The team gathered around me happily, offering help and congratulations but I ignored them all, instead dragging myself back over to Kyoshi's body. I let out a small sob as I stared at him. He was just a boy and seeing him like this, I noticed he was only a few years older than me, appearing to be around eighteen as I looked fifteen.
I took the sword in my hand and closed my eyes for a moment before opening them to look back at him. Taking a shaky breath and aware that all were watching me, I swung the blade, piercing his skin. A purple flash illuminated the stadium and blinded most but I ignored it, staring intently at Kyoshi. After a few moments there was still no reaction and I bowed my head in defeat, letting the tears fall openly as I sheathed the sword. It hung painfully at my waist but I ignored it in my grief.
I jumped as familiar strong arms embraced me from the front and looked up in shock as I was released again. Kyoshi sat on his knees in front of me, smiling broadly. "Where would I be without you?" He asked teasingly.
"Well you wouldn't have died in the first place!" I whimpered as I hugged him too, ignoring the pain it brought. "I thought it hadn't worked…"
He laughed as he wiped my tears away. "Well it did so please love, no crying alright?"
I nodded softly and smiled before suddenly falling forward. Kyoshi jumped and caught me, gently holding me in his arms. He looked me over and sighed sadly at the damage he had caused. Almost the entire right side of my body except my legs and face were burning and singed, still lightly smoking. My shirt on the right was shredded almost to nothing, revealing a scorched sports bra underneath. He blushed slightly as he saw and moved on. My left shoulder was bleeding rapidly from the dagger I had just ripped out. My cheek was still bleeding lightly as I hadn't bothered healing it earlier when I instead focused on the heavy wounds. The legs of the pants I wore were shredded as well and my left hand was still dribbling blood from either side. It was from where he had stabbed through me with his dagger. I had healed it inside but not totally on the surface. Lastly there were two slightly bleeding holes in my back from which the wings had sprouted from and my entire shirt was dyed red.
Next he looked down at himself and bowed his head guiltily. All damage he had taken had healed upon his being revived by my sword. The only signs of a fight he retained were the rags of a shirt that hung limply about him.
He stood, lifting me into his arms and faced my teammates. "Well, congrats on your win." He began cheerily but grew serious under their glares as they watched him warily unsure of what he'd do with me. "She needs immediate medical attention obviously so someone should get on that. Also, you need to go rescue your friends before someone grows desperate and hurts them."
With a start, Yusuke and Kuwabara raced off up the stairs to the top box seats and busted straight through the glass, greatly startling the people inside as they searched for Keiko and Shizuru.
Meanwhile Kurama, Botan, Yukina, and Hiei stayed watching Kyoshi who was holding me bridal style still. He steadily met their glares. "I'm not going to hurt her. You think I would after she brought me back to life? Obviously that's also a sign she doesn't want you to go killing me again." He pointed out, particularly to Hiei who appeared ready to spring. "But I am staying with her until she's fully healed." He stared at the three unblinking and none challenged his proposal.
There was a soft thump and all turned to see Shiru the cat demon landing beside Kyoshi. He glared at the boy and approached, gently sweeping the hair from my face. "How could you do this to her?" He spat.
Kyoshi started in surprise. "Well uh…"
"She's so gentle… Do you have any idea how hard that must've been for her? Especially after the guilt of killing. That's probably the only reason you're still alive! And she hates hurting so much…"
"Well you must've missed her second fight!" Kyoshi growled back.
"That was an act of rage." Shiru stated simply. "He insulted her family, what would you have done?"
Kyoshi took a deep breath and turned to him. "You know there must be no hard feelings since she did bring me back to life before even considering healing herself."
"It was guilt driving her." Shiru muttered, his eyes flashing.
My ear twitched as I listened to their conversation. "That's enough Shiru, it's alright. I've forgiven him. I realize it was a fight and neither of us had much choice." I whispered with much difficulty before quieting again.
Meanwhile Kurama, Hiei, Botan, and Yukinastood off to the side watching in total confusion. None of them knew about Shiru's visit at our hotel room and had only seen me and him fight so they considered us to be enemies.
A few minutes later and Yusuke and Kuwabara came strolling back with Keiko and Shizuru trailing behind. Both looked fine and though maybe a little pale, no physical damage could be seen.
I manage to smile at them both before passing out fully in Kyoshi's arms. He shifted me in his grasp and approached my team. "Where can we tend to her here?" He asked firmly.
Yukina stepped timidly forward. "If you'd put her down…" she started and Kyoshi immediately did so. Yukina crouched to her knees as I lay flat on my back and looked me over with a hurting face, deciding where to start healing first. She noted I was growing paler than usual and started with the deep dagger wound to my shoulder. She placed her hands on it, instantly dying them red with blood, and I winced in my sleep at the touch. She pulled back sharply at my reaction and a tear slid from her cheek, hitting the ground as a perfect jewel. It bounced and rolled a few feet to Kyoshi who was crouching on my other side. He picked it up and fingered it curiously as Yukina placed her hands on my heavily bleeding shoulder once more. She closed her eyes and I felt sudden warmth as I began to heal. The blood slowed to a swift trickle as the wound healed partly before Yukina suddenly wobbled where she sat. She caught herself and placed a hand to her head. "That was a deep wound almost through to her back. I don't have enough practice to heal her…" she said regretfully as she backed away.
Kyoshi placed a hand to my forehead. "She's got a fever." He said suddenly. "And she's very pale, even for her." He pulled his hand away and wiped away the cold sweat that he had gathered accidentally from my forehead.
Botan was at my side in an instant, a first aid kit in hand as she felt my head too. "Prop her up!" She commanded and Kyoshi quickly obeyed, sitting me up and supporting me with his arms. Botan opened the kit and pulled out a long strip of gauze. She quickly wrapped it around my chest, shoulder, waist and right arm, covering all the burn marks and slowing the blood flow from my shoulder. I groaned slightly as she touched my injuries but she continued her work. Next she took my left hand and wrapped it tightly with the bandages, placing a real band aid across my cheek. She crawled behind me and started to lift my shirt, pausing as she saw the boys all staring. "Oh please, I've already covered her chest with the bandages!" she exclaimed before slipping it off, though it was more like ripping it off since the fabric was shredded anyway. She added another layer of gauze that wound its way around the base of the wings and added to my shoulder where the blood was already leaking through.
Now that my shirt was off, everyone could clearly see the wings though Kyoshi showed the greatest interest. They looked like they had been there all my life they fit so perfectly, except for the fact that they were surrounded by blood that had almost totally coated my back, causing it to gleam red with the still wet substance. The wings themselves curved elegantly towards the sky from my shoulder blades as if reaching out, longing to be up there. From the great arching tips branched pure black feathers that draped down over and around me, blocking the light somewhat, causing it to send shaded patterns across my back. They seemed reluctant to touch the ground and if I teetered back they'd lift automatically into the air to keep from touching. I winced each time this happened, as their moving hurt my torn skin and Kyoshi would see and quickly straighten me again.
Botan nodded at him to pick me up again and he took me gently back into his arms, fully bandaged. He blushed slightly as I wore no shirt now and he didn't have much experience with girls having spent a large partof his life training. Though I was mostly coated in bandages, he still noted much skin contact. Shaking it off, he crossed to Yukina and slipped the jewel into her hand, closing her fingers around it gently as he smiled at her. She smiled sadly back and Botan stepped forward, interrupting to take command. "Ok, we have to get her off this island quickly. She seems to have gotten a fever. Now march!" She ordered as she pushed us all swiftly from the ring.
We dodged the demons that still stood around, discussing the last fight. Their eyes would widen as they saw Kyoshi and Shiru with us and would start calling them demon traitors. Then they would shut up at one glance from Kyoshi's glare.
We quickly exited the arena and made one fast stop at our hotel rooms. All of our stuff was gathered and we headed to the waiting boat. The captain greeted us uneasily but as he saw how impatient we seemed, he swiftly started the ship moving and we left the morbid island.
We had only spent one week there and I had slept through a lot of it, but as my eyes fluttered open in time to see it fade into the distance I managed one quick smile before falling back into unconsciousness.
Everyone spent most of the ride in our room, tending to me as I lay whimpering in an uncomfortable sleep filled with nightmares and pain. I trembled at night from a chill only I felt and burned during the day from some personal heat wave.
Finally we landed back on land at the familiar forest and all piled off. Shiru wasn't with us anymore and had returned with his tribe to demon world. He had given me a small dagger made from a material found only in his home that he had tied around my neck and had wished me good luck before parting with a soft kiss to my forehead.
Thinking of me, Kurama had takenShiru's picture before he departed.
Now Kyoshi left the boat, holding me tightly to him with Botan, Yukina, Kurama, Yusuke, Keiko, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Shizuru right behind. Suddenly I erupted into a new wave of yelps and whimpers as Kyoshi held me frantically. "What's wrong?" He screamed, setting me down so Botan could see.
My body began to glow with a soft light that grew quickly brighter until it was blinding. When it cleared I was a human, my claws, fangs, markings, ears and tail all gone though the wings remained. My eyes were an ice blue and my hair shimmering silver as I lay crying softly. It had hurt badly enough before but now with sensitive human's skin again the pain was overwhelming.
Botan looked from my heavily breathing body to the dark sky above and scanned it for a moment. "It's the night of the new moon." She announced grimly.
"So what?" Kyoshi demanded.
Botan shook her head. "Since she is a half demon she turns fully human for part of the night of the new moon."
Kurama crouched beside me as well and gently moved my hair from my face. I whimpered at the touch and he sighed. "Well since we're off the ship we can teleport to her house." He pointed out.
They quickly explained to Kyoshi what that meant as he picked me back up. Kurama adjusted the watch and took my hand as everyone else took hold of him themselves. He pressed a button and with a sudden flurry of wind, we were gone leaving the forest empty behind us.
We appeared again standing in the grass in front of my house and Kurama led the uneasy Kyoshi to the door as the rest trailed behind. Kyoshi had never experienced humans before besides just seeing Yusuke and Kuwabara in the tournament yet now suddenly he was holding one protectively and entering her home. The whole idea made him uneasy as he had been taught to hate them for most of his life.
He was jolted from his thoughts by the shrieks of a woman as she ran towards him. Instinctively he took a step back and held me tighter causing my whimpering to increase. He quickly relaxed as the woman was identified as my mom and allowed her to see me. She peered at me with watering eyes and led the way to my room where Kyoshi set me gently on the bed. Despite the cold sweat covering my face, I shivered violently and the sheets were draped gently over me. With one last yelp my eyes dropped close and I was out cold.
