Chapter Eleven

Anise stretched her muscles in the early morning. She was alone on the outdoor arena that Koenma had built for her to practice her skills, the amber sky shining bright above her. After six weeks of training, she felt strong and confident in her skills as a plant manipulator. Kurama even gave her a new fighting outfit for today's occasion, and the light material felt wonderful. Her black pants were fitted loosely and had a small hole in the back for her tail to fit through. She wore small, black cotton shoes without laces and a white cotton tank top that fit tight. A bright blue belt, the same color as the blue of her snake markings, rested on her waist and held a small seed satchel.

"Good morning!"

Anise turned around, seeing Kurama wave at her. Behind him was Hiei and a tall, orange-haired individual. She waved back.

Kurama stopped in front of her, smiling. "Anise, I'd like to introduce you to your fighting partner," he started, ushering the unknown person to his side. "This is Kuwabara."

"Hello," Anise offered, holding a hand out.

He took it, shaking firmly. "Hi there!"

Anise cringed at the pressure, but kept her spirits up. "Um, so what kind of demon are you?"

"Oh, me? I'm no demon." He crossed his arms behind his head, grinning wide. "I'm just a regular human."

Anise looked at Kurama, confused. "I wasn't about to throw a demon at you without making sure you could handle it," he explained. He placed a hand on Anise's shoulder, squeezing. "And Kuwabara also has an honor code. He refuses to harm a woman, so you don't have to worry about being hit."

"Then how are we supposed to fight?" she asked.

"Just see if you can hit him," Hiei piped in, smirking at the thought.

"But won't that hurt?"

Kuwabara laughed. "I've fought plenty of demons, so don't worry about me." He raised his arms up, flexing his impressive muscles.

Anise nodded, turned around and walking to the other side of the arena. "Well, I'm ready when you are."

Kuwabara rolled his shoulders back and stretched briefly. He gave a thumbs up. "Ready. Let us know when to start, Kurama."

Kurama and Hiei stepped outside of the ring. The long-haired demon looked to both participants, nodding to each of them. Raising an arm, he shouted "fight!"

Anise fumbled for a seed, her hands shaking. She fished around haphazardly, gripping the tiny seed and pulling it out, spilling a few others on the ground. Looking up, she noticed that Kuwabara had his hands in his pockets, slouching. She cocked her head. "Um, the fight started, you know."

Kuwabara shrugged. "All I'm gonna do is avoid being hit, and you haven't tried anything funny yet."

"Oh…" Anise stood straight, letting out a sigh of relief.

Hiei sneered. "Don't kid yourself into thinking this battle is anything like the real world, human."

Anise glared at him, having learned over the past few weeks that he was permanently grouchy and full of insults. The only way to have any kind of meaningful conversation was to treat him the same way he treats anyone else. "I'm not stupid, Hiei."

"If you can't even hit this idiot," Hiei started, tilting his head in Kuwabara's direction, "then you are."

"Hey!" Kuwabara shouted, clearly offended. "I'm in college, you know!"

Hiei scoffed, clearly not impressed.

Anise growled, something that only happened when she was angry or annoyed. Kurama explained that it was due to her fox nature. She was not about to let Hiei call her stupid, and she decided to redirect her glare toward Kuwabara. She charged the seed between her fingers, allowing the green tendrils to curl around her torso and arms. A seed pod sprouted at the end of each arm, long and thin as a finger. She aimed both arms at her target. "You should probably avoid this."

She watched as Kuwabara brought both fists in front of him, curling around an imaginary rod. "I think I can handle whatever you've got."

Anise charged the pods, feeding energy into the plant. "Handle this!" she shouted, firing both pods straight into his chest.

A cloud of smoke enveloped Kuwabara on impact. "You'll have to do better than that," Kuwabara retorted, walking out of the smoke holding a glowing, orange sword.

Anise's eyes widened. "I thought you said you weren't a demon!"

Kuwabara chuckled. "You don't need to be a demon to have one of these."

Growling, Anise pointed at Kuwabara again, firing another round from each pod. Kuwabara ducked and rolled, just barely dodging them. Anise fired again and again, not giving him a chance to slow down. Kuwabara blocked a few with his sword and dodged the rest. Anise ran toward him, shooting, hoping that the closer she got the less he'd be able to dodge. He held up his sword, disintegrating the seed-bullets.

"Come on, girl!" Hiei called, impatient.

Anise fired bullets with her right hand, reaching into the seed pouch with her left to grab another seed since she was almost out of ammo. She willed it to grow, and an additional two pistol-pods appeared on each hand. She fired multiple shots, each one zipping into Kuwabara's sword and immediately burning into dust. She tried aiming one hand for his head and the other for his feet, but Kuwabara leaped to avoid the low seeds and blocked the high ones. Part of the stadium cracked on impact.

"You're going to have to try something different, Anise!" Kurama encouraged.

Anise looked around, desperate and pressured. She fished for seeds, but the bag was empty. She looked around the stadium for the seeds she dropped, but Kuwabara was standing on top of them. She smiled, thinking of an idea. Her hands glowed with energy, and she closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Are you giving up?" Kuwabara taunted. "Come on, I'm sure you'll hit me eventually!"

Her eyes opened, and she aimed both arms at him. "I won't miss this time."

Kuwabara smirked, stepping to the side. "What?" he asked, looking down to find his foot snagged. Plant tendrils wrapped around his legs tight, and he couldn't move. He looked up, and Anise was only a couple of feet away, aiming at his face. "Oh… shit…"

"Do you concede?" Anise asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Not quite," Kuwabara retorted, slicing the vines at his feet quickly and grabbing one of her arms, swinging her around and grabbing another. He held her hands pointing down, safely away from his body. "Do you concede, kid?"

"I'm not a kid," she growled, annoyed.

Kuwabara looked her up and down, a lewd expression on his face. "I can see that."

Hiei snorted. "Don't pollute my mind with those kinds of thoughts, moron."

"Stay out of my head and it won't be a problem, shrimp."

Kurama raised an eyebrow at the banter, walking forward and helping Anise recall her plants back into the seeds. "You were in a serious, committed relationship with Yukina when you started college. I don't think she'd appreciate you looking at other girls that way."

Kuwabara looked at Kurama confused. "Huh?"

Hiei growled low in his throat, thrusting his hands in his pockets and turning away. "It certainly wouldn't surprise me if she finally discovered how much of an idiot he is and left him."

Kuwabara looked between the two demons. "Uh, what are you guys talking about?"

"Who's Yukina?" Anise asked.

Kuwabara shrugged. "I don't know what they're talking about either."

Kurama walked in front of Kuwabara. "Are you telling us that you don't know who Yukina is?"

He nodded, cocking his head. "Did we meet her at the Dark Tournament or something? I'm not too good with names."

Hiei flitted in front of Kuwabara, Jagan eye exposed, exploring Kuwabara's mind. The human wobbled and collapsed on the ground, the sudden psychic assault overwhelming. "His memories have been repressed," Hiei reported. "He hasn't seen her in four months."

Kurama's eyes widened. "Then where's Yukina?"