A/N: I've been playing Sekiro. I can't beat the last boss. Its beating my head in!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
WARNING!
I had to split this chapter into two halves due to the sheer volume of it all; expect the next relatively soon.
This chapter-and the next-has a lot of heart and soul, personality, humor...and chaos. Its also told from Drake's perspective and as such, has multiple entries. It doesn't jump around...much. This will NOT become a thing. Its only for this chapter so I apologize in advance if anyone takes issue with it.
Ye have been warned~!
On another note...
...ouch.
Not My Blight bombed, guess Dragon Age isn't as popular as it used to be...
Feels good to get back to the good 'ol stories I love, even when I'm not feeling my best.
This chapter's got a lot of heart and soul; hope you like it!
...I've also come to a decision. I'm not going to be a doormat at my job any longer. Screw that. I'v been there for years, busting my ass-won't say where I work for the sake of anonymity-to make an honest living and then they try and pull this crap on me? Nooooo, no, no, no. I think not!
Don't worry, I'm not going to go psycho or anything; I'm merely going to make my voice heard and if they don't like it, well...
...I have other opportunities lined up.
But enough about me!
I found the perfect song for this chapter:
"Karliene - Anne Bonny."
It really helped me to write this chapter, even the song itself wasn't about Francis Drake herself the theme worked just fine. Give it a lesson if you've a mind to hear a catchy little sea shanty for yourself. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, onto the obligatory disclaimer!
DISCLAIMER!
I!
OWN!
NOTHING!
Now onto your questions!
Hope this helps explain things~!
Q: Does Drake use a sword?
A: Actually its a pirate cutlass and only rarely. Its flat out stated that she vastly prefers her pistols, but she WILL use it when hemmed in. She uses it quite deftly in Fate Link as well.
Q: ...someone is going to die in this story, aren't they?
A: Alas, this is true. It was...bound to happen sooner or later.
Q: Noooooo! Don't you do it! I know what you're thinking for upcoming chapters! Do noooooot kill her!
A: Imma do it. I wanted to try something new. Going from Drake's perspective was a novel idea; I do hope you like it. Still, this chapter might surprise you.
Q: Dear god, the thought of Tamamo as Amaterasu...
A: If Tamamo ever regained all her tails...well. She'd wreck Naruto in his Rider form. Now if both were at the pinnacle of their power and not limited by the S.E.R.A.P.H. system then we'd have a fight for the ages.
Q: This Hakuno is BEST Hakuno and no one can tell me otherwise.
A: Why, thank you! Ironically, it was well established in the game that Hakuno was shy and timid in the beginning, and didn't truly start to come out of her shell until the third round. With Rider (Naruto!) pushing her to be more, of course she'll come out of her shell.
Q: Man why you gotta shaft my boy Lancer like that. Not cool.
A: Oh ho! Lancer (Cu!) is still in this story! Rin simply isn't his Master this time around. I will say this, though; our boy actually got really lucky this time around with his Master.
Care to guess who?
Q: Which Emiya is this? MOON CELL or FATE?
A: To clarify, this Emiya is different than the one we're accustomed to. I'm sorry if that confuses anyone.
Q: Hope you broke Shinji's balls. He's one of the few anime characters I genuinely hate.
A: Consider them broken.
Q: When are you going to update your other Fate material.
A: Of course, I give all my projects credence, some are simply harder to write than others. A Most Unlikely Berserker for example, takes a LOT of work; if only because of the working cast and the fact that we-yes, I said WE-want the chapters to be longer. Sorry for making ya'll wait!
Q: DIO demands that you update your other stories, posthaste! And publish that Jojo tale of yours already!
A: SHHHHHHHHH! That's supposed to be a sodding secret! Why does everyone know about it?!
WRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYY!
As ever, reviews feed my engine of creation, so keep at it~!
Really, sometimes it feels that the kind words-and critiques-of you fine folks on this site are all that keeps me going. That and its always nice to hear from people. Now more than ever, considering the state of...well, my life. I won't bore you with the details, you didn't come here for that. Now then...
...get ready for a nice long chapter, packed to the brim with heart.
Well, heart, chaos, humor and all that gooooooooood stuff.
Bah, semantics! As always, I hope ya enjooooooy~!
Fair warning, this chapter is all kinds of silly.
"This means WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
~?
First Selection (Part III)
Francis Drake did not consider herself to be a good person.
Oh, she knew where her talents lay and was quite happy to keep it that way. It made things...less complicated. She'd ravaged galleons mercilessly. Conquered the seas without fear. Made herself a terror of the seas. Put her on a ship, a pistol in one hand, and a bottle of whiskey in the other and she would be perfectly at her ease. Give her gold and she would scatter it like a storm. She lived to murder and plunder and raid until she was satisfied. She thrived on chaos. Nothing better. Some might call her a glutton for such wanton behavior; but it was simply her way.
Live free or die hard. That was her motto.
So when a certain Rider and a red Saber darted past her-with the former carrying their master in their arms like a spoiled little princess-to begin flitting about about the cafe like a pair of mad minxes...well. Naturally she took notice. It was the simplest thing to slip away and follow the two of them at her leisure. With her Master recovering from his injury-and didn't that make her snicker!-she was left with an inordinate amount of free time to do as she pleased.
And this pleased her greatly.
Still, curiosity won the day over pleasure.
"Bloody hell, what in the seven seas are they doing?"
Rider followed them at a distance, watching the duo turning over tables as the little Master scurried out of their way. The pistol-wielding pirate took a moment to admire the girl as she turned, admiring her chestnut brown hair, those wide eyes set in a gentle face. She was certainly cute in a small/timid way, but how would that be attractive to someone like Naruto...oh. Drake finally saw it then. Glimpsed it. She could see it in the way Hakuno she carried herself, the stubborn set of her jaw as she barked orders at the NPC manning the counter. Heh. Girl had a spine of steel underneath it all. No wonder the blond seemed so set on her.
Although...that red Rider was not without his own merits.
All things considered, Naruto might've made a good first mate, in another life. His loyalty was unspeakable, unshakable, unbreakable. Drake could see it in his eyes as she watched him storm about the mess with single-minded vigor, close enough to keep a weather eye on Saber yet never too far from the little brunette; always within arms reach, always close enough in case someone took it into their head to harm her. No, more than that, he seemed almost...protective of her. Even when he turned to snark something at the red Saber she saw his body shift, coiled muscle ready to spring at the slightest provocation.
Oh.
In that moment, something clicked in Drake's mind, an epiphany breaking with the dawn. Her eyes widened.
Oho.
Naruto actually liked his Master. No, more than that. The blond Rider seemed outright fond of her for some reason or another.
Ohoho~!
A small, lazy smile spread across the pirate's face as she observed them. That suited Drake just fine. Here was a weakness; one she could exploit!
With this, the pirate felt she finally had her fellow Rider's measure; at least in part. Naruto would happily throw himself into her line of fire if it meant protecting this little minx from harm; his was the kind of devotion that couldn't be bought. It was earned. A rare kind of bond that came about once in a lifetime. For all of his strength and power, a Servant was only as good as their Master. Hakuno was not a very good Master. She might be sweet as sugar and smooth as creme, but a mere trickle of prana flowed from her to her Servant, barely enough to sustain him.
How long would he last like this?
Still, anyone willing to go to such lengths for their liege-to be confident in the face of such weakness-must've been an absolute monster in battle when they were alive. Who knew what tricks he had up his sleeves? Naruto carried himself with the air of one who'd long since embraced the battlefield. Speaking of physicality...
Good lord you could grind meat on those broad shoulders!
A flicker of crimson danced in her peripherals and then, quite suddenly, she found herself distracted as something landed on her shoulder.
"You there!" Odd how a voice so deep could come from someone so small. "Woman! Hide me!"
Mildly bemused by the spectacle, Rider favored her passenger a long, searching glance.
It was the fox from before, as she'd expected. That he'd abandoned Naruto's shoulder in favor of hers proved so amusing that Drake was inclined to let him stay, if only to get a rise out of her fellow Rider. What? A girl had to keep herself entertained somehow! Better this than nothing! In the end she took pity on the fox and allowed him to remain, for a time.
"Hey! I remember you," a wry smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she beheld his quivering form. "Kurama, right? You're that kid's...what, pet?"
Odd how something so small could be so loud.
"I am not a pet!"
Gotcha.
"Oh ho!" Grinning, she favored the little creature with a bemused look. "Then what are you?"
"I...!"
Sure enough he snapped at the bait like a starving shark. The tiny kitsune absolutely growled at her; indeed, he looked all of a moment from sinking his teeth into her. Remarkably, he mastered his anger and reeled his rage back from the brink. His immediate rejoinder however, struck the smile from Drake's face as surely as any blow.
"Nevermind that! Those buffoons are holding a contest for the glory of owning me! Make them stop at once!"
His words produced the opposite effect in her.
...ha?" Drake managed eloquently.
Baffled, she turned her gaze back to the proceedings only to find that the scene had changed once more. Oh, there were still upturned tables to be sure, but they'd changed, been shoved together by more than mere spite and happenstance. It almost looked intentional, as though they were trying to create one absurdly long one in the admittedly limited space. Worse still, Rider and Saber were now shaking hands beside their strange little monument, palms firmly clasped between one another. Hands! They'd been all but ready to kill one another a minute ago! What changed?!
But what truly baffled Francis Drake was not this sudden form of truce, but rather...
...what in the deep blue sea was going on here?
Why were there three RIDERS?!
The first was of course, shaking Saber's-who she strongly suspected to be none other than Nero Claudius-hand, but unless her eyes deceived her, there were two more. Two. More. Only the fading wisps of smoke offered any clue as to their origin. At first Drake thought they were little more than a conjurer's trick; illusions possessing little in the way of substance but no, at a word from their master one of the two doppelgangers turned to sweep Hakuno off her feet and swing her into his arms. The other snatched up a nearby chair, while the first happily plopped her down into it.
Drake actually blinked.
So. Physical copies, then. Copies that could interact with the world. Possibly fight, even. Ohhh, their battle was going to suck. How many copies could he make? Were they capable of taking a hit? Countless question flitted to life in her mind, swaying like a storm-tossed sea.
When she attempted to soundboard Kurama for answers, the little kitsune only groaned into a paw. "Its too late now...
"Wait, what is?" the sailor posited.
"Well, they couldn't have a proper duel before S.E.R.A.P.H. butted in, so they settled for this instead." a fresh voice interjected behind the two of them, punctuated by the brisk-yet-crisp sound of approaching footsteps. "More's the pity, really. Woulda put good money on blondie beating blondie over there in a fair fight. Feasting is a close second, I suppose. Look at all that grub!"
Unbidden her eyes stole back over the rapidly mounting mountain of foodstuffs taking shape across the table. Those roast turkeys looked particularly good, as did that pair of pies. A grand feast to be sure, but where the hell was it coming from? Just how much could S.E.R.A.P.H. make? No, wait,t hat was a foolish question. If meant maintaining the health of the Masters and their Servants, the Moon Cell could likely create enough to feed a small army...even if Rider and Saber were actively duping it.
But that was besides the point!
Who the hell was this?!
"Ha?!"
Drake recognized the voice-as well its owner behind her-not a heartbeat later and turned to face him-dragging an irritated Kurama along for the ride-though it took her a handful of seconds to realize what he'd meant by that. By then his doppelgangers had returned to the table and each seized hold of an empty tankard. Then they began thumping them upon the tables in a rhythmic succession, growing steadily louder with each passing moment. A steady clamor, one that thrummed in her blood almost pleasantly, like the drums of a great war galleon. Unbidden, Drake caught herself smiling.
"So that's their game. They're going to see who can pack more away?" A thought occurred to her, suddenly, and she tilted her head. "Wait...which one did you bet on?"
Light laughter greeted her.
"Yes."
To her dismay, Kurama actually joined him. "Wow. You walked right into that one."
Infuriating, the both of them!
Rather than painstakingly conceal his identity as most Servants would, this one seemed to revel in it. Here was a warrior who knew no fear, who spoke only one language, and it was the song of battle. Drake could respect that, if nothing else. The towering crimson spear slung over his shoulder gave his class away immediately; not that he made any effort to conceal it. And his attire...weeeeeeell now. He was certainly well-fit. That tight blue jumpsuit of his was nearly enough to make a woman drool. His azure hair, the idea of threading her hands through it...hmm. The thought made Drake lick her lips.
She knew at once he was infinitely pleased with himself, if only for the chaos that the two Servants were sowing around them.
It did her blackened heart good to meet another rabble-rouser this early in the war. Truly, it did.
Planting a hand upon her hip, the wild pirate queen flashed the newcomer a roguish grin.
"And your Master doesn't mind you being here, Lancer?" It was a baited statement of course, hooked words meant to pry a precious nugget of information from the otherwise recalcitrant Lancer. As luck would have it, he swallowed it without a care. She had her suspicions about him to be sure, but this merely confirmed it.
"Ha!" Wild red eyes widened with feral glee and pearly white teeth flashed out at her in a roguish grin. "Mine doesn't give a hoot. Guess I got lucky this time around~!"
"You do realize you still have E-Rank luck, hound?" she posited.
Lancer merely clicked his tongue at her, hook line and sinker.
"Gah, you're a cruel one...so? What's with the pet?"
Kurama squawked at the insult and the laughter that followed, red fur crackling as if he'd somehow caught fire. Really, it was almost cute to see something so small try to puff itself up so. Almost reminded Drake of a parrot. Ha! The mental image that conjured would stay with her for the rest of the war. Now she couldn't help but imagine the small kitsune with bright green feathers. Of course that only made her laugh all the louder, which in turn only served to further rouse the exasperated fox to new heights.
"You bastards!"
Lancer took the jab in stride. "Be that as it may, looks like we're not alone."
Drake frowned. "The hell're you talking...about...
Glancing about, the pirate was somewhat chuffed to find that she and Lander weren't the only interested party in this spectacle. Indeed, several Servants and their Masters had come out of the woodwork-quite literally in the case of a certain Archer-to take advantage of this rare opportunity, to glean some intelligence from the fallout of Naruto and Nero's little event.
Some were admittedly less overt about it than others.
On such a confined campus any clash, no matter how minor, would be noticed instantly by others. Likewise any event that strayed from the norm would be met with skepticism and excitement; there certainly seemed to be a great deal of the latter here judging by the sheer number of faces in the cafeteria.
There was a man in peerless white armor.
In the shadows she spied a bowman clad in forest green.
A little girl in a frilly blue dress-who might have been a Servant or a Master-also looked on eagerly.
Aha, and now she glimpsed that strange fox-girl from before watching Rider with an almost longing expression.
There, towering above them all, an absolute giant of a man, one she had no intention of ever facing. That was a Berserker if she ever saw. Bloodlust radiated off him in palpable waves to turn the air sour around him; his insanity only narrowly held in check by his Master's leash. Many of the Servants gave the white-eyed titan a wide birth because of this, save for a strange kimono-clad girl with...were those horns? Truly, this War had all manner of strange Servants...
"Well blow me down," she murmured, "I didn't think he'd attract this much attention."
Cú Chulainn, for she knew this Lancer could be no other, favored her with a wry smile. "We may be Servants, but we're people, too."
"S.E.R.A.P.H. is going to have a fit over this, you now."
"Eh." the spearman shrugged. "Not my concern."
All told there were nearly a dozen assembled here; a paltry number considering the sheer breadth of the Masters, but enough to draw her eye all the same. Some certainly stood out among others, there was even a young woman in blue who looked disturbingly like that red Saber, though she vanished as Drake stared overlong.
Wait, was that actually-
"Oi, Kurama!" Naruto's voice rang out through the crowded hall. "Where'd you get off to?! We're about to start!"
"Umu~!" Nero's grand giggle seconded. "Indeed! Come here at once! Its only fitting that you witness my grand victory over this fool!"
"Fool, am I?" she couldn't see the whiskered warrior over the curious throng, but she could hear the snark in his voice all the same. "You'll eat those words!"
...so much for escape. Seems that's my cue." the kitsune in question visibly deflated upon his temporary perch. "I'll be sure to kill you later, wench. But first! Revenge~!"
"What're you on about-YAH?!"
Even as she spoke Kurama paused, lingering just long enough to give Drake's right ear a hard nip before bounding off her shoulder with an satisfied cackle. Moments later he was lost among the bustling crowd. Now it was the pirate queen's turn to squawk. She was so startled by this sudden turn of events that she didn't even think to take a parting shot at him, much less when Lancer started laughing. A few of the less stoic Servants began to chuckle as well, rendering her face red as a rose. Cheeky little runt. She'd pay him back for that if it was the last thing she did...!
"Ha!" Her companion cackled anew with dark exultance. "Got you there, didn't he?"
Somehow, it was that remark that set Drake off.
She couldn't put her finger on the where or why; perhaps it had something to do with her fellow Servants having a feast-drinking!-without her. Perhaps she was in a foul mood after realizing her supposedly easy prey int the first round wasn't the ripe pickings she'd once thought them to be. Perhaps Lancer was simply being an ass for reasons she didn't understand. Whatever the case, she found her once good humor slipping through her fingers as surely as a strong wind. Her short-lived joy turned to ashes in her mouth and she grit her teeth.
"What's wrong, Rider? Fox got your tongue?"
Rounding on the grinning Lancer she fired off a one-fingered salute.
"Bite me, dog!"
That toothy grin only grew wider.
"Ohhohoho!" he crooned. "That an invitation?"
Before she could think to stop herself, Rider shot him.
It was a very good shot she thought; even as the Hound of Ulster continued to tease her she summoned a flintlock pistol to her right hand. Her finger twitched on the trigger, loosing three shots in the blink of an eye. Yes, by the time Lancer realized that he might have pushed her too far Drake had already filled his vision with lead. One for the eyes, another at the throat, and a third for his chest. Penalty be damned she was pissed and she needed to kill something!
At least that had been her intention.
Instead the blue-clad warrior effortlessly interposed his spear between himself and the buckshot, swatting away each shot as though it were no more than puny pellets fired from a child's toy gun. Rather than the startling- -yet-satisfying splat as she swiped that smug smile from his leering visage she found herself yelping, hastily ducking as her own bullets bounced back at her face.
"Oh that is so not fair!" she cried in a rare fit of exasperated pique, "What kind of bullshit reflex was that?!"
"Protection from arrows." he grinned cheekily. "Bullets count, apparently. Who knew?"
An awkward cough answered.
"I did."
Slowly, painstakingly, Francis Drake turned her head to find all eyes on her. In her haste to evade Lancer's riposte she had never thought to consider where her scattered shots might've landed. She'd been far too riled up at the time to even consider the possibility of missing. Perhaps had she taken a moment-just a moment-to consider the consequences of her actions so, she might've avoided a great deal of unpleasantness.
Alas, it was not to be and she realized her bullets had ricocheted horribly.
Naruto had blocked the first with his hand, quietly interposing his now-bleeding palm between a startled Hakuno's and the scattered shot. The second had ricocheted off the towering giant known as Berserker-who was all but glowering at her-to lodge itself into the ceiling, wholly out of harms way. But it was the third shot that truly landed the poor privateer in hot water. At first glance one might assume all was well; after all, she hadn't hit anyone with it. No harm no foul, right?
It was most assuredly not.
While it was true that her last bullet had struck neither Servant nor Master it had utterly devastated one of the larger turkeys set out by the NPC waiters. Thereby nigh but spattering a warm shower of grease and meat in every direction. Naruto didn't much seem to care that he was currently covered in the slop, and that little bird he called his Master was still too shocked to offer anything in the way of a response, but they hadn't been the only victims of the culinary explosion.
That included a certain red Saber.
Splat.
Drake twitched.
"Rider...you...you dare...?"
Absolutely twitched as Nero Claudius rose slowly from her great throne of chairs, hair dripping with grease. She stepped forward and as one, the entire crowd-Servants and their Masters alike-stepped back. Perhaps that was a bit of a misnomer. Rather, they stepped back from Drake. Somewhere in the background she heard her fellow Rider sigh, but that sound was wholly eclipsed by the hiss that followed. Those gentle green eyes were suddenly the poisonous shade of snake venom, an anger held in check by the thinnest leash. In hindsight, perhaps Drake should've taken that moment to run.
She did not.
"Um...it was an accident?"
Growling, Nero slowly wiped grease from her face.
"Of course, Rider, you do realize...this means WAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
Drake raised her hands, watching that ancient fury roar high in the emperor's eyes.
"Stop stop stop! Now wait just a second, missy! I didn't mean to to that! Lancer was the one who-
Her words fell on deaf ears; for a pudding pie sailed across the room to impact her headlong in the mouth. Sputtering the pirate queen fought her way upright and hastily dabbed at her face only for a second and a third and a fourth to find her with all the accuracy of a master archer. What the hell?! That wasn't even her class!
"Hey!"
"Ha!" Naruto crowed. "Serves you right!"
Unfortunately this snide remark earned him a far harsher treatment in the eyes of Saber. The words had scarcely left his mouth before a freshly roast goose rammed into his unprotected shoulders. The impact hurled him forward into poor Hakuno and both Master and Servant alike went down in a yelping tangle of arms and legs. Had that been it, their little squabble would've died a premature death on the floor and the Moon Cell would've been spared a great deal of...cleaning in the aftermath that followed.
Then one of his clones took it into its head to avenge the original and returned fire with a cry of: "En garde!"
Splat.
Nero shrieked as a peach detonated against the bosom of her dress and flailed spectacularly at the stain spreading there. Her lower lip trembled-actually trembled!-and for a moment, Drake wondered if she might actually burst into tears. Then something gave way in her those wide emerald eyes and brandished a bread-stick at him.
"Fiend!" she wailed!" How could you?! That was my favorite dress! Have at thee!"
The clone merely cackled and riposted in kind. "To the death, then!"
"Umu! To war~!"
Even then no one thought to turn tail and run the other way. Why should they? It was like watching a galleon wreck itself against a reef, you knew it was bad and you knew you needed to get out of there, but you simply couldn't look away. Oh, a few of the Servants-and a certainly holy knight-realized what was about to happen but such entertainment was few and far between. Naruto-the original-took the opportunity to drag his Master behind a table, but not before handing her a pilfered pear.
Which promptly sailed out of the fray and struck Drake in the face. "Again?!"
"Every man for himself!"
With her face still covered foodstuffs, Drake never saw Lancer's brimming grin. She never saw him snatch up a nearby mug of fresh ale. She certainly didn't see him dash it against the back a certain Archer's head. Nor did she see said Archer lob a watermelon back at the blue knight. Somehow not only did he miss, but he managed to strike the one observer he shouldn't have.
A low, mindless growl rumbled through the room and all went still.
With a wordless roar Berserker seized on the first item he found and upended an entire bucket of broth onto the shoulders of the nearest Servant.
"Why me?!" Robin cried!
Drake recovered just in time to snatch up a ham from the floor lest someone fling it at her, only for a tomato to splatter against her rear. She rounded on the source, only to find a familiar shock of blond hair peeking over an upturned table.
"NARUTO!"
"You'll never take me alive!"
From there everything spiraled out of control. Servant turned against Servant, Master against Master. Some had the wherewithal to duck their heads and take cover against the storm, while a few chose to flee rather than be dragged into the mess. Others joined in with relish, eager for a chance to vent their frustrations and air long-nursed grudges against their enemies.
The food fight-war!-that followed would be spoke of with both reverence and horror in the years to come. A spectacle so grand that not only did it spill out into the confines of the school itself, but it became such that the whole of S.E.R.A.P.H. would spend weeks cleaning up thereafter.
"I changed my mind! I LOVE this war!"
Yes, it was nothing short of absolute chaos.
Francis Drake reveled in every glorious moment of it.
A/N: Had to save the Rani and combat bits for next chapter, given the focus on Drake here.
And there we go.
HA!
Felt fun to give into madness and let all hell break loose.
Pain isn't fun.
Pain of the heart, pain of the soul, pain in general. Reviews keep me writing, feedback even more so. Without them its hard to keep myself coming back; health woes and other issues aside, I've been around this site for more than a decade now, and it breaks my heart to see people leaving in droves. But me? I'm here to stay. Until I draw my last breath. Until my body is dust.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
It really hurts when I bust my ass writing long chapters for you guys and gals only to get...well...nothing...
...hope you enjoy the previews!
Potential ones at any rate...
...and one of them...well...
GET READY TO CRY.
(Previews)
...I can see them, you know."
"Why, whatever do you mean, Rider?
"You're seriously going to make me say it?!"
"Umu!" Nero beamed. "Not so! Rather, I allow people to see them!"
This was a dream.
Hakuno knew it must be so; because she didn't remember having it.
Perched upon a towering fox the size of a mountain, Rider regarded her. So too did his mount, as though she were naught but a mote of dust beneath his boot. There was something...strange about his gaze, a high and wild joy that sent a small shiver through her. Yet there was no familiarity to be seen there in his gaze and that terrified her all the more.
Naruto clicked his tongue.
"You shouldn't be here, kiddo."
And her world erupted into unholy flame.
"A truce?! On school grounds?! Are you kidding me?!" Naruto tore at his hair in a rare moment of exasperation. "Grah, this is ridiculous! Why don't they just let us fight the way we want?!"
"I know right?!" Robin Hood seconded, flinging up his hands in exasperation as he tore into the meal. "If it weren't for my old geezer or your little chick of a master this would've been much easier!"
"Exactly! What place does honor have on the battlefield, oi?!"
"Precisely! Just let us fight to our hearts content, man!"
Both men shared a startled look of realization.
"Did we just become best friends?"
"Bah, why the hell not?!"
Kurama groaned.
"Great...
Hakuno willed her fingers into a fist.
"I'm not afraid...!"
He bowed, low and deep before her.
"These fists of mine are yours; now, until the end of time. Through endless lifetimes. I am yours."
Hakuno's eyes.
Got.
Really.
BIG.
R&R~! =D