Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Added: The following disclaimers apply to this and all future chapters.

I do not own, know, nor make a profit by mentioning Makoto Sasaki. He belongs to himself as he is a person and is not something/someone to be owned.

I do not own nor make a profit by mentioning Allegria.

Warnings: See Chapter One.

Chapter 5: Rock N' Roll Baby!

Genbu stood in the middle of the room, his long stone tail swishing behind him. It reminded Joann of a cat ready to pounce.

"Shee! Big sucker!" Kuwabara said with a grimace.

"You can say that again..." Joann said with a nod.

"Behind me is the one stair case in the castle that leads up. Defeat me and gain the stairs...or die!" Genbu said.

To prove his point, he slammed his rock tail into the ground behind him. The strike was so hard it caused a huge hole in the solid rock floor.

"Come at me all at once. It'll save time...for me anyway." chuckled Genbu.

"Y-you've gotta be yankin' me! how d'ya fight a real live monster?!" Kuwabara asked, fear written all over his face.

His eyes were almost bugging out of their sockets.

Joann stared at the rock creature. She couldn't help but shiver at the intense feeling of murder pouring off the creature.

Kurama stepped forward.

"I'll give it a whirl."

"Kurama!" Yusuke said, shocked at the red head.

Kurama turned to Yusuke with a smile.

"I can't let Hiei have all the fun and take all the bow." Kurama said before glancing at the fire demon.

Hiei looked away with hmph.

"Feh! Who cares?" Hiei said looking away.

Kurama continued to smile at his long time friend.

Joann couldn't help but smile. The two really were close. She furrowed her eyebrows. She wondered how long they had known each other. She looked back at Kurama who took a couple steps towards Genbu.

"So it's one at a time, eh? Come on then." Genbu said with a grin.

He seemed excited at the thought of bloodshed.

Joann twitched as she could feel his intentions.

"Look, maybe we could sneak around him..." Yusuke said looking a bit worried at the red head.

He hadn't seen the guy fight. Heck, the guy had taken a sword to the gut!

"It's fine."

Yusuke blinked before turning towards Joann.

She gave Yusuke a reassuring smile.

"How do you know?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Joann blinked before realizing her mistake. She gave him a nervous laugh.

'Shit...I'm not suppose to know he will be fine! Think quick Joann!' she thought.

"The woman's right." Hiei said.

Joann let out a sigh of relief.

'Perfect timing Hiei...'

Yusuke turned towards the fire demon.

"Fact is I teamed up with him because that's a lot smarter than going up against him, not that I couldn't take him, okay?" Hiei said, adding that last part a bit quickly and a bit defensively.

"Threaten him and he gets vicious in ways even I don't like to think about."

Yusuke blinked at the fire demon before turning back towards the red head. He was beginning to get curious at what Kurama had up his sleeve.

Kuwabara looked at Joann with furrowed eyebrows.

'Yusuke's right, how would she know it will be okay?' the carrot top thought.

"Whenever you're ready." Kurama said looking at Genbu.

Kuwabara turned his attention from the girl to the red head. Everyone was now looking at the red head.

Joann hadn't noticed Kuwabara's look and was focused on the red head. She hadn't seen this episode and wasn't sure what to expect. She knew from the next episode that he was fine. Other than that she didn't know how the fight had played out. She tensed up, not liking surprises too much.

'Good luck.' she thought.

"Alright," Kurama said after a couple of minutes of the two staring each other down, "I'll make the first move."

Kurama shifted his foot as if he was about to attack. However, movement had caught Yusuke's eye. They widened before he pointed at Genbu.

"His tail's melting into the rock floor!"

Everyone watched as it seemed to melt seamlessly into the stone ground. Another movement caught the groups attention, this time behind the red head.

"Kurama, behind you!" Joann shouted with wide eyes.

Kurama's eyes widened as he turned to see the scorpion like tail hovering above him.

"Rock is my element! I move freely in it! It allows me to do things..." laughed Genbu.

A smirk crossed his face.

"Like this!" he shouted, as his tail moved to stab the red head.

Kurama narrowed his eyes before jumping away. However, he wasn't quick enough as the tail was able to just get him across his stomach. Exactly where Hiei's sword had struck only weeks ago.

Kurama landed but fell to his knees. He had to put one of this hands on the ground, just to keep him steady. His other pressed against his stomach. Blood began to stain his shirt as well as his hand. Sweat appeared on Kurama's forehead. He was in some deep shit.

"He slid his tail right through rock!" shouted a shocked Yusuke.

"And it nailed Kurama!" Kuwabara said with wide eyes.

Kuwabara could sense a strong aura within Kurama, actually he could sense two different auras. So he had already known the redhead was strong. However, he wasn't expecting this rock creature to be as quick as it had been.

"As you realize, this entire room is an extension of myself! You have no hope of escape!" Genbu said with a laugh.

"Kurama, say something! Anything!" shouted a worried Yusuke.

His fists clenched at his side as he looked at the wound that was slightly bleeding.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at the Underworld detective's concern.

"It's okay. I've had worse...as you know." Kurama said, quickly glancing towards a guilty looking Hiei.

The red head turned back to Yusuke with a weak smile.

"Genbu just caught me off guard, is all." he said before grunting at the slight pain.

It had hurt but it really wasn't the worse he had. Even Hiei's strike just a couple weeks ago was nothing to what he had experienced, back when he was Yoko Kurama.

Kurama grew serious and more alert as he looked at his opponent. He wouldn't let down his guard again. He watched as Genbu chuckled before slowly melting into the stone below.

"Gack! Now his whole body is sinking into the floor!" Kuwabara said with wide eyes.

The group watched as the rock creature was completely gone.

"He's totally gone!" Yusuke said with wide eyes.

Joann looked around the room. She could sense Genbu, if only faintly. Her eyes widened as she could sense the rock creature moving to go above the red head. Without thinking, as usual, she pulled out the baseball bat and rushed towards the red head.

"Joann! What the heck are you doing!?" Yusuke shouted with wide eyes.

"Get back here! Carson-san!" Kuwabara shouted, fear in his voice and face.

However, she didn't seem to hear the yells from her comrades. She gripped her bat as she ran.

Genbu had appeared right behind the red head with a sickening grin.

"BOO!" he said.

Kurama's eyes widened as he turned around.

"Another sneak attack!" he shouted.

"Hey Genbu!"

Genbu turned just in time to get a nice home run like whack to his face. The force was strong enough to make the rock creature stumble backwards a bit, but still on it's feet. Some dust fell from the part the girl had hit him.

Kurama looked at the girl with blinking eyes, still on his knees.

'Who is this girl?' he thought.

Kuwabara's mouth hung open at what had just happened, while Yusuke blinked in shock.

After a couple of moments, Joann was able to feel a fierce vibration overcome her hands. She yelped at both the shock and pain. It caused her to drop the bat. She began to shake her hands.

"Damn that hurt!" she hissed.

Kuwabara and Yusuke sweat dropped at the reaction, while Hiei shook his head with a small smirk. He found it entertaining that was for sure.

'Who is this girl indeed...' Kurama thought again with a small smile that accompanied his sweat drop.

However, there was no moment to rest as Genbu looked a bit peeved.

"Bitch, you'll pay for that." he growled before bringing his scorpion like tail towards her.

Joann yelped as she jumped back and away. Kurama had also moved as the strike would have hit him as well. She landed on her feet further in the room. Kurama had landed back on his knees, his hand still steadying himself. His eyes widened at the spot he and the girl had been.

Genbu had left a crater.

Luckily the bat was fine. Unluckily, it had flew to the farthest side of the room. Joann looked a bit freaked as it was the only way for her to defend herself.

"There he goes again!" Yusuke shouted.

Genbu had begun to melt back into the rock.

"Get outta there Carson-san!" Kuwabara growled out.

Joann looked back at the group. She could run. But she wasn't going to make it, that was for sure. The guy was just too quick. Besides that, he would have been able to attack the rest of the guys. Then it would be a complete clusterfuck as it were.

'Shit! What can I do?' she shouted in her head.

Kurama was on the same wavelength as Joann. He knew it would be impossible for the girl to make it back and it would put the rest in danger. He had to finish this and quick.

Joann looked over to the bat. She was closer to the bat than the group anyway. It would give her some fighting chance at this monster. She moved to run but jumped back, just as another attack of that tail came up from beneath her.

"You won't win just by dodging, girl." growled Genbu as he melted back into the ground.

"Here's my chance." mumbled Kurama.

It seemed Joann had pulled the rock creature's attention. Whether or not she did so on purpose, it didn't matter. It meant Kurama had a chance to figure out some way to defeat him. He needed to do it soon before his wound got too serious.

Kurama closed his eyes and reached into his hair.

"It's time I gave as well as I got." he said pulling out a rose, opening up his eyes.

His green eyes had a mischief glint in them.

"A rose?! Kurama, are you crazy!?" Yusuke said a bit dumbfounded.

"This isn't just a rose..." Kurama said with a smile.

Kurama snapped his hand as if he was holding a whip. Rose petals shout out in all directions as they filled the room like a snow storm.

Joann took the distraction as her chance. She looked determined before rushing towards the bat. She skidded to a stop before picking up the weapon. She let out a breath before noticing a sweet smell.

"It's my rose whip!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked dumbfounded.

"The room smells...nice. What's going on?" Yusuke said sniffing the air.

"Dare I say it..." Kuwabara said with a sweat drop, "Flower power?"

Joann would have laughed if she didn't feel a tickle in her nose. It twitched. She took in a deep breath and let out a loud sneeze. She wiggled her nose before rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

"Damn allergies." she mumbled, her eyes a bit watery.

"Bless you!" Kuwabara shouted.

Everyone stared at him. Joann smiled. She hated it when no one said that when there was a sneeze.

"Thank you!" she said with a wave from across the room.

Kurama closed his eyes and shook his head. It was instilled in the red head's brain to say it too. But it seemed Kuwabara was quicker on the draw.

Genbu's chuckle echoed throughout the room.

"Fool...How will you wield that whip against someone who can strike at you from anywhere?"

"Guess we'll find out. Ready when you are." Kurama said, closing his eyes.

His rose whip was still and ready to strike.

"I'll cut you to ribbons with one slash!" his voice echoed from within the stone room.

The entire room was quiet.

Kurama seemed to be relaxed as he stayed knelt on the ground. Joann had tightened her hold on the bat and was looking around. She didn't notice herself instinctively walking backwards, towards one of the walls.

Another tickle was felt in her nose. She growled before pinching it.

'Damn it! I wish I had some Allegria or something!' she thought with a growl.

Once the feeling disappeared, she let out a relieved breath. However, it was sneaky as it came back in full force.

Kurama's eyes snapped open. He stumbled to his feet.

"Joann! Behind you!" he shouted.

However, the poor girl couldn't react as she was in mid sneeze.

"Bless you!" came from behind the girl.

The sneeze was so hard, that it caused her to bend over.

'Now's my chance.' Kurama thought.

"Stay down!" he shouted before bringing his hand back, his whip swinging with the movement.

"He's got him! As long as that girl doesn't move, those thorns on that whip cut through steel like a hot knife through butter!" Hiei said, a small smirk on his lips.

Joann had heard Kurama's warning, despite being in mid sneeze. She dodged to the left and rolled away, rolling up onto her knees. She turned back to where she had been a few seconds ago.

"Thorn whip lash!" Kurama shouted.

His whip flew through the air as it moved like a snake through grass. All that was seen was red lines going all over Genbu's body. The rock creature screamed as he was cut into pieces. There was silence as Genbu's body fell to the ground in a pile of rubble.

"Stellar! He dismembered Genbu with one whip crack!" Yusuke said both impressed and in shock.

"That guy wasn't so tough after all!" Kuwabara said a snort.

"You dolt. Kurama made it look easy, but you'd have been dead at Genbu's first strike." Hiei said with a snort.

He was sick of hearing this human's mouth.

"Why'd you keep torquein' me off every time you open your yap?!" Kuwabara growled, turning towards the fire demon.

Kurama walked up to Joann, folding up his whip in his hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking the girl over.

Despite a couple of scrapes from her own dodging, she was fine. Joann looked at the rubble and let out a sigh. However, her gut agreed with Kuwabara. It had been too easy.

"Yeah..." Joann said, not looking away from the rubble.

Kurama seemed to notice and also looked back. He had also found it too underwhelming. He had heard stories about how powerful the Four Saint Beasts were and he had taken out one of them with one flick of his whip.

"Listen, I placed third in the competition to choose Master Genkai's successor!" Kuwabara growled.

Kurama turned back to Joann and offered his hand. She blinked at it before looking up at him.

"I should care?" Hiei said with a raised eyebrow.

Kurama gave the girl a warm smile. She couldn't help the slight blush that crossed her cheeks before taking his hand. He pulled her easily off the ground and turned towards the others. Joann also looked to them.

"Knock it off you two." Yusuke said with an annoyed glare.

Kurama couldn't help but shake his head as he started to walk towards them. Joann softly giggled at the scene.

"I agree with Yusuke, we still have to..." Kurama started.

Joann's entire body went stiff. The enormous energy and hate that she was feeling seemed to paralyze her. Kurama turned back towards the rubble. There was a faint pulse coming from it.

"We're not done here." Kurama said, clutching his whip tightly in his hand.

"Huh?" Yusuke said a bit confused.

Joann was still paralyzed by fear. She now understood how Kuwabara felt when those ghosts would attack him at night. Although, ever since coming back from Genkai's tournament, the problems had almost ceased. Sure, the room was still cold but the two of them were able to get better sleep.

The rest had watched in horror as Genbu began to pull himself together.

"As you can see, I find being sliced to pieces no more than a moment's inconvenienced." Genbu said, picking up his head and snapping it into place.

"Granite butt put himself back together! He's unkillable!" shouted a horrified Kuwabara.

"Oh that's nothing, watch this!" Genbu said, looking at Joann, who hadn't moved.

Kuwabara noticed and looked towards the girl. His eyes widened when he realized she wasn't moving. It reminded him of when he would become paralyzed by ghosts at night.

"Carson-san! Snap outta it!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Exploding rock!" Genbu shouted, sending pieces of his body towards Joann.

At hearing Kuwabara's voice, she snapped back to reality. She turned around and yelped as she saw the rocks coming at her. Kurama had noticed they heading towards her and had already been slicing through some of the rocks with his whip.

He grimaced as some rocks made it past his whip and nicked him. A small shimmer of light caught his green eyes. It was different than the rest.

Joann had been swinging the bat as if she was in a batting cage. She hadn't played softball since she was a kid. It seemed she still got it!

"Wow, Joann is hitting those stones like Makoto Sasaki!" Kuwabara shouted, a bit impressed. (1)

Joann had missed a couple and had a couple scratches and small tares in her outfit.

'This was my favorite training outfit too.' she thought with a growl.

Soon the two were surrounded by all the stones they had deflected.

"They pulverized 'im!" Yusuke said impressed.

"Nuthin' but gravel now!" Kuwabara said with an impressed look.

Laughter filled the room, echoing all around them. They watched in horror as Genbu had pulled himself together, again.

"As I said a mere inconvenience."

"Even that didn't do it! They can't win!" Yusuke said in shock.

Kurama had moved closer to Joann and leaned in.

"Get him to attack you."

Joann looked at him a bit scared.

"Are you kidding?"

Kurama looked at her with serious green eyes. She couldn't help but gulp.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

He wasn't expecting the quick reply and nod.

"Completely."

He blinked at her. He wasn't sure if she was just naive or if she truly trusted him.

It was no question in the girl's mind. She had watched the show for so long and knew so much about each character. Joann knew she could trust each and every one of the guys with her life. Even Hiei!

Kurama gave her a calculating look.

"What are you whispering about over there?" Genbu asked, "Are you discussing your surrender?"

Joann took in a deep breath. She took a step forward and took a batting stance position.

"We were just deciding who would get the fun of killing you. I won." she said with a smirk.

However, deep inside she was freaking out. Her theatre art's teacher would have been proud at her performance right now.

Kurama was a bit impressed. She had surprised him at every turn.

"Oh? We shall see! Exploding Rock!" Genbu shouted, going towards Joann.

"Carson-san!" Kuwabara shouted, worry in both his face and voice.

"My name is Joann!" she growled while hitting each rock that came at her.

Kurama worked fast and jumped into the flurry of rocks.

"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted.

"What is he doing?! He can get killed!" he added with worry.

Kurama spotted what he was looking for and grabbed it. He was cut up but not too bad. He landed next to Joann, who continued to hit each rock. She had been getting scratched up more, some hitting and opening up some of the scraps from the first attack. She growled and hissed at the pain.

However, Kurama was depending on her and she wouldn't wuss out!

Joann was out of breath by the time the attack ended. She fell to her knees, dropping the bat as she put her hands on her thighs.

"Carson-san!" shouted Kuwabara.

"Joann!" shouted Yusuke.

Kurama stood straight next to the girl.

Genbu laughed as he began to pull himself together again.

"Still breathing, but clearly no fight left." Genbu said, looking at the girl.

"And you," Genbu said looking at Kurama who had a smirk on his lips before he started to laugh.

Genbu didn't know why the redhead was laughing but began to get pissed.

It was here he realized something.

Joann looked up at Kurama, wondering why he was laughing. She was also surprised at hearing him laugh. It might have been the first time she heard him. She blinked as she heard Yusuke and Kuwabara laughing from behind her. She turned and saw Yusuke pointing at Genbu.

"Guh?! He...he's upside down?!" Genbu shouted, confused.

Joann turned back and couldn't hold back her own laughter.

Genbu was back together alright. However, he wasn't put back together correctly. His head was positioned where his crotch should have been. It was even upside while there. His tail and arms were placed randomly on his upper body. The only parts that seemed to be right was his legs.

"What's going on?!" Genbu shouted, terrified and confused.

"I like him better this way." laughed Joann.

Her comment made the two boy laugh even harder. Hiei even smirked, in agreement.

"What's going on?!" Genbu growled.

It was at this minute he seemed to notice something was missing.

"Hyi! It's gone! Where is it?! Where's my-" Genbu started to say.

"Looking for this?" Kurama asked with a smile.

He pulled out a rock that was pulsing in his hand. Joann looked at it and could faintly feel the pulsing.

Genbu looked at it in terror.

"I figured this is your control core, the part that keeps all the pieces of your body organized. You made it look like any other pieces of you, but I saw the glint as it emitted energy. Park of my success as a thief, you see, is that I'm good at finding what's hidden." Kurama said.

Genbu felt fear fill his body for the first time in centuries. His eyes widened at those fierce looking emerald eyes.

"Well now..." Kurama said tossing Genbu's core into the air.

"W-wait! Don't hurt it!" Genbu plead.

However, his plea fell on deaf ears. With one quick snap of his whip, Kurama sliced it; shattering it to pieces.

Genbu screamed before falling to the ground, turning into rubble; for the last time.

"You did it! You both did it!" Yusuke said rushing over to the two.

"And just what he deserved!" Yusuke added with a grin.

Kurama let out a sigh of relief before falling to his knee. The stomach wound had stopped bleeding but it still was painful.

"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted, worry on his face.

Joann looked at Kurama. They were now eye level, kneeling next to each other. She couldn't help but snort.

"What a pair we are eh?" she said.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at the comment.

"Two of a kind I'd say." he said with a small smile.

Kurama shifted as he went to stand up. He grunted as he got onto his feet. He was able to help Joann up. The two looked a mess.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were now standing next to them. Kuwabara was looking over Joann. She didn't look horrible, but she did have a lot of cuts all over her body. She even had a couple on her cheeks. He frowned. He felt guilty. He should have stopped her from coming with them. He didn't know how but he should have .

Hiei had strolled up to the rest, looking over his long time friend.

"Genbu was a formidable opponent. Kurama won't be able to go on..."

Hiei took a look over Joann.

"And it looks like the girl is out as well..."

He was a bit impressed. But he wouldn't admit it aloud.

Yusuke grinned.

"No problem! Leave the rest to us!" he said, pointing to himself.

"Yeah, I'll work the next creepoid over!" Kuwabara said with a grin.

"Don't sweat about this next guy. I'll take 'im."

"You almost fainted at the sight of the first guy!" laughed Yusuke.

"Shut up! I just wasn't ready! I wasn't sittin' around while you were off training with Master Genkai y'know! Through trial and error, I figured out how to conjure my spirit sword, using only my bare hands..." Kuwabara said before grinning.

A glowing light began to pulse in his hands. Soon he was able to form his glowing sword, swinging it around a bit.

"See?"

Hiei looked at the weapon. He knew how hard it was to form an object with one's own reiki. It took him a long time to make one. However, it was even harder for a human to do it without using a conduite.

"Not bad...Not quite the dead weight I took you for."

Kuwabara growled before pointing his sword at Hiei, who didn't even bat an eye.

"You want a taste of this?!" he growled.

Joann couldn't help but laugh as Kurama smiled and shook his head.

"Get a grip, guy!" Yusuke said with an annoyed look on his face.

The two stared each other down before Kuwabara backed off, leaning his sword on his shoulder.

"Sure man. No sweat." he said, seeming to cool off a bit.

"My research didn't stop there, y'know. Check it out!" Kuwabara added.

He put the sword in front of him.

"Sword Extend!" he shouted.

His sword grew into a long spear looking object.

Yusuke looked up with wide eyes. Kuwabara truly had improved in two weeks.

"Whoa! From a sword to a spear!"

"I can extend or retract it at will." Kuwabara said with a chuckle.

"Though, Joann helped me learn how to wield it." Kuwabara said grinning at Joann.

Joann couldn't help the small blush.

"Naw, it was all you. Besides, you would have been able to figure it out on your own."

Kuwabara shook his head.

"You really helped! But now I'm ready for anything! That first bursar just caught me off guard! I'm ready to take on whatever comes next!" Kuwabara said with a grin.

"Bring it on!" he shouted.

He began to laugh until he felt light headed. His sword dispelled as he covered his head.

"Ummf...dizzy...slinging all that aura around..." he grumbled.

"Save any other tricks for the fight then!" growled Yusuke.

A roar came from the open stairway that lead to the next level.

Joann shivered at the strong aura. This one seemed to be stronger than the last one. It seemed like a videogame in her opinion.

"What? What was that? It sounds...otherworldly?!" Kuwabara said, also shaking from the strong energy.

Joann couldn't help but laugh. f

"I think it's cause we're in the Demon plane." she snorted.

"I know that..." Kuwabara said with a growl.

However, another roar, brought the group back to reality.

"We have no time for this! Let's go!" Yusuke said before running up the stairs.

The rest followed closely behind him.

(End of Chapter 5)

(1) /bullpen/1991_in_Japanese_Baseball (or google it since websites don't work here haha)

link to where I got this name. He held the league record for hits, which I think was for that season but it didn't specify that.