A/N - Once again, thank you to everyone who's fav'd and followed this story!

And a special thank you to Shadow Minamino for taking the time to comment!

Chapter 10

Fifth Member Decided

"How much do we know about this guy?" Yusuke asked as the three of them, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama made their weary way back down the flight of stair that lead from Genkai's temple back to the conventional world.

"He is a friend of a friend of a friend to Genkai," Kurama replied.

"Well that sounds promising," Yusuke said sarcastically.

"We believe that he can be trusted," Kurama replied. Of course Kurama didn't mention why he believed Minoru could be trusted. But if Yusuke assumed it was because Genkai knew and trusted him instead of that Hiei had vetted him through by possessing a teenaged boy, well Kurama hadn't lied. Yusuke continued to ask intermittent questions as they made their way to the train that would bring them back to Tokyo.

They had an appointment. Kurama had sent ahead. A letter, not a human messenger. He wanted to appear non-threatening, and showing up with a group of four fighters out of no where wasn't the best way to make friends.

It took little to no time to locate the small shop front that Hiei had described.

"This the place?" Yusuke asked.

"No. I'm sure Kurama just decided to stop for a 'stare pointedly at a random shop' break," came a voice from behind them. Yusuke tensed up and grimaced.

"You really need to stop doing that, Hiei," he said as he forced his muscles to relax again and turned to greet his teammate.

"Seriously, where do you even come from?" asked Kuwabara, just a ruffled as Yusuke.

"Glad you could join us," said Kurama before the three could devolve into an argument. "Shall we then?" he asked, nodding toward the shop. Yusuke nodded back and the four strode forward.

The door to the shop opened with the soft ring of a bell. The walls of the shop were lined with books, ranging from newly minted to weathered, old volumes. Despite the definite sense of age in the merchandise, the shop was well tended to and the shelves were spotless. The desk at the other end of the shop was empty.

"Hello?" Yusuke called into the silence. He closed the distance between him and the desk in a few short strides and hammered a few times on the service bell sitting beside the register. Kuwabara moved to followed Yusuke but Kurama stepped in front of him, holding him back. He didn't want them to look like they were advancing as a group. Hiei hung back automatically.

"Good afternoon," came a call from the backroom. The tone was calm, holding no sense of the urgency that one would expect that kind of hammering on the bell to illicit from a store manager. There was the scrape of wood on wood and a man emerged from the backroom. Dressed in a shirt of midnight blue with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and plain black pants, a man looking to be in his late 20s, early 30s emerged. His black hair hung down his back in a loose braid, the single thick lock of grey hanging forward into his sharp face.

"Yo. Yusuke Urameshi," Yusuke introduced himself without pause. Minoru bowed his head in greeting. "You Minoru?" he asked.

"Last I checked, yes," the man replied with a wry smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Urameshi."

Yusuke's chest puffed out a little, his grin widening. Being called 'Mr. Urameshi' while not being dragged toward the principal's office does wonders to the ego. There was the tilt of a smile to Minoru's lips and he had a generally pleasant air about him. Calm. Kinda like Kurama, Yusuke noticed.

"Nice to meet you too. These are my teammates. Kazuma Kuwabara, that's Kurama, and that guy's Hiei," Yusuke introduced them, nodding toward each person as he said their name. Minoru greeted each of them with a smile and a courteous nod. Kurama and Kuwabara returned his politeness. Hiei simply stared at him with his usual expression of mixed boredom with a touch of annoyance. Minoru regarded him for a moment, and tilted his head slightly.

"…Please excuse my rudeness, but have we met before?" he asked.

"No," Hiei replied shortly. Minoru let the confusion slide easily from his features.

"I see. Must be my imagination," he said, turning back toward the desk. "Please," Minoru continued, gesturing to the backroom. The four of them followed him behind the desk and through the open door.

"Please take a seat," Minoru said, gesturing to an assortment of cushions that sat on the floor, already set in place. Four cushions in a group with a single cushion facing them. The four did as they were told. There were already cups of green tea placed before each cushion.

Kurama could sense Yusuke making judgments. The calm, polite air about this man and the intellectual, almost spiritual construction of his shop wasn't exactly Yusuke's style. Minoru wasn't like Jin, or Chu- he wasn't someone Yusuke would connect to immediately.

"Pretty nice place you got here," Yusuke commented as Minoru settled in his own cushion.

"Thank you."

"I heard that you're a teacher."

"Of sorts."

"What kinda stuff you teach?"

"Control," Minoru replied. "Defense, martial arts, meditation, general tips on how to live a safe and healthy spiritually aware life."

Yusuke frowned. This guy sounded more like summer camp than tournament material. 'General tips' had been nowhere on the syllabus he'd studied under Genkai.

Eh, so the guy's not a 100-year-old psycho lady. Not everyone can be Genkai.

"You fight much?" Yusuke asked.

"Less than I used to."

No, Yusuke didn't really like this guy. What the hell is 'less that I used to' supposed to mean? He talks like Kurama, Hiei, and Koenma do when they want to be smart sounding dicks and not actually tell you anything.

"How much'd you used to fight?"

The man smiled. "If I said 'more than I do now', would you hit me?" he asked.

"I'd sure as hell consider it," Yusuke replied. The man laughed and the atmosphere lightened. Yusuke felt a grin prick his lips too.

"I worked as a fighter for about four years, and I fought out of necessity for many years before that. Since then I have kept myself well trained," he said.

"Mind if I test that out?" Yusuke asked.

"No, I do not mind. However first I would like to ask some questions of my own," Minoru replied.

"Shoot."

"Your letter said that you have had a proposition for me. You are clearly testing my fighting ability, and I will let you do that, but I would like to hear your proposition first."

"Alright then," Yusuke said, leaning back. "You heard of the Dark Tournament?"

"Yes," Minoru replied simply. His expression showed no sign of change, almost as if he'd already been expecting Yusuke to say something like that. But according to Kurama he the message hadn't said anything about the Dark Tournament.

"Ever considered competing?" Yusuke continued.

"I have considered it, yes."

"Well this is your lucky chance. See, we're down a member from last year. And word on the street is you're a pretty cool, powerful guy. So you're on the shortlist for the team."

"I see," Minoru said. "May I ask why you are competing?"

"Well, I had to compete last year cause some guy won the tournament, turned himself into a demon, and decided I was the source of all his problems. This year another five freaks'll get a one in a lifetime chance to get whatever they want, and I don't want to take the risk and hope that they're gonna wish for puppies to grow on trees and cereal that doesn't go soggy in milk. So I figure, hey, if I'm gonna get dragged into the fall out after the tournament, I might as well be involved from the start, you know?" he said.

"Also my boss told me to. Apparently it's part of my duty as spirit detective to not let demons start rampaging through the playground. Some jobs just have a way of taking over your life, you know? First they make you balance their banking off the clock, then before you know it you're in a ring surrounded by demons who wanna spill your guts on the ground and hang you from the roof. Damn entry level positions, am I right?"

Minoru smiled. "Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about," he said with a laugh that had a genuine ring to it. "So you are competing to avoid problems in the future?"

"Yup," Yusuke replied.

"And what will you wish for if you win?" he asked.

"Huh," Yusuke blinked and frowned, looking temporarily thoughtful. "Hadn't really thought about it, to be honest… I'll probably make some shit up on the spot. That cereal that doesn't go soggy in milk did sound pretty good… Maybe world peace if I'm in the mood." Yusuke shrugged.

"Freaking typical Urameshi," Kuwabara grumbled.

"And what of the rest of you?" Minoru asked turning his attention from Yusuke. "Why are you competing?"

"I'm competing because making sure that Yusuke doesn't fuck up and get us all killed is a man's duty!" Kuwabara proclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Fucking please, Kuwabara. Who did most of the fighting last year?"

"Most of the fighting?! What tournament did you compete in?!" Kuwabara yelled. "First you slept through almost all of the first round! Then you vanished for the entire fourth round! And who had to fill in for you? Huh?"

"I believe that was Genkai," Kurama offered softly from his perch to Kuwabara's right.

Kuwabara almost fell forward, before he whirled around. "Hey! No! That's not fair! I took on that Shishi guy, and Suzuki too!"

"Yes, and you lost both fights within five minutes of the start," Hiei said.

"Shut up! At least I was there!"

"And what about you?" Minoru asked, cutting politely in over the brewing argument. His eyes were fixed on Kurama. Kuwabara silenced himself to let Kurama speak. Kurama met Minoru's gaze.

"I have things within the Human World that I wish to protect," Kurama said simply. Minoru nodded.

"And you?" he asked, turning his attention to Hiei. The demon met his question with cold indifference.

"I am fighting because it is the most convenient thing to do." He didn't say anything more, but his tone clearly communicated the unspoken 'you'll be happier if you stop asking me questions'.

Minoru nodded, accepting this answer. He then turned back to Yusuke.

"Can I ask why I, of all people, was chosen for this?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. We had Kuwabara sit down with a Ouija board and the spirits gave us your name in a flurry feathers and shower of rainbows."

Minoru raised his eyebrows. Kurama rolled his eyes.

"We're talking to the strongest psychics we can find," Kurama replied.

"How did you hear of me?" Minoru asked.

"Word on the street," Kurama replied. "We had to use a special tool at our disposal to actually locate you however. I doubt most anyone else would have been able to find you."

Minoru hummed and nodded. Kurama was sure that he was processing these words. If Kurama's guess that Minoru was hiding from someone was correct, then he was not surprised that Minoru would want to know how he'd been located. Kurama did not want to tell Minoru about Hiei's jagan before he joined the team, but he did want to put Minoru at ease while talking to them. Kurama found Minoru interesting, and even if he didn't end up on their team, Kurama wanted to build more connections with him after the tournament. That wouldn't happen if Minoru decided he was in danger and fled the country.

If Kurama's words had reassured Minoru, Minoru didn't show it.

"Well then," Minoru continued in the same friendly tone. "I believe you wanted to test me?"

"Togai? Are you kidding? That dude was a fucking psycho!"

"Don't say that about him, Urameshi! He was a good guy. He had this good flow going on. You fought him! You must've felt it too. We clicked, you know?"

Over the next few days the team had run between towns, testing out a few other candidates that Hiei had found suitable from Koenma's list. In the end it had come down to four possibilities: Minoru. Togai, a ragged ex-mercenary. Kata, an exuberant, upcoming martial artist. And Shijo, an ex-monk who had outright declined their invitation five minutes into the interview, bringing it down to three.

Minoru and Togai were the stronger two fighters.

"Kuwabara, you hardly looked at the guy, you spent the whole interview playing with his cat."

"Anyone with a cat that happy must be doing something right!"

"Yeah, like growing catnip in his yard. Or weed. Does opium work on cats? Cause I swear, there was some creepy ass shit growing in his yard."

This was the first, and only if he had any say in the matter, group meeting that Hiei had attended. It was the day they made their final pick for their fifth team member. While the past four days of interviews hadn't been official team meetings, it still meant that Hiei had spent the past week in the constant company of Kuwabara and he suddenly remembered why he'd once plotted to enslave all of humanity. If only so that he could give them a hand weeding out the Kuwabaras from society.

The arguments were pretty vicious between the four of them- well, really between the three of them. Kurama managed to present his points calmly through the shouting, and when he couldn't he simply waited for the debate to simmer down. The arguments had gotten much lighter when Kurama had informed them that the vote didn't have to be strictly majority based.

"There are a couple of alternatives to the regular voting system that can work better," Kurama had stated.

"A normal vote runs the risk of the majority getting their top pick, while the minority absolutely despises the result. I would rather we choose someone who's not the top pick of the majority, but who everyone feels they can work with. There are a number of ways to do this, but I purpose that we are allowed to vote for as many candidates as we want."

"…Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of voting?" Yusuke had asked.

"No," Kurama replied. "If you vote for everyone, then you've canceled out your own vote and thus have abstained. Anything less than that and you're simply selecting all of the people that you'd be comfortable working with. The person who gets the most votes might not have been your top pick. They might not have gotten your vote if you could only vote once, but they're someone the majority could work with."

The group considered this and decided to go with it.

Now they were just finishing up the amount of time that they'd allotted to make their final cases for their preferred candidates before Kurama moved them to voting.

"Okay, so, yeah, he had his face in the dirt for, like, 80 percent of our fight. But that was Kuwabara two years ago, and just look at how far he's come! Kid's got potential-"

"-Time," Kurama cut in over Yusuke as he made his final argument in Kata's favor. "Debate is over. Let's move to voting."

He handed around slips of paper for everyone to write down their pick. The voting took less than a minute before the papers were back in Kurama's hands and he was tallying the votes. A minute later Kurama straightened up and read out the results.

Minoru: 4

Kata: 3

Togai: 1

"Well then, that should settle it. Are there any objections that anyone would like to raise?" Kurama asked the group at large. No one spoke up. "Then I'll send out a message to Minoru tomorrow." And with a definitive tap of the papers against the floor to straighten the stack, the subject of the fifth member was closed.