Choso stood behind the curse, dragging his arrow of blood up its body and severing its left extremities. The curse turned its attention towards him, taking in the figure who injured it.

She took the chance she had been given and summoned her daggers again, fueling them with her cursed energy and turning the blades a fiery red. She took hold of two blades and ran straight for the curse she was battling with seconds ago.

Her arm came around the left side that had been severed, and she stabbed it directly in the heart. With her other hand, she slit its throat and moved her hands out of the way to avoid getting burned by its blood once more. The body fell back, and moments later it turned to dust.

Relief overcame her briefly until she remembered another curse in front of her. She looked up, and her eyes met his. Anger once more fueled her body, and she pushed through the pangs of pain and exhaustion that rose throughout her.

She walked toward him, testing out how honest he had been, saying that he wouldn't kill her anytime soon. He stood there, following her moves with his eyes.

They stood only inches away from each other now.

"Why are you here?" She asked with a sliver of frustration in her voice.

"I told you I wanted to be the one to kill you." He said plainly.

She was hours away from Kyoto, and there was no logical explanation as to how he would have gotten here so fast. "How do you know when I am in danger? Do you spend your days stalking me?"

"Don't praise yourself; I have better things to do with my time than to follow you around."

"Then how did you get here so quickly? We're an hour out of the main city and even further from Kyoto. You couldn't have gotten here as quickly as you did had you not already been nearby."

"We simply happened to be in the same town at the same time. Is that so hard to believe?"

His explanation did not persuade Asami. "Well, even if you were, how did you know I was in danger?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Annoyance grew on his face, and he turned to walk away.

He couldn't get away again; she needed answers. She reached for his arm, stopping him from moving forward. "I don't believe you." She spat, already tired of his games. "The day I was in the cabin, you said it would be disappointing to die in a human way. The time you snuck into my apartment, you told me that you only did it so it would be you who killed me after you got bored." Her fist closed tighter around his wrist. "But only days before that, you were trying to kill me; you were exhausting yourself to put an end to my life. So what changed?"

Silence

"Why spend the last couple of months trying mercilessly to kill me, and one day decide you want to save me and kill me later?" Her voice rose. "You should have let me die that night in the ocean." Her nails dug into his skin. "You worthless scum, don't you think you have done enough?"

A glimmer of something unfamiliar shone in his eyes, but his face stayed in the same emotionless expression. "That night you fell off the cliff—it wasn't because of me. You were reckless and unaware of your surroundings; you fell off by your fault."

"Don't you think I know that, regardless of how I got there? You would have remained alive, and I would be dead. So why go in and not only save me but bring me to your cabin and give me a change of clothes?" Her eyes were piercing his.

"Maybe I felt pitiful. Seeing you die when you have so much potential you've yet to reach." He lowered his gaze to where she was holding onto him.

"What you say doesn't align with what your actions have shown me. Something had to have changed for you to go through all this effort to keep me alive. This is more than your letting on, and I have had enough of your games and wasting time." She felt something warm trickling down her fingers.

Looking down, she saw blood on her hand, coming from Choso's wrist. She had broken skin and drawn blood, and he had let her. She pulled her arm away, and he dropped back down to his side.

If he didn't want to willingly give her straightforward answers, she would force them out of him. She clenched her fist, ready to strike him across the face, but the familiar sense of fatigue hit her. Asami tried pushing past it and using her anger as fuel, she shot him once across the face, drawing blood from his cheek.

"Now answer me, what are your true intentions? What changed in the past few weeks?" She waited for a response, but he gave none. He only changed his stance into a defensive one.

She grabbed a blade from above her head and sliced his chest, barely missing his heart. She was tired of fighting him and wondering when this would be over. She didn't have the patience for these games.

"You have gotten better at this. I can't predict your attacks so easily now." A small grin is shown on his face.

Asami was irritated; he had decided to speak up only to taunt her. As much as she wanted answers, there was one thing she yearned for more.

Revenge.

She would have him dead by the end of this. Just as she was ready to strike him again, she felt a pang of sharp pain slice through her body. Making her vision grow white.

This could not be happening again, not when she was so close when she was finally pushing past the element that had been suppressing her body for so long.

It was like her body had read her intentions to murder him when this wave of pain came over her.

When she shook the pain off, he had gotten closer to her, at her ear once more.

His warm breath caressed her ear as he spoke, "Maybe next time don't make your intentions so clear, and it might just work."

When she turned to look at him, he had disappeared into the night again.

She hated how he always seemed to vanish when she was close to getting answers. But what she hated more was how he seemed to always leave her with more questions. Giving her more reason to keep him around, than finishing him off. Giving her a reason to stay on this case.

Asami stood there, letting the shadows of the night hide her.

Her mind, body, and soul ached. She hadn't had time to process the events that took place in the past hour.

This was supposed to be a chance to make peace with her life. With her failures, and her dark past that had haunted her endlessly.

Yet she was ending the night considerably more unsure of what she needed than she'd been before she got here.

She made her way back inside her former home, up the stairs, and into the rundown room her sister once occupied. Asami went down on the floor and curled up, embracing a stuffed animal that lingered with her sister's scent.

Tears streamed down her cheek and silent cries escaped. She fell asleep in that state, oblivious to the shadow that lingered down the hall, purple eyes shining in the moonlight.

—

By morning it was gone, and so was she, as she made her way into the main city still unsure of what her plan here was.

She needed advice, she had contacted her mentor earlier that morning before heading into the city. That's where she headed now.

After a few minutes of walking, she saw them in the crowd only feet away from her. Black hair flowing effortlessly with the wind, a prominent scar ending at the bridge of the nose. Short slender figure hidden under the traditional uniform.

Asami made eye contact and moments later the distance between them was gone. She was greeted with a warm smile and a tight hug.

"Asami, you look amazing! It's been too long."

"Thank you, but it's quite the opposite of how I feel right now. Which is why I called you, I hope you were in the middle of something important, Utahime."

The pair made their way through the crowds of people and into a more secluded area of town.

"So, what did you need to talk about ?"

Shame and guilt washed over Asami, she'd never had difficulties talking to Utahime about anything. But the uncertainty of the situation and how she'd handled things thus far felt shameful.

She pushed past her uncomfortable feelings and told her everything. Starting from the murder of her sister to her most recent incident last night.

Her mentor did not react in any particular way throughout the story. Only a hint of sadness showed behind her eyes when she mentioned Natsuki's death.

"...and I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore. I feel hopeless like this is never going to end, and I want to give up. But I know it's wrong, I could never sleep at night knowing he's out there destroying more lives, but I can't control my body's energy around him." Asami finished her story allowing Utahime to respond.

"Have you considered the possibility that the reason you've been unable to kill him all this time is because of the guilt you carry on your shoulders from that night?"

The thought had crossed her mind various times. But she refused to acknowledge it for fear that it may be closer to the truth that she was comfortable with.

"It's not like that, it's not some subconscious thing playing me like a puppet. It feels different like something is forcefully stripping me of my strength and inflicting pain upon me." She winced recalling the pain she felt.

"Well, that's the first I've heard of something like this. I'll look into it for you. As for quitting your mission, you can't possibly think that's an option. You are not so fickle, you're bound to have a curse like this give you trouble. Just because you've had a successful career thus far does not mean you aren't fated to the same hardships every sorcerer has had. The difference setting you aside from them will be determined by how you handle this situation." Utahime reached for Asami's hand, grasping it firmly but lovingly. "You can back away, and no one will judge you for it, considering his role in your past. Or you can find your way around this obstacle and move forward with your position in the world as a sorcerer. Regardless of what you choose, you have my support."

Asami embraced her, holding her close, afraid to let go. Utahime had been such a kind soul, offering her help when she had bigger problems of her own. She was endlessly in debt to her. She could never repay the favor or acknowledge the ways she had helped her. But she would try.

"Thank you, I knew I could always count on you to keep me on track." She took one last look at her mentor before the two headed in opposite directions.

Asami now knew that her feelings of defeat and anguish had taken control of her for far too long. She needed to take control once more. Never allowing her feelings to steer her in the wrong direction again. If something was going to get done it would be her true self doing it.

The next time she saw Choso she would be ready for him, and what better way to plant her trap than to add some danger to her life.