Chapter Dreiundzwanzig

Hiei panted and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth as he picked up his sword once more not wanting to kill Kurama with the darkness technique, only wanting to hurt him bad enough to knock some sense into him.

"What are you going to do with that? You know that won't work on me." Yoko growled and tossed his roses. Two pierced Hiei's hands straight through the middle pinning him to the base of a huge tree. The third rose scratched over his left cheek leaving a bloody warning.

"Hn." Hiei spat and tried to pull his hands free while the roses grew long vines that slowly coiled and wrapped around his arms moving slowly to cover all of him.

"Hiei I thought you were faster than that. What is holding you back?" Yoko stalked toward him with a dark smirk gracing his lips.

"Nothing."

"Now that just isn't true." He spoke with venom "I will kill you, so either you stop me now… or die." Yoko pulled his third rose from the tree and it slowly transformed into a dagger with jagged thorns across the blade. "You're choice" he shrugged.

"Hn, I will not kill you."

"You have changed. Too bad for you." Yoko plunged the knife in to the soft flesh of his friend, but he didn't scream, nor did he flinch. "Hmm I see you handle pain well. Just wait until my vines kill you from the inside out."

Botan groaned and pushed herself off of the ground. Looking left and right seeing Yoko but gasped as she saw Hiei pinned to the tree with a rose dagger stuck in his chest. "Hiei." She mouthed as her voice gave in. She walked toward Yoko staggering as she did. "S-Stop… d-don't… kill him…" She lost her footing and fell to the ground and closed her eyes as she noticed Yoko coming toward her.

"Let her go! I am not dead yet." Hiei spoke as sweat coated his face, as it turned red with pain.

" Oh you will be soon enough." Yoko smirked and paused as a fire engulfed the tree that held Hiei. "What's this?" he turned just as his vines and flowers melted in the dark fire "What a neat trick."

"I have had just about enough of you. You can't win. Fire kills everything, you can't kill me with those plants of yours."

"I beg to differ." Yoko advanced toward Hiei with a handful of dandelion seeds. He held the ball of his palm to his lips and blew sending thousands of seeds toward his old friend.

Hiei held his breath knowing full well what would happen if he took a breath and growled as blood seeped through his clothing from the stab wound. He would have to take a breath sooner or later but he held it anyway.

"S-Stop this!" Botan Jumped up and coughed as she swallowed down full breath of the seeds and grabbed her throat. Fire ran over everything, her lungs hurt the most.

"Botan!" Hiei yelled and sank down next to her as she fell to the ground. "Fox! Look what you did, are you happy now?"

Kurama looked down at his hands and took a step back. What had he just done? His mind was fighting within and he had to get away.

"H-Hiei." Botan reached up weakly and stroked his cheek featheredly. "I-Is it over?" she whispered and closed her eyes tightly as her lungs and throat burned with each spoken word.

"Shh, it's okay Botan. You'll be fine." Hiei set her down and stood up eyes red with hate and darkness. "You want a true fight from me fox? Well here it is."

" I didn't want for that to happen. But all I really needed was that pacifier and I will have it." Kurama smirked but that soon faded when he felt the tight pinch of a sword cutting his neck and the cold rush of blood sliding down.

"Sorry old friend but this is the only way to stop this, that I can see." Hiei closed his eyes ready to slit his fallen friend's neck.

"Hiei don't do it!" Touya's voice cut through the darkness. " IF you kill him you will regret it."

"What do you know? He tried to kill me. Why shouldn't I just kill him first?"

"Oi mate, he is your best friend." Chu added, "He needs your help not death."

"How do you know all of this? How do you know that he just isn't doing this out of his own free will?"

"Look at his face… into his eyes."

Hiei noticed a tear and a scream of a needed freedom in Kurama's eyes and tossed him down to the ground harshly. "Fine but we don't want him to escape and try for our lives again. We need to figure out what was given to him." Hiei growled and grabbed up Kurama by his red hair and tossed him to Touya. "Take him inside."

Touya nodded and walked off with Kurama and the others as Hiei walked to Botan's side.

"Onna, Open your eyes. Now!" Hiei ordered and shook her roughly "Get up. Stop being so weak." Botan's breath shortened and soon she became numb to the world.