Tales of a Kitsune
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Naruto x Sheena ?
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''Normal Speech''
Inner Thoughts, Dialogue, or reading passages from books and scrolls
(Quick Notes and Messages or Echoes.)
(Dark over lapping echoes)
''Boss Summons, Demons, Dark beings speaking, Demonic/Angry characters speaking as well as extremely Dark spells and Magic.''
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Story Start
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"You ready, Corrine?"
The little summon spirit nodded. "Remember, Sheena… for the sake of Tethe'alla."
"Everything has been prepared!" A man announced proudly.
Sheena Fujibayashi stood in front of the gateway to the other world as it started to spin, creating a glowing light. She was about to travel to Sylvarant, were only very few men from this base had put foot. She couldn't help but feel nervous. She had to find the Chosen of Sylvarant and assassinate her to protect Tethe'alla, while in a completely different world.
"Sheena Fujibayashi, we wish you luck," the men lowered their heads to her. Corrine climbed on her shoulder in one quick motion and nudged her comfortingly.
Sheena took a quick breath and marched in the gateway, where she disappeared almost instantly.
"May the goddess bring her success" one of the leaders renegade said.
"Sheena! Sheena!"
The summoner lifted her eyelids with difficulty as she felt her head spin. "Sheena!" she heard a relieved Corrine say. She sat up slowly to find herself on a beach in what seemed like Sylvarant.
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"So, this is Sylvarant?" The blond quietly questioned himself as he arrived in one of the towns. It had felt like he had gone back in time compared to the other world. He knew the Shinobi was stubborn but to have taken off without him was a whole new breed of recklessness. He knew she was determined to prove herself, but he really wished she'd relied on him.
Without much to go on he began speaking with the people of the town, hoping to get some description of her and hoped that by chance someone might have seen her. After checking the shops and eateries he went to the next most logical place, an inn.
A woman greeted him at the counter with a smile. "May I help you, young man?" she asked.
"Yes, mam, I'm searching for my companion we got separated. A dark-haired young woman, around my age, dark hair, purple top and a pink ribbon around her waist. "
"Aah yes there was a young miss here. She left town a few hours ago."
Well, that's good, he should be able to track her then. "Did she mention where she was going?"
"Well, she asked about the Chosen One and said she had a message to her. The chosen would most likely be in Triet by now."
"That's…" he took a moment to pretend to recollect. "…To the west of here, right? I always get my west and east directions turned around depending on where I'm facing." He added with a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head.
The innkeeper clicked her teeth and shook her head. "That's a terrible affliction for a traveler. You better catch up to that companion of yours for you end up on the other side of the world."
It didn't take long for him to pick up her scent. It also helped that she didn't bother to cover up her tracks. As both a stranger to this world and a skilled fighter approaching from a whole different direction it wasn't like she needed to.
As he sped through the path, he didn't bother hiding his presence. He did nothing to mask his scent or hide the noises he was making. She definitely sensed him to some degree as she dropped her bag and were getting her cards ready. In a display of speed he burst by her, the wind whipping up her hair and clothes from the strong breeze as he appeared behind her, facing away from her as they were almost back to back.
"Now what made you think you could get rid of me that easily?" He playfully remarked as she spun, whatever heated retort died on her lips as she saw his warm expression as he beamed down at her.
A spark of warmness to know he had followed her all the way to Sylvarant. She didn't think she would've been able to see him again since the night before her departure to Sylvarant. There was a possibility she could die. There was also the fact she wouldn't be able to make it back.
"Naruto? I told you I could do this or," her expression became a bit more sullen, "…or do you not have fate in me?" Her dejection didn't last long as he painfully flicked her forehead. "OOw!" She cried out. "What was that for?"
"For being a dumbass! I will always have fate in you. Besides you know my belief, partnerships are always above going solo."
"It can't hurt!" Corrine chimed in.
"See, Corrine agrees with me." He crouched down, extending his arm as the summoned creature crawled up it and nestled on his shoulder.
Sheena let out a huff. "Traitor." She muttered. "Lets just go. We wasted enough time."
Naruto softly chuckled and followed her up that mountain, a smile spreading across his face. He still wasn't keen on this whole murder business, but at the same time he knew it wasn't his place to interfere without having all the facts. This wasn't the world he was born in or the one he was summoned to before either. He was a literal outsider and stranger who still didn't understand the inner workings of everything just yet.
"From what information I was able to gather before I left town the Chosen will have to pass by here to arrive at her first destination. We'll wait here so I can ambush and take her out."
"Okay," he nodded, "…your call." He added. The closer it got to the reality of Sheena's mission being complete the more ill he start to felt. It didn't feel right. To try to kill someone who merely wanted to save their home and world. It went against so much of how he had lived his life but at the same time it wasn't fair to ask people of another world to simply just die.
A good deal of time had passed and it had grown eerily quiet. Peering away from where she had been scouting Sheena couldn't help but notice that the blond was uncharacteristically quiet. "Naruto?" She gently called out to him.
"Yeah? You need something?" he asked, looking up from the ground his gaze was so intent on.
"Just, is there something on your mind?" she was going to point out he was being quiet, but that seemed like it was a little rude.
"Just, a little lost in thought." He waved off, "…I'm fine."
Sheena's lips twitched slightly as she wondered if that was the case. When she was first given her mission, he had questioned if there was no other choice. He definitely had his own thoughts on the matter that he was mulling over. Before she could question it more the sound of footsteps drew her attention back to the trail.
She spotted a man in purple clothing appear on the trail down from her. The man was soon followed by a younger man dressed in red. Brown hair and average stature with a lean build. By his equipment he was maybe a dual wielder swordsman. There was a blond girl dressed in mostly all white with blue highlights and there were two silver-haired elves. The older a young woman in standard robing's, academy like but orange and the younger boy in blue, their features denoted them as siblings.
In an instant Naruto was by her side. It was then he took notice of the Cruxis Crystal at the girl's neck. The very same as of Tetthella's chosen so it was no doubt about it. The blonde girl was Sheena's target. Observing each of the traveler's they were of minimal threat except the red-haired man. He was thankful he had the foresight to gather nature chakra and went into toad sage mode. And what he picked up told him all he needed to know.
"Stop!"
Startled, the group quickly looked up to where the voice had come from. Naruto carefully hid himself from them, but he was ready to step in and protect Sheena if need be.
With elegance, Sheena jumped down to their level, landed easily and stood in a superior way.
The young man in red was the first to speak. "What?" he asked confused.
"Is she a friend of yours, Lloyd?" the blonde girl curiously asked the one who had spoken sooner.
"Not that I'm aware of…"
Naruto shook his head in disappointment. In his first life he was bad, but damn, the people chosen to protect your world's last hope should at least be a bit sharper.
"… Is the Chosen of Mana among you?" annoyed, Sheena asked them.
"Oh, that's me," the blonde girl, stated happily with no idea of anything that was going on.
Turning to the Chosen of Mana, Sheena readied her cards. "… Prepare to die!" she said, just before dashing towards the blonde girl.
Startled, the girl tripped over something as, dashed towards Sheena to protect the girl. In less than a second, a trap door opened right under Sheena's feet. Naruto blinked as he looked at what happened in shock. Did she really just fall through a trap door?
"Oh no!" the girl got up and stared at the hole, "What should I do? I did it again…"
"You don't need to worry about it," the elven woman said, "If she had not fallen in, you might have been killed."
"But…" the girl, Colette, looked worried as she knelt.
"Don't worry about it. Looks like she's an enemy," the red one explained to her.
"I hope she's okay," the girl kept worrying. How worried the girl was about her own would be assassin added to the inner conflict of the blond.
"Even assuming her weight to be 45kg," the boy elf started, "and this hole to be 10 meters deep, and calculating the gravity constant at 9.8 per square second, the impact shouldn't have been fatal," he explained.
Well even if it wasn't fatal ten meters down at more than a dozen meters per second would still mean Sheena would be hurt pretty badly considering she was cut off guard. He might not have been a scholarly genius, but all those years of abusing kage bunshin going over countless books and scrolls resulted in him being far from the book dumb kid he was when he was young.
Waiting for them to depart he dropped down the hole as he wall jumped down. He arrived and sure enough Sheena was unconscious.
"Naruto…she…"
"I got this!" Naruto cut Corrine off as he was bathed in a golden light. He began to heal her as Sheena's body began to mend itself from the damage. It was as if the fractures she suffered had never occurred.
She lifted her eyelids and focused on the one calling her name. "Sheena!" Corrine said, relieved to see she was okay. She sat up and reached a hand to her head. "Welcome back to the world sleepyhead."
Blushing, she hastily sat up and diverted her eyes. "Thanks." It was as if she realized something and shot up. "The chosen, she'll get away!"
She ran to the exit and busted the wooden door open. There they were. "…W…wait!" she forces herself to say.
Lloyd spoke first once again. "…Wow, she caught up with us." She thought he looked nervous to see her again.
"Oh, thank goodness," Sylvarant's Chosen said.
The fact her target seemed happy to see she was alright had thrown Sheena off guard and momentarily stun her. "…D…don't move!" the assassin threatened weakly.
"A wise decision," the older elf woman stated in a deadpan voice, not wanting Colette to go near the assassin.
The assassin quickly recomposed herself and lost the look of fear on her face. She was obviously still nervous, however.
"…I won't be caught off guard this time!" Sheena continued with more force, not caring what the elf meant by that, "Prepare to die!" She took out one of her grandfather's guardian cards and summoned it to life.
In a puff of smoke, a strange looking wooden creature came forward. It had reddish scraps of clothes on and what appeared to be a wooden wheel on its back. It looked like some type of spirit, especially because it floated above the ground.
It shrieked a piercing call from within its beak and attacked the oldest among the group, who took no time to strike the first blow with his double-edged sword. She saw Colette materialized a pair of pink sparkling wings as she began to fight alongside the man while staying a good distance away from Sheena's guardian.
Naruto observed the battle and was surprised by how well the team was holding their own against Sheena. As expected, Sheena was quick in her attacks to stun and disable her attackers to weaken the number of obstacles around the chosen but the elder healer who their chosen identified as 'Raine' had quickly healed both her brother and Lloyd bringing them both back in the fight as quickly as they were downed by the assassin's knife.
Dodging the disks of the chosen she knew all her progress would be undone. With a quick application of Pyre Seal she blasted back the elves as she used her knife to block the attack from the duo swordsman. Using her superior speed she broke his footing by wrenching the back of his foot loose using hers and using another quick application of Pyre Seal.
The sound of a final cry of her guardian dying signified she was running out of time. She made a mad dash toward the healer.
"Icicle!" the young elf boy fire but she dodged the attack by jumping in the air and gracefully landed. It was now or never. The cast time of an unseasoned mage was always their biggest weakness.
What seemed like certain victory ceased to be when a shadow casted over her. For a moment she was the older swordsman with his blade raised and the next thing she knew she had collapsed to the ground as she narrowly avoid being slashed in half.
It felt like all her strength had left her as she could barely hold herself using her arms. That kind of damage did not belong to a normal fighter. She looked up at what she thought was sudden death.
The clang of metal rung throughout the area as the man in purple stumbled back. He had not expected the assassin had a partner in waiting.
"Let's call this a draw for now!" Naruto insisted as the two seasoned warriors stared each other down. That one brief clash told them that both were powerful, and the others would be caught up if they fought now.
Both lowered their weapons.
Naruto picked the girl up, slinging her arm over her shoulder.
"Ugh… Just you wait!" she taunted, "I swear I will kill you all next time!" With that they escaped from sight thanks to the blond's speed. Once they were a safe distance he began tending to her injuries. He saw the dejection on her face. He could tell that she was having doubts in herself. "I failed," she stated.
"You have knowledge. You know their abilities and best of all you have me." He comforted her as he finished healing her wounds. Before they went after them Sheena would need to rest up. With that he proceeded to scoop her up bridal style. "What are you doing put me down!" she demanded, becoming flustered at the action though not trying particularly hard to get out of his grip.
"We know where they're supposed to be going right? Let's get there first and set up camp and this way will be much faster. Just sit back and enjoy the ride." He told her.
She let out a sigh. Well, it could be worse. She could have been stuck dealing with that pervert Zelos.