:: Chapter Thirty-Six; Take Me There ::
It was finally time for the Dark Tournament. I wasn't going to lie, I was extremely nervous. I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out, so I wasn't paying attention to Botan or Koenma's parting words. I sighed as I somberly followed Yusuke into the portal that would lead us to the docks. We all ended up in the woods and I shoved my hands into my pockets. I was wearing my fighting close; black hakama pants, and a form fitting white tank top that tucked into the pants. I went barefoot, like usual, and I was trying not to concentrate one what we were about to do.
"Alright, let's go." Yusuke said, putting his hands inside his pockets and walking forward. We all followed him to the docking areas, and took a spot underneath a shaded tree. "And now we wait for the boats to arrive." He said, yawning and sitting down, his back up against the trunk of the tree. Kurama and Kuwabara stood on either side of Yusuke, with their arms folded, while Hiei jumped up onto a tree branch to sit. Rosetta and Zee stood a few feet away, Rosetta putting her hands on her hips, while Zee put on arm around her waist, and the other on her pulse. I sighed and simply allowed my legs to fold as I sat next to Yusuke.
We watched as more teams showed up, waiting for the ships to arrive as well. A lot of them glanced over at us, taking all of us in, before whispering to their teams. Some of them even pointed at us, giving us either a frightened or curious look. I knew we were all waiting for Demeter, and whatever team he'd be with, so we waited anxiously. Eventually though, I got curious.
"Why do they keep doing that?" I asked quietly, looking up at Kuwabara.
"Because they're afraid of us. We won the last tournament; taking down the guy that everybody thought was unstoppable. You can kind of say we're legends to them." Kuwabara said, obvious pride ringing in his voice.
"Hn. I think you might want to leave yourself out of that equation." I heard Hiei said from up in the branch. I gave him an odd look, before looking at Kuwabara's upset face.
"Hey! Watch your mouth Shrimp!" He called out, pointing angrily up at Hiei. I heard him snort before I heard him pulling his sword from his sheath.
"Don't get angry with me, Oaf. You're the one who let yourself be taken out by the same move twice, not to mention, by a clown dressed up as an old man." Hiei said. I gave Kuwabara a curious look now, hiding back my smile. He turned red in the face as he became flustered.
"It wasn't my fault! Ah…just shut up, Shorty." He said, folding his arms again and looking away, a pout on his face. Yusuke chuckled a bit, before his face dropped and he now had a serious, murderous look on his face. It actually kind of scared me.
"Demeter." He said. I stood up quickly, turning around, coming face to face with Demeter. He looked just like his puppet. Long, shaggy black hair and the jade colored eyed that resembled crescent moons. He was quite taller than me, and just looking at him made my blood boil. I narrowed my eyes, as everybody; including Hiei was standing at my sides and glaring at Demeter.
"Ayumi. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." He said, his voice blatant and warm. It made me want to gag.
"You know, why not just forget about the tournament. How about I just kill you here?" I asked, narrowing my eyes even further. I could almost hear Rosetta hissing towards him. Demeter took my face in and laughed a malice filled laugh. It made me cringe.
"Now, now. I had to be patient, now it's your turn. Sooner or later Ayumi, I will kill you." He said, his voice soft and sweet.
"You'll be dead before you can touch her." Yusuke said coldly. Demeter blinked a few times, finally acknowledging everybody else's presence.
"Ah, Koenma's prodigy. Nice to meet you. You'll wind up dying too, only I won't have time for you. The only person I want is Ayumi. No, I shall have you all killed by my own team." He said. Five people suddenly showed up behind them, but I didn't take in their appearance. I was focusing solely on Demeter.
"I will kill you." I said, my voice dangerously low. Instincts were once again taking over as my eyes suddenly turned into a fierce orange color, reflecting the sun. Demeter's composure broke as he stared into my eyes.
"That power…won't belong to you for much longer. Enjoy it while you can." He said, his voice coming out like venom. I wanted to tear him limb from limb.
"Bullshit." I said, growling at him. His eyes narrowed further as he faced off in silence, before he finally gained his composure back, and stood up straight, his neutral expression returning. Tension rose between us to the point of insanity, as he assessed my power.
"You've gotten a little stronger. How touching." He said, folding his arms. "You're no match for me. It's such a shame though, that I won't be fighting you here." He said.
"Ah, yes. I've been meaning to ask you about that too. Why exactly aren't you fighting?" I asked, baring my fangs at him.
"Because that's not why I want you here. I want you here to assess you. By the end of this tournament, I will know every move of yours." He said, coming closer to my face. My face contorted into anger as it took everything I had not to attack him. "I will know the easiest way to take you down and ki-" He was cut off, and not by me.
Hiei jumped forward, pulling his right hand pack and throwing it into Demeter's face. Demeter's eyes widened as he stumbled back completely shocked.
"Sorry to interrupt your shit talking, but I'll tell you this now that way you'll remember it when Ayumi is beating the hell of you. When you two face, she will be ready. When you two face, it'll hit you like nothing you've ever seen. I'll see to it that it is so." Hiei growled, giving him that look that scared the crap out of me. I looked at him, slightly shocked for such an outburst, but then paid attention to Demeter as he chuckled, still gripping his face.
"We'll see about that." He said, slightly backing away.
"Pussy." I muttered, keeping my eyes on him. His mouth twitched as he looked irritated and straightened himself up to leave.
"My team will see you in the ring." He said, walking away.
"Like I said…pussy." I called after him. He glared back at me, but kept walking, his team following behind him and giving us dirty looks.
"I have a feeling that I should have just killed him here." I said, crossing my arms and looking at his back angrily.
"You'll get your chance." Yusuke said, also giving Demeter's retreating back a glare before walking towards the docks. "The damn boat is here." He muttered. My gaze softened as I looked as his back, and I frowned as I walked up next to him.
"Yusuke?" I asked, my voice quiet. He didn't answer. I frowned a bit as I put my hands inside my pockets. "Are you…okay?" I asked, not knowing what to really ask. He gave me a look before sighing and shoving his own hands in his pockets.
"Not really. That guy is going to try and kill you…and he'll do anything to do so and get your powers. And I can't think of a way to help you or to make him back off without killing him myself, but I don't think that'd be possible. As strong as I am…I don't think I could fight a Moon God…not by myself. And I'm not about to kill all of my friends just because I don't want you getting hurt. I know you can take him down…but I hate putting you at a risk like that." He said, finally ranting off what was wrong. I grabbed his arm so he'd stop and he'd turn and face me. I stared at him for a few minutes, before smiling and wrapping my arms around his waist.
"It's okay, Oni-San." I said quietly. He stood there for a second, shocked, before laughing a bit and wrapping his arms around my shoulder. The only time I called him oni-san was when he was really upset, and I had to calm him down when we were kids. It worked then, and I guess it worked now. "You help by just being here, and teaching me, and being the obnoxiously older brother to me that you've always been." I said, looking up at him before continuing. "So try to relax. You're right, I can take Demeter down, and I know you will help me get that way. So don't worry about it. I got this." I said, smiling at him. He looked down at me and smiled too, giving me thumbs up and kissing my temple real quick.
"Alright…enough pep talking. Let's go." He muttered, pulling me with him to the boat. I laughed a bit as we joined the rest of the boys, crossing the dock to step onto the boat.
"Alright, so what's with the boat thing?" I asked, noticing a bunch of random teams place on the boat with us, none of them were Demeter's team.
"Well…we can't have this many teams competing in the tournament. It would go on forever. So, the boats are the eliminations." Kurama said, leaning up against one of the railings. I raised an eyebrow, looking around at the other teams. They were mostly a bunch of ugly looking demons.
"Uh, okay? So, what do we do?" I asked, looking back at Kurama.
"Once we start riding to the island, we all have to fight each other. Team against team in a free for all." He said, trying to explain it to me. But I gave him a 'you're crazy' look, and then looked at a chuckling Yusuke and smirking Hiei. Kurama chuckled at me before crossing his arms. "I'll just have Hiei explain." He said, shaking his head.
"It's pretty simple, Onna. Each boat should only have one team on it by the end of the trip; the teams that reach the island are the one's who compete. All we have to do is kill everyone else on the boat before we reach the island. We'll say we're the right team and no one will complain." Hiei said, crossing his arms. I looked him and started laughing.
"All right. Works for me." I said, shrugging. "Hey…how come Rosetta and Zee aren't here?" I asked, looking around.
"They're the back up. They go with the other back ups on a separate boat. They'll meet us at the island." Yusuke said, looking out over the water. I sighed.
"Great, now I'm the only girl here…again! Lovely." I muttered. Kuwabara laughed at me and put his arm over my shoulder.
"It's okay Ayumi! Kuwabara is here to protect!" He said, throwing out a peace sign. I gave him an odd look, before pulling his arm off of me.
"I don't know you." I said, walking away from him. He gave me a saddened face.
"AYUMI!" He called out. I couldn't help but laugh at him, and then give him my own peace sign. I loved that big goof. We left the docks and an announcement came over the speakers. It was pretty much just what Hiei told me.
"You may begin!" The announcer said. Everybody jumped towards each other at once, and before I could even take a step forward, a wimpy looking demon gave me a light punch in the shoulder. I gave it an incredulous look before punching it in the face, knocking him unconscious. I felt a sharp pain in my side, and turned around only to see nobody. I narrowed my eyes and did a round house kick to three demons before walking forward.
"Alright, who's ass am I kicking!?!?" I yelled.