Remembering Love
In a cave far to the north where the snow never stopped were a pair of fearless claymores. They wield their swords of steel, ready for a bloody battle to the death. All shook in their shadow and hid away from their gaze.
There was nothing in the world that they couldn't handle.
Accept each other.
"Deneve, I'm sooooo bored!"
"So? What do you want me to do about it?"
"You're a higher ranking than me, so you're in charge!"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you are responsible for protecting me from the forced of evil!"
"Oh, and I suppose you think that boredom is force of evil than?"
"You better believe it!"
Deneve sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Why am I always stuck with you?"
An abrupt blizzard had cornered them in the cave during their travel. Deneve had been infuriated. The town had only been another hour away, and she knew that now she would be stuck with Helen for much longer than she had wanted to.
The two had only met a few months ago, and they had immediately hated each other. During the first mission they had been assigned to, they had been at each other's throats until Deneve had snapped and gave Helen a rather nasty scar along her left shoulder blade.
After that mission they were put in separate teams, but Deneve had become lost and ran into her first awakened being. Luckily for her Helen had deliberately broken away from her own group and found her close to death. She came to her rescue and dragged her to safety and since that time they shared a love/hate relationship.
At the moment though, it was leaning closer to hate.
"You've been to a lot more villages than me. Surely you've learnt about a past time activity or something that they do to pass the time," Helen muttered, hugging her knees to her chest as a strong wind of frost blew in.
Despite having a roaring fire in the centre of the cave, and having an immunity to cold as a claymore, the two were feeling the bite of the wintry destination. Sometimes when the weather was strong enough even their usual capabilities that were automatic with becoming a claymore, it was rendered almost useless. If they were humans, they would have frozen to death. Instead they were shaking and shivering close to the fire on opposite sides.
Despite desiring to just have a relaxing silence, Deneve decided to answer the question. "Well, they drink a lot in most towns, but we don't have alcohol, and I don't particularly want to deal with you drunk."
Helen pouted.
"The children play games, but we are not kids. Sometimes the adults sing or play music in the square, but I can't sing and nor do we have instruments."
"I can sing!"
"Oh no…"
There was no stopping her. Helen started belting out notes so strong and piercing that Deneve had to cover her ears.
'On a dark niiiiiiiiiiight!'
"Helen, please! Stop!"
'No sound was heeeeaaaaard!'
Deneve slammed a fist to the ground. "Helen!"
'Something stiiiiiiiiiiiiired!'
"Oh god, Helen, shut UP!!"
"Hmmm… that's all I know. Damn."
"Thank god, oh, thank god!"
"Hey!" Helen glared across the fire at her companion. "I thought I did damn well with that song! Well, considering I only remember the three lines!"
With a heavy sigh, Deneve checked her ears for blood. "I think you need lessons when we're done with this mission. But please, make sure I'm not there."
"Oh, trust me, once we're done with this mission, I won't come anywhere near you again! You're so annoying!" Helen growled, poking her tongue out at Deneve.
The fifteenth ranked warrior couldn't believe it. "I'm annoying! Are you serious?"
"Yeah! You don't care about people's feelings at all!" Helen shouted back, getting to her feet now.
"Shut your face!" Deneve growled, but for some reason her heart ached at Helen's words. Wait, why did that hurt?
Helen bit her tongue as she bit back some harsh words. When she got this angry whatever she said no longer made sense and she just made a fool of herself. She rathered to use force at this stage. She unsheathed her sword with a resounding scrape of steel.
Deneve pushed herself to her feet as well, but she did not remove her sword. Instead she held her hands out and barked, "Put your sword away, you idiot! We're not supposed to be fighting like this!"
"People like you deserve to be cut down!" Helen screamed. She was thinking back to her childhood, back to the times when she would pretend to battle yoma with the village boys, using a wooden sword and a cape made from her bed sheets. One of those boys had the guts to say that to her and she had stuck him across the side of the face.
Why did Deneve make her so angry that she would think back to such things?
Again Deneve was left with the wondering thought, why is she making me hurt so much? Her words should mean nothing to me…
Helen's attack was swift and almost invisible. It was no more than a flash of bright light as she brought it down at Deneve's head.
It should have hit. Blood should have exploded forth. Deneve should had been mortally wounded. Instead the blade rested between the palms of her hands. She had caught it safely and pushed it back sharply at Helen. "Enough! Put it down!"
"No!" Helen struck again, and Deneve had to duck.
The sound of the blade soaring through the air above her sent shivers down her spine. Her hair rippled as she rolled to the side. With lightning speed and accuracy she struck her foot out and kicked Helen in the knee, forcing the girl to the ground.
"What?" Helen gasped as her leg was kicked out from beneath her. She toppled to the floor and hit her head painfully hard against the rocky floor of the cave. Deneve was on her a second later, pushed her down by the shoulders.
"Let me go!" Helen cried, trying to get herself up, but Deneve was much stronger than she was.
"Not until you calm down!"
Helen hated being restrained and was starting to panic. "Get off of me!"
"Calm the hell down!"
"I said GET OFF!"
The last thing Helen expected was Deneve's moist lips to be pressed against her own. Her first reaction was to push her off and cry out 'pervert', but before she could make her muscles move, she realised that it wasn't uncomfortable at all. In fact, she pulled one of her arms free and pulled Deneve closer against her until she could feel her warmth.
What am I doing? Deneve wondered. She wanted to pull away, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She could not deny that it felt amazing, and she wanted it to last as long as it could. Helen's hand rested against her head and pulled her closer, and she knew that she had her permission to love her, even if it was only for this moment.
Their hands curled together and they pulled up into a sitting position, still holding onto the kiss. The emotion they were feeling was almost alien. They had both not felt it for many years, since they were children. They both felt their eyes growing teary as they realised that they had almost forgotten how to love.
When the kiss broke, they were both breathless. What they had experienced together was something that had knocked their inner souls around so badly that they no longer felt like claymores.
They felt like humans.
Helen spoke first, soflty and gently for the first time that night. "Deneve, was that… real?" There was no other was she could put it.
The shot haired girl gave the tiniest of smiles. "Yeah… That feeling. It's been so long…"
Helen pulled her into a tight embrace, resting her head against her shoulder and whispering into her ear, "Thank you."
Deneve ran her hand up and down Helen's spine lovingly, basking in the feeling that she had lost sight of before this night. "For what exactly, Helen?"
"For making me remember what it's like to love."
"I see… well, thank you."
Helen ran her hand through the cropped hair of her dearest Deneve. "What for?"
"For making me feel human."
They stayed in each other's arms, keeping the cold at bay and soaking up the warmth of adoration. Nothing would ever make them forget this moment, even if they woke up in the morning and couldn't stand the sight of each other again.
They would never again let themselves forget what love felt like.
Author's Note - That's the first time I've ever written anything like this. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope did okay…
Please, please, review
