A/N: Ah how I love a good cliffhanger. You'll find that I have great cliffhangers, the ones that leave you hating me because you want to know what happens. -grin- Like you're actually reading this, you've already skipped the author's notes. And the Overview too I'm sure. Just went right on ahead with the story, didn'tcha? …I don't blame you, that last cliffhanger was pretty mean of me.
O/C18: Inside the cave, each member of the group must answer a question before they are allowed to move on and they must answer correctly within two minutes on the penalty of death. It's Misaki's turn to answer. And her time's run out…
Misaki reached up and covered Kurama's mouth with her hand, preventing him from saying anything.
He looked over at her, eyes wide. She knew that he had the answer. And she had no intention of letting him answer, whether he had decided too or not.
"I will not be indebted to you, vessel." She hissed only loud enough for him to hear.
Her shoulder muscles burned even from just the half-second that her arm had been raised, for it was the new arm, the new hand clamped over his lips.
"One…"
"E! The answer is E!"
There was silence. Misaki had not been the one to answer.
She turned around, her hand dropping from Kurama's mouth.
It was the small youkai who had given them the tickets.
He stumbled forward, dying even as he tried to reach her.
Misaki rushed back to him, her eyes wide and disturbed.
"Ansatsusha…" He fell at her feet and she knelt next to him, gently gathering the tiny being in her arms and pulling him into her lap. "Ansatsusha you…" His words were lost as he struggled to take a breath.
Misaki's brow was knitted together as she considered him. She had been ready. Ready to die. She knew she couldn't come up with an answer; she had prevented Kurama from answering for the express purpose of keeping him alive. She did not want another death on her hands, more blood in her name. And yet…
This youkai, whose name she did not know, had just answered the riddle, saving her life…and yet sacrificing his own in return.
"Why?" Misaki couldn't bring herself to say anything else, whispering the question at the youkai.
His lips moved but Misaki was too far away. She leaned closer and he died as he spoke his last words into her ear.
Misaki stood abruptly, her body tense as she looked behind them apprehensively.
"What is it?" Kurama asked.
"The forest…the forest has followed us here." She pointed.
They all saw the creeping vines coming down the cave along the path they themselves had just come from only a short time ago.
"Keep it back." Misaki ordered. "We just need two minutes, maybe less."
Yusuke faced the oncoming vines, which were still a long ways off.
"The pace is increasing." Kurama noted.
"It's spotted us." Hiei drew his katana.
Yusuke held up his hand, index finger aimed down the cave. "Shot gun!"
The blasts of blue spirit energy flew down the passageway, searing vines and stopping some in their tracks.
"Ask me my riddle. And the rest of you don't say a word unless you want to be killed!" Misaki stared pointedly at Yusuke.
Yusuke shrugged and lifted his palms, grinning in his usual side-ways manner.
"Final question."
"Get on with it." Misaki said impatiently.
The vines had in fact spotted them, dashing down the rest of the length of the cave, tendrils reaching for its prey.
Misaki grabbed Yukina, bringing the girl with her to the other side of the room, the four guys spanning the cave's width, blocking the vines' path. As the pair settled, Yukina took a stance facing the vines, putting her hands together and mumbling very quietly under her breath. The air began to cool.
"Death hears not this living creed,
abounding darkness has no leave.
Some say these two coexist,
without the One the other miss."
Misaki was glad that she had not turned her back to the battle, for a few vines broke through the Spirit Detectives defenses, heading straight for her and Yukina. However, there was a small flash at the end of each vine and they froze in place, the air growing colder as Yukina's chant poured faster from her lips. Misaki, knowing the Koorime had the matter at hand, completely turned her attention to the riddle-speaker.
"A balance there?
They speak not truth,
while darkness tries to be aloof-"
One vine changed direction and neither Misaki nor Yukina saw it slither underneath its frozen brethren, unseen.
"it cannot win and it will fail,
against the Answer no avail."
A dark shape appeared between them and the oncoming vine, which had split into several tendrils and reached voraciously for them, and with numerous slashes, fought the vine back. It squealed as it fell to the ground, whipping madly in its death. The shape disappeared.
"Sinister gloom is frightened away,
cannot be where This Other stays."
Yusuke fired another shot gun, yelling the keyword loudly in his head, the blue orbs hissing as they made contact with various attacking vines as well as the cave wall, leaving black marks behind.
"Even when surrounded by,
death cannot truly hide."
"Are you quite finished?" Misaki shouted above the noise of battle. Luckily someone was watching her back again, for more vines were racing towards her. There were several loud, graceful snaps as another, whiter and more thorny vine slit the green one, more falling to the ground frozen.
Misaki glanced over her shoulder, grateful that others were watching more attentively than she.
Kurama nodded to her as their gazes locked before he darted to the side, letting her know that she could keep her main focus on answering the riddle.
"And dark will never understand,
The reason for Its upper hand."
"Is it customary to continue even when someone has the answer?"
The riddler stopped. "Then you have an answer?"
"Did I not just say that?"
Misaki didn't see the vines that grappled her legs from behind. One slithered up her thigh faster than she could react to it and latched onto her new arm, pulling her down forcefully. Misaki went to the ground, her scream strangled off by the second vine which wrapped around her throat, instantly cutting off her air supply.
No one could assist anyone else. They were all in the same state. The vines over took the group by sheer numbers. Kuwabara's spirit sword, Hiei's katana, Yusuke's fists and Kurama's whip all seemed to flash madly in the air, fighting off the vines around their feet that grasped them from the waist down.
Misaki watched helplessly as the Koorime chanted fervently, the vines held at bay by an ice-shield that had appeared in front of her body. Slowly for a moment, the shield began to expand. Once began, it shot out in a blast towards the other end of the cave, this time no single vine escaping its solid, unmoving state.
"Ten seconds remaining."
Struggle as much as she could, Misaki could not bite free herself even from the frozen tendrils to speak the answer. Had her mouth been free, a string of curses would have bitten the air in her frustration.
Suddenly the vines loosened their grip and Misaki saw the dark shape standing over her as a silver brightness slashed near her face, the wind from the katana making her blink as it just slashed shy of her nose.
Hiei pivoted to face Yukina, flowing his first attack with his next, and for good measure cut those in front of her with one upward swoop chained with a downward slice across his body, the ice crashing loudly to the ground. There was only an instant in time difference between his freeing Misaki and defiantly slashing the other vines.
"Speak, foolish woman. I refuse to let your shortcomings be the cause of my death."
Hiei's words rang clearly and impatiently in her head when she did not say the answer immediately, despite the mind barrier that the jewel behind her ear provided.
Misaki gasped for breath, the word inaudible, but clearly on her lips.
"Your answer?" The voice demanded.
"Light." She said, her voice stronger with more air behind it, "The answer is Light." Misaki cringed, sitting up and looking towards the ground, the words of the riddle still ringing clearly in her head.
Upon her declaration of the answer, they were all enveloped in a fierce light, the cave around them disappearing.
Yusuke stumbled forward, in the middle of a punch which just swept through empty air.
Every one of them hoped they would be taken out of the cave, at the very least someplace where the vines could not reach them.
Yusuke groaned when the light faded to a kind glow that lit up the room around them.
"I can't believe we're still in this dumb cave!"
"At least here we cannot be attacked." Kurama pointed out.
They were in a completely different room, one with no windows or doors, this one empty except for-
"Hey what are those things?" Kuwabara jabbed a finger towards three lighted circles in the ground, each of them a primary color.
"Those would be circles of light in the ground, Kazuma." Yukina told him.
"Uh…thanks Yukina."
"Misaki…" Kurama trailed off as he turned to see Misaki still sitting on the ground, her hair falling to either side of her face masking any expression her face was contorted into.
Quickly turning away and placing the subject on a matter unrelated to her, Kurama looked at Yusuke.
"I am quite impressed Yusuke that you were able to summon your Shot Gun without speaking the words. And Kuwabara, you too should be commended on bringing out your Spirit Sword. It is not an easy task to do these sort of things with thought only."
The pair were quite pleased with the compliment.
"Yeah, well I hope to never have to do that again," Yusuke collapsed onto the floor, suddenly breathing heavily, "It takes a lot more power."
Kurama nodded in agreement. "And for once, Hiei, you didn't say something you shouldn't."
Hiei glared at Kurama for alluding to the incident with the psychics.
After a beat, Misaki rose, her face plain and without emotion. She walked forward to look at the circles, keeping a safe distance away.
"That language is certainly odd." Kurama's head was cocked to the side. He came up next to Misaki and regarded the wall behind the circles with interest.
There were what appeared to be words carved into the cave wall.
"It has the appearance of Arabic and Egyptian, and I believe there could be Latin words as well, the sentence structure resembling French. It looks to read from bottom to top though."
Misaki raised her eyebrows, looking over at him.
He smiled at her that same small, sweet smile he always wore.
She shook her head, "I need to stop forgetting that you are intelligent, vessel. Most would not get that far with these words." She gestured to the wall.
"I assume you know the language then?"
"Ancient Earth. Language of the Stones."
"Stefen's language." Kurama filled in.
Misaki remembered their conversation while they walked through the city, ruefully recalling how much she had told him.
"You pick up things fast. As I have said before, it will get you killed."
"Or I will outlive everyone I know." He quipped.
Misaki shook her head, "I hope that you do not, vessel. It is a lonely path to live."
"More of this idiocy." Hiei spat, seeing the unintelligible words on the wall, "These are not trials, these are mind games."
"Hiei, I would have thought you lived for games." Misaki acted surprised.
Not in a good mood, Hiei glared at her as he had Kurama, his hand absently resting on the hilt of his katana.
"Hey Kurama, what did 'E' mean?" Yusuke asked, looking thoughtful.
"Pardon?" Kurama turned around.
"'E'. That little youkai shouted out 'E' just before time ran out. How is that an answer?"
"The words the riddler spoke did not contain the letter 'E', the most common letter used in the English language." Kurama explained.
Kuwabara wandered over towards the wall, "What does it say?"
Misaki put an arm in front of him, the uninjured one, "I would not move closer until we find out."
"I assume that you know this language." Kurama looked over at her.
She shook her head, "There are few that can truly talk to stones, coax the earth. It has been a long time since I've encountered it, and as I did not like studying the language, not much of it stuck."
"You had to study this junk?" Yusuke's nose crinkled in disgust.
Misaki ignored Yusuke's sympathy, recalling that only Kurama knew of the Elements and wishing to keep it so.
"I believe that once you understand how the structure works, we should be able to conjure up a decent translation in a relatively short amount of time." She spoke to Kurama.
"Wake me up with something interesting happens." Hiei huffed, plopping down against the wall and promptly fall asleep.
"Wish I could do that." Yusuke snorted.
"It's his way of not having to deal with something he doesn't want to deal with." Yukina said insightfully.
"How do you know that?" Yusuke looked at her.
"Because it's what Kazuma is doing." Yukina pointed.
On the opposite side of the room, Kuwabara was sprawled out, snoring.
Yusuke laughed, "They have more in common than they think."
"What else do they have in common?" Yukina's eyebrows drew together.
"Uh…eheh…" Over Yukina's head, Yusuke saw that Hiei's eyes were open and glaring at him. "Nothing. They don't really have anything in common I guess." He laughed again, nervously this time.
Misaki regarded Yusuke thoughtfully, "If you really wish to go to sleep Yusuke, you might come and listen.
"You were right," Here Misaki sat down, Kurama sinking with her, and she began drawing lines in the dirt floor of the cave room with her finger. "Some Latin roots are used, though really these predate Latin. And the odd tower shaped order of the writing is read from bottom to top, but also from right to left, starting at the bottom right edge and working outwards in an hourglass shaped fashion to the top left…"
Yusuke was quickly asleep in a very listening-to-school-teacher-lecture like fashion.
…
"Ugh. More verse." Misaki hunched over her latest scratchings in the dirt. "I thought we might have been done with it with the riddles. Why does everything have to rhyme anyway?"
"You remembered more than you thought you would." Kurama changed the subject, sitting back to rest on his hands.
They had some of the translation done, though they found that a lot of what was written was merely to throw the reader off track. They were forced to sort through this to get to the true meaning.
"It's coming back a little." She allowed, "But I can only think of the oddest rules, not the most common ones. The ones that would help.
"'Blue, yellow, red. What we have said. Stand in line, break the tine.'" Misaki sighed, "It's mostly just unhelpful."
"Or stating the obvious." Kurama added.
They finished the last of the translating, both sighing a little in completion when they were done.
Hours had gone by from when they started and they were the only ones not asleep, though they were so engrossed in their work that they hadn't noticed.
"Hiei, you might want to get up. I expect you're ready for a good fight." Misaki stood, wiping off dirt from her clothes.
Hiei was up as she spoke the words, promptly at her side with an aura of eagerness.
The others were roused from their slumber until everyone stood a ways in front of the strange glowing circles.
"'Three places, three times, separate use, one demise. Forfeit your life and all are through, even only one of you.'"
"Charming." Yusuke commented.
"Get to the fighting." Hiei ordered.
"My apologies, oh impatient one." Misaki didn't sound apologetic at all.
"As well as we can make out," Kurama the peacemaker interrupted, "These circles are merely transportation devices, taking the user to an area specifically rendered for them according to their abilities and strength. You must traverse the area, making your way to the end of it where you will face a major battle of some sort. Upon your victory, you obtain an item that along with all the others will transport us out of this cave to the next part of our journey."
"You talk too much." Hiei began walking for the red transport.
Yukina followed suit, stepping into the blue one despite Kuwabara's complaints.
"We all have to go through an area, Kazuma, so I may as well go now."
Kurama went to stand in the yellow one.
As soon as the three circles were occupied, they grew brighter, a quiet hum filling the room as all three youkai disappeared.
Misaki sat down again, "Now we wait."
…
Hiei's feet alighted on the ground silently as he was dropped to the ground from a meter in the air.
The transport had taken him outside somewhere and he stood at the edge of a high cliff.
On either side was a wall too high to climb, its surface too smooth to even attempt such a thing. Stretching forward, the walls continued down the cliff, leaving only one path to take: forward off the side of it.
A mass of enemies at the bottom lined the path completely as far as the eye could see.
Hiei allowed himself a small smile, the Jagan awake and buzzing excitedly in his head.
…
Yukina immediately felt at home.
The ice cavern around her was silent of noise, cold and comforting. What little light there was, coming from some unseen source, embraced the wall and ceiling around her.
Yukina walked forward, the only direction she could go, a little bounce in her steps as she peered at herself in the reflection of the ice walls and hummed softly.
…
The close proximity of the plants around him made Kurama think back to when he and Yuu Kaitou faced off in the Taboo match.
Even with the brief trek down memory lane, Kurama's mind still focused outward on the area around him.
A small path lead through the dense flora, and Kurama took it, seeing no other way to continue.
…
Each of them kept going straight, though in different ways.
Hiei was almost happily killing everything in his path, Yukina sang to herself as she walked and Kurama observed the plants and things around him, mentally cataloging the numerous varieties he spotted.
…
Hiei ducked easily under a punch headed for his face, lifting his feet up almost simultaneously as he avoided being tripped up by another enemy behind him.
He jabbed forward, his katana sinking deeply into the fleshy stomach of his opponent, drawing it out just as quickly and turning his upper body to slash the second through, the two halves falling to the ground with a dull thud. His feet followed the movement of his body, touching the ground only slightly before he dashed between two other columns of enemies, katana striking left and right and left and right, the enemies he sprinted past falling to the ground as he moved passed them.
While fluidly cutting down his enemies, Hiei noticed that the path he followed was leading to a more open circular area.
He slit the enemy in front of him from top to bottom, pivoting lightly on his toes to lacerate another. He gracefully jumped into the air, landing on a large one's shoulder, slicing its head from its neck.
Hiei leapt forward again before the blood could touch him, using the move on several others in close succession.
He cut the last one's feet out from under it, bring his sword up to finish it off.
It fell to the ground like its brethren and he wiped his katana off on its clothing, sheathing the sword under his cloak when it was clean before running into the circular area.
That's when he heard the monstrous roar.
Hiei looked up, the sun blotted out, as a large shadow steadily grew bigger around him.
Hiei stepped to the side as the gargantuan monster shook the earth in the impact of its fall, feet landing only centimeters away from his face.
…
Kurama lifted his nose to the air and smelled a fragrance that was one of the sweetest scents he had ever come across.
The path widened in front of him into a larger clearing, the smell wafting from that direction.
Kurama followed his nose to a single, enormous flower. The petals were open, filling almost all of the open space, the stamen moving elegantly in the little breeze that passed by.
Immediately Kurama knew that this flower was dangerous, but while he proceeded with caution, his legs kept moving forwards, the former kitsune drawn to the flower as a bee to nectar.
The smell grew stronger and soon all Kurama could think of was getting close enough to bask in the scent, where it would surround him.
A blaring warning went off in his head, but it was easily overpowered by the odor, his senses masked by it.
Kurama took great care not to step on the petals as he drew close to the center. He could practically see the scent rising from the center, a yummy purple color.
He came so close that he could not go further unless he stepped on the flower itself. Lightly, carefully so as not to bruise it, he did so.
As soon as Kurama's feet were on the petals, they began to close around him, ever so slowly, ever so quietly, and Kurama did not notice. He was in the middle of the smell now.
He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and the petals engulfed him.
…
Yukina's humming reverberated quietly on the walls around her as she began to skip forward.
Here, here in the safe protection of the ice, with no one else around but her and her element, she was herself.
Yukina picked up some fallen ice shards, forming them into a circlet that she placed atop her head before she moved on.
There was a beautiful bird a ways in front of her and Yukina stopped short, her face breaking into a smile.
The glow of the cave reflected on the small bird as it moved, casting the light off of its body in a million different directions and colors. The bird appeared as though it was made of diamond, every facet of its body etched out in brilliance and splendor.
Yukina took a step towards it, holding out her hand.
The bird considered her with one intelligent eye, then the other, preening itself in-between actions.
She came closer, slowly, wishing to befriend this magnificent being.
It took off, flew once around her head before landing briefly on her shoulder only to fly away again, up the path.
Yukina followed and the bird grew in size in front of her, its wings almost grazing either side of the passageway, its wings making a steady sound as it flew. It let out a call that echoed in the large area just beyond, raising its head as it flew on into the area.
Dutifully in its shadow, Yukina stopped as the bird alighted on a sturdy perch out of reach, its long tail feathers hanging down towards the ground.
…
The beast was slow, stupid and predictable. It swung left and right with its arms, the span of which filled up the walled-in circle.
Hiei avoided the blundering attacks easily, the first one high, the second low. When this didn't work, the beast would then attempt to trample Hiei with its feet.
High, low, trample.
As the arm came at him, Hiei tried to slice through the skin, finding that the hide was too tough and that he didn't even make so much as a scratch.
High, low, trample.
Hiei waited for the next low swing, skirting the attack as the fist came closer and jumping onto the hand, running up the wrist and arm to the shoulder.
He leapt off of the shoulder across the front of the face, slashing with lightning speed as he passed, landing neatly on the other shoulder.
To an average eye, Hiei disappeared when the beast swung at him, reappearing moments later on its other shoulder.
Hiei strategically soared back and forth, over and around the head. While the skin may have been too tough to open, the more sensitive areas were not. Eyes, lips, nose, ears, all of these were fair game.
The beast howled as the small cuts began to add up, surprised at how annoying an insignificantly tiny gnat could be while it tried to swat him away.
Hiei launched off of the beast after a moment, landing on the ground when it shook him away, then he waited for it to begin its attacks once more.
…
Kurama sat up in a shock, feeling a mucus covered tentacle touch his hand.
His legs were already wrapped, the tentacles working their way up his waist, his foot was dangling in a gaping maw and he was being tugged closer.
Snatching his hand away, Kurama looked around quickly.
Spit from the abyss sloshed onto his clothes, the fabric hissing as minute holes formed where the drops fell. Digestive juices. Yummy.
Kurama cringed as he became aware of a horrible smell coming from deep within the mouth. Bad breath didn't begin to describe it.
Reaching into his hair, Kurama pulled out the white rose Misaki gave him that was hidden there.
It glowed, pulsating now as if it had a heart beat and he held it under his nose, taking a deep breath.
The clear, indescribable scent filled his mind and he immediately felt as though a heavy fog was lifted from him, all grogginess caused by the purple odor now gone. The smell brought many memories flashing before his eyes and he allowed himself an indulgent smile.
Still smelling the rose, Kurama glanced around his prison, feeling a tug and the tentacles drew him closer.
Kurama deftly changed the rose into a whip, lashing at the tentacles where they disappeared into the waiting mouth.
The whip glowed brighter, a pure untainted light.
Standing up and brushing off the tentacles, Kurama backed away from the chasm, looking around for a trigger that would open the petals up.
Above his head, the tips of the petals folded inward, hanging into the closed area.
Kurama struck them, escaping as the flower snapped open.
…
The bird cried out again and Yukina stepped closer, the beauty of the creature entrancing.
This time though, as she came closer, the bird's form began to change, its wings spreading out while it shape-shifted, coming down from the perched and morphing into a fierce woman, tall and poised, standing just under the perch.
The bird was normal sized once more and caught evilly in the woman's grasp.
"No! Stop! You're hurting it!" Images flashed in front on Yukina's eyes; remembrances of being kidnapped and another bird that was squeezed to death.
Laughing coldly, the woman merely closed her grasp on the bird, the facets cracking and the bird squawking.
"Stop it!" Yukina pleaded, tears starting to form in her eyes. There was nothing she could do though she ran forward, the woman was obviously stronger than she.
With just a last simple squeeze, the bird shattered, its remains falling to the ground and tinkling musically.
Yukina fell to her knees at what was left of the bird, her tears now creating their own sad melody when they dropped as jewels over the pieces.
Yukina put her face in her hand, her circlet slipping of her head and shattering on the icy cave floor.
The woman laughed heartlessly at the broken figure before her.
The round jewels formed a small pile, covering the broken bird like small rocks set up for a grave.
A small chirp came from under the pile and Yukina's sobbing stopped.
Rising from the precious ashes, the little bird considered her quizzically. Suddenly taken by her delight, Yukina held out her hands, the bird hopping into them.
Irritated, the woman reached down to snatch the bird away, but the bird caught the movement, peeping indignantly while fluttering out of reach.
It grew larger faster this time, high up in the air as it was, and it dive-bombed at the astonished woman below.
There are several references to previous episodes in here, though I couldn't tell you the exact episodes since I haven't watched the anime in a while…
-lotsm