Chapter One Hundred Fifteen

What was left of the warehouse smoldered in the damp atmosphere. The rain had stopped the moment the fake Kaoru had disappeared, but the sky was still overcast by low hanging clouds. Even without the cloud-cover, though, there was a darkness that permeated the air and weighed down on the city like an oppressive blanket of negative energy. The streets were empty despite the time of day, but there was no silence. Sirens, shouting, and riotous noises echoed over the solid buildings as evidence that they stood at the possible start of a domestic war.

Shaking himself free of black soot, Kenshin bent to help Yahiko unpin an unconscious kijin warrior from beneath a bent piece of what was once metal bracing. Nearby, Yūtarō was seated on some rubble with his phone pressed close to his face. One of his hands cupped around an earbud in his ear so that he could focus on the audio of whatever he was listening to. Set up outside of the destruction, Tsubame had volunteered to heal anyone who was injured, in the fighting or by the acid rain. Only two of the royal guard had been captured alive, and they had been detained by Misao and her kijin leader bodyguard.

It had taken more time than he liked to defeat their attackers, but Kenshin had irritatingly underestimated the strength of those handpicked by the Emperor to be under his direct command. That meant Kaoru had been out of his care for nearly forty minutes. He could still feel her, and for now that meant that she was at the least unharmed. Her strange behavior since exiting the train had felt much too unnatural, and his instincts had warned it meant Sōjirō had activated the runes that would allow him control over her body. He had not known it would mean he could also control her consciousness, however, and that part had unsettled him. As a result of the total control, Kenshin had weighed his options. Instead of making his awareness known to her, and in turn to Sōjirō, he had hoped he could get her alone, and then either use her to get to Sōjirō, or work out a way through their marriage seal to disrupt his control.

Kaoru had a strong will. She would not just be his puppet. That being said, Kenshin feared that what had been bothering her since that morning had gotten in the way of her confidence, in herself and her own strength. Her fear would only allow Sōjirō to control her easier. He hated that her fear was his fault.

Angry with himself and the situation, Kenshin cursed under his breath as he picked his footing on his way out of the rubble. As soon as Kaoru had finally expressed to him the tiniest piece of what had been upsetting her, he had instantly known what was happening. Of course, it would be overwhelming for her. Of course, she would have no idea how to deal with it. Kaoru was human. Humans did not grow or evolve the same way that they did. To anyone else it would be obvious what she was going through, but Kaoru would not know that the addition of his power through the marriage seal would activate a new transition in her own powers. Worse, while transitioning, she would be at her most vulnerable. Which was no doubt how Sōjirō had overpowered her will to begin with. With everything that was already going on, it was the worst possible combination.

"Himura-san!" Yūtarō glanced up at him as he walked past, and jumped to his feet to trip and trudge after him.

"Forgive me, Yūtarō-kun. I can't stay any longer than I have."

"I get that, but you need to watch this first!" Grabbing him by the elbow of his sweater, Yūtarō finally caught up and forced him to stop. "I think it's really Kaoru-san this time." Kenshin accepted the phone with a frown, and glanced at the screen while Yūtarō tapped play. "See? Aren't those the clothes she was wearing?"

The video was unstable, and it bounced with the cadence of footsteps as the person recording it hurried along the sidewalk. Out in the middle of the street, Kaoru paced down the middle line, her steps unrushed and purposeful. She indeed wore the same clothes as before she had disappeared, but she had acquired a new piece of attire that effectively blindfolded her and shielded her eyes from view. Even without being able to see, she walked like one who could see everything. Over the speaker, her voice threaded enticingly like a siren call in far-off, secluded mountain paths. What was most alarming, however, was the hundreds of others that marched along behind her in blank complacency; caught by the call of her voice.

Abruptly, the camera swung to the right to scan the road up ahead of Kaoru, and hundreds more marched in from the side roads of a large intersection. They joined Kaoru and the group behind her, like some kind of strange, silent parade. In the background of the video, there were those not caught by the call of her voice, and they watched the march of vacant strangers in fearful confusion.

"What do you think? Is it her? Her eyes are covered, so I can't tell."

"It's her." Her voice could not be replicated, but it also did not carry the same level of strength as was usual for her. If Sōjirō was using her voice for his purposes, it appeared he could not replicate her potency.

Blinking, Kenshin looked up from the phone as he realized he could hear her singing in the distance. It was faint, but it floated along the breeze in ghost-like wisps that taunted and teased in the same way the fragrance of her shampoo did. Movement out of the corner of his eye pulled his gaze to his left to find three of the younger kijin and two of the Oniwabanshu ninjas zombie-stepping towards the origin of the singing. Shoving the phone back at Yūtarō, he pointed and jogged over as he yelled for assistance.

"Stop them! Plug their ears."

There was no resistance from those affected, and it was lucky they could be pinned so easily. Afterwards, Kenshin was forced to reluctantly explain the effects of Kaoru's power, as well as the necromancer who now controlled her body. Through nothing less than the threat of his wrath did he convince everyone there that they were to cause her no harm. Aoshi and his kijin warriors were loath to agree to putting themselves in danger for a human long since dead, but Misao and her grandfather had promised that he had nothing to worry about from them.

"Himura-san!" A second shout from Yūtarō dropped a rock into Kenshin's gut, and he met the koi fish halfway when he came running with the phone raised over his head. "The royal guard! They took her!"

This video replayed as he looked at it, and his features darkened as he watched a ring of guards, that were a mirror to the ones they had fought, drop from above to surround Kaoru. At first, they hesitated to come closer to her, but after a few seconds one carefully approached to detain her. She did not fight, but smiled as her hands were tied. A gag was next placed in her mouth, and then the wires the guards were attached to yanked them all back up into the sky. As the video panned up, it revealed that she had been directly underneath the Sky Palace.

"Why didn't they kill her?" It was a fair question, since the orders Okina had intercepted had confirmed that they were meant to capture and kill her.

"Our marriage seal likely stopped them. I have to go." Kenshin immediately took off running towards the direction of the Sky Palace. His words, while deep and full of anger, also revealed his underlying emotions of anxiety. Once he was clear of everyone, fire burst from his feet and shot him into the air where he quickly disappeared from sight.

Turning to hurry over to the princess, Yūtarō relayed what he had seen, and where Kenshin had gone.

"I'm worried about everyone that was lured there. A fight between Himura-san and the Emperor is inevitable at this point. They shouldn't be that close to the palace." Yūtarō's concern was echoed by Okina, who gravely agreed there would be collateral damage with so my bystanders nearby.

"Do you think your Merchant Guild can help get them evacuated?" Yūtarō nodded at Misao's inquiry.

Yūtarō's father placed one large hand on his shoulder. "We can."

"Good. The Tengu Clan are already working to evacuate the civilians North of here. I'll put you in touch with the Daitengu. While you're doing that, I plan on hitting that hidden island my father has been using as a research lab. Since Himura going straight to the palace pretty much destroys our strategy, we're going to have move up our plans. It also means he's going to need us to make sure the Emperor doesn't implement his plan." Lifting an eyebrow at Yahiko, Misao grinned. "What do you say, little brother? Want to come with me and fuck some of dad's shit up?"

Making a face, Yahiko crossed his arms. "Count me in."

"Aoshi-sama, you'll be heading to the palace with Grandfather, right? We'll tag along until it's time to split off. I don't know what that necromancer Himura-san mentioned is doing, but that's going to have to be something he deals with alone. We'll pass along any information if we happen to get any."

Tsubame tugged on Yahiko's sleave as the others continued to coordinate. "I… I think I'm going to go with Yūtarō-kun. I want to help with the evacuation."

"Ok." Tsubame blinked as Yahiko nodded without arguing. "I think you'll be safer if you go with the Merchant Guild. They've kept us safe up 'til now, so I trust them."

A wide grin pulled at Yūtarō's mouth, and he lifted an arm to put it around Tsubame's shoulder. "Glad to see you finally recognize my superiority." Tsubame, however, took a step forward just before his arm touched her, causing Yūtarō to stumble to the side. Taking both of Yahiko's hands in hers, she spoke earnestly while staring directly into his face.

"Please be safe, Yahiko-kun. I couldn't bear it if you got hurt again."

Blushing and stuttering, Yahiko bashfully tried to shrug off her concern. "I'll be fine. Worry about yourself."

"The kid's right. Besides, I won't let anything happen to my dear baby brother." Pinching his cheek, Misao stood next to him with a teasing grin while Yahiko ranted about how many times she had called him little within the last five minutes. Tsubame pivoted to capture one of Misao's hands in hers, her expression openly grateful.

"Thank you so much for looking out for him, Princess Misao. Please let me know if you ever need my assistance, with anything."

It was Misao's turn to blush, but her grin widened as she ruffled the young floral demon's hair. "Aren't you just the cutest? I think I like the thought of having another sweet little sister." Yahiko blustered incoherently while Tsubame turned beet red. Pulling Yahiko away, she waved. "You stay safe as well, little flower. I'd hate for my little brother to cry."

"Dammit! You annoying fairy! Stop calling me little!"

X

The little revived human girl stood in the middle of his throne room, aloof and unconcerned. Maddeningly so. Despite being blindfolded, gagged, and handcuffed, her demeanor revealed no apprehension or perhaps no awareness of her situation. Scowling from his elevated seat, the Emperor wondered if her confidence stemmed from the blatant marriage seal he could detect on her body. They had identified her as the true human because of that marriage seal, but it was also the reason his royal guard had refused to kill her. He would make sure to punish them later, but for now having her alive was also beneficial as it would draw the little fire demon out of hiding.

"Has the royal family finished their evacuation?"

Next to him, Tamono nodded sagely. "Yesss, Your Grassse. Your wivess and daughterss have been successssfully evacuated to Okinawa."

"The twins?"

"At their postss."

"And your Hebi Clan?"

For half of a second, Tamono hesitated, and the muscle above his left eye twitched. "We are at your command." The Hebi Clan had not answered his call the way he had promised the Emperor that they would. To his surprise, the Hebi Clan had responded with divided opinions on whether they should support the Emperor or not. The current state of the country had given rise to doubts that the Sky Dragon Emperor was capable of fulfilling his purpose of maintaining peace.

The throne room doors abruptly burst wide open by a harried looking palace guard, his features terrified and covered in sweat.

"My Lord! He's coming straight for the barrier!"

Violent rumbling shook the entire palace and foundation, knocking loose dirt from the rafters. Sitting up straighter in his throne, the Emperor felt no fear, and showed no reaction to the news. Inside, he was exalted, that he would finally achieve what he had been planning for the last half century. About to stand, as he had no expectation that the fire demon could break through his fortified barrier, the hands bracing him on the arms of the throne locked in place and his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. As if it were a mere flimsy film, he felt the moment his barrier was sliced in two. All of his careful planning and the reserves he had placed within the barrier simply dissipated into nothing. No one should have been able to destroy his barrier. No one.

With the force of a thermonuclear bomb, something large slammed into the palace walls, and ripped the roof off the throne room. The bloodied toes of an un-clawed beast grasped what was now the edge of the gaping hole, and a monstrous, skeletal head of an incomplete dragon appeared to bear down upon them. Its horns were melted into its skull, and lava leaked from its mouth like a rabid animal. Low and dangerous, the slow cadence of its growl echoed in the enclosed space as its burning violet eyes glanced at Kaoru still standing in the middle of the room before averting to glare in challenge at the Sky Emperor.

"Give back my wife, sky dragon, and I will leave peacefully."

Finishing his slow rise to his feet, the Emperor lifted his chin.

"I think you have misunderstood me, fire demon. I don't want peace. I want power." Morphing into his own dragon form, the throne room was destroyed in the process as the rubble spilled out into the gardens, and the Sky Emperor faced him head on. "Your wife means nothing to me. It is you that I want."

Frightened of being squashed, Tamono ducked his way through the rubble to escape out a side door. He glanced periodically at the two gigantic combatants as he went, to judge the safest route. Briefly, he caught site of the human girl, and his first reaction was one of shock that she had not moved to save herself from becoming a casualty of the battle. A second glance once he was at the door, however, showed that the girl had disappeared.

X

Enishi glanced covertly around the man-made bulkhead that had been piled carefully along the island's shoreline. To say it was an island was a stretch, as not even the beach was natural. Beneath them, he could feel the ocean's push and pull as it rocked the island in the same way a vessel would sway with the motion of the water. Anchors kept it in place, but also made it possible for the island to be moved if needed.

"I had assumed this island would be better guarded if it's important to the Emperor." The female tengu's voice was rough and thoughtful, and Enishi nodded his agreement even as the male tengu hummed his own. Yuna chewed her lip, but shrugged her shoulders when Enishi glanced at her.

"There isn't even a barrier around the island."

"Yes, there is." The foreign voice jerked their attention behind them out to sea, and Yuna gasped. "We are the barrier." Another voice joined the first, and their declarations were confident and aloof, as only strong, pampered royal princesses could pull off.

Floating in the air were two identical sky demons. They wore nothing but breast bindings and hakama in the brisk winter air, and their hair was cut in a pixie fashion that playfully danced around their small faces. Matching halberds held in opposite hands were pointed downward in a deceitfully relaxed fashion.

"Sisters." Yuna stood. "What are you doing here?"

"Little baby Yuna. It's been ages since we last saw you." The twin on the left spoke first, but her greeting to their sister was not genuine or happy.

"She was in diapers then, wasn't she, Sora?" The features of the twin on the right contorted into pure condescension.

"She was in diapers way longer than she should have been, if I remember correctly, Miu." Sora, the twin on the left, smiled nastily, and Yuna's face turned red in embarrassment.

"Poor baby Yuna, wetting the bed until you were fourteen. You're such a disgrace to our family." Miu, the twin on the right, laughed at her humiliation.

"And what are you doing now?"

"Surely, you're not planning on betraying Father. Right, sister?"

"Surely, you don't think you can win a fight against us?"

"Your pathetic power has no attack strength. Not to mention it doesn't work on us. Remember?"

Without realizing it, Yuna had begun to cower in on herself, the broken and abusive relationship she had with her elder sisters coming back to her all at once. Misao had ignored her in the beginning, but her other sisters had tortured her whenever they were in the same room. Finally, her mother had demanded that she be isolated from them all, for her safety, and their father had complied. Yuna still did not know if that had been the correct decision or not.

Like a solid rock wall, Enishi stepped between them, his broad shoulders and back shielding her from their taunting to allow her room to breathe and collect herself. His arms crossed over his chest, and he lifted his chin in blatant challenge and disrespect for their station.

"So, this is what you meant when you said you didn't have a good relationship with your sisters. Seems to me, they owe you an apology."

Both twins laughed in mocking hilarity. "An apology! Where did you find yourself a jester, little sister? He's much too funny."

Placing a small hand on his back, Yuna straightened and inhaled shakily. "I'm afraid, Enishi-kun, that they would not understand what they were apologizing for."

"Hmm, my big sister would be better able to educate them properly, but I could give it a try, if you don't mind me stepping in. Why don't you go ahead with the infiltration? The strength of your power is better with that than mine." His compliment washed away the taunting from her sisters, and she blushed happily at him before nodding in agreement. The male tengu saluted Enishi.

"I'll go with the Princess. With the exception of our leader, my partner here is the best high-wind combatant in our clan. She's even capable of fighting in a typhoon." The female tengu grinned at him before turning a sneer on the twin princesses. "You will find no one better equipped than she to fight beside in this battle."

"Alright." Grabbing him by the arm before he could walk past, Enishi's lowered his voice. "Keep her safe." Another salute, this one with more feeling, and their group was split.

X

A/N: These three chapters are a little short, but I'm really just very happy that I was able to get this ending section officially planned and organized. I had so many random ideas for things that would happen during this final showdown, but they were all jumbled and the picture was very unclear in my head. Now that I've had some time to just sit down with all those little random ideas and put them in some kind of order, I finally have a kind of timeline. Which I'm hoping means I won't have as much trouble getting these last chapters out. Yippee!

Unfortunately, I'm also a little disappointed in FFN. Because of personal issues and the time between my last post and the post prior to that, I hadn't realized that there was some kind of problem going on with notifications. So, I don't think (but also don't know if) notifications were working for anyone, and if you received one for my last post. This was made worse by the fact that the story stats were (and still are) down. While the notification issue seems to have been fixed since then, I'm still not seeing any story stats starting in September up to now. I do find it hard to believe that there have been literally 0 people reading any of my stories for the last four months, but it's still disheartening to not get to see those numbers. At least if no one reviewed a chapter, I was able to see how many had visited to even glance at it before, but not anymore. I hope it gets fixed soon, but I haven't seen any indication that it's being worked on or that they plan to. It has made me think for the first time whether I want to continue posting on this site. My other issue being that I don't really have any plans to jump to another site, either. I suppose times change and nothing lasts forever, but it's still sad.

I am still committed to finishing this story, either way. Coming up next, Kenshin learns first hand what the Emperor has planned, and Kaoru has a moment of clarity. Thanks so much for continuing to read!

Merry Christmas everyone! And have a Happy New Year!