[A/N: Thanks to everyone for the great reviews, but I think also that some of you have been sending me reviews as private messages and my inbox is getting cluttered. But thank you all to reviewing anyway.]

As we climbed onto Byakko's platform, ready to get on our way when there was suddenly a growl from beneath us.

We ran inside before the platform collapsed beneath us.

"How is he still alive?" Kuwabara asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said.

"Please, come enter my lair," Byakko beckoned us from the long corridor.

Grudgingly, we walked down the hall. Each step we took it got hotter and hotter.

"It feels like an oven in here," Yusuke said.

"No matter. We must press on," Kurama said.

We walked through and archway and entered into a large magma chamber filled with plateaus.

"Kairi, let me see your shoe," Kuwabara said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Just do it!" he said.

I pulled my shoe off and handed it to him. He dropped it towards the lava.

"What the fuck, Kuwabara?!" I said hitting him upside his head.

"Look," he said.

Before my shoe even reached the magma it burst into flames and melted away.

"Whoa, we can't go through there. That stuff would make crispy critters of us in a second!" I said.

"Go on, Kuwabara. Jump in," Hiei said.

"You know, you were nice to me once, so I know it wouldn't kill you to say something nice for once," I said.

"You never know. It might," Hiei said.

I rolled my eyes. "Well it wouldn't be too much of a loss."

"Now, who will fight me next?" Byakko asked.

"I'll take you," I said.

"No!" Kuwabara said, again, dramatically tossing his shirt aside. We all groaned. "I've gotta finish this."

"No, let Kairi go so you can rest in the unlikely event that we need you again," Hiei said.

That was definitely almost a compliment.

"No way, I've got a code! And it says I don't back down from a fight until I've lost or if the other guy's lost – even if it costs me my life," Kuwabara said.

"A human with an honor code," Hiei said. "Now I've seen everything."

Ignoring Hiei, Kuwabara leapt forward onto the closest plateau. His foot touched the edge and it crumbled beneath him. After nearly falling and dying he clambered onto the platform and took a deep breath.

"Alright, let's not stop jumping until we're sure it's stable," Kuwabara told himself.

"I'm glad you decided to come back. We have some unfinished business to attend to," Byakko said.

"Yeah, me too," Kuwabara said summoning his Spirit Sword.

"I like to call this my Tiger Scream," Byakko said.

He brought his hands up to his throat as if he were about to hack up a giant loogie, but instead his mouth was filling up with energy.

Then Byakko spat out the energy towards Kuwabara.

Kuwabara readied his Spirit Sword, just as he had when he fought Rando.

"With my Spirit Sword I can knock that thing right out of the park," Kuwabara said.

"NO! YOU MUSTN'T TOUCH IT!" Kurama shouted.

Kuwabara was confused, but listened and jumped off to the nearest platform.

When Byakko's Tiger Scream his the platform Kuwabara had been on previously was gone.

"Well what do ya know. . . It disintegrated," I said unsurely. "What kind of energy does that?"

"It wasn't his energy, it was his voice," Hiei explained. "He's able to shatter molecular bonds with the vibration of his voice."

"And as much as he yells, I bet that comes in handy," I said. "And why couldn't Kuwabara touch it?"

"Because, as soon as it hit his sword it would've set off a chain reaction destroying his entire spirit," Kurama said.

I shuttered. What a way to go.

Byakko shot off Tiger Scream after Tiger Scream, making Kuwabara jump from platform, to platform to platform.

Eventually Kuwabara was standing in front of Byakko, unsure of what to do next but still standing strong.

Byakko laughed. "I've got you right where I want you."

"What are you talking about? I dodged all of those Tiger Screams," Kuwabara said.

I looked around the room and saw that the platforms with Kuwabara's reach had been destroyed. The closest one to him was Byakko's but there was no way Kuwabara could jump that far.

"I've destroyed all the platforms within your reach," Byakko laughed.

"Can you reach him, Kairi?" Kurama asked.

"Of course," I said, fully prepared fly over and save Kuwabara.

"No way!" Kuwabara said. "If you come over here I'll kill you."

I groaned. What one Earth had I been thinking when I became friends with the most stubborn person on the planet? He was almost worse than Vegeta with his determination to finish a fight himself.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Kuwabara jumped over to Byakko. My stomach dropped as Kuwabara started to fall, but then he used his Spirit Sword to connect with the nub of a platform, pushing him over Byakko's platform, right into Byakko and over the side of the platform.

Before I even realized what was happening, I was speeding over to Kuwabara grabbing onto him just a Byakko splashed into the lava. I brought him up to Byakko's platform and then hit him as hard as I could muster in the arm.

"OW! What was that for?" He asked. "I beat him, didn't I?" Kuwabara said.

"You're going to give me a heart attack! You almost died just now! Do you know how much that would suck?" I asked.

". . . Gee, sorry," he said.

"Please try not to be as incredibly stupid as your brain allows you," I said. Kuwabara chuckled and gave me a thumbs up. I sighed. I couldn't be angry. I was just glad he was alive. "But, good job. Hopefully, he stays dead this time."

"Kairi, stop encouraging him! You should push him over and teach him a lesson!" Yusuke shouted.

I rolled my eyes.

A few moments later, Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama had joined us on the platform.

"Great job you did there. Maybe we should let you fight all of the demons this way," Hiei said.

"No. I've done my share of fighting for this trip," Kuwabara said.

"Glad to hear it," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, me too," I said. "Because I call the next one. You boys are making me feel useless."

"You're not useless. You're giving us direction," Yusuke said. "Besides, we wouldn't have made it past the gate of betrayal without you."

"Sure, sure," I said. "Let's move along."

We exited the chamber and made our way into a long empty corridor when our communication mirrors rang.

We paused to answer.

"Hello, Botan," I said.

"Hello, guys," Botan said. "Please tell me you've defeated three out of the four saint beasts by now."

"Three? We just got past the second one!" Yusuke said. "Apparently these things like pretending they're dead and then coming back to life."

"Hey. . . Tell, her I said hi," Kuwabara said.

"You can't be very injured if you're flirting," Yusuke said pushing Kuwabara away.

"In the mean time, Goten and I have been fighting this entire city ourselves so called in some help," Botan said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Gohan," Botan said. "But he's-."

"Wait. . . Please don't tell me he's parading around West City as Great Saiyaman." Botan nodded. I groaned. "Next time you see him, tell him he's disowned. But anyway, you've only got my brothers helping you?"

"We're busy but we've pretty much got it under control, and Trunks has been doing a good job of keeping the insects out of the school. Not to mention the fact that Vegeta comes and helps where appropriate," Botan said. "But I haven't seen anything from your father."

"We live in the backwoods. He probably doesn't even know what's going on," I said.

Botan sighed. "Well, keep going! Don't let me stop you."

I flipped my mirror closed and shoved it into my pocket. "Looks like we've got some more work to do."

"We've always got more work to do," Yusuke said.