Flashback
The song. It was playing so softly in the background that the girl could hardly tell. She sat, waiting for the man to enter after his assistant had gone for him. She studied the room, its dark brown walls and equally dark green furniture made her feel trapped. But it wasn't anything bad right now; she should be out pretty soon. The girl stopped her thoughts as the man she was waiting for had stepped in.
"Hello, I imagine you're here for… the Jade?" The man sat down across the small table from the girl. She smiled, and nodded. As the man felt safer, he sighed, and let his guard down.
"I never expected some one so young, and so beautiful," the man started, giving his usual sleazy smile, "Would be caught up in such a hectic lifestyle? I mean, working for precious and strictly confidential weaponry in the black market is a dirty job."
"Yes sir, I know. I, however, know a lot about the market itself. I should believe this trade to be, fair? Or rather, as fair as the black market can really be?" the girl brought out a question that was plaguing the both of them. The man nodded to her as he reached into his large sleeve and started to pull out a cloth filled with rare weapons. He laid them out on the table, still wrapped and unable to be seen.
"Do you have what I want?" The man kept his hand laid over the cloth as a defensive move. He was yet to be sure of this girl's credibility and trustworthiness. Besides the fact that this was the black market they were dealing with, not that many people were good to trust.
"Yes," She said as she started to pull out her own cloth, the same color as the man had pulled out, from her sleeve, "I have it right here." She laid the cloth out on the table as well, concealing what ever was inside as was the man still doing.
"Let me see it." The man spoke abruptly, his excitement, and doubt, rising as he saw the girl pull out the fabric.
The girl didn't hesitate, but moved slowly, as she rolled out the cloth and revealed many pockets. She went to one pocket and pulled out a vial of green liquid, which would have matched the furniture if it weren't for the dark shadows that enveloped them.
The man looked at the vial in wonderment. He wanted to touch it, and he reached out and tried to caress it, but the girl held it back, eyeing the cloth that was still covering what she wanted. The man understood, and took one last look at the girl's face before unraveling it. The girl was dead pan, a known emotion among the black market men while in an important deal.
As he flattened it out onto the table, it revealed several weapons, all a vibrant green in one place or another. It was the legend Jade Quarry. Weapons with spirited powers other than their own. The Forest Sword, its hilt made out of pure Jade, was able to flatten several acres of trees with one swift motion. Then, going down the line, was the Twin Stars, two throwing stars that could lock onto a person's DNA, much more accurate than reiki. All they needed was a little blood, maybe a flake of skin, and they could lock in on their victim and never stop till they made a direct hit to corresponding DNA. Its center was made of Jade. Third, was a pair of curved daggers, used for defensive and offensive purposes at the same time. If you held them correctly, they would cover your forearm with the blade facing out and the lining of jade grazing against the skin. Its abilities were the most fruitful. Never having to switch its position from a defense to an offense (though you could) they also functioned as boomerangs if need be. They could also conjoin together for a sort of whirlwind action. This weapon was the one she sought after the most.
"Yes, they're all here. Now, give me the vial." The man then reached out again and tried to forcefully grab the vial of liquid out of her hand. Though, with faster reflexes, she pulled it back again, putting her hand up in his face for protection.
"You ask a lady." The girl never put down her hand till the man, clearly run by greed, sat back down normally, and waited for her to give it to him.
"Please, miss, may I have the vial?" The man reached out his hand in a waiting position for the vial and a puppy dog pout on. She looked at him and waited a bit in silence.
"May I just say, that you look quite lovely in your kimono. Pink is an excellent color for you." The man tried to sweet talk her, to make her move faster. It did not work. The girl waited a while longer, though not because of the man in front of her, she had felt something in the room. She feared that the man in front of her knew her joke, and was getting ready to pounce. However, the man seemed so eager, but why would there be another presence in the room? And from the ceiling? She decided to go through with it, thinking she could get out easily if she were to defend herself with one of the weapons. She sighed and slowly handed the vial over. The man graciously took it and shot up out from his seat. He quickly apologized and said his assistant would show her out. He quickly left the room in a hurry with the vial close to his face, examining it. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice that it was a fake.
The girl grabbed the side of the cloth as she studied the unknown presence in the room a while longer, trying not to show that she knew she wasn't alone. As she put the weapons snug in her sleeve where she had put her other cloth covered vials, and the sword tied to her side she took out a slender needle. She looked at it closely as she twiddled it between her fingers. Then, she abruptly shot it up into the air. She still had yet to move from her seated position, nor did she even look up. She waited till what she expected to come did. A drop of blood then fell in front of her. It stained her kimono, hitting one of the blue birds that was beautifully sown in. Then, she quickly stood up and turned to see a boy.
Or, rather a man. His stature fooled his age. Even though he stood in the shadows the demon girl could still see him perfectly. He had a look in his red eyes that said she had something he wanted. All she did was smirk as she dodged one of his slices from his katana. She jumped up and hid in a shadow on a wall.
'The last thing I need is a fight.' The girl decided to bypass this annoyance and get out. She slid across the wall within the shadows and left through the crack in the door right behind the other demon.
"Where'd she go?" The other demon that had attacked her then sensed energy behind him and quickly ran out the door. He stopped and surveyed the area around him. He tried to lock in on the girl's energy so he could find her. Maintaining the sense from inside the room, he also had a moving shadow to accompany him in finding the girl. He quickly jumped up into a tree and looked for where the girl was. He saw no one. But the shadow was still moving. She had to be in a tree! Unless...
The boy jumped back down and ran after the shadow that was still gliding across the forest floor. Since there was no body accompanying the shadow, this must mean that this girl was a shadow demon. The boy could tell that the girl now knew she was being followed because the shadow moved even faster now, and started to blend into other shadows to fool him. However, he still had a lock on her energy so even when he couldn't see the shadow he could still follow.
'Damnit, he can still sense me. Well, looks like I'll have to fight him.' The girl disappeared into the shadow of a tree and stopped. The boy stopped as well, and he stood in a defensive stance waiting for an attack. The girl moved behind a tree and came back into physical form. She started to fiddle with her liquids and newly acquired weapons trying to decide what to use. She stayed with what she knew and was used to, and unscrewed a vial of blue liquid and held it firmly in her hand. She stood up, and walked out into plain sight of the other demon.
Without hesitating, he ran and attacked her. She wasn't expecting that but tried to move as fast as she could. They switched positions after the single attack. The man thought he had gotten her with that one strike. He heard something fall to the ground behind him and he smirked, turning around.
The girl stood there, her left sleeve ripping away from the rest of her kimono and blood staining it from her deep cut on her wound. Two piles of cloth fell out, both looking identical. The girl was deadpan, seemingly not feeling the pain and she just looked at the boy. He scowled at her stubbornness to not notice she was beat, and attacked her again, this time with five more strikes of his blade.
The girl tried to dodge as many as she could, but it was inevitable that she would be cut with his speed. She dodged three but was cut twice. Once in her other arm and one right across her stomach. Her once beautiful kimono was now ripped and soaked in blood in several places. She still made no facial expressions and just started to say words under breath. The boy was still angry at her lack of giving up and jumped to try and kill her this time. He smirked at her not moving a muscle, just talking under her breath. He swung his blade over his head and started to bring it down fast for the kill but was suddenly stopped.
His body froze in mid air and he fell to the feet of the girl who had stopped talking now. What had happened? The only part of his whole body that could move was his eyes and lungs so he could still breathe, but not talk. He looked up at the girl and saw her walking away with the cloth in her hands. What the hell had she done?
What she did was use that blue liquid. While getting attacked by the boy, she spilled the liquid around his neck without him even noticing. Once she made the full circle around his neck after the second attack, she said the words that would activate its power. Luckily, she finished them before he struck her again.
Her freezing potion was one of her favorites when she didn't want to confront people. She started walking further away just as snow started to fall to the already snow covered ground. But then something surprised her. It was movement of the demon's energy. She turned around and saw the demon shoot at her. She moved to try and block any vital points that he may aim for, but she was surprised again when all he did was run past her. She whipped around and saw him speed off.
'What the?' She thought for a second before noticing that her load was a little lighter. She looked down and saw one of the clothes missing. He had stolen something, but how? Hadn't her freezing potion stopped him from moving? She looked at the spot that he was lying before and saw blue liquid; it must have dripped off into the snow and broke the circle around his neck. No time to worry about that, she had to get that cloth back. She started to run off into the other's direction.
Now which one was it? The one with the weapons, or the potions? Whichever it was, she needed it back. She slipped into her shadow form and glided along the forest floor even faster as snow continued to collect.
'Strange, this feels like a light load.' The demon was running and took a quick look back and saw no one chasing after him. He slowed down and stopped to look into the cloth. He unrolled it, and saw an assortment of vials of liquids, bags of powder, small books and needles and other utensils.
'Damnit, I grabbed the wrong thing.' Before he could fully turn back around to try and get the weapons that he wanted he was hit upside the head and fell to the ground, letting go of the cloth and all the vials and other things fell out, becoming hidden in the snow. It was her. Her bright blonde hair that was up in a bun and her bright pink kimono glowed, causing him to need to squint. The light that was reflecting off of the snow and hitting her made her appear unreal and unable to really look at.
She squatted down and started to gather her things quickly and put them into the cloth. She was cut short when the other demon tried to attack her. He jumped forward at incredible speed and tried to punch her out, but she jumped back herself to lessen the blow of the punch. The force of his fist to her face caused her to fly back and hit a tree. The second bundle of cloth fell out of her sleeve. The other demon smirked as he stood up straight; he walked over to pick up the weapons.
"Looks like I'll get what I want." He stopped in front of the panting girl and bent down with his arm outstretched.
"Don't touch those." The girl grabbed his wrist and squeezed it forcefully. She got to a squatting position and pulled him toward her, ready to punch him in the stomach, but he disappeared. And so did the cloth with the weapons.
"What?" She popped up to a standing position and tried to see where he had gone. He took the weapons too. That bastard.
She stepped forward and finished gathering all her things and stuck them into her sleeve and tried to lock onto the demon's energy.
'I go through all that crap to get those damn weapons and he swoops in and takes them from me at the last second. I'll kill him. Wait, yes, there he is." She found his energy and went into shadow form to travel faster. She finally got into vision with him and saw he was incredibly fast. She could barely keep up with him. There was only one thing she could do to get to him. She popped up out of her shadow form back to normal, and jumped into a tree. She pulled out a needle and shot it through the air toward the running demon. That should do the job.
Within a second, the demon fell flat into the snow. Her needle, with the help of her impeccable aim, shot into his neck and made him drop the cloth. Going back to shadow form, she sped to his spot and brought the cloth and weapons into shadow form with her but was stopped. The other demon had grabbed for the cloth, not letting her take full hold of it. Angered, she appeared back into her physical form and quickly punched the demon in the face, taking advantage of his slowing muscle reflexes. He still did not let go of the cloth, and the snow that landed on his face slid off into slush of red, the blood that resulted from her punch.
"Would you buzz off and go steal your own weapons! I won't stand by and see all my hard work go to crap! If I have to watch your coattails die in the distance with my weapons I will hunt you down like the slimy animal you are and—" Before she could finish her little rant, she got a piece of her own medicine and was punched in the face with more strength and force than she expected from him. Her head flew back and hit the ground, wetting her hair in the snow.
"I didn't figure you to be a talker after your little frozen face show back there. Now stop talking and let go." The demon had regained his muscle functions back and gripped the cloth covered weapons tighter. The girl looked up, her eyes filled with fury and penetrating the demon next to her.
"You fucking bastard." Something came over the girl and she became freakishly stronger than the other demon had expected from such a frail looking body. She curled her tiny white hand into a fist and punched the demon across the face. The snow began fall harder and the girl kept strong with her punches to the face. Her left arm was getting redder and redder because of the cut she had gotten before, and some of that blood mixed with the blood of the other as she kept hitting him. The girl's other arm had by then let go of the cloth and grabbed the demon's wrist so tight that his hand started to lose circulation. He couldn't escape and as she kept hitting him he finally retaliated by punching her and sending her head back again.
"Crazy bitch." He tried to get the girl to let go of his wrist but he couldn't do it, it seemed that her fingers had become locks around his arm and he couldn't escape. Her strength increase seemed to be from her new rage and the other demon was starting to get equally as angry too.
By now, both demons had discarded the cloth as all they wanted to do now was kill the other. They stared angrily at each other and the girl gripped even tighter and the other could feel his bones begin to shift. He cringed before trying to punch the girl again. She moved her head quickly and finally let go so she could jump back. While she was in the air, she grabbed several needles that she had taped to the inside of her right sleeve and threw them at the other demon. He used his incredible speed to dodge and appeared behind the girl. Before she could react, she could feel a fist that felt like a rock ram into the top of her head and send her down. She collided with the ground and could feel her bones ache with pain. Taking her face out of the snow, she quickly converted to her shadow form as she felt the demon's energy come closer. The demon quickly stopped before hitting the ground and looked to see where the girl was going to come from.
He stood for a second trying to sense where she was going to appear. He looked from side to side trying to see moving shadows but found none. Then, he felt the energy behind him and his eyes dilated at how she could get behind him without him noticing. He moved out of the way quickly and turned to see the girl.
She had gotten to the weapons, and they were now in her sleeve. The demon mentally punched himself for being distracted and letting the girl get them. It seemed now that she was using the curved daggers. The demon forgot that the girl tied the sword within her kimono and wondered why he hadn't seen a bump or movement under it. Then he figured that she hid it on her body in shadow form. It was then that he noticed that she probably hid the cloth on her body now with the other weapons since she had time to do so. Damnit he thought. Now he couldn't kill her otherwise he couldn't get the weapons.
He drew his sword getting ready to stop this. The girl; her hair almost falling out of its bun, blood staining her kimono and face, and her hands gripping the handles of the daggers tight, stood ready. She had one in each hand, the one in her left rested against her forearm for her defensive moves and the one in her right pointed outward for offensive. Knowing that she would have trouble escaping this demon's speed, she attacked first.
She jumped forward and sliced down with her right hand and tried to cut him on the shoulder. He stopped the attack with his sword, but before he could react again the girl shifted in the air as if this was how she wanted it. As she shifted from in front of the demon to behind in the blink of an eye, she let the dagger in her right hand stay connected with the sword but moved her arm so it was in the defensive position and flipped her left dagger into an offensive. All of this in one fluid motion, she swung down and caught the demon in the other shoulder but not as hard as she wanted since the demon moved his sword and shifted her in the air. She landed several feet behind him and slid to a stop. When she slid she moved the snow off of the ground and showed two lines of green.
Both demons ignored the cold and the pending snow storm and continued to fight. The other demon, gripping his shoulder ignored his new pain and ran for her. A string of attacks occurred; one after the other and both demons got cut and injured. They ignored their pains and continued on, both starting to get tired. The demon was surprised that the girl was keeping up with him; it seemed that she was done with trying any more potions or spells and was now just relying on her own strength with this weapon. The demon couldn't make any strikes to kill and his plan to tire her out seemed to be doing just the opposite. This girl's stamina was incredible and some of the best he'd seen. But he was getting tired of this and looked for an opening for a new plan.
He waited several seconds to try and find a slight opening in her attack and finally found it. With one hand, he let go of his sword and shot for her throat. The girl hadn't expected this and couldn't dodge. The demon's force shoved her into the snow. By now, several inches had collected and the girl's head was well over half way covered. She could feel the wet cover her head and it felt good after such a fight. The one thing that didn't feel good was the choking she was getting. She could barely breathe and she tried grabbing for the demon's wrist to try and loosen his grip but his arm felt like stone. She choked for air, and the demon slowly put his sword against her throat.
"Give me the weapons now, and I'll spare your life. Or," the demon spoke low and groggily as he now put the cold steel to her flesh, making a trickle of blood slide down her neck into the snow, "I'll kill you."
The girl looked into his piercing red eyes that were now just slits. He was staring right through her. Slowly, her grip on his arm began to loosen and she struggled less for air and just eased her body to rest some. She had closed her eyes, as if waiting for it to happen. The demon was surprised at this and knew he couldn't do it. Those weapons and anything else on her body would be stuck forever. The demon gulped hard thinking of what to do. During this time, the girl opened one eye to look at him and then two. She had a small smirk on her face as she saw his confused eyes and huffing body from fatigue.
She knew he wouldn't do it, because he wasn't stupid enough to not realize that he couldn't get to the weapons if they were stuck to her body. Quickly, while he was thinking of what to do next, she slipped into shadow form and away from his sword. His grip still held strong though and part of his hand went into shadow form as well. He pulled his hand back out quickly and swore at himself for being distracted yet again. There was something about this girl that made him quiver. He had yet to pin point it.
The snow had finally picked up into a strong wind and snow whirled around their bodies. From slightly afar, they could not see each other. They could only rely on their other senses to fight. But both demons were so out of it, the fight could not last much longer.
The demon stood trying to figure out where the girl would come from next and strained to see movement through the white dots that flew in front of his face. Then, he saw it. A bright pink color entered his vision to his left and he turned and struck without hesitation. The body fell like a sack of bricks and ceased to move. The demon got slightly scared that she was dead and bent down to pick up her body. When he did so, her head fell back limp. His eyes widened, and then his head shot back.
He let go of the body and hit the ground sliding in the snow back and through the forest hitting many trees and causing them to be struck down. A large boom preceded another and another as the trees hit the ground in succession. The wind howled as a new silence fell and the demon struggled to get up. This hit was much stronger then the others. Even stronger then some of the attacks of other formidable opponents he had met. His head started to bleed and he had trouble sitting back up.
He looked forward and saw something in the distance that he didn't expect. There were two figures. One collapsed in the snow and another standing right next to it. Both wore pink kimonos with piercing blonde hair. Before he could think any further, the standing figure ran forward and attacked him and in the blink of an eye was right on top of him.
The girl's outraged face became clearer to the demon and before he could retaliate, she splashed purple liquid onto his face and quickly recited some words. However, the demon was getting familiar with this process and threw the girl off of him. She landed on her side in the snow and he quickly rubbed snow on his own face to get the potion off. While he did this, the girl savagely jumped back onto him and started to punch again.
For several more minutes, the two fighters simply rolled around in the snow trying to get punches in and just try and get control of the fight itself. At one point, the demon knocked the girl's head against a tree and she went limp. He smiled as he saw she was still breathing. He finally figured that he got her unconscious. Now he could rest.
But this wasn't true. The girl's eyes flickered open and she tried to get the dizzy feeling out of her head. Then she saw something that made her smile. She went limp again, still holding the smile on her face. She recited some words and made the demon look down at her abruptly. Then, something startled him. When his face shot toward the girl, a drop of purple liquid fell into the snow. Before he could do anything, his vision went black, and his head collapsed in the snow right next to the girl's.
