Disclaimer: don't own it.

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Keiko considered moving to check on Hiei, but one look from Kuwabara made her stay put, out of danger. Hiei was off to the side, and would probably be fine anyway. So she turned back to watching the fights.

Now there were only three battles left, and by far Yusuke was having the worst time. Keiko's gaze darted from pair to pair, trying to keep up. Kurama was exchanging words with Karasu, and seemed to get paler with every passing minute. The elder Toguro seemed to be toying with Kuwabara, but Yusuke was taking the most damage. Keiko winced, as a kick from Toguro slammed into him and sent him staggering. She pressed her hands to her heart. There was no way she was letting him die, not after they had just kissed, not after she was possibly willing to admit that maybe she was slightly falling in love with him. He had to win. He had to win. If he didn't, she didn't know what she would do.

The following events happened too fast for her to keep proper track. The first was that the elder Toguro screamed. The sound was awful, loud and shrill. It seemed Kuwabara had managed to land a solid blow, and quickly followed it by stabbing him in the chest. Keiko gasped, as blood started dripping from elder Toguro's mouth.

Then, a flash of silver drew her eyes, and Yoko had his jaws clamped around Karasu's arm, just in time to prevent Karasu from slashing Kurama's throat, who was on the ground in front of him. Before Karasu could shake off the spirit fox, Kurama was on his feet again, and he flicked his rose whip. The thorns caught Karasu's skin, and tore a deep gouge in his chest. With a howl, Karasu clutched at the severe wound, and stumbled a few steps away from Kurama, who was breathing heavily and sweating.

Before anything else could happen though, movement near Yusuke caught Keiko's eye, and before she could scream, Toguro punched through Yusuke's stomach. Suddenly every detail jumped out at Keiko. The widening of Yusuke's eyes, his surprise at the injury, his stupid ego convincing him that it wasn't possible. The blood dribbling from his lips, undeniable evidence that it was. The trembling in his hands as he tried to apply pressure to the injury, hold his insides in, save himself, but Toguro had moved away, and now the hole in his stomach was too big, he was dying, there was too much blood. And now she was screaming, screaming his name, over and over again. The others were staring, in shock, in horror. But there was nothing any of them could do. The world was frozen, except for the screams Keiko couldn't hear, she could only hear the blood rushing in her ears.

And then something changed. The first thing she noticed was the air charging, the feeling of static she was becoming accustomed to intensifying. Still she did not take her eyes of Yusuke, who had collapsed onto his knees, chin on his chest, hands loosely clasped to his stomach. She watched as he looked up, watched his eyes harden, change from their usual lively brown to stone cold eyes that didn't suit him, that weren't him. She watched his lips curl back in a snarl that wasn't the smirk she had come to love, and then a blue glow whooshed out around him, pushing Toguro back. And his hair started to lengthen, growing absurdly fast, until it was a long black mane that reached his knees, an unruly mass so different from his usual slicked back look. But strangest of all to Keiko were the blue markings that appeared on his skin, tattoos that covered his body. And then the blue glow surrounding him slowly darkened, until it was purple, before finally becoming red.

Demon magic.

Yusuke's hands dropped from his stomach, revealing a mostly healed wound. It would scar, but it wouldn't stop him from fighting. Murder was in his eyes as he got to his feet, and faced off with a shocked Toguro. After a moment, though, the huge man started to laugh.

"Unbelievable." He said. "Yomi must have known, but he never told me. You'd think he could have warned me." After a few more seconds' laughter, he sobered, and met Yusuke's glare. "The Demon Prince himself. The illegitimate heir to Demon King Raizen. And he's running around, protecting a Water Princess."

The world slowed to Keiko as she heard the words, but didn't understand them. It was as though he was speaking a foreign language. One where 'demon' meant something else, because she knew demons were evil, and she had been travelling with Yusuke for long enough now that she would know–

But his evasiveness about his past was coming back; the strange habits he had, the things he knew that spoke of a noble background. But never would she have thought a dem- she couldn't even think it. If she did then it might be true. She waited for Yusuke to laugh, to turn back into his old self, to deny that he was the Demon Prince. But he didn't. Instead, the alien anger stayed in his countenance, as he growled,

"You made a huge mistake, Toguro." It was a low, guttural sound, and it wasn't Yusuke, it was wrong, it was all so wrong. Keiko pressed her hands to her mouth, and only noticed then that tears were coursing down her face. Tears of anger, fear, sadness… She didn't know. She didn't have a clue. All she knew was that the fight was starting again in earnest, this time with Yusuke on the winning side. He was far faster, stronger, and he used magic blasts far more frequently. Toguro didn't have a second to think – he just kept being blown back by Yusuke's relentless assault. Finally, he managed a retaliatory punch, but it was blocked and ignored. Suddenly someone grabbed Keiko's shoulders and she jumped, only to find herself looking into the eyes of her Captain, which shone with similar feelings to her own.

"Princess, we should move!" He said forcefully, and his meaning broke through to Keiko. They should run from Yusuke. He was a demon, he was dangerous. They should move. A quick look at the rest of the battlefield showed that Hiei hadn't shifted from where he had collapsed earlier, and Kurama was on the ground, looking utterly spent, bleeding from several wounds. Karasu was dragging the injured elder Toguro away – it was too hard to tell if he was alive or dead. And the air was heating up, the steams of lava were thickening, and Keiko realised there was a good chance the volcano they were fighting on would erupt soon. So she let Kuwabara drag her around the fight, but she couldn't leave until she saw who won. She shook her arm free of the Captain's grip, and watched.

Yusuke's strikes were stronger, and his entire technique was more ferocious than before. Even though the fight evened out some, he was still obviously the better fighter now. Toguro just couldn't keep up. His incredible strength meant nothing in the face of Yusuke's new form. His attacks were deflected with ease and his defence just wasn't strong enough to hold off an opponent of the Demon Prince's calibre. A smile found its way onto his face. Yusuke saw and halted, fury sliding through his veins like ice.

"What," he hissed, "is so funny?"

"I've spent years looking for a worthy opponent." Toguro answered. "And I've found you. Finally."

Yusuke cocked his head. It was an animalistic movement, and it made Keiko shudder. "You wanted to die?"

"I wanted the option. I wanted to feel… well, to feel." The man-mountain explained. Yusuke's lips drew back.

"Should have found a different way. This one's fatal."

"Oh, we both know danger is the best way to feel alive." Toguro said with another laugh. Yusuke snarled and threw himself back at Toguro, attacks even more frantic, and Keiko found herself looking away, unable to watch. This wasn't Yusuke, it couldn't be, it couldn't be… When she looked again, Toguro was on his knees, and Yusuke was standing above him, breathing hard but not exhausted. Eyes cold but calculating.

"You really want to die?"

"I don't want to live but not live." Toguro answered calmly. "I think I've been looking for this for a long time…"

Keiko cringed away, hiding her face, but still hearing the thump of a body hitting the floor. Her breath hitched, and she sobbed. Kuwabara's hand on her shoulder was the only thing anchoring her to reality, because if he let go, she would think this was all a crazy, horrifying dream. Then his voice dragged her back to the present.

"-eiko! Keiko! Keiko, please!" He sounded like the Yusuke she knew. She opened her eyes, and found that the marks had faded, his eyes were back to normal, only they were more pleading than usual, and he looked – almost scared himself. The only physical remainder of his demonic transformation was the long hair. He reached out a hand to her, and she flinched away on reflex. The hurt that crossed his face didn't reach her, she was starting to think nothing could. And then she finally identified one of the emotions in her heart. Betrayal.

"How could you?" She screamed, relishing the shock on his face, the pain. "Why would you do this to me?!" Tears were falling fast again, but she didn't stop to breathe, to brush them away. If she did that he might say something. "You're a – a demon! How could you never tell me? How could you just… just let me…"

"Keiko-"

"NO! You had so many chances, but you kept it a secret! Why would you even – I – I fell in love with you!" She finally gasped out, ignoring Kuwabara's tensing behind her. "How could you let me fall in love with you if you're a demon? Why would you kiss me?" Because in all the horrifying stories she had been told about demons, never had someone told her they could make you fall in love with them only to break your heart. It seemed too cruel. "How could you?"

The devastated gleam in his eyes as he shook his head desperately didn't affect her. She was too hurt, too betrayed, too humiliated. She stumbled back, away from him, only to be caught by Kuwabara, who was glaring at Yusuke as well. Surely he had to feel betrayed too, he and Yusuke had been close friends. Then he looked up, at the top of the mountain, which was spitting more magma by now. He hissed, and pulled Keiko away.

"Come on, Princess." And Keiko, too numb to notice Yusuke dropping to his knees, having spent too much energy in the fight to remain standing, just followed him. The Water Plane was washing its hands of this mess, and leaving. Yusuke was left, watching the Princess hurry away, stumbling over rocks she couldn't see through the tears in her eyes. Her image started to blur, whether from sweat in his own eyes, ash falling from the skies, or blood loss he didn't know. He just knew she was fading away. And then hands grabbed his shoulders, and started shaking him desperately.

"Yusuke! Yusuke, are you with me?" Yusuke focused in on Kurama, who looked terrible, but was still there. "Yusuke, we need to get away from here! Can you stand?" After a few moments, Yusuke caught on and rose to his feet. It wasn't easy, but it was doable. He looked around, and caught sight of Hiei's unconscious form. He staggered up the hill, leaving Kurama, who was in far worse shape, to wait for him. After what seemed an eternity, he reached the small Fire mage, and slung him over his shoulder. Hiei didn't even stir. Yusuke hurried back down the side of the volcano, happy that Hiei was as small and light as he was. Quickly, he joined Kurama and the two of them dashed away from the imminent disaster. They ran without any specific goal, just away from danger was enough for them. Sometimes, they stumbled, but the other would help, and together, carrying Hiei, they made their way to safety. After some time of running and walking, a loud rumbling behind them alerted them to the fact that they had run out of time. Fortunately, Kurama perked up.

"I recognize this. Over there – a Portal."

Without wasting any time, they ran forwards, Yusuke heading where Kurama had shakily pointed. He felt the Portal before he saw it – its magic calling out to his own. Without hesitating, the mages threw themselves through, to safety. They landed in a bush, and staggered forwards into a grassy, fern-filled clearing. The ground was soft, which was fortunate since they fell onto it. Yusuke let Hiei slip off his shoulder, and proceeded to drop to the ground himself. He didn't need to look to his side to know that Kurama had done the same.

"I think… we can deal… with everything… after some rest." The Earth mage mumbled. Yusuke nodded, too numb to even think about the look on Keiko's face as she found out his darkest secret. No, he could deal with that later, like Kurama said. So he closed his eyes.

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A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!