Claymore: A Warriors Journey

After 3 days of constant walking, Clare could finally see the village, she didn't care to remember its name, her assignment was simple, enter the town, find the yoma slay it, move on. Clare was a warrior for The Organization who, during the first outbreak of the yoma infestation, created a breed of half human, half yoma hybrids in an attempt to rid the world of yoma. Humans simply called these warriors "Claymores"- because of the massive broadswords they used to slay the yoma or less commonly as "Silver Eyed Witches"- in reference to their silver eyes. Like all Claymores, Clare had white, nearly silver, hair which was kept short. Her outfit consisted of a white skin tight body suit, shoulder plates, which had a sheath attached to the back, where she kept her massive Claymore, vambraces on her forearms, plates of metal around her waist which resembled a metal skirt and sabatons on the feet, very little armour considering the enemy they faced.

As she approached the entrance to the village she noticed a small crowd gathering, as she entered the village the crowd parted giving her plenty of room, this happened at every village, even though she could not harm humans everyone feared not knowing if her yoma side would take of and destroy them all.

The towns chief drops a large bag of coin on the table in front of Clare, in the chiefs house there was himself his wife and a few other villagers who were curious as to what was going on "here is your payment" the chief replies nervously "please count it and make sure it's all there"

"No" Clare replies "once the job is complete a man in black will come by to collect it, I cannot accept payment myself" Clare spoke in a strong, firm, yet emotionless voice

"Oh ok" the chief replies nervously, he went to speak again but Clare cut him off

"That means if I fail and die in the process you are not obligated to pay any money"

"Ok so what do you think?" he asked anxiously "will you be able to finish the job today, maybe tomorrow?

"That depends on the yoma, if it is taking extra care to hide it's yoki it could prove difficult, eventually, either its corpse or my own will end up on the streets of your village that is your only certainty".

As Clare leaves the Town Chiefs house the chief collapses to his knees almost relieved she is out of his presence, his wife and the villagers rush over to make sure he is ok ' that was my first Claymore" his voice shaky " I thought she'd be more humanlike but she looked like a ….. a …. like a monster!

As Clare walks the street of this village people, like always, cleared the streets parents pulled their children inside and locked the doors, people pulled the shutters of their windows, within seconds the place looked like a ghost town. Clare kept her senses open for the yoma, then all of a sudden she could feel it, it was right behind her, her eyes flashed in an instant from silver to gold losing all aspects of humanity, in one swift moment she unsheathed her sword and twirled around ready to fight, her blade sliced through the air with ease, she stopped inches with the creature that was behind her, except this was no creature it was a young boy about 14 years old, her blade stopped within inches of his face. He stood stunned with fear, "what did I do?" he asked as Clare put her sword back in its sheath, "I was only walking behind you", Clare did not answer but turned and kept on walking.

"Wait you're a Claymore right? He asks following behind her.

"No" Clare replies sharply the boy looked a bit confused "that is a name given to us by you people, our organization has no name

"Well don't look at me, but I am surprised though you look just like a normal girl I guessed you'd be a lot scarier looking".

Clare pauses and slightly turns her head towards the boy "you're very strange do you not fear me boy?" She asked "why should I? You look no different than a normal girl Clare pauses for a second and then keeps on walking.

"Who is this boy?" she thinks to herself "what does he find so fascinating about me?" "If he's looking to me for companionship he's going to be sorely disappointed."

The young boy follows Clare to the village border, "where are you going" the young boy asks" as they pass under the arches at the village border "you know your about to leave the village, the only thing you'll find past there is the old mines." Clare unsheathes her sword once again the young boy flinches fearing she'll turn it on him once again, but instead she stabs it into the ground sits down and rests against, he looks at her puzzled "what are you doing" he whispers "sleeping" Clare replies "I have been walking for 70 hours straight. "How can she sleep like that?" he thinks to himself. He looks around and finds a plank of wood on the ground and stabs it into the ground next to her and rests against it mimicking her. Clare gives him a strange look "Why don't you tell me why you've taken such in interest in me? "She asks him breaking an uncomfortable silence "because you're a Claymore…" Clare cuts him off "I told you that is a name given to us by you people". Her voice had hardly changed in tone but the boy could still sense a feeling of disgust and anger when she spoke about humans. "Sorry" he says quickly "anyway your gonna kill that yoma for us aren't ya" his voice filling with enthusiasm. Clare doesn't reply "my family were the first victims" his voice becoming more sombre "when I came to, only my older brother, Zaki and I survived, I feel so guilty I was right there but I couldn't do anything" his voice filled with anger and sorrow as he recalled that day when he and his brother hid under the kitchen table watching while the yoma ripped out the innards of the rest of his family "but that's why you're here to avenge the death of my family," Clare cuts him off again, "don't misunderstand me boy I came here to do a job not to fulfil a personal vendetta for you or anyone else." The boy looked down at the ground disappointed but understanding. In the distance the towns clock toll's five bells "oh no the boy says scrambling to his feet he hadn't realised what time it was "I forgot to get dinner ready, we're staying at our uncles place so I like to help out since he took us in, I'm quite a good cook maybe I could cook you something later" he say running off but stopping as he realises he has not introduced himself "by the way my names Raki what's your name?" "There is no point telling you" she says softly staring off into the distance "it is a name that will soon be forgotten". Raki could see a hint of sorrow in her eyes almost telling a story of wounds not healed, loss or betrayal. He could see she was hurting inside but did not want to pry any further so he turned around and headed home. Clare did not want to give her name because to her that was the first step towards becoming attached to someone, ever since that day so many years ago she refused to get close to anyone again, she could not bear to go through the pain of losing someone so close to her again. That woman meant so much to her, she gave her back so much but in one moment it was taken away from her again. To this day those scars have not healed.

Then all of a sudden Clare realized something "I could sense the yoma on that boy he couldn't be a yoma, the scent was too weak but it was definitely someone close to him. His Brother!" As she ran in the direction of the boy she got closer to the centre of the village, she followed her senses to one of the stone huts in the village it was a small hut it looked no different than any of the others around the village but Clare could definitely sense the presence of the yoma, those hideous shape shifting monsters who took the form of humans living among them like normal people, most of the time they'd kill a human and take its form and identity replicating gestures, speech patterns and facial expressions taking over its thoughts and memories, this yoma must have the boy's older brother while he was unconscious and lived among the townspeople as his brother. Clare decides not to barge through the front door because that would take out the element of surprise, she instead leaps into the air above the stone hut and crashes through the roof in a cloud of dust and rubble, slicing through the yoma's arm, which was hold Raki around his throat, landing between the two of them it screamed and stumbled back, blood gushing from the wound where its arm used to be. It had shed it's its human disguise and was about to devour Raki and, judging by the blood seeping from one of the other rooms had already devoured the boy's uncle. Raki stared in disbelief at Clare, whose eyes had changed from silver to a bright, shimmering gold, form what Raki knew Claymores eyes changed from silver to gold whenever they spotted a yoma, her arms were bulging, almost bursting out of her outfit her face looked distorted vein bulging out of her forehead, and her teeth had almost turned into fangs. "I could sense your yoma scent on the boy" Clare said in a calm monotone voice in almost complete contrast to her now beastly image "you unwittingly lead me to your own death'

"AAARGH DIE YOU BITCH!" the yoma yelled as he went to swipe at Clare with his razor sharp claws, in an instant Clare sliced of its other arm, purple blood splattered across the room "please have mercy" the beast screamed knowing it had no chance of survival, then in a split second Clare struck again, this time slicing it vertically from head to toe, and with that it was all over Clare swung her sword splattering the yoma blood on it across the room staining the walls. As she left she did not say a word, or even look at Raki who sat slumped against the wall crying.

Raki woke up in bed in a place he did not recognize. It was a nice room, well a lot nicer than his uncles home. Raki sat up confused "what happened, how did I get here" he thought to himself, then he remembered being tossed down a ridge on the outskirts of the village by the town guard what they said as they banished him from the village still rung in his head "for all we know he's infested with yoma too, just like his brother." "That must have been a few days ago now." Then a man walked into the room "ah your awake" he said bringing in a tray of food and sitting on the table next to the bed "you're lucky to be alive son"

"Where exactly am I?" Raki asks

"You're in a little town called Egon. Did you know that you've been asleep for the last 24 hours, how did you end up wandering the wastelands like that? Raki's mind flashed back again pieces of his memory started returning, he had been tossed out of the village, by people he thought he could trust, once they found out his "brother" was a yoma they got rid of him, for nearly a day he wandered the wastelands until he collapsed that's the last thing he remembered but he didn't tell that to the innkeeper instead he remained silent "I understand if you don't want to talk about it" the innkeeper said "anyway you must be starving by now, eat up" he said pointing to the tray of food sitting on the table.

"But I have no money to pay for all this" Raki replied

"Don't worry it's all been taking care of" Raki looked at the man confused "a Claymore brought you here.

Raki's eyes lit up suddenly remembering seeing the Claymore who saved his village before he passed out in the wastelands'. "She must have brought me here" he thought to himself.

"Where is she now? He asked, suddenly full of energy.

"She left after she paid for your room and, a strange gesture because those witches aren't known for their kind nature, she must have had another job to got to she didn't say where though."

Raki jumped out of the bed grabbing a piece of meat and bread from the tray. "Thankyou for everything" he say's with a mouthful of food as he leaves the inn.

Once he gets out into the town he starts wandering around the village asking anyone he can find if they've seen her but with no luck. After nearly half an hour of searching he stops and hunches over trying to catch his breath "she's gone".

"Hey kid" a villager calls out "a Claymore was looking for you earlier".

"Really, where did she go?" Raki asks excited

"She wandered into the forest on the edge of town."

"Thankyou" Raki calls out as he runs towards the forest.

After running for nearly 5 miles Raki leans against a tree to catch his breath. Then in the distance he notices a Claymore standing nearly 20 feet away, as he notices her she turn around. "Its not her" he says quietly to himself.

"Are you alone?" She says to Raki

" I am" he replies nervously as the Claymore gets closer to him. "The innkeeper said you were the one who saved me."

"There's no need to thank me."

"But I'm just a stranger why would you pay for my room and food?"

Why are you so suspicious of my kind gestures?. We Claymores are a benevolent organization" she says getting close to Raki cupping his face with her hand "besides I've taken quite a liking to you" she whispers softly in his ear.

"NO!" He screams pushing her back "I don't believe you're a Claymore for a second! I know your kind never refers to themselves as Claymore!"

"Well thankyou" she says in a suddenly deeper voice and then transforms into a yoma her skin turned a dark brown, her skin hardened looking almost like sandpaper, her facial expression looked fiercer, her teeth grew sharper "I'll keep the in mind for next time. Raki steps back, stunned, but before he could run the yoma was behind him, it grabbed him by the its claws squeezing his head in a vice grip.

"What a perceptive little brat you are, you've made my job a lot easier". "now show yourself Claymore, I know your out there, come out so we can end this game."

Clare stepped out from the shrubs a couple of feet in the distance. She begins to walk towards the yoma who is holding the boy hostage. "stop" the yoma demands" stay where you are, I know how fast you Claymores are, if you so much as flinch I slice this boys throat from ear to ear, now toss aside your sword and no sudden movements"

Clare reached for the sword on her back "do you really think a hostage will stop me from killing you?" she asks her voice the same as Raki remembered it, emotionless, not reacting to the situation.

"No I knew it wouldn't" the yoma replies "not until yesterday when I saw you walk into town carrying this boy as if he were your own, seems you do have a weakness, how pathetic, you actually care for this meat. Being half yoma Doesn't erase all your human emotions or memories, they don't just disappear when you become a Claymore, I'm guessing you had a little brother who looked just like this boy didn't you, I'm right aren't I? I can see it all over your disgusting face. Go ahead kill me, that is if you have the courage to kill me and this boy!

Clare unsheathes her sword, Raki watches in fear, the yoma's evil, sickly grin grows larger, Clare tosses her sword down the deep slope beside the path where they stood rebounding off trees and rocks each "CLANG" echoing through the forest until it reached the ground below stabbing into the ground, hilt sticking straight into the sky.

"Are you happy now?" Clare asks almost tempting the yoma to attack.

HA HA HA I'll be sure to end this quick, IT'S TIME TO DIE! The yoma tosses Raki to the side and lunges towards Clare, Clare doesn't move as the yoma as the yoma digs its claw right into Clare's stomach and bursts out her back. Raki looks on in horror as Clare coughs up blood. The yoma laughs in an evil sly laugh.

"I've never eaten Claymore before, I look forward to it. Clare grabs the beasts arm and uses its own momentum to pull it and herself down the slope. Clare notices her sword still sticking into the ground , she grabs it just before they come to a stop and pins the yoma to the ground and slices off it's arm that's still sticking into her gut purple blood sprays out from the wound, then before the yoma can even let out a scream Clare slices off its head.

Clare pulls the hand of the yoma out of her gut as blood pours out from the wound. She falls to one knee and remains calm even though she is in excruciating pain she focuses the yoma energy inside her to heal her wound which closes quickly it wouldn't be enough to fully heal the wound but it would stop the bleeding the rest would have to heal naturally. As she stands Raki comes sliding down the slope to see if she is alright. "Do you need help?" he asks , noticing her wound "I'm sorry it's all my fault" she cuts him off, placing the sword back in its sheath showing no signs of injury or fatigue "listen up, I did not throw away my sword to save you back there, if I had tried to save you and kill her, you would have wound up dead and she would have got away, my only option was to put here in a position where a swift kill was attainable .

"But that doesn't change the fact that you saved my life" Raki says, his eyes filling with tears , struggling to hold back his emotions "for the second time, because you killed the yoma ate my family. When my parents were killed I was so afraid but I tried to act tough the whole time, thankyou I'm truly grateful I'll never forget you for as long as I live" his emotions finally got the better of him as he started crying as he walked away.

"I cried those tears before" Clare thought to herself "all those years ago when my family was slaughtered by a yoma who left me with not only physical scars but mental scars as well. I never felt truly happy again until she came along, if she didn't take me in I don't know where else I would have turned, just like this young boy has nowhere else to turn now".

"You said you were a good cook right?" she asks

Raki turns back toward her "uh huh" he mutters wiping away his tears

"Good if you agree to be my cookyou can come along with me untilwe can find you a new village to settle into"

Raki's eyes lit up with joy as Clare turns around and continues walking, "wait" he calls out " I still don't know your name"

"It's Clare"

"Clare, I like that name" Raki runs up beside her and they continue through the forest.