Chapter 10: In the Ruins

The ruins were nothing more then a crumpled village. The single well had long dried and inhabitants had moved on. The main building looked to be a temple set in the middle of the village, each road connecting to it. Of all the buildings there it was the one more intact. They stopped at one of the buildings to rest and drink and go over their plans.

"Are you sure it will work," asked Hina.

"Trust me," said Rain. "If we do it this way then we can't lose."

"What makes you so sure," asked Kurohi. "For all we know they're hiding their true power."

"That may be," said Raizen, "but they will give it their all at our level."

"Well, that's no fun," said Yukei crossing his arms. Everyone laughed.

"Everyone ready," asked Rain and the group nodded. "Right, know the plan?"

"Hai," answered the group.

"Then let's go."

And they walked to the building. It looked more like a church then a temple. Pews lined both sides of the walls to create an isle on which snakes alter rested. It reared up at them and bared its fangs. Two leathery wings sprouted from its back and its tail was barbed like a harpoon. Under the alter sat the smallest member of the group of kidnappers.

"We're here," said Rain. "Show us our parents."

The demon just walked to a door and opened in and walked down the stairs. The group followed him. They walked for five minutes before the came upon two brass doors. The demon opened them and walked through. There were the rest of the kidnappers standing in a large arena. It was lit only by torches and the only exit was the brass doors.

"Nice place for a sermon," said Raizen.

"Where are our parents?!" yelled Hina. The demons didn't answer. All they did was take off their cloaks. They were all black, like ninja's from Ningenkai, with black masks covering their mouths and black veils over their eyes. Each ready for battle.

"It seems they still want to play," said Kurohi.

"Well, we're done playing," said Yukei.

"Let's show them how we play," said Rain with a fox-ish smile. "Team, move out!"

And they charged, each going to a specific demon.

Rain jumped away from the kick the martial artist sent her and somersaulted. She had not just learned fire techniques from her father but also martial arts from her mother. She dodged two more punches and ducked under a kick to throw out her foot and sweep the demon's feet out from under him. He landed heavily, but quickly recovered and continued fighting.

Hina took over the largest and proved how good she was at kick boxing. The demon threw a punch at her and she dodged, and it collided in the floor, creating a small crater. Pulsing her energy into her fist she punched the demon in an uppercut and he flew across the room. The demon groaned as he got up and both continued fighting.

Megumi and Shiori were fighting the smallest demon. Shiori had her Rose Whip out and Megumi was fighting barehanded. The demon was cartwheeling out of the way of Megumi's fists and seemed to play jump rope with Shiori's whip. Both looked at each other and nodded. Shiori took out a seed and threw it to the ground. Smoke enveloped them, making it possible for Megumi to punch the demon and for Shiori to get a rip in the demon's clothes before the demon jumped away and the smoke dispersed. All three resumed fighting.

Raizen fought the wind demon. Like Megumi he focused his energy on powering up his punches. He swung a punch at the demon, but the demon jumped away from it by riding the wind. Raizen sent his ki to his feet and jumped, surprising the demon with a punch that sent him spiraling in the air as Raizen landed. The demon corrected himself and continued to fight.

Yukei and Tama were against the ice demon. It was an odd combination, but both managed. Yukei blocked the ice attacks the demon threw at them and Tama attacked with a sword of ice. Through the han-Koorime had been taught how to heal, he was also taught how to fight encase he needed to. Yukei blocked another attack and moved away for his cousin to strike. Tama managed to nick the demon's arm before he jumped away to avoid. Yukei charged in and attacked.

Kurohi had taken over the swordsman. He blocked with his two scythes and struck out, but the swordsman blocked as well. The attacks when back and forth until Kurohi nicked the demon on the cheek.

The separate battles lasted for almost ten minutes until the demons jumped away. The team regrouped behind Rain and she pulled out her sword in case they wanted to continue fighting.

"Where are our parents?!" she asked, then smirked. "Chuu-ojii-san."

All six demons smiled and took off their masks. The largest demon had deep blue hair in a Mohawk, tied in a ponytail in the back. He had a two day beard and a humorous smirk on his face. The smallest was a kid that looked to be about twelve, but everyone knew he was much, much older. He had black hair and three stairs under his right eye and a mischievous smile.

The other four demons were of average size. The wind demon had a shock of wild red hair and a smile on his face. A horn came from the top of his hair and his ears came to a point. Next to him was the ice demon with a stoic expression, his icy blue hair combed back except for three locks covering the right side of his face, covering his cold blue eyes. The next demon was the swordsman with sky blue hair tied back in a low pony tail, his bangs framing both sides of his face and two antennae stuck up on his head. The martial artist looked like a human with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Chuu-ojii-san?!" said Megumi in surprise.

"Rinku-aniki," said Shiori. "And Suzuka-oji-san?"

"Touya-oji?" said Yukei as surprised as the two girls. "Jin-oji?"

There was a clapping behind them and all eight looked over their shoulders to see Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei standing in the single doorway, Yusuke clapping.

"Knew you'd figure it out," he said.

TBC