Outrun

My eyes fluttered open to see the beautiful green arms of the trees swaying above me in the breeze. The sun shined through the leaves making me squint, "Where in the world am I?"

I realize that I'm laying on the ground of the forest, as I sit up I realize that this place is familiar somehow. I look around and see a mass of red flowers on the ground. Am I having a dream with Aiya again? I look around but all there is; is tons of trees, grass, leaves and flowers.

"Aiya! Are you here?" I yell out. Something touches my throat and I look down to see its a blade.

"Your dead. Yelling out to your enemy in the unknown is what gets you killed." Her voice says from behind me. She walks around infront of and helps me up. I realize she isn't in her kimono like last time. In fact, she is in what it seems like to be a males kimono.

"Aiya why are you wearing clothes that aren't yours?" She laughed at me and smiled.

"These are mine. I'm in training clothes," Her hand picks up sometimes at the ground and throws it at my face. "Put these on."

I look down at them and shrug, "Alright." I walk myself over behind a tree and switch into the clothes she gave me. They were a bit too large in the legs but then again, that would help with training I guess.

Walking out from behind the tree, I see that Aiya's back is facing me and has a sword out practicing. Her swings and arms were so elegantly straight and still. Every swing came to stop with a sharp point and it created a subtle wind that mad the grass wave gently.

It was like her whole body was dancing with the katana itself. Her face was calm with every swing, I was in awe. No wonder she was the best swordsman in our clan. No one in our clan had that type of skill.

"If your going to keep staring, then say something." She slides her sword in place on her side and walks up to me.

"Um, sorry. I was just watching your swordsman ship. It's really amazing." My face goes crimson with embarrassment.

Aiya laughs and pats my shoulder, "Much like many people whom I have known have said the same thing." She went behind me and started messing with my hair. Somehow even in a dream, everything felt so real.

I felt my hair drop its full length like a curtain and Aiya's fingers were running through it. It reminds me of my mother, how gentle her fingers were. The gentle touch of her hands was like a feather and Aiya's reminded me so much of her; it caused a sharp prick to my heart.

"There, you need something that its so straining while training." I felt her tie my hair back and pull it in place.

"Thank you." I smile and bow my head slightly.

"Now, what is the first thing you know about using a katana?" Aiya took the clothes out of my hand and walked over to grab another sword that was leaning against a tree.

"I know that a sword is used to protect you." She throws it over to me and grab it. I realize that its the sword that I using before I passed out.

"How is this hear?" I look at the small lotus engraving and pull it out enough to look at the steel.

"This is the spirit realm. Anything that exists, existed or will exist is here in its spirit form. Your spirit is here while your body is in the demon world. Now, yes your sword is supposed to protect you but there are other purposes for it."

"You need to know why you are using it, how you are going to use ad everything about it. Since that is the sword you have, you must know everything about it. Now take it out and hold it in your hands." As I took the katana out, Aiya pulled out a long skinny stick.

"What is that?" I point to what she is holding.

Her mouth slightly twitches upwards, "Motivation."

~~~~(Back in the demon world chaos is breaking loose)~~~~

Orochi's POV:

"Ren! Ren! Hold on!" Right infront of my eyes Ren's eyes roll into the back of her head as she hits the floor.

"Shit!" Orochi noticed the two hounds bleeding on the floor besides her, did she kill them? Only really strong slayers can do that, let alone two at the same time.

As he picks her up from the ground, he notice a deep gash on her leg. "Tomoko!"

Heavy footsteps are heard and she was in front of the door, "Ren has a wound on her leg and is loosing blood. Take her somewhere safe and stay there. Her spirit isn't here, if her boy gets damaged too much she will be stuck there."

Tomoko shifts before he had to hand Ren over and takes her away. Orochi look down at the dead beasts and notice a sigil on their necks.

He squats down to look at them more closely, the sigil was a half a curve on a circle with two lines going straight down and another diagonally. "I embody the peace of Death." His finger gently touch the burned sigil but I couldn't connect it to anything.

"If you two were summoned by someone and burned with sigil, someone that has power over death can only do this." As the words utter lowly from his mouth, the sigil disappears and leaves nothing behind.

The sword of Ren's and the book has fallen on the ground, the sword is covered with blood from the demons. As Orochi collect the items, he hear the screams of people outside.

"Security has been breached! Everyone needs to leave!"

He walks out and notices demons surround the corners, "Tch!" They begin to run towards him but he lifts up his arms throwing fire balls at them.

"Stupid demons. Don't even know how to play a game they're in."

All the noise was coming from outside but he needed to get to Ren fire. He summoned an orb, "Get me to Ren."

They both sped off into the garden where Tomoko is sitting behind a bunch of trees with Ren laying down. "Master, we need to leave demons have breached the walls and Ren is injured. Strange welts keep coming up on her skin."

Orochi looked down to see she is extremely pale and welts were becoming more noticeable, "Aiya is probably doing something. We need to leave but we can't until Ren comes back. Otherwise, we are sitting ducks."