Chapter 8: Troubles
After the echo subsides from the cavern, a slight shiver runs through the group.
"Who's there?" Ellen looked anxiously around searching for the owner of the voice. "I had no idea anyone was expecting us." Anneliese looks questioningly at Hiei who remains quite and keeps still. Kurama side glances at Hiei. He notices that Hiei's body posture has become ridged and alert.
'We must be in more danger than I thought,' Kurama thinks to himself.
"Umm....so what are we doing in a gloomy place like this?" Theresa looks dismally at the dark cave walls around her. The cave had a dim lighting in it since only small torches lighted the room.
"Ask her," Hiei points at Anneliese.
"Don't start this up again, I came here because of the information you gave to me..or lack thereof." Anneliese countered back.
"Shh..Someone's approaching." Kurama said in an urgent whisper.
A figure slowly crept out of the shadows. He wasn't that much taller than Hiei or Anneliese. Actually, he only exceeded them by a few inches. It was hard to tell in the dark, but they could see that he was in his late teens. His black hair was past his ears and jetted downward in spikes. His eyes where also black with a misty glow to them, but they showed no emotion as her drew nearer. His pace was a slow one, like someone who had all the time in the world. He finally came to a stop before the group.
The group tensed as he ceased his movement. Hiei glared and Kurama instinctively stepped slightly in front of the girls to shield them.
"My, aren't we the edgy ones?" This stranger had a certain tone to his voice that made the listener want to hear it again. It was smooth like honey, yet low and mysterious.
Hiei reaches for his katana hilt, but stops before he grasps it. Everyone turned to look at Hiei, everyone except the stranger.
*Wow, Hiei must really hate this guy, but...how does he know him?* Anneliese looks worriedly at Hiei who seems to be trying to kill the man with his eyes.
The man took no notice of this though. On the contrary, he stared straight ahead and smirked. "Don't worry Hiei, I won't be killing you...yet." The stranger still looks like he is staring past the group when he says this. His eyes though make a slight change, now his eyes almost looked orange.
"I'll show you who will be killing who." Hiei growled murderously as he unsheathed his katana and lunged at him. He had caught the man off guard and before he knew it Hiei's blade had completely run him threw. The man groaned and kneeled as the full force of the blow impacted him.
Hiei smirked, "What happened, you use to be more on guard than that." He slowly drew out his sword and jerked slightly in surprise when he saw no blood. The man began to chuckle softly as he slowly stood.
"Oh Hiei, you always were the more gullible out of the two of us." The man still didn't look at whom he was speaking to as he said this. "Do you really think I would be so rash as to meet you now before I had planned out exactly how to kill you? Using inanimate objects to make a holograph of myself was my way of keeping a watch out for you when you arrived. Now hurry and find me so I can finally finish you off." With this the holograph vanished without a trace.
"Um...Hiei? What was that all about?" Anneliese says in a soft voice as she steps a little closer to him. Hiei was about to answer when a loud rumbling filled the cave.
"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk later, but for now let's run from the crashing cave, shall we?" Ellen begins to inch the others toward the tunnel leading out of the cavern, but no one moves. "RUN DAMMIT!"
Ellen's yell was so loud it causes the cave to rumble louder and rocks suddenly begin falling from the ceiling. The lights go out and the group is thrown into pitch black. Hiei and Kurama are undisturbed by this though, considering they can see just as well in the dark as they can in the light. On the other hand, Ellen, Theresa, and Anneliese were tossed into a state of confusion. (Anneliese would have been able to see in the dark as well if she hadn't completely grown up in the human world.)
"Ahhhhh! I can't see!" Theresa starts wildly spreading her arms out trying to find everyone.
"Come on, the tunnel was this way when the lights were on." Ellen begins walking in a random direction.
"Hiei, I suggest we get out of this open cave now." Kurama says while shielding himself from Theresa's flailing arms.
"Fine," he replies while watching Ellen go around in circles muttering 'It's not far now, just a little farther' "you grab that girl and..." He trails off as something catches his eye.
The whole roof of the cave has begun to collapse and half the people in the group didn't know it.
"Go Kurama! This whole room is collapsing!" He yells out while running towards Anneliese.
Anneliese hears the commotion coming from Hiei and senses that something is endangering her. Before she has a chance to try and move though, an arm wraps firmly around her waist and lifts her up. Anneliese barely has time to grab on to her rescuer when she hears the loud crash of a particularly large rock that had fallen right where she was a moment before. Kurama, following Hiei's suit, quickly grabs Theresa (a little less rough as Hiei grabbed Anneliese) and races her over to the tunnel. Inside the tunnel there are more lit torches, and both girls are set down by their rescuers.
"Oh Kurama, thank you sooooo much!" Theresa embraces Kurama and gives him a quick peck on the cheek. Kurama blushes slightly, but returns the embrace, "it's fine Resa, and we're all okay now."
Anneliese suddenly pricks, "Uh..guys, where's Ellen?"
Kurama and Theresa freeze mid-embrace as their faces drop in realization. "Uh oh.."
Ellen is still walking aimlessly around the cavern. She has miraculously avoided being hit by a rock and flattened thus far. She suddenly stops as she just now notices everyone is not following her and she is by herself. "Hey...guys? HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME HERE!!!!!" Ellen now starts running in the opposite direction she was heading. She runs for a few moments until she crashes into a wall. She is knocked out and is about to hit the floor when someone catches her and brings her to the tunnel.
"We HAVE to go back for her!" Anneliese was bellowing at Hiei.
"We have no time to, besides she's probably already dead by now." Hiei coldly replies.
"Well if you won't come, I'll go myself! She's my friend and I'm not leaving her behind." Anneliese turns to leave, but is stopped when Hiei grabs her wrist. He gives her a piercing glare, but she won't look at him.
*She doesn't want me to know she's trying not to cry. * Hiei thought to himself. "Liese, listen.." Hiei starts, but suddenly stops when Ellen comes floating into the room.
Or at least that's what it looked like to Kurama, Theresa, and Hiei; to Anneliese, the scene looked perfectly normal. Jesse (the ghost that all the sudden disappeared during one of the earlier chapters) was carrying the still unconscious Ellen in his arms.
"Ellen!" Anneliese rushes forward to where she was. "Is she okay Jesse?"
Jesse sets Ellen down and steps back. "Yes, I believe she will be fine, she just ran into a wall." He suppresses a chuckle as he says this.
Ellen slowly starts stirring. She opens her eyes and sits up. "OUCH!" She grabs her head. "What happened?"
"Jesse here saved you." Anneliese says smiling down at her life long friend.
"Really?! Anneliese could you excuse us for a sec?" She steals a quick glance at Jesse.
Anneliese nods and goes back to where Kurama, Theresa, and Hiei are standing. Obviously something happened behind Anneliese's back because the three still looking in that direction went wide eyed and turn around sharply. Anneliese goes to stand next to Hiei. She looks at him and gasps.
"Hiei, you're hurt." Anneliese grabs Hiei's arm which is seeping blood out of a wound. She reaches down to her shirt and rips the bottom of it. She then uses the scraps to bandage it up. "There we go, good as new."
They stand there staring at each other for a few minutes until Ellen approaches the group with a HUGE smile on her face. (Jesse has disappeared again.)
"Well it seems like we're ready to go. Come on Resa, let's see where this tunnel leads to." Kurama holds Theresa's hand as they begin to walk, Kurama and Theresa in the lead, Ellen next, closely followed by Anneliese. Hiei stays back for a second looking down at his bandage then up at the girl walking away. A slight smirk crosses his face as he begins to walk.
WOOHOOO next chapter up! Review please!
After the echo subsides from the cavern, a slight shiver runs through the group.
"Who's there?" Ellen looked anxiously around searching for the owner of the voice. "I had no idea anyone was expecting us." Anneliese looks questioningly at Hiei who remains quite and keeps still. Kurama side glances at Hiei. He notices that Hiei's body posture has become ridged and alert.
'We must be in more danger than I thought,' Kurama thinks to himself.
"Umm....so what are we doing in a gloomy place like this?" Theresa looks dismally at the dark cave walls around her. The cave had a dim lighting in it since only small torches lighted the room.
"Ask her," Hiei points at Anneliese.
"Don't start this up again, I came here because of the information you gave to me..or lack thereof." Anneliese countered back.
"Shh..Someone's approaching." Kurama said in an urgent whisper.
A figure slowly crept out of the shadows. He wasn't that much taller than Hiei or Anneliese. Actually, he only exceeded them by a few inches. It was hard to tell in the dark, but they could see that he was in his late teens. His black hair was past his ears and jetted downward in spikes. His eyes where also black with a misty glow to them, but they showed no emotion as her drew nearer. His pace was a slow one, like someone who had all the time in the world. He finally came to a stop before the group.
The group tensed as he ceased his movement. Hiei glared and Kurama instinctively stepped slightly in front of the girls to shield them.
"My, aren't we the edgy ones?" This stranger had a certain tone to his voice that made the listener want to hear it again. It was smooth like honey, yet low and mysterious.
Hiei reaches for his katana hilt, but stops before he grasps it. Everyone turned to look at Hiei, everyone except the stranger.
*Wow, Hiei must really hate this guy, but...how does he know him?* Anneliese looks worriedly at Hiei who seems to be trying to kill the man with his eyes.
The man took no notice of this though. On the contrary, he stared straight ahead and smirked. "Don't worry Hiei, I won't be killing you...yet." The stranger still looks like he is staring past the group when he says this. His eyes though make a slight change, now his eyes almost looked orange.
"I'll show you who will be killing who." Hiei growled murderously as he unsheathed his katana and lunged at him. He had caught the man off guard and before he knew it Hiei's blade had completely run him threw. The man groaned and kneeled as the full force of the blow impacted him.
Hiei smirked, "What happened, you use to be more on guard than that." He slowly drew out his sword and jerked slightly in surprise when he saw no blood. The man began to chuckle softly as he slowly stood.
"Oh Hiei, you always were the more gullible out of the two of us." The man still didn't look at whom he was speaking to as he said this. "Do you really think I would be so rash as to meet you now before I had planned out exactly how to kill you? Using inanimate objects to make a holograph of myself was my way of keeping a watch out for you when you arrived. Now hurry and find me so I can finally finish you off." With this the holograph vanished without a trace.
"Um...Hiei? What was that all about?" Anneliese says in a soft voice as she steps a little closer to him. Hiei was about to answer when a loud rumbling filled the cave.
"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk later, but for now let's run from the crashing cave, shall we?" Ellen begins to inch the others toward the tunnel leading out of the cavern, but no one moves. "RUN DAMMIT!"
Ellen's yell was so loud it causes the cave to rumble louder and rocks suddenly begin falling from the ceiling. The lights go out and the group is thrown into pitch black. Hiei and Kurama are undisturbed by this though, considering they can see just as well in the dark as they can in the light. On the other hand, Ellen, Theresa, and Anneliese were tossed into a state of confusion. (Anneliese would have been able to see in the dark as well if she hadn't completely grown up in the human world.)
"Ahhhhh! I can't see!" Theresa starts wildly spreading her arms out trying to find everyone.
"Come on, the tunnel was this way when the lights were on." Ellen begins walking in a random direction.
"Hiei, I suggest we get out of this open cave now." Kurama says while shielding himself from Theresa's flailing arms.
"Fine," he replies while watching Ellen go around in circles muttering 'It's not far now, just a little farther' "you grab that girl and..." He trails off as something catches his eye.
The whole roof of the cave has begun to collapse and half the people in the group didn't know it.
"Go Kurama! This whole room is collapsing!" He yells out while running towards Anneliese.
Anneliese hears the commotion coming from Hiei and senses that something is endangering her. Before she has a chance to try and move though, an arm wraps firmly around her waist and lifts her up. Anneliese barely has time to grab on to her rescuer when she hears the loud crash of a particularly large rock that had fallen right where she was a moment before. Kurama, following Hiei's suit, quickly grabs Theresa (a little less rough as Hiei grabbed Anneliese) and races her over to the tunnel. Inside the tunnel there are more lit torches, and both girls are set down by their rescuers.
"Oh Kurama, thank you sooooo much!" Theresa embraces Kurama and gives him a quick peck on the cheek. Kurama blushes slightly, but returns the embrace, "it's fine Resa, and we're all okay now."
Anneliese suddenly pricks, "Uh..guys, where's Ellen?"
Kurama and Theresa freeze mid-embrace as their faces drop in realization. "Uh oh.."
Ellen is still walking aimlessly around the cavern. She has miraculously avoided being hit by a rock and flattened thus far. She suddenly stops as she just now notices everyone is not following her and she is by herself. "Hey...guys? HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME HERE!!!!!" Ellen now starts running in the opposite direction she was heading. She runs for a few moments until she crashes into a wall. She is knocked out and is about to hit the floor when someone catches her and brings her to the tunnel.
"We HAVE to go back for her!" Anneliese was bellowing at Hiei.
"We have no time to, besides she's probably already dead by now." Hiei coldly replies.
"Well if you won't come, I'll go myself! She's my friend and I'm not leaving her behind." Anneliese turns to leave, but is stopped when Hiei grabs her wrist. He gives her a piercing glare, but she won't look at him.
*She doesn't want me to know she's trying not to cry. * Hiei thought to himself. "Liese, listen.." Hiei starts, but suddenly stops when Ellen comes floating into the room.
Or at least that's what it looked like to Kurama, Theresa, and Hiei; to Anneliese, the scene looked perfectly normal. Jesse (the ghost that all the sudden disappeared during one of the earlier chapters) was carrying the still unconscious Ellen in his arms.
"Ellen!" Anneliese rushes forward to where she was. "Is she okay Jesse?"
Jesse sets Ellen down and steps back. "Yes, I believe she will be fine, she just ran into a wall." He suppresses a chuckle as he says this.
Ellen slowly starts stirring. She opens her eyes and sits up. "OUCH!" She grabs her head. "What happened?"
"Jesse here saved you." Anneliese says smiling down at her life long friend.
"Really?! Anneliese could you excuse us for a sec?" She steals a quick glance at Jesse.
Anneliese nods and goes back to where Kurama, Theresa, and Hiei are standing. Obviously something happened behind Anneliese's back because the three still looking in that direction went wide eyed and turn around sharply. Anneliese goes to stand next to Hiei. She looks at him and gasps.
"Hiei, you're hurt." Anneliese grabs Hiei's arm which is seeping blood out of a wound. She reaches down to her shirt and rips the bottom of it. She then uses the scraps to bandage it up. "There we go, good as new."
They stand there staring at each other for a few minutes until Ellen approaches the group with a HUGE smile on her face. (Jesse has disappeared again.)
"Well it seems like we're ready to go. Come on Resa, let's see where this tunnel leads to." Kurama holds Theresa's hand as they begin to walk, Kurama and Theresa in the lead, Ellen next, closely followed by Anneliese. Hiei stays back for a second looking down at his bandage then up at the girl walking away. A slight smirk crosses his face as he begins to walk.
WOOHOOO next chapter up! Review please!