Purple
Chapter 5
by Korogi

***standard disclaimers apply**

Final Conflict

  "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...

   (c) November 1997 by Jiminy Cricket Presses