章 663: 6
Six years ago:
Despite her initial reservations, Ruby took to training with the sword with a gusto. As always, Kyo started her off with the basic stances and techniques, making her repeat each over and over again. After that, he walked Ruby through katas, pattern dances that taught her to string different movements together into a sequence. He also assigned her striking practice, picking a tree and having her hit it with her sword, with the full strength of her technique, in order to condition Ruby to handle the strain of impact.
He could be quite inventive, when the situation afforded him an opportunity. If they came across a lake or a deep stream in their travels, Kyo would have Ruby execute her strikes while standing waist-deep in water. The strain made her feel like her legs would completely give out upon emerging.
Sasame was equally merciless, particularly as Ruby's physical conditioning began to pick up its pace. While they still walked most of the way, periodically, Sasame would insist they start running, and the three of them would break into a light jog. Ruby had to keep up or risk falling behind. Sasame had an uncanny sense, and appeared to know exactly when Ruby was at her limit, knowing just how hard to push her before Ruby might break. As the days progressed, the distance they ran began to grow longer...until they were running more than walking. Furthermore, even though Ruby was practicing sword-swings, Sasame still continued to insist on regular strengthening exercises, even though Ruby had to do fewer repetitions now. And then there was also her Aura-training.
Ruby's days were a haze of pain and strain, each day spent forcing her body to its limits, and then just slightly past them. Her feet burned from the running and walking over broken terrain. Her arms ached from the endless repetitions of sword swings. Her hands chafed and began to develop callouses from the recoil of constantly striking hard objects. Her legs burned. Sweat drenched her body from sunrise to sunset. As it was, she barely had the wherewithal to eat dinner at the end of the day, before waking up the next morning, ready to subject herself to abuse all over again.
Yet, she flourished, tackling every challenge with all her might. For all that they were affectionate and supporting, her teachers continued to insist on pushing Ruby to the edge of exhaustion. They never held back, never took it easy on her. And Ruby never complained. For all that it was tedious and painful, she could feel the gains her body was gradually making as she put on muscle, her endurance improving. She was getting a better sense of her Aura too. Her nightly training with Sasame was allowing her to improve both her Temper, and her Flow. Her Suppression had soon reached the point where both Sasame and Kyo pronounced it perfect. As a result, they moved on to Projection.
Projection was the hardest exercise to learn yet. The basis was using the principle of Suppression to build up Aura within her, then force it outwards. When executed correctly, it actually generated more Aura within her body, which then washed outwards with explosive force. There was a trick of timing between the sensation of building and release. It took over a week of practice for Ruby to get a feel for it. It didn't help that Projection was the most exhausting of all her Aura-exercises. The first time she tried it, just three repetitions had completely wiped her out.
Out in the wilderness, Ruby began to lose all sense of time. How long had they been out here...one month...two months...more? Each day bled seamlessly into the next, and Ruby had no sense of what day of the week or month it was. Kyo and Sasame appeared to know, but Ruby figured it wasn't important. Focusing on her training was.
Things changed one morning when, as they made their way through the woodlands, Kyo abruptly called a halt.
"What is it?" asked Ruby as Kyo stooped over a section of ground.
"Someone passed this way, recently," said Kyo, pointing to a nearby tree. A thin twig, roughly four feet off the ground, was broken off. Lowering his hand, he brushed away some of the forest detritus to reveal a shallow impression in the soft loam of the forest floor.
"A footprint?" asked Ruby, squinting at the impression.
"Human or faunus," said Kyo, "an adult, going by the size. And..." He moved and cleared some more of the ground to reveal similar prints. "...they weren't alone."
Sasame frowned and took a wider view of their surroundings. She found more subtle signs of passage, leaves knocked off branches, branches bent and broken. "A fair-sized group," she said.
"What does that mean?" asked Ruby, feeling a bit nervous by the intensity of their inspection.
"They're off the beaten path," said Sasame. "It works for us, because we don't have much luggage, and there are only three of us. But even a moderately-sized group of people would travel more efficiently along roads or paths."
"They've also covered their tracks," noted Kyo. "It was other signs that made us notice their passage at first, but they hid what they could. The Grimm hunt by sensing emotions, so they don't notice signs of human passage. Whoever did this wanted to hide their signs from other people."
"Why would they do that?" asked Ruby.
"Because, four out of five times, that means they're bandits," said Sasame. "Bandits raid settlements for loot and supplies, then retreat quickly, before the authorities can arrive. They hide the signs of their passage so that any pursuers have to take time to follow their trail, which tends to lead to them being harassed by Grimm in the process."
"Which way are they going?" asked Ruby.
"They're moving at a slight angle to our course," said Kyo. "We intersected theirs by chance." He moved to inspect the broken branch he'd pointed out. "This is fairly fresh...less than a day ago."
Ruby swallowed, imagining the woods crawling with brigands. It was like something out of the adventure stories Yang used to tell her...except, this time, the danger was very real.
Kyo reached into his sleeve and withdrew their map. He and Sasame usually waited until Ruby was asleep to consult it, not wanting to bother her with the logistics of their trip when they were focusing on physical and technique training. But, right now, he needed to figure out where the bandits were heading.
"Let's see..." He unfolded the map across the ground and pointed to a spot out into the woodland wilderness. "We're approximately here, by my estimation. We came from this way..." His finger drew an invisible line across the terrain towards the settlement they'd left behind what seemed a lifetime ago. "Assuming they're trying to move in a roughly straight line, the bandits would be heading this way..." His finger traced a different line across their position.
"Nothing in their immediate path," noted Sasame.
"No, but Barrowdown is close," said Kyo, pointing out the settlement just a little ways off the line of the bandits' movement. "We were planning on heading there next. It's only three days away, at our current pace. The bandits will likely have scouts moving out to look for potential targets, if they don't already know where the settlement is."
"If they did, wouldn't they head straight for it?" wondered Ruby.
"Sometimes," said Kyo. "Other times, they'll divert their approach in order to find a more strategically suitable point to attack from. Settlements succeed because, more often than not, they're placed in defensible locations. Dunedain, the one we were in before, is an exception, because they use the visibility of the terrain to see threats coming in advance and summon help before they're overrun. However, most settlements are set in places that limit possible avenues of attack, which makes it harder for Grimm."
"But people are more dangerous, mainly because they can be more creative," said Sasame. "Savvy bandits can turn the terrain to their advantage and use it to get an edge over the defenders of a settlement."
"What do we do?" asked Ruby.
"I'm afraid we have to put your training on hold, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, looking up at her apologetically. "The bandits are a short distance ahead, but they do have a lead on us."
"Depending on how they carry out their attack, they could strike as early as tomorrow afternoon," said Sasame.
"So we'll have to run, and pray that we aren't too far behind them," said Kyo.
Ruby swallowed nervously. Her legs were already burning from the running she'd done before, which would only be further intensified by this unexpected stop. Furthermore, this wouldn't be a cross country jog to build up her wind and endurance. It would be a race against time, where they'd need all the speed they could get. She wasn't sure she could manage that yet. But, right now, people needed help, and they had to get there as soon as they could.
Kyo put the map away and then, to Ruby's surprise, turned around and knelt in front of her. "Climb on, Ruby-chan."
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, staring at Kyo's back in confusion.
"We know you're not ready for the kind running we need to do," said Sasame. "So Kyo will carry you. We'll manage just fine. For all the muscle you've been putting on, you don't weigh too much."
"All right," said Ruby. Part of her wanted to protest, but the rest of her silenced that part. She couldn't afford to argue logistics right now. People needed them. Ruby wrapped her arms around Kyo's collar and held on as he hooked his arms under her legs. Sasame took Kyo's sword for the time being, making it easier for Kyo to carry her.
Then they burst into motion. Kyo and Sasame broke into a run that made their previous jogs look like a crawl. The forest became a blur to Ruby's eyes, trees rushing past in a blend of brown and green. Kyo's body lurched and shifted with every step he took as they practically flew over the broken ground as though they were sprinting along a flat track. The rush of air in Ruby's face was a constant strain, the overall momentum forcing her to exert herself to keep her hold on Kyo, lest she be pulled off.
They didn't stop, continuing their run, even as the sun began to set. Even as night came on and the stars dusted the sky, Kyo and Sasame didn't slow, which amazed Ruby. Sasame was a faunus and, consequently, had excellent night-vision. But Kyo was human and should have been virtually blind, with nothing more than the light of the moon and stars sporadically breaking the forest canopy. Yet he continued to run over the uneven ground that had the potential to twist ankles or break legs, at full speed, not missing a single step.
Even if she wasn't really doing anything but holding onto Kyo, Ruby was still getting tired. Her eyes were feeling dry from the constant pressure of the wind. The late hour was making her sleepy. Her arms burned from the constant strain of maintaining their hold. She was hungry and thirsty too. Yet she clung gamely on, refusing to be the person who slowed them down.
Finally, as the eastern horizon began to lighten, Kyo and Sasame slowed to a stop. Kyo sank into a crouch, and Ruby pried her stiff arms from around his collar and wobbled on legs that weren't accustomed to standing at the moment.
"Take a seat, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, patting a stump.
Ruby sat down, grateful for the respite. Sasame passed her some of the trail rations they ate for breakfast and lunch, along with a canteen. Ruby ate her portion quickly, washing it down with swift swallows of water.
In the meantime, Sasame laid out Ruby's blanket. "Get some rest," she said softly.
"But..." protested Ruby.
"We won't be able to do much good if we're too worn out to fight before we even get there," said Kyo. "We've closed the distance. Hopefully we'll get there before things get bad."
"Just a few hours," said Sasame softly. "Not too long. We'll wake you when it's time to set out again."
Ruby nodded and slipped into her makeshift bed, bundling her cloak beneath her head as a pillow. Her eyes closed and she was lost to the world.
The next thing Ruby knew, Sasame was gently shaking her awake. "Come on, Ruby-chan. We need to get ready."
Ruby yawned, her body urging her to go back to sleep. However, she quickly remembered the direness of the situation and she forced herself up. She took some more trail rations and water from Sasame, along with a quick bathroom break behind a tree. After she'd cleaned herself up, she joined Sasame and Kyo, who once again crouched down to offer her his back. Ruby climbed up and they were off again.
The air rushing against her face helped to wake Ruby up considerably. As they ran, she began to hear other noises over the rushing of air. It was distant, but rapidly growing louder, the sounds becoming more and more audible over the sound of wind rushing past her ears. There was a distinctive crack, like an explosive discharge. It took Ruby a second to process what that sound meant. Gunfire! They were close, but the battle had already begun. The bandits were attacking.
Finally, they emerged from the cover of trees and onto a space of cleared land with an elevated view of their destination. The town of Barrowdown was nestled up against a set of steep mountain slopes. Formidable walls with mounted turrets blocked access from the lower approaches of the forest, the ground cleared to offer them a clear shot at any approaching Grimm. Buildings of various sizes and styles rose up within that safe perimeter, ringing another space of cleared ground, open dirt, occupied by heavy equipment, set around an opening at the foot of the mountains. Barrowdown was a mining town.
As Sasame had predicted, the bandits had been creative, and turned the settlement's positioning to their advantage. While the Grimm wouldn't have risked the tumble down the steep mountain slopes, the bandits had apparently moved close, using the trees and boulders as cover, before attacking from the blind spot in the settlement's defenses. They'd hit hard and fast and, already, a sizable portion of the small town was covered by a pall of rising smoke, with flames licking upwards from several buildings.
"Let's go," said Kyo, he and Sasame bursting into an even faster run now. Ruby clung to Kyo's back with all her might as the trio hurtled down from their overlook, leaping from one precarious foothold to another with skill that mountain goats would have envied. From there, it was a straight dash out of the woods and across the cleared ground to the wall.
Kyo and Sasame didn't even slow down as the wall loomed up ahead of them. Without breaking stride, they transitioned to the vertical surface, and used their momentum and propulsion from their Aura to run straight up the side of the wall and leap over the top. They landed on the other side and continued their run without breaking stride, taking the most direct route they could find through the unfamiliar streets towards the chaos that was threatening to engulf the whole town.
They saw people, the vast majority of them fleeing in the opposite direction the trio were going. Every now and then, they spotted some of the town's defenders. At this distance, they were trying to direct people or setting up defenses to fall back on as the bandits advanced. The attack, coming from an unexpected direction, must have caught them completely by surprise. Trying to manage the chaos of the fleeing civilians was almost overwhelming enough in its own right, and the few of them that were managing to make contact with the enemy were quickly on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Kyo and Sasame came to a stop, Kyo letting Ruby slide off his back and taking his sword back from Sasame. As Ruby worked her arms and legs to regain some sense of movement, she saw why. Nearby, one of the town guards, dressed in rather unimpressive armor, with a basic Dust-rifle slung over his back, was dragging a wounded comrade down the street.
"Stay with Sasame," instructed Kyo, meeting Ruby's eyes to confirm her acknowledgement of the instruction.
"Okay," said Ruby.
Kyo smiled and gently ruffled Ruby's hair before continuing along the street towards the raging battle. Sasame, in the meantime, headed right for the wounded soldier. The man looked up at her and Ruby's approach, tensing at the sight of these two unfamiliar people coming towards them.
"You two need to get out of here now," said the soldier. "We're not gonna be able to hold them back for much longer."
"That won't be an issue," said Sasame. "My friend will take care of your little bandit problem. As for your friend…"
She knelt by at the side of the wounded man, who groaned as he kept his hands pressed against the side of his abdomen. From the blackening of the armor around his hands, it appeared he was covering up where he'd been hit by a fire-Dust round. Sasame reached down and pried the man's hands off the wound, causing him to groan in pain, while his partner shouted in confusion.
Ruby fought back the urge to retch at the sight of the wound. Blood was oozing around burned tissue, blackened in some places. The stench of scorched flesh was horrendous.
Sasame rested a hand gently over the section of ruined flesh and her hand began to glow with the pale-pink light of her Aura, which washed over the man's body. The wounded soldier relaxed with a sigh, his arms going limp as his head leaned back into his comrade's chest as the unwounded man kept him steady.
"H-how…?" he asked.
"I'm a healer," said Sasame. "Now isn't really the time for a lecture I'm afraid. I need your help."
"You just saved my buddy from an agonizing death," said the man. "What do you need?"
"I can save those who are wounded," said Sasame. "So long as they aren't dead yet, I still have the capacity to help them…but only if I can reach them. We need a place close by, where we can gather the injured for treatment."
"But the bandits-" protested the soldier.
"Will cease to be a problem soon," said Sasame with a wan smile. "My friend will see to them quickly enough. I need you to get word out, and start organizing the people to get the injured to some place where I can see to them, preferably somewhere where a fair number of people can be gathered at once. While you're at it, see to getting cots and basic medical supplies from your hospital."
"Town Hall works," said the man. "It's just two streets down from here. It's even a little fortified, in case the Grimm overrun the outer defenses." The notion caused him to pale. "Oh God! The Grimm! They'll be on us like flies on a rotting carcass."
"One problem at a time, dear," said Sasame in a consoling voice. "Though that's one you needn't trouble yourself over. The Grimm won't be here anytime soon. Focus on what can be done. Get the wounded to the town hall, and we'll set up there."
"Yes, Ma'am," said the soldier, standing up and rushing off.
Despite her small size, Sasame had no difficulty hefting the healed soldier, who had fallen into unconsciousness, and slinging him over her shoulder. "Well then, Ruby-chan, let's go. I imagine their Town Hall will be a fairly prominent building."
"Is that why you helped that man?" asked Ruby, looking over at the unconscious man over Sasame's shoulder.
"What do you mean?" asked Sasame.
"You stopped because you saw the injured soldier," said Ruby. "I couldn't tell, 'cause we were moving so fast, but we probably passed a bunch of hurt people on the way over. Why stop for this one?"
"Why do you think?" asked Sasame with a twinkle in her eye. It was a look Ruby had grown familiar with, the look of a teacher guiding her student through her own questions to reach answers and understanding.
"To heal people, you need to be able to get to them," said Ruby, running things over in her head. "If you tried to just stop and fix every hurt person we came across…"
"Then I'd be running hither and yon across the town," said Sasame with a smile, seeing that Ruby was already connecting the dots.
"So, instead, you see an injured soldier and heal him in front of his friend, so that he'll get the other soldiers, because people will listen to them and then…they'll bring everyone who's hurt to you."
"Exactly," said Sasame approvingly. "It's much more efficient, and I'll be able to help everyone quickly and save the largest number of people I can."
Ruby winced as she heard an explosion in the distance. "Will Kyo be okay?" she asked.
"He'll be fine," said Sasame with a giggle. "If anything, I feel sorry for the bandits."
The settlement's defenders were hard-pressed. With the attack coming from an unexpected direction, their response had been sluggish. By the time they'd managed to respond, the bandits had already done considerable damage. The only silver lining so far was that the marauders hadn't yet begun to scatter throughout the town.
The defenders did have a few advantages. Their equipment, while basic, was well-maintained. Their rifles were fairly new and in good order, thanks to regular access to spare parts for maintenance. Their armor was also superior. Compared to them, the bandits, with weapons that were often cobbled together from unrelated parts and hodgepodge armor, sometimes crafted with nothing more than what spare metal was lying around, seemed under-armed and armored. If it had been a fair fight, the defenders would have won easily.
Unfortunately, the bandits were seasoned experts at not fighting fair. Furthermore, due to the fact that this wasn't their settlement, they were more than happy to plunge it into flames in order to drive the defenders into the open, where they could be set upon by those with melee weapons or cut down by mass-firepower. In contrast, the town guards were reluctant to open fire on the homes of people they knew or, sometimes, their own homes.
At the moment, the situation was in a tenuous stalemate. The two sides mixed together in the midst of a plaza created by intersecting streets in a furious melee, while others tried to set up positions at range to cover their comrades. Bullets crisscrossed the air overhead as both sides fired at targets of opportunity, neither being willing to send massed firepower into the melee fight, where their own allies were mixed with enemies. Unfortunately for the defenders, the melee was not working to their advantages. What they lacked in access to superior equipment, the bandits more than made up for with experience. They were seasoned fighters, possessing unusual, if roughshod, weapons that they could employ in inventive ways. Bodies were falling to the ground with each passing second, but very few of them belonged to the bandits. In a moment, the balance would tip...
Then, what looked like a comet plummeted out of the sky and slammed into the ground in the midst of the melee. It landed with explosive force, flashing with intense light, throwing up a cloud of dust, which completely obscured the interrupting object from view. The shockwave drove all the fighters back. Instinctively, they all retreated in the direction of their allies, trying to find some form of organization after the sudden disruption of the chaotic fight.
A silence fell over the battlefield, almost deafening for the absence of the previous noise and chaos that had nearly overrun it. The dust began to clear, revealing just what had hit the ground.
It was a sword, its shape that of a basic katana, but nearly five feet in length. The blade seemed to shine from within, highlighting the beautiful, woodgrain-like patterns that ran up the length of the blade's edge. It was a thing of beauty. For all that it was a simple sword, it was the finest piece of craftsmanship that anyone on either side had ever seen.
In the silence that followed the sword's unprecedented arrival, the scuff of sandaled feet against the ground became audible, the sound coming from behind the ranks of the guards, accompanied by an ominous presence. They turned and parted as a young man approached, dressed in a black kimono. His luminous, crimson eyes seemed to shimmer, the air around him rippling as though he was the source of some kind of intense heat.
"Who-?" gasped one the guards.
"A friend," said the young man with a smile, addressing the guards. "My name is Kyo. I'm here to help. If you wouldn't mind, pull back your forces and focus on containment. We don't want these men scattering throughout the town."
"You're going to take them on...by yourself?" asked the highest-ranked guard present. The oddity of this person showing up and offering his assistance was strange enough. The assurance that he could take them on alone seemed ludicrous. Even a seasoned Huntsman would have trouble against the number of bandits.
"It's a simple matter," said Kyo. "Numbers don't mean a thing to me. Ah, by the way, my friend should be setting up a space nearby to treat the wounded. Bring any injured to her and she'll be able to help them." The shine in Kyo's eyes seemed to intensify as he turned his gaze on the bandits, though he continued to speak to the guards. "Don't worry. This will be over shortly."
Kyo strode forward and pulled his sword out from the ground, raising it to rest casually over his shoulder as he faced the bandits. Their leader stepped out from amidst their numbers. He was a towering, musclebound man, one who could easily be seen leading a dangerous bunch like this.
"Eh, who's this runt?" he snarled. "Think you've got what it takes to take on all of us, huh?"
Another man came up to the leader's side. "Wait a second, boss," he said in a nasal voice, "there's something about this guy. Glowing red eyes...long sword...black kimono. This guy's Demon Eyes Kyo. I've heard he's famous throughout the settlements. They say that even the Grimm run from him."
"Oh...you heard of me? I'm flattered." Kyo laughed softly. "In any case, I'd like to resolve this matter quickly. That said, there's no need for unnecessary bloodshed. I'm not inured with wanton killing. I'll be happy to spare any who relinquish their weapons and surrender. I'll give you ten seconds..."
The towering leader snorted. "Ha! As if we'd believe a joke like that. All I see is a fool who's come to die!"
He raised his weapon, a crude-looking battle-axe that he hefted over his shoulder in one hand. The curving blade at the front tapered down back towards the handle. On the other side, there was a rounded, almost conical projection facing the opposite way, with a hollow on its end. As the leader swung downwards, a jet of flames erupted from the opposite end, driving the axe down even faster at Kyo's head. Both the bandit leader and Kyo vanished in an explosion of dust.
Silence fell again. Then the dust cleared to reveal the leader and Kyo, both still standing. But the leader's axe had been stopped cold by Kyo's blade, which Kyo continued to heft with one hand, not even seeming to make an effort, despite the larger man bearing down with all his weight, the jet on the back end of the axe continuing to fire until the flame slowly sputtered out.
"I-impossible!" gasped the bandit leader, pulling back.
"My turn," said Kyo cheerfully.
Then he was suddenly behind the leader, facing away, as though he'd just walked past the larger man. To everyone watching, it was as though they were watching a video that had suddenly skipped a frame. Kyo's sword was once again resting over his shoulder as he began to walk away from the bandit leader. The hulking man began to turn around. However, red lines appeared across his body. Then he seemed to burst apart, his form cut into countless pieces, blood scattering everywhere.
Both the bandits and guards looked on in awe. They hadn't seen Kyo move, much less his individual sword strikes. Everything seemed to have happened out of nowhere, as if by some kind of magic.
"Now then," said Kyo, lifting his sword off his shoulder and holding it out to his side in preparation to strike. "This is the last warning. Those who remain holding their weapons should be prepared to die."
The bandits hesitated for a moment. Then, from within their ranks, a strangled voice barked out. "G...Get him!"
Driven by their habitual inclination to aggression, the bandits surged forward, their numbers threatening to break over Kyo like a wave. But Kyo merely smiled, raised his sword...and plunged into their ranks without hesitation. The next few moments were followed by a chorus of screams and showers of blood.
Word spread about Sasame and her work quickly enough. After reaching town hall, they'd made the unconscious soldier as comfortable as possible. The building had a large entry hall, which could be used to shelter most of the town, with additional doors and stairways leading into basements, which could hold more people. The doors were reinforced with steel bars to help keep the Grimm at bay, should the town's wall ever be breached.
At Sasame's direction, Ruby helped clear the floor in the entryway, moving benches and decorative plants to the walls. They were glad for the space, as a gaggle of people soon arrived; parents cradling battered and lacerated children, children doing their best to support wounded parents, guards escorting and carrying wounded comrades. They began to flow in, converging on Sasame in a rush. There must have been dozens of them.
Ruby thought her teacher would have been overwhelmed, but Sasame moved efficiently, directing people to lay the wounded down in basic rows, with enough space for her to move between them. Even as she talked, Sasame went to work. To the amazement of both Ruby and the townsfolk, Sasame's tail lengthened and divided, one becoming three, then nine, all of them weaving around Sasame.
As her tails brushed over wounded people, Sasame's pale-pink Aura would bloom across their bodies. Color would return to pale skin. Faces, contorted in pain, would relax. Bleeding would stop. All the while, Sasame moved to the most severe cases and worked with them directly. It was the first time Ruby had seen Sasame fully active in her role as a healer. She knelt by the worst-injured, her fingers and hands seeming to phase through skin and flesh, allowing her to reach the insides of their bodies directly.
The townsfolk grew wary when Sasame's tails divided. There were faunus living in this settlement and, by and large, relations were peaceful. But Sasame's actions defied the logic of what even faunus knew themselves to be capable of. Yet, no one could argue with the results of her work, as each person she walked away from was fully healed, if unconscious and resting.
Finally, the hospital staff arrived, pulling along carts stacked with cots, along with bedding and other essentials. Ruby did her best to help them unload, carrying what she could. She was glad for the months of strength training she'd done leading up to this point, as it enabled her to almost match adults for the loads she could carry, limited only by the small size of her body and hands, and the limited reach of her arms.
As the cots were set up, the treated were transferred to them, while Sasame continued to attend to the wounded. Yet again, Ruby did as best she could, trying to help make everyone as comfortable as possible. Adults watched in amazement as the nine-year-old moved amongst them, not seeming to care when a patient's blood ended up on her skin or clothes, moving with calm and assurance that rivaled the most experienced and mature among them.
The the flow of wounded trickled to a stop, and the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance tapered off abruptly. Soon, quiet returned, only broken by the crackling of flames from the burning sections of the town and the groans from those few injured still waiting to be treated.
"Did Kyo do it?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame.
"That he did," said Sasame, not looking up from her current patient. "We shouldn't let our guard down though."
"Why?" asked Ruby.
"As powerful as he is, Kyo is one person," said Sasame. "In pitched battle, that means little. However, if the bandits tried to scatter, there may have been a few that slipped past, if they decided to skirt the fight in its entirety. I get the feeling that setting up an airtight cordon was not the first thing on the guards' minds when this happened."
As if summoned by Sasame's statement, a guard by the door screamed, clutching at his shoulder as blood fountained out from between his fingers. The shot that had hit him spun him, even as he fell and skidded across the floor. Townsfolk milling near the entrance to the Town Hall screamed and scattered as a ragged man and woman made their entrance.
Ruby was almost disappointed by her first look at the bandits. In the absence of meeting the real thing, her imagination had built them up into living incarnations of evil, malevolent creatures that lived by spreading misery and death and taking what other people had made for themselves...Grimm in human guise. But that was a far cry from the truth. That was a far cry from the dirty, ragged pair that stormed through the entrance, desperation in their gaze as they took in the hall full of helpless civilians and wounded guards. The few unwounded guards scrambled for their weapons.
"Keep those pieces down!" snapped the taller of the two, glaring at the guards, before leveling his gun, a pistol with a broad, curved blade hanging below the barrel, at the guard that he'd just wounded. "Anyone tries anything and this fool'll be eating Dust through the top of his head!"
The guards faltered. In the meantime, the woman, whose hair hung in greasy, black strips, hefted a rifle, one that looked like she'd looted off someone she'd injured or killed, and swept it back and forth across the room.
"Now then," continued the man, "we've run into a bit of a hiccup. The rest got wiped out by some kind of demon-eyed monster. But, if we have you folks, I think we can come to an arrangement."
"Oh honestly," sighed Sasame, rising to her feet, her tails having merged back together before anyone had noticed. "I really don't have time for this nonsense. Not only that, but you've gone and created more work for me."
"Shut it, brat!" snapped the man, transferring his aim from the wounded guardsman to Sasame instead. Everyone in the hall tensed. Now it was the person who'd saved countless lives being threatened.
Sasame merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. "If you two would be so kind as to put your weapons down, I might see to your own injuries, before turning you over to the authorities. It's a much better option than what you just left behind, and compared to what awaits you if you keep pressing your luck here."
"You're talking awfully high and mighty, brat," hissed the man. "I ain't playing around."
Then he pulled the trigger. The crack of a Dust-propelled discharge echoed through the hall and people screamed. Sasame's head snapped back as the bullet struck her right between the eyes.
Ruby had screamed too, before cutting herself off as she remembered what Sasame had shown her the day they met.
Sasame stood there, her head tilted back. For a moment, everything froze. Then, slowly, Sasame tilted her head upright, the mark of the bullet's passage already disappearing from her forehead. "That was uncalled for," she said.
The bandit's hand and arm began to shake. His companion didn't fare much better. In fact, nearly everyone in the hall was rattled by the sight of the diminutive fox-faunus shrugging off a gunshot to the head as though it were nothing more than a weak poke. Even the guards had forgotten their situation, becoming so absorbed in the fantastical occurrence before them.
The man tried his best to level his shaking gun at Sasame, but his trembling caused his aim to jitter wildly all over the place. Still, every subsequent shot he fired managed to hit her, striking her in the chest, the stomach, the leg, the shoulder, the neck, then in the chest again, before the clip of his weapon clicked empty, though he still squeezed the trigger several times afterwards.
Each time, Sasame's body jerked as the shot struck her, but the wounds vanished as quickly as they occurred, even the holes in the cloth that covered Sasame closing up, making it seem as though time was reversing itself for her.
The terrified man stumbled backwards as Sasame began to advance. He expelled the spent bullet clip and loaded up another. This time, he took aim at the guard he'd wounded earlier. There was a reddish-brown blur and Sasame's tail split, one darting across to interpose itself between the gun and the wounded man. The bandit gasped and shifted his aim to a random civilian. But his shot was stopped again as another of Sasame's tails split off to intercept. The man fired off several more shots, but, each time, Sasame intercepted each bullet with a new tail, until all nine tails waved behind her.
"Wha-what the hell are you?" gasped the bandit.
"Mitarai Sasame," said Sasame smoothly, a sly smile on her face. "Some refer to me as Sasame: the Nine-Tailed."
The bandit screamed and turned to run. But one of Sasame's tails lashed out like a whip, striking him with such force that she slammed his body through the Town Hall's floor with a loud crash. When her tail lifted up, the bandit's form did not move.
Then a scream reached Sasame's ears and she turned to see the bandit woman holding a child by her blonde hair, hoisting upward so that the poor girl was almost practically suspended by her scalp, leveling the gun at the child's head.
"Stay away from me, you demon!" snarled the woman. "I'll kill this brat and splatter the inside of this place with as much blood as I can."
Sasame exhaled slowly, appearing more annoyed than worried by this development. Then she frowned.
Ruby had seen the bandit woman moving to take the hostage. A surge of fear welled up within her. She didn't see any way Sasame could reach the woman before she pulled the trigger. However, Ruby realized something.
The woman was utterly focused on Sasame. The guards and civilians had forgotten their position. The guards could have shot the woman a dozen times over before she'd even managed to grab the girl, but had been so enthralled by the spectacle of Sasame's actions that they hadn't even thought to. Everyone's attention was rooted on Sasame...which meant that no one, the bandit in particular, was paying attention to Ruby.
Ruby's eyes sighted on the woman's gun, her position. If she hit it right, she could knock the barrel clear and give the girl a chance to escape. But, if she did it wrong, she could set off the gun herself, and kill the girl on accident. The bandit's finger was resting on the trigger, so that the slightest muscle twitch would pull it. If Ruby wanted to make this work, she needed to be fast.
But she wasn't fast. The running she'd done with Kyo and Sasame during her training had been about endurance so far, not speed.
Then something occurred to her. Can I use my Aura to go faster? It had been something she'd been taught, and even experienced for herself during her training. Channeling her Aura into her strikes made them more powerful. By using Flow to enhance the force of her fist, Ruby could strike hard enough to crack the trunk of a tree, even break a smaller one. During her training so far, all her consideration had been on power...not speed. But if I use Flow to shift my Aura into my feet and charge...
Did she dare try it? If she failed, she would be making a mistake she couldn't take back. Not even Sasame, by her own admission, could bring back someone who died. Ruby would have exactly one chance at that. Did she dare risk it?
Her eyes settled on the girl, who couldn't have been more than five, the same age Ruby had been when she'd watched helplessly from inside a little red wagon as a pack of Beowolves had swarmed her and her sister. Ruby and Yang had been lucky back then. But luck had had a name, Qrow Branwen, her uncle. Right now, Ruby had to be the stroke of luck in this child's life. She couldn't make any mistakes.
Carefully, Ruby began to edge closer. She had practiced rapid-advance techniques, moving or lunging in to strike, rather than just swinging the sword from up close. It was all very rudimentary, only the most basic way of closing the distance. Ruby's success would be defined by reaching the point from which she could reach her target with a single, lunging step. Her hand went to the handle of her wooden sword, and she slid it out from where it was tucked in her belt, holding it low, not wanting to give herself away. The woman was completely focused on Sasame, but if she caught sight of Ruby in her peripheral vision, she might react.
Ruby edged just a little closer, taking her time. Sasame was watching the woman calmly, her face set in a pensive frown, as though she too was considering how to deal the situation without allowing the child to come to harm. Compared to the blithe manner with which Sasame had treated the woman's comrade, Ruby expected her to behave similarly. Then Ruby could almost feel the weight of Sasame's gaze, flickering her way for the tiniest fraction of a second. Is she...waiting for me?
Keeping her sword low, Ruby edged a little closer, her eyes fixed on the bandit's face. Another step and she was just outside the range of her lunge. Another step still and, now, the woman was in reach. Ruby moved a little bit closer for good measure. Then she took a deep breath and bent her legs.
Her continuous training allowed her body and Aura to respond fluidly, in almost perfect synch. Ruby kicked off the ground as she went into the lunge, the force of her step actually shattering the floor where she'd been standing. She became a blur, crossing the space that remained between her and the woman in a fraction of a second. The blade of her wooden sword slammed into the barrel of the rifle, just above the muzzle, the impact knocking it clear of the child's head. The jerk caused the woman's finger to tighten on the trigger and the rifle discharged, sending a Dust-bullet lancing down to shatter the floor at the little girl's feet. The girl screamed in terror, a scream that was echoed by a dozen people around the building.
Reflexively, the woman released her grip on the child's hair as she jumped away from her attacker. The impact of Ruby's strike, combined with the recoil of the the unintended shot, jerked the weapon out of her grip entirely, the stolen weapon skidding across the floor. The woman leapt back, her hand going behind her, drawing out a broad, curved sword, with a gun-barrel protruding from the hilt, so that the muzzle aimed up the length of the blade, a classic gunsword.
"You little brat!" snarled the woman, fixating on Ruby with bloodshot eyes as Ruby positioned herself between the woman and the former-hostage.
Ruby's heart thudded a rapid tempo in her chest as she faced down her larger opponent. For all that it was crude, the woman was wielding a real sword. She was a grown woman too, an experienced fighter. Ruby, with her scant few months of training and a wooden sword, couldn't hope to compare to that. Ruby's entire body was quietly quaking with fear. She found herself desperately hoping that Sasame would save her.
Except that Sasame hadn't moved. She remained where she was, watching with a dispassion that was almost strange, the majority of her attention fixated on Ruby. Ruby suddenly realized that Sasame expected her to finish this...or at least try. Ruby swallowed, only to find that her mouth had gone completely dry.
I can't do this! I can't fight a grown-up with a wooden sword! Ruby choked back a whimper, even as she kept her blade as level as she could manage. The woman was blinded by her own rage...rage and fear. They had expected a shelter full of cowering civilians and easily-cowed guards, only to find themselves confronted by a monster in the guise of an innocuous faunus. Now her only leverage had been torn away by a child.
What do I do? wondered Ruby. If she hits me with that... Then it occurred to her. Ruby had her Aura. Furthermore, her Temper was still intact. The woman wouldn't be able to cut her with that battered sword so easily, even if Ruby failed to block...Wait! Block...Temper...?
It hadn't even occurred to her before, even though it had been mentioned by Sasame and Kyo numerous times throughout their lessons. Weapons were a conduit for their wielder's Aura. Why should Ruby's sword be any different, even if it was just made of wood? What if she channeled her Aura through her weapon? But how do I do that?
Then she remembered something else. "Your weapon should be an extension of yourself. Make it come alive in your hand."
Ruby took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. She relaxed herself, though she didn't let her stance slack, instead focusing on the feeling of the handle of the sword in her hands. She let her awareness encompass it, and was startled to realize how easy it was. All those days and nights spent swinging it endlessly had embedded the feel of the weapon, not just into her body, but her mind and soul. Ruby began to feel as though she could feel everything up the sword, all the way to its tip, as though it was just another part of her arm. Embracing that feeling, Ruby allowed her Aura to flow up so that her Temper now encompassed the sword as well. It was just another part of her body.
Behind her, Sasame's lips quirked in the tiniest of smiles as she watched the rose-red light of Ruby's Aura slide up to envelop her weapon.
Ruby opened her eyes and looked at the bandit again. Now she felt much more calm...and confident. She began to smile.
That smile enraged the woman. "How dare you look at me like that, you little bitch!" she shouted. "I'll kill you!"
The woman raised her sword, and Ruby felt a flash of panic as a terrified whimper reached her ears. The child she'd saved was still behind her. If she dodged, the little girl might get hit instead. So Ruby would just have to block and hope that her Temper was strong enough to protect her weapon form the woman's sword. As the woman's blade descended, Ruby snapped her own weapon up in a high-block, one of the many moves Kyo had drilled into her head over and over again. The two blades met. There was a crimson flash, and the woman's blade bounced away.
Ruby was elated that it had worked, that she'd managed to stop the attack. But that alone wasn't good enough. She had to fight back. Ruby's body went into motion automatically as she shifted forward, taking advantage of the hole her block had made in her opponent's guard. Once again, her endless training did the work for her, her body and Aura moving practically on their own. More to the point, Ruby's Aura Flowed up the length of her sword, even though she hadn't yet practiced Flow with a weapon. Despite that, it was a natural extension of what she had already learned, just as Sasame had assured her it would be.
The woman had been completely knocked off-guard by the fact her blow had been blocked by a simple wooden sword, wielded by a child no less. Stumbling back, she was in no position to defend as Ruby surged forward, swinging her sword across her body in a sideways slash, putting all her strength and Aura into the blow. Ruby's attack hit home, striking the woman across the piece of crude metal molded over her chest that served as rudimentary armor.
The metal screeched and buckled under the impact. At the same time, the blade of Ruby's sword shattered into splinters. All of that was underscored by a deeper, heavier sound, a low, wet, crunch, that echoed throughout the Town Hall with terrible finality.
The woman was thrown onto her back, the sword flying from her limp hand to tumble across the ground, before sliding to a stop at the feet of some of the huddling civilians, who recoiled back from it as though the weapon was diseased. The woman herself coughed wetly once...then lay still. Her ribcage had been completely crushed.
Silence descended on the hall, and Ruby was frozen in place. Only the handle of her sword remained in her hands, a few rough splinters marking where the blade had once been. But that was the least of her concerns. Instead, her eyes were fixed on her opponent, the woman she'd struck...the woman she'd...
At nine years of age, Ruby Rose had made her first kill.
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