A/N: EDIT: Well, this got less feedback than I was hoping for...that's a shame...T_T

Why write if no one reads...?

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

Now for your questions, comments and concerns.

Q: Update schedule, governor?

A: Trying to spread the love around, as you've seen. Don't wanna spoil anything. That said, I AM going around updating older stuff.

Q: We ever gonna get that Naruto x Dark Souls story from you? Seeing as you've already done Bloodborne and Elden Ring...

A: Eventually. Hunter!Naruto and Lord!Naruto need to finish their adventures first.

It doesn't help that I don't have a staring point for Chosen!Naruto, nor a working title written for that story, or even any idea where to start. After all, there are three dark souls games -though some of us still don't want to speak of the Second-but ironically, said indecision that's proven something of a saving grace. Which Dark Souls would I even start with?! I have fond memories of the first, and Three is literally sitting on my desk waiting be installed, but ach, must resist...

Lacking the foundations -and a cowriter in that particular genre- I've mentioned above, its kept me from writing another new story.

I can't do that crossover between the three just yet.

So please, patience.

Q: He gonna save everybody?

A: Some folk in Bloodborne don't deserve saving. For those who have played the game, I'm sure you know of whom I speak. Conversely, others are too far gone to save by the time we stumble upon them, while others need to be put down like the mad dogs they are.

Q:...Naruto's going to lose his mind here, isn't he? I mean, the Bloodborne verse is already a ruin to begin with...

A: Read and seeeee~!

Q: AMELIA WHEN?!

A: Amelia now!

Alright then, I think I've kept you long enough.

Hope you're prepared for the surprises in this little ficlet~!

As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes or memes. I'm just a writer.

"A hunter must hunt, after all.

But I am no hunter."

...so you say."

~?

Hunters Must Hunt

She mustn't change.

Vicar Amelia knew she mustn't; for to do so was to step past the point of no return. Once she gave into the change she would transform; the moment she did, she would become a beast. She must remain firm. Hold to her sense of self, the church's teachings, and the holy blood.

But she couldn't.

With each passing hour she felt herself slipping. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt so much!

Oh gods. She was going to end up like Laurence and Ludwig, wasn't she?

She made a warbling noise and hunched over herself, clutching the amulet in her hands. Pressing it against her bosom brought some measure of calm. And with it came a blessed moment of serenity. She was herself for a fleeting sliver of a second; in that second she clamped down and steeled her will anew. Calm. Breathe. In. Out. Innn...ouuut...

Mustn't change. Mustn't transform. Human. Stay human...

Her back began to crack as she wept.

"No, no, no, please...someone...


(.0.0.0.)


A new Hunter had come to the dream.

The Doll did not know what to make of him; she was just a Doll after all.

It was not her place to question the arrival of new hunters, no matter how strange they might seem.

Although, this Hunter seemed strange indeed -even if he claimed not to be such!-his companion was stranger still. Clad in little more than a battered jacket, the dark-haired woman he carried with him did little more than stare at her hands and mutter to herself. She'd scarcely said a word to anyone prior, not even to old Gehrman. Poor girl. Did some manner of madness afflict her mind?

Still, the Hunter seemed protective of her, so again, it was not er place to question.

"Good Hunter," she sought to address said Hunter now as he bustled about, poking at loose odds and ends in the shop, "Would you like me to watch over your companion while she sleeps?"

"Whuzzat now?" he poked his head out of an old chest, dragging a saw cleaver with him. Where he'd found it, she knew not. Gradually his gaze drifted to where she was looking, and the Doll followed him. It had taken a great many sedatives to lull the Woman into some semblance of slumber, but sleep now she did, curled up near the workbench amidst a bundle of old coats and tattered trousers. What manner of human made a nest for themselves on the floor? Another curious question.

But she was a Doll, and it was not her wont to know such things. "Your friend, Good Hunter." she said plainly. "I can watch over her, if it pleases you."

Oddly enough, that seemed to anger him. "I keep telling ya, I ain't a damn hunter, but sure, knock yourself out."

A most curious turn of phrase. The Doll tilted her head. "Whyever would I do such a thing?"

"Do what?" he squinted at her, rather reminiscent of a fox.

The Doll blinked slowly. "Knock myself out."

"No, that's not...!" Her words drew a startled bark of laughter from him. "Its an expression, ya know."

...I do not know."

He snickered. "Just take care of her. I'll be right back...once I figure out how to leave.

"You have but to touch one of the gravestones." she told him.

"Great." he clapped his hands. "Keep the old man away from her, will ya? Don't trust him."

The Doll knew not what to say tot hat,a nd so she let him go on his merry way.

Once he had, the Doll's gaze drifted back to the woman. She shook in her sleep. Poor thing. Why did she whimper so? On a whim, she found a blanket and draped it over her quivering frame. Pale hands fisted around it, all but yanking the smooth cloth from her grasp. Dazed eyes blinked up at her for but a moment, bleary with sleep.

"Maria...?"

Her hands stilled.

With a groan, the girl returned to her slumber.

Maria? How odd. It almost felt as if she knew that name...


(.0.0.0.)


This whole world had gone mad.

Stark raving mad, Naruto thought. Everywhere he went, everyone wanted a piece of him. Beasts and madmen and worse, all eager to take a bit out of his hide. They would too, if he let them. Well, he wasn't having it! No sir! They could try and try and try all they liked but he wouldn't be anyone's supper. No thank you-

"Foul beast! Away! AWAY!"

He sidestepped a crazed man bearing a machete, tripped them up, then shoved them into their fellows. Townsfolk tumbled down like bowling pins and he raced by before they could do reclaim their footing. A bullet barked at his back, easily evaded; the feral dogs that followed easily led astray by a bit of meat.

He refused to kill them. Any of them. It wasn't their fault. They didn't mean to hurt anyone, surely.

"Keep telling yourself that. They're out for blood. Your blood."

Which brought his mind back to the problem he'd been sawing at for the better part of five minutes now. How had he turned that woman back from a beast? Even now, the answer eluded his grasp. If he could just figure it out then maybe he could turn everyone back without getting his hands dirty. In truth. He didn't know how to duplicate such a feat with any real accuracy. Chakra was certainly one component, but the other seemed to be blood, his blood, and he wasn't keen on losing anymore if he could help it.

A giant rushed him with a brick when he wasn't looking.

Naruto snarled at it and Kurama pulsed with killing intent; to which large fellow scrambled away.

It wasn't safe out here; no matter how much he might wish otherwise. Leaving the woman -whose name he still didn't know!- behind in the Dream seemed the safest option for now-even if he didn't rightly know what that place was, either. He'd just touched one of those glowing lamps growing out the ground and found himself whisked away, taking the girl with him.

The girl calling herself the Doll had been sparse with her answers, and he didn't trust the old man.

Come to think of it, he didn't really trust anyone in this wild, wacky world.

...calm down."

"Calm?!" Naruto bit his tongue until he tasted blood. "How can you be calm about this?! People are turning into beasts or worse! That ain't right!"

"And what do you intend to do, save them all?!

"..."

"Naruto, no."

"Naruto, yes! I have to try!"

This couldn't stand. Sooner or later he was going to make a mistake; bite off more than he could chew.

And once he did...what then? Would he die? Become one of the beasts here? Something worse? He didn't want to consider it.

Already he could feel the stress of everything gnawing at his mind, turning his thoughts to tatters.

He had questions, but no one seemed willing to give him any answers. What little the Doll could tell him barely lined up with what he knew. For all his attempts to question the people of Yharnam, he hadn't gotten much in the way of answers. Knocking on doors didn't do much good either. Most residents would scarcely speak to him. Those few that did had little more than harsh words for him and harsher laughter-none of which did wonders for his fraying temper.

But he wouldn't give up.

Mustn't give up.

Wiping a bead of sweat from his brow, he glared up the street, toward the still-setting sun. "We need information."

Kurama's grin was all teeth. "Then let us acquire some. I sense another group that way."

He sought knowledge. He'd soon have his wish.


(.0.0.0.)


Mummy was leaving.

The little girl didn't want her to go.

If she went out now, on a night like this...she might not come back.

The Girl knew that nights like these important for Yharnam; in as much as a child could understand such things. She also knew that were dreadful monsters about tonight, beasts that needed to be slain. Still, dear Daddy had been gone ever so long now; too long some might say, even on the night of a Hunt. And so it fell to Mummy to find him and bring him back.

Yes, Mummy was going out to look for him.

The girl knew she would have to watch, to be brave, and wait with her sickly sister. But she didn't want to...she was so very afraid.

"Do you have to go, mummy? I'm scared."

Mum kissed her cheek. "I must, my dear...

She heard a noise then.

"Hello?" Mum whirled away from the window, clutching the music box to her chest. I say, is someone out there?"

A man emerged from the fog, vaulted the gate that barred their home and landed nimbly on the other side. The little girl noticed blue eyes and whiskered cheeks, bright blond hair that shone like the sun. Yet for all of that he seemed tired somehow, not of the body, but weary in spirit. Nevertheless, he offered them a tired smile and lowered his weapon.

"Did you need something...?"

"Ah! Good sir!" Mum proved quick to approach, heedless of his sudden arrival and the blood on his clothes. "Might you be a hunter?" she didn't give him the chance to answer in any case, barreling on before he could get a word in edgewise. "Don't deny it; if you're out on the night of a hunt with a weapon like that, you must be." Oooh, mister hunter didn't look much pleased to be interrupted, but Mum wasn't having any of his sass. "Could I beg a favor from you?"

He stared at her for a long moment. Sighed. "Sure, why not...?"

"I ask that you bring this music box to a man named Gascoigne." she all but shoved her cloth-wrapped parcel into his open hands. "I had intended to bring it to my husband myself," her fingers closed round his, to which he held the item in question close. "but I fear for my girls, leaving them alone on such a knight. My husband wears the garb of the church and wields a fearsome ax. Surely you'll know him when you meet."

The man muttered something that sounded like an affirmative.

Mummy preened a little and granted him a bow. The little girl didn't think that was enough.

And so she dangled herself out the window, waving his head "Thanks, uncle!"

The man's head whipped toward her with a strangled noise. "Uncle?!"

He sputtered a bit more, made his excuses, then fled back the way he came.

Little Louise settled in by the window to wait as he left.

Everything would be alright now, surely.

Daddy would be home soon.

Wouldn't he?


(.0.0.0.)


"SNAP! OUT! OF IT!"

Each exclamation brought a fresh blow with it; a one-two-three punch folding Father Gascoigne like wet tissue paper. The mad hunter spat blood, crashed backward, struck a gravestone, and kept going. His weapons went flying, scattered away in the graveyard. A lesser man would've stayed down. A sane man would've given up long ago...

.

..

...unfortunately, it seemed Gascoigne was none of these things.

Growling, the hunter grabbed a gravestone and hauled himself upright, grinning like a madman. "Too proud to show your true face, eh?"

"My "true face" would eat ya alive." he crossed both arms before his chest, refusing to rise to the bait. "Stay down."

...never. You're a beast like all the others...if not, you'll be one, sooner or later.

His right eye began to twitcher. "How am I a beast?!"

When he'd first found Gascogine here in the graveyeard, he hadn't expected him to be a raving madman; certainly not a lunatic who attacked him on sght.

The man was absolutely drunk on blood. Had to be. Nothing else could explain this absurd endurance. He'd broken multiple bone in the Hunter's body now, yet still he came back for more, time and again. He'd seen him slap something like a vial against his chest multiple times now. Were those the source of his healing...? Each time his wounds mended. Each time, he waded in, just a little stronger, a little faster than before. Each time, he took another grievous wound, and so the cycle continued.

At this rate, wouldn't be able to hold back much longer.

"Surely he has a limit. We just need to find it."

...hopefully without killing him.

"There's more where that came from!" Naruto shook at fist at the old hunter as he climbed to his feet. "Now are ya done, or do I have to knock you around some more?!" He brandished the music box in his off hand. "You need to calm down! You've got a family waitin' for ya!"

A snarl answered. "

Naruto growled right back.

"C'mon, then! I'll smack some sense into ya!"

A/N: Aaaaand scene. Fight next chapter.

Well? What say you? Do you want this to be a story? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard!

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? POOF! Gone. Completely. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.

Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly? And have some previews

Get ready to smile. Or laugh. Whichever comes first.

Hope they brighten your day~!

(Previews)

"First nine seconds are yours." "Why?" "Cuz you're mine after that."


"The nightmare shall churn unending! Ohhhhh, eyes! Grant us eyes!"

Naruto climbed to his feet behind him. "Oi."

Micolash whipped around.

Then there was pain.


"Nothing personal, dear boy."

Her rapier smacked into an open palm. "Feels pretty personal to me...


...here goes nothing."

He sat down beside the Orphan of Kos.

"You've had a rough time of it, eh, buddy? Wanna talk?"

It did not want to talk. "Roooooo!"

"Oi, oi, oi! Put the club down!"

The orphan of Kos flinched like the child it never had the chance to be. "Roooo...?"

"I said drop it!" he stabbed a finger down. "Right now, mister! Or you'll get no desert!"

R&R~!