A/N: Yay. Another chapter.
O/C17: The 'twist' which is in fact a maze, has begun. All of the teams have taken off in different directions, but Team Urameshi and Team Koenma travel down the same path. They come to a room which at first glance seems normal but as soon as Yusuke steps a little farther than the others, the floor opens up beneath them and they all fall down to a lower, darker level. They find their route and begin moving forward again, and the second room where they stop is a room that is made entirely of mirrors. They go inside and find themselves trapped, unable to go back the way they came or forward into the next hallway. Then as they are examining the mirrors, a reflection of each of them appears, causing a bit of confusion as to who is real and who is not. They accidentally figure out how to find which one is which and then they devise a plan for escaping back the way they came as the door to the next hallway isn't in fact a door, but merely a reflection of the door they came in...
--
"You need to aim your reflection towards the door opposite the one we came in."
"Because there is only one door in this room, the other is merely a reflection of the door." The Kuramas nodded, having already worked it out in their heads.
"Exactly." The Misakis took up the narrative, "So then when the reflections step through the 'door' the real one will step through the door."
"Everybody got that? I have no desire to repeat myself." The Genkais crankily announced.
"Yeah I got it grandma. My head still hurts, but I got it."
"Well you'd better figure out which one is real and which is the reflection. Otherwise you'll smack into the mirror when you expect to walk into the hall." The Misakis advised, beginning to maneuver around the room.
The Genkais did the same, casually walking so that one was in front of each door.
"Easy enough." The Yusukes fired a shotgun at each other, ducking at the last second. "Wow. Now I know how it feels to be looking at one of those as it flies towards you. I almost feel sorry for those people I've blasted into oblivion. Almost." He checked the burn mark and walked for the door.
The Kuwabaras confidently marched about the room, getting in front of the doorway along with everyone else.
The Kuramas and Hieis fluidly trailed after.
"Shouldn't you check to see who is who?" The Kuwabaras glanced over at the pair who hadn't made any effort to find the difference.
"Hn." was both of the Hieis response.
"It isn't necessary Kuwabara, but thank you for the concern." The Kuramas said.
The Kuwabaras shrugged.
The Genkais confidently walked forward, the Misakis looking of their shoulders to watch the result on both ends.
On one side of the room, a Genkai disappeared as she stepped into the mirror. At the other side, the Genkai walked back out into the hall, turning a corner.
Satisfied, the Misakis did the same, with the others right behind her.
Just before they all turned the corner, they heard a loud, SMACK! as someone hit the wall.
Misaki cringed at the awful sound and turned back to see who it was.
Yusuke doubled over in laughter, "Kuwabara?! How...could...you..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence.
The real Kuwabara was on the other side of the mirrored room, rubbing his nose, a painful look on his face.
Misaki sighed, "Kuwabara, over here." She motioned to him with her hand.
"Leave him behind if he can't figure out even a simple problem." Hiei began walking around the corner, hands in his pockets.
"Do you need to be reminded of a certain word that caused your downfall, arrogant little monkey?" Misaki scowled, defending Kuwabara for once.
Hiei stopped in his tracks. If it had been in his nature, he would have flushed with embarrassment at being reminded of the three letter word that had caused him to lose his soul, the first among the four would-be rescuers. But...it wasn't in his nature.
"I believe that was quite a simple problem, hm?" She continued, a dangerous look in her eyes.
Kurama could see Hiei tense and he grew worried. If the two of them got into it, their time would slowly dwindle away.
"Don't say one particular word. And yet you went and said it."
She had never done what she was doing before. Never had Kurama seen that particular look in her eyes before. And yet it wasn't dangerous as he first thought. It was different, more...desperate?
Kuwabara made it safely across the room at this point and so Misaki stopped as they all went around the corner to meet up with Genkai.
--
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Kurama admitted as he ran beside Misaki, "We entered that room and exited that room through the same door, but here we are, in a different hall which is, if I'm not mistaken, back at the same level from which we fell."
"You are correct on all counts. However, this is no ordinary maze."
Neither of them heaved for breath nor did it pain them to speak even as they ran on together, the others spread out behind them.
"I can see that." He responded with truthfulness. Wanting to perhaps distract her, Kurama continued with his inquiry, "Won't one of the other teams try and eliminate us while we are here in the maze?"
Misaki considered it briefly, "For one, it isn't allowed. And secondly there are infinite paths within this maze. The chances of actually meeting up with any one, the chances of crossing paths at any time, are one in infinity. It won't happen."
"So there are infinite roads in which to take?" Kurama asked.
Misaki nodded, "It's automatic disqualification to interfere with another team if you do happen to meet up with them. If you ever even happen to see them at all.
"But that is also why the maze changed when we left the same door we came in from back there. You can never take the same way twice, so that also means that you can't retrace your step." She sighed, "I hated it then and I hate it now."
"Was this same maze used another time you attended?"
She snorted, "If you use the word 'same' loosely, then yes. Last time I was here I think. Or maybe it was the first time. Huh. I don't remember. That's funny." Her gaze turned inward as she walked.
He noticed the change in her expression, "Misaki?"
"Hm? I'm sorry. I suppose I shouldn't consider it strange that I can't remember which time it was considering the fact that I have obtained so many memories throughout the years." "It's just that I've never not been able to remember something in particular."
"I could see how, egh!" Kurama winced, pain that appeared to have stemmed from the bite he received making a muscle twinge as he ran.
"Are you okay? We can slow down. I won't have you dying on me." Misaki automatically pulled back her pace a little. The others distance was farther than Misaki thought and so she did slow down.
"No I'm fine please don't—" He stumbled and Misaki stopped, grabbing for him to steady the kitsune.
"I hate it when you lie." She sighed for the second time in only a few minutes, "And you aren't all that good at it either. We'll walk for a while."
"So are all of the 'trials' within the maze always so far apart?" Kurama asked, holding his side as they walked.
"Sometimes. Other times they throw you for a loop. Depends on what path you end up on."
There were a million questions that Kurama wanted to ask Misaki, even though through his acquaintanceship with her he had already answered a million others.
He went back in his mind—trying to keep the pain at bay, it felt like there was this insufferably cold fire burning through him, rearranging with said flames—back to the beginning when they all stood in Koenma's office.
The others wanted to know what had made Botan jealous of Misaki the last time she had contact with the Reaper. Kurama had a vague idea of such a thing, remembering only that the event had occurred instead of the details of the event. As much as he would never admit it, it piqued his curiosity. The peppy Botan? Jealous? Hardly seemed the type. So he asked her about it.
Misaki cringed, "Not exactly something I like to talk about. It was basically a misunderstanding and I almost feel horrible about it, but when people don't use common sense I don't have any sympathy."
Kurama waited for her to continue.
"Botan is old. A lot older than she looks though I think sometimes she forgets that. It was a guy. The guy liked me, I didn't even give him the time of day, but Botan liked him and so since the guy spent a lot of time around me Botan got the wrong idea. And then the guy went and died for me and Botan was all upset for the longest time. And I'm sure she still hasn't quite forgiven me for it." Misaki simply let the words spill.
"And what does mentioning Botan's age have to do with this?"
"It was ages ago. She was young, very young, but old enough to like a guy and hope for the same feelings in return. She didn't really know me, but she was jealous."
"And you didn't pay any attention at all to this guy."
"I considered him a friend," Misaki said after a moment's pause, "But love? I had no need for love. I had all of the love in the world and gave it devotedly to one person, my brother. The man Botan fawned over was a distant ancestor of Genkai. I still remember the bright pink hair vividly." She chuckled, "The first time the Tournament of Threes sent out invitations for its first ever call for the best in the land, the three of us were one of their picks. And so we went, the guys cocky and ready for any challenge anything could send our way. And so Botan's would-be lover died." Misaki's words caught in her throat. "Died for me."
"And Botan was jealous and mad and furious and angry with me when she found out. But she was young. She got over it." "I didn't. I never really have."
"What did your love stem from?"
"What?" Misaki said, a bit distracted.
"Your love. Love for your brother? He wasn't actually your brother so what did the love stem from?"
"In order for an element to become an Element, there has to be another Element that...helps the element change forms. After changing forms, the new Element is weak and quite susceptible to anything that comes along. So the original Element protects them, heals them. And during the course of that time, the two become very close. It happens with all of the Elements really. Then eventually the new Element will find another element and so the chain continues."
Well that answered a lot of questions Kurama had been saving up. He rubbed around the bite on his neck, the teeth marks not fully healed. It was burning again.
Misaki was frowning, "I don't know why I just told you all of that."
"Consider it a favor to me. It took my mind off of the pain."
Misaki didn't answer. She hoped no harm had been done by telling him all of those things. It was a little late to be worrying about it now though.
There had been several turns, but no branches off of the main path so all of them continued on together, waiting apprehensively for the next room.
And of course, eventually it came. They didn't know how much time had passed between the last room and this one and frankly no one cared. Things had gotten boring.
"Great. As if we haven't wasted enough time." Genkai said as she leaned over words that were written out on the floor.
The room was fairly nondescript, but there was one door in each wall, including the one that they came in from.
"'If you wish to travel the correct path, choose wisely your way, and follow directions given, do not in one place stay.'" Misaki read it out loud. "Verse. Oy."
Materializing in front of her came several orbs of varying colors. Purple, red, white, clear, yellow and blue. There seemed to be something within them as the colors were various shades that shifted as if they were alive.
"So what do we do?" Yusuke asked.
"It's like a game." Misaki awkwardly tried to explain it, scanning the rest of the note on the floor.
"Then wake me when it's over." Hiei plunked down against a wall and promptly fell asleep.
"As if we haven't heard that line before, hamster legs." Kuwabara said.
Everyone thought that Hiei hadn't heard him until the fire youkai spoke up out of no where, "Then you should have already known of this, baka."
A vein in Kuwabara's forehead pulsed but Misaki placed a hand on his arm and shook her head. They had a limited amount of time to get to the end of the maze and there could be no distractions from what was required of them.
Yusuke walked over and lifted the purple orb, "These are pretty neat."
Kuwabara had a hold of a white one, "Look at the colors!"
As Yusuke gazed into the deep purpleness, the darker hues cleared rapidly and the orb began shaking in his hand. "What the, OW!" A large shock of lightning ran up his arm, causing him to drop the orb. It burst into pieces in mid-air.
Kuwabara's white one shook as if in response.
Yusuke held his arm, which was blackened from the strange stored lightning. The white orb glowed brightly, the glow reaching out to Yusuke's arm and healing it instantly. Kuwabara dropped the orb in surprise and it blew apart just as the other orb had.
Curious and thankful, Yusuke stretched his now healed arm. "Alright, what just happened?"
"Lightning...heal..." Misaki mumbled, scanning the words again, "Why do I feel like I'm trying to get to the Island of the Oracle again?"
"Similar circumstances to be sure." Kurama agreed. He was kneeling next to where she sat. "It appears that we have to activate these orbs in a particular order and they will tell us which direction we need to go."
"Well the first one is obvious, 'From the sky above comes pain, now it all begins again.' Lightning." Misaki held up one of the purple orbs. There was a large bump in the ground just to the left of the words, "And that's where it needs to strike." She held the orb over the bump, feeling a rumbling come from deep within it. Misaki let go just as the lightning came to the surface and it struck the bump, causing it to pulse once and an affirming noise rang out.
--
No they still have a ways to go with this puzzle, just fyi. Fun stuff, huh? Anway, thanks for reading!
-lotsm