Sagaku panted against the wall. The fight was over. Still, the others were on high alert, inspecting the shadows of the room lest one last attack surprise them. Sagaku heaved herself off the bedrock. Her muscles protested weakly, but she was already creeping forward to sniff the puddle on the floor. It wasn't a trick-that definitely smelled like the demons and everything that should have been their insides, even if it was liquified.
"This smells disgusting," Sagaku finally announced. "I can't get past the...sliminess."
"You're okay?" Kuwabara relaxed, coming to the same conclusion as Sagaku: they had won this fight.
Sagaku's face was stained with tears, mud, and the oil excreted from the dead. Her hair was knotted and frizzy, falling in undignified clumps over her shoulders, down her back, and above her ears. Worse, her shirt hung only by one sleeve. Were her sisters here, they would denounce her as entirely improper. They would be scandalized. Luckily, they were not there. She took stock of all of this, and then gave Kuwabara a weak grin and a thumbs up. All good.
"They didn't do anything unmanly to you, did they?" Anxiety crept into Kuwabara's voice.
"Hn," Hiei snorted. "She's fine, baka." He pulled a fabric scrap from his pocket, wiping it along the blade of his katana. The oily mess spread instead of succumbing to his cleaning. Disgusting. Annoyance surged briefly; did the oaf have no faith in their ability to rescue the idiot girl? Hadn't he found her as soon as the demons stopped moving long enough to focus on? Plus, he would be able to smell if there had been sex in this room, even over the rotten smell of petrol and body fluids. Kurama would smell it even better than he. Hell, even Yusuke might have smelled it. Who knew how much his senses had improved since his heritage had claimed him?
Kuwabara, not privy to Hiei's thoughts, glared at Hiei. Hiei met it with a glare of his own.
"Are you injured?" Kurama asked Sagaku. He examined her with a medical eye, patting down her arms and legs to check for breaks.
"I think my scalp might be bleeding." Sagaku pointed to the long strands of hair that decorated the floor. "And my palm is, too."
"How do we get out?" Yusuke asked. He craned his neck back, looking up. "I'm not entirely sure how we broke through." A large crack marred the ceiling, opening up to the distant sky.
"I don't know," Sagaku shrugged as Kurama examined her scalp. "They just pulled me through their shadows."
Anxiety rolled off Yusuke. It was a little claustrophobic, being underground like this without having immediate action. Sagaku stifled a tiny grin-she wasn't as strong as him, but at least she wasn't afraid of the underground. Underground was home to her.
Hiei snorted at her. Sagaku glanced at him. Was he reading her mind, even when she couldn't feel him in her head? Her thoughts drifted to him and he snorted again. He wasn't going to tell her that she was the loudest broadcaster he'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.
"We'll have to climb out," Kuwabara announced. He looked at the uneven chimney Sagaku had created. At least some of the rocks were protruding, giving handholds and depressions for climbing. "It might take a while."
It would take a while for some of them. Hiei refused to wait. With three quick movements, he thrust off the wall, bounding from side to side as he propelled himself up. Sagaku's eyes followed the blur of motion. She learned how to climb a tree by mimicking him-surely she could do this as well. With a leap of faith, she kicked off the first protruding rock just as Hiei had, finding brief purchase on four other protrusions to thrust herself upward.
Sagaku landed skyside beside Hiei, collapsing in an exhausted slump. Peering through her bangs, she grinned up at him. He narrowed his eyes at her in response, choosing not to comment on her newfound skill. The two of them sat up there in silence, waiting while the other three climbed up the slow way, using vines and roots when the rocks didn't give them enough purchase.
"Let's get you back to your sisters," Yusuke muttered eons later. He swiped the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead. When he offered it to Sagaku, to help her stand, she didn't comment on the sweat but took his hand happily and clung to him. The way back was much slower than the way there; however, she found no fault with the company this time around.
"How did you guys find me?" Sagaku asked as they trudged in the direction Hiei had chosen. She watched where her feet were going, lifting her feet just enough to get over the branches and brambles and uneven ground. It felt as though lead had been poured into her feet.
"We followed the trail they left carrying you. Hiei was able to find the first portal, once he found their signature," Kurama told her as they followed the silent, short figure ahead of them.
Sagaku concentrated on forcing her poor body to keep walking for a few minutes, accepting help from both Yusuke and Kurama when it was offered.
"How did you follow the trail?" she questioned once the ground was relatively flat again. "I didn't smell them until they stopped blending with the shadows, and I can usually smell anything."
"I didn't follow their scents," Hiei muttered without turning to look at her.
Sagaku stumble-skipped forward a few steps to join Hiei at the front of the parade, letting go of Yusuke's arm. Hiei side stepped out of her reach, giving her a suspicious look.
"What did you follow?" she asked him. Her round face was perfectly innocent. Innocence aside, he was pretty sure she was asking him questions just to annoy him.
"Hn," Hiei grunted.
"What was it?" Sagaku asked again, ignoring the amused chuckling from the trio behind them. If Hiei's back tensed anymore, it would look like a metal rod had replaced his spine.
"Brain signature," Hiei said, moving faster to get ahead of her.
"How on earth can you do that?" In her excitement, Sagaku sped up as well, getting even closer to the fire demon. The glare he levelled at her sent her skittering back into Kuwabara. Then, as if feeling disapproval emanating from his friends, Hiei gestured at the bandana on his forehead before turning on heel away from her. Sagaku took that to mean the third eye, but didn't dare ask him for clarification. Instead, she opted for the safety of standing by Kuwabara. He obliged her questions with a step-by-step reconstruction of everything the four of them had done in the scant hours since she'd been ambushed.
By the time they returned to where the portal had been, it was shrinking and oozing onto the ground. With a curse, Yusuke hefted Sagaku through it and the others scuttled through before it disintegrated altogether.
They did not return to the house, as Sagaku expected. Her sisters, Kuwabara assured her, were safe and sound-at the temple. Keiko and Shizuru, his own sister, had taken them there.
The steps leading up to the temple were almost Sagaku's undoing; her body reminded her again and again that she had expended a lot of energy and there were parts of her that needed attention. Despite the pain, she soldiered on.
"Sagaku!" Sagaku's youngest sister, Yuki, squealed and flung herself into Sagaku's arms. Sagaku hugged her tightly, half-sobbing in happiness. Tarento and Bourei through themselves at her too, until she was buried under the arms of her sisters.
When the men finally convinced the girls to let their sister breathe, they all trooped inside together.
"How dare you scare me like that!" Usagi sobbed, throwing herself at her sister. They'd barely made it past the front entrance. Kurama sighed. Then, as he breathed in again, the smell hit him.
"Were you not able to find serpentine?" Kurama asked Yukina with a pained expression. He pinched his nose nostrils together delicately. He hadn't been prepared to face the scent again, especially since Genkai had told them Usagi was on the downswing of her cycle. How had Genkai managed, these last few weeks? There must have been more attacks than she reported.
"She has serpentine; it hasn't made a difference yet. Did it work for you?" Yukina asked. She smiled prettily at Kurama, pressing a handkerchief into his hand. He held it to his nose gratefully. Lavender oils soaked it, masking the scent emanated by the blonde girl.
Shizuru, impatient at the best of times, forcibly moved Usagi and Sagaku further into the building. The look she shot at her brother promised that she was not amused.
"Yukina," Kuwabara grasped her hand, "I've missed you!"
A blush glowed on Yukina's cheeks. Her eyes, a deeper pink than Ririshii's, darted away.
"Well," Yusuke sneered, "fun as this is, I've got better things to do."
Yusuke pounced at Keiko, swinging her around. She yelped, battering the top of his head with her fists.
"Yusuke, you smell!" she cried. "Put me down!"
Kurama shook his head, leaving his friends to their antics while he went to clean up. Much as he missed his quiet life of study and bachelordom, he couldn't say he was sad to be present for moments like this.
When everyone was settled down, Yukina led Sagaku to a large room with basins for sinks. Kurama and Genkai joined the two of them, the latter with a small first aid kit. Sagaku accepted their ministrations with as few winces as she could manage, letting Yukina bathe the worst of the mess off before Genkai stitched up her palm. The scab on her scalp was shallow. Genkai dabbed a saline solution on it, scolding Sagaku mercilessly each time she tried to jerk away.
"You'd be better off putting that on a cord," Genkai told Sagaku, eying the serpentine that was clutched in the girl's left hand now.
"Let me," Yukina said. She left the room and returned with a thin leather cord. Gently, she pried the stone from Sagaku's fingers. Almost immediately, cold began icing Sagaku's veins again. She moaned deep in her throat, hunching over. Her eyes tracked Yukina's movements to one of the basins, where the grime and blood was rinsed from the stone, and to the towels where Yukina gently pat the stone dry.
The harness Yukina created to trap the stone was masterful-even when Sagaku tugged at it to test, the stone didn't budge. It was tied neatly around her neck, hanging down between her breasts where it could be tucked into her shirt.
The men, with much cajoling to Genkai, arranged for the girls to stay long enough for dinner. Even Keiko and Shizuru stayed, regaling Sagaku and the other girls with tales of Kuwabara and Yusuke's youthful indiscretions.
Before they left, Usagi pulled Sagaku aside.
"I think I know why the serpentine isn't working for you," Sagaku told her older sister, "you're not focusing on it hard enough. If you focus, you can feel it." If she hoped to waylay the lecture that was coming, it didn't work.
"You have to stop, Sagaku," Usagi hissed. "You're teaching the others your horrible habits and it's not right."
"Stop what?" Sagaku looked away, unable to meet Usagi's eyes. She knew what the older girl would say.
"Papa would have a fit if he could see you acting so familiar with men!" Usagi snapped. "You're ruining our sisters! Do you want them to have no future? Is that what you want for all of us?"
"I'm sorry," Sagaku whispered.
"Promise me you'll stop," Usagi demanded. "Promise me you'll behave."
"I'll try," Sagaku clutched Usagi's hand, "I'll really try."
"No, Sagaku. You've never been quite right, but now your affecting all of us. Promise me."
"I promise." The whisper was weak. Sagaku's toes, still a little dirty despite Yukina's cleaning, curled against the hard floor.
The serpentine thumped against Sagaku's chest comfortingly. She caressed the stone with her finger tips, fighting back ashamed tears. Acting proper never felt quite right, but that couldn't be her excuse. If she corrupted her sisters, she wouldn't be the only one of Papa's daughters with only scum as a suitor.
Iwaku and Ririshii slept on the drive home. Tarento, sensitive to her older sister as always, laced her fingers into Sagaku's. Quiet for the ride, the girls listened to the soft snores of their other sisters and the murmured conversation the boys held in the front seats.
Sagaku remembered her promise. She held to it for days, sequestering herself to avoid the temptation of conversation. Kurama convinced the others to let it go-as long as there were still stitches in her palm they would have to let her be.
The promise, well-intended though it was, was forgotten one day when Sagaku snuck outside to breathe in some fresh air. Yusuke and Kuwabara tumbled out the door seconds after her, knocking her to the ground. Kuwabara flipped Yusuke over, locking his arms behind his head.
"Take it back!" Kuwabara yelled, jerking at Yusuke's arms angrily.
"No!" Yusuke grunted. The heel of his foot nailed Kuwabara's kneecap, sending them both back flying.
"Keiko is not prettier than Yukina!" Kuwabara howled. He dove back at his friend.
"I didn't say prettier," Yusuke grabbed Kuwabara's arm and slammed him into the ground, "I said hotter!"
"Take it back!" Kuwabara's voice was muffled by a mouthful of grass. Yusuke, unrelenting, got one of Kuwabara's legs twisted into the hold also.
Sagaku watched, fascinated, as the two friends made a mess of each other. Dodging a flailing limb, she finally got involved.
"I'm not taking it b-oof!" Yusuke cut off abruptly. Sagaku sat on his back happily, pinning him down with her knees. Kuwabara yelped, his leg jerked by Yusuke's demise.
"I think I could do that hold," Sagaku told her struggling friend. "Can I try?"
Atop the roof, Hiei smirked. After encouraging the girl to try new things, they deserved the monster they'd created. He watched as the tussling begin again, Yusuke and Kuwabara tag-teaming the girl. The attacks were gentled, more play now than anything. She was fast, limber even, but inexperienced. Finally, admitting defeat, she collapsed onto her back.
"You got spunk, kid." Yusuke's voice carried to where Hiei sat. "I like that."
Sagaku grinned bashfully up at him.
"Thanks," she said. See, a little voice in her head whispered, they like you as you are. Why be "proper"?