A/N: Late again. Bleh. But I really mean it this time, when I say I wanna get it back on track. Will try to have a chapter out by Friday and then Sunday...and then reset to normal. Wish me luck! xD

Chiryo

Chapter 25

"Welcome to the Wadoshi Games. Let the preliminaries begin."

…Okay. I'm screwed. Riko reached up, her mind still racing and touched her earrings. If she activated the treasure, she could get out of this – probably – but… To reveal my trump so soon… Riko's dramatic side didn't like it.

Very, very cautiously, Riko turned her head. There were demons clawing at the pit walls around her. A lot of the ones with better reflexes, quick minds or interesting powers had managed to avoid falling and were scrambling onto solid ground. The pit was only about ten meters in all directions.

There was a temptation to look down – see what was happening at the bottom – but looking down would bring fear and panic – and neither of those would help in this situation.

So, if I don't wanna use the earrings my best bet would probably be…

"Kurama! Yusuke! Kuwabara! Someone help me!"

Yusuke had been, by a hair, the first one of the group to walk into the room, and so naturally, had been the first to fall as well. He'd been so embroiled in his little anger nest that he didn't consciously realize that he was falling until about five seconds after the event.

Luckily for him, subconsciously, his newly trained and rather sore, but still conditioned body reacted for him, firing two shots towards the ground that propelled him upwards and then just grasping the other side of the hole. It was at this time that Yusuke actually noticed what was going on.

"What the fuck?"

Straining the muscles in the hand holding onto the ledge, Yusuke threw himself up and landed roughly on solid ground. The shock went straight through his body.

"Owwwwwww…"

When he'd recovered from the ringing of the pain, Yusuke glanced around. His eyes widened. "Ohh, man, Kuwabara…"

"…Kuwabara, it's really alright. I can get to the other side by myself."

Kuwabara shook his head, holding it up gallantly as he extended his spirit sword again and sent them flying across the hole. With his other arm, he was holding a very disgruntled-looking Kurama around the waist. "No, it's alright. I insist. True gentleman must help the ladies."

"…Kuwabara. I'm a guy."

"I know! But still! You –"

"Let go, Kuwabara."

A bit reluctantly, Kuwabara removed his arm as they landed next to Yusuke, who gave Kuwabara a cocked eyebrow. "Not just Riko huh? Gotta hit on Kurama, too." He shook his head mockingly. "Man, you are in all sorts today."

Kurama rubbed his forehead as Kuwabara leapt at Yusuke. That officer was right. I should have just quit stealing while I was ahead. Now see where it gets me. A bad job, an injury, fifteen years in a human's body and I'm babysitting some very large children. Something sparked in his mind, and Kurama raised his head. Speaking of large children…

He scanned around for any sign of Hiei or Riko. They'd been arguing about something when they'd been nearing the castle – Kurama knew that he really should have dealt with it then, but it had seemed rather trivial, and at least Hiei wasn't trying to kill Riko and they hadn't seemed to be conspiring to get the Sakar Brooch…

Well, there's Hiei at least. Kurama thought, as he spotted Hiei.

The Jaganshi demon had reacted to the fall before it could happen and had stuck his sword in the wall and was currently standing on top of it, surveying the scene around him. As he looked around, he caught Kurama's eye and then a moment later, his sword was sheathed and he was standing next to Kurama.

He peered around. "What happened to the other one?" He asked.

"I'm looking for her now," Kurama murmured. "Weren't – ah." A small curled Kurama's lips up. "Over there." He nodded in the direction of Riko, who was just finishing her survey of the pit and starting her cry for help.

"…Pathetic."

"Oh, Riko," Kuwabara paused in the middle of trying to punch Yusuke in the stomach and looked over. "RIKO! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!" He stopped and then looked up at Kurama. "We are, aren't we?"

Still smiling, Kurama nodded, "Yes," and then pulled a rose from his hair.

"Whoa," Yusuke said, also on pause. "Whoa, whoa. If you use that, aren't you gonna leave a lot of dents in the arm of our healer who says that she doesn't heal herself?"

Kurama lashed the rose through the air and a thornless vine appeared, pooling into a perfect spiral at his feet, while its user looked at Yusuke.

"…Why couldn't you do that for when you saved me?"

"I didn't have time to think about it then. Of course next time, I could just let you fall while I think about creating a thorn whip without any thorns."

Yusuke glared.

Smiling, Kurama turned his attention back to Riko, taking aim for a moment and then lashing the whip out.

Something green and firm and cool wrapped itself around Riko's arm just moments after her call had finished. She almost yelped in surprise and then almost fought as it pulled back and sent her ricocheting into the air, a glorious flight that lasted several seconds before Riko crashed into the ground and rolled several times before hitting a pile of bodies.

Wincing, she looked up at what she'd hit.

Kuwabara and Yusuke look down at her, bemused

Shaking her head, Riko continued her look down until she saw the holder of the green tendril that was retreating from her wrist. It had left a red mark there, but there were no sharp puncture wounds in her skin. She sat up and rubbed it, then looked up at Kurama. "Thank you for not stabbing me."

"My pleasure," Kurama said and then, as he recalled his whip and replaced the rose, the joviality faded.

About thirty groups of five had fallen into the pit, which seemed to have no bottom, because although there was a lot of screaming, there were very few landing splats. A quick survey around showed Kurama five groups in the room, aside from his own, but it seemed very likely that there were other groups who'd arrived earlier and had already registered and gone through this trial.

"So," Yusuke said, as he stood up and dusted himself off. "What the hell was this?"

"They called it the preliminaries," Kurama said softly. "So this is our first test."

"Isn't this a bit overboard for the first thing they spring on us?" Kuwabara asked, scratching his head. "I mean, first thing, you fall into a pit? Come on –"

Hiei interrupted, voice cold, "This is a demon tournament." His arms were crossed. "We don't fight weaklings."

Riko looked up at the demon and was overcome with a childish urge to imitate his voice badly and repeat everything he had just said. She had actually opened her mouth and said squeakily, "This –" before common sense took over and she swallowed the rest of the sentence.

Kuwabara looked at her strangely. "Was that a sneeze?"

"No. Don't mind it," Riko said, getting to her feet.

"Are we all ready?" Kurama asked. He nodded in satisfaction at the nods that he received and then gestured at Yusuke to lead the way. "Be careful," He added as they began to walk. He glanced especially at Riko and Kuwabara as he said it. "I doubt that the preliminaries would be so easy to get through."

Yusuke groaned. "Oh, that's it."

"…What's wrong, Yusuke?"

"You've jinxed us. We're gonna get hit by some ridiculous crap now –"

"Oh no, now that's a jinx," Riko interrupted as they started down a white walled, hard-floor. "Wait for it, wait for it…"

Yusuke glanced back at her, irritated. "Hey, you're the one who's gonna get killed when spears start flying out the walls."

"Hey, I didn't die last time."

"Your shoulder almost got cut off, and then we got the lecture about how healers don't heal themselves."

"Now this is interesting. What are we talking about?"

The voice came from a petite young girl, pixie-like with pale orange hair that fell to her shoulders. She had been hiding in the shadows, but as they passed now, she stepped out. Her eyes were a matching shade of orange, although a bit lighter and tinted with very light strands of yellow. She was dressed in a blue and white sailor uniform that showed off her long, slender legs. As the group turned to look at her, she smiled at them, tilting her head to the side playfully.

There was a pause as they looked her up and down, Kuwabara seeming mildly impressed by her looks and then Yusuke opened his mouth and asked, bluntly, "Who are you?"

The girl smiled. "Yuuna." She curtsied. "I'll be your guide from now on."

"Guide?" Kurama murmured.

"Why do we need a guide?" Yusuke asked brusquely.

Kuwabara elbowed him. "Shut up, Urameshi. She's just trying to help us."

"I wasn't stopping her. I was just wondering."

Yuuna tilted her head to the other side and grinned. "I'm your reward ~" She said in a tone that could be taken as seductive. "Since you passed the preliminary test, I'll be taking you to the next location."

Riko raised an eyebrow. "Next location? Meaning we're not staying here."

Turning her head, Yuuna appraised Riko for a moment and then smiled again. "That's right ~ Are you ready to move on to the actual tournament location –" She paused, seemingly for dramatic effect, and then lowering her voice, asked, "Or, after what you just witnessed, would you like to drop out? I warn you, this is only the beginning –"

"We're not dropping out," Hiei interrupted, impatient. "Take us to our next location."

Yuuna looked around, but found no opposition to Hiei's statement. The smile returned to her face, but this time it seemed much darker. "Very well. Let us continue on then." She turned and walked to the wall, placing her hand on it – with manicured, painted nails, Riko noticed – for a moment.

The wall didn't change, but it did slide aside, revealing a hollow section that Yuuna proceeded to walk into. She took several steps, and then looked back at them. "Have you changed your mind?"

With a wordless glare, Hiei took the lead. Yusuke raised an eyebrow at his back and then shrugged and started to walk, followed by Riko, and then Kuwabara and Kurama.

There was silence for a moment and then Yusuke raised a hand. "Hey. I have a question?"

Without glancing back, Yuuna chirped, "When we get there, I'll be happy to answer questions ~"

"…And how long will that take?"

"Not too long now. We're about to reach our transportation."

As if her words themselves were the cue, the wall suddenly ended and sunlight poured in. Another minute and they were standing in semi-sunset.

Riko's eyes widened. "Wow."

Yusuke whistled. "A jet? Man, where do these demons get their cash?"

End of Chapter 25

Please review. Please. My self-esteem lies on this. (JK. :P But seriously, review please ~ Lemme know what you think.)