I knew I couldn't handle the weight much longer, and neither could the others. Our legs and arms were already at their limit. I breathed in, blinked my tears away, and thought straight.
"We need to get to that lever." I managed to rasp out. "Just need to find out how!"
"That's rich, coming from a girl who's crying under the weight." Hiei snapped.
"This isn't the time to be arguing!" Yusuke grunted. The wall came down on us even more. I started using my Spirit Energy to keep up with my part of the work.
"Hiei!" Yusuke called out. Hiei looked at him. "Raise that lever on the wall for us! The fastest one among us is you, Hiei!"
"You dumbass, Urameshi! Are you out of your mind?!" Kuwabara protested. "You go! I think that guy's detestable!"
"What the guy with the pushed-in face says is right." Hiei smirked.
"Pushed in…? Hey!"
"Calm down boys! I'm sorry for being a wuss in the beginning, but I have an idea! If I use Spirit Energy, then I might be able to cover the weight for one of us. I know it sounds strange, but trust me. I'm feeling better than before, and I got this. Hiei, you're on. Now hurry!" I yelled at the shorter friend of mine and he stared at me with disbelief.
"You sure you can trust me? I'm a wanted man who tried killing all of you. I might skip out on you like this."
Yusuke grinned at the boy, "If you were going to kill us, you would have done so directly. I can help Aki out for a short while. Now go!"
Hiei sighed but complied with our requests, he vanished from sight, only to reappear in front of the lever. I released my Spirit Energy and so did Yusuke. Kurama smiled at Hiei, was he like his father or something? But even with me and Yusuke supporting Hiei's share of the work, the wall came down on us. The four of us strained under its weight.
I looked at Hiei hopefully. But he'd paused with his hands milimetres from the lever. The eyeball laughed. Hiei turned around to see us struggling under the wall.
"What's the matter?! Hurry and raise the lever!" Kuwabara yelled.
"There is no reason for you to stray." the eyeball chimed. "With me to lead the way, we can leave them here, and go on inside the castle. The Four Saint Beasts would gladly take in a criminal such as yourself. How about it? Together, we can take over the Human World."
"W-why you… come on runt!" Kuwabara yelled. "Urameshi, and Aki trusted you and left this up to you! Are you going to betray them?!"
Hiei pulled his hand away from the lever, and snickered, laughing at our foolishness. I should have known…
"What are you laughing for?!"
"Those guys are so utterly dense…"
"Yes, that will do nicely!" the eyeball cheered. "There is no call for a gentleman such as yourself to die with those insignificant folk!"
I shrieked under the weight of the ceiling and Kurama turned to look at me with wide eyes.
"Hiei!" Kurama shouted.
"So then, allow me to be your guide. This way." they eyeball laughed again. Hiei narrowed his eyes and slashed the eyeball. Blood poured out of its eyes and the eyeball squeaked in pain.
"Don't make an ass of me!" Hiei snarled.
Hah! Take that you bastard!
I hadn't realized that I'd said that aloud, until the four boys looked at me strangely. "What?!"
Hiei finally pulled the lever and the ceiling stopped crushing us. I fell flat on the ground giving my body a nice rest no matter how short. We heaved a sigh of relief, but Hiei was looking above and waiting for something. A boulder came crashing on him, and I cried in surprise.
Kuwabara and Yusuke ran out frantically looking for our new ally while Kurama helped me up. Turns out there was no need for concern. Hiei was standing casually above the boulder as if it was just another floor.
"Tell them this from me… if they're going to beg for their lives, now is the time!" Hiei told the eyeball. The eyeball shrieked and flew away floppily.
"I'm never doing something like that again. Spirit Spies weren't trained for this kind of hard labor…" I grimaced as I shakily got up to my feet. Kurama pulled my arm around his shoulders providing a little support.
On the other hand, Yusuke was doubling over banging his shoulders with his fists.
"Are you okay Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked.
"I thought my veins were going to burst! I'm not sure how Aki is still standing. She shouldered more than I did." Yusuke massaged his shoulders.
Hiei finally stepped off the shoulder. "You saved us Hiei! Thank you!" Yusuke winked at Hiei who looked away sheepishly.
You gave us quite a scare there! You're quite the actor huh?" Yusuke patted Hiei on the back. Hiei tch-ed and shrugged away from Yusuke's hand. "Looks like your bad disposition hasn't changed." Yusuke said with a smug look.
"I didn't necessarily do it to save you. Don't get me wrong."
"Yusuke, you'll ruin his tsundere image. Stop praising him." I laughed quietly and ended up getting a death glare from Hiei. He walked away from us and Kuwabara muttered a little "Jerk." to his back. Kurama smiled as he helped me regain my balance. I was feeling much better already and stepped away from the fox.
"'The more people we have, the easier it will be to defeat them,' goes for me too!" Hiei headed off in the direction we were going. Kurama stepped up.
"That's just his own way of saying thanks. Pay it no mind."
"Yeah. He's got a tsundere chara to keep up, you know." I patted Kuwabara who was clenching and unclenching his fist from annoyance.
"What's the deal with that bastard?!" Kuwabara grumbled.
We entered the castle, keeping an eye out for any more sudden attacks although I doubted there would be any just yet. The beasts were sadists and sadists would probably let us get a false sense of security before crushing us along with our hope. A beeping noise filled the room and Kuwabara jumped. Yusuke looked into his pocket and pulled out a Communications Compact.
"Don't scare me like that!" Kuwabara complained. "What do you have there?" he asked after Yusuke flipped it open.
"It's a Communications Compact. But how did you get one?" I peered over Yusuke's shoulder along with Kuwabara.
"When I was leaving for Demon City, Botan handed it to me."
"Yusuke. This is Botan-"
"And Isla!"
"In the Human World. Over."
"Right." Kuwabara blushed and shoved Yusuke's head away, which in turn led me to being shoved right into Kurama. The redhead pushed me upright and I thanked him.
"Hey Botan-chan! Your man Kuwabara is helping the weak, crushing the strong, and making every effort to protect Urameshi!"
"I-I'm relieved to hear that."
"Say! Kurama did you help Aki-?" Isla shouted from the other end. "Fuck off!" she yelled in english. I saw her punching another guy in the face. Kurama and I snickered. "And hey Midget! You're pulling your own weight there I hope!"
"Hah!" Hiei scoffed before turning away.
"There hasn't been any disorder on this end." Botan reported, "Yet." she added cautiously. "the Demon World Insects can only possess humans with shady minds after all."
"You'll be surprised by the number of shady people around here Botan." Isla chirped kicking another human.
"Be careful you two!" Yusuke said.
"Yep. What's more, we caught another one of the small-time demons from Demon City." Botan pouted. A demon rose from the ground while Isla wasn't looking and Yusuke warned her.
"No problem. These guys are weak. I took down three all by myself!" Isla proudly proclaimed.
"True. the Demon World Insects are a bigger problem though. I spent the whole day looking around for them but I only found 15 of them so far." Botan sighed.
"It's just a drop in the bucket. There are thousands around." Isla grumbled as she wrestled another demon.
Yusuke and Botan exchanged a few more words while I whacked Kuwabara in the face. Yusuke did the same as well, and now the poor boy had a slap mark, and maybe a concussion.
"Understood. We'll take back the Bug Flute and destroy it without a moment's delay!"
"Don't overdo it! Over and out!" Botan hung up. We kept walking with Yusuke deep in thought.
"Kurama, by the way, what kind of guys are these Saint Beasts?" Yusuke asked. "Like what are our opponents' powers and techniques? I was in such a rush, I didn't ask anyone."
"I have only met them once in my entire life. My memory of them is not too clear. But I do remember that they are a considerably dangerous group." Kurama shrugged, while Kuwabara stared in horror.
"We'll be fine, big guy." I calmed him down.
"They have been kept pretty far away from humans, so their looks might be surprising." Kurama smiled.
"I mean duh. They're demons." I deadpanned.
"Thank you for such words of praise!" a deep voice echoed through the hallway. Kurama turned around in surprise.
The boys and I stepped into a close-knit circle when a spotlight shined on us.
"I like spotlights, but not in this setting." I clicked my tongue and got into a defensive posture.
"You guys are finished here!"
"Include a lady in there, would you?" I was under stress, and I knew I was rambling, but this was what helped me keep a straight head. The spotlight shifted to a door in front of us. Yusuke and Kuwabara pushed it open.
"In here?" Yusuke asked no one.
The room was made out of bricks and rocks, with marshals on the walls. The fire from the marshals gave the room an eerie and vintage feeling.
"It's like the inside of a pyramid." I noted the staircase at the back of the room.
Yusuke took a stick and lit it on one of the fires before throwing it in the center of the room, lighting that area up. A giant rock monster revealed himself, and boy did he need a diet! His creepy eyes glowed yellow in the darkness and his horns only emphasized the creepiness.
"What is that thing?!" Kuwabara cried in surprise, taking a step back. I stepped behind Kurama as well.
"I, Genbu-sama, the most powerful of the Four Saint Beasts, will now teach you a lesson!" Genbu smashed his mace-like tail on the floor of the room, making a crater.
"This is one of the Four Saint Beasts?" Yusuke mumbled in surprise.
"The only stairway up is in here. Defeat me or become a corpse- Those are your choices!" Genbu smashed his tail again and his foul Demon Energy odor made me gag.
"You can all attack me at once. That will save me some trouble as well!" Genbu snickered.
"Y-you've gotta be kidding!" Kuwabara yelled in fear. "How are we supposed to fight a monster like that?"
Kurama calmly stepped in front of us. "I'll take him."
"Kurama!" I called out in concern. Kurama turned to face me, and I saw a sadistic smirk on his face. That was when I knew that the fox had a plan.
"I will be fine Aki. There's no need for worry. So long as we don't know the true nature of our opponent, it's dangerous for all of us to go. Besides, I can't allow Hiei to be the only one to look cool, you know!" Kurama happily said.
Hiei looked confused yet amused at Kurama's statement. Kurama sauntered gracefully in front of Genbu and stood confidently with a smile on his face.
"You'd like to die one at a time, huh? That's okay too." Genbu laughed creepily.
"Hey, this is crazy, Kurama!" Yusuke yelled. "Why don't we look for some kind of opening and run upstairs instead?"
"You guys don't know what strength Kurama has." Hiei spoke suddenly. Yusuke turned around in surprise.
"Let me tell you why I teamed up with him… it's because I wouldn't want to make him my enemy." Hiei had a stern voice which I'd never heard him use. "His overwhelming coolness towards those who would do him harm is greater than my own."
"Any way you look at him, he doesn't appear all that strong, though…" Kuwabara put a hand on his chin as he tried to process what the prettiest amongst us could possibly do.
"So then, be my guest, from anywhere you like…" Genbu and Kurama stared at each other for a little while, glaring with their eyes, but smiles and sneers on their faces."
"Hey! There's something weird going on with that bastard's tail!" Yusuke pointed to the ground and I looked at it.
The tail shot out from the ground behind Kurama. He turned around just in time to see it, and managed to somewhat dodge it. But the spiky end struck him in the stomach and he winced visibly from pain. Blood spurted from his fresh wound, but he flipped over Genbu's tail landing gracefully on the ground.
Genbu withdrew his tail and cackled as Kurama tried to ignore the pain. "I can integrate myself with the rock and move around!
"By passing through the rock, moving only my tail is a piece of cake!" Kurama glared at Genbu as he made his little announcement. Bad guys seriously needed to stop showing off their techniques and providing us hints on how to defeat them.
"W-what a monster!" Kuwabara looked at Genbu with disgust and fear.
"In other words, this entire room is me!" Genbu cackled again. "There is no way you can escape!"
Kurama kept his glaring green eyes on Genbu as he pushed himself off the floor. But his wound must have been hurting bad, because he was clutching it and struggling to stand up completely straight.
"Kurama! Are you okay?!" Yusuke asked.
"He's in for it, isn't he?" Kuwabara placed a hand on Yusuke's shoulder as his teeth chattered.
"You don't need to worry. It's just a scratch." Kurama assured us, but I could see the sweat beading his perfectly arched red eyebrows. Curse his good looks, he looked beautiful even in pain… am I a sadist? "He took me unawares, and I was a little startled. Don't give me that horrified expression Aki." Kurama chuckled. I shut my mouth, although it was more out of concern for me than him but… okay?
"Ha! We'll see how long you can keep talking so big!" Genbu smashed his tail again. "From now on, it will be the real thing!"
Kurama dipped his head and bent slightly, still holding his "scratch", as he cautiously watched Genbu. The rock monster was sinking into the floor, and quite literally.
"This time his whole body is sinking into the floor!" Yusuke stared in horror, and so did Kuwabara. Hiei was standing nonchalantly to the side and I felt like whacking him for being so indifferent.
"What the hell is going on?!" Kuwabara moved his fingers up and down, grasping nothing but air like he would be able to grasp the situation in his hands if he tried hard enough.
I saw Kurama's body tense up as he looked at the floor with wary eyes. His delicate fingers curled and uncurled into fists repeatedly. By now, Genbu'd completely vanished from our sight. The four of us to the side looked around us, ready to run or fight if Genbu popped up and decided to attack us.
"We can't tell where he's coming from!" Kuwabara stepped even further back until he was behind me. I glanced around the room, and found Kurama's eyes darting left and right. Hiei was doing the same, and I knew the two demons with us were playing defensive as well.
Kurama's eyes suddenly fixed at a point right behind his feet, and jumped. "Behind me again?!" he'd dodged Genbu's attack and landed on the floor on his toes, preparing to jump again if the need arose.
"His tail is in front!" Yusuke hollered. Genbu, indeed, had a fist and tail coming from both sides towards Kurama.
"He's gonna be caught from the front and the back!"
Just as Genbu's fist connected with the floor, Kurama jumped lightly, dodging Genbu's fist and front flipped quickly to avoid Genbu's tail. He landed gracefully again, but pressed his arm against his cut as soon as he found his balance.
Genbu however had disappeared again, and Kurama's eyes swept the room. Kuwabara was doing the same and I heard him voice everyone's thoughts, "Where did he go this time?!"
Kurama's voice suddenly cut through the tension and he jumped back, out of reach from Genbu's hand, but not the tail. Again, Kurama backflipped and spun midair to avoid the tail, displaying major acrobatic skills. That would explain the perfect score in P.E. Unlike a certain girl who was currently in the same room… just as Kurama landed, Genbu sank into the ground. Kurama clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"You'll never beat me by just running away!" Genbu's voice floated.
"You speaking through an intercom or something?!" I yelled back. Genbu just laughed.
"I am the room, and the room is me! It's going to take more than that to kill me!"
Kurama suddenly made all heads move towards him. He was laughing, a sadistic one mind you, and that smirk on his face told me that he was going to get serious.
"What you say is certainly true…" Kurama ran his hand through his red locks on his back. His hand came back out with a red rose in full bloom. He flipped his hair back into place and I wondered if some other force was also at play. How is his hair so perfect? I looked at my own limp black oily strands, that would definitely explain the pimples.
"A rose?!" I heard Yusuke yell in surprise.
"Hey, don't tell me you're thinking of giving that rose to the monster as a present in front of your girlfriend."
"I'm not his girlfriend Kuwabara!" I shrieked.
"Indeed. We have a platonic relationship. Besides, this is no ordinary rose!" Kurama smirked. And true he was.
The petals of the rose started falling off, flying off actually. And created a gentle whirlwind of wine red petals around the redhead. Kurama flicked the rose to his right and it turned into his favorite weapon…
"Rose Whip!" he called out, and his show was complete. Kurama's long thorny green whip surrounded the bare ground around him in swirls. Like, seriously, how does he do that? I found Hiei smirking at the two dumbfounded boys in the room, and I sighed.
"The scent of roses is filling the room…!" Yusuke wondered aloud.
"What an ostentatious bastard! He even spoke English!" Kuwabara eyed Kurama strangely.
"Kuwabara, you hate everyone that's cooler than you are, huh?" Yusuke jeered at the taller boy, who yelled at him to shut up.
"Pretty…" a petal fell on my hand. It was velvety soft and the rich red color matched Kurama's hair. It smelled nice too. The petal, NOT the hair. I blew the petal away and it landed at Kurama's feet. He glanced at it, then my face, gave me a smile, and turned back to his fight.
"Fool! Do you think you'll have the time to draw your whip against an opponent if you don't know where he's coming from?!" Genbu yelled incredulously.
Kurama closed his green eyes and chuckled once again. "If that is what you think, then go ahead, from any direction!" he taunted.
"How interesting! I'll tear you apart with a single blow!"
Kurama closed his eyes in concentration. I thought I saw his nose twitch slightly…? He snapped his eyes open, "From above!" Right at that moment, Kurama's grip on his whip tightened and he swung it above his head.
Genbu's eyes widened as he screamed. "He got him!" Hiei smugly said. Yusuke and Kuwabara stared in amazement. "The thorns on that whip are sharp enough to cut through iron!"
Kurama jumped up and rapidly moved his arms, so fast that I could barely see them moving. "Kagon Retsuzanshi!" Flashes of green and falling debris later Kurama landed perfectly on his two feet with a satisfied look on his face.
"H-how did you know where I was?" the rock monster rasped from his cut off head on the ground.
"From your smell. In this room, bathed in the scent of roses, your Demon Energy stinks somewhat terrible."
We ran up to Kurama.
"You got him! It was Genbu that got beaten in one blow!" Yusuke clapped Kurama on the back. Kurama looked a little surprised from the sudden contact, but didn't move away.
"Hey, creep! That guy was pretty weak, wasn't he?" Kuwabara mocked.
"Idiot! It's only because Kurama was there, that he appeared to be so easily beaten. If it were you, you would have been dead after the first strike." Hiei huffed.
Kuwabara glared at Hiei with a vein popping in his forehead. "You really know how to irritate someone, you know that?!" Kuwabara yelled.
"Yup."
"Listen, I have enough power that I came in a respectable third place in the tournament to succeed Genkai." Kuwabara flexed his muscles and I cringed.
"Moron."
"What?!" Kuwabara lifted Hiei slightly off the floor using the little man's scarf.
I kicked both of them at the feet, making them lose their balance. "As hilarious as this is, we need to keep moving. Time is of the essence."
Kuwabara and Hiei gave each other one last glare before turning their heads in opposite directions. But at least they stopped fighting. Kurama smiled, and Yusuke grinned. "Then let's go!"
The four of us nodded and waited for Yusuke to go on ahead. I heard a noise behind me, and so did Kurama. We turned back, and discovered that the Demon Energy stench hadn't died down one bit. Which meant…
"It would seem that my fight isn't over." Yusuke turned around in confusion. I pointed to the ground where the pieces of rock lay. They were currently shaking and flying up and reassembling themselves. Yusuke and Kuwabara watched in shock as Genbu became a giant four armed boulder again. Hiei and Kurama glared at Genbu, while I just frowned at the current mess of a situation.
"It's no use! No matter how much you may cut me, you cannot beat me!" Genbu adjusted his head on his body and moved it around with his hands, as if he were massaging it. I felt like gagging.
"This bastard! You cut him up, and he still returns to normal! Is he immortal?!" Kuwabara yelled in disgust.
"Not only can I return to normal, I can split myself up as well, like this!" Genu reached his arms out in front of him, "Take this!Exploding RockShock Bombshell Attack!" the rock monster's fingers, hands, and arms turned into sharp pebbles and detached them from Genbu's body. I pushed the frozen human boys out of the way from the attack.
Hiei was already standing in a corner of the room, away from the fight, but now I was defenseless. I pulled up a kekkai to protect myself. Kurama shifted in front of me, "Kagon Retsuzanshi!" he yelled as he sliced and diced the demon. The redhead had done more extensive damage to the rock monster.
"He did it! This time he's rubble!" Yusuke cheered. Kuwabara yelled a "yeah!"
"Kurama! Genbu's not MIA just yet!" Yusuke and Kuwabara gave me a weird glance.
"She speaks english too!" Kuwabara frowned.
Kurama turned around just in time to jump out of the way to avoid the lethal attacks. But the sharp stones managed to scratch him here and there. There was a flash of red, and I knew it wasn't Kurama. Kurama seemed to have noticed the red object too. As soon as he spotted it, he ducked under the onslaught of rocks and lay flat on the floor.
"He's coming around again!"
"Kurama!" the two humans warned.
Kurama turned to face Genbu again. He narrowed his eyes and stood up straight. Yusuke yelled in concern. Kurama ignored him. He pulled his arms in front of his face, and other vital parts of the body, and eyed the red object. He reached out his hand and managed to grab it. But Kurama was injured. There were more scratches across his body and he fell on his knees. He panted, tired. I saw him gulp in deep breaths, as he got up again.
"To think you would make yourself a target like that- are you mad?!" Genbu snickered. Kurama closed his eyes and laughed, darkly. He smirked at Genbu, as he reassembled himself. "What are you laughing about? I'll put you out of your misery right now!" Genbu growled.
I stared at Genbu and let my jaw drop open. Yusuke and Kuwabara stared for a while too, before doubling over with tears in their eyes. They laughed so hard!
"Wha- He's upside down!" Genbu cried. Kurama was still smirking, and even Hiei's lips were twitching upwards. All I could do was stare.
"What's this?!" Genbu seemed to have come to terms with his situation.
"You've got some huge balls there, huh?!" Yusuke laughed.
"That's gotta be too heavy for you to even walk!" Kuwabara added.
"I-it can't be! You've taken my…!" Genbu stared wide eyed at the red headed fox. My brain had finally registered what had happened.
Kurama had most likely taken the regenerating part of Genbu, the piece that controlled and made sure that he got back together the right way after splitting into pieces.
"This?" Kurama held up the red object mockingly. He displayed it in front of Genbu and tossed it around. The red object was actually pulsing like a heart.
"T-that!" Genbu wailed. Kurama held the pulsating object in front of his face, hiding his sinister smirk. But his bright green eyes looked pure and innocent.
"This is the stone that acts as the command pylon to return your dismembered body back to normal, right?" Genbu quivered, "You did a good job of hiding this from my view, but its glow when sending out power could not escape my notice. Finding things that people are trying to hide is one of my specialties." Kurama narrowed his eyes, "I am a professional thief, after all." he bragged.
"W-w-wait! Don't hurt that!" Genbu pleaded. Kurama smiled before tossing the pulsating rock. "Stop that!" Genbu yelled.
"No!" Kurama shouted in reply. He flicked his wrist up and down quickly. His whip swiftly cut the rock cleanly in two, and Genbu shattered into pieces. Kurama gathered his whip in his arms in loops as the dirt fell around him. The dirt seemed to glimmer and shine as it fell in the dark room.
"You did it!"
"Take that!" the boys cheered.
"Way to go Kurama!" Yusuke praised. But Kurama was exhausted and he fell to his knees trying to catch his breath.
I rushed over to him and started working on some of the smaller scratches.
"You might feel a little cold, but that means that my healing powers are working." I focused my energy on the fresh cuts and managed to completely heal the smaller ones. The one on his stomach was larger though, and all I could do was stop the bleeding.
"Kurama, to think that you were wounded this seriously!" Hiei exclaimed in disbelief.
"Aki, I'm sorry." he gave me an apologetic look and I waved it away.
"Hey, now, just leave the rest up to us!" Yusuke assured him.
"Yeah! I'll take the next one!" Kuwabara grinned.
"Then let's go." I pulled Kurama to his feet and let him regain his balance before we ran up the stairs.