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!
This chapter is dedicated to KuramaandHiei4ever. She wrote a song for me that'll be featured in my newest fic Jealous Hearts.If I could write songs, I would do it myself, but she's tons better with poetry. Please go check out her fics. She's got a good YYH poem collection that's done with and her other fics are good too! Once again, thanx KuramaandHiei4ever!!!!
Jin walked to one of the walls that were covered with countless torture weapons. Youko watched him warily. "I thought you said we would take this outside," he demanded angrily.
"Aye, I know that. I'm lookin' for some switch on this damned wall. It leads outside."
Botan raised her eyebrows in surprise. "So there's a way to escape from this torture room? So that means your victims could have run away!"
"Aye, but ye forget the fact that they were all tied to the table. The only thing this was for was for a quick get away for the torturers, it was." His fingers trailed down the wall until they touched the correct brick. He slammed a fist into it. The wall parted, leading to the outside.
He led the way outside. "Who'll make the first move?" He smiled broadly, taking this whole ordeal as a joke.
"You can go first," Youko offered.
Botan sighed in frustration and sat down. "Can we hurry and get this over with?" she demanded.
Jin flashed her a toothy grin. "What's the rush? Don't ya want ta see how strong yer man is?" He winked knowingly. "Or do ya already know? The power I'm talking about has nothin' to do with sleepin' with ya."
The deity flushed. "Oh shut up," she sputtered.
"She has a point," Youko announced. "This is between the two of us. Now if you'll kindly make your first move…"
Jin conjured up one of his wind attacks, blasting Youko off his feet. Youko lay on the ground for a few seconds, shocked at how powerful a simple wind attack was. It knocked the air out if him! He sat up, preparing to draw out his rose whip but Jin hit him with another miniature tornado.
"Aw, this isn't fun," Jin complained. "Ye're supposed ta be stronger than this. Even Touya figured out how ta dodge these things. Or are ya weaker than the bastard?"
Before he could finish saying the word 'bastard', Youko's rose whip had wrapped around Jin's neck and arms. A gasp of surprised passed his parted lips. He had only heard a faint cracking sound and a split second later, the dangerous whip had him in a death grip.
"Don't ever use the filth's name when speaking to me," the fox demon uttered in a low growl. "We have nothing in common…He only used my deity.. ." His amber eyes glittered with animalistic anger. "Never speak his name!" He tugged slowly on his end of the whip. The thorns on the weapon had nowhere to go except in. It dug slowly in the wind master's flesh.
Jin's eyes widened. He was shocked—this was meant to be a friendly match between two powerful demons. All he had done was mention Touya's name and all hell broke loose. "I meant nothin' by it!" he sputtered. "I had ta get ya on the ball, didn't I? You were slackin'!"
"Youko…" Botan murmured with worry. This was the only thing that frightened her about her mate. She had no idea what would push Youko into his sadistic-mode. She loved him with all her heart, but she couldn't help but worry.
Two scents overrode Youko's senses. Jin's fear was heavy in the air. The fox demon smiled. Why shouldn't the wind master be afraid? He had mentioned the name of the bastard that had treated Botan so badly. This was an act to be punished. But the other scent… the smell of someone worrying. His smile faded. It was coming from Botan.
His vision cleared. The smell of fear had caused him to see everything in red because of blood lust. Once again Botan had saved him from doing anything extreme. He closed his eyes, willing his blood lust away. He opened his golden eyes again and released his hold on Touya.
"Forgive me…" he tried to explain. "When you spoke his name, it just pissed me off…"
Jin rubbed the back of his hand across his neck and arms where the thorns had dug into him. "When I want ta die, I know how ta do it," he exclaimed breathlessly. He flew into the air using the air around him. "I'll know not ta do that again." He grinned and began spinning his arms again.
Youko jumped into action. He flicked the rose whip several times. He did it fast enough where Jin was only able to see the initial attack.
The wind master dodged the only attack he was able to see. He lessened the amount of air he buffeted under him to dodge it. He couldn't figure out how there was a sharp pain on his arms and the sudden wetness. He gaped in confusion at the bloody cuts on his arms.
"Now I'll be able to smell your attacks before they hit me," Youko explained proudly. Your blood will get swept away in your tornados you make with your arms. I can dodge it better now."
Jin smiled. "Ay, I wouldn't have thought of that, mate. I'd have a whoppin' story ta tell if I ever won."
"If is the key word." With that, Youko struck again. Rose petals erupted around the pair.
The elf-eared demon blinked. This was too pretty to be an attack. He summoned another tornado. He made it larger, making it spin faster and harder than his other ones. This one was meant to sweep away the fluttering petals. The only thing he could figure out it was doing was blocking his view. Well that would change.
Youko continued summoning the fury of rose petals. He smiled, seeing that Jin was falling into his trap. True, the petals all had razor sharp edges, but that wasn't what he was using them for.
The tornado was beginning to slow down as it absorbed all the rose petals in the air. The petals were keeping the tornado from getting more air to feed off of. It faded away to nothing while the petals continued to flutter in a tornado-like motion.
Jin's eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell is this?!"
The petals were beginning to fall to the ground. The kitsune flicked his rose whip at each of them. The petals went flying straight for Jin.
The wind master wasn't expecting pain, but when the first petal hit, he cried out. The simple rose petal was razor sharp, slicing across his flesh. He did his best to dodge them and summon up his tornados to protect himself. The only problem was that he couldn't block them fast enough. "Okay, Okay, I give in! Ya win!" He held his hands up in surrender.
Botan put down a large tray of food and set the table with it. "I'm sure the two of you are hungry," she explained meekly.
"Thank you," Youko purred and reached for a plate of meat. He sniffed at it delicately. "Rabbit?"
"Yes. And it's the meat from the back too," she said with a laugh. She remembered when Youko had caught a rabbit and offered it to her, saying that the meat around the spine was the most tender.
Youko smiled, remembering the same incident. "I'll wait until it cools down then, shall I?" he added with a wink.
Jin looked from one to the other, feeling uncomfortable since he was stuck between the two. He nibbled on a piece of fruit. "Patch me up, will ya?" he asked Botan. In seconds, the cuts on his body were gone. "Thanks." He sighed and crossed his arms behind his head.
"You seem more quiet than usual," the fox demon mused. He studied a cup of milk that sat in front of him before lapping at it.
"Quiet?"
"Yes. You talked quite a bit before our battle but now you're saying very little."
The wind master shrugged. "I don't rightfully know. I guess…I feel like I'm bothering ya. The two of ya should be alone and whatnot, but I'm here." He smiled thoughtfully. "I'm guessin' it's selfish of me. I like Botan a good deal and she's gonna be gone. I gotta start all over with meetin' people. Believe it or not, I'm not the social type."
Botan gazed at him. She liked him too. He never made her do more than necessary. On a few instances, when her work load was heavy, Jin would help her with part of it. He never treated her like a slave.
Jin stared at his food in deep thought. "I'm guessin' I'll be here by meself for a while. I'll wait until some people start nosin' around here. Ye're the one who keeps all the scum away. Once they find out ye're gone, they'll come back."
"You want to recruit demon scum into this yakuza?"
"Not really, but it needs somethin' to keep it alive, it does." He smiled hopefully. "Unless ya think the human world can handle me good looks."
Botan giggled and looked at Youko. "What do you think? Maybe we can have Jin live in Ningenkai."
"I don't know… I'm going to have a hard time is it is even with my human form. How will he fit in?"
"He could go as a foreign exchange student or something."
Jin looked from one to the other, listening to them give the positive and negative thoughts of him being in Ningenkai. He frowned. "I can stay here. I don't need ya to worry about me. If there's gonna be a problem, then there's no use in makin' it worse."
"I'm sure we'll figure something out," Botan promised. "We'll sleep on it and tell you what we think of in the morning."
Youko crossed his arms behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling. He didn't blink as Botan crawled into the bed beside him. He didn't even respond when she cuddled up to him.
"What's wrong?" the deity asked at last.
"I feel as if something is out of place. I feel as if I've forgotten something important…"
Botan scoured her mind for what he could possibly have forgotten. She only drew blanks. "I don't think you did. What kind of thing are you talking about?"
"I haven't the slightest idea." He shook his head and smiled. "No matter. It mustn't be too important." He drew an arm around her and purred into her ear, chortling as he listened to her giggle. "Once we return to the human world, we'll finally be able to live our lives together."
"Hopefully you'll behave yourself this time and you'll be less of an animal."
"We'll see." He buried his face into her silky hair, taking comfort in her feminine scent.
Morning came almost too quickly. Youko felt as if he had barely fallen asleep. Nonetheless, the sun was still shining through the window. He kept his eyes closed, waiting until the last of his sleepiness drained away. When he opened his eyes, he rolled over to his side. That was when he knew something was wrong. Botan was gone. From the few months or so that he lived with Botan, he was always woke up before she did on weekends. It was on school days that she woke up earlier with the help of an alarm clock. It was illogical for the girl to be out of bed.
He leaped out of bed. He stopped to put on his outer robes and immediately went to the task of finding his mate. He sniffed around and suddenly sneezed. He couldn't smell Botan or anything else. The faint outdoors smell that usually floated in through the windows weren't there. There was only one scent that filled his nose… but he couldn't figure out what it was.
He went to find Jin. Maybe the wind master would be able to help him. "Jin!" he called out, entering the demon's room.
Jin jumped up. "Wassa matter? Did somethin' happen?" His usual accent was thick and clouded with sleep.
"Botan."
"Yeah? You fucked 'er. No need ta rub that in."
Youko raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't going to say anything like that."
"What, then?"
"I don't see her anywhere. And I'm unable to sense her. There's something in the air."
"Somethin'? Like what?"
"Some sort of scent…I can't place my finger on exactly what it is."
Jin sniffed the air. "It smells a little flowery to me. Maybe it's some sort've flower that blocks your senses or somethin'."
The fox demon nodded. It sounded logical, and there was a Makai flower like that. It eventually blocked all the senses, leaving a victim to die from a nervous breakdown caused by paranoia. The problem was figuring out why he would smell a flower like this. He would have to hurry, find Botan, and get out of this place. He ripped a strip of cloth from his robes held it to his nose and mouth to slow down the process. He quickly told Jin to get into the open air, and dashed off to find his loved one.
Botan woke up feeling groggy. Her limbs felt heavy and weak and her head hurt. Something wet and rough wiped at her face.
"I'm sorry I had to do that to you, but it was for the best," a gentle voice said. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you like I did when you were younger."
'I must be hallucinating…or dreaming. That sounds like Touya…but he's dead, now, right?' she thought faintly. She opened her eyes. All she could see was a blur.
"You're awake. Here, drink this."
The deity felt something wet on her lips. She involuntarily parted her lips, allowing the liquid to drip down her throat. She coughed and sputtered. The liquid burned her tongue. Once again a liquid pushed at her lips. She drank it, recognizing it to be water. The burning sensation melted away. She blinked and her vision cleared and her energy returned.
She screamed. "Touya?! You're supposed to be dead!" Her amethyst eyes were glued to the shinobi's form.
The ice master growled. "I told you people that I wasn't dead. I may have been drained of my energy, but I wasn't dead." He smiled at her. "But soon this pollen I found will affect your precious fox demon. He'll die from a nervous break down like all the others did. If he manages to find us, I'll use this other plant."
He held up a small bag. Botan looked wearily at it. "What's that?"
"It's powered Veruki root. The plant implanted into a person's back can take over their minds, you see and they become slaves. But this is the root—it's stronger. It can erase your memory if you breathe enough of it in." He grinned, watching as the deity's eyes widen as she saw what could happen.
"Exactly." He assured her that her fears would be right. "His memories will be erased. He'll have no idea of who you are or his so-called love for you."
"Why use it on him?" Botan demanded. Couldn't Touya just use it on her instead? That way she wouldn't have known who Youko was and remained loyal to this heartless bastard.
"You've been a cheating little whore, my dear. I want you to hurt." His ice blue eyes narrowed. "How fun it will be for me. His humanity will be gone and he'll return to his bloodthirsty state. He'll probably fuck you and kill you when he's done. That's how life is here. You were lucky I kept you alive so long."
Botan shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. 'What if I can't stand what he's become? I can't have this happen… Youko might end up killing me…' She closed her eyes and began to sob. It was a mix of fury, confusion, and helplessness.
Touya looked at her, blinking. He had only seen her cry once and it was a painful thing to watch. He knew she was generally a strong person, but now she was crying. He bit his lip. Part of him wanted to take back the words, but it was too late. Besides…she deserved it.
Youko stopped relying on his nose and turned to his ears and eyes to help him. "Where can she be?" he growled. He knew that his vision was beginning to lessen. He would have to hurry, get Botan, and escape into the fresh air. He stopped, thinking furiously about what he could do. Then something came to him. It was a wild shot, but he had no choices at this time.
'Damn it! I'm not dead yet!'
For some reason, Touya's words came back to him clearly. Maybe…just maybe Touya was still alive with Botan at his disposal.
"Stop crying," Touya demanded. "Take this like an adult!" He slapped Botan to shut her up.
And it worked. Out of surprise, the deity stopped sobbing. She gaped at him and touched her cheek. Her amethyst eyes widened in shock. "You hit me!" She lowered her hand and backed away from him.
"I-I'm sorry…but you wouldn't shut up! I didn't have a choice!" He held his hands out, begging her to understand and forgive him.
"Don't touch me!" she spat angrily. "I'm leaving. I'm finding Youko and leaving." She ran to the door and ran head first into something solid.
Youko cried out and took a step back. His hands reached out to feel what had hit him. "Botan?" he asked carefully. His fingers brushed her silky hair and trailed down it, meeting Botan's trademark ponytail.
Botan hugged the fox demon around his waist. "You found me!"
"More or less," he admitted.
"Huh?" The deity looked up. She looked into the golden eyes. They looked glazed over. 'He's blind now. I have to help him.' She went back to Touya and took both bowls she had drunk out of. She pushed both bowls to Youko's lips. At last, the glossy look left from the fox demon's eyes. Flames of anger immediately replaced it.
"You…" Youko growled. " I knew I should've killed you when I had the chance…" His hands clenched into fists. "How dare you show your face again?"
"I came for revenge," Touya replied easily. "I don't take things like this lightly. You took her from me and you'll have to pay."
"This is your fault anyway!" Botan interjected. "If you hadn't sent me to do this, I wouldn't have met him. You should have gone after him yourself." She lay her head on the kitsune's chest, her arms still wrapped firmly around his waist. She grimaced, feeling how rigid her mate's muscles had become. She looked up at him. "Youko?"
The fox demon continued to growl, his teeth bared at the ice shinobi. "Get out before I kill you." He glanced down at Botan. He was doing this for her—not just because she asked him to spare Touya's life. He knew that she had seen too much blood spray. It wasn't right for a woman to have to see things like this, especially a human one.
Touya smirked mentally. As if he would let an opportunity such as this slip through his fingers. He flinched. "You can't kill me," he uttered, forcing his words to waver a little.
Youko said nothing but continued to glare at him through amber eyes. "Leave. Now."
The ice master clutched the bag of powdered Veruki root to him, keeping it out of their sight. He inched towards the kitsune, cowering as he walked forward. Just as he got an inch towards Youko, he opened the bag and blew the contents in the fox's face.
Youko pulled Botan close to him, pressing her face against his robes to block out the powder. Having nothing to protect himself with, he could only breath in the powder.
"Suckers!" Touya exclaimed. He shoved Youko harshly against the wall. Both Youko and Botan hit their heads on the wall. The light began to dim and they both sank into darkness.
Here's the people who reviewed last chapter in their respective orders:
Fair Undomiel: Thanks so much! Unfortunately, Touya's still alive. And I put another twist in! It may be too much. But how's Youko gonna get out of this one? Thanks for reviewing!
Crimson Breeze: Well here's the next chapter! No more waiting! Now you see how the fight turned out! Thankee for your review!
Mourning Fox: I totally understand about Inuyasha! I like Shippo though! He's so cute! I want him as a pet! Anywayz, I understand about Touya too. He's one of my fav people (apart from Kurama of course) so I have no idea why I'm doing this to him! Sorry, but the fic isn't done quiet yet. Thanks for taking time to review.
KuramaandHiei4ever: I'm glad you found it funny! I did it on purpose. Hope you like your little dedication! Thanks again though, for the song!
Volpone: Here's the next chapter. I wish I could write a better fight scene, but I didn't have ideas for it. That's why it was so short. I was planning to have most of the chapter about the fight then add the twist. But it wasn't long enough so I stalled. Hope it doesn't suck. Glad you enjoyed Touya's interruptions! It was meant to lighten the mood! I didn't know so many people would find it funny!
JDFielding: Ha ha ha! Touya isn't dead! How strange is that? Evil prick… I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Maybe you'll enjoy this one too. I'll put more Youko & Botan interactions so people will be happier. Thanks for your review.
Botan and Kurama lover: Thanks! And Botan is lucky isn't she? Why not me!!! ::sobs dramatically:: But I suppose we'll live won't we? Hopefully you'll like this chapter!
Thundercat: You're welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying this fic!
Lifeless-Kanna: Yup! I like strawberries!
Tyedye/Rin: Well this chapter was about 6/7 pages….that's longer than last chapter! Hopefully you like this super long chappie!
lil-rosa: Why choose? Why not have both? That'd be best, right?
Nienna Whitethorn: No! Youko's mine! J/k. I may do a sequel. I don't have an idea for one, but if enough people ask for one, then I may do one. No loose ends you say? Loose ends like what? Cliffhanger endings? ::evil laugh:: I probably won't do that. It just depends what I write when that time comes.
Tearful Joy: Ohh! Lollypops! ::grabs everything except grape:: ::shoves everything into mouth:: Mm…candy…the sugary goodness! This is your first reply? I hope you enjoy it like this chappie too! Thanks for leaving a review!
The Vampire Story Hunter: Yup, Jin's unusual but that's ok. You like it so far? Thanks!
prettynutter: Glad you like it! Thanks a lot!
DarkShadowWriter: You and Spoonerific must be really good friends. All my friends (the ones I know in person) write in the X-men section rather than anime. Glad you like this chapter…and I can't be a genius. Volpone and JD are the geniuses in this section.
Orange09: Now you know what happened to Touya! He's still alive! For now. Yup.
Tesina Gela Gardner: Yeah, Jin really was concerned. And Youko won the fight. Glad you enjoyed! Thanks!
Spoonerific: Fine fine, call me what you want, but I'm not good enough to be a goddess, ok? I can't look at Touya the same either! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!!!!!! Lol
PassionateAngel: Of course Youko wins! He deserves to, right?
Anonymous: Thanks!
Junyortrakr: Yup, they had a fun fight I guess. Youko had to win of course.
Nakushita: That's sarcasm isn't it? But there WILL be a happy ending. And more interactions with Youko and Botan. Keep your pants on, k? It'll be there in a while. Just be patient!
gippal: If you want to read a much better YoukoxBotan fic, look under Volpone's fics. She's much better at YoukoxBotan and KuramaxBotan. JDfeilding has a good KuramaxBotan fic too! I suggest you look at those. You like those parts? Thanks! I thought they were funny myself.
Firefox: Yes, I know, but that's WHY I like Karasu. You have to respect the guy for being able to hurt Kurama. It hurt me to hear him scream like that, but he did win, right?
Hakusho009: Touya's not dead! And it's actually true in this chapter! I'm glad you liked that part from last chappie. Thanks for your review!
Like I said, thanks for reviewing and your name will be up again next time if you review this time!
I got 26 reviews this time! Thanks for so many reviews!