Chapter Ten: Done with Saint Beasts
Kainna wiped sweat off her brow, it was getting hotter in the orb as well. Her breathing increased as she felt as if the walls were closing around her. No, concentrate. She placed two fingers from each hand about a foot apart from each other in front of her and sent a small wave of energy. Lightening shocked her nervous system, but she bared through it. The orb flicked slightly before sucking the energy out of her. She removed her hand before it could take more. Seems like Byakko did help with this.
Suzaku was getting annoyed with the human in front of him, he had underestimated Yusuke and was now forced to use his other technique. He concentrated his energy before multiplying himself until there were seven of him, only the original one was holding the whistle. Each clone summoned bows of energy before taking shoots at Yusuke. Yusuke managed to dodge all but one. He laid on the floor trembling. Suzako's clones pulled him to his feet and started to electrocute him, sending enough lightening through him to keep him paralyzed but awake. Yusuke groaned in agony. Kainna felt tears well in her eyes from witnessing Yusuke's torture. Anger quickly replaced the sorrow she was feeling and she punched the orb again out of frustration, ignoring the stinging pain in her hand.
"Yusuke hold on!" Kainna couldn't stand to see Yusuke in pain, the one who had been like a brother to her these past 6 months. She hated being trapped in here. You shouldn't have to hide your power. Hiei's voice echoed through her. He was right, Byakko and Suzako might have made this trap but they had no idea the power she held within her. And... tonight was a full moon, maybe it was time she let loose. She released the wall she had built inside her to keep her energy in, allowing it to flow out of her. A white aura enveloped her, her kimono sleeves started to float from the energy, and a small, white, upside down cresant moon glowed white on her forehead. Her energy distracted Suzako, who looked over at the orb in wonder.
"My you have a lot of energy, not enough to escape though." Kainna ignored him, she channelled her energy into her hands and placed them on the orb. Lightening lit up the area around her as she screamed in pain, but she didn't let up. She heard Yusuke screaming as well, Suzako had increased the amount of lightening for Yusuke, finally deciding to kill him.
"No!" She screamed louder; her energy was powered further from her emotions. She felt the orb weakening under her hands, but he was right, it still wasn't enough. She screamed louder and pushed her hands further into the orb, her fingertips turning black as her energy depleted. No, she wasn't going to quit. What did Kurama say, use her head? Heh, why not? She leaned back, channelling the rest of her energy to her forehead before smashing it against the orb. It shattered, but was still held in place.
"No, you can't!" Suzako screamed. Simultaneously Yusuke charged his own energy into his hand. Kainna headbutted the orb again, a small trail of blood leaking from the cuts on her forehead. She chuckled; she didn't remember the last time she saw her blood. She made sure to make eye contact with Suzako.
"You're going to die." Kainna spoke sinisterly before smashing her head once more against the wall of the orb. It finally cracked open, her spirit energy escaping into the air around them causing a huge explosion that ripped off another piece of the roof and sent white light in to the sky. It was like a beacon, shooting straight up into the sky as all the energy transferred into the orb dispersed around them. Suzako lost hold of Yusuke during the blast.
"This if for my friends you jerk!" Yusuke yelled and emitted his own wave of energy that mixed in with the other two energies swirling around the room and created a huge explosion. Everyone was sent flying from the power.
Hiei slashed down another enemy before freezing in his spot. He felt Kainna's energy; what he had felt before was only a fifth of the power he felt now. He looked up to the tower and noticed a beacon of white light shooting straight into the dark stormy sky. It cleared the clouds around it, showing a glimpse of a sunset. Her energy called to him. His own energy rushed out from around him, almost matching the power he emitted when fighting Seiryu. He tried to calm himself but he could feel the chilliness of Kainna's energy, it reached him from the far distance of the tower and only rejuvenated him further.
"That's Kainna, isn't it?" Kuwabara asked, his head bent back to look up at the tower. Hiei stayed quiet, what would have caused Kainna to disperse such power?
"We have to hurry." The trio climbed the stairs as quickly as they could while the tower seemed to disintegrate around them. They made it to the final platform only to see Kainna laying off to the side, she was knocked out while Yusuke and seven Suzakos were facing off. Her back was to them as her body laid slumped on its side. Her hair was a mess around her and her daggers were scattered at opposite sides of the room. As if sensing they were not alone any longer, Kainna stirred. Her arms trembled as she pushed herself up and around to face the fight. Hiei felt fire run through his veins as anger took hold of him; why did Kainna look so beat up? Her kimono was dirty and wrinkled, her knee-high tights had holes in various places, and her face was specked with dirt along with two trails of blood leading from her forehead that was covered by her bangs. Why was she bleeding? Hiei could only sense low spiritual energy from her, but seeing as she usually emitted that anyways he didn't think anything of it. Until he saw the blood. She didn't have enough energy to heal herself, and as a demon of the moon that was an indication of serious injury or death. Hiei's eyes narrowed, what happened?
Kainna must have passed out a few moments from the blast because when she came to, Suzako and his clones, who looked as if the blast had done nothing to them, were facing off again. Kainna stood up shakily, noticing how low Yusuke's own energy was. He wouldn't survive another hit. All of the Suzakos had their arrows readied, eager to release them at Yusuke, who barely was able to brace himself for the impact. Kainna lunged without thinking, her body reacting on its own. The only thought in her head was Yusuke.
She jumped in front of him just in time. Only 4 arrows hit her while the other 3 missed and hit the wall behind them. She tumbled from the force; her body skidded against the floor like a ragdoll. She arched her back in a silent scream as the lightening went through her in tremors. It felt even worse now than before, like fire being shot through her nervous system. Hiei growled, he couldn't get to her without running in between Yusuke and Suzako. His feet shifted impatiently.
"She's fine." Kurama consoled Hiei, noticing how frustrated the shorter demon was getting.
"Kainna!" Yusuke yelled. He hadn't seen when she moved. She was still shaking but managed to get onto her knees, she waved him off weakly. She was okay.
"The lightening missed!?" Suzako was astonished that not all his arrows had hit her. Even with Kainna taking the blow, all of them should have hit. He noticed his red tentacle release some static. "Oh no, my tentacle. Yusuke must have damaged it when he got that hit in the beginning of the match. I can't focus my energy." Suzako murmured but decided to attack again, despite noticing his weakness.
Yusuke was angry, no angry wasn't a strong enough word for what he was feeling. He was sick of being weak. All the training with Genkai, and Kainna still had to use herself as a shield for him. To make matters worse, Keiko was still being hunted and Yusuke couldn't even hold himself up straight. Yusuke growled as he watched his teacher go in for the kill with a pair of scissors on the screen behind Suzako. Yusuke saw red. First Kainna and now Keiko? Was he just going to stand by and let both of them die because he was too weak.
No. And he wasn't weak, he was pissed. Energy swirled around him, some being sent to Keiko in the human realm and blocked the scissor from harming her. Kainna finally regained enough strength to stand up fully, she watched Yusuke. He was using his life force, and in her state, she couldn't stop him. Her eyes finally landed on the group by the stairwell, the trio that was left behind before. While Kurama and Kuwabara were looking at Yusuke, Hiei's eyes were locked on her, his face twisted into a frown. He was displeased with something. Energy crackled between them, bringing Kainna back to the fight.
Yusuke charged at Suzako with his life force as Suzako released his arrows again. Kainna knew what was going to happen, having already experienced the blast the last time their energy collided. She quickly ran over to the group, placing herself in front of them as she faced the two in battle.
"Get down!" She yelled. Kainna barely had enough energy left as she placed her palm against the floor and materialized a light shield around them all. Yusuke's and Suzako's energy merged resulting in a bright light before a blast echoed around them. The walls of the tower cracked and disintegrated around them, Kainna's shield split the energy and diverted it around them. Inside the shield, it was like being underwater. The sound of the blast around them was muffled along with their vision of the room. Kainna wobbled slightly on her feet, her shield flickered before disappearing altogether just as the blast receded.
Yusuke and Suzako were on the floor, fire and debris around them. Kuwabara and Kurama ran over to Yusuke as Kainna slowly made her way over. The lightening still had its effects on her nervous system and caused her legs to shake every few steps. Hiei walked slightly behind her, his hands in his pockets but his eyes watching her every move.
"Kainna, I don't think you have enough energy to save him." Kurama spoke sadly as he knelt next to Yusuke. Kainna sighed and sat next to Kurama.
"My energy regenerates quickly, if Yusuke can hang on for just a few minutes I can-"
"No, we can't wait that long! I'll give him some of my own." Kuwabara cut Kainna off before she could finish her thought. She held her tongue, if he wanted to give him energy, then so be it. She wasted enough of her own energy healing Kuwabara that he could lend some to Yusuke. Kuwabara placed his hands on Yusuke's chest and within moments waves of energy came from him and went into Yusuke. Kainna watched with a bored expression.
"You're giving too much. If you keep going, you're going to-" Kuwabara suddenly froze before passing out on top of Yusuke. "-pass out." Kainna finished with a sigh.
"It looks like we will be carrying both of them back to the human realm, huh Hiei?" Kurama said with a fond smile. Hiei was not as happy.
"Like I said, babysitting." Hiei looked away from the two humans and to Kurama. Kainna continued to sit on the floor, a content look on her face as she watched Yusuke. "What I don't get is why Yusuke would bother saving Keiko if he died in the process." Hiei questioned. Kainna's expression changed, her face becoming more serious as her eyes narrowed.
"Trust me Hiei, there are reasons." Kurama answered cryptically. Kainna was not as deep.
"I saved Yusuke because I'll be damned if someone kills him and it's not me." Kainna huffed. "If anyone is going to beat him senseless it'll be me, with Botan waiting on the other side so I can follow and continue the fight." She poked Yusuke's cheek with the nail of her finger. "Ya hear me, so next time you want to sacrifice yourself just wait, I'll resurrect you with my own life force and stay alive long enough to kill you myself, fucking idiot." Kurama laughed while Kainna continued to grumble to herself, finally letting out the anger over the last fight. Hiei watched her with a soft look, he understood what she was saying, in a way. The only person that could kill his teammates is him, and he'll be damned if someone beats him to it.
"Well, I guess we better start heading back. Kainna, how are you feeling?" Kurama asked the demoness. She stood up, her legs felt like noodles but she was slowly starting to regenerate her energy.
"I'm alright, my energy is starting to regenerate, it'll start healing my nervous system first so I should be able to walk properly soon." Hiei watched her with curious eyes.
"What happened to cause you to discharge so much energy?" The question was gnawing at him ever since he saw that beacon of light. Kainna's mood shifted and she looked more annoyed than angry.
"Byakko and Suzako made an energy eating orb that my dumbass fell right into. Every time I tried to use my energy, I got electrocuted with the same amount of energy I put in." Kainna picked nonchalantly at her burnt fingertips, the two demons in front of her finally noticing her hands. Hiei's eyes narrowed.
"So, you got out by spending all your energy, that must have been painful." Kurama sympathized with her.
"What about the cuts on your forehead?" Hiei interrupted Kurama's comment. Hiei was most disturbed by seeing Kainna's blood-stained face.
"I took Kurama's advice from before and used my head to get out." She answered with grin. They looked at her with shocked expressions before Kurama laughed.
"You know that's not what I meant." Kainna laughed and waved him off.
"I know but it worked either way. Moon demons have spirit tattoos that glow when we release our full energy, my moon crescent is on my forehead and is the center of my energy. So... headbutting my way out was probably my best bet." Kainna walked slowly towards one of her sai daggers, looking around to see if her other one was close by. Kurama noticed Hiei watching her closely, as if he didn't trust her to walk on her own yet.
"Something wrong, Hiei?" Kurama asked with a teasing tone. Hiei snapped out of his staring and glared at Kurama.
"Nothing, Kurama. I just want to leave this place already. Grab the ogre and I'll get Yusuke." Hiei changed the topic. He and Kurama, with some help from Kainna after finding her last dagger, managed to get both humans on their backs. After a quick search by Kainna, who now regained her mobility, they found a second set of stairs that were not destroyed from the fight. They didn't know where it led to, but Kainna had hope that since it was hidden, it might lead directly down to the first floor of the castle.
"I'll go first, there might be some cultivated humans left. I'll handle them since you two have your hands full." Kainna directed. She held her daggers, one in each hand, and descended the staircase. The two demons followed. For a while the staircase was empty, leaving the group to chat to pass the time.
"I assume the same portal we came in from still works, right guys?" Kainna asked as they came upon the ending of the first staircase to find a bridge that led to the other side of the castle. They walked out into the open, the sunset in the sky still gave enough light for them to see.
"I would hope so seeing as we have no other way to get back." Hiei answered. He was getting more and more impatient with their descent. He wanted to leave this castle and its maze as soon as possible.
"You would think the almighty Koenma would be able to open a portal for us from the tower." Kainna huffed and raised her fist angrily to the sky. "I know you're watching Koenma, you should be better prepared next time, or I'll come up there and mess up your paperwork again." Kainna waited for a moment, hoping that there was going to be a portal appearing in front of them, but when nothing happened, she slumped and sighed loudly. A low moan came from the shade of the tower in front of them, a group of cultivated humans hovered around the door leading to their exit. Kainna sighed even louder.
"I'll just be a moment." She spoke sweetly to the two demons following at a slow pace behind her. She ran ahead, her sai daggers struck across the chest of the first human in front of her. Kainna noticed two appear behind it from the doorway, she swivelled around, her power increasing with the turn as she kicked the first human hard in the slashed chest. He flew backwards from the force, his arms taking the other two cultivated humans behind him and the three flew into the stone wall of the tower. Their bodies made indents in the stone, holding them in place as they slumped over; unconscious or dead, no one could tell.
Kainna flipped backwards as another cultivated human appeared from around the tower and made a reach for her. Kainna was quicker, escaping its grasp while delivering a kick to its chin mid-backflip. The human fell backwards onto the ground from the force, not even trying to get backup. Kainna stood up and threw her sai to her left immediately, she had noticed a human sneak its way over there when she had dodged before. Her memory proved correct as her sai had punctured the human's throat, its middle prong struck through the center. The human collapsed to the floor.
The two demons had stopped walking to watch. Hiei was impressed by her speed, although it was nowhere near close to his. He was more intrigued by her quick decision-making skills in those seconds, something someone else on his team (Kuwabara) lacked completely. Her strength was another skill to appreciate, even at the low level of spiritual energy she had now she was able to toss those humans around without a problem.
"Impressive strength, Kainna." Kurama commented with a smile. He was surprised at Kainna's fighting style, especially after finding out Kainna trained with Yusuke. He had thought that her style would match his, blunt and straightforward but it seemed to be more alike his own. She flipped and dodged similar to how Kurama fought before, he could see how that would infuriate Yusuke.
"Thanks!" Kainna spoke slightly out of breath. "Wow, I'm low on energy. I never had to conserve it like this before." Kainna placed her hands on her knees as a wave of dizziness flash over her for a second. She blinked it away. Hiei and Kurama picked up their pace as they noticed Kainna's fatigue.
"Is that your energy now, or are you hiding it?" Kurama asked. Kainna stood up fully now, feeling better as the dizziness had passed.
"Don't worry about it, I feel better already." Kainna waved Kurama off, she was feeling embarrassed from being so weak.
"Answer the question." Hiei demanded. Kainna shivered from the power inflicted in his tone. She looked away with a pout.
"This... is the amount of energy I have left; I'm not cloaking it as I was before." Kainna admitted. The two demons in front of her were shocked, she shouldn't be fighting. Especially while they had hardly any injuries. But what would they have her do, carry one of the boys?
"I'm fine, really. It's a full moon tonight, and the sun is setting. Let's just get back to the human realm." Kainna smiled at the two. They looked unconvinced.
"Is the full moon really that helpful to you?" Hiei questioned. He walked ahead and set a slower pace for her, just in case. Kainna walked along behind him, stopping to get her sai dagger along the way.
"Moon demons increase their power exponentially during the night of the full moon, if it wasn't for that... I'd be unconscious as well." Kainna admitted with a sigh as she let Hiei take point. Her stubbornness wasn't going to allow him to fight, but she would let him lead for now.
"I'm guessing it would better in the human realm?" Kurama asked as they descended the stairwell of the next tower.
"Only because of how cloudy it is tonight. I still feel the power, but direct moonlight is... much better." She didn't want to describe what happened as she found seeing it was a better experience.
"So, what happens on a new moon?" Hiei asked, his mind catching on quickly with how her powers worked. Kainna breathed a chuckle.
"Did you want to know all my secrets, Hiei?" She asked with a touch of annoyance in her voice. It was more at his quick intelligence than his curiosity. Hiei's eyes widened a fraction as he realized his thoughts were right, a new moon indicated weakness. But the snap in her voice made him smirk.
"If you offer them." He couldn't help to tease her further. Kainna scoffed.
"Here I am trying to be friendly and pass the time and you have a different motive." Kainna's voice still held some annoyance, but the tone was lighter now, she was joking. Hiei grinned, she caught on to his teasing.
"Is it not important for a fighter to learn about his teammates?" Hiei questioned innocently although the grin he shot back at her was too devilish for Kainna.
"You're right Hiei, why don't you tell Kainna about yourself." Hiei's eyes narrowed in annoyance hearing Kurama's words. The fox was too mischievous for his own good, he couldn't leave well enough alone.
"Yea Hiei, I hardly know anything about you." Kainna joined in with a happy chirp. Hiei pouted.
"What do you want to know?" He couldn't say no, not after he discovered two of her weaknesses. Kainna halted in her walking; surprised by Hiei's acceptance of their teasing. Her mind went blank as she realized she could ask him anything, but she wasn't sure what she should ask. She continued after him, seeing the bottom of the staircase not far below.
"Let me think for a second, I didn't think you would actually agree." Kainna laughed. Kurama watched the two in front of them with a fond smile, he didn't think his teasing would work on Hiei but he was glad he did it.
"Oh I know!" Kainna suddenly exclaimed. They had reached the bottom of the staircase now, a lone metal door stood across from them leading to the unknown. They paused there, Kurama and Hiei placed Kuwabara and Yusuke on the floor to rest for a moment. Hiei turned to face Kainna who leaned closer to Hiei as she inspected his face.
"Why did Yusuke call you three eyes?" Hiei smirked at her question, it was a good one that allowed her to learn more about him and his fighting, although it seemed she asked purely from curiosity. Staying where he was, only about a foot away from her, he reached behind him and undid the knot holding his bandana up. It fell to the ground silently. At first it appeared to be just a line across his forehead until it blinked open. Kainna's eyes widened, she figured he had a third eye but she thought it was mystical, something that appeared when he used his spirit energy... not an actual third eye. It seemed a fraction smaller than his own two eyes and was a light violet color.
"Yusuke does not understand the importance of my third eye." Hiei lowered his voice to mock how Yusuke referred to it. "I like to call it by its real name, my jagan eye." The eye blinked at Kainna as if responding to Hiei's words. Kainna realized what it was once she saw it. After the initial shock wore off, she recalled a lesson taught to her at a young age when she was learning how to control her powers of healing.
"That must have been extremely painful. I'm sorry you had to experience that." Kainna murmured. Hiei's breath caught in his throat. All the times he had shown his jagan eye, he had never received sympathy for what he went through. Most demons cowered in fear after seeing it, others only asked about its powers. No one asked about his pain during the procedure because no one knew of it. How did she know?
"I know of Shigure." Hiei reflexively stepped back, his guard up. Kurama narrowed his eyes curiously at Kainna. He had not heard that name in a while. Kainna didn't move, her eyes stayed on the jagan eye. "Many failed procedures were transferred to us to heal what we could. I learned my own healing that way." Her eyes were unfocused as she remembered a small child laying on a mat in front of her, the girl's eyes scratched out from her head by her own hands from the pain Shigure had inflicted. She blinked away the memory.
"I'm glad to finally see a successful surgery." Kainna murmured. She looked away from the eye now and back to Hiei's own. "Only a really powerful demon could survive that surgery and recover so well from it." Hiei smirked at her words, he liked the implied compliment from it. "Thank you for showing me." She finished with a smile. She wanted to know more about the eye but she felt the tension from him when she mentioned Shigure's name. Maybe another time.