The beast turned around and looked at me. Damn. It rushed toward me and I dashed just in time. Thankfully, it hit a tree and fainted right away. Some of the other participants were already leaving the forest. 'That was close…' I thought. Oh! Sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Yukikami Hyouhime, although most people call me Hotaru. But I'll start from the beginning, so you can understand.
"You, useless brat, can barely manage to use ten and yet you say you want to become a hunter? No kidding!" Kuroryuu aniki said while shooting me a disapproving look. I've been trying to convince our parents to allow me to enter the hunter exam for one year and a half already. Sadly, Kuro ani is trying to convince them otherwise. He says I'm too inexperienced and naïve to be a hunter. It's easy for him to say so. He passed the exam in his second try with 14 years old, the youngest person to do so, not to mention that he passed in his second time there. Tsukiyomi otou-sama says he's a true prodigy. Amaterasu okaa-sama allows him to do whatever he wants.
Our whole family is made out of the finest blacklist hunters. Well, that is, excluding me and Taji-chan. "Please! Give me a chance! Kuro is-" "Kuro-SAN, for you" Kuro ani interrupted me. 'It's not like the deserves that honorific, anyways' I thought bitterly. "Kuro-SAN is just afraid that I'll pass it in a younger age than he did!" I pouted and occasionally sent him irritated glares. We were in our summer house's living room. Tsukiyomi otou-san shifted uncomfortably in the sofa and both Kuro ani and I turned to face him. "It is true that you have conditions to pass the exa-" "Obviously! It's not like deities like us wouldn't be able to do something humans-" I started to talk eloquently. "Enough! You will not interrupt me." he said, a threatening aura around him. "You should also be more modest." he added more softly, this time. "To be honest, that's not one of my strongest abilities…" I muttered under my breath with a sigh. "What was that?" Kuro ani spoke in mockingly.
"As I was saying before I got so rudely interrupted…" Tsukiyomi otou-san narrowed his eyes at me "you, my dear, possess the capacity to pass the exam with your actual strength." My heart fluttered and made backflips upon hearing those words. "However…" he lifted a finger "I'm not sure if you're able to handle the responsibilities it comes with. As well as the harsh life blacklist hunters deal with." and my heart sunk while hearing that. I trailed off 'There's always a but-wait. His worried with what comes after the exam? What if I bargain my entry at the exam in exchange of 2 years of work for him…? That should do!" I lifted my head and opened my mouth when Kuro ani cut my train of thoughts. "What a rare sight. Koorihime is thinking instead of babbling around senseless things." His smirk was really irritating me! When I was younger and was learning how to read, I read my own name as Koorihime because I didn't know it was my name and that's another possible way of reading it. Since then, Kuro ani makes fun of me because of it. 'Whatever…' I focused back on otou-san.
"Tsukiyomi otou-san, what if I do the same Inari ani did?" I suggested. He seemed to think for a while. Yukikami Inari aniki was also a god. A powerful and known entity even among those who weren't deities, like humans. And he was my older brother. He was the oldest between all of our siblings and by far the most respected. He was the heir and future head of the family. When otou-san decide to retreat to the god city, a place in spirits' dimension where deities, powerful spirits and minor gods go to relax for some centuries, much like retiring, he will take over the charge of head of the family.
"Fair enough. I believe we have a deal." Tsukiyomi spoke up. "Yes, I total-excuse me!?" Kuro ani gasped. Now it was my turn to smirk. I was like a feminine version of Inari ani. When he was about 18 years old, he was allowed to do the hunter exam. With the condition he would bring Hakuja's head, the serpent god who disobeyed our father. So did he. "Whose head do I have to bring?" I asked, still with the smirk plastered all over my face. My family took the role of blacklist hunters when they came to Earth. It was convenient. You have much more freedom this way. Otou-san and okaa-san are two of the five most important gods that keep reality the way it is. When Inari was born, many gods tried to kidnap him or use him to threaten our parents. Therefore, they fled from the spirits' dimension and stabilized home in here. Then they had three more children. Kuro ani was born two decades after they arrived here. Five years later, I was born. Last year, Tajimamori was born, when I was 11 years old, Kuro ani was 16 and Inari was 37. After a while, some minor deities joined them because of our parent's influence and we like to say they are our uncles.
"Namazu's." Tsukiyomi otou-san smiled. I smiled along and took a glance at Kuro ani. He seemed too shocked to notice anything that was happening. Namazu is a cat-fish spirit that ran from the spirit's dimension and has been causing a lot of trouble here for a few centuries. It causes earthquakes and things like that. Last time I heard of it, they said he settled into this island called Whale Island or something. "His head is yours, otou-san." I turned around, leaving a stunned Kuro ani, and left the living room. After I walked up the stairs, I gave one more glance towards Kuro ani, who was beginning to regain his senses, entered my room and closed the door as loud as I could behind me. "You dare!" I heard his shout faintly behind the door but all I could think of was: 'I'm doing the hunter exam!'.
I already had my bow and arrows packed. Today, after yesterday's chat with otou-san and Kuro ani, I was leaving the summerhouse to apply to the hunter's exam. I kissed okaa-san in her cheek and we touched our foreheads, held hands with Taji-chan for a minute or two (he didn't like anyone touching his face or his back excepting okaa-san), hugged otou-san and shook hands with him. Also, I stayed a while in the roof with Kuro ani, not really talking. We just enjoyed the time together. Two or three years ago we were inseparable and best buds, but about three years ago he started to stay weeks away from home and I confronted him, saying he broke our promise but he just dismissed me and started to stay even more time away. He now comes home once in a few months and stay for a week or less.
When I was seven, Inari suddenly left the house to "find his own path and unravel this world's secrets". Kuro ani and I were left heartbroken. Our parents knew this would happen eventually but we didn't and we felt betrayed and taken aside. When we recovered from the shock, we made a promise we would never abandon each other.
When the clock hit 2 o'clock, I departed from the house accompanied by my messenger and guardian spirit Yori bakeneko. My shikigamis were bakenekos, although I can only summon Yori and Yuu. They are able to take form on most felines but they seem to like the form of snow leopards. Kuro ani's shikigamis are inugamis while Inari's are kitsunes.
I kept walking until I reached the port, in a bay about two miles from home. By the time I arrived there, it was almost midnight and my eyelids were starting to get heavy. I don't really have the same metabolism as humans but from living like one of them, I got used to theirs habits. The shape of a boat was visible in the darkness and dim lights seemed to seep from its tiny windows. I headed over to it and an old man using a badge with the hunter's association was smoking a pipe in front of the boat 'This must be the one…" I deduced.
"E-excuse-me… can I join you? I want to enter in the hunter exam…" I trailed off and looked down in embarrassment. He would probably laugh of me. To my surprise, he said "Com' in, com' in. What a surprise… you're the second kid sayin' this to me today. And I haven't seen one trying to do the hunter's exam since your brother came here." and that last part startled me. 'Kuro ani? Now, that's a real surprise. This means that this man probably has a strong connection with the hunter's association, if he takes the participants since a long time. I should be careful around him.' I took a note to myself.
"I wonder… I see a lot of people are in your boat. You can't take all the participants and there are about half of the average number of applicants in there. You probably have a role in selecting, right?" I looked at his face from the corner of my eye while I entered the small ship. "Huh? Sharp are you? Seems like we caught a big fish, 'ere." I blushed at the compliment. "Enough of talk. We're departing in five minutes. You can rest in one of those cabins at the end of this corridor." He pointed at some wooden doors, barely visible because of the precarious illumination. "Thank you, oji-san." I thanked him giving a small smile.
I walked until I reached the second door. There, many people seemed flustered, annoyed or enraged. There was only three people who weren't upset or angry. One of them was laying peacefully (snoring) in a hammock. He had dark short hair and was wearing a blue suit. The other was lying against the boat's wall sitting comfortably on some sort of cloth. This one was blond and his hair's tips brushed against his shoulders. He was wearing eastern-like blue and white clothes with golden details. 'He's handsome…' The last one looked about my age and was carrying a fish rod 'What a peculiar weapon. And he looks friendly.' he was wearing a green outfit with some orange details. He was wearing a jacket along with high boots and shorts. I closed the distance between us and took his hands in mine. He looked surprised for a moment but as soon as it appeared, it was replaced but a kind and innocent smile.
"You look interesting! Do you want to be my friend?" I said before I could think twice. 'Oh my. I might have scared him, suddenly acting creepy towards a stranger. I wanted to befriend him so badly. Kuro ani said the more allies you make, the easier. That boy seemed to be friendly and I wanted someone of my age to talk to, so it only seemed natural to me that we should be friends…' a sigh left my lips without my consent. 'One more potential friendship lost.' I released his hand and started walking away, so I wouldn't have to face him any longer and I could go to the other room.
Then, without warning and out of the blue, he stood up from where he was sitting and held my hand. With his eyes sparkling and a huge smile, he answered "Sure! Sorry, you just caught me off guard, so I was surprised when you said you wanted to be friends." he closed his eyes and his smile widened 'he's so cute! And kind, also…' I didn't answer, just blushed and smiled back. He opened his eyes and saw me smiling.
Little did I know that the biggest, if not the most important, journey of my life had already began by the time I laid my eyes on those three people. And lots of adventures were waiting for us.