Return of the Golden Protector

Chapter 41: Price for Freedom

Sona watched in disbelief as Irina and Xenovia hugged each other.

"I missed you, how have you been?" Xenovia asked as she held her friend, whom she hasn't seen in a very long time. "Man, you have changed so much since I last saw you."

Irina blushed at this.

"Same to you, you aren't the scrawny girl from the Vatican anymore." Irina replied.

"Hey, that's rude." Xenovia said as she pouted.

Irina laughed and then pointed to Basara.

"This is my teammate, Basara Toujo." Irina introduced. "We are on a mission..."

"Is it an exorcist mission?" Xenovia asked, taking in the cloaks and gear they wore.

"Yep." Basara replied. "It's nice to meet you, Irina talked about you a lot when we started working together."

Xenovia smiled.

"Okay, I think we should get home." Zest interrupted as the night sky started to become dark. "You two have a place to stay?"

"No..." Basara said, realizing that they needed to find lodging for the night.

"You can stay with us." Xenovia said excitedly.

"Sure, but we have to meet someone important, Naruto Uzumaki." Irina replied.

"Oh..." Zest said as she looked at Sona, who looked like her brain was short circuiting. "You can come with us. Naruto should be awake by now anyway."

"Wait, you know him?" Irina asked.

"Of course, I do, he is my husband." Zest said with a smirk as she showed her ring.

Irina and Basara were in shock.

'He has more than Lady Leviathan and Lady Gabriel?' They thought.

"YES, SLUMBER PARTY!" Xenovia shouted as she hugged Irina again.

"Sona, you okay?" Zest asked worried.

"Isobu said she passed out, so I think we should take her back with us to the house, Zest." Son replied.

Zest sighed and picked Sona up, placing her on her back before she led Xenovia and the Exorcists to the Uzumaki home.

Meanwhile...

Kiba ran through the woods before he stopped.

Jack, being hidden with her magic, kept up with him and made sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Kiba eventually stopped, taking deep panting breathes before he summoned a sword and swung it.

"OW!"

Kiba blinked when he noticed that the person who he slashed was Naruto, whose hand had blocked the sword, which was imbedded in his hand.

"Damn, kid." Naruto said tiredly, recovering from his hang over. "That stings."

Kiba recalled his weapon while Naruto sat down and healed his hand.

"You are pretty pissed off," Naruto stated as his hand started to close. "Want to talk about it?"

"No, sir. I don't want to." Kiba said with angry politeness.

He turned to leave.

"Revenge is nothing but a dead end if it is your only goal." Naruto said wisely, stopping Kiba in his tracks. "You are being consumed by this desire. You seek your own destruction, Yuuto Kiba."

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW!" Kiba shouted, turning and glaring at Naruto. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, NOR THE STRUGGLES I HAVE BEEN THROUGH. SEEING MY FRIENDS GET KILLED TO FURTHER THE RESEARCH OF AN INSANE MAN LOOKING TO HARNESS EXCALIBUR!"