Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss or the kage bunshin no jutsu either!

Chapter 45

Shadows in the Sunlight

"Oh come on Yamagata-kun, there's no way he could possibly win! Do you really doubt my skills? I beat you every time we spar, don't I?" I said with a sly grin.

Yamagata's face pulled into a frown and he stopped momentarily in cleaning the edge of his already spotless blade. The noon sunshine played over his black hair and lit up his dark eyes. We were both seated on the warm deck leading out into the training grounds, hot and dusty. The rest of our unit were already practicing, the sound of blade on wood, blade on blade, armour on armour, ringing throughout the small compound. The trees surrounding the square patch of dust swayed serenely in the slow breeze, a stark contrast to the dozen fighting men below. The house behind us was silent but for the occasional muttering of the owner and his wife, bustling around preparing the mid-day meal.

"That's not the point and you know it," Yamagata finally replied, chucking his ragged cloth to one side before standing, "his skills are out of your league, out of all of our leagues! He's a Jonin of Iga village remember, one of the highest regard, and Kansuke-sama asked for him personally. That aught to tell you something."

"It tells me that he needs someone to do the dirty work," I felt my expression darken as I looked back out over the training ground and focused on the one stationary figure there, "the code their kind keeps to is nothing to be proud of."

Of course the fact that he was the one still figure in the group of practicing soldiers wasn't really his most distinguishing feature. The long spill of blood red hair that lay over his dark, tight fitting training clothes, was more than enough to put him apart in a crowd.

"There's something not right about him," I said darkly, standing up beside my friend, "that hair..."

"Some say it's because he's killed so many, that his hair has been bathed in the blood of a thousand warriors," Yamagata's voice was awed as he spoke, making me roll my eyes, "that's why it's so blood red."

"Some say that he has demon blood in him," I turned to look at Yamagata and watched his face take on a doubtful expression, "that his mother lay with a handsome stranger on the night of the full moon, not knowing he was a Katsura-Otoko, and became pregnant."

"What...what a foolish thing to say," Yamagata's doubt had wavered a little however as he too sought out the red haired ninja standing in our midst, "and anyway, the Katsura-otoko doesn't exist. They use that as a technique, the ninja of Iga, for when they are in enemy territory. They say that it is because the man in enemy territory is alone, as if being on the moon, just like a Katsura-otoko."

"You seem to know an awful lot about this," I said back sourly as I stepped down onto the dusty ground and waited for him to follow.

"Well Fujimiya-san explained some of it to me," Yamagata said innocently, his love heart shaped face only serving to make him look even younger than he really was, "actually I find it quite fascinating."

"Will you find it that fascinating once I beat him?" I said contentiously, knowing deep down that I was really just being petulant, but not liking that Yamagata was interested in the ninja one bit.

"You're not still going on about that are you?" he said as we found an open space on the grounds and he drew his katana smoothly, "You know that you have no chance whatsoever of beating him, right?

"Is that right?" I said tightly, looking over my shoulder to the still inert man who was no behind us, "Well, we'll just see about that then won't we."

"Yoshitsuna, wait!" Yamagata's tone was worried, but I didn't let it stop me.

I weaved my way through my fellow soldiers until I found myself in the small open space that Fujimiya had claimed for himself. It seemed strangely calm, considering the organised chaos that was happening all around us, and the man himself stayed perfectly still. His black clothing was soaking in the light of the sun effectively, making me wonder as to how he withstood the heat of the sun in such clothing. His hands were held at his breast, the index and middle fingers of his right hand extended and held in the grasp of his left hand. My eyes narrowed as I approached further, not but three feet from him now, and he still did not move. I snorted.

"Fujimiya-san, without a sparring partner again I see," I folded my arms and noticed out of the corner of my eye as those nearest to me faltered in their practice, stopping to look incredulously at me, "how about I offer myself? What do you say?"

He didn't move, didn't even seem to breathe, and I felt my hands fist at my sides. Was he ignoring me? But then, suddenly, his eyes cracked open, then opened fully and he turned his head to look at me with those unnatural eyes. Violet in colour, defiantly a demon in his blood. I swallowed inconspicuously, but stood firm.

"I do not need a partner," he said in that deep voice which sounded commanding and yet awkward all at once.

"Uh," I stalled, forcing myself to keep going as more and more of the soldiers stopped their training to watch our conversation; Fujimiya hardly ever talked, so it wasn't hard to understand why people were taking notice, "Well then, how about a challenge?"

"Challenge?" his eyebrows raised in shock, but a small smile tugged at his lips, "You want to challenge me?"

I felt suddenly foolish, like Yamagata had said, out of my league. I turned to look around me, noticing that no one was practicing any more, but everyone had formed a loose circle around us, watching, and Yamagata was there too, looking worried.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't mean it," I said back defiantly, turning back to look at him; he had lowered his hands from their hold and turned to face me fully.

"Well then, I accept," he said back casually, stepping back into stance and waiting, "although I think perhaps you should remove your armour."

"You think it gives me an advantage?" I said back angrily, daring him to say yes.

"Not at all," he said with what seemed like surprise, "only you won't be able to keep up with me under the weight of it."

I heard a smattering of laughter and a few calls from the men around us. I growled in my throat and felt quickly for the ties to my bulky breast plate and gauntlets. I discarded them quickly and efficiently, throwing them to the side until I was in only my tight fitting underclothes, not wholly unlike his own. I picked up my sword and drew it quickly, turning back to face him once more. He had drawn a small knife from his belt, long and diamond shaped with a short haft and a small ring attached where the hilt should be. I snorted, wondering how he could possibly defend against my attacks with such a puny knife. Yet...he was Jonin after all. I would keep my guard up.

I had tried to wait for him to attack first, but after a whole minute of standing facing each other down, with Fujimiya's unconcerned gaze boring into me, I leapt forwards and lunged expertly at his seemingly prone form. I watched as my blade descended upon him, aimed for his exposed left side, and was almost ready to pull back when I thought I really was going to kill him, when the hand holding the knife moved faster than I had even seen anyone move before in my life. One moment it was by his right shoulder, the next it had descended to deflect my attack efficiently. The blade twisted in his hand and turned my own blade out to the right, throwing my attack to the side and leaving me open as I stumbled. However he did not take advantage of this fact, simply falling back into stance and waiting for me to recover.

The air was tense all around us, eyes fixed to us, everyone watching. I felt my heart pumping doubly quick through my veins. So fast, it was almost impossible to believe anyone could move as fast as he. He couldn't possibly be of this world. I shook the thoughts from my head, concentrating on a strategy that could possibly sneak pat his defences. I lunged again, slicing up towards his face, waiting for him to deflect at the last moment like he had done before, feeling a slight satisfaction as I saw his hand move, but then suddenly stop. My momentum was too much, too fast, I had been expecting him to block, relying on it, so much so that I couldn't pull my blade back in time. There was a collective gasp of horror as the tip of my katana sliced neatly from Fujimiya's chin, up through his face, and exited from his forehead. The world seemed to stop moving, my hands were so tight around my katana that I thought the bones would burst through the skin. I watched in detached horror as his lifeless corpse flew back in slow motion, his knife dropping to the dirt, and then his body hit the ground heavily.

What had I done? Kami, what had I done!

Then suddenly there was a shout from behind me, a rustling of leaves and then something cold and sharp was pushing against my throat. I couldn't move, arm still outstretched and holding my sword, wondering insanely for a moment if it was Kansuke-sama behind me ready to behead me for my indiscretion in killing a fellow comrade so heedlessly. However, the sudden shouts of the men around me awoke me from my haze.

"How did he do it! That's amazing!"
"Now I know why they call him the master of the silent kill..."

I blinked, looking down at the corpse in front of me which had fallen, the wound I had inflicted not pouring blood, but dust instead. The same dust as we stood upon. Then he spoke.

"First rule of engagement," Fujimiya spoke from behind me, the steady knife at my throat held in his hand, "know your enemy."

I dropped my blade but didn't move, watching in awe as the corpse dissolved back into the ground. The knife disappeared, as he obviously took my actions for the surrender that it was, and I turned to face him. There he was, Fujimiya, an exact copy of the man I thought I had just killed, standing behind me whole and very much alive. Lots of different questions were clamouring to get out of my mouth, like how he had managed to create such a perfect clone of himself without my noticing, how he had managed to move so fast, how, how, how...? Yet all that finally came out was...

"Thank Kami," I sagged letting out all of my pent up breath, "I thought I'd killed you!"

"..." he seemed to stall, as if this wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting at all, before cocking his head to the side and shrugging, "not at all."

"But how did you..?" he seemed to expect my next question however.

"When you stumbled," he said simply, "I broke your line of sight. This gave me time to perform the dou bunshin no jutsu. I knew that if you believed me dead your shock would give me time to neutralize you."

I stared at him, openly gaping. The murmurs of the others were nothing but a conglomeration of sound all around me. He was...amazing.

"The earth clone technique?" I said dumbly.

"Yes," he nodded, "although I can tell you no more of my methods. If you learned of them, I would have to kill you."

"No danger there then," I held up my hands, smiling, even as Yamagata came rushing over from the crowd, "how about we start again? I think we got off on the wrong foot, as they say."

"..." again he seemed lost for the right words, confused by my attitude, but finally nodded, "as you wish."

That was the memory that assaulted me when we had faced him down back at the abandoned Esset building, when he and Yusuke had come and kidnapped Schuldich and Nagi. When I realised that it really was him, not the Fujimiya of this time, residing within that body I had raged inside but not shown it. That memory, so far away now, seemed close and yet wrong. Fujimiya had been a traitor, performing the ryakuhon no jutsu to infiltrate our company and take us down at the opportune moment. He had turned the tide during our last battle, on the battlefield of Kawanakajima, everything had happened because of him.

Now here he stood, before us once more, appearing in the dull corridor as if from thin air, and stopping us in our tracks. Yet, as I gazed into his sharp eyes once more, the reflection was not that of madness as I had seen earlier, not that of a traitor which I suspected I would see, but instead it was the same as the gaze from my memory. Calm, composed, completely in control.

"Fujimiya!" Yamagata spat, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Ran!" Yoji shouted, taking an involuntary step forwards.

"Correct," he said, his black trench coat pulled tight around his form.

It was then that I noticed the change in his dress. He had slit the bottom of the trench coat up the middle and then strapped both loose pieces of cloth around his legs with torn strips of fabric. His outfit was once again reflecting my memory, the tight black outfit mirroring his favoured choice of clothes from when I had known him so long ago. I narrowed my eyes but found it hard to concentrate when, unlike before, I felt no malice coming from him.

"You," I said at last, listening to the distant crackle of wood under flame, "why are you doing this?"

"..." he stalled, just like he used to, just like I could always make him do when I confused him with my words, "I...you don't understand. You never did."

"Quiet," Yamagata called out, clenching his fists, "we didn't attack you before because you had a hostage, you coward. Don't think we'll go easy on you this time!"

"It's not..." he stopped again as he was interrupted.

"Ran, I don't care what your reasons are, stop this madness now or I'll kill you myself!" Kudo did not shout this time, his voice merely slipping into a dangerous tone, his eyes glinting.

"No," I said quickly, "you cannot kill him, he's beyond any of us. Together we may have a chance..."

"Wait!" he called out, stopping all of us simply with the tone of his voice; it sounded, oddly, like pleading, "Please...I know, I know you won't believe me but I had no choice. I had no choice but to obey Uesegi. I am sorry..."

"Sorry isn't good enough! Do you know what he's planning!?" Yamagata hissed furiously, "If he gets his hands on the scroll that Kansuke-san discovered everything will be for nothing! And you have the gall to say you're sorry, even as you're helping him again now!"

"He had my wife!" Fujimiya shouted back, shaking his head suddenly, "He had Sakura, he was going to kill her if I didn't comply with his wishes! I couldn't tell you, I'm sorry, I couldn't."

"So you sacrificed us all for the sake of one woman?" I said back harshly, my mind reeling under the sudden explanation; after all this time his true motive had been revealed and, despite my better intentions, it made my heart ache with the relief to learn he had been forced, "How could you do it!?"

"I..." he faltered again as he looked back into my eyes, anger faltering, "I love her. I am sorry Yoshitsuna, you cannot understand how much."

"Why didn't you tell me, we could have helped you!" I couldn't help but shout, my mind still in shock, "You pretended to be our friend and then you betrayed us to that snake!"

"Yes I betrayed you," he nodded, his face strained as he voiced it aloud, "but I was never false in my intentions towards either of you. Please believe me this is as hard to bear for me as it is for you. I was dead Yoshitsuna, dead and he tore me from that, forced me back into his service. But I will not obey him, not again."

"What is going on here!?" Kudo suddenly demanded, "Is this another trick of yours? Because if it is I don't appreciate it! We haven't got time for this nonsense! Ran you're talking shit again and I won't hear it!"

Fujimiya faltered, and I could see in his eyes that he was making quick decisions, his sharp mind wavering back and forth like a reed in the wind. He looked to the floor quickly.

"You don't understand Kudo-san," I said, shaking my head, "this isn't the Fujimiya Ran that you know. This is the Fujimiya Ran that I know, from five hundred years ago."

"W-what!?" Kudo spluttered but quickly regained his composure, "are you trying to say that Ran is like you two? All that bullshit you were spouting back there was true? You expect me to believe that?

"You don't believe your own eyes then?" I said, turning to stare down his angry glare.

"I..." he faltered, "this could all be a trap. I refuse to trust any of you without solid proof. I'm sure you can understand."

"The fact that Fujimiya knows our real names should be proof enough," Yamagata said venomously, "don't you think?"

Kudo hesitated, eyes narrowing as he worked quickly to make a decision on the situation. He stayed ready but I could see him beginning to doubt his own conclusions and wondering whether what we had explained to him before in the leaking basement of the abandoned warehouse had been true. Then Fujimiya took that moment to speak up.

"I can help," he said, almost as if he expected to be cut down any moment, "I won't, can't betray you again. So many sins that I have to atone for, so much blood on my hands. Uesegi has divulged his plan to me, I know his mind, I can help you."

We all stared at him as if he had grown three heads. Here, in the belly of the beast, the main player in all of my misfortune had suddenly offered his hand to me in friendship once more. I blanched as he looked at me with those eyes, those demons violet eyes, and I found them filled with sadness. I shook my head.

"I can't trust you," I said softly, ignoring Yamagata as he agreed too fervently and Kudo as he snorted a laugh, "and I can't forgive you."

"..." more silence from Fujimiya, even as the other two voiced their agreement with my reply; then he looked up at us both and drew his weapon.

I was instantly ready, instantly falling into stance and readying myself for the fight to come. I wouldn't make the same mistake as before, I would wait for him to attack first. I looked to Yamagata and he looked back, nodding. Kudo, standing slightly behind us, was also ready to fight, I could tell from the set of his long limbs. I turned back to our enemy and watched as he moved.

I tensed my muscles, ready for him, and then gasped in shock as he simply held out his hand and dropped his katana to the floor. My companions seemed confused but did not drop their guard. I shouldn't have dropped mine either, knowing that Fujimiya was just as deadly without a weapon as he was with one. But there was something in his actions that held a finality, a desperation filled with despair. Hollowness seemed to pervade his visage. Then he spoke, and my suspicions seemed confirmed.

"Then kill me," he said, shoulders sagging, "kill me before he uses me again. Do it quickly."

There was a deadly silence. Yamagata and I shared a glance; he shook his head and I frowned.

"Asking for death now?" Yamagata hissed out, "I'll kill you after you tell me Uesegi's plans in detail, I want to know everything!"

"Wait Yamagata-kun," I said, falling out of stance and wondering where on earth I was getting this foolish courage from, "I think he means it."

"Yoshitsuna don't be absurd, he's a trained killer, a master of deception! He's trying to fool you!"

"I know," I nodded, sighing, "but it's been so long, I..."

"I understand how you feel," Fujimiya was talking once again, "but I swear to you that I will not harm you again. I swear it upon my own life."

"Your word doesn't mean anything to us," Yamagata said cruelly, "there's nothing you can do to prove your loyalty! It's all a lie!"

"Nothing I can do?" he repeated the words slowly, watching us all in turn, "Then I will kill Uesegi for you, how does that sound? Is that enough of a token of peace? I just ask that you do not get in my way when the time comes. He has become very powerful, much more so than he was when I was under his service before. Yet he is still vulnerable, he still resides within the host body of the girl he stole."

"Aya-chan?" Kudo breathed out, taking a step forwards, "so Aya-chan is still alive?"

"Aya?" Fujimiya repeated, "Is that her name? No, no she is not alive any longer, Uesegi controls her body, that is all, her mind will have been expelled long ago. Just as I was forced to do with this body."

"Then what does he plan?" Yamagata asked, taking a step forwards and narrowing his eyes, "What is his next move, tell me and I may spare your life."

Fujimiya looked up and shook his head, a smile forming along his graceful lips.

"You still don't understand," he said, "I don't want to live, it's unnatural, it's abnormal, I shouldn't be here. I have taken the life of this man, taken his life without even knowing who he is, by being in this body. I deserve to die for all I have done. After I have helped you, I want you to kill me."

"Oh no, you're not getting out that easily," Kudo stepped up to stand beside me now; we were all slowly creeping forwards towards the prone figure before us, "I need you to save Ken, I promised him I'd bring you back in one piece and so that's what I'm going to do. If I have it right, I think I might be able to redeem at least one of your sins, as you call them."

That caught Fujimiya's attention, his eyes flaring up to latch on desperately to Kudo's own. They stared at each other avidly.

"What do you mean?" he asked quickly.

"I mean that I think the mind of that body you're occupying is still alive and well," Kudo shrugged, seeming to choke on his own words as if he barely believed that it was possible; however, after witnessing half of the things he'd witnessed since meeting up with us, I wasn't surprised that he was changing his views, "and that I need to take that body back to save my friend."

"Then...then you can do with me as you wish," Fujimiya nodded, surprising me with his compliance; perhaps he was sincere after all? "But first we must stop Uesegi, he is planning to follow through with the time merging technique."

"The time merging-what?" Kudo said with a frown.

"He is going to conjoin the past and the present," Fujimiya said as if it were obvious, taking in our blank stares and then elaborating, "he plans to regain his old body by overlapping the past and the present. He hopes to be able to bring back his lieutenants bodies also, as well as that of any of his other followers who had helped resurrect him. Then his powers wil be restored to him. He's rebuilding his army, don't you understand?"

"Kami-sama," Yamagata breathed out, "I didn't think...he was that powerful. No one has performed the heigou kokugen no jutsu successfully! He must be out of his mind!"

"Well I'm not willing to take that chance," Fujimiya said back tersely, eyes flaring, "and I'm sure that you aren't either. Now that you know, and now that you understand how powerful he has become...will you accept my help? Or will you stay out of my way?"

--'heigou kokugen no jutsu' 'time merging technique'

AN: Well look at me with the kind of quick update. Okay, sorry if anyone was expecting more of the other characters, but they'll be in the next chapter, I won't leave you hanging forever honest!

Maiko x

To Gillian S. – another thorough review! You almost guessed my motives for Fujimiya's betrayal, but there's more to it than it seems at first! Glad you liked it!

To Heather R – I'm so glad you're still reading! Sorry for the long wait, when you say years I realise suddenly just how long this story has been running for – oops. But I'm glad you're still enjoying it, and I hope that you liked the chapter.

To Vera-sama – Ah, I'm glad you're enjoying my story, thanks for the support! I love it when you come across a story that fits everything you were hoping to find, it makes me happy to have written a story that fits for someone else. I can't believe you read a chapter of my story over the phone to someone (blushes) that's so...cool! I hope you enjoyed the update.