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Chapter 2: The Wounded Archer

Ace was just coming from a small town, basically having the restuarant there almost run out of food because of him, and also enjoying the food and a good nap, but now he's off again, but as he walks along the hill that leads to the beach, he sees a woman siting on the sands.

Ace blinked in surprised, "What's she doing here alone," Ace wondered, the woman looked like she was in trouble, although seeing that it's none of his business, Ace can't help but being curious, he ran down the hill and reached to where the woman is, from behind she had long black hair in a ponytail, but after making a few steps toward, he stopped, about to call out to her when the woman turned to face him.

Ace was able to see the woman's face, she had bangs, brown eyes, and skin so pale, she looked like she hasn't been in the sun for years, she wore a white blouse with a long red skirt, and she wore sandles but with socks on.

After being seen, he then spoke to the woman, "Hey, are you alright?" maybe not the best way of saying, because the next thing he gets was the woman's angry expression, "Was it something I said?" Ace thought.

Ace was feeling a bit nervous, especially when the woman was holding her bow, but still tries to remain cool, "Never seen you around, are you from town," Ace pointed to the direction where he came from.

But he still got no response, the woman did get up but she still held her bow, "If your lost, I could help you get to-," Ace stopped as soon as the woman drew her bow and aimed her arrow at Ace.

This made him got back a little, who ever this woman is, she sure has some problems with Ace, but the two never even met before, "WHOA! Hey, I'm just trying to help you!" Ace said, but the woman isn't letting her gaurd down, however, other than the arrow about to pierce his face, in which he could easily deal with, there was something wrong with the woman.

Sweat was starting to drop on the side of the woman's face, and as he continues to stare at her, he then noticed the woman is wounded on her right shoulder, she was in a fight.

But the face of the woman was what got to Ace, she seemed startle, like she never felt the pain of the wound before.

"Hey, you need to get a doctor to look at that," Ace tries to reach his hand out but the woman stopped him, "Stay back!" she shouted, her voice was young and strong, but there was still a sound of hurt somewhere there.

"Your hurt, just let me help you get to town," Ace tries to convince the woman.

"I don't know who you are," she began.

True, it's smart not to just trust strangers immedietly, but is she really that stubborn and dumb not to go to a doctor.

"What I do know is that your not just human, are you?" she said, Ace just gave a confused face.

"What do you mean?" Ace said, without warning, Kikyo released her grip of the arrow, "Oh cra-" Ace cursed.

Kikyo watches in surprise, she was only going to shoot her arrow away from the man's face to back him off, but instead gets a different results, seeing her sacred arrow now burning to dust on the sand in front of the strange man, the pain of her wound was the least surprising thing, now that his power was much clearer to Kikyo, with the flames appearing from his hands and then going out.

She knew that she was no match for this...Human? Demon? Maybe even both were in his blood, but either way, in her condition, she had no choice but to escape.

Kikyo pulled out another arrow, this time directly at the half-demon, while the man just made an annoyed look.

"Really? Your going to try that again?" he said, having doubts that her arrows would ever hit him.

However, he was surprised when Kikyo shot the arrow at the sand below his feet, creating a small blast and making the cloud of sand blinding him for a moment.

This gave Kikyo a chance to run while the man was blinded, she ran past him and up to the hill just enough time before the man's sight returns, looking behind her, the man cleared the blast with his power, seeing her running away, he yelled at her.

"Where do you think you're going?!" said the man, Kikyo continues to run until she finds herself away from the beach and into a forest.

No doubt that the fire demon is following her, but little of her knowledge that the man was only worry about her safety and condition.

"Hey! Slow down!" said the man, following Kikyo through the trees, Kikyo shows no sign of slowing, but the pain on her right shoulder did made her stop and hid behind the trees, this gave her a chance to breathe.

"His aura," Kikyo breathed out, the mere presense of this fire demon is what weakens Kikyo, a dark presense, a presense so strong that it was stronger than Kikyo's spiritual powers, his powers and aura, it was a presense of destruction, he was able to burn her arrow so easily, what's not to stop him from killing her as well, she could not take such risk. "I need to get away from him," she said to herself, her face dripping with sweats.

She hears the half demon's voice again, "HEY! You shouldn't run away like that, you're going to get yourself killed here!" he warned her, Kikyo sees him far away from her, there was a strange symbol on his back, a picture of a man with a white beard, behind it was a blue anchor, is he in some sort of tribe?

Who ever he is, even with his aura strong, he didn't seem the type of demon Naraku would sent, but if so, why does Kikyo's heart race with just a sight of him.

"Listen, I'm not going to ask what happened to you, since that's probably none of my business," Kikyo listens carefully for what the man is saying, he's voice was sincere and somewhat friendly, "But what ever guy you mess with, I'm not one of them, you'll be better off when you see a doctor at town, so you'll have no trouble with me!" he sounded like he really was concerned for her, was he really a demon, or is he just like any man.

It is true that the pain of her wound was getting worse, could Kikyo really trust him? She gives it a thought but were interrupted, when she spotted a shadowy figure between the bushes where the half-fire demon is, its eyes were glowing red in the bushes.

"HELLO!?" Ace made another call, but with no response, he really hoped that the woman didn't get herself in any trouble, "What was her problem anyway?" he thought, Ace started walking again, and when he did, an arrow was shot passing right behind him, he turned around to see the wounded Archer holding up her bow and pullig out another arrow and aiming at Ace, he was starting to regret following her.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you," he told the archer, but if the woman really wants to try to kill him, he won't be holding anything back, but the Archer's eyes was focused on something else, she then finally spoke to Ace.

"Behind you!" she said, Ace looked back to where the arrow did hit, two red eyes were seen from the bushes and after making a growl out of pain, the beast appeared out of his hiding spot, losing his chance in a surprise attack to his prey.

To Ace, it was just some monster that the townsfolk were afraid when it first appeared a few days back, a tall centipede like creature with razor sharp teeth and the arrow piercing through its armor.

But to the Archer, it was a demon with unknown power, a power Ace is not fully aware of.

"Boy your sight to see, thanks for the heads up!" Ace said to the Archer, while standing right in front of the angry creature, showing a smile of arrogance.

"Why isn't he getting away?" Kikyo watches the man carefully, couldn't he sense the powerful energy coming from the demon?

The demon made a fearsome roar which was uneffected to the man, and came down at him with its sharp teeth showing, the man jumped back in time and was near Kikyo, having her to see his cocky smile of his.

"He surely seems the type to enjoy a fight like this," Kikyo thought to herself.

The Man looked at Kikyo, "You might want to stand back for this," he said to her, Kikyo caught on what he was saying, his hands now suddenly engulf in flames but his expression was unchangeable.

The centipede demon made another attempt to attack the man in flames, Kikyo took a step back, watching carefully at the man's power.

"KAGERO!" shouted the man, shooting out a stream of fire from his hand and taking hit at the centipede demon, the demon cried out in pain from the burn.

"Incredible," Kikyo managed to say, the man heard her and responded, "That was just one of my attacks, I'm just getting started," he said.

Kikyo looked at him in wonder and a bit startle, she looked back at the demon who was free from the flames grasp, it then stood there, observing carefully at the man and Kikyo.

"How are you holding up?" the man asked Kikyo, who was now feeling the sharp pain coming from her shoulder and was grasping it, she made no response whatsoever.

"Trying to give me the silent treatment?" the man adjusted his odd orange hat.

"Fine then, once I deal with this guy here, I think letting me know your name would be a start of saying thanks," he said with a big smile, Kikyo just looked at him in wonder, "How is he so upbeat in this situation," she thought.

The man made a few steps forward but then stopped, "Oh yeah," he said, looking back at Kikyo, she watches him with caution, wondering what he's going to say, "The name is Ace," he said with a smile, "Portgas D. Ace."

Ace needed to hurry if he was going to help the Archer, even if she is giving him the cold shoulder, he wasn't just going to leave her here to die.

Having his hand engulf in flames again, he ready himself to attack the centipede monster again, "This one is going to finish you off for good," he said to the beast, in which it responded with a roar.

Ace charged the monster with a fist full of flames, the monster made no attempt to dodge, this was going to be simple for him, "HIKE-"

"Ace! Beside you!" the Archer cried out, Ace looked to where what the woman was talking about, but before he could do anything, a spike tail appeared out of nowhere and hit Ace, knocking him beside the trees.

The tail revealed itself to be conected to the centipede monster, he was a lot taller and stronger than what Ace thought, the attack with the spikes had pierced through Ace's chest which is now beginning to bleed.

"Not bad, but now you just made me mad," Ace said, forcing himself to stand up, but as he was getting ready to fight again, a familiar arrow was shot at the back of the monster's head, making it cry out of pain, it turned to see the wounded Archer, raising her bow and taking aim at the monster.

"What are you doing?!" Ace managed to say, but The Archer was focusing on the beast only, showing a fierce expression, the beast charged at Kikyo, with its mouth wide open, ready to swallow her up whole.

"Idiot! Get out of there!" Ace yelled at the Archer, he ran towards her, hoping to make it there in time, but to his surprise, she didn't need any help at all.

The Archer shot her glowing arrow at the beast and it went straight into its mouth, the beast was startle at the attack, and soon began to cry out as bright lights began to peek its way out through the beast's body.

It had no other options but to escape, and so it dug through the ground before the Archer could make another shot, both Ace and the Archer lost sight of the giant Centipede monster.

Despite the failed attempt to defeat the creature, Ace was glad that the Archer Woman didn't die right before his eyes, he walked up to the her.

"Oi, that was pretty good, guess I'm the one who should be saying thanks," Ace rubbed the back of his neck not as a sign of defeat, but that he was actually impress by the woman's boldness.

But the grin on his face soon faded away when the Archer was beginning to lose her balance, Ace saw what was coming and caught the wounded Archer when she fell in front of him, "Easy there, this is what I was trying to tell you about from the start," Ace said, showing the concerned expression on his face.

"Kikyo," spoke the Archer, Ace was caught off gaurd to what the woman was saying, "What?" he asked her, the woman looked up, being face to face with the Archer and Ace, he barely just noticed the brightness in her eyes when a moment ago her eyes were cold as ice.

"My name is Kikyo," she said in a gentle voice before she collapse on the ground with Ace still holding her.

"I got you," was all she heard from Portgas D. Ace, before she blacked out.