The next day.
Naruto sat crosslegged with his eyes closed in the large garden at the back of the palace, a minor hobby that he and a few of the girls that worked there engaged in. Akitsu and Xanna joined in sometimes as well. There was some minor Mokuton driven cheating involved in taking care of it, as well as water manipulation, but he really couldn't be bothered to pull out weeds or manually water the plants.
It had started out as an idle bit of fiddling about when he'd been bored and then one day he came upon several of the servant girls tending to it. There wasn't all that much work to go around in the palace and they were quite frankly bored, even when the compulsory education he insisted on was taken into account. Tending the garden gave them something to do with their free time even if most of them avoided the more physically demanding parts of it like the plague.
He grinned slightly as a familiar presence appeared nearby, all mind with no trace of life.
"Hey there cupcake, you here collect on my part of our bargain and mingle our spiritual juices." He asked with a voice full of amusement.
"Leaving aside your lewd implication, yes." Oma answered.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" He asked with a tone of warning, though his grin didn't waver. "It's not going to be like anything you've ever experienced before."
Oma paused in consideration at the vaguely ominous warning, recalling his too easy acceptance of her proposal when he had never indicated any desire for such a thing before. She was certain that he had the ability to end her, but she was just as certain that he would not do so without reason, so the warning wasn't likely to be about that.
In the end it really came down to the fact that she wanted to do this in order to better understand him. There was only so much that could be inferred from words and behavior and a deeper understanding would be required if she ever hoped to get him to adopt some kind of moral code. Having someone of his power going around doing as he pleased with seemingly no restraint on his actions was a rather horrifying thought. Hopefully it would also rub off on Xanna, provided she was successful.
Still, she was unwilling to brush the warning off...
"You believe it will be dangerous?" She asked probingly.
"Dangerous?" He repeated with a chuckle. "No exactly, but words cannot convey the spirit."
"That is an Alteran saying." She said with some suspicion.
"So it is." He agreed, smirking.
Oma paused again, wondering what exactly that was supposed to mean. For the Alterans, it simply meant that words could never properly describe the experience of opening one's spirit to another person. It was a communication on a much deeper level and could simply not be compared to verbal discourse.
Why then, did Naruto make it sound like a warning? Regardless, it changed nothing except for giving her an ominous feeling and it could not be discounted that the horned man was just playing mind games with her. He seemed to find that amusing.
"Yes, I wish to proceed." She said finally.
"Alrighty then." He grinned, apparently pleased that she hadn't backed out. "Would you like to do it the normal way or the fun way?"
"...What is the fun way?" She asked cautiously, not wanting him to take it as an agreement.
"I put you in a physical body and we have steamy sex that leaves you feeling like a dazed puddle of goo and then we get to the spirit mingle." He explained with a note of eagerness, clearly hoping she would take this option.
Not being in a physical body at the moment left Oma considerably more resistant to his antics than normal and she replied with utter dispassion. "I do not see how intercourse would change anything?"
"Change?" He repeated, apparently bewildered. "Why would it change anything? We'd be doing it because it's fun, not because it changes anything."
"The normal way will suffice." Oma said serenely, refusing to be baited.
Naruto sighed, thinking to himself that Oma really wasn't a whole lot of fun when she wasn't physical. Of course, she wouldn't have consented to the sex even then, but all this zen serenity crap was so dull.
"Fine then, here we go."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Aside from that one sentence from Naruto, Oma had no warning for what happened. One moment she was in the palace garden with Naruto and the next she was...elsewhere. It was a large city of some sort, not particularly advanced by her standards but very populous.
Looking down, she noted that she was crouching on the edge of a building made of primitive materials such as brick, concrete and plaster. More shocking was the sight of her hands, which were gripping the edge of the roof.
Large, muscled, clawed and very obviously male. With that sight, she became aware of two weights on the top of her head that could only be horns. Her feet were bare and felt strangely pleasant on the gritty surface. A stiff wind blew a mane of bright gold hair in front of her face.
Her? No, that wasn't right. His. What a ridiculous thought, he wasn't Oma Desala. He was Naruto Uzumaki.
Using his fingers to brush his hair back, he couldn't help but consider how much of a hassle long hair could be sometimes. He didn't even consider cutting it short though, being rather proud of it. He'd started growing it out when that one cute prostitute had seemed so fascinated with the sheer blondness of it and the desire to keep it long had solidified when Xanna had made an offhand comment about liking it.
He wondered if his dear wife would ever change her hair color back to the flaming red that she'd worn it as during his youth. She probably would, though she seemed rather taken with the shining white that it was now.
The idea of her with a mousy brown hair color made him grin with amusement. She wouldn't be caught dead with hair so plain looking, he just knew it. He'd have to tease her about that one day.
It was a nice night for lurking. There was no moon and it was very dark, the only light coming from the street lights below and even that was fairly dim in this part of the city. He liked it better here than in the center, darker and less noisy.
Of course, his eyes could see everything perfectly despite the gloom, but he was more interested in the sounds and smells. Those two senses were so much more interesting if your nose and ears were good enough.
Closing his eyes he listened carefully, tuning out the regular noise of a large city. Behind the omnipresent sound of internal combustion engines, there was the sound of people talking, an indistinct murmur of many conversations, the closest of which was a group of four men standing around in a dark alley and apparently talking about a recent sports event and who got screwed over by which girl.
Listening deeper, he made out the sound of feet striking the ground as people made their way through the dark. Beneath that, he could hear the sounds of their heartbeats, a cacophony of fleshy thudding sounds in his ears.
Listening past even that, he could make out the sounds of uncountable creatures that walked and crawled, the inhuman population of the city being even more active than the human one. The sewers were swarming with rodents that were sustained by the leftovers of the humans, enough of them to send the ignorant city boys and girls into shivers of revulsion if they could hear what he was hearing right now.
The thought made him grin as he idly toyed with the idea of unleashing a stampede of rats down the streets. He discarded it after a minute, deciding that it was a bit excessive for the few minutes of amusement it would provide. Besides, doing something more up close and personal was a lot more fun anyway.
A hypersensitive nose was even more interesting, though smelling the combined filth of the city around him tended to be rather unpleasant. Still, once it was filtered out you could tell a lot about your surroundings just by smell.
Speaking of scents, an interesting one wafted up his nostrils just then, smelling vaguely of strawberries, though it was underlaid by a distinctly chemical scent.
Opening his eyes, he spotted the source of the scent. A young woman, her hair a mix of blond and red dye, dressed in a long coat that hid what he suspected were some rather revealing clothes. Aside from the strawberry smell emanating from her hair, he could also detect perfume, a fruity skin lotion, several other fainter female scents that probably belonged to friends of hers, a bit of sweat from some physical activity and a hormone cocktail that indicated she'd been having lots of fun recently. She also smelled a bit buzzed from a minor alcohol indulgence.
He found himself taking a baseless, unfounded liking for the unknown woman and started stalking her across the rooftops as she made her way home. He knew full well that it was creepy, but he didn't care. She'd never know he was there and he had no intention of doing anything aside from observe for a little while. She was the best smelling thing in the immediate area even if she had gone a bit overboard with the perfume.
She went right past the alley where he'd heard the four men talking earlier. They were still there and whistled at her as she passed by, one of them asking if she'd be interested in going on a date with a friend of his, apparently the one who had been screwed over by a girl recently.
The woman jumped and became nervous, clutching her coat tighter as she hurried past, obviously startled at being addressed by a group of men in the middle of the night.
He frowned as her scent shifted into something more fearful, considering the idea of dropping in on the four men for a little chat. He shook it off after a moment though, they had just been making a joke and had no other intentions. He did worse on a semi-regular basis himself, not all of it by accident and that wasn't even mentioning how disturbed this particular woman would be if she knew he was stalking her. He could easily tell that she wasn't the type he'd normally even consider talking to, far too ordinary and easily frightened for that, but he had a soft spot for women in general and nothing better to do at the moment.
Several more minutes were filled with nothing but the clacking of heels echoing in the dark and her fear started diminishing only slowly, having obviously became aware that walking back home in the dark might not have been the best idea. Who knows what kind of sick bastard was prowling about at this hour?
The irony of the situation nearly forced a giggling fit out of his throat. Sakura had told him repeatedly that he was a sick man, and she had obviously been right.
A door opened on one of the buildings she had walked past and a man stepped out. He was looked very casual but well tidied, the type of man you'd pass on the street without even noticing him.
Naruto payed no attention to his unassuming appearance or the casual way he turned in the same direction as the woman he'd been stalking. He was more interested in the way that his heart sped up as if preparing for an exciting activity and the first stirrings of lust and oddly enough, anger, in his scent. Perhaps it was personal?
For all that his stride was casual, it was still slightly faster than that of the woman, who had once again stiffened and began walking in a way that projected fear.
Despite the familiar dark rage that began boiling in his chest, Naruto grinned in amusement. The irony was so thick in the air tonight that he was surprised he couldn't smell it.
Tensing his muscles and exulting in the unnatural power of his body, far beyond what physics allowed, he dropped silently behind the man and started walking with the same casual gait, keeping his footsteps silent except for a very faint slapping of bare feet against asphalt. He wasn't stalking the woman anymore, but it was anything but benign this time. The man was as good as dead and there was no reason why he shouldn't have some fun at his expense first.
The woman in the lead was now radiating terror and was nearly at the point of losing her nerve and breaking out into a desperate run, though she still hadn't turned around in a sort of desperate hope that if she didn't see it, it wouldn't be real.
The man behind her had obviously been ready to chase her down, but his spine stiffened when he heard someone following him. Unlike the woman, he had less reservations about turning to look and turned his head in a sharp movement.
From the rooftop, Naruto grinned again when he saw the unnerved look on the man's face at seeing only a few wisps of dark smoke where he'd been before.
His confidence shaken, the man nevertheless faced forward again and walked quickly to make up the ground he'd lost. This was the last straw for the woman and she started running as fast as her unpractically high heels would allow.
The man started running immediately after, but stopped when he heard a much louder slapping of feet-on-ground behind him. Spinning around even faster than before, he once again saw only a few wisps of dark smoke.
This allowed the woman to get away and caused the man to curse with a face twisted in rage.
Naruto grinned further. The woman would be fine, if frazzled, and she'd probably think twice before walking through the city alone in the dark.
The man had meanwhile apparently convinced himself that it had been his nerves that had caused him to hear things that weren't there and lose his quarry. Angry and disappointed, he turned around and started making his way back home.
Almost as soon as he started moving, Naruto dropped down behind him and matched his pace, his presence betrayed only by the slapping sounds of bare flesh on solid ground.
Another spin was followed by another sight of a few lonely wisps of dark smoke being blown away.
Now thoroughly unnerved, the man started walking back home rapidly, sweating fearfully as Naruto resumed following at the same pace. He didn't seem inclined to turn around again though, causing Naruto to close to within arms length.
When he still didn't turn, Naruto let out an amused, malicious chuckle at how very similarly the man had started acting to a frightened woman that was desperately hoping that everything would turn out alright for as long as she didn't look.
"Heh heh heh."
Wild eyed with panic at the confirmation that there was definitely something behind him, and far too close at that, the man spun about with a punch. He hit nothing but smoke.
Throwing all restraint to the wind, the man fled to his home at a sprint and ignored the sounds of pursuit and he especially ignored the almost inaudible purr that he could occasionally detect over his own gasps for breath.
When he made it home and slammed the door, Naruto leaned against a wall in another room and listened to the terrified panting of his prey. Who would have thought that an idle night of stalking a cute girl in the middle of the night would have led to so much fun?
While his new bit of entertainment tried to calm down by taking a beverage out of the refrigerator, Naruto took a leisurely walk around the house and inspected it, making sure to avoid being seen or heard.
The first place he visited was apparently the main living space, being host to a television, radio and various pieces of furniture. Naruto wiggled his toes in the fuzzy carpet and jerked it sideways. Then he took a bit of candy from a bowl that was sitting on the coffee table and dropped the wrapper somewhere nice and visible. This was followed by tilting the two paintings in the room, shifting aside a few knick knacks, disorganizing some pillows and rumpling some blankets.
Sensing the owner of the domicile approaching, he teleported over to the kitchen and helped himself to some orange juice from the refrigerator, putting it on the counter once he'd emptied it and closing the fridge just loud enough to be heard.
By the time that the once again terrified man had rushed back into the kitchen, Naruto was already in the bathroom, opening the faucet just enough for a stream of water to hit the drain directly and make a loud gurgling noise in the pipes.
Not even bothering with invisibility as he hid in the corner of the adjoining bedroom, Naruto barely held back his snickering as the man approached the bathroom with a crowbar of all things. Seriously, who keeps a crowbar in the house?
"H-H-H-Hello?" The man said with a great deal of hesitation and Naruto couldn't help himself anymore.
Moving forward silently, he grabbed the man's skull from behind with one hand to keep him from turning around and purred out a reply. "Hello."
The man instantly froze and then tried to lash out with the crowbar blindly, but the grip on his skull prevented any effective resistance and the metal tool was easily wrested from him.
"Now here's what's going to happen," Naruto started speaking casually, tightening his grip warningly and ignoring the cry of pain as the tips of his claws cut into the skin. "I'm going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them. Understand?"
"Y-Y-Y-Yes."
"Good, first question. What is your favorite color?"
He could practically smell the confused fear rolling off the man, eliciting another grin.
"G-G-G-Green."
"Very good, next question. Did your mother breast feed you as a baby?"
"Y-Y-Y-Yes."
"You can stop stuttering you know, I'm not going to crush your skull." Naruto said with flat irritation, finding it rather annoying.
"I c-c-can't h-help it, I h-h-have a d-d-dis-o-o-order." The man answered with a whimper.
"Ah, well carry on then." Naruto answered with a shrug, painfully yanking the man's head as he did so. "Next question! What were you going to do to that girl?"
The man went silent and started shaking at the obvious disapproval in his tone.
"Answer the question, or I'll cut your throat open." Naruto growled, placing a claw against said throat. It wasn't as if he didn't know the answer, but it tickled his funny bone to make the man admit it. It seemed rather contrary that he would do something that he was obviously ashamed to admit.
"I w-was g-g-going to r-rape her!" The man squeaked out in terror and lost control of his bowels.
Naruto took a step back without releasing his grip, scrunching his nose in disgust at the new smell. It didn't impact the tone of his questioning though.
"Now why would you do that? She was really cute, why would you want to upset her like that?"
Another long silence that was broken by a further tightening of his grip until the man shrieked in pain and hurried to answer.
"We w-went to s-school to-g-gether! She b-bullied me b-because of my s-stutter."
"And you were going to rape her as a form of revenge?" Naruto was impressed, that was the most asinine justification he'd ever heard. "That's so petty!"
He could see in the man's mind that there was more to it of course, but the would-be rapist was too terrified to rant as some were wont to do. He'd had a crush on her for a long time and eventually approached her with it only to be shot down rather harshly. The bullying had started only after that and created a festering resentment that the man had been planning to express for a while.
It was pure bad luck that he'd picked the very night that Naruto had decided to stalk a nice smelling woman for a few minutes. She didn't sound like a very nice person, but that was no concern of his.
"Please d-don't kill m-me!" The captive man wailed, what little nerve he had left breaking completely.
"That's going to be a problem." Naruto said with false sympathy, the dark rage burning inside him allowed neither pity nor mercy. "You see, I've got this thing for rapists."
"I'm s-s-sorry! I'll n-never go near her again. I'll n-never g-go near a-any woman again."
"I'd let you go, really I would, but it's Tuesday, and I don't dispense mercy on Tuesdays." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone, being completely truthful. He didn't dispense mercy on any other day of the week either, but that was besides the point since today was Tuesday.
There was no opportunity for the man to make an answer as Naruto ran the claw of his middle finger across his throat, ending his life in a spray of blood.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Oma reeled back in shock as the memory ended, needing to take a moment to remember who she was as her own personality asserted itself.
From nearby, Naruto watched in curious silence, wondering how that was going to affect her.
I am Oma Desala. Oma said to herself firmly a few minutes later, relieved to find that she could believe it without any doubts.
That had been the single most disorienting experience in her entire existence. That slice of memory that she had been forced to experience in the first person had made her believe that she truly was Naruto Uzumaki for its duration.
Certainly it had served to give her a greater insight into what kind of man Naruto was, but she could have done without the memories.
A communion of spirit was only meant to convey impressions, emotions and such things in a broad sense, not whole memories. Such things were dangerous for obvious reasons.
Looking back at the horned man, she couldn't help a niggling fear that grew in her mind. She had been worried and somewhat afraid of him before, but that had mostly subsided with further interaction. But now it was stronger than ever. Now she understood why holding eye contact with him was so unnerving, aside from any considerations of their shape and color.
The man was a sociopath. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it. Self-centered, egotistical and completely lacking any respect for life, all of which she'd been able to discern within the memory he'd shared. He held sentients in no higher regard than rats or blades of grass and only changed that when something about them caught his interest. That he even remained functional was likely due only to having most of his attention distracted by his wife and his fascination with cute girls.
"You alright there cupcake?" He asked with a smirk, interrupting her thoughts.
Oma remained silent, choosing instead to give him a penetrating look. She was frustrated to note that there was barely any hint of the monster she knew lurked beneath that taunting expression.
"I see now why you warned me that 'words cannot convey the spirit'." She said finally. He had been hinting to her that she would not like what she saw and he had been right.
Naruto shrugged uncaringly, not at all concerned if her view him was irrevocably changed. The truth was what it was and he had no interest in sugar coating it. He knew full well that he was not someone you would want to be stuck in a room with for an extended length of time.
Soon enough the smirk returned to his face, knowing that he'd placed the ascended woman in something of a conundrum.
She realized it as well. "You are attempting to frighten me away."
"I just want to see if you're willing to keep associating with me for the sake of your goals." He corrected.
"You should have discovered this during our communion of spirit." She replied, feeling a sense of resignation. Despite her personal desire to stay away from this man, there was too much at stake, too many mistakes that could be fixed through him.
Sadly enough, he was still a far better alternative than the Goa'uld or the Ori, even with what she'd just learned. If nothing else, his desire for high tech electronic toys would encourage advancement and neither he nor Xanna thought that oppression was an interesting hobby.
There was also the fact that she couldn't do anything to stop them in any event.
"Meh, that would have been boring." He shrugged again. "I like to figure people out the slow way."
By poking, prodding and being generally insufferable. Oma would have much preferred if he didn't do these things to provoke reactions.
"I will take my leave now and I do not intend to return for some time. Please do not seek me out again." She finally said, adding the last part in the vague hope that he would take her request into account if he was suddenly possessed by the urge to have her around.
"Bye bye." He said cheerfully, wiggling his fingers at her. "Be sure to tell me if there's any side effects having my long, hard...memory...jammed into your...mind. I've never done it like that you see."
Oma left without speaking any further, fully intending sink into a deep meditation to see if there were any actual side effects, or if he was just trying to unnerve her.
Once again alone in the garden, Naruto rocked onto his back with a chuckle and proceeded to stare grinningly at the sky. He was still there a few hours later when Akitsu found him.
The Ice Sekirei blinked in slight surprise when she saw him laying there with his hands interlaced under his head, apparently interested in something in the sky. Turning to look, she couldn't see anything but a few puffy white clouds passing lazily overhead.
Giving up on the mystery, she arranged the folds of her silk kimono and laid down next to him, pillowing her head on his biceps. Unlike him though, she cuddled into his side with an arm thrown over him. It wasn't as comfortable as a bed since the ground was so hard, but she managed to cushion most of her body with his, so the discomfort was minimal.
A little smile formed on her lips when he started sniffing at her hair. She'd found over the years that he was always very appreciative when she smelled nice, not overpoweringly so, but just enough that his hyper acute nose found enjoyable. It had taken some trial an error to figure out which scents he liked best and she made certain always grab some all natural soaps and shampoos during their infrequent shopping trips to the previous dimension. He liked the natural ones better than the chemical ones.
In short order, she found herself rolled onto her back with Naruto's weight pressing down on her.
"You smell delicious enough to eat." He said in a rumbling purr, nibbling gently on her neck.
The attention made her gasp in pleasure, cling to his back and squirm under him in frustration of the fact that he hadn't torn her clothes off yet.
She still felt a bit playful though. "Aaah!...master, you can't. Mistress will be angry with us if the servants catch us."
To her crushing disappointment, he actually stopped and lifted himself up by his elbows, making her whimper at the loss of contact.
"That's true. Xanna would be angry, she would probably punish us quite harshly if we got caught." He said thoughtfully, making no mention of the fact that she would probably be more displeased over not being included.
Making a big show of reluctance as he started raising himself off the panting Ice Sekirei, He barely held back a smirk when she grabbed hold of him desperately and pulled him back down.
"Don't go." She pleaded with a flushed face and a little pout, obviously well aware that she was being teased.
"Alright then," he said with a completely insincere sigh of resignation and continued his oral exploration of her throat and collar bone. "but you're...going to...be the one...to explain...this to her."
Akitsu barely managed to reply as his mouth continued southwards, her hands moving from his back to clutch at the ground at her sides."Aaah! I can ooonnnllyyy hoooope...unnghh...that my miiistresss will beeeee...HaaAAAH!...Gentle with meeEEEE!" But not too gentle.
In a distant corner of her mind that wasn't being reduced to a lusty fog by the pleasure ravaging her body, Akitsu was once again happy to have been taken in by such a wonderful man. She was also happy that he was just as easily distracted by a pleasant smell as ever, even after a decade of it happening.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX