Alright peoples, it's ASS KICKING time!!! We have, according to my notes, only 2 more chapters till the end of this saga, and then...WE GO TO MY FAVORITE SAGA...THE DARK SAGA!!!! I think you all will really like that one.

THANK YOU ash the wanderer!!! I can't express to you how happy I am that another person reviewed!!! I fully appreciate Insane Rurounis' reviewing, no doubt about that, but, now I have another fan I feel like crying tears of joy, .

But thank you, my two fans for reviewing, you all make me soooooo happy!!!

Well with no further ado, here's chapter 15, Fly to Kyoto.

The tentei stared into the cold, ice blue and golden eyes of Ise. They didn't know what to expect of her, although they did know one fact, her powers were centered on the manipulation of ice. She stood poised and ready to fight. Her silver staff held casually in her graceful hands. Her white kimono wafted gently in the cold wind, "so, are you going to stand there smelling the flowers or are you going to come over here and fight?" she asked in that singing voice of hers (A/N: just to be clear, she's not really singing, her voice is just very pretty).

"Don't worry 'princess'," said Yusuke in his usual cocky voice, "we haven't forgotten about you," he crouched in a position ready to fight, "let's go!" With that, he launched at her at an almost impossible speed, disappearing when he first took off. He reappeared, his fist no more than three inches away from her face. She had time only to crack that Mona Lisa smile of hers before Yusuke's fist crashed into her face, shattering her entire body as if she were made of naught but porcelain.

He jumped back in shock, not understanding what exactly was going on, 'why didn't she block, she just let me wail on her,' he thought.

"YUSUKE!!!" Kurama shouted from the background. Yusuke turned around, but it was too late, Ise's silver staff smashed into Yusuke's abdomen making him double over in pain as a gush of blood spurted out of his mouth. Without any warning she slammed the base of her staff into the ground and then kicked it up into Yusuke's chin causing him to fly backwards. Before Yusuke could even hit the ground she charged after him, her staff twirling over her head. As she neared him she made a move to strike him once again, however she was forestalled when a thin green vine lashed out around her wrist and staff, stinging her.

She turned around to find Kurama glaring at her, gold tainting his normally emerald eyes. His rose whip wrapped many times around his right arm. He grew the whip out with thorns and was surprised to find that they didn't cut through her flesh. However the thorns were chafing Ise's skin almost miserably even though they didn't cut off her hand. She winced slightly as she pulled her arm closer to her free arm. When it was close enough her free hand grabbed the end of the staff and pulled on it forcefully releasing a cane sword. In a swift and elegant move she pivoted on a 45 degree angle and twirled the sword in her right hand gracefully slicing through Kurama's rose whip. After the whip was cut, she turned twirling the sword above her head. Suddenly Hiei flashed in front of her with his katana poised and ready to attack. The two blades collided with one another sending sparks of energy flying from the force of the attack. They exchanged blows, Hiei expertly slicing through the air with a series of lateral cuts and lunges, Ise parrying off every single one of them. However, under Hiei's impressive skill, Ise could not get in a single counter attack; he was too good and too fast.

During the exchange between Hiei and Ise, Kurama and Kuwabara ran over to Yusuke to check on him. The young Reikai detective lay sprawled in the snow, the front of his shirt stained with blood from where Ise's staff made contact with his abdomen. "Urameshi snap out of it," said Kuwabara. Kurama lifted Yusuke up slightly off of the ground. The detective coughed up some blood as he gained consciousness.

"What the hell..." he said weakly, lifting up his arm to wipe off the trickle of blood down the side of his mouth. His vision returned blurrily as he tuned his sights on Hiei slashing blow to blow with Ise. He could see that the little fire demon was giving Ise a run for her money.

"Yusuke," said Kurama snapping him out of his observations, "can you stand? You took quite a blow from Ise." Yusuke nodded, and Kurama helped him to stand.

Hiei and Ise broke away from each other, Ise out of breath and sweating slightly, Hiei barely drawing a breath and dry as sand.

"You're quite good Jaganshi, I never would've thought someone of your stature to be such an accomplished swordsman,"

"Hn, well that's too bad for you, I pity such a creature that has the gull to challenge me and not know what they are getting themselves into."

The woman before him smiled secretively, her ice blue and golden eyes twinkling in mischief, "I wonder, why is it that you hold back my midget friend. Are you too honorable a man to strike a female, do you wish to spare my 'frail disposition' from any harm or damage?"

"Don't be simple. Do not think to confuse me with that carrot topped imbecile back there," said Hiei while pointing his thumb behind him at Kuwabara. He heard Kuwabara's retort which sounded suspiciously like, 'what, you dumpy bastard take that back!' Hiei smirked evilly "I merely wish to know who it is that I am about to kill, and besides, you'll be excellent practice for my duel with that bitch Kai."

Ise's eyes narrowed into and icy gold fury, "So you wish to know who I am do you? Well let me give a little introduction through kicking your ass," she said in that constantly docile voice of hers.

"Hn, there's no need for that, for I have already drawn up a pretty accurate picture of 'who you are' already. You are simply the distraction the lackey used and designed for only one purpose, a desperate attempt to keep the enemy busy for a short period of time, but not meant to return home with a victory. This is simply due to the fact that you are too weak to stand up against us and live for long,"

"How dare you," Ise whispered in a lethal tone.

"Hn, sorry to break it to you my dear, but you had to find out sooner or later," said Hiei with a devilish smirk.

"You'll pay for that!" she screamed as her entire body glowed in a light blue aura. Beads of ice and energy began to gather around her, "FROZEN FURY!!!" a huge blast of energy and ice flew towards Hiei. He simply smirked as the ball of ice hurtled itself at him.

"Hiei!!!" shouted Kurama and Yusuke

"ahg!!! Shorty's gonna die!!!" screamed Kuwabara with both of his hands grasping the sides of his head.

The ball of energy smashed into what seemed to be Hiei, except that it stopped no more than an inch away from him. It seemed to be struggling somehow with some unseen force. Suddenly an aura of bright, scalding flames surrounded Hiei. Ise gasped as she watched her perfect attack shatter and melt before her very eyes.

As the last of her attack dissipated Ise felt a true twinge of fear over come her. Hiei smirked and walked closer to her very slowly, "let me guess, they didn't inform you that I was a fire demon right," Ise tried to back away but was greatly surprised when Hiei came abreast of her at a lightening quick speed. "going somewhere? Judging from your startled expression fire must be you weakness, which means if I were to use my full power on you, then you would most certainly meet you end. However, I am not going to do that...yet. I am going to offer you an ultimatum, either you tell us where Shihiko is and how to stop the ritual fro reviving Shin Ryuushi, or I am going to deliver a slow and utterly painful death unto you which I will thoroughly enjoy and when I begin, you will truly wish and beg for me to put you out of your misery. And believe me it will be a VERY slow and Very painful torture which will make purgatory look like Barney's play land."

Ise paused, not sure what she should do. If she betrayed lady Shihiko, she knew that death would be out of the question, Shihiko would torture her mind body and soul for all of eternity, not to mention Lord Kairen's punishment for betraying his beloved. However, if she didn't tell this Hiei what he wanted to know, then she would surely know the same fate. At Ise's hesitation to answer him, Hiei grabbed her arm forcefully and released his ki at only 20 of his energy. The heat emitted from his hand caused Ise to real and scream in pain. She fell to the snowy ground clutching her hurt forearm.

"Yes please, tell me no, give me the pleasure of tormenting you," said Hiei.

"Ahg! Hiei what are you doing? She's a girl you can't hurt a girl!"

"Save your idealistic notions of chivalry for you medieval fairytales, we are at war, and she is a prisoner of war."

"Listen shorty, if you keep it up..'

"jeez Kuwabara, will you give it a rest already," said Yusuke as he interrupted Kuwabara.

Hiei, who was barely paying attention to the exchange between Yusuke and Kuwabara, knelt down to whisper to her, "do not think that I will have mercy on you because you are a woman," he said as her removed a stray lock of her hair from her beautiful face, "I will get the answers I seek one way," he let his eyes stray down the length of her body suggestively, "or the other," at his veiled threat Ise's eyes widened. If Ise had known anything about Hiei, she would have known he was bluffing. The Jaganshi was very honorable and would never take advantage of a woman under any circumstances, however, as luck would have it, she didn't know anything about Hiei's strict honor code and therefore did not know that he was bluffing. "where is Shihiko," he whispered.

She began panting, "she- she is on the highest bluff overlooking Kyoto. There is a shrine inside of a cave on the bluff. About one mile inside of the cave you'll find the shrine. That is where the ritual will take place."

"Hn, good girl," he knew she was telling the truth for he was reading her mind throughout her confession, "now run along and hide yourself before your betters find out and take your life."

Ise smiled her sad Mona Lisa smile and looked down at her burned arm, "there's no where I can hide now, my life is over." She said. Hiei watched her as she said this and then watched as she produced a dagger of ice and plunged it through her heart. She fell lifeless into the snow which began to turn into pinkish red mush beneath her. Hiei looked down at her shining blue and golden eyes and then closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he knelt down and closed her eyes gently.

He turned back to the group who were staring at him silently, "she's in Kyoto, we have to hurry, I can feel that the ritual is beginning,"

"right, let's go," said Yusuke as he and Kuwabara darted away from the scene. Kurama stayed behind and stared at Hiei. He didn't know what it was, but something about Ise's suicide unnerved him. He couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly the Jaganshi was feeling...anger...sadness...regret, those were too simple emotions to place upon his feelings.

"Kurama," said Hiei as he stared at the kitsune, "for your sake I hope you can rid yourself of your emotions and put this cold blooded bitch out of her misery," Hiei walked past Kurama but stopped a few feet away from him, "or I will," he threw behind his shoulders.

Kurama, closed his eyes, Hiei knew of his lingering feelings towards Shihiko, he knew that he had second thoughts about hurting and going against her. And Hiei was right, he had to rid himself of these emotions once and for all. For this was not the same woman who he fell in love with a century ago. This was a cold blooded template of the woman he adored; and somehow he had to find a way to destroy her.

shrine to Shin Ryuushi: a mountain top overlooking Kyoto

Shihiko sat at a bureau looking at her visage in a polished mirror in front of her. She wore a white sleeveless gown with many sheer layers which made it slightly translucent in appearance. She also wore kimono arm socks which were also white and were clasped to her upper arms by silver dragon cuffs. An older woman with taupe colored hair lined with silver strands and warm brown eyes was behind her brushing her long white hair, making it fit for a princess. The woman wore the garb of a shrine priestess and looked kindly down upon Shihiko as if she were her daughter.

As she watched herself in the mirror a sudden, powerful chill ran through her body making her quake and perspire slightly.

"Shihiko! Shihiko?!!" the older woman sputtered in worry. Shihiko shook her head slightly and brought her hand up to her forehead.

"I'm fine Hitomi-san, it's just that,"

just then Ran walked into the room upon hearing the commotion, "What's going on," she said after seeing Shihiko's disposition, "getting cold feet,"

Shihiko glared at Ran, "Ise is dead," she said quietly.

Ran looked at her blankly, "And?"

"What do you mean 'and' she's dead,"

"What exactly were you expecting, that she would destroy our foes and return victoriously? Come on you knew she was significantly weaker than they were, so stop pretending to be hurt."

"Death is not beautiful nor is it to be kept in high esteem. Death is painful, sorrowful and not to be taken lightly, regardless of whose it is," she said silently.

Ran rolled her eyes and said "whatever, it's time to start the ritual," she walked out of the room leaving Shihiko alone with Hitomi.

"It's time, my daughter," said Hitomi. She caressed her cheek gently, "I have waited for this moment since you were a child and you were given to me by your true parents. It was then that I became your mother and your father. I have poured all of my knowledge and power into you and now it is yours to do with it what you will."

Shihiko closed her eyes and brought her hand up to Hitomi's on her cheek and squeezed it gently, "Hitomi-san, please tell me, am I doing the right thing?" Shihiko looked up into those warm brown eyes for reassurance.

"This is not for me to decide. Do you feel that this is the right thing to do? If so, then go through with it, however, if in your heart, you feel that this is wrong, that it should not come to be, then do not force yourself to do it for others. follow your own heart and conscience, whatever you choose I will still love you."

Shihiko walked to the alter of Shin Ryuushi. The shrine was made of all gold, the walls, the ceiling the floor, everything and every wall had inscriptions on it with engravings of dragons in them. Each pillar holding up the ceiling represented every race of dragon, for every type of blue dragon there was a pillar dedicated for each one, which was made of a stone representing each race. The black dragon pillar was made of black diamond, the red dragon pillar was made of rubies, the purple dragon of amethyst, the bronze dragon pillar made of bronzed and so on and so forth. The ceiling made of gold had images of the gold and white dragon intertwined with one another, the white dragon made of pearl, the gold, made of gold.

Hanging above the alter was a huge golden eyes with an onyx pupil in its depths. Shihiko stood directly underneath this hanging eye and raised her arms gracefully above her head. The position made it seem as if the eye was floating right above her hands. She closed her eyes and began chanting "omynaise conspectae omynaise oratae ( hear me sky, hear me earth) omynaise Shinae Ryuushiae, omynaise eroyaishee vanae (hear me Shin Ryuushi, hear me every clan). As she continued each and very pillar began to light up one by one very slowly as she asked permission from every clan and race.

Hitomi and Ran watched from the background, Hitomi with pride and joy, Ran with an air of nonchalance. Suddenly, a huge blue ball of energy shot through the doors of the shrine decimating it on contact, "Rei-gun!!!" shouted a male voice.

Ran and Hitomi shot their glares to the smoke filled doors, as the smoke cleared there stood the Reikai tentei poised for battle.

"Well well well look who's here," said Yusuke, "You guys are so rude, making us go through so much trouble to find you,"

"well you took your time getting here fools," said Ran, "I hope you've come prepared to die,"

"Hn, we just came to crash your little party, hope you don't mind," said Hiei

"well that is unfortunate for you, because you have come too late. The ritual has already begun and it cannot be stopped."

Kurama looked towards the alter where Shihiko was standing. She was chanting wildly in a language which she could only assume was the dragon language. Her entire body was enveloped in a white and golden aura which burned hotly and brightly around her.

'Shihiko,' he said silently

"well it looks as though we're just gonna have to kick your sorry asses in order to put to an end," said Yusuke not noticing Kurama's obvious worry over the woman at the alter.

"sorry, but I'm out of your league kid, however I won't leave you without anyone to fight," with that said, Ran snapped her fingers and the entire room blackened and turned to shadow. From the wall right of the tentei, a dark figure melted from the shadows on the wall. She had long hair as dark as night and cold grey and golden eyes. The pale woman was dressed in tight black, leather pants with tall black leather boots and a tight, black turtle neck.

"Hey who invited the whore," asked Yusuke.

"Kai!" Hiei spat vehemently.

"Hiei, how nice it is to see you again."

"this is Kai? You mean you got your butt kicked by a girl," said Kuwabara a little more than amused.

"I will kill you," Hiei said to Kuwabara.

"Oh my darling Hiei, I am afraid that you will have to put aside your other disputes for now, for I have brought you a gift," she raised her hand and the other shadows which covered the walls began to remove themselves from the background revealing themselves as the same serpent demons which attacked them at the carnival.

"Same old tricks! Well you obviously haven't heard that we creamed your last serpent army at the carnival with hardly any effort," said Kuwabara.

"Don't you mean I creamed them?" said Yusuke cynically to Kuwabara.

"Hey!!!"

"I don't care about your stupid demon army, you are the only one that I wish to kill. But, if killing you means destroying this army, then so be it," said Hiei.

"then you better get to slashing my little dragon," said Kai.

to be continued...

sorry for the cliff hanger, but I have to save some slicing and dicing for the next chapter don't I?

Well the next chapter is the end right!!! Hooray!!! It took a long time to get here, but here we are!!! Well I gotta go cause I'm late to buy something from eBay!!

Till the next time peoples!!!