She didn't look back to him, however, nor did she make any effort to turn around.

"Master."

Even her voice was different. It didn't sound like it was all around anymore. Before, her voice was something along the lines of omnipresent. Where ever she was, the volume was the same, as if her lips were moving, but she wasn't ever using her actual voice. The difference in sound was almost amazing, even. Tonally, her voice was . . . soft. It wasn't invasive, nor was it harsh in the least. It was truly soft, not meek, but soft in a way that might suggest that she was less enigmatic as she was . . . shy. It sound much more genuine, much more real. As if she weren't what Eld always thought she was-- but to some degree, maintained a realistic existence, just like anyone and everyone else he knew.

Nonetheless she sounded as her physical age might have suggested-- in her late teens or early twenties, even though chronologically that was far from the truth.

"You accept me, even though you do not truly understand me," Kageko declared almost as if she were thinking out loud, "Why is this?"

"Why?" Eld echoed in surprise. It wasn't something he'd given much thought to, but when he did it was always a bit of an odd circumstance. At first she'd been nothing more than a voice in his head, that whispered to him in her dreams, and when she finally revealed herself his reaction was one of abject terror.

But...at some point things had changed. Exactly when he couldn't be sure, but he'd come to think of her as not some strange creature, but his friend and confidant (though never the servant she claimed to be). And then, even more...

"Well...you've always helped me, and been there for me. Besides, I don't think you need to understand someone to accept them--I doubt there's anyone I'd say I truly understand, not even myself."

"To an extent, maybe . . ." Kageko thought aloud.

Despite her current state, and the current locale, Kageko was not tense. She wasn't leaning against Eld, more like simply standing back to back, but he would be able to feel if she were tense or not, nonetheless.

Kageko's melancholic musing continued: "But to accept me is to accept what I represent-- and in the end, all I truly am."

For a brief moment, she paused. For a brief moment, she thought-- thought to herself, briefly debated elsewhere, a place where her thoughts were her own. The two of them-- the closer they became, the more clear their thoughts were together, but there was still a place deep within their minds, or their hearts perhaps, where Eld could not reach her, and she, likewise, could not reach Eld.

And then her lips moved again, and though Eld would hear it, to her, it felt as if she were not speaking words at all-- as if she were simply a mute, mouthing out thoughts, "A weapon."

He took a step away from her, so they were no longer back to back. "No." His voice was resolute. There was much that he doubted in life, a lot that he questioned, but in this subject there was no question in his mind.

And then he turned around to face her, hoping that she would turn to face him as well, so he could look her in the eye as he spoke. "Maybe you're trapped in a weapon right now, but that wasn't what you always were...it's not who you are." Kageko was an important person to him, long before either of them knew that she could aid him battle.

Although she did not turn around to face Eld, she did turn her head. He'd see the profile of her face, he'd see her lips move as she spoke, and how with every syllable, it sounded less and less like that of her own words, spoken from her own lips, and more like the hollow echo she spoke with in a world of her own-- of darkness.

"No," she replied, "I may not have always been a weapon, but I have always been . . ."

And then, at last, she turned around. Slowly, however, she had taken a slow and methodical approach to turning one foot to the side, twisting her body, turning her other foot, twisting more, and then shifting her feet at last-- and by that point, she was already facing him.

Just as methodical as Kageko's facing Eld was the loss of the twilight. The sky darkened, the fog thickened, and the moon was blanketed by darkness. Limitless shadows. Absolute midnight. And then, in the blanketing of the twilight, there was nothing, only Eldridge Tsukimono and the one he had personally named Kageko-- an apt name, the daughter of darkness.

A shadow.

There was a flash without a flash, a memory-- a brief recollection, whether Eld wished for it or not. A bloody room with an open window, displaying a town blanketed in darkness, and hollow, empty screams of pain and terror-- and nothing.

Eld let out a surprised gasp that almost sounded as though he were in pain and clutched at his head, doubling over. There were a lot of thinks that he'd rather not remember, but that was one event he felt truly justified in wanting to forget. As far as everyone was concerned, that day never happened. The only people who had memories of it were he and Kageko, and for some reason Mayako.

But even despite being confronted with perhaps the largest reason to consider Kageko less than human, he straightened up, sweating a bit but otherwise recovering from the memory. "People...change. And...though you might not be human...you are very much a person," he declared breathlessly.

It was now pitch black, what he was used to in Kageko's world. "You have thoughts, feelings, opinions...even if you sometimes try to hide them from me, because you think I shouldn't take them into consideration, I can tell. And those are things no mere shadow or weapon possesses."

But if the denizens of Light can feel and think for themselves . . .

Another flash-- another memory--

White skin, scarlet eyes, hair a breed of platinum and young gray-- silver, perhaps, and an innocent, jovial smile, made vicious by the blade of light in his hand, a blade clashed with that of Eld's own unreleased scythe, paused, briefly, with their faces close together, with one studying Tsukimono's face, and Eldridge himself able to see the childlike enjoyment he took from the battle-- and the lives that hinged upon its outcome.

Then why would I be the only child of Darkness that can?

Kageko turned, again showing her side to Eld. For a brief moment, she walked forward, ahead by several steps. But in this world, there was nowhere to walk to. In the end, it was all the same.

I am not, Master. I never was. Since shadows were born into your world, there has always been the few that think for themselves. And it is those shadows, Master, that are the worst. They can know remorse, and consciously feel none. I am no better than they. Before Hillcrest, I had existed for years-- and in the end, it was only Hillcrest and Galaens which were taken from me.

And then, she stopped-- and again turned to face Eld.

Perhaps it would have made sense, perhaps not. Sometimes, Kageko could say things that otherwise seemed absolutely mindless-- senseless to no end, much akin to the riddles spoken by a man that once called himself, falsely, a Reaper. But unlike him, Eld was not without clues-- hints and past statements that all loosely fit together, concepts that he more than likely had not put together just yet, but fitting into the context of now, would make so much more sense . . .

"....."

For a long time, Eld remained silent. She would be able to feel some of what was going through him, as she usually could, but it would be too complex for her to make sense of. His feelings on the matter were complicated, enough that it would be easy to infer he's thought of such things before.

"Shades...aren't the only killers in this world, you know," he said at last.

This time, it would be Kageko's turn to see it, a flash, a memory--

The sound of metal clashing metal rang all around, a reminder that there was much to do. He couldn't afford to be slow...to be merciful. The curved blade was already stained through with crimson, and dimly he was aware that he too must have been covered with blood...very little of it his own. The man before him was scarred, the kind of person who you would expect to find in a seedy bar, and who would start a fight with you for simply lightly brushing against him or maybe even just looking at him. But his expression was now one of abject terror, one that would be frozen on his face--and in the mind of the one who gazed upon him--forever as the scythe fell, another life reaped from the stalk. Later he would be hailed as a hero, but in the eyes of that man and countless others, he was more fearsome, more...monstrous than any creature of shadow...

"You've probably already figured this out, but even before that night I'd fought...I'd killed. But I was never very strong or athletic, and the weeks we spent training couldn't turn that around entirely. I had to be cunning...and ruthless. It was the only way someone like me could survive on the battlefield back then."

He smiled humorlessly. "To even say I regret it is probably a lie; even knowing what I know now, if I were faced with that situation again, without the powers I have now...I'd probably do the same thing. But..."

He took several steps forward, catching up with her. "...even so, I feel the weight of the lives I've taken. Which is why, with the power I have now, I want to avoid killing if it's possible."

When he was within arm's reach of her, he stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure...you must feel that weight too. If you didn't, we wouldn't even be having this conversation, right?"

We would not . . .

She agreed wholeheartedly with what he had to say-- that they would not be having this conversation under any other sort of circumstances. Of course, knowing what she knew now, she would have felt remorse if she had snuffed out the lives of Eld and everyone he knew and loved. Eld was a good man-- a man that was, realistically, very similar to her. Perhaps that was why their fates intertwined so?

Whether or not this meant, however, that she felt strong remorse for those lives taken by her that were not taken back-- it was unclear. Only conjecture could suggest if she did or if she did not.

Memories are not so easily forgotten.

For a brief moment, Kageko's scarlet eyes met those of Eld's. For that moment, there was understanding-- a strong, heartfelt understanding between them . . .

But then she looked away, and melancholy returned.

But I wish they were, Master. Then they would not seek me.

I wish I could protect you from your memories, just as you protect me from mine. It was a thought that came strongly and suddenly, though it was not related to what he said aloud shortly after.

"If you were the kind of person who could forget so easily, things would be different. It's because you aren't...because you feel that weight...that I can accept you."

Hesitantly, as though he was unsure if it would be allowed, he took a few more steps forward, so that he was standing behind her. And unless she pulled away, he'd gently embrace her, his chest pressing against her back.

"That's also why you'll never me just a weapon, or just a shadow...not to me, not ever."

Kageko made no motion to stop Eld, and fully permitted him to walk behind her-- and wrap his arms around her from behind. Her melancholic state wavered for a moment, as a smile tried to worm its way upon her face, but . .

But . . . not everyone is as kind as you, Master.

In the back of her mind, she thought, no she wished, that she were wrong. That everyone of Eld's world could be a kind person if they so desired. But that simply wasn't the case. There were always people in the world compelled to drive their fellows to suffer-- and there were always shadows, like her, which only sought to strengthen the darkness of their mind and heart. Shadows from whom she differed, but only now. Only after she was sealed within the weapon now wielded by Eldridge Tsukimono.

Kageko lifted her hands from her sides, and placed them upon Eld's arms. It was light, but it was her way of expressing an acceptance of his embrace-- and a return of it, even though she could not turn to face him.

They seek me, Master-- because they seek the shadows, and because I am a child of shadows. I am a darkness which they can control, and call a weapon . . .

"Kageko...it isn't your fault. You can't help what you are, any more than I can." It made him think of Tabris and Sergei...would they have come if he wasn't connected to him? He doubted it.

The whole situation was unusual; Eld was usually the one who needed cheering up, not Kageko. It was an odd reverse of the norm.

"Who is it that's after you, Kageko? Do you know who these people are?" he asked curiously. The way she reacted to some of what happened suggested she did.

But the reasons Kageko was melancholic was down a different path than what Eld believed. He seemed to believe that she felt bad for what she was-- and it was that, in part, but for a completely different reason.

Toushikyo,

The first name, and a pause-- a moment's pause, as she took a second to think. About what, it was likely that Eld would never know or truly understand.

Kyla, Hugh, Illorex, Gestahl . . .

Names, of course, that would all be familiar territory to Eld. He'd met them all at least once, long enough to know if he loathed or liked any one of them, and so far, it seemed that there were only two of them that were bearable to Eld and others. It was not odd for Kageko to know names of people she had never met, only because Eld had met them, but the way she listed their names off-- it was as if she expected it, somehow. That, however, was only subtle.

I believe it is the shadows they seek-- and I am the only descendant of Darkness which they could ever control.

Eld mulled this over for a moment. Kageko wasn't just reciting names from his memory; it was as though she knew them herself. "Kageko...have you met these people before?" he asked.

"I was wondering, too...how did they know about you? I haven't exactly told many people about you." Only Eld's close friends knew, and the only other person who'd known was Tabris...

A better question, though, might have been how they knew about her but had no idea who Eld was. After all, she'd been in his possession the entire time she'd been trapped in the scythe...or so he assumed.

I am unsure . . .

Perhaps not the most useful response in the world-- but she wasn't going to just outright lie to Eld, even if she did feel a little useless by telling the truth.

But they smell just like him.

Him. It could have had many meanings; she could have been referring to any male on the face of the earth-- but she was specifically referring to someone. Someone Eld seemed to know, too, and when the term was specifically used when they spoke to each other, there was a distinct understanding on his end, as if he knew exactly who Kageko was talking about.

I am afraid, Master.

Kageko no longer simply let her hands weakly dangle from Eld's arms. No, she instead wrapped her arms around his and tightly held them to her body, as if she were cold in desperately in need of warmth-- or, perhaps afraid, and desperately in want of comfort. Comfort from the man she had come to see as her master-- benevolent, kind, and accepting . . .

If they have me-- I am afraid of what they will have me become.