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"Or else…" Risho's last words echoed off of the stone walls. Youko felt a chill run down his spine. It sounded serious, but what could he do? Risho had his fun and he had yet to make a lasting mark on the fox demon. Youko's ears twitched thoughtfully and turned his golden gaze on the Ice Master. He wasn't as powerful as he seemed. He was clever and quick, but he lacked enough power to back them up. He could only freeze his stronger opponents and hack away at them while they were down…it was a cowardly technique if not effective.
Botan wrapped her arms around herself. It was Touya's turn to step up to plate. Risho had only tortured Youko out of spite, but Touya had a reason. The fox demon had taken her from his arms, nursed her broken pride, and rubbed the love they now shared into the pallid face.
"He looks mad…I just hope that he doesn't go too far with this," Botan confided to Jin.
"Aye, me either." Jin nodded. "The lad looks mighty pissed off—pardon me French, there, Botan—but I've never seen 'im this mad. If he kills Youko Kurama, then we'll just have to wring 'is neck, won't we?"
The deity grimaced at his words and clasped her hands together. "Wring his neck? No…that's just too disgusting for me. Especially after what Risho did!"
Jin chortled. "Ah, ye're a woman, tha's all. I keep forgettin' how squeamish you women are." His smile faded. "Are ye sure you want ta watch all this? He knows now where ye stand on this. Risho was one creature but Touya?" He shook his head. "When Touya gets pissed, nothing stands in 'is way. It's a wonder how he 'asn't lost a finger yet for 'is temper."
Botan shrugged.
"So ye're gonna watch?"
"I have to." She met Youko's eyes with sympathy. "If Touya does kill him, I can at least be there for him."
Jin shook his head. "Crazy woman. I can't figure out if ye're brave or just stupid. They get mixed up real often, they do."
The words didn't enter Botan's brain. She tuned him out unconsciously and watched with apprehension as Touya paced the room, his ice blue eyes glued to the countless weapons that were at his disposal. He lifted one, then another, inspecting both. She winced, seeing him pick up an axe with a rugged edge. It wasn't good for cutting down trees. It was used to hack into a body part and tug, yanking tissue and muscles aside.
Touya lifted the ax, stared at it and shrugged. He kept that in his left hand while his right hand skimmed across the wall. His eyes were narrowed. He did this seriously. He wanted the spirit fox to feel each and every hit. The dagger Risho had used was too merciful. Youko wasn't left to bleed from the weapon. It was painful, but he wasn't weakening from blood loss because of it. That dagger had opened a wound, then sealed it shut. Booooring. Touya wanted blood…so much blood that Youko would have to go into shock because of it. He smiled, picking up a bottle of acid.
How simple this acid was. It was a human discovery when attempting to heal a person. It was Hydrochloric acid—the acid found inside the stomach. If exposed to skin, it could easily wear away at the flesh if not washed away, but the process took too long for Touya's liking. He had spiked it with the pollen of some sort of Makai plant…he couldn't remember now what it was called. He did know that the lacing sped up the process, eroding skin on contact. How simple yet satisfyingly effective.
"Hurry up," Risho yelled. "We haven't got all day. Take another second longer and I'll have Youko torture you with your weapons of choice."
Touya flinched. "H-hai," he sputtered. He hastily grabbed a few hooks from a basket in the corner and dashed to the table where Youko lay.
Youko looked at each weapon, studying each. "What's in the bottle?" he asked pleasantly.
"Hydrochloric acid." He avoided Youko's insinuating amber eyes. "Quit asking stupid questions or I'll start soon."
"Please do. You're taking far too long, and, according to your friend in that direction—" he nodded, indicating Risho. "—I get to do as I wish with your thin body."
Touya glared at him. "You…you bastard…" he sputtered, looking for an insult heavy enough to hurt Youko's pride. "How can you sit there and act as if this is nothing special."
"Because it is nothing special. I've felt pain before, I've been held against my will a few times, and I have been killed. I over came everything. Don't you think that even if I did die, I'd find another human mother's womb and become her child? I can only leave this world if I leave willingly." He glanced at Botan. "The only difference here is her."
That struck another chord in Touya's temper. He took a steadying breath to keep it at bay. "That's it…your ass is going down whether you fight or not."
He manipulated his Reiki to surround each of the fingers on his left hand with ice. They were shaped into something like sharp knives. He carved slowly into Youko's stomach. The muscles tightened reflexively as Youko felt the icy fingers pry into his skin. Touya sighed in frustration. He took the acid and tilted the bottle. A small stream issued out and hit the open flesh with a hissing sound. Smoke appeared from where the acid ate gleefully into Youko's skin.
Youko shut his eyes tightly, forcing himself to take the pain and not cry out. But it was hard. The acid created a burning sensation on impact and it seemed to start at a pinprick. Slowly the area of pain grew until his whole abdomen felt to be on fire. Sweat beaded his face.
Botan looked away as soon as she saw his flesh seem to be turned inside out. She buried her face into her hands, shaking her head. "Fight it!" she begged him in a whisper. "I don't want him to be the one who kills you if you have to die at all."
The silvery ears twitched. He had heard her whispers. His ears had picked them up. His pain was forgotten momentarily as the words registered in his mind to be Botan's. His heart went out to her. Poor thing…it was horrible enough to feel it, but at least he didn't have to see his own flesh be mutilated. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't doing a good job of fighting Touya.
He pushed the feeling of pain away. He focused on the burning sensation, willing it to heal, just as he had done when he was shot so long ago.
Touya watched in surprise as the flesh that had been eaten away a minute ago return. He backed away a few steps and stared down in disbelief. "No! No no no! What the hell is going on?!"
Risho narrowed his eyes. "He's healing himself. Just kill him and get it over with!"
The ice master made an ice sword out of his hand. He plunged it into Youko's chest, aiming it for his heart.
Youko hissed, feeling the ice burrow into his flesh and head for an internal organ. Focusing, he healed the wounds, fighting against the sword that begged to slice at his skin.
Touya scowled and twisted the sword/arm without warning. Youko was caught off guard. The sword punctured his right lung as the sword/arm slipped against the lack of force fighting.
Jin jumped. "I think ee hurt 'im bad. It's not good." He glared at Touya's back. "That cowardly piece ah shit…"he grumbled. He practically marched towards the torture table.
"I know that you wanted a turn, but it had to be done," Risho said, completely misinterpreting Jin's aim.
Botan's eyes widened nervously as she tailed Jin to Youko.
The fox demon felt the air supply lessoning and become more wet. He summoned his Death Plant. They grabbed at Touya, flinging him against the walls. Touya groaned, sliding against the assortment of weapons and falling unconscious to the floor.
Jin grabbed at the metal cuffs to unlock Youko, but the fox demon had enough of these yakuza demons. The vines went towards Jin, ready to protect their master. "Oy! I'm not trying ta kill ya! At least let me get you untied. You can kill that bastard while ye're at it."
Youko ignored the remark and the vines flew at Jin. It missed and wrapped around Botan. Youko was unable to see. It was getting darker as the oxygen intake grew thin.
"Youko! Just calm down!" Botan squeaked. The vines tightened around her, cutting into her arms. She winced. "Put me down!"
"Botan?" he whispered wetly. He put Botan down at his side.
Jin worked at the cuffs on Youko's hands and ankles, freeing him.
Botan felt a wave of nausea wash over her as she saw the wound. Burns she could handle, but blood was a whole other thing. She reached towards it nervously. She had never dealt with a wound this deep. She remembered the incident with Youko and the 'evil' tweezers. That was different. This had entered an organ.
She sobbed in frustration. "Youko. Try to heal yourself. I'll help, okay?" She held her hands above the wound. "Youko? Please, listen to me."
Youko blinked uselessly and finally his vision cleared a little. "Botan, I can barely see you," he sputtered, as his vision grew blurry once again. He touched her hand. His usually firm grip was weak. "And I can barely feel you…"
"I know. Just hold on. I'll get you in tip top shape, but you have to help me." She squeezed his hand. "Okay?"
Youko blacked out…or did he die? Botan couldn't tell the difference, but she knew the grip was gone. She let go of his hand and backed away into Jin.
Jin touched her shoulders. "He's gone. Let him go."
"No! He can't be gone! Not Youko…he can't go like this!"
Risho laughed from his corner. "Touya was a valuable aspect after all! Now you're mine Botan! There's no way that you can run from me. I know all the places you hide…" He laughed again. "Good job, Touya."
Touya stood on rubbery legs and smiled at Youko's still form. "Perfect…" He realized what Risho had said. "Wait. Botan? Yours? Hell no! She was mine from the beginning."
"You?" Risho smirked. "Of course not. I'm stronger than you. And, now that Youko is gone, I need nothing from you."
Botan stared disbelievingly at Youko. 'He can't be dead…he's just unconscious for now…he'll be awake…he has to be…' she thought desperately.
Is he dead? Well? Is he? Is he? Am I just psycho enough to let him be dead? Or will there be some adventure to resurrect him? You have to wait until next chapter!
Here's the people who reviewed last chapter in their respective orders:
Botan and Kurama lover: You don't like the torture? That's ok. You're more into fluff and I'll do my best to put more of that in this. But…that is if Youko's not gone. Is he gone?
Miyako14: Illegally download it? That makes it sound like a bad thing…that's ok though. I'm not desperate to hear it. ::sigh:: It's so sad…being half Japanese and being isolated from all the Japanese things in life. America sucks to an extent… You liked the chapter you say? That's so nice of you!
KuramaandHiei4ever: That's okay. I want people to point out my errors. I'm not perfect and I'm not optimistic so I can handle things like this. I made a lot of screw ups in this fic but no one seems to notice some of them. Like the chapter when Risho ties Youko to the torture table, you see that I put "there was an uncomfortable looking chair in the middle of the room" when that was supposed to be the torture table. Thanks for your review!
Tyedye/Rin: I don't mind gory either. In fact I encourage gory. There's so little gore nowadays on fanfic…people can't stomach it I guess.
JDFielding: Wow. You use a good deal of big words. I know what they mean (I'm smarter than I look!) but I don't use them in everyday sentences. Yep, the dagger was pretty wicked. I wanted to find something that could inflict a lot of pain, not just draw blood. I have to be hard on myself. I'm a pessimistic person! I can't help it! Yes, I'm afraid even you, JD, have to wait and see how it turns out. Youko may die at Touya's hands or Botan may kill him or maybe Jin. There's no telling what my mind will do to him next! Oh, and I just NOW realized I've been spelling your penname wrong the whole time! I put the e before the i. Sorry! I'm such an idiot…
Conspiring against me: I'm glad you find this story to be good! I'm here only because I'm a dork and I'm obliged to please. To be a good writer, I experiment with my 'romantic' themes on fanfic and on fictionpress.com I work with the darker aspect of my writing. My goal is to merge these two themes together.
Mourning Fox: Hey! Long time no see! Have fun at camp? I've never been the camp. The only 'camp' I've been to is band camp. I get so sick of "one day at band camp…" jokes aimed towards me because I'm a flute player. Stupid people…::grumbles:: Well, at least I hoped that the three chapters or so you missed didn't make you feel like it was worth missing!
animefreak03: I'll try to abstain myself from killing Youko. Can't make promises right now! I want to keep my reviewers in suspense! ::evil laugh:: Youko's happy with her, but he's just vulnerable at the moment. He's been stabbed in the back so many times.
Volpone: You have a passion for HieixBotan too? Lets just face it, you like fluff all together don't you? I find the HxB pairing interesting too. There's so little out there and it is hard to picture Hiei showing his love in a romantic way. He seems to be more like Youko or Karasu when it comes to love—pushy and sadistic. It'll be a challenge to keep him in character! Thanks for the review on it. Now now, your fics are soo much better than mine, dear Volpone. I'm sure that once you get the YoukoxBotan fic done, you'll do so much better than me in a HieixBotan fic. You're always one step ahead of me somehow! ::gaps:: You're gonna beat me? With a stick perhaps? ::ducks:: NO! Let me live to at least finish my fics!
Lifeless-Kanna: 300 reviews is way more than I expected I would get! I was hoping to meet at least 200 because that's what I got on my other KxB fic. Ice cream? I want ice cream! ::holds out bowl::
Tesina Gela Gardner: I'll get the fic up as soon as I get the 1st chappie typed. I have a basic idea of what I'm going to do, but I need to have a basic picture of the whole story so I can keep a constant summary up.
Fair Undomiel: ::blush:: I only have an amazing fic only because I have amazing reviewers to back me up. You're new to the YYH universe? Watch out, it's addicting! If you're looking for a better KxB fic, you can look at 'After the Fall' by JDFielding. Or you can look at any of the fics by Volpone. They're both geniuses—way better than I'll ever be! My HieixBotan fic is out! I posted it yesterday. It's called Darkness of My Past so feel free to read it!
Chocogurl: I know the HieixBotan pairing doesn't seem to work out as well as KxB, but the challenge of keeping Hiei in character will be the challenge. If you're interested, it's already up! It's called Darkness of My Past if you wanna read it!
lil-rosa: You can't say I'm your number one author unless you've read something by Volpone or JDFielding. Then we'll talk! I can't make any favorites on reviewers…I've got a lot of fics so I can't really say I have a #1 reviewer! I wish I could! But you've been a loyal reviewer so far! ::pats lil-rosa on head:: j/k. As long as people keep updated, they're all my #1 reviewers!
prettynutter: Thanks! That's nice to hear! You JUST reviewed and I JUST posted! How weird is that!
Like I said, thanks for reviewing and your name will be up again next time if you review this time!