(A/N: We're coming to the final stretch. This is a very emotional chapter. I'm sure you're going to be surprised by the outcome.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 20: Blood On Our Hands

Lucy froze. She knew who that voice belonged to. Besides, there was only one person she knew who would dare to speak to her like that.

"So, you're back." She said, not turning around. "Banda, is it?"

"That's Bando, bitch. And don't you dare talk down to me. I'm seconds away from blowing you away."

"Is that so?" She began to turn around.

"Don't look at me, bitch!" Bando shouted. "Stay right where you are. I know how you work now. I may be out of your six feet range, but I know you can throw anything as a weapon. There aren't that many things you can use here, but if I see something so much as twitch, I'm pulling the trigger."

Lucy couldn't resist pushing his buttons just a little. "I thought you're supposed to squeeze the trigger, not pull."

Bando snickered humorlessly. "Joke all you want, bitch, but you can't do shit to me before I blow your head off. I've been waiting a long time for this. It's time to get even."

"Even?" Lucy repeated. "You're going to kill me, and you call that getting even? Didn't I spare you, not once, but twice?"

"Spare me? Spare me! You may not have taken my life, but you sure as hell ruined it. My life was in perfect order before I met you. Now not only am I a freak, I'm also on the run."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you that came after me when I was minding my own business? I merely acted in self-defense."

Bando sneered. "It was just a job, kid, unlike now, it was nothing personal. I was a mercenary; I did what was expected of me. Now I'm a wanted man who's got some deranged scientists after me so they can cut off my balls. And I mean that literally."

"Poor baby. You feel like your life is ruined because a job didn't go as planned."

Bando's grip on his gun tightened. "You must have a death wish to be talking to me like this when I've got a gun pointed at you."

Lucy couldn't help but to smile. "I've had a death wish all my life. I expected to die at any moment of any day for the longest of time. My whole life as been filled with pain and torment, just bordering on death. I've walked willingly to what I thought would be my death numerous times. Do you think that you would really intimidate me? I've faced death so many times that it's practically become a part of my daily routine. No, Bando, I'm not going to cower at death. There have been times that I've even wanted death to relieve me of my suffering. I've-"

"Will you shut up!" Bando shouted. "God, I didn't know you were so damn talkative. I've been waiting for this for months, and I'm not going to let you ruin it for me."

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Then go ahead, take your revenge if it will make you feel better. You get off on killing, don't you? For me, it was always about survival. But for you it was mere sport. Your sins will catch up with you one day, Bando. I know this from personal experience. My past finally caught up with me, and I guess it's time to pay for my crimes."

"So what? You really want death?"

"It's not as if I have a choice, do I? I know how accurate you are. You're right when you say that I won't be able to make a move before you pull that trigger, so why bother fighting it? I'm tired, so tired of it all. The running, the suffering, the fighting, the killing, I'm just done with it all. So go ahead, end it."

Bando was silent for a moment, then he began to snicker. "You stupid bitch, you must think I'm a real dumb ass. Did you really think that by giving me that stupid ass speech that I would spare you? I don't care if you want to live or die. All I care about is putting a bullet in your head."

Lucy's expression didn't change. "Well, no one's stopping you." She fell silent for a few moments, before a smile broke out over her face. A few snickers escaped her lips before she began laughing loudly, much to Bando's surprise.

"And just what's so funny, bitch?"

Lucy just laughed harder, her laughs bordering on hysteria. She finally managed to control herself. "I just find it incredibly ironic. Since the day I was born, my life has never been my own. I never cared if I lived or died. Nothing mattered except for one thing. And after I took care of that, I resigned myself to accept death. Either death or imprisonment for life. I didn't care, it didn't matter." She snickered some more. "And now, when I'm finally free, when I can finally have a life, when I can finally be happy, when I finally decide that I want to live, I have you here about to take my life. It seems as if I truly was born merely to die. And now death has come for me just when I find something to live for."

Bando sneered. "That's called karma, kid." he told her. "And here's mine. Three times we've come together. Twice you've managed to escape, but you know what they say; third times the charm." He aimed right for the center of her head. "Strike three, bitch, you're out."

Lucy closed her eyes, knowing that this time she wouldn't be able to escape death. Even if she was fast enough to avoid being shot, she was too worn out to escape. This was really it.

There was the sound of thunder as the gun went off. Lucy didn't even flinch from the loud sound. She remained perfectly still, back turned, arms raised, eyes closed. There was no pain, no feeling of impact. He must have shot her in the head, granting her instant death. At least he had been merciful.

But what would she find when she opened her eyes? She expected either the bliss of Heaven, or the torment of Hell. Strangely, she felt exactly the same.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She was still on the bridge surrounded by bloody mutilated bodies. She wasn't dead? But Bando had a perfect shot, and he was far too merciless to spare her. So what had happened?

She turned around and received a shock. Bando was still standing where he was, his gun aimed right at her. But in place of where his right eye had once been, there was now a bloody hole that went straight through his skull.

Finally he collapsed, face down, a puddle of blood pooling around him. Behind him, holding a smoking gun, was Kohta. His eyes were wide, his skin was pale, and he was breathing heavily, his hands shaking.

"Kohta…" Lucy whispered, and ran over to him. He didn't react the slightest bit when she approached. "Kohta!"

He didn't move. It looked as if he was in a state of shock. Slowly, Lucy rested her hand on his shoulder. He didn't even react to physical contact, which greatly worried her.

"Kohta. Kohta, wake up." She slowly ran her hands down his arms until she reached the gun that he was gripping so tightly that his knuckles were white. "It's ok, Kohta. Put it down."

Apply light pressure, she attempted to lower his arms. He seemed to resist at first, but then his arms slowly came down.

"That's good." She told him. "Now let go of the gun. Come on, Kohta, it's ok. Just let it go."

She carefully extracted the gun from his hands. Although he no longer had an iron grip on it, she still had to move his fingers for him to take the gun away.

"Shh." She soothed. "It's ok. It's ok."

Tears welled up in Kohta's eyes and he dropped to his knees. The rest of his body began shaking, but the look of stunned horror remained frozen on his face.

"I killed him." he whispered.

"Shh." She shushed him, pulling him into an embrace. "It's ok."

"No…" Kohta muttered as the tears ran down his cheeks. "I killed him. I really did."

"To save me." Lucy told him, stroking his hair in a comforting manner. "You did it to save me. He was going to kill me. You know he was. Kohta, you saved my life."

"But I killed him!" Kohta cried. Emotion was creeping back into his voice, which meant that he was coming out of his state of shock. "I aimed right at him and pulled the trigger."

"You had no choice. He would have killed me, and maybe even you too if he saw you. That man was a killer. You didn't have a choice."

"There's always a choice." Said Kohta, burying his face into her chest, holding onto her tightly. "I've always said that killing was never the right answer, that it was wrong. I condemned you for those that you killed, then I go and do the same. I'm nothing but a damn hypocrite."

"You had no choice." She repeated.

"But I did!" Kohta cried. "I didn't have to kill him. I had the gun on him. I could have told him to drop it. I could have fired a warning shot. But no, I made the conscious decision to kill him. I could have just shot him in the arm or the leg, but no, I aimed right for his head and pulled the trigger. It didn't matter who he was or what he did, I had no right to take his life. No right at all."

"Kohta…"

He looked down at his hands. "I've got blood on my hands now. Blood that can't be washed off with soap and water. I've taken a life and I can't undo that." His fists clenched. "Is this the burden you've always been carrying? It's unbearable. I'm a murderer."

"No you're not. You a good person, Kohta. The greatest person I've ever known, and I have no right to have your love."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm on the same level as you. I'm no different from you, Lucy. We're exactly the same."

Lucy held onto him tightly. "Then we deserve each other. It'll all work out somehow. We'll take care of each other. We'll get through this together."

"I don't see how, Lucy. I really don't see how I'll be able to get beyond this."

Lucy thought back to what Kohta had told her that one night. "You've taken a life, Kohta, so now you must live for that person. Bando lived a very miserable and sad life. So live a good joyful one for him instead. Remember what you told me, make up for the life that you've taken by living life for them. I can't tell you how much those words helped me, Kohta. So now I will use those same words on you."

Kohta gave a snort of humorless laughter. "I must seem really pathetic to you right now."

Lucy shook her head. "No, Kohta. We all have our time of weakness. You are the strongest person I know. You deserve to-"

She cut herself off, her head snapping to the side as she sensed something. There was a figure on the other bridge, watching them. She knew who they were. She was just surprised by the difference she sensed within them.

Using his vectors, Kenshin flung himself to the other bridge, landing beside Lucy and Kohta. He stared at them for a moment before looking at the bodies scattered about. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the remains of Kakuzawa. He turned back to Lucy, his face expressionless.

"You killed him?" he asked. "Kakuzawa?"

Lucy didn't feel like explaining about Kaede, so she merely nodded. "Yes, I did."

Kenshin studied her for a moment before shaking his head. "No, it was the other you." He frowned, cocking his head to the side. "She's gone now. Both the other yous are gone. I can't sense them anymore."

Again Lucy nodded. "Yes, both Nyu and Kaede are no more. It's just me, only me."

Kenshin seemed to think this over. Then he glanced at Bando's body and turned back to them, this time his eyes settling on Kohta. "And you, you killed him?"

Kohta wiped his eyes. He had to acknowledge what he had done. "You're right, I did." He looked at Bando's body and said with complete truth, "And I'm not sorry for it. Not if it saved her."

Kenshin studied the two of them. He was silent for over a minute before he seemed to come to a conclusion. "You two… you're in love." He noted their surprise at his observation. "You love each other?"

Both Lucy and Kohta looked at each other before turning back to Kenshin. "Yes," Lucy said, "we do."

"Very much." Kohta added.

"I see." A look of longing appeared in Kenshin's eyes. "I miss love."

He fell silent again. But the silence was soon broken by the sound of police sirens. Kohta knew immediately that Yuka must have contacted the cops. He supposed that it should have been a good thing, but how in the hell were they supposed to explain this?

"What now?" Lucy asked, echoing his thoughts.

Finding strength, Kohta forced himself to his feet. "You think we can get away before they get here?"

"No." Kenshin replied. "They're already here. The bridge is surrounded on both sides." He nodded down behind them. "Look, they're coming now."

As they waited for the inevitable, both Kohta and Lucy tried to come up with some sort of way to explain themselves. They came up with absolutely nothing. The police arrived, surrounding them all. They looked horrified at the blood bath that had occurred.

"God in Heaven…" whispered on of the cops. "What happened here?"

"It's the same M.O. as the other murders." Said another officer.

"You, kids!" said another. "What's going on here?"

As Lucy and Kohta struggled to find something to say, Kenshin began to snicker. The two looked at him in confusion as his laughter grew louder. The police looked at him, also confused, as Kenshin burst into an insane fit of laughter.

"So," he said, his voice sounded incredibly diabolic, "you finally did it. You finally found me." He turned to the police with a look of insanity on his face and a large evil grin. "I was wondering when I'd be caught. You've been searching for me for years, ever since I was a small child, but I always slipped away. Your police force is a damn disgrace."

The police looked shocked and confused by what Kenshin was saying. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Kenshin repeated. "I mean that I'm the one responsible for all the gruesome unexplained murders that have happened here over the years. I've been killing since I could walk. Truthfully, I didn't think you'd ever find me." He glanced at Kohta and Lucy. "Guess it's your lucky day. Seems like you'll be the first ones to survive an encounter with me and remain intact." He turned back to the cops. "But you're out of your minds if you think I'm going quietly."

Using his vectors, he lifted himself in the air, making it look like he was flying. The police looked on in stunned disbelief as Kenshin seemed to float in the air.

"Fun time!" Kenshin announced.

He lashed over with his vectors, cutting one of the cops in half. He lashed out again, removing the head of another. His grin widened as he used his vectors to pick up a few of the guns from the men that Kaede had killed. The police stared at the floating guns in open shock. But when Kenshin began firing, they seemed to snap out of their trance.

They open fired on Kenshin. Several bullets slammed into Kenshin's body, and he went down, landing beside Lucy and Kohta.

Lucy was both shocked and confused by what had just happened. Why had Kenshin done that? Why attack them? He didn't even seem to be trying. He could have easily killed all of them if he wanted to. And getting shot? He could have easily stopped those bullets. All he had to do was use his vectors to shield himself. But he didn't even try to defend himself. He had let himself get shot.

Kenshin coughed, spitting up a mouthful of blood. He looked up at Lucy, giving her a small smile as he spoke quietly enough for only her and Kohta to hear. "You're… free now… Lucy…"

Then he fell silent. His eyes shut and his breathing stopped as he passed on.

Lucy was astounded. She couldn't believe it. Kenshin had just given his life for her and Kohta. On top of that, he had just taken the blame for, not just today's murders, but also all the murders over the years. From the time Lucy had been in the orphanage, until now, he had taken away the possibility that those murders would catch up with her. Kenshin had confessed, finally giving the police a culprit for all the unexplained gruesome murders. Case closed.

One of the officers stepped forward and nudged Kenshin's body with his foot. "Clear." He said, motioning for the other officers to come forward. "Looks like we finally got the psycho we've been searching for."

"My god," said another, "he can't be more than fourteen, fifteen. If he's really the one we were looking for, that means he really did start killing when he was a kid."

"Not that hard to believe after those stunts he pulled. Did you see that? Holy shit, what the hell was that? He just looked at them and they fell apart. And did you see those guns floating in the air like that? What the hell is going on here?"

"Never mind that now." said another officer, looking at Lucy and Kohta worriedly. "You kids ok? You're not hurt are you?"

Lucy shook her head as she attempted to find her voice. "Yes, we're ok now."

"Do either of you need to go to the hospital?"

Kohta managed to find his own voice. "No, we're not hurt."

The officer sighed. "Shit, this is fucked up. Come on, lets get you kids out of here. Where do you live?"

"Kaede House." Kohta replied. "It's not that far from here."

The cop motioned for them to follow him. "Well come on. I've got to take the two of you down to the station first and get your account of what happened here. Are you two up to that?"

Both Kohta and Lucy shared a look. "I think we can handle that." said the former.

"Alright, then come with me. I'll just need you to answer a few questions, then I'll take the two of you home."

"Home." Lucy repeated. She reached for Kohta's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Yes, I'd like to go home."

(A/N: A lot of you guessed that it was Bando that was behind Lucy, but I bet none of you saw the outcome of that confrontation. I'll also bet that none of expected what Kenshin did either. To tell you the truth, I did even expect that. Kenshin was meant to be a minor character who would be no more than a simple obstacle in the way. I had no idea he would take on such an important role. When he did become a more leading character, I thought I would end up pairing him with Mayu since they seemed to be fond of each other, but I guess that didn't happen either. What can I say, sometimes the characters in the story just write themselves. So tell me what you thought of this chapter.)