Chapter Thirteen: In the Space of a Minute
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"EW! What the heck is that?"
"It's a revival drink," Kurama explained, as he lifted Kozu to pour the greyish colored drink into her mouth, "It should awaken them in time for them to fight in the next round."
"Shouldn't we let them sleep?" Kuwabara asked. Having woken up sometime in the space when Arashi's sweater was on fire, he had been dismayed to find he'd lost, and was now sitting upright, watching Kurama tend to Kozu and Niyali.
"I wish we could," Kurama admitted, sighing, "But we all have to fight in this round."
"Oh." Kozu spluttered and choked, finally opening her eyes and coughing outright.
"That was disgusting!" she exclaimed, "What the heck was that?"
"A revival drink," Kurama told her, "How're you feeling?" She shrugged.
"Like a couple of pounds of rocks hit me," she laughed. Next to her, Niyali gagged and woke up, bolting upright and choking, finally spitting on the ground next to her.
"You see why I don't use this very often," Kurama told Kuwabara, "It gets the job done, but it's got a nasty aftertaste."
"You tell me," Niyali muttered, "Ew ew ew...I think I'm going to throw up..."
"Hey!" Kozu noticed, "It's Arashi!"
"Boy, she seems pissed," Niyali noticed, "What did---oh no. Her sweater."
"RUN WHILE YOU CAN, BUB!" Kozu screamed to Kasei, "ARASHI TREASURES HER SWEATER MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD!"
"Except Hiei!" Arashi yelled back.
"EXCEPT HIEI!" Kozu corrected.
Kasei ignored her.
"What she said," Arashi snapped, "And you're going to pay for ruining my sweater!" With a push of her hand, the cloud over her head sailed over to Kasei, turning grey as it did so. Once it reached him, it emptied its contents, soaking him and dousing the flames of his whip; which crumbled to nothing.
"So there," Arashi said, sticking her tongue out at him.
"That's a turn-around!" Faye exclaimed, "It seems Arashi's the type of person to hold a grudge; she's disabled Kasei's weapon in turn for him ruining her sweater! But where's the action? The excitement! The--"
"Blood!" Frogari interrupted.
"ENOUGH WITH THE BLOOD ALREADY!"
"..."
Kasei pulled out a sword and moved into a fighting stance.
"So that's how you want to play, eh?" Arashi asked. Digging around in what was left of her sweater pocket, she produced a balloon, which like everything else she had, was purple. Holding it to her mouth, she blew into it. Kasei raised an eyebrow.
"What the...?"
"You'll see," Arashi said, casually rubbing the now-inflated balloon against her sweater. She held it up, looked at it critcially, shrugged, and then threw it in the air. It caught on a sudden rush of wind, was flown over to Kasei, and promptly blew up.
"COOL!" Faye exclaimed, "It's a balloon that's filled with static electricity...then when it comes in contact with another being it blows up! AWESOME!"
Kasei coughed, part of his shirt blown up. His face and hair now had that I've-been-in-an-explosion look (think Merry and Pippin from the Lord of the Rings after they set off Gandalf's firework, if you need an example). He barely had time to register what had happened before another one of the balloons came flying over and blew up in his face.
"They're not real dangerous, though," Arashi said, sadly, "I don't like to blow things up except balloons, so they don't cause much damage."
Kasei didn't wait for her to send another one after him. Lunging forward, he swung his sword in an arc. Arashi shot straight up into the air and sat there, watching him swing his sword at her and try to hit her. She rolled her eyes and called up another cloud, this one full of lighting. Reaching her hand into it, she pulled out a bit of lighting, straightened it, and dropped it. Kasei had only a second to look up before the bolt hit him, coursing through him to the ground. He screamed, dropping his sword, which Arashi promptly flew down and picked up, throwing it far into the trees so he couldn't use it again. Kasei fell to his knees and finally the ground, twitching in agony as the electricity channeled through him, that bit that hadn't gone directly into the earth swirling around in his body, causing him excruciating pain.
"And he's down!" Frogari exclaimed, "Ten count! One! Two! Three!..."
"YAY ARASHI!" Kozu and Niyali cheered, "YOU BEAT HIM! YOU BEAT HIM!!"
"Ten! Arashi is the winner!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Kozu and Niyali ran out onto the field, bruises and other injuries completely forgotten and embraced their friend happily, ignoring the little lighting bolts that were dancing around Arashi. Arashi hugged them back.
The three of them headed back to the rest of their team, laughing and sharing joy.
"Who's going to fight next?" Kuwabara asked, immediately.
"I will," Kozu and Niyali said, at the same time. The two of them exchanged a look.
"Hn. Let Kozu fight," Hiei said, "She'd probably do a better job."
"What did you say?" Arashi and Niyali squeaked. Niyali turned to face him.
"Why would she do better then me?" Hiei ignored her.
"That's no reason," Niyali said, and suddenly got an idea that was probably not one of her better ones, "I bet I could beat whoever it is I'm fighting faster then you've ever won a match." Hiei turned to glare at her.
"Don't be stupid. If you want to be faster then I've done, you'll have to beat them in under a minute."
"A minute to win?" Niyali said, and looked away when he nodded, "Uh-ok."
"Niyali, are you sure about that?" Kurama asked, "A minute goes by faster then you think."
"Shut up...I can do it. I think." Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she walked out onto the field.
"What about the stakes?" Kozu asked, "If it's a bet, there's gotta be something involved!" Arashi elbowed her sharply. "OW!"
"What if we just didn't have stakes?" Yusuke suggested.
"Where's the fun in that?" Niyali asked him, turning around, "Besides, I know what mine's going to be. Hiei has to give up sweet snow for the rest of the Tournament!" Hiei's eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
"One week. If it takes you over a minute, you put your hands in one of my flames."
"HIEI!" Arashi gasped, "That's mean!" He glared at her. Niyali's eyes widened at the mention of flame and she stared blankly at Hiei for a moment.
"Don't do it, Niyali!" Kozu said, "You can't!" Niyali blinked before nodding slowly, turning and walking to the center of the ring. But fear was evident in her body.
"You knew she'd take it," Arashi said, to Kozu, "Her pride won't let her back down from a challenge, especially if it's a fire demon and even if it involves flame."
"I know," Kozu sighed, "I hope she can do it." Arashi was torn; should she cheer for Hiei or her bestest-best friend? Trust Niyali to go and put her in this dilemma. Stupid girl...
"Next match, Niyali vs. Akki!" Frogari narrated. Akki was a red-haired, green-eyed, black-clothed, five foot six girl, who watched Niyali with a calm confidence. Niyali stared back up at her, her posture sure of herself, but her eyes wavering with fear.
"And...LET'S FIGHT!" Faye exclaimed.
Niyali quickly pulled a twig out of her hair and backflipped away from her opponent. In mid-flip, she transferred her energy into the twig, turning it into her familiar flute. Raising it to her lips, she blew into it, played a quick running scale before launching into a lively tune.
Kuwabara blinked.
"I didn't anybody could play that fast," he said, stunned.
"This isn't good," Arashi whimpered.
"She's going too fast," Kozu whispered, "She's going to mess up." Niyali watched Akki out of one eye, the other focusing on placing her fingers over the right holes at the right times. The melody flowed on, somehow conveying a sense of fear and peace intertwined, however small that sense was.
"45 seconds," Kurama muttered, looking at his watch. Akki, however, wasn't going to wait for the song to end. She drew a sword and leapt for Niyali, bringing the sword up and down. Niyali skipped backwards, but the effort in doing so made her take an extra breath, missing three measures of the song. Akki's sword grazed her torso, running in a straight, vertical line from the bottom of Niyali's neck to her stomach. The two pieces of flute fell from Niyali's hand, and she froze, staring at Akki in a blind whirlwind of confusion.
"15 seconds." Quickly, Niyali whistled a run and a few random notes, holding the last one out for a fraction of a second. Even as she ended, Akki raised the sword, prepared to swing it again, this time for Niyali's neck.
"ODE OF OBLIVION!" The words bursted unheeded from Niyali's lips, and all the notes she had played came back in a rush of sound, wrapping around Akki, moving through her, cutting into her heart and her soul. In a mere second, the noise ended, and Akki was gone. Simply gone.
"And Akki's mysteriously disappeared from the ring!" Frogari narrated, "Ten count! One! Two! Three!"
:Count faster,: Niyali, Arashi, and Kozu thought, simultaneously. "Seven! Eight! Nine! TEN! And Niyali is the winner!" Niyali bent to pick up the two pieces of her flute and walked back to her team.
"So?" She asked, at the same time Arashi, Kozu, Kuwabara, and Yusuke did. Hiei only "hn"ed.
"So what?" Kurama asked.
"Who won?" He shrugged and shook his head.
"No one did."
"What?"
"It was an exact minute." Niyali and Hiei turned to glare at each other. Arashi looked from one to the other before smiling widely.
"That's great! Neither one of you has to do anything!" She flung one arm around each of them and pulled them into one-armed hugs. Hiei quickly pushed her away from him, causing the two girls to fall, Arashi landing on top of Niyali. Niyali screamed and pushed Arashi off of her.
"Hiei, that wasn't very nice!" Arashi moaned, reaching out a hand to pull Niyali off the ground. Niyali gladly accepted the help, and pulled her now two-piece sweater off, revealing a plain blue T-shirt underneath. Akki's sword had gotten snagged on her sweater, so her T-shirt (as well as her) was unharmed.
"MY TURN!" Kozu shrieked, "I've been waiting to fight in one of these Tournaments for years!" Without any more words, she had abandoned them in favor of the field and the battle that awaited her.
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End of chapter...let's keep reading because there's a Chapter Fourteen up on the site...