One Challenge, Two Fights

The warming sun chased away the chilly air in an oak tree. In its twisting branches rested Gabriel, twitching her nose ever so slightly in the morning breeze. She opened her eyes, blinking sleep away. Sitting up on her branch, she rubbed her arms to chase the cold away. She stood on the branch and started to climb higher on the tree. A snoozing fox was draped across two branches; his tail twitched a little as she climbed onto his branch. She poked him in the ribs; he twitched and made a small noise like a giggle. Her smile became very wide and she poked him again. Poke, giggle, poke, giggle, poke…poke…pokepokepoke…POKE!! "Aaah!" his eyes flew open, he squirmed on his branch and fell off. Several cracking sounds were heard and a pleasant thump. Timidly coming down from the tree, she approached his still form.

Youko's body was spread out on the grass, in a strange pose; his eyes were closed tight. "Youko?" she poked him in the ribs, "Youko?! Youko!!" POKEPOKEPOKE!! She threw herself on him and wailed loudly, "YOUKO!!" he still didn't move. Sniffing, she cried on him. Youko cracked one eye, looking down at her. Her ran a hand through her fluffy waves. She looked up in disbelief, and then slapped him. "Stop scaring me like that! You don't know what it does to me to see you pretending to be dead."

"You were poking me in my sleep!"

"You didn't wake up!"

"You woke up too early! I'm still sleepy."

"Too bad, time to get up."

"Since when are you the boss?"

"Since you're wrapped around my finger, now get up." She smooched him on the forehead and stood up. He was powerless and obeyed. "Shouldn't have told her that," he grumbled.

Carina paced around the meeting grounds, her posse struggling to keep up with her angry pace. "The nerve of that girl, the nerve! The weak little wench; barely out of kit-hood, thinks she can beat me! I'm a black youko of noble blood, mastered a katana and who is she? No one! No family, no roots, no strength, no reason for her to live! She isn't a golden youko, she's a fraud!" she sent her fist into the nearest solid object, which turned out to be an innocent tree. It swayed but did not fall. Carina hissed and stomped away to find Gabriel.

Youko had managed to locate Blu and his sister, who was talking his ear off. Blu gave him a look that said, 'help me.' "Hello, Red," he announced his presence to the red clad, black vixen. Red turned to Youko, "Hey Kurama, what's up? Seen any of your family? Oh wait, no body but you came from your family. That's kind of sad, I'd be so depressed if I came by myself. Hey! Who's this behind you?" she grabbed a hold of Gabriel's hands, "You must be Gabriel! Hi, my name is Redra, or Red for short. So you're the only gold fox here, huh? No family, not even any other gold youkos, how sad. I know what to do! You can hang with us! Kurama is practically family, so you are like a sister-in-law! Welcome to the family." Red hugged Gabriel, making a crunching noise. When her lips began to turn blue, Gabriel was released.

"You're quite the conversationalist." The gold vixen wheezed.

"Every body says that, but thank you; you're the only one who says it in a good way. I saw Carina and her gang talking to you; did she challenge you to a fight? She's really jealous that Kurama likes you more than her, she's been after him for years."

"Its not really a fight, its more of a… test."

"Whatever you say." Red said in a singsong voice. "But I'll be rooting for you all the way!" she grinned and threw her fists into the air, "Go golden Gabriel! Whoo!" several people turned and looked her way, giving her strange looks. The crowds began to part; a familiar group of vixens marched through, heading in their direction. "Oooh, here she comes! Go get'em, tiger!" Red lightly punched Gabriel's shoulder. As Carina approached, the overly decorated, shabbily clad vixen's sneer grew bigger and bigger.

"Get ready to rumble, kit." She spat, "our fight begins now."

"Should we not choose a more convenient location? Many people could get hurt here. There are women with child here."

"It's their own fault if they get in the way, now draw your weapon!" Carina's katana slid from its sheath.

"No! I will not endanger the lives of others. You will kill me before I let that happen, and where's the sport in that?"

Carina sniffed in disgust, "You're stalling."

"No, I'm not; let us move and I will fight you for as long as you wish." The gold vixen turned around and walked away to a safer location. Next to the meeting circle where they had meet last night, was a large open area lined with small stalls in which youkos sold things. A large round fountain had been placed in the center, with a marble fish spitting water from its mouth into the air. Carina snarled as she followed Gabriel. When the gold vixen finally stopped, Carina became impatient again. "Fight me now!!"

"I thought you wanted me to draw my weapon," Gabe said, raising an eyebrow. She turned to Youko, "I have not brought a weapon with me, what shall I use?" Youko plucked a piece of grass growing through the stones in the pavilion. Sending a shoot of his reiki into it, he split it in half and made two grass zanbatous. "These may bear the most resemblance to the staves we used back home, may they serve you well." He said.

"I shall make you proud sensei," she said very solemnly. Turning, she took a stance with the grass swords; her hands at her sides, slightly in front of her with the swords tilted up to a 45-degree angle. Carina lowered her sword to laugh, "What are you using? Those swords will do you no good against a katana! They're too big; and using two zanbatous is just unthinkable!" (Some zanbatous are not as big as Sano's, from Rouroni Kenshin.)

"Lesson one: Never let down your guard. Always be aware of your surroundings; anything could pose a threat."

Carina scoffed, "Less talk, more fight." Charging, she made a thrust toward Gabe's chest. Gabe crossed her swords and stopped the katana by acting like a pincer. Gabe lowered her swords, making Carina kneel, who still held her katana, and attempted to cut her head off using her swords like scissors. Carina leaned back far enough to miss the blades and did a backwards roll to get away. "Nice technique, Split Rose if I'm not mistaken." Carina smiled. "That style has no offensive moves, though, you're fighting a battle you can't win, except if I get too tired."

"Lesson two: know your friends, know your enemy." The gold vixen spoke softly but powerfully. Carina charged again and made a horizontal swipe; Gabe blocked with one sword and smacked her with the flat side of the other. Carina used the offending momentum and managed a cartwheel. She knelt on the ground, her black hair ruffled. Gabe seemed unfazed from any physical exertion at all. Bringing her grass swords up, she slammed one down where Carina once was. The black vixen had rolled and stood up a few meters away. Carina charged, using more speed than ever, "Lightning-strikes-the-earth!" she shouted, making a series of thrusts and sword twirls. Gabe parried all of the attacks, never showing a bead of sweat. Carina stopped panting heavily, "How is a scrawny kit like you able to stand against me for so long? I'm a master of the Black Sting style!"

"Probably because I'm a girl."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because I am a girl, I am not interested in other girls, therefore, your slinky little (emphasis on little) outfit does not distract me, as it would a boy. You really aren't as good as you think you are." She could hear Red and Blu snickering from the sidelines.

Carina's glare intensified. "You think you know everything."

"No, just enough." Carina snapped; her sword moved so fast, Gabe could not successfully dodge all the blows. Carina scratched her face and neck, meaning for those little wounds to be lethal. After a few seconds, Carina stopped, panting. "How was that, kit?" Gabe held her swords in Split Rose position again. "Exhilarating, and challenging; my complements to your speed."

"Thank you, you're not as weak as you seem. I know you're getting tired, I can feel your reiki flickering. It's taking nearly all you have to avoid my blows."

"Lesson four: never let them see you sweat."

"Lets continue." Carina raised her katana, "Your turn, come and get me." Gabe tightened her grip on the swords and charged. Leaping, she brought both words down, touching the flats together in an X shape, on Carina. Carina waited for her to strike and thrust her katana to the hilt into the center of the X. her blade cut through the blades and nearly impaled Gabe in the chest had she not been stopped by the hilt of her sword. She could not move her blades, nor could Carina move hers. "It seems we have reached an impasse." The tip of the katana blade was pressed into Gabe's chest, but no breaking the skin. She thanked her genes for making her a skinny girl with long limbs. "It seems so," Carina replied. "But because my sword could go through yours, it makes me wonder if I could do this," she sliced upward and reduced the zanbatous to half their length and freeing her own sword in the process. Gabe stumbled back in surprise; Carina seized this opportunity and attacked. She seemed like she had the upper hand when the katana was flipped out of her hand and landed a few feet away. The grass blades were pressed to her throat. "Yeah!" Red shouted in triumph. The red and black vixens in Carina's group had gasped. They were panic stricken. They whispered among them selves, "Could we all take her on at once? That way, Carina would not get killed."

"You stay where you are!" Carina hissed, not taking her eyes of Gabe's. "Go ahead; kill me, kit. You earned it."

Trembling slightly, Carina waited for death. But Gabe hesitated. She couldn't kill her. She could. Not. Kill. Her. Carina saw a bead of sweat trickle down her face and fall to the ground, and a smile spread across her lips. "You don't have it in you, do you? You don't have the guts." She hissed. Gabe twitched slightly. Carina laughed an evil laughed and stepped away; she retrieved her katana and turned to face her again. "Its time to end this, kit. You sicken me with your weakness, that you expect me to revere you because you are a golden youko. How you were born doesn't count for sh!t, not even if you're of noble blood. It's all about being strong and staying alive, and to do that, you have to kill others who try to kill you. So its time for you to suffer."

"Carina, don't!" one of the red vixen's called out from her group. "She was able to disarm you so easily-"

"So what? She can't do any damage! She's weak! I will not be defeated by some soft little snot nosed kit!" Carina roared, making her group step back a little. She turned back to Gabe, " Rain of Swords!" she cried, her arm seemed to vanish her sword was moving so fast. The air was singing with the sounds of blades. Gabe was cut several times on her arms and sides. 'I can't let this go on,' she thought. 'I couldn't bear to have to kill her.' Giving an abrupt battle cry, she brought her swords up, knocking Carina's away, she slammed one blade down so hard she had to drop to her knees to maintain the momentum. Carina raised her blade to block it and put her other hand on the blunt side of the sword to brace it. A deafening ring shocked very fox with several hundred meters. With her other blade, Gabe swung her arm behind Carina's legs and buried the sword in her calves. Carina screamed and fell, dropping her sword. She held her bleeding calves, crying in pain. She had been ham-stringed.

Panting, Gabe fell back on the ground, propped up on her elbows. She dropped her swords and crawled over to Carina. She looked up at Carina's posse, who had been staring in shock. "Help me get her to a healer." She said, pleading. They didn't move for a moment, and then the red fox that had tried to stop Carina ran forward. One other black vixen ran forward, and another, and another red one; soon the entire group was holding some part of Carina's body and was carefully carrying her away. The healers were not far away and set to work on the severed muscles and tendons.

Gabe sat outside of one of many medical tents that served as small hospitals; many vixens were due to deliver, so they had come along to help. Bandages were dotting her arms and sides and shoulders. The flap of the tent opened, a healer walked out, "She'll be alright. Her legs should heal just fine and be able to use them again normally after a few weeks, a month or so tops."

"Can I go in and see her?"

"Sure, just make it brief." He held the tent flap open for her. Gabe walked into the tent. Carina was lying on a futon on the ground. The black vixen's eyes glared daggers at her. "What do you think you are doing here?"

"To be honest, I really don't know." Gabe said. Carina looked confused. "What?"

"I feel like I should apologize, but that would only insult you, would it not? I know half the things you said out there you only said because you were angry at me and frustrated because I was a greenling, but half of the things you said were true. I am weak, weak at heart and in mind. It's true, I can't kill, I'm too much of a coward to take another's life, or even to cause them pain. But I caused you pain because I did not want to have to cause you greater pain. I knew you would not stop so I had to stop you; Youko would most likely have murdered you if you killed me, I didn't want that to happen."

"So you think you did something noble, by trying to save my life? Don't be so overconfident."

"No, that's something that you do, Carina. I repeat that I have no idea why I am talking to you. I know you will always hate me now. I will not try to change that, because that would be even more cowardly of me. I just want you to know I really don't think I am better than anyone else. I am a weak, ignorant child. But you have a weakness too, your sense of righteousness and pride. Know that and live with it or change it. Maybe you will realize you hate me for some deeper reason or really for no reason at all." She stood up and exited the tent, leaving Carina to her thoughts.

Youko was waiting for her outside. "Hey, you alright?" she lowered her head and walked slowly away, "Peachy, just peachy." She kept walking until she had reached the oak tree were they slept. Youko ran up to her, "You beat her didn't you? What's the matter?" she punched him weakly in the chest, "I didn't want to hurt her, I was just doing what you said, but I hurt her very badly!!" he reached out to steady her as she swayed dangerously. "Don't make me fight, I'll never be like you."

"I don't understand, why-?"

"I can't cause people pain without feeling it myself! I'm not like you, I feel everything, from both sides."

"You could feel her wounds?"

"Not literally, I feel the shame I've brought her. It won't go away."

"So what? She deserved it, she won't fight you again."

"You don't understand at all, do you?" she pulled away from him. "You like bloodshed. You like to kill. Koronue too."

All emotion began to drain from Youko's face. He let go of her, to let her stand on shaking legs. "Its kill or be killed in Makai, just like Carina said. We've all grown up in that slaughterhouse of a world. And yes, I do enjoy bloodshed and stealing, fighting, its part of who I am. I used to kill for fun, but ever since I met you, killing has lost its thrill. But it isn't the end of me killing people; I will probably kill people in the future, as I have in the past. No one can change that, not even you." She drew her fist to her mouth and her other hand to her chest as he spoke. "Violence is a part of the world just like peace is, one cannot exist without the other." He gently pried her hand away from her mouth. "You are peaceful. So I must fight for you, to protect you…" he embraced her, cradling her neck in one hand. "Because…I love you." A moment of silence rang between them. The vixen reached up and pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear, "I love you too, Youko Kurama." Their lips drew closer together…

"Aaaaw, how cute!" Red cooed from behind the oak tree near where they were standing. "Damn it, Red!!" Youko roared.

hee hee

this next chapter has the romance you've been begging me for. sadly its one of the last chapters in this story.