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Slate blinked as this person jumped on her. And then she heard the name "Benkei." Biting her lip briefly, she said, "I don't recognize your face, but I do know--did know--Benkei." To accentuate her words, she held out the small Amahagane that she was still clutching tight. "This...is all that remains of him."

"Amu?" Slate searched her mind for the memory of that name. Finaly she found it, and her eyes widened. "It really is you! I never thought I'd see you again; how have you survived all these years? And no, you didn't hurt me by asking. My pain will be with me for a long time."

Slate hesitated. This man had obviously been a good friend of Benkei's, and she didn't know how the truth would affect him. But she couldn't bring herself to lie, and she said, "He had a darkness...a demon that began possessing him, body and soul. When I tried to stop him from dying, it used my own curse of vampirism to it's advantage and made him a vampire as well, until he became a zombie." Her eyes filled with stinging tears, but she held them back as she said, "My friend Fate gave her own life to end his suffering...and now this is all that is left." She tightened her grip slightly on the Amahagane, feeling the enrgy and power coursing within it.

SLate stood shocked for a moment, then she began to shake with a rage she hadn't felt in centuries. With a snarl that would've made rabid werewolves turn tail and run away yelping, she lunged, leaping onto his back and hissing, "DON'T--DARE--BLAME--ME! All I was trying to do was SAVE HIM!" This last part she screamed both out loud and mentally before she finally leaped away before he had the chance to return her attack. Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously, she growled, "Know that I loved him, as well. And that I would never, ever," She stressed the word "ever", "condemn him to the fate of being a vampire willingly. It was the demon's doing, not mine." She turned and walked away to try and calm herself.

"So, you're a friend of Benkei's?" Kichi asked. "Well let's see here, how to explain... well to start off what awakened the demon was when a werewolf raiding party attacked, and afterward there was a fake Amahagane that took over Benkei's mind, then awakened the demon, after that we thought to banish him somehow, but it didn't work, after a time we thought he had beaten it, but it only resurfaced later almost fully in control, then we killed part it off, and he was half a person, Slate had to bite him to keep him alive and then he became a zombie, Fate," his voice broke. "it seems, had just enough magic to break the zombie curse, then she died, then Benkei died. That's what happened, sir and i would thank you not to make my grieving friend grieve more with your petty and childish blame-laying, if you don't mind."

He glared at Slate. "You are a creature of darkness and undeath. You should have known what happens when undeath mixes with the destruction of the soul. You had the choice between saving him and turning him into a mindless mass of flesh. You made your choice, and made it recklessly. You didn't consider all of the possibilities, and Benkei paid for your shortsightedness. You may have wanted what was best, but you were careless. There is an old saying where I come from; Remember the kind elephant who tried helping the hen hatch her eggs. And believe me... You have sat upon a fine egg, wench..."

He sped off into a run, using his shinobi training to accelerate quickly.

Kaderot laughed at this "amazing what they do here"