Here's Chapter 9 of the fanfic "Sleeper."  It's titled "The Crossbow."  Have
fun reading, constructive C & C welcome.

Shuichi Minamino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SLEEPER
Ch 9 The CrossBow

	"Amazing." Kurama remarked as he examined the plants.  "Never seen
anything like this."

	"Are you sure?" Karasu asked.  "I found these at the place that I woke up."

	"And you don't remember anything before that?"

	Karasu looked off a distance as he replied. "The time period between my
death at the tournament and how I ended up here is a complete blank.  I
thought the plants and surrounding may give you some clues."

	Kurama examined the plants again.  It was definitely of a specie that he
could not recognize.  The flowers are bright red, so red that they didn't
look natural at all.  The leaves were emerald green, a bit transparent at
the edges.  The flowers were so beautiful that they didn't look natural at
all.

	"I don't know," Kurama finally said. "but whoever that planted these must
have had something to do with your being here."

	"That's what I thought."  Karasu answered.  "There was something about
this plant that...Watch out!"

	Kurama felt himself being shoved aside, then he heard and felt things
exploding around him.

	*The flowers have attacked!* That was his first thought.  He turned around
and saw dead flowers scattering everywhere.  

	"Karasu?"  Kurama called out.  "You all right?  Karasu?"

	Kurama looked around him for Karasu but couldn't find the youkai, he
couldn't even feel Karasu's ki.  *Shit!* Kurama thought.  He knew that
Karasu was alive but somehow the attack of the plant had triggered
something.  It seemed to serve as a distraction to separate Kurama from
Karasu.  Kurama heard something behind him and spun around.  One of the
branches of the plants was still alive.  Kurama ducked as the plant opened
its mouth and shot out strange looking spikes.  

	"Rose Whip!"  The whip lashed out that the plant, cutting it down in half.
 The broken plants writhed on the ground like a dying snake, it eventually
stopped its movements.  Kurama examined the spikes that had embedded itself
on to the ground and tree trunks.  Very interesting weapons indeed.  The
spikes were small but sharp and hard.  Kurama found a small opening at the
head of the spikes, he squeezed at it and saw dark blue liquid oozing out.
It dropped on to the ground and made a sizzling sound.  

	*Acid,*  Kurama thought with dread as he realized what it meant.  *whoever
that planted these plants is an expert on chemicals and plants.*  

******************

	"Why here?"  Hiei asked suspiciously.

	"Because."

	"Because what?!" Hiei demanded.

	"You talk too much."

	"I WHAT?!!!!!!"  Now he was really getting pissed off.  Nobody, not even
Mukuro, had ever told him that he talked too much.  It was usually him who
told people that.  What was she trying to do anyway?

	"I said you talk too much," Coleen replied. "just shut up."

	Hiei was about to say something when he sensed the youki of over a hundred
youkais surrounding them.  Coleen must have sensed it as well, for she was
already in her battle stance.

	"I knew it." She remarked.

	"You knew what?!"  Hiei growled.

	"Just shut up and fight!" She shot back at him.

	The youkais charged.  Hiei lashed out with his sword, focusing his
attentions on the incoming youkais.  This was going to be a tough job.  All
the youkais attacking were at least B-class if not higher.  Even if he used
Kokuryuha, it still might not kill all the youkais.

	He took a quick glance at Coleen.  Her speed was incredible, she killed
them without any weapons.  *Strange,* Hiei thought to himself. *she was not
using her crossbow either.*

	Hiei threw his thought aside when several youkais decided to attack him
all at once.  He sliced them apart with no trouble and went on to finish
off other youkais.  There were too many of them, he realized.

	"Get in to the cave!" He heard Coleen hissed.

	"What?!"

	"Get.In.To.The.Cave!" She ordered.  "You can't take them all."

	"What the hell do you mean?!" Hiei turned his head toward Coleen and
growled.  

	That was a mistake, for an A-class youkai had decided to sneak up on Hiei
just then.  Hiei saw the sword flashed in front of him, and tried to avoid
it, knowing that it was too late the avoid the entire blow.  But the sword
never did go down on him.  Coleen appeared before him at the nick of time,
taking the blow herself.  The sword embedded itself deep inside her right
shoulder.

	Coleen rammed her hand through the youkai as the youkai suddenly burst
into flames.

	*Fire!* Hiei realized. *She knows how to control fire!*

	"The Cave Hiei!!" She ordered again.  "Get the gold crossbow in the cave!"
 Coleen pulled the sword out of shoulder and threw it aside, her face
expressionless.  

	Hiei debated within himself, deciding if he should listen and finally
decide to take Coleen's advice for once and went in the cave for the crossbow.

	*Gold crossbow, where the fuck is that?!* Hiei cursed under his breath.
Why the hell did Coleen want that for anyway?  He continued walking into
the deeper part of the cave and stopped when he saw what he was looking for.

	There, at a clearing inside the cave, was a golden crossbow, embroidered
with different gems.  Strangely enough, there was no one guarding it.  He
approached it carefully, watching out for possible traps.  Then, he leaped
forward and grabbed the crossbow.  He winced inwardly as he felt the
immense weight of it.  A sharp pain shot through his body as he gripped the
crossbow.  It was hurting him!  It was somehow draining his ki.

	*Shit!* Hiei thought with dread.  He couldn't let go of it!  Ignoring the
immense pain, Hiei stumbled out of the cave, carrying the crossbow.  Every
seconds that he carried it, he felt as if he was being torn apart in body
and soul.  What was with this crossbow?!

	Hiei nearly collapsed when he saw Coleen.  Suddenly, he was able to let go
of the crossbow.  It fell on to the ground as he collapsed, still conscious
but too tired or drained to stand.  Painfully, he managed to sit up against
a tree and saw Coleen walking toward him.  She was covered with blood.
Blood was pouring down from the deep gash on her shoulder where she had
taken the blow for him.  There was a cut near her temple and several more
cuts on various parts of her body.  Hiei figured that those cuts must have
hurt like hell but Coleen acted as if she was not at all in pain.  She
picked up the crossbow without any effort or pain and examined it.  

	"You look like shit," Hiei remarked.

	"So do you,"  Coleen replied coldly and walked away.

	"Why?" Hiei demanded. "Why are we after this fucking crossbow?"

	Coleen stopped dead on her tracks and spun around, pointing the crossbow
at Hiei.  She smiled and asked dangerously, "Are you sure you want to know?"
	
	An alarm went off in Hiei's head, telling him not to pursue the issue any
further.  He listened for once and didn't reply.

	"I thought so," Coleen lowered her crossbow. 

	"Why didn't you use your other crossbow at them?"

	"I use crossbow for special occasion," she replied. "and I use this one
here for the most important occasion."

	Hiei was about to ask why was the crossbow in the cave but decided against
it.  Again, a disturbing feeling seemed to tell him that he would know
eventually, whether he liked it or not.

	"We'll take care of the situation about Karasu and his mage in a few
days," Coleen spoke up again. "meanwhile, I must talk with Kurama."  That
was Coleen's last remark before she vanished out of sight, leaving behind
her, a mesmerized and confused Hiei.

-------------Sleeper: The CrossBow End (TO BE CONTINUED)---------

	      --Shuuichi Minamino
	      ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` 
	    *      Shuuichi Minamino / Silver Fox / Youko Kurama       *
	    * The Proud Maintainer of the Yaoi/Slash Info Mailing List *
	    *  Firm Supporter of the YYH Dynamic Duo: Kurama X Hiei    *
	    *       A Thousand-Year-Old Fox Spirit As Human            *
	    *   Innocent Student At Large in Northwestern University   *     
            *              http://www.kurama.ranma.com                 *  
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