Okay, so this is my second Samurai Deeper Kyo fic. My first got mixed reviews so I thought that I would see if I could improve on a second one. Please read and review and as to all fan fics that I write… I own nothing.

The Price of a Challenge

Part One

By Catrina

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To any one who would have looked, they would have noticed that the pair was oddly fitting. His glare counteracted her smile, his rudeness complimented her kindness, and they somehow belonged. He motioned and she would follow, she would stop and his steps would slow. In a way even their looks complimented each other, he was sharp and brutal, she was small but curvaceous. Together they drew every eye to them as the walked silently through the village. People would stop and stare, whispers would flash behind raised hands. Never had two people cause such a stir in the small nameless town where they stopped to turn in a bounty and buy supplies and sake. The bartender had started to flirt with the young woman buying sake but quickly stopped when he noticed a pair of red eyes glaring as him, soon the dark haired man began to sweat then quickly bowed out the door when the sale was complete.

"Kyo, what did you do?" The whole tavern looked over to the musical voice that asked the question, but soon they lost the attention as the walked out the door. He growled slightly instead of giving her an answer and walked toward the path that lead north away from the small village. She smiled slightly…he was in one of those moods today. She hummed a slight tune knowing that it would annoy him.

She was small blond and annoying in everyway that seemed possible. Yet still he allowed her to travel with him. She always drew attention to herself and she never even knew it. Maybe if the woman didn't dress like such a whore, or be so confident in herself; that just wasn't right on a woman, he mused. But she did respect him enough to never really question where they were going but occasionally he would feel her jade eyes looking at him confusion gazing at him from their depths. But she never voiced any doubt. Her faith in him was unshakeable. And in a way he hated that. Demon Eyes Kyo walked slowly, the woman only a few steps behind, but she seemed not to mind. In fact he could hear her humming a tune. He looked over his blood gaze sparing a glance and wondered what would have put her in such a good mood. Granted she had caught a bounty last night and they were set for the next two days of journeying that would finally bring them out of the mountains that they had been trekking through. There were dancing shadows all around them but one took the shape of a person and that put him on edge. Once again he saw the flash of a shadow flickering for a moment behind her before once more disappearing into the trees above her. The woman stayed blissfully ignorant. Though he knew there was no danger. He already knew who was following, but assumed that he would make his appearance in time.

It was late in the day when they had left the village, and now the shadows of the woods seemed to stretch upwards stealing the light from the sky. For some reason Yuya stayed silent today, not wanting anything to break the good mood that she had been in since the sun had woke her up in the morning. She had caught another bounty, and without Kyo's help she was proud to admit. But she lost in her thought and yelped in surprise when she ran into her companion's back. She quickly raised her hands to gain her balance and rocked back on her heels.

"What the…" She sputtered surprised to say the least. When the samurai turned she saw laughter at her expense etched in his eyes but not a once showing on his face.

"We will stop here for the night." He concluded, smirking at the young blond who blinked in confusion. She just now started to realize that the sun had set and what little light remained was dwindling down to nothing.

"But…" She started noting that there was nothing around, in the distance she heard the bubbling of a creek.

"We stop here." And that was final. For a moment she wanted to snap at him but held her tongue. She set down the items that she carried already noticing that Kyo was perched against a tree sake in hand. She dug through her items grabbing a towel and her personal items and looked over to Kyo.

"I'm leaving to wash up. I'll make dinner when I return." He grunted in response and she turned away almost on a huff.

She walked slowly away from Kyo, gathering firewood as she headed toward the sound of water. When she got there she was happily surprised to find a shallow river. Stripping her clothes she folded them neatly beside the firewood that she had collected and walked in without a glance back.

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"Get out here." Kyo demanded as he watched Yuya's retreating form disappear into the dark horizon. He glared at the white haired ninja as he dropped from what seemed to be nowhere. Sasuke dropped to the ground pouting that he had been noticed so easily. "Why are you following me?" He asked bluntly taking another sip of sake. "What does Yukimura want now?" He growled the last question. Nothing would please him more then running the leader of the Sanadas through, but he doubted he would be doing that anytime soon.

"He sends his summons." Sasuke told him and jumped back slightly when the other man scoffed loudly.

"Sends his summons? I don't answer to him." He rumbled him before taking another drink and dismissing the young looking ninja.

"Kyo, you wouldn't want to miss this." Sasuke looked at him is golden eyes glowing in the dimming light. "A fight bigger then Nobunaga." For a moment the ninja moved closer trying to look the red eyed demon in the eyes. "Think of the fun…the challenge." He pointed out realizing that he had the other man's attention now. "A new enemy…and he's smart." He felt the need to mention.

"Hmmp…" Kyo looked to the boy interested in what he was saying. It did sound…fun.

"He would come after you; you're too powerful to leave alone." Sasuke reasoned.

"Where?" Kyo growled at the irritating youth.

"He will meet you in Eiheiji."

"Eiheiji? We are going to kill monks?" For a moment the idea intrigued him but his momentary thrill was lost at the realizations that monks really wouldn't put up a good battle.

"No idiot. It seems that the monks released it."

"Really?" He asked actually fascinated.

"An interesting story, really." He sat down for a moment across from the other warrior. "It seemed that one of the monks that was meditating outside when he just disappeared. But where he was meditating the found a broken statue, one that they had never seen before. Soon after that there were rumors of the trees coming alive and the ground devouring people. No one was really sure what was going on. There was mass confusion surrounding the temple, but all the monks still seem to be ill at ease. As though what is going on does not bother them." He paused for a moment pulling a piece of fruit out of his clothing and taking a bite. He paused while he ate allowing Kyo to assimilate what he had said.

"So what is the problem?" Kyo stated, not really seeing a problem.

"Well that statue that was broken is supposedly a relic from an ancient religion. No one is even really sure of its name, but it was rumored that a deity actually lived in the statue, waiting for the time to take control."

"Take control of what?"

"Japan… the known world." The boy shrugged "Who cares, but think about the power that you would have to have to control the earth and trees around with only a whim. Can you imagine challenging that power?" Kyo stat back wondering at the story that he had been told.

"Long journey." Kyo noted looking to where Yuya had walked off to.

"She is stronger than she appears." Sasuke noted the direction of Kyo's gaze.

"Four days."

"I'll see you in three." He said standing, then blurred into the shadows and was gone. Kyo looked over to see Yuya coming back from the river carrying fire wood, her hair damp and her skin glistening.

"Was someone here…I thought I heard a voice?" She leaned down quickly starting a fire and heating water to prepare a late meal.

"Hmm." He answered noncommittally as he took the last drink of sake.

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The next day her good mood was ruined. "Kyo, this is ridiculous. It's going to rain any moment and the town is just a couple miles back. We should turn around." Yuya said jade eyes turned to the sky observing the black clouds that followed behind them, even though it was mid afternoon the sky was dark as night. Seeing no response from Kyo she walked faster to catch up with him. "Kyo?" She asked again looking over to the tall samurai beside her. At the pace he was setting they were going to be at the tree line of the mountains by nightfall. Normally they traveled at half this speed. She knew that something was up, just like she had a feeling that someone had been at camp the night before. Now she was starting to wonder if the two were somehow related to one another.

"No."

"No… But Kyo." She stammered at a loss. Sure he always seemed to know where he was going and always decided when to stop, but today she was worried. They were already a good ways down the mountain side and if she remembered correctly they would be nearing a river within the next few hours, a river that had the tendency to flood with heavy rains. She guessed that Kyo wanted to at least make it across the river, and into one of the many caves that littered that part of the area.

"Stop whining, or are you afraid of a little water?" He countered finally tuning his gaze from the mountain path they were currently hiking.

"Have you taken a look at the sky?" She yelled pointing her finger to the clouds above. The clouds seemed to agree and lightning streaked across the sky followed by a loud clash of thunder. For a moment he paused and turned his blood red eyes to the sky. The clouds were in tempest above them almost ready to destroy the earth if allowed.

"We have time." He said shortly as they continued. They continued on for about another hour or so and in that time the air had chilled to an uncomfortable degree of cold. For a moment Yuya shook from the chill as the wind raced across her skin. Kyo on the other hand looked unaffected.

"Kyo…" She tried once again to get his attention but after no avail she fell into silence and simply watched her companion. Gone was his long red hair he had cut it shorter after his battle with Kyoshiro, but otherwise he looked the same as he had when she first saw his majestic and beautiful body frozen in the Sea of Trees. For some reason though it really didn't matter what body he was in it still felt the same to be in his presence. She knew that she wasn't strong, not when compared to him. But she wasn't stupid, she owed him her life many times over and she would ever forget that fact. Or that fact that she was in love with the slayer of thousand men. She had known it for some time and while she didn't know if Kyo knew, she figured he simply wouldn't care one way or another. Kyo really had no emotional attachments. Much of their time was simply spent wondering from town to town, Kyo was ready to beat down any who tried for the title of the 'strongest' or the 'best'. That was something that he couldn't allow. In a way she was glad that he didn't lust for power and greed and succumb to the sins that men usually did. In a way though, she knew that he was really looking for a challenge someone to test if he really was the best. But she had nothing but faith in the man she loved, he truly was the strongest and in a way she was honored to be in his company.

He could feel her gaze watching him. He knew that if he turned he would see wide jade eyes watching him, contemplating. It was something that he was used to. When ever she was lost in thought she would stare at him. He glanced back over his shoulder to see that indeed her eyes were watching him, and her wheat colored hair had blown free of the ponytail and her yukata was caught in the wind. She reached a graceful hand up to pull her hair out of her way. She really was beautiful, but he would never let her know he thought that. And she would never expect him to tell her. In a way that was why he let her stick around. Through their travels she had gotten to know him very well, she didn't expect things out of him like other people had the tendency to do. She would whine and complain, but she rarely held him back from traveling or fighting.

"Stop staring." He growled at her. He watched her blink then her eyes narrowed to a glare.

"Well you wouldn't talk to me, and I have to follow where you are going. It's darker now." She said noting that the skies were almost pitch black and it was dark as night. She blinked as the first rain drops started to fall. He shook his head and continued forward. Once they were past the bridge they would look for cover in the caves. They walked in the light rain for just a few moments before the skies opened and the rain fell in torrents. Yuya could hardly see so she reached forward and gripped onto Kyo's armor and stuck close to him.

"Kyo… Where are we going?" She yelled over the pounding of the rain. It was odd for her to ask that question, normally she just followed…trusting him…it was then that he realized that she seemed very nervous. When he looked back he could barely see her. She looked like a drowned rat, he concluded… her hair was stuck to her neck, back, and face, not to mention her yukata was drenched sticking to her waist and to her thighs. She slipped on the mud of the path for a moment only to catch her footing. Then seemingly appearing from no where in front of her and Kyo was a short but tedious bridge.

"There are caves on the other side of the bridge." He told her and she looked to him in shock. The bridge connected two sheer cliffs with a raging river underneath. The wooden bridge shook and wavered in the wind and rain.

"You're kidding." She yelled at him, this time in anger instead of just trying to be heard. "There is no way…look at that water. The bridge is moving!" She said pointing to the bridge that waved back and forth with the wind and rain.

"Shut up… get moving." He snarled pushing her in front of him. He watched as she grabbed the rope on the side and held it tight. She looked over her shoulder and glared at him. Then she slowly started to make her way across. He followed closely behind her sure that something wouldn't happen. Thunder rolled through the woods and mountains around them and shook the earth. He could tell it had startled her. He watched as the stupid woman, jumped shocked by the sound, and then lost her footing, her shoes slipping on the wet wood of the bridge. She slipped and then tried to grab the rope but it was too far away. She looked straight to him and the fear he saw in her eyes almost made him panic, but it didn't show on his stoic face. She slipped, and even as she fell she still tried to reach for the bridge, the wood, the rope, his hand, but her fingers met with nothing but air. When she finally realized that it was hopeless she opened her mouth in a silent scream before vocalizing her thoughts.

"Kyo!" She yelled falling and landing into the water with a large splash. The second she hit the water the world around her went black.

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So this ends chapter one. Please let me know what you think, and whether or not to continue. I think that there is a workable plot in here somewhere…hopefully I don't lose it. I tried to catch all the spelling and grammar errors but I'm sure that I missed some. Thanks for reading!

Cat