Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Gates ❯ Chapter 5: A Test of Strength, Toasted Marshmallows and Nukelar Shadows ( Chapter 6 )

CHAP 5

Two weeks passed and the Urameshi Team began to make signifigant progress, allowing everyone, (including Yusuke), to gather large amounts of heat energy from their surroundings and were able to contain it sucessfully within their bodies for long periods of time. Satisfied with their abilities, Karyuu had planned to begin more practical uses of the Fire Element on the fourteenth day of their training.
Yusuke, however, seemed to have something else in mind, a fact she was made aware of when the five of them had gathered in the forest near the brook they had been training beside for half a month.
"Hey, Karyuu, something occured to me last night," the Spirit Detective said with a cocky smile that made her raise an eyebrow at him.
"You do a lot of thinking during the night, don't you?" She asked quizicaly as she pulled off her jacket and set it amongst some large boulders at the far end of the clearing, where she and the others had placed their belongings to avoid them getting singed by accedent.
"Yah, I guess so..."
"Hn, that explains the lack of thought during the daylight hours," Hiei said dryly to no one in particular. "He spends all of his brain power at night..."
"Shaddup, Hiei," Yusuke said dismissively as the fire-demon smirked at him, before he returned his gaze to Karyuu. "We've only seen you fight once... Well... Kuwabara got to fight with you, kinda', but it doesn't really count cause you weren't trying..."
"She still managed to defeat him easily, though," Hiei added.
"Whatchu' say?" Kuwabara demanded angrily, and the demon simply rolled his eyes.
The elfin woman seemed to know where Yusuke was going, however and smiling, shook her head.
"That doesn't realy matter, Yusuke," she said as she tried to dodge the exuberant young Human's train of thought. "I'm not really ready to try and train you that way..."
"Yah, but it'd be good to know what we're working towards, wouldn't it?" He countered, the bright anticipation in his brown eyes becoming contageous as Kuwabara forgot about yelling at Hiei and turned his attention to focus on Karyuu and Yusuke.
"I don't think this is a great idea," the elfin woman said, shaking her head.
"Aww, c'mon, Karyuu," Kuwabara pleaded, joining his friend in his endevor. "It'll be a good change from tryn' to work with that Fire Element stuff..."
She sighed and looked at the two demons who were watching the pleading of their team-mates with a certain amount of detatchment.
"What do you think?" She asked finally.
The only real value she could see in the whole exercise was perhaps to give them an idea of how very far they still had to go in their training, and at the very least, to give her an idea of what areas they may need to improve on in their physical fighting for later on. Other than that, this was basicaly going to result in her slapping them around with very little effort, and a distinct deflation of their collective egos, neither of which was she particularily looking forward to.
And the only way to avoid it was the introduction of a better arguement from one of the demons... unfortunately, the response was the opposite of what she was hopping for.
"Hn. I'm game," Hiei said with a slight smile, the idea of pitting himself against someone so powerfull was rather intriguing.
Kurama however, seemed less than enthusiastic, being the only one out of the four who had any real idea of what a Servent of Gaia was capable of in battle, (having been on the receiving end of an occasional attack once or twice), and judging from what he had seen in the past when compared to the supirior power he saw in the elfin woman in front of him, he seriously doubted there was any chance at all that any of them would be able to get close enough to try and strike out at her... Which of course, defeated the perpouse of sparing...

His thoughts must have been visable on his face, because Hiei laughed very quietly.
"This will be interesting if Kurama doesn't want to get involved," he said in his deep, soft voice, giving his partner a slightly challenging look. "I've never known you to back down from a challange before, Kitsune."
Kurama sighed and shook his head.
"Alright... If you insist..."
Grinning, Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately removed their shirts, tossing them into the safety of the rocks and waited eagerly as Karyuu moved at a sedate pace to stand in the middle of the small clearing as the four began to get ready for their 'sparring match'.
She waited as they got ready, Yusuke standing at the forefront, grinning broadly at her, the excitement at having the oppertunity of tesiting his abilities against someone who was truely powerfull showing plainly in his every move.
"So," she said in an un-enthusiastic tone. "Do you want to take me all at once, or one at a time, in pairs, what?"
They glanced at eachother.
"One at a time, I guess," Yusuke said with a shrug. "It'll be fairer that way... I'll go first."
The elfin woman nodded, a slight smile on her face.
"I thought you might."
"Are you ready, little elf-person?" Yusuke asked, flexing his hands with an excited little grin on his face.
She scoffed quietly and rolled her shoulders once before clasping her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on her toes to her heels in a slow, easy rythem that reminded him sharply of his deceased teacher, Master Genkai.
"No one's taller than the last man standing, smart-ass," she said with a grin and he laughed. "Whenever you're ready."
He paused for a moment, a slight flicker of suspicion on his face.
"Aren't you going to get ready?"
"I am ready," she replied smoothly, not ceasing her rocking, opaline eyes shining a little in the light.

"You aren't going to blast me with any of Gaia's energy, are you?"
"I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you want to know," she said with a grin as he gave her an indignant look that made Kuwabara snigger behind him. "So let's get this over with..."
He blinked, surprised by her answer, and then pushed it asside. The dark haired young man bent into a slight crouch and balled his hands into fists, his trade-mark cocky smile still in place. And then he surged forward, a sudden burst in his Spirit Energy coming with him as he made an attempt to land a punch in her stomach, the most exposed place on her body, since her hands were clasped behind her back, therefore leaving her vulnerable... or so he thought.
In a move remenicent of something Genkai had done to him on many occasions, Karyuu watched him attack, and then, without changing her expression, or giving him any indication at all that she was making a counter-attack, Yusuke was suddenly very aware of the fact that he had just been batted aside with little or no effort by the much smaller woman, and had landed face-first in the scorched earth several dosen feet from where she stood. He scrambled to his feet and turned to face her as she looked over her shoulder at him, her face now carefully expressionless as she watched him try to sort out what had just happened to him.
'I didn't see the hit... hell I didn't even feel her hit me... I just went sailing off into the dirt as if she'd just belted me one...' he thought dazedly, some of the charred earth leaving a smudge on his cheek where his face had hit the earth. 'I've gotta' be more carefull...'
He smiled and she returned it a little.
"Heh, I guess that didn't work..."
He had half expected the others to make fun of him for that, but they remained silent, and looking over at them, he saw why.
All three of his team-mates were looking at Karyuu with slightly wider than normal eyes...
'Alright... then it wasn't just me... She really is that fast... Even Hiei looks confused...'
Yusuke got ready again, and Karyuu turned casually to look at him, hands still clasped behind her back.
He grinned and then surged forward again and this time, slowed himself at the last second, and watched in amazement as she compensated her speed so that she didn't have to move quite as quickly, just barely allowing him to catch a glimps of her hand as she moved to block him, not even seeing the other hand as it struck him with an open palm in the center of his chest, slamming him backward with a burst of solid force that, although stunning, did not actually hurt him, his entire body tingeling with the force of the impact. Once again, Yusuke found himself on the ground, this time, flat on his butt, legs spread a little looking slightly stunned.
The others blinked, surprised at him and he glanced at them, and then up at her as she came forward, and offered him her hand, smiling.
"Satisfied?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, surpising him with her strength as he accepted the offered hand.
He got to his feet with her help and then nodded sheepishly.
"Ummm... Yah... I guess so..." He said with an awkward laugh.
She nodded, apparently pleased that he had developed some sence.
"Okay, so who's going next?"
The others shifted, and then Kuwabara stepped forward, though it seemed that some of his enthusiasm had been dissipated.
Their 'sparring' match continued, Karyuu sequentially besting each of them in turn, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama each found themselves beaten in less than a few minutes, Hiei managing to actually dodge one of her attacks, (which, if the truth be known was completely accedental), but was quickly dispatched by the following attack.
None of them were hurt, but all of them had absolutely no sucess in trying to strike out at her in any way. And then, Yusuke had another idea.
"Okay... that was kinda' embarassing," he said as Hiei came to stand near them, looking more thoughtfull than annoyed at being defeated. "Let's try it together."
Karyuu rolled her eyes, looking annoyed by now.
"Oh, come on, guys..."
"Just give us a chance," he pleaded. "Just one more, okay?"
Despite the fact that she had shown him just how much work he had to do, he was still rather enthusiastic about fighting with her... as if he was thrilled to find someone stronger than he was who wasn't trying to kill him... someone he could really learn from.
Of course she could understand this, but at this point in time, this entire train of thought was, put bluntly, useless, and she had been looking forward to seeing if they had actually learned much of anything from her during the last few weeks asside from turning themselves into giant space-heaters...
"Is this an order as the leader of the group, or is it a request?" She asked tiredly.
He blinked, slightly confused.
"If I say I'm asking," he said slowly. "Are you going to say yes?"
The others blinked at him and then at her, surprised by the sudden burst of tactical suspicion on their care-free friend's part.
She seemed to wince almost, as if her last-ditch effort to dodge this excersise in futility had fallen flat.
"No," she admitted.
"And if I pull rank?"
"I'll do what I'm asked."
He puffed out his chest comicaly and grinned at her and fisted his hands on his hips.
"Then I order you to kick our butts," he said in a slightly deeper voice, making her smile in spite of herself.
Karyuu gave him a little bow and a smile.
"Yes, my Captian..."
He grinned, clapping his hands and rubbing them together vigerously.
"Okay, four on one..."
Kuwabara shifted uncomfortably, a frown on his face.
When it had been his turn to attack, Karyuu had noticed that the tall warrior had attacked like a six-year old... perpously slow and awkward... far below what she knew he was really capable of after their little skirmish on the city docks.
Not that it would have helped, but still, he had held back...
'That's something I'm going to need to talk to him about later,' she said silently to herself, even as she got ready to face all four of the formidiable young men. 'If I'm right, and he's holding back because I'm a woman... then this could cause a problem in our training in the future...'
"Are you ready, Karyuu?" Kurama asked politely.
She nodded.
The Spirit Detectives nodded and seemed about to attack, when Hiei's soft voice made him pause.
"Wait."
Yusuke turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.
"Let's allow the use of our extra abilities," he said, a very slight smile quirking at the corner of his mouth, ruby eyes shining a little in anticipation. "Without that, we won't be able to accurately measure our strength differences... coming short of killing one another, of course."
Karyuu seemed to slump a little in disgust.
It seemed that Hiei had also been infected with Yusuke's misplaced enthusiasm...
"That okay with you, Karyuu?" Yusuke asked.
She shrugged.
"Whatever you like," she said as she tucked a loose lock of hair behind one pointed ear. "You're the leader. The one and only point I ever saw in this was so that you could see what I could do in a fight, and if you don't use your talents, then I won't have a chance to use mine, and then we're just wasting time."
Hiei chuckeled.
"That makes sence, I suppose."
And so, they began again, and the four men began to attack, moving into a familiar basic pattern of attack that they had used countless times over in their many missions as Spirit Detectives on Koenma's behalf.
Kurama summoned his Rose Whip from a Steel Rose seed he had kept hidden in his hair, though judging by the look on his face he was less than enthusiastic at the thought of attempting to use it on the small elfin woman. Hiei drew his sword and held it with his usual casual neglegence in his right hand, standing ready between Kurama and Yusuke, a light glint in his eyes. The Spirit Detective and his orange-haired friend were wearing identical grines, muscels shifting beneath their skin as they rolled their shoulders, the collective Spirit Energy of the group raising signifigantly.
If any one else had been standing there facing them, they would most certainly have been more than a little worried about their chances of survival, but Karyuu was rather unimpressed. She clasped her hands behind her back once again and began that odd rocking motion, from her heels to the balls of her feet and back again, a slight smile on her lips.
"Whenever you're ready, gentelmen," she said in her soft voice.
They didn't answer her, but leapt forward on the offencive, Yusuke and Kuwabara coming in on her left, Kurama and Hiei on her right.
She remained quite still, watching as if in slow motion as Hiei vaulted over Kurama's back, sword raised high for a strike, (which she noticed with some releif, was decending rappidly in the direction of her head with the flat of the blade rather than the edge, proof that the fire-demon had no intention of doing her real harm). It was a good routene, she had to admit, her attention drawn to Hiei as he attacked, while Kurama's whip lashed out from lower down, Yusuke and Kuwabara pouncing on her from the opposite side. The draw-back was that one, they were still far too slow to reach her in time, and two, if they happened to miss, (which they certainly would in this case), and their target was able to dodge the attack, (which Karyuu was more than capeable of doing), it would take half a beat too long for them to turn around and face her...
Which of course, was what happened next.
Without seeming to move at all, Karyuu vanished before their eyes, moving far too fast for them to follow as she dodged the attack, the four men skidding to a halt in a group, eyes turning in all directions to seek her out, finding her standing quite calmly on a high tree-branch almost fifty feet above their heads.
'In the time it took for us to turn around, she could have attacked us all if she wanted to,' Kurama realized with a strangely uneasy feeling in his chest, as if he'd just encountered an extremely dangerous being that had leapt quite suddenly out of the dark at him. 'This isn't going to turn out well for us if we can't get up to her level in the time we have availiable.'
They blinked once, and then Kurama lashed out, his whip cutting easily through the branch she was standing on, effectively releiving her of her perch. But as she fell, her decent stopped very suddenly, and she floated in mid-air, still smiling at them, her hair swirling a little about her shoulders in a wind they couldn't feel, feet together as if she were still standing on the branch that now lay on the ground below her. Half a beat passed, and then she raised her hands from her sides slowly, a low rumble sounding in the air arround them as a dark, seathing cloud began to gather in the air around her, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Well, that's new..." Yusuke said, brown eyes a little wide in surprise. "Did anybody else know she could do that?"
The others didn't reply, and prudently withdrew a little, looking wearily at the woman floating in the air above them, surrounded by a dark bluish-black thundercloud.
"We'll jump her in bursts," Yusuke said within the depths of their minds, using the technique she had taught them for the first time outside of a lession. "Who wants to go first?"
"I'll go," Hiei said calmly, ruby eyes flickering over Karyuu and the cloud she had surrounded herself with. "I think I can get through long enough to distract her. I would recomend striking out at her with your Spirit Gun, Urameshi."
Yusuke hesitated and then nodded.
"Sounds good... Kuwabara and I can go next and then you follow, Kurama, just make sure to hang back so you can see what she does... Maybe she's got a weak-spot or something..."
"I doubt it, but I'll try," Kurama replied, watching Karyuu warily, all too aware of the fact that she knew they were planning something, despite the fact that she couldn't hear them, and by virtue of the fact that she haddn't taken the trouble to try and stop them denoted a great deal of self-confidence, which, judging by what he had seen today and in the past, was well founded.
"We've gotta' be carefull though, guys," Kuwabara said, seeming increasingly uncomfortable with the thought of trying to hit a girl... even if they had a collective snowball's chance in Hell at actually doing it. "I don't wanna' hurt her or nothn'."
"Don't be more of a baka than you already are," Hiei said flatly. "None of us are going to hurt her... doing that would slow down our training."
"You're a real sweet guy, you know that, Shrimpy?"
"Hn."
"Ready?" Yusuke asked, his mental voice a little louder than normal as he cut the impending fight off, his muscels bunching in anticipation.
The others gave their affirmation.
"... Go!"
The result was less than optimal for the Urameshi team.

From the cloud shot a huge wave of crackeling Spirit Energy that slammed with bone-jarring force into Hiei's chest an instant after he had leapt forward, sending him flailing backwards before returning to earth, landing flat on his back with a startled grunt, ruby eyes a little wide in surprise.
Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped in their tracks, their 'second wave' cut short as their team-mate was dispatched even before he had a chance to raise his sword, coming to a halt only a few feet away from where they had started, staring at Hiei who lay sprawled dazedly on his back.
Unfortunately, their lack of attention was rewarded with a similar attack, which sent both of them flying, landing side by side... conviniantly not four feet from where their ruby-eyed team-mate had struggled into a sitting possition, scoweling.
"Holy crap! Nobody told me we were fighting a girl-shaped thunderstorm!" Kuwabara yelled.

"The fact that you would even compare that kind of power to a mere weather disturbance, shows me how stupid you really are," muttered Hiei picking himself up off the ground.
Despite the fact that none of them had been seriously hurt... or hurt at all for that matter, they'd been defeated with what looked like very, very little effort... a sentiment heightened by the fact that their newest team-mate looked a little bored, floating effortlessly in the air as she was...

"Knock it off you guys," said Yusuke. "Karyuu just handed us our asses with two moves!" Yusuke looked towards Kurama who was standing by ready to face Karyuu, being the only one not to have attacked yet. "Do we stand a chance against her, Kurama?"

His emerald eyes narrowed a little in thought and then widened as a massive burst of wind and raw Spirit Energy exploded toward them, just mannaging to leap out of the way as the attack came upon the four of them. The three less fortunate members of the Urameshi Team froze, jaws hanging open, like a herd of deer caught in the headlight of an oncoming train.

"Oh shi - " began Yusuke.
However, the wave engulfed all three of the Spirit Detectives on the field, sending them staggering backwards with the shere force of the wind, alone. They all cried out as a wave of pain unlike anything they had ever felt before enveloped them, robbing them of any chance of even thinking about a counter attack. It lasted only for an instant, however, (less than even the space of time it would have required for them to blink), before Karyuu quickly withdrew the attack, not wanting to hurt them, the wave subsiding abruptly as if it had never been there, allowing all three to fall to the ground, breathing hard.
Kurama shifted where he stood, emerald eyes flickering over his undamaged, but effectively eliminated team-mates, before darting back to Karyuu, where she had landed on the ground soundlessly after her attack had been completed, standing fifty or so feet from them, looking decidedly harmless... She was even smiling, though the understandably smug look on her face was a little disconcerting under the circumstances.
"I can't defeat you, can I?" He asked after a moment, making Yusuke and the others turn to look at him incrediously.
She smiled a little and then shook her head, obviously trying not to smile too broadly at them.
"No... not as you are."
"Do I have a chance at striking you sucessfully at all?"
The elfin woman bit her lip.
"There's always a chance... but it's rather unlikely," she admitted.
"Then there isn't any point in continuing this?"
"Not really, no," a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "There really wasn't one to begin with."
He noded and then the Rose-Whip in his hand was reduced back to the Steel Rose he had formed it from and moving forward, he presented it to the elfin woman with a bow and a flourish.
"Then I respectfully surrender myself to your most excelent turourage, Madam..."
The sound of three jaws hitting the ground could be heard as she accepted the rose with a little curtsey and a laugh.
"You surrendered?" Yusuke demanded incrediously, struggeling to his feet, brown eyes wide in shock. "You acctually surrendered? You aren't even gonna' try and hit her?"
Kurama smiled a little and shrugged his hands in his pockets as he and Karyuu came over to stand near them.
"I know my limits, Yusuke," he nodded at Karyuu, who was twisting the rose between her fingers, a slight smile on her lips as she tried not to look smug. "And Karyuu exceeds my limits to the point that even thinking about moving against her is, quite frankly, rediculous."
She laughed and looked up at him.
"I don't know about that," she said cocking her head to the side as he looked down at her. "'Rediculous' is a little strong don't you think?"
"Not from what I just saw."
The others scoweled at him.
"Thanks..." Yusuke muttered darkly.
"You've got nothing to be mad at him for," Karyuu said with a smile, absently picking a peice of grass off of the Spirit Detective's shoulder and flicking it to the side. "This was your idea, after all..."
Yusuke grumbled something sullenly to himself.

"Aww... don't do that," she said, looking a little guilty. "You four really did well under the circumstances... Actually I'm impressed... there aren't many people who could have withstood the attacks I made."
"And how strong where they?" Hiei asked, streightening his cloak.
She hesitated.
"Well..."
"Those were childs-play," Kurama said with a slight smile as Karyuu looked up at him. "I've seen Servents who are much weaker than you are, conjure intire hurricanes with no effort at all."
The elfin woman laughed and shifted where she stood as the others blinked at her.
"Well... now we know," Yusuke said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "We suck."
Karyuu blinked and then, much to everyone's surprise, she reached out and gave him a breif hug, before drawing away.
"Don't worry about it, Yusuke," she said with a smile, moving to her pack again to dig around. "You'll get better... You could almost see me once in a while, couldn't you?"
Whatever embarassment he had, evaporated and he blinked.
"Um... yah... almost..."
"What about the rest of you?" She asked, not turning to look at them.
"I couldn't see anything," Kuwabara said. "I kinda'... felt something... but I didn't see you move at all."
"Neither did I," Kurama said. "You've done better than I did, Kuwabara; I didn't sence anything until I was face down on the ground."
"What about you, Hiei?"
There was a long pause, before he answered.
"I thought I might have seen something... but I was too late to react."
She nodded.
"That's a lot better than most," she said and turned to face them, a small paper bag held in her hand. "Now, who wants some candy?"
The four of them stared at her blankly.
"What?"
She grinned.
"Candy. Who wants some?"
"We aren't children, woman," Hiei groweled, despite the fact that he was notorious amongst his team-mates for his infaliable sweet-tooth.
Karyuu blinked and then laughed.
"No, no... it's part of the training..." she reached into the bag and pulled out a small puffly looking white thing no bigger than the end of her thumb and held it out for them to see. "Marshmallows... I'm going to suspend these in the air, and I want you four to see if you can toast them without burning them to ashes... you do it right, you get a tasty little morsel, you do it wrong... you get to practice some more. The idea is, to master releasing small, controlled amounts of the fire energy you've been practicing with for the last two weeks at a target that will burn easily if too much heat is applied."
Kurama laughed.
"That's an ingenious way to apply it," he said with a smile, not at all offended, and the others, sufficently placated smiled as well, (barring Hiei, of course).
She smiled, and looking at the little marshmallow in her hand, gathered and released a small amount of heat energy that made the little treat turn a golden brown.
"This is what I want you to do," she said with a shrug as they looked at the toasted little candy in her hand. "Personally, though, I like mine a bit darker..." She applied a little more heat and the candy quickly darkened to a deep brown that was almost black before she poped it into her mouth, smiling happily. "I love these things..."
*****
And so, she set four of them on the ground about five paces appart and stood back.
"Okay... everybody pick a marshmallow and line up..."
They did as told and with a gentle surge of wind, the four treats lifted into the air about eyelevel with each of the young men and the fun began.
The first batch was litteraly destroyed when Kuwabara released a much too large amount of energy, singing not only his own target, but everyone elses as well, the heat so intense that all four of them burst into flame and crumbled to swirling black ash, bringing with it the smell of burnt sugar.
They laughed and she tossed four more into the air, catching them again with the cushion of air that had suspended the ones before it and arranging them in front of them again, this time a little farther appart.
"Okay... try again, and Kuwabara, use a lot less energy... that much would have melted tempered steel..."
They tried again... and again... and again...
Evventually, they had worn down her supply of marshmellows and she traded up to for a collection of sticks and leaves, (which they also methodicaly destroyed), until the sun began to set.
"Well... that was a waste of good food..." Yusuke muttered sourly as the five began to move back to the Temple.
Karyuu said nothing, and simply pulled on her jacket, freeing her hair with a flick of her wrist and did up the zipper, a thoughtfull frown on her face.
"You didn't do that badly..." she said almost absently. "This was your first day, remember..."
"You don't sound too convinced," Kurama murmured.
She looked up at him.
"I am... it's just that..." she looked to the east, frowning. "Something happened today..."
Instantly the four men paused to look at her sharply.
"What happened?" Yusuke asked. "Is it an attack?"
The elfin woman shook her head and bent to pick up her bag.
"No... it's nothing for you to worry about..."
The four shared a look, and Yusuke reached out, puting a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on, Karyuu," he coaxed. "What is it?"
She hesitated and then slung the bag over her shoulders as his hand left her.
"A bomb went off."
A pause.
"Don't bombs go off all the time?" Kuwabara asked with a frown.
"Yes... but this one was atomic."
"Atomic? As in nuclear?"
She nodded darkly.
"Where did it happen, Karyuu?" Kurama asked anxiously, visions of Nagasaki and Heroshima running through his mind.
"No Humans were killed," the elfin woman said quietly. "It was only a test... somewhere in Pakastan, I think..."
The three relaxed visiably, as Hiei looked at them quizicaly, not realy understanding where their fear had come from.
"How'd you know?" Kuwabara asked suddenly.
She sighed quietly, her expression sad.
"I can hear it... your entire Realm cries out against it every time you set one off... It's truely a terrible thing..."
They stared at her, surprised, and Hiei made a mental note to ask Kurama what kind of bomb could have such a devestating effect as to make his team-mates that alarmed.
Karyuu shook her head and began to move back through the woods in the direction of the Temple, her pace quite a bit slower than normal.
"I had hoped that over the years Humans would learn to leave atomics alone... but unfortunately many still find some obscure, mindless reason to develop such a terrible weapon to use against your own species... It's sad, really. Frankly I was surprised that you continued to use them at all after you saw what they could do in your second World War..."
"I guess you're right," Yusuke said quietly, before brightening. "But nobody's actually going to use one again... it's just too much..."
She glanced at him soberly, and his optimism faded.
"Are you sure about that, Yusuke?" The elfin woman said quietly. "All it needs is one madman with a nuclear bomb to take the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people... There are bombs today that can be transported and used in a container no bigger than a breifcase... Even if a country won't use one, someone else will... I'm certain it's only a matter of time until that happens."
Hiei, who was the only one in the group who had never seen, heard or known anything about this 'atomic bomb', huffed quietly.
"It sounds as if Ningens need something else to fight besides one another," he muttered disdainfully.
Yusuke and Kuwabara seemed as if they were about to protest that, but Kurama nodded.
"Yes, I think you're right, Hiei," the fox-demon said, absently putting his hands in his pockets. "Humanity has been the undesputed dominant species in this Realm for... a very long time, and have never really been challanged by any other force other than themselves with the exception of disease."
"So... you're sayn that we've gotta' find an enemy we all hate, and then we can forget about killin' eachother?" Kuwabara asked with a slight frown, turning over the idea in his mind.
"I guess that sorta makes sence," Yusuke said slowly. "It still stinks, but I guess it makes sence..."
Karyuu smiled a little to herself, choosing not to include her own oppinion in the matter.
They were right, of course.
Humans by their very nature were agressive, and war-like... It was the way they evolved, but there was still a certain degree of civility among them... a love for their fellow man that allowed them to exist in groups realitively peacefully for large periods of time.
Demons on the other hand tended to be almost entirely self-reliant, and so large wars that consume the entire Realm in blood and death were rare, limited to small battles between opposing factions or organizations over a definable cause, rather than for the obscure reasons that Humans often went to war over.
Perhaps in a few thousand years, they might find the secret to existing peacefully, but it was far too early in the history of Human-kind to hope for an abolishment of waging war against their own species...
As terrible as it was, Kurama and Hiei were right.
Humans needed an enemy that threatened all of them at once, a force they could put asside their differences to unite together to combat, and hopefuly realize that fighting eachother is counter-productive...
And the coming war might be just the opertunity they needed... assuming the Urameshi Team had the strength they needed to combat the Armies of Hell effectively...
It would occur to them many months later that perhaps that was exactly what the Armies of Hell might accedentaly do for Mankind... Presuming they lived to find out...

** Author's Note ** Sorry, but I couldn't help making an anti-nuke statement here... War sucks enough without adding the cost of nukeular fall-out and un-usiable terrian for fifty years to it.
The only thing a nuke ought to be used for is blowing up giant, earth-killer space-rocks (see your favorite natural disater movie) and THAT'S IT!!!

Enough of my eco-babble...
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