(dressed in red, carrying 2 bags) Okay…if this isn't up by late Thursday night, then it won't be until Sunday or Monday…why? Because I'm on varsity swim team, and we've got a meet on Saturday in ATHENS. (not Greece…Texas) Athens is in East Texas. I live in West Texas. It's an eight-hour drive, so we're leaving on Friday…*sigh* See you on Sunday, then…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, and even most of the stuff you don't. But I own Misato, Luna, Kaijuu, the Tournament, and all the creativity of being my weird, creative self.

The Tomuraigassen Tournament

Chapter 10: Tiger Eyes and Shooting Stars

Kin sighed, popping a crick of his neck as he crossed along the ground. Ki-Rokey jumped up and ran back him, eyes wide. "You okay, Kin?"

"I'm fine…" the large boy sighed, glancing to the wall. "How's Anbu doing?"

"She's okay, I think…" Ki-Rokey nodded. "She fell asleep after a while, but all in all, I think she's doing alright."

"That's good…"

"But you're not." Kin grimaced, turning back to face the team leader.

Sayona had her arms crossed over her chest, glowing blue eyes narrowed almost to slits. He sighed, raising his hands in defense. "I know, I know…I screwed up."

"Well, at least you realized it." Sayona brushed her hair back, climbing up into the ring. "Get yourself healed…I'm taking us to the next round.."

~ * ~ * ~

Yusuke yawned, stretching for the ceiling. "Man…I'm gonna need a nap after this one."

"Urameshi."

Yusuke glanced down. Misato was standing just below the ring, arms crossed over her chest, blue eyes glaring seriously. He sat on the edge of the ring so he could hear her better. "What's up?"

"Get down." Yusuke blinked at her a moment, so she motioned with her hand. "You heard me. Get down from there. I'm taking this fight."

"What?! Why?!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"I've got a bone to pick." Misato sighed, climbing up into the ring. "Now get down."

"But I can't leave and come back…" Yuusuke tried to protest.

"You won't have to. This is their last fighter." Misato was looking ahead. "You're already hurt. I've got a better chance of coming out of this than you do. And even if I don't, that little fire-demon seams more than ready to slice through something."

Yusuke glanced back. He was a bit worn out, and Hiei was polishing his blade like he was ready for anything…

"Um, excuse me?" Sad called. "Only one of you can be in the ring at a time. Please make up your minds so we can get started already!"

Yusuke glanced at Misato, then sighed in defeat and climbed down. Sayona raised her eyebrow, then brushed her hair back. "Alright then…"

Sad glanced around, then sighed in agreement. "Okay! The seventh match of Round 1 will be Misato versus Sayona! Fighters ready…BEGIN!"

~ * ~ * ~

"Well well…" Kaijuu grinned, leaning forward. "This should be…interesting."

"Only for you." Kaz muttered, brushing his many-ringed hands together and folding them behind his head. "My money's on the demon. That girl Itoshigo doesn't stand a chance."

"Whattya see in that chick anyway, Akki?" Nabooru twirled a piece of hair around one finger. "She's only a human…"

"Oh come now, have you forgotten our little pet?" Kaijuu snickered, gesturing a hand in the direction of the hotel. "It's all in the family, naturally…"

Misato and Sayona didn't waste any time, and soon both were in the minute clearing-space Kuwabara had made in the very first match. The two eyed each other disdainfully, moving slowly to each side, keeping even distance.

"So…" Sayona finally broke the silence. "You think you can take me, do you, girlie?"

"That's a silly question." Misato smirked. "Of course I do."

Sayona's cat-ears twitched in irritation and her tail flicked. She lunged forward suddenly, claw-like nails flashing in the light. Misato was ready, mussels tense as she slid out of the way.

Sayona's eyes flashed, and she reached into her sleeves to pull out several gold throwing-stars. "Dodge this, human." she sneared, throwing them one-by-one.

Misato took to her heels, running. She was no where near as fast as Hiei, but she was rather speedy for a human. Sayona quickly realized she wouldn't be able to hit the girl at a run like that.

"Man…" Kuwabara blinked. "She's fast."

"Misato seams to be running rings around Sayona!" Sad exclaimed. "But look at the glint in that cat-demon's eyes! She's definitely got a plan!"

Sayona pointed two fingers at the ground just in front of Misato. Flame shot out of them, into a straight line. Misato couldn't stop fast enough and was tripped, her foot singeing a bit through her shoe.

The fire spread from the tips of the line, and then from the tips of those until it formed a box. Before Misato could climb to her feet, bars of fire half and inch thick shot from the two lines, making a cage of fire.

"What the-?!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"What kind of technique is that?" Botan whispered, shocked.

Sayona grinned a bit, brushing back her bangs. "The Pyro Cage." she smirked "As long as I keep my energy focused on that, there's no way you'll escape."

She pulled a throwing star out and threw it through the bars of the cage. Misato grimaced a bit and a long, sharp red cut appeared on her cheek. The throwing-star swerved back like a boomerang, snapping into Sayona's hand.

"And with these, it'll stay that way." she grinned again, about to throw it a second time for a slightly deeper target.

Misato just narrowed her eyes and held up her right hand. Between the pointer and middle fingers was a small, shiny gold marble, and even darker shade than her hair. It glowed a bit, as though there was a light inside it.

Sayona raised and eyebrow, then burst out laughing. "Oh, come on now!" she gasped for breath. "Do you really expect a little thing like that to help you against ME?"

Misato gave her a mischievous smirk. "Actually, yeah."

With that, she shot the small ball out of her hand like one shoots a marble. It bounced on the grassy ground, arching into a curve and stopping at Sayona's feet. It touched her left foot and rolled an inch or so away, then suddenly exploded.

Sayona was thrown back by the force of it, tumbled a moment head-over-heels before managing to land on her feet. She glared forward, realizing that she'd released the energy holding the Pyro Cage in place.

"Surprised, huh?" Misato grinned. "Urameshi's not the only the only one with an ace up his sleeve."

She started tossing one of the small balls up and down in one hand. Every time it came down, it multiplied by 2. "The Starlight Marbles." she smiled, introducing her toys. "Also called the Shooting Star Balls. They may look small and pretty, but, as you can see, they pack quite a punch.

"And…" her grin widened. "They're made of my spirit energy, so I can produce as many as I need."

She hopped a few steps back, jumping from one foot to the other like a boxer. "Try this on for size!" she smirked, planting both feet a moment before jumping, backwards, into the air.

For a moment she spread her fingers apart, showing that there was a gold marble closed between each one. "Starlight…EXPLOTION!" She threw both handfuls at Sayona, one after another.

The eight golden balls crashed into the ground by Sayona's feet. The cat-demon went flying backwards, landing on her hands in a back-handspring. In the space of eight and a half seconds, Misato created one more, and hit Sayona in the small of the back. The last explosion sent the older fighter flying, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Well, this is an interesting turn-about!" Sad announced. "Seams Misato's gained the upper hand, both in offence and defense!"

"Hey, the chick's pretty damn good." Kuwabara let out a low whistle of approval. Yusuke looked impressed as well, and Kurama's eyes had an interested gleam in them. The girls were cheering, and Hiei was hiding any impressions he had with the usual 'Hn.'

Luna gave a small smile, crossing her arms over her chest. After all these years, she just how good Misato was. Wait until they saw her in action…

Sayona pulled herself to hands and knees, growling in distaste. "Why, you little…"

"…'You little' what?" Misato grinned, "Please, continue, it's rather entertaining."

Sayona's growl grew lower. "You won't be so cocky once I'm through with you, girl." she hissed, hair starting to change silver.

Misato blinked, pulling back in surprise. As the crowd watched, Sayona rather quickly transformed into a larger, silver panther with a huge pair of white wings. She let out a roar and soared into the air.

"…Well, this is new." Misato muttered, watching her fly.

"That's just weird." Yusuke blinked.

"We've never had an opponent turn into an animal before." Botan said off-hand, although that was perfectly obvious.

"Would you look at that!" Sad shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun. "Sayona has just transformed into what seams to be a flying wildcat, and is now soaring over the ring! But…where's the fighting?"

"HEY!" Misato shouted. "Get down here already! I wanna get this over with!"

An odd glint appeared in the silver panther's blue eyes. She pulled her wings in, suddenly dropping like a hawk going for its prey. Before Misato knew what was happening, she'd been struck, the claws digging into her shoulder. Misato was thrown back, rolling on the ground with blood dripping slowly from her wound.

She sat up with a grimace, checking her wound a moment before using a tree to climb to her feet. "Ya think that's gonna stop me?"

The panther, who had landed a few feet away, seamed to smile. For a split moment, Misato glanced at those bright, blue eyes. There was a small flash inside them, and Misato's body stiffened.

"W-Wh-What the…?" Misato gulped, her face being the one thing she could move. "I…I can't move! What did…she do to me?"

"This is an interesting turn of events!" Sad announced, eyes gleaming with excitement. "Misato seams unable to move! She's wide open for any attack Sayona may commence! How cool it that?!"

"How come these announcer-ladies always get a kick outta people being hurt?" Kuwabara muttered off-hand.

"I suppose it must be in the job description." Botan shrugged.

Misato gulped as the tiger turned and seamed to grin viciously at her. Sayona lifted her tail, revealing that there were actually 3 of them, and for some reason, she was pointing them at her opponent.

Then she let out a low growl that sounded almost like words until she realized that they were. "Three Tails!"

The trio of tails sharpened very suddenly, until they were straight and sword-like. The tiger lunged forward, striking with all three of her tails and deliberately missing any truly alarming shots.

Misato bit her lip to hold in a scream as the blades hit some of her more sensitive pressure points. It was impossible, especially in the paralysis, to keep her balance, so she was thrown back several feet and landed flat on her back. She was bleeding from her arms and shoulders, it was staining the torn fabric of her clothes and hiding in the already-stained grass.

To her surprise, she was released from Sayona's spell almost as soon as she hit the ground, her limbs falling limply to the ground. She groaned a bit, her senses spinning from the sudden loss of blood.

"Oh…she looks awful…" Botan whispered breathlessly.

"Hey, Itoshigo, you alive up there?!" Yusuke shouted. "'Cause if you are, you really should get up about now!"

"Shut it, Urameshi." the boy snapped his head around. Luna was leaning against the wall of the stadium, ears twitching and tail swishing in innate irritation. "She doesn't need the support."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?!" Yusuke cried, while Botan, Kuwabara and Keiko looked outraged. Shizuru, Hiei and Kurama watched without saying a word, and Yukina had absolutely no idea what anyone was talking about, so she kept quiet.

"She's your friend, isn't she?!" Kuwabara gaped. "Don't you care?!"

"Of course I care, you idiot." Luna snapped, her ears twitching in Kuwabara's direction. She kept her eyes trained on the screen projecting the fighters in the ring. "It's just that we both work better without the annoying chatter in the peanut gallery."

Yusuke and the others were at a loss for words as her ears perked up again. "Besides, look at her. She's far from beat."

With a soft groan, Misato pulled herself to her feet, holding her bleeding shoulder. Sayona's laughter filled the air, reverberating off the stadium. It was the tiger that was laughing, and her speech was rough and almost a hiss, but with Sayona's recognizable voice.

"Well well, you've managed to get to your feet." she said, narrowing her eyes. "Impressive, I must admit, but it appears you're not up to much else."

She raised only one of her tails, sharpening it to a savaged point. "You've made this fun. I'll do you the favor of a quick death."

Misato's glare grew harder, and she raised one hand. Between the index and middle fingers were a single, glowing gold marble. Sayona raised an eyebrow. "That must be all you've got left." she laughed. "But that one little ball isn't gonna help you now!"

She lunged forward, teeth bared and tail ready to strike. Misato switched the ball to her palm and placed her other hand on top. She began to move them against each other in a circular pattern, like flattening out dough.

And flatten it she did. In a few seconds the small marble had formed into a flat disc the size and thickness of a dinner plate. She kicked off the tree, dodging the tiger's attack and rolling on the ground.

She righted herself in a crouch and gripped the disk like a frisbee. The tiger turned back to strike again, and she threw it with what might she had left. "Starlight Disk!"

Sayona stopped dead in her tracks as the disk hit. It had turned on its side and collided with the base of her neck. It sliced through the top of it like a buzz saw, then flew into a tree and disappeared.

Sayona dropped to the ground, returning to her normal form, eyes wide and neck all but severed. It don't really want to describe the carnage and raise the rating of this story, so just use your imagination, okay?

Misato looked at her defeated opponent a moment, then turned to leave the ring. She had a limp and was gripping her right shoulder weakly, but her eyes warned away any who might try to carry her out.

Sad never missed a beat. "Obviously, Sayona's not going to be getting up! That means that the seventh match goes to Misato, and the first fight of the Tomuraigassen Tournament goes to Team Urameshi!"

Ki-Rokey looked up at the screen in disbelief. "She…lost." she whispered in shock. "We…We lost…"

"We were going to lose from the beginning." Anbu groaned, pulling herself to her feet. Kin leaned forward and steadied her against his shoulder. "We were obviously out-classed. We're lucky to lose the few that we did. This was Sayona-san's idea after all…"

"But…if we were supposed to lose…" Ki-Rokey protested. "Why didn't you tell us?! You see the future, you said you knew…!"

"I see it, I can't change it." Anbu whispered. "Besides…we've had a good time here, haven't we? You got to see your idol again, didn't you?"

"…You're right, I guess…" Ki-Rokey sighed.

"Of course I am." Anbu smiled at the smaller fighter, then she nodded in the direction of the other side of the ring. "Kin? Let's leave in that direction…there's something I wanna do…"

The crowd was a chorus of boos and jeers as Misato climbed out of the ring. She stumbled a bit on the grass, but Luna was next to her in a second and grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her on her feet.

"…Thanks, Luna-chan…" she whispered, on the verge of passing out. The wolf demon smiled gently, setting her down next to the wall. Yukina rushed over and began her work almost immediately, receiving a grateful smile from her patient.

"That was harsh…" Yusuke gasped. "You're pretty good, Misato."

"Hell, I'm not as strong as you, Urameshi." the girl smiled. "You wouldn't be beat up this bad against an animal, if you're at full strength…I'm just pretty tricky."

"I'll agree to that." Luna grinned, showing pearly white fangs.

Misato closed her eyes a moment, then snapped them open in a piercing glare, fixed on a landing above the spectators on the opposite side. Yusuke raised and eyebrow, the followed her look and an annoyed expression crossed his face as well.

Standing on that landing, grinning down at them, was Akki Kaijuu and the two cronies from before. The larger boy had a sour look on his face, and the woman looked somewhere between surprised and entertained. Kaijuu had that same disturbing grin played across his features.

For a moment the three looked at them, the Kaijuu raised two fingers to his lips. He kissed them, then blew it down in Misato's direction, before turning to leave with his teammates in tow.

Misato let out something that sounded like an angry cat, and Luna growled. Yusuke's glare increased, and he was just ready to spit as the three left.

"Just wait until I get my hands on that guy…" he whispered under his breath.

They were gathering themselves up to leave, there was a new sound of footsteps on the grass. The team turned to find what was left of Team Sougen, coming at them. They stopped a moment and just kind of look at each other.

Anbu, leaning on Kin's shoulder, was the first to speak. "Hey."

"…Hey." Yusuke smiled. "You still alive?"

"Takes more than a street punk to kill us." the girl laughed calmly.

Ki-Rokey jumped from one foot to the other, eyeing Hiei a bit sheepishly. The barely-taller fighter locked his gaze on her, then gave a soft "Hn." of near-approval. Ki-Rokey smiled a wide grin and hopped back next to her teammates.

"It was kinda fun, fightin' you guys." she laughed, doing a back flip just for kicks. "We're gonna hafta do it again sometime, huh?"

Kin nodded in agreement, a gentle, silent one of defeat. Anbu closed her eyes a moment, then opened them again. "One more thing…"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you know…but the human part of my body is profoundly clairvoyant." Anbu sighed, thinking quietly. "In plain speech, I can see the future…bits of it, anyway."

She lifted her head, smiling at the Urameshi team. "I can already predict a hard battle for all of you…But I do see your journeys ending successfully…I truly believe that."

Yusuke grinned, and the group behind him seamed a bit lighter of heart. Kin glanced down at Anbu, who'd fallen silent, and looked back up at the others with a grin.

"This girl's been my partner for as long as I can remember, and never once have her predictions been wrong. A little off, maybe, but never wrong." he extended his hand to Yusuke. "Good luck, dude. We'll be cheering for ya."

Yusuke grinned, shaking his hand. "Thanks. Good luck yourself."

With that, the two teams parted ways, and the round officially ended.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

GS: *sopping wet* *blinks* That was…The weirdest trip I've ever been on…My whole swim team was hit on by a gay guy…

Midori: *shudder* That's creepy, Author-Lady…Get on with it already…

GS: Er…right. I'm kinda sorry I had to kill Sayona…I liked her. I liked Rai, too, but… that's how it goes, huh? This was a fun team, but now it's over… In the next chapter, we'll get to see how some of Team Koumajutsu fights, along with the introduction of their last…very interesting…member. You'll also get a glimse of Team Takitsubo, Urameshi's new opponent, and some inter-team developments.

How'd you guys like Misato's fighting style? I hope you enjoyed it! Make sure to review!

Ciao,

~GS