FicWad

Deep within the citadel of Staff, a fortified city built into the mountains to the far east of the continent, a bald man in black, sporting sunglasses and a fedora stood before his leader in the great hall.

In the throne before him, said leader, Rimuto, addressed him. “So, what have you found, Rubel?”

The now-named Rubel tipped his hat in a respectful manner with a sly grin as he replied. “It would appear that the rumors are true. This so-called Youma Hunter has been roaming about the South, where he appears to have first popped up. He’s not very mobile, so I assume he’s been traveling on foot.”

“He, you say…?” Rimuto mused aloud. “After those rumours of this so called Youma Hunter being able to combat dozens of youma at once and win, I assumed he was one of ours that went rebellious.”

“So did I,” Rubel agreed with a slight tilt of his head. “But after investigating, there has been many supporting accounts on the young man’s description: dark clothes, with a type of dark red cloak with what seems to resemble flames on the hem; a black facial mask that keeps the lower half of his face hidden; a piece of cloth tied to his forehead with some strange writing engraved on the horned metal plate on the front; blue eyes and spiky-blond hair. He is surprisingly hard to locate as he disappears almost as soon as he finishes killing the youma. He also has this uncanny ability to know exactly who is a youma and who isn’t.”

One man in the room didn’t like the sound of that - their main scientist to be precise. This man wore a hooded holocaust cloak and half of his face seemed to have been burnt off in a fire… which it was. Muscle was exposed, and his eye was constantly open due to a lack of an eyelid; this also included the inside of his mouth. “Could he be from the mainland?” Dae asked. “An ally of the Asarakam?”

“I was not informed of anyone on the Mainland with his description,” Rimuto said with a shake of his head. “Let alone anyone with that description aligned with our enemy.” he looked at Rubel once more and asked, “What else have you discovered about him?”

“From what I garnered from the reports, he appears to be a professional assassin,” the man replied. “He fights like one, according to the few witnesses who’ve spotted him. Though he seems to prefer direct confrontations for the most part, he will use hit and run tactics to get an advantage if he is outnumbered, as implied by the latest report I found. Before that, no one had ever seen nor heard of him before. It is like he just appeared out of thin air.”

“Should we capture him?” One of the Handlers asked, making Dae perk up at the thought. “If he keeps this up we’ll lose funds and they’ll want him to protect them instead of us.”

“He is but one man…” Rimuto said dismissively; then his frown turning thoughtful for a moment. “However, it would be wise to keep tabs on him. If this Youma Hunter is capable of fighting dozens of youma at once without outside help, then it would be pertinent to know how he does it in the likelihood that he is an ally of the Asarakam.”

“I can see the benefits of that.” Rubel agreed, “If we were to send someone to find him, then they can keep tabs on him… maybe even distract him or keep this Yuma Hunter in one place so we can ignore him and carry on with business as usual.”

“But who do we send?”

Rubel shrugged. “If we want to distract him and keep tabs on him at the same time then sending a single digit warrior will suffice. The South is more dangerous than the North and the West, due to the sheer amount of youma there. We can have one of our Single Digit warriors go on a search for him.”

“Who do you have in mind?” Rimuto asked.

“The Number 8, Windcutter Flora,” Rubel answered, “She is approachable and well-mannered. Her region in the South is also the nearest to the last known location the Youma Hunter was spotted at.”

“That sounds reasonable enough,” Rimuto nodded with satisfaction. “Number 8, Windcutter Flora, shall be reassigned to search for this Youma Hunter, then.”

----

A few days later, walking through the plains of Mucha, Flora let out a tired sigh. This Youma Hunter was not an easy man to track down, but thankfully, word got out about a few youma in the town before her being killed off by a man of the description she’d been given. Upon hearing the news from the woman with her, the two of them hightailed it here as quickly as they could, so she could hopefully pick up his trail from there.

Bidding her young guide adieu with a thankful nod, the curly-haired Number Eight made her way to the town. It shouldn’t take her long to get there with the current pace she’s taking. It’ll take her a couple of hours, ten at most, depending if she gets side tracked by any youma that tries to take her by surprise. She hoped he would be there by the time she arrives. It’s tiring having to track this surprisingly elusive Youma Hunter down.

One long walk later, Flora heard a thunder of whispers emanating from the denizens as she finally entered the town the Youma Hunter was said to be in. As usual they were wondering what the ‘Silver-Eyed Witch’ was doing here, but she was used to it by now. She surveyed the town and the buildings that made it… she had a lot of ground to cover; but still, how hard can it be to find one person wearing black clothes, a piece of cloth with a spiked metal plate on it, and a dark red cloak with flames?

It should be easy to find someone bearing that description... Right?

That was easier said than done to be honest. Flora was used to searching youma, because they had a corrupted energy that only hybrids like herself can track. Humans on the other hand were more... tricky. Luckily for Flora, she was used to tracking humans…

What? There’s a reason the South had a lack of bandit attacks. She hunted them down and butchered them; no one’s found out about it because she was damn careful to not let it track back to her. By now, well over 15 years after she’d started, the woman had practically and quite cheerfully turned the art of getting away with vigilante mass murder into an art form.

Flora was knocked out of her thoughts of how fun it was to mass exterminate those scumbags she’d hunted down last week when she felt a spike of yoki in the vicinity, and she snapped her head in the direction she sensed it coming from. There was quite a few of them as well… and everyone else snapped their heads in the direction they heard screaming.

“YOUMA! THERE ARE YOUMAS HERE!”

Flora didn't hesitate. The second she heard the word ‘Youma’, she was already on the move with her claymore drawn. Pure instinct drove her as she charged forth to murder the beasts before they could cause any harm.

----

Several seconds prior

As he heard screaming around him a young, blond-haired man yanked his trench knife out of the back of the skull from the disguised youma that tried walking past him with a twist of a blade. The boy in question was wearing dark clothes, a dark red coat with flames on the bottom, a black facial mask that keeps the lower half of his face hidden and a horned forehead protector. This was the Youma Hunter.

With a spray of purple blood, spewing from the head wound the young man pushed the corpse and let it fall to the ground as it transformed back into its real form. Skin turned a dark grey, and his clothes and shoes were shredded as the muscles expanded.

Almost immediately, his killing of the first youma had made the other five transform into their true purple and grey skinned forms. Clothes were torn as their muscles expanded ad bulked out. Hands sharpened into claws. Teeth became jagged, and eyes became gold and cat-like. One even grew wings!

The reaction of the populace around him was one the young man was expecting.

“YOUMA!” Screamed a woman. “THERE ARE YOUMAS HERE!”

The second the woman screamed that everyone in the vicinity went into a panic and ran away as fast as they could. Lest they end up becoming victims of the unholy monsters that infiltrated their town.

“Hmmm…” the young man hummed as he noticed the youma had surrounded him on all sides, “One, two, three, four and five…” he counted. “Hmm. It seems I’m outnumbered 5 to 1…” he smirked under his face mask, and skillfully twirled his knife in his palm before clenching the handle with the blade facing outwards, “I like those odds.”

“YOU BASTARD! I’LL EAT YOUR GUTS!”

As if that was the signal to attack the four remaining youma roared as they lunged at the masked blond, hoping to overwhelm him with numbers alone. Unfortunately, it would appear that their plan to hunt the hunter backfired on them as he swiftly dispatched the first two before they even had a chance to blink. He rolled under the lunge of another and flipped himself up and over her, throwing the knife into the back of her neck… and through it. She was dead before she hit the ground.

The last two stopped and turned tail, but Naruto was on their heels, taking the first out with three throwing knives to the kidneys and spine, only for him to come to a surprised stop when he saw the second seemingly fall apart into a pile of bloody purple chunks.

“Huh… that’s new,” he commented; and that was when he noticed he was not alone.

Beside what was now a purple pile of ground beef was a silver-eyed woman, with wavy pale-blonde hair. She wore plate sabatons, which was basically a pair of plate boots, a fauld that was basically a plate skirt, a pair of plate wrist protectors, pauldrons, and a backplate that acted as the holder for her sword, with a cape; she also wore a two piece skin-tight light grey bodysuit underneath.

Her sword was back in the slot of her back plate and her arms were crossed, as if she hadn’t even used it. The masked blond knew better, even if he hadn’t even seen her draw or put away her weapon. An impressive feat to say the least...

“Finally found you,” the stunning, curly-haired blonde said with a friendly smile. As she looked at his attire, the woman took note the dark red cloak was not in fact a cloak. It wasn’t a tunic either, since the hem was near to the ankles. Not to mention it was open at the front and it had short sleeves. Not to mention the ‘flames’ were just a pattern at the hem itself.

Nevertheless, the woman mused to herself if it was some sort of coat she had never seen before. Putting her quick observation aside the woman looked her fellow blond in the eyes and asked, “Would you care to have a little chat, Youma Hunter?”

The blond rather calmly blinked at her. Then he shrugged and said, “It depends entirely on what you want to ask me.” he answered, then he went to gather his four knives. One of which was underneath the dead youma that was missing a chunk of her neck.

Once he got his knives he put them in away inside of his coat, before giving the silver-eyed woman a look over. “Huh… I didn’t think a ‘silver-eyed witch’ would be… Quite as cute as you.” he admitted with a sheepish chuckle. Honestly the way the people described them, he thought these Silver-Eyed Witches would be monstrous in appearance, or something. It seems they were greatly exaggerated.

The ‘witch’ giggled at that. “I’m Flora,” she introduced herself with a curtsey. She was pleasantly surprised to hear how young he was. “I am pleased to meet you. May I have your name?”

“They call me ‘Youma Hunter’... lame name in my opinion. My actual name is Naruto.” the now named Naruto gave her a respectful nod, “Pleased to meet you too, Flora.”

Said woman smiled at him, though she noted his odd accent. Clearly he wasn’t from anywhere she’d been, but this world was a big place. “I just want to learn a bit about you, the famous Youma Hunter. Humans being able to kill a youma aren’t unheard of, but being able to actually hunt them down is why the Organization creates hybrids like myself. How do you know who is and isn’t a youma, I wonder?”

“Well, it’s a secret. But there are other ways to find out who is and who isn’t a youma.” Naruto replied evasively.

“Oh?” Flora cooed, sauntering on up to him with quite the sway to her hips. She along with her fellow hybrids were trained in the arts of seduction when they had to go undercover. It wouldn’t hurt if she were to use those skills to try and get information out of the Youma Hunter. While she was meant to keep an eye on him, Flora thought it wouldn’t hurt if she were to try and get some information out of him to report to her handler. “Might there be a way I can convince you to reveal that secret, by chance~?”

“If I did, I’d have to kill you.” Naruto replied seriously, which was a stark contrast to his friendly attitude moments before. It honestly took Flora aback for a moment. “It’s a secret for a reason.” besides, it’s not like she’ll believe him if he said he could sense negative emotions… or this strange type of energy those demons had. She had it too even, but it was less… corrupt.

Naruto pointedly ignored the frightened stares and the muffled whisperings he and the woman were getting from the populace around them. It was getting a little annoying to be honest. At least he’s having a pleasant conversation with a cute blonde though.

Flora sighed. “Fair enough, I suppose,” she said, pouting cutely. She then whispered huskily to him, “and here I was willing to even offer you my innocence in exchange…”

Naruto chuckled, expertly concealing the boner that threatened to show upon hearing that. He cleared his throat, “Yeah…you, uh, really don’t need to go that far.”

Flora giggled again. And gave him a beautiful smile. “Do you mind if I were to accompany you?”

“Hmm… wander around continuously by my own, or wander around continuously with a cute woman like you?” Naruto made a show of thinking about it, “I like the second option!” he chirped; it honestly got lonely and there were times he craved some manner of companionship.

“Good to know,” she chirped seductively. Then Flora became more cheerful and gave him a pretty smile as she asked, “So, what were you doing here?”

“I was actually planning on resting here a while… then the youmas happened. I didn't even intend to ‘hunt them’; so I’ll probably be on my way out again since everyone tends to show distrust to those that manage to kill youma… irritating superstitious people…” he muttered at the end irritably. Then Naruto looked cheerful again and asked, “Why? Do you have somewhere else to be?”

“The people of my district are more trusting, thanks to me,” Flora said. “I’ll gladly guide you there if you want a place to stay.”

“That’s good to know, but you didn't exactly answer my question though.” Naruto pointed out with an amused eye smile. “Do you have somewhere else to be? I wouldn’t mind travelling with a cute woman like you if that’s the case.”

“I was offering to take you to my district, silly,” she replied with a giggle. “I don't technically need to be there, but I prefer it, as I’m familiar with the territory.”

“Well if you’re heading there, I suppose I can follow you. Maybe I can show you a thing or two if I get the chance.”

“If it’s any trouble, I’m willing to compensate you,” Flora giggled again, giving him a seductive leer.

Despite the seductive leer she was giving him, Naruto could tell she was lying. She really didn't want to do that. But, he could also tell that she wouldn’t hesitate if he told her to, which unnerved the blond.

He hid it well, though, behind a friendly eye-smile. “No need.” he told her, “As pretty as you are, I’m not that kind of guy. Just be patient… and observant, and you might see how I’m able to see how I’m able to tell the difference between a youma and a human.”

She was relieved to hear that, actually. Naruto was impressed by how well she hid it, though.

“Alright,” Flora chirped and she was noticeably more cheery now. “I’m ready to leave when you are.”

Naruto nodded and gestured for Flora to lead the way, since she was the only one of the two that knew the way. She smiled and walked ahead with Naruto following in line after her.

----

Flora was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they returned to her territory. She’d initially estimated that it would take a month, but it only took a week! The trip here was largely uneventful, as their idle chats lead to nowhere. Despite her best efforts, and the fact that they’d been traveling for a week, she still barely knew anything about him. Well… aside from the fact that he was quite the gentleman.

That was yet another pleasant surprise…

Yes, it was a surprise that this Naruto was a gentleman. She wasn’t complaining about it though; he was polite, and despite the mask covering the bottom half of his face, Flora had to admit he was quite cute. Not to mention, the tone of his voice, told her he was somewhere after his 17th cycle.

She was wrong about that, but Naruto didn't correct her on it. Mainly because Flora kept that information all in her head. So for Naruto there was nothing to correct.

Suddenly, Naruto’s eyes grew wide a slight tinge, before they went to normal, and he tilt his head to the side, “There’s a youma ahead of us, five yards, hiding above in a tree waiting to ambush.” he informed Flora, drawing her attention and curiosity.

“Oh? And how do you know that?” she asked with peaked interest. Her yoki sensing wasn’t as good as God-Eye Galatea, but all hybrids like her are capable of searching for yoki. And that was exactly what she did, using her yoki sense to locate this threat, if there was a youma that is. She skillfully hid her surprise when she found there was in fact a youma nearby! How did he know…?

“Oh, I just do.” Naruto replied evasively with an eye smile. The blond wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed, he knew that, but he also knew when someone was fishing for information. That was what Flora’s been trying to do for the past week; get information out of him and possibly report whatever she learned from him to this Organization she works for.

Naruto looked at Flora from the corner of his eye, “Do you want to take care of it, or should I?” he asked her.

“I’ll take care of it, it’s my job to kill youmas after all,” Flora pointed out with an amused smile.

Naruto chortled at that, “Alright, I thought I would ask you first. We’ll be right on top of the youma in about a minute.”

Flora smiled at that. “Well aren’t you considerate, Mr. Youma Hunter,”

Now that Flora decided that she’s going to take care of the youma instead of him, Naruto knew this would be a good way to see just what these ‘Silver-Eyed Witches’ are capable of. Back on that town a week ago, he saw that last youma being turned into a pile of chunks in a second. That alone told him this woman was deceptively fast, and strong with a sword.

When they were approaching the hidden youma, Naruto slowed down and allowed Flora to walk on ahead of him in order to watch her in action. Flora reached up and grasped the grip of her claymore but didn't pull it out of its slot.

The youma, too hungry to care that she was going to try and attack a hybrid leapt out of the tree above her with a hungry battle cry. Naruto watched with abpt attention when Flora pulled an inch of her claymore out of its slot… and sheathe it again, just as the youma in question choked on her own blood before purple blood sprayed from her arms, legs, torso and neck before falling apart entirely.

The youma was dead before she hit the ground; and even more impressively, Flora didn't get a mark of purple blood on her or her claymore. She was that inhumanly fast!

If Naruto was honest with himself, he was surprised there are people incapable of using chakra that are as fast as Flora. Her sword arm was nothing to scoff at. She could take on multiple opponents at once and they would be dead before they would know what happened. But Naruto did see a few weaknesses; all someone would need to do to beat her is strike from a distance. After all she could only reach as far as her sword, even if it was a big one. Another weakness is anyone who’s faster than Flora can surprise her and capitalise on that surprise to put her down quickly before she could retaliate.

But he’ll give credit where credit is due and Naruto clapped his hands to Flora’s amusement. “That was fast. I didn't see you draw your claymore.”

Flora smiled prettily at that, and tilt her head slightly when she noticed something that was...in her opinion...off putting, “You’re not surprised?” she asked.

With a smile Naruto shook his head, “No, I mean-”

Flora jumped in surprise when he vanished from her line of sight, and jumped in surprise yet again when she felt someone elbow her lightly on the arm. She was very surprised to see Naruto by her side now and giving her a teasing eye smile.

“-I can move pretty fast myself.”

The woman snapped her head to her right when she felt another arm lightly elbowing her and was taken aback to see him there… And when she looked back to her left, the blond was gone. So Flora looked back to her right again.

He wasn’t using yoki! That was pure speed! Is...is he a hybrid like her?

“How are you-”

“-doing that?” Naruto finished for her, before letting out a chuckle, “I told you: I can move pretty fast myself. And I did say a week ago, if you’re patient and observant, you might be able to see how I’m able to tell the difference between a youma and a human… And that I could show you a thing or two.” he reached behind his head and rest his head on his hands. “I’d say I showed you a thing about me, wouldn’t you agree?” he glanced at the beautiful woman he was walking beside when he asked that.

Depending on what her reaction was going to be…he’ll either abandon her or stay with her.

“Yes, I suppose that is showing something about you,” Flora agreed, before looking at him directly with eyes narrowed with interest, though she didn't stop walking, “How are you capable of moving so fast? As far as I know only hybrids such as myself and Voracious Eaters can achieve such a feat,”

That was a term Naruto had never heard of before, “Voracious Eaters?”

“They’re youmas that have been around for a long time,” Flora explained, which was a truth...she wasn’t going to tell Naruto that they’re actually hybrids that became the very monsters they fight. Then the woman got back to her original question, “So, can you answer my previous question? Or is it something you would have to kill me for if you told me?”

Naruto shrugged. “I don’t trust you enough to say. Maybe later, when I trust you more.”

Flora was disappointed, but she understood. However, the woman wasn’t going to give up that easily. “What can you say?”

Naruto hummed thoughtfully at that. “Well… I suppose I can say this: I was trained from a very young age to be a mercenary for hire. I will do anything for the right price.”

Flora’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that and her hand twitched as it inched to the grip of her claymore. “Anything…?”

If Naruto noticed the dangerous tone in Flora’s voice he either ignored it or didn't notice it entirely. “Yep! From babysitting, to protecting, to scouting, to assassination. Of course, there are certain things I won’t do; examples are burning down entire villages, towns or attacking caravans and murdering children. If my job is either of those or anything else I don’t like, I abandon the job and take the money with me… might even kill the bastard who wants it done while I’m at it, depending on how bad it is.”

Hearing that Flora’s hand dropped back down to her side as she relaxed, and she felt her respect and admiration for her fellow blond rise a few notches. Seems he is different from those bandits she hated so much.

However, there was one thing in his list of things he would and would not do that caught her attention.

“Babysitting?”

At her incredulous tone, Naruto made a what can you do? shrug and replied with, “As I said, I will do almost anything for the right money. I’d weed someone’s garden and water their plants if the pay is good enough.” and he loved to garden. It’s one of his hobbies.

Flora stifled a giggle. Now that was a humorous thought.

Naruto gave her a look of mock offense. “You may laugh at the idea, but Bera is Bera, I need some way to make a living.” he said overdramatically.

“Fair enough,” Flora replied with an amused smile.

“So, how far is the nearest town?” Naruto asked.

Flora gave him a cute pout, “Oh? Are you getting bored of me already?”

Naruto chuckled and shook his head, “Ha ha… Far from it actually. I want to keep travelling with you. Your presence is pleasant.”

“I’m sensing a ‘But’ coming along…” Flora deduced.

Naruto smiled under his mask, “But… I’m running out of supplies.” he added, drawing a silent ‘Oh’ of realization from Flora, “I have about a days worth of food and water left on me before it runs out entirely.”

Flora nodded at that; now she understood why he was asking that. Though it should have been obvious to her, since the Youma Hunter, despite how fast he is able to move, is still human. He needed to eat more often than she did.

“The nearest town is around a day away from here, actually.”

“Alright, let’s head over there then.” Hopefully that town would have a market, or a shop. He did have Bera on his person to use after all. He might as well put them to use. Maybe he can find something for Flora…? She’s been nothing but kind to him for the past week so he thought a gift for her would show his appreciation.

He’ll see what they have to sell first before doing that though. Who knows, maybe he can find a job or two there while he’s at it. He was bored and doing a quick job or two would do him some good… and fill his pockets.

Be careful what you wish for, is how the saying goes.