@kurogumi: Don’t worry I’ll make sure to keep updating my other fics since you seem to be a fan of them as well~ and yeah this fic will be back to the slightly more darker style.
@Kochiki: Well I'm not sure just how brutal this fic will be but yeah there certainly won't be a shortage of deaths
Also I thought I mentioned that it was Yuki that saved Jurina but oh well you know now. More importantly who was it that the man killed?
A/N: Hey guys chapter one for my new fic is here~ Not really much to say about it so I guess I should just say enjoy!
Quick note: There are some Japanese words that might need explaining so I’ve got a short dictionary here but if there are still things you don’t understand then feel free to ask~
hakama: Clothing that is worn over the kimono, tied up at the waist and falls down to around the ankles.
kodachi: Shorter sword typically less than 60cm long.
ryokan: Japanese Inn.
geta: Wooden sandals that raised off the ground with two planks running across the bottom.
zori: Straw sandals with a flat bottom.
Chapter 1“P-please stop…” The waning moon was shining its fading spotlight down onto the weak sobbing man on the dirt.
“Huh you’re telling me, what to do!” Yelling at the defenseless man another long haired man swung his foot into the side of the flinching body. He then continued to kick and beat the curled up body, a disgusting smile forming on his face as the rest of his group joined in. Finally satisfied with the amount of pain they had inflicted on the helpless man the circle around the limp man moved away leaving only the leader next to the groaning body. He then crouched down to the ground and began pillaging through the kimono of the powerless man until he heard the clinking of metal.
“Tonight’s going to be a good night guys!” Triumphantly lifting up the pouch of coins above his head the cheering man addressed the countless men who had accompanied him in the humiliation of the man who lay with hid limbs sprawled across the ground. Then with a humongous cheer the group all left the dark alley and entered the busy main street. With every step he took the sweet sound of coins jangling around came from his pocket and everyone that once stood in the gang’s way immediately rushed off to the side.
“Heh look at all these cowards.” Looking around at all the petrified eyes that were staring at him, a cocky smirk began to form at the corners of the leader’s mouth.
“Kyaa!” While the leader was too busy sneering at the cowering public he had bumped into some woman, causing her to teeter over backwards.
“Watch where you’re walking you stupid bitch!” Yelling at the black haired girl the angry man began to raise his arm. However just as he was about to swing down with a slap the girl glanced up with a pair of bewitching eyes, causing the arm to freeze in midair.
“Wait a sec you’re actually pretty cute.” Mumbling smugly to himself the man began licking his lips while scanning every inch of the girl in front of him. She was dressed in a vibrant purple kimono and everything other than her alluring face was hidden by the long draping material of the dress.
“Ah… I’m really sorry about that…” Hastily getting up from the ground the girl timidly whispered while lowering her head in apology. She then gave another small gesture with her head and attempted to walk away.
“Woah where do you think you’re going?” Not wanting to let such a beauty escape he reached out with a sweaty hand clamped it on top of her shoulder.
“Don’t touch her.” Suddenly another girl appeared from nowhere and slapped away the man’s grasping arm. This second girl was nowhere near as attractive as the first one. Everything about her was the complete polar opposite of the shy girl behind her. Her scraggly hair was about half the length of the elegant flowing locks of the other girl and instead of a cute innocent gaze, the new girl was giving him a menacing glare.
“Huh? And what’re you going to do to stop me?” Brushing away disgustedly at his sleeve the man began calling over his subordinates while staring down at the girl. In fact on second glance he noticed that she was wearing a white kimono that was made for men but more importantly there was a sword resting on either side of her black
hakama; except one of them was a little shorter than the other. “Oh I see you’re going to slice me up with your little blades.”
“I’m going to end you and all of your knucklehead friends.” Gritting her teeth together the girl ignored the chuckling men and took a step forward. She then clenched her fist and unleashed a huge punch into the man’s stomach. Seeing their boss being assaulted by some random girl the thugs all hurriedly drew their swords, causing everyone else to all scream and flee the scene. In response to being surrounded by the sword wielding men the short haired girl went ahead and pulled out both her katana, placing the shorter
kodachi in her left hand.
“Ha… Jurina, why do you have to cause such a scene?” Letting out a tired sigh the girl in the purple kimono turned away from Jurina.
“But I couldn’t just stand back and let this grease bag touch you like that.” Still pointing her sword straight at the coughing boss Jurina lowered her body and lifted her right arm to the side. “Plus there’s only ten of them it won’t take me long to kill them all.”
“If you say so…” The other girl then began to walk straight towards one of the burly men that had surrounded them.
“Hey who the hell said you could…” The man was forced to stop midway through his sentence as a metallic blade slammed right in between his eyes.
“Well now there’s only nine.” Tugging effortlessly at the string that was attached to the kunai the girl just strolled past the collapsing body. Shocked at the cold efficiency displayed by the beautiful girl everyone’s body just froze up in fear.
“What are you doing just standing there! Don’t let her getaway!” Finally recovering from the punch the boss began yelling at his subordinates and pointing at the gliding girl. Scrambling around in a panic the two closest men started rushing towards the back of the girl with the swords raised high above their heads. However just as they were about to bring their blades down a swift whirlwind of silver appeared between them and the girl. The next thing the bewildered pair saw was their own blood spurting out from the multiple slashes across their chests.
“I told you not to touch her.” Jurina was crouched on the ground with the longer sword pointing upwards. As the two bodies fell over backwards Jurina rushed through the shower of blood and leapt at the nearest thug. Streaking across the air Jurina crossed her arms together over her head. Not having enough time to react to the flying girl the thug could only stare in awe as the girl carved an X-shaped cut across his chest.
“Six left…” Hastily regaining her balance from the attack Jurina turned to see the remaining men come charging toward her. After resetting her fighting stance Jurina began focusing her vision on the two banks of men charging toward.
Simultaneously blocking the two frontal attacks Jurina turned her blade around and flicked away one of the swords, allowing her to use her
kodachi as a pivot to turn on. Jurina used the momentum of the spin to slice straight across the chest of the unknowing thug. She then continued on her spin and placed yet another slash on the chest causing another spurt of crimson liquid to burst into the chilled air. Fearful of the girl behind him the man hastily tumbled around, only to have two sharp blades pierce straight through his gut. Before Jurina could wrench her katana out of the limp body the four remaining thugs tried to take this opportunity and charged at the girl.
“Tch” Letting out an annoyed tut Jurina tightened her grip around the hilts and desperately yanked out the swords. But by the time she managed to free herself the four men were already midway through their swings, forcing her to roll away at the last minute. Despite her attempt to escape the falling blades Jurina still suffered from several cuts across her body. The gang chased after the tumbling girl with flailing arms, forcing her to keep rolling away until she slammed into a wall.
“Kill her!” Still standing in the middle of the road the leader was busy pointing out the obvious to his subordinates. Listening obediently to their boss the four men all swung their swords upwards to strike down on the seemingly helpless girl. However instead of swinging their swords down on the girl two of the men just loosely dropped their arms to their sides, a kunai on a thin string protruding from the back of their heads.
“Yuki some more help would be nice!” Jurina yelled at the girl in the purple kimono while she desperately held off the other two men.
“I’m working on it.” Yuki tugged on the strings to yank the knives out from the thick skulls and retrieve the blades. Once the knives were back in Yuki’s hands she immediately threw them at the two men that were overpowering Jurina, wrapping the string tightly around their necks. Feeling their airways shrink the thugs began frantically tearing at the string. This allowed Jurina the opportunity to push up against the choking thugs and end their suffering with two quick slashes across their chests.
“Y-you monsters!” Having witnessed the swift slaughter of his entire gang the leader yelped in fear and ran away from the two girls. Without saying a word Jurina sheathed her katana and took off chasing after the fleeing coward.
“Jurina wait!” Yuki hopelessly called out after the sprinting girl and watched her turn the corner. She then casually wandered past all the blood soaked corpses, as if they were nothing, and glanced down the pitch dark alley that Jurina went pelting down. Letting out an exasperated sigh Yuki slowly trotted after the girl into the maze of alleys. “Ha… Why do you have to be so troublesome?”
“I won’t let you get away!” Jurina was gritting her teeth in frustration as she rapidly chased after her prey. Unfortunately the man was surprisingly elusive so it took Jurina a huge amount of effort to just to keep her target in her sights. The constant weaving in and out of the twisting alleys was starting to take the toll on Jurina and her breaths started to feel heavier with every step she took. Just as she went around the hundredth corner she noticed another shadow standing in the way of the sprinting leader.
“Get out of my way!” Drawing out a dagger from its sheathe the fleeing man shrieked at the body blocking his way. Yet the shade remained motionless in the middle of the street almost daring the charging man to attack.
“Watch out!” Just as Jurina cried out to warn the mysterious figure there was a sudden flash of silver light followed by the sound of a blade slice through the air. Jurina’s legs slowed to a halt as she gazed at the scarf and cape flutter up in the wind created by the speed of the slash. Several crimson pearls were floating up from the tip of the curved blade, the moon rays bouncing off the glistening off the beads causing the surrounding to light up. Dazed by the breathtaking sight Jurina felt a shiver of excitement as the man keeled over backwards to reveal a cloaked figure with a large straw hat.
“W-wow that was amazing! Can you teach me how to do that?” Lifting her jaw up from the ground Jurina rushed across to the person as they sheathed their katana. The mysterious figure didn’t even react to the bounding girl’s request and began to walk away from her.
“Wait-wait, I won’t bother you for long.” Jurina hurriedly blocked the other swordsman’s path and bowed her head to the ground. “I just want to say thank you for helping me.”
“It was nothing…” Hearing the strangely soft mumble Jurina jerked her head up to try and catch a glimpse of the person’s face. What she saw beneath the hat was a surprisingly cute girl, who quickly brought the scarf around her face to hide everything other than a pair of nervous eyes.
“I better get going…” Just like that the girl lowered her head and brushed past the speechless Jurina.
Meanwhile Yuki was aimlessly wandering through the alleys trying to find where Jurina had disappeared to.
“She couldn’t have gotten too far away…” While she was mumbling to herself Yuki managed to spot someone briskly walking towards her. As the person got closer Yuki noticed that they looked rather suspicious. Their entire face was hidden by a combination of scarf and hat and they seemed to be making a conscious decision of sticking to the shadows of the walls.
“I’ll just kill them if they try anything.” Tightening the grip around the base of her knifes Yuki stopped and called out to the stranger.
“Excuse me?” Making sure to keep a safe distance Yuki feigned a smile while keeping her eyes focused on the stranger as she spoke, preparing to react to any sudden attack. “You haven’t by any chance seen a girl chasing after a man through here?”
Watching closely Yuki saw a slight shift beneath the cape, causing her to move her arm up and pretend to play with her hair so that she would be the first one to strike. Although all that appeared was an empty hand Yuki made a mental note of the katana that was sitting on the left hand side of the navy blue
hakama.
“There was someone back there on that street.” Yuki was a little shocked to hear such a feminine voice from the shady stranger as they pointed toward one of the many alleys to the left. Before Yuki could properly thank the stranger, the illusive figure was already gliding away from her back into the shadows.
“Huh, whatever…” Deciding to not think much of the mysterious person Yuki just walked toward the alley that was pointed out to her.
“Eh I thought he was supposed to have…” From around the corner Yuki heard the confused sound of a very familiar voice. Jurina was crouched on the ground and scanning her eyes over the corpse, while making sure to not step in the red sea that surrounded it.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” Jurina turned to see a brown pouch come flying through the air toward her face. Using her swift reactions she jerked her head out of the way and caught the pouch. “Seriously Jurina you didn’t need to bother causing all that commotion.”
“I don’t care.” Jurina stuck out a tongue as she stood up and wandered across to Yuki. “I didn’t want those dirty hands to touch my precious Yukirin.” Dropping the pouch of coins on the floor Jurina freed up her hands to clasp Yuki in a tight embrace.
“Oi Jurina what are you doing? We need that money!” Trying to push the clambering girl off of her Yuki desperately reached out for the bag of coins on the floor.
“But I need a kiss from Yukirin.” Jurina shut her eyes and made an attempt to kiss Yuki forcing the other girl to crane her neck back in order to avoid their lips connecting.
“No you don’t!” Finally freeing herself from Jurina’s grip Yuki bent down and lifted up the pouch. “This is a week’s worth of food, if you’re lucky. I know just how much you love your meals.”
“Not as much as I love Yuki-chan.” Jurina bounced in front of Yuki then gazed up at her with pure innocent eyes.
“Whatever you say Jurina.” Yuki looked away from Jurina to try and hide her bright pink face. Unfortunately for her the other girl had caught a glimpse of the blushes.
“You liar~” Yuki could feel a finger poke at her increasingly red cheeks. “I know that Yuki-chan also thinks the same way.” Jurina continued to giggle as her prodding finger slowly moved down toward Yuki’s chest.
“Hey that’s out of bounds.” Yuki slapped away Jurina’s hand then took a step away from the disappointed girl. “Anyway we’d better find somewhere to stay for the night. I remember passing by a
ryokan just a second ago.” With that being said Yuki strolled away from Jurina and turned the corner in search of a place to stay.
“Wait up Yuki!” Jurina burst into a jog to catch up with Yuki and latch onto her shoulder. “That’s better.” With her arm being constricted by Jurina, Yuki let out a labored sigh. She tried to ignore the humming weight of Jurina while retracing her steps back to the main streets. Eventually the pair arrived at the
ryokan and slid open the wooden door to be met by a warm greeting.
“Welcome young ladies I assume you would like a room to stay in?” An old woman emerged from behind a counter and gestured towards the pair. Yuki replied with a slow cautious nod while Jurina was also vigorously nodding her head. “Well fortunately for you two I still have a room that’s available but unfortunately there’s only one futon left in there.”
“That’s perfect!” Jurina’s eyes lit up with a huge amount of excitement as she shrieked with sheer delight. The suddenness of the girl’s outburst caused the old lady to stumble in shock before letting out a small chuckle.
“It’s rare to have such young ladies stay in this place, and even rarer to find sisters as close as you two travelling with each other…” Before she had even finished the sentence the inn keeper knew she had said something wrong. The enthusiastic girl’s bright eyes had immediately become hollow dejected spheres. Trying to remove the awkward tension hanging over the three of them the lady behind the counter glanced at Yuki with a nervous smile.
“Her sister is dead.” Yuki spoke with a monotonous voice as she tossed a couple of coins onto the counter.
“Ah I see… Well I’m truly sorry—”
“Just tell us where the room is.” Despite the obvious anger in Yuki’s eyes she continued to speak with the same abruptness. It was clear that she was keen on avoiding any further mention of the subject.
“Ah right of course! Erm corridor to the left, furthest…” Without waiting for the woman to finish Yuki took Jurina’s hand and dragged the limp body down the corridor toward their room for the night.
Once Yuki had slid the door shut behind her she continued to hold onto Jurina’s hand while slipping her
geta off. Jurina followed suit by placing her
zori next to Yuki’s sandals before letting go of Yuki’s hand and plummeting face first down onto the futon. Yuki knelt down beside the silent girl and placed a tender hand on Jurina’s head. For a while Yuki just sat there stroking her hand through Jurina’s hair. Despite the constant comforting from Yuki Jurina continued to sob into the pillow. The bright cheerful memories she shared with her sister and Yuki kept flashing through her mind. However they were always drowned out by the imposing image of her sister being slaughtered and the gut wrenching laugh that always followed after the blade dug into her neck.
“R-Rena-nee-chan…” Eventually Jurina’s whimpering faded away as she sat up and rubbed at her blood shot eyes.
“Come on Jurina we should just go to sleep.” Yuki ruffled the younger girls head before getting up from the futon and facing away from the sniffling girl. Jurina then copied Yuki and began untying the cloth that was holding up her swords. After placing the swords on the tatami she let her
hakama slip down to the ground. Stepping out from the cloth Jurina began to peel off her kimono to reveal a rather battle worn figure. There were several bandages tightly wrapped around her chest to cover up her breasts but other than that her delicate skin was covered with countless scars and bruises. Leaving her belongings in a chaotic pile Jurina spun around to see Yuki, in a thin white robe, fold her kimono and place it a neat tidy pile beneath one of her kunai. Yuki then lifted up the pillow and placed her other kunai beneath it.
“Do we really have to sleep with a knife under the pillow?” Yuki looked up to see a pouting Jurina leer at her with disapproving eyes. This caused Yuki’s face to form a frown as she lifted the quilt up.
“I know you don’t like it but it’s for our own safety.” Yuki slid under the quilt and gestured for Jurina to join her on the futon. Conceding to the truth Jurina shut her eyes and plonked herself down alongside Yuki.
“You’re right…” Jurina let out a drained sigh as she propped her head on Yuki’s shoulder. “I just wish that things weren’t so tense all the time. Being under the same quilt as Yuki and Rena used to give me a warm fuzzy feeling but now that Rena’s gone…” A single teardrop slid down Jurina’s cheek as she thought back to the cheerful days before the horrible tragedy had struck their village.
Yuki then reached around Jurina’s shoulder and wiped off the lone tear. “Well… At least you’re still alive to be sentimental about these things.” Yuki was trying to sound as optimistic as possible but that didn’t stop her own eyes from welling up. Tightening her embrace around Jurina, Yuki drew the two bodies even closer to each other. “And you’ll always have me beside you.” Placing a fond kiss on the younger girl’s forehead Yuki slipped her spare hand beneath the pillow and took out the kunai. Yuki released Jurina from her arms and presented the knife in her left hand before tossing on top of her pile of clothes.
“I’m sure we’ll be safe without it tonight.” Yuki felt a mild sensation spread through her body as Jurina gazed at her with a genuine smile. Jurina then leapt onto the shocked Yuki, causing the pair to topple onto the soft fluffy futon.
“Thanks Yuki.” Settling her head on Yuki’s chest Jurina nestled up to the cozy body and let her mind freely drift off.
“Just enjoy this while you still can.” Content at just observing the lovable expression of the sleeping girl Yuki just lay there in silence until she also began dreaming about the peaceful times that were cruelly snatched away from them.
TBC
Topic: [Nori's Fanfic] Dawn of the Dark Sun | Chapter 2 [Updated: 13.09.09] (Read 4822 times)