---Road to an Eternity of Wars---
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.
I'm sorry I couldn't get this chapter out any earlier. When it came to writing this chapter, I started writing and then stopped. I noticed that I couldn't find my planning book. So I looked all over for it and tried writing without it. I failed badly. So it took a couple days to find it, and then when I finally did, I started writing again.
I find that this story is getting very long, what do you think? Ands in my opinion, it seems to be getting a bit different every chapter. I'm starting to forget what happened at the beginning and I don't have the time to read it over again. No!
Chapter 25: Where Paths CrossOverall POV…
There they were.
Two teams that would consider themselves as close friends met at the opposite ends of the arena, crowd cheering them on, both confident.
Team Higurashi: Yukina, Keiko, Botan, Sango, Kagome.
Team Urameshi: Genkai, Kuwabara, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama.
They all looked quite confident, though, deep inside, there were twisted minds filled with anxiety, fear, insecurity, and regret.
"Welcome to the second Dark Tournament FINALS!" Koto shouted out grandly to the crowd, waving an arm around for an effect, "The moment you've all been waiting for, Team Urameshi verses Team Higurashi!"
The crowd let out a deafening roar, pumping their fists and stomping their feet. Some were beginning to bet on a winner, while some stared at the finalists in distaste.
Humans. All humans, except for the very few demons among the two teams that supposedly 'betrayed' the demon world.
Juri grinned snatching the microphone away, "We'll roll for the first match!"
The two teams locked eyes, a half glaring and hopeful look on their face.
'Me first' Botan took a deep breath, making an attempt to appear somewhat confident, 'I just want to get this thing over with'
'Who's it going to be?' Genkai envisioned the ivory blocks that were about the roll and hoped it would benefit their team in some way, no matter what little detail.
They wouldn't completely ignore each other, no; not the two teams, but they might keep their distance a bit throughout the match.
Two groups of friends turned against each other in a death match, each having that gut feeling to forfeit so nobody would have to verse each other.
They wanted to puke.
"Who's going to throw the dice?" Juri questioned, beginning to hand the set of die with their names carved into it out, "Each team will roll the other's dice, just to be sure that nobody's using any tricks"
Sighing, Keiko took one, Kuwabara taking the other.
Keiko rolled, the die slowing down to a stop.
Hiei.
The apparition made no movement to acknowledge that he had just been drawn, but Kurama knew he was now pondering on it.
Everybody held their breath as the last die hit the ground.
Kuwabara's die kept rolling a little until it came to a stop.
Botan let out a sigh of disappointment. Oh well. Some other time.
Yukina had to go up against his brother.
Somehow, instinct told the crowd and the rest of the team that this match would be fierce, and interesting.
"Let the match begin!" Koto shouted into the microphone, backing away from the arena before she would get caught in the crossfire that would come up soon.
Yusuke and Kagome noted that the announcers seemed a bit perkier than usual, greatly disturbing the two captains because they didn't feel perky at all.
The two demons stepped in and just stared at each other for the first few moments, the crowd beginning to mutter insults when they found that nothing was really happening.
But then, Yukina's lips grew into a thin line, and her eyes became bolder, her fists clenching to relax her.
That was when the first move was made.
Yukina drew her long sword, the blade flashing against the light, and charged forward.
Making a slash that Hiei evaded, he drew his own and thrust it forward, causing the ice maiden to jump back.
Their battle was equivalent to a heated dance.
It seemed as their differences were actually not completely expressed, and they had decided to finish it all off here.
The crowd had quieted down a while back, mesmerized by this display.
But maybe, all of this was just deceiving.
All these thoughts and perceptions were just all a lie.
For they were silent, no spec of emotion splayed out on their faces.
'You never told me' Yukina bit out.
'I never felt that it was important' Hiei calmly responded, looking Yukina in the eye.
They were speaking in their minds, Hiei and Yukina conversing while a heated battle raged on physically.
'It was important!' The ice maiden struck back with harder force.
'Not on my part' He blocked the hard blow and kicked her back with his foot.
Something sparked in Yukina's eyes as she stood back up, 'But did you ever think of me?'
Every thought was met with an even harder blow, but the two didn't seem to notice.
'Why not? I thought of you everyday. Wasn't hard to remember' Hiei inwardly smirked, for some odd reason.
This time, Yukina did glare at her brother, 'Stop mocking me'
'Make me'
"Why not?" Yukina ground out between clenched teeth, finally saying something out loud.
The crowd didn't seem to understand what was going on. The two acted like a whole conversation had been spoken; yet only two words were uttered out loud.
"Just try" Hiei smirked this time, parrying another blow and lunging forward for a hit.
Yukina twisted her arm to block that one, but lost her grip on the sword as it slipped out of her hands.
Hiei easily kicked the fallen blade on the ground, now staring at his sister in silence.
Her sword had flew back just like in the last match, 'I had never really practiced that much on the normal sword anyways' She encouraged to herself, 'I'll just use another weapon'
This was a thought that the apparition did not hear.
Another challenge sparked, but Yukina surprised him and the rest of her team by drawing another weapon.
------
"She hasn't used that one during the tournament yet" Sango noted, "She always used her normal one"
"I'm curious to see how she battles with it rather than training" Botan nodded agreeably.
"I'm think she'll do fine"
Kagome nodded too, "Yeah, Keiko's probably right. She'll most likely do fine. The only thing that unnerves me about that sword is the sheer similarity between it and Jakotsu's from the Band of Seven"
After staring at it for a while, Sango's eyes widened, "Don't remind me"
The two laughed.
------
Across the arena, Kurama stared at Kagome, "I wonder what they're talking about"
"Yeah" Kuwabara agreed.
"I want to see what the strange weapons the team carries do" Genkai remarked, taking a long glance at the many weapons Team Higurashi owned, "We've seen a few, but not all of them"
"We'll have to be careful then" Kurama finished off.
"Who do you think is going to win?" Yusuke stared at the battle in interest, watching a brother and sister battle it off.
"No idea" Kuwabara answered for the rest of the team.
"Who do you hope is going to win?"
Kurama regarded Yusuke with a pointed look, "Don't even ask that question. Don't even think of asking that question"
Yusuke held his hands up in a surrendering matter.
------
'Another weapon?' Hiei inwardly raised an eyebrow. He shifted into a more complex and defensive stance, eyeing the new weapon warily.
It was more curved and long than the normal sword, he noted, but there must be some type of trick to it for her to draw it secondly like that. Why not draw the better sword first?
Of course, she was probably hiding something about it.
He would have to discover that later as the battle grew longer.
Yukina's eyes now had a fierce gleam in them; matching Hiei's calm and collected façade, "Again" she stated, refusing to give up.
Hiei understood the meaning of this one word and was now ready for any attack.
There were many weapons on the ice maiden.
He could see the sword lying haphazardly a couple feet away, and the one she held in her hands at the moment. Not only that, he could spot a staff somehow attached to her waist, and a bracelet on her left arm, that probably wasn't a weapon at all, but you never knew.
Yukina rushed forward, but stopped a few feet away, puzzling the apparition greatly.
Why did she abruptly stop her attack?
But ask Yukina made a hard slash in the air, Hiei was finally thankful he could react rapidly, but the sword somehow extended out like a whip and pierced the air above his nose, missing him by an inch.
That completely stole his breath as Hiei struggled to regain his composure. He would be careful and ready this time.
Hiei lunged towards his sister, sword in the thrusting position, but suddenly leaped up into the air and pointed his sword downwards, right down into Yukina's exposed shoulder.
"Shoot" Yukina muttered, turning her blade(s) face up. Due to the weight, she supported the weapon with both hands and thrust up, making all the components of the sword rise into the air and sail towards Hiei.
"Shimatta!" Hiei sputtered as he thinly missed the blow, a single scratch along his cheekbone as a souvenir.
She was startled, 'I hit him!' But Yukina didn't want to be distracted, so she forced herself to discard that thought, watching Hiei circle her again, completely ignoring the scratch.
It was only a scratch after all. Just a puny, measly scratch.
Drip.
Drip.
Yet it still bled.
Frustrated, Hiei wiped it away with the sleeve of his cloak, blood seeping into the black cloth. He didn't care though.
The battle would still resume.
Then, in a flash, Hiei was gone, a trail of dust lingering in the air and soft, padded footsteps came closer to the ice maiden, blade pointed up.
Nobody could see anything but flashes of their blades reflecting off the hot sunny rays and blue and black cloth rustling.
There were the sound of clashes and clinks, a grunt and a startled gasp.
Anxiously, both teams took a step closer to the arena, wanting to see what became of their teammates.
And then, they saw Hiei again, unscathed for all but the scratch on his cheek.
Their eyes shifted to Yukina, panting hard.
There was the exact same scratch on her opposite cheekbone.
An eye for an eye.
Her sword had been reduced a few components shorter, she noticed, 3 out of the 7 blades knocked off and bent to the side. She inwardly shrugged. It was not like it made any more difference; the sword was just…smaller now.
Hiei took in a deep breath. She had sure put up a good fight; it had winded him pretty badly and he was left now to catch his breath.
The two noticed that the crowd had now started to feel a bit bored, sighing and shouting for something exciting to happen, like more blood.
He nearly rolled his eyes, but restrained himself.
Okay, okay! I lost track of time and pages! You guys should be happy; this was 7 pages long, more than I ever expected…lol. I got extremely carried away with typing. I actually don't remember the last time I had a chapter in this story that was this long... Whoa... Anyways, did you enjoy this chapter? Read and review onegai!
Sayonara,
Tenshi-Battosai