Disclaimer: We don't own Inumiko...wait, didn't we say
that already?
***
Chapter Eight: Hellos and Holes
***
Sapphire sighed.
"Will you stop that?" Hin asked.
"What are we going to do now? Our captain's gone."
"That's Inumiko's decision," Yamiko stated calmly. Inumiko blinked.
"What? Me?"
"You're the CoCaptain, aren't you?" Yamiko asked.
"Well...I guess...but...what does that have to do with anything?"
"So you make the decision what we do. Are we fighting?" Inumiko paused, deep in thought. They were down two to nothing; one more win on Team Urameshi's part meant a loss for them. Then they'd certainly be kicked out of the Tournament, and that wouldn't be a good thing. Each had a reason for coming to this tournament; if they were kicked out, how could they fulfill them?
"Well?" Hin asked, "We're waiting." Inumiko took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Well," she said, carefully, "I've been thinking about this---maybe we should---"
"Less think, more doing," Sapphire said, playfully, "Just do it! We trust you, don't we?" Hin nodded. Yamiko smiled. Kitsune and Han were still out cold, so they couldn't exactly answer. Inumiko smiled herself before walking towards the ring, hoisting herself up and in before walking to the center. But she didn't stop there.
***
"It's about time we got in," Keiko said, as she and the other girls made their way through the inner part of the stadium towards the arena, "I thought we weren't going to get through."
"Thank goodness for easily distracted bouncers!" Botan exclaimed. The four females entered the stands at one of the top entrances, and once their eyes adjusted to the light, they could clearly see what was going on down below.
"What's going on, why is no one fighting?" Keiko asked.
"Maybe a fight just ended?" Yukina suggested.
"Come on," Shizuru said, starting down the steps, "Let's go get a closer look."
***
"So who's fighting next?" Yusuke asked, turning to Kozu and Kuwabara. The three of them, in case you don't remember, were the only ones who had yet to fight.
"I think she should," Kuwabara said, "I can't fight girls, and all our opponents are completely female!" Kozu rolled her eyes. Niyali gave a cough which sounded suspiciously like "coward." Yusuke turned to Kozu.
"Why can't you fight girls anyway?" Kozu asked Kuwabara.
"It's against my honor code!"
"What kind of idiot has an honor code?"
"A sensible one."
"That's an oxymoron."
"Pardon me," said a voice, "If I may interrupt?" They looked up to see a girl, with a blue star on her forehead, standing on the edge of the ring, looking down at them.
"Who are you?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'm Inumiko," Inumiko said casually, hopping down from the ring to land on their side of the ring, "Replacement Captain of Team Rose! Which one of you is Captain here?"
"That's me," Yusuke said. She turned to him.
"I've been thinking," she said, "Your team is good, and so is mine. We both have our own particular advantages in different situations."
"And?" Yusuke prompted.
"You're here for your reasons, and we're here for ours. Mine can be accomplished from a distance, while others must be here for theirs. I would hate for them not to be able to fulfill the missions they came here for."
"And?" Yusuke asked.
"If we lose to your team, we will be forcibly removed from this tournament. That would not be a good thing. However, if we were to lose a different way..." She trailed off. They waited for her to continue. She took a breath and turned away, getting back into the ring and heading over to Frogari.
"That was odd," Yusuke commented. Inumiko was talking with Frogari, and after a moment, he handed his microphone over to her reluctantly.
"As Captain of Team Rose," she announced, her voice ringing throughout the stadium, "I hereby recognize my power to speak on the behalf of my team, and therefore forfeit the match to the Captain of Team Urameshi." Ignoring the wide-eyed stares and many whisperings that were spreading throughout the stadium, she handed the microphone back to Frogari and headed back to her team, who were looking stunned.
"So..." Kuwabara blinked a couple times, "We won?"
"That's what forfeit means, you idiot," Hiei snapped.
"YEAH! WE WON!"
***
Later...
***
"That went well," Yusuke commented, as he and the rest of his team left the stadium to head back towards the hotel.
"Considering you didn't show up until the first match was over, I'd have to agree," Kurama said.
"That was not my fault!" Yusuke protested.
"It was somebody's," Niyali insisted.
"YUSUKE! KUWABARA! WAIT!!" The team stopped and turned to see four girls running towards them.
"Botan?" Yusuke gasped, "Keiko?"
"Sis!" Kuwabara exclaimed, "YUKINA!" Hiei's eyes widened for a brief moment before settling back into a glare at Kuwabara. Niyali and Kozu exchanged a glance, and Niyali turned to look at Arashi, who she had been certain was right next to her. She wasn't.
"Koenma just told us you were in this tournament a few hours ago," Botan told the guys, "Honestly, I can't believe it slipped his mind that much!"
"Are you all right?" Keiko asked Yusuke.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Yukina followed up.
"Oh, no sweetums!" Kuwabara said, taking her hands in his, "I'm not hurt at all!" Kozu was watching with disgust until Niyali grabbed her shirt and pulled her off the path into the woods.
"That's wonderful, Kazuma! Did you win your fight?"
"Nah, Kuwabara didn't even fight!" Yusuke said, whacking Kuwabara on the back and almost causing him to fall.
"That's my baby bro for you," Shizuru said, "Always letting other people do the work for him."
"Hey, sis, that's not true!"
"It is from what I've seen."
"Hey!"
"Koenma mentioned that you had to have seven people to fight in this tournament," Botan said, "Did you find three more people?"
"About a minute before we boarded the train," Yusuke said, "And they found us."
"Oh! So you know each other, then?" Keiko asked.
"Not exactly," Kurama added, "One of them knew Hiei and that's about it."
"Well, where are they?" Botan demanded, "I'd love to meet them! After all, we're going to be spending a lot of time together in the next few weeks!" The boys chose to ignore that comment.
"Hey, where are they?" Kuwabara asked, looking around, "They were here a minute ago..."
"Don't tell me they ran off!" Yusuke moaned.
"I think they did," Kurama affirmed.
"Are they shy?" Botan asked.
"Not when it comes to Arashi and Hiei," Yusuke said. Hiei glared at him.
"Arashi?" Yukina asked.
"One of our teammates, sweetie," Kuwabara enlighted her, "She likes Hiei."
"Shut up," Hiei growled.
"It's not a two-way relationship," Kurama added.
"Oh."
"But where did they go?" Keiko asked, "I'm sure I saw seven people inside the stadium earlier..."
"They must have left when we weren't looking," Kuwabara said.
"They could have left at any time, then," Hiei commented dryly.
"Then they could be anywhere," Yusuke said, running his hands through his hair in exasperation, "How the heck are we supposed to find them?" Hiei gave him a look and took off his bandana. His Jagan opened almost immediately.
"Arashi's that way," he said after a moment, nodding in one direction.
"And Niyali and Kozu?" Kurama prompted. There was a pause.
"That way," Hiei said, at last, nodding in the opposite direction from where Arashi had gone. Yusuke sighed.
"Great, so they can't even stick together when they're running away," Yusuke said, "Well, we should probably go look for them."
"And what are we supposed to do?" Botan demanded. Yusuke shrugged.
"Go back to the hotel, I guess. We'll meet you there."
***
"Why did we leave?" Kozu asked Niyali.
"To find Arashi. She wasn't there."
"Oh. When did she leave?"
"...I dunno..."
"Do you know where she went?" Niyali looked down at the ground.
"Do you?" Kozu prompted.
"...I was kinda hoping you knew..." Kozu threw her hands up in frustration.
"Great. So we don't even know if we're heading in the right direction!"
"I'm sorry!" Niyali cried, "I just want to find Arashi and make sure she's all right!"
"It's ok," Kozu said, "Don't start crying!" Niyali sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
"I think she left after Hiei obliterated that alien person," Kozu said.
"Why?"
"Maybe it triggered some unpleasant memories. You weren't looking too happy when you saw the black flames, either..."
"Shut up."
"Why? Why do you always get so upset whenever you see fire? It's not that dangerous, but you always--"
"SHUT UP!" Several birds scattered from their perches in nearby trees. Kozu looked up, shocked, at Niyali's face.
"You don't understand," Niyali spat, "No one ever will! If I can't stand fire, I have a reason and that's my business! No one else needs to know!"
"But---"
"NO ONE!" Kozu's eyes welled up with tears.
"Oh," she said, "I get it. You can't tell your own friend a secret."
"No, it's just---" Niyali sighed, "It's not that. I'm just not ready to tell anybody just yet."
"But when will you be ready? You haven't been ready ever since Arashi met you! She told me."
"I don't know," Niyali admitted, "I just don't know." The two of them continued walking in silence, both of them staring down at the ground.
Kozu stepped on something squishy and leapt back.
"EW!" she exclaimed, "I think I stepped in something!"
"What?" Niyali asked, coming forwards. Something cracked underneath her foot, and as she looked down to see what she stepped on, the ground disappeared. She yelped and grabbed Kozu, pulling her down with her. The two little girls screamed as they fell, falling into a seemingly bottomless pit. But of course, no pit is bottomless, and they eventually hit the bottom with a thud. There was a long silence, in which there was only heavy breathing as the two of them tried to relax.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" They looked up to see somebody looking down into the pit at them. Kozu recognized him at once.
"You're that Minoru guy, aren't you?" she demanded, "I thought I recognized you from the train!" He laughed.
"That would be me," he admitted.
"I could care less who you are," Niyali spat, "Why did you dig this hole?"
"All the members of a team must fight in the next round," he said, "If two of the members of Team Urameshi are trapped in a hole, Team Urameshi can't continue, can they?"
"But what if we escape?" Kozu asked, a smile creeping up onto her face. He smiled, as well.
"But you won't be able to," he told her. She frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because, little one," he said, "Minoru planned this out." Kozu opened her mouth to tell him that that was no reason, but he disappeared from the mouth of the hole and the next second, there was a crash and a thud, and dirt rained down on them. When it stopped, there was complete darkness.
"Niyali?" she asked. There was the sound of coughing to her right.
"Stupid dirt," Niyali muttered, coughing, "I think I inhaled some..."
"Don't move, I'm going up to see what happened." Kozu summounded her ki and jumped, flying up, up, and up until she banged her head on something hard.
"OW!" she exclaimed.
"What is it?" Niyali called up. Kozu reached her hands up and felt around in the darkness.
"It's a boulder!" she called back, "It's covering the mouth of the hole---we're trapped!"
***
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