muie5: I love this chapter. It's sad but cute. Hope you all enjoy.
Kurama: Are you done with the other stuff you have to do?
muie5: Yeah...Okay. So I don't own
Yusuke: That is the cheapest way to avoid answering a question.
muie5: Like I was saying! I don't own YYH just May, Tenshi, and Kori-Ryu
Recap:
"You abandoned me! You broke your promise! You allowed them to do what they did to me! YOU TRATOR!" May yelled at him as she continued to punch Youko.
Soon her punches started to become weaker and weaker as tears rolled down her cheeks. It did not take long for her to collapse into Youko's chest. Youko started to stroke her hair with his right hand and held her with his left. She just continued crying into his chest as she wrapped her arms around Youko's waist.
"Youko, that red head is your other form, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"So we are enemies. Better give me your best fight then," May warned, turning to Youko with a smile.
Chapter 4: Fight With The Heart
"Youko, she wants to kill me so we are switching," Shuichi ordered in Youko's head.
"No! I'm fighting her," Youko ordered his other self.
"She means a lot to you, doesn't she? Very well, I'll stay out of this fight. Just remember if you die there is no second chance."
"I have found out through the years that I have many new powers. You better be on your toes at all times. All of you," May warned, looking at everyone.
"They'll stay out of this fight. It's just you and me," Youko stated.
"Fine with me. Let's get to it."
May placed her right foot in front of her left and put her left hand in front of her as Youko pulled out a rose from his silver hair.
May gave a slight smile before she gave her old savior some advice, "You're plants won't work in this fight."
Youko transformed his rose into his famous Rose Whip. He immediately whipped it at May. That did not effect May at all; she dodged before grabbing the middle of the rose whip. As a result of doing so blood trickled down May's arm from the wound on her right hand caused by the thorn that now punctured her skin. Youko pulled the Rose Whip back to him and May allowed the thorn to continue its damage as it got ripped out of her tightly gripped hand.
"What is she planning?" Youko thought to himself.
"Ready for the fun?" May asked, making a fist with her right hand.
Drops of blood fell to the ground as May closed her eyes. Youko pulled out a seed from his hair and held it in his fist. He, too, closed his eyes.
A few moments later they simultaneously opened their eyes. May blew a ball of fire into her right hand. The blood started to mix in with the fire, making the color turn into a dark purple. Youko let several razor-sharp vines fly through the air and towards May.
"What is he thinking? I can kill his plants easily with my power. What is his plan?" May thought, watching the vines close in on her.
May put her left hand over the top of the fireball causing it to grow another inch and a half. Once that was finished she threw it at the plants that were a few inches from her. Youko smirked as May's fireball only singed the vines' edges.
"What's this?" May gasped out of surprise.
May jumped to the right in an attempt to dodge the vines. When she landed a few feet away a jolt of pain went to her brain from the nerves in her left leg. She looked down to inspect what caused this sudden pain only to see one of the razor-sharp vines went through her lower left leg.
"I strengthened these vines with my own ki. You won't be able to burn them so easily," Youko explained to the obviously confused May.
May growled at Youko before getting down on her right knee. With one swift pull on the vine, blood splattered all around her. She dropped the blood soaked vine onto the ground. Blood continued to flow freely from the hole in her lower left leg.
"If I don't kill her with my plants, blood loss with be her undoing," Youko thought, watching May stand once more.
"I guess I underestimated you. I won't do it again. I promise you that," May stated, smiling at Youko.
May covered the front part of the wound with her right hand and the back part with her left. Youko watched as May's hands started to glow a light teal. After a moment May took her hands off her leg. Youko's eyes widened when he saw what May actually did.
"What are you thinking?" Youko asked, trying to not yell at her.
May grinned at her old savior. The blood that was once flowing from her open wound was now frozen. The internal veins and organs were frozen as well. Small ice particles formed around the wound itself.
"It's a quick fix while in a battle. It will keep me from bleeding to death," May explained unnervingly calm for what she just did to herself.
"Doing that will kill you as well," Youko warned, keeping his worry inside.
"Well I wouldn't have to do this if you would let me kill you. But if you did than you wouldn't be the fox demon I look up to."
"I thought you were going to give me your best. With your leg frozen you will not be able to dodge quickly enough."
"Youko, I've gotten used to doing this. Since you left I've had to defend myself all alone."
May bent down to pluck a blade of grass from the ground. Youko watched May intently as she got back up with the small blade of grass. May smiled as the grass blade grew to at least three feet long and start to glow a dark black.
"She can control plants as well," Youko thought, impressed at how much May as learned in the fifteen years since they last saw each other.
"As, I am sure, you can tell I can also control plants. It's my way of honoring you, but, of course, I can't control them as well as you can. I can also control some darkness," May explained some of the powers she now possessed.
"Makes it more interesting this way," Youko stated.
Youko willed some vines to wrap around his right arm and it started to grow into a point away from his hand. May grinned, as she knew this was going to be a sword fight. She liked being up close and personal in her battles. It is how she lived for so long.
May ran full speed towards Youko, ready to attack. Youko stood still, his vine sword at his side. May brought her sword above her left shoulder. Directly after she swung her sword straight at Youko's throat. Youko, at the last second, brought his sword up to block May's attack. May growled when she realized Youko was using little to no energy to keep her sword at bay.
"He's toying with me!" May growled in her mind.
"This is a joke. May is clearly no match for Youko," Hiei stated from the sidelines.
May's ears perked up before she showed her sharp fangs. Youko watched as May jumped back a few feet. It was obvious to him that she was not interested in their fight at the moment. May turned her full attention to Hiei. Youko stood there as to allow her to get her anger out before the fight continued once again.
"I'd like to see you do better! Youko is way stronger than any of you! So shut up and let me fight in peace!" May ordered fiercely.
Youko gave an almost invisible smirk. He would never admit it, but he was very proud of May. He watched with great pride and happiness as May and the other three exchanged a few more words.
"Are you sure you want to fight her, Youko?" Shuichi asked, noticing his demon side's change in attitude.
"Of course, I do! This is just like every other fight for my life," Youko responded.
"But she's not like every other enemy. You can't kill her."
Youko let some of his energy escape. May turned her attention back to him with a sweet smile. The others turned their attention to the fox spirit as well.
"Sorry. I got side tracked again," May apologized sweetly.
May's smile withered till it was quickly replaced with a serious frown. She held up her grass blade and was ready to charge Youko once again. Youko allowed his vine sword to diminish till it was completely gone.
"What is he planning now?" May thought as she watched him reach for his hair again.
Youko pulled out a small red seed. May's gaze fell upon the seed he held in his hand. Fear raced across her face. She knew what he was planning and she knew if she did not do something fast she was going to die. May ran at Youko with less than impressive speed. She tried to cut Youko's right hand off, but tripped and fell to the ground before she even reached her target. At this point she started to feel the full effect of freezing her leg. She propped up the upper half of her body with her left arm.
"My wound has never been frozen for this long in any of my prior battles. My internal organs are starting to slow down significantly. If I don't end this soon I'll die," May thought as the anxiety started to multiply.
"We have to hurry and heal her. If we don't she'll die," Shuichi chimed in with the obvious thought to anyone else.
"Shut up already!" Youko snapped at his human half.
Youko closed his left palm as it started to glow a dark shade of red. May watched from where she was lying on the ground. It took all of her strength to lift herself to her knees as several shocks of pain went through her entire being. She was able to leap out of the way of the sharp vines that were flying at her. All she could manage to do was land on her right side a few feet away.
"Impressive. I'm surprised she could even move let alone dodge that quickly," Youko thought with some delight showing.
May got to her feet with immense difficulty. She struggled just to keep herself on her feet. Youko took out another seed and threw it straight at May's throat without a second thought. May easily caught the seed and held it tightly in her right hand. She brought her lowered head up to glare at Youko.
Her normally calm blue eyes now exhibited complete and utter hatred. She allowed her facial expression to convert to one that was dark. Youko watched as she allowed her full feelings to take over.
"How dare you! Do you find me that weak?" May growled, tightening her grip on the seed.
Youko let a smirk creep onto his lips. May's anger diminished as Youko's playful eyes turned cold. May than realized what was going on. She quickly opened her right hand so the seed would fall to the ground.
"Too late," Youko stated to his adversary.
And he was right. In the middle of May's hand, where her wound was from the rose whip, was where the seed had already taken root. Vines started to engulf her entire hand. Even though May desperately started to claw at the vines, they kept growing. Her entire arm was covered in mere moments. The vines wrapped around her waist and then her legs. The vines began to get farther apart when wrapping around the rest of her body, but they were strong. Blood started to flow from where the vines started to burrow into her body. May tried to freeze them from the inside out but it did not work. She even tried to burn them. All her attempts to free herself failed.
"It hurts…It burns…" May thought weakly.
May looked up from the vines to Youko. He stood there with that cold stare that May only knew him to give to his most horrible enemies. It broke May's heart to see that stare being directed towards her. Even though she wanted to shed the tears that had built up in her eyes she knew she could not.
"If I'm going to die, then I'm going to show my Youko how strong I am. I will not cry," May decided on.
"How can you just stand there and watch her die?" Shuichi asked, sounding angry with his other half.
Youko did not answer as he watched May fall to her knees and then slowly to the ground. Blood surrounded her frail form on the grassy area they were in. With the last ounce of her energy, May lifted her head to get one final glimpse of the one she always wanted to be with.
-Flashback-
A seven year old May came limping into the bandits' hideout. Her left arm was broken, a slash went from the upper right part of her forehead to her lower left chin, and her left eye was surely going to be black in the morning. A trail of blood followed her from the various cuts all over her body. Several demons watched her limp her way to the dojo. They whispered various things to each other, but May ignored the gossiping bandits. She continued towards the dojo, eyes completely blank.
-Inside the Dojo-
Youko was in his room having his seventh meeting of the day. Even though he was the one that scheduled the meetings, he wished he did not plan so many for the day. He felt like it was the hundredth meeting, but he knew there were several more to come before the day was done.
Two bandits were bickering outside Youko's bedroom door, which had a conference room adjacent to it. Kuronue was there as well but he was not fighting with the two.
"If we don't tell him you know how mad he'll get," said a demon with long blond hair and piercing brown eyes.
"I'm not going to get my head torn off to tell him about that stupid brat!" stated the other demon that had short, light blue hair and even lighter blue eyes.
"Get out of the way then," Kuronue ordered, forcefully pushing the two bandits aside.
Kuronue slid open the right of the two sliding doors that led to the conference room. A demon with black eyes, dark blue hair, and a scar running from an inch above his left eye brow to about three inches under his left eye was sitting on royal blue cushions in front of a table in the middle of the room. Youko was facing the doors so only the unknown demon had to turn to see who was interrupting their meeting.
"Sorry to interrupt, but May is passed out in the middle of the village," Kuronue explained, leaning up against the right part of the doorframe.
Youko gave Kuronue a cold glare that Kuronue knew was used to say 'leave'. Kuronue just put his left foot up on the doorframe and crossed his arms in front of himself.
"Did I mention she is bleeding severely as well? She sure is a mess of blood and flesh," Kuronue elaborated on his prior explanation.
Youko got to his feet before swiftly, but coolly, exiting the conversance room. Kuronue grinned at the new demon before putting his left foot back on the wooden floor and turned towards the demon.
"The meeting is officially over. Follow me," Kuronue ordered.
Youko walked to where a crowd of bandits was gathered. He moved several bandits, forcefully, to the side. The rest allowed their leader through without any trouble. In the middle of the crowd was an unconscious May. She was severely bleeding all over the dirt road of the hideout just like Kuronue stated.
"What happened here?" Youko asked in the mist of all the whispering bandits.
Kuronue came walking up beside Youko, arms crossed in front of himself. Youko watched as all the bandits fell silent. Kuronue bent down and picked May up bridal style. This started up a few more whispers from the bandits.
"Get ready for the heist tonight," Kuronue ordered, walking back towards the dojo.
Youko walked beside Kuronue back to the dojo. He never looked at Kuronue or May as they were walking. When they got into the empty dojo, Kuronue looked towards Youko but he did not return the glance. Kuronue gently shoved May into Youko's arms.
"Everyone is gone so you can stop acting like you don't care," Kuronue stated to his friend.
Youko looked down at the mangled May in his arms. He nodded at his closest friend without a word. They walked down the main hall with May protectively in Youko's arms.
-Five Hours Later-
May started to come to her senses. She noticed right away that she could not move her left arm at all and she had a splitting headache. Next she noticed that she was no longer lying on the cold, hard, dirt ground but on a soft, warm cot. Even though she knew it was going to make her headache worse, she slowly opened her eyes. She sat up and noticed her left arm was in a sling and she was back in her room. Just then her door slid open and Kuronue came walking in. After sliding the door shut he noticed May was awake. He smiled at her as May was fully waking up.
"Hey, Youko. Sleeping beauty is awake," Kuronue stated calmly.
May looked around for a moment before her eyes fell upon Youko. He was sitting in the window seal of her room with his back facing her. His right leg was propped up on the very edge of the seal while his left leg hung outside.
"He must be mad at me," May thought as she watched Youko sit on her window seal.
Youko turned his head from the setting sun to gaze at May. He did not wear a smile or even a warm expression to give to little May. Kuronue was now standing next to May so he could face his friend.
"May, you have already ruined my reputation with the bandits and now you're disobeying the rules," Youko stated, coolly.
"I'm sorry, Youko. I didn't mean to cause trouble," May answered, lowering her head, ears, and tail.
"What happened anyways?" Kuronue asked, looking down at May.
"I went out to do some scouting for Tenshi and Kori-Ryu."
Youko and Kuronue's eyes grew cold when they heard Kori-Ryu's name. They knew he resented May for being allowed to stay in the bandit's hideout. It would not have surprised them if he sent someone to kill her.
"Youko, Tenshi said that Kori-Ryu told him that you are planning to kill me if I do something like this again…If I come back here all beat up…He said you were going to kill me with your own two hands," May said, holding back the tears that threaten to fall if she let her guard down.
Youko turned all the way around. Kuronue looked up at Youko. He knew Youko too well to be surprised at what he said next.
"May, I would never kill you. I am disappointed that you would second guess what I promised you," Youko answered May's unasked question.
May gave Youko a sad smile. Kuronue, all the sudden, hit May really hard in the back of her head. Her head jerked forward enough that her quarter back length hair fell into her face. Her hands automatically cradled the back of her head. May turned her gaze towards Kuronue with her hands still rubbing the back of her head.
"What in the three worlds of Makai was that for, Kuro!" May ordered an answer.
"You are such a baka! You're way too inexperienced to go out scouting by yourself! What if you died? Youko wouldn't stop crying for weeks! Maybe months! Even years!" Kuronue answered louder than need be.
"Kuro, if you don't want to die than I suggest you shut up!" Youko growled.
May and Kuronue tried to hold in their laughs enough so no one else could hear but the three demons in the room. Youko kept his cool even though he wanted nothing more than to strike the both of them.
"Youko, that's like saying…" Kuronue started to say.
"If you want to keep your face in one piece, I suggest you shut up," May and Kuronue said in unison.
May and Kuronue looked at each other before busting out laughing. Youko lightened his expression. He could not help it, no one could help but lightening up a bit after that stupid comment.
"Do you guys plan these stupid saying or are you both on the lower end of the wave lengths?" Youko asked.
"Yeah, Youko, that's exactly what we do," May sarcastically stated.
"We stay up all night in each other's rooms coming up with these sayings," Kuronue added, also sarcastically.
After that was said, silence fell over the room. They all looked at each other with blank stares, and after a few seconds they all burst out laughing.
-End-
May's head fell to the ground, eyes closed. Her once tense body was now completely limp. Youko just stood there as May's body started to lose some of its color.
"Youko! How could you not even be by her side as she died?" Shuichi started out with.
Youko did not hear his other half. He did not even hear Kuwabara yelling at him from where he stood on the sidelines. Everything was silent to the legendary bandit. After a moment Youko, to Yusuke and Kuwabara's surprise, started to walk over to where May's body rested on the blood-soaked ground. Yusuke and Kuwabara were starting to do the same before Hiei put out his left arm to stop them.
"Not just yet. He has something to do," Hiei explained, watching Youko stop by May's head.
Youko looked down at May with a cold gaze. He then looked at the mass of trees that she first came out of. The other three watched Youko with curiosity. Youko kept his calm as he stood by May's lifeless body.
"She's dead. Now leave before you end up the same way," Youko snarled lowly.
"I think he finally lost it. There's nobody there," Kuwabara stated once more without a clue on what was actually going on.
As Youko got done saying his threat, a mysterious energy appeared for a millisecond before disappearing. Yusuke looked over at the forest. Hiei and Kuwabara did the same but only Hiei and Yusuke knew what that energy was.
"A spy?" Yusuke asked to no one particular.
Hiei gave a slight nod to answer Yusuke's question. "Youko knew the spy was there the entire time," Hiei explained.
Youko bent down next to May's right side. He looked at May's usually energetic face that was now pale. Youko was surprised when he noticed that May had a smile gracing her lifeless expression. He gathered her cold, pale, limp body into his arms. He got to his feet slowly with May in his arms bridal style.
-Youko's POV-
I was in the rose garden behind the dojo. Kuronue was sitting, back against a wooden beam, on the porch. He always comes out here when I do my daily tending of my roses. No one bothers me when I tend my roses so he just sits there and takes a nap.
I was tending to a dying rose when May came running onto the porch. She looked at the now awake Kuronue. He gave her a cold glare but she just ignored him. She held her left hand tightly to her chest as she slowly walked passed Kuronue. She has only been here two days so she still had many enemies. Even my best friend was being difficult.
"Yes, May?" I asked, watching May side-step past Kuronue.
When she got beyond Kuronue, she made a mad dash over to me. She grabbed onto my right pant leg with her right hand and hid behind my legs. I knew she was not going to say anything with Kuronue around. For the past two days the only one she talked to was me. I understood why though.
I bent down so I was eye level to her. In her eyes were unshed tears. I smiled at her without even realizing it. The only one who ever saw me smile was Kuronue, now I was smiling at this new demon child.
"What is it, May?" I asked softly.
May burst into tears without warning. Kuronue sat up and put his arms across his lap. I stroked her hair, thinking it would calm her down, but I was new to this comforting thing. She continued to cry for a few more moments.
"What's wrong, May?" I asked again, hiding the concern I had.
"My…my… I cut my finger. It really, really hurts," May said in between sobs.
Just as she got done answering my question I heard Kuronue burst out laughing. I could not help but snicker at her myself.
"All that for a tiny cut!" Kuronue laughed.
"It's not tiny, Youko. It's big," May sniffled, holding out her left hand to me.
I examined her hand and found a very shallow cut. All it looked like was a paper cut. Kuronue looked over my shoulder to see the cut. I did not even notice he got up until I saw his face in the corner of my eyes.
"That small thing? That's what made you cry like a baby?" Kuronue laughed even more.
I gave Kuronue a cold glare. It was funny but he was laughing in my sensitive ears. It felt like I went deaf from how loud he was laughing.
"You're alright, Kid," Kuronue stated all of the sudden without laughing.
Kuronue smiled at May. She realized, as well as I did, that it was a genuine smile.
-End-
-3rd Person-
"I remember when even the tiniest little thing would make you come running to me in tears. You have grown up strong. I'm very proud of you, May. I just wish I could have been there to see you become this beautiful, powerful young demon you are now," Youko thought sorrowfully as he looked down at May.