27 The Jungle

Yuuki jumped across the tree branches, chasing the small critter with long pink hair. It was very fast, much faster than her but whenever it almost got out of sight it stopped. This annoyed Yuuki greatly, it was obviously mocking her!

What Yuuki was chasing was a long-haired blossom bat. A strange light pink bat with long fur and large red eyes.

As she almost lost it, it stopped again, turning back to her and opening its mouth to reveal its bare gums and let out a cute whistling sound. Yuuki got mad again but before she could start chasing once more a tall man jumped in and grabbed the creature.

"Are you misbehaving again?" He asked the bat. The bat let out a squeal and tried to flap its wings and fly away.

"I told you not to tease people." He said, "It only leads to trouble."The bat looked at him with its big red eyes, blinking innocently at him and pointing his wing at Yuuki. The man turned to look at her.

"Are you a poacher then?" The man asked fixating his brown eyes on her.

"What? No! I'm not a poacher!" Yuuki said.

"Are you sure? The only people who come in here are poachers and hunters and you don't look like a hunter." The man said.

"No, I'm a hunter!" Yuuki said taking out her licence and waving it in front of her, "See!"

"Oh, " he said examining her licence, "Ok then. I'm sorry for judging you so fast, you just looked very young. Are you a new hunter?"

"Yep!" Yuuki said, "I just passed the exam."

"I thought so. Are you planning on becoming a magical beast hunter?" He asked.

"What? No." Yuuki said, "Well, I haven't really decided yet."

The man looked at her in confusion, "Why did you come here then? Most hunters who come to this place are looking for new creatures."

"Well... I couldn't really decide where I wanted to go so I just picked randomly." Yuuki said.

"Oh." The man said, "Ok... Are you going to stay here for a while?"

"Probably," Yuuki said.

"Do you want me to show you to the village?" He asked.

"There's a village?" Yuuki asked.

The man nodded and pointed. He then whistled to the bat and began to leave in the direction he pointed. The bat stuck out its little tongue at Yuuki before following the man.

Yuuki thought for a while before deciding to follow him through the jungle. After a while they arrived at a small clearing. Huts made of sticks and leaves in a variety of different conditions filled the clearing along with several hand-carved statues of various animals.

Many of the huts seemed abandoned and she could only see three people out in the open. An old man with white hair and a full beard, a muscular man covered in scars and a young woman.

Soon after they arrived, however, a young boy with messy dark hair came running out of one of the huts followed by a little girl with blond hair tied in bushy pigtails.

"Master!" He yelled

"Welcome back," The little girl said softly, "Did you find Chiko?"

The man nodded and pointed at the bat following him.

"Chiko!" The girl excitedly yelled and began to hug the little bat.

The boy finally noticed her, "Master, who's that?"

"This is a hunter I met earlier in the woods, Chiko was teasing her." The man said.

"He does like to do that." The girl laughed, squeezing the bat tighter.

"What?" The boy yelled, "This pipsqueak is a hunter? No way!"

"Your hardy taller than me..." Yuuki muttered.

"If she can pass, I would surely be able to Master!" The boy yelled, "So why won't you let me take the exam?"

"You're not ready yet." The man said sternly.

The boy groaned and glared angrily at Yuuki before storming off. Yuuki looked on awkwardly as the boy left. Did she do something?

"Don't mind him he's just like that," The little girl said, looking at Yuuki's expression.

"Oh that's right, I never introduced myself," the man said, "My name is Kuo, that girl over there is Mio, and the one who just stormed off is Sho."

The girl gave Yuuki a little wave, still holding the bat tightly in her other arm.

"I'm probably going to have to teach you so you might be here for a while," Kuo said.

"What? Why would you need to teach me?" Yuuki asked.

"You probably ran off very quickly after getting your licence and haven't learnt it yet, right?" Kuo said.

"Learnt it?" Yuuki questioned.

"Nen." Kuo said.

This confused Yuuki, even if he was a hunter supposed to teach her she didn't think he would just outright say it. Yuuki remembered in the anime, Gon and Killua had to reach the 200th floor and be in danger before Wing taught them.

"You're just going to teach me like that?" Yuuki asked.

"Yes. I would have to teach you anyway now you're here, " Kuo said, "Besides, I hate beating around the bush."

Kuo made his way towards one of the more well made huts and the girl followed him, gesturing to Yuuki to come with them.