Kufei snarled at his diminutive adversary. He was looking forward to challenging the ningen who wielded the spirit ball, the son of Raizen... ah, the fame of having the ningen's blood in his katana. There's no honor to be gained in killing this unknown, he thought in mild disgust. An unknown... the crimson eyes, the bandaged arm... yes, Kufei had no idea who he's fighting with. Only that he's a great deal better than him. He's fast, that he had to give to his challenger, but a ninja's eyes were faster. He could almost hear the sound of the demon's feet against the asphalt with the beating of his heart. After only a few minutes of sparring with him, Kufei was already well-attuned to his movements. Minori said that one of their expected guests, controls a great deal of power. Surely, Minori didn't mean the shrimp standing before him. No... his ki wasn't even worth fussing about.

Hiei resumed to his stance, his hands grasping the sheathed katana firmly. He smiled bitterly. Those long days of sitting on trees, walking pointlessly to where the road extends is taking its toll on him. He's a beat slower, his movements hesitant, his skills rusty. He's bleeding from all over... that alone was bad enough. Just a little bit more... he thought, almost anxiously. The ninja who even dared to lay a hand on his sister is unassuming of his powers. And with his lack of practice, his ki seemed not too alarming for the cocky son-of-a-bitch's comfort.

Hiei lunged forward, only to be met by Kufei's fist. The ninja smiled at the feel of muscles being bruised, of bones being beaten near to breakage. His small form was thrown off in an arc, hitting the temple's staircase. Pain. Bloodcurdling pain. So unfamiliar yet not really unwanted on Hiei's part. He missed this when he decided to give up his job as a tantei and join Mokuro in her cause. He got up on his fours, coughing up blood. He gripped on his katana for support and smiled contentedly on seeing blood smeared on the blade. He turned, still hunched from the last blow. Kufei's cheek went deeply wounded, and it seems he's just about to discover it as he touched his face.

Hiei easily raised his bandaged arm, pointing at Kufei, and help it up until the shuriken passed. Burying itself on the temple's wall... gone with the explosion that soon followed. Kufei frowned forlornly, "Oh. I should have known better. I really didn't want to mess up my blade... but since you refused to die..." his arrogant voice trailed. Disappearing in the wind as the bandages on his opponent's arm fell to the ground. Revealing a mark. His mark. It fell as how foliage does during autumn. As how your body will in a few seconds, Hiei swore as his ki manifested itself. Enveloping his wounded stance. He wakes.

Tender hands guided her chin to look up and meet a pair of smiling ice blue eyes. He cupped her face with one hand and wiped her cheek dry with a thumb, to no avail as fresh tears trailed down to wet his palm. "Don't you like the dress, kawaii?" he asked smoothly. She looked stunning, that he made sure. Beautiful in his eyes, Miru's... and anyone else's. She opened her eyes, pools of infinite desperation and self-loath. She did what she has been doing for the last few hours. Beg. "Onegai... kill me. Please..." she whispered, desperately. The hand cupping her face crept slowly to her nape, massaging her softly. "You're so beautiful... it still is so hard to approximate just how much," his fingers clamped on her nape, pulling her to him so that they are but within breaths, "of a treacherous bitch you are," he finished. His voice still deathly calm.

She bit her lip and looked away. His words piercing her enough to flinch in the pain. He yanked her gaze back to his and smiled. He kissed her on the cheek, then slid to whisper on her ear, "don't worry. You'll get your wish. After you give us what we want." Minori gave in to his desire to nuzzle her neck, and Botan could only close her eyes in disgust. Of him. Of her. "Kufei's dead," Miru said. She felt him smile against her skin before pulling back. "Ah... I wonder what took the koorime," he managed. Botan's eyes flew open. Hiei? Minori smiled at Botan's reaction and placed a hand on her head, "I let no man who has touched my woman with disrespect live," he said pointedly.

Yes. Nadori's gone... he returned his attention back to the deity. His expression softer, his eyes warmer, he clasped her two bound hands between his own. "Be mine, kawaii. Belong to me," he said, the soft smile she saw in his face when she first saw him in the park returning. "The kitsune offers you nothing. I have the three realms before your feet and my unconditional love. Decide," he urged softly, as gentle as how a mother would convince her child to eat. Tear stricken violet eyes raised to meet his. Unflinching for the first time.

"No."

Then he heard it. The familiar pace of his heartbeat. The easy way his presence makes his hands cry out for his death. "I should have killed you for good," his voice said. Flat. Non-committal. Emotionless. Frozen. Minori smiled at Botan whose eyes have flown open. Wide in franticism, in fear..., then he saw it. A reflex. The slightest hint of warmth in the knowledge that he's near. Of love, he thought and mmediately his obsession for his death flared from a flame to an all-consuming fire. "You should have," he answered, not moving from his position, his hand creeping up to cup her cheeks. He stepped out of the shadows, as though daring him to venture further in his trespass. A mirage of silver against the darkness, set aglow by the few candles in the room.

Botan dared to raise her eyes, despite the warnings screaming in her head. Don't. Golden eyes, smoldered with disgust. How she wanted the day he found her in his cave back at that moment. Of the days she had the chance to tell him how... when... how much. Then her tears just stopped falling... realizing... understanding... accepting his gaze as how she has accepted her destiny. As how she has accepted her past. "Let's get this over with," he stated, just as flat as his first words to him. Minori got to his feet, indicated by the soft rustle of his silk trousers. "Ah, to whom do I owe the presence of the great Youko Kurama?" he asked then gestured at the slumped form behind him, "to the deity perhaps?" Youko Kurama remained impassive, his eyes never leaving the ningen standing before him. "You talk more now," he remarked, a smirk in his lips, avoiding his question.

"Minori... its almost time... I need the deity," Miru called from behind, a reminder of pertinent things to do. Of what this is all about. Minori's ice blue eyes was only focused on the silver-haired youko. Scenes of their last encounter flashing before him, the voice calling him out, distant... unfamiliar. The world was reduced between him, the youko and his obsession. Ah, the pain of being thoroughly aware of life being drained away from your being. How long has he wallowed in that pain plotting for his revenge? He can no longer remember.

"Minori," Miru called out, his voice tainted with impatience. Sensing the change in the atmosphere, he walked purposefully to the kneeling deity. Minori's personal intentions could not... would not get in the way of his plans. He will control the warrior and rule the three realms. Even before Miru could place a hand on Botan, an explosion severing his right shoulder warded him back. Botan jumped at Miru's curse. "What the..." his eyes shifted between the youko and Minori. "Touch her and die," the youko warned stealthily. Miru smiled at the youko's passion to protect this woman... he wondered if the kitsune knew who he is and of the extent of his power. "Don't think of me as stupid. I know very well who you are. And I promise you death if you even move an inch from where you are. The pollen I scattered where you are will make sure of that," he warned, still devoid of any emotion.

"Minori..." the fallen man behind him called out. "Stay out of this," he answered, "or I'll finish you myself." Miru snapped his head to Minori's direction, another explosion, somewhere behind his head. He resisted the urge to finish all of them, knowing he so needs the ki in order to release the warrior with the deity, and slumped to pretentious unconsciousness.

Minori's ki grew brighter, his smile serene and confident. An aura of blue enveloping his form, eliciting a similar response from the youko. In the passing of a second, Youko Kurama snapped the rose to extend into a whip, small blunt buds taking the place of the usual sharp thorns. Minori raised a hand, a blue flame emanating from his palm, his eyes taking on Karasu's violet hue. Without much of a warning but the narrowing of each other's eyes, Minori hurled the blue flame to the youko's direction. Signaling the beginning of bloodshed.

Solid as stone. Her eyes unmoving, Botan kept her position as she was a few hours ago. She has long stopped cringing at the sight of blood, at the sound of skin being severed and bruised. How she'd love to be swaddled in the illusion that they are fighting over her. But that would be romanticizing the entire scene unfolding before her eyes and truth stung her back to reality. The reality that this is not about her... but them. The insatiable desire to eradicate the other... she is just a mere pawn. A cause for their insane obsessions.

Kurama cracked the silver whip once before ensuing his attack. Shifting speeds around Minori who was already humming with the beat of the youko's heart as he summoned another blue flame from his palm. The whip no sooner wounded around the arm Minori was summoning the flame with, the blunt buds fastening on the skin, sucking blood out of him. Kurama held the whip tightly, refusing to let go even as Minori struggled persistently with the unpainful experience. Minori held his palm up to Kurama, to which the flame extended to a sword, effectively severing the youko's hands gripping on the whip. Kurama fell back, hitting the wall with a sickening thud, the whip cut into half by Minori's attack. Minori staggered slightly but remained on his feet, blood still freely spurting out of his arm.

Minori limped to where Youko Kurama was lying. His eyes closed, his lips trembling from the pain Minori's last blow. Minori held out the palm of his hand, the familiar blue flame gaining visibility, strength and length by the minute. "I think it stops right here, kitsune," he said silkily. Kurama's lips quivered as he struggled to say, "not yet." Minori smiled, "Don't take me as stupid, Kurama. I knew what you were doing... the whip, the buds, the poison they spat in my bloodstream... I felt them all." His eyes went clouded, "I've seen you kitsune. I have felt and suffered your power. And I have waited for this day for too long to not plan on your death. I have taken every poison that exists and made myself immune to it. Every single one of them," he smiled, proud... winsome. He won.

In a position meant to thrust the blue flame right through him, Minori screamed, "shi-ne!" Botan screamed but no sound came out, she tried to close her eyes but can't. As though she wanted to see, wanted to feel the pain of witnessing a loved one die in the hands of someone she trusted. To drive me as I search to the ends of the earth for him... so I could kill him with my hands, she thought. Even if she was but a pawn. And she knew right then, how she has long accepted them both. Minamino Shuuichi and his shadows. Not a stranger, but the man she so loved deeply in the peripheries of their cause, their missions.

Hiei who was probing on the thoughts of the fallen Miru accidentally caught this and smiled. Keiko turned her face to Yuusuke who just went on watching.

Followed by the sound of a pained groan. Then minute explosions. Their sound muffled by something thick... by flesh.

Something deep inside him was wrong. And Minori knew that the night was singing his ode. His body went rigid at the mind shattering pain on the explosions of his blood vessels, of every cell in his body screaming as they died. One by one. He fell to a knee then another, the proud silver-haired Youko towering above his sorry state. Smiling. "Nan... nani?" Minori managed to sputter, his muscles being ripped from the inside.

"Like I said, Karasu. I learn what I can," he said simply, watching his bloodied form crumple. He raised an eyebrow, "so you want to take a tale with you in hell... alright. Not poison Karasu, but a personal favorite," he licked blood off his pulse point, "gunpowder. A very temperature sensitive, type I believe." Minori felt the cells in his lungs explode, air being purged out of his system. He coughed blood. "It's quite simple, really. Everytime you gather up your ki, your bodily metabolism increases, blood flow speeds up... increasing your temperature as well." The pain never seemed to cease, amplifying as death consumed him from all over. Heaviness. Fatigued. Urging him towards sleep. No, he resisted, only to be tempted further.

Then a heart-wrenching scream. Miru moves, reaching for the deity. Ignoring the protest of his body as the explosive barrier Kurama put up injured him mercilessly upon the slightest movements. There's still time. Gathering his tremendous ki, Miru made a move to touch Botan. To make the flow of her ki and his one... and finally his warrior. But not until something blue caught the corner of his eye. No! Not now! his last thought before Yuusuke's spirit ball, intertwined by the length of the Kokuryuha, consumed him. His scream ripping throughout the temple, only to be swallowed by the waves as they crashed against the rocks.

He still kept his gaze fixed on anything, silence cloaking them as they descended from the temple.

Not forgiven... but this will do for now, her last thought before she slept, for the first time for so long, in peace.

Author's customary babble: Nyahahaha! Gotcha didn't I? ^^ (I'm writing this at twelve forty two in the morning... excuse the occasional fits of lunacy). Yes, yes, Chapter nine is on the way. And yes, yes, Chapter nine is a lemon ^^.

This chapter was pretty rushed so gomen ni for whatever shortcomings this section might have.

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