Chapter Nine: Kainna's Fight (Finally)
The group continued upward, running up another set of steps. Kainna's cheeks were rosy again, but not because of Hiei. They had been running nonstop since Hiei's battle and were going even faster since Kuwabara had said he felt like something was wrong in the human world. They had made it up to another bridge on the outside of the castle and were running across it when Yusuke's communicator went off again. Botan was on the other side along with Keiko, Yusuke's classmate/crush. Kainna hadn't formally met her but heard enough from Botan to make out who she was on sight. It also helped when Yusuke yelled her name in surprise. They stopped running to listen to Botan.
"I'm certain they want to kill Keiko." Botan explained how they were now targeting Yusuke's crush.
"What!?" Yusuke yelled at the communicator. Kainna felt a flash of anger, were all these beasts immoral? Before they could find out more, the communicator cut off.
"We've got to smash that whistle as fast as we can." Yusuke's voice was serious. The group continued to run, a new spring in their step. They reached the base of the last tower that held the final saint beast. Flashes of lightning struck around them as they looked up at the circular structure. Before they could approach the door, cultivated humans ran out from the doorways below.
"It's going to take us a year to get through all these guys." Kuwabara complained. Kainna readied her sai daggers, one in each hand. She had dispelled her bow and quiver in the lava lair and was free to move as she pleased.
"I've dealt with cultivated humans before; they feel no pain or fear." Hiei advised the group.
"How twisted do you have to be to turn humans into monsters like that. I think Keiko is in some trouble." Kainna rolled her eyes, that was the last thing Kuwabara should have said.
"Like hell she is. I'll use my shotgun and blow them all away." Kurama placed a hand on Yusuke's shoulder to stop him.
"Let's use our heads."
"What? You want me to headbutt them?" Kainna laughed. Yusuke sure could be dense sometimes.
"No, but you shouldn't use your spirit energy. The more impatient you are, the more mistakes we'll make."
"My shotgun is the only way we'll get passed them." Yusuke argued with Kurama. Kainna twirled her sai daggers impatiently. She wanted to fight already.
"No." Hiei interrupted Yusuke, Kainna stopped twirling her daggers and looked over at him. "Set your eyes on the first tower window, that is your door." Kainna looked at the window, it was pretty high but she could see where Hiei was going with this.
"I'm sorry but I didn't bring my pogo stick." Yusuke was getting impatient as well, but Hiei wouldn't give in.
"I have a plan."
"And I hope that plan involves me going with Yusuke." Hiei paused here, he had not thought of that.
"The plan was to use ourselves as a ladder to propel Yusuke into the window, but I'm not sure if you will be able to make it after he goes. You're shorter than him." Hiei explained.
"Besides, you're not exactly dressed to go on top anyone's shoulders." Kuwabara mentioned with a blush. Kainna smiled mischievously and reached down to the hem of her skirt.
"Why cause of this!" She pulled up her skirt but before Kuwabara could registered she had shorts on underneath, he fainted with a nosebleed. Kainna and Yusuke laughed loudly, Yusuke pointing at Kuwabara as Kainna clutched her stomach in laughter.
"Man, how's he ever going to get a girlfriend if he faints just seeing your shorts." Yusuke snorted. Hiei watched with amusement, he was not surprised she had shorts on. Not because she was a fighter and should be wearing the appropriate garments, but because he had noticed the shorts before. When she was jumping ahead of him in Byakko's lair he had noticed them…only because he was watching her closely to make sure she wasn't going to fall. Not like he was staring at her ass the entire way, he just so happened to look down when he saw the edge of her kimono skirt lifting. That's all.
"You don't seem surprised, Hiei." Kurama teased. Hiei looked away, a small pout on his face as Kurama called him out.
"She's a fighter, of course she would have shorts underneath." Hiei defended. Kuwabara regained consciousness in that moment and sat up, his finger pointing accusingly at Kainna.
"That wasn't nice. You could've just told me."
"Where's the fun in that?" Kainna grinned.
"Ok, now that that issue is handled, now comes the other. How are you going to make that distance after Yusuke?" Kurama questioned. Kainna looked over at the tower. Yusuke had to go first, that was for certain. There was no way he would let Kainna fight this battle for him, especially after they had threatened Keiko's life.
"I can concentrate my spirit energy to my feet to propel myself up to the window. I'll just need someone strong enough to jump off of that could withstand my energy." Kainna explained her plan. Hiei thought back to when she almost fell out of the window before, when he had caught her, her feet were laced with energy. Was that what she was planning last time?
"Well, you heard the lady, I guess someone else will have to be on the bottom of the ladder." Kuwabara grinned at the group. Hiei scoffed.
"She said someone strong, not stupid." Hiei taunted Kuwabara who was quick to turn on him.
"Oh, and I bet that you think that means you." Hiei smirked.
"I'm the only one not wounded after their fight."
"Alright children, we don't have time for this. Kuwabara you're the biggest so you'll have to lead the way. Hiei, after I jump, you'll send Kainna after me." Yusuke took control of the situation. Kuwabara looked disappointed but stayed silent, for once. Kainna approached Hiei.
"I've only sent spirit energy to my feet to kick Yusuke across the field when we spar" Hiei smirked at the thought "so I'll apologize ahead of time if I end up hurting you."
"I doubt you could hurt me." Hiei echoed the words she said before, when she discovered he was a fire demon. Kainna smirked at his arrogance.
"Well, just in case give me your hand." She instructed him. He looked at her curiously but gave her his dominant hand. She grabbed it with one hand while place her palm against his with her other. The hand that was pressed against his own glowed white, she layered his hand with her own energy. Hiei was pleased to feel her energy again, it chilled his warm hand and caused his own energy to become invigorated yet again. She pulled her hand away, too soon for Hiei's taste.
"This should protect you a little. It won't stay forever though. We should go now." Kainna addressed the group as she stepped away from Hiei.
"Alright Kuwabara, lead the way." Yusuke ordered. Kuwabara charged at the group of cultivated humans, the army of green didn't even move as he barrelled through them.
"Let's go, try not to dig your heels in!" Kuwabara shouted. Kurama ran next and jumped on top of Kuwabara's shoulders followed closely by Hiei. Yusuke took off next, he used Kuwabara's back as a step to propel himself up to Hiei's shoulders and again launched himself to the window. He barely made it, his fingers just managed to grip the edge of the windowsill.
"Hurry Kainna, we're losing balance." Kurama called. Kainna quickly followed Yusuke and used Kuwabara's back as a launch point, much to Kuwabara's displeasure. She managed to get her feet on Kurama shoulder's while her hands gripped Hiei's back. Don't think of him shirtless, don't think of him shirtless. Kainna chanted inside her head as she felt his muscles flex underneath his shirt.
"Hiei I'm going to jump, hold up your hand so I can launch myself from it." Kainna instructed before jumping as high as she could off Kurama's shoulders. She was just above Hiei now, his hand raised up high for her. She channelled her energy to her feet, hoping it was just enough to get her to the window whilst not harming Hiei. As her foot made contact with his hand she jumped again with her energy. She easily travelled the distance, making her way into the window without any trouble while Yusuke was still trying to climb through.
"Thanks, Hiei!" Kainna called through the window as the human ladder disassembled. Kainna quickly helped Yusuke through, her eyes glancing out the window at her teammates below. Hiei stood at the bottom, his eyes looking at his hand she had used to jump off of. She couldn't see it from here, but she hoped she hadn't hurt him too much.
"Come on Kainna, let's go." Yusuke called as he started to run up the tower, Kainna followed.
Hiei was inspecting his hand, there was a slight cold burn from where Kainna had made contact, nothing his energy wouldn't heal. But if it wasn't for the barrier of her energy that she had created for him, he probably wouldn't be able to use his hand. He was impressed.
"Did she hurt you, Hiei?" Kurama asked. Hiei closed his fist to avoid Kurama looking at it.
"Not at all."
Kainna and Yusuke finally made it to the top of the last tower. Kainna was relieved that at least she could safely say there would be no more steps. They entered a large room that held a circular screen that showed Keiko and Botan in the human realm. Below it, sat in a chair with ribbons floating around him, was the last saint beast blowing into the whistle that controlled the insects.
"Beautiful tone, isn't it?" He asked as he stood from his seat and approached the two. He was the most human looking one out of all of the saint beasts. He had blonde hair with red antennae looking strands the framed his face. He was also dressed in loose fighting attire, a red shirt and white pants tied with a purple belt. He glared at Kainna particularly, displeased that she also was able to make it up the tower as well. He wanted Yusuke alone.
"It's nice to finally to meet you two, I am Suzaku. Leader of the saint beasts." Suzaku introduced himself pleasantly, as if he weren't threatening all of the human realm.
"Here's the deal, pull your zombies off Keiko and then I'll only pull out one of your lungs." Yusuke threatened. Kainna stood behind Yusuke, allowing him to take control of this fight but still released some of her energy. She glowed slightly from it, a small wind picking up around her. Suzaku glanced over at her.
"And if I refuse?" He questioned.
"Then I'll kill you." Yusuke finished his threat. Kainna grinned from the bloodlust in the air.
"You should feel more fortunate Yusuke, not everyone's girlfriend gets to star in a horror movie." Suzaku continued to taunt him, as if Yusuke didn't just threaten his life. Kainna was becoming impatient.
"How about you shut up before I make you." Kainna threatened. Suzaku glared at her.
"I thought you might be a nuisance, it's a good think I had Byakko build this before his demise." Suzako snapped his fingers, his bird that had flown off before snapped a rope with her beak. Kainna looked up at the noise to see a large yellow orb coming down towards her. She smirked, like a glass orb would hurt her. She raised her fist to punch it only for her hand to go right through it. The orb continued downward until she was completely engulfed in it. Kainna growled and punched the wall of the orb again, only for her hand to come in contact with it instead of going through. It felt soft, like rubber but her hand had not made any indent in it.
"What the fuck is this?" She asked as she powered her energy into her fist and punched the orb again. This time the orb absorbed her energy whilst shocking her as well. Electricity travelled through her hand and into her body, her nervous system felt like it was on fire. She screamed from the feeling and managed to removed her hand before it could do more harm. Yusuke balled up his fist in anger.
"What did you do to her?"
"Just an invention Byakko and I worked on. It eats energy, much like Byakko. But while Byakko couldn't stand to overeat, I made sure that would never happen by shocking the victim every time energy is expelled. Quite an invention, I must say." Suzaku chuckled. "At least it'll ensure the fight stays between us, Yusuke."
Kainna didn't like this. She felt her breathing increase as she realized the small space she was stuck in. No, she needed to be calm. Besides, Yusuke was carrying enough emotion for the both of them. Hearing that Kainna was now trapped, Yusuke charged at Suzaku but to no avail. Suzaku easily blocked and dodged his punches with one had.
Meanwhile, Kainna studied the orb she was trapped in. She placed a finger against the wall of it, the orb remained neutral. So, it wasn't reactive towards touch. She then sent a small amount of energy into her finger only to get the same amount of lightening zapped into her. She frowned and reached for one of her daggers. She slashed away at it only from tiny lines to appear, like drawing in sand. Kainna's breathing quickened as she realized she was going to be trapped in here, this small bubble. Panic fluttered through her as her throat closed. She wasn't going to be trapped again.
"Kainna! I'll get you out of there, don't worry!" Yusuke called from his fight. He knew she must be panicking by now, especially in such small a space. Kainna turned her attention back to the fight in hopes that the distraction would calm her down enough to allow her to think.
Yusuke had his spirit gun pointed at Suzaku who was floating in the air above them. He shot his spirit gun only for Suzaku to deflect it, causing the ceiling to fall around them. Some debris fell on top of Kainna's orb, but it just bounced off of it without a scratch. Suzaku looked up at the destroyed ceiling with a smile, as if this was his plan all along, before raising his hand towards the sky. Lightening came down upon him and filled his palm with a static ball of it before charging at Yusuke and hitting him with it. Lightening surrounded Yusuke as he screamed in pain before failing to the ground.
"Yusuke!" Kainna called out to him, but he didn't respond. The lightening immobilized him, he laid on the floor in a daze. "Get up! Think of Keiko!" Kainan screamed again, punching her fists again the orb only to get shocked again as she had released some of her energy in those punches. Yusuke seemed to break out of it as he slowly got back on his knees. Suzaku took pleasure in Yusuke's pain, taunting Yusuke again by mentioning Keiko's demise. Yusuke finally stood up to full height with his shoes on his hands, preparing for Suzaku's next attack.
"You are my perfect justification of why I think demons should take the place of humans on earth. You are an idiot race the deserves extinction." Suzaku stated much to Kainna's anger.
"Shut up!" She yelled and powered up her fist with much more energy than before and punched the wall of the orb. Her hand was scorched from the lightening that engulfed it but was quickly healed from the abundance of spirit energy in her body. Suzaku looked over at her. "I hate demons like you. You act like you are so much better than a human and yet you stoop down to threatening an innocent human girl. When I get out of here, I'm going to beat you senseless." Kainna threatened.
"You mean if you get out of there." Suzaku laughed at her. Kainna glared at him as he again charged himself with lightening. There was no if, she was going to get out of there. She watched as Yusuke tricked him by building an energy shield behind his shoes and was able to land a punch on Suzaku. Kainna looked back at the wall in front of her, she needed to concentrate. She placed a hand on one side of the orb and another on the opposite side, maybe if she made different points of contact it would create a weakness. All it did was cause her to be shocked harder, her body becoming the conduit between the two points of contact. Meanwhile, Yusuke charged at Suzaku again and managed to hit him once more. The whistle tumbled around the ground, just out of Yusuke's reach, his real target. Suzaku didn't like Yusuke's trick and again punished him with electrocution.
"You really want this whistle; she must mean a lot to you." Suzaku spoke about Keiko.
"That's none of your business." Yusuke yelled. Kainna couldn't help but to pout in anger. He got all defensive just at the mention of Keiko but when she just happened to blush at someone, Hiei, Yusuke had to be all up in her business. Just wait, once this was over, she was going to tease him about Keiko every chance she got.