Author's Note:

Sorry about the long hiatus! I've been working on my last semester of college and also got an internship, so I've been pretty busy!

Enjoy, and check out YYHTheLostChapters on DeviantArt for pictures of the characters!

Chapter 28: Rugby

"What, like the sport?" Yusuke asked the demon incredulously, although not a hint of fear could be found in his voice. It was Kuwabara who was quaking slightly behind him, a drop of sweat trickling slowly over his sharp cheekbones.

"I prefer to think of it more as an inspiration." said Rugby, his lipless mouth turning up slightly into a smirk. His teeth gnashed together as he spoke, and it was a wonder he could even hold a conversation at all. "It's the closest thing you humans have to recreational pain."

Flein's left hand gripped the handle of the katana at her side, ready to react at the slightest provocation. The demon's greeting seemed similar to an attack, but she had seen less amiable greetings from demons in the past. At the very least, she doubted the large demon wanted to play a game of rugby. Joka backed up a few steps to position himself at her side, shielding Anji from Rugby's view. His hands continuously clenched and unclenched, and Flein was relieved to see she wasn't the only one on edge.

"I saw your spirit gun yesterday." Rugby continued, never shifting his gaze from Yusuke. He nodded his large head sideways to the oval ball in his hand. "I want to see how it compares." This time he glanced over to Team Musakui, the sneer still on his face. "It's unfortunate I had to find you with so many others around. It makes hitting the target so much more difficult."

Flein's tail twitched with anticipation at the demon's threatening words, but she kept the humans' movements in her peripheral vision, waiting to see how they'd react. She was hesitant to be the first one to jump the gun before Rugby had made his move.

"This guy is seriously dumb if he thinks he can take on all of us." Kirda said beside her. The water demon was the only one who hadn't assumed a fighting stance, and her arms remained crossed in defiance. She still seemed unconvinced that there would be a fight at all in these conditions.

"He probably thinks we won't defend Yusuke though." Flein responded to Kirda quietly under her breath. It was uncommon for any demon to take a human's side in a fight- In fact, she wouldn't be surprised at all if Rugby was expecting the six demons to join in the slaughter.

Yusuke finally released the collar of Kuwabara's shirt, and the confused human stumbled back onto his feet. He had been on his knees the whole time in a quiet stupor after the tree branch had almost fallen on top of him. His teammate then aimed one index finger at Rugby's head, supporting it from underneath with his other hand. The gesture was similar to imitating the stance of holding a gun, but with a key component missing- the gun itself.

"What is he doing?" Flein thought, tearing her gaze away from their threat and staring at the human in bewilderment. This was a mistake- Rugby's ball was now flying at Yusuke with an amazing speed, its owner taking advantage of the momentary distraction. The sudden attack brought upon an intense chain reaction that must have only lasted a few seconds, but seemed to be going in slow motion for Flein.

The cat demon sprung into action, sprinting away from their opponent and aiming for the ball that was advancing closer and closer to Yusuke. Kuwabara stumbled over to the right, emitting a sound that resembled a mixture between a donkey and a cat getting its tail stepped on. Unlike his uncoordinated friend, Yusuke was immobile- he simply stood there with his finger still aimed at the approaching ball, staring at it intensely.

"Why isn't he moving?!" Flein thought desperately, unsheathing her katana and quickening her pace. But the ball had had too much of a head start- it had become apparent to her in a millisecond that she wouldn't be able to reach it in time.

Fortunately, Yusuke leaped out of the ball's path just a nanosecond before it crashed into the tree behind him, causing slivers of bark to scatter in random directions.

Meanwhile, Kirda and Joka had launched themselves at Rugby behind her, Kirda aiming a flying kick to the demon's unshielded chest. He grabbed the water demon's leg easily with his large hand, using the other to swat Joka away from him like a fly. Joka managed to land on his feet, the force of Rugby's slap causing him to drag a few feet backward, dirt gathering around his heels. Rugby, easily three times the size of his victim, tosses Kirda like a rag doll. She spins backwards several times, her two braids swinging wildly, before landing unceremoniously at the base of a nearby tree.

"Why do you defend humans?!" Rugby roared in protest, only just realizing the numbers against him.

Flein had spun around just in time to witness Kirda landing roughly in the dirt, and she prepared to sprint toward her when she heard a sharp whistling noise at her back. She whirled around again to see the familiar site of an oval rugby ball, having bounced off of the tree and was now heading directly toward her.

She quickly backstepped to the left, the wind from the speeding ball causing her hair to briefly block her vision. The ball hadn't been aiming at her- it was still fixed on Yusuke, who had landed a few feet behind her after dodging.

"That ball has a fix on your spirit energy, and it won't stop until you're hit!" called Rugby, just before Joka leaped at him again. The wolf demon was blocked by Rugby's meaty arm, but the force caused the large demon to retreat back a step. Electric sparks flew at his face, causing him to shield himself with his other arm- it became immediately clear that Anji was the cause, the short girl standing with her arms outstreched warily, as if afraid of accidentally hitting her childhood friend instead. "Of course, if all of you want to play . . "

The ball collided with the ground, Yusuke hastily jumping out of its path again. As predicted, the ball rebounded and relentlessly flew at the dark-haired human almost as enthusiastically as before. Flein jumped out of the boy's path, as he attempted to speed past the others and away from the ball's tireless attacks. The flying orb bounced from tree to tree, almost colliding into Kirda in the process, who was struggling back on her feet. She gasped and tottered back onto the ground again, the ball just barely grazing a strand of hair on the top of her head.

"Dammit!" Yusuke grunted through his teeth and suddenly changed course, sprinting away from Team Musakui and into the forest. The ball continued to pursue him, bouncing from tree to tree.

"Urameshi, where are you going?!" Kuwabara cried from the ground behind her. Yusuke's opponent seemed oblivious to the new situation, as he was now desperately defending himself from three separate attackers. Rei was nowhere to be found.

"Don't follow me!" Yusuke's voice echoed from the forest in response, the sound of the ball crashing into the trees growing fainter and fainter.

Flein paused for just a moment before running after Yusuke herself, using the tree branches to leap from one to another for quicker transport. Kuwabara yelled something after her from behind, but he was already close to being inaudible at the pace she was going.

"Sorry guys . . . just keep distracting him for me." she thought to her companions. She had no idea what Yusuke's plan was, or even if he had a plan- it was this thought that he might not have a plan that caused her to chase after him. She had determined there was only one way to stop the ball's flight- and she was the only one who was able to do it.

It didn't take more than a minute to catch up to the rampaging ball. Yusuke was starting to slow down, panting heavily. Flein was about to jump down from the trees when Yusuke skidded to a stop and turned toward the ball, aiming his pointer finger at his target once again. The decisiveness of his stance led Flein to believe that perhaps there was something to this pose after all- however, nothing was occurring. The ball was quickly approaching, unwilling to wait for Yusuke's attack.

Flein couldn't afford to wait for him any longer. Sacrificing whatever dignity the human may have had in his supposed attack, she leaped forward from a tree and swung her katana in a sharp downward motion, splitting the dreaded ball cleanly in half. It exploded into smoke, wasted energy wafting into the air like fumes. The cat demon landed on her feet in a crouched position, before turning around to face Yusuke and sheathing her sword.

Yusuke slowly lowered his arms, his hands falling limply to his sides. His gaze shifted from the ball's wafting smoke and onto Flein in mild surprise. "Th- thanks." he uttered, his brown eyes still trembling in shock. "I was almost . ."

He furrowed his eyebrows and stared intently at the index finger of his right hand, abruptly becoming lost in thought.

"No problem." Flein replied anyway, although she doubted the human heard her. It was obvious to her now that Yusuke must have a formidable attack involving that finger- but regardless, it clearly didn't pan out. She knew that she was the only one with a weapon that could destroy the ball without touching it and causing it to explode on impact.

A shriek from the forest behind her interrupted her thoughts. Yusuke blinked and finally broke out of his trance. "Damn. What's going on back there?!"

The two wordlessly sprinted back to the area where their companions and Rugby were fighting, only to find everyone standing motionless. There, standing in the middle of the previous commotion, was a dark-skinned man who made their first opponent look tiny. No one had made a move against this newcomer, and a short glance downward immediately caused Flein to realize why. At his feet was their previous threat, Rugby, lying still with a large metal axe protruding from his back.

"This guy just came and killed his friend!" Kuwabara briefly explained upon Yusuke and Flein's arrival. His exclamation caused the hefty, shirtless man to turn his head toward Yusuke, his eyes glimmering in recognition.

"I don't approve of killing opponents outside of the ring. He was my teammate, but he was a mindless creature." the man stated, not even sparing another look at his former companion. "He did not deserve the pleasure of ending the spirit detective's life. That is reserved only for me." He turned his back to the group, leaving his axe abandoned in Rugby's spine. "If, of course, you can survive this island long enough to meet me in the arena. Your demon friends won't always be there to protect you."

With that last promise, the stranger disappeared back into the forest without another glance back. Everyone visibly relaxed once he was out of sight, Anji's shoulders drooping the most.

"Oh man. He killed his teammate over you?" Kuwabara asked Yusuke, his voice tinged with disbelief.

"Uh huh. I'm a real celebrity." Yusuke responded dryly. Flein absentmindedly listened to the two boys' conversation while examining her teammates, who seemed to be assessing each other after the fight. Kirda was pointing to her knee and speaking adamantly to Anji, but her expression wasn't serious enough to warrant any concern. Her friends were tough- a low level demon like Rugby wasn't likely to have a chance at making a scratch on them.

"So what happened? Did you end up using your Spirit Gun?" Kuwabara asked curiously, taking a step closer to his teammate.

Flein focused her complete attention on the humans' conversation now. "Spirit Gun? Spirit detective?" she thought, finally considering their opponents' words for the first time. "Could this be why my brother is connected to them somehow . . ?"

"Nah. Cat lady over here took care of it." Yusuke answered, noticeably neglecting to mention that the aforementioned Spirit Gun wouldn't have worked even if given a chance.

"No way! She saved you?!" Kuwabara hooted with glee, reaching out a hand expectantly toward Flein's head. "Good kitty!"

Flein quickly ducked out of Kuwabara's reach, shielding her black ears from his grasp. The nightmare from the night before was threatening to surface in her mind again. "Don't do that."

"Do what?! I was only gonna pat ya on the head! Sheesh, even demon cats are cranky . . ." Kuwabara grumbled, shoving his rejected hand into the pocket of his pants. Yusuke scratched at the peeling bandage on his cheek and smirked at his friend's misfortune.

"Is everyone okay?"

Anji carefully squeezed her way into the conversation, Kirda and Joka following behind her. Talik showed his face for the first time since Rugby appeared, but their hopeless friend Rei was still missing from the group.

"Probably ran back to the hotel." Flein thought. It was starting to sadden her that she was no longer surprised by Rei's actions.

Kuwabara's mood brightened considerably as his eyes landed on Anji. Flein had forgotten that the wolf demons weren't present for Team Urameshi's abrupt introduction in their hotel room.

"This one has ears too?!" he exclaimed, involuntarily reaching out the same hand toward Anji's dark purple ears.

Before Flein could warn her of Kuwabara's awful habit, Joka quickly stepped between them, a jovial smile still plastered on his face. "Hey, if you wanna feel ears, feel mine!" he said, leaning his head downward for easy access. He pointed a finger at his own black ears. "They're the softest."

Kuwabara grimaced, his features distorting into an expression of disgust. He lifted his hands with his palms facing toward Joka, as if to shield himself. "U-um . . no thanks man . ."

Joka shrugged, straightening up again. "Suit yourself." His smile looked somewhat victorious.

"What's wrong Kuwabara, you don't wanna feel ears if they belong to a dude?" Yusuke jeered, looking at his friend knowingly.

"Shut up Urameshi, that has nothing to do with it!" Kuwabara retorted, glaring at Yusuke.

"Yeah yeah, sure." Yusuke said, rolling his eyes and turning away from the group. "If you're done embarrassing yourself, I'm gonna head back to the hotel before someone else shows up and wants to fight me."

"If you're going back to the hotel, we might as well join you. Our friend probably ran back there." Flein offered. She wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to ask Yusuke some questions about her brother in a more private setting.

"Your friend? Are you talking about the pretty one in the weird outfit?" Kuwabara inquired, his eyes clouding over for a moment. He pointed to the dense forest behind her, a few feet from where Rugby was once standing. "I saw her run off that way during the fight."

"That's . . not the direction of the hotel . ." Flein said, her heart falling steadily deeper into her stomach. Their day off was getting more and more troublesome as time passed.

"What, did she just run off in a random direction or something? What a stupid . ." Kirda trailed off, her fists planted firmly on her hips. Flein could think of a variety of words that could help her finish the sentence.

"She might be lost." Anji said, concern creasing her forehead. "If she is and we don't find her . . she might . . "

"I know." Flein sighed, interrupting Anji. Every part of her wanted to ignore Rei's absence, but she knew that more demons like Rugby would be occupying the forest. If she encountered another one, she wouldn't stand a chance.

"Do you . . want us to help find your friend?" Yusuke offered hesitantly, scratching the back of his head. Flein knew he was asking because he felt obligated to, but she couln't help but feel completely embarrassed that this was happening in front of them. It seemed like Rei would somehow find a way to shame Team Musakui at every given chance.

"No, no." Flein assured him, waving her hands in front of her. "We'll handle this ourselves." Two Team Urameshi members had already had to save Rei once- she didn't want to waste Yusuke and Kuwabara's time as well.

"It's not like it's the first time . ." Kirda added, rolling her eyes.

"Nonsense! When there's a lady in need, Kuwabara's there to save the day!" Kuwabara cried, slapping a fist proudly on his chest. Flein could tell that he might be imagining himself with a flowing cape in his mind's eye.

"No, no, there's no need-"

"C'mon doofus, they don't want our help." Yusuke interrupted, yanking on his teammate's arm. Kuwabara struggled in protest, almost stumbling over his own feet as his friend dragged him away. Yusuke lifted his hand in a farewell without looking behind him. "Bye ladies."