The floating balls of Bael sorcery stretched and twisted as they cut the blond mobster's potshots out of the air, giving the Gremory heir a moment to weigh over how he wanted to end their little party.
A flash of red and blond moved through the corner of his vision, and he felt a wave of relief at knowing that Ravel had come through for him. His fiance waved at him, grinning while a trio of unconscious thugs floated by her head.
Finally.
Cracked porcelain tiles dug into his palm as the redhead settled a firm hand on the floor. All the long-range back and forth spellcasting wasn't really his style. It was a way of fighting more suited to a soft handed scholar like Rias, rather than the rough and tumble devil that had once been a Konoha shinobi. Naruto was meant to fight up close and personal.
So he'd just have to get up close and personal.
Kicking his heel into the marble so violently he sent out a series of concentric cracks, Naruto rocketed forward in a streak of crimson. He had just enough time to grin at the sudden lock of shock that crossed Ximon's face before he slammed a sharp elbow into the man's gut.
Ximon hacked a wet cough before glaring and grabbing two fistfuls of the back of Naruto's coat. A great heave lifted the redhead off the floor, and with a harsh roar of exertion, the mob boss rotated Naruto and threw him to the floor in a powerbomb.
A growl flew from Naruto's lips as he slammed into the ground, pain radiating up his spine. But it wasn't enough to stop him, and before Ximon could pull away Naruto lifted his hips and wrapped his legs around the blond's throat. Slamming his palm into the tiles, Naruto managed to throw enough force into the rotation to yank Ximon right off this feet and down to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
Naruto swiftly pulled away and rolled to his feet in order to dodge a few desperately thrown close range balls of fire. "This just gets better and better." he muttered, dragging the back of his hand over his lip and leaving a bright red streak behind. At some point he must have bitten into his lip and hadn't noticed. It was time to step things up a notch and see if Ximon could keep up.
Blazing red runic circles flared into existence, slowly twisting around his arms like a series of ringlets. He didn't technically have to fall back on the circles to help guide his magic, but the Power of Destruction could be dangerous even to Naruto, and it didn't cost him much to shape the sorcery eternally rather than internally. A few seconds of extra casting time wouldn't make much of a difference.
Bloody light shot through with the darkness of the void began to seep out of Naruto's pores, building in a steadily thickening cloud and hugging close to his tan skin and the crimson cotton surrounding his arms. It needed to be tight, and it needed to be thick. One day he'd like to solidify it into proper armor, but until then; Naruto had to make do with sheer liquid density.
Thick gauntlets of rolling magic formed around Naruto's lower arms. It resembled what he'd once done in the duel against Rias all those years ago, but rather than using raw magic he was relying on the much more deadly sorcery of his Bael ancestors. It took care to hold the enchantment right up against his skin and not start to burn himself. His father could apparently actually turn into the Power of Destruction, but Naruto hadn't reached that level of 'unity' with the genetic energy; so he had to be a little more cautious.
Ximon eyed the sinister enchantment covering the young man's fists with a sensation of dawning horror. The blond had never really managed to quite make the leap from red hair to nobility, but the distinctive sight of the Power of Destruction was well known to anyone who'd ever done a spot of dirty business with one of the Bael clan. Add in the boy's colouring, and it was swiftly becoming clear that he was dealing with no simple hitman.
"You're that Gremory boy, aren't you?" the mob boss questioned with a sense of inevitable resignation, summoning lightning in one hand and fire in the other. No criminal enterprise liked to catch the attention of the nobility, at least in the wrong way; and he was suddenly doubting he'd make it out of his mansion alive. Hopefully his lieutenants could manage to maintain some form of order in the organization after he was gone.
"Yep." Naruto grinned, winking mirthlessly and leaning forward.
Then the redhead moved, crossing the short distance between the two combatants in the blink of an eye. Ximon put up a valiant effort, dodging back and firing long range spells at the Gremory heir, but Naruto just waved everything aside with a touch of the thick disintegrating energy coating his forearms.
The Guudodama floating at Naruto's back seethed, stabbing forward in dark lances to complement his punches like extra limbs and helped herd Ximon into a corner. It would would only take one solid hit to end it all, and once Ximon stumbled over a loosened marble tile, Naruto landed that hit with a flash of blue eyes.
Cloth simply vaporized, revealing the toned muscles of the mob boss' stomach. A second later, Ximon's inherent magical resistance caved, and the man's flesh seared away in a bubble of bloody ashes accompanied by a howl of pain.
"Whoops." Yanking his hand back before he could do too much damage, Naruto watched as Ximon's grey eyes rolled back in his head and the man dropped to the ground in a dead faint.
... There was no need to make such a big deal about it. Naruto was pretty sure he'd done worse to Kabuto when he'd performed his very first Rasengan.
Blue and red electric lights blurred, casting an eerie field of illumination over the ruined front yard of Ximon's mansion.
Ravel held a hand over her eyes to shield them from the glow, staring through the still warm early autumn night at the gaping hole in the front of the mobster's house. She wondered how much of a shitshow was going to bubble up because of their little stunt. Things could work out for them, or they might not.
It really depended on how much support the two of them would get from higher up in the chain of command, and how much they could strike fear into would-be criminals. The Bishop doubted the Satans or Duke Gremory would be all that torn up by the fact that a handful of criminals had been pressed into hard labor with all their assets seized, but they still needed to be sure that any moles in their administration would think twice before cooperating with other crime bosses.
Charging like a bull at a gate might work once or twice, but it wasn't a viable long term strategy. The criminal underground would just move from their old haunts, and unless they had a steady stream of fresh intel from loyal - or at least fearful - cops, Naruto's self-made crusade might be aborted before it ever really began.
"Did you have enough time to fix your makeup?" Ravel called out as Naruto appeared from the bowls of the villa, unconscious Ximon thrown over one shoulder. There was a certain languid relaxation to her fiance's features, and Ravel could tell the little excursion had been good for him. Naruto seemed to do best when he had something to physically do, rather than just talk endlessly.
"I might need a few more minutes for the last touch-ups." After delivering the sarcastic jab to the blonde girl, Naruto shrugged Ximon off his shoulder and dropped the passed out crime boss at the feet of a very satisfied looking Nergal. "All's well that ends well, wouldn't you say Nergie?"
Smirking at the disgruntled expression that crossed the constable's face at the nickname, Ravel moved blue eyes back and forth between the redhead and the middle aged devil. "I'd be careful if I were you, Naruto. I don't mind if you want to give your 'daddy dom' pet names, but I doubt the public at large is going to think well of him for robbing you out of the cradle."
Naruto and Nergal sported twin greenish faces of pure disgust, looking at each other before very determinedly looking away.
"Gross." Naruto commented, refusing to watch as Nergal rolled his eyes and bent down to cuff the unconscious Ximon. Once the officer dragged the criminal away, the two young devils were left alone.
"So I'd say tonight was a success. What about you?"
Pursing her lips, Ravel considered the devastated property once last time before jerking her chin towards the sleek limo that had dropped them off. "Who knows?" the blonde mused, tugging at one curl as she led the way towards their transport. "We'll just have to keep our ears to the ground for the next few days and see how everyone takes it."
Naruto opened the door for his fiance, letting the Bishop step into the car first before following himself. "I guess." he agreed, reaching a careless hand back to thump at the black glass that separated them from the driver. A moment later, the limo lurched into movement. "We'll have to lean on the press a bit, get them to spin this for us." Like most things in Gehenna, the media had deep ties to the nobility, and getting their first strike lionized would be a piece of cake.
"Just think of all the good PR you're going to get." Ravel pointed out, a strain of sarcasm tainting her voice. She kicked her feet up onto the plush cushions of her seat, not caring about the mess her dirty shoes left in the fabric. "Now all you need to do is kiss a few babies and you'll be good to run for Mayor."
"Fuck that."
"But don't you want to do everything you can to save this city? Just think of all the good you could do as the most esteemed public servant around here. Plus there's the perks - moral crusader by day, debauched hedonist by night. You can put in a good day's work at the office and then go home and snort fairy dust off a prostitute's ass."
Rolling his eyes, Naruto touched a hand to the healing gash on his cheek and repressed a wince at the faint stab of pain there. He was in rougher shape than he'd expected to be, but in hindsight it made sense. They were in Gehenna. Money talked, but strength talked more, and Ximon wouldn't have been able to maintain his position if he couldn't terrorize the small fry. "Sometimes I wonder about you. It's like there's something very wrong in your head, and I question if you happened to be born that way. Then I remember Riser is your brother, and it all starts to make sense."
Ravel snorted, crawling over to her fiance to poke a finger through one of the holes that had been torn in his uniform. Her questing digit met the warm flesh of Naruto's side, making the redhead jerk back at the tickling sensation and glare. "That's not a very nice thing to say or imply about your future wife. What if I decide I need to take revenge? I read about a case in the United States where a woman decided that the best form of vengeance on her father would be to chop off his penis and burn of interesting, don't you think?"
A slow, steady pause.
"You know, you are not making me any more comfortable with the arrangement when you say things like that."
"I'm just giving you a fair warning about what some people are capable of. Surely you didn't think I was implying anything about what I might do?"
"No, not at all."
"By the way, your aunt called. She wanted you to know that Sasuke got himself conscripted."
"Wait, what?"
Rias let her head fall back, resting it against the marble lip of the bath. Her crimson strands floated lazily on top of the water, waving back and forth with every tiny ripple. Drawing a long breath, she shut out the quiet conversation between Akeno and Koneko before letting her tired eyelids flutter shut.
The steady comforting warmth of the water and bath salt went to work on the knotted muscles of her shoulder blades, relaxing the tenseness that had built up over a long and trying day.
If only the stress in her mind would wash away so easily.
It had only been a few short hours since Sasuke had obeyed the orders of their government and shipped out, but each ticking minute almost seemed like a lifetime. Their goodbye had been too short, and Rias wished it had gone on longer than it had. If the worst came to pass she would never see Sasuke again, and even though she'd seared the woodsmoke smell of his skin and the hard angles of his body into her memory it was a poor substitute for the real thing.
There was an ache in her chest, pulsing hollow and refusing to abate no matter how much she rubbed at it or tried to force the track of her thoughts onto other things. It was her steady companion, and the Ruin Princess wondered if that pain of separation was why so many humans tried to cut themselves off and live in isolation. She was almost tempted to give it a go herself, except she was in too deep already for it to matter.
Something brushed against the sole of Rias' foot, and she cracked open her eyes in a lazy teal slit. It was just Akeno moving about. Nothing to be concerned about. She let her eyes drift closed again, not bothering to open them when careful hands began to lather soap over the skin of her shoulders.
"How are you?" Akeno's voice murmured close to her ear, accompanied by the gentle pour of water from cupped hands over the parts of Rias' white flesh that peeked out of the bath. It was a familiar ritual that bespoke of the closeness between them - between all of them Rias mused as she felt the familiar contours of Koneko's lithe body settle against her side. A ritual that gave some measure of steady comfort to the three women who participated in it.
"I survive." Rias smiled thinly, feeling one hand up Koneko's back so she could stroke through the nekomata's wet snowy strands. It seemed all she ever did lately was survive, rolling with the punches of unexpected revelations and sudden complications. "When I spoke to my father today he decided that there were a few tasks we could do for him. Part of our 'duty' to the country, you understand."
The sudden pause of Akeno's washing palms against the skin of Rias' arm wasn't unexpected. The redhead was more than familiar with how much the Thunder Priest disdained the idea of duty, referring to it on more than one occasion as 'self-righteous harping'. The cynical part of Rias felt that Akeno wasn't far off, but the dutiful part that her parents had carefully nurtured in her decided it didn't matter how pretentious it was; she still had her responsibilities.
'No privileges without obligations', as her father always said, and the life of a noble was very privileged. It was supposedly only a fair trade for their clans to give back; not that most of the other clans agreed with Zeoticus. The nobility ruled by strength, not by consent, and were ultimately more concerned with protecting their power rather than any sense of noblesse oblige.
"Is that so?" Akeno commented neutrally, resuming her self-appointed task with an air of determination. The soft press of her hands boldly passed over the heavy flesh of Rias' breasts, washing without any regard for ideals about propriety or personal space. The redhead didn't comment, because that was just their way. Rias would have no second thoughts about washing Akeno so audaciously either.
There was a faint sound of liquid pattering as Koneko idly playing with the steamy surface of the water. "What assignment do we have?" she wondered, contributing to the low conversation for the first time. It was probably better to just cut to the heart of the matter, and lay everything out for consideration. Sasuke was gone, and hopefully some form of work would busy their minds from that. Yuuto would appreciate the distraction when he found out, at the least.
Rias lifted her leg as Akeno's hands moved under the surface with a bar of soap and began to scrub at the muscle of her thigh. "He wants us to wander around the human world with some standalone Evil Pieces and find cannon fodder for Gehenna. The more bodies the better, apparently."
"Is that all?" Koneko wrinkled her nose at the idea of having to play recruiter. Meeting a bunch of strangers everyday; having to deal with their ridiculous tendency for small talk and overt friendliness? It was something the nekomata would very much prefer doing without. But if Rias asked, she'd obey.
Dipping her head and letting it hang forward, Rias finally opened her eyes properly and met Akeno's steady violet stare. After some more delicate areas got the finishing touch, her wash would be over and it would be time to return the favour. "No. We're also going to be part of an ambassador party that tries to solicit help from other factions. Our Heaven might be out to avoid escalation, but the Senate doubts that a handful of foreigners here and there fighting for us would aggravate the Thirteen Heavens too much."
"So rubbing elbows with the plebs and kissing up to the bluebloods at a bunch of parties." Akeno summarized, turning about and scooting her bottom between Rias' knees."Sounds fun."
The Ruin Princess obliged, taking a handful of shampoo and beginning to massage it into the thick dark fall of her Queen's hair. "Won't it just be?" she agreed sarcastically. "Won't it just?"
"This is where you get off, kiddo."
Sasuke jolted awake, lifting a hand to rub at his dry eyes before sparing a sour glance for the train conductor. It had taken him long into the night to manage to fall asleep, and based on the fact that it was still pitch-dark outside the window, he doubted he'd managed to get that much rest.
"Fine." the Uchiha grunted, turning away from the dark-skinned devil and lurching to his feet. After quick search in the overhead compartment, he pulled his bag down and twisted back around only to discover the man had vanished.
Whatever.
It wasn't like he was riding the train for social reasons anyway. It was just the recommended route for any conscripted soldiers in the Gremory clan territory to be shipped to rear command. He'd been expecting some bulky steel cargo train, but apparently the government preferred swiftness over aesthetics and were willing to use extant civilian locomotives.
After strapping his katana to his side, Sasuke stuffed his service gap into one of the pockets of his greatcoat and went in search for the nearest exit.
Cool air hit Sasuke like a blast as he stepped outside, and after rubbing his gloved hands together in an effort to chase away some of the chill, he turned dark eyes over the train station. It was relatively empty, except for a rapidly swelling cluster of crimson uniformed soldiers pouring off the train. Evidently he hadn't been the only one to get a letter, and that only made him question the sudden conscription more. If the Senate only needed bodies, wouldn't they just tell them to show up on a set date?
Calling a bunch of reinforcements to the front 'as soon as possible' stunk of a desperation that made him just a touch leery and wonder what the hell was actually going on.
A small frown tugged at the dark haired devil's lips, and after shaking his head he wandered over to the crowd. A quick scan as he drew close revealed that he might be the only commissioned officer there, since the highest ranking patch Sasuke could find was that of a sergeant. But his approach hadn't gone unnoticed, and a couple of seconds after he stepped into the press of bodies one baby-faced young man stiffened into a salute and barked out a loud "Sir!"
A swelling tides of salutes followed, crushing conversation until all that was left was a tense silence that made Sasuke roll his eyes in exasperation. "None of that." he told them, pitching his voice to carry. "I'm just as new here as any of you. I don't need the ass-kissing." It took a few minutes for the tension to disperse, but his informality and lack of airs seemed to do the job.
The baby-faced private didn't turn away from him with the rest of the crowd though, and giving in to the surge of irritation Sasuke offered a glare. "What?" he demanded, making the brunette recruit pull back and grin sheepishly.
Green eyes that were almost painfully innocent shifted back and forth with a sense of anxiety. "I was just, uh, wondering how you rank so high if you're just a newbie like the rest of us?"
Sasuke cocked a brow, reconsidering the young devil. The kid was so green Sasuke was surprised grass wasn't growing out of his ass. Was he even legally allowed to enlist? Not that it was any of his business, since it was the brat's funeral. "I'm not a newbie." Sasuke grunted roughly as it became obvious the private was waiting on his answer like the Uchiha's words were manna from Heaven. "It's just my first time deploying in the clan army."
"Oookay?" the brunette recruit drew out the question, staring at the captain before he trailed his eyes down to the name stitched over Sasuke's chest. "But that doesn't really answer my question, Captain, uh, 'Uchiha'?"
"I'm Rias' Gremory's Pawn." Turning his back on the recruit, Sasuke silently signaled that the conversation was over. And after a beat of silence, he thought it had actually worked. If only shutting Naruto up was that simple.
"My name's Phineas, just in case you were wondering."
And apparently shutting up this kid was going to be no easier than putting a sock in Naruto's mouth was.
"I wasn't." Sasuke shot back caustically.
"Oh." For a second the kid looked like Sasuke had kicked a puppy right in front of him. Then he brightened back up like nothing had happened. "So do you think we'll be in the same unit, captain?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"Oh, haha. You're new here too. Sorry about that? So what's the Ruin Princess like? If you work for her, you must know the Duke too. And Satan Lucifer! What are they like? Are they nice?"
Shut up.
Puffing the last bit of his cigarette, Vali made an expression of annoyance and dropped the butt to the dew coated grass. It was way-too-fucking-early o'clock, but as the half-devil had quickly learned over his months in the service, the military wasn't an institution where something as mundane as 'sleeping in' was allowed. All uberman all the time. Whoo-fucking-hoo.
Still, once he managed to collect the newest shipment of ducklings, he'd have a few days off at base camp to kick back and listen to all the new gossip drifting. Never in all of his years had the White Dragon Emperor thought he'd be waiting for the next rumor like some stupid fishwife, but whisperings about military movements were a great deal more important than who so-and-so was sucking off. His feeling that something was moving behind the scenes had only intensified more and more as the Gehennan kept shipping in reinforcements. It wasn't cost effective to have so many mouths to feed in one place.
Which made Vali suspect something was in the works that would reduce the number of those mouths by quite a bit.
Shading his tired blue eyes against the morning sun, Vali squinted through the silver strands of his hanging fringe. Plowing up the dirt road was a small convoy, little more than a trio of troop carriers really; but the sight was enough to make him sigh in relief. "Fucking finally." The promotion to major had dumped a slew of annoying little duties in his lap, like redirecting reinforcements, and it only made the grind of the war even more wearing.
"Hullo, Major." One of the drivers hopped out of his truck and cheerily waved as Vali, gap-toothed smile splitting his lips. The man didn't bother to see if the officer waved back, instead quickly moving around to the rear of the vehicle and hollering into the canvas covered flatbed. The other two drivers mimicked the first, herding a swarm of crimson uniformed troops up and towards the half-devil.
Fuck, he was craving another cigarette again. Unfortunately he'd just burnt through his last one. Or maybe it was fortunate, since Vali was probably starting to get addicted to the things - as a way to cope, if nothing else.
"Alright, shitbirds!" He roared, quieting the chattering crowd with the sheer sound of his voice. "Which one of you fuckers is in charge around here?" Vali asked in a lower voice now that he was sure he'd be heard. Contrary to popular belief, ranking officers didn't spend their day shouting at the maggots. It was a bother and a recipe for a sore throat.
A few seconds ticked by in which Vali began to feel a burning itch of impatience build in the back of his skull before finally someone shoved through the crowd and presented himself in front of the major. Proud black eyes drilled into Vali with a familiar fire, and the silver-haired half-devil let his lips twitch up into an ugly grin. Well, well, it seemed that he might have a kindred spirit around after all.
"So," he drawled, running his gaze over the patches on the man's uniform. "Captain, seems to me like you've got a bone or three to pick. Looking forward to smashing a few skulls out here?"
"I don't see how that's your business." Sasuke shot back coolly, ice filling his voice like the chill of winter night.
Vali considered the hunger for a battle he could see in the other soldier. Then he remembered the months of fighting without end. He remembered sleepless night after sleepless night, tiny naps constantly broken up by the crash of spellfire. He remembered the helpless angry feeling of having one of the men he was supposed to look after die under his command. A bitter sigh escaped his mouth.
"It's your funeral, newbie."
(AN): 5000 words here. I figure my schoolwork goes faster when I'm motivated to finish it through the 'reward' of writing (*cough*reviews*cough*).
For the Country/War is Glory - It's not my intent to make this a 'War is Glorious' anvilicious story (not that 'War is Hell' is a much better trope worship). However, I do want to portray certain aspects of people and the world at large. For some people like Vali, they just really like to fight, and they initially view war as a way to constantly supply the next fight.
However, for most people, the harping on about duty and patriotism is rooted into the political system and the culture of Gehenna itself. Nobility has typically justified itself either through some form of Divine Right or Enlightened Despotism. Either you rule because God made it that way, or you rule in some form of a social contract where you know your subjects needs better than they actually do and you take responsibility for their care in exchange for power and some degree of privilege.
Gehenna is not religious as such, and actually functions as a kind of extreme meritocracy based on genetic fitness. However, saying "I rule because I'm just better than you" doesn't tend to go over well, so the enlightened angle serves as useful propaganda - both for the people and the nobles themselves (some of whom believe it more than others). The "good" nobles tend to believe in some kind of enlightened aristocracy, and the "bad" ones are more selfish and cynical about it.
I don't adhere to the idea that the "good guys" must necessarily be democrats. The Good Republic, Evil Empire trope is too simplistic and really only exists because Hollywood is in the "Land of the Free/Brave/ect" and they need to appeal to their target audience.
But to get back to the point, the Gremory clan goes on about duty because they actually believe in it. They actually believe they are more fit than the commoners at large, and that because of that they have the obligation to rule them and take care of them. Naruto is more of a democrat, but like Sasuke he is the product of a military organization (Konoha), so he is also very duty focused and obsessed with patriotism.