16.

"You have to; this is for our own good!"

"No, I'm not going to do this, don't make me!"

"We have to; death is an inevitable debt for our sins!"

"Mama, Daddy?"

"Siera…get out of here, run away now!"

"MOM!" Siera awoke with a start sweating and out of breath, she hated that nightmare.

"What are you doing?!" Zoie barged into her bedroom a look of urgency on his face."

"What do you mean…what time is it?"

"Near noon."

"What?" She leapt from the bed, instantly feeling dizzy she fell to her knees.

"I slept for fourteen hours, how am I so tired?" Zoie looked to the thrashed about room and back to his mistress,

"You had that dream again."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, I wouldn't have let you see what you had. Korrin had sent me to make another deposit, no one saw that coming." Zoie nuzzled her close that she hugged him briefly before throwing on a pair of jeans.

"We have to go, do you know what's going on?"

"Last I saw, Hiei and Kurama weren't there and the others were in this three on three match; it isn't looking good because they don't want to fight. The other team members are being controlled by some ugly troll and their lives are completely expendable. It's horrible."

"That is horrible….wait Hiei and Kurama aren't there?!"

"They didn't show, neither did two of the Ichigaki team members either."

"That's a set up if I ever heard one." Damn…just yesterday Kuwabara was yelling at her bout endangering innocent people and yet here there was a perfect example of the victim prey relationship in action. But then, did she have room to judge when she had done the same? No, she had bought them dinner and champagne, she wanted to get to know them and they died before that happened. In the first moment she had thought the same, but she didn't want them to fight alongside her if they couldn't trust her. But then, if she was thinking that way even for a moment wouldn't that still make her just a bad?

They walked on to the stadium and she presented her ticket, the constant thought of those students tormenting her as well as her own choices. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going when she ran into a group of young men and one older man.

"Oh! Excuse me, please forgive my ignorance, I wasn't watching where I was going." She bowed deeply to their elder who smiled at her warmly. She looked into his eyes and saw the last several minutes.

"You…you're all alright? Did Yusuke and his team make it?" They looked to each other confused.

"Yusuke and Kuwabara helped us, they freed us from that wicked doctor, we owe them everything."

"Oh, that's wonderful, where are they?"

"They are still fighting; the next round was started immediately."

"What?"

"And what's worse is that two of the team members were forced to stay in the medical tent and Kuwabara is too injured to fight. They have to win five rounds with only two of them." Siera felt the sharp breath in her chest before running away without another word with Zoie at her heels. She made it to the stands and all breath left her as Kurama was fighting some man using ice; as she ran to the front she could tell that he was hurt and she felt a surge of guilt in her heart.

"Zoie… what is going on, why is this happening?" she didn't expect him to answer she wasn't really asking for one. She felt dizzy again as her dream along with all of the information from today flooded her. The committee made this go on, they had no rest between rounds, this obviously wasn't a fair fight but an execution.

"Did…he just put his death plant in his own body?" She gasped horrified

"From what I can her I don't think he could use his energy, he needed to get to it and it was the only way." She clutched her chest in awe and disbelief, of course her best friend was smart enough to think of that but she hurt for him, she hated to see him this way.

"Siera, he passed out." She looked up and sure enough he was unconscious on his feet. Good, it's over he will be alright. But to her horror a big boorish man climbed into the ring and demanded to fight. But they couldn't allow that, he wasn't conscious and obviously too injured to go on! The next match will be Bakken Vs Kurama, a fighter standing in the ring cannot be forced from the ring…..She didn't hear the rest, her mind and heart completely fell into a pit of darkness and as that animal bashed on the person she loved the most she felt that darkness grow tighter around her.

"Stop it…stop hurting him…leave him alone…LEAVE HIM ALONE!" The committee allowed-no, they demanded this go on, those rich entitled humans bet on their lives like they were garbage and those demons thirsted for their blood like they were nothing but animals. They didn't even want to be here, he wanted to be home, with Shiori; all just wanted to go on with their lives and yet here they are fighting for their lives as victims of corruption.

Zoie looked to his mistress as her cherished friend was enduring abuse and he felt a sense of dread come over him. She started out crying hysterically and then as moments went on her tears ebbed and in their place emptiness filled her eyes. He felt the dark rage flow from her and engulf her like a flame. Korrin had mentioned it once before, called it hell's scorn. If used as the attack those it touches has the fate of having their flesh melt from their bones; however she didn't go further as she never expected her daughter to learn it if she never taught it to her. And yet here she is, a black aura surrounding her and rage pulsing in the air.

"Siera…talk to me, please." She said nothing her eyes gone completely black and her face expressionless. Yusuke had since stepped into the ring and was handling the situation but there was no relief on her face, in fact there was nothing. She still kept her eyes on the ring however, and when Bakken was thrown through the wall giving Yusuke the victory she said nothing but simply turned and walked away.

She ran down ringside sliding next to her best friend, he looked so fragile as she put her arms around him and put his head to her chest. The moment she looked at him again she felt the darkness ebb but it was still there, like a receding shoreline before the tidal wave. She cried as she held him close to her heart.

"This isn't fair, this… none of this should have happened. Oh K, look what he did to you." She gently brushed his hair from his battered face and a stab of anger met her heart. Tears filled her eyes again and she sobbed as she held him.

"You can't leave me okay, you can't; I love you too much to let you go. Do you hear me; I love you, I always have and if you leave me, if you die…" She couldn't finish the sentence. She could feel that he would be alright as long as this plant was removed. She glanced at the plant that was embedded in his arm and touched it gingerly; she could control sentient living things to a point, why not? Come out, come on. She tried to coax it out of his body and it moved, some, but not enough to be of any good. Did plants even have minds to control or was it simply responding to her energy? Fully frustrated, she laid him back carefully and stood, her heart sinking back into that dark abyss. She had questioned what sort of person she was, if she had thoughts of manipulation then she wasn't better than her friends' abusers. But if the only options were to either be a victim or the corrupted then she would rather drag the perpetrators down to hell along with her, there were so many at fault and so little time to waste.

She found herself in a pile of rubble, staring at a body of a large man; the back of her mind knew what was going on, but it was like she wasn't truly there but watching through a fog. The small movement of his chest brought her full attention forward and she moved her hand forward to finish him but stopped short. No…that is too easy. To be wiped away from existence so quick and painlessly is hardly a punishment at all. And then she looked to him once more and checked his pulse. It was weak but with time he just might recover from his wounds, a smiled formed on her lips as his eyes opened hazily and painfully. And she placed her hand on him and gave her some of her energy his breathing became deeper and her heart skipped as he looked at her with cloudy eyes before falling back into unconsciousness.

"Yes Bakken…sleep, rest well and in peace. It will be the last peace you ever feel."

Zoie paced for the rest of the day and into the evening as he hadn't found his mistress since she had walked away from him. He couldn't even sense her; she was purposefully blocking herself from him and it worried him. The last words he heard from her was to about Kurama's well-being, once she heard he was alright she shut her mind away. Everyone else kept to their own thoughts, a wall of silence surrounding every individual. He slipped into one of the bedrooms where Kurama was resting; by now he was sitting up, to everyone's relief he only looked worse than he really was.

"Zoie, have you heard from her?" Funny, he should be focused on his wounds and yet each time he walked in he asked about her; another reason he enjoyed his company.

"No, she is blocking her thoughts from me; the last thing I had heard was to not follow her. I tried to track her scent but she covered it with some chemical I only made it a couple of miles before I lost her."

"She will come back; it isn't like her to stay gone like this."

"It isn't that…it isn't like her to be away from you like this. You didn't see her; she was already in a bad place. Seeing that, knowing what those horrible people upstairs are doing and have done I think t broke her and she fell within herself. Tell me; have you heard of Hell's Scorn?" The look in Kurama's eyes only pressed his fears further and he leapt into the bed with him, which was something he had never done and Kurama scratched him gently on the neck, a move he had refrained from himself until now.

"Let's go look for her, we can split up and cover more ground." He moved to get up and Zoie only laid a large paw on his leg.

"There isn't a point in looking for her if she doesn't want to be found. And you need to rest, she would only be pissed at me if she found out I let you go running around when you're injured."

"When is she not angry?" They both chuckled and soon an awkward silence fell between them.

"She finally told me." Zoie's head snapped up at that.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was in and out but it was her voice, her scent…she told me that she loves me."

"And what are you going to do with that?"

"To be honest, I do not know; my options are to simply pass it off as though I hadn't heard her and go from there. There are still many chances for us to not make it out alive, I don't think-"

"She will be the same no matter what, you push her away and she pulls you close; you even tried to make her hate you; yet she is much more logical than we both give her credit for."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"She isn't like the other one; you know that."

"This isn't about her!"

"Then what are you hiding from her, I see it in you; you care about her, hell I might believe you love her too. I also see a secret that you are keeping, what are you hiding?"

"I have a lot of secrets; I have centuries of regrets and sins I have yet to atone for; which from the list would you like to choose?"

"You are old, I thought as much; I just…" Zoie sighed as he looked toward the blackened window.

"Forgive me for my bias; I see her when she is with you and she is so much better, happier. Her heart is so broken and she is confused and I don't know how to help her. But when she is with you, she is much more at peace; you have to be able to see that. I want what is best for her and from my point of view that appears to be you. If you simply do not feel that I way I can understand, but everything you do is to protect her including attacking her weakest points to keep her alive. She isn't just my mistress, she is also my ward; I have watched her from an infant and I love her as my own daughter at times." Zoie laid his head down and again Kurama gently stroked the troubled canine.

"She won't be gone long, I know it."

"I know; I just worry of what will happen until then." Korrin…how do I help her now?

Bakken awoke with a sharp gasp, the events of the day came rushing back and his first instinct was to move but he found his wrists and ankles bound, he was also tied down at the neck. He began to hell coarse angry words into the night air, challenging his attacker.

Coward. A searing pain touched his arm and he screamed as he watched his own flesh blister and melt away leaving the word coward in its place.

"Who is doing that?! Come out and face me, calling me a coward, you're the one hiding!"

No Bakken, you are the coward. Several wolves surrounded him snarling menacingly their many pairs of eyes glowing yellow in the moonlight. Siera stepped into the light a dark aura surrounding her and a look of bloodlust in her eyes.

"What do you want?! Stupid bitch let me go, you think I'm scared of you?!" She said nothing but smiled another branding placing itself into his skin as he screamed in pain.

"Do you expect me to beg, do you expect me to talk or plead for my life you little skank?!" An electric shock struck his body sending pain through his entire body causing him to bite deeply into his own tongue.

"No Coward, I expect you to die, but not for a long…long time. You see I don't need you to be tied down; I control every muscle, every nerve… every image you see belongs to me. When I feel you need a lesson in manners you will get a shock, when you try to fight back you will be beaten, when you act stupid you will be reminded why you are here."

"Then why am I tied down?" She smiled so wickedly as she gestured to the circle of wolves.

"For theatrics mostly I love suspense; but really so you don't hurt my babies." The wolves then proceeded to attack, working together to gnaw off his hands and feet at the ankles as he screamed in agony and anger.

"When my team finds you-"

"Your team abandoned you when you embarrassed them by being a boorish and ignorant COWARD!" Another branding she waited patiently for the screaming to subside before she continued.

"Trust me, what's left of them, aren't coming for you". The fury in his eyes left him and she felt a thrill in her chest.

"Let you ask you this; a cat hunts a mouse, the mouse cannot fight back or run away. The cat does not hunt for food but for pleasure. The other animals plead for the mouse's life but the pleas fall on deaf ears. The blood sends him pleasure and soon the cat annihilates its prey. Is the cat considered evil?" She waited for his breath to steady and think about what she was saying; maybe if he played along with her game she would free him.

"No, it is survival of the fittest, the mouse died because it was weak, whether it was for food or pleasure is irrelevant. And the pleas for help only show the weakness of the other animals." She laughed as she sat over his chest with a big cheesy grin as the fear began to finally settle in.

"Who are you…what do you want from me?" Her smile sent chills in his spine as branded him yet again.

"I'm the dog, and I'm coming for the cat to get my turn."