Sakura: Yeesh! Stupid Nick and his stupid French homework...
Hiei: Made you rush and all that!
Sakura: Cha.
Hiei: But that's ok. Chapter Seven is up now- stop cryin'!
Sakura: (Can't stop crying) I wanna go next time!
Hiei: Go where?
Sakura: Two of my buds went to an anime convention w/o meeeee... TTTT
Hiei: Oh.
Sakura: One dressed up like Ryu Sakuma from Gravitation and got hugged by a Shuichi cosplayer!
Hiei: Great.
Sakura: WHY ARENT YOU EXCITED!
Hiei:...
Sakura: Oh, right. You're an anime person... I'm an anime lova... XD
Hiei: Well, why don't you tell us what you did during Gym today?
Sakura: I sat in the grass and felt sorry for myself.
Hiei: Before that.
Sakura: Bawled my eyes out cuz I suck?
Hiei: Right!
Sakura: (Starts to cry again)
Hiei: Awwww!
Sakura: Start... the damn fic... ;(
Chapter Seven
"How ya doin' Kurama?" Yusuke asked for what seemed like the fifteenth time.
Sakura wanted to ask how Kurama was doing. It frustrated her so that she was not allowed on the journey in the first place!
"Not bad, I'm still on my feet." Kurama answered, smiling as relief wiped across Yusuke's face a moment.
"You won't be much good in a fight though, without you, the three of us will have to deal with what's ahead." Hiei looked ahead down the dark corridor.
"I wasn't sitting around while you were off training with Master Genkai, you know! I figured out how to conjure my spirit sword with my bare hand!" Kuwabara displayed his new talent and called forth his sword.
"Not bad… not quite the dead weight I took you for." Hiei answered in response to Kuwabara's display.
"You wanna piece of this!" Kuwabara grabbed Hiei's scarf as Hiei watched with bored eyes, clearly unalarmed by Kuwabara's reaction.
"Cool it, guys!" Yusuke said, the same bored look in his own eyes.
"Humph. My research didn't stop there though! Check it out! Sword extend!" Kuwabara shouted, holding his sword before him.
"Woah! From a sword to a spear!" Yusuke was pretty impressed.
"That first bruiser caught me off guard, but I say bring it on!" Kuwabara put a hand to his head, complaining of dizziness a second before regaining his stature and walking on.
ROAR!
The group stopped chatting to listen to the fearsome roar.
"Woah! What was that!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Byakko's roar. Sounds like he's in a pretty foul mood." Kurama noted.
They started to run, "Let's go!" and "This way!"
Yusuke and Kuwabara shoved once more through a pair of doors and were greeted by a stadium looking area, two, long, narrow strips both meeting in the middle, which was a large, circular platform.
"I can't believe I had to get off my butt to deal with pesky fleas like you! You may have defeated Genbu, but he was an underling- don't let it get to your heads!" Byakko warned.
Large and in charge, Byakko was nearly ten feet tall and covered in light blue fur. Deeper blue hair covered down to his back with pale ears sprouting forth from the mass of hair, not to mention the matching blue tail. Two long fangs and ferocious furry eyebrows were the finishing touch, other than the dark stripes and sharp claws.
"Holed up here in this depressing castle, no succulent human flesh from which to feed… it makes one quite irritable. And now the Spirit World sends two puny humans and two traitors to kill us, rather than answer to our wished! What an insult!" Byakko roared his protest.
Hiei stiffened slightly at the remark. Never before had he been called a traitor, and it did not sit well with him.
'…' Sakura remained silent in her fury. Calling her brother and best friend traitors? Well, that would make her a traitor too! Insulting her friends like that was not accepted. She hoped Byakko paid dearly for his remarks, although she could do nothing to assist.
"Hiei! Kurama! I'll shred you up and feed you to the rotten scamps!" Byakko shouted across the gap.
It was Sakura's turn to stiffen, her angry thoughts growing.
'Will you stop? You're making my head hurt. Besides, like that dumb fur ball could kill me.' Hiei reassured her, 'And Kurama wouldn't be harmed either.'
Sakura tried to stop worrying at Hiei's remarks but couldn't help her anger.
"Urk! What a grating voice! It feels like it's grinding at my innards!" Yusuke complained, scratching an ear.
"I've had enough of this bull!" Kuwabara stepped forward.
"You're going to take him alone? I thought it was all talk," Hiei looked at the human as he stepped forward.
"Duh! One-on-one! That's street-fightin' pal!" Kuwabara posed for a moment.
"You're quivering from… eagerness then?" Yusuke observed loudly.
"What I say I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do!" Kuwabara cracked his knuckles and took another shaky step forward.
"You can't back down now, you mean." Yusuke noted.
"Nuts to you Urameshi! Just watch!"
Byakko began to roar once more, only with laughter rather than rage.
"Was this Spirit World's plan? To make me die laughing!" Byakko snickered loudly.
"You cut that out! Get your tuckus down here!" Kuwabara challenged.
"I'll pass," Byakko grabbed four strands of hair and quickly blew them into the air, "there you go."
The hairs transformed into four large, furry and ferocious creatures. Furry doppelgangers. After being sliced a few times, Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword to help him. Despite his attempts, the beasts continued to slice and dice.
"I've never seen such pathetic sword skills. Those beasts will nail him good in a matter of moments." Hiei observed, watching Kuwabara be thrashed around.
Yusuke tried to reason with his friends, switch places, but to no avail. Kuwabara refused to stand down until Byakko faced Kuwabara as himself.
Kuwabara looked enlightened as Yusuke tried to persuade him some more, and the orange haired human began to run towards his group. His pace quickened then halted as he turned.
"Sword, grow!" Kuwabara shouted.
The sword went straight through all four beasts, a doppelganger shish kabob. But that did not cease their attack- the beasts continued to spring at Kuwabara as he ran back towards his friends. He ran around the tower in the middle of where they were standing, the creatures still chasing him.
Once he caught back up to the other end of his spirit spear, he grabbed at it, quickly meshing the two together. Kuwabara stepped back to view his work.
"He fused reiki end to end, that's absurd." Hiei noted, taking a look at Kuwabara's quick action.
"Roar! You should have let the beasts kill you, human! Now you've made me… very mad!" Byakko snarled at the human boy.
"C'mon! Whatchoo really got? Haul your butt down here furball, it's your turn!" Kuwabara challenged, pointing at Byakko.
Byakko jumped down from his pedestal, rage overflowing from his cat-like eyes. He landed with a crash, the stone beneath him crushing like dry bread in your hands.
The two began to fight, calling out insults to one another as Kuwabara hacked and slashed at the large cat-beast. Kuwabara looked to be winning, but something just wasn't right.
"Sweet! Kuwabara's on the offensive! Size doesn't matter to him on a straight one-on-one!" Yusuke shouted in his friend's triumph.
"Something's wrong." Kurama halted Yusuke from any more cheering.
"…yeah…" Hiei added, "Look at them… look at their faces. Kuwabara may be scoring the hits but…
"He's the one who's wearing out!"
"I get it now! Take a look at the sword!" Kurama shouted to Kuwabara as well as the other two near him.
Sakura too stuck out her head to see the sword and what was happening. The sword had indeed been altered, but not in a good way. In fact, Kuwabara's spirit sword was no more than a spirit dagger! It had shrunk while Byakko doubled in size.
"Byakko is sucking up Kuwabara's aura and adding it to his own! He's sucking Kuwabara dry!" Yusuke shouted as he too noticed the sword and Byakko's differences.
Yusuke shouted for Kuwabara to stop, but to no avail- he was really quite stubborn. Kuwabara added even more energy to his sword and sliced at Byakko's shoulder, giving a scream as his sword dissipated. Kuwabara fell to the stone floor, unconscious.
After a second, Kuwabara jumped back into action- startling Sakura and Byakko greatly. Kuwabara displayed a small dagger, if it could even be considered that, but it was no protection against Byakko's mighty fist.
Byakko punched the human boy and Kuwabara went flying. Kuwabara got up on one knee as Byakko made another attempt to slice him to pieces, and Kuwabara lengthened his sword, using last reserves of energy.
Kuwabara fainted, his sword sucked into Byakko's gut. Byakko let out a hearty roar as he lifted his foot to stomp on Kuwabara's head.
"Stop! Now or I'll kill you!" Yusuke shouted, moving forward but was stopped by Kurama's arm.
"Wait!" Yusuke looked incredulously at the demon boy, "See? It's starting to happen!"
Byakko paused in his step and tottered backwards, a pained look on his face.
"Kuwabara! He wasn't down, just out for a second!" Yusuke grinned at his friend.
"Bit of a glutton, ain't ya, puss-puss? Scarfing up all that crude, human flavored aura?" Kuwabara stumbled to his feet as Byakko let out a startled cry, his stomach exploding, sending him flying into the air.
"Byakko wasn't expecting to get so much aura out of Kuwabara- it gave him colic!" Kurama fought a laugh.
"Worst case of gas I ever saw! Whatta moron!" Yusuke laughed so hard tears sprung to the edges of his eyes.
Yusuke and Kurama ran over to Kuwabara while Hiei, carrying Sakura, lagged behind.
"You okay Kuwabara?" Yusuke worriedly asked his friend.
"More or less, I reabsorbed some of my aura so after a bit of a breather, I'll be fine." Kuwabara answered, strained smile on his face.
"Oh no! Look!" Kurama gasped at the sight before him.
Byakko had crashed right into a stone tower and slid down- standing up and looking pissed.
"I'll admit, I'm impressed- your tactics were effective." Byakko snarled at the odd group, "To show my respect, I'll lead you to my chamber- the room from hell!"
"Room from hell? Well, whatever it is, it's this way." Yusuke led the gang down a warm corridor and into a huge room.
Pedestals lined the room, they were all over the place, all made of stone and wobbly. The worst part was what was underneath the pillars- red hot lava.
"Woah! A serious slice of hell all right!" Yusuke grimaced at the smoldering lake of fire below him.
"One slip and it's all over!" Kuwabara did the same.
Sakura shuffled in Hiei's scarf, the heat was starting to bother her and considering she was covered in fur and hiding in his scarf- Hiei couldn't blame her.
"Room from hell, huh? Well, I don't know how many of your nine lives are left but I'm gonna finish them all off!" Yusuke threatened, readying himself to jump off the large platform where the four of them stood.
"Hold it. He's still mine." Kuwabara put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder and shook his head as Yusuke protested.
"You fought well enough, but it's Yusuke's turn. Take a break, we'll have use for you later, I think." Hiei tried his best at a compliment.
Sakura beamed inside Hiei's scarf and curled up in a tight ball, the heat wooing her into a dazed sleep.
"Take a break? No flippin' way! This ain't baseball shorty!" Kuwabara retorted, "I'm not tossing the ball to the reliever and going to the dugout to sip Gatorade! I'll see this one out!"
"Hmph! Such irrational creatures!" Hiei said, annoyance resonating with each word.
Byakko shouted towards Kuwabara who flipped off the giant cat and jumped towards a smaller pillar. He landed, but the stone crumbled under his weight. Kuwabara leapt and caught hold of the top of the rock, pulling himself up stubbornly.
Kuwabara threw off his shirt as Byakko started hacking, coughing, placing his hands to his throat in what seemed like the universal sign for choking.
With a disgusting sound- Byakko let loose a torrent of sonic energy that was what the giant cat considered a hairball.
"The only defense is to avoid getting hit!" Hiei shouted to Kuwabara, who had jumped to another pillar as the one he had been standing on diminished into nothing.
"It's my Tiger Shatter Scream! It reduces anything it hits to dust!" Byakko continued to chuck these sonic hairballs at the human boy, and Kuwabara continued to jump from pylon to pylon.
Suddenly, Kuwabara found himself surrounded by none other than the lava itself- finding himself alone on top of one small pillar.
With a startled gasp at his surroundings, unable to reach another pillar without falling into the lava. Byakko laughed and threw what seemed like extended claws at the human. Kuwabara did not attempt to dodge him, but threw up his hands to protect his face and heart.
Byakko shot another sonic blast at Kuwabara, who stood there defenseless. Kuwabara jumped- yes, jumped- trying his best to reach the next pillar.
As the pylon behind him disintegrated, Kuwabara fell towards the raging hot lava.
"Nooo!" Yusuke shouted as his friend pummeled towards the lava.
"Hah! Five meters short!" The cat laughed at Kuwabara's attempt- "Huh!"
Kuwabara came up from behind Byakko as the giant cat turned on his heels. Kuwabara came rushing towards him.
"Inconceivable!" Byakko shouted, seeing that Kuwabara had used his sword as a vaulting pole for him to reach the next pedestal.
"Like it or not, fuzz-butt! Hell's waitin' for both of us!" Kuwabara reached back his limb and shot it forward, punching Byakko straight on his the face, "Die!"
The two of them fell towards the lava, hitting it with a sizzle and Byakko letting loose an outlandish cry.
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke shouted, trembling, "He-he- he can't! Kuwabara!"
Hiei watched silently, as did Sakura, looking for any trace of life.
"Look! Over there- see?" Hiei shouted suddenly, pointing.
And there was Kuwabara, hanging within an inch of his life- a bandage across his chest caught on part of the pylon.
"Don't just stand there, morons! Come give me a hand!" Kuwabara shouted.
Yusuke jumped down, Hiei and Kurama following after and they leaped over to Kuwabara's pillar.
'Whew! It's hot in here! That was some fight, huh, Hiei?' Sakura thought, going over the scene in her head.
'Sure.'
'Well, that was unenthusiastic!' Sakura smiled in Hiei's scarf, prodding him softly with a soft paw.
'Fine, it was an interesting fight and had a surprising outcome. The end.' Hiei thought back to his friend, stalking over to Kuwabara where Yusuke was beating Kuwabara on the head.
Sakura giggled softly to herself, knowing Hiei was just anticipating his own turn.
"You scared the livin' spit outta me! Why didn't you holler sooner you dumb jerk!" Yusuke pounded on his friend.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Knock it off, idiot! You'll drop me in the acid for real!" Kuwabara put up his arm in defense.
"You have the most remarkable luck, care to go up against another demon?" Hiei asked, his face straight and serious.
"No way! That's it for me! I'm done!" Kuwabara looked at the short demon angrily.
"All righty! Now it's my turn!" Yusuke shouted, grinning and ready for the next fight.
Sakura: Thanks to my reviewers! (hands out cookies)
Hiei: We're dissapointed with the number of reviews! REVIEW DAMMIT!
Sakura: Well said.
Hiei: Hn.
ForestHanyou: Ah, yes. We are QUITE lucky! Such hotties for hubbies! XD I did have a nice trip, thank you:) Hope school was fun... ;; I'll be posting the pictures soon I hope, considering the internet is suddenly working... just not the email... :( Thanks again you! I featured you in my author of the whenever I feel like updating it:) (gives cookie)
Seeyu: Yeah, yeah. I know they like updates... ; (scratches head) My internet got unplugged when I got back from V-K... Two weeks away from internet... but two weeks spent typing! 35 pages size ten font! WOOT! XD Thanks for the review! (gives cookie)
FIN CHAPTER 7
Oh no/ never ever gonna stop/ try to fly and if I drop/ Not gonna quit/ Get up get up get up/ stand back/ I'm gonna make some noise/ sing until they hear my voice/ can't keep me down/ get up get up/.
Rain falls/ down on their parade/ lemons into lemonade/ can't slow me down/ no way no way no way/ yesterday is in the past/ revolt/ tomorrow's coming fast/ all you got is now/ get up get up/.
Hey you/ don't let 'em see you frown/ come on turn it upside down/ don't ever quit/ get up get up/ when life puts you to the test/ there's nothing better than your best/ show 'em what you got/ you got a lot/ show 'em what you got/ get up get up/.
Up up up/ higher higher/ up up up/ heart's on fire/ up up up/ woah woah/ up up up.
(A song I think may describe Sakura's life/ my life a lot of the time... XD )