Takeshi Hyuga – Stuck in a World of Bloody Deceit
Part of the Takeshi Travels
Concept Chapter
[Warning Label: This story contains content that may be inappropriate for some, or many, viewers. The characters use foul language and the story depicts bloody, gruesome killings. It may have any array of other content that will be offensive or disgusting to certain people. As it involves many elements from the Claymore Universe, if you know anything about that story, then you know what you're in for if you keep reading.]
[Other items: This is a concept chapter for a story, also serving the double-function of possibly being used further along in the story itself. Meaning, after I get this out I will start in a different universe, and the story will eventually progress into this part, and be about this universe. It is a Naruto/Claymore cross-over Fan-Fiction (FF). As a Fan-Fiction I own no parts of the original universes and stories, or any of their characters. I would prefer that if you wish to use any of my original characters that you ASK ME FIRST. What I really wanted to get accomplished with this story is to show a darker side of Takeshi. As such, what you're about to read will be gruesome, violent, and possibly offensive.
If you like this story then I recommend that you read my other Fan-Fiction involving the same main character. You can find it on my page, but as a warning: it's being rewritten... After I finish the first book, I will be majorly revising it. I've gone through a lot of growth as a writer (at least I hope) since I first started writing that story.]
I had no idea how the hell I had gotten here, but I did know one thing – I was stuck here. I hadn't figured out a way to get out. That ninja had come and thrown me, once again, into another world, another universe, or another reality, even. Whenever this happened I knew nothing about this new place, because I had come from a completely different one.
Even my fighting skills were altered, or replaced with something else. The only constant was my swords. There was no world with humans in it that didn't have swords, at the very least. I had faced this fact long ago – my swords were the only thing that I could completely rely on.
"Well, fuck," I sighed, taking a cigarette out of the pack in my pocket. I tried to light it. Under normal circumstances, I could just use the powers of my Dragon Seal – a Fuinjutsu that that allows me to use the epic powers of the fabled Dragon itself. It looked like a tattoo of five different dragons across my forehead, each one granting me a different power. I put my finger up to the cigarette and tried to focus my energy – in my world it was called Chakra – into my finger to make it light on fire. Unfortunately for me, it didn't light.
I sighed again, and examined my surroundings for any possible information. I had learned different survivalist tricks over my time spent in other worlds. First to check off was to look at what was around me. I was in a large, grassy plain, and in the distance to the front and back of me was a forest, and to the left and right were tall canyons. No, scratch that, I was in a canyon. I saw a couple of rock piles and faces near me. Secondly, I needed to check below me. I was also standing on a path that lead into a forest I saw from the distance. Last was to check above me. Nothing was weird, just a big, blue sky. Everything was completely normal, as far as I could tell.
It might've seemed odd for me to check out my surroundings so much, but now it was a matter of survival, and any information might help me later. It always was whenever I was plunged into a situation like this. I was an alien, an outsider to this world. I never knew what might happen next.
First off, I needed to get this cigarette lit. Yeah, I know, that was probably a stupid thing for me to be focusing on, but it's just what I do.
I gathered some dried, dead grass and went over to the rock face. I took my favorite sword, Ragnarok, in my right hand and slashed through the tip of the rock itself. A smaller rock fell down, and I caught it. A good, clean cut, as my friend Kaname would have said. I wondered what she was doing. I knew time was paused, and when I got back to my own world it would be like nothing had even happened.
I clasped the rock harder and, unexpectedly, it broke. Under normal circumstance, that amount of my calculated force (not even above two percent) would not have crushed a solid rock the size of my hand into pieces. Apparently my physical strength in this world was increased. It was strange, but good news.
I cut off another rock and this time I carefully scraped it against the whole rock to make a spark. It hit the pile of dead grass I had made, illuminating it. I blew on it, just barely, and it lit into a complete fire. I lit my cigarette and inhaled deeply.
After a few more puffs, I screamed at the man who had sent me here. I knew he wasn't here physically, but he had to be watching at least. "Seriously? You can't even send me with some god-damned matches?"
I laid down and watched the clouds go by. On a windy day like this, the clouds moved pretty fast. This was a beautiful world, but I much preferred mine. I wondered if that was the Ninja's test. Maybe he wanted to keep sending me to different worlds so that I could live my life out in one of these places…
It would never work. No matter what he threw at me, no matter how wonderful one of these other worlds was, I wouldn't live here, or anywhere he sent me to. The only place that really felt like home was my village, Sunagakure… Even just that name reminded me of my home, and the people there who I needed to get back to.
Another gust of wind went through the surrounding field. Even from here I could hear it whistling through the trees. But it also brought the noise of something else… battle and bloodshed in massive proportions.
"Oh, great. I can already tell what you've planned for me," I exhaled the last hit of my cigarette. The wind blew again, as if it was controlled by the man who had sent me here, beckoning me into a battle I didn't want to fight, but had no choice to.
Suddenly, I had a sword in my face… no, scratch that, four swords. I barely had enough time to roll out of the way.
"You know, for a Yoma, that was an extremely stupid decision. Laying in a field and not even trying to suppress your Aura. At least you switched to a human form. It tricked us, but only for a second."
"What in fucking hell are you TALKING ABOUT, lady?!" I gasped. Getting to my feet, backing up, and keeping my own sword, which I had drawn, pointed at the group for defense.
The woman who had, basically, called me an idiot was a thin, tall being who was clad some sort of white jumpsuit. In different places, metal plates of armor littered her body. She had long, wavy, blonde hair and calm silver eyes. She wielded her large sword expertly, even though she looked like she barely had the strength to pick one up. I got the feeling that she was an expert warrior, but it was her look that worried me the most. Her faint smile that she seemed to show off at all times made me feel extremely unnerved.
"That's Teresa to you, Yoma."
"No use wasting time on introductions, Teresa. Let's just kill this bastard and get on to the battle… We're needed elsewhere," sighed another one of the woman.
Like the previous, she looked like she had no muscles at all, like she never picked up a sword in her life. But the sword, which looked almost exactly like her counterpart's, told me different. She had a calm look upon her face, but still was scowling like I was some kind of demon. Her gray hair matched her silver eyes perfectly. I then realized that all four of these women had silver eyes that seemed to see into your soul.
"No, Irene. Every Yoma in this area must be eliminated," Teresa assured the group, but something was off about her statement, like she didn't believe it herself. "Those were our orders. Even if it slows us down, this one still must die… if my hunch is true, we're needed here. I get the feeling this is no ordinary Yoma. Perhaps he is an Awakened Being?"
"Perhaps…" mumbled another one of the women. She continued to speak, but it seemed that only her lips were moving. No sound was coming out.
The third one had long, blonde hair that went past her hips, and a smaller body. Much smaller than the others. She was thin, and almost looked frail. But there were not a lot of other features that made her very definable.
"Speak up, Phoebe! We can't hear you if you mumble like that!" jeered another.
The last woman had a head that was almost completely shaved, except for a very small layer of hairs sticking out. She looked like some kind of serious combatant. More muscle than the others, and lots of scars on her face. She even had a long scar reaching from the uppermost region of her forehead, through her right eye, and then ending at the bottom of her chin. I counted the number of smaller scars that intersected the large one… There were five, at least. It was a little hard to get major details from this distance.
The other woman, Phoebe, looked as if she was about to cry after the comment that the last, unnamed, woman had made.
"Ariel! Stop picking on Phoebe!" growled Irene.
"I don't have time for children bickering…" sighed Teresa.
"Before you kill me, could you at least explain some things to me?" I growled.
I spoke too late; I realized that Teresa had disappeared. Where the hell did this woman go?
"Tch… too slow!" I heard Teresa whisper in my ear.
Time slowed down, adrenaline kicked in, and I saw her to my left. I barely made my sword block her strike in time. Sparks flew as the two blades clashed. They didn't seem to be moving, but I could see that they were moving too fast for the naked eye to see. Our force was struggling to find a match. Every time I would increase my power, push my blade harder, she would do the same. It made the two blades scrape against each other with such immense power and speed that sparks were made. It was incredible. I'd never seen anything like it.
"So you do have some fighting skill. I was worried, since you don't act like a normal Yoma, or even an Awakened Being. But a male with your Yoma Aura… you can't be anything but an Awakened Being. Why aren't you switching to your Yoma form to be able to fight at full strength? Are you stupid?"
"Once again," I shot back, "I have no idea what you are talking about, lady! I don't have another form! I'm nothing but a simple human!"
"Lies!" yelled the fighter named Ariel as she came into the fray. I quickly drew my other sword and blocked her strike. Now I was facing attacks from two directions. If the other two fighters joined in I wasn't sure if I could take it.
"You know, lady… you shouldn't accuse me of being a liar… those who have are all dead," I threatened.
Ariel did nothing but smile in response. She was stronger than Teresa… much stronger. If I wasn't completely ambidextrous with swordplay, I might have been scared.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the other woman, Irene, joined the battle. Her strikes were as quick as lightning itself, maybe even quicker. I jumped up as high as I could to avoid her attacks. With my increased strength my jump was higher than I was expecting. My two blades slid over the blades of the other two warriors as I jumped. I could tell they were surprised by the fact that I could hold off each of their attacks with only one hand. At least they had some sense in the matter.
When I landed behind Irene, I realized what I had accomplished didn't even matter much. She kept up her speed, just swinging from behind her instead, and quickly turned to face me. Her body moved slower than her arms, which looked very strange. I realized her sword-swing must have been faster than the rest of her movements.
Even with time slowed down due to adrenaline, Irene's strikes were almost impossible to keep up with. I also realized her eyes had changed to a monstrous yellow color, with thin, slit pupils. I only just barely survived her strikes by having two swords to fight with, as opposed to her single sword. Whenever she would strike me I would block one and prepare for her next strike with my other sword.
"Damn!" she exclaimed. "He can even keep up with the speed of my swords! What is he?"
"What am I?!" I gasped. "What the hell are you?! Your eyes changed!"
All of us were surprised at what happened next. The smaller woman moved in front of me with the same max speed Teresa had used. At first I thought she had messed something up in trying to strike me, but then I realized she was trying to protect me from the other three. She blocked Irene's strikes, keeping them from hitting me. The other two, Teresa and Ariel, had come upon my sides and tried to strike again, but I blocked them.
"Phoebe, what are you doing, child?" asked Teresa and Irene almost at the same time.
All Ariel had to say was "Idiot! I knew we shouldn't have brought a weak-minded claymore like that with us!"
"Stop!" Phoebe commanded. All of us lowered our swords. Even me, which I never thought I would do. Something in her voice had commanded me to do so, and I couldn't do anything but obey. "Everyone! I believe him! Why would an Awakened Being not have mentioned something about feeding on or killing us? Please, let's hear him out!"
I hated to say it but, in at least few ways, this Phoebe girl reminded me of my girlfriend back home, Naomi…
This girl was sticking up for me, even though none of her comrades seemed intent on listening to anything I had to say. Somehow, she even had gotten them to listen. It was amazing.
We all seemed to snap out of it at the same time, raising our swords again like it was natural to do so. We all glared at each other… or, should I say, everyone was glaring at Phoebe and I.
"I'm going to put my sword away," sighed Teresa. "Can I trust you not to try and kill me?"
"I won't. I've only been fighting you all out of self-defense. What Phoebe says is true. I have no idea what the hell is going on, or who you are, but I'm willing to tell you my story. I promise I'm not a Yoma or an Awakened Being, or whatever."
I sheathed my swords back across my back. Ariel didn't seem happy about it at all, but she did the same. Irene seemed to need to get a last word in. "If you lie to us… don't think that me putting my sword away will help you, stranger. I can draw it and strike faster than you could dodge or parry."
"Very well. No lies. I wasn't planning on it anyway. I'm a truthful man."
I sat down and started explaining. First, I told them how I was from another world, and that I was facing my own perils there, but how a Ninja kept sending me to other places, like this one here. There was nothing I had figured out about stopping him, and I never even got a good look at his face because he kept his whole body covered. Then I explained how the powers I had in my own world were often changed in the other worlds I entered into. Maybe I was some kind of Yoma or Awakened Being, and that I had become that for my abilities to be transferred accordingly over to this world.
"No, that's impossible…" mumbled Teresa. She looked like she was trying to reach for her sword.
"He told the truth. You all know my power of speech. I could tell if he was lying, and he didn't lie. It's hard to believe but his story is true," said Teresa.
"This is still a bad omen," interrupted Irene. "A Male with the power of a Yoma, without being an Awakened Being? I think you all can see the danger in this…"
"Danger in what?" I asked.
"Allow us to tell you our story now, stranger," Teresa offered. "It might explain a few things about how this world works."
I nodded. Hopefully I could find some answers about what I needed to do.
"Very well," Teresa closed her eyes like she was trying to remember something. Her smile hadn't changed at all since she had appeared. Even when she seemed to be majorly freaked out by the situation, she was still just barely smiling. "For years now, humans have been threatened by a race of monsters called Yoma. Yoma want nothing more than to feed on humans, killing and eating them. The humans of this world call us 'Claymores' – although we do not adhere to this name. We have no official name like that. There is an Organization that we work for. All of us are female warriors that have been infused with a Yoma's flesh and blood. In doing so, we gain the ability to slay these monsters, but we also become half-Yoma ourselves. Half-human, half-monster. That is what we all are, Irene, Phoebe, Ariel, and I. As I said, now there are only female fighters like us, but many years ago the Organization also included males in the process of making their fighters. There were… certain problems with this, and they stopped doing it.
"That's why we attacked you on first sight. We sensed your power – your Yoma Aura – and knew that you couldn't be one of us. That left two other possibilities with your power – Yoma, or an Awakened being."
"Okay, that explains you guys, and Yomas… But you keep mentioning these 'Awakened Beings.' What are they?" I asked.
"You really don't know, do you?" laughed Ariel.
"No, as I said, I'm from another world. Apart from what you've told me, I know nothing."
"Awakened beings…" explained Irene. "When someone from our organization uses their Yoma power, it brings us closer to our limit. If we release too much power, and go past our limit, then we awaken. When that happens, the end product is an Awakened Being. Male fighters would use too much power. Their limits were reached sooner, because it felt like sexual ecstasy when they started to awaken. That's why they stopped. Too many of them were awakening."
"I see… So, you think that the shinobi that sent me here… He made me one of these Claymores?"
They all seemed to wince at even the name. But they hadn't given me anything better to call them. I didn't think that half-monster was exactly a respectful way to address a woman.
"I doubt it…" Teresa stated. For once, her smile turned into a slight frown, as if what she was going to say was bad. "I didn't realize it before, but now I know it's the truth. When I try looking at your aura… you look neither human, nor Yoma. I think you're something else entirely."
"A whole different being?!" gasped the other claymores.
"Then… what am I exactly?" I asked. "Can I still go through this Awakening process and become some kind of human-eating monster?"
"Doubtful. I think that entirely different rules apply to you. But you must be careful. Most of us can't sense auras as I can. On first glance, you look exactly like a very powerful Awakened Being. If it wasn't for my ability I would have never believed your story. Then I would have killed you on the spot."
"Very intriguing!" exclaimed another voice in the distance. I was normally good at sensing others approaching. But, this time, I didn't notice a thing about this man. "I never would have thought that there would be another being out there. To think that you came from another world! Now you're here, and not a human, Yoma, or anything in-between… You, young man, are an entirely separate type of being! I don't know what to say, or what to expect from you!"
"Ethan…" Phoebe said, almost silently as she shivered. When she saw the man approach, something in her changed. She seemed to go into a state of emotionless shock.
Ethan was a mid-sized man. He didn't seem very strong, but he did throw me off. Most of his body was covered in a hooded, black cloak. He almost looked like the Ninja that had sent me here…
"What of it, old man?" I asked. I would never get used to people calling me Young man.
"Hmm… Nothing major. I was just thinking out loud. But I realize how much you'd be able to help the Organization."
"The Organization? It's run by shady old men who pop out of nowhere? Sorry, not interested."
"I wouldn't say I'm as shady as the company you're currently keeping, boy! These women are feared throughout the world! They are half-monster, after all."
"Well, maybe that's something I can relate to. In my own world I'm known as Takeshi the Dragon, and have the powers of the ancient beast. I'm more than a monster when you piss me off."
"Hmmm. A loose cannon, eh? Well, it doesn't surprise me. Claymores often are. Join the Organization boy. We may be able to help you!"
"How so? How do you think you could help me? I'm sent where I need to go by Fate itself. Then I get out of the worlds I travel to. Joining some organization will just tie me down. As I said before, I'm not interested."
"Takeshi…" shivered Phoebe. She looked like she was about to cry… "I hate to say it, but joining might help. At least it will get others in the Organization off your back. Remember, you could be mistaken for a Yoma by any of us."
"The girl is right, young man. Word travels fast, especially with me doing the talking. There would only be a small toss-up… In exchange for your safety, you would have to kill Yoma on your travels to finding your way home."
I weighed the pros and cons. I really didn't want to have to worry about more of these crazy women trying to kill me… but I also got the feeling that joining this Organization was a bad idea. Like they were signing me onto a lifetime of work I'd never be able to fully complete.
"What about the battle over there?" I asked, pointing to the direction in which the wind had carried the sounds and scents of battle before I got myself into any of this.
"Hmmm? You want in on that?" asked Ethan.
"Yes. There's nothing that follows me on these worlds but bloodshed and battle. That's where I need to be. That's where I'll take the first step to getting home."
"Very well. That's a battle only between the Organization and a large army of Yoma. If you try to join in without the Organization's protection, the Claymores there will think you an enemy. Against a large number of them, even someone with your… unique… skills will be easily destroyed."
"Then I have no choice," I complained. "Fine. You win, I will join this Organization."
"Good, good!" Ethan said, but he drew out the words like he was some kind of snake who just found his prey and was now waiting to strike. "Here, take these… It's been a while since we've had a male warrior in the Organization, but rules are rules. You must wear the garb assigned to a Claymore. Luckily, I kept some of the old outfits from when we had male fighters."
Rules are rules? I thought. What about the thing where Claymores weren't assigned that name by the Organization? Whoever he was, I didn't like him.
He tossed me a white jumpsuit that matched the others', except that it had no emblem under the neck. Each of the others did, and an Emblem on their sword to match. Maybe I would get mine later or something.
"Don't worry," he assured me, as if he had read my mind. "For now fight as you would normally. After this battle I'll get you the proper identification – a personal Emblem that the Organization will assign. Now, I must leave. I have to alert the others about you, Takeshi. My word travels quickly, so you should not have to fight your friends in the coming battle."
"Hold on!" I yelled. The man turned and waited for me to finish my statement. "If I'm going to join you, it's going to be on my terms." I took off my puppetmaster hood and threw it at him. It wouldn't have matched the new outfit anyway. "See the symbol on the metal part? That will be my Emblem. If not, I'm out."
"You're a cocky one, Takeshi. Very well then," the man sighed. "I will make this your emblem. When I next see you I shall have a sword and a new outfit with this symbol."
After the man ran off, Teresa, Irene, Ariel, and Phoebe welcomed me to the organization, but assured me we had to move fast and join the battle. I put on my new clothes, tossing my old ones aside, leaving everything but my swords. Would my new comrades, the ones I had yet to meet, really know about me this quickly? If not… I guess I had Phoebe and the rest to stick up for me.
"Don't worry, Takeshi," Teresa assured me. Once again people seemed to be reading my mind. "If we all tell them your story, they wouldn't dare go against us. We're four of the highest ranking members of the Organization. I'm sure you will be a high ranked warrior, eventually, too."
We all ran off towards the battle in perfect sync.
When we approached the scene, there were multiple camps set up. Large tents and fire pits scattered the area. Four to five of the warriors from the Organization had set themselves up at each campsite. There seemed to be no battle going on. The Claymores looked mostly relaxed. Maybe while we were talking they had finished up. I almost hoped they hadn't finished just yet, because then I would have joined the Organization for nothing.
The area was a forest. There was enough room in between the trees that tents could be put up. If there had been trees blocking them, there was no evidence of it. But it wouldn't have surprised me if they had made a little bit of a clearing. This were definitely more than capable.
A woman – another Claymore – greeted us. Though I could tell she was more trying to greet the others, and didn't know what to say to me. Ariel and Irene separated from the rest of the group, and set up by another campsite that had been set up, but seemed empty. I already knew it was a weird situation, but did everyone else all have to look at me from their makeshift campsites like I was some kind of demon?
"What's the situation?" Teresa asked. All the other claymores seemed to treat her with respect, like she was some kind of leader or something.
"Lady Teresa," the other Claymore addressed her, "we were attacked right after we set up camp. We defeated around one-hundred Yoma, but we are most certain more should be coming soon. It seemed like it was just a scout party. We still have almost no clue what caused this mass uprising of Yoma, or why they joined together – much unlike them, as you know – but we are working hard to find out why."
The new woman glanced at me nervously. "Very well," Teresa nodded. "Alert all the others that this is Takeshi. He's joined the Organization. He's not a Yoma, but he is more than capable of slaying them. He's an ally now, and is to be treated with respect!"
She had slouched slightly, possibly relaxing after her update, as Teresa gave her orders. When Teresa was finished, she shot up like she was surprised, but nonetheless obeyed them. She nodded and went around the camps telling the others.
"So what exactly is going on here? I mean, what other information do we have on this?"
"We were on our way to this battle when we found you. We don't know why, but Yoma have started gathering and banding together in mass proportions. It's the Organization's job to slay Yoma to keep humans safe. If our information is correct, we'll be facing an army soon enough. Whatever the reason for them joining forces… it can't be a good one."
I counted our forces. It went by quicker than I hoped.
"Wait a second," I shuddered. "You're telling me it's going to be forty-eight of us against an army?"
Teresa smiled again, but just a little more than her faint smile that she always wore. "Yes, Takeshi. But I wouldn't worry. Each of us could take down at least ten ordinary Yoma in our sleep."
These women were crazy… Yet, I greatly admired their courage. Apparently, my doubts were rather easily deciphered. "Don't worry about it, Takeshi. Everything will be fine. Just fight with everything you've got. If you have anything you need to take care of, I'd do it while you still can. This mission might be moderately simple, but there's always a chance of casualties."
Teresa was right. I nodded and went off to find food… and maybe a match-book or something.
Matches were easy. There were tons of them lying around camp. Food was a little harder, but not by much. There was always tons of food in a forest. Another constant when your world is always changing.
I sat down at the empty camp and lit the fire pit. I started cooking the squirrel that I had found, and lit a cigarette while I was at it.
"Eating… and smoking?" asked Ariel. She had popped up out of nowhere, I hadn't noticed her. I was starting to get annoyed at the fact that I seemed to be unable to sense approaching threats in this world… "Man, you really aren't like us."
"You don't smoke?" I laughed.
"Not exactly that. Maybe there've been a few of us who've taken it up, but I've never met one. I was more talking about the eating. That squirrel right there? Probably enough to keep the whole camp fed for a week or so."
"Maybe so, but it's easy enough to catch. If they needed it that bad, they could just ask. Or go out and catch their own food while they're at it."
Ariel laughed. Apparently this big, buff warrior had a soft side. "That's not what I meant. I was just saying that it's not exactly normal for one of us to eat like you do, Takeshi."
I thought about it for a second. She had mentioned one squirrel could feed forty-seven people for a week… I had been called superhuman by Ethan. Yet, not needing to eat except for small portions every here and there and still being able to work at full fighting power seemed a lot more superhuman than I thought I was. At least that's how I saw it, but maybe I wasn't understanding this world fully yet.
"Anyway," Ariel smiled. "I'll leave you to it. I think most of us are making last minute preparations, too."
I nodded and saw her walk off. I realized the other women were doing things to prepare as well. One thing most of them were doing was cleaning and sharpening their swords. Proper sword care was something that was important to me too, so I understood. I decided to check my swords while I was eating. In my previous battle with my new allies I might have done something to harm them.
For the most part, Ragnarok was okay. However, there were a few small dents from where it had taken some more powerful blows. There was little I could do now… Except use it and wait for my new sword. Unless I got some extra metal, enough to repair the nicks in the blade, I couldn't do anything.
Luckily, when I got back to my world, I would have all my other personal belongings on me – and even if my swords were destroyed, I would get them back. I would get back my puppeteer hood too, because the true, real version was stuck there. That's why I could, basically, toss whatever I needed to and not worry about it. It was good, but also felt strange to me. It was survival, though. If it had outlived its usefulness, then I could throw it aside without a second thought.
"Hey, Takeshi!" Phoebe smiled from behind me.
I still couldn't get over her. The fact that she acted, sounded, and even somewhat resembled Naomi – at least in her facial expression. She always seemed too happy (way too happy) when, with everything that was going on, I wouldn't be surprised if she was a nervous wreck. But, no, she kept her composure like someone who had been doing this their whole life. It was… weird.
This world didn't seem so bad. However, I knew deep down in my gut and heart I couldn't stay here. No matter how much I wanted to. I didn't belong here.
She looked over my shoulder and watched as I examined my sword. "What'cha doing?"
"… I'm seeing if my sword took any damage during the fight with your three friends."
"Mmmm. Oh. Aren't they your friends now, too? What happens when your sword takes damage? Why do you have to fix it?"
Was she serious? She was carrying a sword on her back and knew almost nothing about one? She had even struck me with the other three whom she was travelling with, and with above-average precision!
"You can get little nicks, like this one here," I pointed, ignoring her first question completely and trying to shake her naivety. I didn't know exactly how to answer the question of if they were friends just yet. "I have to fix it because otherwise it will become dull. Then, it will eventually break."
"That's… weird. I've never heard of a sword doing that."
"What do you mean? Aren't your comrades fixing their swords?"
"Oh! No! That's not what they're doing. A Claymore made by the Organization will almost never break. Special metal they're made with, I guess. What they're doing kind of like praying, only not to any God or anything. More that if they lose their lives, or their humanity, on the battlefield that everyone else will turn out fine. That maybe, by them dying, they can save a friend. I thought you were doing the same, but it looked weird because you were moving your sword around."
"Huh… a sword that never breaks?"
"Takeshi… That's what you focus on, of all things? What if you don't make it out of this battle?"
"Oh. I don't know. I've never died in another world before. Maybe I get sent back to my own? But I don't really want to test that theory… and I'd prefer not to pray or anything. I'm not that type of person."
"Ah, well, suit yours—"
I heard growling and the shuffling of lots of feet in the distance, so I put my hand over Phoebe's mouth to keep her quiet. It was weird, though. I could only hear the noises because I had somehow tuned into the murderous, negative energy that the group was giving off. I could sense the energy they had given off and in turn used it like some kind of echolocation technique to see them. But I also felt like I was there, very close to this group of monsters. But not close enough to see them clearly.
When I had put my hand on Phoebe, the other Claymores thought I was trying to attack her, because everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stood up. Phoebe silently urged them she was okay.
Apparently I could sense enemies better than the Claymores. However, for some reason, I couldn't sense a Claymore or a normal human if they were near. I'll admit, that could convenience me later.
"I thought I heard something," I gasped, sitting down and releasing Phoebe. "It was like thousands of feet walking in the distance. It's quieted down now… but I can still just barely hear it. I think it's a large group of those Yoma things."
"We should alert Teresa!" Phoebe gasped.
"Let's go," I nodded in agreement.
After we found her, I explained the situation. Teresa listened patiently, smiling at me through the whole story.
"I see. Takeshi, do you think you could lead the rest of us towards the group? We could launch a surprise assault and easily get this matter under wraps."
"I probably could, yeah. Should we keep anyone here to watch the camp?"
Teresa shook her head. "No. That's quite unnecessary. We all own no personal belongings. Even if someone tried to steal something, there wouldn't be much of worth. It does not matter."
These women were survivalists, trying to get along in a hostile world, just like me. I was gaining newfound respect for this group by the second. Unfortunately, I do not think they were gaining any respect for me.
We gathered the troops and left immediately. All forty-eight of us ran as quickly as we could. I was with Teresa in the lead. We sped towards the area that I had sensed. The Yoma, or whatever they were called, had left the area and were out of my range to sense them. Luckily, I easily remembered where they were. I calculated the distance we had to run, the layout of the area, and even the energy signal they gave off. The forest got more and more cluttered as we went through the forest. The closer we got to the site itself, the more negative energy I felt.
"Here!" I said, halting to a stop.
We were at a clearing. It was a circle about sixty feet in diameter. They had been here, I knew it. Their energy and scent still hung in the air. But I could already tell the others didn't believe me.
Teresa looked around but saw nothing. "Takeshi, there's nothing here!"
"No, look at the trees, at the ground even, this is where they were. It looks like they stopped making so much noise after I sensed them. They came from that way," I pointed to the opening in the trees, but the path they had made ended here. "Maybe they can tell when I sense them?"
I heard some of the others in the group mumbling things like "Who the hell is this guy? Tch. He leads us here and there isn't even anything! There's a few fallen trees and footprints, so what?"
"Did you pick up where they are?" Teresa asked, both of us ignoring their comments.
"Yes, but you're not going to like it…" I admitted.
"Where are they?"
"Approaching from all around us. I told you I got the feeling that they could sense me when I sensed them. They must have started preparing their own ambush."
"Damn it!" Ariel yelled from the crowd.
Everyone got their swords out. The forty-eight of us got into a large circle. Luckily, the clearing the Yoma had made was big enough for a battle. But I knew there were a lot more of them than there were of us. We'd each have to take out massive amounts in wave-after-wave style combat. I'd guess there was only enough room for maybe a hundred of them at a time, and their total numbers were in the thousands.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Phoebe, who was standing to my right. She was scared, but she tried to hide it.
"What else is there to do?" I laughed, happy that I was finally taking the first step to getting home.
"We fight. It's our purpose, after all," finished Teresa, to my left. I looked and realized she wasn't scared. She looked completely normal, only smiling a little wider than normal.
"Time to kick some ass," smiled Ariel. She was standing to the left of Teresa, grinning wildly.
I had no idea where Irene was, but figured she was somewhere opposite of our position in the circle.
I sensed their energy getting closer. It was the same murderous intent I had felt before. Good thing I was getting tired of waiting, because they were here, and swarming in masses.
The Yoma, for the most part, had pretty similar body types and structure. They were big – bigger than any Human, that's for sure. Some of them were different shades of green, others were brownish… It seemed to differ. Some of them had spikes around different parts of their bodies, and many of them had extremely large hands with menacing claws.
They growled and shuffled toward us. I got the feeling they could talk, but for some reason they didn't. They probably thought only about their newfound prey. Many of them could stretch their limbs, or even just their fingers, shooting them outward ten, even twenty feet. With their massive strength, they could punch through any of our bodies if we let them hit us. I tried my best to cut through whatever body part or limb was coming towards me.
For a good bit we were able to keep formation, but then the Yoma started jumping into the middle of our circle. We were forced to separate. A closed quarter battle was not exactly the best way to fight.
I tried to avoid everyone else's sword swings, but it didn't seem to do any good. There was either too much killing going on to not get caught in the crossfire… or they didn't seem to care about other's safety. I was soon littered with cuts and scrapes, and not even from the enemies' attacks. I was also covered with the dark, purple blood of the Yoma.
I decided to stop worrying about it. Instead I focused all my energy into fighting them myself. I slashed and hacked through as many as I could, beheading and decapitating the Yoma in different places. They seemed like weak foes on their own, but their numbers were too high for them not to be formidable. Soon we were standing in a pile of corpses.
I ignored the caked-on layers of blood that covered me. I constantly had to flick my swords just to get the blood off of them. How many had I killed now? I had lost count. Even so, they just kept coming.
Every time I'd see another Claymore, they looked at me as if they expected me to do something, like I was randomly going to join the enemy. I remembered what I had been told about male claymores turning into Awakened Beings in the middle of a battle by releasing too much Yoma power… I guess it was good I didn't have the power of a Yoma, then. But I guess it might have also helped in some ways. Maybe made me stronger.
As more and more bodies fell before me, I almost started going into a blood-craze. Eventually I realized something. The others had started clearing a path around us, trying to make more room. They started chopping down trees whenever they would hit an edge. It was a tactic that would give us more room to fight.
I was in the middle of the battlefield, and most of the others' were on the outskirts. The Yoma realized this too, because they all started charging me at once.
"Damn it!" I yelled as I started getting piled upon by hordes of the monsters. I could tell the Yoma were trying to eat me to death. They were eating me alive, without the common decency to even kill me first, at least give me a painless death…
Is it over? What would happen to me if I died here? Would I just be another corpse in the pile of stinking, rotten corpses that I was currently laying on? I didn't want to think about it, but my mind kept racing back to what I had left behind in Sunagakure. I heard Kaname's voice in my head. Cut through it, Takeshi!
I tried with all my might. I focused every last bit of energy I had left into trying to fly. With my Dragon Seal, flying had come so natural to me before. It might have been a lost cause, but if it worked I could turn the tides of battle. All of a sudden, I felt my wings burst through my back.
"AAAGH!" I yelled as I strained to push hundreds of pounds of bodies off of me. I flew upwards and spun, slashing through dozens of the bodies that had been on top of me moments earlier.
"That's more like it," I laughed insanely. I hovered in the air for a couple of seconds. The other Claymores watched me with looks of horror. Except for Teresa and Phoebe, who acted completely normal, they seemed to realize that I hadn't awakened. I couldn't awaken. I wasn't a Claymore – at least biologically.
I flew off in another nosedive of extra-sharp dragon wings and cold steel. I dived through waves of Yoma, slicing them into bits. The ground was starting to look like cereal, only with bodies and purple blood.
Soon enough, there were almost no Yoma left. Or at least that was what I thought. The Claymores were finishing off the rest of them, but Teresa pointed upwards towards something I didn't realize earlier. There were more Yoma, at least a hundred or so more, and these ones could fly.
I launched myself into the fray, slicing as wildly as possible. But there were too many, some got around me. My brain told me they were going to land and the other Claymores could take care of it. But my battle instincts told me otherwise. I got a bad feeling.
At least ten of the Yoma had charged only one Claymore. It was Ariel.
"NO!" I screamed and tried to fly to her as fast as I could. I had almost made it when the Yoma released their flying-fingers. They pierced through Ariel in a straight line down the middle of her torso. Another Yoma tore her body apart. She fell to the ground as a frail, barely alive, body. Somehow, her head had not been torn… but the other two sides of her body were barely hanging on. Only the fact that she was a Claymore with Yoma powers of her own was keeping her alive. But I knew there was no chance that she could survive much longer. Her body was spread apart at a ninety degree angle, with her head in the middle. Blood was trickling down her sides. The Yoma blood that was caked on her, as well, made her look even worse. Her sword had fallen out of her hand and somehow got lost in the pile of bodies.
The Yoma were about to move in to feed on Ariel. I wouldn't let that happen. I pulled out my Executioner's Blade, a gigantic broadsword I had gotten in my own world, and threw it into the crowd of Yoma. It decapitated all ten of them and landed behind Ariel's shattered body.
Teresa and Irene were too busy holding off Yoma of their own. However, Phoebe joined me at the site.
"Ariel!" Phoebe cried.
"Don't… worry about… me," Ariel struggled. How she could talk like this was beyond me. Her own blood dribbled out of her mouth as she spoke. She gasped for air, trying to hold onto life. "I… knew the… possibilities. Just… finish this… for me…"
"No, Ariel! There's got to be a way! Couldn't you use your remaining Yoma power to heal yourself?"
It was already too late. No matter how hard Phoebe plead I could tell… Ariel was gone. Her lifeless silver eyes stared into the distance.
I turned away, swearing to give Ariel her dying wish, as Phoebe stayed with her comrade. There were only about another forty or so Yoma left. One Yoma tried to fly down and gang up on them, but I cut it with both of my blades, down the middle and then a side-swing. I did it so fast that its body hadn't even separated yet. I continued slicing until there was almost nothing left, channeling my frustration onto the monster. Blood rained down on the battlefield.
The other Yoma and Claymores couldn't help but watch me. Even monsters that were supposed to be immune to fear stopped dead in their tracks. The Claymores took it upon themselves to finish the frozen Yoma off before they snapped out of it.
As the dead Yoma fell, I flicked my blades and the blood joined the puddles on the floor.
According to the Claymores, they themselves were half-monster. But I had a hard time believing anything could act more monstrously than the Yoma. Every Yoma I killed now would be for revenge against them for what they did to Ariel.