Day after day and week after week the three demons were training hard. They got stronger and stronger. Yoko, of course, grew stronger the fastest. Kuro and Hiei couldn't beat him at a one on one match, but if they worked together they could take Yoko out.
One night, after training, Yoko decided to check on Washi and see if she was doing any better than before. He walked up the stairs and slowly moved to her door. He stopped and was about to knock on the door when he heard some people's voices. He moved away from the door and hid in the shadows, listening to the voices.
"Brother, please just let him go. You know he has no chance at defeating you in a battle, so please, leave him be." Washi yelled.
"Why, he wanted to fight me and that is what he is going to get. Why do you defend him?" Karasu yelled and he must have thrown something because there was a crash in the room.
"You want to know so badly?" Washi must have been crying for her voice cracked as she spoke. "Karasu can't you accept it? I love the kitsune and you can't change that either." There was a long pause before she spoke again. "The kitsune is kind at heart and would protect me no matter what."
"How can you be so sure, Washi? He maybe using you to free himself from me clutch. You can't see him again or I will have to kill both of you. If you wish to see him then tell me and we will see it through. Till then I will send a guard to watch over you." The door opened and Karasu left the room. When Yoko knew that Karasu was truly gone then he entered the room finding Washi on the balcony.
"You're going to let him tear us apart? Do you believe him?" Yoko asked, staring at her back.
"I'm sorry, Yoko, I can't go against my brother." She said in a startled voice. "I don't want you to die because of me. I love you so much to see you die…" would be to painful for me to watch. She thought.
Yoko walked up to her and put his arms around her waist. She leaned back on him and kissed his cheek. She looked at his eyes and noticed that they were tired yet stronger and sad yet full of life. His eyes showed no fear only danger and mystery. He was deep in thought as they stood there on the balcony.
"Yoko?" Washi said moments later, breaking the silence.
"Yes?"
"Why did you come up here tonight? Is there something you wanted?" She was concerned about him. He was always cheerful and talked all the time but now he was strangely quiet and deep in thought.
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay." Yoko paused, "I challenged Karasu to a battle that takes place tomorrow. If I win he will free you, Kuro, Hiei and I. If I lose and he wins you and the others will be free but I will stay…" He cut off and she didn't ask him why. Yoko let her go and began to walk away toward the door but stopped. "I hope you believe me now. You mean more to me than anyone. If you still don't trust me than….I understand."
Yoko was about to leave when Washi tugged on his shirt. "Why do you sacrifice everything for me? Why do I matter so much to you?"
Yoko smiled and kissed her deeply before letting her go. "Why not?" He shrugged then left the room. Washi, being very confused, sat down on her bed to think while Yoko returned to his room. Kuro and Hiei were both asleep in their beds.
Tomorrow is the battle, I just hope we have gotten strong enough to beat Karasu. Yoko thought as he sat down. He has the power to create bombs out of gases around him. With my agility and the Rose Whip I should be able to dodge most of the… His thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. The knock woke both of his friends, and he opened the door to find one of Karasu's guards.
"What do you want?" Yoko growled at the large guard before him. His friends stood behind him on guard.
"Lord Karasu has requested a meeting with the one known as Yoko Kurama." The guard said in a rough voice. Kuro stepped in front of Yoko and growled but Yoko pushed him out of the way. He nodded then followed the guard down the hall.
They walked to the main hall and turned down a long dark corridor. Minutes passed before they come to a pair of large cherry wood doors. The guard knocked on the large doors then entered the thirty foot by thirty foot room. In the far right corner was a bed and end table. A dresser made from the black forest was before the bed and a lamp upon the end table. The far left corner had a small library and a large window near it. The rest of the room was a lounging area.
Karasu was in a lazy boy chair reading a book called Facts on Kitusnes.
The guard motioned Yoko to sit down then left the room. Yoko sat and stared at the floor. He was really confused at the reason why Karasu would wish to see him this late at night when his ear twitched at the sound of doors locking.
"Did you know that kitsunes, after the age of twelve, heat up and need to mate?" Karasu asked. Yoko nodded no' and Karasu continued to speak, "It says here that they do it with anyone too, but you wouldn't, would you?"
Yoko knew where the conversation was leading and decided to argue with the crow. "If you think for one moment that I would have anything to do with you, Karasu, then you're damn to hell wrong. I will win the battle tomorrow and you know that, and you're frightened to death." Yoko growled. "You can't fool me, not now and not ever, do you hear me?' Yoko's eyes showed hatred and anger. Yoko was out to kill.
Karasu began to laugh striking the kitsune with confusion. "That was the worst speech ever." Karasu laughed, "A kitsune could never defeat the Lord of these lands. Yoko should have known that by now. Your friends even doubt victory." Yoko just glared at Karasu.
Karasu put the book down on an end table beside him then stood. He motioned for the kitsune to follow him. Yoko stood and followed Karasu to the library. Karasu stopped before a bookshelf and pulled a book called, Love of a Dark One. The bookshelf moved to the side revealing a set of stairs.
They began down the stairs as the shelf closed behind them. They came to a lightly lit room and Karasu pointed to a corner, telling Yoko to stand over there. Yoko walked to the corner and then two guards grabbed him as a third one chained him. Hanging him from the ceiling by his wrist. Yoko growled and struggled to free himself but could do nothing. He looked up at Karasu when he heard his laughter.
"What do you really want with me, Karasu?" He asked, still struggling.
"Nothing really, just making sure I win the match and not you with your friends." Karasu smiled. Yoko stopped struggling and growled at the crow. Karasu walked up to Yoko holding a needle in his hand. Yoko's ears went back and his tail was between his legs.
"What are you going to do to me?" Yoko asked staring at the needle. Karasu smiled and stuck the needle in Yoko's arm. Yoko growled as he felt the green fluid flow through his veins with much pain. As he began to struggle there was an explosion on his side. Yoko cried out in pain as his blood fell to the ground.
"You'll stay down here tonight. I don't want your friends healing you till the battle it over." Karasu turned on his heals then left the kitsune there to bleed to death. The night went on slowly.
Yoko's energy felt zapped, but he had to do something. He had a plant form in the chains and broke them causing Yoko to fall to his hands and knees. He coughed up blood as he tried to stand. His side caused much trouble as he found another way out of the room.
Slowly yet slyly he walked through the dancing shadows of the candle lit halls. The guards didn't notice him only a shimmer of silver could be noticed in the candle light.
Yoko returned to his room finding his friends pacing. They ran to Yoko who had fallen to the ground. All he could hear was the mumbles of his worried friends. His eyes closed as his friends began to tend to his wounds.
I never felt so bad in my years of living. Karasu had injected me with a poison of some kind. We weren't sure till the match. I can't believe that crow would sink so low to win a match against a slave like me. He was really stupid to think I would give in so easily.
"Poor kitsune, why would Karasu do such a thing?" Rosie asked, looking down at her notebook.
"Karasu wanted to win so he could keep Yoko for himself." I said. My thoughts roamed through my head. "Why don't you ask Karasu?"
"What do you mean?" She asked me as I stood and brushed off my black cloak.
"Karasu is in the demon world jail." I replied with a slyly smile. "I could take you there and we could ask Karasu why he poisoned the kitsune. What do you say?" My face showed excitement and adventure. Rosie didn't seem to know if it was a good idea or not. Finally she nodded in agreement, and we left the room.
I showed her into the woods of Spring Meadows. She looked around in ah' loving the scenery. She was amazed when we came to an old Indian tribe's territory. A temple built of stone was in the middle of the village.
"What is this place?" Rosie asked as I lead her toward the temple. After a moment or so Rosie screamed as loud as possible. I turned around to see her frightened face looking right at me. "Where are you taking me and who are you?" She yelled.
I looked down to see my claws and my reflection in a puddle of water. I saw my blond hair blow around me and my blue eyes staring at my ears. I thought of an answer. "My name is Amaya, I am a lion demon. I am taking you to see Karasu. You can trust me." I threw my hands out as I spoke the truth, would she believe me was I could think about.
"You said you were a guardian, yet you a demon. How do you know so much about Yoko?" She had asked in a loud voice rather upset. My eyes had closed for my thoughts wondered into spots I never thought about before.
"I was assigned a job to watch over Yoko as he grew up. I was with him almost all the time. Yes, I am a demon but that doesn't matter. Do you wish to meet Karasu or not?" I was rather irritated by now. She still looked frightened but forced herself to smile. My smile had faded and wasn't going to come back unless I had an answer form her.
"Let's go meet this crow demon!" She jumped with excitement and I lead her into the temple. We said nothing to one another as we got closer to the temple.
I pushed open the stone doors and entered the one room temple. The room was very large, pillars rowed down the sides to keep the roof standing. Two rows of benches lead the way to the front. Stain glass gave the room different personalities. In the front of the room had two statues, facing one another. They were about then feet tall and six feet apart. Their hands were holding swords up to the sky touching on another. They were made of white marble yet they had large wings of black marble. Between them was a large red portal of fire.
"The portal of Confusion." I said, "These Indians didn't know where the portal would take them so they gave it the name confusion. The statues represent good and evil." I smiled greatly as I walked toward the portal.
"So beyond the portal is Demon World?" Rosie asked, and I replied by shaking my head yes'. We walked through the portal and came out a portal of blue fire.
"We are in the same temple, but how?" Rosie asked looking around with a lot of confusion.
"Each portal in the demon, spirit and human worlds are put in temples that look exactly the same," I began to explain, "but each portal is a different color' red, for demon world; blue, for Earth or Human world; and purple, for spirit world. If they were all the same color we wouldn't know which portal took us where. The temples are all the same so we don't put too much power in any of the portals." Rosie nodded her head as if she understood.
"So now what?" She asked, looking around and spotted a family of fox demons with out a father. The mother looks rather human though. A read headed man was talking with the woman but they didn't seem like lovers. "Amaya, do you know them?" She asked me.
"Yes, that is Etelka-san and Kurama-san. Yoko's twin children, Akira and Aki. Aki is the girl." I smiled and waved to them then lead Rosie out of the temple. "Stay close to me. Some demons here still like human flesh so don't wonder off."
We walked through the town and up to the demon world jail. Rosie stayed very close to me as we entered the giant building. Lord Koenma ogre greeted them with a frown.
"Lady Amaya, pleasure to see you. How can I help you and your friend, today?"
"We wish to speak with Karasu if it isn't a problem." I replied not looking at the ogre.
"You better be glade you came today." The ogre said leading them up some stairs. "Lord Kurama has Karasu registered for and execution tomorrow after noon."
"Really, whatever for?" Did Karasu trick him again or something?" I asked rather surprised.
"Lord Kurama asked Karasu where Yoko was and his reply was, My dear Kurama, Yoko is with a good friend of mine being forced to do things and beaten. Soon he will be dead and you ill suffer more than he does.' I'm not sure what the crow meant but Lord Kurama hasn't been himself ever since." I was shocked; Yoko was being force to do things again and beaten was like his years at Karasu's castle.
He took us to Karasu's cell and we stood before it. Karasu was chained to the wall and badly beaten, but his eyes till burned with longing to torcher someone and it was rather scary.
"Ah, Lady Amaya, what brings you here on this fine summer day?"
Karasu said surprisingly clear and firm.
"As you know, Yoko is missing. I've been telling his life story to this reporter, behind me, and she wishes to know why you poisoned the silver kitsune in you r first battle long ago." Or eyes locked and he began to laugh.
"That was more than two thousand years ago." Karasu began, "Poison, humm, I remember now. I had been watching the kitsune and his friends train that month and saw that Yoko was too strong for his own good. I knew that if I won there was no way Washi and his friends would leave him in my hands. That is why I poisoned the kitsune, so my slaves and sister wouldn't leave me." "You selfish, self centered jerk." Rosie yelled, "Have you ever felt the need to protect the one you loved, ever?" She was not standing beside me with anger in her eyes.
Karasu laughed again and looked at the red headed reporter, "I love my sister and many others so I killed them." Karasu showed no fear, loneliness or sadness when he replied. Rosie had tears in her eyes and fear as well. I took her hand and pulled her away from his cell. My tears wanted to flow as freely as Rosie's did, but I hid my emotions for I need to help Rose through her emotions at the moment.
We returned to the temple to talk and learn more abut Yoko. Etelka, a dirty blond, green eyed women, walked over to us with her tow kids.
"I hear your working on Yoko's disappearance, Amaya. Have you found anything?"
Rosie looked at me rather confused but I ignored her and answered etelka. "You told me he was going to the National Park," I began, "so I went to the park to check out only to find a battle scene. The blood there matched Yoko's and two others, but we aren't sure who the blood belongs to. It was an ambush, I'll report back to you when I find more information, "Mrs. Kurama, I promise."
"Thank you Lady Amaya." Etelka grabbed her children's hands and walked away from Rosie and me.
"Your not who you say you are, are you?" Rosie asked. "They call you Lady Amaya, you know a lot about Yoko and you're working on his case too."
"I am who I am. My father is a Lord so I became a Lady. I work for a demon watch group and I was assigned to watch over Yoko till he found a home. I must have failed." I sighed and noticed that it was dark out. "We should sleep now. I'll continue his life story tomorrow." Rosie nodded and lies on a bench and fell asleep. I did as well.
That is it. I hoped you liked it. By the way, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or it's characters, but I do own, Etelka, Aki, Akira, Amaya and Washi, R&Rs please.