We are reaching the climax soon it will come, give it two or three more episodes! YEAH! Enjoy the latest chapter!
Experience the new revised version!
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EPISODE FIFTEEN: REUNITED
That night, as the campfire burned, and the flying beasts slept, the three remaining rekai, and Kuwabara's parents, sat in a blissful silence.
Kuwabara had collapsed on his mother and father's laps, and fallen quietly and quickly asleep, a slight smile on his face. Kuwabara's breaths were deep, and not a sound came from him. Everyone found this unnatural, Yusuke and Kurama haven both been witnesses to Kuwabara's sleep talking, but they blamed this unnatural silence on Sage's cruel methods towards his captive. While Kuwabara slept the group tended wounds, caused by a very embarrassed Yusuke, and only stirred him to get him to eat and drink, and then after that he went right back to sleeping. He slept like he was dead, and because of this Yusuke would come often to Kazuma, and Kari's side, and prod Kuwabara until he made a noise.
This of course annoyed the hell out of Kuwabara, and he'd take a swipe at Yusuke. Yusuke would grin cheekily and say, "Yup that's Kuwabara."
Kuwabara woke from an occasional nightmare, and through these nightmares the group were able to learn about a person called "Batto," and though they didn't quiet understand it all, they had managed to grasp that it was this "Batto," person who had been inhabiting Kuwabara's body for over a week now.
It was nighttime now, and Kuwabara had slept most of the day away, but no one was keen on waking him up too soon. Kari leaned against her husband, all the while stroking her son's hair, and humming a lullaby. Something she hadn't been able to do for many years. Yusuke felt at peace, and even thought about leaving and not going after Sage. But flashes of Hiei's falling body, and the crosses in Kuwabara's miserable eyes changed his mind each time.
Yusuke looked over at Kurama who sat the farthest from them all, the fire casting dark shadows on his grim face. He was happy that Kuwabara had managed to break free and join them, but he had still lost one of his closest friends. Hiei was still dead and gone, leaving him alone. Kurama, though good friends with Yusuke and Kuwabara knew how the group was normally, "divided," up. Kuwabara stuck close to Yusuke, and Kurama stuck close to Hiei. It's just how their team worked, and now Hiei was gone and that familiarity had went with it. Yusuke sat down quietly next to Kurama, and threw his arm around his shoulder. They didn't say anything to each other they only looked on at the fire.
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The next day had come too slowly for Hiei. He cursed himself for falling asleep early the previous day. He'd woken in the dead of night, but Mukuro refused to go out then. She kicked him in the head at one point telling him to shut the hell up, and go to sleep or she just might kill him. Hiei figured she was more fatigued then him, she had after all cared for him for three days and three nights, his life hanging in the balance. He had a feeling she hadn't slept much.
But when it was morning he rose up, and rolled his shoulders. "Let us go, I have to tell the others not to kill the buffoon."
Mukuro nodded, and watched him remove his bandage, revealing and opening his third eye. "Using that? I hardly ever see you do that..."
Hiei sighed, "I admit...one of Kuwabara's good, and only useful traits, is his ability to sense others, and find things. If he were here..." Hiei shook his head, "If he was not possessed, and had escaped by himself, which I doubt, he would have easily found his way to us." Mukuro looked at him, and he sighed continuing, "We were not that far away from this place, he would have felt my soul, even from this distance. Then he would have headed for us, if he managed to get past all the demons."
Mukuro smiled, "You respect him don't you?"
He looked at her with the same dour expression on his face he always wore. She however, had an amused smirk, and waited for his answer. He turned away from her, and pointed, "I found Yusuke. This way." He went off and she sighed, following after the stubborn demon.
In only a matter of minutes Hiei and Mukuro had found the group and leaped into a tree to watch them. Hiei peeked down at them from the treetop, Mukuro leering over his shoulder. He could only see Kurama and Yusuke, Kuwabara's parents must have been somewhere else, or maybe Yusuke set them on. Mukuro who sat right up next to next Hiei gazed down at the pair dully commenting, "They look sad don't they?"
Hiei said nothing, but got ready to jump down. He lost his balance however, when Kari, and Kazuma came out from behind a bush, Kuwabara slowly following after them. Mukuro looked at the man, and then to Hiei's stunned face. "That's him isn't it? He's the one-" Hiei did not let her finish, but leapt down, the sound of his feet hitting the grass, causing everyone to look at him.
Kurama's eyes widened, and then a huge smile spread across his face. He ran to Hiei, hugging the warrior, while laughing. Yusuke dashed forward, crying out, "My turn Kurama! Make way!" Yusuke yanked an already angry Hiei up, spun him around and hugged him. Hiei allowed the hugs for now…knowing if he tried to push them off Yusuke would only cling tighter, and then Kurama might start lecturing him of something like that.
"I would hit you," Hiei snarled, "But I..."
"He's in pain from his injury still."
The group turned to Mukuro, who'd landed on the grass a lot quieter than Hiei.
Yusuke set Hiei down and looked at him with a nervous smile. "Oops," he laughed, "Sorry Hiei. How the hell you survive! Not that I doubted you for a minute Hiei…Kurama did th-OW!"
Yusuke rubbed the back of his head after Kurama landed a fierce hit to the back of his head. "We all thought you were dead…" Kurama admitted. Hiei stared at Kurama seeing the bags under his friend's eyes, and the sorrow still lingering faintly in his green eyes. Hiei was touched, though he would never say so or show it. "Well as you can see I'm alive…"
"No thanks to us, right Hiei!?" Yusuke laughed sleeping easily into a loud, long, laugh. Hiei only glared at Yusuke thinking of taking a pop shot for the gut, but turned away when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Kuwabara was standing behind him, looking a little uneasy, and sad. Hiei could tell his arm or shoulder was injured from the war he was holding it. Kuwabara was holding it in a very stiff manner, and not letting it drop fully down to his side, while he favored his left hand, which was the one set heavily on Hiei's shoulder. Kuwabara stared at Hiei for a moment, but turned his eyes away when Hiei tried to look at him in the eyes.
"I…" Kuwabara muttered but then withdrew his hand and made a move like he was going to turn around and leave.
"What?" Hiei put a stop to any further movement and demanded, "Too ashamed to look me in the eye, Kuwabara?"
Instead of hastily disagreeing, Kuwabara instead said, "Yeah...yeah I am."
Silence hung about them all, but Hiei ended it with, "You weren't the one that stabbed me Kuwabara." Hiei turned to the others and continued, "There was someone else in him. Someone called Batto." Yusuke cleared his throat, "Yeah, we know that," he said, "Kuwabara told us last night when he escaped..." Kuwabara looked at Yusuke with a raised brow. Yusuke then added, "well Kuwabara was mostly sleep talking but we got the gist of it. Sorry Kuwabara we didn't really have a choice but to listen in."
Hiei looked at Kuwabara shocked, "You got away?"
Kuwabara laughed, finally looking at Hiei, "Yeah, I don't know how, but I forced Batto out of my body, and just walked out. Everyone still thought I was Batto." Kuwabara smirked, and looked over at Yusuke, "Including my dear idiotic friend over there." Yusuke glared at him, and yelled, "I'M SORRY ABOUT THE ARM ALREADY!"
Hiei raised a brow and pointed at Kuwabara's arm, "So you did something to his arm?"
Yusuke groaned and threw up his arms, "I'M SORRY! God Dammit it's not like I was planning on killing you…well yes I was but I thought…oh…just fuck off!!" Yusuke burst folding his arms and pouting.
Kuwabara laughed, and finally noticed Mukuro. He looked at her, and then smiled, walking over to her. She looked at him, with one eyebrow raised, she wasn't sure what he was going to do, or why he looked so relaxed in her presence. Kuwabara bowed his head in front of her and said, "Thank you for saving Hiei, though he hasn't given us an explanation, I'm sure it was you that did it. So, thank you, I'm sure the others want to thank you too. If he had died...I would never have forgiven myself."
Hiei sighed with annoyance, "Human, it was not you that stabbed me."
Kuwabara sighed looking over at Hiei, "Yeah. It was. I should have been able to do something. To push Batto out. To…to know what Sage was up to!" Mukuro put her hand on Kuwabara's uninjured arm to silence the human. At the contact Kuwabara jumped and turned to look back at her. Mukuro smirked slightly and said, "Kuwabara, from what Hiei has told me, and from my own knowledge of Sage's power, it was not your fault. Sage, believe it or not, is a very difficult opponent for anyone to go against. None of this is your fault, you should harbor no guilt."
Kuwabara nodded feeling humbled in her presence. She released Kuwabara's shoulder smirking at Hiei as if she had managed to outdo him at something. Kuwabara then smiled a sly little grin, and walked over to Hiei, and smacked the shorter demon on the back, "You picked a nice one Hiei, good job!"
Hiei's face went red, and his eyes turned dangerous when he heard Kurama and Yusuke's snickers. Mukuro looked at the group not understanding what Kuwabara said, but she was indeed amused at Hiei's red face.
"Why the fuck did I come here again?" Hiei growled turning his furious gaze on Kuwabara.
However, Kuwabara only smiled looking unafraid and coolly sat down with a sigh, closing his eyes. The group waited for him to make some sort of movement, but he'd gone quite still and the larger group stared at Kuwabara in awe.
"Is he going to sleep?" Mukuro asked, looking startled by his movements. Kari approached her and timidly said, "My son can barely keep his eyes open, he blacks out randomly, side effect from having his soul ripped from his body I suppose."
Mukuro looked at her, and then to Kazuma, studying them with her eyes. She then approached Kuwabara looking at him, and finally said, "Back in my territory, I think I have something that will settle his soul again, put things back to the way they used to be. And if not, I'm sure Yomi has some…and we can force some out of him if we must." Mukuro mused knowing just how stubborn the blind demon could be.
Yusuke smiled, "I think we'd all appreciate that." Yusuke sighed, and knelt down next to his best friend, "Come on Kuwabara, we'll sleep later."
But when Yusuke touched him, he cried out in pain and was propelled backwards, crashing into Kazuma. The older man managed to hook his arms around Yusuke, grunting in pain but was glad he'd managed to stop Yusuke from sailing back any further.
"KAZU!" Kari cried watching as her son rose limply in the air, his body coursing with electricity. His shirt burned away, and all that remained was his bandages and the glowing tattoo that was on his chest.
"Miniera, miniera, miniera, miniera, miniera, miniera, MINIERA!" A voice dripping with venom echoed around the startled group.The group turned around to see Sage wielding his staff, and muttering that word over and over again.
Kuwabara grunted with pain as he was lifted high into the air. His pale blue eyes snapped open, and he managed to gasp, "How...?"
Sage glared at Kuwabara, and ceased his muttering, which caused Kuwabara to drop like a stone, but Kurama caught his friend crashing to the ground with him, but at least managed to lessen the blow.
"So this is the Sage I've heard about," Mukuro commented, looking at him evilly. Sage glanced at her and then glared at the entire group, the air around him swirling to match his anger. "You...You dirty creatures! Kazuma Kuwabara you are such a fool! Did you not think my son's soul would come to me and tell you of your escape?" Sage scoffed, and raised his staff. Yusuke was back on his feet quickly getting away from Kazuma, and Kari was next to her husband.
"You bastard..." Yusuke whispered quickly placing himself in front of Kurama and Kuwabara. "You drag my best friend's parents here, and then drag my friend off, and do...do...WELL WHO GIVES A FUCK WHAT YOU DID! I swear Sage, I'm bringing you down!"
Sage laughed, and waved his hand at him, "What I did! Look what you did boy, I don't recall him having an injured shoulder? Did something happen?" Yusuke's face twisted in anger and shame at Sage's prodding question. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he saw Kuwabara. Kuwabara smiled at him, the same goofy grin he always had, and Yusuke felt the tension leave his shoulders. Yusuke smirked coolly spitting out, "You're a moron. We're all back together now, and more than ready to kick your ass."
Sage growled, eyes flashing, the wind, which still swirled around him, just went all the faster. "FOOLISH BOY! KUWABARA YOU ARE MINE!"
Kuwabara glared at Sage and called out his spirit sword, as he raised it he screamed back, "NO, I'M NOT!" With a quick slash, Kuwabara brought his sword down, and sliced of the skin that had the tattoo that had caused him so much pain. The group was startled, they had not expected Kuwabara to turn his sword on himself, nor did they see the point of it. Kazuma and Kari both flinched recalling as Kuwabara had stabbed himself before. But Kuwabara knew exactly what he was doing.
The Miniera tattoo was gone.
He let out a pain filled gasp, and dropped to one knee, Kurama and Yusuke steadying him. Sage's face was visibly shocked, and his eyes were wide. Sage hissed and cried out, "Miniera!" But nothing happened and Kuwabara laughed at Sage's shocked face. Instantly the group seemed to understand what Kuwabara had done and the group grinned wide and laughed. Hiei smirked and growled, "Well, well Sage. Looks like this is it for you. Way to go Kuwabara, you're not so useless after all." Kuwabara growled in Hiei's direction, but said nothing, not feeling well enough to get in a fight just that moment.
Sage sighed, "Poor Kuwabara...I really didn't want to have to do this." Sage reached into the neck of his robes, and revealed a black amulet, dangling from a silver string. "Kuwabara, remember your last home, look, I have a new one for you…aren't you excited?" As Sage laughed, Kazuma and Kari hugged their son as if to protect him from the amulet. Kari had torn off her sleeve, and was now desperately trying to tie a bandage around her son's self inflicted injury, while shaking her head and whispering, "No. Not my baby…not again!" Yusuke and Kurama stood in front of Kuwabara; Mukuro and Hiei in front of them. All were prepared to fight for Kuwabara's sake. They didn't know what kind of hell it'd been inside that first jewel but they weren't about to let Kuwabara go into another imprisonment.
Sage glanced at them all, and with a laugh, he boasted, "None of you will be able to defeat me! You're all pathetic. One S-class demon, two humans with no real spirit power except for their awareness, one B-class human whose power is trying to sustain his frail body, and three A-class demons," Sage's eyes slid over to Mukuro, "And one is a woman no less. I have nothing to fear hear." Mukuro's eyes flashed, and Hiei almost laughed.
Hiei shook his head, "You poor fool, you just signed your death certificate."
Sage didn't have time to say anything back to Hiei before Mukuro was on him, beating him as hard as she could. The sight was almost comical, and the group allowed himself to relax. With out warning she was thrown off Sage and was smashed to the ground. She grunted, but it soon turned into a gasp when Sage stabbed his staff through her belly. Hiei let out an angry and surprised roar, and headed for Sage, but he and his staff disappeared as soon as Hiei reached them. Hiei helped Mukuro up, who looked angry rather then in pain. "Where'd that bastard go!?" She demanded through gritted teeth, blood dripping past her lips.
"Over here."
All heads turned to see Sage right next to Kari. The old demon smiled at her, and cooed, "Hey honey." Kuwabara's face grew angry, and he shouted, "GET AWAY FROM MY MOM!" He reached over to punch Sage or grab him around his scrawny throat, but instead found the black amulet pressed to his heart. Almost instantly, his body began to have sharp spasms, and a wind picked up around him. Everyone next to him went flying away from him until they crashed into trees, and Kuwabara knew what was going to happen. "No," He whispered, "No...Not again...NOT AGAIN!" His whispers rose to a violent shout, and orange energy began to rise from his body.
"What the hell is he doing?" Hiei shouted over the wind.
"He's trying to use his energy to blast the amulet off his chest!" Kurama shouted back.
Yusuke was staring at his friend and his thoughts clouded his mind. 'Look at you Kuwabara...just a week ago we were on a beach and you were telling me about strings on my fingers, that only you could see.' Yusuke looked down at his fingers, knowing for sure that there was no yellow string of happiness. He looked back at Kuwabara, his face twisted in agony, 'Kuwabara,' Yusuke thought closing his eyes tight, 'why you? It's not fair, you don't deserve any of this, you didn't do anything to anyone...WHY YOU?' His thoughts turned angry, and Yusuke rose, his eyes glowing.
Kazuma and Kari were the first to notice this and stared at Yusuke, as his whole body seemed to change. Hiei and Kurama turned, and saw him changing too. His hair had grown longer, and the strange patters had appeared on his chest, arms, and face. "Sage is in trouble now," Kurama whispered to himself. Yusuke was in his demon form, and his power had risen higher than it already was. Stalking slowly over to Sage, fighting the wind, he had his mind set on two things.
"Hey Sage, There are two things I'm going to do to ya," Yusuke growled at the pale Sage, "One is break that stupid amulet, and the other is rip off both your arms!" Yusuke's eyes flashed brightly, and electricity seemed to spark around him. He planned to stay true to his word, he was going to save his best friend, and he was going to kill Sage.
Sage smiled secretly to himself, "Perfect..." he whispered, smiling and waiting for Yusuke to reach him.
End of this chapter!
Will Yusuke kick Sage's ass? Finally? Will Kuwabara be rescued? Or does Sage have something up his sleeves that will cause the downfall for Yusuke? woot! Climax is comin'!
