Outcast's Paradise
Outcast
Disclaimer: Do not own anything, Naruto and Dog Days are owned by their respective creators.
Yeah... just making a one shot of sorts. Since the Dog Days anime is so cute I couldn't stop myself. Lol. Besides, with Yukikaze looking like that in her orange pyjamas, I just couldn't help but try to bring Naruto to this verse, or for that matter, try to inject some of my typical emotional darkness in such a sweet and fluffy world as my contribution to the dreadfully tiny fandom of dog days.
Yes I'm evil.
This starts at the end of episode 5 in Dash by the way.
Soundtrack List
E.S Posthumous – Unstoppable
Taylor Swift – Safe and Sound
****Outcast's Paradise****
"Isuka-sama! Isuka-sama!" A bright eyed Yukikaze ran up to the tall and slender brown haired stranger, "I was right, it really was you!" she cocked her head around and waved at Nanami, Vert and Jaune, "Yo, I rushed over when I caught the scent of wild monsters!"
"Yuki-bou, it's been a while." He ruffled the kitsune girl's hair with great affection.
"Honestly, I was wondering what the fuss was about. I should have known it was you, Nii-sama." A deep, resonant yet feminine voice rang out as a graceful woman in armour joined the three of them.
The stranger's eyes brightened, "Oooh! Hina! You're here too. This is some welcoming reception."
"Wha-I- I told you not to call me by that name!" It was a little strange to see the imposing and composed Brioche d'Arquien embarrassed.
"A-Anoo…" the rabbit eared Vert cutely stuck her hand up in the air and asked the question that almost everyone else there was already thinking, "Who is this?" she pointed at the laid back man.
Yukikaze grinned, "That's right; you guys wouldn't know who this is huh? This is Isuka-sama, Brioche-sama's older brother." She hesitated and sniffed the air while her eyes darted around Isuka. Hesitantly she looked up at the tall man, "Is he not with you?"
The tall man furrowed his brow, "Ah, him… He said that he had something to do first, so he'll be back a little later."
Yuki drooped a little, "Ah…."
He petted her head, causing her to purr, "It's alright. He promised me that he would arrive within a week."
Leon walked up to the three of them, speaking in her usual masculine tone, "Hoh? He's coming back in a week? That coincides nicely with our next event. The battle will be an exquisite appetiser for a well-deserved Vacation."
Cinque cocked his head, "Eh, battle?"
"Unn," The regal silver haired Princess of Gallet nodded, "It's something of a tradition."
The blonde boy was getting a little annoyed at the evasive answers, "Who are you talking about?"
Leonmitchelli smiled briefly, "He is a hero like you. His arrival here usually means that the adults have been successful in pushing back the monsters and enlarging our territories, so we have a battle in their honour and to boost our soldier's morale."
"Battle? Like the one we just had last week? Will he be joining Briscoletti or Pastillage?"
"Hmmm? No. Battle as in our three kingdoms going up against one of him…"
"Ehh…. That's not very fair isn't it?!"
A fidgeting Leon refused to look him in the eye for some reason, "Yeah…. Very unfair…."
He got the impression that they weren't talking about the same thing.
****Outcast's Paradise****
Cinque frowned as he observed the Yukikaze inconspicuously pick away at the threads of her kimono in a forlorn manner with Konoha on her lap while everyone else was in Brioche's home drinking and chatting away happily.
He wasn't used to it, not when it came from someone as energetic and unputdownable as Yuki; the affectionate and friendly golden haired kitsune girl who always teased him and Éclair. He sighed a little and entered the room with a confused frown, "Oyakata-sama, is something wrong with Yuki?" He asked bluntly.
Brioche looked up from her cup and cocked her head sideways to take a gander at the blonde girl, "Ah, that. Don't mind her; she'll be fine."
There it was again, everybody talking about this person in a vague manner, "You didn't say much earlier, but exactly who is he? I never even knew that there were Heroes around than just the three of us." He knew he sounded a little whiny, but if there was one thing he didn't like, it was being kept out of the loop.
"Technically all the other countries can summon their own Heroes as well." Isuka pointed out, "They just don't really have reason to since the three of our countries happen to be in between them and the monsters."
The self-assured Princess of Gallete nodded at his assertion, "It's actually basic history taught to all the children of Flonyard, I guess that's why the three of you wouldn't know. The story goes that Milhi's ancestor summoned him years ago back when our Kingdoms were barely more than little Villages under constant danger from monster attacks. Couvert isn't here at the moment, but she could probably tell you more about it since she is a descendant of the Great Hero King that her own ancestors summoned at the same time. The two of them helped create the Gallet, Briscoletti and Pastillage of today, ever since then, the three Kingdoms have always been on good terms with each other. We are not too sure about where he was summoned from since he doesn't like to talk about it but rather than go back to his homeland like you did, he chose to stay with us and lead a quiet and gentle life whenever his services aren't required. Sometimes when the front lines meet a particularly strong Monster, they'll call for his help. Stops him from getting too bored." She smiled weirdly, "I'd even go as far as to say that him getting bored is more dangerous than a monster attack."
"I see, I see…" Cinque nodded, never feeling more inadequate then right now since he had not actually bothered to learn about Flonyard's culture ever since coming here, "What about adults? You mentioned them as well."
"That one is a little more complicated, I think you already know that the mock wars that we have are basically practice and sports with benefits to its participant's and I'm sure you've noticed the lack of adults around haven't you?"
"I never really noticed since you and Milhi have always done a perfect job. I never really thought that that there was a possibility of you still in training," He admitted sheepishly while the two Princessess blushed a little at the implications of his words, "Though I'm pretty sure there are a few adults around like General Godwin I guess… Why?"
Leo nodded briskly, "To put it simply, almost everyone you've met so far are too young to take part in the real war where most of the adults are fighting to push back the monsters and liberate more land from their control and explanding the Goddess' influence, whether for agriculture or other purposes. The soldiers, and to a larger extent, Couvert, Milhi and myself are training to take over for our parents. The adults that are here are simply to ensure that we don't make too many mistakes in the process and provide backup in case something really serious happens. People like Brioche-sama and Yukikaze-sama are basically on vacation and are joining in for relaxation."
"And Isuka is a lazy drunk." Brioche put in with a smirk.
"Oi, oi, that's mean…"
He didn't really like what he was hearing, "I see…."
The pink princess who was sitting beside him grasped his hand gently, "It's alright, Cinque. It doesn't really sound as bad as Leo-nee makes it out to be." Milhi said soothingly, "The really bad wars happened years ago during the Dark Ages. The ones right now are more like cleaners trying to clear up the straggling pockets of monsters and make it truly safe for the new generation."
"Hmm… that still doesn't really explain why Yuki is acting so weird…"
"Ah, like Brioche-sama already said, she'll be fine. As soon as he gets here anyway…"
"Eh? Why? Does she really want to fight him or something? He must be a really good fighter then, I can't even catch up to Yuki's speed but I hope I get to fight him too." Cinque replied excitedly.
Every single female in the room and then some stared at him as if he was an idiot.
Nanami sighed with a roll of her eyes and patted Rebecca, Millefiore and Eclair's shoulders sympathetically, "Good luck. I get the feeling that you're going to need it."
****Outcast's Paradise****
The rest of the week passed surprisingly fast as far as Cinque was concerned. As soon as the news of this stranger's arrival was spread, everyone was bustling around in the greatest urgency possible to prepare for the impromptu war.
The thing that caught his notice most however, was the wide smiles that everyone was wearing. All things considered, it made him really curious about his Hero predecessor, especially if they were all excited to the point where they were willing to combine all three armies to march on ONE person.
Mostly, he and Becky passed their time reading history books to remedy his mistake of not learning more about his hosts and talking with Isuka who seemed to be a gold mine of information when it came to the little subtleties and myths that surrounded Flonyard.
"Isuka-sama, are you not going to join the celebration?" Becky asked the tall statuesque man who was lazily sipping from a cup of sake.
He smiled broadly, "I think I'll pass, I'm getting a little too old to play with the kids."
Becky chewed her lips slowly, "It might sound a little weird, but why is everyone so excited about fighting one man?"
Isuka simply smiled wisely, "You'll understand when you see him."
****Outcast's Paradise****
"I'm getting a little excited myself," Becky admitted as the three Heroes gathered in front of the large and flamboyant main tent, "Everyone bustling around and laughing is rather infectious. I haven't seen anything of this level ever since I came here."
"Neither have I, and I've been here longer than either of you." The blonde boy muttered. The curiosity was killing him.
"When do you think he'll get here?!" Nanami asked as she repeatedly tapped her staff against her knee impatiently, "All this gotten me rather pumped up."
"That's because you're always pumped up," Becky teased the slightly older girl. The two girls were chuckling when Cinque heard a shout ring out above the din, "He's HERE! Get ready!"
Rushing over to the wooden hedge, the three Heroes peered at the dot in the distance, made a little difficult by the summer heat haze. It was a breathless few minutes before the dot finally materialized into a tall individual; slightly shorter than either the Oyakata-sama or Isuka-sama, but equally well built and slender with powerful looking arms.
"FlyTech Knights into the AIR!" Little Couvert's tense voice called out from somewhere behind them as a flurry of feathers and wings rang out in the clearing,
"Archers, CrystalTech Knights, get ready!" He heard Leon's voice calling out orders from above the parapet.
The man in the distance stopped, lounging on the plains as if granting them a chance to hit him on purpose.
"FIRE!"
The three Heroes felt rather grateful that they weren't on the man's side as a truly impressive amount of magic and gunpowder filled the air. Missiles, bullets, rockets and boulders alike flew through the sky towards the lone shadow until they were stopped with cold finality by a person sized emblemic shield, allowing the stranger to completely ignore the MASSIVE amount of explosions, shrapnel and rock chips that pounded the area around him. The bombardment continued for quite a while to the point where the three of them actually got used to being deaf.
"Cavalry move out!" as everybody else began to charge at the man on foot, the stranger lifted up one hand and pointed at the Heavens. Mid stride, a curious Cinque took the opportunity to look at whatever he was pointing at.
It was as if that slowly moving finger was drawing something one the atmosphere as one super huge glowing petal of some sort materialized in mid-air despite the nonstop pounding he was taking from the armies of Gallet, Briscoletti and Pastillage. Even as he ran, the second and third petal were already materializing. He wasn't sure what they were for, but considering the amount of Bright Powr pouring out of the man in waves, it was definitely not something he wanted to personally test out.
Play E.S. Posthumous – Unstoppable
"Milhi!" the silver haired lioness called out for her childhood friend.
"I got it, Leo-nee!" the pink and silver haired princess both stood shoulder to shoulder as they poured all their strength into a shield that would be able to cover their remaining forces. The two of them knew from experience that the moment the large emblem of a blossoming nine petal flower with a snarling fox superimposed on it had finished forming in the sky, losing more than three quarters of their army was already something of a given.
And that was if they were lucky.
Cinque frowned, "Wai-Wait! Why are you two slowing down? We have to get there and stop him!"
"No time." Éclair curtly replied as she pulled the nonplussed Hero under the Princesses'' huge emblemic shield, she peered at the large emblem that spanned the entire battlefield from underneath Leo and Milhi's shield, "If that thing hits you directly, you're basically a goner."
All around them, he could see troops scrambling for the nearest high ranked shield. The fact that they were all sparkly eyed and laughing with anticipation only made it stranger.
"Nine fold Judgement." The hooded figure spoke softly.
Cinque would never forget what happened next.
It was like the Heavens were cracked open like an egg, spilling forth a torrent of pure, destructive light that matched and utterly surpassed anything he had seen from Leonmitchelli, the Galletian Princess and the one of the strongest fighters he had ever met. Amidst the rumbling and almost oppressive pressure, he forced open his eyes to squint at the figure who was slowly striding towards them through the waterfall of light as if he was casually taking a stroll on a drizzling day, gracefully swatting away flying boulders and trees like they were nothing but flies until a dark blur weaved her way through the rain of light and debris.
"Skycracking Cutter!" The man in the white cloak lifted one hand and caught the tower sized blade of light on the edge of a glowing tanto.
"I thought we got rid of that particular bad habit of yours." He commented with an affectionate smile, ignoring the sparks that rained around the two of them.
Brioche grinned and pushed him back, "It's not a bad habit if it works!" Spinning around, she swept the blade around in an arc. The man swayed like a tree in a strong wind, letting the overly large blade swish by harmlessly while his foot lashed out to kick Brioche's abdomen, driving the air out of her chest and sending the tall woman skidding backwards, "And I keep telling you that just because it's bigger doesn't mean it is better. Any idiot with training can see you coming a mile away, literally."
Cinque watched in mild disbelief as the two of them harangued each other like old friends while exchanging rapid parries and thrusts. Behind him, Milhi dropped to her knees from exhaustion as the shield faded, panting heavily while Leo gathered up the remnants of their army for a final charge.
When the sound of stampeding feet reached his ears, the man threw a casual glance behind him where Leo and Gaul were leading a ragtag group of soldiers. Smiling lightly, he back flipped until he landed in a crouch a few metres away from his starting point and crossed his arms with two emblems near identical to the one in the sky already glowing on the back of his fists, "Two Fold Judgement." He launched the gold and blue beam with a punch.
Gaul's eyes widened at the oncoming beam and grabbed the three Genois members beside him before leaping away as far as he could, "Nee-san!"
"I see it! Scatter!" Leon called back as she leapt out the way, just in time to the hear a mass of pops, signs that her army of elite soldiers was being turned into an army of cute puffballs, as the beam tore through the remains of her army like so much wet paper.
Standing up, the man casually patted his trousers before bending over backwards to avoid a claw swipe from Gaul before rolling away from an overhead axe blow, "Ooh, kitten one, kitten two. Not bad, the two of you have improved."
"Argh! Stop calling me KITTEN! It's been effing YEARS since I stopped wetting the... "He blushed, "Ignore that!" Gaul yelled in embarassment as he swiped again and again at the agile man, "Vert! Jau! Noir! Cover me!"
The Genoise trio nodded, "Flak Arrow!"
The man cocked his head, "Hoh? I've never seen these little girls before. New recruits then?"
"Grrr! Stop underestimating us!"
As arrows rain down on the hooded man, he clicked his tongue with mild annoyance as Jau and Noir darted around him. Gau leapt up from his feral crouch and thrust his claws straight through his chest while he was distracted, "That's what you get for talking on the battlefield!" the silver haired Prince yelled triumphantly.
"Talking is completely fine as long as you can walk the talk, kitten two." the supposedly injured man smiled lightly as he poofed away into smoke, appearing again behind Gaul and gently tapping the back of his head. The smoke cleared to reveal three other identical men in white cloaks standing behind a trio of sheepish looking and clearly naked Noir, Jau and Vert, "We lost…"
He turned around to face Leon with a smile on his face, "Kitten two, you've grown. Your boobs weren't quite that big when I left."
Everyone watching sweat dropped.
Leon smirked and thrust out her chest with a sultry expression, hoping to lure the man into complacency, "I didn't know you were looking, Shishou."
"Oh, looking is totally fine. It's whats after that gives me problems. Anything more and my wife would castrate me while I'm sleeping." He pointed out blandly.
"Yeah… she does tend to get a little clingy, especially at night…." Leo trailed off a little awkwardly as they danced around each other in a flurry of strikes, the man's little tanto making quick and precise slashes around Leo's heavy axe swings, slowly cutting the proud Princess down to size.
Tiring of the man's attempts to chip away at her health, Leo leapt back, "Lion King's Explosion!" Fire raged around the silver haired queen, but before she could execute it, the blonde appeared in front of her with a scary grin, "You and your brother are so impatient. Large attacks like that one take longer to charge. Try not to use them against someone that is faster than you unless you have back-up that have him pinned him down for you."
A palm sized glowing blue orb with some sort of shuriken around it buried itself in Leon's gut, instantly sending her out of commission if the way her armour was completely blown off was any indication.
Away from the immediate battlefield, a slightly burnt and panting Rebecca landed beside Cinque who was protecting Millefiore, carrying an unconscious Couvert on her back, "Cinque!"
"Becky, what happened to you?"
She shook her head mid pant, "The entire FlyTech squad was grounded in that weird light storm. I was barely able to catch Couvert from falling."
Laying the unconscious princess down gently, he draped his cloak around her to protect her decency and for the first time since the war started, he could see the man's face unhindered. Ruffling his spiky blonde hair with one hand, the man stood up upright to face the three Heroes with a gentle smile that stretched the scars on his cheeks while his eyes twinkled warmly.
Cinque instantly liked the confident warmth that the man exuded.
The man took in the rings decorating their fingers with a quick glance, "Noh? New heroes, and THREE of them at that. I've been away for far too long."
The man sounded truly happy even as he was avoiding his and Nanami's rapid staff attacks while Becky took pot shots at him from above. Behind him, he could cheers from the distance as everyone who wasn't fighting watched the Hero vs Heroes match from a safer distance.
He was good, Cinque admitted to himself internally. Unlike his fights with everybody else so far, the blonde was silent and intense, observing their moves with a sharp and calculating eye as if measuring them, judging if tehy were worthy for the title of Hero.
Where Nanami and himself were agile and speedy, the man was lightning. He knew that the two of them were athletic and strong, but the man was a bulldozer in comparison to them, simply brushing away their attacks and emblem arts with a supernatural grace or outright taking them to a face with nary a flinch or sound.
When he was finally done testing them, and Cinque knew that it was a test because the scarred man had yet to even throw a single punch or attack the entire time they had fought, the man stood still and allowed the two of them to club him with their strongest attack. He didn't even flinch, instead he wrapped his hands on the other end of their staves and turned their own weapons against them by shoving in into their guts before lifting the two of them into the air and slamming them into each other in mid-air.
Dazed and more than a little confused, the two humans were thrown straight into the air at a squawking Becky. The two of them collided into the brown haired girl in a mid-air jumble, and were promptly finished off with a dazzling One Fold Judgement.
As the blonde man watched the three smoking children fall from the air, he felt a presence approaching him from behind.
"True Void Fang!" her aura flared before condensing into vaguely humanoid shaped set of samurai armour with a truly massive solid looking Katana.
The man clicked his tongue again, "Such a waste, ttebayo." Clenching his fists, he roared, "Muteki no Shouri." Rather than the exploding of power Cinque was used to, a thin aura simply burned to life and enveloped the man before condensing into a simple looking bracer on his right hand, "Your True Void Fang's overall power is truly impressive… but materializing and maintaining something of that size takes more power and effort than necessary." he pointed out calmly.
A familiar looking ball of light appeared in his armoured palm, "Rather than pushing it out to be big like that, focus, condense, tighten." He smiled briefly as the orb convulsed before slowly elongating into a javelin as long as he was tall, "If you're good enough, you might just get a spear that can break any shield."
"Why don't we put our skills to the test instead of talking eh?" Brioche called back challengingly.
The man seemed amused, "As you wish, my lady." the two of them started walking towards each other. It was sort of blink and you'd msis it but one moment they were on the far ends of the field. One blink later and the two of them had somehow exchanged positions with their backs to each other.
The flash and the extremely powerful sonicboom that blew everyone not already crouching away came afterwards.
Play Taylor Swift – Safe and Sound
When the dust and light finally died down, a coughing and smoking Cinque was surprised to note the two shadows slowly forming in the dissipating cloud along with the sounds of laughter.
"Really? He did that? I'll have to tease Nii-san about that when I see him." A chuckling Brioche declared as she limped out of the cloud with her arm around the stranger's shoulders to support herself.
"Give him some credit, just because the poor guy looks like a playboy doesn't mean he can't go to pieces any time a woman propositions him, I thought women liked honest men like that."
"Speaking of women and men…" Brioche trailed off and pulled herself away from the blonde man before pushing him forward, "I'd say you have someone waiting to hear from you."
The man stumbled a little until he came face to face with a stern looking Yuki who was just standing there with a frown. Now that he thought about it, he realized that the fox girl had not participated in the battle for some reason.
"Yo…" He made a little grimace as he realized how lame it sounded before smiling in a hapless manner, "I'm home?"
"You're late." She said stiffly.
Another wince.
"I know, I know," Rummaging in his pockets, the man pulled out something and showed it to her, something that Cinque couldn't see, "But I saw this on my home, and I just had to get it for you. Then I… uhh… accidentally got lost."
Yuki sighed in an exasperated manner but allowed the blonde to gently pull out the pin that was holding her bun together and insert an exquisite jade green one that matched her eyes. Her eyes got a little wet as she finally allowed her stiff stance to dissolve and bury her face in his chest, "Okaeri, Anata."
He wrapped his arms around her and sighed contentedly, "Ah… Tadaima."
A smiling Brioche limped up beside Cinque when she realized that the short boy was staring at the two blondes with his jaw hitting the ground. She quirked one of her eyebrows at his dumbfounded expression, "You didn't know that Yuki was married?"
"Eh?"
"Yeah, they've been married for nearly twenty years now." Brioche placed her hands on her hips in a long suffering manner as they watched the two blondes sort of stare at each other silently, "But even then they still act like shy newlyweds with each other. Meh keeps the passion going I guess. Let's get out of here, just watching them makes me feel a little jealous sometimes." She said a little gruffly.
"DEEHHHHH?!"
****Outcast's Paradise****
As they watched the blonde man walk along the ranks, shaking his hands with the soldiers, a worn out looking Milhi walked up beside Cinque, "The people really trust him don't they?" Cinque commented lightly.
"He's a good fighter and a number of us were personally taught by him, including my own father and Leo-nee." Milhi replied softly, "That's also part of the reason why we have this event whenever he returns."
"And the other part?"
"To boost their morale, to show that they have nothing to fear if they are called to the front lines, not with him guarding their backs the way you do, Cinque."
The blonde boy smiled briefly as he remembered the way the strange man had basically stomped his way through three fricking armies only to be stopped by a frown from Yuki, "Not the way I do… It looks like I really have a long way to go." In front of all the soldiers, he tapped the older man's shoulder with a sombre expression, causing him to whirl around with a questioning look, "Cinque isn't it?" when the shorter blonde nodded, Naruto continued with a warm smile, "I was impressed with how well you did in that fight. Now, is there something this old man can help you with?"
Giving the ring adorning his finger one last reluctant glance, Cinque pulled it off and offered it to the curious blonde man, "Here, this should belong to you."
Naruto glanced at the ring with some confusion though his other hand never left Yuki's, "Uh… why?"
"What do you mean? I thought all Heroes got their own weapons, I figured since you were my predecessor, Palladion belongs to you."
Yuki's happy laughter was like a tinkle of wind chimes, "He's a little scatterbrained, but I think he'll be just fine without it."
"Sorry, there's only one ring I'll ever wear," The taller blonde man ignored Yuki's light blush as he closed Clique's fist with the ring in it and pushed it back to him with a grin, "So I guess that's yours until you choose not to be a Hero anymore eh? Hero of Briscoletti."
****Outcast's Paradise****
Muteki no Shouri – Undefeated Victory
Ichigeki Hissatsu – One Hit Certain Kill
The basic concept I wanted to put here was if Cinque, a more athletic than most school boy could basically become a beam spamming, sky surfing Hero of an entire country after one or two tries, what in fuck's name would happen if I put someone who was already used to warfare and manipulation of internal energy into sugary, cutesy Flonyard?
Ass kicking on a nationwide scale ensues.
As for Yukikaze…. Yeah… we painfully admit that we have a thing for cute furries like her. .
Just a one shot, might put out one or two other chapters to flesh stuff out a little sometime later though.