Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, and the plot.

Recap: Kurama beat Neichi, left him for plant food, and then went to go find Tsukino and smelt blood, remember?

I'll Show You What I Can Be
Chapter Eighteen
Escape from the Base Part 3

Fate Making It's Choice

Feeling helpless is something that I should have been used to, after all, I'm a mixed breed, and the only help we were supposed to get is to the grave, but as Kurama and Kuronue battled Neichi and Ros-Amaterasu, I stood helpless on the sidelines, still unsure of my loyalties. Was it right for me to 'betray' the cat army in order to capture Amaterasu? Was I even betraying them? Was I betraying Keiko, Botan, and the others hope that I would return to them by not helping?

My head was spinning on its stem as I tried to figure out what I should do. I was already too deep in to stop Kurama and Kuronue from escaping, but it was the right thing to do because they weren't really part of the war. They were only after Amaterasu for reasons unrelated. However by allowing them to capture Amaterasu I was denying the cat army both a healer and a fighter. But, on the same token, removing Amaterasu would allow Neyuki more freedom to cripple the war as Amaterasu was always reporting to the generals about possible traitors. Crippling the war was a good thing, but it would also mean killing the generals. However if the war continued then more would die.

I shook my head to try to get it back on straight and managed dodge Amaterasu's throwing knives, which had missed Kuronue. I had been a fool to ever to split my loyalties as I had. If I had just ignored Kurama's comments about how he viewed me and sucked it up then I wouldn't be having this crisis. Still though, he could have at least informed me of his viewing me as a whore a little nicer.

Pain stabbed through my chest so badly I thought I was having a heart attack until I remembered that my heart didn't beat. Because of the pain, I ended up collapsing onto my knees. Quickly, I stood back up and made a dash away from Kuronue and Amaterasu's battle and in the opposite direction Kurama had ran from Neichi who gave chase. If the pain continued to grow as it seemed to be doing, I would be too distracted to avoid the attacks that missed their marks. Within seconds I found a small cage in the back of the jail, which I crawled into, hidden from view as the pain moved from my chest to my arms.

In the back of my mind where I was still focused on my crisis with what I should do I figured that this would work. Kurama could now make the decision whether or not to waste time to find me instead of bring Amaterasu in. Since I wasn't close by he wouldn't feel obligated to bring me along if he didn't want to. And if Fate stepped in and forced him and Kuronue to leave then it just meant that I was supposed to have rejoined the cats and lived my life as a rogue demon but messed up and was just going to die now.

The pain was growing worse as my emotions slowly started to overflow as my mind started to spin around in things again. No longer thinking about my split loyalties, I was seeing my past, or past life maybe. Of course, I could have been just going insane. I saw flashes of events that I supposed had happened to me in a dream and/or real life. I saw Kurama with dead serious golden eyes and long silver hair enter a bar with Kuronue and glare at me as if debating my right to live. In the next flash, Kurama as a human was dancing with me in the Urameshi's backyard as a party happened inside. Flash. Kuronue was explaining that he wasn't such a bad person. Kurama was just too obsessed with his job apparently. Another flash. Human Kurama was carrying me across a packing lot as Botan shouted something about chains. Flash. The pain of fear and helplessness overflowed in the viewing of seeing Demon Kurama stumble into the bar covered in blood, which gushed from a wound to his chest, and pain eased when he collapsed into my arms. Another Flash. Heartbreak and sadness ripped into me once again when I relived our fight on the hill where I slap him and left. Dark Flash. Everything was completely black and void of anything except for a vague outline of human Kurama and the feather-light sensation of his hand brushing my tear covered cheek, which brought me comfort. Finally, in the last flash a raccoon demon with black eyes scratched my face, causing blood to flow as she yelled that Kurama was hers.

With an effort, I pulled myself from the illusions created by my mind to ease the pain, but it followed me back to reality as blood as started to flow from a cut to my cut. Sensing rather than seeing the next blow coming, I jumped out of the cage and turned to see that the guard who Kuronue had knocked out was awake with a bloody sword in hand.

His green eyes were narrowed in pure rage and loathing. He wasted no time with words and instead charged at me. This time I was too slow and received a cut to my leg, not deep enough to impair my fighting greatly but enough to sting as the air touched it as I dodged. Finally, I managed to find a piece of pipe to use against the sword. Though Kuwabara himself was self-taught, he had taught me one thing that the cat army never had bothered with- how to disarm your opponent. Rushing forward, I whacked the hilt of the sword right out of the guard's hands before retreating a bit and throwing my own weapon away. Moving into a fighting stance, I silently proposed hand to hand combat, something I would stand a chance in as long as he wasn't a fight fanatic like Yusuke. As I waited for an answer, I also proposed to Fate. If it wanted me to live I would have to survive this fight. If I was to die anytime soon, I wanted to be killed right there and get it over and done with. However, if it wanted me to live and return to my friends, I would need another sign of some sort.

The guard accepted my proposal and caused his claws to grow into ten lethal daggers. Once again he charged and I was forced to dodge. Honestly, I probably could have used Wings of Steel but that could easily backfire causing me to cut up my back and lose valuable blood as I tried to dodge blows in the hallway between the lines of cages. Soon I was in a corner and jumped over him to avoid losing a limb. Unfortunately, he turned faster than I thought and managed to stab into my side with his claws. Ignoring the pain for the moment, I rolled on my side and out of the way of another attack. Standing quickly, I felt fear. If I didn't start fighting back I was going to die. As odd as it sounded, I was not completely aware of the fact that I could die. I mean I knew I could but I didn't really realize that fact. Now as death stared me in the face, I realized that I wasn't quite as accepting of death as I thought.

Deciding that if Fate wanted me to die, it would kill me somehow regardless of whether I fought or not, I allowed all my training to come to the surface. Ignoring the pain, I dodged another attack and aimed a kick at the guard's face. He grabbed my shoe and threw me again a cage and was about to stab me when I used Wings of Steel to cut him slightly so that he let go. As soon as he had released me I returned my wings back to normal and aimed a punch for his jaw to put some distance between us.

He recovered quickly and charged once more. Starting to get caught up in the battle, I jumped over him and roundhouse kicked him on the side. Though I didn't have the strength of Yusuke and the other fighters, I still managed to make the guard stumble. However, he quickly recovered and came at me again. This time, I knocked his arm out of the way and punched his gut, a favourite move of Yusuke's or so it seemed. I moved back once again to be ready for another charge when blades made of blood came at me. I dodged and found myself right in front of the guard, his claws aimed for my neck. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of black but I ignored it as I quickly dove forward and threw my shoulder into the guard's stomach since he was taller than I was. He grunted and his arms were about to wrap around me when I ducked down and kicked his legs out from under him. However, he started to fall towards me, his claws once again aimed for a lethal kill. Suddenly I was pulled backwards and found myself pressed up against a familiar body.

Kurama glared at the guard over my head with his whip in hand.

The room was still for a moment as the guard glares back at Kurama. Abruptly Kuronue's voice broke the stillness as he shouted, "The Fox's Rose is heading your way Kurama!"

For a second the guard stared at Kurama and then almost as if he saw through Kurama's disguise he suddenly ran towards the wall where a rope that rang an alarm when pulled was located. Kurama and I moved to stop him, only to find ourselves blocked by Amaterasu. The guard pulled the rope and Kurama grabbed my arm and pulled me into his arms. Without a second look he quickly ran towards where Kuronue was waiting by the door.

"We have a minute to get out of here before more guards show," Kurama informed Kuronue as he allowed me to stand on the ground once more.

"Less than that," Kuronue said at the same moment I heard movement outside, "these guys were prepared. I'd say we have thirty seconds."

Kurama frowned but said nothing in reply as we quickly leave the jail. "What's the fastest way out of here?" he asked me.

"Probably jumping off the nearest branch if you can fly," I reply. "The nearest open section is by the infirmary."

Kurama nodded. "Lead on then."

I nodded in reply and started to run down the maze of the branches. We were halfway to the open section when a group of ten cats blocked our way and from the sounds of things more were on their way. Deciding we couldn't waste anymore time, I concentrated and screamed. All the cats dropped as my Sonic Scream knocked them out. Unfortunately, it also alerted the other cats of our location and before we could more we were once more blocked in and surrounded on both sides. There were even more cats but no more were coming so I prepared to use my new attack once again.

However before I could, Kurama clapped his hand over my mouth and pulled me backwards so that Kuronue was standing in front of us. "Don't waste your energy," he informed me, "there could be more coming."

As he fought, Kuronue overheard us and shouted, "These are the last until the next group runs over from the other side of the tree. They're all eating right now."

Kurama ignored him and released me before handing me a sword he must have just created. "Don't use your energy," he reminded me before we turned our attention towards the wave of guards.

Two came towards me at once but Kurama quickly took care of one of them so that I was only fighting one. However the cat I was fighting had more experience with his axe than I did with my sword so I found myself being pushed backwards and slowly gaining small cuts while my opponent remained virtually unharmed. But as time went on, instead of my sword becoming heavier and more awkward as I became more exhausted, the sword seemed to become lighter and moved more easily. Finally, I was able to knock the cat out with a well placed hit from my hilt to her forehead.

For a second I paused to breath and noticed that the sword had lengthened but also was lighter than when I first started fighting. The shape of the sword had also changed from a slightly curved blade to a straight pointed one. I had started with a katana and ended with a rapier

Not able to pause for very long to study my weapon, I quickly engaged in battle once again knocking out my opponent more easily this time. I had defeated four more people and was in combat with a fifth when I noticed a figure watching us from behind the safe barrier of cat demons. Amaterasu seemed to be enjoying herself as she watched, licking her lips every so often as blood started to cover the floor making it easier to slip and, in doing so, die.

I turned to see if Kurama or Kuronue had noticed her but they were both facing the opposite direction. Shouting would be stupid so I knocked out my opponent and moved towards them, knocking out or stabbing into limbs to disable demons for a moment. As a healer I had learned which points of the body would disable demons quickly, the feet being the best place to stab as they were also the easiest to heal but would also impair fighting.

I was almost at Kuronue's side when a demon jumped out from the confusion aiming a blow at Kuronue's back. Moving quickly, I blocked the demon's claw with my sword and pushed their claws away. Kuronue noticed the threat at that point when the cat let out an enraged hiss and quickly turning, defeated the demon.

"That's for the help sis," he said with a laugh as he turned forward once more, trusting me to watch his back.

"Amaterasu is watching us," I told him. Her name came more easily that time, as I was virtually positive that was her real name.

He nodded as he kicked a demon in the head. "That's Kurama's problem so he can deal with it. You'd think he'd learn that fan girls are not to be taken lightly."

I nodded and looked towards Amaterasu again as a cat demon came at me from that direction. For a second I considered disobeying Kurama's order for me not to use my energy. After all, Kuronue was standing beside me and Kurama was farther out of the way so the attack would miss him. The Sonic Scream also would stun Amaterasu if I aimed so the mission would be over. However there was a con for the situation. If I miss aimed wrongly or more guards showed up, I would be out of energy and we would still have enemies to fight.

Kurama's warning surfaced in my mind again as I knocked out another demon. He had told me the same thing at the start of the mission warning me not to use my energy. Amaterasu, on the other hand, had encouraged use of my energy. Also there was the fact that when Kurama had warned me he seemed worried. From what I knew about Kurama, he wouldn't necessarily be worried about escaping as he probably had been in tighter spots than what we were facing when he was a thief. Also if he was worried about that then he would have let me use Sonic Scream. Logically thinking, that meant he was worried about something else and since his warning was about my spirit energy so he must have been worried about me.

I found that a bit hard to believe since he viewed me as only a toy but maybe it was because he wasn't bored with me yet. Regardless, I pushed the matter from my mind just in time to avoid losing my sword as a cat nearly knocked it out of my hand. Annoyed with myself for getting distracted while in battle, I pushed myself back into 'battle mode' as Yusuke called it. However I was having a hard time remaining in battle mode. Exhaustion was starting to get to me as I made more and more mistakes. Part way though knocking out another cat, I made the mistake of leaving myself open for a demon to lunge at me from my left and stab towards my rib cage. Thankfully, Kurama saw the blow coming and dispatched the demon before standing at my left, facing the demons with a glare that could have froze even Hell.

We had a millisecond to catch our breath before the remaining demons charged us once again and standing in a small triangle, we faced them. Though so exhausted we would barely stand, we kept fighting.

Moments later, Kuronue panted, "Is it just me or are there more demons fighting then we started with?"

Kurama punched demon in the face before replying, "The demons who were knocked out by Tama-chan's attack woke up five minutes ago."

"Still though, aren't there more demons then that here now?" I asked as I tried to keep standing.

No one answered me because at that second, I misblocked an attack and stabbed a cat in the stomach. The cat suddenly exploded into a cloud of black smoke and goop that attacked my eyes, effectively blinding me. I pulled back from the explosion with a hiss and rubbed at my eyes trying to remove the black goop.

I heard Kuronue swear before saying, "Illusions," and felt Kurama move to block me while I tried to rub the blackness away from my eyes so I could fight again.

"Try not to stab them unless they are a fair distance away," Kurama said as he kicked a cat away before using his whip to cut into its arm. "Are you hurt, Tama-chan?"

I shook my head. "I just can't see very well."

"Keep behind me and Kuronue until you can see then."

I nodded and tried to remove the black stuff again, not wanting Kurama and Kuronue to have to fight the rest of the cats by themselves. Finally, I could see again and reached for my sword that I had dropped. At that same moment I felt my left side erupt into pain, causing me to collapse to my knees. Something warm and wet poured into my clothing, and when I looked down, I saw that the ripped edges of my clothing where the demon had clawed me were turning dark red. For a moment, I stared stupidly at the wound until a smile appeared on my face. It looked like Fate had chosen as I started to feel lightheaded. The cat had put poison on their claws and the poison was attacking my exhausted system.

However, I forced myself to my feet hoping that Kurama and Kuronue hadn't noticed my situation yet. Though Fate wanted me to die I had to help Kurama and Kuronue get out of the cat base before I died at least. After tossing Kurama's warning about my energy into the back of my mind, I tried to heal myself.

Suddenly it felt like gravity had increased on me as I tried to summon enough energy to heal myself. Quickly the pressure grew too much, and pain flowed through every inch of my body. The pain grew as blood started to force itself out of my body. Dimly, I noticed that the poison was also being forced out as the puddle of blood under me grew. The small wounds I had gained during the battle grew bigger and worse I felt my knees give way. I collapsed on the ground making a small splash as the blood collected and tried to keep breathing as the air around me seemed to grow thick. It felt as though hands gripped my heart and lungs and were slowly squeezing the life out of me.

Blackness returned to my vision quickly clouding the edges of my view as despair washed over me. I probably wasn't going to last much longer. Trying not to cry at my own helplessness, I closed my eyes for a moment and silently apologize to Kuronue and Kurama for not being able to help anymore and to everyone for not being a pure blood demon. After all, if I was then maybe the mission would have ended properly, and I would have been able to live. If I was a pure demon, I would have been worth saving, and maybe Kurama could have seen me as more than just a whore. But I wasn't a pure demon so none of those things were going to happen and my time was up. I was luckily to have lived as long as I had.

Finally, I opened my eyes to see one last moment before they closed forever, and wished that I could have witnessed something other than the battlefield. But I was a mixed breed, and it was than I deserved to even see the world one last time. Resigned I allowed my eyes to slip close and just before the world went black I saw Amaterasu through the battle with a frown on her face. She held up a sphere, and I felt my soul being tugged upon. Without any more fight or strength left, I left my body and relinquished my soul to the darkness beyond life.

Day Hundred-Thirteen

"Kurama!" Kuronue shouts at me over the roars of the cats attacking us.

"I know!" I shout back as I try to defend Tsukino, who has just fallen to the ground for the second time, and myself. The demon had gotten past me, and when I had turned to defeat it, Tsukino had already knocked him out by knocking him in the temple with her wing. I had wanted to inspect the injury she had gained, but another demon lunged at me before I could.

Now she has fallen for a second time, most likely due to her energy. I had warned her but it seemed she ignored me once again and tried to heal herself. No longer caring about simply knocking out the cats, I pull some seeds from my hair and throw them on the ground. Though I also probably shouldn't be using my energy, I will if it means getting us out of here alive.

Within seconds the seeds have taken root and grow into monstrous plants, hungry for demon blood. While my plants provide a shield, I turn towards Tsukino who is laying in her own blood. Her demon features stopped in the act of fading from navy blue into another colour.

"She's still breathing and has a pulse," Kuronue informs me when I reach towards her. "What the heck happened to her?"

Gently, I take her into my arms and look towards the exit. "I don't know but if we don't get out of here quickly, her situation will be the least of our worries."

Kuronue nods and we quickly dash pass the cats who are battling my plants. Though most of my energy is gone now, it was worth the risk since we should be able to escape easily now. Just as we enter the main branch to where Tsukino had said we could escape, Kuronue and I both spot The Fox's Rose headed in the same direction as us. If we are lucky, this might mean the end of the mission.

Moments before we reach the open air, Amaterasu turns and farther down the hallway. At that same moment, five more cats jump out of the shadows. Cursing our luck, I shift Tsukino in my arms so that I can use my Rose Whip more freely. Both Kuronue and I are exhausted, and I'm unable to summon anymore plants if I wish to remain in my demon form. For a moment, I consider retreating and finding another way but then we would not only lose The Fox's Rose, we could become lost in the maze of the base. And so reluctantly, Kuronue and I raise our weapons and prepare for another draining battle. However, before we can even move the five cats collapse to reveal the person who had defeated them.

"I never would have thought that such pathetic demons would give you such a hard time, Kurama. You're losing your touch."

I nod. "It's good to see you too Hiei."

The vertically challenged fire demon just grumbles before he turns to lead us out. "Let's get out of here before more idiots with a death wish show up."

"Hang on," Kuronue says before walking up to Hiei and staring down at him. "That's Hiei, the demon who mastered the Dragon of Darkness Flame? You replaced me not only with a moron but with a midget?"

Hiei eyes narrow and he says, "Who are you?"

"This is Kuronue, an old partner of mine," I answer before turning to Kuronue and saying, "If you wish to yell at me about my choice in partners, can we please do it where our lives aren't in danger?"

"Wait what about The Fox's Rose?" Kuronue asks as Hiei starts to walk away.

I frown. "We don't have much of a choice. If we stay, we die."

Hiei scoffs. "You mean you just want to get out of here so you can check your mate's wounds."

"She isn't my mate."

Kuronue grins. "Yet."

Both Hiei and I glare at him before turning to walk towards the exit. Once outside, we pay little attention to anything other than the cat demons rushing towards us. Before we can even move, the cats have surrounded us and once more we are in battle. Within seconds it is obvious that we have to leave and quickly.

"We have to get out of their territory," I tell Hiei and Kuronue as we parry the incoming attacks as best we can.

"Any ideas how to even get out of the base?" Hiei asks as he cuts down another cat.

"Simple, we jump," Kuronue says.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're the only one conscious who can fly!"

"And in case you haven't noticed, it isn't that long of a drop. Just jump into the water."

Hiei is about to reply, but I speak first as I cut down three demons. "Kuronue's right. We don't have much of a choice. I can't keep this up much longer if I want to remain in this form, and we both know you can't fight all of these demons alone, Hiei."

"Hn."

Without any more discussion, we turn and jump.

A/n: How was that? Not that long of a wait now was it? and I messed around with chapter 17 Tsukino's part so you can all kill me later about it. And who else almost cried when reading Tsukino's ending bit? Finally who wants to see Neini (Neyuki's kid sister) again in the later stories?

Okay, now that my questions have all been answered, happy holidays, and think of this as a late Christmas present to everyone who reads, reviews, and enjoys this story and series. Hope to hear from you and see you next chapter!

-D101