Chapter One "Shattered Memories" "

Kyoko!!!!!!"

Toya's cry of rage could be heard throughout the surrounding forest. As the sound of his desperate scream faded, everything became deathly silent as all eyes watched for Hyakuhei’s next move.

No one could have stopped it. Everything had happened too fast for anybody to react. What happened had paralyzed all five of the guardians with fear. They couldn’t believe they had come together as the protectors of the guardian heart crystal to fight Hyakuhei… only to have him win. Only to lose the one person they all loved and protected.

There, hovering in the center of the battlefield… their worse nightmare was unfolding.

Hyakuhei held Kyoko trapped against him as he gazed down into her terrified face. The lower half of her body had begun to fuse with his, just as he had planned. He was slowly trying to devour her and The Guardian Heart Crystal into his body and the void within his soul. All who watched could see the corruption of the Crystal as it glowed with darkness born only of evil.

Kyoko's hands were against Hyakuhei's chest as she franticly pushed back from him, trying with all her might to free herself from this youkai lord… turned demon, only for him to laugh.

Hyakuhei was now high on the power that was coursing through his flesh and blood and her feeble attempts at escaping him… amused him greatly. His long ebony hair swam around them as if it had a life of its own. The silky ends of the midnight locks wove their way around behind Kyoko like an iron band to help restrain her small body against his.

Kyoko felt defenseless as she fought the pull of her body becoming one with his. She didn’t want to fall into the cold dark void that was his soul. She could feel all the demons there… waiting for her. The more she was drawn into his body, the colder that part of her body became. Her legs stung as if ice was forming along her skin like a million pin pricks all at once.

She knew if she didn’t do something fast, they would all be lost. She could see the five brothers who had guarded her over the last couple years…as they stood there watching. All of them wanted to help her but were too afraid to make a move as long as she was being held as a shield.

She did not want to lose to this traitor of the guardians. He was their own uncle… why had he turned against his nephews so long ago? Kyoko’s emerald green eyes turned back to lock on the enemy’s in fearful anger. This couldn’t be happening… Not after all she had been through. This was all her fault.

Her eyes narrowed on Hyakuhei’s dark steady gaze. She had brought the Crystal to this world again… and she would take it back out of this world, if she had to take it to hell with her.

Kyou stood not twenty feet away and quickly drew his destruction sword ‘Hakaisha’, in a blind fury. He did not like the thought of his uncle… his enemy, touching the only human girl he had ever grown to respect. She looked so dangerously fragile in the arms of a mad man, the fight now becoming purity against evil.

The lord of the youkai realm… Kyou, oldest of the five siblings, could do nothing without hurting Kyoko in the process. Secretly he knew the power of the Crystal could not hurt him because he had used a spell to block all spells before the battle. He had been prepared in case Hyakuhei had tried to use The Guardian Heart Crystal against him.

But this… he had not anticipated. He didn’t want Kyoko to be hurt… ever, not as long as he had the power to stop it.

He did not struggle when the dark demonic phantoms sent by Hyakuhei slithered from the ground as if coming from some hidden nightmare and wrapped around his lethal body to hold him still. Kyou glanced at Toya seeing that fury burned in his younger brother's silver eyes.

Hyakuhei had wrapped Toya within an onslaught of phantoms trying to keep him at bay but Toya was still struggling with a vengeance against them. Inwardly, Kyou was thankful for the restraints placed upon his brother… for without them, Toya would surely attack… no matter the consequences. Just the sight of Kyoko in such danger had pushed Toya past the breaking point.

Kyou could feel Toya's youkai power intensify with every heartbeat, along with his own power and the power of their brothers.

Not ten feet away, Kotaro’s ice blue eyes widened in disbelief. He didn’t want anything to hurt Kyoko but he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. Both his arms were bloodied from the battle and his legs were in no better shape. He was powerless to even attack right now as he fought to stand, fighting against the pain. His mind still frozen in fear for the girl he loved more than anything.

"Don’t you dare hurt her or I will hunt you even in hell, Hyakuhei." Kotaro hissed in a raspy voice, baring his sharp fangs as his ice blue eyes burned with his need for retaliation. The very air around him seemed to come to life with a vengeance, as debris blew out in a circle around him from his powerful youkai winds.

Kamui was frightened, but seeing Kyoko struggling in the arms of Hyakuhei had snapped his mind. Rainbow dust glittered within his angry eyes. Without thinking of the consequences, Kamui ran strait toward Hyakuhei with his claws bared, unthinkable courage born of his love for the priestess and seen by all.

Hyakuhei's shadow demons repelled him back, slamming his body into the hard dirt and sending debris flying.

Kaen snatched Kamui up in a tight hold, fire flying from his feet as he leapt to safety, always watching after the youngest youkai guardian during battle. Laying a limp Kamui on the ground out of danger, Kaen turned fiery eyes on Hyakuhei and stood between the youngest fighter and danger.

Suki was on her knees still holding her father in her arms. His body now lifeless and her hatred for Hyakuhei seethed inside her for killing Sennin. Her eyes now fastened on Kyoko, wishing she could save her best friend from the same cold fate that had befallen such a wise old man.

Shinbe stood protectively in front of Suki, blocking her body from Hyakuhei's view. The wind from Kotaro’s anger blew Shinbe’s midnight blue hair about his face… lending a haunted expression to his knowing amethyst eyes. His worry for Kyoko intensified as he felt the power of the Crystal building.

“No….” the word left him as if he had the wind suddenly knocked out of him. Shinbe knew if Hyakuhei obtained the full power from the guardian heart crystal then both worlds would be in grave danger. A scalding tear raced down his cheek as he felt his heart shatter with the fact he could do nothing. “…Kyoko.”

Hyakuhei looked around at the enemies who had stood in his way for so long… his own brother’s offspring. He knew they were afraid to attack him because he now held Kyoko as a shield and he could feel rage building all around him.

His ebony wings expanded, creating a dark backdrop behind him as his equally dark eyes locked on the girl. "They are trying to protect you." He stated in a calm soothing voice, as if they were not in the midst of a battle but only watching it from the sidelines.

He could feel the sacred guardian heart crystal that was still visible in the center of his naked chest. Her love for the guardians fighting to protect her was the only thing still keeping the crystal from sinking the rest of the way into his body and giving him the power he desired.

The purity of that love was her power, and she was using it to try to draw the crystal from him… he could feel it. But he could also feel the power that was already coursing through his veins, and it made him only want more.

His eyes softened for a moment as he whispered to her as if talking to a lover. “It’s not enough.”

Hyakuhei decided he would use the power he had already gained from the crystal against Kyoko in a way that would destroy the bond of love that surrounded the small group. He knew he had to stop her… for her power alone was just as strong as the crystal she had once held within her. The same crystal that had once allowed him to love… only to then take that love cruelly from his grasp.

He pulled Kyoko’s face flush with his and placed a gentle kiss upon her innocent lips. Staring into her stormy green eyes, he entered her mind using the power of the guardian heart crystal.

Hyakuhei sought out her memories of the guardians whom she loved… trying to take them from her. He knew taking her memories of the people she fought for would weaken her power and strengthen his.

Kyoko couldn’t blink. She felt his evil claws within her mind, trying to destroy her memories, trying to rip the reason for this fight from her… trying to take her love from her. She wouldn’t allow it.

Her friends, all of them, she knew Hyakuhei wanted to take them away from her. Kyoko felt her control snap, leaving her with only one thing to use against him, and that was the very thing he was trying to take and destroy. Her eyes flashed with anger no longer suppressed. She latched her hands in his silky midnight locks and thrust their foreheads together, shaking with a tidal wave of power.

Her voice piercing the silence of the battlefield, she screamed. "You want it that bad? HERE!! Take IT!!!!"

'What is she doing?' Kyou's golden eyes glowed intensely and he felt fear shoot through him like the blade of a hot knife. He knew something was terribly wrong as he felt his psychic powers call to him… telling him to listen and to see before it was too late!

He narrowed that power and entered Kyoko's mind, trying to see what was happening, and his body began to pulse with what he witnessed. He would have fallen to his knees had the shadow demons not been wrapped so tightly around him… holding him immobile.

The images and sounds would be forever implanted within his mind’s eye and Kyou somehow knew he would never be able to shake the feelings that washed over him. For he realized by looking into her mind’s eye, Kyoko had harbored feelings of love for him as well as his brothers. He could see every touch, feel every emotion caress him and every hidden tear shatter him just as it must have her.

Kyou was also shaken to the core with the rush as he realized Kyoko had more power than anyone had ever thought her to have… power even she was not aware of. He could see and feel every memory as it passed from her mind to Hyakuhei's as if it were shooting straight into his heart where he would never release it.

Years of love, heartache, and sacrifice… given all in an instant.

Angry tears streamed down Kyoko’s cheeks as she thrust every memory of love and friendship, pain and secret feelings she had for everyone that fought with her into Hyakuhei's mind. It was the only weapon she had left.

Instantly, Hyakuhei was destabilized. Everyone felt the shift in power as the crystal started to blink from dark light to a blinding white light, and the shadow apparitions holding Toya and Kyou disintegrated into thin air.

Kyoko watched as the angel of darkness became confused. His pale perfect face became distorted with pain.

Just as she felt herself slipping, Kyoko reached both of her small hands out and grasped the crystal, pulling it from his flesh. She knew what had to be done, because she could already feel her mind losing its struggle with memories she didn’t want to forget. Crystalline tears ran paths down her already streaked cheeks. She had given her memories away in order to save them all. Quickly, before she lost the thought, she held the guardian heart crystal against her own chest… parallel with her heart.

Turning to see Toya and Kyou both leaping straight for her she whispered. "Remember me… find me."

The last thing Kyoko caught a glimpse of as her sight began to tunnel was both of them screaming her name and reaching for her. One with liquid gold eyes and the other with molten silver eyes… then her world turned black.

Kyou could feel Kyoko fading and he thought she was dying. He leapt in unison with Toya, trying desperately to reach Kyoko when everything changed, as if a drop of water had hit the surface of his sight. Waves rippled outward from Kyoko and she vanished in mid air. Then Hyakuhei screamed in rage as he also vanished.

Kyou's mind raced as his brother’s scream that had joined his came to an abrupt stop, as if the sound had been cut with the blink of an eye, and he knew Toya had also vanished. Kyou landed gracefully in the empty spot that had only a second before held his intended target.

His eyes flashed around him in denial. Everyone had vanished.

Kyou felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins and mixing with his highborn youkai blood. He had seen it all. He had felt it all. He knew all her memories.

Kyoko had given all of herself to save them, and at the last second he had heard her wish. She probably didn’t even know what she had done… but she had taken them all with her, leaving him behind.

The spell he had cast around himself to keep the sacred crystal from being used against him, had kept him from following where ever the others had gone. With only a couple whispered words, she had taken everything from him. At almost the same second… Kyou had realized he didn’t want to lose them. He didn’t want to lose her.

His body stood tall and proud, he was the most powerful youkai in the land. His knee length silver hair fluttering around him and the white silk of his shirt trembled in the breeze, as if he were standing in the eye of some unseen storm that matched the storm raging in his tormented heart.

His appearance was that of an angel… regal, powerful, and perfect, as he looked upon the deserted battlefield. Until he raised one hand to his cheek, catching the lone crimson tear that even he had not the power to stop.

Kyou's vision swam, as golden feathers swirled past him from wings that had sprouted, surrounding him in a vast golden glow, revealing his true identity for the first time in his ageless life.

The only wound left from the battle was the slash that appeared across his heart… a heart that no one had thought he possessed. His eyes swung to the maiden statue that stood only a few feet away and he whispered, “Kyoko, I have not forsaken you. The distance of over a thousand years is not enough to stop me from finding you again….”