Well, here's another chapter! Hope you like it!
The castle was dark and gloomy. There was nothing unusual about that. The girls had more or less expected that. The shortest of them moved with a lithe grace that one would not expect from such a person. The man within her slept, and she was thinking far clearly than she had ever been.
Probably, she mused, it was because she did not have to worry about a hundred and one things, as she would have if she were in her own body. Men's brains were predisposed to thinking about one thing at a time and to forget the details.
Sukina, Naoko and Jennifer followed her, flanking her. All of them were invisible, at least to the human eye. The illusion was one of the few things Naoko was good at besides training duties. Sukina was using her special skills to locate Alina and Carmen. Jenni as usual, was the lookout. She followed behind, her short stature making them change their tactics. She could be far more easily hidden than usual.
Sukina made a move to the right and they followed her. Soon, they could hear some music coming. Naoko stopped, trying to place the music. Sukina and Jennifer were about to say something when Serene noticed the way Naoko held herself. That was the second level of preparation for the Rosé, which meant she was near battle-readiness. Apparently Sukina and Jennifer understood too, for they began expanding the circle.
They reached a passageway that led to an open door. As soon as they saw it, they felt the chi of Carmen and Alina. As usual, Carmen's was flickering like a flame, a candlelight flame. Alina's was steady and pulsing, just like Mother Earth's heartbeat. That made them all wary. In fact they moved so quickly that they were nothing but a blur.
Inside the room, two girls were hung from the wall, in a crucifixion pose. Both of them looked nearly alike, except one had braided hair and the other didn't. Bloody, bruised and looking much the worse for wear, they raised their heads to where Sukina was. Their voices were like cracked earth, hoarse from thirst.
"No…" Alina said.
"Trap… Rumen…" Carmen croaked.
Jennifer and Naoko immediately looked around. Sukina went to free the girls. All of them blended into the background. Sukina was the only one anyone could see. She was standing in front of the wall, using her powers to get the chains to unlock themselves. "'Nee-chan, I need you," she whispered, and Naoko was there, holding her hand. The elements of Makai would not yield to her sister so easily.
As soon as the chains clicked, the two girls fell, caught by their waiting friends. It was then too, that Rumen sauntered into the room from another place. He was dressed like an old English aristocrat. He smiled ferally at the gathering of the six most powerful Elemental Mistresses in the room.
"So, you finally consented to come…" he said, motioning to his guards.
Onee-chan. Distract them. Kill if necessary, Sukina's mind said.
Naoko did not need any second orders. She closed her eyes and immediately a circle of light burst from her feet. Rumen snapped his fingers, his Janioes immediately trying to capture the girls. Jenni was moving faster, fighting with not only her chi, but the power of the Air that she commanded. Serene was already heading towards the door, making it safe for Naoko and Sukina to carry their wounded out.
The battle raged in the corridor as they made their way outside. The circle of light had been Shikigamis being released. They had attacked the Janioes, but there was more than the Shikigamis could handle. As soon as they sighted the door, Naoko called them back. Shikigamis used more power if they were out of her sight, and they had been, ensuring the Janioes in the room would not be able to follow them.
Serene was the first to reach the door. She tugged at it, looking at it in a little surprise. A glitter caught her eye. The mechanism she had used to ensure the door would not be locked was lying on the floor. The door was locked.
"Alternate routes, girls," she said in Hiei's gruff voice, drawing the katana.
They surrounded Sukina in a circle. Alina and Carmen were next to her. Sukina laid her hands on the injured girls and a pink glow began to encompass all three. Naoko, Serene and Jenni were fighting off the Janioes.
Jenni was using a long staff to fight, her weapon of choice. She was making short work of the Janioes coming in from the way they had left just moments before. Her movements were nothing more than a blur, but the sound of heads being cracked was heard quite often. The pendant was taped to her neck to ensure that no one would see it.
Serene and the katana were quite deadly, although she would have preferred her scythe. One hand held the sword, the other a dagger. Both had poisoned. Her movements were smaller but more deadly than Jennifer's. The wounds she inflicted hardly scratched the Janioes, but the poison acted fast and granted them a painful death.
The main fighting surrounded Naoko though. Her Thorned whip was trimming the number of Janioes and zombies quite effectively, but she would soon be overwhelmed. She did not dare use her chi for fear of distracting Sukina. When they had surrounded her on all sides, she spun the whip over and around her in a circle. The results were devastating.
"We can't hold on!" Naoko shouted.
"How are they doing?" Serene asked, a desperate idea in her head.
"Not enough. We need to get out of here!" Sukina said, her brow sweating.
Jenni let out a curse. The rest of them felt the same way. They pressed back towards Sukina, hoping to seek refuge. Just at that moment (cliché I know) the doors burst open and in came Mukuro's army, led by Mukuro, Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara. Among them was Shuura, Yomi's son.
Rumen screamed. He knew that he would not be able to have the Heirs today. He had already lost nearly half of his Janioes. He was willing to sacrifice them if he thought he could capture the girls, but that was before one of the old rulers of Makai came for him. The scream was a sign of retreat.
The Janioes retreated, disappearing into mists as soon as they could. They were in their element here on Makai. Once they were gone, Mukuro sent her army to ensure that not one was left before turning to Sukina and Naoko.
"I thought I told you to have tea with me first before you even think about coming here," she said sternly.
"Aunt Mukuro!" the two girls ran and hugged the cyborg woman.
The rest of them, the girls included, looked at the trio in confusion.