Thanks to: general zargon (I prefer to write fluff so I can't stand to have a story that is just dark all the time. Glad I could make you laugh and thank you so much for always wishing me the best.), magicalnana (Any child of Kyo's is bound to be pretty strong), abattles2 (Pervy Kyo is amusing. Don't worry, the kids will be mostly safe but I can't say the same for their daddy), Chaotic Angel7 (It's the only explanation that sort of makes sense. I do wish Kamijyo-Sensei had been a little clearer), Azure Shine (Twins are in the future but I make no promises on shortening the pregnancy outside of what would be normal for a human, although twins do tend to come early. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and Kyo's shameless flirting), Rinfantasy (Hmm, could be. ;-P), and lmamc.
Midori no Me
Chapter Forty-Six
Hatching Plans and Bold Adversaries
Kyoshiro intercepted Sakuya when she was half-way to her room and, after hazarding a glance around the empty corridor, ducked into a room that was unoccupied.
He couldn't help himself as he took a minute checking her over for signs of harm. Her eyes had a haunted look about them but she merely shook her head when he asked if she was alright.
"What did he want from you Sakuya?" he inquired once he was sure that she had suffered no physical harm.
Sakuya took a deep breath before saying, "He wanted me to confirm something."
"Yes, I gathered as much since that's what they always want from you. What did you hear? Did they force you to use your powers? Did you have another vision?"
"Slow down, Kyoshiro," she said, mustering up a wobbly smile at his earnest concern.
"I can't help it. You never know what Fubuki will do," he replied, wishing she could understand how much he worried that she would go belowstairs one day and never come back. He'd seen many people in the castle visit Fubuki or Hishigi, never to return. It was part of the reason why there were so many empty rooms in the building now.
"Well, rest assured that, for now, they still need me," he didn't miss the slight flicker in her eyes and wondered if she was hiding something from him.
"No, Kyoshiro, he scared me a little but he didn't hurt me. He did surprise me, however. Apparently Kyo is going...he's going to be..."
"He's going to be...what, Sakuya?" Kyoshiro wondered if she had foreseen the death of his old rival and was anxious to know if it would affect his plans to leave.
"He's...," she blushed and stammered out the last part, "going...to be...a...f-father."
Kyoshiro stared at her, trying to figure out if he needed to clean out his ears because it sounded like she said Kyo - Mr. Non-Commitment-Women-Are-Only-Good-For-Banging Kyo - was expecting a child. He folded his arms and waited for her to deliver the punchline to her joke. As the seconds ticked by and she didn't elaborate further, he felt his eyes growing huge.
"You're joking with me...right?" he asked cautiously, unable to wrap his head around the concept of Kyo reproducing.
"I'd never joke about something so important," she replied indignantly.
"But...but, Kyo isn't the type to...he never even...I don't think...gah!" he ran a nervous hand through his hair and shook his head trying to figure out what the world was coming to.
"But Kyoshiro, Kyo has always really liked women. And I know he has a special connection with Yuya-San. And you know how he is and how babies come to be...and...and," she flushed redder and redder and he was right there with her. Of course they knew where babies came from and it was entirely logical that Kyo might have sown wild oats at some point but...well...Kyo was Kyo.
Kyoshiro wasn't sure if the thought of Kyo being a daddy fell into the category of being good or just plain creepy. He had a hard time reconciling the man who laughed at his enemies while he slaughtered them with a man who cared enough about one woman to travel with and father a child for her.
They two lovers exchanged disbelieving looks and broke out into laughter at the same time.
"I know it's mean," he said after a while, "but if things were still good between us like it used to be, I'd be teasing him unmercifully right now. You weren't kidding when you said that girl had a lot of power over him."
"I told you so," Sakuya said with a smile, "and now you have proof that he's not as evil as you thought he was. Maybe now, you'll consider asking him for help?"
"It's worth a second look, but it he cares about Yuya so much, he's not likely to let me get anywhere near her. Especially when I almost killed her once," he was still embarrassed to think of what he'd almost done, "And he'll be doubly cautious if his own child is involved. I don't see being able to get close without him assuming I'm there to finish what I started and attacking me."
"You're resourceful when you want to be, Kyoshiro. I think if it you time it carefully enough, you can arrange a non-violent meeting with him."
"If you say so," he replied, still reluctant to humble himself and go to Kyo for help.
Sakuya frowned at him dragging his feet and asked, "Why does it feel like you are trying to find reasons why you shouldn't enlist Kyo's aid?"
"I'm not. I just, it's hard to explain. He and I are such different people. We always are and I don't know if we can ever go back to being friends."
The miko sighed and reached up to cup his cheek, forcing him to look at her as she said, "Nothing will change if you don't try. If you want to leave, he's the best option you have. Please try...for me."
"C'mon Sakuya, you know I can't say 'no' to you," he groaned before offering her a resigned smile.
"Fine, I'll try to contact Kyo. We'll figure out how to get out of here together, okay?"
"Of course," Sakuya said.
Kyoshiro turned away from her, intending to head for the village where Kyo was, and he was so caught up in trying to work out the logistics of making his long awaited meeting happen that he completely missed the shadow that crossed her face.
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Kyo kept his senses on high alert as they walked past the first few houses in the village. The air was unnaturally still and he fully expected to be ambushed at any moment. He tightened his grasp on Yuya and she responded by upping her grip about his neck, her breath caressing his skin. His companions were tense as well and he was quietly grateful for their presence. More allies meant more people to keep Yuya and his child from harm - he wanted no repeat of the debacle at the Hell Gate.
He was still coming to terms with having an increase in the number of people he was responsible for and a small part of him wanted to withdraw from having yet another entanglement, but he didn't allow it headroom. Instead, he indulged in the image of Yuya walking around, heavy with his child and basked in the knowledge that she was irrevocably tied to him by virtue of marriage and progeny. He hadn't the faintest clue about how to raise a kid - having come into the world alone and fighting until Muramasa adopted him - but he found himself looking forward to the challenge.
Kyo just wasn't the type to take the easy way out.
"It's too quiet here," Yuya said softly once they were a good ways into the village.
"Yeah," he responded, his gaze moving from one side of the dilapidated road to the other.
The buildings were looking a lot shabbier than he remembered. Although the walls were still covered in gold, the grandeur of the place had been distinctly tarnished over the years.
He had mixed feelings about being in the village. Although the Mibu hadn't been particularly kind to him growing up, there was still a sense of coming home. Before he fought and killed Nobunaga, thereby disrupting the clan's machinations, he had been welcome at the castle.
The regular clan members hadn't understood why the king took him into his confidence but he remembered long days of sitting by the him as a boy and listening to him for hours on end. He had instinctively sensed a kindred spirit in the king, who was as isolated by his position as ruler as Kyo was in his role as the Demon Child.
To this day, he still thought of the promise he made to kill the king should he turn to the path of evil. He knew he'd informed Sakuya that he would fight and kill the ruler but, he couldn't explain it, there was a deep down desire to see if the old king he once knew and empathized with was still around.
Now he was back, staring at row after row of closed doors as they walked through the dilapidated village. He didn't see any movement but he could feel a multitude of eyes upon them and his senses did not lie. There were a hundred or so clan members lurking out of sight, watching their every move and he was getting antsy. It wasn't that he didn't want a good fight but facing a united front by the lower clan members would slow them down significantly and they didn't have time to spare.
A sudden motion out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he had just a moment to grip Yuya and leap backwards before the ground where he had been standing heaved upwards and a masked soldier wielding a sword broke through the stone pavers. As attacker's blade sliced through the air where his throat had been, he exchanged a glance with Bon.
The big man came forward and plucked Yuya from her husband's arms, relocating her to his back with a stern, "Hold tight, girlie."
The world erupted into chaos as more enemies rose from the ground and he pulled his scabbard from his sash - where he'd tucked it in order to free his hands for carrying Yuya. Drawing his blade in one smooth motion, he fought back his attackers, smoothly swinging and deflecting the deadly weapons with ease. The men weren't a challenge but there were enough that he had to be careful not to be swarmed.
He cut down the enemies in front of him and took a second to ascertain Bon's status. As long as the man was standing, his wife was safe.
Unsurprisingly, the One-Eyed Dragon was cheerfully swinging his bokken, weaving a path of broken bones and mangled corpses while holding Yuya to him with a thickly muscled arm. His booming laughter was reassuring and Kyo grinned in response, finally allowing himself the luxury of enjoying the battle.
His heart was pounding as he skillfully fought off his attackers and he could feel Tenryo vibrating in excitement as it tasted blood. It had been far too long since he'd gotten a chance to fight so many enemies all at once and his every sense was heightened. His vision was sharper, his hearing was better, even his nose was more sensitive.
Kyo breathed deeply of the smell of blood and sweat and death and felt at home as he and his Sky Wolf danced in the midst of the melee, their movements as one. In the back of his mind, he thought he heard a distant howl but he didn't have the presence of mind to examine it too closely. The men were thinning out and he started feeling playful as he sensed the eyes of his wife upon him.
Pure adrenaline drove him as he let the weapons get a little closer to him before parrying them. He deliberately slowed his movements and left openings in his defense, luring his prey in before cutting them down. All the while, in his mind he willed his woman to look at him, to watch him and see how strong he was now that he completely remembered who and what he was.
He wanted her to know that she had biggest, the best, and the baddest warrior alive at her side. She had known him as Kyo the Amnesiac but the Kyo in front of her was the wild Demon Child who had killed Nobunaga - the man who once sought to rule the world - when he was a mere boy.
'Watch me,' he mentally whispered, slowing his movements even more as he looked at her again and saw her staring at him, her green eyes filled fascination.
'Want me,' he demanded as he swung his sword and bisected a trio of men who closed in on him, thinking they could take advantage of his carefully constructed trap.
'Love me,' he pleaded, as the last of the enemies rushed him and he ran them through with lightning quick strikes. The ground was covered in blood and bodies and yet he only had a few spatters on him, so fast had his attacks been.
Muramasa had trained him well.
A normal person would have been terrified of the way he stood there, relaxed and completely at home on the field of battle. Eerily calm after he'd been laughing and smiling like a maniac while killing his enemies. He wore death like a familiar robe and, as he turned to look at his wife, he silently commanded her to see his true self. To see him without the hesitation of not knowing who he was or where he came from. She'd watched him fight before but he doubted she'd ever seen his near orgasmic enjoyment of shedding blood.
Always, in the four years after his memories were sealed, there had a been a a millisecond of uncertainty when he fought. He had known he was strong but not why or how he had gotten that way. Battle had been enjoyable but left him feeling empty because he didn't know enough about his upbringing to know which ones were important and which were just fodder for a soul that was eternally hungry for action.
He hadn't told anyone yet, but he now knew why he had fought Nobunaga - the man who called himself "Master - and his minions. The pieces of the puzzle were finally in place and he understood that the battle - which had resulted in him fighting Kyoshiro again and ending up in Yuya's tender care - wasn't the first, nor would it be the last, time he fought the evil tyrant.
For the first time in a long time, his mind had been clear and full of purpose during battle. It was as if someone else had been burned away and he had been made anew. Though he might have reconciled his two sets of memories and accepted Yuya's place in his life, the old Kyo carried far more weight and exercised more control over his actions in battle now and he wondered if she would be disgusted by him.
Her vivid green eyes never left his and he was curious as to what she saw as she bent her head and whispered something into Bon's ear.
"Are you sure?" the big man asked and she nodded.
The giant relaxed his hold and she slid down, looking like a child next to his old companion. As the high from the battle wore off and their companions semi-relaxed, Kyo watched as she picked her way delicately amongst the carnage, heading towards him. The was something incongruous about seeing the contrast between her delicate, zouri-clad feet and toes and the thick blood soaking the pavers from the Mibu soldiers. There was such a stark contrast between Yuya in her pretty pink kimono and the bodies she was wading through to get to him that he was suddenly struck by just how out of place she was in his violent life. What sort of person was he to tie a woman like her to a man like him and father children with her?
"Let's check around to see if there are anymore punks hiding out," he heard Bon say and Kyo silently thanked him for being astute.
Akira kept his head turned in the direction of his old master and Yuya, a frown on his features as he tried to work out what was going on and why they weren't advancing now that the battle was over. He just stood there for a long moment, before walking off and disappearing around a corner into a side street. Sasuke gave Kyo a long stare and went to lean against the wall after wiping his long blade on a nearby corpse and resheathing it - the boy pulled out a kendama and absently began playing with it while he waited. Kyo thought it was an oddly childish thing it was for the taciturn kid to do.
Bon and Benitora moved out of earshot once Yuya made it to Kyo's side and the couple stared at each other for a short while before she reached up and swiped at the side of his face with the sleeve of her kimono.
"That's good," she said with a relieved smile, "I was worried that the blood was yours." He noted crimson staining the pink fabric as she took the sleeve away.
"Of course it isn't mine," he replied with his usual arrogance, relaxing slightly as he detected no hint of fear on her visage.
"I'm your wife, Kyo. I'm allowed to worry about you aren't, I?" she said in a low voice, giving him a look that held a wealth of meaning in it.
"You should worry about yourself and the brat, woman," he said, giving her a smirk.
"Don't you dare call our baby a brat and I'll worry about myself when I need to. You were just staring at me like you were ready to go someplace far away if I so much as looked at you sideways. I don't know what's gotten into you. You were teasing me up until we got into the village and now, one battle later, and you act like I'm about to bite your head off."
"It's in your head woman and we don't have the time to entertain your delusions," he replied, turning around and staring at the road ahead. He didn't want those keen eyes of hers seeing his brief anxiety over how she would take the changes his reacquired memories had wrought on him.
"Kyo, do you remember why I love you?" she asked softly.
"I recall a conversation like that almost two months ago. Let's see, you had your behind parked in my lap and I was wondering when I could take you to bed again," he replied, unable to resist baiting her because thinking back on her words did weird things to his emotions - like remind him that he really did love her.
She gave him a long-suffering sigh and said, "Yes, Kyo. But I also told you that I loved you for you."
"And is there a point to bringing that up now?"
"There is but I'm not sure I want to tell you now, since you are being difficult."
"You knew I was difficult when you agree to tie yourself to me for the rest of your life. I can't fault you for having good taste in men but you gave up all right to complain about my quirks when you said 'yes' to me," he knew he was being a jerk but he couldn't handle the thought of her knowing how worried he'd been. Better to get her angry than to have her digging into his silly fears.
"You are impossible," she snapped and his smirk turned into a grin, content that she was apparently going to drop the line of questioning.
It was a testament to how much he both trusted and allowed her to get underneath his defenses that he was completely unprepared when he heard her take a few steps closer and then felt a sharp twack on the back of his head that was hard enough to snap his skull forward. Whipping his head around, he glared at her and she matched him with one of her own. Off to the side, he heard Bontenmaru and Benitora snicker and had to quell his embarrassment at being caught unawares by such a physically weak opponent even if she was his wife.
"Woman...," he began but she was having none of that.
She crossed her arms and said, "Don't 'woman' me. If you are going to be childish when I'm trying to reassure you, then I'll do it the only other way I know of to get things into that thick skull."
"You are playing with fire," he growled, although they both knew he wouldn't do a thing to hurt her.
"Oh am I? Well, maybe you'll stop being so annoying and listen. That," she pointed at his head to indicate her slap, "was for you thinking I'm so shallow that I would run away just because I saw you fighting and enjoying it like a madman. Kami, what did you think I saw when we were traveling together before?"
When put like that, it did sound silly, but he didn't have time to dwell on it because her harsh glare softened into a gentle mien that he had absolutely no defense against. There was no resisting the love that shone in her eyes for him - and only him - and he did nothing, trapped as he was, when she gripped the sides of his kimono and pulled him down. Her lips fluttered sweetly across his and he completely forgot about his rules on showing public affection, enjoying her kiss instead of worrying what the others would think for once. He even managed to tune out Bon's low whistle of appreciation.
As she pulled back, he felt like her eyes were drawing him in as she breathed against his mouth, "That was because I love you. Don't you ever insult me again by even considering that I will stop doing so just because you changed a little. Give me some credit, Kyo."
Yuya looked intently at him for a while longer, until he nodded slightly, before letting go of his robe and smoothing her hands over the rumpled fabric. As he stared at her, he thought about Muramasa's words to him when he voiced his worries about what she might think of him when his memories returned. He'd been looking for reasons not to marry her, partway because he was who he was and also because he couldn't stomach losing her if his old self wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
"Kyo, she's already seen you in action," Muramasa said, "and you were a legend before she ever met you, I doubt she thinks you lead a life rainbows and fluff before she met you. I'd hazard a guess that she only cares about the Kyo in front of her, not the Kyo mothers use to frighten their children for misbehavior. Come on, you have to give me a better reason than that."
He quirked a self-deprecating smile and thought to himself, 'Looks like the old man was right after all.'
With the keen senses of warriors who lived by their ability to read a situation, his companions gathered close again, sensing that the moment between husband and wife was over and it was time to get a move on. He nudged Yuya in the direction of Bon once more and looked on in alarm as she took one, then two steps forward before her legs gave out and she crumpled to her knees.
"Are you okay, Nee-San?" Sasuke asked, tucking his kendama away.
His young brow was furrowed in concern as both he and Benitora rushed to Yuya's side. Her body jerked and shuddered involuntarily and Kyo was uncomfortably reminded of a puppet. She clutched at the front of her kimono and moaned, seeming to shrink in on herself as she balled up in pain.
Kyo heard a steady wheezing sound and realized that she was having trouble breathing. Swallowing a curse, he marched forward and bent down, sliding an arm around her and tilting her head back so that he could see her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she had bitten her lip hard enough to draw blood. He quickly widened the opening of her garment and, this time, swore out loud. Another two stars were missing since he'd last checked. Yuya had eight hours left and they were still a long ways from the castle and the gates preceding it. That wasn't even counting the Goyosei members who guarded each gate.
"We've got to get our butts moving, Kyo," Bon said, scooping Yuya out of Kyo's arms and striding forward quickly. Sasuke and Benitora followed suit and Kyo watched Bon's broad back for a moment before following, tormented by the sight of Yuya in so much pain.
Akira hung back and didn't move until Kyo did. His former master, sensing that there was something his pupil wanted to say, waited until they hit an even stride before demanding, "Whatever it is, spit it out already."
"Always so direct, Kyo," Akira said, attempting for calm nonchalance but his tense posture betrayed him.
"Yeah, I'm direct. I don't have time to listen to your pretense of being cool and calm. If you have a problem then get it off your chest, I have more important things to worry about than your attitude."
"Oh, more important things...like Yuya?"
Kyo sucked his teeth in annoyance as he responded, "Did you really just ask me something so stupid?"
"I just had to confirm things for myself," Akira said, "Yuya is the reason why you seem to have grown so soft after all this time. Maybe it would be better if she were out of the picture."
The Thousand Killer stopped dead in his tracks and narrowed his eyes at Akira, who had paused as well.
"You know," Kyo said, his thumb resting beneath the guard of his sword which he slid out of it's sheath slightly in preparation, "You've been saying 'Yuya, Yuya' for a while now. I thought you were trying to goad me by getting too familiar with my woman and then I remembered, that frigid brat has an icicle shoved so far up his butt that he'd ask my permission first before dropping '-San' off of the end of her name."
"Akira" held his hands up in an innocent gesture and said, "I think you're reading to much into this."
"Is that a fact?" Kyo said, punctuating the rhetorical question by drawing his sword and cutting through "Akira."
The imposter slid into halves but there was no blood and the body hit the ground with a distinctly wooden thump.
His friends had realized that he wasn't with the rest of them by then and he heard Tora gasp in surprise as he saw Kyo cut their companion to pieces.
"Chill, Red Tiger," Kyo said, crimson eyes darting from the side of the road to the houses, looking for the puppetmaster who had tried to replace Akira. He wasn't worried about his student, knowing the kid could take care of himself, but he didn't need more idiots coming out of the woodwork and trying to slow him down.
"Bon, take the woman and go ahead," he instructed.
The big man nodded, jogging forward a few steps before uttering a foul curse when a huge metal hammer slammed into the ground in front of him, forcing him to leap back to avoid flying debris. Benitora and Sasuke readied their weapons as a deep voice with a flirtatious tone that was bizarrely out of place spoke.
"Oh my, who knew kyo had such handsome men with him this time around," the voice said and the group blinked as a man who was almost as big as Bon sashayed towards them from the direction of the castle. His well muscled physique, closely shaven head, and the haphazard piercings on a face that had waved goodbye to the word "handsome" a long time ago were completely at odds with his feminine mannerisms. He wore nothing above the waist and his arms were adorned with bracelets that looked like discs.
As Kyo's group tried to make head or tails of the odd man, he blushed and fanned himself as he said, "I can't handle so much attention. I wonder who I get to play with first. The handsome guy with the bandana and the looong spear?" Tora shuddered at the obvious innuendo, "The one-eyed guy who might have been sexy once upon a time? The little cutie with the golden eyes and the big sword. Or," he licked his lips and brought his eyes to Kyo, "the gorgeous, strong samurai who fought with me at Sekigahara. "
Just as they were getting used to the big man, things got even weirder when a high-pitched, girlish voice joined in with a sulky, "Don't start without me, Bikara!"
A girl with a red outfit that was half kimono and half dress, sporting a frilly skirt that was poofed out by waves of ruffles, jumped down from her position on the roof of a nearby house. He strange garb was tied with a long black obi adorned with a bunny face on the front and bows on the long ends that trailed behind her. Her zouri were unusually high, giving her extra height and she looked to be no older than twelve with her hair twisted into two fantastically curly ponytails.
She skipped over to the huge hammer that had stopped Bon earlier and lifted the heavy weapon like it weighed no ore than a feather. The smile she gave them was positively angelic as she bowed and said, "Hi there. I'm Antera of the Juunishinshou."
Kyo analyzed the duo. The girl was an unknown but her strength was nothing to sneeze at and he considered adding her to the list of people to fight if his companions couldn't handle her. Still, he wasn't particularly worried. Bon alone should have been more than enough for any member of the Juunishinshou. His only concern was Yuya, who's condition was rapidly deteriorating.
He vaguely recognized the man, Bikara, from when he fought in the infamous battle of Sekigahara. As he recalled, the guy had been strong enough that their fight ended in a draw though Kyo hadn't been at his strongest after killing so many men ahead of time. His lips curled into a smile. He might be inclined to oblige the hulking giant if he finished with the puppetmaster first.
'Speaking of which,' he thought, looking around and hopping backwards as a sword came out of nowhere and embedded itself in the ground where he'd been standing.
"Tsk, tsk, I do wish you would hold still. It would make things so much easier," a snobby voice said and Kyo looked back the way they'd come, in the direction of the Hell Gate.
There was a man standing there with a look on his bespectacled face that immediately made him want to punch it. Kyo assessed him in an instant, picking up on the fact that he was over-confident in the extreme. Red eyes flicked from the smirking face to the doll in his hand. It was dressed like an onmyoji and he thought it was an odd thing for a grown man to carry.
"I've been waiting for a chance to fight you for quite some time, Demon Eyes Kyo. Although I don't expect you to match my brilliance, I do hope you'll give me a fight worthy of my time."
Kyo arched a brow and said, "Those are some bold words from a grown man who plays with dolls."
To his credit, the man didn't flinch as he replied, "It a puppet actually. My name is Kubira and I believe you've already seen my handiwork," he nodded towards the fake Akira lying on the ground.
"Yeah, it looked like him but your acting was a bit wooden," he smirked at his own pun.
"Yes, well, I did not have the time to observe the traitorous Akira for very long before he disappeared a little while ago. I knew he would betray us someday but I did not expect to see him here with you."
"Ah well," he slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose and his smile turned cruel, "let's get things started, shall we? You dodged my first attack well enough by let's see what happens when you are confronted by me, myself, and I," he lifted his free hand and one, two, three, four and more copies of him entered the road, flowing in from every side street until Kyo was faced with at least thirty copies of Kubira.
"Legend or no, don't think I'll go down so easily," the other man said before pointing his hand at Kyo, signaling his mini army to attack.
Behind him, he heard metal on metal as his friends engaged the other enemies and he hoped that Yuya would be alright until he could get to her. Yuya was dying and he was running out of time.
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Not far from where the battle raged, Akira leaned against the wall of an empty house. He'd wandered away from his companions and former master, partly out of confusion over Kyo's unnaturally kind behavior and partly because his senses had picked up on a silent observer that was in a completely different class from the Mibu soldiers who had attacked them earlier.
As he regarded the man who had invited him into the house with sightless eyes, he tried to piece together why he had been chosen as a contact. Yes, he had been close to Kyo once upon a time but that was before Kyo left to live his own life. Now he sought to be Kyo's rival and they were hardly on good terms now.
"So, you drew me away from my associates and wish to meet Kyo, do you? If you are who I think you are, you should realize that he will likely try to kill you just as soon as look at you. My sources tell me that your split was not at all a peaceful one."
"I am aware," said the other man, "but this is important."
Akira tapped a finger to his lips and tilted his head to the side. The man was deliberately keeping his ki in check but the blind man was sensitive enough to the unseen things of the world that he knew the other man's strength was the real thing. He might even have been stronger than Kyo and that intrigued the ice wielder to no end.
"Very well, because I am curious, I will see what I can do," the blonde man said.
"Thank you," Kyoshiro replied, shifting his eyes to the body propped up in the corner.
The king's assassin had hidden Kitsunebi - the master of the village - there after killing him. He felt no pangs of conscience over the man's death since he had been a brutal and vicious overlord who tormented his subordinates.
It was a peace offering, of sorts, to Kyo since the tyrant had been readying a surprise attack while his old friend and rival enacted the touching scene with the young woman who referred to herself as his wife. The knowledge that Kyo was actually married had sent him reeling and he had to brace a hand on the wall he was crouched behind as he peeked through the crack and saw her get a hit on Kyo. It was unreal to see him so relaxed around someone that they actually got around his defenses.
'Just who or what is that girl?' he wondered as she pulled Kyo down for a tender kiss that was nothing short of amazing, both for how much love it conveyed and the fact that Kyo offered no resistance even though they were in front of their friends.
At that point, he had felt like a voyeur and turned away, trying to process the idea of a Kyo who was nice and who obviously cared a great deal for someone besides himself.
Akira's voice had broken into his musings then, the young man having detected his presence with admirably sharp senses. And that was how they found themselves there - in an old house with Kyoshiro requesting an audience with the other man's old teacher after dragging Kitsunebi's corpse along.
"So, when can I meet, Kyo?" Kyoshiro asked.
"I will arrange it as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence here. His wife does not have very long to live."
Startled by that bit of news, he frowned and said, "I had not heard about that. It's probably best if you tell me everything."
"Of course," Akira said smoothly and Kyoshiro hoped that he wasn't up to something behind that cool facade, he would prefer it if he didn't have to kill Kyo's beloved student.
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Kyo: "Those are some bold words from a grown man who plays with dolls."
Kubira: "It's not a doll, it's an action figure!"
Kyo: "Keep telling yourself that."
I think Bikara takes the manga cake for one of the most awkward character designs. There's just something about his face that makes me want to hit him. He looks like he feasts on the dreams of little kids. Ah well, this chapter was fun to write. Of all the Juunishinshou I like Antera and the real Kubira the best. As usual, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think. Hopefully I got most of the typos.
P.S. Which of the Juunishonshou are your favorites?
