Cold and unblinking. Those were the two words that accurately described Ophis' expression. The god's face seemed to be set in a permanent mask of neutrality and stiffness as she met eyes with Koneko.
In all honesty, the young Nekoshou should've felt some type of fear staring into the face of an all powerful dragon god. It would've only been natural, after all. Even though her power was masked in the form of a little girl, Koneko was aware enough to realize that the person … well god sat in front of her could wipe her off the face of the planet within a blink of an eye. The girl had more power in her pinky than she would ever have in her existence. Yet none of this mattered to the girl. None of this mattered when the god was encroaching on her territory, aka Naruto Uzumaki.
The two girls were currently sat inside of the teen's shop at his counter. Koneko was sat at her usual position behind the counter while Ophis sat at the opposite side, lazily munching away at a tray of snickerdoodles while looking into Koneko's eyes. Her ears were covered by a pair of overly large and fuzzy earmuffs. The god's gaze contained no malice or ill intent, only containing a sort of emotionless quality that was off putting to most. To Koneko though, it was only a sign of challenge.
"Can you please stop glaring at her?" Her boyfriend's voice managed to draw the Nekoshou's attention away from the god and back onto him. The blond was caked in a ludicrous amount of sugar and powder as he sent her a pleading look. She shot him an irritated look of her own before sending her fellow loli a sharp side glance.
"I'll stop when she leaves." Was the girl's simple response before settling her glare back onto Ophis. Seeing that his girlfriend had no plans on stopping anytime soon, Naruto was left to do nothing but sigh and return back to his work.
It had only been a couple days since Kokabiel's attack on Kuoh so there was still hope that things would go back to normal. He just had to wait it out a bit.
That strategy seemed to always work out for him in the end, right?
Shortly after Ophis' rather quick and pathetic murder of Kokabiel, Naruto arrived on campus ground. The scene that greeted him would've been very amusing to him if everyone who was present at the school attention hadn't been switched over to him. Ophis hadn't made things any better in the moment when she decided to casually trudge over to him and stand by his side. Oh, that had gone so wonderfully with his possessive Nekoshou girlfriend. He could still feel the heat of her glare on him even to this day.
It didn't take much coaxing out of everyone to get the exact details of what exactly had went down. When he had discovered the Fallen Angel's attack and subsequent death, all he could do was sigh. He felt partly bad that something so huge had went under his nose for so long but he was glad it was dealt with so quickly. He was confident he would've been able to deal with Kokabiel himself but having Ophis there definitely made things easier … and a lot quicker.
He just hadn't expected the dragon to stay. He was able to sense the girl's reserves had refilled slightly after her encounter with Kokabiel. It wouldn't surprise him that she managed to somehow drain the man's reserves and convert it into her own. Now her energy levels stood at point where his victory against her wasn't guaranteed. Yet, she refused to make a move against him or, at the least, return to her 'home'. Instead, she stuck to his side like a lost puppy. Her excuse was that she was observing him. He didn't exactly know what her definition of observation was but he had a slight feeling that he would not enjoy it.
Now he was left here with two … well one agitated loli and one apathetic dragon god on his hands. On top of all of that, the shop was extremely busy today and his employee of the month aka Vali was nowhere to be found. The devil tended to disappear and reappear at the worst of times, leaving the blond in rather crappy situations like the one he was in right now.
"It's not like he would do anything. He would probably just sulk around and go mop a corner." The blond thought to himself as he skewered a series of rice dumplings along a stick before handing over to a very enthusiastic child. The young boy quickly a handful of money onto the counter before snatching the dango from the blond and running out of the shop. The boy didn't even wait to receive his change, something Naruto certainly wasn't going to complain about.
"Next customer please." The teen shouted over the multitude of conversations taking place within the building. A small smile worked its way onto his face as a duo, presumably a couple, began to make their way up to the counter.
Even with his hectic his life and shop could be a time, he could honestly say he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Why does everything have to be so difficult, Nya~!" From a very young age, Kuroka realized that everything wasn't as easy as it seemed. Sometimes the cards were just stacked against certain people. She was one of those people. She didn't know why but whenever God had created her had decided to make life just a tiny bit more difficult for her.
The day Naruto had released her, she had actually returned to the blond's house later that day with full intentions on talking the blond into letting her stay. She had went out and bought some ramen just in case her words didn't manage to woo the blond over. If she couldn't reach him, she knew that ramen could.
But when she arrived at the house, no one was there. She had assumed that the blond had gone out to his shop. That assumption came to a quick close when she felt a sudden spike of energy before the ground began to shake violently. Her senses immediately picked up the massive taint of fallen angel energy coming from the direction of her sister's school and took off towards it with full intentions on stopping any attacker who would dare attempt to harm her sister even if that meant revealing her presence to the girl.
When she arrived at the school it didn't take her long to realize that her intervention was unneeded considering her somewhat former employer was standing over the decaying corpse of Kokabiel, one of the Bible's more prominent fallen angel. The god looked bored as the fallen angel's body flaked and faded into dust and vapor into thin air. The girl didn't look the slightest perturbed by the sight as she focused her attention onto the surrounding devils, which included Kuroka's little sister. The had act set the older Nekoshou on edge as she had mentally prepared herself to leap out from her cover and face down the dragon. Fortunately for her, the situation didn't come to that as her housemate quickly arrived on scene and defused the situation.
That had been several days ago and ever since then Koneko had been stuck to Naruto's side. The young girl refused to leave his side, partly in a sign of her own affection and partly because of Ophis' presence. Kuroka knew that her younger sister saw the god as somewhat of a love rival even though Ophis had never shown any sign of affection towards Naruto. The girl had shown quite the opposite considering the fact she had attempted to abduct and kill Naruto. Yet, that fact did not matter to the territorial Nekoshou girl. In Koneko's eyes, Ophis was not the infinite dragon god of legends that wouldn't hesitate to kill anything that so much as annoyed her. Instead, Ophis was a fellow predator encroaching on territory that she had already marked for herself.
Kuroka couldn't help but shake her head at the line of thought she knew her sister was having. With any other given person, the older sister would've been more supportive of her sister's attitude towards her mate. But when it came to Ophis, the god wasn't just another random person. She was dangerous. If the young Nekoshou did something to annoy the god, Kuroka couldn't be sure that even Naruto could stop Ophis from completely annihilating the girl.
All of this was serving as a mere second thought to the Nekoshou as her longing stare stayed focused on Naruto's shop. She wanted nothing more than to run headlong into the building, beg for forgiveness from her little sister and be one big happy trio with the girl and the blond. Earlier that week she had been fully prepared to, but the confidence she had felt in the heat of the situation had been quickly doused. Now the same fear that had originally made her hide herself from her sister had come back to haunt her.
"Nya~ This is so unfair!"
"You shouldn't make so much noise if you're trying to stay hidden." The Nekoshou almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice behind her. Not many people could manage to sneak up on her so the fact that someone had managed it was slightly surprising.
"Vali-kun! Its been awhile, Nya~" Kuroka's cheerful behavior returned to her tenfold as she looked upon her colleague/boss. The teen looked the exact same as when she had originally saw him. Everything from his constipated looking scowl down to the straight from Hot Topic silver chain hanging from his belt loop. The devil seemed to almost sense her line of thought as his scowl seemed to deepen as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I can say the same for you. What happened to your weekly reports?" He questioned while attempting to glare at the girl. His glare failed fantastically as Kuroka shrugged it off with a light laugh before she began to stretch in a cat-like manner.
"I've been a bit held up lately." She responded as she finished her stretching. The devil rolled his eyes at the girl's rather vague excuse. He knew he wouldn't be getting any more information from the Nekoshou. If there was something she didnt want revealed, she would make sure that the information didnt get revealed. Even if that meant giving her 'boss' an annoyingly vague answer.
So instead he focused his attention on the interior of his boss' shop. More importantly, he focused on the supernatural being sat at the shop's counter, casually munching away at a plate of sweets. From his view, it was hard to imagine the young girl as one of the most powerful entities in existence yet Vali wasn't so easily fueled by the innocent facade. That was one of the reasons; Afterall, he was out here instead of inside.
"So how's the new job, Janitor-San? I see you finally managed to get a day off from all the hard work." Kuroka's sardonic comment snapped the devil's attention back onto her. A sly smirk had made its way onto her face as Vali turned to face her, his scowl now turned into a full blown glower.
"How did you hear about that?" The boy's voice was deadly as he attempted to glare a hole through the Nekoshou's head. Once again, his intimidation attempts fell short as Kuroka merely waved them away with a light chuckle.
"Not telling. Trade secret, Nya~!" Vali was left with no option but to release his anger in a huff, knowing that pushing the issue would only result in more anger on his part. That was how Kuroka operated and willingly pushing himself deeper into her trap would be foolish.
The two descended into a somewhat comfortable silence as they both returned their attention back onto Naruto's shop. Kuroka's gaze immediately migrated over towards her sister and Naruto while Vali's remained solely focused on Ophis. A wind blew softly across the rooftop the duo were occupying, slightly lifting Kuroka's loose kimono while making Vali' hair ruffle slightly. From an outside perspective, the scene looked almost picturesque as the devils seemed to bask in the shared silence.
"So how in the hell are you going to deal with that mess?" Kuroka broke the silence as she gestured down towards the shop. Vali sighed in response, not because of the Nekoshou's rather blunt way of speaking but because of the meaning behind her words.
Unlike everyone else in the Khaos Brigade, Vali wasn't using Ophis in the hopes of gaining something in return from the dragon. Well, that was somewhat false. He hoped to one day do battle and slay the Great Red but he didn't expect anything from the god. He saw her as a somewhat objective and primordial force that didn't need to be bothered. He saw the Great Red as a force of chaos that was attempting to push that force over the edge. He also saw certain members of the Khaos Brigade, Cao Cao and his lackeys, in the same light. He hated to admit but he had taken on the role as a protective force in the god's life against those forces. As long as Ophis remained in the Dimensional Gap his job was pretty easy as he was pretty sure she was immortal in her home territory. His only concern at that point would've been dealing with the Great Red.
Unfortunately, when it came to Ophis, things weren't that simple. He had been sent into a frenzy when he discovered that she had left the Gap. That frenzy had only been somewhat calmed when he discovered through one of his subordinates that the dragon had been following his idiotic blond boss around.
Ophis was safe near Naruto. Vali may of had a low standard of thinking when it came to male but he would never underestimate the strength that the blond held. Cao Cao would surely attempt something but he would quickly come to the same conclusion. No, his concern with Ophis following Naruto wasn't her protection but with her mentality. There was something about the shop owner that Vali had discovered from his time around him. The teen seemed to have an almost surreal effect on people when he came in contact with him. The longer the contact, the more intense the effect. Even he could admit that he had fallen victim to Naruto's spell. The anger and intensity that had constantly burned within him seemed to have faded in strength from the constant buffeting by tj, leaving him feeling somewhat hollow in comparison. It was a strange sensation for the usually passionate devil and he honestly couldn't imagine how someone of Ophis' nature would deal with it.
A sigh slipped through his lips. There was nothing he could do about it now. Separating the god from the blond would be damn near impossible considering their shared stubbornness. He was better off with just sitting back and allowing things to play out.
"Hey, can I crash at your place for a while, Nya? I promise I don't snore much!" On second thought, maybe it would be less trouble to just storm down there right now and take care of the situation himself. At least he wouldn't have to deal with an annoying Nekoshou if he did.
It was an average day for Naruto Uzumaki. Well, as average as one of his days could get nowadays. With having a solemn dragon god constantly by his side and a hawkish cat-devil girlfriend following his every move, his definition of normal was a bit twisted. This didn't matter much to the shinobi as he basked in the early morning glow of the sun from the inside of his shop.
"It's days like these where I really appreciate opening this shop." The blond seemingly said to no one since not a single person was in his vicinity to actually listen. Ophis had her headphones on and looked to be meditating while Koneko was actually asleep in the backroom of the shop, Naruto having carried her there earlier that morning. The few customers who were actually present in the store were busy enjoying their morning coffee before they headed off to work. And Vali was nowhere to be found as usual.
"I see you're growing senile in your old age." And there was the cynical voice of his partner to put an end to his overly happy mood. Kurama never seemed to fail when it came to that aspect of their relationship.
"I see that time can't even make you less of an asshole." The blond shot back as he leaned his elbows against the counter. It was early in the morning and most of his customers tended to order simple coffee or small treats around this time. He didn't have to worry about preparing anything at the moment, allowing him to devote his full attention to trading barbs with Kurama.
"An asshole, I may be, but at least I'm not idiotic enough to attract the attention of every single supernatural creature in a 10 mile radius of us just by being yourself." Naruto gave a slight wince at that one. That one hit a bit too close to home considering one of those supernatural creatures, a God for that matter, was sitting in his shop right now with unknown intentions.
"It's not my fault! I didn't even do anything to them." Naruto mentally exclaimed, his face taking on a childish pout. A small silence followed his words during which he could almost feel the kitsune's rolling his eyes at his behavior.
"That makes it even worse. You mere existence attracts trouble." Kurama said, beating Naruto down once more with his words. The teen gave a sharp huff as he stopped leaning against the counter.
"At least I don't have bunny ears." The blond knew what he was getting himself into when he said that comment. If there was one thing that Kurama was conscious about, it was his appearance. The beast's slightly oversized ears were a point of teasing for him as a child by his siblings and Naruto knew he was walking out into dangerous territory by bringing it up. It was too late to turn back now.
"...What did you just say to me?" The tailed beast's tone had dropped slightly as a small indication of just exactly how he felt. Naruto hesitated only slightly before pressing forward.
"You heard me, you overgrown human rabbit." He had sealed his fate so he might as well go all in.
"You dare to speak to me like that, you idiotic, frog licking, tree humping, sorry excuse for a sage!" Kurama fired back with just as much bite, bringing up topics he knew would anger the blond. And anger him it did as Naruto's face took on a mask a fury.
"I'm a very good sage, you mutated bunny rabbit. And they are toads, not frogs!"
"Frogs, toads it doesn't matter. What you call them doesn't change the fact that they are as useless as the bugs they made you eat." Kurama had struck low with that one and he knew it. The blond immediately swelled in his anger as his face turned a noticeably brighter shade of red.
"You listen here, you bit-" The blond was just in the genesis of his insulting tirade when he noticed that he had started talking out loud … and he had a duo of new guest standing at his counter. He immediately straightened up and wiped the angered look off his face while mentally urging his partner that their argument would be continued later.
"Heyo! What can I get for you two?" Naruto casually addressed the duo standing in front of him as if they were any other customer. Which they werent considering one was a perverted harem-driven devil and the other was an excommunicated priestess turned devil.
The two devils stood nervously in front of the shinobi, both a bundle of nerves as they faced their blond savor. Issei was having a hard time remaining still while Asia couldn't even look at the teen.
"I … Uh... I" Issei mumbled as he tried his hardest to make eye contact with Naruto. A few weeks ago, he had only known the blond as being simple candy store owner. But, now he knew the blond was possibly a nature god that also ran a candy shop on the side.
Fortunately for Issei, he wouldn't need to speak up as Asia did it for him. The woman all but threw herself at the counter of the shop as a resolute expression found its way onto her face.
"Naruto-san! Please teach me how to bake so I can make Akeno-san a cake to cheer her up!" Asia exclaimed with closed eyes and her hands thrusted forward. Her yell managed to catch the attention of everyone in the shop, including Ophis as the god glanced over to the person who had disturbed her meditation.
Naruto silently stared at the girl for several seconds, making the priestess fear the worse. She knew that she was taking a huge risk coming to the shop. Issei had made it clear that the owner of the shop has been a strange man and his help wasn't one hundred percent guaranteed. Her somewhat demanding tone probably didn't help much either.
"Why is Akeno sad?" Asia's eyes shot back open at the unexpected question. Her head tilted up slightly to meet Naruto's cerulean eyes with her own.
"Well … I'm not too sure. Ever since the battle with the fallen angel, she hasn't been herself. She barely even talks to any of us, including Rias-Sama!" The girl's tone started off hesitant but quickly picked up in confidence as she spoke. Issei stood to the side as a silent bystander in complete awe and slight pride as he watched his fellow devil be so confident. Asia had never been confident when it came to expressing herself especially when it came to strangers.
"She makes us snacks and treats all the time." The girl's self-assured tone began to taper off as she broke eye contact with Naruto. A sudden interest in the floor tiles came over her as she stared at the ground. "I thought if I surprised her with a cake of my own, I could cheer her up." The devil finished off her speech in a barely audible mumble, her confidence having completely faded away. Naruto released a thoughtful hum once Asia finished before descending back into a thoughtful silence.
"We all know you're going to help her out so just say yes." Kurama chimed in.
"How do you know I'll say yes?"
"Because you're you, idiot."
"...The insult wasn't necessary but point received." Naruto cut off his mental connection with the beast to spare himself any more insults. He then refocused his attention back onto Asia who looked like she was seconds away from running out the shop. The sad and defeated look on the girl's face pulled on Naruto's heart as he subconsciously and begrudgingly realized just how right Kurama was.
"I think what you're trying to do for your friend is really sweet." Asia's heart fell at what she thought was the dismissive tone in the blond's voice. She quickly realized how mistaken she was the she felt a hand land on top of her scalp. She slowly lifted her head to look at the now smiling face of Naruto Uzumaki.
"So I would love to help you make a cake. Let me get you an apron and let' started baking." The girl's face lit up in a brilliant smile that almost seemed to light up the room. Naruto, himself, couldn't help the slight surge of happiness that shot through him at the sight of her face.
"You're such a sentimental bastard."
"Shut up and let me enjoy this moment."
Baraqiel. The name disgusted her even when it was just in her thoughts. The man, her father, was the bane of her existence. And the battle with Kokabiel dragged up every single negative memory connected to him.
She was his daughter and she would never be able to get away from that. His dirty blood flowed through her and she couldn't change that. His powers constantly tried to wrestle control over her. The cause of her mother's death gave her life and she hated every second of her existence because of it.
Those were just some of the few thoughts running through Akeno's head as she attempted to busy herself with cleaning the club-room. The room was damn near spotless, considering the fact she had secluded herself to the room for the past hour, yet the girl continued to work. Any inconspicuous speck of dust or dirt was claimed victim by the devil in a desperate attempt to block out her melancholy thoughts. The girl was a flurry of fabric and hair as she flew around the room like a twister.
"Akeno-san." A soft voice managed to pause the Queen in her movement. The girl knew who the voice belonged to. There was only one person who had access to this room and could manage to sound so sweet and innocent.
Akeno managed to hold in a sigh as she turned to face Asia. To her surprise, the girl wasn't empty-handed. Clutched to her chest was a round plastic container. And contained within that container was a cake.
"I-I just wanted to give this to you." Asia stuttered out while holding out the cake towards the Queen. With the pastry now closer, Akeno was able to get a better look at it. The thing was obviously not professionally made. The haphazard distribution of icing and the misshapen sides made that very clear to the devil. The thing that gave away the fact that the dish was homemade was the handwriting on top of the cake that spelt out her name.
"What is this for?" Akeno questioned, genuinely unsure of the cake's purpose. Her and Asia were good friends, of course, but nothing had occured between them recently to justify something like this. Asia seemed to pick up on this as her fell slightly for a few seconds before she met eyes again with Akeno.
"You just seemed so sad lately so I thought I could help cheer you up." The girl mumbled out while retracting her arms, her shyness coming into light once again. Akeno blinked owlishly once before her patented giggle slipped past her lips. Asia was taken by surprise as this was the first time she had heard Akeno laugh in a whole week.
"I'm sorry for my rudeness." Akeno started off with a few more giggles escaping from her lips. "But I cannot accept this cake from you."
It was Asia's turn to be shocked at the girl's response. Even though she had shyly approached the situation, she hasn't expected to be rebuked so easily by Akeno. The lax tone it was said in definitely didn't help the situation.
"But … But.." The young blond was put to a quick stop when Akeno raised her hand. Asia was left entirely speechless as the girl began to talk again.
"You don't understand. I cannot and will not accept this from you. I am not deserving of it. Someone as dirty as me does not deserve this." She explained with a sense of finality to her voice. The solemn tone carried in her words did little to help improve the blond's mood. Asia looked as if she wanted to refute the girl's claim but whatever confidence that had built up within her quickly died away when she got a glance of Akeno's face. Her expression almost dared the younger girl to respond just so she could cut it down with ruthless efficacy.
So it was with those parting words that Asia admitted defeated. The young girl clutched the cake back to her body, turned away and walked to the club-room's exit. Akeno watched with mixed emotions as her fellow devil trudged through and out the room's exit, leaving her alone once again.
"Well that didn't go well." Naruto said out loud from his position on top of one of the many trees bordering Kuoh Academy. His eyes were locked onto the quickly retreating form of Asia as the young girl made a mad dash away from the clubroom. Even from his position across campus, he could hear the girl's somewhat muted sniffles. The cake clutched to her chest was a clear sign of just how well her 'mission' had went.
"Do you plan on intervening again?" Kurama questioned from within his mindscape. Naruto released a thoughtful hum at the question as his eyes tracked Asia until she ran into the Issei's awaiting arms.
"I don't think so, at least for now. Sometimes friends just need to work things out amongst themselves."
"You mean like you and Sasuke?"
"Excluding the chidori and rasengan, then yes. When they manage to get through this, they'll friendship will be much stronger! That wont happen if I walk them through everything." The blond finished as he watched the two devil's begin to walk away, arm in arm with one another. Asia seemed to have calmed considerably due to Issei but was still visibly shaken up. He was sure the girl's mood would improve even more with Issei near her.
"For your general level of intelligence, that was actually somewhat profound."
"I don't like all your complaining recently. At least I don't rap every sentence like Bee!"
"I can't even imagine how quickly I would've attempted to tear through the seal despite the consequences with that man as my host."
"Wouldn't doing that kill you?"
"Death would be much kinder to me than that men's constant babbling." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his partner's attitude. After all, he couldn't be sure if he would be able to last trapped inside his fellow Jinchuuriki's gut.
"Uzumaki." Naruto could proudly say that he didn't jump out his skin when Ophis said his name. Instead, he calmly turned to face the god who was calmly leaned against the main trunk of the tree. "I wish to leave. These insects refuse to stop pestering me."
Naruto could barely hold in a chuckle as he watched the girl's composure break slightly through her attempting to swat away a fly. The laugh was quickly suppressed when his mind caught up to the fact that the young girl was still a dragon god that supposedly wanted to kill him.
"Yeah, we can go now. I don't think Im needed anymore. Plus Koneko is probably awake by now." The blond said before promptly jumping from the tree. Ophis was not far behind him as the duo quickly began to make their way back into town.
"I hate that child." Baraqiel couldn't help but mutter as he wiped some sand from behind his ear. Even though it had been weeks since his altercation with Naruto, he was still finding sand in places he rather not find sand in. It served as an irritating and constant reminder of what had occurred.
"Stop whispering to yourself. It makes you seem more senile than you actually are." Baraqiel glanced over to his less agitating partner and person who had shared in his fate. Unlike him, Shemhazai had been taken to a much colder place, a tundra to be more exact. The blond had buried his fellow fallen angel in yards of ice and snow before disappearing. When the duo had finally managed to regroup, the man was still experiencing signs of hypothermia.
That had been weeks ago. When Azazel had discovered what happened, the man wouldn't stop laughing for a full hour. It had taken Shemhazai physically threatening him to shut him up. Him and Shemhazai had debated going after the blond again but quickly discovered no merit to the idea after an analysis of their rather quick defeat. It hadn't taken a single minute for the teen to incapacitate both men and that had been with a single move. Another encounter would be near suicidal.
"You're the older one so technically speaking you would be the more senile one." Baraqiel cooly responded as he continued to pour over his set of reports. Ever sense all but banning Azazel from a majority of his job, the fallen angel duo had been force to take up his work. This meant doing all of the men's paperwork.
"I didn't realize the idiot had so much paperwork." Shemhazai said as he pushed aside his second stack of papers for the day. Baraqiel grunted in response, agreeing with his partner but not having the energy nor motivation to give a verbal response.
"Speaking of Azazel, where the hell is that idiot? He should be the one he-" Shemhazai was quickly silenced when the door to their shared office burst open. In came walking the exact same idiot the fallen angel had just been talking about.
"Hey guys! Guess what? I brought a friend!" The man loudly exclaimed before stepping aside, allowing full of the doorway. Shemhazai actually used the Lord's name when he saw who was standing in the doorway. Baraqiel actually shot up from his seat when he saw their guest.
"Hello brothers. Nice to see you both again."