Beyond Flesh and Blood

Chapter II An Impression

As the dawn of a new day began, so did the endless cycle of Flora's life. Getting up and stretching, she looked around, idly noting how nothing had changed since last night. Looking towards the fire pit, she saw it was still burning, yet no one was attending it. Looking towards the bank, she saw his horse Rose quietly eating from a bag, what was most likely oats, minding its own business, occasionally taking drinks of water from the stream. Looking back to the fire, she saw how all of his gear was still there, save for his sabatons, leading her to the conclusion he had gone out somewhere, possibly gathering food. Taking this as an opportunity to be on her way, she began to put her armour back on. With quick, methodical precision, she sheathed her weapon, and was on her way again.

However, her stopped when she heard someone call out, "Leaving without as much as a good bye?" Turning around, she saw Henry had returned, with a bagful of wood. Somewhat bewildered by his statement and the fact he had seemed to have gone out only to get wood, she looked at him curiously.

Sighing to himself, Henry quickly grabbed a large rock nearby, and started to shove the fire towards the water. Completed with that task, he pulled out a small pot from one of the bags on his house, and used it to cool off the fire pit. Satisfied with his completed tasks, he secured the bag of wood onto the other side of Rose before he quickly picked up his cloak, reached inside and secured it around him, resulting in two distinctive clicks.

"That was rude of you," Henry muttered as he grabbed hold of his horse's reigns. "You could've left some sort of message."

"I saw no point," Flora calmly replied. "Goodbye." Satisfied with her farewell, she turned around and resumed her pace.

"Mind if I join you?" Henry called out as he quickly caught up with her. Flora said nothing as she continued, paying no heed towards Henry, who had fallen in step with her. They continued to walk for some time in relative silence, occasionally speaking with one another.

As they silently walked the open road, Flora's mind slowly drifted back to the comment Henry had made about her. He said she suited her name. She still failed to see how she had any relation to the Goddess of Flowers. She didn't smell anything like such. She reeked of the stench of blood and Yoma essence. Never in her life had she ever recalled smelling anything different, no matter if she bathed in water or soap. Plus, she didn't regard herself as pretty or anything, only a warrior with the task of dealing with Yoma. So the fact someone referred her to a flower greatly confused her.

Then there was the fact how he had easily cut off the Yoma's fingers with ease. From her experiences, humans lacked the strength required to perform such a feat. The most any human could do was create small wounds, possibly distract them, allowing her brethren to make the final kill. It was another confusion that added to the mystery behind Henry.

Another oddity, although not really important, was when he had returned, all he had gone out to do was to gather firewood. From what she had gathered the other night, the amount of dried meat he had left over was consumed during his evening meal. So the fact he was able to keep up with her at this point without having had anything to eat only added up to the present series of questions and confusion regarding him.

'Just who is he?' Flora mentally wondered, her suspicions from last night still unsatisfied. However, with no real evidence to backup her claim, she simply let him be until he was proven to be some nuisance, or proved her suspicions.

They continued to walk in silence for a few more hours. Throughout the entire time, Henry had restrained himself from speaking, figuring that Flora was already annoyed with his presence especially considering what had happened last night. But it didn't prevent him from quietly making up questions he could possibly ask her later.

From behind, he couldn't help but regard her as a beautiful girl. Although possibly much older than she appeared, she looked not much older than possibly 17 or 18. The spandex outfit may have left little to the imagination; it was her face that captivated him. The way her hair conformed around her head and shoulders, her soft yet pale complexion seemed to compliment one another. But it was her eyes that captivated him the most, especially what happened last night when he laid atop her for that brief moment.

Those silver eyes that acted as the window to her soul showed him something he found attractive, but at the same time brought him great sadness. He could see the pain in her soul, but the contact had been too brief for him to really understand what he saw. Nonetheless, he was drawn in. However, a thought occurred to him as he pondered upon what he saw: Why was it that he saw a child in her eyes? Weren't Claymores trained from birth? He immediately shook his head of such questions, remembering the answers he had once been told before: Claymores were orphaned girls who were trained from young ages.

Putting that particular thought aside, he thought back to what could've caused such pain in her life. Although it was probably due to a Yoma attack, what could've caused as much trauma and pain that he saw in her eyes eluded him. It was especially troubling, as she seemed to have this natural response of somehow allowing her eyes to bear this dead appearance, shielding her soul from the world. It was a bit of a mystery to him, but it was one he intended to solve.

"We'll rest here."

"Huh?!"

"I said, we can rest here," said Flora, indicating towards a small clearing next to a small pond. "Wait here, I shall return in a moment."

"Okay," Henry replied somewhat confused, but shrugged it off, removing his cloak. Noting the time of day it was, he did the most sensible thing: "I guess I'll set up camp."

Meanwhile, Flora walked a ways away from her deciding resting spot, quietly looking for whoever it was that called her. Having found the area the signal was made, she quietly stood on the spot, waiting for her caller.

A quiet rustling behind her alerted her of the presence of someone. Turning around, she glared at a short man, despite the fact he remained hidden in the shadows of the trees, which served to darken his appearance, as he was already wearing black clothing.

"Yes Skansen?" Flora asked, finding that she really disliked being around the man more than she had to.

"My, my," he jeered, smiling. "I see that you've picked up a man for yourself."

"Do you have a mission for me or not?" Flora deadpanned, not interested in hearing his crude jokes or remarks.

"There is an Awakened hunting party that is gathering in the city of Helbrecht," said Skansen, his voice stern and crisp as he briefed her. "You will be leading a party of 4 others."

"Anything else?"

"You seem to be in a rush," Skansen commented with a sneer. "Perhaps my presence had spoiled the mood and you wish to resume your business." Flora simply stared at him impassively, suppressing all thoughts about his comments, not even daring to think about wanting to leave. She wasn't going to allow her thoughts to betray her expression. She had always hated the man's antics, and the last thing she needed was a crude, possibly disgusting or sexual remark from him. She had long tolerated his statements, but this was one she was not going to give him a reason to.

"I will be taking my leave then," Flora muttered, turning to leave.

"Slow down there prancer," Skansen called out, "Santa isn't ready for you yet, go back into that sack and play with your toys." Flora had clenched her fists tightly at the remark. Again he had gained the last word, at her expense. It bothered her to end how he would come out with these crude remarks every single time she had to speak with him. For the life of her, she began to believe he did this out of sheer amusement, finding pleasure in harassing her as she leaves.

Forcing herself to remain calm, she continued her pace, the only signs of her anger were the bloody gloves, resulted from her nails digging small wounds on the palms of her hands, incidentally tearing holes into her gloves.

"Oi," he calls out, tossing something which lands on her shoulder. "Take these and go be a bad girl, at least that way you can cover up the hard earned foreskin on your hands."

Gritting her teeth beneath her lips, she continued her pace; all the while her retainer had the gall to laugh out loud behind her back. Maintaining her composure throughout, she calmly exited the forest to see Henry quietly preparing some fish before cooking them in the fire he had going.

"Oh, you're back," Henry commented, looking up a moment to greet her before turning back and finishing his fish.

Flora lightly grunts in response as she removed her current cloves, wiped her hands clean and discarded them, before taking the gloves that still sat on her shoulders and put them on. Turning to leave, she told him not to follow her before heading off into a deeper section of the woods that was a fair distance from the intended path they would need to take in order to reach Helbrecht.

Grasping her hilt, she grunted as she quietly slashed through every tree around her with quick, lightning precision, slashing nothing but the trunks of the trees that surrounded her, never touching anything but the trunks. Each move was swift, clean, precise, and to the point, each target representing a piece of the body which she longed to cut. But unfortunately his death would mark her to be executed as well. All she could do was vent upon hapless trees and Yomas which just unfortunately happened to be target. Thankfully she would have an Awakened Being to deal with, which would greatly help her vent her frustrations.

Breathing slowly, she eased the grip of her sword; satisfied her abilities of drawing, slashing, and sheathing, in a split second were up to par. Taking a few steps back, she watched as all the trees she had cut down collapse upon one another, creating a tepee-shaped formation.

Back at the campsite, Henry sighed tiredly as he quietly ate his fish. His thoughts drifted from one subject to the next, never dwelling long on one thing before his mind came up with another thought to ponder on. Majority of his life had been spent travelling from one city to the next, training, fighting, eating, and the likes, never able to find a place to really settle down and call home, or even a place just to relax for a few days.

A wry grinned formed on his face as he figured how his life greatly paralleled the life of a Claymore: wake up, travel, eat, sleep, and fighting. He hated the life, and was sure that they hated the life they led as well. But unlike him, they had no other choice, and could continue to fight and fight until the day they died from battle. That was their life. His life could easily change. He could easily give up fighting, put down his sword, and find a woman to start his family. Many times he had considered giving up the way of the sword in exchange for creating a family.

But like everything else in life, he lacked the drive, ambition, and dedication to make such a feat. Something always held him back from going on. Perhaps it was the warrior's call, perhaps it was the fact he would never find the right woman, or perhaps due to his personal condition. Whatever it was, he has long yet to give up his sword, figuring he never would.

A soft rustling drew his attention as he looks up to see, to his great surprise, Flora with a large bundle of finely cute wood slung over her shoulder, all tied up with what looked like roots. He felt his jaw drop in surprise, never knowing how each piece of long represented a chopped up piece of Skansen.

"I've brought firewood for tomorrow," she quietly stated, dropping the bundle neatly next to Henry's present stockpile of wood.

"What did you do?" he asked in utter surprise. "That looks like enough for at least two or three nights."

"Venting can do wonders," Flora deadpanned as she began to remove her armour. Henry could do nothing but simply sit on his rump and quietly ate his fish, as his mind pondered on the possibility of if he unfortunately made her angry. Although outwardly she showed no signs of anger, her cuttings told the story. Looking at the freshly cut wood pieces, he could see just how much force she had put into each cut. Even the precision of the cuts told a story. Such a clean cut told of a focused rage as the cutter superimposed the object of her rage on the unfortunate tree trunks.

Henry shuddered involuntarily as the thought of a living person or creature facing her wrath. Although they may deserve it, the possibility of someone actually going through that disturbed him. Shaking off the feeling, he went back to eating his fish, and making a big note to never get Flora angry.

Letting herself to crack a small smile, Flora noted the shudder and found amusement in his fear. However, his fear was justified, especially by the fact she had mentioned about venting. But regardless, she silently swore to at least get back at the man if she couldn't kill him. Since she had received her sword and began missions, he had been nothing but a thorn on her side, taunting her, annoying her, and on occasions, made very crude and disgusting remarks, which often had sexual innuendos, which extremely bothered her to no end.

"So long as you do not bother me, you are in no danger," Flora stated, smiling lightly when she saw Henry slightly jump from the sudden statement.

"Anyways, where you off to tomorrow?" he asked, curious of her destination and wanting to get off the previous subject.

"I fail to see why I should explain myself."

"I'm just curious, and I figure since I'm going to be travelling with you for a while, I may as well join you," Henry countered casually, lying down to gaze at the stars.

"I do not recall ever allowing you to join me," Flora replied, starting to feel agitated again.

"Ah c'mon," Henry whined. "I just want to follow because we're both heading in the same direction. Besides, I've got a job call in Helbrecht to join some hunting party, that's going after a Voracious Eater or something like that."

"Pardon me?" Flora couldn't help but stare at him incredulously. If he said what she believed he said, he was about to probably enter a suicide mission.

"I was asked a few days ago by some man in black clothes who said that he requested my skills to join a hunting party," he explained. "Pay is apparently good." Flora immediately frowned. For some odd reason, the organization had hired a human mercenary. That put her off greatly. It wasn't possible for a human to slay a Yoma solo. However, she had little choice in the matter, as he was likely going to join the hunt no matter what she did, plus he was not her problem per se. But considering she was going to be the party captain, it would do just fine as she would probably test him and give him a back-up role.

"I see," Flora deadpanned, her voice perfectly concealing her astonishment, and newfound knowledge of who was on the team, and the fact she was going to be his leader.

"I wonder what they're like," Henry muttered, turning his head towards Flora. "You wouldn't happen to know what they're like would you?"

Flora quietly contemplated on the question. She could explain their true nature then and there and tell him, as well as the fact she's on his team, and that she will be his leader, or she could feign temporary innocence and say nothing. However, it would most likely compromise their trust in the long run, especially when he find out she lied to him. Realizing which would be the better choice, she steeled herself and took a calming breath.

"Voracious Eater is a term used for public relations," Flora began. "They are actually something we call Awakened Beings, former warriors who have fallen before their own powers, and have become what they hate most: a Yoma, far greater and more powerful than a normal one.

"If a request is made to dispatch such a monster, our leaders weigh the pros and cons of such a hunt, and will dispatch the best possible team with the warriors available to deal with the encounter, with a single digit leading the team. The price is quite high mind you; therefore often it would require a couple towns in order to pay for such an endeavour.

"Your target is actually an Awakened Being, and I am the leader of the party you are to join up with."

"Wow," Henry commented, his expression one of amusement.

"You do not fear for your life?" she asked, somewhat surprised by such a near-bland response.

"Oh I'm scared out of my wits," said Henry, "but why would I want to let that get me down?! I've taken on Yoma before. This'll be no different, except that it's just a bigger, uglier, and stronger one." Flora couldn't help but look at him curiously. Here was a man who spoke with no fear and absolute confidence. It was as if he knew the party was going to succeed.

"How can you be so sure?" Flora asked, sceptical of his optimism. "We have lost many of our warriors in order to take down one Awakened Being."

"I just know it," Henry stated, his confidence resolute, his statement unwavering. And somehow, Flora believed what he stated.

"So, what exactly are we doing when we get the rally point?" Henry asked.

"We are to gather, where I shall then test everyone's skills and abilities," Flora explained. "It'll help me understand our fighting potential, and I can plan accordingly."

"If that's the case," Henry began as he sat up, "why not test me now?" Flora's looked at him in mild surprise as he drew his blade.

"Pardon me?"

"C'mon, it'll be fun," Henry exclaimed with a smile. "Besides, it'll be fun to cross swords with a claymore user."

"Fun?" she asked, utterly confused to his reaction. "I fail to see how there is any amusement in sparring."

"Oh don't tell me that you haven't just had fights for the fun of it," Henry asked, almost aghast by her question. Flora simply glared at him.

"You're no fun," he pouted.

"Very well," Flora replied, picking up her sword. "Show me your power."

With no further prompting, Flora dashed forward as she prepared for a diagonal slash.

Henry smirked as he swung his sword arm over his head, deflecting the blow. As the momentum carried on spinning his arm back, his offhand reached up and grabbed the hilt as he prepared for his on diagonal slash, only for the blade to greet air. Looking ahead, Flora dashed forward again as she lunged her blade forward.

Parrying the attack to his left, he let out roar as he brought his blade parallel with the ground and advanced forward to cleave her in two. Flora immediately reacted, flipping over the blade and moved to slash his shoulder as she passed over. Reacting with surprising speed, Henry ducked down and swung his leg out as he swept Flora off her feet as she landed.

Executing an immediate back flip she narrowly dodged a hammer blow which would've possibly cut her hair. Landing back on the ground, she narrowly brought her guard up as Henry started attacking her with a series of blows in rapid succession. Although a person of her powers could easily make the attacks faster, she noted how fast he already was attacking, considering the weight and size of his weapon. She also noted how he had a minor advantage in terms of the difference in width of their weapons. While hers was broad at the base and arrow shaped, his was a straight edged, giving him the ability to possibly weave through her guard and strike her.

Her fears solidified as he suddenly weaved his weapon through her guard. Spinning away, she immediately lashed her leg out and kicked him hard in the head.

Barely able to recover, Henry falls into a defensive position as Flora launched her counterattack. And unfortunately for him, he was forced to continuously retreat, never able to gain any solid footing to retaliate. With each swing he barely blocks and back off. With each lunge he narrowly dodges and retreats. With each stab he barely parries and backs off.

Sensing his defences diminishing, she goes for one last shot, relieving him of his weapon, blade edge tight against his throat.

Henry immediately froze on the spot; fearing one wrong move would cost him his life, even if it was an accident. Although the bout had been really fun, it had ended a lot quicker than he had hoped.

'That's what I get for messing around I suppose,' he inwardly thought, not daring to voice his opinion.

"Not bad," Flora commented, backing off and placing the weapon back in the ground.

'I underestimated him somewhat,' she mentally commented. 'I can see why the organization would require his services. They wish to rid themselves of a possible threat to their income.'

"We will rest, and will proceed at first light," said Flora, sitting down and leaning against her sword. "Know that an Awakened Being will be stronger than us warriors in most respect."

"I'll keep that in mind," Henry muttered, placing his sword back in its sheath before pulling out the small blanket that acted as his pillow, and tossing more wood into the fire.