Holy shit! Three chapters left! Right uh I suppose I should have set the mood for this chapter rather than bum you guys out on how many chapters were left. There's a sequel though! Ah yes and this is the second reason why I named the story for what I did. Caught between angels (you'll find out in a second why it's named that)… The Scarlet Ibis (used as symbolism, Kenshin seeing the scarlet ibis in him and Kat seeing him as the scarlet ibis.) Confusing?

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Chapter 40

Dust in the Wind (feel free to play the song while reading! Don't kill me! *hides* Actually 'In the Arms of an Angel' or 'Nobody Said it was Easy' is a better suited song for this chapter.)

Too Blue

I got those sad old weary blues.

I don't know where to turn.

I don't know where to go.

Nobody cares about you

When you sink so low.

What shall I do?

What shall I say?

Shall I take a gun and

Put myself away?

I wonder if

One bullet would do?

Hard as my head is,

 It would probably take two.

But I ain't got

Neither bullet nor gun-

And I'm too blue

To look for one.

-Langston Huges

~*~

Still coated in blood, she sat there staring numbly into the woods. Her side had been bandaged and ached with a fierce pain but physical pain was something she was, at the moment, immune to.

Her eyes had returned to their new golden color but were empty and non-blinking. Nothing anyone had done or said had gotten her to move or even recognize they were there. They had finally given up and left her to sort things out.

Saku lay at her feet in the same detached state mourning the loss of her father, feeling the loneliness that came with being an orphan. With Kenshin and Mayonaka dead there was no point in going on. Mayonaka had been hit by a stray bullet and no one had bothered to mention who had shot him.

So there Kat sat, feeling all alone, with Saku laying at her feet and Rei not far off, acting as if the word had ended. And in a way it had. Her world was crashing down around her and there was no one to save her…or was there?

Vash stepped out onto the porch and sat down next to Kat. He hadn't expected her to move and it didn't surprise him that she ignored him and continued to stare off into space in the direction of the cherry trees. Vash stared at her wondering what she was thinking of. He had nothing to say that would help how she was felling; he just hoped that by being there he was comforting her. Vash hugged her, "I love you."

That was all Kat could take. Vash looked up to see her crying. Her tears were all he needed. He pulled her closer and she sobbed. Kat didn't move to hug him back but just the fact that she was going to him for comfort was enough to please him. She had learned the hard way that Kenshin's fate couldn't be changed. He had been meant to die but she would continue to beat herself up for killing him.

Her sobs stopped after a while and she just stayed there in Vash's arms, letting him hold her. Tanya, Vix and Jasmine watched from the kitchen. "With Mayonaka and Kenshin gone I can't even begin to imagine what she must be feeling," Tanya commented.

Knives snorted from the chair he was perched in, pretending not to pay attention to what his brother was doing. Vix sighed, "I feel sorry for Dev. He bailed after he saw my ears and tail. I guess it was just a bit too evident what I had been doing."

"She's caught between angels," Jasmine commented.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

"I mean what I said. She's caught between angles. Kenshin being one, Vash the other," Jasmine explained.

"But which angel will she choose to be with? If she mourns one to long, she will loose the other as well…"

^_^

Vash carried Kat back to her room. She had cried herself to sleep in his arms. He put her down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. Even in her sleep she wasn't relaxed. In fact, she looked a few years older in her sleep rather than younger.  

He brushed her bangs away from her face and stroked her cheek with his hand. Kat's frown eased a bit but didn't drop off her face completely.  

Rei came in behind him and curled up by the foot of the bed. Saku brushed against Vash's leg as she entered. The wheat colored wolf studied Kat a moment before jumping onto the bed. It groaned in protest but held her weight (A/N: Saku isn't fat. Really, she's all muscle like Rei). Saku curled up into a ball and rested her tail over her nose. The wolf fell asleep instantly. Rei watched as Vash headed to the kitchen.

Vash entered the kitchen and all at once everyone stopped talking. 'Wonder if I interrupted something…' he thought bitterly as he snagged a few cookies from a platter. Knives growled in protest as Vash sat down next to him. "Cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it," Vash growled to his brother.

Knives was a bit taken back by the harsh comment. Vash was never rude to him or anyone else. 'Something wrong?' Knives asked telepathically.

'What would you care?' Vash hissed.

'What I can't be concerned for my brother?' Knives mocked.

'I don't think you ever have or will care about anyone but yourself,' Vash snapped.

Knives mood changed slightly, 'That isn't completely true…' Vash ignored his brother. 'I know it's not true…' That got Vash's attention. He looked up to see Jasmine standing next Knives.

Vash frowned as Jasmine hugged his brother, "How?"

Jasmine blushed, 'Take a wild guess. Same way Kat acquired her powers from you.'

His eyes grew wider, "You mean… You and him…?" Knives nodded as Vash asked him the question mentally. Vash rubbed his temples, 'Excuse me.' Vash bailed, his head hurting too much to stick around longer. He passed Vix and Kurama and they stared after him with questioning gazes.

"I hope he isn't taking this as bad as Kat is," Vix said. Kurama nodded and hoped that both of them would still be together after the crisis.

^_^

"I'm surprised."

"Surprised at what?"

"That you haven't wished for something selfish."

"Huh? Of course I have."

"Well there's been a few wishes but you've never wished for money or for someone to die. You wish for truly good things-"

"What you mean like a game room in the hut?"

"You wished for the game room to give your friends something to do. You're not in the least selfish."

"Yes I am! I've become dependent on all the wishes I've been granted! I was a wreck when I returned home for the five years I was there!"

"Yes, but you've been wishing wisely and for that I grant you one more wish. Just one but there's a catch, a good one. You can wish for whatever you want. If you want more wishes than ask for it, if you want someone to come back from the dead then wish for it. Remember though, this is the last wish you'll ever be granted….."

'Not if I can help it…'

Kat awoke from her strange dream with a start. She was surprised to find Saku sleeping soundly next to her. Kat closed her eyes and rolled over trying to get back to sleep. She didn't want to face everyone and their questions.

"Just shoot me…" Kat cried as she pulled her pillow over her head to muffle her sobs. Her pillow was soaked by the time she caught music playing. Her sobs quieted and she pulled the pillow off her head to listen to the lyrics.

"…I'm face to face with an angel. How did you get those eyes so blue…?"

Kat sat up and draped her feet over the edge of the bed. She got out of bed and wandered down the hall in the direction of the music. She stopped at the doorway and peered in. "…I'm holdin' heaven in my arms tonight." (A/N: *tears well up, begins to cry* Dev was the one who mentioned this song to me…) The song ended and Kurama stopped singing.

"That was terrible you know," Kat said putting a fake smile on her face, "If you're a member of the Bishounen, then you should know by now that we don't do country western."

Kurama frowned. Everyone else in the room could tell she had been crying too. They saw that she was trying to be cheery for their sakes. "I didn't think it was that bad," Kurama feigned anger.

"Maybe we should rename this band Bishoujo," Jasmine muttered, "Half the guys in it look like girls."

"And that's exactly why we call it Bishounen," Kat said, "All the men are a bit too girly."

The guys of the group growled and muttered insults.

Kat stood there, "Is someone going to hand me a guitar or what?!" Inuyasha handed Kat a double neck. "So we even do a song that requires this?" Kat asked.

Inuyasha shrugged, "Just handed you the closest thing."

Kat rolled her eyes and tuned the guitar, "Let's practice shall we?"

She ran her fingers over one of the strings of one of the necks knowing that the song she chose didn't have a double neck in it.

"The killer in me is the killer in you," Kat told them the song she wanted them to do.

A snort came from her left and Kat was surprised to see Knives sitting on a stool a few feet from her holding a guitar.

He glared at her and snapped, "What are you staring at?"

Kat rolled her eyes and switched to an acoustic guitar. She played the first few tunes and Jasmine began to sing the song that usually required a male voice. The song ended and

Kat picked the next song, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Tanya cracked her fingers and struck the opening notes on the piano. Vash was the main singer and everyone else chorused. Tanya did a great job and Inuyasha praised her when they finished.

Tanya picked the next song and struck the first few Keys to the tune of, "Lose yourself."

Knives surprised everyone by rapping out the song. Inuyasha was the guitarist in the song. ''Since when did this… thing… know music from the modern times? Must have gotten it from Jasmine… He does actually seem like an Eminem fan…'

Kat sung with Knives and they made a great pair. "…I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot…" the lyrics drifted over the house and woke the wolves. Rei and Saku entered and sat off to one side.

"I didn't hear you leave…"

Kat sung and Tanya picked up on an electric piano. Vash played the guitar. Kat switched songs and the group immediately picked up on it and switched to fit the new tune.

"…Don't wanna call my friends; they might wake me from this dream…"

Saku watched, interested and amused. Vix played some other instruments in the background that were her personal touch. Everyone in the group knew how to play guitar thanks to a wish Kat had made earlier. They paused and Kat sighed as her emotions threatened to take over.

Vash rested a hand on her shoulder, "Think we'll ever be popular?"

"Sure we will! In fact, I hooked us a gig!" Jasmine said.

Vix perked up, "When?!"

"Tomorrow at the Hyundai Pavilion!" Jasmine replied.

"Doesn't Aerosmith play there tomorrow?" Tanya asked.

Jasmine grinned ear to ear confirming her guess, "We're opening for them!"

"NO WAY!" Tanya and Vix screeched.

"Isn't the Hyundai Pavilion in California?" Kat asked flatly.

Jasmine nodded, "Indeed it is."

"Meaning?" Kat prodded.

"WE'RE GOIN TO CALIFORNIA!" 

(A/N: I swear to god this story has the weirdest ending in history (haven't gotten there yet though)… I don't know where the hell I came up with it… -_- PLEASE REVIEW!!!)