-Chapter 3-
-??? Universe-
Inuyasha gasped for air as he dug his claws into the carved surface, trying to get a hold that would allow him time to recover. He mentally cursed himself for not pacing his run up the tower, but he had forgotten to figure in how thin the air got at this high of an altitude. He had been running straight up the side at full speed, trying to make good time. He looked back down, trying to gauge the distance he had climbed. Tetsusaiga dangled at his waist as he squinted to make out the ground through the clouds.
"Just how big is this darned thing?" He yelled at no one. "Screw this, I'm not getting beaten by a dumb stack of bricks.." He pushed one hand upward, finding another hand hold, and started his climb again, more slowly this time. His muscles were slowly becoming used to the thin air, but it would take more time and work for them to get to full strength. "This would make a great workout." He thought out loud. "Too bad quitting means falling down...theres no way i could make it all the way back in this condition.." He shook some stray hair from his face and continued climbing, unaware of the time or his surroundings, just focusing his muscles and making them go up. "Remind me to kill Myoga next time i see him..."
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"Wow, this is pretty cool!" Naruto swung from the make shift harness like he was on a swing set.
"Stop that! You don't know if the Kunais will hold!" Sakura tried frantically to catch one of the ropes connected to Naruto's swinging seat.
"What?? You mean i would fall all the way down there?!?" Naruto latched onto the tower as he swung past it, and held on for dear life.
"Didn't you think of that when you saw how high we were??"
"Well, not really..." Sakura sighed as she glanced down past her feet as they swung in the open air. Before their climb, she had rigged up three hammocks with the rope and Kunais they had brought with them, just in case it were a higher climb than it had looked. It was.
"Just try to stay still for a while, you need to regain your chakra quickly so we can continue climbing as soon as possible. That wont happen if you keep fidgeting like a little kid!"
"But my chakra's fine! I don't see why we had to stop so soon..." Naruto pouted as he slowly let go of the pole and swung slowly back around into a sitting position. Sakura didn't really have a response to that. She hadn't wanted to slow them down, but once her reserves were almost spent, it would be dangerous to go on without a rest. She had been grateful when Sasuke had suggested the break, although she imagined he was just as well off as Naruto, and had stopped for her. She hated to be a burden, but at least Sasuke did something nice for her.
"It's not our fault you some kind of stamina junkie." Sasuke made his first contribution to the conversation since they had stopped. "If I'm not mistaken, Sakura is almost completely drained, and to tell the truth...im not terribly far behind her." Sasuke's scowl seemed to deepen, if that was possible, as he admitted this.
"Who are you calling a junkie??" Naruto kicked off from the tower and tried to take a swing at Sasuke as he came around, but managed to tangle himself up before he got there. "Ah!! Get me down! Get me down!"
"At least now i can get some rest.." Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his head back against the face of the tower. He was inwardly troubled by Naruto's words. It was true Sakura didn't have near as much stamina as Sasuke or Naruto, but she had been managing her chakra carefully, taking into account the thinning air and her tiring muscles. He didn't really like to admit it, but Sakura was much more talented then him in these areas. He had been constantly increasing his chakra output as they had climbed higher, compensating for exhaustion, but he hadn't taken their altitude into consideration, a fatal mistake if it weren't for the makeshift beds Sakura had produced. He highly doubted that Naruto would make the same connection though, but he didn't seem to have broken a sweat.
"Hey, your creeping me out Sasuke!" Naruto broke Sasuke out of his train of thought, and he realized he had been staring at Naruto while thinking.
"Be quiet and get some sleep." Sasuke turned the other way and closed his eyes. He could finish his thoughts when the resumed their trek.
"I cant sleep like this!!!" Naruto tried to untangle himself once more, and managed to get his leg tied above his head. "Aww man..."
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"You can't get away from me Uremeshi!" Kuwabara lunged up a few more feet, reaching for the place were Yusuke's foot had been seconds before.
"Ohhh, so close!" Yusuke scampered up just out of Kuwabara's grasp. "You've got to do better than that! Hahahaha!" Kuwabara growled and lunged one more time, still barley missing his target.
"Get back here and take your beating like a man! You little sissy! Then we'll see who you call a slowpoke mama's boy! And for you're information i do NOT wet the bed!" Yusuke barely missed Kuwabara's next attempt, he was having a hard time concentrating from all the laughing he was doing.
"It's amazing how carefree they are..." Kurama laughed as his teammates continued their chase past him. "As long as Kuwabara doesn't look down, i think we can make good time before we have to take another break."
"Look down at wha..AHH!!" Kuwabara wrapped his arms around the pole. "Jeez! Thats really high! This ain't funny anymore Uremeshi, we cant just keep going up. What if there isn't anything up there? You expect me to climb all the way back down there!"
"Put some faith in the old hag." Yusuke stopped to look down at Kuwabara. "She told us to climb, so were gonna climb, got a problem with that?"
"Well, yeah, a few, but i guess it doesn't really matter now...." He started to inch his way up again, but much more slowly.
"If it's alright with you, Yusuke, i would like to go ahead and look for Hiei. It's been a while since we began climbing, and we haven't seen any sign of him."
"Sure thing Kurama, you go on, we can handle things on our end down here."
"Run ahead?? What the heck are you talking about? How the heck do you expect to catch up to that speed freak??"
"If it's really fine with you..." Kurama waited for a final nod from Yusuke before he disappeared in a flash, similar to Hiei.
"Whoa! Hey, how come we cant do that? Is it, like, a demon only thing or something?"
"Nah, just a non-bed wetting mommas boy slow poke way!" Yusuke laughed down at Kuwabara.
"That's it! You're dead Uremeshi!! And when i kill ya, I'm gonna go to the spirit world and kill your ghost!" They both re-started their race upward.
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(A/N) Well, the next chapter should have an end to the excessive climbing, and maybe some actual cross-overs (who would of thought, huh?). We'll find out who gets to the top first(Not kuwabara....)Kuwabara: "Hey!", whats waiting for them at the top(Not Disney land...)Naruto:"Awww...", and what it all means..(Their not on Candid Camera...)Hiei: "Is this supposed to be funny...?"
-??? Universe-
Inuyasha gasped for air as he dug his claws into the carved surface, trying to get a hold that would allow him time to recover. He mentally cursed himself for not pacing his run up the tower, but he had forgotten to figure in how thin the air got at this high of an altitude. He had been running straight up the side at full speed, trying to make good time. He looked back down, trying to gauge the distance he had climbed. Tetsusaiga dangled at his waist as he squinted to make out the ground through the clouds.
"Just how big is this darned thing?" He yelled at no one. "Screw this, I'm not getting beaten by a dumb stack of bricks.." He pushed one hand upward, finding another hand hold, and started his climb again, more slowly this time. His muscles were slowly becoming used to the thin air, but it would take more time and work for them to get to full strength. "This would make a great workout." He thought out loud. "Too bad quitting means falling down...theres no way i could make it all the way back in this condition.." He shook some stray hair from his face and continued climbing, unaware of the time or his surroundings, just focusing his muscles and making them go up. "Remind me to kill Myoga next time i see him..."
----------------------------------
"Wow, this is pretty cool!" Naruto swung from the make shift harness like he was on a swing set.
"Stop that! You don't know if the Kunais will hold!" Sakura tried frantically to catch one of the ropes connected to Naruto's swinging seat.
"What?? You mean i would fall all the way down there?!?" Naruto latched onto the tower as he swung past it, and held on for dear life.
"Didn't you think of that when you saw how high we were??"
"Well, not really..." Sakura sighed as she glanced down past her feet as they swung in the open air. Before their climb, she had rigged up three hammocks with the rope and Kunais they had brought with them, just in case it were a higher climb than it had looked. It was.
"Just try to stay still for a while, you need to regain your chakra quickly so we can continue climbing as soon as possible. That wont happen if you keep fidgeting like a little kid!"
"But my chakra's fine! I don't see why we had to stop so soon..." Naruto pouted as he slowly let go of the pole and swung slowly back around into a sitting position. Sakura didn't really have a response to that. She hadn't wanted to slow them down, but once her reserves were almost spent, it would be dangerous to go on without a rest. She had been grateful when Sasuke had suggested the break, although she imagined he was just as well off as Naruto, and had stopped for her. She hated to be a burden, but at least Sasuke did something nice for her.
"It's not our fault you some kind of stamina junkie." Sasuke made his first contribution to the conversation since they had stopped. "If I'm not mistaken, Sakura is almost completely drained, and to tell the truth...im not terribly far behind her." Sasuke's scowl seemed to deepen, if that was possible, as he admitted this.
"Who are you calling a junkie??" Naruto kicked off from the tower and tried to take a swing at Sasuke as he came around, but managed to tangle himself up before he got there. "Ah!! Get me down! Get me down!"
"At least now i can get some rest.." Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his head back against the face of the tower. He was inwardly troubled by Naruto's words. It was true Sakura didn't have near as much stamina as Sasuke or Naruto, but she had been managing her chakra carefully, taking into account the thinning air and her tiring muscles. He didn't really like to admit it, but Sakura was much more talented then him in these areas. He had been constantly increasing his chakra output as they had climbed higher, compensating for exhaustion, but he hadn't taken their altitude into consideration, a fatal mistake if it weren't for the makeshift beds Sakura had produced. He highly doubted that Naruto would make the same connection though, but he didn't seem to have broken a sweat.
"Hey, your creeping me out Sasuke!" Naruto broke Sasuke out of his train of thought, and he realized he had been staring at Naruto while thinking.
"Be quiet and get some sleep." Sasuke turned the other way and closed his eyes. He could finish his thoughts when the resumed their trek.
"I cant sleep like this!!!" Naruto tried to untangle himself once more, and managed to get his leg tied above his head. "Aww man..."
----------------------------------
"You can't get away from me Uremeshi!" Kuwabara lunged up a few more feet, reaching for the place were Yusuke's foot had been seconds before.
"Ohhh, so close!" Yusuke scampered up just out of Kuwabara's grasp. "You've got to do better than that! Hahahaha!" Kuwabara growled and lunged one more time, still barley missing his target.
"Get back here and take your beating like a man! You little sissy! Then we'll see who you call a slowpoke mama's boy! And for you're information i do NOT wet the bed!" Yusuke barely missed Kuwabara's next attempt, he was having a hard time concentrating from all the laughing he was doing.
"It's amazing how carefree they are..." Kurama laughed as his teammates continued their chase past him. "As long as Kuwabara doesn't look down, i think we can make good time before we have to take another break."
"Look down at wha..AHH!!" Kuwabara wrapped his arms around the pole. "Jeez! Thats really high! This ain't funny anymore Uremeshi, we cant just keep going up. What if there isn't anything up there? You expect me to climb all the way back down there!"
"Put some faith in the old hag." Yusuke stopped to look down at Kuwabara. "She told us to climb, so were gonna climb, got a problem with that?"
"Well, yeah, a few, but i guess it doesn't really matter now...." He started to inch his way up again, but much more slowly.
"If it's alright with you, Yusuke, i would like to go ahead and look for Hiei. It's been a while since we began climbing, and we haven't seen any sign of him."
"Sure thing Kurama, you go on, we can handle things on our end down here."
"Run ahead?? What the heck are you talking about? How the heck do you expect to catch up to that speed freak??"
"If it's really fine with you..." Kurama waited for a final nod from Yusuke before he disappeared in a flash, similar to Hiei.
"Whoa! Hey, how come we cant do that? Is it, like, a demon only thing or something?"
"Nah, just a non-bed wetting mommas boy slow poke way!" Yusuke laughed down at Kuwabara.
"That's it! You're dead Uremeshi!! And when i kill ya, I'm gonna go to the spirit world and kill your ghost!" They both re-started their race upward.
------------------------
(A/N) Well, the next chapter should have an end to the excessive climbing, and maybe some actual cross-overs (who would of thought, huh?). We'll find out who gets to the top first(Not kuwabara....)Kuwabara: "Hey!", whats waiting for them at the top(Not Disney land...)Naruto:"Awww...", and what it all means..(Their not on Candid Camera...)Hiei: "Is this supposed to be funny...?"