Rirī walked through the woods, her hand resting comfortably on her sword. Rain fell around her, the air filled with the small pitter-patter of the tears from the sky. Rirī didn't mind the rain. Back in her country, rain was welcomed and seen as good luck. Here, in this country, people cursed the sky for its tears, and Rirī always found it strange.
She suddenly heard the familiar sound of footsteps. The pace was at running speed; frantic running that was sloppy and easily overtaken. Rirī braced herself upon hearing the footsteps running towards her, poised to draw her sword. A man stumbled in front of her, but failed to notice her presence, and continued running, but was shot in the side by an arrow. Determined to help, Rirī ran forward and stood between the fallen man and his pursuers, who remained hiding. She drew her sword and took a defensive position.
"I know you're there. Show yourself!" She yelled. She gasped when seven demons stepped before her. They all looked alike aside from their leader, who wore a white Chinese tunic. He was a fox demon, already a thousand years old. He glared at Rirī.
"Step aside; I have no desire to kill a woman today." He said his voice low.
Rirī didn't back down.
"You better have a good reason for hunting this man; else I will have to kill you." She said in a hard voice.
He gave her a glare and a demon shot an arrow at her.
Faster than the naked eye could see, she blocked the arrow with her sword; the sound of the collision rang through the rainy wood.
Rirī glared at them and took a more threatening stance.
"As I said, a good reason?" She said.
The silver fox demon seemed impressed by her maneuver, and stepped forward.
"That man has done nothing wrong. His family was very wealthy and being bandits, we are attracted to wealth." He said.
Rirī glared at the fox demon.
"What do you mean 'was'? Don't tell me you killed his family?" She cried out in anger.
The other demons laughed at her outburst while the fox demon smirked and Rirī was hit with the horrific truth.
"How could you, you nasty scum!" She yelled.
"I suppose you mean to protect that man then." The fox observed.
Rirī's eyes narrowed in hate.
"You got that damn right. So unless you want to be skinned, I suggest you get out of here." She hissed.
The fox grinned and a cry of pain was heard behind her. Rirī's eyes widened and whirled around to see the injured man she was trying so hard to save, impaled with vines from the earth. The vines recoiled and returned to their master, the fox demon.
Rirī's thoughts went by quickly. If she were alone, she would rush forward and take the archers out first, but she wasn't alone and the man behind her was dying or dead. Quickly she drew a few knives from her sleeve and threw, the small blades lodging themselves in the archers' throats. She quickly ran forward and attacked the three other demons. It wasn't a particularly easy fight. The men came at her all at once, not giving her much time to form a strategy. She slammed her elbow into the nose of the man behind her, killing him instantly, while thrusting her sword into the stomach of one of the men in front of her. The other two came at her from her sides and they were too slow to land a blow that could've pierced her left arm. However, she kicked his legs out from under him and easily killed him once he was off balance and swung her sword around to kill the other man in the same strike.
She panted heavily and ran forward to the fox demon with a yell of anger.
He smirked and a vine pierced her side, causing her to stop, merely inches from hitting her target. Her mouth was wide open and she was panting, trying to get past the pain, but it brought tears to her eyes and she cried out in pain.
The fox walked up to her and shoved the blade-like vine further into her body, causing a scream to rip through the air. In response he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.
"I won't kill you, pet. I want you to live and spread horrifying rumors of my existence. Make me a legend." He whispered almost romantically.
Rirī clenched her teeth in anger and pain.
"Bastard, I will never do that. You may as well kill me." she hissed.
He chuckled.
"You'll do this for me girl. Tell the world of the legendary Youko." He said.
Then he pulled away from her and yanked his weapon from her body and she fell to the ground.
Rirī gripped her sword and tried to stand, glaring after the fox's retreating form.
"Get back here, bandit. I'm not through with you yet." She growled.
He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a kind smile.
"You're a persistent human. If we weren't enemies, I would keep you. "He said.
At that, Rirī nearly roared in anger.
"Keep me? You sick bastard, I'll kill you!" She yelled.
She managed to get to her feet but fell to the ground. She looked up to glare at the fox demon but saw he wasn't smirking at her. No, his expression was sad, but quickly changed back to the cocky expression he wore before.
"Good luck pet." He said, and then disappeared.
Rirī glared after him but her head swam and she fainted.