Chapter Four: Trust and Loyalty
The walk to the entrance to Maze Castle was uneventful. It seemed that either Kainna's attack or the flash that emitted from Hiei and Kurama when they teleported in scared off any unwanted visitors for the whole walk. It was awkwardly silent in the group, Kuwabara was clearly still pissed off with Hiei, and grumbled to himself for most of the way. Eventually, they made it to the entrance of the castle. It was a tunnel whose entrance looked like the opening of a screaming mouth with two slits for a nose and two eye holes above it. Kainna looked at it with amusement.
"Well, they seem like a theatrical sort of bunch." Kainna commented as she looked inside the tunnel with the others.
"I don't know why you would say that, this feels just like home." Yusuke joked back. Kainna rolled her eyes playfully in response.
"I guess we'll just walk right in?" Kuwabara looked worriedly down the tunnel, as if something was going to come out and bite him
"Any prize worth winning requires risk." Kurama murmured in response.
"I say we make them come out here and fight us upfront like they're not a bunch of sissies." Kuwabara barked with confidence. Kainna now rolled her eyes with annoyance, both her and Hiei scoffed at the same moment. Kainna looked over at him with surprise, his eyes finding hers for moment before hastily looking away.
"Your sense of strategy is amazing." Hiei words dripped with sarcasm. Kainna grinned at the comment.
"You know what the word strategy means, right?" Kainna asked Kuwabara, her question egging him on even more. Hiei smirked at her comment, enjoying her humor as well. Kuwabara glared at Kainna but moved on quickly to Hiei who was smirking at him.
"Are you laughing at me, runt boy?" Kuwabara raised his fist towards Hiei, which annoyed Yusuke even further.
"Let's just go!" He growled, annoyed with his 'perfect' team. They walked down the corridor and almost made it to the end when suddenly an eyeball with wings startled them all. And what confused Kainna the most, was that it was speaking.
"Welcome to Maze castle. Those who enter must be judged by the Gate of Betrayal." The eyeball spoke to them all.
"Judged, how?" Yusuke asked the eyeball, but the eyeball simply turned back around and flew down the corridor. It opened a panel to the wall and pulled the lever that appeared behind it. Kainna summoned her yoki to her hands and feet until they were covered with a thick coat in preparation of whatever was going to happen. She heard some sort of mechanism moving around behind the castle walls as everything started to shake. They all had a moment to look around before realizing that the ceiling was falling. It crashed down on them, all of them crouched to support the slab of stone with their hands. Kainna grunted from the sudden shock of weight. She felt one of her shoulders crack from the pressure before focusing more energy into her palm and relieving some of the weight. She was happy to feel that it was just the sound of cracking at the sudden weight, not anything actually cracking inside her.
"Heavy, isn't it?" The eyeball taunted them. Kainna ignored it for now, focusing on keeping her energy steady so she wouldn't use too much until they figured out a solution. She shifted her palms and spread her fingers wider.
"Are you alright?" Kurama asked Kainna, noticing she seemed to be shifting a lot. He was the only one who could see her, as it was Yusuke first, then Kuwabara alongside Hiei while Kurama and Kainna had brought up the rear. Kainna was just slightly in front of Kurama.
Hiei heard Kurama, a need to look back at Kainna took hold of him but he held it off. If she couldn't support her own weight at the first task then she wasn't meant to be here.
"Oh yea, I'm fine. Just getting comfortable." Kainna responded with a huff. Hiei smirked, although her words were coated in sarcasm, he didn't hear her struggling like he assumed he would.
"There is a catch, there is enough leeway for one of you to escape before the rest of your friends are crushed. But decisions must be made quickly, or all of you will be crushed by the weight. Only the traitor among you is allowed to enter Maze castle." The eyeball continued to taunt them before flying over to the lever.
"I'd like to get my hands on that thing." Kuwabara lunged forwards, forgetting that he was holding up the ceiling. Kainna grunted as more weight came down on her. She adjusted her strength again.
"Stay focus or you'll kill us all!" Hiei yelled over at Kuwabara. Kainna snickered at the two breathlessly, finding it amusing that they would continue to argue through this.
"I bet I'm holding up more weight than you are." Kuwabara retaliated. Kainna rolled her eyes at his stupidness, if he was holding up more than that's all the reason not to get distracted.
"Shut up Kuwabara."
"Well I'm not going to die for you useless humans." Hiei grumbled. Kurama seemed affronted by what Hiei was saying.
"Hiei, don't say that."
"If anyone wants to betray me I'll drag him back here myself." Kuwabara yelled at the group.
"I suppose you would think all of us dying together is honorable?" At Hiei's statement Kainna huffed at the boys arguing around her, this was getting nowhere.
"Enough! I'm not going to die here." Kainna growled with authority surprising all of them into silence. "We just need someone fast enough to get over there and pull the lever. I can easily cover someone else to escape with my energy, just let me know when." Hiei was surprised at her claim, although he could see her aura around her body, he could hardly feel any of her yoki, what was she talking about?
"I don't think you could-" Kuwabara started to argue but Yusuke interrupted.
"Trust me, she can. Hiei, you're a lot faster than any of us. Tell Kainna a moment before you go and run out to the switch and flip it."
"You trust him? He doesn't care about us!" Kuwabara complained.
"Your ugly friend is right-" Kainna coughed up laughter behind him, trying to hold it back at his insult at Kuwabara but only causing her to cough instead. "Are you sure you want to trust me? I did warn you I was going to enact my revenge on you. Why not right now?" Hiei questioned Yusuke's trust. Kainna waited, curious as well what reasons Yusuke would give. Kainna had never met Hiei before and was interested to see what Yusuke's opinion was of him.
"Yea, but I don't think you'd want to win like this. I trust you." Yusuke turned to look at Hiei, a certain glint in his eye. Kainna waited impatiently, wanting Hiei to give her the signal.
"Ok, I'm going." Was all the warning Hiei gave Kainna before he darted off. The warning was just enough, Kainna pushed more of her energy to her palms feeling it push against the weight of the stone. The other three felt the weight increase for a second before the pressure got a fraction lighter than before. Kainna was supporting what Hiei was holding and a little more. But Kainna wasn't going to deplete her energy, she kept it as low as possible, letting the others still hold their own. She might be needed later on after all.
She watched as Hiei reached the lever within seconds before hesitating. The eyeball was trying to manipulate Hiei into leaving them behind. Kainna was too busy concentrating at keeping her energy level that she couldn't speak, if Hiei were to turn on them she might have to use all her energy just to get them out. She closed her eyes to concentrate better. She heard Hiei laughing before hearing the eyeball talk.
"A wise choice, the boulder would have crushed you anyways." The eyeball admitted. Kainna's eyes opened, the sentence breaking through her concentration. He would be crushed if he helped them?
"Thanks for the clue." Hiei grinned and slashed the eyeball with his sword. He pulled the lever, stopping the weight and reversing the ceiling as a boulder quickly came down on top of him. Kainna stopped her energy flow once the ceiling moved up high enough that she could run out to the boulder. Maybe if she made it in time, she could save him.
They exited the gate to see Hiei standing on top of the boulder, the eyeball with wings flapping pathetically around him. Kainna quickly pushed energy into her feet, launching herself up towards Hiei as he spoke to the eyeball.
"Tell your masters, this is their chance to beg for mercy." Hiei's threat sent pleasant shivers down her spine. A light blush coated her cheeks as she realized she was attracted to the power Hiei voice indicated. Only a little. Kainna lied to herself as Hiei turned to look at her.
"Are you alright? Do you need any healing?" She asked as she looked him over to see if the boulder had made contact anywhere. He was surprised she exhausted even more energy to jump up there for him. Not only did she support her own weight and his, she was still willing to give up even more energy to heal him. Not like he needed it. But he felt an odd warmth at the thought.
"I'm fine, the boulder didn't even come close. There was no need to worry." He brushed off her offer, turning his back towards her as he looked down towards the team.
"You're my teammate, of course I'm going to worry." Hiei froze hearing the sentiment in her voice. Besides Kurama, he never had a teammate that cared. He glanced back, seeing a happy smile on her face as the wind blew her hair back in wisps. His mind went blank for a moment as he stared at her before he quickly snapped out of it.
"I don't get hurt too often, you should worry more about the others." He diverted the attention off of him before jumping down to rejoin the team. Kainna rolled her eyes at the stubborn demon before following him. They both landed gracefully, with hardly a sound. Kainna looked over at Yusuke and smiled.
"No one was injured." She explained. Yusuke grinned and grabbed his bicep.
"Speak for yourself, I can't feel my arms right now." Yusuke complained.
"Well, suck it up. I'm not wasting energy because you decided to sleep in when Genkai was training us." Kainna teased. Yusuke grinned at her words and turned his attention to Hiei.
"I knew you'd save us, Hiei. You punk." Kainna looked over at Hiei and was surprised to see him pouting a bit, almost like he was bashful being called out in a positive light. Kainna thought it was cute... Wait. She blinked. What was with her, it must be because he was the only other demon around. Yusuke approached Hiei and patted him on the shoulder. "Hell of an actor, you almost had me fooled. Not everyone can laugh at their dying friends."
"Heh." Hiei scoffed at Yusuke's words, dismissing them and the uncomfortable feeling he was getting. "Friends are a crutch for the weak. And I wasn't acting. The only reason I saved you is because I might need your help." He walked away from the group, disappearing behind the boulder.
"That's his way of saying you're welcome. You'll learn." Kurama explained for the group.
"It's nice to have a translator around, I would have sworn he hated us." She grinned at Kurama who smiled back. He had been wondering what Kainna's role was in the team, but hearing her inform Yusuke of the team's health connected the dots in his mind. She was the team's healer, and fighter it seemed.
"Well, I still don't like him." Kuwabara complained. Kainna rolled her eyes, something she seemed to do a lot when Kuwabara spoke.
"He might not have the same way of expressing his loyalty as you do, Kuwabara. But that doesn't mean he's wrong with how he does it." Kainna defended the demon who, unknown to her, was listening on the other side of the boulder, waiting for them to catch up. Hiei's ears perked at her voice, his eyes staring at the ground at what she said. A feeling of guilt overcame him as he thought of how he doubted her, meanwhile she stood up for him. But he had a reason to doubt her. He didn't know how she had that much energy when all he could sense was a minuscule amount coming from her. Was she hiding it? And if so, why? No, it was best he kept his guard up. He didn't know what tricks she might be pulling.
The group continued walking through the castle, everyone quiet and trying to listen for anymore traps that they might fall into. A loud ring broke through the silence, causing Kainna to jump and let out a small wave of energy past her tight control. Hiei felt a wave of refreshing cool aura, like a small breeze on a beach, giving his energy a spark of adrenaline. He looked over at the demon in surprise, she didn't seem to notice the wave of rejuvenation she dispersed. Instead, she focused on the small screen in Yusuke's hand. What kind of demon was she?
"Hey Yusuke! It's Botan here in the human realm. Can you hear me?" Botan's voice travelled easily through the communicator. Kainna was happy to know that Botan was still safe, it would be a shame if she got hurt because they were taking too long.
"Hey Botan." Kuwabara pushed Yusuke out of frame of the communicator and took it closer to him. "This is the brave Kuwabara here, I'm taking great care of Urameshi." He tried to come off sounding cool but Kainna couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. Kuwabara looked back at her, annoyed that she was laughing at him.
"I'm sorry, but you were willing to have us all die together. How does that translate to 'taking care of Urameshi'?" Kainna called out Kuwabara in front of the group, a blush of embarrassment covered Kuwabara face. Hiei chuckled at the human's embarrassment. At least there was another demon here not afraid to call him out on his lies.
Botan continued talking, ignoring the squabble between Kuwabara and Kainna. She continued to explain how the insects were taking control of depressed humans. She complained that she found only fifteen out of the thousands when Kuwabara again tried to take the communicator. Yusuke punched Kuwabara a couple of times in the face, successfully keeping it with him while Kuwabara stood by bruised and dazed.
"You have to hurry up, Yusuke."
"Yea? Well this castle isn't exactly easy to navigate."
"That's 'cause no one has done it before."