Chapter 14: The Three Minxes - Part Two - The Challenge

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to KOEI TECMO, TECMO and Team NINJA. I am not Yosuke Hayashi.

A/N: SO, I know this is VERY EARLY TO TALK ABOUT, but I'm thinking about making a Sequel for this story. I might give you an extra chapter, a teaser for the end of this story. Like it? Hate it? Give me your thoughts in reviews;)

Unknown Location

"You missed again?!" Kai hissed at the Crystallum, "they were vulnerable! How could you miss such an easy target?!" The succubi winced at his voice.

"Master, The...The Huntress, she-..." Sayeh started, but was cut short.

"I don't give a devil's shit if Andra stroke again! What I want is the Electus! Capturing one girl! Is it so hard to do that for you whores?!" He yelled, "Enya is doing a better job than you, by keeping close and making them believe she's on their side! That's the thing with you succubi, you don't think. All you want is sex and blood. I should've killed you after your first mistake." He ended, eliciting a shudder from them. Kai drew out his sword, a thick, ancient one, adorned with beautiful gems and stones. Mostly rubies and onyxes designs at its base. He smirked as the succubi's eyes went round, probably awed by the beauty of the sword and terrified of what could be done with it.

"This is the last time I hear of your failure!" Kai shouted, "your ancestors could make one tremble by one look they'd give. The Six Succubi of the Dark Circle," he scoffed, "one dead, the other one seriously injured. You should be ashamed of yourselves; you are a pity to your line and kind! Next time, you will die. Understood?" He boomed. The succubi nodded, trembling, and Kai closed his fist over the precious stone. He unclenched it to look at Hitomi, who's face was lit up with a heart-warming smile. Kai's eyes softened, but hardened again at the feeling of his heart. It was beating faster than usual, which was quite unusual. He shook his head and tapped his crown gently.

"Mine." He growled, "she's mine." He repeated. But he hated the way that man was close to her. He didn't want her that close her, his foul human smell, his greasy, disgusting human hands on her. The thought made his blood boil.

"Cruentus!" He called, his eyes closed in irritation. The red-headed man appeared in a fraction of a second.

"Y-yes, Lord?" Cruentus responded, not daring to meet his eyes. Kai smirked.

"Bring me a girl, I want to have some...fun with her." His smirk deepened as he saw Cruentus's eyes bulge out of his skull.

It was no secret that Lord Kai, Demon Prince of Daemonum, did horrible, terrifying things with women. No, he did not use them for sexual pleasure; he used them for his irritated state. He would bring a girl, and she'd leave the courtroom bloody, disfigured, and sometime, dead. Like every demon, Kai had blood-lust. He loved women's blood, and sometimes, Cruentus would bring him a human girl. Humans had the sweetest blood, after all.

"H-human o-or...de-demon?" Cruentus asked, trembling.

"Human." He responded, to which Cruentus disappeared.

After a short while, an obviously Japanese girl with long raven hair, gray eyes and pale skin appeared. She looked completely confused in her school uniform, which consisted of a white, long-sleeved shirt and a plaid black and white skirt, with long white socks and brown shoes. Kai smirked.

"Hello?" She called out to him. Kai stood up from his throne and slowly strode towards her. The intoxicating smell of fresh, sweet blood filled his nostrils, and the need of just tasting it was just so...irresistible. He let out a guttural sound as his sultry voice ringed out in the girl's ears.

"Hello there. What's your name?" He purred. The girl shuddered in pleasure and fear.

"W-why do you want to know?" She asked, trembling at the finger he started to stroke on her neck.

"Because I'm sure you have a beautiful name, you are a gorgeous girl." Kai whispered in her ear.

"Heart," she mumbled back. He smirked. That wasn't her name, he could tell she was lying, but he could also smell her desire. She was attracted to him, like many women would be if one had seen him. He slowly drew out his sword and pointed it to her slender neck. The demon prince slowly started to make little stabs across her neck, making her believe that they were kisses. She moaned at the sharp pain, but also at the pleasure. His stabs got slightly deeper, and she gasped at the pain. Out of control, long claws replaced his short nails, and slowly, he drove them into the girl's shoulders. She cried out in agony and screamed at him to stop, begging, hollering curses. Kai growled and groaned in pleasure. It was good to have modified powers of an incubus. The girl sank to her knees, still screaming for her life, and just as her lips turned blue, just as her face drained of all colour, just as Kai was about to drain the life out of her, a throat clearing interrupted them. Kai groaned in disappointment and retracted his claws. The girl collapsed on the floor, her breathing labored.

"What are you doing here, Shade?" Kai asked icily. A man with dark green hair and dark blue eyes smirked at him.

"Well hello to you too, brother." He responded slyly, making Kai's blood boil.

"We've been at this for hours! Where is that Acantha girl? And what kind of name is Acantha anyway?" Leifang whined. The group gave a collective groan.

"Thirty-seven..." Hitomi mumbled. Since the visit with Adara, Leifang didn't stop talking. Hitomi was also curious about the bit of parchment in her hands. She had claimed to have found it in a chest, but something was terribly off, and the young German beauty did not like that. Also, Hayate's incessant worry would make her irritated. He'd ask her if she was okay every fine minutes. After the fifth time, Hitomi just didn't answer. Snapping at him would be bad. She didn't want to hurt him. She never wanted to.

"Are you okay, Hitomi?" Hayate asked. Hitomi groaned.

"Fifty-six..." She mumbled in return. Ayane, hearing this, snickered.

"I counted seventy-one." She said, making Hitomi send a dirty look at her. A bright yellow light cut her off, her eyes turned the same shade, as she jogged to it. Everyone remained silent and followed. Ayane's and Hayate's jaws dropped.

"What the fuck? Lisa Hamilton?" The kunoichi said. A woman with light chocolate skin, dark brown hair, slightly purple eyes, wearing a yellow festive mask and a matching one sleeved gown appeared in front of them. Hitomi was tucked in a yellow cloud, asleep.

"It's about time," Lisa scoffed, "I was getting annoyed." She said. Ayane scowled. Andra just blinked at her; she looked like a long lost relative to her, never mind The Huntress's onyx hair.

"So, I think Adara filled you up with stuff, didn't she?" Lisa glanced at Ayane, "I'm not that Lisa chick, I'm Acantha, second most powerful of the three Minxes. The Electus changed me into her because I roughly look like her." She smiled and stroke Hitomi's hair, "ah, beautiful like the Angels and powerful like the Demons. The Prophecy was right." She mumbled the last part of her sentence.

"What was that?" Eliot asked, although he had heard. Acantha coughed, somehow looked panicked for a moment before covering it with a dull expression.

"Nothing, anyway, your challenge is commencing right now." She said, quickly avoiding the subject. Slowly, Hitomi rose from her slumber and fell to the ground. Hayate was immediately at her side.

"Hitomi, how do you feel?" He asked. Hitomi groaned and stretched.

"I feel...weird." She responded. Suddenly, their surroundings changed from the thick, white fog to a courtroom. White marble walls, a golden floor, red flowers everywhere and a throne. It was beautiful. Awed by its beauty, they didn't realise that a woman was on the throne, weeping.

"Who's that lady?" Jann Lee asked, making the group turn around and walk to the throne. The woman didn't pause her weeping, she only did it louder and louder. Hitomi's eyes shone bright yellow and she found herself walking slowly to the woman.

"Are you okay...what the..." She was quickly cut off by a strong force, snapping her onto the golden floor. She grunted in pain, only to meet the bright pink eyes of a creature, similar looking to a woman. But instead of hair, she had blue horns, pink fur, not covering her chest and pink bat wings. Hitomi's eyes widened. This was no normal lady.

"Hodie, moriamur." The creature hissed in Latin, revealing long, yellowed fangs.

With dread spreading in her body, Andra could only understand what the creature had said,

'Today, you die.'

Fuck.

Somewhere in Yokosuka

There was always that moment in one's life that one would always cherish for the rest of his or her life. A moment that would be remembered forever, just as one would gasp a last breath. For Kasumi, this was the moment. Hayabusa was kissing her, his calloused, gloved hands holding her face extremely gently. Their heated argument, one of the most heated anyway, turned into him pressing his lips to hers. It was a long, slow kiss, as if both were afraid to ruin the moment by a single twitch. Kasumi's cold, but also gloved hands slowly made their way to his cheeks, caressing them gently with her thumb. Someone moaned, she wasn't sure who, but it sounded like her own voice. Her heart couldn't stop beating, and she restrained herself from knotting her fingers in his short brown hair. They stayed like this, lips locked and bodies close, both not wanting to let go. Unfortunately, the human need of oxygen forced them to part away, but Hayabusa kept a firm hold on her.

"What do you make of the decision? I still think we should stay," he said, seriously, but his eyes looked dazed. Kasumi frowned, her fist clenching on his chest.

"I don't think we should, Hayabusa," she whispered, "this cave might hold something that could ease our tired state." Hayabusa frowned, letting go of her. Her body wailed at the loss of his warmth, and so did her lips, but she forced herself to calm down.

"What if we find nothing? Or what if we found our deaths?" The Dragon Ninja asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Then we die," Kasumi replied, smiling sadly. A pregnant pause settled, with Kasumi basically begging with her amber eyes. She didn't know the power it had over him. As children, Kasumi and Hayabusa weren't close, but he would always soften when it came to her, and her eyes. To him, they were beautiful and always had a spark that would make him bow in front of her.

"Yoshi." Alright, he said, sighing. Kasumi smiled sweetly at him, and slowly, wrapped her arms around him. She sighed in contentment as Hayabusa lifted a hand to caress her soft copper hair.

"Arigatō." Thank you, She responded.

"Let's go," he said, pulling away from her. Kasumi smiled again, and slowly, they walked in the depths of the cave, not aware that four shadows were staring at them.

"Is this her?" One asked.

"It must be, she discovered the cave." Another said.

"No, it isn't! The Prophecy said that her eyes were like pools of pure water." A third one hissed.

"And her eyes are amber." A fourth one pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, they are intruders in our cave! They must be killed immediately!" The first one said.

"But what if they're part of The Prophecy?" The second one asked.

"It is not our problem to solve. They are intruders, and no one enters this cave, or exits it!" The first one said again, terrifying. They slowly disappeared in white fog, waiting for their preys to reach the place of action.

A/N: And done! Sorry about the delay, my school is horribly disorganised. Always putting events where they aren't supposed to. And with the five thousand projects that I have, I have little time to write. Whatever.

Question: do you recognise who's the girl that Kai almost killed? If you do, I'll point you out and make a chapter just for you!

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO HITOMI AND HER FRIENDS? WHO ARE THOSE FOUR 'SHADOWS'? WHO IS SHADE? WHY IS HE CALLING KAI 'BROTHER'? KEEP REVIEWING.

Time for things to get a little bit spicy!;)

Don't forget to R&R!:)