THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT EVEN A SWORD CAN'T CUT

He swung his iron mace around with all the ferocity of a dreadful storm, pulverizing and nearly decapitating the samurais who were charging at him. He was unmovable and a force to be reckoned with, standing at the very top of Rengokukan now and taking the empty throne for himself that once held two legends. Kidoumaru and the Kabuki-cho Ghost.

No one in the whole stadium could take that position from him now. Rengokukan was his territory. His and his alone. He was the unrivaled king.

Upon the balcony stood an ominous figure of one of the Tendoshu, staring down at the bloodbath in front of him and heavily entertained by the strength of Onijishi, the new King of Rengokukan. "That guy sure gets the job done. After watching a monster like that fight, you'd think samurai are just little kids. The Dakini tribe fighting style is sure a spectacle to see. Almost like the Yato clan who are on the brink of extinction," he said gleefully.

Standing behind him was one of the men who was present on the night of Doushin's death. He looked uneasy with heavy and fresh scarring on his face. His wounds were inflamed and throbbing but not from the pain, but from the anticipation that still hadn't settle at all from the previous night. "Yeah...but I think we might've stirred the pot last night," he said, clinging ahold of his arm that had bandages wrapped around it.

"Why would you say that?" The Tendoshu asked but didn't sound the least bit concerned.

"We ran into quite a character last night when trying to find Kidoumaru. It was dark so we couldn't really see anything aside from a small framed...child, I think. Nearly all my men who were out there were killed by that thing, and it all happened in like a blink of an eye."

The Tendoshu paused and thought about it for a moment. "A child...?" It was odd to him because his mind immediately went to two years ago, a time where a murderer was walking the streets of Kabuki-cho. A ghost, they quoted, taking the form of a small-statured woman who could easily pass as a child.

The Dakini tribe's man continued his rampage and carnage count until the end of his mace was soaked with blood and dripping into the ground. He stood tall and felt strong, stronger than anyone else in the ring. He fought. He danced. He swung his weapon around until he realized that no one else was standing.

"What's wrong?" he chanted. "Is there no one else? Is this all the samurai have to offer?" He slammed his overly heavy mace into the ground and cracked the floor below him.

He looked around at all the slain bodies when he heard the soft crunch of gravel coming from the entrance behind him. The Dakini snapped his head around and swung his mace up in his shoulder to prepare himself for the new challenger. He watched with keen and focused eyes at the darkened hallway and listen as the footsteps got louder and more defined. He noticed that they were light and slow. No, they were calm and purposeful. He was taken back when he saw that it was a small framed woman walking out.

The Dakini's mouth fell open. "A brat?"

The person's body looked small but he could tell that it was an adult after a while. Her hair was pale, a sandy hue, and her eyes were the color of ash, like a day after a morbid fire. She had on a short white kimono, a blue and white haori, and a long black scarf that was wrapped around her neck to cover her mouth and nose. Only her unusual eyes were exposed.

He turned his head up at the girl and scoffed. "You lost or something. Hurry up and get lost, kid!" The Dakini looked down at her hand and noticed that she was carrying a stark-white scabbard sword, so she had to be a challenger.

Canarie was calm when she spoke, not an ounce of anger or sarcasm in her voice. "Which one here killed Kidoumaru?" Her voice was almost like the calm before the storm, something deadly brewing just below the surface.

"Kidoumaru?" The Dakini walked over to her and lifted his hand, poking his large finger right into her shoulder and pushing her a bit. "The one who sent that bastard to hell was me," he said almost proudly, showing off his frightening razor-tooth grin.

Canarie didn't react to his intimidation tactic but her demeanor slowly did began to morph. Her eyes hardened to stone and these deep red veins started to appear around the sclera, turning them lifeless and empty. Her skin gradually changed color and turn pale, almost as white as a frosty blizzard that gave off this dark undertone. She looked utterly empty now, no sign of life in her eyes or personality on her face. It was almost like a switch going off with how fast it happened, along with the strong smell of iron radiating off her...it smelled of blood.

"Oh, I see," she said with a voice as rough and grinding as sandpaper.

The Dakini flinched and felt his hands start to tremble. He took one step back when he felt a cold trace of ice against his right eye, suddenly losing all sight in it. It hit him a second later though, agonizing pain that felt like an electric shock ripping through his body. Bright crimson poured from his wounded eye and dripped onto the ground. He was hysterical now, his mind in complete panic with the logic that was failing him. Still, he asked the question: What just happened?

He looked up with his blurry vision coming from his last good eye and saw that the woman had drawn her blade, blood dripping off the tip of it. There wasn't a single change in her expression and her feet didn't look like they moved either. He didn't even see her hand so much as twitch, but somehow she was able to cut his eye out in a fraction of a second?

That was impossible. That was not human.

The Dakini drew his large mace up over the head and took a strong step forwards, hurling it down right over her. Canarie stepped to the side just as it slammed against the ground with enough force to crack the surface and throw up a cloud of sand. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the massive weapon emerge from the sand storm and slam right into her. He thought he was victorious at first until he looked to find the body. It was nowhere to be seen though despite swearing that he hit her.

"What?" His eyes grew wide when he felt an icy chill against his back. He turned his head around to his mace and saw that Canarie had grabbed ahold of it and was crouching down low in a striking position. "You little...!"

Before getting hit by the mace, she had jumped in the air and made herself as small as possible, placing her scabbard between her and the weapon to absorb most of the impact. She knew that the Dakini had wide swinging motions that would pull their weapon from sight for a moment, so she had allowed herself to get hit to hide but stay close.

Canarie's eyes blazed with hellfire and her voice was dripping with malice. "Say hello to Kidoumaru in hell for me." She swung her sword towards him in a second and burned an image of herself into his eyes just before cutting his head off in one fell swoop.

She jumped off his large body just when it fell against the floor with a heavy drop. Swiftly, she twirled her sword around and pulled it back into her scabbard before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. Canarie closed her eyes as the screams of excitement finally settled in after the brief moment of silent confusion. It felt familiar to her, the sound, the feeling of warmth on her body from the spray of blood. It all never felt euphoric though. Not even now, two years later. Even her revenge felt mundane. There was never any pleasure, as cries of the people who wanted to see more surrounded her.

"Kabuki-cho Ghost!"

It was that name though that finally sparked a feeling of coldness down her spine, returning her to reality but not nearly quick enough. Canarie gasped sharply when she felt this awful feeling of a cold sword against her warm skin. The cut went deep into her shoulder and made her jump away to get some distance. She pulled her hand over her gushing wound and looked up to see herself slowly getting surrounded. They weren't samurai or anything like that, but they were working for Rengokukan.

"You sure ruined our show. Do you really not have an idea about what this place is?"

Canarie didn't say anything but felt a bit faint from the lack of blood, though not light-headed enough to not count the people around her. There were about five guys to her right, three to her left, and five more out in front of her.

She pulled her hand away from her wound and moved it down to the hilt of her sword and slowly got into position. Her eyes became deadly focused and not a single emotion stained her face. She was standing before them now as just an instrument. A means to an end. A ghost out for revenge.

"Yeah. I know what this place is," she said calmly but flat. "I really don't care though. I'm here just because you pissed me off."

Canarie sucked in a deep breath and breathed out slowly through her clenched teeth. Her bloodshot eyes snapped open and glared intensely at them before she disappeared.

"Get out of the damn way!" Gintoki howled like a banshee at everyone and pushed the crowd of excited people aside to get into the stadium. His body was quivering with worry and he couldn't breathe, much less see straight with how many people were surrounding him. He honestly didn't remember the last time he was this panicked. He wasn't in complete chaos though. He still had one clear goal that was able to make his body move. He needed to find Canarie, and the way the crowd was reacting already told him that she was on the move. "Get out of the freaking way!"

Kagura was the only one strong enough the split the crowd like a sea and bulldoze her way through to create a path for Gintoki and Shinpachi. "Make way! Make way!" she screeched at the top of her lungs and actually frightened some of them to step aside.

"We need to get inside. Please let us through!" Shinpachi tried his best to keep up with Gintoki but the man seemed to have a one-track mind that made him run faster than anyone else. "Gin-san!" He called out but already lost sight of him.

Gintoki shoved his way through the crowd with one more strong push and almost stumbled over the railing when he made it out to the open. Only then did he realized that his initial nightmare of a massacre had already come true.

The air was filled with the strong smell of iron blood and the ring was soaked in it too, almost like a swimming pool of scarlet. Bodies laid sprawled across the ground with their detached arms and legs not far away. Their faces were unrecognizable with how many wounds were married to their skin, and every one of them was motionless and cold too.

The only one who was standing was an emotionless woman with pale, void-like eyes and a blank facial expression. She was drenched in crimson and had these wounds all over her body, Some shallow, others deep, though none of them looked like it even fazed her. It appeared as if she was dozing off into a completely different dimension with the way she was staring ahead into nothingness, effectively ignoring the cries for more.

Gintoki felt a sharp tingle down his spine, an animal instinct-like reaction that was telling him to leave her behind, to get away and forget about the woman out there. He didn't listen to it though and took in a deep breath, clenching ahold of the railing with all his might and forcing himself to stand still. "You damn brat..." he breathed out.

Canarie lifted her head like she actually heard him, looking side to side until she spotted him up in the crowd. Her eyes grew wide and Gintoki could actually see the spark of life returning to her face. It was like she had turned the switch off at that very moment.

She blinked a couple of times to grasp her surroundings and looked down at herself, dripping in blood and aching with fresh wounds. Canarie almost looked shocked before she suddenly tightening her jaw and hardened up once more to keep herself together. She closed her eyes and clenched her hands tightly before limping out of the ring and into the dark hallways, leaving bloody footsteps and bodies in her wake.

After the incident, the Shinsengumi came by minutes after the massacre and cleaned up the mess that was left behind. It was almost like those corrupted police officers were waiting for the Kabuki-cho ghost to make her grand appearance after 2 years worth of silence. She disappeared just as fast though after the fact and remained still at large. Also, the Tendoshu who was watching over the madness soon left after Hijikata and Okita walked onto the scene.

The whole situation still felt strange for Canarie and she still wasn't sure what happened either, if she were to be honest. She remembered hearing about Doushin's death when this sudden...calmness came over her. She was more than just a little angry. She was furious. Having this unparalleled rage boiling up in a single moment that made something snap inside her mind. It was after the fact though that she realized she was in a trance of some kind. There was one clear goal in her head. One clear path. One clear mission. She wanted to kill them. She needed to kill them. She had to kill them.

Canarie doesn't remember ever being pushed to the point of becoming that angry before, so the experience was new to her. She could recall the last clear thought that ran through her head before she fell under. She thought, 'Why did this have to happen to him?'. Doushin wasn't the best human being in the world, but he was a decent man. He had a rare kindness about him that she liked and found very genuine, and she knew that those kinds of people were rare in today's day and age. The world didn't have many guys like that anymore, so it truly felt like a loss when he was killed.

Canarie took in a deep breath and flinched when she felt a sharp pain across her shoulder. She ran her hand over the bandages and frowned. Despite the odds she was facing, she managed to walk out of Rengokukan with more shallow wounds then deep ones. The one on her shoulder being the worse since it actually came as a shock to her. But really...Canarie got more than a little lucky. She's surprised she wasn't dead.

"Canarie-chan!" the sound of young voices came from the crowded roads of Edo. Afterwards, Doushin's kids pushed themselves down the streets and ran in Canarie's direction.

She didn't have time to react when they all suddenly launched themselves at her and ended up knocking her over. The shock from hitting the ground knocked all the precious air out of her and made her wheeze for more, not to mention the pain from her wounds was agitated too. The kids didn't let up though and continued to smother her in tight hugs that prevented her from breathing properly. Canarie was only barely able to pry some of them off her neck so she could breathe in the musty Edo air again. The kids were still refusing to let her go and she ended up just leaving them be.

Okita was finally able to spot the kids within the crowd but was rather surprised to see that they were laying on Canarie. He could tell that her cheeks were flush from the lack of oxygen, which was pretty amusing to him, really. "The problem child returns," he said, strolling over to them with his hands deep in his pockets.

Canarie coughed a little while patting the kids' heads. "Okita?"

"Thanks for the help in Rengokukan." He gave her an appreciated wave that still seemed half-assed. "With your involvement, you saved the Shinsengumi a world of hard work."

Canarie turned somewhat grim and looked away while studdering on her words. "Yeah...about that," she dragged out.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna say anything about you being a ghost." Okita gave a big eye roll and really looked like he didn't care. "You helped us this one time so I'll look the other way. Out of sight out of mind, you know."

She slowly raised a brow. "Thanks, I guess..." She still sounded unsure.

"By the way, you sure got beaten up. You're a pretty sorry excuse for a ghost." He pointed down to the bandages that were wrapped around her body, some of which were covered by her clothes.

She briefly looked down at herself and sighed. "I was angry and wasn't thinking."

"You can't!" The kids sharp voices caused her to jump and looked down at them. Their faces were flushed bright red and their eyes had turned glassy. They clung to Canarie for dear life and hugged her just to keep her from moving. "You gotta take care of yourself more! You avenged Sensei but it won't mean anything if you die in the process," they cried with snot running down their noses. They looked at her so desperately that it really threw Canarie off.

"H-Hold on for a second," she tried to calm them down. "It's really not as bad as you think-"

"No!" They only interrupted her and turned their lips down into a pout. "You gotta promise us to keep yourself safe! It's not good to make people worry about you!"

Canarie wildly blinked at them as her face twisted into deep confusion. "Worry?"

"They got a point on that one." Okita cut in. "I think you might've scared the hell out of Boss with that little daredevil stunt you pulled."

That made Canarie fall silent as the kids slowly but reluctantly got off her. They were still teary-eyed while grasping ahold of her hand to pull her off the ground.

"Anyway. I gotta take these kids to a place they'll be looked after, so I'll catch you later." Okita called the kids over and waved a single hand at the dumbfounded assassin who was left standing in the middle of the streets. The kids waved and gave their crying goodbyes to her before following Okita into the crowd.

In the end, Canarie was left speechless.

"You see, that's the difference between you and me, Doushin." She lifted her hand and jabbed her finger right into his chest and over his heart. She smiled at him, gentle but sad. "You had things you can go back too...while I didn't." Her voice was so rough that it felt like a rusty knife across his skin.

Doushin felt his chest clench up and feel cold. He would get these paralyzing effects from a threat but instead, they conceived from this overwhelming sensation of heartbreak and loneliness. He would believe that to be true from all those years ago but now he wasn't so sure. Those words felt distant and old to him. "It's not like that anymore though, right? It looks like you got yourself some friends," he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest and laughed a bit. She found it funny because that sounded like something a dad would say. "Is that what it looks like?"

"Well, you seem a lot happier then you were back then. You're smiling more, which is something I didn't see much," he said and saw Canarie pause.

Canarie eventually did make it back home to the Yorozuya after getting some groceries, but dread boiling up in her stomach immediately skyrocketed the moment she placed her hand on the door. She was frozen in place and in a slight panic too. She was worried about what Gintoki had to say about the matter, or if he wanted to hear anything about it at all.

When Canarie went to Rengokukan, she didn't even remotely consider anyone else's feelings and only prioritized shutting the battlefield down, and since then Gintoki hadn't said a word to her after getting back, not after seeing the state she was in. She surprised even herself when she looked in the mirror for the first time afterwards. Everything about her was unhinged, uncontrolled, and simply unfamiliar. She looked cold and she felt cold.

After walking inside, she found the house eerily calm with no sound at all. She would have even fooled herself into thinking that no one was home, but no such luck. Gintoki looked to be the only one there and sat in the living room at his desk. He wasn't looking at her and it was obvious that he turned around the moment he heard the door open.

"Ah..." Canarie stood in the middle of the room like an awkward fish out of water, fiddling with her fingers to try and find the words that were far beyond her. "Where's Shinpachi and Kagura?" Not what she wanted to ask but at least she said something intelligible.

Gintoki took his time but did decide to speak after all. "They went out to run an earn for the old granny downstairs." Everything down to his passive-aggressive voice and the atmosphere his back was giving off told her all she needed to know. He was mad. Plain and simple.

"Oh, good. I actually wanted to talk to you privately." She paused for a moment and chewed on her lips, hesitating and speaking a lot quieter than before. "I wanna apologize about...what happened in Rengokukan."

This finally struck Gintoki's curiosity and he turned around to face her. He could tell she was nervous by how much her face was flush. She was even avoiding eye contact too. To be totally honest though, seeing her look this timid and red-faced was a cute and rare sight to behold. If he had a camera then he would risk taking a picture of the moment.

Gintoki arched his eyebrows and prepared himself to hear the world's most heartfelt apology. "Go on. I'm waiting." He crossed his arms over his chest and wore the most irritating grin she had ever seen.

Canarie fought the twitching in her eyes that was intensifying. She wanted to tell him to shove it and wipe that grin off his face more then she wanted to apologize. "Well, for starters...I don't think I did anything wrong. People like them just have to...die, I guess, but I get that it can be an inconvenience for you guys and, uh...my bad?"

Not once in his life had Gintoki been faced with such sheer disappointment that it clearly showed on his pale face. What made it worse is that Canarie actually looked pleased with herself despite the crappy apology, if you can even consider that to be one. She didn't even say the word 'sorry'.

"That's it? That's all you got?" He suddenly sprung up from his chair and pointed a trembling finger at her. His red face could even rival Canarie's in that moment. "That has to be the worst apology I had ever heard! Were you even trying?"

Canarie flinched and began to feel her eyes twitch again. "I was! I just don't like apologizing so I never practiced for one!" she barked back, stomping her foot against the ground like a child.

"Then why the hell were you even trying if you didn't want to in the first place. There is no way I'm gonna accept that! No freaking way!"

Canarie threw her head back and groaned loudly. She knew better than anyone that it was a crappy apology. She was just more so impressed that she was able to say something similar to that extent in the first place. She knew even before saying anything that this wasn't going to go well, and it turned out to be true. "Yeah, yeah..." She looked down at the bags in her hand and lifted them, pulling out her ultimate trump card. "Would you accept an apology through homemade chocolate sundaes then?"

"Canarie, I accept your apology." He gave an encouraging thumbs up with a completely serious face.

"Man, you're easy to convince..."

Gintoki had tasted heaven at the tip of his tongue and had witnessed God's hands in action. He had found it, the god tier of homemade sundaes. He wanted to marry those hands but the personality that came with them was too crappy to take the risk. Still, he wouldn't have ever imagined that Canarie was able to make a miracle such as these. It was utterly astonishing and he just didn't get how she was able to make them taste so good. She was using the simplest ingredients too and he was watching her the whole time.

He sat silently at his chair and was now on his third sundae while Canarie was still working on her first, eating slowly and sitting cross-legged on top of his desk. Either of them had said anything to each other since she made them but the silence was rather comforting to him. It felt nice to eat with her, just the two of them.

"So..." Canarie spoke up, a bit hesitant. "I guess you like them since you're already on your third one," she said, pointing her long spoon down at his two other empty cups.

Gintoki looked away and sunk low in his chair. "Their passable." That was the biggest lie he had ever told and Canarie could see through that like glass.

She cocked a brow. "Yeah, ah-huh. Next time I just won't make them then." She smirked when she saw the panic rise in his eyes. Canarie laughed a bit. "You should really be more honest with yourself, Gintoki."

He scoffed at her remark and eyed her. "If we're going with the honest route then...I ain't gonna lie to you. You really are a crappy person," he said bluntly. To his surprise though, Canarie didn't even look fazed by that, only smiling like she already knew.

"Well, Gintoki...I don't remember a time that I wasn't. I can't help that I'm a brat." Her smile turned up into a devilish smirk that made his heart speed up.

"The first step in admitting you have a problem is admitting you have a problem."

"Shut up." She frowned and looked away.

"Don't worry about it though." He stuck his spoon in his mouth and raised his hands above his head, leaning far back in his chair. "I'm a shitty person myself, so we're in the same boat. Us brats gotta stick together."

Gintoki closed his eyes for a brief moment when he heard Canarie snort. He opened a single eye and peeked over at her. She still had her back to him but he could clearly see her ears turning a bright shade of red with the corner of her mouth curving up into a genuine smile. Gintoki smiled back and closed his eyes.