Chapter 9: Byakko vs Kuwabara
Hayami's POV
After running up the castle towers' stairs, we stopped for a small break.
"Kurama, how terrible is that wound?" Yusuke asked in concern,
"Well, it doesn't hurt as much, though the mark is still there. Just as long as I can walk, I'll be all right." Kurama said before smiling back at me, "Though I do have Hayami to thank for that."
"It'll hold for now." I said, "Better if we let my sister heal you up later. Her healing powers are much more superior to mine."
"Still, Kurama is still in no shape to fight." Hiei said, "Now we only have four fighters left and one of them is worthless."
'And you shouldn't be wasting your energy on healing wounds, Onna. Save your energy for when you will fight.' I heard Hiei say in my mind,
'You're starting to sound like Ranumi, you know.'
'Because you're becoming reckless. Not only am I babysitting these fools, but I'm also babysitting you.'
'Then you shouldn't have someone as your mate who's reckless.'
'Don't start, Hayami. I just don't want to lose you again.'
"Hey, don't be too hard on Hayami short stuff." Kuwabara said,
I raised an eyebrow at him crossing my arms. 'You haven't seen what else I could do, mister.'
"Maybe I'm going on a limb here, but I think he meant you." Yusuke said,
"Is that so? Then maybe I should show you something." Kuwabara said, "Well What in the world do you think I'm doing for the last six months while you're off training with Genkai? Letting you get better than me. Nuh-Uh." His hand began to glow as his spirit energy began to form. "SPIRIT SWORD!" An energy sword appeared in his hand as he showed it to us, specifically pointing it at the detective.
"Hey! Watch it!" He said,
"You see what I've learned Urameshi, I don't need to use the tip of that wooden sword to make it work anymore." Kuwabara said and chuckled, "It's just my pure energy. And I bet it can beat the crap out of your spirit gun."
"That depends on what finger I use." Yusuke said, showing his middle finger to him,
"Well, what do you think Hayami? Pretty impressive isn't it." Kuwabara said, posing at me,
I heard Hiei growl lightly at him. "I think..." I started and noticed the silly grin on his face of high expectations. Unfortunately, "... you're bragging too much." I looked away in annoyance as Kuwabara anime fell at my reply. "I've seen better." I mumbled,
"Well as it turns out, he's only partially worthless." Hiei smirked as he got closer to me.
"Okay...WANNA DIE?!" Kuwabara said, raising the sword at him,
"I dare you." He said with a slight smirk.
Kuwabara raised his spirit word until Yusuke went to stop him.
"Hey!" The detective yelled in warning,
"Yeah, yeah, let him live." Kuwabara said, pointing the tip of the sword at Hiei, "I bet he'll say sorry once he saw what else I can do. SWORD GET LONG!" He raised the sword up as the tip grew longer, creating a hole in the ceiling,
"Wow, it even comes with a spear attachment." Yusuke said sarcastically,
"Ha-ha, I can make it any size I want it to be." Kuwabara said as his spirit sword got smaller and disappeared from his hand. "I know when I saw Genbu, I was a little, what's that called: freaked, but that's not gonna happen from now on my friends." He pointed his thumb to himself, "Because Kuwabara got the good stuff." He then flinched and fell on his back on the floor. "Don't worry guys. Sometimes the sword makes me a little dizzy." He said,
Yusuke bends down to him, "You're not making us look good." He said to the orange buffoon.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Like I said: 'You're bragging too much'." I said, as my water mirror appeared again, only to see Ranumi alone this time.
"Everyone you've got to hurry!" Ranumi said and gasped,
"Ranumi, what's wrong?" Yusuke asked,
"Listen Yusuke, I think the saint beast just launch another wave of insects. I just found a small group near the kindergarten." She said reported to us.
"They're taking over kids now. I thought they would only go for depressed people." Yusuke said,
"Well, that's because depressed people are more easily influenced, that goes the same for children." Ranumi explained, "But if the bugs go into them, I'm afraid..." she screamed and started running.
"Okay, I get it. You're afraid, now finish your sentence." Yusuke said,
"Sorry Yusuke, but right now I'm being chased!" Ranumi said,
"You're being chased? By whom?!" I asked worriedly,
"Another victim under the control of those stupid insects." Ranumi said as she showed the person who is chasing her. "And this one really wants a kill."
"Ranumi just keep running!" I practically yelled from worry as I just stood there and watch.
I felt Hiei hold my hand tightly in reassurance, which helped me ease a little bit.
Ranumi entered a small building, slamming the door behind her. "I've knocked out the other victims just by sneaking up on them." She said as a fist went through the door.
"Well can't you call for help or something!" Yusuke said in concern,
"Or run away." Kuwabara said,
Kurama went closer to the water mirror in worry for my sister. Ranumi started to run but the guy burst from the door and grabbed her shoulders.
"RANUMI!" We all yelled in concern for her.
She created a small bubble-filled water and threw it onto his face, causing the guy to back away to wipe away the water, giving Ranumi a chance to punch him twice in the face, and knock the guy down.
Me and Kurama sighed in relief to see that she was all right.
"Wow, you got him." Yusuke said, as someone entered the building, "Hey, watch out!"
"It's okay, that's our father." I said looking at my father who hugged Ranumi.
"THAT'S YOUR DAD?!" Both Yusuke and Kuwabara yelled,
"Yes, Yusuke. I'm their father." Father said as he looked at the water mirror,
"Just so you know, I'm not making a career out of this!" Ranumi said,
"All of you must go and destroy that whistle before we have to fight the entire city." Father said,
"Right." Yusuke said,
Suddenly a loud roar was heard as our surroundings started to shake until it stopped.
"I don't know what kind of monster made that sound, but I got a hunch it's our next enemy." Kuwabara said,
"Hayami..." Ranumi tried you speak,
"I'm sorry but we have to go." I said making the water mirror disappear.
Another loud roar was again from in front of us, causing the ceiling to crumble.
"That...is Byakko. And he doesn't sound very pleased." Kurama said,
"Let's go!" Yusuke said as we all started running towards the loud roar while the ceiling was now falling apart above our heads.
"This is dangerous!" Kuwabara yelled,
Third POV
They all run up the tower stairs, ending up outside on an arena-like battlefield with the next beast standing on a podium tower, above the battlefield.
"Tiger." Hiei said as they all stared at the second saint beast.
Kuwabara was sweating in fear as he saw the beast in front of them.
"Intruders will pay for getting far into my territory." Byakko said, roaring at the end.
"He's huge!" Kuwabara said,
"It's a pity they don't have him in a zoo." Yusuke said, sarcastically,
"Hn. I'll go." Hiei said,
"Back off! Didn't I said that I'll be taking him." Kuwabara said to Hiei as he walked forward.
Byakko growled at him. "Do not think you're dominant just because you tore apart Genbu. He was weak!" He said, "He could talk into the city by crawling through their castle wall, that is why we didn't kill him ourselves."
He clenched his fist as the thirst for killing is seen in his eyes. "But I am a real beast. I've been encased in this place for too long. Without prey. Without bones. Without blood! Until now. HUMANS! I will rip you apart and eat you myself!" He yelled,
"Gee how nice." Yusuke said sarcastically,
"Hayami." Byakko called her, making Hiei pull her behind him, "I'm going to enjoy ripping apart the daughter of the great Lady Wakumi." He said as Hiei growled at him. "Hiei. Kurama. I'll feed your bodies to the Fugaki!" He roared, crumbling the area as every falling stone falls to the ground.
Hiei pulled Hayami near him, preventing her from falling. They were all high up from the ground.
"Apparently this guy likes to break things with the sound of his own voice." Yusuke said,
"It's a long trip to the ground. I'll send you all with my roar unless you fight me." Byakko said, "Of course, your weak bodies will be destroyed either way."
Kuwabara was still trembling from fear, but still, try to put up a brave face. "Monster, I'll take you myself!" He said as Yusuke place a hand on his shoulder.
"Kuwabara." Yusuke tried to reason with him.
"Back off!" He pushed the detective away,
"Damn it." Yusuke muttered,
"Do you really think you can beat him?" Hiei asked, still not believing in his skills,
"Well, of course, half pipe!" Kuwabara said to Hiei. "In fact, I'm not scared at all." He tried to look good as his legs starts to tremble.
"Liar." Hayami smirked as she noticed his trembling legs.
"Then I guess your legs are shaking out of eagerness." Yusuke jokes to him.
"LEAVE ME ALONE URAMESHI, I'M JUST SCARED OF HEIGHTS!" Kuwabara yelled at him as he started to walk forward on the narrow platform that was caused by Byakko's roar.
"This isn't the time to pretend you're tough." Yusuke said between his teeth as he stared at the trembling Kuwabara.
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" He yelled at him and continued to walk forward.
"Think he can handle it?" Hayami asked Yusuke,
"I'm not really sure, but he better be before I save his ass." Yusuke said,
"You don't believe you can overpower me with just one human don't you." Byakko said as he stared at his opponent,
"Let's fight, Byakko Monster!" Kuwabara said to him,
Byakko then started to laugh at him and said that he could just easily kill Kuwabara by using his mane. Kuwabara scoffed at it until Byakko pulled four strands of his hair and created them into four large green monsters.
'W-Well, I guess he wasn't joking about the hair.' Kuwabara thought as he stared that the hungry-looking monsters.
Byakko then explained that the beasts are a small part of him and that the monsters are thirsty for blood. One made a scratch on Kuwabara, catching him off guard as he yelled in pain.
The others were worried about the sudden wound Kuwabara received. He then summoned his spirit sword as he charged one of the monsters but was attacked from either side as he kept swinging his sword and getting himself injured at the same time.
"He has no strategy." Hiei said feeling offended as he watches the fight, "He's just swinging his sword with the grace of a fly swatter, that's no way to survive."
"Kuwabara! Let me take them instead!" Yusuke yelled at him, "I know you wanna fight them but there are too many of them to swing a sword at! My shotgun blast just makes more sense, okay! Come on Kuwabara, please!" He pleaded as Kuwabara is continuously being attacked by the beasts.
Byakko just laugh at the scene and just suggested to let them all fight him at once.
"Okay, Kuwabara! I don't care if you're a tree or not! I'm coming in!" Yusuke said as he was about to walk forward,
"Stay right there! I'm not asking for help and if you come here, I swear I'll turn this sword on you." Kuwabara said looking back at his teammates, "I'm not a wimp, Urameshi. And I'm not gonna stop until Byakko comes here and kills me himself."
"Don't say that!" Yusuke said,
Kuwabara ignored him and continued to fight as he just kept receiving injuries from the monsters. Yusuke clenched his fists as he ran forward.
"Yusuke!" Hayami called out for him,
"Hey, don't die for being stubborn you dope! Let me take over!" Yusuke said as he stopped midway, "There's no way you could beat all four of them by just swinging your sword around. Think about it!"
Kuwabara then realized something as he decided to run back to the narrow bridge towards his team.
"There, you see. In the end, the fool runs away." Hiei said,
"He won't make it." Kurama said,
"Don't worry, I'll go in once he screams for help." Yusuke said,
"I don't think he needs to make it. Either way, I think he might a plan after all." Hayami said, seeing what Kuwabara was attempting to do.
"Ha-ha, you know you can't escape." Byakko said as Kuwabara came to a stop,
"Who said anything about escaping." Kuwabara said as he turned around to see the four monsters aligned, "SWORD GET LONGER!" He pointed the sword in front of the first beast's mouth as the sword went through it, the same with the other three monsters as they were all attached to the sword.
Everyone gasped at the sight as they saw this.
"It's true I couldn't win by just swinging my sword around. But I could win once I got them all lined up." Kuwabara said,
"Nice one, Kuwabara." Yusuke compliments,
Hiei lowly chuckled, "Yes, he actually did something clever." He said,
"Watch it Hiei." Kuwabara said as he turned his head towards him, "No use getting jealous on me just because I'm good!" He said cockily,
Hayami sighed and rolled her eyes. "Maybe, but what do you plan on doing with them now?" She asked,
"I don't know! They just become some monster beast shishkabob now." Kuwabara said unsurely,
Byakko then gave his beast some of his energy as they turned red and started to chase Kuwabara. Kuwabara yelped and continued to run towards his team, still having the beasts attached to his spirit sword.
Hiei grabbed Hayami's arm and pulled her right beside him as Kuwabara starts to run around the tower building. "Do you think he knows it's a circle?" He asked sarcastically as they watched Kuwabara about to come around the other side.
Kuwabara then chained the end of his spirit sword, trapping the beasts around the tower.
"Now that's a little move I like to call 'The spirit sword monster beast donut'." Kuwabara said as they all looked at the trapped beasts,
"Ugh, idiot." Hiei said,
"I think 'monster beast donut' is a perfect name." Kurama said,
"Anyone wanna take a bite out of this or what?" Hayami asked jokingly,
Yusuke chuckled, "Excuse me, sir, I don't like this one. Do have chocolate with sprinkles?" He also joked and fist bumped with Hayami as they all looked at a very pissed Byakko.
"My own prey mocks me?" Byakko said as he clenched his fist. "I will not tolerate this!"
"Well, you better because you're gonna have to tolerate a lot more!" Kuwabara said to him.
"My own prey. I cannot allow this disgrace to continue!" Byakko said as he roared, causing a lightning strike to hit the tower, making it crumble and killing his own beast in the process.
Kuwabara walked back to the battlefield but got shaken up when Byakko towered him. He brought out his spirit sword and started slashing Byakko, but as he kept swinging, the saint beast just kept absorbing his spirit energy, causing Byakko to expand his body bigger.
"This is bad." Hayami said looking at the situation Kuwabara is in,
"Yes." Kurama agreed,
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked,
"Trying looking closely at the two fighters." Hiei said as Yusuke looked at the two fighters. "Judging from the attacks, Kuwabara obviously has the upper hand. But by the looks of them, it's like Kuwabara is the one taking all the blows." He explained,
"In other words, Byakko is absorbing Kuwabara's spirit energy." Hayami said,
"How can you tell?" Yusuke asked,
"Look at his sword, it's the size of a dagger." Hayami said as she pointed out the small sword.
Kuwabara kept attacking Byakko with his spirit sword as he kept absorbing it. Causing Kuwabara to almost collapse on the ground from the loss of spirit energy. After a few more attacks from Kuwabara, Byakko's body suddenly stopped growing as his stomach was starting to get full.
"I don't think I can crack up jokes about this." Yusuke said, "Kuwabara is really gonna die."
"No, there is a way." Kurama said,
"Well then say it." He said,
"Byakko's body stopped expanding halfway through that attack." Kurama explained, "That indicates vulnerability."
"So, you're saying he has a weakness." Yusuke said,
"Don't get the boy's hopes up, Kurama." Hiei said crossing his arms,
"I'm simply saying that there is still a chance." Kurama said,
"Yes, Kurama, perhaps if you were the one fighting." Hiei said, "But that fool will never be able to see it."
"Or maybe he has already noticed it." Hayami said,
"What does that have to mean?" Yusuke asked,
"How about you related this when you eat too many cheeseburgers, and you start to get a tummy ache because there isn't any room in your stomach." She stated crossing her arms and looking at the detective annoyingly,
Yusuke scratches his head in embarrassment as he remembered eating so many cheeseburgers that he had to go to the bathroom.
"I see your point...Kind of." He said,
Kuwabara then gave all his spirit energy to Byakko as his body collapsed on the floor.
"Ahh, you filled me up so much I don't think I have enough room to eat you now." Byakko said, rubbing his full stomach, "Oh well, I'll squish you instead!" He was about to step on Kuwabara and froze and stepped back. "What's happening?"
"It's like what my sister always says: 'It's not good to eat too much food in one sitting." Kuwabara said sitting up,
"Sister Huh? I guess that explains a lot." Yusuke said, nudging Hayami's arm as he playfully hits him.
Byakko then started to stumble around and then an explosion came, causing him to fall after the sudden release of spirit energy.
"Down he goes!" Yusuke said,
"The amount of spirit energy that Byakko contained was too much for his body could handle." Kurama said,
"More like an awful case of gas!" Yusuke laughed at his joke,
"Quiet Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled at him. "I'm trying to concentrate here. I have to breathe in the guy's fumes. It's filled with my spirit energy." He said,
"Actually, your spirit energy returned to you automatically." Kurama said as they walked up to him,
"Oh, well you can never be too careful." Kuwabara said in embarrassment as he scratched his head,
"Hey! I don't know what you're doing staying on the ground for Kuwabara. I haven't even broken a sweat." Yusuke said,
"Very funny Urameshi." Kuwabara said to him sarcastically, "You're taking the next one."