Death's silence...
The Deep Forest, usually alive in the morning with life seem to be utterly dead. No birds chirped. No ground was disturbed and the only thing that was still alive in the forest was the wind dancing with the tops of the trees.
Dragons that survived the horrible night woke up from their spell, smelling thick blood all around. Some were even unfortunate enough to have several wounds and bodies laying in their sights.
As this happened, the forest awoke to the cries and pains of an agonizing afterglow.
Kurama, one of the survivors, awoke to the taunting sun as he looked at the clear blue skies. His green orbs narrowed, hearing the terrible wails of the creatures in the forest below him. His nose wrinkled to the horrid smell of dried blood and roting flesh all around the island. The only place Kurama didn't smell death...
...was at the fortress.
He growled in a lethal tone.
/- Kai and other hand-picked dragons are up there safe while the rest of us went into a classic battle royal for our lives... and against our will... AH! -/
Suddenly, a familar blood scent crossed Kurama's nose.
/- Hiei! He's injured. -/
Kurama stood up and jumped down from the tree. He seem to fly as he moved from hitting branches and then landed on the forest floor flawlessly. Kurama sniffed the air, the potent aroma of blood thinker on the ground than in the trees. Still, the fox could pick out from different scents and walked towards Hiei's trail.
It wasn't long until the think smell of dead dragons and Hiei were near. Kurama ran towards a tree and winched...
It wasn't a pleasant sight...
Hiei was sleeping up in a tree... while dragon bodies surrounded the tree, for they had died trying to get to the fire demon.
Kurama sighed, but then ironicallychuckled. He, along with the others, still couldn't get used to Hiei's new height. Usually, the lil' fire demon would look normal sitting in a tree, but now with a normal body height, he looked arkward, especially holding -what looked like to be- his arm that had several bite and claws marks on it.
"Hiei... are you alive?" The fox called out.
He stirred in his sleep, looking down.
"I'm okay," He said in a weak voice, "but, I can't say the same about Chi-Li. She needs attention."
Kurama cocked an eyebrow. Hiei sighed and pointed up with his 'good' arm, for the other seem to be torn open. The fox saw Chi-Li, laying on a branch limply. To put it lightly, the dragoness had seen and known better days.
Her face was full of bites and scratches. Her legs were painted with gashes and her wings were baddly torn. Chi-Li didn't look alive and only the little breathing she did convinced Kurama of her life. Then, the fox's parental concern went up.
"Have you seen Ruby!" He called out.
"No, but she's alive. And to answer your next question, Kai's still in the fortress. She's not harmed either."
Kurama sighed in relief. Then, his fist balled up. He couldn't let his family and friends stay here any longer. He had to get in that fortress... but from the past experience, they had to do it at the right time. One thing was for sure...
When they got to the fortress... this Alpha was his to kill.
Hiei, however, was looking at solving this case in a way that wouldn't involve any killing. GASP!. The plan that he had made two days ago kept growing in his head and was finally coming to a head. It was as good a time as any to tell Kurama about it.
Quickly, he jumped from the tree and landed in front of Kurama, holding his bleeding arm and stubbling a little. The shock recived from hitting the ground caused his arm wound to open back up.
"You shouldn't move too much, Hiei. The bleeding has started again."
He huffed. "Then it will stop again. Besides, I have a plan to discuss.."
Hiei sat down and Kurama followed suit.
"Listen... I've figured out the identity of this Alpha, and -as I thought- I know him from our trainer days. He was one of the only male dragons during that time... and was She-Devil's mate."
Kurama gasped.
"Kai had told me about that, but I never saw him."
"His name... is Karasu. As soon as you see him, fear will pierce your heart, for he was the first to do so with me."
/- Hiei... scared? This is not good. -/ "That would explain the grudge that he has against you. You were his mate's trainer... what does he look like?" Kurama asked, wanting a picture of his enemy.
"His hair is long and silky, but thin. His eyes are narrow with deep, but small voilet eyes. He bears black wings and has a strong, but delicate,body. As soon as we see him -if we do- you'll know it's him." Hiei explained.
"How does this plan of yours go?"
The fire demon looked back up in the tree where Chi-Li was, sighing before turning back on Kurama.
"Chi-Li... is the reincarnation of She-Devil, as you know. Since my stay here, I've felt a tremendous amount of bitter energy coming from those towers and I feel that it's because Karasu is longing for his real mate. This whole bitterness might be the source of his energy-hungry ego. Chi-Li, believe it or not, has been feeling a little envious of Kai because of her being with Karasu."
The fox chuckled. "This doesn't sound like an ordinary mission."
Hiei huffed.
"Yes. It sounds more of a search 'n' fuck, but call it what you want. In this way, no one's hurt and the dragon race isn't without a leader. I can tell that you are on the point of brutally slaughtering Karasu because of what he's done thus far."
Kurama looked at the ground. Even though it was out of his character, he truly was lethal towards Karasu. He looked back at Hiei.
"How do you know all of these feeli--oh..." the fox grinned as the fire demon's Jagon eye glowed through its headband.
"I have my ways," Hiei grinned, "however, we must not tell the others about this. It will throw the realism of my plan off. Besides, I still haven't figured out how to bring them together yet."
Kurama folded his arms.
"Hai, that is quite a task. Chi-Li looks nothing like She-Devil, so it's no wonder Karasu didn't reconize her. Wait..."
"Nani?"
The fox's smile became mischivious.
"The red moon's light... we have to enter the fortress under the red moon's light and somehow get Karasu and Chi-Li to look at each other."
Hiei's eyes widened.
"Kurama, you know that Karasu will probably keep Kai up there with him and we have to pick the right tower and path."
"We'll have to tell Kai about the plan, too. She'll tell us which tower to move up. Somehow, we'll have to guide Chi-Li up that same tower without her knowing the truth behind it. She'll have to go to Karasu to escape from the threat... and sparks will fly..." Kurama chuckled.
The fire demon rolled his eyes, but smirked. "And you and Ruby say that I'm perverted."
Kurama stood up.
"Then it's settled. The night Kai warns us of a red moon, we'll spring our plan into action."
Hiei stood up on cord, turning around to leave. Kurama held his hand out in protest.
"Wait! Don't you want me to help you with that arm of yours?"
Hiei smiled.
"Don't worry. The bleeding's stopped, so I'll be okay."
Kurama watched as the fire demon disappeared, knowing well that he would be looking for Ruby. He, however, needed to get to the shore. Even though he told Koenma not to spy on him, it had to a week since he reported, and he had to let the teen Prince know that he was still alive and of his progress thus far.
As Kurama dashed off, Chi-Li was just coming out of comma, but as soon as she tried to move, her body stood still with pain. She looked down, seeing she was in a tree.
/- I shouldn't move... my body will fall a good ten feet if I lose my balance. Someone should be coming for me soon. -/ She thought before fainting from the pain and blood-loss.
As if on cue, Ruby, only suffering a limp, was calling out everyone's name and following her nose to a familar scent. She gasped seeing the body hill at the base of the tree Chi-Li was in, but became concerned as she saw Chi-Li's body and the blood dripping from the branch.
"Chi-kun! Can you hear me?" She yelled.
Chi-Li couldn't really reply, so she just moved her wings slighly. The wind made by that flap... moved the dragoness' body off the branch and into a free fall.
Ruby gasped and flew to catch her. Chi-Li screamed in pain with the impact of her body in Ruby's arms and fainted again. The mutt looked at her arms and saw that her 'mother' was still bleeding and it wasn't stopping.
/- I have to get to a spring. These are serious. I'm surprised she survived past these injures. -/ Ruby thought as she flew off, holding her mother tightly to give her warmth.
Chi-Li once again awoke, once again trying to gain some vision. She looked up at her savior... her daughter. A smile -grateful smile- crossed her lips as she fainted once more.
/- Ruby... arigato... -/