Chapter 2
A few days would pass before Garou would get to see the woman again. He hadn't even seen her as a dog either. He didn't even know her name. How pathetic. He had been left alone aside from having the food delivered to him, left outside his door. But he finally caught sight of her as he grabbed her by the arm one day while she was sweeping off the walkway around the hot spring.
"I never got your name." he stated as he held onto her arm.
Her eyes looking from his hand placement up to his face, over her shoulder. "It's Kyo…" she spoke plainly as she pulled slowly away from his hand and continued to sweep.
"So… is this your place?" he asked as he turned half away from her, with his gaze to looks at the trees, as he felt the awkwardness between them, caused by him.
"Yup.." she swept. "This is where I've lived my whole life."
"No one else?"
"Nope. I'm all that's left of the Great Dog Clan." She swept more.
"So you really are a monster then?"
She turned around sharply with eyes to match as her golden optics looked him straight in the eye, making him step back a ways from her sudden action, "I'm not like the monsters that go around killing the humans alright?" she turned away from him and moved more to sweep the walkways. "Just like how not all humans go around killing monsters… I at least kill the other monsters to protect the humans, unlike you."
Something sparked in him as he grabbed the broom away from her and held it away from both of them as he used his other free hand to grab onto her wrist. "I have my reasons for taking the 'humans' out, you know."
Her golden orbs glared up at him. "Oh ya? Then you might need some re-thinking on that. You're taking out the humans who are trying to protect you from the bad monsters." She reached over and yanked her broom away from him, as well as pulling her wrist away from his grasp to go back to sweeping.
He growled as he yanked the broom from her once more, snapping it in half and tossing it off to the side, making her turn to face him. "Those heroes aren't doing anything to help." He stated firmly. "They are just making the people weaker, so they can't fend for themselves…!"
She slapped him across the face. His eyes wide in surprise to the slap; It didn't hurt, maybe stung a bit, but he didn't think she would slap him. "And what right do you have to decide that? You think a child should fight off the monsters? A widow shouldn't have to rely on others for help is she can't do things herself?"
"The heroes are giving false hopes!" he started to tensed up with anger, as he towered over her.
"And you're leaving them to be slaughtered by taking out their line of defense!"
"Then they learn to get stronger!"
"Not all people are capable of becoming strong like you and I!"
He chuckled and pulled back. "And you think you're one of these 'strong' people?"
"If I wasn't, you think Bang wouldn't of left me to take care of you, AND even carry you here to my house in the middle of the forest, on a mountain!?" she growled.
"Don't bring up that damn old man's name!" he grabbed her by the front of her shirt, lifting her up a bit.
She chuckled with a smirk. "And who are you to try and stop me, from doing such? " she put a hand on his wrist and pulled him off with ease, using her right hand. "I'm the one who saved you, Garou." He began to flinch as he bent his arm back more and more. "Not everyone comes off as strong, like you do. Some of us have it hidden under our scars." She shoved him off as she let go of his wrist.
He snarled as he rubbed at his wrist. He wasn't fully healed, it looked like. It had to be that. There was no way that this woman could easily just peel back his arm like that.
"Now I have to find another stupid broom…!" she claimed out and threw her hands up in the air as she took off walking away from him. A bad taste was left in his mouth. How did things turn so bad, again? How pathetic. At least this time she wasn't leaving because she was scared of him.
"Damn…!" he cursed as he kicked at a bush, in frustration. He'd have to try again, in talking to her later; hopefully without getting angry again.
After wandering around the outside of the house, he found himself running into seeing her again, this time kicking the heck out of some poor tree, but not in a frustrated like manner. More like in training. The tree was bare all around the middle where her leg would make contact. It reminded him of when he use to train. With every kick, the tree would shake harshly, and several roots were pulled out of the ground and then tucking back down into the earth. She had most likely almost uplifted the tree a few times and the tree was compensating as best it could.
"Why not practice with me." He said with a grin as he stepped out from where he was, and into her view.
"I don't need crippled people as a sparring partner. Besides, our fights with words tend to be enough as is." She kicked again, and then stopped, as she stepped away from the tree, wiping her face off with her arm. "I may have healed up your body quite a bit, but that doesn't mean you're ready to go back out swinging for a while, you know." She walked up to him, and pushed him in the chest, with her hand. His leg stepping back to catch his balance.
"See? You can't even stand there without moving your leg." She chuckled. "Your balance isn't all there again. You should start training on your own before you start looking for a sparring partner." She tapped him on the chest with a finger, before walking past him. "But.. If you like… you're welcome to this area for training if you want to try and start getting back to where you were." She ran a hand over her head, threw her hair. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go get in the hot springs, so don't go peeping around there again." She laughed at her own joke as she walked off.
Another day passed, and upon the morning, he was out training himself. She was right in that area. He was getting soft. He wouldn't be able to take on the heroes as easily if he didn't get back to getting stronger. And he soon caught sight of her watching with her arms folded for a while, before turning to go off on her own. This would go on a few days, and as a result they started to become more comfortable with one another, no longer with her as a dog. They started to eat lunch and dinner together, and breakfast was often overlooked with training; first on their own, and slowly to start training near one another and then among each other, but never against each other.
And soon, a month had past, since he had came to this home of Kyo.
They started to chat with each other, acting like two people who were trapped in this house, as a wall went all the way around them, aside from the entrance gate. At the end of the day, they would both sit in the dining hall to eat together. They were never elaborate meals, she admitted to her fault in not being the best cook.
Today would go a bit differently, though.
After finishing off dinner, Garou would lean back on his hands, as they both looked outside over the garden area just out a ways. Night had fallen a while ago, leaving it dark outside, other than the light from the moon.
"Hey Garou…" she spoke,
"Hm?" he replied, as he kept his gaze outside.
The sound of movement came from her as she had turned over onto her knees as she sat next to him. She paused there for a moment before he finally turned his head to look at her. But he never would of expected what was to come.
Her hands had came up on the sides of his face, as though lifting up his head to look up at her as she stood up on her knees, looking down at him. Her golden eyes closing as she leaned down kissing him for what seemed like minutes. His own eyes closed as if in instinct as they kissed, and then to open when she pulled away from him. This odd feeling going through him, what was it? Maybe it was what people called bliss? He couldn't remember feeling this before. But it made him feel calm. Something he hadn't had in a long while, especially with the whole hero hunting thing going on.
But the moment he looked to her face, he saw it light up red to her ears, and after a second, as though it had finally caught up to her on what she had just done, she put a hand over her mouth and stood up, talking off out of the room, leaving Garou to still sit there, almost dumb-founded feeling as to what had just happened. His reaction slower than hers, as his own face only now began to turn red up to his ears. His eyes widened in surprise in the aftermath to what had just happened. It was taking him a little longer to register what he just went through. Something that lasted only seconds, felt like minutes, and was only now clicking. He wasn't sure what to do now, as he sat up and forward as he pulled his legs in to cross them. His gaze turned down, as if hoping no one would walk in to see his face. He felt a bit awkward sitting there in his silence as he thought more on the event. He would sit there for a good 10 minutes like that, until his mind was snapped back to reality as the pure sound of something metal hitting something rang threw the air. It seemed to carry on for a split second. It was a familiar sound. He knew that sound, but from what? He began to push himself up as he thought on the sound. Where had he heard it. And then it hit him: Metal Bat.
His pace quickened as he left the dining hall and headed in the direction he had seen her go. Then the sounds of the pure metal ringing again was heard twice more before he found the source, of not only the sound, but Kyo as well.
After running off on Garou, again, she had found herself making her way to the entrance of the property, where the wall had an arch entrance with four teenage boys wandering in.
"What's this place?"
"I dunno. Never seen it before" they walked in, looking around. One of them held a metal bat as though it were a replica to look like the one and only "Metal Bat's bat". "But whatever this place is, we might as well have a look around. Only monsters would hide out this far into the woods."
"Doesn't that mean we shouldn't be out this far either?" another kid asked, as he carried a wooden bat.
"Tshh, come on. We're gonna be heroes, remember? We might as well start killing some off now, to start making a name for ourselves." The boy with the metal bat said, acting more like the leader of the group.
That's when they had caught sight of Kyo standing with her arms folded, looking up at the sky. She hadn't heard them, and mostly hadn't even noticed them from being to lost in her thoughts of what she had just done.
"Psst, hey look. " one of the boys whispered. "She's got some kind of animal ears on her…!"
"And weird markings on her body."
"I bet that she's a monster…! Normal people don't have ears like that."
"Then let's just take her out." The leader grinned as he raised his bat and stepped up behind her.
"Huh?" Kyo's attention finally was coming back to reality, but only at the last moment as the side of her head made contact with a metal bat. And the sound of an odd chime echoed in her ears. Her head turned with the swing of the bat as she toppled over and to the ground on her knees and hands. "Ooowww…" she wined and began to rub at the side of her head where she was struck. Something cold was felt on her hand as she looked to see blood on it. The situation was something more important than what her mind had been lost in. Her eyes turning to look up at where it had came from before another DIIING echoed threw her head, and then another to her shoulder. Her body collapsing on to her forearms as her right hip was in contact with the ground. Her head spinning as it bobbled back and forth from the strikes.
"D-don't you think that's enough?"
"Come on…! It's just some stupid monster."
"But she's still a girl though."
"Stop being a baby! If you go soft on a girl monster, what makes you think you'll be able to become a hero!?" he laughed as he began to raise his bat once more. While the other three boys watched, with similar smiles on their faces as he had made a point. They couldn't see gender if they wanted to take out every kind of monster.
"Don't worry monster, I'll put you out of your misery." His grin showed off his teeth as his wide eyes made him seem nothing like a hero with his bat raised in the air. "Good night, Monster…!"
The bat began to swing down, but with it still in mid air, was brought to a stop.
"Huh?" the three other boys gasped and back away as the leader then took his to turn and look back at why his bat hadn't swung all the way through. His own eyes filling with a strong fear as though he were looking into the eyes of hell it's self. The moon behind him only made the eyes stand out more with the face in full shadow.
"Its people like you who make monsters like me come out to play." Garou spoke with death in his words. The teenager shaking in fear as he let go of the bat instantly and back away with his friends. All four of them to now tremble.
"Y-y-you're the.. The hero h-h-hunter…!" one yelled as Garou crushed the bat in his hand and tossed it to the side. Garou's hair like horns in the teenager's eyes, as they looked up at him; the moon leaving his front view in all shadow. The hero hunter's grin bared as he looked down at them. When was the last time he actually fought someone this easy?
"W…wait….!" Kyo called out, as she reached a hand out towards Garou from the ground. And as if his menacing chord was snipped, his head turned towards her voice as his expression became one of great concern. His interest leaving the teenagers as he went quickly to the female's side, leaving the boys to take off running with no longer dry pants.
Kyo panted heavily with her head down. Her hair falling over the sides of her face as she could see blood dripping off her face onto the stone paved ground under her. Her body in confusion as she could feel her blood pulse in her head from where she was hit. Her hands trembling from the aftermath shock to the head as her body began to collapse slowly to the ground with every heavy breath.
"Kyo…!" Garou called as he knelt down quickly and picked her up in his arms with swiftness. His attention turning to the house as he rushed her back inside to his room, and laid her on his bed. Her eyes rolling about slowly as though she was having a hard time both staying awake as well as focusing on anything. "Mutt..! Don't fall asleep!" he yelled as he grabbed a towel and began to wiping the blood from her face as he lifted her head up.
"So…tired…" she began, as her body began to tire out , and her eyes began to close,
"No! Don't fall asleep!" he barked.
"I'll get up.. In the morning…." She mumbled out as she closed her eyes and slipped from consciousness.
