DaemonChaild
The girl moved gracefully, the set of movements she performed as beautiful and dangerous as any Shinobi
could hope for. The man, stood in the shadows, stared at her with slight amazement showing on his face. The
dance of death never stopped, the girls face serene and composed. And so, the man was rather surprised
when all of a sudden she had both glowing blades inches from his face. She whispered, in a voice of autumn leaves, "Why are you watching me?" The man blinked once, swallowed, then smiled peacefully. He moved his pale left hand in a complex movement, and she found herself looking at empty space. She span and
ducked at the same time, one leg stretched in front of her, her weight on her left foot, one blade helt aloft in aggression, with the other by her leg: defence. He watched her with an amused smile on his face. "You take my breath away." His voice was naturally
low, even now barely above a whisper. She stared up at him with distrustful orange eyes, both blades held in such a way as to be menacing without being overtly so. His smile widened slightly. "Now, I have to tell you something and I don't think you will like it."
"I’m all ears," the girl murmured. She didn't seem to visibly tire of remaining in that awkward position.
He sighed at the impetuosity of young students. "I have to kill you."
Her expression didn't seem to change at all. But she moved faster than he would have given her credit for. He almost didn't notice the slight movement beforehand that gave away her thoughts. The blade she aimed at his head sliced thin air. She blinked once, and looked over her left shoulder. He was stood in the corner of the hall, watching her with calm green eyes. "You will have to move faster than that."
She considered her options. Slowly, she lowered her blades to the ground, then stood up slowly. "I’m
unarmed. Tell me about why you have to kill me."
He didn't move from the corner. "You’re the fastest student this school has. Move away from the
blades." When she did as he instructed, he stepped forwards. They stood, a few feet apart. She could see
better now what she was facing. He looked young, with green eyes alight with an almost phosphorescent
glow, and ash grey hair. His skin was blemishless, unnaturally pale, but without the pallor of death. It was a marked contrast to her own dark pink hair, and tanned skin. Her eyes were the orange of dying suns, and they were fixed purely on the limitless, pupil-less depths of his eyes. The oddly curved knives hummed gently on the ground between them, the beam-blades harshly radiant against the polished white tile of the floor. He looked to be inspecting her with as much interest as she was with him. When he spoke again, it was slightly more slowly. "You are a threat to my people. It has been preordained that you die. And that you die by my hand." He had the grace to look away a moment, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't have much of a say in the matter, I have to admit. I was born solely for this purpose, and I shall doubtlessly be sacrificed afterwards. It is the ultimate honour." He recited the final part as if he believed in it, but to the girl somehow his tone lacked conviction. She just stared at him. He took another step forwards and reached out for her hand. "I need you to come with me."
Before his hand made contact with hers, she stepped backwards, just out of his reach. She shook her head
slowly. "I’m sorry. I don't know if this will wreck your cosmic purpose or anything, but I don't intend to
go with you. Didn't you ever hear of parents telling children not to go with strangers?"
It was his turn to stare at her, confused. "Parents?"
"You know, the people that raise you and teach you what to do? Sheesh!" She sighed and propped both
her hands on her hips.
Recognition dawned on his face. "Oh! You mean the Kinship! They are the ones that raise the young and
teach them their purpose." He looked at her questioningly, seeing her blank expression. "They’re a group of males that teach us what out destiny is."
She shook her head again. "No, I’m fairly sure that you have it wrong. You see, parents are normally two people of two different genders that raise a child together until it is old enough to work and look after itself." But she saw her earlier expression mirrored on his exquisite features and knew he didn't understand. A pang of sympathy went through her. "You don't know
your parents?" She knew it was evidently so, but she had to ask anyhow.
He shook his head. "I know I must have been created of a union between a male and a female, but I did not know the humans in question."
She looked surprised. "Humans? So your beings do not have kids?"
He tilted his head slightly to one side and frowned a little. "I am assuming that when you say 'kids' you
mean 'young'...or I think you might know it as 'children'. And, well, I think that we do have young, but some are taken, as I was, from humans such as you." He sighed slightly. "I think that my...prototypes...parents?...may well be dead. I am over three hundred years old." A small smile appeared on his face. "I
knew the Century's turn even though I only had a Year to me..."
She looked confused. "But this year is the Year of Kaijyous Tears, which, I think, translates to...2310. So you may have been...born?...in the year 1999, I think, in the Year of the Prophesied Death."
He nodded, then appeared to consider his next words. "Yes, that is true. I was created on the stroke of midnight in that Year, although no-one ever
registered my birth." He paused a moment. "Maybe that is why I was taken ten years later. I do not know
the circumstances that ensured that my creation was never recognised, but I am here now because of it."
She looked away a moment. "I always thought that midnight was not considered one Year or the other.
It is a time and place in its own right."
He looked thoughtful. "Maybe that is so. Maybe that is why I am as I am now." He sighed a moment,
and looked around, then looked back to her. "But I still have business to accomplish. I need you to come
with me. You must die, I am afraid."
