Chapter 16: Do they know?

Why was it that even though he was standing right beside her, he still felt so far away? All that had happened, everything she had said to him only confused him more. He didn't understand why she was doing what she was doing, or why she was running away.

He wanted to help her so badly, but knew it was hopeless as long as she refused to let him enter the dark world she had immersed herself in.

-

She charged forward, spinning the staff in her hands expertly and swinging it down as she approached Say. It was easily blocked by Say's large sword, however, and they both pushed off each other to land several feet away from their opponent.

"You don't have to do this," Kyouri growled, attempting to reason Say out of the fight.

"Pfft, you really are a naïve little kitty, aren't you?" Say laughed, resting her large Mediterranean sword on her shoulder. Her eyes darkened. "I can never disobey Father."

They charged once again, and, after a flurry of swings, Kyouri landed with a grunt as Say landed gracefully on the ground. A few drops of blood stained the ground under Kyouri, but Say seemed unharmed.

"Why are you holding back?" Say hissed as she clenched the hilt of her sword angrily. "Don't toy with me, dammit!" But just as she said these words a thin line cut its way across her cloak, causing it to fall apart and drop to the ground around her.

Say frowned at the cloak that was now in a heap at her feet, then glared at Kyouri. "That was unnecessary." The Kenshin-gumi looked on anxiously, watching the fight with wide eyes. "You just shredded my favorite cloak!"

"Serves you right for wearing it to a fight," Kyouri snorted with a smirk.

"It was a gift! Dammit, Kyouri, I got that for my birthday!"

"Stop complaining! That thing was out of style, anyway."

"Compared to what! Your hooker clothes!"Kyouri narrowed her eyes at Say, obviously thinking that was a low blow. Say, however, just stuck out her tongue at her cousin.

"What are they doing?" Kaoru mumbled, dumbfounded at the two girls' strange behavior. "It's as if they're sisters or something."

"Let's finish this," Kyouri grimaced, returning to a fighting pose.

"Well, if you're so insistent to end this little fight," Say grinned, flipping her sword so the tip was pointed at the ground. "Then let's not waste any time, shall we?" She let the sword fall to the ground, so that it was sticking straight up. With her hand on the hilt, Say muttered a few words under her breath, grinning wickedly at Kyouri the whole time. After a moment, she took the sword out of the ground with a smug expression on her face. "I don't believe I've shown you this little trick yet, have I?"

A few seconds afterward, Say's ominous words still echoing through the courtyard, the ground began to shift and churn, as if it had come alive.

"Wh-what's going on?" Yahiko faltered, panic in his voice evident. The rest of the Kenshin-gumi looked on in awe as large bulges appeared. They quickly grew as the sand and dirt continued to shift, and soon took on human-like characteristics.

After only moments, Say was surrounded by a small army of look-alikes, all wielding their own swords and all made of sand.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Sano yelled, voicing the feelings of all the Kenshin-gumi (although they chose to be more subdued about it). "What the hell are those!"

"Sand clones," Say said simply, not shifting her gaze from Kyouri. With a smirk, she issued a single command, "Attack."

The sand clones swarmed towards Kyouri, large swords pointed straight at her as she braced herself for the onslaught. They all attacked at once, from all sides, and Kyouri found herself swinging her shaft around wildly in an attempt to keep them at bay. But as soon as she decapitated or pierced them, they quickly regenerated their lost limbs and kept up their attack.

"Come on, Kyouri, just give it up," Say said with a slight grin. "They'll never stop. Unless, of course, I die, but until then I can always make more."

Kyouri used a spare second to shoot her cousin an angry look, then with swift motions made herself an opening. She shot out of the brawl and appeared a split second later with her blade pointing straight at Say's throat.

"Call them off," she demanded, panting from the exertion.

"Or what?" Say challenged, amber eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Or I'll kill you."

"In front of your friends?" Say smirked. Kyouri gave a small jolt of surprise, then glanced at her friends still standing on the walkway of the dojo. They were all looking incredulously, waiting to see what she would do next.

"Mistake," Say hissed. With the hilt of her sword, Say knocked Kyouri's staff out of her hand and kicked her back. The clones, which had been waiting eagerly, jumped at Kyouri in one large mass of earth. She felt completely helpless, trapped in a raging sea of sand, as she was knocked around violently. She felt the ground beneath her sinking, and only managed to give a cry of shock and pain as the ground completely swallowed her, the clones blending together to coat the top of the ground.

Silence as the Kenshin-gumi realized what had just happened. The area where Kyouri had been fighting for her life seconds ago was still and peaceful, seemingly ignorant to the dark magic that had caged a live girl within.

"Kyouri…" Sano muttered, brown eyes wide with horror. He turned to Say, feeling a surge of anger flow through him. "You… You BITCH!" he yelled, charging towards the demoness. Before he managed to reach her, however, she spun around and slammed her sandaled foot into his face, sending him staggering backwards towards his friends, who had come forward, prepared to defend the ex-street fighter.

"You… you killed her…" Sano shook with anger as he wiped the blood off his throbbing face, glaring at Say with intense bronze eyes. A break in the parting clouds above them let the silver moonlight filter through, allowing him to see the solemn expression in Say's amber eyes.

"Don't be stupid," she spat angrily, "If I did that, she wouldn't be the only one to be killed. In fact, I'd probably meet a worse fate than her."

"Then…" Sano's eyes widened as Say tapped her foot on the ground twice. Another swell of earth appeared to their left, and Kyouri appeared.

She coughed out sand, her eyes squeezed shut and full of small grains of dirt. She tried to move, but realized she couldn't. The ground was still wrapped around her, even if she was above it, making it look as though she had been crucified, both arms straight out to the sides and her legs locked together.

"Kyouri!" Sano exclaimed in surprise just as she managed to force her eyes open.

"Wha…? Sano?" she mumbled, her eyes focusing on the people in front of her. Her head was throbbing, and she was struggling to recall what had happened.

"Let her go!" Sano yelled at Say, clenching his fist in front of him.

"No can do," Say replied simply, lowering her eyelids at him in an exasperated expression. "I still have a job to finish, and I can't let her get in the way."

"Like hell!" he yelled, drawing his fist back. She prepared to block him once again, but he was suddenly much faster than before. She was sent flying backwards as his fist collided with her face. She landed roughly, her sword lying on the ground where she had been standing moments ago.

"You're gonna regret that, human," Say growled, getting up.

"Say, stop it!" Kyouri yelled, hoping to stop her cousin from impaling Sanosuke with her talons.

"Let her come, Kyouri," Sano grinned haughtily, cracking his knuckles, "I can take this bitch. We'll see who's human once I'm through with you."

Say gave him a bemused expression, then threw her head back and laughed, "You know, you'd think that by the way he talks he'd never heard of a demon before."

A cold chill went up Kenshin's spine, and he quickly said to Sano, "Don't do anything stupid, Sano… Something is very wrong here."

"You're not taking her seriously, are you?" Sano smirked. "She thinks she's all that, calling herself a demon, but I've spent ten years in the hell of the Tokyo underworld."

"Kyouri, what is going on?" Say asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. Kyouri was avoiding Say's eyes, however, and was gazing stubbornly at the ground with a cloudy expression.

Realization dawned on Say, and she did a double take. "You mean… you haven't told them?"

"Say, please," Kyouri whispered so only Say could hear, "Don't say anything."

"Dammit, I have no idea what's going on, but I swear I'm gonna pound your ass into the ground if you don't let Kyouri go!" Sano yelled angrily. Say didn't answer, however, and simply gazed at him with a troubled expression.

"It's time for you to stop living in a dream world, Kyouri," Say said darkly, "It's time to wake up."

"Say!" Kyouri cried, but it was too late. Say had charged forward with the speed of a demon, and had Sanosuke by the neck with her long talons.

"Boy, listen to me," Say growled as Sanosuke stood dead still and the others around him tensed but stepped back a little. Kenshin's hand was on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw if she gave any sign of wanting to kill Sano, and Kaoru and Yahiko were both gripping their bokkens anxiously. Megumi was standing on the walkway, ready with her medicine box to treat any wounds, though she deeply hoped she wouldn't have to.

"Who the hell are you calling 'boy'?" Sano growled, glaring down at her. His eyes widened in shock as he looked into her amber eyes, realizing that instead of pupils, there were black slits glaring back at him.

"You are a boy, human, especially to one such as myself, who has lived more than fifty of your years," Say continued. "I wasn't joking when I said I am a demoness." There was a thick silence, so quiet that it seemed they even stopped breathing. Say shoved Sanosuke back gruffly, releasing her iron grip on his neck as he staggered backwards.

"You're… you're a demon?" Sano echoed, baffled.

"Now you're getting it," Say smirked. "Isn't that right, Kyouri?" She looked at Kyouri, whose head was hanging, hiding her eyes with her bangs.

"Kyouri…?" Sano asked, looking at her with wide eyes, wondering what in the hell she was doing with a demon.

"And," Say continued, though there was a tone of bitterness in her voice, "You should know that Kyouri herself is a demon as well."

It was as if someone had struck Sanosuke in the chest with a ball of iron… He couldn't seem to breathe. He was gazing at Kyouri with the same dumbfounded expression, but she refused to look at him.

Come on, Kyouri, call her a liar, say it's not true.

Say something, anything, dammit!

"LIAR!" he yelled at Say, though not with the fortitude he thought he had, hearing his own voice waver. If she wasn't going to defend herself, then he would.

"Well, I suppose she isn't really a demon," Say mused so that everyone could hear her, "Only half a demon."

"If that's true," Sano growled, "Then why doesn't she look like you, freak?" Say was glaring at Sanosuke gravely, her eyes filled with hate for him.

"Good point," she said simply as she walked up to Kyouri. "And I think I know the answer to that question." She leaned in and spoke so only Kyouri could hear her, "You're wearing that again, aren't you?" Kyouri didn't answer, her mouth clamped shut as Say gazed at her. Without a second thought, she reached down and snapped the red necklace off her neck.

"Here you go," she said, tossing it to Sanosuke. He caught it with one hand, glancing confusedly at Say before turning his attention to the object in his hand. It was Kyouri's old necklace, the same one she had worn every day he had known her. It was just as he remembered, red with flames of gold, except now it was missing a large chunk thanks to Kyuuso's gunshots.

But now, even as he watched, it slowly faded, turning a dark brown, just like the pieces of necklace he still had in his pocket.

"What…?" he muttered, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Irrelevant it is not," Say smirked bitterly, "Take a look for yourself." She took Kyouri's chin and forced her to look up, and Sanosuke found him staring into wide green eyes with long slits in the middle of them.

He dropped the necklace dumbly as he stepped back and Kyouri squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could just disappear at that moment.

He looked… he looked so horrified….

Say finally let Kyouri's head drop once again. Say gazed at her, and felt a throb of pain for her friend. She brought this upon herself, for not telling them, but still…

"Don't worry, Kyouri," Say said in an almost soothing voice, watching the tears run down her young cousin's face, "I'll stop the pain now…"

She reached down and touched the ground, and once again the yard was filled with clones of sand, all of them staring blankly at the Kenshin-gumi.

"Time to die," Say whispered, and they all charged forward, preparing their large swords to kill.

Sano, Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko were all in defensive stances, ready to protect themselves and the others around them, but they weren't ready to fight such large numbers of immortal fighters.

He looked so horrified…

Horrified to find out what I truly was.

I knew this would happen, I knew.

That's why I didn't want him to know.

"I can't believe… that I ever loved a monster like you…"

"No matter how good you may believe they are, they will always treat you like vermin."

Humans have always hated demons.

"Ugh!" Kaoru cried as her bokken was knocked from her hands and she narrowly missed a blow to the head.

"Kaoru!" Yahiko yelled, getting ready to jump to his teacher's defense, but was stopped as one of the clones gave him a swift kick in his unguarded gut.

"Yahiko!" Kaoru cried, dodging the swings from the other clones around her and making her way to her student.

"Sano… we can't keep this up," Kenshin said to Sanosuke as he decapitated the same clone for the umpteenth time. "They just keep coming."

"Hang in there, Kenshin," Sano replied, though he was already getting drained. "We just have to get the wench that's controlling them."

"Kenshin!" He heard Kaoru's voice call out to him, and realized both she and Yahiko had been disarmed.

"Kaoru-dono!"

Will I let them die?

A clone was staring down at the student and master, an expressionless face of sand gazing at them as it lifted its sword.

"You're the one that caused their deaths."

Kenshin swung his sword through it, stopping it before it was able to send the finishing blow. He barely acknowledged the oncoming clone on his left before it rammed into him, sending him into the clone he'd "killed," which in turn sent him to the ground with a brutal elbow to the back.

I've already experienced their deaths once…

"KENSHIN!" Kaoru yelled as the clone flipped its sword and prepared to impale the rurouni.

I've already experienced the pain of losing them…

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, BASTARDS!" Sanosuke yelled as he fought his way to Kenshin.

Can I take it again?

"NO!"

Blood splattered the ground, and silence fell as even the clones stood still.


Note: Oooh, someone's gonna hate me for this…

I -HEART- CLIFFHANGERS! (-gets mauled by readers-)

Reviewer Responses:

K.T. Youko: Hmm, the scene where she gets up seems kind of a cliché in anime standards, but I like it so I put it in. I have a beta reader now, so she's the one that checks for mah typos! That'll explain why I haven't had very many recently! (-grin!-)

Rayne-chan: lol When will I not continue?

FairyMage: Sano kind of got some action here! He did punch out Say, and that definitely takes something! (she was off guard, buuuut…). We're all very happy Kyuuso died, and I'm just glad I don't have to write him anymore (that was self torture to make such an annoying character). Thanks for reviewing my Enishi fic, I really appreciate it!

Kumori-hime: You know, now that I think of it, I guess this fic is a little Furuba influenced. Believe me when I say I didn't mean to do it that way (tho' I love Furuba). I think most traditional Japanese families are that way, so I don't think I was necessarily copying the Furuba style hierarchy. No, I haven't seen Naruto, but I read the manga rabidly every time a new chapter is released. I love almost everything in manga better (especially RK!), so I really have no problem in skipping out on the anime. Also, did you hear that they're gonna pass Naruto on Cartoon Network this fall? It's gonna suck ass since they're gonna bleep it to hell (damn children who can't handle ninjas being chopped in half). Yay! You finally caught up! Tho' I gotta say I really enjoyed getting a crap load of reviews, that was fun! XD. Hope you're still reading!

WhiteRabbit5: Gomen, I must've disappointed you. I'm not very good at fight scenes, and I tend to try to avoid them. You'll notice I tried to skirt around giving detailed attack plans, so it wasn't as interesting as your scenes tend to be. Still, sessha tried her best! XP. Ah, thank you, I'm still really new to the C2 thing so I pretty much had no idea what I was doing. Still, I'm happy to learn and uphold my staff duties, whatever they may be!

OmasuOniwabanshu: (-evil cackle-) How's this for a cliffhanger? Aww, you should give Yahiko more credit. I think he knows when to keep his mouth shut sometimes, although they may be few and far between. I honestly feel bad, tho', since I don't think the rest of the RK cast is really in this fic since it mostly revolves around Kyouri and Sano. I'd really like to involve them more, but it's hard… lol You know, you really get a lot of the little insinuations I put into this fic. I am SO glad at least someone gets this stuff right away! PLOT BUNNIES UNITE! XD

Okay, so that's the chapter for the day. I'll see if I can get the next one finished soon. I'm pretty much writing these as I go along and have no real outline for the story. That being said, shit just tends to, well, happen. Ever had a fic that kind of writes itself? Yeah, that's kind of what's going on here. Still, I'm happy! It makes it easier, anyway!


Gerard Way will have my child and you will leave a review.
P.S. I think quick edit actually left my little dash divider thingy in (does anyone know what I'm talking about?) O.O