It was warm. He hadn't expected that. Then again, hadn't expected to be alive at all. He may have had Jaakuna with him before he let himself all, but he left it with his father so that he could do what he wished. He had no need for it. He thought he was going to die, but the fact of the warmth he felt and the immense pain he was in told him a different story.

"Wonderful, you're awake."

Satuya didn't feel like moving and decided to wait for the owner of the voice to reveal themselves. As he suspected, it was Shintoe. She reached out to touch him and Satuya immediately snarled, making her jump. It didn't necessarily stop her from touching him, but it gave her a good jolt.

"You're a feisty one, I'll tell you that."

"Why... am..."

"Why are you still alive? Well, dear boy, because I want you to be. You are the key to everything. Your death would be the end to everything we're tried to accomplish. Did you truly believe we didn't know who your father was? Did you think he could hide his identity and be free? Your father gave you freedom and yet you threw it in his face... how ungrateful you are."

"What do you mean?"

Shintoe sat down beside him and held up a little bag.

"You were right to suspect me as the one who hurt your sister, but I had to do something to get someone to do anything. All this reunion and family finding is so annoying. You have a choice, Benitone Satuya: you can take these herbs to your sister and reclaim Jaakuna or you can take these herbs for yourself and leave your sister to Jaakuna's fate or take the herbs and take Jaakun and leave your sister to die." Satuya gave her a piercing glare. "*Obviously option 3 is not even in your thoughts."

"Option 1."

"Ah, but there's a catch to that. To save your sister, you've already shown you'd be willing to go to drastic measures. That being said, if you give these herbs to Kisola and take up Jaakuna again, I'll gladly heal some of the wounds that you've been covering up with the blade. In return, though, you must do two things: one, get your clan to side with the emperor's army of ninjas and two, get the last shard of Jaakuna from Takuma."

"If I do that, he'll die."

"What a pity." She said drolly.

"You can't make me do that."

"Of course I can't. Only you can make that choice, but Jaakuna wasn't meant for Takuma. The power that it wields was only meant for you or your sister."

Satuya frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do you believe that you were an accident? A creation made of pure chance? No, you were planned, but your conception was not. When your father attacked, I was just about to add the impregnating ingredient to my concoction. He surprised me and without thinking, I blew it onto your father to distract him and get away. Because of that, our original plan was ruined. That's when the emperor got the idea of creating a ninja army so that we could find out which clan it was that had received the miracle drug.

"After attacking the Naota Clan, we found Tsume Benitone and his quite unusual daughter. At first, we were going to use her, but then your father slipped up and revealed that there had been a second child. When we realized that he was from the Kiyoshi Clan, we decided to wait and use your sister as leverage against your father until we could retrieve you. But we had to somehow get Jaakuna into your hands... Your sister has proven to be quite the useless girl but you... oh dear boy, you have gone beyond our expectations. You bonded so well with Jaakuna and the only thing holding you back is Takuma Katanoya."

"I won't kill Taku-nii. That shard is the only thing keeping him alive."

"Then how about a better deal: I give these herbs for your sister, you take up Jaakuna again and if you procure the shard from Takuma, I will heal him."

"To procure the shard I would have to kill him!" Satuya snarled, his body starting to glow. "What part of that don't you get? It's not an option!"

"So feisty even while you await death."

"Stop patronizing me. I'm not going to take out Taakuma's shard and that's final." He moaned in pain and could feel his body wanting to change. "Why is this happening? I don't want to!"

"Don't want to what?" Shintoe asked, looking excited.

"You know what I am! Why did you do this to me? Why did you make us this way?"

"You're so angry about it when you should be thanking me for it. You have power that ninjas strive for everyday, but you want to give it all up just to be some normal human? Being normal is so overrated. Embrace the powers that you have been given, boy!"

Satuya couldn't keep his anger at bay anymore and let out a roar that practically shook the whole apothecary, leaping from the bed he had been laying on. White leathery wings erupted from his back, ripping through his clothes as he hovered in the air. Blood dripped from the vicious attack on his back as well as the wounds that Jaakuna had been keeping closed that were now reopening from all the movement. Satuya slammed into the wall, knocking over bottles and grabbing onto the sides for stability.

Shintoe watched him in awe as his body tried to transform and tears actually pricked at her eyes.

"You're beautiful."

Satuya was confused and angry but mostly scared. He had never sprouted wings before and he had never started transforming in a closed in space. He was losing a lot of blood and his body didn't know what to do.

"Come down, Satuya." Shintoe said, almost kind. "You'll hurt yourself staying up there and by the looks of it, you've never flown before."

~I don't want your help!~ he snarled, his voice otherworldly and seemed to fill the room as though he were speaking with his mind as well as his mouth.

He winced, his body trying to complete the transformation. Shintoe watched him for a moment.

"You can leave but you'll die. You have only one choice, Benitone Satuya, and you know it. No matter how much you try, you will have to sacrifice someone."

Satuya didn't care and finally just burst through the apothecary, flying up from the small garden that was in the middle of the palace. Shintoe watched him leave and sighed, shaking her head in pity.

**********************

Tsume was devastated as he stared at the ledge of the palace. Satuya had fallen almost three hours earlier, but he never came back. Tsume hadn't really expected it, but his son wasn't exactly all human... he wasn't of this world and so maybe...

"You."

Tsume looked over his shoulder, finding Takuma standing there. Tsume just sighed.

"Hello, Takuma."

"Benitone Tsume... it's you."

"You already knew that when you gave me all those lashings."

"No, I didn't. I found out while you told everyone else but me."

"I don't feel like deal with you right now."

"Just like back then." Tsume turned to him fully. "Ah, that got your attention."

"Do you honestly believe that I wanted that to happen? That I planned it?"

"I called out to my master, my only friend, and you didn't even come! I risked everything for you and you and your precious honor abandoned me! You abandoned everyone important to you all for honor."

"I didn't know what they had done to you, Taku."

"You have no right to call me that." He snarled, glaring angrily at Tsume. "Fight me."

"What for?"

"So I can annihilate you."

"I don't want to. I don't want to hurt you. I've already lost Satuya, I don't want to lose you too."

"What do you mean?"

"Does it matter?"

Takuma looked past Tsume and saw Jaakuna laying there. He looked back at Tsume and then at the sword.

"Why is Jaakuna alone?"

"Satuya jumped off of here and left it behind."

Takuma flicked his eyes to the sword. "So that means Jaakuna's... mine?"

Tsume frowned. "Don't you give the slightest-"

Takuma ignored Tsume and bolted for the katana. He reached out to grab it when he felt like something was about to hit him and moved just as two throwing stars whizzed past him. He looked back at Tsume as he glared at him.

"I thought you didn't want to fight?"

"You don't give a rat's ass if Satuya is dead, do you?"

"No. Jaakuna chose both of us, but you can't have two people with one sword. It's just not possible, although we've made it work. We've both been waiting for the other to die so that we could have complete control of Jaakuna. If Satuya is gone then that means that Jaakuna is finally mine. It chose me first anyway."

"That's my son you're talking about."

"Oh well."

Tsume growled and ran towards Takuma to hit him, but he ducked and grabbed Jaakuna, tumbling out of the way. Tsume pulled out a wakizashi, taking a stance to fight his friend.

"You think that will defeat me with that little thing?"

"I was always better than you. You're only as good as that sword makes you. You have no real talent."

"You know nothing."

"If you're as good as you claim to be, then fight me without your precious katana. Fight me like a man!"

"You have to be a man to fight like one."

A noise suddenly sounded and they both looked up. The winds picked up, blowing all around them, when a dragon appeared before them, hovering in the air. Tsume stared in complete shock as Takuma just stared at the dragon with an angry look. The dragon landed on the side of the building, its tail thrashing the wind as it tried to keep its balance.

"Is that Satuya?" Tsume asked in shock, not having seen him in his dragon form yet.

"Show off." Takuma growled, putting Jaakuna on his shoulder and looking at Satuya. "When did you get wings?"

Satuya opened his mouth but instead of fire or ice, blood came pouring out, flooding the top parapet of the palace. Takuma and Tsume jumped back away from the pool of blood, grabbing onto the ledge of an overhang as the blood collided into the door. Satuya swayed and then fell into his own blood, breathing heavily.

Takuma narrowed his eyes at him and then jumped from the awning, landing on Satuya's neck and walking towards his face.

"What the hell happened to you?" He looked over him for a second. "Don't tell me you relinquished the shard of Jaakuna?" The silence told him everything. "Shit, Satuya."

~I'm sorry... It's all I can do for Kisola. She has the shard now.~

"You gave it to someone else?! Why didn't you put it back in the sword so that *I could have it!" he growled.

~I have to save Kisola...~

"Satuya?"

Tsume leapt off the awning and into the blood that was waist deep. He waded to his son as Satuya breathed shallow, like he was dying. The eruption of blood was new, but Tsume didn't know if it was attributed to him being a dragon or if it was a wound of some sort.

"What's going on, Satuya? Why are you bleeding?"

"Did you end up becoming an idiot while you were here?" Takuma said with a look. "Do you not know how the katana works? We've been in hundreds of battles since you left him with us. Do you think he didn't get hurt?"

"Then why is he bleeding so profusely?"

"Dear gods, Tsume, he turns into a dragon. Do you not think he would get hurt as a dragon as well?" he said, jumping from Satuya's face and next to his head in the blood.

Tsume got close and touched his son on the muzzle as Satuya's eye rolled to look at him. He smiled, rubbing his face gently.

"Satuya, I need you to turn back for me. I want to help you but I don't know what to do..."

~It's alright. I'm going to die soon... I deserve this type of death for the way I have been these past years.~

"It wasn't you, it was Jaakuna."

"This reunion is adorable but annoying as hell. Where is Kisola?"

~No!~ Satuya snarled, starting to try and get up. ~You leave my sister out of this!~

"Then maybe you shouldn't have given your shard to her and put her in danger. Get me that shard and I'll spare her."

~If I do that she'll die.~

"Well... that's sad."

Satuya growled, moving his hand and tossing Takuma across the parapet. He landed in the blood and Satuya moved to his feet, a growl reverberating as his legs trembled under him. Tsume walked next to his son as they both stared at Takuma.

~You need to get Jaakuna away from him. I can barely move, but if you can give Jaakuna to me, I might be able to help Kisola.~

"But if you have Jaakuna you'll end up like Taku again."

~I'm not like Taku-nii. I... was made for the sword. It doesn't control me, it works with me. I need that katana so that I can save my sister.~

"Let me handle Takuma. I'll see what I can do."

~Be careful with that sword, Father. It can consume you.~

"Takuma's never been able to beat me and it won't happen now. Don't worry, I'll save you both. You just try to get back to your human state."

He nodded and Tsume started walking towards his friend.

***********************

Takuma finally got the blood off of his face so that he could see and turned, finding Tsume walking towards him. He spun Jaakuna around and smiled.

"So, are you finally ready to face me, coward?"

"I believe someone who can only fight with a cursed sword would be considered a coward. Come, show me what skills you don't have." He said, motioning for him to come to him.

Takuma growled angrily. "You always thought you were better than me because you were the son of the clan leader. I'll show you what I've learned over these past years."

"I'd love to see you try."