"Ayame, would you like to go hunting with us?" I quickly stopped collecting herbs and stared at them awestruck. They were giving me, as in, me, a chance to go hunting with them?! They must have noticed my shock since they laughed loudly and proudly.
"Well little lady, you certainly have gotten better at your swordsmanship lately."
"I don't think 'gotten better' is the correct term for this, Rei, she's basically good as any master by now."
"Hey, don't give her too much credit; after all, she's still fourteen." I stood up immediately.
"I want to go! Definitely!" Rei and the others chucked and nodded their heads.
"We leave at six in the morning tomorrow, don't be late!" I nodded and thanked them. The second they were out of sight, I did my little victory dance. I was known as the number one sword-user in the village. Not too much of an achievement since our village is basically made out of three-hundred people or so. I cheered and even danced a little bit, I self-taught myself the sword, so no one else has my fighting style. My skill could match about twenty men, max. I know that sounds a little far-fetched, but believe me. I proved that fact well enough during the war with the neighboring village. However, since the katana or any sword really, isn't good for hunting, I never get to go. But this is the first time they're letting me, I'm so excited! I have never fought against a demon before, but that's the sword's true purpose. I hope to fight one someday; they say a warrior cannot truly become a warrior before defeating a demon. I'll show them! I'll be the first one in my village to single-handily defeat a demon. First, I have to finish collecting herbs and pack my stuff! I finished cleaning up and rushed back to my hut. It was empty, as expected. My mom died giving birth to me and my dad ran to the neighboring village when war started, since they had more people them us. Heh, I remember his pitiful face when we won, he was crying and begging. He even had enough guts to point out I was his daughter, the elders made the decision that he was banished and to stay at the neighboring village. Since then, I was living alone in the hut, people and elders occasionally came to check up on me, to make sure I was okay and was eating right. I guess they felt pretty bad for banishing my dad, not that I really care. In fact, I don't want to ever see his ugly face and potbelly ever again. I grumbled as I shifted in my futon, it was comfy and warm, but I couldn't sleep. I have to though, tomorrow, I'm going hunting. I smile as darkness fades over. I woke up due to my internal clock, something everyone in the village has. Looking outside, I'm guessing it's about five-thirty. I finish getting ready, grab my 300 pound katana and head outside. Why it's so heavy? Well, not to brag, but I had it specially made so I can brag about it. Haha, no, just joking, for some reason, only heavy weapons work well on me. I can't handle light weapons, they always feel so airy and light, they're too hard to handle. I stop near the clearing of the forest; everyone was there already, only Rei was not there. About a few minutes later, he came. He had his bow and arrow ready to shoot anything. We headed out. I fought well against larger animals, like bears and moose, however, bunnies and birds; not so much. After we were done, I killed three moose, and five bears. We had to bring every male in the village and took about three trips to bring everything back. Later that night, we had a huge feast, mainly moose and bear meat, as expected.
"Man, this stuff is good. Letting you come with us; best choice I ever made." Rei said through a huge mouthful of fried bear meat and stir-fried moose meat. I smiled and said thanks. Suddenly, I sensed a strange aura coming from the forest. I decided I was just giddy from my first hunting experience and was feeling nervous. At night, when we were sleeping, everyone's belly filled and plenty of more food to share, I felt extremely paranoid. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore so I grabbed my katana and headed out to the forest. The bad omen was just getting worse as I got closer, eventually, I see a black shadow. Who is it? Is it an enemy or ally?
"Hey!" The shadow turned to face me, it was...Rei?! He came towards me and I could see dark circles under his eyes.
"Did you come because of the bad omen too?" I nodded.
"Alright, I think it's a demon. However, that could just be a guess. I don't want to alert the entire village if it's nothing. However, if there really is a demon, do you think just the both of us can handle it?" I thought about it. Rei's the best archer in the entire Siko region, and I'm the best warrior in the village, maybe other villages even. I think we would be able to handle at least one demon. I nodded.
"Alright, but be careful. I know you're excited about your possibly first demon experience, but stay alert and never let your guard down. Understand?" I nod quickly. He mumbled okay and we headed in. After walking around the forest for about 35 minutes, we deemed there was no demon. I felt a little disappointed, but relived as well. Woah-! I barely managed to evade the sharp claws.
"Ayame! I told you to never let your guard down!" I mumbled sorry as I continued to dodge and tried attacking. It was no use, every time I tried to attack it, it would only make me dodge slower. Then, all of a sudden, it's claws stopped moving and the creature, which looked like a mutant bunny, dropped dead with an arrow through its heart.
"Sorry I took so long Ayame. It was hard to find time where it would stay at least a little still. If I shot anywhere else then its head or heart, it would have gone into frenzy mode and killed you instantly." I nodded and quickly jogged back to where Rei was.
"Well, think that was the cause of the bad omen. Well, Ayame, how was your first demon experience-?" My eyes widened as a huge shadow was behind Rei.
"Rei, behind you!" I shouted as loud as I could. Luckily, he dodged the demon's claws at the nick of time, only losing a few hairs. A second late and he would've been dead. I rushed over and leaped. My katana was coming straight at the demon's head. Somehow, it dodged and retreated. I should have been satisfied with that, but for some reason, I chased it.
"A-Ayame! S-Stop!" I heard Rei perfectly but I still kept running. Eventually, we made it to a clearing in the middle of the forest. The trees were far enough to make a circle well fit for battling. I now had a good view of the demon, now that the trees weren't blocking the moonlight. I nearly blushed; he had pale skin, long red hair, red eyes defined by black eyeliner, good physique and horns. In other words, he looked nearly human. He looked bored and sleepy. To my surprise, he spoke.
"Hey, you human girl, are we going to fight or not? It's getting really boring."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What do you mean, 'fight'?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean by 'fight'? I saw you fighting that demon bunny before. So fight me, it's my turn. Just watching you spar excited me." My eyes widened. He just wants to spar with me?
"For a demon, you don't act it."
"That just 'cause I'm tired right now. Find me when I'm not sleepy, I'll show you demonic." I shivered.
"Anyway, are we fighting soon? I need my sleep, ASAP."
"Um, just a minute." My lord, what should I do?! I've always been told demons that look like humans are always the strongest! (it's true) If I die, that would suck...very much!
"Well, your minute is up, here I come." He charged at me, his sword pointed. I gracefully evade it out of instinct. He chuckled and tried attack me in mid-air, I kicked his blade with the heel of my sandals, which is made out of metal even those fancy smancy guns couldn't leave a mark on. There was a loud 'ching' sound, and I landed normally, at least he looked amused.
"Who thought humans could be so much fun? This is a nice alternative to brother Tomoe."
"Who's...brother Tomoe?" He crooked his head and smiled at me.
"How about this, if I win, I'll take your life." I shivered.
"However, if you win, I'll let you live and never bother this village again." My ears perked up.
"Plus, and I'll tell you about brother Tomoe. You can't say no." Well, I can't say no anyway.
"Alright." He smirked and charged at me again. This time, I was ready and easily evaded, attacked, and kicked. Near the end, I was a very tired with minimal cuts and scratches. However, the demon guy didn't look tired at all, but he suffered lots from my blade and foot. He smirked.
"Let's call this a tie. You seem exhausted and I admit, if I don't stop, I likely won't make it. Even if I'm a demon, and I heal faster than humans, I still need to know my limit. So for now, how about we call it a tie?" I closed my eyes. I liked the idea of a tie very much, but how about the prize?
"What about the prize?" I heard him 'hmm' and then he answered.
"How about, I'll tell you my name, where I hang out the most, I won't bother the village for fun anymore, only if I'm looking for you, and I'll tell you one question about Brother Tomoe. How does that sound?" I thought hard, sounds pretty good. I nodded.
"Alright, my name is Akura-ou, I hang out in this part of the forest the most, I won't bother the village regularly anymore and you can ask me one question about brother Tomoe." I thought hard, what would I like to know about this Tomoe guy? How about...
"Ayame! Ayame!" I heard Rei calling for me.
"Oh, too bad, looks like that other guy is searching for you, you can ask me a question the next time we meet, until next time, ciao." Within a second, he vanished.
"Ayame!" I heard Rei's voice sounding clearer. I found him easily. He looked super distressed and was shaking and sweating tons. When he found me, he nearly hugged me to death; I had to shove him off of me. I thought he might feel offended, but he actually seemed relieved.
"It's good to see you still have so much strength. You don't seem all that hurt. Thank goodness."
"I fought it. The demon." I smiled since he looked okay with it. Bad move. The next thing I knew was Rei shouting over one hundred words a minute into my face. Most of it was rubbish, but a little bit was comprehensible. After shouting for fifteen minutes he inspected me to make sure I was okay.
"Well, to actually think you made it out of there with this little cuts and bruises. You were lucky it was a weak one." I wanted to tell him it looked like a human, the strongest type of demons, but kept my mouth shut so he wouldn't even nag at me more.
"So, did you win?" Huh?
"Oh sorry, did I offend you? Well, of course you won, you're not dead." He scratched the back of head sheepishly and laughed. I nodded and forced a smile. I don't know why I'm doing this, but...it doesn't feel wrong.