On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Chapter 04 – It All Starts With A Woman
Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto or High school DxD…but I will never lose hope!
Ravel Phenex, only daughter of Lord Phenex and sister of Riser Phenex, was currently standing in front of two older men, much older men. Or gold miners as Rias liked to call them. One of them was Lord Brimely, of the small Brimely clan which was directly under the control of the Phenex clan. He was the oldest of the trio, with his hair the color of ash and a small beard to match, he was head of his house for at least the last two hundred years. He was being unusually quiet, only drinking his wine and laughing when Ravel laughed. A true sleazebag. The other man was much younger than him, he seemed to be in his early twenties, with curly dark chestnut-brown hair, and dancing black eyes. He was the man making Ravel laugh, and seemed to be the better suitor, but there were whispers about him being a lousy fighter. It honestly wouldn't surprise Rias all that much, though. He fit the part.
"Ah. That reminds me of my battle against an entire squadron of fallen angels," The younger man had a smirk on his face, which caused Rias to frown. She would end this…disgusting attempt at thievery. "I was alone without my peerage, they had cornered me, and pounced like the animals they were. The situation seemed hopeless, but I came up with a brilliant idea-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Rias interjected, gracefully stepping between the blonde girl and the men. "But I wish to have a few words with Lady Ravel."
For the first time in an hour Lord Brimely took his mouth off the glass of wine, a couple of drops falling into his gray beard. "Now, I'm sorry Lady Gremory, but we are in the middle of a very important conversation." He slurred, a drunk frown on his lips.
"Leave us." Ravel said coldly.
"But Lady Phenex-"
"Leave us." Ravel said, steel flashing through her voice.
The older man seemed freeze dead in his tracks, and with a sigh he began moving away from them, but not before sending one last dirty glare Rias' way, to which she replied with a wink.
Ravel glared at the younger noble, still standing in front of her with the same cockyness as before. "Do you need a special invitation?" Ravel sneered coldly. Crossing her arms under her chest.
The man only seemed to beam at her words. "Can I at least finish my story, Lady Ravel?"
"No."
"Alas, I shall have to finish it some other time." Without any further fuss, he turned around and left the two alone. The first one to react was Ravel, bursting out in laughter, followed by Rias.
"You are not serious about wedding old Brimely are you?" Rias questioned, not able to hold her curiosity.
'Of course not," Raves said as if she was speaking about the afternoon wether. "I just didn't want to make him crawl back to his castle now, because he will annoy my father later on."
"Men never learn, do they?" Rias giggled, taking a sip from her wine.
"There are no such things as men. There are only boys who got bigger."Ravel quipped, still laughing.
"Clever words from a clever girl." Rias chirped.
"Thank you." Ravel answered with a grin. "Is it bad that I think that they're all losers?"
The redhead placed a hand around the younger girl's back as she spoke. "Not in the slightest, no one should ever be ashamed of the truth."
The duo descended into laughter once more. Electing whispers from the nearby lords and ladies, but none of them dared to speak too loud. No one in all the realms was stupid enough to bad mouth the Gremory heir, and a Phenex. Especially not devils. Sometimes being noble has its perks. Rias though happily. She didn't know why, but unwillingly her thoughts drifted towards her blonde enigma of a guard. Blue-green eyes scanned the room, first focusing towards the bar, before widening in surprise. That was odd. He seemed quite jolly at the prospect of drinking.
"What are you thinking about?" Ravel asked, pushing herself nearer to the Gremory. Rias turned her body back to the younger girl, a strangely embarrassed smile on her lips.
"I was just looking for my own loser." Rias answered truthfully, her smile seemed contagious because the blonde smile aswell.
"All men are like that. They are all smooth and strong in the begging, but when it's time to dance they all seem far to 'sickly'." The Phenex said confidently. Rias covered her mouth in surprise. It was incredibly surreal to hear a little girl, no older than 13 speak like that.
"Aren't you a bit young to have so much experience on the topic?" Rias questioned gently, uncomfortable with the subject. Ravel however seemed anything but uncomfortable as she waved off her concerns.
"Don't worry. I'm almost a woman now. I know a thing or two."
Before this surreal conversation could continue any longer, Ravel was called by her father, to meet another group of suiters. Rias had to hold back a frown. Was this how none heir children were treated? Milicas didn't seem to live the same kind of life as the blonde girl, but he was admittingly a year younger than her, but that thought continued to unnerve her.
With a worried look on her face, Rias marched towards Sona's direction. Curious to see of she had found the rest of the 'Four Young Kings.'
Found them, she had. They were even enjoying themselves in a plesent conversation, which she quickly joined.
The music was like fine wine to her ears, soft, yet memorable. The rest of the so called 'Four Young Kings' had come from their respective clans to attend the ball.
First her cousin; Sairaorg Bael marched in, and greeted them all with warm smiles and kisses. He was the quintessential noble in all aspects. He was talented, he was strong, he was smart, he was charming. In Rias' humble opinion he was going to be a great leader to the Bael Clan. And the clan was in dire need to of strong head right now. With all due respects to her uncle, the current head of the clan, he a was very anti-social, weak willed man. She had heard Brother talk about him being the 'death of the once great clan'. But it seemed the future was in good hands.
She had a feeling that a blossoming friendship will overcome Sairaorg when he met her blonde guard.
Then came a woman who was literally made out of ice. With long blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, matching her gown perfectly, Seekvaira strode in with the look of a competitor on her face. She kind of reminded Rias' of Sona, but she didn't say a word. Her only hope was that Seekvaira wouldn't ruin the night.
"…And then I locked him into a hold, he squirmed in pain. I'm telling I honestly mistook him for a swine at one point. But even he didn't last too long, about a minute or so until he tapped out." Sairaorg puffed his chest out in pride, electing a giggle from Rias. His stories were not even a bit funny, but she humored him. It was common courtesy, after all. "He did put up a good fight, though."
"I believe you could have finished him the moment you threw him on the ground," Sona said as she positioned her pearls around her neck. "It would have saved you a lot of energy."
"I guess you do have a point," Sairaorg acknowledged with a smile. "I was just to into the moment to think about it."
"That could cost you a Game." Sona said bluntly.
Before the Bael heir could say a word, Rias quickly interjected with a smile. "Can we not talk about battles before they have even happened?"
Sona merely huffed in annoyance, looking away. But what worried Rias was the stare Seekvaira was giving her; cold and calculative. Her eyes holding a small amount of contempt behind them. It honestly worried her.
"You are right, Rias Gremory, It is foolish to talk about battles that have yet to happen," Seekvaira drawled out, her voice holding no semblance of irrationality. "But do tell me one thing. Is your peerage even complete yet?" She said, straightening her glasses.
Rias buckled at her words. She truly hadn't finished her peerage yet. She was still missing one knight, which greatly crippled her team's flexibility, a second rook to all the heavy duty stuff, her heart stiffened every time she saw Koneko getting hurt, even if it did no real damage it was still painful to look at, and she lacked two bishops. Well, in theory she had one bishop, but he was currently unusable. Along with any sort of pawns at her disposal, making it extremely hard to overwhelm an enemy without the pure streight of numbers the pawns had.
"Not yet, but I'm getting there." Rias tried to brush off that mean comment with a smile. There was no point in letting everyone see her weakness.
"Oh, really," The Seekvaira acnolodged, a false frown dancing on her lips. "If that's so then I have one question. Why are you even here, girl?"
Rias' breath hitched in her throat. "Well, I'm-" Her were words never got leave her mouth as they were brushed off.
"I'm not asking you why you're here, in this room, that's obvious to anyone with half a brain cell." The platinum blonde began, taking a sip from her ruby red wine. She seemed to be enjoying it, if the smirk on her lips was any indication. That or she just enjoyed tormenting the redhead. "I'm asking why you're here with us. When everyone in our little group has a complete set of pieces, all except for you. Since I know I won't get a proper reply out of you I'll just say it out loud, so people can hear us." Seekvaira sneered, her hands tightening around the narrow golden goblet. "You're here because you're the Lucifer's daughter. Parading around with less that half a peerage, thinking you're something when you're not. Pathetic actually." Her words cut through Rias like a blade through soft flesh.
No words came out of her mouth. She looked around her companions, needing any kind of help. Her eyes first landed on Sairoarg who only looked down, silently agreeing Seekvaira's words. Then she looked at one of her oldest friend's for support, but all Sona answered with was a curt nod.
"Cat got your tongue?" The woman mocked.
Rias could feel her lower lip quivering, and her eyes watering ever so slightly. But no tears rolled down her cheeks, no, instead she felt a spray warm liquid hit them full force. Her eyes opened slightly, before widening in horror.
There was blood on her cheeks.
Her hand went towards the crimson life liquid, lightly brushing against it, inadvertently dirtying the flesh. She looked down at her fingers as if examining the blood, the way it flowed through her fingers like the warm water from the shower. Looking up, she saw her cousin, with a knife sticking right off his throat. A look of pure anguish and shock and his face, which only grew colder by the second, before his entire body hit the floor with a silent thud.
Everyone around her held the same horrified expression as she did. Someone screamed. Everyone rioted.
Even in his drunken daze Naruto felt the wind rush through his golden hair. The chilling winds colliding with his skin. He could feel himself plummeting through the air, like a wounded bird. The way his heart was beating with such intensity that it seemed like it was going to burst right out of his chest. The adrenaline pumping into his body seemed to clear his mind. Normally, it wouldn't do much help, but like Sakura-chan had said, thanks to Kurama his body was made for survival.
On instinct he had begun going over the hand seals for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, his bleeding hand substituting for the usual bite. Luckily, the bitch hadn't severed any joints. Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram, Naruto recited the seals as he pushed his hand in front of his body.
Nothing. Not even a tadpole appeared. His eyes widened in shock and fear, he was begging to see the ground, when he passed through another cloud.
Desperely he weaved the hand seals again. The result was the same. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to believe that he will survive the fall. Even his body won't be able to live through that. Was this how he was going to die? Having awoken from an age long slumber just to die from some random assassin?
"NO!" He roared defiantly, weaving the hand seals once more. He wasn't going to die like that.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A small puff of smoked appeared, when it dissipated. It revealed a small orange toad, clad in dark robes. Its small eyes widened in surprise at seeing the blonde, but it didn't have the chance to say anything as it too began its decent towards the ground. Its small hand latched onto Naruto's shoulder as it performed the Stone Tongue technique, latching onto a nearby ledge, pulling the shinobi with it.
Naruto could see the mountain becoming closer, and closer, until it was only a few feet away. Immediately, he administered chakra to his feet, latching unto the mountain while the toad climbed onto his shoulder.
He examined the small toad, finding it vaguely familiar. Naruto knew of only one orange toad and his name was…
"Gamakichi?" Naruto asked, his mouth agape.
"Aye," Gamakichi said, his face the same as the shinobi's. "Naruto?"
Naruto beamed, a large smile on his face. "Is there anyone else as awesome as me?"
The toad's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. Shock and confusion first appearing on its small face, then came realization, and began streaming down its face. "Where the hell have you been, Naruto!" He yelled, his voice old and scratchy,
"Sleeping, old friend." Naruto replied wistfully, beginning the climb back to the estate. The wave of solid air seemed to almost tip him over, but he pulled through. "But we can talk later, right now I need your help. Like old times."
Gamakichi seemed to want to protest, but looked around them and only nodded. "I swear, if you take a nap like this one again I will personally force feed you Ma's stew." Gamakichi threatened, which only elected a smile from Naruto.
"Don't worry, I drank my coffee this time." Naruto joked, blocking another wave crushing air. Naruto closed his eyes, ignoring the howling winds around him. Instead of fighting against them, he synchronized with them, became one with them. He gathered the chakra around him, gathered nature's chakra, which was an unending ocean around him, out of which he could only gather a few stray drops. The drops entered his chakra system gently, inspiring a peaceful feeling all over his body. He felt one with Nature, one with the world. His serene visage greatly contrasted with the chaotic world around him, until his eyes fluttered open, golden with bar-like pupils, squinting under the harsh winds. His mastery over Sage Mode was higher than any living being in the world. Jiraya, who was renowned for this technique had not truly mastered it. Whenever he had used it, his body would shift into something which was not entirely human. When Naruto used Sage Mode, only his eyes changed and a reddish pigment appeared around them. The tale tell signs of a true Sage.
With Gamakichi had already back to his home. He lunged from his position, like a bullet. His power so vast that the rocky landscape ruptured behind him. It was almost as if he was flying.
His feet met the mountain again a few moments later, but this time he was at least 50 feet from his original position. With a frown, he repeated the motion, becoming airborne once more.
The woman, whoever she was, was undoubtably an assassin. And assassins rarely just hung around parties, drinking and dancing. No, they were up to something. The question was what, or more likely who. Looking back, he knew that this was every assassin's wet dream. A lot of rich, high priority targets in one place. But what really irked him was the woman's face. She had somehow known about him. Did reputation fly so fast these days? Sirzechs assured him that no one knew of his existence, aside from a few choice people from Gremory clan and his fellow Satans. Did her employer know of him? Or was she lucky enough to get that info off someone?
His frown deepened. As much as he wanted sweet payback, he had to bring her in alive, and extract the needed information.
The light from the mansion burned brightly amidst the clouds, and with one final push he shot himself towards the very same balcony he was shoved of. He inspected the grey stone, the only evidence left of what had transpired was the blood from his hand, she had taken the knife. He rapidly clenched and unclenched his fist, testing to see if his hand was back into top shape. Opening the doors, he golden eyes witnessed a most unusual sight.
Everyone was staring into someone, their mouth agape with shock, and their eyes filled with terror. Someone screamed, and the magical pressure in the room went through the roof. Every single Devil in the room was beginning some sort of spell, their eyes narrowed and suspicious towards the very same person they had been speaking to not a moment earlier.
Yet, there was one scream that was tore into his heart louder than any other. It came from the very center of the hall.
Rias!, Naruto thought in distress, launching himself from the balcony. Within a second he was already at her side, expecting everything. Had the assassin targeted her? Was she injured? Was it critical? His mind was going a mile a second, and when his golden eyes finally found her, the sage felt like someone had just struck him with a giant war hammer.
Rias was going into panic mode, her face dirtied with the blood, and a dead body was lying between her legs. A giant gaping hole where its Adam's Apple was supposed to be. The blood that was leaking from the wound was forming a puddle under her feet.
He quickly went over to her, pulling her away from corpse's cold embrace. The blonde tightly pressed her against his body, and whispered soothing words into her ear. The mission had changed. Protecting Rias was now top priority. His hand gently rubbed her back while Rias sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. A choking sound was heard, he quickly moved a step away from Rias as she emtied her gut onto the floor. This was undoubtably the first time she was a witness to such brutality.
"S-she killed Lord Bael!" One of the women called out, pointing at her as if she was some kind of beast. Rias couldn't react, she just kept pressing herself against her guard, alienating herself from the rest of the world.
"Look! She isn't denying it!"
Naruto turned towards the woman, a snarl on his lips. "She's in shock you fucking idiot!" The woman took a step back, fearful of the look in his eyes. "Where are the doctors? Where are the guards?" The blonde yelled. Everyone was just standing there, straing, and fighting with each other. No one had even called a doctor to at least take the boy to be buried.
Ruval Phenex was the first to get out of his shock. He stepped in, with a look of disbelief on his face, before it turned into a cold one. "I want the mansion on lock down at once!" He ordered, and the shocked guards quickly began doing their job.
Too little, too late, Naruto thought grimly. The woman had escaped ages ago. Of that he was sure. Everyone was so slow to react, it was unbelievable. Most of these nobles here were the young heirs, he couldn't believe he had screwed up everything, again! Why hadn't thought of it before. It was so damn simple.
Ruval turned to him, his green eyes boring into his golden ones. "Will he live?" The Phenex asked quietly.
"He's got a hole in his throat, do you think he'll live, jackass?" Naruto barked out, his features twisting into a snarl.
Ruval nodded solemnly, and called for a couple of guards to take the corpse out.
The rest of the night was a blur for most people, but not Naruto. His eyes were scanning the perimeter like a bird of prey. The guests had begun exiting the room in an unorderly fashion. Each willing to push the other away to just to claw out of what they perceived as a danger zone. Fools, all of them.
It didn't take long until Sirzechs and Grayfia entered the room, by the time that happened the body was already teleported away and into the morgue.
Sirzechs was the first to speak up. "Care to explain what happened here? It was quite hard to understand the mindless ramblings of the children." He drawled out, but his eyes were firmly locked into Rias' crying form.
"An Assassin." Naruto answered with a grunt.
The red haired man had sneer on his lips. "Thank you, Naruto, I thought it was a juggernaut,"
For the first time in a while, Naruto didn't shoot anything back. The man was stressed and worried, he could identify.
Sirzechs's eyes moved towards the puddle of blood on the floor. "And I'm guessing that Sairaorg's blood on the floor, am I right?"
Naruto nodded, a solemn look on his face. "My condolences."
"I don't need you condolences," The Satan hissed. "What I need to know is where you were while all this happened?"
The blonde man looked towards the ground shamefully. He knew that if he was here, odds are the boy would've lived. But Naruto was never one to hide from responsibility, he looked up back up to Sirzechs. Prepared to take whatever punishment the man deemed fit.
"Drinking."
A truly monstrous wave of pure power hit the room. All the windows shattered as if hit a by storm of destruction. Rias had fainted in his arms, not able to withstand so much power in her already frail emotional state. Naruto however, stood like the immovable object, meeting the unstoppable force head on. He wouldn't run. He'd felt worse.
"Darling, you're hurting Lady Rias." Grayfia quickly interjected, a worried look on her face. The next moment, the pressure ceased to exist. Naruto actually raised an eyebrow. It wasn't everyday you met someone with such giant reserves and so much control.
"Do you know anything of whoever was behind this?" Grayfia asked, her voice cold as the ice she produced.
"Nothing much," Naruto admitted, taking out the bloody knife from one his coat's pockets, and extended towards the woman. "I'll got was this."
Grayfia studied the blade, her pale finger moving towards it from one end to the other. The blade was white as snow, and straight as a line. It was obviously made for stabbing rather than slicing. She nicked her finger on the tip, drawing blood. The few stray drop fell smoothly across the blade, beginning their descent. The silver haired woman had to bite back a moan of pain, her finger burned. There was no doubt about it.
"Holy steel." She proclaimed, handing the blade back to Naruto.
"It appears that I have…misplaced your talents, Naruto." Sirzechs said after what seemed like forever with calmness that only served as a bad act to mask his ire. "From now on you have only one mission. Find whoever did this and bring them to me. Alive."
Naruto nodded, a determined look on his face, eager for redemption. "Just tell me where to go."
"For the mean time you'll come with us, so we can calm my sister down." The Lucifer's eyes narrowed until they were almost slits, and a frown marred his face. "Then I will tell you where to go. And you will find who did this."
Author's notes:
And from here begins the main plot, kukukuku.
I feel the need to address some the complaints from the last chapter. While it's awesome that you guys cared enough to voice your complains rather than being apathetic, allow to voice my reasoning behind my decision.
Naruto got so easily outwitted because he made a mistake. People make mistakes. Naruto makes a lot of mistakes in Canon. Time has past, true. But that doesn't mean that he's a perfect saint/deity or whatever you wish to call him. He made a mistake, and he will make more. But what I wanted to show is that he learns from his mistakes, the first step being this chapter. Did he try to come up with an excuse in front of Sirzechs? No, he admitted and showed that he was willing to grow as a person. Anyone who wants to read about a perfect is free to leave, I'm not holding anyone hostage here. There are a multitude of stories where Naruto is a perfect being with God-like power, where everyone except him is bashed and so on.
Sorry for the small rant.
Ja ne.