Hey. Been awhile. Had exams so my computer was confiscated... T_T and if i don't get those good results it might never be returned to me, so it took a lot of effort to be able to write AND upload this... so im sorry about going AWOL without warning, i really had to way to tell you guys T.T Anyway, phase eleven... i think it's the finale?.. but dont unsubscribe, if i can, i would update and maybe make it a bit happier... :\


Phase Eleven

It was a field of destruction.

Flames licked the ground and ashes swirled in the heated air. The sound of clashing swords was deafening, and the stench of blood permeated the atmosphere. Dead bodies—Shinsengumi or Amanto—littered the floors.

Hijikata wrestled with an alien of giant build, blue hair and red eyes, wielding a long sword shaped like a whip. His face was marred with cuts and blood trickled down his arm, staining his torn uniform. The Vice Captain's legs trembled with the force of the Amanto's lash, and his boots grinded on the coarse gravel, sand billowing in every direction. The Amanto brought his whip down and the fabric of Hijikata's trousers tore, splitting skin and causing blood to stream down. He came down on one knee and gasped. With a final burst of strength, Hijikata drove his katana into the Amanto's forehead and it fell. Hijikata held his injured knee and brought his head onto the ground, gritting his teeth in excruciation. 'Damn.'

Not far away, Kondo slashed through Amanto after Amanto, sweat pouring from his face in continuous streams. His jacket had been long abandoned, in shreds indistinguishable from other ripped cloth. The buttons of his vest had been cut off by the enemies' attempts to pierce his heart. His dress shirt was stained by blood and mud. He was disheveled and his arm trembled with the weight of his katana. An alien stabbed his left arm from behind and Kondo cursed, whirling around to counterattack, and when the enemy fell, the Captain clenched his right hand over the wound gushing blood and stumbled onto his knees. He was tired. And he was injured. 'Damn.'

Takasugi Shinsuke stood in the ruins, laughing maniacally with his head thrown back, the bandage on his eye whipping in the wind as the enraged fire consumed whatever was left on the battlegrounds. His katana was dripping blood and yet the silver blade shone in the fire and moonlight.

Kamui stood nearby, leaning against a pillar of crumbling stone in the most casual manner, his clothes ripped and almost every inch of pale skin splattered with fresh or dried blood. Yet he wore his everlasting smile—unbothered and seemingly satisfied. He lifted his blood-covered fists and gave every finger a sensual lick, his cerulean eyes sparkling with excitement and pleasure as he flashed his sister a friendly smile.

Sougo and Kagura stood elbow to elbow, sweat glistening off their skin.

The Yato was holding her purple parasol in a numbing grip, her arm trembling with fatigue and anger. Her cerulean orbs flashed in a mixture of pain and longing, fixated on Kamui. 'Nii-chan…' her whisper was soft, but she knew Kamui had heard her. Then, her face hardened and she dashed forward, swinging her parasol at her brother with brute force. 'Kamui, you asshole!'

'China!' Sougo's eyes widened and he tried to stop her, but was too late.

Kagura's hair was wild and messy, but had managed to stay in her telephone buns, because with just one, the hair ornament would fall at the shake of her head. The orange strands framed her pale, enraged face, the tips dried with blood.

'Ah, little sister. So rude.' Kamui dodged with ease and, still smiling, grabbed her wrists and spun her around, his hands in front of her, as if about to stab her throat and let her life's blood spill over his fingers. 'Takasugi, what do you suggest we do with her?'

'Are you sure, Kamui?' Takasugi raised an eyebrow at him. 'She's your sister, isn't she?'

'I don't see how that should keep me from doing to her what we did to those other Shinsengumi guys.'

'Don't. Touch. Her,' Sougo ground out, his crimson eyes burning with danger and controlled anger.

'Ah, I believe we… haven't met,' Kamui smiled at him. 'You seem quite fond of my sister here. Who are you?'

'Okita Sougo, First Division Captain of the Shinsengumi.' The sandy-haired officer paused. '…and China's husband.'

At this, a flicker of surprise crossed Kamui's blue eyes, but was replaced by amusement just as quick. 'Oh? How mean,' he directed his words at Kagura, and gave her a complementary smile. 'Congratulations on your marriage… but why didn't you invite me?'

Kagura narrowed her eyes at him and struggled. 'Let go.'

'I'm sure you know my answer to that, dear sister.'

'Let go!'

'China,' Sougo sighed, irritated. He was worried sick for her, but he was too proud to admit it. 'It's your entire fault for running to him like a little girl. When are you going to grow up and think before you act?'

Annoyance filled her. 'Shut up, Sadist! You can't expect me to think rationally during battle! It's kill first and think later!'

Sougo blinked, using his monotone. 'You mean, "get killed first, and think later", right?'

Kagura's face flushed, and she lashed her arms out towards Sougo, startling Kamui. 'Shut up, Sadist! It's not a time to argue about stupid things like that! So just follow my theory and get over it!'

'No, we should follow my theory. I'm the First Division Captain here, not an alien with a messed-up mind. And you're the one who said we shouldn't argue about stupid things like this, so why are you trying to win this argument?'

'I want to have the last say!'

'That doesn't matter, does it!'

'I know you want the last say too!'

'China, get over it. Spend the time thinking about how to save your own ass.'

'Shut up you asshole! You're the husband! Saving the helpless wife is your job!'

'I don't understand how you two can still have a couple's squabble in a situation like this,' Takasugi drawled. 'Do you really not give a damn about dying?'

'I do!' Kagura took advantage of Kamui's distraction by Takasugi and slammed her fist into his face, somersaulting away and landing hard on the ground beside Sougo. 'But you probably don't!'

She turned to Takasugi and aimed her parasol at him, letting fly a charge of seven bullets, direct at his face. The man lifted his katana and turned it flat, deflecting every bullet, without blinking. Kagura gritted her teeth in irritation and released another seven bullets at him, which he deflected with the same ease.

'Damnyou,' she spat, her voice laced with venom.

'You seem to be a lot more emotional than your brother,' Takasugi observed.

'Shut up!'

Kamui laughed. 'She's always been different that way. Perhaps there was some abnormality in her birth, which ripped her of some of her genes?'

'Kamui!'

The Yato with the orange braid turned to his sister. 'Hmm?'

'I'm going to kill you today whether you like it or not!'

'So selfish. So I don't have a say in this?' Kamui's eyes were lighting up, the bloodlust in the blue orbs growing as he strode towards Kagura. He cracked his knuckles.

'No.' Kagura turned to Sougo. 'Don't you dare interrupt this fight, Sadist.'

The two siblings started their fight so suddenly Takasugi and Sougo had to stumble backwards to avoid being injured.

There was a blur of orange, purple and pale skin as they wrestled and struggled in inhuman speed and force. The ground trembled with the weight of their blows and the remaining stone structures started to crumble as they threw each other into them.

Both of them were panting and breathing hard, looking more disheveled and wounded than they had initially.

Kamui tried to stab Kagura in the heart with his hand but she shot a bullet into his palm and ricocheted over his head and attempted to kick him. He reached up, grabbed her leg and slammed her down mercilessly onto the ground.

Kagura let a shocked gasp escape her lips and recollected herself, spinning around and roundhouse kicked Kamui. The both of them lay on the ground near each other, the breath knocked out of each, body trembling and blood flowing from their mouths and skin.

Kagura turned around and tried to crawl towards Kamui, using her elbows and fists to move forwards and maneuver herself towards Kamui, who was mirroring her actions.

'You've…gotten…stronger,' Kamui got out, 'little…sister.'

'I…know…' Kagura retorted weakly, 'Nii-chan.'

Kamui's eyes widened slightly and he let a genuine smile grace his bloody features. 'I might have…missed you calling me…that.'

'Huh.'

Suddenly, Kamui's body went rigid and his eyes opened to their maximum. 'Kagura!'

Kagura's own cerulean orbs widened and she flipped herself onto her back just in time to see Takasugi plunge his katana into her stomach. Blood spilled from her mouth and splattered onto Takasugi's face.

He retracted his blade and blood flowed endlessly from the gaping wound.

'I live only to destroy,' Takasugi's deep voice repeated the sentence he had said for uncountable times, 'this corrupted world.'

Kamui heaved himself over to his sister and placed his palm over her wound, trying to staunch the flow. For once, the smile on his face wavered, but it didn't disappear completely.

'Ah ah, Takasugi,' Kamui said, his voice framed with false sweetness. 'Why did you steal my opponent? Did you doubt my abilities?'

'You fought well, Kamui,' Takasugi shrugged and turned to face Sougo, who was standing like a statue, his crimson eyes fixed on Kagura, the arm wielding his katana trembling with impossible self control and murderous intent. 'But towards the end, you faltered. You let your emotions get the better of you. And I could tell straight away, that you could not kill her. So I did it for you.'

Kagura could feel her breath coming in shorter, and it hurt to draw a fresh one. The pain in her abdomen was intensifying—to the point of numbness. She could feel her vision become blurred and the world tilting, but she couldn't afford to let herself drift off to sleep. '..Sadist…'

Kamui heard her. He flicked his eyes up towards to Sougo. 'Okita Sougo, First Division Captain of the Shinsengumi, I think it's your debut. Get over here,' and the male Yato sibling offered an innocent smile—displaying his quick recovery over his sister's possible demise.

Sougo rushed through the mess of blood and gore, managing to carve a deep line of red into Takasugi's sword-arm before reaching Kagura. He dropped down onto his knees and shook her. 'China! Oi, China, don't fall asleep. You said you'd never die before me. You said that we would live and go home to see Hino and Danna and Shinpachi.' Sougo shook her harder. 'Don't fall asleep, China. Kagura!'

Kagura saw the hazy outline of Sougo in front of her. And cracked a smile. 'What's up, Sadist?' her voice was soft, and she tried to stay calm. 'You panicking is such an interesting sight. I would pay to see you look like this again.' She tried to laugh, but choked on the blood rising from her mouth and coughed up blood instead.

'China!'

'…Sadist, it's all right.'

'Stay with me.'

'I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise.'

'No. I won't forgive you. And don't apologize. It's not like you.' Sougo didn't know what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to cry at moments like these? But he couldn't even summon a single tear. Was he that unfeeling? But he knew he wasn't. He might be a jerk most of the time, but he knew he loved her.

Suddenly, Kagura lifted her parasol and fired behind him.

Sougo felt steel slide through his chest and gasped, choking on his breath.

Kagura's expression was pained, and she widened her eyes as Sougo fell over her, his katana clattering onto the ground.

Behind him, Takasugi let out a grunt. The bullet had penetrated his arm and he dropped his katana.

'Sadist?'

'…yeah, China. I can hear you,' he coughed up blood. 'What is it?'

'You can't die. You need to get back to Gin-chan and Shinpachi and Hino.'

'I want to keep my promise too,' he said in broken whispers.

'We can't both die…'

'Kamui, get off the floor. We're going.' Takasugi picked up his katana and sheathed it. 'Most of those Amanto are dead and we're not in the best of shape either. We'll resume this some other day.'

'Ah ah, Takasugi. What a sore loser,' Kamui wagged his fingers at him. 'Well, fine by me. More blood next time, since the Shinsengumi would have lost some valuable members.'

Kamui got up, dusted himself off as if nothing had happened and caught up with Takasugi, giving the fallen couple a wink. 'Bye!'

Kagura's vision was really darkening now, and Sougo's wasn't any different.

'…China…'

'…yeah? Spit it out, I don't think I have much time left…'

'Save your breath,' Sougo ground out.

'So, what is it…?'

'I love you, China…'

Kagura felt her eyes well up with tears, blurring even the dark. 'I love you too…Sadist…'

Sougo gave her a last smirk and kissed her lips softly, weakly. 'So it really is "till death do us part", yeah?'

Kagura tried a successful laugh. 'Even though we never said those vows.'

'Hmm. Yeah.'

'Bye… Sadist…'

'Bye…China.'


Hijikata and Kondo found Sougo lying over Kagura, their fingers entwined and a slight smile over their faces.

'Kondo-san…'

'It's all right, Toushi. Sougo and Kagura-chan fought hard. They did all they could.'

'Should we move them back?'

Kondo considered the option, then slowly, and painfully, shook his head. 'No. They need to stay here. In the very last position they have chosen for themselves. We will not break them apart.'

Hijikata lit a cigarette and the smoke billowed around them.

'Yeah… I guess.'


Gintoki received the news rather badly.

He nearly strangled Hijikata, who didn't fight back. And Shinpachi bashed Kondo over his head with a wooden sword.

The Captain and Vice Captain didn't fight back.

'I'm sorry, Yorozuya,' Hijikata said. 'We lost Sougo too. We know how you feel.'

And they left.

Gintoki walked towards the cupboard where Kagura used to sleep in, and knocked. 'Hino-chan?'

The door slid open and the little girl with the two telephone buns and big eyes peered out.

'Mommy and Daddy are not going to come back…'

'How…long?' she asked in a broken sentence.

'For a very long time,' Gintoki swallowed.

'Why?'

'They've… gone to a faraway place.'

'Where?'

'It's called heaven, Hino-chan.'

'I want…go…heaven too,' she blinked.

Shinpachi could feel his heart breaking at the innocence of the question.

'It's all right, Hino-chan. Gin-chan and Megane are going to be with you. Always.'

And Shinpachi didn't make a fuss out of the nickname. Not a word.

Hino just smiled and nodded. 'Okay!'


A/N: Okay. so if you have a little heart, you could cheer me up by reviewing? coz now im really depressed. by this ending ive spit out and the fact that i wont be getting my computer back and that i can't quit softball. if you review it makes me feel like im not completely cut off from the NetWorld, if you know what i mean. Thanks for sticking around, guys. Love you (': and it's NOT over as long as im concerned. I WILL somehow make a happier ending. But due to my results, it'll be a long time before i can update. Please stick around.