The boys had been searching the woods for nearly four days. Kurama had seen enough trees get sliced down by Kuwabara's sword that he took the lead and simply summoned for the plants to move out of their way. At the same time he made it easier for Hiei to jump from branch to branch.
Kurama's connection with the plants and Hiei's keen tracking skills combined made it easier for them to track their victim but for some reason they always seemed to have "just missed her."
Nightfall was coming once more and the gang decided to camp for the night. As in the previous nights Hiei did little help to set up. He gave fire to the flame, that about sums up his hard work. Kurama had to do all the work by hunting a small creature, using his fox form, and then roasting it himself later. Yusuke and Kuwabara only helped with consuming the food.
"Mmm…good cooking Kurama," Yusuke said while rubbing his tummy. Kuwabara just burped. From a branch, Hiei did a simple 'hn' while using a small bone as a toothpick.
"I'd appreciate it more if the two of you would help me. At least Hiei makes the fire for me," Kurama said trying to get more assistance if they had to stay another night or two.
"And distract you for your good cooking never," Yusuke responded. Kurama lowered his head knowing it was hopeless to try and convince them to do otherwise. "I hope Keiko teaches you different in the future. I don't think she's the kind to always cook," Kurama hoped.
It was getting late and the gang was getting tired.
"Okay, who's got first shift?" Kuwabara asked.
"Why we all know Hiei never sleeps," Yusuke said, "everyone knows that he never is really asleep. You don't mind taking the entire night again do you?" he asked while looking up in the tree. Hiei simply gave him a 'hn.' "See he's fine with it."
"I'd rather still take shifts. I'll take the first," Kurama volunteered.
"I'm last!" Yusuke said as he fell down to sleep.
"I get the one before him," Kuwabara said.
"And I'll throw a stick down to let you know when it's your turn," Hiei thought to himself revealing a fanged smile at the idea.
The gang settled down for another night, each actually growing bored of this invisible chase. When Kurama finally heard Yusuke and Kuwabara begin to snore he started to talk to nothing in particular but he knew Hiei was listening.
"It almost makes you feel like we're camping more than hunting," Kurama said as he looked up. Hiei's face was encased within the shadows and Kurama didn't mind that he wasn't responding. Over the many "adventures" they were sent on he and Hiei would have their one sided conversations; however, Kurama learned that that's the way Hiei liked it. Kurama figured out a long time ago that words were only used if necessary, petty discussions weren't worth the "waste of breath," to put it in Hiei's terms.
After a couple hours of Kurama updating Hiei on the past couple of weeks Kurama started to yawn and then said, "You take it from here?"
"Hn," a word with many definitions, this time meaning yes. With this knowledge Kurama curled into a ball and snuggled to sleep.
Hiei watched his fellow teammate act more like a cat, at the moment, then a fox. Hiei stared down at his fellow teammates. Kurama was calmly snoozing within moments. Yusuke kept snoring with his mouth opened wide, while Kuwabara hugged a rock and sucked on his thumb. Hiei sneered at that image.
Hiei sat up and stared forward at the empty branches in front of him. He normally did this for hours with ease. It's how he past the time. He recollected the past few days and wished they would have run into something. Tracking something isn't pleasing if you can't fight or kill something in the end. Unexpectedly the image of the purple haired girl came back to him. "Arika…?"
A rustle from a grounded bush broke his train of thought. He eyed the bush, blending in as the shadow he was. The bush moved again, this time waking Kurama up, since his hearing was better attuned then the normal human's. The other two slept through the soft crackling of leaves.
With his arms being used as pillows, Kurama had an easy access to his red rose hidden in his hair. Hiei had his hand on the hilt of his sword, standing by to slaughter anything that breathed.
The bushes moved again this time with an object jumping out from them. Before Kurama could get to his feet, Hiei was by his side and had already slashed his sword. The two found two halves of a Makai bird at their feet.
"I was gonna eat him," Kurama said pouting at the wasted food at his feet.
"You still can, he's dead," Hiei said sheathing his sword.
Kurama didn't comment, he likes it when others help him cook but the prefers to hunt and kill alone. Hiei knew this but he wasn't one to apologize for anything. By Hiei's logic the creature that jumped out of the bush wasn't the being that they were looking for, meaning instant death.
Kurama picked up the two pieces of the bird and then asked, "Isn't it about time for Kuwabara's shift?"
"Hn."
Hiei merely went over to Kuwabara and kicked him, hard. He kept sleeping. A little annoyed, he did it again, harder. Kuwabara just rolled over and continued to snooze. Completely aggravated by this point Hiei used his speed and kicked him a good fifty times. When he was done Kuwabara had small red foot prints all over his face and he still slept.
By this point Hiei wanted to reach for his sword but only yelled, "Wake up you stupid big oaf!"
"Hey, Hiei you think you can keep it down a bit?" a drowsy Yusuke asked while rubbing his eyes. Hiei wanted to kill anything at this point, even his teammates looked like good targets.
Kurama sat there, cleaning his bird, he snickered at Hiei's failed attempt and Yusuke's bad timing. "Hiei's having a hard time waking Kuwabara up." For the past few nights Yusuke's been doing that task.
"Oh, is that all?" Yusuke said becoming more awake by the second, "What do you want for breakfast?"
Hiei looked at him with confusion but then turned toward Kuwabara who sat up and asked, "Did someone say breakfast?"
"Hn, stupid ningens," Hiei whispered under his breath.
"What was that, shrimp?" Kuwabara asked being fully awake.
"What did you just call me you big oaf?" Hiei said showing his anger.
"Don't call me an oaf you little prick!" Kuwabara said standing up while the two glared at one another. Yusuke and Kurama just sweat dropped as Hiei and Kuwabara started their usual squabble.
Suddenly the four jumped up and took a fighting stance. A soft noise caught their attention and they could all sense another being near them. The four faced a tree sensing a soft but visible spirit energy. Kurama summoned the tree's vines to grab the veiled character. With a quick scream the vines pulled their captive out from behind the tree's branches. Aimed at the wrapped individual, Yusuke was ready to shot, Hiei and Kuwabara had revealed their swords, and Kurama summoned his famous whip. They all stood ready to attack only to find that the vines were holding none other than the girl they were looking for. She floated there within the vines strong grip struggling to get free.
>Four Sweat Dropping Boys>
The boys lowered their weapons, feeling rather foolish for not recognizing a human's energy.
She growled at them and then yelled, " Let me go!"
"Sorry about that we thought you were…someone else…"Yusuke said feeling dumber than before.
"I don't care, just let me go!" she snapped at him as she continued to break free.
Kuwabara, sensing a bit of fear in her, presumed she thought they were hunting her like the others. "We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help," he stated reassuringly to her.
"Yeah, like I'm really gonna believe that one!" she spat back at him, wrestling with her restraints again. Kurama had decided not to let her go until Yusuke and Kuwabara reassured her and calmed her down. He had learned from Keiko to always be on guard when human girls were mad. This one was plain pissed.
Hiei had stepped back since she appeared and remained a shadow behind the others. Perceptive of every thing said and done.
"Chill out, toots. We're not gonna hurt you. We're only here to take you to a….our boss," Yusuke figured tell her she was going to meet a godling was not a smart idea.
"I don't care! Just let me go, you damn bastards!" she commanded of them for the third time. She stared at each of them, first to Yusuke, then to Kurama, whom she knew was holding her, Kuwabara, and then she tried and gaze at Hiei hidden in the shadows but since there wasn't much light she could barely make out0any of their faces just their figures.
"Well, we're not going to let you go until you calm down. And no offense, toots, but you're in no position to be giving orders," Yusuke said as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"Besides," Kuwabara added, "what are you gonna do about it?"
She glared at him and then replied, "This!"
Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama were thrown off their feet by the spirit energy blast that came from her body. Hiei had jumped up to a tree dodging the after shock effect. After a few moments the others stood up grabbing a hold of their dizzy heads. They looked back at her to find and sense thepurple spirit energy that surrounded her body. The vines that held her, moments ago, laid broken in pieces around her feet. Without the vines around her they could vaguely see through the darkness that she wore the same outfit they saw in the picture.
"Will somebody please tell me how a human just did that?" Kuwabara asked dumbfounded.
"One who isn't," Hiei stated as he jumped back down with his comrades, sword unsheathed. He was about to attack but Kurama stopped him.
"No, we were told to bring her back alive remember?"
"The only place I'm going is away from you all," she commented on Kurama's statement.
"Look," Yusuke said getting her attention, "you've pretty much got two options either you come with us willingly or we're just gonna have to force you."
"Tell your boss, I won't fight for him or anyone else. Go find another demon to fight in with you!"
"Fight with who?" Kuwabara asked.
"Who cares!" Yusuke yelled getting really annoyed, "let's just grab her and take her back to Koenma!"
Taking his orders, Kurama snapped out his whip and caught her right wrist hanging by her side. The instant he had her she pulled the whip, surprising Kurama and throwing him straight into Kuwabara, knocking both of them face first into the ground.
"She's too small to have that much strength," Kurama thought.
Yusuke didn't want to hurt her so he avoided using his Spirit Gun and decided on a closer attack. "All I need to do is give her one good hit and she'll be out cold."
She didn't move as he charged toward her. "Gotcha!" Yusuke yelled when he swung. However his fist never hit her face. She moved her head slightly and caught his fist in her left hand. Before Yusuke had any time to react she quickly kneed him in the groin.
A high squeaky noise came out of Yusuke's mouth as he covered his manhood and fell to the ground, rolling in pain. The other boys just twitched at the thought.
"That just has to hurt," Kuwabara commented.
"Care to find out?"
The other boys faced her, forgetting the condition Yusuke was whimpering in. Kuwabara was already on his feet trying to do what Yusuke failed to do. Kuwabara was more careful due to Yusuke's misjudgment of her. He had his punches going at her left and right. However to his disappointment she would either dodged them at the last second or block them. Finally Kuwabara found an opening and took it. He slipped by her defense and hit her square on her left jaw. She fell down to the ground from the force of his blow.
Kuwabara raised his arms up and started yelling in victory. His little victory dance didn't last very long when he heard, "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit a lady?" By the time he turned back to face his opponent he found her fist gutted in his stomach. The force used to hit him made him fly back, slamming into the nearest tree.
Kurama watched his comrade smash through a few layers of bark before he stopped and fell to the ground. He turned back to his "opponent" again but he noticed something changed about his surrounding.
"Where's Hiei?"
While she distracted herself with holding Kuwabara, Hiei had quickly went to tackle her. "Clever, Hiei."
Sure enough Hiei came out from behind his hiding place grabbing her from the right.
Although she was caught by surprise she reacted as quickly as she could.
Hiei was planning on having her pinned underneath him but that didn't go as planned. Almost instantly after he had a hold of her she quickly began to roll with him on the ground until she had him pinned to the ground. Her hands pressed into his pecs and her legs pinned the rest of him down.
Kurama was about to attack but he stopped when he noticed a pair ofpuple Spirit Sai form from out of her hands and moved closer to Hiei's neck.
When she did this her attention was on Kurama, she wanted to make sure he stopped. She did a quick glance at the other two noting one was still hurting and the other was coming around. She looked at Kurama again daring him to move, he didn't. Finally, she looked back at the fourth member that she held. With the light coming from her sais she could see her prey's face clearly. Hiei met her blue eyes which became wide and alarmed.
"Hiei!" was all she gasped as she jumped off of him. Her sais disappeared and she crawled back more afraid then anything else.
"Rose Whip!" Kurama took his chance when she moved away from Hiei and summoned his weapon to wrap around her.
Hiei stood up quickly and stared back at her, the two exchanged a silent conversation. Hiei broke the connection and walked over to Kurama.
"Hiei, how does she know your…"
"Let me at her! Let me at her!" Kuwabara interrupted him.
"Take a number!" was what Yusuke yelled.
Yusuke and Kuwabara came walking…uh…limping toward their friends.
"What'd we miss?" Yusuke asked as his voice still a little squeaky.
"Absolutely nothing," the four looked back at their prisoner, "you're here just in time for the finale."
"You've got another trick up you sleeve for us?" Kuwabara asked.
"Actually I do," she smiled more demonically then before.
She closed her eyes then started to shake within Kurama's whip and in the process her skin started to change in color. It went from a pale white to a dark scaly black. The trim of white on her hair spread to bleach the rest of it. She then opened her eyes to reveal that their blue shade had changed to a wicked yellow. She smiled revealing her sharp fangs more clearly in this form. The boys just stood there in shock above all else.
"She is a demon!" Kuwabara stated the obvious.
"Release me," she said it as if she had control.
"You still expect us to listen to you?" Yusuke asked.
He was about to laugh but stopped when he noticed the Kurama retract his whip.
"Kurama, what do you think you're doing?" Kuwabara grabbed his fellow friend. He and the others noticed something wrong. His eyes weren't green, they where shadowed and gray. Kuwabara released him. Kurama didn't move.
"What did you do to him?" Yusuke demanded of her.
She just smiled at them and said, "Sic 'em."
Suddenly Kurama slashed his whip at his comrades and numerous vines reached from the trees to grab at them. The three boys started to run and dodge Kurama's attacks. It was only a matter of minutes before Yusuke and Kuwabara were trapped within the vines' grip. Hiei, luckily, was quick enough to dodge them. He managed to run around and tackle the one controlling Kurama. Again he misjudged her speed and she threw him straight into a coil of vines that grabbed him immediately. The three tried to break free but Kurama's vines had a hard grip on them.
She smiled at Kurama's work, "Nice job. Now tie yourself up."
Without a word Kurama commanded his own vines to grasp him as well. A small laughter came from the girl. Yusuke and the others just sneered at her. She walked up to Hiei and stroked his face. He could feel the scales on her skin, hard to the touch.
"As I said before," she was talking to Yusuke but her eyes never left Hiei, "the answer to you boss is 'no,'" she paused before she went on, "Don't bother coming after me again. "
She stared into Hiei's eyes, he almost sensed an apology in hers. She turned and began to walk away. Yusuke and Kuwabara struggled to get out but it was no use. Hiei just stared after her as she walked into the darkness.
"Great, beaten by a girl," Yusuke complained.
"Shut up and try to get out of this!" Kuwabara told him. Hiei didn't say anything, while Krama was still frozen in his place.
It had been nearly ten minutes when Kurama snapped out of his trance and released the four of them from their shackles.
"I'm so sorry…I…I couldn't help myself," Kurama apologized.
"What were you doing!" Yusuke demanded of him.
"I can't explain it. It was like I was in a daze. I could see everything I was doing but I couldn't stop myself. It's like I had to obey her," Kurama explained the best that he could.
Suddenly Yusuke's pocket started talking.
"Yusuke! Yusuke!" Koenma's voice was heard from his pocket. Yusuke pulled out the televised walkie talkie he had to keep in touch with Koenma.
"Yes, Koenma?" he said, really pissed.
"Did you find her yet?" Koenma asked making his usual check up on the boys. The boys didn't realize it but their fight had lasted until morning.
"Yeah, we found her alright. There's just one problem," Yusuke replied.
"Problem?What kind of problem?"
"Her! She's a damn demon! Why didn't you fucking tell us!" Yusuke demanded of the young godling.
"That's impossible, she's…human," Koenma sounded unsure of himself.
"Well then what's this human's name? You never told us," Yusuke asked coming to this realization.
"You just noticed that?" Kurama asked. Yusuke stared back at his fox friend.
"Well, if you noticed it before why didn't you say anything, Kurama?" Yusuke asked, forgetting that his genius friend doesn't miss anything.
"I thought Koenma wasn't telling us for a reason," he snapped back.
"Well, little man?" Yusuke looked back toward his monitor. Koenma began to sweat drop "Is there a reason?"
Koenma lowered his head and rubbed the back of it. "That's because…we don't know what she is. We can't find a file on her. We can't find any file on her. Human or demon."
"You mean to tell me you sent us to capture this girl-demon-whatever the fuck she is and you don't have a damn file on her to even tell us what her name is!" Yusuke screamed to his boss.
"Her name's Arika."
Yusuke and the others, including Koenma, turned and looked at Hiei. He was perched at the bas of a tree gazing at the ground.
"What was that?" Koenma asked him.
"Her name's Arika Twin," Hiei repeated himself.
"How do you know this?" Kurama asked, realizing there was something between the two.
"Because," Hiei looked back at his teammates, "I grew up with her."
Whoa! Okay now that's something Yusuke and the others didn't expect. Who's this Arika Twin? Where did she get/gain her powers? What's the history between Hiei and Arika? Until next time…