"Talking" 'Thinking' .:Telepathic stuff:.

AAAAA - Change of time/place and whatnot

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

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Skava

Chapter five: Preparation and infiltration.

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Kurama felt like shouting with the joy. He was a little calmer, so he would not allow any outbursts of emotion, but he still had to work hard to keep a manic grin from possessing his face. As it was, he was still smiling when Yusuke looked up and found that he found that he had no such restraints.

"YES!! There's the temple!!" Kurama winced as his ears (metaphorically speaking) began to bleed. He heard a huge rustle as all the birds in a five-mile radius that had previously been resting in trees took to the air, startled.

"Yes Yusuke, that's a temple. And if I find you shouting like that ever again, I will personally slaughter you. They can hear you in America."

"Even through the portal? Impressive." Hiei caught himself before his eyes actually rolled, but they still narrowed considerably and he turned to face their destination, now so close at hand. It was an impressive sight for a human construction, high walls with guards equipped with swords and arrows and sprawling grounds with large and multiple buildings. However, he had seen bigger, and more impressive. Koenma's fortress, for example, and that had been child's play to infiltrate and steal out of. It was still at least a few miles off, but his Jagan allowed him to see through the walls into the heart of the temple. There, a pulsing core of energy, one that appeared to be nestled inside a small red gem, resting on a small cushion, surrounded by guards, drew his gaze.

"So," interrupted Yusuke, "Does anyone actually know what it is that we're after anyway? Koenma wasn't very specific when he gave us our mission." Kurama shook his head.

"No Yusuke, he just told us that Skava wanted it and it was our job to stop her."

"It's a gem," interrupted Hiei in a slightly hypnotic voice, "A red gem that is in the middle of the temple, surrounded by guards, and pulsing energy. I can't tell you what it would do, but I can get us there if need be."

"And you would know this because…" Hiei turned to face the teenager, Jagan eye open and glowing.

"Ah. Put that away Hiei, it's creepy." Hiei raised an eyebrow, but closed the eye, and retied his bandana around it before beginning to walk up the slope to the temple.

"Hey, wait up!"

AAAAA

She jumped from tree branch to tree branch along the tree line, eyes taking in every line of the walls and temple rooftops that she could see. Her sixth sense was trained on her back and sides, letting her stare with complete concentration, memorizing the building plan. This was a crucial step, she had to be able to get in and get out quickly. She did not doubt that she could defeat any of the guards in a one on one battle, but guards had a nasty tendency of ganging up, and even she could be taken with the right force of arms. After all, she was only one person. She mentally began filing any other kind of information that would prove itself useful, how many guards in one section of wall, where the weak spots were in the stone, and any nearby trees that could give her a lift. On the latter of the three she found them sadly lacking, until she reached the back. There they had been lazy, allowing the old pines to creep up on them and reach to the edge of the wall. She grinned.

'Stupid demons, don't they realize that any self-respecting thief would never come through the front? It's like they're just asking to be infiltrated!' Suddenly, her senses picked the presence of guards, patrolling the surrounding forest. She caught sight of them, and whipped around the truck of the majestic pine that she was currently perched in, holding her breath until the passed. As they did, she had to stop her self from rolling her eyes.

'They live in a forest and they don't even look up! Of course I'm not going to be on the ground, I'd leave tracks! And they just stomp through, leaving trails wherever they go. I swear, this is going to be one of the easiest jobs I've ever had.'

Famous last words.

AAAAA

"Now, please, try and understand this. There is a first-rate thief coming up the mountain this very instant and will be attempting to steal the jewel that we happen to know resides in this temple. I highly doubt that your own forces are enough to catch her. We must ask that you clear the grounds, for we will most likely cause a fight with her and we do not want to be distracted, trying to protect civilians will hinder our power. I must ask you one more time; we need you to clear the grounds for when this happens. Please, we most insist that you do this for us."

The head priest that they had been sent to delegate with frowned, and seemed to ponder what the red haired fox had said. However, almost immediately he had his answer.

"No. My guards can handle any infiltration that you may foresee. I do not know how you obtained information on my temple, but you will not clear it for any of your little fantasies of thieves. If there actually is a thief coming, we will take her out. You are allowed to assist us in this, but I will not clear the temple. Oh, and be warned. The gem that we speak of is tied to a powerful ice spirit. Anyone that removes it find themselves dead in a completely unpleasant way. Elementals have a way of being vicious. Do not think you can pull it out from our noses." His mouth was set in a hard and stubborn line, and his eyes were narrowed dangerously. His entire posture spoke of stubborn resistance, and futile argument.

Kurama sighed, and felt his mental sense twitch.

.:Kurama, we can always just make them obey us:.

.:Hiei, we don't want to start a war with these people:.

.:I didn't say anything about a war. I just mean make them abandon the grounds:.

.:But I do not want to hurt them if possible:.

.:They are mere demons:.

.:Yes, but they are innocent. They are simply following orders:.

.:All right fox, I won't argue. You have plants that induce sleep, don't you?:.

.:Of course. Thank you for pointing that out to me:. They continued to plan in their minds, while Kurama diplomatically agreed to the chief priest's wishes and expressed a concern about the falling night and the danger to travelers as light diminished. In other words, he weaseled a room and food out of the priest.

AAAAA

Night was falling. She was still perched on a tree limb, eyes trained the wall. She was waiting for the guards to change, allowing her for an easier way up. It was getting harder to see, and she found herself relying more and more on her sixth sense to tell her how many people were there, as well as her other senses like hearing and smell. Nothing much was happening, the guards were immobile, staring out at the tree line where she was hidden. She had to suppress a grin as she thought of what might happen if she just walked up and climbed the wall right under their noses.

'Would they even twitch if I walked up to the gate and yelled 'I AM A THIEF! SHOOT ME!'? I bet they wouldn't.'

After awhile, she thought she heard something out of the ordinary. By this time the light was completely gone, and in the veil of the forest, not even moonlight reached down. However, it was at times like this that her sixth sense activated and became even more sensitive, making up for her inability to see. She still could not tell precise movements of people, but she could sense emotions and the general auras of people. As she became more focused on the wall, she found that something very odd was happening. A new aura, one that had a different and much brighter tint to any of the guards. All the demons on the wall were a brown laced with the darker brown of boredom, while this newcomer was a light of almost lime green and spoke of the cool and collected dark green. As the green one was coming up each of them, the aura of the guard in question would become flared red with surprise, then became washed with the almost dead dark blue of unconsciousness.

Her eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. Someone else was on the wall and they were taking out the guards. Skava suspected a trap, though no one knew of her approach. She was not like some foolish thieves that sent advanced notices, she preferred to be in and out before anyone knew they were in danger. However, even if anyone knew that she were coming, why would they take out the guards? It made no sense. She also saw with surprise that another aura was coming onto the wall, this one just as bright as the green stalker. However, this one was a bright purple instead of green and was spiked with the flaring orange of excitement. The purple one was coming up to the green and she yelled in her head at the new comer to run before succumbing to the trap, but he merely grabbed a dark blue guard and passed out of sight, dragging the body.

'So,' she thought, 'The attacker has an accomplice. But why are they here? Are they after Kokoro no Chi1 too? If so, they are well on their way to getting it. I have to move quickly. With the guards taken out it will be easier, but I can't let the green attacker see me. I still have to wait.' She perched on her branch for a good 15 minutes after both auras had disappeared for the last time, then began to move forward. She hopped from branch to branch, always getting closer to the wall. Finally, she peered over the edge onto the stone floor. She sent magic feelers out, and when she sensed no traps, stepped gingerly onto the stone.

She landed in a crouch, and surveyed the area around her. All the guards were missing, the purple one had seen to that. Still, she stepped as softly as possible, so the not even someone standing immediately in front of her would hear her foot come down. It was not an easy feat, it was something she prided herself on and had taken years of practice.

As she crept along the wall, keeping low in case someone looked up, she noticed that everything was silent. Besides the usual night noises of animals hunting and other animals settling down, there were no there were no other sounds that even her sensitive ears could detect. It worried her.

'At the risk of sounding entirely clichéd and stupid….it's quiet. Too quiet. Where are the sounds of the priests? If the attackers have taken them out, shouldn't they be feeling confident? There are at least two of them, wouldn't they be conversing? I should hear them boasting and laughing, but I don't.' She peered over the edge of the wall and, seeing that the courtyard was indeed empty, jumped down. She landed silently and in a crouch, head up and eyes taking in the scene before her. One or two lamps were lit more towards the middle, allowing for her to see, but she was still completely in shadow. She skirted along the edges, all senses fully trained on anything that could be moving. She already knew that the one that shone green could move silently and quickly, she wasn't sure she would even know he was behind her until she felt a knife in her back. Still, she detected nothing as she crept through deserted hallways. Finally, her magical sense lead her to a pulsing core of energy that rested behind giant double doors. She tried the handles, and was not at all surprised to find that they were locked. She settled herself down and put her hands up next to the handles, palms facing the doors.

Calling up her magical power, she felt a warm bubbling as the dormant magic in her was called back to life. A sphere of light appeared between her hands and slid into the lock, effectively unlocking it. She smiled. Although that was the only magic she could do, she always loved the feel of a lock or seal giving under her power. She reached out her hand, and grabbed the handle. Trying again to open it, she felt the handle give and the door begin to open. The door was pretty heavy, and she found herself leaning into the wood to make it open. The hinges were well oiled and did not creak, and finally the door was open far enough. She slipped inside and checked her vision. There were no auras whatsoever, showing her that the room was completely empty. She slowly closed the door behind her, turning to it and locking it in case the green and purple ones decided to come after the gem as well.

"Hello Skava. Glad you could join us."

A/N: Yay, a cliffhanger! How nice. Reviews help me get off my lazy but and post.

1 The gem's name is "Kokoro no Chi" meaning "Heart's Blood."

Review responses:

Animagus Brushtail: Darn. Here I was thinking I was original. Kidding.

CHorse10: Thanks for the review, I prefer long detailed ones to short ones. I'm not sure what you meant by "unreasonable." She's not a moth demon, I'm not even really sure what she is. She's not a fire demon either, the only fire demon is Hiei, and I don't see how he would be "unreasonable." If I don't describe the clothes that they're wearing it's because they're wearing their basic clothing. I'm not quite sure on what a Mary-Sue is myself, but I know that it's a story with an original character, that usually is all powerful and usually ends up stealing the guy. Or girl, if the OC is a guy. I don't think Hiei has been talking too much at all, I think it fits his character well, but if it's really a problem, maybe I'll do something about it. Thanks for the review, I liked reading it.