Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho!

Episode 9

Keiko was worried. Of course, she was always worried. Who wouldn't be, if their outlawed boyfriend was constantly going out on missions under the orders of a banished prince? The brunette sighed. She had thought that after meeting his ancestor in Makai, Yusuke would settle down, and retire from his job as a Spirit Detective. Instead, he only worked harder. Koenma somehow snuck information from his father's sources and would continually send Yusuke on missions… Not as major as the ones before, but they were still missions. Botan didn't seem too worried, even about the latest quest. But then again, that was probably because she didn't know what his mission was.

So, once again, Botan decided to take the girls to see the tournament. Shizuru tagged along because she needed to tell her brother to come home; He was going to need to study if he wanted to get into a good college!

"How are we going to get in?" Keiko asked, noting the ticket collector.

"Well, Koenma said he would be coming…"

"Botan! Keiko! Shizuru!" Someone yelled from behind them.

"Koenma-sama!"

The prince of Reikai was running up to them, looking exhausted.

"I've been looking all over for you guys!" He said, panting heavily. "You wouldn't believe—"

"What's going on?" Shizuru asked, cutting Koenma off. There was a loud uproar from inside the stadium.

"Let's go check it out!" Keiko said, and the four of them ran inside.

) Let's go back to Kurama and Junsui… (

"FIGHTERS READY? BEGIN!" Kori yelled.

Junsui stood still, and little pools of water began to pool at his feet.

"Mizu bunshin! " He yelled suddenly. The water rose and took Junsui's form. Soon, there were five replicas of Junsui standing in front of Kurama.

"Rose whip!" Kurama barely had time to pull out his weapon before the clones attacked. His whip cut straight through one of them and it collapsed into a puddle on the ground.

"Nice," Junsui commented. "But can you fight all of us?" The four remaining clones and Junsui himself attacked from all directions. Kurama swung his Rose Whip around in a circle, reducing three of the copies to puddles and knocking Junsui to the ground. "Nice," Junsui said again. The remaining clone stood silently, watching Kurama's every move.

"Go big brother!" Shouka yelled. "Kick his ass!"

Junsui flashed a smile at Shouka, and turned back to the battle. Kurama was still standing motionless in the middle of the arena. Suddenly, Kurama lashed out with his whip. A gash opened on Junsui's arm.

"Well then," He said, wiping off the blood. "Looks like I'll have to get serious. White Shark!"

The water on the ground oozed together and started to form a shape in the air. Meanwhile, water from the air was being pulled toward the large water bubble (A/N: Does that make sense? Oo). A shark took shape, and its huge, sharp teeth could be seen clearly. Soon, the shark reached its full size. From snout to tail, it was about 300 centimeters (about 10 feet) long, and about 90 centimeters (about 3 feet) around. "Strike!"

"Kurama!" Yusuke yelled.

Kurama tried to dodge it, but the shark swung its tail around and hit him. The fox demon was engulfed by the water shark and disappeared almost completely from view. Suddenly…

"Rose Thorn Wheel!"

The shark shattered. Flying droplets of water hit the audience, and Kurama stepped out. He was soaking wet, but seemed ok.

"That," Kurama said. "Was a good technique. Most of my spirit energy is gone."

"Heh, thanks," Junsui replied. The water from the shark began to gather again. "I'm surprised you're still alive. But you'll need more than that to defeat my shark!" The shark was recreating itself!

There's only one way to win, Kurama thought to himself. But I don't like it.

) Meanwhile (

"Damn him!" Akuryou fumed, kicking the pillow. "Damn him to hell!" She was still angry at the Spirit Detective. "Why does everyone I meet have problems?"

"Nyew?" A small dragon not much longer than her forearm awoke with a yawn. It was a pale orange color, with two royal blue stripes on each cheek. Two small, royal blue wings stretched out, then folded back up. Red eyes opened. It pawed at two wiry antennae like things coming out of its head. The dragon had two similar… antennae coming out of its tail. (A/N: Er… They're just two lines that are kinda fatter at the ends when I draw… I can't explain! Xx)

"Why can't I get along with anybody!" She screamed at herself. The light bulb of one of the lamps blew up.

"Nyew…" The dragon mewed and put its head on its front paws.

"It's alright Kokoro. It's not your fault…" Akuryou said softly, calming down. She petted the small dragon on the head. Kokoro's eyes closed and reopened. They were black now… their normal colors.

"Nyew…"

"You're right, I should go and apologize," Akuryou sighed. "He'd better forgive me."

Akuryou walked to the door and opened it. "Yusuke? I wanted to—"

The room was completely empty.

"Where did they go?" Akuryou asked herself aloud. There was a knocking at the door. The rat demon was standing there… again. "What the hell do you want?"

"Your team ees fighting already."

"I know that," Akuryou lied.

"If you do not go down now, they might be deesqualeefied."

"Alright, alright, you nag. I'm going!"

"Nyew!"

"No Kokoro! Stay here!" Akuryou yelled, trying to pry the dragon off her arm.

"Nyew!" The dragon clung on tightly.

"You're making me pay for putting you in my duffel bag with my socks, aren't you?"

The dragon nodded happily.

Akuryou sighed. "Alright, you can come."

"Nyew!" The dragon mewed and clambered up to Akuryou's head.

"Hurry, the committee weeshes eet."

"Alright, alright!" She stuffed her feet into her shoes, jumped over the rat demon, and ran down to the Stadium.

) Meanwhile… (

"Great shark strike!" The shark charged at Kurama. This time, he didn't even try to dodge.

"What the hell is he thinking!" Kuwabara yelled.

Kurama was fully engulfed in water, but…

"Plants need water to survive," said a voice from inside the water. "And your shark provides just that."

The shark began to struggle and writhe. It was being absorbed into something! Soon, all of the water had been absorbed and it was not Kurama who stepped out, but Youko. Thick, spiky vines surrounded him.

"Makaian Desert plants," Youko explained. "Very efficient at sucking the very air dry of every droplet of moisture."

"Well, you are at a slight advantage now," Junsui said. He tried to sound calm, but his teammates could see that he was pressed.

"Slight? I would just leave it at 'an advantage'," Youko said with a smile. The vines snaked out, straining to absorb more and more water. Junsui, who had been pulling more water out of the air, was trapped. Vines approached him from all sides. "Too bad. You were a worthy opponent."

Junsui tried to escape from the plants, but they caught him by the foot and slowly snaked up. The desert plants began to suffocate him.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that they get some of their nutrition from ingesting smaller, living beings? Seems like they're hungry," Youko commented, smiling.

"Big brother!" Shouka cried. The Water shinobi was covered completely in vines. "BIG BROTHER!"

) Meanwhile… (

"Damn, damn, damn," Akuryou hissed to herself, jumping off tree trunks to propel herself forward. A few demons approached her. "Get the hell out of my way!" She yelled, whipping out her dagger. The assassin cut her way through the demons without missing a step.

"Well, well. Where do you think you're going?" A demon asked, stepping in her way. She was forced to stop.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Your death," He replied, taking out a strange, curved sword.

"That's my line," Akuryou hissed. Damn, she thought. He's A-class; I'd better kill him quick. "Die!"

) Meanwhile… (

The entire stadium was watching the wrapped up plants on the arena. Nothing moved, until suddenly, the plants were blown apart by an unseen force. The water Shinobi's limp body slumped to the floor.

"Um… well… I'll start the count now! 1… 2… 3…"

"Big brother!" Shouka tried to run over to see how her brother was, but Keisui held her back with a firm hand.

"7… 8… 9… and 10! Kurama wins the first round!"

"Now you can go," Keisui said, letting go of Shouka's netted shirt.

"Junsui!" She jumped on stage and shook her brother's body. "Wake up!" When her brother did not respond, she slapped him in the face. "Wake up!"

"Nn… Ow…" Junsui put his hand to his cheek. "Why'd you hit me, sis?"

"You big idiot I thought you were dead!" She wailed.

"Um…" Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei watched with sweatdrops rolling down the backs of their heads.

"Hm, it's my turn now," Ookami said, stepping up to the arena. "It's been a while, Youko."

"Well well, if it isn't the wolf Ookami (A/N: Ookami means wolf… If it isn't the wolf Wolf…)"

"Do they know each other?" Yusuke asked Hiei in a whisper. They couldn't hear what the two youkai were saying, but now they were both chuckling.

"How the hell should I know?"

"Well, you are his best friend…"

) Meanwhile… (

"Damn you!" Akuryou yelled. A horde of A and B-class demons were blocking her way. "If you don't get out of my way, I'll be forced to kill you!"

"You jest!" One of the demons laughed. "Attack!"

"Gladly," Akuryou muttered with a smirk. The demons jumped, and Akari gripped her dagger tighter. Her spirit energy surged through it, and the dagger's length extended from its original 30 (about 1 foot) centimeters to about 150 centimeters (about 5 feet). She swung the spiritually charged dagger and wiped out over half of the demons in one swing. She turned to the rest of them. "You better leave now, if you don't want to die." The demons glanced at her, frightened, then turned tail and ran. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Akuryou continued toward the Stadium.

"At this rate," she told the small dragon perched on her shoulder, "I'll reach it in about a minute." Little did she know…

) Back to the Stadium… (

"May the best youkai win," Ookami said.

"Thank you," Youko replied, smirking. He pulled a blade of grass out of his hair and his spirit energy charged through it. The blade of grass grew larger until it resembled a sword.

"You underestimate me," Ookami said, smiling. He whipped out his own blade of grass. It elongated and curved into a scythe-like weapon and crackled with electricity. "Let's see what you make of this!" He threw the scythe at Youko, who jumped away. Instead of continuing to travel in a straight line, it curved around and made a beeline for the fox demon. Youko just barely escaped, receiving a large gash on his arm. "Revenge for my teammate, you see."

) Akuryou (

"Spare me!" the last, frightened demon begged.

"You didn't say please," Akuryou replied sarcastically, throwing him into the bushes. "But I'll let you live."

As she turned to leave, she felt a youkai presence behind her.

"Nice try," the assassin said, bringing her fist up to land a solid punch on the youkai's face. "What do you want?" she asked, turning around.

A strong looking, tanned youkai was sitting on the ground, rubbing his nose. He had messy black hair that stopped at his neck. His eyes were blood red, and Akuryou could see a fang poking out over his lower lip. He was wearing a golden shirt with green trimming. One sleeve was ripped off. His pants were the same golden color, tied at his waist with an orange sash.

"Boy, you throw a mean punch!" the youkai laughed, jumping to his feet. "Now let's see if you can do that again to my face!"

"I'm not a boy," Akuryou hissed, throwing a rock at him.

"Ha!" he dodged easily. "Come on, try—" Akuryou appeared right in front of him and punched him in the face… again.

"You men have such loud mouths," she said.

"Damn, you just broke my nose again!" the youkai cursed, pinching his nose.

"Hn," the assassin turned to leave.

"Wait!" the youkai jumped up hastily, only to land awkwardly and fall on his butt again.

"What?" Akuryou asked exasperatedly. "I'm a little busy here!" She turned around. The youkai was standing very close… too close. He grabbed her arm leaned forward.

"I like strong women," he whispered, grinning.

"Wha—" Akuryou yelped, trying to jump back. The youkai's hand held on.

"My name is Korosu. Can I dissect you?" the youkai asked.

"What!" Akuryou wrested her arm out of the youkai's grasp. "No!"

"Come on… It'll be painless!" he begged, pulling a knife out of the scabbard at his waist.

"No!" the assassin yelled, unnerved. Korosu jumped toward her, only to jump back. Kokoro was clawing at the shocked youkai. Unfortunately, the small dragon looked too cute to be frightening. She opened her mouth and a small "nyar" came out of her mouth.

"Cute," Korosu grinned, petting the small dragon. Kokoro shied away from his hand.

"Stop that," Akuryou snapped, picking Kokoro up by the scruff of her neck and placing her on her other shoulder. "My team is going to be disqualified if I don't get there soon." The assassin walked away. She turned around to see Korosu still following her… "STOP FOLLOWING ME!"

"Not until I get to—" the youkai was cut off by Akuryou's fist, which collided with his face. "STOP BREAKING MY NOSE!" Korosu bellowed with wounded pride.

"THEN STOP FOLLOWING ME!" Akuryou yelled back, storming away.

"Is it a crime to watch the tournament now?"

"Aargh! Fine! Just… Just stop looking at me like that!" Akuryou snapped. The strange youkai was staring at her hungrily.

Ugh… Horrible ending. Writer's block has struck… … --

Yusuke: Akuryou! How could you! Flirting with some crazy youkai while we're fighting!

Akuryou: Shut up.

Yusuke: Whatever. Just do the stupid preview.

Akuryou: …walks away

Yusuke: … Fine! Be that way! Bitch… stalks away

Kurama: … Erm… I'll take over then! Well, looks like Youko and I have got ourselves into a fight with an old friend. This looks like fun. Oh, and what has Akuryou gotten herself into? Doesn't look good. And WHAT have we been doing while she was running away from him? Find out next time, on Yu Yu Hakusho!

Edit- Oops I forgot Koenma was re... um... ... ... re princed? --() Whatever. Basically, Enma Daio let him back in... ...--() whatever i'm prolly confusing you, lol