Hi. Forgot to post this for like a week lol. The document manager on this site is a total pain to use.
(Edit: Fixed a few formatting and typo issues I noticed now that it's not 2 AM, please ignore this update if you already read it yesterday.)

~,,––,,^^-

Naruto

We were walking through the first floor hallway on our way to the stairs when I laid eyes on a large poster advertising the Kendo club to new students. I had been walking slightly behind the other two, swiveling my head around and taking in the sights and colors on the walls as I wasn't used to 'modern' school life yet.

There were a bunch of other club posters on the walls alongside it as well, the clubs seemingly having just started up on the recruitment drive, but the Kendo one caught my eye in that it was basically just a full size artist's rendition of a traditionally robed samurai, with a little box underneath it giving instructions on how to join.

I stopped and took a moment to admire the art, mentally comparing it to what I remember of the samurai back home. Honestly, I only had experience with them in full armor, so it was mostly just me liking the art and thinking the style looked cool.

Koneko had turned her head to glance at me the moment I'd stopped walking and stopped walking herself, so that's another point to my theory of enhanced hearing. She must have noticed three sets of steps became two. Her stopping caused Mitsuri to look at her, and then to me and the poster.

Seeing it in the hallway reminded me of a thought I had when we were outside, but forgot to ask about due to the lack of an opportune moment to bring it up.

"You think any of them would be down to spar with me sometime?" I idly asked with my hands clasped behind my head. "It's been a while since I've fought a swordsman. I haven't used one myself, but I'm probably one of the best in hand-to-hand."

Mitsuri muttered something I couldn't catch under her breath that got her a glance from Koneko, before answering. "Dunno. Pretty sure Kendo clubs usually just focus on the sport. Y'know, reset stances after a strike lands, repeat until the score limit is reached, that stuff." She shrugged and gestured flippantly with her hand. "Not sure how well that translates to a spar."

"Katase-senpai and Murayama-senpai sometimes do full contact spars to advertise the club." Koneko chimed in with her monotone voice. "Yuuto-senpai also practices with swords in his free time. He'd probably say yes if you ask."

"'Yuuto'? As in, 'Yuuto Kiba'?" Mitsuri asked, seeming to recognize the name.

Koneko nodded.

"Isn't he that wimpy looking pretty-boy a bunch of the other girls are daydreaming about all the time?" She asked with a confused expression.

Koneko nodded again.

"You sure a lanky guy like that will be alright to take a hit in a fight? Call it a hunch-" The tomboy tossed a thumb pointed my way, "-but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the shorty here is secretly jacked under his uniform. Hell, I could probably fold that guy in half with one good whack."

Jeez, I hadn't even asked the guy for a spar yet and he was already getting pummeled.

I chimed in. "I mean, I'm not anime-shredded," I brought a finger and thumb up, tips held slightly apart, "I like to keep a certain level of fat on my body for extra padding and energy stores. Helps a lot with absorbing impacts and long-distance running." I tilted my head after a moment. "Ah, I do have a six-pack though."

Mitsuri deadpanned at me. "No one asked you for your BMI breakdown."

Some people just couldn't help but be rude.

I blew a raspberry back at her.

"Senpai is fast." Koneko said simply, ignoring our little byplay as we all resumed walking to class. "He'd be fine."

"If you say so…" Mitsuri didn't look totally convinced with that, probably still thinking that all it would take is a single hit to take down this Yuuto guy. After all, he's just a high schooler. Either one or both of us are bound to make mistakes and let some hits get through. It happens to everyone, even professionals sometimes.

That's probably what went through her mind, or something similar.

I read between the lines though, understanding what Koneko didn't say, and what Mitsuri didn't get as a non-combatant.

If Kiba was taller than me by a decent margin, then his reach– even without a sword– was greater than mine, and his legs would cover more distance. If Koneko, the half-devil, was vouching for his speed and saying he'd be fine, then even assuming she meant 'for a normal human' in her head, he would likely be much faster than expected for a human teenager at worst and skilled enough to not make those mistakes. At best, she could mean he's fast even by supernatural standards.

Whether either of those options meant reaction speed, acceleration speed, or top speed didn't really matter, because I'd still have to close effectively two-to-three times the amount of distance to manage a body shot compared to him, and he'd be operating at roughly the same-or-better speed than me.

She believed it wouldn't be that easy for me.

The fact that she saw my light warmup and still thinks that Kiba could ultimately avoid taking direct damage said a lot about the level of fighter he was, regardless of in what way that meant. Either he was ridiculously skilled with decent speed, or ridiculously fast with a decent baseline of skill.

In the end, it would likely take me going close-to if not all-out in order to beat him– assuming he accepts when I ask him to spar with me, of course.

I'm self aware enough to admit, the lack of stakes and adrenaline in my life the past few months has started getting under my skin. My entire life, I'd been physically working towards a goal, dealing with crisis situations, and improving myself to keep up with things as they were thrown at me. Getting my education up to snuff to enroll here was another example of that, but it just didn't feel the same.

It challenged me mentally, but it didn't excite me. Having a chance to let loose against someone who could take it was the best thing I could ask for. I didn't even need it to be a regular thing, just the potential of having easy access to someone who'd be willing to throw down for fun would satisfy me immensely.

I was grinning ear to ear when me and the girls walked into the classroom, causing two of the guys to glare at me for some reason. Some of the girls glanced at us and began whispering, too.

I ignored that all though.

"... Yuuto Kiba, eh?"

I couldn't wait to fight him.

…

Okay, seriously though, why did a bunch of the girls suddenly start whispering to each other?

… D-do I smell or something?

I resisted the urge to do a sniff check and pretended to ignore everything around me until the teacher arrived to begin class.

Koneko
(Old school building)

After the final class of the day ended and released the students for their club activities, I had quickly and quietly escaped the classroom, leaving before Uzumaki had even started packing away his school stuff. I unfortunately didn't have the time today to continue from where we left off in that first conversation on the roof. Prior obligations and all that. The results of my spying on Hyoudou all week needed to be reported.

For such a delinquent-seeming kid, Uzumaki was surprisingly diligent when it came to his schoolwork, taking notes on everything and only beginning to clean up when the teacher announced it was time to do so. Most students, myself included, tended to pack up their supplies a couple minutes before the end of classes so that they could get going right as the bell rang. I'd seen him zone out a few times, but he always snapped himself back to attention shortly after

I closed the door behind me as I entered the clubroom with a short sigh, glad that the week was finally over. The sound of the shower running in the bathroom through the slightly ajar door told me that Buchou was already here, her being the only person who used it.

I still wasn't entirely sure why this part of the building even had a shower in the first place, but it didn't really matter enough to me to try and figure out either way.

I stepped further into the warmly furnished room and made my way around the side of the large couch near the center, letting the strap of my school bag slide off of my shoulder and down my arm, before gently lowering it to the floor and taking a seat in my usual spot. I noticed a faint smell of cinnamon in the room as I pulled out my music player, and started putting together the playlist I'd listen to on my way home tonight.

Sure, I could just teleport home– and usually did after finishing up with my contracts– but there was something enjoyable every once in a while about listening to music when walking through town, under the light of the stars and street lamps.

My true ears twitched slightly from their confinement in the direction of the kitchen, where I heard the light clinking of porcelain being set down on porcelain. Akeno must have just finished making tea. Right on time as usual, too, because a couple seconds later, I heard the shower stop with a thump, the thrumming of the building's water pipes settling down.

I glanced up when I saw movement near the kitchen doorway in my peripheral vision.

Slightly on the shorter side with a thin waist and not-so-thin hips and chest, the raven-haired girl stepped into the main room with a tray of porcelain teacups and the teapot, her usual demure smile on her face. With her eyes relaxed and soft expression on her face, she looked every bit the shrine maiden she was raised as, minus the missing traditional outfit.

"Ara ara," Akeno tutted as she bent slightly to put the tray on the center table, "You certainly got here quickly today, Koneko-chan."

I hummed noncommittally in response, looking back down at my music player.

"Come to think of it, your little mission has been keeping you out of the clubroom for longer than usual this past week, hasn't it? I wonder what's different about today for you to be here so early…"

I looked up from my music again, eyeing her. Most people might be fooled by her genuine seeming curiosity, but I knew Akeno better than that. It was obvious to me she was just using that line of thought as a lead-in to something else for her own amusement, and she knew it.

She lifted the pot with both hands and smoothly tilted it, pouring tea into one of the cups with the grace of long years of practice. The flowery scent of Gyokuro green tea began to fill my nose.

"Maybe you finished with your task, and want to report the results to Rias and be done with it?" Akeno hummed as she finished pouring. "Or…"

I internally braced myself for some annoying nonsense to leave her mouth.

Setting the pot back on the tray, she carefully picked up the steaming cup and gently placed it saucer-first on the table in front of me.

"Could it be that the rumors are true?" She cupped her hand to her cheek and did a creepy little wiggle. "Has our little Koneko become involved in a love triangle, and is in a hurry to win the battle for his affections?"

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly, which she pointedly ignored by closing hers. The slight curling upwards of her smile told me that even that little of a reaction was enough to satisfy her, just knowing that it annoyed me at all, the sadistic cow.

"Quit teasing my cute little [Rook], Akeno," Rias said as she stepped out of the bathroom with her crimson hair still slightly damp. Akeno's smile became a slight frown as she turned her head towards our master with her eyes still closed. Rias was only the slightest bit dressed, wearing over-calf white socks, a pair of black panties, and almost a black lacy bra, her being bent slightly forward with her arms twisted behind her trying to hook the clasps together.

That was it. Being the exhibitionist that she is, she didn't care at all that she might have been exposing herself to upwards of four people, had Kiba and Sona-kaichou been in the room. The Gremory family is just weird like that.

I looked from hers, to Akeno's, then down to my own chest. I ignored the odd urge to bring my hands up to cup the empty air in front of me.

I wasn't pouting.

"It's only okay to tease her when I'm here to enjoy her adorable reactions!" The mostly naked redhead exclaimed over her shoulder cheerfully, as she headed over to the wardrobe on the wall next to her desk.

I deadpanned at my [King]'s back as she began putting on the uniform she pulled out of it.

"Hai, hai." Akeno's smile returned as she acknowledged Rias's own form of messing with me.

Damned cows, the both of them.

I definitely wasn't pouting.

Akeno's hand dipped behind the teapot out of my vision and came back up with a small plate of cinnamon-sugar cookies, before setting it down next to my tea. Now that it was in front of me, the buttery, cinnamon smell of the freshly baked cookies were no longer being masked by the scent of the tea. I swallowed down the saliva that suddenly built up in my mouth.

She definitely served them to me in that order deliberately.

…

I reached forward to pick up a cookie and nibbled on it.

"... Mn, thanks." I muttered without meeting her eyes.

Her smile widened, before she picked the tea tray back up and brought it to Rias' desk.

I took another bite of the warm peace offering and enjoyed the simple treat for what it was, watching as Akeno poured Rias her own cup of tea, timing it perfectly so that she finished right as a thankfully fully-clothed Rias sat down behind her desk.

After Akeno poured her own cup and took a seat for herself in one of the two leather chairs on either side of the table, the three of us sat in a comfortable silence and savored our snacks– or rather drinks in their cases– for a couple minutes.

"Well then," Rias began, the clink of her teacup being set down breaking the silence, "it looks Kiba is taking a bit longer than usual to get here, so we may as well get started with the topics that don't require his input. We can catch him up on what he missed as it comes up again, or failing that, I can pull him aside before he does his contracts, and give him a rundown then." She clapped her hands together theatrically. "So, why don't you begin with an overview of the supernatural activity in town, Akeno?"

The [Queen] discarded her usual smile for a more serious expression, nodding her head as she set down her own cup.

"As of yesterday, I've finished gathering and compiling the data on various sightings, Stray hunt missions sent to us, and even my own recent experience in dealing with too-rowdy spirits. I can confirm the suspicion I brought to you last week." Akeno said with a tone of distaste. "Stray activity as a whole seems to have been trending upward for the past couple of months. It seems to be a direct, if delayed, result of a relatively major decrease in Youkai presence within the city, a downward trend that has been going unnoticed for at least half a year now."

I cocked my head to the side, not really getting why the two would be connected if there was that much of a time discrepancy. Also, what do the Youkai have anything to do with stray devils?

Buchou glanced my way and, probably noticing my confusion, began to explain.

"As you know, the town of Kuoh does not actually belong to the Devils, and is just being leased to us as a matter of diplomatic trade." She said, gesturing vaguely towards the window as she did so. "What this means for Kuoh, is simply that maintaining the secrecy of the supernatural world and protecting the citizens is a task that has been traded to the devils in exchange for allowing us to enforce some of our own rules and policy."

Her hand dropped back down to rest on her desk, and the sound of her drumming her fingers on it reached me.

She continued. "Historically, this has meant that while technically owned by and protected by devils, the Youkai have had the same freedom to come and go as they please, as long as they followed the rules, one of those rules being the legal obligation to either report the signs any Stray devils and known criminal supernatural activity to the Devil management of the town, or to personally deal with such cases in exchange for a monetary reward in the form of bounty money."

Buchou waved her hand and sighed. "Essentially, the more supernatural beings living within the town of Kuoh, typically being youkai, the less feasible it has been for Strays to set up shop here compared to towns and cities without a Devil presence, because we have a system in place purpose-built for hunting them down."

I nodded to show I understood that, but voiced my second question.

"But why are more Strays only showing up months later?" I asked.

"Allow me." Akeno took the lead this time, taking one last sip of her tea before getting into it. "Many months ago, about half way through the previous school year, we had a sizable enough population of youkai, magicians, and others, that any Strays were frequently reported and/or dealt with by multiple parties." She pursed her lips, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Over the course of the following couple months, something changed and that population began to shrink, with youkai leaving Kuoh for reasons mostly unknown to us.

For a time, while the amount of overlap in Stray reports began to shrink, there was a large enough population remaining that all the active sightings were still getting reported by at least one party, and as the youkai who remained in the city the longest tended to be the stronger ones, Strays continued being dealt with by the same individuals at the same rate, maintaining Kuoh's reputation as a dangerous place for criminals."

Akeno fully frowned. "Ultimately, even those groups and individuals began leaving at some point, allowing more and more Strays and other criminals to notice that Kuoh is no longer as effective at keeping them out."

"With those explanations out of the way, do we have any idea what's causing this exodus?" Buchou asked her [Queen]. "While Sona's and our groups are enough to keep the city safe enough to not be noticeable to the populace, there's only so much ground we can cover and time we can commit to investigating incidents in a day. If we don't get a handle on whatever's causing this, it might lead to increasing tension between our faction and the Youkai if we get blamed for it."

"Unfortunately, yes and no." Akeno shook her head. "When I tried communicating with the more peaceful spirits and asking if they knew anything about it, I got multiple conflicting responses. Some claimed that there was an ancient darkness hiding in the region, growing more and more dangerous each day. Others believed the opposite, that there is some sort of 'great cleansing' going on, that some Grand Sage decided to stroll through unannounced, in order to drag the region's energy into themselves and purify the darkness from it. There was even one magician who believed that it was a 'nascent Nature spirit' gathering energy to 'birth itself unto the world as a god.'"

Buchou– no, Rias, slumped over onto her desk, burying her head in her arms to complain like a child.

"Moouuu!" Rias whined, gripping at her hair. "How in the world are we supposed to deal with stuff like that!? I refuse to ask for Onii-sama's help unless we absolutely need it, but that's just too ridiculous!"

It was moments like this when Rias acted this way that she reminded me most of her childish brother. The dichotomy between her "Refined ojou-sama" and "Absolute immature child" behaviors were just like the absurdly powerful man who ruled the underworld, who is also an absolute sis-con.

The [Queen] shrugged. "In the end, the only theme that remains consistent is that there is a lot of power in the region disappearing to who-knows-where. One of the more stubborn remaining youkai I have personally contacted for this issue, confirmed… " Akeno glanced at me, hesitating for just a split second. "... he confirmed that the region's ambient life energy is disappearing at an alarming rate, and that practicing Senjutsu has recently felt extremely unnerving."

I felt my heart skip a beat with old fear at the mention of Senjutsu being used, but forced myself to remain calm. Intellectually, I knew that there wasn't a whole lot of risk in the basic usage of Senjutsu that most Youkai could access with practice. There were thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of other Youkai and non-Youkai alike who could– and actively did– use it without going mad.

In practice, the mere mention of it brought up her in my mind, forcing me to remember what she put me through, the sister she threw away, when she did what she did, causing my skin to goosebump.

I was past that though. Rias was kind enough to take me in and give me a new name, a new life. A new family. That woman couldn't take that from me again, not with the kind of power and influence the Gremory family wielded.

As I tuned back in, I realized that they had moved on from the topic without me noticing and were now talking about their long-standing summon contracts. Either they exhausted that line of troubleshooting the problem, or they had moved on for my sake.

Immediately I was doused by a cold feeling of shame.

If I wasn't such a coward, refusing to even so much as even think about Senjutsu, let alone using it passively, I might have been able to warn my [King] about the problem back when it first began. I could have gotten my current family a head start on the issue, but instead, it went under our notice and only got our attention when it was beginning to become everyone's problem.

I resolved to myself to make up for my shortcomings, that I'd make Rias-buchou proud to have me in her family.

…

I suddenly pictured myself trying to use Senjutsu, practicing it to make me a better [Rook] for Buchou, but losing my mind and attacking my friends.

I shivered.

'... Alright, maybe it's a bit too soon for that. Someday, but not yet,' I thought to myself.

The sound of three polite knocks on the door to the club pulled me out of my thoughts, and the other two out of their discussion. Akeno and Buchou reflexively turned their heads to the door, but I didn't bother twisting around to look as it opened a second later, instead reaching for my cup to take a sip of tea to soothe my nerves. Kiba always knocked the same way, every day.

"Pardon my tardiness," the blond [Knight] said as he stepped around the door, closing it behind him with a sheepish smile, "I had a bit more trouble making my way here than usual. Quite a few of my classmates and underclassmen invited me to karaoke with them over the weekend, so I had to turn them all down."

I rolled my eyes at that. They wanted to go to 'karaoke' with him?

'More like they want to get him alone and suck each other's faces off.' I thought.

Sometimes I couldn't tell if he was genuinely oblivious to his admirers intentions, or if he just acted like it for convenience's sake. It was probably a little bit of both, to be honest. He didn't care for the attention, and as far as I was aware, wasn't experienced with high school relationships.

Akeno got up to pour a cup of tea for him, while Buchou smiled his way

"It's no problem Kiba-kun, have a seat." She waved off his absence. "We were just finishing up with Akeno's weekly contract report."

He walked around to the other side of the couch, setting his bag down and sitting as Akeno placed a teacup on the table in front of him. "Thank you Akeno." He picked up the cup and took a slow sip. "It tastes lovely, as always." She gave a slight bow at the compliment and headed back to her seat.

Setting the cup down on its saucer, he looked to Buchou. "I hope I wasn't interrupting. Did I miss anything important?"

"You weren't." She shook her head. "Like I said, we were just finishing up. As for what you missed, it's nothing that I can't catch you up on later before you go out for your clients. I'm probably going to have to email a summary to Gasper-kun anyway if he's still too engrossed in his newest game to properly talk to me, so might as well explain it then." Rias groaned and rubbed her forehead with her palm, sighing. "Honestly, that child of mine can be such a brat when it comes to his online sessions. If he would just put that same kind of energy into overcoming his fear of the outside world…"

She shook her head, straightening in her seat from the slouch she'd slipped into. "Anyways, Koneko-chan! Is there anything new to report from your scouting?

"Mm." I nodded.

Finally, it was my turn. It took long enough.

"The dragon smell is definitely coming directly from Hyoudou." I stated firmly. My nose crinkled in disgust at the memory. I'd had to stay hidden to confirm that he still gave off a smoking lizard scent even after he showered, just so that I could be sure he wasn't just picking it up from some other outside source. "I'm certain of it."

The only way I could think of to make sure of that without breaking into his house was to catch him right out of the shower room after his gym period ended.

Needless to say, I did my best to ensure that nobody involved that day, myself included, remembered anything about me being there. Memory manipulation magic, saving the day once again.

"So, that for sure rules out an outside source passing it on to him… and his ancestry?" Buchou asked, tone sounding doubtful.

I shook my head. "His family is completely normal. The only people he interacts with daily are his parents and other students."

"I figured not, but it was better that we checked, just in case." She smiled in anticipation, clasping her hands together and interlocking her fingers. "It seems that it's all but confirmed at this point that he has some sort of draconic-type Sacred Gear, so all that's left is for me to figure out the best way to approach him."

I scoffed internally. "He's a dirty pervert. He'd join even if all you did was offer him your old underwear."

She chuckled at that, but I was dead serious. That was just the type of creep he was, absolutely zero sense of shame.

"I'll keep that in mind as a last resort–"

Please don't.

"–but for now, I'm thinking I'll have my familiar give him one of my summoning pamphlets and see where we can go from there." She stated. "Now, did you have anything else that you wanted to bring up Koneko? Or should we move on to Kiba?"

I almost opened my mouth to tell them about Uzumaki.

I hesitated though.

On the one hand, he mentioned that he lost his powers after being hurt in a fight, and I was a first hand witness of his sheer athleticism, if not actual combat skill. Bringing him into the peerage would likely heal him back to his old strength, and even if it didn't for some reason, he had more than enough natural ability to be worth the effort. On top of that, it would be much simpler to give Uzumaki an offer than it would be for Hyoudou; when someone is aware of the supernatural, it usually just boils down to asking them and getting a yes or no answer.

On the other hand… he told me he came from a ninja clan. It's possible that his clan did things differently than most did historically, but usually that meant holding loyalty to the clan and its patron above all others. He didn't sound like he was preparing to go back, and actually seemed to be settling into life away from his home, but he also didn't sound like he parted from them on bad terms, or even left them intentionally in the first place.

For all I knew, he could just be on an early 'retirement' from duty and free to do what he wants as long as he doesn't betray their secrets, but on the flipside, he could also be on a long term reconnaissance mission that doesn't require superhuman combat ability.

I weighed the options in my head and came to a conclusion. He had the potential to become a strong ally, but I didn't know enough about him to be sure, and he also had the potential to cause a headache for us if his old comrades made a ruckus looking for him.

"I'm keeping an eye on someone." I said after a couple seconds. "Not sure yet if they'd make a good ally or become a problem, I'll tell you when I find out more."

Akeno smiled slyly at me, probably making the connection to the supposed 'rumors' she'd heard about me with a boy.

It annoyed me that she was right, even if for the wrong reasons.

"Alright, don't worry about it too much then." Buchou said, smiling at me. "You've already spent a whole week watching Hyoudou-kun for me, so don't be afraid to relax for a couple days. You can put off getting back to doing contracts again until next week, if you feel like you need the break."

"Okay." I nodded.

That was fine by me. I'd probably take a day to hang out with Gasper.

"Now then, moving on! Kiba, you're up."

He gave a polite smile and began his report.

I zoned out a bit as the meeting continued, considering I'd been more or less excused from most of my duties during the past week, and thus had little to contribute. Aside from the two main topics of interest brought up earlier, the meeting proceeded as usual, Akeno occasionally pouring more tea for us. We went over new potential contractors, those who no longer wanted our services, and upcoming events for both our school lives and personal ones; things like the school-wide club recruitment drive next week, or our semi-usual weekend brunch hangouts as a peerage that Sona's group sometimes joined us for.

After a while, I was pulled from my bored fugue when I absently reached for another cookie, only to find my fingertips touching crumb-covered porcelain. I looked down, saw an empty plate on the table in front of me, and huffed.

"And that concludes this week's meeting," Buchou said with a slightly tired looking smile. "Koneko-chan, Akeno, you two are free to leave or hang out here some more, whichever you prefer. Kiba-kun, please stick around for a little longer so I can get you up to speed on what you missed." She stood up from her chair, as Akeno did the same to begin cleaning up the tea set. "I'm going to go grab my laptop first to get to writing that email for Gasper-kun at the same time, so feel free to do whatever in the meantime." She then walked through the door of the last remaining adjacent room, which happened to be a bedroom for reasons only explainable as 'Rias wanted it to be so'.

I downed the rest of my tea before placing the cup and saucer on the tray for Akeno, before standing up myself.

"I'm going, have something I want to do today. See you guys tomorrow." I told them as I picked up my bag.

"See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow." Rias and Kiba replied, the King having raised her voice to be heard from the other room while Kiba just smiled warmly.

"Fufufu, have fun Koneko-chan." Akeno said to me with an amused smile.

I narrowed my eyes at her games, but she was already busying herself with the cleanup again, humming a random tune.

I turned to Kiba as I remembered my conversation from earlier in the day, his attention turning towards me at the motion.

"Almost forgot. A classmate heard you're good with a sword, said he would like to spar with you sometime. I told him I'd see if you're interested." I didn't actually say anything like that to Uzumaki, but I might as well pass on the offer since I had the opportunity.

"Oh?" Kiba looked slightly surprised. "Wouldn't it be easier for this classmate of yours to join the Kendo club to get a sparring partner?"

I shrugged. "He's the type to prefer full contact, not limited to competition rules."

"Ah, makes sense." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you know what level his swordsmanship is? I'm assuming he isn't 'in the know' if it's someone we aren't aware of. It would be a shame to accept, only to accidentally hold back too little and hurt him badly."

"He's not a swordsman." I shook my head. I paused. "At least, I don't think he is." I added a moment later.

Kiba blinked at me. "Pardon?"

"He's a martial artist, wanted a chance to spar with a swordsman." I explained.

"... Right. I'm not sure it would be a good idea." He said with an apologetic smile. "I already have a big enough advantage over regular humans physically, having a weapon on top of that would make it too difficult to keep things fair."

I didn't hide my amusement this time, smirking just a little as I corrected him.

"He's more skilled with his fists than you are with a sword." I told him bluntly. "The only issue you'll have is beating him without relying on your physical advantage too obviously. He doesn't know you're a devil after all."

I turned and walked towards the door, leaving him baffled at my claim.

It wasn't totally the truth. I mean, Uzumaki's level of skill was definitely that high, but frankly speaking, any action Kiba might take that his body type 'shouldn't be able to perform' would probably be instantly noticeable to the whiskered teen. The moment Kiba was forced to rely on his speed as a devil, the other blond would realize the charade, given that I was the one who brought Kiba up in conversation in the first place.

Either way, it would give me an excuse to see a bit more of what the teen was capable of, and more chances to learn about his home and those creatures that apparently weren't youkai.

I opened the door. Just before I left, I addressed him over my shoulder.

"If you decide to go for it, his name's Uzumaki Naruto. Short blond guy with whiskers tattooed on his cheeks."

With that said, I closed the door behind me and left school for the day.

ᓚᘏᗢ

A/N: Let me know what you all think.