Disclaimer: I don't own anything except any oc.

A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to everyone who added this to their favorites and follows. I had my exams for the past month and half and so couldn't really update any of my stories earlier but now I've more free time so expects updates to be faster.


"Lyon, why are you so damn eager to murder Deliora?"

The blazing snow swirled around them, making it hard for Naru to keep her eyes wide open as she asked him this. Lyon paused mid-step; twisting his head around to stare at the blond, crossing his arms and took a deep breath. He exhaled, glancing at the nearby cave in longing before turning his attention to the waiting blond. Taking a seat on the cold ground, Lyon began to answer the girl's question.

"My master was the one who defeated the demon," she blinked her eyes at this, frowning before nodding at him. "It's a achievement that is nearly impossible to do but she did it, I just want to surpass her and the only way to do it is to kill it. If I kill it, I surpass her, simple as that. Why do you want to kill it so badly? Isn't it one of your kind?"

She stared blankly at him, rubbing her chin as she did so. There was absolutely no emotion in her eyes, not happiness or anger, nothing. Rubbing his sore legs, he waited for the answer for the question that had been lingering in his mind for the past one month.

Cracking his shoulder, Lyon started to muse about the month he had with the blond. It still surprised him how he survived one month with her and it had been hell for him. They had travelled through deserts, land and even sea to go to the demon's location, not once did Naru let him take a break. If he did, she would hiss at him, looking like she would murder him if he questioned her.

Luckily the blonde was to busy thinking to notice he was taking a rest.

"I'm not a demon believe it or not, I'm human just like you," Naru clamped her hands together, "the only difference between you and me is the fact I'm raised by one. I want to kill it because it's a fake demon. Kurama told me that demons like those don't deserve to live. They're an abomination to my father's kind and bring even more suffering to them. As his daughter and slayer, he made it my duty to destroy them. I'm only fulfilling my duty…besides I've other reasons for wanting to kill it. Reasons that does not concern you."

The emptiness and coldness in her voice made him shiver, which was something since nothing made him shudder. The way her eyes had a murderous glint told him he should stop talking but he couldn't stop, not when he was so curious. The girl in front of him was a mystery.

A mystery he was so desperate to find out.

"Everyone always seems to think they know what demons are really about but the truth is, humans don't understand," Naru laughed bitterly, "Demons don't like too much suffering, it's entertainment to them but they know of balance. If there's too much suffering then the gods wouldn't like it and the same goes for happiness. The fake demon was also made by the blood of my father's parents and I do not wish for humans to suffer anymore losses."

Blinking his eyes, Lyon gawked at the girl's words. Naru laughed hard, rolling to the ground at the older's boy expression. This caused him to stiffen. For the past two weeks, the girl never laugh, not even when he fell down on his face. He shook his head, staring at the blond, whose laughter was echoing throughout the forest.

"Sorry, it's just your expression is funny." She tried to muffle her laughter

"It isn't funny," Lyon hissed, glaring at the laughing blond. "Besides if what you said is true then your father wishes for revenge and he wants you to do it. Why can't he kill the demon instead of you?"

Naru stopped laughing. "Because utter chaos can take place if he does take revenge. Being the King of Demons means he's the strongest demon out there. My father can destroy mountains and seas and even whole nations if he wanted to. He's so powerful that I think he can even destroy the whole of Earthland if he desires. Of course, he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want a bunch of mortals trying to chase his behind for that or deal with his inferiors telling him he's no better then them. So he decided it's my duty to murder them as my powers will never go up to that scale…I think…I haven't actually seen if my strength can go that far and I've no desire too."

Nodding his head, Lyon turned his head up to the storming clouds while Naru fiddled with the blue crystal necklace that cling to her skin. It seemed fitting the clouds were grey, the things they might do may be horrible and cruel not actions deserving of happiness but Lyon didn't mind. Not when he was so close to accomplishing his dream. He glanced at the blond, who had a wistful look on her face but it was soon replaced with sadness.

Why was she sad? She was going to accomplish her father's dream and was doing her duty so why was she sad? It wasn't like she suffered by its hand. After all, what did she know of suffering?

I have other reasons for wanting to kill it.

Those words from earlier echoed in his ears, reminding him her father's wish and her duty may not be the only reasons for her hatred towards this demon. He didn't know of her past, a past which could tell him why the girl was the way she was. Her past could explain why she always clung to the silly necklace as if it was her lifeline or how her hums were so similar to Gray's hums. The younger boy always did it when no one was hearing.

Now he thought about it, there might be a…

No, he thought as he shook his head at what his trail of thought might have led, it was just coincidence their humming had the same tone. Those two were the complete opposite of each other; she was patient in planning while Gray wasn't patient at all..

"I think we've had enough rest," Naru dusted off the snow from her clothes and smiled at the sitting boy. "If we take anymore rest then we'll be there by the time we're fifty years old. I don't know about you but I don't want that to happen. Since y'know, I also need to do some jobs especially after I've seen the state of Deliora."

"Why?"

"I need to see if I could just melt the ice down without killing it or if we'll need to find another method to melt the demon."

Tilting his head, he asked, "If you can burn it, why don't you? It'll save you a lot of trouble of waiting."

"Deliora might know the location of someone I've been tasked to defeat," her smile turned cold as the blazing snow around them and her eyes held so much anger and vengeance, it made Lyon wonder why the ground wasn't shaking from it. "If I burn it to death then I'm allowing it to have an easy death, no, I wish to prolong its suffering besides I won't get any information if its dead will I? It also makes my promise more difficult to fulfill if it's dead now. I made a promise and there's one thing you should know Lyon about real demons…we twist the truth, give half-lies but we always keep our promises."

Gulping, he nodded his head and watched as the blond swirled away from him, her blond hair flying in the wind. The coldness and the anger in her words spoke volumes of her hatred towards the demon, the bloodlust in her eyes told him of just how strong her vengeance was towards this demon. So strong it made him froze in his spot and choke himself. For the first time in his life, he truly felt bloodlust.

It frightened him how cold it could be and how much of an animal one could be when they had bloodlust. The blonde's eyes had stilted like a fox and he swore that he felt something sinister radiating out of her. Thankfully it disappeared after those words but it still lurked there, waiting to be unleashed. He wondered for the first time if it was a smart idea to team up with her. The memory of how easily she beaten told him yes it was a good idea. The demonslayer wasn't someone you wanted as an enemy but someone you wanted as an ally.

"If you don't hurry up Lyon-chan, I'll leave you behind and search it for myself so hurry up!"

But damn was the blonde bossy.


It had been so long since she last set her eyes on the fake demon, the last time being when it murdered her best-friend and his family. Just remembering the cries of the villagers made Naru want to unleash the flames that threatened to consume her but a promise was a promise, even if it was one she could easily make an accident. Seriously, she was starting to regret of making the promise to the idiotic, older boy.

With the demon so close, all she wanted to do was to murder it.

Being careful in making her body temperature slightly above that of a normal human, she touched the smooth ice that used to be apart of Lyon's master. She pressed her hand against the ice, closing her eyebrows as she listened to the slow heartbeat belonging to the fake demon. It was slow and was getting slower each second, hinting to her of the condition the creature was in.

"Well?" Lyon demanded when she pulled her hand away from the ice. She looked up in annoyance at the older boy, who sat on the rock closest to the demon. "What do you plan to do? Are you going to melt it no problem or do we've to find another method of melting the ice?"

Crossing her arms, she answered in a slow tone, "I thought the situation will be easy, I thought I can melt the ice and you defeat it but we'll have to scratch that plan is out. Each second, I talk to you the demon loses its life force. We need to free it soon."

Lyon raised his eyebrows, jumping down from the rock and walked towards the frozen demon before glancing at her. The way he looked at her told her he questioned her actions, freeing it now was too soon if the raised eyebrow was any indication of his thoughts. "How soon? And are you going to melt the ice or not?"

A growl erupted from her throat at his demands, causing the older boy to take a few steps back. "What part I thought I can melt the ice don't you get? The texture of the ice tells me if I melt the ice then I murder the demon before the last bit of ice becomes water. That must tell you that we need to find another method to unfreeze the demon. Honestly, I swear humans can be such idiots!"

He flinched at her words, looking slightly hurt as well as furious for what she had implied. Were all humans sensitive? Because she couldn't remember any of her human friends being sensitive about this but then again, they were eight and Gray had been rude. Pinching her nose, she wondered for the fifth time in her life why her father couldn't be bother to teach her proper manners concerning humans.

"Is there another way to speed up the process without killing it?"

"I could break the ice with my fist, I'm quite strong for a girl my age as Tou-san would tell me, however I don't think I can hold back my strength to the point where nothing inside breaks," unconsciously she started to draw on the ice. "I don't want to use my strength because I can't hold back. I need the demon alive, I need the information and you want your revenge. If it dies, we don't get what we want."

"But if we keep the demon frozen for any longer then it'll die," she grimaced, lightly tracing the blue crystal necklace while Lyon stared at the ice with calculating eyes, "And as you said, we both don't want it to die now. There must be a way to melt the ice without killing the demon immediately."

A way to melt the ice without killing it? It was impossible to do it; there was no magic in the world that could do this. She clamped her teeth together. No, there must be a magic that could do it. Giving up wasn't an option for her; she needed to find a way to melt the ice with no problem. Her father was counting on her to kill Zeref.

Naru closed her eyes as she thought of their choice of actions. There must be a way to melt the ice. A memory of one of her father's magic lessons rushed through her mind, reminding her of how boring they used to be as well as the happy times they had.

"My father once said there was an annulment spell that was so strong that it could even undo the strongest demon magic," she stared hard at the ice. "He didn't tell me much about it except that it was powerful magic, it may be able to undo your master's work…"

"I'm sensing there's a but in that sentence."

She smiled. "You got that right, it may be able to undo your master's work but there's a problem with it. First, you need high levels of magic and currently, you don't have that while I don't wish to exhaust my magic doing this. Another thing we have to think about is the site for the spell, we need a place where there's a lot of moon light. Finally, the spell has effects, I don't know what it is but it might be risky for you to do it. I'll be blunt with you about this, I'm more then capable of doing it but I won't do it. I can't waste time now, I've research to do."

"I can do it instead of you."

Lyon scowled as Naru frowned. "Why the hell are you frowning? You should be happy I offered to do it!"

"You are weak," He growled at her bluntness. She raised her eyebrow at this behavior. "Why are you so annoyed? I'm telling you the truth, your magic at this moment is so weak that it makes me want to laugh. You'll get stronger, no doubts about it but it will be years before you're able to do the spell."

"And how do you know?"

"I can sense it, every demon can do it and it's only fair that a demonslayer can do the same thing," Naru started to circle him. "I can't tell your exact power level, only a real demon can but I can sense whether the magic level is very high or very low. To me, your magic level is the same magic level I had when I was eight."

"I'll become stronger, maybe even stronger then you."

A part of her wanted to laugh at his words, to tell him mockingly at this rate he would never become strong but something stopped her in her tracks to tell him. Maybe, it was the way he said it so impulsively or how it reminded her of Gray that made her stop. It might be how she remembered her father's words about how sometimes you shouldn't be so quick to judge people. But most of all, it reminded her of how she used to mutter those words when thinking of defeating Deliora.

Whatever it was, it made her rethink of her choice of words.

"You might become stronger then me," Lyon smirked but she was quick to squash his growing ego. "However the gape between me and you right now is laughable, if you don't train enough then you'll never be able to become stronger then me. I can defeat Deliora at its strongest state now…you on the other hand need the demon weakened to kill it."

"I don't need it weakened!" He fumed. "And what makes you so certain you can kill it in its strongest state."

"Because I was trained by the best, I'm Kurama's demonslayer and no demonslayer of my father is weak," Naru said firmly, hoping it was the end of the discussion. "It'll be years before you can do the spell, years which we may not have. At this very minute, Deliora is dying and unless you're devoted to spending the next three to five years of melting the ice then we'll need to find another way. I can't devote to it, I don't have the patience to do it."

"I'll devote to it!"

As soon as he said that, the very first thing that came to her mind was the older boy was reckless as well as an idiot. He should be enjoying his life, Kami knew she would love to do that. However, the flames in his eyes told her he didn't care about enjoying his life or cared of the consequence the spell might bring. No, the boy only cared to surpass his master.

In a way, she understood his drive and it was because of it she was thinking of allowing him to do the spell.

"You're a reckless and stupid to do the spell, if I were you I should be thinking of enjoying my life," Naru smiled faintly at her own words while Lyon stared at her with disbelief. "But this is your decision and I respect it. I promise you the chance to defeat it and I'll let you do it your way, if you really think you're that capable then go ahead. Spend the next couple of years melting it but don't come running to me when you realize what you're giving up in exchange."

"You're acting unusual, why the change of heart?"

The blonde took in a deep breath, stretching her ribs as she thought on how to answer his question. "Because I feel like it. It also doesn't help you remind me of my best friend, he was just like you. He never used his brain and I swear he was just as impulsive as you."

"I bet you I can run faster then you!"

This had to stop. Those memories of Gray shouldn't haunt her anymore, they were only friends for a year and half yet those times with him reduced her to this. Maybe, she was weak in remembering him but it made her stronger. He had made her stronger.

"They're just jealous of you! They're jealous that they don't have your life!"

That memory brought a bitter taste to her mouth. During that time, her life had been perfect but now, life was cruel. A life filled with revenge and hatred, what kind of life was that? She couldn't have a normal life if she wanted.

Any chance she had of having it was gone when they died.

"Expect me to come at least once every two weeks, if I'm not too busy it'll be one time per week," Naru said suddenly, her tone no longer had warmth but was instead with coldness that even made Lyon shudder. "If you mess it up then I expect you to know it'll speed up the demon's death. This is another consequence you must know and if it happens…don't expect me to be merciless. The demon has done me wrong as well. I the very least wish to punch it in the face before allowing you to do as you wish."

Lyon blinked his eyes. "Not that I'm not happy but you're actually giving me the chance to kill it? Don't you wish to kill it, you said it yourself the demon has taken someone from you. Don't you wish to kill it?"

Naru closed her eyes at this question. She could hear her father ranting to her about foolishness and how she should never let her emotions control her. This was something her father wouldn't want her to do at her current state of emotions, especially to this fake demon. It also didn't help the fact she could still hear the voice of her friend ringing in her mind, reminding her of what he would want for her. It was wrong to murder, he would say. I don't want you to become a murderer, would be another thing he would say. He wouldn't be happy to hear if she murdered someone or even a demon. He always hated the thought of murder and death.

In that way, Gray had been the one to give her a sense of morality. If she didn't have him then maybe she wouldn't allow him to have this opportunity but she promised him to give him an opportunity to murder it. A demonslayer must keep to the promise they made; no matter how tempting it was to break it.

"You found it first and you called dibs so you get to kill it, if you didn't call dibs then I'll murder it without giving you a chance," Naru kept her tone even. "Besides if I kill it, it'll because it did something to warrant it. The deaths of a couple of mortals are not good reasons for me to go killing it…not even his death means I'm allowed. After it served its usefulness then it deserves death. If a fake demon isn't useful to me then it deserves to die. It's not meant to live, it's a freak of nature. Through that doesn't mean I won't visit you, expect visits every two weeks and if I'm not busy, one week. You'll send me the address of where you plan to do the magic…and if I learn, you fail in doing it then expect consequences."

For the first time in years, Naru realized just how cold and callous she became. Kurama would tell her that everything that was alive deserved to live in someway. It was the only teachings that contradict what he had trained her to do. Years ago, she would have never even thought of such a things. She would never think of such things since she always had her father to teach her the rights and wrongs.

It didn't help she lost any happy emotions when her friend died and her father abandoned her.

But she could regain any chance of happiness after she finished her job.


Walking through the small village that she just arrived in, Naru decided the village was quite unnatural. For one, the temperature in the village was so high that it even made her think her skin was on fire, she never ever felt like that. Still, it wasn't uncomfortable. If anything it felt good because it reminded her she was still human. The other problem with the village was the fact there was no ramen stand!

Seriously, what do those people eat if there was no ramen? Don't they know it was food no being can live without?

Scanning through the village square, Naru noticed the villagers either had their head down, tears rolling down their cheeks or scanning the area as if they were waiting for something bad to happen. She frowned. What was wrong with this village? No other village or town she had seen acted the way they do. It was almost like they were being terrorized.

"Why the hell is everyone acting like this?" Naru asked herself, peering through the expressions of the villagers closely, hoping to have some clue. "I've never seen a village act like this."

"You must be new," a voice from behind her said. Naru twirled her body around to come face to face with an old man, who stared at her with concern. She raised her eyebrow at his words and he hastily explained, "No one in our village dresses like you and I know every villager here. That's how I know you're new."

"I see," she stared at the old man, who wiped the sweat off his eyebrow. "Tell me something sir, why does everyone look so scared?"

The old man stared hard at her, taking in her orange shirt and black pants before looking up to her blue eyes and blond hair. He sighed. "It's a long story child, all you need to know is that run while you've the chance. When he catches sight of you, you'll not be free to roam or live in this village."

This just made her even more curious.

"Who is this he, you're talking about? And why should I run? Running is for cowards and I'm not a coward."

"If you care about your safety girl then you'll run," the old man looked down at his sweating palm. "I can't have another girl being around this village especially not after what he had done to the last one."

The pools of sadness that radiated in his eyes and the pleading tone almost made her want to do as he wished. Almost being the key word here. Kurama had taught her not to run and she wasn't going to run from this village because some old man begged her too. No, she was going to stay here whether he liked it or not.

No one tells Naru Uzumaki what to do.

"Tell me sir, what has this man done to you to make your people so scared?"

Flickering his eyes around the area to make sure no one listened in to his words before gesturing for the young girl to come close to him. She did so. The old man took a deep breath, "It isn't a man girl. Our village is dealing with a demon, who comes and goes, taking our daughters, granddaughters away from us for marriage before murdering them. A demon that is so strong that he plays with any guild mages before killing them. If you care about your life, you'll run and don't look back."

She wrinkled her nose, pursed her lips before shrugging her shoulder at him. The old man stared at her in disbelief, looking at her as if she was crazy for not listening to him. What was happening to the village wasn't going to affect her, she was taught by Kurama and any lowly demon was easy for her to defeat. Still, the fact the demon was attacking this village meant she had a duty to punish it. After all, her father had made it a rule not to take any human females as mates. Killing them was fine in her father's opinion but mating with them? That was a huge no in her father's opinion.

"I can defeat the demon for you and I'll avenge the deaths of your people's daughters and granddaughters if you wish," She said, staring at the mournful eyes of the old man. He looked up and frowned. "And I'll make sure it won't ever bother your people ever again."

He blinked and blinked his eyes before leaning towards her to take a good look at her. There was weariness in his eyes, a weariness that told her he had seen too much fighting and was getting too old for it. There was also guilt but why did he feel guilty? She was volunteering to stop his villagers from suffering from any more loss. It wasn't like if he sends her, she would die. Her father taught her better then that. She knew what she was doing. Anyways, she was giving him a chance of saving his people from the demon; he should take it when he had the chance.

This would be the first and last time she would offer her service.

"You're too young to fight against the demon," the old man rasped as tears formed out of his eyes. "You're the same age as my granddaughter and she was so young when he killed her. I can't allow you to fight it, I don't want to feel anymore guilt. You'll die before you meet the demon. I think it'll be better if you run away, it'll be safer for you. I'm desperate but I'm not insane to send a young girl to the demon."

Naru scowled. "It's better to be insane then to be scared. You lost your granddaughter to the demon, do you not wish for it to be punish for its action? Many more people will be hurt by the demon if it isn't stop now. Do you want more people to experience your pain? Do you? Or do you wish for these people not to experience it?"

"I don't want them to experience it girl but I can't let you go, you're a young girl and I can't forgive myself if you die, secondly you don't know what you're signing up for."

"I'm not going to die," the old man furiously shook his head and this caused the girl to growl. "Listen to me old man, I'm not going to die. I'm much stronger then you think."

He sighed at these words. "You're stubborn one aren't you? You aren't going to listen to me no matter how many times I tell you that it is dangerous. I'll be insane to let you do this."

She found herself smiling but quickly regained her composure. "You might be insane to agree to me fixing your problem but for now, I'm your only hope in controlling it. No one in your village or in the world knows how to deal with things like these, luckily for you; I know how to deal with them. Sending me in means no more deaths of the girls."

The man nodded. "I know but it makes me wonder…why would you sacrifice yourself for them? You should run when you have the chance, the demon will take you too just as he would take the other girls. Others would run so why would you go save them?"

Naru paused at this question. Why would she go save them? Didn't she tell her father she would only protect humans when she was paid? If the man had been offering her money then this would make sense so why was she doing this? The memory of Gray's broken house rushed through her mind and she knew her answer.

Because she had the strength to do something, she should have had when Deliora attacked. Perhaps, if she saved the girls then maybe she would stop the man and the other villagers from experiencing the pain she felt. No the pain that everyone who lost someone to Deliora felt. Besides this would have been something Gray would do and she was going to honor her friend's memory in anyway she can.

"Because it's the right thing to do and I know of loss," Naru whispered. "I lost someone close to me and the pain was great. I do not wish for others to feel that pain…but since that is said and done, I still need something in return."

The man frowned. "What do you wish?"

"I wish for access to your library and to be paid 20,000 Jewels."

He grinned. "This is the first time I met a mage that doesn't ask for so much money or anything impossible. You got yourself a deal…Ms?"

"Naru Uzumaki," She frowned. "And why would I ask for so much money? That's enough money for a kid my age."

The man shook his age. "Well some kids think that 20,000 Jewels isn't a lot of money."

"Who cares? Money isn't a priority besides if there's demon attacking your village then I'll presume there's a lot of villages having the same troubles, that means I can get money easily," Naru grimaced. "Which is stupid because he made a law concerning this! Now I've to clean up this mess while doing research. Damn it, I never ask for anything of this."

The man simply sweat-dropped at her words.

"Now tell me where does the demon live."

The old man sighed. "It lives near the forest but are you certain about this? It's understandable if you want to back out as soon as you reach there."

"I won't back out," Naru grinned. "I promise you that I'll defeat the demon and I'll make sure it won't attack your village anymore."

The old man raised his eyebrow but smiled warmly at her words. She grinned back at him through she wondered why she was doing this. There was no reason for her to do this. Gray wasn't alive and she shouldn't try to do things that would be things he would do. No, she should be doing what she wants and live her life the way she was supposed to. Helping this pathetic town was not the way she supposed to live.

These people didn't deserve…

No, she shook her head, who was she to say such things? She was not her adopted father, who hated humans. These humans didn't do anything wrong to her, they weren't Zeref and never would be. Defeating a demon for them didn't mean they were going to become like them and if her father got word of her action and become furious then screw him! He abandoned her.

He was no better then the humans he mocked.

"By the end of the day, I'll bring you some proof that it's gone from your lives and your people won't ever have to be afraid of it."

"I hope so, I don't want to see anymore of the girls die."

The blonde smiled. "You won't ever have to worry about that, in fact, tell the villagers to have a feast."

"You're very cocky about defeating it."

With Kurama as her father and trainer, there was no chance of being arrogant. He was the strongest demon in the land; the king of all demons, all of this would make any demon proud and any human proud to be trained by one. He made certain she represented him in strength in both mind and body although she would admit that she didn't have the same beliefs as him particularly on humans.

How could she? She was human too.

Waving her hand at the man, Naru made her way towards the forest, certain that she would be able to defeat the demon terrorizing the village with no problem. How difficult could it be to defeat a small fry?


Each step she took was a step closer to the demon terrorizing this small village. It was almost like this demon wasn't trying to erase his presence from the forest or try to hide it. No, if anything it was almost like this demon was trying to get attention. Naru furrowed her eyebrows as she step on a couple of bones. Why would the demon do this? There must be something she didn't know, something the man hadn't told her.

Closing her eyes, Naru tried to remember the words of her father about demons. He always gave her advice on them especially after the defeat of Deliora. What the hell had he always told her?

You really think I won't use any dirty tricks, brat! No demon, fake or not, will be fair. They play dirty and they always have motives. I didn't take you in without any motive and you know that. Don't think a demon is stupid and pure, we're not like anything you seen! We're not angels!

Stupid, how could she not remember that? The demon must have realized the villagers was going to send someone to fight it, in fact Naru suspected the demon was expecting it to happen. But if it knew then why bother…

Unless, all those girls had been part of a bigger plan but what was he planning? What would he want from these humans?

If it weren't for the fact she knew that these humans needed help and didn't know any better, she would scream at them. How could they be so stupid into not figuring the demon wanted something? Granted, she took a very long time to figure out the girls were a part of bigger plan but she was more then capable of defeating the mages they sent for would die as soon as they met it. The heat of this demon's flame was great, no wonder the town was so unusually hot.

"So they send me a very cute girl this time," A cold, cruel voice said, his words echoed throughout the silent forest. Naru straightened her back, glancing around the forest to see any signs of the voice. There was no aura and its scent was gone, making it hard for her to track him. "But you're not one of them…no your scent is one of disgusting snow and the soothing winds as well as a kitsune scent, one that almost seems to belong to my King. Tell me mortal, why are you here?"

"Well I was hoping to kick your ass," She grinned. "I mean you seem weak. Only weaklings and cowards would hide in a forest or demand for girls."

The temperature of the forest seemed to have increased after all it was the only likely reason for her whole body to start sweating. Shrugging off her clock, the blonde surveyed the forest. There was a flicker in the shadows of the trees but as soon as she saw it, it was gone. Not really strange, it was rare to get a demon to come out from just one insult.

"Aren't you brave to call me weak? Do you know of my strength?" The demon didn't reveal itself but it didn't stop Naru from shivering when she felt its hot breath near her ear. "Tell me again child, why are you here? Are you such a fool that you will fight a real demon? Your species can't even defeat that fake demon. Maybe it's better if I take you as my wife."

The blonde growled. "Me! Your wife? No way in hell will I be your wife! I bet you're ugly as shit too, in fact I bet you're so ugly your own god damn mother abandoned you and that's why you've been forcing girls to marry you! I bet no demoness ever liked the looks of you and never wanted to mate you!"

The demon growled and without warning she felt its kick and Naru found herself wincing at the impact. She grabbed her stomach and looked up, her eyes widened when she saw the demon in front of her. Well this fire demon wasn't ugly like she thought. If anything, he was attractive in demon's standards.

Maybe even in human's standards too, Naru thought gurglingly as she stared at the furious green cat-like eyes of the demon. With wavy light blond hair and emerald eyes along with its furry cat tail and cat ears, Naru knew that no sane female demon or human would be able to reject mating him. This was going to be a problem.

"Even you think I'm beautiful," the blonde rolled her eyes, turned her head away from him to look. The demon smirked and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look at his eyes. "Look at me, child! It's not polite not to look someone who is higher than you! If it weren't the fact you're interesting, I would murder you without a second thought. Now tell me child, would you like to be my wife? I can give you the world, all you have to say yes. I can give you jewels belonging to princesses, clothes befitting of the lady of this forest."

Naru smirked and kneeled the fire-demon in the groin, successfully making him let go of her. She stumbled down to the ground, rubbing her neck that now have red claw marks but a smile still played on her lips. "I think that kick should tell you what I think. There's nothing you can give me."

"You're feisty for someone your age and you think I can't give you anything, huh?" The demon laughed. "Oh how wrong you are, I can make your deepest desires come true…all you have to tell me what it is. Do you wish to be queen? I can make that possible. If you want all the money in the world, I can give it to you. I can even bring you the deceased back, just name me your desire."

I want Kurama, I want Misaki-san, I want my best-friend back! I want everything that happened to be gone. I want to have my innocence again, A voice howled in her mind. It was like a mantra that her mind kept screaming to her but no matter how tempting it was to tell him, she wouldn't do it.

She wasn't going to disrespect nature and her father wouldn't be happy with her choices.

"I want to fight you, if you win I will be your wife but if I lose then you'll never bother humans ever again and you won't take their daughter, children or even their future descendants away from this land," the demon smirked. "And you'll swear in your honor and in your king's honor."

The demon smirked. "Why aren't you a demanding one? I've never seen a human act the way you do. This is going to make things fun," Naru glared at him and he sighed, " Alright I swear in my honor and my king's honor that I'll abide to your wish if you indeed win," he stared at her. "It's strange how a human is telling me to swear on honor, it makes me wonder why do you even think by swearing I would do as you wish."

"Because honor means everything to demons," Naru shifted her body to fighting position. "You'll have no choice but to obey it, especially if you do not wish to deal with the wrath of your king for not defeating a lowly human."

He curled his lips at these words. "You seem to know a lot about Lord Kurama for a human, you even have his scent. Tell me how is that possible? My king hates humans and ordered us demons never to mingle with them."

"Yet you've been forcing girls to marry you and you murder them each time," Naru pointed out and any warmth she had in her eyes was now gone and was replaced with cold hot fury. "If what you say is true then your king will murder you when he finds out the truth. Those were little girls who had done nothing wrong to you, girls who were too young to marry! And most of all, they were human. Do you not have any dignity! Do you not think there is a reason why one must never mingle with them? It's because humans and demons aren't meant to be together!"

The demon laughed cruelly at her words and before she even realize, the cat demon had hurled her against the tree. "Dignity? You humans speak of dignity? Tell me girl, where is your kind dignity when they destroy the lands? When they murder their own people? Or of other kind? How dare you preach of dignity! Your species don't deserve to get any respect from me."

"Not all humans are like that!" Naru snarled, slamming her fist against the demon's chest but only for it to be block by the demon. "And demons aren't that perfect either! Tell me, where is your dignity when you marry girls young enough to be your great-granddaughters or who don't want to marry you? Tell me is that your dignity? Do you know how many lives you have destroyed because of your anger?"

"They're just playthings…"

The cat demon would have said more if she hadn't kicked him in the chin before punching him in the stomach when he landed on the ground. How dare he think like that? Naru thought as she continuously blasted punches and kicks on the demon's body. Humans weren't something he could play with. They had feelings, just like demons do.

With one last kick on the demon's stomach, the blond stand up and glared down at the lying demon. "You disgust me. Humans are just playthings? They have feelings just like demons do, true they may not be as strong as demons but it doesn't mean you have the right to treat them the way you do."

With those last words, she twirled around and began her way towards the village, only to pause when she saw the seething flames that enclosed her. Her eyes widened when the demon came out of the flames. "Surprise? Sweetheart, your punches and kicks are good, strong enough to make me feel pain but it isn't enough to keep me down. Now, let us continue this fight. I do want a new lovely bride and you fit the bill. Who knows maybe, I'll let you survive longer then the others before you."

"I'm going to make you regret saying that."

Before she could even hit him, the demon punched her on the face and sent her flying towards the bushes. She twisted her body around until she was certain it would decrease the impact of the punch. Man was that demon's punch was strong! It wasn't strong as her father's but it was stronger then she had expected.

"If you can't stand against that punch then how do you expect to stand against my other attacks?" The demon asked as she stood up. "It's better if you admit defeat girl, at least then I can enjoy you."

"Admit defeat? You got to be kidding me," Naru crackled and to the demon's surprise, there was not a single scratch on her. "My father hits harder then you! Maybe you should take lessons from him!"

"Why you little brat? Can your father do this?" The demon asked as it gather its breath before exhaling streams of flames at her. Naru grinned but did not move, instead she allowed it to come to her. For a few minutes, she let the flames bathe her, reminding her of the fun times she had with her father. These flames were stronger then any human flames she felt and seemed to be even tastier.

Maybe, it was time she had her dinner. With that in mind, she breathed in the flames, letting it be consumed by her stomach. How long had it been since she ate the flames of a demon? How long had it been since her father abandoned her? Too long, she realized but the taste hadn't left her mouth.

"H-How is it possible? You're human, no human can do this!" The demon screeched when she finished eating the flames. "This isn't possible! Not even a dragonslayer or godslayer can eat our flames! They know it's poisonous to them! How the hell can you eat it and survive?"

A cold smile played on her lips as she declared. "Because I'm a demonslayer! I'm the daughter of King Kurama, the king of all demons, the strongest demon there is!"

"T-That can't be true! My King forbade us from training demons!" He cried as Naru walked closer to him. To the demon, he could see how each step reminded him of his king. She held the same arrogance, the same cruel smile but most of all he could feel the power emiting from her. Each step she took caused the demon to take another step back. To any outsiders, they would see a girl with eyes that held murder and anger and saw a demon that seemed ready to run. "P-Please have mercy on me! I won't kill anymore! I won't even look at human girls anymore!"

"Aren't you a coward?" Naru whispered as a flame sphere spewed from her hand. She kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying towards the same tree she had landed earlier. Her smile became wider when she heard his cries. "Why should I believe you? Even through you swear on your honor, how can I believe you? I'm not stupid, my father taught me better then that. I know a demon can break their promise. Give me proof you'll stop this. If you give me proof, I won't murder you for your crimes. Now your proof!"

"Do you know what you're asking me?"

"Of course I do," Naru hissed and she placed the sphere close to the demon's stomach, causing him to hiss in pain. "Now give me proof or else I'll make this sphere have more fire power and you know how strong a demon's flame can be." To further show this, she pressed it even harder against his stomach.

"I'll give you the girls belongings and you'll give it to the villagers! I promise on your father's name, no my mother's name! Just make the pain go away!" The demon cried. Naru smiled and withdrew the flames. Tilting her head, Naru notice that all the layers of the demon's skin as well as muscle was exposed and blood was dripping out of its stomach. Maybe, she had put too much power in the flames on the demon but she had wanted to make a point to it.

Besides now that the demon had stated, it would give the girl's belonging to her meant that he wouldn't do it again. Demons were possessive of their belongings and this was no different. This demon wasn't going to harm these villagers anymore.

But it didn't mean the other demons were doing what her father declared.

It seemed like she had more duties than ever before.

Just the thought made her groan and the blond decided when she saw her father again, they were going to have a talk about enforcing the rules he made.


"You did it!" The old man cried as the other villagers surrounded Naru when she came back from the forest. Some of them were staring at the belongings in her arms from the little dolls to the necklaces while others had tears in their eyes. She smiled at them, dumping all of the belongings on the ground. "You actually did it! You defeated the demon! Never in my life had I ever seen someone defeat a demon!"

"Old man, I told you I can do it!" Naru said, beaming at him. He gave her a toothless smile and laughed full-heartedly when some of the kids tackled the young girl on the ground. It had been so long since someone tackled her. When was the last time someone did that? Gray tackled her the last time they saw each other and that was because they were playing tag.

She really had forgotten the warmth of being around people.

"Nee-chan, nee-chan!" The kids chanted out as they sat on top of her and it was a struggle for her to sit up. "Thank you for saving our village!"

Naru chuckled. "It isn't a problem."

"Nee-chan, I want to become just like you!" A girl cried out, drawing Naru's attention to her and for a brief moment, she was reminded of herself. The eagerness and naïve of her eyes reminded her of how she was like that when she was younger. "I'm going to become a mage!"

"Oh?"

"Yup!" The girl said, giving her a toothless smile. "I'm going to become as strong as you."

"Really now? Does that mean you want to defeat me?"

"Of course. How else am I going to become stronger then nee-chan?"

This made her smile and Naru decided that maybe, just maybe helping humans weren't as bad as she thought it would be. Not if it meant she was going to be praised or be loved by kids like this little girls. It might even help her broken heart.

Yeah, maybe helping people wasn't a bad idea.


Replies to questions:

Q: Will Naru figure out Lyon knows Gray?

A: No, Naru won't figure out especially since she has more things to worry about then Lyon's past however the same can't be said for Lyon.

Q: Will you use Ice-shell if you've no other option?

A: If I've no other option then yes, I would use it.

Q: Can you update soon?

A: I'll try my best but I can't promise my updates are going to be predictable, it'll be faster but it won't be as fast as you will like.


Thank you for reading.

Please pause before you leave this page and review.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.