A/N:

Here is the next chapter to the story everyone! I hope you like it! Let me know what you guys think of it! Thank you for all the support I've receive so far! I greatly appreciate it!

Chapter 10: Ruler of the Spirit Realm

I stood at the base of a tree in the clearing where my encounter with Toguro took place while glaring down at my extremely bruised and bleeding hands. Rain was falling from the sky, and I was completely drenched. After a few moments, a yell of frustration came from my lips as I pulled my right fist back. I punched the tree over and over again like I had been before to vent out my anger.

Two weeks have gone by since the night I was forced to accept my invitation to the Dark Tournament. Every day that passed I became more irritable. At this point I was beyond frustrated. I was mad, hysterical, extremely worried and afraid. I've tried to figure out a way to use my powers but so far nothing has worked. Despite that fact, I've continued to try over and over again to see if they will somehow emerge. That's why my hands were in such bad condition.

The next day I went to school with the usual scowl on my face but it was a lot more pronounced because of the situation. Minamino was sitting in his seat next to me for the first time in two weeks. I was pretty sure he had been training for the Dark Tournament which was something that I was supposed to be doing. Instead, I was wasting my time going to school because I knew if I didn't I would be forced to deal with my mother again.

"Good morning, (Name)-san." he said as he greeted me with a small smile.

I nodded my head and then sat down at my desk.

"I'm surprised you're here." I said while looking out the window.

Hiei or the idiot as I had dubbed him in my head was sitting in a tree which wasn't that far away from our classroom window. His eyes were closed, and he had his hands behind his head looking as if he had no cares in the world. His attitude only seemed to irritate me even more.

"Why is he here?" I asked annoyed.

"Do you mind if we talk after school?" Minamino asked.

I looked over at him for a few moments in thought and then sighed.

"Fine."

If he had something to talk to me about it must be important. I'm fairly certain that he wouldn't be here today if it wasn't. He was in the same position as I was. None of us had time to waste doing nothing. All of us had to become stronger.

All day my thoughts were consumed by the fact that I didn't have control of my powers. However, even though Minamino and the idiot were here I wasn't going to ask for help. I especially wasn't going to ask the idiot. My pride wouldn't allow it. I couldn't even ask Minamino for help now that I had said I didn't need it, not that I would have anyway. I'm not the type of person to ask for it.

After school I followed Minamino up the stairs to the roof of the building where I was greeted by the sight of the idiot. He turned around with his hands in his pockets and Minamino walked over to him while I kept a little distance between them and me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

Minamino and the idiot looked over at me.

"Koenma said he wanted to meet you." Minamino said.

"Who?" I asked with a perplexed expression on my face.

"The ruler of the Spirit Realm."

"And what exactly is the Spirit Realm?" I asked wearily.

"It's where the dead go for judgment before they pass on."

"How am I going to meet him? I'm not dead."

"There are ways for you to go there even if you're alive."

I gave him an incredulous look as I nodded my head.

I'm sure I would think he was just trying to pull my leg if I wouldn't have seen the Demon Realm with my very own eyes. Also, meeting Yukina and the Toguro brothers and knowing who Minamino was gave me enough reason to believe him. He wasn't the type of person to try to get on my bad side.

"Why does this guy want to meet me? I have nothing to do with the Spirit Realm as far as I know."

"He wants to talk to you about the Dark Tournament."

"What is there to talk about? I'm in it and that's all there is to it." I said with a frown.

"You're still going to put up a useless brave front?" the idiot asked bluntly.

I looked over at him with an annoyed expression on my face.

"He wants to talk to you about your training." Minamino said before I could come up with a response.

"What about it? I'm doing just fine on my own." I said evenly as I lied to both of them.

The idiot let out a scoff and I looked over at him annoyed again.

"If you have something to say then say it, you bastard!" I shouted.

"You haven't figured out a way to train yourself. You're just as weak as you were before." he said bluntly.

"I'm weak?! Who was it that was thrown into a tree?! At least I managed to punch him!" I shouted at him.

That response made him look at me extremely annoyed and just as he opened his mouth to say something Minamino stepped in.

"Stop Hiei, if you provoke her there's no way she'll agree to come with us."

"Why should I come with?! I'm perfectly fine on my own!" I shouted angrily.

I turned around and made my way towards the door to the building with an extremely annoyed look on my face.

"Wait!" Minamino called out to me.

"No. I'm leaving. There's nothing more to say to either of you. As that idiot so kindly pointed out, I have to figure out how to use my powers. I don't have time to spare on anything else." I said with annoyance clearly written in my voice.

"You really are stubborn. You're going to be killed if you don't let us help you." Minamino said as he tried to reason with me.

I opened the door and spoke.

"It's more of the fact I have too much pride. You know as well as I do that I never ask for help. I especially don't want to ask the idiot standing next to you for it."

"Please (Name)-san, think about it. I don't want to watch you die and I'm sure that if Yukina-san were here she would be pleading for you to accept our help." he said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

I stopped myself from walking through the door due to his words and a memory of Yukina crying filled my mind.

I knew he was right. She would plead with me to ask them for help and I'm sure she would have tears in her eyes. I didn't want to see her cry again.

"You just had to bring up Yukina didn't you?" I whispered with a sigh as my shoulders slumped a little.

"Please accept our offer to help you."

I silently turned around to look at him and the idiot. Minamino was staring at me with a hint of desperation on his face while the idiot was silently observing me with a neutral expression. Another sigh escaped my lips, and I spoke begrudgingly.

"Fine, I'll accept your offer. I don't have much of a choice. Nothing I've tried seems to work and quite frankly it's starting to piss me off."

"Will you also meet Koenma?" he asked with relief in his voice.

"I suppose I can. It's not like I have anything better to do right now anyway." I said as I nodded my head.

After that the three of us walked through the door to get inside of the building. As we walked through the school hallways and into the classroom, quite a few girls looked at the idiot and Minamino with blushes on their faces.

It was normal for them to look at Minamino like that. Even I thought he was handsome. However, I didn't understand why they were also looking at the idiot that way. It just showed how superficial they were. He may be somewhat attractive but if they knew his personality they wouldn't go near the bastard. The fact that Yusuke, Kazuma, and Minamino stick around him is amazing considering how he only seems to be able to irritate me. But, I also knew that if Yusuke was able to trust him he must have some sort of redeeming quality I didn't know about. He also seemed to have some sort of soft side considering the way he treated Yukina.

When the girls in my class didn't think I was looking, a few of them also glared at me in jealousy and extreme dislike.

The rumors about me were still going strong. I was fairly certain they thought I was going to try to sleep with them much to my annoyance. Everyone still thought I had been involved with someone dangerous and that was why I went missing for so long.

"Um..." I heard a girl say behind us just as we were about to head back into the hallway.

We stopped and turned around to look at her. There were quite a few other girls behind her as they openly glared at me.

"Minamino-san?" the same girl asked.

"What is it Watanabe-san?" Minamino asked with a small smile.

"I... We don't think you should go with her. She'll only use you like she has so many others. You'll have your heart broken by her."

My right eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she decided to look over at the idiot.

"You too, she's up to no good."

"What are you talking about?" the idiot asked.

"She's the type of person who sleeps with others for fun and gets involved with extremely dangerous people."

"I can assure you that the reason we're leaving together has nothing to do with the rumors you've heard. All those rumors are baseless." Minamino said.

"But..."

A scoff came from my lips before I turned around and began to walk away.

"Let's go. There's no point in talking to them. They'll believe whatever they want to."

When we made it to the school gate, the two boys walked in front of me and led me to an abandoned building in the middle of the city. I followed them down into the basement and my eyes widened in surprise when Minamino opened a hidden door that was in the floor. I found myself walking over to the edge of the floor to see if I could get a better look at the secret area below. Unfortunately, all I could see was fog.

"What is this?" I asked with surprise in my voice.

"This will lead us directly to the Spirit Realm where Koenma resides." Minamino explained.

An incredulous expression appeared on my face and I looked over at him skeptically.

"How? You told me the Spirit Realm was where dead people go. How can there be a door in this place to get to it?"

"There are doors everywhere that lead to it if you know where to look."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

I heard the idiot scoff behind us before he spoke.

"We don't have time for this."

When I tried to turn around to look at him, I was shoved from behind and my eyes widened in surprise as I fell through the hole. A sound of alarm came from my lips when I realized I was falling from the sky.

"Hiei?!" I heard Minamino shout in surprise and disbelief.

That bastard shoved me!

I turned my body around to face them and looked up at the idiot as my hair flew forward.

"You son of a bitch! I'll kick your ass!" I shouted up at him with anger in my voice.

They jumped through the door and followed after me while I glared at the idiot who simply ignored me. I turned my body around once again and looked down at the area that was far below us as my hair flew back.

Beneath us was an area at the very top of a large mountain range. At its center was a massive castle that had a long, winding, stone pathway leading up to it. I couldn't see anything beyond that because of the fog covering up the area a little ways underneath the tops of the mountains and just below the pathway.

Minamino and the idiot didn't seem like they were worried about the fact we were quickly approaching the stone pathway that was directly below us. I, on the other hand, was extremely worried about it. I tried telling myself that I'd be fine considering how they were acting but I couldn't actually convince myself it was true. My heart raced inside of my chest when I felt like the pathway was too close for comfort and my fear finally took over. A scream came from my lips when we were only a couple of car lengths away from the ground. I had finally reached my breaking point, and I tightly closed my eyes. My body almost instantly stopped falling while the familiar feeling of my energy flowed through me and I heard something like an explosion go off from underneath me.

It was silent for a few moments until I heard Minamino sigh and he spoke from a little ways below.

"Hiei, you shouldn't have pushed her."

"How was I to know she would be able to use her barrier to protect herself?" the idiot responded.

I hesitantly opened my eyes when I felt like it was safe to do so. Unfortunately, the sight that greeted me was a severe drop directly beneath me where I had managed to destroy a section of the pathway. I presumed it was a severe drop anyway. I couldn't actually see through the fog to tell if it was.

Even though I knew I didn't know if it really was a severe drop, I couldn't rationalize it properly in my mind. It was enough to send fear coursing through every part of my being once again. A yell of fear came from my lips and the barrier surrounding me strengthened as it grew a little larger.

"Idiot! If you do that, you'll destroy even more of the pathway!" the idiot yelled at me.

I looked down at the idiot and Minamino who were standing in front of me with a scared expression on my face. This time, I was too afraid to hide the amount of fear I felt. They looked at me with varying degrees of surprise.

After a few moments, the idiot closed his eyes and sighed.

"You don't have to be afraid. We're not going to let you fall." he said.

When he opened his eyes, our eyes locked. I stared into them for a few moments as I searched for anything that would make me doubt his words but I found nothing. Instead, I found myself being drawn into them like before and somehow with a single look I felt like I could trust him.

I slowly reached my right hand out towards him as I took a leap of faith and decided to trust him, at least for the time being. Somehow I felt myself calm down little by little as I continued to stare into his red eyes that seemed so familiar to me. The barrier around me slowly weakened and my body began to descend little by little. Once it completely disappeared, I began to free fall once again. My eyes widened in surprise when he suddenly disappeared and then reappeared in front of me only seconds later. He had moved so fast I couldn't follow his movements.

He caught me in his arms without much effort and landed safely on the other side of the pathway while holding me bridal style. As he stood up straight, the earthy scent I had smelled the last time I was in his arms filled my nostrils.

I was reminded of the fact he had asked Minamino to help me out when I was poisoned. And he had just saved me again. I didn't really want to admit it. In fact, I wanted to blame him for the whole situation that had just taken place. But, I also felt like I should thank him since he did help me out and I never had the chance to the first time. He may irritate me, but I wasn't completely unreasonable. I knew when thanks were due.

He turned around and jumped back over to the other side of the pathway. I opened my mouth to say something before he suddenly dropped me onto the ground next to Minamino's feet. A grunt of pain came from my lips as he started to walk towards the large castle doors.

"Ow! What the hell! Here I was about to thank you and then you do something asinine like that! Idiot!" I shouted at him annoyed as I rubbed my back side.

Minamino let out a chuckle and I looked over at him in annoyance as he shook his head in amusement.

"That's just the way he is (Name)-san. Don't take it personally."

"So he's almost always an asshole?" I asked as he extended his hand out towards me.

He didn't say anything in response while he looked at me in amusement. I took his hand and he helped me back up onto my feet. I followed him as he walked towards the doors to the castle where the idiot was already standing as he waited for us.

"It's Kurama and Hiei." Minamino said into the intercom once we reached the doors.

The massive metal doors opened and revealed a long dark hallway that led to some unknown place. The idiot was the first person to walk inside. Minamino and I silently followed him down the long dark corridor as I looked around.

When we made it to the end of the hallway, there was another large set of doors blocking our path. Minamino walked over to another intercom and spoke into it.

"It's Kurama and Hiei. We've brought (First Name) (Last Name)."

"Okay come in." I heard a man say from the other side.

Once the large metal doors opened and I was able to see into the next room, my eyes widened in surprise.

There were red, green, and blue humanlike creatures with horns on their heads and pointed ears all over the place. All of them were wearing skirts that reminded me of what cavemen would wear. They were either sitting at their office desks which were placed all over the room or running around like crazy while carrying large stacks of papers.

Massive pink pillars were all over the massive room to support the ceiling. They had a decorative area of gold at the very top where the pillars connected with the ceiling. Underneath the gold was a band of green that was separated from the pink part of the pillar by a thin gold band. I also noticed random yellow clouds floating all over the place.

"What the...? What are these guys?" I asked in surprise and confusion.

The idiot acted like I didn't say anything and started to walk through the crowd along with Minamino. I quickly followed behind them so I wouldn't get lost in the commotion while I silently looked around with confusion.

"They are ogres." Minamino answered.

"Ogres? So those are real too?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes."

They led me to the other side of the room, and I noticed a pair of pink doors with a fancy gold symbol on them. I had a feeling this was where Koenma, ruler of the Spirit Realm, was.

"H-Hey! Wait!" I shouted at Minamino and the idiot as something occurred to me.

"What is it?" Minamino asked me in confusion.

"This is the ruler of the Spirit Realm right? Are you sure that this is what I should be wearing when I meet him? What about you? Aren't you guys underdressed?" I asked as I looked down at my school uniform.

"He won't mind. Just relax." he said with a small smile.

I watched nervously as the idiot opened the doors and we walked into the next room.

It was an office. At the other end of the room was a desk with a tall red chair behind it which was turned so the back of it was facing us.

"It looks like you've managed to get her to come here. Good work." I heard a male voice say from behind the tall red chair.

Once the chair turned around, I stared at the person with an incredulous look on my face.

It was a cute baby boy that had a blue binky in his mouth. He had soft looking light brown eyes and short brown hair. The child had on a long sleeved blue top that had black edging and pink cuffs on the sleeves. There was a red sash tied around his waist. He had khaki pants and black shoes on his feet. On top of his small head, he had a tall blue oblong hat with a red circle at the center of it that had thick black edging. In the circle was a black symbol. There was also pink along the bottom of it over the child's forehead with the word Jr on it at the center of his forehead.

I couldn't stop myself from marching over to the child and picked him up with confusion written on my face. There weren't any speakers that I could see on him.

"Is this a joke? It's not that I mind seeing the kid. In fact, he's a pretty cute baby. But you can't seriously expect me to believe that this is the ruler of the Spirit Realm." I said while I continued to examine the child.

"Someone needs their head examined." the idiot said bluntly.

I looked at him in annoyance as I held the baby close to my chest.

"What?! You're the one who needs his head examined! What kind of idiot do you two take me for, idiot?! Kuwabara and Urameshi might be stupid enough to buy this but I'm not!"

The idiot looked at me in annoyance while Minamino looked like he was trying not to be amused.

"U-Uh... P-Please, can you let me go?" I heard the same male voice say from very close to me.

I quickly looked down at the baby whose face was in my chest. He had a blush on his cheeks as I loosened my hold on him.

"As it would so happen to be, I am Koenma." the baby said while looking up at me.

All I could do was blink at him for a few moments while I tried to process what in the hell just happened. An incredulous look finally appeared on my face and I slowly opened my mouth to speak.

"Talking babies isn't a normal thing where I come from. Are you some sort of midget that looks like a baby? There's no way that the Spirit Realm could be ruled by a toddler." I said bluntly.

I heard Minamino let out a noise and I looked over at him along with the baby who was claiming to be Koenma. Minamino was biting his thumb while trying to stop a laugh from coming out of his lips. The idiot was looking at me with the hint of an amused smirk on his lips.

"I guess you at least didn't laugh at me." Koenma said a little put out as I looked back over at him.

"But if you're a midget, why do you have a binky in your mouth? Do you have some sort of weird complex?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not a midget!" Koenma shouted at me angrily as he thrashed about.

I looked at him with surprise and held him away from me with my arms extended out as far as they could go. He looked at me with an extremely annoyed expression on his face, and I decided to place him back down on his chair.

How in the hell am I supposed to take all of this? If I hadn't been just holding him and if I wouldn't have just seen his mouth move, I wouldn't believe any of this.

"Despite how I appear, I've lived fifty times longer than you have. So watch your mouth!" he said indignantly while pointing at me.

"But you look like a toddler." I said bluntly.

I looked over at the idiot and Minamino and a thought occurred to me as I smirked.

"I guess though that must make the idiot here feel a little bit better about his height since he's a guy and all."

Annoyance appeared on the idiots face again. Before I could even react, I had the tip of a Katana against my neck and he was suddenly standing directly in front of me. He opened his mouth to say something but I didn't let him say whatever it was. My body reacted on its own as I felt a surge of power rush through it and I kicked him in the stomach with blue energy around my foot. A grunt of pain came from his lips as his eyes widened in surprise while he stared at me. His body flew back into the wall that was on the other side of the room. The impact was great enough to cause a decent sized crater in the wall and dust temporarily covered the area where he was.

My eyes were wide while I looked at the scene in disbelief along with Minamino and Koenma. As the dust cleared, I noticed the idiot was unconscious while sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. Minamino and Koenma turned their heads to look at me. The scene reminded me of the time I punched the older Toguro brother but this time it seemed like my attack was a lot stronger than before.

I've never kicked someone so hard that they've made a crater in the wall! It wasn't entirely my intention to do that to him!

"It looks like you are quite powerful. Under normal circumstance you wouldn't have been able to kick Hiei across the room." Koenma said with a seriously expression on his face.

"What's going on exactly? Why do I suddenly have these powers? I pride myself in my strength during a fight, but I've never been able to hit someone that hard." I asked him wearily as I looked over at him.

"Kurama's told me everything that he knows about the situation. There is only one explanation I can come up with. When you were bitten by the bug demon, you must have developed psychic powers while you were fighting against the poison. It's quite remarkable that you were able to live with the poison in your blood stream for so long. Even most demons wouldn't have survived. What I don't understand is how you came into contact with the demon to begin with."

Minamino spoke up.

"I thought I told you. There seems to be a lot of them in Mushiyori City. I noticed them one night while I was taking (Name)-san home. It was around that time she also fell ill."

"I see... Yes, I think I do recall you telling me about that around five or six months ago. None of my spies could explain what was going on." Koenma said while in thought.

"While I've been training Kuwabara-kun, Hiei told me he's killed as many as he could to decrease their population. However, we don't know how long that will last. It seems to have become the perfect breeding ground for them."

I looked at him in surprise from the news and then looked over at the idiot.

It wasn't like I didn't notice I haven't had to kill as many during the last couple of weeks. The damn things didn't want to leave me alone before this. Does that mean he's been following me ever since our encounter with Toguro? Has he been trying to prevent them from biting me again?

"I'll have someone look into the situation again to see what's going on. Hopefully this time they'll be able to come up with an answer. In the meantime, (Name) you were invited to the Dark Tournament by Toguro right?" Koenma asked.

"I was." I said as I looked back over at him.

"If you want to have a chance in the tournament, I suggest you let a woman named Genkai train you. She's also Yusuke's teacher."

"Urameshi's?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes. He's currently training with her to increase his power. She should be able to teach you how to control your Spirit Energy."

I had to fight a groan from escaping my lips.

That was the last thing I wanted. Yusuke's not going to be happy about this, not one bit.

A groan came from the idiot and all of us looked over at him as he woke up. We silently watched him as he slowly stood back up. The second his eyes landed on me he glared at me with a dangerous look on his face. He disappeared from view, and I let out a sound of surprise as I was thrown onto my back. Just as I was about to attempt to sit up, the tip of his sword was against my neck once again and he was towering over me. He had his knees on both sides of my body. His left hand was next to my head while his right one firmly held the handle of his sword.

"Hiei!" Minamino shouted in alarm.

"The only reason why I'm even putting up with you is because of Yukina and Kurama. If I had the choice, I would slice your head completely off your shoulders right here and now. Take this as a warning, you better be well prepared to fight after the tournament or else I'll kill you with ease." he said to me coldly.

I stared into his eyes in thought.

This time, even though he had the tip of his sword against my neck and he was glaring at me like before, I didn't feel afraid. If he could, I'm sure he probably would try to kill me but I knew he wouldn't. He could have killed me the first time he pulled out his sword and he could have killed me just now but he didn't. He couldn't kill me. Just as he stated, Yukina and Minamino wouldn't be very happy if he did. Yusuke and Kazuma wouldn't appreciate it either.

"You want to fight me?" I asked in confusion while I continued to stare into his eyes.

"As soon as the tournament is over, I'll kill you once and for all." he said threateningly.

I knew he wasn't bluffing. He definitely intended to kill me. But I still doubted if he really could. He might find me annoying, as much as I find him, but for whatever reason he's helped me on several occasions. The moment I found out he had been killing the bug demons in Mushiyori City, I realized there was more to him than what meets the eye. Now that I think about it, he also tried to help me out when Toguro attacked my barrier. He also helped calm me down after I destroyed the pathway in front of the castle and pulled me to safety when he didn't have to. It could have been Minamino who helped me out, but he chose to instead. Even if it was only because of the Dark Tournament or because of Minamino and Yukina, he still did it. Perhaps if Yusuke can trust him then I can as well just as I did in front of the castle. He hasn't given me a reason not to trust him, at least for the time being. As much as he despises me, he can't kill me just yet if ever. Deep down I feel like he isn't as bad as he tries to make himself out to be even if he is dangerous.

We were completely silent as we continued to look into each others eyes. After a few moments, confusion appeared in his eyes. He seemed like he was searching for something.

"You're not afraid." he stated more than asked.

"No, I'm not. You can't kill me." I said honestly.

"Try me." he said threateningly as he poked my neck with the tip of his sword causing it to bleed.

"That hurts." I said annoyed.

He didn't say anything while he continued to search my eyes for any signs of fear and I sighed in response.

"There's no reason for me to be afraid of you."

He looked at me with even more annoyance. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he felt insulted.

"I didn't mean it as an insult idiot." I said bluntly.

Confusion replaced his anger while he stared into my eyes questioningly as if trying to figure out what I was thinking.

"You could have killed me twice already if you really wanted to. I'm not foolish enough to not realize it. You're fast enough that my eyes can't keep up with you. But you didn't kill me. Instead, you held back on both occasions."

He simply stared at me, but I could tell he was thinking about what I was saying while I continued to speak.

"You know as well as I do Yukina would cry if she found out that you killed me. I'm painfully aware of the fact she seems to worry about my wellbeing. I'd venture a guess and say that the last thing you'd want is to cause her pain. I'm sure you wouldn't have appeared at Tarukane's to save her if you didn't care about her."

There was a look on his face that told me I hit the nail right on the head and I spoke again.

"You also seem to be friends with Urameshi, Kuwabara and Minamino, despite your crappy personality. I know Urameshi quite well. He wouldn't give you the time of day if he didn't feel like he could trust you or didn't like you. You also calmed me down after I had destroyed a section the pathway in front of the castle. And you have helped me out when you didn't need to on more than one occasion."

"What's your point?" he asked impatiently.

"If you really wanted to, I'm sure that you're capable of killing me. However, I don't think you're as bad as you try to make yourself out to be. Your actions speak louder than your words."

His eyes widened in response while he stared at me in surprise from my remark. As he recovered from his surprise, he moved the tip of his sword away from my neck and stood up while continuing to stare into my eyes. When he turned his head to the side and broke eye contact, whatever trance I seemed to be in disappeared. I sat up as he walked towards the door of the office to leave without saying anything in response.

Once he was gone, the room was completely silent for a few moments until Minamino spoke as he looked at me.

"You really are observant. He isn't as bad as he lets on. I'm surprised though I was under the impression you didn't like him."

"I find him annoying, and I think he's an idiot. However, I can't say whether or not I dislike him. You can't always judge a book by its cover. In fact, you can't most of the time. It isn't until you open it up and read its contents that you find out its true story. Isn't that right?" I said as I stood up.

Minamino nodded his head in agreement. Koenma cleared his throat as he finally managed to get over his surprise from the events that had just taken place.

"Back to the matter at hand, you must go through extensive training during the next month and a half to improve your skills. Not only will Genkai help you but so will Kurama and Hiei."

"Who said that I would help her?" the idiot said with annoyance in his voice as he suddenly appeared in the room again.

"I thought you left." I said with a raised eyebrow.

"She needs your help to increase her speed." Koenma said.

I spoke up once again when something occurred to me.

"I have a question. Where am I going to train? I don't think it's advisable to do that in the middle of the city."

"You won't be. You'll be at Genkai's home in the middle of the mountains."

"Do you honestly think I can miss school for one and a half months? I've already missed three because of the whole Tarukane thing." I asked with an incredulous look on my face.

I really don't want to be forced to deal with my mother again either...

"I don't think you have much of a choice in the matter. If you don't train, you'll be slaughtered in the tournament."

"Point taken... But there's one problem I have with what you're suggesting."

"What is it?"

"Does this idiot really have to train me?" I asked bluntly while pointing at him with my thumb.

The idiot looked over at me annoyed once again.

"Y-Yes. Just as I said to him, he's going to help you increase your speed." Koenma said while looking at the idiot and me nervously.

I'm sure he was wondering if he was going to try to kill me again.

"There's no way I would waste my time training someone as useless as her." the idiot said bluntly.

Now it was my turn to look at him annoyed.

"Who needs your help anyway, you bastard?! I'm sure that you're too weak to train me anyway!" I shouted at him angrily.

Minamino looked at us nervously while Koenma looked at me in disbelief.

"What?" the idiot asked me with annoyance in his voice.

"I didn't stutter you prick. If Toguro can throw you into a tree like he did, you're no where near strong enough to train me. You're weak as well."

The idiot took a step towards me, and Minamino quickly grabbed his shoulder in order to stop him from attacking me.

"Calm down, Hiei. It won't do you any good to attack her. If you killed her, then we would be missing two team members instead of just one." Minamino said while trying to reason with him.

"Anyone would be stronger than she is, even Kuwabara."

"What?!" I shouted at him angrily.

This was going to be a long month and a half. I already want to strangle him!