~High Voltage~

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Chapter Five: Hiei vs The Shadow
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The Shadow smirked as she watched Hiei step forward. In one quick motion, he had thrown off his cloak, not seeming to care where it landed.

"This should be interesting," she said.

Hiei scowled. "Go ahead, the first move is yours. If I were you, I'd make it a good one."

The Shadow narrowed her eyes at him. "If that's how you want it." And suddenly she was gone.

"What the--" Kuwabara blinked. "Where'd she go?"

"In the air," Kurama told him. They all looked up.

"I didn't even see her jump," Kuwabara said, looking shocked. "I wonder if Hiei saw it?"

"He did," Kurama answered. "He's watching her every move."

It was true, Hiei was able to follow the Shadow's movements quite easily, as her speed was surpassed only by him. But not by a whole lot. He prepared himself as she dove towards him, fist outstretched. Just before she was able to hit him, he jumped nimbly to the side. Missing her target, the Shadow flipped herself over in the air and landed neatly on her feet. She got up just in time to see Hiei come flying at her, fist full of energy, and she back flipped high into the air to avoid it. Landing on a tree, she ran down it and jumped at him. Her kick would have been lethal if he hadn't dodged it, which he did. The fight went on like this, both fighters dodging each other's attacks fairly easily, and the others trying to keep their eyes on the blurs that were Hiei and the Shadow.

Hiei leaped back after trying to kick her, and then they both charged at each other at the same time, fists drawn back and ready to strike; she hit him on the left side of his face, and he sunk his fist into her abdomen. After taking the hit, they each were sent flying backwards, flipping over and landing on their feet.

"Nen bin. I actually felt that one," the Shadow remarked, finding herself a bit short of breath. She wiped her chin with the back of her hand.

"Hn. You may be worth my time after all," Hiei replied, also breathing harder.

Without another word, the Shadow raised her right arm, palm facing upwards. Hiei watched as a small blue orb of energy appeared in her hand, and then extended to form a long, thin object that resembled a pole except for the fact that it was made of spirit energy.

Hiei quickly withdrew his sword and held it ready. The Shadow didn't waste any time. She immediately rushed forward and swung the pole at him, aiming for one of his vital points. Hiei quickly noted that she knew exactly where to hit somebody, therefore he shouldn't let his gaurd down even for a second. He swung the sword upwards to block the hit, and was surprised to feel himself get a shock when his sword connected with her weapon. He flew backwards and crashed into a tree.

'Electricity,' he thought to himself as he stood up off the ground. He flew at her, expertly swinging his sword at her at the exact right moment. The Shadow blocked most of the hit, but his sword grazed her right shoulder, forcing her to step back a bit. She knew she couldn't let him get that close again... Once again, the fight remained the same for a while longer, only since they had weapons this time they occasionally got a cut or scrape.

Sword and spirit pole clashed together once more, and both fighters leaped back. Hiei wanted to try using his Dragon of the Darkness Flame attack on her, but he remembered that Koenma wanted the Shadow alive. Damn. He would have to settle for something else... He reached up and tore off the white headband that covered his Jagan Eye. His third eye opened, glowing blue. The Shadow watched him with interest, leaning on her spirit pole.

'So he can look up and down at the same time, big deal,' she thought to herself.

"I'm not finished," Hiei told her, which was a surprise because she hadn't realized he was telepathic.

"So finish," she shot back.

He didn't reply; instead, he closed his eyes and she watched as he began to change. First, eyes appeared all over his body. They began to glow red as his skin turned green, his eyes turned yellow, he grew fangs and claws, and his ears pointed. He opened his eyes and gave her an evil smirk.

She was a little surprised—she hadn't expected this from him. Then she smirked back at him, making a decision. "Well, since we're changing our appearances..." She began to gather all her spirit energy, which took a few minutes but nobody seemed to mind. She rose up into the air, surrounded by a blue aura. Then something strange began to happen. The sky began to darken dramatically until the clouds above them were a very dark gray color. Thunder began to roll very loudly above them, and lightning flashed dozens of times. Suddenly a huge lightning bolt struck the Shadow, but she didn't seem to be hurt by it.

Kurama realized what was going on. "She's drawing energy from the electricity," he informed the others.

The lightning began to strike over and over, and then began to strike many times at once; all of it being pulled into the Shadow's body. Everyone watched in shock as a brilliant ball of blue, white and purple colored lightning encompassed the Shadow, hiding her from view. Gradually, the giant ball began to disappear as it was sucked into her body, and everyone could then see the transformation that had taken place.

Her skin had turned from a natural-looking tan to a soft light blue color. Her hair was now considerably longer and a luminous silver color, matching her eyes, which were speckled gold. But the biggest change in her was how much stronger she had become. Her power was incredible.

"Oh my God!" Kuwabara cried out, suddenly very thankful that he wasn't the one fighting. "We're doomed!"

"It can't be," Kurama blinked. "How can one person have that much power?"

The Shadow, who didn't resemble a shadow at all anymore, stared back at Hiei, matching the evil smirk he had given her minutes ago. "Would you care to test my power, Hiei?" Her voice was different than before—still cold and hard as ice, but now it seemed to be echoing a little. A wave of lightning crackled down her entire body from head to foot.

Hiei gave her a death glare, and began to reconsider not using the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

The Shadow shot one arm into the air, fingers spread apart, and began to prepare for an attack. Streaks of white and blue lightning rushed toward each one of her fingertips, and the energy gathered into the palm of her hand, eventually forming an orb the size of a basketball.

Hiei saw her doing this, and immediately made up his mind. A small red orb appeared in his own hand as his Jagan Eye glowed blue.

The orb in the Shadow's hand was now crackling with lightning and energy colored blue, white, purple, and silver. She brought up her other hand to help hold it steady. She looked at Hiei and spoke two words in another language that nobody understood: "Me-te lel ne tew."

Just as she let the orb go flying at Hiei, Hiei unleashed the Dragon of the Darkness Flame at the same time. Everybody held their breath and watched, wondering if either of them would survive this. In a brilliant flash of white light, both dragon and lightning energy collided with each other. The power of the collision sent both fighters, along with the bystanders, flying in all directions...

The flashes of light eventually subsided. Kurama was the first to pick himself off the ground. He gazed at the scenery around him, not seeing any sign of either fighter. What he did see was a tremendous crater the size of a football field right where they both had been standing.

"What...happened...?" Yusuke wondered as he got up. He had crashed headfirst into a tree, and was a little unsteady as he brushed leaves and tiny twigs out of his hair.

"The two attacks must have cancelled each other out," Kurama said.

"So...where's Hiei?" Kuwabara asked, looking around. "I don't see that little punk anywhere."

"I'm not sure what happened to them," Kurama answered. A noise in the trees made them look up. They watched as Hiei emerged, looking a little sore. He saw the destruction, and waited to see if the Shadow would appear as well. Hiei wasn't disappointed, because a moment later she proved herself still alive; emerging from beneath a pile of rocks and broken tree limbs. She made her way back to the battle site, noticably limping although trying to hide it.

Hiei took one look at her and scowled. "This fight is over," he said.

"Ne-me?" The Shadow raised her eyebrows in surprise. How could he know...? 'Fight it, fight it,' she thought desperately. It was no use. She felt herself return to her human form. A second later, her eyes closed and she slowly fell to her knees, slumpin

g to the ground.

Kurama nodded. "So he did know."

"Know what?" Yusuke asked him.

"The Shadow used up nearly all of her spirit energy just changing into her demon form. She had barely enough left for one attack, so she used one that could destroy all of us at the same time. Hiei figured it out and was able to counter her attack, knowing that she would have nothing left afterwards," he explained.

"So is she dead?" Kuwabara asked. "That's not supposed to happen, remember?"

"Not dead," Hiei said as he made his way back to the group. "Unconscious." He was back in his human form. He picked his cloak up off the ground and put it back on.

"I guess now we take her to Koenma," Yusuke said with shrug.



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Translations:

Ne-me -- "what?"

Nen bin -- "not bad"

AN: well that went better than I thought it would. And yay, Hiei won! Of course he won, why wouldn't he? I'd hate having a character that was unbeatable. Anyway, if anyone reads this could you please review? It would make me feel so much better...

By the way, Me-te lel ne tew means "death come to you" but I won't say what language it is yet...

Next chapter: The Deal