*backstage of p3...huge uproar of applause heard from the crowd as Corrosive makes its way from the stage...Kurama leads them off, guzzling a bottle of water having just sung lead...Anneliese is skipping happily, dragging along a reluctant, moaning Hiei...and enter Mirai Trunks spinning in circles with Anemone in the air*
Anemone: WEE!
Mirai Trunks: *laughing* we did it!
Hiei: *smirk* and the Onna stayed conscious...
Anemone: HURRAH! I, THE ONNA, STAYED CONSCIOUS!
Kurama and Mirai Trunks: ^_^;;
Kurama: indeed...what an accomplishment, Mones.
Anneliese: *look of pure horror*
Hiei: hn? Onna?
Anneliese: ...
Kurama: ...Anneliese...? Are you alright...?
Anneliese: *slowly shakes head, staring out blankly*
Mirai Trunks: *gently placing Anemone down* what is--GAH!
Anemone: huh? What's--*prick* uh-oh...
*all stare in horror in the same direction...straight at...ELLEN!! dun-dun-dun!!!*
Anemone: uh...*shifty eyes*...hi, Ellen!
Ellen: *hiss*
Anemone: -eep!!!- *leaps into Mirai Trunks's arms*
Mirai Trunks: -O_O; wha-whoa!! *collapses because he didn't expect that...all this in 2 seconds*
Hiei and Anneliese: –_–;;
Kurama: ^_^;;
Mirai Trunks: *now sprawled on the floor with Anemone in his arms...looks terrified as he slowly holds Anemone tighter* ...er...still mad, ne?
Ellen: how could you just DITCH me?!?!
All: *points desperately at Anneliese* IT WAS HER FAULT!
Anneliese: *who had meekly tried pointing at Kurama* ...GAH?! TRAITORS!
Ellen: WHY SHOULD ONLY ANNELIESE SUFFER?!
Anneliese: YEAH! Why SHOULD only Anneliese suffer?!
Anemone: *glare* cuz it's your fault...
Anneliese: ...*glare*
Ellen: I think you should ALL suffer!!
All: wait-what?!
Ellen: *whips out her handy-dandy...PAINTBALL GUN!! evil smirk*
Anemone: aw shit-
Ellen: -BANG!!
All: GAH!!
Ellen: *starts shooting randomly*
Kurama: Ellen! Please! Listen to reason!! *leaps and dodges the paintballs gracefully*
Hiei: *blurs in and out of view, avoiding the many paintballs being shot at him*
Anneliese: AHH!!! *running around like crazy trying to avoid the shots*
Mirai Trunks: *kicks off against the floor in flight, safely hovering in midair with Anemone*
Anemone: HEY! WHY ARE WE AFRAID OF PAINTBALLS, ANYWAY?!
Hiei: hn? Hey...yeah...why are we?!
Kurama: *stops dodging to pause in thought...gets hit in the arm and slowly turns to look at it...blink* hmm...it's actually kind of tickles, really.
Mirai Trunks: really? Hmm...
Ellen: *blinky* aww DAMN...*prick, evil smirk* BWAHAHAHA!!
Hiei: *staring narrowly at Ellen, slowly whispers out of the corner of his mouth to Anneliese* Onna what the hell is your crazy cousin going to do...?
Ellen: *whips out a case of matches!!*
All: O_O
Kurama: RUN! GOOD LORD RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!
Ellen: *sets the paint in her gun ablaze and shoots*
All: AHH!!
Kurama: ELLEN! DO YOU KNOW HOW FLAMMABLE PAINT IS?! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!!
Mirai Trunks: not to mention the damned FUMES! *flying randomly to avoid flamming orbs of paint*
Hiei: *gets hit in the chest* HOLY SHIT...*glares dangerously at Ellen* Onna...you...will...PAY!!
Ellen: *prick* huh?
Hiei: *whips out Katana* THIS IS MY FAVORITE JACKET, WOMAN!! AND YOU SINGED A DAMNED HOLE IN IT!!
Ellen: *blinky* uh-oh...
Hiei: *lunges at her and chases her all around the backstage area*
Mirai Trunks and Anemone: *hovering in midair, Anemone nestled in his arms...blink at each other, blink back at Hiei and Ellen*
Anneliese and Kurama: *standing on crates...diving out of the way of stray fire from Ellen's gun as she attempts to shoot at Hiei to keep him back*
Anneliese: *nearly gets hit, leaps at Kurama, both stare blankly at Ellen and Hiei*
Mirai Trunks: *clears throat* um...shouldn't we...do...something...? *long pause...in background: Ellen-AHHH!!! Hiei-DAMN YOU, ONNA!!! continues long pause*
Anemone: I know what to do!!
Kurama, Mirai Trunks and Anneliese: *turn to her*
Anemone: *whips out her handy-dandy...LAPTOP!* upload the new chapter!!!
Kurama and Anneliese: *anime collapse*
Mirai Trunks: –_–;;
Anemone: *turns to readers* bet that's what ya'll came to see, ne?
Mirai Trunks: O_O *jerks out of the way of Hiei's Katana as it goes flying through the air...Anemone undisturbed in his movement as she types like hell*
Anemone: okeey dokeey smokey!! All up! Fox!
Kurama: Mones, now is not the ti-
Anemone: -FOX!!
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to readers* chapter 15...enjoy...*goes wide-eyed, ducks a huge flaming paintball* go! Hurry! Before you fall victim!!
Chapter 15: Danger in the Very Shadows
Darkness veiled him, his distinctions lost in the shadows. His nostrils flared as he caught to a scent...looming...heavy...dangerous. He set his eyes low, and jerked to face his companions. His intentions, as theirs, was noble, and brave...and yet a twinge of fear played to his heart-strings. The emotion of the situation plagued him...scared him...haunted him. It had for nearly three decades.
Fear pumped within the very core of his heart, tampering at his chest. His blood ran cold, and rushed with intensity to his head, a dramatically cold sensation flushing in the very top of his slender neck.
Kurama pulsed in a heavy sigh as he flattened against the cool, smooth, stone wall. Mount Shiverku. Sensations unlike any other overwhelmed him...taunted him...intrigued him. It was temptation, the feeling that pumped to the farthest depths of his heart. A smirk wished to peak over his smooth lips...but he held it back...that was merely Yoko wishing to get his opinion across...his smirk of utter threat. The fox was awakening, was unraveling of his vine-like ties to the center of his keeper's mind. He was no longer unconscious. He was no longer held secure.
In this place of memory and pain...of mental corruption...and of fear...Yoko was being steadily persuaded from his rest in Suichi's mind.
The complexity of Yoko's predicament didn't dawn on the bitter Spirit Detective...he hadn't noticed the yearn to smirk with darkly narrowed eyes that had briefly caught to Kurama...but the two unmentioned had.
Ryooki's nostrils flared...and he smirked a smirk identical to that of Yoko's, realizing the clever fox was but a skin layer away from surfacing. Hiei eyed Kurama narrowly, unsure if the aging humanoid could sustain the violent fox-wolf for much longer, now that Yoko was being coaxed from his banishment to the core of Suichi's brain.
"Kurama?" the Koorime inquired lowly...almost threateningly. It was as if he dared Yoko to peak through, to take over...to cause the humanoid pain. Hiei was ready for anything the fox-wolf pulled if he had managed to leak to the freer plains.
But his dare was left unanswered...for Yoko, allowing a single, blood-curdling smirk to brush across Kurama's angelic face, fazed back to the depths of Suichi's mind, patiently awaiting his calling.
Kurama shook back, blinking stiffly, and he threw his trademark grin of solace for his partner. "Yes, Hiei?"
A pause. Hiei locked ruby against emerald, and both knew that Yoko would break free soon enough...he wouldn't force it, but he would take over. They exchanged this information merely with each other's gaze...no thought, no words, no physical movement. Just a sensation that attacked them both, signaling the plain truth.
"Hn..." the flame Koorime finally grunted bitterly, after jerking away to snatch at a sound he thought he had heard under the influence of his paranoid suspicions. "...can you smell him?"
"Not distinctly, Hiei, no," Kurama answered faintly, sighing in defeat. "the smells surround me...my nose isn't as sharp at focusing down to a specific area as it used to be."
"Hn..." Hiei practically growled, and jerked to eye his partner's brother. "...and you? Is your nose useful?"
"More so than my humanoid brother's, Koorime," Ryooki smirked, quirking an eyebrow sarcastically at the aggitated demon. Hiei grunted, then calmly shrugged, pressing his stinging eyes shut.
"Then make use and smell Daddy-Dearest out," Hiei snarled lowly, smirking to himself as he sensed Ryooki's expression of a threatening glare.
"Yeah! I'm getting sick of this damned mountain already..." Yusuke grunted bitterly, glaring at nothing in particular. The four had managed to break through every force thrown at them, and had eased calmly into the dead mountain's gaping entrance...now, far to the bowels of the deepest caves, they dodged light and snuck in the blackest of shadows.
Darkness smeared over their features, hiding their glares of determination. Ryooki's nostrils flared wide as the heavy air wafted to his lungs...and he let it loose, jutting his lip in thought. "...two wolves...our sister...and Grapko...both in that direction." he jerked his chin for a specific route, and, being offered a grunt of thanks from the flame Koorime, the four nimbly set for the darkest of shadows to lead them for the pure-breds.
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Ivory hands, slender and long with cat-like grace, stroked his temple. It was tense...taut...his expression pained. She drew her hand away, and it fluttered to her collarbone in awkwardness. She couldn't help but try in the least to assist him in any means. His orange hair spill disheveled over his pillow, his scalp greased in sweat from his strain. The scrappy beard about his cheeks and chin were glossed, as was his now clumped mustache, in his perspiration. The ivory hands attempting in vain to comfort and console him sank to a little bowl of tepid water, where a clothe lay sponging the soothing liquid. The caretaker of he in pain wrenched at the towel slightly, and gently lay it over his tense, reddened brow. Instantly stripes of clarity streaked his face, running smooth over his trembling features and catching in the nooks of his gnarled expression. Kuwabara's chest ached in such a way that was unimaginable, and Botan felt utterly helpless by his side. His onyx eyes were clenched shut, and refused to surface and to soothe her worried frenzy.
Botan cooed a weary sigh, and layered her slender hand over her tired face. The warm-cool water of the tiny bowl to her side felt soothing against her face, and it ran over her cheek, breaking off the peak of her chin and patting at her neck. She sighed into her hand, and let it fall limp in her lap. She cast her tired raspberry gaze for the unconscious Kuwabara.
In all the years she had known him...he was a brave, noble, and selfless man. A true man...never was he a boy, though he was slightly immature...he had always carried about him an air of courage...of respectability. He was a marvel...never clever, never cunning...but his heart had always led him down the righteous, honest path...he had always been there to help his friends...to support them...to keep them in line.
Kuwabara...a real, worth-while man. His bravery surpassed all others...his instinct had always guided him through the lows of his life extremely well. His life was risked thousands of times...and yet he had always held the strength to keep going...to keep pushing...to keep getting better.
His stubbornness and will were traits Botan had always admired and respected about him. His chances of victory...and of survival...were slimer, and fewer than those of his companions and partners...and yet he had always managed to keep pace with them, never falling too far behind...never giving up.
But seeing him now...seeing him in a coma...in such indescribable pain...it stabbed at her heart. He looked fragile...breakable...human.
She always forgot just how delicate he really was. With his tough talk and even tougher battles, it was easy to forget what he was...a human.
Kurama, though in a stolen body of a mortal, was after all a fox-wolf...and one of the most dangerous of either breed to surface in Makai. With his wit and calculations, he was already a danger to any who dared oppose him...yet he had strength and speed to match his godly mind...he was a deathtrap.
Hiei was a threat as well...having honed a creature of the darkest pits of hell as the Dragon, and with his mutated demon blood, his survival was inevitable.
Yusuke was only half-human, a descendant of a hell-beast himself. He already possessed natural skill over Kuwabara.
These three were born fighters, they were concieved with power already pulsing within them.
But Kuwabara wasn't.
He had to work at it...he had to hone his strength in such a way that other humans would have fallen victim to death far sooner than he. His ability, though inferior in the light of his comrades, was a might like non other.
And he was human.
There was no demon in him...there was no gift of hellish ability at his fingertips...he was a mortal, home-grown...completely and utterly human.
It pained her so to see him now...how simple it was to forget his limitations...how easy it was to forget how fragile he truly was.
He put on a show with his obvious strength...and for many years hid a bruised and battered heart.
It pumped irregularly...violently...slowly...it fell limp in his very chest at times, but he'd wrench and scream through it...ensuring his lovely Yukina it was all merely a means of mental training.
Botan brushed a long lock of amber hair from his pained face...his chest pulsed wearily up and down, and his breaths were chaffed...heavy...scratched.
The bluette gently laced her fingers with his and squeezed. 'Kurama...' she thought softly. '...come back soon...'
Kuwabara's breaths calmed slowly, as if the presence of another had somehow computed in his limp mind. '...Kuwabara needs you.'
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"GAH!" Kurama snarled, collapsing into the sturdy arms of his Detective partner. Yusuke glared dangerously in the immediate direction, as Kurama rasped in his breaths. He clenched tautly to his chest, and racked in uneven inhales...his skin was snapped, and redness leaked into the fibers of his thrashed shirt. Ruby glossed in streaks over his tense hand, and he managed to cast a one-eyed glare in the attacker's direction. Sparks of pain fluttered within his singeing eyes, the one he managed to wince to exposure glaring narrowly.
A smirk tightened about her face, and through the darkness was seen blatant distinctions of pride and superiority. The Hell's Shadow clicked her heels together, and licked her teeth sensually. "Come now...is that all you've got, Kurama?"
He practically hissed at her, while attempting to shove Yusuke aside. He and Ryooki had both sensed her...had smelled her...but her speed surpassed Hiei's...as did her precision. The very shadows hiding them were their coffins if they slacked in their stealth...which is almost exactly what Kurama had done. Instantaneously calculations had sparked in his mind...by her physical size, which was decided by the amount of concentration her scent was strongest in, she shouldn't have been that much of a threat...she shouldn't have been that fast. Alas...she had slit him through the front, and blood and flown into the thin air like satin ribbon...hence the timing.
Hiei glared dangerously at the she-Elite...and knew Kurama would most likely hold back...just for the sake that she was a female.
"Don't you dare hold back, Kurama," she smirked darkly, her eyes irredescent in the darkness hiding her.
"Indeed..." Hiei grunted monotonously. "...take her advice...don't hold back."
Kurama stroked the air, steadying his hand behind him in a motion for silence from the Dragon and potentially both others. Ryooki's nostrils flared, but he wove his arms in a stitch over his chest, and leaned to the wall just behind. Yusuke couldn't contain himself any longer.
"Kurama! You're hurt, you moron! You've gotta sit this one out...hell you've gotta sit em ALL out til Grapko! KURAMA!"
Kurama jerked his glare over his shoulder...and growled viciously. Yusuke nearly collapsed in shock...for what had scared him...wasn't his companion's rigid tail lashing in annoyance...wasn't his fangs exposed unnaturally sharp...it was his eyes. They had sparked from their calm, composed emerald casings...and had stained to violent gold.
Even Ryooki and Hiei pricked, the breath stolen from their immediate reach. There Kurama stood, a completely new body language about him...he had changed mentally...had succumbed to the vaster force of his demonic counterpart...physically he was still the humanoid...but his ruby mane stood rigid in the roots, and it shifted slightly in shape...his tail was violently whipping from side to side...and a smirk gnarled tauntingly to his pale lips. His eyes slit in dangerous gold, his composure warped...their stood the mentality of Yoko.
"Well this isn't good..." Yusuke murmured in his somewhat stupified state.
"Attack me, will you, Onna?" Kurama smirked...but it wasn't his voice to escape his coaxing lips...it was the sensual, dark, and mysterious voice of his demon half...Yoko was completely overruling Kurama.
"Yeah that's definitely not good...um...Hiei...?" Yusuke motioned for the Dragon.
"Hn?" came his only response...the only one Hiei cared to muster.
"...did...Yoko like...force Kurama to let him take over...?"
Silence met his reluctant question. Hiei's lips were pressed shut, and his eyes faceted slits of fiery ruby as he studied Kurama intently.
"Hiei!"
"-no, Detective..." Ryooki licked his left fang calmly, his right ear pinning against his scalp. His expression was eerily calm, his eyes shut loosely.
"No? What do you MEAN no?!" Yusuke gaped.
"...Kurama let Yoko out to play," Ryooki smirked, returning to his self-amusement by licking his fang. Yusuke gaped in horror...did Kurama loose it, or something?!
"I'm a gentleman...so, Ladies first," Yoko smirked deviously. The she-Elite sneered in return, and lunged, steadying her claws in preparation.
"This may sting!" she hissed through a smirk, but Yoko grunted sarcastically calmly, his expression dark and taunting.
"It will if you can hit me," he snickered sensually as she approached.
Slash, slash, slash...attempt after attempt, failure after failure...she stroke no more than air with her hellish claws. She kicked madly, punched, but her target jerked in smug ducks and smirked all the harder at her.
"Perhaps defense is your forte," he sneered darkly...she pricked in fear...and was met through the stomach with a blade...Kurama had hidden the deadly shard of bamboo in his palm, having managed to wrestle it from it's confines to his hair as he ducked her pitiful attacks...now it penetrated her shadowy flesh, and the stench of blood was heavy as it leaked exposed over Kurama's milky hands. "...hmm...it seems you lack a battle forte."
She hissed and growled angrily at him, and tore from his weapon...her blood streaked it in randomly placed stripes of ruby...and her stomach was completely thrashed. Yoko stood firm, not a facial expression to claim him...though still the physicality of Suichi...his eyes screamed of Yoko's return to the outer world...and Yoko caught to his humanoid-holder's lips in a dark smirk. "Now die."
She pricked in utter fear, and jerked hidden behind crossed arms...Yoko's approach was her demise.
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"Oh Kurama..." Botan sighed...her ivory face seemed milky in the moonlight...Kuwabara had managed steady his breaths a little, and the bluette was in dire need of fresh, midnight air. The others were in the back...but she needed some personal space. She stepped to the front porch, and gazed longingly into the sky...as the moon hit her lovely eyes, they stung from pink...to purple.
Kurama had always enjoyed her eyes most at night...he had always told her they were all the lovelier when they darkened in sync to the night. He loved her eyes...he could gaze in them for eternity and always find something new welling within them to stroke his interest in just so a way. But when the moon glossed their color, he long to drown in them.
Botan felt a redness streak over her nose at the memory of him acting sultry for the sheer presence of her eyes alone. She awkwardly touched her cheeks, and coughed primly, trying to ease from the rather personal memory.
Kurama was always so good to her...he was so polite...so loving...so...perfect. His eyes put a spell on her, just as hers did to him. She couldn't bear to look away from his mesmorizing gaze...they held such immensely deep soul to them that she couldn't resist but watch them. They were so soft...gentle...just like their keeper.
The bluette grew dreamy as she thought longingly of her husband...she slowly whirled in a swayed circle, a nostalgic expression plastered about her face...she hummed his favorite tune, savering the taste of the song against her tongue...suddenly, a rancid scent stung through her nostrils, and before she could make a single motion, a sturdy hand clasped over her mouth, stifling her screams.
The attacker bound her arms against her side, and kicked against the floor, setting nimbly for the air. Botan wriggled and jerked hysterically, trying desperately to pry free. Suddenly, her glare darkened, and with a violently dangerous look about her face, she steadied her hands in sprawls, and conjured her trademark oar from the deepest pits of her energy. The ki stung and licked at her ivory hands...but the attacker had yet to notice...his glare, hidden in darkness, seemed focused on their direction...he had yet to realize her intentions.
Suddenly, she struck him upside the face with her oar, and the sound of flesh against wood cracked into the lazy air. She collapsed from his tense bind, and both made a descend for the ground far below. But Botan was quick, and swept her oar beneath her, steadying herself in a sit. She flew lopsidedly at first, but stroked the air smoothly as her attacker collapsed for the yard...she smirked triumphantly at him...until he managed to curl in a flip, press against the ground in a nimble step, and lunge through the air straight at her.
Botan pricked in fear...and screamed...her scream, heard by fox-like ears, was stifled short when the attacker's gnarled, tense fist had stabbed into her fragile stomach, vacuuming the air from her fragile reach. Her amethyst eyes bulged wide, and she collapsed limp in his arms...he smirked, victorious over this headstrong mate of his enemy.
"Mother!!" Ai tore away from her companions, sprinting through the brush of the smogging forest greens...blood ran cold through her as she sensed her mother's ki...vanished from their plain of existance.
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Prick. Kurama froze...and his corrosively dark eyes of demonic gold...pierced emerald. He gaped, heavy breaths pulsing his chest.
His victim, caught in a tight wince, could feel his troubled breathing against her brow. She blinked awkwardly up at him...and collapsed to her back, eyeing him in desperation...and utter hope.
Instantly the thoughts of slaughter abandoned him...and fear pulsed his blood cold. He broke for a sprint, a strong, swelling sense overwhelming him. "Botan!!" he exclaimed, forgetting completely of the she-Elite and sparking in a sprint for the darkness beyond.
Yusuke, Hiei, and Ryooki looked after him in confusion, staring blankly in his direction. Yusuke, shifting in a low sigh, broke off to follow. "Kurama! Wait up!!"
Hiei and Ryooki stood in silence. The two slowly shifted to throw each other a narrow side-glance, and, both returning each other's motion with a smirk, they blurred against reality to join Kurama's spur-of-the-moment sprint.
The she-Elite was abandoned...alone...alive. She sighed in relief, snickering to herself...until she felt a presence to her neck. Instantly her skin snapped and redness spilled...she collapsed a limp corpse at Ryooki's feet...who eyed her in disgust. "This time...stay dead, Syaaka."
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"Kurama! What the hell is going ON with you?!" Yusuke scowled as he followed his companion's run.
"Botan! She's in danger!" Kurama answered with a desperate, scared tone. Yusuke pricked at his companion's accusation, and pushed harder to keep in sync with Kurama's run.
Hiei caught up nearly instantaneously...and he knew well of Botan's unexplained presence in Makai. "Kitsune?"
"Whoever brought her here will DIE!"
"Hn..." Hiei smirked. "...just like last time, ne?"
"Yes! No one kidnaps MY mate and should expect to live!" Kurama growled, straining more the speed up.
"Hn?" Hiei pricked, skidding to a rough stop against his blurred run. Kurama too sensed it...and, wide-eyed, eased to face a separate cavern, darker than any pit of Hell. From its deepest bowel came a low, serious moan...deadly...threatening...pissed off.
"...huh? What's wrong?" Yusuke approached his two companions in confusion, having yet to realize there was a familiar ki deep within that cave.
"...it...can't be...!" Kurama breathed heavily. "...can it?!"
"YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" a scream reached and boiled in their ears, gnarling a wince from each. A boom shook the remnants of Mount Shiverku that they were present in...and a huge cloud of dust tore free and vicious from the gaping entrance, choking the scream silent. Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke ducked as the giant cloud whipped and lashed around them, chaffing their skin and rushing through their hair with the intensity of a coursing river. Dust stung to Yusuke's eyes, and he strained to cuss over the intense noise and thick masses of dust catching in his throat. Kurama and Hiei winced through it all, Kurama's back to the cloud, Hiei bracing his face with his sturdy, left arm. Enter Ryooki, just beyond the cloud's reach...dust hazed at his ankles, and an eerie breeze ruffled his mane and tail...but his distance from his companions enabled him free of the cloud's immense rage and power.
As the booming cloud finally dimmed of intensity, the three dared expose their wincing, narrowed eyes for the gaping cave. A figure stumbled from the shroud of blackness around him...the scent of mutt blood stung to Kurama's nostrils, and he pricked. "KISHO!"
Yusuke gaped in shock, jerking to face the wobbly figure...as the dust cleared, it was blatant the type of shape he was in...stabs through each wrist, cracks of the flesh at his ankles...and a fragment of arrow hanging from his left wrist, stuck with the dried blood that slipped from his system. Kisho's eyes swayed lazily, pain drugging his better judgement. "Check...and mate...you bastards...!" he murmured slowly...and collapsed limp to the floor.
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*sigh* not motivated for a skit...but...eh...anyway...ooo so the Hell's Shadow of this chappie was Syaaka...remember her? Acid-demon who fought Hiei in ftfe? Yeah well I'll explain more about that whole concept later...lol okay so they found Kisho, and Botan's been kidnapped...ooo this is getting good, ne? Yay!! Okay go review and tell me your fav parts...SRY ABOUT THE LATENESS! lol writer's block sucks...latr.
Anemone: WEE!
Mirai Trunks: *laughing* we did it!
Hiei: *smirk* and the Onna stayed conscious...
Anemone: HURRAH! I, THE ONNA, STAYED CONSCIOUS!
Kurama and Mirai Trunks: ^_^;;
Kurama: indeed...what an accomplishment, Mones.
Anneliese: *look of pure horror*
Hiei: hn? Onna?
Anneliese: ...
Kurama: ...Anneliese...? Are you alright...?
Anneliese: *slowly shakes head, staring out blankly*
Mirai Trunks: *gently placing Anemone down* what is--GAH!
Anemone: huh? What's--*prick* uh-oh...
*all stare in horror in the same direction...straight at...ELLEN!! dun-dun-dun!!!*
Anemone: uh...*shifty eyes*...hi, Ellen!
Ellen: *hiss*
Anemone: -eep!!!- *leaps into Mirai Trunks's arms*
Mirai Trunks: -O_O; wha-whoa!! *collapses because he didn't expect that...all this in 2 seconds*
Hiei and Anneliese: –_–;;
Kurama: ^_^;;
Mirai Trunks: *now sprawled on the floor with Anemone in his arms...looks terrified as he slowly holds Anemone tighter* ...er...still mad, ne?
Ellen: how could you just DITCH me?!?!
All: *points desperately at Anneliese* IT WAS HER FAULT!
Anneliese: *who had meekly tried pointing at Kurama* ...GAH?! TRAITORS!
Ellen: WHY SHOULD ONLY ANNELIESE SUFFER?!
Anneliese: YEAH! Why SHOULD only Anneliese suffer?!
Anemone: *glare* cuz it's your fault...
Anneliese: ...*glare*
Ellen: I think you should ALL suffer!!
All: wait-what?!
Ellen: *whips out her handy-dandy...PAINTBALL GUN!! evil smirk*
Anemone: aw shit-
Ellen: -BANG!!
All: GAH!!
Ellen: *starts shooting randomly*
Kurama: Ellen! Please! Listen to reason!! *leaps and dodges the paintballs gracefully*
Hiei: *blurs in and out of view, avoiding the many paintballs being shot at him*
Anneliese: AHH!!! *running around like crazy trying to avoid the shots*
Mirai Trunks: *kicks off against the floor in flight, safely hovering in midair with Anemone*
Anemone: HEY! WHY ARE WE AFRAID OF PAINTBALLS, ANYWAY?!
Hiei: hn? Hey...yeah...why are we?!
Kurama: *stops dodging to pause in thought...gets hit in the arm and slowly turns to look at it...blink* hmm...it's actually kind of tickles, really.
Mirai Trunks: really? Hmm...
Ellen: *blinky* aww DAMN...*prick, evil smirk* BWAHAHAHA!!
Hiei: *staring narrowly at Ellen, slowly whispers out of the corner of his mouth to Anneliese* Onna what the hell is your crazy cousin going to do...?
Ellen: *whips out a case of matches!!*
All: O_O
Kurama: RUN! GOOD LORD RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!
Ellen: *sets the paint in her gun ablaze and shoots*
All: AHH!!
Kurama: ELLEN! DO YOU KNOW HOW FLAMMABLE PAINT IS?! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!!
Mirai Trunks: not to mention the damned FUMES! *flying randomly to avoid flamming orbs of paint*
Hiei: *gets hit in the chest* HOLY SHIT...*glares dangerously at Ellen* Onna...you...will...PAY!!
Ellen: *prick* huh?
Hiei: *whips out Katana* THIS IS MY FAVORITE JACKET, WOMAN!! AND YOU SINGED A DAMNED HOLE IN IT!!
Ellen: *blinky* uh-oh...
Hiei: *lunges at her and chases her all around the backstage area*
Mirai Trunks and Anemone: *hovering in midair, Anemone nestled in his arms...blink at each other, blink back at Hiei and Ellen*
Anneliese and Kurama: *standing on crates...diving out of the way of stray fire from Ellen's gun as she attempts to shoot at Hiei to keep him back*
Anneliese: *nearly gets hit, leaps at Kurama, both stare blankly at Ellen and Hiei*
Mirai Trunks: *clears throat* um...shouldn't we...do...something...? *long pause...in background: Ellen-AHHH!!! Hiei-DAMN YOU, ONNA!!! continues long pause*
Anemone: I know what to do!!
Kurama, Mirai Trunks and Anneliese: *turn to her*
Anemone: *whips out her handy-dandy...LAPTOP!* upload the new chapter!!!
Kurama and Anneliese: *anime collapse*
Mirai Trunks: –_–;;
Anemone: *turns to readers* bet that's what ya'll came to see, ne?
Mirai Trunks: O_O *jerks out of the way of Hiei's Katana as it goes flying through the air...Anemone undisturbed in his movement as she types like hell*
Anemone: okeey dokeey smokey!! All up! Fox!
Kurama: Mones, now is not the ti-
Anemone: -FOX!!
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to readers* chapter 15...enjoy...*goes wide-eyed, ducks a huge flaming paintball* go! Hurry! Before you fall victim!!
Chapter 15: Danger in the Very Shadows
Darkness veiled him, his distinctions lost in the shadows. His nostrils flared as he caught to a scent...looming...heavy...dangerous. He set his eyes low, and jerked to face his companions. His intentions, as theirs, was noble, and brave...and yet a twinge of fear played to his heart-strings. The emotion of the situation plagued him...scared him...haunted him. It had for nearly three decades.
Fear pumped within the very core of his heart, tampering at his chest. His blood ran cold, and rushed with intensity to his head, a dramatically cold sensation flushing in the very top of his slender neck.
Kurama pulsed in a heavy sigh as he flattened against the cool, smooth, stone wall. Mount Shiverku. Sensations unlike any other overwhelmed him...taunted him...intrigued him. It was temptation, the feeling that pumped to the farthest depths of his heart. A smirk wished to peak over his smooth lips...but he held it back...that was merely Yoko wishing to get his opinion across...his smirk of utter threat. The fox was awakening, was unraveling of his vine-like ties to the center of his keeper's mind. He was no longer unconscious. He was no longer held secure.
In this place of memory and pain...of mental corruption...and of fear...Yoko was being steadily persuaded from his rest in Suichi's mind.
The complexity of Yoko's predicament didn't dawn on the bitter Spirit Detective...he hadn't noticed the yearn to smirk with darkly narrowed eyes that had briefly caught to Kurama...but the two unmentioned had.
Ryooki's nostrils flared...and he smirked a smirk identical to that of Yoko's, realizing the clever fox was but a skin layer away from surfacing. Hiei eyed Kurama narrowly, unsure if the aging humanoid could sustain the violent fox-wolf for much longer, now that Yoko was being coaxed from his banishment to the core of Suichi's brain.
"Kurama?" the Koorime inquired lowly...almost threateningly. It was as if he dared Yoko to peak through, to take over...to cause the humanoid pain. Hiei was ready for anything the fox-wolf pulled if he had managed to leak to the freer plains.
But his dare was left unanswered...for Yoko, allowing a single, blood-curdling smirk to brush across Kurama's angelic face, fazed back to the depths of Suichi's mind, patiently awaiting his calling.
Kurama shook back, blinking stiffly, and he threw his trademark grin of solace for his partner. "Yes, Hiei?"
A pause. Hiei locked ruby against emerald, and both knew that Yoko would break free soon enough...he wouldn't force it, but he would take over. They exchanged this information merely with each other's gaze...no thought, no words, no physical movement. Just a sensation that attacked them both, signaling the plain truth.
"Hn..." the flame Koorime finally grunted bitterly, after jerking away to snatch at a sound he thought he had heard under the influence of his paranoid suspicions. "...can you smell him?"
"Not distinctly, Hiei, no," Kurama answered faintly, sighing in defeat. "the smells surround me...my nose isn't as sharp at focusing down to a specific area as it used to be."
"Hn..." Hiei practically growled, and jerked to eye his partner's brother. "...and you? Is your nose useful?"
"More so than my humanoid brother's, Koorime," Ryooki smirked, quirking an eyebrow sarcastically at the aggitated demon. Hiei grunted, then calmly shrugged, pressing his stinging eyes shut.
"Then make use and smell Daddy-Dearest out," Hiei snarled lowly, smirking to himself as he sensed Ryooki's expression of a threatening glare.
"Yeah! I'm getting sick of this damned mountain already..." Yusuke grunted bitterly, glaring at nothing in particular. The four had managed to break through every force thrown at them, and had eased calmly into the dead mountain's gaping entrance...now, far to the bowels of the deepest caves, they dodged light and snuck in the blackest of shadows.
Darkness smeared over their features, hiding their glares of determination. Ryooki's nostrils flared wide as the heavy air wafted to his lungs...and he let it loose, jutting his lip in thought. "...two wolves...our sister...and Grapko...both in that direction." he jerked his chin for a specific route, and, being offered a grunt of thanks from the flame Koorime, the four nimbly set for the darkest of shadows to lead them for the pure-breds.
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Ivory hands, slender and long with cat-like grace, stroked his temple. It was tense...taut...his expression pained. She drew her hand away, and it fluttered to her collarbone in awkwardness. She couldn't help but try in the least to assist him in any means. His orange hair spill disheveled over his pillow, his scalp greased in sweat from his strain. The scrappy beard about his cheeks and chin were glossed, as was his now clumped mustache, in his perspiration. The ivory hands attempting in vain to comfort and console him sank to a little bowl of tepid water, where a clothe lay sponging the soothing liquid. The caretaker of he in pain wrenched at the towel slightly, and gently lay it over his tense, reddened brow. Instantly stripes of clarity streaked his face, running smooth over his trembling features and catching in the nooks of his gnarled expression. Kuwabara's chest ached in such a way that was unimaginable, and Botan felt utterly helpless by his side. His onyx eyes were clenched shut, and refused to surface and to soothe her worried frenzy.
Botan cooed a weary sigh, and layered her slender hand over her tired face. The warm-cool water of the tiny bowl to her side felt soothing against her face, and it ran over her cheek, breaking off the peak of her chin and patting at her neck. She sighed into her hand, and let it fall limp in her lap. She cast her tired raspberry gaze for the unconscious Kuwabara.
In all the years she had known him...he was a brave, noble, and selfless man. A true man...never was he a boy, though he was slightly immature...he had always carried about him an air of courage...of respectability. He was a marvel...never clever, never cunning...but his heart had always led him down the righteous, honest path...he had always been there to help his friends...to support them...to keep them in line.
Kuwabara...a real, worth-while man. His bravery surpassed all others...his instinct had always guided him through the lows of his life extremely well. His life was risked thousands of times...and yet he had always held the strength to keep going...to keep pushing...to keep getting better.
His stubbornness and will were traits Botan had always admired and respected about him. His chances of victory...and of survival...were slimer, and fewer than those of his companions and partners...and yet he had always managed to keep pace with them, never falling too far behind...never giving up.
But seeing him now...seeing him in a coma...in such indescribable pain...it stabbed at her heart. He looked fragile...breakable...human.
She always forgot just how delicate he really was. With his tough talk and even tougher battles, it was easy to forget what he was...a human.
Kurama, though in a stolen body of a mortal, was after all a fox-wolf...and one of the most dangerous of either breed to surface in Makai. With his wit and calculations, he was already a danger to any who dared oppose him...yet he had strength and speed to match his godly mind...he was a deathtrap.
Hiei was a threat as well...having honed a creature of the darkest pits of hell as the Dragon, and with his mutated demon blood, his survival was inevitable.
Yusuke was only half-human, a descendant of a hell-beast himself. He already possessed natural skill over Kuwabara.
These three were born fighters, they were concieved with power already pulsing within them.
But Kuwabara wasn't.
He had to work at it...he had to hone his strength in such a way that other humans would have fallen victim to death far sooner than he. His ability, though inferior in the light of his comrades, was a might like non other.
And he was human.
There was no demon in him...there was no gift of hellish ability at his fingertips...he was a mortal, home-grown...completely and utterly human.
It pained her so to see him now...how simple it was to forget his limitations...how easy it was to forget how fragile he truly was.
He put on a show with his obvious strength...and for many years hid a bruised and battered heart.
It pumped irregularly...violently...slowly...it fell limp in his very chest at times, but he'd wrench and scream through it...ensuring his lovely Yukina it was all merely a means of mental training.
Botan brushed a long lock of amber hair from his pained face...his chest pulsed wearily up and down, and his breaths were chaffed...heavy...scratched.
The bluette gently laced her fingers with his and squeezed. 'Kurama...' she thought softly. '...come back soon...'
Kuwabara's breaths calmed slowly, as if the presence of another had somehow computed in his limp mind. '...Kuwabara needs you.'
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"GAH!" Kurama snarled, collapsing into the sturdy arms of his Detective partner. Yusuke glared dangerously in the immediate direction, as Kurama rasped in his breaths. He clenched tautly to his chest, and racked in uneven inhales...his skin was snapped, and redness leaked into the fibers of his thrashed shirt. Ruby glossed in streaks over his tense hand, and he managed to cast a one-eyed glare in the attacker's direction. Sparks of pain fluttered within his singeing eyes, the one he managed to wince to exposure glaring narrowly.
A smirk tightened about her face, and through the darkness was seen blatant distinctions of pride and superiority. The Hell's Shadow clicked her heels together, and licked her teeth sensually. "Come now...is that all you've got, Kurama?"
He practically hissed at her, while attempting to shove Yusuke aside. He and Ryooki had both sensed her...had smelled her...but her speed surpassed Hiei's...as did her precision. The very shadows hiding them were their coffins if they slacked in their stealth...which is almost exactly what Kurama had done. Instantaneously calculations had sparked in his mind...by her physical size, which was decided by the amount of concentration her scent was strongest in, she shouldn't have been that much of a threat...she shouldn't have been that fast. Alas...she had slit him through the front, and blood and flown into the thin air like satin ribbon...hence the timing.
Hiei glared dangerously at the she-Elite...and knew Kurama would most likely hold back...just for the sake that she was a female.
"Don't you dare hold back, Kurama," she smirked darkly, her eyes irredescent in the darkness hiding her.
"Indeed..." Hiei grunted monotonously. "...take her advice...don't hold back."
Kurama stroked the air, steadying his hand behind him in a motion for silence from the Dragon and potentially both others. Ryooki's nostrils flared, but he wove his arms in a stitch over his chest, and leaned to the wall just behind. Yusuke couldn't contain himself any longer.
"Kurama! You're hurt, you moron! You've gotta sit this one out...hell you've gotta sit em ALL out til Grapko! KURAMA!"
Kurama jerked his glare over his shoulder...and growled viciously. Yusuke nearly collapsed in shock...for what had scared him...wasn't his companion's rigid tail lashing in annoyance...wasn't his fangs exposed unnaturally sharp...it was his eyes. They had sparked from their calm, composed emerald casings...and had stained to violent gold.
Even Ryooki and Hiei pricked, the breath stolen from their immediate reach. There Kurama stood, a completely new body language about him...he had changed mentally...had succumbed to the vaster force of his demonic counterpart...physically he was still the humanoid...but his ruby mane stood rigid in the roots, and it shifted slightly in shape...his tail was violently whipping from side to side...and a smirk gnarled tauntingly to his pale lips. His eyes slit in dangerous gold, his composure warped...their stood the mentality of Yoko.
"Well this isn't good..." Yusuke murmured in his somewhat stupified state.
"Attack me, will you, Onna?" Kurama smirked...but it wasn't his voice to escape his coaxing lips...it was the sensual, dark, and mysterious voice of his demon half...Yoko was completely overruling Kurama.
"Yeah that's definitely not good...um...Hiei...?" Yusuke motioned for the Dragon.
"Hn?" came his only response...the only one Hiei cared to muster.
"...did...Yoko like...force Kurama to let him take over...?"
Silence met his reluctant question. Hiei's lips were pressed shut, and his eyes faceted slits of fiery ruby as he studied Kurama intently.
"Hiei!"
"-no, Detective..." Ryooki licked his left fang calmly, his right ear pinning against his scalp. His expression was eerily calm, his eyes shut loosely.
"No? What do you MEAN no?!" Yusuke gaped.
"...Kurama let Yoko out to play," Ryooki smirked, returning to his self-amusement by licking his fang. Yusuke gaped in horror...did Kurama loose it, or something?!
"I'm a gentleman...so, Ladies first," Yoko smirked deviously. The she-Elite sneered in return, and lunged, steadying her claws in preparation.
"This may sting!" she hissed through a smirk, but Yoko grunted sarcastically calmly, his expression dark and taunting.
"It will if you can hit me," he snickered sensually as she approached.
Slash, slash, slash...attempt after attempt, failure after failure...she stroke no more than air with her hellish claws. She kicked madly, punched, but her target jerked in smug ducks and smirked all the harder at her.
"Perhaps defense is your forte," he sneered darkly...she pricked in fear...and was met through the stomach with a blade...Kurama had hidden the deadly shard of bamboo in his palm, having managed to wrestle it from it's confines to his hair as he ducked her pitiful attacks...now it penetrated her shadowy flesh, and the stench of blood was heavy as it leaked exposed over Kurama's milky hands. "...hmm...it seems you lack a battle forte."
She hissed and growled angrily at him, and tore from his weapon...her blood streaked it in randomly placed stripes of ruby...and her stomach was completely thrashed. Yoko stood firm, not a facial expression to claim him...though still the physicality of Suichi...his eyes screamed of Yoko's return to the outer world...and Yoko caught to his humanoid-holder's lips in a dark smirk. "Now die."
She pricked in utter fear, and jerked hidden behind crossed arms...Yoko's approach was her demise.
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"Oh Kurama..." Botan sighed...her ivory face seemed milky in the moonlight...Kuwabara had managed steady his breaths a little, and the bluette was in dire need of fresh, midnight air. The others were in the back...but she needed some personal space. She stepped to the front porch, and gazed longingly into the sky...as the moon hit her lovely eyes, they stung from pink...to purple.
Kurama had always enjoyed her eyes most at night...he had always told her they were all the lovelier when they darkened in sync to the night. He loved her eyes...he could gaze in them for eternity and always find something new welling within them to stroke his interest in just so a way. But when the moon glossed their color, he long to drown in them.
Botan felt a redness streak over her nose at the memory of him acting sultry for the sheer presence of her eyes alone. She awkwardly touched her cheeks, and coughed primly, trying to ease from the rather personal memory.
Kurama was always so good to her...he was so polite...so loving...so...perfect. His eyes put a spell on her, just as hers did to him. She couldn't bear to look away from his mesmorizing gaze...they held such immensely deep soul to them that she couldn't resist but watch them. They were so soft...gentle...just like their keeper.
The bluette grew dreamy as she thought longingly of her husband...she slowly whirled in a swayed circle, a nostalgic expression plastered about her face...she hummed his favorite tune, savering the taste of the song against her tongue...suddenly, a rancid scent stung through her nostrils, and before she could make a single motion, a sturdy hand clasped over her mouth, stifling her screams.
The attacker bound her arms against her side, and kicked against the floor, setting nimbly for the air. Botan wriggled and jerked hysterically, trying desperately to pry free. Suddenly, her glare darkened, and with a violently dangerous look about her face, she steadied her hands in sprawls, and conjured her trademark oar from the deepest pits of her energy. The ki stung and licked at her ivory hands...but the attacker had yet to notice...his glare, hidden in darkness, seemed focused on their direction...he had yet to realize her intentions.
Suddenly, she struck him upside the face with her oar, and the sound of flesh against wood cracked into the lazy air. She collapsed from his tense bind, and both made a descend for the ground far below. But Botan was quick, and swept her oar beneath her, steadying herself in a sit. She flew lopsidedly at first, but stroked the air smoothly as her attacker collapsed for the yard...she smirked triumphantly at him...until he managed to curl in a flip, press against the ground in a nimble step, and lunge through the air straight at her.
Botan pricked in fear...and screamed...her scream, heard by fox-like ears, was stifled short when the attacker's gnarled, tense fist had stabbed into her fragile stomach, vacuuming the air from her fragile reach. Her amethyst eyes bulged wide, and she collapsed limp in his arms...he smirked, victorious over this headstrong mate of his enemy.
"Mother!!" Ai tore away from her companions, sprinting through the brush of the smogging forest greens...blood ran cold through her as she sensed her mother's ki...vanished from their plain of existance.
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Prick. Kurama froze...and his corrosively dark eyes of demonic gold...pierced emerald. He gaped, heavy breaths pulsing his chest.
His victim, caught in a tight wince, could feel his troubled breathing against her brow. She blinked awkwardly up at him...and collapsed to her back, eyeing him in desperation...and utter hope.
Instantly the thoughts of slaughter abandoned him...and fear pulsed his blood cold. He broke for a sprint, a strong, swelling sense overwhelming him. "Botan!!" he exclaimed, forgetting completely of the she-Elite and sparking in a sprint for the darkness beyond.
Yusuke, Hiei, and Ryooki looked after him in confusion, staring blankly in his direction. Yusuke, shifting in a low sigh, broke off to follow. "Kurama! Wait up!!"
Hiei and Ryooki stood in silence. The two slowly shifted to throw each other a narrow side-glance, and, both returning each other's motion with a smirk, they blurred against reality to join Kurama's spur-of-the-moment sprint.
The she-Elite was abandoned...alone...alive. She sighed in relief, snickering to herself...until she felt a presence to her neck. Instantly her skin snapped and redness spilled...she collapsed a limp corpse at Ryooki's feet...who eyed her in disgust. "This time...stay dead, Syaaka."
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"Kurama! What the hell is going ON with you?!" Yusuke scowled as he followed his companion's run.
"Botan! She's in danger!" Kurama answered with a desperate, scared tone. Yusuke pricked at his companion's accusation, and pushed harder to keep in sync with Kurama's run.
Hiei caught up nearly instantaneously...and he knew well of Botan's unexplained presence in Makai. "Kitsune?"
"Whoever brought her here will DIE!"
"Hn..." Hiei smirked. "...just like last time, ne?"
"Yes! No one kidnaps MY mate and should expect to live!" Kurama growled, straining more the speed up.
"Hn?" Hiei pricked, skidding to a rough stop against his blurred run. Kurama too sensed it...and, wide-eyed, eased to face a separate cavern, darker than any pit of Hell. From its deepest bowel came a low, serious moan...deadly...threatening...pissed off.
"...huh? What's wrong?" Yusuke approached his two companions in confusion, having yet to realize there was a familiar ki deep within that cave.
"...it...can't be...!" Kurama breathed heavily. "...can it?!"
"YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" a scream reached and boiled in their ears, gnarling a wince from each. A boom shook the remnants of Mount Shiverku that they were present in...and a huge cloud of dust tore free and vicious from the gaping entrance, choking the scream silent. Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke ducked as the giant cloud whipped and lashed around them, chaffing their skin and rushing through their hair with the intensity of a coursing river. Dust stung to Yusuke's eyes, and he strained to cuss over the intense noise and thick masses of dust catching in his throat. Kurama and Hiei winced through it all, Kurama's back to the cloud, Hiei bracing his face with his sturdy, left arm. Enter Ryooki, just beyond the cloud's reach...dust hazed at his ankles, and an eerie breeze ruffled his mane and tail...but his distance from his companions enabled him free of the cloud's immense rage and power.
As the booming cloud finally dimmed of intensity, the three dared expose their wincing, narrowed eyes for the gaping cave. A figure stumbled from the shroud of blackness around him...the scent of mutt blood stung to Kurama's nostrils, and he pricked. "KISHO!"
Yusuke gaped in shock, jerking to face the wobbly figure...as the dust cleared, it was blatant the type of shape he was in...stabs through each wrist, cracks of the flesh at his ankles...and a fragment of arrow hanging from his left wrist, stuck with the dried blood that slipped from his system. Kisho's eyes swayed lazily, pain drugging his better judgement. "Check...and mate...you bastards...!" he murmured slowly...and collapsed limp to the floor.
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*sigh* not motivated for a skit...but...eh...anyway...ooo so the Hell's Shadow of this chappie was Syaaka...remember her? Acid-demon who fought Hiei in ftfe? Yeah well I'll explain more about that whole concept later...lol okay so they found Kisho, and Botan's been kidnapped...ooo this is getting good, ne? Yay!! Okay go review and tell me your fav parts...SRY ABOUT THE LATENESS! lol writer's block sucks...latr.