Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot.

Recap: Kurama and Kuronue have entered the maze in search of Tsukino after Kurama lets out some anger on illusions. Tsukino meanwhile is hanging out with 'Kurama' and believes that she dreamt about meeting the spirit detectives.

I'll Show You What I Can Be
Chapter Twenty-Four
A Woman's Fury

Tricked and Angry

After hearing the sentence, "She believed you?" coming from the other side of my door, I crept towards it. Holding my breath, I cracked the door open and listened for the reply to the question.

He was still sitting at the table but was looking at a small stone. Even from my place behind the door I could see the smirk on Kurama's face as he replied, "Mixed breeds are easy to manipulate."

A female voice floated through the stone. "So what are you going do to with her? I doubt she has any valuables. You going to sell her?"

He nodded. "That was my idea. I'll be able to teach her some things and that should fetch her a higher price."

"But she's a mixed breed!"

His smirk grew. "You'd be surprised how well those sell on the market. A slave who will not pregnant appeals to many demons with more money than brains. The fact that she has wings and a tail will also make it easier to sell her."

"How long will you play with this one?"

"Depends on the first night. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting, my love."

For a moment, I stood there. Numbed by what I had heard. Then I smiled bitterly. It looked like the dream Kurama was right. What male could love me if my own mother couldn't? And if I hadn't overheard the real Kurama talking with his lover, my actions would have gotten me into even more trouble.

Tears were coming to my eyes but instead of feeling depressed and destroyed, I felt rage. It felt like a fire burning in my blood, and my mind was slowly becoming blank. I could never repay dream Kurama for his actions, but I could at least give this Kurama a nose bleed to think over.

Day Hundred-Fifteen

By the time we reached the middle of the maze, we had already wasted some of our energy by falling into traps that we had either forgotten about or never knew about. Twice blades fell from the ceiling in an attempt to behead us and four times plants had nearly eaten us before I was able to regain control over them.

From the approach of the traps, we knew they were not meant to stop us, but merely wear us down. Unfortunately, it was working. I had not taken a pill since Kuronue and I had been captured by the cat demons so most of my energy was being used to keep me in my demon form. The little that was left was quickly being used up by the traps. To save on energy, I had taken a whip from the storage room. It may not be as sharp as my Rose Whip but it would do. Kuronue was also suffering problems as the traps were destroying most of his weapons.

We still pushed forward though and eventually reached the middle point. Now we are looking for a way around the most deadly of our traps. Similar to the trap, which had captured Kuronue so many years ago, our trap used spears falling from the ceiling to keep the target from escaping. The main differences in design, besides using spears instead of bamboo, is that the tips of the spears aim to stop the target from escaping by attaching them to the floor unlike Enma's design, which was to merely pen the demon in.

Keeping these differences in mind, Kuronue and I carefully study the roof and floor for signs of tampering. Any chances to the design can mean disaster, especially if Amaterasu finds me conscious and unable to run. However, we can see no signs of tamper on the surface. As an extra precaution, I slip a small vine seed into the floor to disable the throwing mechanism. Once I am sure the machine was disabled I nodded to Kuronue.

Slowly, we walk across the floor alert for any signs of danger or Tsukino. Her energy covers the area but she is nowhere to be seen. Even by using my nose, I am unable to determine in which direction she is. Kuronue does not appear to be having better luck as he tilts his head, listening for anything.

We reach the back wall of the room, but do not spot Tsukino or sense her energy in any of the surrounding tunnels. In front of us are two tunnels instead of the four that should be there. Glaring slightly, I examine the wall looking for signs of an illusion. Unfortunately, I am unable to find any signs and touching the wall to see if it is real is a risk. If it is an illusion, a trap could be hidden behind it.

While I stare at the walls from a safe distance, Kuronue reaches to the bag at his waist. From it he pulls out his scythe. As I watch, he pulls a piece of metal and places it on the blade.

"My blade won't be as sharp but at least it won't get damaged," he mutters as he starts to spin the blade.

"Hopefully nothing is waiting on the other side what will cause you to need a sharp blade," I reply as he throws the blade towards the wall.

The rock crumbles as the weapon collides before it bounces off and shoots towards us. Before it can harm us, Kuronue pulls on the string causing the weapon to fly towards the wall again. Again it hits and destroys some of the rock. Three more times Kuronue attacks the wall only to have the weapon recoil after hitting the rock.

Finally, the weapon sinks into the wall, disappearing behind the illusion. With the flick of his hand, the scythe returns, and the illusion fades revealing the doorway. From behind it I can sense an energy which feels like Tsukino, however as I sniff the air, I cannot smell any signs of her scent down that hallway. After a moment the energy fades.

Without a word, Kuronue starts attacking the walls again. He must not have heard anything that would make him want to investigate. Within minutes he finds another hole in the wall. Once again the illusion falls but this time spears fall from the ceiling towards us. Kuronue is closest to the door so I push him towards it. In the process a spear grazes my heel. As I back away, another spear falls in front of me. I continue to dodge until I find myself penned in.

Kuronue stands in the doorway looking back and forth between the tunnel where Tsukino is and the room where I am.

I smirk as another spear scraps against my leg. "Tsukino-chan probably is in a worse situation than I am, besides," my smirk widens, "now we are even."

A grin appears on his face. "Alright then. Just don't take two thousands years to find us." Without another word, he disappeared as I had many years before.

No longer caring around my clothing, I rush out of my washroom ready to give Kurama a piece of my mind only to find the kitchen deserted. Rage growing and making my vision red, I wandered onto the streets. Even after a half an hour of searching, my rage had not died. Instead it had grown. I started to forget that I was powerless against him and could do little to harm him. In my mind, I started to picture horrible things I would do to him.

Part way through picturing myself running a sword through him, I noticed a flash of white down an ally. With my vision fading due to rage, I followed him. However, instead of a fox, I ran into the bat.

My rage started to fade until I remembered how the bat had played along with Kurama's plan. How he had said that Kurama had been following me for a while because he liked me. My anger returned and my claws grew. The fox was not the only one who was going to die that day.

It took me a little while to break through the spears since they were designed not to break under the strongest attacks. Eventually though, I was able to follow Kuronue into the tunnels. Mindful of traps, I went slowly. I wish I had moved faster. As I enter the room, I find Kuronue lying against the far wall. Blood covers him, and he warily opens one eye as I enter.

"What happened?" I ask as I help him up.

"Your girlfriend that's what," Kuronue mutters as he winches. "When I entered the tunnel she was tied up on the far wall with that damn scarf around her neck. Then next thing I know, she's loose and trying to kill me."

"Why?"

Kuronue finds the strength to smirk. "Because apparently I helped you trick her into liking when you were already with another chick and was going to help you sell her to the slave trade."

I frown. "Amaterasu?"

He nods. "She was also wearing a pendant, and it was flashing with Amaterasu's energy."

"It must be the center of the illusion then. If we remove it, she should snap out of it."

"Or she'll want to kill you for all the things you actually have done to her."

"Kurama!"

Over the years I have heard many battle cries, and I have always comforted myself by saying that nothing can scare me as much as the thought of being held captive by my female classmates. However Tsukino's battle cry is enough to send shivers down my spine. Without being able to warn Kuronue first, I remove myself from supporting him and jump out of the way as Tsukino's claws reach for my throat.

While Kuronue falls into a heap on the floor, I continue to dodge Tsukino's attacks. Once she lunges past me and I grab hold of her from behind. Although I know it is useless, I try to calm her by speaking.

Her only reply is to use her energy to create her Wings of Steel attack and slice into my chest with it. As I stumble backwards, she glares at me and shouts, "Pervert!"

For a moment I stare at her, wondering what I had done to earn that shout. I hadn't touched her in any way like that so why.

My thoughts are pulled away from her reaction as my eyes fall onto the pendant handing just above her chest. I frown a bit as I notice Amaterasu's aura. At the same time, I notice Tsukino had one arm covering her chest as well. Too late I realize what the illusion must have shown me as doing. I can't help feel disgust as I realize I had been pictured acting no better than Yusuke during our earlier spirit detective days. (I'm still not sure how Keiko managed to put up with his behaviour.)

Regardless, Tsukino is taking my treatment of her far worse than Keiko ever took Yusuke's. The worst that ever happened to him was a slap. I, on the other hand, am about to be gutted unless I can remove the Kuro Shi and the pendant.

Before Tsukino can move again, I rush forward and attempt to grab hold of the scarf, but it attacks me with its own energy before I can remove it. As I back away, I rub my hand that had been zapped by the protective barrier around the scarf. I do not reach for the pendant; I can already sense the barrier Amaterasu has made around it.

Tsukino does not seem to notice that I was aiming for her neck. Instead she glares at me. She probably took my approach the wrong way again. While I stand, trying to think of a plan, she lunges towards me again. As she passes, a small drop of blood falls onto my clothing. I had forgotten about her energy until now and I have no ways of blocking it from her use. The only thing I can do is finish the fight quickly.

As she misses me again, I feel her energy starting to burst from her as she tries to attack me. With little choice, I jump around behind her and ready to knock her out. Before I can, her wings stretch out and stab me once again. As I retreat for a second, I briefly understand how Kuronue became so damaged. On her own, Tsukino is not much of a fighter but any women is a force to be reckoned with when angered.

This time I charge and I throw dream pollen into her face with hopes of knocking her out that way. Unfortunately, she uses her wings to create a wind and blows it away. Again, I backtrack as I look for a way to stop her without harming her or wasting more of my energy.

In order to create the wind, she had to change her wings back to normal but now she is changing them back into weapons. As she does, more blood bursts from her arms. She shows no signs of noticing the pain she should be feeling, but instead of charging at me she braces her feet with her hands outstretched. My eyes widen as I sense her energy move towards her hands and a small sphere appears in her hands. I rush forward to stop her only to find her on the ground unconscious, behind her a familiar face.

"That's twice I've had to save you when your mate joined the other side," Hiei mutters as he looks down at Tsukino.

Unable to do anything else, I nod. "Thank you Hiei."

He only scoffs and looks to Kuronue who is walking towards us. "And I see the bat is still alive as well."

Kuronue manages a grin. "And kicking. Speaking of kicking, who is the demon behind you?"

My attention, which had been focused on Tsukino and Kuronue, returned to Hiei and I noticed the cat demon who was with him. The girl rushes past Hiei and towards Tsukino who is still on the ground. Trusting Neyuki to see to Tsukino without being in danger, I ask Hiei why he is not in Spirit World. His reply is enough to amuse me.

"That cat caught me as I was leaving and demanded to know where the mixed breed was."

Kuronue frowns. "So why didn't you just tell her and let her try to get by the traps?"

Hiei turns to glare at him as he growls, "I did but the idiot has no sense of direction, and unfortunately, she is one of Mukuro's favourite soldiers."

As Hiei is talking I notice a small spark escape from the bag Hiei is carrying. "Hiei," I ask when he is done, "were you able to drop off the treasures before Neyuki-san found you?"

He shakes his head.

"Then perhaps you should hand me the treasures so that the Jewel of Wrath does not kill anyone."

"As I recall, the raccoon was able to steal the treasures off you one already."

I frown. "That is correct but—"

Neyuki's shout of, "What the hell?" cuts me off before I can finish my thought.

As I turn around, I spot Tsukino lunging towards me and jump out of the way. Her eyes are closed, and she seems to be asleep. However, the scarf around her neck is pulsing with energy. I prepare myself for a second attack only to see Tsukino rush past me and run towards Hiei who is fighting with his bag. He dodges with ease but the red sparks flying from the bag are a worrying sight.

Kuronue is also worried as he looks to Neyuki demanding to know what she did.

Neyuki holds up the pendant that Tsukino had been wearing and says, "All I did was remove the pendant that had Amaterasu's energy on it when she suddenly sat up and pushed me out of the way."

"Did she say anything?" I ask as I glance over.

Neyuki shakes her head. "Just 'that bastard'."

A shout of success turns my attention back to Hiei and Tsukino. Neither are hurt but the Jewel of Wrath has fallen out of the bag through a hole Tsukino had made. The Kuro Shi forces Tsukino to pounce the jewel, but a sudden bolt of light flies from the jewel to Tsukino. She falls back while the scarf hovers in the air over the jewel, which continues to throw bolts of light at the fabric. The fabric meanwhile is trying to wrap itself around the jewel. However, the blasts kept the scarf at bay.

While the two objects battle I go to Tsukino's side. The jewel's attack had not hurt her and the only injuries she had were caused by her energy, which had calmed now that Kuro Shi was no longer controlling her. Her breathing is normal, and her heart rate is fine for a mixed demon. Kuronue still insists that I keep an eye on her though to be sure that the Kuro Shi doesn't come for her again. Thankfully, the Kuro Shi shows no signs of even remembering that we are in the room as it battles the Jewel of Wrath though. It just keeps trying to wrap itself around the jewel.

Suddenly, the jewel changes tactics. Instead of keeping the scarf away, it starts to draw it towards itself. The scarf tries to rush away but is quickly drawn to the jewel, which absorbs it. Within seconds the Kuro Shi is gone and the Jewel of Wrath has changed from an angry red to a calm blue.

The room is silent until Kuronue shouts, "The hell was that?"

"It looked like a lover's spat," Neyuki says with a frown.

"That was what it was," I reply with a small smile.

Everyone stares at me so I continue speaking.

"The Kuro Shi was created when a women was jilted by her lover. The Jewel of Wrath is the heart of the lover who jilted her."

Neyuki frowns. "Why was he so mad then?"

Kuronue shrugs with a frown. "Maybe he didn't actually jilt her. Doesn't really matter since it's over but Amaterasu and Yasu will have heard the noise."

I nod. "It would be wise to move away from here." Carefully, I lift Tsukino into my arms and turn to Neyuki. "Do you think you can find your way out alone?"

She pauses and then shakes her head. "Alive, probably not."

I frown and turn to Kuronue. "Hiei and I will take care of Amaterasu and Yasu then while you get Neyuki-san and Tsukino-san get out of here."

Kuronue shakes his head so hard that his hat almost falls off. "No way! Amaterasu messed with my sister, and there is no way I'm leaving it up to you and the shrimp to teach her a lesson."

"Kuronue, we don't have time for this."

He crosses his arms and glares at me like a child. "Then get the shrimp to drop off the girls and then come back. After all you're going to need all the help you can get."

I return the glare, hoping to intimidate him. Unfortunately, it does not work because he is right. Even as we speak my energy is slipping away and my body returning to its human form. However, if no one takes the women out of the lair, they will get in the way.

"Why don't we just leave them here and head off the raccoons before they get here?" Hiei says as he puts the blue jewel into the bag.

Before I can say anything, Kuronue rolls his eyes. "And do you have any idea where they are coming from?"

He nods but doesn't elaborate. With Kuronue's reaching his limit, I turn to Neyuki and ask her to explain. Thankfully she does. "When we came in we passed one room with noises coming from it."

"What sort of noises?"

Neyuki shrugs and Hiei mutters, "Whispering."

Kuronue, who was removing the metal covering from his blade, pauses in his work to ask, "And you didn't think to check it out?"

"If we had, she," Hiei points to Tsukino, "would probably be in the fourth stage by now."

"Kurama would have thought of something before that happened and if you had taken care of Amaterasu we could have been done this by now."

Not willing to listen to them anymore, I turn to Neyuki and say, "Could you show me where the room is?"

She nods. "They've probably already moved."

"That's fine."

Neyuki starts to lead the way but pauses at the doorway. "What about Tama-chan?"

For a second, I am confused until I remember that I am holding her in my arms. She has barely moved since I picked her up, and I had forgotten I was holding her. I look down at the demon in my arms and ponder what I can do. As I am thinking, Tsukino twitches slightly. Believing this to be a signal that she is waking, I lower her to the ground and back away. After the illusions Amaterasu created, I can only imagine the anger she will feel when she sees me. In order for the Kuro Shi to work, Tsukino would have needed to have felt some anger and hatred towards me, and the scarf obviously worked.

Tsukino twitches again and slowly her eyes open. She looks dazed and confused as she looks around the room before finally noticing Neyuki who helps her sit up.

"Feeling okay, Tama-chan?" she asks once Tsukino is able to focus on her face.

The mixed-demon shakes her head slowly as if it weighs a great deal. "Not really," she mutters as she places her hands on her forehead. "My head feels like it's going to explode. Everything seems jumbled."

Neyuki frowns as she places a hand on her friend's shoulder. "In what way?"

Tsukino shakes her head as she starts to stand. "It's nothing. Where are we?"

Her legs give out, and I catch her. Her eyes are closed in what seems to be pain so she hasn't realized who I am yet. Part of me wants to keep silent and just allow her to know that she's safe. The rest of me realizes that Amaterasu and Yasu can show up at any time, and that Tsukino needs to know what is going on so she can protect herself. Hoping that she doesn't hate me too much, I say, "We're still in the tunnels near the lair. Amaterasu and Yasu placed the Kuro Shi and a pendant on you to create an illusion."

As I feared, Tsukino freezes in my arms, and I can feel her heart actually beating. It looks like the pendant and Kuro Shi did what they were intended to do. After making sure that Neyuki is able to support her, I pull away and turn my attention back to Kuronue and Hiei who are still arguing. Unable to take it any longer, I move between them. "We do not have time to be arguing like this," I murmur as I try not to allow my frustration known. "There isn't enough time for Neyuki and Tsukino to leave the lair so we will move farther down the tunnel to a defendable location."

Both men become silent and nod.

Believing that they agree, I motion to the direction we will be heading. "Hiei, you watch the back. Kuronue, you help the girls. I'll lead."

Without another word, we start to make our way down the tunnels.

As I walked through the halls with the group I tried to block the thoughts rushing around my head. One second I thought I was Mi-something with no clue what was going on. The next I was Tsukino knowing exactly what was going. Then I was three years old and completely lost again. The only thing that remained constant in my mind was the pounding headache. As my senses tried to sort themselves out, I thought to myself, "Next I'll be thinking that I'm Zella, warrior princess." Thankfully, my mind recovered before I became that insane. Unfortunately, while my mind recovered, my body continued to fail. Pain everywhere was becoming an issue, and my vision was blurring. Neyuki and Kuronue were amazing help as they led me down the hallways. However, it quickly got so bad that I could barely walk. I tried to hide it, but then the world suddenly turned 90 degrees, and I found myself collapsing.

Kuronue called a halt, and I found myself the center of attention again. My head was betting worse causing my vision to swim as I tried to get my feet under me, but the pain increased as I felt blood running down my legs and arms. Vaguely, I heard Kuronue demand that Kurama find a way to make some tea. When I heard him say that I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe I was really losing my mind, but the idea of them sipping tea while I was dying greatly amused me.

Neyuki's shriek about my wings and ears changing colours brought me out of my insanity slightly. Enough for me to realize that a cup was being placed against my lips and a burning liquid was being forced down my throat. At first the liquid tasted okay, but then it became horrible. Without a thought to where I was spitting, I spat out the liquid. From the sounds of disgust that followed, I must have hit someone.

Hands gripped my shoulders as more liquid attempted to make its way into my mouth. I struggled as best I could through the pain and refused to drink. Someone muttered about hurrying up and suggested just holding my mouth open and dropping the tea down my throat. Thankfully, another person told him that I could drown. The first person didn't agree but no hands reached for my mouth so they must not have listened. Everyone was shouting ideas back and forth until one sentence made everything go quiet.

"Pass it to her through your mouth."

The speaker must have thought that he wasn't heard because he repeated himself.

"Kurama, just pass it through your mouth."

Kurama replied instantly. "Kuronue, this is not the time to be making stupid suggestions."

"I'm being serious! Just think of it as mouth to mouth."

Kurama's voice became a warning growl. "Kuronue."

"Just do it Kurama." Neyuki's voice was close to my head so she must have been holding my shoulders at that moment. Seconds later though, I felt her hands leave my shoulders and someone else grab them. I felt myself leaned up against something and lips touch mine. There was little doubt in my mind about who it was kissing me and I prepared myself for my curse to act up. To my surprise the only feelings I felt as he forced my mouth to open and the tea slipped down my throat was disgust at the taste. Nothing more. Nothing less.

As the tea went down my throat, the pain started to dull and my senses became to focus. Unfortunately, the effects of my curse also appeared as my mind because of my mind becoming clear. Kurama was probably confused when I returned his kis— mouth to mouth attempt to get the tea into me, but he didn't pull away. At least not until Kuronue laughed and said, "Maybe we should just leave them to it."

Kurama pulled away almost immediately and glared in the direction of Kuronue as he helped me to my feet. "Shouldn't you be keeping an eye out for Amaterasu and Yasu?"

Kuronue grinned. "Shouldn't you be saying thank you? If it wasn't for me, you never would have had the idea to kiss her."

He released his grip on my arm so I could walk over to Neyuki as he tried to defend himself. "It was mouth to mouth!"

"That's not what Amaterasu would think it was if she walked in."

"Since when does what Amaterasu think matter?"

"Since she probably would have had a heart attack and died if she saw that. Just couldn't get enough could you?"

"He was just practicing for me."

Before any of us could move, four small spheres were thrown into our area. Within seconds, the spheres released a dense fog. In front of me, I could feel Kuronue's, Hiei's, and Kurama's energy lashing out looking for signs of an attack. Neyuki's energy was also reaching out but she seemed to be looking for me. Once she grabbed onto my wrist, she hid her energy, and I heard her pull out her weapon, a lightning spear. Following Neyuki's example, I tried to hid my energy with some success. However, we did not move closer to the men. With our energy hidden they could easily mistake us for Amaterasu and Yasu coming in for an attack. I had thought that the two raccoon's plan was to kill us off one by one using the fog as a cover, but after a few seconds, I began to have my doubts. The tunnel was silent. Not even a single shout of pain could be heard. 'Were the others unconscious and being murdered in their sleep?' I wondered. The thought made my blood turn cold.

I waited a few more seconds to see if I could hear anything. Nothing. Unable to stand it, I started to walk forward, pulling Neyuki with me. My legs felt heavy and my muscles contracted painfully with every move. As if they were freezing up. I brushed the pain off as being a side effect of my energy attack, but when Neyuki gasped in pain, I was forced to rethink. I paused and was about to ask Neyuki if she was all right when I found I couldn't open my mouth. Neyuki's grip on my wrist changed from a comforting one to a rigid vice. I tried to turn to look at her but my head wouldn't turn either. My neck muscles whimpered as I tried to force them to move. Finally, I tried to move my legs, and I realized what the fog was designed to do.

A/N: First, hope this update was quick enough.

Second, You have no idea the temptation it was to just end the chapter at "He was practicing…"

Third, how many people liked Kuronue's suggestion?

Finally, this could be the second last chapter or the third last, I'm not really sure. Regardless the story is about to end. I might take some time away from this fic to work on some other ideas but I'm not really sure.

Thank you for reviewing and reading. See you next chapter.

-D101

P.S I haven't read this chapter over very well so please let me know if something doesn't make sense, if topics of a sentence change mid-sentence, and if I'm missing a word. Thanks.