Hey everyone!

So, I still do want to update weekly, but the reason this is a couple weeks late is because my grandmother died, so I haven't been feeling overly inspired to write the last couple weeks due to grief, which has sucked, because often writing is super therapeutic for me. I also happen to be a perfectionist and so this chapter doesn't quite meet my standards for how exciting I had originally wanted to make it. But I didn't want to make you guys wait forever for it after I had promised to update right away. So, hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Reviewer Responses:

Guest (#1): Thanks for checking out my story! So in this story, Kagome did have her mom, gramps and Souta, but they all died as a result of the housefire when she was 15. She is 16 years old in this story (so grade 11 ish- same year as Kyouya and Tamaki in school. Haruhi and the twins are in their first year, Tamaki, Kyouya, and Kagome in their second, and Mori and Hani are in their 3rd year. So she is only a year younger than Mori.)

Guest (#2): Thanks so much! I admit, I also had to go back and read the whole story when I came back to this! LOL So I know what you mean! I also like reading it! Thanks for your support!

Azumigurl: YES! I also can't wait to see Kagome kick ass! I have plans for it! I am excited and I hope I don't disappoint! ;)

mallarieTwinkies: THANK YOU! I am so happy you think this is awesome! It's my first time branching out of fantasy writing, so I have been enjoying it, but I admit, it is everyone's positive responses that have kept me going at times and have made this an enjoyable project to write! So Thank you!

Joanne Francis Tiano Cajilig: Thank you! I hope I don't disappoint you as I continue on with the story! Thanks for checking it out and appreciating it!

Chapter 21

Kyouya was the last to leave the room, flipping his laptop shut with finality, he stood. As he was still crouched over the table, hand still on top of his laptop, the door creaked open. Pausing he glanced up to see Haruhi enter the room, some papers in her hand.

"Oh, hey Kyouya-senpai. I didn't realize anyone was still here." Her eyes roved over his posture. He noticed, of course, and rose and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I was just finished actually." He replied, folding his arms, as his head turned as she passed him, opening a cupboard cabinet and setting the stack of papers into the cubby and closing it. "I thought you would have been home by now, Haruhi." He admitted, watching her as she looked up at him as she closed the door.

"Oh, yeah, I was on my way out but the butler from Kagome-senpai's house stopped me and asked me to bring the list and recipes of refreshments for the next month in. Kagome apparently made the list up before the tournament started." She gave a shrug.

"The tournament started today did it not? Why did she ask to have that brought in at this time?" Kyouya mused out loud, more to himself than to Haruhi.

"Yeah, that's why Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai weren't here today right? Although... she could have given it to me yesterday. She was over at my house making dinner for dad and I. I could have just brought it in with me today... Oh well, she seemed a little anxious. Maybe she forgot." Haruhi mused as she stepped up towards Kyouya once more. He paused as his phone rang, glancing at the call ID he lowered his laptop into his bag and then flipped the phone open.

"Yes?" He answered calmly. Haruhi was about to leave him alone to his phone call, turning away when she froze at his dark tone that filled the room abruptly. "What?" He said darkly. "No one was there? Hani are you sure?... No, no, of course I will send more men. She is a member of our club, so of course her safety is of a concern. Leave it to me." Kyouya snapped his phone shut, his dark eyes held a dark frown in them.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked him, turning towards him fully. Kyouya looked up at her. Observing her concerned gaze with a clinical air.

"It would seem some of my men abandoned their posts at the tournament. I think I will have to go see for myself what is going on. Something is not adding up." He replied, hand covering his mouth as he tried to think through all the possible scenarios, each one more concerning than the last. His men were nothing if not thorough. His men had all worked with his family for years and were all thoroughly vetted. He trusted them implicitly, betrayal was not something his father would ever allow, and the thought never even emerged as one of the scenarios. His men would never be bought off. If they were missing from their post... it was concerning.

Haruhi felt a chill run down her spine at the expression in Kyouya's face. But more than the eerie chill of the club's shadow king anger, she felt worried for her friend. "Kyouya-senpai..." She hedged slowly, getting his attention as he glanced up at her.

"Hmm?" He lowered his hand and tilted his head. "What is it, Haruhi?" He asked.

"Well... Do you think I could go with you? I didn't mean to overhear, but I'm worried about her now. I would like to go with you and see her if I could." She asked him. Her determined gaze staring into his own contemplative one. He was silent for a long time before he responded.

"Certainly. I don't think that should be a problem. Her father is strictly not letting any other males near her other than Hani. Since you are female, you should be allowed admittance. I will message her father just to be safe. You will have to change though, as you can't look like a boy if you want admittance to see her. I will give you a ride home so you can change." He offered, grabbing his bag and stepping up beside her, holding the door open for her. She smiled as she watched him, his face totally impassive even as he played the gentleman. She wondered if he even knew that all of Tamaki's host-etiquette lessons were ingrained in him on a subconscious level.

They walked side by side all the way to his awaiting car.

Meanwhile one of the Ootori guards opened the bathroom door on one of the side hallways, the door nudging something. The guard looked down to see the sprawled body of one of the previous fighters.

"Whoa! Hey, what happened to you?" He rushed to the boy's side, rolling him onto his back, seeing a strange red liquid, mixed with snot and tears, coming out of his nose. "Akihara-san? Can you hear me?" He shook Hitens shoulder, but the boy was passed out. His eyes swollen, face red and puffy, he was sweating profusely. His breathing was somewhat labored. The guard didn't waste any time, he pulled an arm over his shoulder, and wrapped another around Hiten's waste, all but dragging him towards the medic's room.

"Hello?" He called as he opened the door and struggled with Hiten's weight. The man who was still helping Kanda with his dislocated shoulder, currently with a warm pack taped to the shoulder to keep the muscles warm and pliable, looked up. The doctor had shoulder length dark brown hair, and bangs parted in the middle, and he had dark eyes.

"I'm Dr. Suikotsu, you can lay him on this bed here. Do you know what happened?" Suikotsu asked standing and pointing to another bed in the room. "Mukotsu! Get in here for a moment." He called into a back room. A short stubby man wearing a traditional white kimono, with a white hood on his head- a traditional healer- popped his head in.

"No idea, I was doing my rounds when I found him passed out on the floor. " The guard dutifully replied. "If you have it from here, I need to complete my rounds before shift change happens." Suikotsu nodded to him as he left, turning towards Mukotsu.

"Yes?" The shorter man asked his colleague. Suikotsu poked his head over at Kanda, who was stiff as a board and scowling in pain. "Give him a relaxant, will you? Once it kicks in, we should be able to get his arm fixed up." Suikotsu then turned back to Hiten and assisted the Ootori guard in laying him on the bed.

"Sure, sure." Mukotsu grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He went into a cabinet and pulled out what looked like a vaping tube. It was a specialized numbing pain relief agent in a vapor form. It was fast acting as inhaling it went into the bloodstream quickly. It would give Kanda a little buzz and relieve the pain and relax him. He popped the canister with the formula inside it, and then popped the lid off and handed it to Kanda.

"Here you go. Breathe that in and once it kicks in, we will be ready to fix you up, kid." He all but shoved the vaporizer tube at him and then walked back into the side room.

Suikotsu watched and shook his head, before turning back to Hiten and assessing him. He took a swab of the strange fluid in Hitens nose, coming back with a huge glob of fiery red-orange paste. He frowned and put it into a small vial, holding it up to the light.

"Strange..." He mused, then grabbed some cotton swabs and tried to gently wipe out more globs. Setting to work on trying to get whatever the substance was out of the poor boy's nose.

Mori tucked his wooden bokken into his black belt, of his white Karate gi. He stepped out of the door and down the hallway. He approached the ring, momentarily blinded by the lights in the stadium, then stepped up onto the rings elevated platform. A man with dyed fiery red hair with black low lights, and hazel eyes was waiting for him. He was similar height to Mori, which was tall, but rather than being lean and somewhat lanky, Raiden was more of a heavy weight, bulky muscles flexing with each movement. He was in shiny blue work out shorts, and a graphic t-shirt of the name from his jiu jitsu school emblazoned across the chest. Mori recognized him instantly. He had never fought Raiden Kagura himself, and while Mori was adept in Karate, he was mainly focused on his Kendo skills, of which he was the reigning champion. Raiden, on the other hand, was the jiu jitsu champion.

Since Raiden was without any weapons, as Mori knew he preferred to fight strictly with his own body and skills, he pulled his Bokken out of his waist band and handed it to Juri as he passed. Juri glanced up at him in confusion.

"I will not use weapons as he has none." Mori explained. Juri's eyes widened, and she looked at the judges. One man seated on the far left of them all, closest to the hallway leading to the contestants back area, nodded his bald head, his lips lifting in amusement, dark eyes never leaving the two men in the ring.

Juri shrugged and turned to Raiden and Mori, loosely holding the bokken in one hand as she stepped between them.

"Alright then! We have a national Jiu Jitsu champion facing off with a national kendo champion, and Karate black belt! This should be a very interesting fight! Ready men?" She glanced between them. Hazel eyes stared into stoic pearly grey. Mori nodded and in turn Raiden glanced at Juri and gave his affirmation as well. "Begin!" She slashed her hand down between them and then bounced away on the balls of her feet.

"I admit, I have always wanted to fight you ever since I found out you do Karate and not just Kendo." Raiden told him, bringing his taped fists up in front of him as he began to sidestep in a circular arc around Mori, assessing him. Mori moved in response, never leaving an opening for him, fists also raised up, ready to defend himself. Raiden was lightly bouncing between his feet side to side, like an energetic boxer. This was a grappling and pinning exert paired against kicks and jabs. Mori knew he could not allow Raiden to get him in a grapple, if he was subdued then Raiden would be able to get in all his hits at once. Mori's gaze sharpened on Raiden, who let a wide smirk spread at the obvious smoldering fire in Mori's eyes.

Raiden surged forwards and swiped a hand at Mori, who jerked his shoulder out of reach, jumping back lightly. He kept his fists up in front of his face, ready to block any attacks, but he didn't make a move on Raiden yet. Assessing and watching what his tactics were going to be. Raiden seemed to realize quickly what Mori was doing.

"Come now Morinozuka... I gave you something. Now it's your turn." Raiden smirked at him. Mori's stoic gaze never wavered.

Raiden's eyes narrowed as nothing happened, he glanced up at the jumbotron clock a minute had gone by, Mori took the moment of distraction and lunged forwards. Raiden's eyes flicked back down to Mori, only to widen as Mori was flying at him in the air, knee raised. Mori's knee connected with Raiden's shoulder. Raiden grabbed onto Mori's legs to immobilize him, and they tumbled to the ground, Mori doing a quick double jab at Raiden's shoulders. They hit the ground, and while Raiden threw a hand out to brace himself as they fell, Mori managed to push away from Raiden, deftly jumping back, and resuming his stance once more.

"Tch. So that's how it's gonna be eh? Fine." Raiden's grin faded as he got serious. Neither moved for 30 long seconds, Mori now having three points. Mori knew that Raiden was not going to make another move. And judging by the way he was planting his feet in and bracing he was anticipating that Mori would make another lunge at him so Raiden could grapple him. Realizing this, Mori decided it was worth the risk to try and make the anticipation backfire.

Mori stood on one leg and swiped a kick at Raiden's leg. Raiden grinned and grabbed hold of Mori's leg with both arms wrapped tightly around him. He then started to push forwards hoping to topple Mori over. Mori kept his balance by shifting his foot and hopping with the movements. But a quick glance back showed that they were nearing the perimeter of the ring. If Mori was pushed out, he would be disqualified, so he stopped trying to keep his balance and let Raiden swipe his other leg out from under him. Mori grunted as he hit the ground with a thud. Raiden was instantly on top of him trying to immobilize Mori's limbs according to jiu jitsu rules. Unfortunately for Raiden, he wasn't getting any extra points for holds and grapples, only the hits that landed on Mori's torso. However unfortunately for Mori, Raiden was a grappling expert, so if he managed to completely get caught, he would not be able to last the rapid-fire hits.

Mori kept dodging his head around away from holds, and jerked every limb as well as he could, keeping Raiden guessing in his movements and busy in trying to pin him down, distracting him from being able to fully pin Mori and land a hit. As one of Mori's legs was successfully detained Raiden twisted around to focus on putting Mori in a headlock Mori planted a hand on Raiden's jaw and cheek, pushing his face away so that Raiden couldn't get a good look at what he was doing. Raiden punched Mori in rapid succession in the ribs, getting 3 hits in. Mori grabbed at Raiden's fist as it came down for a 4th hit, catching it in his fist and holding him fast. Now neither could move.

Realizing they were in a stale mate, Raiden swiftly let go of Mori and backtracked away from him, allowing Mori a moment to get up onto his feet so they could go another round. They circled around each other for a moment, their scores tied 3 points each.

Annoyed that Mori had been able to subdue Raiden's movements from under his grapple, he darted forwards, feinting to one side and swinging an arm out, catching hold of one of Mori's shoulders, and wrapping his other arm around to try and grab him from his shoulders to try and pull him down. Raiden could have done it, having the bulkier muscle mass, if Mori hadn't made a wide stance, keeping his long legs out of Raidens reach and keeping himself balanced. Raiden tried to grab him, and Mori held onto one of Raiden's arms to keep is closest hand busy, and then threw an undercut punch into Raiden's gut. Raiden choked and staggered away from Mori, unable to topple him. He rubbed the spot on his abdomen that the hit landed. He glowered at Mori, who had just gained a point advantage over him. Mori once again stood there, ready and waiting patiently.

Kagome's eyes were wide, and she held her breath as she watched the tv screen. The clock was reading 6 minutes. There were only 4 minutes left. She crossed her arms across her body and her knuckles went white at the force of which she held herself. Anxious for Mori and not wanting to say anything to jinx what was happening.

"Why isn't he attacking?" She whispered to Hani. Hani looked up at her, taking in her rigid and anxious posture. "Takashi's plan is to wait him out to make Raiden attack. There is give and take in fighting, and they have two different fighting styles, so if Takashi were to attack, then Raiden-san could grab and immobilize Takashi, like what you saw happen. Takashi is good at Karate, but he is better at Kendo. And Raiden is a national champion of jiu jitsu. So, if Mori wants to win against his fighting style then he needs to make Raiden-san make the moves and then Takashi can hit any openings." Hani explained.

Kagome looked at Hani and held his gaze. Hani could see the worry in her stormy blue eyes. "Don't worry Kago-chan! Takashi is good. Really good! He knows what he is doing." Hani shot her a flowery grin, and Kagome looked back to see another minute had ticked by with them still circling each other. Mori didn't look inclined to make a move first. He appeared to be completely on the defensive. She frowned.

"If he is better at Kendo..., why did he refuse to use his bokken? Why give up his advantage of strength?" She wondered.

"That's because Takashi prefers a fair fight. He isn't a dirty fighter like some of the other fights we've seen. And... he also doesn't want his enemy to know his full strength. So that they underestimate him." Kagome frowned and looked at Hani.

"Mitsukuni... what do you mean? Who is Takashi's enemy?" Kagome asked him in concern. As far as she knew it was Mori's first time fighting in this tournament, so she didn't know who could have possibly been his enemy.

Hani shot her a pointed look. "He wants to win for you Kago-chan. So, everyone he goes up against is the enemy." He stated rather bluntly.

Kagome blushed, "Oh... right..." She cleared her throat, feeling embarrassed at that obvious insight. Hani just giggled and then took one of her hands in his, giving it a light squeeze.

"Don't be worried about Takashi Kago-chan. Just watch and try to learn what you can from the match." Hani reassured her. She nodded and turned back to the screen. Hani still holding her hand in comfort in the space between them on the couch.

The fight had been going for 7 minutes and Raiden was getting fed up. It was appearing that Mori was taking a passive role in this fight, which frustrated him. Now that Mori was leading by one point, so if he let Mori wait the timer out, then Mori would win. Raiden would have no choice but to attempt to strike first and place more hits.

Raiden lunged at him, and jabbed a fist out at Mori, however Mori sidestepped him, and brought an elbow down on Raiden's shoulder blades, shoving him forwards and propelling him away from himself. Mori now had 5 points. Raiden caught his balance and whirled around to dart at Mori again, but Mori had leaped closer and in one swift move, landed a high kick on Raiden's chest, the force of the hit. Raiden, unsuspecting the powerful move out of nowhere, flew backwards, he managed to stay on his feet, staggering backwards a bit, but just as he was about to attack again, the buzzer sounded. He glanced up at the jumbotron, hazel eyes wide. Mori had won 6 to 3, but the timer was stopped just under 2 minutes away. With a frown he looked at Juri.

"And winner by knockout, is Morinozuka!" Juri bounced over to Mori and lifted his hand in the air to signify he was the winner. Raiden looked down and his heart dropped into his stomach, one of his feet was outside the boundary line of the ring.

"Heh." He let out an amused huff and then stood straight, looking up at Mori, who watched him with his quiet dark gaze. Juri released Mori's arm and then stepped away, after handing Mori his bokken back. Raiden strode forwards and held out a hand towards Mori. "Good fight, Morinozuka. It's not often that someone is able to make me lose my cool like that. I'd like to spar with you again in the future if I could."

Mori's sharp gaze softened somewhat, and then he clasped Raiden's hand in his own. "Yeah." He replied with an easy smile. That overconfident smirk-like grin was back as they shook hands in camaraderie.

"Yes, yes, you're both adorable, now move off the stage." Juri said in a low murmur with a smirk, a teasing glint in her eyes at the first true sign of sportsmanship in the competition so far. Raiden snorted and smirked and turned and left, Mori following along behind him. "Now! For the next match we have... Akitoki Hojou and Jakotsu Sakurai!" The fans cheered and clapped, and as Juri lowered the microphone she noticed the bald judge lower his head, a smirk growing in place. The look alarmed her, but she couldn't figure out why. She lifted the microphone to her face once more and turned away. "Fighters! Please make your way to the stage!"

Hey everyone,

Thanks again, and again hopefully this chapter wasn't too disappointing. I do have plans to go back over this chapter and maybe tweak it a little bit and polish it up more once I am able to focus on things a bit better. As it stands, I am not sure if I will be getting a chapter out next week or not. I am going to say possibly not, because my grandmother's funeral is this Friday in another city, and I fell behind in school a little bit because of shock, etc. So, I very much need to catch up with schoolwork with my smaller week this week. I will do my best to get the next chapter out within 1-2 weeks.

Thanks for your understanding!

p.s Also please let me know if this chapter was alright or not. If you would like to see it polished up and be more exciting, I can definitely focus on that before the next chapter.

~ArtisticQuill