"Flowers of Blood"
Here is the next chapter. Please enjoy and review!
Dai stopped at the stage and looked up in fear as she saw Kuwabara was about to get slammed down into the stadium and get killed and she had no way of stopping it.
This tournament was all about killing or being killed; either you fight to save your life or you get killed for not accepting and you get killed if you try to help the person fighting, which would lead to the entire team being slaughtered after as well.
"Yusuke!" someone screamed.
Looking over, Dai spotted it was Keiko who was yelling while Shizuru and Botan sat next to her, the brunette standing as she yelled and all of the demons around her were staring at her.
"Yusuke, how can you keep sleeping when your friend is in trouble with these nasty demons?!" Keiko yelled.
"That wasn't smart." V-Mon commented as he jumped off of Kurama and went to Dai.
"Help him, Yusuke! Get off your lazy butt and help him!" Keiko yelled.
V-Mon looked over to the crowd to see that Keiko was being faced off by a demon, but Shizuru burned his tongue with her cigarette making him run away and Keiko continued to run closer to the fight.
"You know it's really hard to take it serious when a little kid with yo-yos is about to finish me!" Kuwabara yelled.
"What's the matter with you, Yusuke? Your friends need you now! Think about that!" Keiko yelled.
Dai groaned in annoyance at this girl while V-Mon rolled his eyes.
"Hang tight, Kuwabara! I don't suppose you can fly can you?" Botan called up to the orangette.
"Hh? Oh, hey, Botan! Oh, sis! I didn't know you were gonna be here. I'd give ya a better greeting, but I'm kinda busy right now." Kuwabara called down to the trio.
"Rinku seems to be hesitating. Why don't we ask the fans what they want?" Koto suggested.
"Can we kill her?" V-Mon asked.
"Don't tempt me." Dai said.
Kurama grinned at his kit and ruffled up her bangs a bit, but then looked up to their friend as the crowd cheered for Kuwabara's death.
"OK, guess that settles it. Gotta give my fans what they want and they want a drop." Rinku said.
He then threw his arms down, Kuwabara following, the humans, fire demon, fox demon, witch and digimon all staring in horror as they watched.
"This is it, people. Get ready for a boom." Koto said.
Kuwabara moved his hands, holding them in front of himself as they glowed orange.
"You just made your biggest mistake, Rinku. You should've never let me use my hands." He said.
He then used his Spirit Sword which shot down to the ground, stopping his death descent and allowed him to get down on his feet safely and then sprung his body off to get Rinku.
"Kuwabara makes a sensational recovery. Time for the nitty gritty." Koto said.
"So the sword absorbs your fall like backwards bungee cord, huh? That's a pretty neat-o idea for a block head. But there's one little problem though. You falling at me just makes it easy for my yo-yos to hit you at once and you can't handle that!" Rinku said as he launched his yo-yos at him.
"My only chance for a hit." Kuwabara said as he shot out his sword at them.
"Not that crummy sword again, I can dodge that easy." Rinku gloated.
To his surprise, the sword snaked around the yo-yos and then went right at him.
"Say what? His sword can bend now?" he asked stunned.
"Get the hell out of the way, Rinku!" Zeru called.
Rinku and Kuwabara were both hit by their attacks and were flung back.
"He really hit…" Rinku trailed off with wide eyes.
"That's right. I hit you." Kuwabara said.
They both landed outside of the arena and everyone watched them, unsure of what would be done, Koto looking them over as well.
"So, who's the winner?" Shizuru asked.
"Beats me." Botan said.
"Um, right, well, both the fighters have been extraordinary knocked out of the ring at the very same time." Koto said making the crowd yell in outrage.
"Was that the focus of your training?" Hiei asked the fox.
"Well, more or less. The main focus of our training was to gain control of his Spirit Sword." Kurama explained.
"The rules say you're only allowed to stay out of the ring for 10 seconds, so, um, I'm just gonna start counting." Koto said.
"I won't be surprised if any of them get on their feet on time." Hiei said as the female fox started the countdown.
"It's true. Both the yo-yos and the sword made solid hits. I guess we'll know soon enough." Kurama said.
"Get up!" Yusuke yelled in his sleep making his team look at him.
"You're late, Kuwabara!" he said, then went silent as he started snoring again.
"And 5!" Koto said.
Rinku was the first to get up and pulled herself up onto the stage, crawling on.
"Damn it. I didn't think he could throw such a blow. I'll have to use a lot of my energy just to cover." Rinku groaned as his hands glowed as he tried to heal his wound.
"Rinku had entered the ring after 5 counts, but it's not over yet." Koto said.
"That's OK, he's down for good. I'll have time to heal." Rinku muttered.
"Get up, Kuwabara, I'm serious. I know you're used to losing, but not now." Yusuke said in his sleep.
Kuwabara's ear twitched as he heard those words and shot to his feet as Koto started to count again.
"What did you say?!" he demanded.
"Six, Kuwabara. You have four counts to get in the ring." Koto explained thinking he was talking to her.
"Not you; Urameshi." He said as he stormed over to his leader.
"Out of my way! Little punk, ya wanna say that to my face? Come on!" Kuwabara said as he grabbed the sleeping boy by his collar.
"Oh, you're pretending to be asleep now? You scardy cat!" he yelled.
Growling, Dai whacked him over the head making him turn to her.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"Get your carcass up there right now or else I'll tear you apart piece by piece." She threatened making him go pale as Koto started counting again.
"Fine. Hey, hold your horses, I'm coming!" Kuwabara yelled.
"Oh man, I can't take anymore of him right now." Rinku groaned.
He used his yo-yos to wrap around Kuwabara, tying his arms to his sides.
"Let go of me you stupid yo-yo strings!" he yelled as Koto got closer to the end of the countdown.
"He's cheating!" Kuwabara yelled, but the female fox didn't care about this at all as the tension grew.
"Ten!" she yelled, Kuwabara falling back in disbelief.
"And Rinku's the winner. Team Rokuyakai are the winners." Koto said.
Kuwabara went to go attack Rinku, but Dai grabbed his ear and pulled him back, scolding him for being a sore loser and to get over it while the others just watched this, but when the orangette tried to argue, he was whacked hard over the head and fell to the ground and Rinku then ran off to his side of the field, but was further off from his team as he tried to heal himself.
"Oh, the next competitor has already stepped up." Koto cheered making team Urameshi look over to see that a blue skinned and darker blue haired demon had stepped up onto the stadium.
"I'll handle this one." Kurama said as he walked off.
The two demons stared each other down, the blue demon looking smug while the fox had a stern look.
"Kurama, considering the stakes, we can't afford to take any chances. Don't leave the ring with him still alive." Hiei said.
"Naturally." Kurama said.
"I don't wanna fight him…be careful Kurama." Yusuke mumbled.
"What is he talking about?" Keiko asked.
"I think it's simply time I stepped in." Botan said as she jumped down.
"Are you sure you can do that?" Keiko asked.
"We will deal with the rest of their team. You relax." Hiei said to Kuwabara as the human pushed himself into a sitting position and was rubbing his sore head.
"Hey, I'm not out of this yet. If Yusuke doesn't wake up, I'll take the last guy." Kuwabara said.
"Excuse me? I'm fighting too, pally, so back off." Dai warned with a sharp look that made him back up.
"All right boys, I'm here, now let's whip this team into shape." Botan said making the team look over at her.
"How did you get here?" Kuwabara asked.
"Leave before you hurt yourself." Hiei said looking away and making her pout.
"Well, that's a jolly thing to sat to someone who's going to help you win don't you think?" Botan said.
"Huh? How're ya gonna do that?" V-Mon asked.
"Let me show you. Ta-da!" Botan said as she pulled off her kimono to show her in a different outfit.
"In addition to detective's assistant and pilot of the River Styx, I'm also a licenced trainer. I'll be looking after you all in making sure you stay in tip top shape for fighting." She said.
"Oh, great. Then maybe you can help me nurse this wound here." Kuwabara said as he started to unbutton his shirt, but Botan was running off towards Yusuke and slapped him.
"Spirit World to Yusuke, wake up. Come on now." She said.
"None of that will work. The boy is determined." Hiei said.
"Well, at least I'll get him out of the way." Botan said as she grabbed his legs and started dragging Yusuke off to the side.
With that being done, everyone turned their attention back to the two demons in the ring.
"You know, that Rose Whip he's got must be ten feet long. Where does he stash it? All the ways I think of sound kind of painful." Kuwabara said.
"You're asking this now? He can use his spirit energy to make it shrink back into a rose or seed and hides it in his hair. He specializes it using plants as weapons. Pretty handy too." Dai explained.
"Second fight; Roto versus Kurama. Begin!" Koto said.
"I know you've been spending time in the Human World. We all do what we must. I only hope you didn't, say, get attached to one of them." Roto said.
There was something odd about the way he said it, but Kurama kept calm and calculating.
"For example, be mournful of their death." Roto said as a blade made of his own skin appeared.
"What is your point?" Kurama asked as Roto ran at him.
As he started slashing away, Kurama dodged every swing with elegance and great speed with a grin on his face, looking almost like he was dancing.
"Oh, he's awesome." V-Mon said.
"He's clearly no match for Kurama. What a joke of a round. It's pity you couldn't have taken him and let Kurama deal with the little child and his yo-yos." Hiei said.
"Hey, you watch it, shrimp! I just got cheated is all." Kuwabara defended.
"Will you guys just shut up and watch the fight?" Dai asked.
"You skills weren't enough for that tournament. Say your last words." Kurama said as he was behind Roto and ready to deliver a blow that would kill him.
Roto looked worried, but then smirked.
"I have your human mother, Kuama. Or should I say Suichi?" he sneered as he went to slice at the fox who jumped away as he felt shock and anger from the news.
As Kurama landed away, a think line of blood appeared on his cheek showing that he had been hit from his hesitation.
"What happened? He's bleeding. You said he was no match for Kurama." Kuwabara said.
"Stupid cheater. I hate him. Little stupid piece of…" Yusuke mumbled in his sleep making Botan look at him curiously.
"You sure you're asleep?" she asked.
Roto laughed as he held some sort of device in his hand.
"Allow me to introduce my little button. When I press it, a signal will be sent to my demon brother. He's been tracking your mother for some time you see. And he's been very anxious to bite her head off." He said.
Kurama gritted his teeth in anger at this, but got out of his fighting stance and stood there staring at Roto with a dead look in his eyes.
"That jerk. I wish I was up there just so I can blow his stupid head off." Dai growled.
Hiei placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"So you understand?" Roto asked as his hand returned to normal.
He then ran at Kurama and started hitting him now that he knew the fox couldn't fight back and this just disgusted Dai and got her more angered than ever.
Roto was stopped when Kurama flicked a pebble at him and hit him in the face, but Dai could have sworn she saw something else was thrown near Roto's stomach.
Was that another pebble?
"Oh, honestly. Do you think throwing a pebble at my face is the best thing to do in this situation?" Roto asked.
The fox kept silent as he just kept staring with that same look on his face as Roto pulled the device out again.
"You've been warned! With a push of this button, your mother will meet her death in a very unsightly manner. Now fold your arms behind your back and let me hit you as I please." Roto smirked.
Kurama slowly folded his arms behind his back.
"Oh, yes. That's much better. I love the posture of forced submission." Roto said.
"Freak." V-Mon commented.
"Why train hard to be the best when you can hold on to one of these?" Roto gloated.
"Mysterious. Kurama has become totally obedient to his opponent." Koto observed.
"What's wrong, Kurama? Let him have it!" Kuwabara called.
"Quiet." Hiei said.
The other demons were all cheering because they thought Kurama had become hypnotized by Roto while Rinku frowned at the dirty trick that Roto always used to win fights.
Roto snickered as he walked up to Kurama.
"You want to try? I can see it in your pretty eyes. I know what you're thinking. I wonder if I can quickly cut off that left arm of his but what if his severed finger slips and presses the button?" Roto taunted as he held up the device.
"Kurama remains absolutely motionless. What is the cause? Has he lost his willingness to fight?" Koto asked.
"Why don't you answer her?" Roto asked as he kicked Kurama in the stomach, the fox gritting his teeth as he glared at him.
"Tell the crowd the truth. Tell them you refuse to fight for the sake of a human tramp." Roto said as he started punching Kurama in the face.
V-Mon snarled as he digivolved into XV-Mon much to everyone's surprise as Dai's D-3 glowed bright blue, showing it was her energy flaring up to allow her dragon to go into his Champion form.
"Holy crap!" Kuwabara gasped as he jumped back.
"If I get in that ring, I'll tear him apart!" XV-Mon yelled.
"Easy, boy." Dai said as she wrapped her arms around his larger and muscular arm.
XV-Mon snorted as he calmed down and just looked at what was going on.
"It's brutal, it's violent, it's wonderful! Roto is punching him like a side of meat and there's no retaliation." Koto said.
Roto kept on punching Kurama as the fox glared at him, still looking more superior to the blue demon which made him stop as he was sweating from his workout.
"Damn it." Roto said as he made his blade appear on his hand.
"Ah, I hate that look. Despite all I've done, you still have that look like you're superior to me." Roto said as he slowly made another cut on Kurama's face, the redhead not even flinching at it.
"Stop that look!" Roto yelled as he sliced Kurama across the face making Hiei, Kuwabara, Dai and XV-Mon all stare in horror.
Still, even after that, Kurama turned to look at Roto with that look on his face.
"It doesn't matter anyway because I'm the one that has the power now." Roto said as he lifted his left leg up.
"I would like you to lick the scum off my boot." He said.
"The only scum I see is him." Dai said.
"I just can't seem to keep it clean. Then after you've licked the whole thing clean," Roto said as he licked Kurama's blood off of his blade.
"I will decapitate you and spare your nasty mother's life. And since you care about her, Suichi, it's really your only choice." Roto said.
"I will not." Kurama said.
"Ugh, what?" Roto asked surprised.
"Go ahead. Press it now if you wish." Kurama said as he unfolded his arms and brushed off the dust on his shirt.
"Now your true character emerges. You're not special. Nothing less. You're just as selfish as the rest of us demons here. Look at me like I'm dirt, but in the end it's a lie. You think of only yourself." Roto said as he hand returned to normal and he laughed.
He looked insane and worried now that Kurama was playing by his rules anymore.
"Push it." Kurama demanded.
"I will!" Roto laughed as he held the device up.
He then froze as something started to grow out of his chest which made Dai realize what it was she had seen him get hit with.
He was hit by a seed that was growing.
"I can't move." Roto gasped as Kurama walked over to him.
"Fighting on the strength of one threat is a risky gamble. What if I truly didn't care or what if I could just make you immobile?" Kurama asked as he hit the device out of Roto's hand and held it himself.
"It's hard to tell what's happening now, but it's clear Kurama has control." Koto said.
"I've sown the seed of the Death Plant in your body. And it's had plenty of time to get root. I feed it with my energy. I have but to will it and it will instantly bloom. I'm afraid there won't be anything left of your evil life after that." Kurama said as he turned and started to walk away.
"Wait, Kurama! You don't have to do this. I never would have actually hit the button, I swear it! I'm just a low class. I don't know any better. Come on, you believe in mercy, don't you?" Roto pleaded.
Kurama stared at him with an emotionless look.
"No." he said.
Just then, buds sprouted from all over his body, blood spraying around the ring as the buds bloomed into beautiful flowers that fed off of Roto's dead body.
"What irony. Such beauty sprung from such an ugly soul." Kurama said as he continued walking off as the scoreboard showed team Urameshi's win.
"Now that one's definitely over. The score is tied at one." Koto said.
"What a fool. So intent on proving himself he couldn't notice your moves. Don't worry about his demon friend. He vanished the moment Roto died." Hiei said.
"Then you knew." Kurama smiled.
"What a relief." Yusuke muttered making everyone look at him.
"Yes." Kurama said.
Laughing at this, Dai just hugged the fox around his waist as he ruffled up her hair while XV-Mon sat down next to them.
"I was wondering why ya didn't fight back." The witch said.
"Worry not, kit. I will not die that easily." Kurama swore.
"Enough with the secret glancing stuff. What just happened?" Kuwabara demanded.
"Yes, do tell." Botan said.
"It's better not to ask." Hiei grinned.
"Agreed." Kurama said.
"Ah, that isn't very friendly of them." Botan pouted with her hands on her hips.
"Demons think they're so darn cool." Kuwabara glared.
Feeling heat in the room, Dai glanced over to see Zeru was glaring at them so she then stuck her tongue out at him playfully much like a baby fox would.
To be continued…