Kado's Death

Kado slowly shifted forwards, his smooth bronze eyes glossy appearing as he stepped out on to the killing field. Something was very different, something, very much wrong. Kaoru watched from the side, unable to unbind herself from Kado’s uncle, Sesshomaru’s power. Her eyes watched, as the man she knew was in dire need of help, step forwards despite his fatal illness…

“I’m sorry Kaoru, we believe Kado to have an affliction of the lungs unlike anything I’ve seen..”

But that was not all that was wrong with Kado, a tumorous growth had grown inside of his brain, causing constant pain inside of his head due to the pressure. So long had he fought demons off for her, yet now, he was having trouble with finding words to say, like he would forget completely what he was even doing. Over the course of the week, his personality had changed nearly completely. The once loving man she had known, became deathly silent, and would stare at her as if he had never met her before. She would find him confused, and disorientated. Sometimes, she would find him coughing so much, blood would spill from his lips, but he would always tell her it was just a wound, it would heal…

“Listen…Listen…Listen…Listen …” The words would ring into Kado’s mind, dulling out the quite trembling of the clouds as lightening lit the sky up momentarily. The bright light, seemed to amplify yet darken all the same. Kado’s eyes seemed, unfocused and distant starring out to some place, Kaoru felt she could never reach him. She could feel her heart tug painfully as she tried to utter his name, she wanted to beg him to stay where he was, she wanted to say she was there, but she couldn’t feel her voice spring into action.

Sesshomaru drew his sword callously, his nephew may squander his own time, but now his time, his time could be better spent killing his half-breed of a nephew. Tokijin shimmered beneath the gloomy clouds, radiating its aura of pure evil from the deceased creature it was once forged from. The sword was long, and broad like a European long sword, its tip, shaped like a diamond, its blade double edged. He charged towards Kado’s location, the blow would be a lethal slash coming from Sesshomaru’s left shoulder down at an angle.

Kado’s hand gripped the hilt of his sword, forged from his own fang. He was only, slightly aware of his surroundings, only by feel did he even know it had begun raining. His mind having already lost its way within the dark blue, and purple splotches that formed the world around him. Little did he know, his mind was shutting down, the only reason his hand moved to grasp his sword was not because he meant to defend himself…it was mere instinct. He had grasped his sword, in a robotic reflex when he heard the thunderclap. His hair soaked against his skin, hanging loosely down, stringy from the stress as entire bulges of it had fallen out from the weeks prior, leaving his once shimmering mane, appearing rather messy.

Sesshomaru’s right arm swung down at his nephew, the blade cutting gracefully through the air with the elder demon’s expertise. The arch was perfect. The blow, lethal. But it would miss, Kado’s mind causing him to stumble away from it, narrowly avoiding the killing blow. Sesshomaru’s blade cut clean through the ground, and rose back up just as it would have had he struck. Kado looked at Sesshomaru, what was left of him. His leaden eyes stared towards his uncle, as if he were blind. Sesshomaru watched his nephew as he drew his own sword.

A thousand rain drops befell Kado, like a thousand tears they swept over his face comparable to a flood down a dried up riverbed. The sword would flash a golden hue, before transforming into a monstrous sword like his fathers. Sesshomaru watched with a growing interest, as he had found out his nephew was not battling him, the way his nephew looked upon him, gave him the impression they had never met before even from their countless duels.

Kado’s body stumbled back, as his balance failed him. His heavy sword plunged into the ground, as his hand gripped the sword, his right knee crashing to the ground as he knelt. A fit of coughing expelled itself in the form of blood, rushing past Kado’s lips, and splattering to his hands; the crimson fluid glistening darkly as he slowly stood up gripping the sword more firmly. Sesshomaru, having witnessed the ordeal, narrowed his eyes as his senses were correct, his nephew was in no shape to put up with battle. But why did he stand back up?

“I won’t….” Kado uttered, his breaths having turned from breaths, to heaving gasps as he tried take air into his blood clotted lungs. “I won’t let you hurt her….I won’t let you hurt Kaoru!” He suddenly exclaimed, lifting his sword up slowly towards his uncle, the tip shimmering as it directed itself to the torso of the full blooded demon before Kado.

Swinging it back, Kado would grip the sword’s hilt with two hands, arching it back behind is right side. Rushing forwards, his speed sluggish, far less than what he had once been able to do. Still, he would bring the sword behind, and above him, bringing it down in a cleaving movement. Sesshomaru’s sword merely rose, deflecting the sword, but despite Kado’s failing strength, his determination was felt as it forced even Sesshomaru to slid backwards, his feet digging into the soils of the ground leaving tredmarks of where they once were.

Karou watched in mute pain, her eyes trembling fearful for Kado, and welling with tears that would refuse to flow. Inside Kado’s mind, the world was very different. He was fighting one of the former demons he had saved Kaoru from, the demon taking place of his uncle. Yet, blanketing the area was a strange white fog and he could no longer see Kaoru, he was all alone…again.

Sesshomaru brought his sword against his nephews shoulder, a thick spray of blood discharged from the wound as the blade cut a clean swath through the flesh. Kado yelped, his voice ringing all the way back to where Kaoru was bound. Kaoru’s eyes widened, and she attempted to scream his name, but only barely audible words followed her will.

“Ka…do..”

Gripping his left shoulder, the sensation of pain flooding Kado’s mind but it wasn’t enough to stop his delusional brain to bring him to the reality that is, rather than was. Warm fluid trickled down between his fingers, inching itself across his hand. Lifting his sword, his left hand barely able to grasp the hilt of his sword, while his right picked up the slack weight.

One demon after another poured towards Kado, like an onslaught he rushed towards them the blade of his sword shimmering. He would leap into the air, using the weight of his sword as well as his own body to press down against them. Sesshomaru lifted his sword once more, his arm barely yielding to the attack as it was much weaker than the one before.

“He’s almost done..” Sesshomaru’s thoughts would correspond and he drew his arm back before thrusting forwards, with the sleight of hand he punched Kado in his chest causing the young boy’s eyes to expand widely, blood passing through his lips freely as his body was flung backwards.

Kado would cascade slowly almost to Kaoru’s eyes, his back slamming into the ground, sliding before his legs fell back causing him to flip over to his knees. Kado’s hand trembled, his left arm having gone numb once again, another side effect of the growth in his cerebral. Panting from the blow, his head tilted back loosely, as he began to convulse before vomiting blood from his lungs once more.

Kado would stand up slowly, his body quivering from the strain he was placing upon himself. His right hand clutched the sword tightly in his furled hand. His head bowed forwards, before it slung back, his feet stumbling before he caught and held his ground. Thoughts poured into his mind, memories of himself and Kaoru. He could see her smiles, her shimmering eyes. He could hear her laughter, her sad words, her angry shouts…He could feel her inside of himself, beating slower, and slower.

Kaoru watched, her body trembling, tears mixing in with the rain as she watched the man before her, the man that had staved off the hordes of her nightmares. That held her when the night was the darkest, that said the words that she needed to hear, rush Sesshomaru his uncle, for what her heart felt was the last time.

Kado’s sword drug the ground behind him, as he yelled towards his brother. Sesshomaru left his sword, as if to merely block the oncoming blow. Kado’s arm lifted the sword up. The arch was perfect. The blow, lethal. Time moved slowly, almost to a stand still as Kaoru watched in horror, in pain, in sadness. Sesshomaru’s blade met the sword, but he could not deflect the power that suddenly surged forwards. Was this Kado’s final technique? Was this the Limit Breaker? Sesshomaru’s sword trembled, before it shattered like shards of glass. Kado’s sword stopped before it made contact with Sesshomaru’s body. Sesshomaru looked at his sword, then slowly up at his nephew, his eyes full of wonder, and confusion, baffled by the power that he had felt rush past him. Surely, he knew he had lost.

Kado held a soft, friendly smile, one he had not worn since the day he was born. The sword slipped from Kado’s hand, plunging into the ground before him as Kado himself fell backwards. A dull thud was heard in Sesshomaru’s ears, as he watched his nephew lay before him. Blood trickled from the hanyou’s corner of his lips. Kaoru’s eyes widened fully as she jerked forwards, her mind screaming, her heart screaming her voice finally heard.

“KADO!”

The bonds that once bound her, broke as her own energy finally overcame Sesshomaru’s simple magic. She ran towards Kado’s body, her legs sliding into the dirt as she came to his side. Her hands lifted his head, and she saw for her self, the dullness, the distance that was between them. They were as all words could describe, worlds apart. She sobbed softly, her eyes wincing as tears welled into their depths as she watched him lay in her arms, his last breaths slow, only seeming to linger in his bleeding lungs.

“ I feel so alone…am I…all alone..?” He would question, still unaware of her right next to him “ “I’m…sorry Kaoru…all I wanted was to be close…to know what it was to love…someone…”Kado’s eyes winced at the word ‘love’, as if it were painful or hard word to say but before she could reply, his breathing slowed even more. “Please don’t let go…” He drew one last deep breath in, but the exhale she was waiting for would never come; the faint life like a candle biding its time on already melted wax, flickered and blew out leaving lifeless golden eyes staring out towards the sky as if he were listening to the rain.

“No Kado…you were…you’re not alone…I’m here…” Kaoru slowly stroked his thinned silver hair, the wet strands clinging to his pale face. She leaned forward, feeling the pouring rain sting her skin despite how soaked she was already. Her head would tiled, her soft lips brushing against his, giving him a soft kiss good-bye.


“Listen…Listen…Listen…Listen…”