Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Six Elements ❯ Earth and Water ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: (these things make me incredibly sad, you know) We don't own YYH or its characters, but we do own the ones you don't recognize.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The walk to the next battle was longer than the others. Tama was once again on Kurama's back. All was quiet until they heard a soft thud behind them. Noriko was sitting on her knees.

 

“I'm tired of fucking walking,” she said.

 

“Me too,” Tama said. “That's why I'm here.” Kurama looked at her. Tama just smiled. Yusuke chuckled.

 

“Hn,” Hiei said. He walked over to Noriko, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

 

“Yay!” she said. “I get a ride!” Right then, she suddenly passed out from being tired from the fight. Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, and Tama just laughed and started towards the next room. When they got there, they quickly realized that this room was much warmer and brighter than the others. They saw a teenager standing in the middle of the room. Behind his back was a huge zanbato.

 

“I'm Kyo! Demon of the Earth Element!” he said, greeting them. This Kyo had shoulder length skaterish hair. He had bright green eyes. Kyo wore a brown Element hoodie with an earthy green pair of shorts. He wore Element brand brown shoes, too.

 

“Well, who's going to challenge me?” he asked, grinning. Hiei handed the still unconscious Noriko to Yusuke.

 

“This guy seems annoying,” Hiei said. “This is my fight.” Hiei stepped forward.

 

“So…I get to fight the Great Hiei,” Kyo laughed. “This will be interesting.” Kyo and Hiei took fighting stances. The both charged at each other. Hiei slammed his katana against Kyo's zanbato. This made a loud metal hitting stone noise, which caused Nori to wake up. She looked up at Yusuke.

 

“You're not Hiei,” she said plainly. Yusuke looked down at her.

 

“I know I'm not Hiei,” he said. “That's Hiei.” Yusuke looked out at Hiei and Kyo going at it.

 

“Come on, Hiei!” Nori yelled. “Kick some ass!”

 

“Yea…she's not tired anymore,” Tamarae said to Kurama. He laughed and nodded, then went back to watching his best friend fight. Hiei swung quickly and precisely at Kyo, but he blocked every one.

 

“Damnit!” Hiei shouted in frustration. He threw off his cloak, revealing his bandaged arm.

 

“Whoooooooo! Take it off!” Tama and Nori yelled. Hiei smirked and began to take off the bandages, showing a dragon tattoo on his arm, surrounded by black flames.

 

“What? Why is he already using it?” Yusuke asked Kurama. Kurama even looked confused by Hiei's actions.

 

“I'm not sure,” Kurama said. “Hiei, stop! You'll kill yourself! Remember the Dark Tournament!?”

 

“Hiei's going to die, what?” Nori asked, who was still in Yusuke's arms. Yusuke looked at her again.

 

“He's being a dick and is going to use the Dragon of the Darkness Flame when he doesn't need to,” he explained.

 

“HIEI, YOU USE THAT AND I'LL GOUGE OUT YOUR EYES!” Noriko yelled. Tama and Kurama looked like this: O.o.

 

“Hiei's going to make a big mistake?” Kyo said and laughed. “Not a surprise.” Hiei glared at him.

 

“Die,” he said. “DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME!”

 

“HIEI!” his friends screamed as a fiery dragon charged towards Kyo, killing him. Hiei then fell to the ground. Yusuke put Nori down and the four ran over to Hiei.

 

“Hiei, get up, come on!” Noriko yelled. Tama and Kurama looked over Hiei. (AN: Tamarae is good with healing, also.)

 

“He's alive,” Tama said. They all let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Well, I'll carry him to the next fight. It's Kurama's turn anyway,” Yusuke said, now picking up Hiei. Nori looked worried still. Tama put her hand of her best friend's shoulder and smiled.

 

“He'll be ok,” she said reassuringly.

 

“I know,” Noriko said. “But why did he do that, I wanna know, he could've beaten Kyo without it.” Tamarae shrugged and they began walking to the next fight.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Since Kurama and Yusuke were the only two people left who hadn't fought, it was decided that Yusuke would take the last one. He was the main Spirit Detective, after all. That meant Kurama was next.

 

Tama grabbed Kurama's hand and pulled him off to the side of the corridor. Yusuke and Noriko turned around and looked at them.

 

“Uh, go on ahead, we'll catch up,” Tama said. Nori shrugged and they kept walking.

 

“What's up?” Kurama asked, once their friends were out of sight.

 

“I've got a bad feeling about this,” Tama said.

 

“What? …about us? I thought-” he panicked.

 

“NO! No, no, no. That's not what I meant,” she said and laughed a little. “I meant about the fight. Something tells me I should be nervous.”

 

“Don't be. You shouldn't worry about me,” he said, running his fingers along her cheek.

 

“I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I…I don't wanna lose you,” she responded.

 

“You won't. Remember, I've been doing this for centuries. I think I know what I'm doing by now,” he smiled. She did the same.

 

“You're right,” she muttered.

 

“Hey, guys! You lovebirds better hurry up! The next room is right around the corner!” Yusuke yelled.

 

“Just…come back to me in one piece, ok?” she said and looked at him. He smiled and nodded. They ran to catch up.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Tamarae, feeling a little more at ease, took her place between Yusuke and Noriko as Kurama stepped up to fight. Hiei had woken up and was now sitting up against the wall, looking completely oblivious to his surroundings, a couple feet away from the others. He was still nowhere near recovered from the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. But he had woken up, so that at least was a good sign. Suddenly, the doorway that they had used to enter the room closed. Everyone's eyes went wide. Tama and Nori looked at each other.

 

“This doesn't look good,” Nori whispered to her best friend. Tama had gone white. She was looking at her feet. Confused, Noriko looked down and saw that there was about an inch of water on the floor. And it was rising.

 

“Shit,” Nori exclaimed loudly. Then they heard a low chuckle coming from above them. A tall figure jumped down and landed in front of Kurama.

 

“Not exactly the reaction I expected,” he said. He had short, spiky, silver hair, blue eyes and rather tan skin. He wore cadet blue cargos, a black t-shirt and brown mandals. “The name's Raikoji. I'm a water demon.”

 

“What the hell is going on here?” Yusuke yelled. The water was just below his knees now. Noriko had picked up Hiei and slung his arm around her shoulders in order to help him stand. Tama looked completely terrified. She was still ghostly white and staring at Kurama.

 

“It's quiet simple, actually,” Raikoji said, circling his opponent. Kurama only followed with his eyes. “The water level in this room will continue to rise until the drain switch is activated. There is nothing any of you can do to stop it, so don't bother trying. Basically, you either defeat me…or you and all your friends die.” He smirked. Kurama narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

 

“Well, then..,” Kurama said, as he pulled a rose from his hair. “So be it.” He charged at Raikoji and lashed his whip at him. Raikoji jumped and dodged, as the water level continued to rise. Soon, Kurama's rose whip was wrapped around Raikoji's neck.

 

“I don't have time to screw around with you,” Kurama said coldly. Eventually, Raikoji's breathing stopped and he fell to the floor. Nori and Yusuke cheered. Kurama smiled at them, then looked at Tama. She smiled a bit, then went wide-eyed again as the water touched her chin.

 

“What? Why didn't the water stop coming? You defeated him, didn't you?” Noriko asked, panicked. Kurama nodded forcefully.

 

“The switch,” Tama spoke up. “He said that there was a switch that activated the drain. We have to find it.” Kurama immediately dove down into the water. Yusuke did the same. Tama began to tread water because she couldn't stand with her head above water any longer. A few seconds later, Noriko had to do the same. Tama helped drag Hiei over to the platform that Raikoji had originally jumped off of. She pulled herself up, then helped Hiei and Noriko up as well. Just then, Yusuke came up for air.

 

“I found…the switch,” he gasped. “I can get it…on the next trip down.”

 

“Where's Kurama?” Tama asked. Yusuke was silent. “Where is he?!?!?!” Yusuke shook his head. That was all Tama needed. She dove in.

 

“Tama, wait!” Nori yelled.

 

Tama swam down and opened her eyes, looking for Kurama. After about fifteen seconds, she spotted him in a corner, trying to pull a lever.

 

`That must be the drain switch,' she thought. She made her way over to him as quickly as she could, not even noticing that she cut her leg on one of the water spickets sticking out of the wall. Once she reached him, she immediately put her hands on the lever and began to help him pull. He looked at her like she was crazy, telling her that she would die if she stayed down here. She only shot him a look telling him that they were all gonna die unless they managed to activate the damn drain. He knew she was right, and tried to help her move it. She was starting to feel light headed. She had never been good at holding her breath…

 

~*~*~*~

 

The water was now only a foot or two away from the ceiling. Hiei, Noriko and Yusuke were clutching onto a conveniently placed pipe on the wall.

 

“They've been down there way too long,” Nori said. She wanted to go in after them, but common sense told her that if she went under now, there was no way she would be coming back up. She had a feeling that it was too late and they were all going to die. Just as she was about to take one final breath before going under, she felt the water level go down. Soon, she was on the ground, soaking wet. She looked around. Yusuke was leaning against the wall. Hiei was already on his feet, surprisingly. Nori decided that he was probably trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Then she spotted Kurama and Tamarae. He was lying on his back, breathing heavily, while her head rested on his stomach, and she didn't appear to be breathing at all. Yusuke noticed this, too, and they both rushed over to their friends. He pulled Tama off of Kurama and tilted her on her side. She immediately began coughing up water, desperately trying to catch her breath. Her breathing eventually steadied a bit, and Yusuke and Noriko let out a sigh of relief. They knew she'd be ok. Kurama's breathing, however, stabilized almost immediately. It was as if he had just taken a lap in the pool, nothing more, which surprised Nori. He crawled over to Tama, placed his hand over hers and looked at her. She looked up at him.

 

“I-I,” she stuttered. “I t-told you so.” Then, with a smile on her face, she passed out.