Chapter OneI awoke from the dream and almost fell off the branch I was sleeping on, sweat pouring down my face. I gripped the bark to keep from tumbling the two stories to the ground and was rewarded with numerous splinters in my palms. Wiping my forehead with the front of my shirt, I leaned against the trunk of the tree, breathing heavily. Every night I had the same dream, and every night I woke up like this. I considered it an enormous blessing that I'd woken after the sun had risen.
After doing a few deep-breathing exercises, I stood shakily on the branch and listened for any disturbances in the forest. My feet welcomed and gripped the bark beneath their callused soles, having had to endure the rough surface for a little over two weeks. My hearing sharpened and zoned in on the sounds of crashing through the underbrush. It was either a very irate bear, or a very stupid human.
Without a second thought I leaped nimbly to the ground and pressed my ear to the cool earth, closing my eyes to concentrate better. I could hear the dull thudding of footsteps, and lifted my head with a frown. They were definitely human, and there was definitely more than one.
A gunshot came from the same direction I'd heard the commotion, able to hear it from this distance with no trouble. My head whirled at the noise and my stomach lurched unpleasantly, temples throbbing. I growled in displeasure and pushed my surfacing memories back down where I could make sure they wouldn't disturb me. I leaped up and landed delicately on the branch.
Muscles in my legs tensed as I got ready to jump to the next tree. Pushing off, I easily landed on another branch and my feet accepted the harsh bark. Getting my "tree-legs" after just waking up, I moved faster and swifter from branch to branch. My bare feet were used to the bark of the trees that had so long been home to me, the calluses on the bottom of my feet making a kind of protective cushioning.
When I had been tree-hopping for roughly a minute, I came upon a tiny clearing no more than twenty feet across. In the middle was a deer whose back leg was dragging pathetically behind it. Looking closer, I saw a tiny black hole in the upper part of the leg where a bullet was lodged. A growl escaped my throat, eyes darting back and forth for any sign of the being that did this. Seconds later three men walked into the clearing, hooting and cheering at their success. With the way they'd been carelessly walking through the forest, it took barely any guesswork at all to assume the hit had been lucky instead of purposeful.
I jumped down from the tree I'd been observing them in and stood protectively in front of the deer. The men blinked, confused. After all, who ever heard of a woman running around alone in a forest? They regarded me for a second before one of them spoke up.
"Who the hell are you?" snapped one, waving his hunting rifle threateningly in my direction.
My nose wrinkled in disgust at the contraption, preferring the use of a katana or dagger. The dagger I particularly treasured because I had stolen it off a hunter once I had killed him, sharpening it to perfection afterwards. I felt he deserved having his possessions stolen from him; he had tried clubbing a cub to death for its fur. There was not a chance in the world I would let him live after witnessing that scene.
"Get out of here, baka onna, and we won't hurt you, alright?" said another, bringing his rifle up to the shooting position, resting against his shoulder. His face was a mask of calm.
Raising an eyebrow I stood firm and crossed my arms, refusing to budge.
"Let's just kill her and get it over with," snarled the first man. "Kito and Kato can help us move her body when she's good and dead."
"What do we need to kill her for?" said the one who hadn't spoken up until now. Nervous sweat was running down both sides of his face and he was shaking in his hunting boots. "Can't we ju-just let her go?"
"Of course not," said the angry man, glaring at his companion. "The first thing she's going to do when she gets back to town is tell the authorities that she saw three men hunting in the woods. Then she'll identify us, and then they'll find us, and then they'll figure out that we don't have hunting licenses."
The calm one rolled his eyes. "Just kill her, you idiot."
"Alright," stuttered the nervous one, gulping. He brought his rifle up shakily to his shoulder and closed one eye to better focus on me, pushing up his glasses to his forehead.
I kept my emotionless stare as I shifted my left foot behind my right, hand wrapped tight around the handle of my katana. The least I could do when they shot at me was to make myself a smaller target. I knew I was fast, but I wasn't quite sure I was fast enough to dodge the bullets of men who were desperate to have me dead. As soon as the first gun went off, however, I grinned.
This was going to be fun.
I fell backwards in a controlled fall and heard the whiz of the bullet pass over me. Knowing I was more vulnerable lying on the ground than I was standing and able to dodge out of the way of more bullets, I put my palms flat on the ground by my head and pushed myself up onto my feet. The first bullet had been easy, but I knew there were more coming.
The eyes of the men went wide and they all backed away a step or two. They were ruthless, they had guns; why couldn't they put a hole in me? If they had known what I really was, they wouldn't have stood there and questioned their inability to kill me. They would've run as fast as their murderous legs could carry them instead.
I reluctantly drew my katana out of its sheath, not wanting to taint its blade with the blood of those who were unworthy of it. It was my best weapon and, usually, one of my last resorts.
Another bang and my wrist flicked my katana, hitting the bullet at such an angle that it failed to pierce the metal and, thus, failed to pierce me. It sunk into the ground and stayed there, where I kept a wary eye on it. It wouldn't do to have me stepping on it, or I'd find myself with a nasty burn on the bottom of my foot.
The next time one of the guns fired, I didn't have time to move before it was ripping into my thigh. I roared in pain and allowed a low growl to rumble out of my throat, my entire body tense with rage. I had been willing to allow these men to live, even if they'd committed such an atrocious crime, and a bullet in the leg is what my mercy towards them had landed me.
I leapt forward and sliced their heads off.
With a clatter my katana fell to the ground, the blood of the men still fresh on its blade. I was bent over, clutching my leg and trying to stem the flow. The red liquid pouring from the stumps of the three men carried a vial scent and made me gag. Their blood was tainted with something. To add to my annoyance, no matter how tightly I grasped it, my wound just poured out the blood with, as it seemed, no intentions of stopping.
There was a scuffling behind me and I whipped around to see the deer trying helplessly to run away. It kept slipping on the pine needles that blanketed the ground and whimpering. My eyes softened as I limped over and scrutinized its injury. The bullet in its leg had missed the bone, unlike mine, wedging itself into a fleshy piece of meat. The deer turned its head to look at me, curious at my actions, for I'm sure it'd never met a human who didn't want to skin and eat it.
Murmuring comforting words, I slowly pinched the bullet out between my fingers. Once or twice the deer flinched, but it was a clever creature and would not risk the dangers of what might happen if the pellet wasn't removed. After I had worked it free I dropped the piece of lead to the ground and lightly tapped the deer's flank, making it start and run off as best as it could in surprise. They healed quickly, it would be okay.
Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. As soon as the deer left a wave of pain washed over me, sending me stumbling backwards and into the trunk of a tree. A grunt escaped my lips as I gained my footing and tried standing upright; my pride damaged though no one was around. Wiping the blood off my hands onto my simple brown tunic, I snatched my katana off the ground.
I could feel the bullet sizzling inside the wound it'd created and had to work hard to keep from screaming. Quickly, I yanked the leather tie that held my hair away from my face out, ignoring the few unlucky hairs that were ripped out of my scalp with it. I quickly tied the leather strip above my wound, pulling it so tight it made a little ravine in the skin of my thigh.
I waited until the blood pumping from the wound slowed and then stripped my shirt over my head, glancing around me. I would find myself in a very compromising situation if someone happened upon me in that moment, and I didn't see myself wishing to go through that ordeal. I sat heavily on the ground as I balled my shirt up, my foot tapping incessantly at the burning the metal of the bullet was causing me. Taking a deep breath, I shoved my shirt into my mouth with one hand and grabbed my katana with the other.
Now came the hard part.
Quickly, so I didn't have much time to think about it, I shoved the point of my katana into the open wound. My vision swam unsteadily as I screamed into the cloth of my shirt, biting down on the material hard enough that my teeth grinded together. I screamed until my throat was raw, and then screamed some more.
I drew my katana back out and laid it next to me, taking labored breaths through my pain. Now that the wound was big enough for me to reach my fingers inside to grab the bullet, I did so. I won't go into details, and I won't say how much of a mess I made, but I will say that nothing has ever hurt so much in my life. Being shot in the leg was a bitch.
A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I dug a small hole and buried the bullet in it, hoping that no animal would happen upon it and mistake it for food. I could hear myself wheezing pathetically as I untied the leather strap from around my leg, replacing it instead with my shirt. I felt vulnerable in the threadbare shirt I wore underneath, but felt it was better than nothing at all.
Determined, I bent my knees to jump onto a branch and head back towards my oak to heal. However, before I had even left the ground my leg throbbed in pain, causing me to trip backwards and land on my back. The breath was knocked out of me as I lay in a daze on the ground, blood starting to flow steadily from the wound once more and seeping through the shirt. I growled, annoyed with myself for being so weak, and stood once more.
Brushing strands of dark hair that had fallen into my face, I glared at my stubborn leg and mentally cursed it. Sweat glistened on my forehead in the steadily increasing summer heat, and I wiped it with my forearm in annoyance. Now, of all times, I had to be pathetically weak. The dagger that had so fascinated me had been my next choice of training equipment, but that option was no longer open to me now that I'd been injured.
Scowling bitterly, I unstrapped my whole katana from around my waist, putting it under my right armpit. I bent my right leg at the knee and held the katana, sheath and all, with my right hand. The sheath poked painfully into my armpit, but I blocked out the lesser pain and focused on moving myself along. With my makeshift crutch, I moved through the woods without an idea of where I was headed. I had never wandered in this direction from the oak I slept in, not wanting to risk moving closer to the more civilized part of Tokyo, Japan.
Wincing with every step, I moved quite fast for a person badly injured and using a not-to-comfortable support. The trees started thinning, but I took no cautious actions, believing I was coming to a clearing. A clearing would be perfect for treating my leg, so at this prospect I moved even quicker.
I did break into a clearing, immediately taking pride in knowing one was coming, though in the middle no more than fifty yards away was a Japanese-style temple. Its roof curved out and up towards the sky, seemingly reaching for the heavens above. Its shingles were a deep black while the color of the building itself was a shade of brown. A dirt circle outlined in white with a diameter of about thirty feet stood a little off to the side, probably used as a training arena. A few other smaller buildings were spread out around the greater temple, most likely serving many different purposes, with the same structure and color design as the superior place of worship.
I froze, scared at the prospect of meeting people I had no reason to kill, and stood there with my arm resting on a katana as well as my leg hanging pitifully in the air behind me. Someone slid open a door on the large sanctuary and stepped out, their feet padding quietly on the small, wooden porch.
At first I thought the person was a child, their head coming to no more than my shoulder, though at this distance it was not simple to see. However, on second glance, I caught more of their physical appearance. The face was slightly wrinkled, signifying to me that this person was, while not a child, an old woman. Her dusty pink, wavy hair reached just barely below her shoulders, hair that seemed it had once been soft and elegant in her earlier years. Though she was small, she held a look of confidence and strength about her. In her right hand she held a smoking cigarette that looked as if it had just been lit, the other hand placed behind her straight back. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, apart and pointed outwards, while her chin was tilted slightly upwards. All this observing of the woman had taken me no more than a few seconds.
As she was taking a drag on her cigarette, she appeared to sense me and her eyes flitted in my direction. I held eye contact with her as the two of us tensed, wondering what the other's next move was going to be. She seemed to decide before me.
"Who are you?" she asked in a slightly raspy voice, walking down the three stairs of the porch. She spoke in Japanese, a language I knew well. The smooth words rolled off her tongue with ease.
Dropping the cigarette onto the grass she twisted her foot roughly on top of it, smoldering it. Afterwards she stood in the same position as she had on the porch, save the fact that both her hands were now clasped behind her back.
I blinked, confused. This woman was most peculiar. One, she had not shown any fear at seeing a stranger in her territory and two, the first question she asked was what my name was. Usually when I snuck up on hunters they were attack first and ask questions later personalities. No, not this woman, though. Even her voice failed to carry a trace of surprise. Most peculiar indeed.
"Did you hear me or not?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Yo le oí mujer," I growled in Spanish.
There was not a hope in the world I was about to tell her my name when I had first met her. I was insulted that this old hag would be stupid enough to believe that for even a second.
"I know you heard me, dimwit. Now don't insult me," she shot back, striding over.
Unsure of what she was going to do and surprised she understood Spanish; I hopped backwards and away from her. She paused midway through reaching me and raised an eyebrow, obviously amused at my actions to move farther from her.
"I guess it would help if I told you my name?" she demanded more than asked.
I waited patiently for an answer.
"It's Genkai. I see you're wounded," she pointed out, her eyes resting on my still-bleeding leg.
It was then as I remembered my injury that the pain washed over me once more. Much to my dismay, I fell to my knees with a grunt of anger at being weak in front of this Genkai person. My makeshift crutch fell to the ground and lay to my side, out of reach. Immediately I knew this was not okay if I was to make a quick escape, desperate to conceal my presence even if it meant injuring this old woman.
"Genkai, what is going on?" asked a shy voice from within the temple.
A woman who was no older than me with mint green hair and cherry-red eyes walked out of the still-open door donned in a sky blue kimono. Her hair was in a low ponytail and a few loose strands fell at the sides of her face. Almost instantaneously I mentally groaned, knowing there was no possible way I could hurt this new stranger. She was too innocent and sweet for me to physically harm, where Genkai was hardened with the experience of, as it appeared, many fights under her belt. This new woman looked like she had never fought a day in her life and never would if she could prevent to do so.
"It seems we have a visitor, Yukina," replied Genkai.
"Oh goodness! She's hurt!" gasped Yukina, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Appears that way, doesn't it?" said Genkai as Yukina walked up beside her.
I lowered my head in shame as these people talked about the extent of my wounds, feeling pitiful and useless. The two women conversed between themselves for a few seconds before Yukina turned towards the temple. She cupped her hands around her mouth as a makeshift amplifier.
"Kayko! Botan! Please come out here!" she called.
Two other women walked out of the temple, confusion written all over their faces. The first one to walk out had shoulder length dirt-brown hair with scattered bangs and brown eyes, dressed in clothes that confused me. How was someone supposed to fight in clothes that were so…restricting? I had seen young females dress like this when I made brief visits to the city for supplies, guessing them to be uniforms for their school.
The other woman had long cerulean hair in a high ponytail, a few slightly curly strands tucked neatly behind her ears. Her eyes were a dull pink, but sparkled with a happiness I had never seen or known before. She was dressed in a pink kimono that I suspected was just as cheery as her personality would be. In her left hand she carried an oar, which I found peculiar seeing as these devices were usually, to my knowledge, used on a rowboat.
"What is it, Yukina?" asked the brown-haired one.
"Someone is wounded, Kayko!" cried Yukina, pointing a finger to me.
Taking an educated guess, now that I knew the brown-haired one was Kayko, I deduced the other woman was Botan. Kayko and Botan's eyes went from Yukina's face to mine, both having the same shocked reaction.
"When did she get here?" asked Kayko, running down the three steps and beside the other two with Botan trailing just as fast behind her.
"Don't know. Came out here after talking with you three for a smoke and saw her standing there still as stone," explained Genkai, her eyes showing the tiniest bit of regret at the thought of her no longer existing cigarette.
"Well, shouldn't we help her?" queried Botan, eyebrows pinched together.
"Tries running every time we move closer," said Genkai, absentmindedly waving an exasperated hand in my direction.
"She looks too wounded to move though," Kayko shot back.
"Sometimes when people are desperate, pain is disregarded for the greater good," replied Genkai nobly, giving me another reason to believe that she had endured many fights in her time. She spoke the words of a true warrior.
"Happy," mumbled Botan. Then to me she called, "We're not going to hurt you!"
I snarled, getting slowly and painfully to my feet.
She gave me a hurt look at the act of hostility with the corners of her mouth pulled downward into a disappointed frown, probably wondering why I was being so evasive. Perhaps she had never met a character of such stubbornness as mine. I did not dwell on it long though, for blackness was starting to gather at the corner of my eyes from blood loss. The four women noticed me swaying on my feet and the three younger ones made a move to catch me, but I steadied myself and growled at them as a warning to stay away.
"Please! We want to help you!" called Yukina anxiously.
Genkai, however, seized in her hand a cigarette and lighter from her pocket. She proceeded to nonchalantly light the cigarette and take a long drag, savoring the smoke filling her senses. I had never been one for smoking because it destroyed the lungs and made it hard for me to run at quick speeds without having to stop every few minutes to catch my breath. The old woman's actions were not hurried or slow, they were relaxed and confident, signs that she knew my time conscious were limited. A growl welled in my throat at how smart and observant she was. Damn her.
The wind rustled through the trees, making them sway in the wind. A few exceptionally tall ones creaked and leaned dangerously to the side, getting on in their years because of wood rot and erosion from endless times of being beaten by the weather.
"I think we found the murderer," shouted a gruff voice from the woods behind me. It was shortly followed by a rustling of bushes and two pairs of feet walking behind me.
I turned around to see two men dressed in camouflage outfits and rifles tucked under their arms. Immediately I could tell they were twins, both having fit bodies, brown hair, and blue eyes. Their combat boots thudded against the ground as they moved closer to me, eyeing my leg but still wearing a look of anger on their faces.
"She has blood all over her; who else would it be?'
Kito and Kato, I thought automatically. The friends of the hunters.
The next thing I knew, the butt of his rifle was connecting with the side of my head. Add the fact that I was already blacking out from blood loss, and I hit the ground like a wet towel. Barely conscious, I saw stars as I was lying on my stomach on the ground. My hands were lying on the ground palm-down beside my head. A scream came from one of the women and brought me back to reality as a pair of combat boots walked into my view.
"I don't stand for people killing my friends," whispered one in my ear.
An involuntary shiver ran up my spine at the hate and rage in his voice. He wanted to kill me. He needed to kill me. Unwilling to subject the women - especially the innocent Yukina - to violence just yet, I kept my actions docile. So, instead of retaliating, I pushed myself up with my arms and slowly stumbled to my feet.
Something warm trickled down my face from my temple, and I reached a hand up and tenderly touched it. When I brought my hand back down, on my fingers was blood that slowly ran down to my knuckles. Infuriated with this injury, I clenched my fist and looked at the two men who once again had their guns pointed at me. A pleasing visual of me ripping their sneering faces off came into my mind. For the moment, I swallowed my anger and the deadly look in my eyes fazed into a calm one.
"And did these people help you?" asked the other, motioning over my shoulder to the four women.
"I believe they did," replied the one who'd hit me, pushing me aside and aiming his gun at Yukina. He placed his finger on the trigger and closed one of his eyes to better align her head with the barrel of the gun.
The anger washed over me more intensely than it had before, making me clench my fists hard enough to draw blood where my fingernails pierced the skin. The visual of ripping their faces off came back, but this time I proceeded to rip out their entrails as well. I believed that killing the innocent was an act of cowardice and should never go unpunished. These men were reaching out for someone they could kill, anyone that was available to them. I struggled with my emotions, clenching and unclenching my fists in robotic motions. The brother's finger tensed, a sure sign that he was about to shoot, and I kicked the end of the rifle just as it went off. The bullet shot harmlessly into the air.
"So you wanna be the hero, huh?" he snarled, his twin walking up beside him.
My only action was lowering my foot and narrowing my eyes, a fire burning in them that would have been a warning signal to anyone with common sense. The fact that these men felt that they had the power to torment and push me around simply because I was a female made me sick. They were in for the surprise of their life if they expected me to be a weakling.
"Want to take care of her, Kito?"
"With pleasure, Kato."
Kito promptly dropped his gun at his feet and swung at me with his large fist. I moved my head to the side and his hand whistled by my ear. Without moving my gaze from his eyes, I reached up with one hand and wrapped it around his wrist. I squeezed and felt Kito's wrist shatter, leaving it limp and useless. A roar of hurt escaped his lips as he clutched his injured hand close to him.
While he was still subdued with pain, I brought my leg up and thrust my foot into his crotch. His eyes widened and he doubled over in pain, not refraining from placing his hands protectively over the area. Before Kito could do any more damage, I grabbed his chin and the top of his head and jerked those different ways, breaking his neck.
Kato watched his fallen brother for a few moments before turning to me with a look of fear, though through the fear I could see a maddening anger welling up like a snake about to strike. A sound of outrage escaped his throat as he aimed his gun at my body and shot sloppily. I hit the ground in a horizontal split and swung my right leg around to knock his feet out from under him, thoroughly frightening him. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish searching for flakes of food on the surface of its aquarium as he lay on the ground in a state of shock. While he was still immobile in astonishment I snatched the gun from the ground, swung it around so the barrel was now facing him, and shot him at point black range between the eyes. His whole body jerked and the back of his head exploded onto the ground, spraying bits of skull and brain onto the grass. I rose from the ground and easily broke the rifle in two over my knee.
I hadn't moved from where I'd been standing.
Throwing the two gun pieces onto the ground and spitting on the corpses of the men, I turned to the four women who were rooted to the spot in shock, even Genkai. I turned my back to them and painfully bent down to pick up my katana, keeping in mind the bullet lost within the depths of my thigh and my now burnt palms from the metal. Strapping it to my waist, I turned back around to face the women. I walked as best I could to them with a look of confidence, though I'm sure they could see me clench my jaw every time I stepped on the wounded leg.
The three ladies nodded hesitantly at me as I walked down the line to Genkai, standing before her. A few tense seconds passed and then I held out my hand to her.
"The name is Emerald."