Author's Note: Once again, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters. (Duh! ;-P) Thanks to all the people who reviewed my story. It was greatly appreciated. And I could always use more reviews, so if you would be so kind... Especially if the reviews offer constructive criticism. Not that I don't love the compliments, guys, but I could always use suggestions.... (Hint, hint.... ;-D) By the way, this chapter is extra long, just so ya know. --DragonGurl15--
Chapter 4: First Battle
Out of breath after the break-neck race through the city, I skidded to a stop on the main street near the community pool, and panted heavily as I jumped off my bike. I stood in the middle of the street and looked around, but saw no sign of a marauding demon anywhere. The only things in my sight were the mansion-like, white city hall on a small hill to my right, the other, larger city park, also to my right, and a line of houses on the other side of the road.
"Strange," I said, apprehensively taking a few careful steps farther across the blacktop. "Shouldn't there be a least a few cars around at this time of day?" It was around three o'clock in the afternoon, and no cars were in sight. Come to think of it, the day was beautiful, and no people walked on the wide sidewalks or played with their children in the park. "This is just weird."
"I see no movement in any of the houses," Kurama informed me. He and Hiei had somehow kept pace with me throughout my ride and now came to a stop next to me, my red-haired friend on my right and my red-eyed rival on my left. I feel rather short, I thought, glancing at Kurama, who was at least a head taller than me, and Hiei, who was about the same height, but still taller. Damn, I hate being short. I glowered at the pair of them, but forced my face to appear calm when Kurama turned to me.
"Do you think Botan got her information wrong?" I worriedly asked him.
"I doubt it," he answered. "Botan has never failed us and I don't think she would start now. We should check around. Maybe this Resari is hiding somewhere. We should look for him, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said, walking in the direction of the park. "You guys search over there, and I'll look around the park. If I need you, I'll yell." I grinned and Kurama cringed, both of us remembering past run-ins with my powerful and often deafening set of lungs.
As the pair of demons turned and headed toward the row of houses, I jogged up the hill next to the road. I figured if I kept moving, stayed busy, that I could keep my fear under control. For all my confident bravado, I was more afraid than I had ever been in my life, and it felt like a large boulder was resting in the bottom of my stomach. I breathed more and more heavily, and my breath came out in gasps. I knew I was becoming hysterical, and before it got worse, I decided to do something about it. I stopped suddenly at the top of the hill, and told myself, If you don't take care of this now, it will only get worse, and before long, you won't be able to do anything at all. You are a strong person, and you can do this. Just take another step, that's it! Toward the basketball courts now. Look around. Do you see anything by the swings or the pool? No? Keep going toward the baseball diamonds.
As I talked to myself inside my head and searched the park, I calmed down considerably. I was still full of fear, but I could handle it. As long as I thought rationally and kept my mind and body busy, I could shut the fear into a small box in the back of my brain. Wow, I thought. I am totally nuts. But it works for me, so whatever.
I swiftly turned, scanning the basketball courts, which were shaded by a few budding trees that nevertheless partially blocked my view. I had caught the movement of something over there in my peripheral vision, and I had no reason to doubt it. In my life-guarding class, I had learned that the sides of your vision caught irregular movement better than your frontal vision did. (A/N: This is actually true. I learned it in my life-guarding class. )
I took a deep breath and began the longest walk of my life. Time seemed to slow down, as I came closer to the site. The grass was soft under my sneakered feet and the air carried the scent of many flowers, which heralded the start of spring. The basketball court was covered with so many flower petals that they resembled a soft, sweet-smelling, multicolored blanket of new snow. I squished many, and the smell was beautiful. I trod through them and stood in the middle of the blacktop court.
I jumped a foot when a voice rumbled behind me, "Are you lost, little Spirit Detective?" I whipped around and came face to face with a tall, black-haired man. He looked normal enough until you noticed his way-out-of-proportion muscles and long, black fingernails – more accurately described as claws – that tapered to needle-like points. Also, I might want to point out this one miniscule detail: he had blue skin. Not blue like he was freezing, but a dark royal shade like the sky on a clear summer's day. Resari wore a pair of black pants, but nothing on his torso, showing a heavily muscled chest and stomach.
I could feel myself shaking, but I tried to stand up straight and didn't answer him.
"I can see you shivering, child," he observed, and I ordered my body to stop, but it didn't help. "Are you going to fight me all by yourself, or do you want those two traitorous scum to do it for you?"
A light breeze blew through the park and ruffled my straight brown hair. "I don't need anyone's help," I replied, anger rising.
"But you're just a little girl! You can't do anything yourself. And besides, you wouldn't get any help even if you want it. Your two friends are otherwise occupied at the moment." He said, grinning evilly. He took a step forward and I involuntarily backed away. "So, without further discussion, I will proceed to execute you and suck up every last bit of Spirit Energy the instant before you die. It's much fresher that way, you know." He told me informatively.
Trying to be brave, I sarcastically asked him, "Why don't you just take my energy now? Won't it be even more fresh that way?"
He examined his ebony claws nonchalantly as he answered, "Spirit Detectives, and people with a considerable amount of Spirit Energy, are too strong at full power for me to just suck away their life force. But normal people, on the other hand...." His voice trailed off and he glanced back meaningfully at the row of houses behind him.
"What did you do?!" I screamed, rage suddenly broiling inside me, a burning little ball of white hot flame for the people he had killed, or maybe even worse.
Instead of replying, he answered with a flying kick to my head. Barely dodging, so that I could feel the wind from his kick on my face, I ducked and launched a kick of my own with all my strength. My leg slammed into his blue stomach with a dull thud, forcing the wind out of him in a large whoosh. He staggered back a few steps, clutching his midriff.
I stood a little taller and I was sure he could see the pride written all over my face. But soon the pride turned to surprise as he lunged for me, his lethal black claws aimed for my throat. I tried to sidestep, but one of his claws grazed my neck as he plowed by. Instantly, I clamped my hand over the deep scratch and tried not to cry out.
Resari grinned, showing his needle-point teeth, and his long, greasy black hair looked more and more like a lion's mane than someone's hair. He paused, then ran at me again, his claws splayed. I again attempted to dodge, and got away with 5 identical red lines across my belly. His attack had cut my favorite black tank-top to shreds. Blood, warm and oozing, ran down my belly and my neck, staining my jean shorts. I tried not to, but before I could stop myself, I thought, he ruined my favorite clothes. Now he's gonna die! I didn't think I was that materialistic, I thought ruefully.
While I was having a nice little internal conversation with myself, Resari had picked that choice moment to attack again. Consequently, I could not block him at all, and his punch smashed into my chest and knocked me on my butt.
"Ow," I whispered, holding my injured shoulder. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. The demon was nowhere to be seen. I pulled my hair off my painful neck wound, which had been made sticky by the blood still flowing out of it.
I turned quickly, searching for my enemy. The basketball court was completely empty, except for the fragrant flower petals being blown about by the wind. I shifted into the position that Hiei and Kurama had taught me for battle and warily scanned the landscape.
Once more, I turned, and jumped at the sight of Resari about two inches away from me. Up close, his breath stank of rotting meat and his eyes were like those of a snake, the pupils black slits and the irises a dirty yellow. His blue skin was smeared with dirt and reddish-brown streaks that appeared to be dried blood.
I noticed all this in the split-second before he nailed me with one more devastating, ribs-cracking punch to my abdomen that sent me flying backwards onto the harsh asphalt. I lay on the ground, struggling to catch my breath as he advanced slowly toward me. I could not move one inch because of the stabbing pains in my neck, stomach, and now my chest. Resari the blue demon stood over me and pointed his clawed hand at my heart.
I glared up at his leering blue face, and with all my strength, I willed my Spirit Energy into my fingertip and shot him point-blank with my purple Spirit Gun, sending him flying away to land somewhere beyond me. Filled with new resolve, I slowly got to my feet and walked – okay, staggered – over to where the demon had fallen. Warm blood soaked into my socks and onto the blacktop from my many wounds.
Finally the victor, I looked over my opponent, wondering if he was still alive. He definitely wasn't conscious, at any rate. Some of my red blood dripped on his face, turning it purple, and I wondered how much I had lost. Suddenly, I felt very light-headed and sick. Maybe I should sit down, I thought woozily.
Much to my despair, my opponent's eyes opened and regarded me with disdain. "Nice try, little Spirit Detective," He said, gaining his feet. He towered over me and I tried to stand steadily, but my vision repeatedly grew cloudy and clear and I had trouble focusing on him.
Oh shit.... I thought in a daze. I watched him as if in slow-motion. Resari raised his arm with his claws extended. He smiled as he plunged them into my chest. I gasped in surprise and pain, and slowly began to fall. His claws easily slid out of their sheaths in my body, and I fell down, down, down, and an eternity later I hit the ground.
In a foggy, pain-filled haze, I lay on my side and watched as his hand hovered over my face, glowing red. Dream-like, I left my body and floated up to his hand..... and crashed back down agonizingly into my body as a black blur rammed into Resari and knocked him away.
With a grunt of pain, I laboriously pushed myself up onto my elbow and focused on the battling pair. The attacker was definitely Hiei, with his sword drawn and already slashing at the other demon. Slowly, I eased back to lay on the ground once more, to attempt to recover somewhat. Though, I thought,watching my blood pooling on the ground, resting won't help me much. My other deep scratches had ceased bleeding, but the five deep puncture wounds in my chest were still going strong. Somehow, Resari had miraculously missed my heart and only sliced through a few muscles.
To distract myself, I watched the fighting demons. Hiei had pushed him back the way they had come, so they were near and Resari's back was to me. Hiei struck again and again, and Resari blocked, determinedly knocking the blade aside, but his blocks became weaker. With one powerful blow, the blue demon went flying through the air, as a result of a particularly strong hit from his opponent.
His adversary temporarily down, Hiei finally came to make sure I wasn't dying. "Nice of you to show up," I told him, not very gratefully.
"I was busy with the numerous minions that Resari had acquired somewhere and ordered to attack Kurama and me." He answered, and looked over my injuries. "Those are some battle scars you're gonna have."
"It'll just make me look tougher," I replied.
"So, how did he manage to beat you up this bad? I knew you weren't strong enough for this." He said, crouching down next to me. "I'll finish up this battle for you, and then we can have Genkai heal you."
"I can finish this fight myself, Hiei," I said indignantly, quickly pushing myself into a sitting position and causing new waves of pain to explode in my body. But I didn't make a peep. I was too proud to seem weak in front of Hiei.
"You are a fool, girl," He said as he dashed away to combat the rising demon.
I won't deny it, I thought. I did need help back there. But he has no right to finish my fight for me! My now infamous temper flared, and without thinking I raised my right arm and screamed, "HIEI!!!" Purple energy exploded from my hand in a thick beam of light and blasted across the basketball court, parting the sea of flower petals in its way, heading straight for Hiei and Resari. My rival turned at his name and his red eyes grew wide as he saw the violet column of light. Resari took advantage of his distraction to attempt to hit him, but Hiei, being Hiei, quickly got out of the way. Resari was totally unprepared for it, and the Spirit Gun hit him square in the chest, slamming him into a the pole of a basketball hoop. Needless to say, the slightly rusted pole broke with a loud crack and fell on him.
After watching my victory, I collapsed on the ground, too weak to move.
Author's Note: Sorry about taking so long with this chapter, but I've been rather busy. Or lazy. Anyway, I'd like to thank Dolphingirl32173 and Hiei's Onna for putting me on their favorites list. I'd also like to thank all the people who reviewed my pathetic excuse for a story. :-P Well, please remember to review, and tell me if you think any characters are out of character, or if something doesn't make sense. I will also appreciate any criticism or suggestions that you can give me, so I can make this better. --DragonGurl15--