okay, new chappie! I'm excited! enjoy! uber-gomen nasai for the ridiculous wait!
Saru blinked her eyes, rolling over to look at Keiko's still sleeping face, and sighed sitting up and stretching. Under the door seeped the smell of a fox hard at work in the kitchen, it smelled almost as good as her mother's once did, or Hitomi's for that matter. With a groan, Saru forced herself up and to the bathroom, and feeling more awake she walked into the door since she was unaware that Keiko had locked it. Now, awake and grumpy, Saru entered the living area, only to find her suspicions were correct: Kurama was indeed cooking. She was amazed how a teen-aged boy (ideally) could wake up at... 07:48...
"You're up early, Saru-chan." Kurama's soft voice rang into her ears, dragging her back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, yeah ... so are you, Kurama-kun..." The dragonic girl yawned widely, sitting at the table, "I'm impressed you can get up this early..." Kurama merely chuckled, placing a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her.
She smiled happily, the smell bringing her to her sense more, as she ate the delicious food. "You should have a cook off against my brother, Kurama-kun. I know he'd like the challenge," Saru said, half done, and now fully awake.
"Maybe I will when this blows over." Kurama mused to the idea of challenging a human, all in the name of good sport. 'Let me out...' A voice from Kurama's past snarled into his head, making him collapse to his knees and clutched his head, muttering 'no' over and over.
"Kurama-kun?" Saru asked, getting up to tend to her friend, as Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, and Hiei entered the kitchen. Kurama stood just then, perfectly fine, and used an excuse of being tired from the battle, which worked to allude the concern of every one but Hiei. The fire demon glared at his friend, being the only one to know why Kurama collapsed like he did, and he had heard the voice as well.
--Stadium--
Saru yawned, bored of watching Kuwabara fight someone exactly like himself, and the demon was one of the most pathetic and primitive on the planet. A copy-cat demon, and of all the fighters, it had to be Kuwabara... Half the audience was asleep.
"Why milady, you're forced to watch such a boring fight?" Greg's voice came from her left, as Riley and Jake followed him.
"Unfortunately, and Kuwa-chan hasn't figured it out. Or he has, and isn't doing anything about it." Saru sighed, crossing her arms once more. "Is your team fighting today?"
"It is, but not for two rounds, I would love for you to watch it." Greg smiled handsomely.
"I would come, but I'll see what my team is doing first." The dragon shook her head, noticing that Hiei was leaning on the same post she was, but hidden out of sight, listening.
"Oh... Very well then, this is the room number we're staying at if you have any questions or so about this tournament." Greg smiled, bowing and handing Saru a business card. She looked over it curiously, before pocketing it, as they walked away when Hiei came into view. Riley growled slightly at his arrival, while Jake's eyes seemed to gleam.
"What the hell did they want?" Hiei asked, his face frozen in a glare, he seemed to not have noticed the business card.
"They invited me to watch their fight, it might not be a bad idea for all of us." Saru said.
"Only invited you; is what you mean." Hiei corrected her, and added, "Though is that wise to leave for team for that?"
"For what?" Saru asked; hating Hiei's smug and unreasonable tone right now.
"What else? Most were human," Hiei explained, "Which means they refer to-" SLAP
"HOW DARE YOU?! I'M HUMAN TOO," Saru yelled, glaring at the fire demon she just slapped across the left cheek. "IF YOU CARED AT ALL FOR ME AS NOT ONLY A TEAMMATE, BUT A FRIEND, YOU'D BE ABLE TO TRUST IN MY DECISIONS!" With that she stormed off to their locker room.
Her shout had woken the sleeping audience members, and distracted Kuwabara's opponent from blocking a kick that named the human teen the winner, as he then walked off the arena.
"Should I ask?" Kuwabara asked, fearing learning what made Saru angry more than his fight with a bloody-thirsty demon.
Kurama simply shook his head, as he then went up the the arena to fight.
--Elsewhere--
"SARU?!" Keiko called, running up and down streets looking for her friend. "Where did you go?!" No luck, the dragon couldn't be found anywhere, and she was too worried to notice she was being followed.
"Please answer me!" Keiko tried again, but the result was still nothing, and she had walked upon a rather dark alley. Three pairs of hands shot out of the alley, grabbing the brunette, and pulling her into the darkness.
"Look what we found," A dark voice mused, "A delicious looking human." He smirked, and got a few snickers of agreement, "What'd ya say boys? Shall we indulge a little while everyone's distracted by that tournament?"
Many sharp fangs grinned in response all moving closer, and the closest set to Keiko's skin--her mouth is covered making her unable to scream--gets kicked hard enough to break his jaw.
"What the-!" One asks but suffers the same fate, and a cracked rib or two as well.
"Insolent little bitch," The first voice snarls, swiping claws towards the assailant, only to receive a block and brutal knee thrusted into his stomach. Soon all hands and mouths are trying to attack this hero, and soon all fail miserably, retreating further into the darkness whimpering pathetically.
Keiko was sitting against a wall in fear and relief, someone had saved her, she couldn't tell who since it was dark but grateful nonetheless. "Thank you."
"That's what they get for trying to eat my friend."
"SARU-CHAN!?" Keiko gasped, Saru was her rescuer!? "Where have you been?!" She asked, getting up and hugging the girl tightly, "I've been so worried about you!"
"I was following you actually..." Saru said, slightly short of breath since Keiko was hugging too hard, "And it's a good thing I was too..."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Keiko said over and over, only stopping when Saru got fed up, "Yes, okay, okay... I get it, but can you stop hugging me? I can't breathe."
"Sorry!" Keiko said, letting go, but grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley. "Too scary in there." Which made the dragon chuckle, "Indeed..."
"Is it too much to ask what you and Hiei-kun were arguing about?" Keiko asked tentatively, but apologized when she saw Saru look at the ground with an unreadable expression.
"I hate that Hiei doesn't remember me... It's worse when I have his memories too," Saru said solemnly, which caught Keiko off guard, and the brunette didn't know what to say.
"I mean, he was my friend... And now... It's like I hardly know him anymore." Saru continued, "What should I do Keiko?"
That was a good question, Keiko didn't have the answer, but she tried anyway... "I know they say time is the best... But with Hiei, if it's something this important he'll get impatient." She said, giving Saru a hopeful smile, "And I know he can be reckless when it comes to things he cares about."
Saru looked up at her with a tiny smile, "Thanks Keiko..."
"You're very welcome," Keiko grinned, glad to get Saru smiling again, "Now I don't mean to be a nagger, but you should head back to the stadium... I imagine it might be you turn to fight soon."
Saru chuckled, "Yeah... Guess it would be, those demons that wanted to eat you were like a warm up fight. They were really barbaric too."
--Stadium--
"Please give us two more minutes," Yusuke begged the announcer, since everyone was waiting on Saru's account.
"Her fault for disappearing like that." Hiei huffed.
"Your fault for yelling at her," Kurama pointed out, making the fire demon huff once more.
"One minute. If she doesn't show, your team loses by default," The announcer said to Yusuke.
"No one has to lose," Saru's voice came loud and clear as she stood by the entrance to the hall that led back to Urameshi's locker room, and she walked forward to the arena. Yusuke and Kuwabara sighed with heavy relief, Kurama just smiled to see her presence once more, and Hiei... Didn't care.
"Ten-Count fighting match." The announcer explained once more, "One of you has to either be unconscious or unable to move for a count of ten."
Saru nodded as well as her opponent, a female water demon, and each posed off in a kick-boxing style thinking of their attacks. In blinking speed the water demon rushed forward, thrusting an elbow at Saru's neck, but the dragonic girl blocked throwing a knee into her gut.
She backed off, coughing slightly, "Not bad for a human."
"I'm more than a mere human," Saru said in return, smirking just as the demon was, and it was her turn to attack. Three quick steps, with matching punches and jabs, and Saru was close enough to get a critical hit. However, the demon blocked, and they separated once more. This continued for almost half an hour, just strength battling, and both were pretty tired as they were panting heavily. Light bruises and cuts were along their arms and legs, as the two girls seemed evenly matched.
"Come on Saru-chan! Beat her down!" Kuwabara shouted, becoming bored of this fight, though his fight was more pathetic.
"She can't hear you." Hiei said bluntly, "Neither of them can hear anything..."
True enough to the fire demon's words, both were concentrating too much to really notice anything but the fight.
Saru was in her own world of concentrations and techniques; how to beat this demon? Could she do it without calling upon her parents? At this point it was hard to say, they were evenly matched in strength and speed, but as a demon she was sure to have a few tricks up her sleeve.
Saru's suspicions were correct; when one of her punches landed, her hand got wet. The demon had made a clone of water to take the punch instead of her body, and used the brief moment of confusion to move behind Saru and aim a kick at her back. However, Saru caught on quicker then she'd like, and leapt over her head in a back flip, landing a few feet away from her.
On Saru's next kick, the demon pulled the same trick, except this time she made the water freeze on contact that prevented Saru from escaping. The dragonian girl was sent flying by another kick that landed square in her chest, and rolled to the side to avoid being stepped on when the demon rushed her. Swinging her legs around, she knocked the demon to the ground, and used that time to return to her feet.
Gaining distance by backflipping once more, Saru locked eyes with the demon, thinking, and began to form a plan. She didn't like relying on her parents' powers all the time when battling, and figured out a way to get the demon to attack herself. Not actually attack herself, but force the demon to wear herself thin.
Kicks, punches, water, and flips...All this happened for minutes on end, when finally the demon showed signs of faltering, which got the audience cheering and shouting. They had been watching, the fight wasn't something to be ignored, after all a human was even matched to a demon.
Saru smirked, as the demon was beginning to show signs of exhaustion, and used this opportunity to launch a planned attack of punches. She started by running directly at the demon, letting her block the first, and then with a speed to match demons she circled around and threw more punches.
The crowd began to roar with the fight, cheering Saru on, and finally she swept the demon's legs from under her and as she fell punched hard into her chest. The dust settled, as the demon showed no sign of movement, as Jess began counting... "Nine, Ten! The demon is down, Saru wins!"
Saru panted heavily as she left the arena floor, and headed back to her team, shaking her hand slightly. She preferred not using violence, but she didn't have a choice here, and her hand hurt slightly from all the punches she threw.
"That was awesome!" Kuwabara yelled astounded as he continued to ramble of Saru's fight. Everyone seemed to ignore him, but he didn't notice as he followed when they walked to the infirmary to have Saru's hands looked at. When everything was cleared up and set to action for the next round the group decided to stay and watch, Koenma and Botan even came to watch, and talk about the progress of the case as of yet.
"There's nothing we can see as suspicious Koenma-san," Kurama said politely. Yusuke and Kuwabara were watching the fight too much to have a decent conversation, Keiko had been talking to Saru and Botan, and Hiei... is being Hiei.
"That's too bad, but I have a hunch it might be the sponsor." The ruler, in teenager form, said in thought.
"The sponsor?" Kurama asked, giving a confused look, "Ah yes... Fighting demons to determine a winner so he could use them to overthrow the Earth, or something like that. We just need a way to find out for sure." He let it go that Koenma had told them this before, but he guessed the tiny ruler is under a lot of stress lately with this case.
"Yes, and security is extremely tight, for humans, as not one of my informants can get inside." Koenma sighed, "This is troublesome... I need results soon, so I can get the right authorities to apprehend him before it's too late for everyone." Kurama simply nodded grimly, and watched the fight with the others.
Saru was watching the audience, scanning it thoroughly, she felt really vulnerable for some reason... Someone's eyes were boring into her soul, and she didn't like it.
"Saru-chan, is something wrong?" Yusuke asked, sitting next to her.
"I'm not sure, there are too many minds to scan for one specifically, but I feel like I'm being watched," She said, giving Yusuke a worried look, even her voice was shaky.
"That's odd," Yusuke said seriously, "Normally people watch the fighting..."
"Yeah I know, that's why I'm scared," Saru admitted. Throughout the remaining fights for the day Saru kept feeling uncomfortable, and squirmed non stop from that paranoia.
Their next match was delcared victory by default since their opponents weren't even in regulations or approved by the officials, and so they went back to the Hotel. Koenma accompanied them, discussing with Yusuke and Kurama about how to get information from anybody. Saru was listening, as she played with the card that Greg had given her, and wondered if he knew anything. Of course she'd have to go without telling anyone, especially Hiei after his last display of lack of trust.
"Tomorrow... Since we don't fight until the afternoon," Saru mumbled to herself, and then sat down to eat another delicious meal made by Kurama.
And so, when the sun rose again from the sleep of night, Saru left early not disturbing any others, and hopefully to escape from Kurama's and Hiei's sharp minds. "Room two zero nine..." She read the card, "Strange the put the room numer on the card, oh well." She shrugged it off and descended a couple floors to room 209, and knocked softly.
When she got no reply she knocked harder, probably loud enough to wake the neighboring rooms, and still nothing! "Ingrates," She muttered and turned to leave, her eyes were locked to the side and at the ground so she didn't notice the person she ran into until she fell on her butt. "I'm sorry!"
"That's fine," Came a cheery, familiar voice, and Saru saw it was Jess. The sponsor's daughter smiled and held out a hand for Saru to stand up, and smiled more when Saru gripped lightly with her own smile.
Saru was surprised at the ease it took Jess to pull her to her feet, as a strange shiver ran down her back, because of her family history she has a keen intuition about people. Yet Jess seemed to make her shiver in the worst way.
"What are you doing about so early?" Jess' question brought Saru back to her senses as she let go of Jess' hand.
"Oh just wandering around," Saru lied, giving an uneasy smile, "And maybe looking for breakfast."
"Why didn't you say so!?" Jess grinned, and turned to leave, "Follow me!" She began to walk off, and Saru followed cautiously, not forgetting that chill from eariler. Then again, this was a mere human, so maybe it wasn't all bad?
Jess seemed to prove right when it comes to food, Saru could smell the pancakes, milk, and other breakfast foods waiting in the continental area. "Breakfast is free to all competitors," Jess explained as she gathered a plate of food, urging Saru to do the same.
The dragon did so, still watching Jess carefully, trying to figure out what was causing that chill, though her results were nill. Saru didn't like invading people's minds but on certain occasions she had no trouble with it, but she does respect the privacy of those around her.
"You should start eating Saru, or the bowl will start leaking," Jess poked fun at her, since Saru had simply stared at her the entire time, "Or is it because you're distracted by my beauty?" That woke Saru up, the girl shook her head, flustering her answer that made Jess laugh.
"It's not that!" Saru protested again, and childishly ate her cereal--mush at this point. But her mind picked up something about the way the human spoke that sentence, 'I'm imagining it right? The human's harmless...'
eeek i cant think of where to end the chappie, but i think there should be good, and i will update as soon as i can! please bear with me.