The Sword and The Shield | Yona of The Dawn

An Unexpected Meeting : 1

One afternoon on a slightly cloudy day, a young, peculiar girl skipped happily down the Westwood Road. It was quiet; no birds were singing. Mosquitoes zoomed around her joyful face but she didn't seem to notice. Only the buzzards dared to buzz on this hot, humid, happy day. The girl hummed a little tune as the made her way, uncertain of her destination and all the while not giving a single care in the world. She was, however, aware of what awaited her a little further down.

Behind or hidden within the trees surrounding the road, hid six bandits, their eyes following their new target. She wasn't carrying anything; all she appeared to have was her dress. But they figured she would be fun to play with, at least. The six waited for their prey to skip closer...

"Well, well, well! Lookie what we got here, boys!" A club-wielding, smug-looking ruffian bellowed, "A girly!"

The others chuckled. They meant to intimidate her, make her beg and scream. What they got was not what they expected at all. This girl - who wasn't frightened in the least - cheerfully greeted them with a merry, "Hello there!"

The bandits stopped laughing and started frowning. This first of them who spoke growled, "Lets see if you're still happy-go-lucky after I cut that pretty little head of yours right off your cursed shoulders!"

All started to advance menacingly, closing in on the odd, purple-haired girl. The man behind made a grab for her curly hair, but fell down dead before he could touch her. His pals froze in shock, then, one by one, all followed suit.

The man responsible for the killing was the little girl's other half. But neither of them knew that just yet.

In the silence that followed, there were only two standing. They looked at each other.

"Wow! Hello dangerous person who kills without mercy!"

He studied the happy girl before him. Even with dead bodies surrounding the two, she still seemed unnaturally joyful. Why was that? Did she have parents?

 "Oh, I don't have any parents, none at all!" She looked right into the young man's eyes, as if reading his thoughts. Which was exactly what she did.

"Nope, none! Absolutely none," she sang, "Actually, I don't know if I was even BORN. I can't remember anything before I fell out of the weird tree when I was five!" Despite this unsettling piece of information she so willingly let out, the little girl bounced on her heels, grinning.

"Uhhh, right," the young man said hesitantly, utterly confused. He turned away, back to his post in the trees, cleaning his swords of blood. But the other one appeared before him again, persistent and pleasant. She looked up at him with round, sparkling, curious eyes.

"Hey, you're like me," she said, "Someone with weird powers. Am I wrong?"

She laughed. A child's laugh, innocent and light. "That silly look an your face tells me I'm right!'

It was true, the man was stunned. How did she know? He didn't use them during the short scuffle, so how could she possibly know? He pulled his tattered robe around him tighter.

"I, um, ah..." He suddenly turned on his heel and ran, too unsettled to converse further. He just wanted to get away from her as fast as possible...