Disclaimer: Don't own PJO or the Whiskered Warrior.

Lunar Phases

Assassin

Hit.

To strike. To damage. To harm. The word alludes to nothing but violence. Fitting that it was derived from a Norse word. In the golden years of the American Mafia families' rule, the word was adopted by the family to refer to a target meant to be permanently dealt with. Ares became so fond of the word during that time, he began to make it appear tattooed onto his body. He covered it up once his more mischievous brethren took it as an invitation and left him in one of Chicago's gutters after a humiliating night out.

December 22nd, 2008

New York was colder than California, but it thrummed with just as much, if not more, natural energy. A blond man let out a soundless sigh as he meditated atop a ledge of the Chrysler building. The time was drawing near for him to enact his plan. Just a little bit more—

The fog filled his head and he shook himself from his stupor. Arashi opened his eyes and felt the presence of a god appear beside him. He turned and greeted the newcomer with a curt bow.

"Lord Eros."

"You choose the strangest places to hang out, Arashi." Lord Eros noted with his devil-may-care smirk. Beside him was another god, this one a taller man whose features were obscured by subtle shifting. Almost as if he was made of sand. "Arashi, this is Morph."

"Morpheus." The god corrected his fellow, almost glaring at him as he did. His features settled upon a face that reminded Arashi of his predecessor, the Nidaime, only his eyes were a steeled blue rather than red. Morpheus then stared at Arashi. "You... have interesting dreams, Arashi. Such creative lands and people."

"Apologies, Lord Morpheus, but I do not remember them." Arashi replied. As far as he was aware, he only dreamt of his wife at his side, ruling his people under the might of New Olympus. He looked at Lord Eros. "What is the mission?"

"To deal a blow to The Thunderer." Eros smirked, willing a black arrow into his hand and twirling it. "And gaining some brownie points with The Queen."

"Put that thing away before you drop it. They will recognize your handiwork." Morpheus drawled, crossing his arms. He ignored the scowl Eros sent his way and appraised Arashi once more. "If this mortal is as skilled as Hecate says, then the Thrall will suffice."

"What would you have me do, Lord Morpheus?" Arashi asked. The minor god regarded him with a bit more approval.

"The daughter of Zeus turns eighteen today. I've played my part, tormenting her dreams with her greatest regrets. She should be off-kilter by the psychological torment. So long as Psyche and Eros have fulfilled their roles accordingly—"

"See if we invite you to our victory party." Eros sneered. Morpheus ignored him, his eyes still locked with Arashi's.

"Then your mission will be simple. Kill the girl and take her head to Olympus. Offer them a ceasefire."

"They will not accept it." Arashi noted. He knew where this plan would lead him. Morpheus smiled, a fractured, tired, and cruel thing that changed with every shift of his face.

"No. No, they will not. More likely, The Thunderer will kill you on the spot. When that happens, you will die a martyr. They may try to spin the girl's story as a more heroic death, but the truth will spread nevertheless: Olympus' King couldn't even protect his demigod from Lord Kronos' forces."

"If he couldn't protect her, then how would he protect the children of others?" Arashi cupped his chin. "Discourse and concern would spread through the pantheon. Civil war would likely erupt, their forces split between those who'd wish to broker peace for their domains and children, and those who would cling to the past."

"...Hecate was right, you are a clever one." Morpheus chuckled. He nodded his head. "Go, Arashi. Go, and claim the head of Thalia Grace."

"It will be done, Lord Morpheus." Arashi bowed. He closed his eyes and focused on the nearest marker to his target. His chakra flared and he vanished in a yellow flash.

Thalia awoke to the sound of a crash and a yell. She dove for her mace canister on the other bedside table. Adrenaline racing, she overshot and barely managed to snatch it before she hit the ground. This was to her benefit, as the wall on the other side of her bed exploded into the room.

"Aegis!" The shield expanded into existence and protected her from the spray of debris. A groan had her peak over the rim and saw her half-dressed boyfriend — wearing only his favorite shirt (Thalia really needed to get him to wear one of the other shirts they bought the other day) and a pair of boxers — push the remains of her couch off of his person. Across from him stood a man wearing a hooded white coat that had red flames at the bottom.

"You will not get in the way of my mission, Naruto. I will deal with you later." A knife like the one Whiskers used against her last month slid from his sleeve into his hand. "Just walk away."

"Yeah, that's not happening." Whiskers growled, tense with the aggression that radiated from his body. He all but tore his earring off and shifted it into his axe. He brandished it towards the man and though his head inclined towards her, his eyes remained locked on the stranger's form. "Thalia?"

"I'm alright." She stood, depressed the top of her mace canister and expanded it into its bronze spear form. She pointed the face of her shield toward their attacker... and he didn't so much as flinch. How the heck was that possible?! The only ones who didn't react to her shield thus far were Whiskers, Artemis and the more experienced members of The Hunt. Two-thirds of that small group had divine protection, and she'd always thought Whiskers was just a little weird. Guess he wasn't the mortal exception.

"Aegis, the shield burned with the appearance of the Gorgon, Medusa, and made from the hide of a goat or oxen. It cannot be pierced by any weapon. Supposedly, it is imbued with the ability to instill great fear into any being." The man prattled off like he just walked out of one of Annie's crash courses on Greek Mythology. He tilted his head. "Tell me, Thalia Grace, have you ever used it on yourself?"

"Why would I do that?" Thalia frowned. A shield like hers, even though it was a replica, was meant to protect demigods. Not hurt them.

Well, she considered the manner in which she and Luke fought, it wasn't designed to hurt them too badly.

Besides, why would she ever risk exposing herself to Aegis power?

"To brace yourself against something stronger."

After he said that, a feeling of dread suddenly overwhelmed the demigod. A pit formed in Thalia's gut. She saw flashes of her friends from Camp - Annabeth, Grover, Percy, Tyson, and others - gruesomely slaughtered by a flash of yellow. Then came a vision of Whiskers bleeding out on the ground, a tri-pronged knife pierced through his throat and the life fading from his eyes. Finally, the image of a sobbing two year old boy running after a departing car, before he was snatched away from existence by the same yellow flash. They were all dead. She was next. She was going to die next—

"Thalia, snap out of it!"

Warm liquid splattered her face and Thalia blinked. The world was a little unfocused. A tanned hand with a sharp knife pierced through the middle was in front of her. She followed the hand up to the owner as it pulled back to his side, then turned with him to face her attacker. There was an inhuman roar of effort followed by another crash, and she blinked again. Her wall had been completely demolished at this point, as had the tall glass windows in the living room beyond it. Her queen sized bed, mattress frame and all, was now missing from the room.

"Hey, you good?" Whiskers asked as he ripped the weird knife through the back of his palm and tossed it out a window. Thalia blinked a few more times and reached up to touch her face. When she looked at them, blood stained her fingers. She looked back at his hand as he flexed it a few times. Ethereal red energy swirled in the gap before the flesh stitched itself back together. In seconds, it was as if it was never there. She jumped when he grabbed her shoulder with his left hand. "Tree Girl! Are you good?"

"Y-yeah." She cleared her throat and nodded. She couldn't think about the weird healing she just witnessed. That was not a mortal thing. Or a demigod thing. But it could wait. She smiled at him, a little shaken from the psychological ordeal she went through, but was willing to hold it off. "Yeah. I'm good. Thanks, Whiskers."

"Anytime." He gave her a small smile before he turned back to the hole he made. The tension in his shoulders returned and the timber of his voice was accompanied by a lower growl. "Now, please excuse me while I go kill my father."

"...I'm sorry, what?" It answered a few questions, sure, but raised so many others.

"Long story short, that's dear old Dad." Whiskers growled again. His eyes flashed between deep blue and bright red. "Hecate has him enthralled by her magic. You remember how effective it is."

"Mind altering." She muttered. She still didn't understand how their first kiss broke him out of that, but she wasn't going to question it. Knowing her luck, that would only invoke Aphrodite to bother her about using them as examples of 'love being the strongest emotion' or some similar nonsense. Now definitely wasn't the time for her to be a distracting annoyance.

"Yeah. It's strong stuff. And he's been exposed to it for who knows how long." He grumbled. She was a little concerned with his next words. "Bastard might as well be dead."

The sound of air displacing had both whirling towards the source. Their assailant had his hood down, and all Thalia could think was: Whiskers definitely got his looks from his dad.

The nearly-vacant blue eyes belonging to the man that was clearly her boyfriend's biological father were narrowed in mild annoyance.

"Naruto," he said with a sternness in his voice that reminded Thalia of Zeus' when they spoke almost a month prior. "I broke every bone in your body at least once already. Don't think I won't do it again."

"So, what?" Whiskers lifted his axe and glared at him. "You want me to let you kill my girlfriend, Arashi?"

"Yes."

Wow, there was zero hesitation there. That was, honestly, a little unsettling. Was that the mind control at work or just what Whiskers' father was like?

"Yeah, &%*$ that." Whiskers threw his axe at the man. He disappeared in a yellow flash of light and the axe tore through one of her two undamaged walls, before it embedded in the wall past that. Thalia momentarily groused over that becoming an issue with her yet-to-be met benefactor before she looked at her boyfriend.

"Whiskers, you are a mortal, right?" It wouldn't change anything to her, but she'd rather know if he had knowingly lied to her or not.

"Yes." He sniffed before he turned and threw out a punch with a yell. His father reappeared with his hand up and caught the blind strike before it could hit him in the face. Thalia thrusted her spear up at his chest to stab it.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" Whiskers' Dad drawled as her Celestial Bronze spear phased through his body. Right, okay, so he was a mortal – That meant Whiskers was definitely a mortal – but then how did he do that teleporting thing? Was it magic?

Thalia hated magic!

"No." She lied. She pulled on her divine father's domain, and channeled it through her annoyance at having to deal with a magical enemy, her apartment being trashed, and that her eighteenth birthday started out on such a crummy note. She had wanted to start the day out with waffles, instead she got an assassin. Her eyes crackled and she smirked. "But this will."

Arcs of lightning danced from her fingers, up the path of her spear provided and crashed into Whiskers' Dad's chest. He let out a pained cry and then exploded into smoke. A log, charred and broken, fell to the ground.

"...Okay, that's new." Whiskers grumbled. He lowered his extended fist and rubbed his knuckles. "Stupid chakra."

"What-rah?"

"Some kind of latent energy that apparently exists in every living thing," he scowled. He knew about this? How? What happened to not keeping secrets?! "Some mortals can utilize it to strengthen their bodies and do other things. My father is one of them. Theoretically, so am I."

Thalia stared at him in disbelief.

"And you were going to share this information... when?"

"Hey, I haven't known about it for long, okay? I didn't want to just toss something out there if it wasn't going to become a problem!"

"Well, look at my room, Whiskers! You tell me, is it a problem now?!"

"Okay, yes, I messed up, Thalia! I'm sorry! Could you just – Duck!" Whiskers pulled her with him to the ground just as something spiraling and humming with power flew through the space where her head used to be. He rolled them out of the way of a descending foot that stomped into the ground, twisting them to their knees and moving himself in front of her. The floor groaned and splintered in protest beneath the assassin's foot.

"Stop making this difficult, son." Arashi sighed. In his left hand was one of the weird tri-pronged knives, spinning slowly by the ring at the end of the hilt around his finger. In his right, a blue orb of swirling energy sprouted over his palm. "I have no qualms about killing you if I must, but I would really rather not."

"So touching. Remind me to nominate you for 'Father of the Year'." Whiskers sneered back, the grip on his silver hatchet tightened to the point that his knuckles threatened to pop through his skin. He flicked his gaze back to her over his shoulder. "Thalia, stick with ranged attacks. If you get a shot, take it."

"Even if you're in the way?" Thalia asked, using her spear to get to one knee.

"I'll get back up. He won't."

Thalia wasn't going to lie, his confidence was inspiring feelings in her that were not suitable for combat. Ignorant of or ignoring the effect his words had on her, Whiskers rose to his feet and locked eyes with Arashi.

"It really doesn't have to be this way, Naruto."

"Yeah, Dad," he sneered. "It really &%$*in' does."

A purely decorative book set on what was now a crooked shelf started to teeter. It fell and both blonds tensed. They moved the instant it hit the ground. Thalia was caught off guard by the assassin's speed. She was impressed when Whiskers blocked his father's dagger wielding hand with the underside of his axe. She was worried when the energy orb was jammed into his gut.

"Rasengan!"

A roar that sounded like a mix of Whiskers' voice and something much larger ripped out of his mouth. Thalia remembered the giant fox he told her about, the one that saved his life for the cost of others. The watered down story he told to Pollux the day before was still fresh in her mind. Was that what it sounded like? Or was that another side-effect of Lycaon's bite?

Before she could truly ponder the strange sound of agony that her boyfriend made, Thalia noticed the reaction of the would-be assassin. Arashi was stunned, his near-vacant eyes locked on a thousand yard stare. A single word left his lips, one filled with horror and dread.

"K-Kyūbi?"

Alright, that was a weird thing to say in the heat of battle. A name maybe?

The sphere he ground into Whiskers' gut harmlessly destabilized and vanished. Her boyfriend capitalized on his father's shock and his free hand took hold of Arashi's jacket lapel. He reared his head back, then drove it forward. Arashi's nose let out a sickening crunch and he was forced to take a step back. The space gave Whiskers enough room to swing his axe up and into the older blond's side, where more blood gushed out. Whiskers tore his weapon out of his father's side, dropped to sweep his legs, then used the momentum to bury his heel into the man's sternum. Arashi was kept off of the ground from the blow, blood expelled from his mouth, and Whiskers turned to her, his eyes bright red and a smoking dark circle on his ever present white shirt. It was quite the sight, part of her noted.

"Thalia, now!"

Without hesitation, Thalia acted. A stream of lightning flew from her Celestial Bronze spear into Arashi's airborne body. He convulsed, screamed and was launched out the same destroyed set of windows her bed had been thrown through. No log was left this time.

"I think we actually got him that time." Whiskers huffed before he slumped against the wall and cradled his stomach. His face contorted into a pained grimace. "Oh, gods... That sphere thing hurts."

Thalia kept her eyes on the window, half expecting the man to fly back through it. A beat passed before she assessed the room. She noticed one of Arashi's knives nearby. Without prompting, she ran over, snatched it up and chucked it out after its owner. More secure knowing he wasn't about to reappear in front of them again, she went over to her trembling boyfriend and knelt beside him.

"Whiskers, let me see the damage."

As he peeled his shirt up, he let out a sharp, high-pitched whine that did not sound human in the slightest. Thalia did her best to ignore it and grimaced at the ugly blackening bruise that twisted in his stomach. Tentatively, she reached out to push against it, to gauge the severity of the internal injuries. She'd barely grazed his skin when his hand snatched hers and she looked up into his now bright red eyes.

"Don't. Touch." The growled words broke through gritted teeth. He took in a deep breath through his nose and his eyes screwed shut. "Few ribs broken. Appendix compromised. Fox healing."

"How do you-?"

"First year required classes. Anatomy One and Two." He hissed and tried to grin but only managed a grimace. "Boring, but useful."

"What can I do?" She frowned. Her basic field training covered helping demigods off of the battlefield, making tourniquets and healing the occasional satyr. Ambrosia and Nectar would not help here. She felt useless and that feeling was irritating.

"Just...Sit?" His grip on her offending hand softened and his thumb stroked the back of it. The bright red orbs had cooled into her favorite shade of deep blue. "With me?"

"...You're such a sap." Thalia gave him a wry smile and he returned it with a weak one of his own. She plopped down on his right side, keeping their hands intertwined. She took in the trashed state of her apartment. Her room was demolished, the living room vacant of all furniture, and the sheer amount of destroyed walls were enough to make the Kool-Aid Man jealous. "Whiskers, your dad is a dick."

"Understatement." He closed his eyes for a few minutes. She rested beside him and did the same. His breaths started to even out from the deep, pained swallows they were before he spoke again. "Sorry he ruined your birthday morning."

"You don't have to apologize." Thalia snorted. "I doubt you invited your psycho-dad over to try and kill me."

"...I have a confession to make."

"That's not funny." She fought back the smile that threatened to break through.

"His timing was way off." Whiskers let out a hoarse chuckle. "Moron wasn't supposed to show up until after the surprise party."

Despite herself, Thalia laughed. She rested her head on his shoulder and pulled their intertwined hands to her lap. Her thumb rubbed over his, and his hand tightened around hers.

"Really, Whiskers, don't sweat it." She tilted her head up, pressed her lips against his cheek, before resting her head on his shoulder again. "Thank you for kicking your dad's ass for me."

"Not going to lie, that was more for me." He mumbled, and Thalia let out a soft snort. "Not that there was a lot of ass-kicking done on my part. You're the one that showed him what's what, Tree Girl."

She let out another laugh, simply relieved they'd once more come out on top together. She closed her eyes and shivered as the snowy winds came in. The damage done to the apartment would let in all of the worst parts of winter. She groaned.

"We're going to need a new place to stay."

"Yeah."

"You got enough saved for a hotel room?"

"With my track record that you enjoy bringing up so much?" Whiskers gave her a wry smirk. "I'd probably find one owned by a drug cartel or something. And Arashi would still probably seek us out."

Thalia hated that he made such a good point.

"What do you suggest then? That we ask for the gods to help us with him?" It wasn't that Thalia was against asking them for help. It was more along the lines that she didn't want to turn to the Olympians for every problem she had. Yes, she could probably find sanctuary at Camp, but that would result in her having to leave Whiskers behind.

Not. Happening. She resolved, the start of a scowl forming on her face.

"That might honestly be our best bet." Whiskers sighed reluctantly.

"And out the gate, my father is off the list." Thalia huffed. She gave her boyfriend a rueful smile. "He despises you, by the way."

"Awesome. Love hearing that." He rubbed his face. "He'll be so stoked to learn that my father is the one after your head and is the reason for all of this damage."

"So we're agreed on not telling The King, then?" She asked for clarity. He nodded. "Alright. Next up: your uncle. He loves you, and likes me, so should we ask-?"

"Not in a million years." Whiskers scoffed. Thalia frowned at him and he arched a brow. "Do you remember what he let slip last night? My impromptu thirteenth birthday present?"

"Right." Thalia scowled at the reminder. She had decided that, after hearing Whiskers' reason for not telling her that story— "It was embarrassing, okay?! I was surrounded by a lot of older women that were paid to entertain me by my stupid Uncle! He probably expected them to have intercourse with me! I was lucky that they were smart enough to not want to get busted for pedophilia on top of prostitution charges." — she was not mad at him for that situation he found himself in. Apollo, on the other hand, lost a lot of respect from her.

"Yeah, if we did ask him? Expect that kind of hookup, but something more 'couple oriented'." He paused and shivered. "Or worse."

"Do I want to know?" Her boyfriend's grimace was enough of an answer for her. "Okay, definitely not asking Apollo. Maybe Leto, then?"

"I don't want to get Gran-Gran in any more trouble than she already is. Don't misunderstand, I love Gran-Gran, but she's not an Olympian. She's only got so much pull before she steps out of line. And her immediate superior is your number one fan."

"Damn." Thalia frowned. She looked at Whiskers. "Hate to suggest this, but what about Aphrodite?"

Whiskers pursed his lips in thought.

"Well, we know she likes you, and tolerates me for whatever reason" — Thalia did her best not to glower; she knew what that reason was and hated thinking about it — "but…I don't think it would be worth it." He glanced at her and his notched eyebrow arched up. "I mean, do you want to stay in some kind of over-the-top romantic suite? With what would probably be a heart-shaped bed, a valentine vomited shower, Cupid covered windows, fancy unnecessary doilies and a big red television that's limited to adult films?"

"Good point. Alright, forget that." Thalia shook her head, nose crinkled in disgust. "Even the laid out chocolates wouldn't make it worthwhile."

"Most caramel anyway." Whiskers muttered in disgust. "And that leaves us with—"

"Your mother." Thalia sighed when he nodded. She pursed her lips. "She'd probably be our best bet. How could we sell it to her without-?"

"Upsetting her with our relationship?"

"Pretty much."

"…I have an idea, but you might not like it."

Whiskers laid out his plan and he turned out to be right. Thalia didn't like it. Still, he knew his mother better than she did and, more importantly, she trusted him. Whiskers hadn't let her down yet; if he ever came close, he always tried to make up for it.

Iris' Messaging system was one of Artemis' least favorite methods of conversing with others. For one thing, it felt impersonal and lazy to speak from afar with a third party listening in. Another point against it was that the goddess of rainbows was rarely active whenever Artemis' Chariot took to the sky. Compounding those two strikes were personal differences and Zeus' need to keep the status quo intact, which kept the two goddesses from ever coming to an agreement on something. Then came, what her oafish twin referred to as, Iris' 'Big Mistake'.

In the early years of the industrial revolution, when famine and abhorrent acts made by man ran rampant, the soft disagreement turned into a vicious dislike that bordered on becoming another rivalry. The reason for such a drastic change? The minor goddess - encouraged by none other than the walking pile of sea foam herself - challenged Artemis for her seat on the council. It was, according to one of her Hunters at the time, akin to a pawn's suicide play.

Regardless, the foolish move cost Iris her chance at a seat, and Artemis wound up banned from using her messaging service. Her Hunters could still make messages for her and she could receive messages if she so wished, but rarely did either occur. The former because Artemis was practical and preferred face to face interactions over having a conversation with a non-neutral third party, and the latter was because she didn't think giving her attention to such conversations was worthwhile.

So when Artemis received a message from her son, with a familiar yet destroyed apartment behind him, she immediately focused and gave it her full attention.

"What happened?"

"First," Naruto held a finger up. "I want to clarify that neither Thalia nor I did anything wrong, and that we're both okay."

"Noted." Artemis crossed her arms, not fully believing her recent troublemaker of a child in the slightest. "Now tell me what happened."

"I was looking at possible classes to take next semester and the next thing I know Arashi showed up."

Artemis' hands tightened around her arms; she'd not even met the mortal man and already she despised him. It wasn't even because of his sex, not surprisingly, how he'd left Naruto's birth mother. Regrettable as it was to think, without her death, the goddess of the moon would have never raised the first tolerable mortal boy to grace the world.

She did not despise Arashi for his weak will being so easily overwhelmed by Hecate's magic. That witch in Greek clothing was infamous on Olympus for making mortals dance like puppets at her own whim. Not to mention that her carnal insatiability was on par with that airheaded goddess of sluts. She didn't doubt for a second that Hecate was using him to sate some of those 'Olympian' needs.

Nor did Artemis utterly despise Arashi for his initial part in abducting and enthralling her child, or for the damage dealt upon said child — but that didn't mean she was okay with it. Naruto's swift return to New York three days after his abduction was immediately followed by a thorough examination at the hands of her oafish twin and his less oafish, but just as intolerable, 'favorite' son. Afterwards, they informed her of the damage her son undertook prior to combat with Thalia Grace. When she heard that her son was briefly paralyzed with his own weapon nearly caused another rift between aspects. Diana had wanted to double down on Naruto's punishment, ship him off to Lupa, where she claimed he needed a firmer hand to "straighten him out"; Artemis had wanted to hunt down the mortal responsible and show him the same treatment.

Thankfully, and regrettably, neither got their wish.

Zeus had decreed long ago that the crimes of mortals committed upon mortals, even favored ones, were not to face direct consequence, aka, Olympian Justice. He reminded her, once he praised his demigoddess within her penthouse suite — as her son was still infuriatingly banned from Olympus — that Arashi could not be punished at her hands for his deeds. It was vexing, but Artemis obeyed.

The King had followed through on the first half of his oath to her and she did not want to worsen what would come next.

No, the reasoning behind why Artemis despised the mortal Arashi was the most petty and selfish she never thought herself capable of: she was jealous.

By Divine Law, Arashi, a mortal man, had more claim to parentage over her son than she, The Goddess of the Moon, ever could. If ever he was released by Hecate's spell like her son was, Arashi could take Naruto away from her and Zeus would intervene on the father's behalf. Legally, by mortal standards, Naruto was her son - her twin was sure to make this possible when she invoked a favor from him - but even that could be overturned in the United States' court of law.

So, yes, Artemis despised this Arashi Uzuki-Kamikaze-whatever-his-name-is with all of her being. His power made him a threat to Olympus, to her Hunters, and (more importantly) to her claim over Naruto. If ever she was given the chance, she would deal with him personally.

All of this thought, this explanation of the seething hatred Artemis held for one mortal, was done in the span of time Naruto's heart took to make a single beat.

"What happened after That Man arrived?" She asked.

"He tried to kill Thalia, and then me after I tried to stop him."

Despite being given more reason to despise this Arashi, Artemis' hatred for the mortal man was shelved for the time being. Her features softened as she gave her son a look of concern.

"Are you hurt?"

"Not anymore. He used some kind of energy attack on me." Her son held a hand over his stomach and grimaced. "It broke my ribs and ruptured my appendix. Don't worry, The Fox healed it."

Ah, yes. The eponymous mountain-sized fox spirit that her son trapped in his soul with Norse magic. One of the few instances where his damned y-chromosome chose to reveal itself. Artemis had yet to meet this creature; she was advised against doing so by both Apollo and Asclepius since The Fox and her son shared a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with one another. While she wasn't entirely sure what that entailed, she knew that Naruto's reason for trapping it was out of self-preservation, and that thus far it's presence had kept him from dying numerous times. Hence, why she let it be. For now.

"Can you describe the spell?"

"It wasn't treated like a traditional spell. Just energy that swirled up over his palm, became the size of a baseball and ground into my gut." Naruto looked off to the side and then nodded. He looked back at her. "He did say 'Ra-sen-gan' before it hit me. And he often says 'He-Rye-Shin' before he teleports. Not sure what it means, but it sounds kind of like Japanese. Maybe Uncle Fred could figure it out?"

Artemis was not in any sort of rush to ask her oafish twin for more assistance. If she started asking him about Japanese, he might get the wrong idea. She'd have to clarify and explain who Arashi was to him, and that would make things even more complicated. Apollo tended to get...Erratic whenever particularly powerful men started popping up in her life. All she needed to do was mention Orion and her twin would gain a prominent twitch in his eye. But that was an issue they'd long since squabbled over.

Artemis shook the thought off and leveled her son with a pointed look.

"And what happened after that?"

"Thalia fended him off—"

"She zapped him, didn't she?"

"Essentially, yes."

Artemis hummed. Zeus' demigoddess might have been Eros' target and was the unfortunate selection to be Aphrodite's latest pet project — a shame about that, too; Thalia would've made a decent addition to The Hunt if she were a few years younger and if Bianca hadn't been filling her role as Lieutenant so diligently — but she was first and foremost a capable warrior. A survivor. Granted, the fact that Thalia Grace might harbor romantic feelings for Artemis' son was an issue the goddess felt needed addressing at some point, but with Zeus' ire hanging over her, she felt it safe to hold off for now. Besides, her son wouldn't be so foolish as to engage in a romantic relationship after what happened with the Amazon Queen.

"Then what is the purpose for this call?"

Naruto sighed.

"Mom, Thalia's apartment just got demolished and she's got a bounty on her head. We need to deal with the assassin and then we can keep our heads down."

Ah, they needed help. For once, her son's brain appeared to be working, since he decided to turn to her instead of others. Well, it was about time.

"Zeus will not let her go to Colorado so soon after your Incident." Artemis folded her arms and leveled him with a glower. Her son winced.

"That was person—I mean," His protest died when her eyes narrowed. "I apologized for that. I didn't know Khonsu would be so obvious about it. …Please don't call it an Incident."

"I will consider your request. In the meantime, what would you ask me to do? I cannot repair the damage to her home as well as others might and at this time I have few Hunters I can spare for Manhattan's defense, let alone one demigod."

"Aside from the fact that we don't need babysitting." Artemis scoffed. Her son was becoming quite the troublemaker the older he became. She blamed Apollo's influence on it for the most part, then divvied some blame to fall on those Egyptian and Norse bastards that tried to poison her son's faith in her and her family. That circled it back to being mostly Apollo's fault since he had lost track of Naruto in the first place which allowed him to be exposed to other pantheons. "Thalia wants to be on the move, and so do I. I can't stay cramped up in this City, Mom. I feel like I'm going crazy."

Artemis sympathized with her son's plight. She preferred the wilderness to the mockery of civilization that now dominated the world. The marble towers and concrete streets mortals created once they dismissed the gods to beings of mere myth suffocated her domain with their existence.

"Thalia Grace could always return to the Camp." Artemis pointed out, somewhat bitterly. Her son would be left to the proverbial wolves, but if that became the case she could tuck him away in Colorado again. She almost preferred that choice, in a way it would kill two monsters with one arrow.

"There's no guarantee she'd be safe at Camp Half-Blood: Arashi's got Hecate's backing and she's a minor boundary goddess." Naruto pointed out. He hesitated for a second. "I was thinking, if we could get out of the city, we could set a trap for him."

"With yourselves as bait, I presume?" Her brows narrowed when he sheepishly scratched his cheek and gave her a weak smile. Her ire rose. Why in the world was her son thinking so foolishly?! It couldn't be because of The Arcadian's bite, he'd acted pretty foolish before then, too. Apollo was to blame, then. The chiding she was going to give to her twin after this war ended was bound to be long. "Absolutely not."

"Mom—"

"Naruto, I am telling you No. The matter is closed. We will find another way to deal with…That Man."

"Please, just hear me out. Thalia and I went over this for an hour before I I.M.'d you." He brought his hands together, palms pressed flat against one another. Artemis scowled but relented with a nod. If he posed a good enough reason to use himself as bait once more, then maybe she would support this scheme. "If we go into the Highlands and stay relatively noticeable near Storm King Mountain, we could draw him into a skirmish outside of 'civilized' territory—"

"Where you would have the upper hand." Artemis mused and he nodded. And, given that it was part of her domain, if the worst were to happen, she could interfere and claim she was acting on Zeus' behalf to protect his demigod. She'd be able to end Arashi and win some brownie points with her foolish King. She rubbed her chin as another boon occurred to her. "Given that there's been mention of monsters that way, I could even send some Hunters with you—"

"Th-that really isn't necessary, Mom."

Artemis narrowed her eyes.

"On the contrary, I think it might be imperative to this agreement."

"But—!"

"Naruto," she began, her features steeled and her voice became colder than the air around her. "If you and Thalia Grace don't want my blessings to venture out of Manhattan and leave without adhering to my conditions, I can promise you that you will regret it. You will have no less than two Hunters go with you."

"…Fine. Okay. But only two." She nodded in agreement to that. Her son sighed into his hand as he rubbed his face. "Can I ask who you'll send?"

"Bianca and Naomi, obviously."

"...Oh."

"Is there something wrong with the Hunters I picked?" She frowned. To her knowledge, her new Lieutenant and Naomi were quite close and cordial with her son. Bianca and Thalia Grace had worked together previously, and Naomi had taught Naruto the basics of tracking. On top of that, their efficiency would ensure the matter dealt with swiftly. In Artemis' eyes, there was no downside to this arrangement.

"I just, I figured you'd keep your lieutenant on hand for something more important."

"I was." Artemis felt her features soften as she smiled at her son. "Then you made this call."

A faint series of snickers from the other end of the call caught her ear. Naruto turned and glared at the source, his whiskered cheeks a mite redder than they were before.

"Shut up, Thalia." Her son's embarrassed grumble was nothing short of adorable. Just as it was when he was so much smaller. How much time has passed since then? The thoughts of years long gone brought her back to why the call had been made initially.

"Has Thalia Grace been standing there the whole time?" She asked, a brow arched curiously.

"More or less." Naruto huffed. He rubbed his face as a gust of snow drifted across his end of the call. "We're good to go, right? Wind's starting to pick up."

"Yes. You may go. Bianca and Naomi will meet you within the hour."

"Within the hour? Where are you?"

"An hour away at most." Artemis looked over her Hunters as they made camp in a small forested portion of Central Park. Mortals would be turned away easily by her guidance of the Mist. She was due for a weekly report to the Council, and at these dangerous times, she liked having the Hunt nearby and at hand. She looked at her son once more. "Be safe, Naruto."

"Will do." He nodded and smiled at her. "Love you, Mom."

"And I, you." Artemis smiled back before waving her hand and ending the call.

Naruto sighed once the Iris Message ended. Having both Bianca and Naomi with them might put a small dent in his plan to deal with Thalia's would-be assassin. It wasn't that they wouldn't be useful, if anything their ace shots and guerrilla tactics would be essential boons against Arashi, but their loyalty to his mother might make them more likely to let slip things that neither he or Thalia wanted to share with Artemis. Essentially, their thus far successfully secret relationship was the primary reason.

Almost begs the question: why hasn't the Love Goddess said anything yet? The Fox inquired.

"That's a good question." He muttered, brow furrowed in thought. His mother's rival should despise him for simply existing, shouldn't she? Or maybe she ignored him outright because he wasn't part god at all. His thoughts on the Lady of Doves drifted when two arms slipped around his waist from the side and he reactively lifted his arm to rest it on Thalia's shoulders. He glanced down at her, and arched his notched brow.

"Not complaining, but...I never took you for a hugger, Tree Girl."

"Shut up." Thalia grumbled into his side. "I'm cold. You're warm."

"Couldn't you just block the weather with-?"

"Whiskers, it's my birthday. My apartment was just trashed by your weird, evil, mind-controlled dad, I didn't get my uninterrupted birthday breakfast – that's two days in a row, by the way – and I'm cold." She frowned up at him. As if he had the means to solve all of her problems.

You do, you just fail at providing for your mate. The Fox snarked. A primal part of Naruto's mind bristled at the accusation. Absent-mindedly, he turned in her arms and fully embraced her with his. He felt his heart pound in his chest and felt a smile form on his face when she hummed while she leaned against him. Her display of trust, that she lowered her guard around him to tone down her 'badassary' mode — surprisingly, not his words for it — was something he'd cherish forever.

"Okay, Birthday Girl, what do you want to get for breakfast?"

"A McRonald's double cheeseburger, large fries and a chocolate shake." She grinned at him while he deadpanned.

"Thalia, it's not even ten yet."

"Fair point, but whose birthday is it again?"

Well, I walked into that one. Naruto thought to himself. He glanced at the half-destroyed kitchen. Very little survived his initial clash with Arashi before he and the couch wound up flying through Thalia's bedroom wall. He looked back down at her with a tired stare.

"How about I make some toast for now and you go get dressed? Then, after Bianca and Naomi get here we can hit up a drive thru on our way to Storm King?"

"Not ideal, but I guess that'll work." She leaned up and pecked his lips before smiling at him again. "Thanks, Whiskers."

He smiled back at her.

"Anytime, Tree Girl."

Arashi blinked darkness from his eyes before he groaned. He checked his chest with a few pats and grimaced as soon as he tried to sit up. A few serious burns, a collapsed lung, and some bones were definitely fractured. He closed his eyes and went still. He reached out to the Natural Energy around him and molded it to heal his wounds. Once he healed his lung, ribs and the burns on his skin, he stopped gathering the energy and released it back out.

Arashi rolled to his stomach and pushed himself to his feet. As always whenever he utilized his imperfect Sennin training, the thick fog in his head started to clear.

"That girl is very powerful." Arashi mused with a small rueful chuckle as he cradled his side and shambled out of the alleyway. He stumbled against a dumpster and hissed when a faint tremor went up his side. "And very effective with her lightning."

"Yes, most children of Zeus are."

Arashi stilled. He whirled around and found himself face to face with Hecate. The fog was slowly creeping back into place, but he fought it back.

"Hecate–"

"Kneel, Mortal." Arashi scowled, fought the order for all of a second before he ultimately succumbed to it. Hecate smirked and began circling him. Her finger reached out and traced over his shoulders. His healed skin began to burn.

"My, my, my. Such a willful display from my obedient and faithful storm shadow." The goddess cooed as she walked around him. Her eyes flashed and the fog swelled in his head. "Let's fix that."

Dammit. Arashi silently swore. I should have used more Natural Energy to...to...kill the daughter of Zeus.

"That's more like it." Hecate smiled as she stepped back. His face twitched before it became emotionless and slackened. She wagged a finger at him. "Come along, Arashi. You may try again tomorrow once your injuries have been healed."

"Yes, Lady Hecate."

"Ohh, say it again."

"Yes, Lady Hecate."

"So satisfying." Hecate sighed before her magic flared and they were whisked out of the New York alleyway.

AN: Take from that what you will.