Hey all. Like I said last time, this one's a bit of a doozy for Restami, Rose and Gaea. Not much to say really. Just that the story is almost over. I hate that. Anyways, when you're done please review. Flames will be used to make s'mores!!
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"Daddy, Daddy," Koru and Ryuu yelled as they ran up to Kurama, "Come quick. We caught something big!"
"Where is Yusuke? He is supposed to be watching you two," Kurama said, turning from his plants to gaze down at his sons.
"We left him while we were watching Dad train Aunt Rose," Ryuu said, "One of our traps went off and we went to see what we had caught."
"Next time get one of us to go with you," Kurama said as he let his sons drag him off, "Where is it at?"
"It's near the clearing where Dad trains. Nobody realized that something was over there, Daddy," Koru said excitedly as he continued to pull on Kurama's hand.
As they passed near the clearing, Kurama sent to Hiei, 'Dragon, you might want to stop your training and follow us. The boys said they caught something big.'
'We're right behind you, Fox,' Hiei sent back.
By the time Kurama reached the clearing, Yusuke, Hiei, and Rose were waiting for him. They all looked to where the boys were pointing and found Roufa entangled in their vine trap. When Roufa saw that Rose was with them she paled and struggled harder to free herself. Noticing her reaction, Rose said calmly, "Struggling makes it even worse, if you haven't figured it out yet."
"Do you know her, Rose," Yusuke asked curiously.
"Nope. Never seen her before but I'm pretty sure I know where she's from," she answered, walking towards the captive with her katana drawn.
"Where," he asked moving up behind her.
"Restami sent her to watch us and to try and get me and take me to him. Isn't that right," Rose said tapping the point of her blade on the woman's shoulder.
"How do you know my master's name," Roufa asked surprised.
"Hellooo. I'm the last daughter of the Lady Gaea," Rose said, "You don't think she'd send me into battle with the bastard without the details, do you?"
"But that's not important," Rose said, not giving Roufa a chance to speak, "What is important is where Restami is hiding."
"I will never tell you that," Roufa spat.
"Tell me, did you see the statue that we sent to your master," Rose asked and at her nod, "How would you like to be a statue that's even worse than that, hmm?"
"Hold on a moment, Rose," Yusuke said, laying a hand on her shoulder, "There's no need to be so harsh. I'm sure she'll tell us if we ask nice enough. Besides, you've go the kids to think about."
"She won't do that, Yusuke," Rose said, turning to face him, "Besides, they were present for the first, I'm sure they can handle this one."
"She's right, Yusuke," Kurama said from where he was standing with the boys who were watching avidly, "They're not like the kids you're used to. They are demons after all."
"Besides, she couldn't tell you even if she wanted to, Rose," Hiei said casually from his position near his family, "It's a spell where she knows but if she tells anyone without the caster's permission, she dies slowly from the inside out."
"Which means the caster is probably Restami himself," Rose said with a sigh, "But we still can't let her go. She's just going to try and fulfill his orders again."
"What should we do with her, then," Yusuke asked, his thumb rubbing back and forth on her shoulder, without him noticing but Kurama and Hiei did.
"I think we should send another message to Restami," Hiei said, "Do you know where the other one was sent?"
"No, but I can find out," Rose said closing her eyes and dipping a hand into one of her pouches.
'Hello, my dear. Is there anything wrong,' Lady Gaea's voice rang through Rose's head.
'Greetings, Lady Gaea. I'm afraid there is. It seems that Restami didn't believe us and sent another after us,' Rose answered in her head, her hand caressing a blue and purple stone.
'I take it there is only one, then.'
'Yes. She is by herself.'
'She? Ah, it must be Roufa.'
'Roufa?'
'Yes, she was one of my daughters long before you were born. She was seduced by Restami's promises and joined him in his banishment. Do you mind if I speak with her for a moment?'
'Not at all, Lady Gaea,' Rose said opening her eyes and looking at Roufa.
Roufa noticed that Lady Gaea was present and started shaking. Yusuke noticed her reaction and asked, "Is everything all right, Rose?"
"She's fine, Yusuke. I'm just borrowing her body for a bit," Lady Gaea said without looking at him, "Greetings, Roufa, daughter of Elsa."
"Greetings, most holy mother, Lady Gaea," Roufa said still shaking, though her voice was firm.
"You have been gone for a long time. Do you wish to return? You were never banished, my dear. I had no quarrel with you."
"I am content, Lady Gaea," Roufa said head bowed.
"Very well. DO you still wish to harm my last daughter, then, by continuing to follow his orders?"
"I would never harm you daughter, Lady Gaea, but I have no other choice. If one of the males in this clearing would end my life, I would be most grateful," she said, her head still bowed.
"A moment, Hiei," Lady Gaea said as Hiei started drawing his katana, "Tell me, Roufa, daughter of Else, what did you think I meant by home?"
"Where the rest of your children reside, Lady Gaea," Roufa said, raising her head curiously.
"My dear, Rose is the last of my children. When I said home, I meant for you to be with your family again."
"But, they are…."
"Yes, that is exactly what I meant."
"Please, Lady Gaea. I miss them so much," Roufa said, tears streaming sown her face as she looked at her with pleading eyes.
"As you wish," Lady Gaea said taking Roufa's face into her hands and starting a chant.
A few moments later, the chanting stopped and with a flash of light, Roufa disappeared. The vines she had been encased in dropped to the ground with a thud. With a grin and a wink at Yusuke, Lady Gaea left and Rose blinked before saying, "You guys look a little confused. Care to fill me in?"
"Uh, sure, I guess," Yusuke said, staring at the spot Roufa had disappeared from, "Lady Gaea just sent Roufa, the girl we had captured to her family, who I'm assuming are dead. Is that even possible?"
"So that's what she meant," Rose said softly, before saying louder, "Yes. Lady Gaea can do that. She is a goddess after all."
"Oh," Yusuke said as they all left the clearing.
On the walk back to the other clearing, Yusuke suddenly smacked his forehead and said, "Dammit! We still don't know where Restami's castle is."
"Lady Gaea mentioned that," Rose said, "I'll have to look at a map later, if you have one. Lady Gaea gave me an image of where it is on a map."
"Certainly," Kurama said, taking Koru and Ryuu to one side of the clearing to work on their plant skills.
"Now let's get back to our training, shall we," Rose said to Hiei as she held her katana in a defensive position.
"With pleasure," Hiei smirked, bringing his own katana to bear.
"Aah," yelled a voice just before a resounding crash was heard behind an oak door.
Outside the servants of the castle heard the noise and moved even quieter as they did their duties. Behind the closed doors Restami could be found trashing his quarters.
'How could this have happened! I planned for everything. There is no way that bitch could have had anything to do with this,' Restami thought as he paced his now ruined bedroom, 'I made sure Roufa couldn't go anywhere without my knowledge. The only place I can't know about is The Realm of the Dead. She's there but how? She didn't kill herself, she was to at peace for suicide. Only Gaea could have sent her to her family. But I could have sworn that Gaea had banished her along with me all those centuries ago.'
After a few more paces Restami looked around his room and grimaced at the damage he had done. Not wanting to deal with the servants, he waved his hand and everything was back to its original condition and place. Satisfied, he sat down in his favorite chair and rested a chin on one fist.
'It seems that Gaea is taking a personal interest in this. How can I turn this my way? Let's think about this. What do we know? She's very protective of her family. Hurt any of them and I know she'll get her revenge for that. It's safe to bet that she'll have a grudge. Can I use that against her? If I can get her mad enough, I could. But I'm not going to her. She can come to me. Now how do I get her here? I need a trap. None of my subordinates can handle this task. I'll have to do it myself then. To get her here, I need to take something precious to her. If she's anything like Gaea, that means family. Those brats should do it. I need to get those brats here without a lot of fuss. The question now is do I want them to see me take them or not,' he thought, staring off into space.
Koru and Ryuu were playing and practicing there skills in the clearing while their parents were training with Yusuke and Rose. Even though the adults were busy they were still aware of what the two boys were doing and would stop what they were doing to correct a move or technique. Restami took note of this from his position amongst the trees closest to the two boys.
After a few minutes, he walked calmly through the trees and grabbed each boy by the back of their necks. Both cried out which caused all four adults to stop and look over.
"Unhand them," Hiei growled making a move towards them.
"Ah-ah, my dear friend. You wouldn't want me to accidentally poison them, do you," Restami said with an evil smile as he gestured with a finger on each hand, showing off the poison tipped fingernail that was pressed into their necks.
"What do you want, Restami," Rose asked as Yusuke and Kurama restrained Hiei.
"Ah, my dear Rose speaks. I'm disappointed in you. I would've thought that it would be you they were restraining," he said with a dramatic sigh.
"Oh, don't worry, Restami. I'm just as pissed off as Hiei is. I just happen to know that you have something twisted planned, that's all. Now what do you want," Rose said, crossing her arms as her eyes started bleeding red.
"You're spoiling my fun. Oh well," he said with a shrug, "I've decided to put an end to my game. You are all invited to my castle, where you can get the boys back if you win. Otherwise, you'll lose them and yourself to me, Rose. You can bring them with you if you want. I doubt that they'd be much help, though."
And with that Restami sank into the earth with Ryuu and Koru.
"We are going with you, Rose. No arguments," Kurama said coldly.
"Wasn't about to, Kurama. You still have that map," Rose asked as she left the clearing and headed towards the house.
"Yes," Kurama said following her with Hiei and Yusuke bringing up the rear.
"Good. If there's anything you need, you'd better get it now, because after I look at that map, we're leaving," rose said as she entered the house.
"Here you go," Kurama said placing the map on the table, "While you're looking at that I'll get my seeds."
Unrolling the map and placing weights on the corners, Rose leaned over and searched the map for the spot that Gaea had shown her.
"Found it," Rose said a few moments later as Kurama entered the room, "It's not far from here either."
"How far," Yusuke asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Its right here," she answered pointing to a spot that was about an inch from where they were.
"Holy shit," Yusuke said, eyes widening, "How could we not have known about this?"
"He's really good at hiding, Yusuke," Rose said, as she checked her weapons.
"We checked the area out before we moved here, Rose," Kurama said, "We didn't see a thing."
"He's had ten centuries to perfect his skills, Kurama," Rose said as she started out the door.
"It doesn't matter how long he's had to perfect his skills. He will die," Hiei said with hatred clearly burning in his eyes.
The others seemed to agree as they followed Rose out of the house and silently made their way to Restami's castle.
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Damn, Restami's being a pain in the ass. Oh, well, he gets it next time. Only two more chapters to go and then it'll be over. Tell me what you think and I'm sure that the next one that I write will be better!