Ch.18 - Onward through the ceiling!
"Where the hell is she going!?" Yusuke yells. "What the heck is she thinking!? Running off on us like that! At a time like this! Is she stupid!?" He is immediately pinned to the wall, a blade held threateningly against his neck.
"Hn." Hiei glares at him. "Do not say that again."
"Drop him Hiei." Youko orders. "We don't have time for this. We have to follow her. Dai, can you track Shita?"
"Yes. "She's already above us by 2 floors."
"Two floors!" Kuwabara shouts. "How the hell are we supposed to catch up with her!? We don't know where the stairs are!"
"Then we go through the ceiling." Dai states, as if this solution was the most obvious answer. "What?" He looks at the confused and stunned expressions coming from the humans. As usual, Hiei's face is blank and Youko is thinking.
"If you can make a hole in the ceiling, I can have vines grow to the second floor." Youko suggests.
"We can do that. Care to help brother?" Dai asks Raihoushi who is still sitting on the demon's shoulder as a weasel.
-"Dig?"-
"Yes." Dai looks over at the others. "He said he will help. You might want to take a few steps back." The team looks confused but they give him some space. "Here goes!" Dai grabs hold of Rai and starts spinning rapidly. "Ready?"
-"Yes!"- Dai lets go of Raihoushi, throwing him up into the air. As he nears the ceiling, Rai shifts into a human-sized badger. He clings to the ceiling with his sharp claws and starts to walk around in a circle. "Dig... dig... dig..." He starts to speed up his walking into a light run. "Dig... dig...dig...dig...dig..." He speeds up even more, his eyes start to glow a sky blue as he digs into ceiling. "Digdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdig!" He becomes nothing but a black blur as he reaches a speed the humans can no longer perceive. "DIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIGDIG!!!" All of a sudden everything becomes silent. Raihoushi seems to have disappeared. Nobody moves. Nobody makes any noise. Without warning the ceiling falls and crashes to the floor, leaving a huge hole in the ceiling "Weeeeeeeeeeeee!" Rai is sitting in the middle of the huge ceiling piece. "That was fun!" he claps. "Again! Again!"
"That guy's insane! INSANE! He's completely demonic! Did you see how fast he was! He could challenge the midget demon!" Kuwabara exclaims.
"You're lucky I don't kill you right now for that comment." Hiei glares at him. "But such a pitiful human is not worth my time."
"What did you say!" Kuwabara turns on Hiei. "I dare you to say that to my face!"
"I just did baka."
"Why you –"
"Enough!" Youko yells at them. "The two of you argue like children. Now stop. This is neither the time nor the place. Kill each other later when it's more convenient."
(In the high room)
"Pet. I am no one's pet. I belong to no one unless I choose so."
"You don't have a choice in the matter. I will not give you a choice. Naraku has requested you, so he will get you."
"Why do you listen to him?" Kagome questions, still slumped against the wall. "You are powerful enough not to need him."
"He freed me from a prison created by King Yama's son. So in return I said I would give him an item he wanted. And so I got you for him."
"And you think I'll go without a fight?" Kagome asks coldly.
"I put enough force in my throw when I tossed you into the wall to keep you paralyzed for at least the next couple of hours."
-Damn him. He's right. The only reason why I keep talking to him is because I can't move right now.-
-/-But he doesn't know I'm here.-/- a voice sounds in the back of Kagome's mind.
-Shita? How did you get here?-
-/- You left the link open from when you healed me.-/-
-Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to cause you any pain.-
-/- You didn't. He did. Now let's get rid of him.-/-
-I currently cannot move.-
-/-With me you can. Will you let me help? It'll be fun.-/- Shita taunts her.
-I suppose so…-
-/- You're going to need my help if Naraku comes before the rest of the team gets here.-/-
-That's true… alright.- Kagome feels her body shift slightly and her mind opening. She closes her eyes for a couple of minutes. When she opens them again one of her dark brown eyes has changed to a blueish color. –I wonder if he noticed…-
-/- I doubt it. He's a stupid demon.-/-
"Naraku should be back soon. Then I won't have to watch you. I would've let Rando watch you, but then he might've taken advantage of you or tortured you a bit. And Naraku wants you unharmed."
"Then won't you get in trouble for throwing me into this wall?"
"No since it was only to keep you from trying to escape."
"But you tried to paralyze me. That's harmful."
"Tried? You are paralyzed."
"Am I? Or have you miscalculated?"
"There's no way you can move right now."
Kagome shifts and he glares at her. "Do you feel lucky?"
"You're lying." He states in a monotone, although his eyes say that he's doubting himself.
"Really? Want to test that?" She slowly stands up, leaning on the wall. "I guess you didn't do a very good job then."
"You-" Suzaku stops as he senses something.
"I'm back." A somewhat deep male voice sounds just before the door to the room is swung open and a demon with redish, magenta hair steps in. "Did you miss me Suzaku?" He stops, noticing Kagome standing against the wall. "Well, well, look who's awake."
"You're here early Rando."
"I thought I'd let you go out for a bit."
"Well as you can see I'm busy watching our captive."
"I'll watch her for you." Rando suggests, his eyes wandering over to Kagome, taking in her appearance.
"You will not touch her."
"Oh come on Suzaku! It's fun!"
"Not for her it isn't. And I'm not going to stick around watching you."
"Then leave the room."
"Naraku told me to watch her. I will not leave this room."
"That's your problem then." Rando casually walks over to Kagome and reaches out to touch her. He is suddenly shocked by something. His eyes roll back in his head and he falls to the floor. Suzaku stands there with a lightning dagger in his hand.
"I said no. You should listen." He grabs Rando by the back if the neck, picking the demon off the floor and tosses him into a closet.
"Thank you." A light voice reaches his ears.
"What?" He looks over at Kagome.
"I said thank you." She repeats.
"… Whatever, human." He goes back to sitting in his chair in front of the TV monitors.
"Kagome. My name is Kagome." He ignores her.
(W/ the team)
"I found stairs!" Raihoushi points excitedly at a staircase as the last group member climbs up through the ceiling. "See! See!"
"Alright. Everyone up the stairs." Daihoushi orders.
"Oh sure, now there's stairs!" Yusuke complains.
"Man! This sucks!" Kuwabara pipes up.
"Quit whining baka." Hiei glares at the human.
"Keep moving." Youko pushes them. "The girls could be in danger and you're taking up the little time we have arguing. At the rate you're moving they could be dead before we get there." He glares menacingly at the 2 complaining humans. "And if Kagome dies you will not last much longer."
(In the high room)
"You're hair is tangled. Can I fix it?" Kagome inquires.
"You want to what?" Suzaku stares at her from across the room.
"Brush your hair."
"No."