The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon

crawled along her skin. She was used to Jouyuu's touch by now and did not find it unpleasant at all. A smile came to her lips.
    It's not pointless.
    The kochou were taking their time. There were only eight of them and her sword would easily pierce their fat flesh. All a bigger foe meant was a bigger target. At the intervals they were gliding in, it would be easy enough to pick them off.
    It'd been a while since she'd gone toe-to-toe with her enemies. Her gleeful self was looking forward to it. Her wounds had healed, she had energy to spare, and no doubts about defeating them. Hearing the cries of the people who could do nothing but run--many of whom would otherwise be hunting her --sent a strange thrill up her spine.
    A rancid smell was in the wind. She prepared herself as the flock of kochou dove toward her. The blood boiled in her veins, the sound of raging seas roared in her ears.
    I am an animal, a beast. No doubt about it, I am a youma.
    That's why meeting her enemies on the field of battle was such a great joy.

    The slaughter began. The slaughter of kochou, the slaughter of humans.
    She felled the first one that came at her, and the second. By the time she had four down and four to go, the road was a river of blood. The fifth dropped on her like a crashing plane. She cut off its head, dodged the sixth. The sixth grazed her with its talons, tore through a bunch of travelers behind her and rose back into the sky.
    Youko stood her ground and did her job. She'd long ago become used to the scent of blood, to the sensation of severing flesh and bone. The sight of dead bodies no longer aroused within her any sensitive feelings. To parry and kill, to draw blood and retreat, when it came down to it, that was all she cared about

    She struck down the seventh and looked up at the sky. The eighth kochou was maintaining altitude, turning circles high in the air, as if confused about what to do next. The falling dusk turned the sky the color of rust. The dark shadow of the youma bird passed by overhead. No matter what powers Jouyuu gave her, she could not chase a kochou into the sky.
    "Come on down," Youko muttered to herself. Come into the reach of my claws.
    As she stared up at the wheeling shadow, she also searched the landscape out of the corners of her eyes. Her foes had appeared in the light of day. And that meant that the woman, the golden-haired woman, had to be around somewhere.
    If she was anywhere nearby, Youko would grab her. She could do that now. She'd grab her and find out what she was up to. And if the woman didn't have anything to say, Youko was pretty sure lopping off an arm would get her into a talking mood.
    As she turned over the possibilities in her mind, she found herself aghast. Where did such ferocity come from? As if the nature of the beast was revealing itself to her. Or perhaps she was simply intoxicated from so much blood.
    The shadow overhead suddenly changed the angle of its movements. Here it comes. Youko regripped the sword and strengthened her hold on the hilt. But in the moment she raised the sword, the bird corrected its course and once again climbed vigorously into the sky.
    "C'mon!" she yelled. "Bring it on!"
    Did a youma hold its own life as precious? They'd had no problem attacking people up till today! Youko flipped the sword around and sank it into the corpse of the kochou at her feet. "You don't come at me!" she shouted, fully intending her words to be understood, "I'll cut your buddy here to pieces! How's them apples, huh?"
    The wheeling kochou suddenly plunged earthward, streaking toward her like an arrow. In a flash, Youko yanked the sword out of the corpse, flicked the flowering blood off the steel, parried the sharp, hooked talons and ran the sword through the bird's legs.
    The bird raised a strange cry, beat its wings. A great wind buffeted her as it tried to take itself back into the air, and her along with it. Youko stepped on its feet, freed the sword and sank the blade into its torso. She did not sense an immediate response to her thrust, but when she jumped back a moment later, pulling out the sword, blood gushed onto the ground.
    It was easy work after that. Unable to hold itself aloft, the bird crashed to the earth. After a second strike and a third, she delivered the coup de grace and cut off its head. Nothing around her moved as she whipped the sword around in a great arc, flinging off the gore.
    Not only the kochou but people as well lay in heaps on the road. She