Chapter Five
The next morning, before training began, Yoru crept out of the temple with Tsuki at her side for another long run, in their full demon forms, through the forest. When they returned, several hours later then they had expected, they found the rest of the group standing on the front porch. Yusuke looked down at them as they approached with an almost angry look in his eyes.
"Where have you two cats been?" he said in an agitated tone
"We went for a run." Tsuki replied checking the watch she had "barrowed" from Hinote, "It's only 2:30 why are all of you up, training doesn't start for another hour?"
"We have a mission." Kurama said as he pushed himself off the beam he was leaning on.
"Well that's good for you; tell us how it went, later." Yoru yawned trying to push her way through the boys.
Before she could reach the door that lead to the inside of the temple she felt a firm hand on her shoulder and when she turned she saw Hiei's deep red eyes staring at her.
"You two are coming with us." He said with a small growl.
"You cannot be serious." Yoru whined.
"Oh, but we are." Hinote chimed in.
"Who are we fighting?" Tsuki asked.
"Some demon that spirit worlds has been after for a while. Supposedly him and his sister destroyed a demon lord's army about two hundred years ago plus destroyed several other villages. About fifty years after that they separated, the sister went off somewhere, but the brother continued to kill, mostly for the fun of it."
Tsuki's eyes went wide. Might this be the demon she was searching for, "What was the lord's name?"
Yusuke let out a small chuckle, "Hiei should remember him. He fought and killed him."
"It was the ice demon Seiryu." Hiei said without emotion
Both girls went ridged for a moment and gave each other a look of mutual understanding. Yoru silently removed Hiei's hand from her shoulder then proceeded to walk into the temple. Moments later she returned with her sword and Tsuki's bag of seeds. When they looked back at the group they were met with several strange looks mostly of mild curiosity.
"What? Are you just going to stand there all day or are we ganna go hunt demons?" Tsuki growled with a new kind of voice that the group had never heard from her before. Her voice seemed to have gone from a small, sad whisper to a vicious, bloodthirsty growl from the time they first mentioned the demon siblings.
"Um, sure, were going." Yusuke said with a small hint of sarcasm.
A couple hours later they arrived at their destination. In front of them stood an old, collapsing structure that was once the castle of the lord Seiryu and his army. The walls that were once as strong and unbreakable as any shield were now a crumbling mess of bricks and mortar. Vines covered the walls where the bricks had remained and small animals scurried back and forth from their hiding places as the group approached.
Tsuki and Yoru were both taken aback by what they saw before them. Tsuki silently placed her hand over her heart and Yoru had to grab her hand for support as they stared at what was once their home. Both could almost hear the hundreds of other demon soldiers that used to share this place with them. Tsuki silently pried Yoru's fingers from her hand, walked forward a few paces, bent down, and picked a small red and black flower that was growing between two stones. She gave a weary smile as she remembered that these were their favorite. With that she gave a glance to Yoru, who nodded her head in understanding, before leaping off into the woods.
"Whoa whoa whoa, is she aware that there is a demon out there that wants to kill us?" Yusuke said franticly
"She has her reasons." Yoru replied quietly
Not far off, Tsuki continued to run through the rubble of the fallen castle and through the thick brush of the forest until she came to a small grove about a mile from where she had left the group. It was surrounded on all sides by red leaved trees, and from their branches fell a rainbow of flowers that ranged in color from white, to a deep purple, to black. And under the one farthest from her laid three graves. Each was marked by a wreath of red roses, which had long since died, and a large white stone that read Kasha, Kekun, and Tenchi.
Slowly she stepped forward and placed the flower she had picked just beyond the gravestone of Kekun and allowed her spirit energy to flow through it causing it to grow into a beautiful bush of black and red flowers. She did the same thing to the two smaller graves by placing some of her own seeds in the loosely placed soil. Soon the air around the graves was perfumed by the flowers sweet odor. Tsuki sat back on her legs taking in the flowers sweet smell and the strange calm that seemed to flow through her.
"You always did have a soft spot for flowers." Said a calm, gentle voice behind her.
Tsuki spun around to see Toukon standing behind her. At least it looked like him, with his spiked shaggy hair, blue fighter pants, black shirt, and glittering hazel brown eyes. He gave her a small smile and wink before disappearing. She shook her head slightly and looked back again to see Kurama standing where Toukon once was.
"What are you doing here?" she replied with a small hint of shock
"You ran off so suddenly, is something wrong?" Kurama replied completely ignoring the question.
Tsuki gave a weary sigh in responses. For a split second there she had almost hoped that their ghosts had finally come for her. She turned back to the graves and thought for a moment. Could I possibly trust this demon enough to tell him my story? Would he tell the others? Well, guess I'll just have to leave it to faith. She turned back to Kurama intending to tell him her story, but stopped when she noticed another figure standing just beyond the ring of trees. She glanced at Kurama then swiftly back to the trees. He gave her a small nod before producing a red rose out of his spirit energy. Tsuki noticed their stalker twitch slightly and gave Kurama another glance telling him to look casual before attacking. Understanding her fully he knelt down beside her and offered her the rose. She pretended to look surprised at the jester but was unknowingly fishing some of her own seeds out of her pouch. She stretched out her hand as if to take the flower but at the last moment both she and Kurama turned in the demons direction, throwing an assortment of seeds and lashing out with a deadly looking rose whip. When the smoke from the exploding seeds settled they found no sign of the demon that was there.
"Still using the old tricks are we Tsuki?" said a maniacal almost evil voice to their right
Both turned to see the demon leaning against the nearest tree with his arms crossed. He was a reasonably tall demon with white hair that stuck up in peaks all around his head, a pair of black tipped dog ears, and a uniform almost identical to the one Toukon used to wear save for its red, rather then black, color. Tsuki eyed him for a moment opened mouthed, but when she looked into his eyes she let out a small gasp. She had seen those eyes far too many times in her nightmares; there cold brown surface and heartless black edges sent a creepy chill down her spin.
"What's wrong kitty cat? You look like you've just seen a ghost." The demon said in an airy tone
"Tsuki, do you know this…" Kurama began but was cut short as an immense wave of spirit energy hit him and he saw the intense look of fury in Tsuki's eyes.
This is it." Tsuki thought as she formed a long staff covered in thorns that could easily slice through the strongest material known to man, this is the demon I've been searching for, the one that killed my family and destroyed our home. I will not let him live!
She charged forward with all her speed and swung at their opponent, but he easily dodged before the blow could land. She looked around but saw no sign of him. Hearing a noise from behind she quickly turned, staff raised, to see the rest of the group scrambling through the brush.
"What the hell is going on here?" Hinote yelled as he struggled to detach himself from a tree branch
"Yeah, we felt someone's spirit energy going berserk all the way from the castle." Kuwabara grumbled picking himself off the ground
"It's nothing boys. All of you get out of her now, yes that means you too Yoru!" Tsuki said harshly as Yoru made to protest
"Oh, but why not let them stay. It might make thing interesting later on." Said the demons voice from atop Toukon's tombstone
"Get away from those!" Tsuki snarled showing a fair amount of fang
The demon gave a small, depressed sigh, "Still, even after all these years I can't believe that my brother decided to share his life with a weak minded, low class, pussy of a feline like you."
The group could feel Tsuki's rage increase every second that the demon stood on the tombstones. After another moment he stepped down from his perch only to move to the smaller grave marked "Kasha" and pluck an unopened flower from its branch. He stared at it slowly twirling it in his fingers. He gave another grin this time accompanied by an evil chuckle before turning back to the group.
"What also surprised me were the children. Honestly, I never thought it was possible for a dog and a cat demon to have children together. My hat is off to you for that." He made a small gesture as if to sweep a hat from his head before looking back at the flower, "Indeed, they were fine children with the agility and beauty of a cat but the keen senses and strength of a dog. They were indeed quiet strong if I remember and very brave coming after me themselves while their daddy defended the castle. There's another trait, also, that I must point out, stubbornness. I swear it took me twenty hits each before they fell and even then they didn't stop trying. It truly is a pity that such promised strength went to waste so early in life."
And with that the demon sent the flower ablaze in his hand. Tsuki couldn't take it any longer. She lunged at him determined to take his head off with one slash. But again he dodged her attack, except this time he didn't disappear. After dodging to her right the demon came up and managed to catch her in the stomach with his fist. A groan of pain escaped her but that didn't stop her from trying to force her staff through his chest. Again he jumped back and again she tried to hit him. After minuets of blind fighting she managed to regain enough coherent thought to surround him with death plant seeds and trip him to the ground. As she stood there over him a million thoughts flashed through her head and she didn't notice her own plan working against her. The seeds she had laid on the ground were reacting to the blood pouring from the cuts she had sustained during the fight.
"So is this it Tsuki? Are you going to kill me right here, in front of your friends and family graves?" The demon asked slowly reaching for the nearest death plant.
Tsuki forced him up by the front of his shirt so fast that she heard the air rush from his lungs, "I would do far worst then that to you. If I could I would skin you alive, lay you skin out to dry in the sun in plain sight, cut your throat open just deep enough to where I could control your wind pipe, then I'd amuse myself by controlling your breathing for awhile before going back and cutting your muscles away from you bones, only away from your bones, with a dulled throne head, and again I would amuse myself by controlling your heart beat, and finally after all the pain and suffering I had caused you, I would simply get up take your skin from the ground, burn it in front of you and walk away leaving you to hang there with the smell of your own decaying and burned flesh in the air."
"Well not to say that doesn't sound fun, but I have a better idea."
In a motion to fast for most of the group to see the demon forced a death seed deep into Tsuki's rib cage. Immediately the seed began to react first slowly draining her of her spirit powers then causing her muscles to spasm until she fell to the ground.
The pain that was issuing through her body was so great that she didn't notice the shadow that had flashed above her or the yells of her teammates as they tried to defeat their new demon opponent. She felt a strong pair of arms lift her from the ground and carry her away from the battle. She fought to object but her savior easily overpowered her. When they did stop they were far away from the battle and Tsuki was able to pick up the sent of rose in the air, telling her that her kidnapper/ savior was Kurama.
"I told you to leave, why didn't you listen?" She crocked out as he began trying to remove the plant from her.
"We're your friends Tsuki; don't ever think that we'd abandon you." He replied softly
Quickly finding what little strength she had left she pushed him away, back in the direction of the fight, "You have to help them. They'll die if they don't get out of there. The loss of one life is far less then the loss of five. Go, NOW!"
Through half closed, watery eyes she saw him give her a look of uncertainty before turning and zipping back to the battle site. Tsuki watch for a moment before leaning her head on a rock behind her. Her eyes began to glaze over and her body felt weak. She could hear a voice calling to her as her brain went fuzzy.
"Tsuki, Tsssssuki we're waiting for you." The voice said in a singsong kind of way
"Mommy are you finally coming home?" another smaller voice joined in
Tsuki blinked back the glaze and saw her family standing before her for the second time that day. She smiled slightly as she stared at them. Toukon standing there, looking just as strong as ever, holding their daughter, Kasha, on his shoulder, her long chestnut red hair blowing in the wind catching the sun that brought out the black tint in her cat ears and tail, her deep golden brown eyes seemed alive with happiness as she looked at her mother, and their son, Tenchi, hanging on his father's other arm like a monkey, his black hair still stuck up in small peaks around his head showing off his unusual white highlights but almost completely hiding his dog ears from view. His eyes seemed to hold the same happiness but underneath it was an understanding that what he hoped for may not come that day.
"I'm sorry everyone, I know I'm knocking on deaths door right now but I still have one more thing left to do, I'll be joining you soon though. Toukon before you go could you do me a favor?" Tsuki finished as her family turned to leave
"You want me to remove the death plant?" Toukon replied with a slight smirk and an "I thought you were stronger then that" look
"No, I'll live with the pain, could you do something with Tenchi's hair? I can't see his ears."
With a small look of shock both Toukon and Tenchi began to smooth down the front of his hair so that his mom could see his two white dog ears. Tsuki smiled as they finished and nodded in approval before blowing her family a kiss and watching them leave. As they disappeared from view she let her head fall back against the rock and her eyes close as the death plant wiggled its way deeper into her body.
Meanwhile, back at the fight scene the group was trying its best to hold its own against its new foe, but thing weren't going the way they had planned it. From the moment they jumped in they were shown no mercy from their adversary. Yusuke's spirit gun blast had been made worthless by their opponent's ability to reflect it back to its source and Kuwabara's spirit sword left nothing but a scratch even when he landed a direct blow. Hinote, after watching his teammates failed attempts at using their spirit powers, was forced to find an alternate means of causing damage. His solution, to reformat the readings of his bullets so that they worked off his demonic energy rather then spirit, wasn't nearly as affective as he'd hoped but it did manage to leave their opponent extremely pissed off and sending black fire balls in his direction. Yoru, in the beginning, had tried to counter their opponents fire ball with some of her own created from the death plants that Tsuki had left and her own demonic flame. But this only succeeded in irritating the demon and melting her sword when she tried to use it. Hiei's sword had proved to be the most effective, leaving their enemy with a large cut running down his left arm. But that was all the use they were able to get from it because it shattered as Hiei's blow landed. Now all the group could do was move about to avoid getting hit by the numerous black fireballs headed in their directions.
"What do we do now Urameshi? Everything we throw at him he throws right back." Kuwabara said as he scrambled to get out of the way of another volley of fireballs
"What ya looking at me for, do I look any better off then the rest of you?" Yusuke retorted dodging the fireballs and landing next to Kuwabara in a cloud of dust
As they crouched ready for the next attack they were surprised to see their opponent surrounded by a spinning cloud of red dust. His eyes were wide but still calm as he confronted this new challenge in his battle. But as he moved to touch the swirling mass he found it to be as sharp as Hiei's sword had been and within moments his hands were bleeding where they had been cut to the bone.
"Hurry, gather the other and we'll head back to Genkai's temple." Said an urgent voice just behind Kuwabara and Yusuke
They turned to see Kurama standing behind them seemingly controlling the swirl of dust, which the boys now knew to be rose petals.
"Where's Tsuki?" Yoru said climbing down from a tree to the boys left.
"She's safe for the moment, now, get the others."
Yusuke quickly did as he was told and found Hinote and Hiei hiding, much to Hiei's displease, amongst the bushes nearby. They regrouped back where Kurama stood with his whirlpool of rose petals still preventing their enemy from attacking. As soon as he dropped this defense the entire group turned and made a run back to the portal with Yusuke in the lead and Yoru bringing up the rear. About half way through the forest Kurama turned and ran into a thick bunch of bushes and trees. When Yoru noticed this she also turned from the rest of the group and followed his scent until she came to a small clearing amongst the trees. Once there she lost track of his scent but noticed a small indentation in the grass when a body had once lain. She felt the area and found the grasses to still be warm and as she looked closer she saw markings in the grass nearby she noticed a few droplets of blood and figured that this was where Kurama had left Tsuki. Standing up again she began to follow his trail but soon stopped when she felt an all too familiar demonic presence in the air. Turning fast she saw the same demon they had been fighting minuets ago standing in a tree not ten feet from her. Quickly she drew her dagger from its scabbard on her back ready to defend herself even if she knew it was pointless.
"You haven't changed much either have you Yoru?" the demon said with a small laugh
"What the hell do you want Okune? Haven't you caused both her and me enough pain?" Yoru retorted shaking slightly
"Aw, and here I was hoping for a happy reunion."
"How could you even think that after what you and your sister did to us? Did you actually think you'd have a warm welcome?"
"No I didn't but, hey, can't say I didn't try. Actually the reason I returned is because my employer has shown a particular interest in you two and would like to offer you a proposition."
"And what might that be?"
"When you think you are truly ready to hear come to the castle of ice and fire in the Far East I'll be waiting there to escort you to my lord."
"And may I ask this lords name before you leave?"
"He is the demon lord Cho."
And with those final words Okune vanished into the forest leaving Yoru to find her own way back to her friends.