A/N: *EDIT*

Sorry for the delay, and I apologize once again if this seems short, I feel like death warmed over.

I may not update for a week once we hit Sunday. Why? Because this damn dirty illness is beating the hell out of me, and surgery's looming on the horizon. I'm gonna be laid out for a week after that so I don't want to make promises I can't keep. Thankfully I've got friends to help me pick up the slack, so I'll do my darndest to

Remnants of a Shinobi should be updated tomorrow, provided my health holds.

After that, there will be an update for -SURPRISE!- on Friday as well as -SURPRISE!- on Saturday, but as sated, I likely won't be updating until Thanksgiving at the earliest. No one wants to read stories on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, so...

"What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."

~?

The Berserker (Prelude)

They hit without warning in the dead of night.

Serenity considered it a tactical strike more than anything else; as an Assassin, it made her proud to know her Master was capable of such subterfuge. They sought out their targets, tailed them into the city, lying in wait for the key moment to take them down. Berserker and her Master were to be their targets, and target them they did. It was a simple matter of ensure they were well away from prying eyes. Their path led them on a long winding journey down abandoned alleys, and finally, into an empty park.

And once they were alone...

"Oi!" Naruto whistled, all but leaping out of the shadows. "Berserker! Fight me!"

The servant rounded on him of course; just as Serenity knew she would. She couldn't ignore such on obvious challenge, fake though it was. She never understood the trap until it was too late. How could she? Berserkers knew naught of reason and tactics. They were battering rams meant for one purpose and one purpose alone. Destruction. Nothing more, nothing less.

"My, my, aren't you a bold one...wait."

Really, she never stood a chance. One look was all it took.

Whomever they were, she was terrifying to behold, a picturesque dark-haired beauty clad in violet, wearing elaborate armor. A blade hung loosely from her side, nearly dropping from slack fingers as she saw him. Serenity had no way of knowing who this woman was, of course. How could she? The woman never gave her name. She had no reason to.

Minamoto no Raikou took one look at Faker's smoling face and burst into a towering fury.

"You!" she cried, stabbing a finger at him! "How DARE you impersonate him!"

Naruto blinked. "Pretty sure this is my face, sooo...

"YOU WILL DIE!"

It was like watching a hurricane; an unstoppable force met an immovable object. One descended upon the other with a shriek and then there was only motion.

Berserker's blade closed on Faker's face, only for his hand to find her wrist and yank it aside. A knee slammed into her vulnerable midsection, bending her over his leg. Even as she gasped for breath, the blond locked both hands over his head and swung down, driving her into the pavement. She planted a palm into the ground instead of her skull and struck up in a single, seamless movement. Naruto grunted and stumbled back, two feet of naked steel now-sheathed in his stomach and for a moment, the battle looked lost.

From her hiding place, Serenity nearly cried out at the sight.

And then she remembered what he was.

"Really?" A blond brow rose as he considered the gaping tear in his body. "I just repaired this coat. Now I'm gonna have to pay for a tailor again...

To her credit, Raikou didn't attack immediately. Serenity revised her opinion of the buxom Berserker. Maybe she wasn't so foolish after all. Who could say what stayed her hand in that moment? Was it fear? Shock? Love, perhaps? Some ghastly combination of the three?

"How are you alive?" she whispered.

"Lady," Naruto's grin was just the wrong shade of vicious. "I ask myself that every day."

He gripped the hilt, ripped it free in a shower of gore and moved. Blood flicked from fold steel into Raikou's eyes, drawing an undignified yelp from the woman who tried to blink it away. Then it was Berserker who toppled backward as her own blade betrayed her, carving deep into her right thigh. She wrestled it back from him a moment later, but the damage was done.

"I'll kill you!" Her eyes burned red as battle madness took her. "For wearing his face, you will die a thousand times!"

Faker and Berserker collided in a ceaseless storm of blows; their bodies writhing and twisting like shadow and flame. Serenity shivered at the sight. Neither held an immediate advantage over the other. One was stronger; the other, faster. Their skills put them at a stalemate, and oh god, the sounds coming from them as they fought. Whomever this woman was, she was wholly, utterly furious with Naruto. Still, his curse allowed him to fight on in spite of his grievous injuries, and fight he did, enduring wound after wound until ohmyhehadjustsentherflying...

No. It wasn't her place to watch this. Duty called.

Silently, she slipped way to find the enemy Master in the dark.

He would never see her coming, so she swore on her pride as an Assassin. And he didn't.

By contrast to his Servant, Kariya Matou knew his talent's did not lay in open battle. He'd taken cover near a rusted storage container, no doubt intending to use that as cover. He tried to hide, sought to skulk away in the shadows. Pitiful. She saw him immediately and moved to flank him. The shadows betrayed him because they belonged to her. No mere amount of magecraft could possibly conceal him from her gaze. Concealing her presence, she closed with him.

Only five steps now.

Less than three.

Two. One.

Serenity closed in on him from behind.

At the last moment, he saw her coming. Too little, too late.

A single embrace was all it took; pale arms wrapped around Kariya's chest and his fate was sealed. He barely had time to gasp before her poisonous touch took him. A cry for help withered and died in his mouth as the flesh of his face began to bubble and hiss. Serenity tightened her grasp just to be sure, denying him any chance of escape. Her very presence corroded his flesh, countless toxins working their way through his clothes to find his bloodstream. Really, it was only a matter of time. He was doomed the moment she touched him.

Still, the man didn't perish immediately. He raised a trembling hand, Command Spells flaring. "Ber...serk...er...!"

"I am sorry." With a silent sigh, Serenity tightened her grasp. "May you rest in peace."

Kariya's neck broke like a brittle twig and he expired with a croak, head lolling loosely to one side. Serenity felt a brief flash of pity for the poor magus. To kill one so wretched was a mercy; better that he perished quickly rather than suffer a hellish death under her poisons.

"I truly am sorry...

Serenity gently lowered his corpse to the dirt and set her emotions aside. When she stood, she was Assassin once more.

In the distance someone screamed.

She tensed, bracing for one last suicidal attack, but it never came. Berserker was the one crying, she realized, weeping for her master. Even now she could see a faint shimmer of gold surrounding the madwoman. With her Master gone she had a minute at best, only seconds at worst. A kick sent her sprawling to the floor. She did not strike back.

Her eyes were only for her fallen master.

"No, no...nooo!" she wailed, crawling to her knees, blade tumbling from her weakened fingers. "No! It wasn't supposed to be like this! I was going to help him! Save him! How could you! How could you?!"

She never saw Naruto bend to retrieve her fallen weapon. His arm swung back, blue eyes hidden in shadow.

Raikou looked up at him with teary eyes and a watery smile. "You're not him...are you?"

"No." Naruto -Faker!- drawled, arm trembling just so. "I'm not.

He cut down at her neck and it was done.

A/N: ONE DOWN.

Sorry Raikou, but unlike your "Hero" incarnation, you're not the heroine of this story. Down you go.

It really hurt me to write this, but sadly, some stories are darker than others. In this? Naruto just wants his pain to end. Serenity's his lifeline in that regard; without her, there's a fair chance he may well go berserk himself.

Hope you liked it~!

Reviews are love. Reviews are life. Reviews make me strive.

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review Would You Kindly?

And enjoy the previews.

Oh, and a warning...!

ANOTHER FALLS.

(Previews!)

Serenity kissed him softly. "Please, never leave me...

"I. Cannot. Die."

With a snarl, he drove the blade through their heart.

R&R~! =D