Im sorry it took so long for me to update! Between school and work, I don't have much free time anymore! Thank you EarthsProtector for your awesome review!
"Nepenthes..a species of carnivorous plants" Youko commented. Cheza stared uneasily at the alien looking plants in front of her. These plants were similar to ones she had seen in the human world. They had long narrow stems which were accompanied by a large broad pitcher like body. They each made odd gurgling noises, as well as hissing noises.
Turning to her left Cheza noticed another set of plants, these too appeared similar to a species of plant in the human world. "Dionaea Muscipula, don't get close. They are extremely aggressive" Youko warned. These plants had giant football looking mouths, filled with razor sharp teeth. Their outer shell colored lime green, while their insides glistened a bright red in the sunlight.
"Oww!" Cheza spun around after feeling something bite her leg. A patch of sunflowers swayed in the breeze, each one was now hissing at her. Youko glared at the plants, they immediately stopped hissing and began to whimper. Squinting her eyes Cheza walked past Youko, completely forgetting about the rabid sunflower that had bit her . "hey…what is that?" Youko's golden irises flickered in the direction she was looking, " I can't tell from here, but I believe it may be a pond"
"Well lets check it out!" Cheza exclaimed. The two resumed their trek through the mysterious flower world until they came upon it, a little pond. Walking to the edge of the pond, Cheza stared into the water, a vortex occupied the center of it. Before either one could say anything, ripples began to appear in the water followed by an ear shattering lion like roar. She could feel the ground shaking beneath her feet, "I don't like the sound of that." Youko's eye narrowed as the creature made its appearance.
Cheza's eyes widened, "A gigantic nep..nepen..what did you say they were called!?" "Nepenthes…" Youko replied while pulling a rose from his hair. " Why is it coming after us!?" Cheza replied while taking a step back behind Youko. Youko frowned as he glanced down at Cheza's leg, "You're bleeding."
The little demented sunflower had done more damage than she had originally thought. There was not much blood, but apparently enough to attract blood thirsty plants. The plant lunged forward, managing to avoid Youko and hitting its intended target. Cheza screamed as she was thrown into the air and into the pond. She was helpless to escape the vortex centered in it, before she knew it she was being spun around and around. That was the last thing she remembered…..
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Cheza's eyes opened meeting with a pair flooded with worry. "Are you alright?" Cheza sat up with the help of Youko, "My head…hurts, but other than that…." Cheza began to shiver realizing for the first time they were no longer in the strange flower world. Youko placed an odd green tinted blanket around her, obviously he had made it from some sort of plant. "I don't know where we are kitten, but this is no place for us to stay." Any direction she turned, all she could see was snow. The only landscape that appeared different was a frozen lake off in the distance. "Maybe there's another vortex in that lake over there.." Cheza commented. Youko nodded, "I was thinking the same thing" Youko picked Cheza up and the two took off in a silver blur, reaching the lake within a matter of seconds. He released Cheza from his arms, she walked to the edge of the frozen lake and glanced down. A startled scream escaped her lips."Whats wrong!?" Youko asked quickly joining her side. His eyes caught site of what had frightened her, there were hundreds…hundreds of frozen bodies beneath the iced over lake. Every single one had their eyes wide open, fear emanating from them. The whole lake was one gigantic icy tomb, what had killed all these innocent people. Clearly they were all human, at least in appearance. Youko grabbed Cheza's arm and pulled her away from the water's edge. "I want to go home! I don't want to be in any of these creepy worlds anymo" Youko placed a hand over Cheza's mouth and whispered, "Be quiet something's coming" Cheza's heart began to race, Youko had used the word "something" instead of "someone".
Much to her dismay the ground began to shake and soon a prehistoric creature emerged. "A…wooly mammoth!" The creatures large brown orbs stared curiously at the two, the cloudy look in them gave the impression that maybe the beast could not really see. Youko relaxed from his fighting stance a bit before turning to Cheza, "I don't believe it has any intention of hurting us" The creature began to run full speed towards them, "Are you sure about that!" she exclaimed. Youko resumed his fighting stance just as the beast skidded to a halt in front of them. Bending down on one knee and lowering its head, the two instantly knew what the beast was implying. "It..wants us to ride it?"
Youko picked Cheza up then jumped onto the back of the furry creature. The mammoth took off running full speed towards the side of a large mountain. "WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" Cheza screamed as she realized the beast was not slowing down. Cheza closed her eyes once they were mere inches away from crashing into it. "Open your eyes kitten" Slowly her eyes slid open, she found herself in a tunnel full of colorful swirling lights. "We're in some sort of portal" Youko informed. The mammoth continued to run forward, all the swirling lights were making Cheza dizzy.
The tunnel seemed endless, but eventually it did come to an end. Soon, the two found themselves in front of the tree of life once more. "You found her! You found her!" Both sets of eyes fell upon a familiar furry creature. The squirrel jumped up and down on a low branch, "I told Polo to go get you, I was getting worried!" "Polo?" Cheza questioned. "I'm assuming you're speaking about the wooly mammoth" Youko commented. The squirrel nodded its head eagerly, "Yes. Yes." Cheza looked around, "where did he go anyways?" The squirrel scurried up onto a higher branch, "He cannot leave his world for long or IT will come, he is tied to that frigid place" Youko moved forward closer to the rodent, "What is this "IT" you speak of?" The squirrel looked hesitant to reply, " No one likes to speak of "IT" but I will tell you, if "IT" finds you, you will die" Cheza frowned, "Is that what happened to all those people…."
The squirrel leaped from the tree and landed on Cheza's shoulder, "You've seen them!? The frozen tomb!? No one has ever been able to find it" "How could no one find it? It's in plain site! Polo saw it, he had to of.." The squirrel jumped up onto Cheza's head, its bushy tail swiftly moving back and forth.
" Polo is blind, he cannot see anything. Even if he could, the inhabitants of these nine worlds are blind to "ITS" magic. There is a spell that keeps the place hidden" Cheza glared at the squirrel as it jumped off her head and back onto the tree, "Why would anyone want to find that place anyways"
"Those are our loved ones…our masters and friends are down there. They may have already passed, but we would still like to give them a proper farewell."
The squirrel jumped up onto a higher branch, " Now that you've found "ITS" tomb, "IT" will come for you."
The squirrels statement sent chills down Cheza's spine, "what do..."
Cheza stopped midsentence as everything around the three began to shake. Youko grabbed a hold of Cheza as the shaking became more violent. Was "IT" coming!? Cheza watched with terrified eyes as a violent wind picked up and began to shake the tree. Blackness overtook everything, a tingling sensation took over her body, soon she found herself in a familiar place staring into a pair of glaring red eyes….
"Hiei!" Cheza exclaimed. She had never been so happy to see him in her life! Cheza turned to see if Youko was beside her, expecting to meet with a pair of golden orbs she was taken aback when her eyes met with a familiar emerald pair. "Hey! You're back to normal Kurama!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "Hn! aren't you the insightful one" Hiei wise-cracked. "Why you little…" Kurama put himself between the bickering pair, " I see you have found a way to release us from the lamp" Hiei eyed the lamp sitting on Koenma's desk as Kuwabara responded to Kurama's statement, "Boton found some old book in the spirit world library, it explained how to get you guys out and everything. I gotta tell ya, that book has some freaky pictures in it." Kurama raised an eyebrow at his comment, "May I see this book?"
"Boton has brought it to Genkai's, she knew you would want to see it" Koenma piped up. Cheza frowned, he was being awful quiet…something was clearly on his mind. "I am glad to see you are both okay, now I must get back to work! So shoo!"
A portal appeared beneath the duo's feet, without any warning the four fell through.
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Cheza leaned against Kurama's shoulder, the two were on his bed looking through the book Kuwabara had spoken of. The image of the poor lifeless people beneath the frozen lake came back to haunt her as she stared at the picture before her. The book's drawings depicted the image in her head perfectly, all the way down to the terror emanating from those poor peoples eyes. Flipping the page Kurama stiffened, an image of a creature is what had caused his anguish. Cheza knew right away this creature was the "IT" the squirrel had been speaking of.
Kurama quickly shut the book, not wanting Cheza to read the small paragraph written beside the picture. "Hey I wanted to read tha…" The look in Kurama's eyes was enough to cause Cheza to stop speaking abruptly. "It's getting late, we should try to get some rest" Cheza nodded, "umm..okay…"
Kurama turned off the light and slipped beneath the covers next to Cheza. She wasn't sure she would be able to sleep, but she closed her eyes nonetheless. A million thoughts were racing through both of their heads…