Crossing Oceans

Chapter Nine: Burn

(Next Day)

Aria grabbed the bandages on both sides of his arms as he began to re-bandage. She stood behind him, brought the ends of the warp above his head and tugged ever so lightly. "Hey, you can be like a puppet with these bandages," Aria said playfully.

"If you value your life I would cease what you are…"

He stopped speaking when his hand suddenly flew in his face. While he was distracted talking Aria pulled hard with her right and snickered with amusement when he smacked himself. "Will you stop hitting yourself?" Aria let go of his bandages and sat down next to him, hugging her knees to her chest with her arms encircling them. "So when do we start training?"

Hiei finished bandaging his right arm and began finishing his left. "After our first match." His voice still held a hint of annoyance.

Aria jutted her bottom lip out. "What? But I wanted to start as soon as possible!"

"Quit your whining," Hiei sneered. "The dragon will surely devour you with your insolence."

Aria snorted. "Doubt that." When he didn't say anything more she stood up and stretched.

"Aria?" A familiar voice slightly yelled from a distance.

Aria turned toward the voice and waved with Hiei completely ignoring. "Over here, Kujou!" She ran over to him and jumped with glee. Hiei couldn't hear their banter but didn't care less. He finished up his left arm and stood up. Aria was waving her goodbyes to him as she walked off with Kujou, he just glared at her. She then flipped him off giving him a goofy grin. He gritted his teeth and looked away. He looked back in her general direction but she was already gone, but he could still hear her laughter as she walked with Kujou. And just like that, he leaped up into a near by tree.

Aria walked slowly with Kujou not daring to look at him. Every time she was with him he always brought butterflies to her stomach. "Um, Kujou…" But before she could finish her sentence she was suddenly pinned to the tree, both of her hands above her head and hot, tasty lips against hers. His one free arm went around her waist bringing her body close to his.

Aria had to admit that Kujou was an excellent kisser, even when she sometimes wished he would be fiercer with his kissing. His kisses may be hot and heavy, but not as lustful as she wanted.

He was the first to break off the kiss trailing light, delicate kisses down to her collar bone. "Kujou," She whispered, her hot breath hitting his ear. He let her hands go and she instantly brought one to the back of his head pushing him closer, the other on his chest grabbing his shirt into her fist. His lips were back to hers as he kissed her passionately. This time when he broke away he stood there, lips only an inch away, his eyes boring into hers.

"We should get back to the apartment," His voice was heavy.

Aria shook her head, her voice mimicking his. "Please stay, you can't just do that and leave me hanging."

"Believe me, if I could resist I would."

He stepped away, his hands lingering on her sides before he reluctantly took them away.

She glared at him playfully, then she said equally so, "You're a bastard."

He smiled. "I know." He was the first to walk away and Aria watched him lead the way.

She suddenly felt the urge to turn around and look up. She did so and to her horror Hiei was in the treeing making no effort hiding himself as he stared down at her, a smirk gracing his lips. She glared up at him then turned around and ran after Kujou.

That was going to complicate things. She hoped he wouldn't use that against her to get the information he wanted.

On their way to the match Yusuke gave Aria another lecture on how she needed to pay attention to her opponent and not to let him get the better of her. Of course, he was going to try with all his might to not let her fight today. He hoped she wouldn't have to fight at all but he knew he was only fooling himself.

They waited behind a giant door that would lead them to the arena. Hiei was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. Kurama waited patiently with his arms tucked behind his back, Kujou was also leaning against the wall, his foot slightly tapping as he waited anxiously for the door to open, and Yusuke and Aria waited closest to the door, both arms crossed but neither one of them knew that they were in the same pose.

"Damn it. When are they going to get this thing going already?" Aria was getting frustrated. She hated waiting.

"Be patient, it will open once everyone is seated." Yusuke was also anxious, but not for the same reasons Aria was.

Finally the door opened. Once fully opened Aria ran out halfway to the stage and spun around, taking in the scenery. Demons of all shapes and colors sat throughout the seats roaring at team Urameshi. Some sounded pleased, others showed disapproval. There would always be haters no matter where they went.

Aria turned her attention to the stadium. The thing was massive, a lot bigger than what her father had described. They probably made the arena larger knowing what happened last time when they ran out of arena space.

In the middle of the circular stage was the fox demon Koto. She had a mick in her hand and she didn't hesitate to use it. "Hello Everyone!" her annoying excited voice rang through the air. "How is everyone doing on this glorious day? Hopefully everyone came prepared for some gruesome battles in this years, or should I say many years later, Dark Tournament! Remember, locate to the nearest bathroom if you feel queasy, it'll make the night cleanup crew's job a lot easier."

Aria snorted. "Doubt it's going to be that gruesome."

Yusuke was right next to her. "You have no idea."

Koto went on and on about nonsense, making the crowd grow excited about the upcoming battles. Finally, she decided to start the match up. "To my left is the last Dark Tournament victors Team Urameshi!" Demons cheered and roared at them. Aria couldn't help but raise her hand and wave. "And to my right is Team Uramogo!" Casual looking demons strolled out into the arena with cocky smiles. Aria couldn't help but produce her own. These guys don't look like anything serious. They wore casual fighting close, most had a human body with added horns on top and only one actually looked like a true demon with green skin and four eyes. "Will the team captains please come to the stage!"

Yusuke walked up and jumped onto the stage. Another guys with horns, green shaggy hair, and blue eyes stepped onto the stage. Both Yusuke and the other team captain stared each other down. "As everyone knows," Koto began, her excitement never faltering. "The team captains gets to decide how the matches will follow! So, what will it be boys?"

The other team leader spoke first. "How about a one on one match, first person to get to three wins."

Yusuke nodded. "No problems here."

They both walked away without another word. Koto declared the terms of the matches and called up the first two contestants. Without hesitation the first of the other team member jumped up onto stage. He had blond hair and green eyes. He almost looked human if it wasn't for the fact that he had horns on his head and was extremely tall.

He pointed his finger at Hiei. "You. I want to fight you first. We'll see who the real fire demon is around here." And just like that flames flicked around his body confirming his fire demon origin. Hiei smiled wickedly and took a step forward excepting his offer but before he could make another a body flew through the air and landed in the arena on its feet.

Aria smiled triumphantly at the demon before her. He frowned at her. "I didn't ask for you, hun."

Aria continued her smile. "Well, you got me nonetheless. Look," she said coaxing him in. "Why don't you show off your powers to me, making Hiei's arrogant smile wash off his little face by showing how much stronger you are. Kick my ass, burn me, kill me, whatever. This will be practice for you." Aria wasn't one to belittle herself, but she truthfully didn't care what the other demon thought of her.

He smiled. "A warm up, huh? That's fine with me, just don't blame me when I kill you. You brought this upon yourself."

Aria nodded, taking her fighting stance. "Noted." Yusuke was yelling at his daughter but she ignored him.

"The first match has been decided." Koto beamed over the microphone. "Aria Urameshi versus Toshio." The stands began to murmur as the demons looked from Yusuke and Aria.

"Well, isn't this interesting. The great Yusuke Urameshi had a little squirt. Hopefully he won't try to kill me when I take your head off."

Aria just smiled ignoring her father's protest behind her. It was foolish for her to jump in without knowing her opponent. He even asked her to at least stay back a couple of rounds while she assessed them, but this was an opportunity she couldn't resist. She wanted to show Hiei that she could handle the training she wanted to go through. That and she wanted to kick someone's ass to show everyone how tough she actually was.

"Let the fight begin!" Koto yelled and ran off to the edge of the arena.

Right when Koto yelled Toshio came forward, his hands burned in an orange flame. Yusuke yelled for his daughter to move but she stood there. Toshio punched her, her whole body engulfed into flames and she went flying back into the wall making in crumble around her, clouds of smoke flying everywhere. He stood straight with a triumphant smile. He looked back over at Yusuke and Hiei, both looking in the direction of Aria. "Well, that was easier than I thought. Being Yusuke's daughter I thought she at least would have had thirty seconds before she turned into ash."

Yusuke ran over to the rubble; Koto began her countdown. "Aria!" He yelled. Then, a rock flew from the rubble of smoke hitting Toshio in the head. He turned around and glared. A figure emerged from the smoke and landed back onto the Arena.

"Well," Aria said dusting off her shoulder. Her shirt that her mother gave her was burnt to hardly anything, but her skin was left without even a scratch. She ripped the rest of her shirt off and threw it to the side. "That was amusing." Thankfully, her sports bra was made of stronger material.

Toshio smiled. "I was wrong about you, little Urameshi, looks like you may last a minute." His eye twitched, Aria knew he wanted to know how she survived such an attack.

She laughed. "Yeah, maybe for you. Your petty little fire attacks won't singe me. I put my body through worse over the last couple of years."

Yusuke looked at her dumbfounded. "How the hell… what does she mean over the last few years? I never even seen her near a bomb fire!"

"It seems, detective," old habits die hard. Even though he didn't work for the spirit world anymore he still called Urameshi detective. "She's been keeping secrets from you."

Yusuke glared at Hiei then back at Aria. "Well, hopefully that's the only secret she's been keeping from me."

"Doubt it."

Aria went back into her fighting stance. "Now why don't you actually try this time? I'm starting to grow bored."

Toshio sneered and spat a wad of spit to his side. "Looks like you can withstand normal fire." He brought his hand up and smiled. "But can you handle the darkness flame?"

Hiei glared but didn't say anything. He highly doubted he mastered the Darkness Flame…

Aria grinned away. "Don't you ever get tired of talking?"

Toshio smirked and then his face contorted as he concentrated on his fist. A blue flame appeared on his hand, then it started to grow darker and darker. "Fist of The Mortal Flame." He proclaimed. His fade slightly sweating.

"Hiei can conjure that without any effort at all. What makes you think you can beat him?"

He didn't say anything but charged at her again. This time Aria didn't allow him to hit her so easily. He took wild swings and she dodged them with ease. She had to admit to herself, she was excited that someone else could wield the mortal flame. Even though it wasn't as strong as the Darkness Flame, it was still something that a normal demon shouldn't be messing with.

When the opportunity presented itself she hit him square in the jaw and then one in the stomach. He lurched forward, his one hand that wasn't consumed by the mortal flame flew to his stomach by instinct. Her knee made contact with his face making him fly backwards onto his back. Aria smiled down at him, her arrogance showing.

"Seriously? Hiei is stronger than me, for now, and you can't even stand up to me?"

Suddenly, he began to laugh. He sat up with his hand on his face where she kneed him. He continued to laugh until he was standing upright. "You are such a fool." Aria didn't like being called a fool.

"You're one to talk."

He continued to laugh, he could hardly speak. "You see, little Urameshi, in order for me to conjure The Darkness Flame I have to get angry, real angry. And nowadays, the only way I can get angry is if some arrogant bastard, or in your case bitch, thinks they have any chance against me. Those people really piss me off. When I get hit and thrown to the ground, my anger grows."

Aria didn't feel threatened in the least bit. "I'm pretty sure you're full of shit." Could he possibly conjure the darkness flame? She grew even more excited.

"Aria! Don't push him! You don't know what he can do." Yusuke tried to get through to his daughter but it fell to deaf ears. It was one of her weaknesses. When she grows excited for a battle everything around her disappeared, the only thing that mattered to her was the battle itself. All her logic was set aside. Yusuke couldn't help but grind his teeth. It was a bad idea to bring her along. He thought she could learn a thing or two about how a real fighter fights. Damn. If he only dragged her off the arena before the fight was announced.

He readied himself to spring into the arena. He didn't care if they were disqualified. His daughter meant everything to him. If she died… all hell would break loose.

"Hiei," Yusuke looked over at his companion. He was now almost as tall as him. "Do you think he can conjure it?"

"Possibly."

"If things go haywire, can you stop it from reaching her?"

Hiei smiled. "You shouldn't have to question me, detective."

Toshio smile widened. His eyes almost bulging from his skull. "You asked for it!" His body began to tremble. The arena suddenly grew dark as clouds began to form around the island. His spirit energy was growing, swirling around him in a vortex. Aria watched him intently. She could stop him now, attack him while his guard was down, but why would she do such a thing. Now was her chance to prove to Hiei that she could handle the art of The Darkness flame.

He began to laugh hysterically. "Here it comes!" He cried. "I can feel its desire to consume flesh… your flesh." He tried to scare her but she didn't seemed fazed.

The ground around them began to shake; dark energy burst through the warth. Aria watched with amazement. She could feel the power of The Darkness Flame, something she hungered to control herself.

Toshio brought his hand back and smiled. "It's here." He thrust it forward and out came the Dragon. It didn't directly go for Aria but went off to the side. Its flames searing the demons in the stands, leaving nothing behind. He was having a hard time controlling it. "I'll kill you all!" he laughed. Then suddenly his face contorted into one of pain. The flame engulfed his arm and he started to scream falling to his knees. His screaming was soon washed away when the flame took his entire body making it collapse into itself, disappearing.

The dragon ran rampant, consuming everything in its path.

"Hiei!" Yusuke yelled as he looked at him. Hiei was already making his way towards the next spot the dragon was heading to. He brought his arm forward but the dragon had a different plan. It turned away from him and headed back toward the arena. Yusuke watched the dragon closing in on the arena. He turned his attention to Aria who was still standing in the middle. The dragon was making its way towards her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yusuke yelled as he ran toward his daughter. But he wasn't quick enough, the dragon mere inches away from her.

And she didn something that made Yusuke's heart plummet from his chest.

She ran toward the dragon, brought her arms forward and caught it by its mouth. Yusuke waited for his daughter, his life, to end, to burst into flames – but that didn't happen. She was… she was fending off the dragon, stopping in dead in its tracks.

The dragon pushed against her hands and she gritted her teeth trying to concentrate her spirit energy into her palms so The Darkness Flame didn't burn her. She had to end this now and only one solution came to mind.

She had to smother the flame with her own spiritual energy.

She gathered her energy, feeling it bubble up into the pit of her stomach. She gathered it all, every last bit. She couldn't mess up. She knew if she even held back a fraction of her power, she would be consumed like the idiot Toshio. Once she was satisfied she smiled up at the dragon, releasing her energy blinding everyone around her with a bright blue light.

The light slowly dissipated. Once gone, Yusuke opened his eyes frantically looking around. Aria was still in her spot panting, but she was on her knees. Her entire right arm and her left hand was burnt, almost black. But nonetheless, she noticed him looking at her and grinned her stupid grin she loved to show.

He gritted his teeth and jumped up onto the remaining arena and marched over to her.

"Are you a fucking idiot!?" he yelled. She stood up, wincing as she did so and gave a sheepish grin. Yusuke continued to yell and she stood there listening to him. They didn't hear the announcement that Aria won and Team Urameshi was the winner since the rest of the team was demolished by Toshio's attack.

Kujou watched with amusement at the two arguing. He was too occupied to hear what Kurama and Hiei were discussing.

"Look at her arm and left hand. It's worse from when you first used The Darkness Flame technique." Kurama's serious face studied Aria. "I'm surprised she's keeping it together for her father."

"Yusuke is blind. He can't see in her eyes the amount of pain she is in. She's hiding it so Yusuke doesn't have to worry about her. She's a fool."

Aria nodded her head. That's all she could do. If she did anything else she knew she would cry out in pain.

This was the worst pain she ever felt in her entire life, and for her father's sake she didn't dare show it. She… she was in so much pain… so much…

Hiei watched her try to keep her cool. "You admire her," Kurama stated, it wasn't a question.

"The only thing I admire is her pain tolerance. Other than that, she's a fool that's most likely going to get herself killed." He studied her. Her whole left arm was completely burned. He could see the dark energy rippling through her skin. The Darkness flame burn isn't like a normal burn. It was far worse and didn't heal on its own. He had to fully master the technique in order for the burn to recede. If she didn't she would have to live with the pain for the rest of her life. If she didn't end it herself.

Of course, he could always take the pain from her. Drain the dark energy away so her arm and hand was completely healed.

Or maybe he could use that against her to get what he wants.

He liked the second option a lot better.

(Author's note: I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry that this chapter took forever. I suddenly lost my mojo in this story… but now… I quit my job… and I started to read romance novels again like the bloodline series from Michelle Mead… and now I'm getting back to this story because of the romance. I have a lot of time on my hands so you will be seeing more updates. I'm falling back in love with this story once again. Please don't hate and review! I love reviews, they always inspire me to write more.

Erikia Hearken – Sorry for the late update. Hopefully you're still with me!

Nani San – Hopefully this chapter answered your question, lol.

Jenn – Thank you so much! I'm trying!

xxRebelxxYell – Thank you so much for your comment/review. I've been reading your review over and over again and it made be push forward with this chapter. I'm glad I kept everyone in character, especially Hiei. He's not much of a chatter box and only speaks when something needs to be said… or to insult, so it make me glad to know he's in character and Hiei like. Hope to see another review from you again.

Kisa19 – thank you so much!

Izzymay31 – I tried updating sooner but my stupid ass job got in the way, but now I'm free. I'm sorry for the wait. It makes me happy that you love it, :).

Lestatsgirl15 – thank you for following me. Hopefully my long wait didn't make you forget about my story… or for anyone else who is reading this.

Review!)