I watched in shock as I heard Sakura, that sweet innocent little girl who I had travelled along with for three years, suddenly declare that she wanted to fight.

The mage was just as surprised by this sudden proclamation as I was.

The first thought that ran through my head was, What?

But I guessed the mage had been suspecting something of that sort. He merely looked down, letting out a barely audible sigh.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her softly.

A look of determination that could rival my apprentice's crossed her features as she nodded her head once.

"I am." It was only two words. Why was it that it was her declaration that finally made me realize, things would never be the same again?

Well, there was the glaring reality that I was dead.

And the kid was kidnapped by a psycho bitch and was quite possibly hurt badly.

And the mage was using my sword and techniques.

So why was it that it was Sakura's words that made the reality finally sink in?

Maybe because even after everything that had happened, I had always hoped that she would forever remain Sakura. The kind little princess whose heart-warming smile would manage to touch the heart of even a blood thirsty ninja like me.

Hence the thought of her actually wanting to learn how to hurt others, was something that was… well, it was a very un-Sakura-like thing to do.

But I knew how much their situation had changed.

She needed to know how to protect herself. In case…

In case something happened to Fai too.

Thanks to the recent events I had been forced to consider that a possibility.

I vaguely wondered what was going on with the Syaoran right now. Was he holding up okay? What was that bitch putting him through?

As these questions ran through my head, I felt a strange physical force pull at my entire being. At first it was like a soft tug which grew insistent after a while. This had to be the first thing that I had physically felt since I had died, so a strange wave of emotions rolled over me.

Or maybe it was something else.

I looked down to see myself being… I had no idea what was happening to me actually. My body was growing transparent and I was beginning to see double. I could see the mage and the princess talking in front of me, but at the same time I could also see a dark room with a flickering bulb overhead. Slowly, my body began to solidify once again but the room with the mage and Sakura had vanished.

I was now standing in an empty dark room with a freaking dying light bulb overhead.

At least. That's how it appeared to me initially.

As my eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness they had been thrown into, I realized that the room was, in fact, not empty at all. Its walls were lined with tall metallic structures and there were wires snaking around the floor but it was the metallic table in the centre of the room that caught my attention.

There, strapped to its flat surface, was the kid. But he wasn't in a condition I would have ever wanted to see him in. It was something I would have wished upon my worst enemies. That crazy witch maybe.

But not the kid.

Never the kid.

He was screaming, his body jerking and convulsing at impossible angles, his eyes screwed up tightly.

Then, all of a sudden, he fell limp against his holds.

Well sort of.

He was still shaking violently. As if he had a bad fever or something. And his face was beaded with sweat running down the sides in rivulets, mingling with the tears that had escaped his clamped eyes.

But at least he had stopped screaming.

The witch's face was bent to his level, she was laughing like a maniac. My blood pounded against my ears as rage made me see red.

How dare she do that to him?

The kid had been through enough already!

I flew at her, fists raised in an attempt to flatten that face.

I guess I'll never learn.

Ghosts can't f**kin touch anything!

"I hope you're having fun, boy," I heard her cackle in his ear. "Because this is just the beginning."

I could feel it in my very ghostly bones.

She was going to hurt him.

Badly.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I saw the kid tense up for a split second as she attached that clip to the table.

The woman let out a deranged laugh at the same time the kid screamed. I could only watch helplessly, wanting nothing more than to crush that woman and her f**kin sidekick's face. To slice that face into so many pieces that nothing would be left behind. To burn her in the deepest pits of hell myself.

To do something.

Anything.

Just one freaking time!

Oh God! How badly did I want to be given that chance.

Every single cry of his tore through my heart. And yet I was powerless.

Yes.

The mighty Kurogane. The most feared assassin of Nihon. The guy who was supposed to be invincible. He was helpless. Truly and utterly helpless.

Even as I watched him get shocked by- no doubt- an enormous amount of electricity, I was unable to anything. She would take off the clamp from the table every now and then, to let the kid breathe before electrocuting him again. And again. And again. And again…

It was like I myself was being tortured along with the kid.

Imagine what it would feel like to watch someone you cared about die a little with each passing second and you were unable to help them. Now imagine that every single moment that that person spent was itself filled with agony, and you knew how much they hurt. But you could not do anything to take that pain away. And you suffered along with them, hurting and dying on the inside.

That was how I felt. Except for the fact that I was already dead. I don't even know why I keep bringing that up, again and again.

Maybe because a part of me still finds it hard to believe.

Well whatever it was, it meant nothing. Not anymore.

Why the hell was I even here?

Why was I being shown how truly powerless I was?

Was this some sort of punishment that the gods had decided upon for me?

Well, if it was, I got the effin point! I can't do anything!

I am not invincible!

Just let the freakin kid go already! Why the hell did they have to drag him in to teach me that?

I think my death at the hands of a bunch of newbies was more than a lesson. Why did they have to keep on rubbing it in my face?

My angry rants to those deities above were broken when the screams stopped.

It had probably been somewhere after the tenth time that witch had set the clamp in place on the metal table that I had somehow managed to push the kid's screams to the back of my mind. I'll admit it now. Undeniably, it was the coward's way out. To turn away from reality. But with reality as horrible as it was this time, I wouldn't have been able to hold onto sanity for long.

Why did I want that, though, I still don't know.

It's not like I could do anything.

I watched the pitiful, shivering form of the kid who was breathing in ragged breaths. His eyes were glazed over and he was barely conscious anymore.

"Don't worry boy," The witch cupped the side of his face as she spoke to him in sweet loving tones. "We'll have a lot more fun tomorrow. I promise you that."

"Get your filthy hands off him!" I yelled angrily, but once again I was mute to the world around me. She and her minion swept out of the room as I walked over to the platform they had strapped him to.

"Don't give up kid," I sighed, laying a hand on the top of his head, unable to feel his soft hair the way I normally had whenever I had done it before. "The others are looking for you. They'll get you out of here. Soon."

He turned his hazy brown eyes in my direction. But I knew he couldn't see me.

"K-Kurogane-san…" his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lost consciousness.

Could he?

A/N: Poor Syaoran, I don't think I'm gonna be giving the kid a break anytime soon. ;)

Oh and Sakura is gonna be badass. Well, sort of. (Wonders if she can pull of a Sakura who fight like Syaoran.)

I hope Kurogane wasn't too out of character over here.

Btw, what do you think? Can Syaoran see Kurogane?

I'm thinking about having a poll to decide about Syaoran's fate.

The options are:

He gets saved before something really bad happens (not very inclined towards this option. It's supposed to be a tragedy sorta fic so…)

He get's saved but he's no longer what he used to be. (his spirit could be broken, he could be maimed, he could end up in a coma. That sort of thing.)

Sakura and Fai fail to get to him on time and he dies. (They just end up finding his dead body, like with Kurogane.)

So far, these are the three possible futures that I have in mind for him. I'm more inclined towards b) and c) but it's up to you guys to decide. You can vote on my profile or through PM or via Review if you're feeling too lazy to go there.

PS. In case you chose b) tell me what you want done to him.

That's it for now. This is Nims signing off.

Next time, Syaoran's POV.