Disclaimer: I don't own YYH and so forth.
AN: This is an alternative view on how Kuwabara might ask for a rematch
against Rinku. Basically, this fiction was made simply to put in the Hiei
scene in the next chapter. It's turned out quite good, though.
Flip, flip, flip...he'd been going through that directory for 2 hours; not letting him sleep. Flip, flip, creak of the cover, flapping as he went back to the front, flip, flip...Stupid jerk, didn't he know better? Flip flip, flip...
"Okay!" Yusuke snarled, jumping up from the couch and slamming his palms on the book. "Enough already! You're not going to find it!"
"Yes I am, there're only 400 rooms," Kuwabara snorted, pulling the book away and continuing on.
"And what if he's changed hotels or skipped town or something? He just lost four guys and he's now one of the most hated yokai on the island, he's gonna want to sleep safe." Kuwabara paused mid flip before continuing on. "And even if you do find him, do you really think he's going to fight you? It's not like the gangs back home, baka; people don't do rematches much for tournaments."
"You would."
"That's because I'm a great guy." Yusuke put on a smug grin, only to wipe it right off when Kuwabara chuckled.
"He will, I'll make sure he will. Besides, all teams have two or three rooms for privacy when they need them. Why wouldn't he just use those? He's already paid for them." Yusuke rolled his eyes as Kuwabara kept right on flipping through the names scribbled next to room numbers by the desk clerk. Code names, all of them probably (theirs had been).
"Cause he's got a couple thousand youkai screaming for his blood, not to mention a dumb ass ningen." Kuwabara sneered. "He likes what he does, but he's not stupid. I'd bet you anything he's took the first boat out."
"He's got pride, doesn't he?" he snorted, quirking an eyebrow up at Yusuke as if it should have been obvious. "Feh, you don't skip like that."
"We don't, but he's youkai. They play by different rules." Yusuke pointed out. "Even if he's here, do you actually think that he'd show his face in public, especially where you could find it? That's just..."
"Rinku's down in the public bath, and has been for some time," Hiei interrupted coolly, hustling past the couches to the bedroom, not even granting them a passing glance. "I'd hurry, if I were you. I don't know how long he'll stay down there."
Kuwabara gave Yusuke a smug grin before sprinting out of the room, slamming the door behind him as his heavy stride carried him down the hall.
"What the hell was that?" Yusuke asked, closing the directory with a thud. "Sicking him on other teams like that?"
Hiei answered, "If he gets this out of his system, it'll be all the better for us. I for one am sick of hearing him complain about it," before proceeding to enter the bedroom and close the door behind him none too softly. "And don't worry about the child," he called back, "I'm quite sure he can handle himself. He, for one, didn't get here on nothing."
Yusuke grunted as he lay back down for a nap. "Stupid youkai logic..." *****
From six to ten every day, the men's bath was opened exclusively to the participants, from seven to eight reserved for anyone who'd fought that day. And this generosity was taken full advantage of, the bath was almost always crowded.
But now, at 7:23 (according to the overly large clock hanging on the wall), there was silence. Sake, snoring, solitary silence that he hadn't enjoyed since Rokuyuukai had been organized. Huh, so all he had to do was kill off four of them and leave Chuu in the bars.
Kind of lonely, though. Wouldn't be bad to have a conversation or two while he sat down here...pft. No point in wishing. Just enjoy the moment before...
Before someone walks in with crazy-heavy footsteps, feet slapping against the wet stone floor and sending echoes against the carved walls.
"This is reserved, ass. Can't you read?" Don't open an eye, don't show any interest, and they'll eventually...no, they're coming over.
"For Team Urameshi, too. Didn't the person who read that sign for you mention that?" Damn, it was that ningen, that stupid brick from that morning. He should have known; and now there was no escape, unless he wanted to make a run for it all the way across the pool and look like a coward. Ugh, that black youkai who'd slaughtered Zeru was just fine, any of them would have been (they didn't talk much outside their group). Why in three worlds did it have to be him?
Quicker than he should have been, the ningen was sitting right next to him, arm wrapped around his neck. "So, how're you doing? You ran pretty fast after everything."
"Able to defend myself if I need to," Rinku snapped back, shaking his head a bit so the bag of yo-yo's he'd tied his hair back with clinked loudly. The ningen grinned all the wider.
"That's very good, considering how hard I hit you. Hey, do you always take those with you? Are you that afraid to be caught unarmed?" The arrogant bafoon! Rinku grit his teeth together.
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing, nothing." The ningen waved his hand to say that the comment had been made in all kindness, which obviously it had not. "Unless you think it meant something." He paused. "Do you believe in rematches, or was that just a rumor?"
"There's a rumor about whether or not I believe in rematches?"
"Maybe."
"Sometimes. I don't for you, unless you learn how to actually fight with or without that rusty sword of yours." Open one eye to see that oaf puff up in outrage. Stupid brick puffer-fish ningen.
"I hit you, you know. If you hadn't..."
"What I did was completely regulation. If you would bother to read the rule book..." He could name the chapter, the paragraph, the page number. On the days leading up to the tournament, you didn't have time to do much of anything but read the book over and over and over again.
"The rule book also says that you're too young..."
"I am not! I turned 25 last month!" A month and a week, actually.
"I you're not that old, your lying."
"I am not! I'm 25! Besides, I beat you!" In the back of his mind, he was solemnly reminded that if the strings hadn't have kept the ningen off the ring, he wouldn't have been able to do it again. In the back of his mind, he knew that in here, alone, with no judge or team mates to back him up, something could happen.
His chest was still burning raw from where the sword had hit him. It had only recently stopped bleeding.
He tried, the first of many, to get the yo-yos out of the bag. They weren't coming.
"By cheating!"
"All weapons are legal..." Page 246, paragraph B, line 2. Chapter 2, section B.
"I could shoot you in the head, would that still be legal?" Rinku hesitated.
"...Shoot me? What is shoot?" Rinku asked as innocently and non- confrontationally as he could. Kuwabara stared at him dumbfounded.
"What do you mean, what is shoot?" Rinku slunk down a bit.
"What does it mean?" he asked softly, "Like, with a bow and arrow?"
"Like with a gun." Rinku thought for a bit, trying to match the word with anything that Zeru or anyone else had told him about ningens.
"What's that? You mean, that thing Yusuke had?"
"Sort of, only made of metal."
"Oh...Does it hurt?"
"It'll kill you instantly." Kuwabara was getting sick of this. What kind of idiot was this kid? Who hadn't heard of a gun?
"Oh...do you have one?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Rinku bit his lip as he eyed the grinning ningen sitting next to him with the bear-like grip around his neck.
"Can I see?"
"No." Empty threat, the stupid ningen. Scaring him to death for no reason.
"You're full of crap."
"Try me, kid." Rinku shut his mouth with a small whimper. From what he'd heard, ningens were unpredictable when they were alone. He tried to get the yo-yos out from the bag. The knot was too tight. He'd been too stressed when he'd tied it.
"...What do you want?"
"A rematch." Ugh, that was it? Rinku rolled his head with his eyes.
"But it wouldn't solve anything! We'd just..."
"Settle a score."
"What score? I beat you!"
"If you hadn't tied me up, you would have been dead." He had a point, the back of his head was saying. He shushed it.
"But I did. I'm sick of this! I won, completely by the books, you lousy ningen!" He pushed himself away, standing as tall as he could (it wasn't very impressive). "Now get over it and learn how to fight. I'm sure that Urameshi or that Hiei could teach you a thing or two."
Once again, Zeru's words rang true. 'Rinku, you brag too much...someday I'm not going to be able to pull you out when you put your foot in your mouth like that...you're not as strong as you like to think." If the ningen was annoyed or angry before, he was furious now.
"You BRAT!" He bellowed, standing at his full height and hauling Rinku up by the back of his neck. The child youkai cowered under the burning gaze of the ningen. "You stupid brat! You got lucky the first time with the count out, but there's not a judge to save you now, so you better just shut your mouth!" Rinku whimpered as Kazuma's hold of his neck tightened, cringing nearly in the fetal position for the punch that was sure to come. When none did, he opened one eye cautiously.
"Now," Kuwabara hissed, slowly getting his temper under control (not nearly quickly enough for Rinku, though), "You're going to give me a rematch, a fair one without judges or a time limit."
"Uh huh..." Rinku nodded eagerly, wishing the ningen would loosen his grip just a little so that he could run. "Anything you say." The yo- yo's still couldn't get out. What the hell was he thinking? That he could go down to the bath? Alone?
He didn't have one ally on the whole island except for his team... well, now just Chuu.
There was a perfectly good tub/shower in the room. Why didn't he just use that?
He hated being seen naked, he avoided public baths like the plague. What the hell had he been thinking?
"The next break that our team gets, you and I are going out, you got that?" Rinku nodded, still curled up into as tight a ball as he could get. "We'll...wait...I don't believe you."
"Don't believe what?" Rinku squeaked as Kuwabara's face came within an inch of him.
"That you're going to stick around. You're going to run the first chance you get. Skip town just like Urameshi said you would. I hate people like you."
"I swear I'm not going to!" Rinku was just about ready to burst into tears.
"Well, how are you going to prove it?" Rinku thought desperately for something that could convince the ningen to put him down.
"I don't know..." he finally admitted. Kuwabara scowled, obviously stumped as well.
"I guess I'm just going to have to keep you around, won't I?"
No no no no no Rinku screamed in his head. To the ningen, he gave a quick 'all right'. The ningen grinned.
All the stories he'd heard about what ningens would do to youkai were coming to him as the ningen placed him down, keeping a firm hand on the back of his neck to keep him from running, and made his way to the dressing room.
Capture them and auction them off.
Hunt them down for pelts.
Hunt them for sport.
Round them up and take them off one by one.
Lead off unsuspecting youkai to eat their flesh.
Take out their organs.
Put them through experiments.
Torture.
Rape.
Anything and everything horrible and unthinkable, a ningen would do it.
Ningens would sooner slice your throat then take pity on you.
Apparitions didn't avoid or kill off ningens because they thought they were weak. Apparitions avoided or killed off ningens because they didn't know enough about them to do anything else.
The yo-yos still wouldn't come out. Next time he even thought about tying a knot, he was going to slap himself.
Still, it did feel better to know that he was going to at least be able to put on pants before he was killed. After that, he didn't know, but at least he could get his clothes. *****
AN: Next chapter, Kuwa keeps an eye on Rinku while trying to keep him quiet. Oh, and Jin appears. Go Jin!Okay... bad description. Just stay tuned.
Flip, flip, flip...he'd been going through that directory for 2 hours; not letting him sleep. Flip, flip, creak of the cover, flapping as he went back to the front, flip, flip...Stupid jerk, didn't he know better? Flip flip, flip...
"Okay!" Yusuke snarled, jumping up from the couch and slamming his palms on the book. "Enough already! You're not going to find it!"
"Yes I am, there're only 400 rooms," Kuwabara snorted, pulling the book away and continuing on.
"And what if he's changed hotels or skipped town or something? He just lost four guys and he's now one of the most hated yokai on the island, he's gonna want to sleep safe." Kuwabara paused mid flip before continuing on. "And even if you do find him, do you really think he's going to fight you? It's not like the gangs back home, baka; people don't do rematches much for tournaments."
"You would."
"That's because I'm a great guy." Yusuke put on a smug grin, only to wipe it right off when Kuwabara chuckled.
"He will, I'll make sure he will. Besides, all teams have two or three rooms for privacy when they need them. Why wouldn't he just use those? He's already paid for them." Yusuke rolled his eyes as Kuwabara kept right on flipping through the names scribbled next to room numbers by the desk clerk. Code names, all of them probably (theirs had been).
"Cause he's got a couple thousand youkai screaming for his blood, not to mention a dumb ass ningen." Kuwabara sneered. "He likes what he does, but he's not stupid. I'd bet you anything he's took the first boat out."
"He's got pride, doesn't he?" he snorted, quirking an eyebrow up at Yusuke as if it should have been obvious. "Feh, you don't skip like that."
"We don't, but he's youkai. They play by different rules." Yusuke pointed out. "Even if he's here, do you actually think that he'd show his face in public, especially where you could find it? That's just..."
"Rinku's down in the public bath, and has been for some time," Hiei interrupted coolly, hustling past the couches to the bedroom, not even granting them a passing glance. "I'd hurry, if I were you. I don't know how long he'll stay down there."
Kuwabara gave Yusuke a smug grin before sprinting out of the room, slamming the door behind him as his heavy stride carried him down the hall.
"What the hell was that?" Yusuke asked, closing the directory with a thud. "Sicking him on other teams like that?"
Hiei answered, "If he gets this out of his system, it'll be all the better for us. I for one am sick of hearing him complain about it," before proceeding to enter the bedroom and close the door behind him none too softly. "And don't worry about the child," he called back, "I'm quite sure he can handle himself. He, for one, didn't get here on nothing."
Yusuke grunted as he lay back down for a nap. "Stupid youkai logic..." *****
From six to ten every day, the men's bath was opened exclusively to the participants, from seven to eight reserved for anyone who'd fought that day. And this generosity was taken full advantage of, the bath was almost always crowded.
But now, at 7:23 (according to the overly large clock hanging on the wall), there was silence. Sake, snoring, solitary silence that he hadn't enjoyed since Rokuyuukai had been organized. Huh, so all he had to do was kill off four of them and leave Chuu in the bars.
Kind of lonely, though. Wouldn't be bad to have a conversation or two while he sat down here...pft. No point in wishing. Just enjoy the moment before...
Before someone walks in with crazy-heavy footsteps, feet slapping against the wet stone floor and sending echoes against the carved walls.
"This is reserved, ass. Can't you read?" Don't open an eye, don't show any interest, and they'll eventually...no, they're coming over.
"For Team Urameshi, too. Didn't the person who read that sign for you mention that?" Damn, it was that ningen, that stupid brick from that morning. He should have known; and now there was no escape, unless he wanted to make a run for it all the way across the pool and look like a coward. Ugh, that black youkai who'd slaughtered Zeru was just fine, any of them would have been (they didn't talk much outside their group). Why in three worlds did it have to be him?
Quicker than he should have been, the ningen was sitting right next to him, arm wrapped around his neck. "So, how're you doing? You ran pretty fast after everything."
"Able to defend myself if I need to," Rinku snapped back, shaking his head a bit so the bag of yo-yo's he'd tied his hair back with clinked loudly. The ningen grinned all the wider.
"That's very good, considering how hard I hit you. Hey, do you always take those with you? Are you that afraid to be caught unarmed?" The arrogant bafoon! Rinku grit his teeth together.
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing, nothing." The ningen waved his hand to say that the comment had been made in all kindness, which obviously it had not. "Unless you think it meant something." He paused. "Do you believe in rematches, or was that just a rumor?"
"There's a rumor about whether or not I believe in rematches?"
"Maybe."
"Sometimes. I don't for you, unless you learn how to actually fight with or without that rusty sword of yours." Open one eye to see that oaf puff up in outrage. Stupid brick puffer-fish ningen.
"I hit you, you know. If you hadn't..."
"What I did was completely regulation. If you would bother to read the rule book..." He could name the chapter, the paragraph, the page number. On the days leading up to the tournament, you didn't have time to do much of anything but read the book over and over and over again.
"The rule book also says that you're too young..."
"I am not! I turned 25 last month!" A month and a week, actually.
"I you're not that old, your lying."
"I am not! I'm 25! Besides, I beat you!" In the back of his mind, he was solemnly reminded that if the strings hadn't have kept the ningen off the ring, he wouldn't have been able to do it again. In the back of his mind, he knew that in here, alone, with no judge or team mates to back him up, something could happen.
His chest was still burning raw from where the sword had hit him. It had only recently stopped bleeding.
He tried, the first of many, to get the yo-yos out of the bag. They weren't coming.
"By cheating!"
"All weapons are legal..." Page 246, paragraph B, line 2. Chapter 2, section B.
"I could shoot you in the head, would that still be legal?" Rinku hesitated.
"...Shoot me? What is shoot?" Rinku asked as innocently and non- confrontationally as he could. Kuwabara stared at him dumbfounded.
"What do you mean, what is shoot?" Rinku slunk down a bit.
"What does it mean?" he asked softly, "Like, with a bow and arrow?"
"Like with a gun." Rinku thought for a bit, trying to match the word with anything that Zeru or anyone else had told him about ningens.
"What's that? You mean, that thing Yusuke had?"
"Sort of, only made of metal."
"Oh...Does it hurt?"
"It'll kill you instantly." Kuwabara was getting sick of this. What kind of idiot was this kid? Who hadn't heard of a gun?
"Oh...do you have one?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Rinku bit his lip as he eyed the grinning ningen sitting next to him with the bear-like grip around his neck.
"Can I see?"
"No." Empty threat, the stupid ningen. Scaring him to death for no reason.
"You're full of crap."
"Try me, kid." Rinku shut his mouth with a small whimper. From what he'd heard, ningens were unpredictable when they were alone. He tried to get the yo-yos out from the bag. The knot was too tight. He'd been too stressed when he'd tied it.
"...What do you want?"
"A rematch." Ugh, that was it? Rinku rolled his head with his eyes.
"But it wouldn't solve anything! We'd just..."
"Settle a score."
"What score? I beat you!"
"If you hadn't tied me up, you would have been dead." He had a point, the back of his head was saying. He shushed it.
"But I did. I'm sick of this! I won, completely by the books, you lousy ningen!" He pushed himself away, standing as tall as he could (it wasn't very impressive). "Now get over it and learn how to fight. I'm sure that Urameshi or that Hiei could teach you a thing or two."
Once again, Zeru's words rang true. 'Rinku, you brag too much...someday I'm not going to be able to pull you out when you put your foot in your mouth like that...you're not as strong as you like to think." If the ningen was annoyed or angry before, he was furious now.
"You BRAT!" He bellowed, standing at his full height and hauling Rinku up by the back of his neck. The child youkai cowered under the burning gaze of the ningen. "You stupid brat! You got lucky the first time with the count out, but there's not a judge to save you now, so you better just shut your mouth!" Rinku whimpered as Kazuma's hold of his neck tightened, cringing nearly in the fetal position for the punch that was sure to come. When none did, he opened one eye cautiously.
"Now," Kuwabara hissed, slowly getting his temper under control (not nearly quickly enough for Rinku, though), "You're going to give me a rematch, a fair one without judges or a time limit."
"Uh huh..." Rinku nodded eagerly, wishing the ningen would loosen his grip just a little so that he could run. "Anything you say." The yo- yo's still couldn't get out. What the hell was he thinking? That he could go down to the bath? Alone?
He didn't have one ally on the whole island except for his team... well, now just Chuu.
There was a perfectly good tub/shower in the room. Why didn't he just use that?
He hated being seen naked, he avoided public baths like the plague. What the hell had he been thinking?
"The next break that our team gets, you and I are going out, you got that?" Rinku nodded, still curled up into as tight a ball as he could get. "We'll...wait...I don't believe you."
"Don't believe what?" Rinku squeaked as Kuwabara's face came within an inch of him.
"That you're going to stick around. You're going to run the first chance you get. Skip town just like Urameshi said you would. I hate people like you."
"I swear I'm not going to!" Rinku was just about ready to burst into tears.
"Well, how are you going to prove it?" Rinku thought desperately for something that could convince the ningen to put him down.
"I don't know..." he finally admitted. Kuwabara scowled, obviously stumped as well.
"I guess I'm just going to have to keep you around, won't I?"
No no no no no Rinku screamed in his head. To the ningen, he gave a quick 'all right'. The ningen grinned.
All the stories he'd heard about what ningens would do to youkai were coming to him as the ningen placed him down, keeping a firm hand on the back of his neck to keep him from running, and made his way to the dressing room.
Capture them and auction them off.
Hunt them down for pelts.
Hunt them for sport.
Round them up and take them off one by one.
Lead off unsuspecting youkai to eat their flesh.
Take out their organs.
Put them through experiments.
Torture.
Rape.
Anything and everything horrible and unthinkable, a ningen would do it.
Ningens would sooner slice your throat then take pity on you.
Apparitions didn't avoid or kill off ningens because they thought they were weak. Apparitions avoided or killed off ningens because they didn't know enough about them to do anything else.
The yo-yos still wouldn't come out. Next time he even thought about tying a knot, he was going to slap himself.
Still, it did feel better to know that he was going to at least be able to put on pants before he was killed. After that, he didn't know, but at least he could get his clothes. *****
AN: Next chapter, Kuwa keeps an eye on Rinku while trying to keep him quiet. Oh, and Jin appears. Go Jin!Okay... bad description. Just stay tuned.