Naruto's cheerful nature hadn't dimmed even after learning he was now a Devil, much to Rias's quiet amusement.
"Good morning!" the blond teen greeted her cheerfully as he walked over to the bed, carrying a tray in his hands. He did not even seem bothered by her lack of dress. Strange. Most boys would have lost themselves to their lusts by now. At the very least, they would have gotten a serious nose bleed.
This boy just kept getting more and more interesting.
"Good morning," Rias graced Naruto with a smile of her own. It was an almost unconscious gesture in response to the blond's own cheerful grin. It seemed his brightness was infectious.
Naruto set the tray down next to her. It was only then that Rias realized the tray was holding what looked like a full course breakfast. It had a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and a side of assorted fruits. There was even a glass of orange juice set off to the side.
"Sorry if this isn't what you normally eat," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, the grin on his face widening so much that it forced his eyes to squint. Combined with the way his whisker marks stretched, Rias could not help but be reminded of a fox. "I would have made you a more traditional Japanese breakfast, but I'm not very good at cooking so..."
Rias could not help but smile. This Naruto seemed like such a nice young man, and so helpful too! He would be a great addition to her peerage.
"It's fine," she told him gently as she grabbed the fork that had come with the food. "Thank you very much for making this for me. You did not have to."
"Ah, well, you know," the blond looked away from her. Aw, he was blushing. How cute, it seemed her newest servant couldn't accept praise very well. "I thought it was the least I could do since you saved me and all." He paused, then looked at her with his head tilted questioningly. With his innocent personality combined with those whisker marks, Rias could not help but think he looked adorable. Certainly not Koneko adorable, but cute in his own way. "You did save me, right?"
"Yes, I was the one who saved you," she confirmed before taking a bite of the food he had prepared for her. She blinked. "This is very good," she complimented, causing him to beam.
"Thank you. Even though I can't make anything too complicated, I've always been good at making basic foods," he chuckled, a bit of self depreciation mixed with good humor. "When you've lived on your own for as long as I have, you learn a thing or two about cooking."
"I would imagine so," Rias looked at him inquisitively. She had heard he was an orphan, so his words made sense. "Have you lived on your own for a long time?"
"Over half my life," Naruto confirmed. "I left the orphanage I was raised in when I turned six and never looked back. The Old-man Hokage managed to get me an apartment to live in while I went to... school."
"Fire Shadow?" Rias blinked at the strange term. What a strange and unusual title. "What is a Hokage?"
"Ah... a Hokage is like, um," Naruto scratched his chin as he tried to figure out an appropriate analogy for what a Hokage was compared to the types of figureheads in this world. "I guess you could say it's like a Mayor. He's the one who was in charge of the village I grew up in."
"I see." What an odd name for a village leader. And a village? Did that mean Naruto had been raised in some kind of small, backwater village that was stuck in the more traditional Japanese era like the Sengoku period or something? "So you've been living on your own for a long time, it seems." Her curiosity was definitely peeked. "What about your parents?"
"My parents?" Naruto blinked, then shrugged. "Never knew 'em. My parents died about an hour or so after I was born."
"Oh," Rias flinched a bit. How rude and inconsiderate it was of her to ask something like that. He was an orphan, so of course his parents were dead. "I'm sorry."
"Nah, it's fine, it's fine," Naruto waved off her apology with a laugh. "While I never got to know my parents, I do know that they loved me very much. I'm here because they gave their lives for me. Really," his smile softened a bit, resembling a mix of nostalgia and the kind of content only people who have been said to have reached enlightenment had. "That's all I need. Just knowing they loved me enough to give their lives so I could live is enough for me."
"That's a very mature way of looking at things," Rias said, smiling a bit herself. Though that was only on the outside. Inwardly, she was frowning. His words bothered her greatly. From the way he spoke, it sounded like his parents had sacrificed themselves protecting him from someone... or something.
Could it be that his parents were involved in otherworldly matters that usually did not involve humans? Perhaps one of the more violent Devils or Fallen Angels had attacked his home and his parents died protecting him?
And what did that say about Naruto? If there was a Devil or Fallen Angel that had attacked him, there must have been a reason. Rias couldn't fathom what that reason was, as this boy had no Sacred Gear or anything of the sort. And yes, after taking him home she had checked to see if that strange healing ability was because he had a Sacred Gear.
Perhaps his parents had simply angered the wrong person. It didn't necessarily have to be a Devil or Fallen Angel who killed them. Humans were perfectly capable of killing each other.
Whatever the case was, she would probably never know what happened unless she asked Naruto, but now was not the time for that.
"Can I ask you something?"
Rias looked up to see Naruto staring at her with his brows furrowed inquisitively. She offered him a smile. "What did you want to ask?"
"Well," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "This may sound rude, since you healed me and everything, but why were you sleeping next to me in my bed? And why are you naked?" His eyes swept over her body and Rias finally saw the lightest traces of a blush on his cheeks. It wasn't big, but it was there.
She smiled, pleased to know that his lack of reaction before wasn't because he didn't like what he saw. It would have been a blow to her ego if he had not found her pleasing to look at.
Still, she wondered if his lack of serious reaction meant he had experience with things like this?
"It's fine," Rias smiled reassuringly. "I understand why you would be curious." She paused. "The reason I was in your bed was because I was healing your wounds. That stab wound in the chest was a fatal wound. I had to saturate your body with my magic in order to heal you."
"Magic?" Naruto adopted a slightly stupid expression as he scratched his head. "You mean like that stuff where people pulls rabbits out of their hat and what not?"
Rias covered her lips with her hand and giggled a bit. "No, not like that. I mean real magic. You see, I'm a Devil."
"A Devil?" Naruto's face scrunched up in thought. "You mean, like, a demon, or something?"
"In laymen terms," Rias confirmed with a nod. "Though we don't actually go by the term demon. Devils are beings born in the underworld, or hell, as you humans call it. I am a pure-blood Devil from the Gremory Clan, one of the 34 clans remaining of the 72 pillars."
"I see," Naruto adopted a thinking pose, which involved him placing his chin in his hand while the other held up his elbow. "So you're from a really important family." He looked over at her. "Are you some kind of royalty or something?"
"In a way," she said, "The 72 Pillars are the 72 Devil clans that are what we call pure-blood devils. Devils who were born devils and not reincarnated humans. Right now, there are only 34 remaining clans of the original 72 Pillars. Though some of the clans are still alive, they no longer hold there status because they have human blood mixed with them."
"Huh? So it's not like an earned position but one gained because they don't mix their blood with humans."
"Exactly."
"What was that you said about reincarnating humans into Devils?"
"When a human dies, it's possible for a devil to reincarnate them as a member of their peerage," here it was. The moment she told him about his new status. Rias mentally prepared herself for the denial the boy would show when she informed him of his new status. "That is actually what I did with you."
….
….
Naruto blinked.
"Come again?"
"When I arrived, you were already mostly dead," Rias informed the blond who was staring at her blankly. "Your wounds could not be healed quickly enough to keep you alive. In order to let you continue living, I had to reincarnate you as a Devil."
"So I'm a Devil?" Rias nodded in confirmation. Naruto began patting himself down, causing her to look at him oddly. "What are you doing?"
"I don't seem to be any different," he mumbled to himself, "And I don't feel like going out and destroying a village or sacrificing virgins, children and puppies." A second or two later, he shrugged. "Well, whatever. Might as well not sweat the small stuff, right?"
Rias sweatdropped.
"Devils aren't really like that," she informed him, "It's actually against the laws of our kind for a Devil to kill a human without just cause. Honestly, we're not that much different from humans. We just have powers humans do not have and we've been raised in a different society than humans." She paused, then added, "And we're much longer lived than humans."
Rias was quick to reassure him that Devils weren't the monsters human legends made them out to be.