Yusuke scrubbed the blood and dirt from his face. He stared into the cracked mirror over the sink. All he could muster was a kind of apathetic numbness. All of the adrenaline had worn off.
His bottom lip was bleeding. His left eye was swollen shut. There was a bruise darkening on his temple. His hair was matted and dirty.
The bathroom he stood in had an unpleasant smell that Yusuke didn't want to analyse too much. The tiles were cracked and stained. Yusuke was sure that some of those stains were blood. He would have bet his last cigarette on it.
Speaking of cigarettes, he could really use one right now. Maybe he could bum one off Shizuru Kuwabara later. He'd probably get a lecture from the old fox on the health risks of smoking but it would be worth it.
The sound of a toilet flushing made Yusuke turn around. His teammate Kuwabara staggered out of the stall, the door banging loudly as it hit the wall. Kuwabara leaned on the basin beside Yusuke, his own face looking just as numb and hopeless as Yusuke's.
His orange hair was just as dirty as Yusuke's but he had weathered his fight better. Years of being used as Yusuke's punching bag had finally paid off. Yusuke couldn't help but feel just a little proud of that. Wasn't that so twisted?
"You okay, man?" Yusuke asked him. He couldn't help but feel responsible for his teammates. They were only here because of him.
"Yeah, I'm cool," Kuwabara said, his mouth twisting up into a brittle smile. Yusuke had seen that expression in the mirror many times. He was certain that he'd used it around Keiko after some of his worst fights. Keiko hadn't bought the act and Yusuke didn't either.
But Yusuke didn't call Kuwabara on his lie. Instead he just nodded and finished scrubbing his face. Kuwabara washed his hands, taking far longer than he needed to. Yusuke turned his head to see that his friend was trying to wash blood from beneath his fingernails. Yusuke glanced down at his own blunt nails. His stomach twisted as a vision of his opponent lying limp on the stadium floor assaulted him.
Yusuke had been in many fights before but nothing like this. This was on a whole new level. In fact, it was on a whole other planet. Not even Genkai's brutal training had prepared him for this.
A soft pinging noise intruded on the silence of the bathroom. Kuwabara looked blank for a moment, his eyes rolling around the room as he searched for the source of the noise. He eventually realised that it was coming from his own jacket pocket. Smiling sheepishly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone.
"What is it?" Yusuke asked curiously. He was eager for anything to distract him from their horrific situation.
Kuwabara held up the phone so that Yusuke could see the message. It was a photo of Yukina, Botan and Keiko, each giving the victory sign. A crooked smile lit up Yusuke's face as a warm feeling spread through him at the sight of his girlfriend's face.
"I guess they're happy," he said.
"We won," Kuwabara pointed out.
Yusuke turned back to the mirror and caught sight of his battered face. "Yeah," he said dully.
They'd won. So why didn't he feel like a winner?
Maybe because this wasn't their last fight. They'd only just won the semi-finals. They still had one more round to go and it would be their toughest yet.
-0-
"Shuichi Minamino."
The name rolled off Karasu's tongue. He savoured the syllables with pleasure. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so eagerly awaiting a fight before.
He stared down at the tablet screen, fascinated by what it displayed. It looked like the normal social media profile of a normal teenage boy. Minamino was good-looking, popular and articulate. There wasn't a lot of content posted by Minamino himself but there was plenty from his classmates. His friend list contained several hundred names, not bad for someone who seemed to be quite anti-social.
No one looking at the profile would guess the truth. That Minamino was no ordinary human boy. He was, in fact, a centuries-old spirit fox named Kurama.
And, if things went as planned, he would be Karasu's next and final opponent in the Dark Tournament.
"Is that the fox?"
Karasu hit the off button on the tablet, putting it to sleep. His aristocratic face was reflected back at him in the darkened screen. The bottom half was obscured by a grey metal mask.
He felt possessive of the fox. From the moment he'd first seen the fox, he'd known that the boy would be his opponent.
But the fox was a canny one. Karasu had no intention of underestimating him. Looking at the young, handsome face of the teenage boy in the photos, it was easy to forget that he was very old and very intelligent. Some preliminary preparations would be necessary before they faced each other in the ring.
Aniki Toguro chuckled, the sound high and grating. "What, you don't want me to look at your pretty toy? Are you afraid I'll steal him?" His voice was mocking.
Karasu glared at him, his violet eyes narrowed in distaste. He couldn't stand this crass individual. But unfortunately, Ani was too strong for him to defeat. Ani looked fragile, with his lanky form. That impression was enhanced by the way he hung off his brother's shoulder like an ugly oversized monkey. But his ability to regenerate his body was an incredible asset. He was, as far as Karasu could tell, immortal.
"We've already marked our opponents," Karasu hissed at him. "You've got the human."
That would probably be the easiest fight, not that Ani would care. He would take delight in ripping the human to bloody shreds right before his teammates' eyes. For him, all that mattered was the carnage. Karasu had deeper, more refined desires. He wasn't interested in the orange-haired human. Or the black-haired leader. Or the little fire-demon. He'd set his sights on the fox and no one else would do.
-0-
Kurama flicked through his facebook profile, skimming over the new friend requests. He accepted one from a boy that he knew from his botany club but rejected the next two. He was certain that they weren't even Meiou students. He preferred to restrict the list to people he knew from school or those in his mother's circle of friends. That circle had recently expanded as she'd begun dating her boss.
Kurama was unaware that covetous violet eyes were also browsing his profile at the same time. He was unaware that the dark-haired, mask-wearing mystery of the Toguro team had targeted him. If he had, he might have deleted the profile entirely.
"What a waste of time."
Kurama glanced up to see Hiei's red eyes glaring down at the phone he held.
"If you didn't have that stupid face-thingy, then Roto might not have found out about your mother," Hiei pointed out.
Kurama shook his head as he put the phone to sleep. "There were other ways he could have found out," he pointed out. "Roto, or his agents, were very likely watching me, even before the tournament."
Hiei scoffed and turned away.
Demons had nothing akin to social media in Makai. Kurama wondered briefly if the idea would ever catch on. Would there be a demon facebook one day?
He snapped a photo of Hiei as the fire-demon downed a glass of water. Hiei saw what he was doing and his glare intensified.
"Stop doing that," he snapped.
"But I haven't seen you for days," Kurama protested. "You're always off training. I miss you."
He made his jade eyes large and watery, as if he were about to cry at any moment.
Hiei looked unimpressed with the fox's display. In fact, he looked as if he were considering throwing the rest of the contents of his cup in Kurama's face. Eventually, he decided against it but the irritation didn't fade.
"Don't be stupid," he said, before darting towards the balcony and disappearing over the railing, his flapping black cloak the last thing Kurama saw of him.
Kurama sighed, his eyes finding the empty cup Hiei had left on the counter. Hiei just couldn't take a joke.
He looked down at the photo he'd taken and added it to his collection of Hiei photos. It was rare to get a photo of him off his guard. Kurama had made it his mission to do so. He just hoped that Hiei never learned how to use a phone well enough to delete them.
Hiei probably wasn't aware of the extent of the collection anyway. Kurama had toyed with the idea of setting up a facebook account for Hiei but hadn't done it yet. Maybe he should ask Yusuke and Kuwabara for their input. He was certain that they could have a lot of fun with that. How long could they keep it from Hiei before he found out about it? What would he do if he did find out?
Kurama smirked to himself as the different scenarios flitted through his mind. He was sure that it would be worth whatever punishment the little demon inflicted on him.
As Kurama checked his messages, he noticed the photo that Keiko had sent him. He smiled at the sight of the girls' happy grins and made a mental note to show Hiei the next time he popped up. Hiei would brush him off but Kurama was sure that he would appreciate seeing Yukina, nonetheless.
Kurama messaged Keiko back, thanking the girls for their support and wishing her a good night. He couldn't help but slip in a reminder for the girls to be careful. He wasn't sure if they entirely understood how precarious their situation was.
After putting his phone on the charger for the night, Kurama turned off the lights and went into his bedroom to sleep. He was aware that Kuwabara was already asleep in his own room but didn't know where Yusuke was. Genkai was absent as well.
Kurama left the door to the balcony cracked, just in case Hiei returned in the middle of the night. He wasn't hopeful of that, though.
The bed was soft and the sheets luxurious but Kurama couldn't get comfortable. The knowledge of the trials that still awaited them haunted his mind, refusing to let him rest. He wished fervently that he was at home, tucked in his own bed, with the knowledge that his mother slept in the room just down the hall. Home. Safe.
Would any of them ever make it home?
