Chapter 30: Chapter - 30
Watching dispassionately as Yuuto's suit clad form meandered off into the crowd, Akeno weighed the wisdom of having brought the child at all. While invitations had been extended to dozens of devils that explicitly included their peerages, the half-fallen angel doubted anyone would even be aware that Rias had a Knight, much less that the boy hadn't come.
Yuuto was floundering. The blonde needed stability and time, not the constant whirlwind of politics that the Gremory clan demanded from him. Watching the boy struggle day to day cut deep, but Akeno couldn't afford to surrender to emotion right now. Rias needed her Queen, not her friend.
Akeno loathed the duty the Underworld demanded of her and her impromptu replacement family at the best of times. When that duty was setting back the healing of one of her comrades, she hated it all the more.
If not for the ridiculous expectation of duty, Rias and her peerage would be at home gently passing day to day and bonding all the closer. If not for the ridiculous expectation of duty, Naruto wouldn't be murdering his future happiness for the sake of millions of people he'd never even met. If not for the ridiculous expectation of duty, her father would have been home that night and her mother would never have died.
What a disgusting sort of world.
Smoothing a hand over the silk of her yukata, Akeno ensured the purple silk and black flower print was absent a single wrinkle. Then donning a blazing smile, the fallen angel began to mingle through the crowd of servants like a hungry predator. A predator that feasts on gossip and secrets.
Rias' peerage functioned like a well-oiled machine, despite how immature and innocent they appeared to outsiders. Even Sirzechs-sama probably underestimated them. Everyone knew their role, and they followed it.
Rias was the bait. Because of her birth and loveliness, the Ruin Princess was expected to remain within sight and a visible part of any function. Tonight was no different. Clad in magnificent green with tumbledown crimson strands and white perfect features, the young woman effortlessly drew dozens of eyes and tongues with every breath.
Sasuke was the companion. Dark to Rias' light, cold austere handsomeness to Rias' warm hospitable beauty, the Uchiha cut a striking figure next to the Gremory, and they were no doubt viewed as passionate lovers by the more salacious in the crowd.
In reality, Akeno had no idea what the relationship between mistress and Pawn would turn out to be. Sasuke had high expectations of himself and of others, but that coldness was blunted by reliable crumbs of considerate kindness, and the rough fondness he offered was charming in an amusing way.
Koneko was the spy. Silent and small and just a vicious as any viper, the Nekomata had the talent for moving unseen and unheard to gather up the quiet comments and plotting that always took place when the nobility gathered in numbers.
Akeno was the seductress. Sensual sexuality and the eye catching womanly curves of her body made it impossible for the half-breed to pass anywhere unnoticed. But what Akeno lacked in stealth, she more than made up with her singular talent of convincing almost anyone – man or woman – to cave to her wiles and spill their secrets.
Yuuto was too inexperienced and too raw to have any responsibility beyond looking after himself and learning from his elders, but Akeno was already shaping a role for him in her mind. They needed a paragon. Not everyone was willing to trust a young woman, no matter how lovely. But many – especially children or the elderly – craved the presence of a shining white knight to confide in.
Information was power, and the more of it they could gain, the better off they would be. So many devils seemed to feel that politics was some great game. It wasn't. It was blood and steel and suffering. There were no redos, and the consequences of loss were very real and very severe. Even if Rias would like nothing more than to retire to her estate and live happily with her servants, the world was not content to leave them be.
Especially now that Rias was no longer the heir to the clan and thus infinitely more expendable.
"Hello there handsome." Akeno purred, breaking into a quiet conference of three older men and hugging the arm of the tallest man in the group. Hazel eyes blinked with confusion and lust as her breasts pressed into the flesh of the devil's elbow, and when Akeno smiled her teeth were very white. "What are you boys talking about?"
"Well, you see…"
*
It was when Ravel's eyes began to droop low with exhaustion that Naruto felt it was safe to call it a day. "Well, little spitfire, I think it might be time for us to bow out. I don't know about you, but I'm not fond of this whole stuffy setup to begin with."
"Mmm." The blonde hummed, slowly swaying back and forth to the slow tempo of the current song. They had hardly danced to every number, but the pair had danced to enough of them to wear the eleven year old out, and it was well past late enough for them to be able to politely leave. Many of the younger devils had already left, and the older ones that remained were well into their cups.
"I have to thank you though. It was fun." To the redhead's surprise, it actually had been.
Naruto was no more comfortable with the idea of arranged marriage, and he was even less comfortable at the thought that he'd be married to the eleven year old in his arms one day. In no world was Naruto a pedophile. But Ravel would grow far older by the time they were supposed to be married, and when he forced himself to see past the heavy weight of their engagement, Naruto was uncannily reminded of Konohamaru.
Ravel was a similar combination of spoiled arrogance, awe at her elder, and naughty prankster as his young friend had been. While the way the blonde sometimes looked at him like he'd hung the moon scared the piss out of Naruto, it wasn't often enough to make things awkward as fuck.
"Of course it was." Ravel agreed, blasé prissy haughtiness filling her voice. "You were dancing with me after all." Stifling a yawn, the Phenex girl allowed Naruto to subtly dance right off the floor and into the shadows where the servants were all quietly at work.
If Naruto were the chivalric type, or infatuated with her, he would have attempted to press a kiss to the back of her knuckles in farewell. As it was, he managed to grin and bow courteously. "I'll see you another time."
Shrugging her shoulders tiredly, Ravel agreed with a laze wave of the hand and curtsied back. "Okay. But next time, don't be drunk."
"I'm not drunk." Well maybe a little. After the little episode in the bathroom with Sasuke, not a drop had passed the Gremory heir's lips, and he was borderline sober with a slight headache at this point.
Ravel snorted, her elegance and carefully pruned manners had been falling away from her all night long, and what was left was no tolerance for bullshit. "I'm not dumb Naruto. I know what booze smells like. I'm not going to rat on you. If you need something to help you get passed the nervousness I get it, just don't do it every time."
With that, she tossed one drill-like curl behind her shoulder and left. "Give me a call in a couple of days, hmm?"
Watching the girl leave with the poise of a woman much older and the expectation that her demands would be followed, Naruto chuckled lowly. "Fucking fuck. I know this is gonna come back to bite me in the ass."
Sasuke would have a fucking field day, Naruto could see it now. 'Not even married yet and she already has his balls in her purse'.
Then again, maybe not. Sasuke was old enough to be offered champagne from unfamiliar servants, and Naruto could just barely see him waltzing away with Rias through the crowd.
If Naruto was nearly sober, Sasuke was still roaring drunk. Even Rias had acquired the flush of alcohol sometime through the night.
To cut in or not to cut in. It was a question that any protective brother would be familiar with.
On the one hand, Naruto easily interpreted the expression on Sasuke's face. Drunk and enthralled was one of the rarest looks the Uchiha had ever sported, and Naruto wanted to nurture that look like it was a little baby bird from an endangered species.
On the other hand, Sasuke needed to be castrated for even thinking about his innocent aunt like that. It was just the way of the world. Sasuke would understand – he might even approve. Sometimes, a man just had to take one for the team.
But on the other other hand, Rias was just as bad. The smile she wore had too much teeth to be a courtesy. If Naruto had to guess, he'd say that the Ruin Princess was in a genuinely good mood. Naruto might not be the sharpest kunai in the drawer but he'd picked up on the tension that had built during the month Sasuke had been 'lent' to him, and nothing repaired friendships like a good old drunken time.
The other other other hand had to weigh in too though. Naruto might be just willing to let it pass, but there was no promise his parents or grandparents would. Breaking it up might save Sasuke's life from the wrath of a Satan, and as a friend he probably owed Sasuke that.
No decision was complete without the other other other other hand though. Naruto had always been worried about Sasuke's ability to form bonds with others. So maybe letting things proceed naturally would yield out positive results? The clan might not be pleased if scandalous things occurred, but Naruto was the heir, not Rias, and he was pretty sure he could put out any fires.
Still, the other other other other other hand needed to be considered…
*
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