Notes: This chapter is very late, especially after the previous short chapter, and I have no legitimate excuse. I just hope that everyone enjoys this chapter as well. The Maze Castle case will be wrapping up here.
Chapter 5: Slack
Cultivated Humans: mindless, numb creatures stripped of free will and personality. They funneled out of the tower entrance while their inarticulate moan echoed through the hallways from whence they came. Slowly, their continuously growing numbers filled the open space between towers, making the threat of being overrun increasingly real. With one remaining Saint Beast, Hiei only saw their new obstacle as a tedious annoyance. Kuwabara had sensed something bad happening back in the Living World not too long ago, and according to Yusuke's assistant, the girl Keiko was being chased by humans infected by the Makai Insects. As the stone walkway began to resemble a twisted cabbage patch, it was a clear attempt to slow down the current threat to their leader.
Yusuke was growing impatient, and he had wanted to blast through the Cultivated Human herd with a wasteful and reckless expenditure of his Spirit Energy. Thankfully, Miwa had the foresight to stop his hand, and Kurama insisted that they use their heads and be more strategic with this assault. Yusuke answered with something stupid about headbutting, but Hiei ignored the idiocy for a moment as he surveyed the area. The Cultivated Humans were not the threat they needed to focus on right now. A distraction like this indicated that the remaining Saint Beast was either scared and trying to escape, or he was planning a more dangerous strike, perhaps the assault on Keiko, and needed the Cultivated Humans to buy more time. Neither possibilities were favorable, so Yusuke was right that somehow...or someone cutting through them quickly was their best option, but they still needed to conserve their energy if they hoped to defeat the leader.
A small window several feet up the next tower caught Hiei's eye, and an idea quickly came to mind, but somewhere inside Hiei the plan displeased him. If they were able to boost Yusuke to that small window, the detective could continue on past this annoyance and finish their mission. That would leave himself, Kurama, Miwa, and Kuwabara to break through the army of vegetative creatures until they caught up to Yusuke.
"Set your eyes on the first tower window," Hiei said, stepping forward and turning their attention upward. "That is your door."
"Well I'm sorry, Mr. Mysterious, but as it turns out, I forgot to bring my pogo stick." Hiei really hoped the detective had improved his fighting abilities to match his wisecracking skills.
"Yeah! How do you expect him to jump that high?
"I'll need you to listen closely," Hiei said, choosing to ignore Yusuke's rebellious attitude. "You will have to go on ahead of us. If we stand on each other's shoulders, you should have enough height to climb through that window and continue on to their leader."
"You mean like a totem pole," Miwa said.
"Or like an action movie," Yusuke said while starting to grin. "I'm up for it."
"But uh...what if those things attack us while he climbs up?" Kuwabara asked.
"If he gets a running start, the momentum might be enough for Yusuke to...essentially run up our backs," Miwa explained as she slipped her water pouch off her shoulder, probably intending to open up her back for this plan. "It shouldn't take too long."
Before the pouch slipped off her shoulder completely, Kurama stepped in and pulled it back to its normal position. "Perhaps you should instead keep the Cultivated Humans away from us as Yusuke climbs."
Miwa frowned slightly and placed her hands on her hips, and Hiei noticed that Yusuke's focus had travelled down the length of Miwa's uniform. "If it's about the skirt, you know I wear shorts underneath," she said, "It wasn't a problem when I fought Kohryu."
Her comment didn't faze Kurama, and he calmly answered, "It's not that. With those numbers, Kuwabara does have a point about possibly being attacked." Miwa sighed, but she obediently put her pouch back on. He was right. "The weight of four people is more than a single person at the bottom to bear, and Yusuke could potentially lose his momentum the more people he climbs."
"Fine." Miwa folded her arms, like she wasn't pleased with being left out, but she looked to Kuwabara with a confident smile. As the largest member, it was clear he would serve as the base. "I'll cover you, Kuwabara."
Hiei was glad that everyone accepted his suggestion so readily, but it still bothered him in the back of his mind that he was letting someone else continue on while he stayed behind. In any other situation, Hiei would insist that he goes on ahead himself; he was faster and more than capable enough to get the job done. However, Yusuke was the only one who had not fought since they arrived at the castle, and Hiei already promised Yusuke the chance to fight the leader, so Yusuke was the most logical choice for their last fight, and Hiei was a man of his word, after all.
At some point, the wave of Cultivated Humans had spread out in front of the watchtower, but once they reached a certain distance away, they had stopped, simply staring at their targets with soulless eyes. Hiei knew what they were doing: their goal was to stall, not destroy, so as long as Hiei and the others didn't progress, the Cultivated Humans wouldn't attack and just block their way. They all realized it, and they quickly got into formation for their plan. No matter how many Cultivated Humans appeared, they needed to progress. Yusuke had to go on ahead.
"You better not screw this up, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called as they began running right for the herd.
"Don't worry. I'm like an ox!"
Miwa lead the charge, and with the swift, guiding motions of her arm, her stream of water swept through the legs of the Cultivated Humans, knocking them off balance and clearing a path for Kuwabara. Kuwabara, in turn, planted himself several feet from the watchtower's base, just below their target window. Perceiving the new threat, the Cultivated Humans slowly stumbled forward, but with a strike that strongly resembled Kurama's Rose Whip, Miwa sliced through each of them before they could reach Kuwabara. Even the ones she originally knocked over had tried to climb to their feet, but without missing a beat, Miwa's water strike removed their heads as well.
"All right! Let 'er rip!" Kuwabara yelled.
Kurama was the first to run up, and with a careful leap, he landed on top of Kuwabara's shoulders in a standing position. Hiei quickly followed, using Kuwabara's back as a stepping stone to reach Kurama's shoulders. He could feel Kuwabara sway under the weight of the two bodies he had to support, but the human boy held strong, and in what surely looked to be a ridiculous maneuver, the three of them stood upon each other's shoulders, creating a ladder for Yusuke to climb. With one more water strike from Miwa, Yusuke's path to Kuwabara was clear, and just like Hiei did, he used everyone's back as stepping stones to climb their totem pole. Each step of the Spirit Detective toppled their tower forward ever so slightly, making their already precarious balance more unstable. Hiei let out a loud grunt as Yusuke's shoe dug into his back, but with one powerful push, Yusuke leapt off their tower and reached for the window with outstretched arms. Before their totem pole collapsed completely, both Hiei and Kurama leapt off Kuwabara's back and returned to solid ground. Immediately, they all looked up, and even Miwa stopped her assault against the Cultivated Humans. Yusuke soared through the air, and in a miraculous feat, he just barely managed to grab the edge of the window, and he awkwardly and wobbly pulled himself up.
He made it.
Yusuke turned around and flashed them all a wide grin. "Remind me to try out for the cheerleading squad. You guys have fun with the Veggie Heads!"
Kuwabara laughed excitedly and waved good-bye. "Don't die on me, okay?!"
Yusuke sent them a thumbs up with a smile, and he disappeared into the watchtower. The sight of the Spirit Detective continuing on that way made something stir within Hiei, but he wasn't sure what that feeling was. He felt...okay. He remembered how he had settled on Yusuke as the one they should send ahead, and how normally Hiei would have chosen to go himself. But instead, he delegated that task to Yusuke, and he felt content with that. It was strange. Hiei glanced over at Miwa, who was also staring at the window through which Yusuke had disappeared. She had this strange, content smile on her face, and it somehow reminded Hiei of what he was feeling at that moment. If he was as expressive as her, he may have had the same look on his face.
"What is it?" he asked, hoping that maybe she would have the answer he was seeking.
Miwa looked over to him, eyes widened slightly in surprise that someone noticed her smile. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's nothing."
Before Hiei could pursue the matter further, the Cultivated Humans began closing in on them once more, and their eerie moan hung in the air over their heads. Hiei pushed his thoughts about Yusuke to the back of his mind; he needed to focus on their current task for now. Kuwabara declared that he felt bad for the Cultivated Humans, but he still threw the first strike by punching the closest vegetative body. Kurama was next, and his Rose Whip easily cut through multiple heads of the surrounding bodies. Miwa seemed to have taken Yusuke's Shotgun suggestion to heart as she split her water stream to small, floating orbs and shot them like bullets through multiple rows of Cultivated Humans. Slowly, Hiei drew his sword. He resigned himself to this cleanup duty, and he intended to break through this assault. With his signature speed, Hiei sliced through the droves of Cultivated Humans, leaving a pile of detached body parts in his wake.
Hiei didn't know what the strange feeling was that he felt earlier, but he knew one thing for sure: he had no intention of letting Yusuke take on the last Saint Beast all alone.
He would be there.
He would be there as soon as possible.
{00}
Just how many could they possibly have in this damn castle?
Hiei would never claim to be an expert on Cultivated Humans, but he had thought it would take time to, for lack of better word, "grow" them. Yet, at the persistent and endless rate and the density in which they kept appearing before himself and the others, he was almost willing to believe that the process only took mere seconds. He had long since lost track of how many green bodies he had sliced through; he had long since lost track of how much time had passed since Yusuke went on ahead. Their pace towards the watchtower was dismal at best, and even though they finally were able to enter the tower, the narrow staircase was filled with even more vegetative bodies. It felt endless, and it was frustrating, but Hiei put himself in this very position. He had to push through.
In the limited space of the narrow stairwell, Hiei could not use his speed to quickly slice through the extremely dense wave of vegetative bodies as he did before, and he was forced to cut them down individually. Kuwabara withdrew his Spirit Sword in favor of using his fists, and Kurama no longer had room to swing his Rose Whip and was forced to do the same. Even Miwa, who had the most fluid weapon of them all, was limited in what she could do. Like Kurama, she no longer had any room to safely use her adaptation of Yusuke's Shotgun, but she could occasionally cut through several bodies at once, just like when she cut through Kohryu's crystal pillars. Still, their progress was far slower than Hiei would have preferred. The number of Cultivated Humans they needed to push through was far more than Hiei could have predicted.
"This isn't fast enough," Hiei heard Miwa say, "Let me handle this!"
With a frustrated grunt, she shoved her way in front of her comrades, stepping over fallen bodies in the process. The Cultivated Humans at the front of the next wave extended their hands slowly towards her. Miwa spread her arms out at her sides, stretching her water stream across the width of the stairwell. It glowed a faint blue, indicating the presence of Miwa's Spirit Energy, and with a guiding push from both of her hands, the stream rushed forward and cut through the entire wave of Cultivated Humans, reminding Hiei of a horizontal guillotine.
Kuwabara let out a relieved laugh. "Jeeze, Miwa, you couldn't have thought to do that sooner?"
Miwa giggled nervously and smiled back at Kuwabara. "The space was narrower than I expected, so I had to wait for an opening. I need all of this water to ensure a clean cut."
"You can't just...I dunno, make more?"
Miwa giggled. "Unfortunately, no. I'm limited to controlling the water that exists around me."
Hiei noticed Kurama glance shamefully to the ground, but he chose to say nothing.
"Well, we can cover you if you need it," Kuwabara continued; he did not notice Kurama's change in expression.
"That's very reassuring," she said, purposefully not looking in Kurama's direction.
The four of them continued onward, and the wider area of the new hallway felt much more free than the previous stairwell. Unfortunately, their reprieve was very short lived. At the end of the wide hallway was another staircase, but another bunch of Cultivated Humans blocked their way. However, the wider space meant everyone was able to brandish their weapons once more, and the four fighters continued their assault. The echoes of their battle cries mingled with the overly familiar sound of the Cultivated Humans' moan in an odd harmonic. Hiei's speed allowed him to cut through the crowd easily, Kurama's Rose Whip and Kuwabara's Spirit Sword could take down a single Cultivated Human in one blow, and Miwa's horizontal guillotine cleared the way for them as they continued onward. It was an endless cycle of slicing and bodies collapsing, and every now and then, the watchtower would rumble and quake. Yusuke's battle with the Saint Beast must have been something incredible.
Up ahead, another staircase appeared, and Hiei could already see more Cultivated Humans funneling out into the hallway.
"This blows!" Kuwabara said, and the exhaustion was beginning to show itself in his voice, "By the time we plow through all these weirdos, we'll be too tired to help Urameshi."
"Tired hands are better than none," Kurama said quietly.
Hiei glanced over at them with a small smirk. "Do what you like. I'm not stopping."
"We knew this would happen when we sent Yusuke on ahead," Miwa added.
Once more, they charged into the next wave. The motions of cutting through the Cultivated Humans were becoming overly familiar and repetitive, but none of them had any choice. Each Cultivated Human fell to their now well-practiced strikes, and Miwa's handy guillotine trick helped them push through to the next staircase quickly. Hiei had to suppress the strong urge to berate himself for choosing Yusuke to go on alone. He was a man of his word, and he promised Yusuke a chance at the leader, but...when had Hiei ever let himself take care of what was essentially clean-up duty? Hiei had always been the type to make sure things get taken care of himself. He rarely delegated work to others, especially something as important as defeating the leader of the Saint Beasts. He trusted in his own abilities above all others, and the last time he let others handle things for him...it wound up in Yusuke eventually arresting him. When he arrived at Maze Castle, he had expected that he, Kurama, and Miwa would be handling the majority of the work needed for the mission; "Babysitting" was the word he had used. Yet, here he was, letting one of the people he was supposed to be "babysitting" handle the strongest fighter in the castle while Hiei was stuck cutting through droves and droves of mindless, thoughtless creatures.
Hiei had been acting strangely ever since the Gate of Betrayal. He had absolutely no intention to die for the sake other humans, and he couldn't believe Yusuke's proposed plan to trust Hiei, the one most likely to betray them all, to pull the switch and save their lives. Despite what anyone may think, Hiei didn't intend to really let them all die. While Hiei had full confidence that he would have been fine on his own, storming an entire castle alone was just strategically unwise. Furthermore, being responsible for the death of their Spirit Detective would only result in Spirit World going after him again. But Yusuke had trusted him, and that was the first time something in him stirred. The next time was when Yusuke disappeared into the watchtower window after their crazy totem pole plan. Seeing him continue on alone with a smile the way he did, it made another strange, unknown feeling ripple through Hiei. Miwa seemed to feel it as well, but he was interrupted before really figuring out what that feeling was.
The easiest explanation was...he trusted Yusuke with finishing the mission, even without knowing how much stronger the boy had become. This realization felt strange, but it was the only one that made sense, so Hiei stuck himself with this clean-up job.
Unlike the previous narrow one, the next was a gigantic spiral staircase that wound about the edge of the entire watchtower with empty space in the middle. The vastness of the space made it seem extremely ominous, but thankfully the waves of Cultivated Humans had finally stopped. Hiei looked up to the top of the stairs, and from what he could see, it was the last staircase they had to climb before reaching Yusuke and the last Saint Beast. Still...it was a tall staircase. They couldn't afford to loiter, so the four fighters pushed themselves to continue on. They were close. They almost were caught up to Yusuke.
Then, the sound of an explosion and another powerful rumble shook the watchtower, and small bits of debris fell from the walls and ceiling around them.
Kurama stared at the ceiling above. "The biggest lightning eruption by far. Suzaku is getting desperate."
"The attack will almost surely kill one of them," Hiei added.
"Don't say that!" Kuwabara cried before taking off again.
Another rumbling sensation swept through the watchtower, but the source this time wasn't from the raging battle above, but the ground beneath their feet. The stairs immediately in front of Kuwabara and behind Kurama began collapsing. The watchtower had shaken too much, and the stairs were beginning to crumble. The cracking stone traveled up and down the stairs, getting closer and closer to the four fighters, and even more debris fell to the ground below, and the echoes of their fall travelled all over the vast space. Somehow, the stairs supporting them had not collapsed, but the large chunks of stairs both before and behind them were now gone, trapping the four fighters with nowhere left to either advance or retreat.
"The stairs…" said Kurama.
Kuwabara groaned. "Now what are we going to do?"
The only answer Kuwabara received was the watchtower shaking again, this time from the battle raging over their heads. Yusuke and Suzaku were still fighting.
"We have to find a way up there,' Miwa said, "before this whole tower collapses on our heads."
"There's no way we can make that jump," Kuwabara groaned, gaping at the huge chasm between them and their only hope of continuing ahead. Hiei thought back to Kuwabara's pole-vaulting stunt from the fight with Byakko, but considering how high they were from the ground, he wasn't sure Kuwabara's sword would even stretch that far.
"I think I can help you there," Miwa suddenly said.
Water burst out of Miwa's pouch and gathered into four large orbs. Miwa extended both hands forward, and the orbs spread themselves out between the chasm. They flattened into liquid disk-shapes, making a stepping stone path for them and began glowing Miwa's signature faint blue.
"You should be able to make those jumps," Miwa said. Her hands stayed outstretched in front of her, and her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. "I'll be able to support your weight, but please just go one at a time." The watchtower trembled again. "And hurry."
"Umm, are you sure that's safe?" Kuwabara asked, staring intently at the liquid platforms before him. Strengthened by Spirit Energy or not, it was water after all.
"If it can cut through crystal, then you'll be fine, Kuwabara," Kurama said gently.
"Just do it," Hiei said without any reservations. "Miwa is right. We need to hurry."
Kurama stepped forward first. The fox had a reputation for being calm in the most tense situations, but he showed absolutely no doubts that Miwa's liquid stepping-disk bridge would get him across safely. He was even smiling, as if he had done this before. Carefully, Kurama made the jump to the first water disk. It supported his weight as well as any stepping stone, without even wobbling from the sudden load, and with only a slight pause, Kurama continued jumping from disk to disk, landing gracefully and without trouble every time, until he reached the stairs across the chasm.
After Kurama's graceful demonstration, Hiei felt much more confident that this would work. He quickly glanced at Miwa, who was still focusing on sustaining her water disks, before making the first jump himself. With Hiei's speed, he had enough momentum to reach the second disk in one jump, and just like Kurama, the disk was strong enough to support his weight and wide enough for him to stand on both feet with room to spare. With one more powerful jump, Hiei crossed the remaining disks and joined Kurama on the stairs. Hiei did not know the full extent of Miwa's abilities, but he had to admit that this was a useful skill.
Kuwabara, on the other hand, still seemed apprehensive. He kept glancing between the disks and the floor below, clearly unsure of himself. Then he vigorously shook his head and squared his shoulders back. "I can do this!" he said confidently and made his first jump. He did not slip, but he put so much energy into his jump that his balance wavered slightly. Kurama took a worried step forward, but Kuwabara managed to regain his balance. He looked down at the solid water disk below his feet, lightly stomping on it a couple times with a small smile. "That's pretty neat," he said.
"Please hurry," Miwa said, still focused and arms outstretched.
"Right, sorry." Kuwabara shook his head once again, and this time he confidently made his jumps across Miwa's bridge, not once losing his balance again. When his feet were gladly on solid rock again, he said, "Pretty neat."
Only Miwa remained. Keeping one arm outstretched, Miwa walked forward to the edge of the chasm. She was very focused on maintaining the disks, and Hiei briefly wondered whether she could keep her concentration while jumping across, but his worries were needless as she jumped from disk to disk as confidently as Kurama.
"Man, you guys are heavy," she said jokingly as she called the water back to her pouch. "Let's go."
With that obstacle behind them, the four fighters continued up the stairs. If there were more collapsed stairs, they used Miwa's disks to cross when necessary. It was a tall, dangerous staircase, but Hiei preferred it to cutting through endless droves of Cultivated Humans. As they got closer, they were able to to hear Yusuke's screams, and that drove them all to run faster. Mixed with Yusuke's screams was the unmistakable sound of crackling lightning. With the screams and the trembling tower, there was no telling who was winning the fight, but Hiei had a bad feeling that just wouldn't go away.
"Urameshi!"
Finally, finally they reached the top of the tower. There were no doors, and a bright orange light nearly blinded them as they reached the top room. Incredible amounts of Spirit Power filled the room, and above them, Hiei barely made out the silhouette of Yusuke forcing its way towards seven other figures. Hiei knew immediately that they wouldn't be able to help, that this was going to be the final blow for both Yusuke and Suzaku, and when their silhouettes met, a bright white light erupted between them, and a powerful force pushed everyone backwards. The watchtower shook under the most violent trembles yet, and the entire structure began to collapse into the room. With all the falling debris, there was no way any of them could jump in to help Yusuke, nor could they see just what had happened to the detective or Suzaku.
Are we too late?
Eventually, the dust settled, and the tremblings ceased. The red sky and black clouds were clearly visible once more, and bits and pieces of the destruction were on fire and exuded black smoke into the sky. The limp bodies of Suzaku were scattered everywhere, but there was only one body the four fighters were looking for, and they found him: Yusuke, lying flat on his back and unconscious. The battle was over, but with both Yusuke and Suzaku motionless on the ground, the victor, if there was one, was not yet clear. Kurama and Kuwabara were the first at Yusuke's side, and the fox knelt to his feet to check on Yusuke's condition.
"Wake up, Urameshi! Let's go home!" Kuwabara called.
"I'm sorry, he's expended all of his body energy," Kurama reported, "His heart is stopping."
Kuwabara also knelt down. "Then I'll give him some of my own."
"That wouldn't be very wise," Kurama said, "Your body is still badly injured from Byakko. Any more strain on it could kill you."
"Me and Urameshi jumped into this deal together, and we're both gonna come out alive or we're not coming out at all, okay?!" He placed his hands over Yusuke's torso, "Here goes, Urameshi. Come on!" he said, and both of their bodies began to glow with Kuwabara's donated Life Energy.
"...He's a brave guy," Miwa said, smiling slightly.
Kurama rose to his feet, allowing Kuwabara to do what he must, and rejoined Miwa and Hiei. "Well I suppose now we'll have to return to Living World carrying both of them on our backs."
"Like I said, 'babysitting.'" Hiei turned his gaze to Kurama. "Here's what I don't understand: why would he bother saving her if he died in the process?"
"Trust me, Hiei, there are reasons," Kurama said quietly. Miwa nodded.
Hiei recalled Kurama's reasons for his betrayal six months before and scoffed. "Hn, maybe for someone who's lived there, but I'd never do it. The challenge is enough without taking someone else's slack."
"If the other person is important enough, Hiei, you might not mind taking up their slack," Miwa said quietly. "Weren't you the one who sent Yusuke on ahead and stayed behind with us to push through the Cultivated Humans?"
Hiei stared at the ground to avoid her eyes. "I told him he could take their leader. That's all," was all he could say in reply. She did have a point. If defeating the Saint Beasts was Spirit World's mission to Yusuke, then staying behind while the detective finished the job elsewhere was, in a way, picking up Yusuke's slack, but he would never tell her that he agreed.
The glow of Kuwabara's Life Energy faded, and the boy fell over unconscious on Yusuke's body. Hiei did not look forward to having to drag both boys back to the Living World, but...they succeeded. Their mission was over, and as Kurama and Miwa knelt down to collect the unconscious human boys, Hiei realized that he was satisfied with Yusuke evidently coming out on top in this final battle, or else his decision to leave the mission in Yusuke's hands would have been worthless. Hiei would not have been pleased if his trust in Yusuke had been met with defeat.
Yusuke was the first to trust Hiei with all of their lives. It was only right that Hiei returned the gesture.
Notes: Like I said before, I feel as if Maze Castle was the arc that helped the boys introduce their individual abilities and learn how to work together, and I hoped to accomplish that same thing with Miwa in this arc. Her fight with Kohryu and the skills she displayed against the Cultivated Humans hopefully helped demonstrate the range and limitations of her abilities as a Water Apparition in a human-like guise, and I tried to show her personality as she interacts with the other boys from their different perspectives. Up next, the story will roll into the Dark Tournament, and a lot about Miwa will be revealed in this arc, much more than I think we learn about any of the boys. I hope you will be pleased with what you see.