Soon after finishing his lunch - and eating far more even a tall, muscular man of his age and posture would normally consume - Haruki somehow managed to doze off just as well as his sister. A well-deserved rest, to be honest, taking into account how much effort by itself did his battle with Kurohana take.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">She stood on the wasteland once more. Her hair billowed around her head, like a halo of black fire... He knew that figure. The Black Blossom, who turned her head sideways, showing him a dark grin on her thin lips.<br/>"You're one tough-ass bastard, Haruki." she uttered. <br/>He shrugged. "You're pretty fast to find out." he smirked.<br/>"I never said you weren't rude as f**k, too!" she growled, clenching her fists.<br/>"You said something?" he cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing. A beginning of a few minutes long angry stare contest begun, but ended up with an uncertain draw. In the end, Kurohana, shaking her head slightly, crossed her arms on her chest. <br/><br/>"You're a tad of a stray, too, aren't you?" she sighed. "A stray in the dark."<br/>"At least you know how light looks."<br/>"And can never ever reach it." <br/><br/>She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't mess up and die, you asshat."</span><br/><br/>And with those words ringing in his ears, he woke up. His dusky grey eyes opened up - he was stretched across the floor with his arms folded underneath his head, hair like a curtain stretching across it. For a moment, he wondered what just happened, only then realizing he has been fast asleep for a few hours at the very least. Time worked so strangely in that little world inside his head...<br/>Rubbing his eyes, he slowly sat up, looking around. Something unnerved him about this situation he was in... Like a sharp pang of uncertainty stabbed into the back of his mind. Something missing, something misplaced, something incorrect. A feeling not unfamiliar...<br/><br/>He sprang up, rushing towards the window. Something dark was moving outside...<br/><br/>There was no hesitation as he climbed onto the ledge, sticking his head out, and with the speed of a lightning leaping down. His hand clenched around the hilt of Kurohana within moments, and as he landed on the ground, amid a swiftly rising and again collapsing pile of leaves, he drew it from its sheath with the sound of metal screeching. A dark smirk spread across his lips upon sighting the blade, and the blade grew black.<br/>Like crawling shadows, the vines of darkness quickly climbed up both sides, consuming the blade and letting it bleed obsidian tears, and soaking into Haruki's pale skin, to turn his hair black and light crimson hellfire in his eyes. His own torn hakama billowed behind him as he bolted forth, leaping over several meters in a single long step.<br/><br/>Nearly noiselessly, he came out of the shadows beneath the trees, appearing like a black shadow before Blake. Still in the self-same breakneck speed, he leaped up, with a large horizontal swing of his katana attacking the nearest Black Blade. The strength of the blow, leaving traces of flickering black fire after the swinging blade. It pushed the creature back, but his assault didn't end there. He was fiercer than a mountain lion with the storm of slashes he unleashed, to finish it all off with dragging his nails from the tsuba to the tip of the blade, gathering a ball of blackness in his palm. Following another slash, he lunged forth, pushing his hand into the Black Blade's head. It cracked, flickered, and... Tore it into pieces, Haruki taking a big step back. "You can leave this on me." he assured Blake, his smile just widening. He could handle this... With Kurohana no longer resisting, his power suddenly skyrocketed, it was burning like fire inside him.<br/><br/>He wasn't afraid of losing. He couldn't lose.