A short prologue of a story I'm working on.

And no, I won't offer any reason for my long absence. I admit that I'm a lazy bastard.

So...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Highschool DxD or any other anime/book/game elements made in this fanfic.

Story - A Devil at Work

Prologue - A Devil, In the Making

Genre - Romance, Fantasy, Supernatural, Calm Protagnist, Weak to Strong, Action, Harem, OCC, Not Canon

"Akeno, I love you. Please go out with me!" A blushing blond man said as he slightly bowed toward the woman before him, not daring to look into her eyes. He had spiky blond hair and beautiful azure eyes the color of the ocean. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, a third-year student of Kuoh Academy. Standing opposite of him was a beautiful woman with black hair tied into a long ponytail and starling purple eyes. Her name was Himejima Akeno, also a third-year student of Kuoh Academy.

"Naruto…?" Akeno stuttered, not sure how to react to her childhood friend's confession. A tinge of pink could be seen on her cheeks and if any other person was present on the rooftop of Kuoh Academy at that moment, they would have seen her fidgeting slightly. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and a small, happy smile could be seen on her blushing face, however, despite her affection for Naruto, Akeno couldn't give him an answer.

Yes, it was because Akeno also harbored romantic feeling for Naruto that she couldn't answer his confession. The reason, while quite simple, was also quite complex.

It was because Naruto was a human. An ordinary human.

Himejima Akeno, known as one of the Two Great Onee-sama of Kuoh Academy was aactually, a devil serving Rias Gremory. Between a human who could only live for 80 – 100 years at most and a devil whose lifespan could easily reach thousands, how could there be love? It was a troubling decision for Akeno.

On one hand, she wanted Naruto to be happy and herself to be happy by saying 'Yes' then hugged him dearly. However, doing so would drag Naruto into the supernatural world and exposing him to dangers. Akeno would never forget her origin and the reason her mother was killed. The memories of that day was still livid to her till present days. But, that's not all. Now, let's take a step back and assume that they would be together happily and no one would come for them, how long would it last?

Naruto was a normal human. He couldn't be with her forever. 10 years, 20 years then 30 years from now, he would become older and weaker while she herself remained youthful forever. And once some more years passed, Naruto would die of old age while she continued on, still in her prime no matter how many decades had passed. By then, would Naruto still love her, a supernatural creature? By then, could she bear the pain of losing him like that?

Numerous questions and scenario of their future passed through Akeno's head, bringing pain to her heart every time a happy scene met its end in one way or another. She had reached her conclusion. Gripping the hem of her skirt tightly, Akeno wiped a lone tear that had somehow leaked out and gazed at the bowing blond before her with her determination steeled…

…and told him her answer.

"Naruto, I…"

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

The sound of a blunt weapon cutting through air could be heard clearly in the courtyard of the Uzumaki Household as a blond man repeatedly swung his bokken with heavy force. This man was none other than Uzumaki Naruto who had just returned home after his confession to the love of his life, Himejima Akeno.

Obviously, he had failed and Naruto couldn't understand why.

Akeno and him had known each other since childhood. Naruto's old house was next to the shrine where Akeno and her mother, Shuri worked at so it was natural for the two of them to be quite close. However, all good things came to an end after the day Himejima Shuri was murdered, and Akeno disappeared. Because no corpse other than Shuri's was found so it was suspected that Akeno had been kidnapped. Their beautiful childhood ended like that and at that time, Uzumaki Naruto had cried, for the first time in a while.

Time flew by and then, 2 years ago, when he enrolled into Kuoh Academy, he had met her again, and once more, Naruto had cried. However, that were tears of happiness. Naruto stilll remembered Akeno and so did she him. Assigned to the same class, they hit it off quickly and became great friends like in their childhood. The two were always seen together in the Academy, starting numerous rumors suspecting their relationship.

But that was all they could become.

*Swoosh*

'Great friends…' Naruto thought as he swung the bokken in his hands once more. He had no target in mind and was just tiring himself out so that he could have an easy sleep and forgot Akeno's matter. 'Akeno', the name brought mixed feelings to his chest. Naruto had realized his feelings for her during their second year when they were attending a cooking class together. Since then, he had been thinking about the black hair miko nonstop and it had taken him one whole year to observe her and gather enough courage to confess earlier. And it had failed. Unlike he thought, maybe Akeno only thought of him as her friend.

*Swoosh*

*Snap*

'…Let's us stay as friends, Naruto…' Akeno's words rang in his mind again as Naruto swung his bokken down, and it snapped in half due to the heavy force. Letting out a tired sigh the blond threw his broken equipment away before turning around and walked into his house. First, he would take a cold shower to calm his mind and then maybe, he could try having some of the sake his godfather so loved. Though he was still underage, not that he care about it anyway, Naruto thought the drink might help him somewhat.

They have a saying 'Drinking help relieve stress' after all.

"…I refused him." Himejima Akeno said sadly to her best friend Rias Gremory and let out a tired sigh. The two were currently having some girl's talk before bed and the topic was natural, Naruto's confession. Lying opposite of her, Rias Gremory also let out a sigh as she looked at Akeno concernedly. As the other of the Two Great Onee-sama, Rias was also a gorgeous woman on her own with crimson red hair and greenish blue eyes.

"Why don't you invite him into our peerage, Akeno? I could take him in if you wanted to, I don't mind." Rias said, hoping that her friend would agree and be happy with her love life. Though she only had a Bishop, Knight and a Rook piece left after spending all her Pawns on Hyoudou Issei, she would happily give up one to ensure Akeno her happiness. However, the black hair miko shook her head.

"You don't have to, Rias. I… love Naruto and I want to be with him, but I can't be so selfish that I drag him into our world. I don't want he to know that I'm a Devil, and I don't want him to live a dangerous life." Akeno continued on sadly as she hid under the warm blanket, soft sniffing noise could be heard as the black hair queen quietly weep.

*Sniff*

'Naruto, I'm not the woman you need in your life. I'm… not worthy, so… let's us stay as friends…' It brought great pain to her heart every time Akeno remembered how Naruto had kept his head down as he walked away after hearing her answer. She could still clearly recall how he had been shivering and how unsteady his footstep had been as that time.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." Akeno muttered softly before quietly sniffing again. As much as she loved the blond and hated herself for her action, Akeno still didn't want Naruto to be involved in the supernatural world. If possible, Akeno wished that she had been born into a normal family, having a normal, ordinary life as she grew up. Then she met Naruto, felt in love with him again, and together, they would live a happy, ordinary life...

In the dead of the night, as Himejima Akeno silently weep herself to sleep and dreamt about her happy childhood days with Naruto, Rias Gremory hugged her for comfort and the night deepened. The two soundly slept, unaware of what was happening to their target of discussion.

Prologue End.

I'm planning to update C1 in a couple of days so stay tuned to find out more.

Important: See that 'Weak to Strong' genre above? That's right, Naruto will debut as a weakling, but then become stronger as the story progresses. By the way, this isn't a reincarnated Naruto or transmigrated Naruto. But, there is magic in the world of DxD so anything is possible. Well, I might change this in the future, who know?

See ya.

Leigi of Sloth - Lazing out...