CHAPTER 13

Noda saw that Hiei had awakened again. He started for the fire/ice demon. He wasn't going to put it off any longer.

Hiei saw the killer look on the shadow demon's face. Oh great!

Noda slammed his fist into the ground next to Hiei's head. "It's time for me to finish you off," he said showing that grin again. "I hope you said your prayers."

Hiei's wrists burned. "I don't think I'll be needing to just yet," he said cockily.

The shadow demon's grin froze. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

The ropes burned off Hiei's wrists and fell to the ground. "This is why!" he shouted, reaching up and clamping his hand around the shadow demon's neck.

Noda's puples shrunk as he felt pressure on his throat.

"I'm not going to let you kill me," Hiei growled. "I haven't even finished my goals in life! If I died now everything I've done so far will be for nothing!"

"Your life is for nothing!" Noda snarled though he was gasping for air.

Slowly Hiei stood, dragging the shadow demon up with him. "You wouldn't know," he snapped. "You don't know what you're talking about!'

"I know you care about that wench!" his enemy shot back. "You won't admit it but you do. Why else would you have kept her book? If you didn't care even a little bit you would have destroyed it, torn it apart and burned it to ashes with your own fire!'

Hiei's bandaged right arm flickered eerily. An unwanted surge pulsed through him. A surge he instantly dispised. He knew... Noda... was.. right!

The sudden realization hit him hard. He refused to believe it. He opened his mouth. "N... no!" he denied it through trembling lips.

Inwardly the shadow demon smiled. He knew he'd made the fire/ice demon drop his guard. He just had to wait for the right time to strike.

Suddenly Hiei's trembling hand let go of Noda's neck. The fire/ice demon's face held a pained expression that held denial. Noda's words cut deeper than he would ever realize.

Now the shadow demon's grin returned as Hiei stood before him faultering. "You care about her. You're just afraid to admit it. Infact..." Noda's teeth showed even more, making his whole face seem to turn into his mouth. "I think you love her."

Hiei's whole body trembled. His mind filled with the things Minoly had said to him earlier...

"Noda could have done anything to me and I wouldn't have been able to stop it! But you chose to help me even after I bothered you so much..."

"Inside you're a good person.."

"You're the only person who made me feel as if I belong.."

"You're just like the rest of them! You think I'm an annoying bitch..."

Her sad face filled his mind for a minute. The image of her crying and running away.

Hiei didn't notice Noda's face. If he had he would have shook himself out of his thoughts immediatly.

Suddenly the forest filled with the sound of violence.

Minoly felt something in the air and stiffened. Her senses told her something was wrong. Very wrong.

What could it be?

The wind picked up. The smell of flowers filled the air. Dandelion petals blew by where she sat. They seemed to whisper an important message into her ear.

Hiei! she thought, her puples growing small. He's in trouble!

The girl jumped out of the tree. When her feet touched the ground she immediatly turned in the direction she had come. "I hope he's all right," she wished as she ran.

Hiei's hand ached terrbily as he tried to hold Noda's fists back. He hadn't been able to avoid being hit by them at first but after two or three hits he'd had enough and grabbed them. The only problem was, when he did Noda's razer knuckles had impaled his hands.

"This is it for you, welp!" the shadow demon growled. "It's time to send you to Hell!"

"How about you go there first and tell me how it is?" Hiei shot back his hands growing hot. "I'll give you a little taste of how it feels!"

Noda's puples shrunk as his hands began to burn. Screaming in agony he jerked his hands away from the other demon.

Hiei saw his chance and smashed his bloody fist into Noda's beautiful face.

"GAH!" the demon grunted covering his face with his hands.

Hiei flicked his and Noda's blood from his hand. "It's about time I ended this!" he said. He came at Noda again. "Take this, you bastard!"

Hiei's fist came at Noda's head but missed as the shadow demon vanished and appeared behind him.

Noda swung his leg and kicked Hiei in the side. The fire/ice demon yelped in pain as his ribs cracked. He flipped away and landed by a tree.

He fell against it holding his side. "Damn!" he grunted panting heavily.

He looked up. Noda was coming at him. Hiei fell away and as the shadow demon swung at him. He missed. Hiei kicked Noda in the knee.

The shadow demon fell over and took a swing at Hiei. The fire/ice demon dodged out of the way and racked his fingernails against Hiei's fist as he did.

Noda wailed and grabbed Hiei's wrist. He instantly added pressure to it. Hiei felt the bones in his arm snapping and smacked the shadow demon's face with a fire hot hand.

Noda screamed and let him go. The demon fell to the ground.

"I told you," Hiei said standing above him. "It's time I ended this."

Noda's woman like face turned up to look at Hiei.

The fire/ice demon's hands burst into flame. "I'll see you in Hell!" he yelled getting ready to swing.

Dark electricity sparked from Noda's right hand. He smiled at the other demon. "Not if I send you there first!" he shot back.

The next thing Hiei saw was a onyx black scythe swing at him.

Minoly made it to the clearing just as Noda slashed at Hiei with the huge scythe. Blood spirted in all directions as Hiei's eyes filled with surprise then grew vacent. He fell to the ground and didn't get back up.

Minoly's scream echoed through the forest.

A/N

I don't know what to say... Hmmm... Sorry. I hope you're all not mad at me. I'm trying my best. Um the scythe is the other weapon Noda has (You know the Grim Reaper type thing that the Grim Reaper always carries around I thought since Noda is a shadow demon it would work). Umm that's it. Just one more thing before you all pull out your weapons. Hiei is not dead... umm that's it. Sorry for any errors I made.