"My mother died after childbirth, me her only child, and as for my father... he can burn in hell till I get there. My father... he's the one. The strongest, the one I need to... the one who has made me suffer... the one who leads the Hunter's... like the paladin of the Exorcists, my father... he's the Dragon of the Hunters. Kazuko Mujona.. and he's going to die at my hands."

~-~-~-~-~-Flash Back-~-~-~-~-~ The Entrance Exam

A little girl stood alongside several other taller, rougher children. Her small sneakers bounced along with her as she waited, her pent up energy ready to released. She was eager after all, this was a very important moment in her life and would be a turning point in it.

She was 7, her birthday had just passed in mid-December. Her nervous eyes flickered across the other children standing in line next to her. Some were unkempt, hair messy, their clothing was torn up and old, the trouble or unwanted children. Some seemed highly emotional, while others looked determined. The little girl didn't necessarily want to be here, but her father told her to, and she didn't like her dad when he was mad.

The little girl had short, light brown hair, down just passing her shoulders to lay on her back. It was tied back in a low ponytail using a purple ribbon with a small moon crest on it. Her dark green eyes wide as she looked around. Her dad had taken her down here into the training field before, and she was now in the waiting room. Every now and again, two kids would be called up into the arena. Most never came back out, but the ones that did sent chills down her spine. They looked broken, and haunted, and were usually injured.

She knew she was strong for a little girl her age. She could use a knife with a small amount of skill. But lately she had started to study these new words she could speak and they would help her fight, they were called incantations. She could only actually perform one or two of them correctly, but she hoped it would be enough to impress her dad.

That was all she ever wanted, was to impress her father. For him to tell her he was proud, not scold her on what she'd done wrong or when she had a vision and he wanted to know about it. That was the only time she actually really saw him, was when he was watching her practice, or when she was in her seat in his workplace. Her daddy didn't seem to like her, though, always ignoring her, treating her harshly, and blaming her for mommy's death. She had never met her mom before, but when daddy talked about her, there was this tone about it that she didn't like. It was if he didn't love mommy anymore. He said she looked exactly like her too, which she was proud of, and her father seemed to not be. Daddy may not love her, but she loved him with all her heart.

Her daddy was strong, the strongest, and she was proud of him, she just wished he was proud of her. And today, he would make him proud, and become a Hunter. She had to pass the exam first, though, which meant she had to fight someone. She had her knives daddy had given her as a birthday present when he remembered a few weeks later... but she loved them anyway, even if it was a little late.

"Shukura Ryuunome and Tobi Zutoku. Please follow me, to the arena." A tall man walked in, holding a clipboard, his face was hard, and the look Shukura could tell was one most of the adults wore. It was like a mask that they all wore to look cool, she wanted to be strong like the adults one day.

"Yes, sir!" Shukura responded out of habit, getting up from her seat. An older kid, maybe 4 years older than her walked up to the man next to her. He was taller than her and he wore a stained tee with ripped up jeans. His brown eyes were hard, and he was probably physically stronger than her. If she had to fight him, her advantage would be her speed.

Shukura followed the man, a small skip in her step as she thought of how proud her father would be if she passed the entrance test with flying colors. He might even go get ice cream with her! The man then stopped then gestured for them to enter the door ahead. The boy walked in front of her and she followed, the door shut behind her, and locked shut. Shukura wiped around with her eyes wide when she heard to door click shut. What did that mean?

The room was just as big as a basketball court and open to the sky. A solid gray cement wall surrounded them on all sides, the door the only way in and out. A window up at least a story for spectators to see what was going on inside. Shukura knew her daddy would be behind the window and she stood up straight and looked forward.

"Shukura Ryuunome and Tobi Zotoku, please make your ways to opposite ends of the field, after the rules are explained, one of you shall start your training to become a Hunter." A voice echoed around the arena, Shukura walked to the farther side of the arena, the one closest to the window, and stared up at it, hoping to see her father through it.

"You two are going to have an all-out fight, and the one who remains standing at the end will be promoted. This is a kill or be killed fight, only one of you will survive, the other will die. Other than fight to your fullest so the spectators can see your potential, there are no rules. Fight!"

The boy charged at a frozen Shukura, it was kill or be killed, survival of the fittest. One would be Hunter, the other would be prey. Shukura stepped to the side as the boy ran at her, a nasty looking weapon in his hand. It looked to be a sludge hammer. The boy swung down from over his head, smashing the ground where she had just been standing. There was a look in his eyes, the fear of dying.

Shukura pulled out her knives and retreated back. She was only moving ou of instinct, her mind to confused to think clearly. She looked up at the window, she didn't want to kill anyone, but she wanted to pass and make her father proud.

The boy came charging at her again, swinging the sledgehammer at random with no skill whatsoever, and that made her hurt even more. She dodged every attempt he made to hit her with a quick step. Dodging was like dancing, a step back, a step to the side, drop down. Each step light and with grace. Shukura stepped within the boy's guard and slashed his stomach in a single movement. It was easy due to her smaller stature.

Shukura's knife sliced his stomach, a long thin line of blood seeped into his shirt. While the boy had retreated to tend to his wound, Shukura repositioned the knife in her opposite hand. A tear streaked down from her eyes from the pain of the mental battle going on inside of her head.

She didn't want to kill him. But she had to. She wanted to impress her father, but she didn't want to hurt to the boy in front of her, who just wanted to survive. But she didn't want to die. What was she to do? Should she kill this boy, to impress her father with her strength a lack of hesitation for taking his life? Or should she not kill him and face her father's wrath? Which one was the greater evil? Killing for her own selfishness, or her angered father?

Shukura looked up at the boy in front of her, he was staring at his shallow, bleeding would with wide eyes, staring at the blood on his hands. There was an obvious fear in his eyes, and he glanced up at her, with shock and fear. She didn't like to be looked at like that, she got that look all too often.

Shukura made her decision and went into the fighting mode that had been drilled into her. To impress her father, and save her own life, she would kill the boy in front of her. She was defending herself, that's all there was to it. If he didn't die, then she would, and there would be no one to predict events, she had to live. Not only for herself, but for others. And sadly, that meant discarding any of the innocence she had left and stain her young hands crimson.

Shukura closed her crying eyes and focused her white knuckles on the knife with the boy's blood on it. She remembered the incantation her daddy had just taught her. It was difficult and really hard, but if she used it, maybe she would be proud of her finally? Shukura placed two fingers on the blade, then spoke the corresponding incantation.

"With the power of the sun, let my flames roar to life and vanquish the darkness."

A burning inferno erupted on the blade of the knife, heating her fingers, slightly burning them. She had to be quick about it before the incantation dispersed, she could only hold it for a few seconds. Running up to the boy, Shukura gripped her flaming blade. The boy raised his sledgehammer to hit her, but it never came.

She had stabbed him through without ever noticing the impact of her blade into his gut. The flames dies away revealing her blade piercing the boys heart, his skin blackened and flaking off from the flames that had ben there a moment before. Shukura met the boy's eyes as inevitable fear filled them, and the light in his dark brown eye vanished. The boy fell to the ground, dead.

Panting she looked over to the window then stared at the dead boy in front of her, and the blood surrounding him. There was a large black burn mark through where Shukura had stabbed him, there was similer burnmarks scaroching te skin on her fingers from the intense heat of the blades. Nausea built up in her stomach, and she threw up. Her body felt cold and heavy. The fight hadn't gone on for long, but she felt exhausted.

Was this what Hunters did? They killed?! Why would anyone do such a thing. Shukura dropped her knife in shock and looked at her bloodied hands, trembling with how easily she had killed that boy. It had been so easy, and they difference in their skill was overwhelming. But what had she done? Why had she done that? It made no sense. Why would they make her, and her own father for that matter, why would they make her kill and innocent boy?!

"Shukura Ryuunome, congratulations, you have passed the exam and shall begin training next week."

-An applepine.