Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Kawaridane ❯ Ambush! ( Chapter 7 )

AN: This one is for Nyuka. Thanks for the very entertaining review! I do not own IY or YYH

WARNING: Pay attention to the ratings. This chapter has darker themes. You have been warned.

 

 

Ayako glanced at her watch. It was 9:50pm. `Shit, we still have around 12kms to go.'

She was breathing heavily, her legs and arms shaking with the effort of using her shunpo for so long. `Maybe this was a very bad idea.'

She glanced back and saw Hiei looking at her. `Dammit I don't think he's broken a sweat! What the hell?' Ayako grit her teeth and called her powers forward with more intensity. `I refuse to be the weak one here.'

**********

`How the hell do I get her to accept a ride? Baka onna is going to wear herself out and that will not be good when it comes to fighting outnumbered.' Hiei scowled.

He caught her eye as she looked back, and then what she did next confused him to no end. He could almost here her teeth clench and felt her powers surge as she took off faster than before.

`She is really desperate to put some space between us. Maybe she's the one who is disgusted.' His face fell.

`Since when do I care what a tiny onna thinks of me? If she is going to act like I don't exist I can play that game too.' Hiei scowled and shot past her, thinking… well not thinking at all really.

Neither of them were.

Hiei caught the scent of the enemy and quickly signalled to Ayako to mask their spirit energy and that they would stop on the tree about 800m ahead. He didn't wait to see her nod that she understood.

Hiei landed silently on the designated spot and half a second later Ayako was beside him. He could hear her heart pounding and see she was sweating profusely, but other than that she didn't look too tired. They both focused their attention on their prey settled below them, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

Hiei signed to Ayako, asking her the time. He watched her glance down at her watch and signed back to him.

It was 9:55pm. Five minutes till all teams would strike. Hiei nodded and began to size up the competition. Unfortunately for them they caught one of the groups who happened to have six hunters. Meaning a fight of 3 on 1 for each of them.

He glanced at Ayako to see her watching him intently. She knew he always decided who would go up against whom and she was anxiously awaiting his assessment.

Forgetting his anger and his previous promise to himself that he would keep his distance he brushed away a stray hair, which had fallen across her face, behind her ear. The look on her face was priceless. That look of silent anger and determination was gone, replaced with a look of utter confusion, and a rosy blush to top it off.

His heart swelled at the blush on her face and he smiled. A real smile, that said so much and yet too little.

**********

Ayako almost fell off the tree branch when he smiled at her. `Holy shit! He can smile!' was all she could think of as she watched him turn his attention back to the enemy below.

She looked at her watch. 9:57pm.

Ayako scanned the area below and saw six lesser apparitions. Only two of which looked particularly dangerous. The other four definitely looked fat and slow. Knowing Hiei he would probably give her at least three of the fat guys. Although she had no objections to this she knew things didn't always work out the way you planned either. She took comfort in the fact that she could probably take out at least one if not two of the demons with her bow before they had to fight hand to hand.

She saw out of the corner of her eye that Hiei was signing for her to pay attention so she did.

She watched his hands intently as he gave her instructions.

Try to take out at least two maybe three of them with your bow. After your position has been discovered, I will attack from the southern end of the clearing. I will take the two apparitions that appear most threatening. You will take the other two.

She nodded, letting him knew she understood. She watched as he didn't move away to his position yet. Instead he lagged behind and seemed to analyze her face carefully.

She could feel a blush rising again. A small smirk covered his face as he signed again.

Be careful.

She looked stunned for only a moment before she leaned across and brushed her lips softly across his cheek and signed back.

You too.

He looked like he swallowed his own tongue and she didn't wait for him to leave as she left first, taking up the best position to strike on her unknowing prey beneath her.

`I will prove to him I'm not weak.' She thought to herself as she felt the calmness of battle focus settle over her, and she didn't think again for awhile.

She looked at her watch and saw 9:59pm turn over to 10:00pm.

Taking a deep breath she formed her bow and all hell broke loose.

**********

Hiei sensed the surge in Ayako's holy energy as her bow was formed and then he felt something very bad.

More spirit energy signatures. From behind!?!

Hiei swore to himself as he saw Ayako's targets fall. He smirked when he saw her take two at once and she even managed to get one of the tough guys in the upper thigh, making him howl in pain.

He cursed to himself. `Shit Shit SHIT! She's going to expose herself and be ambushed! If we had waited even a spilt second longer we could've re-analysed the situation!'

He watched in horror as Ayako was forced from the tree branch she was on by a well placed sword slash across the trunk.

Hiei leapt into the fray and their original targets were gone with two swings of his sword. Hiei looked at Ayako and by the look on her face as she swung her sword across her last opponent's throat that she had sensed them as well.

`They were a diversion! How did they know we'd be here?!?'

Suddenly there was no more room for thought. Ten demons, at least B class, had them surrounded in the clearing. Hiei could feel Ayako's laboured breathing as they stood back to back.

“Ayako, run, you can't handle these opponents.” Hiei managed to pant out.

“Like hell Hiei. I thought you knew me better than that.” He could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Dammit Onna this is no time for foolish pride! If I lost you…” his voice trailed off. He really didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost her now.

He could feel her shake her head. “Hiei I'm not weak. I will be fine. I promise. And once this is over we are having a very long talk.”

Hiei chuckled, “You're insane woman. If you die I swear I will get Koenma to bring you back so I can kill you myself!”

He felt her laughed response, then the absence of warmth on her back as she was finally attacked from the left. Hiei could waste no more time worrying about her safety , as his own was in a tentative state right now.

`Oh Kami, let her be alright.'

*********

Ayako looked around at her opponents. She felt the first charge at her from the left and she easily side stepped him. She called her holy powers and used shunpo to get behind one of them and felt her katana slide easily through the flesh in his back and protrude through to his front. She leapt to her left as she yanked her katana free and delivered the finishing blow across his throat and felt his warm blood splash across the side of her face.

She took up her favourite fighting stance and looked at the other demons surrounding her.

“Bitch, who do you think you are? Taking on all four of us? You might as well begin begging for mercy now!” The one nearest her spat.

She smirked. “You're underestimating me. I love it. It will make it that much more fun to kill you.”

She took a step towards Mr. Talkative and faked a swing at his ribcage, knowing he could easily dodge she swung her body around and caught him hard in the chest with her left foot. She tinged it enough with holy power that it left a shoe shaped burn mark on his chest and was smoking as he slid down the tree he connected with.

A hot burning sensation seared her right thigh and she swung around and parried a dagger about to be plunged into her back.

`I can't get cocky! Dammit. Rookie mistake!' She smashed the hilt of her katana into his face and his nose gushed blood, it was definitely broken.

The wound on her leg was bad. Probably nicked the femoral artery. `Fuck. I can't lose because of a stupid mistake.' But despite her best efforts she began to see spots.

The battle became a blur, she was moving on instinct alone. She felt her katana slide across the soft flesh of the throat and knew another of her opponents was out.

The demon she had dubbed Gangly produced a katana of his own, and ran at her. She blinked trying to focus her eyes and barely managed to parry a blow that would have pierced clean through her abdomen. Her breath began coming in harsh pants.

She could feel her holy power was overly drained and cursed her own idiotic pride. If she had just accepted the ride out here, her holy power could've easily healed the seeping cut in her thigh that was giving her all this trouble.

The one whose nose she had broken, Nasal, came at her from behind and she had to choose quickly. She parried his dagger again and back flipped to avoid being decapitated by Gangly. Unfortunately for her, in her foggy state of mind she failed to notice her final opponent, who had yet to attack her. He took the moment of her imbalance as his best shot. She dodged at the last second, but not enough. She felt the blade tear deeply into her left side.

She stumbled to the side and lost her grip on her katana. `Alright lets try some hand to hand. I will not lose!'

She used shunpo and appeared on the far side of the clearing, all three of her remaining opponents before her.

She took a deep breath and called her holy power to the surface.

`I don't have very much power left. I have to finish this up quickly or I am in real trouble.'

She took her stance with her left foot forward and her weight on her right. Her right arm flexed, fist resting on her right hip, her left extended in front palm out.

She felt the adrenaline of remembered hand to hand fights surge through her and she smiled. Her body liked this, and so did she.

“What the fuck are you smiling about bitch?!” Gangly shouted at her.

She continued to look at him, patiently awaiting their move.

“I'll wipe that smile off your face once I break you. You're a catch I'm sure the boys back at HQ would love to get their hands on for awhile. By the time they're done with you you'll be begging for the quick death we could've given you here.”

She spat on the ground. “You talk too much.”

“Fucking bitch!” He screamed as he ran at her.

She easily dodged his first attack, and thrust her left hand laced with her holy power into his exposed right side. He screamed in pain as his body was partially purified.

Her movements were like a dance as the other two came at her. She could feel there energy and easily dodged their clumsy punches, and amateur kicks.

Then a searing pain pierced though her right shoulder. From behind?!

There was something on the arrow that she could feel slowly spreading through her weakened body. She yanked it free and fell to her knees as she saw the culprit standing in a tree behind her and to the right about 200m away. She didn't recognize him, but her vision had started to blur. She felt like her face exploded when Gangly landed a hard blow across her face. She fell forward on her hands and spat blood onto the ground.

As she felt the poison spread, she also felt her holy powers leaving her grasp. `Shit, it's sealing them from me! If I wasn't so low on power something as weak as this would be just an irritation I could purify in an instant!'

She was kicked hard in the stomach. She didn't know by whom, but it didn't matter. She was losing consciousness. The combination of blood loss and sealing her holy power away was seeping away the last of her strength.

One last blow across the face and the world around her went black.

**********

Hiei was breathing heavily. He threw off the pesky plants that one of the more skilled demons had called up to tangle his arms and legs.

He heard a strangled cry from the other end of the clearing and his heart sank. He looked around and saw only two opponents.

Hiei knew he'd only killed two so far which meant that the third had either run away or gone to attack Ayako. `What the hell do they want with her?'

“Don't even think about goin' to her rescue buddy.” No Teeth on the right sneered.

The smelly one on the left began to cackle. “She's goin back to the boss. He'll have lotsa fun with that pretty little ball of fire.”

Hiei snarled, feeling rage begin to feed the flames inside him.

“There is no fucking way I'll let that happen.” He spoke so low Stinky and No Teeth had trouble hearing his words. “If you two value your lives at all, I suggest you vanish. Quickly.”

“What is she your GIRLfriend Small FRY?” Stinky cackled again. “You better take a good look cuz once the Boss is through with her there won't be no spark left in them pretty green eyes of hers!”

The air around Hiei seemed to bend outwards with the release of his power. The cloth covering his Jagan eye incinerated and as it flew open he could feel their fear.

No Teeth's laugh gurgled and died in his throat as Hiei dragged a clawed hand across it. Stinky finally stopped laughing and decided running was a good idea. But Hiei wasn't letting him get away. He threw his sword after the retreating apparition and Hiei's bloodlust surged with the sound of flesh being pierced and pinned to a tree.

Hiei glanced around the clearing desperately. Ayako was gone. He closed his eyes and allowed the Jagan eye to search for her spirit energy.

There it was. Already 20kms away, and faint. She was dying.

Hiei swore as he pulled his sword from the tree, and the lifeless body of Stinky. He was gone in a flash after Ayako's scent trail; it was easy to follow as it was dotted with her blood.

Hiei grit his teeth and tried to calm his pounding heart. `Don't you dare die Ayako.'

**********

Ayako was awakened to a splash of cold water on her face.

“Wake up bitch.” A voice called. She didn't know from where.

She was slapped in the face hard, and then she felt herself propped against a tree. Reality began to fall back into place. `Shit, how the hell did I get myself caught?'

She scowled and looked around. `Why aren't these apparitions being purified when they touch me?'

She reached her arm around to feel the wound in her side. It was still seeping steadily. Her vision was blurry.

`Shit I think I might be dying.' She felt her own blood soaking through her training suit. She was covered in it. `I'm losing way too much blood.'

She refocused. Four of them. She recognized three of them as her opponents, Gangly, Nasal, and the quiet one. The fourth was unfamiliar to her.

Then she felt a sharp pain through her shoulder as Gangly squeezed the wound there. Hard.

She cried out and he laughed.

“Like our Boss's special drug for catchin Kawaridane? It suppresses holy powers. Though you don't seem to have much of a demon side. What the hell is wrong with you little Kawaridane?”

`Kawaridane? What the hell…' She thought, and the confusion showed on her face.

“Oi Dokuro, isn't she `sposed to be half demon?” Gangly shouted at the unfamiliar man.

“It seems it has been sealed away as well. Most likely to protect her from our detection Husoki.” He said impassively.

The man named Dokuro walked towards her, and she felt fear grip her. He was different. She could still feel spirit energy and the three idiots she had been fighting were nothing compared to him. His power likely came close to Hiei's.

He kneeled down before her and grasped her chin in his hands.

“Where is the other, Ayako?” She shuddered. `How does he know my name?'

She shook her head. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

He frowned. “Don't lie to me little one. I wouldn't want to have to turn you over to Husoki for awhile to loosen your tongue.”

She grit her teeth and felt rather brave and stupid at the same time. “Even if I knew what you were talking about, I wouldn't tell you.” She spat directly in his eye.

His face darkened as he slapped her hard across the face. She felt blood slide down her face and the inside of her cheek. She tasted the bitter metallic flavour of her own blood and spat it out on the forest floor.

She watched him wipe the spit off his face with a glove. “She doesn't seem very willing to talk. I'm going on ahead to report, I suggest you have some,” he glanced at her his eyes darkening, “fun, with her and catch up to me quickly. We cannot be sure if the other two took care of her friend.”

Her stomach turned over, realizing exactly what he meant by fun and she swallowed hard. The adrenaline was leaving her system. She began to feel the dull ache of pain from her various wounds.

`I've lost too much blood. Shit. I don't have to strength to break these ropes.' She struggled slightly as she watched Dokuro disappear into the forest. She couldn't even tell which direction. Her mind was too foggy.

“Time for that fun, little bitch. You're a tasty one for sure.” Husoki was so close she could smell his rancid breath. He reached out to run a hand roughly down her cheek and she used the last of her strength to grab a hold of his thumb with her teeth and bite down hard. Husoki screamed as he felt her bite off his thumb.

She spat out the digit and the blood that had gushed into her mouth when it was severed from his hand. He struck her so hard her head smacked against the tree behind her and she was out cold.

**********

Hiei came upon the clearing and saw a demon standing over Ayako beating her repeatedly. She was covered in blood and the sight made Hiei's blood run cold.

The Jagan quickly probed her mind and he found her life force, though very weak.

Hiei let his power surge in front of him as he stood in the centre of the clearing.

“Get your filthy fucking hands off her.” He snarled and the two demons turned to face the intruder.

The one that was holding Ayako up by her training suit let her body crumple back to the ground. Hiei saw he was missing a thumb and saw the digit lying on the ground next to Ayako's unconscious form. `So she bit it off. That's my girl…' He smirked.

The other demon's eyes widened in fear and he ran. Hiei wasn't concerned.

“So you didn't die shorty.” Husoki snapped. “Well I'll just have to take care of that so I can get back to my hot little piece of Kawaridane here.”

`Kawaridane? Where had he heard that before?'

Husoki hoisted Ayako up to her feet and held her near his face. Her feet were off the ground and her body dangled lifelessly in his grip. He kept his eyes on Hiei as he ran his tongue up the side of her face.

Hiei felt his blood boil and knew the dragon on his arm was twitching to be released. He wanted to make this lowly piece of demon bleed for ever laying his dirty hands on HIS onna.

Husoki watched with growing fear as the air started to pop and crackle around the small apparition standing before him. He had one last moment of coherent thought to regret as he tossed the limp body of the girl to the ground and heard the demon speak.

“You will pay for touching MY onna. Run, it will make it that much more satisfying to hear you scream in fear as my dragon of the darkness flame crushes your bones.” Hiei's eyes flashed red and the dragon was released from his arm.

Husoki stumbled backwards and began running. He didn't even make it to the edge of the clearing before he was devoured by the dragon.

His screams still echoed throughout the forest as the dragon settled itself on Hiei's right arm once again.

Hiei's expression turned from hatred and anger to fear and concern in a heartbeat as he ran toward Ayako's seemingly lifeless form.

He felt for a pulse and when he found a weak one he let out a small cry of relief.

Hoisting her tiny body into his arms he took off back toward the compound as fast as he could possibly go. Her blood was still seeping steadily from her wounds and he could feel how cold her body was now. Her face was drawn and pale. The spots of blood staining her face stood stark and obtrusive against her bruising skin.

`Don't die on me Ayako!' He cursed under his breath as the wind whipped across his body. `Don't you dare die.'

 

 

Hopefully not too cliffy. I may not update for awhile. It's getting harder to balance this story with my increasing workload at the University. I will try my best!