Chapter 50 -
As he stepped outside, he could see Motonari and Mitsunari having a quiet conversation while sitting down near the door, the two apparently self appointed guards. Masamune smiled weakly to keep them from asking as he walked past. Motonari ignored him, but Mitsunari gave him an acknowledging nod as he walked by, the two continuing their conversation, about games surprisingly enough. Masamune sighed as he turned a corner and ran his hand along the wall as he could feel tears starting to form in his eye. Hearing Motonari and Mitsunari's voices fade the further he got, he finally allowed himself to fully cry, having no one in earshot. He kept walking down the hall as he cried walking down to the study. "Why am i such a disappointment to Kojūrō?" Masamune whimpered to himself as he walked slowly down the hall. Unwillingly he felt a dark bit of jealousy at the mental images of Kojūrō and his child self, as well as Yukimura taking his place in Ghost Kojūrō's affection. Masamune shook his head as he turned onto another hall seeing the study in sight he ran to the door placing his hand tightly on the door before opening it and slamming it shut. He heard the sound of cracking wood as the door cracked the door frame a bit as it slammed. Masamune ignored it and walked to the center of the room before yelling to release his anger. "Damn it Yukimura! You betray me in my world then steal Kojūrō from me in this one! God damned other Kojūrō and little me mocking me!" Masamune shouted angrily, the words echoing off the walls and through the open door out into the snowy training yard. Masamune looked over at the door. "I bet Kojūrō wouldn't care if i froze to death out there with the snow, traps, and killer horses." Masamune growled as he walked over to the study desk and sitting in the chair angrily. He placed his head on the table and cried out loud. "I am just a useless brat huh Kojūrō. I alway disappoint you. im sorry im a dissapointment. you should have let mother kill me" Masamune cried. "Hell, i bet you would have even helped her, seeing how i turned out. All those years of raising down the drain, indeed."
Masamune hit the desk with his fist, which cracked under his ghost strength "I can't ever make you truly proud why!? Why am i such a failure to everyone!" Masamune said before he screamed "TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" Masamune screamed.
"But i am required to summarize it like this. If you want to cut, bleed yourself out for all i care." the echo of Kojūrō's voice run through the study, mocking him in his pain, yet tempting him with the prospect of cutting himself. 'Can ghosts even harm themselves, or bleed?' The dark part of Masamune's mind wondered.
"Would you look at this. A lonely little boy in his study alone." a familiar dark distorted voice echoed through the room.
"What do you want bastard" Masamune growled
"Oh, i just saw one of my favorite ghosts looking all mopey, so i decided to come and see if i could cheer him up." The distorted voice said cheerfully. "Is big mean adult Kojy being mean? Oh don't worry about him. He's just a bully inside and out. He depends on the fear and pain of others to get his way."
Masamune huffed "How are we your favorite's monster?" Masamune asked
"It's the thrill of the hunt. And you two fight back, which makes it all the more thrilling. Listen, you want to make Kojy proud, don't you?"
Masamune picked his head up and looked over at the figure which was now visible to be seen as a young man with a long light blue trench coat, messy blonde hair, a devious smile and one golden eye the other covered up with a triangular eye patch. Dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans with some tennis shoes.
"Kojy responds to shows of strength and self dependence. And i can give you one of those things." The figure said, walking over to sit on the desk. "All you have to do is make a deal, and you can impress that grumpy old man. Just listen to my terms, and you can decide if you want to live in the shadow of his hatred forever or not"
Masamune gulped "Why should i trust you of all things" Masamune hissed
"Because i can give you something you'll never get on your own. Kojūrō's affection and pride. You see, i have this little thing in him, that makes him feel what i want him to. And i can make him feel affection and pride for you." the figure said with a smile.
"But that would be cheating, but - no i couldn't, could i" Masamune hit his head on the desk "UGH why do you always have to make it hard on me?" Masamune grumbled
"Yuki cheated, did he not? Wouldn't it be nice to beat him at his own game for once?" The figure chuckled. "Doesn't have to be hard, all i need is a little yes or no."
"And what's the catch huh monster?" Masamune said glaring at the figure.
"Must there always be a catch? Plus, i'll even throw in a little something extra. you see, i've got your arm." The figure said.
"My arm give it back bastard!" Masamune growled
"Oh no, not yet. i'm not done. You see, i need you to get a little something for me. And you need to get it off your dear Kojy, no less." The figure said, pointing one finger to indicate silence. "You see, I need Kojy's head for a little project of mine. And if you can get his head, should be easy enough for you, and i give you the extra boost in strength, plus getting Kojy's affection. Kojy's got his real head locked away in his base in the library, the ghost head is just for appearances. I'll be with you, to help you get past the nasty traps he has set up." The figure said with a smile. "So what do you say, friend? Won't you help a friend out, and get a reward in the process? And in advance, i'll let you have this." The figure said, pulling out the armored arm from his coat. Masamune looked around the room. "So i help you get Kojūrō's head, and i get my arm, and acknowledgement from Kojūrō. right nothing else" Masamune said cautiously
"Great deal right! Yeah, no side effects. I'm not that type of guy, am i." The figure gave a small chuckle.
"How do i know i can trust you on this monster?" Masamune asked
"How else are you going to get this kind of deal? You've screwed everything over with Kojy yourself." The figure pointed out with a smirk. "Besides, don't you want Kojy to be proud of you, his treasured child?"
Masamune gulped "Fine just don't make me regret this Monster" Masamune said
"Name's Azathoth, here's card in case you need me again." Azathoth said with a wink, pulling a small card with his name out of his coat and putting it in Masamune's armor. "I'll be eagerly awaiting ya. For now, your advance payment." He pulled out the arm and put it on the desk. "Ta ta!" He called with a grin, disappearing in a flash.
Masamune sighed and took his and gave a sigh of relief as it reappeared on his body. "That's more normal feeling. I hope i didn't make another mistake here" Masamune said worriedly
'Don't worry about making a mistake, otherwise you will.' Azathoth's voice rung through his ear.
Masamune shuttered "Okay then, so i guess i should go back. No i'll let him worry first if he even does" Masamune scoffed
'Go at your own pace, sweet thing. And that's the spirit!' Azathoth said cheerfully.
Masamune looked around the room. "Where are you?" Masamune asked
'In your head, where else would i be, up your ass?' Azathoth laughed.
"well that's …. comforting" Masamune sighed
'It is isn't it! No more being alone!' Azathoth said cheerfully.
"I don't mind being alone at times, but lets see so Kojūrō's head's in the library" Masamune said getting up from the chair.
'Course it is, dummy! You've got an ear, don't ya?' Azathoth chuckled.
"Yeah an ear due to you Azathoth" Masamune grumbled as he walked over to the door.
'If i hadn't done that, we wouldn't be here! Now we're here like two best friends, off on an adventure to steal from big bad Kojy.' Azathoth said, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. 'Besides, i've been making you two's life easy. if you knew what kinda hatred the ghosts around here hold, whoo! It'd be enough to put Kojy to shame.'
"Really now" Masamune chuckled
'Really! Oh there's this one group, I literally had to lock them in the shed to keep them from wrecking the place. Sometimes you can hear them yelling and bitching about how i caught them off guard.' Azathoth said.
"I guess things happen" Masamune shrugged walking down the hall to the way across.
'It's fuckin hard being the lord of time and space. I got to put up with all these twats, then little gems like you come along and make everything worth it again! You understand what it's like, being a lord and all' Azathoth said dramatically.
"well yeah i guess im not really a lord anymore with the whole clan dissolving and such" Masamune sighed " and thanks for considering me a gem but im not really im more like a stone" Masamune said as he walked down the hall which he had been in too many times.
'Oh don't worry about that. Yuki's been a real troublemaker lately. he's been disobeying me at every turn, since he thinks now that he's in the real world and i'm not, he can do whatever the hell he wants. And sure you are, honey! You seen the stones around here, right? They bring ghosts back to life, grant immunity to physical objects, remove detection from ghosts. That should tell you the power of stones. Plus stones can do a lot of stuff like bash people's skulls in and everything. Anyway, you're a real treat, even if Kojy won't say it. He's used to living as a bully anyway.' Azathoth said, protesting to Masamune's self doubt. 'Besides, Kojūrō's never been good with realizing how good a lot he's got in life, up until he's lost it. Just ask him about his sister, and his lover. He didn't appreciate them either until he lost them. With you, he doesn't even realize how lucky he is. He's got something most people would kill to have, and he throws it away like a piece of trash.'
Masamune sighed "really now, well i'll teach him a lesson. Yeah i guess, nah he's just tough on people deep inside he's a pushover. Well i'll show him that i'm not something to take for granite" Masamune said as he looked over the gap and looked back once.
'He's got that lesson coming. He needs to learn to appreciate what he's got, instead of wishing for something better. Hard to believe he'd see you as replaceable though. You're practically his son.' Azathoth scoffed.
"Yeah badly. Sometimes you don't see till someone points it out. Don't know, maybe because we had been arguing and such." Masamune sighed
'It wasn't me possessing you, if that's what you're thinking happened. That was all you kid. I'm actually a little proud, you're just as merciless as you were trained to be.' Azathoth said proudly.
"I still don't think i could have done it though. I love him like a father, i don't want him dead. So why was it me?" Masamune said sadly
'Don't know. From this viewpoint, you were all mopey and angry about how he had been treating you, then you had the bright idea that you could get out from under him just by killing him. Quite a clean cut on the head too. The angle was just perfect so the blood would spray away from you.' Azathoth said happily.
Masamune sighed and walked across the rope bridge "I still can't believe that it was me"
'How's it hard to believe? You two argued, you got tired of his crap, and you offed him. simple as that. Besides, how do you know Kojūrō wouldn't have had the same thing planned for you?' Azathoth asked. 'Besides, you did him a favor. He'd been trying that suicide thing you samurai do. whatchamacallit, seppuku or whatever. He could never go through with it, though. So you did him a favor by doing it for him'
"Still i know i didn't want him dead, i was really pissed off at him but i didn't truly want him dead. Wouldn't have surprised me." Masamune sighed "Really i thought i had made it clear that he is not to do such things"
'You may have ordered him not to, but it's his choice to follow your order or not. and apparently he didn't like the idea of you telling him what to do with his life, so he saw it as his way of a bit of defiance. In the end though, and he tried several times, he could never do it. A bit of self preservation would always pop up and stop him. You were never curious what those scars in his side were?'
"Oh i was but i never asked i could tell that was one thing we argued about" Masamune grumbled
'I'm surprised he never tried to hide them. You'd think he'd try to cover his tracks a bit more to cover up an attempted suicide.' Azathoth said.
"He knows i'd find out one way or another" Masamune said
'I think he eventually he started to understand the whole cutting problem with you. Except in his case it was the prospect of potential death. But why kill yourself when you can get killed in battle' Azathoth said carelessly. 'Plus he could never make a proper suicide note. He'd write down what he wanted to say, then crumple it up and throw it away. It was rather interesting to watch. Sasuke always interrupted him too. Yukimura came one time too, and gave him a whole speech about how he'd be failing his duties even more if he killed himself, since his duty was to protect you. After that Yukimura and him would just sit a while and talk. Surprised you didn't know him and Yukimura were good friends.'
"Im still hurt from Yukimura as much as i want to say i'm over it he still tried to kill me, got river killed, and hurt Kojūrō just to get at me" Masamune growled
'He loved seeing you all mad. And so he figured the way to get to your true rage was to take something you care about. First by hurting the one you care about, then trying to steal Kojy from under you. It almost worked. Yukimura even offered Kojūrō that he could come to Kia and live with him and Sasuke. Dear old Kojy said he'd think about it.'
"Probably would have been better for him, even if it would kill me inside" Masamune sighed sadly
'Kojy stayed for a while. He'd always end up sneaking back home though. 'just to check on you' he'd tell himself. Doesn't excuse his stalking of you though. and the quietly sitting next to your bed watching you sleep.'
"He shouldn't have, im fine on my own." Masamune scoffed
'Exactly! Every day he'd countdown till your birthday so he could finally leave. Your birthday present? A letter of resignation. Or a suicide note. Whichever came first.' Azathoth said. 'It's probably best you don't mention we talked, by the way. He's got a lot of hatred for me, even though i haven't done anything to him. Oh, watch out for that tripwire there.'
Masamune cut the trip wire quickly and looked around for anything else. "Wonderful to know he hated me that much. I was going to say that we shouldn't mention anything about this anyways so whatever" Masamune said
'I guess he was right when he told himself he was no better than your mother. Then again, i guess that's what happens when you put one child in charge of another. He's only 30 or so and he already looks like he's 40 or older.'
"He wasn't right about that my mother was and still is the worst person i have met. really" Masamune said
'Oh right, he never invited you to his 'birthday' did he. You probably didn't even know his age, did you. Probably best you never attended his birthday. they got pretty morbid the older you got. They turned less from a birthday and more into a prolonged funeral. Plus they'd usually involve alcohol, throwing knives and other weapons, and hair dyeing. He's got remarkable accuracy when he's drunk, actually. Crying to sleep too. You actually killed him on his birthday, if that's not enough salt in the wound.' Azathoth said, chuckling a bit.
"Really" Masamune said shocked
"Yup. You kind of put a dent in his plans of celebrating his birthday as usual. He was actually going to invite you, up until you, you know.' Azathoth chuckled. 'But you probably don't want to hear him drunkenly rant about you and talk about himself in third person, all while crying his eyes out, and then you having to wait until he passes out before you can leave. Did you ever find his 'celebration alcohol stash' by the way?'
"Wow, that makes me even worse then" Masamune sighed "Yep me and my /Yukimura did, good times good times" Masamune smiled fondly
'He's the emotional kinda drunk. You'd never know it looking at him, but used to be he would talk about all the good stuff you'd done. Then it turned into more of a funeral when the fights started.' Azathoth chuckled. 'He was probably mad that someone stole his birthday drink. And when you killed him he probably didn't buy the drinks yet. That's probably why his room was considered 'clean' by investigators.'
"Ah" Masamune said sadly
'I was kind of surprised when you attended Kojy's funeral, by the way. I was expecting you wouldn't want to go. I never understood you humans needing to honor a corpse. It's not the person anymore. the person's spirit is long gone. So why honor the body?'
"I never knew i killed him till now, so for me i was going to see my guardian one last time" Masamune sighed "it helps the family and friends cope with the loss of a loved one"
'So how do you feel now, knowing what you've done?' Azathoth asked curiously. 'I see. around here it's usually 'oh, somebody's dead? Better keep walking.'
"Horrible, failure, idiot, etc. I just don't want to believe that i did it but i know i did now if only i could have changed it." Masamune said sadly, almost whimpering.
'Would you still have attended his funeral had you known you'd killed him?' Azathoth asked.
"No, i would have killed myself on that day" Masamune replied
'Yeah, Kojy would have probably been waiting for you to kill yourself so that he could beat you up in the afterlife.' Azathoth said. 'Though he did resist being put to rest and decided to haunt the house after his death, if you were curious what all the banging and moving objects and cold air was. At least he was happy when you seemed to be getting spooked out at night. His girlfriend didn't appreciate the haunting so much though. Perv to the end, he is.'
"Yeah. Ah I didn't see much i locked myself away after his death" Masamune sighed
'He was actually legitimately curious to what your reaction would be to his death. He was predicting an increase in the cutting, though.'
"I was more determined to find out who had done it, not expecting it to be me. And not really remembering about necessities of food, water, and sleep" Masamune said solemnly
'Well, now that you know you did it, and Yuki was the one who killed you, what now? Kojy wants to kill his murderer himself, and you need body parts. What's the plan for release, kiddo?'
"Get parts back and get Kojūrō to calm himself the fuck down. And get out basicly" Masamune shrugged
'Except we know Kojy doesn't calm down. Besides, every ghost chooses their terms of release, and he chose vengeance, while you chose to get your body parts back and reconcile with Kojy. And we both know your two goals aren't going to match up. So either one of you gets your wish and the other's stuck here, or you can convince Kojy to change his deepest wish.' Azathoth said. 'Oh! Here we are. Time flies when you're having fun, huh.' Azathoth said happily as they approached the library door.
"I already accept death from him so it will be him who gets out. Okay so Kojūrō's head huh" Masamune said as he opened the library door. He was immediately met with a spike trap just centimeters from his face as he opened the door.
"Ouch Kojy, talk about paranoid." Azathoth said, appearing next to Masamune with a flash. Masamune looked at the spikes unfazed "Yeah he's always been paranoid this isn't the first time i've come face to face with a trap" Masamune sighed
"Inconsiderate of him to trap the library, when other people need it." Azathoth grumbled, pushing the spike trap out of the way and walking into the library. "Now let's see, it was one of these books that was the trigger for the hidden room…" Azathoth said, pulling books to see which one would open the hidden room. Masamune looked over at one book and looked around it "Hm.. knowing Kojūrō" Masamune said as he pulled the book out the wall starting to open "It should be this one" Masamune said with a smirk. Azathoth looked at the book and chuckled. "War and peace. Of course this would be his favorite book."
"Yep i saw him reading it a good few time's when he was alive" Masamune chuckled
"Surprised he got his hands on it in your time. In your time there would only be a few copies of this book. And it would only be in either english or german." Azathoth chuckled. "Guess i shouldn't be surprised he likes war books though."
"We visited around and plus our connections with european countries let us get the best things around. Yeah i know right" Masamune smiled fondly.
"Kojy really likes to read, doesn't he. Guess that's why he's here in the library. I guess reading about war is better than starting them. Spirits from war are always the most troublesome. They always complain that 'they have a mission to complete' and won't rest until they get back to the real world." Azathoth chuckled.
"Ah well Kojūrō probably uses the knowledge for when we have an attack so it would make sense for him to read those kinds of books" Masamune said
"I'm surprised, because this is a long ass book. 1,225 pages, actually" Azathoth chuckled. "Kinda tells you just how much free time he had, to read this book. I wonder if he ever finished it. He'd hate the ending, actually. It's comparing aristocracy to soldiers, particularly the disconnect between the two. Plus it's all about aristocratic problems. Which family member inherits what, who should be chosen to be conscripted into the army, etcetera etcetera."
"Sound's like a problem that would appear in our times anyway so whatever right" Masamune said
"He'd hate the ending, all of the male characters end up going to war, and it doesn't say if they came back or not. And one of the mothers ends up killing her children and she's accused of insanity and locked away, leaving her child daughter in charge of the whole family, while her brothers and father are off to war."
"Sound a little too familiar only. The child who was left killed both his brother and mother, while his father was killed in a hostage situation and his family that was left went off to fight and never kept in touch." Masamune sighed sadly
"Don't tell him this, if he doesn't already know, but his favorite character ends up driving his family to bankruptcy and he ends up dying, killing himself so that the rest of the family can collect compensation for his death and using the money to escape poverty." Azathoth chuckled.
"Wonderful end there" Masamune said as he looked into the hidden room carefully
"He'd probably never touch the book again if he knew that was the ending." Azathoth chuckled. "It's known to drive a lot of readers angry and dissatisfied. There was supposed to be a sequel to the book, stating what happened after the events of the first book, but the author died, and the book was never finished."
"Great when Kojūrō finishes it if he hasn't already he's going to rant about how bad it was" Masamune grumbled
"He'll probably never forget it, and will probably be fuming over the ending for the rest of his life, and afterlife." Azathoth chuckled.
"Yeah i can already tell" Masamune sighed walking carefully into the hidden room.
"And too bad, the second book won't be finished until 1945, by the author's descendants." Azathoth said with a smirk. "So he'll never know what will become of poor Sonya Rostova, the sole heir to the Rostova family."
Masamune sighed "Sole heir" Masamune said softly
"Am i hitting a nerve here?" Azathoth said, noticing Masamune's sigh. "Maybe that's why he likes the book. He can relate to it."
"Im kinda the last one of my family that would actually care to take care of the Date clan" Masamune said sadly
"And Kojy's the last one in his family. You two have more in common than it would seem." Azathoth chuckled. "Maybe you'd like it then, there's lots of fight scenes." Azathoth said with a chuckle, as he put the book in Masamune's sword belt. "Plus Sonya Rostova ends up having to marry to solve debt trouble, except her future husband fell in love with the princess instead."
"I like a good fight when i'm actually there as much as i love to read i don't like spoilers and if i already know what's going to happen how can i actually feel anticipation of every flip of the page" Masamune said
"I only told you about part one. There's a bunch of other shit that goes on in parts two through nineteen."
"Long series then i always hated when a book cut off short" Masamune said
"Each part's about a thousand pages, so that's nineteen thousand pages, or about 10 years worth of reading, depending on how fast of a reader you are. I don't even know how far Kojy got, if he wasn't ranting to you or getting mad about the ending." Azathoth chuckled. "Kojy must be a dedicated fan of the series though, if he can read a single series for 10 years." Azathoth said, opening another door to reveal a small study, with books and papers stacked neatly all around the room, and a single blue flower growing in a pot off to the side, along with a strange device with a single disk on it. "Oh! Kojy found my record player!" Azathoth said cheerfully, winding up the device as an opera song started up, with instruments in the background and a man's voice singing in german. Masamune looked intrigued by the device and then shrugged walking over to the blue flower. "Still gardening here Kojūrō" Masamune said happily looking at the flower fondly.
"That flower looks a lot like your eye color. Probably just a coincidence. Or maybe he cares about you more than he lets on." Azathoth shrugged, before singing along to the german song a bit while looking around the study.
"Never know with him" Masamune sighed as he looked around a little more
"Funny how Kojy seems to like this song, when this song is about a hunter who pissed off an ancient god, and now the ancient god is ruining his life until the ancient god finally finishes the emotionally broken hunter off." Azathoth said, looking through the bookshelf.
"Really" Masamune sighed looking through another bookshelf
"A rather ironic song, to his situation." Azathoth said, chuckling. "But, maybe he just likes the orchestra. I know i do."
Masamune shrugged as he picked a book off the shelf and scanned though it curiously
"Again, with the books about war and aristocracy, Kojy… And why do you pick all the ones that involve an orphan raising his aristocratic family.." Azathoth muttered. "Oh, he's got a book full of autopsies and investigations. Yukimura's section is labeled in red. Yipee." Azathoth said, setting the book on the desk and moving to search the shelves and boxes.
Masamune closed the book he was reading and looked over at Azathoth. Azathoth was too busy looking around in the boxes to notice Masamune looking at him.
"Come on, Kojy. Don't tell me you moved your head…." Azathoth mumbled.
"Knowing him he probably doesn't keep it in the same place for too long" Masamune pointed out
"But surely he'd want to guard it himself, to prevent it from being taken." Azathoth said, putting the box away and looking frustrated, before something caught his eye and his face lit up in joy as he ran over to the desk and started pulling the drawers open.
Masamune shrugged and looked through the book again "So why do you need his head in the first place?" Masamune asked
"Well, you see, to stay in the real world, i can either take over someone else for a brief period of time while their health deteriorates, or i need a body. And a body is exactly what i'm using his head for." Azathoth said cheerfully.
"So you're collecting body parts for your own?" Masamune asked placing the book gently back on the shelf.
"Exactly! I'm looking to stay in the real world. Forever, if possible. And to do that, i need body parts. So, i've been rounding up body parts from you and your friends, and i'm almost done. i just need Kojy's head, and i need to attach Hikari's legs, and i'll be done!"
"So one quick question. Will you still have all your power as a human?" Masamune asked looking over at Azathoth.
"That's the plan. And this world and the real world, as well as all of time will collide, ghosts and humans will be forced together, people from all different time periods will meet, chaos ensues!" Azathoth said cheerfully.
Masamune walked over to the desk calmly "So that's your goal create chaos, huh" Masamune chuckled a little and gently rested a hand on his swords "Sound's like fun"
"It's what i do best! And the plan is to essentially have the ghosts here and the living live together, and i'll be sitting arranging it all, along with my special little squad of enforcers. And it does sound like fun, doesn't it!" Azathoth said happily.
Masamune unsheathed a sword and looked at it. "Sound's like one hell of a party" Masamune smiled looking over at Azathoth.
"Yeah! You'll get to run around with Kojy and everyone and cause havoc. You might even get to see the future world. It's a bright and shiny place, though the same can't be said of the people."
Masamune shrugged "It would be nice to cause some hell with Kojūrō but" Masamune sighed
"But what?" Azathoth said, looking up at him questioningly.
Masamune laughed a little before turning around towards the door. "Kojūrō would enforce the law not break it" Masamune chuckled looking back at Azathoth
"You'd be surprised. There's a bunch of technicalities in the future. You can even get away with murder, with the right amount of money and the right circumstances. Some judges even take bribes in the future."
"Really now, getting away with murder" Masamune looked like he got an idea.
"Yup. He'd hate the future. So much corruption he'd go nuts in the first few hours."
Masamune laughed "Yeah that sounds like Kojūrō" Masamune said walking over to Azathoth
"It does. He'd never get along with the people either. The future has no respect for authority, for one. Needless to say, the future's a chaotic, corrupt place. But that's what makes it the perfect playground for my ghost-human fusion. Sure, a couple of descendants of some ghosts will be dissolved from their time, seeing as there's the chance of ghosts coming back to life. But that'll only be about a million or more people."
"Ah." Masamune said glaring at Azathoth
"Yeah, nasty place, the future. You've got a whole town, a statue, even a whole birthday festival and more for you. It's rather interesting to see. You're pretty revered too."
"Ah well im glad to hear that" Masamune smiled
"You want in? You'll probably get sucked into it anyway, but i'm giving you a chance to join in, with your new proud parental Kojy." Azathoth offered, as he pulled out a bloody bag just big enough for a head.
"I'll think about it" Masamune said cheerfully quietly lining up his sword for an attack.
"Oh? Seems you made up your mind anyway, sweet thing." Azathoth grinned, pulling out a sword and putting it to Masamune's throat, holding the bag close as it disappeared in his arms.
Masamune growled at Azathoth and narrowed his eye. Azathoth just smiled back smugly, opening his arm to show Kojūrō's head was gone. "Thanks for the head!" Azathoth said with a grin.
Masamune quickly move to go for an attack to the side. Azathoth saw this and kicked the chair in Masamune's way, stepping away towards the door quickly as he raised his fingers to snap to disappear. Masamune quickly stopped and threw his sword at Azathoth. With a chuckle, Azathoth gave a little wave goodbye and snapped his fingers, disappearing in a flash. The sword lodging into the wall of the library. "Damn it, so close" Masamune hissed 'Great, now i've lost Kojūrō's head, and now this monster is going to make it into the real world, and there's going to be a whole time rip! Great move, Masamune!' Masamune growled, stomping over to take his sword back. Masamune sighed as he took the sword out of the wall and sheathed it. "Kojūrō's going to get on to me about this i know it" Masamune said walking over to the door. 'He'll probably leave on the spot. He'll refuse to even look at me, and everyone will be trapped here!' Masamune groaned, feeling the need to hit something increase. Masamune walked out the door slamming it hearing the now familiar cracking of wood from the door and it's frame. "I can't even get a single hit on that damned thing!" Masamune shouted angrily. 'Maybe Kojūrō's right. I shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff, I should leave this stuff to him, while i sit quietly in the background.' Masamune sighed, hearing his shouting echo off the walls. Masamune noticed a room and shrugged walking into the room and unsheathing his sword. Standing in the room quietly before making a quick movement forward like an attack. "No i just have to keep training. One day i'll surpass Kojūrō, one day" Masamune said with a nod to himself. "He can say what he likes, i know my skills, not him." Masamune growled. Masamune sliced the air again "I will live up to that promise i swear. I will show you Kojūrō. I won't get help from others to impress you i'll do it on my own" Masamune said "Even if that monster did do to you what he said he would, I'll impress you for real, even if it takes my entire life to do it!" Masamune said twirling his sword and then attacking again this time striking the table in the room it split in half with a precise cut. "I will make you proud to be my guardian" Masamune jumped back. "My protector" Masamune sliced again."My friend" Masamune got into a fighting stance. "But most importantly, to be my right eye" Masamune said stabbing the ground and a huge electric shock made the floor crack and bust open. Masamune sighed feeling relieved of his need to hit something and sheathed his sword walking back to the door. 'Kojūrō, i will win back your pride, even if i have to fight everyone in this hell to do it. I'll fight against wave after wave of ghosts, people, and whatever else you throw at me. And you'll see, i'm not the weakling i appeared to be.' Masamune nodded and smiled walking out the door and back to the gap. The rope bridge was strained as the gap had gotten even wider, to where the ropes were just barely holding on. Masamune sighed "Never can be easy huh" Masamune grumbled looking around the area. "Guess i have to risk it, huh." Masamune sighed, before stepping carefully on the bridge, surprised to find it was actually sturdier under the strained ropes. Masamune shrugged and continued across the rope bridge carefully and quickly
As he approached the kitchen he could hear panicked talking and the sounds of several pairs of boots moving around. Masamune stopped and listened carefully wanting to know what he was going to walk in on before hand.
