Slayer: Well here we are again! I think I said that before… Oh well! I must say this chapter has been one I've been thinking about for a while. There will probably be quite a few mistakes in this one. Mostly on the character I'm bringing in so any extra info on that will be quite appreciated. Also I'm stuck on the next Chapter of TOTDG so I'm doing this one instead.
Mizore: Who're you bringing in this time?
Shadow: Ooh I know!
Slayer: Say anything and you're dead! We don't want to spoil any surprises now do we?
Shadow: Fine…
Moka: Well I'm sure everything will turn out fine. Anyway who wants to do the disclaimer this time?
Shirone: Oh I'll do it!
Tsukune: And you are?
Shirone: The new character! As for where I'm from you'll just have to wait. So how bout it big brother!
Slayer: Take it away!
Shirone: Slayer infinium doesn't own anything except OC's and reality building concepts. Everything else goes to their respective owners.
Kurumu: Big brother?
Shirone/Slayer: (Smiles)
"Dark inner voice"
"Light inner voice"
'other language'
'Telepathic/talking to inner voice'
Thoughts
Chapter Three: Nekoshou and Devils
It's been a few weeks since the whole fiasco with Kurumu, and I must say soon Tsukune won't need me to protect him from enemies. Instead I'll be needed to keep Moka and Kurumu from accidently killing him with their constant fighting. If it's not Kurumu suffocating him, it is Moka draining him of blood. I'm seriously beginning to doubt him on his claim of being a human. Oh well I'm only supposed to make sure no enemies kill him not bail him out of his girl troubles. But enough about him let's recap what I've been doing. The weekend of the same week I told Mizore everything, I decided to update my fliers. So I went back to my hunters dream and created new ones to fit to my new perspective on monsters.
Now instead of saying I'll hunt down monsters and slay demons for money… It now says something along the lines of I'll be a body guard or I'll do any service that relies on protecting something. Or hunting down any rouge creatures, this way it'll be friendlier towards Youkai and other things of the like. I sent them out like usual as soon as I edited and proof read them. Now all I had to do was wait and see if anyone would give me a call. As for what else had happened… Well we had some exams that I helped Mizore study for. I decided that she truly did need the help after she told how she usually did. Let's just say it was pretty bad. It actually brings us up to our current events. Seriously though whoever thought it was a good idea to post our grades publicly should be killed, brought back to life and cloned, then have all of them be incinerated.
It didn't affect me as much as others since I knew I probably did very well. But Tsukune and Kurumu on the other hand…
"Well I placed 165, I guessed that was to be expected." Yep Tsukune was not exactly the brightest. And so you know the score was about average and a lot of people held that spot.
"I got 243… Man I really need to study harder." Like I stated before Succubi aren't exactly the smartest people around. I was watching the two mope and go into depression mode when I felt a tight hug from behind. Turning around I found Mizore with an excited look and a big smile.
"What's up Mizore? By that look I can only assume you did better than usual." She let go of me and nodded her head.
"Yeah in fact I scored the 65th place! And it's all thanks to you!" With that she kissed my cheek making me laugh a bit while I rubbed the back of my head.
"Well what can I say if it weren't for you actually trying it wouldn't have mattered what I did." That was true but I may have been undermining my teaching skills. After all her scores were usually just a bit lower than Kurumu's.
She giggled a bit at my embarrassment before turning around to see Moka approaching our group.
"Hey Tsukune! Hi everyone!" Her smiling face turned neutral when she looked at Kurumu. "Good afternoon Kurumu." Kurumu responded in kind, these sorts of things were happening much more frequently now. Tsukune being Tsukune however failed to sense the tension in the air started talking with Moka.
"Hey Moka! What score did you get on the exams?" She started smiling again when he started talking to her. Truly I have no idea what to do with these people sometimes.
"Well I haven't checked yet so let's go look." With that we followed her as she looked for her name. She stopped when she spotted her name. "Wow! I got 13th!" That seemed to make Tsukune depressed after hearing that.
"Wow Moka you're really smart. I got 165th place." Moka tried to cheer him up while he seemed to remember something. "Wait a minute… Hunter you never told us what place you got." Shrugging I motioned everyone to follow me to the beginning of the board. And lo and behold I managed to tie for first place. The other one who got first was someone named Yukari Sendo. Everyone but Mizore was completely shocked at my score. Mizore just gave me a tight hug.
"See I told you were amazing! I wouldn't have been able to get my score without your brilliance!" I just laughed while my face started to turn red. However as I turned towards some noise my face turned angry. Wondering what had gotten into me they saw what I was upset about. They as well started to scowl when they saw three boys picking on a small girl. She looked twelve or thirteen. She had short black hair and purple eyes. On her head was a witches hat and she wore the typical green checkered skirt, that was a part of the schools uniform. She also wore a pink top, a pink corset, and yellow over the knee socks along with brown shoes.
Deciding to intervene before anything happened I turned to my group. "Hey if it's all the same to you I think I'll go stop those three over there." They nodded their heads at me while I blinked over right behind the girl. I ended up startling both the young girl and the three who were picking on her when I spoke.
"You know it's not very nice to pick on those younger than you." All of them quickly looked at me to see my un-amused face. "So if you three would so kindly back off… Things won't have to become nasty." The one in front who seemed to be the leader snarled at me before speaking.
"Oh really? Tell me would you say the same thing if you knew this girl was a witch?" I rolled my eyes at him. What he said was unneeded I already knew she was a witch the same as I knew the three of them were lizard monsters.
"I already knew that you over grown lizard. So my promise still stands leave now in one piece or… Leave with broken bones." I directed a huge amount of killing intent at them and they gulped in fear. The leader was the first one to retreat shortly followed by the other two. Satisfied I looked down towards the girl in front of me. "Are you all right?"
She looked at me in surprise but nodded her head. "Well that's good, I'm hunter by the way." I held my hand out to her and her face became even more surprised.
Still she took my hand and shook it. "I'm Yukari Sendo, and if you're Hunter that means you're the one who tied with me." I couldn't help but be impressed, as it turned out a kid is actually one of the smartest people in school.
"Is that right well, color me impressed. I didn't think that you'd be so young." She blushed a bit and I turned around when the others came over. When Yukari saw Moka I noticed a small glint in her eyes. I already could tell that something was definantly going to happen soon.
The Line break for this chapter!
After everyone was introduced we went to the lunch room to chat. Or at least everyone else did my work phone started ringing half way there. Grumbling I stopped and pulled it out to talk to whoever was calling me. I was slightly surprised that it wasn't Mikogami who was my usual caller now days. Instead it was an unknown number. Raising an eyebrow I answered it and put it to my ear.
"Hello? This is Hunter how may I help you today?" Everyone stopped to look at me in confusion and then turned to Mizore. She gave them a tell you later sign while the person on the line talked to me.
"Hello I've found one of your fliers and I need your help immediately. You see right now we're hunting something very dangerous. So far we've been unsuccessful but we hope that you might be able to help us." Although he couldn't see it I nodded my head. After all I had a knack for finding just about anything.
"Sure I could easily help you with that. But first I need to know what my pay will be, and when I need to come in." I heard a few papers being ruffled around before I heard an exclamation of success.
"You'll be paid 800,000 on completion; you'll also be receiving a special sword for just showing up. As for when we need you it is as soon as possible. Will you accept?" I furrowed my brow when I heard about what they were offering. Whatever they wanted me to hunt was most likely very dangerous. However this was a pretty good opportunity for me and I decided to not pass it up.
"Alright then I accept and I'll be there shortly."
There was a sigh of relief when he heard me say that. "Splendid I'll tell my superiors right away. I hope you'll come soon, and don't worry the dimensional coordinates have already been sent to your phone." Pulling the device away from my ear I looked to see that he was correct. Finding that he was I put it against my ear once more.
"Alright then goodbye I'll see you later."
"Yes and thank you once more for accepting." With that he hung up, however I was still thinking about why I was needed. I looked back to the others to tell them about the call.
"Well it seems I got another job that I just can't pass up. Don't worry though I'll be back before you know it." I paused and placed a hand on Mizore's shoulder. "In the meantime Mizore will be in charge. So Mizore keep them all out of trouble for me please." Everyone seemed a bit indignant at what I said but Mizore just gave me a quick hug before answering me.
"Sure thing just be safe and come back soon. I'll try and keep everyone in line while you're gone." Smiling I walked away while dialing the chairman's number.
It took a bit but he answered me. "Greetings Hunter! What can I do for you today?" I gave a small chuckle before answering.
"Well I've gotten a quick side job that will pay well. My guess is that it'll only be for two days to a week so I was calling in to make sure you would excuse me from classes." I heard him hum for a moment before talking to me again.
"Alright but if Tsukune dies while you're away your payment here is forfeit." I snorted at his answer.
"If anything the girls he's with will kill him before any Yokai does. But I see your point wish me luck."
"Sure good hunting." With that I closed my phone and looked around to see if anyone was near me. Seeing no one I opened a portal to my hunters dream and started packing with the belongings I had there. I ended up stocking up on blood vials and tons of bullets. In my opinion you could never be too careful. Strapping on my gun and sword since there was no need to hide them anymore I picked up my travelers bag and headed to the rift stone. Approaching it I put in the dimensional coordinates and teleported to the place was meeting with my new employers. I wasn't expecting to be meeting in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. I also didn't expect that my employers would have bat wings attached to them.
I raised my eyebrow before clearing my throat and talking to them. "So… Am I right to assume you are the people hiring me?" There were at least ten of them and I could feel they all radiated different levels of power. Unfortunately they were all wearing hooded jackets and wore masks. Apparently they didn't want me to see their faces. However I couldn't judge them since I to was wearing my hat, glasses, and face mask. However their coats were all blue accept for the one I could feel was the strongest. That one was wearing a red coat and I assumed he was the leader so I addressed him.
"May I ask the name of my employer?" He snorted through his kabuki mask but it sounded amused.
"Yes my name is Xenolith a pleasure to make your acquaintance Hunter Infinium." Yeah I ended up choosing a last name for convenience sake. Although even I will admit it's not that creative, however I'm now stuck with it.
Still I looked at him impassively before talking back. "The pleasure is all mine Xenolith. So tell me what am I hunting and what do you need me to do?" He held his hand up and one of the guys in blue came forward with a sheaved katana.
"First this sword for showing up. Personally we don't know what it does. We do know however that it's special and has a unique energy." I quickly tried to sense out the energy coming from the sword and was surprised to find myself agreeing. It most truly wasn't an ordinary blade. Quickly yet politely I took the sword and examined it closer. The handle was eight inches long and pure black. The sheath was a plain smooth brown scabbard. Pulling out the blade a bit I could see that it was a smooth grey. Yet pulling out the complete three foot long blade I could see that it was masterfully crafted. Although I never laid eyes on this blade in my life I for some reason could feel a sense of familiarity with it. Sheathing it I decided to think on that later.
Seeing that I was indeed satisfied he Xenolith continued talking. "Now then for why you are here." That caught my attention and I turned back to him motioning for him to continue. "You see I've hired you to track a special kind of demon. A rare breed of Nekomata to be exact." I narrowed my eyes a bit at what he said, after all my home room teacher is a Nekomata. However I decided to hold my judgment. "This rare breed is called a Nekoshou, and has already caused us much grief. Especially this one's sister… You see we're devils and recently we've been using a system called the evil piece system in order to replenish our numbers. This one's sister willfully joined another devil's peerage or group. But that all changed when she killed her master." I could see where he was going now. But there was still some things I needed to have answered.
"I see but why did she do it? And why are we hunting her sibling?" I could feel Xenolith's anger rising in him as he answered me.
"Nekoshou have a unique power called senjutsu. Kuroka the name of the one who killed her master, went mad with power and murdered him in cold blood. As for her sister she also fled that night after the deed was done. Being her blood we need to make sure she doesn't end up doing the same. We would go after Kuroka but she disappeared and we can't find her. However her younger sister is much easier to find. However… We'll need your skills to finally pinpoint her location." I nodded my head because what he said seemed to make sense, however I still couldn't help but feel as though he wasn't telling me some things. I decided to ask my target when I found her… If she didn't try to kill me out right that is.
"Alright I'll take the job just give me something of hers and I will start right away. I assume you already have a team selected for this?" He nodded his head and motioned towards four others who stepped forward. One of them was holding a box which he handed to me. Examining it and seeing that I was just a simple brown lacquer small chest I opened it to find two black hair clips. They were shaped like cat heads. How appropriate considering what I'm hunting. "I must agree with you there. However some of these things don't add up. If this woman was truly dangerous… Why something so innocent and cute?" 'I don't know but hopefully we can find out before it's to late.' As of late my dark half has become more passive aggressive, but it was still quite violent. I had to thank Mizore for that it seems as though she's definantly has had a positive effect on me.
Concentrating on the clips in got a good sense of my targets aura. However this only made me more suspicious since it felt innocent for a lack of a better word. Still I was best that I didn't make a fuss. Closing the box and putting it into my infinite pocket I re-addressed them.
"Alright I managed to get a good signal we can start whenever you want to." Xenolith nodded his head before answering me.
"Alright then you can start now but only attack her at night. That way no humans will get in the way, best they stay out of our affairs. These four here will accompany you." He gestured to the four that stepped up before. I just nodded my head at them before turning back to Xenolith.
"Alright then I'll see you later I suppose. Come on then we have a cat demon to catch." Saying that I quickly turned towards the buildings exit and held the door open for the other four. Once we were all outside I closed it and started to follow the energy signature.
The Line break for this chapter!
The four ended up introducing themselves as well as their designation. Apparently the evil piece system works the same way as chess. Each peerage had a limited number of chess pieces to use to reincarnate someone with. With me was a bishop known for magical abilities, a knight known for speed, and two rooks known for attack and defense. I had to say it made our team pretty well balanced. The bishops name was Vex, the knights name was Horace. While they were both male the others were girls, the taller of the two rooks was named Yuno, while the shorter was named Ferris. Unique names but hey I'm not a devil so why should I care what their called. Besides this isn't my home dimension so why should I care?
Unfortunately even with both me and my dark side working together in order to find the girl it still took at least three days to follow her to her current location. During those three days we had to rent hotels and avoid any so called fallen angel activity in the area. We did however end up in a fight with a Vatican exorcist. During the fight I stayed back and watched them in order to see their fighting abilities. I noticed alone they were rather worse for wear. But when they worked together they were actually quite formidable. I quickly came up with a plan to eliminate them just in case. The place where we ended up following the energy signal to was some sort of shipping yard. I could practically smell all the fish. I laughed which gained me strange looks from my so called team.
I look at them before talking. "Sorry it's just were hunting a Nekomata, and now we find her in a place that smells of fish. In truth I find this rather amusing sine cats in general love fish." At that everyone laughed a bit and I waited before continuing. "Alright so here's the hard part." They all stopped laughing to look at me. "You see while I may be able to find someone's general location I can't pinpoint their exact location. So we'll need to split up and search for her separately." Everyone nodded while I went off in a direction. Everyone soon followed my lead and split up. However unlike them I didn't pick a random direction. You see I lied… I can actually pin point people. Although covered I gave an evil grin that would make Alucard proud.
Yes I lied but I wanted to talk to this girl and hear her side of the story first. It started raining heavily as I search but I wasn't deterred. I followed her signature before I heard someone crying. I stopped and furrowed my brow, it sounded like a small child. At this my mind started to race. As I continued to walk towards the source of the energy signature the sniffling and crying grew louder. It also clearly sounded like a young girl now. So I quickened my pace while putting my hat and glasses into my infinite pocket. If it truly was a small girl those things would only frighten her. Turning around one final corner I found my target, however I was now extremely anger along with my dark side. In front of us was a white haired girl with two cat ears on her head.
She was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with and a green skirt that went past her knees. Over her shirt was a pink vest. She was also wearing black dress shoes with white knee high socks. Her hair was a medium length bob cut and was tangled and messy. I could also see that she had two white cat tails. Her clothes were torn and covered in dirt and what looked like dried blood. At the moment she was curled up hugging her legs while she cried. She was soaking wet from the rain and I knew if I didn't do something she could get quite sick, despite her yokai immune system.
"This was what we were hunting?! Those people will pay for tricking us like this!" 'I can't agree more but first we need to take care of her.' Walking slowly towards her I stepped in a puddle alerting her to my presence. Seeing me and my attire along with my sword she tried backing up away from me in panic. However there was a row of shipping crates behind her. As I looked at her face I could see golden cat like eyes. She looked no older than nine. Quickly thinking and throwing my hands up to show that I meant no harm I started talking in a soft and calming voice.
"It's okay I'm not here to hurt you. Just calm down and let me help." She still looked panicked but I frowned when I saw her holding her left arm. I could see that there was a small yet deep cut there. Kneeling in front of her she closed her eyes as if waiting for me to do something to her. Instead I used a little healing charm and fixed her arm. She opened her eyes in surprise and looked at her arm than looked at me. There was still some distrust but at least I showed her I wasn't going to hurt her at least. Thinking about the cold and the rain I rummaged around my travelers bag and got out a spare coat. It was definantly too large for her but using a quick charm I shrank it to better fit her. It was still one size to big but it was the best I could do with my limited magical talent.
Turning back to her I draped the coat over her, after which I took out my hat and placed it over her head. It wasn't much but it was the best I could do for her at the moment. I looked her in the eyes to see that she now had some hope in her frightened eyes. I took this chance to continue talking to her.
"Listen I'm called Hunter Infinium but you can just call me Hunter. Now what's your name?" She looked hesitant at first but she still answered me anyway.
"My name is Shirone." I smiled brighter for her, while I put my hand on her head. She flinched but she slowly relaxed as I petted her head underneath the hat.
"It's nice to meet you Shirone. Now listen there are a group of people here trying to find you." When she heard that her eyes became fearful again. "However I'm not going to let them lay a finger on you, but you need to answer some of my questions first alright?" She nodded her head fearfully but I continued to smile for her sake. Inside both me and my dark side were both rather infuriated at Shirone's current state. But we knew there we needed to hear her part of the story before we made our final judgment.
"Alright first question, have you ever harmed anyone before?" She quickly shook her head no. I could tell she wasn't lying so I continued. "Do you know where your older sister is?" Her face became a bit angry but still shook her head no. Her anger was understandable, after all this was her sister's fault. "Alright final question, did your sister tell you about what she was going do before she killed her master?" She shook her head again. We finally had all we needed to justifiably keep her safe from the devils chasing her. Everything made sense now; her sister went mad with power so they're worried that Shirone will as well. Their plan was to eliminate her before she could even prove that she wasn't like her sister. To me it was rather revolting, especially since she was just a little girl who was afraid and had just lost her only family.
"Alright Shirone Chan just follow me and stay close I'll get you to somewhere safe and warm." I stood up and offered her my hand which she took hesitantly. I quickly hoisted her up held onto her hand as we made our way towards the shipping yards exit. For the moment I couldn't just open up a portal to my hunters dream. In order for me to allow someone in I would have to use an imprint spell that allowed the person to come and go as they pleased. Unfortunately that took a few hours. Hours which we currently didn't have, if I could I would've just taken her there and come back for the devils myself but alas I couldn't. It was strange though, for the first time in my life I was actually afraid for someone else's life. Sure I worry about Mizore but she's never been in a life or death situation before. With Shirone if I messed up she would be hauled away and executed.
I needed to focus and concentrate. If I could I would prefer not to kill anyone at this moment. I didn't want Shirone to see any more blood or violence at the moment. On our way out I had to more than once stop our movements and hide while some of the others crossed our paths. Each time I would crouch behind something holding Shirone close to me. Luckily my clothes are enchanted with a non-detect spell. This blocked our energies from being felt out. Trust me when I say it comes in handy when sneaking up on a hulking demonic… Ok I think you get the point. Using blink I teleported us on top of stack of shipping crates. I used that opportunity to feel out the rest of the devils and look for their physical location. I could only smile when I found them all on the ground; none of them were flying around. This allowed us to blink from stack to stack.
Though she was surprised Shirone didn't say anything about my power. No doubt she was saving her questions for later though; right now she knew we needed to be quiet. It wasn't long until we were outside the shipping yard. Panting in exhaustion from using so many blinks I set her down. She seemed worried about me but didn't say anything. After a moment I recovered and kneeled down.
"Listen we need to get out of here quick and I can't do anymore blinks. So get on my back and I'll run us to safety." Seeing how I've kept her safe so far she nodded and got onto my back while wrapping her arms around my neck. She was surprisingly light but I didn't comment as I grabbed her legs and started running at top speed. I inwardly smiled knowing that they would never find us at the moment no matter how hard they searched.
The Line break for this chapter!
I didn't stop running for about two hours. By then I was completely exhausted, Shirone could tell that as well but I needed to find us a hotel where we could rest up for the night. Finally setting her down and looking at a relatively small yet nice looking one I kneeled down in front of her.
"Listen I need to know if you can hide you true form from the humans in there. If not I'll put an illusion charm to hide your tail and ears." She looked at me thinking quickly before answering me.
"Yes I can but not when I'm asleep." I smiled and gave her a small pat on the head.
"Good enough now can you do it right now?" She nodded and her ears suddenly disappeared along with her tails. Another thing that changed was her eyes. They were now mostly human looking yet still somewhat cat like. Still smiling I took out my glasses and put them over my face. Getting up and holding her hand we went up to get a room for the night. Luckily the coat I gave her covered her completely, or else the receptionist would be able to see all the dirt and grime on her. Moving inside I looked at a clock to see that I was around ten pm. The receptionist was a young woman in what looked like her early twenties. Looking up from her work she smiled at us. She had brown long curly hair and bright green eyes. She also wore a plain blue business dress.
Looking between us she turned to me and spoke. "Why hello there what might I do here for you today?" She seemed quite cheerful and I smiled back to her.
"Well me and my sister here got caught up in this rain and it's getting rather dark. So we decided it would be for the best to get a room here for the night." Nodding her head she looked over towards a computer on her desk.
"And how long will you be staying?" I thought for a moment.
"Most likely until tomorrow in the afternoon." She nodded again before typing some things.
"And what are your names?" Thinking quickly I gave her some fake names.
"My name is Keigo Matsumoto, and this is Rin my youngest sister." Shirone looked at me and I motioned for her to go along with it for now.
"It's nice to meet you Ms." The receptionist just smiled warmly at her while typing away some more.
"Well aren't you the cutest thing! My name is Yuffie Tidol. It's nice to meet you as well Rin Chan." Shirone just blushed a bit while looking at the floor. I was happy that Shirone wasn't completely broken from what's happened to her. But I still needed to know where our room is and how much it would cost. So I cleared my throat a bit which gained me her attention.
"Can you tell me how much this will cost please?" She nodded and looked at her computer again for a second before turning back to me.
"Well it'll cost about 900 yen for each of you. But if you share a room it'll be about 700 yen each." I nodded and opened got out my wallet and pulled out a few bills and handed them to her.
"We'll be taking one room please. Also keep the change as a tip for being so kind." She blushed a bit and accepted the money and took out a key. She stood up and motioned for us to follow her. Our room ended up being on the second floor, room 35 to be precise. Unlocking it she showed us the small washer and dryer along with the small kitchen. The room also had to small beds that were in front of a TV. The bathroom also had a small bath and shower combo. Altogether it was rather nice for a relatively cheap hotel. Or at least cheap for me, after all I'm rather rich right now from my job protecting Tsukune. I frowned and I had to wonder what Mizore was doing right now, especially since it was sort of out routine to eat breakfast and dinner together in my room.
I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts. Right now Shirone needed me to help her and I couldn't get distracted.
Turning back to Yuffie she handed me the key before speaking again. "If you need anything there's a phone that contacts us. Anyway I'll see you in the morning right now I need to get home since I'm finally done for the night." Both of us said thank you and bid her good night as she did the same and walked out while closing the door. Turning to Shirone I started to tell her what we were going to do next.
"Okay first things first you can go clean yourself off while I wash your clothes. Don't worry I'll have something for you to wear when you get out. As for any damage your clothes have, don't worry I can fix that with a few charm spells. After you're washed up I can make a quick meal before we get to bed, how does that sound?" She nodded her head, and quickly went off towards the shower I waited a bit until she put her clothes outside the door. I quickly grabbed them and put them into the washer before going to my travel bag. Looking through it I found some sweat pants and a plain white shirt. I quickly shrank them to her size and went up to the door while knocking.
"Okay I got some clothes I'll just leave them right outside the door okay?"
"Alright!" I heard her say from through the running water. Nodding my head I went to go make something from the food I had in my bag. It wasn't much but I was able to make some macaroni and cheese. Not that crappy craft stuff but homemade shell macaroni. I knew that Shirone was going to be in there for a while since she was covered head to toe in dirt. So I was able to have time to get the food almost done while switching her clothes to the dryer. Since it wasn't much I didn't have to put them in for extremely long times so they went by rather quick. By the time I heard the shower stop her clothes were clean. However much to my embarrassment I had to pick grab her under wear and put it onto the clothes pile outside the bathroom. After that I quickly started repairing the rest of her clothes.
When that was done I heard her finally exit the bathroom wearing the clothes I gave her. She seemed much more relaxed and calm then she did before. Not that I could blame her I'd feel rather happy to be clean again if I went through the same thing. Looking at her I remembered something and grabbed the box that held the pins from out of my infinite pocket and set I down on the table. The table already had some spoons and bowls along with the food I made. I also put some glasses of milk on the table for both of us. However her attention was on the box.
Seeing this I spoke to her. "This box and its contents are yours so go ahead and open it." She eyes me wearily but still picked it up and opened it. I smiled as I saw her eyes grow wide from surprise. Turning to me for confirmation on if it was alright to take them I smiled and nodded my head. Quickly she sat down the box and put the clips on the opposite sides of her head. Though both could still be seen from the front, I must admit they did seem to suit her. At this point I saw tears start to come out of her eyes and tackled me in a tight hug. Apparently those clips were more important than I first thought. I returned the hug letting her cry out all of the grief and pain she's held up to this moment. After a while she backed away sniffing a bit but had an embarrassed look on her face.
"Sorry for that it's just… I was so relieved to have these back and to finally feel safe I just…" I hugged her again much to her surprise while petting the top of her head.
"Don't worry everything's fine I'm just glad I found you before the rest of them did." I let go and gestured to an empty seat at the table. "Now let's eat before this gets cold and have a nice rest." She smiled and agreed, and although I was fairly hungry I let Shirone have most of the food. After all she was practically starving from being on the run for so long. So after she was done I told her to go get some sleep while I put things away. She looked like she was about to protest but instead yawned and her face turned tired. I just gave a slight grin at her and she pouted a bit before relenting.
"Good night then." I could see her face lit up with some amusement before continuing to talk to me. "Don't stay up to late Big brother." I laughed a bit before turning to her.
"Don't worry I won't little sister." When she got into bed and covered herself I waited until she started to lightly snore before giving a tired sigh. I rubbed my temples while trying to think of my next move. At the moment I couldn't take her into my hunters dream because of the earlier reasons. I also still didn't have enough time to completely allow her into it either, I could do some of the work in the morning but we would have to move quickly in order to evade any pursuer's. It will at least take me a couple days to complete the allowance. But what after that? I couldn't just leave her in my true home alone and there was no one to take care of her besides me. Quickly I got an idea and took out my phone. I was hoping that Mikogami was still awake if not I really didn't care if I woke him.
I quickly dialed the number and waited for an answer. I exhaled in relief when a slightly tired sounding Mikogami picked up.
"Well Hunter san what can I do for you this hour? How is the hunt going for now?"
"Things are fine for the moment but that is likely to change soon."
I could hear some concern in his voice. "Tell me what's happening then." I quickly recap everything that's happened so far and I waited to hear his opinion on the matter.
"That is rather troublesome in deed. My suggestion is to focus on allowing her to enter your hunters dream before going after the devils."
"I already came to that conclusion myself but I need to ask you for a favor." I could practically feel his eyebrow raise.
"Oh and what would that be?" I thought of words carefully before answering.
"I need your permission to bring Shirone to school during lunch periods and allow her to be there after school and in the mornings before school. That way I'll be able to keep an eye on her."
"Hunter are you sure about taking on this responsibility? I know what happened during your time as a monster hunter. Raising this girl will be rather difficult I'll allow this but only if you're sure." I looked towards the sleeping Nekomata and solidified my resolve.
So with absolute surety I answered him. "Yes I will, besides she has nowhere else to go and I won't allow her to be alone." I could hear him laughing on the other side of the line.
"Very well then! It seems as though you're finally growing up I will grant your request just get here safely."
"I will sir, and don't worry I'll talk to you later." With that said I hung up and walked over to the beds. I quickly got changed and I took one last look at the sleeping Neko, I saw that her cats ears were showing again along with her tails. I smiled a bit before jumping into bed myself.
The Line break for this chapter!
I woke up the next day feeling slightly sore from yesterday's events but still capable of getting things done. I looked at one of the clocks and sighed when it said it was only 8:00. Still I needed to get some breakfast ready. Getting up and getting changed into my regular clothes I started on breakfast. It was simply just eggs, toast, and milk. Shirone woke up from the sounds of me cooking and stretched while giving a cute yawn before turning to me. I waved at her while smiling.
"Good morning! I hope you rested up well enough because we have a lot to do today. Also your clothes are cleaned and repaired there over there in the chair there." I pointed to one of the dining room chairs that had her clothes draped over it. She nodded and grabbed them before heading to the bathroom to change. By the time she was done the food was ready and I pulled out an old looking book from my pocket. The book was my book of allowances. So far it only had Mizore's allowance in it. However that took up ten pages. Giving people access to my hunters dream was much more complicated than just writing down a name in this book. I had to write scripts and diagrams in order to let her be able to come and go as she pleased. Still I got started while eating, looking up to Shirone as she entered the room I bade her to sit down and she did. I waited for her to be completely finished before telling her my plans.
"Okay I know how to make sure you'll stay safe. However I'll need time to make it happen. You see I have dimensional home that I live in, but in order to invite people to stay I need to write up a whole bunch of script in this book here. After I'm done you can travel there anytime you want and leave at any time. You with me so far?" I waited for her to nod her head before continuing. "Anyway you'll also be able to travel to any dimension I've traveled to before using a rift stone I have. I'll show you later, however I'll also be taking care of you and I've gained permission for you to come with me to school." Her eyes widened a bit when hearing that.
"You mean you won't leave me?" I looked at her and saw that her face was rather desperate. So getting up and walking over to her I cupped her hands in mine while kneeling down. I looked her in the eye before answering her question.
"No I won't leave you I promise." When I let go of her hands she gave me another tight embrace which I returned. Letting go I backed up and started to explain things a little more.
"Now you see the schools name is Yokai Academy and right now I'm doing a job for the chairman. This involves me keeping a wimpy human alive for the rest of the time he's there. This would be just fine except for the fact that no one can know about him being human. If they do find out he'll be eaten, killed, or broken into pieces. So far only me, you, Mizore, and Moka know. So when you meet them I need you to keep this secret ok?"
Her face turned serious before answering. "Don't worry you I won't tell anyone." I smiled happily and rub her cat ears a bit which earned me a purr from her. Sitting back down I started to work on the scripting for her again. About two hours later my phone started ringing again. Taking it out I saw that I was Xenolith's number. Scowling I decided to let him know exactly how I felt about him.
I answered the phone and let my anger seep out of my voice when I answered. "Hello Xenolith nice of you to finally call." This got me two responses, one from Shirone who adopted a worried look, and I heard a nervous cough from Xenolith.
"Well I can tell someone's upset. But I had to call seeing how none of the team I sent you with has had any contact with you for the last twelve hours!" He sounded rather frustrated but I didn't care. "Where in the world are you!" Okay maybe a little bit more than frustrated. However I was still furious at him for what he tried to make me do.
"I won't tell you my exact location… But I will say I'm now protecting Shirone from all of you!" I could hear some cursing from the other side of the phone.
"We had a deal! You track down the girl and I'll pay you eight hundred grand! How could you pass all that up? We even gave you the sword!" At this I laughed since he was only making himself look like a fool.
"I'm sorry but when I found out the target was just some sweet little girl I decided that our deal was void. If she was something truly despicable I wouldn't have hesitated, but you tried to trick me and now I won't let you lay a finger on her! So listen to me if you send anyone after her… prepare a funeral just in case they never make it back to you alive!" With that I disconnected the call while clenching my fist. Taking a few moments to calm down I looked back to Shirone who still looked worried. "Don't worry I won't let them harm you for now just let me work on this we'll be leaving in an hour." She nodded her head and laid down on one of the couches waiting for the hour to pass by.
Character notes
Monster classes… SSS, SS+, SS, S+, S, A, B, C, D, F+, F
Moka-Vampire: Natural S class monster-current class S
Mizore-Yuki Onna: Natural B class Monster-current class B
Kurumu-Succubus: Natural A class monster-current class A
Hunter-Voidwalker/Beast hunter: Natural D class monster-current class S verge of S+
Tsukune-Human: Natural F class-current F (comparison to Navy seals-C class)
Xenolith-Devil: Natural S class monster-current class ?
Shirone-Nekoshou: Natural B class monster-current class B
Kuroka-Nekoshou: Natural B class monster-current class ?
Xenolith's Peerage-Reincarnated devils: Natural A class monsters-current classes A
Slayer: Yep left it off at a cliff hanger bring on the hate! Anyway if you're confused still about who Shirone is, she is actually Koneko Toujou from high school DXD. And yes I am once again manipulating quite a few things. However I am also lacking in information since I've never really watched the show. It just never really interested me. However the background lore and information did. So I figured why not bring in one of the characters to mess with the time line!
Shadow: You've been doing that a lot you know? I mean after the whole thing dealing with the 6000 years ago stuff and the whole alternate reality things… I'm surprised your still able to keep everything together.
Shirone: Don't worry Slayer has everything planned out! Right big brother?
Slayer: Of course I do! The only problem is fitting everything into words.
Mizore: I wonder how your counterparts in the TOTDG are doing then? After all you've connected these two series if only slightly.
Moka: Will we be able to meet them?
Slayer: No most of you will not as I said before these are a separate but still within the same reality. I'll go into more details about what that means later for now though… this is Slayer Infinium signing off!
Tsukune: I still haven't been trained yet.
Slayer: Don't worry you should enjoy your mostly painless existence until then. Besides Shirone is nine years old and is already stronger than you.
Tsukune: Thanks for that boost in confidence. I'm now even more worried about my training.
Slayer: Don't worry… everything… will….. be… just …. Fine….
Tsukune: Well I'm dead.