-A Few Years Later-

"Hey! can I join you all?!"

A blond-haired child squealed, his huge cerulean eyes shimmering with happiness and utter hope as he observed the group of children playing some cool games in the playground. From the looks on their faces, they seemed happy and that's why he wanted to join them because he desired to feel the same.

The startled group of children halted their play and spun their curious eyes to the blond child, no one uttering a single word. They remained like that for a few more seconds until the awkward silence was finally ended by a girl who had pitch black hair and cute violet eyes, staring intently at the boy as she strolled towards him.

"Who are you?" She asked in a voice crammed with innocence and interest.

The smile on the boy's face disappeared as his eyes caught the calculating glances from the other children. Was this because he was new here? He didn't know and slowly turned back to the girl.

"Um…" he paused in order to calm himself. "I'm Naruto." timidly and cautiously he introduced himself, trying not to exaggerate anything.

His name received different types of reactions from everyone. Some recoiled back in suspicion, some blinked at him in curiosity while the rest just smiled at him, including the girl who was standing in front of him.

"I'm Sōna Sitri. It's nice to meet you, Naruto." She spoke again, adjusting her lilac frames gracefully back to their position on her slender nose. The boy was shy and afraid, she could already tell that by his behavior, but decided not to make any comments about it. That's how some children were supposed to be at their age and she didn't want to accentuate that.

"Really?" Naruto was unable to hide the surprise in his voice, still not believing the words that came out of the girl's mouth. Usually, the children would either ignore him or outright reject his advances whenever he tried to initiate a conversation with them. Although he had yet to decipher the reason behind that, his beautiful mother—technically aunt—had once told him it had something to do with his cousin Riser, whom he had never met.

The Sitri girl grimaced ever so slightly at the boy's hopeful and stunned expression as it made her uncomfortable. What was there to be so happy about it? Everyone was welcomed by them, her mind reckoned but in the end, nodded her head at him.

"Yeah..." She mumbled, hesitation noticeable in her mood.

Naruto in response beamed at the girl, almost blinding her with his radiant smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Sōna Sitri!" He clamored and spooned the poor girl in a bone-crushing hug.

Torrents of embarrassment erupted on her face with red color as she found herself incapable of escaping Naruto's tight grip. Warm and soft as it might be, the hug was still embarrassing, reigning just a decimal below her sister's infamous hugs.

"I can't breathe!" She finally wheezed out between her futile efforts.

Confused at first, for a good amount of time Naruto didn't understand why Sōna just screamed before a humiliating realization dawned upon him. 'I'm still hugging her!' Quickly letting her go, he smiled sheepishly at her, all while scratching his chin in shame.

"Sorry for that Sōna! I just got a little excited, you know!" He told her before she could say anything.

As soon as he unwrapped his hands from her waist, Sōna tumbled back on the ground, the reason being the lack of air in her lungs. So in order to calm herself down, she inhaled a much needed breath and soon mustered a glare as cold as ice, aiming it towards a shocked Naruto.

"H for what?" She sneered, losing control over her emotions for a while. Following her response, the children that were standing behind her began to laugh at Naruto's misfortune.

Naruto flinched at the obvious jab on his stupidity and immediately scooted his eyes away from her face.

"Umm… I don't have any friends to play with, Sōna. So when you said that you'll play with me, I got excited and lost control of my actions. I'm sorry." He murmured, speaking each and every word with utmost sorrow and remorse. What he did was wrong and he had no problem in accepting that.

All the coldness disappeared from her face and her eyes softened as soon as Sōna heard his answer. It was unfortunate.

"Why don't you have any friends?" She couldn't help but ask him.

Naruto perked up when he heard her question and smiled slightly to conceal the emotional hurt, an attempt to lighten the serious atmosphere around them.

"I don't know." He shrugged off his shoulders. "My mother says it has something to do with my cousin." He replied honestly, feeling no need to hide anything from the girl.

"Cousin?"

A grim expression replaced the smile on Naruto's face. "Hmm… you probably don't know him but his name is Riser Phenex-"

"Don't utter that name here, Phenex!"

Sōna sighed in annoyance as she instantly recognized the owner of that shrill shout. It was not that hard, to be honest. Throughout the whole underworld only one person loathed the Phenexes that much.

"Rias...'' She whispered and turned around to confront her friend.

Rias, who was glaring cold daggers at Naruto, abruptly turned her gaze towards Sōna and gleamed, while Naruto, who was gaping at her in awe, instantly sweatdropped at her peculiar behavior.

"Sōna! didn't I tell you to stay away from these Phenexes? They are bad devils." Rias huffed and pouted when her friend didn't heed her words and continued to stand near the boy.

Sōna shook her head in exasperation, no doubt annoyed and tired of her best friend's ridiculous character.

"Rias, your problem is with Riser Phenex, don't drag the whole Phenex clan into your naive and utterly frivolous contempt of Riser." She scolded her in hope that her friend would finally understand something.

Rias for a while just kept staring at Sōna in shock, before a light murmur escaped her mouth. "Don't scold me like that! I will do what my heart wants to do, teacher Sōna. And also we are only 7 years old for Satan's sake! Stop using this high level vocabulary in front of us." She finished her small rant with an adorable pout and flicked her hair back in anger.

Naruto, who was listening to their conversation silently couldn't help but nod his head in support of Rias. Even he didn't understand what Sōna just said to her. The words were very complicated.

"Whatever, Rias." Sona trailed off and turned back to Naruto, who immediately straightened up as soon as he noticed her movement. "Don't listen to her, Naruto. You can play with us without any problem." She asserted with a small smile on her face.

The words of the girl brought a sense of relief with them and soon Naruto turned around to join the children in their play, only to be greeted by stares of distaste and scorn on their faces. Shaking the bad thoughts away, he began walking towards them until a small hand came in his way and halted him in his stride.

"You are not joining us, idiot!"

Naruto looked over to his side and saw that the owner of the hand was a black haired boy, probably around his age or a little older.

"Who are you and why are you stopping me?" He asked the boy cautiously as he was not in the mood to start a fight with someone unknown.

"I'm Rias' friend, Harris Eligos, and I won't allow any Phenex, especially a half-blooded devil like you to come close to our princess."

Before Naruto could argue with the boy, a series of laughs circulated through the whole playground, rendering him silent for a while.

"Leave him alone, Harris. I heard from my mother that he's a very weak child, so weak that he can't even use his house's fabled fire." A small blue haired girl who was standing beside the arrogant boy exclaimed gleefully at the other children.

The recently acquired knowledge only made children laugh harder at Naruto, except for Sōna and Rias, who appeared to be conflicted about the whole ordeal.

The horrible sound of their mocking laughter was too much for him as Naruto quickly glanced down at the ground to hide his disheartened expression. What wrong did he do this time? He introduced himself to them just like his mother had told him to. He didn't forget to smile at them and even spoke to them with respect, so why were these children still making fun of him? Was there anything wrong with him? Did he do something bad? Why did all the children reject him? He just wanted to make some friends.

Having enough of his internal thoughts and their growing laughter, Naruto raised his head and glared at the group of children, red overwhelming blue in his eyes for a while.

"Why are you all laughing at me? I did nothing funny. All I did was ask you all to play with me. That's it!" He responded, surprising the children with the amount of hatred and power in his voice.

"We don't want to play with a half devil like you, idiot! You are no match for us pure devils." Overcoming the surprise and fear of the red eyes, an obese brown haired boy snarled at Naruto.

A single tomoe began to spin ominously in each of the pools of red as Naruto regarded the boy with his sharp gaze. "Who said I wanted to play with you, roly poly?" His jab sliced through the fat skin and struck the sensitive part of the boy's heart. "I wasn't even talking to you, so remain silent while I speak, you worthless pile of weight on Underworld."

The frightening red eyes then veered off to the shocked Rias, who instinctively took a few steps back in fear. "And what is your problem, Rias? If you don't want to be my friend then fine, but why are you telling others to shun me too?! Do you even know how hard it is for a human like me to make friends here?!" Naruto ended his rant with a sad scowl on his face, one that made that fat boy squirm in fear and Rias recoil in embarrassment.

"I-I… Umm…" For the first time in her life, Rias found herself at a loss for words in front of a Phenex. What was she supposed to say now? That she didn't like him because he's a Phenex. No, she could not say that now because it sounded dumb, even to her. "I'm sorry-" she finally found the words and was about to express her remorse to the boy but he stopped her.

"Yeah yeah, I know you are sorry, Rias, but sorry won't change anything now. It's because of you that I'll have to live with no friends!" Naruto whispered in response, fighting the sad look that Rias was giving him with a cold glare.

He then abruptly turned his visage to Harris and that blue haired girl from earlier. "Listen carefully, idiots. Don't you ever make fun of me and my heritage, otherwise I won't hesitate to show you your place, you filthy pure devils."

more tomoes joined the eerie dance that was transpiring within his eyes. "Mother was right. Humans are far better than devils!" He exclaimed as tendrils of shining white and black flames blazed around his slim form, making everyone around him quiver in fear and shame.

Satisfied with the results, Naruto then turned around on his heels and looked at Sōna. "I'm sorry for causing this ruckus but these idiot devils won't have stopped otherwise. But you are one of those nice devils, Sōna. I wish everyone was like you, kind and compassionate." He whispered and winked at her, something that didn't go well with the poor girl.

"T-Thank…" Sōna cursed herself for her sudden uncharacteristic stutter and began twirling her fingers to ease her anxiety.

"Sōna?"

Her eyes gazed at him and dilated when he smiled at her again for some reason. "Y-yes?" She stuttered.

"How are you so different?"

Different? She tilted her head in confusion. How was she different? She was practically the embodiment of a devil- "Ohh…" the realization finally dawned on her. He was talking about her behavior.

"I want to study in the human world, Naruto, and that's why I'm learning to be like them." She immediately answered before he could embarrass her any further.

Naruto blinked at her. "Human world?" He wanted to go there too.

It was at that moment, Rias decided to intervene in their discussion. "Yes human world, Naruto." She smirked at him. "Sōna and I will be completing our education there and unlike the devils who don't want to study anything, we will be getting smarter and more generous as the time progresses."

Her arrogance and teasing tone were hard to ignore and made Naruto somewhat curious about the whole thing.

"Hmm…"

Rias and Sōna blinked at the boy as he began to ponder over something serious.

"Sōna!" The Sitri girl stiffened immediately, and so did Rias.

"Y-yes?"

"Can I attend that school with you?" Naruto asked, providing her with the most effective innocent face in history. It was a perfect opportunity according to him because there was no way humans would deny being his friends. They were interesting creatures after all and he was sure he could entice them with his devilish charms.

Oblivious to his inner thoughts and Rias' shock, Sōna slightly smiled at him. "Sure, Naruto. I'll talk to my sister about it." She answered, no doubt pleased to see someone from the male side of her race who was so excited to join the school with her in the human world. Usually, devils would just laugh at her for even thinking about being in the human world. They found it repulsive that someone from their race wanted to be friends with those lowly creatures but she wasn't so conceited and ignorantly arrogant and she welcomed everyone who thought the same.

"Sōna, you can't do that! It's a girls only school-"

"My sister can handle that Rias."

"B-but-"

"Thank you, Sōna!"

Sōna looked away from the girl and saw that Naruto was already at the entrance of the playground, barely away from exiting it wholly.

"You're welcome, Naruto."

-Phenex Mansion-

"Revan, you have to do something about it!"

The head of the Phenex house groaned in annoyance when his stupid wife spoke those words for the hundredth time that day. Seriously, what was wrong with his wife? Could she not remain silent for a minute while he did his work?

"Revan…"

His blue eyes flickered towards her face and squinted slightly, begging her to shut her mouth for a second. He needed to focus on his work and was sure it was more important than her useless child.

'Child…' His lips morphed into a nasty scowl as an image of that scum flashed before his eyes, making him even angrier. That boy was not his child, he would never be no matter how hard his wife tries to settle him in their family.

That blond bastard was nothing but trash of his house that was going to be thrown out sooner or later. It was inevitable and even his wife Layla would not be able to stop that from happening. Naruto, as his wife dearly called him, was a bane of his existence. He was everything that was wrong with his house. He was weak, pathetic, and most importantly kind to everyone. Devils were not supposed to be like that. They were supposed to be powerful, deceiving, and desirous, especially if they were from the top houses of the Underworld like the Pheneces.

"What are you thinking, Revan.'' Layla had been observing her husband for a while now, meaning that she had seen a range of emotions flicker on and off of his face, primarily the ones that emanated nothing but pure malice towards her child. She knew that the man did not like her child; actually, no one did, other than Ruval, Victoria, and Victoria's newborn baby girl, Ravel, but that did not mean he could ignore Naruto's miseries like that. Whether he liked it or not, her child was still a member of their house and it was Revan's duty to protect him from the discrimination that half blooded devils face for no sound reason.

Revan snapped out of his stupor and glanced at his wife. "N-nothing." He whispered, all while cursing himself internally for stuttering in front of his wife. Now she would know something was-

"You don't have to act, Revan."

She already knew, fear engulfed his face as his wife's eyes narrowed down a little.

"What are you trying to imply, Layla?" He knew what she was trying to imply. After all, it was a well known fact that the people of his house hated Naruto.

"I know, Revan." Layla whispered as she quietly sat down on the chair beside her. "I know." Her eyes blazed with fury for a while before they morphed back to vibrant blue. She did not want to scare her husband, at least for now while he was still needed to solve her child's problem. After that, she would burn him alive if he ever tried to hurt her child again. His house's beloved immortality was nothing against the potency of her flames.

"Everyone hates him and you are no different, Revan. Don't be afraid though, I will not do anything ill to you, as long as you remain away from him." She did not forget to add the last part because she wanted him to know his limits.

"Then why do you still love him, Layla? Throw him away or keep him as a slave, at least that will reduce the humiliation our house faces every day because of him. He is not worthy of our name." Oblivious and careless due to the recently spoken statement of his wife, Revan muttered those words without even considering the effect they would have on her.

'Crack!'

Revan jumped away from the table in surprise when it was pummeled down by the unforgiving flames of his wife.

"You never learn, do you, Revan?"

His blue eyes shot wide in fear when searing golden flames shadowed the slim figure of his wife.

"After all these years, you still have not grown up."

The shimmering hot flames then began to swirl around her and soon, something very nefarious started to shape within them.

"Wings!" Revan knew what that was. It was the very thing that he and his fellow family members honored daily with their names. "Phoenix…" His body went rigid when a pair of vile blue eyes stared at him from within the inferno storm. They were frightening.

"I have told you so many times, Revan, that if you can not love my child then do not hate him, at least," Layla whispered, her words almost inaudible because of the fear that had engulfed the room a while ago. "But you never understood a single thing. Years passed away but your attitude towards my child has not changed. And now…" she let her words hang in the air so that her husband could decipher them on his own.

"A-and now?"

The heat increased when he was unable to do so. "And now I'm fed up with you and all these devils. I hate them, from the very core of my heart. Their existence infuriates me. The way they insult and hurt my child makes me want to kill them, Revan." Every word she spoke was followed by a cascade of fire that was hurled towards the random objects located in the luxurious room. She wanted to hurt her hus- Revan too but that would mean gaining the attention of the whole Underworld and she did not want that, at least not yet.

"Are you crazy, Layla?!" The surprise and shock in his voice brought his wife out of her stupor. "You can't just say things like that. Do you even know what you just said? If you ever harm a devil for someone as trivial as Naruto then it will only make them hate him more."

The storm around began to settle down.

"Hate?" She lowered her head towards the ground and soon a precarious giggle escaped her succulent lips, putting Revan on edge. "When the fuck did they ever love him? As far as I can remember, he has always been hated by those foul creatures!" Her whisper chilled the room with its coldness.

"My child has nothing to lose, Revan. The only one who loves him in this whole world is me and myself only." Her proclamation earned her a glare from her husband.

"Foul creatures? Are you really betraying your kind for an insignificant human child, Layla?"

Layla finally raised her head and what Revan saw would forever be etched into his memory.

Hate.

It was spread all over her face, the subsequent actions ready to be unleashed upon anyone who dared to tread close to her and her child. It was the first time he was seeing an emotion so vile on her face, for Layla was a woman who knew how to maintain her emotions in check.

"Insignificant?" Her lips parted into a snarl and whispered those cold words to him, making Revan squirm and shiver in fear. "You think my child is insignificant to me?"

Their eyes met and for a second he found himself lost in them. They were beautiful yet dangerous at the same time.

"The boy whom I raised all alone, fed my invaluable breast milk to, and kept secured from every vile elder of our house, is insignificant to me?"

Revan stood up from his chair and was about to walk towards her but stopped when the lady raised her hand and motioned him to stay away from her. "Layla…" his eyes softened a little as they stared at his beautiful wife's face, "I didn't mean-"

"I do not care what you mean or what you did not, Revan Phenex,"

Her words shocked him utterly as it was the first time Layla had called him by his full name. Not once had she called him like that in the past or with such contempt.

"nor do I worry about what those foul and useless creatures think about me and my child. The only things that matter to me are the welfare and safety of my child, Naruto. That's it. The Underworld and its residents can perish for all I care. I hold no feeling towards them, and that includes you, Revan Phenex."

"Layla-"

The anger returned to her face. "Control your tongue, Revan. I'm not one of those human slaves of yours who would show no resistance when you insult or hurt them. I'm Layla Phenex and remember, I will even fight Lucifer if it is necessary to protect my child." She finished her statement with a cold glare, enough to freeze anyone's heart in a second.

Revan did not know what was happening. His mind was unable to infer what had happened to his beloved wife. She used to be so calm and beautiful in the past. but now, she was nothing but a shell of her past self. That child had stolen his wife away from him and he wanted her back. No matter what the cost, he had to pay it. "Calm down, Layla. These things that you are saying do not suit you. They are ridiculous and you have to understand that you can not remain like this. You are my wife, Layla-"

"Was…"

A tinge of pain clenched his heart. "W-what?" He asked, hoping that what he had heard just now was not true.

Layla stood up from her chair, her hair shadowing her eyes and beautiful face. "I said I was your wife, Revan."

"L-Layla-"

"Now, I'm just Layla, a single mother who wants to raise her child away from this literal and emotional hell."

Revan's heart sank to indefinite depths when his wife, his ever beautiful Layla, brought her hand to her finger and pulled out the souvenir of their marriage.

A beautiful and precious diamond ring.

"I gave you so many chances, Revan Phenex, but you always disappointed me and now I have run out of patience to give you any more."

"B-but, Layla!"

"I hope you burn under the holiest light there is, Revan Phenex!"

-oOo-

As he watched his mother pack their luggage quietly in the corner, Naruto could not help but wonder what was going on. The moment he had returned from the playground after arguing with those children, his mother greeted him with a small smile and told him to pack whatever he wanted to as soon as he could. Confused by the sudden change, he tried to ask her about the situation but she refused to answer his question.

After a short but loud argument, he finally accepted his defeat and decided to do whatever the lady had told him to do.

"Can you at least tell me where are we going, mama?" He again looked at the lady, hoping that she would answer his question this time.

Layla, who was still packing up her luggage, decided to stop the chore for a while and glanced at her child, smiling slightly when he looked away from her in worry. He was so cute, she mentally squealed to herself but remained quiet on the outside. "A place very far away from here, Naruto." She finally spoke and had to hold herself from laughing out loud when her child pouted at her, indicating that he was not satisfied with her answer.

"Aww… don't play with me like this mama and tell me where we are going. I want to know so badly!"

The beautiful blonde brought her index finger to her chin and began to ponder something in her mind. "Hmm… I think we are going to the human world-"

"Wait, human world!"

Her smile got bigger as she saw the reaction of Naruto to her revelation. From the looks of it, he was looking pretty happy with the newfound information and that fact alone was enough to make her happy too. After all, his happiness was her happiness. "You like the idea, Naruto?" She asked and giggled when the boy frantically nodded his head in positive. "Aww… I'm so happy to hear that."

"But why are we moving there?" Came out the inevitable question from his mouth, one that silenced Layla for a good amount of time.

"Because…"

Naruto blinked at his mother. "Because?"

Layla remained silent, unable to form any sort of answer to her child's query. What was she supposed to tell him? She could not tell him about everything that had transpired in her ex-husband's office today, but that would make him sad. 'Then what am I-' her thoughts paused when a sweet memory resurfaced in her mind.

"Mama-"

"You always wanted to have a family with mommy, right, Naruto?"

A wave of red flooded Naruto's cheeks as soon as his mother uttered those words. "I-I…" he gulped when his mother flashed him a coy smile, "I was an idiot-"

"Well, then I'm helping you to fulfill your dream. In our new home, you can have mommy all to yourself, Na-ru-to~!" She added with a saucy wink.

Naruto's mind went numb.

"From now on, I'll be yours and yours only, Naruto." There was no teasing this time.

-EnD-

I hope you like the chapter.

This chapter was all about the struggles of Naruto and his mother as they tried to live in the Underworld peacefully. Now finally, Layla is fed up with everything and is now moving back to the place where she had found her child.

Let's see what happens when they try to live together in the human world.

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to ask them in either reviews or private messages. I'll try to reply as soon as possible.

Also thanks to Hadrian Von Eveschatten for editing out errors from this chapter.

Don't forget to leave a review if you can.

Thank you and remain safe.