Crossing Oceans

Chapter Twelve: Luck of The Draw

When Yusuke arrived at the stadium he searched for his daughter but couldn't find her. Even Hiei was missing. His worry grew when the match started, Koto announcing their arrival as well as the other team. Still, she didn't even make a grand entrance like he was expecting.

He looked through the crowd. Still nothing.

"Hiei's with her, no need to worry," Kurama reassured him as he looked at the open doors.

Yusuke turned and looked at Kurama. "How do you know?"

Kurama smiled. "He went looking for her before we left. It seems he has something to talk to her about pertaining to The Darkness technique."

"Why?"

Kurama turned toward the Arena watching the opposing team walk forward, the team leader stepping into the arena ready to announce the terms of the matches. "Hiei has his own reasons that we all don't understand."

Kujou stepped next to the two talking men looking serious. "Seems Hiei and Aria have been with each other an afoul lot lately."

"We could say the same thing about you?" Kurama inquired.

Kujou stayed quiet but the comment flew over Yusuke's head. "Kujou trains Aria. I know she also wanted Hiei to teach her The Darkness technique. Knowing her, she probably bribed him into teaching her." He sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. If she wants to miss this fight then that's up to her. Makes life a lot easier knowing she's in someone else's capable hands that wouldn't allow her to get in trouble. Better with Hiei than here in the arena."

Yusuke walked forward stepping into the arena and coming face to face with the team leader. Another one on one match was declared.


Hiei came to a quick stride next to Aria as she ran toward the arena. She was frantic to hurry before the fight began. "There it is!" she declared when they came into view. She ran up to the gate only to be stopped by demons as they were also trying to get into the arena to watch the bloodshed. "Get out of my way!" She shouted pushing back the multitude of demons. "You're going to make me late." She looked up at the giant screen. Her father was already making his way back to their team as Koto announced the one on one matches.

She growled out as the demons didn't move at her command. "Don't make me use my spirit gun!" Still nothing.

"Um… Aria Urameshi?" she stopped her bantering and looked to where a deep, raspy voice spook to her. A lizard like demon with buddies looked at her, their eyes wide. When she gave them her full attention he continued. "Um… well, sorry to bother you – but, um…"

"Will you spit it out already?!"

He reached into his pocket and brought a small booklet out turning to a blank page. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a pen. "May I have your autograph?"

Aria practically fell over.

"Why the hell do you want my autograph?" she scratched her head trying to think of a reason why they wanted her signature. Nothing came to mind.

"Well, it's just you're the fan favorite now, taking on the dragon flame. You know, and the only one who ever did that was Mukuro," he rambled. "And we know that you're working hard to become the Makai ruler and all."

"Get to the point."

"We just want your autograph for the future once you become famous."

"It seems you have fans." Hiei suddenly appeared behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the smirking fire demon.

She smiled. "At least people like me." She turned her attention back to the demons taking the pen and booklet. She scribbled her name down handing it back to the lizard demon, smiling.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." He walked away with a grin.

Another demon came up. He had very light blue skin that looked smooth to the touch with a horn in the middle of his forehead. He had his arm crossed as he looked down at her with dark blue eyes. "Hey, babe. Do you by any chance have a mate?"

Again, Aria almost fell over.

"Look, I don't have time for this. I need to get inside now." She pushed past the demon who looked at her quizzically and stomped her way past the fat green guard and through the gates. Hiei followed behind her smirking all the way.

Kujou was the first to volunteer to fight. He was fighting a smaller girl with pink skin and bright pink hair. She was fast, zipping past him leaving ten afterimages in her wake. Kujou took blows left and right, but he stood there memorizing her moves.

Aria ran through the gates and up to her father and Kurama. When they noticed her she asked, "What I miss?"

Yusuke looked her up and down noticing the cuts and bruises. "What happened to you?" He grabbed her arm, reaching forward and pulling a red shard out of her arm. "What the hell is this?" He had the shard in her face looking at her expectantly.

"Oh. That. We ran into these two brothers into the forest who wanted to kill me for some odd reason, but Hiei and I killed them with ease. – at least Hiei did." She smirked.

Yusuke rolled his eyes and flung the blood crystal to the side. "Where have you been the last two days? I was worried sick!"

"I was training," she defended. She was only half lying.

"You could have checked in at least once, couldn't you?"

"Why do I have to check in? I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, you got ambushed and Hiei had to save you, I'm guessing."

"It wasn't like that at all! I could have handled them if I wasn't hurt in the first place." She clamped her mouth shut, realizing her mistake as soon as it left her mouth.

"If you wasn't hurt?" He looked her over again, his eyes searching for anything major.

"She was burned by The Darkness Flame," Hiei stepped in walking toward them then past the two to watch Kujou fight. His hand stuffed in his pockets. "I'm surprised detective, you didn't notice your daughters tortures grimaces every time you smacked her arm."

Yusuke eyes glared over at Hiei then back at his daughter. "Is this true?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but Hiei fixed me. See," she brought her arms forward. "No burns."

"And you didn't tell me this?" his eyes showed anger and a hint of betrayal, something she flinched from. "If I would have knew I wouldn't have accidently hurt you!"

"Yeah. Then you wouldn't have let me fight!"

Yusuke shook his head. "That wouldn't have happened. But now," he turned away crossing his arms. "I forbid you to fight anymore matches unless it's absolutely necessary."

She tensed up. "You can't do this!"

He ignored her. "It was a mistake bringing you here." She gritted her teeth. That touch a nerve she didn't know she had.

Kujou was done with his match. The pink chick laid unconscious on the ground. Her injuries weren't too severe. He walked up to the four and instantly noticed the tension. "Aria," he noticed her clenched fist. His eyes instantly went over to Hiei' back. "Is everything okay?"

"Peachy," She said through clenched teeth.

A bald demon with yellow skin and pointy little antenna's stepped onto the arena with a cocky smile. His hands were tucked into his pockets which only added to his cocky attitude.

Aria stepped forward. "I got this one." A hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She turned and glared at her father.

"Did you not hear a word I just said?"

She pushed his hand off her shoulder and turned sharply on her heal glaring. "And how are you going to stop me!?"

As they bickered Hiei walked casually up to Kurama's side watching as the two argued. Kurama was the first to speak. "You ran into trouble before arriving." It's wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Something's bothering you."

"She saw something I didn't."

"And that bothers you?" When Hiei didn't answer he just smiled. "She has remarkable gifts. There are something things she can do that someone else with her standards wouldn't be able to master."

"Yes, but that doesn't explain how she was capable to see and even smell something that I couldn't." Hiei gritted his teeth.

"Even she does things that I myself can't even comprehend. It makes me wonder…" he trailed off. Hiei looked up at him to see Kurama's eyes had a distant look to them. Something he rarely seen on the fox demon.

"Spit it out, fox."

Kurama nodded. "It makes me question who the real Mazaku was, Yusuke or his daughter."

"Okay," Koto chimed in over the microphone. "Will a member from Team Urameshi please step forward?"

"I'm fighting the banana guy!" Aria practically screamed.

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"I said no!"

"Um…" Koto frowned at the two and shook her head raising her hand in the air with a smile. "Since Team Urameshi can't decide who will go next it looks like we'll have to draw a name!" She pointed her finger at the screen. "Roll the die!"

Yusuke and Aria looked up at the screen watching as their names flickered through the screen over and over again until it slowly began to slow down. The demons in the stands began to grow restless. Then, suddenly, they began to chant."

"Aria, Aria, Aria, Aria," they grew louder and louder and Aria couldn't help but smile. So she did have more fans than the demons at the entrance.

The screen came to a standstill with Aria's name being the only one showing. She smiled and began to crack her knuckles. She looked at her father and smiled her victory smile. "Hey," she began to walk to the stadium with a Yusuke glaring at her back. She turned around and pointed her finger at him. "Can't let my fans down now can I?" She lifted her hand up like she let off a shot of her spirit gun and jumped up onto the stadium and made her way to the middle.

Yusuke continued to glare. "Why the hell do they chant her name like she's some celebrity and boo mine?"

"It seems Aria has become a fan favorite," Kurama said with humor. He found it quite funny that demons would like the offspring of someone they despise. He watched as Aria made her way to the middle of the stadium, then he glanced down at Hiei who was still glaring at her. He seemed troubled by how quickly she adapted in their last fight, how she basically tricked him. Kurama found it interesting that he would be so – how should he put it – intrigued? It's been awhile since Kurama had seen his friend look somewhat normal since his former mates passing. Even the bags under his eyes seemed to lighten up since they arrived on the island.

"Yeah, well, I don't like it," Yusuke continued unaware of Kurama's thoughts. "They better stay away from her or I'll start knocking heads."

Hiei grunted. "I'm pretty sure she can handle some 'love struck' demons on her own." Now that surprised Kurama. He actually complimented the child.

Aria began to stretch her shoulder blades by swinging her arm around, letting them crack. "Let's get this show on the road."

The yellow banana man smiled at her, showing his pearly white teeth. "Looks like this is going to be a lot easier than I expected. You're already half dead by the looks of it."

She glanced down at her clothes that was stained with her blood. "Who said this is my blood?" She lied.

Yellow banana man grunted, "I can smell that that blood belongs to you, child. Don't play games with me."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah," she gave her attention to Koto. "Are you going to start the match already?"

Koto raised her hand. "Let the second match BEGIN!" She swung her arm down and ran to the edge of the arena. Banana man was the first to attack, launching forward and swinging his arm diagonally. His hand began to shine and he sliced through the air toward Aria. She easily dodged, leaping to the right. In the wake of his hand she noticed that he created a silver lining as his hand swept down and it didn't disappear.

"What the…" she didn't ponder on it to long as he made another sweep toward her. She slightly stepped to the side and made a jab for his jaw. He ducked and his hand jutted forward. She lunged backwards, trying her best to avoid his hand.

She ducked when he went for her head which left him open. Aria punched her fist forward making contact with his stomach. One, two, three, and four times. Banana man flew backwards hitting the ground hard. He flipped over his back and landed on his feet, his hand lying on his stomach.

But, he was smiling.

He lunged for her again swiping his arm back and forth, up and down. She dodged with ease but – it was almost like he wasn't trying to hit her.

Then, it all came together.

"You're trying to trap me with that light thingy!" Thingy… yes that sounded very intelligent.

His smile didn't falter but she saw something flash in his eyes. "You can see it?"

She glanced around, there were ray of lights all around her. She had a feeling if she stepped into one it would do serious damage to her. She glared at banana man and pointed her finger, but not at him. She pointed near where most of the ray of light were clustered and shot a small spirit gun about a size of a volleyball. It whizzed through the air and when it made contact with the strings, it hit them with a buzz of light and then disappeared not doing any harm to the strings of light.

"So you can see them." He sounded intrigued.

"There are a lot of things I can see."

Kujou watched as the two talked. "What can she see? I don't see anything?"

"Me either," Kurama admitted as he searched the air of any signs of something out of place. He glanced at Hiei who only shook his head.

Suddenly, Yusuke stiffened. The hairs on his neck sticking straight up against his skin. He slowly turned around and looked up into the stadium, his eyes growing wide. "Oh no."

"Is that the best you can do?" Aria taunted. "Trying to ensnare me in your little light string show? Well, it's not going to work."

Banana man snickered. "Is that so? Maybe you should be more scared of my little strings, pipsqueak." He brought his hands forward, his fingers extended. Then, when his hands abruptly closed, the strings of light closed in on her giving her no time to escape. She brought her arms close to her sides, her head tilted up. The strings were almost touching her skin, if she moved an inch she would touch the strings and she wouldn't dare see what happened if she did.

She pointed her finger at the ground letting her finger glow and shot off a small spirit gun that just barely dented the ground.

"Now what do you think you are doing?" Banana man laughed. "To bad that will be the last time you'll be able to use your spirit energy. My light thingy as you put it, prevent any spiritual energy from leaking out. You're stuck and hopeless." His laugh was wicked.

"Why does everyone laugh like that when thy think they've won? I'm still here and alive, am I not?"

He smiled. "Not for long."

He walked up to Aria with his hands in his pockets again. The cocky grin from the beginning of the match already plastered back on his face. She gritted her teeth when he was face to face with her. "Do you wonder what will happen if your skin touched my strings?"

Aria spat in his face and received a disgusted look in return. "Never crossed my mind." She lied. His hand shot out and grabbed her neck, his hands passing through the strings.

"Well, you're going to figure that out soon enough."

He forced her head to tilt to the side only slightly pressing her cheek to the string of light. A sizzling noise could be heard and her right side of her face began to burn. Her teeth began to grind together but she refused to scream out from the pain.

"Ah, a high pain tolerance, I see. Won't do you much good in this situation. Maybe if you beg for your life I might let you live. Of course, much of your skin won't be in contact with your body." He laughed again. He let her neck go and laughed more.

"Aria!" Yusuke yelled. "What the hell are you doing?" He couldn't see the strings that were holding her in place.

She couldn't see him but she glared nonetheless. "You're an idiot! I can't move because I'll be cut to pieces!"

"You need to finish this now!"

"Why?"

But before Yusuke could answer another voice decided to yell. "ARIA!"

She froze. Her heart thudded so loud it was all she could hear through the horror she was going through that very second. "M-M-Mom?"

"What is wrong with you?!" Her mother walked in-between Kurama and Yusuke glaring at her daughter. Her face burning red. "You lied to me!"

Aria was sweating. Banana man was looking between the two women wondering what the hell was going on. "Hey… HEY!" he tried to get Aria's attention but it didn't work. She was more engrossed on the other woman than on him. "Hey! I'm about to kill you and you're not even paying attention."

Aria glared at him. "She scares me more than you, jackass."

He glared at her. "I'll show you." He snapped his fingers and the strings began to enclose on her. In several spots it touched her skin ad she gritted her teeth yet again trying her best not to scream out in pain.

Keiko put her hands on her mouth as she watched her daughter start to bleed in various areas of her body. Yusuke paced his hand on her shoulder to comfort her but she turned her glare to him. "How could you let our daughter join the dark tournament? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Yusuke scratched his head giving her a sheepish smile. "Well, um… I – uh, um…"

"You're babbling says it all."

"Hey! What does that supposed to mean?"

Keiko turned sharply and smacked Yusuke across the face making him fly down and smash his head against the ground. "She's our daughter, Yusuke. Why do you have the force her into doing these things."

"Hey," Aria interjected. "This has nothing to do with him. This was all me. I was the one that lied to you. I even lied to him, too."

She still glared down at Yusuke. She probably blamed him for her mischievous ways.

"Okay. I'm getting pissed." Banana man cut through the skin of Aria, blood pouring down her arm and legs.

"Damn it," she said through her teeth. She needed just a minute longer. At this rate she was going to bleed out. Everything was already starting to grow blurry.

She leaned to the right without much knowing and more pain shot through her body. She straightened her body again, her vision swimming.

"Damn it, Aria!" Yusuke yelled. "Just quit, tap out or something."

He knew very well she couldn't tap out. But he couldn't just stand there and watch his daughter bleed to death. He brought his hand up and pointed his finger at him. If he killed him they would have to run. It was a violation of the rules and the penalty was death. No one didn't stop him as he charged up, his finger glowing.

Banana man looked at him, his eyes growing wide. "You wouldn't dare."

"Stop!" Aria yelled out, getting pissed. "I have this handled."

"And how do you have this handled?" Yusuke asked aiming for Banana man's head.

"Give me twenty more seconds."

Banana man gave her a skeptical look. "And how do you thing you are going to manage to get out of this, child?"

"First off, I'm not a child." She smiled. "Second, you're are an idiot. Third," she paused dramatically just five more seconds. "AND third, I'm going to beat you like this."

Something burst through the ground, piercing through his chest. He made a small squeaking sound as he lost his breath. His blue eyes looked toward the ground. A plant was protruding right underneath him. "But…" he said while taking in deep breaths. "How…" then he remembered how she shot at the ground for no apparent reason. "That – blast, you were hiding the seed you planted. The energy…ugh… feed it and you manipulated it… ahh, but… but…" He looked over at Kurama wondering how she could manipulate plants when she wasn't an animal spirit herself. He fell to his knees, the string of light disappearing around Aria.

She stumbled forward and landed on her knees. Damn, that hurt her. She stood up slowly, dusting her knees off as she did so.

Banana man spoke, breathing in deeply. "You're a lot dangerous – then what… ugh – you let everyone else – believe." He sputtered out. "You're not human."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Duh. I am my father's daughter. Half demon."

'It's – more than that." He fell forward unconscious. She jogged up to him and rolled him onto his back. He was still breathing. She took a breath of relief. She stood up and looked at Koto. "Going to count?"

Koto nodded and began her count. Aria turned around and walked back gingerly. Her mother had her arms crossed and watched her with dagger like eyes as she made her way back slowly.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Keiko said sternly when Aria stood in front of her.

Aria scratched her head sheepishly and looked up into the stands when something caught her eye. In the stand was her friends. "Mako!" She yelled. "Miaka!" she waved at them as the two waved back as they made their way down the stairs of demons. Behind them was Yukina and Genkai. Then something hit Aria. It was so obvious. "MAKO! You told her didn't you?!"

Mako scratched his head nervously. "Well, I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret."


(Authors Note: Yes. I am finally done with chapter twelve. I have a confession to make. Well, not really a confession… but one of my bearded dragons I was trying to nurse back to health from neglectful owners died a few days ago so this chapter was delayed. Sorry if the end sounded choppy, I sort of lost the mood, been a little depressed.

Please review, I really like to know what you guys think. Also, I hope you guys got a good idea on Aria and the possibilities why she can copy so many attacks with ease. Or course, I know the real reason and it will soon be revealed! This next extra you are about to read has nothing to do with the actual story. I just thought of it one day but thought it was too stupid to actually happen in the Yu Yu Hakusho realm. You will recognize one of the moves in earlier episodes of the shows. It is extremely short, but I thought it was pretty funny.)


EXTRA

Kurama and Hiei watched as the teams of fighter duked it out in the arena. They assessed their next team they were going to fight. Both guessed on what team was going to prevail. One of the fighters had wild blue hair and matching blue eyes. He had a knack for using spells against his enemies, something the two found interesting.

"Hey!" Aria came up behind to two slapping them on their backs. Hiei growled and Kurama gave her a warm smile. "What I miss."

"Not much, this is still the first match." Kurama answered.

Aria walked over next to him and leaned against the railing. "This seems boring."

Kurama just smiled as he saw Aria reach into her pocket and pull out her iPod. She put her earphones in and began to head bang when music blasted into her ears.

Hiei shook his head wondering how anyone could distract themselves like she was. It almost left her defenseless.

The wild blue hair main began to chant something loud, something that rang through the air as he spook and dodged the attacks of his opponent.

Kurama's eyes grew wide realizing what was happening, but it was too late. Everything around them that wasn't made of flesh began to grow until they were barely six inches tall.

"What the hell!" Hiei growled out as he looked around, everything ten times bigger than what they originally were.

"It was a spell," Kurama explained, strangely calm about their situation. "Whoever hears the chant shrinks. We will grow back to normal size in five minutes."

Hiei's face grew red. This was humiliating.

Something was banging next to them. They looked over and saw a giant foot tapping rather close to them. They looked up and saw Aria was still listening to music, her eyes closed. "My heart is brrroooookkkkkeeeeeennnnnn…" she sang out rather horribly.

She opened her eyes and looked around. "Hey," she said questionably. "Where did everyone go." She felt a pinch on her foot. "OW!" she grabbed her foot and bounced away looking toward the ground to see what the hell stabbed her.

On the ground were two little small men. She bent down to her knees and examined closer. "Kurama? Hiei?" Hiei had his sword out. He must have stabbed her foot to get her attention. Her face began to grow red. Then, she burst into fits of laughter falling to her side and holding her stomach. "Look at you two!" she said through her laughter. "You're like little girly dolls!"

"I'm glad you find this amusing!" Hiei said through clenched teeth. She was going to pay for her insolence.