*The woods at night...Kurama is guarding Anemone, Vegeta's keeping an
eye on anything behind...Kurama's got the flashlight and Anemone's
clenching her butterfly net as if for dear life as Kurama looks for the
source of the rustling noise from before*
Kurama: *whisper* Mones, it's okay...*fishes through bushes* it was a frog.
Anemone: aw dammit! Where's Flames?!
Vegeta: he actually LETS you call him that?
Kurama: *casts flashlight in various directions, Anemone hanging onto his other arm* I have a feeling Anneliese hid him somewhere near here...
Anneliese: *from behind a random tree* BOO!!
Anemone: AHH!! *jumps behind Kurama, Vegeta rolls his eyes*
Vegeta: woman, it's just Hiei's Captor.
Anemone: *slowly looks over Kurama's shoulder at the grinning Anneliese* oh.
Anneliese: *cheerful and nice* what are y'all doing here?
Anemone: *jumps out from behind Kurama, waving her butterfly net threateningly* we came in search for Hiei!
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...please, Anneliese...it's been a week, and we're very worried...
Vegeta: reveal his whereabouts or else your little ningen life will be severed short.
Kurama: Vegeta...!
Vegeta: what?
Anemone: *still waving butterfly net in Anneliese's face*
Anneliese: *annoyed, pushes net aside* but I don't wanna let him go yet!
Kurama: is he staying willingly?
Anneliese: I think...
Kurama: *suspicious glare* truly...?
Anneliese: maybe...
Anemone: give him back!
Vegeta: I'm only here as his understudy...my woman's probably got dinner set by now...give them back their little playmate so I can go home! *glares*
Anneliese: no!
Kurama: please?
Anneliese: no.
Anemone: pretty please?
Anneliese: no.
Anemone: I was gonna have a party celebrating his return...and you were gonna be invited...
Anneliese: *gasp* really?!
Kurama: only if you give him back!
Anneliese: *grumble* fine...c'mon. *leads them to a random tree*
Kurama: *touches it's side* this tree is hallow!
Anneliese: yupyup...*taps on side, a door opens and Hiei collapses out*
Anemone: Flames! *Hiei's missing his cloak and undershirt, Anemone blushes* oh my...
Kurama: *kneels by Hiei's side, hitches him up* Hiei! Are you alright?
Hiei: *gurglegurgle* Die...*gurglegurgle* Kurama must!...*gurgle* DIE...!
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...well he's still mad at me...
Vegeta: can I go now?
Anemone: sure...bye Cabbage!
Vegeta: hmpf...*flies away*
Anemone: what did you do to him, Anneliese?!
Anneliese: I didn't do anything! He's napping.
Kurama: napping...?
Anneliese: yeah...this tree has an apartment underground...c'mon, I'll show you. *they go downstairs to a really trendy underground apartment with a lot of expensive furnishings*
Anemone and Kurama: *Kurama carrying Hiei* WHOA!
Anneliese: yeah...I can't afford a real apartment, and I like my privacy...so I live down here.
Kurama: I like it...but why was he 'napping' up there at the top of the staircase?
Anneliese: he's got this little issue about sleeping down here...he's got a hamick at the top of the stairs.
Kurama: but...he was standing when he collapsed out...
Anneliese: sometimes he falls out of his hamick and ends up standing in his sleep cuz it's so tight up there.
Kurama: *nods* ah...
Anemone: Flames? Flames wake up...
Hiei: *still sleeping* must...kill...Kurama...!
Kurama: *drops him, steps behind Anemone*
Anneliese: he's been talking about revenge since I brought him here.
Kurama: *whispering to Anemone* he's gonna kill me!
Anemone: Flames...? *kneels by his side, hitches him up*
Hiei: must...KILL..................MUST...eat...*stomach churning*
Anemone: when was the last time he ate?
Anneliese: twenty minutes ago, and he went straight to sleep.
Anemone: *gasp* he's in desperate need of nourishment! Fox, go and buy him some ice cream...stat!
Kurama: right. *runs off to the cornerstore*
Anemone: *turns to readers* this intro's way too long...so, just go into the story and come back when you're done...*whips out her handy- dandy...laptop! and uploads chapter* Chapter 3-
Anneliese: -wait! Can I do this part?
Anemone: the enjoy line?
Anneliese: yeah!
Anemone: erm...okay...
Anneliese: Chapter 33, enjoy!
Chapter 33: Escape the Stalemate
Claws stabbed and slashed against flesh, cracking into tough skins and spraying of blood. Redness flayed loose from open gashes Grapko had managed to dig into Yoko's unnaturally dense skin...and in turn wounds were open and raw on Grapko via Yoko's attacks. The two growled simultaneously, each gritting their fanged teeth in frustration and stubborness as the battle continued with no permanent turn-around.
Grapko would seem victorious with a well-placed kick, but Yoko would spry back into action with the perfect link of fist to opponent's jaw. The two blocked with grace and stealth, and attacked with equal care and precision...but both were annoyed with the current standings...neither was winning...a stalemate had been reached between the two powerful members of adjacent generations...father was tied with the younger of his sons...and both possessed the wolf's headstrongness...neither would accept a tie...both had motives for a personal win, both had an inner reason for the outcome of this almost pointless struggle to be in their favor.
Grapko sought revenge...total and utter hatred pulsed through his rabid veins, insanity racking his jugdement into thinking his own son was his enemy, just because of a rash decision made fifteen human years prior by the crafty hybrid.
He despised his own offspring with a seething vengeance that curdled his golden eyes scarlet with bubbling rage.
Yoko sought an end to the insanity...an end to the crazed, irrational wants of the wolf. He knew Grapko was lacking of any and all sense, that the wolf had poisoned his mind and fueled his overwhelmingly insane notions with unnecessary hatred and thirst for an offspring's blood.
Yoko despised his father with a rival loathing, an equal level of disrespect and hatred...he hated that he looked so much like this beast...this monster who threatened his own son, his own child...the insanity was enough to make Yoko's mane stand on end with frustration.
"It's a deadlock, and they both know it..." Kuwabara breathed in amazement at the loyalty both pure-bred and mut demon's expressed in their anger towards the other. "...they're, they're just gonna keep at it, til neither of 'em can even lift his arms..."
The others remained silent...Kuwabara merely voiced what each already knew, what each already feared...what each already dreaded since before they arrived at Mount Shiverku.
Hiei's piercing glare, though sagged slightly from the singeing pain swimming in the depths of his stomach, stabbed in a fiercely noble glare of cockiness and stubbornness. He had managed to stand without Yusuke's assistance, though his feet wavered under his own weight and the only thing really keeping him from collapsing was his clench to Hinegeshi's hand. 'If Yoko can't defeat him...I fear it will be the end of us all...' his dagger eyes cast slowly for Yukina, now on her feet with Kuwabara holding a kerchief tenderly to her gaping wound. Her temperature lowered, but to her command...the cooling sensation she called upon from her own abilities gave her burning gashes a twinge of relief. Kuwabara would blink slowly from her to the battle, giving each a respective, full minute of his time before transferring to the other matter weighing his mind.
'Yukina...' Hiei thought faintly at the sight of the redness locking into the fibers of Kuwabara's kerchief come contact to her fragile neck. 'That bastard! Yoko had better kill him!'
"Pah!" Yoko snarled as a frame of jagged knuckles tore against his muscle at his chest...the skin wasn't broken, but the muscle was bruised with a swelling sensation of numb pain. The mut in turn countered Grapko's vain attempt with a vain attempt of his own...he swiped his leg gracefully through the hazy air, air now weighed with the heavy scent of exposed wolf and fox bloods, and met his ankle against Grapko's veiny neck. The wolf coughed a choked snort of blood and saliva with the impact, with grit his reddened fangs in anger towards his hybrid son.
The now exhausted Grapko then threw masses of attacks to the equally exhausted Yoko, the fox-wolf just barely avoiding half of them...though his skin was tougher to pierce, his muscle was just as easy as ever to bruise and to cause clots in the blood flow...not that it was ever easy in the first place, mind you, but his muscle was no denser than fifteen years before, when he was still only Yoko of Thieves, and Suichi Minamino had yet to exist.
Yoko pounced in paced leaps backwards, each jump a step's worth of distance as Grapko swung half-tired, half-fueled fists and heels at him. Yoko wasn't gifted with luck with every attempt at avoidance...at times Grapko would manage to link an attack to the tired fox-wolf. The mut could only leap the short distances his graced steps could muster under the pressure of this crucial fight...not to mention the fact that some needed muscles had been tainted with swells of numbness, causing his usually hard- core attacks to be only less-than perfect.
But his stubbornness had yet to abandon him...Yoko had been raised by this beast...he had been raised to be stubborn...he had been raised to be strong...he had been raised to never run from the enevitable...and he had been raised to hate.
Yoko's heart had been braced in a iron setting by Grapko's ruthless actions, Yoko had grown half on his own and half under the influence of his father's abuse...no way in hell was the mut about to allow Grapko to defeat him...not as he did when he was a child...Yoko was craftly, and Grapko was not...Yoko was skilled, and Grapko was merely brawned...Yoko knew he had a chance...he knew that somehow, there was indeed a means for him to embrace the most important win of his life, both his demonic and his human lives...all he had to do was find it.
Repitition, that's all the battle was composed of...each trying to overcome the other, and each being overridden by the opponent's sudden second wind...Yoko thrashed his sprawled claws for Grapko's throat, but wound up grazing the collarbone, blood swarming at the hybrid's nimble fingertips...for Grapko had dodged, and forced his elbow for the center of Yoko's front, the dead middle just above his stomach and just below his pecks. The mut growled in pain, but tore away in a jerk, stabbing a flashing glare into Grapko's view and in turn stabbing an attack of a punch straight into the wolf's face...Grapko's features meshed against Yoko's knuckles in comformity for the briefest of seconds before collapsing backwards in a wavering stand.
"C'mon, Kurama! You can do it! Show that nasty old meanie who's boss!" Botan squealed enthusiastically, a bold expression of sternness about her little face.
"Yeah, Kurama!" Kuwabara cheered from the side-lines. "You can do it!"
"Silence," Hiei grunted in annoyance.
"Huh? What's wrong with cheering him on?" the punk blinked down at the dragon with confusion tainting his beady onyx eyes.
"Kitsune needs all the concentration he can muster," Hiei's stabbing glare never left the battle field. "With every word you state, even breath to him you are stealing attention he needs to focus into the fight...so shut up and allow him to direct his concentration solely into defeating Grapko."
Kuwabara could only blink. "Oh..." he mumbled slightly. Silence hazed the group, each refusing to whiddle at Kurama's already thin chances by talking, as Hiei had advised they not do. They merely watched on as the clash of father and son ate away at both Yoko and Grapko's strengths and energies.
Yoko growled rabid snarls at his father, and tore away, standing a good seven yards away, trying to grab breaths with immense strain. Sweat trickled down the edge of his chin, breaking loose in crystalline beads.
'Suichi...any suggestions?' Yoko's thoughts dug deep for the countering personality. Suichi was calm and stern towards the whole situation as he watched his demonic half struggle in a stalemate.
'Well, Yoko...' the humanoid of the two breathed softly. '...I didn't grasp a scent of any foliage near him...what do you suppose you use a plant concoction?'
'I've mastered demonic plants, Suichi,' Yoko grunted half-calmly. 'He taught me those...you, however, can control Earthly plants...not to mention, you never got the opportunity to store away my particular weapons...you went straight from Koenma to here, and you never got to pack away my foliage because you didn't even know of my release until it was too late to guard me with my plants...and, you've got your weapons...he never had anything to do with the developement of your techniques-'
'-I wouldn't stand a chance...I already took my attempt...come now, think...you've managed to weaken him-'
'-But I am just as beaten upon, so truly, we are still just as threatening to each other as before we started fighting...we're both just more tired, but really neither any more dangerous to the other than before...it's a repetitive cycle.'
'...true...' Suichi hummed in thought. '...well, I've armed myself with plants...over the years you've studied my techniques...could you try to use my human methods?'
'...you mean, like your-?' Yoko's thoughts were husked in question.
'Exactly,' Suichi confirmed sternly. Yoko could only wince a sigh.
'Very well...I will try...' the demon clicked his tongue to his teeth as his pearly fangs wedged in a firm grit. The demon then sprawled his hand wide, a crack echoing from the jerk of positions his fingers took...he combed it through his glossy mane...and retracted the trademark of his human counterpart...a single, full-bloom, scarlet rose.
His expression was narrow, dangerous, and seeping of rage, and blood. His husky tone was brash in the core of his deep throat as he scowled the phrase of Suichi's signature attack. "ROSE, WHIP!"
He lashed his extended arm downward, the petals ripping loose from Yoko's intense pressure and speed...and with a spurt of Spirit Energy, saturating the core of the stem with his overwhelming ki, the fox-wolf whipped it down, the stem crackling in the stinging energy of the demon mut...within the speed of Hiei's steps, the rose flicked to three yards in length, spiked with deadly jags...and burning with Yoko's muderously cold energy. Midnight blue hazed the whip...the aura of the mut's power, an almost evil navy.
"HYAAA!!!" the fox-wolf roared exuberantly as he lashed it straight for Grapko's coal ears. The wolf gaped at the glowing darkness of the weapon.
"Yoko can't perform that move! That's Suichi-Kurama's attack!" he blinked wide, quivering eyes of stunned gold. "AHH!"
"My God! That's what Yoko's energy looks like?!" Kuwabara gaped.
"Obviously..." Hiei breathed softly at the stunning array of crackling, lightning-like navy energy engulfing the human Kurama's trademark defense. Yoko lashed in mad directions, whipping around with a speed that only Grapko could rival...strain from trying to watch the movements dried Yusuke's eyes, and Kuwabara grew dizzy from the immense speed...only Hiei could examine Yoko's motions without pain striking to his eyes. Hinegeshi cast a gentle gaze in his direction, a look of worry and fatigue tainting her expression. 'He's so into it...he's really deep in the battle...'
Hiei sensed the crystalline eyes locked to his silhouette, he could feel the piercing gaze examining him...and without a glance to her, he gripped a little tighter to her fragile hand, still seemingly consumed with the battle. Hinegeshi in turn allowed her gaze to scan for Yoko and his insane movements.
A navy glow tainted his frustrated features as Yoko whipped in violent lashes for the unarmed Grapko. The wolf leapt backwards in steps of avoidance with every slash the thorny vine grazed. Scraps formed at the wolf's chin and collarbone from even closer calls, Grapko's eyes wide with shock and slight traces of fear to wipe through his mind.
Grapko dove this way and that with every attempt of avoidance, the midnight evil of the mut's aura glowing with a fierce thirst for destruction. Yoko could only strain upon his limbs to slice at the wolf...every second that slipped came another ten lashes of the humanoid's glowing weapon...the aura was jagged, as if like lightening...if the actual whip had yet to dig deep into Grapko's dense flesh, the aura burned sweat to the wolf's temple with it's vengeful heat.
"I can't believe that's really Kurama," Keiko half-whimpered in awe, holding the blood-stained kerchief to Yukina's neck. Both she and Yukina were in shock and amazement at Yoko's superior abilities. "He...He's so strong!"
"We know, Keiko," Yusuke smiled. "But, as strong as he is, Grapko is an equal."
"HYA!" Yoko growled with another insanely rabid lash...slashes, slices, whips, and with paced flicks of the wrist, Grapko was seared into, blood spraying loose on impact with the crackling of Yoko's demonic ki and with the spiked wine in general.
Grapko snarled grunts of anger and pain, flashing golden eyes of hate in Yoko's direction...the two shared identical eyes...differing bodies, differing views, differing bloods...but identical eyes. Both seethed with loathing, both glared dangerously narrow...and both were stinging with the golden glare reserved only for the wolf breed. Yoko was the only mut ever to gain such dangerous eyes...eyes that now looked upon his father with hate.
Grapko's tail flicked against his leg in frustration with every jump back he was forced to take...and that's when Yoko changed course. The fox- wolf pressed his feet nimbly to the ground after a long leap into the air with whipping attacks...and he now sprinted a jump behind Grapko in preparation for a final attack.
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Anemone: hi there! lol still trying to bring Hiei to consciousness...*points behind her, with Hiei on the couch of Anneliese's apartment...Kurama's waving a srawberry ice cream cone in front of Hiei's nose*
Kurama: *reeeeeeeally sweet sounding tone* Oh Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii- eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...I've got iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccceee crreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaammm...
Hiei: *mumblemumble* huh...? *blinks sagging eyes* wha-what...?
Anneliese: YAY! He's awake! He's awake! Look, Mones, he's awake!
Anemone: YAY!
Hiei: *blinks* ice cream?! Where?! *didn't realize it's Kurama...yet...takes ice cream and inhales it* GAH! Brain freeze!! *Kurama takes this time to hide from Hiei*
Anemone: lollol...hi Hiei!
Hiei: *blinks, looks at Anemone...beams* MONES! FREEDOM! *Anneliese looks a little burt* *heavy sigh* erm...It's not that bad living with you, Liese, but-
Anemone: -you gave her a nickname?! *starts crying hysterically, Kurama trying to calm her down*
Hiei: er...
Kurama: there, there, Mones...it's okay...
Anemone: *snifflesniffle* grr fine...*sudden mood-swing, looks happy as she jerks to face the readers* But anyway, *Kurama, Hiei, and Anneliese all collapse anime-style* didya like the chapter?! Didya didya didya?!
Hiei: *reads through chapter* Hey! Nice violence, Mones, I must say...
Anemone: *gasp* Hiei complimented my work?! *shakes Anneliese* what did you do to him?!
Anneliese: I didn't do anything! *Anemone stops shaking her, but glares at her suspiciously*
Kurama: Mones, Mones...Mones...*annoyed sigh as Anemone continues to glare at Anneliese in susupicion...flings Anemone over his shoulder*
Anemone: gah?! FOX! Put me down!
Kurama: *ignoring her* thank you for your hospitality, Anneliese.
Hiei: *suddenly remembers that he's really pissed at Kurama* wait a second...KURAMA!
Kurama: *looks a little scared* Toodles! *runs like hell out of the apartment*
Anemone: wimp...
Kurama: *politely puts her down as soon as their outside* I think not...I've reason to fear the Black Dragon Wave...and he has reason to sick it on me.
Anemone: oh...*they go back to her house*
Hiei: KURAMA! Dammit why didn't I kill him?!
Anneliese: *fingering through a '100 Facts You'll Probably Never Need to Know About Fire Koorimes Because They Most Likely Don't Exist* It says here that ice cream brain freezes causes you to be unaware of the presence of other demons, and it slows you down from attacking.
Hiei: gah?! The hell did you get that book?!
Anneliese: eBay.
Hiei: oh...*turns to readers* gah?! Jeez you readers must be demonic if I didn't sense your presence...well, Mones will probably take the trouble to come back and yell at me to say my line...so before she does...go review.
Anneliese: bye!!
*back at Anemone's house...Kurama playing with a hacky-sack, Anemone lying on her bed*
Anemone: maybe she should've brought him back with us...
Kurama: ...no way, he's going to want to kill me.
Anemone: what exactly did you do again?
Kurama: *catched his hacky-sack and explains* I was being chased by a fangirl mob, and tricked them into going after Hiei...he was caught for a brief time then I suppose he ran away and met up with Anneliese, who rescued him...he had an owe to fulfil but as long as he was here he was safe...he was driving you crazy so I tricked him off the property and into Anneliese's custody. *long pause*
Anemone: yeah you're pretty much a dead-man walking.
Kurama: *resumes his hacky-sack game* I am inclined to agree.
Anemone: well anywho...*turns to readers* please review and please point out your fav parts! Latr!
Kurama: *whisper* Mones, it's okay...*fishes through bushes* it was a frog.
Anemone: aw dammit! Where's Flames?!
Vegeta: he actually LETS you call him that?
Kurama: *casts flashlight in various directions, Anemone hanging onto his other arm* I have a feeling Anneliese hid him somewhere near here...
Anneliese: *from behind a random tree* BOO!!
Anemone: AHH!! *jumps behind Kurama, Vegeta rolls his eyes*
Vegeta: woman, it's just Hiei's Captor.
Anemone: *slowly looks over Kurama's shoulder at the grinning Anneliese* oh.
Anneliese: *cheerful and nice* what are y'all doing here?
Anemone: *jumps out from behind Kurama, waving her butterfly net threateningly* we came in search for Hiei!
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...please, Anneliese...it's been a week, and we're very worried...
Vegeta: reveal his whereabouts or else your little ningen life will be severed short.
Kurama: Vegeta...!
Vegeta: what?
Anemone: *still waving butterfly net in Anneliese's face*
Anneliese: *annoyed, pushes net aside* but I don't wanna let him go yet!
Kurama: is he staying willingly?
Anneliese: I think...
Kurama: *suspicious glare* truly...?
Anneliese: maybe...
Anemone: give him back!
Vegeta: I'm only here as his understudy...my woman's probably got dinner set by now...give them back their little playmate so I can go home! *glares*
Anneliese: no!
Kurama: please?
Anneliese: no.
Anemone: pretty please?
Anneliese: no.
Anemone: I was gonna have a party celebrating his return...and you were gonna be invited...
Anneliese: *gasp* really?!
Kurama: only if you give him back!
Anneliese: *grumble* fine...c'mon. *leads them to a random tree*
Kurama: *touches it's side* this tree is hallow!
Anneliese: yupyup...*taps on side, a door opens and Hiei collapses out*
Anemone: Flames! *Hiei's missing his cloak and undershirt, Anemone blushes* oh my...
Kurama: *kneels by Hiei's side, hitches him up* Hiei! Are you alright?
Hiei: *gurglegurgle* Die...*gurglegurgle* Kurama must!...*gurgle* DIE...!
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...well he's still mad at me...
Vegeta: can I go now?
Anemone: sure...bye Cabbage!
Vegeta: hmpf...*flies away*
Anemone: what did you do to him, Anneliese?!
Anneliese: I didn't do anything! He's napping.
Kurama: napping...?
Anneliese: yeah...this tree has an apartment underground...c'mon, I'll show you. *they go downstairs to a really trendy underground apartment with a lot of expensive furnishings*
Anemone and Kurama: *Kurama carrying Hiei* WHOA!
Anneliese: yeah...I can't afford a real apartment, and I like my privacy...so I live down here.
Kurama: I like it...but why was he 'napping' up there at the top of the staircase?
Anneliese: he's got this little issue about sleeping down here...he's got a hamick at the top of the stairs.
Kurama: but...he was standing when he collapsed out...
Anneliese: sometimes he falls out of his hamick and ends up standing in his sleep cuz it's so tight up there.
Kurama: *nods* ah...
Anemone: Flames? Flames wake up...
Hiei: *still sleeping* must...kill...Kurama...!
Kurama: *drops him, steps behind Anemone*
Anneliese: he's been talking about revenge since I brought him here.
Kurama: *whispering to Anemone* he's gonna kill me!
Anemone: Flames...? *kneels by his side, hitches him up*
Hiei: must...KILL..................MUST...eat...*stomach churning*
Anemone: when was the last time he ate?
Anneliese: twenty minutes ago, and he went straight to sleep.
Anemone: *gasp* he's in desperate need of nourishment! Fox, go and buy him some ice cream...stat!
Kurama: right. *runs off to the cornerstore*
Anemone: *turns to readers* this intro's way too long...so, just go into the story and come back when you're done...*whips out her handy- dandy...laptop! and uploads chapter* Chapter 3-
Anneliese: -wait! Can I do this part?
Anemone: the enjoy line?
Anneliese: yeah!
Anemone: erm...okay...
Anneliese: Chapter 33, enjoy!
Chapter 33: Escape the Stalemate
Claws stabbed and slashed against flesh, cracking into tough skins and spraying of blood. Redness flayed loose from open gashes Grapko had managed to dig into Yoko's unnaturally dense skin...and in turn wounds were open and raw on Grapko via Yoko's attacks. The two growled simultaneously, each gritting their fanged teeth in frustration and stubborness as the battle continued with no permanent turn-around.
Grapko would seem victorious with a well-placed kick, but Yoko would spry back into action with the perfect link of fist to opponent's jaw. The two blocked with grace and stealth, and attacked with equal care and precision...but both were annoyed with the current standings...neither was winning...a stalemate had been reached between the two powerful members of adjacent generations...father was tied with the younger of his sons...and both possessed the wolf's headstrongness...neither would accept a tie...both had motives for a personal win, both had an inner reason for the outcome of this almost pointless struggle to be in their favor.
Grapko sought revenge...total and utter hatred pulsed through his rabid veins, insanity racking his jugdement into thinking his own son was his enemy, just because of a rash decision made fifteen human years prior by the crafty hybrid.
He despised his own offspring with a seething vengeance that curdled his golden eyes scarlet with bubbling rage.
Yoko sought an end to the insanity...an end to the crazed, irrational wants of the wolf. He knew Grapko was lacking of any and all sense, that the wolf had poisoned his mind and fueled his overwhelmingly insane notions with unnecessary hatred and thirst for an offspring's blood.
Yoko despised his father with a rival loathing, an equal level of disrespect and hatred...he hated that he looked so much like this beast...this monster who threatened his own son, his own child...the insanity was enough to make Yoko's mane stand on end with frustration.
"It's a deadlock, and they both know it..." Kuwabara breathed in amazement at the loyalty both pure-bred and mut demon's expressed in their anger towards the other. "...they're, they're just gonna keep at it, til neither of 'em can even lift his arms..."
The others remained silent...Kuwabara merely voiced what each already knew, what each already feared...what each already dreaded since before they arrived at Mount Shiverku.
Hiei's piercing glare, though sagged slightly from the singeing pain swimming in the depths of his stomach, stabbed in a fiercely noble glare of cockiness and stubbornness. He had managed to stand without Yusuke's assistance, though his feet wavered under his own weight and the only thing really keeping him from collapsing was his clench to Hinegeshi's hand. 'If Yoko can't defeat him...I fear it will be the end of us all...' his dagger eyes cast slowly for Yukina, now on her feet with Kuwabara holding a kerchief tenderly to her gaping wound. Her temperature lowered, but to her command...the cooling sensation she called upon from her own abilities gave her burning gashes a twinge of relief. Kuwabara would blink slowly from her to the battle, giving each a respective, full minute of his time before transferring to the other matter weighing his mind.
'Yukina...' Hiei thought faintly at the sight of the redness locking into the fibers of Kuwabara's kerchief come contact to her fragile neck. 'That bastard! Yoko had better kill him!'
"Pah!" Yoko snarled as a frame of jagged knuckles tore against his muscle at his chest...the skin wasn't broken, but the muscle was bruised with a swelling sensation of numb pain. The mut in turn countered Grapko's vain attempt with a vain attempt of his own...he swiped his leg gracefully through the hazy air, air now weighed with the heavy scent of exposed wolf and fox bloods, and met his ankle against Grapko's veiny neck. The wolf coughed a choked snort of blood and saliva with the impact, with grit his reddened fangs in anger towards his hybrid son.
The now exhausted Grapko then threw masses of attacks to the equally exhausted Yoko, the fox-wolf just barely avoiding half of them...though his skin was tougher to pierce, his muscle was just as easy as ever to bruise and to cause clots in the blood flow...not that it was ever easy in the first place, mind you, but his muscle was no denser than fifteen years before, when he was still only Yoko of Thieves, and Suichi Minamino had yet to exist.
Yoko pounced in paced leaps backwards, each jump a step's worth of distance as Grapko swung half-tired, half-fueled fists and heels at him. Yoko wasn't gifted with luck with every attempt at avoidance...at times Grapko would manage to link an attack to the tired fox-wolf. The mut could only leap the short distances his graced steps could muster under the pressure of this crucial fight...not to mention the fact that some needed muscles had been tainted with swells of numbness, causing his usually hard- core attacks to be only less-than perfect.
But his stubbornness had yet to abandon him...Yoko had been raised by this beast...he had been raised to be stubborn...he had been raised to be strong...he had been raised to never run from the enevitable...and he had been raised to hate.
Yoko's heart had been braced in a iron setting by Grapko's ruthless actions, Yoko had grown half on his own and half under the influence of his father's abuse...no way in hell was the mut about to allow Grapko to defeat him...not as he did when he was a child...Yoko was craftly, and Grapko was not...Yoko was skilled, and Grapko was merely brawned...Yoko knew he had a chance...he knew that somehow, there was indeed a means for him to embrace the most important win of his life, both his demonic and his human lives...all he had to do was find it.
Repitition, that's all the battle was composed of...each trying to overcome the other, and each being overridden by the opponent's sudden second wind...Yoko thrashed his sprawled claws for Grapko's throat, but wound up grazing the collarbone, blood swarming at the hybrid's nimble fingertips...for Grapko had dodged, and forced his elbow for the center of Yoko's front, the dead middle just above his stomach and just below his pecks. The mut growled in pain, but tore away in a jerk, stabbing a flashing glare into Grapko's view and in turn stabbing an attack of a punch straight into the wolf's face...Grapko's features meshed against Yoko's knuckles in comformity for the briefest of seconds before collapsing backwards in a wavering stand.
"C'mon, Kurama! You can do it! Show that nasty old meanie who's boss!" Botan squealed enthusiastically, a bold expression of sternness about her little face.
"Yeah, Kurama!" Kuwabara cheered from the side-lines. "You can do it!"
"Silence," Hiei grunted in annoyance.
"Huh? What's wrong with cheering him on?" the punk blinked down at the dragon with confusion tainting his beady onyx eyes.
"Kitsune needs all the concentration he can muster," Hiei's stabbing glare never left the battle field. "With every word you state, even breath to him you are stealing attention he needs to focus into the fight...so shut up and allow him to direct his concentration solely into defeating Grapko."
Kuwabara could only blink. "Oh..." he mumbled slightly. Silence hazed the group, each refusing to whiddle at Kurama's already thin chances by talking, as Hiei had advised they not do. They merely watched on as the clash of father and son ate away at both Yoko and Grapko's strengths and energies.
Yoko growled rabid snarls at his father, and tore away, standing a good seven yards away, trying to grab breaths with immense strain. Sweat trickled down the edge of his chin, breaking loose in crystalline beads.
'Suichi...any suggestions?' Yoko's thoughts dug deep for the countering personality. Suichi was calm and stern towards the whole situation as he watched his demonic half struggle in a stalemate.
'Well, Yoko...' the humanoid of the two breathed softly. '...I didn't grasp a scent of any foliage near him...what do you suppose you use a plant concoction?'
'I've mastered demonic plants, Suichi,' Yoko grunted half-calmly. 'He taught me those...you, however, can control Earthly plants...not to mention, you never got the opportunity to store away my particular weapons...you went straight from Koenma to here, and you never got to pack away my foliage because you didn't even know of my release until it was too late to guard me with my plants...and, you've got your weapons...he never had anything to do with the developement of your techniques-'
'-I wouldn't stand a chance...I already took my attempt...come now, think...you've managed to weaken him-'
'-But I am just as beaten upon, so truly, we are still just as threatening to each other as before we started fighting...we're both just more tired, but really neither any more dangerous to the other than before...it's a repetitive cycle.'
'...true...' Suichi hummed in thought. '...well, I've armed myself with plants...over the years you've studied my techniques...could you try to use my human methods?'
'...you mean, like your-?' Yoko's thoughts were husked in question.
'Exactly,' Suichi confirmed sternly. Yoko could only wince a sigh.
'Very well...I will try...' the demon clicked his tongue to his teeth as his pearly fangs wedged in a firm grit. The demon then sprawled his hand wide, a crack echoing from the jerk of positions his fingers took...he combed it through his glossy mane...and retracted the trademark of his human counterpart...a single, full-bloom, scarlet rose.
His expression was narrow, dangerous, and seeping of rage, and blood. His husky tone was brash in the core of his deep throat as he scowled the phrase of Suichi's signature attack. "ROSE, WHIP!"
He lashed his extended arm downward, the petals ripping loose from Yoko's intense pressure and speed...and with a spurt of Spirit Energy, saturating the core of the stem with his overwhelming ki, the fox-wolf whipped it down, the stem crackling in the stinging energy of the demon mut...within the speed of Hiei's steps, the rose flicked to three yards in length, spiked with deadly jags...and burning with Yoko's muderously cold energy. Midnight blue hazed the whip...the aura of the mut's power, an almost evil navy.
"HYAAA!!!" the fox-wolf roared exuberantly as he lashed it straight for Grapko's coal ears. The wolf gaped at the glowing darkness of the weapon.
"Yoko can't perform that move! That's Suichi-Kurama's attack!" he blinked wide, quivering eyes of stunned gold. "AHH!"
"My God! That's what Yoko's energy looks like?!" Kuwabara gaped.
"Obviously..." Hiei breathed softly at the stunning array of crackling, lightning-like navy energy engulfing the human Kurama's trademark defense. Yoko lashed in mad directions, whipping around with a speed that only Grapko could rival...strain from trying to watch the movements dried Yusuke's eyes, and Kuwabara grew dizzy from the immense speed...only Hiei could examine Yoko's motions without pain striking to his eyes. Hinegeshi cast a gentle gaze in his direction, a look of worry and fatigue tainting her expression. 'He's so into it...he's really deep in the battle...'
Hiei sensed the crystalline eyes locked to his silhouette, he could feel the piercing gaze examining him...and without a glance to her, he gripped a little tighter to her fragile hand, still seemingly consumed with the battle. Hinegeshi in turn allowed her gaze to scan for Yoko and his insane movements.
A navy glow tainted his frustrated features as Yoko whipped in violent lashes for the unarmed Grapko. The wolf leapt backwards in steps of avoidance with every slash the thorny vine grazed. Scraps formed at the wolf's chin and collarbone from even closer calls, Grapko's eyes wide with shock and slight traces of fear to wipe through his mind.
Grapko dove this way and that with every attempt of avoidance, the midnight evil of the mut's aura glowing with a fierce thirst for destruction. Yoko could only strain upon his limbs to slice at the wolf...every second that slipped came another ten lashes of the humanoid's glowing weapon...the aura was jagged, as if like lightening...if the actual whip had yet to dig deep into Grapko's dense flesh, the aura burned sweat to the wolf's temple with it's vengeful heat.
"I can't believe that's really Kurama," Keiko half-whimpered in awe, holding the blood-stained kerchief to Yukina's neck. Both she and Yukina were in shock and amazement at Yoko's superior abilities. "He...He's so strong!"
"We know, Keiko," Yusuke smiled. "But, as strong as he is, Grapko is an equal."
"HYA!" Yoko growled with another insanely rabid lash...slashes, slices, whips, and with paced flicks of the wrist, Grapko was seared into, blood spraying loose on impact with the crackling of Yoko's demonic ki and with the spiked wine in general.
Grapko snarled grunts of anger and pain, flashing golden eyes of hate in Yoko's direction...the two shared identical eyes...differing bodies, differing views, differing bloods...but identical eyes. Both seethed with loathing, both glared dangerously narrow...and both were stinging with the golden glare reserved only for the wolf breed. Yoko was the only mut ever to gain such dangerous eyes...eyes that now looked upon his father with hate.
Grapko's tail flicked against his leg in frustration with every jump back he was forced to take...and that's when Yoko changed course. The fox- wolf pressed his feet nimbly to the ground after a long leap into the air with whipping attacks...and he now sprinted a jump behind Grapko in preparation for a final attack.
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
Anemone: hi there! lol still trying to bring Hiei to consciousness...*points behind her, with Hiei on the couch of Anneliese's apartment...Kurama's waving a srawberry ice cream cone in front of Hiei's nose*
Kurama: *reeeeeeeally sweet sounding tone* Oh Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii- eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...I've got iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccceee crreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaammm...
Hiei: *mumblemumble* huh...? *blinks sagging eyes* wha-what...?
Anneliese: YAY! He's awake! He's awake! Look, Mones, he's awake!
Anemone: YAY!
Hiei: *blinks* ice cream?! Where?! *didn't realize it's Kurama...yet...takes ice cream and inhales it* GAH! Brain freeze!! *Kurama takes this time to hide from Hiei*
Anemone: lollol...hi Hiei!
Hiei: *blinks, looks at Anemone...beams* MONES! FREEDOM! *Anneliese looks a little burt* *heavy sigh* erm...It's not that bad living with you, Liese, but-
Anemone: -you gave her a nickname?! *starts crying hysterically, Kurama trying to calm her down*
Hiei: er...
Kurama: there, there, Mones...it's okay...
Anemone: *snifflesniffle* grr fine...*sudden mood-swing, looks happy as she jerks to face the readers* But anyway, *Kurama, Hiei, and Anneliese all collapse anime-style* didya like the chapter?! Didya didya didya?!
Hiei: *reads through chapter* Hey! Nice violence, Mones, I must say...
Anemone: *gasp* Hiei complimented my work?! *shakes Anneliese* what did you do to him?!
Anneliese: I didn't do anything! *Anemone stops shaking her, but glares at her suspiciously*
Kurama: Mones, Mones...Mones...*annoyed sigh as Anemone continues to glare at Anneliese in susupicion...flings Anemone over his shoulder*
Anemone: gah?! FOX! Put me down!
Kurama: *ignoring her* thank you for your hospitality, Anneliese.
Hiei: *suddenly remembers that he's really pissed at Kurama* wait a second...KURAMA!
Kurama: *looks a little scared* Toodles! *runs like hell out of the apartment*
Anemone: wimp...
Kurama: *politely puts her down as soon as their outside* I think not...I've reason to fear the Black Dragon Wave...and he has reason to sick it on me.
Anemone: oh...*they go back to her house*
Hiei: KURAMA! Dammit why didn't I kill him?!
Anneliese: *fingering through a '100 Facts You'll Probably Never Need to Know About Fire Koorimes Because They Most Likely Don't Exist* It says here that ice cream brain freezes causes you to be unaware of the presence of other demons, and it slows you down from attacking.
Hiei: gah?! The hell did you get that book?!
Anneliese: eBay.
Hiei: oh...*turns to readers* gah?! Jeez you readers must be demonic if I didn't sense your presence...well, Mones will probably take the trouble to come back and yell at me to say my line...so before she does...go review.
Anneliese: bye!!
*back at Anemone's house...Kurama playing with a hacky-sack, Anemone lying on her bed*
Anemone: maybe she should've brought him back with us...
Kurama: ...no way, he's going to want to kill me.
Anemone: what exactly did you do again?
Kurama: *catched his hacky-sack and explains* I was being chased by a fangirl mob, and tricked them into going after Hiei...he was caught for a brief time then I suppose he ran away and met up with Anneliese, who rescued him...he had an owe to fulfil but as long as he was here he was safe...he was driving you crazy so I tricked him off the property and into Anneliese's custody. *long pause*
Anemone: yeah you're pretty much a dead-man walking.
Kurama: *resumes his hacky-sack game* I am inclined to agree.
Anemone: well anywho...*turns to readers* please review and please point out your fav parts! Latr!