Chapter - 26
The blue eyes that peeked back at Naruto through the mirror were tired, ringed with shadows and perched over sallow cheeks.
Licking the tip of his fingers, Naruto made one last effort to tame his flyaway red strands before giving it up as a lost cause. He'd managed to force his shaggy mane into some semblance of neat order, but Naruto was beginning to doubt anyone could ever force the last bit of spiky wildness out of his locks. No matter the life, polite just wasn't in his follicles.
He hadn't even made it to the ball and Naruto was already choking in his stiff formal clothes. The black silk waistcoat and trousers were comfortable enough, but the heavy ruby pendant hanging from his teenaged neck was a constant heavy reminder of the duties he'd inherited. The duties of marriage and fathering the next generation of clan leadership.
Marriage contracting wasn't something that had ever really hit Naruto before. The fact that he'd likely be arranged off and married to some stranger had never seemed real until the moment he realized Souji wasn't taking the piss. And after Naruto had discovered it was no joke, he'd spent the next month in a hurricane of emotion.
There was anger at his parents and grandparents for agreeing to it in the first place. There was guilt as Naruto couldn't make himself accept it even after finding out that his marriage had held off a national crisis. There was despair at the loss of the freely chosen future he'd been taking for granted. There was even self-hatred as he couldn't stop himself from wishing the Phenex girl had never been born, or that it had been Rias sold off like a broodmare instead.
Forcing himself to keep his head on straight and not lash out at everyone had been a monumental effort for Naruto, but he'd powered through. When the going got tough, and he was needed, Naruto still felt he willing to sacrifice his own safety and-slash-or happiness for the good of the many. It was a trait Naruto had managed to hold onto through both lifetimes, and something that put guilty pride in his parents' faces.
Blood and ashes though. No amount of moralizing and rationalizing and telling himself he was hanging the fucking moon was making it easier. He wasn't ready. Naruto would never be ready. A month of preparing hadn't made Naruto any more willing to meet his betrothed and speak to her.
Naruto's deep red cotton topcoat was shoved into his hands, dragging the Gremory heir out of his depressed musings as Sasuke grounded him back in the real world.
"Enough with the preening." Sasuke sneered. The rough tone would be brutal to anyone else, but Naruto knew Sasuke well enough to recognize the concern in his friend. He appreciated the effort to give him some of their confrontational banter to hang onto.
Scoffing back, the redhead shoved his arms through the sleeves and left the coat hanging open. Ruby cufflinks found their place in short order, further emphasizing the Gremory family colouring. Red hair, red magic, and red clothes – if they'd had red eyes, it would have completed the set.
"No need to be rude, servant." Naruto mocked, giving himself a final once over in the giant mirror. "Keep that act up and I'll never promote you being to my personal ass kisser."
"As if anyone would want to put their mouth near that filthy unwashed crack of yours."
"I'll have you know that lots of women are ardent admirers of these beautiful cheeks."
The cuff Sasuke gave Naruto about the ears had little force behind it, and Rias' Pawn rolled his eyes. "We done here, Lord Shitty Arse?"
Giving the Uchiha a considering glance, Naruto wondered if the black tuxedo was appropriate. Yes, the fashions of the human world bled over into the Underworld very easily, but they were more popular among the young devils and the nouveau nobility. The stubbornness of the old nobility was why Naruto dressed like someone out of Victorian Britain.
But as a servant, Sasuke was probably given more leeway. It might even look better to the other families if Naruto's friend looked noticeably less done up than the household which was at least nominally lording over him.
"Yeah, we're done here. You better get back to Rias. Wouldn't want her to cry that I'm stealing you from her." Naruto dismissed.
Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes again before summoning a teleportation circle. "You're assuming you could steal me from anyone." Purple underglow the same colour as the Uchiha's Susanoo had been in another life sinisterly lit up the older teens' features. Opening his mouth, the raven seeming to struggle to find something to say before Sasuke's jaw clicked shut again and he vanished in a shower of radiant motes.
As much as Naruto wanted his friend at his side, the right observances had to be made. Sasuke was in Rias' peerage, not Naruto's, and would have to at least enter the room by her side.
Naruto had no peerage, and he was old enough not to be tagging along with his parents' entourage.
For now, he was alone.
*
The champagne that cloyed over his tongue was lighter and more bubbly than anything Sasuke had tasted before. His family might have been considered of high breeding in Konoha, but the utter extravaganza surrounding him seemed like fairytale nonsense compared to the few formal gatherings Sasuke had attended before the massacre of the clan.
If there was a point where displays of wealth ceased to be tasteful and became ridiculously gaudy, the Phenex clan had long since passed it. Rias had warned him before they'd entered to expect the riches of Naruto's betrothed's house to be on display, but even that wasn't enough to prevent the initial shock.
Faded frescos filled every inch of the marble ceiling, inlaid with precious metals and gems. Two dozen chandeliers hung overhead, heavy multicolored crystal suspended with thick red gold arms. Not an inch of the original ivory colour of the marble was visible beneath all the decoration and jewelry. The walls were no better, festooned with jewel encrusted candelabras lit up with deep red magical flames. The combined effect was somewhere between Italian Renaissance, nouveau rich, and modern mosh pit, and the winding staircase that led up to a landing looked remarkably out of place.
Marquis Phenex seemed a base man, Sasuke scorned inwardly, keeping his polite mask screwed on tight.
The family was the third richest in Gehenna, but far from the third highest ranked. That the Lord of the house felt due a princely title was no great secret, and all the bribering of lesser houses for their votes the Marquis did was just an attempt to make up for the lack of recognition. For Naruto's sake, Sasuke hoped the granddaughter was less grasping, and that the father-in-law was more humble than the current lord of the clan.
Turning with the gentle pull of Rias' left hand in the crook of his arm, Sasuke twisted to face yet another pair of minor nobles. There might be only 33 old families, but the extended branches of those produced dozens if not hundreds of scrabbling leeches that had no semblance and nothing to them beyond their name. Combined with the new nobility made up from commoners and reincarnated devils that had crawled up through the Rating Games, there seemed to be no end to the well-wishers and arse kissers that wanted an in with the Ruin Princess. Rias might no longer be the heir, but she was still connected.
Sasuke kept a discreet eye on his mistress, watching as she navigated the arena with a practiced tongue and a falsely friendly disposition. Offering the required niceties when greeted and false prompts about needing to go see old acquaintances when the frown between Rias' brows grew too obvious, the Uchiha felt more like a gravure idol's manager and less like a date.
Not that Sasuke was burning with romantic urges for the young woman, but he was at least nominally her plus one. Himejima, Toujou, and Kiba had all been sidelined into the shadows along with most of the other servants, leaving the Uchiha in the hot seat to handle all the shit that popped up.
Look like pretty arm candy. Chat with all the meddling geezers that liked to offer wistful commentary about youth romance. Offer the appropriate lies to escape when Rias seemed to be worn out. Scare off horny teen devils that couldn't take one of her hints with black glares.
"Next time, don't wear something so eye-catching." Sasuke criticized, confused by the sunny smile she responded with.
Whatever. If she hadn't wanted to be accosted by so many people, Rias shouldn't have worn the sweeping emerald charmeuse gown. While it covered her very modestly to the neck and to her wrists, even the long wrapping scarf failed to conceal the tight strain of her woman's curves against the fabric.
Naruto was… somewhere. Sasuke had heard him announced almost an hour past and had caught distant glimpses, but the Uchiha wasn't about to ditch Rias and go shoving through the crowd to find him.
For one, Sasuke had suffered enough of Naruto's moping for the month-long period between the invitation and the party itself. While Sasuke wasn't unsympathetic, there was a limit to the Uchiha's ability to play counsellor. Rias might have practically lent him to Naruto for the month, but that didn't make Sasuke any better at being touchy feely.
Second, even if Rias had freely chosen to nag Sasuke into playing babysitter, the crimson haired girl was no shinobi. Her mask was good, but not that good, and the Uchiha knew that her own act of kindness had made her desperately unhappy. The inferiority complex was borderline ridiculous, and if Sasuke hadn't suffered one of his own for practically all his life, he'd be less willing to tolerate her insecurities.
As it was, Sasuke did know how it felt to consider himself constantly inferior to a sibling or rival. So he couldn't quite kill the prick in his heart that told him to hang around and look after her for the first time in weeks instead of her nephew.
A flash of red drew Sasuke's dark eye, and there Naruto was. The younger devil still looked slightly pale, but at least Naruto was functioning. Keeping the Gremory heir in his line of sight, Sasuke bent down to murmur in his mistress' ear. "Time to go play backup?"
Rias laughed off another comment from a wrinkled old crone, waving her away with exaggerated amusement and fondness even as her sea-green eyes tracked along the ground to find Naruto as well. Pink lips curved back up in a false smile, portraying the image of beautiful young socialite as she weighed the idea.