Kurama laughed on the ground as Hiei rounded on him. "What is so funny?!" Kurama was struggling to regain control of himself. "It's not funny. I didn't teach that slut-" he stopped himself, tempted to kick Kurama.
Through better controlled laughter, Kurama spoke: "What on earth did you do to her that she would react that way?... She's not someone who would think about doing something like that..." He laughed again. "And as for being a slut, I would bet my life she's a virgin... She's only had one boyfriend... I've seen one of classmates... Kaito... try to ask her out... but she was reading... and let's just say she had not even realized he was talking to her..." He gave a hearty, laughing sigh and pulled himself back up to his feet.
Hiei scowled up at him. Kurama felt kind of bad for not being more sympathetic to Hiei's predicament. "I'm not training her anymore," he threatened.
Kurama's humor suddenly disappeared. "What? She's improved more under your training. You can't-"
"If she thinks she can do to me, then what's to stop her from doing it an real opponent. I'll not be associated with training her anymore."
"Hiei," Kurama scolded, but stopped as they heard the shower turn off. "We'll sort this out later," he warned.
Kurama abruptly left the house after that in search of Nanashi. He found her pitiful, grumpy, stumbling self around sunset.
She looked up at him, and mumbled his name questioningly. She looked hesitant to talk and walk with him, but still grateful that he had come out to find her. She stumbled towards him, tripping on an exposed tree root, but managed to stay upright.
"Come on," he said, gesturing his head towards the direction he had come.
She followed behind him quickly and quietly; arms crossed over her chest and head looking down at the ground. Out of pity, he would not ask her her version of what happened. He could not help but wonder with a bit of jealousy why she had kissed Hiei instead of him. From the moment she had met him, she practically and actually clung to him when she was frightened. She saw him almost everyday in school and training. Bar Yusuke, he knew he was her closest friend she had moved in with her aunt and cousin. Yet she had never attempted anything romantic or intimate with him; or even hinted she was interested in him that way. Even though he was not attracted to her either, he felt an irking jealously that Hiei, whom she had been frightened of since she met him, had been the one she made advances on. But why? Was it a ploy to fight him in training or was there actual romantic motivation behind what she had done.
He stopped walking and looked back at her searchingly. She looked up at him nervously, but would not met his eyes. Her eyes stopped on his shoulders. "You train with only me from now on," he stated simply. She nodded slowly in understanding in acceptance. After waiting a few moments to see if she would speak first, he turned back around and continued to lead her back to the house.
The next day and from that day on, Nanashi only trained with Kurama while Kuwabara continued to alternate days training with Hiei and Kurama. Each time Kuwabara complained about it in Nanashi's hearing, she seemed to shrink back a little in nonverbal response, but she was still improving in her training, but not as much as Kuwabara did.
When the day had finally arrived for them to journey to Hanging Neck Island, where the Dark Tournament was taking place, the four of them waited patiently at the ferry entrance for Yusuke. Much to her credit, Nanashi did not hide behind Kurama when they reached the clearing to wait for the ferry which was crawling with other demons awaiting the tournament. She did stand a little too close to him yet again, but right beside him between him and Kuwabara.
"Why is Yusuke late?" Kuwabara gripped. "We don't even have an alternate."
"Stop your blathering. Are you ready or not?" Hiei grouched at the stronger of the two humans in their presence.
Kuwabara raised his voice, causing a few demons in the area to look over. Nanashi shrank back a bit from Kuwabara as if trying to create more distance between the two of them. "Loudmouth. I'm really motivated! Kurama trained me for the occasion. This tournament is for me! I'm going to make my name in it and no one will dare approach the sweet Yukina!"
Kurama noticed Hiei's nose twitched in annoyance at the sound of his sister's name being said by Kuwabara.
"Sirs, it's time to embark," The sea demon ferry captain called out through the crowd.
Kuwabara spoke up for the rest of them. "Eh! Not so quickly! We're still missing a guy!"
"We'll take that for a withdraw. Sorry, that's the rule."
Before Kuwabara could respond to the ferry captain, a familiar voice echoed from behind them. "I'm sorry, I'm here! I'm late."
"Yusuke..." Kurama heard Nanashi breathe out when she locked eyes on him. She ran at him, giving him just enough time to drop his bag and raise his arms up to hug her.
"Well, at least someone missed me," he teased, running his hand from the top of the back of her neck to the top of her skull, intentionally messing her hair up, making her pause to fix it. Yusuke teasing held his arms up and said "who wants the next hug? Hiei? Hmm. Kuwabara?"
Kurama bit back a laugh as Hiei's face went from wide eyed confused to narrow eyed disdain at the suggestive joke.
"Oh hell, no!" Kuwabara shouted. "I'm not gay." Yusuke laughed his comment off. "What were you doing anyway?"
Ignoring the question, Yusuke replied "I'm so tired."
"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Kuwabara asked.
Kurama overheard a few nearby demons debating about attacking the lot of them, but as if to stop them by demonstration, Hiei softly said Yusuke's name before swinging his sword at him repeatedly. Yusuke dodged each swing before the shocked eyes of the demons who seemed to change their minds of attacking their team. Kuwabara looked dumbfounded at the spar. Nanashi had taken a few hesitant steps backwards with her hands clasped in front of her mouth. Yusuke did not end up "dead" at the end of the spar. Instead, he easily caught the blade of Hiei's sword with his two fingers and thumb.
"A curious way of greeting me... Is that your version of a hug?"
Hiei sheathed his sword and stood up straight. "I see that you've made a little progress," he complimented with an entertained look in his eyes.
Kuwabara was flabbergasted. "A little?! What Arrogance! He's super fast."
Kurama came up behind him and spoke to Kuwabara who seemed intimidated by how much more progress Yusuke had made come to himself. "Don't panic... You've also progressed."
Hiei spoke before Kuwabara could manage to say anything else. "Don't tell me that loser is the alternate?" he asked with his gaze trained on the short masked fighter standing near where Nanashi was and Yusuke had been before sparring with Hiei. Bar Yusuke, everyone else looked down at the fighter curiously. Nanashi frowned slightly and moved her lips silently. Watching her communicate with her wind serpent still was an odd thing to watch because she sometimes seemed to be talking to herself. When she mouthed words, it was normal enough, but when she spoke in a normal voice, it was uncomfortable.
"What?" Kuwabara broke the silence. He turned and looked towards the fighter who was standing closest to Nanashi. "What, him? I didn't even see him!"
"The shame," Hiei snarked.
Yusuke laughed the moment off. "Don't worry. He's more than reliable. Genkai sent him to me. The only catch is he gets a spot on the five man team. She made me promise. I can't make him the alternate."
"I don't really trust you..." Kuwabara said nervously to the fighter.
"Yusuke and I, it must be more than enough," Hiei commented with an excited look.
"Hey! What a second!" Kuwabara jumped up, pointing towards the fighter. "If he gets a spot, then who is the alternate?" He looked at Yusuke confused.
Yusuke gave Kuwabara a goofy grin and nodded to the fighter. The fighter turned without warning and attacked Nanashi, who was the closest one to him, giving her a sharp blow in her stomach with the heal of his hand that sent her flying backwards into a nearby tree. Nanashi hit the tree with a pained whimper, sliding down the trunk while rubbing the back of her head. Bar Yusuke, the other three tensed up at the unexpected attack.
"What the hell is your problem!?" Kuwabara snapped at the fighter, taking a step towards him to head him off should he attack Nanashi again.
Yusuke went over to Kuwabara and stayed his arm. Yusuke shook his head and spoke softly to the three of them, "let this play out."
Kurama watched the fighter who was watching Nanashi, who had frozen up against the tree, looking at the fighter nervously. It was a disappointing sight to see her freeze up rather than defend herself or retaliate. The fighter ran towards Nanashi, whose eyes went wide in panic. She dodged him by ducking forward towards the ground while the fighter's fist make contact at the tree where her head had been half a moment before. Nanashi scrambled away from him a few yards, seemed to check herself for such cowardly behaviors, and turned back to face him nervously. The wind serpent was up and evident around her neck, hissing violently towards the fighter. Nanashi timidly stared down the fighter, who tensed up and brought a hand to his throat. The fighter charged her, causing her to back away a few steps, but was unable to block the three rapid kicks he delivered to her chest. She went down hard to the ground on her back. It was rather pathetic of a short fight for Nanashi, who had progressed so far in her training with Kurama mostly and Hiei, yet just showed a severe lack of skill as a fighter in this unexpected spar.
Kurama overheard a few nearby demons who had been watching make comments about the fight. Based on the way they spoke, they wondered how Nanashi was a wind mage if she smelled human and whether or not they could take her with her poor fighting skills, but wind animal counterpart.
The fighter rounded swiftly next against Kuwabara, who jumped half way out of his skin at first, but managed to hold his own a bit more in his fight than Nanashi had. He had managed to not end up on his back. After that fight had ended, the fighter simply pointed his finger at Kuwabara. Nanashi, who was now back to standing close to Kurama, watched the scene curiously, moving her lips without speaking.
"That decides it then," Yusuke said with an uncomfortable sigh.
"Huh? Decides what?" Kuwabara asked. The lot of them looked at him curiously.
Yusuke reached his hand behind his head, scratching it. "Well..." he began, glancing at Nanashi and then away quickly. "I agreed with Genkai that the fighter she sent me would get a spot on the team of five... And I'm team captain, so I get a spot... And I think Hiei would kill me in my sleep if I didn't give him a spot-"
"You're wrong," Hiei interjected. "I would kill you here and now without hesitation."
Yusuke mumbled under his breath, clearly not wanting to continue speaking as he shifted his weight nervously. "Yeah. So Hiei gets a spot. Like for sure." His eyes skipped over Nanashi and over to Kurama right beside her. "I'm really not sure I want to know how Kurama would react if he didn't get a spot..."
Kurama nodded towards him with a dangerous glint in his eyes and a soft smile. "That is correct. You do not want to know," he warned. Nanashi shifted uncomfortably next to him. She behaved hopeful, making Kurama wonder if she hoped for a spot or hope to not get one.
"So, uh..." Yuske continued. "That left either Kuwbara or Nanashi... And, well, Genkai suggested her fighter should fight them and let him decide which one of the two of you got the final spot as he would be an impartial judge and all since he doesn't know them." Next to Kurama, Nanashi's face was looking less hopeful and more melancholy. Her lips twitched three time with a bit of a snarl. Yusuke looked at her and shook his head, which made her pout.
Kuwabara stared at Yusuke, confused. "So wait, that leaves just me... and Nanashi... Well don't leave us in suspense Urameshi! Who gets the last spot on the team and who is the alternate?"
"Is there anything in that head of yours?" Hiei grumbled. Kurama wondered what was going on inside his head over the kiss Nanashi had given him and whether or not he approved of her being demoted to the team's alternate fighter.
"And what's that supposed to mean short stack?" Kuwabara snapped back.
"It means you get the spot," Nanashi breathed out rapidly, looking down and away from him and everyone else. She blinked rapidly and took a steadying breath.
"Huh... Alright! Look out demons, here I come!" Kuwabara shouted excitedly. "Hey, shouldn't we get going?" He pointed over towards the ferry where other teams were slowly trickling on to the boat.
Yusuke looked over at the ferry and jumped. "You're right. Good, let's go!" Yusuke headed towards the ferry with the rest of them following after him. Kurama noticed Nanashi glanced nervously from Hiei and the fighter before she followed closely behind himself.
Once the ferry had loaded, Yusuke located a comfortable enough looking spot on the deck and fell asleep. Nanashi leaned her against the deck right next to him, arms crossed over her chest, with a disappointed and gloomy air still looming over her. She appeared to be hesitantly keeping watch of Yusuke while he slept, glancing nervously at the number of demons on the ferry with them. Her gaze landed more often than not on the Mysterious Masked Fighter or Hiei. Kurama wondered which one intimidated her more.
After the ferry set sail, the captain made an announcement from a top the side deck. "Welcome to all! I have some good news to tell you. We won't be long to organize the elimination rounds!"