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 18 – Chutes and Ladders

"Kurama!" Hiei gasped in horror.

Kurama was falling before he could more securely grip the smooth rope and the end of it slipped free of his hands, friction-burning his palms. He snatched a rose from under his hair. "Rose Whip!" he called, desperately praying he could entangle the remainder of the swing's rope. The whip barely caught before he had fallen too far and it would not reach. The thorns kept the whip from slipping off the rope's finely-twined surface.

The others were leaned over the edge. "You okay? What happened?" Yusuke wanted to know.

Kurama shook his head, not having an answer just yet. Again, he willed the plant to contract, pulling him back up to the end of the rope. He took a moment to study it, scowling. Then, he swung and joined his companions on the other side of the chasm, massaging his chafed hands.

Kuwabara stared at him apologetically. "I-I don't get it. It worked fine for us."

"It was rigged so as not to give with the first person to use it," Kurama explained. "Most of the rope's thickness just below the plank was severed cleanly through. I suspect a small blade of some kind may have been mounted to the underside of the swing. It was only a matter of time before the remaining strands were too few to bear a person's weight and snapped." He met Kuwabara's eyes fully, catching and holding his gaze. "We must all be more cautious of anything we encounter down here. Absolutely nothing is to be trusted."

"Heh . . . yeah, duly noted," Yusuke murmured. Kuwabara did not respond but the look in his eyes was enough for Kurama.

"Come on," Hiei told them. "The next trap is just up ahead."

They slid several times along the fungal carpet of the shelf to the next tunnel mouth. Once inside, they could scrape their feet free of the slippery stuff before continuing on. This new tunnel had several forks and side passages as well and Hiei took the lead once again, choosing the way with certainty. Several dozen yards in, Yusuke leaned over to whisper, "Uh . . . hey, Hiei? You said there was another trap - ?"

Hiei waved him off. "You'll see."

Yusuke exchanged glances with Kurama, who could only shrug. Kuwabara followed wordlessly behind.

After several more heartbeats, Hiei signaled the group to a stop. "Kuwabara, get that torch of yours up here." Curiosity overriding his usual anger at Hiei's tone, Kuwabara obeyed without comment, brightening his Spirit Sword to its customary intensity. The group spied an unadorned curtain hung across their path from a rod scant inches below the ceiling, a simple affair of rough cotton or muslin weave, deep brown to blend better with the rocks until one was nearly upon it. It cleared the walls and floor by perhaps two to three inches per edge.

"Hn . . . here's how this one works," Hiei began. He pointed to the ceiling. Kurama could just make out a seam in the rock, a section as wide as the corridor and half again as long as the walls were high. "Disturb the curtain in any way and that ceiling section drops, hinged from the end over your head." He pointed at Yusuke. "It cuts off the way back and unloads a mass of marbles all over the floor. The marbles are perfectly smooth and coated with a thin layer of oil. The idea is you lose your footing and fall into the pit on the other side of the curtain. If you do make it across, you'll find more marbles to mess up your footing." Hiei pointed to a seam on the wall to his right. Some six inches off the floor, a two-inch-wide panel extended from behind the curtain about a foot in length. One could easily have overlooked it. "There's one just like this on the other side of the pit. At the same time the ceiling section on our side drops, the wall panel on the other side of the pit opens to cover the floor with another hopper full of marbles. You have to be quick across the pit, too, because you can hardly cross without disturbing the curtain on the other side and having its ceiling panel drop to trap you in here - with another load of marbles."

"And that is the trigger for this hopper to release its cargo as well?" Kurama pointed at the seam on the wall. Hiei nodded.

Kuwabara folded his arms, stumped. "So how d'ya get past this?"

Hiei gave him a nasty grin. "I get past by being fast enough."

"Oh? Well, that's just fine for you, Short-Stuff, but what - ?"

"All right, children!" Yusuke planted a hand on Kuwabara's chest to stay him. "I got it. Kuwabara, me an' you'll jump the pit first and catch that other panel before it blocks us in. That way at least one of us is bound to keep our footing long enough to pull it off."

Kurama nodded. "That may work. We must deal with this side first, however. Brace yourselves against the walls. When the panel drops, be sure that your feet are firmly planted. Once all the marbles have been released, we'll clear the floor by sweeping them down the pit."

"Floor's still going to be slick from oil," Hiei reminded him.

"Yes, I am aware of that but there is nothing we can do about it except be mindful of our footing."

They set themselves against the walls, two to a side between the curtain and the near edge of the ceiling panel. "Prepare yourselves," Hiei warned. When all three had met his eye and nodded, he grasped the fabric and pulled, sliding it aside on its rings. Without hesitation, a click was heard and the thick rock slab swung down, several pounds of glass marbles rolling down the newly-formed ramp and scattering across the floor. The group could now see the pit as well. It appeared to be five feet wide, the curtains hanging a foot in from either edge. They kicked the marbles down the pit, then Yusuke met Kuwabara's eye. A smile, a nod, and the two leaped across. Yusuke lost his footing among the marbles from the far hopper, his feet going out from under him entirely, and he grimaced at the pain of falling on the glass orbs. Kuwabara appeared to twist an ankle as he went down on one knee, grunting when his leg landed across several more marbles. Yusuke scrambled instantly to his knees as the ceiling panel descended on them, rewarding both with a face-full of yet more marbles as they successfully caught the edge of the heavy rock slab.

"Ugh!" Yusuke complained. "A guy can lose teeth doing this."

With his concentration broken, Kuwabara's sword had winked out of existence. Kurama peered into the dimness across the pit, his moss once again the only light source. He could see the strain on his friends' faces. "Are you all right?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Gonna hafta jump over with the marbles in the way. We don't dare move. Remember the Gate of Betrayal? Well, this doesn't weight quite that much but you two had better hurry!" Sweat was breaking out on Kuwabara's brow as he nodded in silent agreement.

Hiei leaped, slipping among the marbles. Kurama hesitated. There was very little footing left on that side, what with both humans kneeling just beyond their curtain so that their legs took up much of the floor space. Kurama shook his head. His body was weary from the multiple beatings he had taken but there was nothing for it. He leaped.

He stumbled on the other side, knocking Hiei into Yusuke. Hiei caught himself on Kuwabara's shoulder for balance but then there was no one with a free, useable hand to grab Kurama as the carpet of marbles rolled out from under his feet. Kurama's wounded hand spasmed as he reached out to catch Yusuke's leg. Neither hand could find purchase in the oil as he went over the edge of the pit, plunging his companions into complete darkness with his exit.

8 8 8 8 8

Hiei silently cursed at Kurama's soft gasp of horror. Even he could not move fast enough, wounded and weary as he was, as the other disappeared.

"Dammit, Kurama! KURAMA!" Yusuke hollered. The echoes of his cries were the only responses.

"Kurama, no!" Kuwabara gasped in disbelieving horror.

Yusuke turned blindly to where he remembered Hiei standing. "What's down that hole? Where'd he go?"

Hiei had turned and carefully knelt at the edge of the pit, peering down. Only he could see in this pitch blackness. His range was somewhat limited - only a few hundred feet - but it was more than enough. The pit narrowed quickly and elbowed at an angle back and to his left perhaps two dozen feet down. "Kurama!" he called. There was still no response beyond echoes. "Damn it!" he swore to himself through gritted teeth.

"Hiei, talk to me," Yusuke implored. "What's down that pit?"

"What happened to Kurama?" Kuwabara softly asked at the same time.

Hiei shook his head even as he realized that the two humans could not see the gesture. "I've never been down there." He cursed himself silently for not being able to use his left arm, not being able to catch his friend.

"Well, all paths lead to Bokuma, right? No matter which way we go?"

"No, Urameshi! We can't get all split up. What if Bokuma finds Kurama before we do? Kurama can't fight Bokuma alone, not all hurt like he is."

"But, Kuwabara! If Hiei doesn't know the traps and the way down there - "

"Argue all you two want," Hiei snarled. "I'm going after Kurama." He sat down on the edge of the pit.

"Oh, what the hell," Yusuke groaned. "C'mon, Kuwabara." Together, they dropped the stone slab, then Kuwabara joined Hiei at the edge of the pit even as the youkai pushed himself over the lip.

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

Kurama fell at breakneck speed down the smooth-walled chute, the way twisting and curving like a demented roller-coaster. By the light of his moss, he barely caught glimpses of forks as he went, his weight and speed, the shifts of his balance, determining which passages he took. At length, he shot out the end of the chute, plummeting down several feet into a mass of fluffy, white goo. He just managed to close his eyes and mouth before getting a face-full of the stuff. He curled himself into a protective fetal position as he slid, spinning along the marble-covered floor through what could best be described as whipped cream until he slammed into the opposite wall, flat across his shoulders. He froze for an instant as the agony of the irritated whiplashes flared across his back. He was just glad the impact did not dislocate his shoulder again. Slowly righting himself, he cleared the ground immediately around his legs of the marbles from the trap above, blindly digging through the cream with his toes. With the wall for support, he pushed shakily to his feet, wiping his face clear of goo, then tried to wipe his arm without taking off the moss as well. He willed it to its brightest luminance as he stepped away from the wall.

He stood in a chamber perhaps twenty feet to a side, several chute mouths puncturing three of the walls at various intervals. A wooden ladder climbed the fourth wall, its top end lit by a red-orange glow about a hundred feet up. The slick, airy whipped-cream-like substance filled the floor of the chamber past his knees. It was far warmer in here than Kurama knew caverns this deep should be. "Some areas are frozen in ice, others heated by a lava flow." Kurama shuddered with apprehension as Hiei's earlier words came to mind. But, more importantly, how do I get back to the others? he wondered.

Just then, a deep, fluff-muffled cry of surprise was Kurama's only warning before something large slammed into him from the side beneath the cream layer, nearly taking his legs out from under him. He managed to keep his feet despite the marbles only to have something knock the wind out of him from behind with a familiar yelp of "Oh, crap!" He crumpled over the first mass in a tangle of arms and legs when a third, smaller missile landed on him from somewhere above.

Kuwabara was the first to find the surface of the cream layer, lifting his arm with an exasperated cry of "Spirit Sword!" Kurama sat up into sudden light as he brushed cream from his face for the second time. Yusuke and Hiei managed to disentangle themselves from one another a heartbeat later. "Hey, guys," Kuwabara chuckled ruefully. "We found Kurama."

"Yes," Kurama joked, holding up a handful of foam-covered glass orbs, "and look - we haven't lost our marbles."

"That's debatable," Hiei smirked in a rare moment of humor. He stood and offered Yusuke a hand up as they surveyed their new surroundings.

"Sweet place you found, Kurama," Yusuke laughed, licking cream from his arm, "but I hope you don't mind if we don't stay too long."

"Not at all," Kurama rejoined gamely as Kuwabara pulled him to his feet. "I was just considering a change in scenery myself."

Kuwabara snickered. "Hey, Urameshi, Kurama, did you guys ever see that American movie, 'Ghostbusters'? Heh-heh, we look just like the guys did after they blew up the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!"

Kurama allowed a smile as he attempted to squeeze the goo from his long hair.

"All right!" Yusuke hollered, putting his fists together as though to employ his Spirit Gun as he mimicked a line from the movie. "This chick is toast!"

"Man, talk about doggie breath!" Kuwabara laughed.

Pointedly ignoring them, Hiei waded over to the nearest wall, cream clinging to his hips. Kurama watched him explore one of the chutes, then shake his head as he turned back to his companions. "The walls are perfectly smooth and oil-slick from the marbles, not to mention the slippery cream-stuff we're covered in. We won't be climbing back in one of these."

"Well," Yusuke breathed, eyeing the ladder. "You know what they say. 'The only way to go from here is up'."

"That ladder is suspiciously convenient," Hiei scowled.

"What's that glow at the top?" Kuwabara wanted to know.

Kurama exchanged looks with Hiei before responding, "Heat from magma, possibly."

"Huh? W-what did you say?" Kuwabara sputtered incredulously.

Yusuke stared at them, equally aghast. "You mean, we've fallen into a volcano or something?"

"Or something," Kurama nodded. "It is too warm in here to be normal and Hiei did indicate that we may come across lava flows."

Yusuke turned to Hiei and one could almost see his eye twitch. "Heh, I thought you were joking . . . " Hiei did not bother to respond. Yusuke shook his head, puffing out a deep breath of air. "Well, all right, whatever. Hey, even if there is lava up there somewhere, it must be contained, right? Or else it'd be pouring down on our heads - not to mention the fumes. The fumes would get you before the lava ever did, right?" Yusuke turned to Kurama imploringly.

"We are not in any immediate danger," Kurama assured him, "not from magma, at any rate. As you pointed out, fumes would be our first warning. That ladder concerns me far more right now. It would appear to be our only way out but, as Hiei said, it is terribly convenient and this cream we have landed in will make any foot or handhold tenuous at best."

"Climbing's going to be slippery," Hiei translated at Kuwabara's blank look.

"Hey, I heard 'im, Shorty!"

"Hn."

"Hey, will you two quit behaving like a pair of primary school brats?" Yusuke scolded in a huff. "That was my job!"

"He started it," Kuwabara muttered under his breath.

Kurama shook his head, looking to Hiei. "How is your arm?"

"Useless," Hiei groused. He glanced down at the shoulder, wiping away cream with the other hand to see better. "Still in the socket."

"Your condition worries me the most in this situation." He held up a hand before Hiei could protest. "With only one useable arm, it would be all too easy for you to lose your grip or your footing and fall from the ladder. This marshmallow cream is not dense enough to cushion a fall from any height and the climb looks to be at least twenty to twenty-five meters." He paused, taking a breath before making his recommendation. "I suggest that you allow Yusuke or Kuwabara to give you a lift up the ladder."

At that, Hiei did protest, his turn to sputter incredulously. "Have you lost your mind, Kurama? I'd sooner - !"

Kurama cut off both Hiei and a reply from Yusuke, his hard green eyes never leaving his brother's. "Your pride or your freedom, Hiei." His soft tone brooked no argument. "Think about it. You will not reach Bokuma if you are lying at the bottom of a ladder, suffocating to death because you are unconscious under a layer of whipped cream. That is no honorable way to go. You already have a concussion. A fall might well knock you out - and then what? We will be carrying you up anyway."

Hiei glared at him, fuming but silenced by his friend's never-erring logic. Finally, his eyes dropped away from Kurama's. "Damn you, fox," he muttered, relenting unhappily. Kurama hid a small, almost fond grin, knowing that only he could talk Hiei into something so "ridiculous."

"Tell ya what," Yusuke suggested. "I'll take the lead. Kuwabara, you've got Hiei. Kurama, if one of us does fall, you can catch us with your Rose Whip, right?"

The thief allowed a small, wry grin. "I will certainly try."

"Fair enough. Come on, then." Yusuke started to climb the ladder, scraping his palms first on the walls to clear them of as much goo as possible. Kuwabara apparently decided that the light from above was enough for him to release his Spirit Sword. He turned and knelt and Hiei threw his arm over Kuwabara's shoulder, burying his fist in the big man's t-shirt and wrapping his legs around his waist as he stood. Neither spoke. Kurama sighed as he followed them up the ladder.

Except for the rapidly rising temperature, the climb was uneventful until Yusuke was within ten feet of the top. Suddenly, the top twenty feet of ladder fell away from the wall, toppling over to lie horizontally against the opposite stretch of rock. The rung upon which he had a firm grip held but the one for which he had been reaching when the ladder began to move came free in his hand, leaving him to dangle one-handed over the floor way too far below. At the same time, Kurama heard Kuwabara bellow as he watched both of his friend's rungs pull out of the ladder's sidebars.

"KUWABARA!" Yusuke screamed as both Kuwabara and Hiei fell, Kuwabara flapping his arms helplessly as each hand still gripped a ladder rung.

"Rose Whip!" Kurama, just below the hinged point, still clung to a vertical ladder. Not trusting his wounded hand, he wrapped his right arm over a rung for stability and cracked his whip left-handed, wrapping the lash around the trunks of both his friends, securing them to one another. He gasped as their weight wrenched his shoulders but gritted his teeth against the pain, refusing to let go.

Kuwabara swung and faceplanted into the ladder about a dozen feet below Kurama, hitting with a painful crack! He caught the rungs, assuring himself of his footing before unwrapping the whip from around himself and Hiei. "All right," he panted. "It's official. I really don't like this place!" He ignored Hiei's muttered comment of "Idiot."

Yusuke was now facing his companions, hanging from the ladder nearly eye-level with Kurama and ten feet from any wall. "All right, what the hell just happened?" he demanded, throwing down the freed rung. "Why did this stupid ladder just turn into a freakin' set of monkey bars?"

Kurama did not answer right away. Tucking away the rose, he climbed the last few rungs to the hinge joints in the sidebars of the ladder. He studied the rungs between himself and Yusuke, noting that they were set into the wood of the side bars so as to pull free when any weight was put upon them from any angle but what was normal to climb them vertically. "No, Yusuke! Stop!" he gasped as Yusuke began to reach for the next rung back to climb to him. "Any rung but the one you're holding now, I suspect, is rigged to release if clung to from this angle."

"Huh?" Yusuke frowned even as he obeyed.

Kuwabara climbed up to just a little under Kurama. "What's going on?"

Ignoring him for the moment, Kurama let his eyes wander back up the wall to the ledge above. It was then that he noticed the cables angling down from the points on the wall, where the top of the ladder had been attached, across and down to the other ends of the ladder.

Yusuke spotted them as well. "What the hell? What is this, a European drawbridge?"

"You may be on to something," Kurama conceded. "Come on back but use only the side bars. Ignore the rungs."

"Yeah, whatever."

8 8 8 8 8

To Yusuke's surprise, the ladder began to rise back up as the balance of weight shifted. Finally, the cables returned the top of the ladder back to its original position as Yusuke joined Kurama at the hinge point, standing on the same rung, one clinging to each side bar. "OK, now what?"

Kurama was still staring up the ladder. "This top portion must be attached to some kind of weight-and-pulley system inside the wall."

"Well, don't sound too impressed there, genius," Yusuke growled. "That still doesn't tell us how we're gonna get out of here."

Kurama shifted his attention from the ledge to the rocks directly across from them. "There must be something . . . " he murmured to himself, then met Yusuke's eye. "Did you happen to notice anything over there, some sort of mechanism for controlling the ladder?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Not that I was looking. I don't exactly enjoy hangin' around with the poor departed remains of Mr. Stay-Puft twenty meters below my dangling toes."

Kurama nodded. "Fair enough. I will go take a look - "

"Oh, no, you don't, fox-boy!" Yusuke caught Kurama's arm as he started to pull himself up the sidebars of the ladder. "Not with that weakened shoulder of yours. I'll go." Kurama relented and Yusuke took his place, mindful to keep his hands on the sidebars in preparation of the balance shift. Sure enough, as he reached the point he had before, the ladder tilted out and down, the top end once again meeting the opposite wall. He turned himself around and began inching his way across. Reaching the opposing face of rock, he gave a triumphant hoot. "Hey, Kurama, you were right. There's a lever back behind this rock." He pulled down on it, locking it into position. Immediately, the ladder retracted, lifting Yusuke to the ledge above. "Score one for the good guys!" he crowed as he climbed over the edge. "Come on up!"

"Just in case, keep a hand on the top ends of the sidebars," Kurama called back. He looked down the ladder at Kuwabara and Hiei. "Stay below the hinge joints until I get to the top. Then, I will help Yusuke hold the ladder while you climb, just in case." Kuwabara nodded.

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