For Love of a "Pet"

Chapter Nineteen

Cassie's eye became wide with fear. "Shit."

"What is that?!" Kaline squeaked, clutching at Kurama as terror rolled through her. The power she felt was evil, reminding her of Loki.

"I don't know," Kurama admitted. 'This is not good.'

"You're right... this isn't good," a silky feminine voice said. "Isn't good for you!" A stream of fire shot through the open doorway, the brilliant red flames eating away at everything in their path. Hiei and Kurama barely dodged, the girls still in their arms.

"Show yourself, coward," Hiei spat out, setting Cassie down in a corner. He wanted her out of the way so she hopefully wouldn't be hurt during the battle. 'I have to get her out of here as soon as I can.'

A beautiful woman stepped through the doorway, her long red hair falling down to practically her feet. Grass-green eyes stared into Hiei's red ones, her gaze penetrating and uncomfortable. Tiny lightning bolts played around her body and her long white dress, but she paid them no mind. They were just her magic. "Do not worry. I have no desire to harm the girls," she said softly. "In fact, I would like them to join me."

"Mistress?" Loki came up behind the beautiful woman, bowing. "Are you sure? The girls are pathetic weaklings, beings not worthy of your attention."

Kurama growled at the green-skinned demon, putting Kaline down and standing in front of her. Kaline just cringed, clinging to the kitsune. Her whole body shook with terror, panic quickly rising up in her.

"No one insults a female in front of me!" The redheaded woman turned and pointed a finger at the demon, silver magic shooting out of it and surrounding him. Within an instant, the magic faded, leaving Loki gasping, fear in his eyes. "You hurt the girls," she continued. "You were not supposed to do that. You disobeyed me."

Loki suddenly went flying across the room, landing almost perfectly between Hiei and Kurama. "Mis... Mistress?" he sputtered, looking up at her.

"Since the girls are in such bad condition, I will allow their men to finish you off," the green-eyed female said. "It is what you deserve."

Hiei smirked. The new female, who was obviously a demon, didn't seem to be all that bad. 'Perhaps she's not our enemy,' he thought, walking towards Loki. 'I'll deal with her later though. Loki has to die now.'

Kurama brought out his whip, his eyes dark with hatred. The demon in front of him was the one who had hurt Kaline so badly. He was the one who had caused both girls so much pain. "Die." He lashed out Loki the instant Hiei did. Both of their attacks hit home. Hiei sliced off Loki's head, while Kurama sent his whip straight through the evil demon's heart.

The green-skinned demon collapsed in a bloody heap, his eyes still wide open, his face frozen with an expression of terror.

The beautiful woman smiled. "Good job," she practically purred. "But I am your enemy. I am the enemy of all men." Balls of fire jumped from her hand to Loki's, Derek's, and the snake demon's bodies, consuming them until there was nothing left.

"I have no desire to fight you," Kurama stated. "I only wish to take Kaline out of here."

Green eyes hard, she shook her head. "No. No males are allowed to approach me, Gaea, and live. I am a goddess," she responded, voice regal. "You men are nothing but worms."

Hiei growled. "I would recommend you keep your mouth shut," he snapped.

"If you fight us, you'll only end up dead," the kitsune added as Kaline crept towards Cassie. Both girls understood that something bad was going to happen and that they wouldn't be able to help.

Gaea smiled, the expression dark and forbidding. "It is you who will end up dead. Soon, Hel will return with my sword. Once she does, no man will be able to stand up against me." She turned to Hiei. "I believe you know what I am talking about."

The koorime frowned. 'She can't be talking about the Siren Sword. There's no way.'

The redheaded female clapped her hands. "Very good," she said, tone condescending. "You are obviously a little bit smarter than most males. The Siren Sword is mine, just like it was my mother's."

'She's a mind-reader, just like Loki,' Hiei thought.

"Loki was a mind-reader because of me," Gaea stated, a look of disgust on her face. "I hated having to use him, but he was only one I could transfer power to at the time. He was the only one who dared come close enough to my statue." She glanced over at the girls, her green eyes slightly widening after a moment. "You hurt them too."

"What?" Kaline whispered, confusion on her face. 'When did Kurama hurt me?' she wondered. 'Is she talking about when I was angry at him?'

Cassie figured out what the redheaded demon was talking about almost immediately. 'She knows that Hiei emotionally hurt me. She went into my mind and found out.'

"Bastards," Gaea spat out as she glared at the boys. "I will kill you both right now!" Wind swirled about the room as lightning erupted out of her hands, striking out at the demon males. They dodged as quickly as they could, but each time they did, a new lightning bolt came at them.

As Hiei avoided attack after attack, he slowly made his way towards Gaea. Soon, he was close enough to slash her with his sword, which he immediately tried. A huge gust of wind blew him away, slamming him into a wall. Almost immediately after that, he saw a huge ball of fire and a lightning bolt headed his way. He jumped out of the way, but a fireball he hadn't noticed collided with his body, throwing him into and then through a wall.

"HIEI!" Cassie screamed. "NO!"

Kurama glanced over his shoulder to see what had happened to his friend. "Hiei!"

In the kitsune's moment of distraction, Gaea blasted him with both wind and fire, sending him through the hole that the koorime had made.

"Kurama..." Kaline whimpered. "It can't be." She shook her head in disbelief. Her protector had just been hurt or killed. "KURAMA!"

Gaea laughed softly. "Pathetic men. They are no different from my bastard father." She turned to the girls, the look in her eyes gentle. "Kaline, Cassie, you do not have to put up with men like them anymore. Join me, fight alongside me, and I will help protect you. I will keep you safe from them. You do not have to end up like my mother, thrown out of the house for a stupid reason."

"What?" Cassie sputtered, staring up at the woman in shock. 'Is she nuts? Does she honestly think we'll join her after what she did to Hiei and Kurama?'

The redheaded woman sighed. "I am sorry that you choose to side with the men, Cassie. You could have been something great, but I can see that you are just as blinded as my mother had been."

"Your mother?" Kaline repeated, sounding confused. 'What is going on? Too much is happening. I just want to go home!'

"My mother was the mistress to a powerful demon king," Gaea explained, a sad expression on her face. "He supposedly loved her so much that he made a sword for her--the Siren Sword. But then, he abandoned her... all because she became pregnant... with me." She reached out a hand to Kaline. "Join me, and nothing like that will ever happen to you. I promise."

The blue-gray eyed girl drew away from the woman in fear, shaking her head. "No. I don't want to join you. I want Kurama to take me home!"

Gaea sighed. "You do not seem to understand. Men only bring pain and suffering. Side with me and you will be able to avoid all that."

"You don't seem to understand," Kurama stated as he came back into the room, his right arm hanging uselessly at his side. Gaea's attack had knocked him out for a few moments, but it had been nothing serious. "They told you that they don't want to join you. Leave them alone."

"You should respect their wishes," Hiei added, coming up to stand beside his friend. He sported a long gash on his back, the wound bleeding sluggishly. 'She's strong.'

Gaea sneered at them. "I did not ask you two worms to comment," she snarled. "The girls can make their own choices." She turned back to Cassie and Kaline. "Well?"

They both shook their heads. "I want to go home with Kurama," Kaline whispered. "Please, let him take me home." Cassie quickly echoed her friend's sentiments.

"Fine. You all can die!" she screamed in fury as wind, fire, and lightning filled the room. The place quickly began to resemble a fire tornado that spat out lightning bolts.

In an instant, Hiei and Kurama were standing in front of the girls, taking the brunt of the attack for them. The wind was incredibly fierce, and the fire burned, but the lightning kept missing them. Gaea was too angry to aim.

"Good-bye," Gaea whispered, turning her glowing green eyes on the four.

"No. Good-bye to you," Hiei replied, tearing off his headband. "Dragon of the darkness flame!" A huge black dragon erupted out of his left hand, shooting straight at the evil demon.

She shook her head at the approaching attack. "No attack made of fire can hurt me," she started, setting up a shield of silver power.

The dragon of the darkness flame attack hit the shield and bounced off, turning around to head back at its creator.

"Shit," Hiei muttered, moving to absorb the attack. He didn't want to, but he didn't see any other option.

"Think again," Gaea informed him, adding her magic to the attack. She grinned when the dragon collided with the group, sending them all flying through a few walls to the forest outside. "Now they will all die."



Yusuke slammed his fist into the top of Koenma's desk. "What do you mean they took the vial of water and vanished?! How can you not know where they are?!!"

The toddler glared at the raven-haired punk. "It's not my fault. Hiei and Kurama just took off. I assume they're out trying to rescue the girls."

"They could have at least brought us with," Kuwabara complained. "We would've helped them."

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to help you," Koenma stated, voice curt.

"No one has a clue as to where they went," Botan added.

Yusuke growled, turning around and storming off. The ruler of the spirit world had not been any help. "C'mon, Kuwabara," he said.

"Where are we going?" the carrot top inquired, sounding confused.

He didn't even turn around to answer his friend. "We're going to find Hiei and Kurama and help them rescue the girls."

"Ohhh..." Kuwabara raced off after Yusuke.

Koenma sighed. "Botan, you'd better go with them."

"Right." She nodded and ran after the two males.



Hiei groaned softly as he sat up. His whole body ached. Never before had he ever experienced an attack like that. 'Cassie...' He looked around, finding Cassie about twenty feet away, sprawled out on the grass, unconscious. Kaline was even farther away, with Kurama a few feet in front of her, his whip clutched tightly in his left hand. His right arm still hung limply at his side.

The fire demon stood up and grabbed his sword, waiting for Gaea to come out and try to finish them all off.

She didn't disappoint them, and she even brought someone out with her--another female demon.

The new demon had long black hair and pure white eyes. The right side of her face was beautiful, but the other half was horribly scarred, as if someone had either burned it or poured acid over it. Her black shirt and pants hung from her thin body. In her hands, she held a sword--Cassie's Siren Sword.

"So they are not dead yet. Interesting," Gaea said softly, cocking her head slightly to one side. I guess I have to take more... drastic measures." She turned to the black-haired demon. "My sword please, Hel."

The scarred demon gave the redheaded female the weapon. "Here, Gaea."

"Thank you," she replied politely, accepting the blade. "Now, you may want to leave. I don't want you ending up hurt."

Hel smiled, her expression twisting the scarred side of her face into something even more gruesome. "I will, Gaea," she replied. "And please be careful."

"Do not worry. I will be fine," Gaea stated.

With a nod, the black-eyed demon disappeared.

The evil female turned to her opponents. "Now to deal with you all." She pointed her sword at Hiei, sending a spark of magic into the blade. Beautiful music instantly filled the area, the sound watery and magical--the song of the siren.

The sound immediately affected both Hiei and Kurama, leaving them helpless. Neither could move; they could barely even think. The music destroyed their will to fight, and the worst part was that they couldn't figure out a way to defend themselves.

Strangely enough, the siren singing woke Kaline up. She moaned softly, sitting up and looking around for Kurama. She found him nearby, not moving. "Kurama?" she whispered, going over to him. She had a bad feeling about what was going on. "Kurama?" she repeated when he didn't respond. He didn't even move when she touched his bare back.

She moved around to face him, finding his eyes gazing off into the distance. He was in a daze, but she couldn't quite figure out why. "Kurama?!" she exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes. "Please snap out of it!"

"He can not respond to you," Gaea stated, walking toward the crying girl. "The song of the Siren Sword disables all males. No man can stand up to the song, which means that he will be incredibly easy to kill."

"No..." Kaline whispered, wrapping her arms around Kurama's waist. "No."

~"Kaline... I'm sorry for not telling you, but you are a half demon. Your mother was a demon, and I was sworn to secrecy when I found out."~

Blue-gray eyes opened wide at the memory. 'Demon...'

~"You're mine little girl... for all eternity. You wanna know why?" Loki taunted. "You're a demon."~

'If I'm a demon, then surely I can find some way to protect Kurama from Gaea,' she thought as she remembered what Sombra had told her the last time she had slept.

~'Kaline, you're a half demon. Your mother was a demon, and your father was a human sorcerer. You've been using some of your sorcerer powers to heal yourself and Cassie, but you need more power. You need to use your demon powers. You have to accept me, your demon half. If you don't, you may end up dead.'~

Gaea smiled as she prepared to strike down at Kurama with her sword.

'I accept my demon half,' Kaline thought, reaching into herself for her power. 'I have to accept my demon half to keep Gaea from killing Kurama and me.'

"Good-bye, worm," the evil demon snarled.

"NO! Don't touch Kurama!" Kaline screamed as her eyes became bright blue and her hair lengthened, turning to black at the same time. Her ears moved to the top of her head, becoming black cat ears that twitched, and a tail sprouted out behind her.

Then power erupted from her in all directions. The bright blue magic filled the area, sending Gaea flying back, leeching the sword from her in the process. The power even flowed over Kurama, Hiei, and Cassie.

After a few moments, her blue magic disappeared, leaving almost no trace as to what had happened. Kaline had even assumed her normal form once again. Even her half-closed eyes were back to their blue-gray color. Only the Siren Sword, laying in front of the cat demon, visually proved that the girl had done anything.

With the siren song no long filling the air, the males could move again; however, they had a new challenge. Kaline's power danced inside of them, healing them and trying to do something. Hiei couldn't quite figure it out, but Kurama did.

The kitsune opened himself to the power, absorbing it and making it his own. It wasn't that hard, considering that Kaline was his soul mate. Her power had no problems adapting to him, strengthening him. 'Now the bitch is going to pay,' he thought as he gently flexed his right arm. It was working again.

Gaea hissed as she stood up. "That was stupid," she snarled. "You hurt me when you did that, but you also hurt your friends."

Kaline shook her head. "No. I didn't," she replied weakly. Then, she closed her eyes and collapsed against the fox demon.

Kurama gently laid the light brunette on the ground. "You pushed me too far," he stated, standing up. "Prepare to pay."

Right then, Hiei smirked. He had figured out what to do with the power and had promptly absorbed it. Truthfully, it hadn't been that easy, especially since the magic was from a half human. He had done it though, and he felt more than ready to kill Gaea for hurting Cassie, who was still unconscious.

"Hn. Die." The koorime leapt at Gaea, his sword ready to slice her in half. She dodged and fired a bolt of lightning at him, the magic crackling through the air. In response, he sent some of his power into his sword, using the blade to block the attack. The lightning bolt bounced off, striking a nearby tree. 'It seems that Kaline's power did more than just strengthen me.'

Gaea glowered at the fire demon, Kurama completely forgotten. "How could you have possibly reflected that?" she muttered, sounding furious. "Oh well. I guess I just need to try something else!"

The earth suddenly shot up around him, quickly coming crashing back down on top of his head. He dodged at the last second, a small smile on his face as he stood on top of the dusty heap, his sword in hand.

"Was that the best you can do?" Hiei asked, launching at her again.

Gaea fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt at him, becoming worried as he dodged every single one. "Die, worm!" she shouted, summoning up a huge wind and sending it at him.

The blast sent Hiei flying through the air and into the top of a tree. The crashing noise woke Cassie up, and she quickly noticed that the battle was still raging. One thing caught her eye though. Kurama was glowing with power and his hair had changed colors. The rest of him was following suit.

The redheaded woman smiled evilly. "That took care of him for the moment. Now to retrieve my sword."

"Have you forgotten something?" a smooth masculine voice inquired, drawing her attention to a male with silver hair and golden eyes.

"Who are you?" Gaea inquired, frowning. Something had happened, but she didn't know what.

"Youko," he replied, looking down at a small seed that he had in his hand. "Prepare to die." The seed suddenly sprouted, changing into a gigantic tree that had mouths at the end of its branches. Saliva dripped out of the mouths and hit the ground, eating away at the grass and dirt. The saliva was acidic.

Her grass-green eyes widened in fear. She knew exactly what plant she was facing. "The death tree," she whispered, backing away. Never in her life had she been forced to face the death tree, but she knew what it could do to her. It could kill her.

Gaea took another step back, forming a ball of fire in her hands. She hoped that fire could burn the death tree and then destroy it. If not, she figured that lightning might have an effect as well.

"Why do you run?" Youko Kurama asked calmly, the branches of the tree moving towards her.

She didn't verbally respond, moving back a little more. She gasped as immense pain shot through her stomach. Glancing down, she saw a bloody sword protruding out of her. "Ho- How?" she sputtered.

"You let your guard down," Hiei replied, pulling the sword out of her and pushing her towards the acid-dripping plant. "Your fear defeated you."

Then, the air was filled with her screams as the death tree ate her.







CotA: Sorry I didn't update yestderday. To make up for that, I wrote a longer chappie than usual. ^_^ I'm so proud of myself. From here on out, the story will get to slowly come to a close. I have a few loose ends to tie up, and then I'm done. *cheers* Now I just have to get to work on the prequel. That should prove to be interesting. BTW, the review responses are below.

FoxLion: Better now that you know what's going on?

Luraia Soul: The mystery chick was Gaea. *sighs* I really should stop reading up on my mythology.

Midnight: Yes. Derek went bye-bye. I'm happy about that too.

Purple Witchy Angel: I'm mean, aren't I? I keep putting up cliffies. And about Cassie and Kaline's backgrounds... Cassie is a full water demon, while Kaline is half human, half demon. Their parents were close friends. That's a basic overview. I don't want to tell you anymore, just in case it becomes important later in the story.

Yanou: I haven't started writing the prequel yet. It's a totally different story (which you'll see when you check your email). ^_^;; Sad, I know, but I keep starting new stuff. *sighs* I really should restrict myself on how many stories I start. And I have no problem with you giving me your completely honest opinion. If anything, RL Cassie has been quite a bit more harsh when it comes to giving her opinion on my stuff. And no, I will NOT do your paper for you. I HATE writing papers.

spontaneousxhumanxcombustion: Yes, they've finally gotten the girls. I'm happy about that. And finally the story gets to wind down. I have to fix the girls since the big battle is over. Yippee.

Rei Akita: *chuckles* I'll update soon. Really I will.

Bijin-chan: *laughs and hugs Bijin-chan* It's okay. Really it is. You'll be fine. And well... I HAD all my homework done a few days ago. Stupid teachers gave me more.