FCL64: Chapter six… ready set go.

Kiyoshi: As usual, she's forgetting the fact that she owns no one but Ayaka. And she doesn't even have full rights to Ayaka.

FCL64: Whatever. Here we go with a rather interesting flashback chapter.

Kurama pov

1527 A.D.

He's dead. And that man. I was far too worried about Kuronue's wounds to have noticed him. But Kuronue's subtle gestures made me notice. I fled, and I am not proud of it. Even though Kuronue told me to run, I should have stayed. I could have taken him. They've never been a match for us. Bounty hunters are rarely strong enough to take down their quarry. This one would be no different.

Except that he had gotten one of us already. I could see in his eyes, and Kuronue's, that he was the one who had set the trap. He was the one who broke Kuronue's pendant. And if that's all he tried, it means he knows more about us than I am comfortable with.

I don't like it. Those eyes. They are the darkest purple imaginable. If not for the torches of those who were after us, even I would not have been able to distinguish the iris from the pupil.

And the hair. Spiked in every direction. The color of which I have never seen the likes of before. The darkest shade of pink, bordering closely on red.

He was dressed in black leather. I met his eyes just once. They said quite clearly that I was next. But that's not true.

He is next. I feel Kuronue's pendant. It is heavy in my hand as I flee to the place we left Ayaka. It is heavy in my hand. Maybe that's just how it is, maybe it's a metaphor for how much I already miss my friend. That bounty hunter is next. I will avenge Kuronue. I will avenge him, even if it costs me my life in the process.

1593 A.D.

Ayaka pov

Kurama warned me of this. We've been so careful the last twelve years. But then we started getting careless; it didn't look like he was coming back. Now here he is.

Those purple eyes. I don't know how Kurama could have seen the color at night; I can hardly see it in broad daylight. He lunges toward me, knife in hand. I dodge, barely avoiding him. "Who are you?" I gasp, merely from instinct. Most demons have the honor to at least give their name before they kill.

"Kyo. Not that it matters. You will be dead in five minutes."

"You're him. You're the one who killed Kuronue."

"Why, you are quite smart. I understand that of your little group, you will be the easiest to take down. It was supposed to be you that night. But you weren't there so your bat friend took your place."

Tears well up at the thought that it's my fault Kuronue had to die. Then I remind myself that this man is obviously after all of us. He would have come after Kurama and Kuronue eventually. His knife nicks my side and I scream. He laughs because he doesn't realize it's not from physical pain but from emotional anguish.

Kurama pov

"Ayaka!" I call. The red-haired man spins around. His eyes narrow when he sees me.

"You just make this so easy. I'll kill the girl, and then you're already right here. I'll get both rewards at once."

"That's not the way you work," I snap. "You could have killed me easily while I was trying to save Kuronue."

He stops and smiles manically. "You might like to know that the reward I got off of him has kept living quite contentedly since then. Now the girl's reward is almost as great as his was at that time."

Ayaka is moving slowly. He suddenly notices and lunges, but it's already too late. She sinks her knife into his stomach. I grab her hand, and we run. Eventually I am forced to carry her because she is bleeding.

Ayaka pov

"Thank you Kurama."

"You're the one who wounded him, although I doubt he's dead." Kurama leans over and bandages my wound.

"You're the one who distracted him."

"I suppose… teamwork always was our specialty…" He doesn't mention that our team is incomplete. In the past twelve years, I have only heard him say Kuronue's name once. That was two days after that monster got him. Kurama was asleep and called out the name.

I only wish things could go back to the way things were. I know we can't, but I still wish.

Kurama pov

1992 A.D.

"You," I spit out.

"Me," the bastard replies calmly.

"I will kill you," I threaten. I mean it. He deserves to die. He killed Kuronue. Kuronue.

"Try it. I've already gotten the best of you once. You don't think I can do it again?"

"We beat you once too, if you don't remember."

"You managed to distract me with your intriguing conversation. I now know better. If not for you, I would have killed her then. As it was, I failed. I still got the girl in the end, though. I thought you might like to know. It wasn't long after you two went your separate ways. Maybe you would have killed me if you had been there. But instead she's dead."

"You son of a bitch." I lunge at him. But in my anger I miscalculate. He dodges and stabs me in the back. I collapse. I glare at him.

"I told you I could beat you again."

"I swear to you on my life, I will kill you one day," I promise him.

In soul form I flee to the human world.

well here we are at review replies once again.

Foxgirl Ray: I hope that I will eventually answer all of your questions. If you have anything you're confused about, feel free to ask because, starting with this chapter, the flashbacks are going to get quite confusing. As for why I don't watch the anime... when I was little, my mom would never let me watch any form of anime because it drives her crazy how their mouths don't match their words. So I read the books. And now the voices don't match the way the characters sounded in my head. That's all there really is to it. Plus I've always enjoyed reading more than watching tv.

animegrlsteph: This chapter interesting enough for you? So I wrote chapter... fourteen the other day, and it's very odd. But then I tried to print it out and we're out of black ink. So it's printed in dark blue. So my notebook has black ink-black ink-black ink-BLUE INK... sigh.