Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Highschool DxD. This is strictly a piece of fanfiction being made without profit.

Author's Notes

Though I had tagged this story to have a Sekirei peerage, I feel it's important for me to note now that not every member of Naruto's peerage will be a Sekirei character. Though it's accurate to describe it as strictly a Sekirei peerage for the moment, it will eventually have a few DxD characters thrown in as well. As such, I have adjusted the summary accordingly to show that. Apologies for any confusion on that matter.

There also may be minor rule breaking this chapter regarding the Evil Piece system, though I'm not certain. I'm still not entirely caught up with the graphic novels to know if they explained it in any more detail.

The Underworld's Masked Hero

Chapter 2: Questions Answered?

(Hours later; Naruto's Classroom)

Riiiiiiing

"Okay, it looks like that's all for today everyone. Please remember to read the entirety of chapter four tonight so we can discuss it in-depth a bit more before I assign you homework tomorrow."

'I already had to go through your kind once before. Never again will I read you willingly, do you hear me?! Never again!' Naruto screamed vehemently within his mind as he stared down at his current textbook.

A Trigonometry textbook, to be precise.

'…Then again, at least you aren't Calculus just yet,' he tacked on as he tried to find a silver lining in his current plight. 'I swear to Kami, I mastered lightning manipulation in its entirety faster than I learned anything from that damned class.'

Shaking his head to free himself of such thoughts, Naruto merely sighed softly as he tucked his textbook and writing supplies under his arm. As he stood up, a rather loud squeal drew his attention to the entrance of the classroom.

"It's Kiba-kuuun~!" A particularly vocal fan-girl announced, subsequently drawing almost all of the other teenage women to the doorway immediately.

"Kyaaa~! He's so handsome~!"

"He's so dreamy~!"

"Maybe…maybe he's here to finally ask Naruto-sama out on a date?" Another asked with a gasp, as if theory surprised even herself. The mere suggestion drew out a few giggles and nosebleeds from several people in the room who were, evidently, very much agreeable to that particular event and what might happen afterwards occurring.

Naruto, however, just shivered a bit where he stood upon hearing those words. The mere suggestion of it brought back a flashback in his mind to the beating he received when he had accidentally 'stolen' Sasuke's first kiss in the Shinobi Academy classroom. Not only that, but he simply wasn't attracted to men in a sexual sense.

…Though that fact never seemed to stop a certain busty, red-headed super pervert from trying to convince him otherwise from time to time.

Several blocks away from Kuoh Academy within a modest two-story home, said red-head sneezed viciously before sniffling and turning back to her computer screen and giggling a bit ominously.

"Don't be ridiculous, everyone saw him this morning with Himejima-senpai. They're clearly seeing each other!" Another girl protested.

Shaking his head again at the usual antics of the girls in his class, the spiky-haired blond merely strode through the group of women as he tried to ignore the dreamy-sounding sighs when one of them saw he was particularly close to them. He only came to a stop when he reached the doorway where a fellow blond was attempting to kindly talk his way past two women that were currently standing in a way that prevented him from going any further into the classroom.

Upon noticing Naruto's presence in the doorway, the teen's eyes seemed to show a fair amount of relief as he redirected his attention back to the two women standing in front of him again.

"My apologies ladies, but I need to discuss something with Uzumaki-san. Please excuse me."

"Yo, Kiba. What can I do for you?" The former shinobi asked as his brow quirked up slightly, blatantly ignoring the mob of fan girls that were currently eyeing the conversation and…taking notes?

A quick double-take at the motion he had caught out of the corner of his eye confirmed that particular suspicion as the writers of said notes paused in their actions and looked towards the two men expectantly.

'What in the Hell? Are…are these female versions of Ero-Sennin or something?' Naruto questioned in his head. 'No, dear Kami no. The world does not need another one of those. One at a time is enough!'

Though it went unheard by the blond, down the hall in another second-year classroom, one of his fellow second-year student wearing a special pair of glasses sneezed viciously as she packed her things away. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, the red-head from before sneezed viciously again as well.

"Ah, I am here to escort you to the Occult Research Club, Uzumaki-san. Buchou and Akeno-senpai said that you would understand?"

"Oh yeah!" The spikey-haired blond stated with a snap of his fingers as his face lit up in realization. "Heh, good thing they sent you as a reminder. I probably would've forgotten otherwise," he confessed as he reached a hand up and scratched his whiskered cheek.

"Yes, Akeno-senpai mentioned that you probably would," the teen responded with a kind smile.

"She did, eh?" The blond shot back with a small smile of his own. "Well, it's nice to know she's looking out for me so much, I suppose."

His words, though directed towards the fellow blond in front of him, caused a loud murmur of whispers from the students behind him.

"See?! I told you they were seeing each other!"

As other similar whispers began getting louder and louder as the group began to argue amongst themselves without paying heed to the fact that Naruto could hear every word of the conversation, he silently signaled Kiba to begin moving – something he did without any hesitation.

The two of them, despite getting squeals and shouts from various groups of men and women as they moved along, actually remained entirely silent as they walked together – only stopping for a moment so that Naruto could put his things away in his locker – until they reached the stairwell. Even then, they likely would've continued on in silence if not for one particular person who chose to interrupt them as they walked down.

"O-Oi, Uzumaki-san?"

Pausing mid-stride, the two blonds turned to see none other than Hyoudou Issei standing there with his two friends – Matsuda and Motohama – standing slightly behind him. The latter two seemed to be glaring at them, but as they had both experienced much more intimidating looks in the past, it was quite easily shrugged off.

"Hm?" Naruto hummed out inquisitively as he quirked up an eyebrow.

"A-ano…do you…that is…uhh," the brown-haired teen stuttered, looking as if he was at a loss for words for several moments. "…I don't suppose you remember anything about a girl named Yuuma, do you?"

'Ah, so that's what this is about,' Naruto thought to himself as he inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Despite having a reputation as one of the school's biggest perverts, which was worrisome enough considering some of the works he had published over the years, he had thought Issei was trying to confess to him for a moment there because of how he was struggling to speak.

Glancing subtly over to Kiba – who only gave a slight shrug of his shoulders to show he didn't know what to do – the blond merely hummed aloud again as he brought up a finger and tapped his chin.

"Yuuma…Yuuma," he began slowly, rolling the name off of his tongue to show that he was trying to remember anything regarding the name. "Around yay high, nice and long black hair, good figure?" Naruto questioned with a wave of his hand at his chest to signal the height he was meaning.

"Y-yes! Yes, that's her!" Issei stated with a bit of elation and relief in his tone – something that caused Naruto to grin mischievously.

"Nope, never heard of her," he answered quickly before turning around and continuing to walk down the stairs with Kiba following quickly after him. Though he didn't see it, Issei froze for a moment before quickly moving over to the wall and started smacking his forehead lightly off of it – starting to believe that he might be going crazy after all. It wouldn't be until several minutes later, when he actually thought about the blond's words, that he would figure out the obvious deception.

"That wasn't very kind of you, Uzumaki-san," Kiba chastised softly as he moved to take the lead for the duo once again. However, the way his voice sounded a bit off-pitch made it obvious that he found what had happened rather humorous for one reason or another.

"Ah, alas My Liege, t'was a necessary evil," the blond shot back with a grin still plastered on his face. The way he spoke was obviously poking fun at the nicknames they had received from other students as 'The Knight' and 'The Prince' of Kuoh.

This time, Kiba didn't bother to hide his amusement as he actually let out a soft chuckle.

The rest of the trip then progressed in silence until the two men came to the front of what Naruto recognized as the old schoolhouse building for Kuoh. The structure of the building was actually quite sound and had only been replaced by the new one due to a needed increase in size, so using the place as a clubhouse was actually a pretty splendid idea, at least in his opinion.

Kiba led him silently inside of the building, up a flight of stairs, and down a few hallways until they came to a room that had been fitted with a slightly expanded door. Opening it, the blond Devil led Naruto into the room – one that varied drastically from the atmosphere of the rest of the school.

The room seemed to be unnaturally darkened, but that was somewhat countered by several candles that had been placed sporadically throughout the room. The walls were lined with wallpaper with several various paintings placed periodically along it. There were also several pieces of pricy-looking furniture in the room – mainly two couches, a nice table, a large desk, a few cabinets lining the walls, and what was likely a bathtub hidden behind the shower curtain that hung freely in between fancy black curtains that lined the walls.

After taking all of this in, he lowered his gaze to fall upon the individuals that were within the room.

Rias stood directly in front of him leaning against one of the cabinets of the room while smiling softly in his direction. In front of her and sitting on the couch that was on her right side, was Akeno who was also sending him a warm smile. Across from her, clad in the traditional Kuoh uniform, was a short, petite, white-haired girl with hazel eyes who was currently chewing on a piece of strawberry poky while she looked at him.

Said girl was, of course, none other than Toujou Koneko – the supposed mascot of the academy.

Kiba, who had been standing by his side for a moment, silently walked over and sat next to her after Rias gave him a nod.

"Welcome, Naruto, to the Occult Research Club," the red-headed Devil greeted kindly.

"Thanks Rias," he returned in an equally kind manner – his form of casual for address for her unknowingly thrilling the girl as it always did. "Mind if I take a seat," he questioned as gestured towards the empty spot next to Akeno.

"Oh, no, not at all," the girl replied with a wave of her arm towards the location.

Moving forward and plopping himself down on the couch and releasing a bit of a soft groan as he sunk into the high-quality leather, he let his eyes flicker to everyone in the room in quick succession before he locked his gaze with Rias' own once again.

"So, you gathered nearly all of your peerage to greet little ol' me?" Naruto questioned, causing several of their eyes to widen in shock – though none more than Rias' own. "What's the occasion?"

It took the red-head several moments to compose herself after that, but with a quick shake of her head, she did just that.

"There's no special occasion," she admitted after another moment, not even bothering to question how he seemingly knew more about her peerage than she would've liked for the moment, "but I wanted them here when I made you an offer…"

"…Ah," Naruto responded with a slow nod of his head. "And it would probably be safe to assume that this offer has something to do with me becoming one of your Evil Pieces, yes?"

Though she didn't actually respond at first, the way she cleared her throat and glanced around to her other peerage members made the answer to his question rather obvious.

"It does," Rias confirmed with a curt nod of her head. "I figured we could both benefi—" she began before she stopped herself with the blond held up his hand palm-out towards her in the universal sign to stop.

"You don't have to sell me on the benefits of an Evil Piece, I am well-informed as to what they can do," he began before letting out a soft chuckle and running his right hand over the ring on his left ring finger. "It's around four in the afternoon right now, yes?"

"That sounds about right, yes," Kiba confirmed from across the table.

"Ah, good," he began with another chuckle as he continued rubbing over his ring. "She shouldn't be too drunk yet then."

Before anyone else in the room could really process what that statement meant, a red, glowing Magic Circle suddenly appeared in the center of the room. The members of Rias' peerage immediately jumped up from their seats and moved in front of their King to defend her from a potential threat, but the red-head only reacted by widening her eyes as her gaze took in the design of the circle on the floor.

It was the same one she had been intimately familiar with almost her entire life, after all.

With a burst of light, the circle suddenly vanished and left only a woman in its place. Said woman had curves that, though thought impossible by students in the academy, nearly put Rias' and Akeno's to shame – curves that were also easily visible thanks to her the short, purple Chinese dress she was currently wearing. The dress in question was form-fitting over her hips and upper-body – save for her sleeves which were slit open – but it also had a large section cut away in the center to reveal a lot of skin from her collarbone all the way to just above her pelvis. Several straps across the opening were the only things ensuring that she wasn't indecently exposed.

Other than her dress, the woman only three accessories to finish off her appearance – a simple anklet on her right leg, a light-purple ribbon holding back some of her long, black hair, and and a golden ring on her left ring finger. Her lack of shoes made it obvious that, wherever it was she had been before, she had evidently been quite relaxed.

The incredibly busty woman merely blinked a few times, seemingly to take in the appearance of the group she was facing, before her gaze landed on the blond whom was just now rising from the couch and walking towards her.

Without any hesitation, Naruto walked straight up to her, smiled, and gave her a tender kiss on the lips that lasted for a few heartbeats. However, as he did so, his brow rose up a bit in surprise at the distinct lack of alcohol that he tasted.

"No sake today?" He questioned softly as he pulled away.

"The day isn't over yet," she shot back with a wide smile before she leaned to the side and peeked over at the others who were staring at them with wide eyes and – at least in Akeno's case – what appeared to be a touch of envy.

"Too right you are, love," Naruto responded softly before turning around and draping his arm casually over her shoulders to pull her a bit closer to him. "Everyone," he continued in a louder tone for the others to hear, "I'd like you to meet Kazehana – one of my wives and the Queen of my peerage."

"…"

"…"

"…Ara ara," Akeno spoke up after the silence had dragged on almost uncomfortably long length of time. "One of your wives, Naruto-kun? I suppose I was right about your beastly urges earlier."

Suddenly, the room was filled with Kazehana's voice as she started giggling before it turned into laughter so intense that it brought tears to her eyes and she had to grip onto the blond's arm to keep herself from falling over.

"Ah…hahaha," the busty woman continued giggling as she was attempting to bring herself back under control. "Oh…oh, you have to introduce her to Miya."

A noticeable shiver promptly passed through Naruto's body at the mere thought. He loved Miya dearly, and he would admit that Akeno was quite amazing herself, but the two of them…together…

'That would either be one of the greatest things to ever happen to me or one of the most terrifying,' he thought to himself.

"I…uh, I think we can put that off until another time, dear," Naruto stated as he swallowed thickly. "B-besides, I'm sure that Rias has a million questions for us right about now, right Rias?"

Sadly, as said red-headed Devil was still seemingly processing everything she had seen, she was a bit slow in speaking up, so his way of escaping the situation was currently failing him.

"Aw, you're no fun," Kazehana pouted before it promptly turned up into a mischievous-looking grin. "But now that I think about it, Miya's out shopping anyway," she continued with what was quite obviously a fake sigh. "I suppose we'll just have to go with the back-up option."

Naruto's brow furrowed for a moment, thinking about what she could mean by that, before his eyes widened dramatically.

"Wait, Kazehana do—" the blond began before he felt a familiar tingle on his ring finger just as the woman in question ran a finger over her own ring.

"…Fuck."

Another Magic Circle, identical in every way to the one that Kazehana had traveled through, suddenly appeared in the room in a bright flash before vanishing a moment later.

This time, the woman who appeared in the room had a far more modest figure – Rias' and Akeno's figures far outshining her own by most men's standards. She stood a few inches shorter than Naruto naturally, but ended up actually looking only a tiny bit shorter than him thanks to the fact that she wore heels.

The woman had long grey hair that was tied back into a ponytail with a single ahoge sticking out from the top and hanging in front of her face. She was clad in a tight, black, kimono-style top that ran down to her thighs with a tick brown belt angled at her hips keeping it securely shut. Atop that, she wore an open grey haori with the image of a black crow embroidered over each shoulder. She didn't seem to actually wear any pants – much like Kazehana in that regard, apparently – but she did wear a pair of high-heeled, thigh-high, form-fitting boots that could nearly pass as lower-body attire in a way. A golden ring, identical to Kazehana and Naruto's own, was also on her left ring finger.

Then, of course, there was also the fact that she had a nodachi that was on the shorter side strapped to her waist – the hilt wrapped in black bandages with a sheath to match.

The grey-haired woman merely let her gaze flick across everyone present before her eyes flicked over to Naruto. It was then, and only then, when she removed her hand from the hilt of her blade. Instead of actually speaking, she merely turned towards Kazehana and quirked up an eyebrow the slightest of margins.

It was a look that just seemed to scream 'why in the Hell did you call me?'

Letting out a sigh and walking towards her before his Queen could actually speak, Naruto quickly reached the sword-wielding woman and planted a kiss on her lips much like he had with Kazehana. As he pulled away this time though, his lips didn't escape hers without getting bit down upon slightly – something he was quite used to by now and he subsequently made no fuss over.

"Sorry love," he began after he pulled away. "I tried to stop her from calling you since it wasn't necessary, but you know how she can be sometimes," he continued with a jerk of his head towards his Queen. "I'll give you a spar later to make up for it."

The woman's face promptly stretched into what most would classify as a rather maniacal-looking grin.

"And just like that, my day is made," she spoke in a surprisingly tender voice for the grin she was wearing. The grin slipped a moment later, however, as she turned her gaze back over to her sister-wife.

"Hey, don't look at me like that Karasuba!" Kazehana huffed slightly – finally giving said woman a name to those who didn't already know it – before pointing towards Akeno who was observing the scene with a smile. "You told me to call you if I ever saw her."

Slowly, Karasuba turned her gaze towards Akeno who met it evenly and sent a warm smile towards her.

Akeno then blinked…and promptly had to stop herself from stumbling backwards as the grey-haired woman was now suddenly in front of her and looking at her with a rather intense stare.

Koneko, meanwhile, actually did stumble while Rias flinched back in surprise. Kiba was the only other one of the red-head's peerage to keep relatively calm – his hand traveling down to his waist as if he were about to draw a sword that wasn't actually there.

"So, you're the one my Ashikabi has talked about so often lately…" Karasuba began, her menacing grin returning full force as she locked eyes with Rias' Queen.

"A-Ashi-what now?" Rias questioned from the side, finally finding her voice as a beat of sweat dripped down her brow due to the fact that she hadn't even seen a hint of the woman move before.

"Ashikabi," Naruto repeated as he walked closer to the group with Kazehana trailing right behind him. "It's…a long story – too long to really explain fully. An Ashikabi is someone that a Sekirei – the race that these two are – bind themselves to for life. It's a bit like the Evil Piece system, in a sense."

"Oh, I see…" the red-headed Devil stated slowly while her mind raced through her memories as she could have sworn she had heard those two words before at some point. However, she quickly stopped that train of thought as she vocalized a more pressing matter that came to her mind.

"The Magic Circle you used…" she began, taking a nervous glance to the side where Akeno was still being stared at intensely by Karasuba.

"Ah, spotted that did you?" the blond inquired with a chuckle before holding out his right hand palm-forward. Suddenly, his palm began to glow red as the seal for the Gremory Clan began to glow there. "Your brother is the one who gave it to me, in case you're wondering."

Rias' eyes grew wide again at this, but she merely nodded dumbly and went along with it. It wasn't too uncommon for a clan to give out their seal to someone not immediately attached to them in some manner, but it was only done for those who had earned their absolute trust. If it was given to someone who would betray them, then it could be turned against them, after all.

Sirzechs, Rias' brother, wasn't technically part of the Gremory Clan any longer since he had assumed his position as Lucifer. However, it was merely a technicality, really. While he couldn't show them any blatant favoritism in his decisions, the man would never abandon his family.

Especially considering his slightly creepy fascination with his adorable little sister.

"I see," Rias uttered as she brought her hand up to her chin and rubbed it in thought. "So…you're a Devil then – and a King at that."

"Not quite," he answered with a smirk. "I am a King, but I'm not a Devil."

"But that…that's impossible!" The red-head exclaimed. "Only Devils can be Kings!"

"Not true, actually. Pretty much anything that isn't a Fallen Angel or an Angel can become a King, and those two safeguards were only put into the system because of the fear of war. Whoever it is just has to be powerful enough for the piece to respond to them, as I'm sure you know quite well."

"That…but…you…argh!" Rias exclaimed, turning away in a huff for a moment before quickly turning back. "Well what are you then? If you aren't a demon, then are you a Youkai or something? …And how do you even know all of this!"

The blond man seemed to think about it for a second before giving a 'so-so' gesture with his hand.

"Not really, but the idea of a Youkai is close enough, I suppose," he confessed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"…You aren't going to elaborate on that, are you?" The Gremory heiress asked with a bead of sweat gathering at her head from the unhelpful answer.

"Nope," the blond shot back with a grin. "I'm not going to tell you how I know everything either. If you want to know more, you'll have to earn it."

"E-earn it?" The red-head asked with a mild blush coming to her cheeks – her mind going straight to the gutter.

"Awww, she's blushing~!" Kazehana exclaimed as she suddenly appeared directly in front of Rias and grabbed her cheeks. "Oh, as a friendly tip, he really likes it when you do this with your tongue," she began before proceeding to demonstrate a very…suggestive gesture.

Shaking his head and turning away from his Queen and the ever-reddening face of Rias, he turned his attention back to Karasuba and Akeno who were now in the middle of a stare-down despite the smiles on their faces – Akeno seemingly having enough of being stared at without returning the gesture in kind.

"Wipe that fake smile off your face," Karasuba stated with her grin growing even larger as she moved a bit closer to the teen – their foreheads nearly touching at this point. "Show me the real one. I know you're hiding it."

Akeno's head tilted slightly to the side, but suddenly the smile she had been giving changed – albeit only slightly. Her lips curved upwards just a bit more and instead of the warmth that usually accompanied her smiles, a slight aura of dread was in its place. Her eyes also gained a gleam to them that Naruto was quite with.

"Ara ara…to make me show such a thing in front of Naruto-kun," the teen continued in a tone that was now far too sweet to be completely genuine.

Suddenly, much like Kazehana had before, Karasuba tilted her head back and began laughing. After a few moments, she calmed down, snapped her gaze back to Akeno's eyes, and let her grin widen once more.

"Oh, I like you already," the grey-haired woman stated as her own eyes suddenly gleamed dangerously, "but you better have the bite the backup that bark of yours, little girl. If you don't, well…" she trailed off as her hand ghosted over the hilt of her sword. "Then I suppose your Naruto-kun will just have to find a new plaything…"

'Okay, this might be going just a bit too far,' Naruto thought as he watched the air around the two of them start to ominously spark after Karasuba finished her last statement.

"…Or he may find himself having to replace a wife who bit off more than she could chew," Akeno threatened as the air around her began to spark a bit more intensely.

'Yup, definitely going too far now,' Naruto thought as he quickly moved in and grabbed Karasuba by the shoulders from behind just as she started unleashing some of her killing intent. Even though it was only a small portion of what she could actually release, Koneko, Kiba, and even Rias quickly found themselves struggling to breathe as they all turned to see what was going on. Kazehana and – surprisingly – Akeno still seemed to be perfectly okay.

"Calm down," the blond whispered as he slipped his head into the crook of his wife's neck – his lips ghosting over the flesh that was there before he bit down on it relatively gently.

Karasuba, in response, made a noise that sounded like something between sucking in a sharp breath and a moan as she promptly reached a hand up and grabbed a fistful of his hair – something else that he was quite used to by now.

'Okay, well she's definitely all sorts of worked up now. Thanks again for that, Kazehana,' the blond spoke internally as Karasuba's hips started bucking backwards and grinding against him even as he continued biting down on her skin. This was nothing new, in all honesty. She always got aroused when she thought she was going to get a good fight or – in this case, it seemed – at least found a promising opponent. What he was doing at that moment was one of the few ways to actually get her to calm down…though it almost always came at a cost to him later that day.

The others – especially Akeno – watched them closely as all of this happened. Rias had a mild blush on her face, though a fair bit of that was admittedly from the teasing Kazehana had been done a few moments beforehand. Her Queen, however, looked as if her breath was growing a bit labored as a flush spread fully across her upper-cheeks while she watched the scene play out.

"More," Karasuba growled out with a soft, throaty moan as she pulled harder on the fistful of his hair that she had in her hand and tried to grind her hips back a bit harder against him.

"Not here and not now," he responded after releasing the hold his teeth had on her flesh – revealing what would almost certainly end up being a hickey mark quite soon – and kissing over the same area softly. "Later, at home, after our spar."

Slowly, and with obvious reluctance judging by the face she made when the blond chanced a glance up at her, Karasuba's hips stopped moving and her grip on his hair slackened until she let go of it in entirety.

"Fine," she bit out after a few more lengthy moments before turning her gaze towards him – barely restrained lust still smoldering deep within her dark irises. "Later then."

"Later," he confirmed with a smile and a nod, "I promise."

Upon hearing those final two words and knowing that her husband would never break his word if at all possible, Karasuba let out another sigh before clearing her throat and finally turning her attention back towards everyone else – only just now consciously realizing that she had an audience. A bit of a smug smirk grew on her face, however, when she noticed how red Akeno's face was.

"Enjoy the show, pervs?" The sword-wielder questioned.

"I give it a four out of ten," Kazehana stated from the side, obviously not even phased by what she had just seen. "Matsu's shows are a lot more entertaining."

Karasuba was going to retort, but stopped and shivered slightly in delight when she felt a familiar pair of lips ghost over her neck again – Naruto still standing directly behind her with his head right over the crook over her neck.

"Don't bother trying to argue with her," he whispered softly. "Go get yourself warmed up for later. I'll be home after I finish up here, okay?"

"…Fine," she conceded before promptly turning around and ensnaring his lips in a searing kiss for a few lengthy moments. "Don't keep me waiting too long."

"I won't," he shot back with a smile. "Love you."

Slowly, her lips pulled back into a genuine smile of her own – one that neither looked false nor held any promise of pain. It was a rare look for her – a look that he only saw whenever he said those particular words to her.

"Love you too," she said softly before a red circle lit up underneath her feet and she promptly vanished in a flash of light.

"…Okay," Naruto began as he clapped his hands and turned to everyone else that was still in the room. "Sorry for that, I didn't mean to get off-track."

"I-It…it's alright," Rias finally spoke up despite the fact that her face was still quite flushed. "I think we were all just…surprised."

"Heh, believe me, I was too," he responded with a pointed glance towards Kazehana – who had chosen that opportune moment to apparently be looking at something on the ceiling. "Anyway, was there anything else?"

"…No, no I don't believe so," Rias answered after a few moments and a glance to each member of her peerage.

"I actually have a question, Uzumaki-san," Kiba stated as he stepped forward from behind his King.

"It's just Naruto, Kiba, no need to be so formal," the blond stated with a lazy and dismissive wave of his hand. "What's the question?"

"Which Evil Piece is Karasuba?"

"Oh come on now," Naruto responded with a roll of his eyes and a chuckle. "She's a Knight, obviously, and the second most powerful person in my peerage excluding myself."

"Ah, I should've figured as much," the blond Knight stated with a nod before turning his gaze to Kazehana. "Still…I guess it's just hard to picture your Queen as being stronger than…that," he confessed, still trying to get over the scenes of the grey-haired woman he had sworn he saw slashing his body to pieces.

"Hahahaha," Kazehana's voice rung out again as her laughter echoed off of the walls. "Y-you…you think that I…oh God no!" she continued, missing the pained wince that all of them gave at the mention of the name. "She would destroy me in a fight!"

At this, everyone in Rias' peerage, including her, had no shame in letting their eyes widen in surprise despite the headache they now had. After all, a Queen in a peerage was typically treated as a pseudo-King whenever the actual King was not around – so it was almost always the second most powerful individual. It was very, very rare for another piece to be stronger than a Queen, but not completely unheard of. Sacred Gear users, in particular, had the potential to become stronger than a Queen depending on what Sacred Gear they actually possessed.

"So then…what…?" Kiba questioned, not actually needing to finish the thought.

"My other Knight – Miya – is my most powerful piece, no question," Naruto stated with a smile. "Hell, she can scare me sometimes when she gets serious in a fight. If it wasn't for the fact that she's garbage at using…magic," he continued, though with an odd emphasis on the word, "then she probably would've been my Queen."

"Ah…I see," Kiba stated with a thoughtful nod. "Thank you."

"Actually, that gives me a thought," Rias stated as she tapped a finger against her chin. "How many Pieces do you have, exactly?"

"Eleven right now," Naruto responded immediately, having already been expecting the question based on where the conversation had been headed. "I've used all of my special pieces for my peerage as well as four of my pawns, just in case you were going to ask that too. I suppose it's only fair that I tell you that much about mine since I know so much about yours."

"Oh my~" Kazehana drew out from his side, though he was unaware as to when exactly she had decided to move there. "If you're going to play the mine and yours game, should I leave you two alone for a while?"

Rias' cheeks seemed to immediately try to have a contest with her hair as to which one of them could be a deeper shade of red.

"Ufufu, I certainly wouldn't mind some time alone with him," Akeno stated from off to the side – her cheeks still slightly flushed from earlier with that gleam from before still evident in her eyes.

"Oh~?" A voice suddenly drew out from right next to Akeno's ear from behind her – one that made said her breath hitch after noticing that Naruto had seemingly vanished from where he had been standing a moment ago. "How very bold of you."

"So fast…" Kiba muttered from the side as he and the others quickly turned to see the blond in question standing directly behind Akeno with his mouth right next to her ear.

"Some time alone does sound quite nice right about now," Naruto breathed out softly – something that caused Akeno's breath to hitch slightly once again even as her face flushed. Catching that particular detail, the blond then grinned mischievously as he placed his hands on her hips and ran them up and down slowly for a moment.

"…But I wouldn't want to unleash my beastly urges on your poor body. I suppose we'll have to wait until another time," he finished before kissing her cheek and pulling away from her entirely. He did not, however, miss the fact that she suddenly took in a deep, shaky breath and swallowed thickly – likely in an effort to try to calm body down, if he had to guess.

'Heh, she's so easy to fluster when actions actually come into play instead of just words,' the blond thought to himself as his grin widened just a bit more.

"So, until then," he continued aloud while idly ignoring the flash of light that signaled Kazehana's departure through another Magic Circle. "Ja ne!"

With a flash of yellow, no Magic Circle even appearing beforehand, he was gone.

End

The scene between Karasuba and Naruto is about as sexually explicit as this fic is going to get on this website due to their policies on mature content. There will be actual sex scenes eventually, but they'll only be posted on another website that I'll set up a link to on my profile when the time comes.

When this Chapter is released, there should be a poll on my profile for you all to vote on regarding this story regarding whether or not you want Raynare in Naruto's peerage. If you have an opinion one way or the other, then go vote. I don't count votes done via review because it's a pain to keep track of which ones I've counted and which ones I haven't.

I feel it's important to note now that neither the Sekirei plan nor MBI's experimenting happened in this fic, just in case any of you are confused on the matter. The story behind their discovery and subsequent development will be explained in due time.

Some of you are likely going to be upset that I made someone as powerful as Miya a Knight, but I honestly just couldn't see her as a Queen seeing as she doesn't rely on anything that could be classified as magic. Plus, combining her natural abilities with a Knight piece that came from Naruto's set still makes her plenty powerful.