Kuwabara had miscalculated.
Badly.
He clenched his teeth as he held the wound on his right side, trying hard not to cry out in pain and give away his location. Not, he figured, that it would really matter. The yokai chasing him could probably smell blood and knew exactly where he was. He still wouldn't yell.
He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Leaning against the wall of the abandoned warehouse, Kuwabara tried to come up with a plan, something he should have done before he'd ever started chasing these yokai. He should have gone for help.
But Kuwabara hadn't known where Hiei or Kurama were, didn't even know if Hiei was in the Human World right now, and Yusuke had been across town with his raman stand. There hadn't been time to go get help; as soon as Kuwabara had seen those yokai masquerading as humans he'd sensed they were bad news.
And he was right. They would definitely have eaten that poor woman if Kuwabara hadn't made himself seem like a more appealing meal.
Kuwabara just hadn't expected them to be quite so strong.
Stupid. You know the barriers are down; any yokai can get to Human World now.
Even two A class yokai like these. At least, Kuwabara was pretty sure they were A class. He almost hoped they were. He'd never live it down if he was killed by anyone less powerful.
…And that thought didn't make sense, though he couldn't quite figure out how. Probably a bad sign.
Kuwabara pushed himself off the wall, ignoring the waves of pain that shot in all directions from his side. He'd had worse wounds; he couldn't think of them at the moment, but he was certain he had. Probably during the Dark Tournament.
Help. I need help.
Kuwabara seized that thought. How could he let the guys know he was in trouble? Finally, he thought of a plan. It wasn't a great plan; it wasn't even a good plan, but it was the only plan he could come up with.
Kuwabara focused his energy and with a yell he set it loose in wave after wave, creating a beacon that anyone with the slightest spiritual sensitivity should be able to feel. Hopefully Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei, if he was around, would recognize it and come. If they didn't recognize it, hopefully they'd be curious and come anyway.
"Calling for help, human?"
Kuwabara whirled around to find the two yokai had snuck up on him on his right side; his wounded side. They had dropped their human disguises to show their true forms. One was a hulking creature, bald, with green scales instead of skin. His fingers were tipped with wicked looking claws that still dripped with Kuwabara's blood. He bared his entirely too sharp teeth in a shark like grin.
"I think the human is scared of us, Kai."
Kai, with brown skin, purple eyes, and shockingly blue hair looked amused. "As well he should be, Ling. We're going to kill him after all."
Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword. "I don't die that easily."
Kai pointed his own sword at Kuwabara. "Let's see about that shall we?"
Kai lunged, and Kuwabara dodged though just barely. He wasn't sure if it was because he was actually faster than Kai, or if Kai was just toying with him.
Given his wound, Kuwabara was betting on the latter.
Kai swung again and Kuwabara was forced to block which made his wound scream with pain as more blood gushed out and down his leg, soaking his jeans.
Their blades locked, and Kai slowly pushed Kuwabara back ginning all the while. "How long do you think you'll last?"
"Kuwabara!"
His concentration slipped at the unexpected shout, and Kai took advantage of the moment to slip past Kuwabara's guard and stab him in the shoulder. Where the wound inflicted by Ling's claws burned like fire, this wound was numbingly cold, and Kuwabara's right arm fell to his side, useless.
Kuwabara glanced up to see Botan floating in the air on her oar behind Kai. What was she doing here? Kuwabara had expected the guys to come at his signal, not her! Botan wasn't a fighter; this was far too dangerous for her!
"Look out!" Kuwabara called when he saw Ling jump at her from behind, but Kai punched him in the face knocking him to the ground. He could hear Botan scream as Kai leaned down blocking his view of everything else.
"You should just worry about yourself," Kai said.
And things went from bad to Hell in a hand basket.
Kuwabara could hear Ling laughing, even though he couldn't see him behind Kai. "Good thing you showed up," Ling was saying. "I like eating women so much better. I mean sure guys technically have breast meat, but it just isn't the same."
No. I can't let this happen. I've got to save her.
Gritting his teeth, Kuwabara said, "Sword, get long."
His sword blazed from his left hand catching Kai by surprise and spearing him through the middle. Kai stumbled back, holding his wound.
Kuwabara pushed himself up and lunged at Ling who had Botan pinned to the ground. Ling had to jump away to avoid the swing of Kuwabara's sword, which wasn't quite as steady as it would have been if he'd been able to use his right hand.
Shakily, Botan got to her feet holding her oar. She was unhurt except for some scratches from hitting the ground.
"Run, Botan," Kuwabara ordered.
"I'm not leaving you," Botan said.
Didn't she get it? If she stayed he had to protect her, and he wasn't strong enough to protect her right now!
I need a way to let her escape.
Escape…Of course!
Concentrating all his power, Kuwabara yelled, "Dimension Sword!"
His sword blazed with light, before settling into the blade he'd learned existed three years ago and still hadn't fully mastered.
Yusuke. We need to get to Yusuke.
Kuwabara sliced his sword through the air, creating a rift that hummed with energy. Turning, he said, "Botan, quick!"
He was completely unprepared for her to shove him, and hurt as he was he lost his balance and fell through the portal he had created.
The last thing he saw before the portal closed behind him was Ling dragging Botan back.
"Botan!"
Kuwabara forgot about Botan for a minute when he landed hard on someone else, jarring his side and shoulder. The person swore and shoved him off, which didn't help his wounds any.
"Kuwabara? What happened?"
Kuwabara opened his eyes to see Yusuke staring down at him, half mad, half worried. Kuwabara pushed himself off the ground as he answered. "I got in a fight with two A class yokai. We've got to hurry; they still have Botan, and they're planning to eat her!"
Yusuke's eyes widened. "Botan! What was she doing there?"
"I think she came when she felt my energy flare," Kuwabara said, trying to orient himself. Which way did he need to go to get back to her?
"So that was you," Yusuke said. "I'm going to find Botan then. You stay here."
"No way," Kuwabara said. "She's in danger because of me; I'm not leaving her!"
Yusuke looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't. "Fine. But I'm not waiting on you!"
Kuwabara didn't expect him to. They started running back to the warehouse district where Kuwabara had left Botan with the yokai. It didn't take long for Yusuke to outpace Kuwabara; even when Kuwabara wasn't hurt Yusuke was faster than him, so it wasn't surprising. Still, Kuwabara refused to give up.
Idiot. Why did you push me through? Why didn't you jump? Why didn't you let me protect you?
If Botan died today, Kuwabara knew he'd never forgive himself.
Kuwabara grit his teeth against the pain of his wounds and forced himself to keep going even when he lost sight of Yusuke. Luckily, they weren't too far from where Kuwabara had been before.
He heard Yusuke shout, "Spirit Gun!"
Kuwabara pushed himself to go faster, and he rounded the building to see that Yusuke had blown Kai through a wall of one of the warehouses and was trading blows with Ling.
Where's Botan?
He finally saw her, several yards away, trying to stop the blood pouring from her left shoulder. Kuwabara made his way over to her, taking off his shirt to press against her wound. She grimaced as he touched it, but didn't cry out despite the tears in her eyes.
Kuwabara looked back at the fight in time to see Yusuke fire his Spirit Gun at point blank range, decapitating Ling. Kai made his way out of the rubble then, only to be sliced in half by Kurama's Rose Whip as the kitsune finally arrived on the scene.
Yusuke and Kurama both rushed over to Botan and Kuwabara then. "Are you all right?" Yusuke asked.
Kurama grew some strange plant with large blue petals, and pulling the petals off said, "Here, put these over your wounds, they'll help."
Botan and Kuwabara both gratefully accepted Kurama's ministrations. "What happened?" he asked as he pressed the petals on them.
"I saw those two yokai were up to no good and got in a fight with them," Kuwabara said. "They were stronger than I expected, so I sent up that energy flare hoping you guys would come help me, but then Botan showed up and…" He trailed off and rounded on Botan as the relief that she would be okay wore off and was replaced by anger at her foolishness. "Why didn't you go through the portal like I told you to?"
"I figured there'd be time for you guys to rescue me, but there wouldn't be time for us to rescue you," Botan said. "You were too hurt."
"You could have been killed!" Kuwabara snapped, not mollified by her explanation at all.
Botan's pink eyes flashed. "You would have been killed!"
"But I'm a warrior," Kuwabara started, but Botan cut him off.
"And just because I'm not means I'm not allowed to try and help my friends?" Botan asked. "You're the only one allowed to sacrifice yourself for your friends?"
"Yes!" Kuwabara shouted. "No one is allowed to die for me!"
Suddenly, Yusuke laughed. "Sorry, Kuwabara, but that isn't really something you have a choice about."
Kuwabara glared at him, and Kurama too for good measure.
"Has it occurred to you that you are just as important to us as we are to you?" Kurama asked.
That didn't change anything. "No one is allowed to die for me," he repeated. "Ever."
"We'll do our best," Kurama said dryly. "Let's get you two home."
Kuwabara leaned on Yusuke as they walked. "You know," Yusuke said, "if you really don't want any of us dying for you, you could try picking fights with people you can actually beat."
"Shut up," Kuwabara snapped. He wasn't worried about picking fights with weaker people. He just needed to get stronger. Watching the sway of Botan's blue pony tail as she walked in front of him, Kuwabara vowed that something like this would never happen again.
AN: Written for flamingmarsh, the 200th reviewer of Bitter Enemies! Do you know, while writing this one shot, I realized I actually kind of like the idea of KuwabaraXBotan...Which is strange, because I've never really considered them as a couple before, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. This one shot isn't meant to be KuwabaraXBotan, but if there are slight accidental hints of it at the end, this is why.