Rias was staring at the moon as if she could catch her reflection in the pearly surface. It was full, a big round dinner plate, like the decorative ones her mother kept in a case behind their dining room table at home. Maybe it was because of how hard she was looking that she didn't sense him coming.
"It's pretty, right? I mean, when it's not trying to kill you."
Rias squawked. Grayfia would've washed her mouth out with soap, if she heard it. It wasn't the kind of noise a young lady of good birth was meant to make.
On the other hand, her fiance had just appeared out of thin air next to her, sitting and smiling as if he'd been there forever.
"The moon tried to kill you?" Rias asked.
"Just once," Naruto said. "I think that might've been a different moon, too."
"Sometimes, you don't make much sense," Rias said.
He laughed. The stone bench was pretty low to the ground, but by leaning his weight back, he was able to kick his feet.
"What're you nervous about?" Naruto asked.
"Who says that I'm nervous?" Rias said.
"Back home, my mom has this flower garden," Naruto said, "and making it as nice as possible is her main hobby. The servants help but she does a lot of the work herself. It's her favorite place. Twice, I've seen her go and sit outside alone, even when it gets dark. The first time was when we got into a fight with the Beleth Clan over some business stuff they never explained to me because I was like eight at the time. For a bit, it looked like things were going to get violent. Your brother actually handled that for us."
"He did?" Rias asked. This was news to her.
"Yep! He swooped in and handled it like a big wise satan that he is!" Naruto said. "Since our dads are so close, I think he keeps an eye out for us."
"And because we're supposed to be married."
"That, too, I guess, but I don't think he'll hold a grudge if it doesn't happen." Naruto frowned. "I think I got his approval, though. Somehow."
Again, Rias found herself surprised. "What did you do?"
"I had a talk with him about what it means to be a devil in the same garden I was telling you about," Naruto said. "Anyway, the second time that Mom went and sat out there was after one of my oldest brother's Rating Games. You've probably heard of him? He's named Ruval."
"Sona has mentioned his name," Rias said. "She's obsessed with Rating Games, and he's eighth in the rankings. I don't think there's anyone in the top twenty she hasn't mentioned."
"Our powers are good for those games," Naruto said. "We're hard to put down because, y'know…"
He grabbed his right index finger. Pulling, Naruto detached it with a sound that made Rias flinch. Instead of blood rushing out, the wound just smoldered. Naruto reattached his finger and it stuck in place as good as new.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Rias asked, wide eyed.
"I'm used to ignoring pain," Naruto said. "All of us are. We're not nearly as good with getting hurt, though. Ruval got high enough in the rankings that he went up against the number one. I don't really understand that guy's abilities, but I know it can make our abilities not work. My brother was in the hospital all night after losing, and my mom spent the whole time sitting in her garden, looking at the sky. So I've seen someone sit and look at the moon like you were, and I know what it means. What's messing with your head?"
Rias had gotten distracted listening to him talk. The truth was, he was right, she had been worrying. Now, put on the spot, she couldn't think of an excuse to wriggle out of sharing her worries.
So she looked at the moon, like she had been before he showed up, and curled her hands into fists in her lap.
"I was wondering if I'm doing the right thing."
"What, about the marriage contract?" Naruto said. "You are."
He said it so simply that it was hard for Rias not to agree on the spot.
"I'm doing the right thing for me," she said. "But I'm the King of a peerage. I have six wonderful servants who will do what I say if I order it. I'm practically picking a fight with my parents. There will be other devils who will hold a grudge if we break off an engagement. It goes against tradition, and some of them care about tradition more than anything. How can I let my problems cause my peerage so much trouble?"
"Why don't you ask them?" Naruto asked.
"Ask them… What?" Rias said.
"Ask them if they want to help," Naruto grinned. "Instead of ordering them to help, just give them a choice. You might be surprised how it goes!"
"Just ask them," Rias said. "Just ask them…" Could it really be that simple?
Naruto got up and stretched, before turning and holding his hand out to Rias.
"Ready to head inside?" he asked.
"I think I am," Rias said.
She placed her fingers in his. His skin was warm, like holding her hand near a campfire. She had to remind herself to let go of it as they walked toward the hotel.
"Did the moon really try to kill you?"
Naruto groaned. "It's really complicated."
LINE BREAK
The next morning everyone gathered in the flower garden. The only one who wasn't present was Sona, who'd gone back to Kuoh as soon as she woke up.
The combined peerages of Naruto and Rias formed a considerable crowd, with the added presence of Xenovia, Ravel, and Fujimai only adding to the milling group. Rias and Naruto stood together, coincidentally just in front of the bench they'd been sitting on the night before. They had just finished explaining what their plan was, Rias doing most of the talking while Naruto cut in periodically to add things.
"A rating game?" Elmenhilde asked. She was underneath her broad umbrella as a precaution, even though the morning was cloudy. "With the marriage on the line?"
"It's a risky choice," Bafeel said. She had a look of apprehension on her face. "Are you sure negotiations aren't a better option? I don't know your parents, Miss Gremory, but Lady Phenex isn't unreasonable."
"She is about this," Naruto said. "At least, she has been all the times I tried to get through to her. Dad was the same way. This is Rias's idea, but I'm with her on it. It's the best we've come up with."
"Then we're doing it, nyah!" For once, Kuroka used one of her verbal tics not to act cute, but as a call to action. She stepped forward, arms crossed underneath her bust, which was half spilling out of a loose kimono. "You fight, we fight."
"We fight," Shirone quietly agreed with her sister.
Since her transformation the day before, she had retained her changes, occupying a more mature body that looked similar to that of her sister, although not endowed to that level. It was like a magical puberty. The change had caused some amounts of confusion in the others, and outright jealousy from Ravel, who now had to glare UP at her rival.
Griselda stepped forward and joined Kuroka, saying nothing. She didn't have to. She had sworn her blade to Naruto. If the time had come to wield it, she would offer no hesitation.
"This Rating Game nonsense. What is it?" Kurama asked.
"A fight," Naruto said.
"Are they strong?" she asked.
"I don't know yet," he said. "The enemy hasn't been decided."
She grunted. "Will they taste good?"
"You won't be able to eat them."
She looked disgusted.
"At least it will be SLIGHTLY less boring than sitting around the manor," she said.
Bafeel stepped forward too, smiling with a wry tinge.
"I hope my suggestions did not come off as yellow bellied," she said. "If this is our path, my sword will cut the way."
Naruto looked at Fujimai, wondering if she would protest. She was still his mother's queen. She didn't, though, wearing such a glassy look that Naruto wasn't sure she even realized what was happening. She'd been very distracted all night and into the morning.
Ravel was similarly unresponsive. She was turned so that as she stood spaced out, her head was pointed at Rias, who had been mobbed by her peerage. Issei was raising one fist above his head, shouting about being fired up, while Kiba and Elmenhilde gave less excitable, but equally firm, professions of support. It was Rias who Ravel was looking at. Naruto's sister took a step toward his fiance. Before he could ask what she was up to, Xenovia moved past his peerage, closing deep into his personal space in order to whisper to him.
"Mr. Angel, can we talk?"
"Privately?" Naruto asked.
Xenovia nodded.
"Be back in a minute!" Naruto said to the others.
Kuroka smiled and whistled, giving the impression of a cat who caught the canary so recently that it was still singing from her throat.
As Naruto started to lead Xenovia away, Griselda said: "Don't forget protection, Sister Xenovia."
Xenovia looked back, cocking her head. "My fists are my protection. If that isn't enough, I'm sure I could find a blade somewhere."
Kuroka chortled. Bafeel couldn't help giggling. Griselda reached up, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You remind me how much of your education I have to shore up. Expect lessons when we return to the underworld."
Trying not to laugh, Naruto took Xenovia to the far side of the garden, right on the edge of the hotel grounds. They weren't far from where he had doled out Kuroka's punishment the night before. In fact, if he looked carefully, he was pretty sure he could see a tree that was suspiciously askew between the other trunks…
The whole way, Xenovia's head had been swiveling around as she assessed their surroundings for threats. She thought that Griselda had been warning her of some kind of local threat.
"You can relax," Naruto said. "Nothing is going to jump out at us in this hotel."
Where they'd walked to didn't have benches like the one he and Rias had used. Instead, there were four stone chairs only big enough for one person, like small office chairs without armrests. Naruto sat down in one and Xenovia sat in the one next to it, leaving them close together. Other than a missing screen between the two of them, it felt like they could've been doing a confessional. Xenovia's pose lent to that impression.
"Rias's Bishop, Asia, is a woman of God," she said.
"Yeah, she was one. A nun," Naruto said.
"No. She IS one." Xenovia's voice was steady and certain. "She prays each morning. She told me as much and today, I heard her do it. Each utterance of His name causes her pain. She does it anyway. I've rarely seen such devotion, even when I was working under the elites of the church. She inspired me, Mr. Angel, the same way that you did. She's made me reassess what it means to hold faith."
"That's great!" Naruto said. Yesterday, when Xenovia met and Asia met, it seemed like the EXorcist might end up going for her sword, so this newfound respect was a welcome surprise.
"I believe that becoming a being of sin and remaining devoted granted her an epiphany," Xenovia declared. Her eyes sharpened, like a sword beneath a whetstone. "Do you think that's possible, Mr. Angel?"
"Uh… Sure!" Naruto said.
"I see." Xenovia nodded. "In my pondering of the issue, I already came to the realization that excommunication might improve my relationship with God. If I could find a way to follow His tenets without the church between us, I could reach a deeper understanding of them. Now, I see that I wasn't misguided. I merely haven't gone far enough!"
"Ye…es?" Naruto said.
It didn't seem like she wanted to skewer Asia anymore, and he wanted to encourage THAT, but Xenovia was starting to work up a head of steam, to the point that it was making him nervous.
She stood up decisively.
"Thank you, Mr. Angel. As always, I can count on you to steer me in the right direction. This lamb does not deserve such a shepherd."
She spun around and walked off.
Naruto watched her go.
"I don't think I really told you anything. Seems like you came up with it yourself." Naruto watched her walk away purposefully. "She's not going to do something crazy, is she? Should I go get Griselda?"
LINE BREAK
Naruto had been right. His solution was so simple and yet it was so effective. What kind of fool was she? Rias had been so worried about what choice she should make for her peerage.
All along, the choice was supposed to be theirs. And they chose her.
Issei swore himself to her cause the loudest. Asia was the second loudest despite being the newest recruit, doing her best to emulate Issei's raucous offering of support. Elmenhilde was much more reserved and polite, simply saying that this was what she agreed to when she accepted a Rook piece: to serve as one of Rias's shields. Kiba was similarly polite, just a bit more forward with his words:
"For you, Buchou, I would turn my sword toward the Satans themselves."
"Thank you." Rias was a little bit teary eyed; she blinked hard. "But please don't do that. You'll die."
"He's just showing his support," Akeno said. "I don't mind it. In fact, I enjoy boys who exaggerate. Don't you think it's cute to see them posturing? Like a puppy bearing his fangs, pretending that he's anything except cute."
Both Issei and Kiba looked offended, although they expressed it in different ways. Issei hooted: "I'M NOT LIKE THAT!" Kiba gave a much milder frown.
Akeno ignored both of them, smiling at Rias in her trademark way.
Rias looked back at her Queen.
Nothing had to be said. Akeno wasn't making a choice today. She made her choice years ago. Until the very end, no matter what, she would be with Rias, even if the whole world turned on them.
Rias was distracted. She was focused on her peerage and, alright, she was a little bit emotional. It felt good to be cared about, alright? Anyway, she didn't see them coming.
Each of Rias's hands were grabbed, held onto by two different girls. They grabbed her so hard that she was dragged away from her peerage. One set of hands was small yet surprisingly strong, while the other pair were calloused and as strong as Elmenhilde.
Rias stared at the two women who were demanding her attention. Ravel Phenex and Xenovia Quarta had differing but equally serious expressions. The words they said to her were identical:
"Take me into your peerage!"
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