CrazyDreamerGirl: What's up? Anyway,I wanna thank the following people for reviewing: JoannaKuwabara, sleep all day rock all night, ficfan3484, Time and Fate, ilikewhitetigers, Rei Minamino, Hirina, Prismdragon ( ), bill ( ), gizmostar, and shadowyoukokitsune.
Disclaimer: Anime is great, but hey, I don't own any anime, especially my favorite, Yu Yu Hakusho, or Inuyasha. Great, I just made myself really depressed...
The Feudal Era Across the Street
Chapter 17: The Guardian
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Sango went through all the different paths of the cave, and all of it ended up right back where they started from. Anyway, the point was that the entire cave was leading them in circles and there had to be somesort of secret passage to let them move on.
Sango, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were resting near a fire, which took Kurama so much persuasion to have Hiei create it. They were warming up and any bits of snow that were stuck to them or maybe a couple frozen fingers were melting, leaving them with the feeling of sipping hot cocoa near a lit fireplace in a snowstorm.
The fire crackled and the three almost frozen fighters were holding their hands over the fire. The heat from the fire melted the surrounding snow. The dirt underneath was showing. The fire combined with the melting snow made it a little muddy. The not so frozen wall they were leaning on for support was also becoming warmer from the heat that was given off from the fire.
"You know what was I thinking?" Kuwabara said.
"Let me guess, you were thinking about Yukina," Yusuke said in an all knowing voice.
"No! Well, yeah, but I was thinking that maybe this cave is enchanted or something," Kuwabara said, "You know what I mean, like maybe this place has a spell or a curse."
Yusuke snorted. "Like that'll happen."
"Actually, demons using spells can be quite common. Rogue priestesses also do these sort of things," Sango explained.
Kurama and Hiei were occupying themselves by going in and out of the tunnels, trying to find a secret path, a hole, or even an abnormally large abyss, but they weren't lucky. Kurama eventually sat down next to the others for a break. But Hiei didn't give up. He decided to search the large cavern they were in.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo and Kilala had been in the cave for what seemed like an hour. There was only one path and they passed a familiar ice statue: the frozen bat.
Shippo and Kilala were wrapped tightly in the blankets. Miroku was holding onto the fire cat and Kagome was holding onto Shippo. Shippo's eyes was the only thing visible from the blanket. His turquise eyes were scanning the area. His eyes became watery at times from the wind, but he clearly saw the predicament they were in. If they couldn't find the exit soon, they might end up being a statue like the bat.
Kilala was meowing constantly and trying to wriggle out of Miroku's grasp. She was able to pick up Sango's scent through the snow and was trying to find her. She was very worried about her master and friend. "Kilala, sit still, Sango trusted us to keep you warm," said Miroku.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
The fire was still crackling. The fires of hell that Hiei summoned can burn for a long time. Hiei also took a break from the search. Kurama looked down to see the ground around the fire and noticed something strange. There was dirt which was brown, but there was blue mixed in with it. He knelt down and began digging through the snow to clear the ground.
"Why are you doing that?" Yusuke asked. Kurama didn't answer instead he showed everyone that there was strange markings on the ground. It was like a spell, an enchantment.
"Hiei, see if you can melt the rest of the snow here," said Kurama, standing up and dusting off the dirt and snow. Hiei skillfully sent a fireball that traveled through the foot of snow, melting it.
The heat from the fireball melted the other parts of the cavern floor. In mere minutes, the entire cavern floor was devoid of snow and ice. The entire ground had strange blue markings. It was a huge symbol with squares, triangles, circles, wavy lines, and many other shapes and lines. It looked like a magic spell.
Kurama stood near the middle. The markings looked as if it was erased. "This is a sealing spell," Sango said, "And by the looks of it, a strong demon was sealed away."
"How do you know?" Kurama asked her as he walked back.
"I saw pictures of it at my village. It's a different method to defeating a demon. For demon slayers, using a sealing spell is a last resort, but it would take a long time to make properly. This one looks like it took maybe a dozen or more slayers to make. At least half of them would have to distract the demon."
"I told you this place had spells, Urameshi," Kuwabara whispered.
Sango was looking around the markings. "The place in the middle that seems erased is where the demon broke free or maybe something or someone helped it," she said.
Kurama walked to the corners of the cavern and noticed there were smaller markings, but it was different from the big one.
"Look at the corners, there are different spells. By the looks of it, it was made recently," Kurama told the others.
"But what are these used for?" Yusuke asked.
"This is to lead an enemy in circles which would eventually lead to their death because it stopped anyone that entered to leave," Kurama explained, "It also blocked Hiei's Jagan."
Hiei rubbed his foot over the spell to get rid of it. "What are you doing?" Kuwabara asked.
"Getting rid of them so we can move on with our lives." He then rubbed away the other three.
There were bright lights where the spells were. The light gathered at the entrances of the different paths. The light formed a huge ball and contracted. It then suddenly explanded, forming smaller balls of light. It was zooming through the air, bouncing off walls. They ducked. Eventually the light faded and so did four of the paths. The only path remaining was the one Kuwabara had picked earlier. A smile lit up on Kuwabara's face and he said, triumphantly, "I told you so."
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Inuyasha's ears twitched. He stopped and sniffed the air. "Something happened. It's full of energy I can't really explain," he said.
"I sense it too," Miroku said.
"Is it bad?" Kagome asked.
"There's only one way to find out." Inuyasha began running. Miroku and Kagome followed, but the snow was slowing all three of them down, but it was decreasing as they went forward.
Everything was a blur in Inuyasha's eyes. He wanted to see what that was. What if... what if they were in trouble? What if something terrible happened? No, he had to shake that thought from his head. Maybe it was Yusuke. No one had seen his real power yet. He hoped that was the case. Or it could be some demon magic that Hiei or Kurama did. He really wanted one of those to be the possibility and not anything bad. . .
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
The path was short. Yusuke and the others saw the end. They were able to see somesort of light. They reached the end of the cave. As they emerged, there was fog everywhere the eye could see. It wasn't light fog either, it was thick and depressing.
Kurama ventured forward. The fog was still thick. He accidenly kicked a stone that skidded in to a puddle. Other than that, it was complete silence. He only walked for only about a minute, but it seemed like hours in the silence and the eerie fog.
The fog had something strange about it. It was not only dark, but it had a sense of evil and it felt humid. It was getter harder to breathe the more he walked forward. Yusuke and the others began following Kurama once they saw nothing happened, yet. All of their breathing became more like panting. The fog was restricting their oxygen, but they had to keep going forward. Suddenly, the fog began diasppearing slowly and just a bit ahead of them was a small shrine.
It was falling apart. The wet air ruined the wooded structure of the shrine. When Yusuke put his foot on the first step, his foot went crashing through. "Ahhhhh!"
"Relax!" Sango said.
Kurama and Kuwabara helped Yusuke out. Hiei leaped above the stairs and landed in front of the sliding door. He cautiously slid it open. Inside was of the most gruesome sights any of them had ever seen. . .
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku were still running toward the unknown source of magic. Inuyasha stopped abruptly, causing Miroku and Kagome to run into him. "Hey!" he shouted angrily. Kagome and Miroku mumbled sorries.
"Well, why did you stop?" Miroku asked as he rewrapped Kilala's blakets. Kagome was also doing the same thing.
"The trail of magic seems like it's fading."
"So, what? It's only been one path for a long time!" Shippo said after he freed his mouth.
"True, but we have no idea what happened," Kagome intervined before Inuyasha had time to hit the young fox demon.
"Let's go," Inuyasha said and dashed off again.
"At least the snow isn't as deep," sighed Miroku.
"Here we go again," grumbled Kagome.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Behind the sliding door was a very gruesome sight. It was something only a bloodthirsty, violent loving demon could do. There was blood everywhere. The walls were covered with it and so was the floor. In the middle of the small shrine was, what looked like, the real guardian cut in half. Obviously, the guardian was dead. It was a woman.
Hiei leaped back in front of them. "Well, we know for certain the real guardian isn't responsible."
"Why?" Kuwabara asked.
"Because I found her cut in half. It's hard through to live that," Hiei said.
"That means there really was a confined demon and it killed the real guardian," Sango said, summing up what happened so far.
"But where is the real question," said Kurama.
"Wait. . .Aren't guardians immortal?" asked Yusuke, ruining the seriousness of the moment.
"Not all guardians are. They usually have a similar life span to that of a demon. Only the most powerful types of guardians are immortal," Kurama paused, "Apparently, this one wasn't."
"Oh."
The fog had completely disappeared while they were distracted with the death of the guardian. Kurama looked past the shrine and there was a small forest. Something moved. It was moving fast. Everyone had heard it. It was jumping through trees and bushes. There was slight noise, again.
Whatever it was, it was either trying to escape or it was trying to find an opening to attack. Sango readied her Hirakostu. Hiei drew his sword and Kurama reached into his hair for his rose. Yusuke and Kuwabara got into a fighting stance. The noise was now focused on the bush in front of them. The leaves were rustling.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kagome had already entered the room with the magic spells. They stared in awe at the entire floor covered with markings, magic. "What did this?" Kagome asked.
"I've read about this. The big one is a sealing spell," Miroku explained.
"A sealing spell? But what was it supposed to seal?" Shippo curiously asked, wriggling out of the blanket.
"No idea," Miroku stated.
"Who cares what it sealed! I'll beat it either way!" announced Inuyasha.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
A demon was standing in front of Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Sango. The demon had long, silvery hair put up in a ponytail. He was also wearing a dark blue fighting outfit. There were blotches of blood on his clothes. They deduced that it was from when he killed the guardian. As he stepped forward, they noticed that he was not very tall. In fact, he was shorter than Yusuke.
He also had two swords. He was holding one and it had dried spots of blood. His face was cold and emotionless. He smirked at them, revealing a fang. His claws gripped the sword's hilt and he stepped forward. "256 years trapped in that cave," he paused, "As soon as I find the person that released me, I'm going to thank them. . . And then kill them." He began to chuckle.
"Well, he's a psycho," Yusuke said loud enough for his companions to hear.
"You said it," replied Kuwabara.
The demon looked at the strange fighters in front of him. The girl looked like something he had seen before. What was her kind called again? Oh, yes, a demon slayer. He cocked his brow. She has to die. Next was the tall, orange-haired boy. He seems to be the comical one in the group. He hated funny. Death to him, too. Oh, what the hell, death to them all!
Yusuke was cracking his knuckles, he was ready to beat this guy into a pulp. As he was stepping forward, Kurama stopped him. "You've already fought, give someone else a chance," he said and walked up to the demon.
Both the demon and Kurama walked in circles, glaring at each other. None of them attacked. They were too busy assessing each other. Looks human, but doesn't seem like one. I better watch him carefully, the demon thought.
"The demon is powerful, but I hardly think he stands a chance against Kurama," Hiei said.
"You better be right," Yusuke said as his spirits slightly rose.
"Then again, the demon might have some hidden powers we're not aware of," Hiei said, lowering Yusuke's spirits.
"Answer my question first before we begin," Kurama started, "Did you curse the villagers."
"Yes, I enjoyed it so much," he said evilly, "All I had to do was steal a little trinket from the guardian. It was quite simple really. She was so naive."
Kurama glared at him.
Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku came running into the scene. Shippo bounced off Kagome's shoulder onto the ground. Kilala escaped Miroku's grip and jumped to Sango. Kilala purred and nuzzled Sango.
"What are you all doing here? I thought you all stayed back," asked Sango, petting Kilala.
"Well, you were taking too long so we decided to come look for you," Kagome said.
"Who's the demon?" Inuyasha asked, looking intently at the Kurama and the demon.
"He's the demon that was sealed off. He pretty much wants to kill us all," Kuwabara explained.
"Wow, Kurama's gonna fight. I can't wait to see what he can do," Shippo said excitedly.
"Some of his fights end up being
really bloody," Kuwabara said, "Like that dude with the
bombs."
"Karasu? I remember that one, Kurama almost died
from blood loss," Yusuke said.
"Karasu was a skilled fighter and had invisible bombs on his side," Hiei added, seeing the confusion on the others faces.
"Invisible bombs? No wonder he suffered from blood loss," Kagome muttered.
Kurama reached for the rose in his hair, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed it into his famous Rose Whip and attacked the demon. He didn't even see it coming and received a wound on his chest. The demon chuckled. "You'll pay dearly for that mistake." Kurama didn't reply.
The demon unseathed his second sword. He started to do some swift movements with his two swords. The movements were incredibly fast and none of it was used for attacking. It was hypnotic. I must be careful. I have no idea what he's planning with this nonsense, Kurama thought. Suddenly, the demon split into two, and then into four, and so on until it there were sixteen. Each one was doing the same movement in unison.
Then, all sixteen of the demons charged toward Kurama. He gripped his whip and began attacking at the first one. He jumped out of the way, which revealed a second one that attacked Kurama. He couldn't dodge. He was too close. Kurama received a wound on his chest, much like the one he had given to the demon earlier.
The sixteen demons were standing, smirking. "I told you would pay."
"That was a dirty trick!" Yusuke shouted.
"Since when do our enemies play by the rules, Detective?" Hiei said smugly.
"Hold on, I think I can figure it out," Kuwabara said. Yusuke was also trying to figure it out.
"It was a rhetorical question you idiots," Hiei angrily said. Both of them mouthed out the word 'oh' silently.
They charged at Kurama again. "That trick again?" Kurama questioned.
"You wish." Instead of attacking, they kept circling around the fox demon. They were obviously trying to confuse him, but Kurama was smart enough to see through his trick. He carefully examined the circling demons. There, he thought. His rose whip made contact and sent him flying. The other copies disappeared as well.
"Alright! He did it!" Shippo celebrated.
"Maybe we can get out of here sooner than I thought," Kagome said.
"Let's hope that's the case," said Miroku.
"Geez, you're just like Hiei, ruining the mood," Kuwabara said.
"I can't help that I'm stating the truth," Miroku replied.
The demon had done a frontal attack with his swords, but Kurama gracefully moved out of the way. But, as Kurama was dodging, the demon played a dirty trick on him. He punched Kurama were his wound was and it caused him to step back in pain. The demon took this opportunity to cause more damage to him. He punched and kicked and slashed him again on his current wound. The demon jumped back to let Kurama get up from the ground.
Kurama scraped his fingernails on the ground as he was trying to get up. He was glaring constantly at the cheating demon. Some of the most blood thirsty demons have some sort of honor, even if it does involve slashing an opponent into pieces. But that wasn't the point! The point was that the demon had gotten Kurama angry and no one wants to do that. His eyes had bits of gold and his red hair had silver streaks.
Yusuke and company were staring at Kurama. "Hiei, is it me or his he transforming?" Yusuke asked, his eyes never leaving the half transformed fox.
"Yes," the fire demon replied.
"But doesn't he need to take that potion thing?" asked Kuwabara.
"Yes, yes, he does," Hiei said.
"But how?" But no one answered that.
"Whoa, we'll see how Kurama really looks like," Shippo commented.
The demon was taken back. I knew something was strange about him, he thought, I need to be more careful.
Kurama's claws grew out. His silver tail and ears came out gradually. His hair was now completely silver and he was taller. He had transformed into Youko Kurama. He was wearing his usual white outfit that consisted of the white sleeveless shirt and the white pants.
Yusuke looked at Inuyasha and the
others and they were in shock. Their mouths were literally hanging
open. He chuckled at the sight. Maybe a fly will go into on of
their mouths, he thought and laughed.
"What are you
laughing at?" Kuwabara asked.
"Nothing," he replied with a fake innocent grin.
Kurama narrowed his eyes and smirked. "And now you die, you pathetic excuse for a demon," the silver fox said in the deadliest tone anyone of them had ever heard, except for maybe when Hiei threatens Kuwabara when he's around Yukina of course.
The demon stood his ground as Youko charged at him. He slashed him with his whip with lightening fast speed. The demon was covered in blood now.
"It was a mistake making me angry," Youko growled.
"Mistake my ass," the demon replied. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He put his swords away and formed an energy ball in his hands. It was about the size of an apple but it suddenly tripled in size. He shot the ball of energy toward Youko, but a large green plant shot out and absorbed the attack. The plant was destroyed from the power of the attack, but about ten more of them sprang up.
Yusuke's, Kuwabara's, and Hiei's eyes widened. "We need to get back to the cave," Yusuke said, "Now."
"Why?" Inuaysha asked.
"Those are his death plants. They eat anything and everything, except for Youko Kurama himself," Hiei explained. Kuwabara was already running towards the cave. Kagome scooped up Shippo and began running as well. Inuyasha and Yusuke stayed behind the rest to make sure the death plants wouldn't get them.
They watched from the mouth of the cave. The mouth of the plants were opened wide with saliva dripping everywhere. The plants were trying to eat the demon. The mouth of the plants were crashing into the ground, picking up dirt, but it wouldn't give up. It wanted to eat the demon. Youko was laughing. "You'll never escape my death plants! Their hunger has gotten the best of them!"
"I didn't know plants could be so violent," Sango said.
"Believe it. Kurama can turn any plant into a deadly weapon," said Yusuke.
The demon was frantically trying to get away from the plants, but where ever he turned, there was another one with its mouth open, ready to scoop him up. He drew one of his swords and stuck it through the roof of one of mouths. One down, nine more to go, he thought, Damn, I could blast them all away, but I used most all of my energy for that stupid energy ball and that copy trick. While he was preoccupied with his thoughts, one of the plants snuck up behind him and clamped its mouth shut, with him in there. The plant was about to swallow, but its mouth was opening. The demon slashed the rest of its mouth.
"I can still use brute strength," he said and jumped down. His clothes were torn and covered in blood.
"You're the second person who escaped my plants," Youko said in a disgusted voice, "I'll make sure you suffer. You cannot escape the inevitable."
"We shall see."
More plants lunged toward the enemy demon, but this time he took out his remaining sword and swiftly ran towards the plants. He managed to dodge the mouths and cut all the plants from the stems. They came crashing down. The demon grinned truimphantly.
"You shouldn't be so happy, you're weak," Youko said and smirked, showing his fangs.
"What about you? I bet that plant trick wasted your energy as well."
The silver fox took out another rose from his hair. He twirled the the rose, causing all the petals to fall off. But the petals did not fall on the ground, instead it floated in the air.
"What kind of trick is this?" asked the demon.
"Why don't you attack and find out."
"I will." As soon as the
demon moved, he was cut. "What? I didn't see you move!"
Youko smirked. The demon moved again and was cut. His eyes widened.
"The rose petals."
"Took you long enough, but you
cannot win a fight by just standing around."
The demon narrowed his eyes. Youko was right. Unless, he moved, he would lose. Then, an idea struck, he wouldn't move, much. He summoned an energy ball made from the energy he gathered from after using it the last time. He shot it and was able to destroy all the rose petals.
"You may have destroyed the petals, but you have no energy left. You will die." The demon realized that Youko was right, again. He sensed the energy emitting from the fox demon and he still had quite a bit to spare. It was hopeless. There was no way to defeat him. Youko ran and slashed the demon into small pieces with his claws. He shook the blood from his hand. He hated killing the old fashioned way, but at the state the demon was in, it would be a crime to use his plants to defeat him.
"No one underestimates me and lives," Youko Kurama said.
Youko slowly transformed back into the red head known as Shuichi, or Kurama by a select few. That took a lot out of me. More than I expected, but was it just a fluke this time or can I really transform on will now? Kurama thought.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
"Naraku, don't you want to see what is happening at the cave?" Kagura asked. Kagura had red eyes and was holding a fan to her face. Her hair was up in a bun. The pale child known as Kanna was standing next to her in the darkness.
Naraku thought for a second and replied, "I may have released the demon, but I don't care if he defeats them or not. I just needed to take them off my trail for awhile."
"But what if he won?"
"That won't happen. He cannot stand up against all of them."
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
They had traveled back to the village and bandaged Kurama's wound. Everyone afflicted with a weather problem was cured. Probably, as soon as the demon died, the little storms and blizzards also disappeared. Everyone thanked them and the villagers also took the news very hard. Their beloved guardian was killed and it was a demon that did this to them. The village headman came up to them and said, "You may come and visit whenever you wish. You will always have a place here."
"Thank you, and we wish you the best of luck adjusting to a life without your guardian," Miroku said.
They bid their final good-byes and continued on with their journey to complete the Shikon Jewel and defeat Naraku once and for all.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
CrazyDreamerGirl: I think I'm getting better with fight scenes. The demon slayers and the sealing spells was all my idea that I made up. Same with the whole guardian life span. Also, I think only one of the enemies Yusuke and the others faced played fair, not sure. Oh, yeah, I read off this site that said Kurama is able to transform when he's angry enough later on in the show, so I used that information for the transformation here.
This is the longest chapter I've made so far. I hope you all like it, and please tell me if this fight scene was good. Here are the replies:
JoannaKuwabara: Don't worry, all your questions will be answered, sooner or later.
sleep all day rock all night: So did you like this one?
ficfan3484: Feel free to ask anything else.
Time and Fate: Yeah, it was.
ilikewhitetigers: Thanks.
Rei Minamino: lol
Hirina: You'll get the 100 reviews in a couple more chapters and bring on the random questions! By the way, I've never really tried Dr. Pepper, is it good?
Prismdragon: Thank you! I'm glad you think I kept the characters in character. I've watched both shows enough time to be able to repeat some quotes from heart.
bill: Oh, that's right. I forgot all about that, but technically, the sword was made from his father's fang and it was fixed by Inuyasha's fang. I kinda figured it was mostly still the father's fang. That was my take on things.
gizmostar: Thanks!
shadowyoukokitsune: Yeah.
