Ch14:Long-Time Hate and Revenge at Last

The finals began the very next day, and Genkai was nowhere to be found. I guess Kurama was right...Genkai was killed... I thought, standing on the sidelines as Kurama fought Karasu. When Kurama was down for the count, I couldn't watch. It was just too unbearable. I could sense Karasu looking at me. I didn't want to know what he was thinking right then, but before I could think more, Kurama used a Blood-Sucking Rose attack and killed Karasu. I was so relieved that he was alive.

When Ronnoc fought Karatu after the new arena was brought in, I thought he was doomed when Karatu used the same attack as his brother, but the falcon had other ideas. He actually summoned the legendary Cerberus, the three-headed dog of the Underworld! Cerberus swallowed Karatu with a snap of his jaws and a gulp, though the three-headed dog did end up getting heartburn.(lol) However, Ronnoc was injured far worse than Kurama or Hiei, and summoning Cerberus was like Hiei summoning the Dragon of the Darkness Flame without any energy! Let's just say he had to use life energy, too...Ronnoc, you are SO lucky to have survived summoning Cerberus without getting eaten yourself... I thought, helping Taya heal his burns and bruises.

Then Taya fought Sunee right after. The match didn't last too long, even though both girls were fatally wounded at the end. Thunder, lightening, water, rain...what on earth is happening...I've never seen Taya look so...so DETERMINED...

"What is she doing!" I cried as a waterfall came roaring down from the clouds. With it a fish-like serpent slithered down and coiled up at the bottom. It's scales were random colors, varying from blue to green to purple to pink; its fins a deep indigo; its eyes a cold, peircing blue. Sunee was trembling in fear. Taya wasn't moving a muscle at all. It was like she WAS the strange serpent. Slowly, the serpent slithered around the stadium, its eyes never, EVER averting from Sunee's bleeding, trembling form.

"I think...that's Leviathan..." whispered Koenma, staring at it as it slithered past. Suddenly, it spoke in a vaguely familiar voice!

"Sunee, you betrayed the elementals of water. For that, you must suffer the consequences. And the consequence...is DEATH," it hissed, its voice fluid, hateful, and yet it sounded like my half-uncle, Jecht. "You failed the eastern lord of Makai. Now, die!" In one lightning quick movement, Leviathan threw Sunee up into the air and didn't even swallow as she went down its massive throat.

"I WILL get revenge on you, Taya! Count on it!" the inuyoukai yelled right before the immense serpent's mouth closed. It slithered out of the stadium through the entrance and it faded into the horizon. Taya seemed to wake up from her trance and collapsed, hard, to her knees.

"Taya! What were you doing!" I yelled, getting onto the arena.

"...I...was trying to...s-summon...Leviathan...First time...for everything...I'm sure worn out," she said between her breathing.

"Taya is the winner! By a strange turn of events, the water god, Leviathan, was summoned by a water elemented demon, but what in Makai was it talking about?" called Juri. Pretty much everyone ignored her.

At long last, it was my turn. I heard a lot of demons betting on me to win or make the match a draw, and I meant a lot of demons. I guess once they had seen what my team do, they figured I could do even better. Kuwabara was currently being healed by Taya, who kept nagging him for being stupid. Hiei was somewhat in shock as he stared up at Cerberus, who had stuck around for the end. I was ready to fight Al, but, at the same time, I was afraid of him just as Kurama had been afraid of Karasu: we didn't understand our opponents' abilities. I switched to my demon form as I stepped into the already derelict arena. I glared at Al as he smirked when walking to the middle of the arena.

"Ready to die?" he asked, still smirking.

"You wish, Beef Jerky," I snarled, calling him a name that my father had given him. His smirk faltered slightly, but not much.

"You will regret calling me that, Wolfie," he laughed, calling me a name his co-workers had given me when I became what I am now.

"And you will regret calling me 'Wolfie!'" I yelled, ready to pounce. "Start the fight already, Juri!"

"Ready? Fight!" I dodged as Al ran past me suddenly. How'd he get so fast! Before that incident with the M.O.O.N( Movement Of the Officers Nine 1 ) he was as slow as Lana! I thought as I somersaulted away, my hair flying. I bolted away as he came right back at me. What were his powers again? Uh...fire wall...jumping flaming pole vault-I better watch out for that one- telekinesis...What else? Oh crap! He's stretchy like Elder Toguro! I'm doomed if he uses those attacks! I can't dodge an enemy that's all over the place! I dodged a tile he threw at me with telekinesis. I got a VERY nasty scratch on my arm, however. As the hot, dark fluid ran thickly down my arm, I ran some more.

"There's no escape, Tyranda! You'll fall like your father did so many years ago! He never knew what hit him!" he sneered, finally knocking me down with a rock -which was about the size of my head- to my ankle.

"What would you know!" I yelled as I sat up.

"...Tyranda, I'm shocked. Don't you know who did him in?" the inwardly mutated human asked, a look of mock shock across his pale face.

"N- Yes! I do know! It was those good-for-nothing Toguros!" I screamed, several tears running down my face.

"Hahahahahahahaha! You know how dimwitted you look! No, you're dreadfully wrong! It was Sunee, Karatu, and none other than me!" Al laughed, doubling over laughing. Everything seemed to freeze. I was in blankness, or at least my brain was. I...I can't believe it...Al killed my father...his teacher...his idol...why? I trusted him with my hopes and fears...He made them come true...Every single one...Heh...goes to show you can't trust someone who's your dad's star pupil... I thought once I got my senses back. I stood up, laughing a little.

"You know what, Al? You've actually taught me something useful today. Something I can remember," I said, looking up and smiling. He stopped laughing and stared at me like I was insane. Some demons were actually telling each other to be quiet so they could hear me.

"Figures, they listen to extra powerful demons," grumbled Kuwabara, getting a glare from Hiei and a whack on the head from Taya.

"All my life, I've trusted a lot of people, but never myself. I suffered because of that. I'll still trust the ones I care about, but I'll never trust anyone who learned most of what they know from my father. I was betrayed by Gana, the wind spirit, when she ratted me out for stealing back what had been my mother's possesions by law-after I learned her grave had been robbed. I couldn't ever trust Kamiel, Tamiel, and Tsukina Tano when they told the Reikai police where I lived after Yoko seemingly died. I couldn't even trust my own brother for awhile after he told Enma where I was for the time I was running away, but when I found out Enma had wanted me to be one of the Spirit Detectives, I forgave him and often told him about the cases I went on up until I lived with Kurama's family. Anyways, Al, I just wanted to say this because, well, everyone needs to forgive and forget, and some deserve second chances." At this point I heard a lot of demons heading to payphones to call friends and such. "But some, like Sunee, Karatu, and you, Al, don't deserve any more chances. You killed my family. You tried to kidnap me countless times. You even tried to finish your job of killing off my family here. Well, here's what I have to say to you, Mister Albuquerque Frederick Junica: Godspeed, Al." His head came off thirty hundredths of a seconds later, but he grew claws and stabbed me in the stomach. I fell a little ways away from him, but I got up on one knee to see if I had killed him. His head was still connected by a nerve, some muscle, and several arteries.(I overdid that, didn't I?) His corpse fell to the ground with a sickening SPLAT, his body secreting what looked like leech slime. I was announced as the winner, but I felt like a loser. I didn't deserve to win. I had come here to get revenge for my family on the Toguros, and look where it got me. A place in the finals? No. A place in personal guilt.

"I don't deserve to win," I said, interrupting Juri. The whole stadium fell silent again.

"I came here to get revenge for my family, and I did, but I didn't expect my mentor to be the one who had killed my family. Give my team the win. I think they're going to need it," I explained, " but don't put it under my name. Put it under Kuwabara's. I don't really like him all that much, but I think he deserves another win after all of his humiliations and embarassments in this tournament." I stepped off the arena as the crowd began whispering. Kurama looked a little shocked that I had given the win to Kuwabara.

"Tyranda, is something wrong?" he asked me.

"Everything," I whispered, my voice audible to everyone on my team. I ran out of the arena and into the halls. I leaned against a wall and cried freely, not ashamed that the warrior I had become was sensitive on the inside. My pride was badly injured, and it would take a long time to heal. Al...Why did you kill my father? I guess I'll never know-

"Actually, his intentions were very clear, Miss Serenity Tyranda Himoura Makio," said a voice I really didn't want to hear. I looked behind me to see Sakyo with a calm expression and a handkerchief in his hand. Some demons were filing past us to the betting stands, and I saw Shizuru headed over to where I was. He handed me the handkerchief without a word.

"Tyranda, I can't believe that monster, Al, did that to your family. Sakyo, why are you here?" asked Shizuru once she got over to us.

"She wanted to know why Al Junica killed her father. I came over here to tell her. You'd better listen, Serenity-"

"Tyranda."

"Himoura Makio!" joked Shizuru, who fell silent.

"Whatever. You'd better listen to me because I'm not saying it again. It started when he discovered your tears could solidify into flowers. Healing flowers to be correct. He sent the Toguros after you. However, your mother thought that they were there to take you to Tarukane. Who killed her, he didn't know. When he found out that Toguro hadn't taken you to him, he was infuriated. He had your father killed so you would be more vulnerable. He didn't expect you to become a demon. He joined Yomi to get you, but had planned on killing him once he finally had you right where he wanted you. He never expected you to be so...arguementative. When Yoko, Kuronue, and your friends rescued you, he finally gave up. He found out about this tournament and decided to finish what he wantd to do. He never really stood a chance against you, anyways. Just thought I'd let you know. Good day." He walked away, leaving Shizuru and me staring after him. I looked at the handkerchief he had given me and saw something that both surprised and shocked me. The kerchief had been folded to conceal several things that had belonged to my mother, father, and uncle. A locket with my mom's initials...my dad's solid-platinum wristwatch...my uncle's cross necklace...Mom's silver and gold plated wristwatch with tints of platinum... Dad's old sketches of a leech I found...Uncle Jecht's old, old charm bracelet. He put the strangest things in it. Beads, stones, anything that would fit the strings...

"I miss them," I whispered, not noticing I was sitting alone against the cold wall.

"Tyranda?" asked a familiar voice as the walls began to shake and crumble. "Tyranda!" I finally looked up and saw Kurama supporting a weak Yusuke. I gathered up my family's things, stuffed them into the handkerchief, which, I now noticed, had my mom's initials on it, got up, wiping my tears away, and followed them out of the self-destructing stadium.

"Where did you get that?" the kitsune asked, finally noticing the handkerchief I clenched tightly in my hand.

"Al had it for a while, I guess...Sakyo gave it to me. It has some of my family's belongings in it. The kerchief was even my mom's, look at the corner," I explained, handing it to him. "He even explained why Al has tried so hard to kidnap and kill me. It's a very long story."


This was the longest chapter yet I think! I think it was...

1 M.O.O.N. is the Movement Of the Officers Nine. I had to think of something! Ah, heck with it.Plz review! And I take flames with pride, as it only helps me get better!