Author's Note: This chapter is one of the sadder ones, but I think it came out well regardless. Please review.

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Koyuki had never been so terrified in her life. She had no idea how the warlord had gotten past Gin and the others, but that wasn't something she had time to dwell on. Scimitar was advancing slowly, step by step, looking as if he were savoring the moment as his eyes bore into theirs, and Koyuki could see absolutely no way of getting past him to safety. Lydia was between him and her two companions, and had snarled at him a few times now, unsuccessfully trying to warn him off.

"Please don't do this!" Koyuki begged. "We're pregnant! We're going to have puppies!"

Scimitar gave her a heartless smirk.

"Then consider it a favor that I'll spare them the pain of living." he sneered, licking blood off his teeth.

"I said BACK OFF!" Lydia yelled louder, unable to mask her fear as she did so.

Scimitar stopped and looked at her. Then he let out a blood-curdling laugh.

"Wait…" he said, sounding horribly pleased with the situation. "I know you. You're Maxime's little bitch! I remember your face from Russia."

He nodded at her belly and narrowed his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked sadistically. "Big brother decide to continue on the family line before he left?"

"Go to hell!" she snarled.

"Already been there." Scimitar grinned. "It was boring. Things are so much more fun up here."

Then he turned to Koyuki and met the terrified dog's gaze, and she could tell instantly as his smile faded that he was through playing.

"Sorry, baby." he said, dropping into a crouch that suggested he was about to lunge. "This may hurt a little bit."

Koyuki let out a howl of terror as he suddenly lunged directly at her, but suddenly a shape came flying in from the side, moving so fast that she barely saw it's form, and tackled the wolf in midair so hard that they both went clear through part of the unstable rock wall to her left, landing in a thrashing heap back outside among the fighting dogs and scattered debris. She recognized their savior almost immediately.

"Gin!" she cried in relief as the Akita pinned Scimitar by the shoulders on his back.

Not acknowledging her, Gin grabbed Scimitar by the throat and bit down hard, trying to crush his windpipe and kill him right there. The wolf choked as blood oozed out from around Gin's teeth, but then he suddenly drove his claws into the Ohu commander's eyes, causing him to loosen his grip with a yelp of pain. Before Scimitar could get up, though, Gin grabbed him again and swung him hard at another, thicker section of rocks, ripping some flesh off his neck as he did, and Koyuki watched as the warlord bounced off one of the boulders head first, landing on his side this time with a dull 'THUD'.

"Get back inside!" Gin yelled at her and she turned and did as he asked.

Once she was out of sight, Gin dove at Scimitar again, but the wolf was ready this time and dove aside as the Akita landed, leaping back to get good position on him. Using his speed, Gin bit at his opponent's face, but Scimitar dodged left and right and bit back at him, forcing Gin to go on the defensive instead. They matched each other move for move, neither gaining ground, before Scimitar landed a headbutt and then swung around and kicked Gin in the face with his hind legs as he staggered back, sending the older dog to the ground hard. As Gin landed, Scimitar leapt on him, panting to catch his breath and ignoring the blood streaming from the fresh wounds on his neck and side.

"You're too slow, old man." he hissed, pushing his paw into the Akita's throat to choke him. "What did you really think you could do to me?"

Gin looked him right in the eye.

"Distract you." he rasped and Scimitar's eyes widened as if he had suddenly realized what the other dog meant.

Too late he tried to leap aside though, as another form hit him from above this time, biting down hard on the back of his neck and flipping him end over end, slamming the warlord into the ground with bone shattering force and leaving him temporarily stunned as a result. Then the newcomer jumped off him and landed by Gin as the Akita stood once more.

"Thanks, Akame." he said and the ninja dog nodded supportively. "Now let's go!"

With that, they both charged Scimitar together and lunged as he was getting back up, now clearly very angry. At the last second, though, the wolf leapt into the air with surprising speed and slashed the surprised Akame across the neck with his fangs, sending blood flying and the old Kishu sprawling. Then, as he landed, Scimitar whirled around and bit Gin on the forehead, putting his weight into it to increase the damage and widening a cut there from a previous blow, making blood stream down the Akita's face from the impact. Gin steeled his will and charged right through it, though, grabbing the wolf's leg in his teeth as he did. Then he swung around and, with a roar of fury, threw Scimitar hard at the edge of the cliff that dropped down into the river canyon 100 feet below, causing the wolf to lose his grip and tear bloody slashes in Gin's flesh as he went flying backwards towards it. Scimitar let out a yell of surprise as he disappeared over the edge and fell, and Gin rushed to the brink in time to see the warlord's body land with an unceremonious 'SPLASH' in the dead center of the river. Panting with fatigue, he kept his eyes on the water, hoping that Scimitar had hit his head on a rock when he'd fallen in and wouldn't surface. To his shock, though, a head exploded up from under the water, followed by a body, and Scimitar roared up at him in fury as he struggled to shore. Gin trembled in anger as he heard Akame come up next to him, and Scimitar pulled himself back onto the bank. Then he looked up at the two Ohu commanders.

"I hope you didn't think it was that fucking easy!!" he screamed, water flying off his fur with the force of his movement. "It takes more than that to kill me!!"

Gin was about to leap off the cliff to go down after him, but suddenly he heard intense fighting very close by and turned to see George and Hiro getting swarmed by the cave entrance where Koyuki, Lydia, and Reika were, and a large group of Scimitar's subordinates trying to get past them and inside it. The grunt of frustration from beside him told him that Akame had already seen it too. Gin looked back and forth from the group to the cliff. Then he growled.

"Damn it!" he swore, and the two raced back towards their overwhelmed companions.

Kagetora willed his legs to move faster as the group raced over the last hill. Weed and Joe were leading them at practically a full run as they rushed to get back to Gajou to help, and now all they had to do was get through the trees that surrounded the wide clearing in front of the great stone structure. As they began passing them, hearing the sounds from the battle getting closer and closer, he began thinking about Ken. He had heard the last thing the Great Dane had said to him before he and his group had left and he had been both angry and hurt at the time, but it hadn't taken him long to realize that Ken hadn't really meant what he'd said, and as he'd looked back, Kagetora had seen reflections of himself in his friend's behavior of late. Indeed, he was rubbing off on the other dog, and this made him grin happily. He viewed Ken's transformation from the rigid, rule-obsessed dog he'd been 4 years ago when they'd first met Weed to what he was now as something of a personal victory, and he smiled almost triumphantly at the thought.

As the group of them exploded out of the trees, he saw that the battle had already started, and watched as a young mix breed got literally ripped to pieces by a group of Scimitar's forces. In front of him, Weed didn't even bother telling his troops to attack and immediately lunged at the group of invaders, grabbing one by the cheek with his fangs and ripping half his face clean off in one gory, fluid motion. Kagetora leapt forward alongside Kyoushiro and Joe, marveling at the change in their leader as he heard the dog howl in agony, and charged into the rest of them, knocking them aside and to the ground as they tried to attack the newcomers. He saw Kyoushiro and a Rottweiler drag each other to the ground snarling as Joe grabbed an attacker by the tail and used him as a weapon, swinging him from side to side and making other dogs go flying backwards from the resulting impacts. He felt teeth grabbing him as he ran and, using a trick he'd picked up from watching Gin, did a somersault, making all of his assailants lose their grip and fall off him. Then he started slashing left and right, making blood fly at every impact he landed and pretty soon, he'd gotten to Gajou, knocking a Tosa dog aside with a grunt as he leapt up next to George.

"George!" he yelled. "Where are Ken and my father?"

George bit a Shepard on the muzzle and threw him aside with surprising strength.

"They're down by the river!" he responded, licking blood off his lips. "Jerome led their group down there a while ago to head off Ronin!"

Then he went back to the fight and Kagetora looked over at the edge of the cliff, which the Saluki had gestured to with his head when he had responded. He only paused a moment before running towards it, wondering how long it would take him to get to the bottom.

Ken threw the enemy dog into the river with a growl, ripping his throat out with an awful tearing noise as he removed his fangs from the warm skin and fur he'd bitten into. Glancing sideways, he saw Kurotura slashing left and right with his fangs, and Shigure right beyond him, currently looking for another opponent to face off with. The battle had started only minutes ago, and the three of them had essentially been left in charge as Jerome had leapt away after Ronin, who had taken off running down the riverbank the opposite way, shouting something that had sounded like:

"Follow me! We've got too much entourage!"

Once the two had disappeared from sight around a bend, the other dogs had immediately attacked, and it was pretty clear that Ronin hadn't bothered to train them in battle or anything close to it. They were disorganized, sloppy, and most weren't all that good at fighting, and Ken wondered if Ronin even cared if they lived or died, or if like Scimitar, he wanted everyone to die in this war, regardless of what side they were on. That wasn't to say that some of them weren't good in battle, and the group was in no way a complete pushover. In fact, at the moment, they were holding their own against the seasoned warriors of Ohu, and Ken had to use all his strength to counterman their currently superior numbers. He wasn't worried, though, and neither were his companions, a fact he deduced from Kurotura's exuberant laugh.

"Ha ha!" came the Kai patriarch's voice. "You guys aren't even worth the effort! Bring your general back and see if he can do any better!"

Ken grinned in spite of himself and smacked an attacker with his paw, sending him yelping to the ground beneath them. He looked over at Shigure.

"Shigure!" he called, "Are you okay over there?"

"I'm fine!" his friend answered. "Concentrate on your own battle!"

"Come on!" Kurotura whooped. "We can clean these guys up in 5 minutes! Let's just finish this and get back up top to Gajou!"

Ken killed another attacker with a swift bite to the throat and nodded at him, though he wasn't sure it would end as quickly as Kurotura had predicted. Suddenly, he heard yelping from his left growing louder and turned to look, throwing off a Shiba Inu that tried to take advantage of this distraction. Frowning in confusion, Ken saw multiple dogs go flying into the river's frigid waters, blood spewing from them in morbid geysers, and the rest on the shore seemed to be scattering in every available direction in fear. Narrowing his gaze, Ken finally found the cause. When he did, he gasped, dropping into a battle stance.

"Kurotura!" he shouted urgently, "Shigure! We've got company!"

His companions stopped mid-fight and turned to look as well upon hearing his warning, and when they did, Ken heard them gasp too. Walking down the middle of the riverbank, dripping wet, covered in blood, and killing anyone that came near him, was Scimitar, and for one bizarre moment, it seemed to Ken that dogs from both sides were abandoning their fight and scrambling out of his way together, making sure that they were as far away from him as they could get while still avoiding the sharp tree roots and branches growing out of the cliff wall beside them. Before Ken could say anything more to Kurotura and Shigure, the wolf looked up at them, a fury in his eyes the like of which Ken had never seen before. Then he continued walking towards them, moving in a slow, deliberate saunter.

"I'd run if I were you." he hissed in a rasping voice. "If you want to live that is. I'm not in the mood to play."

Kurotura snarled at him.

"Bastard!" he snapped. "Kai dogs never run! I've been waiting to make you pay for what you've done!"

Ken squared himself off to the warlord as well, trying to project the fury he felt towards him in the expression on his muzzle.

"One more step you fuck and I'll snap your legs off!" he threatened, not breaking eye contact with him.

Scimitar stopped mid-stride and glared right into his eyes.

"You don't want to do this with me right now, boy." he spat, and Ken felt Shigure jump up next to him, baring his teeth angrily.

"Just try it!" he growled. "You know nothing of what real Ohu soldiers are like!"

"I know you bleed." Scimitar retorted sadistically, grinning at him. "Your friends taught me that."

That was what finally made Kurotura snap. The Kai patriarch lunged at Scimitar with a roar of fury and Ken didn't have time to yell at him to wait. The wolf moved like lightning and smacked him to the ground hard, immediately grabbing him by the tail and smashing him into the jagged rocks of the cliff wall. Ken leapt to his aid, biting at Scimitar's face and neck, but he didn't land a single hit and found himself being slammed face first into the dirt below seconds later, the back of his neck throbbing from the bite that had sent him there. Jumping to his paws, he heard Shigure yelp and turned in time to see his friend fall to the ground as well, bleeding from a deep slash on his neck. He moved to go at Scimitar again, but Kurotura suddenly beat him to the punch, lunging and biting down on the wolf's neck as hard as he could. Scimitar let out a growl of pain despite himself and proceeded to leap backwards into the cliff's rock wall, using the Kai dog's body like a cushion and making him lose his grip in pain and fall as he struck it again. Ken jumped in to protect him, moving to hit Scimitar with his paw, but the warlord suddenly whirled around, grabbed his leg in his jaws, and bit down hard. Ken heard a 'SNAP' and felt a shockwave of pain hit him as he howled in agony. He knew without looking that his leg was broken and had no time to do anything about it, as he then found himself flying backwards through the air, landing on his back on the very edge of the river. Seconds later, he heard Kurotura land beside him with a grunt in the same position, and neither of them could do anything as Scimitar tossed the still stunned Shigure into the fast flowing water, clearly not considering him a priority. Then suddenly, he was on top of them, and Ken found that he couldn't move as the wolf put his full weight on both of their chests, standing on their hind legs with his own to immobilize them. Then he looked down at them tauntingly.

"Do you know how it feels to die?" he asked softly as Ken uselessly tried to struggle. "You take for granted how easy it is to make it happen, but you don't really know how it feels. Well…I do. And now you will too. After all, as war dogs, you should master both life and death. How can you call yourselves true soldiers if you've only experienced one?"

Ken would've liked to say that he was fearless in that moment, when Scimitar's jaws started to open to deliver the fatal blow, but the truth was he was terrified. He didn't even get a chance to look at Kurotura to see the expression on his face as he prepared himself for what he thought were the last moments of his life. Suddenly, right as he was sure that his end had come, something hit Scimitar hard from the side and sent him rolling off of them. Looking up in amazement, Ken saw Kagetora standing in front of him, his tail swishing back and forth in concentration as Scimitar shot to his feet again with an even louder howl of rage, now positively livid at being denied a kill for a second straight time.

"Kage?" he asked, pushing himself to his feet and hearing Kurotura do the same.

Kagetora turned and looked at him, and Ken saw a strange, faraway look in his eyes as he stared back into them. Frowning, he opened his mouth to speak again, but suddenly his friend leapt forward and barreled into them both, sending them flying into the river's swift flow with two loud splashes. After finding himself submerged and kicking his way to the surface in a panic, Ken coughed and sputtered as he saw the light of day once more. Fighting the current mightily despite his broken leg, he looked over at the shore and saw Kagetora standing there, looking at him sadly as Scimitar bore down on him in an unholy rage.

"Kagetora!" Ken shouted. "What the hell are you doing?!"

The Kai dog met his gaze.

"Goodbye, Ken." he said and Ken let out a yelp of confusion and fear as he felt the current drag him under once more.

Kagetora watched as Ken disappeared beneath the water and then leapt sideways out of reach, sensing Scimitar closing in on him. He turned and looked at the angry wolf as teeth closed down right where his throat had been seconds earlier.

"You'll never hurt my friends on my watch again, bastard." he thundered and Scimitar glared furiously at him.

"You..." he said, his voice dripping with venom. "I let you live before, kid, but not this time. You should've left well enough alone."

Kagetora smirked at him, baring his teeth as he did so.

"Shut up and fight." he said and for the first time since he'd met him, Kagetora saw Scimitar look genuinely shocked, seemingly caught off guard by his apparent lack of fear towards him.

That didn't last long however, and Kagetora saw him drop into a battle crouch.

"Fine." he responded. "Have it your way."

Then he charged and the fight was on. Kagetora jumped into the air and avoided the wolf's teeth, using the cliff wall as a surface to spring off of and get out of reach. Then he counter-charged, trying to grab Scimitar's leg from behind, but the warlord dodged as well and slashed him on the flank as he tried to jump backwards again. Ignoring the pain, Kagetora threw dirt and snow in Scimitar's eyes with a paw and then body checked him into a rock, trying to bite his face as he did. Scimitar once again was too fast, though, and reversed his move on him, biting down on his muzzle and dragging him to the ground with a yelp. Feeling himself pinned, Kagetora kicked the wolf in the balls with his hind leg and then threw him off when his grip loosened. Then he leapt in and slashed Scimitar down his unscarred eye with his fangs, feeling satisfied when he saw blood go flying from the impact point. Stumbling back, Scimitar shook his head to clear the blood away and then charged Kagetora, his fangs bared. Thinking that the wolf had finally made a mistake, Kagetora leapt into the air to hit him from above. That was his undoing. Stopping mid-charge, Scimitar jumped up, grabbed him by the front leg, and swung him hard at the cliff wall. The moment he hit it, Kagetora felt pain the like of which he'd never experienced before shoot through every part of his body at once, and he let out a high-pitched gasp as all the wind was knocked out of him. Realizing that he couldn't move, he looked back at himself stiffly…and saw the sharp end of a thick, jagged tree branch protruding from his side, covered on every surface with his own precious lifeblood. Head spinning in shock, he looked up slowly as Scimitar stalked up to him, stopping only inches away.

"Get out of that one." the wolf said in a threatening, cold voice, not grinning or taunting in any way as he did.

Then, ignoring the blood streaming down his face from the fresh slash through his eye, he turned and walked away down the riverbank, vanishing from sight around the bend moments later. Feeling his body slowly growing numb, Kagetora gritted his teeth and with a howl of agony, pulled himself off the tree branch, having to stop once and then start again when the pain became unbearable. Once he was free of it, he stood for a moment, looking down at the dead bodies around him, took two steps, and then collapsed, landing on his side with an almost insignificant 'THUD'. His eyelids felt heavy, and when he opened them again, the world was sideways and he felt the numbness spreading all over his body. Then he saw movement, and looking closer with his fading vision, saw multiple forms running at him from what seemed like far away. All too soon though, they had reached him, and he heard Ken's voice yelling out his name.

"Kage!" Ken shouted, limping to a halt beside him and allowing room for Kurotura to as well. "Hang on!"

Inside, the Great Dane felt like he was falling. He, Kurotura, and Shigure had been pulled from the river by Gin and Akame, who had pursued Scimitar after ensuring the safety of the females in Gajou, and they had immediately told them about Kagetora's heroic rescue and that he was now alone with the dangerous wolf. Knowing that Kagetora would never run from a fight, they had rushed back to where they'd fallen in and when they had gotten there, Ken had seen the Kai dog on the ground on his side, and with Scimitar nowhere in sight, he had feared the worst. Now that he knew the awful truth, he wished he had been faster. Kurotura shook his son with a paw.

"Kagetora!" he said loudly. "Open your eyes! Please!"

The younger Kai dog did just that and Ken heard him take a ragged breath as Akame stepped up and looked at his wound. Then he saw the ninja dog wince openly and clench his eyes shut, stiffening up and shaking his head sadly at Gin, who closed his eyes as well in sorrow. Ken shook his head.

"No…" he said. "No! Kagetora, you fight, you hear me?! You fight through this!"

His friend looked up at him with tired, almost playful eyes.

"Sorry…about…kn-knocking you in the river…Ken…" he said softly. "I saw you were…hurt and I wasn't…gonna let a-another friend almost die…in front of me…"

"You listen to me," Ken said, feeling totally helpless. "You hang on! You just saved my life, Kage, and you can't die before I return the favor! I won't let you!"

"I hit him…Ken…" Kagetora responded and Ken straightened up.

"What?" he asked and Kagetora laughed, coughing up blood painfully seconds later, making Gin rest a paw on his flank comfortingly.

"Scimitar…" the Kai dog said. "I…scarred him…Now he's got a…a matching set of those eyes of his…"

"You really scarred him?" Ken asked in amazement, somehow smiling despite himself.

"Heh…you should've…seen the…the look on the motherfucker's face, Ken…" Kagetora grinned, eyes half closed. "It was…a thing of beauty…"

The two best friends both managed to laugh at the words, and Kurotura looked very proud despite his fear, but then Kagetora's breath got shallow, and the light began to fade from his eyes. Ken panicked.

"Kage?" he said. "Kage?! Hang on! Just keep talking to me! We'll get you help!"

Kagetora looked up at him and shook his head with a smile.

"You can't, Ken..." he said and Ken felt his tears start falling. "You just can't…"

"No!" Kurotura barked sternly at him, looking terrified and cradling his head in his paws. "You're a Kai dog, and you're my son! You fight and fight and fight through this, you hear me?! We never surrender to anything!"

"Dad…"

"We don't ever surrender!"

"I love you too, Dad…" Kagetora said and Kurotura dropped his head onto his son's neck, looking heartbroken and not bothering to try and stop his tears now as Shigure stood behind him helplessly.

Kagetora looked up at Ken again.

"Do me a…a favor, Ken…" he breathed. "Make sure…that that bastard…doesn't get away…"

"He won't." Ken responded shakily, but with fierce determination in his voice. "I swear it."

Then Kagetora smiled contentedly and Ken saw the light almost gone from his eyes. His friend's smile became a grin and he held Ken's gaze.

"You never could…keep up with me…Ken." he teased. "So I'm going on ahead… I'll meet you there…"

Ken almost didn't have the emotional strength left to respond but he swallowed hard and forced words out.

"I'll hold you to that." he smiled back and Kagetora looked around at the group of them.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I was…reckless…Tell everyone…it's… been…my…honor……"

Then he let out a last, ragged breath and his head slumped to the ground as he closed his eyes forever. Kagetora of Kai was dead. For a moment, Ken couldn't move. None of it seemed real to him and it was only the sound of Kurotura breaking down sobbing that finally brought reality crashing down onto his head. Unable to hold back his tears, Ken stumbled forward, limping on his broken leg after Scimitar's scent. Suddenly, he felt someone restraining him and saw Akame when he looked back.

"Get off me!" he barked, though it came out sounding like a whimper. "I'll kill him! I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch! I'll k-kill him…"

Then Akame laid his neck across Ken's comfortingly, embracing him with his front leg as he let out a mournful howl in his best friend's memory. Looking back at Kurotura, he saw Gin restraining him as well, hugging his friend to him and preventing him from getting up. Kurotura, for his part, was trying desperately to get to his feet to do what Ken had attempted and pursue Scimitar.

"Kuro," Gin was saying, tears coming from his eyes as well. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Scimitar's gone, it won't do any good."

"He murdered my son!" the Kai dog sobbed. "He murdered my fucking son! I'm gonna rip him apart!"

"He'll pay, Kuro!" Gin said insistently. "I promise you as a friend, he'll pay for this! But we still have a war to win, and we can do the most good helping defend back at Gajou!"

Kurotura looked up at him, looking unsure of what to say.

"We'll take Kagetora back there." Gin said comfortingly. "We'll take him home."

Finally, the Kai dog nodded and once Gin had let him up, he walked over and gently picked up Kagetora's body, slinging it over his back. Then, with Ken being supported by Shigure, the five dogs made their way back down the riverbank, back towards their besieged home.

Daigo checked the barrel of his rifle carefully, making sure for the third time that everything was in working order before they headed out. Once he was convinced that it was, he lit another cigarette and shoved the lighter roughly in his pocket. As he did, one of his group members, a man named Kanaye, walked past, shouldering his own rifle as he did.

"You really should quit those things, you know." he chided, throwing a box of supplies into the back of the Jeep they would be driving into the mountains of Futago Pass. "They're gonna kill you one day."

Daigo blew smoke and squeezed the trigger of his gun a few times to test it.

"Let 'em." he responded. "Life's getting boring anyway."

"That's the spirit." Kanaye scoffed as more members of their hunting team loaded supplies into another truck in front of theirs.

"Yeah, well…" Daigo said, standing up as he tossed his rifle into the Jeep's trunk. "We're not getting paid enough for me to be cheerful doing this."

"Hey, we get to shoot some mutts, right?" Kanaye said. "That'll cheer you up."

"Somehow," Daigo answered as they both got into the vehicle and closed their doors. "I doubt it."

Kanaye shrugged and started the engine.

"Suit yourself, boss." he said and followed the truck in front of them as it pulled out onto the main road.

Daigo looked ahead through the front window at the winding road into the mountains. Then he tossed his cigarette out the window and ran a hand through his hair. The way into the heart of Futago Pass was only a couple minutes ahead, and at the rate they were moving, it wouldn't take them long at all to get there.

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