"Obligation and Duty"
Chapter 30
.oO{Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the Author.} {Oh yeah, YYH is Yoshihiro Togashi's and without him, this story would've NEVER happened!}
#InuYasha laughs# Crazy girl! She was reading that from the front of a REAL book! Feh, what a loser. #InuYasha's ears twitch#
#Author looks at them temptingly# Yeah, but this is still mine. I would seriously appreciate it if you guys didn't print this or nothin'. #Author gives in and tweaks InuYasha's ears#
#hands the honorary InuYasha plushie to Hiei_Obsessed# If she hadn't helped me with the episodes, this would've turned out as a mess! Three cheers for her! #hiphiphooray!hiphiphoorayhiphiphooray!#
*****
Rei fell asleep in front of the fire and woke up around 9 in the morning. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Kurama was awake, but Kuwabara and Botan were still asleep.
"Merry Christmas," Kurama whispered.
"Where did we get this American tradition?" Rei asked.
"Exactly where you said. America," Kurama slipped off his chair and came over to her. Rei gave him a 'you-know-what-I'm-talking-about' look. He smiled and helped her stoke the fire. Kuwabara stirred and mumbled, "Huh? Shizuru went home?"
Kurama looked at Rei, and she rolled her eyes. Kuwabara woke up totally and sat up, "What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you make," Kurama said. Kuwabara started muttering and pulled the blanket around him. He stood up and walked over to the fire and asked Kurama, "Can you make breakfast?"
"No. I have to go visit my mom," Kurama answered.
"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot you had a mom," Rei gasped. Kurama laughed and nodded, "I know."
"Well, tell her I said 'hi'," Rei said. Botan woke up too and asked, "Breakfast?"
Rei rolled her eyes and said, "Alright you guys. I'll make breakfast. How about biscuits and gravy?"
***
Kuwabara went home that day. Kurama left for his mom's to train and take care of her and Hiei stayed home. Botan started getting nervous around 7 o'clock, about two weeks later and Rei just about killed her.
"Koenma-sama is, um... not really coming, but, yeah," Botan stuttered.
Rei grabbed her head and sighed, "He's 'coming'?"
"Yeah. But, oh, I don't know!"
They were sitting outside making an igloo when a blue ogre and teenage boy walked up the steps. Botan hopped up and pulled Rei with her. Rei got closer and could tell it was Koenma's Spirit Energy. When they got closer, he seemed to recognize her, too.
"Rei, you've gotten bigger," he said.
"So have you," she said, but before she could think better of it, she punched him. It split his lip, and he touched it gingerly, "I guess I deserved that."
"Damn right you did," Rei folded her arms over her chest. He nodded and licked his lip, "Well, Botan. What did you tell her?"
Botan became even more nervous, "Well, y'see. I, uh..."
"Not much, huh?"
Botan looked down, "No."
Rei looked to the sky, "Gosh, just tell me."
"Koenma-sama," Botan motioned to him, "Has a job in Spirit World. He gets tired from time to time. But since his dad isn't there right now, it's gotten pretty hectic. So Koenma-sama has to keep it in line."
Rei thought for a moment and said, "So I'm the battery again?"
"More or less," Botan cringed.
"Though, you might want to point out what'll happen the next day, Botan," Koenma reminded.
"Oh, heheh, yeah. You'll be practically useless for the next 30 hours after."
"Useless?"
"Yeah, you'll have to spend the whole time sleeping or something to get back to normal."
Rei nodded. "Whatever."
"Koenma-sama, you aren't really going to do this, are you?" the blue ogre asked.
"Of course," Koenma answered him.
"But, what if some of your enemies find out. It'll put her in danger."
"I'm used to danger," Rei had to look up to look into the ogre and Koenma's eyes. Koenma turned and looked at the ogre, who didn't argue anymore.
"So, we go now?" Rei asked. Koenma looked surprised she had suggested it, but nodded, "Sure."
***
Spirit World hadn't changed much since Rei had been there last. Botan came with her, but only stayed for a few minutes. Koenma didn't seem very embarrassed, but Rei was.
"Don't be embarrassed," he said, reading her feelings. He led her through his office that Rei remembered, but then he led her through a door she hadn't noticed last time. It was darker, but felt a lot more comfortable than they other parts of his office. Koenma reached for a switch on the wall and a soft light lit the room.
"Nice," Rei whispered but she was really thinking, 'awesome room!' The floor was carpeted, there wasn't much stuff in the room besides a bed. It was a grand king sized with billions of pillows and a few fluffy comforters. The canopy over it was made of a sheer fabric Rei had never seen before but she couldn't help but laugh at it.
"Little extravagant, huh?" Koenma asked, sitting on the corner of the bed. Rei nodded, "Yeah, but it's cool."
Koenma nodded in agreement and looked Rei over. She blushed and he said, "Like I said, don't be embarrassed. This is nothing I haven't done before, though it has been a while since...." he trailed off, thinking to himself.
Rei's jaw dropped and Koenma said, "I'm atleast 50 years older than you if I'm a day, so that's one thing to be taken into consideration."
"I guess you're right," Rei slowly walked near the bed. Koenma kept on talking so she wouldn't feel odd.
"Though of course, you're the first one that'll actually fix me up. The others were just for fun."
Rei stopped on the other side of the bed and threw one of the many pillows at him. It hit him and he threw it back at her. They fought around the bed for a little while before Rei got tired from giggling and dodging pillows. She flopped backwards onto the bed and Koenma propped himself over her. He gently brushed the hair away from her face and said, "Let's get to it, shall we?"
They 'messed' for 10 minutes before Rei started feeling lightheaded. Koenma was very gentle, though. An hour later, he stopped. He slipped off her and held her as she fell asleep.
***
Rei somewhat woke up the next morning when Koenma got out of the bed. He dressed and touched her cheek, "Rest today."
"No argument there," Rei mumbled and rolled over. Koenma smirked and said, "Now you can tell people you've been sexed unconscious."
"Bah," Rei shook her head and tried to giggle, but she was too tired. She fell back asleep and Koenma left the room.
It was around 6p.m. when Rei heard Koenma come back in. He got some clothes out of his walk-in closet and stuffed them into a duffel bag.
"Where you goin'?" she asked, opening one eye.
"The Dark Tournament starts tomorrow. I'm going because Yusuke's team is mine."
Rei sat up, "I'm coming too."
Koenma tried to make her lay back down, but she wouldn't. "You shouldn't even be moving yet. It hasn't even been 24 hours."
"I've always been a quick healer," she said, moving to the edge of the bed. He let her do what she wanted and soon she was dressed. Koenma let her stop at her house to get some clothes before they went to Hanging Neck Island. Rei couldn't quite remember how they got there, though. She remembered standing in front of the huge hotel.
There were well dressed humans standing in the lobby talking amongst their little groups. Koenma came up to a still half-asleep Rei and handed her a key.
"This is the key to the room. It's the Urameshi team's room, so you'll be with the guys. I'll be busy, so you should probably go get a shower or something," he said and Rei looked at the key in her hands. She nodded and walked down the hallway to an elevator. She started nodding off but finally got to the room. Opening it up, she walked through the nice sized sitting area and to the right. Opening one of the doors, she found the bedroom.
She threw her bag onto one of the beds and pulled out some clean underwear. Her clothes were clean, so she just had to get a shower. She found the bathroom and proceeded to get a hot shower. It was around 7 when she got out. Towel draped over her shoulders to keep the water from dripping onto her shirt, she walked out of the bathroom and into the sitting area just when the door opened.
Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke asleep while Kuwabara carried him on his back, and some short person Rei didn't know came in.
"Oh, Rei," Kurama seemed surprised.
"Yo," she rubbed her hair with her towel and barely waved. Hiei smirked and walked past her and Kuwabara chin-upped. "What happened to him?" she asked, pointing to Yusuke.
Kurama helped Kuwabara set Yusuke on the couch and answered, "He's been asleep since we got on the boat."
"Tell me what happened," Rei sat on the other couch and closed her eyes. Kurama smirked, and sat down on the chair, "We got to the place, met up with Yusuke and the other guy and went on the boat."
"Yeah, and Yusuke was asleep the WHOLE time!" Kuwabara grumbled. Rei smiled, "What else happened?"
"We set Yusuke to one side of the ship and fought the demons like we were supposed to. We thought we were doing all right until that guy over there," Kuwabara said, pointing to the masked person that had come in with them, "Used some type of Spirit Gun."
Rei opened her eyes and looked at the short guy. He didn't seem like he had much Spirit Energy, but she couldn't tell, she was so tired. The guys could see that so they cut the story short.
"So we fight the bad guys and Yusuke half-wakes up but then he goes back to that," Kurama said, pointing at Yusuke. Hiei came back out of the bedroom and something furry jumped onto Rei's shoulder. She opened her eyes again and found Chiba's eyes straight in front of hers. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, "I think my heart just stopped."
Kuwabara laughed at her and said, "He's that scary?"
Rei opened her eyes and looked for Hiei, but he was back in the room. She looked to Kurama, who answered, "Since you didn't come back last night, Hiei brought Chiba with him."
Rei was wide-awake, "Huh?"
Kurama smiled, "No one would've been able to feed Chiba, so Hiei stuck him in his shirt. Of course, he was going to make me, but I had to decline."
"He did what?"
"He stuck Chiba in his shirt. I bet it was kinda hard to fight with him down there, but Hiei did all right. Chiba's still alive, so that's a good thing."
Rei looked at Chiba, who seemed to be smiling at her. She shook her head and asked, "Did you give Hiei a hard time?"
The guys knew she was talking to Chiba, so they didn't answer. Chiba seemed to smile all the more and scratched his ear. Rei shook her head again and put him on her shoulder as she stood up. Hiei came back out of the room and sat down then and Kuwabara pulled a can of pop out of his bag just as the door opened. A guy came in and gave them coffee, but Kuwabara wouldn't drink any.
"It might be poison. I say stick with the trusty aluminum," he opened the can and took a swig of it. Kurama, Hiei and the masked guy all took a cup of coffee, but Rei didn't bother. She stood behind the couch and looked down at the coffee table.
"There's only one cup left."
"Well, duh. I didn't have one, remember? We had this conversation already," Kuwabara sipped his pop.
"Yes, but there should be two left. One for Yusuke and one for you," Kurama stated.
"Do you think Urameshi can drink in his sleep, too?" Kuwabara asked just as they heard a sip. Rei looked up and the guys looked behind them to a short, brown haired kid. He was wearing a colorful hat, jeans, and an equally colorful shirt. But what stood out the most were the three small stars under his left eye.
"How did he get in here?"
"He must've been here the whole time," Kuwabara guessed.
The kid spoke up--and sounded like a girl, but he wasn't, "Fibber fibber, I came in after you got here. Isn't that what good boys are supposed to do? Oops, I guess I did forget to knock though..."
"Who is this kid? I didn't even sense him come in," Kuwabara was getting paranoid.
"I'm Rinku, by the way," the kid said. Rei was starting to zone out, so she only heard a little of the conversation. Rinku was saying how lucky they were that they were guests, so they didn't have to sit through all the rules or anything. Rei zoned back in when he said, "Guess you don't have to learn about all the prizes and stuff when you're gonna be dead soon."
"This kid talks like death is a toy," Kuwabara said. Chiba started rubbing his head against Rei's ear, so she couldn't hear if anything was said next.
"Don't you think you're talking too much?" came a deep voice from the doorway.
"Oh, Zeru," Rinku hopped off the table he was sitting on. The man he called Zeru was tall and strong, though he still looked a little thin. He had short, blonde hair and looked almost like a vampire, and he gave a side-glance to Rei. She raised her eyebrow and started to zone out again. Zeru said something and then, "Let's just say, tomorrow you'll strongly resemble your coffee cup."
Right then the cup broke in two. The odd pair walked out the door and the guys looked at the cup.
"You guys, I can barely stand right now, so I'm going to bed," Rei quickly said before she walked to the bedroom and collapsed on one of the beds. Someone came in a while later and put a blanket over her. Around 9 o'clock Rei heard other voices in the sitting room, so she pulled the blanket around her and walked into the room. Kireau, Kanu, Ishida, Ces and Saori were sitting there talking to the boys.
"Oh, Rei! What's up?" Saori jumped up and hugged her. The others waved a little and she answered, "I'm fine. What are you guys doing here?"
Kanu toyed with one of her red streaks and answered, "All of us girls are youkai's. We heard about the tournament and wanted to enter..."
"... But we lost on the boat," Kireau spoke up.
"But we were lucky enough not to get killed like the other demons," Saori finished.
"Why?" Rei asked, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Kurama. Saori, Ces and Kanu glanced at Hiei and Kireau looked at Kurama.
"These guys let us live," Ishida answered, feeling left out. Rei couldn't help but giggle in her mind about how happy Ishida looked about being in an all-girls' team.
"What's your team name?" Kuwabara asked.
"Akakihana. Put literally, I think it means 'red autumn flower'," Ishida shook his head.
"That fits your team pretty well. Did you choose the name yourself?" Hiei asked him from where he was sitting, still staring out the window. Ishida glared at him and Saori said cooly, "No, we needed a fifth fighter and we found him. Us girls chose it."
Hiei looked over at her and shrugged. Ces watched it all and said, "I was the main leader of this group until we found Ishida. Now he's the leader because he's the only guy. I was the one who made the name."
"That's cool, I like the name," Rei smiled and shot a pointed look at Hiei. His red eyes flamed a little and he looked back out the window. Rei watched him for a second more before turning back to the girls, "What are you guys gonna do then?"
"We're going to watch the Dark Tournament..." Kireau smiled.
"... And cheer for the Urameshi team!" Saori put in and they all laughed.
Chapter 30
.oO{Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the Author.} {Oh yeah, YYH is Yoshihiro Togashi's and without him, this story would've NEVER happened!}
#InuYasha laughs# Crazy girl! She was reading that from the front of a REAL book! Feh, what a loser. #InuYasha's ears twitch#
#Author looks at them temptingly# Yeah, but this is still mine. I would seriously appreciate it if you guys didn't print this or nothin'. #Author gives in and tweaks InuYasha's ears#
#hands the honorary InuYasha plushie to Hiei_Obsessed# If she hadn't helped me with the episodes, this would've turned out as a mess! Three cheers for her! #hiphiphooray!hiphiphoorayhiphiphooray!#
*****
Rei fell asleep in front of the fire and woke up around 9 in the morning. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Kurama was awake, but Kuwabara and Botan were still asleep.
"Merry Christmas," Kurama whispered.
"Where did we get this American tradition?" Rei asked.
"Exactly where you said. America," Kurama slipped off his chair and came over to her. Rei gave him a 'you-know-what-I'm-talking-about' look. He smiled and helped her stoke the fire. Kuwabara stirred and mumbled, "Huh? Shizuru went home?"
Kurama looked at Rei, and she rolled her eyes. Kuwabara woke up totally and sat up, "What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you make," Kurama said. Kuwabara started muttering and pulled the blanket around him. He stood up and walked over to the fire and asked Kurama, "Can you make breakfast?"
"No. I have to go visit my mom," Kurama answered.
"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot you had a mom," Rei gasped. Kurama laughed and nodded, "I know."
"Well, tell her I said 'hi'," Rei said. Botan woke up too and asked, "Breakfast?"
Rei rolled her eyes and said, "Alright you guys. I'll make breakfast. How about biscuits and gravy?"
***
Kuwabara went home that day. Kurama left for his mom's to train and take care of her and Hiei stayed home. Botan started getting nervous around 7 o'clock, about two weeks later and Rei just about killed her.
"Koenma-sama is, um... not really coming, but, yeah," Botan stuttered.
Rei grabbed her head and sighed, "He's 'coming'?"
"Yeah. But, oh, I don't know!"
They were sitting outside making an igloo when a blue ogre and teenage boy walked up the steps. Botan hopped up and pulled Rei with her. Rei got closer and could tell it was Koenma's Spirit Energy. When they got closer, he seemed to recognize her, too.
"Rei, you've gotten bigger," he said.
"So have you," she said, but before she could think better of it, she punched him. It split his lip, and he touched it gingerly, "I guess I deserved that."
"Damn right you did," Rei folded her arms over her chest. He nodded and licked his lip, "Well, Botan. What did you tell her?"
Botan became even more nervous, "Well, y'see. I, uh..."
"Not much, huh?"
Botan looked down, "No."
Rei looked to the sky, "Gosh, just tell me."
"Koenma-sama," Botan motioned to him, "Has a job in Spirit World. He gets tired from time to time. But since his dad isn't there right now, it's gotten pretty hectic. So Koenma-sama has to keep it in line."
Rei thought for a moment and said, "So I'm the battery again?"
"More or less," Botan cringed.
"Though, you might want to point out what'll happen the next day, Botan," Koenma reminded.
"Oh, heheh, yeah. You'll be practically useless for the next 30 hours after."
"Useless?"
"Yeah, you'll have to spend the whole time sleeping or something to get back to normal."
Rei nodded. "Whatever."
"Koenma-sama, you aren't really going to do this, are you?" the blue ogre asked.
"Of course," Koenma answered him.
"But, what if some of your enemies find out. It'll put her in danger."
"I'm used to danger," Rei had to look up to look into the ogre and Koenma's eyes. Koenma turned and looked at the ogre, who didn't argue anymore.
"So, we go now?" Rei asked. Koenma looked surprised she had suggested it, but nodded, "Sure."
***
Spirit World hadn't changed much since Rei had been there last. Botan came with her, but only stayed for a few minutes. Koenma didn't seem very embarrassed, but Rei was.
"Don't be embarrassed," he said, reading her feelings. He led her through his office that Rei remembered, but then he led her through a door she hadn't noticed last time. It was darker, but felt a lot more comfortable than they other parts of his office. Koenma reached for a switch on the wall and a soft light lit the room.
"Nice," Rei whispered but she was really thinking, 'awesome room!' The floor was carpeted, there wasn't much stuff in the room besides a bed. It was a grand king sized with billions of pillows and a few fluffy comforters. The canopy over it was made of a sheer fabric Rei had never seen before but she couldn't help but laugh at it.
"Little extravagant, huh?" Koenma asked, sitting on the corner of the bed. Rei nodded, "Yeah, but it's cool."
Koenma nodded in agreement and looked Rei over. She blushed and he said, "Like I said, don't be embarrassed. This is nothing I haven't done before, though it has been a while since...." he trailed off, thinking to himself.
Rei's jaw dropped and Koenma said, "I'm atleast 50 years older than you if I'm a day, so that's one thing to be taken into consideration."
"I guess you're right," Rei slowly walked near the bed. Koenma kept on talking so she wouldn't feel odd.
"Though of course, you're the first one that'll actually fix me up. The others were just for fun."
Rei stopped on the other side of the bed and threw one of the many pillows at him. It hit him and he threw it back at her. They fought around the bed for a little while before Rei got tired from giggling and dodging pillows. She flopped backwards onto the bed and Koenma propped himself over her. He gently brushed the hair away from her face and said, "Let's get to it, shall we?"
They 'messed' for 10 minutes before Rei started feeling lightheaded. Koenma was very gentle, though. An hour later, he stopped. He slipped off her and held her as she fell asleep.
***
Rei somewhat woke up the next morning when Koenma got out of the bed. He dressed and touched her cheek, "Rest today."
"No argument there," Rei mumbled and rolled over. Koenma smirked and said, "Now you can tell people you've been sexed unconscious."
"Bah," Rei shook her head and tried to giggle, but she was too tired. She fell back asleep and Koenma left the room.
It was around 6p.m. when Rei heard Koenma come back in. He got some clothes out of his walk-in closet and stuffed them into a duffel bag.
"Where you goin'?" she asked, opening one eye.
"The Dark Tournament starts tomorrow. I'm going because Yusuke's team is mine."
Rei sat up, "I'm coming too."
Koenma tried to make her lay back down, but she wouldn't. "You shouldn't even be moving yet. It hasn't even been 24 hours."
"I've always been a quick healer," she said, moving to the edge of the bed. He let her do what she wanted and soon she was dressed. Koenma let her stop at her house to get some clothes before they went to Hanging Neck Island. Rei couldn't quite remember how they got there, though. She remembered standing in front of the huge hotel.
There were well dressed humans standing in the lobby talking amongst their little groups. Koenma came up to a still half-asleep Rei and handed her a key.
"This is the key to the room. It's the Urameshi team's room, so you'll be with the guys. I'll be busy, so you should probably go get a shower or something," he said and Rei looked at the key in her hands. She nodded and walked down the hallway to an elevator. She started nodding off but finally got to the room. Opening it up, she walked through the nice sized sitting area and to the right. Opening one of the doors, she found the bedroom.
She threw her bag onto one of the beds and pulled out some clean underwear. Her clothes were clean, so she just had to get a shower. She found the bathroom and proceeded to get a hot shower. It was around 7 when she got out. Towel draped over her shoulders to keep the water from dripping onto her shirt, she walked out of the bathroom and into the sitting area just when the door opened.
Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke asleep while Kuwabara carried him on his back, and some short person Rei didn't know came in.
"Oh, Rei," Kurama seemed surprised.
"Yo," she rubbed her hair with her towel and barely waved. Hiei smirked and walked past her and Kuwabara chin-upped. "What happened to him?" she asked, pointing to Yusuke.
Kurama helped Kuwabara set Yusuke on the couch and answered, "He's been asleep since we got on the boat."
"Tell me what happened," Rei sat on the other couch and closed her eyes. Kurama smirked, and sat down on the chair, "We got to the place, met up with Yusuke and the other guy and went on the boat."
"Yeah, and Yusuke was asleep the WHOLE time!" Kuwabara grumbled. Rei smiled, "What else happened?"
"We set Yusuke to one side of the ship and fought the demons like we were supposed to. We thought we were doing all right until that guy over there," Kuwabara said, pointing to the masked person that had come in with them, "Used some type of Spirit Gun."
Rei opened her eyes and looked at the short guy. He didn't seem like he had much Spirit Energy, but she couldn't tell, she was so tired. The guys could see that so they cut the story short.
"So we fight the bad guys and Yusuke half-wakes up but then he goes back to that," Kurama said, pointing at Yusuke. Hiei came back out of the bedroom and something furry jumped onto Rei's shoulder. She opened her eyes again and found Chiba's eyes straight in front of hers. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, "I think my heart just stopped."
Kuwabara laughed at her and said, "He's that scary?"
Rei opened her eyes and looked for Hiei, but he was back in the room. She looked to Kurama, who answered, "Since you didn't come back last night, Hiei brought Chiba with him."
Rei was wide-awake, "Huh?"
Kurama smiled, "No one would've been able to feed Chiba, so Hiei stuck him in his shirt. Of course, he was going to make me, but I had to decline."
"He did what?"
"He stuck Chiba in his shirt. I bet it was kinda hard to fight with him down there, but Hiei did all right. Chiba's still alive, so that's a good thing."
Rei looked at Chiba, who seemed to be smiling at her. She shook her head and asked, "Did you give Hiei a hard time?"
The guys knew she was talking to Chiba, so they didn't answer. Chiba seemed to smile all the more and scratched his ear. Rei shook her head again and put him on her shoulder as she stood up. Hiei came back out of the room and sat down then and Kuwabara pulled a can of pop out of his bag just as the door opened. A guy came in and gave them coffee, but Kuwabara wouldn't drink any.
"It might be poison. I say stick with the trusty aluminum," he opened the can and took a swig of it. Kurama, Hiei and the masked guy all took a cup of coffee, but Rei didn't bother. She stood behind the couch and looked down at the coffee table.
"There's only one cup left."
"Well, duh. I didn't have one, remember? We had this conversation already," Kuwabara sipped his pop.
"Yes, but there should be two left. One for Yusuke and one for you," Kurama stated.
"Do you think Urameshi can drink in his sleep, too?" Kuwabara asked just as they heard a sip. Rei looked up and the guys looked behind them to a short, brown haired kid. He was wearing a colorful hat, jeans, and an equally colorful shirt. But what stood out the most were the three small stars under his left eye.
"How did he get in here?"
"He must've been here the whole time," Kuwabara guessed.
The kid spoke up--and sounded like a girl, but he wasn't, "Fibber fibber, I came in after you got here. Isn't that what good boys are supposed to do? Oops, I guess I did forget to knock though..."
"Who is this kid? I didn't even sense him come in," Kuwabara was getting paranoid.
"I'm Rinku, by the way," the kid said. Rei was starting to zone out, so she only heard a little of the conversation. Rinku was saying how lucky they were that they were guests, so they didn't have to sit through all the rules or anything. Rei zoned back in when he said, "Guess you don't have to learn about all the prizes and stuff when you're gonna be dead soon."
"This kid talks like death is a toy," Kuwabara said. Chiba started rubbing his head against Rei's ear, so she couldn't hear if anything was said next.
"Don't you think you're talking too much?" came a deep voice from the doorway.
"Oh, Zeru," Rinku hopped off the table he was sitting on. The man he called Zeru was tall and strong, though he still looked a little thin. He had short, blonde hair and looked almost like a vampire, and he gave a side-glance to Rei. She raised her eyebrow and started to zone out again. Zeru said something and then, "Let's just say, tomorrow you'll strongly resemble your coffee cup."
Right then the cup broke in two. The odd pair walked out the door and the guys looked at the cup.
"You guys, I can barely stand right now, so I'm going to bed," Rei quickly said before she walked to the bedroom and collapsed on one of the beds. Someone came in a while later and put a blanket over her. Around 9 o'clock Rei heard other voices in the sitting room, so she pulled the blanket around her and walked into the room. Kireau, Kanu, Ishida, Ces and Saori were sitting there talking to the boys.
"Oh, Rei! What's up?" Saori jumped up and hugged her. The others waved a little and she answered, "I'm fine. What are you guys doing here?"
Kanu toyed with one of her red streaks and answered, "All of us girls are youkai's. We heard about the tournament and wanted to enter..."
"... But we lost on the boat," Kireau spoke up.
"But we were lucky enough not to get killed like the other demons," Saori finished.
"Why?" Rei asked, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Kurama. Saori, Ces and Kanu glanced at Hiei and Kireau looked at Kurama.
"These guys let us live," Ishida answered, feeling left out. Rei couldn't help but giggle in her mind about how happy Ishida looked about being in an all-girls' team.
"What's your team name?" Kuwabara asked.
"Akakihana. Put literally, I think it means 'red autumn flower'," Ishida shook his head.
"That fits your team pretty well. Did you choose the name yourself?" Hiei asked him from where he was sitting, still staring out the window. Ishida glared at him and Saori said cooly, "No, we needed a fifth fighter and we found him. Us girls chose it."
Hiei looked over at her and shrugged. Ces watched it all and said, "I was the main leader of this group until we found Ishida. Now he's the leader because he's the only guy. I was the one who made the name."
"That's cool, I like the name," Rei smiled and shot a pointed look at Hiei. His red eyes flamed a little and he looked back out the window. Rei watched him for a second more before turning back to the girls, "What are you guys gonna do then?"
"We're going to watch the Dark Tournament..." Kireau smiled.
"... And cheer for the Urameshi team!" Saori put in and they all laughed.
