The Hunter Chapter 9
The Twenty Fifth Floor
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Sword Art Online and Naruto belong to their respective creators and I am just using that, illegally, without explicit permission. Sue me. The only things that are mine are the ideas that I introduce in this fic.
This is a review from NineDaysGrace, a fellow writer on the site and the person who wrote Unwavering Sky's Lime; he's a lazy sort of bastard with an unhealthy fascination for blonde anime women, corpses and Asuna Yuuki, in that order.
Let's get the basics out of the way first, this fic is set in Sword Art Online, where the basics of everything boils down to SWORDS, then along comes White Archer.
Now let's look at EMIYA, the ORIGINAL Archer. Despite being called Archer and using a bow, his real forte lies in SWORDS. This chapter reveals that White Archer is hiding something under his cloak; the same way you foreshadowed his BOW hiding under his cloak in the first chapter seems to parallel the hazy connection Archer has to his Swords.
The way I see it, the Bow can be likened as a smokescreen, for both of them, or at least I think so. It hides their true offensive capabilities, or at least I hope that is what you're hinting at. Either way, I'm certain that you have something AWESOME in store for us. A chant maybe? *Wink wink*
Another thing I wanted to point out, I'm not absolutely sure yet since we only have eight chapters but let's look at EMIYA, in terms of morality, we can call him the Red Archer. He is pragmatic and has no problems sacrificing people for the greater good/objective.
Then we have Blue Archer (gabriel blessing's Hill of Blades) a more moderate version of the original and somewhat more noble.
I'm just guessing here, but are you making us a third one? The White Archer. Who is noble or at least seems so because from what we've seen so far, he certainly seems like a more pure version of Red Archer. He is willing to sacrifice people, but it's like he won't do it unless he has a damn good reason to.
Red Archer, Blue Archer and White Archer.
Damn, I'm feeling so excited to see what you'll give us in the future, so I apologize if this review was TLDR.
*****Personal Note from Kishi****
NineDaysGrace; I don't think I've seen anybody root through my works and analyse our work to this extent, mind you, it's not 100% correct, but the theme was spot on, that's why I'm putting your review up as my personal salute to you.
In fact, we're going to start doing this from now on, anyone who manages do the same will get a personal salute from us.
The reason for this is several fold; it will make it easier for readers to understand what drives our characters, it might give our readers more incentive to read rather than skim (assuming you think of us as something more than a pair of idiots that exist solely to crap out entertainment for you and you like finding little nuggets of information we slip into our works), it will also help us portray our characters consistently the way we planned, and you can tell us if we failed in that regard.
(We have, like, five different limes/lemons for Asuna and various other girls from him stored away and haven't been able to use them yet…)
Soundtrack List
GReeeeN – Tobira
Rie Tanaka – Mizu no Akashi
Home Made Kazoku – Shooting Star
Skillet – Dead Inside
Masami Mitsuoka – Last Cross
John Dreamer – Brotherhood
****The Hunter****
Play GReeeeN –Tobira
Kirito blinked rapidly as every eyeball in the courtyard swivelled around the stare at him. He and his squad had just returned from another scouting mission when they ran smack dab right into a large group of almost frenzied looking women that turned to stare at them almost simultaneously like a monster with a thousand eyes.
Beside him, Kline, the other members of Furinkazan wisely froze and threw their hands up into the air in surrender and gingerly backed away from the stares, as if it would stop the large group of silently staring women from biting their heads off.
"Takamatsu… did you eat something important again?" As the expectant stares turned into accusing ones, the tall and largest member of Furinkazan rumbled with a heavy sigh, "You know I told you to lock your door at night."
"I... maybe?" The stout man whimpered, "Give me a break, Moritaka, there are times… when everything seems so fuzzy after I get hungry."
"No, that's just your stomach overruling your brain." Kline calmly replied as the grumbling horde of women waiting at gates of the 25th floor's main gate gradually looked away from them with a certain sense of disappointment, "They're waiting for Argo and her team."
The large and dark skinned man in Japanese styled armour whose name was Moritaka gazed at his Guild Leader with some surprise, "How did you know that?"
"They were writing about it in the Ribbon Daily. Something about a treasure."
"You read a women's only magazine?" Kirito noted with some amusement.
"It passed the time," Kline shrugged, "And it gave me something to talk about with Ashley."
Every single female there seemed similarly on edge as every available pair of shining eyeballs were fervently ignoring the group of men standing there like idiots as they stared at the Gate.
As the boys edged away from the accusing glares, Kline glanced around the courtyard and jerked his chin in the direction of the Inn where a familiar blond was leaning against the wall with an exasperated but amused half grin and his arms folded around his chest, "Look, Naruto is there, he might know something."
Naruto gave them a brief nod as they gingerly tip toed towards him, "Hey, Naruto," Takamatsu said in a stage whisper as if he was afraid of riling up the group of women, "What's going on? Was there an event of some sort?" The person asked with his usual cheerfulness even though Kirito was fairly certain they had all just escaped a certain death.
"I'll let you know when I get a clue. I was on my way out for training when I found them gathered around the Gates like a group of ravenous tigers." The blond grinned boyishly, "It seemed interesting, so I stayed."
"Why am I not surprised that you skipped training just because something seemed fun?" Kirito replied dryly.
Naruto shrugged casually with a helpless smile.
"Something feels off." Moritaka's shaggy black hair bounced as he nodded, "There's a buzz of anticipation in the air."
"What gave you that idea?" Naruto replied mildly as he looked around, "Was it the way everyone keeps eyeballing the gate or the fact that nearly everybody who considers herself female is here?"
The courtyard they were in was surprisingly busy. That wasn't unusual in and of itself, but as his eyes skimmed the crowd, it almost seemed like the entire female population of Sword Art Online had gathered here for some reason, though if Kirito looked carefully, there were quite a few males on the outskirts of the courtyard as well, milling around with confused expressions that he was quite sure adorned his own face as well, "I see Asuna is here as well."
Catching her gaze, Naruto beckoned her to join them with a wave and a grin.
"What is it?" The short girl asked with an uncharacteristic shortness as she reluctantly shifted her gaze from the Gate to the group of men, "I'm busy."
Kline leaned forward with an interested gleam, "What is this treasure all of you are waiting for?"
"It's a secret."
"I can't help but feel that I'm missing a part of this conversation." The blonde noted slowly, as he shifted away from the edgy and fidgeting girl. Her hair was wild and unkempt unlike the way she usually had it and the wild, nearly desperate look in her eyes wasn't helping, "What treasure is this?"
She reminded him of a feral, savage chipmunk.
"We found IT." She hissed again, "The legendary item!"
At that, Naruto dismissed his unkind thoughts and leaned forward with a curious look in his eyes, "Does this legendary item have a name?"
"Shhh! Somebody might be listening!" She hissed desperately, her eyes whirled around the crowded and yet strangely quiet courtyard as almost everyone there seemed to be holding their breaths with an air of impatience.
Naruto very slowly and very deliberately threw a sweeping glance around the crowded clearing before looking Asuna in the eye, "Don't worry," He said seriously, "I'm sure that everyone else gathered here are too busy watching the flowers grow instead of listening in on us. After all, it can only be coincidence that almost every girl in SAO is gathered here at the same time."
Asuna wrinkled her nose before making a sheepish face, "We do look a little desperate don't we?"
"Just a little." Kirito offered with a half-smile.
The brown haired girl chuckled weakly, "Someone's been spreading rumours about a special fruit that has certain qualities, but confirmation only came this morning when Argo found it. She wouldn't tell anybody where its exact location was, but offered to bring it to us."
"That would certainly explain a few things." Naruto noted, "What are these qualities you keep talking about?"
"Why don't you stay and watch?" Asuna said as she purposefully dangled the information out of their reach with a cheerful wink, "If I'm feeling generous and if you ask nicely, I might even share."
Before the embarrassed man could reply, a rumbling cheer that started off as a whisper slowly began to rise from the females until it was a roar. Glancing at the archway that marked the entrance to the frontlines himself, the blond arched one eyebrow as a group of girls marched through the gates triumphantly.
Between the six of them, two of which was Tamamo and Argo, they carried a large brown crate, the kind that the Guilds usually used to temporarily store potions and crystals for Boss Fights.
His eyebrows rose even higher as he realized that this one was filled with some sort of fruit that was shaped like bananas, but that was where all similarities ended. He might have been disconnected from reality for half a year, but he was quite certain that bananas didn't have poisonous green skin and dangerous looking crimson spots.
Almost reverently, Argo silently dipped her hands into the crate and began handing them to the group of solemnly waiting females while the males just watched, half curious and half afraid that they were watching the beginnings of a cult. Naruto certainly didn't blame them, he felt the same.
When the crate had been emptied, leaving quite a few disappointed females sobbing their eyes out while their compatriots all stood there, silently clutching at the bananas like some sort of holy item, Argo spoke solemnly, "The day has come. After much searching, we have finally found it."
"And they still don't have the decency to say what it is." Naruto grumbled under his breath as the girls and women nodded as one.
"She's hamming it up pretty nicely though." Kirito noted calmly.
Naruto held up a small crystal and began recording. At the strange stares from his friends, the blond shrugged, "Just in case I need some blackmail on her, she's going to regret all this theatricality in the morning, and I figured I should at least profit from it."
"With friends like you, who needs enemies." Kline muttered.
"We just have a special working relationship that revolves around blackmailing each other and large amounts of Col and sweets." The blond countered with a miffed expression as he kept recording the group of insane women.
"This is a gift, not a right. Something to be enjoyed leisurely, do not make the mistake of gulping it down for doing that would be the height of indignity." Her dark eyes roved around the courtyard one more time, impressing upon her…. recruits the importance of what she was saying, "Now…. We eat. Lick, don't bite. Not yet."
As one, the bananas were painstakingly peeled with the utmost care, revealing a cream white centre with brown splotches.
The dreamy sighs came like a tidal wave as a sweet scent began to waft around the courtyard and a few men had to secretly adjust their suddenly tight pants.
Cute little pink tongues began to dart out, taking hesitant little licks at the strange looking fruit before a familiar, almost long forgotten sensation of such creamy sweetness that was reminiscent of vanilla ice cream flooded their brains, and then the licks got more insistent and hurried. Their oral organs lavished the splotchy banana with saliva as shivers ran down their backs. Some of the more impatient ones even began to push the splotchy fruit into their oral orifice, just to let its flavour soak.
And quite suddenly, the confused looks on every male present changed into a complicated and uncomfortable one, one that Naruto was sure mirrored his own.
Frozen to the spot, they could only watch as the women slurped on this fruit. And it was as if they were stuck in a brutally futile cycle, the longer they watched the women pump that fruit in their mouths, the more uncomfortable the men got.
Some of the younger and inexperienced ones, and Naruto included Kirito in that category, promptly burned a bright crimson and immediately high tailed it out of the clearing before it could go any further.
As if some sort of silent signal that the men could not interpret was passed around, the females opened their mouths wide.
And crunched on the fruit.
The euphoric moan was almost orgasmic as a deep chocolate flavoured liquid burst from the fruit.
There was a slight pause before almost every man in the courtyard winced and crossed their legs as one, looking like they had swallowed a rather large lemon.
The rest just looked like they had the ride of their lives and moaned in satisfaction as a completely ashen Naruto stowed his recording crystal back into his cape, mentally swearing to bury the damned thing in the deepest hole he could find.
He didn't know it yet, but given the lack of females in Sword Art Online and how backed up everyone was, he was about to become an overnight billionaire as well as the first person to create the closest equivalent of porn in Sword Art Online.
His boss, Jiraiya would be so proud.
"Well…. That was interesting," Kline coughed uncomfortably, "On a completely unrelated note, I'm ah… just going to go back home for a few hours… or days. I have a lot of uh… energy… to burn. Excuse me."
Beside him, the tall and dark skinned man whose name Naruto couldn't remember had went completely white before fainting with a strangled, "Too much… to handle."
A rather red faced Siegel nodded frantically, politely stepped over his unconscious comrade and ran after a retreating Kline who was joined by quite a few shame-faced men, mumbling something about a backed up river.
Naruto buried his face in his hands and sighed heavily. A rather understandable reaction given that Tamamo had been one of the girls he had been watching the entire time. Seeing and hearing her moan like that was not in his agenda and Naruto would have been quite happy to keep it off his schedule for the next century or so.
Takamatsu who was propped up on the wall with a rather euphoric expression gave him a half curious, half dazed look, "Why the heavy sigh, Naruto?"
"I was just wondering."
"About?"
"About how much the nurses who watch our bodies back in reality get paid. I get the feeling that a lot of them are going to be on overtime doing laundry today."
"Ah." Takamatsu slurred, "It'll be good for the economy."
Naruto snorted in disgust and threw his hands up in resignation, "Your grasp of the obvious is inspiring, Takamatsu, now put your tongue back in your head before someone trips on it."
As the blonde stalked away, Takamatsu faintly heard the blond muttering something about getting new pair of pants, but he wasn't too sure.
****The Hunter****
Play Rie Tanaka – Mizu no Akashi
Sighing to himself as he exited his room, Naruto tightened the leather belt on his new pair of clean pants and trudged to the kitchen, feeling a desperate need for something to drown his thoughts, and since you couldn't find alcoholic drinks in Sword Art Online, Naruto had a sinking suspicion that he was about to have a rather sleepless night.
As he reached the little stove, the grumpy blonde's eyebrow rose at the already steaming pot of coffee, "What the?"
"So, was it interesting?"
Naruto yelped and whirled around to stare at the girl behind him, "Wha- what? Serah!? Why are you here?!"
"Lightning is here too." The pink haired woman remarked dryly as the taller sister joined her at the dining table.
The blond spluttered, "That still doesn't tell me why are you BOTH here? I thought all the girls were on the 25th floor."
"Lightning wouldn't let me go, and since the KoB headquarters is currently on the 25th floor, she figured that this was the best place to cage me up in." Serah petulantly replied with a pointed look at her expressionless sister, "She thinks it's demeaning, all of them mooning around like love sick girls over an ice cream sundae. I don't blame them though, we've been in here for nearly half a year and I would KILL for a good dose of artificial sugar, or at least something that genuinely tastes like it. Especially since it looks like you can only get those fruits from a secret tree on the 25th floor. To make it even worse, it only bears one fruit every fortnight."
"Remind me to get you a nice present." Naruto nodded gratefully in the pink haired woman's direction, "Seeing Tamamo there was bad enough."
Lightning flashed him a faint smile before quickly turning her eyes back to stare resolutely at her own cup of tea.
"With all due respect, what I do on my own time should be my own decision." Serah said acidly, "Not yours or my sister's no matter how much both of you would like it to be."
"Why is it that every time someone says 'With all due respect' they really mean 'Kiss my ass'?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
As the sun began to set outside the window and the three of them sat around the table, having an almost normal conversation, the blond felt a gentle warmth wash over him, as if a breeze was trying to lift his flagging spirit. He hid a bitter smile behind his cup; it was almost like he had a family again.
"Not that that would be a bad thing," The girl said with a cheeky smile, "It's a fairly nice ass, not my taste of course, but how was it? The girls have been planning this forever; it was all they talked about recently. Must have been a pretty interesting scene right? We heard you practically stomping around the house like a rampaging bull and you didn't even realize we were here." Serah commented with a coy smirk.
The blond shot her a horrified glance, "I am NOT talking about this OR my ass with you, Serah. Especially not while Lightning is here!"
"And very obviously listening while she pretends not to be."
The taller woman's ears went bright red at Serah's dry remark.
"Awww… don't be shy," Serah wheedled with a teasing smile, "Just think of me as a one of the guys."
"I always did."
"Do you WANT a crotchful of boiling coffee? It might help the swelling." Serah paused briefly to glare at the disturbed blond, "And stop looking at me like that, I'm 16 and I'm French, I know what that means."
"I don't care how old you think you are, because as far as things go, dumping boiling liquid on my family jewels is a little less painful than talking about this particular topic with someone who is like my little sister or going into battle with an open fly." Naruto noted with a strangled smile.
"Gaah! It's like you don't react to girls at all!" Serah threw her hands up in frustration before she paused to think, "Wait, maybe that's the problem, you ARE straight right?"
Naruto hesitated a moment to glance at Lightning who had her eyes determinedly stuck on the table's grain. For some strange reason, Lightning seemed hell-bent on avoiding his gaze.
"….My unusually large collection of girl on girl videos dictates that I answer yes. Now, can you stop teasing your sister and me?"
The blond wondered if Lightning could be persuaded to lead the teams that went out at night; her glowing ears would be quite the asset.
Serah smiled like the cat that had just gotten locked in the dairy.
"Why should I? Other people might be too scared to approach the two of you," She said smugly, "But I happen to be in the unique position of knowing that both of you are really big softies on the inside. You just need someone to help you break out of your shells. Preferably a persistent someone who isn't afraid of your glares and owns a really big hammer."
"You mean someone shameless like you." Lightning noted.
Serah beamed.
"Good advice." The blond deadpanned, "I'll remember that the next time I need to send somebody with a hard head out on a mission with impossible odds."
"Which is about twice a day on average. Five tomorrow." Lightning agreed dryly.
"Oh yea, Boss Fight. Congratulations on getting a prime seat, Serah. I suggest you bring some perfume, staring down the Boss's gaping maw tends to stink up the clothes a little."
Serah shot both of them horrified looks; they both looked so serious and sincere that she couldn't tell if it was a joke, "The two of you are so mean! I'm going to find Tamamo, at least she understands me!"
The two older ones shared a glance before they began chuckling after the younger sister had stomped her foot childishly and ran out of the cottage, weeping crocodile tears, "That was really mean of us, bullying a sweet girl like her."
"Save your sympathy, she deserved it." Lightning retorted with an affectionate smile as she stared after the girl, "She is sweet, but sometimes, if too many things go her way, she tends to get a little snobby and demanding. So a little poke now and then will do her good."
"I guess. As far as I'm concerned, she can be as snobbish as she wants, she can be as spoilt as she wants, as long as she is happy." For a moment, as the setting sun shone through the window just right, Lightning thought she saw a flash of jealousy cross the blond's expression, but it was gone by the time she managed to look closer. Instead, the whiskered man was leaning in his chair with a completely peaceful expression, "Even if this body is engulfed by the flames and burns to ashes, then at least let me use it one last time to protect them from the searing blaze and bring them home before I fade away."
"You'd make a pretty terrible father then." Lightning observed with a small smirk but there was no sting in her words, "No child would want to grow up without a father."
"That's what the non-existent wife is for." Naruto waggled his eyebrows at the pink haired woman, causing her to laugh; a rich and warm sound that echoed in the empty cottage.
Wiping away tears of laughter, Éclair sighed softly and gazed at the blond man who was resting in his chair, his eyes closed as if he was sleeping, golden bangs fell across his forehead while his long pony tail was curled around his neck like a scarf.
Without the White cloak that always enshrouded his features, giving him a certain sense of implacable intimidation that was as mysterious as the moon, the blond napping on the armchair looked like any other man, dressed in a plain pair of orange shirt and brown trousers.
Weak and easily broken.
"Naruto?" She asked with a strangely soft tone that caused his ears to perk up.
"Yes, Eclair?"
"What… happened to your sister?"
****The Hunter****
Play Home Made Kazoku – Shooting Star
The older man made a face as the person he had been waiting for finally arrived. Shaking the hood of his cloak back to reveal a head of golden hair, blue eyes swept around the small diner until the old man caught his eye.
"I'm glad you finally made it." The polite old man muttered as the blond approached him.
Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, "So am I, how is she?"
The grey haired man smiled affectionately, "Just about coming down from her sugar crush. I let her sleep on the couch since she had a headache. I would have let her stay the night," He shrugged helplessly, "but my home is on the first floor. I can't really carry her that far and I don't think the couch is all that comfortable."
"She wouldn't have minded. In fact, she'll probably feel bad for giving you so much trouble the moment her sanity returns, Roan."
The middle aged man who ran a small ramen store on the 25th floor laughed a deep belly laugh, "It's alright, Joker. It's good to see her looking so happy, even if it WAS from a sugar high. I'm still curious though, where did she get so much sugar? She tried to tell me, but I couldn't really understand her through the babbling."
"Some sort of fruit." Naruto mumbled with embarrassment, "They found it and it apparently tastes like vanilla ice cream and chocolate."
"I didn't think an ice cream sundae had that much sugar."
"This wasn't exactly a normal ice cream. I'm going to have to talk to Argo about regulating that fruit if it can do something like this to Asuna." Naruto mourned with a sigh at the thought of even more work, "Do you know where Tamamo went?"
"The nice pink haired girl that's always following you around?"
"Yeah…. That one."
"She was here with Asuna-chan for a while before she went off with the other pinkie, the cheeky one. Said something about a sleepover." Roan observed good naturedly.
Naruto made a face, "If they gave you any trouble, I'll pay for your trouble."
"Nonsense." Roan brushed away the offered Col, "It did me good trying to keep up with them. It's the least I can do since I can't help out with the Clearing."
"Of course you do, you make great food for us." The blonde commented with a soft smile as he followed the man to the back of the store.
"You can cook as well, so I don't really know why you insist on eating at this little shop."
"Ah…. My brand of cooking more often than not involves a lot of explosions of the literal kind rather than the edible kind." The long haired blond noted, "You should know, you taught me most of it."
"I certainly don't remember teaching you how to mix gunpowder with chilli." Roan chuckled lightly as he pushed open the door. Inside the room, Naruto could faintly see a something white and red curled up into a warm bundle, "And here she is. Your sleeping princess."
"The way she curls up into a ball makes her look a lot more like a chipmunk more than a princess." Naruto dryly commented as he bent down to shake her shoulder softly, "Asuna, wake up. C'mon, it's late."
"Mrrgh…. Ruto. Voice. Too loud." The bundle whimpered.
Rolling his eyes, the blonde gently looped her arms securely around his neck and slipped his hands under her. With a slight huff, he lifted the girl as gently as he could, though not gently enough if her complaining whines meant anything.
"Thanks again, Roan." The blonde smiled sheepishly as her head lolled on his shoulder, "I'll make sure she drops by and apologizes tomorrow."
"You can both come. I'll save something special for the two of you." Roan smirked as he led the boy back out, "Even back then, young people as polite and kind as the two of you are a rarity, much less here where nobody would care about some useless old fart that can't contribute to the Clearing, so it's a pleasure to have you around."
Naruto smiled thinly, the old man was nice, but he had some issues. Japanese traditional culture heavily emphasized everybody's role in making things work and those who didn't fit in were shunned. As far as he could tell, the man was some sort of office worker in real life and had bought the game for his child. Why he was here instead of his child, Naruto didn't ask. If Roan wanted to tell him, he would in his own time but now that he was here, he was desperate to try and contribute in some way although few if anybody would insist on making the middle aged man go through the rigours of combat.
Awkwardly bowing again, Naruto promised to come with Asuna in the morning before he left the old man and his store, walking at a pace that could only be called leisurely so that he didn't move the princess sleeping in his arms any more than necessary.
"Ruuto…." The girl slurred quietly, her soft breath tickled his ears.
"Hmm?"
Her eyes were open and unfocused as she starred at the dark sky above them, "Stars…." She said childishly.
The blond looked up and smiled faintly. Even though the sky above them twinkled with thousands of stars, he knew that it was just an illusion that hid the underbelly of the 26th floor, "Yeah. Stars. The real ones look much nicer though."
"You like stars?"
"When I have time I guess. Why? Do I look like the kind to watch the stars?"
"Papa, Mama and Nii-san don't like stars."
Naruto hmmed uncomfortably as the girl seemed to shake a little in his arms, "You were bright enough for them."
The girl chuckled weakly and spoke a little clearer, "All men always seem to operate under two universal assumptions; that women are attracted to them and that they aren't idiots. Why don't you?"
"Then I'm either not like most men or I'm not a man at all and last I checked, I was still fulfilled all the qualifications of a biological male."
"Why?" She repeated again with a childish pout.
The blond rolled his eyes as he stepped through the portal to the seventh floor, "I guess you could say I have a different perspective to most people."
"Is that why you don't like talking?" Asuna rambled blearily, "My family doesn't either. They just order me."
"Ah…. a little bit of violence is always good to clear the air, in fact, that's the way it usually works with guys." Naruto noted dryly, "But women, particularly Serah, seem to have an alarming tendency to think about things, then talk it, then think some more. No offense Asuna, but give me somebody to stab any day."
"Hey, some of the best ideas came from thinking." The auburn haired girl retorted with a sleepy smile, "You should try listening."
"I like listening just fine, but women have too many ideas, and too many ideas translate to even more talking… and yeah." Naruto finished lamely as he nudged the door open with a knee.
The girl on his chest breathed in deeply and let out a contented sigh, "It smells so familiar. Like wood and clean clothes."
"You haven't been here in a while, both you and Kirito shifted closer to the frontlines so you could save time, remember?" He gently reminded the girl as he entered the room that used to be hers.
"Why didn't you come with us?"
The blond gently laid her down on bed before shrugging, "It's not as important to me I guess." Laying one hand on her cheek, he ran one finger along her cheekbone, "It's time to sleep Asuna, we have a long day tomorrow and you already have one appointment you can't miss."
"You don't want to talk to me again…." The girl whimpered.
The blond froze before he ran one hand through his blond locks in resignation, "What do you want to talk about Asuna? I'll stay here until you sleep."
She patted the bed with a wide grin, "Here."
"Ah…. That would be a… bad idea." He averted his eyes, "Especially after this afternoon."
Asuna pouted and huffed cutely as she rolled around in bed, presenting her back to him.
"Asuna?"
"Hmph."
"You want me to talk, now you don't want to talk, which is it?" The bewildered blond grumbled.
One brown eye peeked over her shoulder before she turned again, her nose turned up high, "I'm not saying anything else until you get in!"
Groaning, the blonde wearily stood up and shrugged off his cloak before changing into something more comfortable before he slid onto the cot. It was a little snug since it had originally only been meant for one person, but it still accommodated his frame perfectly fine as long as the two of them were practically on top of each other.
Scratch that thought, how the hell was this fine? Naruto mentally swore to himself.
Any further mental derogatory thoughts were instantly derailed as Asuna molded her back to him with another one of her contented sighs before she reached over to loop his arm over her waist.
"Asuna?" Naruto asked in a strangled tone.
The girl he was spooning against began snoring.
"GAAAH!"
****The Hunter****
Play Skillet – Dead Inside
Naruto absent-mindedly chewed on... something; he couldn't really remember what it was, though he thought that was entirely justified given how distracted he was at the moment.
"What's the plan, boss?" A chubby young man asked as he dipped his hand into the bag loosely hanging from Naruto's grip.
The blonde's contemplating gaze shifted from the large iron doors to the 25th floor's Boss Room to the young boy with messy brown bangs that fell over squinty green eyes. His white and red armour clearly marked him as a member of the KoB, "Uh…. You're... one of Tamamo's aren't you?"
"Guisniman, but you can just call me, Gui. I insist." The chubby young boy offered helpfully with a grin as he munched on the stolen sandwich, "And yeah, I'm one of the medics under Ta-chan, second fastest bar none." He declared with a comical puff of the chest.
"Did you randomly type in a username or something?"
"I figured that I was going to make a test character and have some fun with it, you know, test the waters a little, before making a serious one, who knew we'd all be stuck in here. Just goes to show that you can't mess around anymore though." Gui shrugged and tried to reach into the bag again but the taller blond pulled back his bag with a possessive growl, "Mine. Get your own."
"Sorry, heh heh, I kinda forget to stop eating whenever I'm nervous. Did Asuna-taicho make those by the way? She always uses that green powder for flavouring whenever she brings us some snacks."
"I'll give you the rest if you shut up right now."
"Deal." Gui snatched the bag and began munching happily, "So? What's the plan?"
"Violence." Naruto replied amiably, "Lots and lots of violence."
Gui rolled his eyes, though he was secretly a little amused and relieved at how approachable the blond apparently was in contrast with how he usually acted, "Funny how every problem in this game seems to go away with judicious use of violence, but a little more specifics wouldn't hurt would it?"
Naruto shrugged lazily, "I wasn't the one doing the plans this time, I'm just the guy that tells everybody else where to point their spears and make sure we don't hit one of our own people by accident."
"What? Seriously? No fancy plans or anything this time? I actually liked all the manoeuvring you had us do the last time." The boy replied with a wide grin, "Of course, I wasn't bait at the time, but it was still funny watching all those big, proud men running around like scared mice."
"No need for fancy plans I guess," Naruto sighed as he reluctantly dug into his emergency bag of nuts, "We went in a few times to test the A.I. Bog standard Boss on a throne while three flunkies spawn periodically. He didn't seem to have anything special save a really big hammer, so we'll watch out for that while we surround him before we pound his ass into the ground. That's just me and the Archers though. You and the first battalion get to engage him upfront and personal while the splinter groups keep his flunkies off the main group's backs. When the first battalion gets tired, we switch in with the second battalion and give them some time to recoup. Rinse and repeat."
"I totally lost you at main battle force. It sounds cool though."
"Are you SURE you want to be a Medic?"
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Because I'd feel heck of a lot better for the fighters if their lives did NOT depend on you."
Gui giggled and leaned in with a conspiratorial look, "They all secretly feel that way, but everyone is too polite to say anything."
The blond gave the young boy an amused look as if recognizing a fellow trickster, "Not as stupid as you act, are you?"
"It's the face," Gui remarked depreciatingly, "They see all this fat, acne and horrible eating habits, and they automatically think retard. Got me out of some tough situations a few times before though."
"I'll bet it did." The blond snorted as he gazed at the slowly building crowd in front of the large gate, "It's almost time to start, they have already begun to get into groups."
Standing up, the tall man shrugged his cloak's hood on before he seemed to pause. His head bowed though his back remained proud and unbent. Gui arched one curious eyebrow at the stationary man.
His white cloak shifted slightly in the wind and a prayer of some sort drifted to his ears, "Those who cry, those who wait, those who watch," The man seemed to murmur to himself, his words reverberated in the air, "Those who fight, those who bleed and those who triumph." He lifted his spear in defiance and slashed it across the air once, the blade humming with power, "Do not falter."
His head lifted, and Gui saw a burning resolve in those eerily clear orbs before they gave the merrily munching boy a look, "Try to come out in one piece alright?"
"You're a lot nicer than people seem to give you credit for."
"Try saying that again after you've played cards with me. I'll even give you a handicap and promise I'll let you leave with your pants on since I like you."
"Touché."
As far as Boss Fights went, the opening volley was smooth and easy. There was no bit by bit approach, no inching forward, since everybody knew what to expect and the first wave hit hard and fast.
After twenty five floors of experience, boosted by a near zero death rate during the past five Boss fights, almost every player that filed into the hall with a challenging roar that shook the ceiling seemed to vibrate with confidence and strength. In the face of this ravening Horde and their cry, the minor spawns took a step back at their ferocity, even the two storey humanoid Boss who seemed to be based on a Human Blacksmith took a step back, his leather jerkin stretched tight around his wobbling belly.
The ones who had experience fought with a rage that few had seen before, a desperate struggle to climb out of Aincrad, even while they shouldered the burden of watching out for the less experienced members who had only recently joined the frontlines; the Tanks used the skills gained from levelling Heavy weapons to make sure that the Boss and his flunkies attention were always on them, freeing their faster and more dangerous but lesser armoured comrades to flank the Boss and deal as much damage as they wished without fear of retaliation.
A little further back from the main battle line, the Archers were divided into an arrowhead formation of four groups; each squad was tasked with dealing with a single target while the main one focused on the Boss itself. The main squad was divided into three groups, two composed entirely of powerful and heavily armoured Sharpshooters while the lighter and faster Ravagers darted in and out of battle, distracting their targets. For every small spear that slipped into the armour chinks that the Sharpshooters couldn't hit translated into one axe or hammer swing that would go awry, dealing simple, easily healed damage or miss entirely, and that would mean an easier time for everybody.
Even further back from the Archers were the Medics. Row upon row of silent sentinels stood watch along the walls, all of them stood at attention under the overall command of Tamamo's hawk eyed amber gaze as she coordinated her Medics and made sure there was enough potions and crystals left in the supply crates. Each Party was assigned at least one Medic, and those Medics would stand at the back, keeping an eye on their Party's overall health bar, darting in and out of the rampage every time their wards' Health dipped too low or if someone was poisoned by the minions' poisoned axes.
Just outside the Gate, the Second Battalion stood, deathly silent as they watched the First Battalion crash on the boss, dissecting their enemies' patterns and techniques while they waited for the signal to replace them when it came.
They were a perfectly oiled war machine that had one and only goal; to tear the fat bastard apart.
They had been fighting for almost two continuous hours when everything fell apart like a house of cards the moment the Boss lost half of his total Health.
It was a simple, almost innocuous mistake. One of the Medics had been on his way to heal his Party when a flunky quite randomly decided to ignore the pattern altogether. Ignoring the tanks that had been keeping his Aggro the entire time, it suddenly lumbered forward with surprising speed and caught the Medic, who had been scared stiff, with a powerful head splitting axe blow.
The entire Group almost fell apart at the seams; the shaken Medics struggled to pick up the slack and blame the Sweepers for doing too much damage off the Tanks Hate skills at the same time, while the Sweepers blamed the Tanks for being inefficient. The Tanks themselves just wondered what the hell just happened.
It was an strange problem; but one that was quelled by a single burning glare from Kirito, the overall Leader of the operation, that told them that this matter would be resolved after the Boss died, not before.
Almost petulantly, Group F returned to their designated duty of keeping the flunky's attention AWAY from their squishier friends while Group G, made entirely out of Sweepers and Medics, attacked with a little more caution.
Just as they had almost got their rhythm back, the Blacksmith's Great Hammer rose into the air. The Boss held the Hammer which was almost larger than him aloft for a single breathless moment, before it surged downwards.
The Tanks almost immediately lifted their weapons in defence while the faster Medics and Sweepers high tailed it out of there on instinct. There was a short scream that was brutally cut off as the Hammer crunched into the ground with a shower of sparks and a humongous CLANG!
Although the cold marble floor was miraculously undamaged, thirty people instantly died as the entire war machine ground to a screeching halt to stare incredulously.
"What the hell was that?"
"They DIED!"
"But they defended, I SAW them, a whole fucking Group of Tanks STILL went poof!"
"An instant kill attack?" Someone whispered harshly, "That's not fair!"
"Stop having a nice chat!" Someone shouted with a clear note of terror in his voice as the Blacksmith, now free of his Hate started to lumber towards the wide eyed Sweepers and Medics while the lone Tank that was included in Group B tried to hold him off, "We NEED BACKUP BEFORE HE KILLS EVERYBODY ELSE!"
Group B was almost seemed to be frozen in place like trapped mice as their lone tank stood against the Boss, his red armour seemed to carve a red swath through the air as Heathcliff's shield worked overtime to deflect the Hammer by himself. It was clear that they wanted to run but everybody there knew that if they ran, it would have reset the Boss' Agro and every single bit of progress they had gained in the past three hours would have been completely wasted as he instantly and fully healed himself, but reinforcement was clearly hesitant. Every other Group that was already deployed were busy trying to stay alive themselves and the Second Main Force refused to step into the chamber until a white cloak seemed to flick irritably, as if showing off its owner's stone faced anger.
"SECOND BATTALION!" a familiar voice roared with a commanding note that simply demanded obedience, his blue eyes blazed angrily as the group of men wavered uncertainly, "You don't have to kill him! Just stop him from regenerating his Health while we figure out what the hell just happened!"
They moved, albeit with a lot of shuffling feet and scared looks.
"MOVE IT, PRINCESSESS!"
Play Masami Mitsuoka – Last Cross
The shuffling broke out into a quick run as the first battalion slowly inched back with clearly relieved looks on their faces.
Just outside the Gate, a small discussion was being carried out in hushed and angry tones, as the rest of the Clearers stood around awkwardly while their Leaders tried to make sense of everything.
"I saw it; I was barely out of range when that damned thing hit. I know they defended but everybody who was directly hit by that Hammer died instantly. It's unblockable." He heard Siegel mutter quietly.
"The damage taken should have been shared evenly amongst the entire Party, see if there are any Medics from Group A that survived." Kirito ordered evenly although some of his friends realized that his fists were shaking, "We need to make sure that your assumption is true before we try anything else. We also know that it wasn't an Area of Effect attack since Group B only suffered minor injuries, so that's something at least."
As one of the messengers darted off with Tamamo to make a quick head count and confirm Siegel's claim, Egil's deep calm baritone echoed in the chamber, "There's another problem. No matter what the support Groups did, the spawns will randomly lose Hate roughly every thirty seconds and go after some random idiot. It's only a time before they go after the Main force."
Naruto punched the wall; his face was clearly bleak with worry.
Silently, he felt an almost tiny, trembling hand slip into his, as Asuna discretely sunk down beside him. Her face was completely ashen and her eyes were wide, "I was right in front of the Tanks. I saw him looking at me, and I think he knew. He pushed me away..." She whispered in a shaky tone, "That was all that saved me from being killed."
As a hurried and hushed argument continued to rage nearby them, Naruto simply squeezed the small hand, "I…. I'm sorry." He whispered.
He didn't know what to say other than that.
Tamamo returned shortly after that, her shoulders sagging as she shook her head silently, "A few people saw Kumitsu, one of the three medics that I assigned to Group A die even though he wasn't anywhere the front lines."
The entire clearing went silent.
"What should we do?" Someone asked quietly, "Should we just quit? If we get hit by that hammer, it's an insta kill no matter how much HP you got. Group A was made out of some of the strongest Tanks and Medics around. If they couldn't handle the damage, you can be damned sure we can't."
"What about Heathcliff?" Another person said with some awe, "He took that Boss on his own when everyone else was running like cowards. You think he can hold out long enough for us to dog pile it to death?"
Kirito sucked in a deep breath as he set his jaw, "Look, this is no different from every other Boss with a gimmick." He remarked with a clear, strong tone, "Last time, it was incurable poison, all we did was run like hell. Now we just need to do the same."
"Yeah… but poison is poison. As long as we kept drinking potions, even if it was incurable until the Boss died, we still survived." Moritaka pointed out doubtfully, "This guy does instant kills. It's like the game suddenly stopped playing around and decided to start blatantly massacring us. We don't exactly have a second chance if we slip up."
White fabric rustled as Naruto breathed deeply, he couldn't feel it himself, but he could understand it. Never before had Sword Art Online start killing players so blatantly killing players off, but he couldn't allow this to continue. The mood of the crowd around them was already starting to get ugly as they agreed with Moritaka, and if he let it, the momentum could only grow and the psychological block they were facing would only seem even more insurmountable.
"Then don't." The blonde who had been sitting right at the back of the discussion this entire time finally spoke with a hard expression as he squeezed Asuna's hand again, "Kirito is right. Compared to the other Bosses, this guy is easy. That attack of his has a long wind up time, so we just have to dodge the second we see it." He slowly looked around the clearing, meeting every eye with burning clarity, "We've all seen people die by the dozens before, so why are all of you scared? The only difference this makes is the fact that the Blacksmith is doling it out legitimately."
Siegel returned Naruto's hard look with a measuring one as he calmly thought the man's words through, "Joker-sama has a point. All we need to do is dodge it, in a certain sense of the word, it's far easier than most of the other Bosses we've faced so far. If we can get some of the faster Tanks into Group A and add more Medics to compensate for less defence and HP, we should be able to inch our way through just barely."
"What about the flunkies?" Egil reminded his friend.
"Leave that to the Archers." Naruto observed, "We'll concentrate all our firepower on killing them as fast as possible before they can harm anybody. There's a few minutes pause between each respawn, so we'll use that time to deal with the Boss."
"It will be slower by a fair amount since the only Damage Dealers targeting the Blacksmith will be Group B unless the Archers can pull through in time." Kline noted with a scratch of his head.
Naruto cocked his head, "Which one do you prefer more? Slow or dead?"
"When you put it that way… I'm totally fine with this idea. Group D reporting for service, Sir!" Kline replied with a grin.
"Group C is ready and roaring, Sir." Egil saluted him with a broad grin.
"The Medics will do their best, Naruto-sama." The pink haired Tamamo nodded with a coquettish smile.
As morale slowly built up again, he felt Asuna squeezing his fingers.
He squeezed back.
"Will you be alright with this?" The blonde questioned with a worry tinting his tone, "No one will blame you if you sit this one out. Everybody else was pretty shaken after all
"I'll... be fine. You were right; we've seen so many people die. This is no different but I won't just sit around saying it can't be helped. I'm going to do something about it." Bright brown eyes stared up at him with a strange gleam in them, "Watch out for me?"
"Always." The blonde said simply.
As the two of them entered the hall again, Naruto let go of Asuna and glared at the Boss.
Play John Dreamer – Brotherhood
"Second Battalion, get ready to shift, then get your orders from Tamamo and rest up!" Kirito roared defiantly. A clearly audible sigh of relief rose from the players that were holding the Boss and his mooks off, the presence of the first battalion, reenergized and defiant filled their hearts with courage. Some of them were even frank enough to admit that they had thought the first battalion would have just left them here as a sacrifice while they rabbited away, but their presence now signified that the leaders had thought of a plan.
A few of them even thanked Group A and B as they surged forward, crashing into the two storey tall Blacksmith and pushed him back to let the Archers deal with the smaller mobs.
At the front, spears, pikes, swords, axes and shields rose as Group A began taunting and stabbing humongous belly that hung above them. Even if he didn't want to, their Hate skills forced the Boss to face them and only them. Unrelentingly, they weathered his blows and struck back just as hard.
A feminine voice yelled reached the ceiling as Asuna threw herself into the attack with like a flurry of flaming auburn tornado, she wasn't fighting the Boss; she was fighting her own fear.
The moment they were in place, it was as if a switch had been flipped as every single Archer in the hall rained dreadful fury onto a single target, decimating the first flunkie within minutes before it even had a chance to attack.
As one, they switched targets and spears filled the air like a thick river of wood and steel. Medics began working overtime as they ran back and forth, bringing in new quivers of spears and replacement bows for the Archers as the second flunkie went down.
Fingers and twine blurred as spear upon spear stabbed into the third flunkie, bringing it down within seconds. The rain seemed to stop as the Archers turned as one.
They were silent, but every player no matter their class was clearly hell-bent on one thing. Avenging the deaths of their friends and defying their fear.
Roaring in pain, the only enemy remaining roared a blood curdling roar that twisted his slobbering lips into an animalistic leer. His Hammer rose in to the air and as one, Group A and B turned around and began running towards the exit at a dead sprint.
Blue eyes scanned the retreating Groups with stark clarity as he searched for any sign of burnished auburn when he realized that Asuna had stayed back. Or more precisely, the idiotic girl was returning the favour the unknown Tank had granted her. By staying at the back of the group, making sure everyone got out of the way when the hammer began to fall.
Naruto wasn't quite sure why he did it but he moved.
Slinging the bow behind his back, his hands blurred into his cloak and emerged with glinting daggers. His face was etched in a grim leer as he threw them at Asuna.
Her brown eyes widened and for a moment, fear filled her eyes before she squeezed them shut. Growling, Naruto pulled on something invisible and the daggers suddenly changed trajectories and caught the girl by her uniform. Yanking the wires attached to his daggers, the blond pulled Asuna from under the Hammer before catching her bodily.
"Can you not do that?" He muttered.
Brown eyes opened again and she shrugged as Naruto set her down gently, "You promised."
The blond grunted and swiftly cut his wires before he slipped his knives back into his cloak before he unslung his Bow.
He sent a signal towards his group of Archers and a frisson ran through them as they drew their spears while Group A and B stormed back into the fray.
To most people, the manic blond seemed to dance in and out of the players with a terrifying gleam in his eyes but despite that, none of his glowing spears seemed to hit the Boss. All they did was graze and irritate it, as if his anger was throwing off his aim when the Blacksmith slowly heaved his Hammer up into the air again.
To him, as the world seemed to melt away, there was nothing but his prey.
I'm sorry, you oversized potato couch, I've got somewhere I need to go and YOU!" Naruto jabbed one finger at the hulking Boss defiantly as the players around him began running away, "ARE. IN. MY. FUCKING. WAY!"
Most of them figured that the blonde had finally lost it.
"Original Skill; Hunter's Moon."
There was a deep rumbling as the room itself seemed to shake as the sound of rock grating on rock echoed loudly.
Then everything was quiet as the players waited for the dust to settle.
"Did he REALLY just drop the CEILING on the Boss?" Someone muttered in a strangled tone.
It sounded a lot like Heathcliff.
****The Hunter****
One of these days, we're going to do a proper FF13 crossover because we're starting to get a little confused. The readers aren't the only ones that don't who Naruto is going to end up with here. In fact, you can pretty much tell who wrote most of the chapter just by seeing who the chapter is teasing Naruto with.
Hint: Kishi likes pink hair, while I personally prefer Asuna. That's right; the authors themselves have no friggin clue what they're doing with the pairing. Ship to Ship combat at its finest. Oh and, Holy Shit, I never freaking knew Kishi could write romance. Way to go bro, unless you snuck out some painkiller and wrote it while you were high out of your mind, if so, bad kitty!
Kishi: o.o t(^.^t)