Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool DxD, and I gain nothing except for some relaxation from this work of fanfiction.

~XxX~

~As Close as Siblings~

~XxX~

Chapter Four

Devilish Friends

Rias laughed awkwardly under her brother's miffed stare. She eyed the taller boy and upon seeing the many bumps and bruises on him she couldn't help but wince.

Yep, her dear brother was angry with her.

And going by the way he had crossed his arms and was tapping his foot; he was waiting for something. So, doing the smart thing, Rias put on her best-begging face and puppy eyes before whimpering out, "I'm sorry Onii-chan…"

She heard her brother sigh and then smiled when she felt his hand on top of her head, "guess I shouldn't have kept you waiting." He spoke at last.

Rias giggled and shook her head, "no you shouldn't have, besides you are the one that taught me how to do pranks, so you can't be mad at me, ok?"

"I guess that's true enough," Naruto laughed, "just don't make a habit out of it, alright? Otherwise, I'll have to fight back!"

When Naruto poked her ticklish sides, the girl squealed in surprise, "ok, ok I promise!"

"That's my girl!" Naruto ruffled Rias' hair again, "but tell me, how did you manage to plant charges filled with paint and glitter in Sirzechs office?"

The girl smiled impishly at her brother, "well it's like you told me, a good prank needs some time to be prepared. I planted the paint bombs a few weeks ago and just waited for the right time to use them."

Naruto wiped away a fake tear, "oh sister dearest, you make me so proud!"

The smaller girl gave the boy a playful curtsy, "I aim to please."

"Well, you've outdone yourself with this one, you really should've seen the look on Onii-chan's face!" Naruto laughed which caused the little redheaded minx to quickly join in.

"Oh, I wish that I could've seen it!" The girl giggled, "or better yet, I wish that I could've taken some pictures!"

"The next time we pull a prank on Sirzechs, we need to hide a camera somewhere." Naruto nodded; a good prank needed a memento to remember it by!

"Honestly, young Master, I would say that Lord Lucifer would very much appreciate it if you kept your fun at his expense to a minimum."

Both Naruto and Rias looked at the door before standing up from their seats and bowing at the woman that came walking into the room.

The twins currently occupied the house's main study where they were waiting for their teacher to arrive. And just like so many other things in their castle, the main study could only be described as overly extravagant, and downright fancy. Shelves made of mahogany wood lined the walls, all filled to the brim with the only first edition and first print books on various subjects, both magical and mundane, some written in lost languages and others written in common and modern English.

Other than the bookshelves, the study was largely left empty, only a few desks, drawers, seats and couches dotted the large hall, and the decorations were kept rather tame in comparison to some other rooms.

But sometimes keeping something simple and 'minimalistic' worked wonders, as while the lavish decorations were few, the expensive paintings and gilded plate armors were quite eye-catching.

But, at last, Naruto turned his attention to the woman that had just entered the study and was now calmly preparing the things she'd need to teach them today. She was a beautiful woman and stood quite a bit taller than even most men, and the gentle look she had upon her face belied the power that Naruto could feel oozing off her frame.

Her hair was a rich shade of ebony. It flowed in waves down her back to adorn her porcelain-like skin and reached down to her wide hips and a perky behind. Her eyes, framed by long lashes, were a warm reddish-brown and seemed to be alight with the knowledge to surpass many scholars, and the woman held herself with an air of confidence.

As she should, after all this was quite the fearsome woman, and she had carved her name into history using the blood of her enemies.

Artemisia I of Caria, The Ancient Greek Queen of Halicarnassus, who ruled during the late 5th century BC, and now served the twins father as his Knight.

Described in history books as a ruthless, cruel, and cunning strategist, but to Naruto and Rias, she had been nothing but kind, helpful and forthcoming. One of their families' most loyal servants, so much so that Zeoticus and Venelana had entrusted her with the honor of being the children's tutor and guard, a task that Artemisia shared only with Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.

"Alright children, let's begin with the lesson, shall we?" Artemisia spoke warmly to the twins who both nodded and sat down in front of her. "But before we begin with today's lessons, let's go over the assignments I've handed you yesterday."

Both twins stared blankly at the Warrior-Queen before them and then suddenly their eyes went wide in panic.

They gulped and looked at each other, only one thing going through their minds…

'Wait…we had homework!?'

They looked back at Artemisia and began to chuckle awkwardly, which caused their teacher to let out a sigh while rubbing the bridge of her nose…

~XxX~

Venelana was sitting within the confines of her office, located on the bottom floor of the castle. She had her head bowed over her extravagant desk made from the wood of the purple heart, or amaranth.

It fit esthetically with the soft violets and reds that were the thematic color scheme of her office.

The Matriarch of the Gremory family had her head bowed over some papers, her eyes flowing over each line of print with a seasoned practice that stemmed from years upon years of leadership. And yet while she went over these forms, requests, and reports, the woman's mind was someplace different.

Mentally Venelana mulled over the recent political climate amongst the remaining Pillar Houses of the Underworld. She thought about the moves that the other Lords and Ladies had made recently and pondered on the implications those moves could have on House Gremory.

And Venelana couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry in the back of her mind.

Now their House was not in any immediate danger, and their political position was ironclad, nothing short of a complete upheaval of the Underworlds government would change that either. But it was that which had her worried…

House Gremory was powerful, and it was much beloved by the lower classes, wherein lay the problem. Venelana feared that many Lords and Ladies of Houses that weren't as well off as her own were getting quite upset.

She heard rumors that several Lords and Ladies believed that the Gremory family was becoming too powerful too quickly. And rumors like that had only increased after she had given birth to Naruto and Rias.

Which was to be expected.

The races of the Supernatural World were generally very infertile. It was hard for a female Devil to get pregnant, and it usually took years upon years of regular and frequent intercourse to finally become with child, as such, it came as no surprise that twins being born to any Supernatural race was uncommon, if not unheard of.

And as far as Venelana knew, her babies could very well be the first twins in the entire history of their race.

She heard tell that the common folk likened the birth of her babies to a miracle, and while she would never disagree with that notion, it had her worried.

When she told her son that their race was ruled by the seven deadly sins, she was not lying, and she knew that many of her fellow nobles were eying House Gremory with various degrees of envy, gluttony, wrath, and lust.

Many wanted what her family had.

But then again, that was nothing new to her. She had been dealing with the envy and lust of noble Devils for her entire life now, and to this very day, none had ever managed to get more from her than she was willing to give.

After all, Venelana Gremory didn't gain the monikers 'Mistress of Annihilation' and 'Princess of Ruin' just because she was a Bael with access to the Power of Destruction.

No, she went over corpses to acquire those titles.

And if any of her fellow nobles directed their sinful gazes at her precious children, Venelana was very willing and very able to add more corpses onto the pile…

~XxX~

"Oh, hello father, what can I do for you?" Sirzechs looked up from his desk and gave his attention to his father who had just walked into his office.

Well, his spare office that he was forced to use until his main one was cleaned from its new paint job…

The Lord of House Gremory walked up to Sirzechs desk before sitting down and making himself comfortable in one of the seats. "I require your council, Sirzechs…"

Sirzechs looked at his father and was quick to note the signs of stress that were visible on the man's face, "very well, and on what would you need my input?"

"You may already have noticed this, but the other Houses are getting quite concerned about the recent success of House Gremory." The Lord explained before letting out a sigh, "and many Lords and Ladies wish to finally be able to meet Naruto and Rias."

"I see," Sirzechs mulled on what he was told before nodding to himself, "what the other Houses are asking is not truly unreasonable, you and mother have been hiding the twins from the world."

Zeoticus chuckled, "of course we did, I have no desire to parade my children around just to pacify a few worried Lords."

"And that way of thinking just served in making those worried Lords worry even more," Sirzechs said.

Zeoticus slumped in his chair, "now there is no need to rub it in."

"But I'm not." Sirzechs smiled at his father, "believe me, as their older brother I would've done the same, but as Lucifer…" Sirzechs sighed before he became serious, "you understand just how much those two mean to us Devils, do you not? Just their birth alone was a boost to the morale of our people!"

"So, what you are saying is that I should prepare myself for an outing?"

"No father, what I'm saying is that with every day that passes in which you hide the twins, the other Houses will become more and more restless, which may or may not turn into anger or fear. After all, you and mother have yet to allow even your allies to meet the twins."

"I'm aware of that." The Head of House Gremory said in a hard tone, "just as I'm aware that the moment Rias and Naruto leave the confines of this castle all eyes will be on them, watching their every move and waiting for the smallest of mistakes so that they can all fall upon them like the vultures that they are."

Silence overtook the office after the Lord finished his bitter rant and father and son were left staring at each other in a battle of wills.

"You should know this better than most, my son." Zeoticus finally continued after several moments of silence, his tone of voice softer now as he gave his fully-grown son a mournful look. "Thanks to some of the more radical nobles you never got to experience a childhood after all, and I do not wish for a repeat of that."

Sirzechs let out a humorless laugh at that, "father, times are different now. You cannot liken Naruto and Rias to me. When I was a child, the original Satan's still ruled, and to them, we were never more than simple objects that they could use for their amusement. Besides, while my childhood may have been a bitter one, I have very few regrets, and I never felt like blaming either my mother or you for all that I have suffered as a child. So please father, trust me when I say that the world is different now. I won't go as far as to promise that Rias and Naruto will have it easy, but I will make sure that they will never face more than they can handle, that I can promise you."

Sirzechs looked his father into the eyes before continuing his speech, "besides, if you truly want to protect those two, then why don't you allow them to make allies of their own? Serafall has a little sister who will one day be the Matriarch of the Sitri, and Naruto's fiancé is nearly his age as well. And there is also the little heiress of the Agares clan who should be the same age as them. I'm not going to push you on anything father, but I truly believe that the best way to guarantee Naruto and Rias continued safety would be for them to make like-minded friends that would stand with them in the future."

Zeoticus took his son's counsel to heart and nodded at him before rising from his seat. "I will think about what you've told me." He said and made to leave the office only to stop once he reached the door and looked back, "and thank you for giving me your honest opinion on the matter."

"There's no need to thanks me for anything father."

"Still, it doesn't hurt, does it?" And with those parting words, the Lord Gremory left his son to his own devices.

Though he did leave with more things to think about than before, ah well, being a Devilish Lord was never a cakewalk, but he'd deal with it just as he always had.

~XxX~

-A few months later-

Naruto smiled to himself as he watched his little sister play a game of chess against their new-and-first-real friend, Sona, the heiress of the House Sitri. Well, Naruto would like to call her a friend that is…

Truth was, they only met Sona today, barely an hour ago at that, but hey, the little bespectacled girl got along well with his sister, so Naruto felt confident in their chances to make a friend out of the little heiress.

After all, what was not to like about Rias and him?

But then again, this was as much Rias's moment as it was his own, and his darling little sister was seemingly far better at bonding with little Sona than he was. It was cute how Rias had managed to coax the shy and standoffish Sona out of her shell, to a point where the violet-eyed girl got competitive.

And Rias had managed to do all of that by simply challenging Sona to a game of chess!

"And that's checkmate…"

A quick game of chess…

Okay, looking at his moping little sister Naruto had to question if Rias still wanted to be friends with Sona after that. Naruto wasn't into chess at all, and yet he still knew that Sona just tore his sister a new one, and she did so quite effortlessly.

Suddenly Rias perked up and her back became ramrod straight. She glared at Sona with flushed red and puffed-out cheeks before raising a hand and pointing a finger at the other girl.

"I will not stand for this!" The little redhead cried out, "that had to be a fluke! I demand a rematch right now!"

Sona seemed to shrink in on herself after Rias's little outburst and Naruto was just about to intervene and play the mediator between his hot-headed sister and the shy, soft-spoken heiress, but he didn't have to do anything at all.

Because Sona seemed to just bounce back from her shy nature and proceeded to nod at Rias with something in her eyes that Naruto could only describe as a 'competitive glint'.

And so, the two girls began a new game of chess, which didn't go well for his sister, neither did the next one, or the one after that. And after Sona's fifth consecutive victory, Naruto was worried that Rias would blow a fuse, after all the head of his little sister currently resembled a giant tomato with eyes.

And that couldn't be a good thing.

"Alright you two, why don't you take a break from chess for a while?" Naruto stood from the couch that he sat on and walked up to the low table the two girls used to set up the board to play on. He ruffled the girl's hair which earned him an adorable flush from Sona and a smile from Rias.

But then Rias just had to remember that she was miffed right now and quickly shook her head before glaring at the blushing Sona…

"No Onii-chan, I won't give up until I won at least once against her!" Spat the redhaired spitfire he called sister.

"U-um, I don't mind playing against your sister, N-Naruto-sama," Sona muttered with a flushed face, "actually, it's quite a bit of fun."

"Oh, well, if that's the case, then don't let me stop you from enjoying yourselves." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "anyways, I think I'm going to go and get myself some refreshments, would either of you care for some as well?"

"Yes please!" Rias quickly chimed up, "you know what I like!"

"U-um, yes please." Sona nodded, "but why would you go yourself? Could you not call for a servant to bring us something?"

Naruto nodded, "of course, I could, but I want to move my legs for a bit."

Rias giggled, "Onii-chan doesn't like to sit around a lot, so he always comes up with excuses to stretch his legs and whatever."

Sona nodded, "I see…but I wanted to ask if I could play you as well Naruto-sama, I-in chess I mean!"

Naruto looked surprised for a moment but was quick to compose himself, "I'd rather not." He gave the bespectacled girl an apologetic smile, "I'm not at all fond of chess. I know how to play, but I don't care for the game."

Sona looked down in disappointment, which did make Naruto feel bad in a way, but the boy figured that it would be best, to be honest with Sona. He just really hoped that the girl didn't like the game enough to feel offended by his dislike of it.

But it seemed that he did not need to worry as the girl nodded, "I u-understand, chess is not for everyone, but with how important it is to us Devils, are you certain that it's wise to disregard the game completely?"

"Probably not," Naruto hummed with a shake of his head, "but as my sister said, I find it hard to sit still and I lack the patience to enjoy chess."

Rias drew Sona's attention by letting out another sweet laugh, "that's what Naruto-kun likes to tell others, but it's far from the truth. Want to know why he doesn't play chess anymore?"

Sona nodded at the redhead and leaned closer towards her.

"Rias…" Naruto muttered warningly with a twitching eyebrow, "don't you dare."

His sister dearest gave him a wicked smile before looking back at the exited heiress of House Sitri sitting across from her.

"When we were smaller Onii-chan used to always challenge Onii-sama in chess, and then Onii-sama would make quick work of Onii-chan, and it happened so many times, and Sirzechs-nii-sama is a bad winner and just kept on rubbing it in, so after a while, Onii-chan started to hate chess."

Throughout the conversation, Naruto's eye twitch became more and more pronounced, and he was slowly and sneakily moving towards the unsuspecting Rias. By the time the little girl had finished her tale, the older boy by one and a half minutes was standing right behind his sister.

"I thought that you promised me to never talk about that sister dearest…" The boy's eyes were shadowed by his hair, and his entire frame was shrouded in darkness.

Rias looked over her shoulder and paled, "oh, yes, u-um I…I forgot, yep, I forgot, so please forgive me Onii-chan, ok?"

"Oh, but Rias, it's far too late for that…" And with that, the boy lunged forward.

"Kyaaa!" Rias jumped up just in time to avoid Naruto's clutches and then the girl darted off like a bullet leaving the barrel.

And so, Sona found herself in the middle of two redheads that played an impromptu game of chase all around her. Her hands flew up to her mouth to cover the laughter that wished to spill forth from her lips…

But it was no use when she witnessed Naruto finally catch his twin and then commence the torture known as tickling, Sona lost it and began to laugh heartedly.

One thing was certain, this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship between those three children.

~XxX~

A/N: Hello there, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Now things are starting to move into place and soon the story can begin in earnest. Naruto and Rias made their first friend in Sona, and Venelana and Zeoticus got some time to shine as well. And soon enough Naruto and Rias will gain their Evil Pieces, which means that a few more characters will come into play.

Now I'm not sure if I should create OC's for Naruto's peerage or turn this story into a multi-crossover. But I already have some plans either way.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see ya all later!

Ciao.