Second part, here we go! At first, I was going to end the prologue here. But I decided against it, meaning that there will be a third chapter in this "introduction arc".
I also updated the style of both chapters to make them more stylish.
Enjoy~
Prologue: Home of the Witchers II
Hinata gnawed absent-mindedly at some dry bread, every once in a while staring off into the distant mountains. The fortress that was the home of these Witchers was surrounded by far-reaching mountains, neatly enveloping the hidden keep. Several birds of prey were flying overhead, cawing loudly, before disappearing behind tall trees. Naruto, who had already finished his bread, was eating gruel at a fast pace. Though the food couldn't be said to be tasty, they had learned to live with it. Naruto paused for a moment, looking thoughtfully at Hinata.
"Uhm.. Hinata-chan.. Would you mind helping me with Aard?"
Hinata chewed for a moment before finally looking at him. "Didn't.. Didn't Jiraiya-sama teach you?.." she asked with uncertainty, tilting her head lightly to the side. Naruto grinned slyly. "Weeell, you see..." he mumbled, before finally answering; "I don't get it."
Hinata raised her eyebrows. "Don't get it? What don't you get? If you don't mind me asking..." She had already forgotten about the bread in her hands as she was waiting for the answer. Naruto scratched the back of his neck with a hint of embarrassment. "I.. Wasn't listening when he lectured us about signs. I figured it was just another of his boring history lessons."
Hinata looked up at the sun for a moment before nodding. "I-I think the lower training grounds should be empty.. We still have a while before the break is over."
"Thanks Hinata-chan! You're the best." Naruto exclaimed with a grin, quickly eating up the rest of his lunch, and placing the bowl on the ground, before wandering off. Hinata sighed deeply before hurrying after him, her cheeks slightly red. Or maybe it was just the cold wind? The bread had been carelessly thrown next to the wooden bowl. Someone else was going to have to clean up after them.
~O0o0O~
The lower training ground was a small grassy area surrounded by sturdy brick walls reaching as far as ten metres into the air. Those were the inner walls of the walls protecting the stronghold from outsiders like monsters and bandits. Not that either were stupid enough to approach, but incidents happened every once in a while. Hinata placed herself in the middle of the grassy field, three training dummies by the far wall behind her.
"To start with the basics.." she started, as Naruto sat down in the grass. Looking around to make sure they were alone, she sat down as well, picking up a stick from the ground next to her. "Signs. They're magical spells that doesn't require an incantation." she said, as if copying the line from a textbook. "Signs are cast using specific hand-gestures. Witchers prefer one-handed weapons to be able to cast signs with the other.." she paused for a bit before she started drawing five signs in the dirt in front of her. Two of them were slightly different triangles, two of them were upside-down triangles, and the last one was a combination of two triangles in an hourglass-like shape.
Naruto pondered a bit, taking in the knowledge. "Soo.. Magic?" he blurted out, earning a sigh from Hinata. "Well.. Yes.. Let's just stick with that.." Naruto's eyes widened. "Cool! So how do you do it?"
Hinata lifted her right hand in front of him. "You place your fingers.." she said, bending her middle and pinky finger towards her palm while keeping the other two straight. "Like this."
Naruto mimicked her gesture with his right hand, grunting annoyedly when he saw that he couldn't get his pinky to his palm at all. Using his left hand to force the finger into place, he looked back at Hinata. "Like this?"
Hinata smirked slyly. "Y-Yeah, but only with one hand." Naruto sighed meekly, dropping backwards onto the grass. His brow was furrowed with concentration as he tried desperately and futilely to bend his fingers to his will. Hinata blushed lightly, watching his display of stubbornness, as she continued;
"After that, you just need to know what you want the sign to do, and concentrate.."
Naruto looked up for a moment, before dropping back down. "I'll get back to you on that when I've got this down. Now work, damnit.. Ouch! My fingers are cramping.." Hinata sent worried glances at the blonde, though it seemed like the worry was unfounded. She barely noticed the sun moving past midday.
~O0o0O~
The blonde yawned loudly, earning an annoyed look from Jiraiya. "Not only are you late, but you're not paying attention. Do you want some nekker to kill you because you thought it was a necrophage instead of an ogroid?" he chided, not earning any noticeable reaction from Naruto. Hinata glanced worriedly at the blonde, though most of the other students were looking the other way, or twiddling their thumbs annoyedly.
"I don't care, 'ttebayo. I'll kill it no matter what it is!" he suddenly exclaimed, a clenched fist raised in front of his chest as if to support his statement. Jiraiya sighed, rubbing his temples as he thought of a way to convey a message to his thick-headed student.
"Listen. Brat. Now you're going to read the chapter on necrophages and ways to dispose of them, and you might have a fighting chance. I'll be expecting all of you to take notes so that you don't forget this stuff. Now, begin! I'll just... Close my eyes for a bit.." Jiraiya mumbled as he slowly snoozed off. Naruto started to read the first couple of lines..
Necrophages are creatures that devour and live off of living and dead corpses alike. Many of them resemble humans and nonhumans, though only at a fleeting glance. Their bodily odors, resembling that of rotting flesh, and their inhuman screeches are enough to throw off any man with remaining doubts. However, one must approach these creatures with extreme caution, as they often travel in groups, and have an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Naruto sighed deeply and put the heavy book down. He noticed Jiraiya leaned backwards in his chair, staring intently at the heavily breathing sage.
He leaned towards Hinata, whispering. "Is this guy for real? I mean, is he really asleep?"
Hinata pondered for a moment, looking up from her book, before nodding. "Y-yeah.. I think so.." she whispered back with a timid voice. Naruto grinned evilly, shutting his book closed.
"Come on! Let's sneak out. It'll be fun!" he encouraged her, as she looked around at the other eight students. They didn't seem to mind the couple at all, instead being focused on their studies. "A-are you sure?.. I mean, what happens if they find out and-.."
She didn't get to say any more before Naruto clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shh! Don't be so loud." he whispered, as Hinata got slightly red cheeks. In the back of her mind, she thanked whatever deities for not fainting on the spot.
After a while, she nodded meekly. She just hoped they wouldn't end up in trouble. Naruto's list of mischief hardly had to grow any longer.
Naruto removed his hand, and Hinata silently closed her book, sending a couple of wary glances at the looming figure of the lightly snoring Jiraiya. A few of the other apprentices looked up from their books to send questioning glances at Hinata, though they ignored the blonde completely. Hinata simply smiled shyly at them before sneaking towards the window sill - Naruto already halfway out the window.
Hinata poked the head out the window to see Naruto already climbing thick green wines downwards. With a light gulp, she grabbed onto the wines growing on the right-hand side of the window, and steadied her feet against the sturdy plant. It didn't give way at all, which was kind of reassuring, but the fast ground far beneath her feet felt nauseating and intimidating. At least for the dark-haired Witcher's apprentice. The blonde didn't seem to mind at all.
With a deep heave for air, Hinata began her slow descent. As the ground moved closer, she increased her pace, until the earth was a simple jump away. Letting go of the plant, she planted her feet firmly on the ground, leaning against the wall just before she lost balance.
Naruto sent a mildly worried glance at her, but a single nod was enough to assure him of her wellbeing. After catching their breaths for a moment, Naruto spoke up.
"So! Now that we got out of that dusty old room, let's have some fun!"
"L-like what?" Hinata asked, looking up at the window they had crawled out of. It seemed awfully high from her current vantage point.
Naruto pondered for a moment, looking around at the courtyard. "What about.." he began, looking towards the forest on the east side of the keep. "What about we take a look at the forest?" he asked, regarding Hinata with an aura of rare seriousness.
At first, Hinata felt like objecting. They weren't allowed out of the keep for obvious reasons. Though it did leave her intrigued. What exactly was out there, in the wilds they were supposed to travel around someday?
Steeling her resolve, Hinata nodded. "Let's." she said, not stuttering for once. Naruto grinned a toothy grin, running towards the eastern of the two gates keeping the Witchers in, and the monsters out..
~O0o0O~
Naruto darted between trees, followed by a slightly winded Hinata. It hadn't been difficult to get out of the fortress at all. Much less with all the other Witchers busy elsewhere.
A gentle breeze was running through the treetops, the rustling of leaves sounding like a constant whisper. Old and undisturbed pines littered the area, great trunks obstructing their view. The ground was mossy and mostly undisturbed - save for the few animal paths and footprints, most of them leading away from the Witcher fortress.
Naruto stopped for a moment, waiting for Hinata to catch up. She was looking around in awe, considering the existence of countless trees that had been alive longer than herself or any of the Witchers.
Two steep cliffs hit each other at their peaks, making a natural archway. The two climbed down to the natural pass before following a narrow path, that slowly grew to be a rocky tunnel. The air grew steadily colder as the natural tunnel became more cave-like. The two stopped abruptly as they accidentally awakened some bats along the way, though they quickly turned out to be harmless.
A few more minutes of dungeoneering, and the two saw an opening ahead. While it initially opened up the sky, the walls were still steep enough to define a clear path. Green plants and shrubberies filled the forest floor, as the trees had thinned out to near nothing-ness. The trees grew fewer, and gradually disappeared entirely.
What the two were left with, was an open plains stretching on, and an open sky with a clear view of the mountains. The meadows in the middle of the forest continued until it reached a clear escarpment, making the place of higher altitude a clear vantage point for the surrounding forest, that was stretching as far into the distance as the surrounding mountains themselves.
The two stared at the breath-taking view for a while, the wind tugging in their hair - a sensation that kept them in touch with reality lest they lose themselves in the view.
"This.. Is the boundaries of our world." Naruto suddenly said, in a rare moment of clarity. Hinata raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic comment, but could do naught but agree. "Though.. Not forever.." Hinata replied, shifting her gaze to the world beyond the mountains. It was hardly visible from their relatively low altitude, but she could still imagine it. The people in small villages going through daily routines - an image of idyll.
"Do you want to go there someday?" Hinata whispered, worried thoughts clustering in the back of her mind, though she was curious as well.
"Yeah." The reply was instant and absolute, leaving no room for doubt. Hinata looked up from her eyes' spot on the ground, finding inspiration in that certainty. Those were ideals she admired, though she lacked them herself. She wanted to be able to portray that kind of confidence herself someday. Until then, the blonde was a person she could follow.
".. We'll definitely get through this." Hinata said with a bit of uncertainty, as much as she wanted to believe those words.
"Of course, 'ttebayo! Why wouldn't we?" the grinning reply was, ever the optimist.. Hinata nodded obediently, as she would rather not ruin the optimism with her own negative thoughts.
Their idle chatter was suddenly interrupted by a loud and terrifying roar. Hinata flinched, almost closing her eyes. Naruto shivered lightly, but scanned the area nonetheless. A second roar followed up on the first one, this one even more bone-chilling than the last. And it was louder. Hinata recovered from her momentary daze, and looked in the same direction as Naruto, just in time to see a large, menacing shadow approach...
To be continued~
Oh, and seriously. Try to do the Aard sign. It's impossible! Unless you have well-trained fingers, at least.
Also, review!