The Goddess of Hunter

The Kyuubi watched from Naruko's perspective as the last memory. Even for the tailed beast who had lived for a time humans could barely comprehend, she had never seen such a scene in her life.

She had decided to see how Naruko was doing since her part of the merge was completed due to Naruko's short and (not to sound rude) but insignificant life until now, and she was stunned to see a foreign memory playing, much like the time when the green clad cat-woman had invaded Naruko's mindscape, perhaps the same thing was happening now?

"It's a memory that I am not very fond of." A voice called from behind her. Turning her head slightly, she gasped as the blue-clad figure from the memory was standing there in her and Naruko's mindscape, which was now that of a large open plain due to the Kyuubi's own mindscape being merged with Naruko's.

"I can tell… This is from the future isn't it?" She asked as she eyed the woman carefully. Unlike the one in the memory, the woman in front of her was simply wearing a blue dress without any armour.

"Not your future, no, but mine." She said in a cryptic tone. The Kyuubi growled as she was reminded of how much she hated people who talked in a way she couldn't understand.

"What I mean is, it doesn't have to be the future for you two."

Gears were working in the Kyuubi's head. She wasn't tens of thousands of years old for nothing, and she swiftly reached a conclusion from everything she knew of the figure in front of her and the one that had appeared a month before.

"I see… then may I ask why you showed that memory to us? From my understanding, this doesn't affect the merging process."

She seemed distant for a moment before staring at the fake yet real setting sun that was a part of the mindscape, her hair flowing from the fake wind present.

"No… It wasn't necessary, but perhaps it was just my selfishness to do so. Somewhere in my mind, I'm still wishing for that day to end in a different manner, and even though showing her this is unlikely to change much, I still cling onto that hope…" She paused for a moment to collect herself.

"Quite ironic, for me who had always carried the hope of my nation upon my shoulders to cling onto that very thing in the end… But that is just a king's foolish dream." She gazed back at the Kyuubi who was listening with rapt attention.

"This is farewell Kurama, may the spirits favour you in your journey." And as she said so, she began to fade away into particles of light.

"Indeed, may I know your name, human?" The Kyuubi asked. There were very few humans that the tailed beast would act formally with, and the young woman in front of her had earned a spot on that list with the way she carried herself and the memory that she had shown.

The woman smiled. "My name is not something I can give, but you may remember me as the King of Knights." And with that, the woman disappeared, leaving the Kyuubi alone in the mindscape once again.

A slight tug at her consciousness told her that Naruko was done with her part, and that the final stage of the soul-merge was about to commence.

…Perhaps we will meet again one day, King of Knights. The tailed beast thought to herself as her consciousness faded.

***

Naruko stared at the darkness as if expecting something to happen, but for what seemed like hours, nothing did. But then, something resonates from within the darkness.

Subconsciously, she began walking towards the direction the tug was coming from, and as she walked, she could feel it resonate stronger and stronger, until eventually she arrived at a patch of grass, seemingly out of place in the world of abyss around her.

Without hesitation, she moved forward and moved onto the grass. Though she didn't notice, her naked body was slowly being covered in a bright light, which eventually faded, revealing not bare skin but a pure white dress, outlined in black. plates of armour covered the chest and battle skirt which spread out like a lily, her bare foot now covered in a heeled solleret and a guard covering the entirety of both legs, though not noticed by the girl herself as she was stepping on nothingness to begin with.

With every step, the light faded even more until eventually she arrived by a pedestal at the end of the path. Embedded in the pedestal was a sword, of strange design almost identical to the one she had seen in the memory, but very different to the two she had seen then.

The sword was almost entirely sleek black from pommel to its sharp edge. Never before had she seen naturally black metal, in fact she didn't even know it was possible for such to exist. Blood red inscriptions ran across the hilt and blade of the sword, glowing ominously in the dark. If one were to look at the two, it would be clearly evident that the sword and the armor contradicted each other in almost every way, but it was also the same with the bow and the hunting dress.

It was as if it were the manifestation of the contradiction that was Naruko. Born to high society, but lived the life of the hunter. A pariah, yet cheerful and happy. A huntress, yet a swordswoman. Hated by many but never hated.

Without a second thought, she reached out and grabbed the hilt, slowly pulling it out, and as she pulled, particles of black swirled around the blade until it was completely wrapped in black. Contrary to its ominous appearance, Naruko felt at peace as she gazed upon the sword that seemed to be dark particles endlessly from the abyss around her.

When the entire blade left the pedestal, she slowly pointed it upwards subconsciously. Almost immediately, The darkness around her dispersed and faded into pure white. At the same time, the particles of black that had been wrapped thickly around the blade began to shimmer out of existence along with the darkness that was dissipating rapidly.

To her surprise, under the particles was not just a sword, but a large sheath that perfectly accommodated the sword, also of a black and blood red design.

She stood there for what seemed like hours marveling at the blade, not noticing the world around her reforming into a grassy plain under a sunset—the combined mindscape of Her and Kurama.

"Like what you see?" A voice behind her called, causing her to jump slightly and turn around. To her surprise, she found a young girl in white battle dress and a sword and sheath identical to her own strapped to her waist. What was even more shocking was that she had the exact same face and appearance as herself, it was almost like staring at a mirror.

"W-wait, who are you!" She shouted in surprise, earning a raised eyebrow from her lookalike.

"Look down at yourself." The doppelganger said calmly. As she looked at herself whilst slightly hesitating, gasping when she saw that she wore the same armoured dress as the doppelganger.

"S-so, you're me?" She asked hesitantly.

"… It seems that despite the merge, your intellectual capacity remains the same as any Uzumaki… IT'S ME, KURAMA GOD DAMN IT." Kurama yelled back with visible irritation.

"But how?"

"Soul-merge, you realise that we are both the same entity now right? I received all your memories, you received all of mine, though I believe that you are unconsciously suppressing most of my memories and only received the most important ones since tens of thousands of years worth of them would probably break you."

"…But if you're technically me and I'm technically you… then why are we still so different." Naruko asked again. Like Kurama had said, over 99% of the memories had been suppressed to prevent an information overload, and would only reveal itself if she were looking specifically for the memory from within her.

"For one, though we may have each other's memories, we didn't experience them first-hand. Watching and experiencing are two different matters altogether. We may be the same entities, but we have different personalities which affect our thinking capabilities and the way we act, which also changes the ways we think or tackle problems."

Naruko simply nodded, having an easier time comprehending it since for once Kurama was talking in a way which she could understand easily. It was probably because she now knew exactly how she needed to speak for Naruko to understand.

"Ah! So you're like a Yami Naruko!" She exclaimed

"…You… or should I say we, read too many children's stories. In what way am I a dark version of you? If anything I'm simply more knowledgeable and mature.

"By the way, I should mention that though you can probably find a way to switch between your huntress gear and this… 'Knight'… gear, your dagger was used to make that sword, so you aren't getting that back."

"So no more dagger throwing?" She said with a small pout.

"God bless, no more." Kurama finished with a satisfied smirk.

"You are surprisingly unsupportive of me even though you are me now, you know?"

"Perhaps I simply know what is best for us."

"Why is it called night gear again?"

"Don't know, just based it off what the blue swordswoman called herself."

Naruko thought to herself for a moment and dug up the memory that Kurama was talking about. It was like Kurama had said, she knew the very basics of Kurama's memories, but most of it was blurs, yet she could remember parts of the conversation.

"…I like it…"

"I thought you would agree."

"Hey… so are we still siblings?"

"…Despite the soul merge, not much has changed with our personalities and experiences, so to keep it simple, let's say yes." Kurama replied, earning a wide grin from Naruko, both from relief and happiness.