A/N: Hey all,

May 28, 2022: Here is the latest chapter of Who Knows What Fate May Hold For You. Please let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have the time to leave a comment or review. It really helps me motivate to continue writing this story. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I look forward to seeing you all next month with Chapter 40. See you all next time.

Your faithful author,

Spiral of Destiny

Chapter 39: Range of Emotions

The sun had barely risen when Kisame and Kanone made their way back onto the street. The two had spent the better half of the night discussing the evening's events and what could be done. They hadn't come to any definitive decisions, but they at least had a direction to go in. As the early morning had worn on, Kanone appeared to recover from his experience and seemed to be more or less back to emotional stability. As they walked side by side along the empty street, Kanone kept his gaze straight ahead and his jaw lightly clenched. Kisame didn't comment, but he kept a wary eye trained on the 'Winged Gun'. As much as he trusted Kanone, he was well aware of how reckless he could be when his nerves were stretched too thin. The evening's events had caused something to change in Kanone and Kisame wasn't about to downplay the threat that change might bring. The last thing the Blade Children needed right now was to have to defend against one of their own.

"I'm fine, Kisame." Kanone's voice pulled him out of his silent musings.

"Of course you are." He replied absently, directing his attention lazily to the street in front of them. He heard Kanone sigh beside him, but he didn't comment. The two fell silent for several minutes until the sight of police tape came into view. Kisame noted how Kanone's eyes narrowed as he looked at the scene.

Wordlessly, the two stopped before the police line and looked down the alley. The area had been largely cleared, but the blood stain on the pavement was still visible. Though faded by the rain the night before, the mark still stood as a bold reminder of what had occurred within the darkened space.

"You did everything you could. You can't blame yourself for what happened." Kisame said softly, his eyes focused forward instead of at Kanone.

"I shouldn't have gotten involved at all. It didn't change anything." Kisame turned to look at the man on his left.

"You would never have forgiven yourself if you'd left him on his own to die." He commented. Kanone's brow creased in frustration, his mouth setting in a firm line.

"What difference did it make in the end? Another Blade Child still ended up dead."

"What's done is done. I'd rather you tried, than just walk away."

Kanone remained silent. His gaze was serious and cold, staring critically at the crime scene. Kisame sighed, turning his head toward the ground.

"Stop beating yourself up."

"I'm not." The hardness of Kanone's tone was unsettling.

Kisame closed his eyes for a moment before looking back into the alley.

"You planning to stay with Ryoko again today?" He asked, changing the subject. Kanone nodded. "You should let Eyes know what happened." Another nod. "Do you want me to tell him?" He shook his head.

"No, I should be the one to tell him."

Kisame turned to face his companion. "He won't blame you. You're only human, Kanone. The only one who doesn't realize that is you." If Kanone was listening to his words, he gave no indication. His eyes were unfocused as he stared ahead, lost in his own thoughts. Sighing, Kisame turned away from the alley and began walking down the street once more. "Come on." He said. Mutely, Kanone cast a final look at the scene before falling into step behind him.

oOoOoOo

The rest of the morning was uneventful. Once the day reached a more reasonable hour, Kanone had called Eyes to report on the events of the evening before the news had a chance to air their story. Kisame had said farewell to the German teen as they reached the hospital, and made his way toward Tsukiomi. By the time the rest of the Blade Children arrived at school Kisame had already been waiting close to two hours.

"Kisame!" Rio's voice pulled Kisame's mind from his quiet musings as he heard rushed footsteps following the initial call. Rio waved, rushing toward him with Kousuke following at a determined, yet more appropriate pace. "Did you see the news?" She asked hurriedly as soon as she reached the bench where he was sitting.

"No, I haven't. Though I heard what happened from Kanone."

"I can't believe those "Hunters" got another one of the Blade Children." Kousuke stated angrily, having reached the two. Kisame nodded, rising to his feet. The others took a step back.

"What's our next move?" Rio asked, looking up at Kisame from where she stood.

"Before anything we need to talk to Eyes. I'm sure Kanone has filled him in on what happened last night by this point. Things have gotten more complicated." Kisame said with a shrug. "At the very least, we need to do something, or Kanone is going to do something on his own." The others looked at him confused.

"Kanone's going to do something? What's happened? What's become more complicated, Kisame?" Rio asked. Kisame shrugged again.

"There's no way of knowing what Kanone will do until it happens. But with the way he was acting this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't do something soon." Rio and Kousuke exchanged quick glances, both picking up on the unusual indifference Kisame was displaying.

"…Is everything okay, Kisame?" Kousuke asked uncertainly.

"That remains to be seen." Kisame said, taking a step forward and forcing Rio to take a few steps back to allow the action. In the distance, the sound of the bell ringing could be heard echoing in muted tones through the courtyard. "There are some things that didn't make the news that you two need to know about. I'll fill you in while we walk. Let's go." Suddenly worried, Rio and Kousuke hurried to follow.

oOoOoOo

First period had ended by the time Eyes made it to campus. He had spent several hours talking with Kanone, going over the events of the night and watching the news coverage of the incident. The body count of Blade Children was getting out of hand and Kanone seemed determined to put an end to the killing. While it was comforting to hear Kanone sounding more like himself, the level of coldness present in his behavior made Eyes concerned about what the German teen would do if pushed any further. With a sigh, he slipped into the seat beside Kousuke to wait for the start of his second class.

"Where were you?" Kousuke whispered, leaning slightly to be heard better by the weary pianist.

"Kanone." Eyes mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned forward to rest his arms on the desk top. Kousuke nodded sympathetically.

"Kisame filled us in. It's bad here. A lot of students are panicking because another student has been killed. There's even talk about shutting the school down until the police can determine why all these kids are being targeted."

Eyes groaned and rested his head on top of his folded arms.

"What are we supposed to do, Rutherford? We can't just keep allowing the "Hunters" to do whatever they want. They'll kill all of us at this rate." Kousuke pressed. Eyes sighed heavily, turning to look at the older male.

"I will speak with Kisame and Kanone. For now, don't do anything reckless. We don't want to lose you as well. I will let you know when we have a direction to go in." Beside him he saw Kousuke nod before focusing his gaze back on the front. With a sigh, Eyes reluctantly did the same.

As soon as class ended, Eyes bid farewell to Kousuke and headed in the direction of the computer club room. He was unsurprised to find Kisame standing by the window when he arrived. The abandoned room had quickly become the routine meeting place for the Blade Children and was an excellent place to get away and think. Kisame looked when he heard the door open. Upon seeing who it was, he redirected his attention to the window. After a moment of silence, he turned to look at Eyes again.

"How's Kanone doing?"

"He seems to be coping." Eyes said resigned.

Kisame nodded, gaze returning to the window.

"How are you handling all this?" Eyes questioned.

"I'm fine." Kisame said simply.

"You are angry." Eyes observed. Kisame's eyes narrowed.

"Your point?"

"You are dangerous when you are angry." Eyes stated bluntly.

"I'm dangerous when I'm calm too."

"Not like this." Kisame turned away from the window to face the shorter man standing beside the table in front of him.

"I'm not the only one who's angry." He said calmly, his eyes narrowing as he continued to stare at the performer. Eyes sighed, looking down before walking over to lean against the table beside Kisame. Both stared quietly out of the window, each lost in their own thoughts. After a time, Eyes spoke once more. "You've spoken to Kanone regarding what happened, then?" Kisame's gaze hardened.

"Yeah, I did. He called me right after it happened." Eyes nodded.

"What was your assessment of him?" He watched as Kisame tensed, expelling a heavy sigh of frustration.

"He's volatile. After everything that's happened with him, I don't know how much we should rely on him right now." Eyes nodded slowly, having come to a similar conclusion after his time speaking with the German teen earlier that day.

"I'd like to believe we can still depend on him." Eyes said hesitantly; his own uncertainty clear in his voice. Kisame nodded.

"So would I. But the fact is we can't really predict Kanone anymore. We never thought he would do what he did a year ago and no one has had much contact with him since then."

"I've maintained contact with him." Eyes countered, not breaking his gaze away from the window. Kisame turned his head to look at the performer.

"Then what is your analysis of him? Have you noticed as much of a change in him as I have?" Eyes remained silent for a moment, considering the question.

"He's changed; both from how he was before and after the events of last year. This Kanone is…" The performer paused again, unsure of how to express what he wanted to say. "…damaged. I don't believe that he would be a danger to the Blade Children at this time, but I can't say with certainty that he wouldn't sacrifice himself needlessly if the opportunity appeared."

"So do you think he's given up again?" Kisame's voice held notes of irritation. Eyes' features fell wearily.

"I don't believe he ever came back. He is going through the motions, but he has no real hope that we will survive this fight; that he will survive this fight. In truth, I don't believe Kanone wants to fight anymore. He is merely doing this for our benefit."

"To atone?" Eyes nodded solemnly. Kisame looked back out the window. "Well, I can't say I disagree with you. Kanone's definitely a shell of the "Winged Gun" I used to know. But I think that has more to do with recent events than him giving up completely." Eyes looked curiously at Kisame, but didn't interrupt. "Kanone is tired, and this latest breakdown between the two of you hasn't helped." He cast a sidelong look at Eyes, who had suddenly found the windowsill rather interesting. "But I think Kanone isn't at the point of abandoning this fight. He may not think he can be saved, but he's at least willing to try to see if the rest of us can be. The fact that he got involved last night at all proves that. If he can find his feet with us again, I think we have a real shot of regaining the old Kanone. But…" Kisame sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking at the floor. "That all depends on him making peace with himself about the past." Eyes nodded slowly.

"That will take time." Kisame sighed heavily once more.

"Yeah, time we don't have." He leaned back against the edge of the table, bracing his hands on either side of his hips along the table edge. "Especially now that he's directly failed to save one of us."

"What do you think will come of that?" Eyes questioned, looking to the older teen. Kisame shrugged.

"It's too soon to tell. Kanone was unstable this morning. He wants action, and that makes this whole situation a lot more dangerous for everyone involved. If he can keep from doing something reckless, I think we'll be able to salvage this. As for the "Hunters", they don't have a lot of options available to them. The media has started to connect all of the recent Blade Children deaths and has noticed that the victims are from Tsukiomi. At this point they can either continue to act recklessly or pull back until things calm down. If they don't want their hunting grounds to be compromised, they don't have much choice but to slow down."

"Do you honestly believe the "Hunters" will stop with this? Even for a short time?" Kisame shrugged again.

"I'd say there's a 30% chance they will. In the past they would have, but these new "Hunters" don't operate the same way. They are aggressive and have been effective so far, but they're also reckless and don't seem to care if our war is brought into the public eye. Either way, unless they're incredibly stupid, they'll have to be more careful about acting for the next while, which we can use to our benefit." Eyes looked solemnly out the window again, but said nothing.

The room fell into silence and neither male attempted to fill it. Overhead, the bell signaling the start of their next class sounded, but went ignored by both occupants of the room. Once the last echoes of the bell faded from the air, Eyes spoke.

"What do we do about the others? We can't just leave things as they are." He said quietly.

"What indeed." Kisame breathed, bemused.

"Hiroshume isn't prepared for a fight like this."

"And there's also the matter of Shinu Hachima to contend with. Not to mention Noragami." Eyes nodded.

"Noragami is a concern for another time, but Shinu Hachima is a definite unknown. At this point we have yet to learn anything about him."

"I think it's time we change that." Eyes glanced over at him.

"Do you have something in mind?" Kisame sighed and pushed off the table to stand straight once more. His eyes were dark and it was clear to the performer that Kisame's anger had cooled somewhat, but that his threat level had increased immeasurably.

"Perhaps. Meet me after school with Hadaka. It's time we see what our new 'allies' can do." Without waiting for a reply, Kisame turned and left the club room and a mildly concerned Eyes behind.

oOoOoOo

Shinu found himself bored as he watched the time steadily ticking by on the clock hanging over the blackboard at the front of the room. He had tuned out the lesson a while ago, instead giving his full intention to the clock and willing it to speed time forward to save him from the frustration of being in class. When the bell finally sounded, he was quick to stand and exit the room, relishing in the freedom it provided and deliberately not thinking about the next class he would have to enter shortly.

Slipping out of the sea of students exiting the classroom, Shinu made his way to the side of the hallway and looked out the window at the clear sky overhead. His attention was drawn away from the window a moment later as he felt someone stop against the wall beside him. Turning his head, his eyes met with the dangerous gold of Kisame's and he resisted the unconscious urge to step back under the weight of his gaze.

"Can I help you?" Shinu asked calmly, a smirk crossing his face. Not answering, Kisame turned and began heading down the hall away from Shinu. Taking the action as an invitation to follow, Shinu shook his head in amused curiosity and followed behind.

They continued walking until they reached an empty music room and Kisame led both of them inside. Once both had entered, he closed the door and turned to face his silent companion.

"What's got you so upset?" Shinu asked once he'd regained the older teen's attention. "You're practically radiating murderous intent."

"That's none of your concern." Kisame stated calmly; controlled. Shinu smirked, tucking his hands into his pants pockets with a shrug.

"Fair enough. So, to what do I owe this impromptu summons?"

"Do you have plans this afternoon?" Shinu looked at him curiously, confused by the unexpected line of questioning.

"No, why?"

"Good. Then I need to take up your time."

"Can I ask what for?" Kisame's eyes narrowed, a dark smirk crossing his features.

"It's time we see what you can do."

"Meaning?"

"You'll find out." Shinu couldn't help the amused smile from crossing his face, even as a chill of apprehension made its way down his spine.

"Mysterious. What if I don't want to find out?" Kisame watched him calmly, the dark smirk persisting. Taking a menacing step forward, he closed the distance between himself and Shinu, glaring the younger male down.

"That would be unfortunate for you."

It was late afternoon when the Blade Children had convened once more outside the lockers. Kisame had collected Shinu right as classes were ending in order to prevent him from escaping and now stood waiting for the others as they began filing into the area. Rio and Kousuke appeared first but, being in a hurry to get to the hospital, didn't stop to speak with Kisame and only cast a cursory goodbye to him and Shinu as they exited the school.

"Well they're certainly in a hurry." Shinu observed mildly as he watched the two departing Blade Children.

"Quiet." Kisame corrected lazily. Shinu smirked, but did as instructed. Within a few minutes, Eyes and Hiroshume arrived, stopping next to the pair. Eyes appeared indifferent, but Hiroshume looked curious and a bit intimidated as he observed the unique gathering. "Alright, let's go." Without a word of explanation, Kisame turned and walked out of the school building. Eyes fell into step behind him and Hiroshume cast a quick glance at Shinu before hurrying to do the same. With an amused shake of his head, Shinu stepped off the raised decking and followed leisurely behind.

oOoOoOo

Kisame led them to the shooting range where he worked. The group hadn't spoken on the walk over, which only left Hiroshume to grow more confused by the minute as they made their way to their unknown destination. When they finally arrived, he looked in confusion from one face to the other. Kisame didn't bother to meet his eye as he led the party toward the main office. Eyes appeared interested, but otherwise didn't give off any indication of his thoughts. Shinu on the other hand, looked incredibly amused by the entire situation. As Eyes joined Kisame at the counter to fill out the necessary registration and paperwork that would allow them access to the range, Shinu slipped beside Hiroshume.

"You look nervous. This your first time?" Shinu asked, breaking the silence for the first time since they had set out. Hiroshume turned his head in surprise to look at other teen.

"First time here, yeah." He said dismissively, looking around the building.

"Every fired a gun before?"

"No."

"Ever wanted to?"

"Not really." Shinu smirked as he watched indifference flood into the hacker's eyes. While he was clearly uneasy with the idea of being at the range, he seemed to be rather composed, all things considered.

"Scared of guns?" Shinu tried again.

"No. Why would you think that?" Hiroshume cast an irritated glance at Shinu at the accusation.

"Just an observation? You seem a little uneasy, that's all." Hiroshume shrugged, pausing for a moment to consider what to say.

"Extenuating circumstances." He settled on. Shinu raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Oh? Care to elaborate?"

"Not in the slightest." Shinu chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Fair enough."

Hiroshume was saved from any further conversation as Eyes and Kisame returned to them with forms to fill out. Once completed, Eyes led Shinu over to the weapons case to choose a gun while Kisame gave Hiroshume a brief overview of firearms 101. It wasn't until they had made it out onto the range that Kisame spoke again.

"Alright. Hachima, you come with me. I want to see what you can do. Hadaka, go with Eyes. He'll help you get started. I'll come check on you once I'm finished with him." Shinu turned to look back at Hiroshume.

"If I don't make it back, it was nice meeting you." He said, extending a hand dramatically to Hiroshume for a farewell shake. Hiroshume looked at the hand for a moment, before rolling his eyes and turning toward Eyes with a shake of his head.

"Haha, so cruel." Shinu said with a laugh as he turned and followed Kisame farther down the range.

Eyes led Hiroshume farther up the range to an area free from targets, a large sand berm standing in their place. Briefly repeating Kisame's lesson on gun safety and protocol, he handed Hiroshume a small hand pistol and instructed him to fire several rounds into the berm to get a feel of a real weapon discharging. At first, Hiroshume's hold on the weapon was overly tight and he maintained a death grip with both hands around the pistol as he fired, but by the time he had emptied his third magazine into the berm, the gun was resting lighter in his hands.

"How are you handling things?" Eyes asked as Hiroshume stopped to reload. The hacker looked curiously over at Eyes before looking back at the gun in his hands with disgust.

"Still mad at myself, but I'm fine." Eyes nodded, handing Hiroshume a new magazine for his pistol.

"It wasn't your fault." He offered. Hiroshume shook his head.

"So everyone says. Still feels like it was, though."

"No one was hurt."

"No thanks to me." He turned his head to Eyes, exasperated. "Look, I really am fine, Eyes. I'm frustrated that I wasn't able to do what you guys trusted me to do and protect Ryoko. But I can't change the past. All I can do is prepare better so that next time I won't be useless." Turning back to the berm, he emptied another magazine into the sand. Eyes nodded as he watched.

"I have no doubt you will." As he spoke, his words were drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

Kisame led Shinu down the range until they were well away from Eyes and the other patrons. Once they were alone, Kisame turned to face Shinu.

"Is this the part where you shoot me?" Shinu joked, sensing how dangerous Kisame was at the moment and being unable to resist poking the proverbial bear.

"Don't tempt me." Kisame said absently as he loaded a sizable hand gun and passed it to Shinu. "Aim for that target." He pointed down range roughly 40 yards. "Show me how accurate you can be." Taking the offered weapon, Shinu leveled his aim with both hands and fired out into the target. Dropping one hand, he leveled his aim again and fired a second round. Switching the gun to his left hand, he aimed and fired a third shot before turning to look at Kisame.

"Shall we take a walk?" He offered with a grin. Without a word, Kisame ushered them both out toward the target. It didn't escape Shinu's notice that Kisame never stepped ahead of him so long as he held the gun in his hand.

They reached the target after a few minutes and Kisame observed it critically. All three shots had hit near center, but only one had made it within the red of the bullseye. Kisame looked to Shinu.

"Do you know which is which?" He asked. Shinu stepped closer to the target for a better view.

"This one is both hands." He said, pointing to the one in the center. "This one," He pointed to the hole about an inch above and to the right of the first, is with my right hand. This last one is with my left." He pointed to the spot roughly two inches above the impact hole from his right hand shot. "I tend to overcompensate with my left because it's non-dominant, so my shots usually go a bit farther right than I intend." He said with a shrug. "I'm usually pretty close to equally accurate with all three methods at closer distance, but at 40 yards the margin gets larger." Kisame nodded, removing the target and replacing the paper with a fresh covering.

"Let's test that theory." He said as he led Shinu back up the range to continue shooting.

After several hours shooting, Kisame seemed satisfied with both Shinu's abilities, as well as his willingness to comply with whatever Kisame asked of him, and had moved on to help Eyes and Hiroshume. Shinu had continued to shoot for a while on his own before lazily making his way back toward the others. The sun was beginning to set, but Shinu estimated they still had roughly two hours of daylight left before it would be completely dark. He found the group resting near some of the closer targets. Eyes was sitting a short distance back, watching Hiroshume practicing his aim. Kisame was a bit farther down range, working out some of his frustration on some undeserving targets. Shinu smiled and made his way over to Hiroshume.

"Harder than it looks, isn't it?" He asked as he watched Hiroshume's latest shot go wide and embed into the dirt to the right of the target. Hiroshume glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the target. He hummed an affirmative before shooting again. His shot clipped the top of the target, but didn't find purchase and instead buried itself in the berm behind the target. At Hiroshume's tsk of frustration, Shinu smiled. "Want some pointers?" Hiroshume looked fully at him before shrugging.

"Couldn't hurt." Nodding, Shinu made his way over.

The two worked on aiming for the next half hour, with Shinu making small corrections and giving pointers on how to improve. As the evening grew colder, the allure of shooting lessened and Shinu left Hiroshume to begin cleaning his gun in order to visit the main office. He returned a few minutes later with two cans of hot coffee from the vending machine. Handing one to Hiroshume, he seated himself across from the hacker at a small picnic table located under a small roofed structure on the range.

"You're not half back with a gun. You've got a good eye. I wouldn't believe this was your first time if you hadn't told me." Shinu commented, taking a sip of his coffee and showing Hiroshume how to disassemble his firearm.

"Thanks. It's different than I thought it would be, but not as intimidating as I imagined." Hiroshume acknowledged, mimicking Shinu's actions as he slowly disassembled his own weapon.

"So how did you get involved with the Blade Children? It's obvious you aren't one of us." Shinu asked casually after a few minutes, looking up to watch the hacker. Hiroshume shrugged.

"I knew Eyes, so that started it. But my ultimate involvement was…complicated." He said, settling on the vague answer. Shinu accepted it with a smirk.

"It's always complicated when it comes to the Blade Children. But jokes aside, did you get involved because you wanted to or because you were forced to?" Shinu questioned, his tone growing serious as he looked fully at Hiroshume. Hiroshume looked up to meet his eyes.

"I pretty much forced them to let me be involved, if that's what you're asking." An amused grin split Shinu's face, contradicting the hacker's more muted expression.

"That's all I needed to know. Well, I'm sure we'll all be happy to have you." Hiroshume smiled lightly at the comment.

"Thanks." The two were silent for a few moments before Hiroshume spoke again. "What about you? How did you get involved? From what I know, you weren't part of the group before Eyes returned to Japan or even for a while after that." Shinu smiled with a sarcastic wistfulness.

"Oh that. I saved Rutherford from getting stabbed by a "Hunter"." His eyes darkened with mirth as he saw the curiosity fill Hiroshume's eyes. "And then I shot at him." The shock reflected in the hacker's expression was exactly what Shinu had hoped for and he fought to contain a chuckle.

"You what?"

"I shot at him. I figured that's how things were done. Trying to kill potential allies has always been their method, so I figured I'd play by the same rules."

"You're not serious." Hiroshume looked at Shinu with a mix of incredulity and disgust.

"No, I'm not serious. But it was as good an excuse as any. In reality I just thought it would be fun. It's not like I was ever trying to hit them. Just scare them a little."

"Wait, them? Who else did you do this to?"

"Asazuki and Takeuchi." Shinu shrugged indifferently, taking another sip of his beverage.

"And Hosagi and Hilbert let you live?" Shinu shrugged again.

"Yeah. It went over pretty well all things considered. It didn't hurt that I offered myself as an ally to Rutherford and the others before Hosagi and Hilbert got involved, though." Hiroshume shook his head, rising to his feet as he noticed Eyes waiting a few feet away.

"You must have a death wish." Shinu grinned savagely as he stood to follow.

"Of course I do."