Chapter Nine
Whisper and the cloaked opponent faced off. Whisper was stained with the blood of her lest two opponents, the green and red mixing together to form an ironic Christmas theme.
Kaasha stared at the new challenger, waiting for him name. This one she didn't know.
"My name is Fusoje. I am the team captain," the challenger said. It's voice sounded male and slightly robotic, mechanic-like.
"Okay, round three is between Whisper, again, and Fusoje. Begin!" Kaasha said. She ran to the edge of the arena, ears twitching. She huddled in on herself and waited for the bloodshed to begin anew.
Fusoje and Whisper stood there, not moving an inch, not even a muscle twitched. Then Fusoje's heavy black cape fell to the ground, he was not there. He appeared behind Whisper, who whirled around and caught his leg as he kicked out. Fusoje was lean and wiry, he looked slightly human, except for the lizard-like feet and no ears. His hair was long and green, kept back out of the way in a clasp at the base of his skull. His eyes were black, the pupil indistinguishable from the iris. His movements were fast and strong, but Whisper seemed a bit faster.
Then Fusoje struck a hit. His high kick connected with Whisper's jaw and the girl flew up and back, her body a graceful arc in the air. Then Fusoje appeared by her side. His knee came up into her back and she flew upwards, body contorted unto a U shape, chest out. Her black hair flew back, and that smile never left her face.
Again Fusoje appeared. He clasped his hands together and slammed them into Whisper's stomach. She didn't even retaliate. She fell towards the earth and landed with a crash. The floor underneath her was cracked and dented a bit. She lay facing upwards, the tears of blood got wider, until a small river flowed down both sides of her face.
Fusoje landed beside his still opponent and stood there, calculating. Whisper stirred, bringing her arms close to her body. Then she raised up, staggering as she got her feet under her. A small trickle of more blood came out of her mouth from the beating. She wiped it away, only to smear the tears across her face. They dripped steadily onto the stone, creating small pools of it.
Whisper put her hands, palm together, in front of her chest and brought her chin down a bit. Then she started whispering. She kept on whispering and whispering. It sounded like hundreds of people were whispering the same strange language over and over again, becoming loud like the steady beat of a strong rain. Then, the air got thick with fog, the stadium dark, even though there was no roof overhead and it was noon.
No one could see through the fog, it was so thick. Yusuke blanched, this was bad. He didn't like the Spirit Energy flowing freely through the air. It made his hair stand on end. He could still hear the whispering, it was still loud. Then it stopped. The air was silent. Nothing stirred, nothing moved. The fog seemed like a soundproofing barrier. Yusuke felt as if he'd gone deaf. That was until, Fusoje's tortured scream filled the air. Then crashes and bangs and grunts of pain, then another scream. Yusuke never heard anything from Whisper. That freaked him out even more.
Then the fog was sucked up into the air, as if a large vacuum had appeared over the stadium and sucked it up. Whisper stood there, in the middle of the ring, head bowed, shoulders slack, the picture of dejection. Fusoje was nowhere to be seen, only a large splatter of blood.
"Another win for Team Urameshi!" cried Kaasha, "The score is 3-0, in favor of , yes, Team Urameshi! All thanks to the strong, swift and incredulously creepy Whisper! In my life I have never seen someone like her! Umm. You are a girl, right?" Kaasha turned to Whisper who glared at the question, but nodded. Kaasha shivered and looked away. "Alright, now who is next up for the slaughter." She looked at Team Hagijo. "Well?" she asked, "This tournament can't go on without another victim."
Two of the three left were shaking, visibly, in their heavy robes. With a cry of "Have mercy!" they turned tail and ran out the large doors, throwing off their robes. They, obviously, were too chicken to fight Onyx, a.k.a. Whisper.
The last hung his head, he too was shaking slightly. He brought his hands up, palms out, in an "I surrender" position. "Team Hagijo forfeits. We simply are not strong enough."
Boo's erupted from the crowd. They wanted to see action, not surrendering! "You spineless cowards!" "You shouldn't have come here in the first place!" "Boo! Boo on you!"
Kaasha stood there for a moment, cat ears twitching. "Did I hear right? You just surrender? As in forfeit?"
The last team member nodded.
Kaasha rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine then. Team Hagijo disgracefully forfeits the match, making the official winners Team Urameshi! You move on to the next round!"
Onyx turned around and walked off the ring, landing softly as she jumped off the side. Aqua and Miki were standing side by side, a frightened look still in the younger girls green eyes. Aqua looked Onyx in the eyes and nodded; Onyx nodded back. She walked right past the boys, who just nodded to her, she nodded back once in reply. As she walked past Miki, she gently gave the hawk demon's shoulder a squeeze. Miki froze, and turned around, watching Onyx walk away.
"Well, that was…… enjoyable." Yusuke said, coming up to Aqua and Miki.
"She doesn't even look tired," Kurama said, watching the mysterious shadow demon go.
"She's not. Those three wimps she faced were nothing on her radar. Just like swatting an annoying fly," Hiei said.
Yusuke smirked, "What, she tell you that too?"
Hiei glared up at Yusuke, "No," his voice was tight, "I read her energy, it is still at the same level it began at. Nothing was wasted."
Yusuke laughed, "C'mon Hiei, I was just joking around."
"You should know by now," Kurama said, "Hiei doesn't joke around.'
Yusuke just laughed and started following Onyx. The rest followed him, walking out of the ring while the crowd was still cheering.
Keiko, Botan and Yukina (along with Puu) met them outside the hallway. They regarded Onyx carefully, as if she would do something to them. Onyx only gave them an unreadable look and wandered off somewhere. Apparitions and demons didn't come near Onyx, her face was still streaked with those blood-tears. Her body became tighter and tighter as more and more demons didn't come within 20 feet of her.
Hiei watched her go, he saw how she tightened up, he saw how the demons avoided her. He was not listening to the close-up play-by-play Miki and Yusuke gave the other girls, who were, in turn telling them what it looked like from above. Without telling the others where he was going, he started off after Onyx, walking slowly, aimlessly.
Aqua saw the short apparition go and stared. He was following Onyx, why she didn't know. I guess he has his own private reasons, she thought. She turned back to the others, watching Miki gaze adoringly at Kurama. She hid a smile. The older boy didn't even realize that Miki was staring at him at all. She watched Kurama as he told a story Yusuke had urged him to tell. He was entrancing, very handsome, very charming, sensitive and kind. She could see why Miki would have crush on this boy. She just hoped, when Kurama would tell her it wasn't meant to be, that she wouldn't take it too hard.
Onyx glared as she walked down the hall. Nobody knew why, no one except her. She was silently stewing in rage. She took deep breaths, trying to calm down. She didn't want a repeat of the last time she got too angry. She turned down another hall way and found a fountain. She knelt by it and splashed her blood-streaked face with water. The dried crimson slowly came off. Her eyes went back to their normal color and finally her face was clean and pale as usual. She turned around and sat on her butt, drawing her knees up and resting her head back and sighing. She rested her arms on her knees, looking very much a tomboy, but others would see this as a "Go away or I'll kill you" pose. And that kind of ticked her off.
Her eyes were closed, but she sensed a small, wiry figure walking up to her. His footsteps were soft, and he stood about 4'10". Onyx took in a deep breath through her delicate nose. Hiei. Again. He didn't know when to quit.
"Quite a display you put on out there." Hiei said.
Onyx did nothing.
He came and sat by her, a few feet away. She visibly tensed her body and a slight scowl came on her face. Hiei stared at her for a few moments.
"Why?" he asked.
Onyx didn't have to ask him why what, she knew he was asking why she felt as she did.
"You don't need to know." Her voice sounded in his head.
He kept on staring. "But you want me to know."
"Yes," she said, still in his mind, "But you can't know."
"Why not?"
"Because, it hurts."
Hiei pondered this for a moment. Then he realized, under this cold, calm exterior, she was fiery, willfull, and slightly vulnerable. It took a lot of self-control for her to keep all of it under her mask. "It hurts more the longer you keep it in."
She turned her head slightly towards him, looking at the ground. "You know this?"
"For a fact." He slid over beside her. "Show me." He placed a hand on her forehead.
Onyx took a shuddering breath in through her nose and nodded, closing her eyes.
