Chapter 9: Hero

After Scarlet flew off from the village, she was being tailed and watched by some other demons. They lost sight of her after a while as she had out of sight, not to mention it was still nighttime. But that didn't stop Scarlet from going to her next location, which she was eventually hit down when a tree was thrown towards her.

Scarlet came crashing down on the outskirts of another village and a forest, the Grimm girl had landed hand onto the ground as she slowly stood up. She gritted her teeth as she sniffed the air to see who or what was nearby, mainly to see who had thrown that tree at her.

Sure enough, it was more demons. This time they looked much more stronger than the previous ones Scarlet fought, but something wasn't right. Scarlet could smell another demon lurking in the village behind her, it wasn't Muzan that was for sure. This one smelt much more, but there was also one smell that seemed to make Scarlet seem a little worried as well.

"...A cat." Scarlet mumbled as she looked towards the village. "There's a cat in that village, likely alone and being hunted by that demon." She knew she needed to do something about the situation. But she also had four or five demons right within her personal bubble, she glared over to them as she needed to make quick work of them. "Alright assholes, you want me? Come and get me."

The demons charged head on towards Scarlet, they tried to attack her and gang up on her. But it was futile, sure they were able to make a few scratches and break some of Scarlet's bones. It didn't prove to be in their favor, the Grimm girl made short work of them as she had sliced their heads off and cut their bodies in half.

"This won't hold them down." Scarlet murmured. "I should really look into making some fire dust." She raised her foot up and stomped onto their heads, she knelt down and grabbed their split halves. "A soul... for a soul."

Scarlet stood there for a bit covered in blood, she grinned widely as she threw the bodies. She turned around to face the village as she dashed off towards it, whatever demon was lurking about within the village wasn't going to be expecting company. But Scarlet on the other hand needed to do something else before more of showed up.

Since it was still night out, the village was fully lit up with lights from each house and other areas. But not a single person was killed, unlike the last village where Muzan had made everyone a demon. This village seemed abandoned, that or everyone who lived there had locked themselves inside. Scarlet made it to the entrance of the village, her eyes scanned the area carefully as she sniffed the air a few more times.

"It seems like there are still people here, but they must be hiding their scent." Scarlet mumbled as she made her way through the village, she kept her guard up but also kept an eye out for the cat.

~~~

Inside one of the buildings someone was watching Scarlet, Akaza stood there as he watched her. Muzan had requested him to stall for time and slow Scarlet down before she could get any closer to ruining his plans. But he was also told to not make any sudden attempts right away of fighting her, so instead Akaza watched and waited for the right moment.

"Tch, can't believe I have to sit by and watch from the shadows. If only I could just jump out and kill her now!" Akaza mumbled. "She doesn't look that tough. If anything, she looks weak like a twig... I could easily snap her in half."

Scarlet had stopped half way as she scanned the area, almost as if she had heard Akaza. Her head turned a full 360 as it seemed like she snapped her own neck. Her eyes locked onto the building Akaza was inside of, and with it being dark outside. Scarlet's blood red crimson eyes glowed in the darkness, Akaza went silent as he had hid out of view from her. He noticed the glow from her eyes as he felt like she was a rebellious demon who didn't want to obey Muzan's orders.

"Hmm." Scarlet snapped her neck back into place as she continued walking, she went to go wash the blood off of herself as she splashed some water on her face and over her head. Letting all the water trickle down her body. "Now then...." She continued her search as she came to a big house that had a gate. "Private property? This seems a bit suspicious." Not knocking on the gate door, Scarlet jumped over the fence. She could smell where the cat has been at, she followed the scent as she approached the front of the house, her hand reached out to open the door but it blew open as a cold gust of wind came blowing out.

"Scarlet... you are a worthless child." A familiar could be heard in the wind. "You put faith in mankind... and look where it brought you... back to me, I told you didn't I? You can't succeed in anything without me giving you orders..." It was clear this whisper and echo in the wind was Salem's, but how was that possible? She was dead.

The Grimm girl ignored her mothers voice, she walked into the house as she searched for the cat inside. The deeper she went the stronger Salem's voice became. Scarlet gabbed both of her ears and ripped them off, she could always grow them back. She didn't want to hear Salem's voice, the smell of the cat grew stronger as well. Until the smell had led Scarlet to a room, the door was slid wide open. There in the center of the room was a ginger cat licking its paw, its eyes shot up towards Scarlet as it stared at her.

Scarlet's ears popped back into place as she looked at the cat. She stepped forward as she was very careful not to scare the cat, the cat however sat there watching her. It opened its mouth to meow but instead, something different came out. Something that surprised Scarlet, making her stop in her tracks.

"Well now, it seems I was found by someone." The cat spoke as it stretched and stood up. "Tell me, how did you find me so easily?"

Scarlet wanted to make sure she wasn't hearing things, she ripped her ears off again and grew them back as she looked at the cat once more. "Can you repeat that?"

The cat sighed as it walked over to Scarlet, it stopped as it sat down a few inches from her. "I said -" That was all Scarlet needed to hear from the cat.

"Thought so, I wasn't sure if I was hearing things or not." Scarlet said interrupting the ginger cat. "Before I answer your question, I have one for you. What's your name?"

The cat tilts its head to the side confused. "Name?"

It was clear the cat didn't have no name, so Scarlet took this moment to think of a name for the cat. Of course she still needed to answer the cats question, she knelt down as she got a closer look at the ginger cat. "And to answer your question, I'm not human. Let's leave it at that."

The cat licked its paw again as it cleaned behind its ear with its paw. "Is that so? Well I suppose I should give you some credit in tracking me. As a result, I'll be your companion. That is... if you're willing to have an animal with you."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow up, she was a bit puzzled at first. But before she could say anything, she heard Salem's voice echoing in the wind again. She didn't answer the cat and picked it up off the floor, the cat had also heard the voice too. Scarlet dashed out of the house and as far away as possible from the house, hoping she wouldn't be hearing Salem's voice again.

"....Hero.... That will be your name." Scarlet spoke finally as she stopped near an empty ramen shop, she glanced down at the cat to see if it liked the name. "And judging by your voice, you're a male cat."

The cat thinks for a bit as he looks up at Scarlet. "Hero huh? Not bad girl. Not bad at all, I'll take that name." He dropped down from Scarlet's hands as he sat down. "That voice, who did it belong too? It seemed like you knew who, if you were in such a rush to get out of there."

Scarlet stayed silent as she looked at the ramen shop, she wondered if there was anyone inside or not. But it was odd, the sun hadn't peeked up yet. Was it still nighttime? Sure Scarlet could pull her scroll out and check the time, but she also wanted to wait a little longer to see what would happen before doing so.

Hero took notice of Scarlet's quietness as he figured she didn't want to talk about it. "Alright, I'll scrap that question then." He got up again as he noticed Scarlet was looking inside the ramen shop. "Forget it kid, no one's going to open up. No thanks to that demon lurking about, ever since he showed up. Everyone went into hiding, of course some of the people weren't so lucky and tried to defend themselves and took matters into their own hands."

"Leading to their death." Scarlet spoke as she turned around. "Who is the demon anyway?"

Hero stayed silent as he stretched once more. "Why? You're not planning on fighting him do ya? Forget it, He's one of the upper ranks in Muzan's demon army. You wouldn't last one second against him, he killed numerous Harshira's, countless Demon Slayers and not too long ago he killed Kyojuro Rengoku."

"And you're telling me all this info for my own good?" Scarlet asked as the Grimm girl looked down at Hero.

Hero nodded but had a feeling Scarlet was going to be stubborn. "His name is Akaza, like I said. He's one of the upper ranks. He's strong, but not as strong as the demon king himself."

~~~

Akaza sat in the darkness as he was clinching his fists. He wanted to bust out and attack Scarlet, he was itching for a fight. "I can take her down easily. I need to move onto another area before the Slayers are sent here to clean up my mess, and if that happens. I'll be running into Tanjiro and his two friends and his sister." He stood up as he walked over to the window and slammed his fist against it. "I can't sit around and wait for orders right now."

Akaza jumped out of the window as he rushed down the street, he was looking for Scarlet and wanted to have a new punching bag. Scarlet sniffed the air as she smelt him coming towards her and Hero's direction, she glanced down at her furry companion as she picked him up off the ground.

"Is something wrong?" Hero asked curiously as he looked at Scarlet.

Scarlet didn't say anything at first, she smashed the window to the ramen shop open and placed Hero inside. "Stay here. Don't make a sound or anything to alert Akaza of your whereabouts."

Hero's eyes widened as he looked at Scarlet. "He's coming this way? Why?" He didn't know why Akaza was coming towards them, but he listened to what Scarlet had told him.

Scarlet moved away from the ramen shop as she moved further out into the open, she held onto Black Rose as she stood her ground. But then there was Salem's voice again echoing in the wind, Scarlet thought the house she found Hero at was the source of her mothers voice. But she was wrong, not only did she have to focus on trying to fight off Akaza when he showed himself to her. But she also needed to ignore Salem's voice.

"You're a failure and a disappointment.... You do not understand hatred as I understand it. Only hate keeps me alive. Why else should I endure this pain? If you hadn't stabbed me in the back, you could've been such a great ruler. You could've destroyed Ozpin for good, and use the relics to your disposal!" Salem spoke into Scarlet's ear. "But instead, you break free from my control and commands and disobey me!"

Scarlet grits her teeth again as she covers her ears. "Shut up, shut up!" She was trying to ignore Salem's voice again, but it wasn't working. "Why must you torment me this way?!"

Salem continued to speak and torment Scarlet, so much so. By the time Akaza had shown up to where Scarlet was at, the Grimm girl snapped from the insanity and torment from her mothers voice. Her eyes glared at Akaza as she had a twisted grin on her face, she pointed the tip of Black Rose at the demon and laughed. "So.... you've chosen death instead of fleeing?"