Scene 3 Big Muscles and Big Swords

It was both weird and scary walking next to her. Most people probably would not want to be around a Claymore, simply because of their solitude nature and the way most people viewed them as monsters. There were even fewer people who'd be in their right mind to travel with one, but I figured that being next to her when traveling between towns was probably one of the safest things to do. I know there is a rule in which Claymores are not allowed to kill humans under any circumstances because their lives would be forfeit. Now I'm pretty sure no Claymore would harm a human like that.

We walked silently side by side for a while. I glanced over at her and when I got past her beautiful face and over sized muscles, I noticed she carried not one, but two over sized swords on her back. I found this a bit strange because not only was she the first Claymore I've seen with two swords, but it seemed that the handles on each one was a different.

I did want to break the silence, and I thought this might be a good of a subject to talk about than any. "I noticed you have two swords on your back. Do you duel wield by any chance?"

"Oh, so you noticed? I see that you like favor the two sword technique yourself." she said nodding at the two swords I wore at my waist.

"Yeah, well from my understanding, wouldn't you have two swords that were exactly alike?" I asked.

"Oh you mean this one?" she replied as she unsheathed it. It was a sword I have not seen before. It was similar in size to the claymore she carried on her back, but this sword was both wider and heavier, and was single-edged instead of the typical double-edged sword. The handle was interesting as well as it didn't have a cross guard and the grip was covered in red cloth.

"It's not a sword I'm used to seeing that's all..."

Our conversation however was cut short as we suddenly were under attack by yoma. I was caught slightly off guard but I could feel their presence. Don't start thinking that I can sense yoki, because I can't, I just get a gut feeling every time one gets near.

I quickly unsheathed my twin swords while Antainara unsheathed her claymore with her left hand. I attacked the yoma closest to me and started by disabling him by cutting off it's legs with a scissor cut. He left himself open as he tried to lunge at me but I let him take the bait and ducked, so taking its legs out was not too much of a problem, with that out of the way, I switched my grip with my left hand to reverse grip and jammed my sword into the center of its back. It was a little bit more difficult for me to do as I did not have the extra strength to push the attack all the way through the monster's thick skin.

That was one down, and four more to go. There was another one charging at me so I quickly tried to dispose of it. Antianara had already taken two yoma down with a single swing each in the time that was trying to kill one yoma. She was already about to kill a third one so all I had to do was stall and not get killed.

The yoma attacked and I was forced on the defensive. I backflipped away about three feet and waited for an opening. When I got my chance I launched myself forward and stabbed him in the gut. At the same time a larger blade was pushed forward through his heart.

The yoma fell to the ground dead and standing behind it as it fell to the ground dead was Antianara.

She smiled and said, "Killing yoma is dirty job isn't it?"

I couldn't help but smile at her little joke. I wiped off my blades as best I could and sheathed them.

After the battle, we were covered in grime and blood, I had sustained a few minor cuts and scratches but nothing I couldn't fix myself with some medicine and bandages. Antianara on the other hand looked more cut up, or should I say punctured.

Of course all she needed to do was to heal the wounds using yoki. From an outsiders point of view, it would sorta be cool to be Claymore if you could regenerate a limb or a wound.

Although we both used two swords and our fighting styles were similar, our strategies were the exact opposite. Since I wasn't a very big guy, I focused more on dodging yoma attacks and moving rapidly so they would not be able to land a lethal hit. I know that I still am only human and one false move and its lights out. Antianara's strategy was to stay relatively still in one place and let the yoma attack her. Of course her sheer weight and bulk made it almost impossible for the yoma to even budge her. Now that I think on it, she didn't really need the armor that was part of the Claymore's uniform. Her muscles acted as armor already with her chest literally providing a foot of thick armor between a yoma attack and her lungs and heart.

I remember when I saw that when a yoma launched itself straight at her chest, and stabbed her right in the center of her torso. Normally that would have been fatal, Claymore or not, but I was shocked to see her shrug the attack off and just punch the yoma away like twenty feet. I realized then that the yoma couldn't even reach her ribcage let alone her lung or her heart.

We decided to continue on the path to Wayrith and before the sun had set we had arrived. Antianara looked a bit depressed. She had hoped to get here slay the yoma before nightfall and be done with it, but that little battle took up a more time than we had thought.

Unfortunately that was not the case so we decided to stay the one of the local inns and rest for the night, it was probably for the better because we both had better be in top for if we had to fight more yoma.

We walked to a decent looking in and I held the door open for Antianara. She stepped slightly sideways through the door to get through. The inn keep was shocked to see me and Antianara there, but I assured him that we won't be staying for long, two nights tops. I handed him the money for two rooms and he gave us the keys. We thanked him and headed upstairs. I took one quick glance back at him and he was staring at Antianara with that weird look that she was so used to seeing. I chuckled to myself and walked up the stairs. I reached the top of the second floor and turned around to look at Antianara, I couldn't help but notice at just how big she really was.

The hallway was a standard width of about four feet, as she came up the stairs there was only a few inches of space between the walls and where she body ended. Looks like I was right about her being too wide to fit through the door properly, too bad I didn't make a bet with anybody with that, I could have gotten some money for it...oh well.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked politely.

"Nothing, its just...I just really noticed how big you were, I guess a more confined space does that... Anyways, they gave us separate rooms next to each other"... how nice.

"Um..." Antianara began.

"Yes?" I looked at her questioningly.

"Why did you pay for my room down there just now?" She asked.

To be honest I didn't really think about that, I thought I was doing it out of politeness. "Meh, I felt like it, that's all."

"I'll have to find someway to pay you back. It's only fair right?"

I was a bit embarrassed but she was being very kind. "You don't have too, but you can surprise me. Anyways when are we going to get up tomorrow?"

"Just a little after dawn okay? Don't worry, I'll wait for you if you get up late."

We said good night to each other, and went inside our rooms. It was not too different than the room I had back at Almansor, the city which I called my home now. It was small, but cozy, and the furniture was not very fancy, but I didn't really care, I liked it better that way anyway. I took off my gear and armor and laid out on the bed. Before following asleep I let my mind wander around and simply take the thoughts as they come to me.

I can't believe I was sleeping in a room and a Claymore was sleeping in the one next to mine! I can't say that it hasn't been exciting though. I haven't had this much fun in a while, and I have to admit Antianara is not your average Claymore. She is one heck of an interesting person I'll say that much. There is something about her witty and slightly carefree attitude that I find fascinating. I've only met a few people like that and I did not expect it to be from a Claymore.

My thoughts again wondered to her immense size and bulk. This was the first time if I can recall that her big muscles actually matched the big swords that she carried on her back. I let my mind wander for a few more moments and finally fell asleep.

Please read and review! Next chapter I'm going to be introducing another character!