I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho
Thanks so much for reviewing RAWninth-teen and n/a.
Chronicles of Narnia huh. Lol. I've never read the books, but when I was younger I watched the movies. I'd completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it. Lol. I haven't watched it in so long… I have to do at some point.
Ah yes. I have a bad, but good at the same time, tendency to make cliff hangers and suspense in my stories. It makes the story fun though :)
Chapter 21
The group struggled through very foggy portion of the forest. Visibility was minimal, making it hard to see even two feet in front of them and the dimness due to the lack of light did not help either. The tree roots rarely picked up on them anymore, but when they did they would reorient themselves to the tree's wishes.
A rumbling noise was heard in the distance, but what it was originating from they could only guess. However there was a common thought about it; it couldn't be anything good.
"This fog is annoying the hell out of me!" Yusuke cried, "Why can't I just blast it away with my spirit gun?"
Kurama sighed, "I've answered that before Yusuke. This fog is naturally occurring so it could for on for miles, in which case your spirit gun would do little else than use up your energy and demolish what ever is in front of us. For all we know our very destination could be obliterated if you do such a thing."
"Which would only aid Van-Gareth," Suzuka pointed out.
Yusuke grumbled, "All I'm seeing is endless fog and trees. No tower, no people other than us and no Van-Gareth." The Spirit Detective had long decided that the ancient beast could not be classified as a person, though the some of the others disagreed.
"Be thankful that the last is has nothing but his aura in our presence," Kurama told him.
"I agree with Urameshi though guys," Kuwabara spoke up.
"Hn. What does your opinion matter anyway," Hiei said dryly.
Kuwabara growled, "What is this! Pick on Kuwabara day?"
"It is now," Hiei smirked.
"Well then it's pick on Hiei day too shrimp!"
"You'd die before the day was done."
"Wanna bet shorty!"
"You can't bet if have no chance of living," Hiei chuckled slightly on the evil side.
Kuwabara growled once more, but before he could say anything Shishiwakamaru cut in, "If there are any enemies in this forest they now know where we are."
"I didn't start it," Kuwabara mumbled.
"Hn. You were the one yelling," Hiei said in defense.
Kuwabara glared at him, but wisely kept his mouth shut. From that point the walk was silent for several minutes until Rinku felt the urge to ask a question.
"Do we know what this item is?"
Kurama shook his head, "No, I'm afraid we haven't a clue."
Rinku sighed, "We don't even know if anyone besides Era can use what ever it is do we."
"We'll jus' 'ave to wait till we 'et there to find out," Jin said calmly, which surprised the group.
"First things first, we have to find the temple," Shishiwakamaru said.
Touya sighed and bowed his head, "Fate is being cruel," he whispered to himself.
"Fate is always cruel mate," Chu told him upon hearing the faint words. "But that's what divides the good from the evil. Evil takes the easy way by causing havoc and trying to evade having it wrought on them an' the good faces it dead on it a brawl."
Rinku looked up at him with a childish grin, "You actually said something smart."
Chu shoved the boys' hat over his eyes, causing the younger demon to yelp and struggle to fix it. When he was about to place it back where it belonged he tripped over an uplifted tree root.
Yusuke yelled in aggravation, "I hate these trees!" The whole area around them groaned in offense and slight anger, causing Yusuke to squirm. "Didn't mean it…" The groaning died down in response, but didn't seem to fully accept the apology.
Kurama gave a chuckle, "You should know better than to insult plants that are living as much as they are." Yusuke nodded, but said nothing.
Rinku groaned and grabbed his hat, which had fallen off upon hitting the ground. He looked behind him and saw the root lay back on the ground peacefully. "That was fun," he said sarcastically to no one in particular.
The ice master shook his head at the demon child and was about to turn and reorient the group when something caught his eye. With a curious look on his face he moved just ahead of Rinku and kneeled down.
"Wha' is it Touya?" Jin asked as he came to his side.
"No sure," Touya admitted gazed down at the object lying on the ground, but his gaze mostly lay on the natural debris covering it.
Rinku sat up and looked between the two masters and the ground Touya looked down at. "I don't see anything."
Touya finally brought his hand down to brush away the dirt and dead leaves from the object of his interest. What was revealed was a worn stone with odd carvings on it. "It looks like a..." he ran his fingers over the carving to feel out what his eyes could not see well, "Grave or something around the likes."
"A grave?" Jin asked as he looked over the stone, "I be supposin' it does look like one of 'em ningen graves."
"What does it say?" Rinku asked as he too looked over the worn writing.
Touya squinted down at it before slowly running his fingers over it once again. "I can't read it. I think it's in another language."
"You sure?" Rinku asked.
"It has to be," the ice master replied as he moved more dirt off of the stone. As he moved his hand towards the top it brushed against something cold and metallic. With a new amount of curiosity he picked it up, only to have it snap in his fingers. "Rusted through," he murmured more to himself than anyone else.
"Something fell of it," Hiei said from where he stood behind Rinku.
Touya quickly took notice to what Hiei was referring to and picked it up gingerly, not wanting it to break like the chain had. "It's a pendent of a tree," he said after examining it for several moments, "With a dragon wrapped around it."
"That sounds odd to me," Yusuke said from where he had been standing since they had stopped, which left him almost gone from view to the ice master and those around him.
"Perhaps it has a meaning of some kind," Shishiwakamaru offered as an explanation.
"But what?" Yusuke asked in response.
"Only the one it belonged to would probably know," Kurama replied.
Jin suddenly stiffened, "The air just took a change."
Everyone turned their attention towards him. "What do you mean mate?" Chu asked.
"Somethin's disturbin' the wind currents," Jin explained as he looked about, but saw little in the fog.
Everyone was now standing and trying to find the source of the wind masters discomfort. It wasn't long before Kuwabara pointed out past where the stone lay to a barely visible light source.
"What is that?" Yusuke asked as he squinted. No one answered him, revealing that everyone was just as clueless as him.
Suddenly a voice echoed around them, "You should not mess with things you do not understand."
"Who are you?" Kurama asked, "Show yourself." He had an odd feeling that the voice was either the light source itself or it was very close to it even though the echo would not allow it to be traced to any one place.
"If you wish to know who I am you shall have to come to me," the voice answered calmly, yet is seemed to be somewhat daring.
"Let's go then," Yusuke moved towards the light.
"Whatever it is might be able to direct us," Touya said as he placed the small pendent carefully between his belt and pants, a place he knew it would not fall from.
"Or eat us," Suzuka mumbled as he and the rest of the group followed suit.
The path towards the light source as much like the path they had traveled on to get to where they currently were; slightly rough and, as of late, very foggy. Some members of the group were a bit surprised that the roots did not pick up on them as they walked, especially since a root had tripped Rinku when he had gone in this general direction.
The rumbling noise they had been hearing grew louder with every step taken, but it still sounded far enough away. Worry began to fill them as they wondered just what the voice had called them forward for. Yusuke, who was still leading the group forward, even seemed uneasy and had his wrist locked it his opposite hand ready to fire of his trade mark attack should it be deemed necessary.
"Your petty attacks will bring nothing but your own demise mortal," the voice echoed calmly.
Yusuke tensed and whispered to Kurama, who was not at his side, "Is this one of Van-Gareth's tricks?"
Before the fox could answer the voice spoke once more, "I am hardly the one you fear, or one of his foolish makings. I am a guardian of this place and you are trespassing in my domain."
"We're sorry about that," Touya began, "But we had to come here. Our good friend and guide passed- away not a day ago," the last part was saddened but controlled.
"I know all about your 'guide'," the voice said and the group could guess that whoever it was had a smirk on their face.
"If you know all about her than you know our purpose here," Touya said.
"I do, but I care not," the voice answered, "If you value lives you will turn and leave now."
Touya became cross, "If we leave we'll be letting Van-Gareth destroy your 'domain' and we'll inevitably die. If we stay, even if we are to die here, at least we would have been trying to save it and the three words.
Laughter surrounded them, not evil laughter, but a true, kind, laugh. "Your answer is a good one ice master and it is good to see that you remain loyal to a friend who has left you. Or was she truly something else to you."
Touya felt his face go hot, but not due to anger in any fashion. "I- I don't know what you're talking about."
The voice chuckled, "Of course not."
Kurama suddenly grabbed Yusuke's arm and jerked him backwards, causing everyone to stop in confusion. "What the hell Kurama!" Yusuke yelled in aggravation.
"You were about to make a fatal step," Kurama replied.
"Huh?" Yusuke looked in front of him and saw just what Kurama had been speaking about as the mist parted almost obediently. There was a river covered with white caps as it raged down its path and there was no doubt in his mind that he would have drowned had he fallen into its clutches.
"How did we not know this river was in front of us?" Shishiwakamaru asked in bewilderment.
"The current is extremely strong and ravenous," Kurama observed, "There must be a waterfall some ways down."
Yusuke came up by his side, "If that's so shouldn't this be really loud. All it sounds like is a busy river that's still in the distance, not a raging one right in front of us."
"The wind currents are bein' all crazy like," Jin explained. He'd been tense the entire walk and now knew the full effects of the reason. "He was trin' to make us walk into it by makin' the sound of the river be off."
"You are very perceptive wind master," the voice said. The bearer, who had in fact been the light source, had been growing slightly closer as the group traveled suddenly appeared fully. He hovered above the river with the use of his fiery wings and Hiei automatically knew that he as an ancient fire demon because his entire body was like that of a flame, but had a human form. "Unfortunately for you you've realized this too late."
The trees behind them sounded as if they were shifting and when they looked back they were swatted by a large branch and flung into the raging river, where they pulled under deep within its unrelenting grasp.
Ack! They'll drown! And what was with that grave? If in fact that was what it was (I won't say either way as you'll find out later). What's the pendent represent? More importantly, is the group to die and leave the quest up to Koenma and Botan?
Find out next time.
Please Review.
Thanks.
((Can anyone figure out who the group was talking to?))
