Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kagome smiled as she felt Joseph's movements for a few moments. "Jose-" She started to make out, but was thrown to the ground, making her hit her head, causing a small cut on her forehead. Kagome felt blood leak from it but paid it no mind as Joseph soon ran off.

Kagome watched as the man had also ran off, towards tree's that were now falling quite loudly to the ground, which shook with the weight. Akira clenched his fist around the girl's clothing.This time, she couldn't blame him for being afraid. Putting a shooken hand to Kagome's forhead, the boy whispered. "Onee-chan...hurt..."

Kagome shook her head. "I'm fine. I want you to give me my weapon and run to the house over there." She told the boy, whom nodded. "Tell them your hiding. I'm sure they won't harm you...you know what to do if your in danger." Kagome said, taking her bow from the boy's now outstreached hand and running off towards the new clearing in the woods.

"Joseph-san!" Kagome whispered as she finally made it. She checked her surroundings. Joseph was straight ahead of her, a couple feet away. She put a hand to her mouth when she saw his eyes. His other half perhaps? She looked over to the two figures who where nearby. Not even five feet from her was the sinister looking man and the one Kagome had just met.

'Who is this guy...what's going on?' Kagome thought, her eyes shifting once again to Joseph as she stepped forward, hoping to be able to get past the two and go unscathed. She didn't know what either would do, but right now, her concern was Joseph. She knew he could take care of himself, however he would be her best bet for some answers without being harmed.

The sun just barely visible to the fighters. The sky was turning a nice dark shade of blue, as the moon began to come into the view on the other end of the sky. Curio smiled. Joseph glared.

Something caught Josephs' attention from below. Diablo had drawn a katana. Joseph knew by his movements that he was going to throw it. Joseph moved swiftly, at just the right moment. Just as Diablo had released his grip on the now airborn blade, Joseph had lept into the air towards Curio.

The blade struck him in the right shoulder blade. Curio let out a yelp in pain. Turning in time to see his brother, who was telling him to leave the boy alone and finish what he started with Diablo. He turned back just in time to find a young male falling towards him. Aiming for his head with his blazing fist. Curio moved quickly aswell.

He blocked Josephs right fist with his right hand. Using both hands, he pulled the boy by his collar, and thrusted his right leg into Joseph's gut. He then pushed Joseph backwards. He reached for the blade in his right shoulder blade with his left hand. As he ripped the sword from his skin, he made the motion count as a swing towards Joseph.

Luckily, Joseph had his feet on the tree branch. He managed to dodge Curios' attack by jumping backwards. This caused him to fall to the ground.

Curio noticed his brother landing in the tree just to his right. "I believe this is yours." he said, as he chucked the weapon at Diablo.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Joseph landed on his feet. He looked over his shoulder to discover the angel, Kagome. He payed little attention to her, as he wasn't quite himself. Wasting no time, he climbed back up into the tree. Since Curio was standing in the center of the tree, Joseph climbed up the base of the tree. Appearing behind, he reached to grab the elfs ankle.

Sensing his movements, Curio lifted his foot, then stomped on Josephs' hand, causing him to scream in pain once again, and once again fall from the tree. This time, landing on his back. Quickly jumping to his feet, and jumped back into the tree. Now Curio was surrounded. Diablo on the right, and Joseph on the left.

Young Akira had finally made it to where the bar was. Slipping inside without a word he looked around before he hid in a corner by a chair, trying to keep himself from making the floor creak with little sucess. He whimpered, and held his knee's as he felt that a few other people where there besides him. "..Onee-chan...hurry..." He whispered to himself, waiting to be found or for Kagome to return.

Kagome watched the battle with widened eyes, her grip on her bow tightening. She didn't move however. She understood what the man wanted...she shared the same desire to fight a certain someone alone. She heard him call out to Joseph for them to get away but he was so out of it, Kagome didn't know if he would do anything.

"Joseph-sama! Lets go! Now!" Kagome called up to her freind. "He can take care of himself! You don't need to get possessed again! We've gotta get to the bar to! I can feel somethings up! Please Joseph!" The angel pleaded. She could feel a soul crying in her heart, and had fear that it was Akira. However, she would find another man in the near death state when she would reach there but without this knowlage, she feared for the worst.

Joseph, after being pushed by Diablo, once again fell to the ground. He had given Joseph very distinct instructions. Grab the girl, and get out. Joseph, obviously not himself, was not impressed. The 'cat' version of himself glared upward, and watched as Diablo attacked Curio, and they both fell.

The youth closed his eyes, and muttered,"Fine. I'll go. But 'he' has to do your dirty work."

He then looked as though he fainted. Losing his center of gravity, he began to fall forward. His eyes opened as he fell. Quickly realising why the ground was moving towards him, he bent his knees, and reached for the ground with his arms.

Once he broke his fall, he placed his right hand on his forehead. He felt a slight dizziness. Perhaps it was the after effect of Curio's mind control. He looked around. Something deffinatly happened. Eying all the fallen tree branches, he wondered what had happened. And what had caused him to lose his conciousness.

Stand up again, he felt somewhat light headed. And really tired. Almost as if all his energy had been drained. He then noticed the unconcious Rikku nearby. He ran to her. She hadn't been hit by any of the falling tree branches, which was a good sign. Joseph placed his middle and index finger on her neck. "Her heart's beating. That's good." he proclaimed to himself.

Suddenly, a dark growing energy originating from above caught his attention. He looked up, to see a stream of black light shoot from Diablo's tree, heading into Curio's direction. The beam hit the opposing tree hard, with a sick cracking of the tree branch, as the branch blew into thousands of peices, as the entire tree began to fall.

A bombardment of bark began to fly in Josephs' direction. He was capable of evading, but if he did, the girl would certainly be hit. They would hit him by the time he would have the time to plop her on his shoulder. He concentrated quickly. Winding up his fist, a red flame ignited around his right hand. He punched the ground, creating a barrier of fire around himself and Rikku. It was hot enough to burn the bark to ash.

The flame slowly faded out. When it was completely gone, Joseph took one last look into the trees to see Curio and Diablo in armed combat. "Good luck, old friend." he wispered. Then picking up Rikku, he quickly made his way to the bar.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Curio landed on a branch, and almost lost his center of gravity. Luckily, he caught his balance, and remained upright. Curio smiled at his brothers remark. "And I see you've learned well from me. Let's not forget who trianed you, brother."

Diablo continued to taunt. He mentioned a new trick. "Let's see if you can still fight with that wound." But what Diablo did took Curio by surprise. Soon, a powerful blast of energy was heading towards him. Curio had one option. Jump.

The blast hit the branch hard, causing a barage of sharp slivers to fly in all directions. The tree he once stood on also began to fall. But where had Curio gone?

Before the large scale arua beam hit the branch, Curio had jumped upwards. A quick, clever calculation was what he had in mind. The blast hit the tree, and the force of the aftershock sent him flying into the air. It was exactly what he planned. First, get out of site. Second, strike hard from above.

Curios drew his blade in mid air, his back covered with thousands of sharp needles from the branch he jumped off. As he feel, he drew it up. He was to swing down at him.

But something went wrong. Somehow, Diablo had moved slightly, cause Curio to slice through the branch of the tree. Which in turn caused both fighters, branch and all, to fall to the ground. The branch, which was a fair height up, hit the ground hard, and caused both fighters to lose their balance and fall over.

After both had recieved near fatal injuries, they both seemed to struggle getting up. It only took a few seconds for either of them to get back to their feet. Grasping his blade tighting in his left hand, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. After relising that his arm had been dislocated, and a few bones were shattered, he decided to give his arm a rest. Which meant he was now forced to us his good arm.

Panting lightly, he presented a smile to his brother. "I see you've learned much over the years. Good. Just as I'd expect. But don't think I haven't learned a thing or two."

He then readied himself, by lifting his sword up, so that it pointed to Diablo, and he shifted his left leg back, so the his right arm now faced Diablo. His blade remained stationary, in mid air, infront of his face, waiting to strike, like a deadly snake waiting for it's prey.

//I'll make this in small font when I get the chance. I'm on vacation right now and this is one of the first times I've had a chance to post but I have to make it quick. Sorry guys.//

Kagome nodded when she heard the shout from Diablo. Turning on her heel, muttering a quick prayer; the girl took off like a bullet toward's the direction Joseph had gone. Heart pounding in her chest, she could still make out his aura and thus was able to follow.

She was uneasy about leaving the man alone to fight such a terrible man that was able to fight off Joseph so quickly but she wasn't about to get involved nor ask when she had something else on the mind. Akira, she could feel he was still very scared, though thankfully, not dead.

Joseph had also seemed to come out of his demon cat form. The angel could breath a sigh of relief from that. Still picking up speed, it wasn't long before a small shack came into view. "Akira..."

Akira looked at the girl and slowly crawled out."Your...not a bad person...I can tell...." He sniffed standing up, wiping his tears to look strong but failed and soon cried out again.

He jumped into Sachi, covering his face in her shoulder. "Onee-chan....she went with...Joseph....and some different man....to fight a bad man....Onee-chan....said to come here until she came." He sniffed.

'I want to be strong for Onee-chan....but I'm not...I can't...'

Curio stood. Patient. Diablo didn't move either. The silence was so unnaturally present. Why weren't there any wild life sounds around? Was the aura from the two battlers really that dark, that all forms of life around dared not be around?

Curio eyed Diablos' position. He wasn't sure what arm his brother actually used. He never actually taught his brother swordplay. Something didn't seem right about this, to him. Which hand is dominant? Was he bluffing before, in using the right, or bluffing now, in using the left?



"Are you sure you want to fight like that, little one...?"

A voice rang clearly through out the trees. A female voice. A gentle, seemingly timid one. Curio glanced around. Where is she?

"...I think you'd do more damage with your right. Afterall, it is your good arm."

The voice seemed as though it was coming from behind Curio. Turning his head, Curio could see the bright auraed figure. She stood, about five foot, seven inches. Most of her body was concealed by a forest green cloak. All that could be seen was a lock of golden hair, and the beautiful hilt, with a ruby gem smelted in the tip. Upon closer look, the name 'Darkfire' could be seen engraved on the gem.

"And Curio. I thought I made myself clear before. Before you fight, know your enemy. If you know their strengths, you can easily counter them. If you know their weaknesses, you can exploit them."

"Yes, I've heard your speech before. Shut the hell up! Who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Who am I? You know who I am. You should also know that I am superior to you, fool."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Joseph ran, his legs began to feel weak. Rubbery. Like gelotine. Slipping on a rock, he fell to the ground. He hit the ground hard. Rikku feel next to him. He panted heavily. He looked around, head spinning. He couldn't make anything out.

He couldn't just sit here. He had to move out of the open. But how, when you can't make anything out?

Just then, he felt a very strong aura. It seemed so pure. But Joseph could feel something irregular about it. Something did not seem right, at all. But this aura gave him an idea. He closed his eyes. Feeling out the arua of all the living beings around him. He had a slight mental image of his scenary.

He felt so drained. Like he had no energy. It seemed to take all his strength to pick himself and Rikku up, then move off the path. Now hiding in a bush, he rest himself against a tree, head back. Not really thinking that his aura would be a dead give away, he figured he was now hidden. Rikku lay unconsious to his left. He was completely unarmed. His only weapon was his inner dark side.

"Please don't make me have to rely on him..." he murmured to himself.

((Okay. So here's the deal. Since Kagome hasn't been able to make it online for a really long time, we can't wait around for her. So, instead, I'll simpley remove her temporarily, until she is able to return. And to do so, we must impliment it into the story.))

The breeze picked up. Joseph looked around, as he sat in the bushes, completely drained. For a while, he sat with his eyes closed, concentrating on all the arua's around him, while trying to muster up enough strength to move again.

But he came to a realisation. He had no idea where Kagome was. He opened his eyes again, and looked around in all directions, trying to find her spirit. In all the confusion, he must have lost track of her. He located her arua, coming up from behind. It seemed weakened. And it wasn't alone.

A second or two later, the assailants foot steps could be heard. A tall cloaked figure was walking along. On his shoulder lay the unconcious Kagome. Joseph sat completely still as the stranger walked by him. Did he not notice the hidden warrior, or did he simpley choose not to acknowledge him?

He was walking in the direction of the bar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The door to the bar remained open. The sound of big boots was heard hitting the wooden floor. Chains ratled as he walked. He was a fairly tall, cloaked man. All that could be seen of his face, was his mouth. His long blue hair hung down from the hood of his cloak.

He looked at Sachi, then the boy in the corner. He knew his orders. He approached them. He was dispatched for one reason. To deteriate Diablos' crew. Kidnap the defenseless, and kill the threats. The first threat stood before him. Sachi Fujiro.