Hi there! Hina here. New three chapters and man, did it take me a LONG time to get this done! For any of you that think writing's a walk in the park: NEWS FLASH! It isn't! But so fun and rewarding in the end. But trust me: These last chapters…you don't even wanna KNOW how late I was up finishing them. It was at an unearthly hour that no human being should stay up to that I finished them. As always, I wanna thank my loyal fans who reviewed my other chapters. You've no idea how much it means to me, as a budding young writer. Oh yes and chapter 26 is dedicated to Suraki, my loyalist fan. I managed to sneak a little romance into this so I hope ya'll like it! Cheers!

Chapter 24: Breakfast time

With a contented sigh, I headed into the kitchen, still smiling merrily and muttering lightly under my breath.

"Okay! Now that round one has started, might as well make some breakfast. By round two, they'll be starving." I muttered under my breath and started to fix breakfast; they'd know when breakfast is ready. Just wait till you smell smoke! I knew all the boys, except our brain dead leader, would be really hungry so I started to fix a BIG breakfast. You know, all the normal stuff: Bacon, eggs, sausages, cereal and sautéed crab legs. Okay, that last one wasn't normal but I never eat normal stuff and I love to keep my gang guessing. Soon the kitchen was filled with smells of coffee perking and good, home cooked food. (Home cooked food that I got from one of those frozen dinners.) I then turned my dazed attention to the table and set out the boy's plates piled high with food that I intended to make them all eat. And every bite too! If we had to be in this whole, dumb tournament then I wanted my boys to be well fed. I knew the smell of food would bring in the three, hungry carnivores any second. And I was right! Not but two minutes after I put the food on the table, Kuwabara, my love and Kurama all entered the room. Kuwabara's eyes lit up when he saw the food.

"FOOD! All right, I'm starving!" He exclaimed and without further ado, thanks or greeting, dug right into it. I looked at the others but they just shrugged faintly as they sat down to eat.

"Kuwabara, how about a good morning first? And you know, you COULD say: "Thank you Siren for fixing this lovely breakfast for us, which you fixed out of the kindness of your every beating heart." Just a suggestion!" I said with my hands on my hips as I gave him an intensely disdainful stare. Kuwabara looked up for one entire second.

"Thanks…hi!" He said and turned back to stuffing as much food in his mouth as fast as physically possible. I moaned and looked at the others in complete exasperation, shooting Hiei a very big glance.

"So tell me: What's it's like to have a brain smaller then an acorn?" Hiei asked as he simply ate the food on his plate calmly. Kuwabara's anger and defense immediately rose as he leaped up.

"At least I'm taller then an acorn!!!!" He shouted. I grinned for a minute since I knew this would be good; I sat down and started to eat my crab and drink my red wine as I watched my beloved. I already knew he would win…he always does. Why do ya think I'm in love with him?

"I dare you." He said simply, still eating calmly…not even bothered by the towering, angry giant. Kuwabara looked irate and shouted something back and Hiei snapped something back and they went back and forth…back and forth…back and forth for about five minute. I sipped my wine and enjoyed myself for a moment before Kurama leaned over to whisper in the background of the fighting.

"You're only sixteen…you're not legally allowed to drink yet!" Kurama stated quietly but I could hear the smile in his voice; he knew me. He knew me and I knew he knew me and he knew I knew he knew me, which is why I didn't bother blinking.

"Never stopped me before and won't stop me any time soon. Besides, since when does the thief worry about me abiding by the law?" I asked with a soft smile and Kurama retreated into silence, showing that I had got him there. I then turned my attention back to the fight and found Kuwabara was getting redder and redder and seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. I actually thought he might explode if they kept this up!

"How about I take that fork and stick up your noise and rip your brain out through your noise?" Kuwabara asked through gritted teeth; ooh! He's getting creative, folks! Hiei simply snorted and bit into another piece of food angrily.

"How about I could rip your throat about before your finger even twitched?" He asked with that wonderfully calm sense of Hiei. I sighed dreamily; he was just sooooooooooo cute sometimes! But I knew, since they were now threatening violence, I had to step in and stop them from actually carrying out those threats.

"Boys, save it for after the tournament! If we live through it, then you two can fight and we can sell tickets. Oh, and Kurama and I can have the front row seats, right Kurama?" I asked with a grin; Kurama nodded with his own smile as he shoveled another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Yes. That should be quite entertaining. We'll need raincoats, though. What with all that hot air, it might get a little moist." Kurama said with a rare grin, while I smiled brightly; Kurama making jokes meant I was getting to him! I cleared my throat as Kuwabara and Hiei both glared at Kurama and not me for once.

"Now that's great and all but all of you need to eat! If you're going to fight in the huge tournament that's going to kill us all, I want you three to be well fed. I won't have you out there in the middle of a life or death battle, nearly bleeding to death and getting beat on and then fainting from exhaustion!" I said sternly as I moved closer next to Hiei as I ate some more of my cracked crab legs.

"Yes, mom!" Both Kuwabara and Kurama chorused as one; I smiled lightly and watched in satisfaction as everyone, including my lovely 'rebel without a cause' Hiei, started to dig in with renewed vigor. Hiei was eating with one hand; the other hand? The other hand was resting peacefully on my leg, ever so gently. I sighed with complete pleasure as I finished eating with a contented smile. As soon as the boys finished, I grinned over at them.

"Okay, boys! What are you three doing today? The 'Masked Fighter's already disappeared and I was kinda thinking of relaxing, resting and enjoying myself but I don't guess that's what ya'll are doing?" I asked with a dry smile; Hiei and Kurama both shook their heads. Kinda figured that! Hiei spoke up dryly.

"Well, I am going to train, as is Kurama, most likely. And Kuwabara…well, Kuwabara's most likely going to do and be an idiot somewhere." Hiei said; Kuwabara immediately glared at him as he leaped up and stared down at him angrily. I rolled my eyes; this was the second time in an hour! That breaks a new record!

"Listen, dwarf! That's it! The minute, the SECOND this stupid tournament is over, I'm going to take your little head off and squeeze it so hard that you're brains will pop out of your ears and ooze outta your mouth!" Kuwabara growled out, showing his great affection for my lovely boyfriend. He then grabbed Hiei by the front of his chest; ah boys! Aren't they simple-minded creatures? But so cute! I sighed and stood up and moved to Hiei's side with my hands on my hips.

"Oh, Kuwabara! If you kill him, we'll be short one man and won't be able to fight. Then I'll have to kill you for killing him and then we'll be down two men. And then Yusuke would kill me for killing you for killing Hiei and we'd be down three members. And then Kurama would kill Yusuke for killing me for killing you for killing Hiei and we'd be down four members. And then, just to make it fun, the Masked Fighter would kill Kurama for killing Yusuke for killing me for killing Kuwabara for killing Hiei. And then we'd all be dead and there would be just NO gain!" I said in a reasonable voice; Kuwabara stared down at me in confusion for a minute before glancing back at the glaring Hiei. Finally, he dropped him with a loud grumble.

"Fine! The runt can live. Only because it's against my code to hurt a lady and if what you say happens, you'd be dead." Kuwabara said with such nobility that I felt it was my duty as a lady to bow slightly. Kuwabara mumbled a little bit more under his breath as he collapsed on top of the couch. I grinned at them all.

"Okay! Now that THAT fight's over…what should I do?" I asked as I looked at the three members of my gang that were present and conscious. They were all into that mortal agony training stuff while I was more into that mind-numbing relaxing stuff…like daytime television and cartoons. Kurama sighed slightly, obviously reaching an answer to the question.

"Well, I hate to say it but Toguro might try to come after you again so you might want to stay with one of us at all times while were here." Kurama said calmly; I nearly shuddered at the thought but then smiled since if Toguro came after me, I might get a chance to insult him even MORE than I already had! YEAH!

"Yep, sometimes it's hard being the prettiest girl in the tournament but I'll make it. So, who wants me?" I said and turned around, modeling myself theatrically; Kuwabara grinned at this and Kurama smiled lightly as Hiei simply grunted.

"I'm going to train…if you want to come with me, you can." Hiei said in his usual, impassive manner. He couldn't let the others know he was going soft on me…would ruin his entire image! I grinned and nodded happily.

"Course, I'm going with you! Who else?" I said and moved to Hiei's side, leaning in to give him a quick peck on the check. Hiei DIDN'T set me on fire cause I checked and Kuwabara wasn't looking. I don't normally kiss Hiei in front of Kuwabara cause Kuwabara has to make a big, 'oh gross, Siren, how could you do that, that's so disgusting' deal about it. Anywho. Hiei moved towards the door and was about to open it when he stopped and spoke with his back turned to Kuwabara.

"Oh yes, Kuwabara? I appreciate Siren's support but if you want to fight, then I can assure you I'll be there. And I can also assure you that you wouldn't last five seconds against me. Your choice." Hiei said in a voice so cold it would shame Antarctica; he twisted his head around to give Kuwabara a full, fanged death grin as he finished up his inspiring 'I'll kill you and I'm better' speech.

"You want help dying? Then anytime, fool!" Hiei finished up perfectly; gee, I almost expected him to say 'Go ahead! Make my day!' but I doubt Hiei was a Clint Eastwood fan. Neither am I, for that matter, so why am I talking? Anywho. I sighed in exasperation and walked forward to collapse back on the sofa. Kuwabara's face looked like a really ripe tomato it was so red, the veins on his face was standing out and if you looked closely you could see that familiar old muscle working furiously in his jaw. The picture of barely surpassed rage.

"Listen, you runt! I have been meaning to pound your little face in for so long that I will enjoy every minute of this! Right now, in the forest!" Kuwabara snarled out, which actually surprised me. I mean, I knew these two were always talking about fighting and stuff but I figured it was just some macho, tough guy thing that they went through. An actual fight? No way! I stood up stiffly with a bright smile as I shook my head firmly.

"Well, as much as I would LOVE to see that…we SO don't have time! Got a big, bad tournament to fight in today. Right Kurama, my love?" I asked and glanced over at the fox in question. I gave him a LOOK that told him to keep his mouth shut and agree with me but Kurama simply smiled widely. A sigh that he was gonna say something COMPLETELY stupid!

"Well, actually…you two have plenty of time. Our match isn't until nearly 12 and it's 8 now. Just enough time for you two to do whatever you want to do." Kurama said with that same smile. I hissed in fury at him as Kuwabara and Hiei both shot him pleased and grateful looks. Hiei and Kuwabara both made move to head for the door as I stood beside Kurama and muttered.

"I'm going to get you for this, fox-boy. One day, you'll wake up to find your hair is dyed pink and spiked!" I muttered beside him; he didn't look fazed as he grinned down at me while Kuwabara nodded his head jerkily as they exited the room. I heard him say on the way outside:

"Fine, squirt! Seems your luck's finally run out! Let's take this thing outside!