First, I must prostrate myself on the ground and beg for forgiveness. The lateness of my updates lately has been extremely tiring and I must take all the blame. Leave my beta out of it! Unfortunately, the chapters will now be unedited since Pia's comp decided that non functional is good.

Secondly, the last two chapters will hopefully be out as soon as I write them. I have not yet started on the next chapter of BD as thanks to massive amount of homework and irritation on how to end this story. I know where I want it to go…the thing just won't go there.

Now to thank all of those who have reviewed and waited patiently. I am sorry that I have not had time to respond to all my reviews, but because the number of blessed people who have reviewed, you guys make it impossible.

Side note: I plan on having the next chapter of Blood Dawn out in around two weeks.

Shameless plug: Amber Linings has also been updated for those of you who want a darker story to read.

Ravyn

To answer some questions!

Blood Path is where the Vampire looses control of his Ki after a century of build up of hate. It's the earth's way of letting loose of the hate, death, and evil that has built up. It's activated by the moon every century.

A male vampire can control the mating instincts, and it's only a danger if the person if female. Most males do not change other males (unless it's a male/male relationship) instead leaving it to a female. Most humans are not changed unless they are wanted for a mate, so most likely it will be a female that changes the male.

Kaoru sat at the dinner table, the place where all of her past problems seem to have started and ended, and rolled her sore shoulders. Kenshin had given her a light work out that morning and then had handed her a Katana.

She hated Katanas.

Apparently, this did not seem to waver her amber eyed mate in fact it seemed to solidify the fact that she had to carry one. He had promised her, however, that once this was all over that she could carry his reversed-blade.

The simple fact that the man still had it, that he thought she was going to carry it, and that he did so with that careless manner told her that her lover had forgotten a few things about her temperament. It was extremely frustrating. If he thought that his position as her mate was going to keep him out of the frying pan, well then he was in store for quite a few bumps and bruises.

Kaoru allowed a playful smirk to cross her lips as she remembered Misao's comment from earlier. The make-up sex would indeed be great, but she would never openly agree with Misao where Kenshin could hear her.

"That, my dear Kaoru-dono, is a leer." Misao mused as she walked in, the dono of her statement causing Kaoru to snap out of her daydream.

"Dono?" Kaoru questioned her eyes darkening to a dark navy in irritation. Her past lifetime colored the future when it came to that word, the hatred for the suffix of –dono had spread over more than one lifetime.

Misao tossed her an amused glance as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. "Well that is something you and I have both carelessly forgotten. Kenshin is the 'Prince' of Vampires, so maybe I should call you Kaoru-hime."

The frown on Kaoru's face was dark enough to send Misao into peels of laughter.

Kaoru scowled darkly watching the sun sink even lower on the horizon. There was maybe three hours left of solid sunshine. Come nightfall the streets of Kyoto would irrupt into blood shed.

 Misao leaned over and watched as the citizens of Kyoto all moved around quickly, some fore sense telling them of the danger that was slowly threading through the air.

"Well if this isn't a flashback to the olden days." Misao mused. "Once again in the Aioya preparing to fight bad guys that are going to go crazy with sharp objects and destroy the world as we know it if we don't step in."

Kaoru tossed her an amused glance. "We where dead the last time they killed Shishio!"

"You can't tell me that I wasn't there is spirit protecting my Aoshi! I had not been dead long and I had not been reborn…I could have the ghost of the Aioya! Besides, to you really think Shishio is the only person the Oniwabanshu dealt with. I distinctly remember two or three occasions when I was alive that we took on rival Ninja groups"

Kaoru stood there blinking before she reached for the sandwiches she had made earlier. Even Kenshin agreed that cold turkey with all the fixings was one thing she never messed up. Kaoru eyed Misao and slowly backed out of the kitchen. Misao talking about the Oniwabanshu was all right, Misao talking about being a ghost as she stalked Aoshi…that was something completely different.

Misao nodded to herself, her eyes thoughtful, "Can't you see it? Haunting all my favorite spots and causing mayhem…Aoshi feeling me in sprit as he drank his tea."

Kaoru trudged up the stairs, knowing Kenshin was alone and probably cleaning all of his weapons. Kaoru had discovered that Kenshin was not only skilled with a sword. She had been heading to the underground firing range and walked in on Kenshin firing several variations of guns repeatedly at a target.

When he had pulled the target back in, there had been a single hole in the dead center of the bulls' eye. Kaoru had quietly mused to herself after that, for it really was no surprise to her that Kenshin was proficient in all manners of killing. After that, if Kenshin suddenly pulled a rocket launcher out of thin air and fired it she would most likely just comment on his aim.

It was because of his proficiency with his sword that she always pictured him carrying one, but it appeared that he had just developed his natural skill with weaponry as they developed over time. 

The Battousai would never allow himself to fall behind in the matters of combat. Kaoru snorted to herself as she nudged the door open herself. Balancing the tray she blinked at the sheer amount of explosives, weaponry, semi automatics, and several crude looking devices that looked like they would really do damage to the human body if they were used properly.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked as she found an empty surface to set the plat on. "Slightly obsessive?" She gingerly picked up one of the unidentifiable objects with a touch of asperity.

He walked in with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, his hair a thick curtain of damp strands, simply clad in a pair of dark blue sweats. "No. Just a few things I have picked up over the years."

Kaoru, after setting down the odd object, picked up a grenade with an ease that promised experience, and raised a brow. "A few things? Where exactly do you plan on putting all of this stuff when you fight?" Her lover was only so tall and generally did not have many pockets to place things.

Kenshin shook his head. "I don't plan on much of any of it. I am sticking to my Katana and only a few other surprises. If you see anything here, you want Koishii feel free to use it. But you are taking that Katana with you."

Kaoru nodded absently, her mind going over the possible uses for some of the equipment. Some of it looked like it belonged in a bad horror movie, or old Chinese hospital, but the rest of it had promise.

Especially when in the hands of someone as creative as Misao.

Kaoru felt Kenshin gently press her shoulders back, his long fingers gently pressing into the tense muscles. "You're to tense Koishii."

Kaoru laughed lightly. "It could be that lovely beating you gave me this morning." On the other hand, it could be the fact that where only a few more hours before they where once again fighting for there lives.

Kaoru felt more than saw his smile. Suddenly his hands stilled and she heard him sigh and she knew the conversation she had been expecting for days was coming."

"Kaoru," Kenshin murmured his tone quite. There was reluctance in his voice that told Kaoru all she needed to know.

"No Kenshin." Kaoru told him firmly. "I am not staying here and hiding like a child." Years of reading the Rurouni came to fore as she knew that he was going to be stubborn about it, but she was simple not staying.

Kenshin sighed in frustration. "Kaoru I have already lost you once."

Kaoru stood and placed her hands on his shoulders. She met his burning gaze with her own furious one and shook her head. "No."

Kenshin sighed in defeat. Kaoru had learned how to be even more stubborn in this lifetime than she had in the last. He had known from the beginning that keeping Kaoru out of this was going to be a slim chance, but he had to at least to try.

Kenshin reached up and cupped her face with his hand. "Please be careful?"

Kaoru allowed a smile to grace her lips. "I promise to be as careful as you are!"

Kenshin groaned at those words, knowing that Kaoru would see anything risky he did as an invitation to follow suite.

"You had best get something else on, love, because it's about time for that meeting you talked about earlier to being." Kaoru gently reminded him before she grabbed a bag and thoughtfully began to fill it with some of the more,…explosive weapons he had found himself picking up over the years.

The tray of sandwiches where forgotten as they quickly moved around the room in preparation for that night.

~*~

Sano and Megumi slipped in and closed the door behind them as normal they were the last ones to arrive. Delayed either from Megumi's need to catalogue a few more supplies or Sano's extreme laziness simply slowing them down.

They where all dressed comfortably in dark clothing, but in a fight where Ki was going to be running high such things as invisibility was going to be hard to achieve in the best of circumstances. It was simply a preference to not be seen until they had to be.

Once everyone was seated, they sat simply sat there before Kenshin's voice broke through the silence.

"Thanks to the Oniwabanshu's efforts we have managed to pin point the location that Enishi has been moving his troops into hiding at."

"Not that it was that hard." Okon admitted. "They pretty much had a 'come and get us' sign posted outside of the compound. They are really not putting a lot of effort into concealing themselves from anyone but humans."

Kenshin nodded his head in agreement. "True. It really is a mute point." His smoky amber gaze circled the room. "We know the place, a series of abandoned warehouses, we know when. We know that after midnight, Shishio is going to have perhaps fifteen minutes to aid in the fight, and we all know the danger of this meeting. We all know that they are in it for revenge and that makes the most dangerous enemy."

The memory of the past was something stark, clear and very much a part of their still bruised emotions.

Sano spoke up next. "Enishi is most likely going to stick close to Shishio; the others, the Juppongatana who have not decided to change sides, are going to branch out and handle those who come in to spoil the fun."

Aoshi leaned forward next, this hands folding to support his chin while his elbows where placed on his thigh's, "We are going to have to split up to even out our own power." His eyes flicked to Misao in concerned manner.

"Teams?" Shura's voice questioned lightly. "Are we going to go with what we are used to or are you going to put us with people we are not used to working with?"

"You will be working with people who you are familiar with." Kenshin replied. "I don't want you all to worry about whom and what your partners are doing."

Everyone sighed; some in relief while other realized what this meant and sighed in agitation.

"Soujiro will come with me," Kenshin said flatly. "As will Aoshi, we are going to be the spear head that is going to take on Enishi, Shishio, and whatever tricks Yumi decides to play with." It was an unspoken acknowledgment that Yumi was the wildcard and perhaps, because of this, the most dangerous.

Kaoru bit her lip hard, but realized that if she fought with Kenshin he would worry more about her than his own safety and with two opponents with the strength of Enishi and Shishio he could be hard pressed to keep himself alive. Besides the hate between Yumi and Kaoru was something that could work against them, giving Yumi something else to fuel her dark powers. 

"Kaoru," Soujiro told her, his voice soft with understanding and a promise to watch her lover's back, " You and Misao will watch the East side. Fewer Vampires have accumulated there but there are some nasty things creeping around that you two have seen before."

Vampires, Zombies, and several of their pets then; both women knew what creatures they put together, the half-dead beasts created from dissected animal parts, beasts that they had fought before.

Things that go bump in the night normally really did go bump; when they brought in something new to snack on that was.

"Shura, you and the remaining Oniwabanshu will keep your eyes on the west half of the warehouses, as you all have the most experience with dealing with Zombies enraged to the point of the blood paths." Something that was rare and only happened near or during the Blood Moon.

In other words, the three most likely to tear them apart were busy so would you please keep them off our backs.

With the Blood Moon rising over Tokyo, hidden still by the days feeble rays, it was important to keep Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves separated as there need for dominance would grow and in-group fighting was something that was going to be avoided. Hence the reason they could divide there own specialists into groups depending on there skills.

"Sano, Yahiko, and later Saitoh," A low groan from Sano's corner was silence by Megumi's hiss, "Will be towards the north. You will need the wolf's help tonight Sano'," Kenshin rebuked, "And he is more than willing."

Sano crossed his arms and glared at the man. "You are just saying that because you do not have to work with him. And the only thing he is willing to do is annoy me."

Kenshin tossed him an amber-eyed smirk. "You are giving yourself too much credit. I believe his comment was something along the lines of 'picking up after that raccoon and weasel who do not know their place.'

"What?" Misao and Kaoru growled, there own eyes flashing with an anger that Saitoh would later have to deal with.

"When are you leaving?" Tsubame questioned lightly, but there was a growing worry in her eyes that belayed the point.

"As soon as it gets dark enough to move quietly," Aoshi responded gently. It was unspoken that they wanted to give the citizens time to clear the streets, and since the last market shop closed at 9:30 this night, they would be moving as soon as the streets cleared.

Karou pursed her lips. "What are we going to do about the Blood Amulets?"

Kenshin smiled slightly, his fangs already hinted at with the faint glistening of his teeth, "Megumi has discovered that the use of some blessed bullets crashing into them destroys them well enough, which is why Yahiko is going with Sano to fight them. He has the best eye."

Megumi smirked slightly, but her gaze promised that she would not tell anyone the reason of her discover or the circumstances that she discovered them.

"Good." Kaoru muttered, "Because the Blood Amulets are going to make them so much stronger tonight. The usual amplification because far worse on an actual full moon." She tossed Yahiko a comforting look, the young man did have the skill and eye that it would take.

Yahiko nodded and gently squeezed Tsubame's tight grip in a silent promise to be careful. In order to take clear shots, as he assumed his ammunition was going to be limited; he would have to be still, which meant he would an easy target, which was most likely Saitoh was going with them.

"Communication is going to be limited to the ranges of your group's mental reach. Every group has someone who can either receive or send long distance and they will be the focal point of the messages that are going to be going out." Kenshin's eyes burned into Kaoru's, and she had the faint feeling that Kenshin would be able to hear her wherever she was.

It was comforting, in a small way, but also terrifying because if she let something slip through her mental shields, then he could be distracted.

Everyone nodded and there was more silence, as everyone thought about exactly what was said, and more importantly, what had not been said.

They might not all come back.

Aoshi cleared his throat. "The Tokyo Oniwabanshu will be helping as well, fighting along the streets, as will the rest of Soujiro and Saitoh's defense force. They are likely to have the most casualties, as they will be fighting rouges. Once your area is cleared, it will be best to help them. We shall also be receiving support from various squadrons of police."

Because the main fighting, the one that really counted, would be done where no one could see it. The real burden stood on Kenshin, Soujiro, and Aoshi's shoulders, it would be their swords that either carved a path to peace or shattered with the ending of it all; of everything they had worked for.

Kenshin dismissed them soon afterward, once all the minuet questions had been answered, and everyone disappeared.

Kaoru walked over to Kenshin and wrapped herself around in him in a hug. His arms where tight around her, his Ki settling around her in a comforting hold, "Let's go to the roof for a while shall we Koishii?"

Kaoru nodded, willing to watch the Sunset with him.

The climb up silently, Kenshin no longer having to fear for her footing, but his eyes watching her steps carefully in an unneeded precaution. Kenshin pulled her into his lap once they found the same alcove where they had bound their fates together.

"Promise me," Kaoru whispered against his throat.

"What?" Kenshin questioned, knowing that no matter what she asked he would be unable to deny her.

"When this is over, promise me that we can go back to Tokyo. Together. Promise me that you will come back, that I will not have to live without you. It's selfish, and it probably wrong, but please don't take any unnecessary risks."

"I promise."

"What up with the melancholy shit?" Sano's voice rang with a hint of amusement and irritation in his voice from where he stood with Megumi wrapped in his arms.

Kaoru turned with a glare and noted with amusement that Megumi had already swatted him.

"Come on Busu, we are going to win this!" Yahiko crowed, his eyes lighting up the same as they had at the age twelve. Tsubame was shooting Megumi an exasperated look, both women rolling there eyes at there respected lovers words and attitude.

"You heard them." Misao boomed, her eyes dancing with an adrenaline surge. "We can't loose, not this time!"

Kaoru shook her head and rested her head on Kenshin's shoulder, hearing the faint argument between Misao and Sano, something about the best weapon for slaughtering the enemy, but choosing instead to watch the sun give its last winking light, wrapped around the single solid presence in her life.

~*~

"I swear to everything holy, "Misao hissed faintly; her eyes large, "That if a single spider crawls over any part of my skin I am screaming; be damned the noise or the attention it attracts."

Kaoru rolled her eyes as she and Misao skimmed along the dusty walls, her nose wrinkling. "You would think Enishi would have this place cleaned better." Her face showed her disgust, if anything she was a neat freak, if nothing else slightly obsessive over the state of cleanliness in the area around her.

"Why the hell would something that filthy bother with cleaning anyway?" Misao muttered. "He is the scum on my boots, which means that he needs everything around him to be scummy, so he can feel like he lords over everything. He has to have the largest ego I have ever seen."

Kaoru cringed when her fingers brushed something slimy. "This is just gross; when this is over I am going to need a vat of bleach and a good scrub brush."

Misao groaned in agreement, her boot making a faint scuffling noise as she attempted to remove what appeared to be spit-out-gum, but even with her new sense of night vision, it was hard to tell what the substance was.

"What time is it?" Misao muttered darkly, her eyes roaming the dark area.

"Fifteen till." Kaoru mummered, her fingers playing with the hilt to her Katana in a nervous action, they had been dodging Vampires for about a half of an hour and she was starting to get edgy.

'Are you in place?' It was Kenshin's dark mental voice and Kaoru sighed in relief to hear it, it meant that so far, he was alive and that was something she could hang onto.

'Yes.'

She felt the satisfaction and sighed when he broke the contact. "Kenshin is getting everyone into place." Kaoru warned. Kenshin, Aoshi, and Soujiro where pretty much going to stir things up and it was up to the rest of the group to kill off the leftovers.

The blender method, according to Misao; the plan was like a blender without its lid on, since Kenshin, Aoshi, and Soujiro where the blades and the vampires, werewolves, and zombies where the fruit and midnight was the go button. 

Kaoru frowned as she looked up at the moon, shinning with its normal eerie paleness, but now she could feel the dark Ki it was giving off, or simply activating. It was dark, slimy and Kaoru was very much aware of Kenshin's dark hold on her own Ki, and the shield it made deflecting the clinging, inky stuff.

Misao shivered next to her, swatting at the invisible stuff, Aoshi's Ki taking the edge of the darker goo, but Misao still looked uncomfortable and Kaoru worried about her sanity once they did start fighting. Misao had complained earlier that it was like being attacked by an invisible cloud of mosquitoes…each to her own.

Kaoru looked at her wristwatch and sighed.

Five minutes and counting, and suddenly the light seemed to be so much fainter.

~*~

Sano sighed, being stuck next Saitoh was not something he particularly enjoyed, but he took some measure of thankfulness that the man was not born as a vampire. There was no way for him to access the Blood Ki, which was a relief to the older man. He was sure that if Saitoh had access to it, he would have used it.

Yahiko was tense beside him, his favored gun clenched firmly in his hands, the 'holy bullets' as they had been dubbed, loaded and more ready to go.

"Make sure," Saitoh suddenly said as he unsheathed his Katana, his voice dark. "That you do not get in the way of my sword Rooster-head."

Sano growled quietly but quieted when Yahiko softly told them that Kenshin was getting everyone ready and to shut up.

Betrayed.

T-minus four minutes, and Sano cracked his knuckles in anticipation that got him rolled eyes from both Yahiko and Saitoh.

~*~

Shura watched the movements that those creatures around her had been making, watched as they clumsily moved, there half-formed bodies trembling with the excess power that was now flooding there bodies.

Zombies.

Disgusting creatures.

She met Hannya's cool green eyes and nodded her head, and watched, as his gaze became slightly unfocused as he responded to Himura's mental question.

Three minutes until the world went boom. Shura sighed and wished, not for the first time, for her boat and the open seas. Perhaps when this was over she could drag that cute brown-eyed boy with her to the ends of the world.

Shura smiled, her lips twisted into a shark's smirk, and waited patiently her numb chucks clenched tightly in her fists.

~*~

Kenshin nodded at Aoshi and Soujiro, letting them know silently that everyone was in position.

Soujiro checked his watch as the final minutes ticked down. They had managed to find their way into the main building, thanks to Aoshi's ability to find unnoticeable paths, and where watching as Enishi prepared what appeared to be an altar.

Soujiro looked at his watched and cursed the fact that they are where perhaps two minutes left. They had deliberately not told the women about this part of the ceremony, knowing that it would disturb them and give them the desire to fight here instead of where they were needed.

 A woman was brought out and Soujiro frowned at Kenshin's curse, knowing that something was not going according to what they had originally hoped.

Soujiro, turning to watch, recognized the eyes of the woman, but instead of green, they where dark brown; but still held the same wide doe eyed look as Rei's. Soujiro was putting money on her being a sister to Rei, but it did not matter.

If the mother's death had bought Shishio fifteen minutes, he hated to think what a sister to Rei would add onto that limited amount of time. This woman may have not been a hybrid but she still shared the power in the child, the power that caused this Blood Moon to pulse so violently.

The longer Shishio stood in the Blood Moon's rays, the more power he could buy himself, possibly brining himself back into this world forever.

Reopening the Blood Paths, something they could not let happen. For if that happened then it would cause this world to be ravaged by those who cared little for the destruction of the human race.

Soujiro felt Kenshin move, and he felt his own feet throw him into the fray right behind him. They could not let that happen, for they had promises to keep.

Thirty seconds.

~*~

Kaoru was not sure where they had come from, how they had found them, or exactly what was going on. All she knew was Misao had given her a firm push forward and the next her Katana had been pulled free by her own hand.

Now they where surrounded.

Shifting forward she settled into a familiar stance, and began to go through the movements Kenshin had beat into her the past few days, her muscles quick to recall the movements even if her own brain was struggling to grasp what was going on.

It all stopped when her sword crashed into a scythe and she met a pair of brown eyes glittering angrily at her from the single loveliest face she had ever seen on a man or women.

Eyes that hated her, eyes that told her of her own death. Eyes that somehow showed her more pain than she thought possible.

"Kamatari," Kaoru mummered, remembering the warning Kenshin had given her, of the man/woman whom fought with great skill and whose obsession with Shishio knew no borders. A cross-dressing figure that crossed borders and wielded power in a desperation to obtain something that had for a very long time been denied to him.

Of his need to possess all that Yumi claimed as her own, a fire-eyed man who was covered in bandages and who could inspire loyalty in the same easy manner that Kenshin did.

"So, you are the girl/child that has caused me so much trouble." Kamatari responded, his eyes glittering in an almost insane manner.

Kaoru raised her chin, feeling Misao behind her as they faced both demon and his hell. "Yes. But I am no longer a child."

Kamatari allowed a smirk to twist his full lips. "Then I suggest you prepare yourself Himura Kaoru, because you are going to loose all that you hold most dear, and I shall give your dead body to my Shishio-sama," Misao gave a disgusted groan at the use of her word for Aoshi being applied to Shishio. "Everything that he has ever desired and needed."

He appeared to be talking to himself for a moment. "Everything that that bitch Yumi has not been able to give him, he will love me and leave her," Giving a high-pitched laugh he smiled insanely. "You will die Himura."

Kaoru shifted her stance and held her sword ready, and she was not sure which Himura he was talking about since he had called her Himura Kaoru, but his last words caused her eyes to slit in anger. "Not today."

~*~

"We won't let you kill her." Soujiro hissed, his blade locked hard with Enishi's, his brain not quite registering why or how he was in this position. He could recall the tingling vibration of the air, could recall Shishio's mocking laugh and Yumi's horrified gasp as she laid eyes on him.

He could remember his own determination, but he was still not sure how he and Enishi had managed to be caught up in a sword fight, unsure why he was the one dealing with Kenshin's insane brother-in-law.

"So far," Enishi told him scathingly, "All I see is a little boy trying to do too much."

Soujiro felt his smile slip into place, his emotions turn inward and disappear, and felt the others man's surprise. Himura Kenshin was not the only fighter who needed emotion to fight off of, and so far, only Kenshin had been able to crack his armor. This insane vampire with his crazed eyes glazed over with Blood Lust, half-hidden by glasses, and bleached out hair, was not going to come close to discovering the small cut in his emotional armor.

"We shall see." Soujiro told him as he sheathed his sword and fell into a battle stance. "Come; let's see who the better swordsman is and who deserves to claim revenge."

Kenshin starred down at Shishio, both men's Ki growing in shadow and hate as they eyed the one whom taken away what they most craved.

Freedom.

Kaoru.

Kenshin felt his eyes turn molten, his Ki flaring in a rage so dark it was difficult to see, much less react. "Makoto Shishio." The man who had stolen his happiness once.

"Himura the Battousai," He responded darkly. "I grow tired of your interference." He starred at the man who had stolen his freedom, his right to rule the Vampire world, starred at him; hated, feeling the dark Ki of the Blood Moon sing through his veins.

Kenshin narrowed his gaze and welcomed the sweet strength of his anger, balanced by the razor sharp control of the Rurouni. The Blood Ki could not hold him as long as he concentrated on why he was fighting, and he could feel the blue touch of Kaoru's Ki, her own fire burning away the sludgy touch of Blood Ki.

"And I grow tired of your constant threat on my family." His tone was dark and frozen, silky chocolate that was dangerously angered.

Shishio unsheathed his sword, fire spiraling from the tip, and his bandaged face smirked. "Then let us settle this, this battle shall be the end of everything we have fought for."

Yumi glared at the man in front of her. "Who would have thought all that inner peace would come in handy, Shinomori. But I cannot let you win this, it means too much to Shishio."

Aoshi simply shrugged, his Kodachi still sheathed. "I will not let you interfere Yumi. I have fought your kind before, and you are no match for my will."

Yumi raised her chin, her wine colored eyes flashing. "I will not be stopped."

Their Ki clashed in a fierce battle of wills, both using the knowledge gained after centuries of seeking.

~*~

Yahiko was not sure which was harder to beat, the difficulty of the shot or the annoyance of attempting to block out the dark banter between Sano and Saitoh.

It would not have been so bad if he did not have to rely on his life, his aim, and his dodging skills. If those did not shut up, he might risk a bullet and shoot one of them instead.

"Will you two shut up?" Yahiko growled his voice going completely ignored.

There where days when he really wished for a muzzle, perhaps if he had one then he could shut up at least one half of the arguing. 

Firing again, he ducked and rolled, cursing when he missed, praying that Saitoh's style would protect him long enough to get another off. He did not really trust Sano at this point to be worried about his life, but Saitoh at least would keep one eye on the enemy, even if it was just so he could rub it in later.

Yahiko groaned at a particularly stupid comment that Sano tossed forward and hoped that Saitoh did not decide that Sano's annoying and stupid taunts where evil enough to silence for good.

Only ten more minutes, if everything went to plan, and if they managed to keep Yumi from killing the woman.

Only ten.