SOUND THE ALARM! Warning! This is the last time 'Lone Wolf' will appear under the default setting listings! This will take place in 1 to 4 days because the chapter is already half done! Poof! Disappeared! We are moving to an M RATING come Chapter 23!

Chapter 22: Fight or Flight.

"Kira!"

"Hello again, fox," Kirazuki said airily from where she lay on her stomach at the side of the riverbank, dipping her fingers in and out of the river over and over, freezing tiny, stone sized pieces of the flowing current, "I was going to come back soon, I promise."

"Kira," Kurama repeated as he trailed to her side, reaching out mentally and hoping that Hiei could hear him, 'I found her. She's by the Sorairo River.' He cautiously knelt down in the sand and placed a gentle hand between her shoulder blades, "We need to go, now…" He explained calmly, hoping she had cooled off some since the last time he'd seen her on the roof, "It wasn't Hiei. It was all a set up,"

Kira's ears perked curiously to this statement, "What was a setup?" She questioned as she placed her hands in the damp sand, pushing herself upwards and sitting on the ground, her heels had been long abandoned, and her once white dress had sand stuck to the front of it. Another one ruined, Botan was going to kill her.

Kurama stood, offering a hand to the wolf before him, "The old woman was right. Kanami is the wolf in sheep's clothing," He tried to explain the best he could, "If my speculations are correct, she's been masquerading as our ally this entire time, intentionally weakening herself as to avoid any suspicion. It explains how they found us at Genkai's and you and Hiei upon the roof… And why she was so quick to ask the informants about the psychic; she wanted to know if they knew anything about her," Kira cautiously placed her cold hand in his and he tugged her upwards, "She needed to separate you from the rest of us to open a window for the other two; she learned you run when your distressed so.. She put you in distress,"

Kira narrowed her eyes as she firmly held his gaze, searching his emerald eyes for even the smallest flicker of a lie; but her face suddenly broke out in a smile, a melodious laugh coming from her chest; Kurama couldn't help but sweatdrop at the sudden outburst, "That tricky little bitch," She said between her laughter, shaking her head, "At least she's an excellent liar, there's one thing she's good at,"

'Get her out of there now, they're coming,' Kurama heard the fire demon echo in his head, his eyes widened significantly as he hastily snatched Kira's hand in his own, tugging her along the side of the river, "They know where we are," He spoke as panic set in, there were only 2 of them, and Kanami would have likely already joined up with the others, so they were already outgunned, especially if Kanami took over more of those reptiles.

"How do you know?" Kira asked quickly, following him none-the-less as he dashed into the treeline for cover.

Kurama visually scanned the forest, 'they're coming' was far too vague, he could end up leading the pair straight into them, "Hiei's been searching for you as well, although that Reikai collar certainly does a fantastic job at masking your trace," He grunted in frustration as he clenched his fist, having absolutely no idea which way to go.

"Hold on," Kira released his hand as she sensed his spike in irritation, disappearing upwards into the trees to get a better view.

Kurama waited alone patiently, his heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest in the eerie calm. He watched as the leaves upon the ground began to drift slowly across the ground, his emerald eyes narrowing suspiciously at the normally small action.

There was a sudden uplift of air and he almost felt like the breath was being taken straight from his lungs; the leaves shot upward, the tree branches bent towards the sky, 'Hiei, how far away are you!?' He panicked. Everything suddenly slammed back down with another gust of air; he heard tree branches snapping and a loud yelp as Kira crashed onto the ground with a pile of shattered tree limbs.

She groaned as she sat up, "Nevermind. They're here already…" She muttered as Kurama grabbed her elbow, yanking her off of the ground.

'25 minutes at least, why?' Hiei's voice echoed in his head.

'They're here,' The fox grit his teeth together, his eyes tracing the massive funnel that was making its way steadily towards the ground from the clouds above; it was both a magnificent display of power, and a terrifying one, "If we can stall them long enough we'll have backup," He said shakily as he pulled a single rose from his hair.

Kira's eyes widened as the tornado-like gust hammered into the ground about 50 feet away from them, Tobikuma must have been using the natural wind currents to amplify his abilities, at least she hoped that was it; she raked her brain for an answer on what to do as a deafening snap echoed through the forest, all at once the wind and the funnel dissipated, and she could see the shadowed figures of 3 walking their way, "Shit, shit, shit," She cursed in rapid succession, looking up at Kurama. What were they going to do? They could run, but Kurama wasn't nearly as fast as Kira, and she was positive Tatsumi would be able to catch him, and she wouldn't risk that.

"Just talk as much as you can. Try to buy as much time as possible until Hiei arrives to level the playing field," He whispered to her with a firm nod as the three came into view.

One was definitely Kanami, trailing behind the two slightly and to the left. The second was only a bit in front of her and to the right, she was tall, very lanky, with oddly colored brown and black scales for skin, her long black hair pulled back tightly in a ponytail as her long forked tongue poked in and out of her lips excitedly: Tatsumi. She wore the same attire that Kira generally wore, a pair of plain black shorts, and a plain white t-shirt. At the head of the trio was Tobikuma, his large brown wings tucked behind his back and a smirk on his avian-featured face as he strolled in their direction with a predatory air about his movement. He was shirtless (Kira imagined it would be pretty difficult to get a shirt on over his wings), with only a simple, plain pair of black shorts covering him. But something was very different about both Tobi and Sumi; they had strange, almost tribal-like markings along the majority of their bodies, Tatsumi's were an odd tan color, while Tobi's were a pure black. Kira straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, her jaw clenched and her eyebrows knitting as she glared at the three, trying desperately to not look as frightened as she felt in that moment.

"There's no need for that, little Kirazuki," Tobi shouted out deeply, seeing her naturally dominant stance, "We are all equals here," He stated as he came to a halt, the other two stopping in his wake.

"Fuck you we are," Kira spat back venomously, instantly on the defensive, narrowing her mismatched eyes in Kanami's direction, "Good to see you again, traitor,"

Kanami opened her mouth to speak, but Tobikuma held a clawed hand up to halt her, "Do not engage her, little psychic. We may chat later when we have more time,"

Kurama inhaled sharply, they must have already known Hiei was on his way.. Kira laughed to this statement, "We won't be spending quality time together any time soon,"

"Do you think the fox and the wolf can outmatch all three of us? The eagle, the serpent, and the psychic? I can promise you now that the little swordsman won't make it before we kill your ally and simply bring you with us," Tobi smirked confidently.

"Can we take him too, brother? I like him. He'sss like usss," Came a hiss from behind Kurama.

Kira's eyes doubled in size as she saw Tatsumi stood behind the fox, playing childishly with and smelling his hair. She hadn't even noticed the snake move. In seconds she was gone, as was Tatsumi, and all Kurama could see was the kicking up of dirt and grass as the two beasts clashed. There was a loud slam that his eyes snapped towards instinctively: Kira had Tatsumi pinned up against a tree by her neck, so hard in fact that she had managed to splinter some of the thick trunk, a snarl of anger on her normally smiling face, "Don't touch him,"

"Now now, my Sisters," Tobikuma had also appeared behind the pair, his razor sharp talons against the back of Kira's neck, "No fighting,"

'Hiei, we need you now!' Kurama called out with widened eyes.

'I'm going as fast as I can, fox!'

Tatsumi gave a wicked, high pitched laugh that made the hair on Kira's neck stand up, "And here sssissster thought the fire demon would make you mad," She smiled as her tongue flicked out of her mouth.

Kira growled deeply in her throat, tightening her grip around the snake's neck as her mismatched eyes narrowed dangerously, but Tobikuma just did the same to her, his talons just barely piercing the soft flesh at the back of her neck, "Kirazuki, I suggest you release your sister. And don't even think about moving, fox," He narrowed his pitch black eyes in Kurama's direction. She gave one final shove against Tatsumi's throat, simultaneously pushing herself away (and also spitting in her face as she went) as Tobi guided her so she was facing the fox, delivering a quick and heavy kick to her back that sent her flying.

Kira winced as she crashed into Kurama, the two of them landing in a tangled pile on the ground. Tobikuma cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him, "You have two option little wolf," He paused as he strolled towards them casually, "The first, you simply come with us. We leave your precious comrades be. The second, you keep trying to stall us until the swordsman arrives, but you will fail, and he comes only to find the dead body of the fox, and you still come with us,"

"I'm not joining you psychopaths!" Kira shouted as she and Kurama found their feet, her anger swelling in her chest.

Tobi smiled, stopping a few feet away from them, "No one said anything about joining us, Kirazuki. We simply want to discuss things with you where we won't be disturbed,"

"He's lying, Kira," Kurama warned, maintaining eye contact with the eagle.

"Do you think we're lying about leaving your dead body here in the woods?" Tobi retorted, shifting his gaze to Kira, "You have 3 minutes to decide before we begin to take.. Drastic measures..." He smiled almost politely, turning on his heels and walking back towards Kanami and Tatsumi.

Talk about being trapped between a rock and a hard place. Kira stared hard at the back of the eagles head, making sure he wasn't going to pull any sort of sneak attack, before shifting her eyes to Kurama, "How long?"

Kurama shook his head, "He's still at least 15 minutes away… Kira, you can't leave, no matter what..."

Kira's fists clenched at her sides; that damn snake had already gotten her hands on him once, she couldn't keep an eye on all four of them and herself at the same time, "I'm not going to let them try to kill you,"

Kurama's voice was almost pleading as he spoke again, "And you can't leave with them, either. We can hold them off until Hiei arrives.. You already know they need you on their side, and that's just one step closer to it,"

Kira's stomach sank for the third time since she had met these people, all of her tensed muscles going limp as she turned to face Kurama, she looked quite wounded by the sudden realization that had just poured over her, "You don't trust me enough to go…"

Kurama mentally cursed to himself, shaking his head and placing a gentle hand on her upper arm, "No, it's not-"

Tobikuma's boisterous laughter interrupted his speech, "Of course they don't trust you little Dark Moon. You are too powerful for them, too mysterious, too unique, too dangerous. They don't understand you in the way we do, and they likely never will," His voice was a gentle purr as he tried to reason with the pair, his deep black eyes never leaving Kira's, "Only 1 minute left, Kirazuki. You should hear the things he's said to the swordsman about you. How you're nothing but a caged animal being released for the first time, how he needs to keep his distance, how he would kill you himself if it came to-"

"Shut up!" Kira spat with a sudden and unexpected fierceness, moving so she was slightly in front of Kurama as if to block him from the trio, "I don't need your shit help!"

"That's not the truth-"

"Yes it is!" Kanami suddenly spoke from behind Tobikuma and Tatsumi in a rare moment of boldness on her part, "I've heard everything you've said about us from day one! He's not lying, Kira,"

Kira laughed, throwing her hands in the air in mock defeat, "Now you want me to trust you?" She shook her head, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath, "I'm not joining you…" She paused for a moment; with lightening fast speed she dropped down in a steadying low stance to the ground, kicking one of her legs up behind her where it hit Kurama square in the chest. She whirled around, propelling herself perfectly with him as he flew like a ragdoll backwards into a tree; she snaked her hands onto his torso as they began to glow, releasing her ice around him and encasing the bottom half of him to the tree - exactly as she had the first time they had trained together, "But I won't let them try to kill you," She spoke apologetically, unable to look up at his widened eyes.

"Kira, you can't!" Kurama pleaded as he struggled against the ice, but his rose had been dropped from the stun of the kick: he was currently out of options, "Please, don't do this,"

Kira slipped her thumb underneath the Reikai's collar, giving it enough of a tug to snap it from her neck, a small wave of ice spreading from her feet as she did so, "Regroup, and find me," She finally looked up at Kurama in an almost glare as she tucked her icy hand under his chin to force him to maintain steady eye contact, "You need to trust me," She spoke firmly before beginning to trail away to the trio.

Tobikuma began clapping his hands slowly, nodding as he did so, a certain satisfaction on his face, "Good, good girl, Kirazuki," He practically cooed, beckoning for Kanami to come forward.

"I'm still not joining you," Kira asserted firmly again as she stopped in front of them, ignoring Kurama's pleas behind her.

"In due time, little wolf, in due time," Tobi purred, reaching forward and gently grasping her wrists, pulling them out in ront of her, "Kanami," He called gently as she came to his side, "Bind her, please,"

Kira narrowed her eyes as Kanami touched both of her wrists, her hands beginning to glow a strange purple: she had half a notion to rip her eyes out, "Why is this necessary if I'm going with you willingly?"

Kanami knelt down in front of her now, placing one hand on each of her ankles, Tobi spoke again, "Precautionary measure is all," He replied airily, watching Kanami work.

Kira rolled her eyes as Kanami stood again and moved behind her, sweeping her long hair away from her shoulders and placing both glowing hands upon them, "Reikai forbid anyone trusts the crazy wolf girl," She muttered, mainly to herself. She was still admittedly wounded by the harsh realization that her own allies didn't even trust her; she figured that, by now, she would've at least earned it.

Tobi smiled, placing a large hand on the top of her head, "It's going to get dark," He warned calmly as Kanami came back to the front, placing a single, glowing hand over her eyes before removing it: He was right, she definitely couldn't see a single thing. Tobikuma turned back to Kurama as he spread his wings out with a loud slap, "I thank you for your cooperation, fox. You may be rewarded some day when we make our great rise,"

Tobikuma's entire body began to emit a steady glow of red energy, his large wings giving a few gentle flaps to lift him into the air, and Kurama's emerald eyes glanced upwards as another large funnel cloud began to make its way down towards the group of four. He wished more than anything he could be free of the ice, he wished so feverishly in that moment he hadn't voiced all of his concerns to Hiei about Kira, that these things weren't fresh in her mind while she disappeared into the swirling winds with their enemies as the funnel crashed back onto the ground; it began to rise back into the air with an immense, hollow wind, the three women that once stood on the ground beneath it vanished.

And then, at once, as quickly as it had all came: Kurama was left alone, and everything was gone, including Kira.

Hiei could sense the three massive energy sources ahead of him as he flashed feverishly from tree to tree: the Mutt must have finally removed that damned collar, Kurama and the little traitorous psychic were there as well, and he almost was too. He couldn't wait to get his blade on the psychic; the one who dared to even lay a finger on him. She was skilled, yes; but she had deceived them all, and that was not forgivable in his book.

He came to a sudden halt, his crimson eyes widening as he watched the massive swirls of dust and cloud spiral downwards towards the ground in the distance, picking up stray leaves and weak tree limbs as it went: It must've been the male creature, he vaguely recalled that he controlled air as he took off in it's direction again.

'What's going on?' He called to Kurama as he neared, growing anxious as four of the five energy signatures disappeared; but he received no response.

Hiei skidded to a halting stop in the general area he had seen the large tornado funnel, scanning the area quickly for any signs of.. well, anyone.

"They're already gone," Kurama voice echoed from where he was pinned to the tree.

"What do you mean they're gone?" He practically spat, making his way over to the fox, easily placing a hand on his icy prison as it dissolved under his touch.

Kurama fought the urge to simply sink to the ground, placing a hand on the tree trunk for support, "She knew you wouldn't make it here in time.." He tried his best to remain impassive as he waited for a reaction, although he had a pretty good idea of what it would be.

Hiei shook his head, his fists clenching with frustration; the fox had been so damn adamant about how 'dangerous' everything pertaining to Kira was, yet she had gone for the sole purpose of saving him, and he didn't deserve it. His mistrust of her was unwarranted; she had more than proven herself, working diligently to train them when she had been able, until she was the one who needed them, "Where?" He spoke through gritted teeth.

Kurama stood straight, his eyes hardening as he looked at the fire demon, "Not yet, Hiei. We need to find the others before we begin our search.."

"So what's with the new markings?" Kira asked for conversations sake as she walked blindly through… She actually had no idea, but she knew the ground was definitely either dirt or sand, that was a start.

Tobikuma smiled as he guided her through the many trails of their den, stopping momentarily and motioning for Kanami to come forward, "Let her see," He spoke lightly, and the psychic did as she was told, placing another glowing purple hand over Kira's eyes to restore her vision, "It is just more secrets the Reikai have kept from us about ourselves," He explained as he trailed away from the three women.

Kira scoffed, blinking a few times to rid her eyes of the remainder of the cloudiness but said nothing as he removed his shorts while he walked; the action bothered none of them, each of them had grown very used to nudity among themselves. She watched as he stopped, turning to face them, his pure black eyes closing slowly as he began to emit his own demonic energy in steady waves. The strange markings on his body began to glow as well, and her eyes widened as she watched the bones beneath each of his muscles begin to crack, popping and reforming one by one; Tobi groaned as what looked like large feathers began to push out through his skin.

Kira's eyes widened even more when it finally hit her: he was transforming into something, into what his animal was: an eagle. Only much, much bigger. And Tatsumi must be able to do it, too.. "Show me how," She said quickly and dazed, tearing her eyes away from the scene to look at Tatsumi, who stood only slightly behind her.

Tatsumi flicked her tongue out from between her dark lips as a smile began to play across them, "We will teach you all you want to know asss sssoon asss you agree to be one with usss," She hissed, before nodding towards Tobikuma, "Gaze upon what the Reikai hasss hidden from usss, sssissster,"

Kira turned back to the eagle, her jaw falling slack as she watched the now enormous avian give a few gentle flaps of it's elegant wings, kicking up a large amount of sand into the air around them: it, he, was both brilliant and terrifying. And Kira needed to know how.

"I fucking knew it!" Taryuu boomed back in the hotel room, pounding one of his large fists into the wall with a snarl, "This is his fault!"

Kurama shot him a cold look, narrowing his eyes, "This is completely Kanami's doing, you are placing your blame and anger on the wrong person," He protested firmly.

Yusuke put a firm hand on the dragons forearm, looking him steadily in the eyes, "I know you're upset, but if you want to get her back, you're going to have to calm down and we're going to have to use our heads, together," He spoke in a rare moment of seriousness on his part.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Taryuu and Kurama were in the trios hotel room, Kurama had taken the liberty to check them in for a few extra nights, regardless of if they would be there for all of them or not it would make a good home base while they were here. Hiei on the other hand, Kurama suspected, was likely on the roof. The fox stood from the arm chair he was seated in, beginning to walk towards the door, "I'm going to fetch Hiei," He spoke with a sigh as he headed towards the roof grudgingly. He had a lot of explaining to do to him, and Kira.

As he trailed the dim hallway he recalled that he had once quite admired Kira for her wolven spirit, felt connected to her and the others because of this; they were like him. He had felt anger towards Hiei for injuring her when she had tried to kill him. He couldn't help but wonder exactly when that had changed, or why. When did he start becoming unnecessarily weary of her? She had done nothing to him directly to cause this shift, either. His regret and his guilt cut deep into him in those moments as he made his way up towards the roof.

The rusted steel door creaked it's way open, and Kurama saw the fire demon perched in the same spot he had found Kira just lastnight, staring off into the distance with the Jagan open wide, likely scanning the surrounding areas. The fox silently made his way to the edge of the roof beside him, "I want to apologize," He spoke soft but firm, turning his eyes upwards towards the sky that was beginning to grow dark, "I was.. Unneccesarily cautious, cruel even, of your actions. I acted on what I felt was most beneficial to the task at hand, without taking any individual aspects into consideration,"

"Hn." Hiei stuck his hands in his pockets, his crimson eyes sliding closed, "You're apologizing to the wrong person, fox," He replied stoically, turning on his heels and beginning to walk to the door.

Kurama knew this, it had been Kira he had spoken ill of, and now she knew about it, too. And at the moment, there was nothing he could do to repair it.. "I know.. I suppose it's the best I could do for now.."

"I want to give you one more chance to concede before we begin," Tobi smiled kindly at Kira as he bent down, picking up a piece of cloth from the dirt floor and turning it over in his hands, "We could teach you so much that we've learned in our absense, little Dark Moon. There is so much you don't know about yourself, so much the Reikai has hidden from you,"

Kira scowled from where she stood chained, her arms suspended above her head and joined at the wrists; her legs were spread about a foot apart, her ankles shackled to the ground. Where they currently were appeared to be a massive, circular underground cavern, lit by hundreds of flamed torches; there was only one way in or out: where a gradually raised trail led around the outer side of the dome-like cave to a high arched entry point. Kanami sat on the floor cross-legged a few feet away from them, her entire body emitting a purple aura; the wolf knew she was masking their location. Tatsumi stood to her left, rolling a swirling ball of water within in scaled hands almost elegantly, "Not a chance,"

Tobikuma sighed as he made his way behind her, running his razor sharp talons through her long hair a few times, "It's too bad…" He spoke sadly, before quickly wrapping his hand around her hair, roughly yanking her head backwards so she was staring up at her conjoined hands, "Just know, simply say the words and we'll stop. We take no pleasure in what we are about to do to you,"

Keep an eye out for the brand spankin' new M RATED 'Lone Wolf' 'Chapter 23: Liquid and Scars'!

-B.J.