There Goes My 10,000 Pintas

     Kuchiha and Kake were a street away from the officer station when it occurred to her that she'd been unable to cut the gun. How strange was that? She could cut a bullet as if it were a slice of cake, but couldn't cut an old, rusty gun. She'd left it where it had fallen, still clutched by the senseless hand, but in all seeming it was a perfectly normal gun. There shouldn't have been a problem, unless...

     She looked at Akuma. He'd passed out when his arm was cut off, so Kuchiha hadn't thought it necessary to tie him up. She didn't have rope on her, anyways, it being a habit to just kill the bounty. She was half-carrying, half-dragging him by his legs, since she didn't want to get blood all over her. People would get scared (she didn't realize that people were just as scared at the trail of blood she was leaving). Akuma looked even paler than before. Well, there shouldn't be any trouble, then, even if...

     "More importantly," she muttered. "WHY THE HECK'RE YOU FOLLOWING ME IF YOU AREN'T GONNA HELP!?"

     Kake jumped.

     "Eh--because I have something to ask you."

     "Then ask me already! Or at least stop looking like an idiot and help me out!"

            “But you can do it fine by yourself.”

            “Like I said, then ask me already!!”

     "Sorry. But I'm waiting for the right time."

     Kuchiha blinked. Was it just her, or had something flickered in his eye?

     "Huh?"

     A sharp pain between her shoulders jolted her back to the present. Akuma was awake, and was getting away! Kuchiha tried giving chase, but when she moved, pain like hot fire shot down her back and seemed to pour all over her. She bit back a scream. So he could use magic, after all. Her eyes went half blind, like a thin red curtain had been drawn over her vision.

     "Kuchiha! You okay?"

     Kake?

     "Yeah. I’m lying here, half blind, nearly killed from a Verta spell, and my business running away from me. Yeah, I’m fine.” At least her mouth was working properly and her sight was coming back. Akuma must really have been tired for his magic to be so short-lasting.

     "Business? You mean Akuma here?"

     Kuchiha froze. Kake was holding a pure white bamboo staff, and was sitting on an feebly struggling Akuma, face down in the ground.

“What on earth happened just now?!”

     "What? Oh, this?"

          He bonked Akuma on the head with his staff.

          "I poked him. Nothing special. He's still alive. But there's no way I can carry him to the station alone, so unless you somehow miraculously recover, this guy isn't gonna move an inch." He bonked him in the head again.

          With a roar and sudden burst of willpower, Akuma leaped up and sent Kake flying. He really looked like the devil reincarnate, with blood streaming all over his pale, thin, bony face. Kuchiha still couldn't get up from the ground. She grimaced.

          "Toothbrush. This where you get your name from? You devil."

          Akuma staggered towards her. He was obviously only partly conscious. As he neared, Kuchiha could hear him mumbling something. At first, she thought it was magic incantations. But then she heard the words.

     "Devil Tamer? No. He's no tamer. He's the real devil. A Tamer wouldn't break my sword. My precious sword, he stole it. Stolen! left with no power. No magic sword, no way to save myself. Ha! The Devil Tamer's tamed the devil, eh? Hah! Rukamina! I'll kill you one day! You blasted Devil's Enemy!!"

          And with that all strength left him. Kuchiha screamed. He was going to fall on top of her, and from her point of view, she would much rather by crushed by a felled tree than be stuck under the dying body of a crazed outlaw with what little blood he had left pouring out of an amputated limb. Forgetting the pain, she twisted in the dirt and threw the Wsword at him. It hit him square in the chest, and the force knocked him backwards, away from Kuchiha. Almost immediately, the pain disappeared. She rose shakily from the ground, and was temporarily happy with her accomplishment of killing a devil without a single drop of blood on her, and proceeded to retrieve and clean up the Wsword. And then she remembered the new law.

     "Oh, come on....ah, why hello there, officers. Hm? What am I doing? Well I'm a bounty hunter, who just took out a bounty worth 10,000, and is about to scream with frustration because my traveling fee's about to get cut down to—let me think—NOTHING!!"

     The poor officers were taken aback, and quickly apologizing, offered to give her the reward on the spot and take care of the corpse themselves. Kuchiha grudgingly accepted, and when the business was taken care of, she counted her money. 4,263 pintas.

            Kake ran over from wherever he had landed.

     "Ey! Kuchiha! How-...erya [this is a little sound effect Kake makes when he doesn’t know what to say, or just a sound effect]...so he died?"

     "Yes, after all the trouble I went through!!! What the heck were you doing, anyways!?"

     "Sorry..."

     "There goes my 10,000 pintas!! Now how’m I supposed to get all the stuff I need to travel and still have enough emergency money!?"

     He waited patiently for Kuchiha's rage to quieten.

     "Do you still want to know my question?" he finally asked after 15 minutes of steam being blown in his face.

     "Huh? Oh...that. Sure. Why not."

     "Well, it's more of a request than a question, but I want to make you the leather handle for the other sword. The one across your back."

     Kuchiha suspected something.

     "No. I don't have the money. Besides, it's fine as is. It's a special sword."

     "Oh, I can see that. A real beauty, with only one or two like it in the whole world. But you see, when I see a beauty with another beauty, I just have to make them fit for each other. Besides, I'll give you a special price. For the thing with Akuma."

     There was definitely a catch. His wheedling couldn't fool her. But then again, he was an amazing leather peddler [i dunno what it's called. let's just call him a leather peddler, for the sake of the story. (edit): okay, I’ve decided. In this world, merchants that travel f/ place to place selling wares are called peddlers. They don’t go around knocking on doors like in this world. So yeah.], and the sword itself seemed to like him. Maybe she should just take the bet. Besides, there was always a chance...

     "Fine. I'll take your offer. I owe you for stopping Akuma, I guess."

Table of Contents

Chapter 2

Chapter 4