"Okumura!"
Rin was surrounded by darkness. Floating in the void.
"Okumura!"
His eyes twitched - it was comfortable here in the darkness, but that voice was annoying.
"Rin!"
Suddenly light flooded into him, and he became aware of pain racking his sore muscles . With a groan, he sat up and blinked a few times, trying to see through the blinding light. When his eyes adjusted, he realized he was laying in a bare rock cavern lit by some mysterious red glow. The air was rippling with heat, making him feel nauseous. He was dripping with sweat, but the drops rolling down his face evaporated before they even reached his chin.
"Okumura! Finally, you're awake!"
Rin swiveled around to see Bon a few feet away, staring at him through crude bars fashioned from raw stone.
"Bon!" Finally snapping to his senses, Rin jumped to his feet and scanned his surroundings. They appeared to be on a rocky ledge above a great height - the red light was coming from Rin's left, down below, casting strange shadows on the walls. Above, the cavern twisted upwards into darkness. To his right, several caves opened up onto the main cavern, all blocked by the same crude bars - all filled with people.
"Bon - what's going on?"
"You got nabbed by a demon and brought here. These are all the people from the town- Iha-naga has been kidnapping them. She plans to use us as human sacrifices," the exwire said grimly, eyes intense.
"Iha-naga? What?"
Suddenly a man in a black coat emerged from the shadows behind Bon, wearing the robes of a priest.
"Iha-naga is the sister of the goddess Konohanasakuya-hime. Kono-hana is the goddess of this mountain, but her sister has overthrown her and seeks to wreak revenge for being slighted on all of the human race. I'm Masaki Nobu, the priest of the Asama shrine in Kawaguchiko."
"Masaki-sama is the one who sent that message to Logan's friend. Apparently she's the last-"
"Logan! Where is he?"
"Okumura - wait!"
Rin spun around, racing to the edge of the chasm looking for the man. When he reached the edge, though, he wheeled back in surprise and promptly fell on his ass, tail jerking around in fits.
"Whaa-!"
Beneath them was a boiling pit of lava, glowing orange and sending up clouds of smoke. It was like a lake of fire, the hell that Rin had always imagined before learning about Gehenna.
"Get back, kid, unless you want to be deep fried," suddenly Logan was there, grabbing Rin's shoulder and jerking him back from the edge.
"I was about to say, Logan-san went to go search for a way out," Bon said, expression dead pan, as Logan dragged Rin back towards the barred cave.
"With no luck. The walls are too steep too climb, and there's nothing beneath us except more lava. I think there are more caves like this set into the walls, though."
"Can't you just slash through these bars?" Rin asked.
"There's some sort of magical barrier on them. I think that has something to do with why none of us are burning up, too," Bon explained, "I thought your sword might break the barrier, Okumura, but if that destroyed the protective spell as well we'd be in trouble," Bon explained.
"But Logan and I aren't in a cave - why aren't we burning up?"
"Well, that would be because you're not quite human, are you?" a voice came from above, and Masaki cowered back into the darkness of the cave, "It's her! It's Iha-naga!"
Rin drew his sword and turned his back to Bon and the others in the cage, eyes flashing through the shadows and smoke, searching for the goddess. Logan stood beside him, claws out and muscles tense.
A few meters in front of them, the stone ground cracked and crumbled, but instead of caving in on itself the stone surged upwards, crumbling to dust and swarming together to form the shape of a woman. The gravel morphed into the cloth and flesh, and suddenly there was an elegantly dressed woman standing before them, face hidden by a veil. She wore a traditional kimono the color of rich earth, embroidered with scenes of mountains and stones.
"So you're the one who's been kidnapping people?" Rin hissed, gripping his sword a little tighter.
"Where's Yukio?" Logan demanded, veins protruding from his neck as he shouted.
Iha-naga paused, "That's no way to address the goddess of the mountain."
She waved a hand, and suddenly Logan flew backwards, slamming into the bars of the cage with a grunt.
"Ah, yes - the little Princeling. Son of Satan. My divine power doesn't seem to work on you. But I know something that will."
"Shut up!" Rin shouted, slashing his sword in her direction, sending a wave of blue flames washing over the stone ledge, their bright light drowning out the red glow of the lava. She had vanished into the stone once again, however.
"Watch out, kid!"
"Okumura!"
Rin spun around just in time to see Iha-naga emerging from the stone wall just behind him, her body still partially fused with the rough brown rock. Her hand reached out towards him, one finger outstretched to touch his forehead. He tried to raise his sword, but her finger tapped his head first - suddenly his arms dropped to his sides, his tail drooped lifelessly to the ground.
"Okumura?"
"My sister has been able to hold me off for years, but I finally got my hands on something not even she could fight against. Not even the son of Satan is immune," Iha-naga mused aloud, laughing in satisfaction.
"What did you do to the kid?" Logan yelled, still pinned to the wall.
"Nothing you would understand, Wolverine. You are quite an anomoly - not a drop of divine or demonic blood in you, yet you have seen centuries pass without aging a day. Did you know, I once sought to give that very gift to humanity? If Ninigi had married me instead, humans would have lives spanning eternities. But instead they are fleeting, meaningless - just like those useless cherry blossoms of my sister's."
"Sorry your little crush didn't work out, but I don't care about any of that. I'm here for Yukio."
"The priestess - or as she prefers to be known, the assassin. A warrior. She feigns to be courageous when in fact she is a coward. Still, she will do nicely for my feast - she cannot hide in the forest much longer - not now that the son of Satan is my puppet."
Logan remained silent - Yukio was still in the forest somewhere. He was glad that she had managed to fend for herself so far without getting caught, but Iha-naga was right. Rin was standing beside Iha-naga like some docile servant, normally bright eyes dull and glazed over. Bon was shouting at him, but Rin didn't even blink. Logan had seen a glimpse of the kid's talent first hand, and he had a feeling that was just the tip of the iceberg. And now, for whatever mysterious reason, all that power was at the control of this crazy bitch.
She carelessly waved a hand towards Logan, and the rocks behind him shifted, opening up just wide enough for him to fall into the cell with Suguro and the priest. In the blink of an eye, the stone had moved back into place, once again trapping them all inside.
"Come on, Rin Okumura - we have some hunting to do," Iha-naga beckoned, and she and Rin both sank into the stone as if it were water.
"Shit," Bon hissed.
"You said it," Logan growled, watching as the stone smoothed over and their friend disappeared for good.