Yusuke and Kurama shared a side-long glance.

"A blue-haired angel, huh?" Yusuke's voice and posture were casual but there was a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Most curious, if you would… excuse us for a moment?" Kurama's voice was deliberately dull but he motioned to Yusuke to move outside and before anyone could say otherwise they were gone.

While they were out, the woman from the front desk poked her head inside. "Oh, are you Keiko Renatus?"

After Keiko nodded the woman opened the door wider and let in her three forgotten friends.

Tisa ran forward and gripped Keiko in a tight hug. "You loser! We thought you had been kidnapped or something."

Pei and Jamar voiced their agreement and Pei added, "Coulda let us know you got invited to a VIP box."

The group then said greetings to Keiko's parents but before they could ask any more questions a noise buzzing down in the arena caught everyone's attention. There was some cheering but it was far over-whelmed by the intense booing and jeering. The group ran over the glass and peered down at the ring.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" cried the announcer, "Our former champion, Hiei has been defeated by the masked fighter, Princess Ballerina! We have a new World Champion!"

"WHAAAAAAAT!" Yusuke burst back into the room. He stopped for a second when he saw the new additions to the room but you could see him mentally shrug. He then situated himself between Keiko and Jamar in front of the glass.

"This day has to be some sort of nightmare." He grumbled to himself.

They could see the masked fighter with his fists held triumphantly high and Hiei lay to the side unnervingly still. Hiei, the most vicious fighter in the Empire, looked terrible. His body was beaten and bruised and even those with the most discerning eyes couldn't tell if he was still alive.

The masked fighter then grabbed the bandages woven around his head and ripped them off. The man then grabbed the announcer's microphone out of her hand.

"I, Shura son of Yomi, challenge Yusuke Urameshi for the throne of the Empire!" The crowd began buzzing in confusion. Could he do that? Is that possible? The man in the ring stood tall and proud; he was smiling but with his teeth were bared.

"I always knew that kid would be back someday." Yusuke was smirking. To Keiko he looked…excited.

Yusuke caught her looking up at him and she must have looked concerned because he said, "What? You don't think I can handle it? I've known that guy since he was in diapers."

"Technically, as a clone it's arguable he was never in diapers," Kurama mused, "but that's beside the point, we haven't heard from Shura in over half a century and whatever power he has amassed was enough to defeat Hiei. We should not treat this threat lightly."

But Yusuke was already yanking the phone off the wall and dialing. "Yeah, tell Koto I'll be down in a minute but first could someone PLEASE check on Hiei?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes impatiently, "Yeah? That's what I thought." He covered the receiver of the phone with his palm and said to Kurama, "yeah, he's fine, says he underestimated the kid and he wants another shot at him after I'm done."

He put the phone back into its cradle and walked out the door without a backwards glance.

The group turned to the window to see Hiei being carried out of the ring. Despite what Yusuke had said Hiei looked awful, like a living corpse. He was covered in burns and his neck seemed to be hanging at an unnatural angle.

"Keiko," Kurama intoned, "why don't you go with Yusuke?" It sounded like a statement instead of a request.

"Huh, you mean me?" She pointed at herself.

Kurama didn't even avert his eyes from the ring. "Yes and you'd better hurry if you're going to catch up with him."

Keiko took a hesitant step toward the door and then broke into a sprint.

Yusuke stood near the entrance to the ring, outside the crowd roared. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be right in the middle of the action instead of watching from a bird's eye view.

"Sorry Miss but this area is off limits to civilians." The demon guarding the door apologized.

"Yusuke!" A familiar voice cried.

Yusuke's head whipped back and he said, "Let her in."

Keiko snatched her arm away from the bulky demon and brushed herself off.

"Wait outside." Yusuke ordered the guard and he left with a huff.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Don't fight!" The words seem to be ripped from her. She dropped her head and stared at the ground; she was so embarrassed.

Yusuke blinked, "why not?"

She kept her head down because she didn't know what to say. There was a long silence between them and Keiko hoped the shade of the tunnel kept him from seeing her blush.

She felt his hand hesitantly cover her shoulder. "Hey… don't worry so much alright? This isn't exactly my first fight."

"But …Hiei…" She whispered, barely able to squeeze out the words.

"Hey don't worry about Hiei he's recovered from way worse." At this he gave her shoulder an awkward pat and then dropped his arm. As he began to turn away, Keiko snapped out of her shyness.

"I'm not worried about Hiei!" She said haltingly at first but with building confidence, "I just …don't want you to get hurt."

His gaze softened an increment.

"…Thanks." This time it was his turn to drop his eyes ground.

Keiko didn't know what she had been expecting but it wasn't that, "For what?"

"For worrying about me," he continued to avoid her eyes but switched to looking up at the ceiling, "it's been a long time since anyone has."

The look on his face was so forlorn that Keiko gave in to a strange impulse. She walked over to him and wrapped him in a hug.

After a minute of not breathing, Yusuke wrapped his arms around her in return. Yusuke was swept away in comfort and nostalgia as she fit so well. She leaned up and whispered in his ear, "come back safe, okay?"

Keiko was the first to step away and with one last look backward, he stepped into the blinding light of the arena.

A/N: Whoa, 50 reviews? That's amazing! You guys are the best! I will try to my best to update this story more frequently. (p.s. do you think that we could reach 100 reviews?)