Reminiscence of the Hunter

A hunter bound to his duties
A mercenary with only one duty

The group quietly approached the feeding grounds. As expected, the stench of blood and sweat filled their noses, engulfing their senses whole. Koujirou bit on his lip in disgust, blinking several times for his tears to go away. This was not their first mission, definitely.

When he was on his first expedition, the sight of a vampire doing his unpleasant everyday activities was horrifying. Rooted to the ground, he merely stared- the last thing anyone should have done in that situation. A flash of grey went past him, blasting the monster in an instant. It was his senior, Takagi.

"Sasaki, pay attention. You could've died there."

He had a cool, soothing voice that seemed too calm for the situation. Koujirou, being 18 at that time, looked up to the 30 year-old man. At first, he thought that Takagi was just simply used to this. But as time went by, he noticed that the man's hazel eyes tinged of sadness, especially when he saw a dead child. He must've lost his child.

But today's scene was like no other. A woman with gracefully, black hair was pinned onto the wall, as if crucified. Blood trickled from her mouth. Her torso was cleanly cut right in the middle.

Bites scattered all over her body; her neck, thighs, arms. The first thing you could see from her open chest was her empty lungs. Literally empty of blood. Koujirou gulped.

"Arghhh...I've never seen such cruelty..." Yosouka clamped his mouth with his hands.

They had to investigate the victim, though. A vampire did this, certainly. And a tricky, sick one at that. Not a trace of himself did he leave. The woman was also impossible to save in any way. With no leads, the group had to leave her there and proceed onto the next destination ahead.

Soon enough, they heard sounds of blades crashing against each other. Weapons flung around the room, getting deflected. A stunning view came into play. The vampire hunters stopped in their tracks, hiding behind a wall for safety.

An elegant looking man had his maroon hair swept to the side, cruel pale eyes that matched his manic smirk. As expected, his business suit and bare hands were smeared with crimson. He skilfully spun his cane around to reflect the knives mercilessly thrown at him.

At the other corner of the room was a young girl cladded in black. Her grey hair reached just below her shoulders, slightly curly. Greyish-blue eyes that shone with almost no light stared right in front where her target was. Clearly enough, she was getting sick with needing to dodge her own knives that only grazed the man.

Something surprising happened. Abandoning her useless ranged weapons, a bright purple light swarmed the room. In her hand formed a sleek scythe, its blade glinting menacingly in the moonlight. She had summoned a weapon out of thin air.

"That's a demon..." Koujirou gasped.

Vampire hunters were special humans with granted power. They could give their weapons special attributes and potential, being able to overpower their sworn enemies; vampires. But demons were different. With similar powers to vampire hunters, but much more exceptional. They could call out their weapons from nowhere with their manifested mana. Physically, they were much more blessed with their natural weapon handling.

She took a small step back. The air tensed, as if being swallowed whole by the snake in her hands. In a flash, the girl was face to face with the vampire. With no time to react, his eyes opened wide before he was cleanly sliced in half with the strong swing of the scythe.

"Mission en complete." The reaper muttered.

Blood spluttered onto the white-washed wall. His body fell apart, organs dropping onto the ground now that they were released from their shell. Yosouka couldn't take it. He swung his head away and threw up into the small drain beside him, afraid and disgusted. The leader, Tono, felt his eyes swim, but kept his ground.

"Koujirou." He whispered faintly. "We'll ask her later."

The said hunter's eyes brimmed with tears. Yes, tears of sadness. It wasn't that he felt bad for how the vampire's life ended. It was the girl. He, a 22 year-old man, was crying. Before him was a girl around 14 years of age, doing such a job. Her race didn't matter. What she just did was heart-wrenching. Her age was the same as his close friend's brother: Kouji. It was the same as imagining Kouji in her place.

It didn't end there. The remaining corpse of the vampire started to dissipate, as if burning away. A white trail of smoke emitted from it.

"In science, you call this sublimation...like mothballs. Right?"

With her cold icy eyes, she stared at the empty doorway. Feeling no reason to hide any more,Tono pulled Koujirou and Yosouka out of their places, facing the demon. Her scythe was already gone.

"What is your purpose of killing him?" Koujirou hesitantly asked.

"Contract."

Pulling out an official document, she placed it onto the man's hands. He eyed it with curiosity and suspicion.

"See, I signed here. My client needed him dead." She said nonchalantly.

The three men recognised the signature. Yosouka's face soured at the too familiar image that appeared in his mind.

"Leader. What is the meaning of this." The previously timid man's voice turned solid.

"...sorry. It was a desperate need..."

"Don't look so dejected, sir." The young girl looked up into Tono's face. "This is my job, I don't hate it."

Koujirou trembled. He was mixed with emotions about this...situation.

"I'm a mercenary, so just find me or call me up when you need." Placing a business card on both Yasouka and Koujirou's hands, she nodded with satisfaction. And with that, she faded from the night. Tono took the contract paper from Koujirou, staring at it with regretful eyes.

Never did Sasaki Koujirou know that it would come to use. Never did he realise the many times he needed it. Never did he think that she'd become his favourite mercenary, or use other mercenaries for that fact.

And he never thought that he needed to kill her eventually.

Authors Notes: And here is an even shorter chapter because I have nothing in mind. More of Fuyuki is revealed; though its actually so obvious that she would be like that from the beginning. TBH this was actually much more gore-ish but I had to tone it down because...ratings.

(ipreferredmyunnecessarybutbeautifulgorescenesthough/shot#reasonwhythischapterisshort)

Also, I'm glad that Fuyuki is being well received ^_^ Tell me if you'd like to see more of the Sakamakis, so I'll be able to put in the right dosage of them in for your enjoyment~