/A.N./ wow! so much quicker than I expected! I told myself I would finish this fanfic before I leave for my hellish two weeks in South Carolina (I have nothing against s.c. i just dont like being away from my compie and friends) i didn't wanna make you guys wait forever for the next parts when i got back. aren't i great? (ha ha) well, now i've got my work cut out for me caz i gotta finish hurry and finish before friday!
Thanks to all of you for reading and supporting this story...I work so hard on it. Thanks to all who review-i really appreciate yall! Thanx my wonderful readers and please enjoy ch.7 of 'envy'! dont forget to REVIEW! (pretty please w/ sugar on top).
7chapter
Nazuna smirked at the wretched excuse for a human standing before her. She had thought Yusuke would at least put up some sort of a fight, but he was just like all the other humans.
Pathetic.
Her fingers extended, contorting into long, sharp points. A fine ending for a spirit detective. Slow and painful. Nazuna stopped a few feet in front of Yusuke and leered down at him. Humans were so fragile, so easily twisted. Seeing no reason to toy with him any longer, she raised her arm above her head, poising for attack, and the death of the spirit detective.
Yusuke waited, extremely impatiently, for Nazuna to move closer. She did so, then raised her clawed hand above her head–leaving her body completely open for a point-blank shot from his rei gun. The blast was enormous and almost sent Yusuke plowing through the tree behind him. He raised his arms to shield his face and waited for the smoke to clear.
"Take that bitch," he sneered. He sunk back down to his knees and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.
"Yusuke! You did it!" Botan cheered, running over to Yusuke and giving him a hard pat on the back, to which he cringed in pain. Botan, however, didn't seem to notice. "You had me so worried there for a minute! I thought you were done for!"
"Puh-leese!" Yusuke laughed. "That wench was a piece 'o cake!"
"Really. You need to work on your aim," a dry voice said. Nazuna slowly stood up from the ground and dusted herself off. "Yusuke!" she pouted, "Look what you've gone and done!" The rei gun hadn't missed it's mark; in fact, it hit Nazuna square in the stomach where there was now a gaping hole.
"H-how did you..." Yusuke stammered, jumping to his feet and handing a disgusted Botan his cigarette.
Nazuna gave the stunned spirit detective an amused look. "I'm a demon remember? But not just any demon. I was created using a sacred paper spell...meaning I can't be destroyed that easily." Instantly, the hole filled in and her fingers grew back into their claw-like form. "Now let's finish this, shall we?"
"Bring it on," Yusuke taunted, cracking his knuckles. Nazuna smirked and charged at him. Yusuke ducked as her claws cut through the solid tree trunk, easily slicing though it. As the trunk began to tumble over him, Yusuke focused all his strength and pushed the trunk away from him and back at the demon girl. As the heavy tree fell on top of her, he quickly readied himself for Nazuna to recover and attack him, but Botan was distracting him.
"This is disgusting!" she hollered, waving his cigarette in his face, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was a psycho demon girl made of paper trying to kill him.
"Uh, Botan," Yusuke mumbled, irritated. "Kinda busy." Nazuna had gotten out from under the tree and was climbing to her feet.
"Smoking is a cancer hazard!" Botan yelled back at him, throwing the cigarette back over her shoulder. A sudden yelp of pain made both Botan and Yusuke turn. The cigarette had fallen back and landed on Nazuna's shoulder, burning a gaping hole in it. She patted out her flaming shoulder quickly before turning on Botan.
"You bitch!" She screeched. "How dare you do that to me!" With that, Nazuna threw herself at Botan, claws extended and reaching for the spirit guide's throat. Thinking quickly, Botan reached into Yusuke's pocket and yanked out his silver lighter. She smirked at Nazuna as she held it up.
"Not so fast demon!" She flipped the lighter open and tossed it at Nazuna. The flame hit her and suddenly the demon burst into flames, her painfully screams echoing through the dense forest. Yusuke stared at her burning remains a moment before groaning.
"Ok...now I'm totally confused," he moaned, sinking to the ground.
"It's simple," Botan said, with a you're-just-jealous-cause-I-beat-Nazuna-and-you-couldn't look on her face. "She basically told us her weakness! She said she was made from paper...so that means she'll burn up like paper!"
Yusuke's eyes narrowed. "And why didn't you tell me about that sooner?"
Botan spit her tongue out at him, "It's not my fault you're too dumb to figure things out for yourself." Yusuke ground his teeth and opened his mouth to comment angrily, but was cut off when a large gray body flew out of nowhere and slammed into him.
"Yusuke!" Botan yelped, kicking the body aside. "Are you alright?"
"F-five more...five more minutes m-momma..." Yusuke said, his eyes swirling.
"Oops! Sorry about that!" Botan jumped and turned around to find Kuwabara, battered and bruised, leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree for support.
"Kuwabara! I thought you were unconscious!"
"I was...but, damn! That bitch sure did beat me up fast huh? But I woke up when I felt myself being dragged..." he pointed to the gray corpse that lay on top of Yusuke. "It was that thing! So I fought back. Put up a pretty hard fight too."
Botan bent down and carefully turned the gray corpse over and examined it. Too her surprise, the face was blank and as gray as the rest of the body. Standing she brushed her hands together and smiled.
"Good job Kuwabara!" she exclaimed. "This looks like the Muotoko demon Koenma was so worried about."
"Ok, great. Can we go home now?" Yusuke whined, coming to his senses.
Botan crossed her arms across her chest and glowered at him. "Forgetting something?"
Yusuke stared at her a minute before comprehension dawned in his eyes. "Oh yea..." he muttered, walking over to Nazuna's body. He bent down slightly and picked up his silver lighter, rubbing the smudges off with the edge of his shirt. "I almost forgot about my lighter!"
Botan was about to reach out and slap Yusuke across the head, but Kuwabara beat her to it. "Yusuke!" He yelled angrily. "You have to save Keiko!"
"And don't you dare say anything about not caring what happens to her, because you know that's not true!" Botan added. "You love Keiko whether you want to or not! Don't deny it! Now go do what you're supposed to do!"
Yusuke gave her a blank stare. "And that would be...?"
"SAVE HER DAMMIT!" Yusuke and Kuwabara jumped at Botan's words. Muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, Yusuke sauntered off into the woods. Behind his back, Botan and Kuwabara silently mouthed "YES!" and high-fived before quickly running after the spirit detective.
Babba smirked and gently stroked the crystal ball in her lap, feeling it heat up suddenly at her touch. Watching carefully, she could see the poor girl's soul floating around amongst the purple fog that swirled around inside the small orb. The old woman glanced over her shoulder toward the entrance of the cave, but there was no sign of her Muotoko demon servant.
"Damn useless fool," she said aloud, rage beginning to boil inside of her, "probably got lost. But no matter. I have everything I need in this little orb...and as soon as the sun rises, I'll be able to consume the soul and have eternal life!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I sure as hell ain't gunna stand by and let you do that." Babba jumped and whirled around to face the three intruders who were glaring down at her from the entrance of the cave.
"Yusuke," the old woman said slyly, "where is your beloved Nazuna? I sent her to take care of you..."
Yusuke opened his mouth to rely but Kuwabara and Botan jumped in. "Your precious Nazuna is all burned up!" Kuwabara said with a smirk.
"And besides," Botan added, "the only one beloved to Yusuke is Kei–" Yusuke cut her off with a punch to the back of the head, which immediately started a fight between the two.
"Keiko? Keiko Yukimura?" Babba questioned.
"What'd you do with her?" Yusuke demanded, shoving Botan to the side.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Babba said innocently, glancing anxiously over her shoulder at the clock hanging over the fireplace. Just five more minutes... Babba's thoughts were violently interrupted when Yusuke grabbed her by her collar and lifter her off the floor.
"Tell me what you did to Keiko," He said in a low, threatening voice. Babba stared back at him defiantly for a moment before realizing how serious he was.
"N-now, now," Babba said, waving her hands defensively, "Let's not be to hasty Urameshi-san. Remember...harm me and you may never see Keiko alive again." Yusuke stiffened and Babba smirked inwardly. "Good. Now put me back down..." With a snarl, Yusuke threw the old woman back into the room. She flew for a while until smashing against the bookcase on the far wall, sending it toppling over into a table full of viles. As the viles containing liquids and chemicals fell to the floor and shattered, a huge puff of smoke filled the cave, blinding Yusuke and the others. In the chaos, Babba crawled out from under the fallen pile of books and squinted up at the clock. She smirked.
It was time.
Yusuke coughed and swatted his hands in front of him, attempting to help clear the smoke faster. Laughter suddenly broke out through the cave and a blinding light cut through smoke. Botan, Yusuke, and Kuwabara looked over at where the laughter was coming from and saw Babba with a triumphant look on her face, holding a glowing crystal ball over her head.
"Fools!" she shouted. "It's too late to save your precious Keiko! Now I will absorb her soul...and live for eternity!" She burst into another fit of hysterical laughter as a bright orb of light slowly slipped out of the crystal ball.
"Yusuke!" Botan gasped. "It's Keiko's soul!" But before Yusuke could react, the orb of light that was Keiko's soul zoomed away from Babba and circled the room a few times before flying back at the old woman, hitting her at full force and sending her flying backward. Babba regained her balance, still holding the crystal ball above her head and laughed. A sudden large gust of wind picked up and began violently spinning around the room, revolving around Babba, who was now glowing with the power and purity of Keiko's soul. The three sent from spirit world watched in despair as their hearts sank. It was too late. Babba had succeeded in her mission to absorb the pure human soul. They had failed in their mission. They had failed Koenma. But worst of all they failed her. They failed the person who needed them the most.
Yusuke blinked back the sudden tears that sprang up in his eyes. I'm sorry Keiko.
ha ha ha! sorry for the evil cliffhanger u guys! (I'm so evil...) Thanks for reading ch.7! Next one should be the last one so look forward to it! I'm working really hard on it! Now please REVIEW! thank you! ha ha ha! sorry for the evil cliffhanger u guys! (I'm so evil...) Thanks for reading ch.7! Next one should be the last one so look forward to it! I'm working really hard on it! Now please thank you!
