Chapter Seven: Byakko's Back
After Kuwabara's battle Botan called to try and hurry the team along. But they didn't get far before a familiar howl once again erupted around them. Byakko spoke to the group through the castle, leading them down a corridor. At the end stood an iron door that opened into a hot room filled with lava. It looked like the entrance to hell. It had various platforms of different sizes leading across the room and in the center was Byakko, standing proudly and not at all injured.
"This is my play room. So... which one of you will be the next to challenge me?" Byakko spoke confidently to the group. Yusuke furrowed his eyebrows, his anger at the situation clear.
"Kainna?" He said her name like a question but she responded as if it were an order. She materialized her bow, her sling of arrows appearing on her back. Hiei noticed the arrows had different colored markings on the wood, as if each arrow was marked for a purpose. She plucked one that had a purple stamp and nocked her arrow.
"This doesn't count as my fight; I'm just cleaning up the leftovers." Her body glowed while a small vortex of wind circled the tip of the arrowhead. Kainna was about the release her arrow when Kuwabara stepped in front of her. She dispelled her energy as quickly as she could while shooting down into the lava to avoid hitting Kuwabara, cursing all the while. She fell onto her ass from the shift in positions.
"What the fu-"
"Hold on Kainna, I thought I was his opponent." Kuwabara talked over her, ignoring the panic he just caused her. "You hear me Byakko, this time I'm beating you up in ways the vet can't even heal." Kainna sat on the ground, her legs crossed while leaning back on her hands with her bow on her lap. She hung her head back, staring at the ceiling trying not to get too angry at him. But the heat was not helping.
"Idiot, you fought well enough. You should let Kainna handle this one so that way you can rest in the small chance we need you later." They both looked down at Kainna, whose cheeks were getting rosy from the heat.
"I'm sorry Hiei but I can't do that, Byakko is mine. I have a code which means I have to finish a fight, even if the risk is me loosing my own life." Kuwabara stood proudly but then glanced back down. "Uh- besides, Kainna looks a bit winded." Kuwabara turned his attention back to Byakko while Hiei paid more mind to Kainna.
"That arrow couldn't have caused you to be that winded?" Hiei questioned the demoness. He would normally assume that with his other teammates, but by now he was used to being surprised by this woman.
"No." Kainna huffed in annoyance. "I didn't even use the energy I was building up. Moon demons don't do well with heat. A sudden hit of heat from a fire demon is fine" Hiei's eyes flashed, but Kainna was too distracted to notice. "-we can withstand it, but a gradual and persistent heat affects us more. We are moon demons after all. Thats why I wanted to shoot him and be done with this room as quickly as possible." Kainna grumbled.
"I'm coming! You impatient hairball." Kuwabara yelled. Kainna moved her posture higher to watch Kuwabara leap forwards. He jumped onto the nearest platform which instantly crumbled beneath his foot. Kainna grabbed her bow, becoming more alert now despite the light-headiness she was feeling.
Kuwabara barely made it, he gripped the side of the platform desperately as he climbed it.
"Kuwabara, are you sure you don't want me to tag in?" Yusuke called out to his friend, but Kuwabara wouldn't have it. Instead, Yusuke looked at Kainna. "You have anything in there that would save him from falling?" Kainna looked away in thought.
"If he gets close enough to the other side, I have something that would send a force great enough to get him the rest of the way." Kainna looked through her arrows before finding the one she needed. Kurama looked closely at her arrows.
"I sense some energy coming from the arrows, why do you put more in when you shoot?" Kurama asked politely. Kainna nocked her arrow loosely, only settling it against her string while Kuwabara was still climbing the platform. She turned her head slightly to look at the two demons behind her.
"They have energy inside them already so that way when I shoot I can either save my energy or build up on it. They each are classified by their different colors, so I know if I have added poisons or explosives and how I intended to use it when I crafted it." Kainna explained easily. Hiei heard and understand everything she said, but his eyes couldn't remove themselves from her face while she talked. She had her normal smile on her face, but her cheeks were rosy, her skin had a slight sheen of sweat from the humidity of the room giving it a glistening look. A few stray hairs stuck to her face, giving her a delicious disheveled look. Hiei thought it looked... Kainna turned her head forwards to watch Kuwabara, breaking Hiei's stare and releasing him from the spell and yet, he stared at the back of her head, hoping she would turn around again.
"I'm on top of this! I just got distracted because it's so damn hot in here." Kuwabara took off his shift. Kainna wrinkled her nose but kept her mouth shut. She found it weird and felt uncomfortable when male fighters took off their shirts in battle, especially when they didn't need to remove the shirt. But in this case, Kainna couldn't argue with Kuwabara.
Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword, swinging in practice before taunting Byakko to attack him. Byakko gripped his throat as he pulled all his energy there. He launched an attack, a ball of energy came hurdling out towards Kuwabara.
"It does exist." Hiei murmured in astonishment. Kuwabara readied his sword like a bat, preparing to strike back the attack like a baseball. But Kurama's words stopped him.
"No! You must not touch it!" Kuwabara jumped out of the way, landing on a platform nearby. The platform he was previously standing on disintegrated along with his jacket.
"You like it? I call it my tiger scream. Anything it touches turns into a pile of ashes." Hiei walked closer to the edge, looking more interested in the fight before him.
"For years I heard of a fighter who could destroy molecular bonds with the vibrations of his voice. I never thought I would meet him." Hiei's new position was alongside Kainna now, who sat with her legs besides her with her bow on her lap. She was next to Yusuke, who looked over at Hiei.
"So, he can't use his spirit sword on it?" He asked the demon. Hiei glanced at him.
"No, using it would cause a chain reaction that would destroy his entire spirit."
Byakko launched attack after attack, forcing Kuwabara to jumped from platform to platform. Kainna watched closely, her arms tensed in case he fell. But he landed each jump and came closer and closer to Byakko. Byakko transferred his energy into his hands and shot his claw like daggers at him, hitting Kuwabara directly. Kuwabara was unfazed, he stood confidently in front of him.
"You surprise me." Byakko laughed.
"Get used to it, cause I'm not stopping until you die."
"Well, while you have been frantically running for your life I have ensnared you. Take a look around you, I have destroyed every pillar. You have no where to go except where I am standing on, and you might be able to reach me but then I'll kill you myself. Either burn up in the lava or be eaten by me." Kuwabara stepped towards the one platform he thought Byakko forgot about but Byakko destroyed it before he could even jump.
"Can you reach him, Kainna?" Yusuke asked. She had already taken aim while Byakko was talking.
"Yes, he should make it with my help."
"Hey, you guys better not do anything. I hear you guys whispering about rescuing me. I got this." Kainna still refused to put down her arrow,
"You think he has a plan?" Hiei asked the group.
"Maybe he is still devising one." Kurama answered. Kainna didn't speak, a drop of sweat slid down the side of her face, her kimono was falling further past her arms and collecting in her elbows, her tank top clung to her wet back. But with all that, she didn't move. If she missed her shot, Yusuke would never forgive her.
Byakko charged up his attack again forcing Kuwabara to jump towards him but he fell short. Kainna followed him with her arrow, giving him a few seconds to respond to the threat before she shot. But before he reached his time limit, Kuwabara summoned his sword and used it to bounce himself off the remains of a platform and onto Byakko's. Using the power from his jump he launched himself at Byakko and punched him off the platform. Luckily, Kainna hadn't relaxed yet. Kuwabara overestimated his jump and now was falling off the platform. Kainna adjusted her aim and pushed her energy into the arrow before letting it loose.
The arrow flew towards Kuwabara before disintergrating and become a ball of white energy. It blasted Kuwabara further and luckily landed him on a platform nearby.
"Good job Kainna!" Yusuke cheered. Kainna stood up now, wiping some sweat from her face causing her bangs to become messy.
"Yea... lets go check to see if he's alive before we celebrate." Kainna smiled nervously at Yusuke.
"What do you mean alive? I wanted you to save him, not kill him!" Yusuke yelled before jumping up ahead to check on his friend.
"I said I would get him across the platforms, I never said anything about him being alive." Kainna laughed nervously at the other two demons.
"That's more than I would have done." Hiei smirked. He motioned for her to jump first after Yusuke. She laced her feet with some energy and jumped on ahead. By the time she got to Kuwabara she wasn't feeling so good. Her mouth was dry, and she felt like her mind was little too foggy. But she was happy to see that Kuwabara was alive. In fact, when Kainna had got onto the platform he had jumped up as if energized.
"That was some blast Kainna, it sent really sent me flying! I would have been taking a lava bath right now if it wasn't for you. Thanks!" He opened his arms wide, as if to give her a hug. She backed up, looking fearfully at his arms. She was already feeling weak, Kuwabara's body temperature would just make her hotter and she didn't want to touch his sweaty skin. She needed to get out of this room, now. Hiei suddenly appeared in front of her, his sheathed sword pressing against Kuwabara's chest.
"Like she would want to hug you, ugly." Hiei had taken the opportunity to jump in front of Kainna when she had taken a step back. She didn't leave him much room to jump onto the platform after her, so he had to adjust. Especially when he noticed Kuwabara, the idiot. He had to intervene, she looked like she was fighting a losing battle against the heat. And Kuwabara was standing in between her and the exit. She needed to leave this place, and fast.
Kainna felt her stomach flip when Hiei appeared in front of her, she especially liked him threatening Kuwabara for her while she was too weak. But she was too dehydrated to thank him at the moment and when she spotted the exit a couple of platforms away, she ran around the two males and moved as quickly as she could towards the door. Kuwabara turned to look after her.
"Hey, what's her problem?" Hiei withdrew his sword and pushed passed Kuwabara.
"Moon demons are weak around heat. She needs to get out of here as fast as possible." Was all he said before he chased after her. Kuwabara stared after him with an annoyed look.
"And suddenly you care? I don't believe that punk." Kuwabara glared at the direction they took off.
Kurama stared after Hiei, a small smile on his face. He had a feeling Hiei was in the middle of a change. Saving them before at the gate of betrayal was the start of it. Hiei was slowly caring for something other than himself. Perhaps this was the team for him.
Kainna reached the other iron door in seconds. She went through it and carefully climbed the tunnel. At first, she felt very dizzy but as she walked it got cooler. She reached the top and walked out to a platform that overlooked the castle. She jumped the distance over to the stone railing, already having felt better being in a cooler climate, and pressed her face against the cool surface. She sighed as her face finally cooled down and the redness on her cheeks disappeared.
"You recover quickly." Hiei spoke from his spot across the platform, perched on the stone half wall, he had his leg up and his arm on his knee as if he had been there for ages. She had not noticed when he passed her. Hiei could already feel her energy, more obvious than before as if she had forgotten to hide it as it grew in power. His words reminded her of that and within seconds it was reduced to a low buzz.
Hiei frowned.
"It's going to be a full moon tonight, I guess being trapped in that hell hole really blocked my connection." Kainna looked up at the cloudy sky, it was still daylight but closer to evening now. Hiei trusted Kainna's word, although he never kept track of the lunar cycle or could see past the heavy clouds.
"You shouldn't have to hide your power." Hiei spoke without thinking, he couldn't help it. The thought was irritating him since he felt her energy before, when she let some of that control loose to fight Byakko. When he had threatened her.
Kainna pulled her face away from the cool stone, his words surprised her. She hadn't expected them and found she wasn't sure what to say. She shouldn't have to.
"Kainna! You look better already!" Kuwabara's goofy voice sounded from the exit of the tunnel. Hiei looked away from Kainna and into the distance with an annoyed look, he really hated that human. Kainna turned away from Hiei as well and gave Kuwabara a polite smile.
"Yea, it was just getting a little too hot in there for me. But I'm all better now." Hiei jumped down from his perch.
"Let's get going then, my fight is next and I'm sick of waiting." Hiei called back to the group as he walked on ahead of them. Kainna stared after him, wondering if he was upset with her or the group in general.
"You'd think he would be in a better mood." Yusuke commented as placed his hand on Kainna's head and roughed up her hair. She shook his hand off. "Glad to see you're ok, Genkai would've been pissed if you died from heat exhaustion." Yusuke teased her. Kainna rolled her eyes with a smile.
"She would have been madder at you for not taking care of me." She stuck her tongue out at him childishly.
"Yea, you're probably right. I think she likes you more. You don't bleed as much during training."
"That's because I'm stronger than you."
"Did that heat cause you to hallucinate?"