Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Life Broken & Incomplete ❯ Shadow Of A Rose ( Chapter 3 )

BOOM went the thunder as the crackle of lightning followed, lighting up the pitch-black sky. The air was below freezing, stinging any piece of flesh that it could touch. The wind howled furiously giving the area a creepy vibe to anyone or any creature that was around at the time. It was deathly quiet due to the fact that there were no animals around. The only thing that could be heard was the harsh wind and angry sky.

2 people, a male and female, casually and quietly made their way down the very small path that lead to the haunted looking castle in front of them. The dead leaves crunched under the weight of their feet while they were alert and prepared for anything that came their way. Their skin was red and in great pain, but they still pressed on, determined to reach the castle. A small but very strong tree root grew straight across the path in front of the 2 people. The female got her foot caught in it and tripped which caused her to fall to the pavement hard. A very soft grunt of pain escaped her pale pink lips as her eyes closed at the impact. Her male companion knelt down by her.

"Are you alright?" Kurama asked, his voice barely a whisper.

The girl nodded. "Hai. I'm fine."

The red-haired demon wrapped his arm around the ninja's waist and helped her to her feet before they continued to walk forward. As they strode down the uncertain path, the female ninja reached into her bag and pulled out 2 pairs of ashikos and 2 pairs of shukos. The ashikos were iron bands that you tied over the feet while shukos were iron bands that you tied over your hands. These allowed the user to climb almost any surface in a matter of seconds without a problem. The female handed 1 pair of each to Kurama, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Hari, now is not the time to start playing ninja games."

"Put them on you idiot! They'll allow you to climb any surface." She commanded softly, but the harshness that was hidden in her voice could be heard easily. Kurama took the items from her and held them as he watched her put hers on smoothly. He soon realized her pure gold eyes were looking at him impatiently. Right away, he began to put the items on that she had handed him a few moments ago. While Kurama was putting those things on, Hari continued to walk. The leaves underneath her now spiked feet almost gave off no sound when she stepped on them. Her gold eyes swung back and forth examining the castle as she got closer to it. The chipped dark gray stone looked almost black in the dark night sky. The gargoyle statues seemed to follow her as she walked past, which caused her to smile to herself. Just like home. She thought with amusement. She froze as she heard light footsteps behind her. Immediately she spun around and swung her right fist.

Kurama's eyes widened as he saw this thing come flying at him. In an instant he ducked which caused the object to go right past his head. If he had waited another second, it would have collided with his face.

"Oi!" he whispered sternly. "Watch where you fire that thing!"

"Gomen." Hari answered as she held back a snicker. She looked back at the entrance to the gloomy castle in front of them. "Did you secure those tightly?"

"I think so. Why?"

"You better have. Otherwise you won't look too pretty after you fall." She commented as she leaped forward, attaching herself to the castle wall. Before she began to climb up, she attached a piece of paper to the gravely structure.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kurama mumbled before he dug the spikes into the rough surface.

"No problem." Hari's voice called from above him. Kurama looked up only to find Hari was almost halfway up the wall of the castle. Quickly he began to climb. He seemed to just float up with great ease, as if he was walking normally. He saw Hari climb over the top and disappear from his view. He sped up his pace in order to catch up to the smooth ninja. Once on top, he noticed the Hari had already taken the shukos and ashikos off and put them away. Immediately he took his off while Hari peered over the top of the castle. She saw 3 figures standing at the bottom, gazing back up at her.

"How are they going to get in? We didn't exactly follow their instructions." Kurama asked as he soon joined her in looking over the top.

"Hey, Yusuke is the one that sent me on the suicide mission. So I took the initiative and changed the plans a little bit." Hari replied smugly.

"And how exactly did you change it?" Kurama inquired.

Hari just laughed. "We enter from the top...they enter from the bottom." She answered as she turned on her heal and headed for the door that was behind her.

"You don't take authority very well, do you?"

"Nope."

Kurama sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Here goes nothing." He murmured as he followed the overconfident female into the castle.

*~~~~* At The Bottom *~~~~*

"You've got to be kidding me." Kuwabara grumbled as he snatched the note from the wall.

"Nani?" Yusuke asked as him and Hiei soon reached the entrance after Kuwabara.

"They're letting us go in first!"

"Nani?! They were supposed to make sure the coast was clear!"

While Yusuke was bitching about Hari's little change of plans, Hiei glanced upward only to spot Hari's gold eyes looking back down at him. In the darkness that surrounded everybody, he could see her smile in a superior manner before she gave a small wave of her hand.

"Damn ninja!" Hiei muttered as he noticed Kurama's emerald green eyes now peering over the edge. Yusuke and Kuwabara followed Hiei's eyes upward. A soft laugh floated down to their ears as the 2 heads disappeared from their view.

"I swear I'm going to hurt her." Yusuke growled before he looked back at the main door. "Well…shall we go in?"

There was silence before Kuwabara & Yusuke kicked the fairly weak door in. Glancing around inside, they noticed a change in the air & in temperature. The air was cool & moist, which sent chills down Kuwabara's spine. The walls looked different from the outside as well. The rough gray blocks of stone were covered in moss and very damp. The foggy air clouded their view as it made it a little harder to breathe.

"Well this is nice." Kuwabara grumbled.

"Uresai (shut up), you itaitashii (pathetic) ningen." Answered an annoyed Hiei.

"Oi! Watch it or I'll beat you up!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Both of you knock it off! Do you want us to be discovered already?" Yusuke interrupted, displeased at the bickering males. Kuwabara shot Hiei a death glare, which Hiei just shrugged off. Yusuke rolled his eyes as he placed his hands in his pockets and entered the murky castle.

"So if we're going in from down here, what is Hari and Kurama doing?" Kuwabara asked as he followed Yusuke rather slowly.

"They're doing the same thing as us you baka." Hiei answered, peevishly. Kuwabara was getting *very* pissed off at the overconfident fire demon. He was so caught up in his anger that he didn't notice that Yusuke had stopped walking and walked straight into him.

"Oi! Urameshi, when you stop next time you better warn me first-" Kuwabara began to scold Yusuke, but was cut off by the back of Yusuke's hand socking him in the face hard.

"Be quiet baka." He whispered sternly. Silence filled the long corridor as each stood around, eyeing their surroundings with awareness. Yusuke's brown eyes attentively scanned the area around him, as if he were waiting for something to happen. Something didn't feel right to him, and Hiei and Kuwabara could sense the difference as well. Suddenly the hallway began to shake violently. The 3 males had to adjust their stance in order to keep their balance.

"What's going on?" Kuwabara questioned, looking around franticly.

"What do yo think, imbecile?!" Hiei barked back in response.

"I have no idea, but it doesn't look good." Yusuke cut in, slightly stumbling in the process. Out of nowhere, jagged livid spikes began to peak out of the walls as well as the ceiling. They slowly came forth from their hiding spot underneath the green moss that grew on them. A slight twinkle caught Hiei's eye as he finally became aware of the spikes.

"We're in trouble." He grumbled, which notified Kuwabara and Yusuke of the situation.

"Damnit." Yusuke growled as his eyebrows furrowed in anger and annoyance.

*~~~~* Hari & Kurama *~~~~*

Hari walked down the passageway as her gold eyes made a mental picture of everything she passed. Kurama just strode behind her gracefully.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" Hari questioned as she moved her head around to study everything. She wanted to know what she had to do here since she wasn't really paying attention to the detectives earlier at the apartment.

"We're here to get a certain gem that has mysterious powers. The demons here haven't been able to figure out how to work it." Kurama answered gently.

"Hn. How convenient." Hari fussed. "Why haven't they been able to figure it out? I thought these youkai were supposed to be intelligent."

"Well, the legend has it that only certain people can activate it."

"Really? You know, being vague is not answering my question, kitsune." Hari muttered with vexation.

Kurama chuckled. "It is said that the most unexpected people can activate the gem. Most of the time, those people are unaware that they are energizing it. Thus, once they do so they start to change."

"Change? Change as in what?"

Kurama shrugged. "It is not written nor told. That has been a mystery. The youkai think that it makes you all-powerful."

"Hn. Sounds like a bunch of bull shit to me. What does this gem look like anyway?" Hari continued.

"Many believe it is clear in color, but nobody is certain."

"You people really suck at helping others on this thing." Hari protested silently.

Kurama chuckled again. "It's our specialty."

Hari shot him an evil glare, which caused him to smile a little wider. Damn kitsune. He's way to sure of himself. Hari thought as she continued to creep down the corridor cautiously. Without warning, Hari spun around and shouted, "Jump!"

Kurama, shocked at her sudden command, quickly registered it in his head and jumped as a poison tipped spear came flying out of the wall. He gracefully landed back on his feet as he just looked at the piece of wood coming out of the opposite end of the wall.

"Arigatou for the heads up." He thanked as he proceeded to walk.

"Any time." Hari answered while her eyes remained glued on a certain moldy wood door.

"Nani?" Kurama asked curiously as he glared at the frozen ninja.

Hari didn't answer him, she just squinted her eyes and blocked everything else out. Kurama was about to speak but Hari held up her hand, silencing him. A dark presence emanated from the opposite side of the door, and it was strong. Hari shook her head slightly, starting to feel dizzy. It was like the spirit was causing her to fall ill to it's power. No! she thought. I can't give in. … Not now.

"Hari, daijobu? (are you okay?)" Kurama asked softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"H-hai. I'm fine." She stammered a little bit. She gently pushed his hand off her before she backed away from the door a little bit. The evil in the spirit continued to get to her head. Her vision went blurry as he head began to pound. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly before opening them again. Her vision focused as she shoved the pain to the side. With a burst of energy, she flung her foot at the putrid door, which caused it to fly open. Inside were 3 demons whom were now staring icily at the 2 fighters.

"Who are you?!" a pitch black demon with piercing yellow eyes scowled. The demon was giving off a rancid stench as the surface of it's skin looked like it was boiling, with bubbles coming up and popping. It had long wavy white hair with, what seemed like snakes, crawling through it.

Hari cocked her head to the side and smirked. "Your worst nightmare." She answered.

Another youkai laughed hoarsely. "You think you can beast us, little girl?"

Hari turned her eyes towards a bluish colored demon with…no eyes. It's bones were showing underneath it's skin as it's tail began to grow huge spikes that were dripping with venom. Hari raised an eyebrow, which caused the demon to smile, revealing its dripping white fangs.

"You are very foolish, young one." The 3rd youkai piped up. Hari looked down and saw what looked like a lizard crawling towards her.

"My, my, my. Such a nice little reptile." she cooed with an unfazed smile on her face. Out of nowhere, the lizard began to grow tremendously. It took up a good amount of the space around it. White hair began to grow all over it's body before it began to drip blood. The demon's nails also grew long in length with a super sharp point at the end that could shred anything with a simple swipe.

"Well, aren't you a special one." Churred Hari.

"Get her!" the black youkai shouted angrily.

"Let's dance." Hari answered as she whipped out her bo and laughed evilly.