Alright here's the next chapter for you, hope you all enjoy.
Broken Angel
Chapter 85
"Riley..." Fleur gently cooed as she ran her hand through her lover's hair. The two were currently wrapped in an embrace, their bodies intertwined after an intense lustful lovemaking session. Riley lay on top of Fleur her head rested on Fleur's chest.
Next to them was Katie and Luna laying back to back, and on the opposite side, Daphne and Kaede. Kaede slept on the outside, on her back, while Daphne was on the inside closer to Fleur and Riley, but she was laying on her stomach, one of her arms strewn across Kaede's stomach.
Fleur was smiling warmly as she gently ran her fingers across Riley's head. The gentle breathing of her mates had lulled her to sleep not long after their lovemaking had finished.
Fleur listened as Riley took in a breath, she knew that despite being asleep, Riley was fully aware of the state of the world around her. The extrasensory-perception provided by her Rinne-Sharingan, ensured that even while asleep, Riley could sense what was going on.
Knowing that, Fleur placed a gentle kiss on top of Riley's head. She could feel Riley smile in her sleep, and with that, Fleur's smile grew just a bit larger.
"What are you dreaming of my love?" Fleur inquired through their bond.
"You know what." Came Riley's reply. Through hard work and determination, the harem was slowly but surely learning to utilize their initial bond for more then emotional communication. They were now at the point that if they were in contact with one another, then they wouldn't need the Gravemind to communicate telepathically.
"You don't need to dream about it. You could open your eyes and we could make it real." Fleur suggested with a smirk.
"Ever the restless Veela. Didn't you get enough earlier?" Riley hummed back.
Fleur just continued to smile, as her eyes drifted over to her fellow mates, and the red marks that adorned their bodies, signs of the intense lovemaking session that had occurred not too long ago.
Despite Riley's episode, these moments were perfect for Fleur. Everything was at it's best. She had been pleasured to full satisfaction, she had the love and comfort of her mates around her. She was warm and cozy. The only thing that could have made this moment better, was if they were home, away from the Elemental Nations, away from this war. That was the only thing that could have made it better.
Eventually, enough time passed that Fleur was able to drift into dreamland. As they were most nights, Fleur's dreams were filled with her mates. While not always sexual in nature, Fleur almost always dreamed in some way of her mates, even if the others weren't present, at the very least, Riley was always there.
That was one reason why Fleur loved dreaming, her dreams were always fantastical and would more often then not, involve her other half.
In what seemed like only a few moments, the harem found themselves pulled from their slumber by the end of another day. The sun sank slowly over the horizon, once again the army would be forced to march quickly across the burning sands, making as much distance as they could in the few hours they had until morning.
At the rate they were going it would be another three days until they made it to the border. Then another five days for the army to march across the Land of Stones.
Within a week, they'd be arriving at their goal.
Luckily for the Legion, as soon as they made it to the border, they'd be let off the chain as it were, and allowed to push forward at their own pace, to clear the way for the rest of the army.
Riley had been training vigorously since she had returned from Ame. The power of the dark entity that Riley had felt there, had unnerved her, and she knew she needed to be stronger in order to face it.
Every day since her return, Riley would enter Kamui and spend months training with Kurama and the Darkness. On occasion she would bring Hashirama or Madara in with her, for those incredibly long training sessions, but for the most part she kept to training with her demonic companions, more because the many months within Kamui did not affect them psychologically like they did to her human friends and family. Despite Hashirama and Madara being tied to her, and thus immortal, Riley didn't want to subject the two to constant training sessions lasting anywhere up to a year, or more.
The year-long training sessions were doing wonders for Riley's growth. Her power soared with each passing day. He ascension to the Ninth tail became a greater possibility with every year long training trip. Kurama speculated that within thirty or forty days, she'd ascend to the final tail and finish her growth, meaning Riley would probably be around one hundred and fifty years of age before she reached full demonic maturity.
Riley's skills were improving as she continued to hone her abilities to a razor's edge. Her understandings of the Rinne-Sharingan's full abilities became clearer the more she tapped into them. By now, Riley could activate Amenotejikara at will, her range with the technique was currently tied to her Rinne-Sharingan's sight line, so she could switch places with anything she could see, but she couldn't use the Byakugan in tandem to increase it's range.
On the Dhyana Path front, Riley was progressing steadily. Abilities were quickly becoming available to her. Techniques like Yomotsu Hirasaka, and Amenominaka, both powerful space-time ninjutsu, were slowly becoming second nature to Riley. With understanding of the Dhyana Path came the future possibility of exploring alternate realities and other dimensions, possibly even other timelines.
And it was through this path that Riley began to muse on the possibilities of using it to create her own alternate dimension, which she could use as the foundation of her paradise. These were simple musings as of right now, but they did occupy her thoughts during quiet moments and she dedicated a lot of time and effort into studying the ability to cross into other dimensions or even create new ones to utilize for herself.
Needless to say, her growth with the Dhyana Path was on a steady incline. With the Akasa path however, growth was more sporadic.
The Akasa path was a problematic path to train with, due to it's function as an end-all stratagem. At it's base level, activation of the path amplified Fire, Wind, and, Water Style techniques. The Akasa path also came with the ability to unleash Great Cataclysms. Wind's that could level mountains, waves that could sink entire continents, and firestorms that could burn away the land and boil the seas.
Naturally these abilities were difficult to control, and difficult to find useful applications for. They were simply too powerful for standard use. These techniques used absurd levels of chakra, and to Riley's mind, were meant to cleanse entire worlds of life. While that made them indescribably powerful, it also rendered them near useless in battle. These techniques had an area of affect, that spanned over thousands of square miles at their weakest, which meant using them anywhere on the Earth would lead to massive innocent casualties.
It was Hashirama who pointed out the workaround for such abilities. Riley actually had two ways in which she could activate those powers without worrying about unnecessary casualties. One was to draw the enemy into Kamui, within the pocket dimension, Riley could utilize the power indiscriminately. The other was to utilize the Dhyana path to cross into another dimension where Riley wouldn't care about anyone, or to an uninhabited dimension.
It was a good tactic, and it was because of that, that Riley continued to learn these Cataclysmic abilities. Ensuring that she could unleash them, if she ever needed too.
Naturally, all of this time within Kamui, was causing Riley's nightly reunion with her mates to become quite the noticeable spectacle.
Riley's sexual episodes were a daily occurrence for the harem since Riley began this intense training regimen. If was because of this that Riley's mates quickly figured out that she was spending incredible amounts of time away from them.
And despite knowing why deep down, it still bothered them greatly, that she was putting herself through that. Demon or not, seeing someone you love, work themselves so hard was difficult.
It was this same issue that led to the harems conversation during breakfast that day. Riley had already departed to check on the progress of the army, she would then depart for Kamui for the night, and return once the sun was starting to rise.
"Why is it such a problem?" Kaede asked. She had been listening quietly as mostly Fleur, Katie, and Daphne discussed what they suspected about Riley's enhanced training regimen and what they should do about it. Luna joined her in listening in, but offered little in the way of input, opting instead to just enjoy her breakfast.
"She shouldn't be alone for that long." Katie replied quickly.
"But she's immortal. She'll never grow old and die. And she's got Kurama, and The Darkness. She's never alone, when she has them." Kaede pointed out. She couldn't really wrap her head around why Fleur, Daphne, and Katie didn't approve of Riley working herself so hard.
"It's…. look, I understand she cares for Kurama, I understand that she cares for the Darkness, but both of them are full demons. Neither understands what it means to be human. Riley spending all that time with only full demons… I just… it doesn't sit right with me. She should have more human contact. She needs it. Riley already has enough trouble keeping her violent tendencies in check. Whenever we're fighting I see the blood-lust in her eyes… she's barely holding onto the will to keep herself in line. More and more she's letting herself slip, and she's killing more and more people. I get that we're at war. I fully understand that, and I'm trying my best to make peace with the fact that innocent people die in war… that's just how it is. But just because innocent people die, doesn't mean we should be actively targeting them, and it doesn't mean we should unleash our power onto people, knowing more innocent people will die, then necessary." Katie tried to explain. It was difficult for her to get it all out in a way that didn't sound like whining. Katie knew that this was war, and bad things happened in war, but she was of the belief, that just because they're your enemies, doesn't give you the right to ruthlessly slaughter non-combatants who have never held a weapon a day in their life.
She had given in with Konoha, the death of her mother, fresh in her mind at the time, and even to this day she wondered about it, and would contemplate on whether or not she regretted giving in to her anger and allowing Riley to slaughter so many people with her blessing.
Most days she could rationalize it, Konoha was their enemy, and the people had been warned before hand, but that argument didn't always work.
If people refused to run, that was one thing. If they chose to die rather then retreat from the obvious danger, then that was their choice and they had made it, but with Riley, things didn't happen that slowly. She could annihilate entire cities with very little effort, and all it would take is for Riley's blood-lust to reach that boiling point, and she wouldn't hesitate to annihilate an entire city and kill every last man, woman, and child.
Slaughtering everyone, innocent or not, should never be the first option. Even with Konoha, Riley gave them a warning first. The people there knew what was coming for them. They knew what would happen if they remained. It was at least something, and that something was all that really remained of Riley's humanity, and her mates wanted to desperately ensure that, that piece of her remained.
"But why does it truly matter? If it's such a tiny part of her, then why does it matter if she loses it? Riley's a killer. That just who she is. She's kind to us. She cares about us. And at the end of the day, she would slaughter thousands to keep us safe. It's like I said, that's just who she is. So why is it so important to you, that she holds onto that little piece of her humanity?" Kaede countered, still eyeing the three with curiosity.
"It's difficult to explain. You know how Riley's mind works. You probably know it better then we do. That urge to kill… it's present in all demons. You being a half demon, you're still human to some degree. You still have a conscience, you still have a part of yourself that feels shame for doing bad things. Riley doesn't necessarily have that. Because she's a full demon, there's nothing about her physically or mentally that would enforce a guilty response to doing something wrong. Riley only feels bad about doing those things because she thinks we'll disapprove of her if she doesn't. Now keep in mind, I didn't say she feels bad for doing bad things. Riley feels bad, because she thinks 'we' will think less of her if she doesn't." Daphne offered up earning a slow nod of understanding from Kaede. She could kind of understand that actually. Despite knowing right from wrong at an early age, Kaede had only stopped killing in her youth because she didn't want Kouta to disapprove of her during the short time they knew each other. So it made some sense to Kaede as to how Riley thought when it came to her sense of right and wrong.
"Daphne's right. Riley's concept of right and wrong, or maybe it's better to say, her restraint, is almost entirely tied to her perception of how others view her. She cares about how we see her, she cares about how her friends see her, how her family sees her. During those times when we're feeling merciless, Riley is incorrigible with her violence. She only stops when we start to regain our senses. One of Riley's biggest fears, is becoming a monster in our eyes. So she tries, she tries hard, to be… 'decent'." Katie agreed, earning a nod from Fleur and Daphne for her addition.
"I see. You're afraid all this time away from us, will dull her sense of dedication to our opinion of her. And that if that does happen, she'll just go around mercilessly slaughtering everyone she wants too." Kaede guessed earning tentative nods from the three woman.
"Riley's dark. There's no getting around that. I just don't like her being alone for so long. It makes me feel sad because she's alone, because she was alone when she was a child. I don't like it when Riley has to be alone." Luna chimed in, earning another round of nods from the others.
"Yes, zat's definitely a major part of it too." Fleur agreed.
"You're scared. Scared she'll embrace what she is. Scared that she'll become the monster full time. But what are you really afraid of here?" Kaede inquired, earning curious looks from Fleur, Daphne, and Katie, and a thoughtful look from Luna.
"I'm not sure I understand the question." Daphne responded after a few moments of silence.
"We all saw what she did at the Wind Capital. She's embraced the demon before. What I'm asking is, are you afraid of her becoming the monster all the time, or are you afraid that you'll still love her, even if she does?" Kaede clarified. Daphne and Katie looked surprised by that question, and both turned pensive as they searched for an answer. Luna merely offered a small smile and continued on with her breakfast, obviously already knowing her answer. Fleur turned her gaze off to something in the distance for a few moments before turning it back to Kaede and offering a gentle smile.
"I fell in love wiz her, when she was already a half demon. When we first met, people were trying to hurt me and my family. Riley killed them right in front me, and yet… I was not afraid of her. I have loved her zrough every stage of her growth. Every part of her life, I have loved her zrough it all. She is darkness, darkness encompassing a small light zat dwells deep wizin. You ask me if I am afraid of her embracing what she truly is… the answer is, I have loved her zrough it all, and I will always love her, no matter what she becomes. Perhaps in a way, I am afraid of loving a monster, a true monster. Perhaps I want Riley to hold onto zat inner light, because it gives me somezing to help convince myself zat it is alright. Zat it is alright to be in love with someone, or somezing as unnatural and dark as she is. So zat I do not have to ask myself what it says about me, being in love with somezing so violent and angry, zat it would kill a man for simply making a drunken pass at me." Fleur found herself answering earning very surprised looks from Daphne and Katie, and a nod of understanding from Kaede.
"I guess, in a way, I agree with Fleur. There's so much evil in the world, and Riley is a huge part of it. Maybe us helping her to retain that rationality, is our subconscious effort to try and convince ourselves, that the world isn't sitting on a time bomb. That one day, Riley could just choose to end it all for whatever reason, and there's nothing we can do to stop her. I'd never really thought of it the way Fleur just described it… in my mind it was always just our role. It's what we're meant to do, to keep the goddess happy, and to ensure that she doesn't blow up the world because it pissed her off one day." Daphne agreed after several long moments of silence.
"Maybe Fleur's right. Maybe this is our way of trying to keep her human so that we can convince ourselves that we're not bad people for condoning her actions." Katie muttered, her eyes falling to the floor as her face scrunched up in thought.
"Riley is a monster. She's always been a monster. And we all fell in love with her because of who she is. I understand the idea of trying to pretend like we're good people. But goodness is a point of view. The philosophical argument of good vs evil, is all based off of our own point of view. Riley is a demon. She is darkness incarnate. She belongs to the highest order of the creatures of chaos. She is a monster, but she's our monster, and we love her for it. Does that make us bad people? Does it make us sick and twisted because we can overlook all of the death and destruction? It depends on who you ask. Are we good people because we try and keep her happy so that she can live a happy and peaceful existence, and by extension, our world, our home, can go on existing without the fear of constant annihilation? Again, I'd say it depends on who you ask. Some may disagree, some may agree. Some may call it our duty to try and mitigate the damage she can do, others may say we enable it. When it comes to a demon, who can really say? All I know is that Riley loves us, and she wants to better herself so that we'll love her in return." Luna pointed out giving each woman a glance.
"So… what do you think?" Daphne inquired to Luna, after a several moments of silence.
"I think… so long as we make Riley happy, she will want to spend time with us, and she wont be out killing people. It's like I said, I don't like Riley being alone without those that love her. I know the Darkness and Kurama care for her, and I know they'll look out for her, but I still don't want her to be without us for that long. I think wanting that, is enough at the end of the day." Luna responded with a small shrug and a smile.
"Yeah… I get that. I don't like Riley being alone, but I know there's nothing we can do to stop her. We'll call her out on it, and well, this time, I don't know how she'll react… I think she's legitimately afraid of whatever she encountered in Ame. Whatever this threat is, it's enough that she'd go against our wishes, directly, and begin training herself in such extreme ways. I don't like Riley being scared. It's not natural for me." Katie agreed, adding in that point that they all knew would be at the center of the argument about Riley's long trips away from them.
Riley had encountered something in Ame, something that she knew she needed to be stronger in order to beat. Her mates realized that, and understood it, but that didn't mean they liked it. That didn't mean they were just going to accept her putting herself through that, at least not without talking about it first.
"We need to talk to her about it. It may not change anything but at the very least, we should still do it." Daphne stated, earning a nod from her fellow mates.
"Yes, we should speak wiz her, and we should discuss how we are going to handle her when she comes back." Fleur added, moving the conversation away from the difficult questions about life, and the nature of what is good and right, and towards something more manageable, like the harem's sex life.
"I know. She's becoming incorrigible." Katie agreed, as her cheeks tinged red. Memories of their last sexual encounter, still fresh in her mind.
"The question is, how do we mitigate her lust? She goes away for months every day, and comes back sex starved and horny as all hell, and her magic desperately wants her to reproduce. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I can handle many more days of what happened last night." Daphne pointed out.
The group let out a collective sigh at that. Despite the pleasure involved, these recent sexual encounters with Riley, had been pushing them to their literal limits. All of them, on more then one occasion over the last few days had passed out during the act, from the extreme levels of physical and sexual input. Their minds simply couldn't handle everything that Riley was doing to them, and kept doing to them for hours on end. Fleur, and Kaede, the only two really built for that kind of experience, couldn't handle it on their own.
"Well the way I see it, the only real answer is to somehow convince her to stop going on these training trips or she has to put a baby in one of us." Katie responded, earning blushes from each of her fellow mates.
The group was quiet as they thought about that. It truly was the only answer. Riley's instincts demanded procreation and expansion of her power as an Archdemon. Having children was the only safe way to expand her power without destroying the world, and finding their lost children wasn't abating Riley's instinctual desires.
One of them had to get pregnant, and hopefully that would satiate the demon's lust. It wasn't a sure fire solution and there was no guarantee it would work, or if it did, that it would last, but it was really the only option.
"Only a year or so more." Fleur noted.
"Until what?" Katie inquired.
"Well, when zis war is over, I assume Riley will want to return to Hogwarts for her last year of school. Despite missing sixth year, I don't see why she and Daphne, could not take zere tests before the year started and just join Katie for zeir last year at school. Once zat is out of ze way, Riley and I can get married, and at zat point I don't care if she gets me pregnant or not." Fleur informed them, earning a nod of understanding from her fellow mates.
"I'll probably do that too. Take my OWLs and my sixth year tests and then join you for seventh year." Luna added.
"Then we can all graduate together." Katie stated with a smile.
"It's so weird thinking about Hogwarts. Seems so long ago now." Daphne noted as she adopted a pensive look.
"I know what you mean." Katie agreed.
"Kaede, do you ever want to have kids?" Daphne inquired, earning a blush from the Diclonius Queen as she averted her eyes.
"I've never really thought about it. I mean… If I were to have children… I'd want it to be with Riley." Kaede replied with a shy shrug. Riley had mentioned when they first got together that Kaede's own demonic instinct encouraged her to breed, and that was the reason why she had been so eager to have sex with Riley when they first started dating, but Kaede had never really put a lot of thought into it. She personally didn't think she'd make a very good mother, but if Riley were there, then maybe she'd be willing to try. At the very least her kid would have one decent parent if Kaede herself was lacking. At least that's how she saw it.
"Well, I guess we're just gonna have to bite the bullet and push through it until this war is over." Katie noted after a few seconds of quiet.
"I know it is hard for ze rest of you. You do not gain strength from ze act like I do. When Riley returns, we should have a chat wiz her. Tell her what we are feeling. I know she is worried about zis zreat but I believe she cares enough about our safety to hear our concerns and understand zat some of us are not built to be handled like zis every day." Fleur stated earning a chorus of agreements from her fellows.
"Not only that, but we should speak with Riley about this before she decides she wants to show the Kazekage a thing or two." Luna added earning surprised looks from all of them.
"Crap I forgot about that. What are the chances Riley's going to turn her eyes towards Gaia in the next few weeks?" Katie asked as she shared a look with Fleur.
"We shouldn't take the risk. As mind-blowing as it is, I don't think anyone's first time should be 'that' intense." Daphne responded to her question.
"Poor Gaia would probably lose her mind." Katie stated.
"My first time was amazing, and I kinda like how intense Riley can make things when she's really fired up, but I understand what you mean. I don't think I'd want my first time to be like that either." Kaede noted, earning a smirk from Fleur.
"See, I am not ze only one who enjoys it." Fleur stated earning a sigh from Katie.
"Veela, and Half-Demon. One is invigorated by the act, the other has enhanced vitality and endurance. We humans aren't built for six hours of none-stop hardcore action. Every. Single. Day." Katie responded with a small glare, directed right at Fleur's triumphant smirk.
"You love it." Fleur responded, earning a blush from Katie.
"In the moment, when she has me, yes I love it. However, I think I speak for Daphne and Luna when I say that waking up with your entire body aching and soreness in the most embarrassing of places, it's getting kinda old. Besides that, I seriously doubt that it's good for my health to be passing out several times in rapid succession." Katie answered, her face a bit red at being called out like that.
"I like hearing you scream." Fleur added, earning herself an even deeper blush from Katie.
"See this is why I seriously doubt our attempts to address this problem are going to make it past the initial opening statement. Fleur loves reaching that level of pleasure. Kaede can withstand it and can vent her own demonic Youki into Riley during their lovemaking. Katie's secretly as slutty as Fleur, and Riley loves hearing Daphne scream in pleasure to much to ever pass up the opportunity." Luna stated, earning a chuckle from Fleur, a playful glare from Katie, a shrug from Kaede, and a crimson red blush from Daphne.
"And what about yourself?" Daphne asked.
"I can't pass up the opportunity to hear you scream, either." Luna replied with a lewd smirk, earning a surprised look from Daphne, and some giggles from Fleur and Katie.
"She does moan louder then the rest of us." Kaede added, earning more laughter.
"Shut up, that's not what I meant." Daphne snapped back, her face a crimson red.
"I think it's good practice." Luna stated after the ladies' laughter had subsided.
"Practice? For what?" Daphne replied with a bit of confusion.
"If you think she's bad now, wait until we grow strong enough to handle more of her, physically. Right now, she holds back as much as she can so that we aren't hurt, but it wont be that way forever. One day, we could all be as strong as Jonin, possibly even stronger than that. And when that day comes, you can believe she'll be much rougher with us. Don't forget, despite all we've been through, we're still young. We're still learning about ourselves, and our kinks. And so is Riley." Luna explained.
"Yes zat is true. Zis will probably get worse ze longer we wait." Fleur agreed.
"Okay, we need to talk to her. When she gets back, we'll sit down and have a chat." Katie stated, earning a chorus of nods.
"Ya know… if the talk doesn't work… I think I might have an idea." Daphne offered up.
"Oh?" Katie was the first to respond as the group's eyes turned towards the Slytherin Ice Queen.
"Yeah. Fleur… how much gender alteration magic, do you know?" Daphne inquired.
Fleur stared back for several seconds before smiling. "That could work."
"Then let's try it. We've got nothing to lose." Daphne responded earning a nod from Fleur.
"Hey." The harem heard someone call out to them. They all turned their gazes towards the tent flap into their makeshift home. They quickly approached it and peaked outside to see Kankuro waiting for them.
"Yes? Can we help you?" Katie was the first to inquire.
"The Kazekage sent me to retrieve you five. She says there's something she needs to discuss with you." Kankuro answered. The group shared a look but decided to follow him anyway.
Kankuro led them through the sea of tents that were rapidly being broken down in preparation for the several long hours of marching ahead. It took about ten minutes for them to reach Gaia's command tent, when they entered they found it sparsely populated, only Gaia, her sister and brother, apparently present.
"Thank you for coming." Gaia greeted them as they entered.
"What can we do for you lady Kazekage?" Daphne inquired as the five of them took up position in front of the Kazekage.
"A messenger has just arrived from the Hidden Cloud village. Kumo has offered terms for an alliance. They contacted me in the hopes that I could assist in mediating these discussions and because this involves Suna as well. When will Riley be back?" Gaia explained to them and finished with a question. She had taken note of Riley's absence these last few days, Riley had only really shown herself for a few moments to say hello and share a few quiet intimate moments with the Kazekage before she departed.
"Not until after the sun sets I'm afraid. She been busy training in Kamui these last few days." Katie answered.
"I see." Gaia replied after a moment.
"Is there a reason you asked us to be here? I understand Riley, and I understand the need to ask when she'll be back, but why us?" Daphne inquired.
"Part of Kumo's offered alliance is a military alliance bound by marriage. A union between Suna, the Legion, and Kumo." Gaia responded earning surprised looks from Riley's mates.
"They want a marriage alliance with Riley? Why? I don't think Riley's ever even been to the Land of Lightning, let alone in Kumo." Katie asked as she shared a look with Fleur.
"Isn't it obvious? They're terrified of her. Tales of the Hero of the Burning Leaf are spreading like wildfire all over the continent. The only way to guarantee a lasting peace between our three lands is a marriage alliance between powerful figures from our respective villages." Termari answered, earning nods of agreement from everyone.
"Is it truly out of fear, or is this a power play? Kumo has seized a lot of territory these last few months, and they did try to attack Amaru when you and Riley went to retrieve the Zero Tails." Katie noted.
"Yes. The diplomat they sent, extended the Raikage's personal apology for that incident. He explained to me that Kumo had heard rumors of a Bijuu in that area and were searching for it. Information eventually led them to Amaru, and they had orders to capture her. However, they also had standing orders to avoid all confrontation with Riley. The men that attacked us, disobeyed orders, in an attempt to capture the Zero Tails which they thought lay within Amaru. The moment they realized they were fighting Riley, their orders were to retreat, but they disobeyed. The Raikage has offered a full apology for the incident and does not hold us responsible for killing those that attacked us." Gaia explained to them.
"So… a marriage alliance. Is it legitimate?" Daphne asked after a moment of quiet pondering.
"They're offering a marriage to Yugito Nii, the Two Tails Jinchuriki. They're willing to have her serve as an ambassador to Kumo, for our two organizations, thus giving her free right to travel between Suna, and Britain. She would serve as primary liaison between our nations being married to Riley, and through such a marriage, connected to me as well. It seems Kumo has heard the rumors that I am to be wed to Riley." Gaia responded.
"A Jinchuriki. That's a powerful offer. What else are they offering? You said the marriage alliance was just part of it." Daphne inquired as she shared a sideways glance with Luna.
"A Marriage Alliance, Trade Agreements, a full Military Alliance, and they are offering up some ancient artifacts as a gift to Riley and myself for the attack. They claim these artifacts belonged to the Sage of Six Paths." Gaia answered as she learned forward in her chair.
"That's an interesting offer." Katie noted.
"Will Riley be willing to entertain it?" Gaia asked.
"Possibly. I would have said no, but ze offer for artifacts from the Sage himself, may be what tips ze balance. You zink zis alliance is a good idea?" Fleur inquired.
"I do. An alliance like this would be unprecedented. When this war is over, Suna, Kumo and Kiri will be the last of the big five to remain. Many of the smaller villages will have been destroyed. Taki is gone. Ame is gone. Ishi has surrendered. Kusa is still an enemy, so they'll probably be destroyed. Oto will be destroyed. that'll basically leave three great ninja villages left. If Kumo, Suna, and the Legion unite, then chances are good we'll be able to secure peace on the continent for decades at least." Gaia answered earning nods of agreement from Riley's mates.
"I see your point. With Kumo and Suna united, and with the Legion, and more specifically Riley as the glue that unites all three, Kiri will stay quiet and keep to itself and things can settle down here for the first time in… forever." Daphne agreed.
"This alliance could be a major victory for us in the long run. It all depends on whether or not Riley will agree to the marriage. At the very least, we have to convince her to give it a try. I called you five here to get your opinions on the matter, as well as to ask you to help me with this. I know you're not from these lands so the state of things here may not matter much to you, but the continent needs this peace. It needs this assurance that fighting will stop once the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and Iwa have been dealt with." Gaia informed them.
Several long moments of silence occurred as the harem turned pensive and shared looks between one another as well as an internal monologue with the Gravemind.
"This is a great opportunity. We'll have to discuss it with Riley, but… I'm on your side." Daphne stated, after a moment.
"We'll talk with Riley and see how she feels. I can't guarantee anything but we'll try. I have nothing against this Yugito. I don't know her, I've only ever seen her during the Triwizard Tournament back in Britain. She seemed cordial then, and she was blonde, so that's a point right there." Katie added earning chuckles from her fellow mates and a curious look from Gaia.
"Fleur, me, Luna, all blondes. You and Kaede are redheads, if Riley follows her trend and goes after who we think she'll go after, and she agrees to this union, it's five blondes, two redheads, and a brunette. Which would make Katie the unique one." Daphne explained earning a smirk of amusement from the Kazekage.
"It just means she appreciates my personality more then my looks." Katie sniped back as she tossed a tuft of her hair over her shoulder and smirked at her fellow mates.
"We'll have a chat with her, and we'll make sure to send her your way, so that we can have this discussion in full." Daphne stated after a moment earning a nod from the Kazekage.
"Thank you. I know this probably isn't what she wants, but… we have to try. It could be a surefire way of ensuring lasting peace, just like it did for Konoha and Uzushio." Gaia stated.
"You'll hear from Riley soon." Daphne replied, and with a nod, the Kazekage bid them farewell.
The harem immediately retreated back to their tent to finish breaking it down in preparation for the march. At the same time they were having a mental conversation, weighing the pros and cons of this scenario.
Several hours later, and the sun started rising. The army pulled to a halt and began to set up tents. Shortly after the sun rose, Riley returned.
Just as she had the previous nights, she made a beeline for her mates.
She entered into her tent and found the five of them waiting for her. The five had already stripped down to the nude, which drew a feral grin from Riley as she approached them. The five quickly rose to meet her, and when they did, Riley took notice of a change all of them sported. Despite looking the same, all five of Riley's mates now sported full male genitalia in place of their female genitalia.
Daphne's logic was that if they actually changed gender from female to male, or at least fully changed their genitalia, then Riley's instincts might reverse themselves. Instead of trying to get her female mates pregnant, she'd instead try to get pregnant from her male mates. The thought process was that instead of Riley being forced to keep her magic bottled in and contained which was part of the reason the episodes occurred, instead all she would have to do was keep herself from accepting their magic and allowing it to conceive a child. With Riley's strength such a thing would be easy for her. The question that remained, was whether or not Daphne's logic was sound.
Riley was eyeing the five curiously, her blood red eyes filled with demonic lust. Seeing them with dicks wasn't an unusual sight since the first time they had tried it, but Riley's mates had never fully altered themselves like this before.
"Take off your clothes my love." Fleur whispered as the five women approached her.
Despite her curiosity, Riley was far to horny to care right now. She had just come back from seventeen months of training, and she wanted nothing more then to release her pent up energy on her beloved mates.
Her clothes were on the floor within seconds, and a few moments after that, she was lip-locked with her nearest mate which happened to be Kaede.
Within a minute, Riley was on the ground, Kaede beneath her taking her pussy. Fleur was behind Riley on her knees, working her cock in and out of Riley's ass. Riley's moans of pleasure quickly filled the room.
As the scene played out, Katie and Daphne shared a look. It was only just starting, but it looked like Daphne's idea may just work.
Within three hours, all five of Riley's mates had experiences tens of orgasms. Riley herself was a mess, but she didn't seem to mind. With five of them, three were able to handle Riley at once, while two of them rested. Being solely on the receiving end, seemed to make Riley a bit more submissive. She was still quick to jump to another once she'd finished one of them off, but she was a bit more subdued. Despite it being a different form of hard work, Daphne's plan had seemed to be successful.
Though it was a solution, all five of them knew that it was only temporary, they enjoyed their normal way of doing things to much to continue this trend forever. It was just a fix that they could hold in place until Riley ceased with the long training excursions or until one of them was ready to have a baby.
Dealing with Riley's episodes once a month or so was alright, dealing with it every day, was an entirely different animal.
Another hour or so had passed before Riley finally gave out, finishing with both Katie and Luna inside of her. Luna lay beneath her breathing heavily, with Katie behind Riley. The two were lip locked as Katie gently massaged Riley's breasts. It took several moments, but Riley finally pulled away from her mate, her eyes now back to their normal metallic purple.
"Good?" Katie inquired when she took note of the change in Riley's eyes, signifying that her demonic lust had been satiated for now.
"Very good." Riley responded as she glanced down at Luna whom was still breathing heavily, having finished in unison with Riley.
Riley simply smiled down at her as she removed herself from Luna's sensitive member. She then lowered herself down and locked lips with the blonde Ravenclaw before laying down next to her.
Riley's mates were quick to gather around her, admiring their handiwork. They all were an absolute mess, but there were far less red marks adorning their bodies then from previous nights. They all sported a few more scratch marks across their backs, but they would deal.
"I'm glad you enjoyed that so much, because for the foreseeable future, that's what you're getting." Daphne stated as she folded her arms across her nude chest.
Riley had been laying on her back her eyes closed, but she was very much listening. She let out a sigh and sat up, knowing exactly what Daphne was referring to.
"I figured." Riley stated looking sheepish. Her mates were sitting around her, their bodies having already reverted back to being female. The only one that wasn't sitting was Luna, whom instead shifted herself to rest her head on Riley's leg.
Riley accepted the gesture with a small smile, and began to run her hand through Luna's wavy hair.
"You've been a real handful these last few days." Katie noted earning a nod from Riley.
"I know." Riley replied. She looked a bit meek, obviously aware of what she had been doing to them.
"How long?" Daphne asked as they all gave Riley a pointed look. "How long were you in there?"
"A year and a half… roughly." Riley answered, knowing they weren't going to like that answer. She was right when she heard several gasps and sighs.
"Riley!" Katie admonished her, "That… I don't even know how to respond to that."
"Sorry." Riley muttered as her eyes fell down to Luna whom was staring up at her. That was the benefit of having a seeress for a girlfriend, Luna knew almost everything already. Or at least she knew the big things shortly before anyone else did. Because of that, Luna already knew what Riley's answer was going to be, and thus was prepared for it. Her seeing ability wasn't fullproof and sometimes she needed to know what to look for in order to see it, but it did grant her a bit more understanding going into situations then it did for others which made her a perfect mediator for conversations like this because she already knew what was probably going to be said.
With that being said, Luna was the only one who wasn't openly gaping at Riley.
Even Kaede was surprised to hear just how long Riley had been spending away from them. Many of them assumed anywhere between two months and eight months, not a year and a half. A year and a half, possibly over the last week. That meant there was a strong possibility that Riley had only spent a few days with her mates in what could have possibly been upwards to ten and a half years for Riley.
Her episodes made perfect sense to them all now.
Riley was bad when she didn't get any in a couple of day. A year and a half… that literally blew them all away.
"Riley, what were you zinking?" Fleur demanded as she leveled what could only be described as an angry look, at her beloved mate.
"I'm sorry. Alright… I know you don't want me in there that long, but I needed to do this. I'm making incredible strides towards mastering my powers. At this rate, I'll have all of the Rinne Sharingan's powers mastered within another week or so. I'll probably also be closing in on actually unifying Kurama's and the Darkness's powers." Riley responded.
"But at what cost Riley? Look at what you are doing to yourself, to us. You come back every day, being gone for over a year, and you have all of zis pent up lust and desire, and we have to be the ones to take it. You're normal episodes, we can deal wiz. We know about zem, we understand what we signed up for, but zis. Every single day. And zink about what you are doing to yourself. I understand zat you are afraid, but zis cannot continue." Fleur countered, her gaze stern.
"You don't understand. That thing I felt in Ame, it was stronger then me. A lot stronger. It might even be stronger then Kurama, the Darkness and I put together. Luna's vision, the Day of Wrath, this thing is involved, I know it. I have to master these powers as quickly as I can." Riley responded.
"How do you know this war has anything to really do with that thing? The Akatsuki are working with it, that much is true, and Nagato bound himself and his subjects to it, but have there been any signs that this thing has tried to cross over to our realm? It's an Archdevil correct? You'd feel something like that occurring… weeks in advance, right?" Katie asked in reply.
"I mean… yeah, I'd feel it happening. So would the other tailed beasts, but still, Obito took the tablet that Nagato was using to communicate with the thing, he's going to keep working with it." Riley replied.
"Yeah, but like she said, you'd know when it's going to cross over, right?" Kaede asked again, earning a nod from Riley. "Then don't kill yourself training so hard until then. There's being prepared and then there's taking extreme measures for something that might not happen for a hundred years."
"Kaede is right, Riley. This creature is somehow involved in the Day of Wrath that I saw. That Kane is preaching about. But we have no idea when it will happen. Within a few days we'll be free to launch a major assault on the Land of Earth. Knowing what we know, we wont hold back. We'll take the capital in a few days, and a few days after that, we'll destroy Iwa. Then Kusa, then Oto, and before we leave, we'll hunt down the Akatsuki and put an end to them. If at any point during that time you feel the barriers between our world and the Dark realms begin to weaken drastically, then you can start using Kamui to those extremes. Right now, all you're doing is rushing to prepare for something that probably wont happen for several years at least." Luna stated as she stared up at Riley.
"How sure are you that this wont happen for several years?" Riley asked as she looked down and locked eyes with Luna.
Luna was silent for several moments as she struggled to form an answer. It was obvious to those watching that she knew something, she just didn't know how, or even if she should say it.
"You saw something? In your vision of the Day of Wrath, you saw something that convinces you that it wont happen for some time?" Riley guessed. Luna offered a nod at that.
"Luna..." Riley began as she placed a hand on the Ravenclaw's cheek. "What did you see? I need to know."
"I saw us… but we were older. In our twenties, maybe our early thirties. We had your eyes." Luna answered earning curious looks from all of her fellow mates.
Riley looked confused for several seconds as she pondered that reply. Something suddenly clicked and Riley's eyes widened a bit.
"My eyes…" Riley whispered as she turned her gaze to stare off into the distance.
"How could we have your eyes Riley?" Daphne inquired, sensing that Riley actually knew somewhat of what Luna was talking about.
"It's a technique of the Rinnegan. The Six Path's Technique. It allows the user to channel one of the paths of the Rinnegan through the body of a host. Nagato used it through Pain, but those bodies were dead.
"Could is be used on living people?" Daphne inquired.
"I don't know. I don't know if that's ever been tried. I also don't know how it would work with the Rinne Sharingan. The Rinnegan has seven paths. Six base, and one greater path. The Rinne Sharingan has nine paths. Six Base, and three Greater. The primary user of the eyes still has access to all of it's powers, even once using the Six Paths Technique, but they can also utilize all of the other paths in unison through the other bodies. It could be the same if used through the Rinne Sharingan, but I'm not sure if the two other greater paths can be gifted to a host body." Riley explained. The ladies all shared a look with one another, and shared thought passing between them.
"Alright Riley, honestly, do you like Arturia?" Katie asked, earning a curious look from Riley.
"Yeah, why?" Riley replied with a sigh. Despite claiming to only be physically attracted to the ancient King, Riley did truly admire her, and actually could see herself taking the opportunity if it ever presented itself. Knowing Arturia, it never would so Riley never really entertained the idea to it's fullest, but if she had to be honest, she did like Arturia, and was definitely attracted to her.
"Kumo sent an apology for the attack on Amaru. Those people disobeyed a direct order to flee from you, and attacked you anyway. The Raikage himself offered an apology for it. They also sent an offer for an alliance. The want you to marry the Two Tails Jinchuriki Yugito Nii, so that you, Gaia, and Yugito will form a triumvirate that will ensure peace here in the Elemental Nations for years to come. They've also offered some artifacts that they claim belonged to the Sage of Six Paths in order to apologize fully, and I guess to enhance the deal to get you to accept." Katie informed her earning more curiosity from Riley.
"Huh. Okay." Riley noted as her face scrunched up in thought.
"If you pursue Arturia, and agree to this marriage alliance, that's eight of us. One for almost all of the paths, with you being the ninth." Daphne finished for Katie.
"True." Riley responded with a distant look.
"I'm not saying you need to get with them or anything, I'm just saying… Luna always goes on about there being a certain number of us. If the future is always in motion, then I found it hard to believe that you would ever have a determinate number of mates in any timeline." Daphne began, but Riley picked up on where she was going.
"Unless I tied my mates to me making them my paths. That would mean eight. In any timeline where I had the Rinne Sharingan, and the idea to use the Paths, I would logically only give it to the people I trusted most in this world. My mates." Riley responded as her gaze lowered to meet with Luna's.
Luna gave nothing away, neither confirming or denying that they were on the right track.
Despite her lack of input, Riley knew that they were on to something.
"Okay… I need to go talk with Gaia about this. See what she has to say. About this, I have no idea how it would work or even if it would work, but if it does you all need to do some serious thinking before you accept, because I am not going to force you into something like this." Riley stated after a few moments of silence.
"What do you mean?" Kaede inquired curiously.
"If you agree to become my paths, at the very least, I can guarantee that you'll lose your mortality. We'll finish our bond. If you become my paths, we'll gain a shared vision, being able to see through each others eyes at all times, we'll share a powerful mental connection, sharing in each others thoughts, as they're happening. We'll be joined in almost every conceivable way. One being, in multiple bodies, essentially. Basically you'd all become vessels for my power. It would constantly flow into you, and you could draw upon it, as effortlessly as you can draw upon your own power." Riley explained to them earning many slow nods of understanding.
"Okay… we'll put a lot of thought into this. What are you going to do about Kumo?" Daphne responded.
"I'm gonna go talk with Gaia, and… once we've defeated Iwa, we'll make a trip out there. Maybe spend a week in Kumo while the army prepares to head for Kusa. I'll meet with the Raikage and I'll see for myself if this is a trap or not." Riley replied.
"And if it's not?" Daphne asked.
"Then I'll give Yugito a shot if she's willing. I don't know her very well, but she's a Jinchuriki so at least we'll have that in common, though… I do think I'll have to apologize." Riley responded though she trailed off at the end as she recalled her last conversation with the Two-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Why is that?" Katie asked.
"I think the only time I ever spoke to her, I threatened to kill her and devour the Two-Tails soul. I don't know how much of that conversation they remember because of the Fidelus, but I still think I'll have to apologize." Riley replied with a scratch of her head.
"And ze training?" Fleur inquired as Riley rose to her feet, casting cleaning charms on herself as she did, and summoning her clothes.
"I'll dial it back okay. No more then three months… alright?" Riley responded, earning hard looks from Katie and Daphne, but nods from Luna, Kaede, and a reluctant one from Fleur.
"Three months. No more. I'm gonna ask Kurama too, if you're going over that time, I'm gonna give you an earful." Katie threatened, earning a sheepish smile from Riley.
"You know we're only doing this because we love you, right?" Daphne asked.
"I know. And I love you for it, despite my misgivings." Riley replied with a smile as she made the rounds, kissing all of them goodbye as she did.
"You're coming back after you speak with Gaia right?" Luna asked as she stretched out on the bed.
"Yeah, I'll be back. I think my mates have earned some relaxing time, and I've got the perfect idea to make it up to you all." Riley replied with a charming smile as she turned and headed out.
Her mates watched her depart, knowing that at the very least, Riley was still herself, and she now knew that her mates had a line that they weren't willing to cross when it came to Riley spending time away from them.
-Kumo, three days later-
Yugito found herself moving swiftly as she made her way to the Raikage's office. The summons for her had come without warning leaving very little time to ponder on what it could be about.
She arrived to find a small council of people waiting for her. This group consisted of the Raikage, Cee, Darui, Mabui, and Killer Bee. The presence of Killer Bee set off warning bells for Yugito. Despite being one of her only friends and her mentor Bee was only really involved in things if it involved the safety of the entire village, or he was gonna be needed as muscle. And it was that second possibility that truly worried Yugito.
"Yugito, have a seat. There is something important I have to discuss with you." A stated, his tone firm and direct.
Yugito did as instructed, a pit forming in her stomach. This was definitely not going to go well for her. Yugito had not been having the best of times as of late. Her capture by the Akatsuki, and the loss of her close friend Karui, were still at the forefront of her mind.
"I need your help Yugito. I've spent the last few weeks working on forming an alliance with Suna and the Shadow Legion. They've agreed to meet with me after they finish off Iwa. A major part of this alliance will be a marriage between you and the Uchiwa clan leader." A stated, fully ready for the explosion that would follow.
And with those words Yugito's fragile world came crashing down.
Within a moment Yugito was back on her feet, a string of curses erupting from her mouth. A simply sat back and waited. Despite carring a great deal for her, he knew this was what was best for Kumogakure. Yugito was going to hate it at first, A could only hope that she would eventually find some measure of comfort in her new life. Whatever form that may take.
Yugito continued to spit fire for long minutes. Those around her simply stood back and waited for her to finish. They all knew that once she was done with her initial firestorm, that a long and painful discussion was going to follow. Unfortunately, the decision had been made. It was time to cast the dice and see where they landed.
-To be continued-
Hope you all enjoyed. Lot's of set-up in this chapter. Look forward to more relationship building in the upcoming chapters.
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