FicWad

Please see chapter one for full disclaimers and warnings.

Notes: This chapter has been several months in the making. I suppose the length of this chapter reflects that (5,377 words!). Thanks to everyone who has read this far. I really, truly appreciate every comment that I've received.

I've been referring to a Kotaro's weapons by name all this time. Until this point, he's only been using his kunai to fight (which are pretty much double sided daggers). In this chapter I refer to his gabishi, which are long, piercing weapons with rings for grip and maneuverability. It would have thrown the action off to describe what they look like in the story, so I thought explaining it beforehand would help you visualize more clearly.

Love goes to my two lovely betas and who are kind enough to point out the things that need fixing time and time again.

/Kotaro's POV/

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Enemy of my Enemy - Chapter 13

The demonic aura that surrounded the second tower of Gifu castle grew stronger the higher I climbed. I didn't realize how tiring it was until I tried pulling myself through a window a few levels up. I collapsed onto the ground, only taking a second to catch my breath before I quickly scanned the circular room for signs of enemies. Unfortunately it was too dark to see the other side of the room and I had to let my eyes adjust to the darkness before carefully walking towards the centre of the room. I stopped suddenly when I noticed a large hole by my feet, and I had to squint to see that it was actually a large tube that led straight down. The walls were shining with some weird light and I realized that they were made up of living tissue that pulsed with life. I slowly backed away, deciding that I didn't need to know what was at the bottom of the tube. I wanted to rest for a moment more since I was feeling unusually tired after the climb up there, but a deep, rumbling laughter sent any thoughts of rest from my mind.

"Hehehe, what do we have here? Just another puny human!" The walls all around me started glowing brighter with demon energy and I spun around, weapons drawn. A large, blue demon was towering over me, holding a massive, spiked war hammer above his head. My eyes took in his incredible frame, which looked relatively human except for its odd colouring. Looking further down, however, was something completely different. I couldn't stop staring at his lower half; it looked like... well, I don't know what it was. At the base of his torso sprang four bony legs, all jutting out in opposite directions like a spider, and they each had sharp, pointed hooves. The oddest thing, though, was an eye that sat at the juncture of his legs. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before and I was frozen in place, locked in its gaze as it glared at me with its own evil intent. I lost all sense of everything around me until my instinct kicked in and I leapt out of the way as the massive war hammer went sailing past my head and smashed into the floor behind me.

The demon spun around and rushed towards me, his size belying his speed and I barely had time to roll out of the way again before his pointed hooves drove into the ground by my hand. "What the hell are you?" I screamed, putting some distance between us and flicking a couple shuriken at him. They zinged through the air only to be blocked by his muscular forearm. This wasn't good.

"I am your future master, boy," he said, swinging his weapon above his head. "The future master of all humans. Unfortunately for you, you won't live long enough to be a slave."

"You sure think ahead of yourself," I said, trying to buy some time and figure out what to do next. "Kind of reminds me of Gogandantess, only you don't kiss your weapon or tell me your name every five minutes." There had to be a weakness I could exploit, or something I could use in the room. I just had to find it!

"Gogandantess?!" He bellowed, driving the spiked tip of his hammer into the ground. "Don't compare me with him, human!"

"Why not?" I asked. He was turning an interesting shade of purple, and was having difficulty pulling his weapon out of the floor. Seemed like I'd struck a nerve, and while I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't help taunting him a bit more, "I don't blame you for hating him, you know," I said mock-sympathy in my tone. "I mean, you're stuck up here by yourself while he's plotting world domination with Nobunaga. I'd be mad too! Well, I'd also be mad if I smelled as funky as you do. Phew! That's another thing he has over you... I have some soap I could trade you if you like-"

"Shut up! It's because he and I are on completely different levels!" he bellowed louder than before and I knew I'd taunted enough. I really didn't have soap to trade anyways, and I'd hate to tell him that I'd lied about it. His blade looked like it was close to coming free too and I still didn't have any idea of how to defeat him.

"I serve our master without hesitation," he roared, trying to convince me with sheer volume. "Nobody in Nobunaga's army is stronger or more devoted than I am! Gogandantess only worries about his own pleasure with his fighting and with his slaves. It's only because he can fight at all that Nobunaga keeps him around." He sneered, finally ripping his hammer free and whirling around to face me. "I don't play with my food like he does, either. Die!"

If I wasn't so good, then I'd be dead; he was almost as fast as I was. I could avoid getting killed, but I didn't have enough time to come up with a counterattack before I had to dive out of the way again. Size and speed was a bad combination for an opponent, especially when he was coming after me.

"Hehehe, I've already captured your Oni hero! There's nothing you can do will stop me!" He laughed, swinging at me again. "You will die before Jubei does!"

He tilted his massive frame back to laugh loudly and in that moment I noticed something on the other side of the room. The room was getting brighter by the minute, and I could see the figure of a man chained to the wall across from me. His body was slumped forward, but even though I couldn't see his face, I still recognized the familiar armour that he wore.

"Jubei!" I took a step towards him, but stopped; the demon still stood between us and I couldn't do anything before I killed him. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Jubei raise his head; at least he was still alive.

"Give up and I'll let you die quickly!" that bellowing voice laughed. "You're out of tricks, boy!"

I glared at him. "I've got one left," I said under my breath as I balled my hand into a fist and drove it into the ground at my feet.

"Fuma!"

I barely registered the pain, focusing more on controlling the light around me to invoke the secret shadow techniques of my clan. I couldn't let Jubei down, and I wouldn't let Magoichi come in to save me again.

A cloud of smoke rose around me the moment I hit the ground. I quickly used the moment to create a shadow-double of myself, and then wrap the shadows around my body to blend in with my surroundings. I'd always liked using that technique, since most people didn't know what to look for and were fooled by my clone. Luckily for me, the demon's speed was only surpassed by his incredible gullibility and he kept swinging at my clone, his war hammer passing through the intangible form while I watched from the side. This would be too easy.

I knew the copy would only last for a few minutes, so I wasted no time rushing forward to drive my kunai into the demon's side.

The tip pierced the blue skin and ripped the muscle all the way to the bone. He yelled as the dark blood began to flow down his side, his weapon swinging with more force, but still as ineffectively as before. "What sort of trickery is this?! Nobody cuts Ginghamphatts and lives!"

My clone wavered, the image shimmering before disappearing from view. The moment it did he whirled around to look at me, anger blazing in those cold eyes. It seemed that I wasn't invisible anymore, and Ginghamphatts was angrier than before.

"What's the matter? " I ducked out of the way as he swung wildly at me. "Looks like I found a way to cut you after all."

"I'll make you pay for that, human!" he yelled, charging at me again. I rolled out of the way of his weapon, busy trying to think of another Fuma technique that I could use. I knew I was clear of his hammer, and paused to invoke another power, but I hadn't noticed his pointed hooves shooting out for me until they'd pinned me to the ground.

"Shit!" Luckily my vest was the only thing that was caught, pinning my body and arm to the ground as they pierced the fabric and went right into the floor. I was trapped and completely open to attacks. My only chance was my free hand, and my kunai that was still at my waist; timing, I knew, would be everything.

"Don't think you could ever beat a demon, boy. Humans have always been lower on the food chain." He leaned down to gloat in my face; his misshapen mouth grinning widely. "I will take my time killing you; sucking the marrow from your bones and skinning you alive. I want you to see Nobunaga's armies conquer your pathetic country before you die."

He was beginning to remind me of Gogandantess, with all his talking. "You're forgetting one important thing," I said, pulling my blade free and gripping it tightly.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" He grabbed my face in his clawed hand, twisting my head at such an odd angle until I thought my neck would break. His breath was rancid; forcing the rations that Magoichi had given me to turn in my stomach.

I glared up at him as best I could from my position. "You'd have to be alive to do any of it!" I said, bringing my kunai up with lightening speed into his throat. It took all my strength to force it past the thick muscles in his neck, but I just kept pushing the blade further and further until he let go of my face. He was flailing his arms wildly and I had to get out of range before he hit me.

His hooves were still pinning me down so I cut the ties of my vest, tearing the fabric off of my body and sliding out of its hold. Better to be half-naked and alive than fully clothed and dead.

I rushed to the other side of the room before turning to see how badly I'd injured him. Ginghamphatts' blood was streaming down his chest, his hands struggling to cover the cut in his throat that continued to gush with blood. It looked pretty serious.

"Looks like I win," I grinned, flipping my kunai in the air and catching it before sheathing it. I turned to Jubei, "Now to get you out of there."

In the fading light the Samurai didn't look like he was injured too badly. Thank God. It seemed that with Ginghamphatts' death that the walls were glowing less and making it more difficult to see again. "Kotaro..." Jubei breathed when I reached behind him to loosen the chains.

"Good to hear you're still alive," I laughed. "No need to thank me. I'll have you out of there in a minute!" There was only one lock that held all the chains in place, and I wouldn't be a ninja if I couldn't handle that.

"No, Kotaro..." Jubei mumbled as he sank forward into my chest. "Behind you..."

Those words alone were enough to make my blood run cold. "What the-?" I spun around and quickly scanned the shadows, but couldn't see anything. Not even Ginghamphatts' body. "Where the hell did he go?"

"I couldn't see," Jubei hissed against my shoulder. "The pain..."

"Aw, hell," I reached blindly into my pack while my eyes scanned the room for that demon. My fingers brushed against the herb I needed and I quickly pulled it out.

"Take it," I ordered and put it into Jubei's mouth. He coughed, but swallowed and I could instantly see the colour return to his skin. "You wait here while I look for a way out. Don't move too much, okay?"

"Fine," he coughed and reached for his sword. "There should be a lever to activate the ladder to the room below. I thought Nobunaga would be up here, but Ginghamphatts trapped me when I climbed up."

"Alright, I'll have a look around. Keep an eye out for him, okay?" I felt better with Jubei keeping watch as I looked for that lever. I couldn't see it anywhere, so I started feeling along the side of the walls, hoping that my hand would run into it accidentally. "Too bad the light's gone. Now if I was a lever, where would I be?"

"Kotaro, it's right beside the window you climbed through!" Jubei coughed behind me.

"Good to hear you're feeling better," I laughed and walked over to where I remembered climbing up. I squinted, barely seeing the outline of a long metal rod that stuck in the wall. "Found it!" I called back, reaching out to pull it.

I heard some loud metal clanking noises and then the trap door swung away to let the light from below shine up. I peeked my head through the opening, "Hey, Magoichi! We're up-ah!"

Something grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards, throwing me into the wall on the other side of the room. "Jubei?!"

I looked up from where I'd landed after being thrown. The lights were glowing brighter again, but I didn't need it to see the anger in Ginghamphatts' eyes. "I thought I killed you, monster!"

"Nobody can kill me... I am immortal..." his voice was raspy and gurgling with the blood that was still in his throat.

"Well, it sounds like I hurt you pretty bad, though." I felt my grin fall as he smeared something familiar on his throat. Was it... a healing potion?

"Enough," he rasped, only far less laboured. "I changed my mind; Jubei will die first." He spun around to face the samurai.

"No!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet to run after him. I threw a few shuriken to try and slow him down, but he seemed unfazed, even as the embedded themselves deep into his body.

Jubei was standing, sword raised in defense, but I knew that he was still too weak to put up much of a fight. I was too far away to stop Ginghamphatts from killing him. I couldn't believe that I'd let this happen. I had to somehow make him face me first.

Remembering how angry he'd gotten before gave me an idea, and I bellowed at the top of my lungs, "Gogandantess would never do something so cowardly!"

Ginghamphatts stopped and turned his head to glare at me with a raised eyebrow. That seemed to do the trick, so I kept taunting, saying whatever I thought would make him forget Jubei and attack me. "No wonder Nobunaga is, um, planning a feast for his greatness! Yeah, I found an invitation to the party lying around somewhere too. But, I'd bet you weren't even invit-"

"Shut up, boy!" He spun around and threw his weapon at me before charging at me full tilt. "Die!"

Mission accomplished.

I easily dodged the war hammer as it sailed past my head, but the bulk of his frame was a bit more difficult to avoid. I'd removed my vest to escape from him earlier and couldn't afford to let him touch me this time.

He rushed up to me and I waited, leaping to the right at the last minute to keep from being hit. I spun around and struck him in the side again before dodging to a safer distance. My heart was racing as I realized that I could actually defeat him!

"Enough!" he yelled, staggering forward for a moment. He stood still, his face contracting in pain, and I could only watch in horror as he went through the most twisted transformation I'd ever seen. If his form wasn't freakish enough to begin with, it became more monstrous as two flaps of skin that had, until that point, hung limply from his back began to take form. They solidified as bone filled them, pushing and stretching them out until they took on their true form; wings.

Not good.

"I've got a trick of my own, boy!" he laughed as they began to beat, rapidly increasing in speed to lift him into the air and away from his spider legs.

Now I could see what his body really looked like, and it was even more disgusting than what it I'd thought before. His torso tapered drastically past his waist, the muscle and tissues gradually lessening until the only thing left for skin to cover was the end of his spine. He had no legs. It was as if his lower half had been ripped away and he'd been left to heal over what was left.

I couldn't help retching when I saw him.

"What's the matter, human? Don't like the new body that Guildenstern gave me?" He flew above my head, circling around before returning to hover in front of me. "The legs he created for me can be useful in other ways as well..."

Without warning I was knocked to the ground by the spider-legs that were still able to move without their master. I blocked with my arms as they scratched at me with pointed hooves, but they still tore painfully into my skin. There wasn't any room to move out of the way as they dug for my eyes, but I had to do something.

I still had a weapon at my side, but I'd be risking a lot to lower my guard to reach for it. Of course, I'd be risking a lot more to just lie there and let it cut me to ribbons.

Do or die.

I waited for a break in the attack and quickly reached to pull the long gabishi daggers from my belt. My finger slid inside the metal loop with the ease of familiarity and I made a fist, blindly punching it upwards into the hard underside of the spider-legs. I matched it blow for blow and prayed that I hit a vulnerable spot before it carved up one of mine. I could hear the blood in my veins rushing past my ears, but it could have just as easily been Ginghamphatts' laughter washing over me. I couldn't hear anymore, I couldn't see. I could only feel the pain that was coursing through my body.

The hooves continued to hit me with slicing blows. What kind of weakness would a thing like that have?

What felt like an epiphany came over me and I blindly reached up to catch one of the hooves mid-air. I caught a glimpse of that eye looking at me with a determination to kill me for its master, just as another hoof made a stab for my face. It would have been content to cut me to ribbons, but I wouldn't give it the chance. I swung upwards with my gabishi, driving the long blade deep into the centre of the iris.

A high-pitched shriek burst from it, its legs flailing about, trying to remove the weapon that was still embedded inside it. I'd hurt it, badly.

"Wrong move, boy!" Ginghamphatts flew above my head, making a dive towards me as I crawled out of the way of the legs. "You forgot all about me!"

"How could I forget about someone as disgusting as you?!" I shouted, reaching down to my waist, only to discover too late that I'd dropped all my weapons around the room. "Aw, hell."

He was coming at me, closer and closer. Ginghamphatts filled my line of vision. My mind was blank and I couldn't think to move.

"Kotaro!" Magoichi's voice broke through my thoughts, "Duck!"

I dropped to the floor, pressing myself against the stone as I heard a loud explosion above my head. There was a shower of blood that poured down on me, and I looked up to see Ginghamphatts being blown across the room to crash into the spider-legs.

They collided, becoming a mess of legs and arms flailing about as they continued to roll towards the hole at the centre of the room. Ginghamphatts rolled over the edge, nearly pulling the spider-legs down with him, but they'd dug into the floor and were trying to push him away. I watched with sick fascination as the pointed hooves continued to rip apart his hands, desperate to save its own twisted existence at the expense of its masters.

I felt Magoichi walk up behind me and put his arm around my shoulder, both our eyes glued to the futile struggle of the demons before Ginghamphatts finally succeeded in pulling the legs down with him. They fell down the hole and I felt myself leaning forward to see what happened after they disappeared over the edge.

"Don't get too close, kid," Magoichi said into my ear, leaning over to look in the hole himself.

"You're one to talk," I told him, turning from the hole to look back at Jubei and Oyu. She was helping Jubei to his feet, much to my relief.

"You okay, Jubei?" Magoichi led the way over to the two of them, hand on his hips and gun resting against his shoulder as he looked the samurai up and down.

"I'll be fine," he said with a grunt and re-sheathed his sword. "I'm going..."

He went to take a step forward but Oyu put a hand on his chest. "Here," she said, putting what looked like a healing packet in his hand. "Let me help you."

I had to roll my eyes and look away; the look she was giving him was too sappy. Jubei made some unintelligible noise and Magoichi cleared his throat.

"Well, you two kids should get going, then. Here," he handed something to Jubei. "This should help you get up to see Nobunaga."

The samurai took what looked like a blue orb from him and smiled. "Magoichi, thanks..."

They said little else to each other and I just stood by, silently watching Jubei and Oyu climb down the ladder to the lower level.

I walked back to find my weapons that I'd dropped around the room. "How did you guys get up here?" I asked, picking up my kunai. I listened to Magoichi walk towards me and place his lips next to my ear.

"Well," he purred, and I couldn't help leaning into his warm breath. "I know this ninja who thinks he's hot stuff."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, turning back to him with mock interest.

"Yeah. He put the ladder down so Oyu and I could climb up. He keeps following me around, saying he wants to take down Nobunaga."

"Following you around?"

"Yeah," he continued, the grin on his face widening. "Everywhere I turn he's there, so I decided to let him tag along."

"Hey!" I reached out to smack him. "For your information he happened to be going where you were going, and he can take care of himself too!"

"Oh really? How do you know?" Now he was just playing with me.

"We're close personal friends," I shot back, failing at hiding a smile at our little game. "He tells me things."

"What kinds of things?"

"Well, like he met a man who is completely in love with his guns."

"Sounds like my kinda guy."

"Yeah... mine too." I felt a blush creep into my cheeks the moment I said it. When did the conversation turn to flirting? Suddenly I couldn't think of anything witty to say.

"Of course, since he won't leave me alone he'll probably follow me back to Saiga village too," Magoichi continued. "This kid just can't get enough of me."

"I'm sure he has other things to do. He probably has to get back to his own village anyways." This was getting stupid. "I thought you didn't want anybody to get in your way."

"Actually, it would be nice to have him along. I was hoping he'd follow me so I wouldn't have to ask him myself." He rubbed the back of his neck absently. It was weird to see him so uneasy. "Kotaro, Nobunaga's army is still going to destroy my village, even though Jubei will have killed their leader by the time they get there. I could really use your help."

"Magoichi... I have to get back to my own village. The elders there-"

He cut me off, "The elders lied to you, Kotaro. They've been lying to you since you were a kid. Do you really want to risk your life for people like that?"

"What do you mean?" He'd suddenly become serious. "How do you know anything about Fuma village?"

"I'm sure you could have found out on your own if you'd tried, but the elders of your village had never given you reason to doubt them. You said your mother abandoned you when you were a baby? Isn't that what everyone told you?"

"Yeah." Why the hell was he bringing that up?

"I thought it was very odd that a mother would be so heartless to their own child... so I asked a friend to look into it..."

"The hell? It's none of your business what they told me! There are more important things happening than that!" I couldn't think straight. My chest was starting to hurt and I didn't want him to know so much about me, not when it was something so painful. But as my blood was boiling, my anger was overpowered by something else; curiosity. "What did you find out?" I realized what he'd found had to be something big if he was going to tell me about it.

"Kotaro, your mother was... killed. She was trying to escape with you, because she didn't want you to be a ninja. But the villagers caught her and she was executed. I'm sorry, Kotaro, but your mother didn't abandon you!"

"How the hell did you find all that out? The elders would never do that!" But despite my words, there was still doubt.

"Why the hell would I make this stuff up, Kotaro? Here," he reached out to grab my hand and pressed something into my palm. "If you don't believe me, then this should convince you."

I closed my fingers around the flimsy, curled paper in my hand. It was folded and curled like the messages I would send to my village with my homing pigeon. A flash of the bird I'd seen on the tower bridge jogged my memory. I didn't bother hiding the trembling in my hands as I looked at the carefully written message.

It was made up of short, clipped notes detailing how Magoichi's contact had gone to my village and had difficulty finding someone who would talk to him. In the end he'd managed to convince a woman named Nozomi to talk to him.

The moment I saw her name, my heart sank. I knew her. She'd taken me in when the other women in the village couldn't be bothered. She'd always had a kinder smile than everyone else, and she was the only person who I'd ever felt didn't think of me as a burden. Magoichi couldn't have known about her if his contact hadn't really gone to Fuma village. He wasn't lying, but knowing that they'd been deceiving me all my life just made me feel worse than if he'd been lying.

I didn't want to read anymore. I didn't want to see what she, no, what everyone had been keeping from me, but Magoichi had already told me the details and the anger in my heart was burning stronger than before. I needed to see the rest for myself.

The remaining characters had been written on the page in short, neat strokes; like the person writing them was giving a report on the weather instead of writing something that would affect me so completely. Nozomi had told him only that my mother was trying to leave the village because of something the elders were planning. The details were hazy, but they'd wanted to do something with me and she'd refused them. After she was killed, they'd raised me as a ninja, telling me that my mother had abandoned me.

My mind was swimming. How many times had I cursed her? Hated her for what she'd done? No, what I thought she'd done? It was all too much. I was numb, vaguely aware of Magoichi putting his arms around me, but I couldn't stop staring at the note and thinking of all the times that I'd wished her dead for leaving me.

"Shh, Kotaro," Magoichi was whispering repeatedly against the top of my head. The repetitiveness of it calmed me a little, letting me force myself to relax against his body. He was holding me tightly, and at that moment it was that strength that I needed. His body was warm, compared to the cold of the room and I wove my arms around his body, pulling us closer together and burying my face in his neck. It was easier to cry if Magoichi was holding me, and for once I didn't feel any shame in letting my tears fall.

His soothing words quieted before stopping as we stood there for a few long minutes, but he kept holding me as the silence in the room took over. I thought about everything that had happened to me, all the things I'd been told, carefully analyzing them to weigh the truth in anything anyone had ever said to me. There wasn't anybody I could trust from my village. When I got back they'd continue pretending that everything was as they'd made it out to be, but now that I knew the truth I wouldn't be able to look at anybody the same way again.

"I can't go back," I breathed against Magoichi's neck, keeping my face pressed to him. "But I don't have anywhere else to go."

"If you don't want to go back, then don't," he loosened his grip around me and took a step back to face me. He reached up to cup my cheek in his hand and leaned down to look in my eyes, "I want you to return with me to Saiga village, Kotaro."

"Magoichi, I-" What could I say? I couldn't go home to Fuma village, and he was offering me a place to stay. "If I'm going to return with you, they'll come looking for me. I don't want to cause you any more trouble."

"Don't worry about that," he grinned.

"Well, you'll be worrying when you have a few ninjas knocking on your door looking to kill you... and me."

"If you'll come with me, then I'll take care of the rest." He smiled, and I couldn't help smiling too. He was infectious that way, on the rare occasion that he smiled like that. "They won't try to kill you if they think you're already dead."

"You want me to... fake my own death?" The thought sent a shiver of excitement through my body, along with a touch of concern. "They're not easily fooled, you know."

"Being killed by demons is probably a very messy thing, I would think," he said, looking away. I followed his gaze to my ripped vest that was still lying on the ground. "They'll just need some eyewitness accounts and some bloody clothes and they'll probably believe it. You'd be surprised how easy it is to fool someone into thinking you're dead."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," I said. He only smiled knowingly.

"I know enough to make it believable," he hesitated before taking his hand from my face and walking over to pick up my vest. "We've got some work to do."

~End chapter thirteen~