I don't Own YuYu Hakusho! You know, I've typed this 37 times already? You know how bad that bums me?!

Ooo.. this new QuickEdit thing scares me.

I've been thinking… you know how messed up the English Language really is? Just think about it. It has no logic to it. Even French is better and they have all that la, le, un, une, and les stuff!

I was watching T.V. (As always) and this commercial came on about Thanksgiving. This whole family was sitting down after eating their wholesome 'turkey' and delicious 'pumpkin pie' and they were watching this movie that was about families loving each other. They were sitting there smiling, hugging each other, and stuff. It was freaky… I was scared… Forget was, I still am scared!! What kind of sick, twisted family does that?! Then what freaked me out was that they were trying to give the video to you… For Free! NOOOOOO! ::clings onto random person::

Get on with the story, huh? Alright…Alright… But just a warning, you're going to hate me for this chapter.

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The gang was in the park, enjoying the few hours they had before they had to start their drive to the mountains near Hirosaki. They were chunking snowballs back and forth at each other from behind the bare trees. Yusuke had, not surprisingly, started it.

Julie snickered from behind her hiding spot, giving her position away to her last victim, Kurama. She had snuck-up behind him and thrown a snowball at the back of his head.

She started running when she heard him approaching.

He chased after her. "Don't think you're getting off that easy," he joked.

She scooped up a handful of snow and ran to the next tree, packing it in her cupped hand.

A random snowball from Yusuke almost hit her as she waited for Kurama's next move. She was right in the middle of his, Botan's, and Kuwabara's war.

Kurama suddenly appeared in front of her, and she scrambled to the other side of the tree only to find Hiei there. Bits of frozen ice were still in his hair from the last snowball she'd thrown at him.

"Yo onna," he smirked, carelessly tossing a snowball in his hand.

"Hey Hiei, what happened to you?" she asked teasingly. She backed up, bumping into Kurama. She turned and faced both of them, knowing revenge would come. "Now guys… no hard feelings, right?"

They smirked.

The next moment Julie found herself being pelted with cold slush. She ran towards the nearest cover, scooping up more snow on her way.

Hiei followed her, packing a snowball in his hand. "I believe I like this ningen game."

She tried to quickly dart past and throw one at him, but he sensed her. She ducked his oncoming attack and ran for the next tree.

An hour later, they had decided to call it quits. Most everyone's fingers were numb, and their cheeks and noses were bright red.

Now they were sitting in a small, warm coffee house that wasn't far from the park. Botan set everyone's drinks on the table, letting the gang sort them.

She had ordered green tea, Julie and Kuwabara had ordered chai, and everyone else had gotten hot chocolate. The gang chatted as they sipped their warm drinks.

At 6:00, the gang left the comfort of the building and traveled towards the more inner parts of the city, looking for something to do. Hiei had left them to get the rent-a-car before the place closed. After that, he would park it somewhere.  They wouldn't need it until around midnight.

Their next choice of activity was the bowling alley. The three boys formed the first team and the two girls formed the second.  They chose the allies in the far corner of the building, away from the couple other bowlers in the building.

Several games later, Botan looked at the clock. It was 11:00.  The waning pit in her stomach seemed to grow.

"Not much time left," she thought sadly.

"Come on, Botan. It's your turn. Show em' your stuff!"

She smiled at Julie, then grabbed her bowling bowl. "You bet. Watch this boys."

At first it had just been girls against guys since Hiei was getting the car. After that, with a lot of persuading, they had gotten Hiei to join the game and their team. Now the teams were tied. Kuwabara had turned out to be almost as good as Botan at bowling. Yusuke, Hiei, and Julie were decent players. Kurama was also.

Botan observed her shot, determining at what angle and speed to roll the ball. She didn't play this game for centuries for nothing. With a graceful swing, the ball aimed and nailed the pin. It clattered onto the polished floor, causing them to win the game.

"Go Botan!" The two girls cheered and hugged each other.

Hiei stepped away from them, giving them a threatening look.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Always so cranky," she teased.

He glared at her.

She smiled and rolled her eyes again.

"I think it's getting time to go," Botan motioned towards the clock. It was 11:15.

"Ya. We have to get our luggage from Koenma's." Yusuke picked-up his jacket from off the bench, the bowling shoes in his hand.

Everyone else began grabbing their jackets and other cold weather articles. After returning the shoes, they headed towards the portal that would bring them to Koenma's.

They had dropped their luggage in the lounge earlier that day so they wouldn't have to worry about losing or carrying anything while they finished the day.

The tournament started early the next morning. Team Urameshi planned to travel in a car that night, up to the northern mountains. They had to take a car because there were no buses that traveled that late to Hirosaki. Koenma didn't want to unnecessarily have to open a portal that close to the tournament. He didn't want any demons slipping through, so the car was the best option.

It was now nearing midnight. Tomorrow was just to decide who fought who, so they could rest after staying up all night.

"Well, you probably won't be seeing me for awhile."  Koenma wished them all luck .

The gang said their goodbyes and began their journey to the car, leaving Botan behind. Julie hugged her then followed the guys out.

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"I call shotgun," Yusuke informed them as they walked down the street.

"You can't, Urameshi."

"And why not?"

"Where's you manners?" Kuwabara smacked him upside the head.

"Hey! Do you mind?!"

"There's all guys and only one girl. Julie gets to sit up front."

Yusuke glared at the taller boy as they walked down the sidewalk.

The car was parked not far from the park. Hiei pulled the keys out of his jacket and popped the trunk.

"It's still kind of weird that shorty here is the only one who knows how to drive," Yusuke said absentmindedly as he shoved his suitcase into the trunk.

"What's really scary is that this is his second time driving." Julie smiled and winked at Hiei.

"Do what?!"

Hiei smirked and got into the driver's side.

"He's going to kill us all…" Kuwabara mumbled and slapped his forehead.

The three boys played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would have to sit in the middle. Yusuke lost.

"Damn it," he cursed. He got into the car with Kuwabara to his left and Kurama to his right.

Julie got into the car and the engine started. Hiei let it run for a moment, then began pulling the car out onto the street, starting their long drive to Hirosaki.

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Hiei concentrated on slow, rhythmic breathing. Between the singing and random car games, he doubted his sanity. Even worse, they were probing him to sing with them.

"Damn the ningen culture," he muttered under his breath.

Finally, after he thought he could take it no more, the noise died down. Everyone but Kurama began dozing.

Kurama cleared his throat, "So Hiei, what did you think of 99 bottles of beer on the wall?"

His teeth grinded together. "I shall personally extract revenge on that onna for that song."

He heard Kurama give a faint chuckle.

"After the tournament, eh?"

He didn't reply.

Kurama didn't say anything else, so Hiei assumed that he had decided to doze, too.

He concentrated on the road. The blue from the digital clock displayed 2:00 in the morning. They would probably reach their destination in about two hours. From there, they would have to hike up the mountains. That would probably take another hour. The tournament started at 6:00. If they were late, he would finish the climb and account for Team Urameshi.

Hiei looked out of the corner of his eye at Julie. She was using her purple sweater as a pillow against the window and her jacket as a blanket. She had on a thinner, black turtleneck and a scarf.

Women always had an obsession with matching.

"Ergh," he grumbled. The car was already going beyond the speed limit but it was still too slow for him. He could get out and run faster than this and not even break a sweat. Why had he let Koenma put him up to this?  This was too tedious.  He was wasting too much time.

Hiei tried to clam his nerves.  There was this pit in his stomach that he didn't like.  It left the aftertaste of fear in his mouth. 

Fear.  Fear was for cowards.

He shouldn't be worried, though.  This was a lower class tournament, he'd breeze through this.  The real challenge, the real excitement would be the Dark Tournament, so what was worrying him?

He looked at Julie again, finding a reasurrance from the fact that she was there.  She'd never been in real combat before and this tournament, it was circling partly around her.  She wasn't just facing her opponents in this tournament.  There was something else, something obviously trap-like.

"Ch.  Koenma always prides himself on his so called 'sources' but they can't even find information about a low-class tournament?  Idiots," he thought to himself.

He glanced at her again, the pit swelling.

"Ch.  Fear is for cowards."

He returned his attention back to the road.

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There was a thin line of pink forming against the horizon as the silver car stopped next to the forest's border. Hiei could already sense the energy of the tournament emitting this far away. It caused his blood to surge in excitement. He turned the key, killing the engine.

Hiei smirked, deciding to repay Julie for the earlier choir. He slipped quietly from the car and walked around to the passenger's door. She was leaning against it, sleeping along with everyone else.

He smirked and opened the door, letting her get a good scare as she tumbled out. He caught her before she hit the ground.

"What the hell?!" She gaped up at him.

He smirked and finished dropping her, "Morning."

She thunked against the ground. "Hiei...you ass.  What's going on?"

"We're here."

She glared up at him, "Well you didn't have to frikin wake me up like that!"

"I couldn't resist especially after I remembered how I wanted to claw my ears out from those horrible songs you were so persistent to sing."

"So this is what this is about..." She smiled up at him and took a breath, " 99 bottles of beer of the wall…"

The singing abrutly stopped.  Hiei's hand covered her mouth. His eye was twitching.

"Don't."

They were interrupeted as the car door opened and Kuwabara stepped out of the backseat. He looked curiously at the them. "Should I ask?"

Hiei uncovered his hand, ignoring Kuwabara and walked around to the trunk. Kurama and Yusuke were pulling the luggage out of the back of the car.

Kuwabara glared at Hiei then helped Julie up. "What was that about?"

She shrugged, "I think he's embarrassed."

Kurama finished unloading the trunk and closed it. The sound echoed in the silent clearing.

Julie walked over the luggage pile and slipped on her backpack and hung her large gym bag on her shoulder. Everyone else was ready, too, standing in the early morning mist.

"Just follow the evil demon aura, right?" asked Yusuke.

"Most likely."

The gang started walking, starting their journey up the mountain.

A figure watched as their silhouettes slowly faded into the mist and then disappeared into the forest.

For a moment, he stared at the place they had vanished.  He then stood up from his crouched position, looking up at the leaf canopy above him. In a flicker, he was gone, leaving only a few wisps of purple smoke as reminders of his presence.

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All my reviewers are probably all peeved now. They're like "You said the tournament would start you Big, Fat Staller!"

Who should I vote for president of YuYu? Hmmm… (don't hurt yourself) (Shush! I'm thinking!) (oo) I like all the characters but I guess I'll have to go with Yusuke because he is the main character, and he did get run over just to be on this show! But really, I guess the president would be Koenma cause he's like the ruler of Spirit World. Can't argue with that!

Ya! Monday was my birthday! I'm a big kid now!  And I got cheesecake!

:::throws skittles on ground to distract Okhira and runs away::: No! You'll never get my arms!!

Maybe I shouldn't update and see if Ren eats manura... tempting... O hey Ren!  How are you?  Eerr...  ::runs away like a sissy::

Me, I would have ate the sticker or stuck it on them. Sheesh… that's evil…handing out stickers instead of candy. What were they thinking?!

Tomorrow is my first debate meeting.  Wish me luck!  (I know I'm so going to screw-up)

Thanks for the reviews and characters!  Tell me who you want me to use for the tournament.

Buttered Toast

Sincerely,

Queen Chad