This chapter switches to third person POV then back to Clare. Just a heads up. -gasp- I neglected to mention that Claymore does not belong to me, It belongs to the wonderful Norihiro Yagi. My bad...

"Miria, where exactly are we going?" Raki asked trailing a few steps behind said Claymore. She paused and glanced at him over her shoulder, "We're almost there." she said, ignoring the boy's question.

Raki stared at the elegant blond warrior's back for a moment before hastening to follow.

They were scaling the side of the mountain that Clare had been observing moments before, Miria slowing her pace so that the boy could keep up. As the incline grew steeper, his breathing became ragged.

"Where are we going? What's so secret that Clare can't know?" Raki persisted.

"You'll see."

With an impatient snort, the boy ducked under a low hanging branch and nearly tripped when Miria asked, "What's wrong with Clare? Even after you 'reappeared', she's still been so... distant." He had never told them about Isley or Priscilla and saw it fit that they never knew.

"I-I don't know... Maybe it has something to do with Jean?" His expression became sombre as he remembered the look on Clare's face when she told him about Jean's death.

The blond woman went silent, sabatons(1) making no sound on the earthy terrain. After a few yards,they came to a cave and she drew to a stop, drew her claymore and buried it's tip in the earth before sitting with her back to it. "We'll wait here," she declared. A relieved Raki fell onto his back, panting and she chuckled, smiling fondly.

She had really come to like the boy in the short time she had known him and saw why Clare would want to protect him. He had a boyish innocence that just screamed 'protect me'.

Cooling fall air gusted into the cave and kissed Raki's sweaty forehead, tousling light brown hair (a/n sorry If that's wrong, that's what It looks like to me and I have only ever read the manga up to volume 11.)as he lay prone. "...Hey, Miria?"

"Hn?"

"D-do you maybe think t-that..." He was turning red and Miria leaned over to look him over, "You're not getting sick are you?" the blond warrior questioned, "you're turning red."

"No, no!" Raki said quickly, "it's just..." He took a deep breath, "DoyouthinkClareisinlovewithJean?" Miria blinked and it took her a moment to depict his sentence.

"So you've noticed it too?" she said at last, "yes, I believe she is."

"Damn... I was hoping that maybe Clare and I-" Raki shook his head to clear it of such thoughts and asked, "I never did get to meet her, what's she like?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" came a new voice from the mouth of the cave. The woman standing there was just about Clare's height with blond, shoulder-length hair, tendrils of it hanging in her eyes. She possessed the tell-tale silver eyes of a Claymore and Raki jumped up, training with Isley kicking in as he searched for a weapon of some kind.

Again, Miria chuckled. "Relax, Raki. This is Jean."

Raki's jaw dropped, "But, I thought she was..."

"Dead?" Jean completed, "no, I managed to survive thanks to Miria here."

She gave a respectful nod of her head to Miria who rolled her eyes, "You act as though I'm the one who did the regenerating. Really, you have the strangest sense of courtesy."

"Still, I owe you my life."

"And I give it to Clare." Miria responded easily, "I'm sure she'll love it."

A stare-down commenced until Raki cleared his throat and asked, "How did you survive?"

Jean turned to face him, "You know that I was fatally wounded, correct?" The boy nodded. "You also know that our kind can regenerate limbs and such?"

Raki nodded slowly, "But I though you were an offensive type. Wouldn't a wound like that be too severe?"

"That would be the case," Miria agreed, "unless the host found flesh that was still fresh to replace it."

Raki paled, "You mean she ate one of the other Clay-er- warriors?" Jean smiled slightly, "Thank you for catching yourself. In any case, I didn't do anything as gruesome as that."

"So what did you do?"

"I used Rigaldo's arm. There wasn't anything else left after Clare was done with him. And I'm still scrubbing the taste of yoma flesh from my tongue."

Raki noticed that way her eyes softened when she said the other warrior's name. "So why haven't you gone to see her? It's been almost a month!"

Here, Jean looked at Miria. "I wouldn't allow her," the spiky haired blond answered.

"Why not?!"

That earned Raki a level gaze. "Think about it. Jean has already Awakened before and now, a huge chunk of her is Awakened Being flesh. What would happen if she was to lose control? She has already taken on Rigaldo's speed."

Raki shook his head, "Yes, but-"

"Leave it, Raki, Miria has every reason to worry." Jean said.

"Which reminds me, why were you late? You should have been here a while ago. You didn't go to see Clare, did you?"

Jean scratched the back of her head, expression sheepish, "Not exactly... She caught sight of me on my way here."

"Mhmm."

"I'm serious!" The woman looked hopeful, "Am I free to go?"

"Fight me," Miria said unexpectedly, pulling the gigantic sword from it's earthy sheath. "You cannot use your yoma energy. If you don't get pushed past your limits and Awaken, you're free to go."

Clare's POV.

I'm going mad, that's the only explanation. The dead do not just randomly get up and walk around.

My return to the house was wrapped in a thoughtful silence as I attempted to sort my churning mind. There were a few possibilities that could explain Jeans appearance:

1. Over active imagination on my part

2. I'm not getting enough rest.

3. I truly am losing all sanity to the Yoma part of me.

I don't even want to entertain the third possibility and the first is unlikely- I am pretty level headed right? Besides, that would mean I'm becoming more like Ophelia- now that's a scary prospect. It's been a while since I actually cried, perhaps my body is adapting to the emotional barrier I broke a couple weeks back? But why now?

I paused mid-step as a flash of Yoma energy came from the west mountains. "Miria?" Turning to face that direction, I tilted my head, "It's none of my business. Miria can handle herself, right?" Still, the sense that I should check things out lingered.

"I've seen Miria fight before and she can handle her own against Awakened Beings," I reminded myself stubbornly, "She'll be fine!" My trek continued until the sturdy wood roof came into view, bluish- black against a red-leaved background. Then, once again, I paused, sensing a particularly strong surge from Miria. I recognized it as the warrior using her famous Phantom speed. The other energy source was barely definable. "What on Earth could she be doing?"

I let out a exasperated sigh and headed inside, casting all thoughts of battle and a certain blond warrior from my mind. Right now, I just needed to relax.

The door swung open without protest as I let myself inside. This house was one of the ones I used most often whenever I'm in my region. The previous owners -a young married couple- gave it to me as a show of gratitude after I saved them from a yoma attack. They had fled the region shortly after.

The house was wooden, consisting of three rooms: a kitchen and two bedrooms. These rooms were stocked with only what was needed: pots, pans and various food items in the kitchen and a bed, desk, trunk for personal belongings and a wardrobe for each room. The interior walls were painted a forest green while the outside was white washed.

However, my favorite feature was at the end of a short, well used path out back; a natural hot spring. Just the thought of the warm, steamy waters makes me sigh with delight. Thus saying, I gathered my bathing things and went back outside.

Alrighty, chapter three should be the end. Thank you for reading thus far! And thanks to shelter for reviewing -grin-

(1) Sabatons-metal boots