Disclaimer: Okay. I want to get this done quick. I do not own Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, or Kuwabara. Although I would not want to own Kuwabara. I do own Hinoki, all her family members, Shikoshi, Shoken, The Light Tournament, and the Black bladed katana.
Note: The reason I am starting this off on a new sequel is because I think leaving you hanging on the other story was more fun. At least I got the chapters for that story done. Now all I gotta worry about are these, and then I'll get straight to work on th Fushigi Yuugi fic.
"That was weird." Kuwabara said, sitting up rubbing his head.
"I never knew he had the ability of teleportation." Kurama said, also sitting up.
"It took us all by surprise." Hiei said, getting to his feet.
"Yeah... anyway.... I guess it was nice of him to bring us to Genkai's shrine for training." Yusuke said, helping Hinoki to her feet.
"How do we plan on training?" Kuwabara asked.
"Hinoki is our best bet against Shoken. With her ability, she could copy Shoken's attacks and use them on him in the same way." Yusuke said, thinking to himself.
"Let us start her off with someone easy, such as Kuwabara." Hiei suggested.
"Hey! Watch it, shrimp!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Hn... "
"Hey! Now is not the time to start fights! The more time we waste, the weaker we'll be!" Hinoki shouted.
"Maybe Genkai will let us use her shrine." Yusuke wondered out loud.
"He started it.... " Kuwabara murmured.
Once they had finally gotten to Genkai's shrine, they did not see her anywhere in the front. So they went inside to check. She wasn't in the game room either.
They checked all over the shrine, but found no sign of her anywhere.
"Oh well. When she gets back, we'll just exlplain to her what's going on." Yusuke said.
"Do you think she'll get mad if she finds out we can't have her fighting alongside us this time?" Kuwabara asked.
"Nah. I think it's time we don't rely on her so much anymore. Besides, she really doesn't need participate in anymore tournaments. I think she's done her fair share to last her this lifetime." Yusuke said.
"He only wants to hide behind an old, decrepit woman who isn't as weak and fragile as he is." Hiei said.
"Shut up, shorty!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Kuwabara, is that all you can say? You obviously don't have any material for poking fun at short people. However, I respect Hiei and won't go there." She said. She knew it would drive Kuwabara crazy if he couldn't get her to pass down some short person gags.
Hiei turned to leave when Hinoki turned and spoke to him. He froze.
"Are you going to train in the woods, Hiei?" She asked.
Without an answer, Hiei left the shrine.
"Shall we begin, Hinoki?" Kurama asked sweetly. Kuwabara was already waiting for her.
Hinoki stepping into the designated fighting area.
"Okay. Because we have a ring to deal with, we've gotta get you used to fighting with less room." Yusuke explained.
"Got it!" Hinoki shouted.
"We're training, so although it goes against my honor code, I won't hold back." Kuwabara said in his version of noble.
"Well try this technique: Take fifty to sixty paces backwards, take several deep breaths, sprint forward at full speed, do a full triple summersault through the air, and disappear up your own asshole." Hinoki mocked.
"WANNA DIE!" Kuwabara shouted with anger. Yusuke and Kurama's chuckles didn't help to calm his anger either.
"English is your second language, isn't it? You don't have a first. Just as the strength of a solitary brick will not support a poorly built structure, your bold and husky accent does not redeem your poor incoherent words.
Have you considered suing your brain for non-support? Seeing your face makes blindness a wonderful thing to look forward to. You are about as entertaining as watching grass grow in in a window box. What do you do for a living? You are living, arem't you?
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers. Maybe you wouldn't be so fugly if you'd had enough oxygen at birth, or if you didn't already have a face of a bulldog. Who ordered the dunce with extra-stupid sauce?
I've seen people as fugly as you before, but I often had to pay admission. You should improve your IQ by having your brain amputated, you heteroclite example of why pregnant woman shouldn't work near plutonium.
I bet you have to order your clothes in three sizes: Extra-Large, Jumbo, and Oh-My-Go-It's-Coming-Towards-Us! If you were paid what you were worth, it would break the minimum wage law." Hinoki said. It took her a while to say it. Not to mention it took her a breath and a half.
But in the end it was worth it because Yusuke and Kurama found themselves on their backs on the floor rolling with laughter, clutching their sides.
"I didn't understand everything you said, but that's it! Girl or not, you're going down!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Oh, excuse me if I don't shake with fear." Hinoki said with a sarcastic yawn.
Kuwabara immediately formed the Spirit Sword as he charged at Hinoki with full speed. His ego hurt and totally ready to mangle Hinoki.
Hinoki grinned and formed the Spirit Sword as well. This was only a surprise to Yusuke and Kuwabara.
Nonetheless, despite his surprise, Kuwabara still maintained his assault on Hinoki.
Hinoki easily dodged his attack and was immediately behind Kuwabara as he stumbled forward. As he regained his balance, Hinoki used her elbow to hit him in the back of the neck and render him unconscious.
The Spirit Sword then vanished from Hinoki's hands.
"I see. She used her mirroring technique to use the Spirit Sword as a mechanism to drop Kuwabara's gaurd. He only dropped it for a moment, but that was enough for Hinoki to make her move. Kuwabara lowered his gaurd only slightly, and he hesitated. She took advantage of that. Then with Hiei's speed ran behind him and knocked him unconscious." Kurama concluded.
"So much for him being a challenge." Hinoki said, folding her hands behind her head as she lazily walked up to them.
"Perhaps we underestimated you. Your wits in battle may even match my own." Kurama stated.
Hinoki lowered her eyes and blushed slightly, "Kurama, can I talk to you in private. I don't mean to be offensive, Yusuke."
Yusuke was taken aback, "Whoa! Hey! No need to get all polite. If you need some time alone with Kurama, that's fine by me. I'll drag that doofus's dead weight outta here." Yusuke said.
Once he had fulfilled that task, he shut the door behind him so Hinoki and Kurama could talk alone.
There was an odd moment's silence, then Kurama spoke, "Hinoki. If this is about Hiei, then by all means speak."
Hinoki looked up at him, "All I wanted to say was that I think I should train with Hiei, not Kuwabara. He isn't much of a challenge. I don't mean to insult the human race, but I'm just not comfortable working with him. It's nothing against you personally. Nor is it Yusuke-well only a little Yusuke. I just have this feeling that my training would be a lot better if i was to train with Hiei. I hope you can understand."
Kurama only stared straight ahead into her face. "I tend to invite Touya and Jin, as well as Shishiwaukumaru and the others if they can make it." Kurama said.
Hinoki stared at him a moment, "Yes, I understand. You can come and look for me once they arrive. Then proper introduction will be required." She said, trying to reason with him.
Kurama now understood that there was no way around it. He had to accept that Hinoki wanted to train with Hiei. It made sense, because Hiei was a good trainer and could undoubtedly make Hinoki stronger within a few days.
"Alright. We'll set off looking for Hiei. He's probably somewhere about in the trees." Kurama said.
With those last words they both set off looking for Hiei.
They searched Genkai's grounds for traces of Hiei but to no avail. They found him lounging in a tree outside of Hinoki's house.
Hinoki ran up to the tree and gazed up it's branches to see Hiei.
"Hiei! Can you come down for a moment? We must speak with you!" Kurama called out to him.
Hiei opened his eyes from his deep thought and looked down at the pair of demons. He jumped down from the tree's upper branches to the lower ones, and then to the ground.
"Hiei, can you train me? I know that if I train with you I can get stronger. Besides, you're a lot stronger than me, and I don't like training with Yusuke or Kuwabara." Hinoki explained. Her eyes were full of hope.
Hiei looked into her hopeful eyes and looked away. He couldn't see her hopes crushed within her eyes.
"No." He said.
Hinoki's eyes lost their hopeful gleam, "Why not? I can take it. I may be a demoness, but I am no weakling as I demonstrated in Makai."
Hiei looked up at her again. His eyes got cold, "Are you willing to sacrifice your own life in my training? Do you swear not to quit when it gets difficult?"
"Do I look like a fool to you? Of course I would. If I have to sacrifice myself, don't you think I would? It would be a minor loss, but if it saves us of course." Hinoki said, getting slightly annoyed. She didn't want to tick Hiei off too much, otherwise he may not train her.
"Hn... I'll train you. But disobey my orders or fall behind and my training with you will cease." Hiei shouted.
Hinoki smiled with satisfaction, but was not overjoyed. She nodded her head and followed him to a forest in Makai.
Once there Hiei led Hinoki to a cliff.
"Put your legs together." Hiei ordered. He walked around behind Hinoki.
Hinoki jumped and looked behind her in surprise without turning around. She immediately followed orders. Her heels clicked as she snapped her legs together. Looking out to the horizon Hinoki saw the ocean. Looking directly down the cliff she saw the tide crash against massive spike rocks. They had painful, and immediate death written all over them. Hinoki gulped and looked back out to the horizon, where the setting sun's last beams of light danced across the surface of the water.
Feeling something tighten around her legs, Hinoki looked down and saw Hiei fastening a rope around her legs and knot it tightly.
"Ow! Not so tight, Hiei!" Hinoki hissed.
"Comfort is not a part of my training. If you weren't such a Naive little fool, you'd understand that." Hiei said sharply.
With those last words Hiei stood up behind Hinoki. Before she could ask what he was up to, Hiei firmly pushed her down the cliff's edge. Hinoki screamed as she fell. Growing nearer and nearer to the rocks below, Hinoki grabbed on the nearest thing which happened to be a narrow rocky ledge.
"Are you insane!?" She screamed.
"If you can't handle it, then quit. Climb back up here." Hiei ordered.
"Yes, your majesty." Hinoki said sarcastically. She reached for the nearest ledge to help her to the top. Once her hand was successfully on that one, reached for another one higher up with her other hand. She had no help from her feet, thus making it strictly difficult.
On top of the cliff, Hiei did some sword training. Every so often he would look down over the cliff to check on her progress, then continue his sword training like it was nothing to him.
An hour and a half later, Hinoki was a few feet from the top. Reaching for another ledge, the one she had already had grip on loosened and collapsed under the pressure of her body weight(no she isn't fat). She fell only another foot further from the top before she had reluctantly grabbed onto another ledge. Taking a deep breath she began to climb again.
It took her another thirty minutes to reach the top. She lay on her back, breathing in as much air as possible. Her legs were now untied.
"You didn't get up here fast enough." Hiei growled.
"Do you hate me or something?" Hinoki asked as she adjusted her head head to get a good look at him.
"Hn... " was all Hiei responded with.
Hinoki sat up and looked at him, "You know, the Neonish have a saying for that. In English it means: If you dislike something, change it. If it can't be changed then change the way you think about it." She explained.
Hiei looked at her from the corners of his eyes, then looked away again in another direction before turning his back to her. "Come. We have more training to do." Hiei said.
Hinoki smiled before she followed him into the forest.
Note: Ha ha ha! Whatcha think about that? Cool, eh? (Oh God, I sound Canadian!) Anyways, I'll update as soon as possible. I'm just glad I've been able to update so much.
Note: The reason I am starting this off on a new sequel is because I think leaving you hanging on the other story was more fun. At least I got the chapters for that story done. Now all I gotta worry about are these, and then I'll get straight to work on th Fushigi Yuugi fic.
"That was weird." Kuwabara said, sitting up rubbing his head.
"I never knew he had the ability of teleportation." Kurama said, also sitting up.
"It took us all by surprise." Hiei said, getting to his feet.
"Yeah... anyway.... I guess it was nice of him to bring us to Genkai's shrine for training." Yusuke said, helping Hinoki to her feet.
"How do we plan on training?" Kuwabara asked.
"Hinoki is our best bet against Shoken. With her ability, she could copy Shoken's attacks and use them on him in the same way." Yusuke said, thinking to himself.
"Let us start her off with someone easy, such as Kuwabara." Hiei suggested.
"Hey! Watch it, shrimp!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Hn... "
"Hey! Now is not the time to start fights! The more time we waste, the weaker we'll be!" Hinoki shouted.
"Maybe Genkai will let us use her shrine." Yusuke wondered out loud.
"He started it.... " Kuwabara murmured.
Once they had finally gotten to Genkai's shrine, they did not see her anywhere in the front. So they went inside to check. She wasn't in the game room either.
They checked all over the shrine, but found no sign of her anywhere.
"Oh well. When she gets back, we'll just exlplain to her what's going on." Yusuke said.
"Do you think she'll get mad if she finds out we can't have her fighting alongside us this time?" Kuwabara asked.
"Nah. I think it's time we don't rely on her so much anymore. Besides, she really doesn't need participate in anymore tournaments. I think she's done her fair share to last her this lifetime." Yusuke said.
"He only wants to hide behind an old, decrepit woman who isn't as weak and fragile as he is." Hiei said.
"Shut up, shorty!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Kuwabara, is that all you can say? You obviously don't have any material for poking fun at short people. However, I respect Hiei and won't go there." She said. She knew it would drive Kuwabara crazy if he couldn't get her to pass down some short person gags.
Hiei turned to leave when Hinoki turned and spoke to him. He froze.
"Are you going to train in the woods, Hiei?" She asked.
Without an answer, Hiei left the shrine.
"Shall we begin, Hinoki?" Kurama asked sweetly. Kuwabara was already waiting for her.
Hinoki stepping into the designated fighting area.
"Okay. Because we have a ring to deal with, we've gotta get you used to fighting with less room." Yusuke explained.
"Got it!" Hinoki shouted.
"We're training, so although it goes against my honor code, I won't hold back." Kuwabara said in his version of noble.
"Well try this technique: Take fifty to sixty paces backwards, take several deep breaths, sprint forward at full speed, do a full triple summersault through the air, and disappear up your own asshole." Hinoki mocked.
"WANNA DIE!" Kuwabara shouted with anger. Yusuke and Kurama's chuckles didn't help to calm his anger either.
"English is your second language, isn't it? You don't have a first. Just as the strength of a solitary brick will not support a poorly built structure, your bold and husky accent does not redeem your poor incoherent words.
Have you considered suing your brain for non-support? Seeing your face makes blindness a wonderful thing to look forward to. You are about as entertaining as watching grass grow in in a window box. What do you do for a living? You are living, arem't you?
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers. Maybe you wouldn't be so fugly if you'd had enough oxygen at birth, or if you didn't already have a face of a bulldog. Who ordered the dunce with extra-stupid sauce?
I've seen people as fugly as you before, but I often had to pay admission. You should improve your IQ by having your brain amputated, you heteroclite example of why pregnant woman shouldn't work near plutonium.
I bet you have to order your clothes in three sizes: Extra-Large, Jumbo, and Oh-My-Go-It's-Coming-Towards-Us! If you were paid what you were worth, it would break the minimum wage law." Hinoki said. It took her a while to say it. Not to mention it took her a breath and a half.
But in the end it was worth it because Yusuke and Kurama found themselves on their backs on the floor rolling with laughter, clutching their sides.
"I didn't understand everything you said, but that's it! Girl or not, you're going down!" Kuwabara shouted.
"Oh, excuse me if I don't shake with fear." Hinoki said with a sarcastic yawn.
Kuwabara immediately formed the Spirit Sword as he charged at Hinoki with full speed. His ego hurt and totally ready to mangle Hinoki.
Hinoki grinned and formed the Spirit Sword as well. This was only a surprise to Yusuke and Kuwabara.
Nonetheless, despite his surprise, Kuwabara still maintained his assault on Hinoki.
Hinoki easily dodged his attack and was immediately behind Kuwabara as he stumbled forward. As he regained his balance, Hinoki used her elbow to hit him in the back of the neck and render him unconscious.
The Spirit Sword then vanished from Hinoki's hands.
"I see. She used her mirroring technique to use the Spirit Sword as a mechanism to drop Kuwabara's gaurd. He only dropped it for a moment, but that was enough for Hinoki to make her move. Kuwabara lowered his gaurd only slightly, and he hesitated. She took advantage of that. Then with Hiei's speed ran behind him and knocked him unconscious." Kurama concluded.
"So much for him being a challenge." Hinoki said, folding her hands behind her head as she lazily walked up to them.
"Perhaps we underestimated you. Your wits in battle may even match my own." Kurama stated.
Hinoki lowered her eyes and blushed slightly, "Kurama, can I talk to you in private. I don't mean to be offensive, Yusuke."
Yusuke was taken aback, "Whoa! Hey! No need to get all polite. If you need some time alone with Kurama, that's fine by me. I'll drag that doofus's dead weight outta here." Yusuke said.
Once he had fulfilled that task, he shut the door behind him so Hinoki and Kurama could talk alone.
There was an odd moment's silence, then Kurama spoke, "Hinoki. If this is about Hiei, then by all means speak."
Hinoki looked up at him, "All I wanted to say was that I think I should train with Hiei, not Kuwabara. He isn't much of a challenge. I don't mean to insult the human race, but I'm just not comfortable working with him. It's nothing against you personally. Nor is it Yusuke-well only a little Yusuke. I just have this feeling that my training would be a lot better if i was to train with Hiei. I hope you can understand."
Kurama only stared straight ahead into her face. "I tend to invite Touya and Jin, as well as Shishiwaukumaru and the others if they can make it." Kurama said.
Hinoki stared at him a moment, "Yes, I understand. You can come and look for me once they arrive. Then proper introduction will be required." She said, trying to reason with him.
Kurama now understood that there was no way around it. He had to accept that Hinoki wanted to train with Hiei. It made sense, because Hiei was a good trainer and could undoubtedly make Hinoki stronger within a few days.
"Alright. We'll set off looking for Hiei. He's probably somewhere about in the trees." Kurama said.
With those last words they both set off looking for Hiei.
They searched Genkai's grounds for traces of Hiei but to no avail. They found him lounging in a tree outside of Hinoki's house.
Hinoki ran up to the tree and gazed up it's branches to see Hiei.
"Hiei! Can you come down for a moment? We must speak with you!" Kurama called out to him.
Hiei opened his eyes from his deep thought and looked down at the pair of demons. He jumped down from the tree's upper branches to the lower ones, and then to the ground.
"Hiei, can you train me? I know that if I train with you I can get stronger. Besides, you're a lot stronger than me, and I don't like training with Yusuke or Kuwabara." Hinoki explained. Her eyes were full of hope.
Hiei looked into her hopeful eyes and looked away. He couldn't see her hopes crushed within her eyes.
"No." He said.
Hinoki's eyes lost their hopeful gleam, "Why not? I can take it. I may be a demoness, but I am no weakling as I demonstrated in Makai."
Hiei looked up at her again. His eyes got cold, "Are you willing to sacrifice your own life in my training? Do you swear not to quit when it gets difficult?"
"Do I look like a fool to you? Of course I would. If I have to sacrifice myself, don't you think I would? It would be a minor loss, but if it saves us of course." Hinoki said, getting slightly annoyed. She didn't want to tick Hiei off too much, otherwise he may not train her.
"Hn... I'll train you. But disobey my orders or fall behind and my training with you will cease." Hiei shouted.
Hinoki smiled with satisfaction, but was not overjoyed. She nodded her head and followed him to a forest in Makai.
Once there Hiei led Hinoki to a cliff.
"Put your legs together." Hiei ordered. He walked around behind Hinoki.
Hinoki jumped and looked behind her in surprise without turning around. She immediately followed orders. Her heels clicked as she snapped her legs together. Looking out to the horizon Hinoki saw the ocean. Looking directly down the cliff she saw the tide crash against massive spike rocks. They had painful, and immediate death written all over them. Hinoki gulped and looked back out to the horizon, where the setting sun's last beams of light danced across the surface of the water.
Feeling something tighten around her legs, Hinoki looked down and saw Hiei fastening a rope around her legs and knot it tightly.
"Ow! Not so tight, Hiei!" Hinoki hissed.
"Comfort is not a part of my training. If you weren't such a Naive little fool, you'd understand that." Hiei said sharply.
With those last words Hiei stood up behind Hinoki. Before she could ask what he was up to, Hiei firmly pushed her down the cliff's edge. Hinoki screamed as she fell. Growing nearer and nearer to the rocks below, Hinoki grabbed on the nearest thing which happened to be a narrow rocky ledge.
"Are you insane!?" She screamed.
"If you can't handle it, then quit. Climb back up here." Hiei ordered.
"Yes, your majesty." Hinoki said sarcastically. She reached for the nearest ledge to help her to the top. Once her hand was successfully on that one, reached for another one higher up with her other hand. She had no help from her feet, thus making it strictly difficult.
On top of the cliff, Hiei did some sword training. Every so often he would look down over the cliff to check on her progress, then continue his sword training like it was nothing to him.
An hour and a half later, Hinoki was a few feet from the top. Reaching for another ledge, the one she had already had grip on loosened and collapsed under the pressure of her body weight(no she isn't fat). She fell only another foot further from the top before she had reluctantly grabbed onto another ledge. Taking a deep breath she began to climb again.
It took her another thirty minutes to reach the top. She lay on her back, breathing in as much air as possible. Her legs were now untied.
"You didn't get up here fast enough." Hiei growled.
"Do you hate me or something?" Hinoki asked as she adjusted her head head to get a good look at him.
"Hn... " was all Hiei responded with.
Hinoki sat up and looked at him, "You know, the Neonish have a saying for that. In English it means: If you dislike something, change it. If it can't be changed then change the way you think about it." She explained.
Hiei looked at her from the corners of his eyes, then looked away again in another direction before turning his back to her. "Come. We have more training to do." Hiei said.
Hinoki smiled before she followed him into the forest.
Note: Ha ha ha! Whatcha think about that? Cool, eh? (Oh God, I sound Canadian!) Anyways, I'll update as soon as possible. I'm just glad I've been able to update so much.