IT stood before the two men, and IT laughed at them.

Ah, Kyuuzou. So nice to see you again.

Kyuuzou snarled.

Tsk, tsk. Such a horrible welcome.

You aren't welcome.

I don't care what you think, Shadowling. You know, it's because of you that I'm even in this realmn.

Kyuuzou looked uncomfortable.

Kyuuzou, Kyuuzou. So intellegent, and yet so oblivious. I should not explain myself to you, but since I want to see your reaction, I can delay my conquering of this realmn a little while longer.

Kyuuzou stood slowly and walked a few paces away from Kanbei, standing in an easy stance that Kanbei recognized.

Well? Explain.

IT laughed at Kyuuzou's attitude, and a tendril of shadow lazily drifted around Kyuuzou, twining around him in a slow spiral that Kyuuzou dispelled once it reached his chest, adding to IT's amusement.

You see, there are thousands of realmns sitting nicely alongside this one, but most of them are heavily guarded by various enchantments, creatures, and bindings that only one thing can dispel. However, every now and then, in my occasional meandering through the afterlife, I come across a spirit such as yourself; willfull, violent, skilled,driven. You provide a nice little wedge into the realmn you came from, opening the barriers enough that I can infiltrate using you. Using your body, your skills, your intellegence, your manuverability within this place. And I can usually convince my...servant...that what I do is for the good of the realmn, that the horrors I am making them committ will all pay off for the good in the end. But in the end...it is I who wins. The realmn is thrown into chaos, and it becomes mine. You can't imagine how amazingly satisfying it is to see one's work come to completion.

Kyuuzou's hands were slowly finding their way to the hilts of his swords, even as the shadows around him tried to bind his legs.

But you, my dear Shadowling Kyuuzou, seem to have somehow figured out my intent. How?

Kyuuzou's eyes were grim.

You heard my thoughts. I heard yours.

What?

Kyuuzou was pleased to have taken IT off guard.

You controlled me then. I fell asleep, and heard you talking.

IT snarled and the shadows rose high above Kyuuzou's head and dove downwards, each shadow becoming a razor sharp blade. Kyuuzou pulled out his swords quickly and deflected them before exerting his own will on the shadows, pushing them to remain inert at his feet.

And then you escaped me using that...man. Human emotions are so troublesome. But, no matter. You were still useful to me. Oh, what wonderful hatred you evoked in this mislead creature who worked for me, thinking that I would merely allow it to use my powers without cost. Too bad he didn't have the insight you do.

The price?

IT shrugged. His body and immortal soul. He is now a part of me, and...I know everything about you now, Kyuuzou.

That sounded ominous.

See, though, now that you know all this, I have to either eliminate you or convert you. Eliminating you would be troublesome; that takes time and energy. Converting you though, takes as much effort. Tell me, Kyuuzou. If I told you that if you served me again, that I would never harm that man over there, would you accept my offer?

Kyuuzou felt a little lightheaded, and the words seemed to almost make sense for a moment before he pulled himself out of the daze with a snap and snarled.

You lie.

I'm hurt. Unfortunatly, you are right. What attaches you to this realmn, Kyuuzou? Why would you care if it was destoryed?

Kyuuzou thought for a long moment.

I have lived here. he lives here. I fought here. I have memories. I would be betraying everything I am if I let you destroy everything.

IT looked(?) at him for a long moment before laughing.

Very well,then. I have no choice. You die here, Kyuuzou.

With those words, the demon's shape shifted again, and in a moment, Kyuuzou found himself looking at an exact replica of himself, every detail the same. Kyuuzou had a bad feeling, but it didn't matter how he felt about the situation. He had no choice in this matter.

"You die today."

Kanbei watched as both demons charged in and came together with a clash of swords, and was unnerved. For the first time in a long time, he was absolutely helpless against Fate.

---

Kyuuzou lunged in and one sword was caught. He brought the other around, only to have it parried. IT reposed, and Kyuuzou deflected both attacks...barely. The two circled each other, their markings moving sluggishly across their clothes, eyes glowing brightly in the deepening night. Neither of them were tiring; both drew power from the shadows, after all. Kyuuzou was unnerved though, for it seemed that IT knew what he was going to do even before he did. It took half an hour to dawn on him; their styles, their moves were...

"Identical. Yes. I told you 'I know everything about you.'"

Kyuuzou put some distance between them and thought hard, keeping up his guard even as IT tried to distract him, to wear him down and dishearten him. Kyuuzou looked briefly over at Kanbei, and found that the man was fighting off demons himself.

NO! I promised I'd protect him.

He watched Kanbei fight briefly, only to be pulled back to his own duel with IT. Kyuuzou snarled and pushed away, sending both of them back a few yards. He had an idea. He didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a try. Kyuuzou sheathed one of his swords and held the other casually in one hand. He closed his eyes and brought up memories, memories of patterns, of strikes, of parries...

IT attacked, feeling that Kyuuzou was weakening, but was surprised when Kyuuzou blocked IT in a way IT hadn't expected. Kyuuzou disengaged in a strange way as well, but IT recovered, wary. Kyuuzou attacked again, and his movements were odd, not as fluid or quick as IT knew.

Kanbei dispelled the last of the demons meant to kill him, and looked over at Kyuuzou. He watched the fight for a moment, the fighting pattern familiar, but where had he seen it before...?

'That man! The one who I fought, briefly, and that Kyuuzou killed. Hyogo, I think was his name.'

Kanbei was impressed that Kyuuzou was able to fight in a way that was different from his usual style; Kanbei knew he could adapt, but Kyuuzou had some of the most minute details down, from simple flicks of the sword to body langauge.

Eventually, the demon adapted to this new style, and even though he was wounded in a few places, Kyuuzou had been struck as well, cuts bleeding slowly from all over his body. There was another brief pause in the battle as the two circled each other, but as Kanbei watched, Kyuuzou's gait changed, his mannerisms morphed before Kanbei's eyes.This time, he recognized the style even as IT attacked Kyuuzou.

Kyuuzou was using Gorobei's moves.

Kyuuzou ran out of ideas and techniques more quickly than he had before, but he had scored quite a few more hits, and IT was becoming frustrated, though IT's style remained that of Kyuuzou's, as well as having the undeniable flavor of the supernatural. This time the transition came harder, Kyuuzou incurring a wound even as he sought out the rhythm behind the next style he was going to use.

Kanbei saw enough of it to recognize Heihachi in it before he was set upon by another group of demons, these of slightly higher rank.

Kyuuzou was running out of ideas; he didn't want to use Kanbei's tecnhiques yet, lest IT already know those as well. He couldn't use Shichiroji's though, since he had never touched a spear before in his life, nor was their one at hand.

I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought to himself as he brought to mind an image of the big, loud, obnoxious farmer-turned-mechanical samurai. He was pleased, however, to find that IT was surprised by Kyuuzou's transition from obviously skilled styles to one of random, brute force. IT faltered enough for Kyuuzou to score a couple of decent wounds before IT found a way around the attacks.

Not Kanbei's...not yet. Then...?

A large part of Kyuuzou objected to what he was about to do, but when he turned and looked at a weary Kanbei fighting off demons, he decided to push aside his pride to be able to defeat IT. At first, the only image of Katsushiro he could come up with was one of the broken boy he had left behind, but as he fended off IT's attacks using no particular style, images of him going into battle with a manic energy, with a reckless abandon that comes only with youth, he managed to mimic the boy's style.

Kanbei finished the last demon, bleeding heavily from a wound on his arm, a cut across his forehead, and a shallow gash along his thigh, as well as suffering quite a few other minor wounds, and turned to face the other battle taking place.

And found that everything was perfectly still.

Kyuuzou and IT stood some yards apart, each simply looking at the other, both heavily injured, yet all the more determined to prevail. Each slipped into a neutral stance, trying to decide what would do in their opponent. Somehow, though, Kanbei felt that this would only begin the next round of fighitng, rather than ending it. It was only a little past midnight, so both of the demons before him would be at the greatest power.

They moved at the same time.

And Kanbei stared at the aftermath.

'You're kidding me.'

As he watched, a battle not unlike the one he had recently fought with Kyuuzou unfolded before his eyes.

'He's using my techniques!'

IT caught onto this quickly as well, but not before Kyuuzou had heavily wounded it, the damage from all of his attacks and reposes finally taking its toll on the demon's mobility...as well as his own. The two came body-to-body, and IT bore down on Kyuuzou, trying to make him buckle under the weight of a millenia-old Demon's power, and Kyuuzou seemed to be effected by it. He slowly sunk to his knees, holding off IT's swords by a tiny margin.

He then gave the demon a smallsmile, twisted into IT's open arms and shoved his sword back into the demon's torso and ripped up, cutting through bone, muscle,organs, and severed IT's neck, and Kyuuzou's sword rippled with all the ki he had in his body, and both he and Kanbei heard the demon's last scream as Kyuuzou absorbed the power that was gushing out of IT's blood and rebounded it back onto it, sending it far, far into the Nether-World. The swords melted out of the body's dead hands, congealing into shadows that fled from Kyuuzou as soon as they touched the ground, and Kyuuzou pushed Toshiyo off him, looking at the corpse in distaste. He sheathed the other sword, and looked at Kanbei, relief in his eyes.

"Finally..."

Kyuuzou took a step towards Kanbei, and suddenlyfound himself falling, a wound similar to the one that he had created on IT creeping up his body. He felt himself caught by two strong hands and rested his head against the crook of Kanbei's arm. He opened his eyes slowly to see a startled, worried Kanbei watch as his body seemed to pull apart of its own accord.

"I guess...that since he...made me...into what I...am...I am banished...with him."

Kyuuzou found himself falling away, down the same dark passage that he recognized from before, but at a dizzying rate, passing by that which he recognized towards a darkness somehow permeated by peace. He closed his eyes, and blamed the tears in his eyes on the wind that was rushing past him.

---

Kyuuzou had felt that his fall had been halted, but had thought little of it, since the pain and loss was debilitating. He had kept Kanbei safe, but had been unable to stay with him. He found that he could open his eyes and looked up. There was a reflective surface above him, and in it he saw dizzying images, shreds of his past, his present, and dead futures, and his own, confused countenance. He slowly sat up and looked around, hearing talking somewhere in the distance. Lounging a few steps away from him was a vaugely humanoid creature, seemingly created from the essence of Light, its body glowing softly, while it's ice blue eyes turned from looking in a door to focuing on Kyuuzou.

They're talking about you.

Why? Aren't I dead?

Well...you've been dead for a while now, just living on borrowed time from Ts'lekriarch. But since you banished the One I just mentioned, they're rethinking what they should do with you.

Zephikiel thinks that you should merely be sent back to the afterlife. Azariel thinks you should be banished along with the demon. Metrarh feels you should be reborn. Kiriael never makes decisions, he just listens and supports whatever the final decision is. Me, though...ah, I'm apparently too young to be on the council. The creature finished bitterly.

Kyuuzou looked away, sad that he was unable to keep his promise to the woman that helped him. He heard the creature give an exasperated sigh, and then had his head pulled to look into its eyes, the contact of its hands(?) on his face pleasently warm and tickled slightly.

They're never going to come to an decision about you, so I'm doing it for them!

Can you do that?

If you don't tell them, i won't either.

Kyuuzou's mouth twitched into a small smirk.

Kyuuzou, by the Powers that I control, I heal your wounds...

the creature touched the large gash on Kyuuzou's shoulder and the bullet holes, each which filled with a pearly white light

...cleanse you of your Demon Mark...

Kyuuzou watched as the pattern that had still been washing over his skin flickered and dissapeared

...and will return you to life. There are no strings attached, no subjugation of your will. Just two little things so I can bind you to life, the creature ended almost apologetically. You are to stay with Shimada Kanbei and protect him for the rest of his life, and when his time comes, you die with him.

Kyuuzou was mildly surprised.

That's it?

The creature nodded and kissed Kyuuzou's forehead. Now go!

Kyuuzou felt a sudden jerk and the strange sensation of falling up, and he closed his eyes to just savor the fact that he was returning to Kanbei.

---

Kanbei had watched in horror as a wound akin to the one that Kyuuzou had bestowed upon IT worked its way across Kyuuzou's body, crossing from hip across torso and up towards his shoulder. Just as it seemed as if the wound would split out from Kyuuzou's shoulder, it stopped growing. Puzzled, Kanbei continued to watch it, and was amazed/alarmed as it began to shrink back down, internal organs being slurped back into Kyuuzou's skin. As the wound closed, the bright red marks on Kyuuzou's body began to dull, then became black and began to ooze off Kyuuzou's body, but Kanbei resolutely held onto Kyuuzou, even as the marks slithered across his bare wrists, sending chills up his spine at their strange texture. He saw the wound dissapear completly at Kyuuzou's hip, and watched as the bullet holes that had been on Kyuuzou's chest scabbed over, then healed, leaving only small scars to indicate that they had been there, just as only a small, white line remained to mark how Kyuuzou almost died. Slowly, Kyuuzou's eyes opened, and when he blinked, two small red drops leaked out of the corner of his eyes, and dulled to the same color as the marks before dissapearing.

"Kanbei?"

Kanbei looked down at the now-concious man, and smiled softly. "You're alive."

"I am."

"Still a demon?"

"No. Human."

Kanbei was surprised by this, and shocked by the genuine smile Kyuuzou gave him.

"No strings attached this time. A true second chance."

---END

Author: awwwwwwwww. I'm quite happy with this ending to the story itself. There is a kind of epilouge that will make its way after this chapter, but that won't be until a little later. I'm happy with all who stuck with this story! Many, many, many thanks!