Shin watched impassively as Rekka slowly managed to get to her feet. Blood matted her hair down where he had struck. She had barely managed to dodge a fatal blow. At least her skills weren't completely gone.

"I'm frankly disappointed." He remarked, bluntly.

She merely snarled silently, buying time for her head to clear. He smirked and attacked.

I dodged the second assault. Slipping between his legs, I came up beside him and solidly punched him a mirror wound to mine. He swung out, his fist connecting with my shoulder and I spun to the floor. I struggled to my feet again. This guy was clearly toying with me.

"Come now, Rekka, you can do much better than this." He looked serious.

I kept my features expressionless. What did he know...? What I can or can't do...? I cleared my head of thought and summoned my flame. He did like wise. Sounding a battle cry, I charged, he met me with an onslaught of his own. We traded blow after blow, but I soon fell back, my body aching. It took all of my strength just to block his attacks. His glancing blows were murderous. Forget getting a good hit in. I glanced at Jin and Touya; their fiery barrier was closing in on them, slowly, ever so slowly. They looked back at me; their faces were set. Determined. Unwavering.

"So... Are you going to fight? Or let your friends burn to death?" He laughed; I shivered at the sound. But for some reason... It didn't sound right for him.

I wiped blood from the corner of my mouth and spat the remaining from my mouth and got back onto my feet.

"Fight, and kick your ass." I replied, glaring at him defiantly.

"I doubt you will, but you are welcome to try." He smirked slightly, casually brushing some dust off of his garments.

"DAMN YOU!"

She charged again, catching him completely off guard. He stumbled back. She hit him repeatedly, to every vulnerable point she could reach. He winced slightly in pain. The anger and plain desperate need was raising her capabilities. A minute before he couldn't feel the blows, now... They stung a little bit. He smirked. This might be worth his time after all.

Jin glared at Shin. "Tha' bastard. He's toyin' with her!" he snarled.

Touya nodded. "He is, but there is nothing we can do to help. And in case you haven't noticed, our prison is reducing in size an inch every two minutes. If this fight continues for another half-hour, we will be killed before Rekka can beat him. If she can."

"Do ya have ta sound so optimistic?" Jin grumbled, but he eyed the flames. Touya was right. As usual. His eyes were drawn to Rekka; blood flew from her various open wounds. He glanced at Shin. He leaned as close as he could without getting burned. Was it just him, or was he starting to get bruised?

Gama watched the mountain; sparks and fire leapt from the peak, barely visible through the snow. The ground rumbled and smoke issued from the heart of the volcano, he could barely see this. The power causing this was stronger than Rekka's, though similar in essence. Risho and Bakken were still out cold. Feeling bored, he began to leaf through their collected belongings, to get an idea of what they needed for... How long they were staying there. Something Risho still refused to mention. A small roll of parchment fell from Risho's bundle. Against his better judgement, he picked it up and expertly scraped off the seal in a way so he could seal it back on later. He carefully unrolled it and read. His eyes growing darker after each line. The Dark Tournament? They were to compete in the Dark Tournament? He noticed the application didn't include Rekka. It would be better if she took Bakken's place, that imbecile was no master, as was not much of a fighter, compared to Touya and himself. Jin easily outclassed the three of them. And Rekka him, though Gama wasn't sure how strong she was in comparison to Risho. But Bakken would not survive the semifinals from what he had heard of the notorious tournament. He was sure of that much. He shuddered when he remembered the stories he had heard about the Tournament's reining champions, Team Toguro. He quickly sealed the roll back up and slipped it back into Risho's pack. He would bring this up later. There was no way all of them were going to walk away alive if they entered that Tournament. If any of them.

Rekka lay on the ground; each ragged breath caused her much pain. She couldn't so much as twitch without spasms of pain shooting through her body. But she... Had... To get up... She slowly and unsteadily staggered to her feet. She clutched the gash across her abdomen, panting heavily. She blinked sweat out of her eye. Her vision was starting to get hazy...

"Why do you get up? What is so important that you force yourself to get up?" Shin asked, leaning against the wall of the cave, his arms crossed.

She smiled and laughed, which soon turned to coughing, blood ran freely from her mouth from her internal injuries. "You... Really are... Clueless... Aren't you...?" She whispered, the pain from barely talking caused the breath to be ripped from her lungs. She shook her head, a small smile on her lips and a weak laugh escaped her. It shook her body.

Shin had enough. She was going to die if he kept this up. He was going to finish this. He concentrated his energy into his palm, a sword appeared. He walked towards her with purpose. "Any last words?" He asked, a baneful smile on his lips.

"Yeah..." She leaned against the wall, she was faint with pain and blood loss. "Go to hell."

Jin backed away for a running start. That bastard was really going to kill her. "REKKA!" He shouted, and leapt into the flames, Touya right behind him. The flames tore at his body, trying to consume him. The flames were hotter than anything else was, he felt it rip through his skin, blistering it past the point of third degree burns. His muscle was visible across his chest and arms. He ignored the burns and threw himself in front of Rekka. He felt the blood flowing from him now-open skin.

Shin stopped, his blade not even an inch from Jin's throat. He had his arms out, completely in front of her, shielding her with his body. Touya, who was in even worse condition than he, considering Ice Demons and Fire did not mix well. The slender Ice Master was supporting Rekka, who was not conscious anymore. He withdrew his blade, the fire dissipating in his hand.

"You pass." He turned and walked away.

"What do you mean? You fight her, nearly kill her, and then you walk away! What was the whole point?" Touya shouted after him, fury written all over his face. "Four ribs gone, concussions are most likely, a broken arm and hip, and not to mention other various cuts! What did you do this to her for!"

Shin paused and faced Touya and Jin; his expression was that of regret as he spoke to them both. "To make sure that she was right to belong here. And she is. She will get stronger, my strength stronger. And she was not meant to face eternity alone. Look after her. She loves you both." He vanished into the wintry night as quickly as a campfire being doused with water.

Jin, the instant Shin was gone, spun around and knelt beside Rekka. "How is she? Besides the injuries you mentioned?"

Touya's bright eyes were clouded with worry. "Not good. She'll live, but she'll need a lot of time to recover. A LOT of time."

Jin nodded slowly and stroked up a fire. He and Touya moved her gently next to it and bandaged her up as well as they could. Their pain was tolerable, hers wasn't, it was internal, and she could bleed to death in a matter of minutes. After making sure that she was treated as well as they could in their current situation, they began to treat their own burns.

The next morning, after the snow cleared and there was a thin layer of ice on top of the snow, creating some firmness, Touya and Jin, carefully carrying Rekka between them, came to the center of the volcano. She stirred slightly. She was still unconscious and they doubted they could get her to the lava in the condition they were in because of the fact they were using all of their strength to heal their own injuries as fast as demonically possible. But the warmth would do her some good.

I slowly opened my eyes. I tried to sit up but immediately stopped. My movement had caused a mass amount of pain to rush through my entire body. I whimpered slightly, I hurt like hell. Jin glanced over at me.

"She's awake." He came over beside me.

I groaned. "How long have I been out?"

"Few days." He replied, his worry was palpable in his normally cheery blue eyes.

"How are you doing?" Touya asked as he tilted my head back. I felt some cool water trickle down my parched throat. I greedily drank it.

"I feel like shit." I replied honestly after I finished drinking, my body was one mass of aches and pains.

"When do you think you'll be able to walk?" Touya asked. He looked out over the snow.

I sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, a week."

Touya smiled at the look of despair on my face, then winced slightly. I noticed the burns. "You..."

He gave me a brave grimace. "We will be fine."

I didn't buy it, but I didn't press the matter, I had my own injuries to worry about. I closed my eyes again. I just hoped that I was healed enough that I could fend off Risho if need be when we headed back to the village.