Author: I am giving you all advance warning. This is the -only- chapter that is making me consider bumping up the rating to M. This chapter has lots and lots of violence. Gruesome descriptive violence. Do not read if you either A) have little tolerance for blood and/or violence or B) like Katsushiro. I feel now that I have given you fair enough warning. This will probably be the most gory chapter. You can probably skip reading this,for while it has significance to the story, it isn't entirely necessary to understanding the plot. Thank you. (sweatdrop)

Kyuuzou stretched, trying to adjust the weight favorably on his back. It was strange, only having one sword. He'd have to get a new sheathe.

Or you could get Kanbei's sword back.

That interested Kyuuzou. 'Where is it?'

With Katsushiro.

Kyuuzou was not surprised. Kanbei would do something stupid like that.

It's time for me to fulfill part of my side of the deal.

Without warning, Kyuuzou felt the world collapse around him and everything became black.

Kyuuzou rebounded quickly from the transit that the demon had put him through and looked around. So, this is where katsushiro made his home. Quiet, secluded...the perfect place for meditation and training.

Unfortunately for katsushiro, it was also an ideal place for murder. No one to hear. No one to help.

Kyuuzou silently entered the house, his presence muffled and his steps making no sound. He looked into the room adjacent to the main room, and saw Katsushiro asleep, and smirked. He saw Kanbei's sword leaning on the wall near Katsushiro's head, and also noted that katsushiro slept with his sword near at hand. He thought for a long moment, and planned out how he would retrieve the sword. He walked around katsushiro, passing near his head, only the slight flutter of his coat marking his movements. He picked up Kanbei's sword and walked back the way he had come.

'Stupid and sloppy. he still isn't observant enough to be a samurai.'

He left the house, and looked at the sword in his hand. He abruptly felt his body stop, and he would have fallen forward had his body not prevented that.

You said you wanted to kill him.

'He's not a challenge as is. He never noticed me in the house, walking around him,or even taking one of his possessions. He's not worth my skills.'

Kyuuzou was suddenly flooded with a bloodlust stronger than he'd felt in many years.

You will kill him. It was one of the things you wished to accomplish.

Even as Kyuuzou struggled against the red wave, he felt his body place the sheathed sword on the ground gently, almost lovingly. He drew his swords and looked at the blades as they shone in the moonlight. His eyes focused on the house and he walked leisurely back into it, as silent as before.

To wake the man he would kill, he cut a support and left the house again as it began to lean down on Katsushiro.

The feeling of the night air on his skin and the sounds of the house falling woke Katsushiro up, and, startled, he grabbed his sword and cut an opening in the roof that was falling on him large enough to escape unharmed. He looked back at the room with a forlorn sigh.

'How could it have fallen? I was sure it was secure.'

He went over and looked at the support, and noticed that it had not broken; rather, that it had been cut.

'From the INSIDE.'

Katsushiro turned quickly, hand hovering over the hilt of his sword. His eyes settled on a figure cloaked in shadow standing two swords' length away from him.

"Who are you?" Katsushiro demanded.

The figure said nothing, but attacked. Katsushiro met his blade with his, before he felt his feet swept out from under him. As he sought to turn in the air and catch his fall, he felt his grip on his sword loosen and even as he rolled away from the attacker, he felt something was wrong. When he looked at his hand, he gasped. All the fingers on the hand that had been holding the sword were neatly cut off, only his thumb remaining, its hold fragile on his sword. He gripped the sword with his other hand, and stood up, a more wary of his attacker. even as he squinted to make out the outline of the figure, it was as if he was looking through water, everything blurry about him. Maybe if he was closer he could see better. He charged and dealt a down-sweeping blow, which the attacker nimbly sidestepped. Katsushiro felt the sword slip in his hands again, and no matter how hard he tried to hold on, it kept on slipping. He looked at his hands as he recovered from his charge, and gasped. Only the sheer strength he hand built up in his arms and hands were keeping the sword still. He had no fingers, no thumbs. Just palms. He glared up at the attacker, careful, yet feeling the growing haze that came whenever he battled. Even as he braced himself, the attacker moved, too fast for katsushiro to follow. He saw his sword fly away from him, his hands from the wrist up falling with it. He was hit hard in the stomach and was sent flying into a tree. He gasped up blood and as he tried to orient himself again, he felt a sword pierce his left elbow and twist. katsushiro felt all the bones in the joint snap, and the tendons that connected the muscle were ripped apart, sending the now loose muscles crawling up and down his arm, bunching at his shoulder and the bloody stump of a wrist. he swung his right arm around, but felt his forearm neatly cut off, as easily as if his arm were paper. The sword then entered his right shoulder, and the blade dislocated his arm and tore the muscle past the point of ever healing. The attacker stepped back into the clearing, as if admiring his handiwork. Katsushiro struggled to his feet, bracing his back on the tree to be able to stand up. Panting from pain and bloodloss, he glared at the attacker.

"Who are you?" he rasped, swaying on his feet.

There was no answer besides a cold, focused anger.

Which slowly turned into consideration. Yes, that would do quite nicely, the silence said.

katsushiro did not like feeling vulnerable or weak; he had grown! He would show that he could still do some damage! With a yell he charged the attacker, and swung his leg as if to kick him on the side.

The warrior once again did a graceful sidestep before slamming the flat of his blade into Katsushiro's hip as it passed him, breaking it beyond all possible repair. katsushiro managed to remain standing on one foot, and he was shivering. How could someone possibly be this good! As he wondered, he felt too late the warrior on the side of his good hip. The pain hit him after only a moment, and he fell to the ground, unable to move, his face grinding into the dirt. With a supreme effort of will, he managed to turn himself over to look up at the attacker that stood over him. What he finally saw made him shiver.

Glowing red eyes bored into his, filled with such malign hatred and pleasure that it took katsushiro's breath away. The attacker was looking at him, as if trying to decide what to do with him next.

"KILL M-!"

His attacker had lunged in and stuffed his forearm into Katsushiro's mouth, silencing him and choking him. The muffled sounds of distress seemed to give the attacker an idea. With his free hand he tore off a large strip of cloth from one of katsushiro's sleeves, and then replaced his forearm with the bloody ball of cloth, pushing it back far enough to block air from entering katsushiro's lungs.

The boy struggled frantically, but without use of arms or legs, he simply tired himself out more. As his air started to run out, the moonlight finally shifted into a position which Katsushiro could see his attacker's face. He stopped moving from both lack of air and shock. As darkness closed upon him, the thought that would haunt him was of the cold revenge and satisfaction in glowing red eyes that did and did not belong to Kyuuzou.

Kyuuzou waited only a moment when he was sure katsushiro had probably incurred debilitating brain damage before pulling out the cloth and watched as Katsushiro's body reacted instinctively, drawing in huge gasps of air, trying to keep the body going even when the mind was broken.

You will kill him.

'He is dead, as far as I am concerned. If he does not die of bloodloss, he will die of infection. And even if he survives both these and gets mechanical replacements for the limbs I have taken from him, his mind is still shattered. He is dead.'

Kyuuzou left the shell of the boy turned man behind him, and after picking up Kanbei's sword, he melted into the shadows of the forest.

Author: Flames are welcome and appreciated: )