Riz:

Um... Nothing? Can't think of anything to put up here. Thanks if you reviewed!

Chapter Five: ...Pass the Popcorn, Thanks...

Pacing along the whitewashed walls, a soft restless growling slithered through the air. Meeting a wall, the steps paused for a moment, turning back upon itself before the rhythmic sound began again. One hand stroked the golden chain around her neck while the other made useless gestures in the air. How she missed them, the power and beauty of Words. Two fingers lifted; the forefinger and middle finger tracing a double sign of Isa through the empty air. Nothing came, no shimmer of emerald mist, no flare as the Words disappear. Looking into the emptiness, her eye twitched. Whatever Youki was, it better be good...

Sitting upon the sofa, Yuki blushed slightly as Kurama handed her a cup of hot tea. Like so many other girls, Yuki has been completely swept away by the kitsune's kind and gentle personality, not to mention his looks. She couldn't help but wonder why Roviel was so... sarcastic towards them. The fact that Roviel was beaten unconscious by Yusuke and them had covenantly slipped out of her mind, allowing the girl to focus her attention upon the red-head.

"We should be going soon. I'm afraid my kasan was most persistent to know where I was going at this time of night. Fortunately Yusuke arrived just in time and we managed to leave with a white lie. Yusuke had informed my kasan that we were going over to a friend's house to help her with some things..."

The emerald eyes closed, and a soft chuckle escaped his lips.

"Indeed it is luck that my kasan did not know what kind of marks Yusuke has. Otherwise the night would have ended most painfully."

Yuki nodded in agreement, her eyes lingering over the boy's features. And he smelled nice, like roses. She loved roses...

"Hey, you two, Kurama and...um... YOU TWO! Get moving already. We are already late. I don't know about Roviel, but Hiei generally don't like waiting for humans."

Yusuke's voice, bellowed from five doors down, was still able to make Kurama wince.

"Hey Urameshi! Are you sounding scared?"

Yet another voice joined the fray, this one stronger and deeper.

"Don't worry, for I, the Great Kazuma Kuwabara, will mash that three-eyed shorty into powder!"

Yuki glared down the hallway, hating those two for disturbing her session with Kurama. Then again, perhaps Roviel's attitude towards them isn't for nothing after all...

If nothing else, she have to hand it to the architect who constructed the Reikai castle they were in now. The place was immense; gigantic golden columns supporting a red ceiling that's lost in the shadows of height. The room she was in now, it was something special. Being bored, she had proceeded to scratch the paint from the wall, (Woo, graffiti!) but with no avail. Puzzled, Roviel then tried to mark the stone floor with her glaive. Even the opaque crescent blades could not cut a dent into the material. She was in the middle of examining the posts that lined the four walls when the door opened. They filed in, one by one; each apparently dressed for the occasion.

Yusuke was first, grinning his usual lop-sided smile. The sleeveless shirt and the cloth shoes suited him, if not his hair. Spotting Roviel, the Reikai Tentai gave her smile of acknowledgement before starting to search the large room for something.

"Hey Kurama, are you sure Hiei is here? I don't see the little twirp."

"Oh he's here alright; I sense his energy somewhere in the room."

Barging in, Kuwabara looked stood still, eyes narrowed as if concentrating on something. If she could read Kanji, Roviel would have smirked at the phrase at the back of the orange-haired boy's white coat, which wrote; "Health comes first."(Or at least that what it means in Chinese...) Still squinting into the shadows, Kuwabara suddenly gave a loud yelp of triumph.

"I know where you are, you shorty. I can sense your Youki. Now come out and face me like a man, or are you afraid?"

Squinting up at the jigsaw of crossing beams which supports the ceiling, it took Roviel some time before the tawny gaze found the small black shadow up above. How Kuwabara had managed to find Hiei she had no idea, but she will figure it out soon...

"This is Reikai? And I thought Heaven looked a lot nicer."

Turning at the feminine voice, her mouth twitched upwards as Roviel watched Kurama come in, followed very closely by Yuki. Well well, the kitsune certainly was an eyeful. Dressed in yellow white, the flowing qi pao certainly suited him. No wonder Yuki's become Kurama's shadow...

"Ok, everyone here? Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get started!"

Rubbing his hands in anticipation, Yusuke turned to Roviel.

"Since you are going to help us whenever we want, I figured that it'll be good if the team have a look at your power and stuff. And we need to figure out what your Youki is."

He pointed at Kuwabara.

"First let's see your defensive skills. Kuwabara attacks, you block. That sounds good? Ok Kuwabara, time to show us how much you've improved."

An eye twitched.

"I can't."

Kuwabara stopped in the middle of walking. Yusuke frowned.

"Why? Because if you are afraid of killing Kuwabara, then don't worry. He's my personal punching bag, and considering how many times he's lost in battles and is still alive, I'd say that he won't die that easily."

Why Gods why does she have to be dumped in this world, of all the world?

"... It's not that... I can't defend."

Silence followed the startling statement. Even Hiei decided to drop from the ceiling and join his group, the blood ruby eyes glittering at her.

"What do you mean..."

"Listen, for I'm only going to say this once; I can't defend. Defense is not my thing. Attacking, yes. Sniping, only if my patience holds, and that's not many times. But not defending!"

Ok, she had overestimated these humans. Five little sentences and they are already lost. Glaring at their perplexed faces, Roviel is seriously tempted to knock one of their heads and see if it's devoid of a brain.

"Wait! What are you saying? That you can't defend against attacks? That's not right. Everybody can defend."

Yusuke was lost, very lost, and it looks as he wasn't the only one...

Then Kurama stepped forward, the red head standing between Yusuke and Roviel.

"Perhaps it is best if Roviel could kindly explain this paradox? I'm sure that she can relieve us of this puzzling fact."

Letting a long suffering sigh, one amber eye burned towards the group.

"If that's what you want. But I'm warning you; it's a long story."

"You all know that I was thrown into this world by some portal. Here I'm some demon, but back in my world I was someone completely different.

There are the five of us, in my group. Syra, Lailos, Zyril, Veasniel and I. How we met is an even longer story, one that I'm not in the mood for telling. All you need to know is that back there, the five of us are famous.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But I was never the one to believe in chances, only Fate. The five of us, we became fast friends, and traveled all over my world looking for hidden treasures and lost ruins. It was not until much later until the strangeness of it all came out. I'm not sure who started it, but soon each of us was given a very interesting title.

There are thirteen First Words in my world, this Words binding all in an endless cycle. Six belong to the Heavens; six embraced the Earth, while the remaining one watched over the passage between Death and Resurrection. For each of the six First Words of Earth, six more emerged, each different to it's sibling with the element it takes on. Land, Water, Fire, Air, Thunder and Metal, these were the six elements of Earth. As for Heaven, it's the same thing, except with six different elements. Sense, Power, Memory, Truth, Space and Time, thus the six elements of Heavens. Everyone who is born in my world is aligned to a specific element of a specific First Word of either Heavens or Earth, and thus has that First Word and its element's powers. Based on which Word, regardless of the element, a person's under, their powers will come out different.

It works like this. My name is Roviel, but the title people gave me was Emerald Griffin of the West. Emerald means two things; my element as in Land, and the color of my power, which is green. The animal after the color symbolizes a trait in each of us which we are most well known for. Mine is Griffin, a beast of fierce loyalty, but only to those who can it deems worthy. West means the direction of my birthplace, left on the map.

Syra was known as Sapphire Phoenix of the South; Water aligned and always able to find herself out of any situation. Zyril became the Ruby Dragon of the North; nice enough until someone gets him mad, then that person will be turned to ash in a blink of an eye. Veasniel was our Silver Leviathan of the North. How he hated that title, we used to tease him about him being "silver" colored. All his fault, being born under Air. Well at least his trait was a good one, being someone who one could always count on, no matter what situation. Lailos, he was the only one, out of all of us. Many saw him as the Shadow Kirin of Oust. He was aligned to Sense, an element of the Heavens, and since all his works come out with a darkened appearance, well... Being the smartest out all of us, he became the Kirin, a creature know for its knowledge and wisdom. Oust? Yea well Lailos couldn't really remember where he was born; we only assumed they gave him the title since the rest of us first met him near the center of our world.

The powers of Heavens and Earth are different, both with its assets and flaws. Veasniel was the healer of our group, a rank the rest of us are slightly fearful of, especially after making him mad. Syra's power, Seek, lies in her ability to seek out any hidden Word traps, as well as unravel any Words we get ourselves caught in. Zyril is the defense tactician of our group, everything from warding against attacks to mending holes in loose walls. Me? I specialize in attacking; usually I'm the one at the front, trying to sense and rid of any enemies in our way. Lailos, being aligned Heaven's element Sense, is the master of illusions. He's usually hiding somewhere, watching afar, while conjuring up some fancy tricks to keep us all alive.

We didn't realize it at first, how each of us fitted together like perfect pieces of jigsaw. It was scary, actually, our group being so... North, East, South, West and Oust. Air, Fire, Land, Water and Sense. Attack, Defense, Healing, Seek and Illusion. Heavens and Earth. Strange indeed... RIGHT!"

The sudden change in volume made some of the boys jump. Scrambling onto his legs, Kuwabara nodded his head in furious agreement.

"Ok, I get it now. Really easy to understand actually. Can't see what's so hard about it."

This time it wasn't only Roviel's eye the twitched.

"Oh so the food bag can think. And I thought he couldn't even talk."

Hiei's sullen voice drawled on, and although his head was turned away, it was obvious that the fire apparition had a smirk on his face. Kuwabara's body swelled at the insult. It was quite fun to watch, really; the way how the boy's face turns read red, then purple. Seeing this, the pacifist fox stepped in, a nervous smile on his face.

"Please, do and try to remember why we are here."

Scratching at his hair, Yusuke huffed.

"Yea, I suppose we should get started..."

Dodge, block, twist and follow. The glaive danced in her hands, golden lined pole twirling in the air. Cut, twist, block. Block! She barely managed to block, the blue crystal handle hitting Kuwabara's Spirit Sword. Damn this Youki, using it takes her concentration off fighting. And she has yet to actually feel her Youki.

Concentrate, they had said. Concentrate and look for some energy inside you. Bah, idiots, group of them. If they ever go into her world, let's see just how long it takes for the whelps to learn Word attacks. As Kuwabara leapt for an attack once again, Roviel gave up. Ducking under, one elbow slammed up into the boy' stomach. Her fist followed; a backhand up into his chin, snapping the head back. Standing up in fury, she planted her glaive into the ground, this time actually making a indent on the ground.

"I do not have the patience or the time to waste on this futile exercise. If you children do not figure out a way for me to find my Youki in the next five minutes, then hell would literally break loose right here in this room."

Either her threat worked or they really wanted to help her. Either way, the group actually started discussing various ideas, each putting some bits and pieces in.

"... But I found my Reiki because I died once. Kuwabara, how did you figu... Born with it, so I'm afraid I can't be... Naturally, like it's a part of you, how do you expl... .So bothersome, this better not be a waste... Um, it is possible for any of you to find the Youki thing in Roviel, then drag it out and show her?"

My my, so it wasn't a waste bring her over here... Wonder what Koenma said to the girl. Doesn't look as if she's going to lose her memory any time soon...

A sheepish look came over Yusuke's face, and Kuwabara blushed at the simple idea. Kurama had a hard enough time keeping a straight face, not to mention the fact that for once, Hiei was actually accepting the idea.

"... Or we could do that..."

Clasping his right over her's Yusuke turned back in anger at the rest of his group, who was far far away.

"Explain to me again why I'm the one doing this?"

Kurama's voice, always soft and sensible came to them.

"Well, if Roviel does becomes angered, we have decided that you are the only one who has a chance standing up to her."

Grumbling something inaudible, Yusuke glared at Roviel.

"Look, I don't like you and you don't like me. Fine. But this is for your own good."

A blue aura surrounded their clasped hands, and she felt something seeping into her being. Seconds later it retreated, but leaving in its wake something else, something alien and yet strangely familiar. Taking away his hand, a look of satisfaction played across the Rekai Tentai's face.

"And Yusuke Urameshi does it again! A perfect score!"

Roviel held up that hand, the hand that Yusuke held. Frowning slightly in concentration, she was rewarded by a deep forest green cloud mist growing in her palm. Well, it might be Youki, and it is rather raw and crude, but at least it's green...