Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DxD. This is a non-profit-based work.
Note: Well, with this chapter I think it's safe to say that 9 weeks have passed since I published the first chapter. Time sure flies. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and leave a review, I read all of them and try my best to respond to them all, but if I miss some then I do apologize, some do tend to slip.
Once again thank you for the support on all of this, and for those interested, I'll start working on a High School of the DEAD story on the side, featuring Naruto x Saeko. I know a lot of you have been asking for that to be added to the pairing here, but I decided not to since it didn't fit with the outline and I was going to write a HoTD story anyway.
I hope you'll check it out when I publish it!
If y'all are interested in joining a community of readers and several talented authors, consider joining AizenTheGoat's Discord server.
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-Chapter 10-
New Blood.
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As she woke up the next day, it was like she was living in the middle of a dream. Her sanity tried to keep telling her that everything that had happened the day prior was due to fatigue, that she had overdone it in the kendo club and her mind had decided to hallucinate and show Sona's brother as some kind of biblical creature.
Though as she made her way into the kitchen that morning and stared at her dad who looked as healthy as the day he had left for the convention, her mind was instantly filled with doubt.
Something had happened, and she was certain now that everything she had tried to write off as mere fatigue had been real in the end.
She had of course been the overprotective daughter all morning, catering to all his needs and asking her dad every five minutes or so whether or not he was feeling alright. The man was as confused as she was, and assured her that he was fine and that he'd go for a checkup that day.
It still made her sigh as she walked toward the entrance to the school that morning. Her long purple hair idly swayed behind her, as she paid no attention to what was going on around her.
When she got to the front gate, her blue eyes scouted around the area. Her gaze fixated on every student and teacher alike, as her mind ran a mile a minute, each living organism in this place could be just like him.
'Are they all devils? Or is it just him?' She repeatedly asked herself.
She'd pretend nothing was wrong, respectfully greet her teachers and fellow clansmen, but she couldn't shake the questions out of her mind.
The clock ticked by slowly throughout the day. Every noise was distracting, every sound or move only added fuel to the fire inside her.
A glance at the teacher, and she wondered if he was a devil just like he was. The dark-haired boy was an employee here as well, so there was a chance that the staff was all devils.
It could also be a case of him infiltrating the place, and simply posing as a regular human for his own amusement.
However, there was another more pressing question in her mind. Sona. If her brother was a devil, she had to be one too, or was he the only one in their family that had succumbed to such a fate?
He was also an advisor and supervisor for Rias' club, so she couldn't help but tie his status as a devil to the rest of them.
The day continued to go by slowly. Her mind was filled with questions that she needed him to answer. Everything that had been going on was just a blur, and for the first time since her enrollment in Kuoh Academy, she had been repeatedly scolded by the teachers for her lack of attention.
No matter how many times she apologized, it was half-hearted. As much as she cared for her future, the idea of grades didn't matter.
The world was suddenly a whole lot bigger now, and the key to all of it was nowhere to be seen.
It made her angry, frustrated, and nervous. Irrational lines of thought streamed through, as she flipped her pen around on her fingers and counted each tick of the clock on the wall.
When it finally rang she was the first to leave the classroom, as she rushed down the hallway. Not even turning around to say goodbye to her fellow classmen, much to their worry.
With her destination in mind, she didn't even knock as she entered the room reserved for the student council.
As soon as she entered and closed the door behind her, her eyes locked with that of the person sitting in the middle of the council.
The gaze in her eyes allowing none to ignore her, something which Sona seemed to pick up on.
Sona blinked lazily at the intense glare, and waved her hand with a small sigh, "Leave us, I figured this would happen. We'll resume this meeting later. Go home for the day."
The other looked puzzled at each other but complied in silence. The sound of bags ruffling slowly died out as the room emptied, and the last two in there were Saeko and Sona.
Sona pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, "So what can I help you with, Busujima-san?"
Saeko's eyes narrowed as she placed her schoolbag down and the small bag she used for her bokken, "I need to speak with your brother, it's quite urgent."
The dark-haired girl gave her a calm look, "I must say I'm quite surprised, you only met him yesterday, yet he's somehow done something that'd kick up this much of a fuss. That doesn't sound like him"
The Busujima crossed her arms under her chest, "What gave you the idea that I was here to talk with him about a bad thing?"
Sona shrugged and stood up from her chair, "Your body language, tone, eyes, it all adds up to give me the idea that you're quite hostile or distressed right now. So which one is it?"
She blinked and calmed down just a bit, "Just in a bit of a pickle, and he could help me out."
"Your teachers did say that you were misbehaving today and that it was not like you. I decided to take full responsibility and have a talk with you, reassuring them that it would not happen again. This way it won't affect your grades much, but if I do this for you, then you need to be honest with me." The Sitri heiress said in a calm tone.
The purple-haired girl narrowed her eyes and clutched her fingers around the sleeve of her school uniform, "Then you need to be honest with me too because nothing makes sense anymore." She replied tiredly.
Sona smiled a bit, as she already had an idea of what was going on, "I'll try my best to answer to the best of my abilities."
It was a do-or-die scenario, she could ask something that would forever brand her as crazy in the off-chance that Sona was not a devil, or she could instead go insane from the endless speculation, "Are you… like him? Or is my sense of reality falling apart?"
"Like him? Well, he is my brother, so we do have some similarities." Sona mused, as the corner of her lip lifted up into a small smirk.
Her eyes darkened as she grasped her face. "Please don't play games with me right now, I might snap at anyone at this moment. And I'd rather not make a complete fool of myself in front of the student council president."
"Then ask what you want to ask, and don't beat around the bush," Sona responded.
She grunted and lowered her hand from her head, and stared without a word. No words were exchanged for a while, and if anyone were looking on they'd expect the scenario to be some kind of wicked staring contest.
"...Are you a devil, just like your brother is?"
Sona's eyes widened in shock as she brought her hand up to cover her mouth as she replied, "You would compare me and my brother to being devils? Why yes, yes we are."
She suddenly felt stupid for dragging it all out, and it was as if a boulder had been lifted from her shoulders. She still had tons of questions, but at least she could get some answers at this moment.
With a small sigh, she sat down on a nearby chair, "I need someone to explain to me what's going on here, and for how long… It feels like my world was turned upside down yesterday."
"As I said, I'll do my best to answer. If you have any questions in regard to this school then I'm here, however, if it's something else we'd probably need to fetch my troublesome brother," Sona replied and retook her seat in her specified chair.
Saeko nodded her head and rubbed her eyes, "How many people are devils here? I feel like I've been trying to stare through people's skulls all day, but I can't see anything that'd stand out. Is it just the two of you?"
With a small shake of her head, Sona leaned back in her seat, "The student council is all part of my peerage, which means they're all, in essence, devils. The current heiress to the house of Gremory is also a devil, so yes, Rias and her club are also, in fact, devils that attend this school."
She gave a nod of her head, "I had suspected Rias and her club, but I had not thought the entire council was. Is there anyone else?"
Sona hummed, "Well, the Administrator is Rias' dad and the current head of the Gremory household. That should be about it, and well, my brother is too but I guess there was no need for that to be mentioned."
Saeko gave a series of nods, as she let the information settle in, "What is it that your brother can do? I sparred with him, and things happened. We talked, and there was a lot of information that I couldn't quite digest. Next thing I know, he's in my house, and this morning my dad is fine."
With a chuckle Sona shook her head, "Let me guess, he went in there and did his thing without explaining anything at all. Typical of him, oh well… Naruto is probably the best person to ask."
"That's what I thought as well, but I haven't seen him anywhere today. It's almost like he's avoiding me now," She chuckled back tiredly.
Sona shook her head, "He's not really ignoring you, but he's not required to be here every day, and thus relishes his time away from school. Though it really is quite rude to disappear the day after, I guess he didn't think about that."
"I wouldn't blame him too much since we don't know the full story," Saeko tried defending him, but as Sona snorted at the response, she just raised an amused brow.
The dark-haired girl just shook her head, "He's as unorthodox as he is lazy, so he probably didn't think about it at all. Anyhow, I'll show you where he lives, given the information I've been told I'd assume there is a good chance I'll see the two of you together more often."
"What do you mean?" Saeko asked with a confused look, though her cheeks heated up a bit as the words Sona spoke hinted in a bit too specific direction.
Sona, who had caught on to why the other girl asked, just shook her head, "I didn't mean it like that. I know he extended an invite to join him, but that's about it. I don't know whether or not you'll accept, but if you do, then you'd probably spend a lot of time together with him and his other peerage members."
Understanding the situation now, Saeko let out a breath of relief, trying to explain herself out of that potential misunderstanding would've been draining, "He offered to train me in using my… sacred gear, I think he called it. Also that I could join him if I wanted to."
"Well, I guess you'll need to talk with him to know more about it. Though, I'm not sure where he is. I can probably call him or ask around, but he's a bit like the wind, I never know what he's up to." Sona sighed and shook her head.
Saeko gave a small chuckle in response, "I see, I'd imagine there is never a dull moment with him around then."
Sona gave a small shrug of her shoulders as she started to gather her belongings in her bag, "I guess you can say that, but it can get a bit irritating in the moment."
"Understandable. Is there a chance that we can exchange contact information? I might as well head home for the day if he isn't anywhere nearby." Saeko asked with a polite smile.
The Sitri heiress raised a brow and took out her phone, "Sure, I don't see a problem with that. It may be easier to just tag along though, I plan on stopping by his house to see if he's there, first. And it's on the way."
The purple-haired girl just gave a nod of her head and followed the shorter girl. The walk was pretty quiet, not many words were exchanged between the two of them. Though it was to be expected anyway.
Saeko wasn't sure if she should ask more of Sona. If devils had their…teams of people, whatever you'd call them, separated in the way that she understood peerages were, then there was a chance that Sona wouldn't have answers or that she was allowed to answer anything that her brother was involved in.
She didn't quite understand the power dynamics yet, but perhaps she had a chance to in the foreseeable future.
"This is the place."
Saeko blinked and realized she had walked too far as she was in the midst of her own thoughts. Snapping out of it, she turned around as her eyes almost bulged out of her head.
There was no doubt that the Busujima estate was quite big since it was pretty much a family heirloom that had been built and expanded upon through generations, but the mansion behind the fence she was looking at was almost surreal.
Plus, she was quite certain she had walked this way before and had never seen this house, so it had to have been built recently.
"I'd make a joke about compensating for something, but I feel like that'd be inappropriate." She mused.
Sona snorted with a small smirk, "Oh trust me, it's not his idea. The one that, well, sponsored the house if you want to call it that, didn't leave much room for input. It was just like this when he got it, but I don't see him complaining."
Saeko nodded her head, "Your brother must have friends in high places to get such a home for free."
"I guess you can say that. Feel free to see if he's here, I'll have to leave now. In case he isn't here, just send me a text and I'll hunt him down," Sona said with a small bow of her head.
She smiled and returned the gesture, "Thank you for your help, I'll see you at school tomorrow."
Sona gave a small wave of her hand as she continued down the road, allowing Saeko to return to her line of thought.
It almost seemed like an image from a comic book, it didn't fit in at all. All the houses around them were pretty regular in comparison, and then there was this… huge building in the middle of it all.
She took another minute to prepare herself. While Naruto seemed friendly, she assumed there'd be other people here. At the very least, she expected his 'peerage' to live here.
And she didn't know what to expect of them. The books and stories had a lot to say about devils, but almost none of it matched with what she had seen of both Naruto and Sona, but then again they were siblings.
Taking a breath to calm her nerves, she decided there was only one real way to find out.
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Naruto woke up with a small groan that day. He had gotten home late that night after his small… adventure, to the Busujima household. When he had gotten home he had practically been tackled by a pretty annoyed Kurama, who was expecting him to come up with an explanation for what he was doing all day.
After a pretty lame explanation of talking with Sirzechs and also getting to know someone that may or may not join them, Kurama had shaken his head and walked off mumbling something about 'bird brains' and 'lazy leaders' or something like that.
The last thing he had said was to prepare themselves because he had challenged Seekvaira. Kurama didn't appear super surprised, but he could clearly see the excitement in the Youkai's eyes.
Seemed like he wasn't the only one that was ready to let loose.
He had gone to bed that night, or well, it was already morning by the time he went to bed. Anyhow, he had told them to not wake him up since he'd rather not be grumpy from the lack of sleep.
Though as he heard someone shout for him in the living room, he groggily kicked his bedsheets off and got dressed in some casual clothes. Black shirt, and white sweatpants.
He certainly hoped it wasn't something important he had to take care of because then his choice of clothes might've been a bad idea, but he was a bit too sleepy to care.
Yawning he entered the living room and rubbed his eyes, though as he heard a facepalm, he blinked and lifted his head.
In front of him stood Kurama with his hand clapped over his head, and his thumb pointed to his side. Veldora was as usual just sprawled out on the couch with a mountain of manga on the coffee table.
Shrugging since it didn't seem so out of place, he turned his gaze more to come face to face with a certain purple-haired girl that looked at him with amusement.
Replicating the facepalm of his queen, Naruto sighed. Of course, it had to be something like this, well, whatever. It wasn't like he ever had much situational awareness, to begin with, and it wasn't like he was inappropriately clad.
"Yo, excuse my clothes. I may or may not have just woken up. Not to be rude or anything, but I wasn't aware that I gave you my address?" Naruto said questioningly with a raised brow.
Saeko blinked with a slight smile, "No worries, I don't think it's strange to dress comfortably within the secure space of your own home. And your sister showed me where you lived."
"Of course she did," Naruto chuckled and looked around, "Can I offer you anything to drink?"
She gave a small nod of her head, "Tea or water would be nice if that's okay with you."
"Sure, though, I'm curious. What did you come by for? I was going to be at school tomorrow… maybe, not sure if I'm going to yet." Naruto mused as he heard Kurama's exaggerated sigh in the background.
Saeko rubbed the bridge of her nose, "With all due respect, I don't think you can expect me to not have questions about the situation after what you did last night."
Naruto sweatdropped as he momentarily paused, "It's not that I wasn't expecting you to not have questions, I just figured that you'd want to spend time with your dad now that he's, hopefully, alright."
"Hopefully?" Saeko asked with narrowed eyes.
He sighed, "Listen, I did what I could. I researched the situation and did what I thought was enough, if it happens that I turned out to be wrong then I'll fix it for good. It's a question about a few days at most, there's nothing to worry about."
She relaxed a bit more as he brought over a tray of cups filled with tea, and put it on the dining table in between the kitchen and living room, "Alright..."
Naruto gave a small smile, "Don't worry, I know you have questions and I don't plan to dodge them. Though I'd like you to meet my peerage first, I think I've avoided the introduction for long enough. The grumpy guy over there is Kurama, he may not appear to be a social butterfly but he's one of the real ones. Don't let his gender fool you, he's actually my queen piece."
Kurama grunted a bit at the comment and snatched a cup from the tray, "Nice to meet you… I guess."
She blinked a bit, "Likewise."
With a small chuckle, Naruto handed Saeko one cup and grabbed the last two afterward. With a small kick to the bottom of Veldora's foot, he caught the blond-haired dragon's attention, and handed him one, "And the nerd here is Veldora, he's my… pawn, I guess. As I said, it's based on the chess system, and he has all eight pieces."
"Yo, great to meet you. If you lack anything to read feel free to help yourself," He called down from the couch, with a small wave of his hand as he managed to take his eyes off his precious reading material.
Once again, Naruto was getting serious Kakashi vibes. Hopefully, he wouldn't read romance, or smut anytime soon.
The younger woman gave a small nod of her head and looked down, "Pleased to meet you as well, you must be very talented as a fighter if you're worth eight pieces. If I understand the system correctly."
The storm-dragon gave a small smirk to show one of his fangs, "You'd be correct, Naruto had to use all eight of his pieces to contain my awesomeness."
She looked amused at the… strange guy, but before she could comment she heard a loud laugh from the doorway. With a blink, she turned her head to stare at the orange-haired man leaning against the doorframe.
"If you used more time training instead of reading these… whatever it is, then you'd perhaps be more close to this self-proclaimed awesomeness," Kurama smirked and took a sip of his tea.
Veldora raised a brow and cracked his knuckles, "Sounds like you're challenging me, you might be in the lead but I'll beat you this time."
Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Could we not have an all-out fight in the middle of having guests?"
With a snort Kurama shot him a disbelieving glance, "And that should come from you?"
As she gave a small laugh, Saeko warmed her hands on her cup, "Seems like you're in charge of a pretty energetic bunch. What did he mean by 'being ahead' if I may ask?"
The dark-haired devil sat down at the table and smiled, "Let's just say we all love a good spar. So far I'm undefeated, and the two of them are having a small contest to see who can get the most wins against each other. So far Kurama is ahead with two wins."
Kurama smirked and put his fist down on the table, "Don't worry about the score, one of these days I'll crack you like an egg and finally beat you. Mark my words."
Naruto sweatdropped at the metaphor, "Now that's just mean."
The small bickering was interrupted as Saeko almost choked on her tea, "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help but find it funny. This is not what I expected a devil house to be like."
"Let me guess, you'd expect there to be some kind of satanic ritual on the living floor?" Kurama asked through a chuckle.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't say I'd expect it, but I probably wouldn't be too surprised. No offense."
Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "None taken. And well, it's not fully a devil house. Kurama used to be a fox Youkai, and Veldora a storm-dragon, they still have the characteristics but they've been reincarnated into devils to become part of my peerage."
"So… devil-fox and devil-dragon," Saeko thought out loud with an amused expression. At this rate nothing would surprise her, she felt like she had seen it all by now.
The orange-haired man shrugged, "I guess you can call it that."
She nodded her head and decided to take a seat on the opposite end of the table, "Now, I would like you to answer some of my questions. I hope you don't mind."
Naruto nodded his head and got comfortable, "Ask away."
She took a deep breath and prepared herself, "Alright. I would like to know what you did for my father first of all."
Deeming her request acceptable, Naruto hummed, "Well, I'll try and make it simple. While I can't control the time of the universe, I can control other things like an area. As long as my magic is strong enough and can reach it, I should be able to affect it. So I did some research on your dad and turned back his lungs' physical state to a time before the trip."
"So what you're telling me is that he is essentially the man he was before he left, so there'd be no trace in his system of what had originally infected him?" She finished.
Kurama snickered and nudged Naruto in the side with his elbow, "She's a quick one."
The dark-haired boy just smirked back and shook his head, "That she is, and you're correct. If I calculated correctly he shouldn't get it ever again, but if he does, I'll fix it by turning back the time even further to make sure."
"I appreciate all you did for my father and our family, though I do wish to know how I can repay you," She mumbled out, and tightened her fingers a bit around the teacup.
Naruto sighed and crossed his arms over his stomach, "Listen, I didn't do it while expecting something from you. All I wanted was to help a friend of my sister, and potentially get a friend of my own."
"Then I thank you, for everything you've done. There is one other thing I'd like to know, and… what I want to know is what it means to be part of this peerage." She finished with an inquisitive look.
Kurama blinked with a surprised look but kept quiet as he turned to look at Naruto, waiting for his reply.
The boy in question hummed slowly as he thought it over, "Well, I told you the basics of it already. You'd be reincarnated into a devil, we'd all be able to help you train your sacred gear and spar for the heck of it. We also want to participate in the rating games, and have an upcoming match in a little under a week."
"What are these games? Is it like a kendo tournament?" She asked next.
Naruto gave a small shrug, "I guess you can say that it's a competition between peerages. It serves as a form of entertainment in the Underworld, though it's also a good way to prove yourself and get stronger by fighting other devils with all kinds of abilities. Additionally, you can also go all out without fearing for anyone's life, since there is a retirement system that'll pull the participants out of the fight before that can happen."
Saeko slowly nodded in understanding, "Is there anything you want to prove? Or are you just fighting for the thrill of it?"
He raised a brow and chuckled, "Bit of both, well, I do want to prove something. I have a dream of making people understand each other and prove that anyone can be great if they just try hard enough. That's the idea I want to prove. If someone like me can become the number one in the game, I hope to inspire the less fortunate devils to do their best as well."
"An admirable goal, you truly have a kind heart. Would I be qualified for this?"
Naruto smiled, "Sounds like you got something to say."
Saeko looked a bit flustered as she bit the inside of her cheek, "I hope that I'm right by trusting you, and also hope that you'll keep helping me if I accept your offer of joining this peerage."
He closed his eyes, and kept silent for a while, "I want to know why first, I don't want you joining for the wrong reasons."
"I want to learn more about all of this, and myself. I feel like I have a chance to truly express myself, and learn more about this gift I was given. I want to test the waters and become stronger, and… your peerage seems nice. I think it'd be fun," She finished, as a smile started to spread on her face.
Naruto's face broke out into a foxy grin as he clapped his hands together, "Good. If you had said something like 'repaying me for what I did for your dad' I'd have taken my offer back. I'm glad you accept it for the reasons you do. When you're ready, I'll begin the reincarnation ritual."
Saeko was about to answer when she felt an arm fling around her neck and turned her head to see the brightly grinning face of Naruto's pawn, "Seems like we'll work together from now on!"
She chuckled and scratched the back of her head, "Seems like it, please take care of me. I hope I won't slow you down."
Veldora grinned and took a seat at the table, "Don't worry, we'll make sure you're ready. Just wait and see, we'll crush them and everyone else that dares cross us in the games." He smirked and smacked his fist into his palm.
Kurama smirked at the notion and nodded his head, "Seems like we can agree on something picture-brain, we'll beat each and every single one of them."
With a shake of his head, Naruto chuckled nervously, "Please don't jinx it, I'd rather not lose in our first unofficial game."
"Unofficial?" Saeko asked, confused.
The Youkai snorted, "Yeah since it's all about rank and whatever in the Underworld, we need to build up a bit of a reputation first before the official competitors will accept our challenges. So Naruto has a few people in mind that'd be able to get us close enough to that."
The king of the peerage nodded, "Yep, our first opponent will be my cousin Seekvaira. She's the heiress to the house of Agares, we've always had a bit of a competition about who'd become the best time user."
"I guess we better win then," She smirked and started to feel the atmosphere in the room rub off on her. She'd always been competitive, but this… felt entirely different.
This was better. Much better.
"So, are you ready?" Naruto asked after a bit as he let the atmosphere cool down a bit, and summoned one of his knight pieces into the palm of his hand.
Saeko eyes it for a brief moment before she smirked. Apparently, she'd be a knight, not that she should be surprised. Being anything else would be weird.
She gave a slow nod, "I'm ready, so how are we gonna do this?"
Naruto scratched his cheek, "Without sounding like a pervert, I need you to expose your back to me and I'll insert the knight piece. It'll be a painless procedure, and the changes will be quite instant. So I have to know if you're sure because there's no turning back."
With another slow nod, she stood up and finished her tea, "I'm sure. I've thought about it, and I want to do this. It feels right if that makes sense."
"It does, very well then, let's get this show on the road. If you'd prefer some privacy, we can go to another room," Naruto offered to which she nodded silently.
With a quick, 'excuse us' Naruto led Saeko down the hallway and entered one of the empty guestrooms.
She looked around the place for a while, before she knelt down in the middle of the room with her back facing him. Taking the last second to think it over, she nodded to herself and undid the buttons on her top.
Naruto sat down behind her as he watched her shirt getting lowered down to reveal her back, and looked away to allow her at least some privacy to get comfortable.
When he heard that she was ready, he turned back and brought the knight piece back into his palm. It slowly levitated out of his hand, and toward her, the red piece glowing slightly in the dark guest room as he watched it disappear into her being.
Saeko gave a small gasp and she felt something akin to a warmth spreading through her. She had felt powerful before when she had subconsciously used her sacred gear, but this was like a constant wave of it washing over her.
It kept growing for a while, a feeling in her that she had never experienced before until she felt something erupt from her back. Taking a moment to turn her head, she noticed the glow had died down and she could make the outline of wings that had sprouted from her back.
She remained quiet for a while as she inspected them, she didn't feel much different… aside from the sense of power.
"How're you feeling?"
With a quick blink to gather her thoughts she stood up and the wings retracted. She didn't know how she did it, it was almost like it was an instinct that had been awakened. She quickly readjusted her clothes and turned around.
"I feel… stronger, much stronger. I can't put it into words, if I had to compare it then it'd be like a small campfire beside a bonfire." She chuckled.
He mimicked her chuckle and turned on the light, figuring that now it was over he didn't need to keep the room dark, "Well, I guess I can finally say welcome to you properly. I'm glad you decided to join, I truly hope that you won't regret it."
"I don't think I will, you're giving me a lot of opportunities to be a part of something good. And your queen and pawn seem friendly if a little rough on the edges." She smirked.
Naruto shrugged as he started to lead her back toward the dining room, "They grow on you, let's just say that. Plus, they'll have your back whenever you need it."
"I'm happy to hear that. I'll do my best to do the same since I'm now in your service I suppose," She mused.
He waved his hands dismissively, "While that would maybe be true in most peerages, it's only really a formality here. Everyone here has a voice, I don't want to be some kind of dictator that isn't listening to you. So I take criticisms and compliments alike."
"Good to know, that was the one thing I was unsure about, but I didn't want to let it keep me from saying yes. I would've been able to live with it even if it was that way, but I'm glad it's not."
Naruto and Saeko rejoined Veldora and Kurama a second later, the former already doing a small celebration on his own now that there was another one in their little group.
Kurama remained somewhat calm, but he seemed intrigued about the new blood in the peerage.
"Well, I guess this calls for a celebration of some sort. A welcoming party so to say, so what do you say we have dinner here?" Naruto offered, as Kurama narrowed his eyes.
'Please don't tell me he is going to say what I think he is…' The youkai internally sighed.
Saeko tilted her head and said, "I guess I can, I'll call my dad and say I'll be eating with a friend."
Naruto quickly punched his fist into his open palm, "Sounds great. And I just know that nothing is better for celebrating, than some homemade ramen."
A loud thud was heard as they turned around to see Kurama's forehead hitting the doorframe, "I just knew you'd say that… Only you would call ramen something fancy to celebrate with!"
The dark-haired boy grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry?"
改行
And that's a wrap. For those wondering, yes there is some space in between Naruto's interactions with Kuroka. I do hope you all understand that while they're working on it, they're both in two completely different places at the moment and that there is a lot going on at the same time.
She'll come back in the next chapter though, so no worries. It's outlined and everything. The next chapter or the one after will, hopefully, be the last before the rating game. No promises though, I may end up going overboard… again.
So I got a question y'all, actually, I have two.
First, what did you think of the Saeko interlude? My Beta suggested it'd be a good idea to put a perspective on someone that's not a devil, and I hope it paid off.
Second, for a secondary DxD fic, what would you guys prefer as a pairing, race, and motivation? I'm thinking about writing a second fic, potentially Lucifer heritage, but I'm not quite sure yet. Would love to get some ideas on the board, to see what I hadn't thought of. Hope you'll humor me!