lostmoonchild: Okay, I'm actually wondering right now if it's possible for one's body to be so used to preservatives that's in food that food that doesn't have preservatives can make someone feel like crap. The taste requires getting used to but I'm actually wondering about the preservative thing. Anyway, here's the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. I do, however, own two perfect TV series collections for YYH.


Chapter Twenty Seven

He wanted to say that he was dreaming but his dreams never got the exact shade of her eyes right. It was like there was some pigment in her eyes that his brain was unable to comprehend or match perfectly. In his dreams, her eyes were always a little darker than in reality.

Yusuke was silent as he stared at the fire hanyou before him, looking into familiar red-violet eyes that seemed to glow with power. How long had it been since he had last looked into those eyes? How long ago had those eyes looked at him with tears in them while bruises adorned her face? A lifetime ago? Two lifetimes? He didn't know. Time had stopped having any meaning for him a while ago and he didn't know when. Did it stop when they first began this tournament? The rules were stupid, sure, but he was almost ashamed to admit that he was having a bit of fun. "Danny?" Yusuke breathed.

Danielle smiled slightly and nodded, her eyes showing happiness. "Hey, big cousin." Danielle said with a small smile. "Long time no see."

The Detective went over to his cousin and hugged her tightly, spinning her around in a circle as she hugged him back. "My god… look at you." Yusuke commented as he stepped back. "Cripes, you look good."

"You look good too." Danielle answered. "How have you been?"

Yusuke's smile faded for a moment. "I've been good. Died last year, got brought back. You?"

"Got stuck working for the Reikai."

"You too?"

"Yeah. Paying off a debt or something. I don't know the reason anymore."

Yusuke laughed. "I'm actually stuck paying off a debt." Yusuke told her. "How's your mother?"

Danielle's smile faded away to a frown. "Same. She let me take over the basement but she likes to make me burn my art." Danielle said with a frown. "When it gets really bad, I book it to one of my teammates' houses and stay a couple of days. I have to guard myself to keep from getting molested but it's not that bad. I've got a good team that I can actually rely on."

"You do realize that you can stay with Mom and me."

"Yeah, but then I'd have to explain to Koenma why I'm moving to stay with one of his Spirit Detectives then I'll have to go through all the bullshit to get my teammates over to Japan. Honestly, Urameshi, you know that I'm lazy."

Yusuke nodded slightly in understanding at his cousin. "So what are you doing here?" Yusuke asked. "Watching the tournament?"

Danielle snorted. "This place is so fucking repulsive it's not even funny. No, Koenma said that you guys were fighting in the Dark Tournament because you pissed off the bastards that you're not supposed to piss off," she slapped her cousin's head, "and that we were to keep an eye on you guys outside of the damn ring so nobody kills you jackasses!"

The dark-haired boy frowned slightly and looked away, pain reflecting in his eyes. "Then you know what happened to Genkai." Yusuke said softly.

"Yeah. We were going to help her but we got told not to interfere."

"Who said not to?"

"Koenma. He said that we needed to let her and Toguro settle things. It drove us crazy because we knew what was happening but we couldn't do anything to stop it. We couldn't go warn any of your teammates because we're supposed to be avoiding being detected."

"So you decided to go against Koenma with the whole no talking to us thing."

"Yeah. You're my big cousin, Yusuke, and I couldn't go without saying anything to you. Not when I've been talking to Hiei."

Yusuke looked at her. "You've been talking to Hiei," he asked.

Danielle nodded. "Koenma wanted me to train with Hiei since he feels that Hiei can awaken some hidden potential. What potential that is, I don't know." Danielle admitted.

"That's great! My fucking little cousin is sneaking behind my back to talk to one of my teammates and doesn't have the courtesy to stop and say hi to me first? Damn it, Danielle, I thought that you had gotten killed and nobody thought to inform Mom or me!" Yusuke shouted at her.

Yelling was just his way of fighting against grief so she didn't yell at him. Let him yell his sorrow and pain at her so he could begin to move on. He didn't know how to deal with grief very well so he'd do things the only way that he knew how. "Yusuke, I don't need to tell you how much I missed you." Danielle said as she pulled Yusuke into a hug. "I wanted to talk to you so much during this whole tournament but I couldn't. Whenever I approached you, there was always somebody with you."

Yusuke returned the hug, burying his face in the crook of his cousin's neck. He knew that it wasn't her fault. She was just stuck listening to orders even if she didn't agree with them. "Sorry, Danny." Yusuke said softly.

"It's not your fault." Danielle answered as she looked at him. "Do me a favor, okay?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Danielle smiled a little before answering, "You kick Toguro's ass for what he did. He's stepped over the line so many times that it would be best to just put him out of his misery. Okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I will beat him." There was determination in his eyes that made her smile. He'd be okay, she could feel it.

"I know."

She just wished that she could be absolutely certain that he could beat the tournament's resident bad ass.

(M)(E)(M)(O)(R)(I)(E)(S)(O)(F)(T)(H)(E)(P)(A)(S)(T)

None of them spoke as they watched the two teams enter the arena, their hearts racing against their chests. "Cripes… look at them." Evan whispered, his voice holding a bit of fear. "It's like nightmares were modeled after them."

"Not bad." August answered quietly before glancing at Danielle. "Any plans for if the Urameshi Team fails?"

"Yeah." Danielle said calmly. "Kill whoever's alive on Toguro's team."

"Even if they kill us?"

Danielle glanced at August. "They're guys, Aug. Guys have needs."

"That one in black looks like he might be into guys."

Both girls glanced at Evan, small smiles on their faces. "Oh, hell no! I'm not into guys!" Evan protested.

"He looks enough like a chick."

"Fuck no!"

Both girls looked away from the human boy when the announcer began talking. The final round of the Dark Tournament was now underway and they had to be ready for what was surely going to be the bloodiest round.


lostmoonchild: Right, it's safe to say that we all know what happens and who fights who so I don't need to get into detail on the rounds. Seriously, people, I'm lazy. I don't do more work than what I absolutely have to do unless I feel like it and I really don't feel like it so read and review, flames are accepted! And since my little cousin blew up my grandmother's computer and the librarian in the town where I live absolutely hates me, I've been forced to use a friend's computer and to go ten miles out of town to a nearby town to use the library's computers there to update my stories so things are going to be hectic once more.