Fursekai: Volume 1

7

"Should we let everyone know I'm up?" Hunter asks, taking a sip of the tea, Ruriko made for him.

"We will, later. For now we have a few things we must discuss." Ruriko replies.

"Those men that attacked us, I doubt they're the last we'll see." She tells him.

"I get the feeling that I'm missing a few pieces of the puzzle." Hunter comments.

"Those men were likely hired by my mother with the purpose of taking me and Yui to her." Ruriko tells him, after considering whether she was even right.

Hunter looks at her, his expression one of shock.

"Why would she do that?"

"Possibly because she is looking for an heir to her bloody legacy." Ruriko replies.

"And she would go so far as to force it on you?" He asks her.

"She would."

Ruriko is about to say something else when a scream is heard from outside.

"Already?!" They say, jumping up.

Hunter is about to rush outside when Ruriko stops him.

"Get dressed first, then leave through the window so you can sneak up on them." She says.

He nods in response.

After taking a deep breath, Ruriko leaves the room.

Outside she finds a stranger, clad in black with a tiger mask and no visible flesh. She is also clearly a woman. In her grasp is one of the staff members' children.

"You were looking for me?" Ruriko asks the stranger.

After a few seconds of staring at Ruriko the stranger lets the child go.

"Are you Ruriko of the Wolf clan?" The strange woman asks. Ruriko notes that she has an accent similar to that of Hunter.

"I am." Ruriko replies.

"Where is the girl known as Yui?"

"She is hidden away." Ruriko replies, hoping that Yui heard the commotion and hid.

"And your brother, Hayato of the Wolf clan?"

"Away." Ruriko tells her.

"What of the man who killed those sent before me?" The woman asks.

"He succumbed to his wounds and died." Ruriko lies.

Without saying anything more, the woman unsheathed the katana that hung on her hip.

Then she lunges at Ruriko, pointing the dull edge at her head.

But Ruriko dodges while also swiping at the woman's throat. The woman is barely able to avoid it.

"I was told you were en expert fighter." The woman says.

But, instead of a verbal reply, Ruriko lunges at the unprepared woman.

The woman is luckily able to regain her composure before the two start the real battle.

A swipe to the woman's face from Ruriko.

The swipe is blocked and countered with a slash at Ruriko's thigh.

Ruriko jumps back avoiding the attack. She then sends a kick at the woman's knee.

Unable to avoid the kick, the woman bends her knee so that the kick lands on the leg above it.

Suddenly she grabs Ruriko's leg and shoves a needle into it.

Ruriko jumps back and pulls out the needle.

The scents of a paralysing agent.

Shit.

Before she can think, the woman is in front of Ruriko, the tip of her blade pointed at Ruriko's shoulder.

Then, the woman is pulled back, away from Ruriko.

Ruriko watches in confusion as the woman tumbles across the ground away from Ruriko.

Only then does she notice a fully dressed Hunter, standing there.

"Are you the same man who had supposedly died, or are you someone else?" The woman asks, as she stands up.

Ruriko breathes a sigh of relief at Hunter's timely arrival.

She then notices his trembling hands.

Meanwhile, in an entirely different part of the country an old, female grey wolf is sitting on a porch sipping tea.

"Do you think we can trust him?" She asks a stranger, wearing a worn out brown robe, who's standing in front of her.

"You recommended his services so if he betrays us you will be the one answering for it." The stranger replies, in an almost robotic voice.

"I must ask, why did you insist on the girl?" The woman asks him.

"The same reason you asked them to bring your daughter as well. I need her." The man replies.

"You mean, you need what's inside her." The woman points out.

"Just like you don't really need your daughter as much as what she has." The stranger replies, chuckling as if amused.

"Do you find my wish to be amusing?" The woman asks, annoyed.

"I do. It would seem that every world's inhabitants are the same. They all merely look out for themselves. To the point where they would sacrifice their own flesh and blood." He explains to her.

"You make it sound like you've been to every world." She comments, growling a bit.

The man however does not respond.

Back at the estate with Hunter and Ruriko, the situation hasn't changed.

Hunter is standing still, staring at the woman.

"Why do you not attack?" The woman asks, confused.

"You can cut the act and start talking normally!" Hunter replies, loudly.

Then the woman's sword slips from her fingers, dropping to the ground by her feet.

Her voice shaking, she manges to utter a single word.

"H-Hunter?"