Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Highschool DxD, and make no profit writing about them.
(AN): *chews gum*
Naruto was irritated, to say the least. Standing around with his hands in his pockets wasn't really helping, and more than once one of his former underlings gaped at his lurid orange hoodie as they walked by, but come hell or high water he intended to see his mother.
It been a long time since he'd been able to see Grayfia face-to-face. The war had grown to consume all their lives in different ways, and the time together they'd once shared had been one of the first things to be sacrificed on the altar of the greater good. So despite the faint prickling of anger he felt at having been abruptly shunted away from his post aside, he was glad to have the opportunity to see her.
Now if he could just get his old office back, Naruto might tentatively suggest that he was having a good day.
"She'll see you now."
Freezing just a tiny bit when the new office secretary stepped up to him and interrupted his line of thought, Naruto forced on a sunny smile and nodded at the purple-haired woman.
Maybe it was the leftover impression that Tansea had left, but the Gremory heir had the sudden paranoid urge to watch his back. Even though all the office staff had undergone loyalty testing and been culled to prevent any betrayal, Naruto still had the irrational fight or flight instinct prodded away at him.
Naruto figured it might be a little strange to think that a woman he'd barely known and only trusted because of her long years of service could have such an impression on him, but he couldn't help it. Giving people the benefit of the doubt had always been one of his weak points, and Tansea had seemed too kind and timid to be a double agent of any sort – at least until she'd proven him wrong.
He'd learned his lesson about being wary of strangers.
Knocking on the door frame to announce his presence, Naruto grinned at his mother when she looked up from the pages scattered across his desk with a faintly harried expression. "Hey, having fun today?"
Grayfia snorted, taking a rubber stamp in one hand and pressing it into the inkpad with a quiet thump. "No comment." The silver haired woman slapped a blazing red 'rejected' imprint on the latest requisition to cross her desk and filed it into the mesh desk tray with all the other requests she'd turned down that day.
With her stubborn refusal to change out of her maid outfit during work hours, Grayfia was an odd spectacle in the office. Newcomers would no doubt question what exactly had been going through Lord Lucifer's mind when he'd decided to offer his maid as a governor for the city, and they'd be even more baffled that Duke Gremory had accepted. A business suit or a military uniform would seem more at home in the office setting, but that wouldn't be his mother, Naruto reflected wryly.
"Right. Soooo." Naruto dragged out the ending vowel, clasping his hands behind his back and taking long swinging steps across the office. "I was kind of hoping that you could do me an itty bitty little favour."
"The answer is no."
"Oh come on!" the redhead moaned, sidling around the desk as Grayfia looked on with fond exasperation. "I was going a good job, right? That means I deserve a treat, right? And if you put those both together I should be allowed back on the job, right?"
Rotating the leather swivel chair under her to keep Naruto in her sight, Grayfia reached out to grab her son's collar and pull him closer. Her silver eyes danced over his features for a moment, studying how it had changed subtly in the months since she'd been able to really sit down and look at him. "Your performance was certainly novel." The Queen of Annihilation admitted. "But that's neither here nor there."
Naruto blinked as the soft pads of his mother's fingers traced over the curve of his jaw before she released him. "I'm not really putting it all together here." He pointed out, resisting the urge to scratch at his chin and get rid of the ghostly sensation her hand had left behind. "It seems to me like you're shortchanging me on the details."
"Sit."
Frowning at his mother's short command, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched back around the desk so he could flop into the stiff-backed chair that was set up for visitors. Maybe he was being a little petulant but he could already tell that he wasn't getting his job back, and that stung. Naruto was pretty sure he'd done a better job governing the city than anyone else had in decades, so why was he getting shunted to the side?
Grayfia primly folded her hands on top of the dark brown desk, giving just the smallest upward quirk of her mouth to try and take the edge of what her son was probably assuming was some insult. "The reason you're not longer acting governor here has nothing to do with your job performance. It doesn't even have anything to do with your former secretary trying to murder you. In the long run, this is your grandfather's city, and we never meant for you to govern it indefinitely. We just wanted to give you a chance to whet your teeth and gain some experience, while making sure you were doing constructive work rather than recklessly acting out."
"Well I kind of expected that." Naruto agreed easily, bouncing one foot in place with a sense of nervous energy. He'd never done well sitting in one spot without moving when the pressure was on. "But it's not like the war is over, so unless you've got something better for me to do, I don't see why I can't keep at it Mom."
Considering her son's sullen face, Grayfia weighed the merits of trying to cook up some lie for Naruto to believe. It wasn't even really about making up a comfortable fiction to sooth his ego as it was about soothing her own maternal instinct. But Naruto was no longer a little boy, and she couldn't always shelter him from the world.
In fact, if her peers suspected the real amount of manipulations she and her husband did to keep him safe while giving him set boundaries to grow in, they'd probably be accused of coddling. Though how people hadn't quite figured out that she was jerking the strings in the shadows the entire time to keep a lid on some of the discontent Naruto's policies had generated was beyond her.
Perhaps it was time to start treating her son more like a young man than like a child, and be a little more honest. "Your father is going to try something, and if it works, the war will end. If it doesn't, it might backlash on Gehenna. So the Senate has decided that first we're going to be a little cautious and evacuate some of our citizens."
Naruto's mouth opened slightly as he processed that. The war was going to end just like that? It sounded like his father was going to do something stupidly suicidal and hope it worked, which was not really an idea Naruto could get behind - unless he was the one doing it. But there was that other point that he wanted to question. "Some citizens? I'm going to guess that list has a distinct focus on the big shots and not enough on the little guy. Am I right?"
Grayfia sighed and brought up her hand to cut off what would no doubt be the beginning of one of her son's famous pontificating tirades. Naruto was so idealistic, and while it could be cute now and again sometimes she had neither the energy nor the inclination to put up with a speech. "I'm not going to debate you on this, Naruto. Please just do as we ask with no back talk for once in your life. For me, at least?"
If it were anyone else asking him to swallow back his slowly burgeoning tide of anger, Naruto would have let the spit and fire break loose. But it was his mother, and he still remembered that he hadn't ever really made it up to her for making the famously taciturn Grayfia Lucifuge cry all those months ago. So he bit his tongue until he could taste the familiar copper tang of blood, and kept silent.
Angels were a terrifying existence.
As a devil, Rias found her skin prickling with anxiety and every beat of her heart urging her to run and hide. Perhaps it was generations of instinct, or perhaps it was just the cumulative effect of reading too many stories, but the Ruin Princess found standing next to Heaven's emissary disquieting. Not even the fallen angels could elicit the same level of wariness Rias felt in the presence of her natural enemy. It was like they were two repelling magnetic poles.
Or maybe Rias was just being paranoid, since the rest of her family seemed to have no second thoughts about it. Even Gabriel seemed at ease in Gehenna, despite the long history of warfare and murder between Hell and Heaven.
Warmth briefly settled over Rias' hand as Akeno stepped up behind her mistress to give a quick squeeze. It was over in an instant, before anyone else could really catch sight of the act, but the clasp was enough to make the tense set of the redhead's shoulders fractionally relax.
"We have everything we need." The Thunder Priestess informed Rias as she let go of her best friend's hand and settled her hands over her hips. Violet eyes brightened as Rias fleetingly met Akeno's gaze before dimming again when Rias' focus swept away.
"Are you sure?" Rias questioned distantly, patting idly at the pockets of her purple long coat. It was already settling into winter in the human world, and even the Gremory clan territory was drawing near to the cold season. She had no idea what Heaven's climate would be like, but it would be a poor showing for the clan if they had to immediately start begging for new clothes to wear.
"Yep."
Watching as Yuuto paced back and forth like a caged line, Rias hummed in acknowledgement. Her entire peerage was ready to depart on the little vacation her brother was insisting they take. None of them were stupid enough to think that a trip to Heaven was anything less than a quest for asylum, so they'd all scrambled to pack their necessities as quickly as possible. Koneko had obeyed Rias' orders with more energy than usual, and even Gasper had gathered up his sparse belongings and kept them in his box hideaway.
The only thing they were waiting on now was Naruto.
Koneko nibbled on a stick of pocky, trying and not quite able to shrug off the attentions of The Strongest Woman in Heaven. It was more than a little daunting to have one of the Burning Angels studying her like she was a particularly interesting animal at the zoo, and Gabriel hadn't been shy with her queries.
"Are you concealing your feline features because you're afraid someone might try to get rid of you and put an end to the Nekoshou once and for all?" Gabriel questioned the petite youkai, pretty face drawing tight in horror at the thought. She might be a terror on the battlefield when she had to be, but Gabriel loathed the thought of someone so young being hunted down for something they had no control over. Children were precious.
"No." the white-haired nekomata denied, crunching down the last bit of her treat and refusing to elaborate. The personal details of Koneko's life and her motivations were not any of Gabriel's business. She had no intention of trying to play the role of gregarious socialite. That was more Naruto's job. Koneko had her small collection of friends and was satisfied with that.
Gabriel smiled at the chilly young girl before letting her focus move away towards the enormous box that the Gremory house had insisted was necessary. She hadn't seen the purpose in bringing a cardboard container to Heaven at first, since the Gremory clan was more than wealthy enough for proper suitcases and bags. But she'd eventually been told a baffling little tidbit; apparently, there was a young dhampir who actually lived in the cardboard box.
What a collection of oddballs the devils Michael had agreed to shelter were turning out to be.
The Seraph was very careful not to look at Rias Gremory's Knight too closely or try to speak with him more than was necessary. It made her heart ache to see one so young twisted up with pain and anger, and unfortunately some of it seemed to be aimed at Heaven. She could tell that the boy wasn't ready to speak to any of her kind about it, so she'd been forced to ignore her own instincts and leave the blond boy to his space. Having to take refuge in a place he viewed negatively was no doubt stressful enough without Gabriel prodding at him.
"Oh good, I guess you guys are all good to go." Naruto huffed out as he appeared on the fields of Purgatory in a glowing circle of crimson magic. Picking at his ear with one finger, he lazily waved the other hand and sent the floating cases of luggage he'd brought with him over to nestle next to the pile of bags made by his aunt's peerage. Valerie and Ravel were barely a step behind him, having squeezed in to travel along as one group on the currents of Naruto's magic.
"We were simply waiting for you." Rias confirmed, hiding a grin as Valerie bounded over to whisper into one of the holes that had been drilled into the side of Gasper's box. Pink flashed in the opening as the young boy pressed his eyes up to the side to better get a look at his friend. The Ruin Princess was glad to see that the two were settling in, perhaps not perfectly, but at least somewhat smoothly - especially after Ravel seemed to have buried the hatchet with the blonde dhampir.
But then, it probably wasn't all that hard for Ravel to make peace with Valerie after the upgrade her relationship with Naruto seemed to have undergone. When Rias had led Naruto to Ravel's room and told him to go make up, she had been hoping for a return to friendly normalcy.
Instead they apparently decided to go beyond that and not a day would go by without Rias seeing at least something happen that hinted at affection. The displays were admittedly mostly Ravel deciding to give Naruto random hugs or demand to hold hands for a time that made her nephew look slightly uncomfortable, but Naruto still accepted them.
It was kind of boggling how one conversation could shift the boundaries of a friendship that visibly. They weren't lovebirds by any means, but it was probably the first time ever that Rias could actually honestly say she could see them as a romantic pair in the future.
One conversation could change everything. Even one sentence, or a single word.
'You can't even admit you want to jump Sasuke's bones!'
Rias' face flushed at the memory of that little comment. There were uncomfortable questions such an assertion raised, from if it was even true; to how she was supposed to react to it if it was. The kind of entanglement Naruto was suggesting wasn't something that could exist in isolation, and Rias had no intent of letting someone else decide to disappear Sasuke for daring.
Some risks were too heavy to accept, regardless of a naughty thought here and there.
"Well if you're all ready to go, shall we?" Gabriel clapped her hands together and beamed at the assorted devils.
A dizzying kaleidoscope of colours swirled tightly, mingling every shade of the rainbow in a vomit inducing display. The Dimensional Gap was a place that challenged sanity, stretching the bounds of what was beyond the bounds of rational imagination.
Yuuto was glad when a last pull of Gabriel's power pulled them free of the space between worlds, even if they ended up in Heaven because of it.
Breathing deeply as the Third Heaven faded into existence around the Gehennan party, Yuuto tried not to choke on the foreign sweetness of the air. He hadn't ever really noticed it before, but Hell smelt just faintly like burning ozone. The sudden absence of the scent made the air in Heaven seem too clean.
Everything was too clean. The sky was deep and cobalt blue without a cloud in sight. The grass under his boots was so green and fresh it practically seemed to ooze life. A small stream wound along a half dozen yards away, clearer than glass and probably without a single tainted molecule. And everywhere there were angels, young and vibrant with faces and bodies so gorgeously molded it made Yuuto feel like an ogre.
Earth was human only, with expected flaws and bittersweet beauty. Gehenna was superhuman, with all the flaws Yuuto had discovered in mankind taken to absurd heights, and all the fragile gifts he'd encountered swollen to just as vast proportions. As fantastical as it was, Hell was relatable.
Heaven was not. It was more than human, in a way that made Yuuto feel like he'd forget his own existence just being there. The world was consuming, softly embracing his mind until all he wanted to do was lay down and bear witness. A quick glance to the side showed that his friends had awestruck expressions, likely similar to the emotions he could feel pulling at his own face.
The soft peal of Gabriel's chuckles broke the spell, and shaking off the last remnants of awe Yuuto stoked his anger instead. He would not so easily forgive the leaders of an organization that had failed him and dozens of other children. If not for their approval of the Holy Sword Project, so many of his comrades would still be alive.
Yuuto was so caught up in his sense of disgruntlement that he almost missed Gabriel calling a four-wnged angel out of the air with a sharp whistle.
"Rizoel." Gabriel sighed when the green-haired man landed in front of the group and swept into a low bow. "There is no need for that." Waving off the obeisance with a slight frown, the blonde Seraph waited for Rizoel to lumber back to his feet before she turned to their 'guests'. "Rizoel will lead you to your lodgings. Please take your time to get comfortable, and don't be afraid to ask for anything. We'll help you however we can."
From the way Rizoel's tawny eyes narrowed faintly, Yuuto really doubted that they'd be asking him for anything. It was easy to tell when they weren't wanted, and despite the welcome from Heaven's upper echelons prejudice no doubt lingered.
Which was fine, because Yuuto had no problem being prejudiced right back.
Tuning out the formal thanks Rias and Naruto were mustering up for Gabriel as the angel left, Yuuto turned to Koneko and nudged the petite girl in the side with an insistent elbow. "Come on." He mouthed, prompting his friend to sigh and take up her position on the other end of Gasper's box.
They each shoved their hands into the small cutout handholds that dotted the sides of the cardboard container and lifted. A tiny surprised yelp echoed from within as Gasper was shocked by the sudden shifting of his 'home', but once the two devils comfortably suspended the box between them the dhampir subsided.
Accepting the vaguely amused look Rias gave them with a roguish grin, Yuuto winked one grey eye at his mistress and then moved in tandem with Koneko to trail at the back of the line the devils formed as Rizoel led them over the emerald fields. Safely ensconced in the familiar role of playing follower, Yuuto let his mind drift.
The blond Knight's life had changed in the last few months as Sasuke's absence weighed heavily on the entire peerage. The hole left by the Uchiha wasn't obvious to outsiders, but Yuuto could sense it gnawing at him in everything he said or did. He'd make a snide joke and then look over his shoulder for someone who was no longer there, or work through a complex kata and catch himself wondering what Sasuke's opinion on it would be.
Their routine had plodded forward, unchanged save for the diplomatic trip to the Tepes Kingdom or the odd journey to the human world to offer devil status to enterprising humans, but the feel was different. It was like their day-to-day life had become monotonous, and they were only moving through the motions because they had no idea how to cope without the 'patriarch' to Rias' matriarchal role. The loss of direction was consuming, like how when Gasper had suddenly bowled into Rias' peerage, and Yuuto didn't even know how to begin to deal with the boy beyond falling back into his polite formal training.
Yuuto hoped the war ended soon. Not because he was twisted up by the deaths of thousands of people he'd never met, but because he was spinning in the wind. How was he supposed to react to Rias' sudden silences when something reminded her of Sasuke? How did he handle Akeno's tendency to stare off blankly into the distance or Koneko's random vanishing acts?
He needed Sasuke's guidance.
"I see that you're taking after your senpai."
"Shove it up your ass." Sasuke muttered, lighting his cigarette with a spark from the tip of his thumb and inhaling. The tobacco and ash burned in his lungs, sizzling in a way that ached just so and reminded Sasuke that he was still alive.
Giving a low rumbled of laughter around his own cigarette, Vali reached forward with his free hand to wiggle his fingers into the cool soil of the trench wall. The new uniform still felt too starched and too new as it hung from his shoulders, and the White Dragon Emperor suspected Sasuke's felt the same way, even though the clothes were the exact same as their old ones. Save for the new rank patch of course.
It seemed to reflect their lives at large. From one perspective, things could change drastically, and from another they stayed the same. Their new ranks conferred new privileges and new responsibilities in the wake of the new war front and Gehenna's new strategy of containment. Yet they still plod the same old trails through a dozen old trenches and fought the same old battles against the same old enemies.
Vali was tired.
Not of life and not of fighting, which were things he doubted he'd ever lose enthusiasm for. But the silver haired half-devil was tired of war. He was tired of death that came so easily and so unremarked to the weak on both sides and destroyed people's futures meaninglessly. What had hundreds of thousands of people died for, except the mad ambitions of a god that didn't know when his days were done?
"Stop thinking so hard." Sasuke sighed, the red embers at the end of his cigarette flaring hot orange as he inhaled. "I can smell your brain frying."
"That's what happens when you have to think for two. Find yourself a brain and I won't have to think so much."
Rolling his eyes at the comment, Sasuke took a final puff and flicked the butt of his cigarette over the lip of the trench and into no man's land. Smoking was such a wasteful and disgusting habit, but that didn't seem to be enough to sway the Uchiha to give it up. Every little bit of safe normalcy was appreciated.
Fire exploded, and the pair of young men hit the dirt with curses. "Fucking assholes." Sasuke growled, Sharingan flaring momentarily as he tossed a glance over his shoulder at the smoking conjuration cannon that had just been fired. The explosion was just a a bit of the posturing the Gehennan troops were supposed to do, but it was still enough to rattle Sasuke's frayed nerves.
And based on the way Vali was muttering under his breath, the other man felt the same way.
Brushing the dust from his uniform, Sasuke crawled back to his feet and peered up over the edge of the trench across to the Mictlanese lines. The little fire test hadn't disturbed the tight knot of soldiers that made up the Theta Pocket, but then, when they had some fifty thousand troops crammed in over the space of a few dozen miles, a single cannon probably wasn't enough to spook them.
Sasuke couldn't be sure how wide their encirclement ran, but he wouldn't be surprised if the Limbo Strip was left as a mishmash of violently churned ditches and barren plateaus by the time the war was won.
Whenever that would be.
He hoped that High Command figured their shit out and brought the conflict to and end soon. It had been months since he'd been called to the front, and the thrill of battle had worn off. Sasuke wanted to go home. He wanted to see Rias and Akeno and all the rest. He even missed Naruto's ugly mug.
"Oh hey! There you are, Chief."
Phineas jumped up and slung an arm over Sasuke's neck, swinging his weight so he could catch Vali's neck under the other arm.
"Colonel" the brunette greeted Vali solemnly, legs dangling freely in the air until Sasuke got fed up and dumped him in the dirt.
"Oww…"
Rubbing at the back of his neck, Sasuke briefly weighed the merit of kicking the brat while he was down. But it would probably feel like kicking a retarded puppy, and he lacked that level of evil in his soul.
Apparently Vali was just that evil though, since the White Dragon Emperor seemed to have no problem walking over the groaning private's back before he fled down the trench and left Sasuke alone with the troublemaker.
"One day you're going to annoy the wrong individual." Sasuke sighed, bending low and grabbing the back of Phineas' collar. Yanking the green eyed devil upright, the Uchiha ignored the faint choking sounds his underling emitted.
"But if I do, you'll be there to save me, won't you, Chief?"
"No."
Phineas begin to blubber at the deadpan denial, eyes going watery for about three quarters of a minute before a thought seemed to strike him. The despair flooding the brunette's face was wiped away so quickly it nearly gave Sasuke whip-lash, and then the private was digging about in his pocket.
Grinning as his hand found what he was looking for, Phineas yanked a little box of fudge from his pocket and shoved it in his commanding officer's face with a triumphant "Tada!"
"If you keep trying to force feed me your sister's baking, I'm going to cut your hands off."
Once more, fat tears behind to shine in the corners of Phineas' green orbs.
"Okay, fine! I'll have one. Just stop crying."
"I knew you cared, Chief!"
"…Someone end my life."
Running a thumb over the slightly crinkled page of one of Sasuke's letters, Akeno sighed and tossed it in the pile with the rest that Sasuke had mailed since deploying. She shouldn't be dwelling on her friend's absence, but there was so little to actually do in Heaven. They were loathe to train seriously in case their so-called hosts would take it badly, and there were only so many times Akeno could soak in the bath or go for a walk.
Not that pouring over old memories was particularly riveting, but at least it helped the Thunder Priestess come to terms with her life and her feelings.
Akeno spared a side glance for Rias' snoozing form on the bed and briefly considered waking her best friend up before dismissing the thought. Even if she did, there was nothing to do, and she might end up annoying Rias for disrupting the redhead's rest for no real reason. And not irritating Rias was at the top of Akeno's priority list.
If Akeno made her friend angry, then the distance that she could feel between them would probably grow, and that would cut the half-angel to the core. Rias was already living half in her own head lately, and Akeno had no desire to drive her away entirely. She wanted the old closeness they used to have back, but Akeno was beginning to suspect that it might never return.
There wasn't a lot of space for Akeno when the only thing that was on Rias' mind was Sasuke. It made Akeno jealous that she'd been practically unconsciously written out of her friend's heart for the sake of a man. It made her guilty too, because that man was also Akeno's friend, and someone that she was more than fond of.
Such was the life of a third wheel, she supposed.
Akeno already knew that once the war was ended, things were going to change. It was said that absence made the heart grow fonder, and she knew the silly little idiom was true. Before Sasuke had left, he'd just been one of many things that Rias focused on in the run of a day. After he left, it seemed the Uchiha consumed the majority of Rias' thoughts. There'd been a brief respite when they were forced to play diplomats to the Tepes Kingdom, but as soon as they came back the obsessive letter writing resumed.
And since Sasuke wrote back just as obsessively, Akeno assumed that he was just as tangled up in yearning. Once the two figured out why they had decided that such frequent correspondence was needed, the Thunder Priestess predicted that drama and feelings would abound.
What joy.
"What are you doing?" Rias slurred sleepily, teal eyes blinking open to peer at the dark-haired woman. The redhead rolled about in the wide bed, glaring at the clock that stated it was half past midnight in glowing green numbers.
Violet eyes scanned back over the messy pile of letters, and Akeno slouched back into the leather couch with a lazy sigh. "Nothing at all, Rias."
Rias stared at the back of her friend's head, considering the unbound waterfall of midnight black tresses and the tired slouch of Akeno's shoulders. "Come on." She decided, flopping down on her back and holding her arms up like a babe looking to be picked up.
Feet pattered over wood as Akeno left her seat and circled around to loom over the lounging Ruin Princess. The invitation was obvious, and she only hesitated a few moments before caving and climbing into bed with her mistress.
Pale arms wrapped around Akeno's back as Rias drew her into a close cuddle, and stayed there with all the familiarity due to someone she'd slept in the same bed with for years. "Go to sleep." She mumbled, waiting until the tense muscles of Akeno's body relaxed. Whatever had the Thunder Priestess so wound up lately didn't matter. Rias was determined that it wouldn't get in between them.
Koneko let her feet dangle over the edge of the windowsill. Ivory moonlight turned the pale skin of her legs as white as snow, and the nekomata idly wondered if Heaven's sun and moon were natural or if they were magical constructs like Gehenna's.
It didn't really matter either way, because the Third Heaven was natural enough that she could feel the faint tickle of chakra with her sixth sense. The Overworld was so full of youth and vitality that she could understand why the old Satans had fought so long and so hard to conquer it. The world was magnificent, and the chakra she could taste was the cleanest she'd ever encountered.
For the first time in a while, Koneko felt something that approached peace.
Glancing over the moon dappled fields for any sign of sentient life, Koneko's tawny gaze failed to note a single angel or other holy being that might take an interest in her. Which was just as well, since she had no intention of showing her secrets off to anyone.
Heat flowed over her flesh, pouring like warm honey down the nerves of her scape and along every bump of her spine. Koneko could feel skin and bone shift in a way that wasn't painful per se, but wasn't entirely comfortable either. A final pulse rocked over her, and the white-haired girl let her ears and tail burst free from their confinement.
The physical sense of release was almost enough to make her smile. If Koneko had to compare the sensation of assuming her true form to anything, it would be to the relief that came after being allowed to stretch a formerly tied up limb. More and more she found herself indulging in her real body, and Koneko knew just where to lay the blame for it.
At the feet of a certain bumbling overly cat-obsessed Uchiha and stupid meddling dragon god. If not for the little trip they'd taken into Sasuke's inner world, Koneko could have happily gone on hiding her nekomata features as much as possible. Except thanks to the two of them, her feline characteristics been exposed to too many people, and Sasuke apparently had taken that as a carte blanche to needle her about them.
But now Sasuke was gone, and there was no guarantee when or even if he'd ever return. The summons hadn't been Sasuke's fault, but that didn't prevent her from getting angry at him. The Uchiha had no right to come into her life like he had and smash all the icy surety she'd once had to pieces. If he was going to wriggle his way into their affections, the least he could do was stay and be responsible for the fallout.
Without Sasuke, there was no one to bond with Yuuto over the way of the sword. Her blond friend would work himself into the ground by himself, silent and grim-faced because he'd come to depend on lazily sparring and trading techniques with Sasuke in order to hold back the hungry memories of the Holy Sword Project. It was a silent bond of brotherhood, but Koneko doubted either of the fools had figured out what it meant to them.
Without Sasuke, who was supposed to be the silent pillar of unchanging fortitude that Akeno put her back to? Rias was Akeno's friend, and they possibly even loved each other a little bit, but Koneko knew that Akeno's personal issues needed a more taciturn touch. He'd made himself indispensable and then left Akeno spinning in the wind in his absence. If there was one thing that Koneko could do, it was observe, and she knew Akeno didn't have the introspection to know what the root cause of her discontent was.
Whatever issues that Akeno and Yuuto had paled in comparison to Rias' though. Koneko was not the best at interpreting feelings, but she'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to see the glaring signs of infatuation. Rias forced herself to be the peerage's den mother, and had adapted her role into being the velvet glove over Sasuke's iron. Without him she was empty and directionless.
At least Gasper's problems were just the typicalrun-of-the-mill insanity that seemed to be required to join Rias' peerage, rather than the result of co-dependency with a tsundere asshole.
It was just as well that Sasuke had promised not to die, because once he came back Koneko was going to kill him herself. But only after satisfying her own needs. The romps she liked to take through nature had been lonely without the Uchiha's silent presence, and the nekomata wanted at least one more lap together for old time's sake.
Someone needed to help her keep Shirone in the grave, and Koneko didn't know who else to turn to that would really understand the need to reject parts of a person's identity.
(AN): 6000 words. Longer than usual, but I did the full round. I know this chapter and the last couple have been really heavy on the introspection and less focused on moving plot forward. But before you get upset that I haven't ended the war yet, yes, I'm getting to that. I really planned to end it like, ten chapters ago. But it kept ballooning because I added other stuff to it.
Naruto got this whole governing thing, since I couldn't just ignore him for a while without annoying readers. So I made stuff up for him to do, and ended up giving him a taste of the appeals of dictatorship. I didn't plan the Sasuke inner world arc, but it became necessarily to rehabilitate Ophis in the long run. I didn't intend for both Valerie and Gasper to get picked up, but fuck canon. Let's just shit all over everything.
I'm trying to avoid Kudzu Plot here. I can't just end the war once I realize that it's taking too long. I have to end it realistically along with somewhat resolving other plotlines. Which means finding a way to do that within the constraints I've built with the magic system, and then giving all these characters a final POV before putting them on the bus for a while. I can't put literally everyone in Camp "Not Important to this Episode" without tying up loose ends and providing some closure for all their various character arcs (i.e people's feelings about the war, Sasuke's absence, Valerie's new life, ect).
But I did it. Everyone is on the bus, which means hopefully I can take the Sirzechs train to the end of the war. I'm hoping to wrap it all up by chapter 50 or so.
