A/N: Late by two days - I'm very, very sorry. It was really busy Sunday and I got lazy yesterday. **bows** I truly apologize.

On another note, lemme know if Ginu's powers/explanation was too confusing.

Upload Date: May 1st, 2012 (May Day!)

Next Upload Date: 5/5/12 (Cinco de Mayo ~)

Chiryo

Chapter 37

Silver danced in the air, slowly solidifying into a Ginu-shape. There was a moment of blurriness and then Ginu's face appeared and he smiled coldly at Kuwabara.

"Nice try," Ginu said. "But I have the ability to separate myself into my spirit energy, so I'm afraid all your attacks –"

"Liar." Kuwabara cracked his knuckles, grinning now. "I know your secret."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "What just happened? Did Kuwabara do something smart?"

"Either that or something very stupid," Hiei muttered under his breath.

Smiling, Kurama folded his arms together. "This should be interesting."

"Firstly," Kuwabara began. "The reason that you're so strong even though it seems like you're not using any spirit energy is because you're cloaking your energy. You're making it seem like you're not using any, even though you are!" He turned to glare at Yusuke. "See? I'm not weak!" Turning back he continued, "And secondly, you're not real!"

The audience was completely silent, and the only thing that broke that silence was Koto. "It seems that the stress of battle may have finally hit Kuwabara, who is now accusing his opponent of not actually existing. While shell shock normally doesn't occur in these battle situations, it may be that Kuwabara's lack of experience in actual fights –"

"Hey, shut up!" Kuwabara barked indignantly. "I am not shell shocked!"

"Are you sure?" Ginu asked, acid dripping from his voice. "Because I definitely exist." His eyes had become very cold, and he was dropping into a fighting stance, his breathing growing slow and even. "And I believe that it's time that you were taken down."

There was a moment during which the words just hung in the air and then Ginu disappeared from the spot where he stood and reappeared in front of Kuwabara, who just barely summoned a bit of spirit energy to combat Ginu's kick.

"Whoa," Yusuke muttered. "I thought only Hiei could do that." He nudged Hiei lightly. "Look, Hiei, he's stealing your moves."

Hiei spared a moment to glare at Yusuke, a facial expression that perfectly covered the wince of pain that almost appeared when Yusuke jarred his left hand. The dull throb was back, now almost eating into his hand, and for a moment, Hiei almost wished that Riko had been able to heal it. The thought, 'Don't be stupid' ran around his conscious for a moment, until Hiei noticed Kurama looking at him with a slight frown.

Turning his head away, Hiei looked at Kuwabara and said coldly, "If he doesn't actually do something with whatever he knows soon, he's going to end up dead either way." He allowed a slight smile to cross his face. "Which might be an improvement."

"If you were real," Kuwabara growled, bracing his feet as best he could. "Then how come you haven't used your wolf at all? Why is it sitting all out of the way and safe? How come you leapt to protect your little wolf? Why would you throw yourself in front of a spirit-summoned animal?" He pushed forward, his orange fire crackling against Ginu. "Why would you care about a wolf that much, huh?"

Ginu said nothing, but continued to push forward, his mouth going tight.

"I'll tell why!" And now Kuwabara's spirit energy exploded forward. "It's because you're not real! You are the spirit summoning. That wolf over there is the real Ginu!"

Almost immediately, the audience began to talk, starting with Koto, "Uh… does that mean I'm actually supposed to be counting for the wolf? Cause I'm not quite sure if he's down or not." Beneath her blabber, there was a chorus of disbelief.

"What?"

"Did you get that?"

"No, did you?"

"The guy's crazy! Finish him off, Ginu!"

"I don't know. He sounds pretty confident."

"Hey."

Kurama glanced over at Yusuke, who was frowning at the stage. "Something wrong, Yusuke?"

"Why is Kuwabara going crazy?"

Ducking his head to hide a smile, Kurama took a moment to get his face straight. "He's not crazy," He said finally. "If Kuwabara is right – and he does have good instincts for things like this – then it's possible that Ginu is part of the Beast Tribe." As he spoke, Kuwabara pushed forward again, and this time Ginu had to break away to avoid being cut.

"The Beast Tribe?"

Nodding, Kurama looked at Hiei. "Yes. Have you heard of them, Hiei?" It wasn't really a question. The Beast Tribe was rather well-known, at least in legend if not in actuality. There was little chance that Hiei hadn't heard of them at some point or another, so Kurama was relatively sure that his answer would be yes. The way he answered though, would tell him something more about how he was feeling.

As if he knew what Kurama was thinking, Hiei just pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and replied calmly, "Yes. I have."

Stubborn fool, Kurama thought. He turned back to Yusuke and the stage. Kuwabara had charged the wolf Ginu, who had backed away to the edge of the stage, but had been blocked by the spirit Ginu, who was engaging him in another standoff, this time with a grim look of determination on his face. It seemed that he was starting to realize what danger he was in.

"The Beast Tribe," Kurama began, keeping his voice light and soft, "is a group of very special and rare demons. Most demons, as you know, have both a demonic form and a disguised form. We tend to stick to our disguised forms around humans so as to prevent attention. Hiei is a good example of this." Hiei grunted. "The Beast Tribe has similar properties, except their normal state is that of an animal." Kurama nodded at the wolf Ginu. "Such as a wolf."

Slowly, Yusuke nodded. "Okay, that…kinda makes sense." Under his breath, he muttered, "Though I can't believe Kuwabara figured that out."

"He's a very lucky person," Hiei said dryly. "He must get that from you, right, detective?"

Yusuke grinned. "Hey, for me, it's skill." He looked at Kuwabara again. "And that spirit – illusion – thingy? Is that a Beast Power thing, too?"

Spirit Ginu broke the standoff with a kick that brought Kuwabara to his knees. He brought his sword up just in time to block another blow and rolled out of the way to recover more on the side.

After a moment of watching the tussle, Kurama replied, slower, "No, not quite. The Beast Tribe is normally known for their strength. Even without any power, they're very strong, and most of the time, most Beast Tribe members chose to use their spirit energy to enhance their strength, so a lot become close-quarter fighters. What Ginu is doing…" Kurama shook his head. "That's a form of projection and illusion-making. It's not a normal Beast Tribe thing." His eyes glinted slightly with suppressed interest. "I wonder who he learned it from."

There was silence for a few moments as Kuwabara and spirit Ginu exchanged more blows, while in the background, wolf Ginu's tail lashed back and forth.

"I don't understand, sir," Ogre complained. "Why is Ginu doing this? Wouldn't it be easier just to fight straight on? And doesn't doing it like this take more time and energy?"

Grimly, Koenma nodded. He played with a senbei cracker wrapper lying in front of him, contemplating the situation. It would take much more energy to send off a spirit projection to fight – especially if it didn't have any special skills. Still though, going about it this way would give the user an extra layer of protection. Unless his opponent had senses like Kuwabara's, it would be very hard for them to realize that the person they were attacking wasn't even real.

"Still though," Koenma said aloud. "Going about a battle this way, especially in the Blood Games…" He shook his head while Ogre looked at him, confused. "You'd either have to be very stupid or very strong."

Ogre blinked. "What do you mean, sir?"

Impatiently, Koenma waved a chubby toddler arm as he explained, "While this skill is a lot more defensively viable because it will take your opponent time to realize that you are not actually the one fighting, it also costs a lot more energy, which makes it relatively useless unless all you want to do is show off or unless you're very strong and want to hide that fact."

"Which one is it, sir?"

Highly irritated now, Koenma jumped onto the table and then bonked Ogre on the head. "If I knew that I wouldn't be thinking this hard, would I, numbskull?" He settled back into his chair and crossed his arms, frowning at the stage.

Kuwabara paused for a moment and then began to back up rapidly.

"What's this? After making a shocking statement and then backing it up with some very nice defense, Kuwabara is suddenly retreating! Is he chickening out after all? Was this all just a show?"

Kuwabara glared at Koto and barked, "Shut up! I am not chickening out!"

"Then what are you doing?"

"None of your business!"

"I'm the commentator!" Koto returned indignantly. "Of course, it's my business."

"I –"

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke's voice came as a complete surprise to the orange-headed young man. "Concentrate on your damn fight! Turn, you idiot, turn!"

The warning came just a fraction of a moment too late, and Ginu's kick struck Kuwabara's right shoulder, causing a shock that caused the sword to fizzle out of existence. Kuwabara dropped to his knees in pain, but managed to raise an arm to block the next attack.

"How's this?" Spirit Ginu's voice was now mixed with a slightly guttural tone, very different from his previous refined quality. He pressed Kuwabara back, spirit energy now flowing abundantly from him. "You think that knowing makes any difference? You're still going to die here, and I will still win this tournament all by myself."

Very slowly, Kuwabara let himself get pushed back. It was always easier to use someone's force against them – he'd learned that very early on when he'd gotten in with the local gangs, and it was something that he still used, especially against amateurs or those who were overconfident.

Wait for it… Kuwabara counted seconds as a drop of sweat trickled slowly down his forehead. Wait… Kuwabara leaned back just a bit more. It wouldn't be long before he actually started feeling the pressure. Now!

Kuwabara kicked at spirit Ginu's legs and as he jumped nimbly aside, ran around him. As he did the sword extended dramatically and within a few broad leaps, Kuwabara sliced down, the sword cutting cleanly into one of wolf Ginu's shoulders.

Wolf Ginu, who had, until that point, been watching intensely, his tail lashing back and forth, howled in pain. The glazed concentration in his eyes broke, and he collapsed into a heap, panting in pain. Behind Kuwabara, the spirit conjugation of Ginu disappeared.

"Yes!" Kuwabara put his arms up in victory, taking a moment to soak in glory and then turned to look at Koto. "Hey! Fox lady, he's down."

Koto blinked and then shook her head. "Uh – yeah –" She ran over to Ginu. "It seems that Kuwabara wasn't as crazy as we thought, folks. From what your lovely announcer can see, it seems as if this really is the real Ginu, and he is down! One…"

"Hey, did you see that, Urameshi?" Kuwabara spun around and started gesturing at himself. "Did you see that?"

"Oh fuck…" Yusuke muttered, covering his face for a moment before cupping his hand around his mouth and yelling, "Stop making a fool of yourself, you moron!"

"Three…four…"

"What? Urameshi, you – ah!"

Something hard with muscle and roughened fur rammed into Kuwabara's back, followed by a sharp sensation in the shoulder of Kuwabara's right arm – teeth –

"AH!" Kuwabara yelled and turned, flapping his arms crazily until Ginu, who was clinging with his one undamaged, clawed paw and his strong wolf teeth to Kuwabara's back and shoulder, was sent flying off. There was a tearing noise that sounded clearly throughout the arena – the sound of Ginu's fangs ripping through Kuwabara's shoulder muscle – and then a scream from both participants as Ginu landed on his hurt leg and the pain registered in Kuwabara's brain.

Koto, who had skipped back just in time to avoid the collision now pulled the microphone to her mouth. "Oh! And we have yet another turnaround, ladies and gentlemen! Ginu has managed to get up despite a decimated foreleg and has now dealt Kuwabara with some serious damage. It seems that after dropping the illusion, Ginu is even stronger than before! Can Kuwabara, who apparently is a big sword user, deal with not being able to use his dominant hand?"

Breathing hard, Kuwabara rolled to the side and tried to push himself up. His shoulder stung with every movement, but it was manageable. And besides, how could he live it down if he just quit in the middle like this? Urameshi would never let him forget it – And shorty would get way too much ammo. And I'd look bad in front of Keiko and Botan and sis and Yukina – Kuwabara shot to his feet. Yukina! Yukina's here! Oh fuck, I cannot lose!

Ginu was getting to his feet as well. It was made a little harder for him, because he had to keep the injured leg above the ground, a trait that would make fighting hard. His ears were flat against his skull, and a low growl was rumbling from his chest. Without warning, he launched himself at Kuwabara again, using the power of his back legs to throw himself at his opponent's chest.

There was a moment when Yusuke winced, sure that his rival was about to get crushed into the ground, when Botan and Ogre both covered their eyes, when Koenma was about to conclude that Ginu's ploy must have been to hide his strength –

And then power erupted from Kuwabara, a coursing orange fire that solidified in his left hand and left an afterimage in the air as it sliced through Ginu, who howled in rage and pain and then dropped to the ground.

"Did he win, sir?" Ogre asked, peeking out from behind his blue fingers.

Shaking his head, Koenma leaned back in his chair. "Yes, he did."

Sighing in relief, Ogre put his hands down and looked at his boss. "I guess that means that Ginu was just cocky, huh, sir?"

Slowly, as he watched Kuwabara turn in victory and walk back to the rest of the team, Koenma shook his head. "No. No, Ginu was strong."

Ogre frowned. "Then, sir, what –"

A smile gradually crossed Koenma's face. "Ginu was strong," Koenma repeated. "But Kuwabara was stronger."

End of Chapter 37

Yay, Kuwabara ~! Leave me lots of reviews. :D