"Yui

Chapter Eight

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"Yui!" the cry escaped Miaka's lips in shock.  Miaka ran across the street and collapsed down onto her knees besides her fallen friend.  Cold and unconscious, Hongou Yui lay on the sidewalk dead to the world. 

Slowly turning her new friend over, Miaka felt tears well in her eyes as she looked at her fallen friend at rapidly assessed the situation.  From the pattern of destruction, the summoning point for Seiryuu's serpent was on this street.  And from when Miaka felt the serpent entire her world and the time she had left Yui, Yui had been here when the Seiryuu no miko summoned her minion. 

As Miaka tried to gently wake Yui up, her mind raged with inner conflict.  How dare the Seiryuu no miko attack innocent people!  On behalf of Yui, Miaka would not let her get away with it.  She would see that the miko was paid for hurting Yui. 

A low groan awoke Miaka from her unusually deep thoughts.  Looking down, Miaka realized she was still dressed as the Suzaku no miko.  Frozen in fear, Miaka could only watch as Yui slowly opened her eyes.

            Luckily, Suzaku had more sense than his miko.  Sensing Miaka's inability to move, he swiftly withdrew his power from her.

~*~

Yui groaned.  Her head hurt, her feet felt like they had run miles, and worst of all she felt like she was missing something vital.  Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see Miaka sitting next to her looking worried.  But…why was Miaka wearing that strange Chinese dress?  There was a flash of red light.  Yui closed and rubbed her eyes.  When she opened them, Miaka was dressed in her school uniform.  Yui frowned in confusion.

            "Your clothes…" Yui questioned, feeling out of it again.

            "Clothes?"  Miaka looked down and put a hand behind her head with a cheesy laugh.  "I'm just wearing my school uniform Yui.  Nothing strange, nothing weird, certainly nothing Chinese…"

Had Yui been able to think straight, she would have noticed Miaka had mentioned Chinese even when Yui had just said "your clothes".  However, after having her consciousness slammed into dormancy by a dragon god, Yui wasn't able to do much at the moment except grimace.  Stopping her babbling, Miaka remembered Yui was hurt and helped her up.  Helping to support the dazed Yui, Miaka started to lead her towards the Yuuki apartment just a few blocks away.  Turning the corner, they left the destruction and danger behind them.

~*~

The tail whipped across battlefield.  A figure jumped just in time before being crushed by it.  With inhuman agility, he landed on a pile of debris.  Boy and serpent stared each other down in a momentary lull in the fighting.

            Kishuku was glad for the time to catch his breath.  They had been fighting for the last half-hour and even with his heightened abilities, Kishuku was breathing hard.  Though whether that was because he was tired or because it was hard to breath with a few broken ribs Kishuku couldn't tell.  Kishuku shifted his weight to his right side to take the strain off his broken left leg.  He almost wished they would start battling again; he didn't like the way the serpent was staring at him.  Kishuku's only advantage so far-that he could tell-was his intelligence.  The serpent eyes were too calculating for his liking.

Kishuku's eyes darted around the battlefield looking for the Suzaku no miko.  He was sure she said something to him, but he hadn't heard and then she had disappeared to who knows where.

'Look's like I'm going to have to get ride of this thing on my own,' Kishuku thought.  He shifted into a left side fighting position to put as much weight as possible on his right foot.  The serpent seemed to take his movement and arched his neck backwards raising his head to the sky and revealing a dragon shaped burn.

Flash. "Kishuku, Kishuku," Miaka called out trying to get his attention, "the serpent's weak spot is the dragon burn!  Attack the dragon burn!" Flash.

So caught up in this vision, Kishuku failed to hear the serpent roar and he failed to see the blue flames rush out of the serpent's mouth right at him.

Kishuku let out a silent scream when he hit and went right on through one of the still intact windows.  His back was cut in hundreds of places thanks to the broken glass on the floor.  Looking at his pain filled right shoulder, Kishuku wished he hadn't.  A large, sharp shard of glass had gone through the back of his shoulder and the point could be seen through his shirt in the front.  Closing his eyes, Kishuku thought he was going to collapse from the pain.  A challenging roar filled his ears and Kishuku opened his eyes to see the serpent roaring victoriously.

Kishuku's eyes hardened, his face became a mask, and slowly, painfully slowly, he heaved himself off the floor and limped out of the window.  The serpent smiled viciously, he thought Kishuku was beaten. 

'Not yet.'  The serpent reared up on its hind legs.  Kishuku's eyes narrowed as he realized what was going to happen next.  'Come on,' he thought.  The serpent reared back on its hind legs to call upon another burst of blue fire.  With speed even Kishuku did not think he possessed, Kishuku raced forward, spring boarded off a large chunk of wreckage, launched himself at the serpent, and kicked the serpent's burn with all of his remaining strength.

A terrible cry echoed throughout the evacuated section of Tokyo as the serpent felt itself begin to die.  In rage, it swiftly bit the one who dared kill it.  With all of its strength, the serpent flung the offending human away and hopefully into a nice, hard slab of concrete.

Kishuku crashed through Hahm-sensei's dojo's roof.  Opening his eyes with a grimace, Kishuku was relived to see Hahm-sensei was stilled propped up against the wall safe and sound.  His eyes were drawn to the mirrors the covered the dojo's wall.  He looked at his reflection.  Long aqua hair, ripped Chinese uniform, and what had the Suzaku no miko said? You hold the power of the constellation Tamahome.

"Tama…home…" Kishuku reached out to the reflection.  Blood lose, injuries, and the past afternoon's events caught up to Kishuku.  He fell forwards into the realm of unconsciousness, his outstretched hand hitting the floor limply.

~*~

So?  How was it?  ^^ This chapter was hard work.  I hope to get the next chapter out by Monday, but then again I haven't even started it yet so no promises. ^^ Ja ne!