---Road to an Eternity of Wars---
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho and anything else that seems related to any other copyright item/game.
So…I'm plenty tired. I should be getting to sleep, but then again, I should also be updating, SO, I'll just give up a few hours of sleep for this. Lol
Enjoy, hopefully!
OK! I'm really starting to get concerned. Is this story ok, is Yukina too…not naive? Because she has a KILLING sword! I'll continue on with the story anyways, hope you're ok with the whole Yukina deal…
Chapter 10: Face the Battles Ahead
The Dark Tournament Arena…
"That was a great play!" Koto announced, "And now for the next match!"
Juri continued for her, "From Team Higurashi, we have Nano and Kio! And from Team Riko, we have Cassidy and Koshii!"
The 4 gracefully jumped into the arena, aside from Koshii, who was still a little shaken up from his near-death experience.
"BEGIN!"
"Listen here" Cassidy growled, "I'll just get straight to the point. Less chit-chat, more blood"
Koshii nodded his head in agreement.
"Ok then, let's see. Since you're all going to die now, I'll just go straight to the point. I use wires and they can slice into things, just like ningen kitchen knives" Cassidy smirked.
"Less chit-chat, more blood" Keiko mocked.
The girl growled and drew out rolls of wires, jumping towards Keiko.
She blocked with her Zabato, but Cassidy waved her arm around a little and the wires bound itself around her large blade, holding it in place. The oil that kept the wires from rusting seeped quickly into her cloak, leaving a putrid, sickening odor. The rest of the excess oil dripped slowly onto the ground beneath her.
Koto looked at the scene, "And it looks like Kio's in some trouble!"
Botan ran towards Keiko to help her out, only to be stopped by a blood red sword, courtesy of Koshii, making her unable to help her friend. She blocked the blade with a metal knuckle from her glove. Blasting some energy into it, Botan fully parried his katana with the blades attached to her glove.
After a couple battles of only Keiko trying to free herself with no success and Cassidy was advancing on her.
Botan finally tired Koshii out and sadly, he met his end. She grimaced and scrunched her nose as some blood splotched itself onto her leg. Botan wiped it off in disgust and turned to help Keiko.
Juri smiled, "Team Higurashi has taken the upper hand in this battle!"
"Kio!" She shouted out, walking towards the tangled girl.
"Nano, I could use some help here!" Keiko growled, she didn't like feeling helpless.
When attacking Cassidy didn't help, Botan lit up with an idea.
She dove under Keiko and rolled, submerging her right hand blade into the oil on the ground. Getting back up, Botan waited for no reaction before she lurched back at the wires and slashed them with her oily blade. A horrendously loud screeching sound filled the stadium as youkai and others alike covered their ears.
Cassidy gave the deity a questioning look before the wire burst into flames. You know, just like the same reaction you would get with gasoline. Friction and sparks lit the oil and thus, the product of this intellectual thinking.
Keiko finally caught onto her plans. Struggling with the wires a bit, she managed to reach her last dagger in her packet and threw it precisely towards the wire. The wind whistled against it and the dagger flew by, embedding itself on the other wall of the arena.
Cassidy smirked, "You missed"
Keiko looked up at her, smirking, "Think again"
Cassidy felt a burning sensation in her fingertips and looked down in horror as the fire rapidly traveled up the thin metal and caught onto her clothing. Botan splashed some drops of extra oil onto her and the flames rose higher. She screamed. The purpose of the dagger wasn't to hit her. It was to direct wind towards herself. A smart move.
Everyone watched in both horror and awe as she was burned to ashes and scattered amongst the lands.
"Uhh…and the winner of this match today is Team Higurashi!" Juri cried out.
Roaring in happiness, the audience stayed a little to watch Team Higurashi leave, then dispersed themselves. Team Riko was no more.
Somewhere in the Stands…
The spirit detective group sat down with some others accompanying them in the only remaining seats in the stands.
Yusuke has tried to get them into a restricted spot, but instead was deflected off a barrier. Genkai couldn't even bring it down. But there were more than 12 seats in that area and they were in the best condition throughout the stadium, complete with a fridge, pillows, blankets and a TV screen with a remote control to get closer to the battles. The chairs were fleece beanbag chairs and carpeting was laid out. There was even a mini-kitchen of sorts in the corner. They could only dream to get into that area.
"Drat!" Koenma muttered, "The only seats left and the speakers are broken!"
It was true, some of the sound systems that were designed to hear the battles were broken due to some youkai.
"Hey! It's those cloaked guys from yesterday!" Kuwabara cried out, pointing an accusing finger at the black people standing at the end of the battle arena.
Shizuru elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow!"
"What makes you think that their guys?"
"Woman can't fight! They aren't allowed to!"
Shizuru just scowled and started a conversation with Atsuko, who has also come to watch their team fight.
((I think she was there during the last dark tournament so…))
"So, they're Team Higurashi…" Kurama commented.
"Rings a bell…" Yusuke claimed thoughtfully, "Higurashi…now where have I heard that before…"
"You must be delusional" Kuwabara exclaimed without a second thought.
Yusuke bonked him on the head.
"OW! Urameshi! What was that for?"
"Shut up!" Genkai hissed in irritation, "The match is starting and I can't hear any better without the speakers and you yelling!"
"Pfft! Old hag…" Yusuke complained, but shut up anyways along with Kuwabara. Hiei snorted at this making him glare.
Resuming to watch the match, the announcer shouted 'begin' and the match started.
They couldn't hear any of the speech, but they could hear the violent coughing. The group sweat dropped at this.
Yusuke got frustrated and violently punched the speaker that was broken.
"…That evil laugh is really starting to piss me off. Especially since you can't do it right…"
Genkai, Shizuru, and the others stared at Yusuke, who had somehow managed to get the speakers to work momentarily by punching it.
Yusuke and Kuwabara burst into laughter at this phrase, while Koenma and Kurama lightly chucked and Hiei, Atsuko, Shizuru and Genkai smirked.
After a while, Genkai remarked, "For once, Yusuke might be smart…" she trailed off, silently explaining my testing a heavy punch to the sound device.
"…Great, just what we need, psychotic twins…"
Yusuke and Kuwabara snickered.
"What was that?" Kurama questioned.
"They're up against crazy twins" Yusuke laughed.
"Oh"
Hiei looked at the stadium irritably, 'How are they handling such annoying youkai?'
"And the winner of this match today is Team Higurashi!"
The crowd hooted and clapped, seemingly happy with the result.
"Are they human?" Kuwabara asked, referring to Team Higurashi.
"I don't know, for certain, 'Yuki' is an ice maiden though" Hiei remarked, instantly wondering how Yukina was doing in that place they mentioned in the note. He became a little bit worried because he hadn't heard from her for a while.
"It's time for you to fight" Koenma reminded them.
"Yes, of course. We have to do everything you say" Genkai answered sarcastically, dragging the 4 boys behind her.
"Err..." Koenma trailed off speechlessly.
Somewhere Else in the Stands…
Kagome opened up the barrier to the 'restricted area'.
"Wow" Yukina was awed, "You managed to do this?"
"Yeah, and it was pretty easy too!"
"Thanks a lot" Sango replied, grabbing a coke from the fridge and plopping herself down onto a white beanbag, turning on the volume to the TV, which was now showing Juri announcing the two teams.
"This match is Team Kari vs. Team Urameshi!"
"I'm pretty excited to see how my cousin and everyone else fights" Kagome smirked.
Botan and Keiko got their selves seated with Sango and Yukina while Kagome warmed up some noodles in the microwave.
Shouts were heard from the crowd to their amusement, "Kurama and Hiei you traitors! You're going down in this tournament Team Urameshi!"
"BEGIN!"
Yusuke stepped into the ring against an ugly thunder youkai.
"Prepare to die!" the…thing cried out.
Yusuke snorted and positioned his spirit gun, "I hear that too much"
"SPIRIT GUN!" A blast of blue light erupted from his finger and hit the youkai square on the chest, making it turn to dust, but not before releasing a blast of thunder at him.
Yusuke dodged and it missed by half a meter, creating static in his hair. Yusuke scowled at muttered something about hair-do-ruining-demons.
Kagome laughed at this, "I should have known that Yusuke would always act the same, no matter if he's fighting youkai or not"
Keiko turned to Kagome, "He's always been like this?"
"Forever…"
She scowled, "How about perverted habits?" Keiko asked, tucking her skirt in even though you couldn't see it under the black cloak.
Botan turned to listen to the conversation, "Yeah"
Kagome quirked an eyebrow, "He does…?"
"Yes"
"No…I suppose I'll have to scold him on that later" she smirked, making everyone else chuckle at his misfortune.
By the time they turned back to the fight, Kuwabara had finished off a demon with his spirit sword.
"This is interesting…I can't wait to fight them, I want to know what it feels like to vs. the oaf," Sango laughed.
"Kazuma?"
"You could say that…" she replied, making Yukina giggle.
Kurama stepped into the ring, against a water youkai.
"Rose whip!" the fox shouted, taking out a rose. When the stadium started flooding from the bottom up, the teams started freaking out until they saw that Kurama just smirked, "Plants drink water…" and immediately absorbed the water rising in the stadium. With a flick of his whip, the youkai was dead.
"That was smart" Kagome remarked.
Botan smirked at her, "You're only saying that because you LIKE him!"
She flushed in both embarrassment and anger, "I don't!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Shhh! The next match is starting!" Keiko hissed, smirking.
Genkai then fought, first landing a series of punches to the guy's face making him stumble back several steps. It then ended quickly when a blast of ki was directed at him…
"She seems like a very formidable foe" Sango commented.
"She is, believe me" Botan informed the team.
"I've seen her fight, she is very strong" Keiko put in.
Yukina nodded her head in agreement.
Eh…there's not much to say about Hiei's match, other than the fact that his opponent now lies in pieces on the floor…
"That was a good match" Sango commented.
"I agree. The team seemed to handle it well," Yukina added in.
"Do you know who we have to fight tomorrow?" Botan asked.
Kagome smirked, "Yusuke's team"
"Really?"
"Yeah. We have to be prepared"
"Of course" Keiko told them.
"We have to get some rest for tomorrow's match" Kagome reminded them while they walked to the hotel.
"Yeah"
They then went to bed, preparing for what was to come for the next day.
Yu Yu Gang POV…
"The great Kuwabara always defeats his enemies!" he exclaimed randomly.
Yusuke cocked his head, "Ya sure about that?"
"Uh…"
Genkai and Kurama just shook their heads.
"What's tomorrow's match?" Hiei asked.
"I believe it's the Team Higurashi we saw today," Kurama informed him.
"I can't fight a girl!" Kuwabara cried out.
"Hn. Well you better change that if you want to live"
"…"
Somehow, just by that, they got into an argument.
"Stop your pathetic bickering" Genkai hissed, kicking Kuwabara lightly.
"OW!"
"She hardly even kicked!" Yusuke burst out laughing.
"Stupid dimwit! Don't make me slap you upside the head!"
He kept on laughing.
SLAP
"OW!"
"Erm…" Kurama looked at the group hesitantly, a sweat drop forming at the back of his head, "I believe it would be better if our team members were fit to fight tomorrow" he noted, staring at the two figures sprawled on the ground.
"He's right. I don't want a bunch of worthless weaklings fighting on the team tomorrow" Hiei smirked.
"HEY!"
But he had gone back to the hotel before anybody could reply to that.
The Next Day, Inside The Hotel, 57th Floor…
"Hey guys, are you ready?" Yukina asked, attaching her large, curvy sword onto her back.
"Yeah!" they chorused.
Kagome wound her thin, bendable sword around her waist; carefully making sure that the metal stomach guard was tight fitting. Sango polished her pole a bit before sliding it into its fabric case and slinging it over her shoulder. Botan blew on her metal gloves and checked to make sure it was tightly on and working correctly. While Keiko finished rubbing a dirty spot on her Zabato and slid it in its fabric sheath, supporting it between her hand and shoulder. After that, they slid on their cloaks.
Secretly, Kagome found a quarter on the table and picked it up, shrugging. Discreetly, she slid the mirror-like surfaced coin into her cloak for future use.
"Then let's go"
Inside the Hotel, 21st Floor…
Kuwabara lay halfway off the bed, drooling and muttering something about Yukina and kitties.
Growling Hiei kicked him awake, "Get up! The match is starting in 10 minutes and you're sleeping here like a spoiled fool!"
Kuwabara snorted and rolled over and completely off the bed, landing on the ground with a sickening thump.
In around 5 minutes, they 5 team members were ready, Yusuke and Kuwabara arguing, Genkai checking and securing her outfit, Kurama lost in deep thought and Hiei standing there with a very irritated look on his face.
"Are you all prepared?" Kurama snapped out of his train of thought and asked. Hiei and Genkai nodded and Yusuke and Kuwabara quickly dispersed their dispute and took lead to the battle dome.
"Let's get going before we're late then"
The Dark Tournament Battle Arena...
The two teams stepped into the stadium and 'glared' at each other. You couldn't really tell what was inside that hood of theirs.
"First up, we have Kuwabara from Team Urameshi vs.…"
Sango stepped into the rink, smirking. You couldn't see it, but could absolutely feel it radiating off of her.
"Sano from Team Higurashi! You all know the rules by now, BEGIN!"
Kuwabara started off with a series of punches aimed at Sango's stomach and head, which she seemed to dodge effortlessly. Smirking again, Sango took out a leaf.
Team Higurashi gasped and Team Urameshi looked over as to see what disturbed them.
"Where'd she get that? It's Shippo's!" Kagome laughed.
"Well, it could sure come in handy…" Botan replied.
The boys turned back to the match to see what the girls meant.
Sango shouted, "Image!" and thrust the leaf into the air until it burst into a puff of smoke.
Kurama raised an eyebrow. Kitsune transformation. 'So, Shippo was a illusion kitsune, very interesting…'
As the smoke cleared, you could make out the faint outline of a small, furry creature in the middle of the battlefield.
Meow.
Kuwabara froze and Team Higurashi stifled a giggle.
Meow.
"KITTY!" Kuwabara forgot all about what he was supposed to be doing in the first place and lunged at the cat.
"How did they know…?" Yusuke asked, flustered that the match sort of ended just by seeing a cat that wasn't even REAL!
'Don't hurt him too bad…' A worried Yukina telepathically told Sango. Sango gave a secret smile.
'Don't worry about it'
As the big oaf came up to cuddle the 'kitten', he fell right through the illusion and without a second wasted, Sango swooped down and hit the pressure point in his neck.
Juri blinked once. Twice, "Erm…and the winner of this match is Sano!"
Team Urameshi gave a sigh of relief that Kuwabara wasn't really hurt in any way except for a few scratches and bruises. Walking into the middle of the arena, Yusuke picked Kuwabara up and placed him safely on the side.
"Next up, Nano vs. Hiei!"
Botan knew Hiei was a formidable foe, so she immediately eyed him quickly with the skills she was taught and blasted energy into her gloves and the blades stuck out immediately.
Hiei drew his sword and slashed at Botan, she parried, but slid back by the force of it. Her shoes dug desperately into the cement ((Is it? Oh well…)) to try and stand her ground, instead, she was shoved onto her back and slid across the battle floor.
Shocked, Botan swiveled and rolled around just in time to dodge Hiei's sword embedded into the ground. It ripped into her cloak, but only showed a flash of pink fabric and then it was covered.
Botan growled and attached again, this time to get slashed on the shoulder.
"Nano!" the spirit heard her teammates cry out. She couldn't give up now.
They continued their fight in the air, receiving several scratches just like Hiei. This went on for a good 15 minutes until they began to tire out.
Then she got a blow to her ribcage and fell back onto the ground.
Botan struggled to balance herself on her elbows, trying to stand up, but she was getting a tad bit dizzy from the blood loss. It took her a moment to realize that she probably lost already, seeing that it felt like Botan was lying on the ground for hours. Then, using up the last of her energy, she fainted.
"NANO!" Team Higurashi rushed up to their unconscious team member and checked for a pulse. Relieved, Keiko carried her off to Yukina, who could hopefully heal some of the serious wounds so she could be more comfortable.
"And the winner of that match is Hiei from Team Urameshi!"
Kagome turned around, worried to take a glance at Botan when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a soft, smooth voice, "Don't worry miss. I think she'll be alright"
With the swish of her cloak, Kagome turned around to come face to face with Kurama.
"Thanks" she whispered. It took all her self-restraint just to blabber out everything they were hiding.
Turning around she shouted to the others, "I want to take on Yusuke" she smirked, then added in telepathy, 'I want to see up close and personal, just how well my cousin is'
The others nodded in understanding.
"And now, we have Yusuke from Team Urameshi against Kage from Team Higurashi!"
Yusuke smirked arrogantly, making Kagome quirk an eyebrow. She never knew that her cousin was such an…egotistical jerk around strangers. She snorted. Whatever. She'd need to change that later.
Replying to his silent challenge, Kagome unsheathed her twin swords and they began circling each other. Yusuke with fists, Kagome with swords.
Ok there! Hopefully, this was a good chapter. Read and review onegai!
Sayonara,
Tenshi-Battosai