Here I am again! Another chapter! No long, boring author talking. Here's the chapter.

Chapter 16: Makai

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"I am going to kill that fucking blonde bitch!" Yusuke hollered as he yanked on the chains the held him to the wall.

"You've said that no less than a hundred times already." Ryuun said in annoyance. "We get it. You're gunna kill her. Shut up already." Yusuke gave him a death glare.

"Maybe first I'll kill you." He snapped, getting a collective roll of the eyes from the guys. They were all currently chained, hands and feet, to the walls of a circular room. Miroku sighed as he listen to them bicker back and forth, again, making his throbbing head hurt more.

They had been waiting for the girls to return through the well, the three bickering and fighting, when all of a sudden the whole area was filled with sparkling pink dust. Unable to get away they all were paralyzed within seconds. Sekushi walked out of the trees, followed by Hageshii and Shinrin. She walked up to Kuwabara, ignoring the shouted from the rest of us, and tore a necklace from around his neck and threw it at Hageshii.

"Show Meranii this, she'll know what to do." She had said, motioning to Shinrin. He stepped forward and muttered a few words and then everything went black. The next thing he knew he woke up here, Sekushii standing by the door. Miroku was shocked to see a look of anger on her face. What she said to them before leaving was even more confusing.

"I hope you all are happy that you got captured." She had said, glaring at them. "Now their deaths will be on your hands." She snapped at them and rubbed her eyes roughly before heading out of the dungeon, slamming the door behind her.

Miroku tried to shake away his headache so he could think clearly but the bickering was just making it hurt more. Finally he couldn't stand it anyone.

"Would you both just shut the hell up?" He yelled, getting their attention. "You do realized if you three hadn't been bickering and fighting amongst yourselves she wouldn't of been able to get the drop on us! So just do us all a favor and be quiet for once!" He snapped, glaring between them and Inuyasha.

"So your saying this is my fault?!" Yusuke and Inuyasha hollered together, causing more pain to explode in Miroku's head. He met Kurama's eyes across the room, getting a sympathetic look in return.

"Yes, he is saying it is your fault, idiots." Ryuun said smoothly, getting Yusuke to glare at him again.

"Boys boys, if you can't behave together I'm going to have to separate you." A new voice said, causing them all to go silent. Miroku looked to the door leading in and saw a man standing there. This was the first time they had seen him but Miroku would have bet money that this was Jigoku. He looked around at them and laughed. "Wow oh wow. You guys have the group glare down to an art huh?" He laughed again, walking around the room. When he passed in from of Hiei, he tried to lung out of his chains, only to get slammed back to the wall by them. Jigoku laughed again.

"It is pointless to fight those chains, boy." He said, pausing in front of Ryuun. "While you were all napping I infused your blood into each of your chains." He was looking at Ryuun but he was talking to them all. "As long as your blood runs through your veins, you're stuck."

"I'm sure you can have one of your minions scrounge up a camera if you want a picture." Ryuun said smoothly when Jigoku kept staring at him. Quicker than they could track Jigoku backhanded Ryuun.

"I've got a few questions for you all." He said, finally looking away from Ryuun to look around the room at all of them. He got a menacing smile on his face. "Let's get started, shall we."

-/-

"Brace yourselves." Kouga said to them. Keiko swallowed her unease and kept her face emotionless. Right now they were standing in front of the heavily guarded gate way leading to the demon world. This was the only freestanding opening between any of the world and it was protected by the highest leveled operatives, beside the Spirit Detectives, that Reikai employed, all of them blood bound to protect the gateway at all costs. From what little Kouga could tell them it seems that they get their power from Reikai itself, basically making their power limitless so long as Reikai stood. The room they were in was bigger than any other Keiko had seen in Reikai and held no less than sixty of theses guards. The power she felt drifting off of one of them was bad enough to send shivers down her spin, but you add in all of them together and it felt like her skin was going to crawl off.

She cast a look at Kouga, noting he had lost his usual playfulness and was complete seriousness when around the guards. He held up his palm to one of the guards, a rather large person with charcoal skin and small, eerie green eyes. The guard held up a stone to Kouga's palm and white light flared between the two. With a nod the guard stepped out from his post in front of a dark archway. Kouga nodded back to him and motioned them forward.

"A few things before we move on." Kouga said, waiting till they all nodded before continuing. "Do not wander off after you are through. Brace yourselves as you go through because you will most likely get nauseous. Most important, do not pick a fight with any of the guards on the other side. They are in no way as accommodating as the ones here." The last statement was directed toward Meranii. She scoffed but didn't say anything.

With a nod Kouga headed through the gate. The others slowly followed suit at Meranii's motioning. When it was Keiko's turn she to a bracing breathe and stepped through, not at all expecting the ice cold that enveloped her. Before she had time to put words to what she was feeling she was on the other side, her stomach twisting slightly. The room they stepped into was so alike the one they just left that for a second she thought they had just walked in a circle. She stepped out of the way as Kagome, Yukina and finally Meranii stepped through. Kagome looked a little green, and Yukina held her stomach, but Meranii didn't look affected at all. She looked around at the others. Sango looked fine but Keiko knew how well she was at hiding what she was feeling. Boton looked unaffected and the other two wolves, Hakkaku and Ginta looked perfectly fine.

She looked back in time to see Kouga standing in front of another guard, who looked a lot like the one on the other side, and was just putting his hand down. Kouga surveyed the group, looking surprised.

"You all recouped faster than I thought." He said. Mernaii scoffed again.

"They were trained by me." She said. He gave a soft laugh and lead them out the equally large room and into a hall way. Motioning them to silence he led the way down two more hallways and the out a set of large wood doors. As they opened several in their group gasped, including Keiko herself, as they got their first feel, and look, of Makai. They stepped out the doors and they closed with an ominous thunk on their own.

"There are barriers around the palace that houses the portal which keeps all unwanted demon, including their auras, out." Kouga explained. He turned to them. "I got you all here, so where to next?" They turned to Meranii who sighed.

"I had hoped never to have to use this again." She said but closed her eyes. Keiko felt bad for her. Having to relive her bad memories was not something that she should have to do but they had no choice. Unwilling, Yusuke popped into her head and Keiko felt herself almost start to cry, but she held them back.

'You had better be ok, you big idiot.' Keiko said silently as she watched Meranii. After a second Keiko felt a power start to rise around Meranii. It swirled around her, growing in power each time it went around her. With a gasp from Meranii the energy suddenly shot out in all directions, stirring up a slight breeze with it. Meranii stayed completely still, her eyes still closed. After a few more moments she gasped again, her eyes flying open. Stumbling backward, she seemed to be struggling for air. Kouga caught her before she could fall as her breathing went back to normal.

"Are you ok?" Kagome asked. After another moment Meranii nodded and stood up shakily. Kouga kept ahold of her elbow.

"I'm alright. That's just not one of my strongest abilities. I have to put all of my concentration into it, so I end forgetting to breathe." She gave them a small smile.

"Did you find them?" Yukina asked in a small voice. Keiko remembered seeing the fury on her face when Hageshii had tossed them Kuwabara'a necklace. She had never seen Yukina look more demon than in that one moment. Meranii nodded and faced toward what Keiko guessed to be North.

"That way. Very close." Meranii said. The girls nodded and set off after Meranii at a brisk pace.

'You better be ok.' Keiko thought again.

-/-

"So what's the plan?" Sango asked knocking Yukina out of her thoughts. They were hunkered down just outside the walls of Jigoku's castle. Yukina's gaze went back to the ominous castle, the same thought running through her head. It was huge and made of a dark stone, the whole thing emitting an aura that made Yukina feel like taking a shower. It was surrounded by a large stone wall.

'Kazuma is in there.' She didn't even try to push that thought away. She remembered being held captive; Kazuma and the others coming to her rescue. Remembered the first time she saw him, how funny he looked. At first she had thought his actions and affections were just puppy love but she remembered the day that she realized that what he felt for her was real. It was the same day she realized that she loved him just as much. It was her birthday and he had made a huge list of things to do but things kept going wrong. The amusement park that he wanted to go to was closed. It started to rain as they left so the romantic walk was out. He lost his wallet so the movie and dinner was out. He was so devastated for ruining her day, but Yukina thought it was the best day ever. The urge to cry was almost overwhelming, but she had built up a strong resistance to crying under the hands of Tarukane. She shook her self out of her thoughts and listened to the others plan the best course of action.

"He is going to know we are there no matter how sneaky we are." Meranii was saying. " He is in tune with his castle so he can tell who enters it and where they are."

"A frontal assault then?" Kouga asked. Meranii thought for a moment. Yukina didn't say anything but she wanted to snap at them to hurry up so they could get to the others. Meranii finally shook her head.

"No, there's a side door." She said as she motioned to the right. Yukina looked but didn't see anything. "It's there." Meranii said at their confused looks. With a nod Yukina pushed herself up and started toward the wall, the others behind her. Within a few minutes they were just inside the tree line that was ten feet from the wall. Meranii pushed to the front and looked around. Not seeing anyone she dashed out of the trees and into the foliage that grew around the bottom of the wall. They saw some slight shuffling and then Meranii poked her head out again and motioned for them. Yukina was the first to run over, stopping inside the bushes and pressing herself against the wall next to a small door that opened into the wall. The others followed, cramming close together in the bushes.

"Do not get separated." Meranii stressed, looking at everyone. Getting nods she lead the way into the wall. Yukina followed behind her, almost stumbling when she suddenly found herself going down stairs. The tunnel was dark and had a moldy smell, leading her to believe that it hadn't been opened in a long time. Kouga came in behind everyone else and shut the door, causing the tunnel to be plummeted into darkness. When their eyes adjusted to the dark they started moving again, walking carefully down the stairs. Yukina took a breath and closed her eyes, focusing.

'Kazuma.' She thought, walking forward with caution.

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Screams of pain woke Miroku with a start. He gasped for breathe and started hacking, water shaking in his lungs roughly. He looked across the room to were the screaming was coming from to see Jigoku with his hand on Ryuun's head, what looking like purple lightning coming from his hand. Ryuun was the one screaming. With another glance around the room and felt his stomach clench.

Yusuke was unconscious, hanging limp from his chains, covered in long jagged gashes and surrounded by his own blood. Kuwabara was also unconscious, his head hanging back and a trail of blood coming from his mouth. His skin and cloths were burnt in random places. Kurama was still conscious, though he looked just barely. He had several green rings encircling his body and as Miroku watched he moved to far to the side, just slightly, and the ring burnt him, getting a hiss out of him. Beside him, Sesshoumaru had a long metal rod jabbed into his side and looked like he in a lot of pain. Then Miroku remembered. Before he had passed out Sesshoumaru had been trying to change and Jigoku had stabbed that enchanted rod into his side, effectively trapping him in the middle of his transformation, which would be excruciating.

Hiei's eyes were closed but Miroku could tell he wasn't unconscious. He was encased in enchanted ice which covered his entire body except his face. Jigoku had explained all about it. The more fire energy Hiei used to keep himself warm, the colder the ice would get. For a demon of fire, the constant cold was excruciating. His lips were blue and if you looked close enough you could see him shivering. At first glance Inuyasha was unconscious, but feeling Miroku's gaze he opened his eyes and a look of relief washed over his face when he saw Miroku awake. Miroku flinched when he saw the metal rods stabbed through Inuyasha's hands and upper arms. He shared a look with Inuyasha and looked back to where Jigoku was releasing Ryuun's head, a surprised look on his face.

'A lot happened while I was out.' He thought, feeling guilty for not being awake to offer support to his friends, new and old. Jigoku apparently hadn't liked it when Miroku chanted a barrier around the unconscious Kuwabara to keep Jigoku from sending more electricity through the mans body. Jigoku had then summoned a funnel of water and wrapped it around Miroku, keeping it on him till he felt like was about to go under then pulling it away long enough for Miroku to get a breathe and then repeating the process. He could hear Inuyasha screaming and yelling at Jigoku the whole time. 'He was probably next.' Miroku thought, feeling guilty now for his friend getting hurt over him. Miroku was pulled out of his thoughts by Jigoku speaking.

"Well that's an interesting bit of information." He said, looking at Ryuun again. "I'm ashamed of myself. Letting so many get away." He shook his head. "Where was my head that day?" He chuckled to himself. "Tell me, how did you all escape?"

"It's amazing how you think I know what the fuck your babbling about." Ryuun said in a labored voice. Jigoku responded by backhanding him again.

"You really should control that mouth of yours." Jugoku said, staring again. "You really don't know do you?"

"Ok, I'll bite. I don't know what?" Ryuun asked.

"Why what you are of course." He said. "I'll be nice and let you in on the joke." He once again placed his hand on Ryuun's head, the lightning appearing again. Ryuun tried to bite his lip to keep from screaming, but he couldn't. There was a bright flash behind Ryuun and when it died down Miroku felt his eyes go wide. Behind Ryuun was now a large pair of black feathered wings. Jigoku started laughing loudly as Ryuun's breathing slowed down, he was staring straight ahead.

"Oh this is just too sweet!" Jigoku cackled. "Here I thought there were only the four princesses left when viola, the betrothed drops right into my lap! Oh it is just too great!"

'Four Princesses? Betrothed?' Miroku thought, not being able to make sense of any of this. All of a sudden, Jigoku stopped laughing and seemed to be listening to something. He got a bright smile on his face.

"I see our entertainment for the evening has finally arrived." He said. He walked over to a spot in the wall were there wasn't anyone hanging. With a wave of his hand an image appeared on the wall, it looked to be a throne room of some kind. "Now you all sit tight while I go greet the guests." He said as she walked out the door. As soon as it was closed Miroku turned back to Ryuun.

"Are you alright?" Miroku called, wincing when his voice came out rough. It took him a second but when he finally looked up he seemed to look through him.

"Well that was unexpected." Ryuun suddenly said.

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They all froze as a loud thump was heard ahead of them in the tunnel. Boton strained her ears, trying to pick up any other sounds. Her hearing not being as good as the others she turned to looked at Yukina beside her. After a moments pause Yukina shook her head and looked ahead of them at Meranii and Kouga who were at the front. They motioned them to move forward again and Boton gripped her scythe tighter. For a while she had tried to avoid having anything to do with a scythe, that was one image she didn't want. But when training with Meranii she had learnt the advantages of the weapon, especially when to comes to ripping open portal, or enemies.

They had left the stairs awhile back and had walked on flat ground for a ways before coming to stairs that led up. At the top of the stairs the floor became stone, making it easier to walk. As they were walking along, Boton kept the gnawing worry for her friends down, hoping that they were ok. Shockingly she also felt a worry about Sesshoumaru that was slightly different than her worry for her friends. The thought of him being hurt, or worse, caused an ache in her chest. One she didn't want to think about the meaning behind. She was pulled out of her thoughts by Meranii shouting a warning behind to them. Before she could react a wave of water seemed to come out of nowhere and slammed into them, sweeping them down the tunnel.

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Kagome felt her stomach lurch as she was tossed head over heels down the tunnel. She shot her hand out and tried to grasp anything, her fingers slipping on the wet stone of the walls. Cursing mentally, she grabbed randomly, her lungs burning. She wanted to shout in relief when her hand grabbed onto something. Holding tight she resisted the current that wanted to keep pulling her. Down the tunnel, she felt a familiar power flare, traveling past her through the water. To her relief she felt the current die down and another second later the tunnel empties, the only sign of the water having been there was the remainder of it dripping from their cloths. Kagome turned to see who she had grabbed onto and was relieved to see Boton standing there, looking very pissed. She yanked her scythe out of the wall.

"What was that all about?" Boton asked, looking around them. Kagome looked around as well. They were no longer in the stone tunnel, but in wooden hallway with no doors.

"My guess would be that it was meant to separate us." Kagome said as she started heading down the hallway.

"I felt Keiko dissipate the water." Boton said, getting a nod from Kagome.

"I felt it too, just ahead." Kagome said, jogging slightly. As she rounded a bend in the hall she saw Keiko ahead, helping an annoyed Ginta to his feet. At their approach she looked up and gave them a relieved smile.

"At least they didn't completely separate us." Keiko said.

"I think you dissipated the water before they could get us all apart." Boton added.

"It's not the water you should be worried about." A familiar voice said. They spun around and found Shinrin standing there, but there was something different about him. More power radiated off of him than he had at their last encounter. The dark feel of it made Kagome's skin crawl.

"He feels different." Kagome whispered to the others. Shinrin turned to her, his now black eyes glinting as he looked her over. He looked over at Boton and he started to glare.

"Don't think I forgot what you did, reaper." He growled. With a flick of his wrist the walls around them exploded, vines shooting out from all direction. They tensed for the attack only to pause when the vines stopped where they were, waiting. Shinrin laughed at their tense stances. Kagome felt a subtle ripple through the air, settling around their feet.

"Move!" She shouted, jumping away as a swarm of gnashing teeth came bursting through the floor. Turning back she saw several large, venus fly trap type plants chasing her friends around. She heard Shinrin laugh again but she didn't have time look to see what he was doing, one of the plants rushing toward her.

"Very good." He said, closer behind Kagome than she was comfortable with. "Now how about you dodge this?" He said and then all the tentacles that were waiting around flew forward at them from all directions. There were shouts from her friends, but she was unable to see if they were alright, occupied with slicing through the thorn covered vines and sharp teeth of the demon plants.

"You should have given yourself to me back when I made you the offer." Shinrin said, right by Kagome. She swung her sword around without delay, only to hit more plants. "Now your friends have been made to pay for your insolence." Kagome felt her heart go cold at those words. With a growl she spun around and aimed for where his voice was coming from. Her sword met his.

"What have you done to them?" She growled. He pushed her away but she followed with another attack.

"I didn't do anything." He said, that annoying smile on his face. "Though they did have a nice long talk with our Master." Kagome felt dread well up inside at the ominous way he said that. Using her distraction against her, he flung her sword up and kicked her in the stomach. The breath rushed out of her lungs as she landed hard in the floor. He was standing above her in a second, his sword positioned at her neck. "It was actually quiet amusing. Hearing all those men screaming like little girls." He mocked, laughing at Kagome's cry of outrage.

She had just made up her mind to lung at him, to heck with the consequences, when he cried out on pain. Boton was behind him, her scythe burring in his back, her eyes ablaze with fury. He roared and spun around with his sword, causing Boton to have to let go of her weapon and jump away. "You little bitch!" He roared.

"Oh do be quiet, little boy." She said, summoning some wind to her. "If you have a problem, why not run along to Mommy." He roared in outrage and motioning to her roughly. Most of the remaining plants went after her immediately. Using his distraction Kagome scooped up her sword and rushed him. He blocked her sword and pulled the scythe out of his back, wielding it though not as well with one hand. She blocked the scythe and had to dodge to the side as he went to stab her through, managing to cut her shirt.

'I can't keep up with this.' Kagome thought, ducking under the scythe and blocking the sword before it took off her head. As he pressed down on her sword, inhibiting her movements, she saw him bring the scythe in at her side, heading straight for her heart.

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Cliffhanger! Muahahahahahahaha! Hehe. Thank you all for reading. Review please!