Oh oh oh oh oh ohh
Naruto and Ruby are standing back to back spinning around. Ruby stands in daylight while Naruto stands in the night. It stops showing them both back to back.
Oh oh oh oh oh ohh
The title Clarity fades in
Hikari mitsuketa kuuhaku no jikan
Child Ruby skips through the streets with a bright smile as she eats her ice cream. She stops as if sensing something behind her and turns around.
Mayoikonda chuuzuri no sekai
Teenage Ruby looks up at the moon with a forlorn look on her face.
Shinjirareru kotae sagashimotomete
Naruto walks through the streets eating ice cream with a neutral expression. He stops and turns as if sensing something behind him.
Tada samayotteru
Teenage Naruto looks up at the Sun with an emotionless expression.
Yeah
Yubi no sukima nigeru light
Team (R)WBY look out with varying expressions showing there ready to fight.
Yosomi shiteru hima mo nai
Team JNPR look ready to fight as well before Nora get to excited and launches forward.
Uketa kizuna ato sae kate ni
Team 7 removes their masks showing their faces as they hold out there standardized ninjato's
Seijaku kirisaiteku
Team Shiva stand ready to fight as a smiling Nila swipes her hand across the screen
Dare mo kare mo Dead or alive
Ozpin looks out to one side as his staff appear behind him.
Mamoru dake ja Can't survive
Hiruzen looks the opposite way as Kakashi and Itachi appear behind him
I don't wanna lie to myself
Roman walk through the streets before turning to take a bow to the camera.
Keep on the fight, get right
Child Ruby looks at her mothers, grave.
I'll never lose and cry
A woman in a white hood stands behind her.
Keep run up day and night
Child Naruto sits in a dark room shackled to the wall.
Time to rewrite
A hand made of darkness reaches out to grasp him.
No matter what anyone say I find my way
The child versions look up slowly.
Yeah, never go away
They hold their hands out to each other but they never touch
(Never go away)
They reach for their weapons.
Now, nobody can't stop me no way
Sakura and Yang fight hand to hand before the two clash fists creating a shockwave.
Wasurete shimau koto no nai you ni
Sasuke and Blake clash blades multiple times while Sai send an army of his drawing at Weiss who destroys them with ice spikes.
Nakushita mono subete torimodosu tame
JNPR clashes with Kali's team as they hold each other off
Rise suddenly in this world
Kakashi charges at Glynda who uses her semblance to overwhelm him to no avail.
(I don't look back yeah)
The two clash in an explosion of power
Kurikaesu tabi no hate
Naruto attacks Ruby who defends herself before blasting herself back to gain some distance.
Nouri ni nokotta shippai nante
Ruby attempts to shoot him down but Naruto deflects the bullets with his ninjato
Zenbu torikaese ima Turn over
Ruby lands and hold Crescent Rose as she and Naruto look at each other.
Rise suddenly in this world (I don't look back yeah)
Their screen splits showing only their eyes as they look at each other.
Oh oh oh oh oh ohh
Child Naruto and Ruby are looking at each other. Ruby smiles while Naruto's expression doesn't change.
Oh oh oh oh oh ohh
A cloud passes them to show present time Naruto and Ruby staring at each other weapons at the ready. The two charge and clash blades.
(Opening End)
Naruto made another Vernier movement as he performed his kata. Ruby was within a stone's throw, sitting on rock as she fiddled with her (still) broken scroll.
Five days. It had been five days since her trip to Forever Fall. Five days since his mission began. Five days since their fight in the airship. Five days since they fell into the forest and had been subsequently stranded. Five days which felt like an eternity when they had been forced to come to an agreement to work together to survive.
In that time a routine of sorts had befallen the two. One where they both tried to feign normalcy, pretending that they weren't at each other's throats.
Through pure happenstance (aka, nearly falling into it), Ruby had found a nearby freshwater pool and had tracked it back to a rather picturesque waterfall that could be used for bathing purposes should it come to that. Which, after five days… yeah, it had come to that.
This necessity had the potential to become awkward, given that both were reluctant to let the other out of their sights. But surprisingly, Naruto was as accepting of her implicit need for privacy as if it had come from his own teammate.
It simply meant that he had to avoid being detected. An easy task.
However, ablutions never lasted that long anyway, given that the waterfall was fed by snowmelt.
In between their ample leisure time, Naruto would go out hunting while Ruby reset the fire-pit she had dug by the river so that they could eat whatever he managed to snare without worry of parasites. The catch varied from day to day, but Ruby had to admit that they never lacked under his providing. Come dinner, the two would make their way down the hill to eat and drink before heading back up to the cave to turn in for the night.
Impractical? Maybe. But you try eating dry rabbit and not get thirsty. Neither had any skeins or canteens for transport, and Naruto had pointed out the wisdom of sleeping away from the obvious signs of human activity. Some Grimm were not as stupid as one might be tempted to think and had associated the scent of charcoal with human victuals.
Luckily- or unluckily, as some might say- they had plenty of free time to accomplish this cumbersome schedule. In truth, Ruby had long ago given up on making the scroll work as she didn't have any actual replacement parts for the waterlogged circuitry. And instead, she was fiddling with it out of sheer boredom. It also gave her an excuse, as she made sure to never have her back turned towards the blond killer for fear of him stabbing it.
Politely ignoring this obvious tactic, Naruto was busy doing the very first kata he was taught at a young age. It was meant for children to learn when they first started out, so he felt safe revealing it to his silver-eyed observer knowing she wouldn't be able to learn his fighting style. And though there was no reason to admit it, the rote actions brought him a peace of mind that would have otherwise been impossible in the constantly tense environment he found himself in.
Not many words had been exchanged between the two of them as they went about this new schedule, and it quickly became drudgery.
"Hey," Or at least it had appeared that way. But apparently, the red cloaked girl had other plans. "How much longer do you think we'll be here?"
"That is unknown," Naruto responded as he took a step and executed another beautifully simplistic move.
"Do you think that they even know we're alive?"
Another step, another one-word answer. "Unknown."
"How long do the search parties usually keep looking?"
"Unknown."
"Do you think our food will last?"
"Unknown."
"Will we ever go into space?"
"Unknown."
"What do you know?" Giving up with an exasperated sigh, Ruby begged for anything, even the monotonous to come from her companion- anything except that increasingly annoying answer.
"I know that it is time for me to hunt for dinner." The blond responded after a beat in which he retracted into a locked stance, forming the sign of reconciliation with his fist in palm without really thinking about it or really comprehending what it meant.
"Maybe we can talk about stuff tonight?" Ruby remarked, trying to sound offhand and uninterested. Also, failing miserably.
"What could we have to talk about?" On the other hand, Naruto's question reeked of active disinterest.
"Maybe like telling me what you meant a few days ago." Suddenly remembering the enigmatic comment he had made at the tail end of their first and only argument, Ruby's tone took on an insistence that made it clear it wasn't a question.
Naruto stopped, lurching as he transitioned from his meditative form back into his own body.
"That is none of your concern," Without another word the blond began to make his way into the forest to hunt for their dinner.
Or at least he would have if not for the swirl of petals that appeared in front of him.
'She's gotten faster,' He remarked silently while keeping his schooled expression. That was until she met his flat stare and he was taken aback by the sharp glint which couldn't solely be chalked up to the afternoon sun reflecting off her silver eyes.
Maybe the girl was fed up with being separated from her friends for so long. Maybe resentment towards her unwanted companion was rearing its ugly head after being in uncomfortable proximity with him for five days- which was five days longer than she ever thought she'd have to so much as call him 'companion'. She didn't know and she didn't care. She was obliquely aware of how stifled and livid she felt, but she only knew that she was about ready to burst.
And what better an outlet than her natural enemy?
"No," Ruby stomped her foot on the ground as she glared at the emotionless blond. "You don't get to leave my question unanswered. What. Did. You. Mean?"
Unintimidated, Naruto stared into those fierce eyes and considered answering with his own contempt which had gone unacknowledged for far longer than this girl had even known of his existence. But the disciplined soldier assessed that it would be better to explain than deal with the backlash since they were alone in the forest. Besides, there was a chance that after the compromises they went through, she might finally understand.
"Do you remember that man from the forest?" It was a useless rhetoric which served only to make Ruby nervous.
"From the exam?" She asked as if it were really a question. Suddenly, she was no longer sure if she wanted to talk. "The one you…" Her voice trailed off as that day came back to her in force, hammering at her psyche and pounding blood into her clenched fist.
"The one I killed in front of you." No remorse from the whiskered teen, it was like he had shut himself off from the both the memory and conversation and was nothing but an android spewing facts. "What if I were to tell you he was responsible for a multitude of child abductions?"
Ruby felt her anger freeze at the words of the blond. "What?"
"Prior to that, children from Vale's satellite villages had been going missing for the better part of 2 months without any trace," Naruto explained, eyes motionless but mind roving restlessly. "Local police had done a cursory investigation and couldn't find any leads. There was no clear evidence, and no direct patterns other than targeting children from remote areas."
"So then, how could you find out who he was- or even that it was one person?" Regretting it at the start, now Ruby was invested in seeing the story to its conclusion. Even if she knew how it ended.
"One of the mothers," Came the immediate response, curt and unflinching. "She had begun a personal investigation and carried on for several weeks. Until one day she went missing as well." Naruto closed his eyes, vision like the black bag that must have been pulled over that poor woman's head. "Unlike the children, the mother at least turned up three days later. Alive, although, perhaps it would have been better…"
Naruto clenched his eyes even tighter as if to banish the image from his mind itself. Not having a didactic memory, he'd been forced to stare at her photo for hours on end, memorizing every telling detail of the woman's battered body in preparation for when they contacted her.
The picture was one thing, in the photo she was simply a corpse that wasn't breathing. Seeing her alive- the fact that she was still alive and trying to fight on- that was another.
"That was a mistake. We decided to involve ourselves in the investigation,"
His eyes snapped open with the sound of a blade being drawn, and Ruby was violently expelled from the illusion. Metal flashed and banished the dark room she had been in where antique orders on a scroll were handed off to four killers who masked their emotions almost as well as their faces.
"The mother had been correct in her deductions about this man being the kidnapper. Mother's intuition, she said gave her the clue." Slowly Naruto went about the routine on autopilot. He redonned what armor remained as he prepared to go on the hunt, shrugging off the intense feeling like he put on the cuirass. Finishing off the rest with the snap of his buckles. "We received orders to kill him. So we did."
Not allowing either of them the knives, Naruto picked up a sharpened stick which he took with him to sometimes catch fish or even birds. The restriction of weapons had been useless for a while- probably from the start. At this point, they were realizing it was almost silly. But both tacitly clung to the idea which allowed them to sleep at night.
However, with the way this conversation was going, Ruby wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to close her eyes again.
"There was also the man you saved in the market. He was a known terrorist, part of the White Fang and responsible for leading an attack on another independent village outside Vale. Merciless. Our intelligence suggested that they first slaughtered every human in sight indiscriminately in order to sow panic and attract Grimm. Then… well, it worked, and the Grimm took care of most of the evidence."
No. That couldn't be true. She didn't want to believe his words, but the young man before her had demonstrated time and again his inability to lie. Either she was wrong, or he was so indoctrinated into the belief that it might as well have been the truth. And that someone could such a thing to a person her age was almost as fearsome as the images he painted in her head.
"Most recently, there was the man we were about to take out on the air ship. He was a dangerous serial killer, already convicted for the deaths of 12 people."
It was unclear why he mentioned this to her, why he continued to let the otherwise sensitive information flow forth from his lips- other than the fact that they'd been sealed for a decade. For the same reason, he couldn't rightly say whether it was cruelty or courtesy that caused him to talk. And therefore, whether his words were spoken with detachment or cold indifference.
"You think I don't understand the value of life. But I do," Naruto stepped closer as if he were about to drive a poisoned-tipped dagger into her heart, but did so with a mere whisper as he walked past the frozen girl.
"I understand it better than you."
Ruby kept her breathing steady as she eyed the assassin in front of her. He was tired. She could tell. In all honesty she was too, the latent sugar in her bloodstream the only thing keeping her going despite everything that had happened today.
Slowly and as silently as she could, the silver-eyed girl slid out her scroll, intending to reveal her location before the blond awoke. Her team would swoop in, ambushing him and they would arrest him. Or, more accurately, a huntsman they would bring along would do the arresting, since they couldn't legally yet.
Once the laborious slow process was over and her scroll was in hand, Ruby squinted at the unilluminated device in the dark. Though she could hardly see it, there was definite damage. She probably didn't have a lot of time.
'Alright Ruby, send your location and a brief text' She commanded herself, devoting her entire attention to this simple task as not to get sidetracked and waste what was likely her last, her only opportunity at a happy ending to this ordeal. 'Easy,' She began typing in the text, almost blindly as the light was dialed down to the lowest setting, only looking up briefly to make sure the assassin was still sleeping.
She looked again. There was something wrong.
His face was scrunched up in a way that made him look anxious, brow furrowed, and lips pursed as if tasting something sower. The occasional twitch of his eyes as well as random spasms confirmed her suspicions: He was having a nightmare.
'What could a cold-blooded killer have to be scared of?' In truth, Ruby didn't want to think about it.
Then, suddenly, his face relaxed. It was as if the malign air trapped within him had been released with a sigh of utter relief and fled their cave in the shadows. His look was now…peaceful. Such tranquility that it spread to fill up their little cavern, and Ruby almost forgot that she had been fighting him not that long ago.
'He's injured,' Ruby reminded herself. Because of her actions. Maybe…maybe she could get some perspective. Understand why he… killed. No that was-
Remembering her original mission, Ruby looked down at her phone to see that the screen had gone completely black. She tapped the on button a few times in mute desperation, but all it did was confirm her suspicions. The phone had finally succumbed to its damage.
"Well, no choice now," Sighing, the girl returned the scroll to its holster. She would work on it later to see if she could coax it to turn on for one last attempt. Or more likely, build something else when she got bored.
She laid her eyes on Naruto one last time before she too succumbed to lack of power.
'If I'm stuck with only him to talk to, might as well see if I can't get him to give me information on the others.' Conjuring up this pragmatism, Ruby kept repeating it to herself like counting sheep to help her forget her doubt and go to sleep.
But the doubt that had begun when she hesitated to send the message only continued to grow.
Flashback end
Snap!
Ruby jerked her head up just in time to see a rabbit fall into a trap she had set around the cave.
'Sweet!' She silently cheered with a subdued fist-pump and began to make her way towards the downed animal. While her 'companion' usually hunted, that didn't mean she didn't know how to. It was just more of a routine that they settled upon.
He hunted, she gathered. He got first pick at food, she got bath time first. Surprisingly mundane little details made this whole thing work.
Crouching low and reaching for the animal, Ruby paused as her sharp gaze spied another one in the bush. It had paused too, petrified as it looked at the huntress. Yet, it did not flee with its muscled hind legs that twitched as feverishly as its nose which was overcome with the scent of fear. Instead, it continued to stare at her with eyes so wide and accusing that she could see the white sclera glaring at her from across the brush.
It wasn't leaving without the other.
Oh, were they mates? Ruby couldn't help the small squeal that escaped her lips at the adorable and romantic sight. Without hesitation, she released the trapped rabbit and watched as it skittered away as fast as it could to join the other.
"He'd probably mock me for being so nice," She muttered ruefully. This was the only negative which came to mind as she watched the two rabbits hop away in tandem, but it was a pervasive thought. To escape it, her mind drifting off back to what he had told her earlier.
"I understand it better than you."
Certain things began to make sense for the silver eyed girl. The lack of reaction from the public, the seemingly slow pace from the police. There was an answer there but she was reluctant to admit to it.
All those things he had said about the people she had rescued. Had they all really done such terrible things?
Did it matter?
With that thought, her mind drifted back to that day in the city with the supposed terrorist. He had tried to save her. Even if what he said was true, it didn't mean the man she had saved hadn't at least showed regret for his actions.
Or maybe it was all a ploy, maybe the assassin had been- "No," She huffed. "Regardless of what they've done, everyone deserves a chance to repent." She firmly stated to no one.
Besides, an individual's guilt didn't mean that blond himself had the right to choose whether someone lived or died. Him, or the people he worked for.
Sighing contentedly to herself with the thought that she had come to the right decision, Ruby began to reset the trap. While she did so, she absently looked around the camp only to see the two bunnies again. Oh, they were so cute!
She continued to watch them as they pranced oblivious to her machinations. With a self-contented smile, she saw them play with one another. One of the bunnies sneaking behind the other and proceeding to-
"Oh, guys, don't do that here!" Ruby whined as she tried simultaneously to look away from the act of nature and shoo the rabbits to somewhere more… just not there! Ick!
He woke up without really being awake just yet, body moving on an unconscious command that he'd set a few hours before. It wasn't even light yet- in fact, he'd barely shut his eyes after the fire died and the broken moon rose fully. Which was fine, he had been trained to live without sleep, even if he'd been doing so for weeks previous.
What he couldn't live with was this. Neither the feeling of helplessness, nor the person adjacent to the fire who did this to him.
A weapon was not needed to complete this task, even though he knew exactly where she hid them. There were plenty of rocks within the cave they found themselves, but in the end, he decided to use his bare hands. Perhaps this was another sing of the poor decision-making that she caused.
Naruto wanted to be rid of her. No- he had to be rid of her. She was compromising him, and it was not a pleasure to take her life but a necessity.
So why did he relish the heat bleeding from her neck?
He woke up to his hands steepled around her throat, thumbs poised to collapse her windpipe. All the while she continued to snore obliviously.
What was wrong with him? Do it- or don't.
Instead, he just kneeled there in the darkness with his crescent-moon eyes illuminating her pale, peaceful face.
The fire had died and took with it the last of the heat, but still he was sweating. Trying to get himself to move, he thought that at any second that slumbering girl would wake and he would find himself in another one of his nightmares. He had to keep reminding himself that even if she were to open her eyes, she couldn't see him.
Darkness was his friend. There was no light pollution from the city as far away as they were, and the glow from her Scroll had died mere minutes before. It was pure luck that she hadn't been able to make the distress call. As much as he wanted to eliminate her, he wasn't sure he could face her. Not now.
But the day would come as sure as the morning. The only way to ensure that she wouldn't intervene was to make sure she never saw the light of day.
Yet for him, the shallow grotto where they slept might as well have been electrified. Though his thoughts and the path ahead had never been so murky. Where was the order he longed to hear?
It never came. And as the night crawled by in that cave, eventually he crawled back to his side of the fire and laid back down, feeling like he had just done a marathon on his hands and feet.
She wasn't his enemy. Not today.
It was finally quiet.
Alone like this, he could almost pretend that everything was back to normal. Hunting was hunting, and it didn't matter so much if his prey was human, Faunus, or animal. Sometimes, it seemed, the animals were the smarter ones.
The ones in the mountains were, at least, not having been contaminated by the encroachment of modern life. They still knew when they were in the presence of a predator, and the slightest misstep, the tiniest twitch, would set them off. This was their home and they knew it far better than he did, therefore there was little chance he would be able to find them if they ran.
Plus, he had to get in close because of his substandard armament. A simple stick sharpened into a spear wasn't ideal, but it added to the challenge and made this little moment of reprieve last longer than it would otherwise. Though he was hungry, he wouldn't say that he was looking forward to the kill. Because it meant that he would have to return to her. The mere thought of spending another second suffering her inane chatter-
SNAP
Was it him? – No – There! Between the two poplars, movement.
From a crouch he went to all fours, a surprisingly natural transition. Gone were the societal pretenses and even the drill of being an Assassin. Here, he could let himself be free- tail swishing openly, unbound by the trappings of humanity. Though he would have to be careful to not let it give him away, orange fur flittered lower to the ground.
Breathing deep, he drunk in the scent and the piecemeal image. The tawny hide traipsed through the trees, almost perfectly camouflaged except for the afternoon light which betrayed its sheen. Hard hooves made surprisingly gentle footsteps, the only noise as he held his breath.
It was coming towards him.
One shot would be all- all it would take, and all he would get. He couldn't just wound it- no. Because he was not serving justice in this endeavor, he was serving himself and his reluctant companion. Failure would mean he did not deserve to live.
These were the rules of nature.
There was no cruelty in a clean kill. Life always ended in death, after all. Which in turn, begat new life. There was no difference between the mature buck in his sights and the young girl back at the cave. One unhesitant thrust and-
Big, doe-like eyes open wide and caught a flash of light- he was caught in their reflection, staring back at himself as he pounced on the unsuspecting creature. His image was unrecognizable, a beastly snarl baring fangs and his whiskers folded into a vulpine visage that spoke of untold rage-
The light faded from the deer's eyes along with the illusion, the sun following soon after. Wrenching free his shive, he was hit in the face by a spurt of blood powered by the creature's last heartbeat.
Naruto looked down at his kill, momentarily unsure of what he had just done. Not sure of where, who, or even what he was. Nor did he understand the warm, red thing which was cooling at his feet. He knew it had been alive, once. And now, thanks to him, wasn't. Was he supposed to feel something? What had it done to deserve this premature end?
-Nothing. It had simply crossed his path. Simple as that. It was that easy.
His heart clenched and his hand along with it, snapping the spear. But Naruto had gone deaf in that moment too, blood clogging his ears like it dyed his vision, so it seemed he was looking at the world through rose-colored glasses.
It was just that easy.
CLARITY
Time passed. Not enough to change their situation, but sufficient for Naruto to returned with a bountiful catch and a roaring fire to be placed between them.
And, for the girl to forget her inhibition.
"Do you think this fire will attract attention,"
"Unknown,"
"What about following the river?"
"Unknown,"
"What's your name?"
"Unknown,"
"You don't know your own name,"
"…"
"Pfft!" Ruby couldn't help herself as she giggled at her success tripping the boy up.
"I'm afraid I don't understand the humor,"
"Of course you don't," Ruby sighed as her mirth died out, returning the somber mood. "What made you decide to become one?" The Scythe wielder asked over the crackling fire and the smell of charred flesh which didn't smell as appetizing as it once had.
"One, what?" Naruto questioned unaffectedly as he took another bite out of the deer meat and shredded it with his razor-sharp canines.
"An Assassin." Almost whispering the word, Naruto slowed his frenzied chewing so he could hear its echo on the mountains far behind them.
"I was born into it." Naruto responded easily enough after chewing and swallowing, casting a sidelong glance across the fire to see that Ruby had hardly touched her haunch.
"So, you didn't actually have a choice," The girl was much more interested in the fire, hands dangling so near it that she was libel to get burned.
"No," Pausing, Naruto contemplated, chewing the question instead of the food. "I suppose I didn't,"
Silence returned. It was uncomfortable, and it had only become more so the longer they spent out in the wilderness. Wildlife had fled at their presence, forcing Naruto to go out further and further each day for their meals and casting the territory they had claimed into a formidable silence. It was a hallowed quiet presided over only by the redoubtable mountains, continuing to hold them captive. And resisted only by the sputtering flame of a fire which refused to die. Then Naruto broke it.
"Why choose to be a huntsman?"
Was it the silence he feared? Why did he ask that question?
He would understand a moment later that that was mistake.
"Oh my gosh why wouldn't you want to be a huntsman?!" The young girl gushed, a switch being flipped inside of her which somehow managed to brighten the whole clearing and empower the muted sounds. "Taking down bad guys and protecting the innocent is like the dream job! Not to mention the super cool weapons we get to wield! It's especially fun when you 'tcareandeverythingisjust GAH! YOU KNOW!
…
…
…
It became quiet again as the conversation ebbed and the fire waned.
Naruto had genuinely stopped eating to give the girl a perplexed stare which in Ruby's opinion might have been the most emotion he had ever shown. And all he had done was raise an eyebrow! …Maybe it was all a trick of the firelight.
"Hehe… Soooo yeah," She finished lamely. Even the words before feeling like nothing but echoes off the invisible mountains compared to what she'd heard earlier that afternoon. "I've always wanted to be a huntress."
Silence returned, not to be broken by anything.
Except Ruby, who couldn't keep her mouth shut.
"What is your name," She questioned as she realized she didn't actually know it.
"Kitsune,"
"..."
"..."
Then again, perhaps there was a reason she hadn't bothered in the first place. Besides, was it really a good idea to be on first-name basis with the enemy -even though it had been forever since she thought of him as such? Did he still think that way about her? Heck, he could have lied and given her a false name- no, no he couldn't. Just like she couldn't give up hope.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Though she tried a nibble of her food anyway, in case she somehow offended her provider. "Your real name, I mean."
"No." -But it sounded like she had already said or done something wrong with the way he glowered at her from across the campfire. "If you need to call me something, you may use that. I suspect your headmaster has already given you that much."
In her eyes it was so little. Names were how most conversations started- so it was here, she supposed. For the boy who had been an assassin since birth, why should his given name be any different than the one he was assigned? That mask was real enough, it haunted her dreams often enough. Sure enough, she realized that even this little tidbit of info was a from of trust, one she would be remiss to ignore.
"Well... what about the code names of your teammates?" Once again Ruby tested her luck, undeterred by the cold shoulder that she'd long since gotten used to. "Can you tell me them- at least so I have something to call them."
"I cannot," Naruto responded, restraining his urge to lash out at her again by stuffing his mouth. He had also gotten used to her- somewhat. And though he might have been willing to suffer this girl's whims, he would be damned before he revealed any information that could harm his teammates. "Not that it matters in the long run anyway," He muttered with gristle being chewed in the corner of his mouth.
"What do you mean?" Wary once again of an answer that she would be able to stomach less than the gamey fare, nevertheless Ruby felt compelled to ask.
"We are assassins," Labeling himself and the others, it wasn't so different than the way he flayed the dear's flesh and set it out on spits to cook. "We live and die in silence and in darkness. Our destiny brings no glory, no fame. Only duty."
As much as she disliked this boy, there was something about the callous way he dismissed himself and his comrades that bothered her more. Maybe it wasn't so much him, but his misguided point of view that she detested. Maybe she could help with that.
"I don't think that's true," She offered, ever optimistic.
"You don't know anything about our way of life." Returning to his food and unfriendly behavior again, Naruto tore off a chunk and chewed with a certain viciousness.
"Fair enough," Ruby consented, unperturbed,"But I hope that outside your missions you can use your teammates' real names."
"Why?" Stopping, with a heavy gulp he let the question fill his mouth instead. Another echo from his team found itself in this unlikely spot.
"Because it shows that you trust and care for them." Ruby responded patiently as if she were explaining to a child why they had to ask nicely if they wanted ice cream.
"Care?"
"You know, like, you like them," Stuttering, she tried to expand a topic she found so simple.
"Like them?" The blond tilted his head in curiosity and narrowed his eyes through the fire, an action which painted his animalistic visage in a very different light. His complete an genuine ignorance looked- dare she say it? - cute.
"I am not the best at this," Ignoring that thought for the time being, Ruby sighed, lamenting ever becoming a parent. "My sister is better at this kind of thing... Okay, so, you see how we're in this situation," With her arms encompassing everything within the fire's glow, the blond nodded in confirmation. "Both our teams are out there looking for us. How would you feel of one of them went missing?"
Resisting the textbook answer, Naruto thought on it a moment. He rationalized that if one of his team had gone missing or had been hurt like he had been, he would be at an extreme disadvantage. There were not that many in their organization who liked- no, tolerated working with him. For something to happen to the few that did- even if they could at times be as irritating as this huntress- it would be... inconvenient. To say the least, but there was more to it than that.
He found it was not as simple question as their enumerated rules made it out to be. The death of a teammate was not a quantifiable loss. And the more he found himself thinking about it, the more he found it…troubling.
"I see," Naruto spoke at last, at last remembering why he tolerated these strange talks. "I shall take your words into consideration."
Ruby looked at him in surprise before she felt her lips twitching. Was she smiling?
"So..." Burying these considerations, she continued almost-naturally, "Do you read comic books?"
"Comic books." He said/asked again in the way which was becoming almost second-nature. Having gone through this banal song and dance so many times, when the stars lit up in her eyes he knew to brace himself for what came next:
A right turn in the conversation, a heady uplift of the mood, a detailed exposition on the minutiae of these so-called 'graphic novels' which were apparently endemic in the indoctrination of young adults into the huntsman lifestyle. A lifestyle which he was also learning about at the loaded end of Ruby's non-stop talking.
The whole experience was all becoming less foreign to him, the pieces of his shattered life falling into place naturally around this thorn in his side. Normal had somehow expanded to include her.
And while neither realized it at the time, their lives had expanded to include one another. This was the end of their individual stories, and the start of their lives together.
Though this would come later.
WELL here we are! I meant to post that opening a few chapter ago but it kept slipping my mind.
Anyways looks like we get a little look into what the assassins though process is to the ones he kills. Does Ruby agree with it now? Of course not. Fun fact Kerby came up with most of what Naruto said as well as those little moments when Ruby and Naruto were about to betray each other so to speak. And after this it looks like there's a bit of an understanding between the two of them albeit barely. What comes next I wonder.
That being said that's all for now. Let us know what you think about the latest chapter.
Heads up do to mu work schedule next week there's a good chance you there won't be an update. However, in exchange for this I'll do a double chapter post the week after.
Well that's all for now.
So
READ…REVIEW…and above all else…HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
(Rise of the Shield Hero Opening 1)