Full Summary: All attempts at healing the broken central government have ended in failure. The latest one being even more spectacular than any of its predecessors. Fighting is breaking out everywhere as every petty little lordling tries to grab control of well...anything they could get their handson. This aggravates the already uneasy relationships between the new, grotesquely rich merchants and the top-heavy, warrior-class hierarchy still mired in their centuries old ways. A hierarchy in which Okamoto Katsushiro was born into.

Katsushiro has gone home after the Capital was destroyed in Kanna. He is no longer interested in war or fighting. Four years later he's now living a normal quiet life but there is something in his DNA that will soon change this. Unfortunately, two people from his past, who are supposedly dead, won't leave him alone either. They are now in his life nursing him back to health.

Before Katsushiro has a chance to get satisfyingly spooked at their re-appearance the world slides further into chaos and drags them all down with it. Only then does he finds out first-hand why the samurai have always been regarded with fear-tinged awe.

Notes: Point of view will be 1st person from Katsushiro. Alternate ending to the anime. Original characters.
Warnings: Spoiler-ific! I will not put an OOC label, but since this is my interpretation of the characters, it might not jive with yours.
Beta: White Sorcerer, Ryuuko1, Lily-ko. Thank you! If there are any mistakes, it is entirely my fault. I have a bad habit of fiddling with things after everything was edited.
Rating: - 'Tulip' for sensitive subjects are brought up. The first few chapters of this is for 12 yrs of age and up.
Pairings: Yaoi, yuri and hetero is all I can say at the moment. Yaoi relationships will be emphasized.
Comments: This was written (as most of my fics are now) in a language other than English and is being translated from that language; There is no such thing as a linear translation. I am very sorry if some portions of this are not easy to follow due to this process.

Prologue:
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Rain. It's raining again. The constant thrum was like an itch that wouldn't go away. He...hated it. It reminded him of tears. Tears no one has for him, only for those nameless people he'd killed. He only remembered their tears. Not their faces. Who they are. What they meant to him. Nothing. Just a tangled mess of memories permanently fragmented.

He looked over the sand dunes where scattered, rusted parts of massive machines still laid silent and forgotten where the last war had settled them. Some were only slightly damaged while others were so badly cut up most of the pieces could be held by small children. He liked it here. There was no one expecting him to do anything, to be someone they knew and he didn't.

Behind him the Nobuseri he'd sliced to pieces was still ablaze in the hazy, amber light of dusk. Thick, oily, black smoke spewed from it, boiling and expanding upwards as if trying to obliterate all memory of the once heavenly blue of the sky.

Clouds of a civilization gone mad.

The slight drizzle had become a torrent of such violence there were now sizable rivers crossing the battlefield. It didn't seem to affect the smoke and fire. Everything smelled of scorched metal, of copper, like blood. He could taste it on his tongue. So sharp and alive. Something he was beginning to think he was not.

If he could just stop seeing the faces of the men and women he'd killed in it he wouldn't mind the rain so much. It was rather refreshing. All that grime and engine grease on him washed away. He wished the broken memories would flow off of him just as easily.

Turning, he waited for the Shikimoribito long before the man came into his line of sight. Sometimes, like now, his body can still surprise him. It knew what to do to keep him safe even if his mind no longer did. Then again, he'd read that ingrained habits had nothing to do with the brain. It was mostly muscle reflexes. His body seemed to know his brain was not well and was moving to protect itself.

The blazing orb of the sun had set a few hours ago when the storm clouds had appeared. Though his night vision was excellent despite the impairment from the roaring fire, it was the weather he was not used too. He'd spent most of the past two years recovering in the Shikimoribito limestone caves where light was carefully regulated. There was no rain, no sun or any scouring, desert wind in there.

The man stopped short of his blade's reach. Smart and cautious. Kyuuzo approved of those traits in someone who'd essentially raised him from the dead. There was a human beneath that oddly shaped, anonymous metal mask with its bits of green glass for eyes. He knew this from a shard of a memory connected to a name; Shimada Kanbei. Some how the Shikimoribito is connected to that man and his own memories.

"Kyuuzo."

The deep voice reminded him of the samurai with long, wavy hair. He remembered it was graying, dulling the natural brown, and very thick. But no matter how hard he tried he still couldn't remember what Kanbei looked like.

"I am ready."

"I doubt it, but we don't have much of a choice now. It looks like Hajimoto went behind my back. The bidders are here."

Kyuuzo didn't answer. What was there to say? He couldn't remember who he was half the time. If someone wanted to buy him, let them. It didn't mean he'd go along like a domesticated animal. The Doctor Shikimoribito was using him as well, only he was honest about it. Between the choices he had Kyuuzo knew the Doctor could be...expedient. It wasn't difficult to choose who he would follow.

When he walked past the Shikimoribito the man turned and smoothly fell in step with him. Again, with that careful distance. As he regained his strength and conditioned his body back to what it was before he'd died he began to see the differences between respect and fear shown towards him.

The Doctor was wary of him and respected his space, but not out of fear. This man, who calls himself a licensed medical doctor, has no need to feel such a thing. Kyuuzo had watched him easily dispatched four of the mechanized Nobuseri in under four heartbeats. He, with his twin swords, might be a challenge to the Doctor, but he wasn't going to thank the man who'd given him another chance at life by challenging him to a sword fight.

He was the only one who knew exactly how Kyuuzo was put back together. If something went wrong Kyuuzo would rather the man be alive to deal with it than dead.

Walking together like this, the man was about his height and had an easy stride. He said, "Hei-"

Kyuzo snapped himself sideways, away from the Doctor, as something whistled like psychotic insects past him. Stick missiles! He ran for cover when they exploded, some hitting the burning Nobuseri he'd killed earlier sending shrapnel in every direction. Several ripped into him despite his efforts to shield himself behind a stone outcropping. Only his low, guttural hiss said he'd been injured, otherwise he ignored the injury.

There! Contrary to popular belief solid black was just as easy to see at night in a populated area as lighter shades were. Knowing this, though where the knowledge came from he no longer had the memories to discern, he'd asked for clothing in patchwork dark blues, forest browns and greys making it harder to locate him in the dark. He used the camouflage and the madly flickering light of the fire as he slipped behind another rock formation, getting closer to the snipers.

Stupid of them not to wear their Shikimoribito gear, he thought dispassionately as he slid one sword into the gun and the other into its wielder. The outfit hid amazingly thorough spyware in them. Sneaking up on them would have been impossible.

Before the sniper's partner could react, the man received one of Kyuuzo's boot in the chest and another in his face. He wouldn't get up ever again though he might thrash around for a second or two. Bone fragments from the nose into the brain was a painful way to go. Before their heads struck the sand Kyuzo used the force of the kick to flip himself in a different direction and was running for cover again.

The entire thing took barely two minutes. He made no noise and the men hadn't had the time to even think about making any. Only the steady hissing of the rain and its trickling on the rocks was his companion in the deepening twilight. The crackling, smoking fire would have gone out already but the missiles added fuel to the flames.

Was there more out there? The Doctor Shikimoribito would have gotten to them if there were.

"Heihachi is coming with our ride."

Apparently the Doctor had been behind the rock waiting for him. Or maybe he'd somehow came up on him without alerting him. Whatever the case, Kyuuzo refused to allow the startled oath to escape from behind his lips. He felt his cheek muscles flex with his efforts.

When thinking about himself and his half-remembered life became too confusing he often wondered about the Doctor instead. Wondered if he was a shinobi instead of a samurai. But only samurai can become Shikimoribito, or so the Doctor claimed.

"Kenji and Hirijo," said the Doctor.

They were Shikimoribito after all. He remembered the pair. Kenji's aloof kindness and Hirijo's feline gracefulness despite the Shikimoribito uniform. He was surprised to feel hurt and confusion.

"They were after me, not you. Apparently they forgot about your 'kill-now-and-never-bother-to-ask-questions-later' attitude," the Doctor said almost gently. Maybe he can read minds. "The two I'd killed are Tetsuo and Masa. The four work together well and are always sent out to deal with...problems."

Kyuuzo looked at the Doctor, then took a closer look. The mask was gone. It could be the rain causing the lines in a face with chips of jagged ice for eyes. More likely the Doctor was older than him by at least a decade. He looked away. None of his business.

"The boy has a good head for numbers and puzzles but even he can't find all the bugs hidden on that hovercraft," the Doctor was speaking of Heihachi. He had an almost paternal affection in his voice. "Once we're in Kanna Village we'll have to leave it behind."

"The swords on the graves."

"Yes. Then we'll go find your Kanbei."

"I don't own him."

The Doctor chuckled. It was a low, nasty sound and Kyuuzo shivered, wondering about himself. Why he found comfort in it. "He paid, in full, for your resurrection by teaching the younger Shikimobirito how to use the sword. That is why I cannot allow Hajimoto to sell you. You already have an owner."

Instead of responding, he said, "You're coming to keep an eye on Heihachi."

The Doctor gave him an approving look. "They said you were sharp. I knew you're a dangerously smart man. I just didn't appreciate it until this past week."

Kyuuzo heard something mechanical coming from the Doctor. It was a familiar sound. Shikimoribito were very cautious and suspicious. The Doctor was probably scanning their surroundings. He'd changed the focus of the scanning, then held up a hand. Kyuuzo already heard it.

They both hunched as missiles rained down on them. Kyuzo thought the Doctor said a mild, "Ah, damn it." before he ran out and ten heartbeats later something very big exploded in the night. Kyuuzo made himself as small as he could to avoid being hit with melted flying metal.

He risked a glance then quickly ducked again when another series of explosions rocked the very air and blew the rain nearly parallel to the ground for a second. He didn't know where to strike the ships to do maximum damage. He'd simply be used as target practice for the gunners if he tried to leave the rock's shelter. The logic of his thoughts didn't make him feel any less useless.

No, not precisely useless. This wasn't his battle conditioned body trying to warn him. It was common sense. Something he'd heard most samurai didn't seem to have or if they did they never listened to it. His memories seemed to support this observation. In a battle where the other side has long range weapons that spreads indiscriminate fire all over the place to stay in one place is to to die. Wasn't that what happened the first time he'd died?

With that thought he bolted, and not a moment too soon. The rock formation seemed to implode then shock waves rippling through the rain picked him up and slammed him into another rock outcropping. He forced himself to lie still once his body rolled to a stop.

One of the ships floated closer to him, still facing the carnage the Doctor was creating and therefore blind to his movements. Careless. Once his brain stopped banging around in his skull, he used the rock to launch himself towards the ship and slit it from anal to throat.

He was running even as he hit the loose sand. The ship's explosion still caught him and crushed him through the topmost part of a dune's crest. He coughed and sneezed up sand and blood, and from his blurry vision knew he had a slight concussion. It didn't matter. The Doctor knew what he was doing when he'd put him back together. At moments like this, when his body was able to take severe beatings and still perform well, Kyuuzo said an old Buddhist prayer of thanks, personal happiness and prosperity for the Doctor.

So, Kyuuzo of the red jacket is no more. But he, Kyuuzo of the twin blades, is still alive. He chuckled to himself and rolled on to his back to stare up at the rainclouds still leaking water steadily. The last of the ships was destroyed, the Doctor was probably going around and making sure all of its occupants were dead as well. He didn't mind lying there, letting the rain wash his soul clean.

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01 - Dead Man Walking

Ex. Notes:
---- Everyone's ages are my own invention. It was never mentioned how old anyone was in the anime.
---- My keyboard is horrible. I can't type 'u' twice unless I actually pound on it. This is why I write both "Kyuuzo" and "Kyuzo". His name is properly pronounced with two 'u'. The "Kyuu" is stressed whereas in "Kyuzo", it would sound like "Kyoto" would. Short and sharp, and in Kyuuzo's case, incorrect.
References:
I'm a freakin' dork. I forgot ffnet passionately despises outside urls.
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Disclaimers: Samurai 7 © Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Mico, GDH, Gonzo Studios, FUNimation and anyone else who is not me. However, this story plot, the samurai being "upgraded" and "enhanced" for generations is a creation of mine.