~*~*~*~*~ Roses and Peonies ~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~*~*~*~
The ground shook violently. Botan could feel it, the massive amount of power surging up from the very core of the earth. The entire world quaked and shuddered with the shear force of this unknown power, Botan sensed it. With every moment it grew stronger in her mind. She soon found it impossible to think. Every time she captured a thought in her skull it was jarred loose, lost forever.
Panic seized her. Her eyelids latched together and refused to open. The same must have been happening for the ice skaters. Exclamations of fear and surprise escaped every lip and a collective thought of 'earthquake' seemed to be on every mind. Wasting no time they hit the road, running to the shelter of their own homes.
A tremor, more violent and louder than the others, seemed to cut through the park. A loud crunching sound soon followed. Botan whimpered and opened her eyes slowly. Her fears had been realized. The crunching had been the sound of ice splitting apart. A long gash ripped through the center of the frozen pond. Blinding white light erupted from the crack, slicing through the entire pond.
She slid closer to Kurama, letting his warmth and protection envelop her. He seemed to understand this and wrapped his arm tighter around her. And in scarcely more than a whisper, barely heard through all the din, Kurama said, "It's going to be all right. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
Botan's gaze drifted from the erupting light to Kurama's emerald eyes. His words seemed somewhat paled next to the horrible presence in her mind, but she felt somewhat relieved that he was here with her. Botan managed a weak smile before her attention was averted by yet another bone crunching sound.
The rupture had gotten bigger and the light seemed even brighter. A tight knot grew in the pit of Botan's stomach. And in one last surge of pure power the ice gave way to the intensity of the light and shattered. Ice shards flew through the air. Whistling as they zipped past. Botan through her arms up over her head, shielding her most vulnerable spot from the sharp objects. Kurama chivalrously shifted his weight so most of his body covered Botan, protecting her from the ice shards and leaving his own back unshielded.
The rain of ice passed but not the threat. An earsplitting roar resonated throughout the park. Though every fiber in her being screamed for her not to do so, Botan's head lifted seeking the source. What ungodly creature could make such a ghastly sound?
Her answer stood before her. No, not 'stood', towered! It's head a full 40 feet above her own. It was covered from head to toe in shaggy white fur. Long lumbering arms dangled at its side, the ends were adorned with horrible, yellowing claws. The part that attracted Botan's attention was the teeth. Long and sharp, they were yellow and black from decay. And either it was Botan's imagination or some trick of the light, but she could have sworn that she saw the faintest traces of red upon those teeth. The only remnant of his last victim...
A wave of panic tore through her as she felt Kurama's warmth fade. Botan turned her head to see what had happened. Kurama slowly rose to his feet, the same indifferent expression upon his face. How could he be so calm? Botan grit her teeth and tried to put on a brave face, but she felt she was failing miserably. She latched on to Kurama's arm and pulled herself to her feet. She had a full intention to let go but she found she didn't want to. Reluctantly she dropped his arm and faced the horrible snow beast.
The monster's mouth opened, gobs of saliva dripped down its chin. Unconsciously, Botan stepped backward, her eyes never leaving the monster's rather hungry expression.
Kurama's frown creased and he turned to her, "Botan, get Yusuke, I can't handle this thing on my own."
Botan, for a moment, looked stunned. Going to get Yusuke would leave him to battle this thing alone. She was about to object but the look in his eyes silenced her. And with a dutiful nod, Botan summoned her oar. Mounting gracefully, she sped off in the direction of Yusuke's apartment. Kurama watched her fly away, until she became nothing more than a blue dot.
Narrowing his eyes he turned back to the beast. His blood red eyes piercing into him. The monster, though huge, probably didn't have much speed. Taking out his rose whip and cracking it in the air in an attempt to intimidate his opponent, Kurama formulated a plan while looking for the monster's weak point.
Botan was flying as fast as that wooden oar would take her. Every second she wasted was one more second Kurama was stuck fighting that thing. Hurry! She pleaded, time an ever present thing in her mind.
At last she reached her goal of Yusuke's apartment. To save time she merely flew up to his window. It was difficult, but Botan slipped her finger's through the crack between the window and the pane. And with a great feat of strength, she tore the window open. Smiling triumphantly, Botan flew through the window and hovered above Yusuke's bed.
To her relief Yusuke had slept in his clothes last night. For the first time Botan was actually glad the boy was so lazy. Swooping in low, Botan grasped the boy's arms and dragged in him out of bed.
"Uh?" Yusuke's eyes flickered open, "What's going o-WHAT THE?" Yusuke, having finally been awakened from his half asleep state, realized that he was no longer tucked in between the mattress and the blankets but above them. He looked wildly about him, his gaze at last landing on Botan.
"BOTAN! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?"
Botan ignored him completely. Tightening her grip she flew out of the open window all the time mumbling, "No time. Kurama's in trouble. Explain later."
Yusuke's expression changed from annoyed to worried, "What do you mean Kurama's in trouble?"
"No time!"
Yusuke frowned, the cold biting him like a viper. However, the cold was quickly forgotten as his spirit awareness kicked in. He sensed it, whatever it was. It was huge! It's power was so massive! "What the-"
Botan rounded a corner and came into view of the park. And there, standing in the snow, was perhaps the biggest, most ferocious thing he's ever seen. He clenched his teeth defiantly and prepared his best bad boy act.
Botan loosened her grip on Yusuke's arms and let him fall into the snow. After such an event she quickly flew to the outskirts of the park to watch the happenings from a safe distance.
Yusuke spotted Kurama with ease. His red hair was a blinding beacon among all the white. Kurama was flailing that rose whip of his around but his efforts seemed to be in vain. The creature was simply to massive to fall prey to Kurama's thorns. The beast deflected the rose whip and sent its huge fist pummeling down on Kurama. At the last moment Kurama leaped gracefully aside and the beast missed.
Yusuke frowned. He was cold. He was extremely mad at being woken up so early and, most importantly, he wanted to go back to sleep. Striking up his usual pose (Feet apart and hand in the shape of a gun) Yusuke charged up his spirit energy and released it, yelling, "SPIRIT GUN!"
The great, glowing ball of energy erupted from his finger tip and rocketed toward the monster. Yusuke smiled with satisfaction as the monster looked seemingly helpless at the orb. But then, to Yusuke's utter amazement, with a swing of the demon's colossal arms, it deflected his energy and sent it speeding to God knows where.
Yusuke gritted his teeth. "Oh great..."
Kurama dodged another blow and back flipped to Yusuke's side, "Energy blasts won't have any effect on him. Those arms are simply to great, they'll deflect anything you'll throw at him."
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Yusuke questioned slightly annoyed.
Kurama's eyes withdrew and he returned to his pensive state. His gaze flashing from Yusuke to the monster to Yusuke again then landing on Botan.
"Botan!"
Botan snapped to attention at the sound of her name. It took her awhile to process who had called but the minute she discovered it was Kurama she flew diligently to his side.
"Yes, Kurama?"
"Do you think you could fly me to the monster's shoulder?"
Botan's face reflected shock, "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
Kurama frowned. Botan immediately smiled apologetically and hovered low enough for Kurama to hop on.
With one fluid motion Kurama had mounted the oar and Botan soared toward the monster.
Flying in a wide arc to avoid being hit, Botan came up behind the demon and hovered merely ten feet from the monsters shoulder. She hoped this would be enough, she didn't exactly want to get closer to the thing. It apparently was enough because Kurama slid from his seat and landed elegantly on the snow beast shoulder. It was covered with so much fur that it didn't even notice Kurama land.
Seeing Kurama had safely landed, Botan flew just out of arm's length of the demon.
Yusuke, meanwhile, was rather dumbfounded as to what was going on. He really wished Kurama had at least explained his plan before going off liked that. All he could do was dodge the monster's stupid attacks. Funny, from the amount of spirit energy he had sensed he would have expected more. Yusuke narrowly missed being sliced by one of the monster's long claws. He landed safely out of harm's way and glanced up and Kurama. What was he doing?
Kurama positioned himself behind the neck of the beast. His teeth were clenched and sweat trickled down his brow. Please work.
"Rose whip!"
Kurama snapped the whip and with an air of uncertainty wrapped the whip of thorns around the monster's thick neck. Kurama pulled and the thorns pierced its skin. Little rivulets of blood flowed from the neck. The monster howled a deep throated roar that vibrated through the air. It dug its hands in between the whip and its neck in a vain attempt to free himself of the device.
Kurama grinned. As the monster wrapped his claws around his whip Kurama pulled. The whip bound the demon's hands to his neck. "Now, Yusuke!"
Yusuke blinked, watching the entire thing in amazement. And with a nod he once again fired his spirit gun. This time the monster was helpless to defend itself.
"Yeah! Woohoo!" Botan cheered from the sidelines.
The glowing orb hit the demon's stomach and sent it falling backward. Kurama, sensing it was his time to go, loosened his grip and prepared to leap from the shoulder. That was his mistake.
The monster's arm wrenched free of the whip's thorny grasp. Drops of blood streamed from the wounds left by the thorns. The arm swung back with a great amount of force. And unfortunately, Botan was hovering in the arms path. She didn't notice until it was to late. The paw hit and Botan dropped from her oar.
"Botan!" Kurama screamed as she fell limp.
~*~*~*~*~
ARGH! This chapter sucks! It stinks! It smells of rotten eggs! ARGH! *coughs* I'm sorry, but I have recently been suffering from writer's block, if it weren't for that I would have updated sooner. Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers! There's 18 of them!
kage1586, Millie-chan, Miyuki Mikuni, eunc, Jellybob 15, Winnie, triangle144, Reikachan14, Botan Minamino, Killing Perfection, Jaid Skywalker, The Crimson Comet, Grasshoppa , Spirit Rose, Angelike Riddle, Terrance Landon, Ice-Angel, and Silent Sage.
Thank you all!
And a special thanks to kage1586 for being the first one to add me to her favorite authors list. ^_^
This chapter sucks, but review anyway. Please?