Chapter 2: Stalkers and eyes in the night
The moon began to rise over the mountains, and with the sun in the opposite direction it created a beautiful combination of light. All of the people gathered at the center of the village, entering a large structure. Sachi pulled Kaijin behind her and noticed that he was hesitant to enter the large gathering place.
With a pleasant smile she said, "Come on Kaijin, everyone wants to meet you!"
He smirked, not wanting to go inside, "Sachi, I appreciate the gesture, but I can't stay here." He replied.
"Please!" she begged, "just for a short while." She added.
Kaijin pulled his hair back and took a deep breath, "Fine, but only for a short while, I don't feel comfortable being in the presence of so many people."
Happy with his words, Sachi gave him another kiss on the cheek and pulled him inside. Kaijin followed closely behind her and admired her shapely figure. He hadn't noticed her finely woven kimono, which had a series of wild roses adorning the back. Kaijin found many eyes watching him, all the young girls smiled as he passed by them. Sachi lead Kaijin next to the villager elder, and before he sat down, he bowed in respect.
The village elder looked at Kaijin, and examined his strange armor, which was black and had many scratches and dents on it, "You are a youkai…am I correct to say this." Asked the village elder, Kaijin nodded in agreement. "My name is Kenshiro and if I recall correctly, your name is Kaijin. One thing plagues me about your presence here…" the village elder paused briefly, to catch his breath, "…what were you searching for among those dead youkai?"
Kaijin was hoping that no one would ask him that, he turned away and pulled his hair back again, "I was retrieving something…" he replied in a irritated voice.
While the two were talking, all the village men were listening intuitively. The village elder picked up a small cup and sipped from it and put it back down, "...so, did you find what you were looking for?" he asked. "You don't have to answer me if you don't want to. I meant no disrespect, you're our guest, and here I am treating you like you did something wrong."
"Its okay, I was searching for a jewel shard…and yes, I did find it." Replied Kaijin. The elder appeared to know what he was referring to, but let the discussion die there. For the remainder of the day, they were served generous portions of rice, vegetables, beef, and warm sake.
After eating the village elder had Sachi prepare a room for him to sleep in. The young girl did so, and led him to his room. Sachi felt thankful that he had saved her and she gave him another kiss before she left him alone. Kaijin blushed and wished her a goodnight, once he was sure that she was gone, he reached inside of his haori and pulled out the jewel shard.
He held it up and scraped off the dry youkai blood, "I can't stay here, if I do, more youkai will come in search of this fragment of power." Kaijin sneaked out of his room and made his way out of the house, not making one sound. As he darted across the village, he heard someone stalking him. He stopped and turned around quickly, grabbing the pursuer by the neck.
He gasped and released his grip, "Sachi!" he pulled his hand away and begged for forgiveness, "I'm sorry. Why are you following me?" he asked
"You were going to leave without saying goodbye?" she asked in a saddened voice.
"Yes, yes I was, its best I don't stay here." Kaijin looked into her eyes and saw that she wanted him to stay, "again, I'm sorry, but I can't stay here." With that said he kissed her on the forehead and darted away. Leaving her behind, the young girl was smitten with the youkai that had saved her life, but it was a love that wasn't meant to be.
Kaijin ran across the large rice fields and made his way towards the vast forest. As he entered the forest he could immediately sense another presence following him. He slowed down and came to a complete halt, finding himself in the middle of the dark forest. Kaijin reached towards his back and pulled out a weapon that had remained hidden. It was a long 40-inch piece of bamboo. He pulled on the end of it revealing a razor sharp blade hidden inside.
He circled around, while remaining in the same spot, "who's there? Sachi?" he asked aloud, "no, its not her, its someone else…it's a youkai…two of them." He thought silently. Kaijin could hear the youkai nearby, angered by its silence, he raised his sword. His eyes lit up, turning a bright red, and the blade of the sword began to glow, catching on fire. He knew that the youkai was obviously after the single jewel shard that he had just acquired, but aside from that, he could sense another jewel shard, did the youkai have one too? He wondered, as he watched for any movement.
A shadow moved forward, out from behind the cover of darkness something slowly stepped into the light that his flame was creating. "That's very impressive, but you have something that I want." The voice said.
Kaijin lowered his blade, shining light on his stalker. To his astonishment, it was indeed another youkai. "You're a female…" he muttered, as her beauty stunned him.
Kagura hid her smile behind her fan, and approached him, while his guard was down. She brushed her free hand on his face, running it down near his neck, and took advantage of the situation by pushing her thumb into his throat. She quickly closed the fan and put it away, grabbing the hand in which he held his sword. The wind sorceress pushed him against a tree and looked him in the eyes.
She became fascinated with him, "Hmmm…you're very handsome, and it's a pity I have to kill you." She smirked, but before she could end his life and steal his jewel shard, the ground began to shake. Kagura looked back and felt something breathing down her neck, and unfortunately poor Kaijin was losing consciousness, due to the lack of air.
Before Kaijin passed out, he muttered a few words, "…b-behind…y-you…"
She released her grip and turned around, there was a rather large brutish looking youkai behind her. It began to snarl and delivered a powerful blow that knocked her down. The hideous youkai walked over to her and raised its arm high, as it was ready to beat her to a pulp, and a sharp bone slid out of its forearm.
Kagura pulled out her fan and launched a furious attack, but the youkai remained unfazed, maybe due to the fact that it had a jewel shard lodged in its body. The wind sorceress stopped her attack and tried to crawl away and flee, but the gaunt youkai thrust its sharp bone into her shoulder blade, pinning her in place. She cried out in pain and turned her head, to see what it was going to do next, her eyes widened in fear as the massive youkai loomed over her.
The youkai opened its mouth, and thick saliva dripped down from its sharp and jagged teeth, "Mmm…warm flesh…" it muttered in a rough, scratchy voice.
Kagura closed her eyes as the youkai brought its open mouth near her face, and she threatened the demon, "I swear if I break free…I'll rip your head off and keep it as a trophy." Kagura wanted to say more, but the extreme loss of blood and pain was taking its toll on her, and she could feel the youkai pushing its bone deeper into her shoulder blade.
The youkai crouched down on top of her and began licking her face, "Hmm…female taste sweet…" it muttered under its heavy breathing. The youkai turned its head, and noticed that Kaijin was gone, it looked around, but felt confident that it was stronger, and had nothing to fear from him "…puny youkai boy fled…no matter…I'll find you too…" it inhaled the aromatic scent on Kagura and continued running its rough tongue along her slender neck.
Unbeknownst to the youkai, Kaijin was hiding behind a nearby tree, holding his sword tightly. He restrained himself from using his unique ability of setting his sword on fire, and took a quick peek, watching in disgust, as the youkai was about to do the unimaginable. Unable to hold back his anger and rage, his sword burst into flames, revealing his hiding place, before the youkai could react, he darted out and swung his blade across the back of the youkai's neck.
"Argh!" gurgled the youkai, in the split second the blade cut clean across. Its bulbous head was severed clean off of its huge body. The head bounced off of a nearby tree and its body stood up, removing its bone out from Kagura and it began flailing its arms. Kaijin swung his blade two more times, splitting the youkai's belly wide open. Kaijin jumped upwards and kicked the falling body of the youkai back and opened his free hand, firing a large ball of fire at it. The enormous torso was immediately engulfed in fire, and disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind a glimmering jewel shard on the ground.
As Kaijin picked up the jewel shard he turned his attention to a moaning Kagura, who was hemorrhaging badly. Kaijin put away the jewel shard and walked over to a bloody Kagura. He stood over her and held his flaming sword over her motionless body, "I feel that I should kill you, but how could I kill something so beautiful?" he whispered, while contemplating what to do with her. The intense flame on the sword died out and he gritted his teeth, as he sheathed his blade.
Kaijin bent down, looking at Kagura, "Kuso! I know I'm going to regret this later, but I can't just kill her, and I can't leave her here, even though she did try to kill me." Kaijin placed his hand underneath her battered body and accidentally touched her exposed breast, it seemed that the dead youkai was doing more than he had first thought. Kagura moaned to his touch, he pulled his hand down fast, trying not to do that again, and whispered, "I'm sorry, that wasn't intentional." He picked her up gently, covering her partially exposed body with her open kimono. He held her in his arms and walked into the shadows with her, disappearing/
…End chapter.
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