Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Gates ❯ A Taste of Darkness To Come ( Chapter 2 )

CHAP 1

Kuwabara walked alone down a deserted street on his way to catch the bus that would take him to meet Yusuke and the others. Botan had arrived at his house early that afternoon and told him that he should meet with Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama at Genkai's Temple before they went to the Spirit World. Apparently Koenma had something urgent to discuss with them, but the blue-haired Ferry Girl had refused to give him any details, so Kuwabara had told his sister not to wait for him. Shizuru had had other plans for him that morning however, and had demanded that he do the dishes, take out the garbage, wash the car and "Have a damn shower!" before she would let him leave. As a result, he was really, really late, and was walking as fast as he could toward the bus stop where he could catch a bus to the lone stop that lay about five miles from the ancient Temple where his friends were waiting for him.
'I wonder what Koenma needs to talk to us about?' He wondered silently. 'And why didn't just send one of his videotapes like he always does?' He hunched his shoulders and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he turned down an ally that opened up to the loading docks, where he could take a short cut to the bus stop. 'I hope it's not another Dark Tournament or something…'
But his thoughts where cut off abruptly as he got a 'creepy feeling' from something near-by. Something very powerful was near and the feeling he got off it was so sudden and so strong, it stopped him in his tracks, making him feel almost nasious.
'Whoa, what was that?' Kuwabara turned toward the water and was immediately presented with an answer. His eye drifted up the height of a large stack of wooden crates, and was startled to see a figure crouching on top of the highest box, looking down at him. He suppressed a shiver.
'The evil vibes coming from that guy are so strong it's makn' me feel sick to my stomach.' He thought as the crouching figure got slowly to his feet. He was dressed strangely, wearing an almost black-blue, hooded cloak that reached the ankles of his booted feet, a pair of baggy green pants similar to what Hiei often wore across which rested the strap of a sword scabbard slung across the figure's back. Over top, he wore a loose-fitting long-sleeved tunic-like garment of the same colour that reached just past the knees and was slited up the sides for easy movement. On the figure's hands were a pair of dark brown leather gloves that went all the way to the elbow and about the figure's slender waist was a belt, baring a pouch on the left and a deadly looking dagger on the right. But strangest of all was the mask that completely hid the figure's face from view. It was made, (presumably) to fit the figure's face, but it was smooth, and featureless, so that he couldn't tell if the one wearing it was a male or female. Also, instead of cloth or metal, it appeared to be made of smooth white stone like substance that caught the light remarkably well, and Kuwabara was sure that if he were to have seen this person hiding in the shadow cast by a building, he would only have been able to see the stark white of the mask against the dark of the ally. The only feature left visible by the strange mask was a pair of eyes, but he was too far away to tell the colour.
But as the figure rose to his full height, Kuwabara was surprised to see that the figure was quite short, an inch or two shorter than Hiei would have been minus his vertical hair-style. In times past, he would have discarded this 'shrimpy' opponent as a waste of time, but after seeing Hiei in action, and his own experiences in the Dark Tournament a few years ago, the carrot-haired young man had learned very quickly that size meant very little when it came to fighting. Hell, Yusuke Urameshi was the best fighter he knew, and even he was shorter than Kuwabara. And as his eyes drifted to the long sword slung across the figure's back, he knew he was very likely in an excepional amount of danger.
'I wonder what this guy's up to?' He wondered, absently tensing in expectation of an attack.
But it didn't come. The figure simply stood above him, head cocked slightly to the side as if trying to determine Kuwabara's intentions.
'I bet he's trying to get to Urameshi and the others…' he thought darkly. 'And he thinks I'm just gonna' let him follow me right to them. Well, I'm not gonna' let this little midget follow me any more!'
With a yell, he leapt forward, his Spirit Sword leaping to life in his hand. The masked figure leapt forward as if to meet him, but disappeared before his eyes. Kuwabara blinked once and then turning in mid-air, he came to land on the box that his opponent had previously occupied, his back to the water below him. The figure now stood below him, sword drawn.
'Damn, he's fast...'
He had never seen anything like this sword before; it was long, at least when compared to the size of the person wielding it, in total, over four and a half feet long from butt to tip. The handle, which was bound in black leather, was unusually long, taking up almost a foot and a half of the total length. Above that, was a guard that spread out in four upward curving spikes that radiated from the blade, extending just far enough to safely guard the hand of the wielder without interfering in the use of the sword. The blade itself was double bladed, two slender, separate blades, (each of which was razor sharp), joined together at the hilt, separated by a space of less than two or three millimetres. All together, it was the most deadly looking weapon he had ever seen.
Kuwabara scowled.
"Stop messing around and fight me, damn it!" He shouted angrily as he leapt to the attack again.
This time, the figure did not disappear, but moved to meet him, raising his sword to block Kuwabara's downward blow. As their blades met, there was a bright flash, and his flaming energy sword seemed to shatter in his hand and disintegrate before his eyes. He staggered backward with the force of the blow mingled with the sheer surprise of having his own energy dispelled as if it were nothing at all. But before he could recover, or even think, the masked figure sped forward with a speed that would rival even Hiei, and catching Kuwabara by the throat, slammed him backward, capitalising on his lack of balance and forced him to fall flat on his back. His opponent sat on his chest, his knees pinning the hapless Human's arms to the ground and a dagger held firmly against his exposed throat, the remaining gloved hand pressing down on his chest.
'He sheathed his sword when he moved…' Kuwabara thought dazedly, still stunned by the speed of the attack. 'And brought out the knife for the close stuff.' He fought down a surge of fear as his mind raced to think of a way out of his deadly predicament, but nothing came to him, and as he thought, a part of his mind distractedly realised that although his small opponent was surprisingly strong, he was also very light, much lighter than he should be. 'It feels like there's a kid sitting on my chest,' he thought. 'A very powerful little kid. He's way too strong for his size... He's gotta be a demon.'
His opponent leaned forward and beneath the hood, he was able to see the eyes shining at him from behind the mask. They were a startling blend of iridescent colours, the likes of which he had never seen before, as if the colours themselves where constantly changing, leaving their owner with no real eye-colour at all.
"You are much stronger than you appear to be, Human," the figure said, his voice strangely muffled and coarse behind the mask. "Who are you?"
He blinked and was about to answer with his usual defiant rant, when he heard the rapid approach of running feet.
"Kuwabara!"
The hooded figure turned slightly and looked over his cloaked shoulder at Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei who stood several feet away, looking surprised but easily ready to leap to their friend's aid. After ariving at the Temple, and waiting for over an hour for their friend to arrive, the three young men had collectively decided to go looking for him, each feeling privatly that something signifigant was looming on the horizon, and coupled with Botan's almost cryptic order to get to the Temple as soon as possible, they were alarmed, but less than surprised to find that their orange-haired team-mate had mannaged to get himself into trouble.
At seeing the three, the figure seemed to smile and breathed the name of his quarry.
"Ah... There you are Urameshi…"
Kuwabara blinked again, a feeling of anger rising in him at the thought that he was the bait in this... creature's trap.
'He's after Yusuke…'
Without thinking Kuwabara strained against the blade at his neck, cutting himself on its keen edge.
"Urameshi! Watch out! This guy's after you and he's really - "
But before he could finish his warning, the figure leapt lightly into the air, landing several feet away from where Kuwabara lay, with his cloak-shrouded back to the prone Human who lay between the masked figure and his startled friends.
"Fast..." Kuwabara said before taking the opportunity to scramble to away, one hand to the bleeding cut across his throat, to find that it was only a very shallow wound, and had already begun to stop bleeding. 'That guy pulled it back at the last second to keep me from cutting my own throat on that knife…'
"Are you alright, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked in his quiet voice, his eyes not moving from the masked figure who had turned to face the four of them.
He nodded.
"Yah, it's just a scratch."
"Are you Yusuke Urameshi?" The figure asked in the same strangely muffled voice.
He nodded wearily, his Spirit Gun still charged and ready.
The figure's head turned and looked at each of the others, saying their names in turn as if remembering names heard in conversation.
"Hiei… Shuuichi Minamino, or Yoko Kurama, depending on who you talk to…" the masked face turned to look at Kuwabara and nodded. "And Kazuma Kuwabara." Then, the cloaked figure sheathed the wicked-looking dagger and dropped to one knee, bowing low. "I'm very glad to have finally found the four of you."
Whatever they had been expecting, that certainly wasn't it and all they could do was stare at the kneeling figure in mute surprise.
"I apologise for the harm I caused you, Kuwabara, but you attacked without provocation and, not knowing who you were, I was forced to defend myself…"
"You attacked him?" Yusuke asked incredulously.
Kuwabara's face flushed slightly in embarrassment, his hand rubbing absently at the back of his neck.
"Um… Yah, but I felt some serious evil near-by, and when he showed up with so much Spirit Energy…"
"You assumed it was him and attacked." Hiei finished for him, a look of mocking amusement in his ruby eyes.
Kuwabara laughed in spite of himself and nodded. "Guess I goofed…"
"The evil you sensed is the reason I've come in search of your group," the masked figure said, looking up at the four friends. "I am here to offer my assistance in your upcoming battle, and those that are certain to follow."
'He knows we were going to see Koenma.' Yusuke thought silently, his brown eyes narrowing slightly at the strange figure kneeling before them. 'How did he find out, and more importantly, why does he want to help us and who sent him?'
"I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'd prefer to know the identity of the one offering help, before we accepted it." Kurama said cautiously.
The figure got smoothly to his feet and nodded.
"A desire easily satisfied."
With that, the figure reached up with one gloved hand and pulled the featureless mask away, while the other pulled back the thick material of the hood. What the four young men saw surprised them. The masked figure was a young... woman, approximately Yusuke and Kuwabara's age, who stood about two inches shorter than Hiei and held an elegant, self-assured posture that rivaled even that of their fire-demon friend. Her figure was hidden very well by the cut of the clothing she wore, and her face and voice had been obscured by the mask, which had contributed to their collective assumption that she had been a boy. Her features were, for lack of a better word, beautiful, and they lacked the child-like roundness that still could be seen in the faces of Keiko, Botan and Yukina, giving her a strangely adult-like quality, while maintaining the image of the youth seen in a woman their age. She possessed the kind of beauty Genkai had in her youth, startling and yet indescribably pleasant to see. Her hair was a shimmering black, the colour of blackened silver, that would have reached the just between her shoulder-blades, if it weren't tied back into a simple ponytail that was tucked back into the depths of the cloak that covered her shoulders. Her large eyes, the most startling of all her features, seemed to have no one colour at all, being a strange mixture of every imaginable colour and hue, that shifted and changed as she looked at them. Adding to her strange appearance were the tips of delicately pointed ears that peeked from beneath her hair, giving her a distinctly elfin appearance. She was beautiful in the simplest sense of the word, and her presence was captivating to the four men that stood before her.
The four of them gasped softly in surprise, and Kuwabara gave a mortified shriek of realisation.
"I tried to kill a girl?"
"Tried, being the main word, Kuwabara." Yusuke reminded him. "You're the only one who got hurt."
"Yah, but still…"
"I'm called Karyuu," the woman said with a slight bow. "A Servant of Gaia, and I've come to help you prepare, and to fight by your side if you will allow it."
At the mention of 'Gaia', Kurama had let out a low hiss of surprise, his green eyes widening slightly.
Hiei glanced at his friend, but remained silent.
'What is it, about this woman that unnerved him so badly?' Hiei wondered silently. 'Aside from the fact that she appears to know about our business then we do, of course.'
"There is very little time before the first attack arrives," she said with a barely perceptible glance at the water beyond the dock. "Even if you decide not to accept my help, I must insist that you leave the area immediately - "
"What are you talking about?" Yusuke demanded. "What attack? And why do you care if we win or loose a fight we don't know we're having?"
Karyuu shook her head and took a few insistent steps toward them, her demeanour growing uneasier as the feeling of evil began to strengthen around them.
"There's no time to - " She stopped suddenly and looked to the water, drawing her sword in one swift movement. "Kuwabara! Behind you!"
The tall orange-haired man started as if he'd been slapped, and he whirled around just as a mass of boiling, froth-shrouded sea water exploded upward into a towering column over thirty feet wide and god-knew how high. Kuwabara gave a startled yell and darted away, to stand near Yusuke and the others, leaving Karyuu in the closest proximity to the monstrous column of water.
"What is that?" Kuwabara asked in horrified amazement.
"I don't know," Kurama said, his Rose Whip materialising in his hand. "But it seem that this is what you sensed earlier, not the woman."
'It would also seem that this is what she was trying to warn us away from.' He added silently to himself, emerald eyes flickering to the woman, who was regarding the creature with an expression of weary hatred.
"Yah, I think you're right..."
"Well now that we've settled that, what'd we do now?" Yusuke asked, looking uneasily at the towering mass of water that churned and bubbled above them.
As if in answer, a low murmur began to intrude on their hearing, growing louder as every second passed, until they realised the murmur was a chant in a language none of them recognised. It grew in volume until it blocked out any other sound, and began to make their heads hurt as if the sound was causing their heads to split from the sheer complexity of the sound striking them. They covered their ears as the column continued to emit the painful noise, biting back screams of agony as the pressure within their skulls continued to build. And then, through the haze of pain, Yusuke saw the woman, who had introduced herself simply as 'Karyuu', standing before the column, seemingly unaffected by the murmur that threatened to tear his head apart. He watched in amazement as she levelled her strange sword at the towering column of boiling water and her lips began to move rapidly, as if she were chanting as well. He blinked as she and her sword were enveloped in a shroud of white flames that swirled around her, growing brighter as she continued to chant. Then very suddenly, the pain began to ease and the hateful murmur began to fade in their ears, as if it were slowly being pulled away from them, and was replaced by the strange, gentle murmur of the woman's voice, which was pleasant and soothing to hear, despite the fact that they could not understand the strange language. The four, stared in awe at the cloaked woman as they were released from the evil chanting, and watched as she raised her sword high and her chanting stopped, the wind surrounding her whipping her loose clothing violently around her, blackened silver hair streaming out behind her.
"By the Light of Gaia, I command thee to shed thine shield of water and face the Judgement of this Servant's Sword!"
As she finished, she turned her upraised sword in her hand and thrust the sword downward into the concrete of the dock with surprising force, sending out a shock-wave that made the ground tremble alarmingly. The four shielded their eyes from the dust and wind that buffeted them.
"What does she think she's doing?" Kuwabara demanded of no one in particular, glaring at the woman from beneath a raised arm.
"She's breaking the enchantment, you fool!" Hiei snapped, his cloak whipping around him as another gust of wind buffeted their group.
"Yes," Kurama said. "Whatever evil beast is hiding within that column of water will be forced to reveal itself and then it will attack. Ready yourselves."
Seconds passed and then a deafening shriek assaulted their ears as the column of water exploded, drenching them in hot sea water that smelled strongly of dead fish and rotting seaweed.
"Yeesch... This stuff is really gross guys…" Kuwabara said with a grimace.
But when no one replied, he looked up to see a grotesque creature floating five feet above the swirling surface of the water. It was immense, reaching a height of almost fifty feet or more; its skin was a mottled mass of the most disgusting greens and browns he had ever seen, and it's cracked and semisolid surface glistened unwholesomely with sea-water and salt that had crystallised on its skin. Its head was like that of a Human skull, who's skin had dried after years of rot, to become fleshy parchment stretched tight over the bone, its sockets hollow and empty save for a tiny pin-point of eerie blue light at the centre of each hollow. Its blackened teeth, broken and ragged, formed into misshapen sabres of bone as it grinned hideously at them, its lower jaw jutting at a lower angle than the rest of it's face, exposing a long blue-black tongue the colour of rotting meat in the depths of its cavernous maw. Its neck was short and melded into the rest of its massive shoulders that lead to thick, corded muscular arms that ended in huge clawed hands, three fingers and a talon-like thumb to each. The beasts body was squat and thickly muscled, though its ribs protruded through the skin as if the creature had been starved until it was ravenous, and the feral light gleaming in the eyes of the beast bolstered that impression greatly. Its legs were thick, seeming too thick for its body as it stood (or rather floated) at a half crouch, its knees bent backwards at strange angles, that ended in large, clawed feet, giving its lower half an almost dog-like appearance. It also had a long, snaking tail that was covered in black, thorn-like barbs that glinted ominously in the sun as it thrashed back and forth through the air. But the most alarming factor about the creature's appearance was that, about the creature's disproportionately thin waist was a ragged loincloth that, much to their horror, seemed to be made from the skins of demons and Humans alike.
"What the hell is that?" Yusuke asked in a choked whisper as the beast turned it's massive head to look directly at the four friends.
Karyuu, however seemed unfazed by the creature's grotesque appearance and leapt forward, slashing at the beast's arm, cutting deeply into the rancid flesh, but the creature batted her small form away. However, much to their collective surprise she seemed unhurt by the monster's attack and after it sent her flying backward, she came to land on her feet, her impact leaving a deep gouge in the concrete surface of the loading dock. She turned to look at them, her strange eyes instant.
"Run! Please! You aren't ready to face this yet!"
Hiei scoffed and drew his sword.
"She must really think we're amateurs," he said in his quiet voice, and before anyone could stop him, he darted forward and past her, launching himself into the air and slashing at the beast.
But his strike never connected, and he was batted away, like nothing more than a bothersome fly.
The beast floated forward and settled itself on the dock, the concrete surface cracking under the immense weight of the otherworldly creature. Hiei landed on his back, slightly hurt, but far from taken out of the fight, and the fire-demon got quickly to his feet, eyes blazing.
"I've had enough of this!" Yusuke snarled and let loose with his signature technique. "Spirit Gun!"
The blast of blue-white light burst forward from the tip his finger, and struck the creature solidly in the chest, but other than leaving a blackened scorch mark on the creature's skin; his attack did nothing to harm the creature. Yusuke blinked in surprise and lowered his hand.
"Well that didn't work…"
Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword and looked at it uncertainly.
'If that lady, Karyuu can break my Spirit Sword, what good will it do against that thing?'
He raised his eyes to look at the beast, who swung a taloned hand at Hiei, who had re-engaged in the fight, and leapt nimbly out of the way as a claw struck the dock and made a Human-sized crater in the concrete.
Kuwabara's eyes narrowed in resolve.
'I'll never know, if I don't try at least,' he thought grimly. 'So here I go…'
He leapt forward, closely followed by Kurama and Yusuke to join Karyuu and Hiei in the battle.
But their attacks were useless, seeming only to scratch the thick skin of the beast. The only one who seemed able to do any damage at all, was the woman, Karyuu, who was far too busy trying to distract the creature from attacking any of them to make a more effective attack herself.
After his sword was repelled once again by the creature's seemingly indestructible skin, Hiei tore the white bandage from his right arm and readied himself for the most powerful attack he had available to him.
"Black Dragon…"
Karyuu paused and turned sharply to look at him, her expression alarmed.
"No! Don't - "
But Hiei did not hear her, or if he did, he chose to ignore her.
"Wave!"
And as the dragon-like flame of black fire leapt from his outstretched hand and snaked toward the evil creature, accompanied by the hellish scream that the attack produced, Hiei's normally expressionless face broke into a feral grin with the thought that his attack would end the hellish creature's miserable existance and assure victory for the Team. But as the black flames struck and enveloped the beast, the creature swung its barbed tail at Hiei, who barely managed to throw himself out of the way, but at the last instant, a barb caught his left arm, just above the bicep and tore through his clothes, cutting deeply into his arm. He cried out and staggered back, clutching at his injured arm, his face twisted in a grimace of pain as he stared up at the beast in horror. His attack had been absorbed by the creature, healing the minor wounds they had managed to inflict and somehow, had managed to make it grow, giving it another ten feet of height. But the horror in his mind began to diminish as the poison from the creature's barbed tail began to take effect, and Hiei felt his body begin to fail and weaken as his vision began to blur as the world fell away from him…
The beast let out a cackling shriek and opening its disjointed jaws wide, it sent blast of pale yellow flame at Hiei that would surely kill him in his badly weakened state.
Kurama turned to watch in horror as flames leapt forward at Hiei, helpless to stop it.
"Hiei! Move!"
But the fire-demon was far too weak to move, and his friends were too far away to reach him in time, forced to look on helplessly as the attack was unleashed on their helpless commerad.
Then, suddenly, as the flaming blast raced toward the poisoned and weakened Hiei, a blur of motion shifted their attention. The strange woman, sped forward at a speed only Yusuke was able to just barely follow, and caught Hiei in her arms, turning her back to the blast shielding the startled demon with her body. The explosion struck the two and with a blinding flash, it sent them flying backward with tremendous force; Karyuu shoved Hiei down, his body landed with surprising gentleness on the ground and she continued her uncontrolled flight through the air as she lost conciousness. Kuwabara, who had burst forward at a dead run to catch the pair, caught only Karyuu, and the two slammed against the solid brick wall of a near-by building, doing significant damage to the building as Kuwabara's body impacted with the wall. Yusuke watched the scene in horrified amazement.
"Kuwabara!"
But no answer came from the cloud of dust that had been generated by their impact, bloking the two effectively from veiw, their fates uncertain. Yusuke and Kurama had no time to check on their comrades however, as the beast made another swing at them with one of it's clawed hands. They managed to leap out of the way, and returned the beast's attack, though their strikes were as futile as before against the creature's thick skin.
'We cannot win this fight...' Kurama thought as his Rose Whip bounced harmlessly off the armour-like hide of the beast. 'The woman may have been our only chance at defeating the creature, and it seems that although she remains alive (which is rather surprising to say the least), she is unconscious, as are Kuwabara and Hiei,' he scowled darkly and evaded yet another attack. 'Our only option is retreat, but I seriously doubt that there is anywhere we could run, let alone the damage that would be caused to the rest of the city if this thing decides to pursue us…'
*****

As Kurama and Yusuke continued their futile battle against the giant monster that had risen out of the sea to kill them, Kuwabara let out a groan and a cough as he slowly regained consciousness.
"Damn, that hurts!" He muttered, putting a badly bruised hand to his head.
He blinked twice before he remembered what had happened not minutes ago. He looked down and saw the woman he had caught out of the air lying across his lap, her back arched over his knees. She was breathing, but she didn't open her eyes when he shifted his weight experimentally. Her hair released from the confines of the leather strip she had used to tie it back, lay in a wild blackened-silver wave around her head, and an angry looking slash bleeding slightly high on her right cheek.
'She's alive!' Kuwabara thought with some relief. 'She's gotta be pretty tough to take a hit like that. I didn't even get hit with the blast and I got knocked out just by catching her…'
But Kuwabara's musings broke off as another explosion rocked the dockyard. Startled, he looked up to see that monster slash violently at Yusuke and Kurama who continued to dodge the creature's claws, its barbed tail and its fiery blasts in a desperate attempt to defeat the monster by exposing some hidden weakness... Or at least keep it busy until someone came up with a better plan. Kuwabara opened his mouth to call out to Yusuke that he'd be right there, be he was cut off as slender hand covered in shredded leather that was once a glove, caught hold of the front of his torn shirt. He looked down and saw the woman looking up at him, her expression pained and he could sense a desperate, almost pleading urgency radiating from her as their eyes met.
"It's okay," he said as reassuringly as he could. "But I have to go - oh!"
Instead of words, the strange woman sent him an image with her mind of Yusuke... or Kurama, he wasn't sure which, destroying a collar or necklace around the creature's neck, causing the creature to literally disintegrate. Kuwabara blinked in astonishment as the vision faded and nodded.
"Alright, I'll tell them," he said quietly.
She smiled a little, by way of thanks before her hand slipped from his shirt as she fell unconscious again. Kuwabara frowned a little, looking up at the creature as it let out a cackling shriek.
'Wait a minute... How do I know she's telling the truth? She showed up at the same time as that monster thing... But then again, she got hurt tryn' to save Hiei...'
He winced as the horrible beast fired another blast, this time at Kurama, who barely managed to evade the attack. His jaw set in resolve.
'I guess there's no other way to find out…'
"Yusuke! Kurama! The collar-necklace thing around its neck! Blast it off that thing and it'll die!"
"How do you know that?" Yusuke yelled back.
"Just do it Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled angrily.
Without another word, the two standing members of the Urameshi Team leapt into the air and took aim, ready to strike at the 'necklace-collar-thing' as soon as it came into view.
'What the Hell is he talking about?' Yusuke wondered as he shot into the air. 'I don't see any -' And then he saw it, a dull glint of light on metal no thicker than a finger's width around the creature's 'neck'. His eyes flashed in recognition and he took careful aim; yelling the phrase that would unleash his trademark technique.
"Spirit Gun!"
A his command, a blast of blue light shot forward and struck the dead centre of the collar around the creature's neck, shattering the metal with a strangely deafening 'clang'. It froze in it's attack against Kurama, (allowing the demon to leap back out of range of the attack that would have struck him), and let out a deafening shriek as it seemed to disintegrate and evaporate before their eyes.
Yusuke landed heavily on his feet and stared wide eyed as the gigantic monster slowly disappeared before his eyes taking with it the last fading note of the scream.
'Was that collar the only thing binding that monstrosity together?' Kurama wondered as the last of the creature disappeared.
They stood in silence for a moment and then turned to each other and laughed a little.
"Well that worked surprisingly well," Kurama said with a smile. "Good shot Yusuke."
The black-haired man grinned at him.
"Hey you guys!" They turned as they heard the gruff voice of their friend call from behind them. "Come on and give me a hand. She's hurt pretty bad... and where's Hiei?"
Yusuke and Kurama blinked.
"Hiei…"
"You go find him and I'll go see Kuwabara." Yusuke said shortly, breaking into a run toward his orange-haired friend and the unconscious woman.
Kurama nodded and raced toward Hiei, who lay on his back, pale and unconscious several hundred yards from the others amidst a scattering of shattered concrete and rancid sea water. There was a wide tear in his cape, and a deep, ugly looking slash in his exposed arm, but the scent of blood was faint near his friend, mute testement that the physical extent of his wounds were minor.
What he did smell was more alarming. The scent of Death and a noxious poison encircled his friend like a shroud, emanating, no doubt from the wound he had received from the creature's barbed tail. Kurama dropped to his knees beside him and put a hesitant hand to Hiei's throat, and was relieved to feel his pulse, beating slowly, but steadily, though his skin was strangely warm, (even for a fire-demon), as if he was running a very high fever.
Kurama frowned.
'The barbs were poisoned…'
*****

Meanwhile, Yusuke reached Kuwabara to find him sitting with his back against the badly damaged wall, surrounded by pieces of brick and debris that were knocked loose when his body impacted with it. And in his lap, lay the strange woman who had saved Hiei, Kuwabara's arms around her still form in a typically protective embrace. Whether he knew her or not, she was still a woman, and that meant the taller man would do everything he could to keep her from getting hurt any more than she already had. Her face was a little pale, and her clothes had been shredded or completely torn away by the devastating blast that had struck her, exposing bruises and scrapes that marked her smooth skin beneath the tattered cloth. Kuwabara looked up at him, his bruised face coated in fine dust, eyes worried.
"I don't know how bad she's hurt, Urameshi... I can't tell with girls, but I'm kinda' afraid to move her…"
Yusuke frowned and knelt beside them.
"Well, she's breathing, so she's not dead, but I don't know about anything else. She doesn't look too bad, but still, we don't know what kind of damage that blast really did…"
"Where's Kurama?"
"He's checking on Hiei…"
Suddenly, as if on cue, they heard a scream of pain from Hiei and a startled yell from Kurama that shattered the unnatural silence that had descended on the abandoned (and now badly damaged) dock. Yusuke got quickly to his feet and looked down at Kuwabara, who still held the woman protectively in his lap.
"Stay with her!" He said. "I'll go see what's up!"
Kuwabara nodded and looked down at the woman as Yusuke ran to where Kurama and Hiei were.
"What is it?" Yusuke demanded, looking at Kurama who's face was pale and very worried.
"I... I tried to use some of my healing ability on Hiei's wound, but it seems to have had the opposite effect…"
Yusuke wrinkled his nose.
"What's that smell? Besides the dead fish and seaweed, I mean."
"It appears to be some form of venom from the monster's spines," Kurama said darkly. "I suspect that is what is keeping Hiei unconscious and prevents me from healing him."
"So what do we do?" Yusuke asked, folding his arms across his chest. "I mean, we can't take him to a hospital. That extra eye of his would probably land him in a jar somewhere to get poked with needles and stuff - "
"We have to take him to Genkai's Temple. There may be something there that can help us, and Botan and the others are there waiting, perhaps one of them will know what to do."
Yusuke nodded grimly.
"I guess that's the best we can do."
Kurama bent down and gently gathered Hiei into his arms before slining his unconcious form over his shoulder and followed Yusuke who, almost as an afterthought, bent to retrieve the woman's strange sword, sheath and dagger where they had landed after being torn from her body by the explosion. There was no sign of the mask she had worn, and he assumed it had been destroyed in the blast. The two made their way to where Kuwabara still sat with the woman cradled in his arms.
"How is she?" Kurama asked.
"She's hurt pretty bad, but I think she might be okay if we can get her bandaged up somewhere," Kuwabara said. "How's Hiei?"
"He's been poisoned," Yusuke said with his usual direct approach. "We've got to get these two to Genkai's Temple. Maybe Botan or Yukina will know what to do."
Kuwabara nodded and carefully lifted the unconscious woman into his arms, his face suddenly going very red.
"What are you blushing about?" Yusuke demanded.
"Well... her clothes were kinda' shredded from that blast and now…" he swallowed and his face went several shades darker. "She's almost... you know... naked…"
Yusuke blinked and looked at the woman, seeing that most of her clothes had been torn away by the blast, she was still 'decent', he supposed, but less than a few inches less in certain places would change that.
"It just doesn't seem right to carry her around like this, you know?"
Yusuke smiled a little, amused by his friend's embarrassment and his concern for this stranger's decency despite the urgency of their situation. He took off the heavy shirt he was wearing over his plain white t-shirt and carefully covered the woman in his friend's arms with the warm dark-green material.
"There. Is that better?"
Kuwabara nodded a little sheepishly and they went quickly ran down the street in the direction of Genkai's Temple.
*****

It was almost nightfall by the time Yusuke and the others reached the Temple. Botan had been waiting for them and was about to scold them furiously, when she saw Hiei and a strange, nearly naked woman unconscious in the arms of Kurama and Kuwabara. She had quickly changed tact, rushing the tired and unconscious alike inside and after a getting Hiei into bed, Yukina, had healed the unconscious woman and then, being closest to her size, had readily given one of her white kimonos to replace the woman's tattered clothing. After she was dressed, they lay her in a bed across the room from Hiei and stepped outside to give Keiko, Botan and Yukina the full story, at least as full as they could make it without the woman.
"Oh, dear," Botan said when they had finished, her pink eyes wide. "This sounds like what Lord Koenma wanted to talk to you about…"
"That doesn't matter now," Kurama said shortly. "We need to attend to Hiei's injury. I suspect he may be in very serious danger."
"But how?" Kuwabara asked. "If your healing powers won't work…"
"We can look through Genkai's library!" Keiko said suddenly. "She might have a book or a scroll or something that we can use to help him."
"Good thinking Keiko!" Botan said brightly. "Everyone to the library then!"
"Shouldn't somebody stay with them?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'll stay with them, Kazuma," Yukina said in her quiet voice. "I wouldn't be much help in the library."
They nodded and went quickly to the library, leaving Yukina to watch over the sleeping woman and the unconscious Hiei.
*****

She sat in silence for a while, her demon hearing allowing her to listen to the others in the library, shuffling through books and stacks of dusty scrolls, occasionally catching snatches of conversation. Suddenly she moved to Hiei's side, and looked at him with her red eyes.
'He's in a great deal of pain,' She thought silently, moistening a clean cloth and gently dab at his sweating forehead and throat.
They had removed his torn shirt and cloak as well as the white bandanna that covered his Jagan Eye, which remained closed as his body fought with the poison coursing through his system. They had also bandaged his wound, which was pale and diseased looking, and had replaced the bandage-like Ward that would normally cover the mark of the dark dragon that coiled up his forearm, for lack of anything else to do for him.
'Hiei-san has always been strong,' she thought, smoothing back his spiky black hair from his forehead. 'What could have hurt him so badly?'
Hiei's face twisted into a grimace of pain that seemed to strike him on an emotional level as well as physical and the thought of him in so much pain brought tears to the gentle demoness' eyes.
Although the reclusive fire-demon very rarely ever spoke to her, he was almost always near-by, and she had always felt a sense of recognition whenever she saw him, as strange as it seemed. She had felt it too, when they had first met, he had gently brushed away her tears, saying that her captor, who he had intended to kill before she stopped him, was not worth the jewels her tears produced. It was the most he had ever said to her at one time. She had always assumed that he distanced himself from her more than the others because he was a fire-demon, and she was an ice-apparition, his opposite in every aspect, but she had never felt threatened by him...
Hiei gave a low moan and she watched, startled as his face consorted into an expression of great pain.
"He's dreaming." A quiet female voice said from behind her, making Yukina jump.
She turned with a soft gasp to see the strange woman sitting up in her bed, her strange ever-shifting eyes regarding her calmly, not at all alarmed at her strange surroundings.
"Yes," Yukina said, feeling strangely uneasy under the woman's opaline gaze. "He's in a lot of pain..."
The strange woman nodded and Yukina realised that Yusuke's explanation had not included her name.
"I know. The poison is killing him, and one of the effects are the nightmares he's having now," she shifted where she sat and moved to stand, unfolding her legs beneath her.
"No, don't!" Yukina said, moving to stop her. "You shouldn't be moving around so soon after - "
The woman stood despite Yukina's objections and smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Your healing abilities were more than enough to take care of my scrapes and bruises. But he needs help. One of you tried to heal him already?"
She blinked and nodded. "Kurama-san tried, but he said it made it worse…"
The woman frowned a little as she looked at him.
"I can help him, if you'll let me."
Yukina hesitated and then nodded, sensing concern and urgency radiating from her as she looked at the unconscious Hiei.
'How did she know that I was the one who healed her? She was unconscious…'
The woman, walked on soundless feet and sat on the opposite side of Hiei from Yukina, laying a slender hand on his bare chest and paused as if listening. Her frown deepened and she looked at Yukina, who watched her movements attentively.
"How long have I been out?"
It was Yukina's turn to frown.
"I... don't know... you were unconscious when Kazuma and the others brought you here and that was over an hour ago..."
The woman's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment.
"We're cutting it close," she murmured almost to herself. "But I think there's still time."
She leaned forward and to Yukina's immense surprise, sealed his slightly open mouth with her lips. Yukina covered her mouth with a pale hand and held back a soft gasp of surprise as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. There was no passion in the kiss, and seemed chaste in it's nature, but the action seemed so strange, especially if one of the participants was Hiei of all people, who didn't like to be touched, let alone kissed...
'What in the world?' She wondered as the woman and the comatose fire-demon remained in the strange (and rather embarrassing) tableaux, completely oblivious to her or her discomfort.
Then as if in answer to her unspoken question, she heard a barely perceptible soft, but firm exhale and Hiei's body began to glow softly with a pale white light that pulsed slightly with Hiei's heartbeat. Yukina's eyes widened as a surge of energy pulsed into Hiei's weakened body and a pale, poisonous looking green glow appeared around his injured arm and chest, tendrils snaking over his body where the poison had spread. The green glow began to move and collect into a large ball in the centre of his chest, and finally Yukina understood, even as she watched in fascination as a silver tear slid down the woman's cheek.
'She's drawing the poison out of his body.' She thought, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. 'She's going to draw the poison out of his body and into herself…'
As the thought moved through the ice-apparition's mind, the green light moved through Hiei's chest, up into his throat and disappeared. Very suddenly, the strange woman pulled away and exhaled sharply into the air ahead of her, expelling a fist-sized cloud of noxious looking gas the same colour as the green light that had radiated from Hiei's wound, her body arching a little as she forced the noxious fumes out of her lungs. Yukina drew back sharply looking fearfully at the cloud that floated between the two of them directly over Hiei's still form. The woman extended her hand, palm upward underneath the cloud and with a flash, the cloud compressed itself into a tiny diamond shaped jewel no larger than a fingernail that fell obediently into the woman's open palm. She sighed quietly and seemed to slump slightly where she sat, but she smiled at Yukina, looking drained, but pleased. She offered the green, semi-opaque jewel to the wide-eyed ice-apparition.
"You should hold on to this for him until he wakes," she said as Yukina gingerly took the green jewel.
"What is it?" she asked, her usually soft voice, now only a whisper.
The woman's smile broadened. "A 'Jewel of Affliction'," she replied, drawing the covers over Hiei's form, inwardly pleased that his breathing had levelled out almost immediately and his colour was returning as his demonic constitution was finally allowed to begin repairing the damage inflicted by the poison and the slash in his arm. "The concept is a little difficult to explain, but for all intents and purposes, that is the poison that was killing him, removed and solidified into the form you see now. But, because it is what it is, and it was made the way it was, that little jewel holds a fair amount of power, especially over the person it was made... with. So, when he wakes up, you should give it to him immediately, and then he can decide what he wants to do with it."
Yukina smiled a little for the first time and nodded, closing her small hand over the jewel.
"I will." She looked from the woman, who continued to watch her, and the now peacefully sleeping Hiei. "I should tell the others…"
The woman smiled at her and nodded.
"I'll look after him, you go and get Yusuke and the others from the library."
Yukina blinked.
"How did you…"
She shrugged, her smile becoming slightly embarrassed.
"Yusuke's Spirit Energy stands out against the normal energy of the world. I can... feel him and he's surrounded by others, a Kitsune demon, and another Human, who have extremely strong auras themselves, though not as formidable as his. There are also to women with them, a Human, who I assume is Keiko Yukimori, and another, who I don't recognise, a Servant of the Spirit World... a Ferry Girl, I think," she said slowly, as if she were trying to describe people she saw from a great distance. "I assumed they were in the library because chances are that none of you knew how to cure Hiei of the poison and Genkai's Library is renowned for her collection of ancient texts and scriptures, that may have a treatment," she ran a hand through her black hair and shrugged. "I can also hear them flipping through large amounts of paper at a rapid rate."
Yukina nodded slowly and got to her feet, feeling somehow that she should know this woman, because she seemed to know so much about them. This put her and the others at a distinct disadvantage that even Yukina's innocent mind was aware of, and yet somehow she knew the woman was trustworthy to leave with Hiei, even without the earlier demonstration when she had formed the 'Jewel of Affliciton'.
"I'll be back soon," Yukina said in her soft voice, as she stood and went quickly from the room, the sound of her sandaled feet fading down the hall.
*****

The woman known as Karyuu watched the ice-apparition scurry from the room and then returned her attention to the sleeping Hiei. She smiled a little, exposing slightly pointed canines, similar to those sported by Kurama and the fire-demon before her.
'Stubborn fool,' she thought silently, moving to brush a stray lock of his soft, thick hair away from his peacefully sleeping face. 'I warned you not to -'
Suddenly, without warning, Hiei's good arm snapped up, his hand closing over her wrist, and yanked her hand away from his face as he sat up, all three eyes open and glaring at her with baleful rage burning within them.
"You killed them!" He snarled, his voice harsh with vehement hate, as he yanked her arm back, twisting it at a painful angle.
She gritted her teeth, at the sudden surge of dull pain in her shoulder.
"You killed Yukina! You will pay for taking them from me! For takingher from me!" He snarled and before she was able to protest, he back-handed her hard across the mouth, sending her spinning backward to slam into the wall.
As her body struck the wall, she fell stunned and unmoving to the wooden floor, covered in the white dust and plaster that had been knocked off the wall.
Hiei snarled a curse and got swiftly to his feet, intent on making this woman, this monster pay for the deaths of his friends and for hissister…
But his pursuit of vengeance came to an abrupt halt when he felt a pair of small, delicate hands caught his good arm as he raised it to unleash a lethal attack on the murderous woman that lay semi-conscious on the floor before him. Startled, he whirled on the one who had come from behind and stared in open-mouthed surprise, ruby eyes wide as they met a pair that matched his own.
'Yukina…'
"Hiei!"
He looked up to see Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Botan and even Keiko standing in the door-way and entered the room, expressions of shocked amazement on their faces. He sank to his knees, what little energy he had left evaporating as his rage gave way to stunned amazement and confusion, Yukina following, shifting her grip on his arm to clasp his hand tightly in her own as she knelt beside him.
"What happened here?" Botan asked as Kurama crossed the room to the crumpled woman, gingerly helping her as she struggled push her newly-bruised body into a sitting position.
"What did you hit her for?" Yusuke demanded. "She saved your life... twice!"
"I thought you were dead…" Hiei said in a choked half-whisper that only Yukina heard as he turned to look at the woman who now sat with his back to the wall as Kurama knelt at her side and attempted to heal her with his limited abilities, but she waved him off.
"I'm alright... Thanks," she murmured, smiling slightly at him.
Hiei stared at her with haunted eyes as if he was still unsure that the nightmares had finally ended and that the woman sitting before him was not in fact an enemy.
"And she's a girl!" Kuwabara added, oblivious to what Hiei had said. "Now I've gotta' beat you up - "
But his speech was cut off as they heard a quiet chuckle that instantly drew their attention. The woman sat with her back to the wall and smiled at the carrot-topped young man.
"Though I appreciate the thought, Kuwabara," she said in a voice that was soft, but carried well and was surprisingly pleasant to hear, very different from the one they had heard from behind the mask. "It wasn't entirely Hiei's fault. The poison injected into his system gave him terrible nightmares, which carried into his first waking moments after the poison was removed. When he woke up he saw me, (and in his nightmares, I was depicted as his enemy), so he lashed out," she looked at Hiei, who met her eyes with his ruby gaze. "Every survivor does it. I should have been ready, but I didn't expect you to wake up so soon." Her attention shifted to Yukina. "Don't you have something to give your…"
She paused for half a second as a look of panic took Hiei's face, and a wave of tension came from nearly everyone else in the room with the exception of Yukina and Kuwabara. This puzzled her for an instant, and then she understood.
'She doesn't know...' Karyuu thought with some surprise. 'I wonder why they're hiding it from her? And why doesn't Kuwabara know?'
She continued, but changed 'brother' to a more acceptable term at the last instant.
"Ill-tempered friend?"
Yukina blinked and then nodded, unaware of the sudden relaxing of tension in the people behind her.
"Oh, yes! Here you are, Hiei-san," she said, releasing his hand and gave him the tiny jewel.
The others came closer to look at the gem as Hiei turned it over in his hand.
"What is it?" Keiko asked, frowning at the green jewel.
"It's a Jewel of Affliction..." Kurama said with surprised interest as he helped Karyuu get stiffly to her feet. "Yukina, how did you get such a thing?" He asked with a mixture of worry and amazement.
"I gave it to Yukina to guard it for Hiei... Thank you Kurama," Karyuu said as she walked slowly to the bed where she had first awoken, her steps a little unsteady. Apparently she was still feeling the effects of the blow she had received. "It was the only way to cure someone of that particular venom, so you'll have to forgive me for that, Hiei." She sat heavily amongst the blankets and dusted some of the white powder from the borrowed kimono, casting an almost apologetic look at Yukina.
"Why should he excuse you?" Botan asked. "You saved his life..."
"Because she could have taken more than just the poison," Hiei said, still looking at the gem in his hand.
"Like what?" Yusuke asked.
Hiei shrugged, seeming to have regained his composure a little. "My Spirit Energy, my memories, my speed, strength, even my soul, if she wanted it. Or she could keep it and sell it to a sorcerer, another demon, or use it against me herself." He looked at her directly and she met his gaze calmly. "But you didn't."
Karyuu scoffed.
"As I said before, I came to you to offer my help, specifically in killing creatures like the one you four had the misfortune of meeting today. Stealing some or all of your attributes, is a conflict of interests, don't you think?" She smiled at them, exposing her sharp teeth again, and lay down, covering herself in the blankets of her bed. "If you don't mind, I'll go back to sleep for a while. Forming one of those takes a great deal of effort." She rolled over, putting her back to the stunned group of friends, and waved a hand over her shoulder at them. "Feel free to talk, you won't bother me." And with that, she seemed to drop off into sleep immediately, her breath becoming slow, even and deep.
They stared at her in silence for a moment before Kurama turned to look at where Hiei sat, the green jewel in his hand.
"What are you going to do with it?" He asked, his voice hushed for Karyuu's sake.
Hiei looked at it for a moment and then placed it in his pocket.
"I'll hold onto it for a while. I might get to return it to whoever is responsible for that creature setting foot on this world."
His friends smiled at him.
"We'd better let you rest," Kurama said, moving to the door.
"And we have to put all the books in Genkai's Library back." Keiko reminded them.
Kuwabara winced. "Awww, do we have to?" he asked as the filed out. "We pulled almost every book off the shelf lookn' for a cure…"
The brown-haired woman put her hands on her hips and glared up at the him, ignoring Yusuke, who prodded the taller man in the ribs with his elbow, silently warning him that it would be unwise to try and argue with the indominable young woman.
"Alright, alright, you don't have to get nasty…"
They filed out, giving Hiei a smile, and murmured for him to get some rest and 'See you later' as they cast one final curious look at the strange woman who appeared to be sleeping as they left.
*****

Hiei watched them go, and cursed softly to himself as he caught a ghost of a smile creeping onto his face. He lay down and with a final glance at the woman's back, he rolled over and closed his eyes, fingering the bandages around his injured arm, whose wound was already healing rapidly thanks to his demon metabolism, now that the poison was gone. But a rolling rattling sound like a marble rolling across the wooden floor came toward him from behind. Hiei rolled over and was amazed to see a small, black pearl-like jewel rolling toward him and stopped only a few inches from his face. He blinked.
'A demon, tear... my tear…'
He looked up to see Karyuu, who had rolled over and now looked at him with her strange eyes.
"I thought you might want that," she said softly. "You would have some trouble explaining it... especially if you don't want her to know about you, though I don't understand why in the world you would want to keep it a secret..."
Hiei sat up, the jewel clasped tightly in his bandaged hand.
"How…"
She raised an eyebrow and rested her head on her folded arm, smiling slightly at him.
"How did I get a hold of your tear, or how did I know she was - "
"Both." He said shortly, apparently unwilling to have his relation spoken aloud, even if his sister was safely out of ear-shot.
She shrugged.
"I caught the jewel as it fell, just before you slapped me into the wall... Good back-hand, by the way."
He frowned, a part of him feeling very guilty for striking her, and yet he still felt some apprehension toward her. He still did not know her loyalty or motives, for seemingly risking her life for his... twice, if Yusuke was right.
"I... apologise for - "
She waved her hand dismissively and he was surprised to see the red mark of his hand on her wrist and a slightly darker mark high on her right cheek could still be seen.
"I said it wasn't your fault, so don't apologise, and don't feel badly about it... I certainly don't."
He remained silent for a moment.
"And Yukina? How did you know she…"
The woman's face became almost sympathetic, as it became clear to her that he wanted to tell her, but he remained silent out of fear, of what, she didn't know, but that wasn't her business. Not yet anyway.
"You were the most upset by the thought of her death, above all of the others, though the thought of their deaths was painful too... and you have the same eyes," she smiled slightly at the surprised look on his face. "Your scents are also pretty similar, obvious differences put aside of course. I'm guessing that you shared a parent... but not both, obviously."
He stared at her in silence, too stunned to respond.
Kurama had made the same guess before, and Hiei was forced to come clean with his fox-demon friend, but it had taken his keen sense of smell several months to catch the similarity and this woman had done it in less than a day. This woman's Spirit Energy was like nothing he had ever encountered or even heard of before; it was phenomenally strong, yet it seemed as if it changed constantly, different and yet the same, just like the continually shifting colours within her eyes. He was more than certain she wasn't Human, and yet she was like no demon or Servant of the Spirit World he had ever heard of, let alone encountered.
'Who and what are you?' He wondered, as he lay down again and looked at the black jewel his single tear had formed, rolling the smooth tear between his thumb and forefinger, 'Who is this 'Gaia' you claim to serve? Why are you here? And what do you expect to gain?'
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft voice of the woman.
"Stop worrying about who and what I am, and what I want, Hiei." She said, snuggling into her warm blankets without opening her eyes, so she missed the look of indignant surprise on his face. "I'll explain everything when we go to see Koenma tomorrow, but right, now I'm just too damn tired."
And with a contented sigh, she drifted off to sleep, leaving a very confused Hiei to contemplate her and the events of the day in a silence disrupted only by the soft breathing of the sleeping woman.