Thanks for the reviews! If you're interested in seeing your name, review! If you've reviewed the last chapter, proceed to the bottom. If you want to see your name up next chapter, then you're going to have to review this chapter!
Touya watched Risho die with a passive expression. It was almost as if he was enjoying the fact that his master was dead. He had heard his master's final order….it was a death wish—something that was supposed to be respected and obeyed.
He toyed with the idea of obeying the death wish. If he obeyed it, it would make him look weak. Risho was dead, after all…but then again, he had taken his (Touya's) 'toy'. Risho was dead now so there was no reason for Touya to contemplate a plot for revenge.
He glanced carelessly at Youko. He had taken Botan as well. He had plucked her from his arms and manipulated her—turning her against him. He gritted his teeth. Maybe he would kill Youko. It wouldn't be for Risho though. It would be for himself. The damned fox demon would have to pay for taking Botan away from him.
He held his hand palm up. A blue orb of light appeared in his hand as he channeled his Reiki and turned them into sharp shards of ice. He blew the shards at Youko, not bothering to consider the possibility that Botan might get killed from them. All he could think about was the light behind her amethyst eyes when she gazed up at her lover.
Jin hadn't been paying attention to what Touya or Youko had been doing. He had been by Risho's corpse, prodding it with the tip of his shoe. He wrinkled his nose. Yes, Risho was actually dead. It didn't seem possible. He had watched the fight between the yakuza lord and the fox demon…if you could call it a fight. To Jin, all Youko had done was sic his carnivorous flowers on Risho and it had been successful. There were two things to make this possible. Either Risho wasn't as strong as he had claimed he was or Youko was extremely powerful.
He glanced at Youko nervously. It must be the latter. It would be exhilarating to go up against that power. And if he survived against him, it would be a tale he could tell his grandchildren. He studied Botan in Youko's embrace. Her eyes were transfixed on Youko's golden ones. Neither seemed to notice that there were other people around them.
He smiled faintly. She was obviously happy with this demon. She deserved this happiness and Jin was glad she found it in such a worthy opponent.
His ears twitched. He picked up a slight sound. He blinked. That could only mean one thing! Touya's Shards of Winter attack! "Oy! Youko! Look out! The bastard's tryin' ta kill ya!" he yelled.
Youko jumped at the voice. Immediately, he jumped into a protective stance. He pulled Botan into a standing position and pushed her behind him. "Stay behind me and you'll be safe," he said to her. He gave her a reassuring smile. "The worst thing that can happen is that I die and my body will fall on you."
Botan gasped. "Don't say things like that!"
The fox demon smirked and immediately turned his attention to Touya's oncoming attack. Botan shut her eyes tightly and pressed her forehead gently on Youko's back. She felt the muscles in his back stir with his movements.
With the flick of a wrist, Youko had his rose whip out. A loud cracking sound echoed in the chamber as he flicked it at the shards of ice. Contact was made and the shards shattered into nothing.
Touya frowned. Why had he expected that to work? Of course it wouldn't have! Not with the red-headed oaf mouthing off or with Youko born with amazingly quick reflexes. Things were immediately in Youko's favor. Touya smiled. 'I'll just have to change that, won't I?' he thought.
He used his Reiki to manipulate his surroundings. The temperature dropped suddenly. He watched as Youko's breath transformed into vapor. "Are you cold?" he taunted.
Youko flashed a sarcastic smile. "A little chilly air won't kill me."
Touya raised an eyebrow. "You're right about that. A little won't kill you…but a great deal will." His bangs floated with the extra Reiki he exerted to make the temperature drop even lower. He crossed his arms and grinned as he watched Youko's arms lower and his stance droop a little. "How're you holding up now?"
The fox demon said nothing. The cold was making him sleepy. He was fighting it off as well as he could. He shook his head to clear it. "I'll ask you the same thing?" he said slowly. His aim was to take as much time as he could.
"Why ask me the same thing?"
Youko held his hands up in a helpless gesture. "No reason…"
Touya smirked. "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to stall me. You know I can't keep this up for long. But just wait. You'll be the first to go down."
'Damn it,' Youko thought irritably. He had heard that Touya was clever even though he rarely showed it. He was able to catch on to his plan. His mind raced, quickly calculating the amount of time he had left to live. He had maybe ten minutes at the most of he didn't do anything. He sighed inwardly.
Botan clutched the back of his robes. Youko felt it, but it wasn't a strong grip. He looked back over his shoulder. The cold was getting to her. Obviously she wasn't used to so much cold air. "Botan," he whispered helplessly. He caught her just before she collapsed. If he didn't do anything soon, she was going to die.
He held her to his body. He wanted to hold her and keep her safe, but it was impossible. He didn't want to leave her with his back turned while she was like this. "Jin," he said. "Take care of her while I handle him." He allowed Jin to take her into his arms, but he did it reluctantly. The thought of another man holding her with such care made his blood boil, but he would have to trust Jin for now.
He turned to Touya and he once again shook his head to fight the sleep. He suddenly had an idea. He only hoped that it would work. He collapsed onto the ground and lay still. The rose whip that had been in his hand left his fingertips. With no Reiki to feed off of, it returned to it's normal flowery state.
Touya blinked suspiciously. He stepped carefully towards the fallen demon. He pushed him with the tip of his toe. Youko shuddered and curled into a ball. The ice master smiled. He grabbed Youko and lifted him up. He frowned. Youko was limp. Was it possible that he had died?
He smiled. Of course it was possible!
Suddenly, Youko's muscles tensed. He shook head firmly. Seeds scattered everywhere. He kicked Touya in the chest. He landed easily on the ground and pushed his Reiki into the fallen seeds. The seeds sprouted into vines and wrapped around Touya.
Now Touya was pinned to the ground.
Youko crossed his arms, keeping his fatigue from showing. His Reiki was almost gone now, but soon that would be changed. A large flower grew on Touya's stomach. The flower petals opened. Pollen erupted into the air and floated towards Youko. As it touched him, it seemed to disappear.
Youko smiled. "Thank you for sharing your energy. It's very kind of you."
Touya gaped mindlessly at him.
The fox demon only smiled. "Yes, this sucks your energy and turns it into pollen. As it touches me, it turns into oxygen and enters my pores." He cocked his head slightly. "And you know what else that means? Since you are loosing your energy, you are unable to keep up with the temperature."
He was correct of course. Touya stopped emitting extra Reiki and the temperature returned to normal. Youko looked over at Botan, making sure that she was okay. She was beginning to stir. He exhaled with relief. He had saved her from dying. His golden eyes narrowed and focused maliciously at Touya's weak form. It was time for him to get what he deserved…a slow and painful death.
The fox demon wanted nothing more than to strap the ice master to the torturing table and force him to feel each and every agonizing hit. He wanted to watch him die, begging for mercy. And he would get it too. Youko smiled grimly. It wasn't his style to use manmade weapons so he would use his own techniques—his favored death plant and maybe a few cracks of his rose whip would do the trick.
He picked the fallen rose off of the floor and turned it into the rose whip he had learned to live off of. He held it easily in his hands. "I'm going to torture you," he said in a low growl. He noted with sadistic pleasure that Touya's ice blue eyes had widened in fear. "I want you to feel everything I had to go through. Do you think it was fun? I think not."
Botan was awake now. The sleep brought on by the extreme cold was gone and she was fine. She looked at Youko. With catlike grace, he was moving slowly towards Touya's fallen form. The whip was held ready in his hand. She gasped. "Youko!" she exclaimed.
Youko stopped suddenly. His animalistic blood lust was gone in a flash as soon as he heard his mate's voice. Botan ran towards him and touched his arms. "Botan, it's good to see that you're alive," he said happily. The happy light left his eyes and was replaced by an angry flame. "I must kill him. What he did to me was a sigh of cowardice. What he allowed Risho to do to you was unforgivable." He glared at Touya. "If cared about you half as much as I do, he would've killed Risho far sooner than I had…"
Botan nodded with understanding. "I know. But if you kill him, you'll be stooping to his level. He's dying anyway. Let him die like this."
The fox spirit looked at Touya again. Yes, the way he was going to die was degrading. He wasn't given a chance to fight back. He took one look at Botan's pleading look and nodded. "Alright. For you, my love, I'll let him rot here." He pushed the strands of hair that had come free from her ponytail. He kissed her forehead.
"What'll we do now?" she asked in excitement. "We can live normal lives now—or as normal as we can considering you're a demon." She beamed with happiness. "This'll be wonderful. I'll cook for you, clean for you, and all the other things that you would want me to do."
Youko winced. "I don't want you to overexert yourself for me. I'll do my share of the work I suppose. I wouldn't want you to feel like a slave."
"Now wait a minute there," Jin said suddenly. He walked forwards. "I can't be lettin' ya out that easily."
"I beg your pardon," Youko began. "But I killed Risho. The rules don't apply anymore. Since you are now the master of this place, I request that we leave peacefully."
Jin crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "Aye, I know yer right and I thank ya for killin' the bastard. But I want ta see how powerful ya really are. I wanna know if you are right fer Botan."
Botan stamped her foot impatiently. "Jii-iin!" she groaned. "He proved it enough times already! He lived through the torture, he killed Risho, and Touya!"
"I'm not dead yet!" Touya snapped.
"Shut up," Botan retorted. She looked appealingly at the wind master. "So why can't we leave?"
"Because he didn't necessarily prove 'ee was powerful Ya were the one ta heal 'im. If it wasn't for ya, he'd be dead fer sure."
Youko put an arm around his lover's waist and smiled at her, silently thanking her for being there for him. This made the deity flush.
"Aye. There's that, and Risho wasn't prepared fer yer attack. 'is hands were a little preoccupied with the girl, they were. And with Touya, ya tricked 'im into dying," Jin continued, ticking it off of his fingers.
"Damn it! I'm not dead!" Touya screamed.
"Oy, fuck off," Jin snarled. "Where was I? All the things ya did only proved that the girl loved ya enough to waste 'er Spirit Energy on ya, that ye're a little selfish when it comes ta yer girl, and that Touya is a dumb ass for dying over a simple trick."
Touya moaned. "I'm not dead! Which part of "I'm not fucking dead" don't you understand?"
"The part where ye're not dead. Talk again and I'll kill ya. I don't have as much honor as Youko has, mind ya."
"I understand where you're coming at," Youko said, ignoring Touya. "But why is it that we are unable to leave."
"Like I said, I wanna prove that ye're strong enough for 'er. She deserves the best, she does. Besides, I can't resist a friendly match—especially one against ya."
Youko smiled. "So be it. What are the terms?"
"Terms? I don't have terms, really…just a friendly match."
"Yes, but there must be something you want."
"No…I don't want anythin'…but how about this. If ya win, the two of ya can leave. If I win, then ya two can live 'ere. It'll be a mite lonely with only meself to tend to…"
"Agreed."
Jin brightened. "This'll be a blast! All right! We'll take this outside, shall we?"
Here's the people who reviewed last chapter in their respective orders:
Crimson Breeze: Well as you read this chapter, Youko seems to be ok. But here's a question for you to find the answer to: Is Jin going to play fair? Is he as nice as he seems?
Tesina Gela Gardner: Yes, Risho is dead. Isn't that great? ::does a happy dance:: Now we have to worry about Jin!
DarkShadowWriter: Redone again? How many times did you redo it?
Orange09: How long until the end? I'm not exactly sure. I just keep writing until I feel that the story can't get any better or worse.
JDFielding: Well, Risho died last chapter and in THIS chapter Touya didn't seem to come out on top. And you can see that there's a fight between Jin and Youko. Only I know how that will turn out! You better update your fic soon!
Botan and Kurama lover: The epilogue sounds like a good idea…but it sounds sort of like the last 2 chapters of my Silent Whisper of Roses. In that, I showed that they had a half-kitsune of their own. I may do something similar though. I can promise a happy ending though! Is Botan going to be able to leave now that Risho is dead? As you read in this chapter, Jin wants to fight with Youko before he allows them to leave.
Nienna Whitethorn: No problem. I don't force people to review and I've seen that a lot of people have gone to camp this summer.
Mourning Fox: Yeah, you gotta love Jin's accent…and the pointy ears are cool too.
lil-rosa: A sequel to this? I don't know if I'll be able to write a sequel good enough to follow this fic. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Conspiring against me: Like I've said before, I don't force reviews. I hope I updated soon enough! Hopefully you'll like this chapter too.
Volpone: Kuronue DID appear! Isn't that great? Now I get to manipulate another little-used character! I'm gonna read your new fic whenever you get it up! You can count on that! Hey…a love triangle? I was thinking of the same thing! The only thing I can't figure out is whether to do a KuramaxBotanxKuronue or a KuramaxBotanxKarasu. Karasu is cool…he's sadistic and that gives him his own charm, but Kuronue is cool too. ::Sigh:: so if you could choose which you like best, I can begin writing the story as soon as possible. The 1st chapter to this is already half typed. I just need to know which triangle is best so I can get a steady summary up. Thanks for your review!
prettynutter: Hey! Was that sarcasm? But anyway, I updated so I hope this chapter was good.
EGOD101: Wow….you got high from the story? Can you smell it in the atmosphere? ::sniff sniff:: I don't smell anything. Thanks for your review though!
Keiko Yukimura 4444: Erm…you're gonna kill me? You won't get me! ::evil laugh:: But if you DID kill me, how would I be able to resurrect him if I did attempt to kill him? And you wouldn't see the ending either. But…yeah, thanks for the warning. ::sweat drop::
Tyedye/Rin: You always demand longer chapters! I'll try, but I can't promise, k? This chapter was 5 pages long, not counting the review page.
Lifeless-Kanna: Strawberries? Ohh! Gimmee some!
Tearful Joy: It took me too long? For what? The update? Yeah, the last update did take a long time. Like I said, I was busy.
KuramaandHiei4ever: That's ok! Yeah, the story doesn't have much more to go, but I'll try to end it with a bang! And, yes, a mushy happy ending will probably be in order.
Fair Undomiel: Argentina plays YYH at 1 in the morning? And you stay up for that? Whoa…and I thought the few times I stayed up to watch Inuyasha (11:30) was a little late for me! Maybe you can find the manga and read that, but of course you couldn't see it animated. I'm glad you said those things about my torture scenes and I agree with you. If it's just "He was stabbed in the heart and died of blood loss" that's boring! He died. Ok…then what? I wanted to give it a different perspective. Thanks for your review.
It's me!: Reikai? I know what it means! I read over it and I see that I accidentally put "Reikai" instead of "reiki" Reiki is spirit energy: Rei {spirit} and ki {energy} Yeah yeah, I know. I speak Japanese at home because I'm ½ Japanese….I must've just been in a hurry when I typed it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Kitsune16: I updated! Hope you enjoy!
Chibimatchmaker: You're too kind. My fic isn't that good… but flattery is nice to hear! Thanks for your review.
Hakusho009: Well, Touya isn't dead just yet and I don't think I'll kill Jin. It looks like you'll get what you want!
Firefox: I didn't like Risho either. He was too full of himself. What? You don't like Karasu? I love the guy! If he could freak Kurama out, he's to be respected in my opinion. He's just so sadistic…so calm…he's awesome! But that's ok. Thanks for the review.
Like I said, thanks for reviewing and your name will be up again next time if you review this time!
I got 24 reviews this time! Thanks for so many reviews!