Summary: AU. In a world where Skies are hunted down for their flames; a young Sky by the name Tsunayoshi takes his first journey outside his hidden home. Though he might regret his choice of leaving his sanctuary as he'll really know the world's Sky Hunters; The Arcobaleno, will surely not let him escape them.
A/N: Ehehehe⦠I kinda had a rush of imagination last night. I did have an idea like this a few months back before I had even started to consider writing stories at all, but it was a lit lose on what would happen in that idea. So close to midnight yesterday I had a sudden rush out from the idea and ran up to start my computer and write a small start on it. :'D
And boy I really am starting to write stuff right now xD Though I still kinda have a little block for my other story "Parallel Switch", which btw I am a little confused how I'll fix it up with all the confusing stuff I wrote in that one :'D But I won't abandon it. Nope. I just need something else alongside it to write, I think. So this thingy came up
It's kinda weird but I hope it'll turn out good or meehehehe.
Actually trying to work on my grammar for this thing. If you see some grammar mistakes or anything other that looks just weird to you. Just shout at me :'D I need corrections.
I'm not sure there will be romance in this, since I'm not into the genre of romantic stuff anyways. More of adventure themed thingy with a lot of twists I guess. It's an alternative universe after all. xD
-Sky Hunter-
Chapter 1 - Azural Berries
A pair of eyes with a deep colour of sunset orange scanned the newly discovered valley. All from the large mountains to the east that reached the fluffy clouds that decorated the azure blue sky above to the large forest with huge green trees that mildly swung back and forth with their large branches and the small but lively village down at the very center of the normally peaceful valley right next to a small glimmering lake. To the south the smaller mountains that surrounded the valley created a gap which was most likely used for a passage out. And to and end at the west were about three to four rivers winding down as small serpents towards the lake and into the big forest. It was truly an extraordinary scene.
The eyes moved slowly across the beautiful scenery in front of them, careful to not miss any details in its beauty nor the small village. The owner of the sunset orange eyes gave a sigh in relief. It was not often he had time or the chance to explore outside from his home and now he was finally able to reach the outside.
Even though if he'd just stumbled across this small valley out of pure luck it was his very first time seeing a village aside from his own home since his father had been quite against the idea of him going outside the gates. But he needed this. He'd craved for exploring the world for so long, if not since he was little. But now he'd finally aged enough to convince his father of one small trip on his own outside the gates.
But to be honest, he was a little bit nervous too. He would be meeting "Non-skies" or "normal" people, or that's what scholar Talbot had said they were called by. The term "Skies" or "Sky" which was what they called themselves back at home and according to Talbot it was best to not try to give out oneself to be a Sky or anyhow related to one. It was far too dangerous to do so and it didn't seem to be a very good idea at all when thinking about how "Sky Hunters" could get that information and start hunting him as well as the other Skies. It did give him small shivers hearing about Skies who had been hunted down by those awful Sky Hunters. Those were the main reason he'd never been allowed to go outside the gates.
A small breeze caught up with him. The brown gravity defying hair swayed gently and the fifteen-year-old took a deep breath while closing his orange eyes. A gentle nudge at his leg along with a small "Gao" made him open his eyes once again and look down at his companion.
"It's okay Natsu" The teen assured the little lion cub. "I'm just a little bit nervous after all."
"Gao" The lion cub replied happily. Glad to know its master was alright.
The Brunet closed his eyes again and took some steady breaths. He would not let anything like those stories about Sky Hunters scare him now though. As long he'd keep a low profile as a simple traveler and not use any flames or any attributes a Sky could do which apparently Non-skies couldn't, he'd be fine. So many promises he'd made to his father about not doing a bunch of stuff which he himself considered ridiculous even if he'd had the permission to do so was now swirling around in his head. Counting each and every one again while he started to murmur them and testing his voice to not cause any disturbance in the inner flow of flames which he'd needed to keep inside and be extra careful not to let it slip out.
Opening his eyes again, a pair of caramel brown eyes that showed a clear innocence had replaced the deep sunset orange ones and started to admire the scene in front along with a small smile on the teen's lips. The lion cub purred and disappeared in a flash of flames and settled within a ring attached to the brunet's finger. One last inhale of the fresh air and he looked down from his temporary 'enjoying the view' boulder and jumped down.
He would make sure to see the world as much as he could during this small trip. Like a sky spreading out over the land he would make sure to find all the wondrous things this outside world had to offer.
Hana eyed the village people with an annoyed look on her face. Everyone was running around with errands for the festival that was going to be held this weekend and in her opinion they kind of overdid their work this year just because some had heard of a famous Sky Hunter would visit the village. Why in the world a Sky Hunter would visit this normally quiet village was beyond her, but Sky Hunters were known to travel pretty much everywhere their feet took them since these Skies were very rare to find these days. Ever since the news about eight different people had been able to take down one very powerful Sky each, it was rather annoying hearing the same stories all over again.
These eight people were called the Arcobaleno. Said to be the strongest of Sky Hunters out there. The Skiesthat these people had taken down had been ones that had apparently had powers to wipe out cities or something. Hana scoffed at that. Sure, Skieswas known to be able to cause destruction, but she didn't see the point of causing such a big deal out of defeating them. It was rare for a single Sky to even appear near cities. To Hana the Arcobaleno was like monkeys. They just hunted the Skies for glory. But somehow she had a feeling Skies were more than like monkeys themselves. Was it just because they could use a Sky flame that they were hunted? There were people with similar attributes to Skies but they had different colours to their flames. Even the Arcobaleno had flames, though not Sky flames, but still.
Hana strolled down the unusually busy main street filled with village people who ran back and forth between houses, some who was climbing up the roofs to put up even more decorations than necessary. All of them acting like monkeys in Hana's opinion.
"Hey Hana! Over here!"
Hana turned to the familiar voice, and sighed. Great, it was the airheaded baseball guy at the sushi restaurant who had called her. She let a small moment of pause to wipe away the annoyance from her thoughts and then she moved towards the young raved haired teen at the sushi restaurant.
"Hello Takeshi. Is there something I can help you with?" Hana struggled not to sound too irritated than she already was. She'd not live this down if she'd lose her composure by just talking friendly to the guy. He wasn't that much of a monkey as others usually would be.
"Oh sorry, did I disturb you?" The raved haired teen chuckled lightly while rubbing his head. "You seemed a little bit worried for a moment when you passed by."
Hana narrowed her eyes in irritation.
"No, I was just thinking of how irritating everyone is acting lately."
"Well. I suppose this rumor about the famous Sky Hunter is really getting to some people's heads" Takeshi chuckled. "It's fun though if this keeps up to future festivals. That was it might get even more fun with the other festivals as well."
Hana sighed. "I'd rather get this over with so we can return to the normal peace and quiet."
Takeshi gave a light laugh in reply. "So, I'm guessing you're helping out as well in the festival?"
"Something like that. I don't really mind helping but the ones running around like monkeys are starting to get to me."
"Hehe, I see. Hey if you don't mind. Would you like to help me with fetching some Azural berries in the Katana Forest?"
Hana stopped to think for a moment. It was a good excuse to get out of the lively village and get some sort of peace and quiet again while everyone was busy over here.
"I'm sure I can. I'll just need to get some supplies at home for collecting the berries." She answered Takeshi.
"No need. We got a few extra berry bags behind the shop." The raven haired teen happily chirped which got Hana to twitch an eyebrow at his overly positive side. Sometimes she just couldn't get over how happy he could be at times for no reason what so ever.
As Takeshi excused himself to go and fetch the berry bags Hana let her mind drift away again while leaning at the restaurant's window. Everyone was still running around like monkeys as usual from today and forth and Hana just wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.
If this famous Sky Hunter was one of the Arcobaleno, then it was a clear reason that a Sky had been sighted in the area. This made Hana frown in confusion. She hadn't seen or heard anything about a Sky in the area. Why would a Sky even be in Swords Valley at all? Was a Sky hiding away from the Sky Hunters over here or was it just a rumor that had been leaked out so a Sky Hunter had become interested enough to check the place out?
She was grabbed out of her thoughts as Takeshi had come back with the supplies of berry bags and other stuff needed to get across Katana forest with.
"Daydreaming again Hana?" Takeshi joked and gave the brunette a small wave with his hand.
"Hmph" Was the only reply he got from Hana as she grabbed one of the berry bags and started to walk out of the village without casting any glance of he followed her or not.
This just better be worth it.
The young Sky was all lost. The trees just looked the same wherever he went in this forest. At first he didn't mind since he took his time to take in the sights of the amazingly green forest. Even the trunks of the trees where green which he later discovered was moss covering the trunks all the way up to the tree's branches. Every bigger rock or boulder he managed to find was covered in this weird moss that was all over the place. At times he would glimpse an animal running a few ten meters from him and then quickly run away. But right now he really needed to get out of here. He had at least thought of trying to get to that village by nightfall. It wasn't a good plan to sleep outside in the wild on the very first day outside the gates.
"Come on Tsunayoshi. Just clear your mind and focus on where the sun is." He murmured to himself. He could always use his flames to fly up and see where he was but that would be a deathtrap and he knew it. Summoning Natsu would also be a risk now as well and Tsuna didn't feel like taking any of those risks just in case.
The brunet looked up and tried to pinpoint the sun but to no avail. The tree's leaves were not letting him get a glimpse of where the sun really was. Yet the whole area was shining in the sunlight reflected on all the green areas which made the whole forest quite bright in its green colour.
This was just his luck. Every time he'd try something new he just had to screw up on the first try.
A sudden sound made him freeze however. It was faint but he knew someone or something was heading this way.
Tsunayoshi's first thought was Sky Hunters but immediately pushed the thought away. His father had taught him enough to not give in to the very first thought coming to mind. Instead he stayed completely still while ducking below an overgrown boulder near a tree with a big trunk. The hiding place was very good for a first try at it. The brunet started to breathe as silently as he could and didn't move a single muscle. Voices could be heard from far away if he focused on those sounds alone from the many bird chirping and the trees giving out small creaking sounds from the wind blowing through the crowns of the trees.
The voices got louder by every second and soon Tsuna could pinpoint their exact location from his hiding stop without looking towards them. There were two voices. One male with a cheery laughter who seemed to be highly amused talking to the other. The second voice belonged to a female which seemed rather annoyed in her tone at times but kept most of it out. Tsuna frowned at that but the other one didn't seem to mind it.
The pair went past the young Sky's hiding place without a single glance towards it as he got a small glimpse of their looks. One being a tall raven haired teenager, most likely in the same age as him and the other was a female with long brown hair swaying in the wind. Tsuna held in a gasp. They were surely village people. Non-Skies! It was a first timer for him to actually see someone like that outside the gates of his home.
The brunet curiously let his gaze follow them until they were out of sight but stood up and started to follow.
Somehow he just felt like following them might take him to the village. All he needed to do was following them from a distance. They didn't seem to notice his presence at all. Yet Tsuna felt a nervous lump in his throat.
He just hoped nothing bad would happen from following them.
Hana was close to just go back to the village soon to make Takeshi stop with his joking. Since they had walked without any basic subject to talk about in Takeshi's opinion he'd started to talk about baseball and other stuff he joked around about. It was starting to make her insane if he'd not stop it soon. She just wanted some peace and quiet from the village, and sure it was quieter but now she had to communicate with the new monkey at her side.
"You know, if you don't want to talk about baseball we can always change the subject"
Hana twitched. "You don't say?" The raven haired teen laughed at her comment which was filled with as much sarcasm she could muster at the moment.
"Well what do you think about this rumor about the Sky Hunter that is coming?"
Hana looked up, meeting a pair of more serious eyes than usual that Takeshi had. It was uncommon for him to be anything other than cheery but now he'd even surprised her with his 'serious mode' which only came up in the more serious moments.
"To be honest, I hope it's just a rumor." Hana admitted. "The village is better off without a Sky being hunted by a destructive Sky Hunter. It would surely cause a forest fire or something."
"I agree." Takeshi answered with a frown. "The valley is definitely not a battlefield. And even if that would be the case, I'm not sure many would like having neither a forest fire nor any large damages done to the valley at all. There are people who'd rather just live in peace than having a Sky Hunter making trouble it the village."
"Right"
"Besidesā¦" Takeshi chuckled. "Have you ever thought of what the actual reason for hunting Skies is? I mean, is it just that it's considered a challenge for the strong ones or is there something else?"
"I don't know" Hana shrugged. "It just feels like trying to be a monkey to me."
Takeshi gave up a laugh. "True, true."
Then a snap from behind was heard. Takeshi turned around quickly and stood in front of Hana as he scanned the area. Hana seemed to stiffen at the sound made from behind as well. With whatever sense she could use she listened and looked around to find the cause of the sound. Takeshi seemed to frown even more as no other sound was heard. If it had been an animal it was sure to have run off by now.
But nothing was heard after it. So either it was a predator of some kind or someone was following them.
"Who's there!?" Takeshi exclaimed out to no one in particular.
The forest remained silent. But then some rustling was heard from some bushes about 10 meters away to the right of them. Both of the teen moved their attention to the bushes. A small rabbit jumped out as they had laid their eyes on its hiding place.
Hana and Takeshi relaxed. Even if the valley was peaceful it was unsure what could happen in Katana forest. Some had said that some animals where rather large and could attack at times, even if it was rare. It never hurt to be too careful.
Takeshi chuckled and scratched his head. "Well that was awkward."
"Still a little fun though." Hana said in an amused tone. "We got scared by a rabbit."
"No kidding."
The two teens laughed it off and continued to the Azural berries place where they started to collect the blue glowing delicacies used in many dishes at the village. A small stream gave the small opening in the forest a rather pretty scene.
Hana was at one of the Azural bushes that were placed near the stream. The bush she was picking the berries from was a bit larger than the others and had a lot of Azural berries which was in perfect condition to be picked.
But as she was picking the berries she had a feeling she was being watched. Way to close to her liking. She glanced over to Takeshi but he was at the far end of the opening and picked the berries with his back to her.
As she shrugged of the feeling and turned back she was met by a pair of caramel brown eyes and a fluff of brown hair.
She gave up a surprised shriek and jumped back. The person in front of her seemed to be just as surprised as her and jumped back as well out from the bush and landed in the stream with his back first. A high pitched shriek even louder than hers was heard from the person.
"HIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
