Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto, Hazbin Hotel, or Helluva Boss franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as it isn't just hate or flaming.
Thanks for reading and please enjoy
The Cost of Salvation
-Chapter 5-
-Last Time-
"As long as Charlie hasn't joined in yet, we should be fine."
Almost as if on cue, there was a distant sound of crashing, splashing, and laughter echoing out through the mansion.
"I just had to open my mouth…" Despite her words, a smile spread across Vaggie's lips as she followed Kushina's lead.
-And Now, Whirlpool Co headquarters-
The clicking of claws against tile rang through the air as a tall regal looking avian demoness stalked along a long hallway. Her name was Stella, a member of the prestigious Goetia royal family who presided over much of the upper echelon in Hell's society. She stood at around ten feet with white grey tipped feathers, many of which formed a crest that hung off her head in a manner akin to long hair, long black curled eyelashes, a small pink beak, and glowing red eyes with no sclera and white pupils.
Her attire was fitting for nobility, with a classic puffy sleeved white and black dress, fingerless grey lace gloves that stretched almost all the way to her shoulders, and a small golden crown perched atop her head.
And then there was the way she held herself, head up high while projecting an air of authority, grace, and superiority.
All in all, everything about her just oozed strong 'I'm better than you and I know it' vibes… or at least almost everything.
A deep frown marred Stella's lips while her brow furrowed in deep thought, contrasting the confident aura she tried to portray around herself.
'I can't believe that mother has me going to barter with some measly Overlord,' The avian demoness thought with a scoff, wringing her wrists in annoyance as she stalked down the hall, ignoring a pair of Succubi that politely greeted her as she passed them. 'And telling me that I must be utmost respectful to her. I do not care if this plebian is the Princess's precious pet, I should not have to lower myself to speaking to such a wretch like she was my equal. And why the fuck doesn't this Satan damned place have a bloody elevator?'
The building had a hundred and seventeen floors and she had to go through every last one because some genius had not only neglected to add an elevator but also designed it so that the stairs leading up were always on the opposite side of the floor to where the stairs leading down were. And she had to go over almost half of them twice because she tried to skip to the top via portal earlier only to somehow end up right back at the first floor instead.
So now not only was she was annoyed but her legs were absolutely killing her…
Despite her mental grousing, Stella did her best to keep a straight face when she finally reached the end and found herself standing before a set of decorative Mahogony double doors that were inscribed with the iconic spiral of Whirlpool Co. The left one had a golden plaque embedded into it which read 'CEO: Uzumaki Kushina' in bold and 'Please knock before entering' in smaller text below.
Raising her hand, the whitette bared her talons as the temptation to simply rip the door down surged through her. However, after taking a deep breath, Stella's fingers curled into a fist before she gently rapped her knuckles against the hardwood.
"It's open."
'Hmph, doesn't even bother having someone answer the door, typical.' Clicking her tongue in distaste, the Goetia grabbed the doorknob and opened it for herself. Upon stepping inside, she was briefly caught off guard when she was greeted to the sight of an eloquent office that followed a mix of modern and traditional Japanese themes.
The walls were classic shoji paper design, there was a Zen garden filled with black sand that took up most of one corner of the room, and a large fish tank filled with various exotic fish took up another. And then at the center of it all was the woman of the hour Kushina Uzumaki, still dressed in her formal tux and seated behind a large cedar desk.
She was right in the middle of finishing up a large stack of paperwork when she looked up to see the new arrival. "Ah, hello Stella, you're right on time."
"That is Lady Stella to you." The royal demoness stated coldly, before scowling when the Hellfox simply smiled at her while steepling her fingers together.
"So Stella, I've been told that your family wishes to renegotiate some prior business transactions we've had," Her scowl only deepened when Kushina blatantly ignored her correction, continuing to speak to her in an insultingly casual manner as if they were equals. Fortunately, before her temper could boil over though, she was snapped out of her anger by a sudden puff of smoke by her side. Jumping in surprise, she instinctively flared her feathers and bared her talons once more… only to quickly calm down when the smog cleared up to reveal a luxurious leather backed chair that was just her size. "Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss."
"Hmph," Naturally Stella was more than a bit dubious about the offered chair, considering how it had appeared, and eyed it critically for several moments for any signs of trouble. When she didn't see anything suspicious though, the white feathered avian reluctantly sat down, if only because she really didn't want to be standing anymore. She only just managed to bite down a relieved sigh upon sinking into the soft padding, both from finally being off her aching feet and because it was a REALLY nice chair. 'At least she has good taste in furniture.'
"Now then, I believe you're here to renegotiate for the land holdings I purchased six months ago, right Stella?" Kushina asked once Stella had gotten all settled in.
"…That would be correct," The bird woman bit down a scathing remark as she reached into a hidden pocket inside her dress and fished out a thick folder that she tossed onto redhead's desk. Dozens of papers spilled out which Kushina curiously perused through, finding copies of property deeds, sales records, and other such paperwork, all signed by her. Her attention was quickly stolen away though when Stella place another paper down, an unsigned contract which bore a wax seal of Stella's family next to signature line. "My family wishes to offer you a new deal. We are requesting the right to use and occupy the lands you purchased in the Ring of Wrath for business and in return grant you a three percent royalty on all proceeds made."
"Wow… just wow." Kushina muttered, hold a hand up to her snout in a failed attempt to hold in the snickers that slipped free.
The frown on Stella's beak deepened as she clenched her fists when the redhead kept laughing even when she started to read the offered contract. "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that you seriously couldn't have made that sound more scripted if you tried. I mean seriously you might as well been holding the papers you no doubt rehearsed that little spiel from still," Kushina's smirk only grew as she peeked over the document to see that her guest was quite literally turning red from barely suppressed rage. Her eyes were glowing so bright that most would have no doubt gone blind from a single glance while her claws sank into the armrests. "Let me guess, you couldn't think of a sales pitch for yourself, so you needed mommy and daddy to write one up for you?"
"How dare you!" That was the last straw…
Stella's appearance morphed into one far more monstrous, with jagged fangs erupting from her mouth, her arms becoming more winglike with large sharp feathers, and a demonic blood red aura as she surged from her seat. She slammed her hands down on top of the desk with such force that the whole room shook, though the desk itself remained surprisingly intact, before she got right up in a still smiling Kushina's face.
"I will not be mocked by some pathetic damned soul! I will show you thine place you insufferable whore!"
"Is that so? And here I thought your mother had specifically told you to be as nice as possible to me so I'd fall for your scam to steal all the land back."
"Silence you vile disrespectful-!" Stella started to scream, spittle flying in Kushina's face with each word, only to abruptly freeze when the demonic vulpine's words registered in her mind. Like a switch was flipped the avian whitette reverted back to her normal appearance as her anger faded away into shock.
"Oh yes, I know exactly why you're here, your mother pulled you aside yesterday and spun some tale about how I had scorned your family's honor. That she wished to teach me a lesson about daring to ridicule them, but needed your, and I quote 'impeccable skill for negotiation' to pull it off," As she spoke, Kushina placed a finger on the tip of Stella's beak and gently pushed the shocked demoness back down into her seat. "Specifically, you were sent to get me to agree to this deal while the rest of your family got signatures from the residents living on the land which would allow you to exploit an old legal loophole that'd default the land I purchased back to their original owners, leaving me with nothing."
Every word that left the redhead's lips caused Stella's eyes to widen further and further. "How do you…"
"Of course, what they didn't tell you was that the whole thing is a complete load of horse shit and they just needed to keep you distracted so you wouldn't notice them pulling off their real plan." Kushina said, smirking at the completely lost look that appeared on her 'guest's' face.
"…What are you talking about? What real plan?" The royal demoness demanded once she managed to regain her composure, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the hellfox suspiciously. Normally she would have just dismissed whatever a lowly sinner had to say, as if they had anything worth saying. But the conversation with her mother she spoke of, there should have been no way that she knew so much about it, not when it'd happened in the privacy of her home.
And yet she did…
"Their plan to get themselves out of the enormous amount of debt they're currently sunk in, of course."
"Debt?" Stella parroted. "What nonsense are you blathering about? My family is one of the wealthiest in all of Hell, there is absolutely no way we could be in debt."
"Is that so?" A golden chain emerged from Kushina's bag and zipped across the room to a filing cabinet before just as swiftly retracting with an enormous stack of paperwork. It then proceeded to drop all of them right in front of Stella who actually had to crane her neck a little just to see the top. "That's odd because these would beg to differ."
As the chain retracted it dislodged a single sheet of paper which fell onto the avian demoness's lap. Picking it up, she idly read it over curiously… only for her jaw to drop straight to the floor almost the instant she got through the first sentence.
Said paper was a bank statement, but not just any bank statement. It was one for her own personally bank account, as evident by her name, address, and other such information emblazoned across the top, along with a long list of purchases she had made in the last month.
The fact this woman had a copy of this was alarming enough considering that only her, her brother, and her parents should have any form of access to this information. However, that paled in comparison to her shock at seeing the long list of blood red numbers after every purchase, all the way down to her final balance.
'This isn't possible, it can't be!' According to the page she was not only broke but well over a million souls in the hole since last week. 'That doesn't make sense! I haven't been spending any more than usual and Andrealphus always makes sure to keep me set! So, where's all my money?!'
Tossing the paper aside, Stella grabbed several more from the stack to find more statements along with overdue bills, unpaid invoices, and even foreclosure notices. And every single one of them were listed for a different relative of hers, including her brother Andrealphus who was apparently even further in debt than she was. Digging further only met with the same results, family, friends, associates, almost every single demon in her social circle, all broke.
"I don't… this doesn't… but where could have… how could this… what?" The whitette mumbled out incoherently while frantically switching from one paper to another. Eventually she just shoved them all aside, scattering them across the room as she breathed heavily. "This has to be some kind of trick. You're lying. It's-"
*Click* [We must act fast, if we do not find a way to rectify this situation soon then we'll be left more destitute than imps] Stella's words died in her throat as the dreadfully familiar sound of her brother's voice rang out through the office. Turning to the source, she found a still smiling Kushina now holding a recorder up for the whitette to see.
"…How?"
"You see, one of the real reasons your family along with most of the other royal families have managed to stay in power for so long has been thanks to a series of important monopolies they've held. Sure, some like your husband hold important mystical knowledge and relics that are crucial to keeping things running smoothly, but for the rest it was all business," The Hellfox explained as she clasped her hands together. "Everything from the farms in Wrath that grow food to the toll booths needed to transport things between the different rings to even the factories and stores. All under the thumb of the royal families for centuries."
Getting up from her seat, Kushina strolled over to a cabinet in the corner, one of her chains slinking across the floor and turning Stella's chair to follow her.
"However, with long standing success inevitably comes complacency and then ignorance until most members of the royal family… well became you to put bluntly. Care for a drink?" She asked with a cheeky smirk as she opened the cabinet to reveal a vast assortment of liquors, wines, and spirits.
"What the hell do you mean 'became me'?" Stella demanded, finally managing to collect herself once her brain caught the perceived insult…
"Did you know your husband is currently twenty floors down trying to get back custody of your daughter?"
"What?" Only to be thrown for a loop yet again when Kushina asked her that question back. Blinking a few times, her eyes lit up in pure rage as she shot up from her seat once more. "You kidnapped my daughter!? I will fucking kill you bi-Mph!?"
In the blink of an eye several chains wrapped around the whitette when she tried to charge at the Hellfox, binding her arms, legs, and beak. She tried to break out of them, but her magic refused to work, and struggling just made them constrict tighter until she toppled over with a heavy thud.
"Easy to distract, quick to jump to conclusions, and incapable of impulse control. That's what I meant by they became like you," Kushina waved her hand as she spoke, causing her chains to hoist the bound demoness into the air while pouring herself a saucer of Sake. Ignoring the venomous glare Stella gave her as she kept struggling in vain, the vulpine lady casually made her way back to her desk and retook her seat. "Firstly, I didn't kidnap your daughter, your brother sold her to me yesterday."
"Mph!?" That caused the avian demoness to freeze, her eyes widening in disbelief as her bindings aside from the ones around her beak went slack and she was unceremoniously dropped back into her chair. Before she could even try anything again though, the redhead dropped a set of photos onto the desk right in front of her.
One showed her husband Stolas, a tall lanky owl demon with predominantly greyish blue feathers, four eyes, a long red cloak trimmed with white and black fluff, and a crown mixed with a top hat. The picture showed him talking with a demon, a cat like sinner she didn't recognize, inside a warehouse while handing over a suspicious duffle bag.
The second picture appeared to be the exact same scene at first glance aside from having an unusual blue tint. However, it didn't take her long to notice that 'Stolas' was translucent, faded, and in his place sat the familiar blue and white feathered visage of Stella's beloved brother Andrealphus.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions but we're on a bit of a tight schedule, so why don't I just lay it all out for you plainly," Kushina snapped her fingers, causing the lights to dim and a hidden projector to hum to life, playing across the wall behind the red furred vulpine. "To summarize a lot, thanks to some let's say creative business practices my company has grown quite rapidly since I started it. It was thanks to those same practices that your family, among many other royals, found themselves with noticeably less money going their way last year."
As she was talking, various images were displayed on the projection, mostly various shots of Whirlpool Co products and many demons using them. However, a few did include things like income reports and a few shots of different Goetia and other demonic royalty.
"It wasn't too much at the time, just enough to raise a few concerns and suspicions, though most of them just assumed another of the seventy-two houses was screwing them. So, they dismissed it as unimportant, made a few adjustments to balance things out, and carried on until things fixed themselves. And that's likely how it would have been, since even my little tricks couldn't get around the sheer monopoly you guys had. They owned practically the entire Wrath Ring after all so no matter what I always had to go through you guys in some way to keep things going."
"But," The projection changed, this time to show a series of different upper class demons, all of them signing a contract offered by a Succubus in a Whirlpool Co uniform. "It would seem that with great wealth comes great impatience as many of your fancy pancy noble friends just couldn't stand to wait a bit for things to get sorted. So, six months ago, they had the genius idea to sell off what they saw as worthless land for a quick infusion of cash."
"Unfortunately for them, but most fortunate for me, this supposed 'worthless land' happened to be in, you guessed it, Wrath. It was child's play from there to nip out the last few pesky cling-ons your little group had left, completely cutting them out of the equation," The projector showed more uniformed Succubus, this time taking to farmers who's land now bore the iconic spiral logo, sitting in toll booths, and other such things. It then turned off as the lights brightened and Kushina leaned forward with a smirk on her muzzle. "With their precious monopoly broken over half the royal families suddenly found their income dried up practically overnight. Naturally they assumed it was a mistake, kept spending, and expected things to sort out… but it didn't. And that all leads up to now."
With a flick of her wrist the chain around Stella's beak unbound, allowing her to speak again. However, for once the whitette had nothing to say, no scathing remark, no rebuttal, she just sat there silently absorbing what the former kunoichi was telling her.
"Your family was one of the hardest hit by all of this, and as it stands are about a week from being forced to declare total bankruptcy. Of course as you can imagine they'd rather die than have to publically admit they're broke, and due to a 'lower class demon' no less, so they concocted a little scheme of their own to get back on the top," There was a brief puff of smoke which quickly faded to reveal a whiteboard with a diagram and 'Your Family's fucked up idea' scrawled across the top. Raising a pointer, that was definitely not in her hand a second ago, Kushina gestured to a picture of a young four or five year old Owl demon girl.
"Step one, wait till you're watching your daughter Octavia then distract you with a fake job so they can kidnap and sell her for a quick infusion of cash unnoticed," She moved to a picture of an Owl demon that looked like a far more menacing version of Stolas which had the word Divorce written beside it. "Step two, they send Stolas on a wild goose chase to find Octavia, then frame him for selling her so his father Paimon agrees to a quick divorce and hefty settlement since they are still loaded. Speaking of which…"
The door opened as an imp rushed into the room, setting a new document on Kushina's desk, before bowing and rushing out.
"Ah, right on time, congratulations MISS Goetia, you're officially single again as of five minutes ago," Kushina said while slapping the document, an official divorce certification, onto the space she'd just been pointing. She then moved down to the second to last set, which showed her father talking to a grotesquely large demon who looked like some strange mix of fly and man. "Finally we reach Step three, which your parents are no doubt trying to get done as we speak, marrying you off to a rather wealthy demon down in Gluttony for a hefty price. You may have heard of him, his name is Beltran Chilean, otherwise known as-"
"THE BRIDE EATER!?" The windows of the office and the sake saucer in Kushina's hand shattered from the sheer force of Stella's horrified scream. All of the demoness's feathers puffed out at once, making her look nearly twice as large as she really was, while her pupils narrowed to narrow dots that were nearly impossible to see. Grabbing the sides of her head, her whole body started shaking as she began to hyperventilate, not that Kushina could blame her.
Beltran was one of the most infamous members of the royal households due to his rather unusual taste in meals. Specifically, his hobby of buying extremely beautiful women to get married to… and then eating them during the wedding. Just last month he'd 'married' an extremely gorgeous Succubus whom he had served as a stew after the ceremony.
"They're marrying me to the bride eater!? Why the fuck would they do that!? He'll fucking eat me-Ow!"
"That's what they're hoping for genius," Kushina stated with a shake of her head, digging a finger in her ear to stop the ringing while she had a chain bonk Stella's head. Thankfully the jolt seemed to knock some sense into her, at least enough that she stopped screaming so the redhead could continue. "Beltran was willing to pay top dollar for a royal bride to… enjoy, and with you gone all the money from the divorce settlement would go to your immediate family instead. Add in that your own debt would die with you then for all intents and purposes sweetie, you are simply more valuable dead than alive."
"But… but… but that's preposterous… I have… w-what of my brother? Andrealphus would never let me become some d-disgusting Glutton's lunch." The demonic bird woman stated after taking a few dep breaths, trying to regain some of her composure.
"Well you'd be right about that, your dear brother actually does intend to intervene," Kushina said with a nod, getting Stella to perk up a little. "Just not in any way you'll be happy about."
And right back to dread… "Do I even want to know what that's supposed to mean?"
"Probably not but I'll tell you anyway," The redhead stated while using pointer to gesture to the last slot on the whiteboard, labeled "Secret" Last Step, The Swap. On it was a set of three photos, one of Stella, one of another avian demon who looked a bit like her but with predominately green feathers and white undertone, and the last was a fancy bedroom surrounded by etheric golden bars, full of sex toys… and Stella chained to a bed? Before the whitette could wrap her head around that last part, Kushina tapped the second one to get her attention before she continued. "Recognize her?"
"She's my cousin Tolip, she died a couple of years ago in some stupid accident a decade ago. What about her?"
"Because she's not dead, not yet at least. Doesn't she just look delighted about it?" Kushina asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she peeled the third picture off the board and held it out for Stella to take.
Accepting it with trembling hands, the whitette still felt a mix of unnerved and confused at seeing herself caged up. The picture showed her laying on a fancy bed, bound to it by a blessed collar and chain around her neck, while dressed in expensive, and naturally very revealing, lingerie. And as noted before, there were a lot of different types of sexual aides laying about, from classic dildos to a studded wooden horse.
However, once she took a closer look it didn't take long for Stella to notice some things that were off about the "Stella" in the photo. Notably, her beak was far less pronounced and missing the pink coloration, some of her feathers had an incredibly faint greenish tint in various spots, and her crest flared sideways rather than downwards. The most distinctive difference though were the eyes, where instead of her normal round white pupils there were emerald irises with slit pupils that stared at her completely broken and lifeless.
"Quite the uncanny likeness, huh? Seems your brother has quite the knack for abduction as he Andrealphus kidnapped and faked poor Tolip's death so he could keep her in his personal 'play room' not long after your official wedding to Stolas. My guess is he figured since he couldn't have the real you all to himself, he'd just have to settle for a look-a-like. But then recent events came along and ol Andy saw an opportunity," It wasn't clear if Stella heard anything Kushina was saying as she just kept staring at the photograph with an ever-growing look of horrified realization. "Fun fact, he was the one who pitched this whole plan to you parents when the money ran dry in the first place, convinced them that you were just dragging them down with your reckless spending while neglecting to mention that he made sure you never knew that money was tight."
"N-no… he wouldn't…"
"When it came time for your quote 'wedding day', he plans to swoop in at the last minute and switch you with Tolip around under the guise of a rescue," The redhead continued as her whiteboard and pointer disappeared. "Of course you'd trust him, you always have after all, so by the time you realized something was up, that would really be you in that picture. The family gets out of debt and your beloved brother gets to have you all to himself like he's always wanted. Everyone wins, well except for you of course, you'd get to spend the rest of your life dealing with this."
With a snap of her fingers the projector came back to life, this time playing an actual video clip of…
[What's your name?] […S-Stella-ACK!?] [That's right, now take it! Take it like a good little sister!]
"Okay! Okay! Turn it off!" Stella pleaded, prompting Kushin to snap her fingers again, cutting the feed. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because, now that you know all of that…" Ripping the contract the avian demoness had given her to shreds, the hellfox burned the remaining bits and dropped their ashes into the trash. She then proceeded to pull out an entirely new contract from a drawer and laid it out before her guest. "We can get to some real business."
"…I'm listening."
-Meanwhile-
Whilst Stella began to negotiate with Kushina for real, twenty floors down Stolas and another Kushina could be found making their way down a hallway. The owl-like demon was noticeably on edge, constantly fidgeting with his hands and his feathers kept fluttering under a nonexistent breeze. He also looked a complete mess with his clothes all disheveled like he'd just slapped them on without a care.
"I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you what was happening sooner Stolas," The redhead beside him said as she gave him a supportive pat on the arm. "I wanted too but I couldn't risk it, if your in-laws overheard then they might have also found out that I had intercepted the real buyer and-"
"It's okay Kushina, I understand," Stolas cut in while sighing deeply as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Besides, the fault is as much my own, I was well aware that my extended family was in dire straits financially. I should have foreseen that they'd try something like this to get back on top again, I just never imagined they'd actually stoop so low. All that matters to me right now is that Octavia is okay… She is okay, right?"
"A little bit groggy from whatever your brother-in-law used to sedate her but otherwise fine last I checked," Kushina stated, getting Stolas to sigh once more, this time in relief. "I told her that she fell asleep when you were bringing her over for another playdate with Naruto and Loona."
"Thank you." The prince nodded his head in appreciation at that, he didn't even want to imagine how traumatizing this situation could have been for his daughter. Better to let her remain blissfully ignorant of the danger she'd been in, at least until she was old enough to understand.
"No problem, anything to help out a friend and business partner," The demonic fox said while she patted his arm again before folding hers behind her back with a sly smirk. "Speaking of which, we no longer need to keep our dealings under the table anymore, do we?"
Now that got Stolas to perk up a little as a tiny vindictive grin appeared on his lips for a few seconds. "I do believe you are correct Kushina."
That's right, he and Kushina had been doing business together for quite some time now, roughly five months to be exact. It had all started shortly after the kunoichi turned businesswoman had gone around buying up land in Wrath. Unlike his fellow royalty, who focused mostly on blaming each other for the sudden loss in profits they suffered from, he had actually bothered looking outside their usual social circles for a cause.
Thanks to that he was able to find that those who were getting hit the hardest were those that recently sold land. What was more impressive was that, despite her using various third parties (Read: disguised clones) to buy said land, Stolas had somehow managed to track them all back to Kushina. However, rather than report his findings to the rest of his family, the Goetia prince had opted to confront her himself.
But much to the redhead's pleasant surprise, he did not try to coerce or convince her into giving the land back. Instead, he'd pitched a deal, offering his knowledge and services in the vast arts of demonic mysticism in return for a set percentage of Whirlpool Co's income.
His reasoning? He'd seen how fast the numbers were dropping in the Goetia bank accounts and knew there was only so much time until his own finances were at risk. But he also knew that it was unlikely that anybody in his family would take him seriously if he said that a Sinner was responsible for their misfortune until it was too late.
He couldn't risk that, not with a daughter to care for and way too many potential enemies just waiting for a moment of weakness to get him. So, he did what none of them were able to do… he sucked up his pride and did what he needed to do, even if it meant sucking up to a 'lower class'. Fortunately for him, Kushina was not only willing to listen but respected his choices which made things much easier.
In the end she agreed to the deal on two added conditions, the first being that he bring Octavia over on occasion to have playdates with her own children, which he easily agreed too.
The second, and more serious, requirement was that he'd keep their deal under wraps until the time came and then legally disavow himself from the Goetia. Admittedly, that wasn't a particularly hard choice for him either considering he was already considered a social outcast amongst his peers, even his own father. And recent events had only served to destroy any hesitations he might've had left about severing those ties.
"How long to make it official?" He asked, causing Kushina's smirk to grow even bigger.
"I can have workers over within the hour, give me two, three days tops to get all the new bells and whistles set up."
"Good, then-" Stolas started to say, only to cut himself off when a loud squeal echoed through the hallway. "Octavia!"
Without hesitation the owl demon bolted towards the source, zooming down the rest of the corridor in the blink of an eye, where a large set of heavy-duty double doors stood in his path.
They didn't stay standing for long though as a single snap of Stolas's finger instantly reduced them to worthless piles of splinters as he rushed by…
Only to stop cold when he found himself in a large colorfully painted indoor playground filled with toys, a ball pit, three story climbing playset with dozens of plastic tunnels, and other such things.
"Haha! Looks like I caught the birdie!"
"Hehehe! Stop it! That tickles! Hehehe!" However, his attention was solely focused on his little girl, who was giggling like crazy as she was held up by a female fox-like demon who wasn't Kushina.
Like the redhead she had digitigrade legs, large fluffy ears, and snout, however her fur was predominately yellow with pink strips and black around her arms and legs in a drip like pattern. She also appeared to be part bee, with two sets of arms, a pair of antennae atop her ears, and small bug wings on her back. However, that was nothing compared to her hair, tail, and stomach, all three of which appeared to be made out of some kind of honey that floated in the air while constantly changing colors alongside a bang of colorful flames between her ears.
She had a big grin on her face as she mercilessly tickled the little owlet in her grasp, laughing as she made her squeal uncontrollably.
"Oh well, well, look who's finally here." Her cheerful mood didn't falter for even a second after noticing the new arrival, though she did stop her 'assault'.
Once she could stop laughing and caught her breath, Octavia followed the foxy demon's gaze curiously before smiling brightly upon seeing her father standing by the doorway. "Daddy!"
That cry snapped Stolas out of his stupor and he wasted no time hurrying over to his little girl when the other demoness set her down. The little owl demon's feet barely had touched the floor before she was scooped up into the prince's arms.
"Oh, my sweet owlet, you have no idea how happy I am to see you right now," He mumbled as he hugged her tightly with tears welling up in his eyes. However, he quickly wiped them away before she could see them and looked her over in concern. "How are you doing? Are you alright?"
"Uh huh, it's been super fun!" Octavia nodded rapidly with a big smile on her lips while waving her arms around excitedly. "Ms. Uzumaki was really nice like always and Naru was super fun and Loona kept saying I smell fun! I was feeling really sleepy at first then Ms. Bee showed up and gave me this yummy drink and now we're playing hide and seek!"
"Ah, I see, I see." While he should have been concerned about the obvious sugar high his daughter was in, Stolas was simply too happy to be holding his daughter again to care. So, he just let her ramble on, not minding when she accidentally wacked his face with an arm as she tried to mime out everything she'd been doing.
Nor did he pay any mind as the now named Bee walked past him and towards the destroyed doorway, where Kushina could be found talking to Loona. The young hellhound had an uncharacteristic smile as she whispered something while pointing to the multi-armed fox, causing her adoptive mother to burst into giggles. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to fill me in on what's so funny now, would you Kushy?"
"Oh nothing much, Loona was just telling me that you were playing hide and seek. Apparently my little maelstrom is the only one you haven't found yet Beelze." The redhead said between snickers while Loona tried, and failed, to hold back a fit of giggles.
"Yeah, well that tyke has always been a tricky one, something he got from you no doubt," Bee retorted, shooting Kushina a faux accusatory glare at that last part which made her fellow fox hold her hands up in equally mock surrender. "But make no mistake, I'm not one of the seven sins for nothing. I'll be on his tail in no… time…"
The bee-like fox trailed off at the end as her brow rose when Kushina and Loona started laughing even harder for some reason. In fact, the latter actually fell over and literally started rolling on the floor whilst the former leaned against the broken doorframe.
"Okay seriously, what's so funny?"
"Forget his… tail…. You should check… yours!" Loona barely managed to get out between fits of giggles, making Bee's eyebrow rise even higher.
"Check my tail? The hell is that supposed to…" Yet again the blonde pinkette trailed off, this time as she looked over her shoulder curiously, only to blink in surprise when she noticed a little tube peeking out of her tail. Following it down with her eyes, she quickly discovered that said tube was actually a snorkel, a snorkel that was currently being used by a certain whisker faced blonde child who was floating inside her honey like appendage wearing goggles.
There was a moment of silence, aside from the mother and daughter's still raucous laughing, as Bee and Naruto just stared at each-other for a few moments. Eventually the littler blonde waved his hand with what seemed like a sheepish smile, it was hard to tell with the snorkel in his mouth.
…
"…heh …hehehe… hehehahaHAHAHA!" It started out small, a light snicker here, a few giggles there, but it didn't take long until the dam burst, and Bee laughed her ass off. She cupped her gut with her lower arms as she doubled over a bit before willing her tail to curl around to her front so she could grab the boy inside with her free hands. The honey-like substance sloughed off of him amazingly easy, leaving him completely dry after she fished him out.
"Aw man," Spitting out the snorkel once he was completely exposed, Naruto pouted and lifted his goggles so he could glower at Loona. "Why'd you have to rat me out sis? I was gonna win."
Naturally he didn't get a response, considering the hellhound in question was still laughing herself silly, which only made him pout more while his cheeks puffed out cutely.
"Don't be mad little party dude, I'd say you still won since I didn't find you by myself," His little pouting fest didn't last for long though as he was soon broken from his thoughts by Bee ruffling his hair once she got her laughter under control. "And you know what that means, right?"
"We fly!" The blonde cheered excitedly, eyes sparkling in joy as Bee gently tossed him up in the air, quickly spinning around so he landed on her back. He wrapped his arms around her neck while she hooked his legs with her lower arms while her free hands conjured up a candy rope to help hold him in place.
"That's right! Now hold on tight birthday boy, we're going for a ride!" The honey haired demoness declared, her wings fluttering blindingly fast with a soft buzzing before she shot into the air. Squeals of joy rang out as the duo zoomed around the room at blindingly fast speed, turning into naught but a speeding multicolored blur.
"Did I hear right? It's your son's birthday?" Back on the ground, Stolas walked over to Kushina with Octavia still in his arms. The older owl demon seemed much calmer now, his ruffled feathers smoothed back down and his attire straightened out.
"Yup, Naru turns five today. That's why you brought Octavia over to visit today, remember?" Kushina said, idly wiping a tear from her eye once her laughter petered out into a light giggle.
"Yeah! Birthday party! Birthday party!" Octavia cheered in her father's arms, clapping excitedly.
"Oh… Oh! Right, my apologies, it slipped my mind," The soon to be former royalty said quickly with a nod once he caught what the redhead was doing. "You'll have to forgive me, I left his present at home."
"Don't worry about it Stolas, you can always give it to him later. Besides, I don't think he'll be too worried about it anyway." Kushina waved off his apology as she smiled, her eyes pointedly drifting upwards to see Bee and Naruto now causally drifting by. The bee-like demon was laying in the air back down like she was floating in a pool while Naruto sat on her glowing belly snacking on the candy rope.
Her gaze then dropped down when a light growling reached her ears to find that Loona had stopped laughing, her amusement replaced with annoyance. It was subtle, to most it'd look like she was just watching but Kushina could see how the young hellhound's claws dug into the floor ever so lightly and the light tug of her lips. All in all, there was only one conclusion to be made in the mother's mind.
'Awww, I think somebody's jealous~'
"If you say so, though still, after all you've done for us, I could have at least remembered a gift," Stolas said, muttering the last part more to himself than Kushina, as he hugged his daughter just a little bit closer. Noticing the confused look she was starting to give him though, the older owl demon cleared his throat. "So is it safe to assume you've got more planned for today than just having the Sin of Gluttony pop in for a bit of hide and seek?"
"Yes, yes it is, we just gotta wait for a couple more people to show up first." The hellfox said while gently scratching her hellhound daughter's scalp to calm her down.
Almost as if summoned, there was a series of loud rapid steps before Charlie rushed in through the destroyed doorway with a comically large present in her arms.
"Sorry… didn't mean… whew… to take so long…" The princess of hell wheezed out between gasps for breath, setting the gift down so she could lean on it for support as she caught her breath. She conjured up a hanky to wipe the sweat that was all but pouring from her brow while two small demons, her personal protectors Razzle and Dazzle, fluttered around her with little hand fans to cool her off. "This place has too many stairs."
"Why didn't you just take the elevator then?" Kushina asked with a raised brow, jabbing her thumb at a seemingly plain uninteresting wall as she spoke. However, not even second later the "plain wall' started to ripple like water then fade away to reveal intrinsically designed elevator doors that slid open to reveal a bemused Vaggie, wearing a cheesy party hat and carrying a water bottle, and Lilith, who like her daughter was burdened by a very large present.
"…Oh right… I forgot about the elevator…" Charlie muttered sheepishly, awkwardly waving to her girlfriend as the greyette joined her, graciously accepting the water she offered her. "Maybe I shouldn't have run ahead like that, huh?"
"You wouldn't be you if you didn't hon." Was all Vaggie said as she patted the blonde's shoulder supportively.
"I figured you were just trying to get your daily steps in," Lilith stated jokingly while stacking her gift atop her daughter's, causing the younger blonde's red cheeks to glow a little in embarrassment.
Fortunately, that was the only teasing she had to deal with as everyone's attention was drawn back to the wall as the elevator appeared again. This time though it was Stella and another Kushina to walk out, with the former looking an unusual mix of disgruntled and angry yet resigned and accepting. The white-feathered demon had also changed attire, her large puffy royal gown replaced with a more casual yet still quite exotic looking black and white dress which bore a small red spiral above the heart.
There was a flare of tension when Stolas and Stella's eyes met, the prince's gaze hardening as he moved Octavia behind him protectively while his now Ex-wife flinched and stared at the floor. He didn't blame her for what her family planned, she was just as much a victim of their schemes as Octavia was after all.
But that didn't mean he wasn't steamed that she didn't even notice their daughter had gone missing for over a day when she was supposed to be watching her.
"And that's my que." The Kushina with Charlie, Lilith, Loona, Stolas, Octavia, and Vaggie said before she disappeared into a puff of smoke, revealing herself to be a clone. Meanwhile, the newly arrived Kushina giggled before bringing her fingers to her lips and whistling loudly, causing Bee to stop in mid-air.
"Ah, looks like it's time for the party little dude," The fox-like demon said, cupping all four arms around Naruto as she dropped to the floor. At the same time, the rest of the group made their way over, Charlie and Lilith working together to move their gifts with some help from Razzle and Dazzle. "Took you long enough, I was starting to think all those preparations were for nothing."
"Lady Beelzebub?" Stella muttered in surprise upon seeing THE sin of Gluttony herself, and playing babysitter at that.
"Oh how you wound me Bee, after all the parties we've had together you'd really think I'd leave you hanging like that?" Kushina asked in a mock hurt voice, dramatically grasping her chest as if she'd been struck.
"Well there was that one time last year when-"
"Hey! That one was your fault for spiking the wrong punch."
"…Eh, touché." The bee-fox conceded with a shrug… before blinking when she noticed her arms were empty.
"Whoa…" Stella flinched when her vision was filled with Naruto's upside down face. The blonde had somehow gotten on her shoulders without her noticing, his hands resting on her head as he peeked over at her curiously. "You're so cool! What's your name? Are you friends with Via-chan? Can you fly? Do all birdy people get so tall? Can I pet you?"
"I-ah-where-that-huh?" The words seemed to get stuck in the regal demoness's mouth, her brain struggling to keep up with the hyper boy.
"Alright sweetie, that's enough of that." Thankfully Kushina came to her rescue, grabbing Naruto around the waist and prying him off Stella.
"Awww… but I wanna talk with the pretty bird lady more…" He pouted as he was pulled away, making his mother snicker as she glanced at the still baffled whitette.
"You can talk to the pretty bird later, sweetheart," The redhead said, a distinct teasing tone in her voice that passed over her son's head, while ruffling his hair with her tail. He was still pouting even as she set him down beside his sister, who immediately helped him climb onto her back while still glowering at a certain honey-haired Sin. "As Bee said, we got a party to get to. Everyone ready?"
"Yes. Now stop stalling." Vaggie stated dryly while everyone else nodded, or in Octavia, Charlie, and Bee's cases cheered.
"Alright, alright, kill my fun why don't you." Rolling her eyes in amusement, Kushina held up a hand as it was engulfed in an etheric white-blue fire. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the vulpine demon flung the flames into the air towards the center of the room where they rapidly expanded.
The mystical fire started to spin, twisting around faster and faster until it formed a fiery disk that shimmered strangely in the center.
"Come on then." Kushina said, taking Loona's hand before they stepped through the newly created portal together.
"Oh, I wonder where we're going!" Charlie exclaimed before hopping through after them, gifts in tow, missing the knowing looks on Vaggie and Lilith's face as they followed after the excited blonde.
"Only one way to find-"
"Enough quips! Let's fucking go already!" Bee cut Stolas off as she grabbed him and Stella and dragged them through the flaming disk.
-XxXxX-
"Whoooa!" Charlie's eyes were literally sparkling upon coming out the other side of the portal to find herself on a gorgeous beach. The sand was perfectly smooth and stretched far in both directions, calm ocean with gentle waves slowly splashing across the shore, and a lush jungle forest full of life.
There was also a lovely beach house nearby which had the Uzumaki spiral proudly painted on a sign hanging above the front door. Meanwhile, around the house had been decorated with tiki torches, tables with snacks and drinks, lots of balloons, and a big banner reading [Happy 5th Birthday Naruto!].
What got her attention the most though was the sun that shone brightly in the sky, feeling so warm yet oddly gentle on the demoness's pale skin. "We're having the party on Earth? Awesome!"
"Surprise." Vaggie said while patting Charlie's shoulder, smiling at her girlfriend's genuine excitement.
"Oh, this is great! I've been wanting to come up and-wait," The bubbly blonde started to say as she hopped in place, only to suddenly freeze midsentence with her eyes widening in realization. Dropping her gift, which was thankfully caught by Razzle and Dazzle before it hit the sand, she whirled around to face her one-eyed girlfriend. "How are you on earth? Sinners can't leave the Pride ring, let alone Hell."
"Yeah, well you can thank Kushina for that." As she spoke Vaggie blushed a little and glanced at the rest of their group to make sure no one was looking. Fortunately, they were all preoccupied already, Kushina and Stolas gone over to the water's edge where Naruto and Octavia were happily splashing in the shallow water, Loona had somehow gotten herself caught in Bee's arm as the Sin, Lilith, and Stella chatted at the punch table.
With the coast clear, the moth-like girl grabbed the hem of her shirt before slowly lifting it up just enough to reveal her lower belly. This also revealed a little black spiral surrounded by tiny kanji too small to read which was set just beneath her belly button.
Or to put in layman's terms, Vaggie had a womb tat.
"Oooh, that's so cool," Vaggie's cheeks grew even redder as Charlie knelt to get a closer look, holding back a shiver when the princess poked at the seal. "I've got to get her to teach me how these work one of these days."
"How about next week then?"
"EEP!?" "Gak!"
Both girls jumped in surprise when Kushina spoke right beside them, causing Charlie to accidentally tackle her girlfriend when she tried to stand up too fast. The hellfox had a big 'cat that ate the canary' grin as she stood over the pair as they struggled to get untangled in the sand. "Having fun already, you two?"
"Oh just a blast, I love having sand in my panties." Vaggie grumbled sarcastically once she and Charlie managed to get untangled, dusting themselves off the best she could while clambering back to their feet.
"Well then," Kushina's grin widened, causing a sense of dread to wash over the greynette. "In that case… how about a wash?"
"Wha-ah!?" Vaggie had no time to react before she was suddenly doused in sea water from behind. Spinning around, she found the culprits to be Naruto and Loona, both armed with big water guns and dressed in swimsuits.
"Gotcha aunty Vaginy!" The whiskered boy declared with a grin, causing his sister to double over in laughter.
"Oh why you little..." The demoness didn't know when the water gun was handed to her or who gave it to her. Nor did she particularly care anymore about her new 'tattoo' being exposed as she ripped her drenched clothes off to reveal a black Bikini underneath. All she cared about was shooting it at the laughing duo as she chased after them. "Get back here! I told you brats not to call me that!"
"Hey! Wait for me!" Charlie called out after them, using her magic to quickly change into a red and white polka dot swimsuit.
"Hehehe… oh to be young and in love…" Kushina muttered, sighing nostalgically while watching her children and their godmothers run all over the beach. Water went flying everywhere as Naruto rode on Loona's shoulders so he could shoot at Vaggie and Charlie while she kept running.
The ladies weren't taking that laying down though as Vaggie fired back with amazing accuracy, repeatedly nailing both kids despite their best efforts. Charlie on the other hand opted for throwing water balloons she got from Bee with… not so successful results.
*Sploosh* "Charlie!" "Whoops! Sorry Vaggie!" Well unless you call hitting everyone and everything but the ones she was aiming for successful. And before long Octavia and Stolas got dragged into the mess, courtesy of a stray shot blasting the former right in the face. So the father-daughter duo retaliated by making it rain water balloons everywhere as they laughed.
'Now if only Vaggie could just tell Charlie the truth…'
-XxXxX-
"And so I was like 'You're asking me to throw a party for a six year old?' and Kushy just says 'That's right' with a totally straight face. Honestly I thought she was pulling at first but nope, she legit wanted me to throw a kids party," Bee said with a laugh as she, Stella, and Lilith sat together at a table. The gluttonous demon pounded her fist on the table while she drank from a huge coconut drink with a super long crazy straw. "So of course I was like 'sorry but I don't do kiddy parties, maybe when your girl is a bit older' but she just did not take no for an answer. So you know what she does? She challenges me to a drinking contest! Me! Says if I lose then I have to do the party and if she loses she'd clean up after my parties for a year. I could not believe the fucking balls on her."
"I'm guessing you lost then?" Stella asked curiously, biting back her displeasure at the Sin's manners (or lack there of) as she hoped to learn more about her… new employer.
"Honestly we have no idea who won," Bee admitted with a chuckle. "We drank nonstop for a week straight, then the next thing I know we're waking up in my house covered in barf and one hell of a hangover. I couldn't believe it, that chick managed to get me, me of all people, black out drunk! I have never gotten black out drunk before!"
"So she agreed to throw the party and now here we are, five years later and she's helped with every one of Naruto and Loona's birthdays." Lilith finished for Bee as the fox-like demon burst into laughter again.
"Fuck yeah! She may not look it but that gal can fucking party."
"That does sound… impressive," The white feathered avian muttered with a nod, sliding a bit away to avoid getting slashed as booze sloshed out of Bee's cup. "And you said she owns this island? How? I doubt humans accept hell money."
"Oh you would be surprised what people will take as payment, but yeah," Calming down, Bee took another sip from her drink, only to frown when she found it empty. It wasn't a problem for long though as she tossed it aside and conjured up a fresh one before continuing. "She simply started up business up here as well and things kind of worked out better than planned. See, the plan was to start off selling hooch like before but then she found this really shitty pizza slash robotics company called Aftty… Afron… AFK? Eh, something like that, anyway she found them and just did a hostile takeover, emphasis on hostile."
"Meaning…?"
"She killed the entire board of directors, replaced them with clones of herself, had them 'officially' hire her, rose up through 'rapid promotion', then finally declared the new owner before they 'retired'." Lilith explained while sipping at a glass of wine. "Good riddance to bad rubbish if you ask me, total bastards."
"I helped, mostly with disposing the bodies." Bee added while idly picking at her teeth with one of her claws.
'…I'm not touching that one.' Stella thought, shaking her head at the implications of how the Sin of Gluttony 'disposed' of people. She had enough nightmare fuel to last the next couple of centuries as it was. "What about Heaven? Should we not be worried about them taking exception to such… extensive demonic presence in the living world?"
"Ha! Are you kidding? Those cloud loving goody goodies should be thanking us for this," Reaching behind her back, Bee pulled out a thick stack of papers from… somewhere and dropped it in front of the royal bird. "This right here is just the short list of bullshit those fucks were doing before Kushy took over."
Staring at the documents, Stella could not deny that she was curious about what could be so bad that Heaven might excuse a Sin on Earth. But another part of her was screaming at her that she really REALLY didn't want to know, especially considering how the last few piles of paperwork she'd gone through had gone.
However, in the end the bird demon grabbed the stack once her curiosity won out and she skimmed over the first page.
"Oh…" She flipped to the next page. "Oh my…" Her eyes widened as she went to another page. "The fuck?" Her jaw dropped in disbelief, flipping through page after page until she finally reached the end. "What the fuck? How did these guys get away with all this shit for so long?"
"Bribes, intimidation, blackmail, the perks of being rich and well connected, all they had to do was throw enough money at the problems till they went away," Lilith stated, with Stella nodding in understanding. "Anyway, after gutting out the old management, and most of the staff, Kushina cleaned house, got rid of all that shit they were doing for good, fixed the messes, performed a few exorcisms for good measure. She'd only just started turning a real profit a few months ago."
"Yep, thanks to one of the few good things in that scrap heap left us to work with," Bee said with a snort, before grinning brightly when she noticed the door to the Beach house swing open and someone stepping out. "And speak of the devil, it's about time you stopped hiding in there! Get out here girl!"
Following the Sin's gaze, Lilith and Stella saw a tall anthropomorphic wolf lady with fluffy grey fur, long silver hair with a dyed green bang, matching tail, bright golden eyes, and distinctive black markings on her cheeks. Looking about her early twenties, she wore a punk rock themed yet modest two-piece swimsuit that was mostly black with spiky red patches. She had studded punk bracelets on each wrist with matching collar, and two earrings in each ear, a stud and hoop each with purple on one ear and black on the other.
In her arms was a fancy silver tray with a matching lid that she took extra care not to jostle around as she closed the door behind her.
Peering around, the canine gal seemed to be nervous for some reason before slowly walking out, making a beeline straight for the trio.
"I'm sorry ma'am," She mumbled while setting the tray down between them and nervously scratching her cheek. "I just couldn't decide what to wear. I didn't mean to-"
"None of that ma'am stuff, it's Bee. And stop worrying so much, you look fantastic Roxy. Now come on, take a seat, have some fun. This is a party after all." Bee cut Roxy off, literally pulling her into a chair while shoving a drink and a wad of cotton candy into her hands.
"Alright… Bee, uh, if you say so," The wolf lady muttered, taking a hesitant sip of the beverage she'd been given, before perking up when the taste hit her tongue. "Wow, this is what booze tastes like? It's amazing. No wonder people drink it so much."
"Just wait till I get you some of my personal brews, they will blow your mind,' The bee-fox stated with a grin as she draped an arm over the new girl's shoulders. "Oh, and you have got to try Kushy's homemade red bean soup, that stuff is to die for."
Nodding, Roxy seemed like she was about to say something, only to be interrupted by a slender hand that was offered to her, curtesy of Lillith. "You must be Roxanne Wolf. I don't believe we've met in person yet, I'm Lilith, Lilith Morningstar."
"That's right, though I prefer to go by Roxy," The punk canine said with a smile, accepting the handshake, before turning to Stella. "And you are?"
"…Stella, it's a… pleasure," One could literally hear the bird struggling to keep herself polite as she shook Roxy's hand, a fake smile on her lips which unnerved Roxy.
Pulling her arm back, she couldn't help but scooch away from the former royalty a bit, at least until she was yet again pulled into a hug by a certain Sin.
"Don't mind her, she's just getting used to not having this up her ass anymore," Bee said jokingly, playfully holding up an actual ten-foot pole that she jabbed against Stella's tail feathers, making the whitette fall out of her seat with an indignant squawk. Waiting for her to climb back up, the honey haired demoness ruffled the canine's hair before popping Stella on the head. "And you be nice, Roxy just got done being remodeled and she's feeling a little self-conscious."
"I didn't even say… what do you mean by remodeled? How do you remodel a hellhound?"
"Who ever said she's a hellhound?" Bee gently elbowed Roxy's side as she spoke, giving her a knowing look that made the silver haired wolf sigh.
Opening her jaws wide, Roxy reached in with a thumb and pressed against the roof mouth until there was a soft clicking noise. This was followed by her eyes flashing several different colors before her nose popped out with a hiss and split in two, exposing a USB slot underneath.
'Oh… she's a robot.' Stella thought, slowly nodding her head as the light bulb lit up in her head, plus Bee holding up a picture next to Roxanne of what she assumed was what the wolf woman used to look like. Whereas now she was effectively indistinguishable from a Hellhound, or other such bipedal canine, the picture depicted her as similar looking but blatantly robotic.
"Like I said, this cutie here was one of the few good things that came out of that retched dumpster fire of a company. I mean just look at that face," The gluttony demon cupped the revealed robo-wolf girl's cheeks, squishing them together while closing her nose back up for her. Her words caused Roxanne to flush in embarrassment, and she tried to wiggle free of Bee's grasp. However she was simply no match for the demon's raw natural strength "Of course we had to get her fixed up first, poor thing was all beat up and had one nasty little virus when we found her. Absolutely deplorably what they made her-mph mmm pht."
Whatever else Bee was gonna say would be left unheard thanks to Lilith, who pinched the Sin's lips shut before prying poor Roxy free.
"Ahem, and if I heard right, Kushina has made you the new head mascot and namesake for her restaurants, isn't that correct?" She asked in a clear attempt to change the subject, noticing the guilt and sadness flashing across the silverette's face. Something Bee seemed to finally pick up on once Lilith got her to stop talking and quietly sank back in her seat once her lips were released.
"Yes, that's right," Thankfully Roxy was quick to cheer up, smiling softly as she took another sip of her drink. "Ms. Uzumaki felt it was best to rebrand after… well everything and asked me if I'd like to take on the role."
"…Why would she as-"
"Because she is my employee, not my slave, I will not force her to do something she's uncomfortable with," Kushina stated before Stella could even finish her question as she took a seat with the group, squeezing in-between Lilith and Roxanne. Giving the wolf woman in question a pat on the shoulder once she got comfy, the kunoichi turned businesswoman smiled before turning her attention to the silver tray. She carefully lifted the lid just enough to get a peek of what was underneath, her smile growing as she set it back down and gave Roxy another pat. "Speaking of which, thank you for helping with today but are you sure you're okay? I know you're still adjusting and all that."
"It is no problem Ms. Uzumaki, honest." The silverette waved off the concern with a smile of her own.
"Alright, then if everyone's ready…" Bringing her hand to her lips, Kushina whistled loudly causing the water fight at the beach to come to an abrupt stop. Naruto froze in the middle of reloading with Loona acting as cover armed with a bucket and balloons. Charlie fell flat on her face from trying to stop mid-run while Vaggie just managed save herself from a similar fate. The most amusing was Stolas who, due to freezing in place, ended up getting nailed right in the face by a torrent of water curtesy of his daughter. "Come on everybody, it's time to cut the cake!"
"""CAKE!""" And just like that everyone was moving again as the little ones, and Charlie, all dropped their 'weapons' in favor of rushing to the table while the adults followed more sedately.
It didn't take long for everyone to find their seats aside from a slight hiccup where Octavia wanted to sit with her mother. Stolas was naturally reluctant for obvious reasons but didn't say anything so as to not cause a scene, though he made sure to keep both of them in his line of sight at all times.
And of course the birthday boy himself was put into the seat of honor, otherwise known as Kushina's lap, shaking with excitement as Roxanne started to raise the tray's lid. At the same time, the sun started to dip beneath the horizon, casting the whole party in a brilliant array of gold, orange, and red light.
~Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~
Naruto's face lit up when everyone, even Loona, started to sing together once the cake was revealed. Said dessert was a beautiful four-tiered cake decorated to look like the ocean depths with little fish, crabs, and other such sea life drawn in the frosting of the top three tiers while the bottom was covered in candy seaweed and brown sugar crystals that mimicked sand. And the very top was stylized to look like a whirlpool with a frosting boat that had five lit candles for masts.
~Happy Birthday dear Naruto~ ~Happy birthday to you~
"Make a wish sweetie." Kushina whispered into Naruto's ear before lifting him up so he was level with the top of the cake.
Still shaking at first, Naruto suddenly went totally still in his mother's arms and closed his eyes with his face scrunched up in thought. After a few moments he opened his eyes back up and blew out the candles while everyone cheered and applauded.
"Whoo! Go little party dude!" Bee exclaimed, poking the cake as she spoke, causing it to be briefly enveloped in a flurry of golden smoke before it grew to the size of a minivan. "Now let's dig in! Who's got the knife?"
"That'd be me." An amused Lilith said, holding up said knife while Roxanne prepped the timer on a camera and Vaggie held plates which everyone started trying to grab one of.
"Oh! Can I get part of the boat? Please daddy?"
"Easy now Octavia, wait your turn."
"I call dibs on that octopus."
"This looks so good."
"Excuse me but what exactly is in this cake?
"Well, it's a mix of…"
Whilst everyone was so caught up in getting their own plates none of them noticed as Naruto slipped off his mother's lap and tugged on Loona's arm. Once he had her attention he whispered something into her ear that caused the young hellhound's face to split with a smile before nodding and motioning for Naruto to climb on her back.
"Okay, okay, everyone calm down," Kushina called out with an eyeroll as she clapped her hands together, getting all the bickering to fall silent. "We all know how this works. It's Naruto's birthday so he gets the first-"
"Cannonball!/Geronimo!" Naruto and Loona declared at the same time as the latter jumped as high as she could into the air and landed right in the middle of the whirlpool of the birthday cake with a loud *Splat*, sending frosting and sweets flying everywhere.
"…Cut." The redheaded hellfox finished lamely, a dull look on her face as half a frosting clownfish slowly dripped off her head. Sighing, she and everyone else turned to look at her children who were laughing while throwing bits of cake at each other. They both froze though once they felt her gaze and ducked into the frosting till only the top of their heads were visible. "Who's idea was that?"
Naruto's hand slowly rose up.
"Why?"
"It was my birthday wish?" He mumbled softly, earning a few laughs, mostly from Bee and Charlie.
"Well then, I guess there's only one thing to do in that case." Scooping up the goopy fish on her head, Kushina stared at the two mischief makers with a dead serious expression…
*Spl-splat* "Gah!" "Wha!"
…And promptly hit them both right in the face with handfuls of frosting, blinding them.
Reacting the fastest, Loona quickly wiped the sugary goo off her face, only to quickly look up upon noticing a shadow descending upon her.
*Flash*
A picture of Naruto and Loona in the cake is laid out, the former still wiping frosting off his face while the latter stares upward with wide eyes. The cause of this would be due to Kushina, Bee, Lilith, Charlie, and Octavia, who were all poised in various diving forms as they fell towards the giant cake.
In the background Stella had a comically shocked look as Stolas smashed a large piece of cake into the side of her head. Meanwhile, Roxanne and Vaggie were just standing off to the side, the former covered in so much cake only her eyes and tail were visible while the latter just had a few bits of frosting in her hair as she ate a piece of cake with a look that just screamed 'here we go again'.
-End of Chapter-
Omake: Whirlpool Kombat [Stella vs Bee]
Bee smirked as she floated through the air laying on her back with a large burrito in hand. "You really think you can party with the big girls already?"
A scowl marred Stella's lips as she gracefully strolled into view with clenched fists enveloped by demonic flames. "I shall show you the strength of demon from royal blood."
"Girl you need to chill the fuck out." Bee stated, finishing off the rest of her snack as she landed and stretched.
[Fight!]
{Vote to Win}
Omake 2: Maid to Serve
"…Oh right… I forgot about the elevator…" Charlie muttered sheepishly, awkwardly waving to her girlfriend as the greyette joined her, graciously accepting the water she offered her. "Maybe I shouldn't have run ahead like that, huh?"
"You wouldn't be you if you didn't hon." Was all Vaggie said as she patted the blonde's shoulder supportively.
"I figured you were just trying to get your daily steps in," Lilith stated jokingly while stacking her gift atop her daughter's, causing the younger blonde's red cheeks to glow a little in embarrassment.
Fortunately, that was the only teasing she had to deal with as everyone's attention was drawn back to the wall as the elevator appeared again. This time though it was Stella and another Kushina to walk out, with the former looking an unusual mix of disgruntled and angry yet resigned and accepting. The white-feathered demon had also changed attire, her large puffy royal gown replaced with a very sensual French Maid outfit that quite frankly left nothing to the imagination.
"Oh Naru, say hello to your new personal maid~" Kushina called out in a sing-song tone, patting Stella's shoulder as the former royal dropped her head in embarrassment.
'Maybe getting eaten wouldn't have been so bad after all…'
-End-