Authoress's Note: Okay, I know this is an evil place for me to decide to die, but if I decide not to write anymore for a while…don't hurt me. And don't be surprised. I really need to concentrate on re-writing Voices of the Lost Realm (And besides, I'm rather bored with fanfiction writing at the moment. It'll pass…always does.), but because I was begged so nicely to continue, I'll give you one more chapter. Aaand here it is.

Disclaimer: Neither Hiei, nor Yu-Yu-Hakusho is mine.

Claimer: Chichiro and Ketsue are mine, Kaze is BritKit, Aria is FoxWitch. While not all the characters are mine, all writing, storylines and concepts in this fanfiction (Save any YYH references) are.

I'm frightened by what I see

But somehow I know that there's much more to come.

I had never thought that night when Hiei first showed up how far into the non-human world he would take me. I never dreamed that a couple of months after first singing 'Whisper' to him at my window with Kaze as thanks for killing some supposedly already-dead walking-corpse, that I would be fighting those same corpses, who were for some reason trying to kill me. I never fathomed that I would be in this tournament.

And I definitely didn't think that now, after everything I'd done for him and everything he'd done for me, that after all we'd been through and all he'd shown me, that I would fear Hiei. I certainly wouldn't have guessed, lying in my bed with my thoughts full of the fact that my favorite fictional character in the word wasn't fictional, that months later, I'd honestly believe that Hiei was going to kill me.

Immobilized by my fear

And soon to be blinded by tears

How odd a thought, as I laid in the dark of the hotel room resisting the tears that threatened to spill, that I, 'innocent' Hi-chan, Chichiro, Rachel, whoever I was best known as that relatively-short, seemingly-long time ago, had now killed a human, that I was now fighting to survive every day, that I hadn't seen my friends (At least not my 'normal' friends) in weeks, I hadn't seen my family in days…and that I was fine with it all. At least I had been up until now. Until I had begun to have visions—until I had that vision—I had choked back any emotion that wasn't positive toward the happenings. I guess sometimes, in the beginning, I had lost my cool, but I eventually re-gathered it. But now…it was all too overwhelming. And I had begun to see that.

Was Hiei really going to kill me? I knew, in the back of my mind—that corner that I hated to acknowledge for its treacherous, untrusting thoughts—that I thought he would. I guess it wasn't even a thought. It was a knowledge. I knew Hiei would kill me. I wasn't sure why, but…I couldn't deny my beliefs anymore.

Did this mean I didn't trust him? Before, I had said that I wouldn't have been surprised if Hiei had killed me that day he threatened to…that I would still trust him anyway. I hadn't trusted him not to kill me, no. I trusted him to be Hiei, and that he had a reason for everything he did.

My trust seemed to have changed. I now trusted him the way that a human would foolishly trust someone—that the person they trusted wouldn't kill or hurt them, that they would protect them. Well, I guess I had trusted him that way for a while. But when did this change happen? I had thought I was becoming more demonic, not beginning to act like a human again, all the while sinking back into mimicking that species that I hated and for some reason protected at the same time.

But no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't shift my trust back to the way it had been. I couldn't even regain that human trust. I didn't think I trusted Hiei anymore; if I did, it was a lousy amount. Why? Did this mean I did trust Nirvana? It sure as hell seemed safe to say that. I felt safer around her than I did around him, now. When was the last time I'd been wary of Nirvana? And when had I last not been wary of Hiei?

I stifled a small sniffle and stood from my place on the couch, walking into the bathroom and glad for my night vision. I didn't have to turn on the lights and possibly wake Kurama (Or Yusuke, as he seemed to have very good ears. Kuwabara…I had little to no worries about him.) as I closed the door and tried to calm myself. I didn't have to cry about this.

Because the knowledge that the person you love the most and used to trust the most is going to kill you is nothing to cry about, said a dry, sarcastic voice in my mind, egging on my sorrows.

Chichiro. My mind hissed her name like a profanity.

What? I'm not welcome to chat with you today, hikari-dearest?

Since when have you ever been welcome, witch?

Point taken. Your bravery has improved…I can't think of you ever actually taking a stand against me, much less daring to use an insult. Not to say it was a very good insult, but it was one nonetheless.

What do you want? I groaned telepathically, annoyed. Her distraction had sufficed to cease my incessant sniffling, and I dropped the Kleenex I had grabbed into the trash can, allowing my yami to continue speaking only because she was being useful to kill off my self-pity.

To survive.

Since when? I accused. You're more emo than I am about everything; you always say you want to be nothing, and you want to die, and you want me to die as well. So why the change of pace?

Because if you do decide to survive, it means you'll have to kill Him.

I definitely didn't need to ask who 'him' was. Her answer was good enough for me, and when I asked no more questions, she quieted and seemed to go dormant in my mind again. Speaking of dormancy, Aletta had been rather…non-responsive as of late. I figured she was probably dormant as well.

Even though my mind now lacked Chichiro's annoying commenting, it was far from quiet. I wasn't going to sleep that night. After I realized this, I stood again, snagging my hoodie from my bag, and slipped out of the hotel room as silently (Luckily I was already no longer limping, so it was easier to be quiet than I thought.) as possible as not to alert Kurama to my absence, though I fancied as I tried to close the door quietly that I could sense a pair of calculating green eyes studying me from the darkness.

I relaxed immediately once I got outside. Almost all of the lights of the hotel were off by now, excluding the lobby, a few rooms and the hotel sign on the front of the building; the darkness was not unwelcome. I noticed that the room Yusuke and Kuwabara were in was lit—were they still up? Crazy humans. (I knew Yusuke wasn't human, but it still felt much more natural to call him one rather than to call him a demon.)

I could pick up a few faint demon energies from various directions around the island; as well, I could sense where Hiei was, and an energy almost identical to him—Nirvana. Far off, much farther than I had even thought the size of this island would support, I could also sense Spike and the other shadowcats.

I enjoyed the chill of the air for a short while before yanking on my hoodie, shivering once, and heading toward the forest.

The spirit cuffs had been much easier to get used to than I had originally thought. As I walked, it was automatic to strengthen my energy when extending my leg and weaken it to draw the ankle cuff back, then strengthen it again as my other leg crossed in front. My wrists no longer felt like incredibly strong magnets every time they neared one another, and it was much easier to have my hands feel natural in my hoodie pockets again, not having to struggle to keep them there.

My feet led me away from the path, toward an energy; every time I tried to shift myself away from heading toward the demon energy, I only ended up veering back. Because of this, even though I really didn't want to see anyone right then, I finally gave up and went toward whoever it was.

I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when I neared the signal, I realized it was changing rapidly—strengthening, weakening, and then changing form or type, like the person was shifting species. Or people. I sighed—I could easily guess who it was. Somehow that made me wonder if my direction really had been random in the first place. It wouldn't surprise me if the ram demoness could draw people to her with her energy.

Suddenly, a familiar, short, black-cloaked shape dropped in front of me. I stiffened. "Hiei?" I had to squint through the dark to be able to make out the steady glare he gave me, but even in the dark I could see the tiniest flaws in the way he glared. I relaxed. "Nirvana," I breathed, sighing.

…Wait. I relaxed when I realized it wasn't Hiei? What was wrong with me? "What do you want?" I asked finally.

"What do I want?" Nirvana asked through Hiei's voice. It sounded relatively like Hiei, in a snide, 'What the hell are you talking about?' voice; Nirvana would have simply 'purred' the response and would have somehow been amused, not addressed it like a normal person in annoyed confusion. Obviously she was trying again to perfect her transformation, in this case her voice imitation. "You're the one who sought me out. I should ask the same question."

"Nice try," I muttered. "You sound a bit like him. Not quite. But I know who you are and it only sounds weird to hear you being halfway normal, so quit it."

He smirked, then shifted in a split second, his shape twisting upward and reforming into the taller Nirvana. "I knew that you realized it was me. Why else would you say my name?" she replied with a grin. "I was just seeking feedback."

"And you got it," I reminded her flatly. "Now answer my question honestly."

"I did. You did seek me out."

"No, I followed the signal because I felt like I had to. I've had my body charmed before—I know what it feels like." The memory of the S-class demon plunging its spiked foot into my immobile body played across my mind, but only served to remind me that Hiei might do something similar in the next few days.

It must have showed on my face what I was thinking, because Nirvana said, in what I assume was an attempted sympathetic tone, "You believe me now, do you? My offer still stands—join me and we can kill him to save you."

I glared at her coldly. "It doesn't matter what I think or believe or know he's going to do to me. I won't kill him. I never could, and certainly not to save myself."

The ram demoness heaved a large sigh. "So loyal," she breathed out as she finished her sigh, like someone performing on a stage. "How depressing."

"Shut it."

She feigned surprise. "Why, with cruel words like that, one must wonder why you came to see me."

I felt my eye twitch, and I saw amusement flicker in her dark chocolate eyes. "We've been over this. You brought me here. Tell me what you want."

Her ears, which I had just noticed were pointed like a mix between an elf and a shadowcat (Shadowcats ears are pointed like a Tolkein elf's from the Lord of the Ring movies, though in a more exaggerated point rather than an almost round one; hers wasn't quite as exaggerated.), twitched, and her head flew sideways, her hair swishing as it turned; she looked almost like a frightened animal ensnared in a bear trap when it hears the hunter coming to skin it alive, but she managed to keep her cool. "Some other time, I'm afraid," she said quickly, leaping sideways and flickering from my view.

I watched her go with narrowed eyes, not amused by her antics, and I began to sigh before it locked in my chest as I heard a familiar voice say, "Yusuke was amazingly correct. You and her are rather friendly with one another now, aren't you?" from behind me. I turned and locked eyes with Hiei, finding myself much calmer than I had been before; his look, voice and eyes were correct—this was actually Hiei.

"I suppose you could say we don't leap at each others throats at any chance," I replied, "but I'd hardly say we're friendly." I paused. "Well, at least I'm not. She somehow finds a way to be friendly with everyone, in a creepy 'Give me your soul' kind of way."

Hiei snickered quietly, and for some reason, as I felt myself relax entirely and sink back into trusting him again in an instant, I felt as though I hadn't seen him in months. I had to keep myself from hugging him; instead, I gave him a steady glare. "What's that look for?" he asked flatly. "I didn't even insult you yet."

I held back a grin. "That was a bit Yusuke-like, don't you think?" I shrugged as I continued, "And as to you second question, I'm glaring because you let me be a complete jerk before."

"Oh, I let you, did I?"

"Yes," was my flat response. "You should have told me I was being a moron about my 'vision'." It had been a spontaneous reaction, just to seeing him when I wasn't fighting him, to trust him again. I guess my faith in him had to be shattered in a much more severe way for me to stop trusting him for an extended period of time—now I just felt weird about how 'friendly' (Though I still wouldn't have admitted it to Hiei that I had been) I had been with Nirvana. I felt almost like a manic depressant—spontaneous mood-swing and trust-shift, anyone?

"Why would I?" His voice broke my thoughts. "You realized it fine on your own. All I had to do was wait."

"I never saw you as the patient type," I said with a playfully suspicious look.

"I'm not. I was just too pissed off with you to try and counsel you nicely."

I smirked. "So you just ignored the issue completely?"

"Exactly. I knew you'd come around eventually, and here we are."

"Hmmph."

I was about to find a comfortable place to sit, and hopefully catch some shut-eye, but Hiei's words again disturbed my thought. "Now that you've returned to yourself, we should pick up where we left off."

I blinked. "And where was that?"

"Our spar."

I realized when my trust level dropped and my paranoia reawakened within me that my trust really would be like manic mood swings for a while; the simple thought of fighting Hiei made me think again that my vision hadn't been nonsense.

Again, it must have showed. "Don't tell me in that short of a time you believe in your 'vision' again," Hiei accused, sounding more irritated than hurt.

My halfway-nice glance turned to a glare quickly. "I'm a little messed up right now, alright? Get off my back about it. Jeez."

"But I'm correct, aren't I? You're thinking of that as a 'vision', not a dream."

"And you think of it as a dream?" I responded in an equally as accusing way. "I don't care what you say or how little sense it makes." I steeled myself for the next words—admitting something like this to Hiei wasn't a light act. He was bound to get angrier than he probably already way; somehow I knew he was only half-serious. I found it hard to believe that he took it so lightly that I thought he would kill me. "That was a vision," I finished, struggling to keep my eyes from darting away from his gaze.

…From the gaze that quickly became about as angry as I thought it would, which was nothing short of down right frightening. "What the hell do you mean by that?" he growled. "Need I reiterate? We have an alliance. I wouldn't dream of doing that to you!"

"'Cept right now," I mumbled sarcastically; he did look like he wanted to wring my neck for the comment, even though that wouldn't have made much sense to do, with what he was defending. His dangerous glare swiftly reminded me not to joke about it. "Well, what do you want me to believe?" I finally said defensively. "You didn't see it happen! I mean, you did…but you didn't have the vision." I cut off, growling. "Damn it! That didn't make sense. But it did in my mind…if you knew what I meant you'd get why it's so hard for me to just act like what I saw was nothing like you." Hiei looked almost like he took offense to that, but I didn't let him interject and continued. "I'm not sure about you, but it isn't every day that I casually dream about the person I love killing me in cold blood." I ignored the blush rising at how easily I said 'the person I love', but luckily for me, Hiei ignored it.

Instead, he replied in a raised (but not quite shouting) voice, "That doesn't mean it was a vision! You're not exactly the last person I'd assume to have fucked up dreams."

"What does that mean!"

Hiei's left eye twitched the tiniest bit, which I would have found funny if I hadn't been arguing with him. Instead of retaliating with a cover-up or a blunt 'you heard me' or something similar, he simply suggested, "Why don't we both take this out the way we want to?"

"And how is that?" I asked in a low tone, willing to try anything to get out my anger.

"On each other."

"Excuse me?"

"Sparring, fool. You never answered before."

I considered, then shrugged. "Alright. Let's go."

As I sprang through the trees, swapping punches and kicks with Hiei, I felt myself relaxing again. Not by much, but enough.

"You hold back against me."

I looked up to block a kick as Hiei spoke, and I blinked. "Not anymore."

"No, you still do. Maybe you aren't aware of it." He paused to x-block a punch from me, swinging his leg around at my unguarded ribs on the left side of my body, and I thrust out my right arm to block that, unprepared when he dipped his left arm from his x-block and hit me in my ribs, throwing me back. I somersaulted clumsily backward a few times, barely able to listen to Hiei as he finished what he had been saying. "You don't fight me like you would any other demon. You don't fight to kill."

"Neither do you," I spat back and I picked myself up, getting into an offensive stance before leaping at him, attacking with a flurry of punches. "Hypocrite."

"But I know when to fight to kill. You don't seem to."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" I didn't care if his meaning was obvious.

"If you tried to kill me, I'd easily respond the same way. Without mercy, aiming to kill. I can't say you'd afford me the same."

"Are you saying you'd want me to try and kill you back?" I wasn't sure why he was bringing this up. He didn't believe in my vision, and even if he did, why would be warn me to fight back?

"I'm saying I want you to use common sense." He knocked my feet from beneath me, but I shot energy out at him and managed to regain footing and spring for him again, shooting out several energy kunais. "If the rounds go as they should, we'll be fighting Spike's team in the semi-finals." Ah, finally, it made sense to me. "I know you may consider Spike, or perhaps even a few of his comrades, to be 'friends', but you cannot hold back because of that. This is the dark tournament. Fight to kill; don't protect them from yourself. They will show you no mercy."

I wasn't sure about Zerathus and the others, but even though I didn't know him too well, it made me sick to think about killing Spike. "I can't kill him!" I cried, knowing Hiei would know I meant Spike and not one of his teammates.

"And you may not have to." I found myself knocked to the ground again, but I rolled out of the way before Hiei's newly-drawn sword could piece me. I gathered myself rapidly into a crouch, trying to knock Hiei's feet from beneath him in the same way be had me, but he just jumped up and landed behind me, swinging his blade at me. "But if it comes down to a life-or-death battle, would you really die to keep yourself from having to kill Spike?"

I considered it. Yeah, I probably would. But I could never admit that to Hiei. "Why are you saying this now? Save it for the sidelines, O Cheerleader of Doom."

Hiei ignored his new nickname as best he could, and replied, "Because you must think this way throughout the entire rest of the tournament, not just when you fight Spike's team. Even now."

"Now?" I blinked, leaping back from his blade, which he sheathed. "Against you? Don't be stupid."

"And you're saying this after you insisted that you weren't showing me leniency?" he muttered at me.

"I wasn't insisting," I said in a low tone, then, not serious at all, at least not for the second half, "You shouldn't be telling me to fight to kill around you, after that whole vision thing. I might just take your offer."

He didn't seem to note the first half as a joke, or note the second half at all. "That again? Get it through your skull—something like that could never happen."

Immediately I found myself getting pissed with him again, but before I could fight back verbally (I was doing rather well fighting back against him in our spar; at least, I was evading his attacks well. He wasn't giving me much opportunity anymore for offense of my own.), he switched thought train.

"Think with your body. Stop thinking with your mind!"

"With my body, huh?" I gritted my teeth against the rising anger. "If I thought with my body, I'd stop thinking of holding back, on any level." I found myself more willing than I would have expected to listen to him. My attacks were quickening, and I could feel my thoughts hardening, growing colder… "I'd fight to kill you."

He blocked my punches without ever moving his eyes from mine. Finally, he closed his crimson orbs and said quietly, "If that's what it takes." He flipped backward. "I'm supposed to kill you, right?" he mocked, obviously trying to annoy me. He drew his sword again and pointed it out at me. "So defend yourself. Kill me first."

My eyes widened, then narrowed. "As you wish," I hissed. "Just remember, you asked for it." Then I lunged.

I weaved around his sword, aiming to punch his throat, but his sword came sideways with a swiftness I didn't even think Hiei could manage, knocking me out of my intended path and to the ground, a new sword slash across my left side. As quickly as he'd brought the sword to the side, he was next to me, sword raised; I would have rolled to my right (left was out of the question—that would have just brought me closer to Hiei), had I not been pinned next to a tree. I could only hope that Hiei saw that I couldn't get out of this one before he stabbed me, as he always did, managing to barely wound me while avoiding serious injury. Still, I couldn't help the automatic, dreading flinch.

Not even a minor pain came—I looked up, thinking to find Hiei glaring at me and about to tell me to stop being weak or something to the like, or that he'd just begin again with his attacks, but instead I saw the hilt of his sword pinned to the tree by a sai; the crisscross fabric on the hilt was pierced and stuck into the trunk. I blinked, confused, but before I could ask, I heard a familiar, accusing voice shout over at Hiei.

"You could have killed her!"

Hiei looked like a bristling cat at Spike's remark, but then I recalled that Hiei hated cats and decided not to use that simile again. "Don't be ridiculous! I wouldn't have gone that far."

"Oh no? What about Chichiro?"

I drew in a small breath; even I knew Spike had gone too far with that one. I almost warned Spike to start running then.

I risked a look at Hiei, who was glaring at Spike with such a murderous look that I think any lesser a being, namely myself, would have died from the sheer force of it. "You know damn well what happened," Hiei snarled. "It had nothing to do with holding back."

"My mistake," Spike purred back with a smirk; I was still amazed that he wasn't trembling in his boots.

"What do you want, cat?" Hiei finally asked in an even tone, but his eyes were still welcoming Spike to chuck himself into the flames of hell. Honestly, under that glare, I think the flames of hell would look rather welcoming.

"Well, I had been looking for Ketsueki, but how fortunate that I came across you as well!" Spike's grin looked so cheerful that I almost didn't catch the sarcasm of his words. "But if you wouldn't mind, I'd like a word or two with her alone."

Hiei didn't even ask me if it was okay with me this time. Instead he antagonized the concept immediately. "Why's that?"

"If I ask for a private chat, obviously I won't tell you." Spike was next to me in an instant, his arm hung over my shoulder lazily; Hiei seemed to've sensed his movement, because as the cat settled into the new position the fire demon was already facing us. "Private matters deserve private settings, don't they, Ketsueki?"

I twitched, about to tell Spike that this new form of 'flirting' was going too far, but Hiei did so for me. In a much less friendly way. "Back off, cat, or I'll sever your skull before you can try and make excuses as to what you meant by that."

"Aww, jealous? How tragic." The shadowcat smirked toothily. "Very well, I'll leave it for another time."

As he began to move his arm off my shoulders to walk away, I snagged his wrist. "Wait."

He blinked over at me like I had, rather than saying 'Wait', said 'Come hither'. "What is it?"

"Why were you talking to Nirvana before? And what was with the failed handshake?"

Spike seemed confused a moment, and then he grinned. "See? This is why I find you so charming, Ketsueki. You know things without me even having to alert you to them!" Now Hiei seemed interested, as well, and his attention was riveted on the shadowcat's face. "Well, you see, I had the mind to have a sort of false truce with Nirvana against you and the rest of your team—" Unlike in Z'chor, he was speaking to me and not Hiei, which made me glad; it had pissed me off in his world how I had asked questions and he had addressed Hiei about them. "—but she somehow saw through my brilliant acting skills and tried to attack me. Of course, Zer deflected the attack, but nonetheless my plan didn't work."

"Christ," Hiei muttered, sounding quite unenthused, "you're just like Suzuka."

I glanced over at Hiei, releasing Spike's wrist. "Suzuka? Who the hell's that?"

"Just a clown," Hiei muttered flatly, and didn't allow me to further question it. "Spike, why were you trying to trick Nirvana into a false alliance?"

"Personal gain; you know the deal." He gave a light wave. "Talk with you hopefully soon, Ketsueki." He disappeared from view without me even being able to see which direction he had headed.

"Weird," I mumbled. "He's one seriously weird guy."

"Personal gain?" Hiei muttered, more to himself than for my benefit, and he turned away, walking toward the part of the forest I was familiar with.

"Hey, where are you going?" I called after him. "I thought we were sparring!"

"I obviously won," he replied, "and I'm going back to get some rest before the semi-finals. You won't meet up with Spike or Nirvana again tonight, so it would be pointless for you to stay here; unless, of course, you'd like to be killed. If not, I suggest you come along."

I took the unexpected invitation and went after Hiei, forcing back any fear or distrust I had of him.

When I woke up I felt less than energetic. Actually, I hadn't felt this worn out and weak in a while; not a very long while, maybe back directly after the S-class demon's attack. Shifting around after a moment of laying perfectly still, I found my body stiff and my muscles flimsy; my back was sore, as well, from lying on a branch against a tree trunk all night. I had a headache to add to my various aches from yesterday's fights, and the thoughts about my vision. Not a good way to start my day.

On the (very dim)bright side, I didn't automatically suspect Hiei of soon-to-come treachery like yesterday; it took me a few minutes to get back into that way of thinking.

Without exchanging words, Hiei and I decided to go back to the hotel. The entire way there, my legs felt like rubber, and my head was swimming. It didn't improve when we got upstairs (Speaking of stairs, those were hell to get up. Luckily Hiei didn't feel the need to wait for me and didn't notice my weakness.).

I flopped down on the couch in the room, next to Kuwabara, as the other couch was occupied by Kurama and Yusuke already (Hiei was on the windowsill. Normally I'd join him, but the couch was more comfortable and seemed more welcoming.), feeling as air-headed as I did after using a large attack. And we all know that my after-attack air-headed ways made me either sentimental or affectionate; either way, I felt very comfortable being friendly around everyone that morning, and for once that included Kuwabara, who I proceeded to lean onto with my eyes closed and my head on his shoulder.

I barely noticed Yusuke's snickering, or how stiff Kuwabara got in his confusion, but I did hear what Kurama said when he spoke up, sounding almost put-off by my random change-of-heart on Kuwabara's likeability. "Are you alright, Ketsue?"

"Meh? What do you mean?" I didn't open my eyes or move as I responded; Kuwabara had relaxed, but the slight movement of his shoulder under my head signaled that he still wasn't sure how to position himself to accommodate me and was fidgeting.

"Well…" Even the ever-fluent Kurama seemed at a loss of a way to explain his bewilderment without being rude.

"Since when did you get friendly?" Yusuke finally put in. "I mean, you're usually not even nice to me or Kuwabara, and now you're acting like you two are dating or something." He was still snickering under his breath, and it barely showed through his words.

"Fuck off," I mumbled without moving to defend myself by smacking Yusuke or leaning off Kuwabara. "I'm not acting like that at all. I'm just…tired."

"Riiight. I guess your friendliness only changed toward Kuwabara, huh?"

"Screw you." My voice openly advertised my weakness, and I could feel the eyes of all three of the guys on the couches on me; by my senses, Hiei seemed rather disinterested with the whole thing and wasn't paying attention.

"As…interesting as this is, you never answered my question," Kurama spoke up after a short silence.

"You mean the 'are you alright' thing? I already said I was tired. Calm down."

The conversation left focus on me, and my own focus drifted away from the conversation. After a few moments of my zoning, I faintly heard, "What about you, Ketsue?"

Blinking, I looked over at Kurama. "Sorry, what? I wasn't paying attention."

"So I figured. I asked if you were going to come with the rest of us. We're going to go watch the finalizing battles of the second round, and then Nirvana's fight in the first half of the semi-finals. Will you be joining us?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." I nodded with a light grin, and Kurama eyed me for a moment before following Yusuke. I realized I was still leaned onto Kuwabara, and I pushed off him gently and sat up, watching him stand and go to join the other two and Hiei by the door. I began to stand, but my legs failed, and I dropped down onto my knees, my vision failing as well.

"Ketsue? Ketsue!"

When I finally was able to concentrate on Kurama's voice, I gathered by his tone that he'd repeated my name several times before. "Huh?" I blinked at him, struggling to keep my gaze centered on him; he was supporting my back, and I was in a sitting position.

"Ketsue, when was the last time you ate something?"

"Uh, yesterday. The croissant, you remember. And then the other croissant." I hadn't thought in my air-headedness to specify what 'the other croissant' was, but Kurama gathered that I meant the day before yesterday.

"And before that?"

I squinted as I tried to recall, then grinned weakly. "Uh, don't know." Now that Kurama mentioned it, I honestly couldn't think of the last time I'd eaten before the croissant. I guess I hadn't really stopped to think of it—my demon body never felt hungry, so I'd never thought to eat anything unless it was presented like the croissant. That still didn't answer why it had taken my body so long to become weak from lack of nourishment.

"I thought she looked scrawnier than usual," Yusuke commented bluntly.

I glared over at him, but being that I was currently on the ground and hardly able to even focus, I doubted he took it very seriously.

"Well, you all go on ahead. I'll take her to get something to eat." As always when my welfare came into question, the fox was subtly glaring at Hiei while he spoke, like he expected the fire demon to baby-sit me all of the time. I found it rather amusing, to be honest.

"You sure?" Kuwabara asked. "I mean, the whole watching-the-fights thing was your idea. I can take 'er to get something if you wanna go to the stadium."

Arena, I corrected in my mind, but I figured that I'd be ignored if I said it out loud and decided not to.

"No, it's fine," Kurama assured him. "We'll join up with you later."

A few various 'okay's, 'see you there's and 'hn's went around before the three other guys left me and Kurama alone. "If you're wondering," the fox said as he helped me back onto the couch, "the reason you're only just now noticing how weak you are is because you've been in your demon form for so long. I'm sure normally you revert back to your human form once and a while, but being that you haven't done that lately, your energy hasn't had a chance to re-charge, per se, so you need food."

I grinned at him sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm not really sure how I forgot that."

He smiled back lightly. "Don't worry about it. I'll go get you something from the buffet downstairs—do you have any preference?"

"Kurama, I have about as much brain-power as when I'm drunk. I really couldn't care less."

He snickered softly, then nodded and stood to leave, saying, "I'll be back in a moment," over his shoulder.

…I forgot to eat. Wow, good job, there, Ketsue, I thought to myself. Really, I hadn't figured it would be so easy for me to forget something that essential, but being that I rarely stopped fighting, I guess it wasn't as odd as it could have been.

The reference I made to this seeming the same as being drunk came into play again when time seemed to pass differently; it felt like Kurama had just left when he came back. "Ooo," I said with a grin as I took the plate, "a whatchamacallit!" I didn't bother correcting myself, and I thanked him and took the glass he offered me as well.

"Danish," he offered.

"Yeah, that," I agreed lamely. "Thanks, again." I hadn't had a Danish in a long while; that didn't mean I didn't love them, of course, and which made me scarf it rather quickly. I then sniffed the glass. "What's this?"

"Your senses really aren't working very well, are they?" he asked me, though he sounded amused. "It's orange juice."

I grinned. "Of course. I knew that."

After I chugged the entire glass, Kurama waited a moment before asking, "Are you ready to go?"

I nodded. "Yup!" I stood, still feeling woozy, but I figured my body needed time to register the fact that I had finally fed it.

After I'd followed Kurama down the stairs (He had to catch me once or twice, though. It still amazed me how quickly my weakness had taken over—I had run fine for over a mile to get back to the hotel that morning. Maybe that's what finally set it off.), I explained that I still wanted to have a bit more, and I headed to the breakfast buffet. 'Course the only reason I remembered where it was happened to be because there were convenient signs throughout the hallway, but that was unimportant.

I grabbed the first meat sandwich I could find and another bottle of orange juice, glancing over at the only other two demons around (I guessed that the reasoning behind how deserted the hotel seemed was because everyone else was watching the round in the arena.) before I left. The first was a tall woman, with short, boyish hair, wearing Arabian-style pants and a high-collared, no-sleeve shirt. Next to her was a huge…bear? If it wasn't a bear, then it resembled one extremely closely. I had been under-exaggerating when I said huge—it was gigantic. Much bigger than any bear I could imagine from the human realm; it had light fur and a few armor plates on various parts of its body. Blinking a single time and wondering if I'd have to fight them, I headed back out into the hallway and out of the hotel.

Watching fights, while it was more interesting in this tournament than Ningenkai, seemed like a boring idea to me at the moment, and I went outside and sat at the edge of the woods against a tree trunk to eat rather than going to the arena to meet everyone like I had planned.

"Ketsueki! What a pleasantly-desired coincidence!"

I looked up and blinked at Spike, lowering the orange juice bottle from my lips. "Uh, hey, Spike. Why aren't you watching the fights?"

"Boredom. And I should ask you the same thing—the rest of your team and your demon are there watching them."

I twitched, but didn't mention the 'your demon' thing—that just seemed to egg people on to continue if I mentioned how annoying it was. "I don't feel like watching people fight right now; I've had my fair-share of that lately."

He nodded in understanding, walking over and sitting next to me on the side of the tree, our backs (had they touched each other and not the tree) forming a right angle.

I ignored how…disconcerting (Not to say I disliked it, but it still was a bit weird.) that was, and finished the sandwich before asking, "So what did you want to talk about before?"

"Huh?" He glanced over his shoulder with a clueless look, but the simple meeting of our eyes seemed to spark memory within him. "Ah, yes! Sorry, I've been feeling a bit out of it today." You're not the only one, I thought with an unintentional nod. "I wanted to tell you that I look forward to fighting you. Or at least having my team fight yours, I can't say that we will indefinitely battle one another."

I quirked an eyebrow. "That's all?" I asked, then realized it sounded rude and quickly continued, "I mean, you could have said that in front of Hiei."

"Yes, yes I could have." He grinned. "But I wasn't done yet."

"Oh…sor—"

"No need for apologies." He stood and offered his hand to me, which I examined suspiciously for a moment before taking it; he helped me up with a yank, then declared in a theatric tone, "We should go for a walk!" as if he had just solved the mystery to world peace and was announcing it to the world.

I couldn't help but snicker at how strange he was, and I shrugged. "Okay."

"So, who would you like to fight in the semi-finals?"

I glanced over at Spike as I walked next to him without turning my head. "Well, your team, of course." I wasn't sure if I believed that or not, but I hardly thought Spike would react any better than Hiei if I admitted I wasn't willing to fight to kill against him.

He grinned toothily. "Nah, I mean who on my team do you want to fight?"

I still wasn't sure why everyone was so positive that Spike's team and mine would clash in the semi-finals, but I figured they would probably know better than me what to expect at the Dark Tournament. "Oh, uh…I don't know." I gave a sheepish smile, looking at my feet. I hadn't felt this self-conscious in a while. I mentally smacked myself, guessing that I was probably acting like I had a kid-crush on him. "I guess we'll just have to see how it all plays out."

I realized he was watching me very closely, and I glanced up at him. "What?"

"You don't have to act so serious," he replied with an easy smirk. "I'm not all stiff and cold like your demon, you know."

I blinked, raising my eyebrows. "Well, yeah, I knew you were kind of…er…goofy, but I…Well, this is how I always am. I'm not acting."

"Nah, you just got used to being this way," he told me in a correcting voice, putting a hand on my shoulder and shaking it lightly. "Loosen up! Jeez, you're like a female version of Hiei!"

I grinned lightly, trying not to act uncomfortable at all of the random attention. "Well, that's weird. You always act like you don't like Hiei."

"'Don't like Hiei'?" Spike quoted innocently. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

I just shook my head and smiled at him. "Never mind."

"Always so mysterious," he said, sounding serious, but his eyes were playful, and he leaned onto me, stopping me in my tracks and allowing himself to fall almost completely limp across my shoulders with a sigh. "One must wonder why we aren't mates yet," he mumbled in a feigned forlorn way.

I attempted to glare at him, but the fact that his face was so close to mine and that I found him charming in a really irritating way made me unable to. So I simply narrowed my eyes at him and feigned a glare, about to tell him to get off me…

…When he pressed his lips against mine. My eyes widened, but as quickly as contact had been made he disappeared from my sight, much like Hiei (though the thought of Hiei kissing me was incredibly odd), and I was left standing stock-still with my arms still pressed against my chest. I blinked once, then whispered, "fuck," repeating it louder directly afterward and letting my legs slide from beneath me.

"Well, that's a surprise. I had really pinned you to liking Hiei, but our opponent? Damn."

I cringed automatically at Yusuke's voice. If he told anyone…Well… "If you tell anyone," I snarled at him, standing and whirling to face the detective, "I will strip the flesh from your bones."

"Ooo…scary."

"…After telling Kayko that you cheated on her."

"…Say what? I never cheated on Kayko."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Kayko doesn't know that."

"…Aww, crap." He glared at me, shifting his lips to the side in a sort-of pout, then he sighed. "Fine, ruin my fun. I won't tell anyone. But why the hell are you screwin' around with our enemy?"

"I'm not…'screwing around' with Spike!" I snarled, having had to've gather myself before even trying to say 'screwing around'. I was still rather numb to the concept that Spike had just kissed me.

"Oh, sure. Whatever you say."

I resisted glaring at him, breathing out slowly and calming my anger and surprise before attempting to speak normally. "So what are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were watching the fights."

"Well, yeah, but the round was stopped for some stupid reason and what's-her-face-redhead was fighting with one of the team."

"…What's-her-face redhead?"

"Yeah, the announcer girl."

"Suurii," I offered flatly.

"Yeah, that."

Shaking my head, I turned to walk back toward the arena. "Let's go see if the round started again, then," I muttered. "It must have taken you at least five minutes to get here, and there's no telling how long you were stalking Spike and I, so I'm sure Suurii's done fighting with whoever she was fighting with by now."

I heard Yusuke say 'alright' behind me, and we both treaded to the arena.

When we arrived, I asked Yusuke where everyone else was, and he directed me around the upper ground ring, above all of the seating (it connected to all of the staircases that went to the seats) and pointed as we walked toward one of the various other doorways from the outside; I caught sight of Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara, and I jogged over to them, hearing Yusuke follow me. "What'd we miss?" I asked, to no one in specific, when I got there.

"Not much," Kuwabara answered; I looked over at him, halfway surprised—normally he let Kurama or Hiei handle answering my questions and ignored them or commented only when he had an annoying comment to crack. I guess it was because of how…'nice' I'd been that morning; thinking of that only made me think of Spike and what had happen, and I resisted a blush. "The ref had been arguing with that team over somethin' for a while. No one seems to know what's goin' on, either."

"So, anyway," I said after a brief silence, not at all serious when I spoke, "I'm not feeling as malnourished as before, so none of you have to worry about my emaciation thanks to Hiei anymore."

Hiei either didn't realize I was teasing him, or he was easily offended that day, but whatever the case, he automatically snapped back, "It isn't my responsibility to make sure that you know how keep yourself alive; you have to learn to take care of yourself once and a while." Without further comment, he turned and walked away, through the door that led back out of the stadium.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "What's with him today?" I mumbled quietly, though no one on my team seemed to catch it.

"You don't have to let him boss you around like that," Yusuke muttered. As if you actually care, I thought. And Hiei wasn't bossing me around, he was just being honest. Jeez. Why was everyone antagonizing Hiei so much lately anyway? I had found it amusing when it involved Kurama, but only because it seemed that Kurama and Hiei had something quite like a sibling rivalry; with everyone else, it was just weird. I had suspicions that Nirvana hadn't limited herself to trying to poison my mind about my 'vision'. Perhaps she'd discussed the whole thing with everyone else, as well. Not to say everyone was exactly antagonizing Hiei about everything, only when it involved me, but they had never seemed to care about me following him without question before now. "Genkai told me somethin' a while back that seemed kinda stupid at the time, but I guess it fits now. Somethin' like 'No one can make you feel inferior without your permission' or somethin' like that."

I faintly heard him mumble something about how he never got why she told him of all people, but I ignored it and felt myself growing angry at the statement. It wasn't like I was a wounded puppy—I could take care of myself. And I chose to let Hiei 'boss me around', so why the hell should anyone else care? "Then I willingly give my permission," I barked back roughly. "You, on the other hand, are not so lucky. So back off!"

Yusuke leaned backward at my growled response, looking confused. "Well, jeez, I wasn't trying to offend you or anything. I'm just saying—"

"Drop it, Yusuke," Kurama said quietly, giving the detective a look that said 'If you value your health, you'll stop now' (Of course this look wasn't a threat from Kurama…he was referring to me being the one who would threaten Yusuke.).

I gave Kurama a grateful look, then shifted my gaze to the center ring as Suurii began announcing again.

"Alright, now that it's clear that the Somahnki Team lost—" By her tone, it was obvious what they had been fighting about—sore losers. "—we can move on with the next round."

"As you all should know," Koto took up where Suurii had left off, "the next battle is the first half of the semi-finals. Whoever wins this will advance to the final round of the Dark Tournament!"

Various cheers went around as Nirvana walked into the ring; moments after, the woman and bear that I had seen in buffet area walked onto the ring as well. There were a few moments of what seemed like silence, though I could faintly hear the woman and Nirvana discussing something, and then Suurii said, "Alright! It has been decided that only a single fight will take place in this round, and whoever wins this will advance!"

I perked a brow, wondering why the hell anyone would risk the entire round on one fight, but unlike as I had expected, no other fighters entered the ring. It was only going to be Nirvana, the woman and the bear-like creature.

I bored myself very quickly watching the fight; to be honest, the only reason I had told Yusuke I wanted to go watch it had been to shut him up about Spike.

It only took a few minutes for me to begin watching again, though; when the crowd erupted into eardrum-bursting shouts (though I couldn't tell if they were positive or negative), I looked up from where I had zoned off back to the ring. The woman was leaned over the bear, which seemed to be bleeding rather badly, and Nirvana had her arm extended and smoking—it looked like she'd just attacked. "And the Y'aghsk Team concedes! Team Nirvana is the winner!"

I really didn't know how everyone pronounced things in demon—the name of that team seemed rather ridiculous to me to even consider trying to say, but Suurii said it without issue. "What happened?" I asked. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Nirvana pulled a cheapo move and targeted the bear," Yusuke explained, sounding rather pissed off. "It made whoever she's fighting give in so that she could make sure Nirvana didn't kill the thing."

"Goody." I realized my trust had changed yet again, and looking down at Nirvana, I only felt the usual extreme dislike. Speaking of change in trust, I didn't see Hiei anywhere. "Hiei's still not back?"

"Nope. Maybe you should go find him."

Something about Yusuke's tone pissed me off. Quite a bit. But being that I couldn't tell exactly what, I didn't comment about it and shrugged. "I guess so." I leaned off of the wall of the doorway and went back outside; I had confidence that our fight would not start for at least a short while—whoever ran the tournament never seemed prepared to start the next round when fights ended as quickly as the last one did.

I passed Hiei on my way to the stairs that led out of the arena, but I hadn't really gone to look for him—I just wanted to find something to do before our fight started. I gave a short wave when I passed him, but didn't look to see if he returned it, my eyes focused on the door; I could feel his own following me as I left.

I passed the bear on my aimless walk; it was laid against a tree, its eyes closed; it didn't appear like it noticed the large gash on its side where its armor had been, nor did it look like it was in pain. I could tell by the swivel of its ears when I approached that it was conscious, though. Feeling slightly foolish, I said, "Are you a demon?"

"You won't get a spoken answer from Aghskari." I looked up to find a tall woman heading toward me. "At least not in a language you would understand." I backed off as she walked to the bear, which I guess was named Aghskari—the name having been said in the same language Hiei had used to pronounce 'Mahdaegrah', which I couldn't hope to pronounce—with bandages in her hands. She sat down next to it and began to apply them in silence.

"Sorry, didn't know." I recognized the woman immediately. "Hey, you're the one who fought Nirvana, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately," she seethed in response.

"Well, I'm sure you would have won if you hadn't had to stop to save your…er…friend," I offered. I wasn't sure if I should say 'pet' or 'friend', so I settled on the second, figuring it would be much better for her to correct me on that one than on me calling her friend a pet. Luckily I chose right and there was no correction.

"Yes, that is true. I may have been able to beat that witch had she not deliberately struck out against only Aghskari, but that is how the round played, and though I believe it to be a dirty trick, it was not cheating. It is just lucky for both me and Aghsk that Nirvana allowed me to forfeit."

"Yeah." I wasn't sure of what to say, being that she didn't offer any form of continuance, and finally I asked, "So is…what's her name?"

"Aghskari," the woman repeated. "She'll allow you to call her Aghsk when you know her better, but I doubt that would be a good idea now, even with her injured."

I decided I didn't want to know what she meant. "So is Aghskari—" I said her name slowly, to make sure I had it correct, and I was not corrected, so I assume I said it right. "—a demon?"

"She's a bear. What else does she look like to you?"

"Well…I've never seen a bear so big. So I thought…maybe she was a demon."

I felt the woman's criticizing, copper-and-green eyes studying me, sizing me up. "You aren't from around here, are you? The demon realm, I should say, as Aghshk and I aren't from around here, either."

"No," I agreed, "I'm not." Was it really that obvious? Was it my question about the bear or how I acted? "Not to say I'm not demon, of course," I added quickly.

"Of course not." Her facial expression hadn't changed, but she was clearly amused. "I can sense your energy, you know. I'm not stupid."

"I…I didn't say you were! I just—"

"It's alright," she told me with a small smile, standing. "I'm Y'seeka." Again, the strange pronunciation that was accompanied by clicks and voice changes that I didn't understand how I could ever imitate. She was definitely a demon; if she was human, she certainly wasn't from the human realm.

"I'm Ketsue." I extended my hand, but she only looked at it oddly, then extended her own; of course, being that she didn't seem to understand the gesture, she only pointed it out at me in the same manner I had to her, and didn't take my hand. She then withdrew it, turning to Aghskari. "I'm afraid we must go, now," she told me, though she was facing the bear positioned on the ground, who now opened her eyes; they were yellow-gold, and piecing like a wolf's. I'd never seen a bear with eyes like that, especially not with irises so large—that I could think of, bear eyes looked almost completely black, but Aghskari's eyes had smaller pupils that made her seem more human. Or demon. It stood slowly, walking to follow Y'seeka, who called over her shoulder, "Good luck in your fight."

"Nice meeting you," I commented, giving them both a slight nod, almost glad to get away from the conversation. Not to say I disliked them at all, but it had been too…serious. I guess I had listened to Spike after all.

"Are you done?" I looked over at Hiei as he spoke again, walking toward me, continuing in a sarcastic tone, "Not that the Dark Tournament isn't the perfect place to make friends, but we do have a round to get to."

"Yeah, sorry." I wasn't sure about his sarcasm—to me, this was a pretty good place to make friends. At least ones of my species. I was much more willing to be outgoing around demons and other non-humans than I was with humans.

Hiei waited until I had reached him to turn around again and walk back in stride with me to the arena, where Spike's team waited to clash with mine (I was done doubting what everyone had said from the start—it seemed impossible for us not to fight them now, since they were the only team who had not yet gone in the semi-finals besides my team.). I was really not looking forward to this. If Hiei expected me to kill them…jeez. I didn't even want to think about it.

When we arrived on the floor outside the ring, a loud cheer went up from the stands. It seemed they didn't have the same antagonizing feelings toward my team any longer; I guess they didn't care who fought now, as long as they got to see blood shed.

I met eyes with Spike over the stone center ring, and he grinned lightly at me. I could feel Yusuke's eyes on me as well, and he was no doubt wearing a similar, hinting grin to Spike's, though for a different reason. On top of that, Hiei, who hadn't so conveniently been witness to what Spike did like Yusuke, was also looking at me, probably wondering what my problem was. Flustered, I looked to my shoes instead, finding them to be incredibly interesting.

"All right, team captains to the center ring to decide the terms!"

"Decide the terms?" I asked softly. "We've never had to do that."

"This is the semi-finals," Hiei said, as if it had been obvious. "It's different this time."

"Well…who's our team captain?" No one on my team moved—all eyes were on me. "Me! You've got to be bullshitting me!" Still, no one moved, but Hiei was clearly enjoying how easily flustered I was right then—I could see a smirk twitching at his lips. "I'm not the team captain! You guys're stronger and more experienced!"

"So?" Hiei cut into my little defiant 'speech' before it really took off. "The team was named after you. Why should this be any different?"

I knew Hiei probably didn't actually think I was team captain-material. That was probably exactly why he was egging on the concept so positively. "You jerk," I hissed, softly enough that no one else on my team or the other could hear but Hiei; I was positive he would know what I meant, and he didn't question it, only smirking back. "Well…I say Hiei should be team captain," I decided, pointing at him in an almost accusing way. "And if I'm team captain now…well…I can pass it on to someone else, can't I?"

"Hiei?" Yusuke quoted. "He'd just tell the other team that the terms were for him to face them all at once."

"…Good point." I considered it a moment while Hiei glared at Yusuke, then shifted my extended arm to point at Kurama. "Fox-boy, then," I said, restraining a grin at the look Kurama gave me for his new nickname. Still no one moved. "Uhh…Yusuke?"

The detective grinned. "Hey, I'm all for tha—"

"Someone help us all if he's ever captain again," Hiei growled, killing off that idea.

I looked to Kuwabara, my last hope, but didn't even suggest it; team leader material, maybe, but no one would go for it, and it would be the perfect opportunity to tease him simply by not even mentioning him as a possibility.

"Team Ketsueki, please send out your team captain!" Suurii called over impatiently, though from closer than I would have thought. I looked up to find her standing near me at the edge of the ring a few feet off.

Sighing heavily, I glared at my team a single time before turning and pulling myself onto the ring, walking to the center to face Spike.

"So, what shall we decide upon, then?" he asked, his toothy grin returning. "One-to-one? Battle royale? One fight decides it all, like the last round?"

"I wouldn't like to bet everything on one fight," I replied. "How about best out of five—first to three wins."

Spike seemed almost disappointed, but he shrugged. "Alright, sure. Works for me."

"Alright, it's been decided—first team to three points advances!" Suurii told the stands, and Koto repeated it into a microphone that didn't amplify sound, I assume for a radio show or something. "Let the matches between Team Ketsueki and Team Kurayami begin!"

Authoress's Note: If you remember correctly, you may be wondering why Team Ketsueki only fought twice before the semi-finals—in the anime, Yusuke's team fought three times before the semi-finals. But in the Dark Tournament saga, the tournament committee really had it out for Yusuke's team, and thus they made Team Urameshi fight multiple times in a row to weigh the odds against 'em. But, the tournament committee thing always really annoyed me, so I chose to keep them out of the storyline, at least mostly. So no extra fights for you guys. So if you don't like reading fight scenes as much as the plot, then I am 'Teh awesome', as my friend Terri (The Schizophreni Trio on fanfiction-dot-net) likes to say. If you do like fight scenes…well…Too bad. (X3)

Also, if you're wondering why I spent so much time on a seemingly insignificant character duo (Aghskari and Y'seeka), they'll probably be making an appearance again in later chapters. I'm not sure yet.

Second 'Also', sorry to Song of a Fallen Angel to not explaining the vision yet. Wait for two or three more chapters and everything will be explained/resolved.