Asilin Kheldarson: Yes, it's evil, that's why I did it. I'm the writer, I get to wreak havoc in my characters' lives.
KuramaIsFine: Sorry, but Aislin claimed first dibs. You two will have to take a number.
Kitsune Kit: (Kohaku: don't I feel loved.)
Magus784: It's in the waiting line, I've got two other pics to draw after I finish the ones I'm working on. Both are of Kohaku and Hiei, though the second is slightly more risqué than the first: it's inspired by the song 'Levida Loca'.
Tsuiraku Tanrei: To answer your question, it's because that was the original ending--Team Urameshi winning the Tournament with no effort and going home. Then I thought that that was too easy, but I didn't want to delete all that work. So viola! One cliché twist later, the dream and the second Tournament! n,.,n
KittyKat: (Hiei: Kill me, kill me now.)Chapter 19
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"As exciting as the light-show may be, we still have three matches to hold," Juri finally squeaks, scrunching down in the announcer's box like it'd actually protect her if someone decides to silence her. "Unless, Team Urameshi, you'd…like…to…um…forfeit…?"
"I'll take Hiei's place," Aislin intones quietly, leaping effortlessly into the ring. She spreads her arms in mocking invitation. "Come and face me, child of the Bright Court, the Shining Ones. Come taste the darkness."
Wordlessly, Marian takes her place in the ring. Koto eases forward. "MatchthreeMarianGreylingversusAislinMoorsbegin!" And she scrambles off the ring. Screw dignity, screw the Tournament. She likes violence so long as she's around to watch it without being part of it.
Aislin doesn't bother giving Marian a chance. Ice shoots up around the ring, enclosing it in a perfect dome, a gesture turning it opaque as if the frozen surface has captured a year's worth of snow. Within, the restrictive seals fall from the koorime's body with chilling pings, nulled by the sheer power pulsing against them.
This is not what Marian had expected. Even less does she expect the sight waiting in front of her. A slender figure with arms and legs stretched just an inch or two longer than seems right to eyes used to human bodies. Pure white hair flows down nearly to the ground, with two strips a handspan wide shading through mossy emerald green, shimmering peacock blue, Bacchanalian wine-red, and threaded with true gold. Gone is the silky white shirt spangled at wrist and neck with jewels. Gone is the swirling skirt of matching silk. In its place is a filmy shift made seemingly from pure white mist, that drifts around the lithe body and twelve tails sweeping behind.
Those tails and the feet shading from fox to human by the knee are stark white, gleaming with faint iridescence in the diffuse light. Rounded fox ears the color of new ivory curve against Aislin's skull, their color revealed against the silky tresses and pale, pale skin. The only real colors are the rounded lightning bolts tracing their way down each cheek, sparkling the indefinable blue of a butterfly's wing; the cold, emotionless turquoise eyes; and the sapphire blue Jagan edged with more of that indefinable blue.
Even the dragon wings trimmed with hawk and swan feathers are white, instead of a mix of palest greys and blues. Marian gapes, stunned at this display. "What…what are you?" she asks in Gaelic, the old tongue of the Faerie Courts.
Outside the dome, Kurama's sharp ears can just barely catch the words that struck terror in even the hardiest of demons not too long ago as inside, Aislin cocks her head to one side and answers.
"I am darkness. I am death. I steal your heat. I steal your breath. Toy with me, you'll lose the way. Forever lost you'll stay." The dome melts into the air, leaving a coldly-pleased (and normal) Aislin standing in front of a frozen sculpture of Marian. Rather, that is Marian. A single hard kick shatters the statue, ending the Fae's existence in one blow and winning the match.
As Aislin leaves the ring, her eyes fall on Yin. "Should we meet beyond the grasp of the Committee and its rules," she tells the other quietly, "I suggest you run." The young demon swallows hard. Near the wall, the violet/black/green power takes on a faint edge of snowy white.
----
Despite the battering the robes are getting from Hiei and Kohaku's violent struggles (they've been reduced to one pair, the others just vanished), the wolf demon is slowly, inexorably drawn to a portal brighter than this whiteness. It shines with a hypnotizing iridescence that almost ensnares Hiei in its slow swirling spell. Light has moved to grab at Hiei--he slices it away as the two robes disappear into the portal, pulling Kohaku in after them.
Only to be stopped at her wrists. Kohaku stands there with a wondering expression with her hands in the strange tear, and doesn't move. "The spell," she realizes aloud, starting to smile. "The spell won't let me die. Not so long as Aislin's alive. Cool!" And she yanks her hands away from the brilliance and takes off at a dead run for the mountain in the distance.
A swift hand grabs Hiei's arm and extracts him from the entangling light, pulling him into a run beside Kohaku. "I'm going to need your help on this one," she tells him, face tight, "There's no way I can climb that thing on my own."
A smile stretches those cynical lips. "Hn. Like you even needed to ask."
"Mama raised me polite, fluff-head." A growing feeling of relief grants their feet wings as they flash for the megalithic stone drawing nearer.
----
Yukina has by this point been helped down to ground-level by one of the Blood Moon wolves, and the petite koorime dashes over to the two bodies now lying on the ground. The power that wraps them has been slowly fading over the past few moments, the white energy taking prominence. As she stretches her hands out, a slightly darker one comes to rest on the pale blue kimono.
The crimson eyed female looks up into the face of Aislin, deeply afraid for the lives of her friend and soul-sib. "Yukina, I don't have the skills, and you don't have enough strength. Can I channel my power into you?"
"Of course, Aislin," is the instant reply. A tiny smile of relief as Aislin does as she suggested, reiki glowing a glimmering platinum around her hand. Silvery blue energy pours in turn from Yukina's spread fingers, strengthening Hiei's flagging energy and reversing the damage to flesh done by lightning.
Kurama slips forward and wraps a hand around the bar still spearing up from Kohaku's chest, waiting for Yukina to give him the go-ahead. When she nods, he pulls it up and out in one smooth motion, clapping his free hand over the wound that suddenly begins to bleed. Hiei and Kohaku's bodies jolt, both unexpectedly drawing in huge lungfuls of air. The mixing powers surge back into life and divide into their respective colors, rushing back into their proper bodies.
----
With a pained 'oomph' the two collide with a mountain that is abruptly much closer and not nearly as intimidating as before. "What the fuck was that?" Kohaku demands, using a nail to remove a bit of rock from her cheek. "And what's that sound?"
Hiei tilts his head, listening. From very far away he can hear the sounds of many people. Almost as close is another voice, one as familiar to him as his own. "Sorry, Yukina, that's all that I've got. That bitch must've done a hell of a lot of damage if it took so much power to get these two breathing again."
With a smile filled with relief, he turns to his companion. "Aislin and Yukina have been working on us. That sound," he listens harder to the soft rhythmic thudding, "is probably your heartbeat. We're in one of your healing trances now."
"Really??" Kohaku cranes her neck to view the top, eyes wide. "Damn, I didn't think that would actually be possible. Do you know how much of me Yin cooked?"
"No. And I don't want to know. Start climbing, wolf-girl. And if you don't wake up in time, what wish do you want to make?"
"Duh, that should be obvious. To never get lost again but to stay a pure-blood wolf, without going blind or be paralyzed or whatever."
A snort. "Why all that extra?"
A shrug as Kohaku sets hand and foot to rock and starts climbing. "In case the wish is like the 'monkey's paw' and tries finding loopholes."
"Hn, good point. I'd better see you on the other side, Kohaku."
A grunt as she eels over an outcropping. "Count on it, Hiei."
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Hiei opens aching eyes to a scene only marginally different than what he'd left. The only differences are that Yukina is beside him, Marian Greyling from the other team is missing, and there's ice scattered across the ring. "That is an experience I never want to repeat," he rasps from a throat gone dry.
His world turns white--Aislin has tossed dignity aside and glomped him tight. "Don't you ever fucking scare me like that ever again, Hiei Jaganshi. Do you hear me?"
"Yes. Now let go, you're crushing my lungs." Managing to giggle through a mist of tears, Aislin loosens her grip and pulls away, leaving a hand on each of his shoulders. Both of them ignore the pastel pink gems dropping to the ground.
"Gods, porcupine head, you really had me worried there for a while. I thought you were dead and gone."
His rumpled glare fades into something more serious as he thinks. "For a few moments there, I might have been. Without Kohaku, the light would have taken me."
"How is she?" This is from Kurama, still kneeling by Kohaku but with the most radiant smile on his face. He's certain he knows the answer, since his dearest friend is alive and apparently well.
"She'll live. She's in trance right now, so leave her be. She's got one hell of a mountain to climb."
"Team Urameshi! Though we're glad your team-mates are going to survive, you still have to win two more matches if you want to get those wishes!" Koto looks at Hiei and frowns. "You've been replaced by Aislin, Hiei, so you don't get to fight. Yusuke or Kurama, please enter the ring!"
Yusuke begins to stride forward but a crimson flash darts past him and resolves into a grim-faced Kurama, Whip already out and waiting. Hiei and Aislin snort and roll their eyes at the display of speed. "How many minutes you want to bet, porcupine head?" "Give it three, four if he's feeling frisky." "Bet you two and I get to dye your hair pink." "Yellow and you have a deal."
Kuwabara looks over. "What the heck're you guys talkin' about?"
Aislin is too busy sniggering while she brushes away the last of her tears so Hiei answers. "Just watch, fool."
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Akira Nanasawa springs into place and stands there, waiting for the signal to begin. Kurama studies him carefully with Whip in hand, as patient as the deer apparition with a face void of expression. Koto steps up, lifting one hand into the air. "Kurama Minamino versus Akira Nanasawa! Begin!"
For a long moment neither moves, just staring at each other. Then all that can be seen of Akira is a bit of dust where he was standing. Kurama remains where he is, eyes darting around him as he easily tracks the deer youkai's movements.
The Whip cracks out, biting deeply into the circle's floor to leave a gouge. Akira comes into view for a brief moment, eyes wide in startlement. Another flick, another gouge in the cement, another flash. The fox's team-mates (with the exception of Kohaku and Kuwabara) can see every movement the fighters make. "Damn," Aislin mutters darkly, "he is feeling frisky. You might win the bet."
A universal gasp and cheer from the audience when a line of blood is drawn on Kurama's arm, the one not holding the Whip. The next flash on Akira shows a faint smirk on his otherwise blank face. "Wow, people! The silent Akira has drawn first blood in this match despite those thorns biting at his heels! This is what the Tournament is all about! Slow bloodletting and pain! I love it!" Koto enthuses, bouncing around at the edge of the ring. "You can just feel the tension!"
"More like Aislin's temper," Hiei chuckles under his breath, rewarded for his wisecrack with a mild glare from said koorime. A spear of agony lances through him and he turns back to the trancing Kohaku with frightened eyes. Yusuke is kneeling by her, one hand pressed against the pulse in her neck. Wide brown eyes meet garnet.
"Hiei! Kohaku's crashing!"
"Fuck!" is the comment as the fire apparition darts over, drops into the Lotus, and pulls away his bandanna. His Jagan burns bright and strong and it swivels in its socket to look down at the paling wolf girl. Caught in the grasp of his own power Hiei's consciousness is flung once again into the trance of his ward.
Up in the ring, Kurama sends worried glances their way while keeping Akira running from the wicked thorns in the fox's hand.
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"You can just feel the tension!" Kohaku hears faintly as she climbs, maneuvering her way around jutting spires and loose stone with excruciating care. A quick glance down shows her having ascended a hundred feet, if that.
"More like Aislin's temper," is the equally quiet comment from the sky off to her left. Laughing, Kohaku reaches upward and wraps her hand around a solid stub of rock--only to have it snap off in her grip.
"Fucking hell!" Kohaku swears, scrabbling for a new grip as her center of gravity pulls outwards. Sweat loses her her other handhold and she adds a few more swearwords learned from Hiei and Aislin as she falls away from the cliff.
The sound of her heartbeat grows fluttery and she flings her arms out, hoping to catch a spire as she falls. Instead, her plummet is abruptly and unexpectedly ended by a tan hand locking around her wrist. With a pained grunt she slams into the cliff and hangs there, dazed.
"Baka onna!" The voice penetrates her fog and she blinks up to find Hiei clinging to the rock above her. He's the one with the steel grip on her wrist. "Will you grab the damn rocks already?? You're heavy!"
"I'm a friggin' spirit," she growls back at him, sinking her newly-created claws into the stone. Screw finding hand-holds, she's making her own. "I don't weigh a damned thing."
Scowling, Hiei rotates his shoulder before getting a firmer grip on his own patch of stone. "Your power, wolf-girl. Your power is heavy."
"Oh." She climbs up in silence beside him. "Sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
"I keep needing to be rescued."
Those carmine eyes roll in an expression of exasperation. "Everyone needs rescuing once in a while, Kohaku. Why should you be any different?" A startled look. "Besides, did it ever occur to you that maybe I like feeling useful?" Her jaw drops. Hiei smirks, enjoying her dumfounded expression. "With the detective doing so much of the work I'm bored off my ass. I am not a youkai of little action; never have been, never will be. Now, if you will kindly pick up your lower mandible we have a mountain to climb." He waits for her to pass him, pretending to not see the blush staining her cheeks scarlet.
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The audience is enjoying this fight. Both Akira and Kurama are scratched and bloody; the deer from the hungry thorns of the fox's weapon, the fox from the wickedly sharp tines of the deer's antlers. The current count for this match is three minutes and Aislin is grumping. "Damn it, I have got to stop betting against Hiei. The porcupine head almost always wins."
High up in the box-seats--the really plush rooms that are for executive-types only, someone is paying very little attention to the fight. He's watching the girl propped against the wall and covered with a thin layer of her own power, glimmering bright purple and emerald-grass green. One hand toys with a goblet half full with chardonnay. Beside the girl is a darker form folded into the Lotus, a darker violet energy flickering around the edges.
Beside the watcher is a form hidden in shadow--the only thing discernible about them is that he's male. "Well, master?" he inquires in a smooth, courteous baritone.
A brief chuckle. "I'd have to say the defending champions are having too easy a time. Why don't you see if you can…stir things up a little?" The shadowed form bows.
"As you wish." And he melts into the darkness. That hand swirls the fragrant alcohol within its glass prison and brings it to softly smiling lips.
--
Down below, Akira surrenders when a particularly swift lash opens his arm from shoulder to wrist right down to the bone. Unless it's sewn up soon, he could easily die from bloodloss. Marian was his keeper, but he's not mourning her loss nor does he particularly care to join her in Spirit World. So, when the thorns bite deep, he gives up and disappears into the belly of the stadium before Koto has time to finish the ten-count. More importantly, before his team-mates can realize he's leaving.
Yin looks disgusted at the deer's abandonment--she'd thought him better than that. Oh, well. They only have to win one more match before she and her other half Yan can make their wishes and get their older sibs, Ching and Chang, out of Koenma's prison. A fluctuation of the energies on the other side of the ring catches her attention and she watches in disbelief as her opponent--fighting death not ten minutes ago--slowly gets to her feet. Around the wolf's neck is a thin band of some dark material.
A quick glance at their back-up Shadow deepens the mystery. The shadows hiding the demon's face are already turned to the rising ookami and radiate surprised confusion. A neutral voice, one neither discernible as male or female, emerges from the hood. "Yin-san, I was under the impression that someone who has been impaled in the chest and then electrocuted with over a million volts of power stays down for a very long time."
"Yeah," she tells her team mate, warily watching as the wolf approaches an unaware Aislin. "So was I."
--
"Kurama, you shouldn't lead such a long dance in situations like--da'shen'ai!" Aislin twists her head to stare at the bloody furrows scraped into her back. Anger fills those icy blue-green eyes as she looks up to pound the offender into the ground--which quickly turns to shock at the sight of an empty-eyed Kohaku licking at bloody claws. "What the fuck??"
Yusuke runs over. "Whaddya think yer doin', Kohaku??"
She doesn't answer. The band around her neck pulses once and she drops into her preferred stance--one that's been picked at by Hiei and Aislin until it has zero weaknesses.
"Oh, my, people! Kohaku from Team Urameshi seems to have snapped! She's actually attacking her own team mates! What a glorious turn of events this is! I hope no one objects to postponing the final match because this fight will be too interesting to miss!"
Aislin has time for one terrified shriek of "Hiei!!" before Kohaku launches herself at her friends.
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"Hiei!!" Both climbers look up at the petrified scream echoing through the flickering sky. Kohaku suddenly clutches at her chest and doubles over, forcing Hiei to catch her before she can fall back down the half of the mountain they've already scaled. Without Kohaku's directing, an outcropping forms a flat place for Hiei to set her down.
"What's going on?" he wonders aloud while Kohaku pants from the pain squeezing her lungs. Her input is several breathy curses as more pain wraps burning wires around her chest. Torn between helping his ward and helping the people screaming outside Kohaku's mind, he hesitates at the edge of the ledge.
"Go find out!" A booted foot makes his decision for him and he glares at Kohaku, smirking around her pain as he tumbles into the air.
"Ikeike!" he calls as he withdraws his awareness.
"Fluffy!"
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Hiei wakes this time to a solid punch to his jaw. He leaps to his feet before he even opens his eyes, fist swinging out in the direction the attack had come. It connects fairly and someone lets their breath out in a whoosh. Pain vibrates in his head, the ghostly echo that means it comes from Kohaku.
Furious ruby eyes snap open and widen at the sight of total devastation. The audience is scattered and screaming in fear, the wolves bunched up around Team Urameshi's friends and family--including the family of Luke with Craig and Cassie. Richou the bat apparition is huddled with them, a gash over one eye bleeding heavily, an obviously-broken arm cradled close to his chest.
Aislin is unconscious in a koorime-shaped dent in the dividing wall but Hiei doesn't see much damage on her. Kurama kneels by her, bloody Whip snaking over the torn ground. He's bleeding in dozens of places--but given that he had just been in a match Hiei isn't sure how much of the wounds are from this strange attack and how much from his fight.
Kuwabara is nowhere in sight until Hiei looks up into the higher stands and spots the human boy draped over the railing of the top bank of seats. Shikyohana's members are scattered around the ring and the ground, Yin and Yan not moving from where they lie sprawled in a puddle of blood. Shadow stands over them with her cloak thrown back and her metallic copper hair swirling around her face. Large scaled wings are mantled over the fallen pair, a heavy barbed tail lashing over the twins.
Holy kamis of fire and flames, she's a dragon! Hiei has enough time to think before over one hundred pounds of human slams into him, propelled by someone very, very strong. The fire apparition shoves the unconscious Yusuke off of him and turns to find Kohaku releasing her grip on Samuel Mushinen's hair. The demon crumples wordlessly to the ground and lies still. Akira Nanasawa, the deer apparition who had left only a few minutes before, lies spread-eagle on his back not ten yards away, his skin ashy pale. He'd heard the fighting and returned, unwilling to abandon his unwanted but still loyal team-mates.
"Kohaku, what in the three worlds do you think you are doing?" He keeps his voice calm, cold, and unbelievably even. Those empty eyes turn to him and the rest of her follows, her body gliding silently on those soft booted feet.
Her mouth opens, her voice sounding as though she's shouting from the end of a very long tunnel. "I'm sitting here trying to keep my ribs from exploding! What do you think??"
"From where I'm standing you've downed both our teams and most of the audience."
"What??"
Hiei's eyes are drawn to the black band darkly burning around her throat. "Someone's playing puppeteer with us, little wolf. And it's your strings he's pulling. Can you come out of that trance?"
"Only if I want to die. Halfway healed isn't healed enough with this wound. Anyone dead?"
Muffled groans rise from several locations, most of them near ground-level. "No one of importance."
"Can you stop my body?" She's less than five feet away and her claws rise in anticipation of a strike. But before she brings those claws down onto an unflinching Hiei, she stops and steps back. Large arms trap hers against her sides and lift her off her feet--sealing over her chest wound while they're at it. Hiei looks into the butter-yellow eyes of Ikazuchi and smirks.
"I was wondering when you'd step in, King of Thieves."
"Forgive me, but we had to sniff out the demon who'd dare toy with a member of our clans. It wasn't easy with all the blood in the air." Kohaku's body is squirming in the adult wolf's grip, but the strain her body's gone through is too great for even the collar to overcome. She falls still as a gangly man dressed in black is hauled from the shadows of an entrance to the middle bank of seats by a dozen displeased wolves.
Kurama growls from his place by Aislin, mane of crimson fluffing out in anger. "You!" Before anyone sees him move the fox is in front of the prisoner, hauling him off his feet by the shirt-collar. "How dare you do this to MY friends?!"
The man smirks, sapphire hair falling into pink eyes. "I was told to, little fox. Take it up with the ningen who bound me."
Kurama looks horrified, releasing the demon's shirt and backing away. "Bound you? A konran-youkai?"
"Ah, yes," the man pouts artfully. "Me, the wonderful, strong, handsome Fuwa. Bound to follow some boring human's whimsy like a pet dog. You can let go now, I have no reason to continue my meddling. The one I was obeying was killed by a fleeing spectator so you need only wait until my spell wears off."
"Kurama?" Hiei looks to his friend for confirmation.
The red-head reluctantly nods. "I've never known Fuwa to lie. You might as well release him." As the wolves unhappily remove their holds on him, the taller demon steps forward and examines the collar around the limp Kohaku's neck.
A low whistle. "Well, color me impressed. This little wolf nearly snapped my spell right in half all by herself, even half-dead and bleeding."
"She's a wolf," Ikazuchi retorts. "We do not attack our own, not ever. Why do you think none of the pack-members are hurt?"
Hiei merely rolls his eyes and holds his arms out for his ward. "Give her to me, Thief-King. I'll keep an eye on her, and physical contact will allow me to transfer strength to her." As reluctantly as Kurama had given permission, the blonde-brindle wolf gently passes his niece over to the fire apparition. A moment later Craig, Luke and Cassie scramble over the dividing wall and race over.
"Is she gonna be okay?" they all demand.
"With rest and time to finish her trance," Hiei murmurs, brushing a bit of bloody hair out of her face, "yes, she will be."
That bloody hurt, the fire apparition hears from his link. Hiei, how much destruction did I cause?
/Quite a bit. Believe it or not, you've downed Yusuke, Mushinen, Aislin, the twins, and the idiot./ A look around shows Hiei that the remaining members of the audience--a surprisingly large amount--are beginning to filter back to their seats. /Not bad for a 'half-dead and bleeding' wolf girl./
Don't say it like I meant to, fluff-head. I would have rather avoided the whole experience.
Koto peeks from her hiding place in the announcer's booth with Juri, eyes wide. Breathless with exhilaration Koto leaps onto the booth's table and brandishes her microphone. "Wow, everyone! Thanks to a spell done by an outside party the entire Final Round was disrupted by a single wounded fighter! Just check out all the injuries! This is what makes the Dark Tournament so great--the audience participation!"
A shaky Juri joins in. "However, due to that interference the last match between Samuel Mushinen and Yusuke Urameshi will have to be postponed until they wake up and are deemed fit to fight. Feel free to move about the stadium and visit the souvenir shops and snack bars but make sure you stay within earshot of the speakers. Thank you."
Ikazuchi turns with a jovial smile to a unruffled Hiei and the others. "While we wait," he suggests, "why don't we see if we can get the teams picked up? And would someone grab that orange-haired boy up there before he falls?"
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Akira: Shining light
Nanasawa: Seventh valley
Da'shen'ai: my own personal swear-word. Think of the nastiest curse you know and multiply that about a hundred times.
Konran: Chaos
Fuwa: (from several) Trouble