"Talking"
"Thinking"
-Telepathisis-
Flashback

-x-x-x-x-
Chapter Fourteen
Rescue, Blood-And it All Comes to a Head

I sigh and duck under the bleachers. I have no interest in this pathetic attempt at exercise they call "gym". The most we do is run for ten minutes-you call that exercise? I call that a warm up...and a lame one at that.

I peek out and hurriedly fling my hands out in front of me; I barely manage to stop the basketball from smacking me in the face.

"If I gotta do this, so do you." Kurai states.

I grumble, but exit my hollow. "Well, what are we supposed to do?"

She stares. "...you've never played basketball?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."

That wins me a slight grin. "True. I know you hate stupid questions." I then spend the rest of the lesson being taught how to 'shoot' a basketball.

...why do they call it shooting if all I'm doing is throwing it at a metal hoop?

0x0x0x0

"Just one?" Coos a seductive voice. "Ah, how foolish you young ones are..."

Both remain silent, keeping their eyes trained on the nine vampires emerging from various areas, as well as the one that just addressed them.

"You're not running?" The voice goes from seductive to filled with disbelief. "Then so be it. Attack!"

The first two are easily dispatched; they are the slowest and therefore newest members of the colony. The remaining seven, however, are smarter-they attack all at once.

Artemis beheads one, ending it, but the other six overcome Kimi and pin her to the ground. Six pairs of fangs sink into flesh as the silver eyed girl throws what appears to be a smoke bomb; the vampires scatter as Kimi stumbles to her feet, cursing. Her companion presses her fingertips to the bite marks; the bleeding slows, then ceases before congealing.

"That wasn't too bad." The blue haired girl gasps out.

The black haired girl stares. "Just how much blood did they take?"

"Not as much as I'm going to." The leader snarls before lunging and sinking his fangs into Kimi's carotid artery. He pulls back, hissing and stumbles as blood begins to leak from him. He falls, eagle spread and unmoving, as the blood begins to seep into the ground.

"Gets 'em every time." Kimi mutters before freezing the wound.

"You've-"

The demoness sways as the ground seems to rise up to meet her. "Okay...so I've lost too much blood..."

"Next time we bring more Hunters." Artemis scolds, more to herself than Kimi, before assisting her inside.

0x0x0x0

Five more vampires guard the girls; too many for them to be able to kill at once. After seeing the speed of the ones outside, they realize it's near or on par with Hiei's...meaning that he wouldn't be able to kill them off before at least one had hurt, if not killed, their captive.

"Any ideas?" Sora murmurs.

"I'm working on it..." The stressed redhead murmurs.

A vampire sniffs the air, as though detecting something.

All freeze.

The vampire licks his lips, fangs protruding. "I smell death."

The others smirk as a blood-drenched figure staggers into view. It's movements are sluggish and it leaves a trail of blood behind it.

The vampires, their elder dead, can no longer control themselves; they all but fly at the figure. Said figure is knocked to the ground in the struggle. The five boys make their move; within moments, all the girls are free. They turn to face the vampires, ready to fight their way out, only to see the last one crumple to the ground.

The "figure" rises, dusting themself off and turns to their newly reappeared companion. "Why is is that they never learn?"

"No idea." Artemis replies as she hands the other girl a capsule.

"This is...?"

"Blood restorative." She states as she begins to make Kimi's injuries scab over.

"Thanks." Said ice demoness pops the capsule in her mouth and swallows. "They really ought to quit trying to make it taste good..."

"Wait, what?" Sora gapes.

Kimi sighs. "My blood, due to a genetic defect, is black, acidic and as you can see," she gestures at the fallen vampires, "toxic."

Sora glares, as he already knows that. "How can she touch it?"

"Because some of her blood runs through my veins." The girl replies absently as she deals with the carotid artery issue.

The rest of the trip home is silent.

0x0x0x0

"Shuichi, wh-" Shiori breaks off as she realizes that they are back at the dojo.

"Welcome." Koenma states.

Kurama and Sora glare; Yusuke shrugs; Kuwabara seems unphased; Hiei doesn't care; Yukina and the girls (save Shiori and Sora's mom) greet him in their own way; said two women stare.

"I am Koenma." He bows. "It is nice to meet the parents of those who work for me."

"W-What?" Shiori cries.

"Both your sons help keep the human world safe. They have unique abilities that make them powerful psychics." He explains.

Kimi rolls her eyes before disappearing with Artemis.

Both look at their offspring like they have never quite seen them before; despite this, they wait until the demigod finishes "explaining" before they leave. Koenma vanishes shortly after that; he will find out what they think of his explanation from a safer area.

Yukina sighs, getting the feeling that all hell's about to break loose.

0x0x0x0

Kurama sneaks into the house, the plant who's pollen erases memories in his hand.

"Shuichi?" His mom places her book down and rises.

A yellow dust enters her throat and nose for a second time and a familiar voice is the last thing she hears. This time, however, the voice is very specific.

Kurama catches her as she blacks out and gently lays her down on the couch. He covers her with a blanket before leaving again.

The single tear that streaks down her cheek is enough to cause him to break down.

0x0x0x0

"Getting back late, aren't we?" He comments icily.

Kimi silently brushes past him, deciding that replying is more effort than she feels like making at the moment.

"What? No reply?"

"I'm...I don't care..." She mumbles.

His eyes blaze. "You don't-" He breaks off when she stumbles and almost falls.

"Yell at me in the morning." Her voice is tired and barely audible. "I'll actually remember what you say..."

Yukina helps her inside as Kurama stands there, rooted to the spot. "Why...why would she allow herself to become so injured just to save the girls?"

0x0x0x0

Sora wakes the next morning, goes through his morning routine and finds himself sparring with a despondent Kurama.

Yukina and Genkai observe; Hiei is off training.

0x0x0x0

Yusuke grumbles but rolls out of bed. He has absolutely no idea why he bothers...or at least pretends to. The black haired by knows that if he skips school, Keiko will come after him. He also supposes (but will never admit it) that he feels he owes her for not protecting her.

While on the way, he encounters a surly Kuwabara.

"What happened to you?"

"Grounded." The carrot top grumbles.

"Sucks."

0x0x0x0

Kurama and Sora depart for school soon after they consume breakfast. Both are silent and half expecting Kimi to catapult down the stairs, yelling at them to "wait the hell up". There is no such clatter and no such yell; they continue on.

"Look, it's Shuichi and Sora!"

"Without that little tramp..."

"I know, I mean, why would they hang out with her?"

Normally Sora snaps at them and moves on; today he merely ignores them.

0x0x0x0

Several normal weeks pass without a sign of trouble...or Kimi, who is now somewhat equated with trouble. The boys are all irritated with her, some more than others.

At the end of a lesson, Sora and Kurama are called up front by the teacher.

"Are you two and Kimi arguing?" She questions.

Kurama blinks. "She hasn't been here-"

The teacher gestures at the first person out the door; they have familiar blue hair.

"You three were as thick as thieves..." The teacher murmurs. "Very well. You may go."

They leave silently; they then decide it's time to find out what's been going on.

0x0x0x0

"Kimi." Sora snaps.

The girl turns and arches a brow.

Kurama glares. "That's not her."

The not-Kimi resumes her normal form: one with black hair and silver eyes. "Correct." She ignores the metal fastenings on the uniform digging into her skin.

"What did you-"

"I did nothing besides fill in for her, as she requested I do. I have no idea where she is, nor is it my business to know." Artemis replies quietly.

"And why isn't it?" Sora snaps.

"Because unlike you, I trust her."

"We want to-"

"Yo."

All three turn to find an exhausted Kimi.

"What's going on?" Sora snarls.

She yawns. "Let's just call it a scouting mission."

"I'll finish out the day." Artemis states before taking Kimi's form again.

"Thanks." Kimi murmurs before darting off, which leaves her with two irritated boys.

There is silence for a few moments before Kurama turns to Artemis. "Why do you do this?"

She pauses, thinking. "I...do not mind school. Kimi completed high school previously, so she does not really care."

"What?" Both boys yelp.

"Yes, while she was assigned to America she completed high school alongside the team there. She also went through two years of middle school while stationed in England."

"How do you know all this?" The irritated bat demon grumbles.

She blinks. "You don't?"

Both glower.

"If you ask her something, within reason, she'll tell you about it."

Kurama smiles slightly as a plan begins to form in his head.

0x0x0x0

The entire team, plus Artemis, is gathered in a room at Genkai's.

"What's up, fox boy?" Yusuke yawns. He is still sleepy, as he spent the day skipping to catch up on sleep.

"What do you know about the land dead?" Said redhead inquires of Kimi.

"...a lot." She replies after a pause.

Artemis smothers a smirk. "Good luck, fox demon. She's a master at mincing words."

0x0x0x0

"What're we doing?" Sora groans for the millionth time as they traipse through an obscure section of demon world.

"The hell if I know." Kimi mutters.

Said boy frowns, then falls into step with her. "Why did you protect her?"

The girl sighs. "For one, it was partially my fault. She never comes to me unless she's in serious trouble and I told her to wait instead of dealing with it right away. For another, vampires hate her because of what she is as species; nothing more, nothing less. She can no more become something else than you can become human."

"Still my fault." Said 'species' mumbles.

"Why are you still here, anyway?" Kuwabara's voice contains only mild curiousity.

"Where you are going, you need all the help you are able to get." She replies. "I have only been there once and it almost killed me...but Kimi's near-misses there surpass mine."

"Can we not go into my training stories?" There is a plaintive whine in her voice.

"Training?" Yusuke probes.

"I grew up there...back then it was more near-utopia than wasteland..." She adds in reply to the shocked looks.

"...what was it like?" Kuwabara inquires after a few moments silence.

"I was in the capitol more than anywhere else...it was a bustling city...there was always something going on: a duel, a quarrel, a marriage, a vendor shouting their wares'..." A small smile of nostalgia played across her lips.

"Is that the border?" Artemis interjects; all stare at the shimmering red-black wall of energy that separates the land dead from the edge of Mukuro's territory.

Accusing green eyes lock with calm orange ones. "You didn't mention this."

"You never asked." Is the calm reply.

0x0x0x0

I poke dispiritedly at the green ooze that is slopped onto my tray. "What...do they call this?"

"The mystery special." Kurai is amazingly straight faced.

"Oh, it's 'special' alright..." I mutter and gape when it seems to take a snap at my fork.

"Yah...wouldn't eat that if I were you." Emma concedes.

It chooses then to spit my chunk of fork back out at me. I glare at it as the chunk slides down my cheek, leaving a trail of green ooze behind it. A gurgle of protest is heard before it becomes encased in a block of ice. Kurai snorts as Emma sighs; Ze gives me a flat look and defrosts it.

I glare at him, but to my surprise the creature that is impersonating food gobbles up the rest of my fork and spends the remainder of lunch launching bits at his face.

"Go figure." I mumble as Kurai hastily pushes her own lunch tray away from her, a look of revulsion on her face.

-x-x-x-x-

I would die if my school lunches were that bad...:cough:

Anyway, I apologize for the late update...but it's currently crunch time in school, we JUST started a research paper in English (and boy is it a bitch), I had SATs on Saturday and I just had a field trip (aka I missed most of my classes and now have to catch up-on top of said paper).

The next update should be up as usual...although I apologize now if that is not the case.

Kaiba: SEND ME BACK!
Perhaps when I tire of making you relive The Incident.
Kaiba: No...not...not that... :fetal position, on the floor, sucking his thumb:
Mokuba: ...you enjoyed that too much.

:cough:

Hope you enjoyed.
Emma

PS: The blurbs with Kaiba are appearing now at the request-ish of a friend...