Second Chapter! Lets hope for the best!
"Speaking"
'thinking'
"speaking while using Yoki or and Awakened Being"
Discliamer: While I do not own either Naruto or Claymore, I can wish I did whilst I don't! Does that make sense? Nevermind...
On with the story!
The Fourth Abyssal One!
As Clare walked towards the village, she mused over her current mission.
(Flashback)
"A request came in from a village to the west of here." ,Rubel, one of the organizations handlers, proclaimed, "they have confirmed a sighting of an Awakened being . It isn't Pricilla, however it did kill a warrior of average strength"
Clare stared stoically at the hidden eyes of the man before her. She hated him, even if she didn't show it, and he creeped her out to no end. His smug smirk seemed to mock her with his very presence. Worst part is, he seemed to know this, and find sick pleasure in it.
"So," the man in black said, "this may be a chance for you to discover the limits of your strength."
Clare nodded slightly, wishing to get away from the man as fast as possible. Rubel gave the direction to the town and Clare left soon after.
(Flashback end)
'At least I'm on the move' Clare thought. She was shaken from her thoughts when her companion, a small boy named Raki, spoke up "Clare? Are you alright?"
Clare was inwardly, slightly touched with his concern. Never before has anyone really shown any care towards her, mainly due to her hanyoma status. Yet this one small human had shown more care and concern towards her well being then anyone else save Teresa of the faint smile.
"If fine Raki." She said, her voice faintly softer then before.
"Ok!" Raki said smiling at the warrior before him. He was happy to hear that nothing was bothering Clare. Ever since she took him in after he was thrown out of his village, he had been eternally grateful towards the woman and would follow her through hell if she only asked.
"We must pick up the pace a bit Raki. Do you need to rest before hand or can you make it to the next town?" Clare asked. She was already late as it was, but there was no need to piss the higher ranks anymore than they already were.
"I'll be fine Clare. Lets hurry!" Raki said picking up the pace slightly to match Clare's.
(within the town)
Clare entered the town with no difficulty, somewhat surprised that no one looked surprised to see her.
Apparently Raki noticed to, voicing his thoughts, "The people here don't seem all that surprised to see us." Clare nodded in agreement. It was a bit strange, but it was probably due to other warriors within the town. She could sense the yoki in the town, but couldn't pinpoint it.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Clare noticed something familiar and out of place at the same time. A man in black looking at her, as if waiting for her to notice him. He nodded once and motioned her to follow him.
Weaving through the town, they arrived at the entrance to a small house, almost a shed really. The handler opened the door and led the way inside. Within the home three people were visible, slightly hidden in the dim lighting, thus blocking their faces from view.
"You're the last one. Everyone's here now." The handler said. Clare inwardly scoffed lightly. She would have been surprised if there was anyone later then her.
One of the shadow stood, revealing a woman that looked to be in her early twenties (however due to being a hybrid that was probably not the cause), with short hair that went down to the middle of her neck. She was about an inch or two taller than Clare, but besides that bore no outstanding features other than her slightly longer than average arms.
"Oh? You brought a child? Can't be your own. So you picked up a stray on the road?" Clare was beginning to like the woman less and less each time she opened her mouth, "Is he going to be helping use fight?" Clare mentally rolled her eye's. The woman already knew that answer.
" No. He will be staying in town for the duration of the stay. I will be going out to find a inn for him to stay in." Clare responded.
"heh... I see." The woman spoke with a haughty and somewhat mocking voice, "So he's... your plaything?"
Instantly Clare drew and slashed at the infuriating woman, but was slightly surprised when it was blocked with very little trouble. Raki gasped in slight fright at the speed the attack was delivered at.
"hahaha! Makes you mad that I'm right. Your pathetic!" the woman boasted arrogantly.
Then Clare noticed another blade, a meer foot away from her neck. "Thats a surprising attitude that you have after making us wait all week." This new woman was a much different sight. She had shorter hair, cut in almost a boyish manner, a face that bore nothing but seriousness. She looked young, maybe 20, but it was impossible to tell due to the lack of aging that hybrids go through.
Tension was high within the room, causing Raki to look nervously between the three women, fearing for Clares safety. The man in black however simply sighed in exasperation as he turned to leave. "I'll leave the rest to you, Miria." was his final comment before exiting the room.
A sigh was heard from the final woman in the room as she spoke up. " Last time you were too fast, this time too slow. You have been busy." This woman, Miria if Clare remembered correctly, was much different then the other two warriors. She was around the same size as Clare, maybe slightly taller, but it was hard to tell, with the silver eyes of all claymores. She had longer hair going down to her shoulders. Her hair was somewhat spiky near the ends and framed her face nicely if Clare had to admit. She had an air of authority and confidence. And from the way the organization member spoke she was the leader of this hunt. "Helen, Devene put away your swords." It was not a request.
The newly named warriors sheathed their weapons. Miria continued "Besides we are all here now. The target is in the Paburo mountains. We leave at dawn."
"However, before anything I would like for everyone to state their name, rank, and number of times you have hunted a voracious eater. I will begin. My name is Miria, I am ranked number 6 in the organization and this is the seventh time I've hunted voracious eaters."
"I'm Helen, number 22, and I've never hunted one before"
"I'm Devene, number 15, and I have hunted them twice before"
"I am Clare. I am ranked 47 within the organization. I have no experience in dealing with voracious eaters."
Everyone's reaction to this news was different. Miria simply looks surprised. Devene chuckled lightly into her hand. Helen on the other hand...
"BHAHAHAHAHA! Did you hear that Devene? She's number 47! I can't believe she's here!" Helen was roaring with laughter.
Clare was beginning to inwardly feel somewhat embarrassed but she refused to show it, and was again touched when Raki tried to defend her honour. She was then forced to listen as Helen explained then ranking and revealing her at the bottom of the rankings. Raki looked somewhat surprised at the news.
(The next day)
The four moved through the forest towards their destination, not even minding the rain. Clare reminisced about her conversation with Raki before she left the village. She was slightly amazed at Raki's sheer conviction that she would return alive and well.
However her thoughts and peace and quiet couldn't last as Helen decided to tease her. "hey hey. What up with you Clare? Now that boy isn't here to keep you warm anymore you seem kind sad."
Clare reached for her blade, but was stopped by Devene, "Don't. You are no match for her, even on a good day." Devene was being honest. Clare had no chance in a straight fight with Helen, even if Clare went all out. Devene felt kind of bad for the lower ranked girl, Helens teasing could be kind of extreme at times.
"Enough. Both of you." Miria ordered "we are a team. So stop this senseless bickering." Helen complained to Miria about the way teams were made. Miria simply stated it wasn't for them to worry about.
The group stopped in a cave deciding to rest for the night. Helen decided to go out and get some food.
Clare was surprised when Miria tossed her her claymore and ordered her to follow her.
"I need to know the strength of everyone here. So, we are going to have a small spar."
"...are you worried that my skills will be inadequate for this mission because of my 47 rank?" Clare asked, slightly peeved.
"I will admit that your rank surprised me a bit, but not in the way you think. When I first saw you it felt as if...the strongest of us was standing infront of me." Miria admitted, surprising Clare and the comment.
"Let us begin."
The spar was short. To anyone looking at it it was pitiful to watch as Clare failed again and again to try and land a blow on Miria. Miria the whole time did not even look as if she was trying. She easily knocked the blade out of Clare grip, disarming her with ease.
Clare collapsed in the mud and rain and was left in the cold.
(deep with in mountains)
...
...
...
Something within the mountains was stirring.
Suddenly, eye's snapped open within the dark, glowing violet in the depths of the mountain, before a soft chuckle was heard.
"heh heh heh...it's been awhile since someone came into this area...i think its time I came out of hiding." A somewhat deep voice rumbled.
(with the hunting party)
Clares eye's snapped open as a claymore slammed into the ground beside her head.
"Get up and get ready. We are leaving." Miria said. She turned and walked over to the others.
Clare grabbed her blade and prepared to leave with the rest.
As the group walked through the forest, Devene began to feel a sense of foreboding. I got to a point to were she voiced her feelings. "does anyone else get the strange sensation that we are being watched?"
Miria spoke softly when she answered not even looking at Devene "So you noticed it as well?"
"Yes. I sent out my senses and got the vaguest feeling of...yoki."
"Yes, I felt it as well. We must be extremely cautious from now on. Watch your surroundings with your senses. Whatever is out there, it is something I have no wish to have to encounter at the moment with our current assignment. Be wary."
Everyone nodded. The mission took priority over their curiosity.
However as time went by, it became increasingly noticeable that Helen was really getting sick of Clares presence and was more then vocal in her announcement.
"What are we going to do with her Miria? Look at her! It's like we're leading her to her death! I say we leave her behind and face the being on our own." Helen exclaimed.
'I can hear you, you know Helen.' Clare thought. She really was starting to dislike Helen. Even the fact that she was trying to stop her from getting killed wasn't enough to make it lessen, although it did raise the question of why she cared.
"how many times must I say it Helen. We have no choice in the matter. The chief told us to bring her so that is what we must do." Miria replied
"Hey!" a voice called out.
Their focus shifted to the new arrival. It was a man, older then what they looked like. He was carrying bags, suspected to be supplies for a long trip. He wore a band around his head covering any hair he might have had. All-in-all an average looking human.
"I'm from the village of Lido. I'm the one who sent the request. I'll be walking you all the rest of the way from here."
No one could track Miria's blade as it slashed through the man like paper. However what happened next confused the startled warriors even more then her spontaneous attack. The man apparently had dodged, and inflicted a deep wound on Miria's sword arm.
"M-Miria!" Helen cried out in shock at seeing her leader being injured so quickly.
"Our info was not accurate. This was supposed to be an average voracious eater. But does they organization truly believe that we can face a power like this?" Miria cried, slight fear in her tone.
The man, now standing on the side of the wall of rocks in front of them, began to change. His body gaining mass, head deforming into a monstrous thing with two 'horns'. From the body the skin began to change color, swiftly darkening, turning into a brownish color, even as four more arms shot out of the monsters body, making it 3 on each side of its body. It was a massive creature, easily dwarfing the warriors below it.
"A-A male voracious eater!" Miria spoke with more than a little fear.
Each of the warriors took up a stance to fight the monster before them, when Miria saw it do something. It was slowly opening its mouth. Miria cried out a warning but was too late as the beings tongue tore through Devene, ripping of her arm and part of her side.
"Devene!" Helen screamed. Devene slowly tilted back and free fell down into the waters below.
Above them on top of the rocks, the Awakened Being was chewing on Devene's arm. Shattering armour and crunching bone, the warriors below listened horrified to find the creature eating the arm. Suddenly the Awakened spit out the arm and finally spoke. "Shit. It tastes like shit. With the yoma energy running through it, it tastes horrible. I can't eat this." It said almost carelessly.
Helen, in a fit of rage, leapt before the monster with a cry of "bastard!" swinging her blade to cleave its head in two. Just as she swung, the Being disappeared.
"huh...?" she stated, confused.
"Above you!" Miria yelled.
Helen looked up to find that the Awakened One had latched onto the rock face above her and was charging down at her from above. "Get away from the cleft!" Miria yelled to her. Heeding the advice, Helen jumped away from the cleft side back over to her comrades. However she was too slow as the Awakened was already attacking again, shooting its tongue at her. Just before it was about to strike her, Clare leapt infront of her, blocking the attack from hitting her. However there was a price. The Awakened Being wrapped it's tongue around Clare and slammed her into the rocks below.
Helen was pissed. "Damn 47! She leaps in when she doesn't have the power to help. Such a pain!"
Helen activated her yoki, and in an amazing display, stretched her arms over to the Awakened being.
"Your such a pain in the ass! So many arms, its just not fair. Don't worry I'll fix that for you!" Helen said darkly before she cut off three of the six arms of the monster.
(unknown vantage point overlooking the battle)
A figure stood wrapped in a long gray cloak that went to their feet making their feature all but impossible to distinguish. A small smile curved the figures lips as he watched the display below.
"Now that is interesting..." the figure chuckled softly.
(Battle)
While the attempt was a valiant one, the hope of Helen was dashed as the arms simply were reattached and elongated aimed at Helen, too fast for her to dodge. Helen gritted her teeth and waited for her end.
SHING
CRASH
All eyes present, including the figure hidden from the rest, widened dramatically as a familiar sight literally dropped down infront of them.
"Striking out of nowhere like that... I'll make you pay for that twice over!" Devene said angrily, her arm half regenerated, a reasonably pissed off look on her face. (A/N. I mean come on! Wouldn't you be pissed if someone ripped your arm off for food?)
'Impossible! It's simply not possible for her to be regenerating that fast." Miria thought looking at Devene in amazement. Then she turned to Helen having similar thoughts on her strange abilities. 'Both of these abilities are only capable when a warrior approaches their limit. But that must mean that both of them...'
Miria was drawn out of her thoughts as Clare stood up out of the rubble she had been buried under, looking no worse for wear, which slightly surprised Miria.
"Oh so your still alive huh. Well sit back, your part in this is done." Helen said haughtily. She turned to Miria and asked, in short, how the bloody hell there could be a male Awakened Being. Miria explained the past of the claymores a bit, telling her about the success of the male claymores. Then she went on to explain yoki and it's extremely pleasurable affects that they had on the males.
"Due to the males lack of control over their Awakenings, the organization stopped creating male warriors. They were simply far too succumbing to the affects of the yoki. "
There was a period of silence as the information sunk into the heads of the others before someone broke the silence. Surprisingly it was the Awakened Being that broke it.
"heh heh heh. I've heard that claymores were intelligent but for one to look so far back into the history is hard to come by. But there is one very important detail that you left out." The beast rumbled semi-amused.
"Hmm? I forgot something?" Miria asked
"Oh your history lesson was all correct and quite enlightening truthfully. However you haven't asked yourself the most important question yet" the former male claymore said, it's amusement growing ever so slightly.
Miria pondered it's words, wary of any trap that it would spring at her. Then it hit her! Miria gasped loudly.
"What is it? What does this monster mean?" asked Helen. The Awakened Being's lips twitched slightly in a ghost of a smile when Helen spoke.
" What she has figured out is a very important question that is tantamount to your survival." The Awakened one said
"Why were you four specifically chosen to make this hunting party to kill me?"
Helen opened her mouth to answer, but closed it when see found none.
Clare spoke up, feeling slightly forgotten amongst the gathered people and monster, "you mean to say there is a reason that we were chosen?"
The Awakened one was silent for a moment, before sighing slightly and speaking, "I believe that it's time...that I showed you...true despair."
It happened so fast that no one had time to do anything. Before they knew what had happened Devene had one of the creatures arms through her stomach. Miria rushed to cleave the monster in two, but was too slow as he disappeared from sight again, reappearing infront of Clare. Immediately the former claymore pierced the lowest ranked in 5 places, 4 in the chest, one in the leg. Helen lengthened her arm and swept her claymore at the suddenly aggressive Being, but again was too slow. The Being appeared behind her and delivered a devastating blow to Helens back, dropping the number 22 warrior like a fly. All in the space of 15 seconds.
Slowly the Awakened being turned to Miria with a cruel smirk on it's face. "So...What do you think?"
Miria was struck with shock that all three warriors were taken out of the fight so quickly. "W-What...are you?" she said horrified.
"I am a monster that was once a male claymore. I kill those sent to kill me in order to survive. No more, no less." It answered. However it was extremely surprised when Miria literally disappeared from view. Turning quickly it found her laying Devene on a small ledge of rock.
"This is no time to be worrying about your friends! Worry about your own life!" the Awakened One roared shooting its arm to pierce Miria. However when the fingers went threw her, she seemed to fade from existence. The Awakened One was suitably dumbfounded, as it snapped its head in the direction of Miria's yoki aura.
Miria was standing over Clare assessing her injuries by sight. Clare groaned lightly, causing Miria's eyes to widen a bit. 'She's still...'. her thoughts were interrupted by the monsters attack from above. Again she was pierced by his finger tentacles, only to fade from view again. She once again reappeared beside where Devene was laid with both Clare and Helen it her arms. Laying the two down she did a quick glace over their injuries.
" Heh heh heh heh...Now I understand. You move at such frightening speed, if only for a brief moment. I dare say that that would make you the fastest claymore. You must be a single digit. You move like a phantasm. That must be where you get you name isn't it? Phantom Miria." The Awakened one proclaimed.
Miria said nothing except to charge into the battle again.
(unknown location)
The figure frowned lightly as he watched the single digit, 'Miria was her name?', charge into battle.
She was good. Very good. But it wouldn't be enough. Her speed was very fast, allowing her to get in a good number of hits upon the beast she fought, however the Awakened one she was fighting was a former defensive type, and thus anything that wasn't a kill would heal too fast for it to cause significant harm. In the end, she was going to lose.
Even as he watched, the former claymore slammed Miria into the ground with a cry of victory.
The figure sighed. "I believe it is time I stepped in."
(battle)
Helen and Clare were petrified as they were forced to watch the Awakened one begin to taunt Miria.
"Now then. How am I going to torture you to death?" the beast asked itself almost mockingly as it swiped its tongue across Miria's cheek.
Before plunging its tongue into Marias stomach.
"GYAAAAHHH!" Miria screamed. She screamed as the Awakened being moved its tongue around, slowly moving upwards.
"Miria!" Helen yelled in desperation. She tried to stand, but with her injury she couldn't hold her balance long enough before blood squirted out of her back, spraying the ground and staining it red.
"DAMN IT! I can't move! I have to save her! Damn it!" Helen screamed, "Its just like he said. He said he was going to show us true despair and he has! This is it! It's over!"
"My my, you seem so sure of that fact, my dear." a voice rang out into the battlefield.
Everyone froze. No one, not even the Awakened being had sensed the presence of another. Everyone, even Miria and the Awakened Being turned to look at the newcomer.
There standing not 3 feet behind Helens collapsed body, stood a man. He had blonde hair that stood out in untameable spikes, and slit violet eyes that seemed closer to blue than any other color. He had a strong face and a Cheshire grin on his face. Below that he was wore a grey cloak that hid his body from view. That was soon removed showing that the man was in a brown leather jerkin and brown baggy pants. He was tall, easily towering over Helen even if she stood. And he had just...appeared out of thin air!
"I think that just about enough of all this don't you think?" the man said still looking at Helen with that grin on his face. It seemed so out of place for the moment that Helen was dumbfounded.
Suddenly the Awakened Being spoke up having removed his tongue from the pinned number 6, "Who the hell are you human! How did you get there without any of use noticing?" the monster yelled, somewhat confused and angered with the interruption. The man's grin slowly faded into a small frown.
Suddenly the feeling of a massive amount of yoki was felt. It was so dense that it actually had a physical effect on the surrounding people. Then as quickly as it came it left, almost as if it was never there.
The man, a slight grin now back on his face, slowly began walking over towards the Awakened Being speaking the whole time, "Human? You flatter me, my friend. But no. I stopped being human a long time ago. Long before any of you were even born in fact."
Every claymore still conscious stiffened in fear at the prospect of a older and more powerful Awakened being in front of them. The Awakened Being that they were fighting was strong enough! Then the newly named Awakened being spoke again.
"Now. I'm going to be taking that woman and the others and will be leaving right now. There are two ways this can go over, the easy way, or the hard way. It's your choice."
"As if you could possibly defeat me! Your probably just some weak yoma that survived in a cave somewhere!" The Awakened Being screamed arrogantly.
"So...the hard way it is. Personally I was hoping you would say that." The Awakened said his grin growing every second.
Before he disappeared.
Suddenly the Awakened Being was quickly and violently thrown away from Miria and into the canyon wall, imbedding itself within the rock. Looking up, Miria's eye's widened when she saw the new Awakened from before standing over her, leg raised as if to do a snap kick.
'With one kick...he...' Miria was shocked. Hell everyone around was shocked at the force of the kick. (A/N: I'm just going to call him blonde as this'll get confusing otherwise.)
As she looked on the blond lowered his leg slowly, before looking down at Miria. Unexpectedly he reached down and picked her up bridal style and carried her over to her comrades.
He lowered her to the ground and gave her injuries a once over, then smiled lightly at her. "Sit tight. This won't take long." Before walking off towards the other Awakened Being, who was pulling himself out of his imprint in the wall.
Miria was shocked, amazed and confused. Why was an Awakened being of all thing saving them? What could he possibly gain from it? These question burst into her mind at speeds equal to that of her Phantom technique. Deciding to question the blonde Awakened on it later, along with who he was, she began to focus on healing.
Helen was dumbfounded. The end seemed so close, as if even a second longer and she would have never survived, and then this man, no Awakened Being appeared and saved them all. And then even more amazing he had done what they could not and landed a significant blow on the Awakened Being. Helen couldn't even think about it without something seeming wrong! Her only question was why. Why was the blonde helping them?
Clare was confused and frightened, an impressive feat in all honesty. Using her yoki sensing she had looked at the blonde Awakened's yoki aura. That was the cause of her fear. It was FUCKING MASSIVE! The size and sheer density of it was startling! And what amazed her and frightened her even more was the fact that he was suppressing a good bit of his yoki making it hard to get an accurate read on him. The part that made her confused was the same as everyone else in the canyon. Why was he helping them? Shouldn't he be killing them like sheep?
The blonde on everyone's mind walked closer to the Awakened Being he had just punted into a canyon wall, at a leisurely pace. Cocking an eyebrow at the still downed Awakened being, he watched as it panted and grunted face down on the ground in immense pain. "Oh come on! I didn't kick you that hard did I?" he asked the panting monster on the ground.
The Awakened one growled at the man in fury at what he had done to it. The Awakened shot out its tongue to try and surprise the blonde, but was surprised when he caught it with a single hand.
The blonde grimaced a bit when he caught the tongue. The damn thing was slimy as hell. It felt disgusting to even hold the thing and voiced his opinion.
"This thing is nasty. I cant believe I'm actually holding on to it." The blonde said before looking at the Awakened's face and saying with a grin, "What's wrong, my friend? Cat got your tongue?"
Everyone sweatdropped a bit at the cheesy joke.
"Well in that case allow me to help you. I'm sure you make such wonderful screams!" the blonde exclaimed before using the tongue to slam the Awakened into the canyon wall. The Awakened screamed in pain as he was smashed again and again into the wall via his own tongue. Suddenly letting go of the tongue the awakened found itself once again imprinted into the cleft face.
"D-damn...you...t-traitor of y-your o-own kind!" the Awakened screamed weakly. The blonde simply laughed hollowly sending a small shiver up the others spine.
"Your about a century to late to damn me, boy."
THAT piece of information caught everyone's attention. Every set of eyes followed him as he turn and walked over to Miria. He looked at her and leaned over, picking up her claymore.
"Do you mind if I borrow this?" he asked. Miria shook her head dumbly, baffled at the sheer age of the yoma in front of her. How did he survive this long? Who could he possibly be? More questions seemed to form every time the blonde spoke.
The blonde Awakened smile, "Thank you. I'll be sure to return it to you when I'm finished with it."
Resting the massive blade over his shoulder him began walking towards the utterly petrified Awakened before him.
"W-w-who a-are you?" the Awakened asked frightened out of it's mind of the monster in front of it.
The blonde actually stopped and was silent for a moment. Then he began to laugh. Not a hollow laugh, but a true hearty, mirth-filled laugh as if he had done something stupid and was just noticing it now.
"By the Gods! I Haven't even introduced myself yet! Here I am using your face to wipe the canyon wall and I haven't even had the common decency to introduce myself! I fill like a fool!" the blonde exclaimed while laughing.
Everyone looked at the blonde as if he was out of his mind, which, within reason, was not a bad guess. Finally the blondes snicker quieted down and he finally looked up at his opponent when he finally spoke.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Naruto, and I am formerly number 1 in the organization." The newly named Naruto said with a Cheshire grin.
Annnnd thats 2! Holy shit! That is the longest ive ever written in my life! The only real reason I'm stopping now is cause its late and I'm fucking tried.
Enjoy the new chapter! I worked into the night on a school day just for you all! And as promised, I have it out within a day of the prologue.
Review! The more I get the faster I work to get the next chapter up!
Until then! Ja ne!
