Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FB characters…all of you should know this by now.

Note: Eee, I'm soo sorry! . I would've uploaded this sooner, but when I stopped for a little while and when I tried to pick this chapter back up, I kinda…forgot what I had planned for the ending. One more thing, I'm absolutely terrible with sticking to one particular tense…so sorry if it gets too confusing. (Also,the QuickEdit program on this site hates me...andit often screwsup theformat of my chapters...So if boldfont, spacing, or italic font seems off or out of place...itis probably the work of the QuickEdit thing.)Now, onward with the fic!

Chapter 7: A Double-Edged Sword (part II)

Sitting on the couch, I felt the pull of sleep tugging at my brain and body. The voice of Black Haru laughing in the back of my mind…The other one telling me to try to stay awake just a moment longer…but it's no use. The abuse to my body is starting to take full effect in consequences. With one final nod of my head, my mind is lost to sleep.

…It seems like I'm floating…I hear the other two yelling threats and shouts back and forth at each other. I sit up slowly to discover that I'm sitting on a cloud…somehow. I think it best to stay still, for several reasons.

"You shall not have our body! You will get out of our head!"

Black Haru laughed, "You don't actually think you can just tell me what I can do-do you? You've lost more than a little blood if you do…"

"Shut the hell up. I'm tired of you taking over my turf and hurting not only my other half, but hurting our friends as well!"

Black Haru scoffed, "Technically, I have touched no one…yet." The emphasis on that last word made the other charge, though he immediately met with the grou-er…cloud because he was still injured. As was I. I felt the same jolt of pain he did…and thus-as they continued to fight-realized that I would have to help…even if I normally don't raise a fist out of malice…If I don't, we will fade out and have a fate worse than death…Our souls-soul…will be lost…forever.

I stood up slowly as I made sure there wasn't a trick to staying on top of the cloud. Once I was steadily on my feet, the one with a few new wounds came over to me,

"You ready to help fight for our body? We have much to gain, but everything to lose."

I nodded slowly and he smiled before walking into me. Our wounds healed and I felt his thoughts overpower mine-for the most part. The next few incidents were very…blurry. I can't see what's happening until it's done or there's a new pain in my side or jaw. After a while, I discovered that I was in control as well-only to be knocked onto my back. Black Haru picked up a, oddly enough, saber out of one small cloud. He raised it to strike, but a voice shattered many of the clouds around us,

"Haru!" This voice seemed to be echoed by the same one that was normally at a whisper.

"Wake…" I shut my eyes at the sound of that second voice, "…up!" The second word echoed at a soft force and I opened my eyes to see Momiji, Hatori…Kyou, and Tohru in different places around me. Two of which looking off at something while the other two blabbered about…something else. What they said didn't sink in as my gaze followed the path of Kyou's and Hatori's…There stood Black Haru, saber in hand…and looking quite shocked. The shock soon turned to an evil grin as he began to walk towards me.

'You're still half asleep. You can't wake until a third one is gone. Since he's merged with you, that means either both of you have to die, or…you have to kill me.'

Fear suddenly welled up within me as the thought of my body being disabled crossed my mind. Black Haru lifted the blade as Kyou's punch sailed right through him. They couldn't help…only watch…this…this deadly dream.

I quickly rolled out of the blades path only to gape as it went 'into' my body…though a heavy sigh of relief escaped when this case was the same as with Kyou. The bodies here couldn't be hurt…only myself and the one with the stupid saber. At first, all my mind would supply as an option was to run, and work harder than usual…lest I wanted my spirit to be decapitated. Black Haru was almost as fast as Kyou…almost. Any faster and his swings wouldn't just take of a strand of hair or two with each swing. After getting bored of hearing the audience's worried cries, he began to talk to me once more,

'You can't run forever…no dumb beast can.'

He flashed an insane grin of pleasure as he saw my facial expression change and I felt myself being controlled by the other…me. (It still sounds weird saying that, even after all that's happened.) A high kick removed the saber from his hand and a swift spinning side kick to his stomach brought him to his knees. He quickly recovered and swung his leg in order to kick my feet out from under me. When my back hit the ground, I regained control and began to run again. He merely laughed as he slowly followed,

'It's a good thing you got rid of the saber, Haru…You would've been bald by the time your passive half had stopped running.' I tripped over a root and my body was taken over once more. I watched as my body got up and quickly climbed into a tree before hopping into another one beside it. Black Haru gazed up into the one he'd seen us climb into. I came down upon him when my body jumped from the other tree, knocking him to the ground and causing his saber to fly from his hand once more. It didn't fly far though and it was soon in my hand just a moment before it entered his back. He let out a scream of pain and knocked us off, allowing me to have control over my own body again when my back met with the ground again. As I slowly sat up, shaking my head slightly from the shock, I gaped at him as he gripped the saber and pulled with one hand…while pushing it back out with the other hand. My stomach suddenly didn't feel so good when I heard a nice squish as the blade slid out. His breathing had become very labored, for good reason too, but he soon began a…gurgling…laugh…Probably from the blood in one-possibly both- of his lungs.

"Not too shabby…You actually managed to deal some hefty damage for once." his smile was none too comforting as started to walk towards me. I sat there paralyzed with fear as I stared at the blood pouring down his chest until a voice screamed out in my head, 'Run! Idiot, now's not time to freeze up!' That snapped my body back into gear and I got up to run back towards the building. I could hear more of his…disturbing laughter as I continued on, and I soon found out what he was laughing at. My physical body was bleeding almost like he was…Thankfully, the damage wasn't fatal and Hatori was busy trying to treat the mysterious wound as the rest of the audience was either crying or trying to keep their previous meal down. 'Damnitdamnitdamnitdamnit….What am I supposed to do now?' my thoughts screamed as I gave up the control of my body to my other half. After looking around for a moment, he dashed off down a hall, Black Haru still taking his precious time in catching up with us…still grinning. I could only wonder what my other half was planning to do as we continued to run. We'd stop momentarily to look within the rooms that we passed. All the while, Black Haru still seemed to be enjoying himself as he kept up his slow walk. "Aha!" came my voice as my other half spotted what he'd apparently been looking for-a weapon of his own, which happened to be a type of katana. It was probably just meant for decoration, but that small detail didn't stop my other half from turning the other way to charge towards Black Haru. The two opposing blades loudly protested when they met. I could do nothing other than watch as they would push one another back and forth, trying to get the upper hand. A quick parry from Black Haru caused the slash from the katana to only scrape his arm-which quickly caused a wound to open up on our arm as well. He hissed out some fairly foul language, which Black Haru happily egged on. "Don't lose your head-it's my job to slice it off!"

'That's it!' my mind screamed out and I watched as he began to fight with somewhat renewed energy, catching what I had meant by that short statement. A few more violent clashes of metal, then suddenly, the katana succeeded in getting past the saber's and it cut through flesh. I barely had time to see his head disconnect from his neck before my world went painfully black.

"…Haru…Haru….Hatsuharu, awake." My eyes slowly opened, only to shut immediately as a rush of pain flooded into my head.

"A-ah…Mhmmmm…My head…"

"Y..yes…That can only be expected…after all, your spirit's head was cut off while your body suffered quite a large gash to the neck." That caught my attention. My eyes flashed open as I shot up-only to fall back down due a sudden migraine.

"Wh-wha? …So…I'm dead?" I said shakily as I sat up, slowly this time. In front of me was the outline of a little girl, she moved closer to reveal that she gave off a faint white glow that matched her hair, skin, and dress. Her crystal blue eyes were the only thing with true color.

"Technically, you should be…but you will not be taken to the land where the dead await young one."

"Hm? …What do you mean?"

"Because this ordeal occurred strictly as a test, you have two choices: 1. Go back to your body with minor wounds and memory of this whole ordeal, of course, any trauma dealt to the people involved with the events will remain. The advantage being that you could get rid of your family's curse. 2. You can return to your body with only a bump to your head, and no memory of the recent events. Trauma to the people involved will be removed, things will be as they were before and the curse will remain with your family." I could only stare into her crystal blue eyes as my mind went numb with shock. We could finally be rid of the retched curse…forever…no more suffering like before…We could live…truly live, with 'normal' people…but…If the curse were to be lifted, Tohru, Hatori, and the others would live with all that weird crap that happened to me…on top of seeing my throat being slashed open for no true reason…crying out as my pulse and breathing halted…I don't think I could bare to put them through that. No matter what Akito's wrath has done thus far, it hasn't been anything like that. The curse isn't so horrible that it's worth trading our sanity for a cure. For the future that may be the best choice, but for my…no, for the rest of our lives…it is not worth that price.

"I choose the second option. I do not wish to make the ones I care about most suffer that much only to gain so little in return."

"Yes. Both choices are like a double-edged sword; if you are not wise in its use, you will bring harm to more than just your target. Your choice has been made, and so it shall be done-now, my little ox…you shall sleep." My mind suddenly became very heavy and as my head began to spin into darkness, I heard her add, "May your dreams never be so deadly again…I grant you the bittersweet-dream that is life." With that, the darkness overwhelmed me.

"Hatsuharu! Are you alright?" I let out a moan and blink at a blinding light that is the sun.

"Kyou! I think you went too far this time!"

"You did give him a fairly large bump on his head…We don't need him to have your mentality, stupid cat."

I sit up slowly as an argument breaks out between Kyou and Yuki as Tohru makes a fuss over the aching bump on the back of my head. Momiji runs around Hatori, as he slowly makes his way over…and as I look upon it all, I couldn't help but laugh. Yuki and Kyou stop fighting, and everyone stares as I clutch my sides.

"Now look at what you did, stupid cat-"

"You damn rat! It's not my fault!"

"Umm…Hatsuharu…?"

"Hari! What's wrong with Haru?"

A haggard sigh is Hatori's response as my laughter subsides into a smile. I'm not sure why all this is such a relief to me, but I hope this feeling doesn't leave me anytime soon. It's better than any dream.

((AN: The end! And-I'm finally DONE! X3 Geez, I never thought I would finish this thing…Sorry for the delays and whatnot. Hope the ending wasn't too bad…it's better than the shark idea I came up with as one ending… Don't ask. I didn't upload that for a reason. Reviews please-And, if ya can't tell, I'm not going to be doing alternate endings for this thing anytime soon. So the best policy is: don't expect anything more for this particular fic. :3 ))