"Hey! Wouldn't it be better if we lured him back to that drop-down ceiling or something?"

     "You are underestimating Kurama. Do you know why I chose him as my partner? To avoid fighting him. Watch, he's more cut-throat than I when it comes to battle and incredibly precise." Hiei tells Yusuke and he looks over at me.

     "Uh, Meyome-."

     "There's nothing to worry about, Yusuke. Kurama has always been one to outwit any opponent no matter who they are." I reassure him while backing up Hiei's words before returning my attention to the fight that is about to begin.

     "The first move is yours," Kurama mentions, and Genbu stands there. I glanced around the room's walls to not see anything unusual until Yusuke suddenly became surprised.

     "Hey! Stone man is doing something freaky with his tail!" Yusuke yells, and the Genbu's tail appears behind Kurama. It goes in for a hit, but Kurama jumps away at the last second but not without a laceration to the stomach. He lands on the floor, clutching his wound as Genbu laughs about the surprise attack.

     "Thanks to my body's structure, I become one with any type of rock with a little rearranging. I can make any stone my tail. Since this whole chamber is made of stone, I have you surrounded. There's nowhere to run!' Genbu yells, and Kurama gets up from the floor with pain written on his face.

     "Aw, man, and he's wounded."

     "Maybe we should help him?" Yusuke and Kuwabara mentioned, and Kurama turns his attention toward us.

     "There is no need, I've been hurt, but he will not take me by surprise again."

     "Ha! Wait until you see the full extent of my power, then you won't be so confident!" Genbu aid right before he sinks into the ground, and we all start trying to pinpoint where he will pop out.

     This is the annoying part about fighting Genbu- he can be anywhere without being traced by his Spirit energy.

     Genbu suddenly pops and goes in for a punch, but Kurama avoids that attack easily as the stone tail suddenly appears.

     "Kurama, his tail!" I warned, and Genbu tries to punch Kurama again, but he avoids that attack as he dodges and twists his body around the tail quickly too, but Genbu goes under again. Kurama instantly jumps away from where he was standing when Genbu suddenly appeared before hiding again.

     "Ha! You'll never defeat me by running away!"

     "Hm, yes, Genbu, I believe you're right." Kurama agrees before pulling out a rose from his hair, and now this fight will get interesting for sure.

     "A flower?"

     "Now that's weird! If he's trying to win the beast over, I don't think that's a good idea!"

     "It's no ordinary flower- rose whip!" Kurama clarifies to Yusuke and Kuwabara. He turns the rose into a whip as its petals fill the room with its aroma, instantly surprising both junior high boys.

     "Well... everything is coming up roses."

     "It smells girly. I don't think I like it."

     "I guess he should be a tough guy like you and be obsessed with kittens." Yusuke teased Kuwabara, and Genbu laughs at Kurama's weapon.

     "What good will that fancy weapon do if you can't tell where I am?"

     "Yes, not being able to find you is a problem." Kurama agrees as he waits patiently, and he jumps towards the left for Genbu to pop out only to get cut apart by the rose whip. They both land on the ground with multiple pieces of pieces stone landing on the ground.

     "How did you find me?"

     "Your smell. After filling the room with the rose's sweet aroma, your putrid odor was easy to find." Kurama explains, and Genbu's head goes limp while everyone approaches Kurama as I go over to the stone pieces. I kick away a few stones, but I don't see the red stone Genbu uses to put himself back together. Before I can even sharpen my nails with spirit energy, I feel Genbu about to put himself back together, and I jump away.

     "Hahaha! Who's dead? Not me. You can disassemble me all you like I'll come back every time. It makes for a very nice attack!" Genbu mentions before shooting every part of him towards Kurama, who tries to cut the stone into more refined pieces.

     Kurama missed it! Please find it soon!

     "Right on the head! Let's see him come back now!" Yusuke exclaims, and Genbu comes back together again, laughing, and everyone panics.

     "Okay, that was luck!" Yusuke exclaims with shock and Kurama clenches his teeth in frustration.

     "Let's end this!" Genbu yells, shooting even more delicate pieces of himself toward Kurama, who narrowly avoids the attack. The parts of stone go in and attack again, but Kurama stands there and takes in every hit.

     Did he see Genbu's red stone?

     I pay closer attention to notice that when Kurama kneeled from the pain, he had something in his hand.

     He found it!

     "You're not even fighting back now. Those blows must have made you insane." Genbu comments and Kurama just laughed. I look at the beast and instantly cover my mouth to prevent myself from laughing out loud.

     "I'm sure you're laughing at nothing- wait. How did you get on the ceiling!" Genbu exclaims, and the way he was put poorly put back together makes Yusuke, along with Kuwabara, laugh as well.

     "What did you do to me!"

     "I took this," Kurama answered Genbu's questions, showing him the red stone that he guarded poorly for so many years.

     "What's that!"

     And he still wants to act dumb?

     "I believe this is the equivalent of the hypothalamus portion of your brain. It regulates all the functions of your body, including the process of putting you back together. it seems to relay an energy signal when you separate, making it very easy to find."

     "Wait-!"

     "Farewell!" Kurama tosses the stone in the area before splitting it in two with his whip, and Genbu combusts into ash.

     "He sure didn't like that!" Kuwabara exclaims happily.

     "Good work Kurama-." Before Yusuke can finish praising Kurama, we see our friend kneeling and holding his wound. We all quickly go over to him, and I kneel next to him and look over his injuries.

     It's just the gash to his abdomen that worries me the most; the others are just minor scratches that barely bled. I'll have to heal his whole body.

     "If Kurama is injured, we're going to have some problems."

     "We can handle ourselves if Kurama is out of commission, Hiei,"

     "You have a point," Hiei mentions as I hover my hands over Kurama's cheeks, matching my energy's rhythm to his, and start to heal his body steadily, not to strain him.

     "I'm sorry, Yusuke,"

     "Nah, you earned yourself a break anyway."

     "I'll handle the next one." Kuwabara and I said at the same time as I felt an argument coming with him.

     "Meyome, that's enough for now."

     "Are you sure?" I questioned, and he nodded as I stopped giving him my energy. I help Kurama stand up to see that the wound to his abdomen healed chiefly and that it doesn't bother him as it did at first.

***

     "Kurama, how terrible is that wound?"

     "Fine, as long as I can walk," Kurama answers Yusuke's question, partially deflecting the severity of his wound, and I sigh.

     "Even after I healed him, he is in no shape to fight unless he wants the laceration to his abdomen to open again, which we know would be a pain to deal with in a fight."

     "That means we only have four fighters left, and one of them is worthless," Hiei adds to my explanation, and Kuwabara instantly gets offended by Hiei's words while grinning.

     "Don't be so hard on yourself, Shorty." Kuwabara grins and Yusuke gives him a blank look.

     "I may be going out on a limb here, but I think he means you."

     "Is that so? Then maybe I should show you something. What in the world do you think I was doing when you were off training with Genkai? Spirit Sword!" Kuwabara claims as I look at his hand to see him produce a sword out of his energy- rather impressive.

     "You see what I've learned, Urameshi, I don't gotta use the tip of that wooden sword anymore to make it work. I bet it can kick the crap out of your spirit gun!"

      "That depends on what finger I use!" Yusuke claims, flipping him off and I notice Hiei a bit impressed by Kuwabara.

     "Well, as it turns out, he's partially worthless."

     "You wanna die!"

     "I dare you."

     "That's enough from both of you!" I said sternly, and Kuwabara instantly backs off while giving a stern look at Hiei as he shrugs, looking away from my gaze.

     "I'm pretty sure he'll be sorry once he sees this! Spirit Sword get long!" Kuwabara's spirit sword instantly grows, breaking through the ceiling, and he deactivates it before hitting the floor.

     "So producing your Spirit Sword makes you dizzy, which means your body still needs to adjust. I'll make sure to take the fight that's coming up." I mention, and Kuwabara instantly gets up to argue with me, but Yusuke's communication mirror rings only to catch his attention.

     There's a new wave of Makai insects that are trying to get into the minds of children and those that are depressed. The humans that are falling under their control seem to get violent with whoever they see insight instantly.

     "Well, I'm not making a career out of this! You have to go find that whistle, or I'll have to battle the whole city!"

     "Right!" Yusuke responds, hanging up on Botan and a roar starts to shake the walls of the castle.

     "It's Byakko, let's go!" I exclaim and we start running towards another set of stairs, climbing them as fast as possible. Once at the top, to see Byakko standing on top of his little tower with a dissatisfied look.

     "Intruders and traitors will pay for coming this far into my territory!" Byakko roars and I instantly take a step forward.

     "I'll fight him."

     "Hey, Meyome, I said I was going to take this one! I thought you were just here to heal us!"

     "Bold of you to assume I'm just a healer," I mention as he instantly stands beside me, grabbing my arm to hold me back.

     "But you're a girl, you shouldn't fight especially since you look delicate."

     "I appreciate the gesture, Kuwabara, but I know their weaknesses and habits!"

     "As a man, I said I would take-." Before Kuwabara and I could continue arguing, Byakko roared rather loudly only to crumble a good portion of the fighting ring along with the bridge.

     "Don't think you're dominant just because you defeated Genbu! I will feast on you humans! Hiei, Kurama, Meyome, I'll feed your bodies to the Fugaki!" Byakko yells and a sweatdrop goes down my cheek at how angry the tiger is.

     "We'll just have to see, won't we Byakko!"

     "Back off!" Kuwabara exclaims, pulling me back only for me to bump into Yusuke who prevents me from falling to the ground.

     "You think you can beat him?" I questions and Kuwabara nods.

     "Of course! I'm not scared at all!" He comments with his legs physically shaking from Byakko's threat and just the sheer size. I walk forward, going past him, and stop a few feet away from him- waiting for him.

     "If you're so excited then come on, Kuwabara, even I'm pumped for a fight."

     If he's going to fight then I'll fight with him- I can't let him die.

     "Huh!"

     "I'll leave you behind~!"

     "Hey- wait!" Kuwabara exclaims, following close behind me. When we get across the bridge Byakko suddenly laughs and I just huff.

     "Oh. don't make me laugh! I can't stay angry at you if you aren't serious!"

     "I'm serious! Come down here so I can punch your lights out!"

     Don't tempt him with any ideas, Kuwabara!

     "Oh please, I could kill you with the hairs on my mane!"

     "Oh really!" Kuwabara yells and instantly Byakko pulls a few hairs from his mane and blows them toward us for them to turn into beasts.

     Oh no!

     "These creatures are a part of me and they're hungry, both of you look like tasty meat. They don't like sharing so they will play a bit of tug-war!"

Hey, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! thank you for reading!