ME: Hehe. Violence is s much fun and it seems that I got a good reaction from the readers about the last chapter. So, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this tournament and I'm going to go into really good (but not overbearing) detail with the shorter fights. Just for the fun of it!

Hiei: I'm beginning to wonder if you like the sound of your own voice. You open all of your chapters with a long opening statement.

ME: Is there something wrong with talking to the readers?

Hiei: No, but you tend to ramble and fall from the original subject a little too easily.

ME: Damn it. I hate it when you're right. Anyway, I know these extra people in the tournament may not be as well received as some of my other ideas, but I will try to have them cause as little trouble with the storyline as possible. I'm working ahead of myself a bit to create baddies that won't screw the storyline and I've actually gotten pretty far at the moment. Hopefully this will be just fine and add a little more violence that the readers seem to love!

Hiei: You did get a lot of people applauding the violence in your reviews of the last chapter.

ME: Yep! n.n Oh and someone called you "a little fire pixy snooping through people's minds." Heh. That was pretty good.

Hiei: I don't see the interest of attacking my height relentlessly.

ME: Yeah, I did notice that everyone kept throwing shots at your height during the Dark Tournament……what's up with that? Oh well, I'm sorry for that and I'll try not to add any more than there already are. Anyway enough delay! I don't own anything but my characters! Chapter start!

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Ok. Fanfiction is getting on my nerves at the moment. They keep screwing the dang story stuff up and I'm tired of trying to fix it. So earlier chapters will stay the freaking same, but from now on I'll try to make stuff easier to read. I apologize for any confusion. Sorry

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Chapter 12: Low-Lives And Flames and Drunkards, Oh my!

"I think I'll take the next one," Kurama said as he moved forward to take his place in the ring. I smiled and crossed my arms at the memory of what was going to happen to this idiot who thought he could beat Kurama with cheap trickery. Normally, I had to admit that some trickery was pretty well played, but what was going to happen here was just flat out pathetic.

"This is going to be fun to watch," I whispered quietly as Roto and Kurama began their face off.

Roto looked over at Kurama as he stood in front of him and said with a cocky tone of voice, "Rinku's a sharp but honest fighter. Not me. I prefer the easy way." The more dangerous way was more along those lines in my opinion. Especially since he was going against Kurama. If I didn't know what he was going to do to Kurama's mother, I would've felt sorry for him because his opponent was far beyond his league.

"Kurama," Hiei said causing the red-haired kitsune to look back at him with a confident face, "Don't pull any punches out there. They gotta think twice about fighting us again."

"I know," was the calm reply that Kurama gave us as he turned to face Roto.

"Hey…somethin' I've been wonderin'…where does Kurama keep his Rose Whip?" Kuwabara asked looking at us curiously.

It was silent for a moment and everyone expected Hiei to answer him, but the apparition was still giving me a steady side-glare full of suspicion about what I had said earlier. Finally, Hiei took his piercing side-glare off of me and replied, "In a simple rosebud. In his hands, any plant's a weapon. He can turn a weed along the street into a razor-sharp blade stronger than steel."

"Personally, that's a force I wouldn't want to go against. There are plants almost anywhere at any give time. He could attack you and you wouldn't be able to tell which plant he used to do it," I mused shaking my head as Koto announced that the second match was to begin.

"I hear you live with a human. Hard for me to figure. You got the "family" thing goin' there?" Roto sneered at Kurama who just remained silent. I balled my fist in anger and bit down on my lip. There was absolutely nothing wrong with having a family that you loved dearly and would do anything for! If there was one thing that I'd never agree with demons about, it was the view they had on families and feelings such as love. Maybe it was because I had just become a demon by being thrown into this world, but not loving my family was something that I couldn't even begin to imagine. Love wasn't weakness! When were they going to learn this?! I stayed completely silent as Roto brought out his weapon on his arm and lunged at Kurama saying, "You'd be sad if this human died, eh?!"

"A weasel with a sickle," Kurama muttered as he dodged Roto's attacks with the slightest effort imaginable. I stared in awe as Kurama made a complete fool out of Roto and dodged through the attacks like it was a mere walk in the park. The skill level between the two was perfectly clear and Roto was looking stupid compared to Kurama in the fight. Kurama suddenly dodged to the side and made it all the way behind Roto without anyone noticing. He brought his hand back to land the final hit on Roto and said, "You're adequate, but little else. I'll end this quickly."

"I own your mother's life, Shuichi Minamino," Roto hissed causing Kurama to instantly freeze and stop the attack. Roto spun around with his weapon gleaming and Kurama leapt back in time to miss the full force of the blow, but his surprise had cost him. When he stopped moving and stood calmly before us all, we saw the wound on Kurama's cheek that was bleeding down the side of his face. It wasn't too deep, but Roto managed to catch him just the right way with the edge of his weapon to cause a small stream of blood to come down his face. Kuwabara and Hiei leaned forward slightly as they both expressed surprise that Kurama had slowed down. I stared coldly at Roto as he brought out the button he was using against Kurama, "Heh heh…see this? My familiars are stalking your mom, and they'll devour her if I press this switch! Being such a devoted "son" you wouldn't like that. Heh heh heh."

Kurama stared at Roto for a moment with an unfathomable expression on his face and then straightened up with his hands at his side. Kuwabara tensed beside me and I leaned forward trying to read Kurama's eyes. I knew that he wasn't very happy with what just happened, but I actually wanted to read the emotions that you never saw in the anime and manga. We imagined that they were there, but because of the fact that it was just an anime and manga, we didn't see the raw emotion that was there. Even though Kurama made his entire form become absolutely calm, I saw anger flash through Kurama's eyes for a second and then return to the emotionless cold eyes he'd use to scare Roto.

"Heh heh heh heh…I see you get my drift. Kurama, you human lover you!" Roto shouted suddenly lunging forward and punching Kurama away from him. Kurama tossed the pebble at his face and I narrowed my eyes trying to catch Kurama planting the seed of the Deadly Vetch in Roto's body. Kurama was too fast for me and I didn't managed to see the seed itself, but I did see Kurama hand twitch slightly as if he was ready to let it grow at that current moment. Roto looked to see the pebble and laughed, "A little pebble? A modest show of defiance? Well, forget it! No more, not even a pebble's worth! Clasp your hands behind you! You're my punching bag, got it?! Got it, punk?!"

My ears twitched in annoyance as Kurama emotionlessly put his arms behind his back. I grit my teeth slightly and muttered, "That fugly bastard likes to hear his own voice, doesn't he? It's a darn shame he doesn't know the death sentence he just signed."

"Ooh, scary. Okay, fight me if you want, but you do and I'll push the button, I guarantee," Roto said catching the look that Kurama was giving him. Hiei and I instantly knew that Kurama was just biding his time until he felt that he was ready to slaughter Roto ruthlessly in front of the entire stadium. I sighed slightly and crossed my arms tightly over my chest. It was only a matter of time. Roto walked forward to stop right in front of Kurama and said, "Heh…but you won't fight will you? You're such a sweet li'l momma's boy. You might sever my left arm with your whip, but the fingers might flinch and…Press! Heh heh heh heh…Right, punk?!"

Roto then proceeded to throw unfair punches at Kurama as he stood there calmly. I dug my nails into my arms in agitation and found great relief that Kurama would show this low-life how far he really pushed it. I couldn't stand the fact the demons, and people, like Roto used such things against their enemies. If there was one thing I believed in with fighting that if someone couldn't make it on their own they shouldn't have put themselves in that position anyway. I knew that there was a possibility of me not standing against my enemies, but I would never resort to such trickery to win. Then again…that was another human sentiment.

"Indeed. You're full of such sentiments aren't you?" Hiei asked causing me to flinch slightly.

"…are you going to tell them?" I asked curiously trying to think of some way to get out of the trouble I was in. The only way I thought of was ending up dead and that was something I was trying to avoid. So, in short, I was screwed.

"Hn," Hiei answered causing me to look back at Roto using Kurama as a punching bag. It made me wonder about how the group would react to me supposedly being human even though it's clear I'm a demon here. How would they react to finding out that I came from a completely different world and they were just characters in a storyline someone made up? I couldn't even imagine. I know that if anyone told me that I'd tell them to go to someone else and tell them that. I wouldn't give them a chance and probably think they were crazy. Isn't that what anyone would do? Would the group be the same?

I was suddenly brought out of my thoughts by Roto growling at Kurama and putting his sword right under Kurama's eye. Roto looked at him suspiciously and said, "That look in your eye…I don't like it. Look scared, punk. Got it?"

Kurama stared at Roto completely calm and Roto became unnerved by the cold look in Kurama's eyes. A nervous sweat began beading at his face and Roto slashed Kurama's cheek saying, "STOP lookin' at me like that!!"

I flinched as I watched Kurama's blood spray on the arena floor and drip off the edge of Roto's blade. I leaned forward slightly and tried to read Kurama's thoughts through his eyes. The next thing that I knew was that my entire body went cold and goose bumps ran across my arms. Kurama's eyes were cold and seemed like endless pits of ice. Kurama wasn't going to give this fool anymore slack and I could only imagine how much pain Roto would be in when Kurama finally chose to attack him. Roto tried to keep his composure as he looked at Kurama and said, "Now I'm in a real bad mood. You'd better do somethin' about it…or else. Bow down and lick my shoe. Once it's clean, I'll cut your head off. After that, maybe I won't press the button. That's my offer. Can you refuse? Course not. Your mommy's life's on the line. Heh, heh, heh."

"Bastard," I hissed quietly through my teeth, "Using Kurama's mother against him like this. I wish I could show him what respect looks like."

"I doubt you'd get far with this one," Genkai said quietly to me. "He'd just find something else to use against you because that's the only way he fights."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't have anyone that can be used against here. He'd have to use a weakness that he sees in battle because I don't have any outside influences he'd be able to use," I replied looking at Kurama as he glared Roto down. Genkai remained silent and I watched at Kurama made his move.

"I refuse."

"Come again?" Roto asked in a disbelieving manner.

"Enough. Push the button," Kurama replied dusting himself off from taking Roto's beating. He was completely calm and if I didn't already know what he was going to do, I'd be bouncing on the balls of my heels.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…Did I hear you right? Push the button?! You hypocrite, you're no different from us after all! This is all it takes for you to go demonic again!" Roto shouted laughing at Kurama.

"You have no idea exactly how demonic he'll go on you, you pathetic excuse for a living creature. This is what happens when you mess with someone you cannot fully understand. Although, I have to thank him for the lesson. Now, I'll know never to underestimate the unknown," I muttered very quietly not thinking of what Hiei and Genkai would think if they heard me. As it stood I was already in for explaining later and I would just think of a way out when it happened. I wasn't procrastinating on making an answer because I knew I'd make a more believable one when I was under the pressure of their stares, or in Hiei's case, glares.

"Heh, heh, heh! Fine, I'll push it! We're all bloodthirsty demons here, right!" I had half a mind to say "not me," but I kept my tongue bit between my teeth. Roto moved to press the button, but his body suddenly stopped moving and he stared at Kurama in surprised fear. He tired to move and gasped, "Can't…move…my hand…"

"I'll repeat what I've said so often before, that what seems the easy way out is usually the most dangerous. You tried coercion, so I countered it by planting a Deadly Vetch seed on you. The roots have spread through your body, immobilizing you," Kurama said wiping the blood off the side of his face as Roto finally realized what happened and when Kurama had planted it. A stunned silence entered the arena as Kurama looked calmly at Roto and said, "When I say a certain word, the plant will grow at an explosive rate. I enjoy facing lowlifes like you. It allows me to be as brutal as I want."

"NO! Don't sink to my level! I like nice guys! I do! I was just kid-" Roto began to panic and beg for his life, but Kurama merely turned his back on Roto and looked over his shoulder to say one bone chilling word that was covered in ice.

"Die."

Roto's scream echoed through the air as plants began to burst out of every part of Roto's body. Buds broke through his arms and leaves came out of his chest like Spring had been put on fast forward. Kurama wasn't kidding when he said the plants would grow at an explosive rate and before Roto could even realize it, he was dead. Kurama looked back with a softer look and said, "Ironic that the lowest of knave's blood grows the loveliest flowers."

I had to admit that he wasn't wrong there. The flowers themselves were actually really pretty to look at and I could already smell their soft scent drift through the air. It just made them repulsive to me since I knew exactly where they came from and I had to look elsewhere until they got rid of Roto's body. Kurama made his way down out of the ring and roars from the audience almost drowned out Koto saying, "Kurama's come up with a win for the Urameshi Team!!"

"As expected, the familiars took off once their master expired," Hiei said messing with the bandana over his third-eye.

"So you noticed," Kurama said stepping level with us.

I made a small sound in the back of my throat and muttered quietly, "That was an…interesting way to put it. Expired… more that slaughtered…although he deserved ever bit of it."

"That idiot had no idea who he was dealing with," Hiei answered smugly. Then he looked over at me and said, "Be sure you don't make the same mistake."

"Understood," I answered quietly to him.

"Next Contestants!" Koto shouted causing a sudden power surge to hit all of us. We turned to look at the ring curiously and there was Zeru standing there with his stare of ice. Chills hit my spine as I looked at him and I barely heard Koto shout, "Team Urameshi! Your next contender, please!"

"I thought he was the team captain," Kurama muttered thoughtfully.

"Meaning those other two are tougher'n him?!" Kuwabara nearly wet himself.

"No," Hiei said immediately calling all of our attention on him. He smirked slightly and continued, "He's definitely the powerhouse of that team. Like most teams, they probably drew lots for fight order."

"Which basically means we're late," I mused smiling slightly. Hiei's ignored me and continued as though I hadn't said anything.

"I'll take him. I want to get back at him for making fools of us yesterday," Hiei said taking the cloth off around his throat. Hiei calmly dropped it on the ground and no one noticed that it fell on my foot. I moved so I couldn't drip blood on it from the worst wound on my leg, but Hiei quietly said, "Leaving that wound unattended for too long could result in a worse experience."

I quietly understood and reached down to pick up the cloth. I began wrapping it around the wound and was careful to make sure nothing happened while I did. Kuwabara took notice of what I was doing and came over saying, "Hey, are you sure he won't get bent out of shape about you doing that?"

"If he does, he can just get over it. This wound hasn't stopped bleeding yet," I said finishing it and straightening up to look at him. I smiled and said, "No worries though. I didn't take as much of a beating as you did. I just got knocked around a bit and used as a pincushion…nothing compared to you."

"If you say so," he replied looking at the fight.

"I see you use flames," Hiei was saying as he stood calming in front of Zeru. Hiei looked at him confidently and continued, "I checked that cup. It looked like it had been sliced up by a blade, but the edges were melted. You lack refinement." OUCH! BURN! No pun intended.

"What's it matter? I don't take criticism from a belly-crawlin', evil-eyed rodent," Zeru said effectively making my annoyance shoot up at an obvious rate. I didn't like it when people made fun of my friends back home and I even got into a fight with one girl because she called my friend fat. Now, I was livid with what Zeru called Hiei and considering I actually respected the Jagan-user (not like a fan girl either!), I was pissed that someone would show such disrespect. Then again, it also made it clear that there were huge differences between the way I've learned to fight through Judo and this. In Judo, you always respected you're opponent. No matter who won or lost, the respect between the fighters was always shown on the mat as well as off the mat. Here you took cheap shots and attacked your opponent with the intent of pushing them not only physically past their breaking point but mentally as well.

Zeru powered himself up and made his fiery aura explode all around the ring. Koto was blown back by the power, but Hiei stood calmly where he was at and looked at Zeru with absolutely no emotion on his face. Kuwabara stepped back away from the aura and I took a breath to overcome the heat that suddenly hit me. After a moment, I was fine and watched Zeru get cocky, "Impressed? You should be! A mouse like you could never in his whole life summon this much aura."

"Enough talk," Hiei said in disinterest, "Move."

Hiei stood perfectly still as Zeru looked at him and then before anyone could see what happened he had disappeared. No one could even take a breath before he reappeared and stabbed his flaming hand through Hiei's stomach. Hiei looked slightly stunned as he was thrown back away from Zeru and then engulfed by the demon's flames. Only the faint silhouette of Hiei's body was recognizable through the flames and he slammed onto the ground with a thud. Kurama was completely stunned at what just happened to his friend and Kuwabara couldn't believe that Hiei was defeated so easily. Genkai seemed slightly disappointed that he was defeated so easily and Yusuke still stayed in his oblivious slumber. I stared over at Hiei's supposedly burning body and wondered if he was going to get back up. I knew from the storyline that he got up and kicked ass, but…what if something had changed? What if Zeru had hit him at a different more dangerous angle? Would he still get right back up? What would happen then?

"Heh. Hardly worth gettin' out of bed for that," Zeru said looking cockily over at us. I tensed slightly knowing that he planned on killing the rest of us off, but I immediately relaxed at the sight behind him. I smiled at him and watched in amusement as Hiei stood behind him with the flames still going around his body. Zeru glared at me wanting to know what I found so entertaining and I merely looked behind him waiting for him to realize who was behind him.

"You're not bad. Pity I have to kill you. However…" Hiei began in a very smug tone. Zeru froze in his place and threw his head over his shoulder to stare at him in fearful surprise.

"Y-you withstood my demonic fire? Impossible!" Zeru said clearly afraid of Hiei's power.

"Heh," Hiei gave a snort of contempt, "You now know otherwise. Rejoice! To you goes the honor of being the first in the human world to fall to the Blazing Fist of the Overlord!!"

"I sure as hell wouldn't want that honor. He can have it," I muttered as Kurama realized Hie's full intentions.

"Blazing Fist of the Overlord! A martial art forbidden in the human world. It's meant ONLY for the demon plane!" Kurama said causing Kuwabara to pale beside him.

"Well, Hiei wants to show a little rebellion against that rule. So long as he doesn't point that arm at me, I say more power to him. He's the one that said he'd pick up any slack there was and this is a way to do it," I said looking at the flames that were now turning black around Hiei's arm. I leaned in slightly and found that I wanted to see Hiei's dragon. The Black Dragon could easily kill anyone it touched and I knew that if it touched me I'd never see my family again, but at the same time I wanted to see exactly what Hiei's ace was in person. It was amazing to watch in the anime and I knew that it'd be even more mind blowing in person. I was itching with anticipation.

"I admit, I haven't completely tamed it!! But I will, in very short order!" Hiei said bringing up his arm for everyone to notice the distinct shapes that seemed to be flowing away from his arm.

"Who's he trying to reassure? "Haven't completely tamed it?" I'm a little worried now," I said looking at Kurama. The kitsune nodded and we looked to see his death finally sinking into Zeru.

"My right arm should be enough for this. I'm afraid my control is meager…" Hiei began pouring more power into his arms and flames suddenly erupted all around him. His shirt was burned off of his chest and I nearly fell into a fan-girl state just looking at the muscles. I shook the stupor off and saw all the flames became darker and far fiercer. I stepped back as the feeling of when Hiei's used his third-eye washed over me once gain. Except this time it was worse than it ever was before and I stumbled back even more. All that training we had done didn't even seem to have helped me. Kurama steadied me and I looked at Hiei's third-eye thinking about how much power he was generating. I needed to remember how much he was giving out and how badly it was affecting me. Hiei looked back at me for a moment before meeting Zeru's eyes once again continuing, "See? This is real pyromancy…true evil that your match-play lacks! You scoffed at my evil eye…and that's something you'll regret!"

"Wait…You can't…!!" Zeru shouted stepping away from Hiei.

"It's going over the top here! Even I, your commentator, have decided to take cover!" Koto shouted as I stabled myself away from Kurama. I looked into Hiei's eyes and then watched him reach his hand back to attack Zeru.

"Here it comes! Black Dragon Hellfire!!" Hiei shouted as he unleashed the Black Dragon on the completely helpless Zeru. Flames encased his entire body and we were all thrown back at the sheer power of the impact. I fell against the grass as pain shot through my leg and black flames exploded around the ring. Everyone-except me-shielded themselves from the flames and didn't see Zeru get pinned against the wall. I watched in awe as his entire body was incinerated and his form was burnt into the wall. Then the dragon began to fade and I pushed myself up to see Hiei looking over at me. I gave him a thumbs up and he returned his attention back to the form that once was Zeru. Absolutely everything was silent as the smoke slowly cleared away and everyone looked back to see what had happened.

"Damn. Hiei's one powerful SOB," I heard Kuwabara mutter quietly as he got up from where he had been thrown down. Kurama held his hand out to me and helped me to my feet. I looked down at the wound on my leg and noticed it started bleeding badly once again. Thank god Hiei let me use the cloth to wrap it up or it really might've become infected. We turned back to look at Hiei and saw him waiting for Koto to get up from her hiding spot.

"It was over in a flash," Kurama said looking calmly at the spot where Zeru's body was burned into the wall.

"I'm glad I didn't see the guy gettin' singed. That would've been bad," Kuwabara said shaking his head at Zeru.

"Not really. He didn't even know what hit him. He only made a sound when he was slammed against the wall, but then he just burned in complete silence with a stunned look on his face," I said looking at Kuwabara who stared at me in awe. I turned my attention back to the ring and noticed Koto's little fox ears appear over the edge. She looked around warily before standing up and seeing where Hiei's attention was. She followed his eyes and nearly froze in her tracks.

"Oh my…the wall…" she gasped upon seeing the scorch mark.

"I incinerated his human world aspect. Start the count," Hiei stated looking smug.

"Oh! I…I think we'll just skip that! Whew! The…the winner-Hiei!!" Koto announced causing a near riot to break out among the spectators.

"See that, ya punks!! Even gypped in the first round, we're up three to one!!" Kuwabara shouted confidently at the audience. He was met with various sounds from the audience, but he ignored them to contemplate exactly how powerful Hiei really was, "Not that it's a heckuva lotta comfort. What Hiei just did…what he can do…if he decided to turn on us now…"

Hiei silently made his way towards us with his hands in his pockets and his eyes thoughtfully focused on the ground in front of him. He sensed Kuwabara's eyes on him and looked out of the corner of his eyes at the fighter. Kuwabara gulped and paled at the eye contact. Hiei looked slightly amused, but-to some degree-attempted to be reassuring as he said, "Calm down. Once I pick a side, I stick with it. My Blazing Fist of the Overlord needs work, anyway."

"It's good to know that you don't just side with the strongest. Besides, even if your Blazing Fist needs work its pretty freakin' impressive," I said looking at Hiei as I gave him a thumbs up. He looked at me shaking his head slightly and stood beside me.

"You're still heavily affected by the Jagan. Do you think you can stand against it?" Hiei asked as I looked over at Yusuke remembering that he'd be waking up soon.

"I dunno," I replied looking at him dead in the eyes. My tone remained completely serious and I continued, "Yours is pretty powerful and I haven't even really seen too much of Morte's. As it stands, I might be in over my head. Besides, you weren't even using the Jagan on me and I barely could stand without Kurama supporting me. That's not a good sign at all."

"Hn," was his only reply and we refocused our attention on the rest of our opposing team as they began to freak out.

"That's enough for us. We want out!!" one guys said freaking out.

"We came to kill for fun…an' fun this ain't!!" the other finished as they both began to run for their lives. They didn't manage to get far however before a blur came up and their heads were sent flying through the air. Blood spurted out of their necks as their useless bodies feel to the ground and a pair of feet to land on the ground of the ring. The ungodly scent of alcohol hit my nose and I stumbled backwards covering my nose. Kurama made a noise of distaste in the back of his throat and I moved back beside Hiei once I managed to overcome the smell.

"Man this guy is going to kill himself with booze," I muttered as all the others-including Genkai-nodded in agreement. We watched him throw the blood off of his arms and walk over to Koto with a small smile on his face.

"Fun's best when it's spiked wit' danger. These yeller swine-dogs spoiled m' buzz," Chu said walking forward moving the toothpick between his lips. He walked right near Koto and glanced over all of us for a moment as Rinku called out to his teammate in surprise. After Chu inspected each of us he turned to Koto and said, "Hey girlie, we got two deaths b' "accident." What's the rules say 'bout that?"

"Each team gets one alternate…that's it. Circumstances don't matter. Y-You'll have to go on with whomever you have left!! And no forfeits allowed!" Koto stuttered into the microphone as she began shaking. Chu's presence clearly unsettled her and she wasn't exactly sure if she was ok standing where she was.

"Hmm…that's fine. So it's me agains' their last two, huh? Interestin'…" Chu said thoughtfully as he looked over our group once again. His attention fell on Genkai and she merely looked at him with emotionless eyes.

"His aura's not much, but there's something…" Kuwabara mused as we all suddenly heard a little noise near us. We looked around and saw Yusuke was awake and blinking away the sleep from his eyes.

"Whoo! Who's been boozin'? That stench could raise the dead and kill 'em over again!" Yusuke said cleaning his ear with his pinky. I smiled at him shaking my head and noticed Kurama looking at him seriously. Yusuke looked over all of us and then looked at me saying, "Rin, were you the first one up fightin'?"

"Yeah. Why, Yusuke?" I answered looking at him curiously.

"Who were you fighting? I swear I heard her wailing breaking my eardrums in my sleep. It sounded like you were killin' her slowly and painfully with all that noise," he said causing me to anime fall and Kuwabara start cracking up. Kurama chuckled softly and Hiei couldn't help but get an evil smile that agreed.

"Her name was Siren," I answered straightening up and barely keeping myself from smiling.

"…That explains a lot of stuff that I would rather forget," Yusuke replied looking away shaking his head. I laughed and then we looked over at Chu who was standing there with his hands at his sides.

"Hey, yuh finally woke up! All nice an' rested? Y'better hope so!" Chu hiccupped as Yusuke began cracking his knuckles. I heard the shout from his mother and looked up to see all of them looking at us curiously. Keiko had clear worry on her face, Yusuke's mother was blissfully ignorant, Botan was wishing Yusuke luck, and Shizuru stood completely emotionless as usual.

"C'mon! Le's GO! I wanna win it all quick, then get down t' sum serious drinkin'!" Chu said biting down on the toothpick in his mouth. I shook my head and tried to imagine how many drinks Chu had already downed before coming into the fight. He really was going to drown himself in beer or some other kind of alcoholic drink.

"A man with a plan, eh? Leave 'im to me. I could use some light exercise after that nap," Yusuke said stepping in front of Genkai as if she was itching to jump into the fight. The old woman just looked up at him in silence and allowed the combat junkie to walk forward onto the ring.

"Urameshi's finally woken up!!"

"Yeah!! To his worst nightmare!"

"Kill 'im, Chu!!"

"Tear him limb by limb!"

"KILL HIM!!"

These were just a few shouts from the audience that broke out all around us. Their roars got louder and louder causing my head to start pounding painfully. I closed one eye wishing for quiet and watched as Yusuke and Chu refused to break eye contact and loose their smiles. Hiei watched them saying, "It's all bark and no bite. Yusuke doesn't even notice."

"Yer right. He looks ready. We're kickin' butt now, it's almost a joke," Kuwabara mused confidently. Hiei looked at him like he was a moron, but stopped when I put my hand on his shoulder and shook my head. He decided to let it slide and I looked over at Kurama and his thoughts about the situation we were in. I remembered the thoughts going through his mind and looked worriedly at Hiei's arm. I saw the singe marks all over and instantly thought of how much pain it had to cause him.

"Hiei…how bad is your arm?" I whispered so only he could hear me.

Hiei looked at me for a moment and I saw it in his eyes. The pain was almost unbearable, but Hiei refused to let any of us know how bad his arm really hurt him. I froze at the thought and he said, "It's fine."

"…Ok…" I said deciding not to push it further. He'd have to admit to it later and I knew it. So I turned to the ring and watched Chu look over Yusuke.

"You call this light exercise…" as soon as the last syllable escaped his mouth, Chu disappeared from all of our sight and we all nearly freaked out. How did someone that big just disappear like that?! It was surprising to see someone that size have that kind of speed. You just wouldn't think it was possible! Chu suddenly reappeared just beside Koto and had her microphone in his hand. We all stood in complete awe as he said, "Lemme borrow this. Testin', testin'..."

"Mrrow?! How'd he do that?!" Koto nearly freaked as she looked at the huge figure looming beside her.

"Before the fight…I wanna make one thing perfec'ly clear! And it ain't t' say, 'Can I call you bro'?' I lost at rock-paper-scissors!! So don' go thinkin' I'm sum kinda lightweight!!" Chu shouted angrily into the microphone causing the entire place to go silent. It was like you could hear a pin drop as the audience tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with Chu besides being drunk. Personally, I was with them all the way. Sure Chu was a pretty fun guy and one of my favorite characters, but I swore on everything I had that there was something seriously wrong with him!

Koto whipped a spare microphone out of nowhere and turned it on saying, "Ahem! I'll explain that! The Jolly Devil Six decided their fight order and their alternate by rock-paper-scissors…So Chu's saying he's and alternate by procedure and not degree of prowess! In fact, he's the deadliest of the Jolly Devil Six!"

"Darn Tootin'!!"

"Except…he's drunk as usual!" Rinku sighed causing all of us to sweatdrop. Kurama pushed his pointer finger into his forehead and refused to look at Chu.

"Moron," Kuwabara growled looking at Chu like he was the dumbest person in the world.

"That's not even half of it," Hiei and I said in unison. We looked at each other in surprise and immediately looked away. My face turned red and Hiei gave off a slightly startled air. The moment was cut short as Yusuke pulled off his coat and smiled like a moron himself.

"Okay, I get the picture. Let's do it!" Yusuke said completely pumped for the fight that was coming up.

"Whoa, bud!! Yer not buyin' it! I ain't trashin' no one whose guard is down!! So here's a straight warnin-I use the Drunken Fist!! The drunker I am, the stronger I gits! My unsteady moves make my enemiesh think I ain't all there!! So don' be takin' in, get me?!" Chu shouted at Yusuke to make him understand that he was a hell of a lot stronger than he was currently acting like. I think Yusuke already knew that fact for himself and wasn't really worried about the fight himself. Rinku on the other hand fell over in embarrassment at his comrade's actions. I honestly couldn't blame him. Chu would definitely be hard to take seriously for more than one reason. First of all the drinking just makes him seem like he didn't give a damn. Another thing was the way he talked when he was drunk and sober. He just didn't seem like he meant what he said all the time. It must be hard for him and his teammates to be taken seriously sometimes because of these little facts.

"Right…but hey…the drunken fist ain't no big shakes. You've got something special up your sleeve. Otherwise this fight would hardly be worth the trouble, eh?" Yusuke said looking at him with a confident smile. He knew full well that Chu wasn't messing with him and he wasn't going to be caught off guard in this fight.

"Yer cool…I like that. Don' get opponents like you ev'ry day. This could be fun," Chu said as his aura began to flow around him and he began gliding around the ring while Yusuke stood completely still. His movements were quick and agile making it seem like he was just gliding around the ring. I blinked in awe and leaned forward to watch it all. Chu's aura was a strange thing and Yusuke stood completely calm against it making me turned green-eyed with envy.

"Kill! BEGIN!!" Koto shouted initiating the official start of the fight.

--

ME: Jeeze. Typing all of Chu's dialogue was a pain. Having to make it exactly like it is in the manga is so freaking hard considering I've been writing papers for school. Getting his drunkard talk right sucked!

Hiei: You know as well as I that you didn't mind it. Quit complaining.

ME: (sigh) Yes sir. Alright people so that's the end of this chappie! I hope you liked it and drop some reviews please! Peace out! (Off to go to sleep which I haven't had much of lately.)