Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this chapter to be released.
I don't think I'll ever be completely happy with it, but I put everything I had into it, so I hope you all think its a good end to the story.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with it from the start, I apprectiate your patience and support!

Chapter 16 – The Omega

Taiyou had left for the night, and Watari had also gone to bed as well as Ame, Kumo and Hetoshi. Only Tsuki and L were sitting up a little later than the rest. It was silent in the building, aside from the usual hum of technology in the background. L was in his own room, and Tsuki was in her own, but they were both doing the exact same thing.

They sat at the end of their beds, eyes unfocused, staring at the floor whilst they almost sighed every few minutes and contemplated their fate. Tsuki was almost certain that she would die together with Eclipse, and L was worried about losing the one person he felt like he was on the same page as.

L had only really known Watari for his whole life, and now that he had gotten even slightly close to someone else, he felt like it was unfair for them to go what they thought was going to be their grave. The young man hadn't felt anything like this before, and as unfamiliar as it was to him, he knew it was something he didn't want to let go.

He sighed while at the same time Tsuki looked over to Hisuiro's tank. She had bought the python when he was a baby as soon as she moved out of Taiyou's place and into her own house. She had wanted a dog, but with her being away so much, she wouldn't have been able to look after it, so she had gotten a snake instead, so if she was away for a week, it wouldn't starve to death.

She was so glad that she had taken him out of the house before it got destroyed, because she knew that if that python was been killed, she would have tracked down the Aka Sora with nothing but her instinct, and probably tortured and brutally slaughtered every last one of them with her bare hands for killing her beloved pet.

L was almost infuriated at how worried he was about this whole situation, which tended to make him more confused as he was very much not used to feeling this like this. Not this strongly, either. And definitely not towards and over another human being, let alone a woman.

But Tsuki how found a way to tear down his wall of apathy and make his feelings truly emerge for the first time in his life. Of course he was used to feeling the normal things (Well, normal for him), such as confusion or faint frustration, such as when he was having a bit of trouble solving a case and occasionally a speck of fear. Other than that, most emotions were strange and weird feelings to him.

In other words, he was feeling veryweird right now. He was smart enough to figure out that somewhere deep down, his heart had begun to care for Tsuki and did not wish any harm on her during the time they had known each other, and they had just seemed to escalate over the past few weeks, especially with them living in the same building. He wasn't quite sure why, but the close proximity had only made it harder for him to try and concentrate on the case with her around.

A sudden wave of conviction rushed through him along with a lot of adrenalin as he prepared himself for something very unfamiliar, nigh non-existent for him. He was going to act on impulse and tell Tsuki how he felt. Even though he didn't really have much of an idea how to do that, he had gotten most of his knowledge of social interaction from movies and TV shows, even though he didn't realise that things never happened the same way in reality.

He stood up, a determined look in his dark eyes and pale-skinned hands in loose fists at his sides, his back straight and chin up, and marched out his bedroom door and walked up the stairs to and down the hall to where Tsuki was. As he made his way there, he was trying to think of the best way to tell her how he felt, recalling various scenes from movies that he had watched and made up a quick game plan.

Meanwhile, behind the closed door, Tsuki looked up from the floor as she heard loud footsteps coming down the hall. Obviously it wasn't Kumo, he was too well trained to let his movement be heard, no matter what was going through his head, maybe Ame was coming to tell her that she had to live through this or something stupid and emotionally frivolous like that.

What she didn't expect was to see L open the door, and her eyes widened when she saw the odd look in his own. The young woman recognised it as resolution, but wondered what about. The young woman could see his unusually straight posture and she raised an eyebrow in confusion and spoke with an dryly amused and almost teasing tone to her voice.

"I hope you weren't trying to conceal your presence. It sounded like a herd of elephants was coming down the hall." she smirked a little but it faded quickly as all the tenacity he walked in here with seemed to disappear completely in the blink of an eye and he put his hands in his jeans pockets and slouched like normal.

He took a deep breath after standing silently, staring at his feet for at least an entire minute, while Tsuki stared idly, confused as hell by his actions. A little courage returned to his expression and he walked straight up to her, pulled his hands out of his pockets and cupped both sides of her face gently and tentatively brought his lips to make contact with hers.

They stayed like that until the need to breath became dire and L released her and pulled back. It didn't go exactly how he had planned it, but all rational thought went out the window when he had opened the door and seen her small form on the end of the bed, trying to conceal the sadness deep in her eyes. It seemed that there was times where even she couldn't hide her true feelings, and for that he only felt worse about the whole situation.

In that moment, his heart broke for her and his feelings only got stronger. She didn't deserve to go through any of this. She was too jaded to need any more pain in her life. He knew he had to convince her to make sure she came back alive, because he had a feeling that she had resigned herself to certain death.

L sat down on the bed next to her and reached her to take hold of both her hands in his, and without any words, they sat silently, wondering what would happen next. Tsuki was feeling some very weird things, things that she had only felt a few brief times in her life, and she knew what it was, but wasn't really sure what to do with said feelings.

After a few minutes of fierce arguing in her own head, she decided that enough was enough. If tonight was going to be the last night she would be alive and in one piece, she was going to throw aside the identity she had hid behind for so long, the warrior who knew no fear, felt no pain and had no weakness, and just be...human.

With all the bravery she could muster, more than she had ever needed running into battle with seemingly endless foes, she turned to L and without a second thought, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him just like he had kissed her all of a few minutes ago. She moved from her seated position to be on her knees, and L had to tilt his head back to keep their lips together.

After a moment he turned to face her, and he was going to try and be brave and make the next move, but Tsuki beat him to it and let her tongue peek out from behind her small pink lips to run along his bottom one, making him nearly turn to jelly in her arms.

Their kiss became more and more heated, and L's body felt like it was on fire, just from this. He had no idea how people actually got far enough to have sex when even this felt so good to him. His pants felt more and more constricting and he was dying to be even closer to Tsuki. Suddenly, a leg straddled over both of his and Tsuki was in his lap, kissing him more and more fervently.

She broke away from him, making him nearly whimper with the loss of her lips against his own, but she only moved down to kiss and nibble his neck, making him shudder involuntarily. Tsuki leaned back and curled her fingers underneath the hem of his plain, white shirt and yanked it upwards, signalling that she wanted it off, now.

He complied and raised his arms above his head, allowing her to peel of the white fabric, and hesitantly, he ran his hands over her hips and up towards her waist, lifting up her black singlet as he went. She let him take it off her, revealing a plain, simple black bra underneath, covering her small breasts.

Quietly, he moaned as she pushed him down to lay on his back, and started kissing his neck again, but daring to move down his pale chest. He had no idea what she was doing, let alone what he was doing, and he wanted to contribute but Tsuki had just taken the lead.

Tsuki had been intimate with someone before, whereas L had not. Tsuki's experience came from her time with Arashi, who had been the experienced one and had helped Tsuki feel more comfortable with such things. She was still horribly nervous, but was continuing to ignore the rational side of her brain, since she figured this would probably be her last night alive, why not throw caution to the wind.

The next three hours were filled with a pleasure that broke both their hearts, but both L and Tsuki were glad to have spent the night together. It was a sad, but happy event. L had found someone he had come to open up to and care for, but she seemed convinced that she wouldn't live through the next 24 hours. Tsuki had also come to care for L and she had found someone who was still able to have feelings for her, despite all the people she had killed, despite all the families she had more than likely torn apart, all the things she had done throughout her life with the Sora Ops.

As they finally separated, it took only a few minutes for them to both fall asleep, which was the first time in many years that they had both been able to sleep like normal people...

The time for the mission to start came, and Tsuki had been lying awake for a while now, just enjoying the feeling of L's arm over her waist and his warmth against her back. L was also awake and he had stayed quiet, also taking a moment to get his head straight before they got everything started.

Eventually it was time to move, and Tsuki got up and dressed, while L did the same, all in a ominous silence. Tsuki could hear everyone moving about and Taiyou talking with Watari and she sat down for a moment to take it all in.

As she sat on her bed, Tsuki was preparing herself for battle. That's what it looked like on the outside. On the inside she was preparing herself for certain death. Her expression was completely open and for the second time L saw her for who she really was. Just a young girl who had taken up a life of non-existence to become an agent who lived for nothing else but justice and bringing the scum of the earth to said justice.

L couldn't take his eyes off the woman, who he couldn't help but continue picturing in the various positions and images he had burned into his mind permanently a little over 8 hours ago. He was in love with her and he couldn't stand to see her walking out the door when he didn't know for sure if she would come back here with a beating heart and breath in her lungs.

They eventually came out and moved downstairs to where everyone else was. Ame and Kumo had finished arming themselves a while ago and they had left L and Tsuki alone for a few minutes longer before they came and got them so everyone could gather in the main room.

Watari had been kind enough to lay out all the weapons on a large table, the one's Tsuki had sharpened only a day ago. She began strapping and arming herself as she normally would, but this was for heavy combat, so she packed in a few extras, and then some. L had no clue how she fit that much into her outfit, but as she watched her change bare feet, for thick socks and heavy black leather boots with a retractable blade at the front of each boot. She strapped several kunai to her calves, one on each arm, and decided to use her hidden blade, which was tight around her right forearm.

On her belt, she had a small bag which was filled with extra kunai and plenty of shuriken, and she placed some extra shuriken in the pockets of her jacket as an afterthought. Her gun holster was tight on her belt and the magazine full. Two razor sharp daggers sat in the holsters that sat over her shoulders and she looked at her wakizashi, and L went to hand her the straps for it, and smiled slightly in response and thanks.

He watched in silence and in sadness, his eyes showing what he really felt. He had a passing thought that Tsuki had planned to die alongside Eclipse, just to make sure that he went with her, almost replicating the actions of the man known as Arashi, who seemed like he was very close to Tsuki. But he hoped dearly that she wouldn't do that to herself and to everyone around her.

His dark eyes were fixed on her mouth, still recalling that was the part of her face that gave her thoughts and feelings away more than anything. Her lips were drawn tightly and the corners of her mouth turned downward in a minute frown. L could see plain as day that she was very confused and upset, but resolution was the most prominent emotion on her face.

Kumo was fixing up the masks with the camera's in them when they went into the main room and when he was ready, he handed one to Ame and then to Tsuki. L watched as the woman closed her blue eyes, took a deep breath and during that time, erased the emotion from her face and opened her eyes to reveal the cold, piercing stare that he had gotten used to seeing over the last few months.

The young woman looked at L, and let her eyes soften just a bit, and she may have smiled a shadow of a smile underneath her mask. He smiled back at her as brightly as he could, even though it tore at her heartstrings, she ignored the feelings it may have brought around, and prepared herself for what could and probably would be the hardest fight of her life.

They arrived a few blocks away from the estate and it seemed that the time for death, blood and violence was nigh. All three operatives were fully prepared for this mission, but the Aka Sora had been so prepared themselves that Tsuki was worried that they might not be mentally prepared, since they had been defeated several times already, something quite unheard of amongst their ranks. Considering that, morale was not at an all time high.

Slowly, but surely they made their way towards their target area, spreading out and expecting traps, and scouts to be covering the place, but as the land and buildings came in sight, they came across nothing. Not being sure whether that was a good or bad sign, Tsuki got out her kunai and got them ready to be thrown since Ame and Kumo were going in before her, and she was ready and waiting to make the first attack, not wanting to be caught off guard, or unawares.

Both Ame and Kumo killed a scout on top of their assigned buildings and Kumo went over the wall first to sac the first two buildings, and Ame followed after throwing a kunai at an Aka Sora who was patrolling along the wall and had heard a sound and looked in their direction. Tsuki followed over the wall and was ready for action. She provided back up to Kumo in clearing out the first room silently, not having much trouble since it seemed they were all 'new recruits' if it could be put that way.

After that, Kumo went to the next room and Tsuki moved on to check on Ame, who had a problem with nearly being overwhelmed with two very strong opponents that had come out of nowhere. Tsuki kept to the shadows, being the demonic woman she was rumoured to be, and took care of one, slitting his throat just as Ame dispatched of the other man.

Ame was fine after that, and with a nod she moved back to begin taking out all the patrol units doing laps around the site and the sentries that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere. She took out three, who were all guarding a doorway and Ame went through after, doing what he needed to do inside then took out another two, standing on the walls.

Tsuki leapt up onto the rooftops using her kunai to silence four men, standing guard on the rooftops directly in front of her. Her attuned picked up on the sound of mobilisation and she knew that from now on, this would be the hard part. The Aka Sora had realised that they were being attacked and were moving quite silently, but not as well as the Sora Ops members.

All out battles had started between Kumo and Ame, but they seemed to be handling their many opponents well, so as planned Tsuki went ahead, using Kumo and Ame as a distraction as she made way towards Eclipse, taking out everyone she could on her way. She could hear the sounds of battle and felt her mind clear and blank as she kept running only stopping to destroy all in her path. She moved like water, smooth and avoiding everything that the Aka Sora gave her with the grace of the wind.

Kumo and Ame caught up quickly, and began to back up Tsuki as her opponents began to swarm like locusts. They kept coming, but Tsuki, Ame and Kumo never stopped their relentless attacks, eventually overpowering the numbers with, skill, speed and experience, something 90% of the forced members did not have. The fight was gruelling but their opponents numbers were thinning quickly.

After most of the infantry was taken care of, it seemed that it was time for the higher ups to make their appearance, walking out of the light coming from the large building where Tsuki hoped Eclipse would still be. There was 10 men in total and they were heavily armed, and as soon as the battle of 10 to 3 began, Tsuki knew this was not going to be easy.

Three men approached Kumo, three stalked towards Ame and four towards Tsuki, all with masks bearing the Aka Sora symbol and with a deadly aura radiating from them. One of the three Kumo was matched with had a katana in hand, and Kumo quickly discovered how proficient he was with it. The other two had short daggers, as well as the customised kunai and plenty of shuriken he had to keep dodging.

One of the dagger wielding men faltered for just long enough so that Kumo could cut across his chest and put him out of the battle. The other two came at him with renewed force, but not even stopping to help or check on their comrade, as if they just didn't care. Chances were, they probably didn't. After a good few minutes, the two men tired and were cut down by Kumo, who was exhausted, but didn't stop.

At the same time, Ame killed his last opponent, and he had a fair bit of trouble since one of them used a kusarigama, making it a huge problem for him to come into close range, since the bastard wouldn't let him. Finally, he had managed to grab the chain without nearly getting himself beheaded or losing a limb and had pulled the man towards him and moved the sickle blade around so it planted itself deep in his enemies chest as the man had stumbled toward Ame.

The two others weren't so hard, but it had been hard to avoid both their attacks and the kusarigama at the same time, so he was fairly spent already. Tsuki was still fighting three men, the four strongest out of the ten had gone straight for her no doubt, but with Ame and Kumo's help, they went down quickly, knowing that Tsuki had to be at full strength to have a chance of taking down Eclipse.

Things were scarily quiet after the small battle was one, and Tsuki reported into Taiyou, and L, who were waiting on the other end of their radios, Taiyou hoping that everything was going to plan, and L being terrified that Tsuki had been harmed. Her voice, though she sounded a little breathless, held no pain and for that he was glad, though he knew that they still hadn't even entered the main building yet.

It seemed that there was no one else left outside and they approached the main building unhindered. The doors were slightly ajar, and there was slivers of light falling out of the gap, and all three Sora Operatives looked between each other and took a deep breath, then Tsuki opened the door, knowing that this would be the plunge that she may never surface from.

When they're eyes adjusted to the light, they saw the full layout of the room. It was set up almost like a yakuza hideout, with scrolls on the walls and decorative weapons and art covering the walls. Tsuki's eyes didn't bother looking at any of that. She simply focused at the chair at the opposite end of the room.

Eclipse looked down on them and the silence was broken with the sound of him clapping. Tsuki actually growled at him and noticed the two guards at his sides. The odds were perfect. Kumo and Ame could handle those two, while Tsuki would attack Eclipse.

"Well done. I'm surprised how quickly you cut your way through everyone to get here. I'm impressed." they could almost hear the smirk in his voice, and Tsuki was nearly shaking with anger. "So you must be Kumo, you must be Ame, and of course, Tsuki." he pointed to each person as he spoke about them, looking them up and down as if he was memorising everything about them in those few seconds.

"It's over Eclipse. Give it up." Tsuki spoke as if she was death itself, and the malevolence was coming off her in waves. "You can make this easier on yourself. If you attack, none of you will get out of here alive." she continued, guessing that she probably couldn't reason with him, not that she wanted to considering she was contemplated the most fucked-up ways to kill the man.

"But Tsuki, don't you remember me? Where is your sense of nostalgia?" he retorted in an almost sing-song voice, and Tsuki's blood was boiling and she scowled underneath her mask.

She had hoped that her instincts were lying, she had hoped it to her last breath, her last drop of blood, but it seems that she was right all along. Without another word, she charged at the man, drawing her wakizashi as she ran, the ringing sound of the steel music to her ears. It was the sound that only a warrior could appreciate.

"Ao, Kiiro. Go." Eclipse said quietly, and his last two subordinates went for Tsuki, only to be stopped by her two comrades.

"I don't think so. We'll be your opponents." Ame said to the man named Ao, whose sword he was currently blocking, allowing Tsuki safe passage towards Eclipse, and Kumo glared at the man who was known as Kiiro.

Kumo's opponent, Kiiro, was wearing a yellow mask with the red kanji for sora on the mask. He was wielding two short blades that were deadly sharp, and Kumo grabbed his own ninjato and swung at the man who was at least a few inches taller than himself. Kiiro swung both blades down and Kumo blocked with his own blade, but felt the weight behind the man's strike.

Ame had much more physical strength than Kumo did, but it was Kumo's amazing parrying skill that allowed him to overcome most opponents. Blades clashed over and over again and both men began to tire quickly, Kumo already being exhausted from the earlier skirmishes, but he continued to push Kiiro until they were both at breaking point.

Kiiro swung across from the left, and Kumo's ninjato met one of his blades and swept it to the side just enough so that it wouldn't hit him, and swiftly deflected the next blade before slicing across Ao's stomach, creating a nasty wound that began bleeding heavily almost instantly.

Kumo was shocked when Kiiro started another assault, seeming to not even be affected by the wound, his speed or accuracy barely changing as a result. He wondered just what the hell Eclipse had done to these poor people and fought back and forth with his enemy, who was leaving blood all over the floor.

Ame was fairing similarly in his battle with Ao, who was wearing a yellow mask with the red kanji for sora on it. He had blocked the man's katana with two of his kunai and he was lucky that he had been working on his strength lately, or the extra weight of the longer sword would have made his block break and caused him to be defeated and definitely killed in one movement.

The katana was well made and the man using it had been trained very well, as his movements were fluid but precise, swift but strong and Ame wished he was good with a longer blade. He began throwing a barrage of shuriken at Ao after pushing him backwards with every ounce of strength he had. The man deflected and dodged most of them, but one of them sliced open his calf after he had blocked it with his sword, and the man didn't even spare a glance at his bleeding leg before attacking Ame again.

Back and forth, Ame and Kumo, Kiiro and Ao fought with everything that they had in them, and it seemed to go on for an eternity and in a moment of weakness, Kumo received a small but deep gash on his right thigh. He winced in pain, and pushed Kiiro back, growling at the fact he let himself be wounded.

The battle between them did not slow, Kumo pushed his opponent harder, pulling out all the stops, recalling every single thing he had ever been taught and channelling it into his body, with the way he moved, the way he swung his blades, and the way he perceived Kiiro's movements. Slowly, he seemed to be gaining the upper hand, with years of fighting experience assisting him in the fight, even though it seemed Kiiro had a few years under his belt as well.

Finally, Kiiro made a terrible move. He tried to focus everything on his attack, to try and end it all by putting everything he had into one swing. Unfortunately, parrying those swings was Kumo's forte, and he deflected the swing, so the man over-extended and ended up nearly doubled over next to Kumo. One quick stab of a dagger into the spinal column, severing it completely was enough to stop him. The man slumped down onto the floor, never to move again.

Ame heard the impact of Kumo's opponent hitting the floor, but paid it no heed as he was finally starting to get through Ao's defences. One blocked swing caused Ao to cop a large slash up his right forearm, and he was starting to have trouble putting all his strength and speed into his movements though he still managed to give Ame a slice across his back. Ame deflected another swing and made a quick forward thrust with one of his kunai to stab Ao in the stomach, and in that tiny moment when he fell back and tried to catch himself, Ame flung a kunai straight into his jugular, that sprayed blood in a very disgusting fashion. Ao fell to his knees, eyes wide and landed face first on the floor.

Both men looked towards Tsuki and Eclipse, who had not yet moved from their first attack and block. Tsuki had swung downwards and Eclipse had drawn his katana, the exact one Hetoshi had described and blocked her swing with ease. Kumo and Ame knew that this was Tsuki's fight and that they could not intervene, so they stood guard and wrapped up their wounds.

It seemed that they were just staring each other down, having a battle of wills instead of a battle with blades. Tsuki made the first movement, and parried leaving Eclipse just open enough to swing the tip of her blade up to hit his mask and break it, sending it flying all over the room. Kumo nearly dropped dead on the spot from shock, and Ame was smart enough to pick up on the epiphany.

It was Arashi under the mask.

The man Tsuki had loved, given everything to, turned out to be her worst enemy. She thought that he had died to save her, because he wanted her to live on, wanted her to find happiness someday, but he must have escaped, a scar on his cheek being the only difference. She wanted to scream, cry, break shit and just raze this whole country to the ground.

"Taiyou, I have come into contact with Eclipse, or should I say...Arashi. As I'm sure you can see." Tsuki told them older man, making sure he knew the situation just in case he didn't believe what he was seeing on the camera feed. It was enough to send the man screaming in anger on the other end, and she pulled out her earpiece, throwing it away and leaving Kumo and Ame to make contact with the people on the other end.

"Why are you doing this? Since when did you become everything you said you hated?" Tsuki asked, noticing that the man had not made a move to attack after she had knocked his mask off.

"I said I hated criminals who only fought for greed and their own personal benefit. Everyone has a right to fight for what they believe is right." he responded with that smirk that only she had ever seen on his face.

"Spilling the blood of the innocent and the blood of the people you used to fight alongside with is right? Are you fucking mad?"Tsuki screeched and tore off her own mask and threw it away, pulling down her other one, so he could see the homicidal expression on her face.

"Maybe a little, but there was only one thing that made me feel like this." he almost laughed incredulously and glared at her before continuing. "You, Tsuki. You. It was all you. From the day you fucked upand my family, everything I knew got taken from me, until the day I decided to solve the problem and took the chance to fake my death."

Tsuki, Kumo and Ame watched in horror and listened as the man continued to tell his story. Tsuki already knew it all, and she was sure that Taiyou and L could hear through Kumo and Ame's headset, and probably her own, that was somewhere on the ground. She never thought it would have come to this. She had known his voice sounded familiar, but figured that was just her idiocy talking.

"You let my wife of two months die, our unborn child as well as my mother. The only things I had left in this world! They were killed in that bank robbery when I met you. My life was finally turning around, and the moment your incompetence stepped on the scene was when I lost it all. You think you are so good at all of this crime-fighting bullshit, yet you have ruined so many lives! You two as well!" he yelled at the two other men in the background, who were glaring daggers at him.

"Arashi, you know that I had just been released from the hospital. I had nearly died and it was my second mission back. I did everything I could, but we just weren't notified quick enough. Don't speak as if you are the only one who has experienced loss!" Tsuki wasn't holding back any more, her expression was open, and angry, and her voice was laced with the upset of betrayal.

"But you don't get it! I didn't lose just my parents, I lost the only parent I had left, and then watched my wife die in my arms! Then when our child couldn't be saved, I felt everything crumble around me. When we met, and you took me away from the scene, you told me what had happened to you. I realised later how surprising that was coming from you, but you haven't lost someone that was more important to you than yourself, someone you wished every day you could switch places with-"

"YES I HAVE!"

The man who was now revealed to be Arashi stopped at the sound of her yelling. Kumo and Ame watched in silence, and Ame began to understand a lot more things about Tsuki, while Kumo stood there, knowing how hard this was for Tsuki to do, but he hoped that when this was over, it would help her find some measure of peace.

"I lost you. You fucking idiot." Tsuki continued so quietly that she was barely heard.

She didn't give him time to respond, and she charged him, wakizashi at the ready and murder in her eyes. There was nothing more on her mind now, she had said what needed to be said, but now it was time to end it. It was time to bring this massacre to and end, it was time to let go and let their swords decide who was right and who was wrong.

The sound of clashing steel filled the earpieces and the speakers in the headquarters as the intense battle was watched carefully. Eclipse/Arashi would swing, Tsuki would block it, then she would swing and he would deflect her blow and try to counter but Tsuki was just as quick, if not quicker and she would defend and try and make her own counter.

Swing. Block. Counter. Strike. Swing. Parry. Counter. Swing. Block. Strike.

For minutes it went on, and on, the battle never slowing down, and neither did the combatants, who seemed to only get stronger and faster as the minutes went by. It was almost as if they had been the only two people who could push each other to their limit and beyond and there wasn't even any time to think and muscle memory was doing all the fighting for them.

Tsuki was easily able to defend against Arashi, being the one who trained him, but in the years they had thought he was dead, he had learnt a good many tricks and he tried them all on the woman in front of him, but she was never caught off guard, never able to miss a chance to strike, and it was only because he was extremely quick that he was able to defend himself at the last second.

She finally landed a small cut at the top of his shoulder, but it wasn't enough to hinder him, though he attacked with renewed anger and force, surprising Tsuki. He had gotten extremely good and it seemed that they were evenly matched when he managed to return the injury by cutting her side just a little. The wounds bled, but both ignored them and kept fighting.

For another ten minutes at least, the fight continued. Small bruises and cuts were given back and forth, until Tsuki managed to block a downward swing and use her strength to deflect and slice Arashi's thigh and send his blade from his hands and spiralling across the room, but his speed allowed him to quick grab a kunai and throw it at Tsuki cutting down on her wrist, causing her to drop her own sword.

They stopped for a minute, catching their breath and staring at one another, wondering whether they should grab swords, or just continue in hand-to-hand combat. Tsuki breathed deeply and shook her head, still barely able to believe that this was really happening. She just wanted it to be over. They both took up a stance and charged.

Fists, knees, elbows, feet and anything they could use was thrown in to get a hit on their enemy. Tsuki got a hit in and punched her opponent in the jaw, making his brain shake in his skull and he recovered swiftly enough to block her second barrage, and countered, landing a kick to her side, and L swore that he could hear ribs crack.

Another few minutes and they jumped back, both feeling like they might be too evenly matched for this to end. Eclipse knew that Kumo and Ame would not interfere, so he had no worries about that, but he just wanted the world to know his pain. Tsuki knew that this was going to be a hard fight, but every hit she got in, he sent back with one of his own. Every punch or kick she blocked, he blocked her punch or kick in return.

The young woman took another deep breath, and took up a stance unfamiliar to everyone, except for Taiyou. He had watched Tsuki developed this technique and combination, and he hoped that they would be enough to end this ridiculous fight. She had not come up with a name for it, but the one time he had seen her use it, the autopsy report for the man she had used it on showed that her blows had caused so much internal damage that he had died instantly. After that, she decided to never use it again.

Eclipse watched her move into a stance and turned his head slightly, analysing it from every angle he could before he shook his head at her and came at her. Kumo saw the sadness on Tsuki's face as everything she had worked hard to develop would kill the man she had once loved.

He went to swing a right at her, and she did not look like she found it hard, but a turn of her wrist deflected the movement, and her flat hand landed on his right side. He spat out blood as the wind was knocked from his lungs, and everyone watching tensed hoping that this was the end. Arashi tried to swing his left leg, but she blocked it with her own leg, and looking almost bored, slammed another palm into his other side, more blood spilling from his mouth.

The deciding moment was here, Tsuki knew only one more hit would kill him, considering that his spleen would be ruptured and his ribs completely shattered, but even if she let him live he would die within a few hours anyway. She held him up so he didn't fall to his knees, nearly unconscious now, but he was looking at her with sad eyes, and she knew her own held sadness as well.

She yelled with the force and sent her palm straight into his sternum, feeling it shatter into dust under her blow and watched the eyes of the man she had loved so much darken with death. It was over. She had killed him, even though every memory they had together was flashing through her mind in that moment. It was over. Her hand that was fisted in his shirt let go, and he fell forward, hitting the floor like a ragdoll.

It was over.

Suddenly, the pain from all her wounds hit her, the adrenalin no longer pumping through her veins. It was over. Kumo and Ame ran to her as she began to sway on her feet and stumble. She shooed them away and reached into her leg holster, pulling out the kunai she had kept for so long. It was the prototype Arashi had come up with and then later got Hetoshi to make. It was over. She laid it on his corpse and turned away, nearly falling over, but Kumo and Ame caught her, and helped her walk away, sparing no backward glance.

It was over.

6 Months Later

"Hey guys." Tsuki said as she walked in the room, Kumo and Ame smiling at her.

It was time for their monthly meeting, and Taiyou walked through the doorway soon after. These meetings used to be so much larger, but since it was only the four of them left, the room never seemed more empty. Hoshi was gone, Arashi had died a long time ago, only to come back as the bad guy and be killed by Tsuki. There was no doubts that he was dead now.

Taiyou sat at the head of the table and they got started, mostly talking about who to promote to replace the open positions. They had already decided to replace Hoshi with Daichi, the man who had helped them bring in Hetoshi after testing his skills and deciding that he was perfect for the job, even more so, since Hoshi was the one training him before he died. No one had any ideas for who should replace Arashi yet, so the subject wasn't brought up.

"Finally, I would like to let you know that I will be passing on the title of Taiyou soon." Kumo and Ame both smirked and looked at Tsuki, knowing there was only one woman for the job. "Tsuki. Do you accept the promotion to the leader of the Sora Ops, casting away your title as Tsuki and becoming the second Taiyou?" he looked to his protege, feeling very proud of how far she had come.

"Actually, I have an announcement to make first. L has asked me to become his personal body guard." she glanced to her two comrades that were watching her curiously. "I accepted the position. But, I will still be able to work here, because L would like to propose a partnership between him and the Sora Ops." she looked to Taiyou with determination. "Do youaccept?"

The older man let a small smirk come across his face. "I accept. In that case, I will remain as Taiyou, and you will remain as Tsuki for the time being. Ame." his head snapped up to attention and Tsuki smiled, knowing what would happen. "I had decided that when I felt Tsuki was ready to lead the Sora Ops on her own, that you would be ready to replace her. Instead, you will replace her when she feels you are ready. When that time comes, you will become Tsuki, and we will need to replace Ame. Do you accept?"

Ame nodded vigorously, clearing being so shocked he could not even form words right now. Kumo chuckled, being glad that he had not been offered the spot. He was happy being the tech guy and had never wished for Tsuki's job, knowing how stressful it could be. He was happy for both Ame and Tsuki, since they were both starting to get the proper recognition.

Suddenly, L's voice sounded out from...Tsuki's boob and Kumo stared before she showed them she was wearing a wire with a smirk on her face. Taiyou didn't look happy, but since it was L, he wasn't entirely surprised. The man was still very uncomfortable with showing his face, but this way he would still know what the answer was to his proposal.

"Thank you for accepting Taiyou. I apologise for taking Tsuki away from you all, but I feel she has earned a very long break, so she will not be reachable for the next few weeks. She will be safe in my care. Thank you again." he said, Tsuki smirking slightly the whole time, knowing what was in store for those 'next few weeks'.

After the meeting was over, Kumo, Ame and Tsuki went back to their office, and Taiyou went on his way to speak to Daichi about his promotion. Jokes and laughs were shared for a while until Tsuki's phone began vibrating. She turned away and answered it, the conversation ensuing making the two men chuckle in the background just barely making out L's voice on the other end.

"Yes, Ryuzaki?"

"We will miss our flight if you do not hurry up. The car is out the front." he said with a hint of impatience making her shake her head at the man.

"It's a private jet, it doesn't matter. But I'll be out in a minute." she responded before hanging up, turning back to her friends who were clearly pretending that they didn't hear anything, innocent looked plastered on their faces.

"I gotta go. I'll see you guys soon." she smiled a happy smile for the first time in many years and hugged her friends before heading out the front and hopping in the car.

L was waiting for her on his private jet, and she stepped inside, Watari taking her luggage and shut the air-lock door before heading to the cockpit. Was there anything he couldn't do? The inside was luxurious and she found L behind a set of doors leading to the bedroom. It held a huge bed which he was laying on, reading a book of some sort, looking up once he noticed her presence.

As soon as she laid down next to him, she took a deep breath and smiled, knowing that she was definitely going to enjoy this break. The sound of the engine roaring to life filled her ears, and they strapped in for take off, but as soon as Watari said it was okay for them to remove their seat belts, they leapt on the bed and drowned themselves in each other, finding happiness for the first time in their lives...

I love all of you who have taken the time to read this story, and thank you for being such awesome fans!
Please review and tell me what you think :D
Don't forget to check out all my other fics on my profile as well, they'll keep you busy!

Til next time!