SIM: Chapter 15!!! Boo ya! Kuwabara, will you do the honors?
Kuwabara: Shadow Ice Maiden owns nothing.
SIM: Thank you. On with the chapter.
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"HIEI JAGANSHI! YOU BIG JERK!!!" Hikari's voice could be heard shouting.
"OH, I'M A JERK! GO AHEAD. PIN IT ON ME YOU BAKA ONNA!"
"HEY! DON'T YELL AT MY SISTER!"
"STAY OUT OF THIS HIDEKI!"
"DON'T YELL AT MY BROTHER!"
"OH, NOW YOU GUYS ARE TAG TEAMING ME! WELL FINE! I DON'T NEED TO STAY HERE!" Aya and Kurama came down the stairs just in time to see Hiei flit away and Hikari and Hideki standing in the middle of the room with Ami off to the side, attempting to stay out of the way of the raging siblings. Hikari looked on the brink of tears. After about thirty seconds she turned and raced upstairs to her room and Hideki walked back to his room. Aya and Kurama exchanged glances again.
"I'll go find out what happened from Ami. You go try to calm Hideki down, okay?" Aya said. Kurama responded with a nod before turning and walking to the boy's quarters. Aya walked over to Ami, who seemed slightly shaken up.
"Okay, what happened here?" Aya said in a soft voice.
"I don't really know really. I was down here with Hideki, grabbing a snack when Hikari just ran down the stairs with Hiei on her heels yelling at her about something. Hikari called him a jerk, he yelled back, and then Hideki told him not to talk to Hikari like that. I think you guys heard the rest. Then Hikari started fighting with Hideki through telepathy and they both stormed off." Ami explained.
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Kurama trudged towards Hideki's room. He really didn't want to talk to him right now because he was pretty sure he was going to get yelled at. He knocked on Hideki's door and it was soon answered by a very annoyed boy.
"Yes." He asked icily.
"What was that all about?" Kurama asked, wincing slightly at Hideki's tone of voice.
"I don't know! Hiei and Hikari just came down yelling at each other. I told Hiei not to yell at my sister and he snapped at me and then Hikari starts chewing me out for butting in her business. But, whatever happened must've been big, because I've never seen Hikari so close to tears like that."
"But, you don't know what happened to make them fight like that?"
"Didn't I just say that? Kurama, could you just leave me alone for a while? I really need to calm myself down."
"Of course." Kurama relied and turned to walk away.
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"Well, I guess I should go talk to Hikari then…" Aya said. She turned and walked up the stairs to Hikari's room. She knocked on the door before calling, "Hikari, sweety, it's Aya. Open up." The door opened and Aya came in. Hikari was on her bed crying.
"Hikari, what happened?" Aya asked with concern written plainly across her face. Hikari never cries like this. What could've happened? She asked herself.
"I-I d-don't really know. W-we w-were t-talking and somehow we got on the s-subject of how we don't really talk anymore, a-and then w-we g-got on the s-subject of how he never really shows that he cares. He got mad at me and we started fighting and then he just left." She explained, but as she finished, she took in a sharp breath, "Oh my god, Aya, what if he left the house? Tadashi's group could find him? He can't fend them all off!" Aya realized this too.
"KURAMA!!!" she yelled and he came running up the stairs.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, panicked.
"Hiei left the house! Tadashi's going to find him! We need to get out there and help him. Get the others and meet me in the living room.
5 minutes later
"What's this all about?" Yusuke asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Long story short, Hiei and Hikari got into a fight and Hiei left the house. Now we have to find him before Tadashi's group does. Shishi, Jin, and Touya, you guys take the East half of the forest. Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara will take the west. Hideki, Ami, and Hikari will take the North. Everyone else will stay here." Aya explained quickly.
"Hey! Why do I have to stay here? I can help look for him!" Rinku exclaimed indignantly.
"Because if Tadashi's group decides to attack the house while everyone else is looking for Hiei, we'll need you, Chuu, Suzuka, Shihira, and Genkai to help fend them off. I'll help too, but my ability to help is limited." Aya replied.
"Okay people. We're wasting time. Let's go." Yusuke yelled.
-Meanwhile, in the forest with Hiei-
Hiei was sitting in a tall tree, wallowing in self pity. Who's the baka now? I can't believe how stupid I am. He thought to himself. Just then, a shuriken whizzed past his face and imbedded itself in the trunk of the tree.
"Who's there?" Hiei called.
"Hehehe, I can't believe you left the safety of your little house." said a low class demon, obviously part of Tadashi's group. More and more of these demons emerged from the shadows. Hiei drew his katana and sunk into a fighting stance. He killed one and then another, but they seemed endless. He kept killing them, but there were too many. At last, panting heavily, he took out the last one… or so he thought. A demon behind him went to bring down a sword into his back, but a ball of fire incinerated it before he had the chance. Hiei turned around to see a panting Hikari, with tear stains on her cheeks running towards him. He barely had any time to react because within seconds she threw her arms around him and tackled him to the ground.
"Goddamnit Hiei! You scared the hell out of us." Ami exclaimed as she and Hideki ran up to them, "We thought for sure you'd be killed by Tadashi's people.
"I'm not that weak. You people have no faith." He replied as he sat up with Hikari still attached to him.
"Sorry dude, for going off on you like that. It really wasn't any of my business." Hideki apologized earning him a smirk and nod. Hikari gasped at that and everyone turned to see her sitting up and looking around at everyone.
"Shit," she mumbled.
"What?" Hideki asked, confusion written bluntly on his face.
"In Aya's first vision, the four of us were alone together." She replied making everyone glance at each other.
"But in the vision we were in a dark room!" Ami rationalized attempting to hide the panic on her face, and failing miserably.
"Yeah, but dark rooms can represent settings that have yet to be decided. Why didn't we think of this before?" Hideki replied, hitting himself on the head.
"We need to get back now. Hiei and Hikari, you guys relay the message to everyone to stay together and get back to the house as soon as possible.
-With Kurama's group-
Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were walking along in the forest when Kurama stopped.
Kurama? Can you hear me? Hiei's voice came in his mind.
Loud and clear. Where are you? Kurama replied.
Don't worry, Hikari's group found me, but that's the problem. Hikari thinks Aya's first premonition is coming true. Just stay with the fool and detective and get them back to the house as soon as possible, okay?
Understood, Kurama broke the connection and turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara.
"They found Hiei, we've got to get back to the house now." Kurama said and turned to go back with the two on his heels. Unfortunately, the demons who were watching them had a different idea. A kunai flew by where Kurama's head would have been, had he not seen it coming and dodged. He pulled out a rose and quickly transformed it into his rose whip. Kuwabara pulled out his sword and Yusuke dropped into a fighting stance. The demons, much like the ones that attacked Hiei, came out of the shadows and started attacking them. Working together, the three easily took care of all of the demons, but as one bled to death, he said something that froze Kurama in place.
"Yes, celebrate your victory over us, but know that we were only a distraction. No matter how fast you run you will never reach the house in time." And then he died.
"Shit," Yusuke muttered before the three of them turned and bolted towards the house.
-At the house-
"Something's coming." Aya said, breaking an awkward silence that had been hanging over the house since everyone left.
"What?" Keiko asked.
"Demons, and a lot of them." Aya replied, "Yukina, Keiko, Atsuko, Koenma, Botan, and Shizuru, get down into the basement now."
"But what about you?" Keiko asked.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Aya replied with an expression that said, 'just go' and Keiko obliged. They all went downstairs into the basement.
"What do we do no- eep" the rest of Shihira's sentence was cut off by a kunai narrowly missing her face. It imbedded itself in what was just past her, on the couch… her Invader Zim plushie, "Nooooo!!!! Zimmy!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" she screamed as she cradled the plushie that had stuffing coming out of it.
"Uh oh. You really shouldn't have done that." Aya remarked as demons filed in through, doors, windows, chimneys, and basically every other opening in the house. Shihira turned on them in an instant, her eyes burning red.
"You are dead." As she said this, fire erupted all around her and a sword made of that fire appeared in her hands. She cut down every demon and burned the rest in under a minute. Bodies littered the floor and blood stained the carpet. Everyone just looked at her with wide-eyes, sweat-dropping.
"Well that was a brilliant show." A dark voice said from the doorway making Aya freeze and begin trembling, "Aya, dear, it's been far too long."
"Not nearly long enough, Tadashi." She replied with as much venom as she could muster.
"Oh don't be that way. I see your little fox boy isn't here to protect you. Unless you want him to get hurt, I suggest you come with me now." Aya gasped as he said this.
He has Kurama! She thought desperately.
"Tornado Fist!" "Shards of winter!" "Spirit gun!" "Sword get longer!" the attacks were called out and hit Tadashi head on. As the smoke cleared, Tadashi was standing, unscathed, with a navy blue bubble surrounding him. Jin, Touya, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Suzuka, Rinku, Chuu, Shishi, Genkai, Hikari, Hiei, Ami, Shihira, and Hideki stood protectively in front of Aya. Tadashi chuckled.
"So you made it back in time. Aya, I'll give you three days to decide. If you want to save him, I suggest you come to meet me, alone, at my castle." Tadashi said this, and then vanished.
"What did he mean by that?" Hiei asked.
"He has Kurama." Aya answered, nearly inaudibly, before she fell to her knees and sobbed.
"How'd that happen? You guys were with him!" Hikari exclaimed, directing her anger at Yusuke and Kuwabara. They hung their heads.
"We were ambushed in the forest. When it was over, Kurama was gone. We hoped he just went ahead because he was worried about Aya." Kuwabara explained.
"Damn it," Hideki muttered.
-With Kurama-
Kurama awoke to find he was chained to a wall with his hands above his head.
Where am I? he thought.
"Ah, so sleeping beauty wakes." A cold voice speaks from a shadowed corner.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Kurama asked harshly.
"I'm Kosuke and you're in Tadashi's dungeon." The voice said.
"Great…" Kurama mumbled sarcastically.
"You do realize you're bait to lure in the girl, right?"
"Yeah, I figured that much out."
The door opened to reveal Tadashi walking towards Kurama.
"I hope you're comfortable fox. You'll be here a while. And then you'll either watch her succumb to me or die. Then you'll die. Doesn't that sound fun?" He hissed.
"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. You haven't changed." Kurama muttered. Tadashi kicked him in the stomach.
"You're one to talk, fox. Contrary to your belief, much has changed in both of us in this past millennia. It was long enough for you to become soft. And it was long enough for me to become as strong as you once were." As Tadashi said this, he turned on his heel and left.
-With the others-
"Out of the question!" Koenma exclaimed.
"But, he's got Kurama! He's going to kill him!" Aya replied with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"It's a trap you dolt! That's what he wants you to do!" Hikari exclaimed.
"But what about the fox? We can't just leave him." Touya remarked.
"We'll have to make a plan. Go in to this with a strategy. Not just charging blindly forward and getting killed!" Koenma replied.
"Kurama's the one who always makes the plans. We don't have time to play it safe. Tadashi gave her three days to decide, but who knows if he'll wait till then to kill Kurama." Yusuke added.
"No. He won't kill Kurama yet. He wants to either kill Aya in front of him or make him watch Aya succumb to him and then make her watch him die." Ami rationalized.
"How do you know?" Hiei asked.
"I felt it when he was here. Empathy is a nice power to have at times like this." Ami explained, "So here's what we do…"
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SIM: I'll just stop right there. Just cuz I'm nice. Oh yeah! We're heading in to the home stretch! I'm excited!
Kurama: Why did I get kidnapped?
SIM: -snickers- You'll see…
Hiei: I have a bad feeling about this.
SIM: You should.
Aya: -sigh- Leave reviews people but don't flame please.