Kurama's body moved, his fingers, his head. He was amazed, surprised that he was still alive. That last effort should have killed him. Slowly, he regained his feet, looking over at the plant and the fallen youkai. He knew he'd lost the battle. By the rules of the tournament, he'd lost to a ten count. The irony was not lost on him. By Karasu's definition, the match was about who lived and died. He had lived, Karasu had died. Karasu had won the match, though. Unfortunately, he was not in a position to appreciate the irony of the moment.
Yusuke came up from beind, "Are you okay, Kurama?" He'd noticed the kitsune staring at the plant, holding his arm. The battle had been difficult for him.
"Y-yeah…" Kurama managed to answer before falling to his knees.
"Kurama!" his friend cried out in concern.
"I'm sorry, Yusuke," the red head managed through the pain encompassing his body. Yusuke made a confused noise and the kitsune forced himself to go on, "It was all I could do just to kill him."
"What? What do you mean?" the tantei asked, shock evident in his voice.
The irony! "I mean I wasn't able to win against him." Kurama's eyes closed in pain, shame, embarrassment. He'd tried so hard, but still failed, and some how succeeded.
At that moment, Juri announced, "The match is over. Karasu-senshi is the winner!"
Yusuke leapt to his feet, "Karasu? W-what?" How could this be? That sentiment echoed through out the arena. The replay was shown, clarifying matters, but Kurama already knew. He already knew of the great irony in the first round of the final match of the Ankoku Bujutsukai. Kurama felt the shame course through him. His best simply wasn't enough, not this time. In the end, the psychotic raven had defeated him. He was not aware of what was going on around him until Yusuke asked him, "Can you stand?"
"Y-yeah," he murmured, not looking up to his friend. Yusuke supported him out of the ring, setting him gently on the ground. The irony was painful, almost more painful than the wounds to his body. In trying to kill him, Karasu had made him stronger, but that strength had not been enough to win against the deranged demon.
A/N Yes, an epilogue. Partially to tie up loose threads, to truly finish the battle and to give me a place for an author's note. I did not feel it would have been appropriate at the end of the last chapter to tack something on...I felt it would have ruined the moment, so to speak. Anyways, I do want to thank those of you who read this and most especially those who took the time to review.
Madame Shadow: Yes, Karasu is freakish…I made you like him more? More irony…this story is full of it, isn't it? I'm glad you …err….enjoyed it? I wonder…is this something you can truly enjoy or is it a train wreck that you can't look away from? Note on the difference between my quotes and the Funimation ones below….I didn't use the dub because, well, one, I love Ogata Megumi's voice and two…have you ever tried to copy conversation from people talking? I don't take short hand! Subs give me time to pause it and copy down what's at the bottom of the screen and get it correct! Were it not for the file size, I'd send it to you….at least the episodes you wanted…gomen ne.
Anasazi: I don't know which of us is more that I wrote this because I wanted to, not because my muse dictated that I must. I'm glad you…again, I'm not sure what verb to use here….but, I'm sure you get the idea….I'm glad I wrote it clearly enough for you to see it, even though you haven't had the opportunity to see the episodes.
A. Minamino: You dislike Karasu and yet read this and reviewed it. Thank you very much ;D It honors me that, you, one who dislikes the raven, still liked my story.
A couple of additional notes: I used the Anime-Xtreme fan subs to get my quotes correct and Kenetic Energy: The Karasu Fanlisting (http / mikokikyou . com / KEHome . html remove the spaces if you wish to go there) for quotes as well. It was pointed out by one reviewer (Madame Shadow) that my quotes were different from the Funimation official sub and this is why. Also, I did make an error. The bomb that captured Kurama's leg is the "matsudei bomu"...I mistranslated the katakana when I translated it (de and te look very very similar). I only really know hiragana. Yes, I'm learning Japanese...and I can say silly things like "watashi no pinku neko wa tabemashite watshi no ramen futon no ue desu" (my pink cat ate my ramen on the bed)...really useful, isn't it... :D
