The Hunt

To get to the food-hall Sasuke led Naruto through the lounge where a few people were milling around and down the corridor at the other end of the bar. The food-hall was packed with more Hunters most of them dressed in clothes similar to Naruto's new ones.

The same girl he had seen throwing the knife when he'd arrived yesterday was now sitting at a long dark wood table pointing her finger around the room causing a trail of silver cutlery to fly around, winding between the unfazed Hunters. Then she made eye contact with Naruto. There was a mischievous glint in her eye as she pointed at him. Next second he was forced to duck as the cutlery flew directly at him. He heard the cutlery crash into the wall behind him before it all landed on top of him.

Several people laughed as she shouted out, "Nice reflexes, Newbie!"

"That was cruel Tenten," said the strange looking boy beside her.

He was wearing tight green leather trousers with an orange belt, matching green t-shirt and green leather jacket. Naruto tried not to stare at the boys eyebrows as he walked briskly over. He grinned showing dazzling white teeth.

"You are Naruto-kun, are you not?" he held out his hand for Naruto to shake.

"How do you know?" asked Naruto as his hand was taken in a strong grip.

"Suigetsu told us all about you of course!" he beamed at Naruto again. "My name is Rock Lee and your attacker over there is Tenten." Naruto smiled warily at her, keeping an eye out for more projectiles. Lee saw his face and gave Naruto a hard pat on the back. "Don't worry she was only messing with you. Anyway what do you want for breakfast? I'm cooking today!"

"Erm..." he looked to Sasuke for help but the other was already sitting at the table. "I'll have whatever you're having, please Lee-san."

"Excellent choice my friend!" the excitable boy shouted. "I'll make us a healthy breakfast to promote strength in our youthful bodies!"

As Lee bounced around the kitchen area Naruto took a seat beside Sasuke. He couldn't help looking around at the Hunters. On the outside they just looked like extremely dressed punks but Naruto knew that wasn't the case. He watched Sasuke take a sip of his coffee as he perused the newspaper, it seemed like such a normal thing to do.

A moment later two familiar girls settled at the table in front of Naruto. They looked him over once before nodding to each other.

"So you're staying then?" asked Ino.

"Yeah."

"And you liked the clothes?" asked Sakura.

"Very much, thank you!"

"Good," said Ino.

"I think we got off to a bad start," Sakura said with a smile as she extended a hand. "My name is Haruno Sakura." Naruto had his hand shaken in her firm grip. "And this is my girlfriend, Yamanaka Ino."

"Girlfriend...?" Naruto repeated as Ino also shook his hand.

"Yeah as in that kind of girlfriend," the blonde clarified.

"Ooh..."

"But I hear you're bi anyway, so I assume you don't have a problem with it?" said Sakura in a tone that told Naruto he better not have a problem with it.

"Er no... but how do you know I'm bi?!"

"Suigetsu's a terrible gossip," she told him.

Both girls smiled as he buried his burning face in his hands. It was only his first day here and already it seemed the whole coven knew more about him than he'd ever let on to anyone in his entire life!

Naruto was saved from further embarrassment when Lee produced breakfast. He set down in front of Naruto a bowlful of muesili, a tall glass of some thick green liquid, a banana, an apple and a wholegrain bagel smothered in peanut butter.

"Tuck in my friend!" shouted Lee as he sat down with an identical breakfast.

Naruto looked pleadingly at the girls who were sniggering at his predicament. Giving up on any help from them he turned to Sasuke beside him, motioning at the large meal. The raven gave him a long unsympathetic look before stealing his apple.

It took Naruto a long time to eat his breakfast, he left half the muesili and took one sniff of the suspicious looking drink before pouring it away. They had moved to the lounge at about 10pm and Sasuke had left for the surface a little while later. It was about 4am and Naruto was still finding it hard to grasp that he had eaten lunch at midnight. Sakura and Ino had shown him around the coven earlier, including a musty old library where Sai was ordering books as part of his punishment for bringing an outsider to the coven, although the man seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much for Naruto to believe it was really a fitting punishment. After Sakura had made Sai find her a book the three had spent most of the night in the lounge watching the Hunters pass through.

Naruto looked over at Sakura and Ino who lay comfortably on one of the many velvet sofas, "What's Lee's power?"

Sakura looked up at him, "Hmm it's not an obvious power like most of ours but I'd have to say it's his speed, he's incredibly fast. But he's also got endless energy, is quite strong and he heals really quickly, but that might be thanks to his diet."

"Cool. So then Sasuke has lightening," said Naruto ticking them off with his fingers, "Karin is the shape-shifter, Suigetsu walks through walls-"

"And pretty much anything else he wants to," added Ino.

"-Lee is fast, Neji and his cousin sense magick-"

"It's not quite as simple as that but go on."

"Right, so then Tenten..."

"Is telekinetic."

"Okay... And Ino melts peoples minds-"

"I do what?" interrupted Ino, sitting bolt upright.

"Turn their minds to mush. Sasuke suggested you do it to me because he didn't want me to stay here."

"He suggested I do that..." Ino looked thoughtful. "You know Naruto-kun that's the extreme of my power."

"The 'extreme'?"

"Yeah, basically I'm able to confuse my enemies minds, mess with their senses and such making it very hard to them to fight well. But if I can get a good grip on their head, like this," she placed her hands over Sakura's temples, "Then I can cause them permanent brain damage."

Naruto nodded. As he looked at Sakura he felt a sudden admiration, he knew he wouldn't be able to sit their, unflinching, when he knew Ino could do that.

"What's your power, Sakura?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Who me?" she said sweetly. "I'm but a weak young woman."

Ino laughed at her performance and Sakura smiled obligingly. Then she stood up, walked around the sofa Ino was sitting on and gripped the back. Without breaking a sweat she lifted the sofa and her girlfriend clean off the ground. At hearing Naruto's gasp she set the seat back down and jumped over the back to sit beside Ino again, satisfied that she had impressed him.

As the conversation lapsed Naruto's mind was drawn to Sasuke, "Is Sasuke out hunting vampires?" he asked the girls.

"We don't just hunt vampires you know," Naruto jumped at the voice directly behind him. He turned to see Neji smiling at him. "It's a full moon tonight so most probably Sasuke's after a werewolf, they tend to make a nuisance of themselves during the full moon."

"A nuisance?"

Neji nodded as he settled himself into an old armchair and crossed his legs neatly. He was wearing an expensive looking cloak, black trousers and a white medieval styled shirt, the sleeves of which were tucked into arm guards. Naruto thought he looked as though he'd walked out of the history books.

"They're a nuisance but werewolves and vampires are not the greatest threats we face," explained Neji. "There are levels of evil within the world, Naruto-kun. At the bottom are the common filth; hybrids such as vampires and werewolves who exist because of viruses. And at the top are the demons. It might interest you to know that the Yakuza consists of mostly top-level demons."

"Really? But why don't the normal people notice?"

"People don't see what they don't want to, otherwise we wouldn't have survived this long."

"How old is the Hunt then?"

"Very old. You've noticed the age of this underground labyrinth?" Naruto nodded. "There wasn't always a club up there," Neji said pointing at the ceiling. "A long time ago there was a church and these quarters were used for worship. The Hunters of that era went by a different name. They were called 'witches' and this was their ground of worship. The protection enchantments they placed over the area were so strong they remain to this day, protecting the descendants of the witches." Sakura and Ino smiled at Neji's storytelling and Naruto's obvious interest. "I suppose you've heard of the famous witch hunts?" Naruto nodded again. "It's believed they started when ordinary people discovered the extent to the witches magick. They were afraid and offended that people they deemed 'evil' gathered in a church of God to worship him, just as they did. They feared that God would punish them all because of the 'sins' of the witches. Some of the old stories tell of how the ringleaders of the witch hunts themselves became so obsessed with their 'purification' that they accused the innocent and eventually became what we now know as 'demons'."

"Storytelling are we Neji-san?" said a cold voice behind Naruto.

The gathered party looked up at a dripping Sasuke, it was obviously raining heavily on the surface.

"Just thought he might like to know a bit of the Hunt's history," said Neji pleasantly.

"Those stories are merely myths, there is very little truth in them," Sasuke told Naruto firmly.

"But I thought vampire's were a myth yesterday," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke's jaw clenched. "Come with me," he ordered, turning away.

"I don't take orders from you!" said Naruto stubbornly.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder to give the blond a sceptical look. "I've been put in charge of training you, so from now on you do take orders from me."

Naruto glared but followed Sasuke from the lounge and back into the labyrinth. Sasuke walked briskly along the passages and Naruto found himself looking at the large slabs of stone that seemed to be everywhere around here.

"If Neji's story is just a myth, how did this place come to exist?" he asked Sasuke's back.

The Uchiha didn't stop but he slowed down a little. "I didn't say there was no truth in them... history tells us that this is in fact holy ground. But his theory of the witch hunt leaders magically becoming demons is just for dramatic purposes. Most likely the demons started the witch hunt in the first place as a guise under which to exterminate us."

"Oh..." Naruto supposed that made sense.

Sasuke led him through another unmarked door and Naruto found himself standing on a platform at the edge of a cavernous room. Every room Naruto had seen so far had low ceilings and a claustrophobic feel to them but this one... was huge. The ceiling was dome shaped and from the centre of the dome hung a great brazier full of that same pale fire that burned everywhere within the coven. There were twin staircases leading down to the floor and once they had descended the left hand one Naruto moved into the middle of the room drinking in the sight.

"Neji would tell you this is where they used to perform their 'rituals'," said Sasuke mockingly. "I don't know what it was used for but now it's our main sparring room."

"Is that what we're doing now? Sparring? You said you were put in charge of training me."

"We'll get to that later," said Sasuke his voice turning serious. "Naruto... There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"You need to understand the situation between Hunters and demons."

"Neji was telling me a while ago."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What did he tell you?"

"That there are lower levels of evil like vampires and werewolves and then top level demons like those in the Yakuza. And that the Hunt has always fought them."

"Okay, but what I need to tell you is about how a demon is formed."

"How they're formed? Aren't they just born demons?"

"No, just as we are not born Hunters, they are not born demons," Sasuke said slowly walking closer to the centre of the room. "Sometimes a child is born with magick in their blood. For their first 13 years they may live a normal life, though they are unlikely to ever fall ill. Any time after their 13th birthday their powers may emerge. You know the early signs." Naruto nodded. "The first time their powers appear will usually be at a time when their emotions are running high. Soon after they use their powers for the first time they will face a decision."

Naruto had been listening intently as the Uchiha explained all this but at the mention of a decision he met Sasuke's eyes. There was a strange emotion hidden within those depths. "What kind of decision?"

"Whether to become a Hunter or... a demon."

Naruto gaped for a moment. "That's how demons are formed? But why would anyone choose to be a demon?" The mere idea seemed ridiculous to Naruto.

"It's not as easy as a yes or no choice," snapped Sasuke. "The pull of the demonic magicks in our blood is strong. You can't even begin to imagine how hard it is to control the demonic urges until you experience it."

"So I'm going to have to face the same choice as everyone here. But if they managed to fight it, surely I can too."

"Do not underestimate the demonic magicks. Yes, everyone else here has conquered their urges. But for people like us it's not as easy."

"Us?"

"Yes, us. Me and you are different. The stronger we are the more difficult the fight is. I am one of the strongest Hunters in this coven... and Neji believes you are strong too."

Naruto looked away, this was beginning to sound very risky. "What will happen if I can't fight it?"

"If you lose... you will be a demon, our enemy and therefore a target."

Naruto's head snapped around to look at Sasuke. "If I can't win this fight they'll kill me," he confirmed.

"Yes."

Naruto searched Sasuke's face for any emotion but the Uchiha had his mask firmly in place. Those black eyes watched as Naruto sunk slowly to his knees on the cold stone.

"What the hell am I going to do?" asked Naruto miserably.

"You're going to fight," Sasuke answered firmly. Naruto looked up at the Uchiha standing over him. "If I can stand here, now, a Hunter, so can you."

Sasuke extended a hand to Naruto. Deep blue eyes looked at the pale hand for a moment before Naruto grasped the slender fingers and allowed Sasuke to pull him up.