Here is chapter 2. I proofed it myself so be warned!
All conments are welcome, but please don't hit me.
I didn't do it Kamen did.
Again: None of these people are mine, except Kamen.
Broken Masks: Chapter Two
by Kat Aubuchon
Hiei cursed himself seven kinds of a fool.
He should have known better.
He should have seen the trap coming. He should
have been more careful. He should have been
smarter than that.
Since he couldn't move a muscle he decided to
mentally kick himself for falling for a trap that
even Kuwabara could have seen though. He had been
scouting like Mukuro had asked him to do, when he
was ambushed. There had been about fifty low
class youkai, nothing that he couldn't handle, and
he had been handling it well when he felt what he
thought was a familiar presence.
In the middle of the mass of remaining
youkai, Yomi stood waiting. In retrospect Hiei
realized what he did wrong, he panicked. Instead
of waiting for Yomi's first move, he had lunched
into his most powerful attack. As the black
energy coursed and snaked its way forward the
youkai that had stood in its path were vaporized.
They would disintegrate before the front of the
attack even touched them, but as it hurled its way
toward Yomi it began to change. Instead of
screaming its rage, it began to slowly spiral and
funnel into the every center of Yomi's chest. The
sheer magnitude of the energy Hiei expelled made
the figure waver and dim. That's when Hiei
realized that the form before him was an illusion.
Hiei tried to stop his attack, but the figure
was now drawing the energy into itself. It was
impossible for Hiei to stop it from draining all
the energy it wanted. As always Hiei could feel
his eyes drifting closed as more and more of his
energy was pulled from him. He never got to see
the face of his attacker be for he fell
unconscious.
Hiei tested the bonds that held him immobile
for the hundredth time. His body was stretched to
its limits, spread-eagle, on the wall. The bonds
that held him were made of an energy that didn't
seem to weaken no matter how hard he tried. He
couldn't tell how much time had past since he'd
been here. Days and nights had no meaning in a
room with no windows. Every so often a youkai
would come into his small cell and place a clear
crystal to his bare chest. Once in contact with
his skin the crystal would glow bright white and
start drawing his energy from him. The gem would
start out clear and when it was finished it
resembled a chunk of highly polished obsidian.
The pain was bearable, but Hiei knew after the
first few times that he couldn't survive this for
too much longer. Each time they took his power he
was slower to recover and increasingly weaker.
Hiei heaved a heavy sigh. He promised
himself that if he ever got out of this he was
never going to be so stupid again. He closed his
eyes and tried to sleep and regain his strength.
Just as he was about to drift off voices came from
the other side of his cell door. Hiei opened up
his ears to listen.
"You're sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure. Mukuro even brought
Kurama, Yuusuke, and that loud mouth human in to
look for him."
"They're just wasting their time. This place
is too well hidden. They'll never find him here.
"
"Yeah, your right. Well, it's time for
another bleeding."
Hiei heard the lock turn, and wondered what
Kurama was doing now.
===================
Kurama twisted the bloody cloak in his hands
trying by force of will to concentrate on the
events of the here and now. He tried to force the
feeling the something was wrong from his mind.
With an instinct born of centuries of
living in a dangerous world, Kurama ducked to the
side as the first pin sailed past his throat and
became entangled in his hair. Before he could
identify the attacker he had to use Hiei's cloak
to stop the second pin aimed for his chest.
An animal like scream come from the direction
of the attacks. Kurama now had a shape to replace
the bodiless attacker. His attacker moved so fast
that all he saw was the glint of the blade coming
at his heart. Kurama put his left hand up to
catch the arm before it delivered a killing blow.
Once he had the attacker's wrist firmly in hand he
realized the figure was much shorter than himself.
To take attacker off balance Kurama yanked the
wrist he held toward him. The maneuver worked, and
the figure was so taken off guard that the hood to
it's cape fell back. Kurama locked eyes with his
attacker's and froze in shock.
Glaring back at him was the most beautiful
girl he had ever seen. Her hair was a bright gold
that almost shined with it's own light. Her face,
like the wrist he still held tightly in his hand,
was delicate and fair. Her cheeks were flushed
with deadly fury. But what stunned him the most
were her eyes. They were the exact same shade of
green as his own. Unlike his, however, they were
tilled up slightly at the outside edges. This
gave her a very exotic look and kept her from
being just beautiful and made her stunning.
From tightly clenched teeth she hissed her
only warning, "BASTARD". Her knee connected with
his stomach an instant before the metal sheath on
her left forearm slammed into his jaw. Kurama saw
stars and tasted blood. He knew that he was
stumbling backwards but was unable to stop
himself. Pain exploded from his wrist as she bit
hard enough into his flesh to draw blood and tare
tendons.
His wrist had no choice but to relax its
hold. Once the pressure was off her wrist she
twisted her arm free and brought her left arm up
to pushed hard in the middle of his chest. To
help herself overbalance him she had placed her
small foot behind his ankle, and pulled it forward
as she pushed back. Kurama landed on his back
with a loud thud. His beautiful attacker wasted
no time in straddling his chest, pinning his arms
to his sides with her legs. She landed a blow to
Kurama's throat with her armored forearm, making
it almost impossible for him to breath. The other
hand brought her dagger to his throat, drawing a
thin line of blood. She only stopped at the sound
of Mukuro's voiced command.
"Kamen, I forbid you to kill him in my home,
in my very own inner chamber!" Mukuro yelled as
she came toward them. Yuusuke was wisely holding
Kuwabara back from interfering. Kurama silently
thanked him for not letting Kuwabara turn a bad
situation worse by rushing in.
"If you didn't want him dead, why did you
bring him here at the same time you summoned me?"
Kamen's blade slipped deeper into Kurama's neck
making the blood flow freely from his neck to pool
in his hair beneath him. Kurama kept eye contact
with his adversary, noticing her hastily lick his
blood from her lips. She glared down at him with
such hate it almost crackled between them. Kurama
dared not breathe, one false move and she could
slice his jugular down to his windpipe.
"We need your help to find my servant, Hiei.
They are his friends," Mukuro stated calmly
despite the situation.
The young girl straddling Kurama's chest
nearly fell over in surprise. "You want me to work
with this trash? Have you lost your *mind*?! You
can ask me to lead your armies, you can ask me to
take my life, but you really can't be asking me to
work with this bastard?!" Kamen's surprise was so
complete that she sat back on her heels and pulled
her hands from Kurama's throat placing them on his
chest. Her bloodied dagger dripped Kurama's blood
onto his shirt front.
"I most certainly can ask you to do just
that."
Kamen stood swiftly and started to walk
toward the door, but not before she gave Kurama a
kick to his jaw, reopening the wound in his mouth.
"There is nothing you can say that will make me
work with that piece of shit." she spat as she
continued to the door.
"I am demanding payment of services
rendered," Mukuro said, almost quietly. It
stopped Kamen dead in her step.
"Are you saying that if I do this for you my
debt to you will be paid in full?" asked just as
quietly.
"Yes."
Kamen gave a long tired sigh, "It will take me time to
prepare. I will be back in the morning." Then she left
without a backward look.
All conments are welcome, but please don't hit me.
I didn't do it Kamen did.
Again: None of these people are mine, except Kamen.
Broken Masks: Chapter Two
by Kat Aubuchon
Hiei cursed himself seven kinds of a fool.
He should have known better.
He should have seen the trap coming. He should
have been more careful. He should have been
smarter than that.
Since he couldn't move a muscle he decided to
mentally kick himself for falling for a trap that
even Kuwabara could have seen though. He had been
scouting like Mukuro had asked him to do, when he
was ambushed. There had been about fifty low
class youkai, nothing that he couldn't handle, and
he had been handling it well when he felt what he
thought was a familiar presence.
In the middle of the mass of remaining
youkai, Yomi stood waiting. In retrospect Hiei
realized what he did wrong, he panicked. Instead
of waiting for Yomi's first move, he had lunched
into his most powerful attack. As the black
energy coursed and snaked its way forward the
youkai that had stood in its path were vaporized.
They would disintegrate before the front of the
attack even touched them, but as it hurled its way
toward Yomi it began to change. Instead of
screaming its rage, it began to slowly spiral and
funnel into the every center of Yomi's chest. The
sheer magnitude of the energy Hiei expelled made
the figure waver and dim. That's when Hiei
realized that the form before him was an illusion.
Hiei tried to stop his attack, but the figure
was now drawing the energy into itself. It was
impossible for Hiei to stop it from draining all
the energy it wanted. As always Hiei could feel
his eyes drifting closed as more and more of his
energy was pulled from him. He never got to see
the face of his attacker be for he fell
unconscious.
Hiei tested the bonds that held him immobile
for the hundredth time. His body was stretched to
its limits, spread-eagle, on the wall. The bonds
that held him were made of an energy that didn't
seem to weaken no matter how hard he tried. He
couldn't tell how much time had past since he'd
been here. Days and nights had no meaning in a
room with no windows. Every so often a youkai
would come into his small cell and place a clear
crystal to his bare chest. Once in contact with
his skin the crystal would glow bright white and
start drawing his energy from him. The gem would
start out clear and when it was finished it
resembled a chunk of highly polished obsidian.
The pain was bearable, but Hiei knew after the
first few times that he couldn't survive this for
too much longer. Each time they took his power he
was slower to recover and increasingly weaker.
Hiei heaved a heavy sigh. He promised
himself that if he ever got out of this he was
never going to be so stupid again. He closed his
eyes and tried to sleep and regain his strength.
Just as he was about to drift off voices came from
the other side of his cell door. Hiei opened up
his ears to listen.
"You're sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure. Mukuro even brought
Kurama, Yuusuke, and that loud mouth human in to
look for him."
"They're just wasting their time. This place
is too well hidden. They'll never find him here.
"
"Yeah, your right. Well, it's time for
another bleeding."
Hiei heard the lock turn, and wondered what
Kurama was doing now.
===================
Kurama twisted the bloody cloak in his hands
trying by force of will to concentrate on the
events of the here and now. He tried to force the
feeling the something was wrong from his mind.
With an instinct born of centuries of
living in a dangerous world, Kurama ducked to the
side as the first pin sailed past his throat and
became entangled in his hair. Before he could
identify the attacker he had to use Hiei's cloak
to stop the second pin aimed for his chest.
An animal like scream come from the direction
of the attacks. Kurama now had a shape to replace
the bodiless attacker. His attacker moved so fast
that all he saw was the glint of the blade coming
at his heart. Kurama put his left hand up to
catch the arm before it delivered a killing blow.
Once he had the attacker's wrist firmly in hand he
realized the figure was much shorter than himself.
To take attacker off balance Kurama yanked the
wrist he held toward him. The maneuver worked, and
the figure was so taken off guard that the hood to
it's cape fell back. Kurama locked eyes with his
attacker's and froze in shock.
Glaring back at him was the most beautiful
girl he had ever seen. Her hair was a bright gold
that almost shined with it's own light. Her face,
like the wrist he still held tightly in his hand,
was delicate and fair. Her cheeks were flushed
with deadly fury. But what stunned him the most
were her eyes. They were the exact same shade of
green as his own. Unlike his, however, they were
tilled up slightly at the outside edges. This
gave her a very exotic look and kept her from
being just beautiful and made her stunning.
From tightly clenched teeth she hissed her
only warning, "BASTARD". Her knee connected with
his stomach an instant before the metal sheath on
her left forearm slammed into his jaw. Kurama saw
stars and tasted blood. He knew that he was
stumbling backwards but was unable to stop
himself. Pain exploded from his wrist as she bit
hard enough into his flesh to draw blood and tare
tendons.
His wrist had no choice but to relax its
hold. Once the pressure was off her wrist she
twisted her arm free and brought her left arm up
to pushed hard in the middle of his chest. To
help herself overbalance him she had placed her
small foot behind his ankle, and pulled it forward
as she pushed back. Kurama landed on his back
with a loud thud. His beautiful attacker wasted
no time in straddling his chest, pinning his arms
to his sides with her legs. She landed a blow to
Kurama's throat with her armored forearm, making
it almost impossible for him to breath. The other
hand brought her dagger to his throat, drawing a
thin line of blood. She only stopped at the sound
of Mukuro's voiced command.
"Kamen, I forbid you to kill him in my home,
in my very own inner chamber!" Mukuro yelled as
she came toward them. Yuusuke was wisely holding
Kuwabara back from interfering. Kurama silently
thanked him for not letting Kuwabara turn a bad
situation worse by rushing in.
"If you didn't want him dead, why did you
bring him here at the same time you summoned me?"
Kamen's blade slipped deeper into Kurama's neck
making the blood flow freely from his neck to pool
in his hair beneath him. Kurama kept eye contact
with his adversary, noticing her hastily lick his
blood from her lips. She glared down at him with
such hate it almost crackled between them. Kurama
dared not breathe, one false move and she could
slice his jugular down to his windpipe.
"We need your help to find my servant, Hiei.
They are his friends," Mukuro stated calmly
despite the situation.
The young girl straddling Kurama's chest
nearly fell over in surprise. "You want me to work
with this trash? Have you lost your *mind*?! You
can ask me to lead your armies, you can ask me to
take my life, but you really can't be asking me to
work with this bastard?!" Kamen's surprise was so
complete that she sat back on her heels and pulled
her hands from Kurama's throat placing them on his
chest. Her bloodied dagger dripped Kurama's blood
onto his shirt front.
"I most certainly can ask you to do just
that."
Kamen stood swiftly and started to walk
toward the door, but not before she gave Kurama a
kick to his jaw, reopening the wound in his mouth.
"There is nothing you can say that will make me
work with that piece of shit." she spat as she
continued to the door.
"I am demanding payment of services
rendered," Mukuro said, almost quietly. It
stopped Kamen dead in her step.
"Are you saying that if I do this for you my
debt to you will be paid in full?" asked just as
quietly.
"Yes."
Kamen gave a long tired sigh, "It will take me time to
prepare. I will be back in the morning." Then she left
without a backward look.