• “Hisashi, slow down. “ A young girl cried as she ran through the village streets. As she ran her short black hair danced in the wind as she chased a young boy.
    “You have to catch me first Sakura” the boy yelled as he barreled through the streets. The two children ran out of the village gates to the grassy plans that surrounded their small village.
    The boy ran on top of a hill and stopped. He then turned around and said “You’re to slow Sakura. You’ll never be able to catch me!” He laughed at Sakura’s attempt to catch up to him when he was suddenly thrown to the ground.
    “Caught ya, caught ya!” Sakura chanted as she stood up after tackling Hisashi.
    “No you didn’t, I just let you catch up to me” Hisashi said as he grabbed her ankle.
    Sakura felt her foot being pulled up as she began to fall to the earth. When she opened her eyes all she heard was the laughter of Hisashi. “Why you Hisashi” Sakura growled.
    “What’s the matter? Can’t stand up on yo– ?” Hisashi was pinned on the ground after Sakura pounced on him. The two kids rolled in the grass playing around. Eventually the two of them stopped and laid next to each other laughing. Their laughter was interrupted by a scream from the village.
    “What was that?” Sakura asked.
    “I think that someone’s in trouble. Let’s go and find out what’s going on.” Hisashi replied as he began to run back to the village with Sakura following close behind.
    As they neared the village gates they noticed a large crowd of people in front of one of the houses that is near the entrance of the village.
    “Damn, another victim.” a man said.
    “Why does it have to be here?” a woman cried.
    “Has it disguised itself as one of us yet?” a young boy questioned.
    “What are we going to do?” another man exclaimed.
    Sakura and Hisashi fought through the mass of bodies huddled together. “Mommy!” Sakura suddenly cried out when she saw a middle aged woman covering her face standing in the mass of the crowd.
    The woman turned her head and saw Sakura heading towards her. “Oh Sakura there you are.” the woman cried out.
    “Mommy, what happened here?”Sakura asked her Mother.
    “A Yoma has attacked again.” Her mother replied.
    “A Yoma, what are we going to do about it?”
    “More than likely the elder will have to call a Claymore to the village so she can deal with it.”
    “My parents say he already called one of them.” Hisashi exclaimed trying to sound important.
    “What’s a Claymore, Mommy?” Sakura asked ignoring Hisashi.
    “A Claymore is a half-human half-Yoma hybrid that was made to slay Yoma.” Her mother replied.
    “What do you mean by made to slay Yoma?”
    “Claymores weren’t always half-human, half-Yoma hybrids. They used to be just as human as you. There are two things that you need to know about Claymores. First, all Claymores are women and Second they all have silver eyes thus giving them the nickname Silver-Eyed Witches.” The mother explained to her daughter. “Now say goodbye to Hisashi. We have to go home.”


    As Sakura and her mother walked down the street to their house Sakura said, “Mommy I still don’t understand what a Yoma is suppose to be.”
    Her mother sighed deeply as she thought of the best way to explain it. “A Yoma is a demon that has coexisted with humans since we began living on this land. These Yoma have a particular diet, it is a vile diet. They feed of the guts of humans, whether they are young, old, weak, strong, smart, or dumb, as long as you have guts in you, you are food to them. Now hurry, we need to get home.”
    Sakura was being put to bed by her mother when Sakura asked, “Mommy, is the Yoma going to hurt us?”
    “No sweetie, we’ll be fine. Now shut your eyes and go to sleep, you have another day of playing coming.” Her mother said with a reassuring voice. Her mother gave one last smile to her daughter before blowing out the candle.
    Sakura was asleep in her room when she heard a crash somewhere in her house. She got out of bed and slowly crept down the hall of her house. As she peered out of the door frame to her room she saw a trail of blood go to the back of the house. Sakura stood there shaking thinking that the Yoma had entered her house. Sakura closed her eyes and began to follow the trail of blood. “M-m-mother are you back there?” She queried. The only answer she got was the eerie silence of the dark house. She continued down the hall fighting her every instinct to turn and run. When she got to the end of the hall she stopped in front the door that seemed to loom over her. Sakura wheezed for air as she slowly stepped into the room.
    Sakura’s eyes widened with terror as she saw a body lying on the ground. Instantly her knees gave way to terror as she fell to the ground when she noticed that it was her mother lying on the ground with her body ripped open. As she sat there she slowly reached to the corpse as her fingers made contact with the body the warm blood on her skin told Sakura to turn around with its calm disturbed face. As she turned away she saw a shadow rising over her. Sakura slowly twisted her head in dismay. She let out a scream as the giant mass of muscle in front of her threw its arm out towards Sakura.
    Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as she prepared herself for the oncoming attack. As she sat there waiting Sakura heard the sound of flesh being cut fill the air. Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see blood spew out of the Yoma as it was hewed in half. As she felt the Yoma’s blood settle on her face she saw the one guilty of the death. When Sakura looked through the door she saw the first Claymore she had ever seen. Her light blond hair draping over her shoulders made her look holy in her white uniform with silver spaulders and silver greaves almost blending with her pale skin perfectly. The Claymore didn’t acknowledge Sakura as she swung the blood off of her blade. The Claymore then glanced at Sakura before turning to leave the house.
    Sakura slowly picked herself up as the clanking of the Claymores footsteps faded away. She gradually made her way to the door of her house. She took one final look at her house before heading out of the door. Sakura had been sitting at the gates of the village and didn’t raise her head until the sun made its way up casting a ray at her. Sakura slowly lifted her head just in time to see a man garbed in black head towards the village. As she stared at the stranger she heard someone walk past her. Sakura looked up to see the village elder heading out to meet the man.
    “Umm, here’s the money for sending the Claymore to our village.” The village elder said holding up a small sack pack full with gold. The man in black simply took the bag and tilted his head before turning away. “Wait! You’re not going to count the money?”
    The stranger stopped and chuckled before saying, “Don’t worry. We will know if you didn’t pay the full amount and if you didn’t we would not answer any of your calls for help in the future. No matter how often you plead for help and no matter how many Yoma are in the village we will not answer.” The Elder just stood there unable to say or do anything. “Now if you don’t mind I need to go.”
    “Wait!!” Sakura screamed as she barreled at the man.
    “Oh.” The man said as he turned to see a young girl hurry towards him.
    Sakura stopped running when she caught up the man panting. “Take me with you. Give me power, give me strength. Turn me into a Claymore!” Sakura demanded.
    The man could see her eyes burn with ambition. A sinister grin crept up to his face as the two of them stared at each other. “You want power, power only we can give you. If you truly desire it then come with me but, be warned it will not be an easy path. You probably will die before you are able to go take on missions. But if you don’t care about the trials that await you then come join the Organization.” The man said as he stretching his hand out towards Sakura.