File 09: A Red Rose and a rain of rocks
"Don't you look down on me!" Hiei suddenly shouted, slashing the eye vertically before pulling the lever, stopping the ceiling. But that caused a huge boulder to fall on him not a second after. There was so much smoke. They ran out of the hallway crying out his name.
"Hiei!"
But there was no need to worry. That was Hiei after all. That idiot was standing on the rock and just being himself, ordering the eye demon to tell the Shiseiju that if they were willing to submit to him, he could still spare their lives. And the eye demon flew for his life. Akari and Yusuke sighed.
"You ok? Urameshi, Akari-chan?" Kuwabara asked, concerned.
"My veins almost burst!" Yusuke exclaimed, tapping his shoulder.
"Hmmm... such a sudden and violent effort is bad for my health, I'll have to go to the onsen after that..." Aka-chan whined. "Of course I'll make a kekkai so it'll be impossible for anyone to peek..." She added. Two faces dropped, clearly disappointed and sulking but who wouldn't dare say anything outloud, for fear of dying before the end of the mission, there were one laugh, a bit embarrassed, and two almost inaudible and yet relieved sighs. And Hiei didn't like it. But he pushed this kind of thought away when the detective thanked him for having saved them, he had his thumb up. "Right, I knew we could trust you." Akari said, smiling sweetly at him, "You do have your cute sides." she added putting an arm around his shoulders when he had that cute expression of his. He would act all proud and cocky but he could also be kind. Then Yusuke also put his arm around him, saying he sure knew how to scare people and he was such a good actor. Hiei shrugged them both off with a 'hn'. He didn't do that to save them. It's just that it would be easier to defeat the Shiseiju if there were more people. Hiding quite well -and trying to ignore the fact- that he didn't mind THAT much having Akari's arm around him.
"He's always like that, don't mind him." Kurama said chuckling slightly as the little fire demon walked away. The girl and Yusuke agreed. Kuwabara was pestering against the shorty, he just couldn't stand him. And they all followed after Hiei.
In the highest room, the beasts were again discussing about the five intruders...
"They've passed the Door of Betrayal. What should we do, Suzaku-sama?"
"Interesting. Who wants to play first?"
"Hiei wants us to beg for mercy?! I'll go and take good care of them." A claw made a hole in the wall, the voice sounded angry.
"Wait! Then let me, Genbu, polish them off, I'll bring their corpses to you immediately."
"Just make sure to bring the girl back alive, if that's really her. She displayed a most impressive ki. There is no doubt that she is the one who managed to lift the gate. We could make use of her."
As they were walking though another of the many corridors, everyone heard something beep. Kuwabara jumped, startled. The pink haired one took the communicating device Botan gave her and opened it. Upon recognizing the blue haired one in the little round screen, Kuwabara wrapped his arm tightly around Akari's neck, bringing his head closer to hers, taking advantage of the situation.
"Hi Botan-chaaan! I, kuwabara, protect the weak and destroy the strong, everything is fine here, I'm protecting your little Akari-chan with my life!" He declared proudly. The ferry girl smiled, embarrassed, and knowing perfectly what was going to happen. She knew Akari, and even if she didn't, the huge vein on her forehead was enough to give her a good guess. And who said she needed help? From HIM to top it all.
"So, Botan, how is everything in the ningenkai?" Akari inquired, a bit calmer. She had elbowed Kazuma hard in the ribs, nearly breaking them, making him let go of her and double over. Then as he was bent she had elbowed him again on the back of his neck, making him crash on the ground and she had heavily stepped on him so he would stay in place. Botan answered that things were fine in Tokyo too, the makai worms couldn't find that many people to infest and the demons sent to watch were weak so she was easily getting rid of them. She had just knocked another one out. The problem was that she only found fifteen of these worms out of thousands so Yusuke had better destroy the Flute fast. Akari put the device back in her pocket after telling Botan to be careful and she told the guys to hurry and get things over with even though the city was safe for now.
In the Reikai, Georges had run to the library to find Koenma up on a ladder, obviously looking for a book. He informed his master that Yusuke's group had passed through the Door of Betrayal. Koenma was glad to hear it. Then Georges asked what he was doing, the little prince answered that he was looking for more information on the Four Beasts. Georges was offended.
"What? You mean you sent Yusuke there without knowing about who the Shiseiju really were?" He exclaimed.
"That's right." Koenma answered, sliding a little down his ladder.
"Don't you think that's irresponsible? That was cruel of you." The oni reproached his employer.
"I didn't have a choice! They're the only ones on which I can count." The Reikai prince justified himself. "Or maybe you would go in their place?"
"N-no thanks, that's fine." George stammered with a sweatdrop. His master ordered him to help him and search somewhere else and he hurried to comply.
While in the castle...
"Akari, Kurama, what do you know about the Shiseiju?" The detective questioned. "We left in a hurry and I forgot to ask. And I suppose you should be better informed about these demons."
Akari and Kurama stopped walking and looked at each other but being the gentleman, he let her talk.
"Well, I'd say they're of the annoying kind, strong and dangerous enough to be a threat to the reikai and ningenkai seeing as they sealed them up, but from what I sense they're ridiculously weak compared to some people I've already battled. Oh well, they should be more than enough for you." The girl grinned.
"Don't say it that way Akari..." Kurama somehow pleaded, a bit embarrassed, she had been a bit harsh, but true. Some were a bit angry because basically she meant that they were weak.
"I'm sure they would say they're a lizard, a kitty, a birdy and a thing huddled together 'cause they're not strong enough to stand on their own if they were ever even mentioned." She laughed again.
"Akari... Anyway, since they're separated from humans they might give you a fright." The fox warned.
"Thank you for the introduction." A bodiless voice said, laughing evily. "But I can't forgive her for making fun of us, the Shiseiju, so you will all die!"
Here it goes again, aren't they all so cocky? She sighed while Yusuke and Kuwabara opened a door quite violently. A big dark stone chamber, rather like in a dungeon. Yusuke threw a torch in a dark spot. And here it stood, a stone hunched creature.
"Let me, Lord Genbu, pamper you from now on. And this girl will be first!" Lord Genbu proclaimed. All heads turned to the girl in question.
"Me? I'm just an observer. Getting all puffed up just because you got the name of a Chinese god is proof you're just a bottom-feeder. Don't get ahead of yourself! I have principles, I don't fight ugly stinking ones, and I don't fight weaklings. Not when it can be avoided." She smirked, her hands still behind her head. She turned to face the guys but kept her head toward him, silencing all kind of noisy, vulgar protestation from the beast with one of her murderous glare. He had sensed it, one word and she would have killed him. Even his master he didn't fear as much as her. She was a monster, that girl, her golden eyes, piercing right through him, if he had blood, it would have frozen in his veins. An aura sharper than a Japanese sword… He felt it, such an overwhelming presence, like he was going to be crushed and reduced to mere dust in the wind. Fear was clutching him like never before. Dangerous, she was too dangerous, he could never beat her, not in a thousand lives.
She held him in her power for a few seconds and let him go. He recovered a little, saying he wasn't scared, and telling that the only way up was the stairs behind him. They had to defeat him or die. He created a little crater in the ground, when he banged his tail against it, more to reassure himself of his own power than to intimidate. They could attack one by one or all at once. Kuwabara was scared, he couldn't yet probe people's true strength with his abilities and thought she was mad, that even she would have trouble with that monster if she could beat it at all, that she shouldn't provoke it like this. And her little display of power had been only directed at the beast so he was not aware of it. Then the pink haired grinned and ran so girlishly to hide behind Kurama. She was playing again, if she didn't hate cowards that much it would be even more fun, this edge of fear in the beast's voice, the fact that he wouldn't dare meet her eyes again. Not like it was very glorious bullying that kind of demon, but hell, she was bored.
"Nooooo, I can't fight it, I'm sooo scared, it's sooo ugly, I just can't bear it!" She made a good imitation of the most squealing girly voices she could hear at Kurama's school, acting oh so dramatically. The fox looked at her 'hiding' and 'cowering' behind his back, and smiled.
"Then allow me, if you're scared, I'll fight for you. It's dangerous to attack together when we have no information on the enemy, besides, I can't just allow Hiei to showcase his prowess." He played his part of the true and handsome hero, the man protecting the girl, with his ever oh so charming and heart melting smile, though he knew the real reason behind her not fighting. And he knew it was really just an act for her, and that the one she wanted him to fight for was himself. Hiei looked away, telling him to shut up.
"Oohhh Kuramaaa, thank you so much for protecting me, you're such a gentleman, so kind, so manly... You can't lose, right? You're so strong, go and tear him into a billion pieces!" Akari encouraged him like she was in awe before him, then grinning and punching the air. He chuckled, telling her not to worry, but she stopped him again:
"I trust you, but be careful, oki?" She said smiling sweetly, refering to the hole in his stomach (given by a certain demon sword held at the time by a certain fire demon) that still had not fully healed despite her taking care of it. He acknowledged her warning with another smile that would tell her he will be careful. Yusuke, though he knew the girl was quite strong, also believed she was not strong enough, that she had just been showing off and provoking for the heck of it, and of course that Kurama could do no better and advised him to just run to the staircase, that Genbu was too much for him, and that she was irresponsible.
"Yusuke, what do you take us for? And Kurama is a man, of course he wouldn't back down and run away. Can't say the same about you..." She trailed off smirking. Hiei also really knew, he cut off any kind of protesting from the detective.
"That's because you don't know Kurama's true abilities, unlike the girl. I allied with him because I didn't want him as my enemy. His extremely cool composure wins mine hands down and he can be even more merciless than I am. Though I wouldn't harm him either way." Hiei explained further. Upon examination of Kurama's appearance, Kuwabara said he didn't look that strong. He was being deceived again.
"Well, at least he's way stronger than you, whether in martial arts or mastery of his youki. How many times have I told you? Don't be deceived by people's looks, or you'll be quite sorry." She said reprovingly before turning to her smaller friend... "Anyway, Hiei, it's rare enough of you to praise someone but didn't you forget something? Does: 'Kurama you traitor! I won't forgive you! I'll kill you!' ring any bell? Or..."
"Shut up." He looked away.
"Hai hai." Her attention went back to Kurama's fight, but a smirk was still playing on her lips. Genbu's tail was disappearing in the ground like a snake breaking the surface of a lake. It reappeared behind the fox and attacked him, he had time to jump and dodge but his stomach was still wounded. Not cautious enough. She frowned. The beast was boasting about his ability to merge with the rocks and move within them. Yusuke and Kuwabara were quite worried about him, Kurama tried to reassure them saying it was just a scratch, though that attack did surprise him. But the girl could see it in his eyes, he was clearly in pain.
'Just a scratch' huh? Acting so cool while he was down on one knee.
He stood up again, the beast saying it was only the beginning. And as he said so, his whole body merged with the ground as he sank into it. Now from where would he come? Kuwabara seemed to think it was impossible to know. Akari closed her eyes and concentrated. Another smirk.
"Found him, but that won't work twice on Ku-chan." She said. As predicted, she opened her eyes to see him attack Kurama again from behind. Yusuke and Kazuma twitched at the fact that she had called the fox 'Ku-chan' before realizing that she had been right. But it was a trap: he was attacked from both sides. He first godged the punch, and the tail trying to stab him, then evaded another punch and a lashing from the tail. The girl let out a dreamy sigh: so graceful in his somersaults even though he was injured. She looked sideways, the ones beside her really couldn't compare to him. Yusuke noticed it.
"Hey! What's with that look, Akari?"
She sighed again, a condescending one. They just couldn't be as cool as Ku-chan. Poor them.
"And what's with that sigh?!" The detective demanded again, a vein popping on his head. Kuwa had no clue about what was going on, and Hiei just said a little 'baka'. She ignored them again, yes, better watch Ku-chan. The beast had sunk again in the ground, this time to attack from below. He failed to grab the fox who had jumped away but then the tail rushed again toward him. After some somersaults he landed back on his feet. Genbu pointed out that Kurama couldn't win just by dodging. He was right, that's why the fox pulled out a red rose from his red hair (with that cute expression of his). He was finally getting serious. Yusuke and Kuwabara thought Kurama had gone crazy, that he was going to offer that rose to the beast. Akari and Hiei snorted; the same smirk on their lips.
"Of course this isn't an ordinary rose," The kitsune added, "Rosewhip!" The petals spread and twirled in the room and with a lash, the stem became the thorny whip she knew so well from having been poisoned by it. About that, she still needed to make him pay. Oh well, she'll have time for that later, right?
"Yay! Rose petals, so pretty!" Katsuyama grinned and twirled like a child with dreamy eyes under the shower of red petals. "Kurama is great!" After all, she was still a girl, but she had another reason for doing that.
"Flowery guy, I don't like him. That show off, he even spoke English." Kuwabara said.
"Kuwaaaa, you're just jealous because he's cooler than you. And you hate every guy cooler than you. Which is pretty much half the population on earth." She teased him though she was indeed right. Or almost right. It had worked.
"And you're also jealous because he gets all Akari's attention when you don't." Yusuke nudged him.
Anyway, Genbu doubted the use of a whip if Kurama couldn't know from where he'd be attacked. But the former bandit had a way to know. The rock demon realized it a bit too late, when he was being slashed to pieces after an attempt to attack from above. In a room filled with the scent of roses, his youki was abnormally stinky.
That sly and cute little foxy... the guys were already congratulating him, carrot head even thought that Genbu wasn't much, just a weakling. Hiei corrected him, he only looked weak because he was facing Kurama, Kuwabara would have died from the first attack. Of course the fellow didn't like being told off like this and boasted about his 2nd place at Genkai's tournament. But Akari didn't budge, on the contrary she crossed her arms, she knew that it wasn't yet the end of Genbu, the Stinky Saint Beast!
Kurama had found it suspiscious, the way Akari was acting, but then he understood. They couldn't yet move up to the next stage, the fight wasn't finished. Indeed, the body re-assembled itself, to the human guys' disbelief. It couldn't be that easy right? With a body made of rocks he could not only quickly regenerate himself but also fire parts of his body at will. And so, a rain of stones fell on Kurama, who defended himself with his Kagon Retsuzanshi (Splendid Limb-severing). Genbu was torn to even tinier pieces. No use, the beast just reformed itself and launched the same attack. The fox jumped to avoid most of the boulders, and he also noticed something shiny, one of the rocks was glowing with a reddish color, but because of this second of inattention he was still hurt. On the next strike, Kurama faced the assault and used his whip but more wounds were appearing on him. Aka-chan smirked, now it was over. He fell one knee. Genbu mocked him saying he couldn't even stand while he reconstructed himself. Kurama chuckled, getting up. Boulder guy first didn't understand why Kurama laughing, and then he didn't understand why the fox was upside down. That is until he realized and began to panick. The three humans burst out laughing, not quite because he was panicking but because of the way he had been re-assembled: everything was not exactly where it should be but the fact that the head was between the legs was just too much to endure without laughing. Laughing so hard it was hurting and she was crying. The guys were even pointing, comments were thrown. But the beast didn't pay any attention to that, he was begging Kurama.
"Ah, it's gone! Did you... my..."
"Were you looking for this?"
"Ah! That..."
"I suppose this is the control tower for your being to reassemble yourself after being torn to bits. You did well in trying to hide it from my view, but the sparkle of light it glows when you're using it cannot escape my eyes. I expertize in finding what others seek to hide from me. Because after all, I'm a thief."
"No, hang on! Don't hurt that thing!" Genbu cried out.
"I refuse!" And Kurama threw the stone and cut it in two and boulder guy finally exploded like a boulder should. There, now nothing was standing in the way. The girl rushed to Kurama and hugged him, her arms tightly wrapped aroung his neck.
"Ku-chan! You were so cool! I knew you could do it!" She praised him. He caught her, smiling, one arm around her waist, the other holding his rolled up whip. But then he flinched and fell on one knee again. She supported him as best as she could, and made an inaudible gasp. She had forgotten about his injuries. "See, that's what happens when you're not careful enough." Akari said in a sweet scolding tone as she started to heal him.
"Don't you think it's your fault? Sheesh, jumping on him like that after what he went through for you... Did you ever hear of the word 'restraint'?" Urameshi blamed her carelessly and teasingly. She looked back at him murderously and he cowered waving his arms franctically as to avoid a blow whose direction he did not know and looking around for a safe place to hide that did not exist. Against Akari, there was no safe place in any world. He also tried to utter some words of excuse. So when his female 'assistant' turned back toward Kurama to smile at him in a cute sheepish way, the detective slumped and sighed, relieved. He was going to live for a while longer.
"Don't worry about that." The red haired demon told her, smiling reassuringly, his arm tightening a little around her, bringing her to him, his face ever so slightly closer to hers. Then he apologised, he had only defeated one and he was in such a state. Hiei was surprised, for Kurama to have been injured like that the beast must have been quite strong.
"Dun mind, dun mind! Leave the rest to the guys!" Akari said cheerfully, concentrating on the deep wound of his belly.
"Hey, hey! Aren't you getting a bit too carried away for someone who's just tagging along and messing things? You've really got guts for someone who isn't even fighting."
"Ooooh? So you mean you're too weak to beat them on your own? That we spent so much time training for nothing? That the only capable guys here are Hiei and Kurama? If you want to be cheeky with me, you've got be able to back it up. And I've yet to see what you can do." She challenged the detective, a smirk on her lips. "I know my power, I want to know yours. I told you, didn't I? I'll just be observing. But if you're injured, I'll help you restore your strength."
"Aka-chan's right! I'll take care of the next one: I'll beat him into a pulp!" Kazu asserted in an attempt to show his manliness, secretly hoping firstly that he would get injured enough so -his- Aka-chan would take care of him and secondly that this next one wouldn't be so much of a monster. Yusuke was getting desperate, his best friend siding with Akari just because he wanted to impress her and Akari, well, was just being Akari. He would never win against her, not in that kind of fight. After a minute or two the girl helped Kurama up.
"There, I've closed it so it should be alright as long as you don't overdo it. Now let's go!" She said gently edging away from Kurama before going resolutely toward the stairs, ignoring Yusuke's comment that she was not the leader here.
