AN: OH MY GOSH I AM SO SORRY!
I didn't realize that I had forgotten to post this chapter. I thought that I had but this morning I noticed it in my files but not on the site. I am so sorry for the wait. As apology, I will tell you the gist of what happened.
Nyros and Hunger have a chat in their mind where Hunger describes himself to Nyros and the two make an agreement to work together. Also, Nyros makes a big promise to Inari.
That's about it. Now for thanks:
Rakuzai, thank you for your comment. I really hope that I meet your standards for development(but keep in mind this is the first one that I've gone so far on). As far as the Kerryugan, as it turns out, they are. I had no idea that they even existed. Let's say that the clans are related, just the Ketsuekis are more into their worship of blood.
NOW ONTO THE STORY!
Nyros walked the halls of the dark castle. The halls were lit by dim torches, and crimson banners were hung along the walls. He could hear that it was raining outside, a storm as thunder clapped and made the stone structure rumble.
He did not know how long he had been meandering through the halls. He turned when he felt he should, going purely by instinct. Despite not recognizing the place, he could not help the sense of calm that he felt as he continued. It was somehow, familiar.
Eventually he stumbled across a large dining hall that was elegantly decorated. Arches went high into the tall ceiling, there were large pillars that held up the massive structure. Chandeliers of gold hung above a long dining table that was covered in food.
His stomach growling, he sat at the head of the table and began to eat the feast before him. Seasoned meat, pastries, fruits and vegetables, it was a meal for a king.
He ate quickly, not even bothering with his manners as he tore apart his food and devoured it with no regards. Until he noticed that he wasn't the only one eating.
Slowly looking to his right, around a small pile of uneaten food, he saw himself, but not himself, eating what looked to be a human arm. With each bite he made with his large fangs, blood poured from the appendage, down his face and into a stone goblet, which he then drank from.
Nyros watched sickly as he saw a side of him that he had never seen before, but recognized easily, greedily eat.
"Hunger," he said.
"Hold on," the monster replied, his mouth full of human. "Let me finish first." Within a matter of seconds the rest of the meat was devoured, every drop of blood drunk, leaving only a few clean bones.
"Yes?" Hunger asked with a large grin, showing pearl white fangs covered in blood.
"You now where we are." It wasn't a question.
"Of course. This is my home. The place that I've been living for more than a decade. This," he swung his arms out as he gestured to the castle, "is your mind."
"Why am I here?"
"I'm so glad you asked." Hunger snapped his fingers and all of the food and dishes vanished into smoke, leaving the two at the table alone.
"I want to talk to you," Hunger said. "The last few times haven't really been the heart-to-heart that I've been wanting, and since you're going to be here awhile, it made sense to make this that opportunity."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Me and you. Our... relationship."
"Relationship? We have no relationship."
"Ah, that's where you're wrong. We do have a relationship. Ours is just a... complicated one."
"Explain yourself. Now!" Nyros said, growing impatient.
"Alright, alright. Settle down. To start, let's talk about you and me. We are Ketsueki. A clan of blood worshippers who learned how to gain power from other people's blood as well as several other gifts. You do not know any of these techniques, but I do."
"How?"
Hunger shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. The point is, I'm supposed to teach you these powers. As well as make sure that you live long enough to learn them. Several of them will come naturally to you, but most of them will require me and my teachings."
"Why would you want to do this? Why teach me? Why protect me?"
"Hmm, lemme think," it said sarcastically. "Maybe because if you die then I do too? I dunno, but that sounds like a logical reason, don't you?"
"I guess so."
"Good. Glad we agree. Now, hear's the deal. My job is to keep you alive. I can't do that if you won't let me. So, we need to set up some kinda system or deal so that we don't have to debate each time that I need to step in."
"What makes you think that I'll let you?"
"'Cuz if you don't then you will most definitely die if we run into someone like Zabuza again. Who is still alive by the way."
"Zabuza's still alive? How?"
"I don't know for sure. All that I do know is that I heard his heart beating so slowly that I almost didn't hear it right before the boy vanished with him."
"Shit."
"Anyway, if you do, then I step in anyways, kill whatever killed you and anything else in the general vicinity. How does that sound?"
Nyros was speechless.
"Right. You don't want that. I don't want that. Actually, yes I do. I would love to have a whole-sale slaughter of the general public, but that would probably destroy you sooo..."
"Alright, I get the idea. So, what kind of plan are we talking about here?"
"Simple. The do's and don't's, like kill the bad guy but don't kill my friends, yadda yadda yadda, y'know. The usual."
"Sounds good to me. But I don't want you to kill anyone if you can help it. Unless I say otherwise."
"Got it boss. No killing." He saluted. "It'll be tough to restrain myself, but I'll do my best."
Nyros gave a sigh of relief. "Good. Thank you."
"And just so you know, I'm not the monster that everyone says I am. I mean sure, I love to fight and enjoy nothing more that seeing the spray of blood from a deadly attack, but I'm not THAT bad. I am the dark side of you, but I am still you, a Ketsueki. I am the embodiment of your hunger, your thirst for blood, and your love of combat. I have my honor and pride. I will not break any promise that I make, nor will I take what isn't mine. Except lives and blood. Those don't count."
"And how do I know that I can trust you on that?"
"Because I'm you."
"Fair enough."
He clapped his hands together and smiled. "Perfect. Now you should probably be on your way back. Your friends are worrying about you. Oh, and by the way, good call on the Uchiha. I like him. Bye."
"Nyros," a distressed Sakura said. "Please wake up."
"Don't worry. Master Kakashi said that he would wake up soon. With his medicine the wound on Nyros' chest has already healed. He probably just needs to recover his chakra from healing so fast."
"Or maybe he just didn't want to hear your annoying voices," Nyros grumbled as he slowly woke up. He forced one eye open to look around.
He was in a small wooden room underneath a warm blanket with Sakura and Sasuke sitting on either side of him. There wasn't very much to identify the room from where he was lying down, so he decided to stand up and take a look around. When he began to sit up he was roughly pushed back down by Sakura.
"You are not getting up yet, mister," she scolded. "That attack did a lot of damage and, even if the skin has healed, there may still be internal damage that hasn't healed yet."
"As surprised as I am to say this, she's right," Sasuke said, ignoring the pink haired kunoichi's aggravated "HEY!"
"You may still have something deeper down that you haven't properly recovered from yet. So for now you should stay in bed."
"Where's Kakashi?" Nyros asked.
"Right here, kiddo," Kakashi said as he walked into the bedridden ninja's line of sight. "You really gave us a scare for awhile there." He turned to the other two genin. "I need both of you to leave for a moment. I need to talk to Nyros about what happened at the lake.
"Yes sensei," they both said and left.
"What do you want to talk about?" Nyros asked.
"Which one are you?"
"Nyros. Hunger's in there somewhere, but for now it's me."
"You let him out again."
"I did. I didn't have a choice. I made him promise that he wouldn't kill any of you guys before I let him out this time."
"Will you be able to make a deal like that again?"
"Already did. I was talking to him in my dreams. I made him promise not to kill anyone unless it's necessary if we get into a spot where there is no other choice."
"Good. Can you trust him?"
"He's like me. He honors his word."
"I hope so." Kakashi sat next to him as he sat up. There was a dull ache from the injury still, but nothing unbearable.
"What medicine did you use?" Nyros asked his mentor.
"My blood. Your kind are able to recover from injuries quickly if you drink blood, so I gave you some of mine.
"Did you tell them? About me?"
Kakashi shook his head. "No. I figured that you should be the one to tell them."
"Do you think I should?"
"I think that they are going to find out one way or another. Might as well be from you. And they already know that something about you isn't normal. Especially after our fight with Zabuza."
"Speaking of, he's still alive. Hunger heard his heart beating just before he vanished."
"I figured as much. Zabuza isn't the type to die so easily."
"We need to do something."
"We are. I have the other two practicing tree climbing for chakra control. Do you need the practice?"
"I already know that technique. I figured it out when I was climbing in the woods a few months ago."
"Of course you did. So, are you going to tell them or not?"
"Not yet. If they ask I'll tell them that I have split personalities. It's not too far from the truth."
Kakaski nodded and got up.
"You should continue resting. If my gut's right, which it usually is, we're going to need all three of you to be in perfect shape for the coming battle." He walked to the door. "Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes sensei," Nyros said before shutting his eyes.
He didn't know how long he had been asleep before he was rudely awoken by a small foot in his side.
"Wake up," a child's voice said. "I wanna ask you somethin'."
"What?"
"Are you retarded?"
Nyros was about to respond until he actually noticed what the kid had just asked and had to pause for a moment to think.
"What makes you think that I am?"
"You got beaten pretty badly earlier and are still recovering from it, yet as soon as you can get up you're gonna go and fight him again. That's stupid."
"Actually, it's insane," Nyrose said before he cracked up at his own bad joke. "But seriously. No. I'm not an idiot or whatever else. I am a ninja who has a mission to do."
"But there's no way that you can win," the boy said. "Gato is unbeatable. No one can stop him. Not even you ninja." The kid began to cry softly, quiet sniffles being the only real evidence.
"What's your name?" Nyros asked.
"Inari."
"Well, Inari. I'm gonna prove it to you that Gato can be beaten. I'll show you that Gato can be killed."
"How?"
"I'll kill him myself. How does that sound?"
"If you could do that, I'd see you like a brother."
"Just promise me something."
"What?"
"If I do beat him, you are not allowed to cry because of a bully ever again. 'Cuz that's all Gato is. A big bully. And you have to stand up for yourself. No more moping around. Deal?"
"Deal!"
The two shook hands and the boy ran out of the room.
"And how are you gonna do that if you vomit every time you so much as see a corpse?" Hunger asked.
"Simple. I'll let you kill him."
"You're kidding, right kid?"
"First of all, I'm dead serious. Second of all, don't call me kid. I'm as old as you are."
"Fine. As long as I can get a good meal out of the fat bastard I don't care. Just make sure that you don't forget to let me out."
"Don't worry. I won't."
AN: And there you go. Again, I want to apologize for the delay. I am currently still in the process for writing the next chapter, so bear with me on it. I will get this done, I promise.
Feel free to leave a comment, favorite or follow this story. And, for Fariy Tail fans, I have another story called The Scholar that I think you all might enjoy. Lastly, check out my youtube channel Wizard Warrior Gaming. Me and a buddy of mine play games for fun, right now it consists mostly of Dark Souls III and Dragonball Xenoverse, but please check us out.
I hope to see you all next time. BYE!