Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Silverfox and the Youko ❯ To win by a landslide and to lose by a tiny grain ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: IDOYYH, lol. Ok, less chatter, more fanfic. I’ll try to make this one five pages, but I’m bad at fighting scenes, so bear with? >.< Here goes...(Note: The Oni of endurance has now become the oni of speed. Thank you)

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     Kurama and Keiana appeared in a large open arena like structure, far under-ground. At least, it looked like an arena, except for the humongous hole in the center where it sounded like the was an underground lake at the bottom. The kitsune walked up to the edge and peered down the hole carefully.

  “There’s something down there, alright...” Confirmed Kurama. “It’s all a matter of summoning it.” he said as he looked around the dark walls for a place for Keiana to safely spectate. He spotted a small dark hole in the far off in a higher side of the arena and commanded her to go there.

 “Stay in there and do not come out unless I tell you to.”

 “Fine..” She agreed and dashed out of sight, doing as he said. When he felt it was safe enough, he took the only large rock he could find and dropped in down into the hole. It must’ve take at east 15 to 20 seconds for it to hit something. This thing was going to be huge. This would be the ogre of brute strength. The ground shook like a magnitude 9 earthquake, even Suukue and Serenia could feel it even though they were still in the tunnel. They just arrived on the scene as the gargantuan ogre made it’s appearance, standing over one hundred feet tall. It growled and went into instant attack mode, bringing a giant heavy club down at Kurama. Kurama looked very amused and extremely disappointed as he dodged the devastating blow.

 “It may be incredibly strong, but it’s immeasurably slow in every way.” And with that, Kurama made a heavenly leap onto the horn on the ogre’s head, making it as obvious as possible without getting cut off by the powerful club. The ogre brought up the club and send it hurdling down at Kurama. The youko waiting till the perfect moment to jump out of the way and chuckled as the ogre struck itself with it’s all. The ogre shrieked as it struck itself in the head, and fell slowly back into the pit, making the place flood with water, temporarily. After all of the water drained, a large door opened.

 “Goodness....I love a smart man.” Chuckled Serenia. Kurama Turned and faced the Dog and cat demon.

 “I should kill you now...” He said coldly. Suukue glared at Serenia. He had intended on waiting till the youko was perfectly off-guard before knocking him out, but that might be impossible with this cat tagging along.

 “Chill, fox. We mean no harm as of now...” Started Suukue, before he heard the voice of the genko, Keiana, calling for Kurama. He spotted her all the way on the other side of the arena, and without thinking, he speedily dashed his way to her with the intentions of snatching her up and running away with her. Keiana screeched as something hurdled it’s way at her and held her arms over her head, ready for impact. Instead, there was a loud thud and a long squishy noise as Kurama planted his feet onto the back of the dog demon, making his face slide through the mud leaving a long skid trail along the ground. Keiana relaxed her brace and looked down at the muddy dog and screamed, jumping into Kurama’s arms.

 “WHAT IS THAT?!” She cried. With the doubled weight of Kurama and Keiana grinding into his back, Suukue growled in pain and squirmed under the youko’s feet.

 “Uh, just a giant earthworm brought up by the mud.” Kurama said with pure insult to Suukue, slightly surprised at the genko. There was a long silence and Kurama’s blush grew stronger. Keiana didn’t see it, for she kept an eye on Suukue, then Serenia, who walked past with her arms crossed, making her way toward the opened door on the side of the arena. As Kurama was about to drop Keiana, she held on to one of his soft fuzzy fox ears, threatening to take him down with her. Instead, he helped her down onto her feet safely and tip toed off of Suukue’s back, and made his way to the door as well followed closely by Keiana. Once they were all on the other side, the door shut tightly. There was most definitely no going back now. Even though it was deafly quiet before, things somehow got even more quiet. It was more dark too. Deep down, Kurama hoped to the gods that this wasn’t the domain fo the speed ogre, or that the speed ogre was as stupid as the bronze ogre. Kurama, however, was built for speed. Surely this would be a breeze. Not long after entering the second arena, a stream of light flashed from the bottom of the arena on up. It made it much more easier to see now. A figure walked up from the other side of the light, the silhouette was the only part visible.

 “I only challenge one. Win and move along, lose, and you all parish” Said the ogre.

 “I am the ogre of speed. Choose my opponent.”

 “I am your opponent..” Said Kurama stepping up, Serenia watching him with dreamy eyes. Suukue wiped more mud off of his face so he could get a better view. Keiana scraped a bit of mud that was getting ready to fall into his ear, knowing how painful it may have been if that happened. He flinched when he felt something touch his ear, and realized it was just her soft touch.

 “How did you get so muddy?” She asked with some concern. Suukue sweat dropped, but decidedly not to tell her that he was the earthworm from the dirt. This moment was somewhat...sweet. He looked into her brown-ish red eyes, as if he were about to fall into them. Her face was perfectly round and cute. The fox ears were the perfect touch which gave her the kawaii baby-ish look, and even when it was pitch black, her hair somehow gave off a bright silver sheen. Even though Suukue was pretty much her enemy, Keiana still smiled warmly at him. Now he knew why Kurama wants to use her to retrieve the sacred item. Keiana would love even her worst enemy. It was undeniable, that Suukue was now falling deeply for her...

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     Yuki, the wolf demon, had simply followed the scent of Kurama and his company as she and the demon lord neared closer to the temple, marching through the sickening scene of decaying dead demons.

 “Haruko-sama, someone beat us to it. Do you think the item is...gone?” Yuki asked. The lord looked down the entrance of the temple longingly.

 “No, someone is still in there. Let’s go...”

 “Yes Master.” Yuki nodded as the demon lord past by.

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      Kurama had fought all of his battles the same way, see what the opponent is all about, and sum up what you can do. Like with the first ogre; It was strong, but it was stupid. Kurama is built for mostly speed and only built up his strength through training, but he was highly intelligent. Kurama was a pure genius, which was why he was able to find the perfect strategy for winning a match against a speedy ogre. Knowing how evolution makes it so that either you’re fast, or strong, and how usually speed is week against brute strength, Kurama was able to come up with a way to trick the speedy ogre into running full speed into the solid rock wall. Once again, this ogre was stupid. Even if you’re speedy, being smart pays off in the best of the worst ways. Keiana couldn’t bear to look at the crushed body ingrained into the blood splattered wall. The next door opened, signifying Kurama’s victory. Keiana ran joyously up to him.

 “You were awsome! I want you to teach me everything you know when we get out of this.” She praised him excitedly. Kurama only blinked with a ‘whatever’ look and glanced at the cat and the dog. Then he tensed up again.

 “What’s wrong, Kurama?” Keiana asked. Kurama didn’t answer, but quickly grabbed her and leapt out of the way of an oncoming energy ball which had blasted through the previous door. Whatever did that was powerful indeed, but it wouldn’t have to waste any physical energy now that the two hand on hand combative ogres were gone. Kurama and Keiana watched from a concealed high point as the demon lord casually stepped into the arena, followed by the wolf girl. Keiana couldn’t help but admire how pretty the ookami’s white summer kimono looked. It was definitely much more stylish than her dark blue kimono. Kurama was damned. Did this demon lord wait till the last second to try to take the prize for himself. Nah, if that was the case, Kurama would have been able to get through to the last ogre at least. Suukue and Serenia watched from their own hiding places as the lord and the wolf demon made their way across the arena and through the next door. After a few seconds, the door started to close, so Kurama grabbed Keiana and swiftly made a break for it. Serenia and Suukue did the same, but only the foxes were able to make it through since they were closer.

 “Damnit!” Yelled Suukue. He wasn’t frustrated only because he didn’t make it through, but he didn’t want to loose any contact with Keiana, and now they were separated by a wall.

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     The demon lord only had to wait a few seconds before he was greeted by the last ogre, completely oblivious to the two lurking foxes. It wasn’t necessarily an ogre-like creature. It was more like a spirit, and it glowed<--(That sounds wrong, but my spell checker wont accept glew, so....) radiantly at the center of a pitch black chamber.

 “So, you have proved victorious over my so-called brothers?” the ogre sprit asked.

 “Seems if I have done so...” The demon lord lied. If he could’ve seen the look on Kurama’s face, he might have broken through that temple the way he came in and never came back.

 “Fine, then you accept the challenge of answering my questions of intellect?”

 “Hai, I do...”

 “I will give you 3 riddles...and 3 mathematical problems. That is all.”

 “Seriously?” the youkai lord was astonished. Riddles were one of his favorite past times, and any demon can do math.

 “Yes...under one condition, however,” the youkai lord sweat-dropped, for the best things always seemed to have a catch, “you only have 3 minutes to answer the riddles, and only two minutes to answer the maths...” Haruko-sama didn’t seem to mind that. He shrugged, calming his nerves, waiting patiently for this thing to start.

 “Ready?” The spirit smirked. The demon lord nodded his head as Yuki trembled with extreme worry.

 “This is a famous riddle, most call it the grandfather paradox. It says, “If you were to go back in time before your grandfather ever fathered your father...Would you be able to kill him? What would happen if you did?” The spirit started off with. Haruko-sama thought about this for a short moment.

 “No...you wouldn’t be able to kill him anyway. So the question of what would happen if you did kill him is out of the window, because every time you tried, something would probably have to happen to prevent you from killing him. His life is inevitable.” he answered smugly. (That riddle was slightly cheesy >.< Sorry, I’m just going by what I already know >.>;;)

 “Ok then..” Started the ogre spirit. Yuki heaved a sigh of relief.

 “Next riddle...You are on your way out of a cave much like this one. At the end of a tunnel, there are two path ways, one leads to freedom, and the other leads to a hellish hole with no escape. Before the two path ways are demonic guards. One always speaks the truth, and the other always speaks falsely. You can ask them one question only...if you wanted to ask them which path way was the way to freedom, what would you ask?” The demonic lord smirked. These riddles were so incredibly common.

“I would ask one of the guards if he were the other guard, what would he say the path to freedom is.” said the demon lord with such a smug look, it made Kurama want to lose his lunch.

“Very well...” said the ogre spirit.

“What phase of time does this represent?” The oni created a visual aid directly above himself. It consisted of some weird symbols in some unknown language. The demon lord was really stumped now, but he didn’t let it show. It was now the oni’s turn to smirk. Keiana thought hard about that for a moment, then gasped, for she did recognized the symbols before her eyes.

 “Kurama, I know those symbols...” She nudged him gently. He looked at her.

 “Are you sure? I’ve never seen those but maybe once in my life.” He growled, still pissed about the demon lord taking credit for all of his work.

 “Yes, they are American symbols. Most of us don’t know much about America yet because we’re just getting acquainted with them, but I’ve been studying the language for a while now.” (Yes, this takes place in the early 1800's and try to keep in mind that since these characters are Japanese, they keep all Japanese traits even though I give them English dialogue. I think you understand.)

 “Amerika?...” The word was very foreign to the youko.

 “Well, what is the answer?” he asked.

 “Those symbols...or rather, letters, say ‘entury’, but it’s missing the ‘c’ which would make the word, century. Then there’s a common American phrase that says...‘long time no see.’ I think the answer is long time no ‘c’.

 “I think you’re the most intelligent woman I’ve ever met. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and lead her down from their hiding place behind a large boulder.

 “But Kurama...!” she hesitated, not sure of whether she should have told him this. The kitsune approached the demon lord and the oni spirit slowly. Kurama glared at the youkai lord, who stared back with a tired look. Yuki and Keiana exchanged glances.

 “If you have an answer to present me with, you’ve only a minute left.” The spirit spoke with slight agitation. Kurama propelled Keiana forward through the gentle grip he had on her hand with the look of encouragement. Keiana gulped and looked at him with a ‘how-could-you-make-me-do-this-all-by-myself’ kind of look. She looked back to the oni spirit, which was very intimidating. It was so intimidating that she stood frozen and stuck for quite some time. The genko could not take her eyes off of the gleaming stare of the oni, she was stuck in some kind of trans. Then she felt someone by her side. It snapped her out of the trans just enough for her to realize, by looking out of the corner of her eye, that it was the youko. He wasn’t agitated, like he probably would have been if he didn’t know Keiana actually had brains. If she got this one right, he would have a totally different view of her and probably even like her more. Keiana looked up at him and he nodded with reassurance. She bit her lip and looked back up at the oni, this time with the look of self confidence, which made herself seem more intimidating.

 “The answer is, ‘long time...no see...’” she answered firmly. It was quiet in the chamber all of a sudden. The long hiatus made Yuki and Keiana shiver with fear.

 “Never...have I thought to see a real silverfox within the proximity of this place, nonetheless, get one of my toughest riddles correct...” Keiana exhaled happily, and almost fell to the ground, but fell into the arms of Kurama instead. He caught her and helped her onto her feet again.

“And for that, I will cut you off one of the maths...” The oni nodded.

 “I’ll take it from here and finish off my work in this temple.” Kurama growled, wanting both the youkai lord and the oni to hear.

 “I understand.” The oni nodded. He knew all along that the demon lord lied when he took credit for the youko’s work. So he purposely gave him an impossible riddle. But to his surprise, the young genko was the only one able to figure it out. So now, the status quo was restored pretty much. Though the maths were difficult, and would take a human several years to solve because of their length and intricacy, Kurama solved them in less than the maximum time he was given. It was most certainly his turn to impress Keiana, when he was able to solve numbers squared, cubed, to the forth power, and even to the millionth power, and problems with over 20 numbers and digits to remember, that the oni spirit would not repeat. The demon lord stood and watched, contemplating the future, or rather, what he would do to the youko after he finished off the last mathematical problem and was presented with the sacred item.

 “You’ve done well. Not once in over 500,000 years has anyone been able to get past the oni of strength, now you can get what you deserve.” Said the spirit. Kurama twitched, trying to recover himself from a spiraling world of infinite numbers and equations. Keiana giggled and rubbed his ear to help make him feel better. The macho Kurama shied away from her hand after a couple of seconds. If he had the guts to tell her how much he appreciated that massage, he would most definitely have done so. He only gave her a nervous grin and cleared his throat as he watched the oni spirit produce within his glowing embrace, the figure of a black katana sheath with a band of white rose petals around the base of the hilt.

 “This is a legendary katana that is said to be able to heal as much as it kills. If set into the wrong hands, this sword can cause extremely devastating damage to this world and all of the others...use it wisely, or you shall parish too. Little genko...what be your name?” inquired the oni spirit.

 “Keiana.” she replied.

 “Step forward, young one.” The demon lord twitched violently, but ceased to attack just yet as he jealously watched as Keiana step forward and prepared to take what she and Kurama worked so hard for.

 “Let Keiana-dono and this katana become one...” the oni whispered, then dissapeared, letting the katana drop into her arms. It was heavy, and almost sent her plummeting into the ground head first, which was a fortunate thing, for as the weight of the sword pulled her down slightly, the claws of Yuki the wolf youkai barely cut a strand of her hair. Yuki skidded to a stop, cursing herself for missing. Keiana looked up, oblivious to what just happened.

 “I got it Kurama!” She yelled back excitedly then gasped, for the youkai lord was now standing in front of her with his hand raised, ready to bring it down into her flesh. Keiana braced herself and held on tightly to the katana with a strong motherly embrace.

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 Seems as if I just barely made it to page six. O.O Meh, I feel like I could’ve done better, but I am really running impatient on getting far enough into the story for the coupling to take place. >.<

 Previes ^.^

Now that the two foxes have gotten what they wanted, they could just go home. But there’s a catch as with many things that are too good to be true. Kurama has to fight one last battle, having to trust Suukue and Serenia to protect Keiana from Yuki. Just as things start to seem hopeless, a certain someone decides to drop in for the fun.