Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Lady of Green ❯ In which we discover Nova's acting skills ( Chapter 6 )

Firelung06: Yay! Icelung's back!

Icelung06: Humph. * Folds arms and glares at Hiei, Kurama plushie, and various little Hell minions perched on Hiei's shoulders * It's not like I had a choice.

Hiei: Don't glare at me. I have no idea why I'm here.

Kurama plushie: That makes two of us.

ALL: * look at plushie suspiciously *

KP: ^__^

FL: Well anyway… I missed you!

IL: Awwwwww… * hugs Firelung *

H: * gag *

IL: does that mean you'll do the disclaimer for me?

FL: Don't push your luck.

IL: * sigh * I/We do not own YYH. I/We only own Noric, Nova, Enya, Ivy, Josie, and Vlad.

FL: HEY! A great big thank you to all you awesome reviewers! To Yin-Jins, He's back! No worries! To Jin: master of wind, WE ARE UPDATING AS FAST AS WE CAN!! PLEASE DO NOT HURT US!! And to Venomous Angel of Hades… no evil demon armies… * shudder *… not again…

H: Evil demon armies? Again?

IL: We don't want to talk about it.

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"Geez it's creepy in here." Josie said. I privately agreed. The labyrinth was a large eleven-made cave several miles underground. The walls were smooth and shiny, and completely featureless. There were no candles, torches, or any other light source that I could see, yet a dim, steady, white-yellow light showed through the tunnels.

-This is not a good idea.- Luke said.

-You think I don't know that?- I asked. -I tried to explain to Nova, but she wouldn't listen.- Nova wouldn't even talk to me after I told her it was my information, not her mistake, that had gotten her fired.

-Maybe you should try and talk to her again.- Luke suggested.

-I prefer my head on my shoulders, thanks.-

-At least apologize.-

-I have apologized! Several times.-

Luke sighed. -Fine. But all of you need to work together in order to get out of here. That includes you and Nova.-

We need to work together. All nine of us. The four spirit detectives, that four spirit spies, and me. It was going to be the six of us, the spirit detectives, Nova, and me, but Nova's team had refused to let us go without them. After a quick stop back home to pick up weapons and supplies (and to tell our extremely ticked off mother that we had been reinstated) we were in the labyrinth.

"So…" Yuske said. "How many times have you guys been down here?"

Nova and I looked at each other. Do we count the time of Luke and Lianna?

"Once." Nova said softly. "Just once."

"Once for me too." I said. Of course we ourselves had never been in the labyrinth. Luke and Lianna had been though. This is where they had nearly died. Where they had transferred their near-dead spirits to the human world. To us.

"Once, huh?" Yuske asked. "And you guys are the experts?"

"So they say." I said. He was beginning to get on my nerves. Luckily he shut up and we walked in silence for a bit longer.

Suddenly Kuwabara said, "look! I think the tunnel ends!" And sure enough, about fifty feet down the tunnel, it opened up into a large dome shaped room with four stone archways leading further into the labyrinth.

"Four doorways…" Yuske said. "Ok, Mr. Sensitive," he turned to Kuwabara, "you know what to do."

Kuwabara stepped up and looked critically at each door. After a few minutes of this he turned and said, "they all feel the same. I can't explain it, but I think they all end up in the same place." He scratched his head and turned to look at the doors again.

"So they all go the same way? That's stupid." Yuske said. I saw Josie nod in agreement.

I shook my head. "There has to be more to it than that." I looked around the room. It was just as plain as the tunnel had been. Even the archways were just elongated holes in the wall. Then I saw, above each archway, a slight line of rough area, where as the rest of the walls were smooth. "Hey, Nova." I walked up behind her and pointed over her shoulder to the top of an archway. "Do you see what I see?"

Nova's eyebrows pulled together in a look of concentration. "Yeah," she said slowly, "but what is it?"

"Dunno." I said.

"What's up?" Ivy asked walking over to us. "What do you see?"

"There are rough spots above each archway."

"So the elves forgot to sand a few spots, no big deal." Yuske said. I was beginning to dislike Yuske's attitude. The elves were an intelligent, subtle race. Over confident loudmouths like Yuske would be the first to die in all of their traps.

"You can't take the elves for granted, Yuske." Kurama said. "They are an incredibly smart race of people. If they left something behind, it was more than likely on purpose."

Nova nodded, still concentrating on the doorways. "That is true, however, they tend to let their pride and self-love cloud their judgment. The think they are superior to all other races. They think just because they can do something…" she trailed off, lost in thought. The others looked at me to finish. I shrugged. I had no clue where she was going with this. Suddenly she asked, "Kuwabara, can I sit on your shoulders?"

"Uh, what?"

"Can I sit on your shoulders?"

"Uh……" Kuwabara turned red. "…Why?"

"Because you're the tallest and I want to see what's up there." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why? What were you thinking?"

Kuwabara quickly answered, "absolutely nothing!" And knelt down so Nova could actually get on his shoulders.

After a couple minutes of gaining their balance (and a great deal of blushing on Kuwabara's part) they finally stood with Nova straddling Kuwabara's neck and Kuwabara hanging on to Nova's shins. They carefully walked over to the first door. The odd line above the door was exactly even with Nova's eyes. She cautiously ran her fingers over the rough spots. "It's writing." She called down to us.

"What's it say?" I Josie asked.

"It's in Old Elvish……just gimme a sec."

"You can read Elvish?" Kuwabara asked.

"Noric and I both can." Nova answered. "Now, shhhh! I need to concentrate."

The room was absolutely silent as Nova ran her finger along the rough spots horizontally, right to left. Her lips moved slightly as she whispered the words to herself. Suddenly she frowned, pulled away, and asked Kuwabara, "could I see the next one, please?"

She did that for all four doorways. Read the inscription, frowned, and asked to see the next one. She finally climbed down off of Kuwabara's shoulders.

"So?" I asked. I hated it when she didn't think out loud.

"They're rules for going down each tunnel." She said. "The first three allow only two at a time," she pointed out the three the furthest to the left, "and the fourth allows three." She pointed to the one on the far right. "The first tunnel won't allow anyone with human blood to enter, the second allows only the strong willed to pass, the third allows only those who possess a great deal of wit and intelligence, and the fourth only allows those who think of others more than themselves."

This announcement was met by a surprised silence.

"It's obvious none of you are going down the first tunnel." Hiei said, and started toward the first archway.

"Now, this is why you really shouldn't assume someone's blood." Enya said. "You end up looking like an idiot."

Hiei glanced back at her over his shoulder. "What do you mean?" He asked her.

"Tch." Was all she said as she walked past him and into the tunnel.

"Hn." He said and followed her into the tunnel.

"Well that takes care of them." Josie said.

Ivy looked down the tunnel worriedly. "Do you think it was a good idea to let those two go down there alone? I mean, without a referee?"

I chuckled at her joke. So did the rest of us.

"You guys! I'm serious!" Ivy said indignantly.

That only made us laugh harder. "Don't worry about them Ivy." I said, "they'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Who's next?" Josie asked. "Strong willed…. Hmmm…for us, it would be either me or Nova…I think."

"Yuske." Kuwabara and Kurama chorused together.

"What?" Yuske yelped. "Oh right! Leave me with the crazy one!" Nova and Josie raised their eyebrows at him. "Uh…" Yuske coughed, turning red. "…Right. So who's going with me again?"

"I think Josie would be the best choice for us." I said. If Josie caught the fact that I was calling her the crazy one, she didn't show it.

"Oh, fine." She said. "C'mon, Yuske." They both vanished down the tunnel.

That left me, Nova, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Ivy. Now, no offence to Ivy, she has her fair share of good ideas, but she was definitely not going down the third tunnel. Neither was Kuwabara. So that really left me, Nova, and Kurama.

"I'll go down the third tunnel." Kurama volunteered.

Now it was just Nova and I. There was no way I was letting Nova go down a tunnel alone with Kurama.

Then Ivy said, "I think Nova should go down the third tunnel…" She saw me motion behind nova and Kurama's backs. "… Or not."

"I'll go." Nova said. "It's no big deal."

"NO!" I said a bit louder than I intended. "No," I corrected, "I'll go down the third tunnel."

"I think Nova should go." Kuwabara argued. "She did figure out the rule thingies."

"True." Kurama stated. "She has proven herself quite capable."

I was about to answer when Nova flung her arms around my neck and gushed in an overly dramatic voice, "Oh Noric! You're so selfless! If anyone deserves to go down the fourth tunnel, it's you!"

I opened my moth to respond, but she put her finger over my mouth and continued her speech. "No. You're always watching my back. You always try to protect me, even if it means making an idiot out of yourself, just like now. You need to go down that fourth tunnel." She placed a kiss on my cheek then turned to Kurama, who was on the verge of laughter. "Come. Let us depart. I would not want to cause anymore pain to my poor brother's, kind heart."

Kurama offered his arm, playing his part perfectly. "Then come, my lady. We shall greave him no longer." Nova linked her arm in his and they walked off down the tunnel together.

The three of us just stood there after that. Ivy shook with suppressed laughter. Kuwabara commented on Nova's acting being worthy of a soap opera. I stood in a daze thinking, what just happened?

-I think it's called using your actions against you.- Luke commented.

"Come on guys." Ivy said, still laughing. "We should get going." She turned and walked to the tunnel. Kuwabara followed Ivy. I followed Kuwabara thinking, and so, it starts.

-For what it's worth,- Luke offered, -I think she forgives you now.-
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IL: Chapter six! All done!

H: Why did you send me down a tunnel with that baka demoness?

FL: WATCH IT PAL! Enya happens to be your alter ego. A more feminine you.

H: You're kidding.

IL: Nope! We used you as our basic blueprint for her personality!

KP: Ha ha! Now who's a girl?

ALL: * double take of Kurama plushie *

KP: ^__^

IL: Ok… Be sure to tune in next week! We'll be with Hiei and Enya, down the tunnel!

FL: REVIEW! All reviews will be read, even flames! (Laughed at maybe, but read!)

H: * dryly * That's right everyone, review. Encourage their lapses into insanity.

FL: * evil grin * It's my turn to write, and boy do I have some plans for Hiei.

IL: Run while you still can, man. Run.

H: * gulp *