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When at last the demon entered the middle of the forest, Hiei let his ki stop flickering. In fact, he even strengthened his shields, making sure that there was no possible way that Mantis would know he was there.
Mantis stood in a small opening in the trees, looking around at all the different trees. He would know something was up; he wasn't that stupid. But, if Hiei could quickly dart out in just a flash and kill the demon, he would be dead before he even knew what was happening.
The fire demon crouched in the shadow in the limbs of one of the trees, watching the other demon closely, waiting for his chance. Then, as the other demon turned around, still looking for his ki, he knew it was time. 'There!' he cried in his mind.
Diving out of the shadows, Hiei pulled out his sword with one swoop. Holding it out before him as he fell to the ground, he aimed straight for the demons head. But something happened. Whether it was demon instinct or something else, Hiei never knew. With a quick turn, Mantis saw Hiei coming right at him. Without even thinking, he switched quickly over to his demon self, just in time to block with the sharp claws of his right hand.
Hiei pulled back just in time to avoid the claws of Mantis's other hand, which swiped dangerously close to his head. Crouching at the ground nearby, the two demons studied each other.
"Who sent you?" Mantis demanded.
"You need not know," Hiei said, as his jumped forward to try and give a new wound to the other demon. "All you need know is that your deeds are finally catching up with you." He gave another slash with his sword, which the demon easily avoided and countered with a stab from his own claws.
"So this is a revenge kick, is it?" the demon asked, swiping his claws at Hiei's head, which the fire demon easily ducked, put cut off a few small black hairs.
"Now is not the time to talk," Hiei told him, making a jab at Mantis's stomach, which he blocked with his claws. "Fight me."
The demon grinned. "You ask, I can do not but obey." And suddenly, with a new burst of speed, swiped at the black haired demon's sword.
The claws missed, but contacted with something much more important. "Argh!" Hiei cried, taking a duck roll, dropping his sword to the ground in pain. He crouched just a few feet away, clutching his sword hand painfully. There was a large gash in his wrist, which was bleeding quite steadily. Knowing demon saliva would help stop the gushing blood, he licked up the wound.
Clutching his hand into a fist, Hiei looked up at the demon and growled. Mantis just smirked at him, a face that seemed to taunt and tease.
Unfortunately for him, this was Hiei's pet peeve. "Don't underestimate the wounded dragon," he growled at him. Suddenly, with inhuman speed, he lunged for his sword, snatched it up off the ground, and pressed it up to Mantis's throat. The other demon starred at Hiei, shocked at how quickly the table's had turned. Then Hiei leaned forward and whispered into the blue demon's ear, "even when the head is chopped off, it still bites."
The demon, even with his surprise, was not stupid. Hiei had put himself in a slightly dangerous situation when he had whispered that, leaving his chest unguarded. Mantis jabbed up with his claws, scrapping Hiei and leaving a trail of scratches, but nothing too serious.
But, for all his large talk, Hiei was still badly wounded. Even with his added siliva, his right wrist continued to bleed, making him use his left hand in battle. He could do it, but he wasn't even half as good.
The demon pushed him back, and back. Hiei knew he was loosing, but there was little he could do about it. He would not run from the fight, and there were few techniques that he could do with such little energy. Nothing worth it at least.
Suddenly, with one careless move, Hiei knew it was over. The demon grabbed his necked and pushed him up against the tree. Though the pain was great, Hiei could no longer feel it, with his windpipe completely cut off. And when the demon raised his huge claws, Hiei had only one thought, 'what did I do wrong?'
Then, before Hiei even noticed, a flash dropped out of one of the tree limbs. When the flash landed, the fire demon could see who, or what, it was.
It was another demon, with a young, child like body. His hair was a, long, tangled red mane that swept down his back. His eyes were slim like a cats, and seemed to glow with a green fire. The other demon was upset, although Hiei didn't know why. His ki seemed to radiate with anger and blazed up as he landed.
With a quick flash of his wrist, the small demon pulled out a rose and gave it a jerk. The rose flashed in a sudden thrust of power, and the rose turned from a simple flower to a long, dangerous, green spiked whip.
Mantis seemed to forget about Hiei then, letting him drop to the ground in a thud. Hiei could feel the pain pulsing around him like water, yet he struggled to remain conscious, watching the two demons advance to each other with wide eyes.
The fight wasn't much of one though. Mantis bared his teeth at the red haired demon, snarling threateningly. The other demon though, flicked his whip without a spare movement, and within a second had it rapped around the blue demon's neck. Mantis gasped, reaching his hands up to tear the vine from his throat, but before he could do so, the green-eyed one had made the final move.
With another flick of his wrist, the whip jerked, and with a sudden lash of pain, Mantis fell, with all the bones in his neck broken, dead before he hit the ground.
The red haired demon looked at Mantis's corpse for a moment, seemingly surprised. About what, Hiei couldn't fathom.
Instead, the fire demon did his best to remain small and unnoticeable. When the other demon remembered him, he would no doubt die a very painful death.
The other demon tucked the rose back into his red, school uniform, and then turned back around. Then his eyes lit upon Hiei. 'This is it,' thought Hiei. 'He's planning to kill me now,' as the demon walked over to him and looked down.
Suddenly, Hiei mentally snarled to himself, 'But I'm not going to go down without a fight.' Then, with the last of his strength, hauled himself up and threw his sword out in front of him, with only a little help from the tree behind him.
Then, something odd happened. The other demon did the last thing Hiei expected him to do. He looked down at Hiei sympathetically and said softly to "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
"How am I supposed to believe you?" Hiei spat, not trusting the demon one bit, convinced it was all an act. No demon could be that kind.
"You can't," the other demon told him, shrugging slightly. "You'll just have to take my word for it."
"Hah," Hiei fake laughed. "Like I'd trust a powerful, killer demon."
The demon seemed unfazed by his words. He continued to look down sympathetically and told him, "You don't have much of a choice. Because, you see, in a moment you're going to be unconscious."
And with that, Hiei fell into the dark.
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Hey again!
Guess who! I know I just started this story a few days ago, but like I said then, I wrote this chapter at the same time. Actually, they were originally only one chapter, but it seemed a bit too long, so I made it two.
Thank you for everyone who reviewed! It's nice to know I'm appreciated! Also, make sure to check out my other YYH story, 'Fox Child' which is a parallel story to this one, only the original, so it's much better, plus a good deal longer!
Not much to say now! My new chapter is already written, but since it's almost exactly like the 7th chapter in Fox Child, The Fire and the Thorn, I'm a little hesitant to put it up… Would you guys like to see it anyway? Let me know. If so, I'll probably have it up sometime Monday!
That's all for now!
Dream Fox
