A/N: Thanks for all your support guys and sorry if I made anyone think you're crazy. I have problems with having fan girl outbursts whenever my friend shows me fanart of Hiei, damn her! So believe me, you're not alone. Remember to review after you read, each one is like having a mini sugar rush!
Chapter 11: Calm Before the Storm
POV Angela
"Angel! You should have told us that you were fighting!" Jewel yells, trying to give me a noogie. "Hey! I didn't exactly have a choice." I protest, attempting to use Hiei as a shield. Hiei scowled at me and I grinned in response. The surprising thing was Jewel wasn't glomping Hiei. "Uh Jewel? Are you okay?" I ask, suddenly concerned. "Huh? I'm fine. You however have to be punished." Jewel says sternly. I gulped, that was never a good thing. "Not if you can't catch me." I say, disappearing in a cloud of dust. "No fair!" I heard Jewel yell. She didn't really think I would let her exact her version of a punishment on me did she? Yes it was cowardly but right now I wasn't fighting and Jewel scares me sometimes!
3rd person POV
"Man I hate when she does that. I was just going to force her to dress up and watch a chick flick. She made it seem like it's the end of the world." Jewel says a small cloud of depression over her head. "I think you forgot that she doesn't like being girly. To her that is the end of the world." Tyler comments. "Where did she go anyways? There isn't much to do on the island." Jewel says, putting her head on Tyler's shoulder. "She'll be fine. Right now we should be focusing on getting ready for the finals." Genkai says.
"I am so sorry about what I did! I tend to underestimate my strength. If there's anything I can do to make you feel better just let me know." Angela says, bowing deeply. Thankfully when she asked the nurse where the recovering fighters were kept Suzuki's swelling had gone down and she could actually see his face. He was actually attractive; he had short blond hair and somewhat narrow blue eyes. "Its fine, this is a tournament after all." Suzuki says dismissively, still not able to believe that she would actually apologize for beating him up. "Are you sure? Unlike the other guys you don't seem as… sadistic? Is that the word?" She wondered. Apparently all the sarcasm and confidence that she had as Storm wasn't able to sink in when she was herself. "In all honesty I hope that your team wins against the Toguro brothers." Suzuki says with a sigh. "Did you have a run in with them too?" She asks. "I suppose you could call it that." Suzuki muttered.
Suzuki started to get up as soon as Angela left the tent. He had a feeling that she was the type of human that would worry about others instead of herself. "You shouldn't be getting up right now, your wounds might open!" The nurse protested. He ignored her and went straight to where Kuwabara and Kurama were training. He gave them the seed of de-incarnation and the sword of trials, weapons that would increase their current strength. "Why are you helping us?" Kuwabara asks suspiciously. "Because I once had the privilege of fighting Toguro. Just seeing 30% of his power had me begging for my life." Suzuki says with a depressed cloud over his head. "Even if it isn't me I want someone to defeat him and show Toguro that he's wrong. That strength isn't everything." Suzuki says.
Everyone soon gathered near the hotel to celebrate making it to the finals in the Black Tournament. The only people that were missing were Yusuke and Genkai. Kuwabara was complaining about how the both of them didn't know when to stop training but Botan was oddly quiet. She wasn't as cheerful as she usually was and it showed. "Where's Yusuke and the old hag? Never thought they'd be the two to miss a party." Jewel says irritably. "Don't worry about it Jewel. They'll come back when they feel like it. You know how stubborn those two are." Angela says. "Anybody have a boom box? We need some music to dance to!" Atsuko yells. "Atsuko! You haven't drunk all your beer already have you?" Keiko asks angrily. "Maybe." Atsuko says with a drunken grin. "And you need to loosen up." Atsuko states, poking Angela in the stomach. "What are you talking about?" She asks, amused by how Atsuko was acting. Being around happy drunks is always fun. She thought with a grin. "You need some alcohol in your system!" She shouts, holding a beer in front of Angela's face.
Angela's face was pale; she looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "No beer, I absolutely hate that stuff!" She says stubbornly. "So you've had it before?" Jewel asks with a grin, Angela blushed. "I've tried it before okay and it tastes awful!" She says, trying not to gag. "Vodka then?" She shook her head. "Don't you like any type of alcohol?!" "Nope, not unless you're a fancy chef that puts bourbon or wine into food." Angela says with a grin. The Storm persona that she had for the majority of three months was starting to seep through. "So you do like alcohol!" "I never said that!" Angela protests. "Chill out Angel, just have a soda." Jewel says, handing her a Birch beer. "And remember the three soda limit!" Tyler says sternly, Angela rolled her eyes. "Come on, I think I've gotten over the sugar rush stage by now. I don't see why you're so freaked out about it." She says, sipping the soda.
The girls were all playing Go Fish, Jewel and Angela had declared war as soon as the game started. "I'm going to beat you this time!" Jewel proclaims. Angela looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm known as a card shark in my family. You don't have a chance." Angela says, smirking slightly. "Why do I have a feeling that this game isn't going to end well?" Tyler asks, sighing. "Let me guess, they're both competitive?" Kurama asks with a sigh. "Jewel usually is but when Angel's competitive she always goes over board." Tyler says. Jewel and Angela set up the game, no one wanted to be caught in the middle of the cross fire.
"Did you seriously just burn up all the cards just so I couldn't win?" Angela demands, glaring at Jewel. "It was an accident and since the cards are burned up no one won the game!" Jewel says smugly. "People were still holding cards in their hands, you could have hurt Yukina!" Angela exclaims. "I have more control over my power than you think. You're just jealous that I have better powers than you do." Jewel says teasingly. "That's it, you're done!" Angela yells, running after Jewel. Tyler looked near Angela's chair and saw four empty cans. "She drank four sodas, oh God." Tyler groans. That explained why Angela was so irritable and full of energy. "Are they going to be alright?" Yukina asks in concern. "They'll be fine! They just need to calm down." Tyler says reassuringly. Yukina frowned, apparently whatever liquids were in those metal cans made something happen to change a human's behavior. She made a note not to drink whatever it was.
"Damn it! I swear if I have to amputate any limbs that I'm going to kill you!" Jewel yells as her friend encased her hand in ice. "Relax, it'll just melt off." Angela says, shaking her head. "Oh, should have thought of that. Maybe what I said earlier was out of line." Jewel says, feeling guilty. What she did was pretty childish and she felt bad for it. "I was jealous." Angela muttered, Jewel stared at her in shock. "I mean at first I was when I first discovered my power. You could create fire out of energy and all I could do was get headaches and tell you where to help. I also felt helpless and didn't like being a damsel in distress. But I suppose if I didn't have those powers lives could have been ruined. Besides, who would have ever thought that I would have the Four Saint Beasts training me?" Angela asks, chuckling lightly. "I know, you're so lucky! Any moves you haven't shown in the tournament yet?" Jewel asks. "You'll find out tomorrow just like everyone else." Angela says.
POV Angel
Our team was the first to enter the arena, a fact that was nerve wrecking. "So I'm stepping in for Genkai. I never thought I'd fight in the finals." I comment softly. Almost everyone on the team knew of Genkai's passing in one way or another. Before she went to the Spirit World with Botan she hit me in the head and called me an idiot. I still wondered why she did that. "So Genkai's really out of it? I heard something about her giving her powers to Yusuke earlier. Guess she used herself up in the semifinals eh?" I face palmed and slowly shook my head in disbelief. Was it possible for Kuwabara to be that clueless? I wondered. "You really are clueless." Hiei says, voicing my thought aloud. "Why you little-" Kuwabara glared, ready to strangle Hiei.
"Hello everyone and thank you for your patience! Sorry for the delay but now here's Team Urameshi!" Juri announced, cutting Kuwabara off. The doors we stood behind slid open and right away I could hear the crowd's jeers. "Filthy humans!" "Die you bugs! Die!" "We love you guys too!" I shout, smiling sweetly. The shouts quieted to a collective murmur, wondering why I was on the team or why I sounded like an upbeat announcer. "How did you do that?" Kuwabara asks, awed. "They underestimate me because I look innocent. Even demons have heart strings that can be pulled." I explain. "It still doesn't feel right having you fight." Kuwabara says, shaking his head. "Kuwabara you've seen what I can do. Besides, what's an alternative for?" I comment.
"And now presenting Team Toguro!" Juri shouts, pointing to the other side of the arena. Elder Toguro, Younger Toguro, Bui and Karasu walked calmly into the arena. My palms sweated with anticipation, these would be the most heated round in the tournament. "Go Toguro! Massacre them!" "Slaughter 'em!" I winced inwardly. "Such strong words." I muttered. As both our teams sized each other up we noticed that their team only had four members. "According to the rules the finals are one-on-one. The team that wins three out of five matches will be declared the winner. If a team suffers no fatalities then a fifth member must be called in!" "So who's our fifth?" Kuwabara asks. Thankfully he was joking when he said this but I still struggled not to strangle him in public. I was planning to keep my innocent card in play until I had to fight. Or maybe we would win the first three matches and I wouldn't have to fight at all.
Their fifth member was Sakyo, the official sponsor for their team. I had a feeling that I would be the one going up against him. The others liked fighting more than I did and I didn't want to see how they would respond if they didn't get a chance to participate. Thankfully the first match was between Kurama and Karasu. The only thing I wasn't thrilled about… "Kick his vampire ass Kurama!" Jewel yelled next to an intoxicated Atsuko, both waving a banner that read Team Urameshi. "Nail 'im Kurama!" Atsuko shouted. I sweat dropped, embarrassed to even know them. The only thing that snapped me out of it was the tense atmosphere between Kurama and Karasu. Before we went to the arena Kurama basically told us that he had a score to settle.
"Is that how you want to face me?" Karasu asks, energy crackling near his fingers. "You're not here to throw your life away I hope." He comments. In a strange way Karasu was right, if Kurama was in his other form he'd be stronger. I thought. That is why demons are superior to humans. Hiei says. Yusuke's human and I'm pretty sure he's kicked your ass before. I retort, watching Kurama spread rose petals throughout the ring. When one of the petals made contact with Karasu's skin it created a small cut. "Nothing is as it seems with Kurama is it?" Yusuke comments. "I wouldn't be celebrating about this just yet, look!"
The petals surrounding Karasu exploded, removing the obstacle that the petals provided. Before the petals exploded I could have sworn I saw a glimpse of something. Karasu quickly lunged at Kurama and he dodged, unfortunately Karasu still managed to get an explosion near Kurama's arm. "Kurama!" Kuwabara, Yusuke, and I yelled. "If he doesn't change soon he'll be killed." Hiei commented gravely. "Again with being a pessimist, can't you ever put a positive spin on something?" I ask irritably. "I don't sugar coat facts." Hiei says bluntly.
As Kurama and Karasu decided to converse in the middle of their match (which for some reason is really popular during this tournament) I saw an object materialize near Karasu and immediately knew what it was. "He's using bombs! So that's what I caught a glimpse of." I thought aloud. The bomb went off, cocooning Kurama with its destructive power and smoke. Instead of feeling Kurama's life force ebb away I felt it skyrocket. "Whew! Just in time!" Kuwabara says with a grin. Karasu smirked and created several bombs with wings and a single eye, all of them heading towards Kurama. Just as the bombs closed in on Kurama several plants sprang up from the ground and made the bombs explode prematurely. The same plants started chasing Karasu around the arena, soon he found out he would have to completely destroy the plants to make them immobile.
As soon as Karasu dodged one plant another blind sided him and trapped him, Karasu coughed his face mask off and some blood. "Remind me to never make him mad." Kuwabara shivered, I nodded in agreement. Karasu was then completely covered by the plants that acted oddly like Venus flytraps. "Way to go Kurama!" Kuwabara cheered. "Guys, I think it's too early to be celebrating just yet." Unfortunately my comment was valid. Karasu created an explosion that freed him from the plants. What happened next had me face palming. Karasu started gathering his energy, his hair turning blond and his eyes blue. "Did that guy just go Super Saiyan?" Tyler and Jewel ask in unison. A shockwave hit the arena and parts of the stand. We were all thrown back by the force, I thudded straight into Yusuke. "Yowch!" "Sorry, it was the momentum." I say sheepishly. "Is everyone okay?!" Yusuke shouted. "Seems so…" Kuwabara comments. "Where's Kurama?"
As the smoke cleared Kurama was in his human form. "The potion must've worn off!" Yusuke exclaims. A potion? What did I miss? I wondered. That was when my brain reminded me of the fact that Kuwabara and Kurama received weapons from Suzuki. Kurama looked drained from the fight and wasn't even able to summon any plants. He then fell back on martial arts techniques. Kurama struck Karasu in the chest but failed whatever it was he was planning to do to Karasu. Kurama took a slight step back and his leg was trapped by a mud bomb. "Freeze Kurama! He's got you penned in!" Yusuke yells. Karasu began exploding the bombs around Kurama, causing him to collapse. Please god or whoever is in charge of this universe, let Kurama live! I silently begged. Kurama then managed to pull off a miracle and summoned a vampire plant that killed Karasu.
"Yes!" I cheered, rushing over to Kurama with Yusuke. I nearly tackled him with a hug but Yusuke held me back. Let him get up!" Yusuke says, helping Kurama stand. "Sorry, I'm just glad he's alright." I say. "Thank you for your concern. I'm sorry about the match." Kurama apologized. "Huh?" Yusuke and I wondered why he made that comment. "And the winner of this match is Karasu!"
"What?!" Everyone in the arena seemed to exclaim. "Kurama took the full count and wasn't up until after I counted to ten." Juri explained. "Well at least we won't have to deal with the vampire guy again." I comment optimistically. The next fight was Hiei versus Bui, the guy wearing armor. As he took off his clock he revealed tattered bandages that wrapped up his arm. "Begin!" Bui dashed forward with his axe quicker than I thought was humanly possible and slashed it downward, Hiei dodged the attack easily. Bui took the axe out of the ground and had a giant boulder on it, throwing the rock at him as a distraction. Instead of the axe making contact with Hiei it melted like an oversized chocolate bar in the sun. "Well then, this armor won't do me any good." Bui says, stripping all of the outer armor off. "What's with the guys on their team and wearing restraints?" I ask irritably. Bui had so much energy that he was literally levitating over the ground!
In response Hiei removed his bandages, the image of the Black Dragon visible on his arm. "Watch how I've mastered the Black Dragon!" Hiei exclaimed. As Hiei released the dragon Bui deflected it back at him. What happened next was both horrifying and comical; the dragon ate Hiei! "That moron! He just had to try showing off." I muttered. "Why is everyone so excited? I haven't even gotten to the good part!" Inwardly I was glad he was okay but he was going to get a smack to the head later. The energy from the dragon surrounded him and made him practically invincible to the punches that Bui used on him. Hiei finally grew bored of the fight and pinned Bui to the ground with his own energy until the ten count was up. "And the winner is Hiei!" Juri announces. Hiei smirked and started walking back to our group.
"Hiei, have I told you how much of an idiot you are today?" I ask angrily. "I had everything under control." Hiei comments. "That was awesome Hiei!" Yusuke says with a grin. "Yeah, feel free to take on the rest of their team!" Kuwabara says. "I'm afraid I can't do that. My technique requires me to replenish my energy afterwards. But if I find out you lost while I was sleeping you'll all be sorry." Hiei says, collapsing. I caught him before he hit the ground and he was already asleep. "Why am I always the one stuck with him while he's asleep?" I muttered. "Are you kidding me? He'd probably kill us if we woke him up!" Kuwabara yelps. "He's not that horrible of a morning person. Then again I'm not exactly a cheerful person in the morning either." I comment. "Ahem! Due to the destruction of the ring, the tournament will now have a recess." Juri announces. "Well when Hiei wins he just has to make an impression." Yusuke says, rolling his eyes. "Is there any other way?" I ask jokingly. The others laughed, the tense atmosphere was gone even if was just for a brief moment.
Toguro, the younger of the two, walked out of the arena. I watched and frowned, just what was he planning? "Does that mean that we can leave the ring too? I want to speak to my precious Yukina." Kuwabara says with a light sigh. "Kuwabara's lucky that Hiei's passed out right now." I whispered to Yusuke, he laughed. "Did Hiei let you in on the secret too?" He asks. "Well... not exactly. Call it a hunch." I say hesitantly. Of course Hiei wouldn't just tell someone that he was related to Yukina! I mentally cursed the slip up. The crowd let out a collective gasp and we all turned to see what the commotion was. The display that we saw shocked all of us. Hiei's dominant win was small compared to this feat...