Shinmai Maou no Testament: The Village

Prologue: Life in the Village

*Editors note: This is a preface explaining Yuki and Basara's past, and showing why she is so enamored by him. You can skip to part one if you don't need this type of introduction.*

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It's evening, and Yuki plops down on her bed face down. She is really feeling frustrated. Two hours ago, Basara needed to 'tend' to Mio again, the third time this week. A tear slips out of her eye as she thinks, 'Can't he see that I am the one that really loves him?' Still, she keeps her jealously in check - she has trained rigorously to avoid raw emotions that can affect your judgment. She even has a difficult time expressing her love for the man who saved her life. Mio may not think she has any restraint towards Basara, but she does... she does...

She and Basara were really good friends growing up, doing everything together. They laughed, played, and talked when they weren't training or studying. She came over to Basara's house whenever her dad would let her. She even had a key! There was many a day that she would be at the Toujou house waiting patiently for Jin-San to bring Basara home after finishing his extra training. Because of his exceptional ability, the elders would often have him do training with the adults after the kids were dismissed. She had the salve ready to put on his wounds, and they would often just hang out talking while he was wincing from the pain.

She also was glad that many times Takashi and his mom would be over to the Toujou house, because she was a great cook! Whenever Kurumi would follow Yuki to Basara's, the four of them would study together and then have a great time playing in the living room while Takashi's mom and Jin-San would talk in the kitchen.

A lot of those evenings Jin-San would wake her up, as she and Basara would both fall asleep watching the TV leaning against each other, with Kurumi splayed out on a chair snoring! Then Jin-San would walk her and Kurumi home as she talked about what she and Basara did in their daily training. Sometimes she and Kurumi were so tired that Jin-San would carry them, one in each arm, to their house. Yuki thought very highly of Jin-San, almost like a 'gift' dad.

Even though he was stronger, faster and more skilled than any of the other kids, Basara was also the most kind... did she think of him as her boyfriend? Even back then at 10 years old, she really thought he would be the one for her - so did all of the other kids! She and Basara were razzed by the other kids because they seemed like they were dating. At 10, things like real kissing were not truly considerations, but this was different. She loved playing games with him, even though he almost always won, training with him, and just hanging out with him. She always felt like something was missing when he wasn't around. Thinking about that, she was so naïve at 10. She loved him even then...

It's almost six years ago now; the day when everything fell apart, the day Seito took Brynhildr and went on a spirit possessed rampage. He killed 21 heroes and 6 children training to be heroes. Then he set his sights... on her.

Basara could have run, and no one would have thought anything of it. He was just a kid, and trained heroes were falling to Seito. But Basara was not going to run.

He had something he needed to protect.

Seito, with a grin of pure evil on his face, lifted his sword. As he brought it down, the power within Basara was released in a pulse of pure unadulterated energy. Everything in a 25 meter radius was vaporized, even the ground down to 20 feet, except the plateau of earth they were standing on! Basara's first use of Banishing Shift saved him and Yuki from certain death. It even purified the cursed sword Brynhildr of all of the spirits it had captured. But when the villagers approached the small raised plateau that Basara, Yuki and Brynhildr were on, they did not look at Basara like he was a hero that saved them all...

The bodies of all that were in that range, including Seito, were all gone. Parents could not properly bury their dead children, and the heroes that perished could not be memorialized. There was a huge backlash against Basara, just like there had been against Shibi-San a couple of years previous. The elders and citizens of the village were convinced that Basara had killed wounded heroes with his power.

But Yuki knew... she was pretty sure that Basara knew as well, although it seems that fact had been driven out of his mind by the guilt.

All of the heroes that fought Seito, and all the innocent kids that crossed his path were dead, killed by that possessed fiend. The only one that Basara killed was Seito. And Basara had stopped a rampaging beast from bringing more carnage to the village.

She tried to tell the elders and anyone else that would listen. But only two believed her; Jin-San and her father. The vocalized anger became uproar, and it was demanded that Basara leave the village. Toujou Jin opposed this decision, noting that Basara stopped a slaughter, but his voice was unheard. He left with Basara, kicking the dust of the village off of his feet as he left. The elders made it seem that they asked him to watch over his son, but they knew that Jin-San left on his own accord, disgusted with their decision.

Yuki watched as Basara walked away, and was harshly treated by his close friend Takashi. Kurumi thought of Basara as her Onii-Chan (big brother), and was hurt deeply when he left, assuming he was just walking away from the incident.

Then began the 'empty years', the time when Yuki would cry herself to sleep because she missed Basara so much. The toll his leaving took on Kurumi's Onee-Chan (big sister) was really plain, and Kurumi built a real hatred towards Basara, even though Yuki tried hard to show her that the incident was not his fault.

Nonaka Yuki knew that Basara wasn't likely to come back to the village, so if she was going to see him again, and thank him for saving her life, she would have to go to him. She trained hard, and went through grueling trial after trial to earn the right to go on observation missions. Maybe she would be assigned to Jin and Basara! She figured not though. Even though she had grown up, eventually one of them would recognize her.

Then one day, after a particularly difficult trial, the chief elder put his hand on her shoulder, and handed her a metallic glove. She looked at it, and then looked at him. He nodded and she slid it onto her right hand.

The glove caused a green glow, and then a shining katana appeared in her hand. She looked at it, and felt the sword talk to her.

"Spirit Sword Sakuya? I have been assigned to Sakuya?" The elder nodded his head with enthusiasm. "You have earned the right, Nonaka-San."

Later that day, she had been given a sealed envelope; her first assignment! She opened the envelope excitedly, and saw that her assignment was to observe the daughter of the former demon lord. She was a little disappointed, but accepted the assignment. At least she would be amongst humans, living a somewhat normal life! And she did note that she would be in a town about 20 kilometers from the Toujou's...

Then she went through so much. As she was preparing a report for the village, she put in a note that the demon lord's daughter has moved in with the Toujou's, who had moved to her town. She could watch him from afar, which made it just that much harder! But then he transferred into her school - her class! When she watched him walk into the room and up to the chalk board, her heart skipped a beat. When she was introduced to him by the class teacher, she could not contain herself anymore and hugged him tightly, causing quite the ruckus in their class!

She finally saw Basara again, and had numerous battles at his side. She even entered a Master/Retainer contract with him! She had benefited greatly from the contract, and very much enjoys the intimate contact with Basara. But Mio was getting the lion's share of the contact; she was so emotional that she set off the curse frequently. Yuki had trained a lot of overt emotion out of her mind, and would only have the curse strike her less than once a week. She felt a tear roll out of her eye because the very training that got her in a position to meet Basara again was keeping her separated from him.