All right, the Trial by Light is just plain pathetic, seeing as the description is quite screwed up and Yusuke switches between himself and being completely OOC. Ah well... That, kids, is what the combination of jet lag (I spent 2 weeks in Japan 'cause I'm just that awesome) and driver's ed can do to you.

OTHER NOTES: Reading 20 volumes of Naruto in one weekend is not healthy.

Disclaimer: If you haven't figured this out by now... you're just sad.


Chapter Four:

Shades of Yin and Yang (Part One)


"I can't believe Urameshi talked me into this. Just like those jerks, always depending on me to pull the team through. I told him to get the shrimp to do it, he never does anything good for the team, but no..." Actually, Kuwabara had said nothing of the sort, as everyone around him knew quite well. They had been none too pleased when the humans came stomping by, yelling at the top of their lungs till they reached the starting line, and the stupid one had finally learned what he was up against. Not that the other demons planned on arguing. You don't contradict a human who talks to himself and insists on being addressed as "The Great (And Incredibly Manly) Kuwabara Kazuma".

"Part one of the Tournament of Dreams preliminary round: Frost Lake, the Trial by Water! Begin on the whistle... are you ready?" Kuwabara looked down the row of competitors. No, he was definitely not ready. Nearly all the others completing this event were female, most of whom were fully equipped with fins and gills. No, he was not ready at all.

"The rules are simple," Ryouta continued, pointing to the lake's far bank. "Cross the lake you must without, of course, the aid of energy. The ice is new, as it is not yet winter, but swimming you will find is an even worse option than the ice. When you reach the end of the trial, points will be awarded by completion time. After points are awarded, the next trial begins. Simple? Yes. Easy? We shall see." The boy shrugged and lowered his microphone, replacing it with his whistle. "Three... two... one... GO!"

"Huh?" Kuwabara had not really been paying attention, focusing instead on trying to determine how in hell he was supposed to cross the thin ice. He had only been ice skating once, and that time Yukina had had to catch him every few minutes.

"An early lead by Ryuukori Kaylee as she makes use of her ice powers." Sure enough, the girl was almost dancing across the ice, sensing where the ice was strongest by feel only. "But a slow start by Team Raquar's GataMacco is being quickly made up." Another girl with a long tail much like the Dark Tournament announcer Juri's was racing across the ice, apparently preferring to be on and off of it before it could break beneath her. She was, however, leaving a weakened path behind her which someone was bound to step on sometime, Kuwabara noted. "Dead last is held by the guest team, surprisingly." These words brought Kuwabara back to the present, and he took a tentative step onto the ice, a sharp contrast to the fleet-footed performances several of the girls were putting on.

"Slow and steady wins the race, I guess," Yusuke muttered with a resigned sigh as he watched Kuwabara take another painfully awkward step.

Hiei snorted in reply. "He's too slow to win anything but an award for stupidity."

"Can't deny that," Yusuke admitted, grinning.

"SHUT UP, URAMESHI! I'M DOING JUST... uh... aagh!" Kuwabara slid suddenly, falling face first onto the ice.

"How he can tell I'm insulting him is beyond me," Yusuke shook his head in disbelief.

"How he's stayed alive this long is what's beyond me."

Out on the ice, Kuwabara growled, about to stand up and yell something back when he noticed something. His growl was reverberating through the ice, which he currently had his ear pressed to. In fact, there was a tiny cracking sound that accompanied the growl, the sound of ice cracking. "Wait a minnit," Kuwabara began scuttling across the ice crab style, careful to keep an ear out for those tiny cracking noises.

His good idea was interrupted by a loud snap, a splash, and a female scream of terror. "Miyuki of Team Mikomi has fallen through the ice."

"OH SHUT UP!" the girl in question was apparently more perturbed than anything else as she climbed back onto the ice and examined herself. "I DON'T need you pointing out the obvious for everyone. I can..." The girl gasped, anger apparently forgotten.

"Not to fall in the water, I warned you," Ryouta's response was sheepish and immediately ensured everyone was staring at the girl in question.

"There is no way," Kurama remarked quietly, "that this is a lake of water." Miyuki's gi had all but been burned away, the same thing happening to bits of her pants and socks. She was still wearing a shirt under the no-longer-existing gi, but she looked mortified all the same. The skin on her hands was partially eaten away as well. Even the other competitors had stopped to stare in silent shock at her (except Kuwabara, who was still crawling his way across).

"You are playing for much higher stakes than you imagine," Ryouta's voice was hushed, as if he were repeating a lesson he had been taught, and only now was understanding its full meaning. It was enough to make more than one shudder as the words hit them. "You no longer control your own fate."

"Hey, girlies!" The same purple lizard from before called out, unable to take the silence any more. "How's about takin' another dip, eh?" His laughter boomed around the area, and there could not have been a more inappropriate time for it. It did, however, break the spell over the area, and the fighters once again made their way towards the finish line.

There were three more incidents of ice breaking, one more was narrowly avoided when the girl had quick enough reflexes to leap out of the way. Of these, one of the girls had attempted to use her powers to escape and had not resurfaced. This incident only prompted the competitors to be even more cautious; the problem posed was that falling behind meant the ice was weakened even more than usual, but rushing ahead held a greater chance of a misstep.

"The results are these: a first place tie for GataMacco of Team Raquar and Kaylee of Team LiveWire. In second, a surprise comeback by Team Tatsuya's Kiyoshi. Third goes to Team Kasai and Lumina!" Ryouta made a couple notes on his clipboard before glancing up with a smile. "Two more rounds are to be done today... if you will follow me?"

"Wait a minute," Ryouta whirled around to see a tall human looking calmly down at him. "What happened to Chitose?"

The hanyou kept his face dispassionate as he replied, "She is safe, Ryusaki-san. That is all I can say. Passing the preliminaries is required if you wish her back." A glint of something threatening flashed in the elder's eyes, but his expression was still calm as he glared down at the boy.

"Oniisan..." Two pairs of tiny hands yanked on the back of the man's black trench coat as matching green eyes peered out at the announcer. "Where's Chit?" Ryouta's eyes softened as he examined the twin eight year olds fixing puppy dog looks on him.

Sighning, the hanyou looked back up to Ryusaki and explained himself. "In the collars, there is a ki detector: it senses if someone cheats and uses their ki. Once this is triggered, a needle is released from one side of the collar; into the victim a strong sedative is injected. Teleported to the end of the course, the sleeping ones are. She is perfectly safe." A murmur passed throught the crowd as many nervously touched the black, metal collars. "Now if we might go?" He turned, not bothering to check if the others would follow.

"Hey Kurama," Yusuke said softly as the group of demons began shuffling after the young hanyou, much subdued. "Kiyoshi... doesn't that name sound kinda familiar to you?"

The ex-youko glanced sideways at the spirit detective. "Yes, that was Mitarai's given name."

"Oh yeah, that Sea Man guy," Yusuke pondered for a minute. "Wasn't this tournament for really strong competitors or something? 'Cause I thought Kuwabara beat the crap outta him."

Hiei leapt down from a tree branch, landing directly in front of Yusuke and sending a disdainful glance at him. "Don't kid yourself, Detective. Kuwabara made use of his ridiculously good luck to catch Mitarai off guard. However, the mere fact that a child with a few weeks of training could capture someone with months more practice shows great potential." He paused, his eyes narrowing. "Of course, when it's Kuwabara we're talking about, it may not be quite so amazing." Kuwabara didn't reply to the jab, though whether that was due to his sulking about coming in last or his numb ears (having been pressed to the ice the entire race) remained to be seen.

"And there is the fact that the more you injure him, the greater his powers become," Kurama added thoughtfully.

Yusuke growled, jamming his hands in his pockets and kicking irritably at a rock on the ground. "Awright, I get it! I was just gonna say there're a hell of a lot of people we've beat up before here."

"What do you mean, Detective?" Hiei demanded, stiffening suddenly.

"I mean, Mitarai's not the only one here. There's Rinku, and the stupid Game Master squirt, and..."

"Yusuke," Kurama interjected sharply, "Amanuma died when I defeated him."

"Yeah, yeah and Pacifier Breath revived him. It's old news," Yusuke waved a hand dismissively.

"No, what I meant was..." Kurama furrowed his brow in thought, picking his next words carefully. "When Koenma brought Amanuma back to life, he came back without his powers."

"Oh," Yusuke shrugged. "Well, that's one less person to worry about. But Yomi's kid's here, too. And..."

"And me," A voice cut in calmly. The reikai tantei paused as the owner of the voice moved out from behind them. "Or don't I count?" A pair of amethyst eyes stared readily back at Yusuke.

"Hn. Didn't I kill you already?"

"Apparently not."

"Kisama," Yusuke glared at Hagiri Kaname, looking just about ready to strangle him, spirit energy or no. "You tried to kill me!" Sniper raised an eyebrow, nodded his agreement. "SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE!"

"It's a tournament for the strongest. I got an invitation, and as you know for yourselves... it was an offer I couldn't refuse."

Yusuke clenched his fist, pulling it back to punch the older boy. "Dammit, what is with all the dead people around here who're suddenly superpowered?"

"Shouldn't you include yourself in that group?"

"THAT'S IT!" Yusuke stopped as he felt something suspiciously like the hilt of a katana pressed firmly against the small of his back.

"As you should know, Urameshi Yusuke, a team is required to have all seven of its members present to participate in the first round. As such, I recommend you reconsider touching my teammate," There was a click as the speaker thumbed his katana out past the friction point. "It really would be a pity if they had to change your team's name to 'Team Kuwabara'."

"And who exactly," Hiei growled, hand straying to the hilt of his own sword, "do you think you are?" Sniper casually stepped away from Yusuke's frozen fist, eyes revealing his boredom with the entire encounter. As soon as Sniper was out of the line of danger, his protector had whirled around to face Hiei, katana leveled to point between the hi youkai's eyes. Hiei didn't flinch, refusing to back down before his new adversary.

"Feh," After a long silence, Sniper's captain backed down, sheathing his weapon and turning away, shoulder-length brown ponytail resettling on his back. "Kaimu Hiroshi, captain of Team Takagi and true master of the Kaimu Kasshin style. Don't forget the name."

Kurama studied the boy's back thoughtfully. "You would not, by any chance, be the brother of the Hitokiri Skyhawk, would you?" Hiroshi's shoulders tensed, he spun around again, russet eyes flashing with rage.

"The Skyhawk is not my brother," Hiroshi's voice trembled, betraying his lies. Attempting to collect himself, he smoothed his blood-red gi, stalking away and calling over his shoulder, black hakama swishing about his ankles. "The Skyhawk is of no use to me except dead." Sniper graced the reikai tantei with a parting smirk then followed after his leader, Kurama watching pensively as the pair left.

"What was that all about, Urameshi?"

"I see you're just as stupid as ever," a brown haired fourteen-year-old remarked casually as he strolled past. "Try to keep up with the rest of us, okay?" He sent a violet-eyed glare back at the four, who hadn't moved. "And I don't just mean that metaphorically, you know."

"Don't waste your cutting wit on him," a familiar youkai skipped by, his bag of yo-yos bouncing at his waist. "He wouldn't even understand he was being insulted." Rinku grinned widely at Yusuke as he passed before hurrying to catch up with his longer-legged teammate. Taking the elder's advice, the boys began to move again, Kuwabara sulking while grumbling something about "shorties", "stupid munchkins", and a few other things that will, for our purposes, not be repeated.

A sharp blast of a whistle caused the fighters, now milling about the base of a rather tall mountain, to turn their suspicious eyes upon Ryouta, standing in the mouth of a cave that appeared to have tunneled straight through the mountain itself.

"This is the site for the second trial: that of the element of Light," Ryouta called out softly, so that the listeners had to strain to hear his voice. In the twilight, the boy was only a flickering silhouette against the light shining from inside the caverns. "Pariticipants must travel through these tunnels to reach the mountain's other side. Large caverns shall be lit for your aid; tunnels in between, however, have by darkness been taken. Again, a very simple task." The boy indicated the stars, slowly springing into life above. "When fully set the sun is at rest, participants will first embark on their mission. Others to me shall come, the survivors we will meet on the other side of the mountain. Please select your fighters, if you would. But warned you should be, those who lose their will to live won't make it to see daylight once more." The boy retreated into the shadows, leaving the teams to mutter among themselves.

"So Kuwabara," Yusuke nudged his rival, grinning broadly, "you up for another round?"

Kuwabara shook his head solemnly, "No way, Urameshi. There's something weird in there, not nohow anything I've felt before. It's not living, that's sure, but it's no dead thing either. I don't trust it." Just then, he noticed Yusuke squinting up at him with a look of intense concentration. "Whadda you want, Urameshi?"

"Gee, Kuwabara," The Spirit Detective, yawned and stretched. "I never knew you were a coward." Ignoring Kuwabara's indignant splutters, Yusuke stepped forward to the mouth of the cave, sending a cocky glance at Ryouta. "I'm ready for action, in any case. Let's get this thing going."

The hanyou smiled indulgently and raised his hand. "If you are ready... the trial begins now!" Yusuke took off running, quickly outdistancing all but a few of his opponents as he dashed through the brightly lit chamber. Plunging into the first dark connecting tunnel didn't slow him, but he was vaguely surprised when he saw that those ahead of him were standing in the middle of the next light cavern, flailing about themselves with eyes wide with fear.

"What the hell...?" As Yusuke slowed, stepping warily into the new room, he felt something sharp graze his cheek; an instant later he tasted blood. Crouching down, the Spirit Detective backed up against a wall and began edging around the room, keeping an eye out for the one who had struck him.

"SHIT!" Despite his precautions, something struck him twice in quick succession. When he looked up, however, the others were still dealing with invisible enemies of their own. A movement in the corner of his eye was all the warning Yusuke had before a dark shape lunged at him. "What is this?"

"Shadow Magic," a voice informed him shortly. A female demon positioned herself so that he was standing in her shadow; she was apparently unharmed thus far. "Some kind of charm has been placed that controls your shadow and turns it against you."

Yusuke panted for breath, glaring up at her. "So why aren't you hurt?"

She smiled to herself, seemingly at his naivety. "I'm a Shadow Youkai. My shadow is a part of me, thus to control it they would first have to control me." She eyed him critically. "There are still two more chambers after this one, each with different lighting to create different shadows. Are you going to be okay?"

"What does it matter to you?" Yusuke demanded, straightening up and thumbing a thin stream of blood off his cheek.

"Tell Youko I'll be waiting for him," she said instead of answering. With that, the woman darted off, fox tail swishing behind her as if to disperse the shadows that strained towards her till they fell back and turned their attention, furious at being thwarted, upon their next victims.

"Hunh, well what am I supposed to think of that?" With a shrug, Yusuke began to race after her, ignoring the sharp pain as shadows struck him again and again: light, glancing blows as they were unable to gain a good hold on him with him running headlong at such speeds. Eventually, even these faded away, and Yusuke too slowed in his flight, realizing he had once again come to a dark tunnel where no shadows were cast.

Suddenly, Yusuke was shaken by a rasping laugh echoing through the enclosed space; the sound made the hairs on the back of his neck raise at the eerie hysteria. "Tis the end o' all of us, it is." Again that strange dry laugh, cut off quickly by a gurgling, coughing sound. "Yes, yes... but's s'all right. I can see the light from here. Though there mayn't be much light where I'll go..." As Yusuke's eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw the face of a bald, almost humanoid demon leering at him, the over-large, pupilless yellow eyes glowing like obscene night lights before him.

The creature grinned at him from its blunted snout, then stumbled towards the end of the tunnel, the steady dripping of blood and scraping of skin against rock marking his progress. Yusuke followed him to the opening of the tunnel where the next room awaited, light shining directly into the competitors' eyes such that they would have to scramble blindly upon reaching the opposite wall in order to find the exit. The demon stumbled on unfazed, however, wavering drunkenly upon reaching the middle of the chamber.

Even the stolid Spirit Detective shivered upon hearing the demon's pleas and witnessing the shadow leap to life. He saw the silhouette trembled at the impact of the shadow's strike; saw the arms and head separate from the body; saw liquid darkness spurt against the light, marring its untainted goodness; saw the body stumble; saw it fall to the ground; saw it sink into the shadows and disappear entirely till there was nothing left to prove it had ever existed.

"Poor bastard," Someone remarked, leaning heavily upon Yusuke's shoulder. "But that's the way it goes, eh?" The speaker gave a low chortle. "Hope you've got more endurance in ya' than that faker. If not, this'll be one pretty boring show." With that, he took off before Yusuke could catch sight of more than his silhouette against the light.

The next tunnel showed Yusuke stumbling through, blinking owlishly, his entire body a mess of shallow cuts and tiny trickles of dried blood. A deep gash in his upper right arm showed his bad reaction when he had reached the opposite wall of the cavern and failed to find the opening; however, he had managed to create a makeshift bandage from his sash, seeing as his clothes were mainly rags by this time anyways.

There were several more competitors wounded in this tunnel, lining the walls on either side of the path. Some tended to their wounds as Yusuke had; others had curled into the fetal position and stared into the distance with half-mad expressions adorning their visages. Yusuke stumbled through their midst, unseeing only partly because he was half-blinded still by light.

And then, a girl appeared before him, the outline blurring and shifting such that she looked one instant to be an angel and the next... a devil. In a calm, measured voice she spoke, the faintest hint of sorrow tinging her words:

"Light is more than it appears,
If you look within their souls.
Light can blind you, it deceives,
Hiding its more vicious goals."

The recital concluded, she bowed her head as though in acknowledgement, hand clutching the necklace of black beads about her neck. Yusuke stood aside, watching her curiously till in a flutter of oddly leathery wings, she disappeared to reveal the opening to the final chamber.

"Those who lose their will to live won't make it to see daylight once more," The words seemed to float out of the light to taunt Yusuke. He growled, eyes flashing with new light, a light of his own. The floor was littered with outcroppings of rock; the light in this final room seemed to be born from the floor itself, meaning that any attacks would come from above and put the defenders at a severe disadvantage... unless...

"Alright, I got nothing t'lose. Might as well give it a shot..." Cracking his knuckles, Yusuke allowed himself a quick glance over his shoulder where his shadow waited complacently, merely a darker patch within the blackness. With that, he took off, sensing the shadows springing to life around him, stirring restlessly as though conferring. Almost halfway... Yusuke glanced back once more to see his shadow leering from the ceiling, mouth stretched into an open-mouthed grin of glee as it contorted itself to strike…

At the last instant, Yusuke whirled, punching upwards to take advantage of the shadow's own momentum. It staggered back slightly; the attack had done much less damage than it would do to a normal opponent, but it had nonetheless had enough power to faze the unwitting beast. Hisses and jeers seemed to come from the shadows of other competitors, but it truly mattered little to Yusuke. He was off again, feet pounding the ground in a flurry of desperate motion. Only 5 more meters now... 4... 3... 2...

The voices of the shadows rose to a howling climax as he dove towards safety...

A blur leapt from the corner of Yusuke's vision, seeming almost to radiate fury as a crimson haze; in fact, everything was turning crimson...

A gasp rattled Yusuke's body as he emptied the contents of his bowels on the stone below, though it took him a moment longer to actually register the wrenching pain where his shadow had struck him a final definitive blow. But he was safe. Comforting darkness engulfed him, and Yusuke chuckled to himself as he stood, holding his stomach with one hand and using the other to wipe dirt and spittle off his cheek. Using one hand to support himself, he shuffled out into the fresh night air to where Ryouta and the others were waiting beside an ebony monument with gilded silver words inlaid into the stone.

"Trust no one, not even yourself. For all too often, you are your own worst enemy..."



Characters received since last update: I actually have been really awful about updating the website, so I'll hafta get back to you on that. Once I'm in CA, things should calm down so I can organize a bit. On the downside, I may not have a cpu there...

Alwasbhape (and everyone else for that matter)- I be apologizing of the eternal not postingness that is me. However, I have some very valid excuses regarding the evils of sophomore year (especially western civs). Plus the fact that I kept losing/redoing this chapter. Anyhow... I heard from a couple people that I had angry fans, but personally I don't know who the fans are! If you'd tell me, I'd be much indebted (and much more willing to write more). However, I do admit that I don't think it's quite fair to accuse someone of being rude for not updating when you don't know their situation. In this case, it's quite appropriate, and I'm not at all offended. However, as I have been reminded just earlier today, sitautions can change for the worst rapidly and in ways we don't want to believe are true...

Admittedly, that was not the entire chappie. But it's eight whole pages long, and only half done at that. So I thought it wouldn't be altogether awful if I gave you a loooong half a chapter. So don't shoot me. Please.

Next Chapter: (see last chappie)