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"Hiei! When did you get here!?"
"Oh, I came in about the same time you did. I was simply moving too fast for the naked eye to follow. I can do that, remember?"
"Well where the heck have you been?!"
"I've been observing things from my vantage point, over there." He pointed to a small storage area behind the dressing rooms.
"You mean you've watched me suffer all this time and did nothing?"
"I merely wanted to observe the leader of our little band of Spirit Detectives working solo and gauge his response while under duress. I must say, quite impressive."
Why you..."
Yusuke was about to give the short fire demon a piece of his mind when he was interrupted.
"Fools! Do you now mock me?!"
The enraged silver fox roared his displeasure. Hiei turned to glare at the imposing youkai.
"There must first be something to mock." He said in his characteristic, clipped manner. The silver fox growled at the insult, speaking with deadly intonation.
"I shall kill the both of you, then feast upon the banquet that is mine."
He waved his hand in the direction of the now more than one hundred females shrieking and screaming. Hiei bemusedly cocked an eyebrow, then turned to face his opponent.
"Hnn. We'll just see who kills whom."
He started to walk over to confront the fox when he felt Yusuke's hand on his shoulder.
"Hiei! You don't understand. We can't kill him. We have to somehow disable him or get him back to his normal state. If we do anything else, Kagome will kill me, not to mention Keiko, who's already gonna give me a serious butt-whipping, not to mention Botan, who'll never let me hear the end of it."
Yusuke rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor.
"Not to mention Mrs. H., who'll give my mom all the gory details, and then she'll make my life a living hell when I get home..."
Hiei turned back to Yusuke, grunting his disapproval of the approach as he squinted at the detective.
"You know, you're pathetic. Remind me again why we follow you into battle?
He waited a short moment.
"Never mind. Don't answer that."
Turning again to Youko-Shippo, he spoke.
"You are fortunate, fox, that I choose to comply with the wishes of our leader..." He paused for emphasis.
'... and so I will spare you a most humiliating and gruesome death."
Hiei drew his katana. Youko-Shippo's silver staff began to glow with power. In less than the blink of an eye, Hiei vanished from the spot where he was standing, reappearing at Youko-Shippo's left side before slashing with his weapon. The katana cut into the fox's forearm. He howled in pain. Yuriko screamed her anguish at seeing her master bleed.
"Hiei!" Yusuke shouted. Hiei was about to strike a second time, but vanished, only to reappear at Yusuke's side, very annoyed.
"Listen, you only told me not to kill him. I have to disable him somehow. Look at him. Should I just ask him nicely to hand his weapon over to me?"
Yusuke's eyes widened in awe as he pointed over to Shippo. Hiei turned to see what he was pointing to.
"Oh, wonderful. While I'm over here wasting time with you..."
The fox-youkai had reached over with his right hand and drew blood from his wound. Closing his eyes, he tasted the blood before the area around the wound began to glow. Then it sealed, healing completely. He glared at the fire demon.
"Fool! You shall now taste my wrath!"
Hiei vanished once again from Yusuke's side, but before he could set himself to strike, Youko-Shippo tapped his staff on the ground, creating a barrier just at the place Hiei was about to pass before striking. The koorime hit the barrier at top speed and was repelled, stunned. He stood slowly and shook off the effects before removing his black top coat.
"Hnn. First round to you. I suppose I shouldn't have taken you so lightly."
He took an attack stance before vanishing once again in a blaze of speed, reappearing to strike again and again at the fox. Youko-Shippo parried each of his blows, however, having successfully adjusted to the hyper-speed attack, his frost-colored hair whipping about as he moved. Hiei continued to increase the velocity of attack, moving from front to back, side to side, hoping to wear down the fox demon. Each strike was stopped, however. Hiei finally became frustrated, stopping in a flash in front of his opponent before removing the headband to unveil his Jagan eye.
"Hiei!"
"Silence!"
"Freeze!"
In the fraction of a second it took Yusuke to distract Hiei, Youko-Shippo unleashed a freeze attack from his silver staff. The energy crackled forth, catching Hiei from the waist down, immobilizing him. Hiei realized he had only one chance.
"Jagan..."
He did not complete the incantation, as Youko-Shippo's second attack encased him completely.
"Hiei!"
Yusuke had run out of options. He powered up his Spirit Gun attack and fired, hoping merely to disorient the fox enough in order to reach his comrade. Youko-Shippo easily dodged the attack as the blast blew out the back of the store, creating an opening out into the upper tier parking lot area. Fortunately, it was still under construction, so the area outside was empty.
Yusuke powered up once more, figuring that if Youko-Shippo was this powerful, he would survive a direct hit. He prayed he was correct. The fox demon, having seen the effects of Yusuke's first attack, quickly formed a defensive barrier, behind which he prepared unleash his own attack.
"Spirit.!"
"Stop it this instant!"
Both combatants turned to the sound of the voice coming through the smoke and dust of the truck-sized hole Yusuke's previous attack had created.
Kurama emerged, brushing the dust and bits of broken concrete from his shoulders and shaking it out of his hair.
"I can see from the evidence here that I have arrived a bit late. For that I apologize."
Youko-Shippo sniffed the air, extracting Kurama's scent from the rest.
"You too, are a fox. Do you come to fight me as well?"
"No. I do not wish to fight you. However, I cannot allow you to further jeopardize the safety of all these people. I want to help you. But first, allow me to assist my friend, here."
Kurama then turned to the encased Hiei and transformed his rose into a whip. The whip lashed out, its thorns cracking and then splitting the block of ice into pieces. A shivering Hiei fell to the floor, teeth chattering. Yusuke quickly grabbed a jacket from one of the fallen racks and wrapped it about his friend. Kurama retracted the rose-whip and turned to face Youko-Shippo.
"Now then, will you allow..."
Youko-Shippo attacked before Kurama could finish his sentence, his staff extending to twice its length in the blink of an eye, the end of it striking Kurama squarely in the chest. The force of the blow sent him crashing through the wall of the storage area, knocking him out cold. Youko-Shippo then turned to Yusuke, who began to power up once again as the situation had gone from worse to much worse.
"I grow weary of this. All who stand in my way must die."
As he raised his staff once again to begin the attack, Yusuke raised his arm to aim at his opponent. Both stopped once they saw the light crackling and smoke swirling from beyond the wrecked wall through which Kurama had been thrown. A chill went down Yusuke's spine as the realization hit him. If he thought he was in trouble before, he was sadly mistaken.
'Oh gods, please. Not two of them...'
The force of his demon energy tearing the remainder of the wall to shreds as it preceded him, Youko-Kurama emerged.
The two silver fox-youkai locked eyes, and time stood still.
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Next chapter: Ahh, you can figure it out...
Sesshy81: Here's the update you requested. I got your hint. :)
mikomi bansiki: Thank you. I hope I'm keeping everyone IC. I'm sure you'll let me know.
ShortPoet: Hooray for customer service. I actually ran into a clerk who was playing his game while the manager was at lunch. Eh, whacha gonna do? Thanks.
KittySand Katie: As they say in boxing, "Let's get it on." And they will.
CriscoKittie: The two rivals meet! I'll explain how to tell them apart next chap. Thanks!
cynical chaos: Panic, chaos and disorder, as you requested. More on the way. Thanks.
