Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina or Blood+…..or Final Fantasy IX, don't ask just read the fic………I'm really starting to think we've established that I don't own the seires enough times already, but I don't want to be sued so I guess I have to do it.
Bloodlines
Episode 12: The Performance
"And so the final scene draws near," Hinata stated with a chuckle as she watched the large orb in the center of a seemingly eternal void, "So Keitaro have you enjoyed watching things so far?" Hinata then began pouring herself another cup of tea before the handle to kettle was severed and caused the contents to spill out creating a large mess. Allowing the contents to pool on the table Hinata turned and regarded her grandson with a seemingly amused look on her face. "My my Keitaro-kun, what did my little kettle ever do to you?" Hinata questioned as she stared at Keitaro who held Zanshin inches away from her face.
"Enough!" Keitaro barked, "Let me out of here right now!"
Hinata chuckled lightly for a moment before responding, "Sorry Keitaro-kun, but no can do."
Keitaro scowled and slanted his eyes menacingly retorting, "Well I guess there's no other choice other than for me to defeat you." With that he drew Zanshin back and swiped at his grandmother. Hinata simply ducked under the blade and disappeared.
"What the? She did it again!" Keitaro snapped as he tensed up and prepared himself for his grandmother's inevitable attack. Suddenly a bright light blinded Keitaro as she raised his arm over his eyes to shield them. However this was a grave mistake and Keitaro soon felt his grandmother's knee in his stomach causing him to double over in pain.
"Keitaro-kun it would be in your best interest to stay down you know," Hinata stated sagely as she towered over the fallen young man. Keitaro coughed violently clutching his stomach with one hand before he struck out with the other and grabbed his grandmother by her small frail legs. To say Hinata was shocked would have been an extreme understatement as the old woman's eyes were as big as saucers and her mouth almost hung down to her chest. Using this to his advantage Ketiaro flipped his grandmother while getting up and drop kick her through the platform connected to the orb causing her to crash through it and land on the other side. The old woman didn't move for several minutes as she laid sprawled across the platform, her limbs spread out wildly, but Keitaro knew the fight was far from over.
As Keitaro began to approach the woman she let out a sharp cackle. "Not bad grandson, but not even close to being good enough," Hinata stated as she teleported once again.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Keitaro shouted in annoyance as he gripped Zanshin even tighter causing his knuckles to go white. As he tried to feel his grandmother's presence by sensing her ki he couldn't quite pin point exactly where she would be next. While he was trying to pin her down she suddenly appeared behind him with a sword of her own. Feeling her presence Keitaro whipped around just in time as Hinata brought her sword down on him, however he was able to parry the attack and role a safe distance away.
"You didn't think you were the only one with a special sword did you Keitaro?" Hinata questioned as she got into a fighting stance.
"What are you talking about?" Keitaro questioned as he got into a fighting stance of his own.
"Surely you remember it was I who forged your sword for you don't you?" Hinata asked as she watched Keitaro nod stiffly. "Well then you don't think I was capable of doing the same for myself? I also put a portion of my seemingly uncontrollable power into an object so that I would be able to control it, just like I did for you when you were a boy. Not only that but these blades serve as an excellent device for hiding and storing memories, although I do wish that they were capable of destroying them in some instances," Hinata finished glumly.
"Like mine," Keitaro said darkly before he inquired, "Why is it that you tried to hide my past from me grandmother? Why is it that you keep me from protecting those I care about?"
Hinata simply shook her head almost pityingly as she responded, "Keitaro I do not have a problem with you protecting those whom you care for, but there is something grander at work here. Something that I cannot even go against, fate must be allowed to take it's coarse and the Chiroptera must be allowed to fade into annals of history and become nothing more than legend. Saya and Diva's mother understood this, unfortunately she could not bring herself to kill her children even though she was capable of ending her own life However, if things are allowed to progress as they should Saya will end up killing Diva and will end her own life and Hajis'. After that Haruka, your parents, Kanako, and I will end our lives and complete the deed."
"What about me?" Keitaro questioned as he lowered his blade slightly, "What makes you think I want to live in a world where all those who I love are dead and gone?"
"Keitaro-kun you have an amazing gift, one that will allow you to transcend the necessity of death for our kind. Like I told you earlier, if you were to make love to a mortal woman you could in fact become human and, if it brings you any comfort, so would your Chevaliers," Hinata finished as she gazed into her grandsons eyes with sympathetic eyes of her own. "Don't you think Motoko wants to be human again Keitaro, don't you think she wants to have a choice about how she feels about you. Do you not want her and Mutsumi's organic love rather than this duty bound love you have now?" Hinata questioned as she watched her grandson lower his sword to the point where it was barely hanging in his hands.
"Of course I want Motoko-chan and Mutsumi-chan to be happy, and yes I want them to love me of their free will. And now I understand why it is you wanted me to fall in love with Naru-san, but I must know why the others had to get involved," Keitaro stated as he let Zanshin clatter on to durable glass floor. After taking a deep breath he continued, "I also must know why you had me fall in love with Saya, I already know I feel in love with Diva of my own choice, only to tear her away from me in the end. Why do you play these games with my heart, and why did you make me suffer for the past sixteen years?" Keitaro questioned as tears flowed freely from his eyes.
Hinata lowered her blade somewhat as she responded to Keitaro's questions with understanding in her voice. "Keitaro, it was not my attention to make you suffer. As far as your clumsiness is concerned, that was an unfortunate side effect of sealing your powers and was completely accidental. Also, Naru loves you Keitaro, but unfortunately she's just to pig headed and stubborn to admit it. As far as the others, well I needed to have to back ups just in case it didn't work out with Naru. All of them care deeply for you Keitaro, you have to understand that. All of them offer you something splendid as well, Su with her intelligence and her power as royalty in the kingdom of Mol Mol, Kitsune simply based on her voluptuous body and slyness, Shinobu with her excellent cooking skills and her unconditional love for you, and the unfortunate Motoko who would have offered her passion, loyalty, and love, although it was hidden beneath her fears. You must also understand that I simply wanted you to live and have the best my dear grandson."
Hinata stated and paused for a moment while letting out a beleaguered sigh, "Also, in response to your question about Saya. Well originally, before I discovered that the humans were planning on using the last of our kind as weapons, I thought you two would make an excellent couple. In fact your children would have been the strongest Chiroptera in the history of our kind and would unify what was left of the eastern and western empires. Unfortunately that was not possible due to the fact that humans began using our blood to create undead mindless creatures to use as soldiers as I mentioned. Due to this fact I knew what my friend had said was true, we had to become extinct otherwise this world would destroy itself. Do you understand now Keitaro, why I have done what I have done? It was never to hurt you, only to protect you and this planet," Hinata finished as she waited for Keitaro's response.
Keitaro simply stood still as a statue for a moment before he bent down and picked up Zanshin again.
"Keitaro what are you doing?" Hinata questioned as she quickly got back into a defensive position.
Also getting into a battle stance Keitaro responded, "While I may now understand why things have happened the way they have, that does not mean I have to accept them. Grandmother I understand and I love you dearly, but I will not allow either Diva of Saya to die. Especially Diva, grandmother please understand that she means the world to me, which has become even more apparent to me as I have watched things unfold. However, if you refuse to recognize this I will have no other choice than to defeat you."
"So you have made your decision then?" Hinata stated solemnly as she watched Keitaro nod. "Well then you have left me no choice my most beloved grandson, I will have to kill you. I can only hope that with your dying breath you will be able to forgive me," with that said Hinata was about to teleport once again before Keitaro spoke once more.
"Grandmother I have one last question, what about Kanako. How does she fit into all of this?" Keitaro inquired as he prepared himself for his grandmother's next attack.
Hinata chuckled softly before responding, "She is Saya and Diva's elder sister, her twin died at birth in case you were wondering."
"Wait Chiroptera are born as twins? Then what of mine, and why is it that you adopted Kanako and not Saya or Diva?" Keitaro questioned as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Hinata chuckled once more before she answered him stating, "Well technically you asked for one more question, but I suppose I can answer another one for my favorite grandchild." Hinata let out a small sigh before she said, "First you must understand that I had to wipe Kanako's memory much as I did yours due to the fact that she made repeated attempts to rescue Diva. While she was hard to put down the deed was done, and I was able to revert her back to childhood. Your parents adopted her as a way of keeping her from finding out the truth, and as another possible bride for you incase Saya didn't work out. I also forced her back into her childhood a second time when I reverted you back to yours. As for Saya and Diva, well there was simply no need to adopt the two of them. As far a your twin, well that's just another missing piece to the puzzle that is Keitaro."
"So that's the whole story huh?" Keitaro stated as he raised his head to look his grandmother in the eyes. At this point his eyes were glowing vibrantly and his fangs were barred as he continued through gritted teeth, "I really must know however, why it is I needed so many back ups?"
Hinata shrugged and responded, "The more the merrier is what I always say."
"Right," Keitaro stated as he rolled his eyes, "Well now that I'm done with questions it's time to get serious!" With said that Keitaro teleported much to his grandmother's great surprise.
"When did he?" Hinata questioned wide eyed as she quickly ducked narrowly missing Keitaro's swipe. After collecting herself, Hinata teleported as well while thinking, 'This battle may not be as easy as I had originally anticipated.'
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"Are you ready Saya?" David asked as they looked over the balcony at the grand stage Diva was set to perform at. David was dressed in a regular black tux, white tuxedo shirt, and bow tie with his custom pistol hidden in the back of his belt behind his tux jacket.
Saya let out a tired sigh before responding, "As ready as I'll ever be." Saya was currently donning a pink dress with spaghetti straps, and cream colored scarf.
David simply nodded and Saya turned to leave politely brushing past Joel the sixth's wheel chair, Joel was the descendant of Joel the first, who was dressed in a similar fashion as David. As she opened the curtains that lead to the stairs David spoke up.
"Saya you're all we have at this point, you are a very important weapon to us," David said without turning around.
Saya simply let out a feminine grunt and nodded as she turned to leave once again. However, she felt a bit upset at the fact that David still regarded her as a weapon, but she also realized that that was what she was at this point. As she began to step through the curtain David said one last thing.
"You are also our friend, so don't die," David as he continued to look over the balcony.
Saya smiled as small smile as she nodded and continued out the curtain.
"So you honestly think everything is going to turn out okay?" Joel questioned as he ran a hand through his short brown hair and chuckled lightly before he added, "With Keitaro-san on our side we wouldn't need luck."
"No then we would need all the luck we can get," David commented before adding, "For some reason I feel it's a good thing that he has been missing, despite the fact that it has been distracting Saya. It would have been more trouble with him around, and he definitely wouldn't have allowed us to finish Diva."
Joel let out a beleaguered sigh before conceding. "I suppose you're right, from what I read from my father's diary, you know the one you told me to hide from Saya, it stated that Keitaro-san had a very close bond with Diva. Is that true?" Joel questioned as he looked up at David furrowing his brow.
"A very close bond doesn't even begin to do it justice. He's in love with the woman, and it seems that she maybe in love with him or at least very fascinated with him," David commented as he turned and headed out.
"I guess it would have been a problem then," Joel said with surprise evident in his voice and his eyes wide. Suddenly he heard applause from behind him and noticed that the lights had begun to dim. "So it's starting," Joel stated as he turned around and looked back down at the stage as the curtains opened.
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"Amshel I'm not sure I want to do this," Diva said her voice full of doubt as she sheathed her rapier and wrapped in around the waist of her costume. The costume was rather odd consisting of a long black layered frilly dress and faux bat wings; however Amshel had told Diva that she looked stunning in it. She was still skeptical, however, about the bat wing head band being anywhere close to looking stunning.
"Now is not the time to get stage fright Diva, all of those people out there are here to see you perform. Besides, if our plan is to succeed you need to sing while our allies in the U.S. military have the satellites set up," Amshel stated as he pushed a semi-resistant Diva toward the stage.
"What about Kei-kun, do you think he'll be upset if I do this?" Diva asked as she stood a few inches away from entering the stage area.
"Of course not," Amshel said reassuringly as he forcefully pushed Diva onto the stage.
Stumbling out on to the stage Diva took a moment to collect herself before she was escorted by two fellow performers towards the center of the stage.
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"Haji we have to hurry!" Saya shouted as she ran through the back stage area with her sword gripped tightly in her had as she attempted to keep Diva from singing.
Suddenly she came face to face with Diva who seemed to be wearing a white sailor shirt with blue stripes, black knee length shorts, and a pair of black tennis shoes.
"Diva!" Saya shouted with her eyes glowing as she drew her blade back into a defensive stance , "We finish this now!"
Diva simply laughed mirthfully as she rose into the air and levitated for a moment before hissing, "Is that so Saya-neechan? Well then so be it!" With that she flew toward Saya at an incredible speed.
Saya tried to focus on the girl but her vision blurred badly and she felt her body grow heavy. As Diva approached even closer Saya's blurred vision caused her to misjudge the distance between them and swiped too early and only succeeded in cutting of a few stands of Diva's hair as Diva flipped back and teleported.
"Dammit," Saya muttered underneath her breath as she steadied herself and forced her vision to become clearer.
"My my Saya, do you still think you have the power to defeat Diva? I mean you could hardly scratch me," Diva stated as she began to shape shift slowly growing longer legs and arms. As the transformation finished Saya and Haji came face to face with the diabolical Amshel.
"Amshel?!" Saya hissed as she redirected the sword back at the said man. Just then she heard the something she had been hopping to avoid. The real Diva had begun to sing.
"Well, well, Saya, it seems that Delta 67 will be active soon and there will be a world full of Chiroptera for my precious Diva so I can come to truly understand her," Amshel stated as he began to chuckle softly. "Yes, now I will truly be able to understand Diva and her greatness, as soon as I dispose of you and Red Shield."
"Saya you must stop Diva, I will handle him," Haji stated as he sprouted his wings once again and unwrapped his bandaged revealing a decrypted looking blood red hands.
"Haji," Saya started before Haji cut her off.
"Saya……fight," and with that he charge Amshel as he drew out a pair of his knives.
"Fool," Amshel muttered as he charged at Haji.
Saya was tempted to stay and see if Haji would need any assistance but she knew that if she didn't act now humanity was doomed. She quickly spun around and ran toward the stage. She could already hear the people strangled cries and the panic as those unfortunate individuals who had been injected with the virus transformed into Chiroptera due to Diva's song.
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"Kai how are you doing on your end," David shouted through his walkie-talkie as he dispatched of another set out of guards in charge of protecting the satellite trailers set up outside of the theater. His pistol's barrel was smoking and he was almost out of bullets so he needed both Kai and Louis to act quickly.
"I've destroyed all of equipment on my side!" Kai barked back through the walkie-talkie as several loud bangs could be heard as he finished destroying the satellite equipment in a trailer.
"I'm good on my side too," Louis responded his voice full of joy, "Looks like we did it huh?"
David let out a sigh of relief before responding, "Yeah, now all we have to do is wait for Saya." David suddenly felt something breathing on his neck which caused him to tense up in fear. Turning around he came face to face with a Chiroptera, and although he knew it was pointless, and reacted by drawing his arm up to aim his pistol at the beast as it swiped at him smacking him into the back of on of the trailers.
Just as the beast was about to finish him off its head was severed from it's shoulders by a swift swipe from some sort of blade. Looking up David saw Moses, Lulu, Motoko, and Mutsumi fighting off several Chiroptera who threatened to surround the group.
"David-san!" Kai cried as he ran over to the injured man. Kai was currently wearing a black suit, grey vest, white dress shirt, and black tie. His hair was slicked back with only two strands still hanging in the front which wiped in the wind. "David-san! Are you alright?" He said as she lifted the man off of the trailer.
"I'm fine," David grunted out as he forced himself to his feet and scooped up his pistol, "Come on Kai, if we don't do something we're going to be surrounded!"
Kai simply nodded as he drew his pistol out again and began to fire at the beast as he went to aid Louis who was firing his pump action shout gun like crazy.
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"The fools didn't think it would be that easy did they?" Amshel said to himself as his used his monstrous hand to grab Haji by the head and fling him into a nearby wall with amazing force.
After recovering from the blow Haji retaliated by ducking under Amshel's swipes and landing a series of kicks and punches to Amshel's face causing him to stagger back in pain. It was at this point that Haji pulled out another pair of knives and threw them at Amshel who simply deflected them by using a supersonic attack. Upon deflecting the knives Amshel closed in on Haji with amazing speed and, using an energy attack, blasted Haji out off the theater an into a nearby park.
Haji quickly recovered and dodged Amshel's attacks and continued to retaliate with some of his own, although Amshel blocked them easily. It seemed like both parties were in a virtual stalemate. That was until Haji completely transformed.
"So you're getting serious are you?" Amshel inquired as he brought his monstrous arms up in defense, "So be it, I can handle any attack you throw at me! You are no match for me!"
As Haji finished his transformation he remained silent but his hand began to form a beam of energy and suddenly he seemingly teleported out of sight.
"What!?" Amshel cried out in shock as he accidentally let his guard down. Unfortunately this mistake was all Haji needed as he rammed the beam through Amshel's heart causing the man cough up blood. "RAGHHH!" Haji yelled as he forced the beam to explode severing the monstrous Amshel's top from his bottom.
Amshel didn't even get a chance to cry out before the electricity from Haji's attack chard his body into nothing. Reigning over his defeated foe the monstrous form of Haji simply turned around and flew back to the theater without another word.
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"That's one more down Keitaro-kun, but you probably view him as an enemy anyway," Hinata commented off handedly as she parried another of Keitaro's lighting quick sword swipes.
"No one deserves to die grandmother, not even one as self-diluted as Amshel," Keitaro said as he fired another gigantic ki blast from his sword with shattered remaining bit of the glass platform below them. At this point both parties were hovering in mid-air as they continued their epic battle They had been exchanging sword swipes and ki attacks for the past three hours and neither party seemed to be tiring yet. Keitaro teleported once again and his grandmother did the same. Hinata was the first to reappear and was shocked to see that Keitaro still hand come out yet. However her surprise was replaced by shock as Keitaro teleported right in front of her and, using a ball of bright red ki he had formed in his hand, blasted his grandmother through the platform below the orb and she continued to travel and fade away before the ki exploded with a blast the size of a supernova.
"That should do it," Keitaro said as he sheathed Zanshin, "There's no way she's going to be getting up from a blast like that anytime soon." With that said Keitaro patiently waited for the realm around him to disappear so he that he would be in Paris again. However he began to grow frustrated as the realm did not disappear and he waited another five minutes. "What's going on!? I defeated her!" Keitaro shouted in frustration. Unbeknownst to him a small figure had slowly crept behind him.
"I don't think so," the figure said cryptically as Keitaro whipped around to see his slightly charred but relatively unharmed grandmother. His eyes grew wide as his mouth hung agape in shock.
"Don't look so surprised Keitaro, you should have known that I wasn't done yet!" Hinata snapped coldly before she teleported once again.
Keitaro immediately unsheathed Zanshin again in an effort to defend himself, but it was in vain as he felt something wrap around his arms and legs yanking them to the point were he thought they might pop off. Looking at what bonded his wrist and ankles Keitaro saw that he was chained by lines of blue ki. "What the!?" Kei yelled in confusion.
"Urashima Secret Technique Binding," Hinata said calmly as she floated sitting in the lotus position and staring past Keitaro at the orb. "You know I had planned on killing before Diva died to lessen the pain, but after that stunt you just pulled I'm going to make you watch," Hinata stated as she continued to stare at the orb with a blank expression on her face.
Upon hearing that Diva's doom loomed in the very near future Keitaro thrashed wildly while crying out desperately trying to free him self from his bonds.
Hinata simply let out a tired sigh as she watched the final scene.
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"So this is how it ends? No surprise appearance by your beloved Keitaro Diva? Of course not, that old bat probably has him now, why Miko even assosicated with that wench is beyond me," Nathan said to himself as he reclined in one of the theater seats three rows from the stage as he watched Diva finishing singing as Chiroptera walking around the surrounding area. "On top of that that fool Amshel betrayed the Americans, and that incompetent coward Van Argeno……this is not how I expected things to turn out when I reminded Diva about Keitaro-kun," Nathan said as he shook his head in disappointment and rubbed his temples. "I guess there's nothing more I can do other than to watch history correct itself…………..forgive me Diva for I have failed you and your mother."
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"DIVA!" Saya shouted as she ran out on to the stage her sword pointed at Diva as her eyes began to glow a vibrant red again.
As Diva finished the last verse of her song she turned and regarded Saya with tearful eyes. "Hello Saya-neechan," Diva stated as she drew her rapier from it's sheath and pointed it at Saya.
"This ends now Diva! You'll pay for all of the pain you have caused! And then I will finish all of this," Saya stated as they faced off.
Diva chuckled softly as she dropped her rapier to her side and dragged it scratching and screeching down the steps as she walked down off the prop bridge. "You know Saya-neechan, I've always been jealous of you. You got everything, a family, love, and…..Keitaro………….you know at first I was mad at you, even hated you. But after meeting Kei-kun again all I feel right now is empty," Diva finished as she dropped her rapier onto the ground as stared at Saya as tears flowed from her eyes.
"Diva," Saya whispered softly as her face softened and she lowered her blade slightly. She was completely taken aback by what she was seeing now. This was completely unexpected and for once Saya didn't know if she could actually kill her twin sister. It was almost as if she had found her humanity. They stared at each other for a long time, neither one of them moving.
"You know," Diva said breaking the awkward silence her voice cracking as she spoke while tears flowed like a small waterfall from her eyes, "I think he is the only man I've ever truly loved….but that doesn't matter anymore because he belongs to you." At this point Diva was sniffing and sobbing uncontrollably as she cried even harder. Saya simply stared with her mouth hanging agape. After a moment Diva composed herself somewhat, although she was still crying a lot, and said, "Saya-neechan……I want you to kill me."
"What?!" Saya asked in confusion, her mouth hanging open, before she shook her head violently and responded, "No, not when you're like this, and maybe not ever after seeing you like this….Diva you're my sister, the only reason I wanted to kill you was to prevent you from hurting anyone else."
Diva regarded her sister with a small smile before saying, "If you don't kill me Saya, I'll kill you and continue Amshel's stupid plan."
Saya gasped and moved back a bit before she gritted her teeth and got into a battle stance. "If that is your choice than so be it Diva, but remember this is what you chose," Saya said through gritted teeth as she prepared herself for the inevitable battle with her sister.
Diva simply nodded as she picked up her rapier again and punctured her thumb allowing blood to run down the length of the blade before she ripped the faux bat wings of her head and back. "Let's end this Saya-neechan…..for Kei-kun….so that he can finally be happy like I've always wanted him to be…….even if it isn't with me," Diva stated as she forced herself to stop crying.
Saya simply nodded before she pricked her thumb on her blade allowing blood to run down her blade as well. After a moment of strain silence the two leapt at each other. Saya blocked Diva's blade by a large margin and lashed out with her own only to have it narrowly blocked by Diva. Diva then struck out wildly as Saya blocked and parried her attacks easily.
Things continued this way for a long time before both parties parted for a moment breathing heavily. Saya was growing extremely tired and her vision was blurring badly but she steadied herself and readied her self for what she knew would be the final attack. With this attack she would finish both Diva and herself. "RAGHHH," both parties cried out and in a blinding flash of light created by the force of the blades scrapping against each other the battle was done. Saya opened her eyes and face her sister who had a small smile on her face.
"Thank you Saya-neechan," Diva stated as she smiled at her sister closing her eyes and allowing tears to flow down her eyes, "Please tell Keitaro-kun one thing for me…….tell him I will always love him…..even in death." With that Diva's left arm began to petrify, cracked, and then fell off completely.
Saya simply stood with her mouth her mouth hanging agape as tears followed from her eyes. She looked from her blade which had impaled Diva through the heart, and at Diva's which had hardly even cut the left side of her dress. Saya looked back and forth for moment simply bewildered before she spoke up her voice cracking as she spoke, "You lost on purpose."
Diva nodded stiffly with a small smile on her face as she fell sliding the blade out of her chest and landing on the faux grass of the stage clutching her wound with her remaining hand and she huddled over slightly. "Please don't be mad at me Saya-neechan…..I'm sorry," Diva pleaded as her face began to harden and petrify.
"OF COURSE I'M NOT!...I LOVE YOU DIVA! PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU! DON'T LET IT END LIKE THIS, TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!!!!" Saya cried out as she sobbed uncontrollably and clutched her sisters petrified hand fiercely.
"Sorry Saya-neechan, but Kei-kun needs you……I'm sorry for all the things I've done Saya-neechan…..and please be happy for me Saya-neechan….." Diva finished as a final tear fell from her eyes and her body petrified completely. Soon her bright vibrant blue eyes became a cold and dull grey.
Saya simply sat staring with her mouth agape for a moment and as tears flowed down her face. Suddenly she began shaking violently before she cried out, "DIVAAAAAAA!"
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"Diva," Keitaro whispered softly as he stopped trashing and stared at the orb his mouth agape. Tears started to flow from his eyes and his body began to shake violently before he bellowed, "NOOOOOOOOOO!" The ki restraints holding Keitaro exploded and the young man curled up into a ball and sobbed uncontrollably.
"Well that just about does it," Hinata stated nodding sagely as she got out of the lotus position and turned to face Keitaro, "Well I guess there's no point in killing you anymore, it seems you're plenty broken to me. Sorry grandson but this is how it must be."
For a moment Keitaro simply clutched himself even tighter before he abruptly stopped shaking and slowly uncurled from his ball. Hinata regarded him with a puzzled expression on her face until she saw his eyes. No longer were they red and blue, or chocolate brown, no the entire eye was completely black and soulless. Hinata gasped as she stumbled over herself backing up as quickly as she could.
Keitaro looked at his grandmother as he summoned Zanshin into his hands. "Pathetic ronin, good for nothing stupid Keitaro, clumsy perverted Keitaro," Ketiaro said as Zanshin began to glow a bright blue as bright blue ki swirled around it. Suddenly there was a flash of light and instead of Zanshin being in Keitaro's left hand it had transformed into a humongous black claw which stretched up the length of his arm and ended with a large horn sprouting from Keitaro's shoulder. Keitaros fangs had grown as well and were now slightly protruding out of his mouth.
"No, this wasn't supposed to happen! Do you understand what you've done!?" Hinata yelled as she continued to back away.
Ketiaro simply regarded her with his cold soulless eyes before he let out a low grunt.
Hinata gritted her teeth and replied, "So be it! You've left me with no choice. I AWAKEN YOU OZMA!" As Hinata finished her statement the orb ceased being a viewing tool and turned back into a multi-colored orb which levitated off of the platform. Ozma seemed to face Keitaro and soon he fired a giant beam of white light at Keitaro. Keitaro raised his monstrous hand/claw and blocked the blast but not without sustaining a massive amount of damage. His arms seemed to melt and decay for a second before it quickly healed.
"Ha! How do you like the power of Holy?" Hinata said with wide grin plastered on her face.
Keitaro simply grunted before his arm began to glow a vibrant blue and he drew it back. "This ends now," Keitaro said in a deadly low voice and with that he swiped at the spherical beast sending a giant sickle like ki blast at the beast. Upon making contact a large gash was made in the beast as it seemed to shake in either pain or rage. It stopped abruptly as it began to glow and the gash Keitaro made healed almost as quickly as Keitaro's arm.
"Ha! You thought it would be that easy?" Hinata questioned in a superior tone of voice. As soon as she finished Ozma began glowing dully for a moment before it began to glow brighter. Suddenly several large flaming boulders fell from the sky and headed straight for Keitaro who looked mildly surprised.
Without anywhere to run Ketiaro raised his arm once again and as it began glowing again Keitaro shot out several ki blast from each of the respective nail on the claw which completely decimated the rocks.
"IMPOSSIBLE! NOT EVEN YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS CAPABLE OF GUARDING AGAINST METEOR!" Hinata screamed as she watched the meteors evaporate into dust. Her eyes were as wide as saucers at this point and her mouth simply hung agape.
Keitaro simply grunted again in response while summoning more ki into his monstrous arm. After a moment, while his arm was pulsating with ki, Keitaro shouted "GAHHHHH!" and fired a ki blast the size of a small sun. Upon making contact with Ozma it exploded causing a large shockwave ring to pass through the space, which nearly knocked Hinata into the darkest areas of the realm, and the remaining blast shoot up into a pillar of blue pulsating light.
Keitaro smirked for a moment but the smirk was quickly wiped off of his face as he saw a nearly destroyed Ozma pulsating violently.
"NO DON'T! YOU'LL KILL ALL OF US! STOOOOOOP!" Hinata cried out in an attempt to halt Ozma from using what devastating attack it planned on unleashing next.
"Doomsday," Keitaro muttered to himself as he watched to beast prepare to launch it's ultimate attack. He knew that his grandmother wouldn't be able to survive the attack, and despite the mind numbing and mentally crippling agony she had caused him by forcing him to watch Diva's death, she was still his grandmother and he was still the nice guy Ketiaro Urashima. Taking his grandmother in the hand of his monstrous claw he warped both of them up protectively as Ozma's attack ripped through the empty void turning the beast who summoned it into nothing but dust and burning through Keitaro's arm as he forced himself to endure despite the intense amount of pain he was feeling pulsate throughout his entire body. After what seemed like an eternity the blast from the attack dissipated and Keitaro was able to open his arm. Before him and his grandmother stood nothing, no Ozma, no platform, and no glass walkway.
"Take me back to Paris, to the theater," Keitaro demanded with no emotion in his voice.
A severely shaking Hinata simply nodded and with a clumsy snap of her fingers they were both teleported out of the dark dimension.
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"Diva, Diva," Saya sobbed on to the petrified corpse of her sister, but snapped her head up once she heard a loud crash from what might have been the seventh row. Looking just above Nathan, who she was surprised to see, she saw Keitaro and an old woman lying in a pile of destroyed seats and other debris. It was also at this time that Saya noticed Keitaro's monstrous arm and elongated fangs.
"My my, things are about to get interesting around here," Nathan commented to himself as he turned around and watched Keitaro climb out of a pile of destroyed seats.
"You might want to work on your landing," Keitaro whispered softly in a voice devoid of emotion as he walked towards the stage. Upon reaching Saya he simply stared at the shaking girl for a moment before he crouched down and softly ran his normal hand down Diva's marble cheek. After a moment of caressing the girl's cheek tears flowed down Keitaro's cheeks and he began to revert back, his eyes returning to red and blue while his arm and fangs went back to their normal dimensions.
"Keitaro I-I-I'm soooo sorry,"Saya whispered feebly as she chocked back more tears.
"No, I'm sorry that I wasn't here to protect her," Keitaro said as his voice began to crack, "I-I-I'm sorry t-t-t-t-that I failed to k-k-k-keep my promise……I nothing but a worthless perverted fool!"
"Keitaro, she wanted me to tell you that she loved you, and that she always will" Saya whispered softly as she pulled the man into a tight embrace and rubbed her hand up and down his back soothingly. He sat there crying into Saya's chest for minutes, almost an hour, before he heard theater entrance open and he turned around to face the entire group. They all simply stared at the scene before them, and those that even thought that they should be celebrating their victory were cut short by the look in Keitaro's soulless eyes. The entire Hinata Sou gang approached Keitaro and pulled him into a group hug.
"Hey Keitaro," Sarah started cautiously, "……way to go dork, you finally came out on top."
"Sempai, lets go home," Shinobu stated as she pulled him into an even tighter hug despite the fact that it made her blush wildly.
"Hey stud, why don't we go have a drink….it might help," Kitsune suggested as she kissed Keitaro on the forehead.
"Kei-kun…..I-I-I-I don't know what to say, because everything I might say might come out wrong," Mutsumi said as she began to sob on Keitaro's shoulder.
"Keitaro-kun….." Motoko started but couldn't finish as she simply pulled him into a tighter embrace and massaged his back using a Shimmei Ryu therapeutic massage technique.
"Keitaro……I'm sorry…..for everything," Naru said as she squeezed him tightly before letting go and walking back towards the rest of the group located at the back of the theater.
"Hey nephew……take as much time as you need we're not going anywhere anytime soon," Haruka said as she took her cigarette out of her mouth and planted a gentle kiss on Ketiaro's cheek before she walked off in the same direction as Naru.
"Actually that may not be an option," a man wearing a white suit, pink and sky blue stripped tie, and sky blue dress shirt stated as he ran a hand through his short black hair and corrected his glasses nervously with the other. "You see the American's have called for an air strike in order to quarantine this area, after what happened," the man stated as he finished saying, "It would be in our best interest to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Actually I anticipated something like this happening so I made a call to the royal Mol Mol army and told them to keep the American's at bay, so we have plenty of time," Su stated with a small smile on her face, "Think of it as my sorry for all that has happened Keitaro."
"Su, just who are you?" Kitsune questioned as she eyed the girl quizzically.
"That's a secret," Su said in a sing song voice returning to her same old bubbly slightly insane self.
"Do you honestly think your military can withstand the U.S. military!?" the man questioned indignantly seemingly flabbergasted by what Su had said.
"Well I don't think that the U.S. military has bullet, and missile deflecting shields and planes that don't need fuel for over seventy-four hours," Su said as she pulled a banana out of her pocket and pulled out a chalk board from nowhere with the schematics for everything she had just mentioned.
"This girl is a genius," the man said to himself as he watched Su explain everything.
"Yes she is Mr. Argeno," Nathan said was he walked past the man and out the door while adding, "I'll see you guy's around."
David was about to say something to the man before Keitaro cut him off focusing everyone's attention back to him.
"Everyone, I wont be going back to the Hinata Sou…….this will be my resting place as well," Keitaro stated as everyone gasped in shock. "Either that or I will kill everyone and everything in my path," and with that Keitaro began to transform back into his monstrous form, "The choice is yours but you better make it quickly."
TO BE CONTINUED!
NEXT: THE FINAL EPISODE: KEITARO URASHIMA, BIRTH, LOVE AND DEATH
Authors Notes: Okay to address any of you who maybe wondering why in the heck did I put Ozma from Final Fantasy IX in the fic….well Ozma is a bad mutha shut your mouth okay? I mean anybody who has played Final Fantasy IX will tell you he is the hardest friggin' boss ever in a Final Fantasy series up to date. So I figured what better way to make Keitaro seem like an even bigger bad mutha shut your mouth would be to have him face off against something or someone that is mind numbingly powerful. I think it worked out quite well. Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed the fic. The last chapter is coming up soon so look out for it, and I'll also be doing an epilogue so that's two more chapters to look forward too……well at least for those of you have enjoyed the story (although I can't imagine anybody reading this far if they didn't, but you never know). Okay enough blabbing, AS ALWAYS PLEAAAAAAAAASE REVIEW. It will inspire me to write the last couple of chapters quicker. :D
WHERE DOES THE DARKNESS RESIDE