Kimai no Shou: Chapter of the Dancing Ogre

by Yumeko1

In her time, she was a princess who made the mistake of eating the mermaid's flesh. Now traveling with Yuta and Mana, Kimai makes the acquaintance of a strange young man with an equally strange sword.

Kimai no Shou (Chapter of the Dancing Ogre)

"Fifty-nine thousand nine hundred seventy nine…fifty-nine thousand nine hundred eighty…fifty-nine thousand nine hundred eighty five…" The rustle of paper and coins woke Yuta from a light sleep, and he looked over at the girl on the floor.

"Do you have to count it all night?"

"I can't sleep." Studiously, she examined the money before her. "Sixty thousand. Sixty thousand and one…sixty thousand and two…"

"You never sleep," Yuta complained, putting the pillow over his head. The muffled sound of counting still seeped through the pillow, and he groaned. Mana was still asleep nearby, and he shook his head as he wondered how he ended up with two girls like these. He found Mana being raised as livestock by a village of mermaids not more than ten years earlier, so she wasn't really used to being an immortal. Of course, she had died and come back to life in these few years enough times to call herself anything she wanted. Still, she was so young…in immortal terms, anyhow.

But this girl was different. Her name was so old he couldn't even think of the meaning, and he was certain that the characters were archaic, though he had never seen it written. She had probably eaten the mermaid's flesh before even he had, but she still looked every bit of seventeen years old. At least that's the last year she said she remembered. Looking seventeen didn't help a bit when they were trying to find work, but at least it was better than Mana being fifteen.

Rolling over and squeezing the pillow tighter around his ears, Yuta tried to go back to sleep. Eventually the sound of her counting lulled him off into a dream, and while his eyes were closed, the girl looked over at him with a sigh of annoyance. He acted like it was trouble for him to listen to her counting. If only Yuta and Mana were so careful with their money, she wouldn't have to worry so much.

Looking back down at the money in her hands, she sighed. Carefully tucking it away in the silk pouch she had owned for several decades, she stood up and looked out the window of the storage shed they were sleeping in for the night. The stars were every bit as bright as they had been, back before she even knew what a mermaid was. If there was one thing she could say for immortality, it was certainly humbling.

In her time, she had been a princess. By the calendars, it had been nearly seven hundred years since the time her father had been the leader of a village tribe on the top of a mountain. But there was always so much fighting between the other villages that she was never allowed out of their home. Her only real visitors were the men that came to try and win her as their bride, and they always brought her presents.

Presents… Her hand pressed against the wood of the windowsill, and she fought back the tears that stung the backs of her eyelids. Swiping at her eyes, she smiled. Even after all this time, the memories still caused her to cry a little. It was silly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. Her head snapped up, and she leaned a little out of the window to see what it was. From where she was standing, it looked like a young man in what she recognized as a winter school uniform. This seemed a little odd to her because it was barely beginning to be the autumn of the year. There was something on his back, something that looked like a sword. The young man seemed to be wandering aimlessly, and there was something about him that made the girl take pause.

It was as if she had seen him before, and this feeling sent her out the small door before she knew what she was doing. Although it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other if he were dangerous, since she had eaten the mermaid flesh she had died and come back to life more than two hundred times. Once she was on the street, it was as if he had disappeared into thin air. Looking around, she sighed heavily. He couldn't have just vanished. Taking a few steps down the path that the young man had followed, she caught sight of him once more and ran towards him.

"Hey! Wait up!" At the sound of her voice, the young man turned slowly to see who was calling him.

"Who might you be?" He sounded amused, and she stopped a few inches from him, trying to catch her breath.

"I…well, I mean…" She was still out of breath, and the young man shook his head with a smirk.

"You shouldn't be out here at night. It's dangerous." Turning his back to her, he started off again. Not knowing exactly what to say, she followed him a little further.

"I could say the same for you!"

"Persistent, aren't you?" The smile returned to his face, and he leaned against a nearby wall. "Okay. What do you want?"

"I thought I'd seen you somewhere before is all," she said, hand on her hips. With a small laugh, he turned away from her and started walking again.

"Is that all?" Not taking a moment to look back, he waved to her with one hand. "I doubt we've met before. Maybe in another life." With that he was gone, and she looked at him with annoyance.

"Another life? This life's enough for me, thanks." Folding her arms, she turned back around and stalked back to the storage shed. There was no talking to some people.

***

The young man laughed as he walked away. As impossible as it was, it had seemed as if he knew her from somewhere. But she couldn't possibly be, there was only girl he had ever known with her face, and she had been killed by an ogre many years before. He shook his head, still smiling. There was a job to do, but the ogre would come out in its own time, not in his. And it wasn't like he was in a hurry. There was always another ogre to slay, another life hanging in the balance. All the time in the world.

***

"Yuta? Where'd Kimai go?" Hands pressed to the glass, Mana peered out the window of the café where Yuta was attempting to eat lunch.

"Who knows? She left her stuff here, so she's coming back for sure." Scooping up another mouthful of ramen, he watched Mana sit down across from him and begin noisily on her food. Yuta hoped that she would learn some sort of manners before too long. It was true enough, the girl they knew as Kimai was always going somewhere on her own, and Yuta thought for a moment about how they had found her.

They had been walking together on the beach in Okinawa two years earlier, talking about how beautiful the sea was if only you could forget what was below. The sun was setting, sending a reddish-orange glow over the waves, when what should come walking out of the surf but a young woman in a pair of jeans and a windbreaker, coughing up half the ocean.

'Those bastards! Try to help a person out and see what you get!' Around her neck, a ring of blackish-purple bruises were slowly fading, and she stopped to wring out her hair before reaching into the back of her pants and pulling out a soggy silk pouch. 'And my money, too! Oh, if I ever see them again what won't I do to them!' Seeing Yuta and Mana staring at her, she stopped her tirade and looked at them. 'What? You never see a person come back to life before?' And that was how Kimai came to be the third person in their group of wanderers.

But she sometimes liked to wander off by herself, as she was doing at that very moment, and Yuta wondered if she really belonged with them. She was more of a loner than either he or Mana, and had apparently been wandering alone for seven hundred or more years. By his calculation, she was even older than himself. Looking around, he began to wonder…where had she gone off to this time?

***

With a sigh, Kimai leaned on the bus stop sign. After she had gone to sleep the night before, she hadn't been able to see anything but the face of the young man she had met the night before. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, something that told her she had seen him somewhere before, and it was driving her crazy. And a few moments earlier, it seemed like she had seen him walk by the restaurant. But now it was as if he had disappeared again, into the afternoon air.

A group of high school girls walked by her, laughing about something or other. One of them had long, dark hair that hung almost down her back against a sailor-type school uniform. Her eyes were dancing brightly as a boy in his own uniform walked up beside her and started talking nervously to her. It was obvious that he liked her very much, and Kimai looked longingly at them. She had been in love many, many times over the years, but she could remember only one time that her eyes could have danced in that way for a man.

She could still remember his name. Shunkei. He was a fisherman in a small village that she had passed through quite a few years back, and they had met by accident when he spilled a basket load of fish onto her in the market. As it turned out, he wasn't the most graceful of men, but he made up for it by being one of the kindest hearted men she had ever known. Although he was poor, Shunkei never failed to give some money or a few small fish to a child even if it meant the difference between dinner and hunger for another few nights.

Kimai's business usually consisted of playing a guardian angel to people who found themselves in danger, and Shunkei gave her more than enough reason to protect him. Smiling, she remembered that she had died several times keeping him out of trouble, and all without his knowledge. The most Shunkei ever knew of her was the night she came back to life in the middle of one of the biggest storms the continent had ever known and needed shelter.

But by that time, he was already married to a beautiful woman with a newborn son. Of course, Kimai already knew about her. She had watched the wedding from the nearby forest, wearing the prettiest kimono she owned and crying softly into the wind. His wife was kind, gave Kimai some dry clothes and let her hold the baby. Somehow, it was more painful than she had ever imagined, so before dawn she kissed Shunkei softly on the forehead and slipped out the door, unable to say goodbye.

As she watched the young couple walk away from the bus stop towards their homes, Kimai hugged herself tightly. Sure, she had been in love hundreds of times. But the one time it mattered, she couldn't be with him, destined to stand by and watch as he got married, had a child, grew old, and eventually died. Died in his wife's arms, the one time she couldn't save him. And couldn't join him.

So involved in thinking about Shunkei was she that she almost didn't see the small child walking blankly towards the middle of the road. There was a huge delivery truck barreling towards the little girl, and Kimai looked around with a gasp. Suddenly, all the people had disappeared from her view and everything had stopped except the little girl, the truck, and a strange young man with a long, wrapped package on his back. Without another thought, Kimai rushed at the girl with her hands outstretched. The moment her palms made contact with the child's back, time seemed to resume all around them. Landing onto her hands and knees on the sidewalk, the little girl's crying voice tore through the sudden silence, only to be drowned out by the blaring of the truck's horn as it bore down on Kimai.

The truck's grille was reflected in her eyes for a split second before it slammed into her slender frame. Inhaling sharply, she gritted her teeth against the pain as her body rolled over the hood of the truck and hit the windshield, sending a thousand tiny cracks shooting through the glass. The breath left her body abruptly, and her vision blurred as her body landed halfway in the gutter near the feet of the strange young man from the night before.

"Hey." He knelt beside her, pulling her onto his lap, and she struggled to open her eyes for a moment. For a moment he was dumbstruck. The face she saw was kind, but somehow unmoved. Even as she was dying, her eyes were the brightest shade of green he had ever seen. "What'd you go and do that for?"

"The girl…" It was hard to breathe, and blood was running in rivulets down her chin. "Is…she…?"

"Yeah, she's…" The young man looked at over at the crying child for a moment, then turned back to the broken body in his arms. "She's fine."

"Oh…that's…that's…" Kimai's body went limp, her head falling against his chest as the last breath slipped from her body. "…good…" The last sound she remembered was the beating of his heart.

"Kimai!" A crowd was gathering around the child and the body of the young woman who had thrown herself in front of the truck to save the life of the child. Mana's voice preceded her, and she pushed through the people to stand beside Kimai's rapidly cooling body. "Yuta! Here she is!"

"Excuse me," Yuta carefully made his way past the crowd to take a look at the body. "Oh yeah, that's her all right." Scratching the back of his head, Yuta shook his head slowly as the screams of an ambulance siren drew nearer. Mana leaned closer.

"Aw, what a mess," she complained as Yuta knelt down and scooped Kimai's still form into his arms. The young man looked at him strangely.

"She's dead," he said flatly. Yuta nodded, turning away from them and carrying her away from the crowd.

"Thanks for your help," Yuta said softly as Mana took a last look at the young man, then hurried after him. A buzz went through the crowd, and the young man's hand went back to touch the package on his back, whose light humming mixed with the crowd. As he did, he noticed the blood drying rapidly on his sleeve.

Strange. No human's blood has ever stained my clothes before, not in all these hunts, all these years. But hers…it's here…

Standing up, the young man walked in the opposite direction that Yuta and Mana had gone. Something was certainly odd about those three, but he couldn't figure out what it was. The dead girl, however, had seemed familiar to him. As he walked away, he realized that she was the same girl who had said she thought she knew him the night before. Unfortunately, he couldn't very well ask her now. Shaking his head, he walked into the shadows.

***

'Here, princess…try this.'

'What is it?'

'I caught it today…it's mermaid's flesh. Supposed to give you eternal life.'

'Eternal life?'

Where am I? It's cold here…so cold… Shunkei…is that you? Wait, where are you going? Wait…Oh, that's right, I died again. I must be about to wake up. Mmm, I can feel it now. That guy with the package…the one who held me while I was dying…where have I seen him before? I know I've seen him somewhere…where? Where?

"Hhhh…!" With a gasp, Kimai sat straight up in the storage shed where Mana was sitting over her. Pressing a hand to her chest, she took a test breath or two while Mana watched her.

"You're alive again. That's good." Handing her a rice ball, Mana smiled. "Hungry? Yuta went out to try and find us another job or something."

"Thanks." Silently, Kimai ate the rice as Mana looked out the window. She was always hungry when she woke back up. The look on her friend's face as she waited eagerly for Yuta's return was incredible, and Kimai smiled gently. Her body was only a few years older than Mana's but she had lived so long inside it that she had become an adult a hundred times over, whereas Mana…Mana was still a teenager, with a teenager's mind and heart…falling in love for the first time. Sighing, she finished her dinner and pushed the ratty old blanket away from her legs. Love… "Shoot…my shirt is ruined!"

"Here, I've got a fresh dress." Mana handed her a striped t-shirt dress that was long-sleeved, and Kimai looked at it for a moment before wriggling out of her clothes.

"Thanks, Mana."

"Yuta!" All at once, Mana's eyes lit up as she saw him walking up the path. She jumped up and raced out the door to greet him. Kimai pulled the dress on, then stood up and brushed a few grains of rice off her clothes before she grabbed her bag and started out the door. Yuta and Mana were walking in as she walked out with a smile.

"Where are you off to this afternoon?" Grinning, he gave Mana a package of food, which she eagerly tore into while he leaned on the door frame. "You certainly slept a while, all day and all night."

"Really? That's weird, I usually wake up quicker than that." Still smiling, Kimai waved quickly to him. "I'm stuffing envelopes at the Harukami building today, so if you need me that's where I'll be!" With another smile, she hurried down the path towards the Harukami building as Yuta looked after her.

"Seven hundred years of life and death reduced to stuffing envelopes. Amazing."

"What?" Mana looked up from the package, and Yuta shook his head.

"Nothing." He knelt beside Mana with a grin. "You hungry?"

***

"You saw him with Megumi on Friday, didn't you?"

"No! Sawaguchi Megumi?"

"The very same! And do you know where they were going?"

"Let me guess…"

"His condo, of course. Everyone knows his parents are in Yokohama."

"How awful…" The conversation being held by two college girls in the corner was starting to grow tiresome, as Kimai didn't have the slightest idea who the people they were talking about were. Thankfully her pile of envelopes was diminishing by the moment, as she had no one to talk to.

Casually, she turned her attention to the three older ladies against the wall who were pasting together envelopes as if they had all the time in the world. As she thought this, Kimai allowed herself a secret smile before turning an ear towards them.

"Well, of course I saw it in the paper this morning while I was having my morning tea. Can you believe it?"

"What was it? You know I don't take the paper anymore."

"Apparently, right in the main street yesterday, a girl jumped out in front of a delivery van to save a little girl's life. And do you know I saw every minute of it!"

"Oh, really now, Kaori…"

"It's the truth, I was buying some daikon for supper and saw that pretty little girl jump right there into the street!"

"How brave!"

Nearby, Kimai's cheeks reddened as she realized the women were talking about her. She didn't think she was brave at all, she was just doing the same thing she had been doing all these years. As much as she wished she could tell them what was on her mind, she knew that at least one of the women, the one in the loud pink shirt had seen her die in the street, and she didn't want to be chased out before she got paid.

"It was sad, though…poor girl died right there on the spot. Her friends carried her off to the hospital or a priest I suppose, but the little child was safe with hardly a scratch on her body!"

"Isn't that amazing!"

"Sounds to me like that child has her own guardian angel, if you ask me."

"Too bad for that nice young lady, though. I wonder if that little girl knows just how lucky she was."

"It was the strangest thing, though…the way the man in that van talked, it was as if he didn't see the child at all until the girl appeared before him!"

"You know, now that I remember correctly, he was right. No one did anything because it seemed like there was nothing in the road at all. It was as if that little girl came out of nowhere…appeared right out of thin air!"

This was interesting to Kimai, who remembered that before she had gone to push the little girl out of the way, it had looked as if all the people on the street had disappeared completely…and the driver hadn't even put on his brakes or honked. But how was it possible for a whole street full of people to just be unable to see a small child?

Her mind was full, and before she realized it, Kimai had glued her fingers to an envelope. As she carefully disengaged the envelope from her fingertips with a grimace, she realized that it was her last one. Taking her box up to the lady in charge, she collected her 15,000 yen and headed out the door.

As she walked along the streets, there was a small click as the bracelets on her arms touched one another, and Kimai realized that she hadn't checked the date in a while. Walking over to the nearest newsstand, she peered at a paper and realized that it was the exact week of the date of her birthday. Smiling pleasantly, she headed for the nearby department store.

Overhead, a little bell jingled as she entered the jewelry store and a uniformed woman popped up to assist her. Kimai smiled and set her backpack on the counter with a huge grin.

"How can I help you today, miss?"

"Do you have a jade bracelet like these?" Holding out her arms, Kimai showed the girl six identical, thin jade bracelets. The girl smiled as she pressed a hand to her chest. "It has to be like these."

"Of course, but may I take one to compare?" A hand reached out to take the bracelet, but found that they were stuck fast. Kimai laughed.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid they don't come off. That's okay though, I have plenty of time." Watching the girl turn to get a bracelet, she smiled. "It just so happens that this is my birthday."

"How lucky! A present to yourself, then?" The girl produced the bracelet, which Kimai examined carefully, then squeezed over her hand. As she admired it, the girl cocked her head. "How old are you?"

"Seven…" Stopping herself short, Kimai smiled softly at the bracelets. "Seventeen years old today."

"Wonderful!" The salesgirl continued to smile as Kimai paid for the bracelet and walked happily out of the store, still admiring her seven bracelets. She supposed it was something to be proud of, being alive so long. At least for today, she was going to be happy, and think only of how nice the future would be. After all, she did have quite a future ahead of her.

***

The sun was moving rather slowly across the sky as the young man in the uniform walked along the street. Aside from the fact that no one but himself and the dead girl were able to see the child in the street, he had nothing to go on as to what kind of ogre was hiding in this place. The dead girl may have seemed like a hero, but what he had seen in the child's eyes was nothing short of lifelessness. No doubt the ogre was luring the child to its death so that it could feed.

Still, he felt a little sorry for the girl. Even before she had the misfortune of dying in his arms, she had seemed a little familiar to him. Few human faces ever stuck in his mind, but hers…he couldn't explain. And her blood was still on his sleeve, another thing he couldn't explain. Here he thought he had the answer to everything.

Smiling at himself, the young man pulled his bundle higher on his shoulder and continued his patrol. This was the main street, and he was sure he felt a hum of electricity as he walked along it.

Looking up, however, another surge of energy went through his body as he noticed a young woman crossing the street, admiring some bracelets on her arms. His eyes widened as he realized that she looked exactly like the girl from the day before. As she came closer and opened her eyes, he saw their color and knew at once that there couldn't be two girls like that with the same eyes.

That's impossible! She died yesterday, died right in my arms, and the blood is on my sleeve to prove it! There's no way…humans can't just die and come back to life like that! But, there she is…alive…

Completely absorbed in her own thoughts, the girl passed him by and for the first time, it was his turn to follow her. She couldn't possibly be a human…but yet she laughed, ate lunch and even went into the public baths like any other human. Of course he had seen his share of ogres masquerading as women, and women who were the kin of ogres, but this girl didn't feel like one. Yet she didn't feel quite human either. There seemed to be something missing from her, but he didn't know what it could be.

He waited for her to come out of the baths, and when she did he followed her again. It didn't seem as if she had anywhere specific to be, her path led them to the beach where she situated herself on the sand and gazed out over the water blankly.

From the distance where he watched her, he didn't understand what she was looking out at. The setting sun glinted off the water, and for the first time in years, the beauty of nature struck him rather hard. He had long since given up on the seemingly useless pursuit of staring into the stars and trying to dream…there was no reason to waste time on it, it couldn't help him. But this girl, this girl who sat on the beach like Lazarus risen from the tomb, seemed to find some comfort in it and for a moment, so did he.

For no particular reason, one slender hand reached up to caress her peach-soft throat as if trying to remove a mark. Her brow wrinkled a bit, and her eyes threatened to spill over with tears…she was remembering. But what was she remembering?

The girl sat on the beach for a while, watching the sun set. And the young man watched her dutifully, until she stood up and dusted the sand from her rear before heading in the direction he supposed was home. Something in him ached to know her name, but he didn't know why.

As he followed her to wherever she was going, a low humming from the package on his back was calling him back to another place. For a moment he was torn, but walked slowly back to the park from where he felt the electricity emanating. Examining the ground, he noticed that it was near the place where the child had walked into the street. While he was looking at it, he heard a young middle school aged boy calling to someone on the street. At first, he didn't really think about it, but when he saw her running back to pick up a comb, he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Thank you, sir! You're so kind, thank you!" Her voice was much prettier now, alive and vibrant with gratitude as she thanked the young boy.

"I saw it fall from your bag, miss."

"How wonderful, thank you." She glanced at something, her eyes sparkling. "This has been in my family for years!" Bending over a little, she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Please, let me give you a little something?"

"Oh, no, miss! This is plenty of thanks for me!" Grinning widely, he hurried to catch his friends as the girl smiled and started in the other direction. The young man in the park took a step towards her as she began to pass the park and reached a hand out to her, not knowing exactly what he was doing. His fingertips brushed a few strands of her hair as she passed, but then she was gone, leaving nothing but her memory with him.

As he stood, staring after her shadow only one thought ran through his head. What just happened to me?

***

"Don't you ever sleep, Kimai?" Mana was looking at her curiously as she gazed out over the stars thoughtfully.

"Not usually after I just come back to life. Besides, I like looking at the stars. They don't change much…haven't since I was a child."

"You remember that far back?" Moving her head over to get a better look at Kimai, Mana put her elbows up on the sill.

"Some things, yes. I remember being a child, holding my father's hand as we looked at the stars. I remember my mother's face. I remember the first time I held a baby in my arms and knew I would never have one of my own." Her face softened. "You haven't lived quite as long, Mana…you'll understand."

"Has your life been sad?"

"Not really, no. There have been a lot of sad times, but just as many happy ones. Sometimes I get bored of living, and walking…but other times…" Kimai's fingers ran along her bracelets gently. "Other times…I'm happy. Just to see a sunset or to smell a field of fresh grass. Really, I don't even mind dying once in a while just to remind me that some part of me is still human."

"Were you ever married?"

"No. I died for the first time a few months after I ate the mermaid flesh. After I came back to life, I knew I could never take a husband. But I have felt love, and for someone like me that's been enough." Seeing Mana yawn, she smiled. "You must be tired. Go on to sleep, I'll stay here a while."

"Okay." Wriggling down into her blankets, Mana looked up at Kimai. "Congratulations on your birthday, by the way."

"Thanks. It's been years since anyone said that." Smiling, she watched the other girl go to sleep before turning back to the window. She liked being with Yuta and Mana, the feeling of being with others like her made her feel safe, but sometimes she did miss the freedom of being on her own.

Sometimes, though, she was a bit glad that she was an immortal. If she wasn't, she would have died just after she first tasted the mermaid flesh, would never have seen all the amazing things she had been able to see in her abnormally long lifetime.

Lying her head on the windowsill and looking up at the stars, she remembered the heartbeat of the young man from the day before and closed her eyes. That sound had been the lullaby that had sent her away for what felt like the thousandth time, and most likely what had caused her to dream before she woke, something that had only happened perhaps five times in her hundreds of deaths. Kimai tried to remember the sound…it had seemed quicker than her own heartbeat, but then he had probably been frightened. Still, that seemed wrong. He hadn't been frightened anymore than she had. Remembering the rhythm of his heart, she forgot that she was in a storage shed and drifted to sleep in a wave of memories that she thought she had forgotten, but that her heart remembered.

***

Two nights later, she woke with a start from a dream that didn't have a name or any meaning. There was a low growling sound coming from outside the storage shed, and Kimai looked over at Yuta and Mana. They were still sleeping soundly, and she looked around for a moment before getting up to look out the window. She couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from, and for an instant it seemed like it was coming from inside her own head.

Shaking her head, Kimai pressed her hands to her temples as the growling became louder. It filled her mind, growing louder and louder until she found herself running out the door. Beneath the growling, however, was a small crying sound that she couldn't allow herself to ignore. It sounded like a child, a frightened child, and Kimai ran towards the sound, her tennis shoes crushing the thin blades of grass as she tried to find the source of the crying.

Coming up the main street, she could see that the crying was coming from a small child that was sitting on the ground in the park. Moving closer, she could see that it was the same girl she had rescued days before, and her heart twisted as she heard the little girl's crying.

"Hey, hey…" Kneeling beside the girl, Kimai held out her arms. At once, the child was in her arms, head pressed to Kimai's chest. "What's wrong, chibi? Tell Neechan what's wrong."

"M-monster!" The girl sobbed onto her shirt, and Kimai gently stroked her hair as she looked around.

"Where?"

"In---in the ground!" Beneath the child's crying, the growling was still loud as Kimai held the child tightly.

"Shh, you're safe now, chibi. Neechan won't let anything hurt you." She couldn't see the monster the child was talking about, but over the years she had seen so many things that she knew that it was indeed possible for anything to happen. Just as this thought crossed her mind, the ground opened before them, and the child shrieked. Never letting go of the child for a moment, Kimai crawled backwards over the ground. "Oh, my…god…"

"The child …and a woman, too! Shall I make you both my dinner, or make the woman bear my child?" It spoke, in a voice that was both gravelly and wet at the same time, and Kimai pulled herself up from the ground.

"You…you won't touch this child!" Finding her voice, she held the child tightly as she stood before the thing. "Kill me, rape me…but this child will not be hurt!" This courage came from somewhere deep within her, and the thing laughed.

"Is that so?"

"Of course it is," a voice came from behind the creature, and Kimai looked back to see the young man standing calmly behind it, unwrapping the package. "This woman has guts, but I'll be the one to kill you."

"Who are you?" The creature laughed, and a long sword was pulled from within the package. Pulling it from its sheath, the young man grinned as the moonlight glinted off it. Kimai could only stare at him, her heart thundering in her chest.

"The one sent to slay you…with this sword, Onikirimaru!" Falling into a fighting stance, he threw a glance back at Kimai and the girl. "Get the kid out of here!"

"Ye-yeah…" Starting away from the park, she heard the sounds of battle begin behind her and pressed the child's face away from the scene as the monster roared. "Come on, chibi. Where's your mama?"

Back behind her, the young man wiped sweat from him brow. The ogre was every bit as quick as it was articulate, and seemed to be reading his moves. For an instant his mind turned to the girl who kept showing up, and like a flash the ogre reached down to snap him into its twisted hand.

The sword slipped from his grasp as he was lifted into the air, and the young man cursed angrily as he realized it.

"Ogre Slayer…the pure ogre? Nothing but a puny little boy…" The ogre poked him with one long nail, and the young man grimaced. Pain was pain, after all. "I could kill you on the spot."

"Damn…"

"Now, now…be a good boy and I'll kill you quickly!" As it toyed with him, the ogre laughed again, but a cry from below caused it to look down.

"Like hell you will!" The voice belonged to the girl, who had picked up Onikirimaru and was running at the ogre. The young man was amazed, because although the sword was giving off blue sparks in protest of being picked up by someone other than him, her fingers were still clenched around the handle.

"What the---" Words cut off, the ogre screamed in pain as the sword found purchase in its ankle at the hands of the girl whose face was contorted in pain from the electricity being channeled through the sword. Throwing the young man across the park, the ogre turned his attention to the girl. "Feisty little bitch," it murmured as the young man pulled himself up from the ground. "I'll make you sorry!"

The girl was running across the grass towards the child, who was standing between two trees silently. Reaching one of its long arms towards her, the ogre took a swipe at her. She wasn't quite fast enough, and the thing's claws caught her side, knocking her off balance. Falling onto her back only gave the creature a chance to slash her across the stomach. The girl cried out in pain as her clothes and flesh gave way to the ogre's claws. Blood welled up into the huge wound, and her head fell backwards onto the ground as she clutched at her stomach.

"Ohhh…damn, damn…" Her body writhed on the ground, and the young man glanced at her as he pulled the sword from the ogre's skin. It turned its attention back to him, and the young man looked over at the girl. She had stopped moving, and he cursed as he realized that she was dead again.

Somehow, though, she managed to surprise him again as she slowly pushed herself off the ground with one hand while she pressed the other hand to her bloody abdomen. She was gasping for breath as she stumbled towards him, and he backed away from the ogre for a moment.

"What kind of ogre are you?" For once in his life, he was thrown off guard, and a muddled laugh came from her throat.

"You…you're wrong…let me help you…" It was harder for her to stand up, and he shook his head.

"Take the kid. Make sure she gets home. Go, now!" This earned him a nod from the girl, who started slowly towards the little girl in the trees. Taking the girl's hand, she moved away from the park while he looked up at the ogre. "Poor girl. She's not going to last much longer. The least I can do is send you to hell in her name!" He leapt at the ogre as the girl disappeared from his view.

"Wha-what's your name, chibi?" Kimai was trying desperately to keep consciousness. She was sure for a moment back in the park she had died, but something told her to hang on, for the girl.

"Yuki." The child's eyes fell on the blood that soaked Kimai's clothes, and she looked up at her. "Neechan, are you hurt?"

"No…not really." They walked towards a group of houses. "Is this where you live, Yuki-chan?"

"Mm-hm. Will Niichan be okay, too? He's very brave." It took Kimai a moment to realize that she was talking about the young man, and she nodded.

"He'll…be fine…" The wound in her stomach was stinging terribly, and she hoped that the hot mass pressing against her palm wasn't anything too vital. Her fingers were sticky with blood, and she tried to lick back the blood that threatened to spill out of the corners of her mouth. "He is…very brave, isn't…isn't he?"

"Yes, but Neechan is brave too. You saved me yesterday too, right?"

"H-huh?" Surprised, Kimai looked at the girl, smiling. "So… you r-recognized me, then? I didn't… know…didn't know you would."

"Yeah!" Yuki was silent for a second, then looked up at Kimai, her eyes solemn. "Neechan, are you an angel?"

"An…an angel?" They were standing before a house, and through the window Kimai could see a woman pacing nervously. "There's your mama, right?"

"Yeah!"

"She's…worried…go back to her." Watching Yuki run up the stairs to her house, she smiled. "An…a-angel…"

"See, mama, see? There's a woman out here! She helped me!" The child pulled her mother out the door a few minutes later, trying to get help for Kimai's stomach. "She's hurt…"

"Where?"

"Over there…" There was no one where the child was pointing, and her mother shook her head slowly.

"Yuki-chan, what have I told you about telling stories?" They went back into the house as the moon shone on a trail of blood leading around the corner towards the park.

The ogre's head separated from its body with a sickening sound and flew across the park, landing with a thump where the little girl had been standing a few minutes earlier. As he moved to plunge the sword deep into the creature's brain, the young man noticed a movement near the edge of the park. Turning, he saw her stutter-step into the moonlight towards him.

Amazed that she was still alive, he walked towards her after delivering the final blow to the head. She was smiling, despite the blood trickling over her chin, and he watched her sink to her knees slowly.

"It's…dead?" On her hands and knees now, she kept a hand pressed to her stomach as he nodded and knelt beside her. "Good…was it…a lost soul?"

"Lost soul?" Confused, he shook his head as she lay on the ground and looked up at him. "No, an ogre."

"Ogre…I remember now…" Her eyes traveled over his face, noticing a small cut on his cheek. One of her bloodstained fingers reached up to gently touch his face. "And you're hurt…unngh…" she moaned softly, and he looked at her.

"Don't talk. Maybe you'll be okay." Surveying the damage, he realized that what he said couldn't possibly be true. The girl had essentially been gutted by the ogre, all this time she had been holding her insides in place while she was walking.

"No…don't leave. Even…even if I die…don't leave." She grabbed his hand, and something in her eyes told him that he owed it to her to do what she asked. "When I… wake up…I can…can tell you…ev-everythin…" The light left her eyes as her head fell back on his knee, and he shook his head sadly. She was dead, again. But she was talking about waking up…was she somehow going to come back to life again?

"What are you?" He asked the silent form as she stared lifelessly up at him. Turning away, he closed her eyes and began to wrap the sword again. On second thought, he took one of the cloths he usually used to wrap Onikirimaru and tied it around her ruined stomach. After all, for whatever reason, her blood did stain.

***

'Neechan, are you an angel?'

'Ogre Slayer…the pure ogre?'

'Onikirimaru…'

I've seen the sword before…I know the legend. But that was back when I didn't believe there were such things as ogres or mermaids. Yet I've felt this pain before, I was killed by an ogre once before. Before he could save me…does he recognize me? An angel? Me? No, chibi, not by a long shot.

***

"Mmm…" Nearby, the girl was starting to move. The young man could hear her heart beating, and she was starting to breathe faintly. For a day he had carried her on his back through the town, trying to find out where she had come from. Her face was so peaceful that no one actually thought she was dead, just sleeping.

Finally he had settled on an abandoned warehouse to wait for her to come back to life, if she was actually going to revive. But now, she seemed to be coming around. Moving a little closer, he got a chance to look at her face. Perhaps she really was the one he found dead so many years ago at the hands of an ogre. He had managed to save her body before the thing started eating her, and so it seemed possible that she was the one.

"Where…am I?" She sat up slowly, then looked around at the young man's surprised face. "Oh…yeah." Untying the cloth from her stomach, she revealed a body that was as unblemished as it had probably been before he met her. "My shirt is ruined," she grumbled with some annoyance as she ran her fingers over the cloth.

"So you did come back to life." He nodded slowly, sitting against the wall as she moved over to where he was. Outside the sun was setting, and she smiled.

"You mean in all this time slaying ogres you've never seen an immortal?" The young man looked at her.

"Then you know the legend of Onikirimaru. I'm impressed."

"Yes, I heard it some seven hundred years ago, I think. Something was terrorizing the people of the village I was in when I was a child, and an old woman who cared for me told it to me."

"Seven hundred years?"

"Yes. I ate the flesh of a mermaid seven hundred years ago, and have been living ever since. If I'm wounded, it heals right away. But if I die I come back before a full day has passed, as I have demonstrated." Stretching out her legs, she looked at her feet. "I'll keep living like this until someone cuts off my head. It's the only way for me to die. I mean really die." Her profile was illuminated by the setting sun, and he looked at her. Something was wrong, he was feeling something as he watched her. Something different. "I guess you don't exactly die either, huh?"

"No. We're a bit similar, aren't we?" This seemed like the wrong thing to say, and she smiled. "And your friends?"

"They're immortals as well. Compared to me and Yuta, Mana's a kid though. But they're really okay." Sitting and talking with a girl like this was something he had never done before, but it seemed like she was a special case and he couldn't feel any ogres at the moment. "It's lonely being on your own for seven hundred years, you know."

"I never really thought about it. There's always another job to do for me."

"Not me. I just…wander. Try to keep my mind on the next place, the next sight, the next sound. Can't stay in one place too long, though, or people get suspicious of a girl who never ages. No family…friends…" A tear worked its way down her cheek, and the young man reached over to wipe it away.

"You're crying."

"Sorry!" Rubbing away the tears, she smiled brightly but the young man could feel that she was still unhappy. "Didn't mean to. Guess that's why I don't talk about it too much." She looked down at her clothes. "I lose more good clothes this way."

"Miss…"

"Kimai. My name's Kimai," she said softly. There was a layer of dust on the ground, and with a finger she traced the two characters of her name into the dirt. "Like that." The young man's eyes widened in shock as he looked at her name, but she looked out the window. "It's dark. Mana and Yuta may be worried about me." Standing up, she walked out of the warehouse with a smile. "Thanks for bringing me here!"

"Y-yeah…" Watching her go, he looked back at the characters in the dirt. "Ki…mai." This was not a good sign.

***

Tossing her stuff on the bed, Kimai looked around the new bunkhouse. Mana was sitting on the bed next to her with a smile.

"Better than that dumb shed, huh?" Mana was looking through her things. "You're gonna work in the office, right?"

"Yes…and you in the kitchen and Yuta in the wharf." They had acquired new jobs at a fishing company while Kimai had been with the young man, and Yuta had even managed to get Kimai a job in the office. While she was glad that she would be sleeping on a real bed for a change, she couldn't help wondering if she'd ever see the young man again…the pure ogre.

"Where were you the other night?" Mana looked up from her bed, her head propped on her hands. "Did you die again?"

"Yes…I was helping a young man. There was a little girl, and this monster was trying to kill her…"

"A monster? Like a lost soul?"

"Sort of. It was an ogre." Smiling her far-off smile, Kimai told her about the adventure two nights before. Mana's eyes widened as she listened, but midway through she looked confused. "His sword was…amazing."

"What's Ogre Slayer?" Her words caused Kimai to snap out of her trance, and she frowned gently at her friend.

"Oh, you don't know the legend. There was a terrible monster in our village a long time ago, before I was an immortal. Every morning we would wake up to find more people dead, half-eaten. It was then that my grandmother, my father's mother, told me a story from a long time ago. A story about ogres." Gazing off into the distance past Mana's face, she told the story just as she remembered it from years before.

'Long ago, from the corpse of an ogre, an ogre was born in the shape of a young human boy. This ogre possessed not a horn on his head, but a sacred sword in his hand that could pierce the flesh of an ogre and kill it. Although he is pure ogre, he is the ultimate predator of his own kind, and uses his sword to hunt down and kill them. He has no name, and can never grow old. Only when he exterminates all the other ogres in the world does he believe that he that he can become human…and until that day he can never own a name. Only the sword carries the name, Onikirimaru.'

'Is that true, Obaachan?'

'Of course it is, Kimai-chan.'

'Wow…'

'Okaasama, don't tell her stories like that, you'll scare her!'

'Now, now, she's fine!'

'She's just a little girl! And that other horrible story you told her about the flesh of the mermaids! What are you thinking?'

"And you met him the night before last?" Mana was in awe, listening to the words her friend was speaking. "What was he like?"

"He was kind, and handsome. But a bit sad…it seemed like he was detached, as if he couldn't allow himself to know anyone or anything deeper than the surface. He's a little like us." Kimai had just remembered something else her grandmother told her, and she looked down. "Obaachan told me that his quest was impossible, because ogres are constantly being born from the bodies of the dead. So he's always alone."

"How sad. But he's got you now, right?"

"What?" A bolt went through Kimai's chest as Mana's eyes locked on hers. Blinking twice, Mana sat up to stare at the older girl.

"You're his friend now, so he's not alone." Hopping off the bed, she went towards the door. "Are you hungry? While Yuta's still working, we can get some oden." Her smile was always bright, and Kimai nodded.

"Sure." Standing slowly, she picked up her backpack and followed Mana out the door of the bunkhouse onto the docks of the wharf. Mana's words echoed over and over in her ears, and for some reason a light blush spread over her cheeks. Reaching up to rub her cheeks nervously, she turned back to her friend. "Where are we going for the oden?"

"I saw a place by the street, over there!" Mana's pointing finger indicated the oden shop, and Kimai looked over at a nearby kissaten instead.

"Say, Mana, have you ever had ice cream?" A smile spread over her face as Mana stared at her blankly. "Can I take that as a no?"

"Ice cream?"

***

Why am I hanging around here? I should have left days ago after I slew that ogre…but I can't help this feeling. This feeling of wanting to see her again. I don't know why I'm so drawn to her, drawn into her mystery.

He walked slowly down the main street, trying to think of where she might be. After spending the day before following her all over the city, and standing outside the fishing company's office windows trying to catch a glimpse of her, he was beginning to worry about his condition. Nothing like this had ever happened to him, and what was more he had never thought it was even possible for it to happen, but from all the people he had seen over the years he was fairly certain he knew what was going on.

Trudging down the street, the young man felt an inexplicable force pulling him towards the docks. He supposed this was where Kimai and her two friends lived, although he wasn't sure why she'd be living in such a place.

As he walked, he looked around at all the high school kids walking around. Even though he wore the same uniform as they did, and even though he looked the same as they did, he knew that he would never be the same as them. He was a pure ogre, but somehow a disturbing sliver of humanity was working its way into his heart. And the strangest thing about it was that it didn't feel terribly out of place.

Kimai…even her name is like a challenge to me.

Stopping for the light, he heard two young girlish voices laughing in the kissaten and he turned to look into the window. To his surprise, her face was the first thing he saw in the window of the small coffee shop.

Sitting at a little table were Kimai and a girl that he supposed was her friend Mana, each sitting before a small bowl of brightly colored ice cream. As Mana described some experience, Kimai was pressing the tip of her spoon lightly against her lip as she smiled sweetly. A moment later she responded to whatever Mana had said and both of them began to laugh. When Kimai laughed, her eyes danced brilliantly in the afternoon sunlight and the young man couldn't help staring at her for a moment.

It's strange. All these years slaying ogres…I've never felt this way. I've never seen the need for emotions…human emotions…feelings…of any kind. It's like something woke up within me the moment I saw her. I know I shouldn't be feeling this way…feeling…at all. I shouldn't look at her this way…but I do.

Kimai turned a little, and noticed that he was standing outside the window watching her. She jumped at first, a bit startled, then waved with the tips of her fingers. Not knowing how to respond, he uncertainly returned the gesture, causing Mana to laugh. Embarrassed, he put his hand back at his side and started walking quickly away from the window. He made it all the way to the fish market near the docks before he heard her voice calling behind him.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Her voice was gentle but firm, and he easily recognized it as the way a woman of seven hundred years previous would have spoken. This, however, was only because he had heard such a woman speak before. Turning, he saw her small form standing there, smiling. "Why did you go?"

"Your friend was laughing…"

"Oh, Mana? She's just a little strange." They walked side by side down the marketplace, and he decided it wasn't a bad feeling. "I take it you don't wave to a lot of people?" Before answering, he snuck a look over at her to make sure she wasn't making fun of him.

"No. There's never been a need." There was a silence, and Kimai looked up at him with a pair of curious eyes.

"You don't mind that I'm walking with you, do you?" There was a little uncertainty in her voice, and he shook his head as he smiled over at her.

"Not at all. I'm just…not used to walking with another person." Usually he hesitated to use the word person in relation to himself, because in his own eyes he really wasn't, but for some reason he seemed sure that Kimai would understand. She nodded in agreement with his words.

"Want to go down to the beach? It's nice, and it doesn't smell quite so much like…" Taking a look around, she sniffed. "…like fish." Motioning to the beach, she smiled, and the young man returned it.

"Sure." Carefully, the pair made their way down the sand dune, and onto the whitish-tan crystals of sand that lined the beach. Kimai laughed softly as she looked up at him, and he turned his eyes to her querulously.

"When you were walking away from the kissaten, I wanted to tell you to wait but I forgot that you don't have a name." She wasn't mocking him or being cruel, and yet the words sent a strange pain through him. Apparently she saw his discomfort and smiled up at him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm so used to being by myself that sometimes I open my mouth before my brain has quite figured out what I meant to say." He was still quiet, and he got the feeling that she wished she had never spoken. Clearing her throat, she put her hands behind her back. "Sometimes I think it would be easier not to have a name."

"Your name…isn't bad. But if it's not too much trouble…"

"Where did I end up with a name like this?" Her smile changed to one that was suspiciously sad, and she sat down abruptly on the beach. Picking up a stick as he sat beside her, Kimai traced her name into the moist sand near the tide line. "Ki-mai. I suppose you know what it means?"

"Written like this? Dancing Ogre."

"Yes. It didn't always mean that, though. It used to be written like this." Writing another set of characters into the ground, he saw that they were in the old 'grass-hand' calligraphy style and were so completely archaic that only another immortal or a scholar would be able to read them. And though he wasn't an immortal like her, he had lived long enough to make it count. "You can read it, right?"

"That's beautiful…a soul that is blooming…you were born in the spring?" He watched her face carefully as she spoke, and she poked the stick into the sand.

"During a lightning storm. They said I was going to be a woman like no other…I guess they were right after all." Continuing with the same sad smile, she gazed at the characters. "I think it was just around the time that the new Japanese and simplified writing system was becoming common usage. There was a family in the village that I was living with whose daughters had been killed by a strange disease, so when they took me in it was as if they had found their daughter again. They were kind to me, and I regretted having to leave them eventually.

"One day, on the way back to town from the market in the next city I was attacked by a group of bandits and killed for the small amount of money I was carrying. My body was discovered by some villagers and taken back to my foster parents. If I could have, I would have gladly spared them the pain of seeing my body, but they did everything they could for me.

"When I woke up right before my foster mother's eyes, she screamed at me and called me a monster, then told me that they should have known right away from my name…should have known that I was an ogre and that they should never have let me into their home. Once I left, I asked a scholar what my name meant…and he told me." Kimai turned her gaze out over the sea. "For a few months, I actually had been able to let myself think that I was normal, a human again. And for a while after I ate the mermaid flesh, I really thought there was a way for me to become a normal woman again. But I found that it was impossible…there's nothing I can do to change what's happened to me, and I had to accept that. When I left that village for good, I kept these characters as my name to remind myself that I'm not a human…that I'll never be able to live like that again."

"I'm sorry." He really didn't know what to say, but she turned to him with another smile, more brilliant than the first.

"It's in the past, so why worry about it now?" Kimai laughed. "Whenever we talk, it always turns out so serious, huh?" For a moment she was quiet, then looked at him. "When you get to take a name, do you know what name you'll pick?"

"Name?" To his ears, Kimai spoke like the owning of his name was an eventuality and not an impossibility. Her optimism gave him hope as well, and he smiled. "There was one…one name that I have remembered."

"Which name was that?"

"Nobuhiko." Images of a woman sobbing on the floor of a gymnasium, holding the naked, blood soaked body of her sister on her lap flashed through his head. She had called him by that name more than one time and for some reason it felt…right.

"It's a good name. Perhaps I'll still be alive when you're able to take it. No, I will be alive!" Standing up suddenly, she spread her arms out, threw her head back and began to spin around. "I'm going to live forever!" The skirt of the blue dress she was wearing flared a little, and the young man found himself smiling in spite of himself. She knew her quest was hopeless, and yet she was happy. From where he was sitting he could feel the pure happiness emanating from her soul.

"Kimai," he said softly, and she looked up at him just as her foot found a rock. Eyes widening, she flailed her arms about and tried to catch her balance. The young man jumped up to help her, but she fell backwards into the shallow water. For a moment she looked dazed, then began to laugh. Before he knew what was happening, a laugh had escaped from the young man's throat, and as the sky turned purple behind them they managed to laugh the sun right out of it.

***

Clouds rolled in over the evening sky as the young man walked across the town, heading for the gate of the abandoned shrine. There were no ogres anywhere else in this town, at least none that he could feel. There was no reason for him to remain, and as much as he was wanting to stay, he knew he could not.

He knew that the only reason he had to be there was to be with her, and as much as he wanted it, it just wasn't enough. The quest, the never-ending desire to become human was all-consuming, and nothing could be allowed to stop it.

Of course she was beautiful, with the soul of a graceful and elegant woman in the body of a still-blossoming child and the memories of many lifetimes. Her determination alone was admirable, but it was the assurance with which she spoke about her own future as well as his that had captured his interest. And…something in her eyes…

'You don't mind that I'm walking with you, do you?'

No, he didn't mind. And it was because he didn't that he knew he couldn't stay. He knew that at that moment he should be on his way out of town…but something was keeping him there. For some inexplicable reason, the only thing that he could think of was walking beside Kimai to nowhere in particular, then ending up sitting on the beach with her for eternity.

Disturbing thoughts. Turning his head to the heavens, he expected to see the stars but there was nothing above him but clouds. He could smell the rain in the air, knew it was coming like he knew there would be another town, another ogre to slay. Another ogre for him to find. Without her.

The young man kept walking.

***

"Yamagata Fisheries, how may I serve you today? Yes sir, fifteen hundred tuna. Your order number, please? Okay, just let me check on that for you." Scribbling something on a notepad, Kimai looked up at the girl who worked alongside her in the office, Keiyo. She was whispering something to another girl as they took turns stealing glances out the window.

It had been raining since before they had woken up that morning, and while everyone else seemed to be in a grouchy mood because of it, Kimai was actually enjoying it. It had been a while since she had last seen rain, and she was eager to get out of the office and feel the rain and wind on her cheeks again. And maybe see the young man with the sword again.

She liked being with him, even if it was just for a little while after work. For the first time in a long time she felt as if there was someone who knew how she felt, really understood what it was like to be alone. Yuta and Mana knew a little about it, Yuta more so because he was older than Mana, but she had two hundred years even on him. But this young man, he knew what it was like to be alone…truly alone.

Snapping herself out of it, Kimai picked up the phone again and gave the man the information he had been waiting for. Hanging up, she looked over at Keiyo and Harumi who were still hanging around the window.

"Who do you think he is?"

"It's weird, don't you think? He doesn't even have an umbrella, he's just letting the rain fall all over him!"

"It's like he doesn't even feel it…"

"Who are you talking about?" Laughing a little, Kimai looked up at the girls. They were possibly two of the most gossipy girls she had ever met, and she didn't doubt that they were staring at some new boy. Keiyo motioned her over and Kimai quickly put some papers away before standing up. "What is it?"

"See that guy over there?"

"In the red blazer?" Frowning, Kimai looked out the window. Harumi shook her head and nodded to the left.

"By the Yakuhin…see?"

"Oh…" Pressing a hand to her lips, Kimai gasped softly as she realized that it was the young man. He certainly didn't have an umbrella, but it looked as if he was too intent on looking through the window, trying to get a glimpse of…what?

"Do you know him, Kimai?" Harumi looked at her questioningly. "He seems…weird."

"No, no, it's not that. He's just…" As she searched for the right word, the young man across the street turned suddenly and began to walk away from the office of the fisheries. Biting her lip, Kimai pressed a hand to the window. Where was he going? It was silly of her to assume that he had come to see her, but why would he start walking away the moment she saw him?

"Kimai! Where are you going?" Keiyo called after Kimai as she suddenly bolted out of the office and across the street, ignoring the rain. She caught up with the young man as he was under the awning of a clothing store.

"Wait!" At the sound of her voice, he turned slowly. "Where are you---" Her words were cut off as she saw that the water streaming over his face looked suspiciously like tears that were mixing with rainwater. Kimai's hand flew up to cover her mouth, and she took a step towards him. "What's wrong? Has something---"

"I'm leaving this town." His voice was flat, and though she tried to meet his gaze his eyes refused to find hers.

"But why?" Feeling herself on the verge of tears, Kimai blinked her eyes rapidly. The young man looked away from her.

"I can't stay here. I'm sorry." Without another word he turned around and began to walk away down the street. Not exactly knowing what she was saying, she reached a hand out to him.

"Let me come with you!" As soon as she spoke the words she knew they were a mistake, and he looked back at her for a moment.

"Impossible. It's best we say goodbye here." His voice didn't waver, and Kimai felt a wave of tears begin to run down her cheeks as his back began to disappear into the crowd of people.

I can't let him go…I may never see him again! But what…what can I do? He's leaving…I can't see him anymore!

Panicked, she turned and ran across the street past the office to the bunkhouse by the docks. Mana was in the bunks tying her shoes, and she looked up at Kimai with a smile as she began to rummage under the bed.

"Hey, I was looking for you. Want to come with me and Yuta to get some okonomiyaki?" She noticed that Kimai was packing the few clothes she had into the small backpack she always carried, along with the money she had saved up from working. "Where're you going?"

"I have to go…" Closing the backpack and throwing it over her shoulder, Kimai ran over and hugged Mana tightly. "You've been a good friend, Mana, and I love you like you were my sister."

"Why are you leaving?"

"It's him…he's going…and I can't let him leave without me." Smiling at her friend, Kimai started towards the door. Yuta appeared in the doorway as she was on her way out, wiping his forehead.

"In a hurry?"

"Yuta, Kimai's leaving." Mana ran up beside them, and Yuta cocked his head at her. Kimai's eyes filled with tears again as she looked at him. "With the Ogre Slayer."

"I see…"

"I know it's stupid, Yuta…but there's something about him. And I have all the time in the world, right?" Wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve, Kimai looked at both of them. "Even if he doesn't want me to come with him, even if he thinks I'm just a nuisance…I still want to be with him. And he can't stop me from following him."

"Of course not." Smiling his lopsided smile, Yuta nodded towards the rain. "You'd better hurry before he makes it out of town." At this, Kimai popped up to kiss Yuta on the cheek before planting a small kiss on Mana's forehead.

"You've been wonderful…both of you. Maybe we'll meet again someday." A last smile and then she was gone, disappearing between the heavy sheets of rain. Leaning against Yuta's chest, Mana tried to look after her.

"Do you think she'll find him?"

"Probably. Things have a way of turning up if you look hard enough for them." Nonchalantly dropping an arm around Mana's shoulders, he motioned to the main street. "Want to go get lunch now?"

"Okay." There was a silence as they walked under the umbrella that Yuta had bought in a small shop. "Do you think she'll be happy?"

"I hope so, Mana. If there's one thing there's not enough of in this world, it's happiness. And who knows, the way things seem to go for us, we may see her again before our lives are over." Watching the small figure run against the rain in the opposite direction that they were walking, Yuta smiled.

Good luck, Kimai. I hope you find what you're searching for.

***

Through the rain, Kimai could hardly see a thing. But she knew she had seen him heading west out of the town, so that was the way she supposed she had to go to find him. Even though it hurt to leave her friends, for two years she had watched the way Yuta looked at Mana and wondered whether or not she would ever have anyone look at her that way. Talking to the young man, it had seemed like maybe there was some hope, even if it was just a small one. She could feel that he was as lonely as she was, and something inside her wanted to try and do something to help him…and maybe herself as well.

Looking back for a moment, she saw Yuta and Mana walking down the street to the okonomiyaki place. Noticing her, Mana lifted her arm and waved brightly. Smiling through her tears, Kimai waved back before turning and running as fast as she could in the direction she had last seen the young man walking. He couldn't have gotten too far.

***

It was still raining when he reached the next town, and the young man paid it no mind. The water ran off his face in small rivers, and he looked straight ahead. He could feel that there was an ogre here, and it was that thought that kept him from trying to look back. Still, thoughts of Kimai managed to creep into his mind no matter how hard he tried to shut them out. He knew he wasn't doing himself any favors by thinking about her, but the only image he could summon up was that of her face as he told her he was leaving. She had looked like he had just told her that he wished her dead, but it couldn't be helped. It would have been wonderful to let her come with him, for her to walk beside him to wherever the wind took them next. But he knew it was impossible, even if she was an immortal. What he did was dangerous, and though no one could kill him, an ogre could easily knock her head off with one strike…the one thing that could kill her, and possibly him as well. To put someone he cared about in such danger…

Cared about? Was it really possible for him to care about someone? He supposed that to some degree he cared about every person involved with his hunts, feeling sadness more often than not when he was forced to end a young life in order to save it from an ogre. But this was the first time in many years that he had felt so strongly about anyone, especially a girl, and the first time in his life that he had ever wanted to abandon his duty, abandon everything just to be with her.

This was unlike him, and he suddenly thought about the Kan'non temple that was in this town of this very prefecture, where he knew there was a loose board in the back of the structure. Thinking that it was perhaps time to pay another visit to the rotting old temple, he adjusted Onikirimaru on his shoulder and continued to walk.

***

Stopping in a drugstore to buy some shampoo and soap, Kimai caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror the next afternoon and was amazed to see that she still looked semi-composed after walking all night in search of the young man. Since she had recently come back to life she wasn't in need of sleep, and saw it as an opportunity to search a little more for the young man.

Pushing some wet strands of hair out of her face, she wondered if it would serve her well to buy an umbrella. The rain didn't really bother her, but people were starting to give her odd looks. Kimai slid the money across the counter to the clerk as he rang up her toiletries, as well as the pocket umbrella she had selected, and looked out the window. This was feeling more and more like a hopeless search, she only had a vague description of him and no name to work with, but she couldn't give up yet.

At the edge of her vision, a young man with a wrapped package caught her eye through the window, and she was unable to catch her breath for a moment. Leaving her change on the counter, she ran out the door and scanned the crowd for the young man. She managed to find him again and raced to catch up with him.

"Hey!"

Breathlessly, she grinned as her hand fell on his shoulder and he began to turn. A thousand things ran through her mind as the world switched into slow motion. How would she explain her presence to him? What would he say? Was he going to be upset with her for following him?

The answers, along with the questions flew out of her mind as the young man turned to her, revealing a face that did not belong to the young man with the sword. He looked quizzically at her for a moment as Kimai's face fell.

"Is something wrong, miss?"

"N-no…I just…I thought you were someone else. I'm…I'm sorry." In attempt to hide her tears, she walked away quickly into the rain, finally remembering to open her new umbrella. On a second thought, she closed the umbrella again and let the rain fall over her cheeks again and mix with her tears.

The sky rumbled overhead as Kimai wandered aimlessly through the streets, and the rain did a quick dance on her umbrella as she looked around for him. It was as if the moment he left the other town he had vanished completely, leaving no traces to follow. Suddenly she missed Yuta and Mana, and the tears threatened to fall again. It seemed so useless, following this hope. At least if she had stayed with them, she wouldn't feel so terribly alone. And maybe she would have met him again anyway…in a few years…or a few hundred years.

A young couple, a boy and a girl walked past her, laughing together over some private joke. Kimai watched after them as they huddled together beneath his umbrella, cocking her head ever so slightly with a sadness she couldn't quite express. Their clasped hands seemed to glow with the warmth of both their bodies, giving them a sort of aura in her eyes that she didn't think others on the street were able to see.

No one had ever told her that eternity would be so lonely. Her chest ached with emptiness as she saw the girl blush a little and a thought suddenly entered her mind. Even if she found the young man, who was to say that he felt the same way as she did?

The couple disappeared into the crowd, and a gentle smile crept over Kimai's face as she saw them go. All around them, the rain was slowing to a gentle patter, and the masses of people were starting to move again. She had noticed over the years that rain always seemed to make people lethargic, but the minute the sun came back out they were running about like little children.

A little ray of sunshine broke through the blanket of clouds that hung over the city, and Kimai sighed. It didn't matter if he didn't feel the same as she did, just being with him would be enough. Once she found him…just being with him would be enough.

***

In the shadow of the old temple, the young man's fingers pulled free the loose board to reveal a small, flat box hidden within. For decades it had managed to somehow elude the prying hands and eyes of the temple patrons, possibly owing to the fact that some things were still somewhat sacred in this world.

Brushing the dust from the top of the box revealed two ornately carved characters in a finely grained wood, a word that he had become quite used to over the years.

"Eien…" As his lips formed the words, his mind registered the full meaning of the word. Eternity. In his mind, it was a synonym for loneliness. Hundreds of years of unending loneliness. The lid of the box lifted with a creak, and he allowed a smile to play over his face.

Good. It's all still here. Over the years, some of the people in the aftermath of one of his hunts felt the need to give him some sort of token of their appreciation, a small remembrance of their life, or the life of a loved one. Usually he made an attempt to refuse whatever they offered, but for the most part they were very insistent. The box itself was one of those tokens, and he used it to store the other things…smaller things.

Everything… all the memories of the people who have lived and died are still living in these remembrances. It's been so long I don't even remember where most of it came from. I want to find her again…want her to remember me. But is there anything I have that's special enough to give to her?

Within the box lay a myriad small things, some older than others. Among the trinkets were a small bell on a silken thread, a string of prayer beads, a turtle carved from jade, several buttons, a folded note, a pink ribbon and a lapel pin in the image of a golden butterfly. There were so many things that he was sure he could find something for her… something to make that sad look on her face disappear.

His surprisingly slender fingers worked their way through the years of memories, taking a moment to remember things about the totems and the people who had given them to him. Once he had killed this ogre, he would go back to that little seaside town to find her…even if it was just to see her smile again.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up with excitement as he found it. Disentangling it from the rest of the memorials and amulets, he looked closely at it for a moment before tucking it into the pocket of his uniform pants. Nodding, he closed the box and placed it back into the space beneath the temple.

It's perfect.

***

It's getting dark.

With a sigh, Kimai watched the streetlights flicker as they came to life. An entire day of walking west and she still hadn't seen him. Still, she wasn't tired and decided that she could keep walking a little longer before she had to find a place to rest for a bit. She wanted so badly to find him that she felt she could walk for days.

There was a small path leading through the park, and Kimai thought she saw a shadow walking along it into the darkness. Thinking that only one person would be using a darkened path in the evening, she rushed into the shadows after the shape. Once on the path, she realized that her footsteps were the only sound she heard and it made her more than a little uneasy.

It had stopped raining that afternoon, but the wind was still blowing through the trees and a few leaves flew over her face. Laughing gently as the leaves tickled her face, she closed her eyes. Sometimes it was just nice to be alive.

A scream rang out in the night, snapping open Kimai's eyes and sending her running in the direction of the sudden sound. All thoughts of finding the young man went out of her mind as she looked for the owner of the voice, which had sounded like a young woman's. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she searched feverishly for the source of the cry. Stopping for a breath, her eyes darted around the wooded area and finally fell upon a girl lying on the ground at the feet of an ogre.

Oh god…I have to do something! That thing's going to kill her, just like it killed me! But what can I do…the only one who can kill it is…

Like magic he flew into the area between the trees, throwing aside the sheath to his sword as he did. Kimai couldn't even hear what he was saying, her heart was beating so fast as she watched him attack the ogre. The moon had disappeared behind a cloud, and the only light that played upon his face was the glow of the streetlights from the path, leaving most of his profile in shadow.

A strange warmth filled her chest, but it was quelled by the curtain of rain that suddenly fell over her. The young man didn't seem fazed in the least, and with a graceful, sweeping blow that she hadn't seen since the ancient times he dispatched the ogre, leaving nothing behind but a wisp of smoke. Pressing her body against the tree she was behind, she exhaled slowly. She had found him again, somehow, and this time she wasn't going to let him out of her sight.

"Thank you!" The girl, who couldn't possibly have been more than sixteen, jumped up from the ground and ran over to the young man. Her clothes were torn a little, and she threw her arms around him. He looked as if he didn't know how to respond, then put his arms around her as well with a resigned smile.

"It's alright, miss."

"I don't know how to thank you!" Her voice was soft, and she apparently thought of a way to thank him as she grabbed his face and kissed him directly on the lips.

The trees were lit up brilliantly as a bolt of lighting tore through the sky, and his widened eyes found Kimai's face in the trees as the thunder followed behind it and plunged the clearing into darkness again. Waves of her dark hair were plastered to her face and neck, and her slim fingers were clinging to the bark of the tree as if it were what was holding her up. She looked as if she'd been punched in the stomach, and he stepped away from the girl, towards Kimai.

"Ki…mai?" As if breaking some spell, his voice freed her feet from the ground and she bolted away from the clearing as if she'd seen a ghost. "Damn!" Quickly wrapping the cloth around his sword he ran after her into the darkness, his tennis shoes slipping a little in the grass. Falling onto his hands and knees, the young man cursed as Onikirimaru skittered away from him in the grass. In the search for his precious sword he managed to lose her shadow, and by the time he looked up again it was her turn to disappear. "Kimaiiii!"

For her, it felt as if her heart had dropped right out of her chest. It seemed there was no way she could look as sick as she felt, and she didn't stop running until she reached one of the sidewalks of the strip. The colorful lights and sounds of the few pachinko parlors didn't help her spirits, and she looked back for a moment.

Realizing that she had dropped her backpack, Kimai dropped her head in defeat. She knew she'd have to go back for it, but she couldn't bear to return to that clearing. Deciding that she'd go back in the morning, she began to walk down the street slowly, trying to sort out what she was feeling.

She didn't know why she was feeling this way, it was even worse than when she had lost Shunkei. Laughing at herself for a moment, she reminded herself that she had never really lost him, he hadn't been hers in the first place. Although she had known from the start that if they ever met, his feelings for her would probably never be anything more than friendship or at most a brotherly protectiveness, there had always been a hope…the same hope that kept her searching for this young man.

Crying silently, Kimai let the rain pour over her body. She was still wearing the jeans and sweater that she had worn to work the day before, and by this time they were clinging to her body with the weight of the water. She knew it was stupid to feel this way, to let her emotions take control of her like this, but there was no reasoning with them. The heels of her boots clicked on the street, and she turned her face up to the heavens in the hopes that the rain would wash away whatever was past.

A moment later, she heard the voices.

Picking himself up, the young man searched the trees where Kimai had been hiding. Something blue appeared in the grass as another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and he went over to pick it up. He recognized this as the blue checkered backpack that he had seen her carrying when they sat on the beach together, and could feel her sadness surrounding it. Closing his fingers around the material, he took off in the direction he had seen her go.

As he emerged from the forest into the open street he felt a shock of electricity run through him like a bolt of lightning, and on his back, Onikirimaru began to hum wildly. Looking around, he didn't see an ogre right away, but knew that it was completely possible for one to show up anywhere. Uncovering the sword as he ran, he hung the backpack over his shoulder. After he killed this ogre, he could keep searching for Kimai. Immortal or not, she was, in the broadest of definitions, still a human. She couldn't possibly have gotten far.

Rounding a corner, he heard a woman cry out and followed the sound to a nearby alley where two men had pushed a young woman onto the ground and were proceeding to tear off her clothes. One of them was holding her down while the other was working at her jeans, and one of her legs flew up to kick him in the face.

"Bitch!" Unamused, the man slapped her across the face silencing her for a moment before she snapped at his hand with surprisingly sharp teeth. "Damn you!" Irritated with her behavior, the man put his hands around her throat and began to choke her. The young man tossed aside the cover to his sword and prepared for battle. There may not have been an ogre there, but he could certainly give this girl a hand.

Everything was going dark for Kimai as the man's fingers squeezed tighter on her windpipe, cutting off her air. Hearing their voices behind her on the street, she had thought that they needed directions or something, yet when she turned to help them she had seen something in their eyes that informed her that they wanted something completely different. They had dragged her, kicking and screaming, into the alley where they proceeded to try and separate her from her clothing.

Refusing to give up, she continued to struggle until little black stars began to circle her vision, and she felt her body getting light. A wave of anger uncharacteristic of her boiled up in her chest, and the last thing she remembered thinking at that moment was thinking that she wanted to kill both of these men in quite an awful way.

Behind her something screamed loudly, a truly monstrous cry, and her head fell back on the concrete. Her eyes registered a huge ogre looming up behind her, seeming to rise up like smoke from the ground, then a burst of white light blinded her for a moment. After that there was nothing, as the darkness swallowed her whole.

The sight of the ogre seemed to put a new life into the young man, who drew his sword and ran at the creature. The two men who were involved in trying to rape the girl screamed and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the alley. For some reason, the ogre looked confused. It couldn't seem to decide which way it wanted to go, and he suddenly realized why.

The unfortunate girl that had been attacked was lying motionless on the ground, dark hair covering most of her face. Her chest was neither rising nor falling, and the raindrops that were falling heavily on her skin didn't wake her. It was too dark in the alley to see what she looked like, but that was the least of his concerns.

Most likely the girl had called out the ogre with her last thoughts, then died just moments before the ogre could absorb her body. Unless they were looking to reproduce or feed, ogres had little use for a dead body, and now it was just trying to figure out what to do. Luckily, the young man and Onikirimaru knew exactly what to do.

"Now that you've been called out, you don't know what to do with yourself without a human host, do you? Don't worry, Onikirimaru will help you figure it out!" Leaping up at the ogre, he slashed downward and cut the towering thing straight down the middle. It was easy to kill, as it was still disoriented from being without a host. The young man landed, catlike, on the ground behind it and looked back as the ogre's body began to dissolve. "Hmph. Almost too easy. It's just a shame that girl had to die." In the back of the alley, he heard a small cough and turned to see the body of the dead girl suddenly sitting up.

It can't be! There can't be two like her in one place… That has to be…

"Rain…" She continued to cough softly, and for a moment he felt a surge of unnamable happiness. The thought that he had found her and that she was alive blocked out everything else around him.

"Kimai!" His body moved on its own, falling on his knees beside her to scoop her into his arms. Rather than asking himself what he was doing, he simply allowed himself to feel the warmth that radiated from her body through her wet clothes. Surprised, she stiffened for a moment. Kimai hadn't been held by a man in over a hundred years, and she wasn't sure how to react. Gingerly, she set her arms around him.

An instant later, he pushed her away. There was nothing short of anger flashing in his eyes, and they bored directly into her own.

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"I told you not to come with me! If that ogre had absorbed you, I would have had to slay you too, and I am not going to take that chance. Not to mention the fact that those men could have hurt you! I don't care what you are, I can't let you be involved in this!" His tirade continued on, and as far as Kimai was concerned he could have been stabbing her with his sword. Looking down into her hands, she examined her bracelets as she let the wet strands of her hair fall over her face to hide the tears that were running over her cheeks. She hadn't meant for this to happen… she thought that if she could find him, then everything would be alright.

"S-sorry…" The voice that came from between her trembling lips was completely different from anything he'd ever heard before, and for a moment, he stopped. "I…I just wanted to see you again…"

"But don't you get it? You could have been…" Around her throat, a circle of reddish-purple bruises was fading back into her skin, leaving only shadows of his finger marks on her neck. Suddenly he began to laugh, shaking his head as he reached under her chin to lift up her face. Gently, he swept his thumb over her cheek. "Don't cry. You wouldn't want another ogre to come, would you?"

"No." Shaking her head and trying to smile, Kimai looked at him. "Do they really come when you cry?"

"Yes. I believe that you called forth that other ogre when you were being attacked. Luckily, you were dead or something so it wasn't able to absorb you." He looked at her, then stood up and offered her a hand. She took it, allowing him to help her to her feet. "There's a lot about ogres you don't know, isn't there?"

"Mm-hm. And a lot about mermaids, too. But why don't you tell me what you know about ogres, and I'll tell you what I know about mermaids." The rain continued to fall around them, and suddenly it didn't bother her as much. The young man handed her the backpack that was around his shoulder.

"Here, you dropped this."

"Thanks." With a little smile, Kimai tossed it onto her back as she looked up at him. He wasn't too much taller than her, but she still needed to look up at him. "So, what do you say?"

"There's a lot to tell about ogres," he said thoughtfully. "Sure you want to hear everything about them?"

"Of course I do. There's a lot about mermaids and immortals, too. And it's not like we're in a hurry or anything."

"Guess you're right." He stole a sideways glance at her sparkling eyes, then smiled back at her. "…no hurry at all."

***

The morning light woke him, and as he opened his eyes he realized that he hadn't actually slept in years. Sleeping, like eating, wasn't something that was necessary for him to go on existing. They had taken refuge from the worsening storm in the old, abandoned temple more for her sake than his as it was still possible for her to become ill.

Kimai was still asleep, her head resting on one of his outstretched legs. She had explained that she didn't think she had died completely the night before, and her body was worn out from walking and lack of sleep. The minute they stepped into the temple she had just about passed out, and he had kept watch over her most of the night. Not that he minded…there was something comforting about taking care of her, even though it was the first time he had ever done anything of the kind. Still, at some point in the night he had fallen asleep, for reasons unknown to even him.

He couldn't believe she had actually followed him. Why had she done that? Was it possible that she was feeling the same strange attraction that he was? And if she was… They had only known one another a few days, but it was as if he'd been with her for years, or knew each other from some other time. He couldn't explain the connection, couldn't put it into words, but he could feel it. It felt as if he had found something that he didn't even know he was looking for.

A contented sound came from her throat, and he looked at her. The morning sun was playing on her face, and she looked so completely peaceful that an uncontrollable urge overcame him. The night before, the other girl had placed her lips onto his in a gesture that was not unfamiliar to him, but had never really meant much to him until the moment he looked down at Kimai. His thoughts of kissing her were interrupted as she moved suddenly and her eyes fluttered open. A smile spread over her face and she rubbed her eyes before sitting up.

"Mmm…how long did I sleep?" Stretching her arms, she looked over at him. The young man wasn't sure what to say.

"I don't know…but it's morning. Are you hungry?" He watched her stand up and peer out the window of the temple, then pick up her backpack and look through it. Pulling out a brush and two elastics with Hello Kitty on them, she plopped herself onto the ground and proceeded to brush out her hair. It was still a little wet from the night before, and she started work on two long braids.

"Strangely enough, I'm not. I would like to change clothes though. All my stuff is still wet from last night. Can we find a store?" Finishing one side, she lay the braid over her shoulder and started on the other side.

"Of course, but then we have to go. I don't feel any other ogres here now, but something is calling…from another place." He saw that she was watching him intently as she braided her hair, then fixed it in place with the elastic. As soon as she saw him look back at her she blushed, then quickly turned her eyes to her lap. Twin kittens smiled at him from the ends of the braids, and she cautiously turned her gaze up to meet his. For a moment, the young man wasn't able to look at her.

While she had been looking at him a moment earlier, he was certain he had been able to see a glimmer of affection in her eyes. It was the one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, and the way she had blushed when he noticed made her even more beautiful. But it had left him feeling strangely hollow. Now as he remembered it, he wondered if she would look at him the same way if she were able to see his true self. The human form he was born with was that of a handsome young man, but underneath he was a pure ogre…living only to kill others of his kind. Kimai was immortal, yet deep inside she was still at least partly human.

"Is something wrong?" There was nothing but concern in her voice, and he turned to her, smiling. Her eyes were worried, and he realized that he had probably looked as uneasy as he felt. Even after all the time she had spent alone, wandering, there was still a kindness in her heart that he was sure could even see its way to accepting an ogre. But he didn't want to risk losing that look that had been in her eyes. Doubt…uncertainty…were they also parts of being human?

"Nothing at all. I'm sure we can find a store on our way out of town." Standing up, he dusted himself off and offered her a hand. Taking it, she got up from the floor and tucked her hairbrush back into her bag.

"You're right. Maybe I will grab something to eat on the way out of town, just in case we don't see anywhere else on the way to the next place." Hurrying to the door of the temple, she leaned out into the sun and smiled brightly. "It's so warm, I can hardly believe it's autumn!"

"It's common in this prefecture." Sticking his hand in his pocket, he followed her out the door. As he did, he remembered the little memento he had stuck there for Kimai and felt around for it. It was still there, and he looked up at her. She was already halfway up the path. At the shrine gate, she turned to see if he was still behind her. With a smile, he quickened his step. He couldn't wait to see her face when he gave it to her.

***

"Ta-daaa!" Smiling, Kimai ran out of the store and turned around before the young man, who couldn't help but laugh. "What do you think?"

"It's a school uniform," he said, shaking his head. Indeed it was. The most generic of school uniforms, it was a plain gray pleated skirt with a black vest and a burgundy tie around the collar of a pressed white shirt. Over the cuffs of the white shirt, the seven jade bracelets were perched proudly, informing the world of her age in a rather esoteric way. The dark gray blazer was slung over her shoulder, and she turned around again.

"Yeah! I figured if I'm dressed in a uniform too, then people won't look at us too strangely. And this one's so boring that I can buy a new one anywhere if I need to!" Reaching back, she smoothed down her hair, still wavy from being braided while wet. "I unbraided my hair too. I looked like a middle school student with it pulled back." She put on the blazer and nodded towards the path through the park. It was much prettier in the daylight. "Let's walk that way. I grabbed some nikuman while I was in the mall so if I get hungry I can just eat one on the way."

"Eating…" He said thoughtfully, looking up into the sky. "Just another benefit of humanity I suppose." Kimai smiled as she cocked her head at him. They started down the path, alongside which children were running on their way to the park. There was something hiding in her smile, but he couldn't quite decipher what it was.

"Humanity…and you're the one who wants to become human, right?" This earned her a look that was a strange mixture of annoyance and silent laughter. "Do you really think you're going to make it?"

"I thought you said you were sure I'd earn my name someday." Wondering what had made her ask this question, he gave her a serious look. They stopped walking, and Kimai looked up at him. It looked like they weren't going to move until she answered him, but at that moment all Kimai could see was how beautiful his eyes were. The irises were a ring of darkness that enclosed twin golden spheres that seemed to be on fire in the sunlight, and they was close enough to one another that she could see herself reflected in them. It was all she wanted right then to see herself in his eyes forever, but he wanted an answer. So she answered.

"Yes, but it's not enough for me to believe in you. You have to be sure you're going to earn it yourself. Otherwise it wouldn't be the name you earned." There was a silence, but he smiled at her broadly as they started walking again.

"It's strange," he said a little farther down the road, causing Kimai to look up at him quizzically. His hand was in his pocket, and his mind was racing trying to think of a way to give her the gift.

"What's strange?"

"A long time ago, when I started slaying ogres, I wondered if I would ever win against them…against myself…and become human. But it's strange, because I feel different now than I did back then. When this began, I never thought I'd be able to experience emotions. Now I can feel them, I just don't know how to express them." As he spoke he looked off into the sky, trying to find the right words.

"That's a part of being human too." Now it was her turn to be thoughtful, and Kimai turned slowly to him as they walked. "I think…becoming human isn't something that happens just like that. All the years you've been traveling you've been learning things; how to live, to survive, how to feel…and to care. Being human and being a human are two different things. You can be born a human, but being human is a lot of little parts fitted together in strange ways, and you pick up those parts as you go along.

"I'm not a human…not anymore…but part of me is still human. Because really, we're all still becoming human, and learning as we go. Some of us just have more time in which to learn.

"Like you. For you, becoming human is a journey. Every step you take, every ogre you kill is another piece to fit into the puzzle. But you didn't realize that. All along you haven't been working to become a human, you've actually been becoming human." Reaching over, she took his hand and squeezed it gently as she looked up into his golden eyes. "And from what I can see, you've been doing great. Just you watch. I'll be calling you Nobuhiko before you even know it." Her words spread through him, a warmth that continued to stretch its fingers through his soul and refused to fade away. Wanting desperately to somehow give her a piece of what she had just given him, he stopped walking again and reached into his pocket.

"Kimai…there's something I wanted to give you." Taking it out of his pocket, he took one of her hands and turned the palm upwards. "After I finished here, I was going to go back to the other town and give this to you, but there doesn't seem to be any need for that now, does there?" He dropped it into her hand and closed her fingers over it. Looking up at him for a moment, she frowned curiously before opening her hand.

"Oh! This is…" Pressing a hand to her chest, she took a closer look at it as he grinned. It was simple, two thin golden strands twisted together into a slender band, but in her eyes it was the most perfect thing she had ever seen. "Wherever did you get such a beautiful ring?"

"It was given to me a long time ago, but I can't remember by who." The look on her face was nothing short of sheer joy, and he smiled as he realized that it had most certainly been worth it. "Do you like it? It may be too large for you."

"No, it's wonderful." Slipping it onto the middle finger of her left hand, she held it out at arm's length for a moment before pushing herself up onto her tiptoes to kiss him quickly on the lips. The young man was surprised, but a part of him was happy in a way that words were unable to describe as she took his hand again and they began to walk. He looked over at the girl beside him with a smile as he quickly switched his sword over to the other shoulder.

"We've got a long way to walk," he said as she moved a little closer to him. Kimai smiled up at the young man as she pushed a few strands of hair back over her shoulder with the rest of it.

"That's okay…we've got plenty of time." Returning her smile, they walked in silence for a while together. Kimai smiled to herself. She had been right. Just being with him…it would have been enough. But this was more. This was perfect. And although he might not have been thinking the exact same thing, she knew he felt it too.

'Only the sword carries the name…'

'You don't mind that I'm walking with you, do you?'

'Not at all.'

'…Onikirimaru.'