Disclaimer + A/N: Disclaimer + A/N: Anything from YYH is not mine, and I don't pretend to claim it. However, the idea of the Arena, Katomi, Sukeisa, Gantoi, Four-Eyed Joe, Firenzy, Aniya, Sani and the Demon ball are all mine. This chapter picks up where the last one left off, it's several months later. (You didn't think the story was over, did you?) Please note that in the story, there is a flashback (because what would a story be without a good old flashback) and the italics won't work there for some reason, so I'm marking the flashback with little squiggle lines that look like this: ~*~*~ You'll know it when you see it.

Dragons inTime

Part 7: What the hell??!

Aniya woke up. 'Shit, I'm still dreaming about that stupid mission.' She took a look around her hide out and sighed, 'Ah, I am so glad everything is back to normal,' "Good morning Sani, how did you sleep?" The little dragon chirped in reply and Aniya smiled. Dressing in her black ninja suit, she took an inventory of her arm bands and shin guards. Her armor had been destroyed in the process of fighting Katomi, and she had never gotten the replacements. 'I meant to get rid of the armor anyway. It's not like it was essential for me to have at any rate.' She grabbed her Katana and made her way to the Arena.

It was a long walk to the nearest entrance to the Arena, but Aniya thought that this was a way of making sure that she wasn't killed, by either over-enthusiastic fans or by angry opponents. No one would think that the Black Dragon, who never talked, would live that far into a city. Walking down a dark alleyway on the edge of town, she jumped nimbly over the metal fence and concentrated on her finger.

Her finger began to glow and she traced a pattern on the wall, that looked like three gashes made from a claw. It was her sign in the Arena. The pattern on the wall spread until it became an out line of a door, which Aniya walked through. Once inside, the noise level increased to a point that was almost unbearable. Aniya made her way to the waiting area, where she saw hundreds of demons who wanted to have a fight.

Aniya smiled beneath her mask. She remembered the days when she was just one of them, waiting for a chance to fight. Walking past them, she made her way down a hallway, to the locker room. Since she was a regular fighter, she didn't have to wait in line for hours for a fight. Aniya never believed in actually using the locker room, but she went there just to see who was there for the day.

She nodded to Four-Eyed Joe, an overweight demon with amusing attacks who grunted back after burping from the beer he had just drunk. 'Four-Eyed Joe was my first fight. I'm sure he doesn't remember.' Four-Eyed Joe rarely remembered anything except for the rules of the Arena, how to attack and probably how to chug two-hundred beers without getting unconscious.

There were only two other people in the room: Firenzy and Gantoi. They were two friends who had fought in the Arena since they were infants. Firenzy was known for his quick attacks, striking so fast that the opponent had no chance to defend himself. That's how he got to be in the top four fighters. The only thing was, he might have been fast, but his brain wasn't quite up to speed, but that didn't really matter in the Arena. As long as he could fight well, life was good to him. Gantoi on the other hand was so slow that it took forever for an injury to affect him. His attacks were slow (like him), but powerful. No one could hurt him enough in time to evade his powerful attacks. Unlike Firenzy, Gantoi's intelligence made up for his lack of speed.

Aniya looked around, there they were, the top four fighters. She sighed, 'If only they could find some other way to arrange the matches.' She didn't have to fight all day, she could refuse to fight if she wanted, but she had never done that before. True, there were other fighters that were part of the organization, who got paired up with newcomers, but the top four were the ones that were the most requested.

Firenzy and Gantoi waved. "Another day at the Arena, huh Dragon?" Aniya nodded silently. "When are you going to take off your mask?" "Yeah? Why don't you take of the mask?" Aniya looked at Sani. 'Tell them the joke I had with you the other night.'

Sani flew over and hopped on Firenzy's arm. "The Black Dragon does not like to reveal his latest attack." The two questioned the little dragon and looked at Aniya. "What kind of an attack is that?" Sani looked very serious when she replied "Death by hideous face." The two laughed and Sani hopped back to Aniya's arm.

"You're good," said Firenzy, slapping his thigh, overdoing it by a lot. He paused when he heard the ten minute warning. "Well, Gantoi, you'd better get started or otherwise, you'll miss your first match." Gantoi smiled, revealing a toothy-grin. "You know me, I'm always rearing and ready to go. But I don't know about me having the first match."

Firenzy looked at him, "Come on. You know that they wouldn't put Joe or Dragon out first. You're better for warming up. You also can get rid of those kids who think they can really take on the Black Dragon. But there's no way that Dragon would take them on, isn't that right Dragon?"

Aniya nodded and then pointed for the door and walked out, indicating that they should probably head out to the Arena waiting area, where they would meet up with the other ninety-six demons who were on the opponents list. They all nodded their heads respectively when Aniya and the other three passed. They waited right outside the door, until they could hear the announcer say, "Ladies and gents…the opponents!" The lesser fighters walked out and formed rows by the walls, leaving a path for the last four. "And now….Gantoi!" Applause erupted from the stadium seats as Gantoi made his slow way to the center of the Arena.

"Firenzy!" Cheers came from the crowd as Firenzy blasted his way in by flipping. Aniya shook her head, 'He was always for theatrics, he's such a crowd-lover'. Firenzy waved and bowed to where Gantoi sat, waiting. "Give it up for the champion-fighter Four-Eyed Joe!" Screams blared their ways into the hallway where Aniya stood waiting. Joe walked out and belched loudly. 'He's such a crowd-pleaser, both of them.'

Once the crowd had quieted down slightly the announced called out, "Recently returned from the mysterious disappearance, back in the flesh and ready to fight, the fighter you've all been waiting for…the Black Dragon!!!' Hearing the noise that made Joe's calls look like whispers, Aniya walked out invisibly, under her spell. She made it to the center of the room, before making a big cloud of black smoke and dropping the invisibility spell. The calls rang in her sensitive ears as she turned slowly to acknowledge the entire crowd. 'I guess I play for the crowd too,' she thought with a smile. Then all the fighters went back into the doors that led to the waiting area for the opponents, the final four, as they were called, backed out into the hallway.

"Wow, there's a big crowd today. It must be because you're back Dragon." Aniya nodded to Joe as they made their way to their chairs.

"Wonder who you'll get to fight first, huh Black?" Firenzy could be annoying at times, but he was still a damn good fighter.

"The first fight of today: the Black Dragon verses the Black Stranger!" Aniya jolted in her chair. 'They started with me? What the hell?!'

"Hey, did you hear that Dragon? You're first today!" Firenzy

*****

"Wow, this place is huge. It's like a giant arena!"

"Your skills of observation are simply astounding, idiot."

"Hey shorty, was I talking to you?"

"Apparently so."

Kurama and Yusuke looked at each other and groaned. This was going to be a long day. Yusuke slumped back into his chair and looked around, wondering for the millionth time, why he had to spend another weekend doing the spirit detective stuff. 'Stupid Koenma and his stupid meeting..'

~*~"I'd like to congratulate you ona good job, as usual. I see the stone has been recovered and returned to its rightful place." Everyone started at the box in Aniya's lap. She moved her hands to protectively cover the box, which contained the Astoria stone. Nodding at Aniya, Koenma continued. "As you have all recovered from the mission, and you did such a good job, I have decided to give you a break for a while."

Yusuke and Kuwabara cheered, and gave each other high fives to celebrate the victory. Kurama chuckled at the two's antics while Hiei snorted and turned away from, what he thought, was a disgraceful display. Aniya chose to announce, "With that said, Koenma sir, I should be leaving."

Koenma looked at her, "Why? Don't you like working with these guys?"

Aniya replied, "The arrangement that we made was that I would co-operate with whomever you sent on the recovery mission. Then, once the stone was restored to me, I could do as I pleased. As we have completed the mission, I am returning to the Arena, to my regular life." She bowed and walked out.

Kurama and Hiei watched the Black Dragon leave, while Yusuke and Kuwabara were too busy celebrating to notice that Aniya was gone.~*~

Yusuke looked around at the stadium that was filling up. 'Remind me again why we are here, in this god-forsaken Arena…oh, that's right…Koenma told us too.' He thought bitterly as he watched demons and humans alike enter the stadium to sit down for the battles.  He turned to Kurama, "I still don't get why Koenma sent us on this stupid mission. Botan could have worked just as well. It's her kind of gig anyway."

Kurama looked at him, "but Aniya does not know Botan well, and as a fighter, she would be cautious to accept or trust anything that came from someone she did not know. So, Koenma chose you to deliver the invitation because you are the spirit detective." Looking out at the maintenance workers who were doing last minute checks on the Arena floor he said, "I believe Kuwabara came along for the novelty of attending a demon match. Hiei came to insure that we were not bothered and I was here to…" he trailed off as the fighters entered the Arena. There were ninety-six lesser demons, of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds. Each was slightly unique.

"Kurama, you were saying…?"

"I was here to make sure that Hiei did not get out of control."

They nearly had to block their ears as the announcer yelled, "Gantoi!!"

Kuwabara started to cheer like the idiot that he was. "Gantoi! Gantoi! Gantoi!" He was chanting and jumping up and down like an absolute idiot. Yusuke tried to get him to sit down in his seat, like everyone else.

"FIRENZY!….FOUR-EYED JOE!" Yusuke finally got Kuwabara to settle down when the announcement "THE BLACK DRAGON!!" was made. He let him go as everyone else in the Arena was jumping up and down and shouting just like him. Kuwabara nearly shouted out, "Yeah, Ay—"

Kurama shushed him. "Remember, no one knows that she's a girl. I doubt it that she would forgive you in the event that you blew her cover."

Kuwabara shut his mouth and slumped in his seat. Yusuke looked around and asked Kurama, "Hey, where is Hiei anyway?" Kurama looked at the seat to his left. It was empty. Yusuke looked wildly around to see where Hiei could have gone off to. Then they heard the next announcement: "The first fight of today: the Black Dragon verses the Black Stranger!"

Kurama looked at Yusuke. "You don't think he would sign up to fight?" Yusuke asked. Kurama nodded his head, "Apparently he has. I recall that he spent a couple of months fighting in the Arena, and he might be looking for revenge."

"Revenge? Revenge for what?!"

"He was beaten by her last time they fought, remember?"

Yusuke groaned, "What if he kills her? Koenma will kill me…not to mention you because you were supposed to make sure he didn't try anything!"

Kurama watched Yusuke worry about his welfare. "Do you have no faith in the Black Dragon's skills? She beat him before, why can't she do it again." 'Never mind the fact that Hiei will be absolutely livid if she does beat him a second time…'

"No…but…" Kurama interrupted. "Ask anyone." Turning to a demon behind him, he asked, "Excuse me, who do you think will win the match? The dragon or the stranger?"

The surfer demon looked at him weirdly, "Dude? Like where have you been? That black stranger's going down. There's no way in hell that the dude could win. Haven't you heard? The Black Dragon, can't be, like, killed." Thanking him, Kurama turned around, back to Yusuke. "As you can see, the Black Dragon can take care of himself."

The entire stadium suddenly became black, as all the lights were turned off. Then, two spotlights appeared, one at either end of the Arena, one for each of the opponents.

*****

Aniya looked out from the shadows, trying to use her psychic ability to figure out who her opponent was. She listened for her cues from the announcer. "Defending his title, the Black Dragon!" Aniya stepped out of the shadows and froze. She waited for the other opponent to reveal himself.

*****

"Attacker: The Black Stranger!"

Hiei stepped out of the darkness.

"What the hell??! Why is shorty down there?!"

Aniya was angry. 'What the hell??! What does he think he's doing?'

The announcer continued, "Remember, there are only three rules. One: if you are down, meaning you are anything lower than a crouch or you are immobile, the countdown will begin and you have ten seconds to continue the fight. Two: If the ten seconds is over, and you are down, you have lost the match. Three: Anything goes. Ready? Let the match begin!"

The stadium lights came back on fully. Hiei whipped off his cloak, and unwrapped his bandana. Aniya was confused, 'Okay, I thought we had settled this, but obviously he's back for a  pounding.' Then she noticed he hadn't taken off his arm bandages. 'What the hell??! Isn't he going to use the dragon wave thing?' She looked at him as people from the crowd began to talk. They hadn't seen anyone fight with a Jagan eye before. Some people were beginning to doubt the fact that the Black Dragon could win. Aniya walked forward, preparing an electrical attack, similar to the one that Katomi had used on her. Blurring forward, she released the attack. Hiei dodged the attack. Aniya heard a voice in her head, 'Is that the best you can do?'

'Hiei! Why the hell are you here?' She flipped out of the way as Hiei attempted to kick her in the head, then she heard his answer.

'To prove that without your mask you're nothing and you can't fight.'

Aniya gritted her teeth. 'I thought we settled this already. You guys doubted my fighting skills, and I proved them to be better than yours, but if you insist on being beaten again, then bring it on!'

Hiei blurred forward and released hundreds of punches on Aniya, or would have if she hadn't dodged and blocked every blow. Both fighters landed in crouches facing away from each other and turned.

'Ok, so you've gotten a bit faster,' thought Aniya, 'but that doesn't mean I'm weak!'

'No,, you aren't weak, it's just I'm stronger than you.'

'Arrogant bastard!'

'Hn.'

Aniya was getting angry. 'Ok, no more fooling around.; She tore off her arm band that sealed her dracon blood. Immediately, a light began to glow around her, blinding the eyes of all the spectators. 'I'm a crowd-pleaser, what can I say?' She could feel the power coursing through her body. 'It's a pity that I have to transform fully to have complete access of my powers. And it's a pity that I have to stay in these clothes.'

Yusuke and Kurama watched the light from their seats in the stands and then they turned their attention to Hiei, who was staring at Aniya.

"Man, this seems like a reply of their last fight."

Kurama shook his head, "This time, Hiei's not even making an attempt to win. His heart isn't in it."

"Is his heart ever in anything?"

"The fight he lost last time." They turned to watch again. "But I believe he's trying to get Aniya to do something rash so he can win the fight without much damage to himself."

Yusuke looked in the Arena where Hiei and Aniya had brought out their katanas and were powering the swords with their spirit energy.

The swords came together with a clang, and another as both fighters thrust and parried repeatedly. Aniya blocked a slash as Hiei brought his sword down. The swords were locked together, so Hiei put some more of his spirit energy into the sword, to attempt to overpower Aniya's. Aniya reacted to this by increasing her spirit energy and shoving Hiei's sword off. They swung the swords around, but this time, instead of locking down, the swords were blown away by the power. The two fighters had no weapons, and took a two second breather before going at it with their fists.

"I hope you have more energy than that, Dragon." Hiei spat at her before he began to transform. He increased in size (by just a little) and turned green. Eyes popped up, all over his body and Aniya sword silently. 'Damn him. His power is increased with his stupid little eyes and I can't transform without revealing who I am. Either way my reputation goes to bits: Black Dragon is a girl or Black Dragon lost. Screw this, I'd take the girl gossip any day.'

She removed her other armband and took off her ninja uniform top. Underneath was a skin tight tank top. Taking a deep breath and thinking, 'Well, here it goes,' she removed her mask.

The audience exploded with yells of shock, surprise and astonishment. They basically were all saying, 'to think that the best fighter the Arena's ever had was a girl!' Aniya smiled as she shook out her ponytail. 'Now I can transform! They've never seen my true form, have they?' Her skin became even more white than it already was. Her silver hair acquired pearly white highlights. White and silver wings erupted from her shoulder blades. Making fists, she held up her hands and claws shot out of them.

Hiei stared at her. 'Hn. I thought she said she couldn't transform.'

'I can't, when I'm in those clothes. They hide the majority of my power so that powerful demons can't track me down easily. This is what I look like when all my power is released. I miss my claws and wings when I'm stuff in my half form. They make me feel like Wolverine or something.'

'I don't care about this Wolverine. I want to fight.'

Aniya nodded, "So fight." She jumped into the sky and slashed the air, sending cutting attacks to Hiei. He ran out of the way and telepathically called his sword. Landing on the ground, Aniya watched as Hiei ran around her, finding a weak spot to attack. With the magnification of his Jagan eye, Aniya was having a harder time seeing him. Trying to keep an eye on the whirling blur, she dodged several attacks before catching one with her claws. Spinning, she flipped away. The opponents ran toward each other, spinning at the last moment to add some extra force.

They both froze. Hiei's sword was a hair's breath away from Aniya's neck, but his own neck was mere millimeters away from one set of Aniya's sharp claws. They glared at each other as the announcer was at a loss as what to say. The announcer had been the longest running announcer in Arena history. All the others had gotten killed in mysterious instances. Fighters who didn't like what an announcer said didn't really have to put up with the announcer for long. This announcer, who's name was Bob wanted to keep his job, record and life. He was trying to make sure that no one who approach him in a dark alleyway sometime saying, "I didn't like what you said about me in the Arena today…"

"It seems….that…we have…a…um…*gulp*…tie…between the Black Stranger and…the Black Dragon….and according…to the rules, if one…of them does not move in ten seconds,…the fight is over and the match is a draw." He picked up more confidence as he found a legal way to make sure that neither of the two fighters who feel insulted about losing.

Aniya and Hiei stared at each other. Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara looked at each other and hurridly left their seats. "We can't let him kill her!" Yusuke said as the trio ran through the maze of hallways to the Arena floor. Kurama replied, "I'm more concerned about her killing him."

Kuwabara looked at both of them, "Why don't we let them kill each other and make the world a better place?" He stopped as Kurama and Yusuke looked at him like he was mad. "What? What did I say?"

Both of the fighters were still frozen. Bob had already begun the count down. "Four…three…two…one…zero!" A big horn blew and Bob cheerfully called out, "Okay! Match over! No victor, it's a draw! *whew*"

Hiei spoke, "Are you afraid to move?"

She shot back, "No more than you."

"You realize that I could slit your throat and your life would be over twenty seconds later."

"Actually, it would be a bit longer than that. It takes a human twenty-three seconds to die from blood loss, but that's if you were to hit the aorta. As a demon, if you were to hit my aorta, if would take me closer on a minute to die because my life preservation system is very advanced. If you hit me anywhere but the aorta, it would take me three minutes, but that would be if you damaged me enough. In that amount of time, I could slash your Jagan eye, slash you in some other places, then slit your throat, so I could watch you suffer in pain before you died."

Bob was trying to end the quarrel. "Um…hello? People in the Arena? Yes…um the fight is over! If you want to continue the fight, you have to wait until you are off the premises. Is this thing on? Is the mic working? Anyway, next fight is Four-Eyed Joe and Arachnid Boy"

Aniya whipped his sword away and flipped backwards, lest he tried anything. The trio finally managed to arrive in the Arena. Kuwabara ran in between them and held up his hands. "Don't kill each other! I don't want Koenma, Kurama and Yusuke mad at me!"

Aniya sweatdropped, "And why would they be mad at you, baka?"

"Wel…Urameshi said they would be."

"Baka."

"Idiot, you believed him?"

"Yeah…"

"Stupid, like we were going to kill each other anyway." Aniya found her arm bands and put them on. Slowly, her hair became silver again, her flesh slightly less white. Her wings disappeared in a cascade of silver light. She held up her arms and retracted her claws. Finding her coat and sword, she grabbed them and headed to the locker rooms. Aniya noticed that the others weren't coming. "Are you guys coming or what?"

Yusuke and Kurama jogged up to her, while Hiei finished transforming back into his regular form and then blurred after them, leaving a Kuwabaka saying, "Hey, wait for me!"

Aniya pushed back the doors. "Joe, you're up against some kid called Arachnid boy."

Joe shuffled over, "Who the hell are you?"

Aniya smiled, "My name's Aniya. You can call me the Black Dragon." Joe's four eyes fixed on her.

"Oh. So you're a girl." Seeing her nod he smiled, "Nice to know that there's a girl around here who can kick some ass." Aniya smiled back and thanked him.

"Jeepers! He talks!" Firenzy had finally noticed Aniya.

"I think you mean 'she'," Gantoi had tagged along. "Who are they?"

Aniya looked at the four fighters behind her, "Oh. Them? They're just…friends."

Gantoi winked at her, "Catch you later Dragon. Don't let them get you into trouble."

Aniya looked confused, "What the hell??!"

Gantoi smiled, "You don't have to understand. Just go and have some fun. There's more to life than the Arena."

"Okaaaay. Gantoi, I think you'd better have that head of yours checked out. I think you've been around Firenzy for too long. Go get ready. You're up after Joe."

Turning to the group, she asked, "Shall we talk outside?" She showed them the door.

Firenzy watched as she left. "What didja mean, Gantoi, about Dragon leaving and there's more to life than the Arena. If there's more to life than the Arena, how come we're doing this instead of whatever there is in life that's more than the Arena?"

Gantoi smiled, "There is more than life than the Arena. I think it is time that Aniya learned about being someone other than a fighter. Women aren't quire the same. They can live their whole lives without a friend, but that's no way for someone to live their life, especially someone with so much promise, like Aniya."

*****

Aniya flipped over the fence and waited for the group to climb over. "So, Yusuke, what brings you to this part of town? I thought I told Koenma that I wasn't taking any of his dumb-ass missions."

Kurama said, "Koenma isn't asking you to go on a mission."

She looked at the four of them, "Then what is it then?"

Yusuke handed her an envelope, with gold on then edges. "If this is a mission, I swear I'll someone." She blurred away. Hiei and Kurama teleported back to spirit world as Kuwabara and Yusuke walked home.

"Urameshi? Why did you tell me that everyone'd be mad at me if I didn't stop the fight?"

"Because I wanted to see you make a fool of yourself."

"What the hell??! I'm going to beat the shit out of you!!"

"C'mon Kuwabara. It was only a joke. Hey. Hey!!"

*****

Flopping down on the formally-known-as-a-sofa, Aniya looked at the envelope in her hands. 'What the hell could this be?' Opening it, she pulled out a silver and red piece of card.

Prince Koenma, Ruler of the Spirit World

Cordially Requests Your Attendance at:

The 137th Demon Ball

Held at the palace on the 24th of May

Formal dress required.

R.S.V.P as soon as possible, Prince Koenma

Aniya gaped. 'You have got to be kidding me. Those guys tracked me down to give me an invite to a party?! What the hell?!' "Sani?"

The little dragon chirped as she landed on Aniya's shoulder.

"Tell Koenma I'm not going to this demon ball thing."

'Why not?"

"Because…I hate the people…wearing fancy clothes…the people…let's see…the food…the people…the dances….the people…the paying of respects to other people….did I mention that I don't like people?"

'Oh, so you're scared.'

"I'm not scared. I just don't like people!"

'Okay. I'll tell Koenma that you can't come because you have a social disease.'

"I do not have a social disease!"

'Denial is the first step.'

"First step of what?"

'Toward the challenge.'

"What challenge? Sani what are you talking about?"

'You need to challenge your fears of going into society.'

"Sani, you sound like a fucking guidance counselor. Give me a break. I am not going, and that is final. You can tell Koenma to shove it up his ass."

Sani took off, not wanting to push her luck.

*****

"She said no? Does she realize how important this is?"

Sani looked at Koenma, 'I'm sorry Koenma sir. I even tried to trick her into saying yes, but I failed miserably.'

Koenma slumped into his big chair. "But we need her to be there!"

Sani jerked her head to the side, 'What do mean you need her to be there?'

"Protection purposes."

Botan appeared, "Koenma, Yusuke and everyone will be there. Don't you think that they could handle the security?"

He sighed, "Not if the Sukeisa is the one breaking in!"

She sighed, "So you need her here just in case something just happens to happen." He nodded. "I'll see what I can do." She disappeared.

Aniya was settling down, waiting for Sani to come back when all of a sudden, Botan appeared. "Hello Aniya!"

"What the hell??!"

A/N: I know the title wasn't too creative, but I thought…why not? Stay tuned for more in Part 8: What a Girl Doesn't Want.