This is Chapter 8 of "Hunter & Prey." I think I've finally hit a wall on
this one. Maybe now I can get some rest. Constructive C & C are welcome.
Have fun reading.
--Shuuichi Minamino
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HUNTER & PREY
Ch 8 Exchange
"You are not going to like this very much, Hiei..." Sonoma said.
"Go ahead."
Sonoma sighed.
**********************
"Oi! Ryuma!" Sonoma called.
"What?" Ryuma shouted back.
"Check this out!" Sonoma said excitedly. "This is very interesting..."
Ryuma sighed and walked over. Sometimes Sonoma could really get excited
over the smallest thing.
"Sonoma?" Ryuma called. "Where are you?"
Sonoma jumped from the side and knocked Ryuma over. Ryuma got up from the
ground and threw a punch at him. Sonoma ducked and did a back flip. Ryuma
paused and then fired, the attack hit the tree inches from Sonoma. Sonoma
stared wide-eyed. That was close, he still couldn't beat his brother.
"Nice try," Ryuma grinned. "almost but not quite."
"Hm...just wait," Sonoma smiled slyly. "I can do it."
Ryuma shrugged and went off into the deeper part of the forest. Sonoma
looked after his brother and then went off his own way to look for something
interesting to do. Makai forest wasn't really that bad, he liked it. At
least he never felt like a trapped animal in the forest. Back in the
village he always felt like some kind of rare animal being placed on
display. He didn't mind that anymore. He was used to it, he could get use
to thing very well.
Sonoma's head shot up as he heard something coming from the deeper part of
the forest. It sounded like fighting and he could feel several S-class
youkai at that location. An alarm went off in his head as he realized that
Ryuma was fighting with those youkais.
*He won't be able to handle them all,* Sonoma realized and quickly took off
in the direction toward his brother.
****************
"Damn!" Ryuma muttered as he realized that the three youkais outpowered him
by a wide margin. He attempted to launch another attack but was struck down
again. He could feel blood coming out of his mouth and he could feel
himself losing youki.
*If I don't do something quick,* he thought. *they are going to kill me. I
CAN'T die here!*
Ryuma managed to get up but was struck down again. This time he was not
sure if he had the strength to get up again.
"I see that the head of the clan has lost his energy," said one of the
youkais.
"I've waited for this for a long time. It's finally time for us to show
this imputent clan that we are not to be pushed around."
The rest of the youkais laughed. The head youkai pulled out his sword and
approached Ryuma. He raised the sword, ready to severe Ryuma's head. Ryuma
heard the youkai gave a yelp of pain as Sonoma lashed out at him.
*Sonoma?*
"What do we have here? A human."
Sonoma held his breath and evaluated each of the youkai's youki. Their
power were definitely S-class level. He knew that Ryuma was an S-class but
was badly hurt. He himself was only at A-class level. *This is NOT going
to work...* he realized. *I don't like the way things are going here...*
Sonoma heard a noise behind him and threw a punch to hit the youkai behind
him. He saw out of the corner of his eyes that Ryuma had managed to rise
and attack the other youkai. Unfortunately, both of them had forgotten to
take the third youkai into account. The third youkai had snuck up behind
Ryuma and plunged the knife into his heart.
"Ryuma~~~~~!!!" Sonoma cried. He saw Ryuma falling to the ground and he
knew that Ryuma was dead even before he reached him.
A blow landed on Sonoma's back and it sent him on to the ground. Strong
arms pinned him down before he even had a chance to catch his breath.
"Maybe we should teach this human a lesson," commented the leader. "a
beautiful little thing like you shouldn't be in the woods alone. Especially
when you are only a human."
Sonoma could feel rough hands ripping his clothes apart. His scream was
lost in the woods. He was only thirteen then, still very young by his
clan's standard. No one was there to help him...
When the rest of the clan found him, he was almost dead. They took him and
Ryuma's body back to the village. He remembered hearing the members of the
clan arguing about the decision of ceding Ryuma's position to him by
transplanting the third eye.
"He is tainted," One of the elders protested. "we can't let someone who's
been violated to be our head. Besides, he's a human!!"
"We have no choice," said the other. "we can alter his physical make up by
doing the transplanting. Ryuma-sama's blood will merge with his and he
could at least then become a halfling."
"We don't want any halflings!!"
"Unless you want our tribe to face the fate of demise, I suggest you doing
the transplant."
So he ended up having the third eye. It had been a living hell trying to
get used to his new blood and a somewhat 'new' personality. No matter how
hard he tried, he had always had problem using his third-eye. That eye
would NOT show up unless when he was under extremem stress. When the third
eye finally opened, he always felt as if it was someone else who was using
it instead of him.
Even now as Sonoma recalled, he had often fount it ironic that the eye was
the only reminder for him of his brother. He had always blamed himself for
Ryuma's death. He didn't know why, but then maybe that was because of the
accusations that his clan had been placing on him. Despite the efforts made
by the clan, those youkais still couldn't tolerate the thought of having a
so-called "halfling" as their head. He was banned from the clan forever
shortly after his recovery.
Since then, he had been wandering. He had never associated himself with
anyone. But there were youkais in Makai who knew of his power, and there
were those who wanted the power of his third eye. Those people wanted his
head; and they hired assasins to kill him. It had been easy for him to
finish off most of the assasins, that is, most of them except Yukon...
--------------Chapter 8 Exchange End (TO BE CONTINUED)------------
--Shuuichi Minamino
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* "J'aurais "I would have wanted *
* voulu ne pas mourir. not to die. *
* J'aurais voulu I would have wanted *
* ne jamais grandir. never to grow up. *
* J'aurais I would have *
* voulu me casser l'ame." wanted to rend my soul." *
* *
* ~Cirque Du Soleil ~Circus Of The Sun *
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