*Anemone's room...Mirai Trunks flies in with Anemone on his back and the unconscious Hiei under his arm...lands and places Hiei on Anemone's couch...Kurama jogs in and eases into a chair in the corner, breathing a little heavy...Anneliese and Ellen drag themselves in after running fifteen blocks...both collapse into each other*
Ellen: God, d-dammit, *gasp* Trunks! Did you hafta, hafta fly all the *weez* freakin' way from, from p3?!
Anneliese: *weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez*
Mirai Trunks: ... *examines Hiei's injury...he's bleeding from the temple...drops Hiei's head*
Hiei: *thud*
Mirai Trunks: *raised eyebrow at Anemone*
Anemone: Future he was gonna kill us all!!
Hiei: *drool*
All: ...
Kurama: hm...maybe you just went about it the wrong way, Mones...
Anemone: *glare*
Anneliese: Mones?
Anemone: yeah?
Anneliese: we gotta talk...
Anemone: huh? O-wh?!-*dragged out into hallway...blinky* what is it, Anneliese?
Anneliese: there has been no end skit for six chapters...do you know what that's doing to our careers?!
Anemone: ...
Anneliese: we only get half the recognition as we did before, and our little adventures take twice as long to play out!
Anemone: um...
Ellen: *pops out of nowhere*
Anemone and Anneliese: -ah!-
Ellen: -yeah! You're being lazy...tisk tisk.
Anemone: –_–;;
Kurama: *walks into hallway to join in discussion* indeed...Mones, I've done some calculations, and your motivation for this story have slipped somewhat. *looks a little ashamed* do you not like me anymore?
Anemone: gah?! What?! Of course I still like you, Fox! I've just had to cut down on the skits cuz I'm running out of themes for our mishaps, so I hafta lengthen the ones I can think of...*pout* I've had humor-writer's block...look at how much this skit sucks!
Mirai Trunks: *from inside room* AHHH!! *flies into hallway as a Super Saiyan, throwing ki blasts back into the room*
All: O_o ?!
Hiei: SAIYAN! YOU SHALL PAY FOR LETTING YOUR WOMAN STRIKE ME WITH YOUR SWORD!!!
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *blink at Anemone* ...
Anemone: *gulp, ducks behind Kurama*
Mirai Trunks: *throws ki blast into room, flies down hallway grabbing Anemone*
Anemone: -O_O;;-
Mirai Trunks: c'mon Mones I gotta get you outta here!
Anemone: *squeals in glee* YAY! THIS SKIT'S NOT AS CRAPPY AS I THOUGHT!!
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: –_–;;
Hiei: *roar, comes running out into hallway*
Kurama: *subconsciously pins Ellen and Anneliese against wall as Hiei blurs by*
Hiei: SAIYAN!! ONNA!!
Mirai Trunks: *flies through open window, soaring off into the air*
Hiei: *leaps out window after them*
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *stare blankly out the open window*
Kurama: *slaps face* must Hiei always be angry every time he's conscious?
Ellen: he's probably always angry whenever he's conscious because of how he's made unconscious before he's made conscious again and...*trails off realizing that didn't make much sense*
Kurama and Anneliese: ...?
Ellen: *starts twiddling fingers meekly...mumbles* never mind...
Kurama: erm...as, interestingly, put, as that was...*shrugs at Anneliese* from what I gathered, her accusation does make sense and it is true to the situation...
Anneliese: I guess...*turns to window* *bing sound on Anemone's computer*
Kurama: *jogs into room to see what made the noise, instant message from Anemone...blinks at computer in confusion, signs on to RedFox15*
RedFox15: ...Mones?
ReviewDammit89: hey Fox!
RedFox15: ...how are you online?! You and Trunks just flew out the window with Hiei in hot pursuit of you!
ReviewDammit89: I have my laptop with me, duh...
Kurama: *massages eyes tiredly with his thumb and index finger*
RedFox15: do you honestly take that thing with you everywhere?!
ReviewDammit89: hell yeah! I need it! Oh! Say hi to Trunks!
RedFox15: is this really the time to-*Trunks's instant message interrupts his typing*
SworDBeaRer90: yo.
RedFox15: hello.
*long pause, Kurama starts talking to Anemone again*
RedFox15: honestly Mones you truly don't have the time for this! Hiei's ready to kill you!
ReviewDammit89: ah he won't kill lil old me...!
RedFox15: *raised eyebrow* care to wager that?
ReviewDammit89: oh calm down, Red...I've got my Mirai...I'm set!
RedFox15: but Mones!
ReviewDammit89: uh-oh...g2g...Hiei's on a rooftop and he and Trunks just got into a ki fight...
RedFox15: ...
ReviewDammit89: I'm uploading from here so can you say your line?
RedFox15: what's the point in that?!
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RedFox15: OK fine! *groan*
RedFox15 has signed off.
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to the few readers present* erm...chapter...*prick, blinky, shifty eyes* er...chapter...*blink* uhhh...*blink, whispers to self* oh darn it what number is it?! *hisses over shoulder* Anneliese! Ellen!
Anneliese: yeah?
Ellen: sup.
Kurama: *whispers* what chapter number are we on?!
Anneliese and Ellen: *about to anime collapse, stop halfway through, realizing they don't know either*
Ellen: hum...I have no idea! *Kurama anime collapses* Anneliese?
Anneliese: it's been forever since she updated...it's no surprise that we'd forget...I guess...
Ellen: why don't you go on Fanfiction.net and see what her last chapter number was?
Kurama and Anneliese: ...!
Ellen: ...um...what...?
Kurama: *prick, goes onto Internet when...THE COMPUTER CRASHES!! Bam...starts smoking in the back*
All: ...
Kurama: ...well...this skit sure is full of surprises...
Anneliese: *starts ramming head against wall* why ... are ... we ... so ... freakin' ... screwed ... all ... the ... time?!?!
Ellen: *blinks at Anneliese*
Kurama: *long heavy sigh* I suppose we should just wing it.
Anneliese: *still ramming*
Ellen: go ahead...if you really wanna...
Kurama: okay then...*turns to readers* chapter *coughcough, mumble, coughcough* enjoy!
Chapter 18: Lost Pacifier
Darkness engulfed him, bitter soullessness rejecting his human descent. A vicious, lashing wind whipped his wild, frayed mint hair, the loose, rolling sashes of his bandana strumming the air. Breathing was a struggle, poisonous vapors slivering through the pores of the demonic souls and ki signals. He was overwhelmed...his lungs parched and his esophagus screaming in a stretch...not to mention the intense, corrosive burn swelling in his Jagon. With every pulse of his pained, tightening heart, a throb of agony stripped his Jagon of its focus and sapphire glimmer. Kane fell flaccid, his limbs loosening under the dramatic pains of the hellishness lurking around his descending form.
Suddenly, he broke from the pain...from the burn...from the cold...and into normality...soulfulness...a counter world. His upper back struck the ground, and a rush of liveliness coursed within him...a shot of blood spat from his gaping lips, and he loosened to the grooves of the soil he has landed on.
Lazily his onyx stare bobbed to exposure, and with tired blinks he managed to catch the glimpse of a struggling mass of slicked blackness and his ears pricked to the hums of complaining moans.
"Uuuuugh..." Gakilei growled, limply collapsing to the ground. "Damn I feel stoned..."
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai grunted, her stand firm and intimidating, the trip having diminished her none. "...weaklings."
Kane snorted indignantly, wrestling against himself and his tender muscles to sit upright. "Excuse me?!"
"Honestly how can you even steal the title of warrior if you can't even force yourself to stand after a trip between dimensions?"
"You actually mean to say...that we...are weaker than you?!" Gakilei gaped in disbelief at her accusation.
"Hn...interpret it as you like," she smirked a dear, daring, and fiery smirk.
Kane blinked at her slightly, before sighing it off and letting his heavy head to droop. An eerie breeze ruffled the minty spikes, and his thrashed bandana collapsed tattered from his forehead. A sizzle of exposure as the Jagon swelled wide, snapping to attention and glossing over with its intensive ocean sheen.
The skin knotted on both of her temples, ripping wide as a third eye blinked its ruby glints and fiery sparks. Her silk bandana tore the second the eye tore open, the ribbon collapsing flaccid to her ankles. Ryuuhayai sighed lowly, her nostrils flaring as the burning sensation of a scorching Jagon racked her senses. Her frame never wavered victim to her pain...but her stare did. A groggy blink sagged in the edges of her twin blood eyes, the third wreaking havoc to be felt and embraced as pain.
Gakilei popped the bone in her neck, cracking her shoulder to graze the cheek. A slow breeze stroked her jet mane, loose hairs whipping more dramatically than the others. "Where are Yukio and Ai?"
The cousin Koorimes both pricked, blinking in their utter realization...that neither had a clue.
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Candy set narrow to the horizon, the black pupils corrosive in determination. A cliff setting, jungle-like with the greenery and the view. She focused all her energy into stalking a single scent...miles and miles away. Kurama lingered no where to be reached...and her efforts ripped her of her senses.
Her nostrils flared as scent after scent of demonic intensity swelled her head groggy. A wince gnarled her ivory complection, and her intimidating glare glossed over in dizziness. Her slender knees buckled, and she collapsed limp, her throat parched and her nose dry under the influence of the thousands upon thousands of scents.
A snap of bone to bone, and flesh to flesh...she had been caught, tenderly, by caring hands. He swung her arm behind his sloping neck, and steadied her at the hip. Her head swam and her bushy ruby locks spilled over her sharp shoulders.
Yukio eyed her with his gripping concern. Though partially demonic himself, he was of a different breed, and didn't suffer the severity of animalistic senses...she seemed drugged by all the smells surrounding her...the distinctions between millions of ki signals each possessed their own scent, and each was overwhelming...never had she journeyed to Makai...never had she ever embraced another world of which she was a part...never had she strained herself in locating a specific aroma when it was veiled and clouded from her with millions of near identical other smells.
Caramel streaked over her to examine her condition...her tail fell flaccid between her slightly parted legs, its motion dead and its hairs limp.
"Oh Ai..." he whispered brashly, gently sweeping his arms to buckle her legs. She wasn't fully unconscious, there in his arms...but she was dizzy enough to be stripped of her judgement and focus...she nestled limply against his shoulder, moaning a tender sigh.
"Where are the others?!" Yukio seemed frazzled in tensed worry, jerking this way and that in vain search for his companions.
"...not far..." he heard a meek, tired moan...he pricked, whipping down to the girl in his arms. Ai whimpered in her pain, but managed to mutter a means of assistance. "...over...over your shoulder, the tree?" she groaned. Yukio, licking his upper lip in hope, whirled to gaze a tree, humongous, and near a mile's distance.
"Yes...yes," he sniffed, sweat glossing his temple. "...yes the tree..."
"Follow it...I...I can...smell them...somewhere between...between here...and the tree."
"You shouldn't be trying to follow scents, Ai!" he attempted in his worry. "You shouldn't..."
A tired, innocent smile curled her gentle lips. "I never...really know...what's good for me, then...I suppose...ne?"
Yukio could only smile at her perseverence...his expression was gentle, velvety...soothing to her dizzy, hurting eyes. "It's okay..." he cooed, his voice misty and kind, soft as gel to her sharp, pricking ears. "...I'll find them..."
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"Hn?" a prick...crimson blinked wide, then sharpened dramatically in nimble thinness. They threw over a narrow shoulder, faceting in the opposite direction of their master's stalk. '...what? Is that-?...why those little-!'
"Hiei?"
The Dragon jerked from his lock of concentration, pricking back to face his partners, particularly the one to voice his concern...the humanoid kitsune. "Hn?"
"What do you mean 'hn', Koorime?" Ryooki snuffed bitterly. "...you mentally abandoned us."
"I can mentally do as I wish, Mutt" Hiei countered darkly, his glare narrowing.
"Not when it causes you to lose all focus," the older kitsune growled, stalking ahead with an eerie air about him. Redness pinned corrosively after the fox-wolf, Hiei glaring a dangerous glare.
Kurama eyed hard after Ryooki, the muscles to his forehead tensing in stubborn nooks. He slowly drew the stunning emerald for way of the flame Koorime, examining every crease in his partner's tired, frustrated expression. With a blink Kurama could tell...that something was wrong...a something...that involved their children.
"Hiei..." he breathed cooly. The Koorime locked a deep, entranced gaze with his dear friend, as if the emotions he felt surged from the ruby gleam of his demonic irises. They didn't need Hiei's telepathy...for both to know what was going on.
A mass of silver stroked the air, lashing in frisked whips to and fro. Kurama's tail slapped against the air, bruising the breezes to haze this deep into Mount Shiverku's core. His expression was numbed in sincerity, a low, dark glaze in his severe eyes. "Ai..." he whispered brashly. "...too many are in the Demon World...she should have stayed in the human world...she should have stayed safe..."
"Would you have done that, kitsune?" the Dragon countered softly. "...would you have stayed safe and sound, when your entire family was lost in the vicious bowels of the Demon World?"
Silence...a long, deafening silence as the truth of the matter sponged for the kitsune to take in...of course he wouldn't. Kurama would willingly give his life for his friends...his children...his Botan.
Ai was practically his clone...his eerie composure...his bottled, calmed rage...ignore the obvious physical traits she stole from him...ignore the identical senses...her personality alone was frighteningly similar...and Kurama knew...if he dared not keep himself aloof of risk, when those he loved were in danger for their lives...could he truly expect his daughter to do so?
"No."
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Heavy steps, trampling through the leaves and greenery. Yukio wavered in his footing, his ankle swollen from his landing from the dimensional portal. Yet he carried her, the sickly, weakened Ai...the strongest woman he knew, fallen victim to her own abilities.
A drizzle of crystalline tore from his slender chin, beating against her flawless complection. She winced slightly, but relaxed almost on command. Yukio trudged onward...for that tree...that far off tree...how could they have scattered so? Wouldn't they have landed to almost the same plot?
No...he and Minamino were thrown a distance aside, probably for negative emotions against the violent kis of the portal...perhaps had they accepted themselves as subjects to the mystical energies, had they not been so judgmental and defensive, rigid against the portal's soul...had the others given over more fully?
Had they accepted the portal as not theirs...but the demons'? Yukio and Ai had been thrust violently away...the others must have landed closer in a bunch...funny, though, he wondered...how Ryuuhayai managed to make it through without pissing off the energies, since her ki signal seemed to be within range of Kane and Gakilei...
Greedy beads tore from his chin, his ankle pulsing in pain. Finally, his footing was off, and he whipped violently in a jerk for the ground, Ai's form sprawling limp before him. He roared in pain, the bone snapped and the muscles irritated with negative strokes.
"Dammit!" he cursed bitterly, his trip having ripped the flesh at the sole...redness sputtered in throbbing courses, the coppery scent of his blood...swelling in female nostrils.
Ai's expression tightened, relaxing to bob gentle eyes...her nose subconsciously pricked in dreary sniffs...until she jerked fully to awareness, her glare stern and surprised...she instantly recognized the aroma...the eerie, warm rush of a Urimeshi's blood.
She ripped upwards in a forced sit, her eyes following her sensitive nostrils. She gasped slightly when her humanoid vision snatched sight of her wounded companion. Sweat bead to his temple, and standing was not a option.
"...oh no...Yukio...no..."
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"Dammit Ryuu! Where the hell's Yukio?!" a female Urimeshi clawed her fists into a female Dragon's shirt front. The she-Dragon remained completely still as her footing and position were compromised...she remained motionless still...but Ryuuhayai's dull expression sharpened at the eyes, the ruby irises burning dangerously, and Gakilei jerked away, fearing her immediate future would be slit through. Yet her anger, though stifled by her companion's low glare, still flamed her aura. "WELL?!"
"How should I know..." Ryuuhayai shrugged calmly, again turning for a walk ahead of the angered Urimeshi.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE GOT SEPARATED FROM US!!"
Ryuuhayai's glare threw darkly over her shoulder, a corrosive burn in the pupils. "Dare blame me, Urimeshi?"
Gakilei pricked, realizing Ryuuhayai wasn't in the best of moods...but she persevered. "Yeah! Yeah I do! If you hadn't of knocked him out of Kane's hand, he might still be with us!"
Kane groaned lowly, knowing well how his morbid cousin could—and would—counter the Detective's every attempt.
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai barked her grunt, shifting in her footing to face the punk wholly. "...and what of Ai? Do you not fear for her sake? She is, after all, as lost from us as Yukio."
Gakilei paused, blinking awkwardly. "Well, of course I'm worried 'bout Ai, too...but! But what about Yukio?!"
"Hn..." the Dragon's narrowed eyes pressed in a sage-like closure. "...they rejected the portal, and it rejected them in return...they didn't give themselves fully to the energies owning the gateway, and in its fury, it spat them a distance away...we, however, landed directly beneath its gaping end, and as a group...for the three of us accepted that we didn't belong as the demonic souls of the portal did."
The she-Detective's glare quivered lowly, her shock and fear overwhelming her...her dear friend since infancy, Ai...no doubt having hurt herself in an attempt towards assistance that went beyond her young limits...and her twin, Yukio...no doubt putting Ai's need before his own, as he always had...she struggled bitterly with computing and sponging in the fact...that either could be dead...that either could be hurt...that either could be held in hostage...and that both could be completely alone, without even the other.
Kane sensed her plight...without even a blink to his Jagon, he knew how weighed she was...his emotions alone tied to hers...her aura licked against his in a balanced way...and he could tell instantly just by feel of her ki.
A pat to her shoulder, flesh cupping tenderly and reassuringly. Gakilei whipped desperately for the bearer, and found calming, protective onyx stinging for her frazzled chocolate eyes. The light breaking from the trees struck behind him, giving him an amazingly angelic look. A low, dreary breeze loomed through his minty spikes, rustling them tenderly. Her fear diminished...locking into those eyes...he told her with his emotions...that all will be well...despite the upper hand being to the enemy, and a long road of confusion beyond the here and now...he could reassure her with his loving stare.
"...Kane..." she whispered, fear quivering her words...he gently applied a pressure to her trembling lips, his stare mighty and smooth.
"It's okay...don't worry about them, Lei..." he smiled. "...Ryuu's got a gut feeling about where they could be, so if we follow her for a while, we should be set."
"...but...but are you sure?" she attempted.
A presence among them stood rigid, her stance awkward and annoyed. With a harsh, bitter "HN," her companions jerked to reality, gawky sensations overtaking them as they pried apart. Redness singed at the punk's nose, and she feigned a determined expression, stalking readily ahead. Kane's expression knotted meekly, his composure stripped and his sincerity lost. The Detective passed by the still Dragon with an air of a lie about her flickering ki...and Ryuuhayai simply snorted a deep, dark smirk of knowing at her embarrassed cousin.
Suddenly, an odd aura signal broke into the clearing...right behind them. They trio whirled to face it...and blinked in confusion.
A tall, slender figure...a pale complection hosting naturally slender eyes. The irises danced in liveliness, flickering with coppery, caramelized browns. His loose, scraggly brown locks fell flaccid over his laughing stare, a silent, slim smirk about his casual face. Scarlet draped his neck, blues fell as limp capes over his shoulders and front. A loose white shirt, informal khakis, and ebony slip ons. An eyebrow quirked at the trio, all three blinking awkwardly at him.
"Hello," he smirked a sage-like smirk, as if ready to indulge in praise.
"...well his aura is far too humanoid for him to be a demon..." Kane jut his lip in deduction. The stranger seemed to accept this, until... "...either that or he's insanely weak."
The singeing spark of his rusty eyes bulged wide, blinking in shock. "Why you little-! Do you KNOW who I AM?!"
"Um...no?" Gakilei smirked devilishly. He growled a dark, bitter roll of a growl, vigorously thrusting his crimson cape over his jutting shoulder.
"You damn kids...those stupid parents of yours never even told you who I am?! Idiots, every one of them-!"
"...are you saying that we should know you?" Ryuuhayai snorted crudely, far too lazy and uncaring to probe into the youth's mind.
"OF COURSE YOU SHOULD YOU LITTLE PUNKS!"
"Sheeeeesh you're acting like you're SO important...you're only like, what, seventeen?" Gakilei countered suspiciously.
"HMPF! Just shows how spiritually aware YOU are to not be able to tell one's age by their ki signal!" the stranger snorted indignantly.
"Who ARE you?" Kane stepped in firm placement before his companions, his form rigid and his stance hidden.
"I, you uneducated little fools, am the answer to ALL your problems!!" he smirked darkly, as if a secret creased his lips in a yearn for speech. Ryuuhayai eyed him all too monotonously, Kane and Gakilei stifling snorts of laughter.
"And what could you do, exactly?" Kane snickered.
"I could restore you to your friends." he countered calmly, receiving triplet pricks of shock and raw hope. White rings drew clear around trembling irises of onyx, chocolate, and ruby, each snagged in pure astoundment at his composed words.
"What?!" Gakilei stuttered. "Y-you could?!"
"I could indeed."
"You better not be lying, you haughty bastard!" Kane curled his grip into the three clothe layers about the youth's tensed front...calm, lowered frames, catching to the souls of dancing eyes, locked into the scared, stock-black of the Kuwabara's stare. Friction between the stranger's fingers, a snap, quick and flawless...without ever drawing his slender glare from Kane's struggling one.
"PAH!" from the near brush...a thud of limp bones, softened by the tenderness of flesh and muscle, cracking to the dense ground. Twin rustles, scratching to the leaves and bitterly jagged branches of the bush. Kane ripped away from the stranger's scarlet drape, and sprinted for the displaced mass of rustles. Eerie groans slipped from the greenery...both riddled in pain.
Limp redness sprawled over the leaves and branches, lacing dramatically into the brush...a mane of a Minamino, shining with all its splendor...a moaning Urimeshi awkwardly jerked from his lounge on top of her, unable to pry from the brush...until a stern grip gnarled into his back collar, tearing him from the tight nook.
Kane set Yukio to his side, and turned to face the unconscious Ai. A pained expression distorted his features, tightening them with dancing shadows of worry. He gently slipped tender arms beneath her battered, tired form, scooping her from her wedged nook.
Yukio collapsed limp to his twin's caring shoulder, his arm draped over her sloping neck. "What the hell?!" she hissed bitterly to the stranger, who took it with a low, questioning glare. "What is wrong with your aim?!"
A dreary sigh racked the youth's front, his caramelized glare slicing from view. "If your green-haired buddy here didn't have me in murder reach...my aim could have been more open."
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai snuffed bitterly, a crease to the slope of her pale nose. "...what type of caliber can you be to block my Jagon?"
Indeed, her laziness had lifted, and an attempt towards identification had been rolled into play...the she-Dragon's Jagon, though still young, could probe even the most complicated, trained intellects...only a particular level of mental superiority could completely reject her telepathic presence.
The group—let Ai—pricked in a start, though Ryuuhayai's dagger glare burned murderously into the stranger's playful irises. A smirk caught hitch to his lips, knowing and seeping of his ageless wisdom.
"Who ARE you?!" Kane roared, Ai tucked gently to his chest, with gentle hands to the buckles of her knees and her shoulderblades.
A deeper smirk darkened his angelically torturous expression...until the arrogant, rolling tune of his mighty, zestful voice broke the shattered air. "I am your superior...I am your keeper...I am your lord...I am...Koenma."
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Hola...okay, I don't feel like an end skit lol...I know, aren't I just so mean?! But don't worry...they shall come back...next chapter...promise...anywho, a nice send-off is in order...GO REVIEW YOU LEACHES! Lol sorry I had to do that lol...but honestly, I wike my reviews and I wike em long...with oodles and oodles o' your fav parts/suggestions...well, latr!!
Ellen: God, d-dammit, *gasp* Trunks! Did you hafta, hafta fly all the *weez* freakin' way from, from p3?!
Anneliese: *weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez*
Mirai Trunks: ... *examines Hiei's injury...he's bleeding from the temple...drops Hiei's head*
Hiei: *thud*
Mirai Trunks: *raised eyebrow at Anemone*
Anemone: Future he was gonna kill us all!!
Hiei: *drool*
All: ...
Kurama: hm...maybe you just went about it the wrong way, Mones...
Anemone: *glare*
Anneliese: Mones?
Anemone: yeah?
Anneliese: we gotta talk...
Anemone: huh? O-wh?!-*dragged out into hallway...blinky* what is it, Anneliese?
Anneliese: there has been no end skit for six chapters...do you know what that's doing to our careers?!
Anemone: ...
Anneliese: we only get half the recognition as we did before, and our little adventures take twice as long to play out!
Anemone: um...
Ellen: *pops out of nowhere*
Anemone and Anneliese: -ah!-
Ellen: -yeah! You're being lazy...tisk tisk.
Anemone: –_–;;
Kurama: *walks into hallway to join in discussion* indeed...Mones, I've done some calculations, and your motivation for this story have slipped somewhat. *looks a little ashamed* do you not like me anymore?
Anemone: gah?! What?! Of course I still like you, Fox! I've just had to cut down on the skits cuz I'm running out of themes for our mishaps, so I hafta lengthen the ones I can think of...*pout* I've had humor-writer's block...look at how much this skit sucks!
Mirai Trunks: *from inside room* AHHH!! *flies into hallway as a Super Saiyan, throwing ki blasts back into the room*
All: O_o ?!
Hiei: SAIYAN! YOU SHALL PAY FOR LETTING YOUR WOMAN STRIKE ME WITH YOUR SWORD!!!
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *blink at Anemone* ...
Anemone: *gulp, ducks behind Kurama*
Mirai Trunks: *throws ki blast into room, flies down hallway grabbing Anemone*
Anemone: -O_O;;-
Mirai Trunks: c'mon Mones I gotta get you outta here!
Anemone: *squeals in glee* YAY! THIS SKIT'S NOT AS CRAPPY AS I THOUGHT!!
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: –_–;;
Hiei: *roar, comes running out into hallway*
Kurama: *subconsciously pins Ellen and Anneliese against wall as Hiei blurs by*
Hiei: SAIYAN!! ONNA!!
Mirai Trunks: *flies through open window, soaring off into the air*
Hiei: *leaps out window after them*
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *stare blankly out the open window*
Kurama: *slaps face* must Hiei always be angry every time he's conscious?
Ellen: he's probably always angry whenever he's conscious because of how he's made unconscious before he's made conscious again and...*trails off realizing that didn't make much sense*
Kurama and Anneliese: ...?
Ellen: *starts twiddling fingers meekly...mumbles* never mind...
Kurama: erm...as, interestingly, put, as that was...*shrugs at Anneliese* from what I gathered, her accusation does make sense and it is true to the situation...
Anneliese: I guess...*turns to window* *bing sound on Anemone's computer*
Kurama: *jogs into room to see what made the noise, instant message from Anemone...blinks at computer in confusion, signs on to RedFox15*
RedFox15: ...Mones?
ReviewDammit89: hey Fox!
RedFox15: ...how are you online?! You and Trunks just flew out the window with Hiei in hot pursuit of you!
ReviewDammit89: I have my laptop with me, duh...
Kurama: *massages eyes tiredly with his thumb and index finger*
RedFox15: do you honestly take that thing with you everywhere?!
ReviewDammit89: hell yeah! I need it! Oh! Say hi to Trunks!
RedFox15: is this really the time to-*Trunks's instant message interrupts his typing*
SworDBeaRer90: yo.
RedFox15: hello.
*long pause, Kurama starts talking to Anemone again*
RedFox15: honestly Mones you truly don't have the time for this! Hiei's ready to kill you!
ReviewDammit89: ah he won't kill lil old me...!
RedFox15: *raised eyebrow* care to wager that?
ReviewDammit89: oh calm down, Red...I've got my Mirai...I'm set!
RedFox15: but Mones!
ReviewDammit89: uh-oh...g2g...Hiei's on a rooftop and he and Trunks just got into a ki fight...
RedFox15: ...
ReviewDammit89: I'm uploading from here so can you say your line?
RedFox15: what's the point in that?!
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT
ReviewDammit89: DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RedFox15: OK fine! *groan*
RedFox15 has signed off.
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to the few readers present* erm...chapter...*prick, blinky, shifty eyes* er...chapter...*blink* uhhh...*blink, whispers to self* oh darn it what number is it?! *hisses over shoulder* Anneliese! Ellen!
Anneliese: yeah?
Ellen: sup.
Kurama: *whispers* what chapter number are we on?!
Anneliese and Ellen: *about to anime collapse, stop halfway through, realizing they don't know either*
Ellen: hum...I have no idea! *Kurama anime collapses* Anneliese?
Anneliese: it's been forever since she updated...it's no surprise that we'd forget...I guess...
Ellen: why don't you go on Fanfiction.net and see what her last chapter number was?
Kurama and Anneliese: ...!
Ellen: ...um...what...?
Kurama: *prick, goes onto Internet when...THE COMPUTER CRASHES!! Bam...starts smoking in the back*
All: ...
Kurama: ...well...this skit sure is full of surprises...
Anneliese: *starts ramming head against wall* why ... are ... we ... so ... freakin' ... screwed ... all ... the ... time?!?!
Ellen: *blinks at Anneliese*
Kurama: *long heavy sigh* I suppose we should just wing it.
Anneliese: *still ramming*
Ellen: go ahead...if you really wanna...
Kurama: okay then...*turns to readers* chapter *coughcough, mumble, coughcough* enjoy!
Chapter 18: Lost Pacifier
Darkness engulfed him, bitter soullessness rejecting his human descent. A vicious, lashing wind whipped his wild, frayed mint hair, the loose, rolling sashes of his bandana strumming the air. Breathing was a struggle, poisonous vapors slivering through the pores of the demonic souls and ki signals. He was overwhelmed...his lungs parched and his esophagus screaming in a stretch...not to mention the intense, corrosive burn swelling in his Jagon. With every pulse of his pained, tightening heart, a throb of agony stripped his Jagon of its focus and sapphire glimmer. Kane fell flaccid, his limbs loosening under the dramatic pains of the hellishness lurking around his descending form.
Suddenly, he broke from the pain...from the burn...from the cold...and into normality...soulfulness...a counter world. His upper back struck the ground, and a rush of liveliness coursed within him...a shot of blood spat from his gaping lips, and he loosened to the grooves of the soil he has landed on.
Lazily his onyx stare bobbed to exposure, and with tired blinks he managed to catch the glimpse of a struggling mass of slicked blackness and his ears pricked to the hums of complaining moans.
"Uuuuugh..." Gakilei growled, limply collapsing to the ground. "Damn I feel stoned..."
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai grunted, her stand firm and intimidating, the trip having diminished her none. "...weaklings."
Kane snorted indignantly, wrestling against himself and his tender muscles to sit upright. "Excuse me?!"
"Honestly how can you even steal the title of warrior if you can't even force yourself to stand after a trip between dimensions?"
"You actually mean to say...that we...are weaker than you?!" Gakilei gaped in disbelief at her accusation.
"Hn...interpret it as you like," she smirked a dear, daring, and fiery smirk.
Kane blinked at her slightly, before sighing it off and letting his heavy head to droop. An eerie breeze ruffled the minty spikes, and his thrashed bandana collapsed tattered from his forehead. A sizzle of exposure as the Jagon swelled wide, snapping to attention and glossing over with its intensive ocean sheen.
The skin knotted on both of her temples, ripping wide as a third eye blinked its ruby glints and fiery sparks. Her silk bandana tore the second the eye tore open, the ribbon collapsing flaccid to her ankles. Ryuuhayai sighed lowly, her nostrils flaring as the burning sensation of a scorching Jagon racked her senses. Her frame never wavered victim to her pain...but her stare did. A groggy blink sagged in the edges of her twin blood eyes, the third wreaking havoc to be felt and embraced as pain.
Gakilei popped the bone in her neck, cracking her shoulder to graze the cheek. A slow breeze stroked her jet mane, loose hairs whipping more dramatically than the others. "Where are Yukio and Ai?"
The cousin Koorimes both pricked, blinking in their utter realization...that neither had a clue.
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Candy set narrow to the horizon, the black pupils corrosive in determination. A cliff setting, jungle-like with the greenery and the view. She focused all her energy into stalking a single scent...miles and miles away. Kurama lingered no where to be reached...and her efforts ripped her of her senses.
Her nostrils flared as scent after scent of demonic intensity swelled her head groggy. A wince gnarled her ivory complection, and her intimidating glare glossed over in dizziness. Her slender knees buckled, and she collapsed limp, her throat parched and her nose dry under the influence of the thousands upon thousands of scents.
A snap of bone to bone, and flesh to flesh...she had been caught, tenderly, by caring hands. He swung her arm behind his sloping neck, and steadied her at the hip. Her head swam and her bushy ruby locks spilled over her sharp shoulders.
Yukio eyed her with his gripping concern. Though partially demonic himself, he was of a different breed, and didn't suffer the severity of animalistic senses...she seemed drugged by all the smells surrounding her...the distinctions between millions of ki signals each possessed their own scent, and each was overwhelming...never had she journeyed to Makai...never had she ever embraced another world of which she was a part...never had she strained herself in locating a specific aroma when it was veiled and clouded from her with millions of near identical other smells.
Caramel streaked over her to examine her condition...her tail fell flaccid between her slightly parted legs, its motion dead and its hairs limp.
"Oh Ai..." he whispered brashly, gently sweeping his arms to buckle her legs. She wasn't fully unconscious, there in his arms...but she was dizzy enough to be stripped of her judgement and focus...she nestled limply against his shoulder, moaning a tender sigh.
"Where are the others?!" Yukio seemed frazzled in tensed worry, jerking this way and that in vain search for his companions.
"...not far..." he heard a meek, tired moan...he pricked, whipping down to the girl in his arms. Ai whimpered in her pain, but managed to mutter a means of assistance. "...over...over your shoulder, the tree?" she groaned. Yukio, licking his upper lip in hope, whirled to gaze a tree, humongous, and near a mile's distance.
"Yes...yes," he sniffed, sweat glossing his temple. "...yes the tree..."
"Follow it...I...I can...smell them...somewhere between...between here...and the tree."
"You shouldn't be trying to follow scents, Ai!" he attempted in his worry. "You shouldn't..."
A tired, innocent smile curled her gentle lips. "I never...really know...what's good for me, then...I suppose...ne?"
Yukio could only smile at her perseverence...his expression was gentle, velvety...soothing to her dizzy, hurting eyes. "It's okay..." he cooed, his voice misty and kind, soft as gel to her sharp, pricking ears. "...I'll find them..."
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"Hn?" a prick...crimson blinked wide, then sharpened dramatically in nimble thinness. They threw over a narrow shoulder, faceting in the opposite direction of their master's stalk. '...what? Is that-?...why those little-!'
"Hiei?"
The Dragon jerked from his lock of concentration, pricking back to face his partners, particularly the one to voice his concern...the humanoid kitsune. "Hn?"
"What do you mean 'hn', Koorime?" Ryooki snuffed bitterly. "...you mentally abandoned us."
"I can mentally do as I wish, Mutt" Hiei countered darkly, his glare narrowing.
"Not when it causes you to lose all focus," the older kitsune growled, stalking ahead with an eerie air about him. Redness pinned corrosively after the fox-wolf, Hiei glaring a dangerous glare.
Kurama eyed hard after Ryooki, the muscles to his forehead tensing in stubborn nooks. He slowly drew the stunning emerald for way of the flame Koorime, examining every crease in his partner's tired, frustrated expression. With a blink Kurama could tell...that something was wrong...a something...that involved their children.
"Hiei..." he breathed cooly. The Koorime locked a deep, entranced gaze with his dear friend, as if the emotions he felt surged from the ruby gleam of his demonic irises. They didn't need Hiei's telepathy...for both to know what was going on.
A mass of silver stroked the air, lashing in frisked whips to and fro. Kurama's tail slapped against the air, bruising the breezes to haze this deep into Mount Shiverku's core. His expression was numbed in sincerity, a low, dark glaze in his severe eyes. "Ai..." he whispered brashly. "...too many are in the Demon World...she should have stayed in the human world...she should have stayed safe..."
"Would you have done that, kitsune?" the Dragon countered softly. "...would you have stayed safe and sound, when your entire family was lost in the vicious bowels of the Demon World?"
Silence...a long, deafening silence as the truth of the matter sponged for the kitsune to take in...of course he wouldn't. Kurama would willingly give his life for his friends...his children...his Botan.
Ai was practically his clone...his eerie composure...his bottled, calmed rage...ignore the obvious physical traits she stole from him...ignore the identical senses...her personality alone was frighteningly similar...and Kurama knew...if he dared not keep himself aloof of risk, when those he loved were in danger for their lives...could he truly expect his daughter to do so?
"No."
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Heavy steps, trampling through the leaves and greenery. Yukio wavered in his footing, his ankle swollen from his landing from the dimensional portal. Yet he carried her, the sickly, weakened Ai...the strongest woman he knew, fallen victim to her own abilities.
A drizzle of crystalline tore from his slender chin, beating against her flawless complection. She winced slightly, but relaxed almost on command. Yukio trudged onward...for that tree...that far off tree...how could they have scattered so? Wouldn't they have landed to almost the same plot?
No...he and Minamino were thrown a distance aside, probably for negative emotions against the violent kis of the portal...perhaps had they accepted themselves as subjects to the mystical energies, had they not been so judgmental and defensive, rigid against the portal's soul...had the others given over more fully?
Had they accepted the portal as not theirs...but the demons'? Yukio and Ai had been thrust violently away...the others must have landed closer in a bunch...funny, though, he wondered...how Ryuuhayai managed to make it through without pissing off the energies, since her ki signal seemed to be within range of Kane and Gakilei...
Greedy beads tore from his chin, his ankle pulsing in pain. Finally, his footing was off, and he whipped violently in a jerk for the ground, Ai's form sprawling limp before him. He roared in pain, the bone snapped and the muscles irritated with negative strokes.
"Dammit!" he cursed bitterly, his trip having ripped the flesh at the sole...redness sputtered in throbbing courses, the coppery scent of his blood...swelling in female nostrils.
Ai's expression tightened, relaxing to bob gentle eyes...her nose subconsciously pricked in dreary sniffs...until she jerked fully to awareness, her glare stern and surprised...she instantly recognized the aroma...the eerie, warm rush of a Urimeshi's blood.
She ripped upwards in a forced sit, her eyes following her sensitive nostrils. She gasped slightly when her humanoid vision snatched sight of her wounded companion. Sweat bead to his temple, and standing was not a option.
"...oh no...Yukio...no..."
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"Dammit Ryuu! Where the hell's Yukio?!" a female Urimeshi clawed her fists into a female Dragon's shirt front. The she-Dragon remained completely still as her footing and position were compromised...she remained motionless still...but Ryuuhayai's dull expression sharpened at the eyes, the ruby irises burning dangerously, and Gakilei jerked away, fearing her immediate future would be slit through. Yet her anger, though stifled by her companion's low glare, still flamed her aura. "WELL?!"
"How should I know..." Ryuuhayai shrugged calmly, again turning for a walk ahead of the angered Urimeshi.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE GOT SEPARATED FROM US!!"
Ryuuhayai's glare threw darkly over her shoulder, a corrosive burn in the pupils. "Dare blame me, Urimeshi?"
Gakilei pricked, realizing Ryuuhayai wasn't in the best of moods...but she persevered. "Yeah! Yeah I do! If you hadn't of knocked him out of Kane's hand, he might still be with us!"
Kane groaned lowly, knowing well how his morbid cousin could—and would—counter the Detective's every attempt.
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai barked her grunt, shifting in her footing to face the punk wholly. "...and what of Ai? Do you not fear for her sake? She is, after all, as lost from us as Yukio."
Gakilei paused, blinking awkwardly. "Well, of course I'm worried 'bout Ai, too...but! But what about Yukio?!"
"Hn..." the Dragon's narrowed eyes pressed in a sage-like closure. "...they rejected the portal, and it rejected them in return...they didn't give themselves fully to the energies owning the gateway, and in its fury, it spat them a distance away...we, however, landed directly beneath its gaping end, and as a group...for the three of us accepted that we didn't belong as the demonic souls of the portal did."
The she-Detective's glare quivered lowly, her shock and fear overwhelming her...her dear friend since infancy, Ai...no doubt having hurt herself in an attempt towards assistance that went beyond her young limits...and her twin, Yukio...no doubt putting Ai's need before his own, as he always had...she struggled bitterly with computing and sponging in the fact...that either could be dead...that either could be hurt...that either could be held in hostage...and that both could be completely alone, without even the other.
Kane sensed her plight...without even a blink to his Jagon, he knew how weighed she was...his emotions alone tied to hers...her aura licked against his in a balanced way...and he could tell instantly just by feel of her ki.
A pat to her shoulder, flesh cupping tenderly and reassuringly. Gakilei whipped desperately for the bearer, and found calming, protective onyx stinging for her frazzled chocolate eyes. The light breaking from the trees struck behind him, giving him an amazingly angelic look. A low, dreary breeze loomed through his minty spikes, rustling them tenderly. Her fear diminished...locking into those eyes...he told her with his emotions...that all will be well...despite the upper hand being to the enemy, and a long road of confusion beyond the here and now...he could reassure her with his loving stare.
"...Kane..." she whispered, fear quivering her words...he gently applied a pressure to her trembling lips, his stare mighty and smooth.
"It's okay...don't worry about them, Lei..." he smiled. "...Ryuu's got a gut feeling about where they could be, so if we follow her for a while, we should be set."
"...but...but are you sure?" she attempted.
A presence among them stood rigid, her stance awkward and annoyed. With a harsh, bitter "HN," her companions jerked to reality, gawky sensations overtaking them as they pried apart. Redness singed at the punk's nose, and she feigned a determined expression, stalking readily ahead. Kane's expression knotted meekly, his composure stripped and his sincerity lost. The Detective passed by the still Dragon with an air of a lie about her flickering ki...and Ryuuhayai simply snorted a deep, dark smirk of knowing at her embarrassed cousin.
Suddenly, an odd aura signal broke into the clearing...right behind them. They trio whirled to face it...and blinked in confusion.
A tall, slender figure...a pale complection hosting naturally slender eyes. The irises danced in liveliness, flickering with coppery, caramelized browns. His loose, scraggly brown locks fell flaccid over his laughing stare, a silent, slim smirk about his casual face. Scarlet draped his neck, blues fell as limp capes over his shoulders and front. A loose white shirt, informal khakis, and ebony slip ons. An eyebrow quirked at the trio, all three blinking awkwardly at him.
"Hello," he smirked a sage-like smirk, as if ready to indulge in praise.
"...well his aura is far too humanoid for him to be a demon..." Kane jut his lip in deduction. The stranger seemed to accept this, until... "...either that or he's insanely weak."
The singeing spark of his rusty eyes bulged wide, blinking in shock. "Why you little-! Do you KNOW who I AM?!"
"Um...no?" Gakilei smirked devilishly. He growled a dark, bitter roll of a growl, vigorously thrusting his crimson cape over his jutting shoulder.
"You damn kids...those stupid parents of yours never even told you who I am?! Idiots, every one of them-!"
"...are you saying that we should know you?" Ryuuhayai snorted crudely, far too lazy and uncaring to probe into the youth's mind.
"OF COURSE YOU SHOULD YOU LITTLE PUNKS!"
"Sheeeeesh you're acting like you're SO important...you're only like, what, seventeen?" Gakilei countered suspiciously.
"HMPF! Just shows how spiritually aware YOU are to not be able to tell one's age by their ki signal!" the stranger snorted indignantly.
"Who ARE you?" Kane stepped in firm placement before his companions, his form rigid and his stance hidden.
"I, you uneducated little fools, am the answer to ALL your problems!!" he smirked darkly, as if a secret creased his lips in a yearn for speech. Ryuuhayai eyed him all too monotonously, Kane and Gakilei stifling snorts of laughter.
"And what could you do, exactly?" Kane snickered.
"I could restore you to your friends." he countered calmly, receiving triplet pricks of shock and raw hope. White rings drew clear around trembling irises of onyx, chocolate, and ruby, each snagged in pure astoundment at his composed words.
"What?!" Gakilei stuttered. "Y-you could?!"
"I could indeed."
"You better not be lying, you haughty bastard!" Kane curled his grip into the three clothe layers about the youth's tensed front...calm, lowered frames, catching to the souls of dancing eyes, locked into the scared, stock-black of the Kuwabara's stare. Friction between the stranger's fingers, a snap, quick and flawless...without ever drawing his slender glare from Kane's struggling one.
"PAH!" from the near brush...a thud of limp bones, softened by the tenderness of flesh and muscle, cracking to the dense ground. Twin rustles, scratching to the leaves and bitterly jagged branches of the bush. Kane ripped away from the stranger's scarlet drape, and sprinted for the displaced mass of rustles. Eerie groans slipped from the greenery...both riddled in pain.
Limp redness sprawled over the leaves and branches, lacing dramatically into the brush...a mane of a Minamino, shining with all its splendor...a moaning Urimeshi awkwardly jerked from his lounge on top of her, unable to pry from the brush...until a stern grip gnarled into his back collar, tearing him from the tight nook.
Kane set Yukio to his side, and turned to face the unconscious Ai. A pained expression distorted his features, tightening them with dancing shadows of worry. He gently slipped tender arms beneath her battered, tired form, scooping her from her wedged nook.
Yukio collapsed limp to his twin's caring shoulder, his arm draped over her sloping neck. "What the hell?!" she hissed bitterly to the stranger, who took it with a low, questioning glare. "What is wrong with your aim?!"
A dreary sigh racked the youth's front, his caramelized glare slicing from view. "If your green-haired buddy here didn't have me in murder reach...my aim could have been more open."
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai snuffed bitterly, a crease to the slope of her pale nose. "...what type of caliber can you be to block my Jagon?"
Indeed, her laziness had lifted, and an attempt towards identification had been rolled into play...the she-Dragon's Jagon, though still young, could probe even the most complicated, trained intellects...only a particular level of mental superiority could completely reject her telepathic presence.
The group—let Ai—pricked in a start, though Ryuuhayai's dagger glare burned murderously into the stranger's playful irises. A smirk caught hitch to his lips, knowing and seeping of his ageless wisdom.
"Who ARE you?!" Kane roared, Ai tucked gently to his chest, with gentle hands to the buckles of her knees and her shoulderblades.
A deeper smirk darkened his angelically torturous expression...until the arrogant, rolling tune of his mighty, zestful voice broke the shattered air. "I am your superior...I am your keeper...I am your lord...I am...Koenma."
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Hola...okay, I don't feel like an end skit lol...I know, aren't I just so mean?! But don't worry...they shall come back...next chapter...promise...anywho, a nice send-off is in order...GO REVIEW YOU LEACHES! Lol sorry I had to do that lol...but honestly, I wike my reviews and I wike em long...with oodles and oodles o' your fav parts/suggestions...well, latr!!