If that sicko tried anything against him, he was be prepared to defend himself.

He was sitting on a rocky platform atop the elevation, totally still, like a statue. His eyes were locked on the valley below. The fires which gave life and light to the Crystal City flickered in the dark distance. The wind was soft, and no sounds but the breathing of that sneaking fiend could be heard.

The campsite was a little away down the cliff. All youko had arranged himself into couples, to warm themselves and have sex before sleeping. Suni had been counted out, because he was assigned to take the first nightwatch shift.

He did no care to be awake, but he'd prefer not to have that kind of pestilent company around him.

"Do you mind to make me company? I miss my brother very much."

Suni swallowed hard. He hated Hiroshi; everyone in the band abhorred that villian... That guy could kill him with a mere blow of his bad-breath. He could out put out any demon's, any human's life like putting out a flame - with one soft blow of air.

K'so! Why did Kurama have to bring along such despicable and harmful character?

"I would prefer not to."

Hiroshi acted as if he had heard nothing. He walked around the rock on top of which Suni was sitting, and rested against it, right next to the red youko.

"Dear Suni... I cannot sleep. I am very concerned about my brother... We love each other so deeply... I am sure he is missing me just as much as I miss him now."

Suni tried not to heed to the other youko's words, but there was no way to block his voice And the mere sound of his hoarse voice, filled with irony, scared him out of his wits.

"I would kill anyone who dares to take my brother away from me. I hope nothing bad happenes to Hayashi, or I'll be forced to punish Kurama. How could he choose my little brother to such dangerous mission? Hayashi is weak, very fragile... He needs me to take care of you the whole time!"

The red youko trembled. He did not know how to deal with such an unpredictable psycho... Should he agree? Should he disagree? Would it be better to remain there, or to run away from him? Suni noticed a cold sweat start on his brow...

"I am very lonely. I need company. I miss someone by my side in bed..."

The red youko managed to keep calm yet.

"I don't wanna get laid with you, Hiroshi. I have the nightwatch to do."

Hiroshi laughed. He nudged the side of the red youko's thigh, playfully.

"I don't intend to fuck you, Suni. I just want to have someone to talk to. I have so much to get off my chest... I am very aprehensive for my brother."

Suni looked down at the brown youko, and he panicked when he realized the sadistic grin which appeared in his face. 

"My brother is the only one who soothes my loneliness. Hayashi is my lover, my brother, my whole family, and I feel a wretch without him..."

The younger youko took an indignated sideways  glance at Hiroshi. How dared he complain? It was word of mouth all over the Makai it was that psycho himself who had finished his own family, killing all, one by one, till only he and his brother remained.

The brown youko leaped up to sit on the rock, by Suni's side. The red fox tensed up. He shifted a little away, to avoid keeping any contact with that evil creature.

"It is very unjust that we are the only ones alone at this moment, don't you agree, sweet Suni?"

"I feel fine the way it is. I want to be alone, Hiroshi."

"I feel so bad when my brother is not with me... I am rarely away from my loving twin."

Suni gathered all his courage to stare at Hiroshi. He was excatly like Hayashi; the difference was that Hiroshi lacked that flea-bitten, spiky-haired appearance of his brother. But every one preferred to have the innocuous but smelly  Hayashi around, than his elegant, well-dressed, neat and perfumed twin brother.

"If you're missing your brother you should complain with Kurama, not me!"

Hiroshi did not seem affected by Suni's nervousness. He nodded his head, slowly.

"Yes. I ought to. Kurama is too bossy. I should be the leader of our small entourage, not him!" The psycopathic fox sighed in then. For a moment, there was an expectant silence between the two youko. A silence that was almost making Suni insane with dread. 

"Yes! Go there nag Kurama and leave me alone, please!"  Suni begged, in panic.

Hiroshi chuckled to himself. The bastard must be finding it all extremely amusing. Suni felt as if the guy were provoking, teasing him to make him attack first. That weirdo must love picking a fight...

"Hayashi and I are really close. I have sex with no one but him. You don't need to be afraid of me. I won't rape you, pretty youko... I fuck no one but my own family. I don't like the idea of mixing and exchanging body fluids with anyone outside my kin."

Strangely enough, Suni became more startled yet after hearing that. In a way, it made him matters much worse.

Hiroshi continued his monologue.

"Making sex and killing others make me feel calmer. As my brother is not around for me to screw him, I guess all that is left for me is my second choice..."

Hiroshi suddenly reached out for Suni, to touch his shoulder, in a friendly approach. But the young red youko jumped backwards. In a reflex, guided solely by his panic, Suni tried to hurl the seed he held to the soil, but Hiroshi jumped on Suni and caught him in a firm armlock, preventing his intent.

The red youko, squirmed and struggled to set himself free. Hiroshi was not very strong, he could immobilize him and pin him down. But he had no chance... The maniacal leaned onto him, showing a vicious smile...

"I just want a kiss, Suni..."

The youko could not resist. His mouth was invaded by a bad-tasting kiss, which made him feel sick. Hiroshi's tongue pushed a taste of death and decay into his mouth. And the red youko felt drained, depleted from his own vital force, while a a cold breath of death was blown into him, packing his throat, filling his lungs, and slowly passing to his bloodstream, diffusing disease and pestilence.

"Don't kill me..." Suni begged, in a murmur muffled by the smothering lips which kissed him forcefully. He shuddered, desperate to set himself free from that cold, afflicting embrace, but he felt his energy being dissipated...

Hiroshi let him fall from his embracing arms. That red youko, the youngest in the group, fell splat to the ground, stunned and weakened.

Suni squirmed and huddled tight against himself,  chilled to the bones... He looked up at Hiroshi, confused, feeling himself dirty and infected.

He choked, and felt suffocated with a sudden urge to throw up. The sickness inside him made him feel as if  he had just swallowed a rottening corpse.

"Why? Why did you do that to me...?" Suni asked, in a weak murmur of pain.

The brown youko smiled. He placed his hands on his hips, and he kicked Suni's thigh, to call his atention.

"I want Hayashi back as soon as possible."

Suni supported himself on the ground, unable to avoid vomitting.

"What do I have to do with that?" He complained, as he cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand. He was weak... He felt so weak, so cold... He could barely keep his eyes opened... He was dying, he knew it...

"You? Oh, you were an easy prey. Don't worry, you're not going to die so soon. I infected you with a very slow disease." Hiroshi bent over to pat the red youko's head, in a dark-humored, nasty play. "My brother is a healer. He can save your life. Go beg Kurama for your life! All he needs is to set a team to rescue Hayashi."
 

Kireihana had just arrived from his a quick search on the surroundings. There was nothing around they should be afraid of. The fact that there had been three days since Hayashi had left to the city was starting to worry them. They could never imagine that disgusting, dirty, scrawny fox would be so idiot as to be captured...

After bowing his head before Kurama, swiftly but respectfully, Kireihana sat down around the fire like the others.

"Everything is very calm around. If Hayashi was caught he did not say a word about us. If he had, these cliffs would be crowded with searching teams."

Maigo's hoarse voice was heard.

"They hunt to kill. I had a lover who lost all his brothers in a hunt promoted by these bastards."

A couple moved in the dark, tightening their embrace. Shizuke's fur was so perfectly white that he was the only one who was visible against the night. He embraced his black companion dearly, and rested his head on his shoulder.

Amatsubu spoke, softly embracing his mute partner.

"Shizuke knows them pretty well. They cut his tongue... Have I told you about it?"

Minato snorted, much more interested in cuddling againt his lovely Kurama.

"Yeah... A thousand times..." He commented, very annoyed with the mere possibility of listening to the same story again.

"We should wait no more. We have already observed much. I think we know enough to break through safely. If we manage to invade the palace and seize the leaders, the whole city shall have to surrender to us." The black youko's voice was deep and commanding as he continued. Amatsubu circled Shizuke's waist with one arm. "We could also capture one of those youko and force him to build us a tunnel. Then we could enter the city without being noticed."

Kurama murmured a low agreement. But he did not seem very enthusiastic about the idea. He was very aware the others did not understand his calm and cold tactics. They mistook his patience and extremely thoughtful planning with cowardice and indecision.

"I don't like taking risks, But I trust your apprciation of the facts, Amatsubu. I think tomorrow shall be a turning point to our plans."

"What do you intend to do, love?"

Kurama smiled at Minato, who lay across is lap.

"We are going to test their defenses to know exactly what they can do or not. I haven't noticed many inhabitants as I thought at first. I think their city is in frank decay. They might not be as powerful as ten thousand years ago. Now it's out time to turn the tables!" Kurama laughed to himself; it was a very soft, evil grin. "We must kill all of them."

Minato smirked. He seemed very enthusiastic of his lover's proposal.

"You're so evil, Kurama... I love it..."

Kurama acquiesced. He could not wait for the moment he would step into that city. As far as he concerned, the Makai would be a much better place if those blue-eyed youko became extinct.

"I want to observe the city a little more. We need to know their routine. Guard shifts, number of inhabitants, how often they receive trade caravans... It is a good scheme that guarantees a well-suceeding attack."

Shizuke was the first to notice the someone closing in. He gestured to the others, letting out one soft groan which only Amatsubu was used to understand. Kurama's second in command stood up at once, scanning the darkness around them with his narrow, very concerned odd eyes.

"There!" Amatsubu pointed out, alerting the others.

Several pointed furry ears pricked out, all sensing the same direction. They heard a muffled sound, a voice, asking for help, calling Kurama's name...

Kireihana sniffed the air; there was no stranger's scent around.

When they stood up another sound at the opposite side called their attention. Even then, in the dark, caught by surprise, Youko Kurama had a very clear idea about what was happening. He touched his hair, very slowly, reaching for a few of his seeds.

"Are we ambushed?" Minato asked his lover.

But it was Amatsubu who answered.

"It can be... The invader might be positioned against the wind; I don't smell any strange youko."

Kurama tossed his head back, with impatience, and then he hurled the seeds onto the ground. A dozen Light Flowers popped out from the arid ground, filling the site with an eerie yellowish light.

All the youko kept a circular defense position, facing the surroundings. Kurama invoked his spined whip; Amatsubu called forth his spear and Shizuke held a handful of poisonous polen, ready to be tossed at any enemy. Maigo reached his flower petal shurikens and Minato forged a plant broadsword, standing proudly next to Kurama. It was Kireihana who put down his long leaf  broadaxe and pointed to the poor youko who crept along the rocky floor.

"It's Suni!"

Maigo and Kireihana dropped their wepons and hurrried to the red youko, to help him. They lifted him from the ground, carring him by his arms closer to the fire.

Kurama stepped forward, crouching next to him. The red youko had fainted. It was enough for Kurama to rest his hand over Suni for a moment, sensing his you-ki, to be sure the youko was deadly ill.

"He's dying..." He announced, in a low and grave murmur.

Amatsubu looked at Shizuke. The partners exchanged a suspicious glance, as Maigo stepped closer to Kurama. The older fox had no doubts.

"It must have been that psycho! He will have us all killed before the end of our mission!"

Minato trembled. He nudged at Kurama's shoulder, calling his attention.

"Kurama... You have to do something... You're the only one who is match to that maniac! Do something before he kills us all!"

The youko touched Suni's brow. Then he reached for his silvery hair, getting a small seed which he threw to the ground at his feet.

The plant grew quickly into a short but richly flourishing shrub. Kurama pulled some leaves, and meshed them in his hand, quickly turning them into a green, smelly pulp. Kurama stuck the green stuff into Suni's mouth them, making him swallow the sap and the pulp, little by little.

"I can try to make him get better, but as far as my powers concern he is far beyond recovery. My knowledge in healing plants cannot do much for him now." Kurama laid the youko's head back on the soil, and he stood up, slowly. "I guess we could find a use for that wortheless Hayashi after all..."

A muffled snicker called the attention of all youko. They turned their golden eyes in the same direction, to find Hiroshi observing them. He kept one hand on his hips, while he played with a writhered plant stick in the other, cracking it into pieces...

"That's just like I said before... You should never send my poor brother on a mission; he could be needed when you less suspected..."

The emnity was clear. Hiroshi stood on one side, the other youko formed a very opposing faction on the other. Kurama walked decisively till Hiroshi, facing him with a cold, very angry stare.

"What are you? A type of maniac? What do you want? To kill us all?" Kurama growled, bravely opposing Hiroshi. One nimble movement was enough for him to hold a small spined stalk in his fingers and summon his plant whip. He made it lash the air, very close to Hiroshi, but the brown youko showed no reaction.

Hiroshi merely stood there; unaltered. His face did not show the slightest trace of fear.

"I only need to blow at your face... I just need to touch your skin... I merely need to expand my you-ki and I will turn you into a walking cancer..." The brown youko walked closer to Kurama then. One single step, to try to intimidate him.

Kurama did not draw back. He kept his stand, and continued to face that despicable villain with all his wrath.

"I am here for the fun. I'd rather go back home with an empty pouch, but with a long trail of corpses behind." Hiroshi smiled evilly then, not giving any importance to Kurama's threat.

Kurama noticed the tension grow at his back. The other gang members were very stressed with all that. He needed to put an end to that insubordination fast, or he would lose the leadership...

The Silver youko acted fast, faster than sight, when his free hand pointed a long, menacing grassblade right at Hiroshi's throat.

"I can cut your throat faster than you can infect me!" Kurama announced, already making the thin blade break the skin.

"No you can't!"

"Do you want to risk?"

Hiroshi roared, in a very soft, but wrathful tone, gnashing his teeth. His eyes were madly fixed at Kurama's. The situation was serious, tense, and yet the silver youko showed a scornful smile on his lips.

Hiroshi pulled back. He quickly withdrew from Kurama, standing at a safe distance for both of them.

"I want Hayashi back. You better gather a team to rescue him, or ..."

Kurama raised one eyebrow. He roared also, in open defiance to Hiroshi.

"Or what?"

Hiroshi almost burst out an angry threat, but he took one second to think it over. Therefore, he merely added, with an ironic grin...

"Or else Suni dies... Perhaps his disease is contagious... It can spread and kill more of you overnight..."

The brown youko gave his back to the rest of the band then, complaining in an wrathful mutter, about how much he missed his brother, and that if something serious had happened to Hayashi he would gladly anihilate half of the Makai.

Amatsubu and Maigo were the first ones to react. The older grey fox was extremely outraged with Hiroshi's attitude.

"I vote for killing him, now." Maigo declared, drily.

"Count on me to do it..."Amatsubu proposed. He had developed a strong and deep enmity at first sight for Hiroshi.

But Kurama calmly shook his head.

"Everything is still under control. We must stay put and wait. I have a hunch we will have a good chance to break into the city in the next days..." He smiled then; it was a  cold smile. "We need the information Hayashi must have gathered to break in."

Kurama placed one hand on Amatsubu's shoulder then.

The black youko bowed his head in a silent acquiescence. He knew what Kurama would order him.

"Go to the City, Amatsubu, and take Shizuke with you. Bring Hayashi back, or at least information about what happened to that idiot! And I want to know trade caravan dates and courses; it's the best way we have to infiltrate the city..."

His body was dumb, cold, unresponsive.

He insisted. His hands moved down along her neck, caressing the tender curve till her naked shoulder. His mouth trailed a wet caress along her delicate chin, and then down to the crook between her shoulder and neck. Hikaru kissed, and parted his lips in a playful bite at her skin.

She moaned. He noticed her arms around his waist and her hands pressing his back, pushing him closer against her parted thighs. Hikaru rubbed his naked body against hers, as he traced a vigorous slip of his tongue till her breast.

She would cry her pleasure when his teeth closed gently around her left nipple, and his tongue stroke the tip with hunger, but no one in the house could know Hikaru had jumped the window in for a romantic visit.

She pressed her sex against him, forcing her parted thighs around his slender hips. Her tail brushed the side of his thigh, teasing him more, provoking him more... She was expecting to find Hikaru hard and willing, but as she touched him below his waist she felt nothing there but a feeble, pliant, flinched thing...

She pulled herself a little away from her fiance, letting go of  their embrace. Hikaru raised his eyes to gaze at her very slowly.

"What is happening Hikaru? We've been here for a long time, and you're still like that?"

She looked down at his body, aiming a very comtemptible black look at that soft part between his legs. The dog-fox covered himself with one hand, embarrassed with his own powerlessness. He sat up. Then Hikaru looked at the other side, not willing to face his fiancee. He looked out of the window, wishing to be someplace else.

"I am sorry."

"Are you thinking of any other vixen? If you are cheating me, you better tell me at once Hikaru!"

He squirmed in her arms, avoiding the contact. He pulled one of the quilts from the bed to cover his lap with, ashamedly concealing his impotence.

"No, Mitsui... It is not another vixen, I swear it!"

She did not seem to believe. Nevertheless, only Hikaru knew how much sincere he was - It was not another vixen; not a female fox...

He faced her then, thinking on how he could get excited after having experienced  contact with the a male. A male's body was differed in strenght, rigidness, form, smell, voice... With Hayashi he sensed bones and muscle, as he perceived the intense, virile energy passing from skin to skin, form sex to sex, hard and throbbing...

That soft, round, gentle body he was rubbing himself against was not of his liking any longer. He wanted to feel the strenght; he needed to be enveloped by vigour and energy. He wanted to feel a man's sex brushing his groin, so that he could be hard against another male's erection. He wanted to sense rigidness, not that soft, pliable wet wamth which was her fiancee's body.

He twisted his nose, in an involuntary gesture. It was funny, but he had always imagined Mitsui to possess such an alluring scent... He recalled having been entranced by her natural perfume till then. Now, he could not stand her any more...

"I must go home. I cannot risk that your parents catch us here."

She showed an indignant expression. Mitsui leaned back, resting on the cushions. She was not pleased at all with that.

Are you going to leave me like this?" She complained, tilting her head, so as to indicate her nakedness.

Hikaru left the bed. He reached out for his clothes, carefully hanging from one bedside table. He slipped into his trousers, then he carefully started to dress his white silk shirt.

Only then he looked back at her.

"Forgive me. I am not feeling well." He picked up his embroidered mantle, getting it on. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed to dress his boots. "I will be here tomorrow, then we'll be able to talk it over."

"Hikaru. I don't want to talk! We already talk too much!"

The grey fox gave no response. She felt outraged. She grimaced at her fiance, very angered for being let down that way.

"Talk! Talk! Talk! This is all you want to do! You are such a weakling Hikaru! Why are you not brave and manly like your brother Seiji?"

Hikaru froze. He felt the indignation burn inside him, tightening his body in a tense, nervous knot. He turned to her, first looking at her over one shoulder, and then shifting in bed, to be able to face her. His eyes followed a straight, angered line till Mitsui's ones.

He took one moment to breathe deeply, in order to be able to keep his composure. His anger was intense, but he felt so hurt inside that the two opposing feelings, defiance and shame locked him into a shocked standstill. He merely glared at her, angry, but too pained to protest at once.

He finished fastening his boots and reached out for his belt. All the time Hikaru kept an afflicted silence, but his eyes would not leave Mitsui, aiming a hurt criticism at her.

She became pale, and her dark blue eyes were frozen in shock. She grabbed one of the satin cushions, placing it before her, to cover her nudity. She merely observed Hikaru, uncomfortable for what she had said, and yet unwilling to apologize.

They kept a long silence... Their eyes locked in an anguished stare, their lips froze in unsaid words. Both grew intensely pale by shock and shame.

Finally Mitsui spoke. She called Hikaru's name, in a very tender murmur.

"You are very different from your brother... That's what I meant, Hikaru..."

The grey fox was still very taut. His eyes revealed the unspoken deep pain which had grown inside him.

"What do you know about my brother? Don't you realize I'm tired of being compared to him? How dare you do the same?"

"Oh, Hikaru... Darling...  Everybody compares you and Seiji..."

"Yes. Everybody does. But I never imagined you would do the same so readily! You have always been special to me, Mitsui. And now I find you act with me like everybody else..."

The extreme abashement did not allow her to answer back. She quietly watched Hikaru brush his neck-lenght hair with his fingers, and fit his mantle. He walked to the wide doors taking to the balcony.
 
"Oh, Hikaru, please, don't be mad at me... Come here... You are all I want... You are my Prince, and you will be my King one day... You know I love you, don't you?"

Hikaru shook his head very quietly.

"No, Mitsui, I don't know. Do you really love me?"

She was paralyzed in confusion. She blinked her big eyes and made an attempt to smile. Her lips moved, being drawn into a beautiful, but insincere smile.

"Oh, Darling, don't be angry with me... We can try it again... I'm gonna be very nice and loving to you and then I'm sure you're going to get it up..."

"No."

"Hikaru!"

"I'm going away. Goodnight, Mitsui."

"But..."

"We're gonna talk about it later; another day..." The grey fox looked down his nose at her. His eyes seemed narrower with the quiet anger which had changed his face into a rigid mask of resentment. "Meanwhile, you can seek for my brother's aid; he might solve your deprival problem much better than me."

"Hikaru!"

Hikaru slipped out into the night, very cautiously, jumping over the balcony's edge, and sliding down one of the pillars at the corner. Then, he disappeared into the night.
  

Yomi laughed. He raised his cup in one effusive compliment.

"Kampai!"

Hikaru gave the Makai Lord a bewildered look, but he accepted the toast, hitting Yomi's cup with his before drinking all the sake inside in one draw.

Yomi finished his dose, and he still smiled when he put the empty cup back onto the table.

"I'm glad to know you finally left that life-sucking bitch! She was very bad for you, Hikaru!"

The grey youko chuckled softly.

"Oh... Yes... It was then I started to realize she had never cared in the slightest for me. My heart was already filled and warmed up by a whole new feeling..."

"Hayashi?"

Hikaru agreed. His cheeks flushed as he assented to Yomi's words.

"So, please, my fox-friend, tell me more... Tell me all about it. I am eager to know..."
 

He stopped after a long while in a square in the middle of a natural depression. On the steeps around him, some houses had been built, surrounded by beautiful stone gardens, and statues. The trees were few, small and tortuous bushes, that broke the arid rocky scenery, adding a little freshness and softness here and there.

Hikaru sat at a bench, right at the middle of the gravel-paved square. The light coming from the diffuse moonglow and the lamplights was few, and yet enough for him to appreciate the quiet night scenery.

He enjoyed to be like that, alone, in a place he could be company to his own thoughts and reflections.

He could not marry Mitsui. He knew it now.

Soon he would have to request a family reunion to announce the end of the compact which engaged Mitsui to him. The engagement with Mitsui was not a mere promise of marriage. It involved too much more. It envolved two of the most important families of the city. Denying the bethrotal he would be denying so much tradition...

Biut it was the only way. He felt in his body, and in his youko heart he could not marry her or any other vixen.

Perhaps he should abdicate and leave the throne to his  brother...

He felt strangely detatched from all around him. He felt almost like a homeless... The darkness and the silence which fell upon him increased the sensation of abandonment and hopelessness he faced. Anyway, he had taken his decision; a tough one, and yet it made him feel well. It was as if something had been broken within him - chains, maybe... It seemed as if he had finally managed to overcome barriers of tradition and family values which had always enslaved him.

He smiled in the darkness. It was funny how a mere engagement became the symbol of all the repression he had always felt and yet would not admit to be bound to. Breaking the engagement also meant breaking the oppressive family ties he had around his life.

He heard a noise then. It seemed the sound of steps, a muffled voice...

He crouched to touch the ground, and his fingers sensed the gravel and earth, as in a caress. He focused himself to try to listen to the earth.

There were two persons closing in. Hikaru stood up and looked around, to the rocks and steeps which marked the surroundings. When he looked, he managed to see two shadows circling the area. youko, as he could devise the pointed ears on top of their heads.

Normally he would not mind it; it might be other fellow citizens, bored and depressed like he was, who had decided to take some fresh air. But the fact is that those two acted in the most suspicious manner. They were not walking for leisure; they were moving in stealth, purposefully trying to conceal themselves under the shadows and behind the line of rocks and statues which bordered the square.

"Who goes there?" Hikaru bellowed to the strangers.

Even in the dark, he noticed the moviment and heard a whooshing sound. He dodged just in time to avoid something which had been thrown at him, swift and direct. It was a long spear, which hit the ground merely inches away from him.

Hikaru noticed the strangers suddenly ran away, but before anything, he stretched his right hand to touch the long shaft.

"Inari! Plant Weavers!" He exclaimed, shocked, when he felt the handle of the weapon was not made of rock, not even form earth or mud packed together into concrete... It was formed of a plant's stem!

The Crystal City had been invaded again! Hikaru panicked, but he did give the alarm. He closed his eyes, and projected his you-ki downwards to reach the ground, penetrating and spreading around the dry but receptive calcareous soil, reaching down the deeper layer of  rock.

Then he commanded the ground to shake around him... It was the invasion alarm.

By then, most of the area was caught in a soft earthquake, a little oscillating force, enought to alert everyone in the city without damaging the cosntructions. The soft quake spread slowly but unchanging, like ripples on a lake's surface, in one perfect circle.

He sent forth the alarm, and hurried after the invaders.

He hurried up the steep, till the main avenue which surrounded the square. He looked up to the watchtower which stood out against the night, a little way away.  The guard had been warned, as he noticed the ground under shake slightly under him. Other guards had already started to react to the alarm, paying close attention to the area below the walls, but they could not leave their posts. It would take some time, maybe less then a minute for others to arrive and starte a real pursuit. The golden-eyed invaders were very close to the outside wall, and he could not miss the chance of capturing those two...

Hikaru ran faster after them, knowing it depend on him.

And as he ran, he shouted out about the invasion, crying out the loudest he could that plant-weavers had broke into the city. He ran in a nervous straight line down the avenue, till he noticed their course had changed.

The Heir watched the strangers escape, surrounding one of the large houses, into an alley which would take them straight to the wall. Hikaru's eyes accompanied the clear outline which drew the crystal wall's summit against the night. That specific corner of the barricade was a vulnerable one; it was a blind spot between two watchtowers! 

Damn! He could not let them escape!

He hurried, chasing the invader's shadows, till he caught them right below the abrupt, crystal wall. The rampart was high, and its surface smooth as polished crystal. They would take a while to climb it back.

He had them cornered between him and the wall. There was no other way to escape.

Hikaru looked at them, cautiously. He called forth his you-ki, getting prepared for any quick reaction if necessary. Both youko were paralyzed, studying his actions, waiting to see what he would do.

"I've given the alarm. You still have time to surrender," Hikaru announced, keeping himself very erect, his legs slightly apart for better balance, ready to defend himself. "Are you after your brown friend?"

The pair of invaders seemed surprised. They looked one at the other, but said nothing. Then, fast as lighetning, the smaller one, the white fox, created a long stalk which he hurled up, along the wall.

Hikaru reacted fast, when he saw the flexible, slithering stem attach itself to the embattled walltop. His you-ki flowed, quick like a lightening from his hands to the ground. The soil was seared by a long crack which parted the pavesotones and earth,  forming a deep fissure, which reached the enemies in the blink of an eye. They tried to jump up, but with a loud snaping sound, cristal-slivers emerged from the soil, like a multitude of long clear spines, reaching out to pierce the invaders.

Hikaru heard a cry, and he knew at least one of them had been hurt. But he saw no more, as he noticed a small object, be thrown at his feet. 

It was a seed.

Then fast as an explosion, he was enveloeped by a maddening profusion of slithering stalks, which circled him, throwing him to the ground and starting to slip up and around his whole body, spinning around him like a multitude of ropes, binding his waist and his chest, to suffocate him.
 
He noticed the smell of acid... He had to act before the plant's acid sap reached his skin.

Hikaru rolled on the soil, enough to place the palm of his hand against the paving stones and the soft earth. He sensed the ground around the monster roots, and started to use his you-ki to drain the earth. He depleted that small piece of soil from its nurturing ki, drawing all the energy to himself  to grow strong enough to repel and resist the tightening stalks which struggled to immobilize him.

The grey youko noticed vaguely that others have arrived; he heard the steps and the voices, but he was focused only on the dry but soft soil under him, changing it, stealing it of its vital force. He changed the soil into one depleted, poisonous surface, and the plant's stems loosened around his body. The pressure decreased, and he slipped out of those forceful ties.

He got on his feet, slowly, and as he did it, the remnants of the demon plant fell to the ground, dried, writhered, transformed into hard, brittled, semi-petrified pieces and splinters.

Hikaru looked up at the great wall before his eyes. The plant cord they had used to climb to safety swung, loose against the crystal wall. They had already escaped to the other side. The plant had delayed Hikaru time enough to allow them to jump to the other side and escape.

The grey fox looked around, at all the other youko who had managed to arrive there,  also late to try to detain the invaders. Everyone faced him, waiting for orders, surprised by the sudden alarm.

Hikaru looked over his shoulder then, to a very familiar sillhouette behind him. His brother had stepped forward, looking scornfully at the cracks and the crystal splinters and spears which his brother had forged against the strangers.

Hikaru kept his chin up while responding to Seiji's ironical sideways smile.

"You let them escape, Hikaru... What a pity..." Seiji commented, with pretense sympathy.

The grey youko said nothing. He bore himself before his brother's comment with dignity, preferring to address the other youko who surrounded them, ready to pursue  and destroy the enemies. They had come with torches and a strong will to hunt down the invaders.

The City's Heir described the two plant weavers to his compatriots them, adding all deteils he could, exhorting them to leave the City and chase the infidels.

All the males there readily followed Hikaru's gentle orders, dispersing in organized groups, all heading to the gates, to execute a night search.

"One of them is wounded. It means it they are leaving an easy trail." Hikaru commented to himself as he remained back, by his brother's side.

Seiji chuckled softly. His soft laugher was filled with derision.

"One of them is wounded? If I were the one to attack them, they would both be dead."

Hikaru faced his brother with very angry, direct eyes. Seiji would not miss a single opportunity to bring him low and insult his honor and value. He was tired of all that... He was getting on his limit...

"So, are you not the Chief of the Guard, Seiji? Why weren't you here?"

Seiji lost his usual self-confidence for a while. Nevertheless, He stood firm, refusing to retreat a single step, or excuse himself for his words to his brother.

Hikaru continued his soft, and yet severe admonition. He felt exultant inside, as he heard his own words, and his own tone of voice as he addressed his younger brother. He could not understand why he had always been so reluctant, so restrained... He was merely exerting his right as legal Heir.

"I thought you had organized searches around the city. It's been three days since we captured the first plant weaver in the city, and which security measures have you taken to guarantee our safety?" Hikaru breathed deeply then. He was not sure of what was happening inside his soul, but since he had met that brown youko, he was starting to see lots of things differently - and not only in relation to his fiancee, but to his life in general... "Our father shall be informed that your recklessness have endangered us all."

Seiji opened wide, surprised eyes. And he looked down his nose at Hikaru, in a means to try to intimidate him.

"Do it, and I will inform our father you have failed in extracting any information or confession from the prisoner." Seiji noticed them Hikaru's face change. His grey brother looked down, affected by a sudden discomfiture. The younger, but more experienced youko would not let such opportunity pass. "You are too soft to deal with the prisoner, Hikaru. It even seems you are making friends with him..."

"He is my prisoner. I deal with him at my onw convenience."

Seiji smiled, wickedly.

"No, you are wrong... He is my prisoner. I was the one to find him, roaming our cities. I shall be the one to deal with him."

"No!"

Seiji's smile widened, turning into an ironic little grin.

"Why?"

"Because I say so."

"Hikaru... You are the one who is endangering our lives and our city..."

Hikaru stared back at his brother. His eyebrows arched in a tense and resolute arch of anger. But he still manage to hold himself back, instead of atacking Seiji with the harshest words he could think of. 

"I have everything under control, Seiji."

The black youko shook his head with contempt. He would never waste an opportunity to criticize hid older brother.

"You have never had anything under control, Hikaru."

Hikaru bit his lip. He looked down, feeling his face burn with shame and anger. He knew now he had always been too naive, unable to perceive all the wrong things happening around him. His life had always been all wrong...

He heaved a long, painful sigh in.

"Yes... There are plenty of things which escape my control... Like Mitsui and you for example... Is there something I should know between my fiancee and you, Seiji?"

The brothers shared a very tense, delicate moment. Their eyes met; Hikaru's clear eyes shone mildly with indignation. Seiji's darker, deeper eyes expressed an open defiance, as his face was altered, first with anger, but then with disdain.

Seiji's answer was a very determined negative, but as he shook his head and utttered a firm "No!", he could not hide a smirk of evil triumph. His eyes glinted, and he turned his back to his brother, very showily, announcing he had much better things to do rather than being scolded by his imcompetent brother...
 

"I suppose it did not affect you much; you said you did not love her..."

Hikaru agreed, softly.

"Yes. But the notion of being betrayed was what hurt me the most. I felt the undermost youko that had ever lived; a wretch. It was as if the whole world had collapsed around me."

The youko drank more sake very slowly. His fingers tapped the side of the cup for a moment, as he thought. But then, instead of continuing his story, he made an inviting gesture to Yomi.

"Your turn, King Yomi..."