Chapter - 28
Rias glanced up at the enormous staircase with a worried expression. Her Pawn and nephew were cutting it pretty close. There were scant few minutes until the elderly Marquis Phenex would appear at the top of the stairs leading down into the ballroom to give a speech, and if the husband-to-be was not in the room, there would be unfortunate talk.
Smoothing over everything with Ravel had been easy enough. The eleven year old girl was sweet and pretty – and even intelligent – but she hadn't yet grown perceptive. Ravel hadn't really considered that all of Rias' friendliness and informality was a deliberate attempt to repair the bad impression Naruto's poor behavior had created.
It was good to see that some youth even in the Underworld were still that innocent.
Sasuke reappeared like a whirlwind, stepping closer than was strictly polite as her formal 'plus one' and giving one of her admirers such a filthy glare that it was a wonder the boy didn't wet himself as he fled.
Rias could smell the faint woodsmoke aroma he always had clinging to his skin, along with the familiar smell of the champagne the servers had been offering. "Are you drunk?" she hissed, growing more incensed when he only smirked roguishly.
"I can't believe you! Did you get Naruto drunk too?" Grabbing the crook of her Pawn's elbow with far more force than necessary, Rias screwed on a polite look of interest as Marquis Phenex appeared at the top of the marble steps.
Sasuke's face took on a mask of its own, one friendlier than the face he'd been wearing before he'd disappeared with her nephew. "There's no need to get so jealous, Rias. I'll get drunk with you any time you want."
Heat flared in her cheeks, and the Ruin Princess discreetly stepped on Sasuke's toes. "That's not the point! He's thirteen years old – he's an underage minor that has no business getting mixed up with such things."
"I think you might be expecting a little more innocence from him than he actually has, especially for a devil." Sasuke commented wryly. "He's an old hand at this. See him over at the front there? Looks perfectly sober."
She was appalled and indignant, and maybe just a teensy bit jealous. "An old hand? Are you telling me he's some kind of alcoholic? Even if that's correct, that doesn't mean I want you enabling him. Besides, aren't you also underage? Who's enabling you?"
"That's enough, mom. It's starting."
"Fine, but don't think I'm forgetting this."
Marquis Phenex was a dignified looking man. Silver blended seamlessly with the blonde hairs at his temples and peppered through his goatee. Blood red robes clung to a body more muscular than was to be expected from a middle-aged man, and a single thing gold chain hung from his neck. It was in all far less gaudy and grotesque than what was to be expected from the kind of man that had designed the ballroom they were standing in.
Settling a hand over the banister, the Marquis smiled generously down at his milling guests and servants and waited for the low buzz of chatter to subside. It was a testament to their breeding and training that the crowd quieted within the minute.
"Welcome, my friends." Lord Phenex boomed, settling a hand over his heat in a dramatic display of approachability. "Thank you for coming to take part in this momentous celebration. Truly, it is an honor to have so many familiar faces here – and even unfamiliar ones!"
The Marquis might be given to lavish and crass displays, but he wasn't stupid. He knew he wasn't the so-called 'star' of the evening, even if the real victory belonged to him, and the crowd wouldn't stand for him to self-aggrandize. "It warms my heart to see so much support for my granddaughter and her betrothed. To Ravel Phenex and Naruto of the Gremory family. This night is for them, and for the bright future!"
Hoisting a flute full of pink champagne, Lord Phenex assumed a mantle of false magnanimity. "A toast, to the future!"
"The future." The crowd echoed back dutifully, a smattering of glasses raised here and there. Dozens of faces turned towards Naruto and Ravel, who stood side-by-side at the foot of the staircase. Both young devils were the picture of regality, their finery without a single crease and their faces welcoming but formal.
Smirking with self-satisfaction, the Marquis snapped his fingers with a glow of scarlet magic. "Now, let the dance begin!"
Music filled the air, and Rias turned to offer her other hand to Sasuke. "Well, at least you managed to get him here. Let's just hope the two of you don't end up making drunken fools of yourselves. I'm going to take revenge for every smushed toe you give me."
*
Koneko's stomach rumbled irritably, rich sausage settling uneasily. The hors d'oeuvre mingled unpleasantly with the airy champagne Lord Phenex plied onto his guests. If not for courtesy's sake, the nekomata would not have eaten any of it. But she hardly had the social standing to go around insulting the head of the Phenex family, so like all the other servants Koneko had smiled politely and partaken of the bounty of their host.
Hazel eyes glittered as Koneko frowned and turned to mingle back into the shadows. The darkness that clung to the walls was surely artificial - to a nekomata's sensitive nose, the air was rife with the scent of ozone and devil magic. But even if she hadn't been able to smell it, Koneko would have been able to tell. With the Marquis' thick flaming multicolor torches bolted to the wall, twenty solid feet of shade stretching out from the wall was violating the laws of physics just a little bit.
The whole atmosphere was the dim sorcery and the intoxicated hedonism that the nobility loved. Rias and Naruto disdained it as the aberrant perverse taste of a garish man. They were wrong. Koneko may have been younger than Rias, but the Gremory family were not her first masters, and the nekomata recognized the Marquis' preferences as the rule rather than the exception.
It was the Gremory clan that was unusual in the Underworld. Not Marquis Phenex and not any of the other libertine bluebloods.
Stepping around a much taller and much older butler, Koneko eyed the wrinkled devil with a touch of asperity. There went yet another servant of the Vassago, still reeking of the blood and sexual fluids of some young girl. The treaty negotiations with Heaven may have criminalized further predation in the human world, but almost every clan had enough humans in their slave pens to breed for service and sport indefinitely.
Naruto was a kind hearted noble fool if he believed he could change such a world bloodlessly. No 'secret' conspiracy or fragile legislature could change the very nature of a people overnight, and that Naruto even thought he could succeed made him dizzyingly naïve as far as Koneko was concerned.
Oh, Koneko was sure that he and Sairaorg thought they were sneaky, but few details made it past Koneko's watch. The nekomata was quiet and sneaky and observant, and more than once she'd overheard servants in the Gremory house painting her as Rias' little spy. And if Koneko knew, others no doubt did as well.
Koneko might be good, but she wasn't the best. Not that it would stop her from soaking up anything she could catch. It was what Koneko was at the ball in the first place to do, and what she did at any social gathering.
Observe Naruto and any conversation that looked more than formal. Trail Yuuto around and make sure the new Knight didn't flounder in the journey from prisoner to genteel companion. Confer with Akeno periodically about what she'd seen. Keep an eye on Rias and anyone that might be watching her. And check on Sasuke, whose loyalty was always unfortunately in question.
Three years a Pawn and Koneko was still unable to be sure which side he'd fall on in a conflict. Sasuke was more agreeable than the nekomata had expected. The determination to succeed he displayed when training, the dry wit, and sparks of kindness buried beneath a cool façade were all traits the Koneko could appreciate. But none of that made him loyal.
Koneko liked Sasuke, but she didn't trust him. There was too much uncertain hunger in the Uchiha's voice. Too much control over the aristocratic features of his face. Too much distance in the way he rendered leal service.
Rias occasionally got worked up over worries that one day Sasuke would cut ties and jump ship to Naruto, but that was a result of Rias' own insecurities. Koneko knew better.
The same gelid light shone in Sasuke's eyes that had bloomed in Kuroka's before Koneko's sister had rent blood and bone in a capricious battle for freedom. It spoke of dissatisfaction and a need for purpose, and as long as Sasuke held that fell shine, Koneko would never put faith in him. A man like that was a double edged hiltless blade for any master.
She just hoped that Rias managed to gentle Sasuke with bonds of affection before the Uchiha grew strong enough to do harm to them. Otherwise Koneko might have to take a blade and mangle her mistress' heart. Rias' ideas of friendship were not worth the Ruin Princess' life, and Koneko was cold enough to put a mad dog down.