"You sure this is the right way?" Kuwabara asked as he trudged through some tall weedy bushes, trailing behind Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei. It had been several years since the human teen had been to demon world and, to him, it did not look all that different.
"Of course," Hiei snapped back at him and Kuwabara flinched. He eyed the demon carefully, taking in the crazy tattoos that worked across his back. These were the same sharp and twisting pattern he had everywhere else, but these cut along his shoulder blades and angled down to a point. They almost looked like a bizarre set of wings.
"How far are we from our destination?" Kuwabara glared back at the SDF squad following them. They were a curious looking group, much like the team sent to human world during the tunnel case; a mixture of men and women, all with varying shades of skin and hair. The one who appeared to be in charge was a young man, his black hair buzzed short and olive colored eyes set in a tanned face.
"Another mile or so," Hiei replied, surprising all of his friends with the easy response. The SDF came to a halt, the captain eyeing the boys suspiciously.
"In that case, we are going to go ahead," he said matter of factly. "We have a mission to complete and I do not have time to take the scenic route. Troops!"
"Right!" the other nine chimed back. Their bodies began to glow and suddenly they all bolted into the sky and took off in the direction they had all been walking.
"Hey! Get back here!" Yusuke called after them indignantly.
"Let them go. If they want to die, then so be it," Hiei barked and continued on his way through the underbrush.
"What if they get to Kari before we do?" Kuwabara demanded, glaring at Hiei's back once again.
"They won't make it that far." Yusuke and Kuwabara blinked and looked to Kurama. "There are several large energies ahead. The SDF won't make it past the first one, let alone get to Kari."
"Uh...shouldn't we have warned them then?" Kuwabara asked, looking between the three demons. Their lack of response sent a chill through him. Could all of his friends really not trust the spirit world so much that they would let innocent people die?
The SDF were flying in formation, keeping their energies low so as not to attract too many demons.
"Captain? May speak?" one young soldier, a girl with soft orange curls asked. The leader nodded and cast a glance at her.
"You told those boys that we were here to arrest a demon."
"That is correct," the leader said but sensed that he knew what she would ask.
"But...the girl is still our top priority, right?" The leader cast a look to each of his soldiers, making eye contact to cement his next words inside their heads.
"Yes. The human girl, Kari, is our one and only target."
She didn't feel...right. Everything was a haze of anger and rage. Her energy, having returned rather quickly after eating and resting for a bit, was running rampant through her system. Flames licked across her palms in a swirling red blaze and she felt the need to fight, to kill.
The door...
She shook her head angrily, growling and snapping at nothing. What door? She didn't recall any door. Hell, she couldn't even remember her own name.
"Let's go, girl." She growled and turned her eyes on the lion demon. She could feel the tiniest bit of apprehension coming from him and she grinned. She blinked out of sight, using a speed she didn't know she had, to jump him and rip his throat out; but her body stopped on its own. She pushed and struggled to dive her flaming hand into the demon's chest but she couldn't move any closer to the beast.
"Heel," the lion commanded and her body obeyed, stepping back and her hand returning to her side. She eyed the chain of black beads in his paw and growled. Something in her screamed, imploring her to take the beads and destroy them, but she couldn't make her body do it.
"I can see how you thirst for battle." She glanced up at lion, snarling softly as he smiled at her. "You are in luck. Those soldiers are here."
She jerked forward after the demon, her body continuing to act without her permission. She followed him through doors and halls, bare feet tapping against the hard floor. Her hands twitched as several energies, ten at least, flickered into her mind.
Fight...fight…
She snapped again at the eerie voice, not understanding what 'fight' was supposed to mean.
The lion stopped before a large stone door and turned, offering a sword to her. She reached for the weapon but her hand stopped short as a memory (was it her's?) flashed through her head.
"Kari! Look at me!" A dropping sword, two warm hands on her face, and eyes; beautiful red eyes.
"Take it and serve your master," the lion commanded and energy pulsed through her head, tossing the memory away as if it had meant nothing. Her hand closed around the hilt while her mind twisted and turned, trying to grasp at the fading memory. It was no use, though. The memory was gone as the lion opened the door and ushered her into a wide room with only one open doorway on the other side.
"I sense her! Straight ahead!"
Voices and energy and the smacking of hard soled boots on the stone floors echoed in her head and the urge to kill intensified. She grinned wickedly, raising her sword and watching the door. The first soldier, a young man with short cut black hair and tanned skin, barreled through the door and slid to a halt.
Her first victim.
"Holy crap! What are these things?!" Kuwabara screeched, spirit sword arching through the air and at his attackers. The creatures, slow but blood thirsty, screamed as they fell to pieces. There were thousands of these things and they were all flooding out of the castle gates, intent on ripping the four boys into bits.
"It'll take hours to get through all these zombie guys!" Yusuke called out, punching and knocking a group of the monsters away only to have them replaced. Hiei and Kurama were fighting as well, sword and whip slicing through their enemies viciously.
"I can take them out," Hiei growled and summoned the black flames to his right hand, the dragon writhing on his arm.
"Wait!" Kurama called, pulling even with him. "They'll be expecting you to use the dragon, Hiei!"
"Like the cultivated humans at maze castle," Kuwabara concluded. "They want to wear us out." Kurama nodded, agreeing with the human boy's thoughts.
"We don't have time to cut through all these things," Hiei argued, slicing through another walker monster. "Do you have a better idea?"
"Oh! I do, I do!" Yusuke crowed and punched through another creature before jumping in front of his friends. "Shot gun!" he called and let out a spray of spirit gun blasts. The shots of energy arced out across the court yard, mowing down most of the monsters but not all.
"Urameshi! Kurama just said not to waste your energy!" Kuwabara yelled indignantly.
"No! He said for Hiei not to use his dragon. Kurama didn't say anything about me!" Yusuke laughed back and his three friend's sweat dropped. No matter how much experience Yusuke gained fighting, he was still the same cocky punk. Yusuke gave a shove to Hiei's back, urging the demon to go ahead.
"Kuwabara and I will handle these guys. You and Kurama go find our girl," Yusuke said and gave Hiei a thumbs up, grinning madly. The demon smirked and nodded before he took off through the quickly closing opening Yusuke had supplied, Kurama right behind him.
"Ready, pal?" Kuwabara grinned and took up his stance next to Yusuke. They were ready to fight.
Hiei and Kurama made it through the doors of the stronghold when suddenly, a pained scream echoed through the courtyard and sent a chill down their spines. The two halted as the crying continued and Kurama could feel the hairs rising on the back of his neck.
"Hiei…" Kurama warned as a small tremor crept through him and the scream continued.
"That's Kari!" Hiei barked and bolted for another doorway. Kurama ran after him, following the demon and the agonizing wails of their missing friend. Through the halls of the castle, windows and doors flashing past them, Kari's screams of pain echoed ahead and spurred them all to run faster. Finally, they burst through a set of double doors and came into a room filled with various types of flora and fauna.
"This is peculiar," Kurama commented, taking in the small forest that was somehow thriving inside these castle walls. The screaming echoed all around them, loud and grating.
Hiei's red eyes roved through the trees, searching, but he didn't feel Kari's energy at all. It didn't make sense; where was she?
"She isn't here," Kurama murmured and placed a hand on Hiei's bare shoulder. The demon glared at him but Kurama's face was sombre.
"What do you mean?" he growled at the red head. Kurama gestured to a patch of red flowers before them, their stamens wriggling in their bell shaped blooms.
"It's not her. These are mimic blossoms; they copy sounds and emit them, like mockingjays," Kurama explained. Hiei growled and turned his gaze on the flowers; clenching his fist, the flowers burst into flames and the screaming, mercifully, ceased.
"So, it is true. The great Yoko Kurama is a plant master after all." The two tensed and stood back to back, ready to fight and looking for the source of the husky voice. The grass and trees and bushes of flowers all seemed to writhe with the voice, dancing on the sultry tones.
"I must say, though. It was a delight to make your little friend cry like that," the voice continued, laughing. "Oh, she was ever the screamer. Crying and begging as we beat her power out of her."
Hiei growled low, his energy flaring and the dragon lashing out in his head; the beast wanted to rip into this monster as much as he did.
Rukia stepped from the shadows of the trees, her green hair waving wistfully around her scantily clad self. Sighing, she thrust out a hip and ran a pale hand through her locks.
"She cried for you the most, Hiei," Rukia taunted, throwing a flirty smile at the demon. Hiei cringed, his fists clenching even tighter at her words. "Of course, she was probably delusional by that point. All that blood and her whimpers of pain. Delici-AH!" Rukia jumped back as a massive plant, its petals gaping wide to reveal sharp teeth, burst from the ground below her. She barely missed the attack and latched onto the branch of a tree, throwing an assortment of thorns at the foliage to subdue it.
"Hiei, there is a door behind us," Kurama quickly muttered, plucking a rose from his hair. "Take it and find Kari. I will handle this woman."
"Kurama-"
"Do not argue, Hiei," Kurama bit back, glaring at his friend's stern face. He could sense his predatory flower growing weaker and he needed Hiei to go. "I will catch up with you. Move it!"
Hiei growled but turned towards the trees, eyeing a door hidden among them. He cast a glance at Kurama and gave one parting sentiment before he bolted.
"Make her suffer."
It was delicious, all this destruction and blood. Her victims fell to her sword, her flames, her strength. She was outnumbered but none of that mattered. These men and women were weak and easy prey.
She ripped into the neck of her latest kill, their blood flowing over her lips and down her chin like a crimson waterfall. She could feel her energy growing the more she maimed and destroyed. Dropping the lifeless husk, she turned her feral eyes on the last remaining soldier.
He was a meek little man, with a shiny bald head and beady black eyes. No doubt he had been a brave little warrior, rushing to the aid of his comrades when her slaughter had begun but now he could do nothing but shiver as she prowled towards him, her sword scraping across the floor in her wake.
"Pl-pl-please...do-don't…" he whimpered and cowered backwards, hands going in front of him. A small ball of energy arced out of his palms and flew towards her but she knocked it away with one flaming arm, much like a pesky fly that dared to buzz to close. The man continued his begging even as she reached down and wrapped a hand around his throat. Her flames roared against his skin and the pain was so intense that he could barely cry out. She thrust her sword through his chest, relishing the sight of the light leaving his eyes and the gentle dripping of his life's blood down her blade.
Just as she was starting to think her fun was over, a new energy popped into her head. Powerful, much more so than these wimps, and angry. Footsteps rang through the hall behind her, coming closer and closer.
Finally, they stopped and she could feel the creature in the doorway behind her, hear its panting breaths. A demon, she realized as the scent reached her; ash and wood and...something else. A shiver worked down her spine and she dropped the dead man still in her hands.
Missing...familiar…
Something there, on the edge of her thoughts. She knew this scent, this feeling trickling through her.
"Kari…"
She tensed, her flames flickering in her palms at that one word from the demon behind her.
Was that her name?
Author's note: Ok, so I am awful for making you all wait so long for this chapter. It's just...fight scenes are hard. :P Hence, the lack of them. I tried and tried to write them out but, eh. Anywho, next chapter will be up soon I PROMISE!
Please review!
