Addressing the issue of using dubbed spellings: I know most people here use the JV spellings, to tell the truth, more often than not, so do I. I'm writingall my stories in the EV so thatthey'll be reader-friendly for the people who only got to watch the Cartoon Network versions of the show. If you pay close attention though, you'll find info that came from the JV (as soon as I get the DVDs I watch both versions then head for Yama's notebook.) Example: Chapter 1, the guys worrying about Spirit World catching them. On the JV, Genkai tells Kurama that at this rate, Spirit World will find out about them.

If there's ever anything that you're not entirely sure where I got it from, the JV or Shonen Jump is probably where, just in case anyone gets confused. Now, I'll shut up and let you read.

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Kurama's eyes shot open.

"That smell..."

The aroma that had awakened him most certainly belonged to another demon. Some sort of beast, most likely of the lower class. This creature had most certainly just entered the Living World, since the scent of the Demon World was still pungent enough to wake Kurama from this great a distance.

'At least 5 miles away. It seems he is traveling rather slow...'

Kurama made haste to get out of bed and dressed. On his way out the door he left a note for his mother, saying that since this was his day off, he was going to run some errands for Yusuke.

Through the trees he leapt, until he came across the creature that he had sensed. An ugly beast at least 8 feet tall, with two rows of teeth snarled at him.

"So you're the one they call Kurama? Thought the legendary bandit would be taller," the creature laughed.

"Why do you seek me?"

"Sorry, nothin' personal, but there's some folks that don't want you in this tournament. I'm doin 'em a little favor!"

The beast began to run at Kurama, claws spread in front of him, meaning to shred him.

"You shouldn't have come here."

A burst of red petals surrounded the redheaded teen.

"What? Think I'm afraid of a few flowe-" The beast's last words. He ran right into the cloud of sharp petals surrounding Kurama, and was sliced in more places than anyone could have counted. He fell at Kurama's feet.

'The tournament is still quite some time away, and already they're getting desperate...'

This fight was over. Might as well go to Genkai's and see how training was going for his six demon friends.

'Their day should begin shortly. Perhaps I can even get some time to practice my new techniques.'

Kurama had been working for his stepfather and rarely had time to train as he knew he should these days. He had decided that since today was his day off, he should take full advantage of it.

Upon arriving at Genkai's, he saw that his pals had not only started training early, they were doing so right outside Genkai's temple. Even more surprising, Botan and Yukina were standing beside of Genkai, watching the fighters spar.

"Genkai, I thought they were worried about being caught outside of their own world. Why are they training here, where anyone could find them?"

"They're all wearing Spirit Cuffs, and they promised to hold back as much energy as they could. If I see one of them hamming it up out there, I'm shipping all their asses back to the rock."

"I see."

One of the fighters was certainly hamming it up, though he was being careful not to let his energy get out of control. Jin had been showing off all morning. He'd been doing some of the stupidest moves the rest of the group had ever seen, but so far, he'd landed every attack. Touya had never accused him of being sane, but today he seemed ready for the psych ward. This would have concerned him, but he had his theory about why Jin was in this rare form.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Shishi asked after their bout had finished. Jin had taken all his attacks head on, it looked like he wasn't even trying to dodge. Jin just laughed at these questions. He'd been laughing a lot more than usual today. Besides that, his ears had been wiggling since they'd agreed to come here.

"He has his reasons," Touya answered, casting an all-knowing grin at Jin.

"Whatcha gettin' at?" Jin asked between giggles.

"Puh-lease. If your ears do any more wiggling, you're going to take flight without the use of your wind powers. There's only one thing that you get that excited over."

"Ye got me!" he replied, before bursting into laughter once more.

"Well, someone please inform the rest of us. Why is he fighting completely kamikaze?" Suzuka inquired.

"Cuz the chicks dig it!" They said in unison. This made Jin start laughing hysterically again as Touya rolled his eyes. He'd heard that line enough from Jin. Females were going to be the death of him one day...

The crew turned to look at Botan and Yukina. They'd been outside watching the whole time, and they were looking pretty worried. The boys realized that was exactly what Jin had been aiming for. Touya didn't mind the attention he was getting, but he wasn't about to lose his focus to get it. Business, then pleasure. Work before play. He'd followed these all his life, why stop now?

A couple more hours into training, Touya was winning over Suzuka, or so it seemed. He prepared his signature move, ready to take the victory.

"SHARDS OF WINTER!"

The bullets sprayed at Suzuka. This was it!

"REFLECTION!"

Suzuka revealed one of his thousand tricks, an energy wall that sent attacks flying back at their owner. Touya tried to dodge, missing most of the ice, but one razor sharp piece of ice caught him just below the shoulder, cutting him deeply.

"Oh!" Yukina gasped. The match was officially over. Suzuka had won. Touya surveyed his wound. He was so absorbed with the pain and trying to figure out it's real severity, that he didn't notice Yukina until she touched his other shoulder. She and Botan had come to check on him.

"Oh my!" she she said, seeing the amount of blood flowing down Touya's right arm. "That looks terrible! I'm quite skilled with healing powers. Let me help you." Touya nodded, still keeping his poker face. He couldn't let this girl see how bad he was hurting. As she worked, Touya began to think. That look on her face, how fast she'd rushed to help him. Could Jin be right?

"There. That shoulddo until we can get that properly bandaged."

The bleeding had stopped. Good enough for the ninja. He'd been through worse.

"I'll be fine. I'll tend to it when we've finished training."

"But it looks pretty bad. Maybe you should take a rest and nurse it now. I'd hate to see it worsen."

'She's really worried. It looks as if Jin actually knew what he was talking about for a change' "Trust me, I've had injuries far more severe than this. I'm good to go." The macho act, something most fighters had in common.

"Well... I ... suppose. If you change your mind... or if you need any help... please, tell me." With that, the ice maiden turned and began walking back to the deck built around the temple.

"Ye know, you gotta be the dumbest, smart guy I've ever had the pleasure o' meetin'."

"What?"

Jin rolled his eyes and elbowed Touya.

"MILK it ye moron!"

Touya looked genuinely confused. He'd never in his life admitted to being hurt, let alone tried to "milk it" as Jin had said. For some reason though, he thought that he might just give it a try.

"Yukina!"

"Yes?" she said as she stopped and turned to face her now approaching fellow ice apparition.

"On second thought, I'm going to take you up on that offer."

"You are?" she said as a smile formed.

"Well, um, with the tournament so soon, I can't afford to risk serious injury. I'll need all my strength to perform at my best." 'Yeah, that sounded good. I didn't have to sound weak, yet, I still have her attention. Jin should be taking notes!'

"Atta boy, Toy!" Jin's ears were still flapping hard enough to nearly lift him off the ground.

"What? You're playing match maker now?" Shishi asked with some amusement.

"No need. Taught 'im everything he knows!" he chuckled.

"I bet!" Rinku remarked.

Jin paid the boy no mind, he was looking elsewhere. Right beside Yukina and Touya, Botan stood hunched over, trying to assist in treating Touya's arm. Just as he was getting ready to make his move, he noticed someone coming up the steps to Genkai's.

Kuwabara!

He was headed straight for Yukina, and he had a rather puzzled look on his face when he saw the guy sitting next to her. A little too close for comfort apparently, because puzzled quickly turned to angry. Jin remembered hearing how jealous Kuwabara was. This wasn't good.

'Think fast, Jin!'

Kuwabara was getting closer and closer to Yukina.

"Hey Kuwa!"

The carrot top turned his head to see Jin and the others standing around.

"What?"

"Wantin' a word with ye's all."

"It'll have to wait! I've gotta handle something right now!" he shouted, looking back to Touya.

"It'll only take a second outta yer busy day! You can spare as much, surely!" Jin shouted back, crossing his arms across his chest and looking a little aggravated.

"I told you, I'm in a hurry!"

"Fine. Guess ye don't wanna know when people are sayin' ye fight like a school-girl anyways."

"WHAT? WHO SAID THAT?"

Kuwabara charged over to the group of demons.

"Rinku."

"What? I didn't say -"

"Aw, c'mon kiddo, no time to gettin' all bashful."

"But I di-"

"WHAT? That little brat called me a school girl?"

"I didn-"

"Didn't call ye a school girl," Jin finished for Rinku, "says ye fight like one. Almost sent ye a pot o' pansies after yer match against him."

"Why you little runt! I'd pound you if I had the time!"

"RUNT?" Rinku was mad... "If you had the time? More like if you had the BALLS!"

"WHAT? THAT'S IT SHRIMP! YOU AND ME! RIGHT NOW!"

"FINE!"

Rinku and Kuwabara were still trash talking as Suzuka, Shishi and Chu tried to hold them back. If Rinku took him on right now, they'd definitely be caught, and besides, killing humans was a quick way to earn a criminal record. They didn't much care what happened to the human, but they kind of liked having Rinku around. He was easy to blame when something got broke.

'That'll keep Romeo tied up for a while. Won't be holdin' the lil lad back long, though... Hope that human's been hittin' the gym half as much as the tyke. Now, on to next job.'

Botan was still standing next to the two ice demons, who were looking a little curious about all the commotion. At least, Botan and Yukina were looking curious. Touya looked as if he might know what events had transpired. He reverted his full attention to Yukina.

'Oh, wantin' to forget about yer ole buddy Jin 'ey?'

Jin floated up to the edge of the steps, about 15 feet from where the 3 were sitting.

AHEM

Touya looked up to see Jin, arms folded, floating not too far away.Jin glanced at Botan, then back to him. Touya knew this signal. Time to repay a favor...

Jin saw Touya start talking to Botan. He couldn't hear what was being said, not over all the racket Rinku and Kuwabara were making, but he had a pretty good idea.

'Been many-a-moon since we played the ol' tag team on the lassies, it has.'

Touya looked up at Botan, who was still engulfed in the small riot about 30 yards away.

'Let's see. How do I get them alone? Got it!'

"It's a shame Jin hasn't been feeling better."

"Hmm?" Botan asked, coming back to reality.

"Oh, is he ill?" inquired the warm-hearted ice maiden, still tending to his arm.

"No, at least, not physically." He tried to look as sad as he could. They were both hooked, time to reel them in. "Jin's been depressed since we arrived. You see, Jin is the wind master, and just like the wind, he needs to be free. When he is flying, he feels free. To him, there is no greater joy, but here, he hasn't been able to for fear of being spotted by humans. He's felt as if he were trapped in a cage. The cave has been a prison to him. I feel his very soul is wounded. He's been like a brother to me since we were children. It truly pains me to see him this way." 'That should work...'

"Oh, that's so sad. I never realized that flying meant so much to him," Botan replied, casting pitiful eyes at poor Jin. Jin was trying hard not to sneak a glance right now, knowing she might catch him.

"Yes, it's a shame that he can't fly here. We know that here, in these mountains, there must be at least a few places he could, but, he is unable to find them without risking our safety. If only there was someone else around who'd flown in this area before..."

"There is!" Botan began to giggle.

'Remember to look surprised by that answer...' "Really?"

"I fly here on my oar all the time! I could show him the exact route!" She continued her smiling and giggling, Touya continued his act...

"Oh, you could? He would be thrilled! Thank you. I'm sure nothing would make him happier." 'There you go, Jin. Served on a silver platter.'

'Uh-oh. This does not look good. These girls don't see what's happening here. I think I do...,' Kurama thought to himself. Botan and Yukina had no idea what they were getting into.

Next chapter: Yukina is naive, Touya is smooth. This should be interesting. Then there's Jin and Botan getting their "alone time", plus, that sly old fox has figured this out. We're starting to get to thegood part! (Varied moans, groans and ABOUT DAMN TIMEs from the crowd.)

Alright folks, as always, whatcha think so far? Oh no! I said whatcha... I'm learning JIN-SPEAK!