DxD: The Fox and Demons

That being said, it wasn't like she would have tried to pull him into her Peerage or anything, but, at the very least, she could have bargained with her friend/rival for the right to recruit the young man.

Despite how childish it sounded, there was a reason for her frustration.

Essentially, there was an unspoken rule between them in regards to the acquisition of new Peerage members in and around Kuoh Town.

That rule went along with the idea of 'finder's keepers'; where the one who finds a prospective Peerage member with a lot of promise is allowed to convince them into their group without the other's interference.

Unless, of course, they negotiate between themselves about who has the right to get a shot first.

If she found Hyoudou Issei first, then she could have earned a favor from her friend, for use in the future.

It's always best to have an eye to the future, just in case.

Yet Rias found Issei first, and now held the right to recruit him into her Peerage, so it was too late for any sly attempts at forcing the red-head's hand.

Sona sighed as she peered at the chess board again, registering all of the possible moves that could lead her to victory in their game, wondering what play she should make...

Then it hit her.

More precisely, the image of a certain blond student with blue eyes and strange whisker marks hit her.

All at once, the young black-haired girl did a one-eighty in attitude as she decided to broach the subject with her friend, fully expecting to ruin her victory parade before it really began.

Such was her competitiveness with her.

"While I am happy for your success in finding a new Peerage member, Rias, there is something that I have to discuss with you before you celebrate." Sona stated seriously, knowing full well that, all games aside, they should discuss about any strange happenings that occur in Kuoh Town, especially in Kuoh Academy.

Rias' expression switched from lighthearted to straight-faced in a second, understanding that play time was over.

"...I have recently met a new transfer student to Kuoh Academy today. At first glance, he seemed to be a normal human teenager, but...he did something afterwards that made me suspect that he wasn't quite normal." Sona explained, as the light caught her glasses, giving her a foreboding look.

Deciding to ignore that, her friend responded. "Who is this boy? What tipped you off to this, Sona?"

Looking at Rias straight in the eye, she responded. "His name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was a second-year student. I met him while he was trying to leave the academy grounds, and lectured him on his lackluster effort with his classes before he...mentioned that he had a family emergency."

The young Sitri cut herself off from there, stopping herself from revealing what the 'family emergency' entailed, as that was personal information that Uzumaki gave her.

As the student council president, she had a responsibility to not give out that information to others unless they wanted her to.

Meanwhile, Rias frowned, not really seeing anything too suspicious about this boy's behavior. At least nothing totally abnormal that couldn't be explained away.

"...It was only after our little talk ended, that he did something...unnatural." the student council president continued, violet eyes focused. "As he was moving to leave the academy, I noticed that he was moving at speeds that a normal human teenager shouldn't be able to...which was made worse when he didn't appear to be particularly tired afterwards."

If anything, her friend's frown deepened further. "...How fast?"

Sona didn't bat an eye. "As fast, if not faster, than the fastest normal human in the world."

Now that made Rias more attentive to her fellow devil's claim, very much seeing how she could be suspicious of how...'normal' this boy was. "Do you sense anything different about him?"

"Nothing." Sona answered clearly, figuring that she meant that in a literal manner.

It really was strange too, as the blond had three of those whisker-like lines on his cheeks, something that was definitely not normal by any means.

Yet, she didn't sense the energy of the yokai within him, so he wasn't a fox or cat yokai or anything...

That only left one possible explanation for this then.

"You think he has a Sacred Gear...a powerful one at that, I expect." Rias murmured with growing realization, interpreting her rival's mindset.

Most Sacred Gears stayed dormant inside humans for their entire lives without notice, allowing them to continue to live their lives as normal beings.

However...some Sacred Gears were so powerful that they actively aided the holder despite being dormant in their soul.

Yet, only the most powerful of Sacred Gears could possibly do something like that, which meant that this 'Naruto' could very well have enormous potential.

"Hoooh...so you've been quite busy yourself, eh Sona?" the red headed devil asked with a knowing smile, a smile which had the student council president narrow her eyes.

That smile meant that the young devil had a decidedly good idea, and in such a situation, where they were talking about an individual that had enormous potential...that smile was nothing except bad news for her.

"Hey, Sona? Do you remember that favor that you owe me in regards to Tsubaki? I would like to cash it in." Rias expressed with a cheerful smile.

Sona felt her eyes widen at her friend's words, before sighing and placing her hand on the top of her forehead, already figuring out what was coming next.

The reason she even shared this information with Rias in the first place was due to the fact that 'finder's keepers' would be in place, allowing her to lay claim to grabbing the strange blond without interference.

If the rule wasn't in place, then she would have kept quiet about it until she learned more about the blond.

The two childhood friends were also rivals after all.

But now it seemed that her rival has decided to change the standard rules of the game, invoking her 'favor'.

That favor in question was in regards to Rias' aid in helping Sona acquire her first Peerage member in Shinra Tsubaki.

When they were younger, apparently, Rias stumbled upon Sona's future queen after the incident where Rias acquired her own queen, thanks to the actions of a particularly rowdy groups of exorcists.