Rias had stumbled upon a dying boy on her way home, his wound healing at an impossibly slow rate.
Even more shocking was that he was still alive. His fingers dug tightly into the ground, creating small indents in the pavement. His eyes were flickering from bright blues to a duller, more lifeless tone. It was clear he was struggling to remain alive but failing. With an injury like that, he would bleed out in seconds.
She was just shocked he was still alive. He should have bleed out a long time ago. As she looked at the wound, Rias noticed something else that was odd. It was slow, incredibly slow. In fact, she was almost sure she was just imagining it, but it looked like his wound was closing.
Of course, it couldn't be. This boy was a human. She could sense that much, and even if he had some kind of demonic healing, the light powers from Fallen Angels stopped all types of healing.
Did that mean he too had a Sacred Gear?
His eyes locked onto hers. Azure blue met greenish blue. There was a moment where his eyes seemed to flicker towards something behind her? What was he staring at?
He smiled. It wasn't a very pretty sight, what with the blood dribbling out of his mouth and staining his teeth. Still, it was a surprisingly happy smile for someone who was on the verge of death.
"Such..." he coughed, causing more blood to spurt out of his throat. It was a miracle he could even speak. That wound had obviously caused blood to well up in his lungs. "Such... beautiful... red hair..."
Rias found herself feeling surprisingly flush. No one had ever complimented her hair before. And no one had complimented her with such admiration in their voice. That it came from someone who was on their death bed was even more surprising.
Absently, she reached out and held a strand of her crimson locks between two of her fingers and twirled it around. For a moment, she wondered what she should do. In some ways, this boy had died because of her. It wasn't right that he should die because of the machinations of devils and angels.
Right. There was only one thing she could do.
Snapping her fingers caused a brief flash of light to appear within her hand. When the light died down it was to reveal an object in her hand.
A chess piece to be exact. It was a standard piece, a Rook. With this, Rias would be able to ressurect the boy as one of her servants.
She placed it on Naruto's chest and stepped back. She recited the incantation needed to meld his form with the Chess Piece. She did everything perfectly.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, she tried another piece, her Bishop. When that didn't work she tried her Knight. Again nothing. Frowning, Rias tried to figure out why none of her pieces worked. Did the boy require something special to revive? Maybe a single piece wasn't powerful enough?
"Consider this a gift from your dear brother..."
Eyes widened, Rias summoned another Chess piece. It was different from the standard chest pieces. For one, it was red. For another, it was glowing. It also did not look like any chess piece Rias had ever seen. This was no pawn, knight, rook, bishop, queen or even king. This chess piece was unusual. It was different.
It was mutated.
"I believe you will find an interesting use for this... don't worry, you will know when to use it."
As she stared at the mutated piece, she remembered the words her brother had told her when he had given it to her. She had wondered back then why he would give her such a rare and valuable piece, but now she couldn't help but wonder.
Had he foreseen this? Did he know something like this would happen? It seemed improbable, but knowing her brother she did not discard it as impossible.
"One month," she murmured. Her brother had given this mutated piece to her exactly one month ago. The same exact time that Naruto had started going to her school on the scholarship fund for orphans that had been set up by that very same brother. He had even gone so far as to visit her at school just so he could make sure she got it.
Coincidence? Probably not. Rias decided that she was going to be having words with her brother about this the next time she saw him.
"Well, I guess there is nothing else to it," Rias told the blond as he fought to stay alive. "I will not be letting you die today. So from now on, you will be living for me."
She placed the chess piece on Naruto's chest. It's bright glow was the only way to distinguish it from the blood running freely from the overflowing wound. The boy, surprisingly still alive, cracked a single eye open as he felt the weight of the small chess piece settle on him.
"I command thee, Uzumaki Naruto, on my name Rias Gremory!"
As Rias held her hands over the chess piece, it's bright red glow began to pick up even more luminescence than usual.
"Become my servant and walk these lands as a Devil!"
Slowly, the bright, glowing chess piece began to sink into Naruto's body.
"Thou shall lead a new life with great joy as a member of my peerage!"
As the mutated piece disappeared into Naruto, the glow went with it, leaving the world once more in darkness with only the moon and stars to cast light upon the world.
Naruto gasped for breath, his unconscious mind telling him he was alive. Rias watched as the boy went from being half dead to alive and well, save for the wound still in his chest. That she would need to heal manually. Still, he would be fine for now, until she could make Issei her pawn and heal him to.
As Rias went to resurrect Issei, she wondered what this new boy would bring. If her brother was somehow involved with him, she was sure that whatever Uzumaki Naruto brought to the table would keep things interesting.
What Rias didn't yet realize was that this chance encounter was about to change both their lives forever.