PA: A bit longer than I thought, but I struggled a bit with one of the scenes and uh, finals and all that jazz. But here you are, chapter three. I won't take up too much time here and quickly respond to some of the reviews.

To Guest: Yep, devils are the date rape faction. Lol.

People asking about pairing/harem: Nope, not a harem. Naruto and Rias might end up dating other people for a time, but they will be together, in a singular fashion, for the majority of the story.

People theorising about Kushina and the whole Naruto being chained thing: Oh, you're in for a real treat with that one. It will come around, it's like one of those seeds that will just grow over time.

Those enjoying the rewrite: Thanks, you guys and gals(?) are alright.

Now on to what you're actually here for; the chapter.

Naruto awoke to a familiar but distant feeling. There was a pressure around his waist and a wetness seeping into him. He looked around the room, it either was not the one he fell asleep in or devils were incredibly good at redecorating. He rolled over and dragged the heiress with him as he checked it out. Damn, they even did the bed, or teleported him, that was still up for debate. He sat up and frowned, how hadn't Rias woken up already? He poked her cheek twice watching her nose scrunch up again and her brow furrow. She was such a little kid at times. "Rias," he called softly, "it's time to get up." Wait, was he in pants now? "Who the fuck dressed me!"

Rias bolted up at the sudden yelling and looked around in a haze. She came face to face with the confused look of Naruto being trying to wipe away her drool without breaking eye contact. "You should work on that you know?" Rias reached forward and clobbered him into a massive hug. He attempted to protest it at first but relented when it appeared the she didn't want to relent under any manner. "Fine, fine. Didn't we do enough of this last night?"

"Well excuse, I'd thought you were dead," she huffed and tightened her grip just a little more.

"Hey, oi, ease up. I'm still tender you know!" She relaxed her grip, somewhat, under his protest. "Anyway, Sirzechs could have told you I was alive."

The air seemed to grow rather still and Naruto felt he had spelled out someone's doom. "What?"

"Uh, yeah. See, if I die I kind of just end up somewhere else…sometimes missing some memories but for the most part I'm just weak as shit for a little bit then back on my feet."

Rias held him a little tighter. "You sound like you've done it before…"

"Yeah, I tried mum's cooking once next thing I knew I was in China…damn." It hadn't fully dawned on him until then that Kushina was gone. He knew of course, but it hadn't quite sunk in, not with all that rage he'd been building up. His home was gone, Yugao, gone. Kadly and Rin…he hoped that they had run away when he told them too; he'd need to look for them soon, maybe once he was back on his feet proper. Wait, Rin was actually rather close. He'd look for her soon.

The two awkward teens sat there for a few more minutes, neither really sure of how to push the conversation forward. It wasn't until a cough sounded out from the door that they actually split apart and Naruto was able to dry himself off with a small flick of his hands. "It appears that I did not have to worry about waking you both?" Came a stoic call from someone that Naruto did not know, at least not personally. He'd studied enough about Devil society to know the larger players and this one was on that list. Grayfia, formerly a servant to the Old Lucifer, married to the current one, and apparently a damn good fighter if word was right. Didn't picture her as a maid though.

"Ah, nope. We're all good here, Grayfia. Thanks though. Um, would you like breakfast, Naruto?"

He spared a glance to Rias after her question and looked back to Grayfia. "Can we maybe get some proper clothes first, for the both of us? Also, I have still not had my question answered, who dressed me?"

"That would be I, Naruto. I hope it was too your liking?"

"In future, I can dress myself, but thanks. I guess this one," he motioned towards Rias, "didn't make your job any easier last night. Also, same room or different one?"

"A different one."

"Ah, so I was teleported."

Grayfia nodded. "We did not wish to disturb the two of you as repairs were done to the room."

Naruto gave her a small shrug. "Honestly, from what I've seen, Rias would have slept through it. She only wakes up when someone starts yelling."

"Yes, normally myself when she is running late for school," affirmed the head maid. This got a small chuckle from the blond who got out of bed and stood before her with a hand outstretched.

Naruto waited for a moment before sighing. "You shake it, and introduce yourself. I'm Naruto, Camilla or Uzumaki work, vampire prince of a sort."

Grayfia gingerly took his hand. "And I am Grayfia Lucifurge, head maid of the Gremory house. A pleasure to meet you proper."

Naruto looked back to Rias with a wide smile on his face. "She's nice. I wish my maid was as well trained as her."

"Speaking of your maid. There was a woman claiming to be as such by the gate this morning. I had thought to shoo her away but if it is indeed the one you are talking about then they will find a roof here for them as well. I shall see to it."

The blond nodded in thought. "After breakfast, she can wait that long, it'll teach her some patience."

"Very well," Grafyia started, "also, Naruto, your clothes are positioned in the cupboard. I do hope that they are to your preference."

Rin dusted herself off for what seemed like the tenth time in the past minute. Firstly, she was not a fan of the underworld, never had been ever since she started learning about it. Secondly she had to jump through all kinds of hoops and backdoors just to get here…But she was happy. The pain in her chest had stopped meaning that her master was safe. She'd followed the connection to here, apparently this is where the Gremory family stayed and it'd been a hell of a journey. Her clothes were not in the best of shape and she wished that she held a second pair with her, but there was something around the castle that had kept her from getting near. Each time it felt like she was being flayed alive so she'd tried to get stronger and stronger and attempt it again each year. Only, she never got the chance, her attempt to rescue her master was short lived as another had come and plucked it right from in front of her.

Still, she now stood before these tall gates with a guard on either side of them casting her a glance every now and again to make sure she was still behaving. Not like she had any other option here. She let out a small hum as she swayed back and forth on her feet. Damn, why did she have to wait? Then she heard the doors open, they were quite a distance away but the scent that came from them was definitely Naruto's, though it was different, like a devil. She held back a growl at the thought and wanted to berate him on his actions. Then again, he knew better then her when it came to this. She'd been turned by him and had slowly been learning alongside him, but she was anything but a quick study.

A few more minutes passed and she caught the trail ends of a conversation, something about breakfast and having been better than he expected. That may be so but Naruto hasn't had a breakfast prepared by her yet so… where was she going with this? Anyway they were at the gate so she put on a big smile as he approached, even going so far as to ignore that pig headed maid that had tried to throw her away earlier. Damn her, damn that bitch she'd show her.

"Rin?" He called and she did her best to suppress the urge to shiver in delight.

She nodded and pulled at the hem of her skirt, ignoring the small tear sound as she gave a curtsy. "Yes, Youn-… yes Master. It is good to see you in good hea-"

Though her eyes were down she felt him take a step forward and cut her of as he scooped her into a warm embrace. She wrapped her small arms around him and pulled tightly into him. Stuffing her face into his shirt. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" all the while Naruto continued to hush and hold her. She wanted to say something else, anything else, but the words wouldn't come. It was her fault. If she had been stronger, if she had known more, if she had trained harder then it wouldn't have happened; she was sure of it. So they stood a while longer with her uttering her apologies and Naruto trying to soothe her through them lest she break. Rin tightened her hands to fists clumped of his shirt before taking a breath in and slowly stepping back. She tried to compose and wiped her dirty rags across her face to rid the tears that had spilled.

"Forgive me, Master. If you will have me once more I would like to resume the role of your maid to tend to your every need." She watched for a moment as Naruto seemed to be weighing up whether to take her back or not. Each one more painful then the last. She opened her mouth to speak only to watch him shrug his shoulders.

"Sure, it'd be pretty weird without you at this point. Making you walk all the way here and sneak in just to turn you away. That'd be pretty cruel of me." He gave her a toothy grin before he paused and looked over his shoulder. "But, uh, you'll probs need to do things the way that the Gremory family does, so you'll likely be learning from another for a while. Plus we'll need to catch up on everything that I've missed. How does dinner sound, my room?"

"That sounds wonderful master."

Naruto gave a short nod and turned on his feet before asking, "speaking of which, where is my room, Grayfia?"

"I shall show you to it. Along with where Miss Rin will be staying."

The days grew long and stretched into weeks as Rin gained an understanding of how things worked in the Gremory house. Thankfully Naruto had made a full recovery in this time. Though it did very little to ease the workload on her plate. At daybreak for the Gremory house she would be up and running around to make sure breakfast, fit for a duke, was ready for the table when the lord and lady of the house were ready for it. Then she was to sit in on the lessons that were given to Naruto and Rias to further their education, it appeared as though Rias wanted to study in the human world, which meant she needed to understand their system and work within its bounds.

After their makeshift schooling came the study of arcane; a subject she had little hope with. Magic was not in her nature; it was not that she couldn't understand it, rather than her body could not produce the same effects of magic that Naruto and Rias were able to; it shamed her as a vampire.

Then it was martial training. Rias did not actively take part in this portion and it seemed to be a rather recent addition. For the most part it seemed sloppily put together and without organization. A different servant came each day to instruct, or rather spar, with Naruto. He was getting stronger and faster each day; her own progress though, well…She couldn't flick a switch and magically become some grand fighter; not that she knew of at least. So she spent a large amount of time getting her butt thoroughly handed to her and it didn't feel like she was making much progress.

Currently she had some free time and was using it to scour the halls for her master. Normally the link between the two of them made the task quite easy but it was blurred like he was inside some barrier. She walked past a door and stopped, he was on the other side. Rin pressed herself against the door and listened; he was talking to someone, though their voices were muffled even for her. She caught something about a trip and a trial, but not too much more. The conversation continued for a little while longer before she heard the doorknob turn and she quickly took a waiting position in the hall.

Naruto looked at her as he left the room and gave a wide smile before striding over as Venelana left after him. "It is good to see you again, Rin," the matriarch of the family said, "I do hope you're finding your place here?"

Rin carefully gave a deep bow to the women. "I am. Thank you for taking me into your home."

"It was no issue. Naruto here wanted to keep you close and so I made it happen." The two shared a look before her blond master sighed and rubbed his neck.

"So, I take it you were looking for me, Rin?"

Ah, she hadn't really thought of what to say once she'd found him. Honestly she just wanted to tease him and have him return the favour like they used to, it was somewhat lonely without that interaction. "I was. I believed that at this point you would have gotten yourself into trouble and required my aid." She waited for a reaction, one of any kind really.

Venelana was the one that give it through a curt chuckle behind her sleeve . Naruto looked at her for a few moments longer as if judging her actions under the firmest of eyes. "Sure. You can help me pick out what I'm supposed to wear to this test thing that Venelana has set me up for. I still have no idea why, but it's a thing, apparently."

"It matters because you were not born a Devil. Society will see you as nothing more than lower class unless you complete these tests. Neither of us believe you to be so, thus I put your name forward. I have been watching you after all my Queen."

"Not creepy at all," he muttered back before shrugging, "so that's the why. Now come on, I know you enjoy using me as some sort of doll."

Rin gave a small bow to Venelana while Naruto tried to push her in the direction of his room. "I shall do my best to make sure he looks presentable Milady."

"That is all I can ask," and with that she left Rin to be shoved away.

It didn't take long for Naruto to drag her through the halls, she'd stopped fighting once they were out of sight of the other servants or masters, and she promptly heard him close the door behind her. She'd been in his room nearly every day since she'd arrived, now though there was a different air about it. She wasn't here for any specific task like when she woke him in the morn, nor when she checked him before entering her own slumber. She had no reason for being here, lest she were to count her own boredom.

His scent permeated the room and wrapped it in a tangled mystery that drew her in; did it always smell like this? The lights were dimmed the same as normal, but different all the same. He strode across the room and tossed off his shirt; fussing about the buttons once more. "Well, lets get this out of the way I guess," he muttered out and turned to face her before giving a small smile.

It took her a moment to gather her thoughts. Yes, she was there to help him choose his clothing for some test of sorts coming up. She did have a task. She could push everything else away. She lightly threw her hands up in the air and sighed, "what'd you do without me?"

"Who knows?"

The shirt and pants combo that he often wore was nice, but he needed something 'him'. An outfit that would define him. "What is this test meant to be like?"

"A general academic one followed by some kind of combat performance. I want something that's a bit easy to move in if at all possible?"

"Ah." She moved to the cupboard and started looking through his clothes. Most of them were stock standard and all too similar to what he had been wearing before. She pursed her lips before finding something hidden away in the back. She pulled it out and found it to be rather baggy; it'd be likely to nearly fall off of him. "Try this one. It's a little big but I can take it in." She handed it over and he quickly put it on. It was a little long as she had expected but the black and orange seemed to mix almost naturally with his blond hair and pale skin. There needed to be a little bit of give still in the pants so he could move about without restriction, and if they put some supportive tape around the ankles, well, it would be fine. The shirt was move akin to a vest with only three buttons giving him less to fuss over. She moved over and started pulling it tighter on some portions of his body before pining it in place with needles from the stock at her hip. "What do you think?" Honestly she thought he looked quite dashing.

"I'm like some kinda Arabian djinn."

Rin took a step back as she looked him over again, well, maybe he did a little. "Well, you can regenerate most wounds and throw fire from your hands…" she trailed before giving a small shrug, "maybe it is fitting."

"Maybe…" he muttered and started to test the give of the clothing. He appeared happy enough if his nodding was anything to go by. "Well, it does the job. So what were you looking for me for?" He turned towards her and gave a knowing look.

"I was wondering if maybe, well, why are we here?"

"Ah. Don't you like it?"

Rin paused at his question. Was he happy here after all? Was she just adding fuel to a simmering fire? "I do, at least I think I do. I was just wondering if you were happy here? Don't you have things you need to do still?"

"I'm not ready, at least not yet. I haven't forgotten, I guess we can just consider this a stepping stone to home. Don't worry, I'll take back our lands and avenge our friends and family… but I'm not strong enough to go right now and storm the Tepes lands. Plus, I still need to go on a journey. Though that might be a little while away as apparently that's meant to be pretty taxing."

"A Journey?" She questioned.

He gave her a small nod before responding, "Yeah, I need to finish waking up my Sire's powers. They're still rather dormant. Don't worry, I plan on dragging you along with me."

"You won't be able to hide who you are after that… I can see why you would wait. Very well, so long as you have a plan I am content. If you'll hand me those I will make sure they are prepared for tomorrow."

He nodded and handed his clothes over before stretching out. "I might turn in for the day. I'll see you tomorrow, Rin."

"Of course. I shall find you something for breakfast as well seeing as it is a big day, I guess?"

He let out a small laugh a he climbed into bed. He gave her a final look before pulling the covers up. "Thanks Rin… for sticking around."

"Of course, you'd be lost without me after all."

"Yeah, I just might be."

What an odd thing for him to say. She was about to press further but thought against it and left. He had his method with dealing, and she'd leave it to him until he could no more; still, he could lean on her a little more. That's what she was made for after all.

Naruto stretched and groaned before sliding from the horse he road. He took in a deep breath and scanned the area around them. It was clear, for the most part. A few trees sparsely sprinkled around what appeared to be a lake of liquid silver. "Well, this is certainly interesting, Naruto…I have noticed that you tend to avoid the crowds these days, more so than usual."

"This pool before us is a little creation that I've set forth. It took some time and a lot of old magic to secure it as a ritual site. It requires only a few tiny drops of blood to create a scrying spell that is untraceable. Be it political enemies, heinous villains or well to do heiresses, none shall know. You know, unless they have a similar sort of knowledge of ancient magic, but most Devils don't even bother to look into that. I thought something like this could be interesting for someone like you, Sirzechs."

Sirzechs let out a sigh as he dropped down from his horse and moved to stand by Naruto. "You don't normally give me gifts unless you're asking for my help…"

"I know. Venelana and I, well, we believe that our show during the promotional examination went a little too far."

There was a large sigh from Sirzechs before he hummed. It seemed more to himself and as a way of thought than having any particular motion on the surrounding circumstances. "I take it that my mother is not as excellent a teacher as she made it out to be, and that you can't actually use the power of destruction."

"I can, just not in the way mentioned. I'm a Crusnik, as you know," Naruto watched him for a nod, "and part of that means that I can 'borrow' power from those that I've recently fed from. If I was to feed from say, someone with the power of destruction right before an examination, then I would be able to use it there to prove a point."

Sirzechs continued to nod alongside Naruto's words. He appeared to be following the train of thought. "And you're telling me this, why exactly?"

"So that you can use those mighty Satan powers of yours to calm the people. There are lines and lines of them trying to get Venelana to train their peerage members; not to mention the Bael family seems to be after our heads right now. I just thought I'd push a little bit of work your way so that you can aid us in clearing this up a little."

"In short, my mother made a mistake and is too proud to admit it?"

"In short, yes."

Sirzechs let out a throaty laugh before looking down at the silver pool. "Well, I guess you can show me how this thing works. I might not be able to fix it immediately, but there are some things I can do to protect you two and to pull some of the issues away from you. Though I might need to bring in Serafall to help smooth issues in some places. This isn't a problem I hope?"

"No, well, she isn't always that, uh, ditsy, is she? Because that could be a problem."

Sirzechs let out a small chuckle. "No, not always. That's more just how she relaxes.

"Ok," said Naruto. He walked forward and looked back at Sirzechs; who had followed him up tot he edge. He stretched a hand out and cut it open with a burst of magic letting the blood flow in the pool below. "Now you need to focus on the person, create a clear image of them and speak their name with confidence; like so: Michael Angelos." The pool glowed a blinding light before Sirzechs and Naruto found themselves standing in a large golden room. In the middle were a set of stairs that led to an ornate throne upon which sat a youthful looking male with long blond hair and a burning halo above his head. Naruto took a few confident strides forward and socked Michael in the face. Though much to his displeasure his hand went right through the image. "Welcome to the throne of god. Also, as you noticed we can move around, but we can't actually interact with anything here."

"Wait…if we're at the throne of, well, you know who, where is he?"

Naruto turned and rose a brow at the man. "You don't know?" When Sirzechs shook his head Naruto laughed. He took a mighty step forward and spread his arms out wide. "He went and kicked the bucket."

"And you knew this, how exactly?"

"That's a very long story. The short of it though, is that Heaven had a deal with my family…one that they broke. Hence why I'm with you all now."

Sirzechs gave a silent nod in response. There was a pause, and the two stared at one another for a few moments before Sirzechs scratched at his chin, "Ah, how do we leave?"

"Like so," Naruto put his fingers together to form a triangle and took a single breath in. "Karus." There was another flash of bright light and the two found themselves standing in front of the pool of silver liquid once more. "Easy enough to use, isn't it?"

"Indeed, and now that you've brought me here I can return whenever I like. You do have my thanks, though I will require to hear more of your 'story' when you are ready."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to call a meeting of the Satans. This will be interesting and I believe you should go visit Rias, she looked quite put out when you left with me."

"You won't get jealous, will you?"

"Hardly. She only has one brother, there are a bunch of pretty little devils like you running around."

Naruto gave a small shrug. "I'd rather be called handsome, but being called pretty by someone as effeminate as you isn't too bad either."

Rias paced back and forth in her room. It was, difficult to come to terms with, but she could not deny that Naruto was able to use the power of destruction better than she was. Not only that but there was already whispers of a promotion in store for him; even though he'd only just become mid-class. It kinda wasn't fair. Not only that he was progressing so fast but that all these things kept getting in the way of them being able to talk. Today had seemed like the first day in over a week, but he just went and grabbed her brother and took the horses out and now night was coming. She'd just have to demand to see him in the morning, damned be her mother and her classes; she needed to see her friend.

Akeno was nice and all, but well, Akeno just didn't connect in the same way that Naruto. Not to say that they didn't, but like, it was difficult. It feels different when she's talking with him, like she can fully relax and just be a goof and not worry about all this devil stuff.

There was a knock at the door and she sat up straight. She'd told the maids to leave her alone, and Akeno was busy with her studies. Her parents were probably, yep, not going to think about that, so… "Who is it?" She called, somewhat hesitant.

"It's me."

A smile quickly stretched across her face. She brushed herself down and looked around her room quickly. It was a damned mess. "Uh, give me a minute to get dressed!" Five minutes later and another check of her room had Rias approach her door and slowly pull it open. "You can come in?" Naruto nodded and entered. Of course the first thing he did was look around the room putting Rias on edge. She wasn't used to boys in her room, and to be fair most of the time she was just barging in on him; now that the situation is reversed she can feel no small amount of panic.

"Ah it's a li-"

"It's cleaner than I thought it be…"

"Oh, well, thank you?"

"You're welcome?"

Great, things were going great. If someone asked Rias how she felt right now she could safely answer 'I'm great, thank you very much for asking!' There was no way that this was awkward. It was super awkward. Something, she needed something to talk about with him. Uh, she looked around the room, nope, she'd put everything she thought was interesting away because it was 'geeky'. She looked over at Naruto who flopped down onto her bed, his legs hanging over the edge kick back and forth, back and forth. "How are you finding being a mid-class devil? It's not too difficult is it?" He looked at her with a risen brow. Ah, that was kinda stupid. It'd been a little over a week, he might not have settled in at all yet!

"It's not bad," he replied, "The requests are a little irksome though. Go to this town, take care of this stray. Make sure people are happy. Find information on this rogue agent. All that kinda stuff."

Rias put her hands behind her back and made tight fists while giving him a strained smile. Those weren't mid-class requests. Normally it was just an increase in making deals with humans. She'd need to speak to her mother about the duties she was making Naruto fulfill.

"Though," he started, "I likely won't be doing that kind of thing for long. The old coots up top are trying to push me forward after they saw I could use the power of destruction…"

"About that…"

"About that?"

Rias sucked in her breath. "Could you, uh, teach me…sometime, if you aren't busy?"

Naruto gave her a small nod. "If you want physical demonstrations you'll need to get permission from Venelana, though if you just want some instruction I can do that anytime."

"Like now?" She asked and got a nod in turn.

Naruto got up from the bed and walked over to her. "How much do you know about how devils use magic?"

"That it is powered by our imagination… is there anything else on that?

"Well, let me ask you this, if it is just powered by imagination then why are there only a handful of people that can use the power of destruction?"

Rias stared at him for a long while. She hadn't thought too much about that honestly. "Isn't it just because it is inherent to our family?"

"To an extent. If that were the case though, then why is there such a difference between your brother and your mother, or your mother and you?" He paused and she shook her head. "Magic, has core rules that come with it. Understanding, energy supplied and law. Now law and understanding kinda work together at times, for instance water puts out fire. But if you push a large amount of energy into a fire spell you will turn the supplied water into steam and your fire will continue."

Rias nodded, so far things were making sense. They weren't really taught this. It was more; 'visualize this one thing very strongly,' and they continued on such lines of thought until it was drilled into their heads. Without warning he took her hands and held them between the two. Rias watched with a frenzied fixation as his nimble, rough hands slowly peeled her fingers open.

"Now a small little exercise for us. We'll use fire as I can control that easiest if it gets out of hand."

She nods.

"Okay, I want you to let go of whatever you're feeling now. I want you to be a blank slate, no running emotions. Close your eyes."

She had half a mind to shout at him that it'd be impossible with him in her room, alone. Her bed somewhat tossed and night quickly stepping in. They were still close; a strong enough push or a 'trip' could land them on her bed and then… no. No time for thoughts like that. Something blank. Anything blank. Uh, snow. Yeah, snow was rather blank. She started to focus on the stark white snow that would cover landscapes, and it was, admittedly, relaxing to a point.

"Good. Now create the shape of flames. You should have seen them often enough."

It was true she had. She'd seen him dance through, with them, and twirl them around when he was enjoying himself.

"Well… that's interesting."

Rias creaked an eye open and saw a figure running around with small bouts of fire shooting out of them like pistons and quickly closed her eyes once again.

"Not bad. Creative, but it seems to still be under your control. Now let's try something a little harder." He waited and the pause lingered for a while longer. Rias got the message and nodded. "The link that acts as fuel and the easiest way to channel more energy into your fire based spells is passion. Or forms of it. A passionate hate will serve a different form than a passionate love. Now I want you to choose one and to slowly focus that passion into your palms."

Rias nodded. Stark snow and tumbling winters, a dancing Naruto. A passion. His home, wrecked and torn asunder. His body upon the cross ripped and broken. She'd find who did that. One by one and lock them in the cellars. There would be nowhere for them to run and each morn she'd let visages of the day creep in and roast their toes to wake them. She'd find the right amount of silver, possibly with Rin's help, and drip feed it to them. Not enough to kill them, but enough so that they'd burn. Yes, death was too good for what they did. She'd take her time and break them, make them relive what they did to him and forge them into tools that she could use to further her own goals before utterly discarding them. They'd be her broken dolls.

"I uh, think that's enough."

Rias snapped her eyes open and saw between her hands a raging torrent that Naruto was doing his best to stop from spilling out. "Naruto!" She panicked, and the flames quickly started to spiral out of control. Honestly why didn't he teach her how to stop these things first? Isn't that like the first lesson you're meant to teach someone when it comes to magic. 'Okay, this is how to put out a ball of fire when it no doubt goes out of control because you get too caught up in your own thoughts!' Okay, they could workshop the damn tittle another time. She was about to ask for help before noticing her flames quickly starting to siphon to a singular point.

They formed into a tiny spiraling ball that gave off a strange discordant whining sound. Naruto stood there holding it firmly as it whined. He took a few breaths to steady himself and looked over to her before smiling. "Hey now, that wasn't so bad. Pretty impressive actually." Slowly, ever so slowly he crushed the flames into a solid fist.

The two stood there for a while and Naruto slowly opened his fist. There were tiny sear marks on the skin that were quickly fading. Rias stepped forward and took his hand, touching the quickly fading marks. "I, I shouldn't have lost control like that."

"Nah, it's fine. It's why we did fire over anything else. Easier for me to control, still, I believe it got my point across."

Rias tilted her head to the side.

Naruto let out a small sigh. "Magic that is purely created from the imagination is easy to control. Anyone can. But once you start to add your own emotions, your fuel, it becomes much more powerful and a hell of a lot harder to control. It's how the Satan's are able to be such powerful devils, along with many other named devils."

That made sense. Rias nodded and looked his hand over again. The marks were all but gone now. Slowly she turned up to face his gaze once more. "Do you use this type of magic?"

She watched his face scrunch up. He seemed to be thinking his answer over. That meant it wasn't a simple yes or no which, was a little confusing already.

"Kind of. I used to use it a lot, but now my flames, well, they act more, more like an extension of my will. Maybe that's not right. My flames expand and contract based on what kind of feelings I put into them, but they only act upon my intent… if that makes sense?"

No of course it didn't! Nothing about him made sense to her and it was her greatest source of both wonder and irritation. He was a puzzle that she was just unable to solve. Every time she would get a step closer it was like he'd just turn the page and there was another part right there. "Sure, kind of?" she answered. Though even he had to tell she wasn't actually sure.

"Yeah, I'll think of a better way to put that…" he trails.

Rias notices that his attention is starting to waver a touch. Her eyes scanned the room; she needed something fast otherwise this would become awkward, again. Ah, her books. "Naruto, how about you tell me a story like you used to?"

He seemed pensive at the idea before he nodded and looked around awkwardly. Seemingly for a place to sit.

Rias though had a better idea. She dragged him over to bed and crawled in before tossing the covers over them. "We tend to fall asleep anyway, so let's at least be comfortable this time, no?" She felt like cheering for herself. Such a bold move and not a single stutter, definitely a point for her. He laid down and Rias backed herself into him; dragging an arm over her waist to hold her close. He let out a soft hum before starting.

"Let me tell you about Sekhmet and the horrors she has brought unto man."

Rias felt herself melting into him. His voice easing out any worries she had formed for herself. These little moments where they could be themselves and talk in hushed voices as they shared wisdom…She would always relish this.

PA: So yeah, there is still some more original content to come before we get into the timeline of DxD which will be interesting, at least I think it will be. Yes, Rin is back...poor Rin has been through a bit. But yeah, things are moving forward with a lot of little hints dropped in here and there. I hope you all enjoy and as always:

"See you later Space Cowboy."