ORACLE
BY- Alexandra Maxwell
With the permission of Courtney for her character.
Chapter 2
Once on the other side of the portal, Cassie pushed away from Hiei. "What was that about?!" She yelled. Hiei just glared at her. "Oh now it's going to be like this huh?"
"Easy Cassie. Please, we're on the outskirts of our target's location. Please, let's not be discovered before getting inside?" Kurama said soothingly. Cassie turned her nose up and spun away from the fire demon. "Hiei," Kurama sighed, "you have such a way with a woman's heart." Hiei's response was just a 'hn'.
Yuusuke walked over to Cassie. "This is why we never let you come before. He always gets stick up his butt." They started to laugh but then they heard a noise. A huge tree began falling and Kuwabara pulled Cassie out of the way while Yusuke jumped for safety. They turned to find a 10 foot demon staring them down.
"I'll take this one. The rest of you get into the mansion." Hiei said pulling out his sword. Yuusuke lead the way, Cassie right on his heels, and Kurama behind her. Kuwabara was a little slower so he brought up the rear. As they ran, it seemed like they were still being followed. Cassie happened to glance at the passing forest and saw a dark form, much bigger then Hiei running along with them.
Suddenly that figure jumped out toward them! Cassie screamed and changed direction. Yuusuke yelled after her as she ducked under a branch. "I'll go after her." Kurama yelled as Yuusuke and Kuwabara kept running. Cassie didn't know where she was going and the woods were getting thicker. She suddenly slipped in some mud and slid to a stop before the demon again. She screamed for Hiei when something suddenly hit her like a sack of potatoes. She opened her eyes, not knowing when she closed them, and saw Hiei's shoulder. Over it she saw Kurama come almost flying through the tree branches at the demon.
Hiei scooped Cassie up into his arms and ran toward the mansion. "There's more then one of them." He told her but seemed unphased. They cleared the forest and Kurama was at their heels, not much longer after him, 3 demons all looking alike burst from the tree line; one was missing a hand. "Damn it, the door." Cassie turned to what was ahead and saw a large slab of steel sealing off the compound. "Hold on to me for your life." He warned Cassie. She watched the entry grow smaller even as they raced toward it. Kurama ran ahead and made a baseball slide under the door and then get up and try to pull the door up for Hiei and Cassie. She felt Hiei put his hand on the back of her head and then her face was pressed into his shoulder. She felt him leap and then the hard ground as they rolled toward the door. Once she heard grunting and they stopped moving she knew they had made it.
Kurama and Yuusuke let the door drop the rest of the way. It wasn't long after the two had made it that they heard a cracking and squishing noise come from the other side of the door. Cassie could only imagine the demons that had chased them, unable to stop in time. Hiei stood and dusted himself off while Cassie tried to gain the ground beneath her. Once she had her senses about her, she noticed a nick on Hiei's arm. That's all he got from all that just happened in those few seconds? Kurama helped her to her feet. "You are alright? Do you want a lift?"
"I'll be ok once I regain myself." She said wobbling on her feet.
Hiei suddenly grabbed her arm. "Don't run off by yourself ever again." He snapped at her. "If I hadn't gotten there just then, you'd be in that demon's stomach."
She snatched her arm back and pouted her lips. "I'm sorry I got scared. It doesn't help you were trying to be Macho Man." Just then Kuwabara scooped her up onto his back and began walking forward. They walked in silence down the narrow passage until they came to a door. Yuusuke kicked it down and punched the first demon he saw. It was lights out for him. They continued through the mansion, it was enormous. Finally they stopped in a room, it had been hours since they began and Cassie's stomach growled. "We've been searching for hours. Let's take a break."
Hiei shot her a glare but said nothing. Kuwabara set her down on a bench next to a table. "If you're hungry, try this. It's like eating a sunflower seed." Kurama pushed a small green pebble in his hand. Yuusuke and Kuwabara both threw theirs in their mouths. She looked at Hiei but he didn't move to share so Cassie gently declined. Kurama sighed and nodded, throwing it into his own mouth. They rested for a few more minutes until they heard demons coming. Hiei grabbed Cassie and threw his dark cloak around her, pulling her into the pantry. Hiei stood against the wall beside the door while the others grabbed cloaks and blankets to throw over themselves and sit at a table nearby. Two lesser demons walked into the room and sat at the table they had just been sitting at.
"Damn I'm sore." Said one, he had purple skin. "That guy is a real jerk."
"No kidding." Said the other. "I have so much dirt up my nose from training I won't be able to smell for weeks."
"I wouldn't mind having the boss's job. He just guards that stupid thing."
"Hey you best watch what you say. The walls have ears you know." The demon motioned toward the others. "Anyway, I heard that that thing is the 'Oracle of Pearl'. Boss said he was going to have it rip open a gate so large that Makai and the human world would merge."
"More food for us." Laughed the other one. Hearing this Cassie gasped, her whole home was a buffet to these guys. Hiei's ear perked when he heard her through the door, the two demons talking turned to the pantry door. Hiei turned a glare on them. "Who are you guys anyway?" They got up and walked over toward the pantry. Cassie had nowhere to go in the tiny pantry as she could see them clearly through the slits in the door. Suddenly Yuusuke stood and fired his Spirit gun, hitting both demons, killing one and wounding the other. Blood spattered through the slits in the door and she felt the warm goo hit her face. She stepped out as the others grabbed the injured demon.
"Hey punk, you were talking about the 'oracle'. Where is it?" Kuwabara grabbed the demon up and held him against the wall.
"I-i-it's in the boss's office; in the basement." The demon was about to pee himself when Hiei ended it quickly.
They turned to look at Cassie when they heard her fall to the floor. Hiei looked ashamed, only a little, and turned away. "If we didn't shut him up he would have alerted everyone that we're here." He said moving toward the door. Cassie just stared at him, her hands clamped over her mouth. Yuusuke helped her along as they walked out of the room and down the hall. Conveniently there was an elevator waiting and they all climbed in. As the elevator moved, Hiei grabbed his cloak and gently wiped Cassie's face.
"Awe, he's apologizing." Yuusuke teased. Cassie didn't move, Kuwabara jabbed Yuusuke. "You do that again and you're a dead man." He threatened. The elevator stopped and they found themselves at the top of a long flight of stairs. They slowly descended and as they did, the temperature gradually lowered. The cloak was long but not long enough to reach Cassie's shins. Yuusuke was walking behind her, "Are you getting cold Cassie?" Hiei stopped long enough to sync his step with Cassie's and wrap an arm around her. Everyone felt the heat coming off Hiei.
Cassie finally smiled at Hiei and replied to Yusuke, "No I'm fine Yuusuke. Thanks." After what seemed like hours of going down these steps they reached an office with a gigantic fish tank. "Wow." Was all Cassie could manage.
"It's awfully quiet." Kurama stated the obvious. "Let's spread out and search." They began looking everywhere with the clues they had. Koenma had mentioned so little about it, they really had no idea what they were looking for, unaware of the eyes watching them.
"I give up!" Kuwabara said after half an hour of searching. "We've looked everywhere but there's nothing here."
"Maybe that demon was lying." Cassie said as she sat on the floor.
"No, he was telling the truth." Kurama said stroking his chin.
"What the hell could it be? If I had a signal I'd call Botan and demand to know what it fucking looks like." Yuusuke threw the pink compact communicator on the floor.
Hiei leaned against the glass tank. Everyone was so deep in thought they didn't notice the movement in the tank. All of a sudden Kuwabara began freaking out; the others looked at him and then followed his gaze. Hiei was the most freaked since it was right behind him the whole time. "A mermaid?" Cassie summarized. It was half human looking and half fish looking for sure. It's translucent hair floated like magic in the water. It's long tail looped behind it, waiting for something. It was obviously female and it's blue skin reminded Cassie of an angel fish. She noticed a long fin on her back and the look in her jade eyes was that of surprise. Cassie moved closer but stopped when gills flapped on the mermaid's neck and torso. So this was why they needed her magic, to keep this thing alive.
Before Cassie could break her discovery Kuwabara piped in, "That is one big fish. That'd make a lot of fish sticks."
Yuusuke grunted and cracked him one across his head. "You idiot. Think with your head for once."
"I think this is what we're looking for." Cassie spoke as she touched the glass. The mermaid glanced down at Cassie's hand and moved toward the top of the tank before spinning around and sticking her dorsal fin out of the water. Cassie noted that this mermaid's tail was super long. She could imagine a stretch limo and this mermaid still being slightly longer from head to tail tip. She watched the tail wave up toward the top of the tank and pulling way out of the water before slapping down hard, sending a wave of water out of the tank and drenching the small group.
Hiei grunted before shaking like a dog and sending droplets everywhere. "Let's just grab it and get out of here already." He seemed more upset about getting wet then having Cassie along on this mission. They had to catch her first. Hiei refused blatantly to get into the water. Kurama, Yuusuke, and Kuwabara all played rock-paper-scissors, with Yuusuke being the sucker to jump in. Yuusuke and Kuwabara pushed the large desk over to the tank. Then Yuusuke proceeded to remove his shirt and shoes before climbing up on the lip of the tank and diving into the water. They all watched him sink and then rise quickly. "FUCK that's COLD!" He exclaimed.