A/N: Finally finished the fourth chapter, and after it sat idle for seven months in my computer…that's a long wait.

I went through the earlier chapters, and it hit me just how weak Akabane-san seemed throughout the whole story. (A reviewer pointed out something about it too.) I was trying to be…er…realistic (laughs uneasily). Should have known I really can't and shouldn't pull that one off, I suppose. Especially when the characters are built like sexy bishie supermen.

But, well, I just came up with an explanation on why it's like that. Ban-san said in ep. 49, I think, after he beat Akabane-san…I'm not spoiling the anime for anybody, right? Ah well. He said something about the Infinite Castle being both reality and virtual, how the battles are decided by the strength of wills and that was why he won against Raitei in the first place…or the subtitles in my copy are wrong. Hmm. Anyway, I figure, the way that works, if you're not feeling absolutely confident, your chances of winning get slimmer. Heheh, sorry. I don't follow my line of reasoning too.

Oh, just read Chapter Four.

Chapter Four:

In the eerie-green glow of computer screens, MakubeX looked like some little lost wraith-boy with hair only a touch paler than his bleached skin. He froze, his face betraying nothing while he stared at the feed from the surveillance cameras. But Sakura caught the change in his whole person and saw the mild surprise coupled with indecision written across his calm features as if with an unsteady, unsure hand. She shifted in her seat a little, studying him more closely.

"Is there something wrong, MakubeX?"

He didn't answer, and Sakura knew he was probably doing some quick thinking. His eyes remained glued to the screen where he could see the fuzzy image of Doctor Jackal. There were also several other men with him, but he doubted it was some happy get-together they were having. Things could get, or rather, were about to get complicated. The question was if he should help or not. Jackal could take it the wrong way, and if he thought they meant to interfere with his fun, then…well. Everything would just grow more complicated. On the other hand he had a city to protect…

"Maybe someone should check this out, just in case…" he faltered. "Maybe not…"

"What's wrong, MakubeX?"

Silence. And then a dismissive "Nothing." Sakura watched the boy for a moment longer before she resumed her own work.

--

Fear.

Sometimes Akabane could swear that fear is a tangible thing. He imagined reaching a hand out and plucking it from the air, moving it about his fingers over and over…

He was familiar with the dance of it. The sleek feel of scalpels sliding in place between his fingers. Bodies toppling down, the blood gushing up like water from a burst pipe. The fear that registered in his enemies' eyes as he began to kill them off with a few swipes.

The giant with the meat-cleaver stupidly thought he'd take an opening Akabane offered when he turned his back on him to demolish two more of the thugs. Shouting, he made as if to hurl his weapon at the black-clad man, but suddenly grunted and literally stopped dead on his tracks. The blood that issued forth from his cut-open back sprayed one of his companions behind him.

Gibbering, the frightened man looked down at the front of his shirt and saw a reverse 'J' on the coarse fabric. The still-warm blood worked its way lazily down his chest, and he screamed.

Two more of his would-be-dead assailants leapt at Akabane in a crazy attempt to relieve him of his blades. They clawed at his coat for a good full second before Akabane spared them the trouble of having to stay alive being the sneaky little bastards that they were. Ginji-kun's little castle was still infested with rats, it seemed. Akabane was more than willing to take part in the cleaning, if only to make up for the fact that he was not on a mission and so had nothing else to do.

Three others went down with a dull wet sound. Various parts of the ground were already slick with gore. It was turning into a massacre, Jackal having thrown himself in the spirit of the thing.

But as always happens in fights like these, in all the disturbance a member of the mob had managed to shakily drag himself away from the fight towards the general area of houses, when a nearby door suddenly opened and a little girl peered out, hugging her stuffed bunny with one chubby arm.

The man looked at the child and a sneer tugged his lips back. This was one ploy that always worked! He yanked the girl out the door and held her in front of him, pressing the muzzle of his gun the side of her head. The child sniffled audibly, giant tears welling up beneath her dinner plate-wide eyes.

The man yelled for Akabane to put his knives down.

--

The shout was hardly audible above the high-pitched screams of the dying, but Akabane slowly turned around at the sound, frowning a little as if the man had insulted him, which in a way he did. Those who had stayed alive by some providence and the sheer luck that Jackal had not yet healed saw this as their chance to get the hell out of there, and they took it. The sound of their scampering footsteps echoed loudly in the night.

'…What is this?' Akabane thought, 'Is he trying to appeal to my humanity? Does he think I would be so feeble as to care for weak people?'

Akabane stared at the man practically laughing behind the little girl he held hostage.

'…He must be wishing for a slow, painful death then…'

"You offend yourself by this behavior," Akabane said instead. "And you disgust me by being so weak."

The remaining attacker pressed the gun harshly on the side of the girl's head, his smile a horrible grimace showing uneven yellow teeth. He was sweating profusely, like some animal driven mad.

"Disgust your greatness, don't I? But I have the advantage here! Move, and the little miss dies."

" 'Advantage'…" Akabane echoed with his usual smile intact. "You must have gotten the wrong expression about me. I do not care what happens to the child."

There was a long heartbeat of tense silence. The man's shuffling was turning into a little dancing jig. "Y-You don't want her to die, do you?"

Ginji wasn't exactly there to tell him about the value of a life, so why should he care? No, right then he wasn't seeing the retriever's accusing eyes. He wasn't even thinking about him. Just let the man kill the brat and then make his move. It would be so easy…

"She means nothing to me."

A killer will always be a killer, he thought. He was there to kill, not save anyone. Why should he think of helping her now?

A tiny, tiny voice: "P-Please…"

'She is going to die anyway…'

"HELP!"

The man tightened his grip on the gun, his finger twitching slightly to pull the trigger—

"Wait," Akabane said, surprising even himself. The man looked a little relieved at that, and more than a little smug. The girl was reduced to sniffling audibly and choking on her tears.

Akabane let his arms fall unthreateningly to his sides. He couldn't rightly tell if he was feeling nauseated because he didn't think he would allow himself to fall for such a low trick, or because the blood loss was getting to him. Either way he really didn't think much of playing the part of the hero. It couldn't have been more far from fun.

He needed a plan. His enemy had his back against a wall, so there was no chance that Akabane could move quickly and dispatch him from behind, and he wasn't entirely certain he could do that in his weakened condition anyway. He could dispose of the worthless thug with a well-aimed scalpel to the forehead, but a sudden movement from him could alert his enemy, and then it would be too late for the girl. If there was only enough of a distraction…a little more time…

But he didn't have time. With the adrenaline already leaving his system his wounds were once again making themselves felt; Akabane highly doubted his enemy would wait for him to recover, especially if he asked him to.

Meanwhile, the man, laughing, shivering in fear, couldn't help but gloat a little. "Yes, yes…can't let the cute little missy die, hehe. You miss your mommy, right? Don't worry, you'll see mommy as soon as the doctor lets go of his evil little toys…"

Akabane's eyes glinted dangerously, but he relinquished his grip on his beloved scalpels and they clattered to the ground, looking a lot like squinting, inhuman eyes in the uncertain light. He stared at them as if he didn't know what they were. At least he found out something: the man had no real knowledge of his abilities and the number of weapons he kept, or else he would have been asking him to make a pile of all one hundred and eight of them.

"…and now if he'd stand over there…"

A few steps towards the spot the man had indicated—several feet away from captive and captor. Akabane remained calm, knowing his enemy would sooner or later betray himself, give him a chance to make his move.

"You are proud for someone who hides behind a little girl," he remarked mildly.

"I'm a survivor," the man sneered, "Unlike you!" And he pointed the gun at Akabane.

Akabane had expected it. At the same moment the man brought the gun up and fired, Akabane unsheathed a single scalpel, fully intending to deflect the bullet with it and then go from there. But someone else had reacted sooner than he did.

It was all too quick; a sliver of something, catching light from some impossible source, hardened out of thin air and turned the bullet aside, and then somebody none-too-gently shoved him down from behind. A hoarse shriek. Something heavy that must surely be a body falling. The child's strangled sob. Akabane slowly pushed himself up, his left hand brushing against something on the ground: a mirror.

"You ruined my hat," Akabane said before he could think, looking numbly at the aforementioned object that had landed on the blood-swirled dirt floor when Kagami had oh so rudely shoved him.

"I never expected you to greet me with such a lame statement… And is that all the thanks I receive for saving you?" Kagami drawled.

"I am not some damsel in distress to be rescued," Akabane retorted, picking up his hat and dusting it off. He accidentally sat on the stuffed bunny and he pulled it out from underneath him, his face wiped of all emotion as he stared at the toy. Kagami wondered if he were angry or suppressing a laugh, disliking how he was not able to tell, surprised he should think it truly mattered.

"You claim to be an observer, but you have taken action, apparently without orders from your 'Gods.' I do not appreciate your help, Kagami-kun. I should kill you for spoiling my fun, but I think the child cannot handle any further trauma."

"A gift then." Kagami handed him a stoppered vial. Akabane's face registered a fleeting look of surprise. It was one of Himiko's perfumes.

"A whiff of that can erase the memory of what happened this day. But kids here are really more hardy, Akabane-san, and can take much more than a sight like that."

"Children should be allowed real childhoods," Akabane said in a whisper not meant to be heard. He lightly shrugged the mood away and grinned in his creepy fashion. "My, but you have been stealing from Lady Poison. She will not be very happy when she finds out."

Kagami only smiled back. Akabane stood up and approached the girl, who sat huddled by the door wiping a hand across her nose.

"Here. Your…rabbit." Akabane leaned down and gave her her bunny back. She accepted this gratefully and hugged it to her small frame.

"Th-Thank you. I was scared," she whimpered. While she was distracted Akabane passed the open tiny bottle underneath her nose. The little girl's eyelids drooped, and she sagged in a heap, snoring softly.

Akabane looked at the bottle a moment longer, deliberating, then finally sealed it with the cork again. He held it out for Kagami to take. "I think I want to remember this."

"…As you wish, Akabane-san."

The two regarded each other with unfriendly smirks.

"Why are you here? Do not quibble, Kagami-kun, or tell me a lie about how you happened to pass by. Did you pay those men to kill me? If you did, they would not have succeeded, you know."

Kagami didn't object. "I wanted to avoid another meeting with you. Maybe I was too optimistic."

"Yes."

"It seems we'll have to continue our fight after all. But you see, Doctor Jackal, you're the one who has to retreat today."

Akabane flicked his hand and scalpels flew at Kagami. Not surprisingly, Kagami's image burst into myriad shining fragments, settling on the ground like fine dust.

"Is this what your soul is like," Akabane addressed the air, "Cracked mirrors?"

The only answer he got was a mocking laugh.

"Know that I did not run from you. I think you are the one who is escaping from yourself. Go back to your sedentary city, back to the safety of your illusions then.

"And let us fight some time, Kagami Kyouji-kun."