Chapter 27

Sai was walking down the same hall she'd been on for the past few hours. At least, it felt like hours. Sai had no idea how long it had really been. All she knew was that the unconscious form of Nami, all of of her weapons, that she was lugging on shoulder was getting really annoying. She wasn't heavy. Sai's newfound strength made that possible, but the girl was making travel really awkward and Sai didn't want to hurt the girl anymore by going at an insane pace.

"Why won't this smell go away?" Sai muttered to herself, "It's disgusting." Nami groaned. "And the sleeping beauty is awake." Sai said, annoyed. She set Nami down against the wall and knelt in front of her. Nami slowly opened her eyes. They were normal.

"Sai?" Nami groaned.

"Hey there babe." Sai said jokingly, "You're finally up."

"What happened? My head is killing me. And why the hell can't I see?" Nami asked.

"Well, first, you were possessed by a demon and tried to kill me. You're head hurts because I knocked you out. You can't see because it's pitch black." Sai explained.

"How can you see then?" Nami asked.

"That one is a little harder to explain." Sai said, trying to avoid the question.

"Hold on. I brought a flashlight with me from Akage's." Nami said as she dug the thing out of her pocket. She flipped the switch and looked around the hall. The beam of light pierced the darkness.

"This isn't so b-" Nami stopped talking immediately when the beam of light illuminated Sai's face.

"S-s-Sai?" Nami stuttered.

"Told ya it was hard to explain." Sai told her.

"You... You have dog ears... And fangs... And your eyes are golden... W-why?" Nami asked.

"I'm a half-demon, remember?" Sai said, as if it was obvious. Nami ran her hands through her hair trying to deal with the stress of the situation. After a few moments of silence, Nami found her voice again.

"So what do we do now?" She asked.

"Keep going down this hall." Sai told her, "We're gonna need to move fast, so, if you're up to it, I can carry you."

"Won't that slow you down?" Nami asked.

"Not a chance." Sai smirked. She picked up Nami and set off at a breakneck pace.

"Damn girl." Nami said, laughing, "You got fast."

"I know." Sai said, laughing along, "Pretty crazy right?"

"Yeah." Nami said, "So you have any idea what else we're gonna run into down here?"

"No clue." Sai admitted, "I can catch the scent of the others, but there's another scent permeating the air and it's making it impossible to pinpoint. My guess is, though, that we are gonna have to fight for all of them."

"Damn." Nami cursed, "This is going to suck."

"Yeah, you're telling me." Sai said.

Sai kept running. And running. And running. The scenery was unchanging. It was just one long hallway. The only thing that told her she was making any progress was the fact that the scent of her friends was constantly getting stronger. Nami had tried to keep up conversation, but eventually chose to get some sleep to try to make her headache go away. Sai's echoing footsteps were the only noise in the hall, until the voice came back.

"So, you've made it this far, have you Sai?" The voice taunted, "Seems your little friend needed a nap, though."

"Who the hell are you?" Sai demanded, still running.

"Someone with a vested interest in you and your friends. Don't disappoint me." The voice said, "Now, if I'm not mistaken, that girl's lover is next on the list. Good luck." As the last syllable faded, Akage's scent grew thick in the air. He dropped down in front of Sai and Nami from an opening in the ceiling, forcing Sai to stop. His eyes were glowing blood red and demon markings had appeared on his face. The sudden stop woke Nami.

"What the?" Nami said, jolting awake, "Sai, what's going on? Why'd you stop?"

"You might want to get off." Sai said as calmly as she could, "And then back away. Far away. I'll get you when this is over." Sai set the girl down and she immediately obeyed. It would have been illogical not to. She would have been fighting blind. Sai, however, could see perfectly, but so could Akage. And he was in his pure demon form. A bolt of lightning grazed Sai's cheek. Akage was chuckling.

"Damn." Sai muttered to herself, "Today is not a good day!" She jumped forward with claws leading the charge.

"I wouldn't do that." The familiar disembodied voice taunted. Sai stopped in her tracks.

"What?!" She yelled at the air.

"You touch him, and your other friends die." The voice said, "Nami must fight Akage."

"You bastard!" Sai screamed.

"That may or may not be," the voice said dismissively, "but this is Nami's battle." Sai growled murderously.

"Sai, it's okay." Nami said walking up next to her, "I can fight him."

"How? There's no light." Sai pointed out. At that moment, Akage created to massive pillars of fire and set them against the walls. They lit up the place perfectly.

"Nevermind." Sai said, "Alright Nami, be careful. He's in his full demon form. That means he'll be faster and stronger than normal. He also won't have any self-control. Knock him out and he should go back to normal when he wakes up." Nami simply nodded. She walked forward lifting her Hiraikotsu to the ready. Akage grinned, his fangs glinting wickedly in the firelight.

"Get ready babe." He said, "I've always wanted to taste your blood." Nami gritted her teeth, eyes flashing with anger.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BOYFRIEND!" She screamed, throwing the Hiraikotsu as hard as she could at Akage. He jumped over the spinning weapon and landed calmly on his feet.

"Gonna need to try harder than that." He said sarcastically. Nami grinned.

"Boomerang's back baby." At that moment, the Hiraikotsu slammed into Akage's back and sent him flying forward. He hit the floor and slid along it on his face. Akage wasn't on the ground for long. He jumped up and faced her, ready to fight, though severly weakened. Nami drew her sword and charged. She feigned left, but them quickly moved right to attack. Akage was still too fast. He blocked the blow and knocked Nami back. She slammed into the wall letting out a little yelp of pain. That didn't stop her for long, though. She was off the wall and charging again within seconds. Akage shot off a ball of flame at her. Nami dropped, slid under the attack, and popped up again after the fire had passed. Akage obviously hadn't been expecting that and Nami got in a slash across his chest. He immediately jumped back.

"You're better than I thought, but you're not going to kill me." Akage taunted, "If you were, you would have done it just then. You won't beat me while I still live." Nami said nothing. Rage was coursing through her veins. How dare they do this to him. She charged.

"I on the other hand," Akage continued, "am not afraid to kill you." He shot off a bolt of lighting and it hit Nami square in the chest.

Sai ran to Nami's side. The lightning bolt had struck her right over her heart. She was worried whether or not Nami could have survived that. Sai knelt down beside her.

"Hey! Hey!" Sai yelled at her friend, "C'mon get up!" Nami opened her eyes.

"Hey." She said weakly. Sai hugged her tightly.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah." Nami said, "I'm fine. Now let me up."

"No!" Sai said forcefully, "I can't let you get yourself killed."

"Sai, I need to finish this." Nami told her, "This is my fight. Besides, life without him just isn't worth living anymore." Sai bit her lip. She knew exactly how the girl felt.

"Just stay alive alright." Sai told her as she let Nami up.

"I'll do my best." She said as she walked forward. Nami sheathed her sword.

"So the girl still breathes." Akage joked menacingly, "Yet she has sheathed her weapon. She won't be breathing for much longer, but I'll let her have one last shot." Nami gritted her teeth in anger, but didn't respond. She drew five sutras ,knelt down on the ground, and arranged them in a star pattern. The star was big enough for Nami step inside. Once there, she clasped her hands together and bowed her head and began to chant. Pillars of blue light shot from the sutras and began to twist around Nami. After a few moments the light faded and Nami stepped outside of the star. She knelt down again and slammed her fist into the middle of the sutra star. Lines of symbols that were burning themselves into the stone floor shot straight out from each point of the star. Nami opened her eyes and lifted her head to face Akage. Sai gasped at what she saw. Her eyes had turned completely blue and black markings covered her face. Nami stood slowly.

"The girl does still breathe." She said, "You, however, won't." Akage smirked, his eyes glowing brighter than ever.

"So you'd kill your lover? How perfect." He taunted. Nami smirked.

"The thing about phoenixes is that they always rise from the ashes." She said calmly. Akage's face went pale. Nami took the opportunity and moved forward at an inhuman speed. She covered the distance between her and Akage in a fraction of a second. Her fist slammed hard into his stomach and it sent him sliding backwards. Nami pushed the attack. It was all Akage could do to block and dodge the relentless assault. Nami didn't take long in breaking down this defense and got a punch in across Akage's jaw. He was sent flying and slammed into the ground hard. Nami moved quickly and pinned him down with her knee. She took two fingers and places them on Akage's forehead. Blue light erupted on contact. It was exceedingly bright and blinded Sai momentarily.

Once the light had faded and Sai could see again. She scanned the area where Nami had just delivered the blow to Akage. They were both still there, but Nami was lying limp onto of an also limp Akage.

"Dammit!" Sai yelled in frustration. She sprinted over to where the two were and rolled Nami off of Akage. Sai checked their necks to see if either had a pulse. Both did. She sighed in relief.

"They're just unconscious." She thought to herself, "That's good, but now I'm going to have to carry them both until they wake up." Sai picked both of them up and threw them over her shoulder and then kept walking down the hall.

"I was right." Sai muttered to herself, "Today does suck."