Naru sat perfectly still on her branch, her mind working at full speed to find the best way to approach this so-called demon. If she trusted the rumors from Lolon Village's elder, this man was a dangerous, cold-blooded murderer, and frankly, that was pretty obvious. The once blue kimono was caked with blood, and his silvery hair had become stiff and frizzy from the dried up, red liquid.
Then again, he had decided not to kill Inari. He'd said a few words to the kid and moved on, so how dangerous could he actually be? If he really was a cold-blooded killer, shouldn't he have followed his previous maneuvers and wiped out the entire town instead of just a few ships?
After observing the man for a few more seconds, Naru decided the best way to approach him was probably to walk up to him and offer peace, albeit as cautiously as possible. Demons ought not to be startled, she thought and let a smirk grace her lips. No matter how kind they seem.
Her nerves tensed when the man suddenly stood up straight and turned his head to observe his surroundings. Did he hear me? Naru thought and tried to make herself appear as small as possible on her branch. I didn't even say anything... As if worried the man would pick up on the sound of air gusting past her lips, she stopped breathing, her heartbeat thundering in her ears as she followed the man's every move.
For a few seconds, they both remained perfectly still. Then, the man took a few steps in the opposite direction and bent down to pick up a small branch from the snow, and Naru had to press her lips together to not let all air escape her lungs in a sigh of relief. Safe. She watched the man toss several branches and twigs into one big pile, one he clearly intended to light on fire and cook the wild boar.
Food time, huh? Naru followed his leisure movements for a few seconds longer, and she narrowed her eyes when she suddenly got the feeling something was off. It wasn't the way the man moved, nor his expression that caught her interest, it was the fact that he was still holding onto his katana.
The sword's sheath was visible from underneath the simple piece of cloth he had tied around his waist, but he seemed determined to not let go of his weapon. His fingers were locked around the hilt in a secure grip, which was odd, since he, as far as he knew, was the only living creature in a large radius. Either the man was very cautious, which would be perfectly understandable, considering his reputation and the danger that followed thereafter, or...
Or he knows he's not alone.
Naru growled in irritation and slid down from her branch. She landed softly on all four on the snow, and her frown reluctantly turned into a somewhat impressed smirk when the man didn't even flinch at the sudden appearance of another human. He didn't stand up or even look over his shoulder. In fact, he didn't show any signs that something surprising had just happened.
Confident bastard, Naru thought and shook her head before equipping a casual expression. "How long have you known I was here?" she asked with the tone of someone speaking of the weather.
The man chuckled, his tone smug. "Since yer li'l hunt yesterday," he snickered. He showed absolutely no signs of being threatened by her. "Ya got some guts, sweetheart, sneakin' up on a demon."
The frown instantly returned to Naru's features at the nickname "sweetheart", but she decided to not start arguing about the little things this early in the game. "Since my hunt yesterday," she repeated slowly. "That means you saw—"
"Fur, a tail an' big teeth," the man said and nodded towards the ground. "Mighty impressive, yer ability."
Naru cursed internally as the only ace up her sleeve was torn in half. "You think so?" she asked in an attempt to cover her dismay. "I gotta say, I'm impressed by you too. You've got nice speed. Always use a katana?"
He let out a hyena-like bark of laughter and finally stood up and faced her. The first thing Naru registered was his wide smile, which, just like Inari had said, made him eerily similar to a fox. His eyes were closed, but the feeling of being stared at still crawled through Naru's body. His skin was deathly pale, even more so in contrast with the deep red blood.
The man ignored her question and threw a couple more branches onto the pile. Still without dropping his katana, he walked over to the pile of wood, withdrew a short dagger from the insides of his kimono and crouched down. He hovered both weapons over the pile, and with one fluid motion, he slid the dagger over the blunt side of the katana's blade, the friction creating a burst of small sparks, and it took only one spark to set the branches on fire.
A satisfied smirk stretched the man's lips even further apart, and he swiftly tucked the dagger back inside his robes, stood up and turned his attention back to Naru. They stared at each other for a few seconds before he tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in expectation, as if to ask if she was waiting for something to happen.
"You're not a big fan of using words, are you?" she sighed. When the man's smile widened further still, Naru absentmindedly wondered how far his smile could stretch before actually hurting his cheeks. She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip for a few seconds, several questions racing through her head, but none of which she was sure she'd get an answer to. "You got a name?" she finally asked.
"Kurama (Demon Fox)."
"Your real name," Naru scoffed, her left eyebrow twitching in irritation as the man remained perfectly silent. "Alright, Kurama, may I ask you a personal question?"
"Ask away, sweetheart."
"Are the rumors true?" Naru asked. "About you destroying all those towns in North Blue?"
Kurama took his time before answering. "What're ya gonna do if I say they're true?" he jingled, the hint of a threatening undertone in his voice. "Ya gonna do as the villagers want an' drive me away? Or try ta drive me away?"
Naru chuckled, her temper stable enough to ignore the taunt. "Not really," she said and rolled her shoulders. "Just curious about why you do what you do."
"Would ya believe me if I said it was fer fun?"
"Not really," Naru repeated. "You're just gonna run around in North Blue and kill everyone you see? That doesn't sound fun at all."
Kurama chuckled softly and raised his katana to rest on his shoulders. "I didn't say I'd stop after North Blue, did I? After that I might just—"
"Ever thought of becoming a pirate?"
It was Kurama's turn to arch an eyebrow in surprise, and for the first time, Naru knew she had managed to throw him off his guard. His smile vanished for half a second, the absence almost unnatural, but it quickly crept back again. "Don't think so, sweetheart," he chimed. "Why ya ask?"
"Oh, just wondering if you'd be interested in taking over the seas with me," Naru said and casually locked her hands behind her head, leaning back on her heels. "You seem strong enough."
A few seconds of deafening silence followed this statement. This time, Kurama's smile didn't falter, but Naru could see his eyes were moving rapidly under their lids. She parted her lips to continue, but before she had the chance to produce any sounds, Kurama broke out into a bubbling wave of laughter. The sound was eerie, like he'd be laughing underwater. He was laughing so hard, he had to stick his katana down in the snow and use it as a support to not fall over.
Naru patiently waited for him to stop, and the second the laughter started to ebb out, she raised her voice again. "I'm gonna become the Pirate King, and you would make a great addition to my crew."
Kurama raised a hand to silence her. His shoulders were trembling from suppressed laughter, and his free hand was clutching his aching side. "Let me get this straight, sweetheart," he said breathlessly. "Ya want me, the one they all call a demon, ta join ya en route fer One Piece? Oh, this is priceless..."
"What exactly do you find so funny?" Naru demanded.
"The chances 'a me givin' up on my current... occupation are very close ta zero," Kurama said and offered her an icy grin. "Told ya, I enjoy what I'm doin'." He inclined his head, and his tone changed into one horribly similar to awe. "Yer a hunter, ya ought'a know what I mean," he crooned. "The feelin' when ya break someone's bones, when ya cut through 'em like they were made outta paper. 'S a satisfaction ya feel whenever ya make a kill, ain't it?" He didn't expect an answer, but the expression on her face spoke volumes, and his smile widened to proportions that shouldn't be human. "People are afraid a'me," he said and rolled his shoulders in a careless shrug, "so they leave me be. Until I get bored an' go huntin', a'course," he added with a mocking nod towards Naru.
Her expression darkened at the insinuation. This man... He had set of a flare of anger deep in her core, but the emotion that trampled over her quick rage was intrigue. The ghost-like swordsman might talk about killing as if it were as easy as chopping wood, but there was something, she couldn't say what, that made her more curious than angry.
Alright then, she thought and wiped all emotions off her face. If sense won't work, I'll play along his game. "I can easily terrorize Lolon village to the point where they will come to you, begging for help," she said, her eyes trailing over Kurama's unreadable face, searching for any sort of change in his expression. "You speak of being left alone, which is clearly what you want, but if I were to plague this village and prove to them I was worse than you, well..." She threw her hands out to in a gesture that plainly stated, tough luck. "Then you're not gonna get your peace," she stated sharply. "They're gonna pester you until you lose your mind." She allowed herself to smile, a dark and feral curl of the lips as she threw the dice of the game Kurama had designed. "Then what're you gonna do?"