Paper Voice
A YYH Fanfic
Chapter Seven
When Katrina woke up in the morning her body was sore and tired from tossing and turning all night. Her knuckles were red like she'd punched the wall as well. She dragged herself out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower, for a minute she was disoriented because she'd forgotten she was at Kurama's. His house was huge and she ended up wandering around a bit before she found the bathroom and decided to skip the shower. She did brush her teeth with her fingers and try and rinse her mouth out a little though. After some more wandering she found her way downstairs and into the kitchen, she heard voices in the living room and recognized Yusuke's obnoxious attitude. Katrina figured Kurama had called him so that they could come up with a plan for rescuing Cahterine so she walked in and saw all the guys sitting around talking. Kurama had a black eye, Katrina looked down at her knuckles and giggled, I must of hit him in my sleep, she thought.
"Ah, good, you're awake," Kurama said.
"Hey, thought you'd never get up, you want to save your sister don't you?" Yusuke teased.
"Katrina-chan, are you okay?" Kuwabara asked.
Hiei just continued staring out the window as if it were any other normal day.
"Good moring to you too, Yusuke, and yeah, Kuwabara, I'm okay. So what's the plan for getting Cat back? If you guys don't come up with one in the next three seconds I'm going to go after her myself," Katrina replied.
"We were just discussing that, Katrina-san, why don't you sit down? We believe it would be best if you stay here, you're still recovering from your last mission and your fight last night. Do you really think it would be wise of you to go out there in your current state?" Kurama asked.
"She's my best friend and I'm NOT going to sit around 'recovering' while you guys go out and have all the fun of rescuing her. Besides I really want to kill the monster that turned her into a puppet, she's stuck her neck out for me plenty of times now I want to repay the favor and you can't stop me," Katrina finished in a dignified way restraining her temper then she headed out the front door. The guys were right behind her, Kurama looked like he wanted to object but she had the same look Yusuke got when he fought with Chu in the Dark Tournament, pure excitement and joy. She wasn't gonna be the D.I.D* in this story, not this time. Of course Catherine probably wouldn't like being the D.I.D either but it was her turn.
Catherine woke up in a creepy dark cave with a little ten year old bodied fifteen year old next to her; of course she couldn't see because it was pitch black that far into the cave. Daiku stirred and sat up, "ready to head to the Doc's castle?" he asked; Catherine nodded then remembered he couldn't see that and said yep. Daiku took her hand and led her to the front of the cave cautiously, "We have to be careful, even in the day time the monsters in this place are still hanging around sometimes," he whispered.
Daiku and Catherine started sharing stories about their lives after they'd left the cave, it was gonna be a long walk to the castle and there was nothing else to do. Catherine told him about how she and her friend came from another dimension and that they ended up hanging out with the ex-spirit detective Yusuke and his friends and the girls' last mission. He was really interested in her stories and enjoyed hearing about the outside world he was hoping that maybe, Catherine or her friends would be able to kill the Doc and get himself and Catherine out of the screwed up place they were stuck in. She asked him more questions about his life and he answered all of them the best he could. Catherine knew that he was really a fifteen year old but she just couldn't help seeing him as a cute little ten year old. Every once in a while she'd slip and treat him like a little kid and it aggravated him to no end.
Eventually they reached Dr. Raizuka's castle: it was as creepy and Shan like as the rest of this screwed up place, Catherine thought. It was made of the same material as the trees, bones and skin, the gates, which looked like giant canine teeth, opened up and let them inside. Catherine was reluctant to go but followed Daiku's lead anyway, not going to get out of here if I act like a coward all the time, she thought. The inside surprisingly looked like a real castle, there was a diamond chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling, the floor looked like a giant checker board all black and white squares tempting Catherine to jump along the black ones like a little kid at the store. "Don't try it," Daiku warned as if he'd read her mind. "I tried that once and nearly killed myself, the panels think you're playing a game with them when you jump on the same colors. Except that instead of a stupid rhyme you lose your life if you mess up." Catherine straightened up like a soldier and was about to follow Daiku to the stairs when the giant teeth opened up behind them and in walked Katrina and the guys.
Katrina led the guys into the forest to the exact spot she'd been the night before; there was an empty cage and dead earth leading to it but nothing else in the clearing. "BLOB FREAK, GET YOUR..."
"$$?" Yusuke interupted.
"OUT HERE!" Katrina finished.
"Was that really a wise decision, I thought we wanted to have the element of surprise," Kurama asked.
A few seconds later a huge greenish black blob came into the clearing the ground behind him died and Katrina, and the other demons, almost puked at the stench emanating from it. "I see you've brought me more puppets, My Little Vixen," the blob said the last part like a title then he turned and gestured with a smaller arm-like blob and Catherine and the ten year old appeared by his sides. The boys face was blank but Catherine's lit up with a fake smile when she saw Katrina, "VIXEN! You came back to join us and you brought friends, YEA!" she screamed in a high childish voice. She took a step forward preparing to run over to Katrina but the blob shook its 'head' and she stood straight by his side again. "We came to get my friend back, you scum bag!" Katrina shouted engulfing her fists in flames.
"Of course you did, well if you want her you're going to have to fight her and destroy me, but you can't do that, my body, as ugly as it is indestructible. That's why I'm so happy that you brought me such handsome puppets, now I can move into one of their bodies and shed this one, then the ones I don't take will be my slaves along with you and your friend."
Katrina lunged at the blob but Catherine had punched her in the gut before she got near it. "Play with me, Kat, join me, you'll love it here. We have so much fun, Daiku and I, it's like a world from a Darren Shan novel!" Katrina was caught off guard at the sound of her best friend's normal voice but quickly regained her temper when Catherine's fist made contact with her gut. Yusuke was fighting with the kid and doing a whole lot better than she was with Catherine. The kid already had a black eye and his lip was bleeding though Yusuke had a cut above his eyebrow that made it hard for him to see. "Be careful, Yusuke, that child might still be alive deep down, try not to injure him too much," Kurama said as he and Hiei went after the blob. Kuwabara came to Katrina's aid and grabbed Catherine's wrist as she drew her hand back for another blow. "They remind me of the guys we fought in the Dark Tournament that were controlled by Dr. Ichigaki," he said. Katrina set her fist on fire again and punched Catherine in the face, that set off the ear bleeding screaming and Catherine pulled back into the shadows. "What'd you do that for, Katrina-chan? She's your best friend even if she's being controlled." Kuwabara shouted.
"I'm aware of that but the only way to save her is to stop her from killing us, LOOK OUT!" Katirna shouted as she shoved Kuwabara out of the way of a shadow scythe and was stabbed through the leg by it. Catherine had a perfect shot at Katrina's gut with that scythe but for some reason she changed its direction. Katirna swallowed a scream as the scythe disappeared and she shot a small fire ball at the spot that Catherine had been a second before.
Suddenly the clearing was dark and everyone looked up to see that they were inside a giant shadow dome. "What are you doing you stupid puppet?" the blob shouted. Then shadowy figures pulled free of the walls and started attacking Katrina and the guys; Yusuke fired his Spirit Gun at one of them and it disappeared as Kurama sliced one with his Rose Whip and Hiei sliced one with his katana and the guys disappeared like the shadow creatures. Kuwabara had his back turned and punched one of the creatures and disappeared as well, Katrina wasn't sure what was going on but she had the suspicion that Catherine was trying to help somehow so she set a shadow creature on fire and blacked out.
When everyone woke up they were laying outside of a castle made of bones and skin with huge canine teeth for doors. I wonder if this was the Shan world that Catherine was talking about? Katrina thought as she stood up and headed towards the castle doors; they opened and she headed inside the guys right behind her. The inside was like a checker board and there was a diamond chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling. Katrina saw some stairs and headed toward them then stopped as she walked through a cold spot and shivered. "Whoa, why'd it get so cold?" she asked.
"There's spirit's here, that's why!" Kuwabara shouted in fear.
"Hey, Katrina just walked through you!" Catherine shouted at Daiku. "Why can't they see or hear us?"
"They must not be puppets of the Doc," he replied, "though I don't know how else they could've gotten here."
Katrina shouted Catherine's name excitedly, maybe it was Cat that she'd accidentally walked through!
"Is the way out of this place upstairs?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah, why, do you think we can get them upstairs?"
"Let's see," Catherine replied, and she grabbed Katrina's hand and tried to pull her up the stairs, her hand phased through Katrina's but she could tell Katrina understood because she told the guys to follow her upstairs. "She's becoming quite the leader," Catherine said to herself. "She always used to follow me around and tell me that everyone thought she'd make a great leader but she felt more comfortable as second in command."
"Did you say something?" Daiku asked half way up the stairs right behind the gang.
"Nothing," Catherine said as she ran to catch up with him.
At the top of the stairs there was another set of doors but they looked like real double doors this time, Katrina pushed them open and inside was a young man holding a chain that was connected to a metal collar around Catherine's throat and behind him was a giant redishes pulsing crystal heart. Katrina shot an arrow made of fire at the crystal but there was a shield around it, "Hmph, you think I'd leave myself open like that?" the man said, "Let me introduce myself properly, you may call me Dr. Raizuka, but soon you'll be calling me master."
Catherine ran over to her body to try and retake possession of it and was severely shocked and thrown backwards. "Ah, I see that Catherine's here with you, is Daiku here too?" Dr. Raizuka asked and was greeted with a cold chill through his gut as Daiku punched him. "Ha-ha, you two can't touch me, you're only spirits and you will stay that way unless your friends destroy my heart." Katrina signaled for Kurama and Hiei to try and take out the shield and Yusuke and Kuwabara to distract Dr. Raizuka while she tried to free Catherine's body.
Kurama pulled out his whip and Hiei his katana and they went to work attacking the shield while Yusuke shouted, "Hey you b$^$%#$! Why don't you fight us yourself?" and he charged his Spirit Gun and shot it. But the bullet went through the Doc and bounced off of the shield and nearly hit Kuwabara. "HEY! Urameshi, are ya tryin' ta kill me?"
"Oh, shut up Kuwabara and just attack the guy!" Yusuke shouted back as he started punching Dr. Raizuka, or trying to, as Katrina ran over to Catherine's body and grabbed the collar. Which did no good it only sent a huge jolt of electricity through her making her fall to the floor and curl up for a second to regain control of her twitching body and fry Catherine's already damaged body. Catherine's body screamed as her soul tried to get inside her body again and was again thrown to the floor.
"What are you doing?" Daiku shouted over all the noise.
"Trying to get back into my body what does it look like I'm doing?" Catherine shouted back as she dived towards her body and fried it.
"All you're succeeding in doing is killing yourself," Daiku growled as he grabbed Catherine and tried to stop her.
"No, I have a feeling that Doc trapped my body to keep an eye on it, that I can kill him somehow and he doesn't want my body unguarded."
"Well... stop trying to kill yourself and let me help."
"What did you have in mind?"
Katrina slowly got up and saw that the guys weren't having any luck with their assigned posts, she shot another arrow at the shield and once again it bounced off and disappeared. Then she noticed that something was happening to Catherine's collar, there was a key in a lock she hadn't noticed and an invisible hand turned it causing the collar to drop to the floor. Catherine's body slumped for a second and then slowly opened its eyes. "Kat?" the voice was Catherine's and so was the look of confusion and excitement in the eyes, "KAT! I'm back!" she shouted as she glomped her best friend. Katrina stood there the stunned and slowly hugged her friend and said, "I'm glad that you're back but do you have any idea how to get us out of here?" Catherine winked at her and disappeared into the shadows, reappearing on the other side of the shield and she swung a katana at the fragile crystal breaking it into a thousand pieces. "NOOO!" Dr. Raizuka shouted as he disappeared, the castle melted and everyone blacked out again.
When everyone opened their eyes they were back in the clearing but it was just them no cage or blob creature or anything else. Katrina's leg had stopped bleeding but she couldn't stand up and had a deep gash in her thigh; Catherine had burns but she was able to heal them before they became scars. Kurama healed Katrina's leg and helped her stand up, there would be another scar but with help she could walk. Catherine came over and whispered, "He really seems to like you, Kat, you should ask him out... or I'll do it for you."
"Shut up," Katrina whispered back blushing, "You look like crap," she added.
"You too, in fact you look worse than any of us, oh wait sorry that's just your normal face!" Catherine laughed and jumped away as Katrina tired to punch her.
"Could you please stop squirming, it makes it hard to help you, Katrina-san," Kurama said.
"Hey, lovebirds, are we going to head home or stand around in a clearing all day!" Yusuke shouted. Katrina pulled away from Kurama and tried to run and punch Yusuke and would have landed face first in the dirt if Kurama hadn't caught her.
"You shouldn't do that, you're going to reopen your wounds if you're not more careful," Kurama chided ignoring Yusuke's comment.
"Do you want me to punch him for you, Kat? It'll cost you though, you know what I want you to do as payment," Catherine teased, Katrina glared at her best friend and sighed in annoyance as she let Kurama help her walk back to the city.
Author's Note: *Damsel in distress