Chapter 8 (finally!)

I know I took forever to get this chapter out! I'm sorry, please don't kill me! It seems like it was just yesterday that I put out the last one . Plus (or minus) I had to take the P.S.A.T. today I hate math!

Anyway you probably don't care, so on with the sucky story.

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"Dammit Allie why the hell did you have to get hurt your fucking ass is always in the way!" Ryu jogged toward the yell, her slumbering companions still slumped against the tree.

Arriving in the clearing, she saw a bemused "Gas-mask-freak" blocking lightning-fast blows from Allie, her eyes narrowed in anger and frustration. He was only using one hand, and, surprisingly, the hand wasn't splintering into pieces by now.

"Wow, Allie, fast," said Ryu sarcastically.

"You know what, shove it up your ass and get the hell out of here, Ant!"

"What the hell I could do better than that!"

"You fucking dumbass! When I called for help I was hoping for someone who could fight, not my oblivious best friend!"

"Fucking shut up you little bitch I know way more than you could ever hope to imagine you little whore so stop yelling at me before I fucking grind your ass into the ground and make your brains into jelly!"

"Shut UP! YOU'RE WEAK!"

"I can fight Dammit, and you better believe it you frikking loser!"

"No you can't! You're just a stupid, defenseless, ningen-like pretender, a wannabe youkai who can't fight to save her stupid lard-ass!"

"Um…youkai?" this stopped the whole argument on the grounds that Ryu had no idea what Allie was talking about. Meanwhile, Allie had stopped trying to kill Karasu, so he stood to the side, leaning nonchalantly against a tree with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes youkai! Dammit you're slow!"

"Um…………."

"Will you get off your fucking ass and move! Get the hell out of here you are no match for this damn demon!"

"I can and I will, so shut the fuck up you little gold bitch!" with this the raven-haired girl slammed her toes into the ground and sped forward, above human speeds, but still way below the speed of the crow demon or even of Allie.

"Get back!" screamed Allie, but it was too late. Karasu raised one perfectly controlled hand and sliced it downward, almost splitting air molecules as it went, a flurry of green orbs falling down upon the teenage girl.

This was definitely going to mess up her hairdo.

Screaming in pain, Ryu lifted her now ever-so-heavy hands and felt a warm liquid flowing out in such a manner that she could not stop it even if she had stayed awake long enough to clamp both hands down on the holes in her head. She didn't even worry about the rips in her back.

Behind her, Allie screamed as yet more of the crow demon's explosives surrounded her and connected with her tender flesh, robbing her of her consciousness as well.

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Bui chuckled as he heard the screamed conversation, stepping forward at the same time. None too gently he scooped up the Voorime and slung him in the crushing grip of his elbow. Never would he forgive the short bastard for humiliating him in front of the rest of the demonic populace. The stupid half-breed would DIE.

Slipping his hand beneath the abdomen of the psychic, he was only slightly gentler as he dropped the fragile girl on his shoulder. She murmured something unintelligible and her hands flapped down do the small of his back.

He could feel psychic energy growing. What the hell?

His back erupted in pain and he couldn't move. The girl, who was now completely free of restraints, slid down his back, doing a flip and landing gracefully behind him on two feet, kneeling, fingers brushing the earth as she stood up.

There was Hiei's face, right in front of hers. He was still unconscious. And still stuck in the crook of Bui's arm.

Walking in front to the paralyzed giant, she placed a firm hand on each ankle and tugged.

And tugged.

And tugged.

………

"Dammit you short bastard wake up!" screamed the black and white reject.

Sighing, she put one hand behind his head, holding him up by his hair. The other was raised for a strike.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey" she muttered grimly as she brought down the hand.

Straight onto the soft area beneath the bandage.

However, the consequences were not what she had imagined. Yes, his crimson eyes opened past the human limit, and yes, a small sound escaped his lips.

But then he disappeared with a black swish.

"Um…never knew you could dissapea---AAH!" was Kage's reaction.

She was on the ground at Bui's feet, the tip of cold steel biting into her neck. She could feel a trickle of blood pooling at her feet. Oh, great. This is fantastic! Goody two shoes! Not only will he kill me he'll see my blood too! Let's have a fucking tea party to celebrate!

It was true, Hiei was slightly distracted by the unnerving silver blood with black swirls, but most of his attention was on the baka onna.

"If you ever touch me again, you will die," he said without any bloodlust in his voice. It wasn't a threat. It was a fact.

"Uh…yes, sir, but did you really WANT me to leave you there in the giant's grasp and run away like a coward? Not that I'm not one, but still…" she trailed off.

"Hn." He sheathed his sword and walked off. Presumably he knew where he was going, but Kage didn't, and this bothered her.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked oh-so-politely.

Hiei spared no words for the useless onna, just kept walking, although he did turn to glare at her once, for about half a second.

"Okay, fine, Mr. Grumpy-pants!" Kage pointed out, stalking after him.

The clearing he led to contained a bleeding Ryu and Allie.

Running to Ryu's side, she kneeled by her friend. "Ryu-Chan! Are you okay?" You'd think that a psychic in the profession of healing people would know a wound when she saw one, but no, apparently this goody-good had been working with her eyes closed. Either that or she simply had no idea what was going on or what she was doing. Wait, I just said that, didn't I?

Hiei stalked over to the crow demon that was still (lemme guess…) standing against the tree, though his eyebrows had raised maybe a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a millimeter. Man it's hard to intimidate this guy…

About to get ready to attack, the Voorime almost screamed at the clueless girl as she yelled across to her (also hurt) friend in the gold.

"Allie-kun, get up, Ryu's hurt!"

"Yeah-no fuckin' shit, you clueless bitch!" Allie said, her eyes and jaw still clenched from the pain.

"Oh, Allie-kun, are you hurt too?" Inwardly Kage was beating herself up nonstop for talking like this. She knew both of them were hurt, had known it even before they had seen Karasu, known that they would get badly injured in this battle. Unfortunately, she had not seen that she would act this dorky – she might have been able to prevent it if she had. Still, she had started on this path, and since she had no more healing power left (stupid Jagan!) all she could really do was make herself look like an idiot, right?

Hiei finally got fed up. In an icy cold voice that sent shivers through the already defenseless teenage (?) girl, he said softly, "Shut up, unless you want me to remove your voice box and your head along with it."

She shrank into the tree, eyes wide.

Hiei turned to the Quest class demon. "Now, Karasu, time to finish this."

Ryu jumped up with surprising agility for a person who moments ago had been facedown on the floor with blood flowing out of her skull. "Hell, no, this is MY fight!"

"What the hell." – Hiei.

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Okiedokie so that's it, and here's the stupid cliffhanger: What will the Goth princess, gold foil girl, and ditzy doctor do this time to try to "Pull a Kurama" (slang for suicide)?

R&R, please, peoples!

-Kage