Yusuke or Yume: Interlude One: Are you scared?

Yume whistled quietly to herself, stepping out of the double doors of her school. She donned her usual black uniform with a red ribbon and stripes unlike the usual blue and yellow.

She sighed. She hadn't seen Kurama or Hiei for quite a few days now, and she was starting to feel a little…lonely.

She rounded the corner of her school entrance and froze dead in her tracks as the Human Mountain That Just Wouldn't Die, a.k.a. Toguro, appeared right before her very eyes. Completely unscathed. "Heigh. Ho. How's it going?" he asked, smirking.

"You! But…you died!" she yelled, pointing a finger at the man in shock.

Toguro ignored her and beckoned towards her with his large hand. "Come with me. We need to talk."

Yume, against all better judgment and the little voice in her head screaming 'DON'T DO IT, DUMBASS!', the Spirit Detective followed the huge demon.

Toguro led her to an almost-finished building, thankfully deserted for the day.

Toguro stood against the sunset, so that Yume wouldn't be blinded by the sunlight.

"Our first encounter…was not on the up-and-up." Toguro began, noting how she shook with fear, eyes aflame. "Thankfully, that is over and done with. Now, I'd like to discuss something personal. A secret between fighters, you might say."

Yume scoffed. "You got a point? Get to it."

Toguro eyed the young girl…her entire body was shaking. "Heh. Are you scared of me?"

"Hah!" she laughed harshly. "Don't kid yourself!"

"Tough little girl, huh? Well…your instincts know otherwise." He ripped off his cloak and summoned up his aura. "If you could learn one thing, learn to recognize danger. You are strong, and you'll get stronger. That's why I thought I'd show you…THE REAL ME. HAAAAAAAAH!" He concentrated, building up muscle mass until he was nearly twice his normal size. "It's all about muscle mass. In our fight, I was probably about 20."

Yume's eyes were the size of dinner plates, not able to stop herself from shivering and sweating.

Toguro straightened himself up and smirked. "I'm now up to about 60. I could level this building in three minutes. Wanna see?"

He suddenly disappeared from her line of vision and she gasped, trying to search for him with her limited eye sight.

Toguro appeared behind her. Without waiting for her to react, he started to talk. "In two months a tournament will be held. Wealthy humans who get their power from the dark world sponsor teams of five demons, the strongest and the most skilled. The humans do it for money and thrills. We demons do it for blood and pleasure. I extend to you and Kuwabara an invitation to compete. Refuse, and I will kill you right now. Get in shape. Your lives depend on it…as you will be fighting to the death." He finally left and Yume collapsed to the floor, trying her hardest to hold up her weight on her hands and knees alone.

You idiot! She screamed at herself. You were so fucking scared of him you couldn't even fucking move! "You IDIOT!" she finally screamed aloud to the empty night, not noticing Kurama and Hiei on a rooftop only three buildings down. "He's gonna kick your fucking ass!"

Toguro smirked as he heard her outburst and stared up at the two demons looking down upon him. "Ah, I see by the looks on your dismal faces that you have been invited to the tournament as well. On Urameshi's team, no doubt. Remember, those who side with humans gain no mercy."

Kurama scoffed. "Mercy has never been a variable of the bloody equations of the Dark Tournament."

Toguro shook his head. "Either way, you'll need to find yourself a fifth fighter. For your sakes, I hope you can find someone of at least meager talent."

The demon left, leaving the two pseudo-detectives in his wake.

"What is our chance?" Kurama asked his silent companion.

Hiei walked away. "Don't ask."

(Time Skip)

Genkai turned away from her television to stare at the teenage female standing on her doorstep, eyes narrowed in concentration. "Well you're back. Finally. To what do I owe this honor?"

Yume wasn't in the mood for being playful. "I need you to train me again. I need to get stronger. I have two months and that's it."

"So I see you're finally going to get serious. Even after six months of my training before. This time I won't go easy. You can't slack off like you did before."

Yume nodded. "I swear it's different this time. I'm going to give it my all."

Genkai stood, putting down her cup of tea. "Get ready for another session of Genkai Boot Camp. This time you're going to master all of what I taught you last time within 1/3 of the time limit. Let's see if you can keep up, dimwit."

See you in two months…

A/N: There. Sorry for the short chapter. But that ends the 'Missions' section of the story. Next comes 'Tournament Battle'. I'm breaking this story into different sections. Kind of like a REALLY LONG novel. I hope you guys like fights. Cause I'm working on my fight scenes. The Dark Tournament is the one that I really paid attention to. But I do need someone to help me out once in a while. If someone out there is confident enough that they know EVERYTHING about the Dark Tournament, then PLEASE give me your e-mail address in a review or e-mail about you. I'll ask for your help once in a while.

Thanks and I'll update again as soon as I can.