[Episode 19: If My Bird Doesn't Sing, I Will Kill It.]

Final OP: Traitor's Requiem

Kazuma looks up at the stars as the logo fades in, the shot bursts apart, showing our teams of heroes, Satsuki and Kazuma. Ryuko and Nui. The Sworn Brothers and Elite Four. Then there's Ragyo, Hoomaru, and the other Nui in their respective ways, with a mysterious Pale Swordsman there too.


This was insanity. Plain and simple. Ragyo held Kazuma's lifeless body tightly, the blood staining her Kamui red. My world went slow. Everything sounded so distant... Ryuko tried to snap me out of it. Kourajin fell out of Kazuma's limp hand, Ragyo sat, holding him and waiting. He laid in her arms, bleeding. his eye closed, his mouth was closed too. He looked like he was sleeping.

My chest heaved, my eyes blurred with tears. No... No... Not him... Not Kazuma. Not my best friend... not the man I love... Not the dragon that reached so high, that achieved so much!

"KAZUMA!" I screamed, breaking down into sorrowful sobs, I fell to my knees, remembering his last words to me. Just me.

"Satsuki, whatever happens in there... don't forget me, carry on my story. If the Gray Fibers don't heal me, that's it. My story is done,"

"Isn't he beautiful... Satsuki? The perfect man to carry on the war... to carry on MY bloodline... that's why I took him, I set him apart for my new world," Ragyo crooned, pulling the sheets of the bed back, putting him down on the mattress and tenderly tucking him in.

"Yet you... you failure... corrupted my perfect mate...made him think that he had a choice! Haha! The choice is for the weak-willed!" she laughed, planting a kiss on his lips, staring at me.

"No. You ruined him... you made him think that love was bought with pain! The number of times Soroi and I were there to pick him up and dust him off... make him shine again... Every time he said he loved you. Every scar, every blank-eyed stare... I knew that he was lying to himself... He did it all for me! And what did I do for him? I just... I just let him go! I FELL FOR HIM!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face, seeing his body lying in that bed, his eye closed, his mouth closed in peaceful sleep...

God, I felt so useless...

Nui stepped up, her eyes filled with tears. Her hands shaking. Ira slammed the ground with his fists, roaring out a challenge. Takarada and Uzu readied themselves. Ryuko and Mankanshoku stood back to back, everyone, rallied for the fight of our lives. Man, woman, child... all for the man that reunited humanity against a threat that he knew he couldn't stop.

"Kazuma taught me that you have to sacrifice yourself... you have to die many times for those you love... his love is what drove him! His determination is my own! He is the dragon that climbed the waterfall! I will not let his death be in vain! He united humanity! He knew the risks of the game he was playing... but now? I know the way! The way is treacherous!" I declared, unsheathing Bakuzan and feeling Junketsu writhe.

"Satsuki, it's time."

"I will NOT let you destroy humanity! Not while I, Satsuki Kiryuin, draw breath! Everyone! CHARGE!" I yelled. I clicked my panels, feeling the pain and grief tear me to pieces, tear me to bloody shreds inside.

"PAIN INFUSION: KAMUI JUNKETSU!" I yelled, Shizui activated on the spot, my aura glowing with my pain and grief fueling it all. I clashed harshly with Ragyo, with Nui and Ryuko by my side. The remaining COVERS busted through the walls, engaging the others. Ira and Uzu held them back from us to give us adequate space, I heard the repeating cries of a Glock and MEN! DOU! KOTE! and a MUDA! Thrown in for flavor.

There were even croquettes being thrown at them!

My boyfriend had dorky friends... and my little sister's best friend was RIDICULOUS...

All three of us participated in the blade rush, with Ragyo laughing and growing smaller. She looked younger as well. She looked to be in her twenties. Her eyes still burned red and her body was covered in odd markings. Her hair was longer, sweeping down to her neck, her eyes still held the insane glint. Shinra Koketsu was slowly dominating Junketsu Shizui.

"Satsuki? Is it just me or is Ragyo getting younger as the fight progresses?"

Junketsu was right, she was getting younger. She sent a wave of light out, sweeping all of us but Nui and Ryuko away.

"You have no hope... you have no chance... your trump card IS MINE! AND NO ONE WILL STOP ME FROM CREATING MY PARADISE!" She screamed, unsheathing two blades and charging at me. Getting in the way was Ryuko in a red and orange version of Senketsu! She broke the clash, combining the two scissor blades into one.

"What?! How did you-" Ragyo gasped, she was enraged. Ryuko smirked.

"Whew! Finally figured out how to get that snazzy form workin'! I ain't too behind ya now, sis!" Ryuko chided.

"Careful, sister, that your hubris does not cloud your judgment..." I warned. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Nui joined us, her hair frazzled and her face coated in blood.

"Are you all... zombies?!" Ragyo groaned, "At least this will all be over soon..." she sighed, looking towards the bed. I snarled.

"Don't you dare take your eyes off us! He doesn't matter, not now!"

Ragyo gave us all a feral smile, her blades at the ready. All three of us charged back in, vanishing at the last second. She was skewered by all of us as the others fought through the COVER hordes, at this point both the Warboys and REVOCS joined forces to end it all. All of humanity's hearts beat as one. Yet... if only Kazuma was up to see all this happen...

There was no rest, no reprieve. She looked... like me. Hell, I was the spitting image of her! I hated it! I knew that Kazuma wouldn't look at me in the same way, that's why I grew out my hair, that's why I kept it black. So he wouldn't be afraid of me. So I could show him what pure love is. Every time I saw a silver streak, I got rid of it. I am not her. I am not Ragyo.

Shinra Koketsu grew a thruster and blasted Ragyo into the sky, and I heard her scream of absolute pleasure, my eyes narrowed.

"Junketsu! Shizui Shippu!" I yelled I blasted into the sky, past the dome of azure and into the inky void of space. Following the monster out to destroy this world and bring it to its knees. My weapon raised high, Ryuko's scissors at the ready, we both screamed into battle. She kept us back with light bullets, but it didn't matter! No one will beat me to my ambition! No one will stop me!

Everyone was fighting so hard, and I wanted to fulfill Kazuma's dream... to live a happy life free of worry. A life with Ragyo in it was no life. A life with the specter of the past breathing down your neck was no life. A life without the man that held you as you cried and gently loved you with all of his stupid heart was no life! I sped up to Ragyo, raising my spear high above my head.

'Kazuma my love, please, I need your strength!' I thought, clashing with Ragyo as Ryuko's scissors went into Decapitation mode.


The battle for humanity continued... as the Dragon slumbered in limbo. He was caught off-guard, lost within the waves between life and death as the woman he loves leads the charge into the jaws of death. 'If only I'd seen it faster... gotten out of the way...' he thought, trying so desperately to wake up again. But the bed was so soft, and he was warm.

He was warm and safe. He slept, not paying attention. Not heeding the call.

"Wake up, child, no descendant of mine slumbers while the woman who has his heart fights on."

"Mm... leave me alone..." I groaned, rolling over.

"Kazuma Kaguya, you're a coward! Unworthy of the title of Dragon! You've climbed the waterfall, but you have not changed your heart! That woman... she has ruined you! You should be burning with the desire for revenge! Your name means to rise above superiority! Yet, you have grown soft upon your moment of triumph!"

"Leave me alone... can't you see I'm not strong enough?!" I yelled, burying my face into the pillows, not willing to face the man that was yelling at me. He sounded so familiar to me. Like, Dad.

"Kazuma! My love, please! I need your strength!"

Satsuki.

"Kazuma, Ain'tcha a dragon? What in the hell are y' doing?! Get up an' help us waste this bitch!"

Ryuko.

"Kazzy! Big brother! Don't end up like Mommy and Daddy! I can't lose you!"

Nui...

"Lord Kazuma, as your shield, I have failed, but as your brother, I am telling you to STAND! SO STAND AND STAND PROUD!"

Ira...

"C'mon, Wormie! Do you think Ragyo can keep ya down? I've seen ya down ghost peppers and kiss Satsuki with the juice still on yer lips!"

Nonon...

"Bro! I need my homie! You always kept m'streak up! My Glock's runnin' outta bullets!"

Kaneo...

"C' mawn man, remember Bad Boyz? We gotta sing Judgement again!"

Uzu...

"C'mon, Lord Kazuma! Lady Satsuki loves you a lot! A ton! A buttload! So pick up that sword and get outta that real comfy bed! Ragyo sucks! I know you wanna kill 'er! So get up and get going! You got a lot going for you! You're AWESOME! You, yes, you! YOU ARE A DRAGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNN!"

Mankanshoku...

"Do you hear them? They call for you! They call for the dragon! They call for the one who will right this wrong! Who will assist with healing the hurts of this world! Your bird does not sing, so kill that bird!"

I opened my eyes, the bed was cold, so cold. Yet the man standing before me was wearing an oddly familiar coat and armor. His eyes glew silver and he was holding Kourajin out to me. He was the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Odo Nobunaga, the first of the Kaguya line. The man who harnessed the Gray Fibers for a noble cause regardless of the bloodshed. A legend was holding my blade out to ME.

His lips stretched into a small smirk and his silver eyes twinkled, the Gray Fibers wheeling through the air.

"Rise. Son of Goro, Son of Flavia. My descendant. You wield my blade with honor and determination... I may be the villain in our history, yet through the Gray Fibers, I have lived many a life... Though your heart is weakened by honeyed words and ravished by a woman with no honor, who makes beauty sinful... your soul is truly that of a dragon!"

I tore the sheets off, my wound healed, seeing the sky before me. Seeing the bright stars clashing on high. Ira and the others gawked as I walked towards them, my eye aflame, my hands clenching my sword.

"Lord Kazuma?!"

"Kazzy?!"

"Dude?"

Everyone gathered around me, "Kept you waiting, huh?" I asked.

"Dude, I dropped 'bout fifty COVERS for y' sleepy ass!" Kaneo sobbed. He hugged me tightly, blubbering. I pushed him off and looked to the skies.

"You better get moving, kid, Satsuki doesn't have a lot of time! You're the only one with enough power right now... She needs her dragon... your tattoo is a Seriyu dragon, you have to guide your generation on the correct path, I know you can do it!"

"My sword is no tool of justice... nor is it for revenge... It's for the real Nobunaga, the one who's fighting up there with all she's got to save this world... Acceptance Infusion: KAMUI KIBONOCHI!" I screamed, Ryuken blazing a bright silver, accepting that I wasn't the one to end this... that I paved the way to the correct path...

"I'm coming, Satsuki!" I yelled, flying up into the sky, flying further, seeing Ryuko and Satsuki fighting Ragyo, I blasted in, my Gray Fiber fist meeting her face, sending her flying. She looked like a silver and rainbow-haired version of Satsuki! Shinra Koketsu's power output was too much for Ragyo's body to take, so she de-aged the more time she spent in that thing.

"Guh! What the-" she snapped.

"Kazuma?" Satsuki mumbled.

"Sorry to keep ya waiting! I slept for too long..." I sighed. I unbelted Kourajin, knowing that this wasn't my revenge, I held it out to her. I've come so far, just to give up what I was fighting for all this time. I didn't need to do this. Satsuki grew up with Ragyo, she'd been tortured and humiliated, and I knew she was holding on to that pain until it burned her hand.

That's what drove Junketsu Shizui. Yet, my love and acceptance are what drove Ryuken. What drove Kisaragi was rage. What drove Shinra Koketsu was dominance, insanity. I'm here to rewrite the poem of the world to kill the bird that sang it into life in the first place!

"Satsuki... finish what we've started..." I huffed.

She took my sword from me, her eyes taking in that I was alive.

"Kazuma... you... you GODDAMN IDIOT!" she yelled, pulling me into her arms, squeezing so tightly I could've sworn that she could've killed me if she squeezed any harder.

"Guys, while I hate to break up the tender moment between you two, we're fightin' a goddess... so GET'CHER ASSES IN GEAR!" Ryuko yelled. Ragyo gained a rainbow halo around herself, Ryuko and Satsuki charged for one last strike, one last blow. Kibonochi blazed gold, my hand closing into a fist, the restraining bands broke and I felt my body move, Kibonochi burned around me and I let out a roar in a challenge.

"RAGYO KIRYUIN! WE, THE DRAGONS OF HANNOUJI, SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH!" Satsuki and I screamed, she carved out her heart and I grabbed it in my Gray Fiber hand.

"Hahhh! K-Kazuma... baby... Please... do you want this world to continue to suffer? I know you don't want that... I know you and your father never wanted that... You know I'd never hurt you... you know tha- GAHHH!" She screamed as I squeezed her heart a little.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to see you like this... you hurt me and Satsuki... you killed my mom... you killed my dad... you killed your husband and you think I'm going to show you mercy?! Every time I'll close my eye I'll see you! I'll never get to be rid of you! You'll always be in my head and I'll never get you out! You... you..." I started to tear up.

"You. Ruined. Me," I snarled, crushing her heart in my hand, feeling her arms around me, letting go and floating peacefully into space... That's when Ryuken took its toll and forced me to pass out. I heard some last words from Ragyo.

"Forgive me... Flavia... Goro... Soichiro... this was... this wasn't what I wanted..."


Dark. Cold. My ears were ringing. I was falling. My arm was busted, fixing itself. Did we win? I can't… I can't see. I tried to open my eye. I tried to move. No dice.

Kazuma. It's time. It's all over. You won. We won! I'm… I'm so proud… It's time for the morning to come… it's time to let go. It's time to grow up, Kazuma. It's time for you to live your life to the fullest extent you can.

Sayonara, Space Samurai…

"KIBO! KIBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I howled, the ringing in my ears stopped. I felt myself slam into someone, black hair fell softly around me, Satsuki was leaning over me, it was cold again. Her warm arms wrapped around me.

"I found you…" she sighed.


It's hard to wake up. It's hard to wake up in Russia of all places, how did I end up here? Satsuki wrapped me in her parka, my body shuddering, feeling how warm she was. I held on tightly, and her soft, warm lips kissed me. God, I wanted to stay in her arms forever… I buried my face into her raven locks as she carried me towards the waiting helicopter. I was too weak to move, my arm was stitching itself back together.

"We all landed at separate spots, Atlantis fell into the sea and… and we lost you. You didn't come down after a while… I'm so glad you're okay!" Satsuki sniffed, starting to sob, burying her face into the crook of my neck, her warm tears making me smile. She was worried about little ol' me? Why was I so surprised?

"Kazzy!" Nui squealed, running and hugging me tightly, "You're alive! You're alive!" she cheered, smiling up at me. Ryuko was towards the back, smirking and tossing a set of clothes at me. I put them on, the familiar long coat made me smile.

"Welcome back from the dead, Kaz," Ryuko said.

"I still owe you a rematch, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but take it up with my sis first," she teased. I smirked and looked down at my sword, It was proudly situated next to Bakuzan. Kourajin served me well. I wouldn't need it anymore. I grinned and Soroi smiled, the old man was still ever-loyally by Satsuki's side. I guess some things never change, do they?

"Lord Kazuma," he greeted warmly.

"Don't call me that, Soroi…" I sighed. I sat down next to Satsuki, who pulled me into her arms.

"Why ever not, sir?" he asked.

"Well... I'm not a lord of anything... it's an empty title..." I sighed.

"Technically you ARE courting Lady Satsuki..." Soroi reasoned, "For as long as I've known you I've always called you 'Lord' or 'Sir' so I shall keep doing it..."

I shrugged, but I still felt cold despite Satsuki loving on me. I took a deep breath, remembering that I offended Soroi the last time I had his tea. I felt bad about it ever since, and he never made me another cup again...

"Soroi, can I... have a cup of tea?" I mumbled. Soroi looked like he might've started crying at that very moment. His smile was bright.

"Of course, sir," he said, barely even a ripple of emotion in his voice. Yet, his eyes said it all. He deftly made it and passed the cup to me. My arm was repairing steadily, I took it gently, and I took a sip of the warm, bitter liquid and smiled.

"Soroi... it's not bitter..." I sighed.

"Were you expecting it to be?" he asked.

"No... it... feels good. I was a little brat that never understood that life is bittersweet back then.

"Sir, that is the highest praise a man like me can ever get..." he said.

"You're welcome, Soroi, and please... don't stop making tea for Satsuki and me," I sighed.


"So… we won, huh?" I asked. She nodded and tipped my face towards hers. The helicopter ride passed in relative silence, with me scarcely believing that things were real. That we won.

"I love you so much, Kazuma..." she sighed, planting a kiss on my forehead. We landed and the back opened up. Light spilled into the cabin and we got up, holding hands and seeing everything before us. The Last Bastion was broken down and used for parts, Atlantis was in the ocean, and the world was healing. I watched it all happen with a smile on my face.

Here comes the first step of the rest of my life... a life that I paved the way for, with my darling Satsuki by my side.

The war is over, and we are beginning.


AN: And with that, Dancing Dragons comes to a close. It's been a long three months with everything, and I wanna say thanks. Thanks for reading, thanks for even looking at this dumpster fire that took three matches to start. I'm already cobbling together a sequel and I hope to see you all when I post it. Could be today, could be tomorrow...

But, even for a minute I never felt pride in my work until now, I just want to thank you all. I'm not expecting this to reach intense levels of popularity with fanart and a TV Tropes page. I just hope and pray to my odd god in the sky that you enjoyed and want to read this as many times as you want. I know it barely resembles the series too... but still! I hope you enjoyed it.

With much love, and many thanks,

My Hero XIII.