42 Chapter - 42

Jolting back into the world of the living with a sharp gasp, Rias rocketed upright. Harsh burning pain tore through her left shoulder, driving the redhead to grope shakily at it with her right hand. Whole flesh met her questing fingers, and if not for the thick wobbly scar tissue she could trace over the round of her deltoid, Rias would have assumed it was all a dream.

Foggy impressions of combat lashed at her mind, filling her brain with a memory of blood and pain that curdled unpleasantly in her stomach.

After a heartbeat, the burning phantom pain began to subside.

"Rias."

"Akeno." She smiled tremulously back, not in the least surprised that her friend was curled up in the bed with her. At the best of times, Akeno had a tendency to express her affection physically. In the worst of times, the half fallen angel's need for contact was even more pronounced.

The worst of times, like Rias almost bleeding out on the floor with her arm nearly sliced off.

Suddenly, preventing the smile from slipping off her face required herculean effort. The mere memory of it seemed to summon back the brand of agony in the muscles of her shoulder, twisting painfully beneath the red band of scar tissue.

Rias distracted herself from the slow building up of phantom pain by turning to see who the rest of her visitors were.

Perched cross legged on the floor were Yuuto and Koneko, both looking drained but pleased to see her. They had offered up the only chair on that side of the room to her mother, who winked and continued to knit what looked to be a pair of pink mittens.

Then she looked over at Sasuke.

Her Pawn's bloodshot stare and dark shaven scruff hit her like a punch to the gut. Rias struggled to reconcile the image of overstressed observer with the fractured memory of sadistic taunts, and found it slowly piecing together.

Evidently, the Uchiha was even more strained than she'd thought he was if he was shifting back and forth so easily between violence and sleepless depression.

Rias had hoped distance and silence would allow rifts to be buried and everything to be forgotten. After Naruto had rejected her offer of trading Sasuke months ago with annoyance and then refused to listen to her attempts at explaining, Rias had held her Pawn at arm's length and thought it would be the best for both of them.

But if the end result was Sasuke cracking under some pressure she hadn't even acknowledged, Rias was failing as a master. The distance was meant to help Sasuke and protect him from her neediness, not hurt him.

"I'm sorry." She apologized to the room at large, bowing her head with a sense of shame. The way they'd crowded in for what must have been days waiting for her to wake up from blood loss warmed Rias, but she also knew she was unworthy of that concern. It would have been better to wake up alone than to all those exhausted eyes. They didn't deserve to suffer because of the misplaced concern they had for her.

A warm hand slipped into her own, Akeno's slender fingers threading through Rias'. "There's nothing to apologize for." The Queen reassured her mistress, kind tones just barely hinting at the tension underneath. "Let's just not have an encore shall we?"

Yuuto gave a rusty chuckle of bitter amusement, lurching to his feet as Venelana silently slipped out of the room to give the adolescent devils a touch of privacy. "I agree with Akeno-san. That was a show that I don't think I'd be happy to see again."

Blinking in fond exasperation, Rias closed her eyes and gave a huff. It was just like her servants to bumble through emotional problems with morbid humor and talking around the issue. "Fine, I suppose that little number will have to be a one-time performance."

The nekomata crawled into the bed, nestling between Rias' knees and giving her mistress a very unimpressed hazel stare. "I rate it a zero. If I see it again, expect rotten tomatoes."

"Alright, alright. I get it. No repeats."

There was a faint shine of wetness in Akeno's eyes that everyone in the room ignored. "Rias-tan is so mean, sleeping away like that. I haven't had my daily cuddle intake in three days." The Queen pouted, covering up very real tears with very fake sorrow.

"No one's stopping you." Sasuke prodded, voice rough like sandpaper over gravel. The tired hang of his shoulders firmed as he joined the others in patching up the holes in their emotional armor. "In fact, I'd say this is the best time to strike. You have her right where you need her."

Shooting Sasuke an aggravated look as Akeno promptly threw her arms around Rias' waist and began to squeeze, the Ruin Princess reciprocated with a grumble of "Traitor."

"That's not a very nice thing to say." Akeno scolded, voice muffled as her mouth pressed against Rias' chest. "It makes me think this might have to be a group effort." Snaking one hand down without letting up on her grip with the other, Akeno looped a grip under Koneko's armpit and dragged the younger girl up.

The end result was a tangle of female flesh, clashing hair colours, and mingled grunts of discomfort.

"How is this my life?" Rias sighed, shifting slightly under the combined weight. Giving Sasuke another dirty look as the Uchiha smirked mockingly, the redhead turned and offered her Knight a pleading pout. "Isn't there anyone here that will help a troubled young woman out?"

"Don't you dare." Akeno ordered, slapping a hand over Koneko's mouth to prevent a snide comment. "This is a very important part of our daily rituals. Terrible things will happen if you interfere. The world as we know it may even end."

Shrugging, Yuuto gave his mistress a teasing bow. "I'm sorry, Rias-sama. But you heard her. As much as I'd like to help, the world might end if I do. My hands are tied."

Sasuke found himself nodding along with Koneko as a shit-eating grin twisted Akeno's lips. Quiet utterances about 'the world' filled the air, justifying the continued dogpile through threats of Armageddon.

Snuggling even closer as Rias began appear distinctly put out, Akeno pressed a sloppy kiss to her best friend's cheek. "See? This is very important of the future of the world. In fact, it might even be helpful if the cuddle pile got even bigger. Yuuto-kun, there's a little more space here for you too." The half fallen angel drawled.

"Ah, I really couldn't."

"If I need to be here, you need to be here." Rolling to the edge of the bed, Koneko grabbed a fistful of Yuuto's black cotton turtleneck and yanked the blonde boy into the fray. Wood creaked alarmingly under the weight of four people, but held as the peerage shuffled around for space.

Rubbing the pads of his fingers over the tender flesh of his eyelids, Sasuke cracked the first real smile in days. Such affectionate silliness was just like them. No doubt they'd all be waking up for weeks or months to come with nightmares about seeing Rias die, but in the light of the day they seemed innocent and untouchable.

A hand pulled at Sasuke's pocket, and he looked down. White fingers were hooked into the fold of cloth, leading back to red hair and turquoise eyes. Rias' expression was caught between chagrin and fondness, while her other hand absently smoothed back the silver-white strands of the Rook's tresses.

Sasuke wanted to pull away. He didn't mind the teasing and egging on, but getting close up and personal was not really what he was comfortable with. Too many isolated years had hardened him, and he still remembered the sting of betrayal when Itachi had turned on their family, lying and telling him he was not worth killing.

But he remembered another voice too.

'Shall I show you a light?'

Letting himself cave to the pressure of her grip was as easy as breathing. It was almost a relief, Sasuke mused, taking Rias' hand in his own and joining the jangle of limbs and flesh. The pressure behind his eyes finally, finally relaxed.

The bed creaked even louder beneath the weight of another body, mattress sinking in the middle and giving the whole thing an inward skew. But in the end the bed held on, just like they did, and if there was a creak of rib beneath a too-tight arm or a silent salty tear running down someone's face, nothing was said.

Standing outside the door, Naruto watched as his grandmother chuckled through her fingers. "What a bunch of emotionally constipated retards." He groused, rolling his eyes before twisting to leave. For fuck's sake, no wonder they never managed to figure anything out.

*

There was still a little blood caked beneath his fingernails. No one else in the Senate chamber could see or smell it, but Sirzechs knew it was there, marking him as a man of violence.

It had been many years since the Satan had personally conducted an interrogation, but it wasn't a skill that ever completely left. Nine vials of phoenix tears later, and none of the damn tengu had given him anything at all.

If Sirzechs had managed to tear some information out one of the vile little criminals, at least the blood on his hands wouldn't bother him. With nothing gained by the torture though, he was acutely aware of what he'd done, and his hands remained soaked in gore.

Even if it was all in his mind, it reminded him strongly of bygone days of war and conflict.

Sirzechs chewed the inside of his lip as Archduke Agares began to pontificate from behind his desk. The speaking roll was slowly working its way around the room, and while the Satan wasn't truthfully all that eager to be in the legislature rather than at home with his sister, he had things that needed to be said.

Things that could be said because of the innocent gambling of his son. Sirzechs couldn't even begin to guess why Naruto would just suddenly take it upon himself to make Ravel Phenex his Bishop. His son had grown to like the blonde girl, but his son was still too caught up over the whole 'it was arranged' hurdle for any romantic interest to have developed on Naruto's side.

It was almost like Naruto had known that the Marquis was thinking of ending the engagement. Political alliances in the Underworld were bound by blood, not paper. Until the marriage was consummated, there was no absolute certainly Marquis Phenex would continue to be Sirzechs' ally. And with the recent months long campaign of terror and assassination by an unknown actor, Sirzechs' political standing had taken a hit.

The duty of the Satans, more than any other lord in Gehenna, was to uphold the law and ensure the safety of its people. When some faceless enemy could strike in the dark at will, it undermined the whole position. And since the cause of alliance and peace was so closely intertwined with Sirzechs' own efforts, that cause had waned along with his star.

Then in a single clumsy masterstroke, Naruto had managed to reverse the decline of his political faction. While the other Satans and a few other clans would back him to the hilt, Lord Phenex and his cadre were much less loyal. The entire alliance with the Marquis was based around an engagement Naruto had inadvertently saved when he'd offered his fiancé a place in his peerage.

Marquis Phenex could hardly announce that he was willing to have his granddaughter serve Sirzechs' son and the Gremory heir – and it was serve, because a Bishop was far less than a Queen – one day, and then end the engagement the next. Devils were a touch capricious, but flopping back and forth between strengthening an alliance and then ending it wouldn't look good for any future bargains the Marquis tried to strike.

There was always the option of avoiding the perception of turncloak by admitting his granddaughter had moved without his knowledge or consent, but even looking like an inconstant ally was better than a fool. What kind of devil lord couldn't even control his own children and grandchildren? Accusing the Gremory clan of coercing Ravel wouldn't work since the whole ceremony had been performed before witnesses with all the proper legalities observed, and while young there was no law against Ravel becoming Naruto's servant.

The only move left to the Marquis was to stew in silence, pretending that he'd known all along. Which had consequences of its own in the eyes of others, because what did the Phenex clan know about the Gremory clan and the Lord Lucifer that made them willing to make one of their scions a servant rather than demanding at least the Queen piece?

An enormous part of politics was perception, and the perception in the Senate room at the moment was that Sirzechs was resurgent.

The Satan wondered if any of the other bluebloods had ever considered the phenomena of self-fulfilling prophecy. If they made a lion out of him in their minds, then a lion he would become.

Another speaker sunk down into his seat, signaling the last mark on the roll before it was Sirzechs' turn. Eying an utterly zoned out Serafall across the chamber with amusement, the redhead rose.

"Great King," Sirzechs acknowledged his uncle with a slight bow as was custom, sparking a light of cool humor in those violet eyes. Then he swept his focus out to the room at large, voice moving from humble to strong. "My lords and ladies, I've come here today to ask you a question. The question of how long will we cower in the shadows?"

"How long will we continue to be ruled by fear? And not fear of a great and terrible foe, I will emphasize, but a nameless fear. The fear of the slinking darkness under the bed or of the empty shapes in a hushed corridor. We are the devils of Gehenna! When did we become so meek that the machinations of a single coward in the night was enough to undo us?"

Sirzechs could practically feel the thrum of shocked offence filling the air of the Senate. Perhaps it was not so politically correct to outright state to the face of the nobility that they had grown cowardly, but shame was an essential tool in driving others to do what he wished.

"I know what it is to be afraid." He admitted, raising a hand to clench over his heart. "I tell you now, I know what it means to lay awake at night and wonder if my family is to be next. Four days ago I was called from my sleep to destroy a group of infiltrators, and on that night my young sister was nearly murdered. That night fear became real to me, but I stand before you today and proclaim to anyone who will listen that I will not be ruled by it!"

The end of Sirzechs' sentence rose to a ringing shout, startling Serafall awake. The Satan Leviathan sleepily rubbed at her eyes with the back of a sleeve, offering her redhaired friend a thumbs up.

"And when I broke the minds of those would be assassins with my own fists," Here the Satan brought up his clawed hands – as if just by doing so the other nobles could see the phantom stains of blood on his skin. "Do you know what they said to me? I was informed that the attempt was a betrayal by my own kinsman, the Great King! As if I would believe such filth!" Sirzechs added, cutting blue-green eyes to offer a side glance at Lord Bael.

"No, this is merely the latest in a long line of slander. Baseless accusations and rumor mongering that tries to dirty the names of the upstanding statesmen in this very room. This faceless killer wishes to tell me a falsehood that my own mother's brother would attempt to murder his own sister's daughter. Very well, I have heard this untruth. Now you will have my answer." Stopping for a breath, Sirzechs dipped just barely into the presence of his immense magical power and brought killing intent down on the entire Senate.

"Come out and face me, you worthless son of a whore! I tell you, you creeping little eunuch, that you have made an enemy of me. I will not cower before your knives and poison, and I undo every one of your works. I will not be manipulated into abandoning our newfound allies, weakening our nation. I will not continue to allow you to send you crawling spiders out to prey on our people. And one day, I will be the death of you!"

"Friends and kinsmen, I ask all true men here today to display to me their mettle. Let us show this so-called 'puppet master' who truly rules this Underworld!"

*

A/N: Um...hehe...I kind of forgot that I had to upload a chapter yesterday...well, before calling me careless, listen to me. I am still in the middle of travelling so while I was sleeping in the coach, I totally forgot that I didn't scheduled my chapters. Well, I have uploaded one now, and that too a long one, so enjoy. UMU!!