LOVE STORY
chp 1- Into the Unknown
He walks with the crunch of stone beneath his boots. The sun beats down on his back, warming his flesh. But it is not the same as he remembers it. The moisture in the air feeds his veins seeping into his pores, giving him energy and it all feels very cool comparatively.
Kaede turns his head to the horizon, glancing at the rising sun, looking past it. In another place, in another time not many days gone he had watched a similar sun coming up over the steaming landscape of the deserts. A place that had burned his flesh and each week had been a struggle for survival. But it had been home. Now, after so many who could not and would not take him for a partner he had been sent to this world as if he were a rogue. He probably was one.
The towns here seemed so dull. Plane and stagnant. Decaying. All the humans here seemed to be struggling for food and survival, with gaunt faces and sunken cheeks, their backs humped over. And all of them weak. Women as much as the men. What more, they all stared at him as if he were an alien.
True, his clothes were not typical of those here. Layered in thick overlaying cloths of blue and black, with thick black gloves and boots that gave and impression of armor. And his face seemed different, incredibly pale with the shining black hair parted in the center and the length of it in the back wrapped in a ponytail. But that was probably not what marked him so much. Not even the pack on his back but what he carried at his side. A sword, a katana. He could hear them whisper about it even now.
"What kind of weapon do you think that is?"
"I don't know. I've never seen a sword like it. Think he's from the organization?"
"You mean like them silver eyed witches?"
Organization? Silver eyed witches? Was he getting branded with the riffraff of the region already? He laughs silently. Perhaps then I'll find someone worthy of my blood. All here are weak.
The high pitched scream of a woman alerts him, alarming all the villagers. He stays his ground, watching. A woman in one of those low cut dresses with the full length of the gown nearly tripping her up comes running out of an alley screaming at the top of her lungs. Her hair in disarray, and tears stream down her face.
"They killed another one!" she screams. "A yoma! A yoma is in the village!"
Her screams are hysterical. Her sentences, barely complete. Her heart rate is rapid and her breathing comes out in gasp. He nears her, stepping in between members of the shocked crowd. He stares down at the woman who has fallen to the floor, huddled in on herself crying loudly, her wails assaulting his ears. How disgusting, he thinks.
He shuts his eyes and remembers his mother's face. A tall woman of strong build, with a brilliant pink hair contrasting against the stark color of the environment. He remembers when she'd pulled out her fist from a gasping sink worm. A worm ten times the size of a human who hunted by erupting from beneath the sands. She had wrestled the giant beast, he doesn't remember how. He'd been too young. But it had fallen and she had stood atop it, victorious. Out of breath she had sat down on its dying form motioning to him. He had come with trepidation, fearing the twitching creature beneath her. When he'd gotten close enough to her he'd leapt onto her legs. She had laughed then and told him something very important.
"A woman who falls to her feet begging for the help of others with no power of her own is either a fool or a coward. Never let yourself associate with such. They are beneath you. Only seek out and stay with the strong."
Even now that instruction had been given him before departure into this realm. But all he had seen disgusted him. Men stronger then women, and not by a terrible degree. And the women would allow themselves to be pushed by such. Disgusting.
"Why do you just stand there?" someone screams below him. He wakes staring at the woman. He must have been scowling at her. She grabs the garments at his legs pulling them to force him to look at her. "Please," she begs. "You have to do something!"
"Get off," he growls. She lets go, shock filling her eyes instead of the tears now. Better. "And what did you do? Have you found the killer? Are they dead? Or do you just cower there like a mewling babe waiting for supper? You disgust me."
"She's just a girl!" someone screams. "Not a claymore!"
"What do you expect her to do? Cut off the monster's head?"
He turns towards the voice giving them a stony glare and answers coldly, "yes."
The townspeople stare in shock. They are silent, their tongues glued to the roofs of their mouths. None had addressed them in such a manner before.
"And you could do better?" someone breaks in. "A yoma killed my wife not two days ago! You could do better?"
This call is taken up by others. He slumps his shoulders and sighs. "Yeah. Whatever. Why not?"
They continue their taunts and jeers, one man picking up a stone from the floor. "Get out you stinkin' hate monger! We don't need your kind here!"
And with this the stone is hurled at Kaede's face. He catches it with depth fingers letting his hand fall to his side and the stone fall from his grip. "Your monster must barely be stronger then you," he growls. "I smell no one of great power here. Just..."
There was something off from one of them. A smell that is reptilian like. Unusual among so many mammals. But he doesn't know the customs here. It may be natural. Still...
He crushes the stone beneath his boot. Turning away from them he looks towards the girl again. "Show me your monster."
"But I..." she stammers.
He leans his head back looking towards the heavens with a sigh. "I mean show me the last kill. I'll pick it up from there."
She kneels down clutching his pant leg. "Thank you," she weeps. "Thank you. You'll help us then? You'll.."
"I want the yoma's flesh for my own crockpot."
The woman stands staring incredulously. "What?"
"I want the meat of this demon," he says without concern. The woman stares back as if he's gone mad. "And some knives to cut it with and some spices to go along with it."
"What are you talking about?" she says, anger and frustration filling her voice. "You sound like you're going to eat it."
"I am. Now show me the last kill."
She stares as if looking through him. Not moving, not seeing. Just there. He nods towards her. "Well?"
She turns away, walking as if dead. He sighs once more and follows. Murmuring follows in suit as others follow him and become more incessant as they near the kill zone and it becomes obvious where the body lies. He stops several feet away. The smell is repugnant. He's been there a day already. Somehow they had missed it for a whole day. He can see the belly torn open, the stomach cleaned away, the lower jaw missing. Probably the reason the man hadn't screamed as he died. Flies buzzed around the flesh, setting their offspring on the rotting corpse.
Kaede turns away from the corpse.
"So you want me to kill this demon, I assume?"
"If you can," an old man intones. "We'll pay you..."
"I don't need pay. Just the knives and spices will do. And it's flesh."
"Fine. Fine. If you can.."
"What the hell are talking about?!" another screams cutting the old man off. He points at Kaede. "This guy is nuts! He can't kill a yoma! He's not a claymore! He's..."
"You should talk," Kaede whispers. "When you're standing next to the yoma."
The man stands shocked, his eyes widening. He turns towards the man next to him who looks at him in surprise.
"What?" the man in question asks. "What is it? I'm not a yoma! He's crazy!" he screams pointing at Kaede.
That's when he realizes Kaede has already moved forward. The blade unsheathed with his leap, rushing towards and past the yoma thing. The blade goes through flesh and bone in one fluid arc.
"Sorry," Kaede whispers. "But your scent is all over that body, and no one else's is. Figures you'd be the yoma, the only one who smells like a lizard."
The upper half of the man's head falls away, his eyes still bulging from surprise. And slowly, the skin changes, hardening and darkening in color. The eyes coloring a sickly yellow, it's hair paling a dull white. Kaede turns his attention away from the creature turning towards the crowd.
"Well? My knives and spices?"
The old man nods. "Of course, but first, what are you?"
He is silent for a moment, then he whispers his answer. "A hunter of hunters. Kaede Urkida. I seek the strongest... to marry her."
******
Elsewhere a cloaked figure waits at the forest outskirts clothed in dark robes. He waits as a tall woman dressed in white with flowing blonde hair comes into view. She smiles faintly and turns towards him.
"How did it go?" he ask already knowing the answer.
"We've run into a situation it seems. Someone else is killing yoma almost free of charge. Even took the body. Most of it anyways."
"I know. This is most worrisome. You will need to find out who this is after your next assignment."
He hands her the card with the information. "I trust there will be no problems then?"
She nods and turns away walking away from him in the direction of the next town.
******
He heads deep into the forest, the moon shadowing his movements. Kaede turns towards it, thinking silently. The steps coming towards him are not muffled. Many crunching leaves and twigs, but he has no fear of it. They are still weak, even on their mounts. And the noise gives him comfort. Not quite the noise of the living forest from home, but something.
When the young man not much older then he appears on horseback appears, he draws out his sword pointing it at Kaede. His piercing glow in the moonlight, illuminating the ugliness of his face.
"Looks like you stumbled into the wrong area of the woods, kid" he sneers.
Kaede looks up at him, smiling softly. "Sure. Whatever. I have time to kill." And he smiles softly at his enemy.