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Purple part 5: Final Conflict
by Korogi
"KEIKO!!"
Yusuke seemed to stumble forward in slow motion, the world
moving by him at a turtle's pace as he willed his legs to move. The
taller female fairy before him had effortlessly picked Keiko into the air,
tossing the smaller brown haired girl over her sholder like she was just
a rag doll... the yosei had physically touched another woman... Yusuke
cursed loudly in his mind. The yosei were supposed to be mortally
fearful of outsider women, and he had thought Keiko would have been safe
with that much in mind.
But as he tried to run, he saw his future fiancee rocketing
headfirst down the hall, proppelled by the strength of the tall and thin
winged woman before him, heading straight for the far end of the marble
corridor. Keiko could not hit and survive such a flight!
Keiko was more or less dazed and surprised when she felt
her body go weightless, clutching onto the little blue spirit pet as the
wind of her flight began to course through her hair. She could plainly
see the marble wall coming down on her...
"Pu... PUU!!"
"KEIKO!! Damn it...."
Murasaki easily sidestepped, cutting Yusuke off in his
pursuit... a fraction of a second before a blinding flash of light spilled
into the hall....
The momentary hinge of sightlessness was enough for Yusuke
to gain his own ground, locking together his hands before him, his
index finger glowing white-hot as he brought together his vast stores of
rei-ki.
Clearly, almost as if he saw the yosei on a clear day,
Yusuke's senses found the aura of the flailing fairies ki....
As if a swift wind had rolled in, the white light faded
almost instantly, leaving Yusuke standing inthe center of the hall, eyes
closed, his index finger pointing menacingly at the femal fairy before
him. "Kisama... "
"Human, you're spiritual power..."
"DIE BITCH!! REI-GAN!!"
Yo-mawari and Botan whizzed around the last corner of the
castle, little Koenma holding on for dear life to the hem of Botan's kimono
as she slid about in her famous show of acrobatics, Koenma's little blue
pacifier dangling dangerously close to toppling from the toddler's mouth.
Almost at the same time, Kuwabara burst through one of
the front arches, wailing in a triumphant battle cry as the sunlight hit
his orange hair, dazzeling like a neon light under the sun. He carried
tightly his burden, huddled closely and securely to his chest as
he ran in even strides, Yukina and Shizuru keeping pace behind.
The burden caught Yo-mawari's attention most of all, not
the absence of his meijin at Yukina's side. One look at the flaming
red hair was enough to clue the youko in on who that was in the young man's
arms. "Kyoudai-kun!"
Kuwabara slid to a hault at the call, watching the identical
black- haired version of Kurama break from Botan, leaping a short rock
wall with the ease of a deer. Kuwabara tucked Kurama up further into
his arms, hiding the redhead's face back into the blue fabric of his school
uniform.
The last few strides sent Yo-mawari sprawling to a dusty
hault, slowing his pace to a cautious stride, careful black eyes on his
twin brother. Kurama wasn't moving, the blue jacket of Kuwabara's
uniform drapped over his upper body leaving only a few of the lash marks
on Kurama's legs visible. The redhead's face was hidden, more or
less coveted by Kuwabara, the thin eyes staring blankly back.
"Wh... what's wrong with him?" Yo-mawari whispered,
slowly stepping forward toward the redhead in his friend's arms.
"'Wari... maybe it would be best if you leaved Kurama
alone for a bit so he can rest."
Kuwabara's tone was enough to heighten every fear and
suspicion in Yo-mawari's mind, the black-haired human body darting swiftly
forward before anyone could react. Yo-mawari's soft hands were to
Kurama's head instantly, slowly turning his brother's face out towards
him.
" 'Wari, I really think...."
Instantly, the black eyes laid upon Kurama's beaten face,
flushing all color from the youko's face, blaring his black hair and eyes
like devouring voids, nearly stealing all features from his face.
"Oh gods..."
It wasn't his brother... it couldn't have been!
The face that was supposed to be Kurama's was replaced my mad concotions
of black, blue and red, running all along his face and over his eyes, swelling
them shut to close Kurama's forest green stare from existence. If
it was at all possible, Yo-mawari's heart would have dropped right out
of his body at the sight, dropping lifeless under him. As it was,
breathing was becoming hard enough. The pain Kurama must have endured...
Yo-mawari gently wrapped a hand over one of the bruised
and slashed cheeks, sparking up the mental communication that the two shared.
An instant barage of numb feelings spilled from the redheaded twin, Yo-mawari
quickly blocking it all in fear that it would bring him into mad fits of
anger. Instead, all he left open was the mental whisper that he could
relay, placing a gentle call through the other's mind.
Kurama jerked slightly, his cracked and bleeding lips
parting in a dry pop before the mental responce came back. :...'Wari-kun...:
:Kurama-kun... : Yo-mawari cursed and drew back,
breaking off the physical link quickly, raising the black eyes to Kuwabara.
"Give him to me."
"Uh, listen, I think..."
"Give him to me!" the youko hissed between clenched teeth,
reaching out to drape one of Kurama's arms over his shoulder. Yo-mawari
nearly ripped Kurama from the taller man's arms, displacing him as gently
as he could without arounsing more pain. Still, Kurama's muffled
cry rang clear as day through Yo-mawari's mind, breaking through that mental
blockade with a fresh burst of fellings and emorions: pain, hunger, sadness...
Yo-mawari winced under the bombardment, turning swiftly
from the others as he himself bundled up Kurama into his arms, bringing
him up to nuzzel his nose down into Kurama's soft silken red heir.
Around his body, the aura of the brothers' you-ki mingled, Yo-mawari's
much stronger black ki mingling down to over power Kurama's dense and weak
red ki. Together like this, Kurama held a better chance of surviving,
Yo-mawari acting as a sort of conductor for the power the plants around
them desperately lent the brutalized redhead. Being in human form,
even with the vitality Shuuichi's body gained by being linked to his youko
side, without immediate medical attention, Kurama would most likely die.
As soon as possible, the entire group would have to leave. Without
Yo-mawari to guide then, the rest of the group would never find their way
out from Yomatsu... but also, no one but Yo-mawari could find the Ningenkai
portals to take Kurama to a hospital in the Ningenkai. They were
stuck at present, Yo-mawari taking a gentle seat under a tree as Yukina
scurried over to begin her healing techniques.
Yusuke wheezed heavily, the risidual blast of his
rei-ki fading off to reviel that the yosei threat that once stood before
him was totally waporized, the stench or burning hair wafting about to
tug at his nose. "Damn.. Keiko!"
"Puu!"
"Eh... nani?" Yusuke floundered for a second,
stumbling backwards throug the thinning dust as he tried to focued his
eyes down the marble hall. He had little more than to think about
wanting to find out if his Keiko was all right or not, the young man falling
into an almost immediate dead run down the hall. He expected the
worst but hoped for the best. Keiko was a strong young girl despite
being completely human and without power.
The white light that had burst into the hall was slowly
disipating, hiding all evidence of what had happened to Keiko. Blindly,
Yusuke burst into the light, feeling forward quickly towards what he knew
was the marble wall Keiko had been thrown towards. His heart raced,
his mind began preparing him for any and every possibility that would confront
him... but one.
Carefully, Yusuke's fingers came in contact with a soft,
warm substance... almost plastic. The blinding white light had still
not
disipated enough to let him see what he felt. "K.. Keiko?"
"Puu puuuuu!"
The warm feeling under Yusuke's fingers shifted, ran under
his fingers smootly. It wasn't plastic, but feathers he was touching.
A swift wind kicked in, rustling through Yusuke's hair, seeming to blow
away the blinding light quickly, replacing Yusuke's vision in odd blue
shades... the blue of a giant phoenix bird towering before him, it's blue-feathered
wings hunched over before him, wrapped aroud an unseen object.
"Oi, Puu! Nan da! Where's Keiko?" Yusuke huffed
up to the bird.
"...puu-pu... puu..." Yusuke snorted: he should have known
better than to try and understand his odd, annoying spirit pet.
The phoenix-Puu ruffled it's feathers and gently spread
open the large, blue wings. Tucked neatly inside, blinking a bit
amazed stood Keiko, unharmed, a few of the blue feathers prickling out
of her short, brown hair at odd angles.
"Keiko... daijoubu desu ka?"
The large, brown eyes blinked a few times, Keiko untucking
herself from the great wings carefully. Slowly, still unsure if she
was dead and just dreaming, or alive and just out of sorts. "H..hai.
I think so."
Yusuke snorted out a smile, reaching out a hand to Keiko
as she stepped out under Puu's lingering shadow, wraping his arm about
her shoulder. "Oi, Puu!" Yusuke huffed up to the giant bird, watching
flatly as the bird lowered it's small, blue head to look Yusuke in the
face. "... arigatou, Puu," Yusuke smiled, reaching out to ruffle
the down on the bird's head.
"Puu!!" the bird cooed softly, the menacing and deadly
figure suddenly melting under the small voice, completely discociated,
not fitting the larger body.
"Alright, let's get the hell out of here!"
Kuwabara chewed on his thumb nervously, checking down to
his wrist watch as he watched Yukina tending down to Kurama. "Hiei,
that little shithead... where is he? We're all sitting ducks here!"
"Calm down, Kazu," Shizuru blew a delicate smoke ring
into the air before extinguishing her cigarette. "He'll come."
Almost on cue, the far end of the yosei castle behind
them errupted into a huge explosion, drawing all their attention.
Sickly black and purple flames shot about from the crumbling wreckage,
a large, ominous black dragon crawling from the bowels of the castle to
perch atop it, screatching and calling in triamphant glory before it's
fangs sunk into the next block of the castle.
A chain of explosions followed the Kokoryu's attack, tongues
of black fire rising up to catch escaping fairies at it laid into the rest
of the castle. The sight was something none of them had ever seen,
like a flash straight from a fantastic horror movie, all too real and all
too frightening.
From the ominous dragon, a black whisp of wild wind darted
quickly from tree to tree, zig-zagging about before whisping to a tree
standing above Kuwabara. "Where is he?" a deep, snarling voice called
down before anyone knew what had happened, all eyes turning from the black
dragon devouring the castle towers to a short and snarling fire demon,
glaring cold, purple and red eyes fro mthe tree tops.
"Uh.. w..where is who?" Kuwabara studdered, whirling to
face the tree, squeaking in alarm as the three eyes zeroed him out, threatening.
The black wind raced from the tree, materializing into
the short fire youkai, the double-edged katana instantly poised at Kuwabara's
throat. "Don't play games with me, idiot!"
"YAH! Hiei... you're gonna kill someone one of these
days!" Kuwabara squeeled back, removing his throat from the tip of the
katana. The tall frame waved a hand to the tree where Yukina sat
before Yo-mawari, Kuwabara swatting at Hiei as the youkai lept. "Over there!
Gesh, you know, you COULD make up for your mouth by having some sort of
personality..."
Hiei snarled and swished the katana through the air, a few strands
of Kuwabara's orange hair fluttering down to the ground. "The next
slices through that huge, loud mouth of yours, ningen," he snarled, the
Jagan glowing radically on his forehead before the demon took off in a
rat of black air.
The black eyes caught the compact figure before it landed
swiftly behind Yukina, placing a silent warning, viciously protective of
whatever Yo-mawari held in his lap. Yukina's icy blue hair stood
in Hiei's vision as he stepped lightly forward, one hand at the swift katana,
the other clenched into a tight fist as the Kokouryu continued to eat apart
the castle behind him.
Yo-mawari looked up slowly from Yukina at the sudden presence
of his master, a hand intwinded in another hand. This wouldn't do
at all. Yo-mawari knew the strength of Hiei's bond to Kurama... the fire
demon pounded down any and all resistence in his way when his lover was
concerned, beat down anyone who dared give the fragile human the smallest
of scratches. If he saw Kuramam now... "Meijin-san... I...
I think you should..."
Hiei narrowed his eyes, the red orbs that marked his firey
eyes burning out from them as the little demon bent down, moving around
Yukina...
As quickly as Hiei's eyes met with Kurama's face, the
youkai snapped away, pulling his eyes back in a great loop as he turned
his head down to the ground. Pain and anguish immediately broke throug
on his face, even under Hiei's attempts to stiffle them. As if sensing
her brother's emothions, Yukina gently pulled back from Kurama, sitting
back : for Hiei to show this amout of emotion meant deadly consequences.
Hiei seethed both inside and out, the Jagan burning brightly
green, the screams of the Kokuryu behind him intensifying ten-fold. Blood
began to drip fr mhis clenched fist, dripping down to pool in a small,
crimson pond on the dirt ground. Deeply, fiercely a low growl began in
the depths of the youkai's throat... moments before he disappeared in a
burst of black wind.
"Meijin!! Matte!"
Another ring of explosions racked through the castle...
