I know I recognize this from somewhere! Hm.there was a riddle Miyoshi told
me once. "Once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in one thousand
years" And the answer was the letter 'm'. Could this be like that? I looked
at the riddle again, reading it carefully for allusions like that.
"The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place."
I realized that it worked for the letter 'e'. I beckoned to Kurama and quickly explained my idea. He frowned at where I'd written the riddle and then his eyes widened, "You're right, Nari-chan! I knew you'd figure it out."
I smiled and said the answer out loud. There was a loud rumbling sound as the door through which we'd jumped slowly fizzled out of existence. I stared past it as I saw the other doors disappearing as well. I shivered, getting the feeling that we wouldn't be getting off this platform, either for a while or ever.
The stand I'd seen-I realized that I didn't know how long we'd been in this immense room-appeared in front of us, with a pearly white stone set on a black pillow on top.
"Is that the Ishi Tamashii no Kaia?" I asked in fascination. Kurama nodded and moved to pick it up. The second his finger touched the stone, a large section of the platform fell into the lava below us. I gulped as I imagined the stone disintegrating, then the stone was replaced with my partner and I. I almost threw up.
"I think you should put the stone down, Fox-Boy," I whispered. He frowned but put it down. Another piece of stone fell into the lava and I closed my eyes. I'm going to die here, I know it. And.I never even said good-bye, to everyone, but especially Shuichi. I sighed and Kurama put his hand on my shoulder.
I tried to smile, "Now what?"
He shrugged, "I guess we could try to release Kaia and have her help us, but there really isn't any telling what she'd do."
"Eh.do you know how to release her?"
"That's the problem. I'm not sure, but I think I read about her before.before you came along. There was some royal library and I found an interesting book about youkai there."
What does he mean, 'before I came along?' Does he mean when he was working with Hiei? I nodded, thinking. As we stood there, another block fell off and made a large splash. A bit of lava hit my arm and sizzled. I cried out and tried to shake it off as Kurama attempted to help me. The drop of lava fell to the ground, but the skin was raw and blackened.
"Well, that'll leave a scratch," Kurama joked as I winced in pain. He placed his hand over the wound and a pale green light flowed from his hand to my arm. New skin grew over the injury, but there was still a scar. I smiled at my partner gratefully, what would I do without him? I wondered and shuddered.
"Well, try whatever you think will work on Kaia's stone. I'll just pray." Kurama grinned and I tried to smile. How can he smile now? We're both going to die, and our treasure with us! I sat down again as Kurama moved off to one side.
I heard him muttering something and he closed his hand over the stone. A bright light flashed from in-between his fingers and sweat appeared on his forehead. I could see that he was growing weaker, and a black void had appeared in front of him. I realized that the void was where Kaia would come out of, and it wasn't big enough. Kurama was weakening quickly. I crossed the small space to him and put my hand on his shoulder, giving him whatever power I had. A small smile of relief crossed his face and then his brow furrowed with concentration again.
Come on, you can do it. I repeated in my head, urging him on even though he couldn't hear it. The void opened a little more and my partner started swaying. I gulped and pushed more power into him. I felt, more than I heard, a certain click and I took it to mean that I had run out of magical power and now I was feeding him my life force. I shook my head and pushed the clicking out of my mind. It doesn't matter, as long as Kaia gets out. If I die, I gulped; at least Fox-Boy will be okay. She can help him.
I saw a few black spots and realized that it was really getting dangerous. I slapped myself to clear the spots and kept giving him my power. The void opened completely and a little kitten was dumped, quite unceremoniously, out of it. I cut off the flow of my power and vaguely saw the void close before everything went black.
I woke, who knows how much later, to Kurama shaking my shoulder, a worried look on his face, and the kitten digging her claws into my ankle. I swatted at her and she jumped away with an indignant mew.
"Good, you're awake," Kurama observed with relief as I sat up, "Lesson number who-knows-what: NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!" He yelled. His cry echoed around the room and another block of stone collapsed into the lava pit.
I winced, "Sorry, Fox-Boy, I--"
"I'm not done yet, don't interrupt." He barged in, crossing his arms. Who's interrupting who, Fox-Boy? I mused as he yelled at me.
"Nari-chan, it doesn't matter if I'm going to die, you NEVER, EVER EVER EVER give me your life power like that! Do you understand me?"
I rolled my eyes and nodded, "I just wanted to help."
"Not like that!"
"Fine, whatever!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Er.excuse me, do you think we could postpone this pressing argument?" A polite young voice cut into our 'argument'. I looked around, wondering where it had come from.
"Down here, if you don't mind." A little nip at my ankle sent my gaze downward and I saw the little kitten. "Hello, I am Kaia. I believe you two set me free. Thank you."
I stared at the little white kitten with a pink bow tied around its neck in amazement, "You-you can't be Kaia! She's supposed to be a fearsome demon! You.don't exactly look the part." I finished lamely.
"I believe this is a slightly more harmless form of Kaia's, am I correct?" Kurama asked from behind me.
"Quite so. Very clever of you, kitsune." Kaia answered with approval in her voice, "Should I choose to appear more frightening, I promise you, you would be quite alarmed."
I tried not to laugh at the thought of this innocent looking kitten attacking and defeating so many demons. What would she do, nip at their heels until they ran away crying?
"Things aren't always what they seem, Nari-chan," Kurama whispered in my ear, almost as if he could read my thoughts. I shrugged it off.
"Hey, Kaia, then, do you think you could get us off this platform, it's kind of collapsing." As if to prove my point, another slab of rock disappeared into the bubbling red liquid beneath us.
"Hmm.I believe I could try." With that, a pale blue light surrounded Kaia, flowing over her like another skin. Soon, the light disappeared and Kaia wasn't quite the kitten she had used to be.
Instead of looking like a kitten, she was now a large phoenix. Flames licked her body, flowing from her like sunspots. I squinted and shielded my eyes as her pure light washed over us, filling us with calm. Her great wings spread a long way, and her body was large enough for both of us to sit on her comfortably.
"Climb on, youkai, so we may leave." I got on her back and Kurama climbed on after me. He slipped his arms through mine to hold onto Kaia as she took off. Just as her feet left the platform, the last little island of stone collapsed into the hungry lava and sank beneath the surface. We heard a rumbling and I twisted, trying to see behind me.
The far end of the room had begun to collapse, starting with the platforms, then the walls, and finally the roof.
"Kaia! You have to get us out of here, now!" I cried and the demon nodded her great head. She began flapping her wings furiously, propelling us forward swiftly. She was going so fast that we were both thrown back, and only Kurama's hold on Kaia kept us from falling off.
I suddenly realized that Kaia was heading straight for a wall, and she didn't seem to realize it because her course never wavered.
"Kaia! What are you doing? You're going to get us all killed, smashed into a wall! Turn and get us out!" I yelled at her, trying to be heard over the sound of the room collapsing. The demon ignored me and kept flying at the wall.
"Don't worry, I trust her!" Kurama yelled in my ear. I looked at him uneasily but shrugged.
"Whatever. As long as we get out alive."
Kaia kept flying at the wall-and suddenly, we were on the other side. I blinked and rubbed my eyes in astonishment.
"What just happened?" I asked dazedly and my voice seemed loud in the sudden quiet.
"I transported us through the wall," Kaia asked, "Please, I need you to get off, the transportation greatly weakened me." We hurried to obey and Kaia returned to her kitten form. She immediately curled up and was asleep in seconds. I shook my head at her and looked around. The room was large, but very cramped compared to the openness of the other room. There were cushions scattered in the room and I grabbed one. I realized that I was exhausted as I suppressed a yawn.
"I'm going to sleep for a while," I informed Kurama and fell asleep on the cushion.
"The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place."
I realized that it worked for the letter 'e'. I beckoned to Kurama and quickly explained my idea. He frowned at where I'd written the riddle and then his eyes widened, "You're right, Nari-chan! I knew you'd figure it out."
I smiled and said the answer out loud. There was a loud rumbling sound as the door through which we'd jumped slowly fizzled out of existence. I stared past it as I saw the other doors disappearing as well. I shivered, getting the feeling that we wouldn't be getting off this platform, either for a while or ever.
The stand I'd seen-I realized that I didn't know how long we'd been in this immense room-appeared in front of us, with a pearly white stone set on a black pillow on top.
"Is that the Ishi Tamashii no Kaia?" I asked in fascination. Kurama nodded and moved to pick it up. The second his finger touched the stone, a large section of the platform fell into the lava below us. I gulped as I imagined the stone disintegrating, then the stone was replaced with my partner and I. I almost threw up.
"I think you should put the stone down, Fox-Boy," I whispered. He frowned but put it down. Another piece of stone fell into the lava and I closed my eyes. I'm going to die here, I know it. And.I never even said good-bye, to everyone, but especially Shuichi. I sighed and Kurama put his hand on my shoulder.
I tried to smile, "Now what?"
He shrugged, "I guess we could try to release Kaia and have her help us, but there really isn't any telling what she'd do."
"Eh.do you know how to release her?"
"That's the problem. I'm not sure, but I think I read about her before.before you came along. There was some royal library and I found an interesting book about youkai there."
What does he mean, 'before I came along?' Does he mean when he was working with Hiei? I nodded, thinking. As we stood there, another block fell off and made a large splash. A bit of lava hit my arm and sizzled. I cried out and tried to shake it off as Kurama attempted to help me. The drop of lava fell to the ground, but the skin was raw and blackened.
"Well, that'll leave a scratch," Kurama joked as I winced in pain. He placed his hand over the wound and a pale green light flowed from his hand to my arm. New skin grew over the injury, but there was still a scar. I smiled at my partner gratefully, what would I do without him? I wondered and shuddered.
"Well, try whatever you think will work on Kaia's stone. I'll just pray." Kurama grinned and I tried to smile. How can he smile now? We're both going to die, and our treasure with us! I sat down again as Kurama moved off to one side.
I heard him muttering something and he closed his hand over the stone. A bright light flashed from in-between his fingers and sweat appeared on his forehead. I could see that he was growing weaker, and a black void had appeared in front of him. I realized that the void was where Kaia would come out of, and it wasn't big enough. Kurama was weakening quickly. I crossed the small space to him and put my hand on his shoulder, giving him whatever power I had. A small smile of relief crossed his face and then his brow furrowed with concentration again.
Come on, you can do it. I repeated in my head, urging him on even though he couldn't hear it. The void opened a little more and my partner started swaying. I gulped and pushed more power into him. I felt, more than I heard, a certain click and I took it to mean that I had run out of magical power and now I was feeding him my life force. I shook my head and pushed the clicking out of my mind. It doesn't matter, as long as Kaia gets out. If I die, I gulped; at least Fox-Boy will be okay. She can help him.
I saw a few black spots and realized that it was really getting dangerous. I slapped myself to clear the spots and kept giving him my power. The void opened completely and a little kitten was dumped, quite unceremoniously, out of it. I cut off the flow of my power and vaguely saw the void close before everything went black.
I woke, who knows how much later, to Kurama shaking my shoulder, a worried look on his face, and the kitten digging her claws into my ankle. I swatted at her and she jumped away with an indignant mew.
"Good, you're awake," Kurama observed with relief as I sat up, "Lesson number who-knows-what: NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!" He yelled. His cry echoed around the room and another block of stone collapsed into the lava pit.
I winced, "Sorry, Fox-Boy, I--"
"I'm not done yet, don't interrupt." He barged in, crossing his arms. Who's interrupting who, Fox-Boy? I mused as he yelled at me.
"Nari-chan, it doesn't matter if I'm going to die, you NEVER, EVER EVER EVER give me your life power like that! Do you understand me?"
I rolled my eyes and nodded, "I just wanted to help."
"Not like that!"
"Fine, whatever!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Er.excuse me, do you think we could postpone this pressing argument?" A polite young voice cut into our 'argument'. I looked around, wondering where it had come from.
"Down here, if you don't mind." A little nip at my ankle sent my gaze downward and I saw the little kitten. "Hello, I am Kaia. I believe you two set me free. Thank you."
I stared at the little white kitten with a pink bow tied around its neck in amazement, "You-you can't be Kaia! She's supposed to be a fearsome demon! You.don't exactly look the part." I finished lamely.
"I believe this is a slightly more harmless form of Kaia's, am I correct?" Kurama asked from behind me.
"Quite so. Very clever of you, kitsune." Kaia answered with approval in her voice, "Should I choose to appear more frightening, I promise you, you would be quite alarmed."
I tried not to laugh at the thought of this innocent looking kitten attacking and defeating so many demons. What would she do, nip at their heels until they ran away crying?
"Things aren't always what they seem, Nari-chan," Kurama whispered in my ear, almost as if he could read my thoughts. I shrugged it off.
"Hey, Kaia, then, do you think you could get us off this platform, it's kind of collapsing." As if to prove my point, another slab of rock disappeared into the bubbling red liquid beneath us.
"Hmm.I believe I could try." With that, a pale blue light surrounded Kaia, flowing over her like another skin. Soon, the light disappeared and Kaia wasn't quite the kitten she had used to be.
Instead of looking like a kitten, she was now a large phoenix. Flames licked her body, flowing from her like sunspots. I squinted and shielded my eyes as her pure light washed over us, filling us with calm. Her great wings spread a long way, and her body was large enough for both of us to sit on her comfortably.
"Climb on, youkai, so we may leave." I got on her back and Kurama climbed on after me. He slipped his arms through mine to hold onto Kaia as she took off. Just as her feet left the platform, the last little island of stone collapsed into the hungry lava and sank beneath the surface. We heard a rumbling and I twisted, trying to see behind me.
The far end of the room had begun to collapse, starting with the platforms, then the walls, and finally the roof.
"Kaia! You have to get us out of here, now!" I cried and the demon nodded her great head. She began flapping her wings furiously, propelling us forward swiftly. She was going so fast that we were both thrown back, and only Kurama's hold on Kaia kept us from falling off.
I suddenly realized that Kaia was heading straight for a wall, and she didn't seem to realize it because her course never wavered.
"Kaia! What are you doing? You're going to get us all killed, smashed into a wall! Turn and get us out!" I yelled at her, trying to be heard over the sound of the room collapsing. The demon ignored me and kept flying at the wall.
"Don't worry, I trust her!" Kurama yelled in my ear. I looked at him uneasily but shrugged.
"Whatever. As long as we get out alive."
Kaia kept flying at the wall-and suddenly, we were on the other side. I blinked and rubbed my eyes in astonishment.
"What just happened?" I asked dazedly and my voice seemed loud in the sudden quiet.
"I transported us through the wall," Kaia asked, "Please, I need you to get off, the transportation greatly weakened me." We hurried to obey and Kaia returned to her kitten form. She immediately curled up and was asleep in seconds. I shook my head at her and looked around. The room was large, but very cramped compared to the openness of the other room. There were cushions scattered in the room and I grabbed one. I realized that I was exhausted as I suppressed a yawn.
"I'm going to sleep for a while," I informed Kurama and fell asleep on the cushion.