Disclaimer – "Yu Yu Hakusho" and all known related characters do not belong to me. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

"What Goes Around . . . "
by DragonDancer5150

Chapter 17 – Into the Lion's Den

As the stones beneath his upper body dropped away, Kurama twisted and grabbed the nearest length of rose-rope with his free hand, refusing to release his grip on Hiei. He realized too late that it was the broken, unanchored rope.

"Kurama!" Hiei had caught the end of the other rope as it fell past with the rocks.

Kurama sent his Yoki into the plants, willing them to intertwine for strength, at the same time looking back to see how much of the one's length still gripped solid stone - only scant inches, at best. Then the rope snapped taut, their combined weight ripping free the sparse roots. Kurama could try to reform the ropes into a whip but there was no stable rock with a surface around which he could wrap the lash. He closed his eyes. He and Hiei were not going to make it after all.

"Yusuke!"

Kurama looked back up at Hiei's exclamation.

Spirit Sword in one hand, gripping Yusuke's arm wrist-to-wrist with the other, Kuwabara stood braced back against the rock wall. Yusuke was down on one knee at the edge of the shelf with his free arm out. "Kurama! Your Rose Whip!"

There was no time to argue. The undamaged rope transformed into a long whip without thorns and Kurama cracked it expertly, wrapping the end up Yusuke's arm. Both humans grunted, locking their stances, as they took the sudden weight of their friends. The two youkai swung like a pendulum, slamming into the wall of the chasm. Kurama hesitated, momentarily stunned out of his senses by the impact, before returning his attention to the whip. The plant contracted, shortening to pull its load back up from the depths. Soon, Kurama was able to lift Hiei up next to himself, ignoring the fire in his shoulder it caused. Yusuke let go of Kuwabara to take Hiei's other hand and pull him to the safety of the shelf. Kuwabara took Kurama's freed hand and he and Yusuke lifted up the thief.

Kuwabara leaned back on the rock wall, wiping sweat from his brow. "Woah, man, that was way too close!"

Hiei cocked an eye at the two humans. "What the hells are you doing down here?"

"And how did you manage to find us?" Kurama added.

"Not easily," Kuwabara groaned, rubbing his temple. Kurama guessed that the human had followed their Yoki.

"Don't say guys never ask for directions!" Yusuke laughed even as he rubbed the long welt spiraling up his arm from the whip. "So what's that crap all over your back, anyway?"

"A healing agent of sorts, and - sorry," Kurama murmured, frowning at Yusuke's wound.

"Nah, don't worry about it. It was my brilliant idea," Yusuke shrugged. "There's nothin' else you coulda grabbed hold of."

"True," Kurama conceded. He looked back at the ruined bridge, then down at the roses in his hand. One was missing nearly half its stem. The other was intact, though the strength of the stem wall was compromised, the flower head drooping nearly upside-down.

Kuwabara guffawed suddenly at the sight. "Hey, Kurama, looks like your rose's gone all limp on ya!"

"Sounds like a personal problem," Yusuke rejoined, chuckling.

Kurama sighed, pointedly ignoring the innuendos. "They are still useable." He turned to Hiei who stood scowling at the remains of the bridge, fists jammed into his pockets. "There is no other way across?" Hiei shook his head, turning his eyes to the ceiling of the chasm. "Kuwabara, can you sense anything? We think Bokuma was above us among the stalactites."

Both humans looked up, though they could see even less than Kurama. At length, Kuwabara shook his head. "Nuh-uh, whoever was up there must be long gone by now."

"Hn," Hiei snorted. "He's a fool if he thinks he's rid of us so easily."

"No," Kurama murmured, voice and eyes hard as he stared across the chasm at the tunnel opening from the other end of the bridge. "No doubt he is well aware of our survival and is biding his time till the next game."

"Fine. Then let's not keep him waiting." Hiei pulled his katana and threw it across the chasm, burying the blade nearly to the crossguard in the rock at the base of the ruined bridge. Kuwabara dug in his own sword at their feet and Kurama reformed his Rose Whip, catching the hilt of Hiei's sword with the lash end and tying off the handle end to the Spirit Sword. Hiei moved to cross, then stopped, turning to Yusuke and Kuwabara. "You two had better turn back now. This is no place for humans."

"Huh? Hey, what the hell - ?"

"Why you ungrateful little shrimp!" Kuwabara sputtered. "After we saved - !"

Kurama put up a hand to stay the protests. "Kuwabara, Yusuke, forgive me but I'm afraid that Hiei is right. Please, try to understand - what lies beyond is dangerous in ways neither of you have ever experienced . . . and I would prefer that you never do."

Kuwabara folded his arms with a huff. From Hiei, the opinion was an insult but Kurama he would listen to, even if he did not agree. Yusuke, however, met Kurama's eyes unflinchingly, a big grin on his face as he shook his head. "Heh, thanks for the concern but . . . no deal, fox-boy. No way we're lettin' you guys have all the fun."

"Yeah, that's right!" Kuwabara rejoined. "We're a team and teams stick together."

"If you guys are in trouble," Yusuke reiterated, holding Kurama's gaze with his own, "you're not gonna face it alone. Heh, we won't let ya! Deal?" He held out his hand.

Hiei could only stare at him, an odd look in his eyes. Kurama hesitated but a moment before speaking for both of them, his tone heartfelt. "Yes, deal." He took Yusuke's hand, extending his other to Kuwabara. "Thank you - both of you."

"Heehee, yeah, what he said!" Kuwabara pumped Kurama's arm heartily. Kurama was just glad it was his left arm.

"Chh. Do any of you mind if we get moving then?" Hiei complained. No one was fooled by his outward annoyance.

Hiei ran lightly across the thornless tightrope. The other three did not trust their balance nearly so much, choosing to hang and climb hand-over-fist along their tenuous bridge. Kuwabara was the last to cross in case his concentration was interrupted somehow and the Spirit Sword dispersed. Once all were safely across, he released the energies, also freeing Kurama's Rose Whip. At last, they turned to the tunnel that would lead them to Bokuma.

"So," Yusuke breathed, staring into the blackness in some apprehension, "what's in there exactly?"

Hiei reiterated his warning to Kurama. "Basically, don't touch anything," he concluded wryly.

"Hey, why're you lookin' at me like that, Shorty?"

Kurama stepped between them before a fight could break out. "Hiei's vision is superior to any of the rest of us in this darkness. Hiei, take point, then Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I will bring up the rear. The air is moving into the tunnel from the chasm, putting us downwind of anyone or anything behind us. If something should try to sneak up on us, I will know it. Also, we will need to stagger ourselves. Do not walk directly behind one another or down the center of the tunnel when there is enough room. It would be inadvisable for us to conveniently line ourselves up for any attacks." He allowed a small smile in spite of himself at a thought as he added, "Not like Byakko's monsters did back in Maze Castle."

Kuwabara grinned, cracking his knuckles proudly. "Yeah, my Spirit Sword Monster Beast Donut was so cool!"

Yusuke nodded. "Sounds fair enough . . . but ya think we could risk a little more light? Hey, Kuwabara, can you make your Spirit Sword into - oh, I don't know - a Spirit Pocket Knife or something? Something that won't give us away to the whole underworld?"

"No," Hiei argued. "Any light will - "

Kurama sighed. "True, any light will draw attention but we must make some allowance. Hiei, you are the only one among us who can see down here with no light at all. Yusuke and Kuwabara will be completely blind and, honestly, my vision is not that much better, not enough to make the difference. Scout a little ahead of us, enough that the light does not impair your own vision, but not so far that you are too removed from backup in case something should happen. Five to six meters should be plenty." Reluctantly, Hiei nodded.

Yusuke looked at Kurama in surprise. "I take it you've done this kinda thing before, haven't you?"

A pinched expression overtook Kurama's face for a moment as memories of another lifetime played through his mind. "I have done many things in my time. Come, let us continue on."

Yusuke paused for just a moment, as if wondering what Kurama meant by that. Then he shook his head, Kurama seeing in his eyes the decision not to press him on it – or at least not yet.

Hiei turned and strode into the tunnel, turning his back on the chasm. Kuwabara hesitated just long enough to re-summon his Spirit Sword, a tiny blade in his hand giving off as little light as he could manage without extinguishing it entirely. It looked almost comical in his huge fist. Then he followed Yusuke several feet behind Hiei, Kurama just a step behind them.

The air turned chill and stale as the group made its way down the corridor. Kurama strained his ears, listening for any small sound beyond the soft breathing of his companions, knowing he would hear or smell trouble much sooner than he would spot it. Rather, trouble found them even sooner than he had anticipated as Hiei disappeared from view around a bend in the tunnel and they heard a soft snap and Hiei's sharp breath of surprise. The others quickened their pace.

"Hey, where'd he go?" Kuwabara wanted to know as they rounded the bend to an empty expanse of corridor.

"Why don'tcha look up?" Yusuke snickered, pointing. Kuwabara and Kurama did.

Twin ruby orbs glinted in the darkness. Kuwabara willed his sword a little brighter, then nearly fell over laughing. Hiei glared down at them from some ten feet above their heads, hanging upside-down from a snare that had caught his foot.

"Heh, heh - who's the idiot now, Tiny?" Kuwabara teased. He chucked Yusuke on the arm. "Hey, I kinda like 'im from this angle. Think we can just leave 'im like that? Serves 'im right!"

Hiei snorted. His left arm continued to hang at an odd angle as he drew his sword with his right and curled upwards to cut his ankle free. Twisting, he landed briefly on Kuwabara's head before flipping to the ground.

"Hey!" Kuwabara growled, turning to face Hiei. "What's the big idea - ?" He stopped.

Hiei had dropped his sword and crouched on one knee, frozen with pain. His arm dangled at his side, the elbow rotated out unnaturally, limp fingers brushing the ground, as he gripped his wounded shoulder. Kurama knelt by his side immediately.

"Hiei, what's wrong with your arm?" Kuwabara queried as fresh blood seeped up through the carpeting layer of moss from an indent in the back of his shoulder.

"Ah, hell!" Yusuke swore. "It's that knife wound from the kitchen, isn't it?"

Kurama had coaxed Hiei's hand away, easing the shoulder joint back into position. "One of the muscles is torn if not severed. Without its support, his shoulder joint is unstable and his arm useless."

"I'm fine," Hiei snarled through gritted teeth. He snatched his sword back up and shoved stiffly to his feet.

Yusuke shook his head. "We need to go back. You - " He stopped at the deep fury in Hiei's pain-riddled eyes.

"No! We're here for Bokuma. That is the only thing that matters right now."

"Trial by combat," Kurama breathed, his tone shaded with disgust. "The rule is that we fight as we are. Justice will be determined by victory. It is the only way left to clear ourselves. Neither of us can back out. Hiei can still maneuver and wield a sword. He must fight just as I must."

"Well, of all the stupid . . . Not alone, you're not!" Yusuke swore.

"We will see," Kurama responded grimly.

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Ten to fifteen minutes had passed since the group reshuffled and continued on. Kurama now led, with Hiei as rearguard, telepathically advising Kurama which path to choose when forks and side passages presented options. The reasoning which Kurama had spoken aloud for Yusuke and Kuwabara's sakes was that, as a professional thief, he had far more experience with spotting and disarming traps than the rest of them combined. His darkvision was not up to snuff with Hiei's but the moss he carried provided more than enough light for him to operate. He had already helped the group avoid several obstacles. However, he confirmed his suspicions, his true reason, with Hiei telepathically, not wanting to further embarrass his friend in front of the humans. Kurama had known that Hiei was in a great deal of pain but had not realized that it was more than the whiplashes and the knife wound. He also had a mild concussion from the head injury. He suffered from nausea, a pounding headache, and slightly blurred vision that had prevented him from spotting the tripwire he had broken. The group could not afford any more such mistakes, as Hiei had warned him that the traps further along would have much greater consequences than the first.

Speaking of tripwires, Kurama thought as he slowed to a stop. He listened to the others catch up as he surveyed the stretch of tunnel before him. At his feet was strung a tripwire from wall to wall, about a hand's breadth from the ground and surprisingly visible. Willing his moss brighter, he spotted an identical wire across the corridor some twenty feet ahead of him. They did not even try to conceal these, Kurama marveled. Even a completely blinded victim would feel this across his ankle before breaking it if he were being cautious enough.

Yusuke looked over his shoulder, spotting the wires as easily as Kurama had. "Well, well, look at that. Someone'd hafta be pretty stupid to fall for those snares."

"Well, what're ya waitin' for, Kurama?" Kuwabara wanted to know. "Ya found another trap. Just step over it and keep goin'."

Kurama shook his head. "No. Something is not right. This is too obvious."

Hiei pushed past to Kurama's side. "Hn. Kurama was right. He does have more sense about this sort of thing than the two of you combined."

Kurama shook his head at them before either could respond to the insult. "Hiei, do you remember this one?"

-Show me-

Kurama did so, allowing Hiei to see with more clarity than he could on his own. Hiei nodded. "Get back." When the others had withdrawn a few paces, Hiei drew his sword, took a step back, and broke the near tripwire.

TWANG!

Two spring-loaded steel spikes shot into the ground at angles from the walls - one just inches from the near wire, the other inches to this side of the far wire. "Now it is safe to cross," Hiei declared.

Kurama stepped back up beside Hiei. The spikes had disturbed the dust across the ground just enough for him to make out a shallow seam across the floor, the spike lodged in at its center. Just then, Kurama noted the faint, curving scrape marks on the walls. Ah, now I understand.

"Okay, I'll bite and be the stupid one to ask," Yusuke huffed. "What the hell just happened?"

"Between this wire and the other one, the section of floor is hinged from below to swivel upon a center fulcrum. With no weight on it, the panel balances perfectly and blends with the floor. If you step over and do not trip the wire, the floor will tip from under your foot like a giant see-saw and drop you into a pit or some other fate below. Tripping a wire from either direction causes the spikes to fire, wedging the floor in place for safe passage."

Yusuke gaped at Kurama in disbelief. "You . . . you got all that from . . . ?"

Kurama smiled. "It's all right, Yusuke. As I have said, I have long experience with such things."

Kuwabara stood scratching his head. "Well, then, how'd Bokuma get across?"

Yusuke made a face. "Probably turned into a giant spider and climbed the ceiling or something. Come on."

As they pressed forward, Hiei called softly from behind, "Be careful. Somewhere between here and the next chasm, the floor is trapped with - "

"Yipes!" Yusuke gasped as Kuwabara pulled him back from a hole that broke open under his foot.

" - foot spikes," Hiei finished with a groan.

Kuwabara knelt, bringing down his Spirit Knife. The pit was only knee-deep but the floor and walls bristled with short spikes - nothing lethal but more than enough to incapacitate the foot that met them. "Man, this guy just does not play nice, does he?"

"Playing nice has never been a goal of his," Kurama frowned. "As Hiei explained, Bokuma enjoys toying with his prey before returning them to the Pit. This whole cave system is nothing but a playground for him. He thinks nothing of injuring or ensnaring his toys along the way."

Kurama studied the ground intently, learning what to look for in the uneven formations of rock, then taught Yusuke and Kuwabara how to spot them. The group avoided several more covered pits along the path as they continued on their way.

Presently, the tunnel ended on another small chasm, the rushing of water filling their ears from an unseen depth at the bottom of the ravine. The air here was cold and damp, the rock surfaces tricky from lichens and other fungal growth. A rope hung down over the center of the chasm's expanse, passing through a hole in a small plank of wood at its base and knotted underneath it. Across from them was a wide shelf, another cave entrance opening a dozen yards to their right and slightly lower on the wall. The swing swayed gently as though recently used.

"Hey, Bokuma musta just gone through here!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "C'mon! If we hurry, maybe we can catch 'im an' be outta here before we all starve to death."

"Kuwabara, wait - " Kurama tried to warn him.

"Naw, it's gotta be all right if Bokuma just used it. Last one across is rotten sashimi!" As the swing arced near, Kuwabara leaped out and caught the rope, planting both feet on the wood plank. "Heehee! Lookit me - I'm Tarzan!" he bellowed as he swung, leaped and landed safely on the other side. His voice echoed alarmingly along the ravine walls.

Well, Kurama thought with a grimace, it's not as though Bokuma does not already know we're here.

He could see the unspoken question in Hiei's eyes – What in the hells is a tarzan? – before he shook his head with a muttered "Idiot!" He turned and shrugged before Kurama could ask. "I've never trusted that swing." He backpedaled several paces to take a running start, leaping the ravine cleanly.

"Well . . . I don't know about you, Kurama, but I'm no grasshopper. No way I can make that jump." Yusuke sprang out to catch the rope, swinging across without incident.

Kurama could see no choice. He considered clinging to the rope and keeping his feet off the plank but did not trust his shoulders to bear the full weight of his body, not with one having been dislocated so recently. It had been hard enough holding on to Hiei earlier. He leaped, putting both feet on the plank to bear his weight.

RRRRIIIPPPP!

Author's Notes: Please be sure to check my bio page for any updates, etc. Thanks!