Anemone: the boys are sleeping...*turns around to look at Kurama and Hiei, Kurama lying half-neatly on her bead with confetti and streamers all over him, Hiei sprawled out on the floor, snoring, with dried neon paint staining his cloak* we just got back from a party, and they just followed me home lol...actually, Kurama followed me home...rather than breaking in, as Hiei always does, he was drunk and Kurama had to knock him out and carry him here...lol so obviously they're gonna crash for the night...but anyway, they'll prolly wake up later, by the end of the chapter, so here you go...chapter 19, enjoy...hopefully it'll live up to my promise of sheer violence...*prays*
Chapter 19: The Slash of a Blade
"AHHH!!" Kuwabara wailed whole-heartedly, lashing his sword yet again for Hitorihamet's face, missing the smirking aperition by less than a hair. Kuwabara slashed again and again, his blades crackling madly and glowing a fierce red against the crevices of Hitorihamet's features. The teenager's face was stained in an angry expression and was licked in a scarlet glaze. With every lethal whip of the swords, Hitorihamet's smirk deepened, Kuwabara's rage fueling the next lash.
"This is awful!" Keiko stared in disbelief at the repetitive battle. "No matter what he does, Kuwabara can't get him!"
"Hn..." Hiei grunted lowly at Keiko's lack of faith, the girl casting confused caramel eyes to the fire demon. Hiei didn't flinch in the slightest to face her, rather remaining focused entirely into the battle. "You obviously don't know that the idiot can do more than lash his Spirit Swords."
"Indeed," Kurama nodded, balanced by both Yusuke and Keiko, his emerald gaze locked ahead in a serious manner. "When we trained him for the Dark Tournament, we taught him how to control his Spirit Energy to an impressive extent."
"If we do say so ourselves," Hiei continued the statement, eyes fixed solely for the fight. "We did a good job with him...despite his foolishness, and the fact that he hasn't used his best move yet...what an idiot...it almost hurt trying to train him."
"Don't say that..." Kurama smirked a side-glance for his best friend. "He had to deal with a lot...hint hint..." the fox's smirk deepened, Hiei throwing a glare for the side in response. "...and I'm sure he'll use the trick in a moment."
"He'd better," Hiei grunted. Yukina gurgled a soft moan, jerking his senses to the girl still secure in his arms. Her spiked mint mane and gentle little face reminded him so much of their mother. 'hn...' his thoughts were soft and lacking of harshness. 'you look so much like Mother, Yukina...to think, someone so innocent as yourself can resemble the very cause of all this hatred...had Father not taken this wolf demon's crush for himself, neither of us would have been born...but, since we WERE born, we may now be killed, simply because of our parents...hn...a vicious cycle...either we aren't born, or we are and we eventually get slaughtered...sigh...but, please don't worry, Yukina...if that buffoon blows it,' Hiei cast sharp, narrow crimson eyes for the struggling Kuwabara. 'I'll protect you.'
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke wailed in annoyance, the red-headed teenager still lashing his sword in all directions, Hitorihamet dodging with ease. "That isn't working!! Try something else, you idiot!!"
"Shut up, Urimeshi!!!" Kuwabara seethed angrily. "I know what I'm doing!!"
"No you don't," Hiei called with an emotionless expression to match a monotonous tone.
"Gah..?! Just shut up!!" Kuwabara wrinkled his nose sharply in anger at the short fire demon. Suddenly, his jaw met with a frame of sharp, firm knuckles, digging forcefully into his face. Hitorihamet punched whole-heartedly for the teenager's cheek, a singeing pain racking Kuwabara's senses violently. Kuwabara's eyes glazed wide, the impact soaked in immense Spirit Energy. Not only was the punch of sharp-jutted knuckles and mighty force, but it was drenched in ki, which made Kuwabara's spine rack in a trembling shiver and made his skin jut in heavy amounts of goosebumps. His crackling blades simmered to nothingness in his grasp, his Spirit Energy slipping slyly back into his quivering body. Hitorihamet's lips tugged in a maniacal smirk.
"Well, it seems I've won," Hitorihamet glared daggers at the trembling boy. Kuwabara was sprawled onto the ground, his fingers gripping into the blood-stained soil in an angry trembling fist-clench. Hitorihamet stood firm before the teenager, staring straight down with burning eyes.
"Not yet!" Kuwabara growled, his glare sharp and fierce. His hand suddenly pulsed for half an instant, a mad shimmer of energy spitting viciously from his fingertips and crackling violently into the air. The ki dug deep into the demon's ankles, linking them together with streams of blood from the open wounds.
Hitorihamet snarled trembled yelps of pain and surprise, collapsing instantly for the ground. Just before his trembling form hit the floor completely, Hitorihamet hissed a sharp breath in Kuwabara's face, a haze of eerie green swarming the air. The poison seeped greedily into Kuwabara's system with one breath.
"Shit!" Yusuke wailed in shock. "Someone give that guy a friggen Tic-Tac or something!"
Kuwabara's senses were dazed and stormy, concentration escaping his abilities. "Whoa..." he managed to groan through sharp breaths and dizziness. "Maybe this is why my mom's always tellin' me to stay away from drugs and all that crap..."
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke called ferociously at the dazed red-head. "Get the hell up!"
"Shut up, stupid!" Kuwabara coughed, his lungs soaked in a cloud of poison.
"Well, the poison hasn't completely gotten to him yet," Keiko half-winced, tugging Kurama's weight to her shoulder so she could gently assist the fox to an Indian style sit.
"Indeed," Kurama breathed softly. 'darn wounds...' he scolded himself fiercely as a spark of pain singed at his chest, a swarm of warmth flooding over his stomach in a thin sheen. 'gah...blood...' he snarled a silent wince as redness began to soak into the fibers of his shirt yet again. '...poor Yukina didn't have the strength to heal me completely...and I go and waste the little energy I had left and I re-open some gashes...thank God the other's haven't noticed I have fresh wounds.'
Hitorihamet pushed himself up with a zestful thrust, a smirk of achievement staining his features. "Ha!" the demon chuckled at the dizzy boy, still wincing and whoozy on the floor. "I think I've won NOW..."
"Ya know what..." Kuwabara mumbled faintly. "No."
"Stupid human," Hitorihamet laughed, coughing a low breath into his hand, a cloud of smog clumped in his grasp. The demon laced his clawed fingers into Kuwabara's greased mane, tugging the dizzy boy to a wobbly stand. With Kuwabara upright loosely on two feet, a guivering whimper escaping him, Hitorihamet forced with all his might the ball of poison gas deep into Kuwabara's throat, the teenager's eyes flashing wide in maddening pain. An arm, clenching a mass of poison, had dug deeply into his asophogas, thrashing his throat all on sides and extending the width of his throat nearly ten-fold, almost killing him instantly.
"KUWABARA!!" Yusuke wailed in shock and fear. Keiko stole a sharp gasp that stung her throat in a tiny tingle. Kurama grunted low, trying in desperation to remain calm, but at the same time trying to force himself up. Even Hiei pricked. "No..." Yusuke stuttered. "No...YOU BASTARD!"
"Detective," Hiei seethed lowly, catching a look of surprise from the black-haired teenager. Hiei's expression wasn't quite as monotonous as usual, a little more forced of calmness and beaded just slightly in the temple with sweat. "Leave it be..." the aperition snarled at Yusuke. "...the idiot's Spirit Energy hasn't diminished, so he's still alive and kicking."
"Yes," Kurama sighed lowly, a glare of heavy frustration sponging his features. Aparently, the fox's own weight held him back from standing up, Kurama unable to assist Kuwabara and now locked in self-anger. "Trust me...Kuwabara will be fine, just remain here and remain calm."
Yusuke could only growl at his two demon allies, and force his pained sights back on the fight. Keiko collapsed to her knees, trembling in fear at the sight of Hitorihamet shoving his arm half-way down Kuwabara's neck. Kuwabara's throat quivered outwards and inwards with every given second, the boy still trying to breath. Keiko began a vibrant array of massive shivers, tamed only slightly when Kurama laced an arm protectively about her and dragged her gently against his shoulder, turning her sights away from the battle and to his shoulder. He didn't cast one look to her, but remained staring solely to the battle, a look of frustration and anger swarming his entirety.
Suddenly, when Kuwabara couldn't stand the pain of an arm lodged down his throat any longer, Hitorihamet ripped his forearm free, Kuwabara instantly collapsing for the ground, cradling his throat tightly, gasping for breath while trying not to drown in all the spit clogging his asophogas. Streams of Kuwabara's saliva and blood laced the demon's arm, and escaped the youth's mouth in heavy amounts.
"Well, he isn't choking anymore," Hiei stated flatly. Yusuke half-snarled at the koorime.
"He's right, it's over now," Kurama whispered faintly for Keiko, the girl slowly retracting from Kurama's comforting shoulder and inching towards Yusuke, lacing her fingers tightly into his, Yusuke clenching back without a glance to her.
"C'mon, Kuwabara! Get up!!" Yusuke cheered his friend positively.
"That won't work," Kurama breathed low.
"What? Why not?" Yusuke blinked confused chocolate eyes for the fox.
"Did you not remember, Detective, that Hitorihamet clogged a ball of poison down the human's throat?" Hiei raised an eyebrow and cast a side-glance for Yusuke.
"Huh? Oh my God he did?!?"
"Yes, he did," Kurama sighed. "And with all the fresh wounds in Kuwabara's throat now...the poison has been swarming into his bloodstream."
"What?!?" Yusuke gawked. "How the hell do you guys know this?!?"
"We pay attention," Hiei piped that last remark without a glance to anyone but with crimson eyes locked solely on the battle.
Kuwabara was quivering on the floor, his muscles tensing and loosening without control. 'damn...I guess I hafta use that move now...'
"Hmph...human's break so easily..." Hitorihamet chuckled at the pained Kuwabara. "I can never find one that lasts long enough or that stands up to my hopes."
"Shut up!!" Kuwabara wailed, his hand pulsing raw and a mad ray of redness crackling from his fingertips and straight upwards into Hitorihamet's shoulder, the creature gasping a breath of sharp pain as the short Spirit Blade sliced his bone apart. Kuwabara whipped to a firm stand, growling low at the demon. "You bastard!" his voice was chaffe, his throat clogged bloody, but anger pushed his raw tone through. With a single clenching motion of hand, a pulse of maddening, violent light crackled into Kuwabara's hold. The vicious energy licked sharply at Kuwabara's bare hands for a moment, but the youth was too angry and tired to notice. The pain eventually died, the flame still alive and violent. "Die!"
With a single slash Hitorihamet collapsed to the ground in pain, a scar staining across his face. "Whoa..." Yusuke breathed at Kuwabara's new-found second wind.
Kuwabara cast angry eyes downward at the hurting beast, his own breaths heavy from the poison clogging into his bloodstream, his sword dimming instantly. 'maybe I don't have to use it...'
"Ha!" Hitorihamet whipped upward and slashed a deep gash across Kuwabara's chest, the muscle ripping violently apart, each fiber of the tissue unraveling. Kuwabara was stunned in shock and pain, blood seeping in heavy waves from the wound. It ensured hard, nearly impossible breathing. And to finish the pain off, Hitorihamet, decked in a heavy smirk, coughed another hazed breath of green at Kuwabara, this time straight into the fresh wound. A burning feeling singed the scar, Kuwabara pricked and locked in a stunned state of mind. Poison again clogged into his system.
Hitorihamet gazed at his work in pride. "Indeed, now I've killed you, human."
"I'm still breathing, darn it..." Kuwabara smiled faintly under the immense pain.
"What? You stupid human..."
"Heh...yeah, pretty stupid sometimes..." Kuwabara couldn't hold both eyes open during his heavy wince, but focused on keeping one wide and narrow at the demon. "But not right now."
"What are you talking about?" Hitorihamet seethed.
Suddenly, Kuwabara, who had just been half-crouching in pain, now forced himself to stand firm, and extended his arms straight outward. A low growl rolled in the back of his chaffed, bleeding throat, a firm expression tainting his features sharp. His hands quivered slightly as ki surged in thick waves from his fingertips, clenching into energy hilts in his grasp. Heat and crackling embers stung at his bare palms, but only for an instant. The pain diminished, leaving only Kuwabara's Double Spirit Swords.
"He's in position," Kurama managed to half-smile, relieved, but still very pained and tired.
"Finally," Hiei rolled his eyes. "He's going to do something that'll work."
Kuwabara slowly began to twist his blades in a clockwise direction, a motion that soon began to blur into a mass of glossed white as speed picked up. Both blades whirled in mad circles, heat stinging hard to Kuwabara's temple. The youth winced slightly, but continued the move. Hitorihamet stared in utter disbelief.
"Hn," Hiei smirked. "I'ts over."
Suddenly, a huge surge of light, a maddeningly powerful flow of energy pounded from the boy, pain racking Kuwabara's senses. Kuwabara was trapped in a wail, his eyes frozen wide under influence of agony. Sheer energy vaccuumed from his system in a singly sharp sucking motion, channeling straight from him and into his spinning swords.
Hitorihamet stared in horror, the light formulation of every fiber of the teenager's Spirit Energy looming above him. Without time to draw another breath, the wave sprawled itself the length of the room, and attacked straight for Hitorihamet. The demon's wails were choked by a flood of whiteness, bleaching him from view as it engulfed him. Kuwabara quivered violently under the immense pain as every fragment of Spirit Energy ripped from him into the vast cavern. Before his last beat of the heart, Hitorihamet forced a wail of poison into the atmosphere, dying in peace, knowing the poison would leak into all their systems and kill the kids instantly it was that deadly and thick. His body was disintegrated into shreds of ashes.
"Oh no!" Kurama pricked as his sharp nose caught the scent of heavy poison.
"What?" Yusuke called over the wails and booming noises echoing in the now quivering, crumbling cavern.
"We have to get out of here, now!" Kurama wailed. Hiei side-glanced the fox curiously, but his eyes flashed wide as he too caught the scent.
"Poison!" Hiei snarled at the Detective. "It could kill even the Kistune and myself, it is that strong!"
"What?!" Yusuke yelled.
"We must get out now!" Kurama struggled to stand but collapsed under his weight. Keiko quickly hooked the fox's arm about her shoulders and hoisted Kurama to a wobbly stand.
"Yusuke, you have to save Kuwabara!!" Keiko ordered, trying to jog after the blurred Hiei for an exit as deadly poison fumes swarmed the cavern under the immense, blinding light.
"Right!" Yusuke nodded briskly, sprinting into the veil of whiteness to find the energyless Kuwabara. Yusuke forced his watering eyes into the sharp glare of light, only to find Kuwabara lying half-dead on the floor. "Kuwabara!!"
"Urimeshi..." Kuwabara winced heavy stutters. "...go, leave me...the poison...it's, it's too much...you'll, die..."
"Screw that...!" Yusuke snarled as he hooked his good arm steady under Kuwabara's limp, drugged form. Not a sliver of Spirit Energy remained within his tattered body. Yusuke, holding Kuwabara secure to his back, quickly began a sprint for the exit, fumes beginning to cloud his senses. As he ran, his foot hooked tight into a rut of stone, Yusuke and Kuwabara collapsing to the ground and sliding slightly, both boys swelling in inhales clogged of poison. They hadn't yet reached the cavern's exit. Sweat and heavy breaths tainted them both, Kuwabara dry of Spirit Energy, falling victim to drugging by Hitorihamet, and tattered in all aspects, and Yusuke dying in the poison-stained air.
Just as Yusuke's drugged, tired form was about to give in to the poison, and he was about to absentmindedly give in, a black blur caught in his hazy vision, just before he passed out under the fumes.
Hiei quickly coiled his strong arms under both Yusuke and Kuwabara, sprinting for dear life from the cavern, a monotonous, yet somewhat stern glare about his face. Dragging the dying boys behind him, the cavern, drowned in Kuwabara's loose Spirit Energy, began to quiver and vibrate in destruction. Rock and dust sputtered in all directions, the demon blurring into the air to escape the white-stained room. The immense feeling of so much Spirit Energy nearly overwhelmed him every other second, but Hiei pushed onward for escape. Suddenly, the three pounded from the poisoned, collapsing cavern, blurring into the darkness of the bowels of the Kyorgin Caves.
Eventually, Hiei forced to a halt, and gently allowed the drugged teens to collapse to the stone floor, both drenched in their own sweat, trying to remain alive. There sat Kurama, Indian style with the still unconscious Yukina craddled in his lap and Keiko standing by his side.
"Yusuke!" Keiko half-screamed softly, jogging for the boy's side. Hiei's breaths were heavy and rash, the poison having seeped into his still open wounds.
"Are you alright, Hiei?" Kurama inquired casually as Hiei approached the stone wall for a sit.
"Peachy," the dragon snarled, trying not to wince. "That poison's some nasty stuff..."
"Indeed..." Kurama nodded faintly. "And it would seem we can't continue until everyone is conscious again..." the fox slowly sprawled his hand wide, combing it loosely in his bushy mane, and retracting a short twig. "And medications are in order, seeing as Yukina's powers can't help us at late," he stated softly while casting brilliantly emerald eyes downward to the mint-haired beauty in his lap.
"Obviously," Hiei growled a low wince. "How long?"
"I estimate an hour before we may continue," Kurama gazed stern for Hiei. A brief silence laced between the two until...
"Aren't you worried about her?" Hiei asked lowly. Silence as Kurama's nimble hands tweeded with the branch in his grasp. "Kitsune...?"
"Yes, I am..." Kurama half-growled faintly, a glare of calm frustration about his face. "You haven't any idea how much."
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
a/n: whoa!!! long chapter...lol and the boys are still sleeping from that party, lol...and thanks to one reviewer for that idea bout the spinny swords and wave...read my list of reviews, you'll know who and wut they said. Anywho, I haven't been getting many reviews lately -- :'( -- I miss them! lol please pleeeeeeeease review more, guys...some of you do NOT know how much we authors like the attention! lol...hopefully you'll like this chappie...and it's almost an even twenty *yay* anywho, please PLEASE review...latr!
Chapter 19: The Slash of a Blade
"AHHH!!" Kuwabara wailed whole-heartedly, lashing his sword yet again for Hitorihamet's face, missing the smirking aperition by less than a hair. Kuwabara slashed again and again, his blades crackling madly and glowing a fierce red against the crevices of Hitorihamet's features. The teenager's face was stained in an angry expression and was licked in a scarlet glaze. With every lethal whip of the swords, Hitorihamet's smirk deepened, Kuwabara's rage fueling the next lash.
"This is awful!" Keiko stared in disbelief at the repetitive battle. "No matter what he does, Kuwabara can't get him!"
"Hn..." Hiei grunted lowly at Keiko's lack of faith, the girl casting confused caramel eyes to the fire demon. Hiei didn't flinch in the slightest to face her, rather remaining focused entirely into the battle. "You obviously don't know that the idiot can do more than lash his Spirit Swords."
"Indeed," Kurama nodded, balanced by both Yusuke and Keiko, his emerald gaze locked ahead in a serious manner. "When we trained him for the Dark Tournament, we taught him how to control his Spirit Energy to an impressive extent."
"If we do say so ourselves," Hiei continued the statement, eyes fixed solely for the fight. "We did a good job with him...despite his foolishness, and the fact that he hasn't used his best move yet...what an idiot...it almost hurt trying to train him."
"Don't say that..." Kurama smirked a side-glance for his best friend. "He had to deal with a lot...hint hint..." the fox's smirk deepened, Hiei throwing a glare for the side in response. "...and I'm sure he'll use the trick in a moment."
"He'd better," Hiei grunted. Yukina gurgled a soft moan, jerking his senses to the girl still secure in his arms. Her spiked mint mane and gentle little face reminded him so much of their mother. 'hn...' his thoughts were soft and lacking of harshness. 'you look so much like Mother, Yukina...to think, someone so innocent as yourself can resemble the very cause of all this hatred...had Father not taken this wolf demon's crush for himself, neither of us would have been born...but, since we WERE born, we may now be killed, simply because of our parents...hn...a vicious cycle...either we aren't born, or we are and we eventually get slaughtered...sigh...but, please don't worry, Yukina...if that buffoon blows it,' Hiei cast sharp, narrow crimson eyes for the struggling Kuwabara. 'I'll protect you.'
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke wailed in annoyance, the red-headed teenager still lashing his sword in all directions, Hitorihamet dodging with ease. "That isn't working!! Try something else, you idiot!!"
"Shut up, Urimeshi!!!" Kuwabara seethed angrily. "I know what I'm doing!!"
"No you don't," Hiei called with an emotionless expression to match a monotonous tone.
"Gah..?! Just shut up!!" Kuwabara wrinkled his nose sharply in anger at the short fire demon. Suddenly, his jaw met with a frame of sharp, firm knuckles, digging forcefully into his face. Hitorihamet punched whole-heartedly for the teenager's cheek, a singeing pain racking Kuwabara's senses violently. Kuwabara's eyes glazed wide, the impact soaked in immense Spirit Energy. Not only was the punch of sharp-jutted knuckles and mighty force, but it was drenched in ki, which made Kuwabara's spine rack in a trembling shiver and made his skin jut in heavy amounts of goosebumps. His crackling blades simmered to nothingness in his grasp, his Spirit Energy slipping slyly back into his quivering body. Hitorihamet's lips tugged in a maniacal smirk.
"Well, it seems I've won," Hitorihamet glared daggers at the trembling boy. Kuwabara was sprawled onto the ground, his fingers gripping into the blood-stained soil in an angry trembling fist-clench. Hitorihamet stood firm before the teenager, staring straight down with burning eyes.
"Not yet!" Kuwabara growled, his glare sharp and fierce. His hand suddenly pulsed for half an instant, a mad shimmer of energy spitting viciously from his fingertips and crackling violently into the air. The ki dug deep into the demon's ankles, linking them together with streams of blood from the open wounds.
Hitorihamet snarled trembled yelps of pain and surprise, collapsing instantly for the ground. Just before his trembling form hit the floor completely, Hitorihamet hissed a sharp breath in Kuwabara's face, a haze of eerie green swarming the air. The poison seeped greedily into Kuwabara's system with one breath.
"Shit!" Yusuke wailed in shock. "Someone give that guy a friggen Tic-Tac or something!"
Kuwabara's senses were dazed and stormy, concentration escaping his abilities. "Whoa..." he managed to groan through sharp breaths and dizziness. "Maybe this is why my mom's always tellin' me to stay away from drugs and all that crap..."
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke called ferociously at the dazed red-head. "Get the hell up!"
"Shut up, stupid!" Kuwabara coughed, his lungs soaked in a cloud of poison.
"Well, the poison hasn't completely gotten to him yet," Keiko half-winced, tugging Kurama's weight to her shoulder so she could gently assist the fox to an Indian style sit.
"Indeed," Kurama breathed softly. 'darn wounds...' he scolded himself fiercely as a spark of pain singed at his chest, a swarm of warmth flooding over his stomach in a thin sheen. 'gah...blood...' he snarled a silent wince as redness began to soak into the fibers of his shirt yet again. '...poor Yukina didn't have the strength to heal me completely...and I go and waste the little energy I had left and I re-open some gashes...thank God the other's haven't noticed I have fresh wounds.'
Hitorihamet pushed himself up with a zestful thrust, a smirk of achievement staining his features. "Ha!" the demon chuckled at the dizzy boy, still wincing and whoozy on the floor. "I think I've won NOW..."
"Ya know what..." Kuwabara mumbled faintly. "No."
"Stupid human," Hitorihamet laughed, coughing a low breath into his hand, a cloud of smog clumped in his grasp. The demon laced his clawed fingers into Kuwabara's greased mane, tugging the dizzy boy to a wobbly stand. With Kuwabara upright loosely on two feet, a guivering whimper escaping him, Hitorihamet forced with all his might the ball of poison gas deep into Kuwabara's throat, the teenager's eyes flashing wide in maddening pain. An arm, clenching a mass of poison, had dug deeply into his asophogas, thrashing his throat all on sides and extending the width of his throat nearly ten-fold, almost killing him instantly.
"KUWABARA!!" Yusuke wailed in shock and fear. Keiko stole a sharp gasp that stung her throat in a tiny tingle. Kurama grunted low, trying in desperation to remain calm, but at the same time trying to force himself up. Even Hiei pricked. "No..." Yusuke stuttered. "No...YOU BASTARD!"
"Detective," Hiei seethed lowly, catching a look of surprise from the black-haired teenager. Hiei's expression wasn't quite as monotonous as usual, a little more forced of calmness and beaded just slightly in the temple with sweat. "Leave it be..." the aperition snarled at Yusuke. "...the idiot's Spirit Energy hasn't diminished, so he's still alive and kicking."
"Yes," Kurama sighed lowly, a glare of heavy frustration sponging his features. Aparently, the fox's own weight held him back from standing up, Kurama unable to assist Kuwabara and now locked in self-anger. "Trust me...Kuwabara will be fine, just remain here and remain calm."
Yusuke could only growl at his two demon allies, and force his pained sights back on the fight. Keiko collapsed to her knees, trembling in fear at the sight of Hitorihamet shoving his arm half-way down Kuwabara's neck. Kuwabara's throat quivered outwards and inwards with every given second, the boy still trying to breath. Keiko began a vibrant array of massive shivers, tamed only slightly when Kurama laced an arm protectively about her and dragged her gently against his shoulder, turning her sights away from the battle and to his shoulder. He didn't cast one look to her, but remained staring solely to the battle, a look of frustration and anger swarming his entirety.
Suddenly, when Kuwabara couldn't stand the pain of an arm lodged down his throat any longer, Hitorihamet ripped his forearm free, Kuwabara instantly collapsing for the ground, cradling his throat tightly, gasping for breath while trying not to drown in all the spit clogging his asophogas. Streams of Kuwabara's saliva and blood laced the demon's arm, and escaped the youth's mouth in heavy amounts.
"Well, he isn't choking anymore," Hiei stated flatly. Yusuke half-snarled at the koorime.
"He's right, it's over now," Kurama whispered faintly for Keiko, the girl slowly retracting from Kurama's comforting shoulder and inching towards Yusuke, lacing her fingers tightly into his, Yusuke clenching back without a glance to her.
"C'mon, Kuwabara! Get up!!" Yusuke cheered his friend positively.
"That won't work," Kurama breathed low.
"What? Why not?" Yusuke blinked confused chocolate eyes for the fox.
"Did you not remember, Detective, that Hitorihamet clogged a ball of poison down the human's throat?" Hiei raised an eyebrow and cast a side-glance for Yusuke.
"Huh? Oh my God he did?!?"
"Yes, he did," Kurama sighed. "And with all the fresh wounds in Kuwabara's throat now...the poison has been swarming into his bloodstream."
"What?!?" Yusuke gawked. "How the hell do you guys know this?!?"
"We pay attention," Hiei piped that last remark without a glance to anyone but with crimson eyes locked solely on the battle.
Kuwabara was quivering on the floor, his muscles tensing and loosening without control. 'damn...I guess I hafta use that move now...'
"Hmph...human's break so easily..." Hitorihamet chuckled at the pained Kuwabara. "I can never find one that lasts long enough or that stands up to my hopes."
"Shut up!!" Kuwabara wailed, his hand pulsing raw and a mad ray of redness crackling from his fingertips and straight upwards into Hitorihamet's shoulder, the creature gasping a breath of sharp pain as the short Spirit Blade sliced his bone apart. Kuwabara whipped to a firm stand, growling low at the demon. "You bastard!" his voice was chaffe, his throat clogged bloody, but anger pushed his raw tone through. With a single clenching motion of hand, a pulse of maddening, violent light crackled into Kuwabara's hold. The vicious energy licked sharply at Kuwabara's bare hands for a moment, but the youth was too angry and tired to notice. The pain eventually died, the flame still alive and violent. "Die!"
With a single slash Hitorihamet collapsed to the ground in pain, a scar staining across his face. "Whoa..." Yusuke breathed at Kuwabara's new-found second wind.
Kuwabara cast angry eyes downward at the hurting beast, his own breaths heavy from the poison clogging into his bloodstream, his sword dimming instantly. 'maybe I don't have to use it...'
"Ha!" Hitorihamet whipped upward and slashed a deep gash across Kuwabara's chest, the muscle ripping violently apart, each fiber of the tissue unraveling. Kuwabara was stunned in shock and pain, blood seeping in heavy waves from the wound. It ensured hard, nearly impossible breathing. And to finish the pain off, Hitorihamet, decked in a heavy smirk, coughed another hazed breath of green at Kuwabara, this time straight into the fresh wound. A burning feeling singed the scar, Kuwabara pricked and locked in a stunned state of mind. Poison again clogged into his system.
Hitorihamet gazed at his work in pride. "Indeed, now I've killed you, human."
"I'm still breathing, darn it..." Kuwabara smiled faintly under the immense pain.
"What? You stupid human..."
"Heh...yeah, pretty stupid sometimes..." Kuwabara couldn't hold both eyes open during his heavy wince, but focused on keeping one wide and narrow at the demon. "But not right now."
"What are you talking about?" Hitorihamet seethed.
Suddenly, Kuwabara, who had just been half-crouching in pain, now forced himself to stand firm, and extended his arms straight outward. A low growl rolled in the back of his chaffed, bleeding throat, a firm expression tainting his features sharp. His hands quivered slightly as ki surged in thick waves from his fingertips, clenching into energy hilts in his grasp. Heat and crackling embers stung at his bare palms, but only for an instant. The pain diminished, leaving only Kuwabara's Double Spirit Swords.
"He's in position," Kurama managed to half-smile, relieved, but still very pained and tired.
"Finally," Hiei rolled his eyes. "He's going to do something that'll work."
Kuwabara slowly began to twist his blades in a clockwise direction, a motion that soon began to blur into a mass of glossed white as speed picked up. Both blades whirled in mad circles, heat stinging hard to Kuwabara's temple. The youth winced slightly, but continued the move. Hitorihamet stared in utter disbelief.
"Hn," Hiei smirked. "I'ts over."
Suddenly, a huge surge of light, a maddeningly powerful flow of energy pounded from the boy, pain racking Kuwabara's senses. Kuwabara was trapped in a wail, his eyes frozen wide under influence of agony. Sheer energy vaccuumed from his system in a singly sharp sucking motion, channeling straight from him and into his spinning swords.
Hitorihamet stared in horror, the light formulation of every fiber of the teenager's Spirit Energy looming above him. Without time to draw another breath, the wave sprawled itself the length of the room, and attacked straight for Hitorihamet. The demon's wails were choked by a flood of whiteness, bleaching him from view as it engulfed him. Kuwabara quivered violently under the immense pain as every fragment of Spirit Energy ripped from him into the vast cavern. Before his last beat of the heart, Hitorihamet forced a wail of poison into the atmosphere, dying in peace, knowing the poison would leak into all their systems and kill the kids instantly it was that deadly and thick. His body was disintegrated into shreds of ashes.
"Oh no!" Kurama pricked as his sharp nose caught the scent of heavy poison.
"What?" Yusuke called over the wails and booming noises echoing in the now quivering, crumbling cavern.
"We have to get out of here, now!" Kurama wailed. Hiei side-glanced the fox curiously, but his eyes flashed wide as he too caught the scent.
"Poison!" Hiei snarled at the Detective. "It could kill even the Kistune and myself, it is that strong!"
"What?!" Yusuke yelled.
"We must get out now!" Kurama struggled to stand but collapsed under his weight. Keiko quickly hooked the fox's arm about her shoulders and hoisted Kurama to a wobbly stand.
"Yusuke, you have to save Kuwabara!!" Keiko ordered, trying to jog after the blurred Hiei for an exit as deadly poison fumes swarmed the cavern under the immense, blinding light.
"Right!" Yusuke nodded briskly, sprinting into the veil of whiteness to find the energyless Kuwabara. Yusuke forced his watering eyes into the sharp glare of light, only to find Kuwabara lying half-dead on the floor. "Kuwabara!!"
"Urimeshi..." Kuwabara winced heavy stutters. "...go, leave me...the poison...it's, it's too much...you'll, die..."
"Screw that...!" Yusuke snarled as he hooked his good arm steady under Kuwabara's limp, drugged form. Not a sliver of Spirit Energy remained within his tattered body. Yusuke, holding Kuwabara secure to his back, quickly began a sprint for the exit, fumes beginning to cloud his senses. As he ran, his foot hooked tight into a rut of stone, Yusuke and Kuwabara collapsing to the ground and sliding slightly, both boys swelling in inhales clogged of poison. They hadn't yet reached the cavern's exit. Sweat and heavy breaths tainted them both, Kuwabara dry of Spirit Energy, falling victim to drugging by Hitorihamet, and tattered in all aspects, and Yusuke dying in the poison-stained air.
Just as Yusuke's drugged, tired form was about to give in to the poison, and he was about to absentmindedly give in, a black blur caught in his hazy vision, just before he passed out under the fumes.
Hiei quickly coiled his strong arms under both Yusuke and Kuwabara, sprinting for dear life from the cavern, a monotonous, yet somewhat stern glare about his face. Dragging the dying boys behind him, the cavern, drowned in Kuwabara's loose Spirit Energy, began to quiver and vibrate in destruction. Rock and dust sputtered in all directions, the demon blurring into the air to escape the white-stained room. The immense feeling of so much Spirit Energy nearly overwhelmed him every other second, but Hiei pushed onward for escape. Suddenly, the three pounded from the poisoned, collapsing cavern, blurring into the darkness of the bowels of the Kyorgin Caves.
Eventually, Hiei forced to a halt, and gently allowed the drugged teens to collapse to the stone floor, both drenched in their own sweat, trying to remain alive. There sat Kurama, Indian style with the still unconscious Yukina craddled in his lap and Keiko standing by his side.
"Yusuke!" Keiko half-screamed softly, jogging for the boy's side. Hiei's breaths were heavy and rash, the poison having seeped into his still open wounds.
"Are you alright, Hiei?" Kurama inquired casually as Hiei approached the stone wall for a sit.
"Peachy," the dragon snarled, trying not to wince. "That poison's some nasty stuff..."
"Indeed..." Kurama nodded faintly. "And it would seem we can't continue until everyone is conscious again..." the fox slowly sprawled his hand wide, combing it loosely in his bushy mane, and retracting a short twig. "And medications are in order, seeing as Yukina's powers can't help us at late," he stated softly while casting brilliantly emerald eyes downward to the mint-haired beauty in his lap.
"Obviously," Hiei growled a low wince. "How long?"
"I estimate an hour before we may continue," Kurama gazed stern for Hiei. A brief silence laced between the two until...
"Aren't you worried about her?" Hiei asked lowly. Silence as Kurama's nimble hands tweeded with the branch in his grasp. "Kitsune...?"
"Yes, I am..." Kurama half-growled faintly, a glare of calm frustration about his face. "You haven't any idea how much."
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a/n: whoa!!! long chapter...lol and the boys are still sleeping from that party, lol...and thanks to one reviewer for that idea bout the spinny swords and wave...read my list of reviews, you'll know who and wut they said. Anywho, I haven't been getting many reviews lately -- :'( -- I miss them! lol please pleeeeeeeease review more, guys...some of you do NOT know how much we authors like the attention! lol...hopefully you'll like this chappie...and it's almost an even twenty *yay* anywho, please PLEASE review...latr!