Chapter One: My Life Just Got Interesting

"Long ago, there was a small clan, full of hunters, that resided in the northern part of the continent. It was there that the clan was at peace. Each day the hunters, consisting of both men and women, would go out and hunt and bring back the body. The meat to cook and eat, the bones and skin made into weapons and clothes, and the rest would be sold to traveling merchants. Each day, the children would go out to learn about adapting to certain situations and learned how to hunt. On special occasions, the clan would hold a 'Rite of Passage' for the boys and girls who would enter into adulthood. These children would be required to present the chief the body of the beast they killed. They must always be wielding the ceremonial dagger, used to slay the beast. Yes, the clan lived like this for hundreds and hundreds of years and everyone lived by one creed. 'The strong survive and the weak perish'. Which is exactly why a few years ago, the clan was almost massacred by a rival clan. Most of the men and women fought but lost their lives. Children were captured and sold off into slavery. Only a few handful of people survived and decided moving was best. For weeks they traveled, each one worried about how they would survive. Some even deciding to abandon the creed and the clan while two died on the journey to the new home. Thankfully, the clan managed to find a suitable location and a neighboring village, which they ended up combining the two to obtain more land. It was a joyous day for the clan and the village alike. So every year, the two groups hunt for the biggest beast they can find and use it's body for the festival."

The old woman looked down at the three teenagers sitting quietly and politely as she told her story. The one on the left wore a white headband that held up his brown, unruly hair. The brown eyes, of his, seemingly uninterested in the old woman's story as two girl's passed by them. He was dressed, head-to-toe with warm clothing that was made in the village. A black, half poncho with wool on the inside and a beige, zippered up, jacket. His black pants were dirty enough to blend in with the ground, if the snow wasn't there.

The boy, in the middle, seemed very curious with her story. Large green eyes and brown messy hair, if she didn't know any better, the old woman would've mistaken the boy for her own grandson. His black jacket covering his sweater with a white collar sticking out. Blue pants neatly cleaned on a regular basis unlike his friend.

The girl, to the right of the two boys, was just as interested in the old woman's story. However, catching the sight of the first boy checking out the girls, angered her. She began to clumsily take her hands out of the sleeves of her cream-colored robes. The butterfly accessory in her silky black hair slowly began to fall out as she fixed it before picking up a small rock and throwing it at the first boy.

"Ow! What was that for Sayo?" He angrily asked, rubbing the side of his head.

"I don't know." Sayo replied, uncaring about what happened to him. "Maybe a small child threw it?" She shrugged.

"Hey, so it was you then!" The boy declared. "You always use that line whenever you throw something at me!"

"So what if I did, Ieyasu?" Sayo began to argue back. "It's not like you could ever beat me in a fight!"

"Guys, let's just calm down for a moment." The middle boy said, trying to keep the two apart.

"But Tatsumi," Ieyasu begged. "You know it was her that threw something at me."

"You also know how much of a perv Ieyasu is too!" Sayo retorted. "I saw you looking at those two tribal girls with hungry eyes." Sayo told a questioning Ieyasu.

"I'm sorry about this ma'am." Tatsumi bowed his head, still trying to keep Sayo and Ieyasu from fighting.

The old woman waved her hand with a smile. "It's quite alright. It's good to be young after all."

Without another word, the old woman shakily stood up before leaning herself on a stick, by her side, and walked off towards the village.

After a few minutes had passed, Tatsumi sighed before managing to push both Sayo and Ieyasu to the ground.

"You know, you guys really have to stop-!"

He was soon interrupted after Sayo threw a rock at him, smashing right into his face. The rock soon fell, leaving a huge red mark, on Tatsumi's face, as well as a small cut.

"Let me tell you both something!" Sayo angrily decreed. "I better not find you eye-balling any girls with the intent of having one night stands with them! Understood?"

"One night stands?" Tatsumi questioned before his face started to get redder after he realized what Sayo meant. "Why would I do that?!"

Sayo shook her head. "I know you wouldn't stoop that low. However, limp stick over here seemed plenty interested in getting to know those girls bodies." She pointed directly Ieyasu.

"And what's wrong with that?" Ieyasu asked, acting like he did nothing wrong. "They were hot!"

Ieyasu soon met the bottom of Sayo's shoe before sending him crashing into a nearby tree; knocking some grapefruits down for the three to take back to the village.

"At least we got what we were looking for too." Tatsumi chuckled, trying to brighten the mood.

As Tatsumi and his friends entered the village, they could tell the number of people hanging around outside was steadily increasing. Several men were hanging up a banner with some words written on the three couldn't read. Two, large posts were set up near the entrance to the village as two women began filling them with dry twigs and leaves. Even the center of their village was beginning to change with a large table being placed and decorated by several children with paint.

"The festival is really going to be a big hit this year." Sayo commented as she saw a woman roll down streams on the side of her house.

"Funny how our village and the Partas Clan suddenly joined together." Tatsumi noted.

"Yeah, but we're not even friends with anyone from the Partas Clan." Ieyasu side.

"Well we are…" Sayo admitted. "If you want to count….her."

A small chill ran down the back of Tatsumi's spine. Not even hearing the name of the woman was enough to scare him. However, Ieyasu seemed like he was having a great day dream about the girl as his nose started to bleed just a little.

"Gross." Sayo frowned. "Come on, Tatsumi. Let's give these to the cook and go visit Mr. Stein."

"Right." Tatsumi agreed, following Sayo and leaving Ieyasu behind to day dream.

Mr. Stein happened to be a retired martial arts teacher and now retired soldier Tatsumi and his friends got to know pretty well. He was kind enough to teach them various skills such as forging and even how to fight with a sword. Of course, Tatsumi and his friends only learned the basics in fighting; knowing very well there was nothing to fight besides the wild game they help hunt.

The small shop he owned was located near the center of the village. It wasn't big, but it was enough for the old fighter. Smoke coming from the chimney, on the side of the house; the smell of freshly produced steel flowing through the air it always made Tatsumi smile. Even during times of depression, Tatsumi would find himself coming to the wooden, two-story building, just to forget his worries.

As Tatsumi and Sayo approached the front door, an elderly man walked out. The old man was big and strong, sporting a green jacket and grey undershirt. In his mouth was a cigar he had begun to light, trying not to catch his grey mustache on fire. The pair of black goggles on his head, kept his spiky, grey, hair from falling in front of his face as he managed to light the cigar.

"Oh, it's you runts." The old man said. "How are ya doin?" He asked, blowing out the tobacco smoke from his mouth.

"Good, Uncle Dante." Sayo responded first. Ever since they met Mr. Stein, Sayo has always considered him family as he spent the first six months, since moving here, with her and her father. So she always addressed him as her uncle. Mr. Stein didn't seem to care much, however, when Ieyasu called him uncle, he was forced to dig a tunnel 16 kilometers long and nine meters deep.

"I'm doing well too." Tatsumi replied as well.

"Nice to hear….eh, where's the other runt?" Mr. Stein asked, checking behind Tatsumi and Sayo to see if Ieyasu was hiding.

"He's daydreaming at the moment." Sayo replied.

"I see." Mr. Stein pondered for a minute before turning to Tatsumi. "So, I hear you've nabbed yourself a pretty lady?"

Tatsumi's face turned red as Mr. Stein smirked. He always knew how to mess with him, whether it be help from Sayo or just sheer luck. The large man chuckled as he slapped Tatsumi's back.

"I never even knew you had it in ya!" Mr. Stein said.

"Well….I wouldn't say I nabbed her." Tatsumi could only respond.

"So she nabbed you then?" Mr. Stein questioned before nodding his head in approval. "All the more reason she see's you as a man."

"I agree." Sayo added.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Anyway, I'm sure you kids are cold; come inside." Mr. Stein opened the door for Tatsumi and Sayo.

"What about Ieyasu?" Tatsumi asked.

"Leave him." Sayo replied. "I'm sure he's warming himself up right now."

The tiny room Mr. Stein used for his forge was neatly cleaned and tidy. Tools were in place, the forge was being constantly checked at periodic times, and the anvil was being kept polished. Clearly this was due to Sayo's constant nagging of keeping a tidy clean shop. She's even scolded Tatsumi and Ieyasu for their rooms, something their parents are okay with.

Mr. Stein sat at the bench near the forge, tossing his cigar inside as he placed a pair of black, leather gloves on his hands. Tatsumi and Sayo both sat down, opposite of the anvil Mr. Stein had began working on. Placing a piece of hot metal, he pulled from the forge, Mr. Stein began his work as he grabbed a hammer and began hammering down on the hot piece of iron.

"So, weren't you runts supposed to take part in the hunting ceremony?" Mr. Stein asked, not breaking his concentration from his work. "Especially you, Tatsumi?"

"Well, uh, you see…" Tatsumi tried explaining a valid reason.

"We're not old enough yet." Sayo said with dismay. "True we are skilled enough to help but due to our age, we can't take part."

Mr. Stein continued banging the piece of metal, not bothering to look at Sayo who was giving quite the performance.

"Shame." He could only say. "Well, there's always next year."

"Right." Tatsumi said, dreading the idea. "Maybe I'll be gone from this village next year and live in the capital. That'd be nice."

"So, Uncle Dante?" Sayo asked. "What are you making this year for the ceremony?"

Tatsumi was interested too. Every year, since he and Sayo were five, Mr. Stein had always made large sculptors of monsters or people. Every time, the children would go play, it angered him, saying how they didn't appreciate art.

Mr. Stein stopped hitting the metal with his hammer and quickly put it in the bucket of water next to him before continuing to beat it some more.

"You kids wanna know?" He asked, both Sayo and Tatsumi growing ever more curious. "I'm making a new ceremonial dagger." He whispered as to not be heard. "The chief asked me to make it. He said the old one has served it's time and he plans on hanging it up as a trophy, along with some other things he has."

"Really?" Sayo asked excitedly. "Can we see it?!"

Mr. Stein shook his head, his eyes not bothering to look away from the soon-to-be-dagger.

"This is something the chief asked and it's supposed to be a surprise. Bad 'nough I told you both about it." Mr. Stein mumbled.

Suddenly, the sounds of people shouting could be heard outside. Men hollering about a caravan as women seemed nervous about how large a monster that was hunted this time. Children were singing small tunes and arguing over who would eat the most at the festival tonight.

Unable to contain their excitement, Tatsumi and Sayo both began to take off with promising Mr. Stein they would not tell anyone about the dagger.

"Damn kids." Mr. Stein chuckled. "Oh well."

As Tatsumi and Sayo both rushed to the entrance, to their village, the crowd of people began to become more dense. Both Tatsumi and Sayo struggled to move through the crowd any further before calling it quits and got out from the bodies pressing up against each other.

"Sheesh, it's like this every year." Tatsumi taking deep breaths.

"And we always do the same thing of getting through the crowd." Sayo added. "But I guess it can't be helped."

"We should try and find Ieyasu." Tatsumi said. "Once the caravan arrives, it'll be a madhouse just trying to move one step."

Just before the two of them could begin looking for their missing friend, a rock flew by Tatsumi's head, hitting Sayo square on the forehead.

"I think I found him." Tatsumi said, slowly turning around to find a grinning Ieyasu perched on top of a tree, overlooking the crowd. The boy was tossing and catching a rock in his hand as he waved at the two of them.

"Tatsumi." Sayo said calmly. "I'll meet up with you in a minute. I have something to go take care of."

Before Tatsumi could respond, Sayo quickly ran off in the direction of her home. Tatsumi could tell this was no game she was playing as he saw her bust down her door and enter her home.

Now finding himself sprinting, Tatsumi frantically waving his hands at Ieyasu, trying to warn his friend of the danger he was in. However, Ieyasu mistook his hand waving for a crazy dance as he started laughing at him, calling him ridiculous looking.

"Tatsumi, if you're going to dance, you should put more rhythm in your body like this." Ieyasu said, shaking his body to the tempo of his fingers snapping.

Continuing his dance, Ieyasu didn't notice Sayo coming out of her house with her bow and arrows Mr. Stein had specially made for her. Tatsumi, in a panic now, reached the tree and began climbing it, nearly getting hit by one of Sayo's arrows as she began shooting at Ieyasu.

"I'll teach you to hit a girl with a rock." She angrily mumbled.

"Ieyasu! Get down!" Tatsumi yelled, reaching the branch his friend was on. "Sayo means business this time!"

"What do you mean?" Ieyasu asked, looking over to where Sayo was as an arrow passed by his head, cutting his headband off. "Oh….that business." He said with a pale face as he began panicking. "What are we going to do?!"

"We?!" Tatsumi asked as his friend grabbed his shoulders, tears and snot all over his face. "You're the one who threw the rock!"

"Yeah well maybe if you would've blocked it I wouldn't be in this mess!" Ieyasu argued. "You're equally as guilty as me!"

Another arrow passed by Ieyasu's head, nearly hitting Tatsumi if the boy hadn't shook him to the side in time.

"Ieyasu! You're a dead man!" Sayo announced.

"Come on Tatsumi! Do something!" Ieyasu begged. "The crowd below us doesn't seem to be caring right now so it's just us."

"Seriously, can this situation get any worse than it already is?" Tatsumi thought as he looked down at the oblivious crowd.

In the middle of the crowd were several horses surrounding a large cart with a giant monster on it. The size of the body was nearly 10x's as big as Tatsumi or anyone his size. It was miracle that it was taken down by a small group of people, most of them villagers.

Looking closely below, Tatsumi could see the crowd had surrounded itself around a tall, large chested, blue-haired woman. Her hair was held back by a headband with the Partas Clan Tribe's insignia on the top of it. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt that was nearly big enough to cover her entire stomach but stopped near the edge of her belly button. Around her waist, a pair of daggers was strapped to a belt that held her white pants up, followed by a pair of black boots she wore that reached up to her knees.

"Oh, Ms. Esdeath, you are quite the hunter!" One woman said. "Won't you marry my boy? He's just as useful as you are?"

"Esdeath, won't you marry me?" A man said. "I'll make you a happy woman!"

"Esdeath, come play with us!" Some children laughed and begged as one of them pulled on her arm.

"I'm sorry children, I have other duties to attend to." She smiled apologetically. "However, how about tonight we use the monster teeth for drums?"

The children seemed very excited as they nodded before going off to play some more. Soon, Esdeath was confronted by a tall, elderly man, close to Mr. Stein's age. His light blue hair was partly faded but some of the color had stayed and was reached down to his back in a mullet style with the Partas Clan headband on his head. He wore tribal clothing consisting of a black short-sleeved turtleneck shirt, a long white kimono and a red vest on top of it, with a sash on his waist and a golden medallion around his neck.

"Esdeath, how was the hunt?" The man asked, examining the large beast.

"It was good, father." Esdeath smiled. "Now where is my boyfriend?" She asked, searching the area. "I don't see him here."

Focusing back on his problem, Tatsumi nearly met another arrow to the face until Ieyasu accidentally knocked him down, causing the both to nearly fall before Ieyasu managed to catch the branch with his feet and Tatsumi in his hands.

The crowd soon found the two boys hanging from the branch as Esdeath and her father watched from the cart. Esdeath's eyes soon widened and her face blushed as she found Tatsumi and Ieyasu swinging from the tree in order to avoid Sayo's arrows.

"Father, I'll be back." She told her father before running off towards the two boys.

"Ieyasu! You better hope that branch doesn't break before I shoot you!" Sayo yelled.

"Well luckily it won't since you're fat ass isn't on here!" Ieyasu shouted back, angering Sayo even more.

"Are you crazy?!" Tatsumi yelled." Are you that desperate to die!?"

"Tatsumi, I got this." Ieyasu winked. "The way I see it, she's almost out of arrows and then will have to go back for more, allowing us to escape."

"That would be a great plan," Tatsumi nodded before yelling at the top of his lungs. "If she didn't have oil soaked arrows with her!"

Ieyasu looked at Sayo and noticed Mr. Stein standing next to her with a small fire pit made. As he lit the arrows, Sayo fired them off, as Ieyasu now struggled to not get burned.

"Just let me go!" Tatsumi yelled. "I think I can make the fall!"

"Okay! If you say so!" Ieyasu said.

"Oh Tatsumi! I'm back darling!" Esdeath waved from the front of the crowd.

"Nevermind! Pull me back up! Pull me back up!" Tatsumi yelled before his grip loosened from Ieyasu's.

As Tatsumi fell from the tree, he saw Ieyasu pull himself back up, only to be hit by a flaming arrow, causing him to fall as well.

"I did it!" Sayo chanted.

As Tatsumi neared the bottom, he closed his eyes, prepared for the pain before he felt someone catch him, in mid air, and land back on the ground. The sounds of hands clapping and a few people whistling. Soon, Ieyasu landed on the ground, a sharp pain hitting his back as he tried getting up but was met by an angry Sayo aiming another arrow at him.

"So who's fat again?" She growled.

"Tatsumi? Are you okay?" A woman's voice asked as he slowly opened his eyes to find himself in Esdeath's arms. "You're not hurt, are you?" She asked.

"No...I'm fine." Tatsumi said.

"Oh goody!" Esdeath squealed as she gave him a giant bear hug, crushing his spine and pressing his face against her breasts. "I didn't know what I would do without you!" She exclaimed before letting him go.

Mr. Stein walked over to her and handed her a small box. Tatsumi could just barely make out the handle of a dagger that Mr. Stein was talking about before.

With a small smile on her face, Esdeath cleared her throat before addressing the crowd before her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to say we have had a most successful hunt and would like to start of the festival with a brand new ceremonial knife!" She raised the knife, revealing it to the crowd.

The knife had a black handle, possibly from one of Mr. Stein's knives but the blade, itself, was made from the bone of an animal. Mr. Stein commented, saying the bone was from last year's festival from the monster they had hunted.

Esdeath then placed her hand around Tatsumi's and had him face the crowd as well. He could tell Esdeath was beginning to feel nervous about something as she struggled to come up with the words to say. Soon, after a few moments of slow breathing she faced the crowd with a confident smile.

"I would also like to announce that, starting today, Tatsumi and I are engaged!" She held his hand in hers in the air.

"Wait what?!" Tatsumi asked surprised.

Sayo and Mr. Stein began to clap, while Ieyasu tried speaking but met the end of Mr. Stein's boot. Several of the children then ran back up to Esdeath and Tatsumi, all with happy faces.

"Does this mean you two will be living together?" One of them asked.

"Yay! Big brother Tatsumi and big sister Esdeath are getting married!" Another yelled.

"Can I be the flower girl?" One shy girl asked.

"No, I want to be the flower girl!"

"Are you going to wear a pretty dress?"

"Big brother Tatsumi, are you still going to play with us?"

As the children continued their assault of questions, several of the adults came forward with questions of their own.

"Did Tatsumi ask you to marry him or did you?" One man asked. "If it's the latter, I oppose to this marriage until Tatsumi man's up!"

"Oh hush!" The man's wife said. "I think it's lovely that a woman is taking the lead in a relationship for once."

"When will the wedding be?" A girl asked Esdeath.

"Won't this be the first interracial wedding we've had here?" One man asked. "Seeing as Esdeath is from tribal blood and Tatsumi is just a simple village boy."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Tatsumi said in his head.

"All questions will be answered later." Esdeath explained. "For now, let the festival begin!"

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