Author's Note: I have made some small changes to the first chapter mainly related to the timeline, so if you find anything inconsistent, refer to the first chapter again.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or High School DxD or any of their characters. Those belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Ichiei Ishibumi respectively.
Recap -
"No need to thank me Rias. I only did what my daughter wanted after all" Natsumi whispered to the redhead surprising her slightly. It was the first time, she had acknowledged it directly, even if both of them knew what the other thought of them as.
Rias' flow of tears increased slightly and she was having difficulty speaking because of her emotions, but she replied nonetheless, "Still, Thank you, Kaa-chan", causing Natsumi to hug her tighter having heard her title.
The loving moment between the pair didn't last too long and was soon disrupted by the footsteps of several people coming their way.
Natsumi just looked up noticing it was Rias' family and her peerage that had approached them. She just nodded at them in acknowledgement, never breaking her embrace with her surrogate daughter.
"THAT WAS SO COOOL, Sensei" it was Issei who spoke up first with stars for eyes, "First, he just phased right through you and then that huge ball of energy , and.. and ..and the clone thing.." he continued counting through the displays she had put on, getting a chuckle from the blonde haired woman.
He was interrupted by Koneko though, "You used chakra" she stated simply with only a slight hint of curiousness in her voice, "It was so warm" she added.
It was the second part that brought a small smile to Natsumi's face. It was also that part that raised the eye brows of the Gremory family.
"Warm?" asked Zeoticus, "I didn't get that kind of feeling. Did you guys?" he asked his wife, son, daughter-in-law and the rest of the peerage.
"Yes" chorused Rias' peerage together.
"No" came the answers from the Gremory family, except Rias, at the same time.
At this difference in opinion, everyone looked at the only person who could answer.
Natsumi just sighed, "People have described my energy before as being warm. I guess, that's what these guys felt" she answered truthfully nodding towards her surrogate daughter's peerage, "You guys on the other hand might have felt some of the killing intent I had unleashed against anyone who was even slightly responsible for Rias' predicament"
"And considering from what you just mentioned, as well as the nervous glances from your guests", she continued just glancing around the reception hall, "I am guessing, the killing intent as well as some brunt of my power was felt all the way here, across the dimension. Must be because of the small opening you guys had in order to observe the fight" she concluded getting a nod of confirmation from Sirzechs.
"You are right on that regard. Though, I am curious, and I believe its not just me, but all that power that had even the high-class devils sweating from the pressure, even though I am pretty sure only a small amount actually made it out of that dimension" stated Sirzechs, impressed as well as equally wary of the being in front of him, " and your use of chakra. Are you really just a human? Or perhaps a youkai?" he asked the blonde nurse.
"Hmmm, That's the first I have heard of that term, so I am not really sure what they are.", she lied through her teeth before adding, "But What I am" she started getting everyone's attention, "is none of your business." She completed with slight narrowing of her eyes.
"Anyways, I believe, you guys" she changed the subject masterfully, looking towards the Gremory family, "owe someone an apology" she finished, gently breaking off her embrace with the redhead in her arms and getting her to face her family members.
Rias, on her part, was just listening to them talk till her surrogate mother turned her towards her family. She had stopped crying a few moments back, but she still had some stray tears in her eyes. She wiped away those tears before looking up at her family with an expression which clearly stated how hurt she was with what they did.
Though, she didn't say anything or made a move. She just stood there by Natsumi's side, holding the golden wolf plushie close to her chest with both hands.
Seeing her hurt expression brought some sense into her family finally.
"I am sorry, Rias" It was Venelana who spoke this time, her eyes clearly stating how ashamed she was of herself, "We shouldn't have done what we did. We should have listened to what you wanted. I hope you can forgive us".
"We will make sure something like this will never happen in the future" Zeoticus added on to his wife's apology, getting a nod from her.
Natsumi just nudged Rias forward towards her mother, getting Rias to embrace the flaxen haired beauty.
Venelana returned the hug, "I am so so sorry, my daughter" she whispered into the redhead's ears, trying really hard to hold back her tears, but failing ever so slightly.
"It Okay, Okaa-sama" Rias replied, equally in tears, "Its all in the past now" she added as her father who joined both of them in a family moment, embracing both of them gently.
Natsumi and her students, all had smiles on their faces seeing the trio.
The blonde nurse, though, turned her attention towards the other male redhead in their proximity and his supposed wife, who was wearing a maid uniform for some odd reason, she decided to not ponder on it. It wasn't her place to comment on how others decide to live their life, especially when she had nothing to do with them.
It was the first time, she had a good look at the silver haired maid though.
She was a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her early twenties with back-length silver hair that featured a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest was let down and ended in twin braids. She had red eyes.
She was wearing a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head with red lipstick as a cosmetic accessory.
"Aren't you two gonna apologize?" Natsumi asked the couple getting everyone's attention. Having broken off the embrace, the older Gremory couple as well as Rias were looking in their direction.
"We were about to, but didn't wanna interrupt the lovely moment" Sirzechs started, "I am really sorry as well Rias. As your older brother, I should have done more to help you which I didn't. I hope you forgive me as well" he added opening his arms wide, hoping for the younger redhead to give him a hug as well.
Rias on her part just smiled from her position, but didn't move an inch, "It's okay, Onii-sama. I understand that being the Maou, you cannot really show direct favoritism"
Seeing her not move resulted the said Maou to deflate slightly, getting sweat drops from some and snickers from others, mainly Natsumi, Rias and uncharacteristically Grayfia.
Grayfia just patted the deflated Maou on his back before apologizing as well, "I am sorry as well Rias. Even though, I was against the marriage, I couldn't do to help you out much"
"Its fine, Onee-sama. Everything turned out to be all right. And I know you must have tried your best as well" Rias replied with a smile on her face.
"Rias-chan" Natsumi called out, gaining the redhead's attention, " Can you give us adults here a few moments dear?" she asked with a small smile.
"Why don't you show your peerage around the castle?" added Venelana.
Rias hesitated a bit but nodded, wondering what she wanted to talk about to her family. She took her peerage members to explore the castle.
Natsumi just saw her surrogate daughter leave with a smile till she was out of sight, before turning towards the Gremory family, "See, I know you guys are wary of me, rightly so. Its not everyday that a someone like me just appears out of nowhere and display the amount of power that I did" she started getting slight but serious nods from everyone.
"But, my daughter seems to have extreme trust in you" Venelana argued her point, "So, I am gonna put mine in you as well".
This surprised Natsumi for a moment, but she got over it quickly before she continued with a fond smile, "Thank you for that. I actually love Rias, as if she were my own daughter. And I would do anything to make her happy".
Before anyone could say something to that, she added, "That's not what I want to discuss though. I do remember Rias mentioning to me that she lived alone most of the time, her family, you guys, were in a different place."
The Gremory family just nodding in agreement, it was technically correct. Though, they were wondering where this was going.
"I have been wondering for quite some time that" Natsumi started carefully, "I should ask her to move in with me while she was living in Kuoh"
This got Rias' family surprised. They weren't expecting this kind of thing. They weren't exactly opposed to the idea though. Living with someone was always better than living alone.
But, before any of them could say anything, Natsumi decided to add extra thoughts, "I could have asked her directly. I mean, I will later on. I just wanted to pass this by you guys first. I wouldn't have done so had you not apologized to her or something worse happened. But considering, she forgave you all, I don't want you to be in the dark related to this matter".
She didn't mince her words, but it was true. Had Rias been married off before Natsumi herself could intervene, or her family had decided to keep their ego and not apologize, she wouldn't have cared and just took Rias away. That was not the case anymore though.
Before Sirzechs or Zeoticus could say anything though, it was Venelana who answered first, "We understand where you are coming from. And being honest, I would love for Rias to live with someone who loves her as much as you do. It is obviously better than living than alone"
"I am glad you think that way. I will leave you guys to entertain your guests then. I will go and find Rias and ask her what she thinks" smiled back Natsumi and took off leaving behind a smiling Venelana and still slightly surprised Sirzechs and Zeoticus, who were still wondering what just happened. Grayfia, on her he part was just keeping her neutral façade, but if one were to look closely, they could see a hint of a smile on her lips.
(A few minutes later. With Rias and her Peerage. Somewhere in the halls of the Gremory Estate)
Rias was showing the castle to the new members of her peerage Issei and Asia, with Yuuto, Akeno and Koneko already having seen it before.
She was leading from the front as they wandered the halls, her peerage just following her.
"How do you think Sensei got so strong? Do you think she is a youkai?" Akeno asked her king out of the blue.
"I don't know, Akeno" replied Rias truthfully, "To be honest, I never asked her. So, I guess she just never went out of her way to reveal the truth. Well, provided I never revealed who I was, I would say that's fair on her part"
She then turned around looking her queen in the eyes, "But, I trust her completely. And not just because she won me my freedom, which I couldn't do by myself, even with your help" she added, a bit furious at herself for being weak, "I trusted her even before that. I am sure she has her reasons, like I had mine, and I know for sure that she will let me know the truth when she is ready"
Akeno could see the trust and confidence in her king's eyes when she said that, so she didn't argue back, just nodding in acceptance.
"By the way, Buchou. Why are you holding that wolf plushie?" it was Yuuto who asked this time, pointing to the soft toy that Rias was carrying around.
"Oh this?" Rias started looking down at the toy, "Nat-Sensei gave this to me about an year back as a gift. I was just feeling down, so I was just carrying it around, imagining she was with me"
"And guess what, she was next to me a few minutes later" she added, a look of realization dawned on her.
"By the look on your face, I guess, you are thinking of the same thing as then?" asked Akeno.
"With all the commotion that ensued, it slipped my mind for a bit, but how did she get here in the first place?" Rias asked out loud what everyone in her peerage was thinking, looking up at the ceiling in wonder.
"Oh, I just placed a summoning seal in that toy" a voice answered getting the group's attention.
Rias could see Natsumi coming their way from the same way they had come earlier. She had a big smile on her face, bringing a similar way on to Rias'.
"I finally found you guys. I didn't know anyone at the party, so I decided to ditch it and look for you" Natsumi continued reaching the group, "I hope you guys don't mind?" she asked
"We definitely don't" Rias answered immediately, getting nods from the others.
"You mentioned some kind of summoning seal?" asked Yuuto wanting the blonde haired nurse to elaborate on her earlier comment.
"Oh, nothing major. I placed a seal inside of that plushie before I gave it to Rias" Natsumi continued her explanation, "It was designed so that whenever the holder, Rias, would feel overwhelming loneliness or despair or sadness, I would be summoned to her side immediately. I think, it was during that party earlier that the threshold reached and voila, I was there"
This got some surprise looks from the teenage group.
"That's some high level magic there, Sensei" Akeno commented on what everyone was thinking.
"Eh, it wasn't that big a deal. It wasn't magic though" Natsumi corrected, "You can call it a technique"
"It was still impressive" Akeno relied back, "So, if you don't mind us asking, What faction are you from Sensei? You used chakra, but you seem slightly different from a youkai" she asked.
"Well, I will give you the same answer as I gave to Rias' family. What I am is none of your business. You have my thanks for helping Rias, but you haven't earned the right yet" Natsumi started, "I will tell Rias once we are alone. You guys will probably know after some time passes. That time isn't now though" she finished.
Before anyone could argue back, Natsumi moved forward through the group standing in front of a smiling Rias, and continued "I have to talk to you about in private".
Rias nodding in understanding looked past the blonde woman and addressed her peerage, "Can you guys go back to the main hall? I will be there shortly". Her voice left no room for an argument, so the peerage just nodded and left the two, treading towards the hall.
"Lets go to my room" Rias said, grabbing one of Natsumi's hand and leading her to her bedroom.
Natsumi just followed her surrogate daughter with a smile.
They soon reached her bedroom, where Rias ushered Natsumi in ahead and proceeded to close the door behind her, giving them some privacy.
Natsumi looked around the room and whistled slightly. It was a huge room, easily equal to the size of her whole house. There was a king sized bed at one end, a dressing table to the adjacent one on the right. There was even a couple of couches with a table in between in order to greet guests. The whole room was decorated with the finest wares that Natsumi had ever seen.
Natsumi turned around and addressed Rias, who was now looking down, slightly nervous from what the conversation was gonna entail.
"It's a nice room you have got here, Rias-chan" Natsumi started, "Its now making me nervous about what I am to say"
Rias looked up at her surrogate mother a bit surprised and curious. She wasn't expecting the blonde woman to be nervous in this.
"Um, How should I say this?" Natsumi pondered aloud to herself, before deciding to just get to the point, nodding to herself, "I have already talked regarding this with your family, they don't seem to mind. Uh, Its no pressure or anything, but, if you would like, would you like to live with me while you stay in that other dimension?"
Out of all the things Rias was expecting, this wasn't it. It took her some time to comprehend what was just asked. She just stood there with a blank look on her face for a few moments, before the biggest smile Nastumi had ever seen on the redhead broke out on her face.
The redhead tackled the blonde mother figure into another hug, resting her face on her shoulder blades, before simply replying, "I would love to, Kaa-chan".
Natsumi was ecstatic at the reply, returning the embrace happily, "Just so you know, my place isn't as grand this" she just wanted to lay it out before the move actually happened.
"It doesn't matter. As long as you are there, I don't need anything else there" Rias replied truthfully.
"Great. We can move you in as soon as we get back to Kuoh" Nastumi stated, getting just a nod from the redhead.
Rias broke the hug this time, "Let go celebrate then, Kaa-chan" she said, grabbing the blonde woman by her hand and dragging her back to the party, getting a slight chuckle from said blonde.
(The next day. Evening. At Natsumi's Residence)
It took Natsumi and Rias all day to move the redhead's stuff from her previous apartment to Natsumi's house and then set up the spare room for Rias.
After having setup the spare bedroom, both of them were now in the living room, relaxing on the couch while wearing something comfortable.
Natsumi was sporting orange shorts with a white t-shirt with floral pattern all over it. Her long hair was tied back in a loose pony tail.
Rias, on the other hand, was in black joggers with a plain blue t-shirt. She had let her hair loose.
Natsumi was sitting on the couch, while Rias was laying down with her head on the blonde's lap while facing the ceiling, though, her eyes were closed in contention. The reason, Natsumi absent-mindedly combing the redheads hair with the blonde herself having faint smile on her lips.
"I know you have just moved in, but I am really looking forward to having you in the house" Natsumi said in a soft tone.
"Me too, Kaa-chan" Rias simply replied. A comfortable silence fell around both of them for some time.
It was broken by Natsumi who finally decided to come clean first, "You remember, yesterday, when I said I didn't know what a youkai was?"
Rias just nodded.
"I was lying. I actually am a youkai" Nastumi added.
"Hmm" Rias started, not much surprised by the revelation, "To be honest, I had a hunch that you were lying. I was still hugging you pretty fiercely back then, so I noticed the small change in the heartbeat, when my brother mentioned the term youkai. But I figured you will let me know the truth when you feel its time for me to know. Am I right?" she finished, her eyes still closed.
"haha" Nastumi chuckled slightly at that, "Yes, you are. But, I am pretty sure, the next bit I am reveal will definitely shock you"
This got the redhead's attention and prompted her to look up at the blonde woman.
"I am a juubi" Natsumi started causing Rias' eyes to widen in surprise, "A ten tailed wolf to be precise, from another world"
If Rias was surprised before, she was completely flabbergasted by this news. She immediately sat up, surprising Natsumi slightly and turned towards her surrogate mother, "You are not pulling my leg, are you?" she asked.
Nastumi chuckled but responded nonetheless, "Nope. I am completely serious"
It took Rias some time to process that, especially the part about her being from another world.
"How did you end up here, then?" she asked after calming herself a bit.
Natsumi started to relay the summary of her life story to her surrogate daughter starting from her birth, to the Fourth Shinobi War, to the fight with Isshiki and finally to the circumstances that led her to leave that world behind.
Rias had tears in her eyes by the end of it. She was still young and hadn't witnessed the loss of someone precious, so she didn't know what her blonde mother was going through.
The redhead just hugged her mother before saying, "I am not gonna leave you Kaa-chan. So you don't have to worry about that bit anymore"
She broke the hug before adding, "We devils have really really long life spans, averaging several thousands of years. So, that's one less thing for you to worry about in the future" she finished with a grin, slight tears still streaking down her cheeks.
It was Natsumi's turn to be surprised this time, but it also brought a smile and tears of joy to her.
After meeting and bonding with the redhead, she always dreaded what the future might hold, but, this information was a welcome surprise for her. She can now just live with the redhead without having to fear for the future.
Rias wiped the tears from her blonde mother's cheeks before proceeding to do the same to her own.
"I guess, your beautiful hair, is my red thread of fate" Natsumi stated with a smile.
" I guess it is" the readhead replied with a smile of her own, "But the way you put it seems like you have borrowed that statement from someone else"
Natsumi just smiled, before making Rias lie down on her once again and added, "Because I did. It was my mother who said this as her own red hair had resulted in my father falling in love with her and vice-versa" Natsumi started, surprising Rias slightly.
Natsumi continued to tell the story, her mother had told her all those years inside her seal while she was trying to control Kurama's chakra.
Once she was done, Rias had stars in her eyes. It was the most romantic story she had ever heard.
"So, Ojii-chan saved Obaa-chan by following her red hair?" she asked, mostly to herself but getting a nod from Natsumi nonetheless.
"Though, in my parents' case, the phrase, red thread of fate, was mostly used in romantic sense. That might not be the case with us. But that doesn't mean its not true" Natsumi added.
Rias just smiled up at her in acknowledgement.
"That's enough about me" Natsumi started glancing at the clock, which showed it was time for dinner already, "I am gonna make some dinner for us. In the meantime, it's your to tell me about this world. I know I travelled the country, but fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't particularly come around anything suspicious"
Rias got up from the couch, allowing Natsumi to do the same. They then proceeded towards the kitchen, where Natsumi continued on to make dinner, while Rias started her explanation on devils, fallen angels, angels, youkai and sacred gears.
The redhead explained what each of those were and expanded on the big war and the peace treaty that was in place at the moment as well as the Evil Piece System and how she resurrected her whole peerage and the circumstances surrounding her hidden piece.
"Is your group the reason, the school became co-ed?" Nastumi asked while putting some rice and water in the rice cooker.
"Yes. It was mainly because of Yuuto though" replied Rias "Issei wasn't a devil since a few months ago"
"I know you must have a good reason, but I gotta ask, Why him?" asked Nastumi.
Rias having understood who she was asking about responded, "He was on the verge of death when he summoned me. He had taken a light spear from a fallen angel to the gut. I couldn't leave him for dead, could I?" she asked rhetorically, knowing how her surrogate mother would answer to that question.
"So, I resurrected him, since I couldn't heal him otherwise. And once I was done, I asked Akeno to take him home and heal his injuries" the redhead continued getting a nod from the blonde youkai.
"It was a plus when we later found that he possessed the Boosted gear, one of the thirteen longinus" Rias shrugged. It was a welcome surprise for the redhead when she found out.
"So, one of those scared gears that has the potential to kill god?" asked Natsumi while stirring some vegetables, just confirming if she remembered right.
Rias nodded, "Yes".
"Huh, a strong weapon, and it landed in the hands of a pervert" the blonde woman remarked, before looking up from her cooking and looking at Rias who was sitting at the dining table across from her, "He didn't do anything perverted to you, did he?" she asked in a tone that promised pain to said pervert if Rias were to reply in the positive.
Rias shook her head though, "No. I had made it pretty clear at the start, that if he were to do something, it wouldn't end well for his future". The implied threat pretty clear to the blonde youkai as well.
"That's my girl" Natsumi replied with a smile, causing Rias to chuckle slightly at the change in mood.
"Now, help me setting up the table. The dinner is almost ready" Natsumi asked the redhead who nodded happily and continued to do the assigned task.
Once the table was set, the mother-daughter pair sat down opposite to each other on the four-seater dining table.
The dinner was completed with both people talking about random stuff to fill in the silence.
(half an hour later. After Dinner)
Both Natsumi and Rias were cleaning up the dishes they had used for dinner with Natsumi doing the washing and Rias the drying and setting them back part.
"Kaa-chan" Rias started, getting the blonde's attention. Also ideally noting that it had become quite easier for her to address the older blonde as she did.
"Hm" was the blonde response, signaling Rias to continue further
"Can you train me? I want to be stronger" Rias started. Natsumi didn't say anything knowing that the redhead wanted to say something further.
"I know you are always there to help me if I need it" Rias continued while drying up a plate that Natsumi had handed her over.
"Always, my daughter" replied Natsumi with a smile.
"But, I want to be of help to you too someday" Rias continued, Natsumi's smile widening at her thoughtfulness, "I also don't want to be a burden on you or my peerage. They helped me a lot in my fight against Riser and his group. But I was too weak to finish him off. I don't want to be weak anymore. I want to do everything I can in order to help and protect them as they did for me, as well as you" the redhead added the last bit very quietly, but it was heard by the blonde youkai.
Natsumi stopped the washing and looked towards Rias, who was also looking into her eyes.
"You know, " The blonde started, "I would have helped you train even if you didn't elaborate. But, I am now even happier with your reason. Just give me a week's time to set things up and then we can start" she completed.
Rias jumped up in joy, her hands up in the air, "You are best Kaa-chan", before she quickly calmed down and the duo continued to complete the chore that they were engaged in.
(Time Skip: One week)
For the previous week, Natsumi was busy preparing for the training that she had promised her daughter.
Now, that everything was ready, the mother-daughter pair, dressed in similar tracksuits and sports shoes, Natsumi's being black and Rias' being green and their hairs tied up in a high pony tail, was standing in front of a wall in Natsumi's bedroom.
Said wall had an intricate seal etched onto it in the form of a spiral.
Natsumi put her hand on the seal and pushed some of her chakra into it, making the seal glow for a second, before the glow died down.
"Come on, Rias-chan" Natsumi said to her daughter, grabbing the redhead's hand and leading her into the wall.
What waited on the other side of the wall, was a big stretch of green meadows with a log cabin built onto the shores of a huge lake. Rias could see a forested area in some distance as well as some hills in the distance.
Though, when she looked up, she found that instead of the sky, the whole place was covered by purple clouds.
Nastumi squeezed the redhead's hand gently, getting her attention, "This place is a pocket dimension that I created for your training"
Rias just nodded in understanding.
"We will be here for around one year" Natsumi added.
This surprised Rias, "But, what about school? And my family and peerage. I didn't mention to them I would be gone for this long?"
"Well, for them, you will just be gone for around a day" Natsumi added trying to ease the redhead's worries.
Though, she just got a tilt of confusion in return.
"You see, time moves differently in this dimension. One year in here, equates to just one day in the real world" the blonde youkai explained further, getting a nod of understanding in return this time.
"This is the first time I am in a dimension where time moves differently" Rias commented.
"This should give us enough time to get you strong enough" smiled Natsumi.
"Before, we start Kaa-chan. Can I see your real form?" Rias asked, seemingly out of the blue, "I have been curious ever since you told me that you were a Juubi no Okami. I just never asked as I knew you had that power sealed to mostly go incognito, right?"
Natsumi nodded in the affirmative, "You are so smart and understanding, my daughter. You are right. It hasn't even been a century since I became a youkai. So, my new body hasn't reached its prime yet. As a result, my chakra, and my power in conjunction, has continued to grow rapidly. You remember seeing this before right?" Natsumi raised her right hand, the back of it towards Rias and channeled some chakra into it. A seal glowed in the form of number 11 on her hand.
Rias nodded, "You unsealed the first level in the fight with Riser"
"Yes. You see, just removing the first level releases what is my base power" Natsumi continued her explanation, " which has grown to the point that it is now equal to the entire power I had acquired when I first became a youkai."
This got raised eyebrows form the redhead, "I could feel that power all the way in the Gremory castle from that other dimension"
Nastumi nodded, "Though, I am pretty sure, what you guys felt wasn't even a fraction of what I unleashed"
Rias nodded in understanding, "I think I understand why. The two dimensions only had a really small opening between them for the match to be observed. I am guessing, only a small portion of the power was felt through that small crack. Though, from what I could tell, we were feeling the energy equivalent to an Ultimate-class devil. To think, you were stronger than even that, and in just your base" she commented.
"Again, you are right. If I were to guess, based on what you have told me, earlier. I would say, I could rival your brother in terms of power by just removing the first seal" Natsumi stated in a serious tone.
"I don't doubt that Kaa-chan. So, I was right in not asking you earlier. What about now? We are in a separate dimension right now" asked the redhead, curious as to see how her surrogate mother would look.
"I can show you now. But just be careful though. To continue the explanation of the seal, each level I unseal, releases a part of my youkai lineage and it also doubles my power from the previous state. So, I want you to stop me and let me know anytime you feel uncomfortable, Okay?" Natsumi asked the redhead, getting a nod in return.
"Here goes nothing then" Natsumi started before muttering, "Seigen Shiru: All Levels: Release".
The seal glowed for a moment and the number changed from 11 to 0.
As soon as that happened, Natsumi was covered in blinding light and a huge gush of wind released outwards from her position, due to the release from her power.
Rias erected a barrier in front of her in order to protect herself from the wind and also covered her eyes from the light.
After a few moments, feeling the wind and light die down, Rias opened her eyes, disarming the barrier and looked on to the place where her surrogate mother was standing.
Natsumi still occupied her place, but she now had two golden wolf ears on top of her head instead of the normal human ears and the major change was the ten long, longer than normal, fluffy golden wolf tails that were now dancing freely behind her back, having raised her tracksuit jacket in trying to get free. Her eyes were no longer her usual blue but had morphed into the RinneSharigan.
"I tried my best so as to not let my power lose. You are not feeling suffocating, right" Nastumi asked the redhead, worried for her safety.
Rias just continued to look without replying for a good minute, worrying Natsumi even more. But before she decided to seal the power back, Rias replied with stars in her eyes, "So Cooool, Kaa-chan", causing Natsumi to sigh from relaxation that her daughter was fine.
Rias moved towards her mother figure, before circling towards her back looking at her tails, before grabbing one of them gently and stroking the golden fur, "Its so soft" she commented getting a chuckle from the blonde on how she was acting.
"And your energy is still warm like usual. Though I can't even feel your power anymore" Rias said in confusion before adding, "You might even be stronger than the top ten beings of the world, maybe in the same league as the three beasts"
Natsumi on her part just smiled, "Maybe, maybe not" she started, "We haven't met them, so unless we do, we can't be sure" she commented.
Rias came back to stand in front of her surrogate mother, having left her tails alone. It was now that she noticed the change in her eyes, "Are these the RinneSharigan that you mentioned earlier?" she asked, getting a nodded in return, "They look much cooler than their description sounded".
This got another chuckle from Natsumi, before she raised her right hand again, channeled chakra into the seal before muttering, "Seigen Shiru: Level 10: Seal", sealing most of her chakra away again.
She glowed for a second, her wolf ears and tails retracting with the ears replaced by her human ones. And she deactivated her doujutsu.
"Its now time to start your training." Natsumi stated after the sealing was complete.
This got an excited nod from Rias who was excited to start as well.
"We will be focusing on all areas, physical, magic and mental" Natsumi started before fishing out a pair of black wrist bands and a matching pair of ankle bands from her pockets and handed them to Rias, "Wear them".
Rias did as ordered noticing some strange symbol in white on all four bands and an extra one on her left wrist band. Once she was done, Natsumi grabbed her right hand, pointing to the symbol, "this is a seal designed to imitate weight" she explained getting a nod in return.
Natsumi then proceeded to take the redhead's left hand and pointed to the other symbol, "This seal imitates gravity, " getting another nod.
"Once activated, the weight seals will display the numerical weight in kgs, while the gravity one will display multiplication factor that the gravity around is currently set to with 1 being Earth's normal gravity" Natsumi continued her explanation.
Rias had her attention on the seals while also listening to her surrogate mother, slightly marveled at how just a few symbols could imitate not just weights but an entire dimension.
"Only I will be able to activate and deactivate these seals, as they require my chakra to function" Natsumi continued, getting Rias attention back to her and a nod of acknowledgment stating she was listening.
"You will be wearing those for the entirety of our training, only taking them off when we spar, so as to get you used to the feeling of them not being there, for times when you will have to take those off".
"Also, even when the training is done, you will continue to wear these unless I say otherwise or you are in life-death battle. Am I understood" asked Natsumi, in a Sensei-tone.
"Hai, kaa-chan" Rias replied.
Natsumi nodded before she continued to set the weight seals to 5 kg per band and the gravity seal to 2x Earth's gravity.
Rias felt really heavy, right now. "I can't even move, Kaa-chan" she commented, while sweating hard, trying very hard to move, but failing.
"We will increase the levels once you get to your regular speeds, increasing the difficulty" stated Natsumi, "Just so you know, it pains me as well seeing you like this, but this is the fastest method to make you stronger" she added with a frown.
"I know Kaa-chan. And I also know that you are only doing this for my sake. I will give my all in order to meet your expectations" Rias replied, determination evident in her voice before she finally took her first step forward .
"I know you will, my daughter. I know you will" Nastumi smiled fondly at her daughter's determination.
(Time Skip: One Year/Day. Natsumi's bedroom)
The seal in Natsumi's bedroom glowed before Natsumi and Rias walked out of the wall.
Natsumi was wearing a white tank top with black joggers and black sport shoes. Her long blonde hair was tied in a high pony tail.
Behind her, Rias was wearing red shorts and a black t-shirt along with black sports shoes. Her hair was also tied in a high ponytail. She was also wearing the black wrist and ankle bands that Natsumi had given her on her first day of training. The difference being, all the four bands now displayed the number 510, while the left wrist band also having an extra number 6 on it.
Neither of them looked a day older than when they entered the dimension in the seal, thanks to their lineage. Rias on her part, had developed slight muscle to her arms and legs. Her devil lineage preventing her from gaining too much muscle mass.
It was a year full of hardcore training for the redhead. It was only thanks to her devil lineage and her surrogate mother's healing abilities, that she able to make much progress in her strength.
"Shall we go out to celebrate?" Natsumi was the first to speak, turning around to meet the eyes of her daughter.
"Sure. Ramen?" Rias asked, having developed an appetite similar to her surrogate mother for the noddle dish, having lived an entire year with her.
"You read my mind, Rias-chan. You go, get a bath and get dressed and I will do the same. We will go then" replied Natsumi with a smile.
"Okay" Rias replied simply running off to her room to get ready.
Natsumi continuing on to do the same.
(The Next Day. After School Hours)
Natsumi was in the infirmary getting ready to leave for the day when Rias barged in getting a raised eyebrow from the blonde, her surrogate daughter normally was really polite at school.
"I got a reply from my brother" was the only thing she said after coming in and sliding the door shut.
Natsumi smile din joy. She knew what this was about. When the redhead was summarizing her on the supernaturals of this world, she had asked if she could arrange a meeting with the youkais as Natsumi had never met someone who was similar to her. Well, there was Koneko, but she was a reincarnated devil now.
"As you said, I asked my brother to contact the leader of the Kyoto Youkai Faction, asking for an audience. And I asked him to mention about you, a human with chakra capabilities, to increase their curiosity" Rias started getting a nod in return, "It seems, we got them curious and they have agreed to let you enter their dimension"
"That's great news Rias-chan" Natsumi replied back excitedly, "Will you come with me?" she asked the redhead.
"Normally, I wouldn't be able to" Rias started getting Natsumi to drop her smile, but she continued. "But, I have been asked by my brother to go as kind of and ambassador. So yes, I will be going too"
The smile returned to the blonde's face, "Yes. This will be our first trip, just the two of us. Its gonna be so much fun. By the way, when are we expected to go?"
"Onii-sama mentioned that we are expected to be in front of the Yasaka Shrine by noon this Sunday. We will be escorted from there" Rias replied.
"That's great, we can leave at dawn by the Shinkansen and explore Kyoto before that" Natsumi replied, already making plans on which places to visit and what to do on their visit.
"Sounds like a plan, Kaachan" Rias replied, she was excited at the prospect of a fun day out with her surrogate mother.
"Okay, lets leave then, we have some things to do" Natsumi said, grabbing her bag, ready to leave.
"You go first, I still have some work at the club, I will join you in a couple of hours" Rias replied.
Natsumi just nodded as they left the infirmary and headed outside.
Once outside the building, Natsumi turned to the redhead, "Okay. Be safe. See you at home" she said with a smile as Rias just waved to her before walking towards the old school building where the Occult Research Club was located.
Natsumi just stared at her retreating form for a couple of moments before she started her walk back towards her home, excited for both the trip and the chance to meet more people like her.
(Time Skip: Sunday. At Dawn)
Natsumi was at the entrance of her home, all ready to leave for Kyoto. She was wearing blue skin-tight denims with a white tank top. Over the top. She had a full-sleeved black denim jacket over it. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a high pony tail, with the ends of the tail coming down up to her thighs.
There were two chest-length bangs that were framing her face, while the short ones above her eyes were left as is, covering some parts of her forehead. She was also wearing black ankle length boots with medium heels. She didn't had any make-up on, her natural beautiful face making sure that she didn't need any cosmetics. A large black ladies' hand-bag hanging from her shoulder completed her look.
"Rias-chan, hurry up" she shouted from the doorway, "Else, we are gonna miss the train"
"Just a sec" she got a reply from her surrogate daughter.
And in a couple of moments, said daughter was out. She was wearing a peach coloured sun dress that had thin straps for shoulders and a red belt around her slim waist. The dress came down to her knees. She also had a red jacket over on top of her dress with her hair flowing freely behind her.
She wasn't wearing the training wrist and ankle bands as Natsumi had asked her not to as it had been some time since she had taken them off and her blonde surrogate mother wanted her get a feel of her body without them from time to time.
"Come on, hurry up it's half an hour walk to the train station" Natsumi said
"We are on time, Kaa-chan" Rias started as she reached the doorway and started to put on her peach coloured medium heeled belly shoes, "And even if we were late, we could just teleport" she added looking up at her surrogate mother having finished putting on the shoes.
"Where is the fun in that" Natsumi replied back cheekily, before they exited her home and started walking towards train station, talking about the things they could do while in Kyoto.
Half-an-hour later, both of them were sitting side by side on the shinkansen, which had departed the Kuoh station towards Kyoto. It was only an hour-long ride.
Rias had fallen asleep as soon as the train started having woke up really early in order to leave for Kyoto. Natsumi had insisted on using normal human transportation instead of just teleporting, saying it would be more fun. She was resting her head on said blonde surrogate mother's shoulder.
Natsumi could only smile seeing the redhead sleeping face and adjusted slightly so as to make it more comfortable for her.
Once they were about to reach, she nudged Rias gently waking her up, "We are almost there Rias-chan" she said softly.
Rias opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times and straightened herself on the seat. She stifled a yawn as they were in public and continued to set her hair a bit.
The train soon stopped at the Kyoto station where the surrogate mother-daughter pair off-boarded the train and continued on to exit the station.
Once outside, Natsumi fished out her phone from her pockets, looking at the time. "It is 8 o cloc k now, Rias" she started, "That gives us four hours before we have to meet the escorts at Yasaka shrine. Where would you like to go first?" she asked the redhead.
"Lets start with Fushimi Inari Taisha" Rias replied after thinking for a minute.
"Okay" nodded Natsumi.
The pair spent the next couple of hours site seeing across Kyoto before they decided to visit a nearby café for some breakfast. After which, the next hour was again spent on site-seeing.
It was about 15 minutes before noon when they reached their final destination for the day, Yasaka shrine. They continued to explore the shrine.
At noon, they made their way towards the entrance, where they found two foxes looking towards them.
"They have chakra, Rias" Natsumi started gesturing towards the foxes, "I guess, they are our escorts"
Rias just nodded and the pair made their way towards the foxes who just nodded at them and motioned them to follow them.
The foxes then led the females towards a secluded part of the shrine, before they transformed into human like beings. Both of the foxes were males. They were wearing plain white kimonos with wooden traditional sandals. They had reddish-orange fox ears and a matching tail. One of them had brown shoulder length hair and black eyes while the other had black hair and black eyes. Neither of them had any facial hair.
It was the raven-haired one that spoke, "I am assuming you are Rias Gremory and Natsumi Uzumaki" getting nods from both of the females present.
"We have been tasked to escort you to meet our leader." It was the other guy who started this time, "We will be teleporting to Ura-Kyoto now. Brace yourselves" he warned before he formed a ram sign with his hands activating the teleporting technique. All four people vanished in a flash.
(In Ura-Kyoto)
"We are in Ura-Kyoto" announced the brown haired escort.
Natsumi blinked twice looking around, making sure she was seeing right, before she decided to ask, "Are you sure? It seems like the same place we were in earlier?"
The escorts both nodded, before the brown haired one answered, "Yes, we are. Ura-Kyoto resembles Kyoto, hence the reason they seeming similar"
"Lets go, Yasaka-sama is waiting" the black haired escort said, not giving Natsumi any time to question further and started moving.
Natsumi and Rias followed his lead walking side-by-side. The brown haired guy joined behind them, making sure they didn't wander off on their own.
While walking through the streets, the surrogate mother-daughter pair were looking around, observing the different kinds of youkai gathered at the place.
Even for Rias, she hadn't seen so many different youkai at the same place. There were people with features resembling that of foxes, dogs, raccoons, monkeys, horses, goats, snakes, etc
"They all look so different from each other" Natsumi whispered to her redhead daughter getting a nod a return.
"But they all look wary of us" noticed Rias.
Natsumi nodded, "That is expected. I am a human with chakra, while you are a devil. On top of that, we are being escorted. Obviously they seem wary"
"Well, when you put it like that" Rias chuckled slightly.
They soon reached the entrance of a large palace, the only place that seemed different from regular Kyoto. It was an impressive construct, styled in the traditional Japanese style and actually blended in well with the rest of the attractions of the place.
They stopped at the entrance, the escorts speaking to the guards for a minute, before they were cleared for entry.
Once inside, they were being escorted through the halls, Natsumi and Rias were marveling at the traditional decorations, unlike the ones at the Gremory estate, which was very European in design.
"Rias-chan. You must be ecstatic seeing these, being a fan of Japanese traditions" Natsumi said to the redhead
Rias just nodded, "Yes I am" she replied curtly, trying not to fangirl over the style.
Natsumi chuckled at the short response. Rias tone clearly meant that she trying her hardest not to just wander off and see these artifacts up close.
The guys in kimonos were escorting them to where Natsumi believed their leader resided or worked at. Though, they were still in the hallway when Natsumi felt the biggest chakra signature she had felt since coming to this world, alerting her somewhat.
She looked ahead towards a corner at the end, from where she could sense the approach.
Soon enough, a blonde woman emerged from that corner.
She appeared as a young woman with a voluptuous figure and very long blonde hair with matching eyes. She had delicate facial features and her eyebrows are cut very short and round. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs, ending in a spiral, with taut bandages to keep it in place.
She was wearing a traditional shrine maiden attire, and over that she wore a white coat held closed by a red ribbon and a golden crown. She also had a pair of golden fox ears atop her head with nine matching golden furred fox tails swishing behind her.
The two escorts bowed in recognition of their leader, "Yasaka-sama" they addressed at greeted her.
Yasaka greeted them back, asking them to straighten up, "I am assuming these are our guests?" she asked the escorts looking at the surrogate mother-daughter pair.
"Yes they are" the escorts replied before they were dismissed.
"My name is Natsumi Uzumaki" Natsumi started introducing herself, "and this here is my surrogate daughter Rias Gremory", she continued on to introduce the redhead, before both of them bowed slightly in greeting, "It's a pleasure to be able to meet you and I am grateful to you for agreeing to meeting us"
"It's my pleasure to meet you too, Uzumaki-san, Gremory-san. I am Yasaka, the leader of Ura-Kyoto and in extension of the Kyoto Youkai faction" Yasaka introduced herself, "I was also curious to meet you. We have never seen a human who had chakra before and I sure can sense some in you"
"I am an exception, I guess" Natsumi chuckled slightly.
"Considering this is not a diplomatic affair or anything, would you like to continue our conversation while I give you guys a tour of the palace?" asked Yasaka.
'She might be the leader of the youkai, but she seems really humble' though Natsumi in slight surprise, normally leaders are not like this.
"If you are fine with that, then we are too" Natsumi replied before adding, "Actually, my daughter here might be really ecstatic with this suggestion considering her love for traditional Japanese culture".
Rias blushed with embarrassment at her secret love being exposed getting a chuckle from Natsumi at her reaction.
"Oh my" Yasaka too chuckled, "Then, lets do that".
Yasaka then took the pair to the tour of the palace while they continued to talk about things, filling in each other's curiosity without giving away too much information. Rias, on the other hand was mostly busy admiring the architecture and the decorative artifacts of the palace.
Once, the tour was over, the trio proceeded towards the centre of the palace which housed a really big garden. The garden also had a plaza built at the centre with a circular table and four chairs accompanying it.
The European style plaza unexpectedly looked at home in a traditional Japanese palace.
Yasaka went into the plaza sitting on one of the chairs motioning Natsumi and Rias to do the same.
They took seats opposite to the blonde leader sitting side by side.
She then asked one of the maids to serve tea and refreshments.
"I didn't expect something like this in this palace" surprisingly it was Rias who spoke up. She had mostly kept herself out of the conversation till now.
"Well, I saw it in one of those western movies historical movies and just had to have one made" Yasaka replied truthfully.
The maid had returned in the meantime with a tray full of refreshments and tea which she served to the three people before laying down the snacks and sweets she had brought along.
The three continued to converse over tea.
"Mama" the three were interrupted by the voice of a small girl.
The three looked at the entrance of the garden to find a small blonde girl running over towards them with a couple of maids dressed up in white shrine maiden dresses behind said kid.
She was a young girl around 5 or 6 years of age. She had golden, blonde hair like Yasaka's tied in a ponytail and matching eyes. She also has nine golden fox tails and matching ears. She was wearing a traditional miko outfit. The sleeves of her haori featured a giant red star-shaped pentagram, surrounded by five smaller pentagrams in between the points.
Natsumi noticed Yasaka's lips curving up in a small smile at seeing the girl.
The Youkai leader placed her tea cup on the table before getting up and walking towards the girl running towards them. She scooped up the girl in her arms when they met in the middle. The little girl wrapping her arms around her neck.
The maids having reached the same point, bowed to their leader, "We are really sorry Yasaka-sama. We tried to stop her as you were busy with guests, but we failed".
Yasaka shook her free hand, "Its fine. No harm done" she smiled, "You guys are dismissed for now. I will keep her with me" she added dismissing the maids.
Yasaka made her way towards the plaza again, sitting down on her chair, setting the blonde girl on her lap, "This is my daughter, Kunou" she started introducing the young girl who was looking curiously towards the two guests.
"Nice to meet you Kunou" Natsumi smiled at the cute young blonde, "I am Natsumi"
"And my name is Rias. Its nice to meet you" Rias finished the introductions.
Yasaka nudged Kunou lightly, speaking to her in a motherly tone, "Introduce yourself, Kunou".
"Hello, My name is Kunou" the little girl replied in an adorable baby manner as expected of the kid her age.
"She is really cute. How old is she Yasaka-sama?" Natsumi asked, picking up a cookie from one of trays and offering it to the cute little girl.
Kunou looked up at her mother for confirmation, who just nodded. She then happily took the cookie and started munching on it.
"She will be six in a couple of months" Yasaka replied.
"Six, huh. She is really young" Natsumi replied back, glancing slightly at the redhead at her side, a thought passing through her mind.
"She is at the age where they start making all kinds of troubles" she added smiling softly, remembering Himawari when she was at that age.
"Yes. She has started on that" Yasaka chuckled, "But those troubles are adorable on their own"
"Yeah, you are right on that part" Natsumi responded back.
"You seem to be speaking from experience?" Yasaka questioned the other blonde adult.
Natsumi just smiled in response, "Well, I did have a daughter"
"Oh, I am sorry for bringing it up" Yasaka apologized having picked up on the use of past tense and dropped the subject.
They then continued to chat till evening, playing with little Kunou in between chatting. Natsumi was also giving Rias some curious glances from time to time.
"I guess, its time for us to leave. Its getting late." Natsumi started, "Thank you again, for agreeing to meet with us" she thanked the blonde leader.
"I was happy to meet with such an extra-ordinary person as well as such a good-mannered young devil" Yasaka replied with her own smile, getting one from each of the two guests, "Also, its not everyday I get a day off from paperwork" she added, chuckling, getting one from Natsumi as well, "The bane, right?" the blonde nurse answered back,
"Yeah" Yasaka simplye replied while still chuckling.
They got up from their seats, and proceeded towards the entrance/exit of the palace. Yasaka had called for some escorts along the way to see the two guests back to the human world. Kunou had fallen asleep in her mother's arms on their way out, having gotten too tired from the day.
Once they were at the entrance of the palace, "It was really fun to meet you two. Feel free to visit again" Yasaka waved with a smile.
"We will, if you will have us" replied back Natsumi with her own wave.
"Thank you for meeting us, Yasaka-sama. And have a good night" Rias said waving as well.
The surrogate mother-daughter pair then left with the escorts who returned them to the human world.
(Kyoto)
Once back, the pair thanked the two escorts before deciding to head to the train station in order to return to Kuoh.
The journey to Kuoh was mostly uneventful with the duo talking about what they liked most in their day.
(Kuoh. Uzumaki residence)
By the time they reached home, the sun had already set. They proceeded to take a bath and change into something comfortable.
The two were sitting on the couch, side by side, in the living room watching some movie on Television. They had decided to order something for dinner, too tired to prepare it themselves. They were waiting for their order to arrive.
Natsumi was wearing black shorts with a plain orange t-shirt, while retaining her hairdo from earlier in the day.
Rias, on the other hand, was sporting pale blue shorts with red t-shirt. She had her hair tied in a loose low ponytail.
While watching TV, Natsumi continued to give curious glances towards the redhead.
Rias had noticed her behavior some time ago, but hadn't commented on it. Though, her curiosity got the better of her, "Kaa-chan" she started getting Natsumi's complete attention, "I have been noticing this from some time, but why are you glancing at me from time to time".
Natsumi chuckled nervously having been caught, but decided to out with her thoughts anyway, "You see, uuhh" she started, "Ever since seeing young Kunou, I have been curious as to how you looked when you were her age" she admitted.
"Ohh" Rias answered back simply, "that's it? I was thinking it might be something big"
"I don't have any pictures with me at the moment, but we have an album back at the estate. Ican ask for them and have them delivered tomorrow" she added.
"I cant wait till tomorrow" Natsumi whined, before a light bulb went up inside her head.
"You remember when I told you about the technique that allows me to look at someone's past from a third person's perspective?" Natsumi asked the redhead who simply nodded, remembering her surrogate mother telling her about it when she was training her.
"Can I use that on you? I promise that I will only at you from when you six, nothing else" Natsumi pleaded.
"You can look at my whole past and I wont mind a bit, Kaa-chan" Rias replied with a warm smile, "So sure, you can see"
"Thanks a bunch Rias-chan. But still, I want to respect your privacy. So I wont see anything else. I know you will let me know if I need to know it" Natsumi replied, before channeling some chakra into eyes morphing them into the Rinnegan.
Rias had seen those eyes multiple times during their training. She was still amazed at how much those eyes could do and how much cool they looked on her surrogate mother.
"Toki no Miko: Kako" Natsumi whispered the name of the technique while focusing on Rias. As promised, she only witnessed a small part of the past when Rias was Six and that too just one memory of when she playing in the garden. She had skimmed through the rest so fast, that even she could not make heads or tails of it.
Having seen enough, she cut off the chakra to her eyes disabling the technique and reverting the Rinnegan back to her normal blue eyes.
"You were so cute" she said gently, cupping Rias right cheek with her left hand, before another idea popped in her head, making her giggle in a creepy way.
The giggling caught Rias off-guard and she leaned away from the blonde, "What are you thinking?" she asked warily.
Natsumi, instead of replying, went through a couple of hand signs before touching Rias; forehead with her index and middle fingers, surprising at her mother's actions and whispered, "Henge no Jutsu".
A cloud of smoke covered Rias for a few seconds. When it dissipated, in place of teenage Rias, was now a six year old version of her. This Rias had a slightly chubby face due to all the baby fat. Her hands and legs were now small to match a six year old. Her hair had reduced in length and now only reached behind her small back, the ahoge still present. She was now wearing an orange frock with a wolf design, the size of her torso, at the front of it.
Rias blinked a couple of time when the smoke died down, feeling different from her usual self, prompting her to look at her hands, shocking her, "What did you do, Kaa-chan?" she asked while narrowing her eyes slightly, though it came out as a squeak, even her voice was now different.
Natsumi on her part was trying her hardest not to squeal and embracing her surrogate daughter, she was just looking so cute.
"It's a just a technique that I learned. It allows the user to transform into somebody or something else. I can also apply it on somebody else" she started, getting a nod in return.
"Well, I guess this should settle your curiosity, Kaa-chan" rias replied in that squeaky voice again, her shock and surprise and wariness now forgotten. As long as it made her surrogate mother happy, she was fine with anything.
"Um, Rias-chan, can you call me Mama when you are like that?" Natsumi asked.
"Mama?" Rias questioned back, tilting her head slightly sideways.
Natsumi couldn't hold it in anymore. She squealed loudly, "Aaahhh, so cute" before she scooped up the redhead and started rubbing their cheeks together.
Rias tried to get away from the embrace, feeling slightly embarrassed, but gave up after a couple of trys when Natsumi didn't even budge.
The affection she was feeling from blonde brought a smile to her face which soon turned to giggles.
Since, Natsumi was happy, Rias decided to play along, refusing to acknowledge that she had started to like the treatment as well.
"Mama" she said again, getting Natsumi to stop the cheek-rubbing and get some distance between their faces.
"My cute little Rias-chan" the blonde said before she showered the chibi redhead with kisses all over her face, all the while getting cute giggles from said redhead.
End of Chapter 3
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading this, even when it might not be as good. And please keep the reviews coming. They are fun to read and encouraging when positive. It motivates me to write further, honestly. I had no thoughts of working on this, but still, here we are at Chapter 3. Thanks again everyone.
Okay, I should address the elephant in the room first, the change in title. When I had the idea initially, I only had the first chapter in mind and didn't have a title. So I put in whatever came to mind first. But, after writing a couple more chapters, I though back on the title. There has been no legend of Natsumi till now as its only been 3 years since her arrival. And the way the story is progressing, I don't think I will ever be able to reach a point where she rises as a legend. As for that to happen, she will have to defeat someone like Ophis, Great Red or Trihexa. I am not saying she cant, but I am not sure if I will ever reach that point. It felt more like a start of a new life for her, so changed it to what it is now.
The second thing. Yes, I made her too OP by a lot of standards. But I would say that is kind of necessary. A lot of characters(example – Issei, Vali, the dragon emperors) of DxD seem to have really hax powers essentially making their potential limitless. Considering she would have to face them in the future, provided I am able to do so, would require herself to have limitless power. Hence the huge increase over the last 100 years. And yes, whatever Natsumi might have said, she is currently strong enough to rival Sirzechs in her base and the three beasts of DxD when unleashing her full power. The hax powers of the dragon emperors was also reason I decided to make Rias much stronger.
The third thing. Yes, she only gained a slight, mostly negligible muscle mass from all the weight training. I am chugging it down to her devil lineage which allows her to train extensively but never gain any significant muscle. The devil lineage has been shown to answer a lot of ridiculous questions, so why not this.
The original idea I had involved Yasaka and Natsumi fighting over who was cuter- Kunou or Rias. But, I changed it to this later one as I found this one more fulfilling.
Ohh, and before I forget, to answer some of the questions I got in reviews:
No, this wont be a fic like Icha Icha Escort where Natsumi becomes submits to an inferior guy due to lust. There wont be anything like that in here.
Also, this wont be an Issei pairing either. I never understood why even someone like as mature as Yasaka was initially attracted to him, but not gonna happen here. I haven't decided on a pairing for either Natsumi or Rias and I am not sure if I will get them with someone in the scope of this fic, but it definitely wont be Issei.
Ohh, one more thing, even though I implied it in the chapter, but Rias never went to Issei before her rating game with Riser in order to lose her virginity and she did try her best to defeat Riser on her own as well, but never had the overwhelming power to make him back down like Natsumi had. I am not sure how it went down in actual anime or novel, but these were some plot points that were used a lot in the fics I read, so, just a clarification anyways.
The technique I used in this chapter: This was elaborated in the first chapter as well, but anyways.
Toki no Miko: Kako – Literally translates to "The Priestess of Time: Past". Another power of Rinnegan unique to Natsumi. It allows the user to see the past of a person. No consequences, as past can no longer be changed.