Chapter 7: Tsuaigo Attacks!

Disclaimer: Nada, don't own them.

~NORMAL POV~

It was quiet. Kurama liked quiet. Quiet usually meant peace, tranquility, calmness. There would be no blood shed when it was as quiet as it was now. There would be no lives stolen, no fighting and terror. Nothing. That was why he loved the quietness so much. He had just closed his eyes, ready to drift off into blissful sleep, until…

BOOM! Kurama was jerked awake against his wishes, and was met with a cold blast of air. The quietness was gone, and in its place there was a gaping hole in the middle of a cave wall. Kurama never anticipated this. He never even thought anything would happen in the warm cave while Yusuke and Kuwabara were away. But it happened.

Kurama breathed heavily, forcing himself up. He cried out in pain as the wound was jarred, gasping as it pounded in pain. The considerable drop in temperature meant only one thing. Kurama drew out his rose whip, steadying himself for anything. He knew what was happening. Tsuaigo had attacked.

The ice demon walked in, and Kurama almost dropped his rose whip in surprise.

"YOU?!" He gasped, seeing the Koorime he bumped into. His mouth dropped and he eyed her warily. "YOU are Tsuaigo?!" The Koorime laughed a maniacal laugh that sent even colder chills up his spine. Slowly, though, the laugh tapered into silence.

"You demons are so sexist these days. Yes, I'm Tsuaigo, greatest master of ice!" She laughed, and Kurama shook his head, trying to clear his head of that awful laughter.

"You-You're wrong!" Kurama huffed, clutching his rose whip so hard his knuckles turned white. That made Tsuaigo stop and stare.

"What? What did you say to me, fox?" Kurama shifted his weight to one foot, wincing as the wound reacted. 

"You heard me. You aren't the greatest master of ice, Touya is." He argued, remembering the fight with the Shinobi. Tsuiago glared at him, but soon her face changed from anger to show smugness.

"Yes, Touya… I know him… Pfft, he may be CONSIDERED the greatest ice magician, but I KNOW I AM! You will regret defying me, just as your little Forbidden Child friend!" Kurama's eyes widened, and his whole body shivered in the cold.

"Wh-WHAT did you do to Hiei?" He hissed through clenched teeth. "Where are Yusuke and Kuwabara?!" He added. Tsuaigo raised an eyebrow.

"Yusuke and Kuwabara?" She asked, utterly baffled. "Where the hell are they?" Kurama let out a small sigh of relief. She had not gotten to them yet.

"Spicy tongue for a lady." He cheeked, gaining slight amusement from her fury.

"Oh, you WILL regret saying EVERYTHING!" She growled, raising her arms above her head. This time, however, Kurama was ready for the attack, and lashed out with his rose whip before she could power up. Tsuaigo snorted, doing a series of flips and spins to avoid the whip. Kurama was impressed; she had gymnastic skills to match his own.

Bringing his whip up, he just barely nipped Tsuaigo on her arm, but let a sly fox grin show. He had gained first blood. Tsuaigo glared at her injury, but brushed it off, watching the fox with slight earnest. She shook her head, letting her aqua hair whip from side to side. This was the second time today she saw a powerful demon in a pathetic state, downed by her own hand.

Kurama was huffing from the effort of slashing his rose whip. He was shivering terribly from the intense cold, and every breath he took was like death as he kept irritating his injury. He looked as if he was on the verge of collapsing, which he was, and he could hardly keep himself up.

Tsuaigo rolled her eyes, walking over to him. Kurama raised his rose whip, but she stopped just short of his range. Instead, she drew out something from under her icy blue kimono. It was the silver flute.

Kurama's eyes widened, and he stepped back. The hold on his rose whip was unbelievable; blood had stopped flowing into his hands. He panted heavily, more out of fear than hurt. That was it. That was why they had been sent on this mission. There, in the Koorime's hands, lay the Pipe of Lost Souls.

"I've been meaning to try this out." She mused, watching Kurama's fear. "But I've never had the chance. Or, at least," She flashed a devil's grin. "not on another demon." Kurama stumbled back, his back pressed against the cave wall. His hand dove into his hair, searching desperately for one particular seed.

Tsuaigo put her lips to the flute, just as Kurama grasped the seed.

Tsuaigo blew into the pipe.

Kurama threw the seed into the ground. And then he doubled over in pain. The horrible sound of the haunting melody of the pipe bounced in his sensitive ears.

Kurama felt it trying to control his mind, control his body. NO WAY IN HELL WAS HE GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN! He fought against the flute as best as he could; stalling only enough to grow his plant. Every second was like a frozen hell. Each bit of energy Kurama gave to the plant stole heat from him. He gasped, digging his nails into his ears, drawing blood. Kurama screamed as the melody reached a climax before dipping down again.

Finally, Kurama saw a small shoot of icy blue plant wriggle its way up out of the ground, and he took in a sharp breath, letting out all his energy into that little plant. Finally, Tsuaigo noticed, and shrieked, letting the flute drop from her hands. Kurama gave a sigh of relief, dropping to his knees. The rose whip flew out of his hand and in midair, turned back into a rose. Kurama hit the ground with a thud, just as Tsuaigo let out her last scream.

The rose dropped to the base of the Ice Shard Plant…

…and shattered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: OHMYGOD!! KURAMA!!!!  *sigh* DONE WITH THIS CHAP!! Merry Christmas, Silverkitsune09!

~Koganeiro Kitsune