Disclaimer: Don't own Claymore or NGE. Although, if they do decide to mash the two together, I hope they consider me as a runner's up for writer…

Warning: No Shinji in this chapter. Sorry.

Rei stood under the waterfall unclothed, letting the cascading water pound her pale body. Three days of walking and questioning villages in the surrounding area had revealed no leads for her targets, but that did not discourage her. Rei knew that she would find them eventually.

Her top priority at the moment was the condition of her skin. She rubbed at her arm, loosening some of the dust that she accumulated on her journey. She frowned when she stepped away from the falling water and found that the cloying scent still clung to her.

"Trying to wash off the scent of blood, Rei?" A woman's voice teased behind her.

Rei turned to face a woman in a long black trenchcoat standing on a rock, her hands in the pockets. Blond hair framed her face, sharpening the emerald hue of her eyes. She did not look away when Rei turned toward her, instead letting a sardonic grin play about her mouth. "It's no use, you know," she continued, "Your own body produces that smell. No matter how much washing you do, it will stay with you for the rest of your… existence."

Rei didn't even bat an eye at the newcomer. "Ritsuko. Why are you here?"

Ritsuko's head canted left and her lips creased downward, a mockery of disappointment. "Aww. Can't I come to see the doll, without a reason to play?"

"Every time you arrive, you have news or an assignment. I cannot see why this time would be different."

"Might be different this time," Ristuko said with sarcastic petulance.

"The orders, Ritsuko," Rei said as she stepped out of the water.

"A village two days west of here is having problems with the yoma. In just a month, twenty seven have been killed."

Rei tugged the tunic down to her stomach. "Twenty seven…"

Ritsuko nodded. "Either there's more than one of them, or it requires more food than your average yoma. So you'll be joining a hunting party in five days, unless your dollness is too busy chasing Angels," she sniped.

Rei brushed off the implied insult. She had dealt with Ritsuko for many years now. The handler's unstable mood swings were simply part of her personality. "How many do you estimate will die in the meantime?"

"Oh… two or three, maybe," came the offhand response

In an instant Rei buckled her shoulder plates and gauntlets and holstered the broadsword on her back, striding to get out of the forest.

Her handler's voice followed her, slick as oil. "Leaving already, Rei?"

The warrior paused, but did not turn. "It is wasteful to spend time here. I would rather finish the job quickly and continue my investigation."

She could practically hear Ritsuko's smile in the response. "Well, go. You have your mission. Where you decide to spend or lose your life… is up to you."


At a brisk nonstop pace it took Rei a day to arrive at the town at high noon. She found herself at the village gates with only the wind for sound and the dust to greet her. She stepped forward, making her way to the town square and noting that all of the windows were boarded up and barred.

Did they evacuate? …No, the yoma would not allow it. The death toll mounted so quickly that the citizens are staying indoors, not going outside for fear of encountering the yoma.

An image formed in Rei's head, a vision of a family of four huddled together in the middle of the room, trying not to let anyone out of their sight for fear of being killed by one of the monsters in disguise, the father trying to look courageous but completely helpless in the situation.

All the more reason to finish this quickly.

As Rei approached the town's center, she could make out a silhouette beyond the cloud of dust. The wind blew, pushing away the dust cloud to reveal an ordinary man.

A smirking ordinary man.

Rei drew her sword. "You are a yoma," she accused, "and yet you are not afraid to expose yourself."

The man nodded in acknowledgement. "And you are a Claymore warrior," he observed, "Although I didn't expect you to come alone, with the death count being what it was."

Crimson eyes glared at the interloper. "Have you become so bold that you are willing to stand out in the open like this?"

The monster in human flesh shrugged. "Oh, not really… it's just that, things being how they are, there seems to be no reason to cower in the shadows anymore."

At that, three more yoma emerged – two from the side, and one from behind Rei. All of them transformed.

The "man" was still talking. "You Claymores are but an annoyance… you go against nature's law. You are the prey, and we are the predator. And yet, you try to defy your fate."

"You are wrong," Rei replied, "We do not defy nature's law. For we are struggling for survival; it is only natural to fear extinction."

As she was saying this, Rei assessed each of the four in turn. Even fully transformed, I cannot feel much of their presence. Perhaps they are saving their strength?

She set her sword into an on-guard stance. Regardless, they have an advantage in numbers… this may be difficult.

The man stood there, still smirking. "I think it's pretty brave of you, Claymore, to face all five of us by yourself."

Rei frowned. Five…?

She barely had time to lunge out of the way as a batlike creature slammed the ground where she once was. She had a split second to glance at the monster's back. Wings? This one can fly?

And then they charged her from all directions. Rei found herself entirely on the defensive, blocking claw swipes with both gauntlet and sword, looking for a way to gain her footing. As one swung at her back she vaulted high into the air, looking for a clear place to land-

but got body slammed by the winged yoma before she could do so.

Oddly enough, crashing into the pavement headfirst brought a moment of clarity to her. They are hounding me, trying to keep me off balance, preventing me from catching my rhythm. And the reason why is…

She wiped that thought from her mind and jumped up, backpedaling as the gibbering monsters tumbled over each other to get at her. The blow from the winged yoma sent her a distance away, giving her an instant to recover herself.

One of the yoma zipped ahead and slid in behind her, trying to swipe at her back. Rei whipped around and jammed the edge of the sword between his two middle fingers. The claws stretched out, aiming for her eyes, but she blocked deftly with her gauntlet and with a mighty heave sliced the arm in half, all the way up to the shoulder.

The yoma fell away, howling in pain; another took its place with a frontal assault, slashing wildly and clawing at her while she parried deftly with her sword. Rei sensed the winged yoma charging at her back and sidestepped deftly out of the way. The third yoma appeared behind her looking to take her head clean off.

Rei ducked… but kept her sword upright. The yoma found that he cut his own arm off. From her crouched position, Rei swung the sword up and around, cleaving the hapless monster from waist to shoulder.

There was a wet thud as the two halves dropped to the ground, and the yoma stopped their charge in shock.

Rei had found her rhythm.

She zipped between the wounded yoma and his comrade, trying to catch them from behind. The unwounded yoma still had the presence of mind to slash at her arm, and the impact loosened the sword from her grip.

"She dropped her sword!" And the two charged in, triumphant… and unguarded.

Rei caught her sword in midair with her other hand and separated their torsos from their waists.

As the bodies dropped and the winged yoma and the "man" looked on in horror, Rei came to a realization. She looked up, spattered with fresh gore. "So, that was why. You had to hunt in a pack, you had to attack a town together, you had to hound me and keep me off balance… because the five of you were 'runts of the litter.' And weak yoma need others to lick their wounds."

"The sword… was a lure?" the untransformed yoma gasped in disbelief.

The winged yoma, prioritizing survival over honor, took to the air leaving its comrade behind astonished. "Wait! Come back!" the man cried.

Rei ended his desperation by running him through.

Not sparing the fallen yoma another glance, she looked up towards the retreating flier, which was already a good distance away. She could not jump to the height the monster was at, and none of the buildings were tall enough to reach him even if she did climb to the rooftop.

There is only one option… it pertains some risk, but…

She thought of the families, cowering in terror. If she did not slay the flier here, it would only terrorize some other town somewhere. Rei set her stance, sword pointed at the ground behind her, looking like an Olympian preparing to throw a discus.

I will not let it get away.

It was as if a switch flickered on in her mind. New energy coursed through her abdomen and circulated through her body. Her eyes turned from crimson to a golden color, the pupils turning into snakelike slits.

She was at ten percent power.

Her face elongated, became more lizardlike; the skin along her jawline tightened, turning the corners of her mouth upward in an involuntary, feral grin. Veins crept up, stood out on her face and pulsed with energy.

Thirty percent power.

Rei looked up, and regarded the speck in the distance. She had only one chance at this. I will use a little more of my power… just to ensure it covers the distance.

Her whole body started to throb, veins and arteries showing shape even through the Claymore armor she had on. The dust around her seemed to inch away from her presence, making room for the event to come.

Fifty percent power. It was time.

In less time than it took for a heart to beat, she threw the sword like a javelin. To its target it flew straight and true, entering the yoma's back and piercing through the chest, buried up to the hilt. The yoma fell, its wings still flapping vainly despite the mortal wound, and landed with a sickening thud.

There was no celebration, no cheer. Only the sound of silence; only the movement of the dust stirring and the Claymore walking to yank her weapon out of the flightless carcass. After spattering the blood from her weapon to the ground, she sheathed the sword and made sure that her voice was loud enough for the people behind the shutters to hear:

"My work is finished. Someone will visit to collect the money. You will give it to her then."

As Rei left the village, she couldn't help but detect a sense of relief in the ensuing silence.

She met Ritsuko, coming up the dusty road. Her handler looked up, eyes wide as if amazed to see Rei walking towards her. "Oh, you survived. Lucky you."

Rei didn't comment on the remark. She simply said, "The job is done. Collect the money for five yoma."

Ritsuko crossed her arms, a slight smile playing about her lips. "Five yoma, huh? You're very lucky then, considering your...status."

When Rei kept walking, Ritsuko continued. "You put a valiant effort in, Rei, to fight a pack of yoma alone for some ungrateful villagers. Did you do it because her words compelled you to?"

For a heartbeat, Rei looked back at Ritsuko, a flash in her crimson eye. "As I said before I would rather complete the mission quickly… so I can continue with the investigation."

She continued walking, only dust to join her on the long and thorny road.

To Be Continued…

Author's note: For those of you that have read both Claymore and Evangelion, I am sorry for putting up such…unoriginal work so far. But I think it's best to go through this slowly; since I'm putting this in the Evangelion section, I need to show the newcomers the mechanics of the series, such as power distribution and the business handlers. Not to mention that much of the fused storyline will involve the Rabona plot.

However, that doesn't mean that there won't be some changes. In fact my sleep-deprived mind yesterday grew an idea for making up for the lack of Shinji in this chapter and deviating a bit from the storyline. So, you'll be rewarded for your patience I suppose.

After that, there will be some hybridization of both series and some completely new elements… But right now, I need to set the foundation for the story. I hope you don't mind, and have the patience to put up with this reiteration for now.

Pre-read by Spikey-kun, who caught some characterization 'misinterpretations.'