[FFML] [fic][yyh] Shonen Chapter 22: Revolution (Part 2)

[Abdiel]

"I won't use the obvious quote here, and neither should you."

(Anonymous)


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Shonen
A Yuyu Hakusho fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel 
http://abdiel.florestica.com/
http://chester-fanfics.livejournal.com/

A meeting with the Wondrous Witch of Oz.

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Chapter 22: Revolution (Part 2)
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Just as the wistful and well-dressed Ayame got back to her jaded
companions, she heard the insistent wail of a hate-filled youth
reverberate inside the Witch's Arena. 

"TIN WOODMAN! Where's the Tin Woodman?" the previously-injured blond
Seraph that Kurama espied earlier howled like the wind, looking far
healthier than he was before. He stridently sauntered through the marble
floor of the arena, clad in a pair of massive wings with razor-edged
steel feathers sprouting from his back and curling around him to form a
gleaming shield that stretched down to his ankles. On top of that, his
brand new prosthetic arm and leg shimmered with titanium-hard alloys
that seemed almost cybernetic in its construction. "I'm ready! Get him
over here, he's mine!"

"Hold your horses, shrimp; I'm here!" Yusuke confirmed as he stood up
from where he was sitting to face the mechanically-enhanced Seraph.

"I'm not a shrimp!" the diminutive Seraph bristled with lividness, but
Yusuke had other things in mind to pay much attention to the objection.
The Reikai Tantei's face broadened and stretched in astonishment and
understanding.

"Hey! You're the guy that I chopped with my axe! Small world! Er, I
mean, sorry man. You Seraphs kind of made me go into a panic when you
first showed up, and I got carried away."

"Eric Weldard's the name, and I don't accept any of your pathetic
excuses." The metal-clad young Seraph made a face as though he had just
tasted something unpleasant. "Before, I've lost my wings and a dear
friend for the sake of helping the Witch conquer Oz. Now, it cost me an
arm and a leg to fight you. I demand similar recompense for those lost
limbs; your life is now forfeit."

"Now hold on a minute! You and your... people came out of nowhere to
take me and my friends to that homicidal Wicked Witch against our will!
You'd have to be nuttier than a fruitcake to think that I'll take things
lying down! Get bent!" Yusuke protested as he gave the blond the one-
fingered salute. "Compared to what happened to the rest of the Witch's
pets, you got off pretty easy. Now get the hell out of my face and beat
it, punk." 

"You'll not only pay for the loss of my arm and leg, you'll also pay for
your insolence!" Eric cried out defiantly as a peal of thunder tore
through the air outside the arena and he snapped into a fighting stance.
His hair became alive, waving behind him like a war banner. His gloved
hands hovered expectantly as he glared at the Tin Woodman with menacing
purpose.

Yusuke huffed, clearly unimpressed. "Oh? You and what army, Thumbelina?"

"This power that I posses is the only army I'll ever need. Observe."
Eric clasped his hands then lunged forward at his target as eldritch
energy crackled at the tips of his fingers. Yusuke hastily began to draw
back to dodge the uncomplicated assault, but his cumbersome armor made
his movements far more awkward than usual.

The angel boy was soon on the half-demon like white on rice, pushing him
back as electric sparks flew all around them. Almost immediately, a
strange, neon-colored circle appeared in between the small Weldard boy
and the flabbergasted Urameshi. The hanyou's bent armor then began to
mold itself into something soft and shiny... 

"What the...! Is that GOLD?!" the curly-haired Scarecrow cried out in
puzzled shock as the Tin Woodman's armor began melting all over him like
a hot fudge sundae out in the open sun. "Holy shit on a stick! That
midget just changed Yusuke's armor into gold! And not just any gold,
it's pure, Grade-A gold! What is he, King Midas?" In the background,
Kuwabara failed to notice Eric shout, "Shut up! I'm no midget! Test my
patience again, and you'll be next to face my wrath!" 

Kurama's grass-green eyes gradually narrowed in understanding. "Changing
metal into gold; this can only be the work of... alchemy! That young,
winged boy is an alchemist!"

Yusuke took one look at himself, raised and tilted his head at Eric,
then grinned stupidly. "Gee, thanks. If this weren't a dream, I'd be a 
millionaire! To think, I just chopped off your limbs, and then you gave
me my body weight in gold in return. Wow. Talk about throwing bread at
the person who threw stones at you! Are you trying to defeat me using
the awesome powers of guilt?"

"Fool. You're getting ahead of yourself; the show's just starting." Eric
sneered quite confidently at the Tin Woodman proxy. "For an alchemist
such as myself, what I just did to your armor was but a mere parlor
trick; still, I didn't do it just to show off. Now have a taste my
ultimate truth!"

Just as Eric said the words, he again put his hands together and the
strange glowing runic circle appeared once more. His steel wings
automatically segmented into a web of sentient razor whips that snaked
at Yusuke and lacerated him without mercy.

Unfortunately, the expensive but soft white-gold armor gave the half-
demon as much protection as ten pounds of caking mud on his skin. The
young alchemist then finished his opponent off with a sweep kick and
uppercut combo that sent the hapless Urameshi reeling. 

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in
return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is
alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange," Eric lectured at length to
Yusuke as he resumed his inexorable attack. "I've exchanged the metals
of your armor with equal amounts of gold. In turn, I've turned my wings
into steel whips of the same mass and density. Nothing is gained,
nothing is wasted. Now, using these metal limbs and wings that my friend
Caitlin made, I will now get my payment for the limbs that I lost. It's
only fair since Nature herself demands it." 

"I don't believe it! The one who made those metal prosthetics is--?"
Ayame started, but her words were promptly drowned out by the horrific
squeal of Eric's transmuted steel wings.

''Caitlin'... Oh yes, she's girl Seraph we saw earlier who gave Ayame
her dress,' Kurama pondered as he silently observed the battle; the rest
of his companions were too preoccupied with the current circumstances to
overhear his thoughts. 'Come to think of it, she's the very same Seraph
who assisted the injured boy Seraph, Eric, a while back. So she really
is the only female Seraph in the group.'

"Nature can kiss my ass!" Yusuke retorted as he growled, darted away,
and attacked. He scored with two right hands fired from the distance in
the opening moments of his counterstrike. Eric answered back with three
solid body shots and a kick care of his metal wings and limbs. The two 
combatants parted ten feet from each other, their bodies repelled by the
sheer power of their respective attacks.

Eric groaned as his knees buckled and his vision blurred. He checked
Yusuke's reaction, hoping that his attack affected the half-demon's
physical condition as well. He frowned as the mazoku descendant walked
up in front of him spat blood at his face. 

"The thing about turning my armor into gold is that not only do I feel
richer, but I can also move faster as well. And you know what, shorty? I
work best without the fancy armor. Just ask Toguro once you meet up with
him... in HELL!" Yusuke howled then disappeared within the span of half
a second.

"Don't call me SHORTY!" Despite Eric's objection, the one-sided assault
resumed. Yusuke hurt the winged alchemist further as he connected with 
alternating fists that snapped his opponent's head back. Ruthlessly, the
Reikai Tantei was able to follow up his devastating right hooks with
laser-like left crosses to the face while his head would periodically
slam into the Seraph's skull.

Frustrated and angry as the fight slipped away, Eric lost a chance to 
counterattack as he left himself wide open with a thoughtless use of his
rather predictable steel wing attack; Yusuke would not be fooled twice.

The punishment and prejudiced pounding persisted as Yusuke repeatedly
beat the undersized Seraph to the punch. Eric's breathing labored as he 
struggled to go the distance against the far superior fighter. Stunned
and dazed, he continued to walk into right hooks that thudded off his
skull. Soon, the alchemist collapsed on the floor with a muted thud.

Eric struggled to rise, but his world lurched sickeningly out of control
when he attempted to move. His good arm and leg seemed like alien
things, no more willing to respond to his commands than the stars or the
moon. His altered wings have returned to their original shape. His
vision had gone blurry, but he instinctively knew that the Tin Woodman
would be on him in a heartbeat. 'Got to keep on... got to fight...'

"Keep away from him!"

The sound of her voice rang like the bell on her neck through the wet
cotton that had become his mind. He could barely make out her form--a
smudge of color floating somewhere in front of his eyes--but he knew
what she was doing. The idiot was trying to protect him. After seeing
what that monster could do, after seeing it tear him apart like that,
she still thought that SHE could protect him. Just like before...

The three spectators' jaws metaphorically dropped on the floor as they
viewed the spectacle before them. Caitlin Glass stood in front of the
extremely exhausted Eric Weldard, her viridian wings spread wide like a 
protective wall as her cobalt-blue eyes burned with unremitting resolve.
She said in a pleading tone, "Please stop, Urameshi Yusuke. There's no
need to continue this fight; to do so would be pure and simple bullying.
As for you, Eric Weldard..." 

Eric's golden eyes glinted inside his green spectacles as he suddenly
found the inner reserves to stand up; he would not be humiliated like
this in front of an enemy. "Keep out of this, woman. This is my fight,
not yours," said the alchemist, panting as he gently pushed the blonde
girl's feathery wings aside. "Actually, that's a lie. This fight is all
about you; I'm doing this for you. Please understand that I really have
to do this for your sake." 

"For me? So this fight is dedicated to me? How sweet." Caitlin laughed
hollowly. "Isn't it just like before, when you fought the Great War of
Oz? When you studied the secrets of alchemy? Weren't those times
dedicated to me as well?" she rhetorically demanded with more than a
hint of bitterness in her voice. "I've had just about enough of your
help."

A brief pang of hurt crossed the alchemist's amber eyes, his tapered jaw
stiffening before he altogether declared, "Sorry. I didn't make myself
completely clear. I'm doing this for Caitlin Glass. Since the very
beginning, everything that I've done, I've devoted to her. You're in no
position to argue, since you're not her." The winged girl staggered back
as if she had just been slapped.

"Am I the only one who isn't able to follow this conversation?" a
confused Kuwabara asked an equally bemused Ayame. "The little boy said
that he's not fighting for the girl, then he backpedals and says that he
_is_ fighting for the girl, and now he says that he's fighting for
another girl with the same name... God, I have a headache."

"Oh, so this is about a woman? Okay, I understand now." Stepping inside
Eric's reach, Yusuke shot his arm out with inhuman speed and punched his 
opponent in the face. The sound of the strike echoed through the barren
hallway like a gunshot, and Eric stumbled rearward. The world spun
hazily in several directions at once as he used his metal tentacles to
keep himself from falling.

"Snap out of it, you little snot! You can't kill me, you can't knock me
out, and you haven't got a chance in hell of beating me. You got in a
couple of lucky shots, and that's it. If you had a brain in your head,
you'd call it a day and get out of here while I'm still feeling
generous. Keep this crap up, and somebody's going to mistake you for an
annoying little prick and turn you into pulp. Probably me. Get it?"

"Stop. Calling. Me. LITTLE!" Eric crouched down and touched the ground
as blinding energy bolts danced around his arms. Consequently, smooth
and large marble spikes shot out of the floor so fast that they tore
through the remainder of Yusuke's gilded armor, leaving him a bloodied
and bruised mess. 

"Enough of this, Eric!" The angel girl covered her face with her hands
and knelt down, weeping in hopeless torment. Through muffled sobs, she
reasoned, "Even... even the real Caitlin Glass would never approve of
what you're doing!"
 
Eric coolly replied, "You cannot stop this fight, woman. This man has
come at a very opportune time; he can help us. He can help you in
particular, and he must do so since he owes me my limbs. With his soul,
I can soon restore you to what you once were. I can turn you back into
the real Caitlin Glass."

Yusuke had just about enough of the alchemist's nonsensical ramblings.
"You're in no position to judge whether or not she's really herself; and
I definitely don't owe you a DAMN THING!" The armor-less Tin Woodman
steamrolled forward, punching and kicking the sharp marble cones into
rubble and debris as if they were made out of cheap Styrofoam.

"Good boy. Now come here and give me what's rightfully mine; your SOUL!"
After swiftly metamorphosing his mechanical arm into a rail gun, Eric
aimed and fired nine-inch long steel spears at the stampeding Urameshi.
A frantic tinkling of a bell was then heard amidst the chaos.

To the alchemist's mild shock, Caitlin suddenly flew into his line of
fire and blocked his shots with her body. To Yusuke's anger, the Seraph
didn't even so much as b link as he continued shooting holes in the young
girl until the barbed bullets finally hit his intended target.

Accordingly, Ayame turned white as a sheet as Kuwabara struggled against
his myriad of bonds in frustration. Kurama himself reflexively fiddled
with the rose hidden underneath his thick mane despite the fact that he 
currently possessed no spirit power to change the flower into a Rose
Whip.

"Eric Weldard, you sick MOTHERFUCKER! How can you do this to the girl
you're supposed to help? Have you no _conscience_?!" Yusuke wailed as he
slid on the floor and crashed into the remaining spikes, leaving behind
a slick trail of blood. 

"Conscience? You dare speak to me of conscience? Only when you have
felt the full gravity of choice may you dare speak to me of conscience!"
was Eric's rebuttal to Yusuke's accusations as he reloaded his rail gun.
"If you really are concerned about her, then stand still. The sooner I
get this over with, the quicker she can turn back into--"

"GO TO HELL, YOU FUCKTARD!" Yusuke blinked into nonexistence, then
reappeared just inches from Eric's face to deliver a rabbit punch to the
winged alchemist's stomach, and followed it up by breaking his enemy's
firearm in half and driving its pointed end deep into the Seraph's
fleshy thigh.

Eric screamed and clutched at the makeshift dagger just as Yusuke
twisted the barb hard and rolled to safety. The half-demon then doubled
back and drove his balled-up fists full-force into the angel boy's chest
and midsection. "HYAKU RETSU-KEN!"

The multitude of strikes hit home. Eric Weldard was blown backwards
across the Witch's Arena, plowing a great trench in the turf as he went.
After somehow managing to return to a vertical base, the petite Seraph
painfully pulled the broken rail gun out of his calf, summoned alchemic
energy with his remaining hand, and fashioned a gigantic cannon using
one of the heavily-fortified entrance doors and the remnants of his
artificial arm. 

Eric was just about to snap his fingers and fire a blazing bombshell of
pure hurricane force towards the luckless hanyou when a firm hand
clamped down on his wrist and dragged him rearward. Angrily, he turned
and glared at the one who pulled him back, only to recant and gape in
surprise. "A-Alfred?"

A huge suit of armor that was almost as wide as Eric was tall suddenly
grabbed the Seraph's remaining arm. It was gigantic, like a walking
tank, with a demonic faceplate that had curling ram's horns on the sides
and red eyes whose crimson glow would be more appropriate in the pits of
hell than on any mortal being. "What do you think you're doing, Al? I
have this Urameshi guy right where I want him! Let me go!"

Just then, a sudden light flared in the shadows of the room, and a small
boy dressed in ivory robes appeared, standing placidly next to the
enchanted armor. He looked to be about twelve, and had short golden hair
not unlike Eric's that glittered softly in the glow cast by the silvery
wings that rose from his back.

"No, brother," the ghostly apparition of Alfred Weldard said firmly,
wagging his finger in reproof as the mechanical golem continued to hold
his older brother back. "You're staying right here. This fight is none
of your concern, and none of your business."
 
"The hell it isn't! Those are _my_ limbs that Urameshi took! And just
now, he tore my arm off again. Equivalent Exchange demands that I seek
compensation!" was Eric's infantile gripe, making his younger brother
seem more like the mature one of the two siblings. "I need Urameshi as a 
sacrifice to rescue the real Caitlin Glass... _our_ Caitlin... from the
Gates of Purgatory. You understand, right? I'm doing this so that _your_
sacrifice won't be in vain, Al! I--"

"Would you listen to yourself, Eric? You're beginning to sound just like
the Witch!" Alfred reproached in an innocent yet sagely voice that
belied the contradiction of his age. "Equivalent Exchange isn't about
petty revenge and manipulating people to get what you want. It certainly
isn't about shooting at Caitlin so that you can force her to become the
girl that you once knew. I don't think it means what you think it
means."

"How dare you! That law is my one and only truth! What you're saying is
blasphemy!" Eric all but cried out in hateful anguish. To be betrayed by
his brother and the girl who used to be the most important woman in his
life had finally pushed him to the edge.

"That law is a flawed law. Once upon a time, I too believed that to be
the world's one and only truth. But the world isn't perfect, and the law
is incomplete." Alfred's ghost smiled wryly at his brother. "But I still
choose to believe in its principle: that all things do come at a price.
That there's an ebb, and a flow, a cycle. That the pain we went through
did have a reward and that anyone who's determined and perseveres will
get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected. I
just don't think of Equivalent Exchange as a law of the world anymore.
So give it a rest and let go, brother. It's over... it's all over."

Ayame shivered as she felt the cold, tingling sensation of fear crawl
down her spine like a thousand centipedes. "Kuwabaka-kun, just who the
heck is that Weldard boy talking to? And why is that the scary metal
robot holding him back?

"How the hell should I know?" Kuwabara irately demanded as he kept his
own portentous shivers to himself, adding, "And for god's sake, don't
call me 'Kuwabaka', woman! It sounds like something that a fourteen year
old girl convinced that she's being funny would come up with!"

"An opening!" Yusuke suddenly shouted, also unaware of the dramatic but
private exchange between the Weldard Brothers as he fired off his
"Spirit-Powerless SHOTGUN!" at Eric's ornate metal cannon, breaking it
apart in one fell blow.

Just as the agitated Tin Woodman turned his attentions to the dazed and
disoriented alchemist, the purple-winged, shades-wearing Balinese
emerged from out of nowhere and used a web of his taut piano wire to
keep Yusuke at bay. "I was just on my way here to fetch you four when I 
overheard your little... dispute. Please go easy on Eric Weldard, Tin
Woodman. He's been through a lot."

"Dammit! Let me through, Seraph!" Yusuke bellowed to the Second
Commander of the Howaido Kurosu. "I don't care what that midget's been
through! He tried to kill me, talks to imaginary voices in his head, and
shoots people while claiming that it's for their own good! That psycho
doesn't deserve mercy, he deserves a lynching!"

"If you kill him, then you might as well kill me too," a bloodied
Caitlin remarked to Yusuke as she slowly rose from the floor, the
chiming of the bell around her neck sounding strangely muted for some
reason. "That is, if you _can_ kill me. Death has long given up on me."

With a slight wince, the lone female Seraph extricated the long metal
spines that skewered her body, her resulting wounds healing at an
absurdly phenomenal rate. Her torn clothes revealed that her left breast
bore the mark of the Ouroburos, the self-consuming serpent. "Like Eric
said, I'm not really Caitlin; I'm a homunculus, a humanoid byproduct of
a botched human transmutation."

"H-Homunculus?" the four captive travelers said in unwitting chorus as
Eric suddenly turned pensive... almost sad. He looked away from the
group, his eyes not focusing on anything in particular.

Balinese coughed several times in order to get everyone's attention.
"Let me explain what the pretty but bloody young girl is trying to say
by means of a love story... a _tragic_ love story." In spite of the
collective looks of incredulity aimed at his person, the birdman with
the teal-brown mane pressed on with his tale. "Once upon a time, Eric
Weldard and his brother Alfred fell in love with the same Ozite girl;
their mutual childhood friend, Caitlin Glass. Aside from your usual
chestnut love triangle, other complications arose from this problematic 
situation; the Weldard brothers were, at the time, Winged Monkeys under
the command of the then-Wicked Witch of the West, so their love for the
human girl was obviously a forbidden one.

"But young Eric and Alfred were not to be denied, so they consequently
studied alchemy together under the tutelage of the Witch in order to
learn the secret of turning themselves into real human boys. In return,
they promised the Witch to use what they've learned to aid her in her
time of great need; this was so because the Witch herself feared the
risk and sacrifice involved in performing alchemy and would never
voluntarily use it herself, even though she was fully capable of doing
so."

The leather-clad Seraph halted briefly from his storytelling and checked
his riveted audience's reaction. He nodded once in curt approval. "Well,
in the middle of the brothers' training, the Great War between Oz and
the Land of the West erupted, and many of their fellow Winged Monkeys
succumbed against the combined forces of the Munchkins, Quadlings, and
Gilikins. Their backs forced against a wall, Eric and Alfred mutually
decided to use the volatile art of human transmutation to help in the
war effort, just as they had promised the Witch. They used the souls of
the fallen as a tribute to transform the Golden Cap into the more
powerful Golden Tiara and, in turn, used it to transmute the surviving
Winged Monkeys into the human-like Winged Seraphs. The tides eventually
turned, and the war started to go in the favor of the Witch."

Balinese went beside the self-proclaimed homunculus girl, patted her
blonde head affectionately, and wiped the stray bits of blood and tears
on her face with a mauve handkerchief. "Alas, tragedy struck. In the
ensuing chaos of the final moments of the Great War, thousands of Ozites
died, including the Weldard brothers' dear sweet lady love, Caitlin.
Eric himself lost his wings during this time, while his little brother
Alfred lost his will to live after enduring so many traumatizing events
at such a young age. Not wanting to see his big brother and his first
love suffer, Alfred decided to offer himself and Eric's amputated wings
as a tribute to revive the deceased Ozite girl and turn her into an
'angel' of sorts. Unfortunately, something went wrong..."

"SHUT UP! Shut up, Balinese, or so help me, I'll--!" Eric threatened,
but stopped altogether as the Alfred Weldard inside his mind said,
"That's enough, big brother. Let Balinese finish his story." The
sentient armor punctuated the statement by tightening its grip on Eric's
wrist.

Balinese was oblivious to the Seraphic Alchemist's furious dissent as he 
proclaimed, "The Caitlin Glass that you see right now is a homunculus.
Whether due to the loss of a loved one or simply foolish curiosity,
human transmutations are attempted; that is to say, the attempted
resurrection of a dead person. Unfortunately, when these attempts
backfire, a separate life is created. That is how the damned are born.
That is a homunculus; this particular homunculus is very much like the
_real_ Caitlin in nearly all aspects save for a few major differences.
One, she now has Eric's original wings on her back as a result of
Alfred's attempt at reviving her. Two, she cannot die because three, her 
humanoid body does not possess the real Caitlin's soul."

"It's true. Everything he said is true," Caitlin confirmed as she
removed the circular bell on her choker, cracked it open and revealed
to everyone the shining, ruby-red crystal inside it. "This Living Stone
is the only thing that's keeping me alive as of now. On initial
creation, homunculi do not possess human features, but rather resemble
hideous beings of decay. If left alone, I probably would've remained in
that deformed and helpless state; but by feeding on this Living Stone, I
gained the ability to take human shape, specifically the appearance of
the human whose attempted resurrection created me, as well as my ability
to regenerate at will."

The four wanderers were left speechless by the revelations; what was
left for them to say anyway? Everything that could have been said about
the situation had already been said at that point in time, and by then
the whole affair was obviously way out of their hands. Wordlessly,
Balinese motioned the foursome to come follow him and leave the Seraphic
Alchemist, the Animated Metal Golem, and the Homunculus Girl alone to
their melancholic machinations.

Losing his will to fight, Yusuke finally gave in to his exhaustion and
collapsed unwittingly into Kuwabara's arms, to both their chagrin. Ayame
herself wanted to say something, anything, to her recently met,
strawberry-blonde acquaintance before leaving, but Kurama gently prodded
her forward before she even got the chance to do so. In a few minutes,
the alchemic trio was left alone by the peripatetic quartet and the
Howaido Kurosu second commander.

"What now, Eric Weldard?" Caitlin straightforwardly challenged. "Have
you already figured it all out or do I still need to spell things out
for you? Any attempt at using human transmutation to revive people is
doomed to fail and result in a homunculus, mainly for two reasons:
because human transmutation requires Equivalent Exchange, and there is
nothing that is worth the equivalence of a soul; and because the dead
aren't supposed to come back to life."

"No. No. You're obviously mistaken. There has to be another way, some
sort of trick for me to execute a perfect human transmutation, like the
one that Al and I did to ourselves and the rest of the Winged Monkeys!"
Eric ranted in a panicky tone that was bordering on the fringes of
lunacy. "There must be a way for me to set things right. There must!"

And then Eric cried. His familiar defenses were down. He stood before
her, more open and vulnerable than she had ever beheld him before in the
short time that she had known him. She didn't want to see him like this,
and yet the despair in his voice filled her with concern and longing,
and all she wanted in the world was to reach out and wipe the wetness
from his face, touch his skin, feel his warmth on her hands, her lips...

But she couldn't. Not anymore. Or perhaps she never could, because she
wasn't Caitlin Glass; she could never be her, no matter how hard she
tried, or how many prosthetic limbs she made, or how good she mimicked
her predecessor's quirky behavior. From the very beginning, Eric had
deemed her an unworthy substitute for the deceased Ozite girl. She was
merely the last remaining means to the end of bringing the real Caitlin
back, nothing more. But even in that respect, she had failed; human 
transmutation was clearly not the answer to their problems. Was there
really no hope for them to escape this terrible, tragic fate? 

With an inaudible mental click, Caitlin suddenly had an epiphany of
sorts: Yes, there was a way... a way to fix things for the better. It
was neither a magical nor miraculous solution, but it was something that
made perfect sense to her given the circumstances. She repeated her
musings to Eric in not so many words.

"Really? Then what is it? Tell me, woman!" Eric demanded as he grabbed
hold of the girl's shoulders and shook her, his probing eyes manically
intense. "Tell me so that I can finally turn you into a complete human
being!"

Instead of telling Eric how, Caitlin showed him: She took hold of her
cherished ruby-like gem and then clasped it tightly inside the Seraph's
remaining hand. The Living Stone reacted almost immediately to the
alchemist's potent touch as it started to continuously pulsate
effervescent beams of crimson light at the rate of a heartbeat.

"No, Caitlin! Brother! Please don't!" little Alfred Weldard beseeched
after figuring out exactly where the conversation was going. Meanwhile,
his spiritual hold on the armor started to gradually wear off, making it
lurch to and fro like a swing. But at that point, neither Eric nor
Caitlin could hear his erstwhile pleas.

A rainbow of emotions crossed Eric's features, ranging from confusion,
pensiveness, anger, denial, to begrudged acceptance within the span of
a couple of minutes. With tightlipped resolve and definite finality, he
stated, "I understand. Let's do it."

"Okay, then. Let me just seal this deal with a kiss, Eric dear," Caitlin
boldly proposed as she poignantly smiled at the Seraphic Alchemist.
She meant the statement as a joke, but once Eric recovered from his
initial shock, he nodded to her in acquiescence, to her bemusement.
Before she could even let out a squeal of protest, his face was already
inches from hers, and she couldn't help herself but melt into the kiss
with a sigh, curling her arms around his neck and letting the smaller
boy hang off of her. The Living Stone's inner light throbbed faster as
the angel and the homunculus, the blessed and the damned, unhurriedly
kissed.

Caitlin gently puckered her lips in soundless anticipation; for the
first time in her entire life, she could act as if she really was
Caitlin Glass and Eric was returning her unreciprocated affections at
long last. During this one instance, she could pretend that she was
happy and content through blissfully-sweet denial.

Soon, as the kiss deepened, so did the homunculus's innocent yearnings
and fantasies. It was as if she was suffocating and the only way for
her to breath again was through Eric's mouth. Before long, the rest of
the world melted into trivial inconsequence as the alchemic circle
materialized for one last time. 

Like a puppet whose strings have been cut, the armor slumped down on
the ground just as Caitlin's Living Stone eroded into fine red powder.
As the dust settled, the only things left of the Seraph and the
homunculus were their pool of torn clothes, prosthetic limbs, steel
wings, and a broken bell fastened onto a choker.


***


Meanwhile, just outside the Witch's Castle, two figures stood in the
darkness of a rundown alley. One figure, the smaller one, was in a 
defensive stance. The other loomed over him.

"Whatever the circumstance, I enjoy seeing you suffer," the tall and
ominous-looking Abyssinian insisted, idly swinging a long, shining
katana as mystical energy glowed in his eyes, "because it makes life
worth living."

"Why the hell are you doing this? Have you lost your mind?" Nimbus
Discord seethed as his trembling hands grasped the hilt of his iron
broadsword. He already had several gashes all over his body, as well as
a small trickle of blood below his chapped lips.

The first commander of the Howaido Kurosu threw his head back and began
to cackle. It was a crazed, warbling laugh that stretched on for much
longer than should have been possible without needing breath. He cradled 
Thoriphes's Muramasa in his arms like a newborn babe. "I told you... I
told all of you. I will not remain a memory."

"You...!" was Discord's response. With only the slightest of pauses, he
prepared his next attack. "Bastard. I'll make sure that this time, not
even a memory of you will be left."


***


"Poor Caitlin! To think, just minutes before she confronted that crazy
Eric Weldard person, she gave me this beautiful green dress! A nice
person like her doesn't deserve the bum deal she got," Ayame blubbered 
pathetically as she followed the rest of the motley crew inside the
yawning hallways leading to the Witch's Throne Room. "And even though
he's obviously a psycho, I kind of feel bad for Eric as well. He only
wanted to bring back to life his lady love and get revenge for his
cutoff limbs. Even though I don't approve of his methods, I can't help
but feel sorry for him, given the circumstances."

"Are you kidding me? You feel sorry for Chuuku junior? Jeez, even though
he has the ol' 'doing it for a dead girlfriend' excuse, he still went
too far," Kuwabara commented. "I can't forgive people who'd hit a girl
and then say it's for their own good."

"I agree wholeheartedly with the Scarecrow!" Balinese cheerfully chimed
in, nodding sagely. "Women shouldn't be treated like that. They deserve
much better."

Ayame raised a skeptical eyebrow at the tied-up Scarecrow, too
distracted with incredulity to pay attention to the teal-haired Seraph's
remark. "What the heck's a Chuuku? You're making up words again,
Kuwabaka-kun. Besides, I'm not saying that Eric's actions were
reasonable, I'm just saying that I know where he's coming from and that
he's a good person deep down inside. Don't you agree, Urameshi-kun?" 

"Eh?" Yusuke muttered incoherently as his head snapped back in
attention. After the fog in his mind lifted, he spouted out a rather
impressive and acerbic rant for someone who was had just fought a
grueling life-or-death battle.

"Well, excuse me for not feeling sorry for the shrimp, seeing that my
neck was on the line at the time, but I have to agree with carrot top.
Not that I'd mind helping somebody save his loved one or anything, but
would it kill that blond dweeb to ask nicely? I mean, I was willing to
save Kurama's kaasan at the risk of my life once upon a time, and Kurama
didn't even need to blackmail me or anything to do it! But I'm not so
sure that I'm willing to do the same thing for that Eric fellow; he had
too many issues to deal with from the get go. I don't think that
reviving his girlfriend will do much in improving his disposition, if
you know what I mean." 

Ayame pursed her lips in thought. "Well, I admit, you kind of got a
point there, but still--" She then cut herself off, reddening in
embarrassment as, for the first time since Yusuke's momentous duel
against the Seraphic Alchemist, she got a _real_ good look at the half-
demon boy. Or should she say half-naked demon boy? Save for a few bits
and pieces, all of Urameshi's gilded armor was completely shorn off,
revealing the rest of his 'fleshier' bits. The girl of dreams shrieked
in delight. 'Shock, not delight! SHOCK!'

Kuwabara blinked obliviously, turned his head, looked at the person
slung over his shoulder, thusly snickered, then gave him an appreciative
hoot and thumbs-up sign. "Nice boxers, Urameshi. Hey, are those floral
prints, champ?"

"T-Those are trilo... trilo... trilobites, not flowers!" he snapped
whilst giving himself a proverbial pat on the back for pronouncing such
a difficult foreign word correctly on his first try. "Besides, big deal,
so I'm walking around in my boxers. You should see what all those
Seraphs _aren't_ wearing; talk about tacky! Ain't that right, Ayame?" He
turned over to the girl of dreams then bit his lips in obvious concern.
"...Um, Ayame?"

"Yeah, those trilobites sure look mighty tasty, girly," Kuwabara chided 
the stupefied female as he slyly smirked. After a few more moments of
awkward stillness, he added, "Not that you need my permission or
anything, but you can stop staring at Urameshi's trousers now."

Ayame balked once she realized what she was doing, then hastily turned
away from the two boys, her face as red as a beet. "Pardon me! I-I'm
really sorry about that," she squeaked in a tiny, diffident voice.

Seeing the sorry state Ayame was in, Kuwabara relented slightly from his
teasing. With what constituted as a comforting voice for him, he
intoned, "I know you're embarrassed and everything, but you know what,
Ayame? It's okay. Now, imagine yourself back in your room, sleeping
peacefully. If you go up a little, you'll be at the roof of your house.
If you go further up, you'll be able to see the lights of Tokyo. If you
go further up, you'll be able to see Japan. If you go further, further
up, you'll be able to see the Earth." The flame-haired adolescent let
out a dramatic sigh. "Well, that's pretty much all there is to it."

Ayame waited for all of five seconds before exclaiming, "HUH? What in
the blue hell are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense, you
retard!"

To spare Ayame any further shame--and confusion--Balinese hurriedly
announced, "Hate to break the party, gentlemen... my dear lady... but
we've arrived at the Witch's Throne Room. Enter if you dare."

"Finally! Let's get this over with," Kuwabara said, lifting his bound
fists and cracking his bare knuckles as if he was going to a street
fight while Yusuke concurred, "I'm with stupid. Let's go."

Ayame, on her part, shuffled bemusedly towards Kurama's side and hid
herself from the rest of her companions' view. The red-haired fox spirit 
supportively held the girl's hand as he trudged on forward.

Balinese opened the humongous Throne Room doors and the four wanderers
boldly walked through. They soon found themselves in a wonderful,
magical place; a big, round room with a high-arched roof, and the walls
and ceiling and floor were covered with large emeralds set closely
together. In the center of the roof was a great light, as bright as the
sun, which made the emeralds sparkle in a wonderful manner.

"The second pillar of light," Kurama unconsciously murmured to himself.
But what interested him and the rest of his cohorts the most was the big
throne of green marble that stood in the middle of the room. It was
shaped like a chair and sparkled with gems, as did everything else. It
was also surrounded by a sea of green cloth that further highlighted its
majestic splendor. In the center of the chair was an enormous head,
without a body to support it or any arms or legs whatsoever. There was
no hair upon this head, but it had eyes and a nose and mouth, and was
much bigger than the head of the biggest giant.

As the foursome gazed upon the curious spectacle in wonder and fear, the
head's eyes turned slowly and looked at them sharply and steadily. Then
its mouth moved, and they heard a shrill voice say, "I am the Wicked
Witch of Oz. For trespassing in my domain, you shall be executed!"

The disembodied voice waited for all of three seconds before chortling
and amending, "Psych! This big, globe-head thingy is just one of the
many toys that the Wizard left after I booted him out of the Emerald
City; I amuse myself with it from time to time. Now if you'd please
direct your attention to the people behind the curtains..."

"What in the world...?" a befuddled Kuwabara started to say as he
involuntarily let go of an equally-shocked Yusuke. The former Tin
Woodman, on his part, didn't even seem to mind his near fall as he
staggered to his feet and kept his boggling eyes trained at the sea of
silken jade. The pair afterwards followed the rest of the party into the
scene that lay beyond the green drapery.

Balinese opened the curtains and the quartet was treated with a stunning
view of an even larger room lined with all sorts of oddball gadgets and 
accessories that presumably belonged to the original ruler of Oz, the
Terrible Humbug Wizard. It looked like something out of a technologist's 
nightmare: fantastic devices of all shapes and sizes composed of rods
and levers and pulleys and cogs, pistons and flywheels and other parts
that none of them could name.

Upon further inspection of their immediate environs, the quartet quickly
became conscious of the fact that Balinese wasn't the only Seraph in
their midst; the sheer amount of feathers inside the massive quarters
should have been their first clue. Indeed, they were encircled--perhaps
even trapped and snared--by a flock of gorgeous young male angels who
sported pointed chins, hairless and cherubically-feminine faces, a
rainbow of passionate eyes, variegated and feathery locks, slim and
topless forms, and a myriad of immense and powerful wings on their
backs.

Almost impossibly, Ayame's cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red
than before, like that of a bottle of fine Burgundy; she was now
veritably drunk with embarrassment, and she certainly looked the part.
Any further blushing and her head would have exploded.

"Oh my! I thought we saw every last Seraph during the time that they
attacked us, but I was wrong! We only saw a fraction of their true
numbers! Just look at all the pretty boys gathering together in this
room! But of course, you're the prettiest one here, Minamino-kun!" Ayame
dazedly said, then felt her heart stop for nearly five seconds. She
afterwards hid her flustered face behind her hands, squealing, "I can't
believe I just said that out loud!"

The half-youko ghost gave the astral projection of his classmate's
consciousness a strained, lopsided grin. "Um, thanks for the
compliment, Ayame-san."

"Er..." Yusuke mumbled, the words at the back of his throat caught
inside a sudden upsurge of his own bewilderment. "My goodness, it's as
if we've come to the wrong costume party. They're trying out a 'Topless
Birdmen Strippers at a Sci-Fi Convention' theme, I'm guessing. Very
original, if I do say so myself."

"Jeez, and here I thought that the topless thing only happened during
their sorties. These poor monkeys go home topless as well." The bound-
but-not-gagged Scarecrow shook his head in dismay while making clucking
noises with his tongue. "They're the Witch's own personal source of
barely-legal entertainment. Talk about turning the gender role tables;
it's an Amazonian's Harem in here!"

Yusuke considered that. Tilting his head to one side as he gazed at the
idly-chattering angels, he concluded, "Actually, come to think of it,
this seems more like a fangirl's paradise to me." 

One particular 'fangirl' was doing her very best to focus her attention
on anything and anywhere but the nigh-nude Seraphs; an impossible task,
seeing that the transmuted winged monkeys were literally scattered in
every possible direction.

But through her own stubbornness, Ayame was able to catch sight of yet
another remarkable yet flabbergasting vision; today was just not her
day, it would seem. "M-Minamino-kun, look over there!" she hastily
blathered, her voice breaking slightly.

Following the girl of dream's eagerly pointing finger, Kurama turned and
noticed a familiar-looking girl sitting patiently at the back of the
enormous, curtain-covered throne. The ghostly fox's grass-green eyes
widened like saucers after he identified just who the young woman was.

The placid female was dressed in a scandalously threadbare, form-fitting
white blouse and short green skirt, with a thin pink ribbon tied around
her neck that hung over her bosom like a bow tie. Her light auburn-brown
locks draped down to the small of her back as dangling round earrings
jingled from her ears like door chimes. There was a tray filled with an
extensive collection of expensive jewelry lying right next to her like a
plate of gemstone hors d'oeuvres. 

"Well, well. Look at what we have here!" the girl exclaimed excitedly,
clapping her hands in a playful manner. She casually tossed her long
hair, making her earrings shake in a mesmerizing manner. She did her
trademark finger-wagging gesture as she raised an eyebrow at her four
visitors. "I wasn't really expecting company, but oh well. Welcome.
Welcome to the Wondrous World of me, Sasae Chiho! I'm sure the pleasure
is all yours."

"Ch-Ch-Chiho-san?!" Kurama and Ayame disbelievingly stuttered in unison
as Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged blank stares of obliviousness. "You're
the Wicked Witch of Oz?" the half-youko supplemented rhetorically.

"It's nice to see you again, Minamino-sama. I hope you're doing fine.
And please, don't call me the 'Wicked' Witch of Oz... That's so passe.
I'd prefer it if you refer to me from now on as the _Wondrous_ Witch of
Oz." Chiho Sasae beamed regally, then stuck out her lower lip as she
noticed the roughhoused state of Kurama and his two other cohorts. "The
Seraphs weren't too hard on you, I hope. These silly boys can be so... 
vivacious at times!"

The self-proclaimed Wondrous Witch motioned towards the birdmen.
"Nevertheless," she elucidated in a dry and rustling voice, "they are
still my darlings." As if on cue, an overenthusiastic Seraph suddenly
emerged from the throng of winged boys and sat beside the Wondrous
Witch. He beamed at his mistress with longing reminiscent of a newborn
to his mother.

"Here you go again with your brownnosing, Ishobus," another angel boy 
remarked sarcastically as he leisurely sauntered towards Chiho,
snorting at his companion's garish eagerness. "Just look at yourself;
have you no shame?" 

"Humph. Like you're any better, Ishobima," Ishobus retorted in kind, his
dazzling smile never fading as he spoke through grit teeth. "How
two-faced, my dear brother."

The bickering siblings were both completely identical, from their sandy-
blond locks to their muscular builds and tapered chins; right down to
having matching headbands wrapped around their foreheads and their
fanatical devotion to the Wondrous Witch.

Chiho smiled warmly at the pair and cooed, "Mommy is so proud of her
dedicated little angels! Oh yes she is!" She gleefully bobbed her head
from side to side and twirled a finger in her hair as the twins let her
pat them on their heads, pinch them on their cheeks, and butterfly kiss
them on their foreheads like they were little tots barely out of
kindergarten. The loyal brothers, in spite of themselves, inwardly
groaned.

"Oh my goodness! It is you, Chiho-san!" Ayame said in awed wonder as she 
unconsciously covered her agape mouth with trembling hands. "You're the
only person I know who manages to sound condescending even when you're
trying to be nice to people!"

>From there, the side-burned girl started to quickly backpedal from her
initial verdict, blabbering, "B-But you can't possibly be the Wicked
Witch! You'd never actually try to hurt me and Minamino! I mean, we're
your classmates... your _friends_, aren't we? Well, aren't we? Please,
explain yourself!" 

Chiho didn't seem to hear Ayame's pleadings as she sweetly remarked, 
"Aya-chan! Long time, no see! I hope you liked the dress I asked Caitlin
to give to you. Consider it a partial payment for all the dresses you've
let me borrow." Pausing for a bit to close her friend's slack jaw by
moving in close and cupping her hand over the dreamy girl's chin, the
Wondrous Witch continued, "It's a good thing that the Seraphs didn't
harm you in any way; they have a tendency of doing so unless I tell them
not to."

"I... noticed," Ayame replied lamely as she cast a guilty look at the
bruised and battered trio of Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara. She did an
anxious double-take at the party's designated Scarecrow; the muscular,
orange-haired oaf was currently giving Chiho a pointed, mad-eyed glare.
"Hey! What's with that dirty look, Kuwabaka-kun?"

"So this is the bimbo who's been causing us trouble; the same 'Wondrous'
Witch who sent all those birds and bees and wolves and monkeys-turned-
boy-toys to kick our asses, eh?" Kuwabara snarled, his upper lip arched
and his canines bared as he heatedly strained against his rope-and-chain
bonds.

Chiho contemptuously sniffed and turned her head away from the enraged
young man. "And just who is this... ugly person standing right over
there? The tied-up one with the dinky hat, I mean. Is he a hobo you
picked up along the way, Minamino-sama?"

Just then, Kuwabara exploded, spitting fire and brimstone. "I've had
just about enough of you, lady! It's not my policy to involve girls in
a fight, but goddammit, you deserve a spanking at the very least!" From
behind him, Balinese looked as if he was just struck by a heavy club. 

"It's actually speaking to me! Disgusting." The Witch shook and shivered
in utter revulsion as she went back to her feathered seat just behind
the throne. "My dear twin angels, will you please get that filthy man
away from me? How dare he growl at my presence like some mangy mongrel!
I don't want him anywhere near me, understand?" 

"We understand, our mistress," Ishobus and Ishobima said as one, staring 
hatefully at Kuwabara with unyielding abhorrence. They felt particularly 
compelled to follow their capricious queen's latest whim because, aside
from their obvious loyalty to her, they very much wanted revenge for all
the humiliation they suffered under the hands of the replacement
Scarecrow.

"After you, Ishobus."

"No, no. I want you to do the honors, Ishobima."

But that did not necessarily mean that they weren't going to 'savor the
moment' of their vengeance, so to speak.

"Then I must insist that we do it together," Ishobima said with a grin.
"Let's just kill him quickly; this one will take us no time at all."

"Very well, though two against one is hardly fair," said Ishobus
indolently as he ponderously got up to his feet.

"Enough talk!" Kuwabara cried as he focused his wild, reddened, and
incensed eyes on his two hapless targets. His anger had finally reached
its boiling point, his bonds slackening with the strain of his rage-
fueled strength.

"Kuwabara, no," Yusuke noncommittally said as Ayame let out a voiceless
shriek. Without further ceremony, the Amish-garbed Scarecrow streaked
towards the twin Seraphs; an angry bull with no intention of giving
his quarries any time to react. At that very same instant, Ishobus
immediately went to the air while Ishobima remained on the ground and
flapped his wings at the speed of a hummingbird's flutter to produce
enough wind and feathers to obfuscate the livid young man's sight. 

Not to be outdone, Kuwabara slinked through his loosened bonds like some
sort of greased-up python then blindly hurled the mishmash of metal and
fiber at the nearest twin in one smooth motion. The hasty beating of
Ishobima's wings only helped to entangle him further in an inescapable
net of rope and chain. Desperately, the angel clumsily lunged at his
adversary.

Ducking under the Seraph's extended arm, Kuwabara darted forward and
drove his knee into the birdman's stomach. In the span of one breath,
the Scarecrow punched Ishobima twice in the ribs, circled around him
and gave him a parting kick to the spine as he leapt clear.

Before Ishobus even caught sight of his brother's predicament, Kuwabara
was already arching through the air care of his mighty leap using
Ishobima's back as a springboard. He wrapped the last of his chains
around his right fist then bellowed, "The final blow!" just before he
slammed into the last angelic twin like a living bombshell. They both
went down to the green marble floor shortly thereafter.

The force of the impact kicked up a shower of debris and dust. The rest
of the spectators of both Human and Seraph waited for the smoke to
clear, trying vainly to see the outcome of the battle through the thick,
dusty fog.

The literally Scarecrow-like silhouette of Kuwabara emerged from the
white smoke a second later. "Well, I guess that takes care of that," he
said smugly as he dusted himself off. "If any of you other assholes want
to take a crack at me, you're all welcome to try. But as far as I'm
concerned, it's now the Wicked Bitch of the West's turn to face the
righteous indignation of my right hand, Mister Slap-Happy! Either that
or I'll just splash her with a bucket of cold water."

But something was amiss; just as the Scarecrow began to turn towards
Chiho Sasae, a spark of righteous indignation burning in his eyes, his
muscles suddenly tensed and his body ceased movement. Then, as if he
were on suicidal autopilot, he abruptly reached for his neck and
clamped his hands tightly around his throat. 

"I-Is he choking on his spit or something?" Ayame worriedly asked
Kurama as she eyed the suffocating Scarecrow warily. "This looks bad."

Concomitantly, Yusuke incredulously demanded, "What the hell are you
doing, Kuwabara?" as his friend continued to inexplicably asphyxiate
himself for several more minutes. "If this is some sort of joke, then 
it's not funny! Quit it."

"I-It's not me! S-Something's... making me... do this..." Kuwabara
burbled as his own throttling grip gradually became tighter. "I...
can't control... Heee--lp!" His whispered and strained cries were
inaudible even to himself, his consciousness wavering between darkness
and light. His body felt like lead, and his lungs seemed to have shrunk
to nothing, as if they were being crushed by an anvil. He felt as if he
was burning from the inside out.

"Kuwabaka-kun...?"

"Kuwabara-kun!"

"KUWABARA!"

The fear came in torrents now. The sheer terror of being conscious of
his own impending death was something he had always expected he would
experience, but he still dreaded it all the same. Kuwabara spent
horrifying seconds gasping for air, each breath more painful than the
last. The world shivered and lost color as he unwillingly deprived
himself of precious oxygen, his pupils rolling up so high that only the
whites of his eyes were visible. At that point, Urameshi had had enough.
The sleek-haired half-demon charged forward, still quite the
intimidating figure despite his ridiculous boxers; like a Muay Thai
champion ready for battle.

"Don't move another step, Tin Woodman, or else I'll finish the Scarecrow
off," the Seraph Balinese intoned plainly to Yusuke, his deep voice 
reverberating inside the now-deathly silent room as everyone watched in
frozen awe of the bizarre display. "Don't force me to do it; don't force
me to kill him." The begrudged half-demon backed down, his brown eyes
flashing red and boring holes at the teal-haired, purple-winged man.

Just then, Urameshi noticed the veritable web of nigh-invisible piano
wires wrapped all around Kuwabara's limbs and legs; apparently, these
strands of tensile thread served as Balinese's way of controlling the 
Scarecrow's movements like some sort of puppeteer. Indeed, just like
when Chuuku possessed his body, Kuwabara had again become another man's
personal marionette. The half-demon ground his teeth in aggravation.

"You hypocrite," Balinese fumed huskily as he turned his attention to
the breathless Kuwabara. "You say one thing, yet you do another; you say
that you can never forgive anyone who'd hit a girl, then you threaten to
do just that minutes later."

The Second Commander of the Howaido Kurosu regiment narrowed his jade-
spectacled eyes and humorlessly smirked. "That, my friend, is simply 
unforgivable. You are woman's enemy, and woman's enemy is my enemy," he
rebuked as he tightened the vice-like hold of his kill-wire around the
Scarecrow's hands just short of cutting his victim's blood circulation.

After a few more seconds of indistinct gurgling on Kuwabara's part,
Chiho airily commanded, "That's quite enough, Balinese. Let go of the
ugly one."

"B-But my queen," Balinese protested, "he insulted you and threatened to
do you bodily harm! As a gentleman, I cannot allow him to get away with
such a thing; as your loyal servant, this goes even doubly so."

"Be that as it may," Chiho started as she offhandedly waved off the
purple birdman's objection with her usual finger-wagging gesture, "I
don't think Minamino-sama would be terribly happy with you killing off
one of his dearest 'friends'. Besides that, I also wouldn't be too
pleased with you getting killed over someone that's beneath my notice;
you're far more important to me than that."

"What? I'm going to get killed over whom? I don't understand--" It was
at that exact moment that Balinese felt the wintry and fearsome presence
of Kurama holding a piece of his own kill-wire over his neck. He had 
absolutely no idea just how and when did the half-youko get behind him;
the mere thought made his throat feel unbearably dry and his face lose
all of its color. Seeing no other option, he relented to the Wondrous
Witch's request and let go of his captive.

Just as Kuwabara slid down to the ground, literally a puppet whose
strings had been cut, Kurama nodded curtly to Balinese and slackened the
kill-wire's grip over the purple birdman's neck. "I hope you understand;
I had to do this. No matter whom, I hate missing any one of the four of
us, and that of course includes Kuwabara-kun."

"Yeah. What he said." Unbidden, Yusuke advanced, crouched down in front
of the kowtowed lavender Seraph, and charged forward with an uppercut
move that sent the winged young man flying into the ceiling and crashing
into the marble floor of the former Wizard of Oz's workshop. 

Teary-eyed and struggling slightly to fully appreciate Yusuke's
handiwork, Kuwabara rasped, "Very good." Then, turning mournfully
towards the dazed and confused Ayame, he humbly mumbled, "Would you mind
untying me?"

"A little," Ayame admitted with a smirk as she began to loosen the mesh
of metallic threads that entangled the rambunctious youth. If it were
not for the strange yet half-apologetic segue that the curly-haired
boy spouted out after he humiliated her in front of Yusuke--something
about going up in the sky and seeing the Earth from a bird's eye view or
something--she wouldn't have felt so generous.

Kurama's features teemed with a plethora of conflicting emotions as he
finally turned and faced the so-called Witch and tried to strike up a
conversation with her. But as he opened his mouth, nothing came out of
it; he was at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say? Or rather,
where was he supposed to start?

Unfazed by his meandering thoughts and unnerving stare, Chiho continued
to perkily beam at Kurama, as if all the outrageous events that had
come to pass never happened. A palpable feeling of tension began to
thicken in the air as everyone yet again remained where they were and
mutely served as spectators to the wordless drama of Chiho Sasae and
Shuichi Minamino.

Kurama apprehensively averted Chiho's jovial gaze and inadvertently got
a good glimpse of the Wondrous Witch's vaguely burlesque state of
undress. He lightly blushed. Under duress, his eyes went further down as
he surveyed just where his classmate's creamy-white thighs and firm
backside were planted on... "What the--?!" He rubbed his eyes several
times until they became sore; indeed, they were not trying to deceive
him.

Upon hearing Kurama's exclamation, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Ayame all
turned to where the half-youko was gawking; soon, they too had varying
degrees of shock in their faces.

There, literally acting as Chiho's throne, lay Hirou Eye on all fours, a
flat look of either embarrassed numbness or insensate apathy filling his 
expression. The Japanese youth's six feathery, fiery-red wings served as
nothing more than cushions for Chiho Sasae's royal behind... And,
apparently, the Seraphic Leader was not alone.

The so-called elite of the Seraphs--all five of them--were placed right
there with the Witch, given the very special 'privilege' of basking in
their queen's opulence. Flanking her on either side and fanning her with
their respective wings stood Deux Mallow, the American Seraph with the
long, braided auburn hair and a rather unique pair of bat wings, and
Titan Bloom, the quiet, spiky-haired Italian Seraph with the indigo
nightingale wings.

Meanwhile, Wren Tranquir, the cherubic, blond Seraph possessing the
trite but apt dove wings, was currently standing-in as a makeshift
table of sorts for Chiho's aforementioned platter of bejeweled hors
d'oeuvres. Among the five, he seemed most satisfied with his odd job.

But the one who suffered the worst fate was Weichu Fang, the charismatic
Chinese enigma donning the fierce falcon wings that reflected his
mordant and severe nature. He was crouched down like a sniveling,
beleaguered dog, licking and kissing Chiho's booted feet from time to
time with a look of utter repulsion on his face.

"These five are the nefarious Magnum Wings; the elite of the elite among
the Seraphs," Chiho idly initiated the peon-like birdmen to Kurama and
his companions, as though completely unaware that both parties had 
already met. "They are the highest-ranking leaders of the entire flock
of Seraphs, and five of the ten last surviving 'Winged Monkeys' in Oz.
We've been through quite a lot; I trust them with my life, and I'm quite
sure the feeling is mutual." Fang snorted derisively at her last remark. 

Feeling satisfied with herself, Chiho Sasae sat absolutely still on
Hirou Eye, legs akimbo and firmly planted on her designated footstool,
arms crossed haughtily over her copious chest as her eyes appreciatively
wandered around the expanse of the Wizard's Workshop. The light of a
clear summer afternoon shone brightly on her eyes as the sun rose up
from the gargantuan windows. From time to time, Fang would take a break
from his dreadful task and glower at her with a sneer of murderous
contempt.

"Ah. I get it now. No wonder that Chinese guy hates the Witch and all of
womankind; talk about getting whipped!" Kuwabara surmised with a
gravelly rasp.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I kind of feel sorry for those five
bozos," Yusuke confessed. "The Witch says that the Seraphs are important
to her, and then this is how she treats them? That's bullshit."

"Poor Hirou-san!" Ayame exclaimed, which earned her half-lidded looks
from both Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Seems like Chiho hasn't really changed
all that much; she's still as insensitive as ever."

Chiho the Witch raised an eyebrow at the three wanderers' idle banter,
but otherwise would not budge from her position. Weichu Fang bemoaned
his fate silently while Hirou Eye looked as if he couldn't care less.


***


To be Continued...


Next: The Melancholy of Chiho Sasae.

To all my fangirl readers: If you still haven't figured out who's
who in the Seraph flock, then for shame; you have no right to call
yourselves fangirls. As for the fanboys, I'm pretty sure you
couldn't care less.

Send all C&C, flames, death threats, etc. to me at either
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com or chester.castaneda at gmail.com;
whichever suits your fancy.

Note that I put in the title _Shonen_ not _Shonen-Ai_. Shonen-Ai 
(male-male relationship) and yaoi are just not my cup of tea. This 
is dedicated to Chimamire Kitsune for giving me the inspiration to 
write this fic... Wherever you are, this is for you.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and St. Pierrot. The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum and is currently the property
of the public domain. All the other series not directly addressed
in this disclaimer was featured in parody/tribute, whichever of
the two you prefer. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

Hindi niyo naiintindihan itong pangungusap na ito,
Abdiel

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