Demon
Chapter 20
Sendoh watched from what felt like a very great distance.
There were footfalls. Sandals in the grass. Pacing right. Left. Circling. The rest of the world was silent all around.
Everything waiting.
Tension weighed down the air like a thunderstorm.
Suddenly the grass slapped flat, the air cried out, parted by violence, then silent as it closed once again.
It seemed incongruous that such intense chaos could be concentrated into such a small space, crackling with short bursts of violence.
Above, Sendoh observed numbly, the winter sun had passed its low apex. It continued towards the west. He wondered which among them would be privileged enough to see it set.
He tracked the clouds that ached through the paleness. Their slowness was soothing to his eyes. For any time he tried to focus on the movement occurring directly before him, his mind and body reeled. He could not process this. It was beyond his understanding.
The dragon.
At war with the phoenix.
Sakuragi's pitch black sword made a thrust and Sendoh felt the force of wind like a hammer crushing his chest. He wobbled a little where he knelt, frustrated by his immobility, yet knowing that even had he been free he could not have taken a single step. He could not tell which of these two primal forces had the upper hand. He could not follow anything that was going on, except that each time they broke apart they were both intensely focused. Contained in a world that was only them and their swords and their winding history that stretched back in bloody footsteps.
This time, when they separated again, Sakuragi slowly lifted his hand to wipe away the blood that dribbled from a cut on his cheek. Rukawa flicked his sword, sending a few black droplets to dash against the grass.
Then he raised Akira again and he was gone.
Sakuragi went left, somehow anticipating the path that Akira was making, deflecting the attack that came at him like lightning. He went up and Rukawa went under, the whirl of feathered wings sending a blast of dust and dry grass up from the floor. The swords crashed into one another once twice three four five times in the split second of their passing. And then Sakuragi had retreated to the further side of the grass, and Rukawa crouched there in the dust, a tiger waiting to pounce, adjusting Akira with one snap of his wrist. His empty eyes remained fixed on the demon before him.
Sakuragi stretched out his shoulder.
"You're too dependent on your speed," he said provokingly. "You won't beat me."
Rukawa didn't answer but moved, too fast for Sendoh to follow, leaping at Sakuragi with one sweeping blast of his wings.
Sendoh could only suck in his breath. With every pass, every lightning exchange of tortured steel, his anxiety rose to a fever. He clenched his fists and felt his heart twist in his chest.
Everything tilted on a knife edge in those deadly quick exchanges. The smallest mistake... the smallest error... and everything could fall apart.
Please let him be safe.
Please, please let him be safe.
The two adversaries ricochetted apart almost as soon as they connected. Rukawa was sent hurtling backwards through the air by the force of Sakuragi's swing, snapping his brilliant white wings out to slow his motion. Sakuragi, less elegant, crashed heavily against the trunk behind him. He lifted his hand to grip his upper arm tightly with a snarl. Blood dripped out from between his fingers. His eyes darkened to a sunset red.
A spark of hope ignited in Sendoh's gut. Until this moment he had only been forcing himself to believe - telling himself to trust in Kaede because there had been no other choice. But deep down he'd always been too afraid to allow himself to hope.
Sendoh took in the sight of the wound uncertainly. Black liquid dripped silently from Sakuragi's fingertips.
Was it possible? That Kaede was stronger? That Kaede could actually... win? It seemed dangerous and reckless to even think it.
Kaede did not waste time savouring his small success. He hit a tree feet first, bending to a crouch before propelling himself back towards Sakuragi.
Irritation flickered over Sakuragi's face at Rukawa's persistence. Before Rukawa had time to reach him he lifted his sword in one hand and swung it from a distance.
Sendoh's eyes saw the moment in time when Kaede changed direction. It must have been a very near miss because he tripped and practically rolled aside, abandoning his pass as Sakuragi's attack snapped right by his ear. He dug Akira into the ground like an anchor as his speed threatened to carry him away, sliding several feet across the grass before he stopped and looked up.
Sakuragi was still standing by the distant tree pressing hard upon his bleeding arm. His feet had not moved, and yet his attack had stretched nearly the full length of the grass. Far further than his blade should have been able to reach. And the reason for that was that the heavy iron greatsword in his hands was gone, and instead Sakuragi held a coiled black whip.
Sakuragi smirked, seeing their confusion, his red eyes slowly diffusing to brown. "You won't beat me in speed," he boasted.
The sword had changed shape, Sendoh realised in surprise. Skipjack had become the whip in Sakuragi's hand.
Rukawa too was surprised. Not even he had known, it seemed, that Skipjack could change shape in much the way Sakuragi could.
Sendoh's misgivings returned. What number of tricks did Sakuragi have up his sleeve? Was it naive to assume they'd even begun to brush against the limits of his strength?
Sakuragi raised the whip, bringing a dancing life into the black coils of steel as if it were a living thing. With one wide swing he sent it snapping towards Rukawa.
It whistled through the air with a noise like claws on flint.
Too late to dodge, Kaede took the brunt of the blow on the edge of his sword, but even with two hands on the hilt the force sent him backwards, his feet sliding helplessly across the ground. As the whip recoiled, he set his feet and flexed his wings in expectation of the next swing. But Sakuragi took his time reeling the whip back into his hand, infernal arrogance written into his smirk.
"Tell me," Sakuragi said. "Are you still drawing on the magic to maintain that form, or is this change a permanent one?"
Rukawa said nothing.
Sakuragi's eyes took on a malicious gleam. "What happens I eliminate the source of your magick?"
His eyes turned towards Sendoh.
He lifted his weapon in Sendoh's direction and Sendoh, still completely unable to move, felt his heart stutter.
Skipjack was no longer a whip. The black weapon had changed again, in the blink of an eye. Now, Sakuragi held a horned longbow, ebony black, almost as tall as the demon himself, with curled goat-horn tips and a black arrow set with black swan feathers pointed straight towards Sendoh's heart.
Sendoh swallowed pure fear. He tugged at his binds, some deep rooted instinct telling him to dodge aside. But it was futile. He could not move at all.
The arrow loosed.
It was a heartbeat of time. Just one. The pulse of blood in Sendoh's ears throbbed in one slow dilation. The wind split around the speeding shaft like a scream. Sendoh did not even have time enough to close his eyes.
But Kaede was faster.
He slammed Akira into the ground with a swing like an axe, and the wheel turning under Sendoh's knees slowed to a crawl as the sword lit up brightly, drawing upon whatever power remained. Under the sword's blow, the earth parted in a long fissure, splitting the grass in two. The demon arrow slammed into a wall of earth and debris that burst up from the ground like a shield in front of Sendoh, and shattered.
The earth and stones fell back down to the floor with a sound like rain.
"I see," Sakuragi said in a low, dangerous voice. His eyes had narrowed, fixed on the sword in Kaede's hand. "I had forgotten how irritating Watchers could be."
Sendoh took in a rough, startled breath. He had almost forgotten that the magic in the sword was for his protection. That he was, perhaps, the key to victory. Or, seen another way, an achilles heel. He was both Kaede's strength, and his greatest weakness.
Sakuragi slowly lowered the longbow, which melded immediately back to the form of a greatsword. "It's been a long time," Sakuragi admitted, "since I've needed to use Skipjack's other forms." He gave a loose smile and considered the black sword. "I like the greatsword best. It suits me, don't you think? But where's the fun in being restricted?" He held the sword out before him in two hands, dug his fingers into the handle, and then physically pulled it apart.
Sendoh saw the solid black steel part right down the middle, running liquid for a moment as if it had melted under Sakuragi's strength. It then reformed itself instantly as two separate swords. Twin black katanas which Sakuragi held out, one in each hand.
"Come then," he said to Kaede, the long braid of his hair twisting with his motion. His wings lifted and flexed ominously, arching to their peak, charcoal black and swirling ash. Sendoh was reminded just how large and powerful Sakuragi was. The great demon's lips turned upwards, the sharp glint of his canines pressing against his lips. "Let's make blood rain," he declared with a venomous smile.
His attack came with such speed that Kaede was forced into a hurried defence, his eyes flashing right and left, struggling to watch both blades at once. One black blade caught a shallow nook on Rukawa's thigh before he could avoid it, silver blood seeping onto his robes. The other stabbed forward in a concentrated thrust, aiming to pierce the muscle of his shoulder, and Rukawa had no choice but to retreat. He leapt back with a swift beat of his pearl wings, landing lightly, putting a cautious distance between himself and Sakuragi's twin blades, eyeing Sakuragi warily.
Sakuragi's two swords were going to be a problem, Sendoh realised in dismay. Rukawa seemed to realise the same thing, keeping back out of reach. Sakuragi's attack was far more complex than before, and all at a speed that Sendoh could barely even see. Not to mention the fact that one sword did not block two.
Sakuragi gave a mocking snort. "You never were the swordsman Mittchi was," he cracked his neck ominously. "Always second best."
Rukawa ignored the taunt, bending for a brief moment to grip the wound on his thigh.
"You've made a serious mistake, appearing before me in that form Kaede..." Sakuragi smiled, squaring himself to where Kaede remained at a distance. "There's no one to save you this time. Mittchi is just a shadow of what he once was. Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" He gestured in a excited sweep of his arms, "I'm going to nail you to my wall," he purred, his eyes full of a terrible anticipation. "Right opposite my throne." He parted his palms to demonstrate. "I'll pin you there for everyone to see. My rare little butterfly." He licked his lips. "Everyone who sees you hanging there naked and bleeding will know. The story of The Third. Who you are. What you are. That you - are – mine." His final words came out with a snarl, punctuated by the flare of heat around his feet, blackening the grass.
Sendoh felt the threats run over him like hot fingers, pouring into his mind, like lava, paralysing every thought.
He found himself staring intently at Rukawa. He did not seem afraid. But Sendoh's heart was overflowing with fear.
He recalled the cool smoothness of his hand within Sendoh's as they'd run from the burning tavern. The intensity of his eyes in the light of the temple kitchen fire. His beauty reflected in the rippled surface of the bath water. His lips against Sendoh's under the fireworks. His head thrown back against Sendoh's futon.
Kaede…
…please.
"Do you really think you can survive another pass?" Sakuragi's amused taunt interrupted Sendoh's thoughts, causing him to look up again. "Butterfly?"
Kaede only narrowed his eyes, flexing his white wings. Every inch of him thrummed with strength and speed, but still all Sendoh could see was his smallness next to Sakuragi's power. His lightness compared to Sakuragi's strength. His gentleness against Sakuragi's violence.
The demon had been born to his nature. The rage and hate and heat beat through his veins and pulsed in his black heart. Killing came to him like breathing.
But the angel? No. He had been innocent. He had not chosen this any more than Sendoh had. What was the point of lamenting the unfairness of fate when reality stood before them?
Don't think like that. He is strong. He can win. He can win. Sendoh tried to believe it, but his stomach felt loose with fear.
Perhaps Kaede could win, but at that moment, Sendoh couldn't see how.
Sakuragi moved suddenly, bursting forward at speed, holding his two swords at a wide angle. Rukawa waited until the last moment, then dropped downwards, evading the strike, one hand on the floor to steady himself as Sakuragi's swords passed clean above his head.
But Sakuragi's direction shifted as he anticipated Rukawa's evasion, his left hand changing direction and slicing downwards. Rukawa lifted Akira to block the attack as Sakuragi passed. But Sakuragi's right hand brought the second sword towards Rukawa's blind side in an arc.
A flicker of malicious victory flashed in Sakuragi's violet eyes.
Sendoh did not have time to gasp Kaede's name, but he felt the terror flood through him. Rukawa had no way to block it.
But in that second of twisting his body, Rukawa reached out with his left hand as if his palm alone could block Sakuragi's sword, and his lips... moved.
Sendoh did not hear what he said, but he felt it. A pulse of energy. Something that passed right through him, into him. Touching something that reverberated in the cavern of his chest.
A... miracle? For a moment he did not know what else it could be.
It was there, he realised in astonishment. The sound, the cadence. Something in Rukawa's unheard voice. The hum passed right through him as if Rukawa was speaking directly to his heart. A song. Something he'd strained for his entire life, but never quite caught with his ears until he'd put his head against Rukawa's chest and heard it in his heartbeat.
"Innocence..?" Sendoh realised in astonishment as the sound pierced him, set his heart racing as if he would rise to meet Rukawa's voice.
This is it, Sendoh realised. I can hear it so clearly I…
His eyes widened, something jumping in his chest.
He'd never heard it so perfectly than at that moment. It moved around him, resplendent in light.
And then he understood. Like some great gear finally slotting into place. Sendoh knew. He knew. He knew it even before he saw Innocence shimmer in the long grass and fly into Rukawa's hand like she was coming home.
Rukawa's long fingers closed around the hilt, finding their way into the familiar leather, gripping tightly, reaching back into the past. He stabbed upwards ferociously in that one motion, plunging Innocence deep into Sakuragi's side, making use of Sakuragi's own downward motion to force her through his defense.
No, Sendoh realised. This was no miracle. It was the demon lord walking blindly into the trap Rukawa had laid sixteen years before.
Sakuragi let out an awful screech that grated in Sendoh's ears like nails, his body lurching away, Innocence tearing a chunk out of his side.
Rukawa, unbalanced, hit the ground hard and rolled away, somehow maintaining his grip on the two swords, holding them close across his chest.
He rolled to a bumpy stop and was on his feet at once, one sword in each hand, his wings outstretched wide. Perfection.
Then he was rushing back towards the wounded Sakuragi without pause. Without mercy. His eyes focused on nothing but the hole in Sakuragi's defense.
Sakuragi staggered, clutching his side. His shape flickered and blurred. A wolf. A snake. A dragon. Wounded. "Your sword," he snarled, the whites of his eyes showing bright. Fighting to recover his balance, to hold his form, struggling to raise Skipjack, his eyes blazing hot so that the grass around his feet curled and blackened in a great circle of his anger, "You gave him your sword!?"
Rukawa closed in upon him without mercy, his eyes cold and hard, his wings a whirl of terror.
The breath seemed to have solidified in Sendoh's chest.
Innocence was the sword of the Third. He'd always known it, somewhere. Deep down. It hadn't made sense to him but it had always been true.
Three swords for three apprentices. Hadn't Mitsui told him on the very first day?
Vengeance, Mercy, Innocence.
Sendoh's heart clenched.
Sixteen years, Sendoh thought numbly. Every day since the first day. He has been beside me since the start.
All those near misses and unnatural good luck that had followed Sendoh throughout his life suddenly made it seem so obvious.
And now…
For the first time Sendoh knew he was seeing Rukawa's full most power. His full supernal strength.
"Go-" he whispered, prayed, squeezing his eyes closed. Go. Now. Now. Now!
Innocence split the air like thunder, fast and light, but it was the brilliance crackling down Akira's blade that gave Kaede speed beyond all nature and logic.
Slayer, Watcher, Angel. Kaede leapt, his terrible eyes filled with a terrible vengeance, fixed upon the struggling demon before him.
The two swords flew, with Sakuragi's neck vulnerable right between them. Rukawa snapped his arms wide, the swords slicing over one another like scissors closing upon Sakuragi's life.
Sakuragi's hand jumped up to his chest, wide-eyed, pressing flat against his heart as if in astonishment. And for a moment, Sendoh really believed that Kaede had won.
Then, the house exploded.
Sendoh felt the force of wind slam into his back like a solid wall.
The world went white, then black. The air... turned... heavy. Thick and slow. Weighing them down. Sendoh blinked but could see nothing.
The space was filled with a terrible buzzing that scratched its way into Sendoh's mind like a thousand furious insects, and Innocence's song was swallowed up in the blistering static.
Everything... slowed.
Then, stopped.
The two swords froze where they were, slicked into Sakuragi's skin, breaking through a thin layer, drawing tiny bulbs of black blood. And there was Sakuragi's dark smile. And flat under his palm, the keys that hung around his neck.
No- Sendoh screamed in silence. His mouth moving in a world devoid of sound.
Kaede- Kaede!
But there was nothing he could do.
Out of the gate, a thick dark vine struck out and speared its way through the very centre of Rukawa's beautiful wings like a harpoon where he had stopped, frozen in time like a statue.
Feathers lifted and scattered like dust.
And still there was silence.
Caught in the stillness, Kaede's eyes were wide. The world was frozen. Nothing moved.
And then the gate pulsed.
Rukawa took the full force of the gate's energy and was flung the full length of the grass, smashing into a tree, the swords scattering from his hands. He hit the ground, hard.
The world seemed to rush back in the void around them. Colour. Sound. Time.
Sakuragi remained where he was. He brought up his fingers to feel the shallow cuts on either side of his neck, smearing the black blood over his skin under his thumb.
"Oh," he breathed. "Oh. That was close."
The gate yawned behind Sendoh. Quieting, settling. The violent buzzing faded.
Blood dripped from Sendoh's ears. Every inch of him felt like it had been compressed. Every part of his body crushed under the warping fabric of the gate.
But now it was worse. Because there was an eerie silence. Emptiness. His panicked breathing and wild heartbeat. And the silence.
The sight of Kaede laying motionless. The sound of defeat.
Sendoh stared in disbelief.
The gate.
How had they forgotten the gate? Sakuragi's greatest strength had never been his sword, but the five keys he wore around his neck.
A cruel twisting chuckle sounded low in Sakuragi's throat.
The demon lord's eyes were green, his hair long and loose in a cascade of red fire down his back.
He walked towards Rukawa's crumpled body with slow, victorious steps and Sendoh felt the vomit of terror rise in his throat.
"The first time I had you, you were nothing," Sakuragi murmured to Kaede, his sandals quiet on the blackened grass. "But look at you now. You are strong enough to contend with me. Perhaps, all things being equal, you might even have won." He lifted a foot and kicked Rukawa onto his back. "But this was never a fair fight. You were never going to win, Kaede."
Rukawa winced, tried to roll over, to get up, but it was clear he was dazed. He had hit his head hard. Silver blood was splattered across the floor around him, and smeared all the way down the trunk of the tree he had hit.
Sakuragi smirked, and stepped deliberately onto one of Rukawa's wings, making him moan. He bent to examine the damage. A hole, nearly a foot across, had been punched straight through the centre of each wing. All blood and feathers. Smearing silver across the floor. Ruined.
"I didn't want to do damage like this," Sakuragi considered regretfully. "But knowing your strength now, perhaps it's for the best."
He reached out to idly sooth some of the ruffled and broken feathers, as if doing so might fix the horrendous wound. Then he gripped the bone at the top of the wing and pulled it upwards against the weight of his foot until it snapped.
Rukawa cried out. A broken sound. He arched and twisted as the pain broke him out of his concussion, his eyes wide with shock. Sakuragi dropped the broken wing carelessly, and it fell limp, with a sickening bent upon the ground. Rukawa moved weakly, clutching desperately at the grass, still fighting to rise, gasping through the pain.
"Beautiful..." Sakuragi observed, and dropped to his knees, straddling Rukawa's chest. "Look at that pain. I could watch this forever..." he leaned forward and twisted his fingers tightly into Rukawa's hair, pulling his head back to better admire the expression of agony on his face. "What am I saying?" he chided himself with a smirk, "I will."
Sakuragi released Rukawa's hair and instead grasped his wrists, forcing them up together above his head against the ground, leaving him prone. Rukawa twisted and kicked beneath him, but he had no strength left.
"Stay still, butterfly," Sakuragi smirked. He reached again for Skipjack, except now it was a sharpened spear, long and thin with a jagged razor-sharp point.
Eyes dancing with delight, Sakuragi lifted the spear high, and then stabbed the point down through the centre of Rukawa's palms. The weapon went deep into the ground below.
Silver blood flooded from Rukawa's impaled hands and he gave a strangled scream that ended when Sakuragi placed his hands around his throat and squeezed tightly until he was silenced.
Sakuragi looked down on him with an affectionate smile. "You don't know how long I've wanted this..." he whispered, his hands trailed down Rukawa's trembling chest. He sliced Rukawa obi apart with one long claw.
Rukawa hiccupped fearfully, his eyes moving unfocused as Sakuragi ran his razor-sharp nails up over his throat and over his lips.
"Oh-" Sakuragi crooned quietly. "The things I am going to do to you…"
Sendoh sagged in his binds, his head dropping. He did not think he could watch. But he hated himself for looking away. Was he so selfish as to wish he didn't have to see this happening? Was it selfish to hope that it would happen beyond his sight and beyond his hearing? That that would somehow be better?
He forced himself to crack open one eye, only to see Sakuragi's long claws slide lovingly around Kaede's throat and squeeze softly, his eyes shining gold.
"Hanamichi-" Kaede struggled to speak around Sakuragi's tight grip. His bloodied hands twitched and shuddered.
"Yes, my love?" Sakuragi bent down tenderly, brushing the tip of his nose affectionately against Kaede's, his thin snake-like tongue flickering out against Kaede's lips.
Kaede took a rough drag of air. "Let him go."
Sendoh froze.
Sakuragi smiled for a moment before straightening up again, his knees still digging hard into Rukawa's spread wings. He turned his head in amusement to consider Sendoh.
"Ah yes," he replied as if just remembering. "I was hoping that you would beg. Do not disappoint me now my sweet. What-" he let his claws run affectionately over Rukawa's cheek, scoring three fine cuts into his skin. "-what would you pay? In exchange for one mortal life?"
No, Kaede- Sendoh felt a spark of fury twist up his throat, but he could do nothing. Could not save him from this situation. Could not pull Sakuragi's hands away from his neck or remove the terrible spear through his hands or fix his broken wings. He could do nothing.
"Anything," Rukawa whispered back.
Sakuragi tightened his grip on Rukawa's neck even as Sendoh clenched his fists hard in his binds, feeling his smashed fingers flare with pain but not caring. What did it matter? What did any of that matter?
A thin noise of pain escaped Rukawa's crushed throat.
"You can do better than that," Sakuragi taunted him. "Tell me what I want to hear. Go on."
Rukawa's eyes were wide, gazing up at Sakuragi. There was a blank absence in his face. Sendoh knew that look. Mindless confusion and panic. Pain and weakness. Unable to think, to reason, to see any way out at all.
"I- I-" he winced in pain. "Hanamichi- please…"
"Would you give me your body?" Sakuragi pressed him.
"Yes," Rukawa agreed without hesitation, even as Sendoh bit down hard on his own tongue.
"Would you give me your obedience? Your loyalty? Would you take me as your lover? Be y second? Would you offer yourself to me wholly and completely?"
"Yes."
"Then say so!"
Sakuragi relaxed his grip just slightly so Rukawa could manage a full breath.
"Go on, butterfly. Beg."
"I..." a tremor ran through Rukawa's body. "Hanamichi- I... I'll give you... my body... my... loyalty my-"
He was cut short when Sakuragi pressed abruptly down on his throat once again, shutting off his air tightly, and interrupting his words.
"That's cute. But tell me this. Can you give me your love?"
Rukawa could only stare up at him, his mouth forced open wide in the struggle to breathe.
"You see, there's really nothing you can offer me that I can't take for myself. But that... that. Well, wouldn't that be something? To say that you love me. I would pay much more than the boy if you were to love me. What do you think? Would you promise to love me?"
Rukawa gave a small nod of his head, his eyes wide and pleading.
Sakuragi smiled and leaned down as if to kiss him. But he stopped just short of Rukawa's lips, his smile dissolving.
"But we both know," he whispered, his voice dropped an octave and his suddenly eyes blazing red, "that you would be lying."
Rukawa stared up at him in despair.
""I've always been satisfied with your hate," Sakuragi continued, close to Rukawa's face, hunkered over him as if crooning over some precious object in his hands. "You will never love me. I know that. But do you think you can treat me as something irrelevant? You think you can give yourself away as if I didn't already own you? As if I were nothing to you? Do you really have the audacity to believe that you can ignore me? Feel indifferently about me? Treat me as some kind of inconvenience?"
His speech became more angry by the word, hot mouth blasting words like scalding steam onto Rukawa's cheeks.
"You belong to me," he hissed at him, giving him a frustrated shake. "You're mine. I loved you first. I've made you everything that you are. And I've never wanted more. I would have been satisfied with your hate forever. But you-! How dare you offer yourself to me? Do you have any idea how angry that makes me? How dare you love him more than you hate me!?"
He paused with another breath, his chest expanding, his shoulders lifting. Then he let the air go, and his furious expression melted into a sad smile, eyes fading to honey brown, his hair falling in a long curtain around his face.
"But it's okay," he said more softly, turning to a consoling tone. "It's simple, isn't it? All I have to do is take him from you. Just one click of my fingers, and I'll have all your hate, Kaede. You'll be all mine again." He lifted his hand towards Sendoh, his fingers tensed together, and Sendoh recalled the way Aida had dissolved into ash and dust at the simple motion of those hellish fingers. "Watch carefully, my dear."
"No..." Rukawa pleaded, stammered, desperate, "Hanamichi- I... I…"
Sakuragi paused for a long moment and smiled. "Ah, but wait. I made a promise to you, didn't I?" His expression had changed now to one of childish delight. A boy playing with his toys. His eyes had become a most brilliant orange, sparkling like the sun, clearly enjoying nothing quite so much as having Kaede helpless and begging beneath him, wholly within his power. Smiling contentedly to himself, Sakuragi reached out to the side and picked up Akira from where it had fallen from Kaede's hand. The steel remained grey and dull as Sakuragi lifted it and admired it for a moment.
"Perfect," he whispered. "This is exactly what I need." He rose slowly to his feet, swinging the sword side to side, testing it against the air. He lifted his eyes to Sendoh and gave a cruel smile.
"Your heart, mortal."
With a last desperate gasp, Rukawa tried to find the breath to call Innocence back to him, but even as he did so, Sakuragi lifted one foot and stamped down hard on his throat. Rukawa's body jerked violently, his voice gone.
"No, no," Sakuragi chided him. "None of that. This is inevitable. Surely you can understand that." He raised his voice to address Sendoh. "Are you ready, mortal? I'll pull your heart out nice and slow. I want to hear every vein snap." He licked his lips. "Don't worry. I'll keep you alive as long as I can."
Sendoh could only breathe. The binds that held him just as tight as before. Powerless to defend Kaede. Powerless even to protect himself. The reality so concentrated he could taste it in his mouth.
He didn't want Kaede to see this. Didn't want him to remember him in this way. Dying in this way.
He'd wanted to die for so long. But not like this.
Please... not like this.
He lifted his eyes to see Sakuragi standing there, huge and menacing and without mercy. And behind him, Kaede. Broken. Struggling even to breathe.
And this was defeat. Final. Absolute.
Despite the awful death Sakuragi intended for him, Sendoh knew it was an easy way out compared to Kaede's fate.
Because Kaede would be Sakuragi's plaything. Sakuragi's prisoner and slave. Sakuragi's to possess and break and torture. Today. And all the days that would follow. Perhaps forever. Had it always been so? Was this truly the only outcome that there had ever been?
Was this the end of their story?
Kaede had begged him to stay alive. But Sendoh knew, and he had always known, that that was not his fate.
I will never have the opportunity to live for him.
I was always fated to die for him.
But I'm not afraid of death. I am only afraid of dying meaninglessly.
He took a long steadying breath and realised that he knew what he must do.
"No," he managed to answer Sakuragi's question. His voice was shallow and weakened. He lifted his eyes. "Not yet. You haven't... beaten me yet."
His arms and shoulders trembled. He was fully aware of how pathetic he must appear. How terribly transparent his bravado must seem.
Sakuragi scoffed quietly. "Still proud, little mouse?" he sneered. "We'll see how long you can keep up that brave face."
"I told you before," Sendoh asserted quietly. "I'm not afraid of you."
"Then you're a fool," Sakuragi laughed at him.
"Maybe. But I'm still… not... dead yet," Sendoh managed to gasp.
Sakuragi gave a visible roll of his eyes. "Oh, but you are," he said as he stepped Sendoh's way.
Sendoh's eyes moved to Innocence where she lay by the tree, silver blood splattered on her hilt.
One chance. Right here. The smallest fluttering in his chest.
He closed his eyes, and took a breath. He recalled the hours he'd spent trying to learn her ways, struggling to hear the sound of her song that was always just beyond his grasp, coming to him only through Kaede's presence. He had never truly succeeded. Certainly he'd never even been close to bringing her to his hand. But he recalled too that she had been at his side for sixteen long years. Every demon he'd ever slain, every swing, every trial and every challenge, every time he'd woken up in a gutter somewhere, she'd still been there. Every moment of his life had been lived in her reflection.
She had been his one true friend, never abandoning him. The one thing he could rely on completely. Absolutely. But now he knew better. She was not just a sword. She was Kaede's presence. His protection. His truth and his soul.
And right then he could hear it. A perfect hum down at the very base of his hearing. Because Kaede had sung this song and something in him had awakened. He knew. He knew how to do it now. Kaede had shown him.
"Innocence," he whispered, angling the timbre of his voice downwards, seeking to catch that note, that perfect pitch that shook still now in the cavity of his chest where Kaede had placed it.
He heard the sword react. A delicate shiver running up her blade as she awoke to him. He could feel it, like fingers up his spine.
The words didn't matter, Kaede had told him that.
He focused his eyes sharply.
"Come," he demanded.
And the sword began to glow.
Sakuragi made no move, only watching in amusement to see what Sendoh intended to do.
Innocence did not rush to him, but moved with a graceful slowness. Controlled. She hung vertical in the air, turning slowly as if on a string, the glow of her blade shining softly. She was beautiful, he saw, his eyes running over her. Flawless steel, ferociously sharp. Blade of the heavens. The sword of The Third.
He felt a rush of gratitude.
You and me, he told her silently. We've both been wronged.
They forged you as a weapon. To kill. To slay. To rain blood. Your beauty couldn't hide your darkness. You were always a sword. Always intended to suffer and to bring suffering. And for that they tempered you in the flames and sacrificed you to the darkness.
But they were wrong.
Killing was never your purpose.
Through everything you've suffered it didn't erase the truth.
You were forged not to slay, but to protect.
He let himself smile.
And so was I.
The sword moved slowly around him in a circle, the song rising in a delicate harmony, humming precisely, responding to the heart that beat in his throat, to the sound of his breath, to the whispering trail of his thoughts. He felt that she was attached to his heart by a string. The slightest tug and he could move her as he willed. And as she circled him she brushed gently against each of his binds and they disintegrated into ash. Darkness vanquished by the divine light.
He hit the floor hard as the binds dissolved, his body without any strength at all. But even then, the sword found his palm and pressed herself into it insistently. Familiar, soft leather. A dear old friend. He gripped her. The hum of the blade had movement, had a strength of its own. Though it seemed strange, it was as if the sword moved his arm, and not his exhausted arm that moved the sword. And yet he understood too that the sword only responded to him, and did not move of her own will but because of his.
Still, he felt then as if she had a soul.
He somehow managed to scramble to his feet, and turn himself to face death straight on, glad to have her in his hand for this final moment.
"I did not realise you were a master of that sword," Sakuragi observed with a dangerous quietness. He moved Akira back and forth through the air, in preparation. "But it will make no difference."
Sakuragi's eyes were intense and focused. He was not playing around.
Sendoh took a quick breath.
Then before he was ready, Sakuragi was already flying at him.
He came in a terrible burst of speed that swallowed the distance between them in moments. Slow enough for Sendoh to follow with his eyes, but too fast for him to even consider dodging aside.
All right. Come on. Come on.
It didn't matter the cost. At that moment he had no thought beyond saving Kaede from the fate Sakuragi intended for him. That was all. If only he could protect Kaede, any price was worthwhile.
I must.
He adjusted his grip on Innocence slightly. Sakuragi's wings gave a thunderous snap, slamming down against the air to give him more speed. He was an utterly terrifying sight, filling Sendoh's vision, sword raised in readiness to strike.
Sendoh held Innocence loosely across his body. He recalled Mitsui's words suddenly, said right here on the open grass. He could hear his voice as clearly as if he were standing right beside him. "You don't have a hope in hell of blocking anything."
Yeah, Sendoh thought. I know that. He's too fast. Too strong. He outclasses me in every possible way.
"You'd better focus on attacking... you might get lucky."
Luck? No. My luck ran out today.
I cannot hope to overcome this enemy. I have only one advantage - the very fact that I am so weak.
He gripped Innocence tightly and felt the song rise up in his head and in his lungs, louder and louder, until it was a catastrophe of sound.
Then he took one last breath. The final of his life.
I must wait.
Akira was traveling like a lightning bolt, point-first, making the air scream around its tip as it trust forward ready to pierce his chest and skewer his heart.
Wait.
Kogure's lessons were dim in the back of his mind. He had to feel it. Stumble his way into the harmony that sounded now like chaos around him. Bring his mind around to the song. Let it take him over. Let everything else cease to exist.
He caught hold of it.
The world around him seemed to slow, contract, turn tiny and concentrated. He couldn't see anything but that steel tip drawing closer as Sakuragi thrust it forward towards his heart in a lightning quick stab.
Innocence slanted defensively before him, ready to engage, to parry, to block the deadly blow.
But then the song faltered. Rukawa must have heard it as Sendoh's grip loosened slightly and Innocence dipped lower. Perhaps he was nervous. Perhaps he was simply exhausted. But Sakuragi saw his error and his eyes shone.
Still, Sendoh forced himself to wait.
Akira shimmered through his defence, taking easy advantage of his mistake, its path clear of barriers. All at once it was there, far too soon, too fast, dangerous and deadly and pressing forward to take him.
It brushed his clothes.
Wait.
The fibres gave way before the sharp steel, parting silently to allow the sword tip through.
Wait.
For barely a moment he felt Akira's coldness as steel brushed skin, but then his skin was punctured. It was no armour, no barrier at all. The sword drifted between his ribs. Sakuragi was nothing if not accurate. No bone blocked the blade's path, or slowed the vicious stab.
I am not afraid to die.
The muscles of his chest gave way without any resistance at all, allowing the blade through. It caught the inner edge of a lung, pressing ever forward to the centre of him.
Wait. Still wait.
Not yet.
Not until the last moment.
He was already dead. He knew that. But the timing. The timing was everything. One miserable mortal life in exchange for so much.
"He's not asking you to die for him." Mitsui reminded him.
"Isn't he?" Sendoh answered back.
He felt a strange satisfaction. He had always known. He had always expected to pay this price.
Finally the cold blue light of the sword tickled the frantic muscle of his heart. It was swollen, mid-beat, hot and living. The centre of him. The very point of his existence. The place where his love for Kaede had accumulated.
Ah-
The world had ground to a stop around him. Sakuragi's intense expression so close by. His smirk. His eyes fixed and determined and totally focused on the perfect path the sword was making.
And beyond him... Kaede.
It hurt to see his intense desperation. The wild terror in his eyes. Knowing that he would watch Sendoh die.
It's okay, Sendoh wanted him to know. I'm not afraid.
My whole life has been for this moment. I guess destiny has a funny way of seeing itself through.
Sixteen years ago you chose me for this.
And so this is my gift to you.
Slowly, millimetre by millimetre, the sword entered his heart. He could feel it. Cold. So cold. Kaede's love and very sword that embodied the many long years of his protection touching the centre of him. It was enough to make him smile.
He could sense Sakuragi's radiating satisfaction. The smell of his victory. The seeping pungency of his arrogance as he passed the point beyond which there was no going back. Not for Sendoh Akira. Not for Sakuragi, either.
Now.
In the last moment of his life Sendoh brought Innocence up with everything he had. Lightning fast, well beyond his mortal limits, as if he had thrust every last piece of his soul into the blade and she screamed with the sound of that song. Every facet of his life and his being. Anything he was worth he forced it all into that one motion, trusting Innocence to guide his aim.
He felt his arm break with the impact as the sword caught Sakuragi across the chest, sweeping up through his torso in a great explosion of violence. The divine blade cracked through ribs and flesh and hell itself, catching at last the chain about Sakuragi's neck, the silver links dragging on the point of the sword until it snapped, and the five silver keys caught the sunlight as they fell to the floor with a sound like bells.
Sakuragi lurched backwards, blood pouring from his open chest, scrabbling at the horrific wound with two blackened bloodied hands, his face showing his disbelief.
"No..." he breathed, "... how...?"
The mighty demon staggered, his great body failing him, his wings flickering in and out of sight as he weakened, unable to maintain his form.
With a broken cry, Kaede clenched his ruined hands around the shaft that impaled them, slippery with blood, and breathless with the agony. He tugged hard once, twice, three times until it came free of the ground. The black blade fell away in a rush of blood.
Kaede took a breath that was more tears than air.
But despite the pain, he moved, struggling painfully to his knees. Sendoh's sacrifice couldn't be in vain. He couldn't let Sakuragi escape again. He had to kill him. Now. This one precious chance for which Akira had given his life.
Now. Now. Now.
His hands clenched weakly around Skipjack's staff - the only weapon within his reach - agony exploding in his hands.
But although he knew what he had to do, logic and sense and instinct screaming in his mind - strike him down! take your revenge! - he couldn't get up. He couldn't seem to move. He could barely see for the tears.
It hurt. It hurt more than anything Sakuragi had ever done to him. This pain. A thousand moments of revenge wouldn't have justified it.
He felt small. Helpless. A frightened child. His dry lips taking the shape of his name, trembling too much to speak aloud.
A-Akira...?
Don't…
Please…
No…
He could hardly bring himself to look.
Terrified, he forced his eyes to take in the sight Sendoh's body. A cry rose on his lips, long and heartbroken.
Sendoh was slumped forward, impaled by the sword, his broken arm dangling, lifeless.
Akira had pierced him through, cutting her way out of Sendoh's back to stick hard, point first into the post, and pin his body there, the blade still vibrating gently. A perfect path through the centre of his heart. One life exchanged for another.
Everything Sendoh had had, he had paid.
Heedless of Sakuragi dying nearby, Sendoh's body was all Rukawa could see.
He crawled towards him over the grass, the sound of his pain a low wail in his throat.
How could this be?
How had this happened?
His eyes roamed wildly over Sendoh's body in a haze of agonised disbelief.
We were meant to be together. I was meant to find a way. There had to be a way. I was going to find it and you... you were going to be beside me... forever.
Akira…
Akira-!
A wretched sob broke past his lips.
It couldn't be true. It couldn't be.
I- I- I- I can't lose you- I can't-
No…
He saw that Sendoh still had Innocence grasped tightly in the fist of his limp broken arm. He hadn't dropped her. Every finger still clinging on to her hilt as if, even in death, he would not let her fall.
Then Rukawa's eyes fearfully took in the sword that protruded from his chest, still glowing faintly blue. It was a fatal blow. Not even an immortal would have survived it. Sendoh hadn't even tried to block it. He'd invited the sword, accepted death in exchange for that one moment in which he'd been within the circle of Sakuragi's defence. The meagre sliver of a second in which not even Sakuragi could have stopped his attack.
But what did that matter now?
Rukawa would have given his soul to Lucifer himself if it would have spared him this moment. He'd have given anything... anything... and yet…
A fresh rush of tears blinded him. Oh, God. It hurt. It hurt so much.
Through the tears, he could see the faint blue light of that accursed sword still shining her cold blue light.
Rukawa closed his eyes to it despairingly, cursing the blade, the Watchers, the heavens, anything, everything, himself most of all. He'd done this. He'd done this.
But it was Sakuragi who seemed to understand. The significance of that blue light. Shining. Still.
"I should have known," the demon snarled, glaring at Sendoh's limp body furiously, "that that sword wouldn't cut you."
For a moment, nothing changed.
Then.
There was no blood, Rukawa suddenly realised with a terrified thrill.
There was no blood.
"Akira-!" he gasped.
Against all expectations, Sendoh lifted his head and gave an anxious groan.
Rukawa froze where he was, still on his hands and knees.
Sendoh's eyes drifted confusedly down and settled on the sword that should have killed him, faintly aglow with pale blue light. He lifted his left hand and lay it on the hilt, moving lethargically as if in a dream. With a wince, he pulled it free of the post, and out of his chest.
There was no pain. No wound. His heart was beating still, unharmed. His lungs took eager breaths of air. Akira glinted softly in his hand, icy cold and reassuring in his grip.
A sword that protects a mortal slayer, sharing one name, and a magick that can only be used in his defence.
I'm... alive, he realised vaguely.
He lifted his eyes to meet Kaede's astonished stare. Then he saw Sakuragi bleeding and writhing with pain on the ground, his face pale and angry, hopelessly wounded.
What was I doing-?
Oh... yes.
Akira fell with a clatter from his shaking hands and he managed to stagger towards Kaede. His legs felt weak and numb, his whole body strange and disbelieving.
When he was close enough he slowly lifted his right arm, wincing with pain, and offered the hilt of Innocence to Rukawa who stood and stared at him with wide eyes as if he didn't dare trust his own senses.
"This is yours," Sendoh managed to tell him, holding Innocence out. "I... promised you... this moment."
Rukawa did not take the sword from him. "No-" he whispered hoarsely. "It's your right. You do it."
Sendoh shook his head and offered the sword more insistently. Even if he had wanted to be the one to end Sakuragi's life, he didn't have anything left. He could barely stand upright. Rukawa seemed to realise this, but still he refused to take the sword.
Instead he stepped unsteadily away, one broken wing dragging against the ground. He clutched his wounded hands together protectively, nursing them as he walked until he reached the sword that had fallen and, wincing, picked it up again. Akira's blue light returned, glowing silently, even as blood flowed silver down the hilt.
"No-" Sakuragi growled, scrabbling against the ground, pushing himself across the dirt weakly in an attempt to get away. His eyes were fixed on Akira with disgust. "Not that sword," he said. He lifted his eyes to Rukawa's face. "If you would slay me, then let me die by your hate. Not that- that-" his breathing was becoming laboured, his voice losing its ambience. Rukawa began to approach him silently.
"Kaede, are you so cruel?" Sakuragi murmured in disbelief. His hand clutched anxiously at the horrific wound across his chest as if he could hold the gash closed. "Slay me with Innocence. Please. Give me your hate, your anger. Not... not that thing that you... share with- with- him," he took a rasping breath. "I... love you," he pleaded. "Have some pity, Kaede. Kaede, please."
Rukawa stopped right before him, his sandals kicking up a little dust. He raised the sword in two bleeding hands.
For a second he recalled Fujima's words.
He loves you. He is you. Kill him, and live on to stare blindly into the emptiness.
"Fuck you," he decided. "You deserve no pity."
He shifted his feet, and swung Akira. It passed like a ray of light through Sakuragi's neck. And Sakuragi Hanamichi did not speak again.