:: Chapter 1 ::
The cold, metallic walls covered with gigantic pipes loomed around him. Raiha was alone in the room. Waiting. The longer he waited, the more unease he felt. It gnawed at him incessantly and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling off. Absently, he fingered his Raijin. He could feel the strong, malevolent energy emanating from it. Its power repulsed him… yet, in a small crevice of his mind, he knew he also felt a tinge of excitement. So he stood there waiting… Waiting for the inevitable battle that was to come.
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Fuuko skipped across the hallway in the structure known as SODOM. She thought of Yanagi, the girl who had become like a sister to her. Memories of all the good times they had together, mostly silly ones, flooded her mind. Yanagi, you silly goose. Fuuko smiled to herself. I'll get you out of this god-forsaken place immediately, Yanagi-chan! Fuuko punched in the number sequence for the automated lock at the end of the hallway. When I'm there, you won't need to cry anymore! She waited as the metal doorway hissed to life and opened slowly.
A bleeding figure, reeking of burnt flesh suddenly pounced at her, eyes and mouth wide in a tortured scream.
"AHHHHHH!!!" Fuuko screamed in shock, instinctively jumping back. "What the hell?"
The figure collapsed onto the floor moaning. "I've been… beaten…" he groaned, before succumbing to silence.
Fuuko stood over the fallen figure, her mind racing. An Ura Uraha… did one of the Hokage beat him for me? It was a possibility yet… No… only I chose this path, ONLY I!
Gathering her resolve, she gingerly stepped over the unfortunate Uraha into the huge room before her. The room consisted of a raised platform in the middle of what seemed like a water tank. A narrow metal bridge linked the entrance to the platform. Large metal pipes and pumps covered practically every inch of the room.
But the room was far from empty. In the middle of the platform stood a lone figure, his back towards her. The wind from the air vents swept his long hair back, his clothes gently ruffling in the wind.
Fuuko squinted her eyes to get a better look. Behind her, the Uraha was moaning something. "Help me… Aoi-sama…"
The guy on the platform looked very familiar… a lot like… "Raiha? Is that you?"
"Raiha-kun!! You really came! Wow, it's true then! Wherever I go, I'll still meet up with you!" Fuuko shouted elatedly, running across the bridge with a happy grin on her face.
Raiha turned his head slowly and she stopped abruptly, her smile fading.
He had a look of poignant sadness on his usually smiling face. He looked at her mournfully, his eyes ever so gentle and soft, and smiled at her ruefully. She thought of the normal, smiling, perpetually cheerful Raiha. Raiha… he defeated that Uraha guy?
"You came after all… Kirisawa Fuuko," he said sadly. "You shouldn't have. Fuujin and Raijin, destined to fight one another. Two madougus created by two different people."
Fuuko looked at him quizzically, almost expectantly. She arched her eyebrow, as if saying, "Yeah so?"
"One to help people… and the other to kill," he continued, his demeanor never changing. "Kokuu's Fuujin…"
Instinctively, Fuuko glanced at her Fuujin, her trusty battle companion since the day she received it.
"… And Kaima's Raijin."
Just as he said that, the monstrous, insect-like bracelet on his arm actually began to lash its "tail" around. It looked like one huge, evil-looking spider sitting right smack on Raiha's hand. It gave Fuuko the creeps. Not only that, Raiha was starting to scare her too.
"Our madougus are like a pair. They call to each other strongly. Why do you think we keep meeting by chance, Fuuko? Our madougus are calling to each other like no other!"
Is it only our madougus that draw us to each other? The unbidden thought wafted into Fuuko's mind and suddenly, she dreaded what he would be saying next.
"Why Fuuko? Why did you choose this route?" he asked her softly, regretfully.
Fuuko didn't like what this was leading to one bit. Anger flared up inside her, bright and hot.
"Enough!! Stop staying all these things!" she shouted angrily. "I know you're supposed to be an enemy, but you've been there to rescue me whenever I need you!" Raiha, I thought you were my friend, she thought silently.
Raiha swallowed the huge lump forming in his throat. God, how he wanted to shut up and tell Fuuko that he was only joking. He wanted to start smiling and stand there waiting for Fuuko's good-natured punches. But we can't always get what we want, can we?
"I'm Kurie-sama's ninja. I will kill whoever he wants revenge on, be it Mori Kouran, " he paused. I'm sorry. Steadying his resolve, he kept his face an expressionless mask betraying no emotion. But inside, his mind was a whirl of emotions.
"Or even you."
Fuuko stared at him in shock. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. How could Raiha announce in such a dispassionate manner that he wouldn't mind killing her? Her heart felt like it had been pierced by the keenest blade ever wrought. She could feel the hot tears slowly filling up her eyes, threatening to spill over.
Raiha saw all these and his heart nearly broke. He could feel her pain as acutely as if he was feeling it himself. He hated to make girls cry and he never did. But here he was, forcing the strongest girl he had ever known to become close to tears. But he had to make his point. With one swift, practiced move, he sliced her left shoulder with his katana. Not deeply, but enough to draw blood.
Fuuko was obviously unprepared. With a gasp of pain, she knelt to the ground, clutching her wounded shoulder.
"Please use the Fuujin, Fuuko. Release the power of the true kaku that I returned to you. Otherwise, I'll simply kill you," he said, brandishing his Raijin which sent out sparks of dark electricity. Although he sounded calm outwardly, he was far from being calm inside. So here, the painful battle begins. Raising up his right hand, he allowed the Raijin to gather up electricity.
He's serious, Fuuko thought in horror. Dead serious.
She refused to give in to her hurt and sadness, so she cried out angrily, "Stop it you idiot! Weren't we supposed to fight together and defeat Mori? Argh, you are so dense!! I don't want to kill you, idiot!!"
Her pleas seem to fall on death ears. The arc of deadly lightning sped towards her with unnerving speed. It illuminated Raiha's face, as impassive as a cold, emotionless statue.
Fuuko could only see the blinding, bolt of electricity, filing her entire line of vision, spelling her doom. It was too late to do anything. Just too late.
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A/N: Ok, I know that I just wrote down practically everything happened in the battle in vol. 30. So sorry for the spoilers! The thing is, although I really liked the ending of the FoR manga, I decided that it didn't have enough focus on my two fave characters, Fuuko and Raiha. Basically, I wanted to inject more of their personal feelings into the story and shift more focus onto them. Consider this a rewrite of the last few volumes of FoR! So once again, comments are greatly appreciated! No point writing a crappy fic right? And my thanks to those who reviewed! ^-^