I had a lot of fun writing this chapter! I hope you have fun reading it. Sorry it is up early, I hope no one minds. I can't stop myself from writing this fic. This is a story I really want to tell. I didn't get a beta for this chapter, so please excuse the typos. I'll fix them as I come across them.

I apologize for the length of the chapter, please tell me if should keep chapters this length or try and make them shorter.

Without further adieu . . .

Chapter 5: Whispered Mercy

"It was a good thing I offered the sake then. I can only think of one thing that would push Nekai to be so rash." Maruko said.

"His own foolishness," Haruki interjected.

Maruko narrowed her eyes. She had never harbored fondness for Haruki. Being in his company again only reminded her of why she could hardly stand him. "Nekai's master, Taka, was killed recently. You know that. It was Nekai that found the body. Can you imagine being that alone? The only person that truly cared for you killed in cold blood for no apparent reason. Nekai was seeking revenge."

"On a woman? That is hardly honorable," He replied.

"Not just any woman. You do need to get 'outside' more Haruki. That mask, those red garments you described. That could only have been the infamous Smiling Fox. The common folk tell stories about her deceptions and skill with poison. She was heavily feared. To think all this time that creature was my little Fumiko. I practically raised that girl." Maruko nearly sobbed at the end.

"So you think this Smiling Fox killed master Taka?"

"Do you honestly think there could be any other reason Nekai would want to do a person harm?"

"Never can tell, we are talking about the mangy 'Cat'," Haruki's tone was full of hatred.

Maruko slapped Haruki across the face. She wasn't able to contain her anger any longer. "That was beneath you Haruki. One would think that a man as intelligent as you would refrain from saying foolish things. Nekai is a good solid man. Even though we shun him and mistreat him. Even though deep down in our blood bonds we hate him; Nekai is still kind, thoughtful and is driven by his sense of duty to the family. He is going to go to that secluded prison without so much as a complaint because he thinks it is his purpose."

"He can't go free Maruko. Besides we will all feel better when he is locked away." He replied.

"Just because that is true doesn't make it right. It isn't right to profit on another's misery. I don't want to just survive anymore. There has to be more out there then what we have."

"That is more then any of us can hope for. You know that as well as I. Our bond is sinister, but we must accept and press forward." Haruki said.

"Someday I believe that we will be free of it. It may be many incarnations from now, but the last banquet will come. We will be free."

"Tell yourself whatever you need to. I choose not to dwell in delusions," he turned away from her. Maruko was too angry with the bastard to stop him. With Fumiko gone, Maruko had to find a way to save the Dancing Ox from financial ruin. Maruko was going to put the determination of the Ox to good use.

oxoxox

She had seen him there was no going back to before. Just as he found another person in the world that liked him because he was the 'Cat', his grotesque form had to assert itself. He had also lost any chance he had of gaining revenge on Smiling Fox. That had become the least important of his problems. He forced himself not to cry, yet emotions swirled fiercely within him. Each one was centered around that kunoichi, on that woman that wore a cat mask in honor of him.

Would she wear it still? Now that she knew what the 'Cat' really was, would she still love it so? The look of terror in her eyes as she saw him was burned into his memory. Had he expected her to react any differently? Nekai hadn't wanted her to see him like that at all. He had only planned on being a fleeting memory for her, that way there was nothing to ruin.

There had been that glimmer of hope. In the instant she moved, as she ran away from him, his heart sank. But then she stopped, she even looked back at him as he tried to reach out to her. He had wanted to show her that he wasn't a monster. He had wanted to show her that he was still in control; that he wouldn't hurt her.

Then the damn rat had interfered! Maybe Haruki had been right. Who would want him to touch them? Who would want to be stared at by a hideous beast?

"There you are. I've been searching all night for you," Nekai's eyes shifted immediately to meet the form that approached. It couldn't be . . . could it? Had she truly been searching for him? "Not too hard until the rain stopped mind you. I figured that was the trigger."

He shook his head as he smiled. "You are too smart for your own good, you do know that right?"

She shrugged, the mask hiding any facial expressions. She moved towards him and kneeled in front of him where he sat. "I could not be as accomplished as I am if I were stupid."

Nekai looked away from her. He didn't dare make eye contact with her, not after seeing the fear in those eyes the previous night. "How can you stand to be so close to me?"

"Simple, you don't smell of . . . whatever dreadful thing you smelled of last night," she attempted to make a joke out of it. "I didn't mean to do as I did last night. I was caught off guard."

"I don't blame you. I don't exactly like myself when I'm like that either. That ugliness is just the extra part of the curse the 'Cat' carries. I just accept it and move forward. You . . ." he trailed off, unsure of what to say to her.

"It is time you saw me for who I really am. I know about your ugliness, time to share mine," she pulled her mask off. For the first time Nekai saw her face. She was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever laid eyes upon. The only woman he could compare her with was Fumiko. "I've killed so many people Nekai. For many years I've convinced myself was I was better then Smiling Fox." She placed the mask on the ground beside her. Then she showed him her hands. "These hands have spilled more blood than I can recount. If you are expecting me to say that I am haunted by the faces of those I've killed, you are wrong. I hardly remember them. They all blur together into a single entity, my mark. My ugliness is that I don't regret a single killing. In fact I'm proud of it. There isn't a single drop of remorse in me for what I've done. It is that fact that haunts me. I'm not even human anymore, I'm exactly like Smiling Fox," tears flowed down her cheeks; she didn't sob or take a moment to weep. She just cried silently. Suffered without seeking comfort

Nekai was quiet. It wasn't his intention. He wanted to comfort her, to make her stop crying so. What did one tell a murderess that ached because she had no remorse for her deeds?

Hakuma spoke before he found words. "If you can accept that, if you can bide my ugliness; I believe I can help you with yours. I owe you that much. You are the one that convinced me I wanted to be human again, and not the chilling elemental the Shikyo-te desire. There is a point in everyone's life when they have to decide what they want for themselves."

He hesitantly moved his hand, and awkwardly placed it on her shoulder. He immediately noticed how cold she was. He looked her in the eye, and was surprised by what he found there. Not an ounce of pity like he'd been expecting. They were filled with another emotion, a need even. She needed him to accept her, and he knew all to well what it was like to want that. "We will just have to accept each other the way we are, ugliness and all."

She nodded, shifting her gaze to the hand on her shoulder. He moved it, maybe she hadn't enjoyed being touched. "You were probably wondering why I was so cold to the touch," she said and smiled weakly at him.

"There you go, being smart again," he teased. "But while we are on the subject, I am curious."

"I am what the Shikyo-te call an elemental; a being that is given the ability to use a specific element. Grandmaster is convinced that elementals are connected to the gods, or perhaps even spare vessels." She couldn't contain her laugh. "Wouldn't want a god to inhabit a regular human now would we?"

"And the element you control is . . ."

Her eyes narrowed. "If you haven't figured it out at this point in the game, I'm not going to tell you. It is a good thing I'm so smart, it appears as if I'm going to have to make up for you," a wry smile twisted her lips.

"Right . . . so what can you do?"

"Freeze things, pull moisture out of the air and form it into needles or throwing stars. Never more water in the air then that unless its raining. And don't even ask, I'm not going to show off for you. It is incredibly painful to manifest my abilities. Its already bad enough that I can't get warm as it is." she paused, uncomforable with the subject. "Enough about me already, I would have thought you'd be more interested in the help I was offering earlier."

"Fine, I'll bite. What do you have in mind? There isn't any known way to break a curse, I'm not even sure if it was meant to be a curse."

"No, no. Why go to the trouble of breaking a curse when you only need to suppress that inner beast of yours? Simple problem, simple solution. Some time ago I was hired to retrieve an artifact from a holy temple in China. The artifact was a set of beads, made from the bones of a long dead warrior priest. The person who hired me went missing, and the Shikyo-te were never able to locate him. Grandmaster kept the beads for himself." She explained.

"And what will they do to me?" he asked.

"The message written on the box said: There are those that are faint of heart and there are those that aren't. Keep the unholy beast from being freed, with a bracelet of holy bead. Perhaps those last lines were literal?"

"But you'd have to steal it from the Shikyo-te. They don't seem the type of people that are going to just let you take it."

"I'll have to make that break sooner or later. I'll sneak in and sneak out, beads in hand. Then I'll disappear. If they don't catch me I can just pretend I was killed on my mission. I wouldn't be the first shikyo-te operative never to return home." Hakuma said darkly.

Another listened to the conversation, beady eyes watched from a near by tree. He scampered across the branch and down the trunk. There was another rat that would appreciate what this one had learned.

oxoxox

Hakuma moved silently, the darkness hiding her. She wore a dark hood over her bright white hair to further guard against detection. She slid across the wall of the grandmaster's house. She reached the door, and opened it slowly. She allowed herself just enough room to slip though. She knew that the Grandmaster had a room in his house he dedicated to his ancestors. Because the beads had spiritual value, Hakuma guessed that the beads would be there. The only problem she could think of in pilfering the holy relic was that the Grandmaster's shrine was the room adjacent to his bedroom. She would have to be at her best to slip in and out.

Thankfully the Grandmaster lived in a one level house, Hakuma always dreaded stairs. She would always opt to climb onto a roof then to ascend stairs. She moved past the Grandmaster's bedroom. She could hear his snores through the thin walls. She pulled open the sliding door and entered into the Grandmaster's family shrine. Incense holders and statues decorated the room. An urn, with in the ashes of his ancestors, stood in an alcove of a dragon statue.

Then she found it, she saw the box she had been searching for. Luck seemed to be on her side. She moved cautiously towards the shelf, pulling the lid up. Her hand snaked into the box and she pulled out the red and black beads. She slipped them onto her wrist. It was the easiest way to carry them.

She turned and exited the way she came, as slowly as she did the first time. It wasn't until she moved past the Grandmaster's sleeping chamber. How long had the snoring ceased, she wondered. She could only press forward and hope her luck held.

Just as she was about to slip out of the house, a hand cupped over her mouth. A voice whispered into her ear. "You shall live to regret your betrayal. You are much to valuable to put to death." The world went black with a sharp pain.

Hakuma had failed.

oxoxox

"You are finally ready. I've been waiting some time for you to be so," the voice was the sweetest sound to ever meet her ears, its volume barely above a whisper. Hakuma was being bombarded by brilliant light, she could seem white through her eyelids. When she tried to open them, she found she wasn't able. "Fear not. I mean you no harm. I've come to guide you to your destiny. While what you will do will have little meaning to the majority of the world, I can assure you that those you do help will be forever grateful for the benevolence.

"Who are you?" Hakuma asked.

"I am Mercy."

oxoxox

He shook her awake. She jumped with a start, looking rather disorientated. She squinted at him before she spoke. "Haruki? What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?" After being captured, Hakuma had been locked away in a stone shed with no windows. The only light that entered the room came from underneath the door.

"My spies are everywhere." He pointed to a hole in the earth not to far from the two of them. "The walls didn't go much below ground level thankfully." From the hole came a little brown rat, who squeaked before it darted back into the hole. "She says its clear for now. I think the Shikyo-te are a bit overconfident leaving you unguarded like this."

"They weren't expecting I had a rescue party on the way." Haruki thought he saw her smiled, though in the dim light it was hard to tell. "Your curse keeps getting weirder and weirder. Why are you helping me after I distracted you from capturing Nekai?"

"I really didn't care if he escaped at that point," he felt his cheeks burn, he was thankful the darkness was there to hide his embarrassment. "My only intention was to protect you," he didn't wait for an answer, instead he lead the way through the escape hole. It was a tight squeeze for him; it wouldn't be so tight for Hakuma he gauged. He was slightly bigger then she was.

On the other side she put an arm in front of him as he moved away from the village. "I came here for something special. I need to go get it, again. There is someone depending on me."

"No need," Haruki was happy to report. He offered her his slim wrist. Hanging off it was a bracelet of black and red beads. He slipped it off and placed the artifact in her hand.

"Thank-you," she said softly.

Haruki lead and Hakuma followed, retreating from the Shikyo-te. She held the beads close to her, and wondered why Mercy had taken the time to whisper to her. Had it even been real, and if it had what was that destiny she spoke of?

oxoxox

Nekai had been pacing for hours. He always paced when he was worried, when he wasn't sure of what to do. Hakuma had been gone for longer then she had said she should be. Had she run into trouble? The thought sickened him. If she were hurt or killed because of his curse he'd never forgive himself for letting her go.

The possibility of Hakuma being dead struck him harder then he had expected. Had he really come to care about her so quickly?

She had been adamant that he not follow her, no matter what happened. But could he stay idle when she was in possible need of a rescue? "You aren't going to like what I'm about to do. But some how I think you'll forgive me." He mused to himself, deciding that he would go after her.

Just as he decided this, he heard two voices. The first was clearly the witty banter of Hakuma. The second was a soft masculine voice. It couldn't be!

"How can I ever repay you Haruki? I was informed that you never do anything without a motive," she teased him playfully.

"I'm sure I'll think of a way. Perhaps I could persuade you to stay close to me?" he offered just as playfully. It was beginning to make Nekai jealous. It wasn't a feeling he was used to, which irritated him further.

"I'm sure you'd love that. Nekai!" she ran to meet him as she caught glimpse of him, holding out her hand. In it the beads she had promised him. Nekai spared a glance for Haruki.

"What happened? You took so long, I was beginning to get worried," he queried, never minding the beads for the moment.

"She was captured, stupid cat. Didn't dawn on you to maybe check after her well being when she didn't return?" Haruki's voice always made Nekai angry, having him talk to him like that was worse.

"If Haruki hadn't come, I'd never have retrieved these beads. You have Haruki to thank as much as me. He was actually one to acquire them the second time," she finished.

Nekai slipped the beads on his wrist grudgingly. It couldn't get much worse. He owed the 'Rat' for whatever relief the beads provided him. And once again the 'Rat' was taking something from him. There wasn't any use fighting it. Haruki would win. The 'Cat' could never win against the 'Rat'.

I would like to thank the few fans I have out there, knowing I have readers is enough to inspire me onward. I hope you continue to enjoy Fruits Blossom. I'm off to outline the next chapter, I know we'll all enjoy it!