"For the last time Rias, I don't want to join your peerage." Ssid girl let out a loud groan as she dramatically slumped down in her seat at Naruto's counter to her offer. Sat in front of her was an unobservant Koneko who was silently munching away on a plate full of sugar cookies.
"But you could be closer to Ko-" The girl was stopped in the middle of her sentence when a half eaten cookie slammed into her forehead. The redhead turned her eyes to her rook and saw the nekoshou giving her a small glare.
"Don't do that." Koneko stated just as a small, balled-up napkin smacked lightly against her face. Her eyes fell upon her boyfriend who was busy fulfilling orders for the customers in the shop.
"Don't waste food by throwing it at people." Naruto said without looking up from his work. Koneko offered the boy a soft apology before turning back to Rias just in time to catch the girl blowing her a raspberry.
The duo of king and rook had made it a habit to visit Naruto's shop almost everyday after school. Koneko's reason were, of course, to visit and spend some quality time with her boyfriend. Rias,on the other hand, main intention was to try and recruit the boy to her peerage. Ever since watching his perfomance in the Ratings game, the girl had been unrelenting in her attempt to get the boy to her side.
Speaking of Naruto's actions, the blonde's assault on several mid to high-tier devils and his interruption of a Ratings game had left the blonde in some pretty deep shit when it came to the devils. It was best to say that he was on the "wanted" list of several devil clans. At the top of that list was the Phenex clan for sure. When Lord Phenex had awakened to the news that the engagement had been called off, he was not exactly the most receptive to the news. The man felt like he had been cheated and demanded that the decision be reversed due to Naruto's interference in the match. Unfortunately for him, Sirzechs was hearing none of it. To the Satan, his decision had been made and it was not changing. And with the backing of two other Satan's, there was really nothing the Phenex could do.
So instead, the clan had effectively put out a hit for Naruto. Because the boy had made it rather clear that he was allied to no faction, the clan had put out an award of the boy's death. Both Rias and Koneko had been furious when they heard about the bounty but were eventually were calmed.
Sirzechs had attempted to bring Naruto to the underworld in order to work out some agreement or alliance with the blonde. While the Satan knew he didn't have a full gauge on the boy's ability, he still was able to sense the raw power that the shinobi contained. Being the first to ally with someone with such power would only be a boon to the devil's power. Unfortunately for the devil, Naruto was having none of it. The blonde made it clear that he wanted no involvement with the devils. The feeling seemed to be mutual as most of the devils that participated in the "fight" against the boy held a strong grudge towards him and wanted nothing less than to be working alongside him.
"C'monnnnnnn. You'll get awesome devil powers, no one in the underworld will be able to do anything to you and eventually you could get your own peerage." Rias' was met with another deadpan look from the blonde. The girl released a sigh before deciding to stop with her recruiting attempts for today. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.
"That idiot from before is approaching the shop by the way." Naruto paused momentarily in his action at his partner's comment before continuing to knead the lump of dough in his hand.
"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that. I know a lot of idio- Never mind, I see what you mean." Naruto interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence as the man in question walked into the shop.
The man's unkempt golden bangs were even more wild than usual considering the fact that they were covered in soot and ash. His burgundy trench coat had several holes burned into it. The man's exposed chest was littered with cuts and bruises that were leaking with various amounts of blood.
Azazel didn't seem to pay his condition no mind as he entered the shop. Even as he bled onto the surface of the shop, the man didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by it. Everyone else around him didn't share the same opinion. Most were watching in disgust as the fallen angel bled so close to their food.
Naruto sighed and tried to fight off as headache as Azazel finally noticed him. The man made an immediate beeline towards the counter, leaking blood the whole entire way. In the background, Naruto could see some of the customers bagging up their food and leaving the shop in mild disgust.
"I don't even know how I'm still open." Naruto muttered to himself as Azazel finally reached the counter. Both Rias and Koneko stared openly at the man, their eyes widened at being so close to the leader of the fallen angels. The man paid their shocked stares no mind as he began to address the blonde.
"Fancy seeing you here Naru-kun. The last time we met was in a middle of a forest. If we keep meeting like this, people could talk." Azazel started off with. Rias and Koneko's jaws dropped even more at the utterly casual way the fallen angel was addressing the shop owner.
"First of all, don't say things like that. Its just plain weird. Second, why are bleeding? Third and most importantly, why are you bleeding in MY shop?" Naruto punctuated with each statement by punching the dough in his hands. Once again, Azazel seemed completely oblivious to the boy's anger as he leaned against the counter, leaking blood on the clean surface.
"Oh, y'know, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to pay my dear ol' buddy a visit." The casualness dripping from the man's voice served to further the shock the two girls were feeling and send Naruto even further into his frustration.
"You didn't answer a single one of my questions." Naruto's voice was frothing with frustration as he addressed the man. Azazel released a light chuckle before setting himself down on the stool next to Rias.
"I was just testing out some new experiments and this was the result. I think its coming along pretty well." Azazel said as he reached for one of Koneko's cookies. This seemed to snap the girl out of her shocked state as she slapped away the man's hand, causing him to start pouting at the girl.
"Naruto … do you have any idea who this is?" Rias said as she steadily inched away from the man beside her. Naruto turned his head towards the apprehensive girl but not before slapping away Azazel's hand.
"Yes I do. He's an old, perverted fallen angel who is obsessed with stalking me and breasts. Or better known as Ero-datenshi." Naruto said matter-of-factly. Azazel was sent back into his pouting at the boy's comment.
"They mock what they do not understand. You guys are not better than that uptight bearded asshole in the sky." Azazel muttered out while staring dejectedly out the window. Naruto sighed at the man's childish behavior before going back to the making of his sweets, completely ignorant of the looks he was receiving from the two devils.
"First Ophis and now the fallen angels … Just how many supernatural beings have you encountered?" Rias mumbled out.
"I broke out of heaven after being interrogated by Michael." The casualness in the boy's voice did little to stop the shock the girls felt at the comment.
"Michael? Like the archangel Michael? The Michael that fought at God's side and is partly responsible for the death of Satan? That Michael?" Rias rattled off in an uncontrolled manner. The situation was just too unbelievable for the girl to grasp.
Naruto offered the girl a simple nod, sending her deeper into her disbelief.
"How can you be so casual about this?" Koneko asked while staring the boy. Naruto looked up from the girl, a small smile slowly crossing his face as it came within her view.
"Its pretty simple Ko-chan. These are just average days from a simple shop owner like myself."
"We have discovered the boy's location, Michael-Sama." Michael looked up from his papers at the sudden voice. Standing in front of him was a low-level scouting with only a single set of wings. The man had his head bowed as he awaited his leader's reaction.
"Where was he hiding?" Michael leaned back into his comfortable, leather chair as the man raised his head to report.
"He was discovered in the town of Kuoh which, if our reports are up to date, is under the control of the Gremory devil clan. Like the rumors have stated, the boy seems to have ownership of some type of sweet shop. I attempted to trail him after he left the shop but he is very elusive. I was unable to keep up with him." The man bowed his head once again as he reported his partial failure to his leader. Michael let out a disappointed sigh as he leaned back further in his chair.
"Raise your head. There's no need to be ashamed. I know personally of this boy's ability and I do not blame you for failing in your mission." Michael said. The angel in front of him raised his head and shot the man an appreciative look.
"What will be our next course of action,, Michael-Sama?" The nameless angel asked. Michael stood from his chair, his wings flaring out behind him as he did so. The twelve golden wings only served to add more to the image of power the man held.
"You will be doing nothing. Report in your findings with Raphael and take the rest of the day off. You have earned it." Michael said while waving the man away. The angel offered his leader a deep bow before releasing his wings and flying out of the office.
"Should I be bothered that you keep eavesdropping on all of my conversations?" Michael asked seemingly to no one. Seconds later, the ever beautiful Gabriel revealed herself from her hidden position in her brother's office.
"I was just checking up on my little brother. You seem to be stressed as of lately and I know what stress can do to the body." Gabriel approached her fellow archangel. Michael released a sigh as his sister settled next to him. He felt the woman lay her hand on his shoulder as she tried to comfort him.
'You need to not stress yourself so much. It'll lead you to an early grave." Gabriel's rather morbid joke earned her a dry look from her brother, drawing out an embarrassed chuckle from the angel.
"Your jokes are in terrible taste as always. I don't even know how you haven't fallen yet for your terrible sense of humor." Both of the siblings exchanged a small round of laughter at Michael's words. To anyone else, the scene would be almost too surreal. Watching two of the strongest beings in Heaven giggle and laugh as if they were primary school kids was something most people didn't get to see in their lifetimes.
"Ah, I enjoy moments like these. Helps distract me from all the chaos that is ensuing around the world." Michael said as his laughter started to die down. Gabriel's laughter was soon put to a stop as her brother once again sunk back into his depressed state.
"Do not think about it Michael. Take your mind off of things." Gabriel's calming voice would usually be able to calm the angel but today it didn't seem to be doing the trick.
"Thats a lot simpler said than done. With the continuous decrease in our numbers, constant pressure from the two other factions and now this boy on the loose, my plate has been constantly full. I can't just take my mind off of it, even for a day. The God system makes sure of that." Michael's voice raised in intensity as he spoke about his daily woes. Gabriel's previous smile was once again gone as the signs of stress began to show on her brother. The bags under his eyes, the sagging of his shoulder and the slight redness of his eyes. The angel was suffering.
Michael released a small sigh as he attempted to reel in his emotions. While he hadn't exactly yelled at Gabriel, he could feel his emotional mask slipping during his miniature rant. As a leader, that was unacceptable. While he didn't have the worry about falling so easily, he still needed to reign in control of his emotions which was turning out to be a pretty difficult task of its own.
The archangel flinched as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his upper body. Behind him stood Gabriel who had her head laid against her brother's back as a soft lullaby left her lips.
"May your dreams bring you peace in darkness,
May your always rise over the rain,
May the light from above always lead you to love,
May you stay in the arms of the angels,
May you always be brave in the shadows till the sun shines upon you again
Hear this prayer in my heart and will ne'er be apart,
May you stay in the arms of the angels,
May you hear every song in the forest and if ever you lose your own way;
Hear my voice like a breeze,
Whisper soft through the trees,
May you stay in the arms of the angels,
May you grow up to stand as a man,
love with the pride of your family and name
When you lay down your head for to rest in your bed
May you stay in the arms of the angels." With each line of the song, Michael's form grew less and less tense. The soothing words of his sister filled the angel and gently swept away the worries he was feeling. By the end of the song, the blonde had succumbed to the warmth of his sister's embrace.
"Father used to sing that to us whenever we had problems going to sleep. He was always so gentle with us." Michael muttered out as he sank deeper and deeper into Gabriel's hug. The woman behind him released a small hum as she rubbed her cheek against her brother's back.
"Would you have preferred him not to be?" Gabriel's voice was muffled as she spoke into Michael's back but the angel still heard her loud and clear.
"As much as I would like to say yes, the real answer is no. His gentleness taught me how to appreciate moments like this." The two supernatural creatures descended into silence as the outside noise bled into the office. The two paid it no mind as they continued their embrace, content to enjoy the rare emotional moment with each other.
Naruto glanced in between the two people that were currently occupying his shop. The street light filtered in through the large windows at the front of the shop. A soft, pale and natural moonlight mixed with the artificial light of the street lights, giving the interior of the shop a soft glow.
Why did things have to be so complicated? Why did he seem to attract the weirdest and quirkiest of individuals? How had he even managed to fool himself into thinking that he could just settle down and run a candy shop? Looking back at the idea right now was making Naruto realize just how stupid he was being.
The blonde shook his head violently in order to derail that train of thought and shoved it away for a later time. There was no use in focusing on it now. Especially since the two people in front of him were probably thinking he was crazy the longer he kept quiet.
"So … do you mind explaining to me the situation again?" Naruto started off with in a slow, drawl voice. The teen's patience had already been tested by a certain leader of the grigori and the current situation was not helping at all, Especially since the man was one of the duo standing in front of him.
"You see, I recently took Vali-chan under my wing and he has progressed beautiful when it comes to combat. But I've started to worry for him recently. He's so combative and reclusive at times. Sometimes he locks himself in his room for hours and refuses to come out! I want him to get out more often and interact with more people. And I figured you could use some extra help so I was thinking you could offer him a job!" Azazel relented with mock worry in his voice. From an outsider's perspective, the fallen angel's speech could almost be seen as sincere. His voice, his mannerisms and his expression all pointed towards the man actually caring about the situation. Though, if one truly knew the fallen angel, they would immediately know it was all a ruse.
Naruto attempted to hold in a sigh at the man's behavior while subtly glancing over to the teen standing beside the fallen angel. The silver-haired boy looked to be a second away from striking the fallen angel if his twitching eyebrow was anything to go by.
"This is honestly so ridiculous." Vali muttered with his arms crossed. To be completely honest, the boy shouldn't of been that surprised. Azazel had been pulling crap like this since the day the fallen angel had taken him under his wings, no pun intended.
Azazel had been the one to find Vali when the boy had run away from his father. Years of abuse from the devil had made the decision to run away rather easy of the young longinus user. His father was beyond abusive as he attempted to end his life on several occasions.
Once he escaped from his father, the Divine Dividing wielder had spent weeks wandering the country. His nights were spent huddled in a ball for warmth while his days were spent attempting to find any tiny scrap of food he could. It was a difficult life but Vali preferred it much over the life he lived with his father.
It was about two months into his homelessness when Vali encountered the fallen angel. The boy had been going on his usual mid-day raid of the inattentive vendors that littered the streets of the city when he bumped into Azazel. And by bump, he literally meant bump as he slammed full force into the man's chest as he turned to escape with a mouthful of food.
Originally Vali was freaked out considering the fact that he had just plainly stolen from a vendor and Azazel was staring at him like he was the finest piece of meat ever served. The devil had been seconds away from turning and running in the opposite direction when Azazel finally spoke.
The Grigori leader came off as caring, sensible and reliable and before long, without him even knowing, Vali had subconsciously warmed up to him. The fallen angel had taken him out to eat, bought him new clothes and even provided him with a motel room to stay in for several nights. All of it came off as too real to be true for the devil so his first night in the motel had been spent attempting to dispel the "illusion" around him.
It wasn't until the third day after meeting Azazel that Vali realized that what he was experiencing was actually happening. And instead of being happy for the realization, the boy had grown suspicious. For years, his own father had been one of the biggest sources of pain for the boy. If his own father couldn't even muster up the emotions to care about him, how could this random guy do the same.
This line of thought had led to Vali abandoning the motel room gifted to him and running away once again. Though, unknown to the devil, he was being watched by the very same person he was running away from. And you can bet that the person wasn't going to let him get away so easily.
Azazel had quickly caught up to the boy and confronted him on his reasons for leaving. Vali, still not trusting the man at all, initially ignored him and tried to go around the fallen angel. Azazel was having none of that as he mirrored the boy's steps, blocking each of his escape routes.
Eventually Vali grew tired of the cat and mouse game and unleashed his powers in order to intimidate the man in front of him. The devil knew of his true lineage and the power that came with it. His body housed an unholy amount of demonic power. Based on that alone, he could've been considered one of the most powerful youths then and there.
To the boy's shock, Azazel didn't grow fearful and take off running towards the hill. No, the man did the exact opposite. He had actually started to laugh at him. The laugh wasn't just a short lived chuckle either. It was a full blown, stomaching aching laugh that had almost send the fallen angel collapsing onto his news. It did, however, send the descendant of the original lucifer into a pit of confusion.
He had been promptly pulled out of that pit when Azazel had suddenly stopped his laughter. The mirthful look that had just been present in the man's eyes had disappeared. The sudden switch in personality had caught Vali off guard but what the man did next caught him even more off guard.
With a simple grunt of exertion, twelve jet-black, glossy, feathered wings came shooting out of the man's back. And with the appearance of those wings came the presence of something absolutely vile. A feeling of dread filled Vali as the intangible, vile object seemed to surround him. His body seemed to grow cold and numb as the presence assaulted his every sense. His body had grown cold and numb as he was forced to collapse to the ground. He felt that his heart had been seconds away from stopping.
And just as suddenly as it appeared, it went away. The sense of dread and the nightmarish presence had vanished. With its disappearance, the half-devil had regained control over his body as he scrambled up to his feet, his breath labored from the sudden action.
"You have incredible power yet you lack direction. You will eventually die, most likely in a ditch somewhere, if you do not learn to control it. Come with me and I'll teach you." Vali still remembered the man's words. In retrospect, the teen wanted to go back and slap his younger self for being so naive. Azazel could've easily been plotting to use him or experiment him, especially considering the fact he had a sacred gear. Luckily for the devil, Azazel kept to his word.
The fallen angel had trained him. His training sessions with the fallen angels could be best described as experimental. Every single day, the man would throw something completely new at the boy. Vali had quickly learned to never not expect anything from the fallen angel. Training could consist of simple cardio exercises to waking up in the middle of a frozen tundra with no supplies, no map and a simple not telling him to find his way home. All of it was a pain in the ass to the teen but he couldn't complain. Though it may have been a pain, the fallen angel had torn the boy down to his base and built him back up, stronger than ever.
That didn't take away from the fact that the man was fucking insane and annoying as hell. This current situation he found himself in was just one of the many examples of the men's annoying tendencies.
"I'm sorry but no." Vali released a sigh of relief at the blonde's answer. Good. That's another pain in the ass dodged. He had no doubt that working at this shop would be troublesome. "He doesn't even look like he would last a day here." Wait what.
If there was one thing that Vali would freely admit about himself it would be that he was extremely competitive. His time under his father and Azazel made sure of that. And due to his competitive nature, the blonde's comment struck a nerve within him.
"What do you mean I wouldn't last?" Those were the first words spoken between the devil and the shinobi. Vali was obviously irritated by the teen's comment. After all, who was this blonde anyway to say stuff like that about him?! He was the descendant of the ORIGINAL lucifer. He held one of the strongest sacred gears in existence. He suffered daily training under the leader of the fallen angels for God's sake. He could handle anything this little shop could throw at him.
"You heard me. I can already see it. You would quit within a day if I asked you to do something as simple as the cash register. You aren't made for this type of stuff." Naruto's tone was very dismissive which served to piss Vali off even more. The silver haired boy took a step towards the shop owner while releasing a loud snarl.
"You don't know me. I'll take anything you throw at me and destroy it." The amount of conviction in the boy's voice brought a smile to Azazel's face. Even though he was sure that Vali was just pissed off at Naruto's comments, it was nice to see the boy being passionate about something other than training.
"Oh really then?" Naruto questioned while looking the boy up and down. Several tense seconds followed the blonde's statement as he took several steps towards the duo. Vali looked to be seconds away from decking the shinobi as the blonde got into his personal space.
"If you're so tough then meet me here at 5 am and prepared to start taking inventory. If you don't show up, I'll just take that as you admitting that you can't handle this business. Now get out." Naruto calmly said. Before either Vali or Azazel could even react, both found themselves standing on the outside of the shop. Vali blinked wildly at the sudden change in environment while Azazel released a low chuckle to himself.
"What the hell just happened?" Vali asked.
"You, my sweet, little Vali-chan, just got yourself your first real job. Now lets go get you tucked into bed. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a hard day for you."