Well, here we go again…does anyone actually read the stuff I put up here? It's not just disclaimers, you know!
Just a message for everyone who's pestering me to work on my Digimon fics…I'M WORKING ON IT!!!!!!!!! My muse is being weird lately, it's getting harder and harder to write them, but YYH's easier to get inspired with sense I can see it every day. (Or used to…but I've seen it the most recently) So I'm working on it, okay? Hopefully the premiere of Digimon Frontier on ABC Family will re-ignite my Digimon muse.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original YYH characters, nor do I own Rai Don, Sayona, Ki-Rokey, Leigh, Nabooru, or Kaz Pumphry. However, Akki Kaijuu, Kin Suisei, Anbu Jintai, Misato Itoshigo and Luna Mangetsu are all property of me and I'd rather you ask before using them. Now, after this ridiculously long disclaimer, let the battle begin!
The Tomuraigassen Tournament
Chapter 6: Thundering Warrior
A tall young man with rings on every finger stood at the top of the stadium, arms crossed over his chest as he watched the first match of the Tournament. The red-haired, green-eyes fighter was calmly walking back through the trees of the ring, after facing down his next opponent. These matches were getting interesting.
"Enjoying the view, Kaz?"
The boy jumped, turning back. Akki Kaijuu was the one who had spoken, dark eyes focused on the boy and flanked by a female on each side. On his left, wearing her usual white robe, was Nabooru, faded red hair brushing against her shoulders. On the other was a girl who looked to be 11 years old, with short, amber-colored hair and forest green eyes, dressed mainly in a long purple cape.
"Just examining the opposition." Kaz said smoothly, turning back to the fight. "The larger human is an idiot, but that Kurama isn't so bad."
"I'll agree on that." Nabooru leaned forward, twisting a piece of hair around her finger, grinning playfully as she eyed the fighter. "Not bad at all…"
"Pull yourself together." Leigh, the amber-haired girl, snapped, glancing at Kaz. "Has Urameshi fought yet?"
"Nope, not yet." Kaz shrugged. "But it's only the third match, anything could happen." He glanced at Kaijuu out of the corner of his eye. "Where's the kid?"
"In the room, sitting quietly and being a good girl." Kaijuu grinned, his voice rising into a mocking tone. "Such a well-behaved little pet."
The others on the team had mixed reactions to their leader's joke. Nabooru laughed heartily at the thought, Leigh glanced away unemotionally, and Kaz just chuckled slowly, turning his eyes back to the screens as profile shots of the two fighters popped up.
"And it's been decided!" Sad announced. "The third match will be Kurama versus Rai Don! Fighters ready.…? Begin!"
Kurama leapt into the trees again, just as fast as before. Rai took to the pathway Ki-Rokey had created, choosing the straight route over bounding off trees. In one hand he clutched a thick-set hunter's bow, and over his shoulder was a smallish-sized sheaf of arrows. The crowd cheered and yelled as the two moved through the trees towards each other.
Kin looked up at the screen as he poured a healing salve into Ki-Rokey's mouth. "Well, Anbu." he said quietly. "Any predictions on the end of this match?"
"He's overconfident." Anbu muttered.
"Who? Kurama?"
"No, Rai!" Anbu sighed, glancing up from her book only a moment. "You heard what he said, didn't you?
"…It's a death match." Kin gave a tired little breath, setting Ki-Rokey down. "So…He's not gonna make it?"
"It's hard to say…You know I can't see that clearly this early in the fight." Anbu was watching the red-haired fox-demon leap through the trees on-screen. Her eyes narrowed as thoughts grew louder. "What is this guy? He looks and feels like a human, but his attacks and techniques are purely of demon origin. Could he…Did he…no. That's just silly. Why would anyone want to do that?!"
"And the two fighters are now on even standings in the ring!" Sad's voice boomed over the crowd. "But with Kurama still up in the trees and Rai ground locked, how will the fighting play out?"
Kurama paused a moment, crouched on a long branch just to the right of his opponent. He felt an odd tug at his hair, as though strands of it were being pulled one at a time towards the other fighter, like to a statically charged balloon. Odd…
Rai's bright blue eyes suddenly shot to him. Kurama was slightly taken aback, but leapt to the tree behind him before the fired arrow could hit. Rather, it buried itself in the trunk. Kurama winced as he landed on the second branch, between the cut on his shoulder and the burn on his back he was still in a rather lot of pain.
"I can see that it hurts." Rai called up. "Why not get down here so we can get this over with?"
Kurama's fingers ran through his hair a moment, gripping the spare rose seed he kept there. With a rush of spirit energy and a resounding crack the Rose Whip snapped out.
Rai was taken a bit by surprise, but jumped away from the weapon before his opponent landed in front of him. He grinned, though. He'd gotten what he'd wanted, his head-to-head fight. This would be over quickly.
"And the two opponents are ready and standing in a face off!" Sad announced. "With Kurama still battle-wounded and tired from his fight with Ki-Rokey, will he be over-whelmed by whatever Rai has in store?"
"Don't get yourself killed, Kurama!" Yusuke shouted from the sidelines.
Rai pulled an arrow out of his quiver, taking careful aim at the redhead's chest. There was a soft pang as the arrow flew out, flying straight and true at its target.
Kurama simply stepped to the side, a good five inches out of the arrow's range. Rai's grin spread even wider. "What's with this guy?" Misato wondered out loud. "His arrow missed."
Kurama was equally confused, then he noticed the short, crackling little yellow bolts flying on either side of the arrow. Before he could move two of them struck him in the stomach, completely winding him and adding two more round, smoking burns about two inches in diameter and three inches apart.
The force of the blow knocked Kurama onto his back. The fox demon bit his lip until it bled, but still a muffled cry of pain managed to force its way out as his skin burned and the half-healed wound on his shoulder re-opened about halfway. Within seconds it was bleeding freely again.
"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted.
"Come on, get up!" Kuwabara yelled.
Luna's eyes widened slightly and she bit her lip against comment. Misato cupped her hands over her mouth in fear. "Come on, fox…" Hiei muttered under his breath, not wanting the others to hear. "Don't get yourself killed the first round."
"Surprised?" Rai laughed, glaring down at the gravely wounded demon. He brandished another arrow, ready and waiting to shoot out of his bow. The both crackled with electricity. "The Bow and Arrows of Thunder and Lightening. Nice technique, huh? Even if you dodge the first one, the resulting volts are even worse!"
He lowered the bow to look at his suffering opponent almost pityingly. "Don't make this hard on yourself. Just stay down so it won't hurt so much when I kill you."
"I'll begin the count!" Sad yelled. "One…Two…Thr-"
Kurama gripped the trunk of a tree next to him, pulling himself back to his feet. "I'm not…done in yet." he muttered.
With a sudden, unexpected move, Kurama jumped back and disappeared into the tops of the trees. Rai was taken aback, releasing the string and sending the arrow to burry itself in the ground with a lightening-like crack.
He leapt back from the resulting electrical shock, running into another body. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, seemingly to steady him. Rai jumped forward as Kurama's whip snapped at him, knocking the bow out of his hand.
"With a stunning turn, Kurama sends Rai's weapon flying!" Sad exclaimed. "The two fighters are once again at a stand-off! Kurama's still bleeding heavily from his wounds, but facing and unarmed Rai he may still have a chance!"
Kurama, who had been holding his left hand over the wound to re-heal once again, took a step back, ready for battle. Rai was clam…much, much too calm, as he fingered that golden pendant around his neck.
The rest of their teams waited with hushed breaths. Misato, Yusuke and Kuwabara were all gulping nervously. Hiei and Luna were calm, but the fire demon was tensing just a bit under his quiet exterior.
"How much longer can he last like that?" Misato gulped, shifting her weight anxiously. "The bleeding's stopped, but…oh lord…"
"Just calm down." Luna told her.
"Yeah…Kurama can pull this off!" Yusuke insisted, the words 'I hope' hanging unspoken in the air.
On the other side of the giant stadium, Sayona was following Rai's image on-screen, tense. "Stop showing off and get the job done, damn it!" she muttered fiercely. "Just kill the guy and get it on!"
Ki-Rokey had regained consciousness just a bit and was now sitting up next to Anbu, who was still buried in her book. "Ya think he can do it?" she asked, either excited or scared or both.
There was a silence, then Kin looked back. "Anbu…?"
"He might be able to." she muttered, not looking up. "Please note that I say 'might'."
Rai fingered the pendant a moment longer, then looked up at Kurama with a smile fit for a mental institution. "I know you don't have the energy left to dodge this." he laughed under his breath.
He lifted the pendent out in front of him, holding it parallel to the ground. Kurama tensed, taking a step back. The whole crowd was in a hush and the only noise was wind before Rai snapped his head up.
"Pendant Dragon!" he yelled in a commanding voice.
The pendant seamed to split in half with a beam of light, then lifted apart as though on a hinge. There was a resounding roar and a flash of lightening, blinding light for a split second, and then…
Bursting from the inside of the pendant came a raging gold dragon made purely out of electricity. The air around it cracked and its roar sounded like thunder as it crash out, eyes glowing a vicious red.
Luna's eyes widened. "A Thunder Dragon…from the pendant?" she gasped.
Hiei tensed, his right arm reaching for his kantana. "Kurama, move!" Yusuke shouted.
The fox demon barely had a chance to suck in a surprised gasp before the demon was on him. It crashed into its target with a raging cry, the electricity sparking around him and charring the opponent's flesh. Kurama couldn't hold back a cry of pain as he was thrown, head-first, into the tree behind him, which immediately splintered from the impact and fell to the ground.
"Tell me I'm not the only one to see that!" Sad gasped. "From Rai's pendant comes a raging thunder-dragon! Kurama's been knocked out of sight, but I honestly don't see how he could have survived an attack like that!"
"Easy. He couldn't." Rai snickered, picking his discarded bow from the ground. "Most demons at their full strength can't live through that, he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell."
Luna's eyes remained clam, yet concerned. Misato's hands were clapped over her mouth. Yusuke and Kuwabara both looked ready to leap in and slaughter the guy, but neither would have made it in before Hiei, who's hand was tense over the hilt of his katana.
Kin looked about halfway between cheering and growling, but Ki-Rokey was cheering wildly. Sayona smiled quietly to herself, but muttered something about not cheering until you see the body. Anbu sighed, still reading her book. "Three…Two… One…"
Rai suddenly stopped, eyes widening as he turned back. A slight gasp rippled through the crowd as the red-haired fighter stumbled out of the smoke. He was clutching the wound on his shoulder, gasping from the pain of burns and gashes and only barely leaning against a tree.
"Amazing! He's survived!" Sad's eyes sparked once again as the crowd started to boo.
"Hm…" Rai shook his head, threading the bow with an arrow. "You're tougher than I thought. But you won't live through one more blow!"
Kurama smiled as the arrow was raised to point to his chest. Very suddenly, Rai stopped dead still, breath catching in his throat and eyes widening. The weapon was still raised in his hand. "I-I can't move…" he gulped. "H-H-How did you…?"
Misato gasped, mouth falling open in shock. "There's a…vine…growing out of him!" she gulped, pointing at the screen.
"What…?" Yusuke asked, looking the same way. Yes, out of Rai's right shoulder was a vine, at least half a foot long and twisting around his arm, blood running from the wound. A grin of recognition spread across Yusuke's face.
Kurama pulled himself back up to standing, wiping a little blood off his mouth, and crossed to his now-frozen opponent. He ran a hand almost lovingly over the vine protruding from his body. "W-What did you do to me?!" Rai gasped.
"I simply implanted the death grass seed in your body." Kurama said silkily. "It's almost fully-grown now. All it needs is one command and it will sprout."
He took a few steps back to judge his opponent's reaction. Rai's eyes were wide with fear, but his voice was calm. "Alright then…" he whispered, half to himself. "I suppose it's my own stupid mistake for insisting on a death match, huh? So…just finish off the deal. I always knew I'd die in battle…"
"Well then…" Kurama turned on his heel and began to walk slowly back to his team's side of the ring. ".…Die."
There was a sickening sprouting sound, followed by a thump. Kurama glanced back at the pile of vines and flower he had created in place of the opponent's body.
"…I suppose there must be worse ways to go…" he muttered to himself, then continued back out to the side of the ring to begin his third match.
TBC.
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Well, Kurama's survived two matches, and the score's 2-to-1, but from there it's not looking too good. Not only is he still seriously injured, but next he's up against the enigmatic Anbu, who has more than a few moves of her own! Not to mention a few questions…but what's her problem with humans, anyway?
*By the way…* Just in case anyone's worried…NO I am NOT planning to pair Misato or Luna or anybody else with any of the guys! I don't believe in breaking up the pre-set show relationships (Yusuke will always be with Keiko, Kuwabara and Yukina are the same way…) and, to honestly tell the truth, Misato's too preoccupied with… something else *spoiler has been delete* and Luna's too concerned with her safety to worry to much about the boys. Just to assure you, since a lot of fics pair OCs with Hiei and Kurama in particular, and it just plain bothers me. So none of that here. (Though there might be a little one-sidedness and intimidation) Ch. 7 will be up ASAP.
Ciao for now,
*~GS~*