Though it was already well passed sunrise, the sky was still a deep scarlet, casting eerie rays on the village. There was no wind, so the surrounding trees remained silent and still. Not a single cloud could be found overhead. Only the ominous color that stained the sky was visible.

Noriko had just finished helping the villagers with preparations. If by some chance they were attacked without her noticing, they could at least defend themselves until she could help. She wasn't taking chances. If she couldn't even protect this village, she could never hold her head up in front of her own people.

She walked through the streets, heading towards the edge of the village where Sou had told her the Bantouji brothers would arrive. Noriko didn't trust humans to keep watch. Their eyesight was faulty. Many of them couldn't even sense the killing intent of others. Only those that killed on a daily basis could do that.

When she finally got there, Noriko noticed a group of children playing on the road. One of the boys saw her walking towards them and began to wave, throwing both of his arms above his head. He looked about eight or nine years old, and the oldest of the group. As he ran up to her, the rest followed, now aware of her presence. "Miss bounty hunter!" Closing in, they grabbed her arms, fighting to touch her. "Miss, are you gonna fight the bad guys?"

Noriko smiled. "Yeah, I'm going to fight them. I'll make sure they never come back here again." The children laughed. "Why aren't you all back home with your parents? It's dangerous here."

"We wanna see you beat em up, big sister," a little girl hummed. "When they're gone, momma won't cry anymore. Momma and papa will be happy again!" She stared at Noriko. "Big sister, aren't your momma and papa sad?"

Noriko's smile disappeared. Yeah, her parents were sad. Their souls weep every day their daughter is away from them, never to hear them again. When a god dies, their physical body disappears, but the soul is still intact. However, these souls can only be heard, not seen, by those related to them.

Noriko was the only one who could listen to her parents. The problem was her banishment. When she was banished to the world of humans, she lost her ability to hear them. Forever.

Fearing that the children would sense her feelings, Noriko quickly answered them. "No, my parents are quite happy. They smile every day."

Once again, the children danced around her. The oldest asked her to watch a trick he had been practicing that day, and began to run towards the open path. As Noriko looked ahead, she noticed a shadow on the horizon. The boy had only taken a few steps before Noriko grabbed his collar.

"All of you, listen to big sister." Though she was speaking to the children, her eyes never left the figure that was slowly approaching the village. "Go tell Sou that the bad men have come. And tell the man who came with big sister to hurry up."

The kids ran off after stealing a glance down the road. Noriko knew that they couldn't see anything. Only her eyes could see the giant figure trudging up the road, along with a now visible entourage of men. Weak bandits no doubt. Now Sou and the villagers would have to work even harder to protect themselves.

Sou came running up to her, followed by every villager that could fight. She never met their gazes as the filed in one by one. "I still don't understand why you want to be involved, Sou," Noriko asked. "I told you I can take care of them on my own. You don't trust me?"

"We don't want to look like cowards, miss," he answered. "Though we are indeed frightened by the two demons, we also want to fight for our own lives."

Then what was the point of hiring me? To stand back and watch you all kill yourselves? Noriko didn't retort. The villagers and Sou were too stubborn. It would have been easier to push a hundred ton boulder than to change their minds. Kyoshiro suddenly appeared out of the crowd. He wore heavy, reinforced samurai armor and wielded one of the village's katanas, his own hanging by his waist.

He did not want to be there. Noriko could see it in his eyes. Whether it was his lack of "fighting" skills or his hatred of violence, she couldn't tell. Probably both. But Kyoshiro knew that even if he managed to slip away during the fighting, she'd find him again.

Time seemed to drag as the shadowy figure became a solid figure, now only yards away. The entourage had disappeared earlier, most likely hiding until they were called. The villagers began to shake when the mass of flesh stopped. It was not one, but two people.

The first "demon" was a large man, more than six feet tall. His body was padded with muscle of fat, but Noriko couldn't tell. The cover of fur that he wore over his kimono made it difficult to determine anything. The only things that stood out was his huge size, the giant hammer slung across his shoulder, and the octopus hanging out of his mouth.

The second "demon" was an extremely small person, perhaps almost four feet tall. He sat on the shoulder of the other demon, like an annoying bird that never leaves you alone. He had long, claw-like blades on his hands as weapons.

Noriko only stared at the brothers. The small one should be the "Wind" and the other the "Iron Stick."

"What do we have here?" the little one spoke. "A little resistance, I see. Well then, Banji. It seems that we'll be able to have some fun after all." His voice was unusually high pitched and was somewhat scratchy. It made Noriko want to punch him just for daring to speak.

"Yes, Toji." Banji just stood, chewing on his octopus.

Noriko sighed, catching Toji's attention. He was obviously the brains of the two. "What do you plan to do? Kill us all yourself or have your followers do it for you?" Toji looked shocked. Obviously they had taken the precaution to hide their men for the surprise effect. To have it exposed in the first thirty seconds was a waste. "Surprised?"

Toji smirked. "Even if you know about our group, it doesn't matter. The people from the village can't fight at all. Just sit back and accept the punishment for rebelling against us. Banji." Suddenly, Banji raised his hand. Inside his fist was the oldest child from before. "The boy was so eager to catch a glimpse of us, so we caught him. He shall be the first victim. You all should just watch and wait for your turns."

"That's the card you're going to play? Pathetic."

Toji and Banji immediately stopped smiling. Noriko's statement had thrown them off. The child squirmed inside Banji's fist, complaining about the pain he felt. The villagers stepped closer, but didn't advance any further. They knew that any move would result only in the child's and their own deaths.

Toji suddenly let out a whistle. "Banji, let the little twerp go." His eyes did not leave Noriko. As the child was set on the ground, the bandits began to pile up behind the brothers. Each outlaw held a weapon, meaning there was no intention of any "harmless exchange." Noriko didn't flinch as the last outlaw stood behind Banji and Toji. The child cried as he ran into the crowd of villagers, who were now certain they never stood a chance.

"Since you think you're so tough, little girl, I think we should kill you first. If we kill you, then the villagers will definitely lose all hope and just let us kill them."

"As if I'll let you touch me."

Without blinking, Noriko reached for the dagger lodged in the back of her kimono. Keeping her sight on her target, Banji's head, she threw the blade. She knew it could be easily dodged. She couldn't kill a human. It was meant as a warning.

What followed was not what she was expecting. Banji did not move. Instead, the blade contact, throwing his head backward. It seemed that the knife had planted itself inside his skull, sticking up towards the sky. The villagers began to cheer, yelling in excitement.

But the bandits just began to laugh. The villagers quieted down, now suspicious of the followers reactions. Kyoshiro sidled up to Noriko. "What do you think they're laughing about? Their leader just got stabbed in the head!"

Noriko just chuckled. "Because he's not dead."

Kyoshiro began to question her when, suddenly, Banji's head reverted back to its original position. The dagger was lodged inside his teeth. There was no blood to be seen, only a small stream of ink that trickled down his chin and onto his protruding gut.

Before Noriko could acknowledge the human's durability, she noticed that Toji was nowhere to be seen. He had jumped off of Banji when she had thrown the knife. She was about to warn Kyoshiro and the villagers to be alert, but was interrupted by Toji, who had decided to flank her. Toji swung his claw at her waist, aiming for her organs. Noriko smacked his arm, sending his momentum away from her body. His other arm came from above, threatening to tear at her face. She reached for his wrist, grabbed his arm, and with her free hand pushed down on his elbow, causing a cracking sound to escape from his body.

He screamed as he pushed away from her, jumping back to Banji. "You're not bad, little girl. But round two will be different!" He raised his unbroken arm, pointing his claw at her. "I will make it so that you won't even be able to move, and then I'll let our men have their way with you once I'm done!"

Kyoshiro stepped forward, which shocked Noriko. "You can't do that! Attacking a girl is just . . . it's not right! Plus it's like thirty against one! It's not fair!" He looked back at Noriko. "And you can't kill them right? Let's just stop this senseless fighting now."

"Kyoshiro, step out of the way. You'll just get hurt." Noriko grabbed his shoulder. "I understand that you don't want any pointless fighting, but I'm afraid there's just some people that will never accept that."

"Anyone can . . ."

"No, Kyoshiro." Her voice was stern now. "There are some humans who will never understand this. They can't comprehend a world without violent conflict. It's the human condition."

"But . . ." Suddenly, Noriko noticed Toji only a few inches away from Kyoshiro. She grabbed Kyoshiro by the neck and pulled herself forward. She grabbed his opposite shoulder, keeping herself on his back. There was no time to safely block Toji without a blade and still protect Kyoshiro. Toji's claw sliced through her back, digging deep into her back. But he refused to leave it at that. He took another swipe at her, clipping her arm and dragging his claw even deeper through the previous wound.

Noriko refused to scream. She would not give Toji the satisfaction of hearing her in pain. He once again receded back to Banji when she tried to kick him.

"Noriko! Noriko!" Before she could fall to her knees, Kyoshiro helped to hold her up. "Are you alright? Noriko!"

"You're the doctor, aren't you? Stop screaming." Kyoshiro stopped screaming. Her voice was once again a snarl. "Why didn't you just back off? I wouldn't be in this predicament if you had just accepted the fact that there are idiots in this world."

Kyoshiro eased her down onto the ground. "You shouldn't stand." His tone was apologetic. "Sorry." The brother's followers began to converge on them, letting their leaders smile on as they watched their enemy on the ground. Kyoshiro stood, once again in front of Noriko, and didn't budge. "Wait! You don't have to do this!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. The small tinkling sound it made signaled the presence of money. "Here! It's all the money I have! Please just leave!"

The bandits laughed. One stepped forward and punched Kyoshiro in the stomach. As Kyoshiro began to cough up blood, another man took another swing, nailing him in the jaw. "He's really weak!" one man taunted. Others laughed and screamed "idiot" and "fool."

Noriko tried to stand, but Kyoshiro screamed at her. "Don't do anything, Noriko!" A bandit slugged him in the face as another kicked him in the gut. "Violence . . .won't solve . . .anything." He clutched the sword on his waist, using it to slowly prop himself up. "You all . . . should also stop."

"Why would we do that?" The bandit that spoke just laughed. "We're just gettin' started!" He looked towards Noriko. "And you'll be next, sweetie. Once we're through with him, it'll just be you!" Noriko spat in return.

"This will only . . .end in death. Your deaths." Noriko felt a chill run down her spine, one that was similar to when Kyoshiro snapped before. "Run! He is coming!"

The bandit from before only laughed and lunged towards Kyoshiro, sword raised above his head. Before Noriko could push off the ground to run to Kyoshiro, he drew his sword. It was then that she noticed the blood stained bandages that tied the sword shut. The linen snapped as the blade was exposed. The next thing anyone saw was the sword raised at Kyoshiro's side and the bandit's body slowly splitting into two halves at the chest, his head on one and his arms and legs attached to the other. The bandits stepped back.

Noriko froze. Kyoshiro had released killing aura before, but he had never used his sword. Now he had killed a man. Kyoshiro only shook the blood of his sword and rested it against his shoulder. One bandit that lingered in the back ran towards Noriko, placing his katana to her neck. "If you so much as move, I'll kill the girl! Drop your sword!"

But Noriko never took her eyes off Kyoshiro. She didn't care that the fat man behind her threatened her life. What drew her attention was the renewed figure standing by the split corpse. Her senses told her that man was the most dangerous out of all the people present, and that he was the only one that she had to fear.

Kyoshiro only turned his head, smiling. "Do as you wish." The voice wasn't Kyoshiro's. The posture wasn't Kyoshiro's. The smug, arrogant smile wasn't Kyoshiro's. What drew Noriko's attention the most was his eyes. They weren't black. They were a deep, blood red.

It wasn't Kyoshiro that stood before her. It was Demon Eyes Kyo.