The Feudal Era Across the Street
Chapter 24: The Mission's End Part II
"Inuyasha, why did you stop?" asked Kagome.
"Yeah, if we want to catch up to rest, we can't afford to keep stopping," added Botan.
Shippo's head appeared through Kagome's hair. "What they said," the young kit added.
Inuyasha paid no attention to them. He was busy sniffing the air. "Naraku's barrier has fallen."
Botan flew higher up to see the flower covered dome. It was gone. In its place was a mass of dark aura that sent shivers down her spine. She had never felt such evil before.
"The flowers are gone. That must mean. . ."
She looked down. They had left her behind. "They ditched me," she muttered angrily.
Yusuke and Hiei were runnig through the miasma infested halls of Naraku's castle. Yusuke had to use his jacket as a makeshift mask. Hiei also covered his nose and mouth. They randomly opened doors and tore apart walls to find him. A skeleton fell onto Yusuke. He yelped. Hiei quickly destroyed it.
"Someone needs to redecorate," the spirit detective muttered behind his jacket.
Hiei rolled his eyes. He led the way to a whole new hallway in the castle. The miasma was getting stronger. That meant that Naraku was getting closer. He was not in that hall. They crossed through the courtyard that was in the back of the castle. Random skeletons and corpses were piled onto one another. They had one part of the castle left that they did not search.
"It looks like we're in the middle of this entire place," commented Yusuke.
"A fitting place for crazed lunatic," said Hiei. He kicked the door down. A large cloud of miasma descended upon them. They coughed until their eyes watered. Hiei took the incentive to use his sword as a fan. He quickly spun it in a circle to spread the poison out.
"Thanks," said Yusuke.
"Hn."
They entered the room. It looked completely normal, well as normal as possible in a place like that. They searched the walls for any secret passageways. Hiei angrily punched the wall. A large dent formed.
"Come on, he might be on the other side of the castle. You know the side where Sango and-whoa!" Yusuke tripped on the ruined tatami mat. He fell flat on his face.
Hiei sighed, arms crossed. "Get up, detective."
"Yeah, thanks for the help," grumbled Yusuke. He rubbed his ankle, making sure it wasn't broken or twisted. He noticed a patch of brown underneath the mat. "Hey, Hiei, come check this out."
"What is it?"
Yusuke pointed to the brown patch. Hiei slashed the mat up, and they took it off, piece by piece. It was a secret door leading underground. They looked at each other with identical smirks. They heaved it open and peered down into the darkness.
"Sango, this useless. We've been through every single room on this side. It's like a maze," complained Miroku.
The demon slayer ignored the monk. "He's here, I just know it," she muttered to herself.
She slid open a door, expecting to see her brother, but instead, she was flung against the wall.
"Sango!" yelled Miroku, running over to her side. Before he even reached her, a tentacle threw him against the wall. He groaned. As he was rubbing his head, he heard a familiar laugh. It was Naraku, and Kohaku was standing right next to him.
Kohaku was holding his sickle to Sango's neck. "No," said Miroku, weakly.
"No what? Would you like to die first, monk?" asked Naraku.
Miroku stood up. Kohaku walked towards him. He had the attention of both of them. He only hoped a miracle would happen, and soon.
Kurama jumped out of the way of Kagura's Dance of Blade. He clutched his bleeding arm. It was harmed earlier in the battle. He looked over his shoulder to see Kuwabara charging towards Kanna. He had his Spirit Sword pointed towards the mirror. It hit. Kuwabara laughed truimphantly.
"Did you really think a mirror could save you?" the orange haired teen asked.
"Fool," said Kanna.
"What the hell?" His sword was being sucked into the mirror. The energy was being drained. Kuwabara frowned. "If that's how you want to play, I'll give you something to suck up."
"Don't, Kuwabara, it's useless!" yelled Kurama as he jumped out of the way of another attack.
"You stay out of this, fox boy!"
Kuwabara put more energy into the sword. Kanna watched him waste his energy. It was a futile attempt.
Kuwabara was very determined to destroy the mirror. Kurama tried to help him, but Kagura kept getting in the way.
"You really should pay attention to your own fight," said Kagura. "Dance of the Dead!"
The numerous corpses and skeletons that Hiei and Yusuke encountered earlier sauntered towards the red head. He summoned his rose whip. He slashed his way through the zombie army to get to Kagura.
If I can destroy that fan of hers, she won't be able to attack at all, he thought.
Kuwabara watched helplessly as Kurama fought the zombies. He was too busy with the energy sucking girl to help. He poured more energy into his sword, hoping the mirror would become too full and crack.
"There is no point. You are just wasting your energy," said Kanna.
Kuwabara ignored her. Suddenly, a cracking noise penetrated the air. Even Kagura and Kurama stopped to see what happened. The orange haired teen smirked.
"We're almost there!" yelled Inuyasha.
The half demon ran onwards, while Botan slowed down. "I swore I saw something. Oh, well, it was probably my imagination." She shrugged it off and flew off.
A streak of sliver appeared through the greenery.
When Botan finally caught up with Inuyasha, he had already stopped. They were staring at the fight going on between the incarnations and Kurama and Kuwabara.
"He did it," said Kagome.
Kuwabara had broken through the mirror. The glass came tumbling down. While Kagura was preoccupied, Kurama used his whip to get her fan. He slashed it. The zombies fell to the ground.
"You really should pay attention to your own fight," said Kurama, repeating what Kagura said earlier.
She glared at him. She quickly grabbed a feather from her air. But before she could transform it, vines shot up from the ground, binding both Kanna and Kagura. She said every curse word that came to mind to Kurama.
"Are you going to kill them?" asked Inuyasha, inspecting the vine covered incarnations. Kagura spat at him, but he quickly got out of the way.
"There's no point. She was only acting on Naraku's orders," said Kurama as his whip went back into a rose.
"Where are the others?" asked Kagome.
"Yusuke and Hiei went after Naraku, and Sango and Miroku went to find Kohaku," said Kurama.
With that said, Inuyasha ran off into the castle to find Naraku. Kagome ran after him. Kuwabara went to help Miroku and Sango.
"Here, let me help you with that," said Botan, referring to Kurama's bleeding arm.
Her healing powers cured his cut. "You and Shippo stay out here. It's too dangerous."
"Where are you going?" asked Shippo.
"I'm going to help the others defeat Naraku," replied Kurama.
"Be careful," said Botan.
"I hope you die!" yelled Kagura.
Shippo and Botan glared at her. Botan then hit her with her oar, and Shippo stuck his tongue out. The wind sorceress glowered. Kurama sweat dropped.
Yusuke and Hiei fanned out the dust with their hands that emerged from the trapdoor. Hiei drew his sword and jumped in. Yusuke followed. It was dark. Not just nighttime dark in a city; it was pitch black. Yusuke groped to find a wall to lead the wall.
"Um, Hiei," he said.
"What is it now?"
"Are walls supposed to be squishy and slimey?"
"What?" asked Hiei.
"I said-"
"I know what you said, you moron! Why the hell would a wall be squishy and slimey?"
"I don't know! I just asked you that!" hissed Yusuke.
"Quiet!" said Hiei. A moment later, he added, "Do you hear that?"
"What? You mean that weird noise?"
If Yusuke could see Hiei, he would see the fire demon's fingers just itching to strangle him. Hiei composed himself. "Yes, that weird noise," he said through gritted teeth.
"I think the wall is moving," said Yusuke.
"Are you still touching the wall?"
"Well, I'm trying to figure out what it is. Why don't you just use your third eye or light a fire?"
"Don't you think I've tried? The aura here mixed in with the miasma is blocking it. Besides, if I light a fire and Naraku is really down here, the element of surprise would be taken away," explained Hiei.
"Really? And here I was wondering the same thing," said a third person.
CrazyDreamerGirl: See, this chapter came out pretty fast. Sorry it's so short though, but the good thing is that I finished all the chapters that lead up to the epilogue, so there will be fast updates, unless I forget. Please review!
Thank you JoannaKuwabara, Hopelessly Hopefull, kahuffstix, Killshea Kavani, loveanime18 for reviewing!
