Anemone: thanx in advance to reviewer Sycogerl64...lol one of ur reviews will be in the dialogue...I thought it fit in. Fox!
Kurama: chapter 28, enjoy.
Chapter 28: The Deity's Realization
"Dammit!" Yusuke snarled viciously. "Why is everything hard?! Of COURSE Kurama can't just go fight his father and get it over with! He's gotta shove an arrow in his chest and writhe in hellish agony for the slight chance that he might be on equal terms with his father, IF IT DOESN'T KILL HIM FIRST!!"
"Yusuke!" Kurama scolded half-sharply at the angered youth. "Calm yourself! I haven't accepted the arrow..."
"But you will!" Yusuke countered harshly. "I know you enough to know that you'll take a booster like that and worry the shit out of everyone as you fight and nearly give us all freakin' heart attacks until you come up with some dramatic, narrow escape...you ALWAYS do that!!"
"Detective...heal..." Hiei grunted the rude demand coldly, Yusuke glaring chocolate daggers at the flame demon. "Kurama isn't that reckless, you should know at least that much...he wouldn't take the arrow unless he knew he truly needed it," Hiei slowly cast soft-sharp eyes for the Kitsune. "...and I must say...with our current chances, he should take that offer instantly."
"I dunno, you guys...I'm gonna go with Urimeshi on this one," Kuwabara piped in awkward disposition and worry. "I mean...we've already got a way to unleash Yoko Kurama...isn't that enough?"
"Hardly," Hiei snarled. "You do not know Grapko's power...it is insane."
"Well, if Grapko is Kurama's dad, then wouldn't Kurama be just as strong?" Kuwabara asked hopefully.
"Yeah!" Yusuke piped. "I'm not that good with genetic crap, but wouldn't you be wicked strong too?"
"I am sorry, you two, but no," Kurama breathed calmly. "My strengths are definitely resided within my fox half...Grapko's physical power isn't hereditary, it's actually unnatural."
"How would you remember that?!" Yusuke blinked in surprise.
"These caves are awakening Yoko within me..." Kurama cast his head downwards in slight shame. "...luckily, only the ruby can release him entirely, but I still have old memories sparking to life in my human mind...and I am starting to remember more and more about Grapko in this mountain."
"I see," Yusuke drew his eyes to the side in thought. "So, how come Grapko's strength isn't natural?"
"Same reason Hiei's Jagon isn't," Kurama shrugged calmly.
"Say what?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara drew back in surprise.
"Hiei had his Jagon implanted, as you two know..." Kurama breathed the explanation with pure composure. "...well, Grapko in turn had an operation much like Hiei's to increase his strength...he already had a vast advantage, having been born with a wolf demon's speed, but he is now even more of a challenge since his operation...I remember it because he had it done when I was still Yoko...a week before my birth as Suichi."
"Wow..." Yusuke sighed faintly.
"And," Kurama continued as his tired emerald leers pressed shut. "Since his strength isn't natural, I didn't inherit it...even as Yoko, I am still at a rather evident disadvantage...and Grapko knows this."
"Which is why you should take your mother's offer, Kitsune," Hiei's ruby glare narrowed in half-frustration. "Accept the terms of the arrow...fight with it and remove it from your bloodstream as she had warned...do it if you dare wish to save your beloved deity!"
Kurama pricked, a slight grunt of a gasp stinging in the core of his throat, his eyes clenching shut. 'Botan...' he thought softly.
"No!" Yusuke growled. "Kurama, you can do it WITHOUT a freakin' arrow that can kill you! Would Botan want you to die trying to save her?!"
"It is with that very argument, Detective," Hiei snarled in annoyance. "...that you can be proven wrong...would Botan want him to die in her attempted rescue...he has a better chance of that not happening with the arrow."
"Enough!" Keiko half-shrieked, the boys instantly pausing in their venomous argument to glance for the brunette. Both she and Yukina had grown in pure irritation against the whole situation, Keiko more than Yukina.
"You two shouldn't be trying to decide this for Kurama!" Keiko glared sharp, caramel daggers at the Detective and the Dragon, both staring back in a start. Yusuke cowered his head as his girlfriend scolded him, Hiei rolling his eyes after recovering from his shock. "This is his decision...whether he takes the arrow or not shouldn't be either of your concerns!! He's doing this all for Botan, not you two!! What gives you the right to demand him to either side of a decision?!"
"Yeah!" Yukina grunted in agreement. "And it's very mean of you two to try and influence his choice by dragging Botan into it!" Now Hiei was taking the words to heart and bowing in embarrasment. "That's just plain low! Let him choose, and whichever choice he makes, you'd better leave it be!"
The two were hesitant and reluctant, sharing an annoyed glace to each other and moaning irritated sighs as they agreed to Keiko and Yukina's demands. "Okay," Yusuke grumbled. "Very well..." Hiei wrinkled his nose.
Kuwabara examined the torn Kitsune with concern and confusion as this went about. After the girls had peacefully allowed Yusuke and Hiei a second chance and silence hazed thick over the team, Kuwabara piped up the one question that still haunted both the Detective and the Dragon. "So, what are ya' gonna do, Kurama?"
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"Kurama..." Botan sighed heavily as her thoughts ran over memories of the Kitsune. She had always had a slight crush on him...he was so darn cute, afterall! Not to mention very sweet and excessively polite...he held a respectability about him that seemed to give him a gentleman-type quality greatly lacking in other boys now-a-days. He was also very smart and experienced...not at all like the reckless Yusuke...in battles, Kurama actually knew what he was doing.
Not only that...but know that she lingered deeper and deeper into the topic of the fox, she realized...she had always been very attracted to his eyes. They were gentle, and soft, a deep, glinting emerald that seemed to darken with his emotions. They hazed with his troubled past...yet it seemed that no one else of the team had noticed how deep and sentimental his eyes truly were...well, maybe Hiei did. Actually, Hiei was probably the only one who did understand Kurama's inner plight, and was probably the only other one of the team to see the pain in Kurama's smiling eyes...that was probably why they were best friends, because they could understand each other with a simple grunt...or with a flash of sorrow in one's eyes.
Botan felt a deep twinge in her heart. 'his eyes always seem so hurt and tired...he definitely doesn't seem like a normal fifteen-year-old boy...his eyes truly do express his emotional wisdom...poor Kurama...'
As her thoughts wandered over him more and more, she remembered times when she felt the moment should freeze. The first time she ever got a glimpse of him...was when he was still the humanoid outlaw, having just stolen the Forlorn Hope. He, Hiei, and their buffoon partner stood alone in a forest clearing...she had overheard him withdrawing from the trio, and he was stalking slowly away. She had been forcing through the woods in search for Yusuke, and there he was, tramping past with weighed, tired steps and a look of exhaust and regret in his sorrowful eyes. She froze at the sight of him...he was gorgeous.
A blush clouded the slope of her nose at the memory...he hadn't even seen her yet at that point...yet that was when she had formed the first suggestion of a crush on him. And it deepened when Yusuke battled Hiei for the first time...and Kurama came to assistance...that was the second time she lay eyes on him...and the first he did for her. She remembered blushing insanely when he approached her and Keiko to help in shutting the brunette's sizzling Jagon. He had flashed a gentle, very soft smile in Botan's direction, despite his fresh wound through the stomach.
Other memories tainted her thoughts as she lingered into the past. During the Dark Tournament when they would exchange little bits of information between each other...when he guarded her from Hiei's Black Dragon Wave...when Kurama had to fight Gama and Touya in two consecutive battles, and he had been plagued with his own weapon...total fear and sorrow haunted Botan when she saw Kurama standing unconscious...and she was almost in tears of horror when Bakken trampled to the ring, and attacked the half-dead Kitsune...total worry and terror was her plight as she fought the urge to embrace the fox...but she knew he had to be left alone if he was to recover...he needed to focus solely on his concentration to heal himself...and still other little moments leading up to the incident with Yakumo and the Netherworld...in her state of half-consciousness, she remembered the Kitsune heartthrob lacing his arms about her delicate form and carrying her away from the scene as the battle of Detective vs. Demonic king lashed on to a deadly extent.
Botan's face singed red...her heart began to swarm against her ribcage as emotions drapped over her. "Oh my," she blinked primly when she realized her face was stained scarlet. She then realized, pricking to instant attention...she...she loved Kurama.
"I love him..." she breathed slowly. "All those times...that wasn't a crush I had from the moment I saw him in the forest...I fell in love! I, I've BEEN in love for over a year now!" Dizziness began to falter her breaths as she cooed her confession into the dank dimness of her prison within Grapko's lair. "I...I love him so much! His wit, his politeness, his smile...his eyes...him."
Her candy eyes peeled open wide as realization veiled her. All those moments, when Kurama showed worry and concern for her...when his eyes would express even sharper, gentler focus than the norm when gazing solely at her...even just earlier that very day, when she and he were trapped on her oar in midair...when he sniffed her hair and blush controlled his features, when he guarded her from the rain, when he carried her home...how could she be so stupid?! If Grapko was cunning enough to find out Yukina was Hiei's little sister, would he not be able to determine Kurama's weakness with just as much brilliance?! Could...could he have been right? Could Kurama really...could he really love her?
"Kurama..." she breathed faintly, a soft, velvet smile gracing her lips at the thought of her beloved Kitsune.
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"Well? We're waiting for your choice, Kurama..." Hiei grunted softly in near impatience. Keiko was just about ready to smack the little Dragon upside the head for his recklessness...didn't Kurama deserve time to think over his options?!
Silence hazed the group as the fox held his weighed head in a low bow, his sharp scarlet locks casting shadows of intimidation over his brilliantly emerald eyes.
"C'mon, Kurama, what are you waiting for?!" Yusuke half-growled. "Tell Jiaanti you ain't interested!"
"Yusuke!" Keiko snarled. "Let him decide on his own!"
'What to do, what to do!' Kurama scolded himself, panning the options over in his mind, his teeth gritting firmly as he focused deep into either outcome. 'Without it...I could die against him and his insane power...but, with it...I could win!...but, again, I could die if it isn't removed after a certain time...dammit! I wouldn't mind dying so much if it wasn't for...Botan...ugh!!...What should I do?! Mother hasn't exactly told me how long I get with the arrow...what if it isn't even long enough to defeat Grapko?! I could die halfway through the battle if my veins are clogged with the metal and I didn't extract the weapon in time?! I wish life was easier than this! And of course, Hiei and Yusuke are torn about the decision as well...both want a different choice for me...which should I listen to?!'
"Kurama!" Yusuke snarled in impatience.
'Yusuke is somewhat reckless with decisions...' Kurama clicked in tongue to his teeth as he pondered Yusuke's side. 'He is also vastly inexperienced...he doesn't know the real pros and cons of the arrow...his choice is based flatly on my Mother's mere words, not through personal knowledge...but, perhaps it would be best to rely on my natural abilities...what if the arrow only ends up holding me back on some accounts?'
"Kurama," Hiei grunted in irritation.
'Hm...' Kurama then shifted to the countering option, the one Hiei rooted for. 'Hiei is much better at choosing sides that concern demonic items...he knows much more of the outcomes than Yusuke would...also, being a demon, he's had much more experience with similar situations...he would choose the better side, would he not? Then again...oh my GOD why is this so hard?! It's not like I'm choosing solely because of what those two say...the only options have been chosen by both...which would know better, though?! Yusuke, though raw in the demonic world, can actually come up with the right solutions...but Hiei more often than Yusuke...gah what to do, dammit?!'
"Kurama?" Kuwabara piped in worried question.
'Kuwabara had sided with Yusuke...so, more votes to denying the offer...but, then again, Kuwabara and Yusuke agreeing on something...well, erm...I can't say I trust it entirely...'
"Kurama..." Yukina breathed faintly in concern for his and Botan's well beings.
'Apparently Yukina holds concern for Botan and myself...but which side is she on...? Gah why would that matter, Kurama?! Focus! Which side?! Should I pluck petals...? Take it, not to take it...oh that would be beyond foolish to do!'
"Kurama!" Jiaanti growled hard, jerking everyone's attention...this is the first she had spoken since she told of the arrow's murderous price. "What is it you decide, my son?"
"I..." he mananged to stutter through his chaffing breaths, still wavering between his options. The group peered in leans towards the quiet fox as he slowly prepared to breath his choice. Hiei and Yusuke grit their teeth tight in preparation for the Fox's decision...both hoping it was the wisest their companion could make. Slowly, his signature composure seeped through, the fox slowly setting his head up to reveal narrowed, determined eyes. The brilliance of the emerald was stunning, darkened only with his stubbornness. The shadow cast by his loose, bushy bangs still veiled his piercing eyes, but the intimidation dimmed as he leveled his gaze to his mother and his friends. A brief pause deprived the group of their breath as they awaited his choice to be breathed into hearing. "...I accept the arrow, Mother."
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Grapko smirked faintly. "Indeed, my pup...accept the arrow...for you know you cannot defeat me on your own...and believe you me, boy..." a surge of Spirit energy pulsed through Grapko's system, jerking his veins and muscles in a violently large throb. The shot of ki stung at his scalp...and his mane singed silver, the same shade of Yoko Kurama...Grapko was now in his most powerful state, the redness of his mane now a glossy, burning silver, with the undercoat of coal. "...you're going to need it...and your little ruby...it will be nice to see Yoko again...even if he must die."
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Anemone: hey there! Yupyup, a somewhat short chapter...SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! *Hiei rolls eyes, brief pause* but anyway, *Hiei and Kurama anime fall at her sudden change of attitude, they are ignored* Botan finally realized she's madly in love wit our favorite Fox, that sly dog *Kurama, having already managed to sit back up, smirks*...and she's thinking he could be in love with her...which he is!! Flames!
Hiei: what?
Anemone: what do you mean 'what?' ?! say your line!
Hiei: *heavy sigh* go review, now...if you don't, she's going to stiffle Kurama and myself into not talking and having those witty conversations before and after the chapter...do you really want that?! Didn't think so...so go review.
Kurama: well done.
Anemone: latr, peeps!
Kurama: chapter 28, enjoy.
Chapter 28: The Deity's Realization
"Dammit!" Yusuke snarled viciously. "Why is everything hard?! Of COURSE Kurama can't just go fight his father and get it over with! He's gotta shove an arrow in his chest and writhe in hellish agony for the slight chance that he might be on equal terms with his father, IF IT DOESN'T KILL HIM FIRST!!"
"Yusuke!" Kurama scolded half-sharply at the angered youth. "Calm yourself! I haven't accepted the arrow..."
"But you will!" Yusuke countered harshly. "I know you enough to know that you'll take a booster like that and worry the shit out of everyone as you fight and nearly give us all freakin' heart attacks until you come up with some dramatic, narrow escape...you ALWAYS do that!!"
"Detective...heal..." Hiei grunted the rude demand coldly, Yusuke glaring chocolate daggers at the flame demon. "Kurama isn't that reckless, you should know at least that much...he wouldn't take the arrow unless he knew he truly needed it," Hiei slowly cast soft-sharp eyes for the Kitsune. "...and I must say...with our current chances, he should take that offer instantly."
"I dunno, you guys...I'm gonna go with Urimeshi on this one," Kuwabara piped in awkward disposition and worry. "I mean...we've already got a way to unleash Yoko Kurama...isn't that enough?"
"Hardly," Hiei snarled. "You do not know Grapko's power...it is insane."
"Well, if Grapko is Kurama's dad, then wouldn't Kurama be just as strong?" Kuwabara asked hopefully.
"Yeah!" Yusuke piped. "I'm not that good with genetic crap, but wouldn't you be wicked strong too?"
"I am sorry, you two, but no," Kurama breathed calmly. "My strengths are definitely resided within my fox half...Grapko's physical power isn't hereditary, it's actually unnatural."
"How would you remember that?!" Yusuke blinked in surprise.
"These caves are awakening Yoko within me..." Kurama cast his head downwards in slight shame. "...luckily, only the ruby can release him entirely, but I still have old memories sparking to life in my human mind...and I am starting to remember more and more about Grapko in this mountain."
"I see," Yusuke drew his eyes to the side in thought. "So, how come Grapko's strength isn't natural?"
"Same reason Hiei's Jagon isn't," Kurama shrugged calmly.
"Say what?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara drew back in surprise.
"Hiei had his Jagon implanted, as you two know..." Kurama breathed the explanation with pure composure. "...well, Grapko in turn had an operation much like Hiei's to increase his strength...he already had a vast advantage, having been born with a wolf demon's speed, but he is now even more of a challenge since his operation...I remember it because he had it done when I was still Yoko...a week before my birth as Suichi."
"Wow..." Yusuke sighed faintly.
"And," Kurama continued as his tired emerald leers pressed shut. "Since his strength isn't natural, I didn't inherit it...even as Yoko, I am still at a rather evident disadvantage...and Grapko knows this."
"Which is why you should take your mother's offer, Kitsune," Hiei's ruby glare narrowed in half-frustration. "Accept the terms of the arrow...fight with it and remove it from your bloodstream as she had warned...do it if you dare wish to save your beloved deity!"
Kurama pricked, a slight grunt of a gasp stinging in the core of his throat, his eyes clenching shut. 'Botan...' he thought softly.
"No!" Yusuke growled. "Kurama, you can do it WITHOUT a freakin' arrow that can kill you! Would Botan want you to die trying to save her?!"
"It is with that very argument, Detective," Hiei snarled in annoyance. "...that you can be proven wrong...would Botan want him to die in her attempted rescue...he has a better chance of that not happening with the arrow."
"Enough!" Keiko half-shrieked, the boys instantly pausing in their venomous argument to glance for the brunette. Both she and Yukina had grown in pure irritation against the whole situation, Keiko more than Yukina.
"You two shouldn't be trying to decide this for Kurama!" Keiko glared sharp, caramel daggers at the Detective and the Dragon, both staring back in a start. Yusuke cowered his head as his girlfriend scolded him, Hiei rolling his eyes after recovering from his shock. "This is his decision...whether he takes the arrow or not shouldn't be either of your concerns!! He's doing this all for Botan, not you two!! What gives you the right to demand him to either side of a decision?!"
"Yeah!" Yukina grunted in agreement. "And it's very mean of you two to try and influence his choice by dragging Botan into it!" Now Hiei was taking the words to heart and bowing in embarrasment. "That's just plain low! Let him choose, and whichever choice he makes, you'd better leave it be!"
The two were hesitant and reluctant, sharing an annoyed glace to each other and moaning irritated sighs as they agreed to Keiko and Yukina's demands. "Okay," Yusuke grumbled. "Very well..." Hiei wrinkled his nose.
Kuwabara examined the torn Kitsune with concern and confusion as this went about. After the girls had peacefully allowed Yusuke and Hiei a second chance and silence hazed thick over the team, Kuwabara piped up the one question that still haunted both the Detective and the Dragon. "So, what are ya' gonna do, Kurama?"
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"Kurama..." Botan sighed heavily as her thoughts ran over memories of the Kitsune. She had always had a slight crush on him...he was so darn cute, afterall! Not to mention very sweet and excessively polite...he held a respectability about him that seemed to give him a gentleman-type quality greatly lacking in other boys now-a-days. He was also very smart and experienced...not at all like the reckless Yusuke...in battles, Kurama actually knew what he was doing.
Not only that...but know that she lingered deeper and deeper into the topic of the fox, she realized...she had always been very attracted to his eyes. They were gentle, and soft, a deep, glinting emerald that seemed to darken with his emotions. They hazed with his troubled past...yet it seemed that no one else of the team had noticed how deep and sentimental his eyes truly were...well, maybe Hiei did. Actually, Hiei was probably the only one who did understand Kurama's inner plight, and was probably the only other one of the team to see the pain in Kurama's smiling eyes...that was probably why they were best friends, because they could understand each other with a simple grunt...or with a flash of sorrow in one's eyes.
Botan felt a deep twinge in her heart. 'his eyes always seem so hurt and tired...he definitely doesn't seem like a normal fifteen-year-old boy...his eyes truly do express his emotional wisdom...poor Kurama...'
As her thoughts wandered over him more and more, she remembered times when she felt the moment should freeze. The first time she ever got a glimpse of him...was when he was still the humanoid outlaw, having just stolen the Forlorn Hope. He, Hiei, and their buffoon partner stood alone in a forest clearing...she had overheard him withdrawing from the trio, and he was stalking slowly away. She had been forcing through the woods in search for Yusuke, and there he was, tramping past with weighed, tired steps and a look of exhaust and regret in his sorrowful eyes. She froze at the sight of him...he was gorgeous.
A blush clouded the slope of her nose at the memory...he hadn't even seen her yet at that point...yet that was when she had formed the first suggestion of a crush on him. And it deepened when Yusuke battled Hiei for the first time...and Kurama came to assistance...that was the second time she lay eyes on him...and the first he did for her. She remembered blushing insanely when he approached her and Keiko to help in shutting the brunette's sizzling Jagon. He had flashed a gentle, very soft smile in Botan's direction, despite his fresh wound through the stomach.
Other memories tainted her thoughts as she lingered into the past. During the Dark Tournament when they would exchange little bits of information between each other...when he guarded her from Hiei's Black Dragon Wave...when Kurama had to fight Gama and Touya in two consecutive battles, and he had been plagued with his own weapon...total fear and sorrow haunted Botan when she saw Kurama standing unconscious...and she was almost in tears of horror when Bakken trampled to the ring, and attacked the half-dead Kitsune...total worry and terror was her plight as she fought the urge to embrace the fox...but she knew he had to be left alone if he was to recover...he needed to focus solely on his concentration to heal himself...and still other little moments leading up to the incident with Yakumo and the Netherworld...in her state of half-consciousness, she remembered the Kitsune heartthrob lacing his arms about her delicate form and carrying her away from the scene as the battle of Detective vs. Demonic king lashed on to a deadly extent.
Botan's face singed red...her heart began to swarm against her ribcage as emotions drapped over her. "Oh my," she blinked primly when she realized her face was stained scarlet. She then realized, pricking to instant attention...she...she loved Kurama.
"I love him..." she breathed slowly. "All those times...that wasn't a crush I had from the moment I saw him in the forest...I fell in love! I, I've BEEN in love for over a year now!" Dizziness began to falter her breaths as she cooed her confession into the dank dimness of her prison within Grapko's lair. "I...I love him so much! His wit, his politeness, his smile...his eyes...him."
Her candy eyes peeled open wide as realization veiled her. All those moments, when Kurama showed worry and concern for her...when his eyes would express even sharper, gentler focus than the norm when gazing solely at her...even just earlier that very day, when she and he were trapped on her oar in midair...when he sniffed her hair and blush controlled his features, when he guarded her from the rain, when he carried her home...how could she be so stupid?! If Grapko was cunning enough to find out Yukina was Hiei's little sister, would he not be able to determine Kurama's weakness with just as much brilliance?! Could...could he have been right? Could Kurama really...could he really love her?
"Kurama..." she breathed faintly, a soft, velvet smile gracing her lips at the thought of her beloved Kitsune.
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"Well? We're waiting for your choice, Kurama..." Hiei grunted softly in near impatience. Keiko was just about ready to smack the little Dragon upside the head for his recklessness...didn't Kurama deserve time to think over his options?!
Silence hazed the group as the fox held his weighed head in a low bow, his sharp scarlet locks casting shadows of intimidation over his brilliantly emerald eyes.
"C'mon, Kurama, what are you waiting for?!" Yusuke half-growled. "Tell Jiaanti you ain't interested!"
"Yusuke!" Keiko snarled. "Let him decide on his own!"
'What to do, what to do!' Kurama scolded himself, panning the options over in his mind, his teeth gritting firmly as he focused deep into either outcome. 'Without it...I could die against him and his insane power...but, with it...I could win!...but, again, I could die if it isn't removed after a certain time...dammit! I wouldn't mind dying so much if it wasn't for...Botan...ugh!!...What should I do?! Mother hasn't exactly told me how long I get with the arrow...what if it isn't even long enough to defeat Grapko?! I could die halfway through the battle if my veins are clogged with the metal and I didn't extract the weapon in time?! I wish life was easier than this! And of course, Hiei and Yusuke are torn about the decision as well...both want a different choice for me...which should I listen to?!'
"Kurama!" Yusuke snarled in impatience.
'Yusuke is somewhat reckless with decisions...' Kurama clicked in tongue to his teeth as he pondered Yusuke's side. 'He is also vastly inexperienced...he doesn't know the real pros and cons of the arrow...his choice is based flatly on my Mother's mere words, not through personal knowledge...but, perhaps it would be best to rely on my natural abilities...what if the arrow only ends up holding me back on some accounts?'
"Kurama," Hiei grunted in irritation.
'Hm...' Kurama then shifted to the countering option, the one Hiei rooted for. 'Hiei is much better at choosing sides that concern demonic items...he knows much more of the outcomes than Yusuke would...also, being a demon, he's had much more experience with similar situations...he would choose the better side, would he not? Then again...oh my GOD why is this so hard?! It's not like I'm choosing solely because of what those two say...the only options have been chosen by both...which would know better, though?! Yusuke, though raw in the demonic world, can actually come up with the right solutions...but Hiei more often than Yusuke...gah what to do, dammit?!'
"Kurama?" Kuwabara piped in worried question.
'Kuwabara had sided with Yusuke...so, more votes to denying the offer...but, then again, Kuwabara and Yusuke agreeing on something...well, erm...I can't say I trust it entirely...'
"Kurama..." Yukina breathed faintly in concern for his and Botan's well beings.
'Apparently Yukina holds concern for Botan and myself...but which side is she on...? Gah why would that matter, Kurama?! Focus! Which side?! Should I pluck petals...? Take it, not to take it...oh that would be beyond foolish to do!'
"Kurama!" Jiaanti growled hard, jerking everyone's attention...this is the first she had spoken since she told of the arrow's murderous price. "What is it you decide, my son?"
"I..." he mananged to stutter through his chaffing breaths, still wavering between his options. The group peered in leans towards the quiet fox as he slowly prepared to breath his choice. Hiei and Yusuke grit their teeth tight in preparation for the Fox's decision...both hoping it was the wisest their companion could make. Slowly, his signature composure seeped through, the fox slowly setting his head up to reveal narrowed, determined eyes. The brilliance of the emerald was stunning, darkened only with his stubbornness. The shadow cast by his loose, bushy bangs still veiled his piercing eyes, but the intimidation dimmed as he leveled his gaze to his mother and his friends. A brief pause deprived the group of their breath as they awaited his choice to be breathed into hearing. "...I accept the arrow, Mother."
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Grapko smirked faintly. "Indeed, my pup...accept the arrow...for you know you cannot defeat me on your own...and believe you me, boy..." a surge of Spirit energy pulsed through Grapko's system, jerking his veins and muscles in a violently large throb. The shot of ki stung at his scalp...and his mane singed silver, the same shade of Yoko Kurama...Grapko was now in his most powerful state, the redness of his mane now a glossy, burning silver, with the undercoat of coal. "...you're going to need it...and your little ruby...it will be nice to see Yoko again...even if he must die."
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Anemone: hey there! Yupyup, a somewhat short chapter...SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! *Hiei rolls eyes, brief pause* but anyway, *Hiei and Kurama anime fall at her sudden change of attitude, they are ignored* Botan finally realized she's madly in love wit our favorite Fox, that sly dog *Kurama, having already managed to sit back up, smirks*...and she's thinking he could be in love with her...which he is!! Flames!
Hiei: what?
Anemone: what do you mean 'what?' ?! say your line!
Hiei: *heavy sigh* go review, now...if you don't, she's going to stiffle Kurama and myself into not talking and having those witty conversations before and after the chapter...do you really want that?! Didn't think so...so go review.
Kurama: well done.
Anemone: latr, peeps!