Chapter - 23

"Sona-chan!"

Her left eyelid twitched. Fingers clenched at the pages of her book in aggravation before the devil was forced to set it aside lest she damage it. "Naruto-dono." Sona emphasized the different formal suffix compared to his overly familiar 'chan'. "Is there some business I can help you with?"

"Sure." Naruto chirped, grabbing at her hand and dragging the taller devil out of her seat. "I'm feeling a bit interested in the business of a spot of fun."

The Sitri heiress glowered and almost yanked her hand back, but the shine of cunning within the Gremory heir's blue eyes stayed her. Naruto was cheery and forceful with no regard for personal space or the upholding the formal dignity of their station, but he wasn't stupid. If he was looking at her with sly expectation while covertly inscribing a teleportation circle, there was more underfoot than his unique brand of 'fun'.

A red runic circle spun out beneath the pair of devils, shooting up to disperse them into globules of light as it swept them through space. Again and again Naruto called up teleportation glyphs, sweeping them around the Underworld at a dizzying pace. Some of the places Sona recognized, and some she did not.

The Gremory main house dueling arena. A field of sunflowers. Rias' dressing room. A rock by a bubbling brook. The Satan Beelzebub's library. A steaming jungle. The farm nearest to her own estate. As locations flew by, Sona grew more apprehensive.

Naruto wasn't simply jumping about for fun. He was jumping at random, scattering his magical signature all over the Underworld. As if he was currently being followed, or was at least taking precautions not to be.

"Enough." She declared as they shifted away from the building site of her Rating Game school in Auros to a barren plateau. Sona jerked her hand out of the redhaired boy's grip, swallowing harshly as Naruto turned to offer her a shrug.

"It's alright, we're here anyway."

"What is here supposed to be?"

"Yo." A deep voice interjected, punctuated by heavy steps as the owner moved out from behind them into Sona's field of view. "You made it here in one piece I see, Sona Sitri." The midnight dark hair and rugged planes of his face were as familiar to her as Naruto's.

"Sairaorg Bael." Sona stepped back and readjusted her glasses with an icy expression. "What do you want?" Typically, she would have offered far greater respect to the devil currently next in line for the throne of the Underworld, but her temper was running a little short. She didn't appreciate being grabbed out of her studies without warning and dragged on a wild goose chase. That was more her sister's area of expertise.

Humming in vague amusement at her feistiness, Sairaorg settled his fist on his hips. The slow action had all the muscles of his arms and stomach rippling, and Sona was suddenly aware that while Sairaorg looked like a good-natured seventeen year old human he was actually more than twice her age and viewed as the strongest of their generation.

Naruto punched his cousin in the gut, hurting his hand more than he hurt the Bael heir. "Don't tease Sona-chan so much." The Gremory boy grumbled, shaking out the ache in his fingers.

"Fine, fine." Sairaorg waved the younger devil off, violet eyes never shifting from the Sitri heiress. "I hear you're interested in building a Rating Game school. Naruto here's already told me about it, but I want to hear it from your own mouth."

What exactly was the purpose of this meeting? Her aspirations were hardly a secret. Sona frowned with confusion, but answered nonetheless. "Yes. I believe that the real potential of our kind is not bound in bloodlines. It is important for the advancement of our species that all devils, regardless of background, be given the opportunity to grow and reach their potential."

"Oh? But how is our society supposed to deal with that? Raising commoners up to the level of the 72 Pillars – don't you see something wrong with that?" Sairaorg countered, setting an idle hand over Naruto's head and ruffling the crimson strands without regard for his cousin's indignant squawks.

The expression that crossed Sona's face was long-suffering. She'd heard all such arguments dozens of times before. Smoothing a hand over her knee-length skirt, the dark haired girl boldly met Sairaorg's gaze. "If commoners were meant to be commoners only, why does the Rating Game exist in the first place? Bloodline and history cannot be a concern for the state if they're willing to welcome the strongest commoners into the upper classes. Further, the 72 Pillars have always derived their nobility and governing authority from the simple axiom that 'might makes right'. By their own philosophy, if they are so easily overthrown by the masses when those commoners are offered the same education opportunities, then are they not too weak to rule in the first place?"

Sairaorg tilted his head with consideration, taking in the undaunted heiress. Then he threw back his head and laughed. "Ahh, good answer. Very nice. Well then," the Bael clan heir smirked at her. "Want to join me in committing treason?"

Sona's brain drew a blank and her jaw dropped. "Huh?"

"Minor treason." Naruto clarified unhelpfully, finally throwing off his cousin's hand with a glare.

"Call it major treason, makes it sound more dramatic."

"But wouldn't that be like false advertising or something?"

"Treason." Sona uttered weakly. What kind of absurd conspiracy were these fools up to?

"Well it's not really treason." Sairaorg shrugged, shifting his eyes to scan the horizon. "There's nothing actually illegal about it. I suppose it's more of a philosophical revolution? What else do you call it when you're a traitor to the governing ideology though?"

Recovering her composure, Sona adjusted her glasses before dryly commenting "How about 'philosophical revolution'? Or maybe literally anything else - something that isn't a capital crime? Even calling it 'that thing' would be better."

Whining, Naruto gave Sona his best pout. "Ah, but where's the fun in that?"

"Listen." The Bael clan heir turned serious. "I like that explanation of yours. As far as I'm concerned, you just haven't taken it all the way. If you can admit that the authority of the 72 Pillars could be flawed because they may not be the strongest, try taking it a step further. Why are we governing this Underworld by strength in the first place? What does pure power have to do with good government?"

"Nothing." In for a penny, in for a pound as it were, the Sitri heiress supposed. "Successful governance arises from efficient and just administration concerned with the welfare of a nation as a whole rather than a collection of oligarchs. Not something so plebian as democracy; which is easily corrupted by the power of money, but something that's hardly a hereditary aristocracy either."

"Which is exactly the system we have now." Sairaorg seized on her last point. "But we don't have to maintain such a system. We three here were born into power under the aristocracy. Further, the two of you are related to current Satans. Under the current system, we could legally attain power over it. And having taken that power, we reform the system itself. We can do something bigger than increasing the opportunities of the lower class – we can make a world where everyone can achieve their dreams!"

The Bael clan heir held out his hand.

Huffing in exasperation, Sona shook her head before taking Sairaorg's hand. "This whole charade was unnecessary, fools. I would have agreed from the start."

"Ah." Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto grinned nervously. "Well that has more to do with keeping you off Lord Bael's kill list, ya know?"

"Exactly, so I understand if you want to back out. Lord Bael is not someone that offers mercy to anyone that opposes him. Not even his own son." Projecting an aura of reassurance and understanding, the dark haired devil looked down at the younger nobles. "The real risk is that while we're not doing anything against the law itself, there's always the possibility that those opposed to us could catch wind of things and decide to take us out. A young fool here and there spouting idealism is nothing. An organization is something that needs to be crushed."

"Organization? Just how big is this conspiracy?"

"Counting you? Eleven. Not counting my peerage? Three."

"… What kind of idiot plans to take over the Underworld with three people?"

*

A small puff of dust sprayed through the air as Sasuke collapsed wheezing to the dirt.

Koneko propped his chin in her hand and considered the Pawn with a hawkish gaze. The dark haired teen was an odd contradiction. She could easily see how his movements were tailored to killing perfection, yet every strike was too slow and too weak. It didn't make sense. No devil attained the level of skill in taijutsu without instruction, but if Sasuke had been instructed he shouldn't be hitting with all the force of a child and moving at the speed of a drunken lout.

That was not to say that all devils were created equal. Koneko herself certainly hit harder than her size and age would suggest. Yet Sasuke's lack of strength and agility were outside the norm, even for weaker untrained devils. It was almost like he was a human.

"Take a break." she ordered the puffing Uchiha needlessly. Sasuke was too wrung out to continue even if she ordered. Weighing the thinness of the Pawn's face and the pallor of his skin, the nekomata was suddenly struck by a flash of inspiration.

Kneeling in the dirt, Koneko reached out and latched onto Sasuke's bicep with a fist. She ignored his jolt of surprise in favour of prodding at the muscle with a thumb. It gave easily under her questing digit, and when she switched to poking at a tricep and one of his quads she got the same result.

"Just as I thought."

"What is as you thought?" Sasuke growled irritably, climbing back to his feet after he caught his breath. He hardly appreciated being groped all over by a child, but he'd bear through it if she'd done it for a reason that wasn't getting her jollies.

"Your muscles are giving too much. Eat more."

"What?" Coal dark brows rose in confusion. While he'd starved in the wilderness, he was certainly eating his fill now that food was being supplied on a regular basis. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You are not eating enough."

"I'm eating until I'm full just fine."

Koneko shook her head, chewing at the inside of a lip before coming to a reluctant decision. "Pick me up."

"No."

"Do it or I won't train you any further."

Making an irritated face, Sasuke shook his head but bowed to the command. It was still far too early to be alienating his instructors. The Uchiha at least needed to put some weight back on.

Hooking his hands under the ivory haired girl's armpits, Sasuke ignored the dark look the nekomata gave his arms in favour of lifting up.

Nothing.

Sasuke struggled harder.

Still nothing.

Huffing a frustrated breath, the Uchiha braced his legs and heaved with all his might. Finally they had lift off, Koneko dangling in Sasuke's grip while his face began to flush pink.

"That's enough." Koneko wriggled out of the Pawn's grip, landing lightly back on the ground and watching with a sense of vague amusement as the color left Sasuke's cheeks. "Do you understand now?"

"You're big for your age?"

"No, fool." Rolling her eyes, the nekomata punched Sasuke in the shoulder. It looked like he wouldn't get it without a full lecture. "You do not eat enough, Uchiha Sasuke. You're eating like a human. Being hungry for so long shrunk your stomach. Consider the difference in appetite between you and Naruto-sama."

"He eats like a pig." Sasuke muttered. It had nothing to do with being a devil. Naruto had always stuffed his face, regardless of the life he was living. It was a shocker that he'd never turned ballooned up like an Akimichi back in Konoha.

"No, he eats like a devil. Akeno isn't a martial artist, and even she eats more than you do. We're all devils. We don't move faster and hit harder than humans for no reason. Our muscles are not only more efficient, they're denser. You need to eat much more than you're eating now. That's why your flesh gives so easily when I push at it."

"Fair enough." In a way, it made sense. Sasuke had only eaten a few meals with Rias' peerage so far, and during all of them he'd noticed their larger portions. He hadn't thought too much of it, considering that both Rias and Akeno had rather large... features that would require a little more food to sustain. But if devils in general needed to eat so much, that explained why he'd been so weak against Dohnaseek despite a lifetime of skill in taijutsu as a shinobi. He simply hadn't been eating enough to attain strength despite his training.

"Then maybe we should stop here so I can go stuff my face." Sasuke snorted sarcastically.

"That would be ideal."

"You're a real riot, you know that?"