A/N: OH MY GOSH, I HAVE SO MANY REVIEWS! -keels over and dies from shock-
Chibi-Sabrina-chan: -magically POOFS- I will take over, then! For I am the new muse of Sabrina-san!
-coughs- OK, as of my older form is hyperventilating right now, I am taking her spot for the moment. Right now is the bash, where the King has finally made his entrance into the story (and introduced himself)! In this chapter-- the King's name will finally be revealed!
Team Kaleo: FULL
1. Chi Koen Koe
2. Kurai Momoko
3. Kage Kancho
4. Hotaru Ikuhara
5. Renee
Team Hitokiri: full.
1. Ai Satsugikitsune
2. Allie
3. Ender
4. Z Kaitah
5. Ohime Yakusoku
Team Reform:
1. Kurama
2. Hiei
3. Kuwabara
4. Yukina (SHOCK!)
5. OPEN! Still nobody. Send in the characters; though they won't be appearing for a while, just look at the team stats to see if you got the job every chapter or so.
Team Fugishima:
1. Akira Fugishima
2. LanLan
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
Team TianLung Feng:
1. Shira Trusea
2. Thomas Maximillian
3. Maridona Nightshade
4. Toki Ukiya
5.
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Alianore stared in shock at the King, whom she had never seen personally her entire life, and yet had been brought up to dislike him immensely. This scrawny, raven-haired boy was surely not the King of Demons, was he?
"I'm Yusuke," he responded coolly, not even fazed in the slightest by Alia or Kay's reactions. "You're Alianore, yes? I believe we've already met."
Alianore nodded slowly; she remembered going to have dinner at the King's house in Reikai-- only she couldn't recall anything about that night. Too much sake had caused her a case of memory loss that night.
The King shrugged, tilting the glass in his hand. He let the last drop of sake fall into his mouth, then stood. "I hope you make it to the finals," he said to Alianore, his tone dismissive, "and tell Botan I said hello." Finished speaking, he turned and melted amongst the crowd.
Alia stared after him, motionless. This had been the King of Demons, this raven-haired Yusuke. Something clicked into place in the back of her mind. Black dots swirled before her eyes. She stumbled-- did she stumble? She must have, because the floor was rushing up to greet her, the black tiles of the bar floor connecting with her face.
"Alia?" she heard someone call. "Alia!"
"Shut up," she groaned, the sound of their voice pounding on her head, "you're giving me a headache."
"Yukina-san!" shouted another voice that sounded suspiciously like Mar-lo's. Alianore wished more than anything at the moment she could have kicked his face in to get him to go away, but her legs felt like stone weights and she could no longer lift them off the floor.
The voices stopped abruptly. The music of the bar stopped playing. And there was nothing but blackness.
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Alianore opened her eyes sometime later to find her head slumped over on someone's shoulder. She sat up abruptly, raking her claws up against the face of the nearest person.
Long blue hair whipped in her face as the head of the person she had hit spun around in shock. Someone grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted her head around to face them.
A tanned girl with emerald-green eyes glared in her face. Her fingers dug into Alia's shoulders, causing her to wince. The girl's eyes were aflame with anger. "Don't you ever, ever hit any of my teammates again, do you hear me, bitch!"
"Calm down, Allie," came another blue-haired demon from behind. He rested his hand on Allie's shoulder, causing Allie to release Alianore.
Allie growled, tossing her long golden hair behind her. "Yeah...whatever." The blue-haired demon smirked, and extended his hand to Alianore.
"I'm Ender," he introduced. "This is Allie," Allie growled again, "and the guy you just knocked the shit out of was Z."
Alianore turned, bewildered, not realizing she had hit anyone. A male kitsune demon stared back at her, his big blue eyes blinking while he rubbed his cheek. He looked more like a girl than he did a guy-- he had long blue hair hanging in a loose ponytail behind him, and big blue fox ears drooped down by his eyes. He was dressed in clothes at least two sizes too big for his thin frame. A silky blue tail sat curled around him, twitching nervously. He gave Alianore a small wave and turned away to wipe the blood off the side of his face.
Ender cocked his head and looked at Alianore with interest. His wispy blue hair hung to the side as he tilted his head, showing the asteris mark on his forehead. It glowed slightly as he tried peering into Alianore's mind.
Alia felt the presence of him gently probing her mind for answers, and she shut him out, knocking him off his feet. Allie advanced towards her again, screaming, "What did I JUST tell you?"
This time Allie was held back by a silver-haired woman. Allie turned to glare, but her expression softened slightly as she recognized the demoness holding her back. The silver-haired demoness smiled, her pale lips turning up slightly in an effort. She lifted her milky white hand from Allie's tanned shoulders and seemed to float over to Z, who was discarding a bandage he'd used on his face but had fallen off. She touched his face lightly and the scratch was gone, his face whole again.
"Ohime-sama," Ender greeted, bowing respectfully. The silver-haired demoness acknowledged him with a nod and another soft smile, before turning and leaving the room, her silver yukata flowing behind her.
Allie growled from the corner. "I could have taken her," she muttered to Ender, clenching her fists. Ender rolled his eyes, leaving the violent Allie to her own thoughts.
Alianore snickered. It was obvious who the older of the two was here.
Ender answered her thought before she had a chance to finish. "Actually, Allie's the older one," he smiled, rolling up his sleeves, "I'm actually a couple hundred years behind her. I'm just at a more mature stage than Allie, that's all."
Allie's throbbing forehead was visible feet away. "WHAT WAS THAT? Ender!" She slid up to him, her hands on her hips and her teeth grinding angrily. She glared death at him.
He poked her in the stomach, causing her to giggle, where he took the advantage to slip away and help Alianore off the floor. "Gomen," he apologized for Allie. "She doesn't really mean anything she says."
"WHO SAYS SO?" Allie roared from the floor, where she'd sat down to get a better view of the room. Ender shook his head.
Z spoke up, his voice soft and almost incoherent. "When is Ai-sama coming back?"
Alianore looked over: this was the first time she'd heard him speak at all.
Allie saved the sudden silence that had begun to creep over them. "She'll be back later, that's all I heard. Ohime-sama told me she'd be back after going to visit Ryu-chan."
A cord struck Alianore. This wasn't her team. Ryu was part of her team. Where was she? Who were these people?
Ender sensed her thoughts of confusion. "Oh, gomen, I guess we forgot to tell you; you blacked out at the bash, and Mar-lo dropped you off with Ohime-sama. We're Team Hitokiri, in case you didn't know."
"Hito-kiri..." she muttered. She'd heard the name before. It sounded so...familiar. Except she couldn't recall where she could have possibly heard of them.
"Our captain is Ryu Shoku's older sister," Allie informed her, not requiring Ender's assistance in being able to answer questions before they were spoken aloud this time. "Ai Satsugitsune."
"Doesn't ring a bell," Alianore replied.
"We're not exactly on speaking terms," answered a voice. Another kitsune came traipsing down the stairs, sporting regular ningen clothes even though they were in Maikai and could wear whatever they pleased. This kitsune was more outspoken then Z, as Alianore could tell just from the way she walked. She swung her hips and sailed down the rest of the stairs on the banister. Long silver-streaked black hair flashed in the light, illuminating her silver ears and tail. She landed on top of Z, whom she kissed on the cheek.
Z blushed violently. "Erm...hello, Ai-san."
Ai grinned brightly at him, standing up and offering him her hand to help him up. "Hi Z!" Next she walked over and kissed Ender on the cheek as well; though he did not turn as red as Z had. She greeted him just as warmly.
She hugged Allie hesitantly, not exactly willing to flirt as much with someone of the same sex. Allie shoved her off. "Get off me, crazy onna."
Ai shrugged and turned to Alianore. "Who's our new girl?"
Alia opened her mouth to speak. Ender interrupted, saying, "Ai, this is Alianore, Alianore, Ai. She's from Team Ukishima."
"So what's she doing here?" Ai asked suspiciously, arching her thin eyebrows. "She's not with Hotaru-san, is she?"
"Hotaru-san?" Alianore inhaled sharply. Hotaru-san was the King's pet. What would she be doing here?
Ai nodded. "Yeah; Ikuhara Hotaru, Koe, Momoko, Kancho, Renee. Kaleo Team. So then you're with Ryu, yes?"
"More or less." Alia shrugged.
"How'd you get here?" Ai demanded.
"Mar-lo brought her," Ender answered.
Ai's eyebrows bent down. "Damn him." she muttered. She folded her arms for a minute. "Well, just make sure you go back to your team-- I'm sure they're wondering where their precious Alia's gotten off to."
Alianore could see why Ryu disliked her sister so much.
Ender stepped in before Alianore picked up on Allie's habits of cursing. "Alianore-san, how about we walk you home?"
Dark energy seeped over in Alia's direction. "Yes. Let's." growled Allie, taking Ender by the arm. Ai ushered Z out with them.
"Are they gone?" came a questioning whisper several minutes later. Ai nodded. Ohime-sama came out from behind a board against a wall. She shook her hand lightly, then threw something across the floor.
Ai bent down to inspect what Ohime had just thrown. Three dice lay scattered on the floor. "What does this mean?" she asked, picking up one die. A picture of a serpent devouring a heart was depicted on one face-up side.
Ohime took the die, then looked up at Ai, her milky white skin looking even more grave. "Someone from an alliance made in this tournament is going to die." she informed her. She held out her hand; and the other two die zoomed back into her palm. "I shall speak to you later."
Ai stared after the Tenshi demoness as she left the room. She had a pretty good feeling about who was going to go down.
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