Four reviews! Woot! Yayness! Thanks so much to my reviewers for the support! Anyways, I had three reviews at one point but wasn't finished the chapter...I promise that the next chapter will be ready right away (just give me time to actually go on the computer to check my reviews). So, three reviews until the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, but I own The Feline Curse and its quiz format.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – PLANS

Yami's grip tightened around Catalyn's fist, and she couldn't escape it. She flinched horribly, knowing what was coming. She was dead and she knew it. The pain was hurting her so much it threatened to black her out. She couldn't believe she went through all that, just to end up like this. But I'm not ready to die yet! I have so much left to do! I'm only fifteen! I have my whole life ahead of me! I can't rest in peace as a demon! I need to find Kitkit and make her take away this curse!

"I can't die yet," she murmured sadly to herself.

Yami heard her. "Why can't you?" he asked.

"Because there's something I still have to do," she answered, figuring she had nothing to lose by telling him. "I have to track down the demon that demonified me so that she can undo this curse. Then I'll have fulfilled my purpose, and I'll be ready to die. Please, spare me until I find her."

Yusuke and Kuwabara were staring at her, in awe that she was actually begging for her life. Kurama's eyes were filled with sympathy as always, but also with helplessness. He knew as well as she did that there was no chance for Yami to spare her.

"Please, spare me," she continued, trying to drag it out as long as she possibly could. "I swear, after I find her, you can do whatever you want to me. Kill me in whichever way you like. Please."

Unnoticed by anyone, a shadowed figure lurked in a corner, watching as Yami pondered over Catalyn's words. Why was he taking so long? He knew Yami well enough to know that he would never agree to such a pathetic cause. He thought to himself, It's about time I step in.

Yami said, "I've decided." She'd never felt her heart pound the way it did then. Her life was in his hands. This was it. "Prepare to die."

She gasped. So did the boys. She heard Kurama mutter her name. She closed her eyes and prepared for the end. The pain began.

When she finally opened her eyes, the pain was gone. It had been surprisingly quick. She hadn't realized death could come so easily. But it was much better that way. She looked at her hand. It was still as it had been before Yami killed her. She looked around, confused. She was still in the illusion room. She whirled around. Yami was lying on the floor, his eyes open in shock, a sword protruding from his back. Slowly, she looked up…into Hiei's face.

Catalyn stepped back in shock. "H-H-Hiei? But…how…?"

Hiei pulled his katana out of Yami's body and sheathed it. He gave her a look. "So now I'm not even allowed a share of the killing, is that it?" he asked.

She tried to reply, but no words came out. Then the pain rushed back and she fell to her knees. Kurama ran over to her. She wanted to assure him that she was fine, but that would just be stupid. She let him lift her arm over his shoulder and rose with him as her support.

"Nice to have you back, Hiei," Yusuke said. "Glad to see you're okay. And –" he suddenly looked serious, "– sorry."

Hiei scowled at him. "Hn," he said. "It wasn't you who caused the wound. You're not powerful enough to do that."

Yusuke frowned, then smiled, and frowned again. Catalyn managed a weak giggle.

"Let's keep going, shall we?" Kuwabara said.

Catalyn bent over and picked up Yami's bokuto. It had no owner anymore. She tucked it through the sash around her waist and, leaning on Kurama, turned to leave.

"Now, my guests, where do you think you're going?" asked an all too familiar voice. They all turned around to see Yami standing alive and well next to his dead body. "Illusions are wonderfully helpful," he told them. "Now here's the real me. You have one more obstacle to go through before moving on –" he appeared behind them "– as I am blocking the doorway."

Catalyn broke free and aimed a punch for Yami with her left fist at the same time that Yusuke and Kuwabara did. Yami dodged them all and jumped in the air. Kurama caught his ankle with the rose whip. Just as Yami broke free, his eyes widened in shock and his pupils became mere specks. Then his body came apart, clearly cut to pieces. Hiei flipped through the air, landed smoothly, and sheathed his katana. "So much for him."

Catalyn had to grin. It was amazing that Hiei kept up his high-and-mighty attitude even after just waking up from a terrible injury. It's also the second time he's saved my life now, she thought, but shook it off. The forest illusion had vanished when Yami was killed, revealing a small, plain room with a door across from them. Leaning on Kurama, she passed through the door with the boys.

Once through the doorway, they found themselves in another room with a spiral staircase at the other end. Catalyn sniffed the air for anything unusual. There was nothing suspicious, but she did smell fresh air, and lots of it. As soon as they climbed up the stairs and opened the door, they found themselves on the balcony-roof of the mansion. It took up the whole roof, except for a section in the middle, where there was one last tower.

"Interesting battlefield," Catalyn commented. She let go of Kurama and walked over to the edge. There, she saw many demon residents following Botan, Jet, and Mari through the entrance doors. "Reinforcements are coming!" she exclaimed happily.

Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama went over to look. "Soon, we'll have our own army!" commented Yusuke.

A voice from out of nowhere said, "Then I'll have to finish you before it comes."

– Flashback in time –

Yami and a shadowed, mysterious figure kneeled in front of a large throne. Someone was sitting in the throne, but that person was completely disguised in shadows.

"What next, sir?" Yami asked. "Will we let the two captives die, just like that?"

"What do you suggest?" the seated one said in a male's voice.

Yami stated, "We could use them as bait. Attract the others to rescue them, but it will all be in vain. Lay traps for them along the way. We'll get more of them at the same time, and it will make our job easier."

The man in the chair considered the proposal. Then he said, "I think it's a fine idea. Yami, prepare the next challenge. Herd out the weakest of the group with number seven, and have the stronger ones die in the rescue attempt."

Yami nodded. "Yes, sir," he said. He stood up and left the room.

The demon next to him stood after he'd left. "I suppose I'll be leaving as well, milord." The voice was definitely female, and the hint of a curved body could be made out despite the shadows.

The man in the throne nodded. "We're both leaving. Cala and Zankoku will be taking it from here. They are, after all, the last two members of the Ten. I've already spoken with them. Let's be on our way."

They stood next to each other, and then vanished in a whiff of smoke.

– Back to where we left off –

Catalyn and the boys whirled around to see who had spoken. Standing next to the tower was their next demon opponent. It was wearing shiny silver armor covering every inch of its body. The face was obscured by a helmet, but a small hole at the top let a sheet of waist-length silvery blue hair fall down.

"Hello," the demon said in a husky but female voice. "I'm Cala, ninth of the Ten. I have to admit I'm quite surprised to see you've made it this far. But I'll warn you now: I am the ninth of the Ten because only the tenth himself, our leader Zankoku, can actually put up a fight against me. Plus, he's defeated me every single time. I also have many special abilities, and trust me, there's no way you'll even put a dent in my armor."

"Aw, shaddup and prove those aren't just words already," Yusuke said, stepping forward.

Catalyn sighed and scrutinized Cala's armor. The metal seemed extremely hard and durable, and the demon's aura was providing it with extra protection. It would be terribly difficult to break through, she realized.

Cala charged for Yusuke, and Yusuke prepared to meet her with a mighty, aura-charged punch. Catalyn watched as Cala's fist clenched. Then her aura swirled around it and began to take on a strange shape…an axe! It fully materialized as she brought it down upon Yusuke's fist. But Catalyn and Hiei had both leaped into action to prevent this, and with flaming fists they each punched a different side of the axe. They both jumped back, and the axe merely grazed Yusuke's knuckles.

Catalyn stared at Hiei in surprise. She knew he was part fire demon, and it seemed appropriate for him to possess the same technique as her, but she couldn't believe that Hiei had acted the exact same way as her. Not only that, but he had actually worked to help out a teammate. He noticed her gaze and glared at her. She looked away quickly.

"As you can see," Cala said, somersaulting backwards, "I can use my powers to create any weapon I like, and they're just as hard as my armor."

As Catalyn glared at Cala, she started as her fist throbbed in pain. "Oh!" she exclaimed softly, and she grabbed her hand to attempt to dull the pain.

Kurama noticed, just as she was hoping he wouldn't. "Catalyn, you shouldn't use that fist," he said. "You'll hurt yourself to much, maybe even cause your hand permanent injuries. You can't rely on flaming punches all the time." Then he smiled. "Try using a weapon instead."

She gasped in understanding, and took out her new bokuto. Sure, she'd never used any type of sword before, but she could still try. Besides, she'd seen Hiei use his katana and she'd studied his moves. She figured it wouldn't be too hard to try. And she would still be able to use her flames. She held it in both hands, pointing the wooden tip at Cala.

"I've found your weak spot," she announced loudly.

Kurama grinned, Hiei hn-ned, and the other two boys just stared.

"You have no hand armor, do you?" she asked Cala. "Those gloves are the same color as your armor, but they're just leather, aren't they?"

"You have a knack for calculating an opponent's strengths and weaknesses," Cala acknowledged in a strange voice. "But you'll no longer be an asset to your team once I'm through with you!"

While Yusuke was getting over the surprise of the attack to his hand, Kuwabara with his aura sword, Kurama with his rose whip, Hiei with his katana, and Catalyn with her bokuto all charged for Cala. Cala raised a gloved hand, and large chunks of the balcony ripped themselves out of the ground and flew towards them. Catalyn created flames on her weapon and slashed at the pieces of stone, cutting them in half. The cuts weren't as clean as she would have liked, but it was a pretty good start. Kurama cleanly broke up the stone like a hot knife cutting through butter. Kuwabara slashed pretty wildly, but he accomplished the task as well without difficulty.

Catalyn looked around amidst the flying pieces of stone. "Where'd Hiei g–"

"LOOK OUT!" yelled Yusuke.

She looked up to see a giant slab of stone falling right for her, leaving her no time to prepare herself. Suddenly Kurama dove into her, sending the two of them sprawling, and Yusuke blasted the stone into tiny fragments with an aura-charged punch.

"Thanks," Catalyn called to Yusuke. She reached over to pick up her dropped bokuto, but Kurama already had. He handed it to her. "Thanks to you too, Kurama," she added.

"Be on guard," he warned with a smile before he jumped away to break up more stones.

As the guys occupied themselves with smashing the stones (there sure were a lot of them!), she hid herself behind the center tower, observing the situation. So Cala can control rocks as well, she thought. And if my assumption is correct, she can probably do the same with anything hard or sharp, like weapons. Then she directed her attention to Cala. She was a spectator, lazily watching as the boys fought off her assault, with no worries of being attacked.

But then a blur sped at her from out of nowhere: Hiei. His katana swished, there was a clang, and the katana stopped. It didn't take Catalyn long to figure out why. Cala had grabbed the weapon with her bare hands…but no! Her hands transformed into twin swords, crossing against the katana in the shape of an X. She pushed Hiei's katana back, but he pressed hard, glaring.

Catalyn looked around. Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara were all slicing and dicing the rocks. Cala was now laughing. "I can turn any part of my body into a weapon!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "For instance, my hair can become a whip!" Her hair twisted together and glowed until it became a long black whip. It slashed at Hiei faster than he could dodge, meaning it was pretty darn fast.

Since Cala was occupied with Hiei, she was leaving herself wide open for an attack from behind. It was the perfect opportunity for Catalyn…or was it? Was Cala doing this on purpose, or had she really left an opening?

Catalyn didn't want to wait any longer. She shook herself, and then, bokuto flaming, charged for Cala from behind. With tremendous speed and power, she thrust the bokuto straight into Cala's wrist, the one unarmed part of her body (since her hands were swords). But it didn't cut through. Her eyes widened in shock. "What the – " Then the hair-whip caught her in the stomach, sending her flying. She flipped and landed on her feet with her tail as a balance.

The boys finished breaking up the stones, and Catalyn could see why. Cala had used up so much of the ground beneath them that any more could cause it to cave into the eighth floor and in turn cause the tower to collapse, not to mention most of the castle. Hiei had jumped back, and Catalyn did so as well to join the boys.

"Go on," Cala said. "It doesn't matter. You won't come up with a strategy to defeat me."

In a low voice, Catalyn muttered to the boys, "There are areas at the joints where there are cracks in the armor to improve her mobility. If we could reach them, it would be perfect. But her weapons are too powerful."

"We need something that can stop her from moving," Kurama remarked.

"If we had something like that, we would've done it already," Kuwabara put in.

Yusuke was thinking hard. Then his and Kurama's eyes lit up at the same time.

Yusuke put a hand on Hiei's shoulder. Hiei slapped it off. "Hiei, pal, it's all up to you," he told him with a grin.

"Hn."

Catalyn looked at Kurama questioningly. He merely said, "You'll see."

Kuwabara gasped, then said, "You don't mean Hiei has to transform?"

Yusuke nodded. "So, Hiei, you up for it?"

"Hn." Hiei pulled off his black cape/dress/thingy (A/N sorry don't know what to call it) and tore off his headband. His Jagan Eye opened up on his forehead, and Catalyn watched in awe. She had heard of his "evil eye" but she'd never actually seen it before. Hiei's muscles tensed, and his body turned green. Then numerous eyes sprouted all over his body.

"Those eyes amplify his power," Kurama explained. "With it, he can attempt to freeze Cala – for a little while, at least. I don't know how long he'll be able to do it since Cala is quite strong."

Sure enough, Cala froze in her tracks, as if she'd been cocooned somehow. She swore angrily multiple times and struggled to break free, but for the moment, she was trapped.

Yusuke readied his fist for a shotgun, and the others held out their weapons. Then, without the need for anyone to yell "charge", they all rushed for Cala at the same time. Their attacks all hit the same spot at the same time: the armor covering Cala's heart. Cala gave a gurgling sort of gasp. She broke free of the cocoon, everyone jumped back, and Hiei un-transformed, slightly out of breath. Catalyn realized how hard it must have been to hold Cala still like that. Cala fell to her knees, clutching the huge dent pressing against her heart. Then she started laughing, and wouldn't stop. She was still laughing as she stood once more.

"Mind telling us what's so funny?" Yusuke asked, annoyed.

Eventually, Cala managed to stop laughing. Then she took off her helmet, revealing pale lavender skin, ruby-red eyes, and purple lips. All in all, her face was actually beautiful. She went on to take off the rest of her armor, still chuckling lightly. She was dressed in dark purple leather, so dark it was almost black. Then Catalyn noticed that a tear was sliding down her perfect face.

What the heck is going on? Catalyn asked herself. Is she really crying?

Cala smiled almost kindly. "After Zankoku, of course, you five are the first people to see me without my armor, and I'll have you know I only remove it for those that actually prove to be a challenge. You've dented my armor, so you've earned the privilege to fight me like this. Thank you…I haven't had a challenge like this in far too long…" Another tear slid down her cheek. "It makes me so happy…"

Catalyn stared Cala down. "You know, you actually seem like a decent person," she said. "If the circumstances were different, I might have liked to be friends with you. But that's out of the question. Let's finish our fight."

Cala wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and her grin grew evil. "I'll have you know…Zankoku could also damage my armor. But you're still no challenge for me. Zankoku couldn't just dent my armor…he could shatter it."