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"It's good to see you... old friend…" said an older man with a western accent.

Raki glared at the man who was approaching him.

"Spare me the 'Old Friend' bullshit Dariel. I told you that if I ever saw you again I would kill you…" growled Raki.

"Oh really? Well here I am, and by the looks of it, you're outnumbered." Said Dariel.

Raki looked around himself. All six of the men who surrounded him looked like they knew what they were doing. Raki could tell that they were dangerous.

One of the thugs surrounding him spoke up, "Boss, he's got a claymore with him!" he said.

At his words, Clara stepped closer to Raki, it was true that she had yoma flesh in her, but it was also true that she was just a trainee, and barely knew anything about fighting. But these men didn't know that…

Some of the men took a step back, none of them wanted to fight with a Claymore.

Raki glanced at the man who just spoke, he immediately recognized him as the man from the inn, who pinpointed Clara as a claymore earlier. "Damn, I knew there was something off about that guy, I guess that's how they found me…" he thought to himself.

One of the larger men spoke up. "Who? That little brat? She's just a little girl, how tough could she be?" he said taking a few steps forward.

"I wouldn't do that, she is still half monster, she may look small but she could easily take us down." said another man. At these words, the larger man who was approaching Raki stopped.

At last Dariel spoke up. "Stand down boys, that's not what we are here for." he said eyeing Raki.

Dariel held his hands out to his sides, showing that he wasn't holding a weapon. "You can relax, I'm just here to talk." he said, coming closer to Raki.

Raki didn't lower his weapon, instead he continued to glare at the man. "And why should I believe you?" he bellowed.

"Because if I wanted you dead I would have let my boys just kill you already. And besides, you and I go way back!" he grinned

"What do you want?" asked Raki

"Listen kid, you're a killer, you are the best warrior in this whole damn country! I want you on my team! In my gang! Just like the good old days!" he said hopefully.

Raki's eyes narrowed. "There were no good old days! You're a murderer! I am nothing like you!"

Dariel frowned "Not anymore I guess… You went soft kid, you left us so you could go find some stupid claymore! Someone who isn't even human!"

"More human than you…" responded Raki.

"Now that's just hurtful!" responded Dariel.

"I'll tell you what. You let me and the girl go and I won't kill you. Sound good?" spat Raki.

"Ha! Good luck, in case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered." Dariel laughed.

Raki kept a calm face, he showed no hint of fear.

"Okay, I suppose it is your choice… You can either hear me out and we can come to some kind of agreement, OR, I can let my boys here kill you and then let em do whatever they want with that little Claymore of yours." said Dariel.

"Not happening…You let us go! Or this gets ugly..." bellowed Raki, tightening his grip on his sword.

"Hmmm… that's too bad, we could have avoided your death…" he said smugly.

"Kill him!" ordered Dariel. "And take the girl."

At that moment all of the armed thugs charged in at Raki at once.

Raki quickly grabbed Clara, and he rolled out of the way. When he got to his feet he looked back at Clara.

"Stay close to me!" he ordered. "And pass me your sword!" he said. Clara gave him her training sword.

Half a second later Raki blocked an incoming attack with it. He quickly plunged his real sword into his attackers stomach.

Immediately afterwards, he had to pull it out and block two incoming attacks, one on his left and one on his right, holding Clara's sword in his left hand he blocked the left attack, and he blocked the right with his own sword.

He sent a kick to the man on his right, and then he cut him down with ease.

Raki turned left and as he continued to block the attacker on his left, he used his other sword to take of his attackers head.

Four left. If you included Dariel.

Two men charged at Raki from his front, when they got in range Raki ducked down and cut both of them in half with one swing of his sword.

Raki stood up and looked at the last man, who was standing between him and Dariel, the man was shaking.

Raki stared at him with an expression of boredom. The silence was deafening. No one moved.

Finally Raki broke the silence. "Boo!" said Raki, quickly taking two steps towards him. Before Raki could take any more steps the man turned and ran. Leaving Raki alone with Dariel.

"I'll say it once…" he growled. Approaching Dariel

"If I ever see your face again, I will not hesitate to feed you to the next yoma I find!" he roared knocking Dariel to the ground.

He put his sword against Dariels throat. "Do you understand?" said Raki.

Dariel froze with a look of terror on his face, "Please! Let me go! You won't ever see me again!" He pleaded.

"Fine, but only because I don't kill people who aren't armed...nor people with obvious disabilities..." replied Raki.

Clara looked up at Raki "He has a disability?" she asked.

"No Clara, it was an insult, He doesn't actually…(sigh) nevermind..." he said rolling his eyes.

He gently grabbed Clara by the wrist and led her away from Dariel.

"C'mon I'm taking you to your grandparents in Hanel." He said.

"You mean Mirstone right?" corrected Clara.

Raki stared down at her like she was stupid. He had lied about where he was going to throw off Dariel in case he wanted to follow them. But Clara had just gave away where they were going.

Raki shook his head and walked on. He reassured himself that he had scared Dariel enough that he wouldn't follow.

Little did Raki know that Clara's little outburst would lead him down a path that he couldn't turn back from.

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(Later that night)

"Is that enough?" asked Raki, as he handed Clara part of a squirrel that he caught and cooked.

"Mmhm" she said nodding her head.

"I know you don't eat much, so that should be enough right?" he said.

"Yea it is, oh and thank you Raki." said Clara.

He smiled "It's nothing, I used to cook for Clare all ..the….time" he stopped himself. His face became much more serious and depressed.

"Clare…" he whispered her name.

"Raki? Are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Clara.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." he regained his cold and empty composure.

"Is Clare that woman? That Claymore that Dariel was talking about?" she asked.

Raki remained silent, he made his way back to the other side of the fire, "I don't want to discuss this right now." he said sitting down.

Raki got started on his own food, Clara watched him. She had so many questions, but she didn't want to push Raki.

When Raki finished eating, he looked back across the fire at Clara. She reminded him of Clare. He was so close to finding her, yet he felt more sad than ever...

In his mind when he looked across the way at Clara he could almost see Clare looking back at him. Raki's heart felt heavy in his chest. His mind was worried, what would she think of him when he found her? Would she be proud of who he had become? Or would she reject him and push him away for the monster that he was.

He remembered back then, one of the first nights he spent with Clare, he remembered having a million questions for her, but not wanting to ask because he didn't want to push her. Perhaps Clara was in a similar situation.

Raki decided to break the silence.

He got up and walked over to where Clara was sitting, picking up her claymore on the way.

"Here Clara I want to show you something." He said holding out Clara's claymore.

Clara stood up and took her sword from his hands.

"I want you to stab this into the ground, but make sure that the flat side is pointing towards the fire." he explained.

Clara did as she was told, and she plunged her Claymore into the ground.

"Good." said Raki. "Now you have something to lean back against." he explained with a smile.

Clara looked back at him and smiled, "Thank you Raki." she said with brightness in her voice. She sat down and leaned back against her sword.

"So… what town are you from?" he asked her, trying to keep the silence broken.

Clara looked at the fire, "I'm from Greenfield…" said Clara, with a growing sadness in her voice.

Raki's eyes widened, just a few years ago Greenfield had been overrun with Yoma, the town was destroyed and there were barely any survivors.

Raki spoke up "Clara… you know that greenfield was-"

"Destroyed." she cut him off, her voice was filled with sadness. "My parents… they were…" her voice broke. "I watched my parents…" tears began to form her eyes. She went silent and put her head down.

Raki knelt down beside her, "Hey, it's alright, I know how you feel." he said placing a hand on her shoulder. "I watched my parents get eaten, and my brother ended up being a yoma." he said. "I'm sorry this happened to you, but listen, if your parents were still here, they wouldn't want you to cry, they would want you to be strong and love life." he said.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you really think so?" she asked.

"I know so… Now get some sleep, we have a long walk ahead of us." he said returning to his side of the fire.

Clara felt a little better, perhaps Raki wasn't as cold as he seemed. She had no clue who this Clare woman was, but she must have been special to him. Clara decided not to dwell on it. She wiped her face with her sleeve and leaned back against her sword, it was surprisingly comfortable, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, trying her best to let the memory of her parents escape her.

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Clara and Raki walked for miles, for most of the time, the two of them were silent, but periodically Clara would ramble on to Raki, or just ask him questions.

Some of the highlights being:

"How do you think people discovered honey? Do you think some crazy guy thought he could eat a bee hive? Or did they just watch bears eat honey?"

"How did we discover carrots if they grow in the ground?"

"Why do people have different hair colors?"

"Do you like music? I like music. What's your favorite kind of music?"

"Have you ever met someone who was crazy? I have…. they have a lot of weird things to say."

"Why do we get old?"

And finally…. "Why did that mean Dariel guy call you old friend?"

Raki stopped dead in his tracks.

Every other question he usually responded with silence or "I don't know" but this question, he could not avoid. It was a question that haunted him.

"Because we were friends… a long time ago…" he said regretfully.

"Why would you ever be friends with someone like that?" She asked.

"I was in a bad place… and I needed someone to help me…" he responded.

"What happened? What was he helping you with?" She wondered.

Raki remained silent, he just stared off into the distance. "C'mon, lets just keep moving."

Clara did as he said and followed him, a bit bothered at how he dodged the question.

Everything seemed fine until Raki heard a yelp come from Clara.

He quickly turned around to see what had happened.

To his surprise the ground beneath Clara's feet had given way and she fell about four feet into a lake.

Clara immediately began yelling and splashing her arms, "Raki help me! I can't swim!" she cried.

Raki stared in disbelief, how had Clara not realised that the water was only three and a half feet deep?

Raki quickly dove into the water and lifted the brave warrior onto his shoulders and carried her to shore.

When he set her down she immediately ran into him and hugged him, "Thank you…" she said quietly.

"How does a claymore not know how to swim?" he asked

"I'm just a trainee!" she retorted, stepping away from him. She was completely soaked.

Raki smiled and let out a small laugh. Clara began giggling as well, when Raki heard this he laughed slightly louder, to which Clara began laughing even louder.

After a moment they both went silent again. Raki still held a smile, he ruffled Clara's hair and then kept walking.

"Even if she's kinda annoying sometimes, she's fun to have around." He found himself thinking.

He immediately caught himself. "No… I can't get caught up thinking like that… She's only gonna be around for a few more days… I shouldn't get attached." he thought to himself.

"Let's keep moving…" he said.

Clara quickly ran to catch up with him.

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(Two nights later)

After four days and three nights together, their journey seemed like it was coming to an end. They had stopped and made camp just a few miles outside of Mirstone, where Clara and Raki would part ways.

The night was quiet, the only sound was the crackling of the fire which was placed between Clara and Raki.

Clara stared up at Raki from across the fire. She knew this was also the end of the road. Her eyes had lost their cheery demeanor, her mouth slumped downward slightly.

"Clara what's wrong?" asked Raki. "Aren't you glad that you're gonna be reunited with your family?" he asked.

Clara nodded her head. "I am glad. I really want to see them, it's just... "

"Just what?" he asked.

She looked down. "It's just that… these past few days have been some of the best in my life. No one has ever been as nice to me as you have. I know I can't but I just want to keep exploring with you! I don't want this to be over…" she said mournfully.

Raki knew how she felt, he had felt the same way about Clare. The only difference was that Clare never left him… not intentionally anyway. But even if he could keep this little girl around, she would be better off with her family. Raki knew that he had changed over seven years, he was no longer the same warm hearted kid he was before. After everything he had done, a lot of bad people wanted him dead.

He couldn't let a child get caught up in all that… even if she was a Claymore.

He stood up. He walked over to where Clara was sitting and knelt down.

He looked her in the eyes and put one hand on her shoulder.

"Look kid, I know you had might have had fun here, but we have to go our separate ways… I'm sorry. You have to be with your family… I can't take care of you"

This did not make Clara feel any better, she pulled her knees in closer to her chest and put her head down.

Raki let out a sigh and backed away.

He went to his side of the fire and laid his head down, that night he didn't get any sleep at all.

He put himself in Clara's position. What if Clare had just ditched him. He couldn't imagine how he would have felt.

"With all that I've done… and all the people who want me dead… If she stuck around… she would die…" thought Raki.

His heart felt heavy and for the rest of the night he laid still feeling nothing but guilt.

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(The Next Day)

The walk from their campsite and the village of Mirstone was long and quiet. Clara hadn't started her usual chatter, and Raki didn't feel like talking (That's nothing new these days).

When they finally made it to Mirstone their silence was finally broken.

"Hey Clara, how are your grandparents gonna react when they find out that you became a… you know…"

Clara looked up at Raki. "I don't know how they will react…..I'm not even sure if-" She was cut off by a loud "CLARA!?"

Clara and Raki looked off to their right and saw an older woman, who looked to be in her early 50's staring at Clara with a smile.

"Is that her?" asked Raki, to an excited Clara who was smiling at her grandmother.

Seconds later she ran into her grandmother's arms with tears in her eyes.

Raki looked on and smiled as the two of them were reunited.

Clara's grandmother knelt down and spoke quietly to Clara. Raki couldn't hear anything that was said, but he could tell that Clara was going to be fine.

Raki knew that he could have asked for an award, or maybe even some food. But he didn't need it.

Raki turned around and began to walk out of town.

As Clara was talking to her grandmother she looked over shoulder and saw Raki walking away.

"Uh-One second grandma!" she said quickly.

Clara ran as fast as she could to catch up with Raki.

"Raki wait!" she cried. Raki stopped walking, and he turned around.

"You're not even gonna say goodbye?" she asked pleadingly.

"I'm sorry… you just looked like you were a little busy, that's all… and I'm no good at goodbyes." said Raki.

Clara looked down and kicked the dirt. "It's okay Raki… neither am I really…" she sighed.

Raki looked down at her. "So I guess this is goodbye…" he lamented.

Clara just nodded her head, she was still looking down.

Raki lightly lifted her head up from her chin, so he could look her in the eyes.

She was crying.

He didn't say anything.

He knelt down and hugged her as she wiped her eyes. "Don't cry Clara… love your life, and be happy that you have a family." he urged.

Clara sniffled and nodded her head.

"Wait… before you go, I want you to have this…" he smiled and took off his backpack.

He reached inside and pulled out a small pendant. It was silver and had a blue jewel in the center.

"It was my mothers…" he explained as he handed it to Clara. "Now I want you to have it… so you can remember me."

Clara looked at it closely. It was beautiful. She looked back at him and smiled. "Thank you Raki…"

"Don't mention it kid, and promise me you won't be getting into any trouble okay?" he said.

Clara nodded her head.

Without another word, Raki stood up, turned around, and walked away.

Clara looked on with sadness as he walked away. She didn't move until he had gone out of sight.

"Goodbye…" she whispered at last. Turning back to head home with her grandmother.

As they went their separate ways an onlooker watched from a distance, smiling.

He blended into plain sight, sitting on a bench just outside of the local Inn.

As Clara walked into her new home, his grin grew even more.

"Dariel will be happy to hear about this…"