Notes: I'm very happy that people seem to like Miwa as a character, especially her dynamic with Kurama. As we learned last time, Miwa is a water apparition that controls the water she carries around with her in her black pouch. Now that her fight with Kohryu is over, we are going to learn more about her relationships with the others as they go through Maze Castle.

Chapter 4: Honor Code

Kuwabara was either gifted or cursed with a powerful sense of Spiritual Awareness. He had been seeing creepy things that no one else could for his entire life, but Kuwabara was not prepared for the monstrosities he had seen in this castle so far. The weirdness he saw during Genkai's fighting tournament was one thing, but Spiritual Awareness or not, when he jumped in on Yusuke's assignment, he never thought he would be face to face with a dragon or a talking rock.

Miwa had bravely stepped up to take on Kohryu, and Kuwabara never expected a pretty girl would be able to defeat a dragon. Then, Kurama had cleverly figured out the way to overcome Genbu's barrage of stone, but he did get hurt in the process. Maybe because he saw two monstrous demons be defeated, Kuwabara had the courage to step up in the fight against the next Saint Beast: Byakko, the White Tiger. The enormous beast standing on his hind legs wearing a red-spotted-print that somehow accentuated just how heavily built he was, like a creature straight from the most terrifying jungle. It was Kuwabara's turn to take down a Saint Beast, and yet he had offered to handle this one; the one he was most unlikely to defeat.

Yet, against all odds, Kuwabara was able to turn Byakko's ability to absorb Spirit Energy against him and force-fed him more energy than his body could handle. But it wasn't enough. Byakko still returned, and their fight was moved to the Room of Hell. True to its name, the room was hotter than anything Kuwabara had ever experienced, and the lava just below their feet presented an unexpected danger in Maze Castle. The stone pillars protruding from the lava made swinging his Spirit Sword to cause damage almost impossible, and the Tiger Scream slowly whittled away his areas of escape. Byakko destroyed all but one stone pillar Kuwabara could hope to escape to, and the only way Kuwabara could win is if he managed to reach the pillar where Byakko stood. The distance between them seemed impossible to cross, but, even though Yusuke kept screaming in protest, Kuwabara couldn't back down from this fight. His code wouldn't allow it. Even if it were possible Yusuke or any of the others would be able to save him, Kuwabara was a man with an honor code. He had to either see this battle through to Byakko's defeat, or die trying.

"Once again, I'll let you choose your way to die." Byakko's smug attitude was frustrating, and with nowhere else to run, Kuwabara knew how bad his odds were at this point. The rising heat of the surrounding lava became increasingly terrifying. If he wasn't careful… "Either burn up in the lava, or be eaten by me."

Kuwabara gripped his Spirit Sword tightly in his hand. Burn up or get eaten; what a crappy choice. Maybe Kuwabara was in over his head when he joined in this mission. Maybe he didn't have the same kind of experience with demons as Kurama or Yusuke, but he made the choice to take down Byakko, and if Kuwabara was going to die, he would go down fighting no matter what. He swallowed, trying to force down any doubts that he felt, and took his first step forward.

An explosion echoed through the chamber, and the last pillar standing between him and Byakko was no more. "Sorry. The little ones are so easy to overlook." Kuwabara's last safe place of escape vanished like the last remains of hope he could survive this fight. "You're trapped. Just accept it. It will make the last moments so much easier."

Behind him, Kuwabara could hear the faint muttering of his friends. He did not turn around to see, nor was he able to hear properly, but Kuwabara already knew what they were talking about. "You guys better stay put!" Kuwabara shouted. "You're whispering to each other about how you're going to rescue me, aren't you?" He turned around, and the first thing he saw was Yusuke's dumbfounded face. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want your help!"

Kuwabara returned his attention to Byakko, using his last bit of courage to stand tall again. Byakko thought of him as a fool, throwing away his last chance of survival. That was fine. If Kuwabara was to die this way, then so be it, but he had one last trick up his sleeve. Byakko gathered energy in his mouth to prepare one final Tiger Scream. This was it. Nowhere else to run. If there was any time to hit Byakko, it was now. The crackling energy ball shot towards him, and Kuwabara had no choice but to jump. He had prepared himself for this. He knew the distance between him and Byakko was impossible to reach if he were to simply jump, but still, as gravity pulled him closer to the scorching heat of the lava, Kuwabara felt fear taking over.

"Actually, I lied. You could never have reached me." Byakko chuckled to himself.

Now or never!

Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword once more and extended the length of the blade to catch on the stump of the destroyed pillar between him and the tiger. In a miraculous feat, one that even Kuwabara wasn't sure would work the way he hoped, the blade of his sword bent under his weight, and he pole vaulted back up to Byakko's level and threw everything he had into one final punch. Heh, I'm just happy I got to hit you.

"Now let's go to Hell together!"

He could not stop his momentum, and his flying body toppled after Byakko over the ledge of that last pillar. Byakko's body plummeted into the lava in a cloud of black smoke. Kuwabara felt a quick rush of satisfaction that, surely this time, Byakko would stay dead. It almost made his fall easier to bear, but he still screamed as once again the scorching lava approached. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the painful impact, but he felt one of his bandages catch on something, and he nearly gagged as the bandages on his stomach tightened as his body jerked in midair, but his descent had stopped. By some miracle, the bandage got caught between a crevice in the stone platform, and it was strong enough to support his weight - temporarily at least. Instinctively, he grabbed the bandage with both hands and pulled himself up, trying to support his weight with one leg planted against the pillar.

"You can't die!"

Hearing Yusuke's scream brought Kuwabara back to reality. Before even realizing what he was doing, Kuwabara called for his friends. "Hey, can I get some help here? Guys!" Could he really survive this? "C'mon, you guys! Hurry up! I think I feel something slipping!"

Yusuke had fallen to his knees in despair, but the boy stood up once more, and this time a relieved laughter echoed through the Room of Hell. Yusuke and the others jumped across the remaining pillars as fast as they could, making their way over to him. Finally, he could see their heads peeking over the ledge of the platform. But...they refused to immediately help him up! They had thought he had died. Yusuke had screamed in anguish and lament, but they still had the guts to tease him in a life or death situation?!

"Well, an interesting strategy," Hiei said, "Maybe we should let you kill the other beasts this way, too."

"Yes," Kurama agreed. Behind him, Kuwabara could hear Miwa's laughter.

"No way, you guys. I've done enough fighting for this trip. Now would you please stop goofing around and help me up!?"

The teasing grin on Yusuke's face made Kuwabara want to climb up there and punch him. "But we can't, Kuwabara! Don't you remember? You said you'd kill us if we helped you."

"Yes, it goes against your honor code." Kurama added.

"But that doesn't count! Once I beat him, it's okay, you see!?"

"Well, we've got two more Saint Beasts we gotta fight," Yusuke said, backing away from the platform's edge, "Might as well get going." Kurama stood up and agreed. "We'll catch up with you later Kuwabara. Hang in there!"

Kuwabara couldn't stop himself from babbling away once his friends were no longer in his sight. They wouldn't really leave him behind right? Yusuke was a stupid punk, but surely he wasn't so cruel. Hiei...Kuwabara couldn't rely on that shorty at all, but Kurama and Miwa were nice, right? There was no way they would just leave him behind in such a precarious position, but the panic had set in. He could still feel the scorching heat on his back from the lava, and he really did not want the bandages to slip to fall into that, especially after such a miraculous save. No...no...they wouldn't really leave him behind. Right? If they did, he would come back from the dead if that's what it took to punch Yusuke in his smug punk face.

"We're just kidding." Then, like a saving grace, a hand extended over the platform's edge, and Kuwabara looked up to see Miwa's smiling face. "Revenge for you scaring us just now."

Kuwabara was still for a moment as his previous panic began to subside, but he returned the smile and reached for her hand. Miwa had a pretty strong grip, and with a little help from Yusuke, Kuwabara was able to pull himself up onto hard ground once again. The solid rock beneath his feet felt wonderful after being suspended for what felt like an eternity, and Kuwabara had to remain with both hands and knees on the ground for a moment to appreciate its solidity.

"Well, now that that's settled, we can move on now, right?" Yusuke said, looking towards Hiei and Kurama for affirmation. Kuwabara ignored him, still savoring the feeling of solid footing. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei began to move on, jumping across platforms to continue on in their mission. Kuwabara sighed. He really survived all that.

"You're very brave, Kuwabara." He looked up once again to Miwa's encouraging smile. "It takes a lot of guts to not back down from a fight when you're at such a disadvantage."

Kuwabara laughed a bit, feeling a bit embarrassed from the compliment, and forced himself to stand. "What can I say? I'm a man who sticks to his code."

"A code, huh?" Miwa stood up, also laughing a bit. "You and I are a lot alike, then." She smiled at him one more time before following after the others, leaving Kuwabara behind to ponder just what that meant.

{00}

With the Room of Hell behind them, the interior of the castle returned to the usual stone corridors. Although Kuwabara didn't particularly like the cold, stone chambers, it was a pleasant change from the scorching lava from before. At some point as they continued through the castle, Kurama, Miwa, and Hiei had pulled ahead of the group, talking amongst themselves about...something. From the bits and pieces Kuwabara could hear, Miwa and Hiei were discussing how Byakko's Tiger Scream broke down molecular bonds or something. It was a technical conversation far beyond what interested him, and Kuwabara had had enough of that attack to last him a lifetime.

"Hey, Urameshi." Kuwabara hung back with Yusuke, and since the two of them had a moment away from the others, Kuwabara thought maybe it was his chance to ask a question he had been wondering about since all five of them first came together. "How did you uh...meet those three anyway?"

Yusuke looked over at Kuwabara, taken aback by the sudden question. "Uh...They were part of a gang that stole stuff from some vault in Spirit World. I had to track them down for my first case as Spirit Detective."

"Stole?" Kuwabara had learned Yusuke was doing work as a Spirit Detective during the Genkai Tournament, so it would make sense that was how he suddenly became acquainted with demons, but to think they were working with criminals. No wonder Hiei's attitude was so terrible. Then, Kuwabara's focus wandered over to the two at Hiei's side, seeming completely innocent while wearing their school uniforms. "They don't really look it, though."

"Who? Kurama and Miwa?" Yusuke asked. "Yeah, that's what I thought too, at first."

"Hey, so uh…" Another question came to Kuwabara's mind, but he found himself struggling to form the question into words. "So are those two, like…" It wasn't just the awkward feelings he had asking this question. He really hoped only Yusuke would hear him. He dropped his voice to a whisper, but it still didn't make him feel any less awkward. "Are they like...together or something?" Yusuke's eyes widened, and his hand took hold of his chin in thought. Did Yusuke really not know? "I mean, she was so worked up when Kurama got hurt by Genbu."

After Genbu was defeated, they all realized Kurama had sustained an injury from Genbu's first attack. The tail had made a gash across Kurama's stomach, and although he was able to continue fighting, he still fell to his knees once the battle was over. Miwa was at his side immediately, and she insisted on wrapping his wound with bandages she carried in her black bag. At the time, Kuwabara thought it was a sweet gesture, and he was glad someone had thought ahead to bring some basic first aid, but thinking back on it more made him wonder. Kuwabara had noticed that, as they continued through the castle, Kurama would occasionally keep his hand over his stomach, as if holding back more pain, and Miwa would worriedly glance in his direction each time.

"Yeah, she did say he has a tendency to hurt himself," Yusuke said quietly to himself, and before Kuwabara could ask what that meant, he continued. "I'm honestly not that sure. I always thought of her as more of a bodyguard."

"Why would Kurama need a bodyguard?" He was strong enough as it is.

Yusuke grinned widely and held his hand behind his head. "He doesn't, really. It's a long story, I guess. I don't even know all the details."

"Rather than a 'bodyguard,'" said a calm voice, "I would say she's more of a partner."

Kuwabara and Yusuke jumped back at Kurama's sudden appearance. Hiei and Miwa still lead the group, but without either of them noticing, Kurama had fallen behind to join Kuwabara and Yusuke in their conversation. Could he hear what they were talking about from so far away? Kuwabara made sure to be quiet.

"Jeeze, Kurama don't scare us like that," Yusuke said.

Kurama smiled playfully. "Sorry. I couldn't help but overhear you when I heard my name." Kuwabara glanced worriedly past Kurama to Miwa and Hiei, but they were still talking and hopefully still out of earshot. "And about your earlier question, there is someone else that Miwa likes." Kuwabara was about to ask who, but Kurama turned around and nodded his head to give them an indication. Kuwabara followed, and up ahead, there was only one person Kurama could be looking at, other than Miwa herself. It was the one she had been talking to all this time. The one that insulted Kuwabara every chance he got. The one who caused them so much anxiety at the Gate of Betrayal. The one who immediately got on Kuwabara's nerves the moment they met. The one Miwa likes is Hiei?

"What?"

Kuwabara and Yusuke jumped back again at this revelation. That was the one answer Kuwabara would never have expected. Miwa was a kind girl. She helped Kurama with his wound. She looked after his lingering pain. She was the first to reach out her hand to help Kuwabara climb up the stone platform.

His voice ended up much louder than he intended, but Kuwabara could not hold it back. "Why would she like an arrogant shri-"

In an instant, his mouth was covered with a cold hand, stopping any more words from being said. Miwa had appeared in front of him with an angry glint in her eyes, and the same hand she used to help him forced his mouth shut. "You don't need to say anything unnecessary," she warned. Behind her, Kurama laughed quietly to himself, and Miwa turned her head towards him. "You too."

Kurama raised his hands slightly, still keeping his playful smile. "Sorry, but you already know I think it's a good thing." Miwa didn't respond, and Kurama removed himself from the conversation, instead joining Hiei up ahead. Hiei, in the meantime, had been staring back at them all, but he didn't give any indication that he knew what they were talking about, nor did he seem particularly interested. Kuwabara could easily imagine Hiei just brushing it all off as foolish talk.

Miwa lowered her arm, and the angry glare in her eyes disappeared. In the castle lit by only torches, it was hard to tell, but Kuwabara was sure that Miwa was even blushing slightly. "I know it seems a bit strange, but there is more to him than his attitude."

"Right...sorry," was all Kuwabara could spit out.

Miwa gave them a small smile before turning around and continuing down the corridor. She apologized to Hiei for abruptly leaving their conversation, but Hiei did not seem to mind. She also shot one last look to Kurama, but he just continued smiling playfully.

"Well...that's interesting," Yusuke said.

"No kidding."

{00}

Miwa had warned them that the castle had other traps they needed to worry about, and Kuwabara had been wondering when they would learn where Maze Castle had gotten its name. After climbing to the next tower, they had reached another chamber with fifteen doors. They had come across long corridors and a few intersections, but most of their way so far had been very straightforward. In this chamber, the identical doors seemed to surround them, and there were no indications of which door would be the correct path. Kurama told them a story of the dangers behind the wrong doors. Unavoidable traps lay beyond a poor choice, and Kuwabara could feel a strange tickle feeling, the one he associated with the presence of ghosts. Kurama had said countless bounty hunters had lost their lives to this maze, and Kuwabara could sense their lingering spirits. It made him want to shiver, but he refused to show the others that sign of weakness.

Yusuke entrusted their path of choice to him, and Kuwabara scanned each door carefully. The presence of all the fallen bounty hunters was almost overwhelming. However, there was one presence amongst all others that really stood out to him. Behind one door on the left, there was a darker feeling, something larger and more sinister than anything else he sensed. Hiei let out some insult about how he doubted whether Kuwabara's choice was correct, but Kuwabara insisted that something scary was behind the door he chose. ...Sure, he had a bit of an embarrassing moment with the mouse that had been there, but his choice was correct in the end. They didn't encounter any traps, and their path was smooth-sailing until they reached a large blue door. Somehow, the air in this area felt colder than the rest of the castle, and large statues posted on each side of the door guarded the entrance. Plump, blue stone dragons silently growled at them, but Hiei was not impressed with the display. According to Kurama, it was the chamber of the Blue Dragon, but unlike the one they fought before, this dragon was one of the Four Saint Beasts.

They entered the room, and within the eerie fog, a tall, blue-skinned man appeared: Seiryu, the Blue Dragon. Kuwabara was surprised by the beast's towering height, but most of all, he was taken aback by his human-like appearance. Ever since they arrived to this city, all the demons they fought were just monstrous in shape and form. Seiryu was a different story, and he showed no physical features of a dragon. Only a blue dragon design wrapped around his clothes showed any sign of the demon's affiliation.

However, a weak, but familiar presence approached them all from behind. Byakko pushed open the blue doors, surprising everyone - Kuwabara most of all - with his appearance. How could he survive falling into lava? It should be impossible, but perhaps like how they say a cat had nine lives, Byakko just kept coming back. The burned, weakened tiger stumbled through the room and begged Seiryu for help. For a moment, Kuwabara was afraid that they would have to fight the two beasts together, but suddenly, Seiryu lashed out at Byakko, refusing to offer him help.

"Weakling, how dare you show your face here!"

Byakko, who had been so fierce before, was reduced to pleading for his life. "Please, Seiryu!"

Seiryu declared that Byakko was no longer wanted among their ranks, and with a powerful thrust of his fist, a blast of cold air filled the room, and Byakko's body became encased in ice. Without a moment of hesitation, Seiryu lept into the air and kicked right through Byakko's frozen body, shattering the White Tiger into fragments of ice. The frozen remains of Byakko's head rolled on the ground, and with one last cry of Seiryu's name, Byakko was gone. Kuwabara felt himself shaking his anger. Kuwabara did not like Byakko. Kuwabara was the one that punched him into the lava, but he had never imagined something so cruel would become the tiger's fate.

"This race of beasts has no loyalty," Kurama said, "Alliance are formed strictly to gain power."

"I don't care what kinda race they are, it's never right to kill your own teammate, especially when they come asking you for help." Kuwabara was angry, angry enough to take down another Saint Beast if he had to, and Yusuke felt the same.

Then, Hiei spoke up and surprised them all. "Save your anger." He turned to Yusuke. "You can take their leader. I insist this fight be mine."

Hiei stepped forward and faced Seiryu. The difference in height between them was staggering. Hiei was maybe half of Seiryu's height, but by now Kuwabara knew not to take any meaning from that. Hiei's cold glare directed his own anger towards the Blue Dragon, and he pulled off his black cloak, throwing it over to cover Byakko's severed head. It was a mournful gesture Kuwabara did not expect.

"What was that? Tell me you're not feeling sympathy for this amateur." Seiryu didn't expect it either. "From your actions at the Gate of Betrayal, I was hoping you had more of a warrior's spirit."

Hiei did not answer him.

"He's a puzzle, isn't he?" Kurama said that in the past, Hiei had acted with similar cruelty, but something about Byakko's death really angered him. "Hiei seems to live by his own code with very complex rules, but one thing is for certain: never before have I seen Hiei begin a fight with such an extraordinary amount of his Spirit Energy."

"Good," Yusuke said, "as long as he kicks some ass."

Hiei's incredible speed made the fight difficult to follow, but Hiei appeared and disappeared all around the room trying to escape from Seiryu's freezing technique. Kuwabara had no trouble sensing the increase in Hiei's Spirit Energy, and Kurama's explanation of Hiei's code and rules had struck a chord with Kuwabara. As a man who also lived by his own code, he could understand, at least in part, of Hiei's determination to take this fight. Kuwabara did not know what code Hiei chose to live by, and even with Hiei's display of mourning, Kuwabara still had trouble imagining Hiei sympathizing with Byakko's demise, but even though the black-haired demon before him kept running away from Seiryu's attacks, Kuwabara knew that Hiei would continue this fight to the end, just like he would have done. Kuwabara glanced over to Miwa, who since they entered this room had not said a word. She had told him before that there was more to Hiei than his arrogant attitude. Perhaps this was what she meant.

Miwa's eyes suddenly widened, and she took a worried step forward. "Hiei!"

Kuwabara focused on the fight once again, and Hiei reappeared on the other side of the room kneeling down on one leg. He and Yusuke both felt relief, thinking that Hiei had been hurt, but upon closer inspection, Hiei's left leg had turned an icy blue.

"He won't be able to run away anymore," Kurama said.

With Hiei, who had demonstrated his incredible speed many times before, seemingly crippled by Seiryu's technique, the dragon resumed his taunting. "With your leg frozen, you can't possibly move. I suggest you start groveling." Seiryu's Spirit Energy focused on his fist once more, and he prepared one final Ice Dragon blast. He intended to freeze Hiei and destroy him, just like he did to Byakko. "Now you end!"

In a last ditch effort, Hiei struck his sword into the ground to propel his body forward. He seemed to fly across the floor like a black shadow towards Seiryu, and in a flurry of movement, Hiei landed on the ground once more, but this time both his legs and and left arm were frozen, and Seiryu was still standing.

"Ha, you have escaped, but you are wounded." For a moment, Seiryu was impressed, but Hiei's laughter cut him off.

Hiei's confident aura returned, and he easily stood up despite his frozen legs and smirked at Seiryu. "So what if your ice trick can kill your wounded friend? It won't kill me." Hiei raised his frozen hand and easily clenched his fist as if the ice was never there. To further prove his point, the ice around his arm and legs simply vanished. It was never even a hindrance to him.

"That's impossible! I shall give one final blow!" Seiryu was angry at Hiei's survival, but a trail of blood leaked from beneath his hat, seemingly from nothing.

"I don't think so."

Wounds began appearing all over Seiryu's body, and the dragon clutched his head in pain as the damage from Hiei's attack began to settle in. In a blinding flash of light and a loud scream, Seiryu's body disappeared into an explosion of Spirit Energy and cold air.

"When did he attack?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke ignored him and ran up to meet Hiei with joyous laughter.

"Don't feel bad, Kuwabara. I couldn't see it either after the initial hit." Kurama tried to comfort him, and he too ran forward to join Yusuke in celebrating.

Miwa grinned at Kuwabara before she followed after Kurama, and it reminded Kuwabara again of what she had told him before. There was more to Hiei than his attitude. There was no doubt about that now.

"Shorty's a lot cooler than I thought!"

Sure, he was short. Sure, he was annoying, but Hiei had taken down a Saint Beast without even getting injured. It would be a lie if Kuwabara said he wasn't impressed. Only one Saint Beast remained. Even if he and Kurama had sustained injuries, surely the five of them would be able to take down the leader of the Saint Beasts. Kuwabara had been shocked, maybe even scared, by the monstrous things he had seen since coming to Maze Castle, but they had seen four victories so far, and his initial shock had long since been replaced by confidence in the abilities of himself and his friends.

They could do this.

They could win.

Notes: I feel like the Maze Castle case's core purpose is to showcase the basics of everyone's abilities and establish the dynamic they all have with each other, which is what I have been trying to do. This chapter ended up getting split into two. I had originally intended to wrap up the Maze Castle case here, but I decided it would be too rushed, so I instead focused on setting up the relationships Miwa has with Kuwabara and Hiei, and the next chapter will wrap up this case. Miwa has a crush on everyone's favorite little swordsman, so I hope you all will enjoy how it all plays out for her.