Chapter 7: Chu Vs Yusuke Part 1

Kagome watched as the two fighters stared each other down. Yusuke had a smirk on his face while the drunken Chu stood with impeccable posture and such concentration that it was hard to believe he was the same lush from 2 minutes ago. Even his words were no longer slurred as he commented about the spirit detective's notoriety and implied that dumb luck was the only reason he had survived. The human grit his teeth in anger but said nothing as the purple-haired demon began powering up. Kurama spoke of him showing his true colors. Kagome could actually see his ki coming off of him like waves of red-violet smoke.

But no one had any time to monitor the power as Chu begain to move quickly, gracefully, his body flowed like water but the patterns were so irregular that it appeared even demons had problems keeping up. Hiei scoffed, "His speed is one thing. Good luck trying to hit him."

"Finally! It looks like he's finally taking this seriously!" Rinku exclaimed happily as he came over to the Urameshi team. "Hey, lady!" Everyone on the team seemed on guard except for the miko who smiled at him. "Sorry for Chu... you know, all his chatter? It's kind of embarrassing when he drinks so much but really, he's a good guy."

He opened his mouth to say more when a cry from Yusuke brought their full attention back to him. Hiei's sharp eyes caught the action, noting the 5 impressive hits that sent him flying. The swift-moving Chu got in front of the human's trajectory and backhanded him firmly back to the ground. Koto admitted to having trouble seeing so she got the committee to show the footage just captured in slow motion.

Chu mocked the fallen Yusuke who popped up like nothing had happened, startling the drunk. A barrage of punches proved useless as the older fighter expertly dodged them all. It would have been hilarious if the situation wasn't so dire. Kuwabara tried to help by shouting out advice but the dark-haired boy told him to shut up as he finally landed a hit.

Unfortunately, his target vanished like an after image and the real Chu appeared behind him, giving him a swift kick into the wall of the stadium and reducing it to rubble. With Yusuke buried, the drunken fighter fell on his butt and roared for another drink. It seemed that by drinking, his style of fighting became more effective.

Personally, Kagome wished he would have learned a more sober fighting style. It was like all she could smell was the booze that rolled off the drunk fighter like his unique aura. She actually tried to hide her nose from the smell using the kimono sleeve and looked to her demon teammates. "Are you guys okay? I mean, Inuyasha always had trouble with strong smells and if I can smell the alcohol, I can only imagine how bad it is for you..."

Hieie looked over at the female and then away. "Don't worry about us. His senses may have frequently overwhelmed him but I assure you, we are not the same as your halfling friend. We're not weak enough to let the scent of human alcohol affect us." Kagome frowned at his words but turned her attention back to the fight.

Yusuke popped out of the rubble and got back into the ring, a determined grin on his face. She could see how much he was enjoying this fight, happy that it wasn't over quickly. Yusuke, when he was training, had talked to the priestess about some of his previous fights. He always had this look when talking about easy wins. He would trash talk his enemies, hoping that they would get back up again. The only thing he desired was a challenging fight. But once he truly defeated a powerful enemy, he craved another. Fighting was Yusuke's addiction and it appeared that Chu was his current fix.

As the crowd urged Chu to finish the human off, the miko could hear the voice of one single human cheering Yusuke on-- his girlfriend, Keiko. She was sitting next to Kuwabara's sister, Shizuru. Though the dark-haired priestess didn't know much more about Keiko than what Urameshi told her and absolutely nothing about Shizuru, she would have to wait to greet them properly.

Since the two men were just punching and kicking at each other without any fancy footwork, Kagome refocused on Rinku who had yet to return to his team's side of the ring. Kuwabara was too busy watching the match to actually try picking a fight with the kid. "So can you tell me what he said? I don't think he was insulting me but he used so many weird words... like 'cracking a fat'? What kind of saying is that?"

"A rather filthy one..." Kurama muttered, his cheeks flushed a bit though his eyes were narrowedin disapproval.

Hiei looked more pissed than before and snapped, "If you covered up, he wouldn't have said anything at all."

The woman just flipped him off after pointedly moving the kimono sleeve down her arm so he could see the rude gesture. "So could you translate?"

Rinku looked down at his shoes, blushing a little and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not a Chu-dictionary... but I do know that what he was saying was kind of like a vulgar compliment. He's just surprised that you don't have a guy making googly-eyes at'cha since you're so pretty."

Now it was Kagome's turn to blush. "Oh... really?" She looked over at the fight, watching Chu. Yusuke had just fired his spirit gun at... the top of the arena. Large chunks of it fell on nameless demons in the crowd. Kuwabara didn't understand why he would do such a thing but she understood. And so did Chu, who laughed loudly and proclaimed a fair fight.

Chu pulled out a flask of something called Ogre Killer. He drank every last drop before tossing the flask over his shoulder and beginning to shake. For such a lush, she was surprised he still had a liver though his demonic nature may have helped him out on that. His aura increased and the miko wrapped her arms around herself. Surely something phenomenal was about to happen.

'Or not..." She sweat dropped as Chu rushed to the edge of the ring and proceeded to vomit. Her nose wrinkled and she sighed. "... yeah, he's so not my type... and not just because he looks like he could be my father and probably old enough to be my great-great-great grandfather."

"How about me? Am I more your type?" Rinku asked with a cheeky grin. "I am much younger than Chu, ya know. And cuter to boot~"

Kagome giggled softly and shook her head. "You may be younger than him but you look younger than me. And looks aren't everything." From her time with Shippo, she had learned to play along with his silly questions instead of getting upset like Inuyasha did. It was easier that way and she knew that Rinku had been teasing her.

Regardless, she also had some knowledge about demon lifespans. Even though the boy looked like a boy, he was still way older than her. Shippo had been almost 50 when they first met and he had had the body of a 7 year old. Rinku was probably around 80 if she had to guess. There was one difference though--some demons didn't age slowly, they grew in sudden spurts depending on their training, the powers they achieved. Shippo had been that kind of demon but with his father murdered at the time, his growth had been stunted and he only really started growing when he was at the kitsune school.

"Well, it's not the throwing up but the true form that that alcohol brings out. Your leader won't know what hit him~" The kid almost sounded proud of his teammate. And true to his word, Chu's skin turned tanner and both fighters went head to head, Yusuke's spirit gun and his opponent's energy were evenly matched. So they fought hand-to-hand, not even bothering with blocking.

Chu's next energy attack was much bigger and Yusuke barely managed to double-up his spirit gun. Both attacks hit and both fighters managed to jump up out of the way but lost their shirts in the process. Exhausted, they started laughing together and Kagome smiled, tilting her head. "Looks like he finally found a friend to test his skills..." At Hiei's questioning look, she added, "...one that he doesn't have to hand over to Spirit World because of a failed world domination scheme. Right now, he's just having fun fighting, no strings attached."