It is with great pride that I present the climax of this epic story. I began writing this back in 2003 and it seems that this year will be the conclusion of it. I hope that you all have enjoyed reeding this. Thank you.

-Bojack727

.o.o.o.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

-Edmund Burke

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

-Robert F. Kennedy

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

-Mohandas K. Gandhi

.o.o.o.

HIEI & KUWABARA: Saga of the Dark World

Chapter Twenty-Six: Then Came the Rain

.o.o.o.

Hiei looked on in shock. "He did it!" He though inwardly.

Kuwabara, reading the demons thoughts, answered back telepathically. "What?"

Hiei didn't blink, but quickly replied. "The chance we need."

"You have no chance!" Darkon screamed, firing on with bolts of energy that tore the stone floor to bits.

Hiei leapt back and grabbed onto Kuwabara. He then dashed off into the cover of darkness.

.o.o.o.

The Forest Elder prepared to unleash the final incantation. He suddenly heard something behind him and whipped around to see what it was.

Dozens of solders entered the chamber and blocked his escape.

"Give up!" One of them exclaimed.

The Elder smiled. "If I must die to end this, then so be it." He replied, resigning himself to his fate.

"Enough!" Shouted a voice from out of nowhere.

Silence prevailed as Thorn pushed his way through the men. He stepped and a spike shot out of his wrist and formed itself into a sword. He then pointed the blade against the elder's throat.

.o.o.o.

Kuwabara and Hiei were pressed tightly against the wall as the Dark Lord sought them out. The tall hum wiped sweat from his forehead and looked over at the small fire demon.

'Hiei, what are you planning?'

The demon calmed his breathing down and opened his thoughts. 'On his chest plate, there's a crack,' he paused. 'We have an opportunity.' He finished, telepathically.

Kuwabara remained silent. 'What can we do?'

Hiei looked up at him. 'We have to prepare for the final attack, put everything we have into it!'

A blast struck part of the infrastructure and caused it to crumble!

'How are we going to do that?' Kuwabara asked.

A grim expression passed over the jaganshi's face. 'I'm going to summon the pure energy of darkness and you're going to have to control it long enough to use it on him!'

'How!' Kuwabara exclaimed mentally.

'With your jigon'tao.'

Kuwabara looked away and covered his mouth with his hand. 'How, how can my dimension sword contain the fire of the dragon?' he asked nervously.

'Your sword will become its own dimension when wielded, I'm going to launch the dragon's pure energy into it and you must expel it right into Darkon.'

'Wonderful!' Kuwabara thought. 'Any draw-backs?'

Hiei smiled at him. 'If I fail, we'll be destroyed along with Darkon and everything in the blast radius.' Hiei paused. 'But on the other hand, it's just as likely to kill us if we succeed.' He added.

Kuwabara wanted to laugh but he just smiled. 'So, we're going to gamble on the success of a plan we've come up with on the fly?' he asked. He saw the demon nod in affirmation.

Kuwabara looked away and smiled again. 'Sounds good to me.'

'I can't do anything else while I'm gathering power, so you'll have to stave him off by yourself for a time, but you'll know when it time.'

Kuwabara nodded.

.o.o.o.

Darkon stopped when he saw the tall human step out by himself and locked eyes with him.

"Where's the little fellow?" Darkon asked simply.

"He's. . ." Kuwabara paused. "He's busy, so I'm standing in for him." Kuwabara replied and formed his Spirit Sword. "So it'll be just the two of us for now."

"Fine by me, separate or together, you'll both still die." He replied.

"Sure, whatever." Kuwabara replied and slid his leg to the side and held up his hands, clenched into fists.

"I can't believe this; I'm fighting the biggest battle of my entire life." He thought. "Everything up now has built up to this- the places, the people, the battles, friends- it's all been preparation for this one moment. This infinitely defining point in my life, and I could be dead before this all is over- not just me but everyone and everything. . . And I couldn't be more excited!"

"Enough of this, it's time I finished you two off once and for all!" Darkon roared menacingly.

.o.o.o.

'Can I do this. . .?" Hiei asked himself as he began summoning his dark powers. 'I have to get this right, or we're all dead.' He could feel the dark energy surging into him and growing slowly, but surely.

'This can't go on, there won't be another rise and fall, this ends here.' He assured himself. 'Now I just gotta make sure I can make good on those words.'

Hiei smiled. 'But one is for sure; I will send Darkon to hell!'

.o.o.o.

Kuwabara ducked out of the way as Darkon attacked him. He knew that he had to keep on the defensive; it was too dangerous to risk a direct attack right away. He would have to wait for the right moment.

He struck Darkon with his spirit sword and energy crackled between them as the Dark Lord repelled the attack with his arm. Suddenly, he swatted Kuwabara to the side.

The human rolled across the floor and got back onto his feet, he wiped blood off of his mouth and began charging towards him again. He now knew that his only chance was stall him till Hiei was ready.

Kuwabara stumbled back; his acute senses were now picking up the building dark energy. He tried to block Darkon's punch, but the Demon's power flared up and practically singed his hands.

"Damn!" He thought. "I can't keep this up for much longer, I hope that Hiei's almost ready." He stopped and leapt back.

"DIE!"

Kuwabara gasped as a massive energy blast was launched at him at point blank range. He had no time to react and only swore as it hit him. He crashed into a wall and fell onto the floor, coughing up blood. He was cut and scratched all over. And he was sure that he had broken a couple of ribs. "Not good. . ." He remarked.

But then he felt something, a crescendo of power. It would be ready in a matter of secants. He got onto his feet and began to run away from Darkon.

The Demon Lord whipped his head around and watched the human dash off into the shadowy blackness in the distance.

.o.o.o.

Hiei's mind reeled with thoughts and memories. He was like a living fire of dark power.

Hiei: That just it, we have no right to meddle in these people's lives!
Kuwabara: We can't just abandon them!

Hiei: Weren't you ever worried about yourself?
Shera: No, they never came after me. . . probably because I'm kind of a runt and not as pretty.
Hiei: They won't take you, ever. . . Always keep a brave heart.
Shera: Hiei. . .?

Hiei: I should have guessed: humans more cruel then demons!
Tressie: Would you have these people suffer for the sins of their ancestors?

Hiei: I don't want your help!
Shera: Don't be difficult.

Hiei: I'm a demon, sorry to disappoint you!
Shera: It doesn't change anything. . . I look at you and all I see is you.

Hiei: Please. . . let me live in this moment, with you.

Kuwabara: I don't believe we have to be enemies.
Hiei: I'm going to have to count on you. . . when the trial of fire is upon us.

Ansul: In this world it is the innocent that must suffer for the sins of the wicked.
Hiei: NO--!

Shera: Hiei, thank you for making me happy. . . you must see, there is goodness in you.
Hiei: I promise, I'll stop Darkon. . . some how.

Hiei: Would you die for these people?
Kuwabara: Yes. . .
Hiei: I think I understand now, it's time to make them bleed!

Hiei looked up and opened his mouth slowly. "Yes, I understand now." He spoke. "It's time."

.o.o.o.

Kuwabara stopped and turned to face towards the direction of Darkon. He sensed Hiei appear behind him, some twenty meters away. He formed his dimension sword and prepared himself.

Hiei held out his hands. "Now, run Kuwabara- RUN!" He watched the human charge towards the approaching Darkon.

Hiei spoke. "Final Descent of Darkness, Reign of Shadows!" A massive burst of raw energy rocketed out him.

Darkon stopped, spotting Kuwabara running towards him- his sword formed. "Finally, come to your death, human!"

Kuwabara sensed it the moment it struck. . .

. . .So much power. . .

The dark energy struck his sword and entered into it. He felt like he was trapped in a powerful heat wave as he ran.

Darkon saw what was going on, something was happening, something he was not prepared for. "No, how can they have so much power!" He screamed. He braced himself. "NO, it's not enough to stop me, they can't win!" He exclaimed and powered up to attack.

But Kuwabara appeared before him and drove the Jigan'Tao into him, through the narrow crack in his armor. Secants passed and Darkon merely grunted. He looked down at the human before him. "What have you done!" He exclaimed.

Kuwabara smiled. "Why don't you just go to hell where you belong!" He cried out as the dark energy exploded out of the sword and blazed through Darkon.

"Damn you, you can't do this to me! I'M DARKOOOOOONNNNNNN!" He screamed as both he and Kuwabara were engulfed in a tempest of light and dark power.

The entire fortress shook, as if racked by a massive earthquake! Towers and walls gave way as winds tore through the castle left and right. Shockwave after shockwave burst forth.

Hiei held his ground, focusing the blast. If he wavered even slightly, they'd all be destroyed in a blaze brighter than the sun. Of course now, there was the risk that the energy would rip a hole in the fabric of time and space!

Darkon was bent back; he could feel himself crumbling apart. His eyes looked up to see a beam of light cut through the dark sky like a missile. He could see it, shining down on him through the opening in the sky.

Darkon could see the sun!

"No, everything I've work for, you can't do this to me, you're just scum. You're nothing but human scum!" He screamed out as he was vaporized by the power of the attack.

The Dark Lord was gone. Destroyed once and for all!

Eventually, the glow ebbed and Kuwabara opened his eyes. He looked at his singed hands as the sword vanished. He looked up and saw that nothing was left of the Dark Lord.

His eyes rolled back and he collapsed.

.o.o.o.

The Elder and Thorn watched the sun shine through the fading darkness.

"So that's the sun, I'd forgotten what it looked like." Thorn remarked.

"Yes, it's beautiful." The Elder replied.

.o.o.o.

Kuwabara came to and looked around. He spotted a small group of people looking up at the blue sky.

He jumped up at this realization. They must have won! He raced over to them and spotted Hiei and Cassius, along with Garland and Rain, and the Elder and the Demon Thorn.

"I'm glad to see you're up and about, you gave us quite a scare there for a minute." The Forest Elder remarked.

"How did I survive?" Kuwabara asked suddenly.

"With my blood." Hiei cut in. "I had to use my own blood and life-energy to keep you from dying." The small fire demon smiled weakly. "You owe me."

Kuwabara became pale. "Then that would me that—"

But he was cut off by the sensation of droplets of water coming down on him.

"It's raining." Thorn observed, looking up at the sky.

"Yes," The Elder remarked. "And its long overdo." He held up his hands to feel the rain on his palms.

Garland looked down at Rain. "We've got our whole lives ahead of us."

"Yeah, for the first time, I'm hopeful for the future." Rain replied.

.o.o.o.

(- End of Chapter 26 -)

Things will probably wrap up in the next chapter. Thank you all for reading this. It has been my greatest pleasure to write this. From the early days to this very moment. This has truely been a labor of love. So many things have happened in the last three years, and so many people have impacted my life. My life has changed in ways I can't even begin to understand. I may not always be certain about the future, but as this story has shown me- there has be something good, off somewhere in the horizon.

Next chapter will conclude this storyline and adress some interesting facts about the story. For example, I'll tell you all a bit about the scenes that didn't make into this story for various reasons. Special thanks to everyone who's supported this story (you guys know who you are!)

-Bojack727