(Yu Yu Hakusho) Take a Shot -

Chapter 7: The Twilight Tournament

The day has come. Most of the Demon World was excited and ready to go. The Twilight Tournament was starting today with news of it spreading around. Demons of all kinds surrounded the area where the tournament would be held. It was in a flat, plain region of Demon World, forests and caves surrounding a giant stadium, 5 kilometers apart. The stadium appeared just like the second one in the Dark Tournament, a metal ring with giant bleachers all around. In a matter of hours, demons filled the outside of the arena, as noone was allowed in the arena yet, and outside of the arena were millions of shops set up for food, clothes, armor, everything pretty much. Not only were demon fighters and spectators here, the Spirit Detective Team was there too. A month ago when Koenma told them about the tournament, the boys immediately got to training, preparing for the tournament. Now with the tournament finally here, the boys set off for Demon World, the girls and Genkai joining them too. They arrived in the designated area and walked around the outside of the stadium. At first, they planned to meet up with Koenma before the tournament would officially start, but found out that he had some things to do, as he was sponsoring the tournament. So the group had nothing else to do but walk around aimlessly.

"Oh boy." Keiko whispered softly, looking around uneasily as they walked. "There are a lot of demons here."

"Remember girls." Yusuke said. "Don't go off on your own. It's best that you stay by our side or in a group."

"We can take of ourselves." Botan said for herself and the girls, slightly annoyed on how protective the boys were.

"We can't help but worry."

"Worry about yourself baby brother."

"I wonder where Mikari is?" Yukina asked out loud. For the last month, there wasn't any kind of contact with Mikari what so ever. All that they knew was that Koenma said that she would be here, but they didn't know where.

"She'll be here, don't worry." Keiko nodded to Botan, who nodded back and looked around the shops. From the corner of her eye, keiko saw a bright line shine on the other side of one of the shops. She gently grabbed Yukina's arm, both of them stopping behind the group, and pointed in the direction of the light. Yukina smiled seeing a short figure walk out of the light, a familiar demon energy coming from it. The two let out a little cheer to themselves and ran away from the group to the other side, causing a commotion from the tea, but they didn't care.

"Oi Keiko! What did I just say? Get back here!"

"Yukina! Wait for me!"


Meanwhile, from the other of the shops, the figure from the light walked through the crowd of demons on her side, all that she wore was a dark, auburn cloak over her body, no sign of her clothing underneath. The cloak reached down past her knees and had a hood apart of it that was over her head. She then stopped walking to stretch her arms over her head, knocking her hood off, allowing her wolf ears freedom, unlike her tail underneath her cloak.

"Finally here." Mikari yawned out, running her hand through her still, short hair, taking out some hidden leaves with a groan. "Last time I use a portal when jumping through the trees."

Her wolf ears then twitched slightly up at the sound of two figures running behind her. When she sniffed the air, her eyes slightly widened.

'They wouldn't...' She thought, rushing around to see Keiko, wearing a summer dress over a t-shirt, and Yukina, wearing her normal blue kimono, run at her with their arms wide open.

"MIKARI!" They yelled out happily, tackling her to the ground. Mikari got the air taken out of her as she landed on the ground with both girls hugging her to death.

"We've missed you so much!"

"You've been gone forever! We thought you were dead!"

"Y-you're exaggerating..." She was able to whisper out, getting a bit of air back in her lungs. Looking around, her face went red in embarrassment as demon eyes were all on them. "U-um...wanna get off please?"

At her request, Keiko and Yukina released their death grip on her and all three got back on their feet.

"You could've at least called you know." Keiko scolded her like a child.

"I didn't think it would be such a big deal or worry for you guys." Mikari shrugged. "And it's not like I've got a phone anyway, that's ningen technology."

"So what! You should get one!"

"We were really worried about you Mikari." Yukina softly said, looking straight in her eyes. Mikari stared back, blinking her gaze down then back up with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Gomen Yukina. Sorry for worrying you." She said with a tiny smile. Yukina went into slight shock at her apology and smile. It was like there was something different about her. Before, even she could tell that Mikari was uncomfortable with the group, including her. But now, it didn't look like she was faking being nice, she was actually trying and feeling alright.

"It's alright."

Keiko smiled at the two and brought them into a hug. "Awwww! You two are so cute!" She cooed, making Yukina giggle and Mikari groan.

"Keiko!"

"Yukina!"

Still in the hug, the three looked over to see the rest of the team walking over to them. By the looks on some of their faces, they were surprised to see Mikari, while she looked over them and their clothes. Genkai was in her martial arts clothes, then Botan worse a yellow shirt with brown slacks, and Shizuru was wearing a white button shirt with a brown vest and black slacks. Lastly, the boys were wearing the outfits they were in the last round of the Dark Tournament.

"I wanna join the hug!" Botan suddenly yelled out, beginning to run ahead to the girls with her arms open. She wrapped her arms tightly around the girls, smiling brightly. Her smile dropped in shock to see that Mikari wasn't in the hug no more. Unwrapping their arms from each other, the girls found her a step away from them, arms crossed.

"I don't need to be apart of any more hugs."

"Awww. Is Mikari embarrassed?" Botan cooed, walking over to pinch her cheek. Mikari glared at her through the corner of her eye.

"I don't need you in my personal bubble Botan." She growled. Then she sighed as Keiko and Yukina joined Botan's side in poking her red cheeks with smiles on their faces, aside from Mikari.

"Seems you're doing well Mikari." Yusuke said as he and the others reached the girls.

"I guess. Can't really complain." Mikari said, getting the girls to stop poking her. "What about you all?"

"We're all doing well." Kurama gave her a kind smile. "Did you train hard for the tournament Mikari?"

"Of course I did. I'm planning on winning this thing." A scoff from Hiei made Mikari look at him with her eyebrow raised. "Is something wrong Hiei?" She asked sarcastically.

"You better have trained a lot onna." He closed his eyes and smirked. "You won't be able to beat me if your strength if the same as before."

She clicked her tongue at him. "You're some arrogant jerk." He glared at her coldly, receiving a smirk back.

"Hey! What are you all talking about?" Kuwabara yelled out over the two, short demons. "I'm gonna be winning this tournament!"

"Oh please..." Mikari lightly smacked Kuwabara's chest in a taunting manner. "No ningen has ever won this tournament before. So it would be disgraceful of me to let you."

"You just wait and see!"

'Nice to see them...sorta getting along.' Genkai thought, watching the team argue and the girls laughing at them. Her gaze stopped on Mikari, seeing a ghost of a true smile on her face. 'She's really trying with this group.'

"So, where were you guys heading before I dropped in?" Mikari then asked, once the arguing died down.

"Truthfully, nowhere." Botan told her. "We planned to meet Koenma, but he had things to do."

"Hmmmm, and you guys can't go to the hotel yet." Mikari thought out loud.

"There's a hotel here?" Keiko asked in surprise at the news.

"Yes, past one of the forests. But it's only for the competitors that pass the preliminaries and their friends."

"Sounds like you've been here before." Mikari nodded to Yusuke, and then had an idea. "How about we have a little bite to eat? We can talk more after."

"Do you know a place?" Kuwabara asked, instantly feeling hungry. Beginning to drool at the thought of food.

Mikari smirked at the group and walked off. "I know a good shop here."

The team shrugged and went after her. They stuck together as a group, following Mikari through the crowds. Some of the demons recognized the team and stepped aside, knowing the stories of the Spirit Detective team. Soft murmurs could be heard, but they ignored it.

"Ah. There he is. Yo Daisuke!" Mikari yelled out, waving her arm in the air. The group looked up ahead to see a small shop with a few tables laid out beside it. Working along by the stoves in the shop was a tall, red demon with 4 muscular arms. The male turned around at MIkari's voice and smiled.

"Hey! Its been a whole year little ookami." 4 black eyes peered down at her as she and the team stopped in front of the shop.

"Is it alright if we take a table?"

"Go right ahead. Anything for one of my best customers." Mikari's cheeks went light pink at the comment. "Aw you're too kind."

The team approached the table closest to them and took a seat in the chairs. After getting comfortable, Yusuke gave Mikari a tiny smile. "Sooooo, he's a friend of yours?"

She shrugged her shoulders, her ear twitched ever so slightly at the word 'friend'. "I guess he's like a buddy. Daisuke makes all the best foods at this tournament. Far better then all the other shops."

"So, we can order anything pretty much." Shizuru asked, looking over the menu's that were laid out on the table.

"Yup, it's all good. Just yell to him what you want and he'll bring it." Mikari shifted around in her chair to face the shop. "Yo Daisuke! Can I have my usual please!"

"Hm don't know...I am just your buddy after all." He answered back in a fake sad voice, making her sweatdrop.

"Oh c'mon. I also said that you cook the best."

"Can't complain against the truth."

Everyone else ordered after Mikari, the girls more kindly then the boys, and in a few minutes, Daisuke had all their meals placed in his 4 arms. The sweet smell of the food reached their noses, Yusuke and Kuwabara drooled a waterfall as the plates were placed in front of them. Daisuke barely had time to say 'enjoy' as nearly everyone quickly took the first bite of their meal.

"Man! This is delicious!"

"Just wonderful!"

"Doesn't my usual include a bottle of sake?" Mikari asked rudely, looking at Daisuke behind her. Her eyes widened to see him holding a bottle of sake in one of his hands. She jumped out of her chair at him, but he raised his arm up in the air before she grabbed it.

"Give me! Give me! Give me!" She whined childishly, jumping at the bottle in a chibi mode, but he kept moving it out of her reach.

"You need to cut back." Daisuke said as a matter of fact. "You're just a child."

"Bullshit. Give meeeee!"

"So Daisuke-san, how long have you known Mikari?" Botan asked, watching Mikari jump for the sake in amusement.

"Exactly a year today. I recognize every face that enters the tournament, so last year was the first time I saw Mikari as it was her first time entering. She tried my food in curiosity and came back everyday after that. Not wanting anyone else's food."

"We figured out that she was here last year. How far did you get in the tournament Mikari?" Yusuke asked curiously. The question was on everyone's mind.

"Oh. You don't know?" Daisuke laughed, picking up Mikari in the air by her tail. "Half way through the tournament, there was a little event that got all the demon's attention. So the whole tournament got cancelled for the year."

"What event?"

"A little incident involving the barrier between worlds breaking because of a certain ex-Spirit Detective." Genkai answered and the team went 'ah' in understanding, knowing full well that it was their fault now.

"Yeah. Thanks you guys." Mikari crossed her arms with a huff, still being held up in the air by her tail. "I was actually close at winning too. I made it all the way to the semifinals."

"Yes. Yes. Very impressive." Daisuke finally let Mikari's tail go and she fell to the ground with a groan. "Now hurry up and eat. The preliminaries are gonna start soon."

Mikari rubbed her sore tail as she sat back in her chair. No more words were said as the group finished their meals. Then as everyone finished, a loud ringning came from the stadium, being heard throughout the land.

"Time to go I guess." Yusuke got up from his chair, along with the boys and Mikari.

"Wait Mikari." Daisuke quickly said as the five began to walk. She turned to him and was surprised to have something thrown at her from the sky. Holding her hands out, the item was revealed to be an apple as it landed in her hands.

"What's this for?" She questioned, sniffing it out of habit.

"Just a little snack for the wait."

"Sweet snow would have been nice too..."

"Be grateful I gave you one since last time you ate over 10 and got sick." She grumbled to herself at the memory. He then turned to the girls, still sitting at the table, with a smile. "You girls can stay here. I've got a tv that we can watch the preliminaries on."

"Yay! Thank you!"

Mikari gave him a thanks and chased after the boys. They headed to the giant stadium, along with all the other demon fighters. Lining up in multiple lines, the fighters entered the stadium, heading for the arena. As they walked in, the tournament staff handed everyone a single piece of paper, each with a number on it. Once the team entered the arena, they waited patiently for the preliminaries to start, as all the others did. This gave Mikari the chance to eat her apple Daisuke gave her.

"Mmmmmm! Oh how I love apples, just as much as meat!" She moaned to herself, taking bite after bite of her apple. All the while, not noticing the odd looks of the boys. "No wonder humans have titled it the devils fruit sometime."

"Ok you crazy girl." Yusuke chuckled. "How do these preliminaries work?"

Mikari glared at him slightly at the comment but sighed and threw her finished apple to the ground. "It's pretty simple really. They split us up into groups, one at a time, by the numbers on our cards. Then the groups fight in the forest and the 2 remaining fighters return here for round 2 later on. And for round 2, whoever passed the preliminaries are split up into 4 groups to fight."

"This will be easy!" Kuwabara cracked his knuckles with a determined face. "Just gotta knock the demons unconscious or kill them in the preliminaries, right?"

"Yeah...though there is also a time limit of 30 minutes." She laughed out while the boys eyes widened in shock.

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. I just said so." She gave them a look at their stupid question.

"What happens when time runs out and there aren't only 2 left?"

"They throw a bomb in the forest and whoever survives moves on." She game them a toothy smile at the new fact. Yusuke's face went pale, the two demons stayed absolutely silent and Kuwabara fainted, making Mikari laugh. "It's not that bad. It hardly ever happens since everyone finished each other quickly. Well that's what I heard."

"Just great." Yusuke groaned out.

"I'm gonna die..." Kuwabara muttered in his unconsciousness, his body twitching.

"Looks like you and Mikari will have the better chance in the time limit with your speed." Kuramam stated to Hiei, who 'hn'ed' back.

"Well, well. The mutt brought along some loser friends this year." A dark, malicious voice came from behind Mikari. Her eyes widened at the familiar voice and demon energy. The boys could sense the tense atmosphere and Mikari's energy. Looking behind her, they could see a tall, broad demon, who looked like an ugly human, with an eyepatch over his left eye.

"What's the big idea ugly?" Yusuke yelled out.

"Just came to see the bitch over here." The demon chuckled, reaching his claw out for Mikari's head. An inch away from her ears, she smacked his claw away with a growl.

"Back off Kaji!" She turned to him with a vicious glare. "My temper isn't something I hold back with you around!"

"That clearly showed when you took my eye." Kaji smirked down at her. "Little runt." He whispered for only her to hear. That 'r' word kept replaying in her head as her pupils shrunk to slits.

"You bastard!" She yelled out, lunging for him, but was held back by Yusuke.

"Woah there Mikari." He tried to calm her down, but she continued to struggle from his hold on her.

"I'LL KILL HIM!"

Kurama took a step forward between Yusuke and Kaji, looking up at him with a hardened look on his face. "I suggest you leave."

"Whatever fox." Kaji let out a spit by Kurama's feet and turned to walk away. "Better survive till I face you in a fight mutt." were his lost words, earning a loud growl from Mikari as Yusuke let her go once Kaji disappeared from their view.

"What a jerk." Kuwabara said back on his feet, regaining consciousness.

"Who was he?" Yusuke asked Mikari, watching as she took in some deep breaths to relax.

"Kaji is a onikuma, a bear demon. I faced him in the semi-finals and took his left eye, but then the tournament was cancelled because of you guys. So I can't wait to dig my claws into him and defeat him this time!" Mikari muttered, grinding her teeth while flexing her claws. Streams of demon energy flew from her claw as the anger inside of her began to boil up. The memory of Kaji annoying everyone at the last tournament, that was when she was introduced to him. From that one simple meeting, he taunted and irritated her the most out of all the demons, there wasn't really a reason. She was just his target...the runt as he somehow found out...a damn runt-

Suddenly a hand grabbed her hand, getting her out of her daze. Her wide eyes looked down to see a bandaged hand holding her hand, restricting her demon energy from flying around. A few flickers of black flames flew around their hands along with a few sparks.

"You need to calm down onna." Slowly her gaze looked up to Hiei. He had the normal scowl on his face and his voice was harsh as usual. "Don't get so pissed over a demon like him."

"Hiei's right." Kurama said placing a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't worth it."

Mikari tore her gaze from Hiei to stare at the ground. She shook her oddly warm hand away from him, not seeing his eyes roll at her attitude. How could she reply back with them staring at her all concerned and stuff?

"The preliminaries are about to start." The announcement was heard throughout the arena. Mikari let out a relieved sigh as everyone's attention was to the announcer. "Once you hear your number, approach the portal at the west wing."

The announcer then said the first round of numbers. A small portion of the demon competitors left from the group and headed for the giant yellow portal in the west wing, probably created by a staff member with a Distortion Renegade ability. Then in less then 30 minutes, 2 demons from the group came back through the portal as the victors and left the arena. It wasn't too long after a few more groups when one of the boys numbers was called. One group after another, the boys went through the portal and came back as the victors with hardly no wounds, aside from Mikari. She still hadn't gotten called yet, until the final found.

"Finally." She muttered, walking away from the boys who decided to kindly wait for her.

"Better win!" Yusuke yelled out. Mikari waved her hand in the air as a thanks.

Heading for the portal, Mikari's body shivered in either fear or anticipation once she saw Kaji walking ahead of her to the portal. Maybe fate was playing a part in this. Her thoughts ended there as she entered the portal. She knew what happened next. Everyone who entered the portal would end up in a different part of the forest they would fight in. And that happened. Mikari found herself surrounded by giant oak trees, the smell of the forest made her smile and feel calm, along with the feeling of the soil between her toes, since she wasn't wearing shoes for this round.

"Gotta get moving." She told herself, a determined look on her face. She jumped up to a tree branch and began jumping to the next one and on. The wind rushed by her, blowing her cloak and hair back. Then a new scent caught her attention and she smirked. She grabbed the next tree branch with just her hands and used it to flick herself up into the air. The force propelled her past the demon she smelled and he looked up in surprise. He was met with Mikari's fist, glowing with energy, right in the face and he crashed down to the ground. She wasn't through yet as she rocketed down at him and smashed her foot through his stomach. Blood came out from the hole in his stomach and his eyes rolled back into the back of his head.

"Oopsie." She whistled lightly, taking a step back from the dead demon and dug her foot into the dirt to get the blood off. "And here I thought I would try not to kill anyone in the preliminaries."

She looked up and took a long whiff of the air. Aside from the demon beside her, she could smell dead corpses all throughout the forest, though it was difficult to tell what kind of demons as there were a lot.

"Soon this will be over. So many are dead already." Was what she told herself.

A whooshing sound went through the air. Mikari turned around with her eyes wide and barely missed the attack of arrows. One skimmed past her cheek, leaving a cut, while the others flew into her cloak and ripped it off. Without her cloak on, Mikari stood up straight and allowed her tail to wag around in freedom. She wore black short shorts with white strips on the side, and one button on the front was undone, and also she wore a tight, light blue, tanktop, outlined with yellow strips, that revealed her stomach.

Mikari looked from her ripped cloak, back to one of the trees, knowing that the demon was nearby. "That cloak cost a hell lot!" She growled out.

She held one hand in front of her and gathered her energy in the form of a sphere. As she charged her energy, more arrows were shot at her. This didn't faze her like last time, she just kept a smirk on her face. She stood her ground, getting pierced by the arrows, but she was able to see where the demon was, thanks to the arrows.

"Gotcha!" She yelled out triumphantly. "Demon...BUSTER!" She punched the sphere with her other fist and a beam of energy was released. The beam went in the direction of the demon, taking out everything in its path. A cry was heard for a brief second before dying down along with the beam.

"Yatta." Mikari stretched her arms in the air and took the arrows out of her body. She looked back to the damage to see all the trees snapped apart and the forest looked like a cleared out field.

"It's gonna be sad if Yusuke ever finds out that was based on his Spirit Gun." She laughed slightly with a sweatdrop.

BEEEEEEEEEEP! "Preliminaries over!"

"Guess that's it." Mikari said softly, hearing the announcement. "Wonder if Kaji-"

Suddenly, the smell of dead corpses died down, except for a certain one. The blood of the corpse was of one Mikari hadn't smelled in a year. She began to run quickly to the scent without a second thought. Sliding to a halt in an open area where the scent was the strongest, her eyes widened to see a figure standing over a bloody, dead Kaji. The figure stood a bit taller then Mikari, a straw hat atop their head hiding their hair, and they wore a green martial arts outfit like Genkai, and like Mikari, they were no shoes, just bandages over bare feet that were covered in blood. Mikari could only stare in shock as the figure turned to her, licking their bloody fingers.

"That was a good kill." A female voice chuckled out from the figure, sending a shiver down Mikari's back for some reason. The two stared at each other, taking in the others image. Mikari even noticed something.

'She's blind...' She thought, noticing her light green eyes which were hollow with no pupils.

"You know I'm not surprised you came here." The female spoke out, surprising Mikari. "I knew you would come here...and we'll face each other soon." She said as her green eyes glowed slightly, a strange energy surrounding her.

Mikari could only stay in shock as the girl gave her a final smirk and walked away from the area. Then when she disappeared into the trees, Mikari shook her head, getting over what just happened and ran towards Kaji's body. Blood seemed to pool around his whole body and by the looks of it, his bones were crushed and snapped in the wrong directions. She didn't even take in account the unshaped earth around her or the gorges. Though she could conclude that he was dead around the time she killed the last demon. Then she looked down at his body with an unreadable expression.

"I really wanted to kill you myself...but now..." She whispered, sniffing slightly as a wave of sadness swept over her. "This doesn't seem right..."


Yu Yu Hakusho Take a Shot Chapter Preview

Yusuke: "Yo! Back again guys! Seems the tournament has begun without a hitch and we're about to head for the hotel. Room for us guys and a room for the girls. What to expect? A few moments here and there, and maybe even a small flashback. But what's gonna happen with the first round of the tournament about to start? Who's gonna fight who in the next chapter?

Next time Chapter 8: Good Times Never Last