When the day had finally arrived for them to journey to Hanging Neck Island, where the Dark Tournament was taking place, the four of them waited patiently at the ferry entrance for Yusuke. Much to her credit, Nanashi did not hide behind Kurama when they reached the clearing to wait for the ferry which was crawling with other demons awaiting the tournament. He noticed her hair rustled, as if in the wind though a few times. She did move her jaw about a bit as well. She stood right beside him, between him and Kuwabara. She did seem a little bit tired from her bout of flu she had caught when Botan carried it from the town nearby that was having its own outbreak. She lost nearly a week of training though while in the Spirit World to recover from it. When she returned, Koenma ordered Hiei and Kurama to take it easier on her. Threatening her with a mind controlling seed was in poor taste in hind sight, even if done in response to her poor attitude. She did seem in better form, especially mentally when she came back. She had told him she had forgiven him for that as well. She seemed to rail against Hiei and him now to train just as hard before she was sick, and was even furious to hear Koenma's order. Her argument that, "he doesn't have to know," was admirable in its own way.
Kurama snapped out of his reverie when he heard speaking. "Why is Yusuke late?" Kuwabara gripped. "We don't even have an alternate."
"Stop your blathering. Are you ready or not?" Hiei grouched at the stronger of the two humans in their presence.
Kuwabara raised his voice, causing a few demons in the area to look over. Nanashi shrank back a bit from Kuwabara as if trying to create more distance between the two of them. "Loudmouth. I'm really motivated! Kurama trained me for the occasion. This tournament is for me! I'm going to make my name in it and no one will dare approach the sweet Yukina!"
Kurama noticed Hiei's nose twitched in annoyance at the sound of his sister's name being said by Kuwabara.
"Sirs, it's time to embark," The sea demon ferry captain called out through the crowd.
Kuwabara spoke up for the rest of them. "Eh! Not so quickly! We're still missing a guy!"
"We'll take that for a withdraw. Sorry, that's the rule."
Before Kuwabara could respond to the ferry captain, a familiar voice echoed from behind them. "I'm sorry, I'm here! I'm late."
"Yusuke..." Kurama heard Nanashi breathe out when she locked eyes on him. She ran at him, giving him just enough time to drop his bag and raise his arms up to hug her.
"Well, at least someone missed me," he teased, running his hand from the top of the back of her neck to the top of her skull, intentionally messing her hair up, making her pause to fix it. "You're not still contagious are you? Heard the flu kicked your ass harder than Hiei did." Yusuke teasingly held his arms up and said, "who wants the next hug? Hiei? Hmm. Kuwabara?"
Kurama bit back a laugh as Hiei's face went from wide eyed confused to narrow eyed disdain at the suggestive joke.
"Oh hell, no!" Kuwabara shouted. "I'm not gay." Yusuke laughed his comment off. "What were you doing anyway?"
Ignoring the question, Yusuke replied, "I'm so tired."
"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Kuwabara asked.
Kurama overheard a few nearby demons debating about attacking the lot of them, but as if to stop them by demonstration, Hiei softly said Yusuke's name before swinging his sword at him repeatedly. Yusuke dodged each swing before the shocked eyes of the demons who seemed to change their minds of attacking their team. Kuwabara looked dumbfounded at the spar. Yusuke did not end up "dead" at the end of the spar. Instead, he easily caught the blade of Hiei's sword with his two fingers and thumb. "A curious way of greeting me... Is that your version of a hug?"
Hiei sheathed his sword and stood up straight. "I see that you've made a little progress," he complimented with an entertained look in his eyes.
Kuwabara was flabbergasted. "A little?! What Arrogance! He's super fast."
Kurama came up behind him and spoke to Kuwabara who seemed intimidated by how much more progress Yusuke had made come to himself. "Don't panic... You've also progressed." He noticed Nanashi looking over at him, lips slightly parted. "Both of you have," he asserted. He cleared his throat and cleared his mind.
Hiei spoke before Kuwabara could manage to say anything else. "Don't tell me that loser is the alternate?" he asked with his gaze trained on the short masked fighter standing near where Nanashi was and Yusuke had been before sparring with Hiei. Bar Yusuke, everyone else looked down at the fighter curiously. Nanashi frowned slightly and moved her lips silently. Watching her communicate with her wind serpent still was an odd thing to watch because she sometimes seemed to be talking to herself. When she mouthed words, it was normal enough, but when she spoke in a normal voice, it was uncomfortable.
"What?" Kuwabara broke the silence. He turned and looked towards the fighter who was standing closest to Nanashi. "What, him? I didn't even see him!"
"The shame," Hiei snarked.
Yusuke laughed the moment off. "Don't worry. He's more than reliable. Genkai sent him to me. The only catch is he gets a spot on the five man team. She made me promise. I can't make him the alternate."
"I don't really trust you..." Kuwabara said nervously to the fighter.
"Yusuke and I, it must be more than enough," Hiei commented with an excited look.
"Hey! What a second!" Kuwabara jumped up, pointing towards the fighter. "If he gets a spot, then who is the alternate?" He looked at Yusuke confused.
Yusuke gave Kuwabara a goofy grin and nodded to the fighter. The fighter turned without warning and attacked Nanashi, who was the closest one to him, giving her a sharp blow in her stomach with the heal of his hand that sent her flying backwards into a nearby tree. Nanashi hit the tree with a pained whimper, sliding down the trunk while rubbing the back of her head. Bar Yusuke, the other three tensed up at the unexpected attack.
"What the hell is your problem!?" Kuwabara snapped at the fighter, taking a step towards him to head him off should he attack Nanashi again.
Yusuke went over to Kuwabara and stayed his arm. Yusuke shook his head and spoke softly to the three of them, "let this play out."
Kurama watched the fighter who was watching Nanashi, who stood her ground in front of the tree, looking wary. The fighter ran towards Nanashi, whose eyes went wide, watching the figure charging towards her. She dodged him by ducking forward towards the ground while the fighter's fist make contact at the tree where her head had been half a moment before. She put distance between the two of them, watching him, trying to get a proper read on him before attacking. It was too long of a delay. The fighter charge forwarded at her, engaging her in a fist fight. She was not used to fighting someone shorter she was, besides Hiei. She was usually the short one in the fight, so this put her at a disadvantage. At least she did not pull out her wind serpent. The fighter gained ground on her, and was able to send three rapid kicks into her chest. She went down hard on her back. She went to get back up, but the fighter put his up in a 'X' to show they were done. She huffed at the fighter, but let him help her stand back up when he offered her his hand. Caught off guard, she showed less progress than she really had made. She could have done better.
Kurama overheard a few nearby demons who had been watching make comments about the fight. Based on the way they spoke, they wondered how Nanashi was a wind mage if she smelled human and whether or not they could take her with her poor fighting skills, but wind animal counterpart that they could smell on her.
The fighter rounded swiftly next against Kuwabara, who jumped half way out of his skin at first, but managed to hold his own a bit more in his fight than Nanashi had. He had managed to not end up on his back. After that fight had ended, the fighter simply pointed his finger at Kuwabara. Nanashi, who was now back to standing close to Kurama, watched the scene curiously, moving her lips without speaking.
"That decides it then," Yusuke said with an uncomfortable sigh.
"Huh? Decides what?" Kuwabara asked. The lot of them looked at him curiously.
Yusuke reached his hand behind his head, scratching it. "Well..." he began, glancing at Nanashi and then away quickly. "I agreed with Genkai that the fighter she sent me would get a spot on the team of five... And I'm team captain, so I get a spot... And I think Hiei would kill me in my sleep if I didn't give him a spot-"
"You're wrong," Hiei interjected. "I would kill you here and now without hesitation."
Yusuke mumbled under his breath, clearly not wanting to continue speaking as he shifted his weight nervously. "Yeah. So Hiei gets a spot. Like for sure." His eyes skipped over Nanashi and over to Kurama right beside her. "I'm really not sure I want to know how Kurama would react if he didn't get a spot..."
Kurama nodded towards him with a dangerous glint in his eyes and a soft smile. "That is correct. You do not want to know," he warned. Nanashi shifted uncomfortably next to him. She behaved hopeful, making Kurama wonder if she hoped for a spot or hope to not get one.
"So, uh..." Yuske continued. "That left either Kuwbara or Nanashi... And, well, Genkai suggested her fighter should fight them and let him decide which one of the two of you got the final spot as he would be an impartial judge and all since he doesn't know them." Next to Kurama, Nanashi's face was looking less hopeful and more melancholy. Her lips twitched three times with a bit of a snarl. Yusuke looked at her and shook his head, which made her pout.
Kuwabara stared at Yusuke, confused. "So wait, that leaves just me... and Nanashi... Well don't leave us in suspense Urameshi! Who gets the last spot on the team and who is the alternate?"
"Is there anything in that head of yours?" Hiei grumbled. Kurama wondered what was going on inside his head and whether or not he approved of her being demoted to the team's alternate fighter. Kurama did know when the two of them trained alone, Hiei had not gone any easier on her than before her illness. He was not entirely sure if that was Hiei's decision or hers either.
"And what's that supposed to mean, short stack?" Kuwabara snapped back.
"It means you get the spot," Nanashi breathed out rapidly, looking down and away from him and everyone else. She blinked rapidly and took a steadying breath.
"Huh... Alright! Look out demons, here I come!" Kuwabara shouted excitedly. "Hey, shouldn't we get going?" He pointed over towards the ferry where other teams were slowly trickling onto the boat.
Yusuke looked over at the ferry and jumped. "You're right. Good, let's go!" Yusuke headed towards the ferry with the rest of them following after him. Kurama noticed Nanashi glanced nervously at the fighter before she followed closely behind the rest of them.
Once the ferry had loaded, Yusuke located a comfortable enough looking spot on the deck and fell asleep. Nanashi leaned her against the deck right next to him, arms crossed over her chest, with a disappointed and gloomy air still looming over her. She appeared to be hesitantly keeping watch of Yusuke while he slept, glancing nervously at the number of demons on the ferry with them. Her gaze landed more often than not on the Mysterious Masked Fighter. Kurama almost thought it nice to have her looking at someone else for a change, but found it irking. She was full blooded human, soul and all, so she should end up with someone else just the same.
After the ferry set sail, the captain made an announcement from a top the side deck. "Welcome to all! I have some good news to tell you. We won't be long to organize the elimination rounds!"