*Anemone's room...all three are playing War with her DBZ cards, Anemone winning, Hiei losing by a lot and getting p/o'd...Kurama notices readers and welcomes them warmly.*
Kurama: salutations, friends...
Anemone: hahaha!! I got yet another one of your Goku's, Hiei...
Hiei: ugh!! Screw this game!! *throws cards against table, goes off to the corner in a huff*
Anemone: yoserz, my loyal fans!
Kurama: yoserz? Heh, 'interesting' word, Anemone...
Hiei: hn...interesting is an understatement, Kitsune...readers, she's always saying wierd stuff like that...
Anemone: well grrness to you, flames.
Hiei: see!
Kurama: *sigh* ANYWAY...oh my...*re-reads last chapter...whines* Mones!!
Anemone: what?
Kurama: *whimper, a reeeaaally cute expression of betrayal* it's just...you made me and Botan go through so much pain...*whimper, looks at readers with desperation* Can't people just leave us alone?!
Hiei: *rolls eyes* oh God...
Anemone: aww! Poor fox...but hey, this story's bout you...so, yeah, there'll be pain...*Kurama pouts in the cutest way* but hey! come the end, you'll both be safe and happy!
Kurama: *beams* really?!
Anemone: yes.
Kurama: happy day!
Anemone: yeah, I rock...
Hiei: ningen get to the damn story...
Anemone: okay, okay, jeez...
Hiei: quit talking and be grateful I didn't kill you both from that overly annoying conversation you made me sit through...*Kurama glares*
Anemone: there there, Fox...just say your line and I'll buy you an ice cream...and none for Hiei.
Hiei: nani?!
Kurama: ice cream? Yay!!
Hiei: *angry mumbles* I want ice cream...
Anemone: Kurama, your line.
Kurama: ah yes...Chapter 18, enjoy.
Hiei he gets an ice cream for THAT?!
Anemone: yesm.
Hiei: er...Chapter 18, enjoy! *whisper* do I get ice cream now?
Anemone: no.
Hiei: DAMN...
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Chapter 18: Another Foe
"You tired yourself out," Hiei stepped up beside Kurama. The fox was locked in course, uneven breaths, his throat stinging sharp. "Yukina didn't have the energy to completely heal you, you know."
"Indeed," Kurama breathed heavily. "I obviously lack my normal strength."
"Obviously," Hiei smirked. "Although it is impressive that you killed so many demons at once," the Koorime cast his eyes for the piles of corpses lining the walls. "I suggest you keep your energy in tact...Koenma tends to leave bits of information out."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"We don't know if that ruby will need a certain amount of energy to be triggered, Kistune..." Hiei motioned for the glowing stone strung about Kurama's neck, still producing an eerie red sheen. "Koenma never told us if it requires ki to work...you'd best refrain from any more fighting until we find your father...you've already done more than your share of killing." Hiei slowly clasped Kurama's forearm, assisting the fox to a stand.
"Very well, Hiei."
"Guys!" Kuwabara wailed from the dimness the fox and dragon had abandoned. Yusuke clasped Keiko's hand with his left, his right arm still limp. Keiko coughed hard under the strong stench of death, but she was far better off than Yukina. Yukina staggered slowly from the heavy scent of blood fogging the air, and the fragile mint-haired beauty was having trouble walking the scent was too heavy. Although Kurama's sense of smell was more sensitive than hers, he was used to heavy amounts of blood...she wasn't. Yukina was truly having trouble running into the depths of the Kyorgin Caves when blood leaked in every corner.
Kuwabara halted instantly in his sprint to check on Yukina. Her senses swarmed hazy, and she couldn't focus. "You okay, Yukina?!"
"Oh Kazuma I'm...I'm..." before the little aperition could finish, her blood eyes rolled back lazily into her head, and her knees buckled beneath her.
"Yukina!" Kuwabara wailed as his girlfriend collapsed against him. The punk quickly coiled his arms around her tiny form, tucking his arms under the bends of her knees and steadily under her shoulder-blades. "No! Yukina, wake up!!"
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke seethed. "Come on!! Yukina will be fine, but we hafta keep going...keeping her in here will only make it worse!"
In hesitation, Kuwabara burst in silent stutters, sprinting after the group with Yukina snug in his arms. Hiei glared daggers over his shoulder to find his little sister unconscious...and in Kuwabara's arms.
"Good day, Intruders," a male voice foreign to each rang their senses. Kurama and Hiei snarled in response, Yusuke stepping in front of Keiko and Kuwabara hugging Yukina protectively against his chest. "My name is Hitorihamet. Indeed, you all know you'll die here and now, right?" from a veil of shadow stepped yet another demon, clad in brown velvet. Mane of bushy charcoal and wound in a loose ponytail, the demon's face was revealed. He was dark minded and mysterious, with a suspicious look about him. He was attractive enough, perfect features and a perfectly toned body. Ice blue eyes and a devious smirk, he suited his scar well, one that spanned his left peck, and that read "Terror".
"Hn..." Hiei growled low, his lips tugging for the side in a smirk. "Somehow I doubt that..." the three-eyed demon coiled his nimble fingers tight about the hilt of his Katana, ready to draw the glossed weapon.
"Wait!!" Kuwabara wailed, the dragon halting in mid-draw. The red-headed punk approached the group's front slowly, the delicate mint-haired demonness snug in his arms. "I haven't pulled my weight around here...let me fight."
"What?!" Yusuke piped at Kuwabara in disbelief. "Dude you can't!"
"Indeed," Kurama winced in heavy breaths. "His ki level is amazingly high, Kuwabara..."
"So?!" Kuwabara seethed defensively. "I have to fight..." his bobbing eyes slowly cast over to the face of his beloved aperition. "I didn't get to save her myself..." his eyes jerked up in a ferocious glare. "I at least should fight someone to help this whole damn cause!!"
"Kuwabara..." Yusuke stuttered in disbelief. The red-headed punk stared daggers at his companions.
"You all got to put your best in...let me too!"
"Hn..." Hiei slowly pressed his sword into the sheath again, calmly dragging his fingers from the grip of the hilt. "You are a fool."
"Maybe I am..." Kuwabara stared earnestly at the group. "But...but I have to fight...or else, why the hell am I here?!"
Silence overtook his companions...a contagious silence that missed the Hitorihamet. "Will someone fight me, or shall you all spend time conversing over the situation? I am losing my already thin patience with you, and I wish to face someone...I really don't give a damn who."
"Shut up, you asshole! I'm coming!" Kuwabara glared threateningly at the impatient Hitorihamet. Kuwabara slowly approached Hiei, a serious glare about his face. Hiei gazed upward at the tall human, confusion tinting his face. The red-headed punk slowly lifted Yukina higher in his hold, preparing to set her in Hiei's arms. The dragon was hesitant, confusion glinting his crimson eyes brightly sharp. Hiei nestled his little sister firmly against his chest, her spiked mint mane cushioning her head comfortably against his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Hiei blinked in confusion at the headstrong Kuwabara. The human slowly drew his arms from Yukina's limp form, turning towards the impatient Hitorihamet. Kuwabara calmly grunted out a smirk, side-glancing for behind his shoulder.
"You're the older brother...you take care of her 'til I get back."
Hiei pricked. Kuwabara actually trusted him with Yukina? He actually handed her to him willingly?! Hiei knew Kuwabara was aware that he and Yukina were siblings, but still...Kuwabara actually entrusted Hiei with Yukina's safety? That wasn't characteristic to the protective Kuwabara at all.
"Okay you stupid demon thing," Kuwabara set his shoulders firm and glared thoroughly at Hitorihamet. "You're goin' down!!"
The black-haired aperition smirked at the young ningen. "Whatever, human...we'd better get started...and get a few buckets cuz when I'm done, there will be more blood than I want on my floor."
"Just shut up!" Kuwabara sprawled his hands broad before him, focusing his entirety into his palms. With an almost painful surge of energy, a crackling flicker of light stung at his fingertips. "DOUBLE SPIRIT SWORD!!" the teen wailed, each hand quivering slightly as a blade of pulsing red light licked his bare palms in a stinging burn that lasted two seconds. Kuwabara's lips tugged for the left in a smirk, setting firm into a posture fit for battle.
"Intruiging move, human..." Hitorihamet nodded, almost half-impressed. "Too bad that I've powers overwhelming to your puny, insignifigant ki level."
"Just try me!" Kuwabara seethed, his pride unshaken. Kurama leaned against Yusuke's limp shoulder, still trying to tame his uneven breaths and examining Hitorihamet intently with a sincere glare. Yusuke still clenched tight to Keiko's hand, guarding the brunette behind his back with a defensive gaze about his young face. Hiei cradled the still unconscious Yukina in his strong arms, studying Kuwabara with his usually serious tone of an expression.
"Hmm...I think I shall, boy..." Hitorihamet smirked.
"My friggen name is Kuwabara, okay?!"
"Your name could be dog shit for all I care, human...the point is you won't be alive much longer for the use of a title, so why bother wasting my time with such petty matters as names?"
"Shut up!!" Kuwabara lunged viciously for the foe, a speed faster than any the teen had ever managed. A high surged through him as the speed picked up, but he set himself focused firmly on attacking Hitorihamet. In the last inch before Kuwabara's crackling blade stung into the black-haired enemy's neck, Hitorihamet jerked for the side, a solace smirk tainting his devious features.
"Ha..." Hitorihamet coughed an emotionless breath of a chuckle, an eerie looking, green-hazed breath of smoke circling from his smirked lips. Kurama pricked at the sight, only the fox noticing the foreshadow of an attack...his keen nose detected a horrifying scent. The battle continued, the twin blades slicing the air and missing Hitorihamet by a hair of a hair.
"Uh-oh..." Kurama winced slightly at the scene as the battle dragged on in repetition.
"What?" Yusuke cast his chocolate eyes calmly for his right, the fox clasping onto his shoulder.
"That demon...he breaths abnormally..."
"What, like athsma?" Yusuke blinked in confusion. Keiko slowly laced her fingers from Yusuke's and gently cupped her hand about Kurama's shoulder, allowing some of his weight to pin against her arm. Her caramel eyes bobbed upward and locked to his emerald, a glaze of question faceting hers sharply in question.
"Not like that," Kurama glanced them both, setting his sights firmly ahead. "Normal people...and usually all demons...inhale Oxygen and exhale Carbon Dioxide."
"Yeah, so?" Yusuke shrugged.
"He does not exhale Carbon Dioxide..." Kurama glared low and sharp at Hitorihamet.
"What does he exhale...?" Keiko blinked stunned caramel eyes at the black-maned demon fighting the stubborn teenage punk.
"I could smell it...and..." Kurama breathed slow, a weighed sigh shifting his weak features, the fox still lacking of Spirit Energy.
"...and?" Hiei blinked a side-glance for the others, waiting for Kurama's answer.
"Hitorihamet can breath poison."
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
a/n: hey...I'm sorry bout the lateness, people...I've had the busiest week of my young life...no time for anything! But, summer vacation starts tomorrow right after 8th grade graduation...yay...so, I'll be able to update more frequently. And, for your painful patience, you all get a reward as my apology...pure painful violence in the next chapter, and the detail will be soooo focused, you might even feel it...oo! that gives me the willies...anywho, please review, I appreciate it ever so much. ;-)
Kurama: salutations, friends...
Anemone: hahaha!! I got yet another one of your Goku's, Hiei...
Hiei: ugh!! Screw this game!! *throws cards against table, goes off to the corner in a huff*
Anemone: yoserz, my loyal fans!
Kurama: yoserz? Heh, 'interesting' word, Anemone...
Hiei: hn...interesting is an understatement, Kitsune...readers, she's always saying wierd stuff like that...
Anemone: well grrness to you, flames.
Hiei: see!
Kurama: *sigh* ANYWAY...oh my...*re-reads last chapter...whines* Mones!!
Anemone: what?
Kurama: *whimper, a reeeaaally cute expression of betrayal* it's just...you made me and Botan go through so much pain...*whimper, looks at readers with desperation* Can't people just leave us alone?!
Hiei: *rolls eyes* oh God...
Anemone: aww! Poor fox...but hey, this story's bout you...so, yeah, there'll be pain...*Kurama pouts in the cutest way* but hey! come the end, you'll both be safe and happy!
Kurama: *beams* really?!
Anemone: yes.
Kurama: happy day!
Anemone: yeah, I rock...
Hiei: ningen get to the damn story...
Anemone: okay, okay, jeez...
Hiei: quit talking and be grateful I didn't kill you both from that overly annoying conversation you made me sit through...*Kurama glares*
Anemone: there there, Fox...just say your line and I'll buy you an ice cream...and none for Hiei.
Hiei: nani?!
Kurama: ice cream? Yay!!
Hiei: *angry mumbles* I want ice cream...
Anemone: Kurama, your line.
Kurama: ah yes...Chapter 18, enjoy.
Hiei he gets an ice cream for THAT?!
Anemone: yesm.
Hiei: er...Chapter 18, enjoy! *whisper* do I get ice cream now?
Anemone: no.
Hiei: DAMN...
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Chapter 18: Another Foe
"You tired yourself out," Hiei stepped up beside Kurama. The fox was locked in course, uneven breaths, his throat stinging sharp. "Yukina didn't have the energy to completely heal you, you know."
"Indeed," Kurama breathed heavily. "I obviously lack my normal strength."
"Obviously," Hiei smirked. "Although it is impressive that you killed so many demons at once," the Koorime cast his eyes for the piles of corpses lining the walls. "I suggest you keep your energy in tact...Koenma tends to leave bits of information out."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"We don't know if that ruby will need a certain amount of energy to be triggered, Kistune..." Hiei motioned for the glowing stone strung about Kurama's neck, still producing an eerie red sheen. "Koenma never told us if it requires ki to work...you'd best refrain from any more fighting until we find your father...you've already done more than your share of killing." Hiei slowly clasped Kurama's forearm, assisting the fox to a stand.
"Very well, Hiei."
"Guys!" Kuwabara wailed from the dimness the fox and dragon had abandoned. Yusuke clasped Keiko's hand with his left, his right arm still limp. Keiko coughed hard under the strong stench of death, but she was far better off than Yukina. Yukina staggered slowly from the heavy scent of blood fogging the air, and the fragile mint-haired beauty was having trouble walking the scent was too heavy. Although Kurama's sense of smell was more sensitive than hers, he was used to heavy amounts of blood...she wasn't. Yukina was truly having trouble running into the depths of the Kyorgin Caves when blood leaked in every corner.
Kuwabara halted instantly in his sprint to check on Yukina. Her senses swarmed hazy, and she couldn't focus. "You okay, Yukina?!"
"Oh Kazuma I'm...I'm..." before the little aperition could finish, her blood eyes rolled back lazily into her head, and her knees buckled beneath her.
"Yukina!" Kuwabara wailed as his girlfriend collapsed against him. The punk quickly coiled his arms around her tiny form, tucking his arms under the bends of her knees and steadily under her shoulder-blades. "No! Yukina, wake up!!"
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke seethed. "Come on!! Yukina will be fine, but we hafta keep going...keeping her in here will only make it worse!"
In hesitation, Kuwabara burst in silent stutters, sprinting after the group with Yukina snug in his arms. Hiei glared daggers over his shoulder to find his little sister unconscious...and in Kuwabara's arms.
"Good day, Intruders," a male voice foreign to each rang their senses. Kurama and Hiei snarled in response, Yusuke stepping in front of Keiko and Kuwabara hugging Yukina protectively against his chest. "My name is Hitorihamet. Indeed, you all know you'll die here and now, right?" from a veil of shadow stepped yet another demon, clad in brown velvet. Mane of bushy charcoal and wound in a loose ponytail, the demon's face was revealed. He was dark minded and mysterious, with a suspicious look about him. He was attractive enough, perfect features and a perfectly toned body. Ice blue eyes and a devious smirk, he suited his scar well, one that spanned his left peck, and that read "Terror".
"Hn..." Hiei growled low, his lips tugging for the side in a smirk. "Somehow I doubt that..." the three-eyed demon coiled his nimble fingers tight about the hilt of his Katana, ready to draw the glossed weapon.
"Wait!!" Kuwabara wailed, the dragon halting in mid-draw. The red-headed punk approached the group's front slowly, the delicate mint-haired demonness snug in his arms. "I haven't pulled my weight around here...let me fight."
"What?!" Yusuke piped at Kuwabara in disbelief. "Dude you can't!"
"Indeed," Kurama winced in heavy breaths. "His ki level is amazingly high, Kuwabara..."
"So?!" Kuwabara seethed defensively. "I have to fight..." his bobbing eyes slowly cast over to the face of his beloved aperition. "I didn't get to save her myself..." his eyes jerked up in a ferocious glare. "I at least should fight someone to help this whole damn cause!!"
"Kuwabara..." Yusuke stuttered in disbelief. The red-headed punk stared daggers at his companions.
"You all got to put your best in...let me too!"
"Hn..." Hiei slowly pressed his sword into the sheath again, calmly dragging his fingers from the grip of the hilt. "You are a fool."
"Maybe I am..." Kuwabara stared earnestly at the group. "But...but I have to fight...or else, why the hell am I here?!"
Silence overtook his companions...a contagious silence that missed the Hitorihamet. "Will someone fight me, or shall you all spend time conversing over the situation? I am losing my already thin patience with you, and I wish to face someone...I really don't give a damn who."
"Shut up, you asshole! I'm coming!" Kuwabara glared threateningly at the impatient Hitorihamet. Kuwabara slowly approached Hiei, a serious glare about his face. Hiei gazed upward at the tall human, confusion tinting his face. The red-headed punk slowly lifted Yukina higher in his hold, preparing to set her in Hiei's arms. The dragon was hesitant, confusion glinting his crimson eyes brightly sharp. Hiei nestled his little sister firmly against his chest, her spiked mint mane cushioning her head comfortably against his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Hiei blinked in confusion at the headstrong Kuwabara. The human slowly drew his arms from Yukina's limp form, turning towards the impatient Hitorihamet. Kuwabara calmly grunted out a smirk, side-glancing for behind his shoulder.
"You're the older brother...you take care of her 'til I get back."
Hiei pricked. Kuwabara actually trusted him with Yukina? He actually handed her to him willingly?! Hiei knew Kuwabara was aware that he and Yukina were siblings, but still...Kuwabara actually entrusted Hiei with Yukina's safety? That wasn't characteristic to the protective Kuwabara at all.
"Okay you stupid demon thing," Kuwabara set his shoulders firm and glared thoroughly at Hitorihamet. "You're goin' down!!"
The black-haired aperition smirked at the young ningen. "Whatever, human...we'd better get started...and get a few buckets cuz when I'm done, there will be more blood than I want on my floor."
"Just shut up!" Kuwabara sprawled his hands broad before him, focusing his entirety into his palms. With an almost painful surge of energy, a crackling flicker of light stung at his fingertips. "DOUBLE SPIRIT SWORD!!" the teen wailed, each hand quivering slightly as a blade of pulsing red light licked his bare palms in a stinging burn that lasted two seconds. Kuwabara's lips tugged for the left in a smirk, setting firm into a posture fit for battle.
"Intruiging move, human..." Hitorihamet nodded, almost half-impressed. "Too bad that I've powers overwhelming to your puny, insignifigant ki level."
"Just try me!" Kuwabara seethed, his pride unshaken. Kurama leaned against Yusuke's limp shoulder, still trying to tame his uneven breaths and examining Hitorihamet intently with a sincere glare. Yusuke still clenched tight to Keiko's hand, guarding the brunette behind his back with a defensive gaze about his young face. Hiei cradled the still unconscious Yukina in his strong arms, studying Kuwabara with his usually serious tone of an expression.
"Hmm...I think I shall, boy..." Hitorihamet smirked.
"My friggen name is Kuwabara, okay?!"
"Your name could be dog shit for all I care, human...the point is you won't be alive much longer for the use of a title, so why bother wasting my time with such petty matters as names?"
"Shut up!!" Kuwabara lunged viciously for the foe, a speed faster than any the teen had ever managed. A high surged through him as the speed picked up, but he set himself focused firmly on attacking Hitorihamet. In the last inch before Kuwabara's crackling blade stung into the black-haired enemy's neck, Hitorihamet jerked for the side, a solace smirk tainting his devious features.
"Ha..." Hitorihamet coughed an emotionless breath of a chuckle, an eerie looking, green-hazed breath of smoke circling from his smirked lips. Kurama pricked at the sight, only the fox noticing the foreshadow of an attack...his keen nose detected a horrifying scent. The battle continued, the twin blades slicing the air and missing Hitorihamet by a hair of a hair.
"Uh-oh..." Kurama winced slightly at the scene as the battle dragged on in repetition.
"What?" Yusuke cast his chocolate eyes calmly for his right, the fox clasping onto his shoulder.
"That demon...he breaths abnormally..."
"What, like athsma?" Yusuke blinked in confusion. Keiko slowly laced her fingers from Yusuke's and gently cupped her hand about Kurama's shoulder, allowing some of his weight to pin against her arm. Her caramel eyes bobbed upward and locked to his emerald, a glaze of question faceting hers sharply in question.
"Not like that," Kurama glanced them both, setting his sights firmly ahead. "Normal people...and usually all demons...inhale Oxygen and exhale Carbon Dioxide."
"Yeah, so?" Yusuke shrugged.
"He does not exhale Carbon Dioxide..." Kurama glared low and sharp at Hitorihamet.
"What does he exhale...?" Keiko blinked stunned caramel eyes at the black-maned demon fighting the stubborn teenage punk.
"I could smell it...and..." Kurama breathed slow, a weighed sigh shifting his weak features, the fox still lacking of Spirit Energy.
"...and?" Hiei blinked a side-glance for the others, waiting for Kurama's answer.
"Hitorihamet can breath poison."
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
a/n: hey...I'm sorry bout the lateness, people...I've had the busiest week of my young life...no time for anything! But, summer vacation starts tomorrow right after 8th grade graduation...yay...so, I'll be able to update more frequently. And, for your painful patience, you all get a reward as my apology...pure painful violence in the next chapter, and the detail will be soooo focused, you might even feel it...oo! that gives me the willies...anywho, please review, I appreciate it ever so much. ;-)