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Ch. 10:

We made our way to the stands just as Koenma made it to ringside. I groaned at the cheesy entrance he made.

I glanced to Shizuru who seemed to be frozen in place. Her stare was fixed directly on Sakyo. Oh dear. I felt bad for her, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I knew that well.

Damnit! Backburner, Kuri, backburner! I shook the thought from my mind and led the girls to our seats.

Karasu stepped forward for the first match, and so did Suichi for our side.

Juri announced, "The first match will be Karasu vs. Kurama. Begin!"

"Go Kurama!" Keiko and Botan shouted beside me. George the ogre took an extra seat beside us and started chanting my brother's name while wielding a club, much to the ire of the demon fans around us. I laughed despite myself.

The match began, and Suichi started with a technique I knew he seldom used. He manipulated a handful of ordinary rose petals to become as sharp as razors, and if his opponent came too close, the petals would turn to attack the intruder and tear them to shreds. It was a very beautiful technique and appropriate. Suichi needed to keep as much distance as possible from Karasu to prevent him from using his energy bombs.

Karasu suddenly flexed his hands, and the result shocked us all. The petals nearest to Karasu exploded with force until all the petals were obliterated. And he didn't even touch them! Now I was very worried. We had clearly underestimated him.

Karasu attacked again, this time using a bit of hand to hand, Suichi dodging his blows, but only just barely. When he attempted to use his rose whip, Karasu merely used a bomb to blow it up. Great, the whip was basically useless. Karasu went for another blow with his hand, which Suichi dodged, only to be hit in the arm and leg by one of Karasu's invisible bombs.

"No." I whispered. I couldn't stand to see him like this.

Karasu formed a bomb that we all could see. He ignited it with his energy and threw it at Suichi. It exploded with tremendous force right in front of him! Smoke and flames engulfed the stadium.

"Oh please, no!" I screamed loudly. I couldn't see any sign of him anywhere.

Suddenly the black smoke turned white and began to make a swirling pattern. Lightning cracked within the smoke, and I felt a huge surge of energy. It felt familiar, but it clearly had a demonic signature.

The smoke cleared, and I gasped. The figure standing in place of the brother I knew was a figure I has seen only in books. His name was a name I had only heard in stories.

My brother had become the legendary Yoko Kurama. His white robes and silver hair and tail flowed in the breeze. He was tall, and had sparkling gold eyes.

Okay, so maybe Yoko was my brother all the time too. The technicalities of the demon/human merger confused me somewhat. Yoko is Suichi, Suichi is Yoko, but I knew that his Yoko side had an entirely different personality and way of thinking.

Just thinking about it gave me a headache.

Apparently Yoko could see the energy bombs Karasu made, because the next two he sent after Yoko, he merely destroyed them with a pair of roses before they could make contact. Karasu sent some new bombs after Yoko called trace eyes that all of us could easily see, and Yoko dodged them with relative ease. Yoko stood still as the eyes approached, and a huge flesh-eating plant erupted from the ground under Yoko and destroyed them.

Yoko called the plant an Ojigi, and it attacks when it senses movement. Very smart.

Karasu dodged the plant heads, but certainly not with ease. He attempted to blow up a stalk of the plant with a bomb, but that only made the plant chase him more aggressively. Eventually the plant caught him, and every head on every stalk engulfed Karasu and appeared to squeeze him to death.

"Yeah that's my brother down there! What a way to end it!" I cheered. One down!

"I love my brother." Shizuru stated. "But it's nice to see someone not embarrass themselves for once."

Just as Juri was about to call the match, the heads of the plant exploded. Karasu reappeared without his mask, and I got a very bad feeling.

Karasu began to power up; his energy was building up inside of him. His hair turned from black to a brilliant golden blond. He rose into the air by the force of his own energy, and as he crashed back to the ring, the explosion was with so much force it blew apart the stands on the opposite side of where we were sitting!

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Koenma, and Hiei were blown into the wall of the stands by the force of the blast, but were otherwise unharmed.

But my brother was nowhere to be found. A feeling of dread washed over me.

My brother reappeared from under a pile of rubble seemingly no worse for wear, but he had turned back into his human form. He was substantially weakened, he couldn't even form his rose whip, and so he did something very uncharacteristic. He resorted to hand-to-hand combat.

Both fighters dodged each other's fists and kicks expertly. Suddenly Suichi went for another familiar attack. He charged a small amount of his energy and punched Karasu in the chest. I knew what he had done. Unfortunately, so did Karasu.

"You actually thought this would work?" Karasu taunted as he pulled the seed out of the mark in his chest. It was one of Suichi's death vine seeds. He proceeded to blow up the seed with his energy, and Suichi actually took a step back from his opponent.

As he stepped back, a steel like claw erupted from the ring and grabbed Suichi's leg. Attached to the claw was a bomb, which detonated.

The scream I heard was terrible. I have never heard my brother scream like that. I hid my head in my hands. I did not want to watch what might happen next.

Suddenly I heard Yusuke yell out. "Don't move Kurama, you're surrounded by bombs!"

I looked up to see my brother somehow on his feet, but his leg was a mangled mess. He was indeed surrounded by bombs. I faintly heard Karasu taunt him before flexing his energy yet again. The bombs began to hit him.

His screams were even worse than before. I hid my eyes again.

"Karasu is such a bastard, I wish he would just get it over with." Shizuru spoke up. I turned and threw her a very icy glare.

"Shizuru!" Botan spoke up angrily. "I never want to hear you speak like that again!" Botan threw her arms around me and held my shaking body close to her. "We can't lose another loved one to Toguro."

Suddenly I heard Suichi scream his loudest screams. I couldn't help it. I looked.

The last of the bombs surrounding him had hit. I read his energy levels. He was fading fast.

"BROTHER NO!" I screamed out, standing up. Botan and Keiko sobbed beside me. Yukina hid her eyes along with Shizuru.

The count had begun. I couldn't watch anymore. I sat back down with my head in my hands, crying softly.

At the count of seven, I heard Karasu charging up another bomb. I quickly looked up to see Suichi attempting to rise to his knees. Suddenly a very large plant erupted from Suichi's body to attack Karasu. The plant latched on to the cut on Karasu's chest and began to eat him alive.

I knew what had happened. As Suichi collapsed to the ground, his life began to fade yet again. He had given his life energy for that one last attack.

"No, please…" I whispered into my hands.

Suddenly the girls all stood to their feet, whooping and cheering. Botan attempted to pull me to my feet.

"Kuri! He's okay! I don't know how but he's okay!" Keiko shouted. I looked up to see Suichi getting to his feet, bloody, mangled, but definitely alive. I had no clue how it was possible, but it was. I began to laugh nervously in relief.

It was a victory to all of us, but apparently not according to the tournament committee. They ruled in favor of Karasu. A replay of the final seconds of Juri's count proved that my brother acted just after the ten count. But it didn't matter to us.

I heard the elder Toguro speak up. His voice was very irritating. "Even if you all survive your matches, I'll just wish for the death of you and all of your friends anyway."

I growled softly. If I had to continue hearing this creep's taunts I may just lose control of my power again.

Hiei stepped forward. "Do you know what I will wish for?" Everyone went silent; I think everyone may have been a bit nervous to know the answer to that. "The deaths of every member of that corrupt tournament committee."

I smiled and shook my head. I couldn't say I would disagree.

Bui began to step forward to the ring, and Hiei followed suit.

"Hey! I thought I had the big guy!" Kuwabara looked annoyed.

I saw Koenma give him a sidelong glance. "Would you want to be buried in that or something decent?" Kuwabara grabbed Koenma by his robes and shook him. I had to giggle at that.

Juri introduced the two fighters, and the match began. Bui summoned his huge battle-axe, and I had to agree with Koto. I think the axe was bigger than last time!

"Nice weapon, Bui, but I prefer my own." Hiei stripped off his black cloak. His right arm was wrapped in bandages almost to his shoulder and was covered in talismans and seals. Had he actually managed to fully control the dragon? It certainly seemed so.

Bui charged at Hiei with his axe and went for a hit, but I could only just see Hiei dodge at the last second. Bui's axe only hit the ring.

"Your aim is as broad as your axe, at least try to hit me." Hiei had a hint of a smile on his face. I laughed softly.

Bui tried a new tactic. He picked up the concrete blocks that made up the ring with his axe and threw them at Hiei, which he dodged with ease. Bui's reflexes were painfully slow in comparison.

"I know I'm a small target but this is ridiculous." Hiei taunted. It was a lot harder for him to conceal his smirk now. I laughed again. I could even dare say he may be having a bit of fun with this. Bui sent another block flying at Hiei, but he merely punched it, sending it flying into pieces. As Hiei was busy punching concrete blocks out of his way, Bui charged forward for another assault with his axe. Hiei was caught off guard and would not have been capable of dodging the blow. He caught his mistake in time, however, and charged up his fire energy in his fist. I recognized it as his fist of the mortal flame.

His flaming fist made contact with the axe. Instead of Hiei being sliced in half, the axe was incinerated. Bui just merely summoned another axe.

"You are foolish to think this axe will be any more effective than the last." Hiei glared in annoyance at Bui.

Bui threw his axe toward Hiei. He caught it in midair and incinerated this one too. It was pretty cool to see.

Bui started to remove his thick heavy armor. Hiei stood by and waited for him to finish.

"If you hit him while he's kneeling he can't fight back!" The ogre yelled out.

I turned to retort, but Botan beat me to it.

"Hiei is an honorable person and wouldn't do something so deceitful!" She said angrily.

"It's cheating!" cried Keiko.

"I suppose you would suggest handcuffs and chains too, huh ogre?" Shizuru muttered.

"Excuse me while I shrink away." The ogre said dejectedly. He went quiet.

Bui's armor was now removed, and he powered up. His energy was pretty awesome to see. His green aura shone like a beacon. Hiei flared his energy too, a dark purple aura that resembled flames. Hiei shot some of this fire at Bui, and for a moment it seemed that it had engulfed Bui, but he blew away the fire with his own aura. Bui charged an energy blast and sent it toward Hiei, which he had to dodge to avoid. The ball of energy followed him, however, so Hiei dodged behind Bui, then dodged again just before the energy blast hit, so that it hit Bui instead. The energy ball exploded like a bomb.

Bui emerged from the resulting crater unharmed and charged his energy again.

"My attacks are designed to be only just strong enough to take out my opponent, but it didn't even put a dent in me. Take that how you like." Bui taunted.

"So it takes a lot more than that to take you out?" Hiei smirked. "Here comes a lot more." He began to unravel the bandages from his right arm.

I got a distant look at his arm under the bandages. A tattoo of a black dragon spiraled down his entire arm, and the arm itself was emitting a strange energy. His aura had also changed from a dark purple to an inky black. It made me nervous to see it, even more so to feel it. And I began to fear for the safety of the girls beside me. I concentrated my own energy and I felt it crackle and spark around me. A bright blue-white light surrounded my hands. I lifted my hands in the air and brought them down in an arching motion. A light shield surrounded our section of the stands like a dome, just like I had practiced. This time, however, I discovered that it took little to no concentration to maintain it, even when I pushed some of my wind energy into it.

Shizuru started to shudder in dread. I knew why. The energy in this stadium was so dark and powerful that she could still feel it even through my shield.

Black flames erupted from Hiei's entire body. This dragon was much more powerful than from his first time using it. The entire stadium was now engulfed in its power and the ring crumbled under its force.

Hiei released the dragon from his arm. It barreled straight toward Bui. I had to admit, the dragon of the darkness flame had a kind of sinister beauty to it that wasn't hard to appreciate.

It seemed as though Bui should be incinerated on the spot, but his battle aura prevented that, however, the dragon still threw him into the air and propelled him all throughout the stadium. Weaker audience members were being instantly vaporized by the dragon's aura. A stray blast from the dragon headed straight for us, but as it hit my shield it vaporized even though my shield shook violently.

Finally, the dragon blew a hole in the side of the stadium and flew outside, still propelling Bui on its muzzle. Something had to give soon. Hiei jumped to the top of the stadium for a better view of the impending carnage.

Much to our shock, Bui actually managed to turn the dragon away from him and directed it right at Hiei!

"HIEI! MOVE!" I screamed before realizing there was no way he could have heard me.

He was caught off guard. He did not expect his dragon to be deflected. Before he could dodge, the dragon hit him head on.

"NO!" I screamed. This couldn't be happening. I had no idea what could be done. Nothing could be done for him now. He was clearly gone. It seemed like time came to a screeching halt and there was still no sign of him. There was so much that I had wanted to say to him, but now I couldn't. How much of this could I take?

Just as Juri was about to call the match, a portal of flames appeared behind Bui, and Hiei appeared, looking perfectly unharmed. I sighed in relief and took some deep breaths to calm down. He seemed to glow with a soft white aura, and the dragon tattoo on his arm was gone.

I realized what happened, and I could hardly believe it. It wasn't enough of a shock that he could actually pull off using the dragon without getting himself killed in the process, but now he had contained the dragon's power within himself.

He was now the Master of the Darkness Flame. He was now the dragon itself.

Bui charged again, attempting hand-to-hand combat. But punching and kicking Hiei was just as effective now as beating up a brick wall. He was completely unharmed and unaffected. His body barely shuddered with the impacts.

Bui was clearly getting frustrated, so he threw Hiei about fifty feet in the air, followed, and threw him back to the ring. Hiei hit the ground with such force his body formed a crater, but still, Hiei was unharmed. The dragon's power had made him pretty much invincible.

Bui went for another hit, but Hiei easily stopped his fist with his hand. Bui tried with all his strength, but could not take a step forward. Hiei then proceeded to drain every bit of Bui's aura. With his other hand, Hiei formed an energy ball using the dragon's power, which blew Bui up in the air and into the stands. After all of that, Hiei did not go for a killing blow.

Bui was counted out with a ten count, and Hiei was declared the winner.

"Yes! Tied one to one!" I cheered.

After an official announcement that we would be taking a long intermission while a replacement ring was brought in, me, Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, and George made our way to ringside.

"I'm going to require some hibernation to get my energy back, can you fools find a safe place for my body?" Hiei muttered to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Uh…." Kuwabara looked confused.

"If I wake up and we have lost I swear ill….kill….you all…" Hiei passed out asleep. I grinned. How dangerous he seemed when he was awake, yet he was actually kind of cute and innocent looking when asleep.

Yusuke laughed. "He faints but still has time for a threat."

Kuwabara laughed along with Yusuke. "Can I give him a mustache?" He said, holding up a marker.

"No, unless you actually want him to use the dragon on you." I said as I walked by them, snatching the marker out of Kuwabara's hand as I made my way to Suichi.

"You gotta hand it to Hiei. When he's feeling serious, he lets you know." Yusuke commented, looking at all the destruction Hiei had caused.

I stood calmly in front of Suichi, expressionless. Suichi looked slightly confused.

"DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" I yelled before gently hugging him, mindful of his injuries.

"I'm glad you're okay." I whispered.

"Me too, sister, me too." He said gently.

I heard a sinister laugh from right next to me. I whirled around to see the elder Toguro.

"This is only a momentary reprieve from death, Kuwabara." He taunted. His eyes glimmered maliciously. "Enjoy your last few hours in the living." He continued to laugh as me made his way back to his own side. What a creep!

"Well, lets go back to the locker room." Koenma spoke up, breaking the tension. "We can let Hiei sleep there."

Kuwabara bent over and picked Hiei up off the ground and we all made our way back to the locker room to wait.