[A⁄N: In which I do a poor job writing in Yusuke's POV. Points for trying though, right? Hardest stuff I've ever written in my life.]

Yusuke POV

It had all happened so quickly that it barely registered in my brain. Kairi's Kamehameha Wave hit Toguro straight on, but he got to his feet. I just kept remembering what she'd said to me in the locker room.

"That'll be my last ditch effort. If I have to use that then it means I've run out of energy and of options and if it doesn't work successfully then you'd better get ready to step in because that will be the end of me."

The Kaio-ken technique, her last ditch effort, had failed and Toguro was still standing. Had she known she was going to fail? Maybe she still had something planned, but it couldn't be happening.

Toguro walked up to Kairi and in a flash his hand shot into her. He pulled it out of her, shaking the blood from his hands as if it were nothing.

"Kairi!" I called out to her as she fell to her knees grabbing at her stomach. She then brought her hands to her mouth and she coughed up blood that just didn't seem to stop coming.

I was next to her before I even knew what was going on, and the rest of the team was in tow.

Kairi was pale. Had I ever seen her pale before? Had I ever seen Kairi weak before? I'd seen her cry before, when she angry or scared, but even then there was something about her feelings, something about the way she'd always get so worked up that made her stronger, that made her want to fight.

But now she was on her knees, there was an emptiness to her eyes that I couldn't explain and jagged breaths escaped from her lips.

"Kairi, are you okay?" I asked.

She chuckled. How was she even smiling right now?

"Well, there's a gaping hole in my abdomen and I'm dying so. . . Not okay," she wheezed.

"Just hang in there. I'm gonna kick this guy's ass and then we're gonna get you help so just hang in there," I pleaded with her.

She shook her head. "But you can't Yusuke. You can't beat Toguro if I'm alive."

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke said.

"Do you remember when I told you that Toguro said that it would be my fault if you lost? Well he's wrong about a lot of things, but not about that," Kairi said."You and I both need just a little push to get the small bit of energy that it takes to defeat him. I can't get mine, but you can."

"Kairi, what are you trying to say?" I asked.

"There's a ten foot wall of shit between you and your emotions and that's where your power is. It's why you couldn't use your energy when you fought against team Ichigaki. It's why you would lose against Toguro if I didn't do this. When you feel great emotion you can do great things with your Spirit Energy. Genkai taught me that," she said. "So, I'm sorry I have to emotionally scar you for life for you to get your shit together, but that's the way it is."

"You don't have to do this, Kairi. Just hang on," I said.

"The walls have to come down, Yusuke," Kairi said. Her body starting teetering and she fell forward. I caught her.

It felt like someone had plunged a knife deep into my chest was finding some way to drive it deeper and deeper.

"You guys, just do me a favor," Kairi said, "I promised Genkai that'd we'd win and that you'd all go home. . . So make sure that happens no matter what. . . 'Cause I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar."

"You have our word," Kurama said.

"You really are related to Genkai with your long winded speeches," Toguro said.

"Hey, Toguro," Kairi said. "You may have taken my body but there's one thing a Saiyan never loses. . . Their pride. . ." Her eyelids fluttered closed. "So fuck you."

"Kairi, just don't," I said.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "I've got an. . . an insurance policy."

"No just hang in there a little longer while I finish," I said.

She managed a quiet chuckle again before resting her head against my shoulder.

"That. . ." Kairi started, "that's what she said."

Her Spirit Energy was gone. Her body went limp. She stopped breathing. Kairi Son was dead.

I sat there on my knees, holding another lifeless body in my arms. Someone else had died for me. My partner. My best friend. I'd known Kairi since I was five-years-old. Over a year ago she'd watched me get hit by a car and die. Now it was like she was paying back the favor.

"How anticlimactic; you knew her for so long and now she's dead," Toguro said.

I felt the invisible knife in my chest get pulled out and I was overwhelmed with the amount of energy that came pouring out of me. I laid Kairi down on the ground.

"There it is. The power your friend was incapable of reaching you have brought out," Toguro said.

"Why don't you just shut up? I think I've had enough of you talking for today," I said.

"It's your own fault, you know, for living in a constant state of repression," Toguro said.

"You took my teacher. And now you took my friend. What the hell do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want to fight you, Yusuke Urameshi. Your partner was just as capable of reaching this level, but she lacked the drive that you have to reach it. Her only use to me was to draw out your true powers and now you and I can battle as equals," Toguro said.

I scoffed. "That's a load of crap and you know it."

Toguro ran at and punched me square in the face sending me flying back into the stadium wall. I just sat there and stared at my feet.

"I know that punch didn't hurt you, Yusuke. Before it might've knocked you unconscious but I know now that you didn't even feel it. If that's not a sign of equal power, I don't know what is," Toguro said.

"You're right about one thing, that punch didn't hurt," I said getting to my feet. I could still see Kairi lying there motionless, eyes closed, almost like she was sleeping.

"Do you remember when I told you that Toguro said that it would be my fault if you lost? Well he's wrong about a lot of things, but not about that."

Kairi was wrong. It wasn't her fault that I was in this situation, it was mine. If I knew how to get to my stupid powers then she wouldn't have even had to fight. She would still be alive. It was my own damn fault she was dead.

"Feeling guilty?" Toguro asked.

I looked up and glared at him. I was tired of hearing this son of a bitch's voice.

"Don't worry. It's like the chicken pox—once you get over it the first time it never comes back. Think about it Yusuke, what do you owe these people? Why do you let their weakness drag you down?" he asked. "Throw off the bags of guilt and weakness. Believe only in your own strength and it can never let you down."

"Shut up, Toguro," I said. "I'm not like you. I won't just throw people away."

"Let go," Toguro said.

"No. I wouldn't have made it this far without those guys help. Whenever I was getting my ass kicked, it was because of them that I had the strength to get through it," I said.

"And that's why you've been limited up until now. You're soft! You don't need anyone else but yourself! Don't you see that!" Toguro yelled.

I don't know why, but I pitied him in that moment. I shook my head. "No."

"Then maybe I should kill another one of your friends," Toguro said. He turned to face them down and started to walk toward them.

I moved quickly and grabbed his arm. He turned back and looked down at me.

"Let go," he said.

"You know, somewhere deep down inside, I respected you. Genkai told me over and over again how stupid I was, but I looked at how powerful you were and saw that nobody could mess with you and I wanted that," I admitted.

"Then you should take my advice," Toguro said.

"Idiot! I'm not done," I said. I could feel my energy growing. The ground beneath us was trembling, cracks stretched out in the ground in every direction. "That's what I did want until Genkai told me the rest of your story. . . Since I came to this tournament I learned the value of what you gave away. It's just like what Kairi said. I'm not going to give that up even if I have to die because I'm better than you!"

I squeezed his wrist tightly and continued to power up as crater grew around us.

"I see you're a disciple of Genkai in every way, you're a slave to your weaker emotions," he said.

"You shouldn't even be allowed to speak her name. Today, you die Toguro," I said.

Toguro let out a scathing laugh, but I'd had enough. I leapt up and punched him in the face. He tumbled on his face across the stadium floor, but I wasn't finished yet, I charged up my Spirit Gun and fired, launching him back through the stadium walls, sending the energy blast through the concrete barriers and up into the sky.

"Get on your feet," I demanded. "I'm going to fire one last Spirit Gun with all that I've got so no more fakes or stupid surprises. Come at me with all you've got. I'm going to end this one way or another. If I win this time I don't want to see you get back up."

Toguro smirked and rose to his feet.

"The eyes of determination, I've seen them many times on glory seeking fools and I'm always obliged to give them what they want. Almost always it's a fight with me and I have always given them death, but you have actually asked me to give it all that I have," Toguro said.

I watched as Toguro's muscles began to grow and expand just as disgustingly as they had before, but I was unfazed. This is what I wanted.

"I admit that I haven't been completely honest with you. What I said was one hundred percent was more like 85. To fully become master of a trade you commit your all to it and throw everything else away. Without that you will never be more than a groundling," Toguro said.

"Damn you're stupid. You didn't throw it away," I scoffed. "You ran away from it. Like frightened little child. I won't run and I won't let go." I charged up my Spirit Gun with all the energy I had left in my body. I didn't care if I died. I just needed to make this last shot with everything I had.

Toguro powered up as well, ready to give me everything he had.

And then I fired. Toguro ran at me and put one hand out and grabbed the Spirit Gun, then a second hand as he tried to hold it back, but I kept pouring into until everything I had was gone. I dropped to my knees. That had to be enough.

But Toguro stood steady holding it steady. It pushed him back a few feet and then started to wrap his arms around it and then popped the attack like a balloon.

He was still standing, but I was down. This was it. I fell over onto the ground. Toguro was going to kill me. We'd lost.

I listened as Toguro walked over to me. I didn't have the strength to even lift my head to face him.

"It looks like your all wasn't enough Urameshi," Toguro said. "You fought valiantly and I respect and now I will give you a death fitting of a warrior of your caliber."

"Just make it fast," I muttered into the ground. I just had to face it like Genkai had. Just like Kairi had. I gave it my all; that was all I'd wanted.

"Hey. . . Ugly."

That voice. I knew that voice.

I managed to open my eyes and lift my head slightly. Maybe it was because I was out of energy and about to die for the second time, but I must've been hallucinating. It was Kairi. She was standing there, still bleeding, still looking pale and fragile, but she was on her feet. She was alive.

"You'd think after all of this I wouldn't have to clean up after you anymore, but clearly you're still just a rookie Spirit Detective," she said.