Thanks to: DebyMU (Glad you like where the story is going. Most of your questions will be answered in the next few chapters and yes, Nobunaga is still alive.), Azure (Shihoudou is a mess but that's why I love her. Shinrei is Shinrei. He's so serious and proper that I can't resist teasing him. I'm happy Kyo's maturity is coming through and that you like it. I always worry about ruining his core character while trying to make him grow as a person. As for what will happen to the children, you'll see. I won't kill them, I'm not quite that heartless. Kyoshiro coming face to face with himself was creepy even for me.), lmamc, itsJestinerose, Yira (I'll be answering a bunch of your questions in the coming chapters. Yes, Yuya will eventually meet Sakuya and I'll show what happened to everyone else too. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.), general zargon (I love making people laugh and proper Shinrei is cute to me. The king will eventually get what's coming to him, no worries there. Thanks for catching the typo.), J Luc Pitard (I like that you enjoyed the way I got around Kyoshiro not having Kyo's body in this fic. Shihoudou is an awesome character and it's true that you don't see a lot of powerful and well done females of her caliber in most media. I think one of the few other exceptions to this was Makie from Blade of the Immortal who legitimately was the strongest fighter in the series.)

Kurenai Kioku

Chapter Forty-Five

Greetings and Graves

Part One

"Why are you crying, Yuya-Chan?"

The sound of Nozomu's voice cut through her noisy sobs and the warmth of his hand on her shoulder startled her.

Yuya sucked in great, hiccupping breaths, trying to bring herself down in order to give him an answer. She was crouched on the ground and her hands clenched and unclenched in the fabric of her kimono as she stared at the tiny body laid out on the equally small blanket.

She had stolen the square of fabric from her doll to wrap the injured bird in for warmth, figuring that her toy could do without for a while. However, the sparrow didn't seem to be doing any better and its inevitable death loomed before her. The weight of Nozomu's hand was still on her shoulder and she leaned her head over, pressing her cheek against it.

Hope blossomed for a moment as she basked in his presence. Perhaps her brother could help the poor bird. Didn't the people in the village call him "Lucky No-Chan" because he was a miracle worker?

"The birdie is hurt Nii-Chan and I can't make it better. Can you save it? Pretty please?"

The child lifted her head and stared at him with blurry eyes and wet cheeks and he stared back at her with a resigned expression on his face.

He bent down and she snuggled closer to the heat of his large body, certain that he would succeed where she could not. After all, he was her hero - her big brother who never let her down.

He reached out with two fingers and stroked them over the bird's back with a light touch, as soft as a whisper. Because she was leaning against him, she felt a strange current that made the hairs on the back of her stand up and she wondered what it was. It wasn't the first time she'd encountered it by coming in contact with her sibling and she turned her head this way and that, wondering what caused it.

"I'm not sure there's much I can do, Yuya-Chan," Nozomu said gravely.

She shook her head vigorously in denial as she said, "I don't want it to die! Can't you do anything? Can't we even pray and wish for it to get better?"

He let out a long, tired sigh in response and looked at her with eyes that were very sad as he replied, "Sometimes things aren't that easy."

"Why not? Can't God do anything?"

"Yuya-Chan, in this world there are many gods. However, the one I am most familiar with is….complicated."

Even though she didn't know the exact meaning of the word "complicated", the gravity in his bearing kept her from asking him to clarify. Instead, she extended her arms and carefully scooped the blanket and bird up, depositing her frail burden onto her lap as she waited for him to continue speaking.

The muscles around his mouth flexed and she understood that he was trying to work out what he would say next. Her natural, childish impatience urged her to make him spit the words out but reason prevailed. Nozomu would clam up if she pushed too hard and she valued everything that came out of his mouth. He was her brother, confidant, and only friend and she hated the thought of being a bother to him.

"It's probably foolish of me to say this but perhaps it will help if I elaborate."

He reached over and stroked her head gently as he said softly, "Let me tell you a secret."

*End Dream*

Yuya woke up to the feeling of being displaced. As if she were someplace she didn't belong.

There was a gauzy canopy embroidered with flowers overhead and the air was perfumed with the scent of herbs, similar to how it smelled after being treated by a doctor.

'Was I ill?' she wondered, following the trail of the filmy fabric with her eyes as it flowed from above and draped around the edges of the bed she was in.

And speaking of the bed….

She shifted and sighed in pleasure. The bounty huntress was quite sure that she had never slept on such a comfortable piece of furniture in all her life. As a commoner, she was used to thin futons and hard pillows and it was a sinful luxury to be nestled in something that only the wealthy could afford. There were white pillows beneath her head and scattered about like silk clouds and, much like the child version of herself in her dream, she rubbed her cheek against their slippery softness. The sheets slid over her hips and she reached down to rub her hand over the fabric, marveling at how fine it was and the fact that she couldn't feel the individuals strands in the weave of it.

Her surroundings were ignored as she sat up and shifted her legs beneath herself so she could lean forward and follow the covers with her hands, sucking in her breath when the light hit the cloth just right and gold winked back at her. There was stitching there, beautiful intricate swirls of gold thread that formed flowerlike patterns. It was all very exotic and opulent and she tried to remember how she had come to be here.

Sitting back on her calves, she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and paused. Now that she wasn't drooling over the bed, she had time to take stock of herself and realized that her clothes felt different as well. Looking down, her eyes widened in shock at what she was wearing. It was a filmy thing that was of modest length but completely transparent and cut very low across her bust. Staring down at the flowing bit of nothing, she squinted in surprise at her belly and slid a hand down to rub across the spot where her old scar had been.

Instead of a jagged ridge, smooth skin met her fingertips beneath the fabric and she wondered what could possibly have happened. Her first thought was that maybe she was dead and had been sent to heaven. Her second thought was that Kyo would love to see her in this. She could just imagine what he would do if he caught sight of her in this naughty gown.

Even picturing what his reaction would be brought a blush to her cheeks and she pressed her hands to them, thinking that perhaps she wasn't in heaven after all because her thoughts were pretty earthly at that moment.

So, if she wasn't dead, then where was she and what had happened? Closing her eyes, she tried to pull her memories up and was assaulted with the sensation of blinding pain in her side. Her hands automatically flew to the area and she froze, realizing that the hurt was only in her head. An echo of the past.

Like looking through shards of shattered glass, disjointed images came back to her. Nozomu was alive but he wasn't Nozomu. Akari staring in her direction with a cold expression on his face. The sound of Kyo's voice raised in anger. Aiko clinging to her while her fear locked her in place. Kyoshiro's eyes full of concern. Raising her hand to look at it, she stared at her fingers and recalled the feeling of touching and pushing away a tiny body before the pain came.

Her daughter had been in danger. She couldn't let her be hurt. A spear went in. A spear came out. And then she was falling backwards and the ground was wet beneath her. Blood in her mouth. Blood spreading beneath her.

Cold.

It was so cold and she was dying but her lips were moving on their own. She was apologizing and telling Kyo not to worry but she wasn't sure he could hear her. Her voice wouldn't come out from underneath the blood filling her throat and choking her.

Nausea rose up and Yuya swallowed a few times as she drew her knees up and clutched at them, rocking back and forth while she drew in as much air as she could to settle her stomach.

It hadn't been a dream. She had been dying. And for the second time in front of Kyo.

'Oh, my Kyo. My love. I didn't mean to hurt you,' her vision blurred and she let go of her legs so she could swipe at her tears.

Even though her husband kept so many things to himself, one thing had always been clear after they'd been reunited and that was that seeing her hurt years ago had been devastating to him. It was a deep, personal failure for him. And because of that, he always touched her when the opportunity presented itself and always kept her close. She knew that it was because he was afraid she would go away again.

Misery descended and she sighed, feeling awful about what had happened. Even though she didn't see how any of them could have prevented what happened, she couldn't stomach the thought of being a source of hurt for the person she loved most.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she actually shrieked a little when a hand with a clean handkerchief appeared in her vision and a gentle voice said, "What a kind and thoughtful child you are. Most unusual for a human."

Yuya jerked away from the appendage and fumbled for her gun in reflex before remembering that - unless it had been smuggled in between the cheeks of her butt - there was no place for her to hide the firearm in this see-through getup she was in. With that realization, she squeaked in embarrassment and crossed both her legs and her arms to keep her visitor from seeing more than he ought to and glared at him.

He merely stared back at her and she blinked as she took in his comically thick glasses and messy red hair. He was garbed in the robes of a scholar and, like everything else she'd seen since waking up, the material it was made of was very fine, although slightly slovenly. If she looked closely, she could see smudges of ink here and there on his person and there was a tiny rip on the sleeve next to the hand holding out the handkerchief.

In his other hand was a book that looked about as old as Muramasa and the writing on it was a form of Japanese but it was a version that she didn't quite understand, likely something else from long before her time. Everything about her visitor screamed out of date and a little sloppy, a man in splendid disrepair like most of the architecture she had seen since entering the Mibu lands.

He waved the silk square a bit in invitation and she blushed, realizing that she was staring and possibly being a bit rude. In her defense though, she didn't really qualify as being dressed and she wasn't inclined to forgo modesty for a stranger who didn't even have the courtesy to introduce himself.

As if he could read her thoughts, the odd man smiled and said softly, "It's been a while since I've met someone new from the outside world and my manners are a bit rusty. Perhaps you would like a moment to collect yourself?"

With that said, he laid the handkerchief down on the bed next to her and stood up, setting his book down on the stool he had just vacated. Turning, he walked across the room, avoiding the expensive furniture decorating the room – Yuya was starting to notice a running theme with how wealthy the clan was – and went over to the spacious window which was covered by thick shutters. She took the opportunity to gather the sheets up so she could drape them over her shoulders and obscure her form from the stranger before dabbing at her moist eyes with his silk offering.

In the meanwhile, her visitor reached out and unlatched the shutters, pushing them outwards and letting in the sunlight. Yuya was blinded for all of one second by the rush of light and yet, all it took was a single blink for the man appear next to her yet again.

She neither saw, nor heard him move. He simply wasn't there and then he was. A shiver of unease went down her spine at his inhuman movements and she clutched the sheets even tighter around herself. There was something faintly terrifying about him and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He wasn't being overtly threatening but, she had the hardest time nailing down his presence. If he weren't standing in front of her, she wasn't entirely sure she would have been able to detect him with her other senses.

Licking dry lips, she watched as he gracefully seated himself again and relocated his discarded book to a nearby stand before he took to staring at her again.

"Are you a ghost?" she asked and red brows rose over the top of his glasses in surprise.

An amused chuckle escaped his lips – they were surprisingly well-formed, she noted – as he replied, "I don't believe I've ever been accused of that. You are certainly an original."

"Then who are you? How long have you been here? And is there something on my face? Is that why you keep staring at me?"

"I am merely curious. By nature, I am a scholar and I can't help but to examine the new things I come across. Surely you understand that, miss?'

Yuya wasn't entirely sure she liked him referring to her as a 'new thing', but she shrugged off her automatic offense and chalked it up to him possibly being some sort of recluse and therefore unused to the social niceties.

"As for how long I've been here, I have been waiting for you to wake up for the past hour."

That was even creepier than him just staring at her a moment ago and she raised the sheet up to hide her face, recalling her childish jaunt across the bed on all fours to feel out the pretty sheets. That meant he had probably gotten an eyeful of her rump and she groaned at the thought of being in such an undignified position in front of a total stranger.

He laughed again and she wondered what he found so funny. Her rear couldn't possibly have been that hilarious. And why did she feel like he knew exactly what she was thinking when she thought it? What was it he said when he first made his presence known? That she was a kind and thoughtful human? She hadn't been thinking out loud, so how had he formed that opinion about her?

After what she had just gone through, Yuya wasn't feeling particularly charitable. She lowered the covers enough to glare at him as she said, "Usually I believe in being polite but I'm really not in the mood to sit around while you get all cryptic with me. I'm sure you are a perfectly nice person and I appreciate the handkerchief but I really need to find my clothes and then figure out a way to meet up with my family. I'm sure they're worried about me."

She slid her legs over the edge of the bed and made to get up only to find his free hand pressing down on her shoulder and his body uncomfortably close to hers.

"Ah, please do be careful. You are a guest here and it isn't safe for someone like you to wander about. After all, you just had a near death experience."

His voice and mannerisms were kind and filled with concern but there was something about them that didn't ring true and she felt a pang of fear. Yet again, she hadn't been able to follow his movements. One moment he wasn't touching her and then he was. She attempted to lean away to put space between the two of them and panicked when her body simply wouldn't budge for half a second until he released his grip on her shoulder.

'Strong,' she thought to herself, unconsciously reaching up to rub the spot where his hand had been, as if that could erase the sensation of his touch and his disturbing familiarity with her.

Yuya knew that she was being allowed to move only as he willed it and she compressed her lips together and moved her eyes beyond him, measuring the distance between herself and the way out. She silently debated making a second attempt to get up but…shifting her eyes back to the red-head, she discarded the idea.

His demeanor hadn't changed at all. That serene face had yet to lose its smile and his posture was relaxed, unconcerned.

Because she was no threat. Because he could kill her at any time.

Like a butterfly she had caught once as a child that had frantically beat against the prison of her hands and injured itself in the process, she sensed that she would only get herself in trouble by not staying in one place as he was urging her to do. Just like that butterfly, her body was frail and easily crushed.

"Even though you use the word "guest", I'm really a prisoner, aren't I?" she asked directly.

"I prefer to see you as a visitor who is here for an extended stay."

"I suppose that sounds nice in theory. But I honestly just want to go and look for my family."

"There is no need for that. Assuming they survive, they will make their way here eventually. That is why your husband is here, isn't he? To defeat the Crimson King?"

His voice remained calm but there was something about his tone that put her back up. Kyo was the strongest person she knew and yet this odd man seemed to find the very idea amusing, as if her husband was unimportant.

Weak.

"He is going to defeat the king," she said confidently, giving him her fiercest stare, and his stance subtly altered.

It was only half a millimeter but his smile fell – a crack in his mask - and those brows lowered behind his glasses. She wished she could get a good look at his eyes because it would make him easier to read but the light reflected off of his spectacles just so and obscured them from her.

However, as the air around him grew heavier, she concentrated on sitting tall and weathering his displeasure. Although she freely admitted to having many faults, her confidence in her husband's strength was not one of them. She was proud of her marriage to him and proud of his abilities and growth as a person. That anyone would look down on him was something she was not prepared to tolerate.

The bounty huntress could feel her visitor willing her to back down and retract her statement and she swallowed the automatic fear that clawed at her with ever increasing urgency. His presence was something else entirely - different from anything she'd ever felt - and her hands shook with the effort of holding her head high and meeting his stare.

Whoever he was, he was obviously a Mibu clan member. Garbed in fine, albeit sloppy, clothes and sensitive to anything that might be construed as an insult to his god, especially from an "inferior" human. From what she could tell, the Crimson King was the be-all and end-all to the Mibu and for her to say that Kyo would beat him was blasphemous. Truly, she didn't mean it as an insult but, no matter what happened, she was rock solid in her belief that Kyo would accomplish whatever he set out to do and that it was her job to support him no matter what.

They stared at each other for a long minute until his lips curved upwards again and then some and she clutched the covers even tighter because it was not a pleasant look. In her line of work, she had come across far too many people who could smile like an angel while slitting your throat.

Sometimes the kindness of strangers was nothing more than a ruse.

"How curious. It is rare to see such conviction about what the future holds. Is this the confidence of a woman in love? Or is there more to it? Do you have a gift as well, like your sweet daughter?"

That he clearly knew so much about herself and her family while he hadn't deigned to give her his name in return – something she was convinced was on purpose now – was frustrating. However, she refrained from giving him a further piece of her mind. Just because she was scared, that didn't make her stupid and she couldn't see her family again if she got herself killed by mouthing off to this man who clearly felt that letting her live was some sort of indulgence.

"I don't know about having special powers," she said carefully, lowering her lashes to conceal her eyes from him, "I just know that Kyo won't sit still while I am here and that he will continue to get stronger."

"Strong enough to beat a god?" he asked mildly…dangerously.

"Strong enough to do whatever it takes to be become the best," Yuya replied, lifting her lids again so she could punctuate her statement with another direct stare.

He raised his hand again and she refused to flinch when he brought it to her chin and held it between his thumb and forefinger. Tapping the pointer finger of his other hand against his lips in thought, he tilted her head this way and that as he examined her and she felt like a bug. Small and insignificant but safe as long as he remained curious about what made her tick and how she would react to him and his questions. Her life was literally in his hands and her skin prickled once he started examining her with his other senses.

She was familiar with the perimeter of ki that all warriors enveloped themselves with to keep a pulse on their surroundings. However, even in this he was different as well. His perimeter felt like a thousand hands touching her all at once, gliding across her form and searching out every nook and cranny to figure out her secrets before probing even deeper. His ki sank into her pores and moved beneath her skin and she fought the urge to scratch at her arms and belly to alleviate the sensation.

He bent closer and the focus of his probe narrowed to a point between her eyes. He was trying to peel back the layers of her thoughts but, after living with Muramasa, she knew enough to keep her mind shuttered now that she had further confirmation that he had been picking up on her thoughts. As her father-in-law had explained once, unless one was facing a powerful telepath, someone with an ability like Satori could only glean what she gave them. And according to Akari, true telepathy was a gift that belonged only to human shamans, not the Mibu.

'If you really want a show…,' she allowed the words to trail off and dredged up a particularly vivid memory of Kyo and what the two of them had been doing back in his room in the Shogun's castle.

The man made a sound in his chest that might have qualified as a chuckle as he murmured, "Crude but clever. Kyo has rubbed off on you."

And then he abruptly withdrew his investigation and Yuya let out the breath that she hadn't even realized she was holding. She felt more than a little violated by his intrusion into her innermost person but she was still alive and so she would count her blessings.

His fingers left her chin and he sat back, folding his hands on top of each other as he said, "To all appearances, you are a normal human, Shiina Yuya. And yet there is something unique about you."

Yuya didn't bother to correct his use of her pre-married name since she had a feeling that he would simply pretend she hadn't spoken.

Instead, she replied, "There's nothing special about me at all. I'm pretty ordinary."

"Perhaps…," he allowed the words to trail off before tilting his head to look at her another way and changing the subject.

"Speaking of the name Shiina, it's one that I have not heard in some time. There was once a man who lived here named Shiina Nozomu. However, he made a number of poor choices and eventually ran away from the Mibu."

Yuya neither liked nor trusted where the conversation was headed but she played along and said, "That was my adopted brother. He was a very kind man and raised me as if I were his real sister. I find it odd that you would bring him up, though. Since you know so much already, you surely know that my brother was murdered and no longer exists in this world."

"True. It was a very tragic circumstance. He was an amazing person with incredible gifts that were irreplaceable."

Yuya grit her teeth and refrained from slapping the false sympathy off of his face. The Mibu clan had murdered him to bury their secrets and it was infuriating to be faced with someone who acted as if they cared when she knew they didn't. After seeing what the Mibu had done to Nozomu's body, her brother was a raw subject for her.

"Yes. He was amazing," she said through tight lips, "Until you lot sent Kyoshiro to assassinate him. What exactly are you looking to find out about my relationship with him?"

"Patience is a virtue," he chided gently.

"So is getting to the point, not prying into the private thoughts of others, and not pretending that you don't already know the answers to your own questions."

She sighed and rubbed tiredly at her forehead as she continued, "Look, I already know that you are powerful. And while I appreciate the fact that my life was spared, I also know that the Mibu don't do favors for anyone out of the kindness of their hearts. Doubly so for humans like me. Please tell me what you want."

The young woman expected him to criticize her again but instead, he surprised by smiling – a genuine one this time.

"I can see why you appeal to Kyo so much. He always preferred the direct approach to difficult subjects, even as child," he said and she didn't think she was imagining the note of fondness in his voice.

There was something almost fatherly in the way he mentioned Kyo this time and it was not at all what she expected. As with all things Mibu-related, there seemed to layers upon layers that needed to be peeled back to get to the heart of a matter and she was not surprised to find that this strange man was no exception.

He paused for a long moment before coming to some sort of decision as he reached up to remove his glasses.

"Very well, since you want me to be direct, I will be. What I am, is the former Crimson King and the god of both the Mibu clan and humans, although your kind have long since forgotten about me. And what I want to know," he fixed her with red eyes that were every bit as brilliant as her husband's, "is what Nozomu told you about my secrets."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The air of the labyrinth was suffocating.

'Much like death,' he thought to himself bitterly as he picked his way gingerly through the debris littered throughout the winding tunnels.

And he was very intimately acquainted with death.

In the back of his mind, he could feel the man who had stolen his body raging and he ground his teeth together and concentrated on the sole image that gave him the willpower to stay in the forefront.

Yuya being stabbed through the belly by Hishigi's favorite project, Number 13.

It was the only thing that could have horrified and woken him up enough to wrest control away from Nobunaga. Yuya, his sweet sister. Yuya, now a woman grown with children of her own.

Nozomu's dank surroundings retreated for a second and he smiled a little as he closed his eyes and pictured them. A handsome little boy and a cute little girl. He was an uncle twice over.

It was a cause for celebration and his soul relaxed, peace stealing over him at the thought that his sister had been able to start a family of her own.

With ruthless determination, Nobunaga's psyche surged forward and he quickly snapped out of his daydream. Quickly slamming his hand into the wall, he used the pain to focus his mind and heart so that he could continue to hold the reins of his body.

That the other man would take over again at some point was inevitable. As an onmyouji, he knew just how powerful a restless soul could be and Nobunaga would never be content as long as his grudge against Kyo went unsatisfied. A person's strongest traits were what defined them, both life and in death, and vengeance and pride drove the Demon King harder than anyone.

'You'll get your chance eventually,' he thought and the other man settled down marginally.

Nozomu sighed in exhaustion. All he needed was a little more time. Just enough to see Kyo again and tell him certain truths so that he could pass them on to Yuya.

'Assuming Kyoshiro actually saved her,' he thought.

However, he could not sense her at all and that gave him hope. He did not believe she was amongst the dead but he was not willing to use more of his powers than was necessary lest Nobunaga use his distraction to regain control. Fubuki and Hishigi had done their jobs very well and his body barely acknowledge his right to be in it now, so thoroughly had they tuned it for the fallen nobleman's use.

That he was cognizant at all was miraculous and he wondered if his attachment to Yuya was what allowed him to cling to his old form. She had always viewed him as a hero and a savior when, in fact, it was the other way around. When he had been driven out of the Mibu clan by necessity and separated from Sakuya permanently, Yuya had been a godsend. Only a few days old and left at a shrine like an offering. Even if the truth was that she had been abandoned by uncaring parents, she had been his blessing. A light in that dark period of his life.

He loved her dearly. His sweet little Yuya.

Dark eyes examined the corridor that stretched before him and he paused.

'I'll get nowhere if I keep going like this,' he thought to himself and he cautiously reached for the abilities that had gotten him in trouble with the Mibu in the first place.

Unlike the talent to see what the dead were up to which was a result of his training as an onmyouji, this was something that he had been born with. Sakuya had the much rarer gift of looking into the future but his was quite uncommon as well, the ability to peer into the past. He had used it to snoop about where he shouldn't and had paid a heavy price but now he needed it to find his way through the maze.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on his surroundings and before his eyes, a number of ghostly images rose up. For him, the past manifested as a series of apparitions that moved about their business, unaware that they were being watched by an observer in the present.

He sifted through the various afterimages, large and small, of the misshapen soldiers and other inhuman abominations who patrolled the labyrinth. They were the cast offs of the clan but they were still put to use in a place where they would be out of sight and out of mind. Layer after layer, he discarded the information he didn't need, allowing the unnecessary figures to dissipate until he happened upon a much smaller person.

This individual skipped from side to side playfully and he concentrated even harder to bring her into focus, solidifying her form until he could get a good look at her.

The moment he got a good look at her hat, he knew that it was Shihoudou and he watched as her previous selves walked past him again and again in either direction. She clearly knew her way around the labyrinth and he followed the version that was heading in the same direction he was already taking.

In the background, Nobunaga grumbled and he silently reminded the restless warrior that he was looking for Kyo as well and that he was the one who knew best how to use this particular gift. He was on borrowed time. Nobunaga was steadily eating away at his already tenuous control.

'Just a little longer,' he silently prayed.

As he observed past-Shihoudou's body language, he knew the moment she caught wind of something unusual. Her body stiffened and then her steps picked up speed and he kept pace with her image, only stopping when he saw her draw her sword and aim it at the ground.

He paused the image and moved his eyes from the woman who was in the act of attacking the cobblestones to the floor itself. Taking a deep breath, he let it out and the vision of the pavers that had once been there disappeared into the yawning hole where Shihoudou's attack had obviously connected.

This was all very recent and he figured that there were only a few people who could draw out the Mistress of the Labyrinth who usually preferred to let the monsters roaming it finish off the unwary.

'Kyo is down there. I know it,' Nobunaga was too close again and his feet moved forward without his permission.

Peering down into the gaping hole, he could clearly sense two ki's raised in battle and his alter ego started getting agitated.

'She's going to take him from me. Kyo is mine! Take me to him now! Now! Now!' the Demon King thundered the command at him over and over and Nozomu had no choice but to comply if he wanted to accomplish what he had set out to do.

Since he needed to meet with Kyo again anyways, he did as he was bid and leapt into the hole, hoping that he would have enough time to do what needed to be done before he was permanently consumed by Nobunaga.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Soooo much more stuff coming up next chapter. I know you all are waiting for more Kyo and Shihoudou and it's coming in part two, I just ran out of space in this chapter. Also, I will hopefully cover what happened to the rest of the gang and Taihaku and Sasuke will show up again shortly.

Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughtse ben