Chapter 12: Burden(3)

Back to the present.

Sara looked at Rueben as if she made a decision, she decisively grabbed Rueben's arm and shook him hard.

Rueben, who had a lot to think about, opened his eyes and looked at the little girl, who was looking at him with determination in her eyes, he looked at her worriedly and asked, "What is it?"

Sara opened her mouth, but she hesitated for a while, she looked as if she was convincing herself to do something so Rueben opened his mouth to speak, "If you are not sure, then don't say it for now. You can always say it later, after all, we have plenty of chances to talk."

Rueben gave her a small pat on the head before flinching and took his hand back. He then clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Sorry."

Sara looked at him in the eyes, the murky eyes that seemed to hide countless emotions deep within.

She then cocked her head to the side and asked, "Why are you apologizing?"

Silence befell unto them.

Rueben looked at her in silence before looking away and coughed. He then stood up and walked away, urging Sara to follow after him. Sara looked at him before running infront of him, she then shouted.

"Mister! Teach me how to fight!"

Silence befell them once again.

The child looked at the older man with a gaze of determination and probably wouldn't take no for an answer while the older man looked at the child in pure disbelief.

He had thought that Sara would get scared of him but looking at this situation, he was not so sure about that anymore. Rueben looked at her, then at her thin physical state of her body and knew that she could not exert much strength without consuming God's Blood, or if what he had previously thought that she was a disguised monster were true, then teaching her how to fight was stupid.

And he also had a problem, he didn't know how to teach her. Yes, he underwent 5 years of training, which was just composed of being thrown into a den of beasts by his insane trainer and him praying to any gods out there who can help him, though he was disappointed with the results.

Rueben didn't know how he managed to survive everything his trainer had put him through and he also didn't want this little girl to experience what he had experienced. He was also sure that he didn't know what to teach the little girl except how to kill something with only a stick…. And that isn't a proper way of fighting a human at all.

He had fought beasts, yes, but fellow Hunters who didn't turn into beasts were a harder fight than mindless beasts. He had killed 5 Hunters and each time, he was on the brink of death because of it. He didn't like fighting other Hunters but he knew that he had just killed someone that was precious to them, the main reason why he fought with them.

Sara patted his arm worriedly after seeing that he didn't respond, she didn't want him to refuse because she wanted to be useful.

Her thought process was this, if she was strong then Rueben could have help, then he wouldn't need to fight every time because she could fight by herself, if she was strong and was able to fight against monsters stronger than that thing then she knew that Rueben could have lesser chances of fighting and seeing blood, meaning, lesser chances of him turning back to that crazed person.

Ultimately, she didn't want Rueben to lose himself anymore.

Feeling the pat, he looked down and bent down to her eye level and looked at her worried yet determined eyes. He then opened his mouth to ask, "Why do you want to learn how to fight?"

Sara looked at him, she already knew the reason why he had asked her this question. After all, her uncles and aunties had always said that she was clever and quick to understand.

She opened her mouth yet as if an invisible hand was choking her, she couldn't make the words she was about to utter out of her mouth. She was feeling a particular emotion right now.

Fear.

That was what she was feeling.

She looked deep into Rueben's black shaded with red eyes, deep inside what she thought was scars of pain, struggles, agony yet what she found was intense. Intense emotions that she could never be able to explain. Deep within those eyes hid behind the relentless agony and pain, deeper inside was a Beast.

A beast smiling at her.

It had his face, his body, his eyes yet it didn't have his smile. On his neck was a bony hand that clenched, behind him was a thing rope that was about to snap. The beast looked at her and put one of its fingers infront of its mouth and softly, "Shhhhhhh….."

Sara's whole body went into chills and she screamed, "I want to fight back!!!"

Rueben stiffened and looked at her, she suddenly stopped speaking before yelling at him. He looked at her and couldn't help but see a woman behind her that looked a lot like Sara after she was older.

Both Sara and the woman looked at him with determination in their eyes and said, "I don't want to be a burden to anyone anymore."

Rueben fell silent after hearing that, he closed his eyes to think before looking at the little girl, the illusion he saw was nowhere to be seen.

He nodded his head and let out a small gentle smile. "Are you sure you are up for this?"

Sara nodded her head.

"Are you sure you can endure my training?"

Sara nodded her head again,

Then Rueben said something unexpected, "Then are you ready to kill me if i lose control?"

Sara looked at him dumbfoundedly, her eyes shook for a while before she closed her eyes and nodded her head, she opened her eyes and said, "No, i am not ready."

His eyes narrowed but he knew that she was not done yet, so he listened.

"But i am ready to use my life as a sacrifice to set your mind straight again."

With determination in her voice, Rueben gave her a small knife that he had always hidden in his coat and patted her head, "Then, from now on. Follow me."