Katsu opened his eyes with a groan, wincing as knives of pain stabbed him every which way. A familiar voice nearby caused his eyes to snap open in dismay, and he beheld the immaculately-dressed form of Kijou standing above him.

"Oh Katsu, Katsu, Katsu. When will you ever learn?" She knelt down next to him, and he realized with dismay that he couldn't move away – couldn't move at all. Poison, he realized with a start. A very mild variant of poison, that left him immobile and in pain, but otherwise unharmed. "You always do things like this, Katsu. Why? You know I love you . . . why do you always have to make me hurt you? You must know I don't want to."

Katsu would have taken this time to respond to this if he had been able to, but Kijou continued on, not waiting for a reply she knew he couldn't make.

"I hope you appreciate it, Katsu -- you make me do so many things I don't want to. So many things . . . like that dear old man you lived with. I didn't want to do that, but well . . . you left me no choice, both of you. You really had best appreciate it . . ."

. . . dear old man . . . didn't want to . . . no choice . . . dear old man . . . old man . . .

She said more, but Katsu's brain stopped functioning by that point, the implications of Kijou's words being more than he could quite bear.

Yokuzoma-sensei.

Okay. Point # 1 -- YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!!! Seriously. Check the little number up there by the word "reviews." Yes, it really does say 200. I am quite busy doing the Dance of Copious Joy, thank you. My deepest thanks to everyone who's reviewed -- you make the chapters come faster, and I am not lying. :-D I love you all.

Point #2 -- Before anyone gives me any shit about how late this chapter is, and how short it is for how late it is . . . don't. Just . . . just don't. If you must know, this was written in about 45 minutes. It was what this was going to be that gave me shit for two weeks. Oh, and I officially have no idea how many chapters are left. Less than ten, but beyond that, I don't know.

Kuroiyousei: It is the best line ever, isn't it? Yay me for updating again!

Lychee2: Heh. Silly Lychee -- what makes you think I'll wait till the last chapter to kill Kijou? :-D Unfortunately, I have no plans for her to be ripped to pieces by a fanmob . . . though I might be persuaded to write a little piece to that effect. :-P

blah: And "pthhhhbt" right back at you, dear. ;-)