i'm going to camp from 7-26 to 7-30, i won't be able to update for awhile, but i hope this big chapter will give you something to chew on until i get back. This chapter is a long one; grab a soda and some snacks.

Chapter 22

The Master plan

Gabriel had smartened her face up after crying so much. The servant returned in the morning and tended to the room while she bathed. When she came out of the bathroom, the servant had laid out clothes for her. Gabriel blushed, 'oh Lord,' she thought. She had been given a ceremonial black robe with a pentagram embroidered on the back. Under that, she was to wear a snow-white pelpos (kind of like a toga) and a small leather quiver filled with arrows. She wondered what the arrows were for, when the servant caught her staring at the quiver. "The arrows are used in the Sealing ceremony. They're the only things that can kill the master, but the only bow those arrows will be strung on is in the master's keeping. Both the arrows and the bow are magic, so they only work for each other." The servant said as if she was only describing the weather.

Gabriel fumed, 'Damn,' she needed a little help getting dressed; she couldn't make heads or tails of the quiver straps. The servant was styling her hair in a way maybe the Grecians wore it. The top half of her hair was in a sort of bun on the back of her head with little ringlets trailing out, and the bottom half had random, tiny braids with silver strings and jewels in it. The servant put a pair of sandals on her that laced up past her knees, almost touching the hem of the skimpy chiton. The last touch was a slim ringlet of pearls across her forehead with a crescent moon hanging down. Gabriel looked in the mirror; she looked like Athena, the Greek goddess of the hunt. 'And of chastity' she added silently.

"Excuse me," she said nervously to the servant.

"Yes?"

"I was curious; do you like working here? For Raden?"

"Well, that depends on how you look at it. The servants are given food and shelter and protection from enemies; but on the other hand, we can never leave, the master can do whatever he wants to us, and we are punished if we cannot complete our tasks, brutally punished; even if we are sick or injured. Some of us try to help each other, but others are selfish and walk right past the helpless, even their own friends or family members." The servant touched a scar on her arm nostalgically.

"What if you were given the chance to leave, or be free, what would you do?"

"I suppose I would feel obligated to stay, I never have to worry about a home or food." She laughed wryly, "But I have a husband out there…some where, and he said he would wait for me until death…" a tear slipped down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly and straightened up.

"What will happen to me after I am sealed inside my self? What will Raden do to me?" Gabriel asked anxiously. "Will I just be his little toy?"

"The Master plans to make you his life partner; though he might treat you like a slave or not, he will give the title of his wife and all the power he has, except freedom."

"All the power he has…"

"Except freedom."

The sun had reached the high point in the sky. Out side of the small window in the dungeon, a dying dandelion had no shadow; it was noon. Youko was hypnotized to sleep by Koronue again, though the bat had stayed awake to keep watch. He was twitching every now and then from anxiety. He had sharpened his scythes eight times now, and he thought about doing it again. Trying to occupy himself, he counted the seconds between each drop of water into the puddle on the floor.

Six hippopotamus

Seven hippopotamus

Eight hippopotamus

Nine hippopotamus

Ten hippopotamus

Drip!

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the hallway. They stopped outside of the door; a small voice spoke. "Requesting entry."

"What's the password?" Koronue whispered.

"Raden is a sissy girl."

Koronue opened the door for Toko. The small demon had brought food, supplies, and a special key to them. "Do you know what I had to do to get this key?" he said grumpily.

"If I say yes will you still tell me?"

Toko smiled wryly, he looked over his shoulder at the slumbering fox. "He can sleep at a time like this?" he said.

"I had to force him," Koronue answered. "You remember the way to the Moon room?"

"Yes, once the sun goes down, I will lead you there disguised as a pair of assistance healers. Raden will be in the Moon room when the moon is directly above. Before he can finish the Sealing ceremony, I lock any one else out of the room and you two do your thing."

"Right. All we have to do now is wait for the sun to go down." Koronue sighed.

"And stop looking at the clock."

"And don't pace the room."

"And try to look cute and innocent."

"And try not to vomit from anticipation."

"Or crap your pants in fear." Koronue had to laugh at this, "You are a funny little guy, Toko, and a good friend to Gabriel."

"Am I friend to you?"

"Well, don't press your luck."

"But I'm not an enemy, right?"

"Right,"

"So… I am a friend, just not like you are to Mister Youko."

"Yeah, whatever. Are you going to eat that sandwich?"

Toko laughed and handed the food to the bat.

Gabriel waited by the window. She watched the sun sink below the horizon. It was almost time for the ceremony. The window on the opposite side of the room revealed a sliver of the moon peeking over the treetops of the forest. She gripped the bell pendant in her hand. She kept it in a pocket in her robe. The servant had brought her dinner and stayed while she ate, though she did not eat much. Gabriel tried to chat with the servant, but both of them seemed to be too anxious to say much.

The moon was halfway to the high point in the sky when the door swung open. Armed escorts with dark hoods stood in the door. "Come, it is time." They said. Gabriel looked back at the servant sadly; the servant had tears in her eyes but did not look at Gabriel. With one guard on each side of her, they walked slowly down the gloomy halls of the castle. Rich portraits and tapestries hung along the walls, but in the dark, they looked terrifying. After what seemed like an hour of walking, they approached a long hallway with a large set of doors at the end. One door was white and carved with a moon and a human figure holding an arrow. The other door was black and carved with a monstrous dog-like creature; it held a bow in its jaws. She guessed the bow and arrows were very important to werewolves.

The doors opened, revealing Raden in a similar robe but he wore a longer toga that was black. "Welcome to the Moon room." He said. The room was perfectly round; it was on top of a tower. Bluish marble tiles covered the walls, and over that, tapestries hung royally on either side of a stone platform. The platform was directly beneath a round skylight. She could see the moon shining through, casting an oblong shape onto the floor. A short flight of stairs lead up to the platform, on either side of that, were two cushy pillows. Raden sat on one, while Gabriel sat on the other.

"When the moon shines on the entire platform, the ceremony will begin." He said. He ordered a glass of some thing for each of them. She sniffed her glass carefully, the liquid within appeared to be clear, but she was still wary. Taking a sip, she discovered it was only water and drank half of the glass in one gulp. Raden laughed at her, "Don't drink that too fast, it might run right through you."

'If you don't shut up, by golly I'll run something through you, you….' She thought bitterly.

The moon was halfway covering the platform. The moonlight reflected off the polished stone and lit up the room. Raden stood up and led Gabriel up the stairs, hooded figures stood around the room, holding incense and chanting softly. "Let the ceremony begin!"

Koronue and Youko were busy dressing in the robes Toko had brought them. Time was of the essence now that the moon had risen off the horizon. The two bandits and the healer were dressed in powder blue robes with loose hoods that covered their faces, though Toko's horn poked out from beneath his hood.

The small demon quickly led the other two through the castle, sticking to the back halls and the shadows. The Moon room's doors were shut with a guard on either side. Toko whispered to them from the sides of his mouth, "The guards will ask why we are here, be ready to take care of them." Toko approached the doors first.

"What is your purpose here? The master said no one is allowed in." one guard grouched.

"I am the requested healer for the ceremony." the little demon responded.

"Why are there three of you?"

Youko and Koronue swept back their hoods, "Because we are your executioners." The bandits dealt with the guards swiftly. Replacing their hoods, they slipped into the locked room with the key Toko provided. Youko blinked in the reflected light of the moon; he saw Gabriel on the platform. Drawing a sharp breath, he took a step forward. Toko put his hand out to stop him, "Not yet," he whispered. The room was filled with chanting and the smell of burning incense.

The chanting quickened its pace and grew louder in the room as Raden pulled an arrow from Gabriel's quiver. It was tipped with silver, and to Youko's surprise, Raden cut himself with it on his hand. Raden then took Gabriel's hand and nicked it with the same arrow; she gave a yelp of surprise and pain; Youko growled viciously beneath his hood. "With this arrow, and our blood on it," Raden said, "You shall be committed to the moon, and your powers will wax and wan with it as I do." From with in his black robes, he produced the magic bow with which the arrows work. It was an ancient style bow, curving almost in a 'w' shape. "This is a fairy-bow, which contains the wood of an old tree that has grown to a giants height. It grew full of blood and hate because it was planted in a battlefield were it was drenched in impurity. It can only be purified of evil with goodness; bad blood with good blood."

While he was speaking, he didn't seem to notice all the chanting figures around him were disappearing behind the tapestries and into locked rooms. He forced Gabriel to hold the box and string the arrow to it. She did not object because her drink was actually laced with a tranquilizer. He held her hands because she was not strong enough to draw the string back. "Aim to the moon, and the seal is complete." He tilted her back to aim at the moon and…

Slash!

A flying scythe ripped across Raden's arm, ricocheted of the far way and came back to its owner. Raden gave a low growl. "Ding dong!" Koronue lowered his arm. Youko charged onto the platform, "Your time has come, Raden!" he yelled, raising his signature Rose whip.

"Youko Kurama and his counterpart, Koronue. How quaint; come to rescue the damsel and vanquish the villain?" Raden laughed his trademark laugh. He dropped Gabriel as she was supported on his arm; she clunked to the floor with an 'mmf.' His eyes started to change, from onyx to red. The moon worked its powers him, changing him into a wolf-man. Black fur spread across his body like a wild fire. His once handsome face was contorted between a dog and a human. The black robe began to split between his shoulders as he grew several inches taller and wider. "Come and get me, little fox. We may both be canines, but foxes are the wolves' little brother."

"Well, 'big brother', you've picked on me long enough. It's payback time!!" Youko leapt forward and attacked. Toko snuck up from behind and dragged Gabriel to a safer place away from the platform. "Toko, the light." She whimpered, shielding her eyes. Her spirit energy was ebbing away.

Koronue stepped in to help Youko, by surrounding Raden from behind. Raden's laugh was no longer charming; "Numbers will not help you against me." he roared snatching Youko's rose whip out of the air and ripping it in half. Raden made a quick slashing attack at the fox with his long claws. The fox dodged quickly, but his white tunic was not spared.

Koronue's scythes seemed to have no affect on Raden's skin. Using his wings, he hopped onto the wolf's shoulders; (think Legolas and the cave troll.) swinging his scythe on its chain at a rapid speed, he flung it down as hard as he could. The curved edge sank into Raden's clavicle a few inches. The wolf roared furiously, seized Koronue by the foot and sent him into a wall. Koronue's scythe was still embedded in Raden's shoulder when the bat was thrown away, so the chain was jerked out brutally.

Youko tried to sow a death plant seed into the wound, but when he tried to make it grow, his energy had no affect. 'Only fire and silver can hurt werewolves,' he remembered saying. None of his plants could produce fire, but most of them were flammable. And Raden was tacky enough to have torches in his home. Youko pulled a bamboo seed from his hair, multiplied it, and blew them across the room. (Think when Koronue was killed outside the demon palace.) Shoots of bamboo jutted up from the smooth floors all around Raden in thick rows.

"Koronue, burn the bamboo!" the fox shouted to his partner over Raden's angry snarls. Both bandits and the healer ripped the lamps from the walls and tossed the oil on the bamboo, setting it ablaze by throwing the burning lamps in. Fire streaked across the bamboo, sending angry sparks onto Raden. The wolf howled and tried to knock the bamboo shoots down. He burst out of the small forest like a bat out of hell, (no offense to Koronue.) his robe was smoldering, matching his demonic eyes. He spotted Toko, running around, pulling more lamps down. "YOU!! You sniveling little worm!!" Raden seized him around the throat, lifting him into the air. "I should have killed you when you first ran into me!!" Raden punctured through Toko's thin frame with his gruesome claws and flung him across the room. The smaller demon gushed blood from various wounds in his chest and stomach. Youko and Koronue charged side by side to avenge the fallen boy, with a battle cry on their lips and hate in their eyes.

By some stroke of luck, Toko had fallen next to Gabriel. White smoke seemed to be coming off her body, she propped herself up weakly on her elbow and reached out to her friend. "Toko," she whimpered. His eyes were clouding fast. "Miss," he replied from where he lay on the ground.

"You have to heal your self, quickly!"

"I can't, there are too many wounds, too deep."

"You have to try!!" she cried in desperation.

"No, miss, take my hand," he grasped her outstretched fingers weakly. "You have to live, I have to die, and that's how it was meant to be." Blood trickled down his chin from his mouth.

"No! No-!"

"Listen! I don't have much time-! Just live, and be free; take Raden out, use the arrows." She could feel his life energy pouring into her. She squeezed her eyes shut, part of her didn't want to see her friend die, and the rest of her was hurting already from the energy donation. "Live, be free…" he said with his dieing breath and slumped forward. A burning feeling tore through her like a hot blade; she screamed, shaking her head in her hands. The seal inside her was broken. Her spirit's strength returned to her, making her glow from the inside out.

She stood up groggily, the tranquilizer still taking affect on her, and stumbled toward the bow. It was still near the burning bamboo. She crawled onto the platform, and reached for the bow. A weakened branch fell off the bamboo near the bow, it was falling right toward her, she looked up in horror. Before she could scream, Raden had blocked the flaming branch from falling on her, setting his arm aflame instead. She was dumbstruck, "Why?" she said.

"You are my bride, and I won't let you be taken from me!" He snarled, making a swipe at her. She rolled away, missing his clawed hand by inches. "I won't ever love anyone who treats me like property and tries to act like its alright." she cried. She grabbed the bow and scuttled away as Youko pounced onto Raden's back, shoving a flaming shard of wood into the wound in his collarbone. Raden snarled and sank his claws into the fox's shoulder, ripping him off his back, Raden slammed him onto the ground. The fox was stunned for a moment. Raden raised his foot to stomp on Youko's chest and break his ribs.

Koronue jumped on a shoot and bent it down with his weight; he let it bend back up and propel him forward like a dart. Wings spread, scythes drawn, the bat rammed into Raden's back, slicing his fur and sending him head over heels off the platform.

Gabriel struggled to stand up; her body was stressed and tired. She tried to reach an arrow from the quiver on her back, but the robe was in the way. Tearing the robe off, she tried to reach the quiver again. There were a total of five arrows in the quiver; one had been used to prick Gabriel and Raden's hand, leaving only four. Gabriel tried to string the arrow and pull it back, but she was not strong enough at her current condition. She needed strength.

Strength…

She pulled the bell pendant from her pocket and slipped it over her head. The effects of the tranquilizer melted away almost instantly, filling her with power. She was able to draw back the bowstring easily; she took aim and fired.

Raden landed flat on his back when Koronue plowed into him. The breath had been knocked out of him, but he was still able to stand up again. He faced Koronue, who was helping Youko to his feet. Raden made a move to advance on them when a white-hot burning feeling pierced his shoulder from behind. Raden howled in pain and whipped around. Gabriel stood with another arrow fitted in the bow. "That was for Toko," she shouted. Her second arrow flew into the wound on his clavicle. "That was for Youko," she shot him again in the stomach, "that was for Koronue," her last arrow was readied, "And this if for me." she aimed ad let the arrow fly straight, her eyes slid shut as the arrow went into his chest, piercing his lung. He fell forward, flaming and bleeding.

The fire Youko had started was burning out of control; the air was thick, and smoky. The pendant on Gabriel's neck had used up all her strength; she fell forward, exhausted. Youko had run up to her as she fell and caught her in his arms. The arrow on the floor and the ones embedded in Raden's body wrenched themselves out of him and magically flew straight back to their home in the quiver. A piece of the ceiling had fallen and crashed to the ground next to her; the sparks threatened to engulf her. Youko picked up her black robe and wrapped her up in it. He handed her Koronue; as the bat was about to flee to the skylight, she gave a small cry, "Don't leave Toko!"

"But he's dead." Youko explained.

"We have to honor him, please take him with us!" she begged. The pain and sorrow in her eyes was enough to make him melt. He nodded, "Koronue, get her out of here, I'll follow you with the boy's body." Youko ran over to the fallen demon and hoisted the lifeless form over his shoulder. Koronue flew up through the skylight and departed for the nearby forest. Koronue set her in the cradling branches of a tree and flew back to the castle to help Youko. Gabriel could see the flaming tower from her perch; she was worried for he friends. At last, they returned with Toko's body. The two bandits buried Toko beneath a cedar tree, marking his grave with a mound of stones.

Gabriel fell asleep before Koronue came back up the tree to get her; she was still bundled up in the black robe, clutching the fairy bow. The bandits had just enough reiki left to make a portal home to Reikai, near the hide out. The last hours of the night were spent cleansing them selves of blood and sweat and other impurities. Youko took it upon himself to take care of Gabriel and he brushed out her hair. He managed to pry the fairy-bow away from her and removed the quiver from her back. The moon was sinking below the horizon when she woke up. She looked into Youko's eyes as he laid her on a couch. With out using words, she asked him to sleep next to her because she was still feeling scared. He lay on the couch beside her and covered them both with a blanket. A few tears slipped down her cheeks, but he wiped them away tenderly. "It's good to be home," he said. She nodded and fell fast asleep.

Is the story over? Of course not! Stay tuned for more!

Plz r&r