Bounty Hunter

Chap.1

That night, the rain was harder than it ever was before. The wind picked up, and dared to try to strip the clothes from Lian's very back where she stood, waiting for her parents to catch up, so they could get home and out of the storm that fate had brewed. Her mother trudged through the fields slowly, and her father stayed to support the young woman.

" Hurry up, Mama, Papa!" Lian called worridly, as the wind swept her honey colored hair into her face once again. Then, hidden by the sound of the great wind, was the sound of flapping wings. Something dove, and knocked Lian over, leaving a claw mark on her shoulder. " Papa, what was that?" She heard a gasp from her father, but only barely, the wind was so loud.

" A youkai!" He shouted, loud enough so as to be audible over the wind.

" A….youkai?" A giant creature appeared before Lian. It had fur, dark forest green, with glowing blood red eyes, and bat-like wings protruding from where arms would have been. On the end of each pointed end of the wings was a razor sharp point, which had cut the tall grass around Lian as he had dived. He grinned at the little girl, blood-stained fangs glinting under the light of his own eyes.

" Lian, run!" Lian's mother dove forward, pushing Lian back into the tall grass. She knew she was supposed to run, but Lian's legs wouldn't listen to her, and she sat paralyzed, hidden in the tall grass. The youkai turned to the woman, glaring at her in a way most fierce indeed.

"Woman, you have rid me of my intended meal, and that has made me even hungrier!" The youkai grimaced. Lian's father returned to Lian's mother's side, axe in hand. " All I wanted was that one little girl. Just one little girl. But no! You had to save her! You had to save your daughter! Now, not only have you angered me, but you have made me hungrier than I originally was!"

At this comment, Lian's father raised his axe in an attempt to protect himself.

" If you Karin, you'll have to go through me first."

" I believe…." The youkai slowly grinned as he said this. " That can be easily arranged."

"N-no! Mama! Papa! Don't do it! Don't die!" Lian cried out, but her voice was lost to the wind. And then, as she sat stupefied, she saw more blood than she had ever hoped to see in her entire lifetime. " N-no. Mama….Papa…." She gasped. " They did it."

The next day, the village leader took Lian aside and told her that he would take care of her as best he could. Lian cried her heart out, and was still crying at the funeral the afternoon.

Then, as she stood in front of the grave, she gripped her wide brimmed velvet hat with enough strength to strangle a statue, a hateful grimace on her face. The village leader looked over at her.

" Lian, I know it's hard for you to grasp, but they're not coming back. And I bet you want more than anything to either be with them now, or to have them here, but you must learn to accept death. We all face deaths at one point or another in our lives." He patted the young girl on the back.

" I don't want to die. And I don't want them back." Lian's voice was barely more than a whisper, but the village leader had sensitive ears and heard it perfectly.

" Then what do you want, Lian?" He asked inquisitively. The girl snapped her line of vision up to him.

" I want revenge."