The HMS NaruSaku

Happy late-late-late Birthday, Paul!

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Chapter 35: Truth be told, Brothers to the End
Subtitle: Of Crimes & Sins

~February 8th, 2005~

"Happy Birthday Blayze!"

"Three cheers for the birthday boy! Hip-hip!"

HOORAY!

"Hip-hip!"

HOORAY!

"Hip-hip!"

HOORAY!

Today is a special joyous occasion, tis my brother's birthday and its gonna be one hell of a party! It started out fun and funny, because we actually lured him away from the tavern to decorate it for his surprise party. He was caught off guard so badly, we all thought he was going to have a heart attack. But his reaction was priceless! We started the party early in the afternoon, and it started to slow down near the evening.

Around that time, I took him out with me to get his birthday present. We took one of the smaller boats and sailed over to the closest port town, Juno. Yoko was the only other person who came with us. We came into dock, and set the boat up because we weren't going to stay that long. I would go in to town, pick up his present and we would head back home to H&E.

As we went into town we stopped by a brewry, the big glowing sign said "AL's". The building itself seemed pretty small, it was more of a storage warehouse, than an actual brewry. So before I went in, I turned around to face Blayze and Yoko.

"Okay, I'm going to be here for a bit, so you two go ahead and check out the town. I'll meet you two back on on H&E later. Don't worry about me, I always have a way back home."

They both nodded their heads and were fairly delighted to go off on their own. But before they left, I stopped them for one more thing.

"Paul. Hold this for me." I hand him my dragon katana, and Yoko has this look of disbelief on her face. "Al has this thing about no weaponry inside. Take it to the swordsmith if you can."

"Aye, that I will brother." He took it by the sheath, and strapped it to his back.

After that, I went inside the building and let the two fo them go off. Blayze then looked over to Yoko who was still baffled at what had just happened.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked with a grimace.

"N-no. H-he gave you his katana. He's never let anyone touch it, nor carry it for him. Not even me." She quickly replied.

"Hah." Blayze chuckled, and put a hand on Yoko's shoulder. "You forget that we are brothers, and there is no higher trust then that of your own flesh & blood."

Yoko shook her head, and just went along. So the two of them explored the bit of the port town of Juno. It was a fairly medium sized city, with a good population of a few thousand, maybe more. They spent most of the time, just going through the marketplace, as well as the trading bazaar. Along the way they did stop by the swordsmith, and Blayze let the smith inspect the sword. At first when the smith tried to pull the katana from the sheath, he couldn't do it. After several tries he gave up, then Yoko even tried to pull it forth, but not even she could not reveal the blade. Finally Blayze took the katana back and as if by magic, he carefully pulled the blade from it's sheath as if by command. He had no problem, nor any complication. Simply pulled it out and gave that majestic ring that mades the blade vibrate. It was an unusual moment, but soon came to pass. The smith inspected and did his job, resharpening it, and polished the blade as well as the
hilt itself.

"This sword is well kept and maintained. Tis a fine piece of art. Is it-?"

The smith began to ask, as Blayze finished his sentence with the answer.

"-a Masamune. Handed from generation to generation. My older brother is the current caretaker. He tends to it every month or so."

"Ah. He's a good man, this sword shows his soul."

The smith finished the job, and Blayze put the sword back into the sheath. Afterwards Yoko and Blayze stopped by a small cafe to have a snack before heading back home. There they chatted for a bit.

"Blayze-kun, how are you and hoku-kun related? At first glance you two don't look like brothers..." She curiously asked.

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but let me put it this way. We are brothers by blood, but then again, we aren't." He simply answered.

"Meep???" She raised an eye, as that answer simply raised even more questions.

"Heh, what I mean is ... we share the same father, but different mothers." He clarified his answer.

Yoko even more interested continued asking. "Oh. What happened? What was it like?"

"Well, the way I remember is something like, Lloyd's mother died when he was born, so he and father were pretty down most of the time. Then he met my mum, and we became a family again. Ever since then he and I have never really doubted each other, or have any sort of ... complications, between ourselves."

Blayze continued as Yoko kept listening intently and very interested.

"He's always taken care of me, watched over me, even though he's only older by a couple of years. But still, we would always cover each other's backs." He pauses to remember, then chuckles. "Heh, I remember this time dad sent us to do an important duty, as it was a test of our coming of age. He figured-" He pauses once again, to clear his throat and speak in the deep tone of voice that our father once spoke in. "Since you two are practically both near the same age, I'm sending you both together to save the inconvience!"

Blayze began to laugh.

"Haha! It was so silly, it was just his excuse so he didn't have to do the task twice in the same year! It was sad though, we lost our father after we finished the task. I don't exactly remember what happened, but it took a heavy toll on Lloyd."

Yoko begins to laugh as well, but Blayze was quiet for a moment remembering...

~~~~~[12 years ago]~~~~~~
Lloyd! ... Brother wait! ... Wait for me!

"... w-we have to go down there!?" Young Blayze peeped. (age:7)

"Aye, little brother. That's what father said." Lloyd grinned back and replied (age:8)

"But ... it even LOOKS scary. Why did papa have to send me too, I don't have the courage yet to face this trial, not you like you."

"But we have too. We all have to face our fears sooner or later."

"I guess..."

"And besides! Don't you want to know the truth!?"

"Yeah, but ... they say this well is cursed. And the Hachi-Oni (8 Devils/Demons), are sealed away here!"

"Oh come on! That's just a bedtime story papa told us for fun! There's no such thing as demons, devils, or the boogeyman."

"But still..."

Lloyd looked at Paul, and sensed that he was too really afraid to go any further. So Lloyd took a deep breath and sighed, but then smiled.

"Okay, I'll make a promise with you. If you won't go, then I won't go either."

Little Paul was shocked at this response. "But! But brother, you've been waiting for this task for two years! And think of what papa might do to-"

"Look! I'm not going without you. If we face this, we face this together. And if we have to face father, then we face him together. I'll go when your ready too, we have to stick together, you and I."

Big brother...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoko noticed that Blayze wasn't speaking, then she poked at him. Just then Blayze shooked his head, and then began to laugh too.

"But you know, if we hadn't gone on that task together, I don't think I would have ever been as close to him as we are now. Lloyd, I mean. That day our bond together became so strong that, we don't really need words to communicate to each other. We would know what was going on through our heads simply by looking at each other. We would know how each other felt simply by the way we moved, or acted."

"What happened? What was the task?" Yoko curiously asked.

"Ah, heh." Blayze smiled mischeviously. "Now that's a secret I can't tell. Not even if you got me drunk enough to make me go dancing naked! AHAHAHAA!"

Yoko gave this look of unsure whether she wanted to know or not, but simply the image of a dancing naked Blayze was what she wanted to see. Meanwhile Blayze laughing his head off, calmed back down again.

"Haha, don't worry Melly-chan, it's nothing special or disturbing. Either way, we both came out on top of it, and here we are! So shall we head back home? I'm sure, Lloyd's already back at H&E." He merrily got up from his seat and held an arm out to escort Yoko.

She smiled happily, and took him arm in arm. "Let's go!"

As they left the cafe, there was a man in the corner watching them leave. Soon after they were in a distance he got up from his seat, and began to follow them. Blayze and Yoko made their way to the pier, but it was getting dark. They were almost at the ship, when they both stopped suddenly. They weren't stupid, they knew they were being followed.

"So you gonna come out from that alleyway and jump us, or waiting for us to reach our boat." Blayze began to taunt at their pursuers.

From the dark alleyway stepped out a man. He was fairly tall, but had a strange attire on. But Blayze knew exactly who he was "supposed" to be...

"You..."

---

I had been at Al's for about a few hours now. I had a special custom order waiting for me from Al himself. My birthday gift to Paul was this special bottle of rum that had been aged for nearly a century. I knew he wanted it for his speical drink collection that he has kept behind the bar, and so I had been tracking it down for quite sometime. Until finally Al finally purchased it for me. But then again, he had it in storage for such a long while, he had forgotten where he placed it! So I spent most of the day there helping him look for the, more or less, "buried treasure".

After I had found it, I decided to head back to H&E. When I had arrived at the pier, the boat had already been taken, so I assumed that Blayze and Yoko must have gone home early. Thus I borrowed a small boat from Al, and said that I'd return in the morning.

"Ahh, tonights gonna be a grand night, once he gets a surprise out of this!"

I merrily spoke to myself, but little did I know that this wouldn't be the only surprise any of us would be expecting upon my return...

---

~The Infirmary~

Everyone was gathered around, trying to find out what happened, but QR, our medic, immediately pushed everyone out of the room. First she did a full physical inspection, then tried to find if he had any wounds or any markings that might have led to an attack.

From what Yoko explained, they were stopped by a group of rogues, and the last thing she remembered was an unconscious Blayze on the ground. What was surprising was that she didn't know how the two of them actually lost to a bunch of punks. All she did was check if Blayze was still breathing, and call in for help. As soon as she contacted H&E, almost immediately Smiter, Ash, Alpha, and QR came to pick them up. They couldn't find me, or contact me, which was understandable, but trying to keep it from me ... that's about where I came in.

Everyone went into Blayze's room, by everyone I mean; Smiter, Ash, Alpha, Aethos, QR, and Yoko. Everyone else was sitting outside in the waiting area of the Infirmary. Smiter was the first to break the silence.

"Yoko, explain what happened again." He calmly asked.

"Who did this to our Blayze-kun!? WHO!?" Alpha almost tearing poor Yoko apart, forcefully asked her. But her eyes showed that she was really upset.

Ash restrained her upset sister, and held her in her arms trying to calm her. "Alpha calm down. We will find those that did this. Go on Yoko."

"W-well, it started out slow. We knew we were being followed since we stopped by the swordsmith. So we stopped by the cafe for a snack, and talked for a bit. But then as we were heading back to the ship, they wouldn't leave us alone. So we did the only thing we could do. Call them out, face to face. Blayze-san had this look of anger once he saw who was following us. Although I didn't recognize him, or who he was with. They exchanged some words, and then we fought."

"What did he want?" Smiter questioned her.

"It was wierd. They were after Hoku-kun ... the captain. But he wasn't with us, and instead Blayze took his place."

"What!?" Everyone said all at once in surprise. Yoko continued-

"First the man, asked ... You with the sword. Are you not Hokuten? ... Then Blayze whispered to me, and told me to play along. Then Blayze began to taunt them ... Yeah, that's me. An' what do you punks want? ... Then the man, simply grinned, and suddenly a whole group of rogues was upon us. Naturally we fought them since they weren't hiding their bloodlust from us anymore. At first we were holding our own pretty well, beating them all up. But their leader, the man that was targeting Blayze as the captain, he did some kind of a strange incantation. That's the last thing I remembered before I blacked out. The next thing I remember is seeing Blayze on the ground unconscious. And then I called you guys."

Smiter nodded his head, trying to understand the situation. Then he realized a factor in the story. "The sword! Where is the captain's katana?"

Yoko then realized that she hadn't noticed it missing from Blayze, and put a hand to cover her mouth.

"So they stole the captain's katana. That was probably their objective, but something still doesn't feel right. QR, how is he? Is he alright?" Smiter moved on with the subject.

"Alright? I'm not even sure. I mean physically he's fine, a couple bruises, a few cuts here and there, the usual bad liver, but nothing too serious. But spiritually? Something is diffinately wrong. It's like he's empty or something. Or someone sucked something important out of him, but left him alive for one single reason." QR responded straight-forward.

"It's a message. After they took whatever it was from Blayze, they must have realized that it wasn't Hokuten." Ash deducted.

That's when Aethos exploded. "Then let's go get the bastards! We can't let these punks get away with hurting one of our own!"

Alpha soon joined in. "Yeah! I'd like to get my hands around those sick !@#%s and ..." She began to make hand motions of beating and pain.

"But where to start? Juno isn't exactly a small town. And the captiain-" Smiter began to think.

"THE CAPTAIN!" Everyone exclaimed.

Yoko began to panic slightly. "Oh God, that's right, what are we going to tell him? What are we going to do!?"

Alpha replied. "We have to tell him something-"

"Yeah, but what!? Sorry your brother was attacked by random rogues and we lost? I don't think he's going to buy that." Aethos sarcastically spoke, but ment well.

"You won't need to tell the captain anything."

"Yeah, we won't need to tell him anything-" Aethos repeated the words, but then realized what he said, and began to turn around to see who had said them. "HEY wait-a-minute!? Whadda ya mean we don't ..."

There I was standing outside of the door to my brother's room. Everyone went dead silent, as they hadn't noticed just how long I had been standing there over hearing everything. Although the way they were discussing, the whole island could have heard them. But that wasn't the point.

"Captain..." Smiter broke the silence. "Blayze is-"

"I heard everything."

Yoko then stepped forward, and made a brave, but silly act. "Please Captain, it was my fault. I could not protect him! I take full responsibility."

"Yoko! Stop that!" Ash called to her.

I simply stepped over to her, and saw in her eyes that she was lying. And as she looked back into mine, she knew I knew, but it was a valiant attempt. I simply put a hand onto her head to motion that it wasn't her fault. She slightly began to tear, but kept her composure.

"Captian. What are we going to do?" Smiter spoke again.

"Everyone please leave the room, and close the door." I simply spoke in a monotnous tone.

Aethos naturally reacted, but this time was different. "But boss!"

"Out. All of you. NOW!"

I tried to keep my cool, but there were so many emotions running through my mind and body. I didn't mean to snap at my crew members, but they knew when to leave. Yoko was the last one out and she closed the door, but stood next to it just to hear what would happen. Everyone else went to the waiting area, expecting something to happen. In the room, I stood by my brother's bedside and put a hand upon his head.

"Always being the big man, protecting me huh? Heh, its my fault you're like this. But ever since that day at the well, you always believed in me and I always believed in you. And here we are, big shots in a NaruSaku war...."

Yoko on the outside was peeking in, and creeked the door slightly open just to over hear us, without my noticing. She continued to listen, even though she knew she would get in big trouble if she was caught right now.

"It wasn't the sword they were after, was it dear brother." I then sad down next to him. "I never thought they would have hunted us this far. But no more, this time we end it. Here, and now. But I can't do this without you."

Yoko didn't understand what I was trying to get at, but somehone she figured that I had some kind of a plan.

"So here I am. Release the seal from me, and let me have my vengence. They killed father and they have tormented our family for the ages. I WILL NOT RUN ANYMORE. So I beg of you, please brother, let me avenge you, and bring you back to me."

What was this "seal", and what is the truth about these two. But what would happen next Yoko could never have imagined. I began to speak in a dark tone, an almost foreign tongue not even of this mortal plane. In that instant the room became dark and Blayze began to glow slightly. I finished speaking and opened my mouth, just then Blayze opened his mouth and out came a type of green mist, almost like Blayze's ... spirit aura. It exited his body like a breath of life, and entered into mine. After the process was complete, the room returned to normal, and I closed my mouth.

After that, Yoko closed the door quickly and stepped away, unsure to make of what had just happened.

As I stood up and began to step towards the door, I felt the change beginning. Soon upon my forehead were the markings of the process. Soon, we would have our vengence, and I will bring back my brother. I put on my overcoat, and wore a long bandana to over my head. As I made my way out the door, I saw Yoko standing there still motionless. I simply looked at her, and she knew that I wasn't the same person, but something inside of her told her to follow me.

As I made my way down the hall and into the waiting area, everyone got up to see me, and to hear of what I had planned. But this time was different.

"Captain!" "Boss!" "Hoku!"

"What the plan of attack?" Smiter asked first.

"Everyone is to stay here on base. Protect him with your lives."

"But captain! Shouldn't we go with you!?" Aethos argued.

"No. This is something I must do. Alone." I said, and continued on my way out. They tried to reason wtih me again, but I immediately shouted back. "That's an order. Anyone who disobeys me, I will kill you myself."

Even after I had made that clear, Yoko still didn't know what drove her to keep following me. She knew that I was going to go alone, and possibly to my death, all to save my brother, but still she followed. I made my way over to the HMS NaruSaku's Hanger bay, and prepared my fighter jet for transit. That was when Yoko came up to me. I knew she was following me, and that even after I threatened with death to any who folowed she came. So I began to speak with her.

"You and you alone, have witnessed what had happened in that room, yes?"

She nodded and I knew her response even without looking at her. I simply continued to prepare the flight.

"I'm giving this option only to you. You have a choice. Stay here, safe, and away from whatever horrors await. Or, you risk your life, only to see who Paul and I really are. To face a horror, unmentionable even if I told you. Once you join me on this night, you can never go back. Do you understand?"

Again, without looking, I knew her response. She nodded to join me.

"This is why I chose you to become my apprentice. You have no fear, even when you know death may come at anytime."

I turned to face her and I revealed my face to her. My eyes were already glowing red, but my face remained. The only thing I showed her was the seal upon my forehead. It was like a black marking, three lines, two lines forming from the inside of my eye brows and winged off up on my forehead just over my eyebrows. Then the center line was that of a upside down long diamond.

"This mark, is a curse. A seal that should never been shown to anyone else. Those who gaze upon it, will only know certain death. But for you, my apprentice, death is only the beginning. Come foward."

She stepped towards me, and stood before me. I placed my hands gentle on her head, and tilted it down. I put my forehead to hers, and spoke softly to her.

"You are no longer my Bloody Angel, but now an Angel Of Death. From here on out, by the end of the night, I will fully acknowledge you as my second, and not just as a pupil anymore. You will bear witness to tonights events, but you will only watch. For you will see your master's true nature."

I lifted my head away from hers and she looked at me with great reserve.

"Come, Yoko. The time has come for me to exact justice, and judgement."

We both got into the cockpit (pilot/co-pilot seating), and I a remote inside the cockpit, that opened the hanger bay doors. More or less, Aethos found the "garage opener" remote. I began to fire up the jet engines, and we flew out of the hanger bay. The YF-19 gliding with great speed over the ocean, the water spray reflecting off of the ship! Soon we would arrive at Juno, once again.

"Sensei, why are these people after you?" Yoko finally asked me, breaking the silence since take off.

I sighed, as it was about time that I told her the full story about Blayze and I. "So how far did Paul get when he told you about our childhood?"

She told me, everything that Blayze had told her, unfortunately it was only just the lighter side of what had happened. So on the ride too Juno, I told her the full story.

"He always patronizes me. So he told you that our father left us? That's not true, the real truth is that those who attacked Blayze today were the ones who kill him. And it was my fault that he died. But anyway, you know what our task was?"

"What, sensei?"

"We were both supposed to go into that cursed well. Do you know what waited for us in that well? It wasn't any treasure, or power, or greatness ... it was the truth about who we were. Who we were to become, and how we must live for the rest of our lives. That day, we became who we were ment to be."

"And what were you, sensei?"

"Demons & Devils."

There was another moment of silence in the cockpit. Then I continued.

"Truth is, I, myself don't even fully remember what happened in that well..." I paused mid sentence remembering.

~~~~[12 years ago...]~~~
Do you see it, Paul?

"See what?"

I pointed in the direction ahead of us. "The doorway! I knew there was something down here!"

"Come on, big brother, let's just get whatever papa wanted us to get, and return home." Little Paul tugged on my arm.

"Don't worry, we're already this far. We're almost there, I can almost .. feel it."

The two of us had gone down into the large well, and traveled along a cavern path for some time. Then we had finally came to a dark room, with only two glowing lights. There were two crystals glowing softly, one blood red & the other a black/violet. The both of us walked slowly towards them, and almost instinctively Paul reached for the red one ... but then-

Paul look out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... that was when we were attacked. By that man ... the one Paul holds such a grudge against, Sesshoumaru. We were just young kids back the, but father had trained us well. We tried to fight back, but then again what could we do, they still out numbered us. They were after the crystals, after they had knocked us out, then they tried to take them. But after many attempts, they had failed. Finally they used us to retrieve the crystals for them. So they pushed me first, I tried to reach for the red one, but I was zapped. I still remember the feeling, like getting electrocuted by a 10,000 volts. So I then I reached for the black one. After that, it got hazy, but I remember the feeling before I passed out. Images, it was like someone was forcing images into my head and I couldn't stop them. Images of pain, suffering, hate, anger, angst, sadness, and bloodlust. And then I blacked out. The next thing I remember was waking up, seeing the enemies gone, and father by my side. But he was hurt, badly hurt. Paul was there too, but something was different about him, I ... I could see it in his eyes...

~~~[12 years ago...]~~~
Papa! Papa!

"Who did this, Paul! Was it those men!" I awoke to my fatally wounded father with my hands all bloodied.

Little Paul just stood there, not saying a word. Our father was dying, and we couldn't save him. But with his last few words, he spoke to us.

"I'm sorry, my children. Forgive me for putting this burden upon you know and so early. But you are my children, never forget that! Protect each other and live for one another. Farewell ... my sons ..."

Papa! Papa!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That day, we lost father, and learned about what we were. You see Yoko, Paul and I? We are different."

"Different, sensei?"

"You shall see. Tonight you shall witness judgement in the process."

We had arrived at Juno during the dead of night. We left the jet at the docks, so that we would have a quick take-off, when we were finished. Just then, the moon came out from the clouds and illuminated the ground.

"Sensei, how will we find them? We don't even have a trail, or clue."

"HE is guiding me. Paul will take me to them."

"But ... how-"

"Yoko, now it is not in you to ask me anymore. But to follow, and be my witness for this night."

Yoko simply nodded and just kept quiet the rest of the way. Everytime we came to a dead stop, I would simply close my eyes and hold out my hand to "feel" which direction to go, and we would continue on the path. After a few more blocks we came to an old warehouse, on the far end of the pier. The sky then grew dark again, the moon hiding behind the clouds.

"Yoko. Only watch, do not interfere. And what ever happens ... try not to scream."

Inside there were the groupe of rogues that had attacked my brother. There were possible six or seven at most. They were all hoarding over their loot and treasures. But there were only two things I was looking for, a crystal and my sword. I couldn't see the crystal anywhere, but I did notice them playing around with my katana.

"Hey boss, why'd we take this hunk of junk? It won't even come out of its sheath!?" One of the rogues spoke.

"You fool, that's genuine Masamune! It's worth a blood fortune! Not to mention that it belonged to the Demon family that we finally taken care of!" Sesshoumaru spoke.

"But still, this thing - won't - come out of its sheath!" The rogue tried many times to pull, but it simply wouldn't come out.

The boss, Sesshoumaru then came over and tried himself, only to find out that even he could not pull the blade from its sheath.

"Bah! It's probably rusted and not maintained well. Whatever." But then he pulled out the crystal. "But this! This is what we've been looking for! Our clan has been trying to seize this gem from them for such a long time! Now we will have the power of the Hachi-Oni! I guess I have no need for such broken toys like this piece of garbage katana!"

And in his cockiness, he threw the sword at the ground and it slided away into a corner. Then all of the rogues began to laugh. And that was when I made my entrance.

"It's not broken."

Suddenly they all turned around to see me standing right at their front door by myself. As I held up my hand and reached in the direction of where my katana was on the ground. The katana then began to glow red, and instantly flew to me!

One hand holding the mid section of the sheath, and my other on the handle of my katana. "You just don't know how to use it!"

My face was shadowy, but I had an evil grin on. I pulled the blade from it's sheath, and that was when the lights of the warehouse went out.

----

In the next morning, the authorities were all over the scene. It was a bloody massacre, bodies everywhere, blood covered just about every inch of the warehouse. They said that there was only one survivor, a lone man. When the authorites apprehended him, he was shaking so badly they had to put him in a straight jacket, and all he kept babbling was "He is real. They are all real."

As he was being put into the ambulance to be taken away to be treated, he got one last glimps of a shadowy figure in the public, that only he could have spotted. At that mere shadows sight, he began to make a scream, and go completely nuts, as if he was seeing ...

"It's him! Get away! Get me away from him! He's not human!"

But the shadow was gone, and he went back to shaking madly, babbling to himself.

---

Back at H&E, Blayze was already recovering, as if nothing had happened at all. He regained full consciousness and we all celebrated his recovery. Later that night at his party, it felt like nothing had even happened the night before. I sat in my usual corner drinking away, like my normal self, Yoko sitting next to me quietly ... thinking ... recalling everything ... she can still hear the screaming ...

---

Uuaaaaahhhhhh - AAHHHHHH!!!!!

My blade flying from one man to the next, I moved like a shadow in the dark warehouse. All of the rogues were in a panic, trying to get their guns and swords to fight back. It was like shining a light on cockroaches, all of them running around like they had been caught. But some did manage to TRY and fight back, although they were swing at pretty much nothing in front of them. All they could see, or the last thing they saw was the flash of my red eyes glowing past them, followed by a spray of blood.

Yoko watched from one of the upper windows, getting a good view of the slaughter happening. She watched as I moved from one target to the next, but how I did it was in describable. It was like my first movement was instant, and the next was as if I floated over to the next. But when it came to the final four rogues left alive, the next couple of executions would be most cruel and unusual.

The first of rogue was huddled against a wall of boxes. He was scrambling around, feeling the wall trying to find back door. Suddenly there was a screeching noise, like a violent squeaking and then a flutter. He began to panic slightly, then saw something fly about him. Just then he saw the opening from the front gate, and made a mad dash for it. The second rogue saw him, run for the opening, but then saw above him something move at great speed! It in bits and pieces, like some kind of a dark cloud! Soon the first rogue nearly made it to the front door, but was then swooped away by the black cloud, all that was heard was his blood gurgling cry.

The second rogue tried to get to higher ground, and ran up a flight of stairs to try and get a better view of his surroundings. As he came to the area over where the first man was, he saw his body limp, but something else made him scream. It was another dark figure, feasting on his blood. It was like-

"A va-va-vampire-" He squeaked, but that was his fatal flaw.

The dark figure immediately turned his head to see the terrorfied man, and the man ran back down the stairs. But as he looked back, all that was left was his former comrades body in a pool of his own blood. He then ran towards the back stairs of the warehouse, and saw the back door. So he ran as quickly as he could, but then there were steps coming up the stair way. The second rogue made a dead stop, and was now facing the dark figure.

"No! I'm not with them! They wanted the boy, not me! I just joned them for the money!" He tried to plead.

Just then the dark figure took form of a pirate, but not just any pirate ... a dead one.

"Aye!? Is that so? So you be ratting out your own mates to save your own?"

The Undead pirate had the usual long tattared cloak, with the big corsair hat, and the eye patch. It was like looking at a walking skeleton with some organs, and missing limbs, but none the less standing right here in front of the terrorfied man.

"Do you now what we do to sqealers on my ship?" The pirate spoke as he grabbed the second rogue who was too frightened to fight back. "We give em the a special cut called, The Joker's Smile."

At that very mention, the rogue knew exactly what the pirate was going to do.

"You see, we take the squealer, and cut his face. Ear to ear, like a biiiig smile face!" And the pirate did so, as all the man could do was tremble and scream. "Oh, but it gets better! Then we cut your throat like so!" And the pirate did so as well. "So all that you can hear is nothing, but a silent scream! YARR HARR HARR HARR HARR!!!"

The third rogue was on the ground level, had just witness that mad pirate commit the Joker's Smile on his comrade, and saw the horrifying man try to scream, but nothing came out. He saw in the darkness the pirate laughing maniacally. Then the second rogue fell over the railing and dropped to the concrete floor. That was when the third rogue decided to fight back! He drew forth whatever gun, rifle, or weaponry next to him and began to shoot at the pirate!

"You bastard! I'll kill you! Come on!" And he unleashed a first volley of bullets into the Undead Pirate, but all it did was get his attention. "AHHH!!! COME ON!! COME GET SOME!!! AHHHH!"

The third man just kept firing madly into the air, desperately trying to kill the pirate, but what would happen next he would never have believed. As the volley and volley of bullets kept flying into the pirate. But nothing had happened, it simply kept on taking hit after hit, bullet after bullet, laughing, laughing at the desperate rogue. Then the Pirate put a foot onto the railing and leaned over. Next he jumped down from the catwalk, and landed on the ground with great ease, as if it was nothing. The pirate form faded away, and it was the dark figure once again, the eyes glowing even brighter than before. And all this time the panic struck man kept firing all the guns he could, although it was funny that he was standing next to their weapons cache.

Finally the dark figure made it to the opening area where the rogue was, and suddenly a light came from above. A pale soft glow from the only thing illuminating the sky, the moon. Just then the dark figure began to grab at its sides and yell.

"RRAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!"

The rogue unsure of what was happening, ceased fire to see what was going on. But before his eyes, he would witness a transformation not seen for thousands of years. The dark figure fell to its knees and began tearing away at the cloak all around it.

"AARRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The dark figure began to take form, it got bigger, more massive ... and hairier. Soon the rogue finally understood what it was transforming into, and looked to the night sky to see ... a Full moon.

"N-no way..." He muttered in his final moments. "...werewolf- AHHH!!!!"

He looked back down to see a fully grown werewolf, at least seven, or eight feet tall! Standing on its human-like hind legs, its claw big enough to shredd a man into pieces with a single swipe, drool coming from its lage snarling jaw. And just as it made a full stretch, he arched its back and howled loudly into the air signalling it would strike!

"AWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
And in that instant the wolf moved with great unseen speed! The rogue desperately firing in all directions, trying to fend it off, but neither bullets nor any type of holy weaponry could save this poor soul. The man ceased fire once again, as it fell dead silent. But he dropped his gun, as his eyes opened and he felt a hot breath upon the back of his neck. There was a deep low growl that came from behind him, the man was shaking so violently, that he was literally twitched his head just to look behind him. The last things he saw were glowing blood red eyes, and a the pearly whites of the werewolf's massive jaw.

And then there was one, the last of the rogue gang, Sesshoumaru. He was the only one who hadn't moved from his spot. He stood alone in the center of the entire building. He stood alone, being his overglorified and arrogant self. Soon the warewolf was upon him, in front of him. But it did not move any closer, they were at most at least 15 feet away from each other. Sesshoumaru simply stood, and instead of screaming like his other dead mates, he taunted it.

"I don't know who you are, or why you've come to kill us. But you can't kill me."

He said this, then took the red crystal and then began an incantation of his own. A small barrier formed on the ground around him in a 5 foot diameter. There were pale green runes on the ground, marking it as a circle of protection. He held his hands in a prayer like state, and kept his concentration.

The werewolf made its strike! Again with great speed it charged the barrier dead on, but simply got knocked away and flew back a few feet. It tried to claw and attack its way through, but it was no use. The massive werewolf would simply get zapped or electrocuted away. Then the wolf changed form back into the pirate! Thus the Undead Pirate made his attacks! Swinging his sword back and forth, the blade simply bouncing off, or reflecting doing no damage. Next the Undead Pirate took form of the Vampire! The vampire seperated into a black cloud, but in turn the black cloud was a mass of many bats! The shadow bats scattered all around the barrier trying to break through, attacking all at once like a swarm, but it was no use. Next the vampire took form of a metallic man, some sort of a cyborg creature, a bio-mechanical monster! Bashing and thrashing all about! Shooting laser beams and what not! Still it was not enough! Next the Bio-tech creature turned into a firey demon, throwing flame here and there in a fit of rage! A demon of shadow and flame, trying to use pure anger to its well!

Sesshoumaru stood there still, unharmed and unafraid. His confidence that he would prevail kept his concentration at a high. "Reveal yourself! Reveal your true form!"

After speaking this he chanted another incantation, and thus the demon was backing way now as if it was in some sort of inner pain. The flames subsided, the demon began to revert to its original form ... me. Sesshoumaru was unsure what to make of this, so he stayed within his barrier. But after he saw my face, he knew well of who I was.

"So we finally meet face to face, eh? Hokuten." He spoke in that arrogant tone of his.

I got up from where I had transformed. And stepped forward slighty into the pale light. "I am."

"So the real one finally reveals himself." He pauses.

I simply stand there in the pale blue light, and bowed my head as a gesture.

"We came for what we wanted. We have no reason to fight now." He spoke again.

I simply crossed my arms and laughed at him. "You think you have what you came for, when what you really wanted was this."

I reached our one of my hands and revealed the black crystal glowing the deep violet. As Sesshoumaru saw this, he realized that he indeed had the wrong crystal. Also that he had attacked the wrong person, now he was starting to feel a little doubt.

"Lies. I hold the power of the Hachi-Oni in my hand right now!" With those words he held up the red crystal in his hand towards me.

I laughed again, and folded my arms. "If so, then summon them."

After that taunt, he got angry and did exactly as I told him to do. Only after he finished his incantation, nothing happened. He looked all around him to see what was wrong, then he looked at me. All I could tell in his face now was "Oh crap..." That was when I began to walk towards him slowly, with my katana drawn out of its sheath. As I was nearing him, by a few paces, he began to babble and find loop holes out of me killing me.

"Wait! You cannot judge me!" He spoke behind his barrier.

But I kept moving closer to him and his barrier, almost 10 paces near him.

He kept trying to defend himself. "The law says you cannot judge me for my crimes!"

Still moving closer, now 5 paces from his barrier.

"Devils cannot judge those who have not crimed against them!" He shouted in desperation.

And there I was standing directly in front of him, nothing between us except his stupid barrier. But at the last accusation, that's what stopped me. I was bound to the rules and laws of the demon/devil world.

"You're right. I cannot judge you for your crimes ..."

So I sheathed my katana, and faded away into the darkness. But Sesshoumaru didn't let his barrier go yet, instead he sighed in relief as he had just escaped certain horror beyond death.

"... but attacking my brother? A devil's own kin?"

But in that instant he relaxed, I immediately appeared behind him, within his own barrier! Shocked and unable to move, he began to tremble as he couldn't believe how I got to him even after his efforts. And I moved in closer, to whisper into his ear.

"... Now that's a sin."

I submitted him to a punishment not fit for his crimes or sins. Instead of giving him death, I gave him life. A life to which he will always fear, a life in which he will always live in pure terror, a life in which devil, demons, and even the boogeyman is real.

AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I retrieved the crystal from Sesshoumaru who was lying on the ground curled up rocking back and forth, muttering to himself. But when I touched the red crystal, it revealed to me something that I didn't expect.

---

... the voices fading from her head. Since we had missed his birthday party, Alpha and everyone had redecorated everything again. Now Alpha was making him dance on a table and sing "I'm a little tea pot" as his hazing. Yoko turned to look at me, who was laughing merrily at Blayze's antics. It was wierd at first, seeing such a demonic side of her master, and now he was back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. But she didn't care, nor did she think too much about it. All that mattered was that everything was back to normal again.

---

After the party, everyone had gone to their usual places of recreation, and it was just me and Paul in the tavern. I sat down with him at the bar for a good ol' chat with him.

"So it's done? Are we finally free of those wretched punks brother?" Blayze merrily spoke.

I nodded my head while drinking from my mug. "Aye, and I don't think anyone's gonna quite believe him or what he has to say."

"Heh." Blayze chuckled, and looked over at me. "Thanks Lloyd."

I put a firm hand on his shoulder, and told him instead. "No, thank you Paul. You're always the one who watches over me."

"Bah! Come 'ere you!" Blayze shook his head and we gave each other a manly hug.

~~~[12 years ago...]~~~
... do you ...

"Do you think this is our destiny?" I asked my little brother who was supporting me on my side.

"I'm not sure." He spoke as he looked at the red crystal in his hand. "But it's like you said; whatever happens, where ever we go, we have to stick together."

The two of came out of that God forsaken well all bloody and beaten, and we returned home to mother. Down in the depths, there were some runes glowing softly in the dark. It read-

Hachi-Oni (The 8 Devils/Demons) & the Guardian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Be Continued.

#221 Shinyu

#222 Eagle8819

#223 Soritia

#224 Yuriko

#225 Soritia

#226 Yuriko

#227 hokuten

#228 Blayze

#229 sharingank

#230 Smiter

#231 Shinyu

#232 Blayze

#233 Guest_Aethos_*

#234 Yuriko

#235 Soritia

#236 Blayze

#237 Smiter

#238 Yuriko

#239 sharingank

#240 Blayze

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