Hello, I'm back. Thank you all you reviewers! I love all the reviews that were sent. All you get a plushie in the design of your choice. -blah blah- means thoughts. In this case, Kurama. Now, back to Yomishi. By the way, if anything seems off, I am sorry. Tell me and I'll edit it to fix it.
Ghost and Shadow Ch. 14: Sly Enemy of Ground Unseen
When Yomishi had arrived, the sun was just beginning to rise and the fog on the ground had not yet burned off. Stepping outside into the foggy air, Kurama stood on the stoop in front of the door and looked in the general direction of Yomishi. -It appears,- Kurama thought. -That his cloak enables him to become almost invisible in fog and darkness. Explains why he chose to attack now.- Upon hearing a cracking noise, Kurama turned to the garden. There stood Yomishi, having broken a stick to get Kurama's attention, with his arms folded in front of him. This was the closest Kurama had gotten to his new foe, and took the opportunity to observe him.
Yomishi's cloak was not a solid color as the group had assumed earlier. It was, in fact, more of a see-through mesh and the color came from Yomishi's skin. He wore nothing under the cloak, no clothing and not even jewelry. On a normal day, Kurama would've asked what had happened to the clothing and why wasn't he wearing any? However, there was no reason to ask why because the answer was obvious. Yomishi didn't have to wear clothes because of two reasons. One was because the clothing would get in the way of his treks underground and the other reason was that there was absolutely nothing to cover up. Yomishi's naked gray body looked more like one of those male Barbie dolls than anything else. His eyes were a bright and glowing purple beneath his see through hood; nothing more of his face could be seen. The top parts of his feet were barely visible and his toes could not be seen. Kurama could only guess that the reason his feet were underground by about three inches was so that Yomishi could move faster from above ground to below.
Not wasting anymore time, Kurama pulled out his rose and turned it into the trademark rose-whip. Stepping off the stoop, he walked towards Yomishi in the garden of churned earth. He called out over his shoulder to the people back in the cabin, "While Kris was asleep I think I figured something out. There's a letter on the table addressed to Hiei and only Hiei. Jin, Touya, I want the two of you to track him down and give him the letter."
"Why us?" asked Touya curiously while Jin ransacked the kitchen trying to find the letter.
"Are you ninja or not? Who can find the un-findable better than you? Other than me, of course," Kurama added.
"Found it! It was in front of me face the whole time. Anyway, Kurama's got a point so let's go!" Jin flew out of the cabin and into the woods. Touya hesitated for a moment before sprinting after him. Within seconds, the two of them were gone.
"Hey! What about me?! Hellooo...I am STILL HERE!" Yusuke was pissed off at not being sent on the 'mission' and decided to vent his anger by screaming insults. Kurama stopped, looked over his shoulder and glared at Yusuke which shut the loud mouth up immediately. "Um...I'll stay here and protect Kris!" A nod was the only answer Yusuke got, so the Spirit Detective walked slowly to the kitchen door and observed all that was about to happen.
"Aw, protecting the missus?" Yomishi said in a sickly sweet voice.
"We aren't married," Kurama said in a clipped monotone. There was an undertone to this statement that suggested that Kurama wanted to get this fight over with as soon as possible. "Time for you to shut up and fight me."
"Now, now. why the rush? What if...I were to harm those little friends of yours that you just sent away?" Yomishi began to slowly sink into the ground as he said this.
"I sent them because that letter was supposed to be in Hiei's hands by today. He's off on a mission in another part of the Makai. I promised to get it to him, but since you came I got all tied up." This was said with such a cocky attitude and air that Yomishi seemed to get visibly angry. -Must be his weakness. The foe being over-confident. Milk this for all it's worth.- Smirking a little, Kurama added, "I just want this to be over with so I can finish the job assigned to me and go home. Your people must not be very strong because at the rate we're going we'll be done with this mission in a week."
"You wish! You won't be so cocky once I'm through with you!" Yomishi thrust his right arm out from underneath his cloak and pointed it at Kurama. In a explosion of light, Yomishi's arm morphed into a blade from hand to elbow. Holding it in front of his face, he said, "Start praying to your god, boy. You won't have mush time."
"Same to you," Kurama said while pulling out his rose-whip in the fighting position. "But then again, you might not live long enough to pray."
"Shut it!" and Yomishi charged.
The whole fight was over in less than one minute, but seemed more like an eternity to those fighting.
Yomishi abruptly disappeared from Kurama's view after he said his final threat. Casting out his senses, Kurama searched fruitlessly for his foe underground. A sudden vibration at his feet startled Kurama. As the vibration grew more violent, he prepped himself for a jump. Before he could do so, however, Yomishi sprang out from the ground under Kurama's feet, blade at the ready.
Kurama jumped out of the way, But Yomishi followed him/ Back flipping to get even farther out of the blade range, Kurama felt a searing pain along his back from shoulder to hip. Landing in a clearing full of grass, he fell to one knee and began to breathe heavily.
-Damn it!- he thought as he tried to wrap a hand around his waist to check the damage. Feeling only blood, he gave up and place both hands on the ground to help steady his breathing. (A/N: like a runner after a race) When he was unable to steady his breathing, he realized what was wrong. -That blade punctured my lungs. It broke one of my ribs and that rib punctured it. Must be why I can't breathe. Shit, this isn't good...-
"Kurama!" Yusuke cried, starting to run to his friend's aid from the cabin.
"Stay...back..." Kurama panted through his shallow breaths. Yusuke stopped, but it was obvious that he did not want to. "I'll...finish...this..."
"Well, well...how noble." Yomishi walked up to Kurama and stared down at the Youko. "Still protecting them when you can't protect yourself? Surrender and I'll let you live."
Kurama said nothing and just stared at Yomishi unblinkingly. The effect it had on the foe proved his instability and conflicting nature. "Stop it! Now! I hate it when people stare at me!!" Abruptly, Yomishi jumped to a dirt patch and went back underground to recover his senses.
Kurama seized this golden opportunity. Sending his energy into the grass at his feet, he willed the roots to grow. Sculpting them into swords, Kurama felt he could defeat Yomishi through trickery, something he was very good at. "What's the matter? scared to come get me? I'm right here above you! Finish me off!" Kurama somehow managed to painfully yell through the painful breaths.
Yusuke and Kris were shocked at these words. So much so that both of them began to scream at Kurama "Don't do it!" as loud as they could. It worked well with Kurama's plan. Yomishi was convinced Kurama wanted to die and headed towards the clearing where Kurama knelt.
An ominous squelching noise was heard directly below Kurama. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Yomishi had run into the root-blades underground. Reaching his hand through a small hole he had made the grass make, Kurama pulled out the body of Yomishi and laid it on the ground.
Letting out a low whistle, Yusuke bounded over and half-tackled Kurama. "You did it! He's gone bye-bye!"
-Bye bye?!- "Yusuke...off..now," Kurama panted as he struggled to breathe.
"Sorry." Yusuke let go of Kurama. "So...Why's he fall for it, anyway?"
"Simple!" Kris called out from the doorway to the kitchen. "He was delusional!"
"she's got it. He was psychotic and lost control." Kurama slung an arm over Yusuke's shoulders for support as the two of them tried to walk back to the cabin. At least, they tried to. Kurama had just begun to imagine how nice it would be for someone to take care of him when he felt a resistance on his leg. Looking down, he saw Yomishi, eyes open and full of blood grinning up at him.
"Where do you think you're going, boy?" he rasped out. Tightening his grip on Kurama's leg, he pulled. Kurama was shocked to see the ground open below him. He could hear Kris and Yusuke shouting, but then the world went black and he knew no more.
Very close to the end, please review...blah blah. Yet again, this is close to the end. Nice cliffy here. Review or I don't update. About three more chapters to go, maybe one more, give or take.