"You've got to be the stupidest, most immature brat that ever lived. And that means a lot coming from me, you're stupid games are going to get us all killed!" said Yusuke. At least it was now ultimately understood between the pack that the boy would die if he were defeated. At least, San hoped so.
"Nah, once the tunnel is done, I'll throw the game and lose. Then you'll all be free to go," said Amanuma in an off hand manner. That just made things worse. The pup had no idea that if he lost, he would die. She looked over at her mate, who most likely had caught onto this himself. He was no fool, and San wasn't sure that any of them realized just how much his intelligence got them through. If he were to be unable to use his mind with the distraction of this child's death, what would the outcome be? His green orbs remained calm, possibly preparing for what they both knew could happen in the next little bit.
"Yeah, and what are we going to be free to go to if the whole world's turned into a demon parking lot? We've got to find another way out of this," said Yusuke.
"It's no use. I tried, and look what good that did us," Hiei intervened, "We're in the child's territory, and just as it was with Kaito in that ugly mansion, we're bound to the rules he's set, no matter how ridiculous," and with that, he began to walk away.
"Where the hell are you going?"
"I know as much of games as I do of hugs and puppies, and care for them even less. Wake me before the end of the world," declared Hiei, sitting against the wall and appeared to be sleeping instantly.
"Kurama is there any way you could whoop this kids ass?"
"Actually," Kurama hesitated. He never did that, which meant that he knew, "I'm more afraid of defeating Amanuma than I am of not."
"Want to translate that?"
"As Hiei said, he's made it so that everybody in this territory are to follow the laws of the game. Thus, our fate is the same of the challenger in the arcade. As long as we choose to continue, we can go on indefinitely. If we quit, our lives are over. However, as Kaito demonstrated, Amanuma is not immune to his own territories logic. I'm afraid this young boy is naive when it comes to the dire consequences of his own power. If he loses, he too must follow his game's counterpart's fate."
"Alright, the game is three-seven," said Amanuma, "There's only three of you left, and one of you's actually sleeping. Not that I couldn't beat you at three-seven in my sleep."
"I'll do what's best," Kurama sighed. San grabbed his wrist first, seeing momentarily the flicker of anguish. He was anticipating this, knowing that he would ultimately have to do it. She wished that she could help him, but their enemy had given them an impossible choice. She kissed him softly, trying to show him the support she'd give him after all of this. He walked away, the ghost of his lips faintly on hers.
"Pardon my ignorance, but what does three-seven mean?" asked Mitsunari.
"It's a test of your physical reasoning, mathematical prowness and hand dexterity. It's fun. Various combinations of the numbers zero to seven drop, and you must arrange them so that the sum of three numbers vertically or horizontally is equal to seven, eliminating those blocks. You can also get rid of blocks by, as the title suggests, lining up three sevens in a row. The object of the game is to clear as many blocks as possible which becomes increasingly difficult as they fall at faster speeds. If the blocks fill up all the way to the top, you lose," Kaito explained.
"How in the hell did you manage to get that all out in one breath?" asked San.
"I got a migraine just from listening to the instructions," said Mitsunari.
"Yes, it can be quite the frustrating brain buster. Once, I played for 36 hours straight without sleep trying to best my own high score," Kaito boasted.
"36 hours?" questioned Yusuke in disbelief.
"Uh yeah. Everyone needs a hobby."
"I think you took that a little too far to the extremes," San murmured. Their attention however, was turned to her mate, who was approaching the stand with the controls. He was reluctant, San knew, but they both knew that it had to be done.
"Listen, Amanuma. I have something I need to ask you," Kurama said as he stood in front of his controls.
"What is it?" the boy asked, still acting like the cock of the walk.
"Did Sensui specifically ask you to challenge us at Goblin City?"
"What's it to you? Yeah Mr. Sensui likes this game and thought it'd keep you guys busy. I said I didn't care cause I'm good at 'em all."
"I need to know. Do you understand what Sensui plans to do?"
"Of course I do. He'll let a bunch of demons out their hole so they can wreak havoc and mess with everyone. I thought it'd be fun, plus, no school for a while. Sweet. I think the best part is while all those dumb people are running and screaming, I'll be safe in my territory, playing games without homework or parents."
"Didn't Sensui tell you that you won't be around that long?"
"Huh?"
"You'll die if you lose," Kurama stated bluntly. San could feel a strange kind of pain emanating from him. It was emotional, not physical, and she looked down at the boy facing her mate in astonishment.
"What?" exclaimed Yusuke.
"Is that true?" asked Mitsunari.
"What do you think? Does it still sound fun?" asked Kurama.
"Ha! You almost had me for a sec, but I'm not that gullible. He told me you'd try something like this," said Amanuma. Delusions are not good for the mind of any creature.
"Because he's counting on us to figure it out. Now I'm sure you've made it to the game's end more times than I."
"The end of the game...?"
"When you beat the game, they vividly depict the Goblin King's death. It's an ending very specific to this game. You two must follow this game counter part's fate. Of course, Sensui never wanted you to practice your power playing Goblin City inside your territory did he?"
"But how could you possibly know that? NO! I couldn't play this because I didn't have seven people to play with! Besides, it's not like I've died in other games."
"But you have never tested your powers in manifesting any games of this type, have you Amanuma? Where you take the role of a villain who explicitly dies at the game's conclusion. Is that correct?"
"I don't know. Yes."
"Surely, Sensui gave you some reason for avoiding them."
"Well..."
San knew what Kurama was up to. Just telling the pup that he was going to die if he was beaten was obviously a waste of breath. Kurama was carefully manipulating him to come to the conclusion on his own, avoiding the skeptical doubts that were implanted from the beginning. They were the enemy, so whatever they had to say was a lie. That was something that would be easy to try and place into the mind of a young boy, but it was always easy for a little one to see their mistake. This time however, that mistake proved to be a fatal one, and San was sure that had there been another choice, her mate would've taken it.
"Wait a second," Yusuke broke the tense silence that surrounded them, "So Sensui's putting his own men on the chopping block just to stall us for a couple of hours while he digs a hole? I got to tell you, between you and Mitarai, Sensui's not big on the whole building company loyalty, is he?" Trust Yusuke to insert ridiculous statements to important moments.
"A man like Sensui..." Kurama began. She narrowed her eyes, smelling his blood and feeling slight pain in her palms, "...has no other loyalty except to himself and his cause. And he cares nothing for how much blood is shed to reach that goal. Not even the blood of an ignorant young boy who foolishly chose wrong over right."
There was no way to make a response, the game had started. San noticed that a lot of the confidence had left their young enemy.
"You can go ahead and call me a dimwit, but, let me just ask the stupid questions. If Kurama's got his all figured out, why'd he tell the Game Master instead of keeping it to himself? And why'd he wait until it was too late to stop the round?" asked Yusuke.
"Sensui had a strategic reason for not telling Amanuma that he would die in real life if he died in the game. Young people are stupid about life and death. They think they're invicible. Too young to die to they're not consumed with the fear of it. That's why armies recruit teenagers. That's why Koenma recruited you," Genkai answered.
"Man, I resent that, I know I can die because I've done it once and lived to tell about it."
"I don't have time to show how you've proved my point."
"Sensui made sure that the child wasn't going to think about the possibility of dying. He wanted us to figure it out, so that it would consume our minds, and make our decision to go further a hell of a lot harder," San added.
"It fits into Sensui's pattern. Pushing us to our limits, seeing if we'll justify the kill."
"Well we won't... will we?" asked Yusuke.
"Kurama has, that's why he told the boy the truth. To make him weak. It's a dirty trick, but Kurama knows what he must do."
"Even so, he's not really willing to do it. But when you live your life in a pack, you must do all that you can to protect it. When one can no longer perform the duty applied, it is left behind while the rest move on. In this case, one life for billions. The child is innocent, and we don't believe in killing innocents, unless absolutely necessary," San told him gravely. Her eyes hadn't left her mate, as the pain building up was becoming more unbearable.
"San! That's inhuman!"
"I know, it's the way of the wolves."
The game continued on. The thoughts that enslaved Amanuma by Kurama's words were now causing him to make mistakes.
"Man, he just missed a pretty easy triple seven," Yusuke noted.
"Shuuichi's under his skill," said Kaito.
The Goblin King became more nervous as time wore on. San could see the boy begin to tremble lightly, and the pressure was becoming more intense as the minutes rolled by. She felt an aching in her chest, knowing how the parents were going to feel when they found out their child was with them no more. But she couldn't show weakness. She had to steel herself. Her unblinking tawny eyes fixed on her mate, she was wondering what kind of preparations-if any-he was going through.
"Now I'm not up on this game's strategy, but that's the opposite of it, right?" asked Mitsunari as he watched the fumbling enemy.
"Yeah that's bad," confirmed Yusuke.
"The Goblin King's distracted himself," Kaito noted.
It wore on. Amanuma was making more mistakes, his sudden realization of reality weighing heavily on him know. It was cold thing that Kurama had done, and had he not been her mate, she would've made sure he suffered for his choice. But then, that was the human side of her. The wolf in her said that it was acting on what was the best decision for the rest of the pack. The Goblin Kiing continued to falter, and finally, he conceded that it was time to accept the truth.
"Please, is there anything I can do to get out of this?" he asked her mate, making yet another mistake. "Anything?" he pleaded.
"Is there not a way to shut down this territory and void your power?" asked Kurama.
"No, I've tried that. It's impossible to shut it down while the game's still in progress. Unless you choke at this game, there's no way out."
"I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen," the harshness of his voice told San that he had already steeled himself from the outside. Internally, he was writhing in agony, and she could feel every ounce of it, "This isn't about choosing one life over another. You know what Sensui's going to do. I can't say you aren't responsible for your fate."
"But I didn't mean for this stuff to really happen," the pup was crying now. Distracted and frozen in fear, he began to lose drastically. He didn't want to die. San knew this because he screamed it twice. And then it was over... His screen filled up with blocks, indicating that he was the loser. San choked on her breath. Kurama stood, unable to move it looked like. "Goblin City" was no more, and it exploded, the illusion vanishing in smoke. San stood her ground, until she could see her mate once more. She walked up to him slowly, as the others were recovering.
"Anybody else feel that or was it just me?" asked Yusuke. It took him a moment, "Where did Goblin City go?"
"When Amanuma died, his territory went with him," Genkai stated simply, walking away. San could hear her approaching footsteps, but she was more focused on her mate.
"These territory things are messed up."
"This is where your Goblin City went," said Genkai, observing the game console on the ground beside Kurama and San. She was behind her mate, on the left side of him. His head was downcast, and he still hadn't moved yet.
"His power must have been very great indeed for him to create such an elaborate illusion out of nothing," said Kaito, telling San that the others were proceeding towards her.
"Kurama, don't blame yourself..." Yusuke spoke, walking up to him after the silence. San followed suit. She was startled that his face was hard and his expression was full of anger when he looked up. He stared straight in front of him.
"I have no regrets, Yusuke," he said in a hard voice. San knew it to be a lie, but the barrier he had put up was for exterior purposes. It was Sensui whom her mate held is disregard. He began to continue on towards where, she assumed, was going to be the excavation site.
"I don't know what to do, I've never seen him like this before."
"You two! we'll resume the original plan and go outside to guard," said Genkai. San began to follow after her mate. She could hear the others coming along shortly after, but they weren't her concern. She slipped her hand into Kurama's, and surprisingly, he held it tightly. She was happy that he was comfortable enough with her to be able to show his true emotions to her. They didn't speak, but now wasn't the time for it.
"Up here, we'll turn right," Mitarai guided them.
"Hey, Hiei," San's ears picked up Yusuke's voice, "You've known him a lot longer than I have, you're not worried about Kurama at all?"
"You think that's the first child Kurama has killed in his day?" was Hiei blatant response.
"Yeah, but unlike some demons, Kurama's changed," replied Yusuke.
They continued to walk, the silence creeping in on them. Kurama's face was still hard, but San kept her hand firmly in his. The caves here were endless, and a huge maze. San suspected it was there to keep humans out and demons in. Although demons could use their sense of smell to find a way out, it would still be hard for them. Speaking of smell, she caught a scent that she was afraid of, and yet, yearned to smell all at the same. She stopped dead in her tracks, feeling a faint pull at her awareness. The rest of them stopped as well, looking at her with puzzled faces. She wasn't sure why, but she absolutely had to know what was down the next pathway. It wasn't the way they were supposed to go, but if they just found out what was lurking there, then they'd be able to continue on their journey. Surely with their combined strength, it wouldn't take very long. But this pain, this pain in her head that had grown so much more intense kept her from even trying to use her powers to thwart it. She began to walk over there, curious. Kurama's hand overlapping hers did not falter, and he walked with her. Stunned by this, the others followed them, wondering what it was that had drawn away their companion.
"Moriko.." it was like a whisper. A tentative voice that she had no choice but to obey. "Come to me, Moriko.. I will make you mine... for all of eternity.." It beckoned her, and she was willingly walking into it. She had a faint feeling that she should be rejecting this invitation, but for the life of her, she could not figure out why. The more it called her, the more need she felt to oblige. She just had to figure out who was calling her, and why she wanted to see this person so badly. There was a dead end, covered in darkness. It wasn't completely natural, however. A strong sense of youki resided here.
Kurama instantly knew where San had led them. It was Ryo and Yayoi, her two old friends from her past life as Moriko. Kurama didn't even feel their presence, until he had entered this over sized cavern. Good, there would be plenty of room for him to dispose of the beast. There was no sign of them yet, but Kurama could be sure that they would show. San's eagerness to venture here started to worry him. He put his own distress aside, in order to be able to protect her. There was no telling what the opposing side could do with San's ability to manipulate both light and dark powers. His eyes were hard as agates, and they were searching, probing, for the immediate danger lurking in the shadows.
"And so, finally we will determine where her loyalty truly lies, bandit," the voice of Ryo echoed.
"We shall see," said Kurama, his eyes flickering gold as his hatred built up inside him.
"You underestimate my power?"
"I think it is you that underestimates not just mine, but her combined will with mine."
"Maybe you just don't realize the actual hold I have on your beloved. Let me show you kitsune," and his crimson eyes were visible as he walked slowly out of the shadows. The look on his face was smug, and San's will crumbled at the sight of him. His eyes held hers, and she could not fight it. She was struck with the full force of his power, and she showed no resistance. She didn't want to, she knew that her destiny lied with this demon. He smiled as he reached forth his hand, "Come to me, Moriko. You must obey."
San detached her hand from her mate's slowly. Kurama watched in horror as the love of his life was willfully leaving him for his enemy, "San..." he reached after her. But for some reason, he could not budge. The sheer destruction of her memory towards him was a hard blow, one that he wasn't sure he could recover from. The hold was much stronger than he ever realized, and this demon was very good to have it so quiet that not even she herself could feel it. She was one of the most powerful psychics in Makai, and yet this vampire was able to keep his real intentions from getting to her.
She walked at a stately pace, unable to take her eyes off of her enemy. Some part of her mind was screaming to get away, but she didn't falter. She couldn't hear the voices calling to her, telling her that this was the wrong choice. But that didn't make any sense, because Ryo would always be there for her. It was her destiny to be at his side, and get revenge on the humans who've done nothing but ruin her life. They took her brother, and she had to make them pay. But why was it that she couldn't shake off this nagging feeling that these feelings were somehow false? It seemed that golden eyes were lurking in the depths of her brain.
"San! Get a hold of yourself!" Yusuke shouted at her, but it was no use.
"Hiei!" Kurama looked back at the fire apparition. Hiei shook his head. San's will would be the only thing to sever the connection, Hiei could not interfere. It was absolute then. She wasn't fighting, there would be no way to get her back. He had to destroy her old friend in order to keep her out of danger. Murdering was something he's tried not to do for years, and now it seemed that every turn he took caused him to do so. How could he get out of this? She didn't even turn as he called out to her helplessly. Once she reached him, things got even worse. She gently interlaced her fingers with his. There was no way to tell yet what she would do. Then, with a look of triumph, he kissed her, throwing it completely in Kurama's face.
"San!" Yusuke yelled in awe.
"My koishii, now we are one," said Ryo. San smiled, turning to face her new enemies. Her hand was still in Ryo's.
The word ran in Kurama's head. The demon that resided in the depths of his mind howled in frustration. Kurama's eyes hardened, as he prepared to fight with this vampire in order to get his love back. How dare he use his name for her? There would be no end to the pain Kurama was about to put this vampire through. A flicker of something else lurked in the shadow, and he could smell yet another wolf. Yayoi was out there still, and Kurama found it strange that she stayed put instead of coming out. He wouldn't know how to fight them both at the same time, but he knew that the others couldn't involve themselves.
"Alright hot shot, give us San back or prepare to get your ass kicked! I'm feeling pretty pissed off and you look good enough to take out my anger!" declared Yusuke, charging up his reiki.
"Fool. Stay out of it," Hiei intervened.
"What?"
"This is between Kurama and the vampire. Don't interfere."
"But-"
"While I appreciate the devotion to my mate, Hiei is right. This is the between the two of us, and we must settle it," Kurama told him in a calm voice.
Yusuke grumbled, "Okay, but the minute you fall, I'm stepping in."
"Hn. No need for that, I'm sure I'll be able to continue to entertain our guests if I have to. I didn't get any fighting in our last round, and I'm starting to feel hungry for blood."
Kurama ignored them. He wouldn't fall, he couldn't afford to. He began to focus again on how he could wrest his mate from his enemy's grasp. The only thing that would be powerful enough to infuse her, would be to become a demon. Not only that, but the site of him would probably bring her back to reality, since Ryo only focused on the over powering demon mind inside her. San was raised for years as a human, but her mind still worked as that of a wolf, as the demon she always was. She shape shifted into a human, and that meant that she didn't adapt to their way of thinking since she never joined with one to know how it was done. Since there wasn't much human to her in the first place, there would be no way to get through to her using that tactic. There were only two options. Either become the beast raging inside, or goad her into gaining enough power to do so. One thing was for sure, he absolutely had to make sure that these enemies didn't discover her dormant powers. If he could bide the time, he would be able to store up enough energy emanating from Makai to briefly emerge as his true form. It was his only chance.
Ryo continued to stare, with his hand securely in San's. Kurama knew that he wouldn't accept her in human form, and would find a way to draw power to her, making her able to resume her natural form. The problem was, how was he going to get past her, and kill him? Sensui had thrown another impossible choice in his face, and they only had limited time to act...