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Chapter Sixteen: Childish Games
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Death Isle Hotel; Room 10A
***
"So how's it going?"
"Can't see a darned thing," Yamiko answered, squinting at the TV, where the battle between Team Urameshi and Team Kokushibyou was on, "Stupid Nezume's using too much fog." Sapphire sat down next to her and handed her a drink. Yamiko took it without looking.
"It's entirely too familiar," Shishiwakamaru said casually, sitting on a nearby sofa.
"How's it familiar, Shishi?" Inumiko asked, snuggled comfortably against him. The only reason Shishi (because Shishiwakamaru's too long to type, we'll call him that) was in the room was because of his close relationship with Inumiko...very close. Right now, the two of them seemed as if they were perfectly content.
"I've seen this before," Shishi replied, "Well, sort of. At least twice, actually."
"Be more specific," Inumiko demanded.
"I'm not sure," Shishi said, slowly, "But it looks to me like the same sort of stuff that Suzaku gave Uraurishima in the Idunn box."
"Idunn box?" Three voices asked.
"It contained a gas that turned back time," Hin explained, having seen the Dark Tournament for herself.
"Basically changes the fighter back to a toddler," Han elaborated.
"Ah." Inumiko was satisfied for the moment. Yamiko and Sapphire turned back to the TV.
"Except," Shishi sighed, "It did more for Kurama than his opponent." There were a couple blank stares.
"And...?"
"Well, being given the name 'Kurama' wasn't exactly a coincidence..."
"...Which means...?"
Shishi sighed. "Does the name 'Yoko Kurama' ring a bell?"
More then one person gasped. All eyes were on him, now, instead of the TV, where the fog was clearing. It was Yamiko who spoke first.
"Yoko Kurama?" she asked, "But...but he's dead!"
"No he's not," Han and Hin said, simultaneously. Yamiko's eyes were wide as she leapt to her feet.
"I have to talk to him!" she exclaimed, rushing for the door.
"Yamiko!" Sapphire called, "You might want to see this..." Yamiko paused, hand on the doorknob, and turned back to the TV. She froze.
"Oh my..."
**
Fighting Field
***
Hiei smirked.
"It's over." Yusuke stared at him.
"How can you tell?"
"Can't you?" Hiei snapped, "Yoko Kurama's coming. This battle will be over within a minute." Yusuke's face turned into a smile--he'd only seen Yoko once, in the last round of the Dark Tournament. Even then, it had been a battle Yusuke was glad he wasn't in...never mind that Karasu had managed to survive the attack.
The fog was soon sucked back into Nezume's strand of wheat, and they looked for the figures in the middle of the field.
Many a jaw dropped when they saw who was there.
"It's...it's..." Yusuke seemed at a loss for words.
"It's Yoko Kurama!" Yakusoku exclaimed.
"It's...chibi Yoko Kurama!" For standing in the middle of the field was Nezume and somebody else. That somebody had silver hair, fox-like ears, golden eyes, and looked to be about the age of five.
The little kitsune moved his head slowly, taking in all the faces around him before bursting into tears.
Most of the girls erupted into a chorus of "awwwwww..." but none moved to do anything.
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Nezume exclaimed, staring at the crying kitsune closely, "You're supposed to be a speck! Not...five years old! Hey...wasn't your hair red a moment ago? And what happened to your ears?" He moved closer to the kitsune and crouched, observing his now chibi-fied opponent, "They were human a minute ago..." He extended a finger to touch them. The little fox instantly stopped crying and bit him.
"OUCH!" Nezume roared, leaping up and shaking his finger, "It bit me!"
"Mousie?" Yoko asked, head tilted and looking up into the face of his opponent, "I like mousie! Mousies taste good!" He latched himself firmly onto Nezume's leg and began gnawing.
Nezume gave a roar of pain and began doing an odd sort of dance, trying to shake Yoko off his leg. The fox hung on tight and refused to let go.
"Well, this is different!" Faye exclaimed, "It seems Nezume's gas is a time reversal, that should have taken Kurama back in time so far he'd be nothing but a speck--but we all know Kurama's relation to Yoko Kurama, so instead of being a speck, he's a five-year-old Yoko Kurama, and now he seems to have developed a liking for Nezume's leg--he's latched onto it and there's no telling when he'll be letting go!...speaking of five-year-olds, where's Frogari?"
"Hiei," Yusuke said, staring at the two fighters in the ring, "Be honest. Is there any chance that Kurama can win this fight?" Hiei paused and thought before answering.
"We can hope he still has instincts," he said, "For his sake, he'd better remember them."
"Instincts?" Yusuke asked, turning towards him.
"The instinct to kill, being one."
"KILL?"
"His opponent. Not us."
"That's a relief." From the ring there came a scream. Yusuke and Hiei immediately turned to look and were astonished to see that Nezume and Yoko were gone!
"Well, this is just great," Faye sighed, from her position atop the barrier, "They've both pulled a vanishing act--I can't see if they're still in the field or not--but they couldn't leave, could they? I mean, the barrier's still up...would you mind lowering it? Thanks." The barrier lowered; Faye flew down into the field and looked over it quickly. Her gaze landed on the hole in the center of the ground and she flew over to it, stopping and hovering before peering in.
"EW!" she exclaimed, a look of digust crossing her face, "I'm all for blood and violence, but that is nasty. Um, I think he's dead--unless he somehow managed to survive those two bones impaling him through the head, I'm quite sure he's dead. I'd like a second opinion, though...Frogari? Where are you?" There was a long pause. "Well, I guess you're not here. Coward...um, would the Captains of each team like to come forward and offer their opinions?" Yusuke practically ran onto the field; Zaraya did the same.
Yusuke winced at the sight. Nezume was on his back, two sharp bones sticking out of his forehead like horns. His leg had been completely severed from his body, and Yoko was happily gnawing on it.
"I think he's dead," Yusuke agreed. Zaraya only nodded before turning and walking away.
"Hey!" Yusuke called after her, "Don't you care that your teammate's dead?"
"Compassion is for the weak," she responded icily, not turning around, "He lost because he tripped over his own feet. I cannot pity him."
"I guess the victory goes to Team Urameshi!" Faye exclaimed, "Would the next fighters please step into the ring!"
"Hn." Hiei had appeared next to Yusuke, "I was right about the instincts."
"How are we supposed to get him out of there?" Yusuke asked, watching Yoko chew contentedly, "I don't think he should fight again until he's back to normal."
"Leave it to me." Within a few seconds, Hiei had managed to not only get Yoko out of the hole, but to leave Nezume's leg behind as well.
"How did you do that?" Yusuke asked, as the little kitsune started gnawing on Hiei's leg.
"You don't want to know," came the response, "Here." Yusuke suddenly found himself holding an armful of squirming kitsune. "I'm fighting next."
Yusuke was halfway back to his side of the field when he remembered that he was still holding a chibi Yoko Kurama. A restless chibi Yoko Kurama.
"Hiei, what am I supposed to do with him?!"
***
Death Isle Hotel
Room 10C
***
"Poor Kurama," Keiko whispered, "That's got to be embarassing."
"Cute!" Niyali protested stubbornly, "Besides, he had good taste to be gnawing on Hiei's leg."
"Niyali!" Arashi protested, "How can you say such a thing? He probably made Hiei bleed!" Niyali opened her mouth to say that that was a good thing, but Kuwabara cut her off.
"I guess Shrimpy's fighting next," he said, "I hope--"
Crash. The eight of them turned as the door was smashed open, splitting into pieces and falling off its hinges. Six large figures entered the room, all tall and heavily built. Several of them were carrying weapons. None of them looked happy.
"Hey!" Kuwabara exclaimed, standing up, "Who do you think you are, bursting in here like that?"
"We're 'ere on bis'ness," one of the thugs slurred.
"Business," Arashi said, "Seems more like you're a team who came too late for the Tournament. Sorry, boys, but this slot's taken." She grinned; Niyali and Kozu giggled.
"No," another thug said, "You misunderstand us. When we say bis'ness, we mean bis'ness." He pounded his fist into his palm for emphasis.
"Oh," Arashi faltered, "You mean that kind of business."
"You can't possibly be serious!" Botan shrieked, standing up as well, "This is a private room, and you come barging in here demanding a fight? This is ridiculous!"
"Not when we're paid," the first thug said, grinning toothily, "We jus' do what we're asked."
"Get into one of the back rooms," Kuwabara said to the girls, "I'll take care of this."
"Six against one?" Niyali said, "You're crazy!"
"That's not smart," Kozu added, "Then again, neither are you."
"As entertaining as it would be to see you die," Arashi followed up, "That'd be one less team member, and we can't have that." Wind swept through the room, blowing their hair every which way as storm clouds gathered at the ceiling, flickering with lighting.
"Fine," Kuwabara growled, "Botan, Yukina, sis, Keiko, you guys go hide."
"And leave the four of you?" Shizuru asked, raising an eyebrow, "I don't think so!"
"Just listen to me, sis!" Kuwabara yelled, "We can take care of them!"
"They're nothing," Kozu said calmly, taking a white rose out of her hair. Niyali nodded and pulled out her flute.
"This'll be over before it even begins," she grinned.
"Come on," Botan said, grabbing Yukina and Keiko's hands before retreating to the girls' room. Shizuru followed reluctantly.
"You better attack us all at once," Kuwabara said, "I promise we'll go easy on you."
"Are ya sur' you wanna do this?" the first thug (which seemed to be the leader) asked, "I wouldn't want you to die in so much pain, especially little things like you." His gaze flickered to the girls, who immediately took offense.
"You're going to regret that," Arashi growled, lighting gathering in her hands. "You are SO going to regret that."
***
Field
***
"And with no further ado, let's begin Match 4! Team Urameshi's Hiei vs. Team Kokushibyou's Aretesia! Get ready...get set...FIGHT!"
Aretesia wasted no time in getting started. Extending her right arm, she turned her palm towards Hiei and gathered her ki, resulting in shooting a beam of silver-white energy straight at him. At the last second, he blurred, and the beam slammed into the ground, obliterating several skulls and creating a smoldering hole.
"Is that the best you can do?" Hiei taunted, now behind her, "I thought I'd be getting a good fight, not something pathetic like this."
"Then a good fight you shall have!" Aretesia exclaimed, and shot off another beam of energy. This one he also dodged, and when she fired off another one, dodged that.
"This is amazing!" Faye exclaimed, "Aretesia's firing off a barrage of her Spirit Energy, but Hiei's managing to dodge every single attack!"
"This is boring," Hiei called, even as he dodged more of Aretesia's beams, "I said I wanted a good fight, and here you're not even trying." Aretesia's eyes narrowed.
"Bored, are you? Then try THIS!" The familiar beam of energy burst from her hand; Hiei swiftly leapt to the right.
But this time, Aretesia was ready for him. Not one, but two energy bolts were right where he jumped, and unable to change the direction of his jump, he leapt right into it.
"Amazing!" Faye narrated, "Aretesia's somehow predicted Hiei's movements--she fired off another beam and it hit him square in the shoulder! He's landed hard on the ring, and it looks like he's not moving--wait a second, I stand corrected! Hiei's struggling to his feet, but it looks like the beam's taken it's toll..."
Sure enough, Hiei was struggling to stand, his right hand clutching his left shoulder. Aretesia's beam had gone straight through, not only drawing blood, but somehow it seemed to spread through his whole arm, numbing it...
If this was what happened to his arm, he'd better avoid another hit.
"Still bored?" Aretesia asked. She didn't give him time to answer. Curling her hand into a fist, she punched viciously at the air. Light exploded from her fist, flooding through the gaps between her fingers, expanding to cover the half of the field with her silver blast.
Yusuke (who just happened to be right in the area of fire), dove out of the way, pulling Yoko with him. Hiei, hampered by his arm and the borders of the field, wasn't so lucky. The blast propelled him backwards, pushing him off the field. A distance away, he crashed into the ground, skidding through it with enough force to pull up the grass and some of the dirt underneath him, leaving a small trench in his wake.
"HIEI!" Yusuke yelled, scrambling to his feet.
"Oh, WOW!" Faye cried, "Aretesia's somehow managed to increase the range of her spirit attacks, blowing Hiei out of the ring with an ENORMOUS blast of energy! After a blow like that, it's doubtful whether he'll rise again! Wait a second, he's out of the ring! Here we go--one! Two! Three!" As Faye's count increased, Yusuke could only stare at Hiei's unmoving form--he wasn't sure he would have survived a blast like that. What about Hiei? Could he?
Was this the end of Hiei?
***