Chapter 58

Losing Battle

As Riku swung at Shade the ninja disappeared. Riku blocked a swing from Shade's blade and pushed him back. Shade kneed him in the stomach and jumped back.

Riku brought his left hand to his side. "CRESCENT CLAWS" the five blades flew at Shade. Shade did his best to dodge them but he didn't notice Riku running behind him. The blades broke the attack as Riku got in range. Shade was caught by surprise as Riku thrust the tip of his sword at him. The sword hit its mark but Riku soon realized he had stabbed a straw dummy. "Ninja trick" he said as he looked around for Shade.

Shade popped out of the ground in front of Riku and kicked him in the face. Riku went flying back but recovered and landed on his feet. "How did you do that?" Riku asked. "My clan's specialty. I can actually become a shadow and merge with the environment. It comes in handy when I need to hide" Shade replied.

He readied his sword and charged Riku. Riku brought his sword up to block but Shade turned completely black and merged with the shadows in the cracks of the floor. Riku stood where he was looking around. He may be perfectly hidden but I can still smell him he thought. He turned around and his sword stopped Shade's. The force was so great Shade's sword was broken in half.

Riku was about to swing his sword to end the fight but Shade managed to kick the Crescent Edge from his hand. The sword landed fifteen feet from them.

Shade attacked first with a fist to Riku's head but Riku deflected it with his left arm and countered with a kick. Shade blocked Riku's kick with his right shin. Riku sent a series of punches and kicks at Shade but he managed to doge each one.

Riku's fist finally made contact with Shade's face and caused him to take a step back. Riku took this opportunity to punch him in the stomach with his right fist. As Shade doubled over Riku slammed a left uppercut into Shade's chin. Riku jumped in the air, spun around, and kicked Shade on the chin again sending him flying toward a statue.

Shade landed on the side of the statue on all fours and stayed there for a few seconds. He's good. I'd better take it up a notch he thought as he looked at Riku. "Are you gonna attack or are you just gonna stick to the statue like Spiderman?" Riku asked.

Shade growled a leaped into the air. He reached into the pockets of his ninja outfit and pulled out four throwing stars. Each one was between two fingers. Shade threw the stars at Riku. Riku brought his right hand back as his claws glowed red. Just when he was about to attack with the Crescent Claw attack Shade appeared from the wall next to him and swung his right foot into Riku's stomach. Riku doubled over as Shade jumped back. He was barley able to avoid being stabbed but the stars managed to scratch him.

Riku stood in place with cuts on the right side of his neck, his left shoulder, the left side of his abdomen, and his right thigh. He looked to the pillar Shade was standing on top of. "You use a lot of tricks don't you?" Riku asked. "A true ninja uses any means necessary to complete his mission. That straw dummy I used earlier to avoid your attacks was but a sample of what I use" Shade replied.

He reached behind his back and pulled out another weapon. It had a blade to short for a sword's but to long for a dagger. Riku recognized it as a kodachi (What Aoshi uses in RK). It was a perfect weapon for defense but not good for offence unless you used two. What puzzled Riku the most was the fact it had a two-foot long handle. Why's the handle so long? He wondered. 

He looked to where the Crescent Edge lay. Shade leaped into the air toward Riku. As Shade prepared to kick, Riku wind morphed to his sword. He picked up the Crescent Edge and charged.

As he swung down Shade blocked it with his kodachi. Riku continued to attack but the perfect defense set up by Shade and his weapon held them off.

Shade managed to parry on of Riku's swings and saw his chance. While his left hand gripped the top of his weapon's handle his right gripped the end. He thrust his sword forward with his right hand while the handle slid through the left. Riku managed to avoid getting impaled but Shade did something unexpected. He left hand let go of the handle so he gripped it with his right at the end of the handle. He then spun around and slashed Riku with it. Riku stumbled back with a horizontally cut on his chest. Shade jumped back.

That's when Riku realized why Shade's weapon had such long handle. By gripping the top of the handle Shade had a regular kodachi, which was great on defense but sucked on offence. But by simply gripping the end of the handle his weapon's range became as long as any other sword. This allowed Shade to switch from defense to offence and back again very easily.

"I see you've figured out my weapon's secret. And as you can I have to perfect offensive and defensive weapon" Shade said as he readied his sword.

He charged Riku and swung his sword. Riku blocked and countered but Shade switch his sword back to defense and blocked it. The two started an all out dual but Shade's ability to adjust the range of his weapon by gripping certain points on the handle gave him the advantage.

Their sword clashed and Shade jumped back. He then stabbed his weapon into the ground. "I'll finish the battle now. To bad I have to kill you. If we had met under different circumstances we most likely would have become friends" Shade said as he clasped his hands together. He closed his eyes while chanting a secret technique. His clasped hands went in front of his face as the chant continued. As he finished his hands went down in front of his chest and his index fingers pointed up. Two more Shades pooped out from the ground. "What the?" Riku said. "These are shadow images of me. They have all my skills and can think for themselves. It'll be like fighting three Shades" he said.

The three jumped in different directions and circled Riku at high speed. One Shade is bad enough but I can't take on three he thought. 

With Nami and Hiei

Nami jumped to the side as Naien swung her whip at her. Her scimitars would only be useful as a shield since a sword wasn't very good against a whip. 

Naien charge and leaped into the air. She swung her whip repeatedly at Nami who could only hold her weapons in front of her. "This is to easy" Naien said as she landed and thrust her whip at Nami. The whip coiled around the scimitar in her left hand and Naien quickly yanked it out.

Nami watched helplessly as the weapon landed behind Naien. "Just wanted to even the odds. After all, you had two weapons and all I had was my whip" Naien said. Nami growled and gripped her remaining scimitar with both hands.

Naien smirked and charged. She once again thrust her weapon at Nami but the angel/devil sidestepped it and sliced through it. Nami smirked as the whip disintegrated.

She then charged Naien and punched her in the face. Naien stumbled back as Nami did a handstand and stretched her legs to the side. She started spinning and repeatedly kicked Naien in various places. With one finally kick Naien was sent crashing to the ground.

Nami got back on her feet and smirked as she watched Naien stumble to her feet. "Don't tell me you're a complete weakling without your little whip" Nami said. "How dare you call me a weakling!!! I'll show you!!!" Naien yelled as she gathered flames in each handle. She clasped them together as they intensified. "This might be a little familiar to you. FLAME OF THE PHOENIX" she thrust her hands forward and flames in the shape of a giant phoenix flew toward Nami.

Nami had no time to dodge and the attack slammed into her. The phoenix flew over the edge of the cliff and crashed into the valley below. A huge fiery explosion rocked the area. Naien smirked and lowed her hands. "So much for her" she said as she turned to walk away.

"Where do you think your going?" a voice said from the cliff. Naien turned around and saw Nami leap from behind the cliff's edge. "SPIRIT GRENADE" she threw her attack at Naien, who was still shocked Nami was still alive. The attack blew up in her face and she was sent crashing into a tree. 

As she struggled to one knee she looked at Nami. The demon slayer's leather outfit was smoking now and had burn marks in a few places. "How did you survive?" Naien asked. " My scimitar took the brunt of your attack's power and I managed to grab a hold of a branch on the side of the cliff before I fell to my death" Nami replied smirking.

Naien growled and stumbled to her feet. "I take it you have nothing left" Nami said. "One more" Naien mumbled as she crouched low. She leaped high into the air as flames once again gather in her hands.

She formed a bow made of fire in her left hand and an arrow made of fire in her right. She prepared to shoot. "HIYA" she let go of the arrow and let it fly toward Nami. Nami smirked and jumped out of the way. Naien quickly reloaded and fired another and another until it was practically raining arrows. One missed Nami's stomach by centimeters but just being to close badly burned Nami's abdomen. She fell to one knee as she clutched her wound.

Naien landed in front of her and reactivated her whip. "Ops, maybe I should have warned you about the burning effect my arrows have" she said. Nami growled and stumbled to her feet. "I'll make it quick and painless" Naien said as she charged.

Hiei's battle with Javik was pretty evenly matched. Hiei was the faster of them but Javik had two swords to work with.

The starred each other down for a few minutes while thinking up strategies. This ninja clan has done their homework. I won't be as effective against him since he's a water demon. I'd better use fire attacks sparingly he thought. "Before we continue I'd like to know the name of my next victim" Hiei said. "Javik" the water demon replied. Hiei smirked and charged.

His katana whistled as it sliced through the air. Javik blocked it with his left sword and a pushing match started. Javik pushed Hiei off and swung his right sword sideways at Hiei. Hiei had to suck in his stomach to avoid being sliced. Javik swung his left sword at Hiei but the fire demon parried it and kicked him back.

As Javik recovered Hiei thrust his katana at him. Javik dodged it by inches and leaped into the air. Hiei followed him and prepared for a powerful upward slash. Before he could reach Javik, the water demon's swords started glowing. "DOUBLE BLADE ATTACK" a blade of energy shot out of each and headed for Hiei. Hiei's katana was surrounded by black flames to increase its power.

His katana and the two energy blades slammed into each other but the extra power Hiei added to his katana allowed his to continue toward Javik while pushing back the energy blades.

Javik swung his swords at Hiei and they clashed in the air. The force of the contact caused the energy blades to explode. Hiei's katana and Javik's twin swords fell to the ground.

Hiei and Javik immediately started throwing punches and kicks at each other as they used spirit energy to slow their decent. Neither managed to hit the other, as their limbs became blurs. A few feet from the ground Hiei's fist slammed into Javik's face but as he started flying back he kicked Hiei in the stomach. They both landed o their backs.

They both lay their panting for a few minutes. "Your more of challenge then I thought. But I've only just begun" Hiei said as he flitted to his katana and picked it up. Javik's swords were stabbed into the tree behind Hiei. Javik slowly got to his feet while not taking his eyes off Hiei. 

Hiei disappeared as Javik stood in place. He barely dodged Hiei's first swing but Hiei followed it up with hundreds of others. He continued to dodge as Hiei intensified the speed of his swings. Javik managed to kick Hiei and the two starred at each other.

While Javik was still standing, he had numerous cuts on his body from Hiei's sword. Javik was fast but Hiei was faster.

Time to end this Hiei thought as he disappeared. Javik could sense Hiei was still in front of him and positioned his arms as if he was about to lift something heavy. "DARK TIDE" he lifted his hands up and a black tsunami rose from the ground. It leveled a path through the forest before dieing down. Javik surveyed the damage.

He could sense Hiei inside the broken trees. Hiei's fist popped out of the debris and the rest of him soon followed. He struggled to his feet with bruises and cuts all over his body. His katana was nowhere to be seen. "Dam you" Hiei said as he took a step forward.

Javik stood there with an emotionless look on his face. I have no choice Hiei thought as his jagan burned his bandana away. Black flames surrounded his body as the bandages around his arm were burned off. He got into firing stance but was shocked to see Javik in a similar stance. His right arm was surrounded by a blue glow.

 It's now or never Hiei thought. "DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME" the mighty dragon roared out of his hand and toward Javik. "DRAGON OF THE SACRED SEA" a dragon made of water shot out of Javik's hand. The two attacks collided and a cloud of stem covered the area. As it disappeared it was clear the two dragons had cancel each other out. Javik's dragon managed to put out Hiei's but at the same time it was evaporated. Now what? Hiei thought.

Javik got back into the stance and his arm was once again surrounded in a blue glow. Your kidding Hiei thought. He watched in amazement as Javik continued to add power to his next attack. There was no way Hiei would survive using the Dragon of the Darkness Flame twice. "Unlike your attack, mine has no side effects so I can use it multiple times" Javik said as he added more power. Is this really the end? Hiei thought.

With Kurama

Kurama jumped out of the way of Azeri's quarterstaff. She quickly followed up with a kick to his gut. He landed on his back but rolled out of the way of Azeri's next attack.

He jumped to his feet and swung his whip at her. She ducked to avoid it and charged. Kurama slashed the ground with his whip and sent up a cloud of dust. Azeri swung her staff but hit nothing. She stood there for a few seconds wondering what to do. She leaped up and surveyed the area around the dust cloud. She noticed some footprints that stopped at the forest's edge. So he's in the forest she thought as she pondered whether or not she should burn him out.

Suddenly, Kurama's whip shot out from the dust cloud and wrapped around her left ankle. Before she could react she was slammed into the ground.

She slowly sat up and watched as the whip retracted back into the cloud. When the dust steeled Kurama stood with his whip in his right hand and a large leaf in the other. "But you were in the forest" she said. "My tracks made it appeared I was there but I've been in the dust cloud the entire time" he replied. "But how?" she asked. "Right after I sent the dust cloud up I ran to the forest and stopped at its edge. As I ran back I used this leaf to wipe away the tracks I left coming back. A simple strategy but it seems to have worked" he said.

Azeri growled and got to her feet. "They weren't kidding when they told me you were crafty" she said. She threw her quarterstaff aside and fisted her right hand. It was surrounded by fire. "COSMIC FIREBALL" she thrust her hand forward and a large fireball shot out of it.

Kurama jumped to the side to avoid it. "COSMIC FIREBALL" Azeri sent another at him. He made a break for the water as Azeri sent yet another. They blew up behind him as he ran in front of them. He reached the lake and jumped int. "You'll have to come up for air some time" Azeri said.

Kurama jumped out of the water and charge her. She smirked and prepared another blast. "COSMIC FIREBALL" Kurama didn't even try to dodge and he collided with the attack.

Azeri gasped as she saw Kurama come out of the attack and swing his whip at her. She jumped to the side and landed out of range of his attack. "What did you do this time?" she asked. That's when she noticed he wasn't as wet as he should have been. "Wait you didn't go into the water to stay safe from my attack you did it to make yourself wet" she said. "The water covering me allowed me to make contact with your attack for a brief time without getting burned. And your attack is not as hot in the middle so I concentrated on that point" he replied. She growled in frustration.

"Shall we continue?" he asked. She roared and charged. Kurama smirked and dodged her first punch. He failed to notice the small fireball she was making in the palm of her hand. As he was about to swing his whip she fired it at his whip. The fireball hit and Kurama let go as the whip went up in flames.

He jumped back as she landed with a triumphant smirk on her face. "So much for your whip" she said. Kurama kept his cool through her taunting.

As she attack again he planted some seeds. Out of them came dozens of man-eating plants. They headed for Azeri with their mouths wide open. She smirked and put her hands together. "ETERNAL BLAZE" she spread her palms apart and a wall of blazing fire shot out from the ground. When the plants made contact with it they went up in flames.

Kurama winced as he watched the plants burn up. The wall of fire died down and Azeri stood with a smirk on her face. "If you thought that was impressive, you ain't seen nothing yet" she said as she jumped into the air. "FLAME TORNADO" she spun around and was surrounded by a tornado of fire. The tornado charged Kurama.

He couldn't use his plants since they would get burned and she was blocking the lake. Come on Kurama, think of something he thought.

With Kuwabara

Draco yawned as he blocked another swing. Kuwabara had been swinging away since their battle began and Draco simply used his Bo to stop each swing. Kuwabara had gained some new skill from Riku's training but he was too angry at the moment to use them. How dare he put on headphones at a time like this Kuwabara thought. 

Draco sidestepped him and slammed his Bo onto Kuwabara's head. He jumped back and watched Kuwabara stumble to his feet.

Kuwabara growled as he looked at Draco. Then Riku's words rang through his head. 'Remember frustration can be more deadly than your opponent. If you ever get angry calm down and concentrate on the battle' he had said during the training. Kuwabara counted to ten and calmed down, which was tough cause at that very moment Draco was switching CDs in his Walkman.

Kuwabara took that moment to charge. Draco was to busy getting the right song to play to notice. When he did Kuwabara had reached him and sliced through the cord that connected his headphones to the player. Draco punched Kuwabara back and fell to his knees. "My Walkman!!!" he yelled. He turned to curse at Kuwabara but immediately was sent flying back from a punch. He landed on his feet and looked at Kuwabara.

"You should never take your eyes off the great Kazuma Kuwabara" he said proudly. Draco growled and threw off his headphones. He then pulled off his now broken sunglasses and revealed his once hazel eyes were now glowing bluish white. He leaped at Kuwabara.

His Bo and Kuwabara's sword collided and a pushing match started. Draco pushed Kuwabara back and it him in the head. Kuwabara stumbled back as Draco jumped into the air with his Bo raised. Draco punched him in the stomach then followed it up with a Bo hit to the hip. He jumped back as Kuwabara struggled to stay standing.

Draco charged again but Kuwabara blocked it and pushed him back. They continued to block each other's swings until Kuwabara punch Draco in the face and sent him crashing to the ground. Draco growled and stood back up. Kuwabara gave him the finger, which made Draco really ticked.

With a yell Draco charged. Kuwabara blocked his Bo and pushed Draco back. Draco growled and charged again. Kuwabara's sword suddenly extended and Draco was cut on the right side of his abdomen by it. He stopped but didn't notice the sword curve around and come back a second time. Before he could react he was impaled through the chest. The sword drew back and returned to normal size.

Draco fell face first to the ground. Kuwabara smirked triumphantly. Riku had taught him how to extend his sword without having to call it out so he could surprise his opponents. He turned and started to walk off. "Wait till the others hear about this" he said.

"You're so dead" Draco growled. Kuwabara gasped and turned round. Draco was standing back up and his eyes were now completely glowing blue. "First you ruin my Walkman, then you trash my shades, but now you have the audacity to impale me!!!" he yelled. His body erupted in power and Kuwabara was blown back. "I was going easy on you but now your dead meat!!!"

Draco charged and slammed his Bo into Kuwabara's sword. The force from the swing caused Kuwabara to stumble back. Draco threw his Bo in the air and punch Kuwabara in the face. He then gave Kuwabara's chin a back flip kick. Kuwabara was sent flying back. He landed against a tree a stumbled back up. Draco caught his Bo.

He turned his Bo into nunchucks and charged. Kuwabara watched as Draco reached him and started to hit him repeatedly with them. When he finished he kicked Kuwabara to the ground and landed on top of him with his foot. He picked Kuwabara up and threw him into the air.

Draco dropped his bow and cupped his hands at his side. "DRAGON FIRE CANNON" he said as he thrust his hands forward. A gold blast in the shape of a dragon flew toward Kuwabara.

"WOLVE'S FURY" a beam of white energy hit Draco's attack and caused it to explode. Kuwabara crashed into a tree and fell to the ground. Draco looked to the source of the blast. Standing on top of a boulder was non other than Crystal.

She disappeared and reappeared beside Kuwabara. "Kazuma, you okay?" she asked as she kneeled next to him. "Crystal? What are you doing here?" Kuwabara asked as he sat up. "Well seeing as how no one appears to want to attack the temple I came out to help you guys" she said.

"Well now you can watch me kick this guy's ass" Kuwabara said as he slowly stood up. Crystal placed her hand on his shoulder. "You've done enough Kazuma. Let me take over from here" she said. "What?!" Kuwabara and Draco said at the same time. "I want to fight him. Riku's trained me since I joined his pack. I fought with him against the Dark Moon pack. Heck I've even rescued him a few times" she said.

"This is my fight Crystal. I can't let you take over, you might get hurt" Kuwabara said. "That's sweet of you to say but I can take care of myself" she replied. "I won't let you" he said. "Please" she said giving him her cutest pleading look. "Alright" Kuwabara said giving in. "Thank you" she said while hugging him. "But if you get in to much trouble I'll jump in" he said. She smiled at him and turned to Draco.

She reached behind her back and pulled out a curved sword. Draco thought it looked a lot like one of the swords the elves used in the Lord of the Rings movie. "I don't fight girls" he said. "Well to bad" Crystal said before disappearing.

Draco blocked her first slash but she followed up with a kick to the face and then one to the stomach. Draco stumbled back. She was about to continue when he punched her in the stomach then kicked her back. She landed on her feet. So much for not fighting girls she thought. 

With Yusuke

Yusuke jumped out of the way of Dusk's first attack. Dusk stood up and charged again. Yusuke dodged each swing. He saw an opening and tried to punch Dusk in the gut but Dusk jumped back before it made contact.

"SPIRIT GUN" Dusk managed to doge it with little effort. "You'll have to do better than that" Dusk said. Yusuke growled as energy gathered in his fists.

He charged Dusk and started throwing punches at the ninja. Dusk dodged each one and caught a punch to his face. Yusuke took that moment to gather energy in his other fist. "SHOTGUN" he fired at point blank range and Dusk was sent flying back.

He recovered and landed on his feet. Yusuke continued his assault and threw more punches at him. Each one hit before Dusk could react. Yusuke was about to finish it off with another Shotgun but Dusk punched him in the stomach and followed it up with a kick to the face. Yusuke slid a distance before stopping.

He got to his feet and looked at Dusk. "Not bad" Yusuke said as he wiped the blood from his lip. Dusk charged again.

Out of nowhere, he threw a dozen throwing stars at Yusuke. Yusuke used his Spirit Gun to blow them up but when he did they formed clouds of smoke. Before he knew it he was completely surrounded by it.

He looked around to sense where Dusk was hiding. He turned around and was hit with a black energy blast. As he flew back Dusk punched him in the stomach and continued when he landed on his back. By the time it was over Yusuke lay in an imprint of his body in the ground. Dusk crossed his arms and waited for Yusuke to stumble back up.

Yusuke opened his eyes and looked at Dusk. "You ninja's use to many cheap tricks" he said as he got to his feet. "They still get the job done" Dusk replied. Yusuke smirked and got into a fighting stance. Dusk instead continued to stand in place. Yusuke charged and threw a punch at him.

Dusk jumped back and started running toward the forest. "Are we fighting or playing tag" Yusuke said as he followed. Dusk stopped in the shade of a tree at the forest's edge. Yusuke also stopped running. "Now I'll show you my true power" Dusk said. His body started to sink into the shadow of the tree. Before Yusuke knew it, Dusk was gone.

As he looked around a blur slammed into him. He stumbled back and looked around. Another hit him from behind. He was then hit in the gut. He cursed and he fell to one knee.

"As you can see, I'm now one with the shadows. But unlike my son I can attack while still in this form" Dusk said from an unknown location. "Damit" Yusuke mumbled as he got to his feet.

A massive shadow wave rose from the ground and slammed into him. He crashed into a tree and Dusk reformed pinning him to the tree by the neck. "For your sake, I hope this isn't all you got" Yusuke said. Dusk threw him to the side and melted back into the shadows. Yea, just keep attacking Yusuke thought.

With Lita

Lita sighed as she sliced through another of Koenma's troops. "These guys are no fun" she said as she sliced through another. One came up behind her but she saw him and sliced him with her swords.

As more troops charged she disappeared and appeared as a blur flying through their ranks. They all fell down to the ground dead. "Now what, I killed them all" she said as she sheathed her swords. She thought about her options. "I bet Koenma will send some more so I'll just wait here" she said as she sat on a log.

"You shouldn't be relaxing yet" a voice said from the shadows. Lita jumped to her feet and looked around. "Who's there?" she asked. "I see you've killed all the troops. Not bad considering their amateurs" the voice said. "Come out now" Lita commanded.

"Look behind you" the voice said. She turned around and saw Muraku standing in front of her with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Who are you?" she asked. "The names Muraku or you could call me your death" he replied. She unsheathed her swords and got into a fighting stance. "You've just defeated a bunch of clowns with swords. Now you'll fight a true warrior" Muraku said as he unsheathed his sword.

Now that was a long chapter. Seems the clan's doing pretty well. And Crystal's joined the action against Draco. And Dragon Man, don't worry Draco's moment will come next chapter. And Kuwabara's. Next chapter, the tides of battle start to turn as Muraku joins in. Review please.