Hello peoples! I hope you all missed me! Well, I know you've been waiting for this, and I told you I'd get it out soon, so here it is! I think I might be overcoming my writer's block at last, PARTY FOR ME! Anyway, as I said in the last chapter of Vampire Lover, there will be another chapter on that story very soon. Please review for both stories; you guys really help to keep me going!
Reviewers:
Black Water-Fox: Thanks for your review; I hope you managed to get your scene written all right.
crimsonbloodvampire: Here's the fight scene, I hope it's up to standard.
Chapter 9: Stupid Shadows, Get Away From Me!
(Quick review since it's been awhile)
"A shadow serpent; I haven't heard of them for a long time." Kurama said, almost to himself.
"Yes, well, he's very dangerous so you're going to have to be extra careful. Now come on, let's go outside so I can make a portal for you."
Yusuke grabbed the bag of wards that Koenma had given him, and then he and the others followed the ferry girl out.
They arrived in the middle of a very thick forest.
Well, most of them did.
Yusuke arrived in the middle of a very large thorn bush.
"Dammit! That's the last time I go through a portal Botan made!" he yelled, trying to extricate himself.
"Kurama, would you get him out of there before he attracts every demon in Makai with his howling?"
The fox sighed and got the plant to move off of Yusuke. Hiei whacked Kuwabara over the head with the hilt of his katana to make him stop laughing at their companion.
"Ow! What the hell--"
"Enough. We need to be quiet. It's better we find Kemuri than he finds us. I would be best if we could surprise him, especially since his energy level is so high." Kurama said firmly. He waited for a few seconds. No one spoke. "Good. Now, where do you think we should--?"
The fox stopped suddenly as a loud hissing burst forth, echoing through the tree trunks. They all dropped into defensive postures, looking around for the source of the noise.
Just our luck he would find us first. Yusuke thought, irritated.
A sudden shout of, "Yusuke, move!" sent him diving to the right, avoiding a large black shadow that had been about to pummel him into the ground. He nodded a brief thanks to Kurama before concentrating on anything else that might come his way.
Unfortunately, they were in a forest, so there were shadows everywhere, and all of them were (for lack of a better phrase) coming to life. They started to lift off the floor; some stretching and thinning until they resembled enormous, ebony spears, others expanding into gigantic, hand-like appendages.
Hiei lashed out with his katana as one of the 'hands' swung his way. It had about as much effect as cutting water did. The dark weapon didn't pause for an instant, and Hiei was forced to leap upwards to avoid being bashed into a nearby tree.
"Kemuri, you cowardly bastard! Come out and fight us yourself!" Kuwabara shouted, narrowly escaping one of the pointed shadows, his spirit sword as useless as Hiei's against the attacking outlines.
A particularly huge shadow hand seemed to take a liking to Kuwabara after that comment, so he was constantly jumping out of the way as it followed him around, dirt flying up every time it missed.
Kurama, who had been in one of the lighter spots in the wood at the moment when Kemuri had attacked, was not having as much trouble as some of the others, though he too was unable to land a blow that did anything worthwhile. He glanced over at Yusuke, who, seeing as his only weapon was spirit attacks, was forced to dodge all over the place. (He had found out quickly that his fists were as powerless as everything else.)
In a flash of movement, Hiei appeared at Kurama's side, looking a little annoyed. "I've tried both my sword and flames, neither work, and from the looks of things, nor does anything else."
"I've noticed. It seems the only thing that will work is to find Kemuri himself." Kurama answered, eyes darting around, searching for the demon in the surrounding branches. Both of them ducked as a large hunk of wood that had been dislodged in the battle went zooming over them.
In that instant, several sharpened shadows materialized out of nowhere and pinned first Hiei, then Kurama against a couple of trees. Quickly, the dark shapes wrapped around the tree and the demons, holding them prisoner.
"You're quite right, my friend. They are only solid when I want them to be, courtesy, of course, of my host's abilities. You cannot touch them. You know, I actually wish I hadn't found a demon that uses shadow, I not too fond of the skill. There are several problems with this technique, although, I think I'll keep what they are to myself."
Kurama ceased trying to loosen the silhouettes securing him to the tree for a brief second to ask, "What exactly are you? Where do you come from?"
Kemuri smirked, "I am a demon soul that was sealed in that mirror hundreds of years ago, over time, I lost my soul characteristics and became a form of energy, though I still kept almost everything from when I was truly alive…well, except my name. Can't remember that at all, though, does energy contained in a mirror really need a name?"
The snake demon stepped to the side suddenly, out of the way of a slash from Kuwabara's sword. "Oh, dear, it's been so long since I've had a host, my senses are a little rusty! I suppose I'll have to pay more attention to your friends; after all, you're not going anywhere."
"What? You aren't going to kill us?" Kurama inquired, surprised.
"No, not yet. I prefer to have everyone in one place and then kill them all at once; more convenient, see?" Kemuri—what used to be Kemuri—turned and focused on Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were both getting quite frustrated with their inability to defend themselves against the demon's weapons.
Yusuke dodged another of the shadow blades, scowling at his helplessness. The move had put him almost directly in front of Kemuri, so, grabbing at the chance, Yusuke plunged a hand into the bag that held the wards and threw a handful at the serpent-like demon.
For a moment, it looked as though they would connect, but the detective's target ducked at the last second, making the wards fly past him. Kemuri smirked at his opponent, mocking him. Yusuke glared, hiding a look of horror and…something else. He really didn't want the snake to glance behind him right now.
One of the wards had that had failed to hit Kemuri had struck Hiei instead. The fire demon, being bound to the tree, hadn't been able to get out of the way, and now couldn't remove the thing that was quickly sapping his energy. This had inspired the horror that Yusuke wanted to conceal.
The other thing that had happened was the cause of his other emotion. Kuwabara, who, fortunately, had managed to be behind Kemuri when his friend had thrown the wards, had caught most of them.
Yusuke set about distracting the demon to give Kuwabara an opening. The carrot-top, who had realized where the ward he had missed was, ran to Hiei and yanked the ward off him, ending the drain on the fire demon's energy, before just as quickly getting into a position where he could propel the objects at Kemuri with a good chance of actually scoring a hit.
Well, I'm going to leave it there for now, mostly because I have some indication of what I want to write next, so I don't want to use it all up just yet! This means the fifth chapter of Vampire Lover is going to be out very, very soon, in fact, it's probably up right now!
Review!