Onihunter Yuna

45 Birth

The blue-haired walked slowly along a path, listening tensed. The amusement park was left alone for years, so the plants proliferated over the railing on the sidewalks. A park bench, on which once tired visitors could rest up, was wrapped by wild ivy.

Yuna's gaze lingered on a boarded-up wooden shack. Were these ... scratches? She walked over and ran her fingers over it. Indeed. She looked around to see if there were other traces to be discovered. There! A movement! The girl focused on the shadow, who had just moved. She pulled her Beretta and crept slowly towards it.

"Maybe it's just a cat. Stay cool." She stood in front of the bushes and peered into the darkness.

"BUAH!" A demonic grimace jumped out of the bush. With its arms, the creature rowed over its head and roared on.

Yuna was intrigued for only the fraction of a second, then she slammed the grip of her Beretta from the side against the skull of the creature.

"OUCH!", shouted the beast, and fell aside.

"Are you crazy?!" On her left appeared a boy out of the bushes and looked after the "monster".

"What are you doing here?", asked Yuna pissed.

"Pranks, of course. It's Friday night, and there are constantly people coming in here.", said the unmasked.

"She hit me in my fucking face!" The monster pulled off the mask and rubbed its temple.

"She must be nuts." Both boys stared at the girl.

"You should get out of here. It's dangerous."

Both laughed at Yuna. "Sure."

"I'm serious. Go home.", ordered the huntress.

"Or what?"

Yuna turned her gun on the two. "Just do as I say."

"Oh, you have a toy gun. Now we are scared."

"Well." The blue-haired aimed the gun to the ground and fired a shot.

"Shit, man!" Both jumped up and ran away.

"Stupid kids."

Yuna put the Beretta back in the holster and went on. Hopefully, there were not more such idiots around, otherwise she could shoot someone accidentally.

After she patrolled the sidewalks for a few minutes, the girl decided to try her luck off the tracks. The Oni would hardly be pending in a queue to go to the Ferris wheel.

While Yuna went through the thicket of the forest, she was listening for suspicious noises. She heard a sort of hissing, but could not place it properly. She quickly followed the sound to its source.

The noise seemed to come from an impenetrable shadow. Curious, Yuna waited, while the hissing became more intense. Suddenly the darkness was torn and an animal skull burst forth. Snarling and growling, a beast squeezed through the gap. The blue-haired could not see through it, but this creature clearly was an Oni. She pulled out her jackknife and unfolded it. The Oni had meanwhile forced its front legs through, and tried to pull out the rest of its body.

Was that it? Did they arrive like this in the human world? She continued to watch the creature until the hind legs were completely out. Behind the creature the hardly recognizable gap disappeared into the darkness of the shadows.

Disoriented, the creature toddled around, until it discovered Yuna. It opened its mouth and bared its teeth. A hiss, like a little kitten's, left its throat. Somehow the Oni was almost ... cute. It was slightly larger than an adult cat, but acted like a full-grown beast.

"Come here, my little one.", encouraged Yuna it.

The Oni came with tottering steps toward her. After a few centimeters, it stumbled and rolled over, squeaking. The small Oni rolled on the ground and cooed. Yuna had to laugh. Hard to believe that this little thing would mature into a deadly beast. She had to think of small lions, which romped around their mother, and were playing with the tails of their older con specifics.

The blue-haired took the knife into her right hand, went beside the Oni on her knees and stroked its belly. The little beast made a purring sound. Its body was covered in hard scales. Yuna checked out its paws. They were similar to the paws of a cat. As she stroked the Oni, it wrapped its paws around her left wrist and tried to bite her. Both the claws and the teeth slid harmlessly over the skin of the huntress.

"You're really bold, little guy."

Maybe she should take him home. Maybe she could train the Oni. With an effort the Oni chewed on the fingers of her hand. No. That would most certainly not be a good idea.

The Oni rolled over again and jumped up. It hopped a few steps away from her and made a barking sound. Yuna sighed.

"Better you die now, before you can kill someone."

She got up and held the knife ready to kill it. As if the Oni had registered what was about to happen, it looked at the blue-haired reproachfully. It sat down and stared at her with its small, black eyes.

"Don't look at me like that. If you'd be something else, you could live. But not like this."

The Oni tilted its head to one side and cooed. With its paw it shuffled across the floor. All predators were cute when they were small, but then they grew up to become killers. Better Yuna finished it off quickly. She walked towards it.

The small Oni cooed again and followed curiously her movement with its gaze. Then its head swung to the side, on the bushes.

Before Yuna could react, a full-grown beast shot out of the bushes and threw itself on the small Oni. The little creature screamed out in fear and disappeared partly in the throat of the bigger predator. A loud cracking sounded. The head of the small Oni fell to the ground. The jaws of the big Oni crushed the rest of the body, and the small one was gone.

The new Oni roared and immediately attacked Yuna. She lifted her arms in front of her in order to defend herself against the attack. The beast rammed her and threw her to the ground. The jaws closed around her left forearm.

The blue-haired reached out and slammed her knife from the side into the throat of the Oni. It let go of her and roared. She could quickly stab it two more times, before the Oni broke away and went on distance.

"Don't run away, you bastard."

Yuna scrambled to her feet and took the knife into her left hand. With her right hand she pulled the Beretta and pointed the gun at the Oni. Resentfully, the beast stalked the huntress. Its jaws snapped belligerently. The creature stood on its hind legs and yelped loudly. Did it call for backup?

Within a few seconds the shout was acknowledged with distant howling.

Yuna had to deal with a whole pack. Her gaze slid over her scant armament. Fourteen bullets and a folding knife. She was ready to take on those creatures.