Categories > Original > Fantasy > Eternal Requiem
Arrangement 5: Pains of the Present
0 reviewsJessie gets kidnapped by a strange, white haired man. This man seems to have a secret as well...
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Eternal Requiem
Arrangement 5: Pains of the Present
“God damn it!”
Sai ran as fast as he could, weaving between bushes and trees. He squinted his eyes ahead, but saw nothing. He tried to pick his pace up faster, slightly tiring his legs quicker from the extra strain. He hopped over more bushes hoping to save some time as opposed to running around them.
Within a minute, he could see some movement ahead and followed it. It was running away from Sai, but he was slowly catching up. When the Devil-Human was within about a hundred feet, the details of the figure became clearer.
It was a man who looked as old as Sai with white hair and a long sword attached to his belt behind him. He was running surprisingly fast, but Sai was slowly catching up.
Now, from about fifty feet away, Sai could see the man carrying some one in his arms.
Jessie.
“Shit! How the hell did I get in this mess?!”
Half an hour earlier, Sai and Jessie were walking through a forest. The path had lead them there, a fairly thick forest with tall trees surrounding them.
As usual, no one was saying a word the entire time they walked. Sai’s wounds from the day before had healed, except for the long gash across his chest. It would be another day before that was healed.
At some pint in their walk, the gravel path disappeared, though Sai had no clue when. He looked around and found no alternative route, so he continued walking straight ahead like he knew where he was going. But Jessie wasn’t fooled by this.
“We’re lost aren’t we?” Sai nearly tripped over himself.
“No! We’re not lost!” Lie. “I know exactly where we’re going!” Another lie.
“Okay then.” Jessie calmly accepted his stubbornness and looked around enjoying the peaceful scenery. A few birds chirped in the distance, but other than that, things were quiet.
She heard the rustling of a bush and turned her head in its direction. Sai apparently noticed as well because he stopped and stood cautiously. Then, they heard a voice.
“Oh bloody hell. I can’t find anything in this forest.” A young man with white hair emerged from a bush and spotted the two travelers. “Oy! Finally, some people!” He waved his hand and approached them with a wide smile. “Hello there. I don’t suppose either of you know a way out of this place?”
Sai remained silent letting Jessie say what he wouldn’t admit. “Sorry. We’re lost too.”
The white haired man sighed. “Just my luck.” He looked at the two travelers, studying Jessie first, then Sai, then Jessie again.
“Well now,” he took Jessie’s hand in his and got closer to her, “what’s a beautiful young lass doing lost in such a scary place?” He kissed her hand.
“Eh?” Jessie was taken by surprise with his gesture.
“Please allow a gentleman to escort you out of this treacherous place.” He glanced over at Sai and looked back to Jessie. “It’s that bloke’s fault you’re lost here isn’t it? You poor girl.”
“Excuse me?” said Sai agitated.
“You can’t really rely on many men with directions who look like him can you!”
“Hey!” Sai grabbed the hem of the white haired man’s shirt.
“Whoa! Hey, take it easy now!”
“If you have something to say then say it to my face!”
“Calm down now. I meant no disrespect by it.”
“My ass.” Sai pushed the white haired man away and started to walk off. “Come on Jessie. Let’s not waste anymore time with this guy.”
“O-Okay.” She turned to the white haired man. “Sorry about him, he’s kind of got a short fuse. Goodbye then.” She bowed and turned to follow Sai.
“Yes, well then,” the man said to himself, “shall we test that out then?” He quickly ran forward and picked Jessie up in his arms.
“Ah!”
The white haired man swiftly ran away from Sai carrying Jessie just as the Devil-Human noticed. “What the? Hey!” Sai ran after the kidnapper.
“Damn it.”
The white haired man just noticed Sai quickly approaching. “Well now! I have to say, you’re doing much better than I thought you would!”
“Damn it, stop right now!”
“Nope! Not yet! You may be able to keep up with me now, but let’s see how you do if I kick it up a notch.” Immediately, and amazingly, he started running much faster. He was going at least three times as fast as he was before, and his speed increased more and more.
“What the hell?!” Sai watched dumbfounded as he watched the white haired man disappear from sight. “Shit!” He tried to move faster, but Sai was already going at his maximum speed. ‘What do I do? There’s no way I could catch up with him now!’ He stopped running. There was no point in needlessly tiring himself out.
Needing to get a better view, Sai jumped into the tallest tree he could find and reached as far to the top he could. He could now see the entire forest, which seemed to expand forever. He couldn’t see the kidnapper beneath the thick trees, but something did catch his attention. To his right, a few hundred feet away, there was a river which lead down the direction the kidnapper was headed. He followed the river’s path with his eyes and just barely spotted a lake far off in the distance.
Quickly reacting, he jumped out of the tree and ran to the river. Once there, he saw a lot of camping equipment in the opening and, amazingly enough, a speedboat resting partially on the shore.
Sai ran to the boat, stopping briefly to grab a steak on the grill, and pushed the boat in the river with the kind of strength that would have taken three men to do in the time he did it. He jumped in the boat, but found no keys in the ignition. Thankful that the Dead Snakes taught him something useful, Sai hotwired the boat and drove off, ignoring the yelling coming from the shore.
***
“Well, it looks like we lost the bloke now.” The white haired man started to slowly decrease his speed to a normal person’s running speed. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when I left him in my dust!” He was grinning victoriously at Jessie.
“Please stop!” cried Jessie struggling to get out of his arms.
“Calm down now love. Sorry for the bumpy ride, but we should keep going a little further just in case he hasn’t tired himself out yet.”
Jessie looked at him slightly confused. “Why did you just kidnap me like that?”
“Kidnap? No no dear, you seem to be mistaken, what with the sudden turn of events. I’m the hero here, saving you from the bad guy.”
“W-What?” Jessie was even more confused.
“Don’t worry, I understand. This is all happening a little too fast for you, but it’ll be over soon-” The white haired man stopped suddenly. He looked ahead slightly surprised. Jessie noticed this and looked in the same direction.
“Sai!” Sai stood ahead of them glaring at the kidnapper.
“What the?” said the white haired man. “How did you…” Then in mid-sentence, he saw the boat behind Sai. “No fair! That’s cheating!”
“That should be the least of your worries you jackass.” Sai pulled out both swords at the same time.
“Well, feisty now, aren’t we?” The white haired man set Jessie down behind him and stepped up. “Very well then, if it’s a duel you want,” he pulled out the blade from behind him and pointed it at Sai, “it’s a duel you’ll get.” His weapon was a larger than normal katana. The blade was about three or four inches wide and more than three feet in length.
“Heh, someone from Surda using a Joraikan sword?”
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you,” the white haired man said charging, “never judge a book by its cover!”
He swung the large sword, but just as Sai expected, the attack was slow. He easily blocked it with both swords, staggering a little from the weight of his opponent’s blade. Sai swung one katana at the man, but he jumped back and blocked the attack. Right away the man thrust his weapon at Sai and once again, because of its weight slowing him down, Sai blocked it and attacked. Again the man parried his attack and countered with another.
‘His swings are slow, but he can dodge my attacks easily…’ Sai noticed that his opponent was watching Sai’s swords a little too much. ‘He may be good at dodging, but he’s still an amateur swordsman.’ Getting a new idea, he swung both swords downward at his opponent, whom used an overhead block and was ready to retaliate, but Sai kicked him hard in the chest with his left foot. The man staggered back from the unexpected attack and Sai immediately planted another kick on the side if his face with his right foot. The man fell back and looked at Sai rubbing his left cheek.
“What in blazes was that all about?”
Sai looked smugly at his opponent. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
The man stood up and laughed a little. "I guess I deserved that one then. Okay now, how about I start getting serious." He took a few steps back and brought his sword behind him. Sai stood ready for any attack.
The white haired man stood his ground and started to swing his sword in a slashing motion.
'What is this idiot doing? He just stepped out of his area of reach and is expecting his sword to hit me? It may be long, but it's not that-' His thoughts were quickly cut off when something had simultaneously knocked his left katana out of his hand and slashed his arm.
'What?!' Sai's eyes widened in shock trying to figure out what he had just seen. Was his eyes playing tricks on him, or did the man's sword get longer in mid-swing? He looked at the blade, but it was the same length as when they started.
"What the hell was that? Some kind of trick?"
The white haired man swung his sword again, but Sai was wary of it this time and jumped back, narrowly dodging the blade's ridiculous reach. The man pursued Sai with a flurry of swings. Each swing, like the first, would result in the blade's reach doubling in mid-swing, and becoming its normal length afterwards. Sai now had only one sword in hand and could not invade his enemy's range, for if he did, he would no doubt become an easy target.
But this wasn't the only thought he had in his mind while evading the attacks. He was trying to evaluate his enemy's weakness. The first thing he came up with was the speed of each swing. The blade may have increased in size, but Sai noticed, its significant decrease in speed. Though, the man would often follow up each swing by spinning in a circle or steadily alter its direction to keep the motions constant and use the centrifugal force to increase its speed and power. The second thing Sai thought of was that if he could somehow get in closer to his opponent within arms reach, he would be able to disarm him and get rid of the biggest problem. And the last thing, he noticed that the white haired man seemed to be unaware of his surroundings, almost tripping when his foot hit a rock on the ground.
Sai had it. He know how he was going to defeat this guy. The Devil-Human lead the guy's onslaught into a slightly thicker part of the forest, waiting for the right moment.
Then, as the white haired man prepared a swing to Sai's left side, Sai stood his ground and held the single sword in a blocking position to his left, which unbenounced to his opponent, was just an act. The enemy swung and, as expected, the sword once again extended in mid-swing, but before it could reach the Devil-Human, the sword hit a tree head on and became stuck partway in the thick trunk.
'A tree?!' The man looked at his stuck sword bewildered. Sai looked at his enemy's blade and was stunned with what he saw.
The sword had multiple sections of the blade that separated and extended forward, revealing mechanical-looking insides between each separated section. He looked at his opponent and saw that the hilt too had doubled in length.
"So, this is the secret of the extending blade." He looked at his enemy's blue eyes and smirked. "You're mine now!" He immediately started to charge.
The white haired man grinned. "I think not." He gripped the handle hard, and without any warning, his sword smashed completely through the tree and hit Sai with a great amount of force. The Devil-Human was sent flying and hit the ground hard.
"Well, it's a good thing your sword was in the way of mine, otherwise that would have cut you completely in half."
Sai staggered to his feet trying to figure out how this guy was able to cut through a whole tree. 'How is that even possible? Even I can't do that!'
"Kudos for thinking about using a tree to stop me though. Quite cleaver." He noticed Sai glaring at his sword. "Ah, I suppose you know my weapon's secret now, don't you." He held the sword up. "My own original idea. A specially designed katana made with multiple segments meant to extend and retract at my own will. I got the idea from an old saying used by many master Joraikan swordsmen. 'Use the sword as an extension of your arm.'" He held the sword parallel to the ground pointed directly at Sai. "Hence it's name; Long Arm."
The sword, Long Arm, extended and would have stabbed Sai in the face had he not ducked. From this position, Graham swung Long Arm straight down. Sai managed to bring his sword up to a block, but the monstrous strength behind it drove him to his knees and the large blade into his shoulder.
"D-Damn..." Sai struggled to keep Long Arm from digging deeper into him. "How the hell are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" asked the white haired man feigning ignorance.
"You know very well what! Cutting through a tree and handling a large sword as if it were nothing. No human, however strong he is, could ever do that with such ease."
His opponent waved his finger at Sai. "That's my little secret."
"Yea? How about the fact that you’re a Devil-Human? Is that supposed to be a secret too?"
The white haired man's eyes widened slightly, then seemed to look sad while he smiled at Sai. "Yes, well... I suppose that kind of thing is rather hard to hide from another Devil-Human."
"No duh! What's the matter, is this the first time you've actually fought another Devil-Human?!"
"Uh..." Sai noticed his opponent unconsciously relieve some of the force of his sword distracted, and took this opportunity to knock Long Arm away from him and jumped out of its range. His opponent was surprised, but retracted his weapon anyway.
"Well then..." started the white haired man, "... yes, I am a Devil-Human. Ever since I found out what I was, I've kept it secret from everyone. My family, my friends... everyone. I was so afraid that if someone found out, everyone I loved would reject me. Mother, father, and..." he cut himself off as his eyes started to water. He closed his eyed, took a deep breath, and looked at Sai again. "That is the curse I've lived with for so many years. Which is why I decided I wasn't going to be like every other Devil-Human and hurt people. I've sworn to protect the innocent from my kin no matter what."
Sai looked at the man confused. "What? Well if that's true then why did you kidnap Jessie?"
"Kidnap? I'm the one saving the damsel in distress here! Stop pretending to be innocent!"
"What are you talking about?"
The man was about to give another retort when he spotted Jessie approaching the two fighters. "Don't worry miss, I'll have this wrapped up in a jiffy. Then we can leave this idiot and you can come travel with me if you want."
"Idiot?" said Sai with a vein throbbing on his temple. "I don't care what kind of weapon you have or if you are a Devil-Human, I'm gonna freaking kill you!" He ran at his opponent, but the white haired man swung Long Arm, extending it again, and hit Sai, whom barely managed to block it, with powerful force. The dark haired Devil-Human was knocked to the ground again and the white haired Devil-Human was getting ready for another swing when Jessie ran to Sai and knelt down beside him.
"Please stop this!"
The white haired man looked at Jessie surprised. "Move out of the way dear, I'm going to finish this slave driver off!"
"No!" She hovered over Sai as if trying to protect him. Sai's opponent was stunned by her action.
"W-What are you doing? Why are you protecting your own kidnapper?"
Jessie shook her head. “I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Sai didn’t kidnap me or make me his slave.” He looked at Jessie dumbfounded. Then Jessie turned to Sai who had just stood up. “And he’s not a bad guy Sai. He only did what he did because he thought he was saving me.” Sai stared at her as if trying figure out if she was telling the truth, and then looked away muttering something that sounded like ‘whatever’.
The white haired man pointed at Sai still with a dumbfounded look on his face. “B-But, he’s a Devil-Human.”
“I know he’s a Devil-Human, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Besides, I heard what you said earlier about being a Devil-Human too, and you don’t let that stop you from being a nice person.”
Sai grabbed his stray sword on the ground and sheathed his weapon. “Who’s the idiot now?” was the only thing he said to the other Devil-Human as he walked back to the boat with Jessie following behind. The white haired man could hear Jessie and Sai talking while he just stood there.
“Where did you get this boat from?”
“Uuuh…”
She gasped. “Don’t tell me you stole it!”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“Sai!”
“Stop complaining! I’m gonna take it back.”
The white haired Devil-Human heard the engine of the speed boat as it started and drove away. He was left alone to feel like a complete idiot.
An hour later, Sai and Jessie managed to find their way out of the forest and into a small soba noodle shop and decided to take a break. The soba tasted wonderful to them, but whether it was due to the fact that the food was well made or because they’ve been scrounging for food for days, they didn’t know. Nor did they care.
What's up with that dumbass?" he said ordering another bowl.
"Come on Sai, he's a good person."
"I don't care about that. There's something about him that's... weird. He's hiding a lot of things. I can tell." He finished his bowl and ordered another one.
"Well he's a Devil-Human like you, but I guess he's been through different things. Didn't you hear his voice when he was talking to you about it?" Sai gave no response, but she continued anyway. "I think he lost someone close to him."
"Who cares? That guy's history doesn't interest me in the least."
"So," said the cook who had given Sai yet another bowl, "what are two young adults doing all the way out here."
Sai didn't bother to give an answer while he ate his food, so Jessie spoke up. "We're just traveling."
The cook sighed. "Ah, to be young and in love..." Jessie nearly choked and Sai's food sprayed out of his mouth.
"What?!"
The cook blinked. "You two are lovers, aren't you?"
"NO!!" Both Sai's and Jessie's faces were burning red.
"If you say so, but that doesn't look like the case from my perspective. A young man and young woman traveling together... alone... with no one to bother them..."
"Well who asked you?!" spat Sai.
"Okay, okay. What do I know? I'm just an old soba cook. Oh! Speaking of which," the cook placed a piece of paper in front of them, "if you're finished now, that'll be $52.76."
Suddenly realizing something, Sai looked from the ten empty bowls in front of them, eight of which were Sai's, to the check, then motioned Jessie to move closer. They turned their backs for Sai to whisper to her so the cook wouldn't hear.
"Say... you wouldn't happen to have some cash with you now, would you?"
"Huh?!" You don't have any money?!" Sai shook his head. "W-Well how did you plan on paying for the food?!"
"I was kinda hoping you would be able to pay."
"I've been living on the streets for two years! How could I possibly have money to pay for this?!" She was trying not to panic. "W-What about you? You've been working for a mercenary organization!"
"Well, I kind of.... forgot my wallet back at the station."
"What?! So you mean we're broke?!" Jessie was on the verge of freaking out now.
"Ahem." They looked at the cook, whom was sharpening a knife in his hand. The two started to sweat as they could sense the malevolence in his voice. "You can pay for the bill, right?"
"Uh..." Sai leaned closer to Jessie and whispered again. "When I say now, we're ditching this place. Ready..."
Then, someone slapped a hundred dollar bill onto the table between Sai and Jessie's bowls. "I think this should be enough. You can keep the change, too."
The cook took the bill, inspected it, and smiled at the newcomer. "Pleasure doin' business with ya!"
The two Joraikans looked to the new person and were shocked to see the white haired Devil-Human grinning right at them.
"You?!" said Sai quickly standing up. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
The other Devil-Human put his hands up in front of him. "Hold on there mate. I'm not here to start any fights or anything."
"Well, what do you want then?"
"Heh, well... I kind of came here to apologize for what happened." Sai was surprised to see the man get on his knees and bow his head. "I'm sorry. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have acted so rash."
"You got that right," said Sai crossing his arms.
"Sai, he said he was sorry." Jessie turned to the other Devil-Human. "Don't worry about it. It was just a misunderstanding.
"Thank you." The white haired man stood back up and had another smile on his face. "Well then, now that I think of it, we haven't properly introduced ourselves have we?" He took a step back and formally bowed to the two. "My name is Graham Henry Williams."
"oh, I'm Jessica Yamamori, or Jessie if you want. And..." she looked to Sai who only scoffed and turned his head away from Graham, "this is Sai."
"The name's Saishu Tenryu."
"It's a pleasure to meet you two."
"If there's nothing else," Sai started to walk away, "we'll be leaving now."
"Well hold on there! I'm not done yet! I've still yet to repay you for what I've done."
Sai stopped and looked at Graham questionably. "Repay?"
Arrangement 5: Pains of the Present
“God damn it!”
Sai ran as fast as he could, weaving between bushes and trees. He squinted his eyes ahead, but saw nothing. He tried to pick his pace up faster, slightly tiring his legs quicker from the extra strain. He hopped over more bushes hoping to save some time as opposed to running around them.
Within a minute, he could see some movement ahead and followed it. It was running away from Sai, but he was slowly catching up. When the Devil-Human was within about a hundred feet, the details of the figure became clearer.
It was a man who looked as old as Sai with white hair and a long sword attached to his belt behind him. He was running surprisingly fast, but Sai was slowly catching up.
Now, from about fifty feet away, Sai could see the man carrying some one in his arms.
Jessie.
“Shit! How the hell did I get in this mess?!”
Half an hour earlier, Sai and Jessie were walking through a forest. The path had lead them there, a fairly thick forest with tall trees surrounding them.
As usual, no one was saying a word the entire time they walked. Sai’s wounds from the day before had healed, except for the long gash across his chest. It would be another day before that was healed.
At some pint in their walk, the gravel path disappeared, though Sai had no clue when. He looked around and found no alternative route, so he continued walking straight ahead like he knew where he was going. But Jessie wasn’t fooled by this.
“We’re lost aren’t we?” Sai nearly tripped over himself.
“No! We’re not lost!” Lie. “I know exactly where we’re going!” Another lie.
“Okay then.” Jessie calmly accepted his stubbornness and looked around enjoying the peaceful scenery. A few birds chirped in the distance, but other than that, things were quiet.
She heard the rustling of a bush and turned her head in its direction. Sai apparently noticed as well because he stopped and stood cautiously. Then, they heard a voice.
“Oh bloody hell. I can’t find anything in this forest.” A young man with white hair emerged from a bush and spotted the two travelers. “Oy! Finally, some people!” He waved his hand and approached them with a wide smile. “Hello there. I don’t suppose either of you know a way out of this place?”
Sai remained silent letting Jessie say what he wouldn’t admit. “Sorry. We’re lost too.”
The white haired man sighed. “Just my luck.” He looked at the two travelers, studying Jessie first, then Sai, then Jessie again.
“Well now,” he took Jessie’s hand in his and got closer to her, “what’s a beautiful young lass doing lost in such a scary place?” He kissed her hand.
“Eh?” Jessie was taken by surprise with his gesture.
“Please allow a gentleman to escort you out of this treacherous place.” He glanced over at Sai and looked back to Jessie. “It’s that bloke’s fault you’re lost here isn’t it? You poor girl.”
“Excuse me?” said Sai agitated.
“You can’t really rely on many men with directions who look like him can you!”
“Hey!” Sai grabbed the hem of the white haired man’s shirt.
“Whoa! Hey, take it easy now!”
“If you have something to say then say it to my face!”
“Calm down now. I meant no disrespect by it.”
“My ass.” Sai pushed the white haired man away and started to walk off. “Come on Jessie. Let’s not waste anymore time with this guy.”
“O-Okay.” She turned to the white haired man. “Sorry about him, he’s kind of got a short fuse. Goodbye then.” She bowed and turned to follow Sai.
“Yes, well then,” the man said to himself, “shall we test that out then?” He quickly ran forward and picked Jessie up in his arms.
“Ah!”
The white haired man swiftly ran away from Sai carrying Jessie just as the Devil-Human noticed. “What the? Hey!” Sai ran after the kidnapper.
“Damn it.”
The white haired man just noticed Sai quickly approaching. “Well now! I have to say, you’re doing much better than I thought you would!”
“Damn it, stop right now!”
“Nope! Not yet! You may be able to keep up with me now, but let’s see how you do if I kick it up a notch.” Immediately, and amazingly, he started running much faster. He was going at least three times as fast as he was before, and his speed increased more and more.
“What the hell?!” Sai watched dumbfounded as he watched the white haired man disappear from sight. “Shit!” He tried to move faster, but Sai was already going at his maximum speed. ‘What do I do? There’s no way I could catch up with him now!’ He stopped running. There was no point in needlessly tiring himself out.
Needing to get a better view, Sai jumped into the tallest tree he could find and reached as far to the top he could. He could now see the entire forest, which seemed to expand forever. He couldn’t see the kidnapper beneath the thick trees, but something did catch his attention. To his right, a few hundred feet away, there was a river which lead down the direction the kidnapper was headed. He followed the river’s path with his eyes and just barely spotted a lake far off in the distance.
Quickly reacting, he jumped out of the tree and ran to the river. Once there, he saw a lot of camping equipment in the opening and, amazingly enough, a speedboat resting partially on the shore.
Sai ran to the boat, stopping briefly to grab a steak on the grill, and pushed the boat in the river with the kind of strength that would have taken three men to do in the time he did it. He jumped in the boat, but found no keys in the ignition. Thankful that the Dead Snakes taught him something useful, Sai hotwired the boat and drove off, ignoring the yelling coming from the shore.
***
“Well, it looks like we lost the bloke now.” The white haired man started to slowly decrease his speed to a normal person’s running speed. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when I left him in my dust!” He was grinning victoriously at Jessie.
“Please stop!” cried Jessie struggling to get out of his arms.
“Calm down now love. Sorry for the bumpy ride, but we should keep going a little further just in case he hasn’t tired himself out yet.”
Jessie looked at him slightly confused. “Why did you just kidnap me like that?”
“Kidnap? No no dear, you seem to be mistaken, what with the sudden turn of events. I’m the hero here, saving you from the bad guy.”
“W-What?” Jessie was even more confused.
“Don’t worry, I understand. This is all happening a little too fast for you, but it’ll be over soon-” The white haired man stopped suddenly. He looked ahead slightly surprised. Jessie noticed this and looked in the same direction.
“Sai!” Sai stood ahead of them glaring at the kidnapper.
“What the?” said the white haired man. “How did you…” Then in mid-sentence, he saw the boat behind Sai. “No fair! That’s cheating!”
“That should be the least of your worries you jackass.” Sai pulled out both swords at the same time.
“Well, feisty now, aren’t we?” The white haired man set Jessie down behind him and stepped up. “Very well then, if it’s a duel you want,” he pulled out the blade from behind him and pointed it at Sai, “it’s a duel you’ll get.” His weapon was a larger than normal katana. The blade was about three or four inches wide and more than three feet in length.
“Heh, someone from Surda using a Joraikan sword?”
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you,” the white haired man said charging, “never judge a book by its cover!”
He swung the large sword, but just as Sai expected, the attack was slow. He easily blocked it with both swords, staggering a little from the weight of his opponent’s blade. Sai swung one katana at the man, but he jumped back and blocked the attack. Right away the man thrust his weapon at Sai and once again, because of its weight slowing him down, Sai blocked it and attacked. Again the man parried his attack and countered with another.
‘His swings are slow, but he can dodge my attacks easily…’ Sai noticed that his opponent was watching Sai’s swords a little too much. ‘He may be good at dodging, but he’s still an amateur swordsman.’ Getting a new idea, he swung both swords downward at his opponent, whom used an overhead block and was ready to retaliate, but Sai kicked him hard in the chest with his left foot. The man staggered back from the unexpected attack and Sai immediately planted another kick on the side if his face with his right foot. The man fell back and looked at Sai rubbing his left cheek.
“What in blazes was that all about?”
Sai looked smugly at his opponent. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
The man stood up and laughed a little. "I guess I deserved that one then. Okay now, how about I start getting serious." He took a few steps back and brought his sword behind him. Sai stood ready for any attack.
The white haired man stood his ground and started to swing his sword in a slashing motion.
'What is this idiot doing? He just stepped out of his area of reach and is expecting his sword to hit me? It may be long, but it's not that-' His thoughts were quickly cut off when something had simultaneously knocked his left katana out of his hand and slashed his arm.
'What?!' Sai's eyes widened in shock trying to figure out what he had just seen. Was his eyes playing tricks on him, or did the man's sword get longer in mid-swing? He looked at the blade, but it was the same length as when they started.
"What the hell was that? Some kind of trick?"
The white haired man swung his sword again, but Sai was wary of it this time and jumped back, narrowly dodging the blade's ridiculous reach. The man pursued Sai with a flurry of swings. Each swing, like the first, would result in the blade's reach doubling in mid-swing, and becoming its normal length afterwards. Sai now had only one sword in hand and could not invade his enemy's range, for if he did, he would no doubt become an easy target.
But this wasn't the only thought he had in his mind while evading the attacks. He was trying to evaluate his enemy's weakness. The first thing he came up with was the speed of each swing. The blade may have increased in size, but Sai noticed, its significant decrease in speed. Though, the man would often follow up each swing by spinning in a circle or steadily alter its direction to keep the motions constant and use the centrifugal force to increase its speed and power. The second thing Sai thought of was that if he could somehow get in closer to his opponent within arms reach, he would be able to disarm him and get rid of the biggest problem. And the last thing, he noticed that the white haired man seemed to be unaware of his surroundings, almost tripping when his foot hit a rock on the ground.
Sai had it. He know how he was going to defeat this guy. The Devil-Human lead the guy's onslaught into a slightly thicker part of the forest, waiting for the right moment.
Then, as the white haired man prepared a swing to Sai's left side, Sai stood his ground and held the single sword in a blocking position to his left, which unbenounced to his opponent, was just an act. The enemy swung and, as expected, the sword once again extended in mid-swing, but before it could reach the Devil-Human, the sword hit a tree head on and became stuck partway in the thick trunk.
'A tree?!' The man looked at his stuck sword bewildered. Sai looked at his enemy's blade and was stunned with what he saw.
The sword had multiple sections of the blade that separated and extended forward, revealing mechanical-looking insides between each separated section. He looked at his opponent and saw that the hilt too had doubled in length.
"So, this is the secret of the extending blade." He looked at his enemy's blue eyes and smirked. "You're mine now!" He immediately started to charge.
The white haired man grinned. "I think not." He gripped the handle hard, and without any warning, his sword smashed completely through the tree and hit Sai with a great amount of force. The Devil-Human was sent flying and hit the ground hard.
"Well, it's a good thing your sword was in the way of mine, otherwise that would have cut you completely in half."
Sai staggered to his feet trying to figure out how this guy was able to cut through a whole tree. 'How is that even possible? Even I can't do that!'
"Kudos for thinking about using a tree to stop me though. Quite cleaver." He noticed Sai glaring at his sword. "Ah, I suppose you know my weapon's secret now, don't you." He held the sword up. "My own original idea. A specially designed katana made with multiple segments meant to extend and retract at my own will. I got the idea from an old saying used by many master Joraikan swordsmen. 'Use the sword as an extension of your arm.'" He held the sword parallel to the ground pointed directly at Sai. "Hence it's name; Long Arm."
The sword, Long Arm, extended and would have stabbed Sai in the face had he not ducked. From this position, Graham swung Long Arm straight down. Sai managed to bring his sword up to a block, but the monstrous strength behind it drove him to his knees and the large blade into his shoulder.
"D-Damn..." Sai struggled to keep Long Arm from digging deeper into him. "How the hell are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" asked the white haired man feigning ignorance.
"You know very well what! Cutting through a tree and handling a large sword as if it were nothing. No human, however strong he is, could ever do that with such ease."
His opponent waved his finger at Sai. "That's my little secret."
"Yea? How about the fact that you’re a Devil-Human? Is that supposed to be a secret too?"
The white haired man's eyes widened slightly, then seemed to look sad while he smiled at Sai. "Yes, well... I suppose that kind of thing is rather hard to hide from another Devil-Human."
"No duh! What's the matter, is this the first time you've actually fought another Devil-Human?!"
"Uh..." Sai noticed his opponent unconsciously relieve some of the force of his sword distracted, and took this opportunity to knock Long Arm away from him and jumped out of its range. His opponent was surprised, but retracted his weapon anyway.
"Well then..." started the white haired man, "... yes, I am a Devil-Human. Ever since I found out what I was, I've kept it secret from everyone. My family, my friends... everyone. I was so afraid that if someone found out, everyone I loved would reject me. Mother, father, and..." he cut himself off as his eyes started to water. He closed his eyed, took a deep breath, and looked at Sai again. "That is the curse I've lived with for so many years. Which is why I decided I wasn't going to be like every other Devil-Human and hurt people. I've sworn to protect the innocent from my kin no matter what."
Sai looked at the man confused. "What? Well if that's true then why did you kidnap Jessie?"
"Kidnap? I'm the one saving the damsel in distress here! Stop pretending to be innocent!"
"What are you talking about?"
The man was about to give another retort when he spotted Jessie approaching the two fighters. "Don't worry miss, I'll have this wrapped up in a jiffy. Then we can leave this idiot and you can come travel with me if you want."
"Idiot?" said Sai with a vein throbbing on his temple. "I don't care what kind of weapon you have or if you are a Devil-Human, I'm gonna freaking kill you!" He ran at his opponent, but the white haired man swung Long Arm, extending it again, and hit Sai, whom barely managed to block it, with powerful force. The dark haired Devil-Human was knocked to the ground again and the white haired Devil-Human was getting ready for another swing when Jessie ran to Sai and knelt down beside him.
"Please stop this!"
The white haired man looked at Jessie surprised. "Move out of the way dear, I'm going to finish this slave driver off!"
"No!" She hovered over Sai as if trying to protect him. Sai's opponent was stunned by her action.
"W-What are you doing? Why are you protecting your own kidnapper?"
Jessie shook her head. “I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Sai didn’t kidnap me or make me his slave.” He looked at Jessie dumbfounded. Then Jessie turned to Sai who had just stood up. “And he’s not a bad guy Sai. He only did what he did because he thought he was saving me.” Sai stared at her as if trying figure out if she was telling the truth, and then looked away muttering something that sounded like ‘whatever’.
The white haired man pointed at Sai still with a dumbfounded look on his face. “B-But, he’s a Devil-Human.”
“I know he’s a Devil-Human, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Besides, I heard what you said earlier about being a Devil-Human too, and you don’t let that stop you from being a nice person.”
Sai grabbed his stray sword on the ground and sheathed his weapon. “Who’s the idiot now?” was the only thing he said to the other Devil-Human as he walked back to the boat with Jessie following behind. The white haired man could hear Jessie and Sai talking while he just stood there.
“Where did you get this boat from?”
“Uuuh…”
She gasped. “Don’t tell me you stole it!”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“Sai!”
“Stop complaining! I’m gonna take it back.”
The white haired Devil-Human heard the engine of the speed boat as it started and drove away. He was left alone to feel like a complete idiot.
An hour later, Sai and Jessie managed to find their way out of the forest and into a small soba noodle shop and decided to take a break. The soba tasted wonderful to them, but whether it was due to the fact that the food was well made or because they’ve been scrounging for food for days, they didn’t know. Nor did they care.
What's up with that dumbass?" he said ordering another bowl.
"Come on Sai, he's a good person."
"I don't care about that. There's something about him that's... weird. He's hiding a lot of things. I can tell." He finished his bowl and ordered another one.
"Well he's a Devil-Human like you, but I guess he's been through different things. Didn't you hear his voice when he was talking to you about it?" Sai gave no response, but she continued anyway. "I think he lost someone close to him."
"Who cares? That guy's history doesn't interest me in the least."
"So," said the cook who had given Sai yet another bowl, "what are two young adults doing all the way out here."
Sai didn't bother to give an answer while he ate his food, so Jessie spoke up. "We're just traveling."
The cook sighed. "Ah, to be young and in love..." Jessie nearly choked and Sai's food sprayed out of his mouth.
"What?!"
The cook blinked. "You two are lovers, aren't you?"
"NO!!" Both Sai's and Jessie's faces were burning red.
"If you say so, but that doesn't look like the case from my perspective. A young man and young woman traveling together... alone... with no one to bother them..."
"Well who asked you?!" spat Sai.
"Okay, okay. What do I know? I'm just an old soba cook. Oh! Speaking of which," the cook placed a piece of paper in front of them, "if you're finished now, that'll be $52.76."
Suddenly realizing something, Sai looked from the ten empty bowls in front of them, eight of which were Sai's, to the check, then motioned Jessie to move closer. They turned their backs for Sai to whisper to her so the cook wouldn't hear.
"Say... you wouldn't happen to have some cash with you now, would you?"
"Huh?!" You don't have any money?!" Sai shook his head. "W-Well how did you plan on paying for the food?!"
"I was kinda hoping you would be able to pay."
"I've been living on the streets for two years! How could I possibly have money to pay for this?!" She was trying not to panic. "W-What about you? You've been working for a mercenary organization!"
"Well, I kind of.... forgot my wallet back at the station."
"What?! So you mean we're broke?!" Jessie was on the verge of freaking out now.
"Ahem." They looked at the cook, whom was sharpening a knife in his hand. The two started to sweat as they could sense the malevolence in his voice. "You can pay for the bill, right?"
"Uh..." Sai leaned closer to Jessie and whispered again. "When I say now, we're ditching this place. Ready..."
Then, someone slapped a hundred dollar bill onto the table between Sai and Jessie's bowls. "I think this should be enough. You can keep the change, too."
The cook took the bill, inspected it, and smiled at the newcomer. "Pleasure doin' business with ya!"
The two Joraikans looked to the new person and were shocked to see the white haired Devil-Human grinning right at them.
"You?!" said Sai quickly standing up. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
The other Devil-Human put his hands up in front of him. "Hold on there mate. I'm not here to start any fights or anything."
"Well, what do you want then?"
"Heh, well... I kind of came here to apologize for what happened." Sai was surprised to see the man get on his knees and bow his head. "I'm sorry. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have acted so rash."
"You got that right," said Sai crossing his arms.
"Sai, he said he was sorry." Jessie turned to the other Devil-Human. "Don't worry about it. It was just a misunderstanding.
"Thank you." The white haired man stood back up and had another smile on his face. "Well then, now that I think of it, we haven't properly introduced ourselves have we?" He took a step back and formally bowed to the two. "My name is Graham Henry Williams."
"oh, I'm Jessica Yamamori, or Jessie if you want. And..." she looked to Sai who only scoffed and turned his head away from Graham, "this is Sai."
"The name's Saishu Tenryu."
"It's a pleasure to meet you two."
"If there's nothing else," Sai started to walk away, "we'll be leaving now."
"Well hold on there! I'm not done yet! I've still yet to repay you for what I've done."
Sai stopped and looked at Graham questionably. "Repay?"
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