The panther couldn't get over the events of the last few days-especially what he and Itachi had discovered at the sanctuary when they'd gone to hide the weapon. Of all the people he thought would betray them, Itachi's brother hadn't even crossed his mind.

He should have known better.

Then again, he'd never really trusted Sasuke. He'd never really given the younger much thought at all. So, he wasn't really hurt by his defection, just angry-and confused. From what he had seen of the Uchiha brothers together, they seemed to really care about each other, and seemed willing to do anything to protect one another. He hadn't thought there was anything that could turn one against the other.

But obviously, there was something he didn't.

Itachi probably knew-this was all about him, after all-but he hadn't said a word, not even when they'd found the Darkling injured after a confrontation with Sasuke. And Kanda had a feeling that outright asking him wouldn't be wise. He'd been his usual blank slate for the last two days, but there was a forcefulness to it now, like he was affecting it to conceal what he was really feeling.

Kanda didn't know how he was able to do that so effectively; he'd always prided himself on being master of his emotions, but he'd still lost it when he'd found out Allen was a liar. Itachi, however, was holding it together remarkably well.

So, Kanda was left stewing in his befuddlement and ire, wondering when the next shoe was going to drop. Orochimaru had said the younger Uchiha had told him about their plan to defeat his organization and he'd already had him try to kill another of their members as a warning; but that couldn't be what he'd meant when he'd said he also knew how to stop it. Kanda was sure of that. Now it was just a matter of when he would enact that plan.

But Kanda was not-and had never been-one to sit around and wait for things to happen. He was going to get to the bottom of this-not matter how Itachi might react.

He got up from where he'd been sitting, legs crossed underneath him, on the floor of his room and pulled his damp blue hair back into its usual straight ponytail at the base of his skull. Tying his sword belt around his waist as usual, he exited the chamber and summoned up his tracking ability to find the Reaper.

Fortunately, Itachi didn't seem to be blocking it from working because Kanda discovered him just in the process of leaving his own room, making his way to the staircase that lead to the lower levels.

Kanda trailed close behind, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black pants and frowning slightly as he contemplated what Itachi could be doing.

It was only a couple of seconds before he caught sight of the end of the Reaper's cloak, billowing around his feet as he descended the dimly lit stairwell with his hood drawn low over his head.

"So, you're back to keeping secrets from everyone, then, even after all of our discussions about trust?" Kanda called after him to get his attention, tone stern and head cocked in a clearly disapproving manner. "It isn't bad enough that you neglected to tell me how crucial I was to this plan of yours, or that we lost the prophet, but your brother just had to join the snake and tell him everything too, just because of something you did like, what, nine years ago now? You'd think if he really wanted revenge so badly, he'd have tried to kill you when you first left the Eidolons instead of almost half a decade later."

Itachi stopped in his tracks and, for a second, Kanda thought he might actually get an answer-but Itachi didn't turn around, pausing only momentarily before continuing mutely down the stairs.

Kanda let out a tiny sigh, then resumed following him down into the bowels of the compound, still talking.

"Come on, Uchiha. Doesn't it bother you that Sasuke joined the Eidolons because he wants your soul taken by Orochimaru again?"

The Reaper still didn't answer, descending to the bottom of the stairs; when they got there, Kanda thought they might be going to the dungeon-but Itachi turned in the opposite direction, toward another door that Kanda hadn't seen before.

He was once again stunned when they went through it and he saw who was inside.

"It took you long enough, Itachi; I've been waiting her for the better part of an hour," Sasuke Uchiha greeted the two elder men from his chair on the other side of the room, where he sat with one of his legs slung almost casually over the other.

Itachi's lips twitched at the conversational greeting, while Kanda gaped.

"Were you followed?" the elder Uchiha asked his brother by way of a response, his pale face giving away nothing.

Sasuke shook his head, then jerked it in Kanda's direction. "I see you were, though."

Kanda met the younger's gaze in bafflement, feeling even more like he was missing something.

"One of you wanna explain what the hell's going on here?" he demanded aggressively, eyes darting rapidly from one Uchiha to the other. He pointed an accusing finger at the hawk. "You're a traitor. You tried to kill Princeton and told Orochimaru how we were going to destroy him."

Sasuke strangely chuckled at the panther's comment, apparently unfazed by his hostile tone.

"This explanation I'm leaving up to you, Itachi," he said languidly, crossing his arms and shooting his brother a pointed look.

Itachi rolled his eyes in an uncharacteristic display of exasperation before explaining blandly. "Sasuke joined the Eidolons on my orders. I wanted someone on the inside who I could fully trust to do something for me; but in order for it to work, the others-and you-had to believe it as well as Orochimaru. Even Tekla didn't know the truth."

Kanda frowned.

"And what did you need done that made that degree of deception necessary?" he wondered, his consternation growing.

"Finding a crucial piece of information-something that will truly put an end to this game so we can all go back to some semblance of a life," the Reaper supplied truthfully. "Finding which Eidolon-or otherwise-was the one to murder your family."

Kanda pressed his lips together; obviously, Itachi knew what Tyki had told him about his family's murderer. That was that curiosity sated; now, though, he had another.

"And Orochimaru doesn't suspect a thing about your real motives?" he quipped, raising a thin eyebrow in scepticism, addressing the younger Uchiha. "He really believes you still want revenge for your family's massacre?"

The smile faded from Sasuke's face.

"There was other stuff," he admitted grimly, a line of tension entering his broad shoulders.

"Like what?" Kanda pressed, his other eyebrow rising to join the first. "What exactly did Itachi do to you that was so bad the snake would believe you would want his soul taken for it?"

Sasuke's expression turned dark, ad he glanced sideways at Itachi, as if asking permission. When Itachi gave him the barest trace of a nod, he exhaled heavily.

"This is going to be difficult, so bear with me," he started, rubbing the back of his neck tensely. He took another deep, measured breath, then elaborated.

"After Itachi murdered our clan, he joined the Eidolons and they deployed him and his partner to kidnap my best friend. And when I tried to stop them, he," Sasuke paused, swallowing hard. "He used the Tsukuyomi on me, forcing me to relive our family's slaughter over and over again. He compelled me to kill my comrades and nearly destroyed my life by not telling me the truth about what he did. He even tried to make me kill him for it."

There was silence as the panther digested his story. Now he understood why Sasuke would want to take down Itachi for that for real. Except that wasn't what was going on.

"But you've actually forgiven him for all of that?" Kanda said, brows now furrowing. "Why?"

That hawk bit his lip, eyes closing briefly as he struggled to push away those horrible memories and remember why it was he had forgiven Itachi.

"Because I knew it wasn't really him," he stated honestly. "The experiments that Orochimaru performed on him while he was an Eidolon allowed him to take complete control of Itachi and make him do all sorts of things he would never do of his own free will. And when he broke out of it, he stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life, tanking his entire grand scheme in order to protect me."

Kanda didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't even begin to fathom that kind of love; he'd lost his entire family when he was too young to remember. His only experience of love was when he'd been with Allen-and that had all been a lie.

Now, watching Itachi lay a hand on his brother's arm to console him after rehashing what had to be the worst time of his life, he felt a sudden, vicious pang of envy-and anger at the person who had robbed him of a bond like theirs.

But who had done it? The Noah of Pleasure had said it was someone he was now working with-someone he might even call his friend.

But who?

That was the very question on Sasuke's mind as he returned to the Eidolons' main hideout and began searching Orochimaru's office for information, Itachi's powers allowing him to go undetected for a little while. Orochimaru had, thanks to a spell he'd cast, no idea that Sasuke had left his current quarters, so he should have ample time to continue his mission.

He lifted a file out of one of the drawers in the snake's desk and laid it, open, in front of him so he could examine it in depth, He knew what he was looking for wasn't going to be easy to find; in fact, it was probably one of the Eidolons' best kept secrets. Although, lately, it seemed like revealing it was going to be part of their master plan to make all of Itachi's allies turn against him-and to get the panther back in the snake's clutches.

Sasuke leaned over the papers spread out over the varnished wood, studying the words etched into them carefully. It was Kanda's file he had pulled out; it had been started long before the panther had joined, probably around the time he'd first come to Orochimaru's attention-thanks to Itachi. It detailed how his parents had been staunchly against what the Eidolons had been doing to the world; how, according to their source, Kanda had exhibited unusual power even at an early age, and how his brother had not. All of that was why they'd had to die for Kanda to be who he truly was.

Or so the file said.

The younger Uchiha's forehead wrinkled slightly as he read on, delving further into the past. He opened another file and opened it beside the other-the sorceress'.

There was a connection between the two of them, just as there was between Kanda and Sasuke's brother. They were, all three of them, tied together by the same thread-the thread that lead to the murder of Kanda's family and the defeat of the Eidolons all these years later.

Itachi hadn't told him all of this-not even when he'd come clean about why he'd done what he'd done while he was under the snake's control. He knew his brother was a master of deception-it came with being a shinobi-but he never thought he could keep something as big as this a secret for so long.

Sasuke exhaled softly, grasping the edge of the desk, his heart pounding in his ears. It looked like the panther had had a very good reason for mistrusting Itachi: the Reaper had known who his family's killer was all along.

But that wasn't what was really bothering him-and it wasn't the only reason why he was here. The time on the concealment spell Itachi had cast was going to run out soon and he would have to go back to pretending to be the snake's servant. He understood now what Itachi had gone through, deceiving everyone into thinking he was a monster.

He quickly rifled through the remaining contents of the files he had opened, searching the pages for the information Itachi really needed. There was a lot to look over, but eventually, he did discover what he wanted.

Just as he had put the files back where he'd gotten them, he sensed Orochimaru coming into the building and summoning him to his office-where he already happened to be.

The snake entered, his deathly pale features twisting into a curious expression when he saw Sasuke already inside, leaning up against the wall by the door.

"You rang?" the younger Uchiha said as the ghosts' leader took up his place at the head of the room, his face characteristically blank and giving nothing away.

"Yes, Sasuke," the snake replied silkily, lowering himself fluidly into the throne-like chair behind his desk, yellow eyes slitted with intent. "Now that your brother and the rest know you are no longer on their side, they have been weakened-which makes it the perfect opportunity to derail their final play, just like we planned."

Sasuke made his expression morph into one of malevolent excitement.

"You're finally going to give me what I want?" he quipped, affecting an air of twisted hopefulness, like what Orochimaru was saying was filling him with eagerness instead of dread.

Orochimaru tipped his head forward.

"Indeed; in return for you thus far faithful service, you will finally get to punish your brother for all your torment in the past," the snake replied, sneering as usual, tongue flicking out to wet his lips in anticipation. "His soul will be mine once again, and you will have your justice."

The younger Uchiha twisted his pale lips into a smirk as well; but inside, he was reeling. He'd known this was coming-Itachi had predicted it-but not this soon. Orochimaru was speeding up the timeline; evidently, he wanted this game over with and his two most prized pawns back on his side-or dead in the ground.

Sasuke let out a silent breath, turning it into a triumphant sound to maintain his mask.

"Can't wait," he commented with false bravado. He turned to Orochimaru then and bent his head in a forced bow. "Thank you, my lord."

You'll never know what hit you

Orochimaru gave a high, sinister laugh, flicking his fingers in a dismissal of Sasuke's gratitude; it was truly unnecessary.

"When Itachi and Kanda go to form the next part of their weapon, we will strike. We will take it so they cannot complete it and then use it to destroy them all."

The one they captured he will be the one to foster their destruction though he is meant to be the key to be ours

What was meant to be our end will be theirs

Kai was back in the dungeon, once again torturing the Chinese lamia:Tekla had said that they needed all of Ray's blood for this final ritual to get rid of the Eidolons, so he was getting a few last shots in before the time came that they had to take it.

"I bet you never thought that this would happen, did you, kitten?" the incendus sneered his former friend's new nickname, scratching more lines into Ray's bare torso with the still-poisoned knife in his hands. "I bet you thought that being a lamia in the Eidolons would make you invincible and keep you that way; but now look where it's all lead. You're nothing but a victim now-and soon you will be nothing at all."

Normally, Ray didn't pay much mind to what Kai said as he cut him-he was normally too consumed by pain to even really hear-but that last statement brought him out of it, a sort of sick hope filling him.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned, voice hoarse from all the screaming he'd been doing, unclenching his teeth and just barely lifting his head.

Kai could sense his real emotions, though; he was hoping Kai's words meant he was finally going to get to die.

And, unfortunately, he was right.

"Lucky you, it turns out that there's a ritual to kill all of your friends that involves taking your life," he explained, his pale features contorted in an almost disappointed expression. "Sadly, I guess that means your debt to me will finally be all paid up and I won't get to play with you anymore."

Ray's eyes widened, torn between relief-and horrified shock. How could he not have known about this ritual? How could Orochimaru not have known? All that time being one of the Eidolons and all along, he'd been one of the keys to their destruction.

He was about to ask for details-not that he really thought Kai would give him any-but he was interrupted by the sound of Kai's burner phone ringing.

Kai paused in cutting him again to withdraw the small black device and raise it to his ear.

"What?" he growled, tapping the knife impatiently against the front of his thigh. His face smoothed out, turning blank as he listened to what the caller was saying.

"Fine," he said after a moment, hanging the phone up and then turning back to Ray with an unreadable expression. "More good news for you, Kon: looks like we're going on a little trip."

Ray winced as Kai rapidly unchained him, slumping to the floor at his feet gracelessly, hardly able to move-otherwise he would have tried to escape. He didn't even have time to ask where they were going before Kai slung him over his shoulder like a sack of trash and took him out of the dungeon.

They arrived at an unfamiliar building-one that was clearly highly secured with magic-where the panther, the Reaper, and the sorceress were all waiting for them inside, Tekla holding a very dangerous-looking, wavy-bladed black dagger and Kanda an onyx glass basin.

"What are you doing to me?" Ray asked piteously, grunting when Kai dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor before them.

Tekla smiled mockingly.

"We can show you better than we can tell you," she said; then, she turned her head and held out the dagger to Kai. "Hiwatari, would you like to do the honours? All you have to do is spill your pet's blood into the bowl Kanda's holding and then combine your powers with his; you'll see the rest of the particulars as soon as you begin."

Kai used the knife he was already holding to pin Ray to the floor and took the one Tekla was offering, upper lip curling slightly as he looked down at the Chinese lamia. Ray wasn't even struggling: he wanted to die, and now, even though it would result in the decimation of everyone he cared about, he still wasn't fighting it.

The incendus let out a falsely resigned sigh.

"I hate to put an end to your misery, but at least those monsters you called your comrades will be paying the price for your sins as well," Kai stated viciously before reorienting his body so the bowl in Kanda's hands lay before him and then slashing open Ray's chest without a word of warning.

Even though he'd been anticipating it, Ray still cried out as the dagger cut through his skin and his life force began to fountain out of his chest cavity, staining the black glass crimson. And the knife did more than simply wound him-it burned, like Kai's power of fire had been embedded within the blade. His flesh bubbled and boiled around the cut and he screamed again in unrestrained agony.

Through his pain, he saw Kanda and Kai raise their free hands and cast bolts of the unique magic into the basin as well. When the electricity touched the tiger's blood, it lit up the room, crackling around the rim of the basin and invading Kai's mind just as it had Kanda's before.

He knew then what he had to do: his power was the agent that would bind together separate parts of the weapon that would level the organization that had stolen his life. A touch of it now would begin the process, and another combined with the sorceress' when it was time would finish it.

His face bathed in blue light, he conjured a ball of fire into his hand and tossed it into the pool of blood. The smell of burning copper filled his nostrils then, and, just like with the Vampire Lords', the tiger's blood transformed into another part of the silver staff, this one shot through with beams of glowing green and auburn.

Once it was fully formed, Kanda removed it from the bottom of the basin and held it up, so the entire room could see it-although Ray didn't look. He was still bleeding: the knife had cut deep, and he knew he was finally going to get his wish.

He was going to die for this.

Compliant with Ray's expectation, Kai appeared thrilled as he examined the curved, shimmering metal rod. That was it-the thing that would take away everything Orochimaru-and Ray-had build like they had taken away his life.

Ray wasn't going to just leave it like that, though-he may have wanted this end to his torment, but he couldn't let it go unpunished. So, before he lost consciousness for good, he forced himself one last thing-which he directed at Kanda.

A parting gift

"You…may…think you're winning…by doing this…panther…But all you're really doing…is serving your family's killer."

Kanda's head snapped around to look at him, the basin disappearing and the staff dropping as he closed his hand around the lamia's throat-the last thing he would ever see.

"Who are you talking about?" he demanded harshly, shaking the tiger like that would dislodge an answer-but it was too late, anyways. Ray was gone.

And, while everyone was distracted by his death and dying words, another presence materialized in the sanctuary, gloved hand picking the center part of the staff up off the ground.

"I'll take that, thanks," a familiar voice declared; everyone turned around in time to see Sasuke with the staff in his hands. But no one was fast enough to stop him-he disappeared before anyone could move an inch, and they were all left staring at his vacated spot.

Itachi went off on his own after that-presumably to go after his brother-and Kai, Tekla and Kanda returned to the compound alone, the tiger's departing words still ringing in the panther's head. They followed him all the way back, concerning him even more than the fact that Sasuke had stolen part of the staff and he knew he needed to speak up about it. He hadn't brought up what Tyki had said before because he hadn't set much store by it; but now that Ray had said something similar, he wondered if he should give it more consideration.

He was still pondering that as they entered their headquarters, so deep in thought he didn't notice when Kai finally actually went up to his own room-since the tiger was no longer in the dungeon for him to play with-or really anything else until Tekla spoke directly to him.

"Hey, Kanda, don't get so down about this; I know it sucks that Sasuke betrayed us, but we'll get the weapon back," she assured him, incorrectly interpreting his consternation.

Kanda finally looked up, pursing his lips.

"That's not what I'm having a problem with," he replied matter-of-factly, his brows furrowed as he considered how best to bring up what was really troubling him.

"Then what?" Tekla wondered, folding her arms across her chest. When Kanda didn't immediately reply again, she took another guess. "You're not still thinking about what Kon said before he died, are you?"

The panther stared at her, electricity crackling around his fingertips as he flexed them. "Not just that; Mikk said something similar when I killed him. He said that someone I now call my ally was really the one to kill my family."

He didn't know what he expected Tekla to do; but he definitely didn't expect her face to fall and for her to bite her bottom lip like she was suddenly uncomfortable. She tried to hide it, though, tried to play it off like it was nothing.

"What are you doing, taking the word of a Noah on anything? That's even worse than trusting Kon's words; you know everything they said is only for their own gain. Even if they're telling the truth, it's still probably only their twisted version of it," she retorted, attempting to sound like it didn't matter.

Kanda knew what he'd seen, though, and he knew there was something Tekla didn't want to tell him. So, even though she'd made another valid point, he still argued.

"What would either of them have to gain by lying about that when they knew they were going to die, anyways? And why would they both tell the same lie?"

Tekla affected a shrug.

"Obviously, they're trying to put you off-balance, to get you to turn against Itachi again," the sorceress replied, still pretending like the whole thing was just a sham. "Orochimaru probably told them to tell you those things; he probably knows that, after what happened with Walker, you're shaken. Your trust has been betrayed once by someone you cared about. He most likely wants you to think that's happened before-and is happening again."

The panther's eyes narrowed as Tekla continued to feign lackadaisicalness. He didn't need to consider that she might be saying exactly what had happened: he knew it wasn't the whole story.

"No, I would have been able to tell," he shook his head stubbornly. Before his companion could say more, he added in a more vehement tone. "This isn't about Itachi and the snake's sick game; this is about my family." He put a particular emphasis on the last two words, trying to get the brunette to fess up by making her understand how important this was to him.

Tekla bit her lip again, her expression turning pained as she seemed to struggle with herself and what to say. But Kanda was willing to wait for it: this was too important to just let go.

"I need the truth, Tekla-I need to know who killed them," he insisted once again in a softer tone.

That seemed to hit home because the sorceress took a deep breath and, finally, confessed what she-and Itachi-had been keeping from him.

"It was me."

Kanda stared at her, swallowing hard, sure he had heard wrong. Because if he hadn't, if she'd actually said what he thought, then…

"What?" he said carefully, forcing his voice to remain calm-though, inside, his pulse was pounding.

The dark-haired woman gulped as well, and then, meeting his flashing gaze, repeated with absolutely no trace of deception. "It was me. I was the one Orochimaru assigned to kill your family."

When the former Exorcist appeared uncharacteristically at a loss for words, Tekla took the opportunity to add frantically, "But I didn't want to! I never would have taken that mission if I'd known you then, if I'd had a choice. It's why I left the Eidolons, and why I agreed to help take them down."

Kanda just continued to stare at her, looking as if he wasn't even listening to any of her protests.

"Why?" he whispered at last, voice strained from the effort of not yelling. "Why wouldn't you have told me this before? Why did I have to find out about it like this?"

Tekla didn't have an answer and that was what broke Kanda's carefully controlled calm.

"That's it," he threw his hands up as if in surrender, more or less stomping over to the door and kicking it open. "I'm done."

"Kanda, wait!" Tekla shouted after him as he stormed out, but the door slammed shut and he disappeared before she could say anything to get him to stay.

Not that she would have known what to say. Now that she'd told him she was his family's murderer, she had no leverage to use.

She let out another sigh, hands retreating into the pockets of her jacket. Itachi had known this might happen: according to him, he'd known ever since Orochimaru had given her the mission.

Which meant he should know what to do next.

The folder was laid down on the surface of the snake's desk as one of his subordinates entered the room, responding to his summons and coming to stand before him.

"You wanted to talk to me, Lord Orochimaru?" the brunette asked dutifully, keeping her emerald eyes lowered in respect.

Orochimaru lifted his own head, a smile curving his white mouth. "Yes, Night. I have a new assignment for you," he told her nodding at the folder to indicate that he should take it.

Tekla took it off the desk and opened it to find a picture of a young boy with dark blue hair and startling, unusually hard electric eyes.

"Kanda Yu," she read the words written on the Post-It note affixed to the corner of the photo, assuming it was the child's name. One of her eyebrows crinkled. "What do you need me to do?"

"You are to exterminate this boy's parents-and his newborn brother-for crimes against us, and then bring him to the Exorcists," her leader commanded authoritatively, tone leaving no room for argument. His yellow eyes met hers. "Understood?"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru?" the brunette acquiesced mechanically, bowing her head again, this time so Orochimaru wouldn't see the hesitation entering her gaze.