Chapter 26

-And The First Round Goes To...?-

The first matchup was not as bloody as Kazuma had warned her it would be, nor the second. Thus, when the first round of the third ended in a decapitation, though she had managed not to cry aloud, Mae felt the blood drain from her cheeks and she felt woozy. Most of the demons around them in the stands were on their feet, screaming and shouting for more but she was glad that she sat.

Her hands grasped tightly to her arms as she held them folded over her chest, her knees crossed. She felt like a spring as tightly coiled as she was and she wondered why they had to sit and watch the matches leading up to their own. Part of her knew it was good for reconnaissance for their future matches but the more blood and death that was dealt, the queasier she felt until it was time for them to head to the locker room in preparation of their first matchup.

She was quiet as the four men debated the possible angles they could approach from. It finally came out that most of Hiei's alone time had been devoted to finding out more about each team and their first opponents, Team Shanghai, was composed of human fighters. She wondered at the luck of such a draw and looking at Hiei and Kurama, wondered if it would be fair to pit them against humans, regardless of how skilled the fighter was.

She almost said so when she caught Hiei looking at her.

"It behooves us to use our strengths to their most advantageous," he voiced as Yusuke was talking about a proposed line-up.

"But perhaps it might also be a good chance for someone of less power to fight those they might stand a chance against before all that's left are class B demons…" she retorted, coming from the less piteous angle toward the opposing team.

"If you want a chance to fight, fine. But you cannot show mercy—they knew the stakes and possible outcomes of coming to this tournament," Hiei returned and she wasn't sure what to make of his sudden talkativeness.

"We can't let our guard down merely because they're human, Mae. Afterall, three fifths of our team are in the exact same boat," Kurama seconded and she looked up at him sharply. She didn't need two of them on her case—

"There is a place for mercy but I rather doubt this tournament will be made up of any of the same types that the Toguro brothers invited to that tournament you heard of," Yusuke said evenly, looking away from her at a wall.

When Kazuma opened his mouth, Mae growled and his mouth shut once more. "Fine, pardon me for having any opinion at all!" she snapped before turning and walking toward the hall that would lead to the arena.

"Come on, Mae, don't be like—" Yusuke began with a sigh but as soon as she passed through the door the announcement calling them to the fighting ring rang through the speakers.

Each team stood shoulder to shoulder and as Mae looked at their opponents she read each signature and level. The levels were impressive by human standards but, although her team's admonishments grated on her, she reserved judgment wondering if they were masking themselves as she and her men were.

"Please step forward, team captains!" yelled the commentator into the mic and the crowd renewed its roar as she stepped forward to look eye to eye with the captain of Team Shanghai. She hated that she had to look up so high for though he was as human as she, he was pushing seven feet. She kept her chin raised however and somehow kept herself from trembling under the cerulean gaze that bared down on her.

"As we have a lady in our midst," chirped the commentator who had finally introduced himself as Ren, "Miss Kuwabara, would you call it?" Before the question could be acknowledged or fought over the coin was in the air.

"T-tails!" she blurted just as the neko caught the coin and pressed it to the back of his hand, looking at her mischievously before lifting his hand so he could see.

"Aaaand Team Shanghai wins the toss!" he cackled into the mic and her heart dropped into her stomach. Whoever decided the rules of the match could also decide…

"I think death would be a bit much for this first matchup," the team captain rumbled and she had to consciously keep from stepping back from the sound despite the slightly relieving words. "However, I see nothing wrong with anything up until death."

Ren's ears had gone down in disappointment only to perk up with the second decision. "Anything else, good sir?" Mae grimaced at his near salivation.

"I think it only fair that the captains have the first match," he rumbled and when she looked up at him, slowly, she could see a smile begin to stretch across his face and this time she did take a step back. "Come now," he said as if to soothe the hackles of her team, "all of us are curious as to why this Ishi fellow wants her so desperately as to arrange a lavish tournament for us all."

"It's been decided, ladies and gents!" Ren yowled into the space, "No duels to the death, but near-death has been allowed. And our very first round will be Kuwabara Team captain, Mae, versus the Shanghai Team captain, Wu Lang!" The spirits of the bloodthirsty crowd were revived upon hearing the pairing and Mae pursed her lips as she waited to turn her back on Wu until he did, walking with her team to the edge of the platform. Concern, pride, resignation and unrelenting were the emotions she saw from the team and she knew that her time had come—to prove whether or not three months had been enough to keep her from being killed.

She looked briefly at each, returning to Kurama's look of resignation one more time before turning to face Wu at the other edge of the platform. He'd removed his shirt and stood facing her in what reminded her briefly of a boxer's stance before Ren screamed, "Ready…? GO!"

Wu was faster than he looked, halfway across the platform before the neko's voice was drowned by the roar of the audience. It took Mae a heartbeat longer to react and she was able to take a few steps toward him before having to launch herself in the air in hopes of clearing his head. She was just past his head before she suddenly felt a hand around her leg, the recently maimed one and she was swung like a ragdoll in a circle over his head before being tossed more than halfway across the stage where she skidded to the edge on her shoulder.

Before she could sit up to shake it off, she was being lifted by a fist knotted in her ponytail. Her cry came out involuntarily as she scrabbled to get a hold on his hand, scratching and clawing to make him let go while trying to land a few kicks. "You look more like a daikon for my dinner table than a lady for a supposed great lord," he laughed deeply before he repeated his throwing her across the platform this time by her hair.

She recovered more quickly this time feeling the adrenaline begin to course through her but not quickly enough to escape being grabbed by the hair again. The crowd was a mix of laughter and chanting though she couldn't make out the words.

"Do you hear that?" he said with a caressing tone as he pulled her back toward him, before forcing her head to turn so he could speak in her ear. "They're nearly begging to watch you bleed," he whispered, taking her left arm into his free hand and tugging just enough for her to understand the very real danger she was in.

Mae coughed, feeling her body already bruising from the abuse, but she resigned herself and she thought briefly about Kurama… no, Yoko. And her time as Arianne. And how Arianne used to wield her power…

Her right arm began to tingle. "Shall I rip your arm off to satiate them?"

"I thought," she managed to garble out, "that you'd be a more honorable fight. But you're no better…" her words cut off with the painful intake of breath as he twisted her arm in his hand.

"No better than what?" he growled and she was sure he already knew what she meant to say. But before she responded…

She gave her best war cry as her spirit energy cut straight through her thick black hair… and the hand that held it. She was able to free her left arm due to his painful yowl of surprise. Her hair tie slipped from the jagged ends of her hair that clouded about her head in a dark halo.

"You're no better than a common demon," she said, the strength of her voice returning to her with her resignation and determination. Her right hand went back to normal without her willing it to but she dared not look down and give away that it had been a short-lived trick for the moment. And just as he had said, the crowd had been begging for blood however she now realized they didn't care who it spilled from.

Mae knew she couldn't best him in strength or speed but as she caught the gaze of pure hatred and anger that he threw her way, she knew how to beat him. "By the way, how did you manage to become the Shanghai Team's captain? Surely they were looking for more than brawn…" he shouted with rage as he lunged for her, his blood spewing in a ghastly manner. He slipped through the puddle that had accumulated at his feet but managed to stop well before the edge as she practically danced away and she noted in an adrenaline-laced giddy way how light her head felt without all that hair. Her hair…

She made it a handful of meters further away from him before calling out her next distraction. "You shouldn't move around like that, or else you'll bleed out. And I do remember you so wisely saying that death wasn't an option for our little bout…" He lumbered toward her as she had hoped, her hands splayed at her sides as she jogged backward, almost cobweb like strands of spirit energy slipping from them. When she felt she had sent out enough, she started sprinting back toward Wu. It felt to her as if the whole stadium held its breath as she jumped slightly as if the repeat her error from earlier and as anticipated Wu started to swing his arms upward only for her to keep her jump angled to change her momentum to slip right through his legs.

As he turned trying to see where she'd gotten off to, a teal laced darkness greeted him and he took one too few steps back as he swatted at it. With a final curl of her fist, Mae tugged as if on a rope, the thick hair having wound around his legs, and Wu went crashing backward off the platform.

She managed two breaths in the silence before… "The winner is Mae, of Team Kuwabara!" She'd never heard a crowd cheer so loud for her own success.

As it turned out, it truly had been brawn that had made Wu the team captain, for the next two fights were done in a trice (Yusuke had come out clean, Kazuma with the faintest scratch on the back of his hand) and they returned to their seats in the stands to watch the final match of the day. Mae felt that she would never relax and upon seeing Zaizen and his team gather on the platform she felt her first bit of interest in the fights.

However, Zaizen's team (Team Bayou) had won the coin toss and their rules, much to the disgruntlement of the crowd, was to fight within a strange hazy barrier that allowed only sounds of the fights to echo out. When the haze cleared, each of the opposing team was laid side by side as if prepared by a mortician and her brow furrowed as she wondered if they had killed their opponents. It took Ren fretting and ferreting around for a moment before he could announce that they weren't killed but rather comatose. And the mystery continued as thick as the haze they fought in. Mae had hoped to meet them in the ring but now… she wasn't so sure.

Hello frens!

I meant to get this one out yesterday! I have enough of a lead on these updates that I should be able to post each Friday until we reach the end (for I am afraid, all things must come to an end). Thanks again for reading!

-Casidhe

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