Ch. 13 – Meet Tori

Kagome finds herself in a dark hallway. "Well at least I can see everything clearly now." She starts walking down the hallway. "I should probably find Konton first since she's not used to this place. Now which room would she be in?"

(Back Koenma's office)

"No."

"You let her go! Send me there." Youko demands.

"No."

"I will kill you, stupid toddler."

"She has been there before."

"…" Youko's eyes widen slightly in surprise.

"You may stay here and wait for her if you wish."

"I can't sit here and wait for her to come back! What if she doesn't come back!?"

"Demon powers might now work there, but she has priestess powers as well."

( The torture house)

"This is definitely Konton's room." Kagome muses. "No one else would have so many locks on their door." She touches a hand to the door and it disintegrates slowly as she purifies it with her touch. Konton stands in the middle of the floor, the room covered in blood and several pieces of a few different demons. "You just couldn't wait for me to get here, could you?"

"I warned them. They should've listened."

"Well now instead of them being dead you just angered them."

"What do you mean? I slaughtered them!"

"It may appear that way. But look again."

Konton looks around the room to find the demons slowly starting to reform. "Time to leave." She grabs hold of Kagome's arm and runs out of the room and down the hall.

"Konton! Let go!"

"Not until we're out of here! How did you get here? I didn't send you."

"I had Koenma send me."

"Are you stupid!?! Why would you want to come here!?!"

"Because I am one of the few that can beat this place. Demon powers don't work here."

"So I've noticed."

"This place and the beings in it are immortal in a way that the only way for them to remain dead is for them to be purified. This place is beyond evil."

"Then start purifying."

"Easy for you to say –"

"Less talk more work."

"Help me find Hiei so I can send you both out of here."

"Then will you purify this place, it's kind of creepy."

"Yes."

"Alright then. HIEI! Where the hell are you!?!"

"You're going to get us caught."

"Well then I get to see you purify someone."

"You just want to see an unknown demon disintegrate."

"Hell ya! That would be cool!"

Kagome shakes her head. "I will never fully understand your reasoning."

"I'm only here for comic relief." Konton grins.

"Whatever."

"You love me anyway."

"…Ya." Kagome sighs. "Oh well."

3 male demons come up behind them. Both girls scream and take off down a different hallway, the demons chasing them through the house. "Why don't you just purify them?"

"Just because I can doesn't mean I will – EEK!" Kagome screams as a different demon comes out of a room they're passing and tries to tackle her. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" She increases her running speed.

"Stop spazzing and purify them already! I'm tired of running!"

"There's NO WAY I'm going THAT close to them!"

"Here! I'll help!" Konton picks her up and tosses her to the demons chasing them.

Kagome screams as she is thrown into the air. She ends up on the floor in a demon's lap. "Didn't expect to catch a fallen angel today, but I'm sure glad I did." He purrs in her ear. "Long time no see Kagome."

"Tori!" Kagome is immediately back on her feet.

"It's so nice to know that you remember me. I must've made a good impression. It's been over 500 years."

"Depends on what your idea of a good impression is."

"I'm glad you've returned. I've missed you."

"Tell your friends to back off!"

He notices that the other 3 demons have been circling her. "Stand down. She already belongs to me." A scream is heard from down the hallway and 2 more male demons drag Konton over.

"Leave her alone!" Kagome runs over to Konton who has a bleeding cut on her head from being hit and is half conscious. "You hurt her!" Kagome's eyes turn completely blue. "Which one of you made her bleed?"

"He did." They both state at the same time, pointing at each other.

( Koenma's)

"Would you please allow Youko and I to go help Kagome?" Kurama asks calmly.

"No." Koenma states firmly.

"Why?"

"You'll just add to the body count. She won't be able to focus on purifying that place with you there. She will be transporting Konton and Hiei here soon."

"So where's Konton?" Ronin steps out of a portal.

"She's at the torture house."

"Sweet! Can I go!?"

"No."

"But I just got all the new weaponry shipped in! We now have hand grenades, -"

"I don't care. You're not going. Neither is Youko."

"But it would be so awesome to test out all the new fire arm equipment there!"

"I said no."

"C'mon! Where's your sense of fun!?"

"I said no damn it! Why do you two have to be so difficult! I try my best to keep things in order around here! I have to do a lot of paperwork for you people! But do you guys ever cut me some slack!? NO! Of course not! You just like being insubordinate!" Koenma starts yelling.

"So Kurama, want me to show you the nice new, shiny, deadly weaponry that just came in?" Ronin asks.

"You people could at least be nice once in a while! I'd rather things be as easy as you make them seem but they're not! There are rules! But just because you people think you don't need them doesn't mean they're not there!" Koenma continues to yell, not noticing the small conversation between Ronin and Kurama.

"Sure." They both walk out of the room, Koenma still having a tantrum.

( The torture house)

"I would suggest you tell my Lady which one of you hurt her friend. Or, you could just show her your nails." Tori suggests.

"Tell me… which one of you… hurt her… I will not ask again." Kagome fumes, sparks of blue purification energy crackling in the air around her. Knowing they're guilty and a bit frightened, both demons take off down the hallway. They only get a few feet away when they are engulfed in blue purification flames and immediately disintegrate.

"Oh cool! That was so awesome! Do that again!" Kagome looks over to find Konton on her feet and a tad bit hyper. "That was great!"

"You lied to me!"

"No I didn't!"

"I thought you were really hurt!"

"That was the idea!"

"Why did you do that!?"

"You wouldn't have done anything otherwise!" Konton argues.

"Well don't do that ever again! You scared me!"

"Then start fighting back! Don't bottle everything up inside until you can't hold it in any more and snap! When you're mad don't just blow it off and hide! Beat the crap out of a random demon who happens to be in your way!"

"Sorry I'm not a fighter like you!"

"You're a fighter mentally. You just need to stop taking things in all the time and speak up once in a while!"

"Well if you would just – Eek!" Kagome falls through a hole in the floor and disappears into the darkness below. The hole vanishes.

"Hey! I wasn't finished arguing with her yet!" Konton glares at Tori.

"You are now. Get her and bring her downstairs. I have to go deal with Kagome." He orders the other 3 demons, turning and walking down the hallway.

"Oh joy." Konton states sarcastically. One of the demons lunge at her and she dodges his attack. "Too slow." The other 2 demons attack her at the same time. She takes them down within seconds. "You've gotta be faster then that if you want to keep up with me." She laughs. "This is child's play. See ya!" She takes off down the hallway.

(Elsewhere)

Tori goes down several flights of stairs before choosing a hallway. He stops at a room and opens the door. The room appears empty. "She was supposed to end up here. Where the hell did she go?" He steps into the room. He is attacked form behind and whacked with some sort of object. He faintly hears the sound of something breaking as he quickly loses consciousness and falls to the floor with a thud.

Kagome shakes pieces of broken pottery off her hands. "Well that vase was useful. He's going to feel that when he wakes up. Now I've gotta get Hiei since he should be only 2 floors up instead of 5 like Konton is." She leaves.

(W/ Konton)

"C'mon you pansies! Run faster!" Konton taunts the demons chasing her. "If we're going to play tag correctly you at least have to try to catch me!"

"You won't be so upbeat when we catch you!" One of them snaps back at her.

"You'll be lucky to leave this house alive!" Another yells at her.

"Why don't you just accept the inevitable and give up while you still can and save yourself a little less torture!?" The 3rd one suggests.

"I did accept the inevitable, and you wanna know why? Because it is inevitable that you idiots will never catch me! So HA!" She laughs and speeds up her running pace even more, leaving the 3 demons in the wake of the dust she tore up off the floor.

(W/ Kagome)

"I… hate… stairs…" She pants as she reaches the 4th floor. "Any normal building would have its higher floors above ground, not below it. And this is taking way too long." A random demon appears in front of her. "Get out of my way, I'm too busy looking for my friends to deal with you." She glares at him.

"You will not pass." He stands his ground.

"Yo do not understand. If you do not move I will kill you."

"I am immortal, you cannot kill me."

"I have given you a warning, as I did the last 3 demons. You will not be warned again."

"You are not allowed to pass." He puts his arm out in front of her.

"Then burn." She grabs hold of his arm and he screams out in pain as he is purified from the inside out. She releases him and he bursts into flame. He disintegrates before he hits the floor. "4 down and who knows how many more to go. I hope Konton learned her lesson and will leave Hiei alone for at least the next 24 hours after we get out of here." She walks down a few hallways before stopping at a door that is chained shut. "This should be his room. I'm pretty sure I'm right." She purifies the door into dust. "…I wish I was wrong." She looks horrified.