To Break the Chain

Kohari: Yippers! New chappie! YAYYAYYAYYAYYAY!

Kaimonetstaska: I knew I shouldn't've let her near the ice cream machine.

Kohari: WEEEEEEEEEEE! –bouncing off walls-

Kaimonetstaska: Please pause for a moment to inspect this commercial.

Kohari: YIPPEES!

Advertisement: "Twist of Fate" is a Beyblade story with a love triangle. Topaz discovers Max cheating on her, and finds herself falling for...Kai? That's right, the team captain. Max is furious. And what happened to Topanga? Read and find out what happens when Max responds to her summonings to an old abandoned warehouse.

Kaimonetstaska: Okies. Now on with this fic.

Kohari: You didn't do my disclaimer.

Kaimonetstaska: Do we need to?

Kohari: I don't think so. They already know. I think.

Kaimonetstaska: Don't. You'll strain your brain. –receives glare- What happened to your sugar high?

Kohari: It go bye-bye.

Kaimonetstaska: Thank God.

Kohari: Oh, shut it. –gobbles up bag of sugar-

Kaimonetsta: Lord save us.

Chapter 10

She had been escorted to her "dayroom," as the guards referred to it. It was so boring. It was more a storeroom than anything else. Dusty crates were lined along the walls in uneven stacks. At least the window had a view.

Kohari sighed. This sucked. The window was reinforced so that she couldn't escape. And she wasn't going to easily adjust to being watched every second of the day. They had left her alone now. She was halfway glad. She enjoyed the loneliness if it meant that THEY would be gone.

The door creaked open slowly. She turned quickly, frightened of who it might be. The pace of her breathing altered in panic. She let out a sigh of relief as the visitor revealed themselves to be just the captain of the team guarding her door.

"How are you, Princess?" he asked, sweetly, obviously trying to put on some charm. What kind of trick was he trying to pull?

"I'm no princess. Now go away." She kept her voice harsh. She hoped she sounded intimidating. But with Hiei controlling the rules, she didn't know what limits they could go to.

The guard had come in on his own, leaving his partners out in the hall to keep out intruders. It was just him and her. Not a scenario she particularly liked. "Now, why would I do that and leave such a fragile, young girl in a big, scary room all by herself? What kind of gentleman would I be?"

"A good one."

He laughed a little. She hadn't been joking, but apparently that's how he took it. He came closer, but she kept him at arms length, warningly. He chuckled at this, too. He was determined to get what he wanted, but what was it that he was after?

He proved too forceful for her. She was pushed behind a stack of crates in a far corner. The villain sneered the whole time as he sexually harassed her, his hands wandering in places they didn't belong. She could tell he desired a lot more than he was getting. Kohari swore to herself that he wouldn't get it.

Finally he had gotten somewhat of his fill. He left, the torture over. She stayed where she was, concealed by a huge pile of wooden boxes. She never wanted to see him again. Amazingly, she had retained her virginity, but how long could she keep it?

When she had regained herself, breaking free of her broken emotional prison she had pulled herself into, she went back to the window, leaning on the sill. She watched the birds flee in fright from a few practicing warriors, new to the army. She gazed at them longingly, desperately wishing that she, too, could fly away from this Hell on Earth.

The door once again opened a while later. She was more calm this time, but she was a little furious when Hiei walked in, flanked on both sides by one of her escorts, one of which had been in her room earlier, and whose encounter was previously described.

Hiei was speaking to her, but she couldn't take her eyes off of...she didn't even want to think up a name in relation to him. He'd make any word in the dictionary seem like something evil. Her eyes were slightly dilated in fear. Yes, she feared not him, but what she felt he could do to her. The thought terrified her worse than anything Hiei could do. The other escort had left to rejoin his partners, though HE had remained.

"Something seems to be bothering you," the apparition observed, circling her. This didn't bother her nearly as much as the guard's presence in her room. "I take it you don't enjoy this man's company." He was referring to the guard, who was smiling with that evil glint in his eye, and desire etched all over his face. "Are you afraid of him?" Sly devil, that Hiei, though he knew not why she hated his lackey.

"Terrified," she admitted.

"Why?" He kept his voice at a monotone.

"I don't want to say." All the time this short conversation took place, she glared at the man who had done worse than a certain flames-master could ever do, or at least, had threatened to do, since she still had her purity.

"Tell me." His voice was ominous now. She wouldn't escape this alive if she didn't confess what she had had to put up with. It was childish, she knew, but he had forced himself into places even Dmitri had never...traveled.

"I..." she started, but she didn't feel she could finish it. The soldier was looking a little scared himself. He was busted if she talked. "He...uh...well..."

"I can take a wild guess from there," Hiei interrupted. Before her eyes, the guard ceased to exist. It had happened so quickly, she barely noticed it. It had been so swift, and had only taken one cut. One thorough and accurate slice through the man's flesh, and his life was gone. Blood coated the floor in no time, and Kohari was left, gaping at what had occurred. "You have nothing to fear of him any longer," the former member of Team Urameshi told her, sheathing his sword gracefully.

"How could you...why?" she stammered. Sure, he had been a mental and psychological harassment, but did he deserve to die for it?

"How else?" A smirk crossed his face. He summoned a few of the warriors outside the door, and they cleared away the corpse and that which had spilled. "You're rid of him. You should be happy." They left, leaving only the apparition and Kohari.

"Well, I'm not."

"Then that's your problem." She found herself backed up against the wall, the lower half of his arm horizontal against her chest, blocking her from anything she might try. He again had her wrists pinned together in one hand. His face was inches from hers. She was helpless now.

"You know it's pointless to resist anything my underlings here try, so why fight back so hard? You played yourself."

"My heart belongs only to Dmitri." She stood her ground, firm. He smiled as though he had caught her in a trap. In fact, he had caught her in somewhat of a lie.

"So that little dramatic speech was just a way of getting out of your execution?" he sneered. "You lied to save your life?"

"No."

"Then explain yourself." He knew she had put herself in a difficult position. He already knew the truth, he just wanted it to come straight from her mouth. Why? Who knows how the minds of these world domination obsessed people work? It was amusing to him to see her struggling internally with something harder to beat than him: herself.

"I didn't lie. I spoke true. I do love you." Those last words were the hardest to admit. She didn't want it to be like this. "I should hate you for all you did to me." She was going to let it all out. Free her soul by releasing all that was on her mind. "I can't. I hate what you did, but not you. Why, Hiei? Why can't I hate you? I know why. And I hate that, too. I love you. And that's what tears me apart."

Tears welled up in her eyes. This was...she had lost count of how many times this weakness had occurred to her. She had never been able to cry before Dmitri's death. Tears of sadness, despair, anger...all gathered into her eyes at this moment. Eyes cannot hide true emotions. And right now, anyone could read them like a book if they only glanced.

Hiei was enjoying this. She collapsed to the floor, unable to retain the strength to hold herself up. Her knees locked together. "I did lie. You stole what was rightfully Dmitri's."

He still had an evil smile on his lips. He lowered himself to her level and forced her to look at him. She didn't resist. She hadn't the strength. He pulled her lips closer to his, and they met. What was she doing? She shouldn't be liking any of this. But all that he had done to her erased itself temporarily as she was dragged into ecstasy. She would regret this later, but she relished every second of it now.

It was a few minutes past the previous scene (Kohari) and he had searched the hall. Nothing. He could sense the apparition, barely. People like Hiei mask their aura, making them hard to spot. But Mal had been trained for situations like this. He toyed with the weapons on his "utility belt" as Kohari called it. She had been the first real friend he had had. She appreciated his company, not just his skills as all the others had. He was just a tool to them. To Kohari, he was a buddy. Someone she could rely on. Normally, he wouldn't bother much to rescue another, but he figured he owed her this much at least.

He tried to keep the oversized boots' noise to a low level, but his footsteps echoed throughout the manse it seemed, despite his talented efforts to silence it. He couldn't remember much about anything before she had shown up in his town. It had been annoying, once she had seen him kick some bad-guy butt, that she had followed him around, trying to convince him to join their cause. It had taken seeing firsthand her battle experience to persuade him that maybe it would be worthwhile to see what these friends of hers could do. If they could stop Hiei, as they dreamed they could, the world would be better, even for him. He had taken the risk.

Kohari was skilled, there was no denying that. She could protect herself, no problem. She was always being underestimated, even by herself, and that low-self esteem, though it didn't affect her victory in fights, seemed to hold her back.

What if Hiei hadn't shown up? What if she could still live in the village with Dmitri, Todd, and all the others? What if they had never met? Would he still have found himself trusting people more? Would she smile even brighter than she did now? She made everything seem like a game. Like life, though it looked bad, was perfect. How she did it, he'd never know, but he wished he could be like that. To be happy even when things looked dark. To be completely oblivious to the danger lurking on the horizon. He knew she did it to keep everyone in bright spirits, but did anyone know what she truly felt? Even he, who knew most everything there was to know going on, could hardly ever see past her naïve nature. She was a lot like Botan, but more...he hated to say words like this, but...attractive. She made a chain reaction so that everyone, upon seeing her smile, had to grin, too. With Botan, it was just plain annoying.

He left his thoughts there, focusing on the task at hand. More than likely, the storeroom Hiei had just left held Kohari. He waited patiently for him to be a good distance away, and then stole toward the room. "Typical," he muttered, noticing that her "room" was heavily guarded. "Oh, well. I need the practice anyway." The sun shining through a window nearby shone on his blade, making it shimmer for a split second. He poised it, then went in for the kill. He knew he was going to get a talking to about taking lives by Kohari later, but right now, it was a matter of whatever floats his boat.

Kohari was again leaning against the window ledge, furious at herself for allowing the kiss to happen. She was no man's possession, no one's doll. Yet he had strings snaked all over her body (speaking in metaphor). She controlled nothing.

The sound of a battle reached her delicate ears. Outside, in the hallway. She heard the grunts of the guards, thudding against the walls. What was going on? She didn't have to wait long for an answer. The door swung open quickly to reveal Mal, poking his head in the door. The first and only words out of his mouth: "Let's go." She wasted no time. There was no way she was staying here. She couldn't afford another moment of impaired judgment like she had when...she didn't want to think about it. (She had to step over the guards, but she ignored it.)

She followed Mal down the labyrinth of the castle. He obviously knew where he was going, and as they ran, she was only a few steps behind. They didn't stop once outside the forbidding walls. They kept running, heading where Mal suspected Team Urameshi would be. The forest. He had a hunch how all this was going on, and he thought Kohari may want to be present when the true cause of all this revealed how to reverse it.

"Frickin' trees. Frickin' branches," Yusuke cursed (I guess) as he kept pushing aside the limbs that clawed at his face. They were even worse, smacking him in the face, without the leaves to cushion it. "What're we lookin' for, anyway?"

"Anything that would give us a hint as to how Hiei acquired his current 'social' standing," Kurama answered, also a little annoyed at the forest's wrath, even on one who was so close to the natural world and earth's potential.

"I could answer that," a misty voice came from the shadows. There was no tone whatsoever.

"Show yourself, coward!" Kuwabara called out. He was a little freaked out. In response to his demand, the woman from Hiei's forest encounter stepped from her concealment of shrubs and trees.

"It's just an old lady. Let's go," Yusuke shrugged off disrespectfully. He was turning to go on his merry way when Kurama stopped him.

"Wait, Yusuke. Maybe we should listen to what she has to say. It could be beneficial to our quest."

It was at this time that Kohari and Mal entered the clearing as well. ":gasp: Elder May!" Kohari cried out excitedly and hurried over to hug the old hag, who was smiling as well. Kohari withdrew and stood in somewhat of a line with the others.

"You know this old bat?" Yusuke asked, surprised.

"Of course! I was her apprentice!"

"I hope you have advanced much further in your studies," 'Elder May' put in. When Kohari blushed and hung her head, she added, "Thine heart is pure, but thine head is hard, young grasshopper. Thy ignorance shalt forever amuse thineself and others." Kohari had joined in the last sentence, but replaced "thy" and "thineself" with "my" and "myself."

"So, you were saying you know how Hiei got this power," Yusuke cut in, eager to get this show on the road. Kohari again gasped and looked at the elderly maiden.

"Of course. I gave it to him." This statement received many gasps and surprised stares. Kohari was crushed. Her role model from the village had, as she saw it, betrayed her. Her eyes portrayed this.

"Why, Honorable Elder? Why would you do this?" Kohari felt hurt, and her voice showed it.

"Now, now, child. Don't fret. I can help you reverse this whole misunderstanding (yeah, right, misunderstanding)."

"Really?!" (Kohari)

"Then start talking, hag," Yusuke commanded threateningly.

"No need to get violent," she responded. "There are eight orbs that can grant any wish, but only once of the same desire."

"And how do we find them?"

"You look, genius," Elder May snapped. She reminded Yusuke a lot of Genkai, who had died when Hiei had taken over. "You're in luck. They are in this area. Happy hunting." And with that, she got ready to leave.

"How-?"

"Use your aura." She was gone.

The Reikai Tentai and the Blitz glanced at one another. This was going to be a long day.

Kohari: Yays. Another chapter over!

Kaimonetstaska: She got over her sugar high.

Kohari: Very sad.

Kaimonetstaska: No, what's sad is you1

Kohari: That hurts. Anyways, I hope these last two chapters weren't too long. And I hope you enjoyed them. I also hope you review.

Kaimonetstaska: AHEM!

Kohari: Oh, and that "thine pure heart, thine hard head" stuff? I stole it from Kaimonetstaska.

Kaimonetstaska: I still have to pummel you for that.

Kohari: -nervous laughter- Oh, yeah. I had forgotten...well, please review, nice readers, while I run from the child spawned from Satan himself.

Kaimonetstaska: THAT'S IT!

Kohari: Yipe. –runs-