The Tomboy Prince of Kuoh Academy

Rias was not having a good day.

The main reason was that Naruko didn't come to the school, taking away her chance to corner her here. And for some unknown reason no matter what she was doing, the day was passing by at a snail's pace. Quite frankly, it was a very irritating day for Rias so far.

In the morning, Rias went to Sona and told her everything. Sona was her childhood friend and she lost count of how many times she helped her, so Rias didn't want to hide this incident from her. After hearing that Sona was reluctant to let Rias go alone but at the end, she gave into Rias's pleading. Although she advised her to at least prepare some quick summoning spells before meeting Naruko. So if Naruko would pull any tricks, Rias could immediately summon her peerage along with Sona and hers.

Rias looked in front to see Kiba explaining their roles and history to Issei. They were taking it slow for him. At first, she thought that she was going to tell Issei all about the supernatural world and him being reincarnated into a devil at a later date. But because she just wanted to do anything to pass the day, she ended up summoning him to her club and told him about the night before.

She smiled softly when she saw Issei listening to Kiba's words with full attention without losing his cool or raging about his situation. Then she looked at the clock and her smile vanished.

"You know," Rias turned to Akeno who looked at her knowingly, "Why don't you go meet her right now? You know her house and she is expecting you today, albeit at a later time. But I don't think she will mind much if you visit her a bit early."

Rias smirked at her queen's idea, "You are a genius Akeno."

"That I am." Akeno chuckled softly.

Rias didn't wait for a second longer as she got up and teleported to her destination, without giving an explanation to the other members.

Rias and Sona marked where Naruko lived long ago just like Issei's, so they knew where Naruko's house was and how it looked like. It was a small and old two storied house, situated in the isolated area of the town. But for some reason to Rias, the house screamed of loneliness.

Rias was teleported just outside the main door of Naruko's house. Taking a deep breath, she went to the door and pressed the bell. One minute passed and nothing happened. Rias groaned but before she went to press the bell again, she looked at the doorknob. Out of curiosity, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it around. And to her surprise, the door wasn't locked.

"Are you kidding me?" Rias groaned as she opened the door to go inside, "Doesn't she have any sense of…" But she couldn't finish her sentence as her words got stuck in her throat when she fully opened the door.

Right in front of the door, there was a huge dog with bright yellow fur. It was so big and feral looking that some might even mistake it for a large wolf. And the scary part was that it was looking right at Rias with bored eyes. It moved and Rias flinched, but to her surprise, the dog made way for her so she could pass.

With a gulp, Rias passed the dog nervously. The first room right after the doorway was the living room, where Naruko was standing at the other end of that room wearing a tanktop with a loose trouser. Rias couldn't help but blush when her eyes fell on Naruko's toned body. Her masculine body was a well built athlete type rather than that of a bodybuilder. It wasn't overly buffed but very attractive.

Naruko didn't notice Rias's appreciating eyes. She just scratched the back of her head as she looked at the clock with half opened eyes, and then back at Rias again, "You are early."

"I couldn't wait, and did you just wake up?" Rias asked angrily, trying to cover her flushed face.

Naruko yawned, "Had some work to do at night. Sit down, I will be right back."

Rias watched Naruko going upstairs. After taking a deep breath to calm down, Rias looked around the room.

The whole living room was painted with pure white color. And there was only one grey couch with a small table in front of it. Even the dining room next to the living room had one small dining table with two chairs. Only the refrigerator was large but the white color of it made it hard to notice since the dining room was also painted with spotless white color.

The only thing that was noticeable in these two rooms was the table by the window, which had no curtain. The table was small but was made of expensive looking glass. On top of it was a flower vase which had few fake white roses. But it was the crystal picture frame or more like the picture within it that caught her eyes.

It was an old worn out photo. It was of a man holding a woman closely while both were laughing at the camera, one could feel their happiness just by looking at the picture. Rias didn't know why but somehow her eyes were glued to the woman, her slight bulge in the stomach clearly showed that she was pregnant. Rias could feel a sense of familiarity coming from the woman but she couldn't pinpoint it.

"You shouldn't touch other people's belongings without asking."

Rias yelped when she heard Naruko's voice right behind her. With a blush, she stuttered, "Don't do that!"

"Then don't look at things without permission." Naruko sighed as she walked toward the door, motioning Rias to follow her, "Come on, I want to show you something."

Rias followed her but slowed down when she saw the dog once again. It was resting on the side with its eyes closed.

"Nice guard dog you have there."

"Thanks."

When Rias got out of the house, she finally had a good look at Naruko. She was wearing a golden colored jacket which had furs as a collar. She was wearing a white t-shirt but black pants. What caught Rias's eyes were the earrings Naruko was wearing. They were small but cross-shaped and their color matched her hair.

Rias shook her head to keep her flushed face in check, "Where are we going?"

"Like I said I want to show you something," Naruko replied.

With a sigh, Rias started to follow her. She wanted to ask Naruko a few questions but her mind just kept going back to that photo, somehow to her it wasn't just a photo. It was like a puzzle that needed to be solved to see the bigger picture.

After ten quiet minutes later, Naruko stopped. They were in front of a ruined house which was located on top of the hill overlooking the Kuoh Town. Rias wanted to say something but the way Naruko was looking at the house told her she had to wait.

"Rias," Hearing Naruko's voice, Rias looked at her, "What do you know about the previous governor of Kuoh Town?"

Rias was shocked because she never heard anything about any other past governor. When Rias and Sona along with their peerage members came to this town to study, Rias's brother told her that the Kuoh town belonged to the devils and seeing that she was going to stay at the town, she was given the ownership of the town legally. As far as she knew, it was done as a mean of training for her as a clan heiress.

"From your expression, I can see that you do not know." Naruko chuckled, it was an empty quiet one and somehow Rias felt as if it reflected Naruko's heart.

Finally, she looked at Rias. Rias didn't know Naruko for long but she knew one thing about her, her red eyes would always hold power and control but now those eyes held nothing but sadness, "Let me tell you a story Rias, a story about a gentle devil woman who fell in love with a noble-hearted exorcist. It didn't take time for her feelings to be returned. They lived happily with each other but because of their origin, they kept their relationship a secret for as long as they could. But ultimately, everyone found out."

Naruko paused and looked at the sky, "Can you imagine what happened to them?"

Rias felt her heart beating faster, her breathing becoming erratic, "They were banished?"

"They were killed. The two of them were disposed of by the leaders of the Devils and Church." Naruko chuckled sarcastically.

Rias didn't want to ask fearing the answer, she knew she shouldn't but she just couldn't stop those words, "How do you know all these?"

Naruko looked at the ruined building once again, "The name of the devil woman that got killed was Cleria Belial," Naruko then faced the stunned Rias and added softly, "She was my mother."

Naruko's answer solved the riddle that was bothering Rias since she saw that picture, although she guessed it halfway. The woman she saw in that picture, her hair had the same grey shade as Diehauser Belial, the rating game champion, and she had the same face as Naruko. And the man who was beside her in the photo had the same hair and eyes as his daughter.

Now she understood why those two, especially the woman looked familiar to her.

Rias couldn't stop her tears, she didn't want to. Smiling sadly, Naruko touched her cheeks gently, flinching slightly at her bold move. Wiping her tears away, Naruko spoke in a tender tone, "If they were killed because of criminal charges or because they became a threat to their respective factions, I could have accepted it. I still would have gritted my teeth and accepted their death if it was somehow, anyhow properly justified. But killing them because of 'Status Quo', that I cannot accept."

Naruko withdrew her hand and turned around to face opposite of Rias. She needed to control her emotions. She couldn't let her see her current expression.

"I want to bring justice to them, but I am nothing but an exiled king." Rias's eyes widened hearing that. She couldn't help but ask, "Wait you have Evil pieces?"

Naruko didn't look back, instead she stretched her arm to her side and opened her palm. A king chess piece appeared on top of her palm. It was made of pure white color with elegant black lines adorning it. Black and white, both of these should contradict each other but somehow they merged so well together in that small object that none would believe the magnificence of it unless they would see it firsthand.

"It's beautiful."

Naruko closed her palm and with it, the piece disappeared. When Naruko turned around, Rias felt her breathing stopped.

It was evening and the sun was setting right behind Naruko. The sky had a crimson tint to it and somehow Naruko really blended well with the crimson color, her red hair was sticking out more and so were her burning red eyes she knew that it really suited Naruko well. And then she understood,

She was falling for Naruko.

"So, Gremory Princess, will you help this exiled Belial King?" Naruko came closer and Rias blushed harder. Naruko carefully tucked a strand of hair behind Rias's ear keeping a proper distance from her, "I am not asking this for free of course. In return for your help, I will lend you my strength, Rias."

Rias looked away, she was sure her face had the same color like both of their hair, "Let me think about it."

"As you wish." Naruko stepped back.

Rias didn't wait for a second longer to teleport out of the place. And the moment she completely disappeared,

"Tsk, tsk, Naruko. To play with a fair maiden's heart like that." The man appeared out of nowhere and sat down on the rock facing the abandoned house.

"I don't have the time or the luxury, Kurama." Naruko looked back at her mother's house, the sadness in her eyes was replaced with viciousness.

"I know that very well Naruko, but do think of your steps carefully. She is Sirzech's little sister after all." Kurama said as he got up and stood beside Naruko.

"You think I can't take him on?" Naruko looked at Kurama from the corner of his eyes.

"You can defeat him and about that, I have no doubt. But you can't defeat his comrades, nor all the Maou together, nor the devil council alone. And we are not even going to the Church's part yet. Also, let's not forget about them. If you rush without proper planning, you will not be able to get the justice for your family that you desire." Kurama sighed.

Naruko looked coldly at Kurama, her crimson eyes were glowing now as if it was promising pure annihilation to anyone that would stand in her way, "Justice? In this rotten world where Heroes seek nothing but chaos and destruction in the name of equality? Where Archbishops experiment on innocent children to attain holy powers? Where gods do whatever they desire because they believe it is just? Where devils can massacre an entire race for their supposed self-protection without any retribution?"

Naruko laughed, it was filled with nothing but hollowness and rage, one that truly reflected her heart, "No, this world has forsaken justice long ago."

Naruko then turned around and slowly started to walk toward her empty house, "This world doesn't need a savior to execute justice. What this world needs is a leader, a king who can rule over all the factions. What this world truly needs is, 'The King of Kings'"