---Road to an Eternity of Wars---
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho
And after a lot of events and occurrences… I am finally somewhere near the end of part 1. Only. Part one. …On second thought…no wait…yes, a very long story, do you mind?
(Sigh) This came out later than I expected, because I just couldn't seem to get into the perfect mood for writing this chapter until now…Gomen nasai… And something had come up, and still is up. Sort of down right now…
Chapter 26: Strategy
Looking back on it now…the sword was actually in a pretty bad condition…
Yukina stared at the weapon in her hand. She had never trained with one this short before, the extending one, that is, and was contemplating using another weapon, or sticking to this one. Not being used to such a hazardous weapon was unsafe. The ice maiden didn't want to accidentally injure herself in any way during this match.
She considered hastily grabbing her fallen normal katana off the ground, but when she viewed how far away it was; Yukina found that it was now behind Hiei, which was a very stupid idea if she was actually planning to get it.
Yukina sighed.
Hiei was still seemingly deep in thought, so she took her time.
Or maybe the staff? Maybe she could use the staff?
Surely, the rest of her team wouldn't mind, right? And of course, even if they would mind…they were friends, so they wouldn't kill her for it, right?
Yukina scrunched her nose up in concentration, hovering her hand behind her left hip, and then firmly grasped the cold, metallic purple pole of her staff.
She tossed her useless sword to the side now sliding the staff off her 'equipment belt'. Holding it out in front of her, Yukina let out a little grunt, catching Hiei's attention.
"Hn" Hiei smirked. Another weapon, eh?
Yukina felt as if her brother was mocking her. She growled in frustration, grounding out it a firm voice, "Again"
"Fine"
------
On the side of the arena, Team Higurashi was thoroughly surprised, "Already?"
"I suppose so" Kagome nodded slowly, "It's basically her last choice"
Keiko smiled proudly, along with Botan, "She's improved so much since we started training with you guys"
"Hey, you two have done the same thing, you know" Sango pointed out, making the two sigh.
"I guess…"
"Who do you think will win?"
All Botan received was a few shrugs.
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Genkai leaned forward a bit, "They're finally using that weapon. They've used everything else except that. Yes, I'm curious to see what it does"
Kuwabara snorted, "It looks like a regular staff"
"Looks can be deceiving"
"…I know…"
------
This time, Hiei surprisingly launched forward, making the first move.
Biting her lip, Yukina stood her ground, unmoving, and held the staff out in front of her.
"So you have to hold it like this?"
"No, you can hold it whichever way feels comfortable at the moment" Sango reassured the ice maiden, "Now, to use one of your two attacks, you have to make the top point to the sky either way, so I suppose there is a certain way you have to hold things"
"Why do you have to do that?"
"I don't know, actually…Kagome might, but I really doubt it. All I know is that it might not work as well if the top's not upright"
"Okay…"
"Now, to use an attack, you have to gather a lot of energy into your hands, with help of your bracelet if you're having trouble, and say the commands for the attack. Then you use the attack like so"
"And how many times can you use the attack?"
"I guess…it depends. It's different for everybody, I think"
"Alright"
Clenching the staff harder, Yukina watched as Hiei edged closer, then a look of sympathy spread across her face.
Hiei nearly stopped out of confusion and anger. Why was she suddenly like this? He never liked people giving him sympathy, for whatever reason. He was born that way. But as the apparition came closer, he discovered the reason why.
"Sweet Ice!" Yukina shouted. She turned the point of the staff towards Hiei after the attack was dispelled.
For a moment, it felt as if time had stopped, and then, slowly, millions of shards of pink-tinted ice shot out of the end of the staff, a faint spraying noise heard. Like a gun, it swiftly made its straight course towards Hiei, attaching onto his clothing and skin.
"What-?" Hiei halted trying to shake the crystals clinging to his black attire.
A small sizzling was heard, and the, before everybody's eyes, it seemed as if Hiei exploded, encasing both opponents in a cloud of dust.
"Hiei!" Team Urameshi almost screamed.
Team Higurashi stayed silent.
As the dust cleared, Hiei stood there, slightly staggering. Patches of his clothing and skin appeared to be scarred, or burnt off. He seemed almost half dead, but not quite there yet. Blood leaked down his arms, dripping off his fingers.
But, Yukina was not left unscathed either. It seemed that in the fraction of a second that the two was blocked from view, Hiei had attacked Yukina, leaving her with a couple deep scratches along her shoulders and elbows, with a deeper gash along her leg.
The two panted, eyes locking.
They both fell to the ground, exhausted.
At this point, both teams neither waited for, nor cared for the announcers to say something. The groups bolted straight to the two relatives to inspect their condition.
"And it appears to be a tie for the two teams! With this many, what happens if they're all ties?" Juri joked.
With the help of both teams, Team Higurashi and Urameshi managed to pull the still awake Yukina and Hiei off the arena and onto where they stood.
In the end, the two teams ended up standing beside each other anyways, apart from the opposite sides they had come from in the beginning of the match.
"Alright! So the next two that will match – we'll have to roll for two other names!"
The dice was rolled again.
Yukina.
Yusuke.
Genkai shook her head, "Yukina's already gone. Roll again. Besides, she's in no state to compete now"
Sighing, the dice was tossed again.
Kurama.
Sango.
"Me, against him?" Sango raised an eyebrow.
Botan grinned, "What, you have something against him?"
"Nah" She snorted, "It's just that I've never fought you before" Sango gestured to Kurama, "And I guess…well…I'm not deterred, if you're wondering"
"That's good to know" Kurama nodded, "But I think we should go now" he noted politely, showing her the irritated crowd, shouting for them to hurry up.
"And for this match," Koto announced, "We have Sango, from Team Higurashi, and Kurama, from Team Urameshi! Who will win this time?"
"Begin!"
"Let's get this started, ne?" Sango smirked, pulling her boomerang off her back.
Kurama nodded calmly, drawing a simple, red rose from his hair.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, swinging the boomerang in the direction of Kurama.
"Rose Whip!" With a graceful move, Kurama jumped back, flicking the now long whip at the boomerang and managing to catch onto a part of it. With force, the whip nearly snapped as he swung it back in the direction it came from.
Sango caught her weapon and shifted into a defensive stance, awaiting Kurama's next move now.
Accompanied with a few flips, Kurama came forward lashing out with his thorn whip, as Sango parried with her boomerang.
As a fast reflex, when the whip lashed out again, Sango drew her sword and swiftly shortened the weapon.
Kurama didn't seem bothered though, the two kept on presenting each other with simple techniques, none drawing blood yet.
"You fight well" Kurama complimented, while dodged a blow to the head.
"You're pretty good yourself" Sango replied, 'Good for Kagome' She joked good-naturedly in her mind.
Attack, block.
Attack, block.
This continued for a while; Yusuke let out a faint yawn, making Kurama shake his head and chuckle when he heard it.
Sango snorted, "Lazy jerk"
The red haired man just nodded.
"Hiraikotsu!" Finally, Sango swung the massive weapon again, this time letting go so it swung out of her hands.
Kurama dodged, but was forced to form his whip to block a sword blow.
Sango kept him occupied as the boomerang swiftly made its way back.
He sensed this though, performing a back flip to avoid getting nailed in the spine; the weapon landed in Sango's hands again.
"Nice try" Kurama sent her a light smirk.
She shrugged.
Okay! Sorry this took so long! I'm currently in the process of moving, so I'm loosing all my stuff by accident. (Story plans) And I've sunk into a slightly depressed state recently. My updates will start to get a bit choppy and probably less frequently. Gomen nasai, but I need to keep up with my studies. Read and review onegai!
Sayonara,
Tenshi-Battosai