Chapter 9

Raphaela made her way to room 3. She still could not understand why the company was so interested in the blond man accompanying Number 47. She had only been told to bring him in. Even if it meant putting Number 47 out of commission.

-----

"Listen Clare, there's another Claymore outside our room." Naruto suddenly said.

"How do you know? I don't sense anyone."

"Just trust me, there's one out there, and from what I can tell, she's pretty strong."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We'll hear what she wants first." Naruto replied.

"Okay, but be ready in case there is a fight."

As Raphaela approached the door, she sensed that they seemed to have made no attempt to escape. She carefully drew her sword and opened the door.

"Greetings Number 47." She said.

"Greetings. Unfortunately, I do not know your name and rank." Of course, she recognised one of the symbols that Miria showed them previously, but she didn't want to give anything away.

"I am Number 5, Raphaela."

"It's interesting to me that all the women in this business are so damn hot." Naruto said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" Rapahaela asked, frowning slightly.

"Even with that wound on your face, you look damn hot."

"Well, that aside, may I ask what you are doing here?" Clare asked.

"I am here regarding your travelling companion."

"Naruto. My name is Naruto."

"What do you want with him?" Clare asked.

"I don't want anything with him. It's the company that wants him for some reason."

"What do they want with him?"

"I have no idea, they have ordered me to bring him in, even if I have to dispose of you."

"Okay, I'll go." Naruto answered before Clare could say anything.

"What do you mean?" Clare asked, glancing to him.

"As long as you leave Clare unharmed, I'll go with you."

"Very well." Raphaela replied.

"No!" Clare shouted as she leaped at Raphaela.

Their swords met with a loud clang. "You do realise that you have no chance. I am Number 5 for a reason." Raphaela said calmly as they fought.

"Clare, stop!" Naruto shouted. "She'll kill you!"

"Listen to your companion. He speaks a lot of sense."

"What is the company planning on doing with him?"

"I do not know. I was merely told to bring him in."

"Very well."

With that said, Clare withdrew.

"Now if you will please come with me..."

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"I am sorry Naruto, I can't just let you go like this." Clare said, and with that she leaped at Raphaela again.

"Clare, no!" Naruto shouted.

With lightning-quick reflexes Rapahaela had her sword out and was defending herself, and even though they were not using any of their youki Clare was still at a disadvantage.

With a burst of youki, Rapahaela pushed Clare back. "I will commend you Number 47, you are stronger than I assumed from your rank, but not strong enough." And with that, she swung her sword across, meaning to cut Clare in half.

Out of nowhere, Naruto had appeared behind her with his sword at her throat. "Let her go. I told you I'd come with you willingly."

"As you wish, I will desist then."

"I'll meet you outside, I just want to say goodbye."

"Very well." And with that, she left.

"Naruto, you can't go. It's too dangerous."

"Sometimes you remind me of a girl I used to know. She cared about me in her own way, and I cared about her a lot."

"What happened to her?" Clare asked.

"I don't know, but forget about that for now. I have to go with her. She's too strong, even if we fight together. I will find you again, don't worry." Naruto said, a small, sad smile on his face.

With their goodbyes said, he grabbed his pack and left.

-----

"So, how far to the headquarters of this organisation?" Naruto asked as he met Raphaela outside the inn.

"It is quite a ways, but don't worry, we will be travelling quickly." Raphaela replied.

"What do you mean?"

"We will only be stopping unless absolutely necessary." She explained.

Naruto sighs. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Not very talkative, are we?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"The job that I do doesn't call for talkative people." She explained.

"Yeah, I've noticed that with Clare as well, but she at least, didn't just answer in monosyllables when I spoke to her."

"Well, I cannot comment on my associates, I am just telling you how I am."

And so they walked.

-----

"So your name is Raphaela, correct?" Naruto asked after they had been walking for a while.

"Correct."

"And you're Number 5 in the rankings?"

"Yes."

"You know, I've told Clare this as well, but you guys look really hot in those tight outfits you wear."

"Is that so?" Raphaela asked, but continued walking.

"Yeah, but seriously, I wanted to ask – if it's not too personal – what happened to your face?"

"It is part of why I became half-Yoma."

"Oh, okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, I might as well. When I was younger, a Yoma was posing as someone from my village. It attacked my parents one day. I came home late, because I was at a friend's house. It was waiting for me. It stabbed me in the eye with one of its fingers, but somehow, I fought it off. My current handler was through town when it happened and took me to the organisation. When they added the Yoma flesh and blood, the wound grew shut like this." She gestured to her face. "It remains as a reminder of my hatred for Yoma."

"Wow, that's some story. I'm sorry to hear about your parents." Naruto said with a small smile.

"Oh, well, thank you." She said, a slight blushon her face.

And so they continued walking.

----

After many days of walking, they had arrived at the organisation's headquarters.

"Well, we are here." Raphaela said.

What Naruto saw was unexpected. "Wait a tick. I thought the headquarters would be in a town."

"It isn't. If it was, the organisation would feel obligated to protect that town more than others. This way it can remain neutral." Raphaela explained.

With that said, they entered the building. It had the look of a military bunker and was the colour of sandstone.

Naruto was led to a room shrouded in twilight. He could make out several people sitting in a semi-circle toward the door they just entered. Raphaela approached them, stopped, saluted and then said: "Male anomaly delivered as ordered."

"Thank you Number 5, you may go." One of the men replied.

Without a further word, Raphaela turned and left.

"So young man, do you know why you are here?" Another of the men asked after Raphaela left.

"No, I was only told to accompany Raphaela back here." Naruto replied.

"Good." Was the man's sole reply, and then suddenly Naruto's vision went black as he was knocked out.

-----

As Naruto's vision returned, he saw that he was strapped to a metal table and he was connected to dozens of tubes.

He turned his head to look around, but found that it too, was strapped down. Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Ah, so you are finally awake. That is good. You are going to be part of a little experiment of ours." The man that accompanied the voice was tall and thin, and yet slightly hunched over. His head was bald except for hair along the sides and back of his head. The hair here was almost white, but whether it was from age or naturally that colour, Naruto didn't know.

"What experiment?"

"An experiment to see if it is possible that you could be made into a male 'Claymore' as the people call them."

"We have received reports from various reliable sources that, when you fight you release an energy very similar to yoki. From these reports we have developed a theory. Your inherent energy may be able to better control Yoma powers if they were added. We wish to test this theory by adding Yoma flesh and blood."

With that, the man turned away.

As he left Naruto's side, a woman approached and hung a small bag full of blood from a nearby hook. "I take it that's the Yoma blood?" Naruto asked as it ran through a tube connected to his arm.

"Yes it is." She replied.

"Strange, I thought my body would be having some kind of reaction to having foreign blood being injected into my system." Naruto said, with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Now that you mention it, the transfusion usually causes extreme pain to the subjects." She said with an equally thoughtful look on her face.

'Yes! It's working! It's working!' The doctor thought excitedly.

As the last of the blood flowed out of the bag, the doctor approached again. "Now we will graft the flesh of a Yoma to your body. We will anaesthetise you of course."

"Fine, just get on with it." Naruto replied irritably

'What he doesn't know is that we are also modifying his body so that he can eject claw-like blades from between his knuckles.'

Naruto was finally put under complete sedation and they began the operation. They proceeded to take off almost all the skin from his abdominal area. Then a nurse brought in a tray on which lay the Yoma flesh.

They proceeded to place this over the gap left by his skin. As they placed it, something completely unexpected happened. The flesh immediately started to grow and where it met Naruto's skin, it fused to it.

'Well, that was unexpected.' The doctor thought to himself.

"Very well," he said, "bandage him and take him to the recovery ward."

------

A/N: And thus ends this chapter. I know it's not as long as you would have wanted it to be, but it's been busy here because we're planning to move soon and there's a lot to pack. Thanks again for all the reviews.