Disclaimer: Don't own YYH...(yawn) or...Katrina, as-she-is-only-a-fictional-character...(snore)
And I finally know what FYI means!
Chapter 20: The Spirit Portal (finally)
We've finally made it to the town nearest the deserted meadow we are headed to.
Also, Hiei's actually stirring. I really was beginning to think he was dead. This is what a fire demon waking sounds like:
'Roooorrrroorrrrrrshnukshnuk...' And that's only a yawn. Hiei must really need his sleep, all right.
"HIEI! HIEI!" I shake him again. "WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!" People are turning to stare at me, and not in the kindest manner either.
"What...AUGH!" He must have thought my black hair falling around my face made me look evil, because now that it's nighttime, I'm in the dark. Well, I am evil, so he was half right.
"YOU BUFFOON! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO WAKE YOU FOR HOURS!"
"Really?" He looks so confused it takes all my willpower not to smack some sense into that tiny little cranium. "I really couldn't be awoken?"
I growl. "Obviously, but...oh who cares! Not you, of course! This is our stop, you know, Teeny! Jeez, whoever heard of the escort forgetting where to get off..."
"I'm not tiny, nor your escort," he says, almost sullenly. "Let's just go..."
We both walk off the train steps, pissed at each other. We passs many buildings in the town we have arrived in. Hiei seems to be fascinated with CinnaBons, which for some reason really pisses me off even further. I also see a little beggar girl, half hidden in shadow, with mousy brown hair. I offer to give her some money, for she looks hungry, but Hiei steers me away, because that seems to piss HIM off. All through the town, we fight over everything to stick-up hair to how many cracks are in the sidewalk.
I trip over a stray piece of wood, and Hiei laughs. I growl. "Hiei," I say, "IT'S NIGHTTIME! We can't hike all the way from this blasted smoky town to the meadow tonight!"
"OH yes we can."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yuh-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
Now sparks are coming out of Hiei's ears now. "LOOK, JUST HOLD ON TO ME, OKAY? REMEMBER MY SPEED POWER?"
"EWWW, I'm not touching you. You probably have germs or viruses or---" Okay, so I don't care at all, but I'm not about to tell him that. Where would teh fun be of annoying him?
Hiei rolls his eyes and grabs my forearm in a rather strong grip. Then I feel the most interesting sensation. Like an awful lot of wind in my face. I shut my eyes to block out the rush of air and the blur of color and when I open them again, I'm in a huge prairie. Hiei lets go of me and motions me to follow him. Figuring I've done enough whining for one day, (Yes I know I'm being a brat) I follow him without complaint. Now it is almost totally dark out. I keep stumbling over hidden rocks, once falling flat on my face.
"Ergh.." I kick the rock angrily, a bit harder than I normally would have, and I swear it soars into the stratosphere. The part of the stratosphere right above Hiei's head. I close my eyes, waiting for the impact of rock on cranium, but nothing comes. I tentatively open my eyes, and see Hiei sheathing his katana sword. Two pieces of rock are on his left and right sides.
He definitely has style.
"How on Earth do you DO that?"
He ignores me, but I don't say anything concerning it. I don't want to mess with a very pissed Hiei right now. I mean, I would be pissed if someone threw a rock at me, and I also don't know if he knows I did it by accident.
I follow him for what seems like another hundred miles, (I never liked walking) then he stops abruptly. I accidentally run into him. He glares at me, and looks around.
"Oh, hello, Hiei," says a fruity voice. "And I suppose that's Katrina?" Hiei crouches and nods at something about knee height.
"Hi, Katrina!" Whatever-it-is leaps in front of me and it extends its hand. I am too perplexed by this creature that has just morphed itself in front of me. Talk about bizzarre. It looks like an overgrown baby complete with a blue pacifier and sleeper. And it's talking to me.
I drag Hiei over. "Why is this thing here?" I hiss in his ear.
Hiei actually laughs. "This 'thing' is the king of the Spirit World, FYI. King Enma JR., or simply Koenma."
'Koenma' withdraws its hand into its sleeper looking hurt. It starts to speak in that weird voice again, but I cut it/him off. "The Spirit World is ruled by a baby. Don't I feel safe."
Instead of being offended like I thought it would be, it only shruggs its tiny shoulders. "Well, that was more or less Yusuke's reaction. At least I'm used to it now."
"Why is it here?" I hiss at Hiei again.
Before Hiei can answer, Koenma starts. "First of all, I would prefer to be called a he, rather than an it. And secondly, I'm here to open the portal for you two."
"A baby can't open the portal!" I scoff. I want to pick a fight with this guy. Test my powers against his. He'd be a good way to take out my anger directed at Hiei. Obviously, I'd so win a fight with it.
"Watch me." Shrimpy pulls a tiny hand from his robes and I notice that his index finger is giving off an eerie bronze colored light. He draws several non-geometric shapes that just hang there in the night air for a while. Then he mutters something like an incantation, and BAM.
It's like he's triggered a mini-earthquake. Several trees fall to the ground like stones. Very heavy stones. The ground is shaking, but the vibration is nothing compared to what is emerging out of it. Wouldn't you be a little intimidated if a huge, swirling golden-green circle summons itself up from the center of the Earth?
Randomly, the ground stops trembling. It takes me a while to get over the shock, but when I do, I know just how to solve the problem.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, DIAPER FACE?" I scream. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US! STUPID STUPID THING TO DO, AND---" I resume a Karate stance, and try for Koenma with a right hook. He leaps aside with catlike grace, which I wouldn't expect, and I miss. I glare at him. "YOU JERK---" I stop shouting ahead of schedule to gape. Hiei, laughing hard, has launched himself through the swirling spot. I just see the end of a little green cape vanish.
Green? Wasn't he wearing a black cape?
Oh well. The point is that now he's no longer here.
"SEE?! YOU KILLED HIEI with your hypnotic swirly spinny thing! Jerk! Too bad, I kinda liked him," I add as an afterthought.
"Calm down, you silly girl. That hypnotic swirly spinny thing, FYI, is your Spirit Portal. Hiei is merely on the other side, the other side being the Spirit World."
Somewhere beneath my shock I feel a ripple of anger. Silly girl?
"Katrina, just follow me, okay? It'll be fine."
"No."
He looks pained. "Why not?"
"I don't wanna." I never admit when I'm afraid. I notice he's slowly cornering me in front of the swirly thingy.
"Heheheh, Yes, you do. Don't you want to find your dad?"
"Heheh-heheh NO." I imitate that laugh.
"JUST GO!" Even he's starting to get a little pissed.
"NO!"
Then someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around warily. It's Hiei.
"Hiei, tell the BABY to lay off and---"
Hiei cuts me off, grinning maniacally. He tugs me through the portal. I try frantically to hold onto the edges of the portal, but it's slippery as soap. I let go, and then I really do scream, even though I'm holding onto Hiei's arm so hard that he is complaining of lack of circulation. I'm being tugged backward through a blueish passageway. You know those science videos where the camera goes down someone's esopahagus or whatever? That pretty much sums up what it feels like. Only not quite as slimy. Or red. Just solid blue blurry color.
I have been riding for about 20 minutes now, and I'm starting to relax, though by no means am I ready to let go of Hiei's arm. I can feel something banging around, holding onto Hiei's cloak, but it's probably Koenma. The tunnel is getting foggier and greener.
"How much longer?" I yell to Hiei, to be heard above the rushing water-like sound the tunnel is creating.
He smirks. "Now."
As soon as he says that word, my feet slam into the ground and I let go of him. Dazed and blinking, I stagger around on a bizzarre landscape. No, maybe bizzarre is too much of an understatement. More like supernatural.
I'm somewhere in a mass of greenish fog that's so thick I can't see the others. Even Hiei, who was supposed to be right next to me, is gone. "If this is the Spirit World," I mutter, "Then something is really wrong." Somehow, I pictured a happy little bustling city.
A sound catches my attention. It sounded way too close for comfort. And then---SOMETHING JUST POPPED OUT OF THE FOG!
I start pummeling energy blasts into the area where I saw the beast. I'm taking no chances.
But then again, I've never seen an odder demon. Something with a blue head, a limp, and a stick, that oddly resembles---
A knocked out Botan falls in front of me. Apparently, I was responsible for this little night-night. I crouch down, feeling for a pulse, and measuring what damage I did to her head and the rest of her. Feeling through her with my power, I realize only two of my shots hit, and even they were just glancing blows on her legs. To be knocked out with two glancing shots like those, they would have had to have hit her heart or head. A horrifying thought hits me.
I couldn't have knocked her out, so who did?
Fumbling for a clue of any kind, I speak softly to her, and then I look into her eyes. They are dull with pain. I recognize the symptoms of one who had been in physical pain for a long time. Genkai taught me more than just various attacks.
I notice a rather large, wet rip in her tunic that she always wears on her back, peer inside, and see something to make anyone, even someone with a strong stomach, nauseous. A huge, bloody gash stretches itself across Botan's flesh.
I fight to hold back vomit. Why would someone do this to Botan? From what I know about her, she wouldn't hurt a fly, so no one could have had any reason to attack her. And what became of Mie and Keiko? Botan was to be their escort to the Spirit World, right, back in northern Japan, right?
Well, I know what I have to do now. Somehow carry her out of this fog and get to a rescue center. But damn, I have no experience of this world. At. All. I stare down at her body, then slowly, lift her onto my back in a piggy back format, careful not to touch her wound. I grunt with her weight. I'm not exactly a giant, at 5'7", while Botan's over 6 feet tall. That means she's that much heavier than me. And I can really feel it, too.
It's a very long trudge, made worse by Botan's limp body. I also have no idea where I'm going, either. But something about the place just feels evil, which makes me sure that I can't stay here.
After what feels like 2 hours worth of walking, I see some lights. They look...friendly.
Come closer.
I obediently step foward, somehow feeling happy.
Closer, child.
I see a little camp. There are many people here. Every bone in my body tells me that this place can heal Botan, can bring back my dad, can save the world from being destroyed...
Closer...
What for? Something is asking in a corner of my brain.
Closer...
No...
Closer...NOW.
NO!
COME CLOSER!
"NO!" I shout. And suddenly, something like a spell is broken. These aren't people that are surrounding me. They're demons having of the most vile faces anyone could ever hope to see. Vicious teeth jut from their mouths, their eyes pop out, they drool...just utterly disgusting. They are advancing.
Looks like it's time to fight.
555555555555555555555555555555555
A/N I now that it means Author's Note! And there's more to come in chapter 21! Review!