Note: This is Chapter 5 ENHANCED, meaning there's more added content into the chapter that wasn't put in before. There will be things that stay the same from the original.
I had to change a few things since I read High School DxD DX.3: CrossxCrisis and found out more information on Xenovia, which I had to implement into this. I also looked into the interactions the P5 Protagonist had with Makoto Nijima, especially the romance part. I also watched some episodes of Demon King Daimao.
Xenovia Quarta was busy constantly swinging an over-sized but dull zweihänder with ease, wearing her usual church battle outfit. There was no one around to bother her as she swung the dull sword. Her training ground was a lush garden that had an elegant water fountain at its center. While training, she blocked out the whole world around her, concentrating on nothing but the swing of her sword, and whoever was approaching her. Very quickly she swung at the one behind her, stopping close to the person's neck. To her surprise, it was one of her fellow exorcists, Naoko Mizuki.
The girl had short red hair that was done in a bob-style, and she had yellow eyes. She was wearing a pair of rounded glasses and had on a white hooded cape with gold and blue accents that hid her curvy figure and her B-Cup Breasts as well as her church battle outfit. Her weapon, a European halberd with a wooden pole and a golden axe blade mounted on it was hanging on her back. The blade was topped with a spike and a hook on the backside.
Naoko had beads of sweat forming from her forehead as Xenovia stopped the oversized but dull sword at her neck. A few centimeters more and she'd have been decapitated. Realizing her mistake, Xenovia brings the blade away from her fellow exorcist's neck.
"Sorry Naoko, I-"
"No, it's fine Xenovia. I forgot how into your training you were." Naoko said. Resting the over-sized sword on her shoulder, Xenovia asked why she came to her.
"Don't you remember what today is?" Xenovia raised a brow, not knowing what the girl meant. Finally, it hit her.
"Oh no, I forgot to go with you to the market." Dropping the sword, Xenovia prays to God and apologizes for forgetting about going to the market with her fellow exorcist. Xenovia then rests her hands on the girl's shoulders and tells her, "Let me make it up to you Naoko. We can do anything you want for today! Name it!"
"If you say anything...I'm to bring an exorcist from Japan here who's seeking to join the Vatican," said Naoko.
"An exorcist came all the way from Japan to join us?" Xenovia asked in a surprised tone.
"Yes, he said he wanted to come to Italy in order to broaden his knowledge and become wiser in the name of God." Naoko answered.
"To come all the way from Japan to learn from the Vatican...Very well, let us go fetch him."
Via Cavour, Rome
Both exorcists walked past several people and cars on their way to meet up with the male exorcist, who had decided to wait for them at La Base, a cozy and casual Italian restaurant. The exorcist had apparently reserved a table for three for them, something Xenovia found nice because one, she's never been there before, and two, she was very hungry from all that swinging.
"Xenovia?"
"Hmm? What's on your mind Naoko?" asked Xenovia.
"I've known you for three months now, and I have to know...Why do you use large swords?" This puts a gentle smile on Xenovia's face when Naoko asked that question. This meant that someone was interested in her. Usually, she scared the crap out of whoever saw her wielding a sword with a blade that was several times her size. To know that Naoko was one of the rare ones to not be scared of that feat earned the girl her friendship.
"If you want to know, it's because it was a choice of mine to wield a large sword, in order to one day dispatch Devils with just a swing. I remember wielding my first long sword when I was only 9-years old. It was heavy, but I eventually managed to wield it after a few months of muscle training and several grueling weeks of swinging said long sword. Eventually, after 4 years, at the age of thirteen, I worked my way up to the point where I was able to wield a blade three times my size." she answered, with pride in her voice. Hearing this from Xenovia, Naoko couldn't help but be amazed by her strength. Just 15 and already being able to swing swords that big? What sort of training did Xenovia undergo? Who was her trainer? Was this the strength of a Natural-born Holy Sword Wielder?
"So that means that you're able to wield almost any large sword?" Xenovia happily nodded her head yes, her arms resting under her breasts.
"If you want, I can show you how you can do the same." Naoko sweat dropped after she offered to train her. She didn't want break her arms. She was fine with just her halberd.
"Oh, we're here," Naoko said, bringing the bluenette's attention to the restaurant.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in."
La Base
Table for Three
A few minutes earlier...
Naruto, wearing a disguise consisting of priest clothes, fake glasses, and a short spiky black wig, waits patiently at his table. Two suitcases rest on the left side of his seat. He would've been at the church by now if it wasn't for the fact that the Church had to send out two exorcists to meet with him and escort him there.
"So what's the plan?" Infernus asked as he observed the people in the restaurant in the form of an astral orange fireball.
"Right now, we need to gather whatever we can on Takumi's meeting for tonight from anyone without raising suspicion. Maybe speak to the guy himself about it and fake my interests." Naruto telepathically replied as he took a sip from his drink, an ice-cold glass of Sprite as he observed a few happy couples. Infernus takes notice of this.
"You know Naruto, you should try dating a girl for once." Naruto raised a brow when Infernus suggested this. "Look, we both know you and Moka may never happen since you're a Devil now. She's in Japan, and you're currently in Europe attempting an assassination mission. Maybe after killing the bastard, go see a nice foreign girl and screw her brains out. You're already aware of the concept of dating several other girls before settling for just one...maybe go for a harem."
"With the exception of the harem, I think you're getting somewhere. But I've loved Moka for a very long time, so finding a girl who makes me feel the same way I feel for Moka is going to be very difficult to find." Infernus rolled his eyes from hearing Naruto's answer, though Naruto couldn't see him do it.
"With what you are now I don't think that'll be a problem. Hell if you're lucky that girl may not be so far from your reach. Before that, let me just say that it doesn't always have to be about love. Hell, for now it can just involve one of the seven deadly sins called "lust." Naruto groaned when he knew where this telepathic conversation was going.
"Why does every conversation I have with you end up becoming something about sex?" Naruto asked the demon.
"Because I enjoy annoying you with it. Ooh! Just a reminder: Having my powers means that you don't have to worry about STDs. Plus, all of the bodies I possessed were virgins so...go cash in that v-card."
"...I'm going to full-on ignore you now," Naruto said before shutting out the demon. Letting out a sigh of boredom, Naruto sips his drink.
"Hiro Yoko?" Hearing his fake name being called, Naruto turns his attention to the now arrived Xenovia and Naoko. Giving them a greeting smile, he gets up and shakes their hands.
"Please, have a seat. Order whatever you want, it's on me," he told them. The two female exorcists looked overjoyed to hear "Hiro" say he was going to pay for their meals.
10 minutes later...
Naruto never got used to this sight. The sight of girls wolfing down orders upon orders of food. Naruto's eyes bulged and looked like they were going to pop out when they told him they were going to order one of everything, excluding the wine. Watching them eat reminded him of his sisters and Moka. Every large feast that was prepared, they ate and ate like bottomless pits. Hell, buffets even incurred their hungry wrath. Good thing Jiraiya had the money to reserve a whole restaurant for one night.
"Meeting at a restaurant was a bad idea!" Naruto thought. Infernus can only snicker at this. After an hour of eating, both females rub their bellies in satisfaction. Naoko lets out a loud burp after before smiling.
"I thank you for this feast Hiro!" Xenovia said, being thankful for the disguised blond.
"Don't mention it..."
"We've been informed of your reason for coming to Italy and we can tell that you're going to love it here," Naoko said, Xenovia nodding in agreement.
"Not only is its capital, Rome, home to the Vatican, Italy is also 20 hours away from the City of Love, Paris!" Xenovia added.
"Yes, I did my research on Italy before I got here," he replied.
"So it's great, right!?" Xenovia asked, slamming her hands on the table and leaning her face towards a surprised Naruto's.
"Oh, I like this girl," Infernus said, Naruto ignoring him.
"Y...Yeah..." Smiling, Xenovia takes his hands into her own and happily shakes them.
"I like your honesty, Hiro. God's honesty shines brightly on you."
"Yeah..."
"Xenovia, he's had a long flight getting here, we should start escorting Hiro-san back to the Church." Looking at her friend, Xenovia nods in agreement. Letting go of Naruto's hands, both girls get up and tell "Hiro" to follow them. As the female exorcists exit the restaurant, the disguised blond immediately gets the bill for their meal.
"THIS MUCH!?" he shouts. "There goes a good chunk of my allowance..." After paying the bill and picking up his suitcases, Naruto, Xenovia, and Naoko begin their walk to St. Peter's Basilica.
Via Cavour Streets
On their way there, Infernus takes a better look at their escorts, mainly Xenovia.
"That blue-haired chick..."
"What about her?"
"She looks like your type. 11 out of 10 for the "Fuck-Worthy Scale." Naruto ignores the flame demon. However, he immediately finds himself checking out Xenovia. As much as he wanted to deny it, he had to admit, she was quite a sight to look at. Realizing he was starting to become like Jiraiya and Infernus, he decides to strike a conversation with the two female exorcists.
"So how long have you been an exorcist Xenovia?" asked the disguised blond.
"I started when I was only 9-years old, a year after I killed my first devil in self-defense using a sword."
"You've been an exorcist for six years!? They allow kids your age to become exorcists?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
"I know, crazy to believe, but it happened, and it was by choice. No one forced me to become one, or even Naoko." Naoko only nodded in agreement.
"I became one when I was 13-years old. My little sister was pressured to become one due to her powerful magic abilities, but since she was a pacifist and hated fighting, I took her place. In return for being an exorcist, I made the Church promise to keep my sister safe." Naruto smiled after hearing Naoko's reason for becoming an exorcist. He understood her, after all, he had two sisters.
"Speaking of sister, isn't she going to perform at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia tonight?" Naoko smiled when Xenovia remembered what today was.
"Yes, Reia is performing there tonight, and you're coming with me to listen." This surprised the bluenette, who was quickly against it.
"You can't say no this time Xenovia. You've already skipped several of them. This time, I'm not letting you back out. You HAVE to go." Xenovia sighed as Naruto lightly smiled at their interaction with each other.
St. Peter's Basilica
Approaching the entrance, the two exorcists and Naruto see a teen girl with short black hair in a twin tail style and black eyes leaving the basilica. The girl has on a black sailor uniform and wears a red belt that has a red side skirt cover. She also wears red gauntlets. Strapped to her left waist was a black-handled katana.
"Kurome?" Turning around, the expressionless girl wonders what the bluenette was going to say to her. "Just got back from your mission?" Xenovia asked. The girl only nods yes to answer. Turning her attention to Naruto, Kurome asks the two fellow exorcists who the "new guy" was.
"He's the new recruit. Kurome, this is Hiro Yoko. Like Irina, he's from Japan."
"Ni-Nice to make an acquaintance with you," Naruto replied as he offered to shake hands with Kurome. The girl looks down at his hand before looking back into his eyes, her expression looking uninterested. Nonetheless, she shakes Naruto's hand. Letting go, she welcomes Naruto and leaves to turn in her report to her leader. As they watched her go, Naruto couldn't help but feel like he was shaking Akame's hand. Come to think of it, she almost looked just like her, save for the hairstyle and the eyes.
"She's a mystery, am I right?" Exiting his thoughts, Naruto focused on the bluenette in front of him.
"Oh yeah, she's a mystery...What group is she a part of?"
"The Jaegers, a special group of elite exorcists made up of people from branches around the world. They're led by Esdeath Partas." Xenovia answered.
"A girl her age? Isn't that a little...suicidal?" Naruto asked, worried about Kurome's safety as well as her mind.
"I feel the same way. I worry about her as well, but I just have to have faith in her surviving her runs." Xenovia replied, Naruto noticing a look of worry on her face.
"We should take Hiro-san to his room." Naoko interrupted.
"You're right. Come, Hiro, let us show you to your room." Nodding, he follows the girls to his room.
"By the way, is there anything going on tonight other than this concert your sister Reia's going to be a part of?" Naruto asked Naoko.
"Well, there was Takumi's night readings."
"Takumi?" Naruto did know who he was, obviously, but he had to play the new guy in order to get more from the exorcist. "Who's that?"
"Takumi's one of many high-ranking Church officials, deeply respected by all." Xenovia responds. "I've been meaning to go to one, but I've been too occupied with my own duties to go at all."
"Is it going at the same time as the concert?"
"It was, but he's out doing church duties, so it's been postponed until he gets back." Xenovia answered.
"So he's not here now. Which means that I'm stuck behind enemy territory until he gets back..." Naruto thought to himself. After 10 minutes of walking, they arrived at the room Naruto was going to be living in. Once inside, he thanks the girls before they leave him be.
Closing the door behind him, Naruto sighs as he lays on the queen-sized bed and stares up at the ceiling for a few seconds before observing his surroundings. His room had a dresser for clothes. The bed has a lamp standing on a desk next to his bed. An alarm clock stands in front of his window. All in all, it was a simple, red-painted room. He figured other people's rooms were decorated with stuff that made their rooms not so simple like his. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Naruto makes a call to Seekvaira. While the church had an active spell that detected devil magic being used to communicate, it couldn't detect technology being used. Thank goodness for smartphones.
"Naruto, did you need anything? Is the mission done? If so, I didn't expect you to finish that-"
"He's not here."
"Takumi's not there!?"
"He's out on a mission from The Church and won't be back for who knows how long."
"Dammit, so you're stuck there until he comes back. I was afraid this was going to happen, so I made sure to give you some extra devil energy camouflage pills hidden within your briefcase handle." Checking the handle of his briefcase, he finds out that it doubles as a container and finds the pills.
"Seekvaira, you're the best."
"O-Of course I am. I'll be hanging up now. Try to find information about the meeting before more girls end up being victims."
"I'll do that. See you later." Finished, he hung up.
"Huh, so we're stuck in behind enemy lines, with beautiful exorcist girls just swarming the place...I love this mission. By the way, while those two girls were guiding us to their headquarters, I spotted a strip club called Cica Cica Boom. Let's look for information there tomorrow night."
"Fuck off Infernus."
Courtyard
After hours of lectures that, for the first time, actually made him fall asleep, Naruto had been going around asking about Takumi and his readings, all while avoiding suspicion on himself. From what he gathered, Takumi had these twice a month at The Basilica of Saint Clement, and that they usually begin at 9:30 pm, and ended in an hour before another reading half an hour after that. Naruto figured that the reading that was half an hour after the last one was a way for him to clean up his evil acts and make it look like they left to go home before continuing his façade as an honest to good priest giving extra reading lessons. They spoke no ill about him, much to the Rook's annoyance.
With the free time he had after gathering what little information he could find, he was left wondering what to do. He hasn't been anywhere out of Japan all his life. Maki, being an idol, traveled around the world while Jiraiya left Naruto and his sisters at home, Chelsea being the one in charge. There was a time where his parents promised to take him here, but that never came true. Now that he was here, there was one place he wanted to go see. Deciding to take a transit there, his plans were interrupted by Xenovia talking to Naoko at the courtyard.
"You're not going to make it to Reia's performance!?"
"It's my job in the records room. I have to re-sort some files that were mishandled."
"She's not going to like this."
"I'll make it up to her tomorrow. Here's my ticket." Naoko hands Xenovia her ticket before telling her to invite Irina in her place. Before the bluenette could say anything, Naoko told her that she was counting on her, and to record the performance so she can watch it later before leaving.
"But Irina just left for a mission..." Xenovia lets out a sigh as she looks at the ticket Naoko gave her.
"Something happen?" Naruto asked as he approached the female exorcist.
"Naoko has to skip her sister Reia's performance for work. She wants me to record the performance and give her ticket to someone. Irina would've been a good choice, but she's not here."
"...Mind if I have it?" he asked her. "I don't have any plans, and it'd be a waste if you have an extra ticket for nothing, and a shame to not have anyone to go with. I'm also good with a camcorder."
"You want to go?"
"Of course, I'm still new to Italy, and I...I don't know who to hang with during this time so...How about it? I mean, unless you have someone else you have in mind to go with, I can try doing something-"
"No, I don't mind. With the exception of Naoko and Irina, I don't really know anyone else who enjoys music."
"If there's anything I want people to know, it's that I enjoy listening to music unless it's metal or Skrillex, or folk."
"What are those?" she asked him, to his surprise.
Rome Tram
Sitting with Xenovia in the tram, Naruto wondered what sort of conversation he should have with her. As Xenovia looked out the window, Naruto stared at her, wondering what sort of questions to ask her.
"Ask her for her B-W-H measurements!"
"I'm not doing that."
"Ask if she knows Kamasutra."
"No, shut up."
"Hiro, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" Realizing that was still looking at her, he decided to make something up from the get-go. However, it made things a bit awkward for both of them.
"Oh, it's nothing! Nothing at all! It's just that I...I...I find your blue hair to be beautiful is all." This surprised the bluenette as Naruto went silent again.
"I just met her today, and I barely know her at all! Why did I even say that!?" he thought to himself.
"Th-Thanks, it's natural blue," she replied, surprising the blond. Hearing her response, Naruto thought, "...Roll with it. Either spend the 2-hour ride saying nothing or talk about something."
"Did you cut it yourself?" Turning to the disguised blond, she answers his question.
"Yes, I did. Three years ago, I had long hair...but I had to cut it to the style I have now after I almost died fighting a vampire from the House of Manthar." she responds.
"...Do you have a picture? With you having long hair?" Xenovia told him that it was in her room and that it was one of the few pictures where she had it.
"Do you like girls with long hair Hiro?" she asked him, sounding a bit curious.
"I do. Although, I don't mind if there was a girl I like that had short-hair. Short-haired girls are pretty cute too." Naruto told her as he lets out an awkward laugh. Turning to Xenovia, he finds her avoiding eye contact with him.
"I'm sure you've said that to many girls."
"I've...never said it to any girl at all..." he responded as he scratched the back of his head, surprising her. "Especially those I like."
"O-Oh...I'm sorry, it was rude of me to assume that."
"Don't be, I'm used to it."
"Used to it?" the bluenette recalled the person she was three years ago before wondering what he meant by his words as the tram continued moving to their destination.
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Walking backstage, Naruto follows Xenovia to meet with Reia (JP: Kei Shindo, ENG: AmaLee) backstage. The two come face to face with a 14-year old girl with long red hair that was done in a hime-cut style, and she had yellow eyes.
"Xenovia, you actually made it!" she says in a happy tone.
"Yeah." Looking over the bluenette's shoulder, she asked her where Naoko was.
"She couldn't make it." Xenovia responds, making the red-haired girl sigh. "Somehow I knew this would happen. It couldn't be helped it seems. So, who'd you bring instead?"
"Hello," Naruto told the girl as he waved at her. "My name's Hiro Yoko, and I-" Right away, Reia gets up and quickly inspects the disguised blond, curious.
"What's she doing?"
"I'm as clueless as you, Hiro."
"...You brought a boy with you huh..." she told Xenovia with a smile. "You have good taste in them." Naruto turned red when she considered him "good taste".
"What?" Xenovia replied, red in the face. "I-It's not like that. He offered to fill in Naoko's spot. And it's not like I thought of him first. I wanted to ask Irina but-"
"I know, I know, I was just teasing you is all," she told the bluenette before focusing on Naruto. "Make sure to record the whole concert for my sister okay?" she said with a smile.
"I'll be sure to do that." As Reia turned to talk to Xenovia, Naruto decided to check the schedule for the concert. Looking through it, he was surprised to find out that the songs Reia planned to perform were from some of his favorite video games and anime series. Turning to her, he asked her about it.
"Oh, you know them?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I love these kinds of music," he answered with a smile. "The ones who made these songs are amazing!"
"I know right!? It's a shame that they don't get as much recognition as the music in America! Only we, as gamers and watchers of anime, can understand the beauty of them!" she told Naruto as she clenched her fists with excitement. "Tell you the truth, I constantly annoyed the people working on the schedule to allow me to sing them before telling them I wouldn't sing for the concert unless they allowed me to do it," she admitted. After two minutes of talking with her, Naruto waved good luck to her as he and Xenovia were told to go take their seats. As they sat down, the bluenette told Naruto he and Reia got along very well in just a short amount of time.
"It's all about common ground."
"Common ground, huh..."
"...So...this is the first concert you've been to?"
"As an exorcist, I need to train to be strong enough to protect those who can't defend themselves from the Devils and Fallen Angels who threaten the world. I can't afford to slack off."
"You need to learn to enjoy the little things Xenovia."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If one day, they all disappear, music, exotic foods, video games, places you wish you could go to, you'd wish you could've experienced them before they no longer exist," he told her. Hearing his answer, she was about to ask him more about it, until their surroundings turned dark and the stage lit up. Naruto pulled out a camcorder the bluenette gave him during their tram ride and switched it on as Reia got onstage and performed "Lost in Thoughts All Alone by Hitori Omou".
As the pianist played the piano, Xenovia could feel the many emotions that resonated with the song. At first, she wasn't expecting much from the solo piano playing before Reia's singing, but once she did, Xenovia's eyes and ears were in full attention. As one of the people in the orchestra started playing the xylophone and the violinists played their instruments, Reia continued the song.
Xenovia teared up from the performance as she listened to Reia singing. This made Naruto smile a bit. Realizing this, she quickly wiped them away and pretended like it never happened as they continued listening on. Finished, Reia was met with applause from the people who were attending the concert. Even Xenovia was happily clapping for her as Naruto looked at the bluenette, surprised. Realizing Naruto saw her do something unlike her, she turned red.
"Her singing was pretty good was all..."
"I know, but it's nice to see that you like it," he responded with a smile. Looking at Reia, Xenovia thought about the many times she rejected going to Reia's performances, and the times she rejected hanging out with the other exorcists, all for training. She was missing all of this?
After the concert
Naruto and Xenovia met with Reia after to congratulate her. With a smile, she asked the bluenette about her thoughts on her singing.
"It was absolutely amazing. I didn't know that you could sing that well," she told her, with Naruto telling Reia that the bluenette teared up a few times during her performances.
"You did?" Xenovia turned red as Reia turned her attention towards her, a curious smile on her face.
"You didn't have to tell her that, Hiro," Xenovia told the disguised blond as she formed a cute and pouty but angry look on her face.
"I'm just glad that you both liked my performance. Did you make sure to record everything?" Naruto responded with a simple yes as he handed her the camcorder he used to record the whole performance. After thanking him, Reia leaves to go see her sister back at the Church.
"Alright Hiro, let's go-"
GROWL!
Looking at the blunette, the wide-eyed Naruto finds the girl's face flushed in embarrassment. With a smile, he tells her, "We don't HAVE TO GO back to the Church right away. Let's go get some dinner, on me."
"Are you sure? You already paid for Naoko and me when we-"
"It's fine, I don't mind. Is there a place you want to go eat at?"
"...There is one place I want to go try."
Ramen Italiano (Food Stand)
"Italian...Ramen?" Naruto looked at the bowl of Italian ramen in front of him before turning to Xenovia, who has in the process of eating her bowl of it with a happy smile on her face. The soup broth was a mix of tomato juice and cooked beef chorizo and diced onions, topped with sliced mushrooms, green peppers, parmesan cheese, and a poached egg. The meal came with a bowl of rice for when they finished the noodles, so the customers could make it into a risotto after. Turning to Naruto, Xenovia finished slurping the noodles in her mouth before asking him if he was hungry.
"I am, it's just...I've never heard of ramen like this."
"It's really good, trust me," she told him before she resumed her eating. Picking up his chopsticks, he took some noodles and slurped them up. To his amazement, it was delicious as she said. Immediately, Naruto's eating speed matched with Xenovia's, being perfectly in sync as they finished the noodles before adding the rice to the soup and finishing off their respective bowls. Not satisfied, they order another bowl, and another, and another. In the end, they each finished a total of 20 bowls, forcing the owner to close shop early from using up all of the ingredients. Walking beside one another, Xenovia comments on how they ate out the stand.
"It couldn't be helped. After all, the ramen was delicious..." Looking at each other, they shared a laugh for a few seconds before focusing on getting to the tram station.
Rome Tram
As the two sat through the ride back to the Church, Xenovia recalled their talk during their ride to the concert and, curious, decides to talk to him about it.
"Hiro?"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Earlier, when we were on the way to the concert, when I mistakenly assumed that you talked to many girls like you did with me, you told me you were used to it. What did you mean?"
"...To be honest, that wasn't a good answer earlier. A more accurate answer would be...that I'm used to many things directed towards me." he told her, his eyes full of sadness. "When a girl asks me to go out with her or to be their boyfriend, I'd jump in. I would be very happy about it and do my best to make sure that the girl was happy. Of course, that happy moment would turn for the worse. I would always end up being used by them to get back at their boyfriends, to be used as a work course, and to play tricks on me for fun. When there were girls who noticed that I would occasionally sneak glances at them, whether it was in class or in the hallways, they'd take it the wrong way or find it repulsive, and I'd end up getting beaten by her friends for it. This beating also extended to the need to make friends. I rarely had any, only acquaintances, nothing more. No matter how nice I was, no matter how much I helped them, it never came true." Hearing this from Naruto, Xenovia felt sorry for him while getting angry at the people who had beaten and abused him.
"How can they treat someone as kind as you like that?" Xenovia asked.
"I've sometimes wondered that myself," Naruto responded as he looked down at the floor. "Eventually, it became a regular thing in my life, and I grew accustomed to it, to the point I stopped going after other girls and stopped trying to make friends altogether. I'd become the enemy of every popular person in my school, sticking up for those who weren't popular, only to receive a few scrapes and bruises for it."
"Why would you put yourself through that?"
"...Because I was in love with a girl. My best and only friend from my childhood, who I had to leave to come here. She was the ideal girl. Smart, beautiful, popular with everyone...the kindest and most genuine person anyone would be lucky to meet. There were several guys who wanted to be with her, mainly for her looks. I wasn't going to let a guy like that be with her, so I would always come to her aid, keeping guys like them away from her, despite my weak self."
"Why didn't you go for her?" asked the bluenette, curious.
"Because...Because inside, there was always this feeling inside of me, telling me she was too good for someone like me, even as we were best friends. Even as I try to confess to her, I'd end up not going through with it, afraid of how she'll respond. Even when I did, those words would never reach her. Who knows, she probably doesn't feel the same way about me..." Hearing his story, the bluenette teared up a bit. Wiping her tears away, she tells him a little bit about her.
"...7-8 years ago... I killed my first Devil, all to protect a fellow girl. From there, I started training to become an exorcist, excelling in swordsmanship, magic...many things. Even though I was young, I could kill Devils, Fallen Angels, even Humans without any trouble at all." The last part bothered Naruto a bit, but he figured that these Humans were either really bad people who've sinned in more ways than one, or were Undead.
"Because of my skills, I was called the Demon of Destruction, The Decapitating Princess, and Violence permitted by God. Because of my abilities and my personality back then, I was pretty hated back then. There were several terrifying stories about me told by the exorcists who've comboed with me. They even called me a troublemaker for conflicts with whoever was partnered with me. Once I was 14, those stuff about me became a regular routine. But I didn't mind it as long as I did my job. However, along the way, I desired a friend. Someone, who was my age, I can talk to and get along with. I finally got it two months after my 13th birthday. Irina Shidou was her name. Like the others, she was afraid of me. But despite that fear, she did her best to get closer to me more than any of the people I partnered with. The mission involving the vampire from the House of Manthar, that was the night she and I became best friends. Because of her, I had someone I could call a friend who didn't see me as an emotionless demon. Through her, I met and became friends with Naoko, Reia, and a few other people."
"We're both lucky to have best friends like mine and Irina, huh?" Xenovia agreed with him as he continued. "It's strange, I only met you today, yet...I'm telling you something I've never told anyone else. Things I would just keep to myself. It feels...nice to have someone to tell what's on my mind to, especially someone who...really understands me."
"I feel the same. Even though we just met, I just...feel comfortable talking to you. If you like...Do you think we can be friends?" asked Xenovia.
"...Yes, I'd really like that very much." As the two shared a smile, Infernus, watching this unfold, is reminded of a memory. In it, he met a woman who saved him and gave him a warm smile. Of course, Infernus brushes it aside.
St. Peter's Basilica
"Thanks for treating me to the ramen. I'll try to pay you-"
"It's fine Xenovia. You don't have to pay me back or anything." Naruto interrupts. "The talk we had is enough, really."
"If you say so...Do you have anything going on tomorrow?"
"Yeah...I'm planning to go to Villa d'Este in the afternoon tomorrow."
"Villa d'Este?"
"Yes...It's just a small trip and back. Why?" Twirling her right bang with her right index finger as she looked away from him, Xenovia asked him if he'd like some company.
"I thought about the many things I have skipped out on. I've been so immersed in my duties, I don't know how to have fun so...Do you think you can help me?"
"It's a promise." With a smile she thanks Naruto before heading the other way. Turning around, Naruto walks the other way and heads back to his room.
"Hiro's" Room
"That's all the information I got from today."
"I see...Continue with gathering whatever information you need to know about him and play it safe until your mission is complete." Seekvaira told him.
"Alright, Seekvaira." Hanging up, Naruto lies on his bed as he lets sleep overtake him.
The next day
Near the afternoon
"Father Takumi?"
"You don't know who that is?" asked the surprised male exorcist.
"I only came here yesterday. I'm still new so I'm unfamiliar with him." Naruto told him as he gathered his materials.
"He's a well-respected Church official."
"He is?"
"Of course. Everyone respects him," said the male exorcist. ", one the people of this Church can put our trust in when we need him most."
"What does he look like?" While Sirzechs did describe the man's appearance, Naruto wasn't really good at picturing them in his head.
"You really are a newbie here, Hiro-san." Taking out a book of Church officials, the male official turns a few pages before stopping at Takumi's and points to his picture. "His readings are the best, especially when he serves snacks for it."
"Oh, thanks for showing me," he told the male exorcist. "I'm learning new things every day."
"By the way, a few of us guy exorcists saw you and Xenovia at the concert together yesterday."
"What about it?"
"She is scary. Like, she is hot, but at the same time, very scary, and very difficult to approach. How did you-"
"Thanks for the talk, I should get going now," said Naruto, as he got up and left. He didn't like how the exorcist called Xenovia scary. Difficult to approach. They made it difficult to approach her. Just recalling what the exorcist said about her made him clench his fists in anger as he walked along the courtyard. After dropping his stuff back at his room, Naruto checked the time before deciding to pick up Xenovia, eventually finding her immersed with her sword swinging at the courtyard. Approaching her, he calls her name. Surprised, the bluenette swings at him. Without much effort, Naruto was about to narrowly dodge the dull blade. However, given his role as an exorcist who barely fought in any battles, Naruto lets the somewhat sharp tip of the seemingly dull blade cut his right cheek as he falls on his ass. Worried, the bluenette drops her sword and goes to check on him.
"Hiro, are you okay!?" she asked, worried.
"I-I'm fine." Looking at the small cut on his cheek, she panicked a bit, though Naruto assured her that it was nothing. "It's my fault for not realizing how immersed you were with your training."
"Let me see it." To his embarrassment, Xenovia leans her face forward in order to inspect the cut on his cheek before taking out a band-aid and applying it over the cut. "There. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to first aid, and I don't know any healing magic, so this is all I can do for you."
"I-It's fine, re-really..." he replied, getting up from the ground as Xenovia does the same. "Anyways, it seems that you're occupied right now, so-" Before he can turn away and leave her be, the bluenette grabs his hand.
"Don't go..." Naruto looked down at Xenovia's hands, which were currently holding his left hand, preventing him from leaving. Realizing what she did, she lets go. "Without me...Don't go without me. It'd be wrong of me to make a promise with you last night and break it. I just need to put my sword away and we can go." Picking up her sword, she tells him to stay put and not leave without her before running back to her room, her face feeling hot.
"You have a boner right now." Realizing this, Naruto covers it with his hands.
"She was very close, it couldn't be helped." By now, the cut on his cheek was already healed. As he puts his hand over the band-aid and prepared to remove it, he recalls how worried Xenovia was for him and how she applied it over his cut despite how minor it was. Letting go of it, he figured he should keep the band-aid on for the whole day, his face red as he said it out loud.
Via Cavour Streets
Walking alongside the cloaked bluenette during a nice sunny day outside of the Church, Naruto turned to the girl and asked her about the need for the cloak.
"You're not on duty Xenovia."
"It's just the standard. I didn't have it on yesterday because it was in the laundry room," she told him.
"At least keep the hood down," Naruto told her. When asked why he told her she needed more "face time". While she didn't understand the meaning of it, she listened to him and pulled down her hood, letting her hair blow gently in the wind. "Much better."
"So, where are we going first?"
[Persona 2 Eternal Punishment OST - Everyday]
The first place Naruto takes her is a manga shop. When asked how it was interesting, he tells her to look through the many titles in the store and read a few pages as he checks out the first volume of a new series. Looking around, Xenovia comes across a bishounen manga about love between a foreign exchange student and a beautiful girl who is usually by herself because of a fake rumor that piques her interest. Her face turned red as she read the book, questioning what would happen next, getting angry when things didn't go how she wanted it to go, and smiling or feeling disappointed whenever she finished a chapter. Wanting to continue reading them, she puts the 4 volumes that were out in a shopping bag before looking through more books, to Naruto's surprise. Both teens buy their respective books and have them shipped to the Church before leaving.
Next, they bought coolers together at a coffee shop. While drinking, Xenovia noticed some whipped cream on the tip of the blond's nose and used her left finger to wipe it off before licking it off her finger. This earned a blush from Naruto when she did it.
At some point, Naruto wanted to know how wine was made, with Xenovia wondering the same thing. When they were asked to participate in grape crushing, they thought it meant the consumption of many grapes. Much to their surprise, the wide-eyed teens found several people participating in crushing large amounts of grapes, of different colors, with their bare feet. Instead of joining them, the two ran away from the event. Once they caught their breath, they looked at each other before laughing together.
Next, they checked out a music store that offered a wide selection of songs from different countries, the two shared a pair of headphones as they listened to some music that Naruto liked which the exorcist girl slowly started to enjoy.
Finally, they visited a flower shop. As Naruto picked some flowers for a bouquet, Xenovia wondered what, or rather who, they were for. As they exited the store, Xenovia had a look of disappointment on her face, having expected a flower from the disguised blond. Much to her embarrassment, he actually bought a daisy for her, placing it in her hair.
[Music End]
Villa D'Este
Standing in front of the Neptune Fountain, Naruto told himself, "I finally made it here." as Xenovia stood next to him, wondering what his reason for coming here was. The disguised blond had a sad smile on his face as he stood in front of the fountain.
"Hiro?" Naruto did not respond.
"Hiro?" Hearing his "name" being called, he turned to Xenovia and asked if she needed something. "What's your reason for coming here? Who're the bouquets for? Are we waiting for someone?"
"Oh no, this bouquet is for the fountain." Xenovia was confused by this answer as Naruto placed the bouquet on the edge of the fountain. "You see...This exact spot was where my father proposed to my mother." Xenovia's eyes grew wide when she realized the meaning behind the bouquet.
"They uh...They were killed by a man who used to work for them when I was young. I remember my mother telling me how my father proposed to her. They had just slept over at a hotel not too far from here. My father, being a romantic, woke up one hour early before my mother, and had ordered breakfast in bed for her. With her breakfast, there was a letter from him, telling her to meet him here, at this fountain. He stood on this exact spot I'm standing on, rehearsing his lines as my mother made her way here, nervous about the proposal. Once she arrived, he gave her a bouquet of flowers my mother loved. As she closed her eyes and smelled them, she didn't notice my father getting down on one knee to present a wedding ring to her. Once she opened her eyes and saw the ring, he told her, "What you hold in your hands is another bit of happiness I have given to you over the past few years we've been together. In my hands, I offer you my everything, and with it, a promise of more happiness to come. With this vow, I ask you, will you marry me?" Xenovia had a smile on her face when she pictured how the proposal went.
"To his joy, she said yes to him. To finally be here, where it happened it...It's..." Tears streamed down his face when he recalled their deaths. Xenovia directed a look of understanding towards him as Naruto wiped his tears and continued. "To finally be here, where it happened it's...it's a lot to take in for me...I'm glad I got to come here, and..." Blushing, he told her, "I'm glad you came with me. It means a lot."
"I'm glad I came as well." As he prepared to walk away, he remembered one last detail he forgot. Turning back to the fountain, he tossed a quarter in. "Why did you do that?" she asked, raising a brow.
"Right after my mother said yes to marrying my father, they both tossed a quarter into the fountain for good luck. Almost forgot that part." With a smile, Naruto walked away from the fountain. "Come on, I'll buy us dinner before we go back to the Church."
"Okay..." Unknown to him, Xenovia tossed a quarter into the fountain as well before running to the disguised blond's side.
Big Boss Antonio's Pizzeria
Xenovia had a huge smile on her face as she closed her eyes and took a whiff of the cheesy aroma that enveloped the whole restaurant.
"I think my nose has smelled Heaven..."
"We'll take a table for two," Naruto told the female receptionist, who was happy to show the two to their table. Outside, Irina Shidou, having returned from her mission, was slowly making her way back to the Church while wondering where Xenovia was. Walking past Big Boss Antonio's Pizzeria, she noticed the bluenette having pizza together with Naruto, to her complete and utter shock.
"Xenovia is...ON A DATE!?" Irina said to herself, disbelief and shock in her voice. She never thought she'd see the day her friend take a break from her duties and act like a girl, going on a date with a hot guy. "I should go in and introduce myself and-" Irina stops as she looks at how happy Xenovia looked with Naruto. With a smile, she decides to leave them be and resume her walk back to the Church. "I guess I'll let her be. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow..."
2 hours later
Rome Tram
"That was so good! I wouldn't mind eating there again!" said a satisfied Xenovia as she and Naruto rode the usual tram back to the Church.
"I wouldn't mind going back to that pizzeria for more," Naruto adds.
"...Thanks for showing me a good time today. There is so much I've skipped out on. Manga, Music, Coffee, how wine was made." Taking the daisy out of her hair, she looked at it with a smile. "I'm sure there's more out there that I have yet to experience. With you, these experiences I'm having are...fun." Naruto's face turned red as she told him how she felt about today.
"I'm glad that I'm helping you broaden your horizons."
There's obviously more out there that I have yet to experience so-" Before she could finish, the tram came to a quick stop, making Xenovia fall forward. Quickly, Naruto caught her in his arms as new passengers entered the tram, pushing them closer together. Naruto's face went beet red when he felt the girl's breasts press against his chest, her arms wrapped around him in a hug, and her left leg rubbing his crotch through his clothes. Xenovia was the same since Naruto's left arm was wrapped around her waist. It didn't help that there was barely any room in the tram to move.
"They're...They're big!" Naruto thought to himself. Infernus couldn't help but laugh at his host's situation.
"It's gotten pretty cramped in here...hasn't it?" Naruto asked.
"Y-Yeah..." As they stood in place, Xenovia could feel her heart beating fast from this new experience.
St. Peter's Basilica
After waving goodbye to Xenovia, Naruto turned around and started walking back to his room. As he walked along the halls, he took off the band-aid on his cheek before discarding it in the trash on his right. In his mind, he remembered what it felt like to have Xenovia's breasts press up against him during the tram ride back here. That moment made his cheeks turn crimson red.
"What was that?" Infernus asked.
"What was what?"
"You were thinking about that Xenovia girl's breasts against your chest during the ride back here!"
"What!? No! I was just remembering the ride!"
"That's a lame answer. Don't lie to me. You definitely have the hots for Xenovia." Hearing this from Infernus made Naruto's face red. "What was it you said yesterday? Ah yes, "To finding a girl who makes me feel the same way I feel for Moka is going to be very difficult to find." What just happened Naruto?"
"...Okay fine, I...might like her," he admitted. Had he denied it, he knew Infernus would keep bothering him.
"Oh, the irony! An all-powerful devil befriends and immediately falls for a hot, sexy, blue-haired exorcist in just 2 days day here in Italy, only to eventually make her your enemy and miss out on that exorcist poon due to being on opposite sides! This almost reminds me of that South Korean drama romance movie you watched one time!" Infernus yelled. Naruto can only turn bright red in embarrassment.
"And to rub salt in the wound, her religion probably prevents her from getting laid. Good thing you're a devil because you don't have to care about shit like that!" Infernus added before laughing.
"...Are you done?"
"Yeah I'm good...do you think you'll do more with her tomorrow?"
"...If Takumi doesn't arrive tomorrow, I wouldn't mind. Maybe I'll show her some video games." Infernus, hearing his reply, tells him he's against this. "Well, you're not the one steering this body, so deal with it."
The next day
With Xenovia
"Hey Xenovia, something interesting happened when I was walking back to the Church last night."
"Really, what was it?"
"I saw you having pizza with a handsome boy." Xenovia turned red when Irina revealed that she saw her and Naruto together last night.
"You...YOU SAW THAT!?"
"Sure did, and I thought you weren't the type of person who was interested in romance," Irina said to her friend, who had a huge grin on her face.
"I never said I wasn't. And it wasn't a date last-"
"Who said anything about a date? I just thought you were eating dinner with a fellow exorcist." Embarrassed, Xenovia pulled her hood over her head to hide her blushing face. Irina had on a large smile as she asked her friend if she was actually in love with someone.
"Love?"
"Of course. After all, it seems to me he's the only person who can make you react this way, Xenovia. What other feeling could it be than that?"
"Love..."
"Xenovia-san." Turning around, the two girls are approached by a male exorcist, who asks the bluenette to go fetch Takumi. "Me?"
"Yes, as a Church official, he is a pretty large target for Devils and Fallen Angels. With you, he said he'd feel safer during his return here."
"I see. Very well, I'll go at once. See you later Irina." Irina simply nodded as the bluenette prepared to leave. As she did, she lightly bumped into Naruto.
"Oh...G-Good morning, Hiro..." Xenovia looked away in order to hide her embarrassed expression on her face. Naruto did the same as he said good morning to her.
"Are you in a hurry?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm to escort a Church official back here."
"Official?"
"Adam Takumi." Naruto had a surprised look on his face when she said his name. This was too convenient for him. Finally, Adam Takumi had arrived.
"May I tag along with? I'd like to meet him," he told Xenovia. When asked if he was sure he wanted to come, voicing how dangerous it might be, he told her, "Maybe, but as long as you're there, we'll be safe." This earned a blush from the bluenette as Irina looked on, enjoying the interaction between the two.
"Very well, let's go." With that, Naruto followed her from behind. As the male exorcist and Irina looked on, the former couldn't help but find Xenovia's embarrassed expression cute as Irina agreed with him.
"So his name is Hiro huh..."
Unnamed Airport
With Naruto
As they wait together in the waiting area, Naruto asked her if she was doing anything today.
"Today I just plan on staying at the Church to train a bit before going to Takumi's reading tonight."
"You don't say..."
"Yeah. To be honest, I wanted to go to it, but I was always occupied with Irina and my duties that I never had the time to. I'm glad I actually have some time now, after all the times I denied it."
"That's nice to hear. I may join in as well, if it's okay with Father Takumi," Naruto responds.
"I'm sure he'll let you join in. He's a very nice person, from my interactions with him." As the two talked to each other, Takumi had been watching the two, and he was boiling mad with possessive jealousy. Some newbie was making conversation with his Xenovia!? And the way she looked at him and smiled, it made him very jealous. Forcing a smile, he approached the two and made himself known.
"Xenovia, it's nice to see you." As he offered to shake her hand, Naruto shook it instead, much to his annoyance.
"Father Takumi, my name's Hiro Yoko. I've heard many good things about you from the students at the Church." Naruto didn't want to say it, but he had to in order to evade suspicion. Also, he wasn't going to have him shake Xenovia's hand. "To think that I am in the presence of such a devoted and honest follower of The Lord."
"You flatter me with your words Hiro," said Takumi. Intruding, Xenovia tells them they should head back to the Church as soon as possible, with Naruto agreeing with her. After all, Takumi had to report in.
"When we get back, I'm going to clean my mouth with mouthwash for ten minutes!"
On the ride back to St. Peter's Basilica...
"...Father Takumi?"
"Yes, Hiro?"
"I've been hearing a good things about your readings, and I was wondering if maybe I could join in tonight?"
"I don't know if there'll be any-"
"If you really want to go, then I can give you my spot Hiro." This proved to be a small annoyance to Takumi. She would give her spot up to someone like him? He wasn't going to miss out on having the bluenette to himself. With another fake smile, he told "Hiro", "Well, if you really want to, I guess I can make an exception for tonight."
"Thank you, Father, I appreciate your generosity," said Naruto.
"I'm looking forward to teaching you a lesson."
"What was that last part?"
"I said I'm looking forward to teaching you," said Takumi, the fake smile never leaving his face. Inside, Takumi figured he'd show him who was boss by having his way with the bluenette in front of him, secretly developing a wicked grin on his face.
"That guy is seriously weak. I looked into his soul, he doesn't have any powerful offensive spells. Though he excels in potion making and paralysis magic." Infernus informed Naruto.
"I won't have to worry about that, will I?"
"Nah, you'd just burn its effects in an instant."
With Xenovia
After dropping Takumi off, Xenovia went back to her room to get her zweihänder. As she left her room and prepared to go to her usual spot, she thought of inviting Hiro to come to watch her train. With a smile, she turned the other way and started running to his room.
"Hiro's" Room
With Naruto
After dropping Takumi off, and ACTUALLY spending 10 minutes rinsing his mouth with mouthwash, Naruto went back to his room and started looking over the interior map of The Basilica of Saint Clement provided by Seekvaira 3 minutes ago in order to plan his kill.
"It's best to strike an hour before it begins. Killing him will only take 2 minutes, maybe five if he puts up a fight, and 7 if he has people working for him or has the ability to summon, which I doubt." Naruto nodded in approval.
"Before I forget, Naruto, there is something very important that you need to know." By the serious tone in Infernus's voice, Naruto could tell that it was important.
"What's is it?"
"While you have access to my powers, it's not all of it."
"What do you mean?"
"When I am given full control of your body, I am allowed access to all my powers and I have no limits. However, for you, it's only about 10%." Hearing this surprised Naruto.
"Are you serious!?"
"Yes, but don't worry, 10% is still powerful. Now, due to the 10% you control, your flames are not as strong as mine, and you're unable to use the same kind of fire that I use."
"You mean the one that doesn't get extinguished by water and everything else that's supposed to put out fire?"
"Correct. For stamina, you currently have a normal human amount, which is not much, due to only getting three days of training. Had we been given more time to train, you would've been able to keep fighting for 5 days straight, maybe more. Your combat skills are shit. You only have the basic level of fighting, and basic level fire magic, and you don't have any melee weapons training. As for defense, while I'm usually invulnerable to holy weapons, you, on the other hand, won't be with the amount of power you have." Naruto paled when he heard the last part.
"Look on the bright side, you can turn your whole body into fire to avoid getting hit, though only for a limited time, and you can still heal, albeit at a slow rate without the Sun's rays constantly giving you energy, and you might be able to build a high tolerance to pain." The last part Infernus said didn't really help Naruto at all.
"Hey, don't think about it too hard. Even with just 10%, you're pretty much ready for this. Your greatest weapon you have right now would be that sawn-off shotgun, your stubbornness and anger, and your creativity. And if you get pissed enough, you can use those ethanol flames, which is basically blue flames. Hell, if you hit a certain level of anger, I'll be able to take over and go apeshit on these exorcist fucks."
"Just as long as you don't use my body to have sex with girls." Infernus sighed before calling Naruto a virgin.
"How do I gain full access to your powers without having you taking over my body?" Naruto asked.
"By training your body and having it naturally adjust to my powers as you get stronger."
"By just working out and training? It's that simple?"
"Simple as that...Also by fucking-"
"No! I'm not going to fuck-"
"Fuck who?" Naruto froze in place. Turning around, he saw Xenovia at the door, staring at him with a wide-eyed look on her face.
"Oh...Xenovia...What brings you here?" he asked her.
"I was about to open the door to check on how you were doing and I heard you say you weren't going to...fuck someone."
"I was just talking to myself...I tend to do that when I have a lot of things going on in my head."
"...Who were you going to say?" she asked, curious.
"Better reply Naruto," said Infernus. Naruto was put in a weird position. Here was Xenovia, asking who he wasn't going to fuck. He couldn't say Moka's name, since he didn't want the girl to know about his crush, and he couldn't say Akame's or Chelsea's name because of obvious reasons. After 25 seconds of awkward silence and thinking, Naruto, blushing, finally said, "I was...going to say your name." This answer surprised the bluenette, who couldn't help but blush.
"Wow, I did not expect that," she replied, looking away while lightly scratching her right cheek with her right pointing finger out of awkwardness.
"Me neither. I mean, it's not that I wouldn't fuck you." Xenovia turned even redder from hearing that. Realizing what he said, Naruto blushed even harder. "I mean I would love to fuck you, but I don't think you'd agree to have sex with me!" Xenovia turned even redder until steam came out of her head.
"I mean, I can't masturbate due to my religion so I am left with a large erection caused by how hot you are and by the way that skin-tight outfit reveals how big your breasts are!" Naruto had no idea what he was saying. Whatever came out of his mouth was obviously making it awkward between the two. He was basically letting his dick do the talking.
"Smooth Naruto...Smooth," said Infernus, smirking at his host's situation.
"Hiro, I...I think you need to go to a confessional." Xenovia replied.
"I don't know where one is. Can you take me there?" asked a madly blushing Naruto. Xenovia was the only person around. There was nobody else he could ask.
The girl couldn't look Naruto in the eye so she just took his hand in hers and guided him to a confessional. Though that would be a mistake on her part as the hand contact made both Xenovia and Naruto's hearts beat faster. It also didn't help that he was walking behind her, because now he had a nice view of her ass.
"CHECK OUT DAT AAAASS! Good luck with confessing Naruto...Make it a good one."
"Fuck off Infernus!"
One confessional later...
Naruto and Xenovia walked together along a long hallway, both unable to look at the other in the eye. Xenovia had heard Naruto's "confessional" and she had no words to say. The confessional included fantasies like Naruto bending her over her bed, ripping the bottom portion of her suit off, and doing her from behind, him forcefully having the bluenette perform oral sex on him, and finally, him sucking her breasts while she gave him a handjob. There was more but she was too embarrassed to even think about it.
"That was...one large confession. I'm glad you got that out of your system."
"Do you think you can keep what I said a secret? Naruto asked her. "I don't want anyone other than you to know about it."
"Of course...Hiro?"
"Yes?"
"...Confessional aside...Can I ask you something?"
"S-Sure...What is it?"
"There was a girl who came up to me earlier and asked me for love advice. She likes this guy, whom she met a few days ago and...she really likes him, but they just became friends during their interactions together. She asked if she could just go with how she truly feels and confess to him, or let things be the way they are. I couldn't really answer her since I don't know what it's like to be in love." In truth, this was all a lie. She was actually asking Naruto about herself (Xenovia). "What do you think I should tell her, Hiro?" Hearing this from her, Naruto thought about his friendship with Moka, and the many confessions he failed with her.
"If I was in her shoes, or rather, if I was a girl, I'd tell him how I feel before it's too late," he replied. "I would tell her to go for it. If she doesn't tell him, she might regret it if she takes too long. I know what it's like to love someone and not tell the girl I liked how I felt. Whoever this girl is, it's not too late. She has a chance."
"Re-Really..." said Xenovia. "...This girl you like, did you tell her?"
"Sadly no...And even if I wanted to...It's too late for me to do it. Once I find a girl I like again...I won't hesitate to tell her how I feel."
"So...I have a chance..." This brought a gentle smile on her face as she looked at him and thanked him for the advice. As he looked at Xenovia, Naruto couldn't help but admire her beauty as the wind gently blew her hair to the right, and the sun lightly shined on her. "I'll be sure to tell her later."
1 hour later...
Enjoying the breeze, Naruto watched Xenovia train with her sword as he began to slurp down a nice cup of beef ramen.
"...Wow, she's really swinging that sword." Naruto had to agree with Infernus. When Xenovia asked if he wanted to watch her train, he immediately said yes, all in order to kill time before his assassination mission. While Xenovia brought her somewhat dull zweihänder. Naruto, on the other hand, brought 4 cup ramens, a battery-powered water heater, 6 water bottles, and a pair of chopsticks. Right now, he had just finished Ramen #3.
"Reminds me of a time I fought an ogre 30x my size in the Underworld," Infernus commented.
"What happened to the ogre?"
"I decapitated him with his own sword while bisecting three volcanoes." Hearing that, Naruto, flabbergasted, asked Infernus what sort of life he lived. Infernus's only reply was, "A fucking good one."
Xenovia stops her training and goes over to Naruto, wiping her sweaty face with a towel. Naruto notices some of her sweat going down her neck and in between her breasts, giving him a nosebleed. He quickly wipes it away before she could notice.
"You should take off that suit to cool down. Black tends to attract more sunlight, and wearing...that...transmits that heat to the skin, making you...hotter." Naruto blushed after saying the last part.
"You set yourself up for that one Naruto," Infernus said before ending with a light snicker. In his mind, Naruto told him to fuck off as usual.
"I can't take it off since...I'm not...(mumbles something)"
"Not what?"
"...I'm not wearing anything underneath." Hearing that from Xenovia, Naruto whole face turns bright red while, unaware to the bluenette, getting a boner. Why would she not wear anything underneath that suit? And why did the Church make them so form-fitting?
"I DID NOT EXPECT THAT KIND OF ANSWER!" Infernus comments.
"I didn't expect it to be this hot out today. Would it be okay if I borrowed one of your water bottles?" Xenovia politely asked the disguised blond.
"Sure," Naruto replied, handing her one immediately. He had expected her to drink the cool water. But instead of drinking it, to his "utter horror", Xenovia instead pours it over her body, turning him on even more. Just watching her do it made him fantasize about her without her clothes on, pouring the water over her body in slow motion. Even Infernus was turned on by Naruto's fantasy.
"FUCKING HELL, SHE'S JUST ASKING FOR IT NARUTO! FUCK RELIGION! FUCK HER RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
"Awwwww, that felt nice." Xenovia noticed that Naruto's face was red and asks him why it was like that.
"Oh, I guess the heat from the Sun and the warm ramen I ate has taken its effect on me."
"Will you be okay?" Naruto only nods yes to respond to her question. Going forward 4 minutes later, he and Xenovia were sitting together on the bench as the latter finished off the last cup of ramen Naruto had brought. Having finished the noodles, the bluenette happily drank the soup before setting the empty cup down along with the chopsticks.
"That hit the spot," she said to herself before yawning.
"Tired?"
"Yeah..." Xenovia replied as she leaned against Naruto and closed her eyes.
"Xen-Xenovia!? What are you-"
"I'm too tired to go to my room." Xenovia answered in a tired tone. "You're my friend, and friends tend...to...lean on each other...to..." She had fallen asleep. Naruto couldn't move, as doing so would disturb the girl's sleep. Looking at her, Naruto was freely able to admire the girl's peaceful and beautiful face. He never would've thought he'd ever love anyone other than Moka. But Xenovia proved him wrong, all within three days. As he observed her, Naruto couldn't help but focus on her lips. Unaware that he was giving in to his devilish instincts, Naruto attempted to kiss the sleeping girl. Inches away from feeling her lips against his own, he stops, the disguised blond realizing that he couldn't form a romance with Xenovia and that loving her would only make it hard for him to fulfill his duty. Kissing her would only make it worse. After all, they were on opposite sides. Instead of kissing her lips, he instead kissed her forehead.
"Hurts huh? It's never easy loving someone from the opposite side."
"Why can't both sides just get along like this Infernus?"
"It's a complicated question with multiple to no answers," Infernus replied.
"I was expecting an answer with swearing or sexual comments," Naruto added.
"No, at least not for now," Infernus replied. "We have a few hours to go before we need to "finish the job." Let's just hope that you're prepared for when you have to fight her. Till then, I'm staying silent." Naruto smiled as he looked at Xenovia and caressed her hair.
90 minutes later
With Xenovia
Going forward 90 minutes later, the bluenette wakes up and noticed that she was back in her room. Observing her surroundings, Xenovia sees a letter on her desk and gets up to read it.
"Sleep Well?" was what the letter said. Xenovia could only smile as she sets it down. Suddenly, she hears a knock on her door. She walks over to the door and opens it. It's Irina, and for some reason, she had a smile on her face.
"Irina? What brings you here?"
"To think that Hiro was such a romantic. He carried you to your room in his arms." Hearing that "Hiro" carried her to her room made the bluenette blush. "He...He did that?"
"If only I had a guy who could do that for me. It'd be grand!" she told herself as she blushed in excitement.
"...Hey Irina?"
"Yes?"
"...There's something I want to tell you and Naoko while we're going to Takumi's reading," she told her friend.
"O-Okay, we can do that, sure."
"Great, now can I bring my sword at the reading?" Xenovia asked.
"No Xenovia, you can't," Irina answered, earning a sigh from the bluenette.
"Well, what about my guns?" Irina thought about it for a second before nodding in approval.
"Honestly, I don't get why you have to carry weapons with you everywhere you go." Xenovia's reply was that she wanted to be prepared in case of a sudden attack. "Like that will ever happen."
"Which is exactly why I have to have something on me if that possibility were to happen."
With Naruto
In his room, Naruto takes out and opens up his 2 suitcases. One suitcase has a black solid cotton casual slim fit hoodie jacket with long sleeves and is double zippered. On the jacket's left shoulder is a magic-enhanced titanium pauldron that connects to a titanium gauntlet. Paired with it are an orange t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. The jeans come with carbon fiber knee pads. Finally, he looks at a pair of slim-armored boots with iron soles. Discarding his disguise and taking off the wig, Naruto puts on his Firebrand identity and looks at the contents of the second suitcase: Parts for his Sawn-Off Shotgun. Quickly assembling it, Naruto packs some shotgun shells before leaping out the window.
"Note to self, finish making that holster for my gun," Naruto said to himself as he proceeds to The Basilica of Saint Clement, his shotgun in hand.
With Xenovia
60 minutes later...
"You're going to confess to him after the reading!?" Irina shouts in surprise.
"Yes, I am. I plan to go to his room right away and do it. I admit I didn't think much of him other than being someone truly dedicated to God during the first day. Now...after just three days, he has won my...my heart..." Xenovia replied, earning a blush from the two girls.
"Just thinking about it is making me nervous, but I know that God will give me the strength to tell him how I feel. I know it's sudden for me, and this is for a boy I don't know a lot about, but I think we can make it work, we just need to take it things slow for a while. I believe that's how it goes. "
"To tell him how you feel huh...Reminds me of the time I told a boy I liked how I felt," Irina replied, surprising the bluenette and Naoko.
"You have a boy you like?" Naoko asked.
"I had one, but he rejected me, probably because I looked like a boy back then. It seems that I haven't told you two about him. His name is Iss-" Before Irina can say the boy's name, Xenovia spots a figure jumping from rooftop to rooftop and tells the girls about it.
"What? Are you sure?" asked Naoko. Xenovia only gave her a nod.
"By the direction it's going, it's after...We need to get to the basilica, NOW!" With the two other girls in agreement, the three make haste towards the basilica.
The Basilica of Saint Clement
Father Takumi had just finished spiking the drinks with a special concoction that would weaken their willpower before preparing to arrange several hidden paralysis circles inside of the basilica, a lecherous smile on his face as he fantasized about taking Xenovia. When he first saw her, he was immediately drawn to her natural beauty. He had God to thank for giving her that figure. What he planned for her was his way of "thanking him." The other girls were just dessert after he took her. He had tried to get her to join his "night activities", but her duties as an exorcist, and her friends Irina Shidou, Naoko Mizuki, and an unknown third person named Keito Kotomine, were always in the way, pulling her out of his grasps. To make it simple: He was obsessed with her to the point where he pleasured himself while picturing her nude form.
"Tonight is the night. At long last, Xenovia will finally be mine. Oh, just the thought of her coming here with that church battle suit on makes me excited. The Church did a nice job making those suits show those girls' figures." Father Takumi said to himself, unaware that Naruto was watching him from above.
"Wow, what a freak," Infernus comments. Naruto was seething with anger. A coward like Takumi had no right to live on this Earth. Though the blue-haired exorcist wasn't his and was of the Church, he didn't want anything to happen to her. With that in mind, he transformed before pulling up his hood. He then proceeded to jump down behind Father Takumi, the Church official abruptly turning around. Naruto's presence immediately scared him as the flaming yellow-haired devil aimed his shotgun at him.
"Father Takumi, your executioner has come to kill you."
"Who...Who are you...and who do you work for!?" asked a frightened Takumi.
"Who I am and who I work for does not matter," he answered as he approached him. The priest could do nothing but slowly and cautiously walk backward. "You defiled this sacred place with your sinful ways, all for your selfish sin of Lust."
"I do what I do in the name of God! God is the one who gave us all these perfect women to enjoy! What's wrong with showing how much I love God's many creations!?" Instead of answering his question, Naruto obliterated the priest's dick and testicles with a round of his shotgun. The priest dropped to the floor in pain, cursing the devil.
"What you're showing is not love at all. You're treating these girls like objects for your sick entertainment." Takumi fires a barrage of holy energy balls at Naruto. While the attacks connect, it was too weak to even cause any damage, making the priest fear for his life as he clutched the area his sex organs used to be.
"How does it feel to be on the receiving end?" Naruto asked the priest as he throws fire spears that pierce through the priest's hands and feet.
"You know, there's a thing called purification by fire, where the impurities and sin of a person are all burned away in order to redeem them. For someone like you, whose whole body is polluted with impurities and sin, you're irredeemable. In other words, there'll be nothing left of you once I'm finished." Before he can burn him to ashes, the Rook sensed an attack coming from above. He quickly looks up and sees Naoko preparing to bring her magic-enhanced fist down on him. Naruto makes a huge jump back to avoid the attack, letting it harmlessly hit the floor. In mid-air, Irina appears in front of a surprised Naruto, about to strike him with a spin kick. The Rook blocks the attack with his shotgun, sending him crashing down hard, but uninjured. Getting up, the devil then narrowly avoids a few gunshots from Xenovia, who was wielding a pair of Beretta 93Rs. He quickly analyzes the guns and deduces that they had collapsible blades and a self-reload enchantment. As he got up, his hood accidentally went down, shocking Xenovia.
"Hiro? You?" His eyes widened, Naruto noticed that his hood was down. He'd have to adjust the size later. Right now, he was in a huge pinch. What was even worse was that he was in his transformed state, revealing his status as a Devil, and Ajuka's pill wore off, revealing his Devil energy. By now, several exorcists were on their way. But worst of all, Xenovia was in front of him, the real him.
"Xenovia, I can-"
"EXPLAIN WHAT!? THAT YOU'RE A DEVIL!? THAT NAOKO AND I WERE TRICKED INTO BRINGING A DEVIL INTO THE CHURCH!? THAT ALL THE THINGS YOU TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR PAST WERE LIES!? THAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO KILL ONE OF OUR PRIESTS?" Xenovia shouts in anger.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT FUCK HAS DONE! ALL THOSE GIRLS! CHURCH GIRLS! YOUR FELLOW EXORCISTS! RAPED! KILLED! ALL FOR HIS SELFISH DESIRES! THE VERY THOUGHT THAT THE CHURCH WOULD ALLOW A MONSTER LIKE HIM IN THEIR RANKS AND LET HIM GET AWAY WITH HIS CRIMES IS A SIN!" Naruto responded in anger.
"LIES! ALL LIES, COMING FROM A DEVIL!" Xenovia shouted in anger. "All the times we spent...The smiles...The laughs...Were they a part of it as well!?"
"Xenovia..."
"Why am I even asking? Of course, they were...Of course, they were..." she said, clenching the guns in her hands.
"She's not going to listen to reason Naruto," Infernus said.
"Move out of the way Xenovia," he told her, aiming his shotgun in front of Xenovia. Don't make this hard for the both of us."
"Should we-"
"No Naoko, let Xenovia handle this. Without weapons, we can't properly back her up. All we can do now is protect Father Takumi." Irina interrupts. This fight was personal, Irina knew just by the look in Naruto and Xenovia's eyes.
"Kill that devil Xenovia!" Takumi shouts.
"To think...I...To think I thought of you as my friend, Hiro." Xenovia said as tears slowly flowed down her face. It pained Naruto to see her like this, knowing that he was the one who made her cry. But he couldn't let emotions get in the way of his target.
"My name is not Hiro Yoko...It's Firebrand. And if the only way to get to him is by going through you, then so be it..." With that, Naruto fires a shot from his shotgun that dispersed into ash and harmlessly passeed through Xenovia before materializing into a slug round and hitting Father Takumi in the chest. The priest screams in pain as he's immediately incinerated until there's nothing left of him, shocking the three female exorcists.
[Fate/Zero - This Day And Never Again]
Angry that he not only shot through her, even if it didn't hurt her, and that the priest she was protecting dided under her protection, Xenovia rushed at Naruto with the intent to kill as she fires at him. Naruto immediately turns into flames and allows the shots to harmlessly pass through his body. Appearing in front of the exorcist, he aims the barrel at her. Anticipating this, Xenovia immediately kicks the gun out of his hand, making it spin upward. Aiming at Naruto's face with the gun in her right hand, the bluenette pulls the trigger.
Naruto pushes her arm upward, making the shots fly harmlessly into a ceiling before elbowing her stomach with his right elbow. Xenovia activates the collapsible blades on both her guns and prepares a circular strike. The Rook pulls back, avoiding the left blade. As he avoids the right, Xenovia, anticipating this, pulls the trigger, managing to hit him in the chest. However, Naruto is uninjured, his jacket having a mid-level armor enchantment around it.
The Rook quickly checks to see if he's hurt and sighs in relief before Infernus tells him that he's in the middle of a fight and calling him a dumbass. Xenovia fires several shots at Naruto, who quickly produces a transparent and circular heat shield, blocking every shot, making the bluenette's eyes widen in surprise. The blond launches the shield forward, which hits the bluenette and makes her skid back a bit. Naruto, seeing his shotgun finally fall down, doesn't waste any time to jump into the air and grab it. He fires two shots at Xenovia, the girl jumping to her right to avoid the shots. He quickly reloads before touching the ground. Jumping to a wall, Xenovia proceeds to fire at him as she's wall running around the basilica.
"She can run on walls!?"
"Just dodge the fucking shots!" Infernus yelled. Naruto starts teleporting short distances as he fires at Xenovia while avoiding the shots. Loading another shot, he infuses it with his flame powers and fires a shot next to her. Instead of harmlessly hitting the wall, the shot explodes, knocking her off the wall and sending her crashing to the ground. Xenovia slowly gets up with a few scratches.
"That was a warning shot."
"I DON'T NEED PITY FROM YOU!" she yelled. This was going nowhere was what Xenovia thought.
"I need to turn the tide of this battle in my favor and fast. I have no choice but to use "that magic." Xenovia barely had any magic spells other than the ones she learned from one of the books Griselda had kept in her collection. While she was forbidden to use it, given the amount of damage it does to her body and her limited use of it, she needed to finish off her former friend. He couldn't get away with killing Takumi.
"Time Alter..." Almost immediately, Xenovia appears behind Naruto, to his surprise. "Double Accel." She quickly slashes Naruto several times on his back, chest, arms, and legs with her blades before stabbing him in the back and kicking him forward, knocking him into a pillar and making him drop his shotgun.
"Release Alter." Painfully trying to get up, Naruto finds his jacket cut up and his wounds healing at a slow rate.
"Infernus, what happened?"
"She manipulated the flow of time to increase her speed by using her own body as a reality marble," Infernus replied. "Right now, you don't have enough power to resist that kind of magic. However, it seems that it puts a strain on her body, which tells me that she has to use it sparingly and at a limited amount."
"He's down, I have to finish him." Xenovia thought as she quickly recovered from using Double Accel and lunges at the Rook in an attempt to stab him with her gun's collapsible blades. Naruto quickly blocks it with his hands, though he's stabbed through both hands by the blades. He kicks Xenovia off of him as he gets back up and painfully takes out the blades before deciding to wield the two guns. He fires at her as the girl avoids the shots and quickly grabs Naruto's shotgun and fires a shot. Instead of dodging them, Naruto runs towards them and uses the twin pistols' blades to slice them in half, surprising Xenovia as the blond tries to slash her left and right. She retaliates by kicking him back before throwing his(Naruto) own shotgun at him like a shuriken, the stock hitting him in the face. Finding an opening, Xenovia quickly performs a helicopter kick on Naruto, who quickly recovers and blocks all three kicks before jumping over a sweep kick.
"Time Alter: Double Accel!" Xenovia quickly uses the opening she made to deliver a powerful reinforced right punch to Naruto's chest that sends him flying through a wall. Naruto crashes into another wall, coughing blood as he drops on the floor while knocking over a case containing a hand-crafted crimson sword.
[Music End]
"This isn't looking good," Infernus commented. Naruto's sternum was cracked, and six of his ribs were broken from the impact, and some of his organs were damaged, with his left lung being pierced by two of his ribs.
"You think..."
"We can't escape until Xenovia is either dead or incapacitated," Infernus told his host as he started healing his host while the bluenette enters the room through the hole Naruto made, holding his shotgun. Xenovia loads it using one of the shells that fell out of the blond's pocket.
"Naruto, either you get angry or you think of something and fast!" Infernus said to his host, knowing he won't be able to heal Naruto in time.
[Regret - Persona 5 OST]
"To think I would have to kill you..." Xenovia told the wounded blond as she aimed at his head at point-blank range. As she prepares to pull the trigger, the bluenette recalls the moments she and Naruto had together the last couple days and the hours she spent with him today. As she recalled these moments, Naruto noticed that Xenovia was struggling to pull it.
"Why..." Naruto is shocked when Xenovia sheds tears for him. "This is supposed to be easy for me to do...You're a Devil, an enemy of the Church, so why? WHY CAN'T I PULL THE TRIGGER!?"
"Xenovia..."
"Xenovia, Esdeath is here with help!" Naruto could tell that it was Naoko calling out to her. He could also hear several footsteps coming closer and closer to their location. If Xenovia was found sympathizing with a Devil, she'd be labeled a heretic and exiled.
"I'm sorry...Xenovia." Naruto whispered to himself as he quickly and painfully picks up the crimson sword and runs it through the blue-haired exorcist's stomach, to her shock and Infernus's. Xenovia coughs blood as she drops Naruto's shotgun.
"You let your guard down. I'm a Devil, remember? Lying is part of who I am..." he whispered in the girl's ear as her eyes widened. Hearing this from Naruto makes Xenovia shed tears of anger as she attempts to strangle him with her right hand, but finds herself too weak to do it.
"I...hate you...I hate you...I promise you, no matter what, I won't stop until I've killed you Firebrand..." she told him, not knowing that Naruto was shedding tears from the act he commited.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." This was the only way she wouldn't be labeled a heretic. Naruto pulls out out the blade, making the bluenette drop to the floor and clutch her stab wound in pain, just as a woman with long light blue hair and her forces arrive, with Naoko and Irina behind her, sporting shocked looks on their faces.
"You're trapped Devil, nowhere to go." said the woman.
"That's where you're wrong," Naruto told her as he grabbed his shotgun and fired a shot at her, who effortlessly blocks it with an ice shield. The Rook then used that small distraction to teleport out of the basilica.
"Don't go...Don't..." Slowly closing her eyes, the grief-stricken Xenovia passed out from blood loss as Irina runs to her, calling out to her.
[Music End]
Injured, Naruto took his time to heal as he laid on top of the roof of a restaurant building. Taking out a pill to suppress his energy, he swallows it and takes the time to calm his breathing as his body gradually starts repairing itself. Taking a peek down at the ground, he spots a few exorcists passing by, hiding when one looks up to where he was speaking out from.
"I need to get to the plane...I can't go into my civilian form in the middle of this hunt or they'll get suspicious...I'll have to take down anyone I see without being seen or alerting others of where I am...If I can get to a Tram Station, I can head to a restroom and assume my civilian form..." Making sure there was no one on the ground in his line of vision, Naruto stores the crimson sword in a space with storage magic before jumping to another roof across from the restaurant he was on. Sensing a few exorcists from his level, Naruto is forced to jump down into an alleyway. Seeing a couple of exorcist searching around for him up front, Naruto waits for them to leave and quietly ran past them.
Seeing a male exorcist preparing to turn his way, he grabs an empty bottle on the floor and quickly flings it over to the alley across from him, distracting the exorcist, who moves towards the location of the sound, allowing Naruto to advance to the tram station closest to a party of four exorcists were about to turn to where he was, he quickly but quietly strikes their throats with well-placed punches and kicks to prevent them from uttering a word and incapacitating them. With the coast clear, Naruto quickly searched for the men's restroom, finding it and heading in. He comes out seconds later, now in casual clothes, watching a few exorcists search for his persona as the tram arrives, taking him far away from Rome. Exiting the tram at another city after a one hour ride, Naruto found an alley to use teleportation.
Naruto's Private Plane
Having finished repairing his Firebrand attire, Naruto started washing Xenovia's blood off of the sword he used to stab her with. Looking at it after, Naruto says nothing as he stores it away. Out of nowhere, Seekvaira contacts him by laptop, going over to answer it.
"Naruto, are you alright? Did you kill Takumi?" asked Naruto's King, a worried look on her face.
"Yeah...Yeah, I killed him..." he replied.
"While I'm happy the mission was a success, you don't look well."
"...I just...I don't want to talk about it. Right now, I need some time for myself."
"Okay...I'm glad that you're safe Naruto. I'll see you back in Japan."
"Seekvaira..."
"Yes?"
"...Never mind."
"Oh...Okay...Listen...Remember what we talked about. You can talk to me about what's on your mind...okay?" Naruto does not respond. Without saying another word, Seekvaira logs off, though not before shooting a look of concern towards her Rook. Naruto gets up from his seat to upgrade his equipment and his Firebrand clothes as a means to to cope with what happened.
"Must've been hard..." Naruto can only nod.
"At least you still have Glasses, and plenty of other fish in the sea." Infernus joked in an attempt to lift Naruto's spirits but failing.
"...If it makes you feel better, what you did back there, it was to save her from being a heretic. It was a hard choice, but you did what you had to do. I just want you to know that." Again, Naruto says nothing, making Infernus sigh.
"Jobs like these are never easy. You meet people from another faction, you kill one of their own, they hate you, they come and go, so on so on. As you keep going, you'll probably get used to it."
"...I really need some time alone, without you saying anything." Naruto said. Infernus was expecting his host to tell him to fuck off. "I'm just going through a lot after...you know...I'll be fine...I just...I just need time to let my heart heal." Acknowledging his request, Infernus leaves Naruto alone.
With Xenovia
Xenovia abruptly wakes up screaming, sweat on her face. Panting, she stops to look at a relieved Irina and Naoko, tearing up as they hug Xenovia and tell her they're glad she's alive. As soon as she tells them to let go, which they do, she asks them what happened.
"Hiro stabbed you with the Aestus Estus and escaped with it. After that, one of our healers managed to heal up your wounds without any permanent scarring." Naoko answered.
"Firebrand escaped huh..." A look of anger on her face, Xenovia resolves to one day kill Naruto, should they cross paths.
TO BE CONTINUED...
There you have it, Naruto has finished his assassination mission, but at the cost of a friend and potential love interest. Don't worry, Naruto will be back to normal, he just needs some space. And with people like Seekvaira, his sisters, and Moka, he'll be fine. However, this one mission has changed him in a way he can't comprehend.
I originally wanted to do the album version of "What Have You Done?" by Within Temptation but I wasn't sure if it's work so I ended up choosing "This Day and Never Again" from Fate/Zero since it fit the chapter so well with Naruto and Xenovia's interaction. Check out the album version of "What Have You Done?" by Within Temptation, it's really good.
If you're wondering why Naruto didn't just escape after killing that priest, it's because teleporting requires a lot of concentration as well as a location before teleporting.
The reason Naruto was put struggling with fighting Xenovia was that he has a soft spot for her. He doesn't want to fight her, but fate is cruel to them. Naruto could've gone all out and burn her a bit but he didn't want to.
The sword Aestus Estus: The Embryonic Flame will play an important role later.
Yes, there was a lot of teasing with Xenovia getting Naruto turned on. I like to build up Naruto's libido until he can't take it anymore, and he's REALLY resisting since his Devil side is making him perverted.
I wanted to find a way to make Xenovia different from the other fics written by talented writers on FF, but it all boiled down to letting her fight using guns. I didn't want Naruto to fully experience how good she was with a sword just yet. I had to research several types of Italian guns before deciding upon the Beretta 93Rs and adding collapsible blades to them and the auto-reload enchantment. I also like the idea of gun-fu, which is fighting in close range while attempting to shoot at your enemy or avoid getting shot by your enemy by moving their hands away.
Having her use Time Alter came at the last minute. Since a large majority of characters from the Fate series won't be in FIREBRAND, it was a good opportunity to have Xenovia possess this one magic that not only gave her an advantage but also had its disadvantages.
Next chapter might introduce some peerage members serving Seekvaira.
The next chapter might also be about Seekvaira and Moka interacting with one another, or Seekvaira visiting Naruto's house.
