FicWad

Meanwhile, somewhere in Mucha, Helen and Deneve were making good time in getting to the former's hometown. 20 days of travel and neither of them had run into any Awakened Ones, Youma or Claymore. It certainly helped their youki is suppressed to the point of being invisible; unless you had really good sensing prowess then they would be right under your nose and you wouldn't even know about it.

As they walked along the dirt path, somewhere within a mountainside Deneve spared a look towards her friend and found the woman looking over the piece of paper with the intricate seal Naruto had given to them before they had left for the Southern Region of This World. Deneve rolled her eyes and looked ahead; Helen had been looking at that piece of paper ever since she got it. She wanted to know if the thing worked like Naruto said it would. She never did try to see if it did, for obvious reasons.

"Put that thing away before you break it, Helen," Deneve told her friend several minutes later, once it became clear Helen was not going to put it away any time soon unless she was told to. "That's the only thing that can get us out of trouble if we run into it."

Ever since Mucha had been usurped by the Abyssal One of the North, Isley had never ventured out of the South. While the chances of them running into him were very small, as the South was massive, the possibility was still there and Deneve wanted to make sure they had every option available to them on the off chance things do not go their way. And knowing their luck something was bound to happen.

"But aren't you curious to see if it actually works?!" Helen asked as she looked over to her friend.

"Yes, Helen, I am very curious to see if it works. But I'm not going to risk damaging it either." It would be very bad if one of their means of escape from trouble wasn't working because someone kept fiddling around with it. Their youki is suppressed now but it's only a matter of time when they find themselves in a situation where they are unable to keep their youki buried. And with the South likely being a festering pool of Awakened Ones there is a good chance they'll find themselves in such a situation. "Now put it away before you do damage it."

"Eh, alright." With a shrug, Helen put the paper-seal in the safety of her pouch. As much as she wanted to know if it worked or not, they only had the two. If one of them was damaged then using it would be very risky.

The woman remembered what Naruto told them when he handed the paper-seals to them twenty days ago in Rabona. And Helen also remembered the questions she and Deneve both had asked regarding them.

-/-/-

Twenty Days ago.

A clone of Naruto handed Helen and Deneve two paper-seals; once it was taken from his hand the clone said, "Make sure the paper-seals is not damaged in any way. Doing that or altering the seal matrix itself can have very bad consequences on the person that uses it."

"What kind of consequences?" Helen asked, examining it thoroughly with a look of childish curiosity.

"It's hard to say," the clone replied with honesty, "The seal is designed to bring you back here once it's exposed to the first type of energy it comes in contact with. So if you were to use your youki while you were holding it, you will be brought back here. That said if it's damaged and you were to use it..." the clone trailed off with a look of uncertainty, "anything could happen. You could end up in a volcano for example."

Deneve sucked her teeth, "Right. Keeping it safe is a priority then."

The clone nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Keeping it safe is a must. In case you're wondering, it's recommended for it to be used for one person. In theory, one of those can be used for more than one person, if you were holding on to the person grasping the paper. I wouldn't try doing that unless it's an emergency though."

"Understood," Deneve replied with a firm nod. She sent a look Helen's way, but the woman in question didn't notice as she was still looking at her paper-seal with child-like curiosity.

"One more thing," said the clone, "those seals are a one-way trip. Once it's used it can never be used again and you will have to backtrack to the last place you were. So I recommend using it if you're in a very dire situation."

-/-/-

While Helen did take his warning to heart, the woman's curiosity still got the better of her. Deneve had gone above and beyond the Call of Duty to keep the woman from accidentally damaging the paper-seal.

Those thoughts aside, Helen closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose, then exhaled, "Haaaaaaaaa… smell that Deneve? All that fresh air and pollen?!"

"Yes, Helen, I can smell it." the woman answered, not looking the least bit interested at first glance.

Helen chuckled at that, knowing her best friend well enough for that to not be true. She put her hands behind her head with a bright smile. She remembered her hometown as a farming village, with lots of trees, berry bushes, herbs and flowers. So the smell reminded her of that.

Helen opened her mouth to say something, only for the words to die on the tip of her tongue, coming to a complete stop when both she and Deneve sensed a small group of youki auras nearby. Helen looked towards her friend, who looked back at her.

"Wanna go check it out?" Helen offered.

"Might as well," Deneve replied with a shrug.

With that, the two of them put their destination on hold for a moment as they went to investigate.

-/-/-

It took a bit, due to the youki auras moving around; eventually, though, Helen and Deneve had managed to track down the people they had sensed. Now sitting up against the edge of a cliff that overlooked a river, both women were watching a team of claymores fighting against a single Awakened Being.

The sound of fighting, defiant roars of the awakened one, and splashing water filled the area.

Two of the claymores was currently out of commission, one was lying up against a tree and the other was lying over a tree root that was above the water, Helen and Deneve were able to sense their auras and thus knew they were still alive. The remaining two claymores were still fighting on, though out of the two only one had the youki aura of a single digit warrior.

The Awakened Being being fought stood on two legs, had three tails that are longer than its body, two pairs of arms, and a feline-like head with four eyes that lacked a bottom jaw. Its head was angled in such a way one could literally see into its gaping maw; two layers of jagged teeth surrounded it, showing that anyone unlucky enough to get caught by the awakened one would be in for a very painful and bloody demise.

Both Helen and Deneve watched the still conscious claymores fighting the awakened ones in silence.

"So…" Helen started with a look of near curiosity, "where do you think they slipped up, Deneve?"

"Well, they made several mistakes," the woman in question stated. "But the biggest one was allowing themselves to be drawn into the water. Because of that, they lost their biggest advantage."

"Yeah. Speed." Helen said with a nod of agreement. "They would have had an easier time taking on that thing on solid ground."

Helen perked up when the Awakened One let out a defiant roar as it tried to crush the single-digit warrior with one of its clawed hands, but the girl's reaction time was impressive because despite the speed the monster had with its arm, the girl had quickly hopped back and out of the way before it could crush her.

The girl landed on both feet in the river, glaring up at the towering monster with grit teeth while the other girl was panting heavily. The poor thing looked so tired to the point she would fall over from exhaustion.

"It wasn't a good team to start with anyway," Deneve continued as she leaned forward with a slight frown. "Apart from the single-digit leader they all lack experience. They are not at the level where they should be hunting Awakened Beings. I'm guessing the other three are ranked in the 30 to 40 range; the more experienced warriors are most probably off taking care of other problems. So I'd say man-power is the Organization's biggest issue and-"

Deneve cut herself off when she heard her best friend chuckling beside her; turning to look at her with a small frown, the woman saw Helen had a close-eyed smirk on her face. Deneve frowned. Was something she said funny?

Deneve furrowed her brow, "...? What's so funny, Helen?" she questioned.

Helen snickered and glanced at her friend with a grin, "Heh heh heh, a long time ago you said something really similar and ended up getting saved by a certain low-ranked kid is all."

Deneve arched her eyebrows at that, before quickly looking away from Helen's smirking face. "...Don't remind me about that. It's embarrassing."

"Hey, it's not exactly a happy memory for me either," Helen said in good humour, inwardly though, the woman shuddered. That was a brush with death she did not want to go through again.

"Hey, speaking of…"

"Hmm?" sounded Deneve, looking over to Helen with one eye.

"What do you think about Clare? If she was to take on Miria, who do you think would win?" the woman asked as she was genuinely curious to see who her best friend would think would win between the two.

Closing her eye Deneve shrugged and leaned her head down, "I don't know. It's hard to tell. Despite being limited in what he can teach Naruto's helped train all of us; but in terms of speed, power, stamina and above all, skill… Miria is superior in every way. Even if you factor in the strength of spirit, Miria is still stronger than Clare. However, Clare has this limitless explosive power. That certainty is both her strength and her weakness."

"Yeah, I get'cha. She's like a hot-headed kid." Helen groaned as she stretched her arms to get the kinks out of them. Despite how she acts, Clare looks calm on the outside, but she's surprisingly childish in a lot of ways. "So… if all of us were to go up against Naruto, would we win?"

Deneve didn't need to think of the answer to that. "No. Despite the improvements the seventeen of us made in seven years, Naruto is still capable of beating us. Naruto would hold back if we were to fight, but it wouldn't make a difference."

"But he is weakened. He doesn't have that fox inside him." Helen reminded. "Not to mention Rigardo beat him."

"Rigardo beat him because Naruto allowed himself to be beaten." Deneve pointed out, "If he won, then we would have had to fight the Abyssal One of the North and who else he had with him at the time." Helen shuddered at that reminder; Isley The Abyssal One of the North had someone powerful by his side and she did not fancy facing... whoever that was. "Not to mention his Sage Mode exhausts him when it runs out and needs to remain completely still to regain it. But if Naruto had prepared himself beforehand, made some clones to act as his backup, then he would have won that fight hands down. But back to the point: Naruto would still defeat us because there are just so many things he can do that we can't."

"Right…" then Helen pouted and crossed her arms against her chest like a child, "...I wanna be able to control water like that…" she said in a manner resembling someone who did not get their way.

The corner of Deneve's smirk quirked upwards, almost forming a smirk. "Same here. I want to be able to control water like that myself. And the ground too. It would make fighting Awakened Beings and Youma a lot easier."

"Can't argue with that." Helen said with a laid back shrug; she had seen what Naruto was capable of with that chakra of his. She just wished there was a way for them to be able to learn it too. She would be able to make the elements her bitch!

Despite themselves looking laid back and unconcerned, both women were more than ready to jump in if things were about to take a turn for the worst. The only reason they didn't do so was because the single-digit still had a claymore in the fight. They will interfere with the fight when one of the two gets knocked unconscious, or injured to the point of falling unconscious. It would allow them to knock out the remaining warrior then take care of the Awakened Being without a hassle.

In Alphonse, there had been plenty of times they had to bail out a team of Claymores when they had bitten off more than they can chew. Though they had to do it while said teams were knocked out or incapacitated. They would be there one second, and the next, they would be gone before the teams knew what had happened. Like a ghost. There was a reason why they had been nicknamed 'The Ghosts of Pieta' after all.

Helen found the nickname 'The Ghosts of Pieta' to be a dozen times better than Naruto's, even if the nickname belonging to the blond in question was accurate.

Then again, knowing Deneve, she would probably remind her of Miria's words back in Rabona or something, before telling her she would have her back if she wanted to get involved in the fight.

The woman was taken out of her train of thoughts upon hearing one of the women, the non-single digit warrior, letting out a pained scream as she was cut down and collapsed into the river. The single digit warrior was the only one standing now.

A wide-eyed Helen got up on her hands and knees and leaned forward, "So, they're finally down to one. The other three aren't dead yet, but it doesn't look to good for them." observed the woman.

"The single digit did well in lasting this long." Deneve said with acknowledgement, "It seems like she is the only one in that group who has experience in fighting Awakened Ones." mentally, Deneve noted the team would have done a bit better if they had another member with experience in fighting Awakened Beings among them. That particular unit below in the river was under-prepared and very inexperienced for this kind of combat. It wouldn't be all that surprising if this team got a total party wipe because of that inexperience and unless that single-digit warrior pulls off a miracle, that was exactly what was going to happen.

"Hey, Deneve, what should we do?" Helen asked as she turned to address her best friend, "Should we go help them…?"

Deneve closed her eyes and let out a huff, "You heard what Miria said, 'Don't get into needless fights'." Helen gave the woman a dull stare. Yep, she had been expecting Deneve to say something like that. Always the responsible one, that woman. "It will cause us a lot of trouble if we were to reveal ourselves to the current warriors," added the woman, before she paused and looked to address her friend, "But, despite all of that, if you tell me you can't stay out of it… then I am willing to back you up. Not that I am encouraging you to do it."

Helen blinked, seemingly surprised, then she shrugged grasped the hilt of her sword and yanked it out of the ground, "Nah. It'd be better not too. It's not like they're our comrades or anything. And besides, I hate getting wet." she said with a dismissive, but utterly bored tone that did well in hiding her rising bloodlust. "Let's head back on the road. Safety first right?" she questioned with an easy-going grin that almost hid the bloodthirstiness, while the woman secured her sword to the sword-carrier on the back with a metallic 'Gashak'.

Helen ignored the single digit warrior fighting for her life, and said as she grabbed her cloak and secured it to her shoulders, "We'll probably end up fighting her sooner or later anyway. And she's a strong one too, so it would be better for us if she was taken out now."

"Hm?" Deneve shot a quick glance to the single digit when she let out a pained cry; the Awakened One managed to get the girl in the arm and in the waist.

"Ookey. On the road again~" Helen said singingly, with her grin becoming a slight bit more deranged.

Deneve gave her friend a dull stare. "Your bloodlust is up, Helen."

The woman in question cackled impishly. "Well," she said, "Maybe Clare's not the only rebel among us." Then, she discarded her cloak and leapt off the cliff like a madwoman "To hell with your caution and Miria's orders!" Helen shouted on the way down. "I'm gonna take down this Awakened One all by my hot-headed self!"

Her descent to the river had captured the attention of the Awakened Being and on her way down, the madly grinning Helen muttered "Turn, turn, turn, and…" as she twisted her arm around several times to perform the Drillsword, before letting it loose and shouting "BAM!" at the top of her voice as she slammed into the river with a mighty 'KaPlash!'!.

The top left arm of the Awakened Being had been severed from the shoulder, reduced to a bloody paste thanks to Helen's version of Jean's Drillsword. It let out a howl of agony from having one of its arms severed from its body. Helen's sudden entrance startled the single digit who took a single step back with a gasp out of sheer surprise.

"Honestly…" started Deneve, who now had both her sword in her hands, "she's always, always so willful. There's just no stopping her." then she opened her eyes and stared down at the now three-armed Awakened Being, "Well, what's done is done. Looks like we're defying your orders, Miria."

Helen, meanwhile, was laughing like a madwoman as she rolled around in the water… while effortlessly dodging the lengthened fingers of the Awakened Being that tried stabbing her. Then the woman stood up, and slashed off the fingers of its lower left arm with a bloodthirsty cry of "Eat this!"

Then Helen blinked in surprise as she saw someone quickly descending from the cliff she was on, "Oh."

The feline-like Awakened Being let out another pained cry when its upper right arm got severed, courtesy of Deneve who slammed into the lake and took position beside Helen - who was standing in front of the sole awake claymore who stared at their backs with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Wh-what are you-"

She was interrupted by Helen's backhand and Deneve's kick. The girl staggered back and glared at them, barely at all affected. "What was that for?!" She leapt back to get out of their range and glared at them warily. "So, you are enemies…"

Both of her new 'opponents' looked visibly surprised at her recovery. That should have knocked her out!

"Did we go too easy on her?" Helen asked. "Was the training Naruto put us through not enough?"

"No, she's just incredibly strong," Deneve replied. She could sense it. This… rather small woman was much tougher than she looked.

Hearing that name made the brunch-haired woman look at them in surprise. There was only one person with that name, "W-wait… you two know the Youma Hunter?" she asked, her anger at them all but forgotten.

Helen and Deneve looked behind them when they heard the now two-armed Awakened Being hissing angrily at them. All three women were quick to jump back; the Awakened Being raised its head in Helen's direction and several dozen tendril-like appendages shot out of its jawless maw towards the woman.

"Uh-oh. It's after me now," the woman in question noted with wide eyes; then she felt the youki aura of the claymore they tried to knock out moments before behind her, and she quickly looked at the woman from over the shoulder, "Oh shi- what're you?!"

"HELEN!" Deneve cried out in alarm.

The single-digit warrior grabbed Helen by the shoulder and pulled the woman out of the way of the tendril-like appendages before she could be skewered by them. All three women landed safely in the water moments later, though Helen was looking at the short woman with surprise.

"You… why did you…?"

"Now that I think about it, you hit me with your fist, not your sword," The woman replied, giving Helen a curious look. "You weren't trying to kill me. You were trying to knock me out, weren't you?" The girls looked a bit worried as they saw the wheels in her head start to turn. "The Youma Hunter was last seen in the North, with 27 warriors who fell in battle there… or so the saying goes. You mentioned him training you which means you're associated with him. Does that mean you're survivors of Pieta? Is that why you were trying to avoid being identified?"

"Geez, she's like Miria," Helen muttered and she would have palmed her own face for her little blunder earlier. Fricking wonderful; she was able to deduce all that by that name alone!

"So it would seem," Deneve added with a sigh.

Helen exhaled sharply and darted her eyes between the young woman and the Awakened Being, "So, what Number are you?"

"Number 8. My name is Dietrich." the young woman answered, "You never answered my question: are you two survivors of Pieta? Are there more of you around?"

"Let's take care of the Awakened Being first… then maybe we'll answer." Deneve bartered.

"Fair enough," she relented. "Can you help me get my comrades out of the way first, though?"

"Eh, sure why not?" Helen replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"We'll take one each. How's that?" Deneve added.

"It is much appreciated. Thank you." Dietrich answered; then the water splashed as the three of them dashed off at the same time, holding onto the unconscious Claymores in a fireman's carry as they brought them to safety.

The Awakened Being growled and tried to skewer Deneve with more of its tendril-like appendages that shot out of its mouth. The woman in question leapt forward towards the cliffside and avoided them before they could get her; the water and ground exploded up as the many appendages slammed into the ground where Deneve had been standing.

"Up we go," muttered the woman in question as she hopped on up the cliff, using any platforms she could get her feet onto. The extra mouth-piece appendages slammed into the cliff's surface, missing Deneve entirely as she hopped on to the top. The woman landed in a kneel and carefully set the unconscious woman safely up against a wall.

"Okay. She'll be safe here. Now then…" Brandishing her swords Deneve backflipped off the ledge of the cliff and made her way back down to the lake, and dodged many more of the tendril-like appendages that tried to run her through. She used one of them as a platform and quickly pushed herself off it down towards the Awakened Being. Then she stabbed two of its eyes and hopped off its head before it could get a chance to attack.

The Awakened Being let out a very pissed off, very pained roar, and made to attack Deneve again… only for Helen to interfere with her Drillsword. It pulled its head back at the last minute to avoid Helen's attack, but still lost much of its upper mouth.

"Tch… did I miss the head?" She yelled rhetorically. Helen looked behind her in midair and found it reaching out to her with one of its two hands with the intent on making its fingers extend to impale her. Only for that hand to get lopped off by Dietrich! The woman in question used the stump as a platform and in a great display of leg strength she jumped several feet into the air, right above the head of the Awakened being and brought her sword to bare.

"With just one step off the creature's body, she can reach such a height?" Deneve rhetorically questioned, knowing full well that no one was going to answer her. "Finish it. It's all yours." she declared to Dietrich.

"Though you are now stained with blood and darkness, you were once a fellow warrior." Dietrich declared as gravity began to take its hold on her, "With this single blow I atone for and honour a former comrade," And once she began to go down, the young woman used her weight and the momentum of her descent and brought her sword down, slicing the Awakened Being in half from head to groin.

The two halves fell into the river as Dietrich, Helen and Deneve all landed in the water.

"Whoo! Down in one! Not bad at all." Helen complimented with a broad faced grin.

"She compensated for her small size and weight by striking from a great height so she could cleeve it in two." Deneve noted with a hint of admiration in her voice. It's the first time she had seen something like that being used, "So she does have experience in fighting Awakened Ones."

Not to mention that girl had managed to pull it off while injured! Deneve figured the injuries the now deceased Awakened Being dealt to her was superficial than previously thought.

Dietrich meanwhile put her sword back into its carrier on her back and let out a relieved sigh. Then she sent a look Helen and Deneve's way and sent them a thankful nod, before looking up at the cliff they had brought the rest of her team.

-/-/-

Sometime later, Dietrich was on top of the cliff she, Deneve and Helen had brought the rest of her team too. The former was kneeling in front of the three unconscious women and was searching for any grievous injuries. They had none.

"How are those three?" Helen asked. "They gonna pull through?"

"They're fine," Dietrich replied. "No major injuries; they're just unconscious. They should be waking up soon, though."

"Glad to hear it," Helen chirped.

"You two were of great help," Dietrich said as she stood up and turned to address them, "If you didn't come when you did, the four of us likely would have perished. You have my thanks… however, I still want my questions answered; are you two survivors of Pieta, and are you associated with the Youma Hunter?"

Well, this was awkward…

"Uh… would you mind not telling anyone you saw us?" Helen asked evasively.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Dietrich commented. "Unfortunately, I cannot do that... I swore an oath to the organization that I would never lie." There was a brief pause and then she continued. "Fortunately, I am the only witness, so you can either kill me now or…" She blushed and averted her gaze, "You could t-take me prisoner so that the Youma Hunter can... interrogate me." Hopefully in a very sexual manner, though that was left unsaid.

Deneve sighed in exasperation. Her 'troublemaker senses' were tingling. As for Helen, she grinned like a loon.

"Oh-ho-ho! Someone's got a crush I take it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dietrich muttered shyly as she crossed her arms against her chest. The short woman even turned her head away even more to the point she had to slightly turn her waist.

Both Helen and Deneve could smell the lie coming from her a mile away. It was painfully obvious this was a girl with a crush. Though that made the former curious. Why does she have a crush on someone she doesn't know…?

"Say… I have a question for ya' shrimp; how come you're acting like this towards someone you don't know?"

"I… he... um," Dietrich hesitated, her cheeks flaring. "He saved me as a child seven years ago," she said. "I was young, impressionable… though I will admit that I was around the age where little girls first start to become interested in boys, that has nothing to do with it; I don't have a crush… not at all. I just… want to thank him." she told them in the most convincing manner she could possibly manage.

And be kidnapped… and interrogated… and be taken advantage of. Her cheeks turned even redder at the thought as her imagination started to run wild with all the things he could force her to do. Oh, the humanity...

Helen and Deneve meanwhile were exchanging looks and thus completely missed what was happening before them, because they were having a quiet discussion of their own. "Naruto never said anything about saving someone…" the former quietly murmured to her friend.

"He has been wandering around for three months before Flora found him," the latter pointed out, equally as quiet as Helen and completely oblivious to Dietrich's squirming. "It's very likely he merely forgot."

"Or it just never came up," Helen added with a shrug. "Considering that he was called the 'Youma Hunter' before Flora shatched him up, it's likely that he killed a lot of them and saved a few people as a result."

Well, Naruto's 'Hunting Ground' was in Mucha for those three months and he had gotten around a lot. He never stayed in one place too long either and it eventually got to the point where other warriors knew of him. Elder Rimuto himself took notice and the rest is history.

As for Dietrich she was still in her little, not-so-innocent, world.

'…and then he would tie me up and bend me over the table and spank me until I submit to him like a good girl before grabbing my hair and then using me like a cheap-'

"Well! I guess you win, shorty," Helen relented aloud, pulling a startled yelp from the poor thing.

One could practically see the question marks floating above Helen and Deneve's heads at her reaction. That was… weird.

"S-sorry, just distracted is all," Dietrich muttered, subtly covering her chest and crotch. They couldn't tell if she was suddenly rather... horny, right? Oh, gods, she hoped not!

"Well… okay." Helen said with a dismissive shrug, "Anyway, we don't want the Organization to know about us. So far they're only aware of the Youma Hunter being alive. We want it to be kept that way, so I suppose we have no choice but to 'kidnap' you." then the woman smiled brightly and surprised Dietrich by going over to her and throwing an arm around the short-statured girl's shoulders, "Besides, I guess you can act as a guide of sorts for us. We don't know how changed the South is since we spent the past seven years in Alphonse, so having someone that knows the area would be nice." It would make getting to her hometown a lot easier as well if they had a guide to escort them through 'hotspots' they're unaware of.

Dietrich blinked owlishly as she looked up at the woman, "Uh… r-right."

Deneve rolled her eyes and put both her swords into the sword carrier she had on her back. Helen did the same as well before throwing a concerned glance to the still unconscious women, "So, what should we do with them?"

"I don't sense any youki auras in our general location." answered Dietrich, "They'll be safe here until they wake up."

"Alright." Helen said with a nod before giving the short girl a bright smile and started pulling her along with her as she walked away, "Come on, princess, let's go!"

"Okay…?" Dietrich answered, though she sounded very confused. She nevertheless allowed herself to be pulled away by Helen.

"Oh, by the way," Helen started, making Dietrich look up at her once more, "Naruto's a bit of an ass man. And from what I saw, you have a nice ass. So, I think he'll like you~"

Dietrich's face immediately turned deep red from her collarbone all the way up to the roots of her hair and she quickly averted her gaze. She really hoped he would like her… not for that reason. Nope, definitely not for that. Even if her butt was one of her best assets… pun completely intended.

As she heard Deneve's exasperated sigh beside her Dietrich had a feeling the woman who had her arm around her shoulder was the playful type. Something told her being around these two would not get boring any time soon.