A/N: Here it comes; this is it! Ryokha wants the Gate's Key, and Hiei must obey, or he will lose absolutely everything he loves. Will the team's plan work, or will everything die in torment? This is in the POV of Hiei. Sorry, had a change of heart, I had to change the title of this chapter.

Chapter Twelve

This Is It

It took me only a day to reach her and her prison. The others would reach it in three days, but hopefully sooner.

I walked to the top of the tower. I took a deep breath before I walked onto the final square that would transport me up to her. I was ready to face her and anything that would follow.

The room was bare, all except for her on her throne of bones. I walked to her in ultimate defiance. I had supposedly done what no other could do; I 'stole' the Gate's Key from Koenma.

"Here it is," I said, I didn't mind showing her in my voice, just how much I loathed her, nor did she seem to care.

"Good, now hand it here," she said trying to call me to her.

"Where is the antidote, hand me that first." I pulled out the key for her to see it. She seemed to melt at the sight of it.

"At the same time then?"

"Fine." We walked towards each other. She pulled out the antidote; a greenish liquid was inside of the vial. We handed our objects to the other. I looked at my 'prize' and thought how easy it had been to get this, to save him.

I looked up at her, ready to take back what I gave her, but I stopped. I saw how she cherished the small key. She looked as if her entire life and soul rested in that one object, but I couldn't stall and let her believe that this trade was only a fluke.

"Now, for the end of our bargain," I told her. My head was down and the antidote hid deep within my pocket.

"What do you mean? What end to the bargain?" She seemed bewildered. She must have thought that I had already left.

"I think you should hand back that key."

"Why, I have no reason to, puny demon."

"On the pain of death, if you do not hand that back!"

"I would like to see you try!" she screamed, she focused on the key, and it disappeared. I could sense it still on her. She then began to float in the air, as if gravity meant nothing to her.

"You will pay for his torture!" I drew my sword out and let it guide my way. My plan was to dismember her, so I aimed at her arms that would be my first target. I slashed at her multiple times to make her flinch, but I missed, and she didn't flinch.

She raised her arm and called what seemed to be a storm of lightning. She held it in her left arm, high above her head; she then dropped her arm, letting it fall on me. I would have been struck down if I weren't saved because of my speed. I began to dodge the bolts of lightning that were thrown at me. She seemed just to watch and smile as I ran for my life.

It was my turn to get her, I charged and jumped at her. I focused on her; she was my only target. I slashed down at her, hoping to decapitate her from her evil reeking body, but I only caught her hair in my slash. A few strands fell quietly to the floor; those were the slowest moving things in the room.

Our fight picked up a few more notches. Now, Ryokha darted across the room throwing thunder-balls at me, Thunder-Strike, she kept screaming out. I kept dodging them until I reached her, and then I tried to strike her down. I kept missing her, the only thing I could hit was her hair, and that was ever so rarely.

"This is beginning to bore me," Ryokha screamed at me. She raised her hands toward the ceiling, and shot a hole right through it! She then called to the rain and the wind and the lightning to pour on us both. "Let's bring it up a few notches! Rolling Thunder! Hear my cry! Strike him down, from the sky!"

Low and behold the lightning fell in pure strikes at my smoldering body. I did all that I could to dodge them. The wind was doing its job; it slowed me down to a human's pace, which would be my greatest downfall.

I kept my eyes on her, trying to ignore the glare from the bolts of lightning. The rain and wind began to pick up even more. The rain was hitting me hard, it felt as if someone was repeatedly punching me. The wind slowed me down to a walk, if I wasn't careful it could easily pick me up and hurl me out of the room from the ceiling. I hadn't even been fighting her for an hour, yet I felt as if it had been days, and I still hadn't seen all of her moves.

"Fight me like a demon," I coxed her. I couldn't win like this; I had to try something else.

"And why would I do that?" she replied. She was messing with her nails; she wasn't even paying attention to this fight, which gave me an idea.

I pushed myself forward, towards her. By the time I had made it to her, she was watching me advance. "How amazing," escaped her lips. I forced myself forward. I was now standing right next to her, as the lightning struck down at me, but it would strike her as well. She, too, seemed to see this.

"Stop this foolishness," she said to the wind and the rain. Soon the typhoon ended, and the bolt never hit its target.

'This could be my only chance,' I thought. I raised my sword high above her head, and in total silence I struck down. Before I could finish my strike, she turned on me.

"Thunder-Strike!" she screamed letting the ball of lightning hit me as I flew across the room. I hit the wall and felt it crumble behind me. I tried to get up, but something stopped me. 'The lightning,' I thought, 'it affects the body and doesn't allow it to react.'

"Now, you will stay out of my way!" she yelled at me. She began to slowly descend from the sky, letting her feet hit the ground. She walked towards the older exit, not the one I recently made through the wall. "Until we meet again, then?" I couldn't allow her to escape, I knew she would go after my fox, I knew she would try and kill him since I failed to please her, I couldn't let that happen.

"We have not finished yet. Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" I screamed. I allowed the dragon to move me, to flow through me. The beast was great and enraged. I let my emotions control the dragon. I willed it to strike her down! The beast opened its jaw to swallow her whole.

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" she screamed.

"This is your demise," I smiled at her, waiting for my beast to attack. The creature began to turn a different hue. It changed in a blink of an eye, in the flash of Ryokha's lightning, from black, to Kurama's rose, red. "Kill her."

The beast glared at her and flew to her. Her entire essence was engulfed into my little pet. There was only one thing left from her, one thing that my pet didn't devour, a small key, the Gate's Key. I picked it up and left her death and this battle behind me. There was only one reason to how I survived. 'Kurama,' I thought, 'thank you.'

I won't go away

Right here I'll stay

Stand silent in flames

Stand tall 'till it fades

Shoot me again

I ain't dead yet

Shoot me again

All the shots I take

I spit back at you

All the shit you fake

Comes back to haunt you

All the shots

All the shots I take

What difference did I make?

All the shots I take

I spit back at you

I won't go away, with a bullet in my back

Right here I'll stay, with a bullet in my back

Shoot me

Take a shot

A/N: I don't own Yu-Yu Hakusho, or this song; it is Shoot Me Again by Matallica. The next chapter is going to be called When I Return.