The grim creeped closer, she backed against the trunk, she had no idea what she should try to do, then the ursa charged and she screamed. When she realized she wasn't dead she slowly opened one eye, seeing a large shadow she panicked and squeezed them shut again. "Don't you fucking touch her," she heard a voice call, it was HIM! Her eyes shot open as a flaming fist connected with the ursa's head, releasing a sickening cracking noise. He stood over her offering his hand, "Are you alright, Malyutka?"
"Y-yeah I think I'm good, what was that fire?" She asked, "All I've ever seen you use is that old rifle, is that your semblance?" The hunter chuckled, 'I save here life and all she can focus on is my punch, go figure.' Coco glared at him, "Why are you laughing at me now?" The hunter looked at her face and paused, there were still tears in her eyes, he started to walk toward her. "What? She asked, starting to back away, until he wiped under her eye with his warm hand.
"Why did you run away, is it because of what I said about not being with you forever?" He asked her. Coco nodded sadly and turned away, only for him to put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I didn't say that to be mean, you know me Coco, I'm not as fast as I used to be, I'm half blind and the eye I do have isn't that good. I said that because it's true, if I don't retire peacefully soon, then I'll retire painfully within the next year." The hunter pulled her into a hug, "I just want you to learn not to rely on other people completely," the hunter looked off into the distance with a tired expression, "I've seen too many good hunters die because they didn't learn to fend for themselves. You need to learn to control your emotions too, the grim feed off fear and sadness just as much as they feed off actual food." He turned back towards her, "I don't want you to end up dead like them, or damaged like me."
"I know, I just don't like thinking of being alone," Coco said as she stepped back from him, "You've always been there for me and you've always protected me, but when you said that eventually you'd be gone, I guess your age actually became real to me. I couldn't handle it I guess." They started walking back toward town when Coco suddenly perked up. "Hey wait a minute, you never told me what that fire was. So is that your semblance or what?" The hunter just chuckled under his breath and kept walking. "Hey don't ignore me!" Coco yelled as she ran to catch up with the laughing hunter. "Why won't you tell me about that fire thing you did?" Coco whined, "C'mon please?"
"No," the hunter said, Coco visible deflated, "it's not my semblance, it's because of my tattoos I got when I went to Beacon." The hunter rolled up his sleeves to show swirling, blood red tattoos starting from his wrists and stopping just below his elbows, "They're infused with fire dust, I kept breaking my weapons, swords, hammers, axes it didn't matter. None of them lasted a week, so I decided 'why use a tool that broke, when my hands are just as good at destroying the grim.' That is why my hands burn when I hit things." Coco looked at him in amazement, could he really kill grim with his bear hands, then she thought in confusement, 'so why does he use that rifle?' The hunter noticed her look of confusion, "you're wondering why I don't just use my hands, huh?" Coco nodded, the hunter turned over the hand he had used to kill the ursa, showing his knuckles burned nearly to the bone, the shocked expression didn't surprise him in the slightest. "Too many years of using it slowly made my hands fall apart, it got better once the nerve damage set in and I lost feeling in my hands." He looked at Coco and say her still staring at his hands, then she started to look through her satchel and pulled out some bandages, then started to bandage his hands. "You should save those for someone who actually needs them, my hands will be fine," he said as he tried to pull his hands away. Coco wouldn't let go, he looked at her. There were tears in her eyes again, "Coco?"
"Why did you do it?" she asked, "You knew it would do this, but you did it anyway, don't you care what happens to you?" The hunter couldn't stop from laughing, in a deep clear voice, until Coco slapped him, "It's not funny, I don't want you to get hurt you're important to me."
AN: Well folks I have a problem, I can't think of a name for our mystery hunter. If you have a suggestion let me know. I'm going back to the coffin to get some rest.