"This is painful even for me to watch," Kurama confessed as Kuwabara was thrown to the ground once again by Risho's meteor attack.
Yusuke looked at Hiei and said, "He was wrong, you're not useless, Hiei. Also, I'm pretty sure if he used your sword he'd only cut himself." He looked back into the ring.
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" Hiei demanded.
"It was actually more of an insult to Kuwabara," he replied, "but take it however you want. Hey!" he shouted at Kuwabara, "get up! If you lose we die!"
Hiei said, "Once he falls I'm killing everyone here, including Risho, in a climactic finish."
Kuwabara shotued, "Just because I'm the center of attention and you're not for once doesn't mean you can steal my glory Hiei! I'll make you cry to your mom, if you even have a mom that is."
Hiei glared at him as a voice rung out from the stands, "Kazuma!" Yukina shouted, "Don't talk about my mother like that! She's dead!" She gave him an evil look.
"Oh, sorry sweetie, I didn't know!" he replied.
"Would you focus on the fight, you child!" Risho demanded, "Stop blubbering."
"I'm not blubbering!" Kuwabara shouted as he summoned his spirit sword, "She's my girlfriend!" He blasted him out of the ring and into the stands. Koto immediately started counting to 10. Kuwabara was named the winner and they were set to go to the semi finals.
Yukina jumped over the wall and stood on the ground level with everyone else. Kuwabara jumped off of the ring to greet her meanwhile she went to Hiei. "Are you okay now Hiei?" she asked, "Your arm, it's all healed."
"Hey baby!" Kuwabara said excited, "You're okay if I call you my girlfriend, right?"
"Sure..." she said slowly, "what's a girlfriend?" Yusuke and Botan fell over from shock.
Kuwabara explained, "Uh, it's a girl who's your friend. Uh, yeah, that's all."
She looked at Hiei and asked, "Does that mean Hiei's my boyfriend?"
"No!" Hiei shouted, "That's not how it works. Risho was right, Kuwabara, you should stop blubbering." He glared at him.
"Hey!" he shouted.
Yusuke walked over to Kurama and asked, "Need help standing up?" He nodded as Yusuke helped him.
Yukina asked Hiei, "How did your arm heal?"
"Ruka's forcefield was actually helpful," he replied, "surpisingly."
"Who?" she asked.
Kuwabara asked, "Weren't you watching us fight?"
"Well actually," she confessed, "I only woke up about 20 minutes ago. I was still passed out from yesterday. I'm just glad you're okay now Hiei."
"Is no one else going to watch?" Kurama asked Hiei as they entered the platform for standing room only above the ring the next morning.
"Why should I care?" Hiei asked.
Kurama replied, "I have a feeling you're asking yourself that more than me."
Hiei glared at him and asked, "Are you trying to irritate me this early in the morning?"
"Alright fight fans!" Koto announced, "The last match before the semi finals in 2 days is about to begin! Get ready to see some blood!"
They watched as the fight below took less than 2 minutes to complete. Before they left the ring Shishi pointed to them in the stands and said, "Before the finals everyone is just practice, and I do mean everyone."
"Just wait until he tastes my sword," Hiei said coldly.
"Oh hey!" Kuwabara said from behind them, "I see you guys also had the same idea of scoping out the competition." Yusuke and Genkai were right behind him.
Kurama replied, "Had the same idea. The fight's over."
"What!" Kuwabara shouted, "I can't believe we missed it just walking up here." He looked at the empty ring below in shock.
"What the hell is that thing on your head?" Hiei asked Yusuke.
He said, "My egg hatched is what happened." Puu made a 'puu' sound quietly.
Hiei asked, "Humans have eggs?" And they wonder why they're so pathetic, he thought.
"Can we all just shut up and ignore the blue furry thing on my head right now," Yusuke demanded, "Hey, Kurama, you okay now?"
He answered, "I'll be fine."
"You gave us all quite a scare," Hiei replied.
"Not as bad as nearly burning all of us to a crisp while in the heat of the moment," Kurama replied slyly. Hiei looked away in shame at that comment.
Kuwabara replied, "Hey you should go to Yukina. Her healing powers are amazing, Kurama. Seriously!"
"Oh of course," Kurama replied, "Yukina." He looked at Hiei.
"Leave her alone," he said angrily.
Kuwabara asked, "How are you guys even related? You look and act nothing alike and she's way too pretty to be related to an ugly little guy like you. Then she mentioned your mom was dead-"
"Would you shut up?!" Hiei demanded.
Genkai said, "All of you shut up, look." She looked across the stadium to Team Toguro staring them down.
After a staring contest, Kuwabara started freaking out at their amazing powers.
As they entered the small locker room Hiei made a B-line for the window sil. Such a small room for so many people, he thought, this window doesn't open either. It feels like I can't breathe. He tried to relax.
"Kuwabara," Yusuke said, "stop freaking out about this. We know how strong they are. They're the whole reason we're here in the first place, remember?"
"I didn't feel it at all before," Kuwabara said nervously, "it's like some whole other level compared to us."
"Are we forgetting about someone?" Shishi said as he opened their door.
Yusuke asked, "Who let you freaks out?"
They better not enter this room, Hiei thought, I might suffocate on their arrogance alone nevermind how stale the air is.
"Don't be fooled by appearances, Yusuke Urameshi," Shishi said, "We're looking for a good fight in the semi finals. We all want to be famous and it'll take more than 2 minutes of exposure to get there." The group walked away.
"Yusuke," Genkai said, "do you have what it takes to defeat Toguro alone?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, "Of course!"
"I insist," she said, "follow me." She walked out of the room.