Wow, the end of this arc...
...and it still hasn't gotten any easier.
If you thought things were complicated before, it only gets more murky from here.
On a side note, I never got a response as to whether you think that I should change the rating to 'R'. If I overstep the bounds of PG-13 please let me know before someone gets pissed at me.
P.S. Thank you all who reviewed last time, it's one of the few ways I can tell that somebody is still reading this tripe.
*----------*
Kasumi pounded at the still frame of her target. Tatewaki Kuno was out cold on the receiving end of a savage beating.
"Nothing! Nothing will get in my way anymore!" Kasumi screamed while throwing a few more punches at the young man's torso.
"Hey. Bitch." a familiar voice came from behind her. "Eat this!"
Kasumi turned around only to have the bottom of an iv bag holder shoved in her face, breaking her nose and cutting her lips.
Kasumi turned to spit as a grayish-black fluid escaped her lips and run down her chin, only to be struck again by a half-mad Nabiki. She fell on the floor and tried to back away from her assailant.
WHAM! Nabiki crushed one of Kasumi's hands with her iv pole. More black fluid escaped from her cuts and gashes.
WHAM! Nabiki put more force into this one and smashed her opponent's right foot.
Grinning maniacally, the middle Tendo sister prepared to deliver another blow to the creature's torso only to have her weapon snatched by it's undamaged hand and pushed back at her. She flew backwards towards the wall and shattered the mirror on impact, sending glass shrapnel flying across the room. The pieces dug into her skin, letting what little blood she had left bleed out through the multitudes of cuts along her skin, as well as irritating her earlier injury.
She wanted to cry.
She wanted to just let out all of her frustrations in one explosive rage.
The blood.
The blood all over her skin, all over her robes.
She was so dizzy, so tired, she was barely aware of the visage of her sister crawling towards her with one hand. It hurt too much to move. Kasumi came closer, shuffling as best she could with only one hand and one usable foot. The demon almost made a grimace as the glass points started embedding themselves in her hands and knees.
Slowly it made it's way up towards Nabiki's throat. It brought its hand upward to strangle her, but fell forward from the lack of support. It's weight pushed the girl back against the wall again, illiciting a faint cry. Once more, the creature brought it's horribly torn hand up to rob the middle Tendo of her breath, this time, it was successful.
Nabiki felt the pressure on her neck from her sister's hand, she could feel the grain of the pieces of glass press into her neck. Faintly, she saw the visage of a horribly bloody Kasumi kneeling before her.
Franticly, she reached around for something she could use in defense.
Anything.
She remembered the sound of her sister's voice, the smell of her hair. She remembered the smile she often wore while going about her daily business. Both of them were polar opposites, drawn to each other to maintain the balance in the house, but it seems also destined to destroy each other.
She found what she needed.
Kasumi had been like a second mother to her and Akane, someone they could always go to. Someone they could trust.
But was she ever there for her sister?
"I'm so sorry Kasumi." She managed to whisper, a single tear made it's way down her ragged cheek..
She used it.
Nabiki Tendo, with one fluid motion pierced her sister's temple with the largest shard of glass on hand. Blood, both from her sister and her own hand flowed freely down her arm to the floor.
The creature with Kasumi's face cried out with an inhuman anger and frustration. Sounds and curses no mortal could make escaped those lips before it backed away, clawing at it's wound.
And then it shifted a bit, in a way that was hardly noticeable, it changed. A glimmer appeared in it's eyes. More blood flowed from wounds where only ichor came from before. Kasumi's face softened, and her eyes returned to their loving gaze.
For a moment, a battered Kasumi Tendo lay bleeding before her sister only to reply"I'm sorry too" before she faded away.
Nabiki lay their alone on the floor. Had she the strength, she would cry.
*----------*
Far away, another demon shifted, shuffled to it's destination.
Within meters was the door to the cell his master was locked in, and barely within his grasp, the key.
His?
He had been in that body too long and it was starting to affect him. If he could still feel anything from this form it would be revulsion.
Another few stiff steps, and he had reached his goal. All of the work, all of the death, it was all for this moment.
The red spring.
This was the one linked to his prey, the one bonded to it's soul, the one that would help give his master flesh.
He attempted to reach into his back pocket to retrieve the scroll. The arms wouldn't move.
"Damn." he grunted.
Shifting a bit, his shadow once more began to move. This time it moved further up his body, covering his chest and arms. Blackness upon blackness, as he forced the hand inside his pocket to pull the Endtimes scrolls from his back.
Yes
This is when it would finally get interesting. His form altered again, this time covering the entirety of the boy's body with the exception of the neck and head. Forcefully pulling the scroll up to face level, he began to once more chant in a dead language.
The ground shook, and the water in all the pools began to ripple. Their lights faded, and the clouds above separated in the sky, but despite the increase in light, the pool in front of him remained dark. A flash of an image appeared on it's surface, and as suddenly as it had started, the shaking had stopped.
Carefully reaching over so as not to disturb the waters, the creature with Gosunkugi's face pulled the bamboo shaft out from the middle of the water. He eyed it again carefully as he examined it with genuine interest. Holding it with both hands at chest level, he swiftly snapped the pole into two jagged pieces.
With one piece in each hand, he leaned forward and dropped towards the pool.
Each piece pierced his neck, while holding him up just above the spring. The shadow surrounding him retreated from the body into the darkness of the fluid below while blood began to flow down the hollow centers towards the waters.
It. Was. Done.