Disclaimer: Naruto x Fate/series - I own nothing
I have had this idea sitting around for awhile.
Story Start!
It was time to return home.
She, Atalanta, was a hero worthy to return to where she had been birthed and claim herself as her father's child. She was young woman, with blond hair that greened at her bangs. She was average in height, but had a skinny build, a lean build without an ounce of unrequired fat on her.
Her outfit was simple.
She wore a white tunic without any sleeves, her right breast exposed to the elements, a brown belt around her waste that had a black boar fur attached to it, brown sandles that ran up her shins, and a long black and golden bow attached to her back. She had a beauty to her, and a confidence in her green eyes. Her clothes were simple, because she traveled through the forest with grace, not needing to cover both of her breasts to remain modest as she would in a city.
Her journey had been a harsh one, difficult.
She joined the argonauts, and after her adventures with them where she struck the legendary boar, she had decided to return to where she was born. A place she had never been wanted, and that had abandoned her to death... but despite that, she at least wished to make her life and achievements known to her home.
"Lady Artemis?" Atalanta spoke when she saw a white dress go behind a tree.
She felt her goddess nearby, so she ran over towards where the tree was. She turned around, and she didn't see her goddess waiting there. Instead, she looked in the distance and saw her goddess' dress behind a different tree.
So she ran to chase her.
She passed a bear, and didn't do anything to it. The bear offered her no anger or intent to kill, so she didn't hunt it. It was just waiting for a salmon in the shallow stream, so she had no need to kill it. She jumped over the stream and landed on her hands and knee, before getting back to her feet.
"Lady Artemis!" Atalanta smiled.
She didn't often smile while she traveled with men.
Artemis traveled behind the view of her eyes, always just barely out of sight of her, but always within viewing distance as well. No matter where she looked, she just got a glimpse of where her lady was. That made it clear that she was meant to follow after Artemis, to find her in an area.
The edge of her dress behind a boulder.
Her hand behind a tree.
Her luxurious hair behind a bush.
She ran and raced across the forest, overcoming every single obstacle in her way as she approached wherever her goddess was leading her. The goddess of chastity and the hunt that she worshipped. She didn't question it for even a moment, but she could hear the sound of a waterfall nearby.
The waterfall got closer.
More animals gathered the closer she got to the sounds of a waterfall.
She reached a clearing.
"So beautiful." Atalanta was first and foremost struck by the beauty of her goddess, who was illuminated by the light of the moon. She sat there, at the edge of a pool of water, the sparkling of the moon light off the waterfall giving her the full beauty of the moon itself.
A single beautiful, perfect, foot dipped into the water.
"Atalanta, come... rest your weary feet. Come and see him."
"Him... oh..." Atalanta, now paying attention to more than the beauty of her virgin goddess, saw the woman in all her glory, holding a baby to her breast. She had a baby boy sucking at her breast. A goddess such as herself could give a baby milk, without the need for giving birth. She was a goddess of childbirth, so she had no problems offering up her own milk.
The baby seemed no more than hours old at moment.
On his stomach were ritual markings that seemed... faded.
"His soul isn't of our world, but it's damaged... I'm feeding him with my milk, to heal the damage the best that I can... he was on the verge of death. I don't understand how he came to our land." Artemis had a beautiful youth to her voice. She caressed the baby's face as she fed him on her breast. She placed her hand on his stomach. "... he had something ripped out of him, something of vital importance... his memories are hazy, and they are in a foreign language." Artemis had reached into his memories to try and understand him.
Atalanta placed her feet in the water, before she half submerged her entire body in the pool of water.
She kneeled in front of Artemis, and gently washed the woman's feet.
She didn't speak at all, only listened.
"His name though, from what I saw... it's Naruto... he was a human sacrifice, the vessel for a beast of monumental power... an evil, vile man stole the child, and with a ritual, ripped the beast from the boy, and sent him here so his crime would never be discovered." Artemis had gotten flashes and visions of what happened. Though she had to read through the hazy memories of a baby, she had experienced the pain of something being ripped out of her soul as she recognized what happened.
She knew his name.
Artemis worshipped at her feet.
"You appear before me, as I return to my home... do you wish me to present this child to my father, as the son he wished for?" Atalanta could only imagine that was why Artemis appeared before her for that reason. So that she could return home with the son that her father wanted, so that she herself may return to the forest and hunt in her name.
Artemis didn't speak to her.
"This boy has 17 years to become a hero... I bought him time with my milk, and I pleaded with Hades to stall his death. If he fails to achieve the tasks set for him by Hades, his death is certain." Artemis looked at Atalanta. "... the labours he must face are cruel, designed for him to fail."
Atalanta was silent.
Artemis passed the newborn to her.
"His First task. He must steal the eyes of a Basilik and present them to Hades. Second, he must capture the Teusmessian Fox. Third, he must defeat a god in wrestling. Fourth, he must defeat Athena in a game of her choice. His final task, he must swim across the River Styx, enter the underworld, steal a golden apple from Hades... and present the apple to the temple of Hera." Artemis knew that Hades did not like a soul to return from death, so the tasks he gave were those that should not be considered possible.
Atalanta held the child, her eyes with pity in them.
"His death is certain." Atalanta felt pity for the boy.
"The boy is special... I believe he can do the tasks set forth. He needs the guidance of a mother, one who can teach him. You are now his mother." Artemis didn't ask.
She told.
It was a direct order, one that was not to be questioned. She selected Atalanta for the task, because Atalanta owed her life to her. She had once made a bear nurse the abandoned Atalanta with her milk, allowing her to survive until she was raised by hunters.
"... am I good enough."
"You have defeated even men in wrestling, and no hero is as fast as you. This child is now your son, and in 17 years... you have also slighted me."
"My lady, I-"
"You partook in the hunt that slayed my boar. The Calydonian Boar that I sent to punish those in Calydon. I will not punish you for this action, but even if you think this task impossible, you yourself have accomplished the impossible... so, you must raise your son to do 5 impossible tasks... you are my greatest huntress." Artemis smiled at her with beauty and grace.
"You ask me to love this child, to raise him, knowing I will never seen him become a man... knowing the tasks before him can't be done." Atalanta didn't say she was unwilling to do what was asked of her. Those were 5 impossible tasks, and she was being tasked to raise a son to attempt tasks that would end in his death.
It was cruel.
"You think me cruel do you?"
"No."
"This is cruel of me, you may think it cruel. I am being cruel to you, asking you to love one you may see fail. I have no desire to punish you, and this is not punishment... I believe this babe capable, and you capable of raising him up to the tasks ahead... I am cruel if you are not able to do this, but I am kind if you are." Artemis could see how she was being cruel.
Yet, if Atalanta did manage to raise the child to complete the tasks ahead of him, then it would not be an act of cruelty, but an act of kindness instead. To give her a child that she would be proud of.
"Why do you love this child so?" Atalanta asked.
Artemis smiled and touched the baby's forehead.
"... It took his mother 10 months to birth him... his birth is... unusual. She birthed him with no blessings, surrounded by hatred and death... and this, her son... he was not bathed in water, nor was he blessed... instead, he bathed in his parents blood... his life was destined for suffering... which is why I have given him my blessing." Artemis couldn't help but feel great affection for a baby born in such a strange way, surrounded by such strange circumstances.
He was just a newborn baby, only a few hours old.
He was destined for tragedy.
From birth to death.
"He is foreign."
"He may be foreign to us in blood... but his destiny could not be more Greek. Now, I must go... raise him well. Your motherly love will be what gives him strength." Artemis was gone just like this.
When the light of the moon was obscured by the clouds, Atalanta saw the goddess vanish.
Atalanta brought the child to her exposed breast.
He suckled at her tit, and she was not surprise when her small breast produced milk for him. A blessing of the goddess so that her child may grow up strong, feeding from her virgin breast.
Her journey home was now to be put off until after her child survived his 17th birthday.
Chapter End!
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