Disclaimer: Yeah, the usual "I don't own Soul Calibur, its characters or its scenario's…" Blah blah blah". Folks at Namco, you lucky devils you…

-A/N: I keep thinking to myself "Man you're slow on this fic. You wanted a Soul Calibur 3 plot, and the damn game is already out...". Oh well, this is where procrastination gets you. try to keep in mind this fic was started and based around Soul Calibur 2, and I have no intention of including the new Soul Calibur 3 characters in (least not QUITE yet, I could probably work a little with Tira...). I digress though, here's:

Chapter 13: Troubled Minds

"I'm a murderer" he said simply, eyes never leaving the floor. He didn't hear a sound from Xianghua, but he was afraid to meet her eyes.

"I killed not in self defense, or because I had to. I did it because I wanted to. To kill with malice is bad enough, but to kill … because you want to… to know you CAN kill… that makes me a monster. It was almost like a twisted hobby…I heard some people go bird watching, or collect items, and then there's me, the one who kills." Takaishi bit his bottom lip to try and control himself. In his brain, there was nothing but the flood of guilt that came rushing through the breach in his psyche. "The first person I killed was my master… then when the other students found out…I had to kill them too. It spun out of control from there. I became a ronin, no…even the lowest ronin has more honor. There was no honor with what I was doing. Just senseless violence and rage."

"Is that why you left Japan?" She asked in a near whisper. All Takaishi could do was nod slightly as he continued his tale.

"I fled because of assassins. They came to kill me, to stop me. When I fled to Shanghai the assassins stopped chasing me… they were just fine with me as long as I was not in Japan." They sat silently for a few moments before Xianghua spoke. In the most compassionate voice he had ever heard, she spoke to him, "Takaishi, you're not a monster anymore though. You're…well…you." She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. Even though she was reaching out to him, Takaishi still couldn't meet her eyes.

"You … You just don't get it Xianghua. I killed countless of people because it felt good. I'm more twisted than the crazed bastard who damned our world." Takaishi's head sank lower as he fought back a sob. Xianghua felt helpless. Silently she sat as her friend poured his darkest secret to her, and all she could do was try to comfort him.

"Takaishi… you're no monster. The fact that you feel guilt now, the fact that you're saddened by your killings makes you even less of a monster. You should come with me on this journey. Perhaps you could make amends with those murdered by helping me defeat the 'crazed bastard that damned our world'" The compassion in her voice, and her reason… it made Takaishi think. Perhaps … he could redeem himself. Perhaps he could even empower himself with the will to succeed in the journey with the guilt he harbored. There were doubts floating amongst his guilt, but Xianghua's voice cast them aside. He looked up at her, locking eyes. Xianghua smiled warmly at him, but all Takaishi could do was look at her helplessly.

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Flames licked the blackened sky as a small rural town burned. Bandits cheered and roared over their newly acquired horde of food and valuables, firing guns into the air. There was only one building left for the bandits to pillage, a small derelict cottage at the edge of the town. Thinking all the townsfolk killed or enslaved; only a few encroached onto the small shack to raid it. Before even one could get completely through the door, their heads rolled along the ground, cut clean off. Someone shouted and pointed to the corpses on the ground by the door, and soon the bandit troupe was back in arms, rifles and pistols aimed to the small cottage.

"Give that shack some ventilation!" The leader screamed, pointing his spear in the shack's direction. Immediately a withering barrage from their firearms lit the night even brighter than the fires. Gunshots rang through the dark for a few minutes before they stopped and the night became eerily quiet. Anything inside the shack would surely be dead by that point they thought. A few more men encroached upon the small, now thoroughly shredded shack. Before they could inspect the damage dealt, something from the inside slashed out a large 'X' along the wall dotted with bullet holes. They turned to run, but never made it more than three steps. A shadowed figure burst through the weakened wall, cutting down two of the men as it landed, then gracefully hacked the other retreating man in half as he ran with a swift pivot of its foot. The bandits kept their weapons leveled, but were stunned by pure fear. A single figure had effortlessly slaughtered three of them and fearlessly faced death.

"You have awakened the demon. Now, who dares challenge the might of Mitsurugi?" The shadowed figure roared. A few bandits fled, but the rest were foolish enough to fire upon the seemingly outnumbered ronin. It became a blur as the ronin deflected and ricocheted the barrage with a series of quick strikes of his sword. A few men fell to their own deflected bullets, and a few more ran away after seeing their comrades fall. The dirty samurai still stood among the wreckage, half his armor lazily slapped on. As quick as a bolt of lightning, Mitsurugi was upon the stragglers. The agonized screams of death and gunshots were the only things heard that night.

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"I don't want to hurt you Xianghua." Takaishi said, looking at her straight in the eyes, "You go without me, I'm just an endangerment." The Chinese girl just stared at him, unmoving.

"Takaishi, you're my friend, and I doubt I could have gotten this far without you traveling with me." She responded, concerned by her friends sudden reluctance to carry on.

"I might wind up killing you, Xiang. You're supposed to be the one who defeats the darkness with the sword of saviors... You're not supposed to die. I thought I had it all under control, but I was just deluding myself. I'm an expendable factor in your journey Xiang." She looked at the ground, and then met his eyes again, this time with more inner strength.

"No, you're not." He looked at her puzzled. Before he could say another word, she quickly embraced him. The words he were about to utter lost again in this new embrace.

"Takaishi, you've been with me practically this whole journey, you can't just bail out on me now." She said into his shoulder, "Besides, I won't let you." Takashi looked at the Chinese girl with an odd mix of confusion and comfort. His eyes turned to the ground, unsure. "You're the only friend I have anymore. I can't do this alone Takashi. It's just too much to do alone. Expendable… you're nowhere close to expendable to me."

Takaishi sat in shock. The girl who was hugging him for almost dear life had somehow wormed his way into his heart. Even though he wanted to leave, even if it was for her own safety, he just couldn't. Almost as if in defeat, he smiled slightly, and returned her embrace.

"You win… just this once Xiang, you win." He whispered.

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Mitsurugi stood silently in front of a pile of corpses, his presence illuminated only by a small flicker of light. Underneath the mountain of human bodies sat a large bonfire. In a matter of minutes the combination of cloth, oil, and human flesh would erupt fully into flames. The dirty samurai sat silently reflecting about the dead. The villagers that were slaughtered never were really kind to the ronin, and he was never kind in turn. Rarely would he leave his shack, if only to help defend the village or stray out to get food. Without him, the village would have been burned long ago though, if not to bandits then to demons. It was a mutual pact not meant to last, his shelter and food for their protection. It was the first time he wasn't able to defend the village. In anger, he slammed his fish into the dirt.

Why did he care so much? Why were these people important to him? He didn't understand. They saw him not as a human being, but as a demon. A demon of the sword they called him, not out of respect, but fear. Perhaps that was why they didn't help him, that they feared him. When he lay mortally wounded by a demon, bleeding profusely from his back, they stood staring. Not one of them approached to offer him a helping hand; even after all he had done to defend them. Instead, Mitsurugi struggled weakly to his feet and shuffled across the village square to his shack, the villagers giving him a wide berth. Was it the villagers fault then that they died while he was still recovering? After all, if they had helped him recover, perhaps he could have fought.

No matter how much Mitsurugi tried to blame the villagers, there was the looming guilt in the back of his mind. Again, he slammed his fist into the ground. The scent of the now-burning flesh filled his nostrils.

"This place reeks of the dead, and of demon." A light voice echoed in the emptiness, faint enough to be drowned out by the roar of the pyre. Instinctively the samurai stood, one hand placed on his sword, ready to draw.

"So, still killing, again and again. Are you looking for that cursed sword still? Massacring a small village and its defenders to further your twisted little search?" The ghostly voice echoed again, a little closer this time. This time, Mitsurugi picked up on the voice. It was strangely familiar to him from his travels, even after years of staying in the village.

"They never stood a chance did they?" The voice emanated from behind him this time. He whipped around only to see the dimly lit remainder of his former home. Then the memory hit him. It was that ninja woman. The one that had hunted him during his search for the Soul Edge. The almost smug tinge to her voice gave her away.

"For your information, wench, I only massacred the massacres." Mitsurugi bellowed to the darkness. She had some nerve to insult him; after all, he was giving the villagers a funeral pyre, something he didn't do for his victims. That's when the unexpected happened. Out from the darkness came the demon slayer, but not ready to fight. Instead, her weapons were sheathed, and her hand no-where ready to draw. Her demeanor and attitude threw Mitsurugi off. Every time he encountered this damned woman, it was always by ambush, or some form of conflict.

"Hm, my mistake. I didn't notice the other bodies at first." She nudged her head briefly in the direction of the soon-to-be mass grave of the bandits.

"And you won't get another chance to make another mistake, wench." Mitsurugi still stood, ready to draw and cut the woman in two.

"As I expected you to say if I approached you like this." The woman sighed. Relaxed, she walked towards Mitsurugi and the pyre, stopping only just outside of Mitsurugi's draw range. His arm stayed tense and his eyes remained unblinking as they stared into hers.

"Stay your blade, I have no quarrel with you anymore, and you don't seek that cursed sword anymore, do you?" She put her small pack down at her feet and stood staring silently at him. Very slowly, Mitsurugi stood up straight from his crouched position, though his hand never left his blade. The woman nodded, and smiled slightly.

"What do you want?" He asked forcibly. The pyre behind him light up her face as she walked closer. The dirty samurai tensed his arm again, but she walked past him, looking at the fire.

"For once, nothing. At least not from you." She said, looking back over her shoulder at him, "At least it wasn't by demons, far more painful than a swift bullet…" she murmured. Mitsurugi was confused by this woman. She approached him, unarmed and passive, no intent to fight. For some strange reason, he almost trusted this woman. Every time they had met in conflict, they had forged a bond. If not enemies, then rivals. Now his 'rival' approaches him with no will to fight anymore, what is he to do?

"You reek of demon." She said flatly, her back still facing him. He cocked an eyebrow and walked up to stand next to her.

"And that is supposed to mean?" He stated, glaring at her.

"Simple enough, your reek of demon. Judging by that scar on your back you were wounded by one. That mark reeks." At the mention of it, Mitsurugi reached behind him and felt the scar. Taki turned her head to look at her long time rival's eyes.

"I actually came for one thing… I need your help with something." Again, he cocked an eyebrow at what she said.

"I need to kill someone, rather, something. If we manage it, these damn clouds can be lifted." She looked up to the dreary sky, almost sadly.

"You'd think a woman of the shadow would enjoy this curse." She looked back at him, then stared into the roaring pyre.

"That's what this is. A curse." Taki said, a tint of sadness in her voice.

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End

-A/N: Wow, I sure got cliched in this chapter. I swear, I won't get any more cliched in this fic (I hope). Anyway yeah. So basically the traveling groups are: Talim/William, Takaishi/Xianghua, Siegfreid/Sophitia/Cassandra, Mitsurugi/Taki. Feel free to contructivley critisize this, as I had no proofers beside myself. If you don't want to post a comment but give me some suggestions, feel free to email me them. I feel like I'm not adressing something here, but it's 4:30 in the morning, I've been listening to nothing but Asian Kung Fu Generation and I'm tired. So R&R please

Ciao