Kurama looked down at him. "I will not."
"What?" Touya looked at Kurama in shock.
"You never answered. What will you do with this island, if you get it?"
"Who cares!" Touya shouted.
"I, too, have spent years in shadow. Interesting… How unexpectedly, regret can appear… That's what this light does… I just wanted to know if your life could be better… Nobler… Than mine has been…" His hand, which had been clutching the wounds around his abdomen, fell.
Kurama…." I whispered, he had been a thief, one of the best. I could understand how he felt, for some reason, some how. After Koto announced his unconscious state, I shouted to the announcer, "Hey, Koto, for the record, the rest of the fights are mine!"
"All right-?" She began to agree when she was interrupted.
"I don't know, he's standing. It looks to me that he still wants to fight." Bakken entered the ring.
"Oh give me a BREAK! He's not even conscious!" I shouted, this was not going to be good...
Koto looked between the two of us nervously. "Team Captain decides-"
"Correction." The Committee siren announced. "A fighter cannot be removed from the ring against his will. And as will cannot be determined here, the fighter remains."
"DAMN YOU!" My nails dug into my palms, drawing blood.
Bakken lifted Kurama. "Not much of a challenge for me, I like that." He brought back his fist.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" I shouted as he punched Kurama, ripping his shirt and sending him to the floor. My energy began to pulsate again.
"STOP!" Koto got between Bakken and Kurama. "I'm all for extreme torture and pain, you disgusting horse, but this guy's not even awake to enjoy it!"
"Shut up. We're making the rules here." He grabbed her by the back of the shirt, Koto began to kick, and threw her from the ring. "Now that the ref's out of the picture, we can really have some fun." He punched him again, a back handed attack. Kurama was thrown to the ground again.
Jin started to stand; this was not what he was here for. "We could use the win." He shrugged, but glanced at Yusuke and readied to fly away. Good thing Touya had been taken to the hospital ward, she was ready to go off. He saw the blood drip down from her palms and the look of animalistic bloodlust. He looked at Risho, then Bakken. Hate for what they were doing was in his gaze. "If she does not kill you for this, I will, ya fuckin' bastard."
I clenched my teeth as I felt my control begin to slip away. "I'm taking a ten count!" Koto got back into the ring.
"Count yourself out then!" He shoved her back out. "I won't risk enjoying myself any longer." He picked Kurama up again. "I'LL JUST BREAK HIS FACE!"
I brought up my right arm, my knuckles still throbbing. Hiei concentrated his energy.
"Bakken. Stop." He stopped in mid punch.
"But why Risho?"
"Lay him outside the ring."
"He's killed our sect members!"
"Yes, and if you had landed that punch, you would've died as well."
"What?" He turned and saw Yusuke ready to fire.
"Or do you think you would've survived a bullet in the back? It's clear she cares more about that demon's life than this tournament. She's willing to fight every apparition in this stadium if she must. We need to win, not be involved in a revolt."
"Your getting soft, Risho. You'll end up like Gama and Touya." He looked at Yusuke, her face was set. He nervously trembled. "Fine. Take your precious buddy." He threw Kurama onto the grass.
"Your friend got a lucky reprieve." Ruka remarked, watching Yusuke carrying Kurama over to Botan.
"So did you, witch." She turned to look at Hiei. "Or should I say, so did everyone else in the stadium."
"Yusuke was not the only one about to fire. Hiei was about to as well. And their combined energy would not have been contained in the ring. Risho felt it, didn't you?"
"Hiei mounting an assault. Why that's very funny. Have you forgotten you're inside my force field?"
"Drop the act, Ruka. We are regaining strength. While yours remains as meager as always." She glared at Genkai.
I ran over to him and lifted him. Setting him beside Kuwabara, I looked back over at Bakken, my energy running wild, my knuckles throbbing like crazy. I walked over to the ring. "Match three, Bakken versus Urameshi. Begin." I watched him sweat. It contained some weird power. I would not let him get any hits on me. Though I would amuse myself in the sweat-mist.
"Mystical powers of Shinobi! White Mist!" the mist rose off him, causing the entire arena to be shrouded in it. I smirked.
On sudden impulse, my hand strayed to my belt and pulled out the two bells I kept there, for some odd reason. When I found the belt they had been in there, and I had never taken them out. They nestled between my index, middle, and ring finger comfortably. I didn't realize it but my eyes narrowed and took on a red shade as "Yusuke Urameshi' slipped away. "Now... let me show you why I was called 'the relentless assassin' or 'the ghost blade', Yurei'ha." I whispered, the bells tinkled oddly sinisterly. "Inazuma-ha Ito Gijutsu!" The strands of the koto strings slid out of the bell. "Fourth move of the fifteenth form! Ito Kanmon!" I manipulated the threads until a barrier surrounded the entire arena. Bakken, didn't even realize it. I saw him coming and easily vanished into the mist. I would've been a very sad hitokiri, not to mention Shidosha if I could not. I reappeared behind him. He did not even realize it. "Now... To avenge Kurama." I brought the bells back up. "First move of the thirtieth form. Raiu Kyokoku." Bakken shouted out in pain as the threads rushed him, flaying him alive. He fell to the ground. I glanced at him, emotionlessly. "Kouryu." He screamed as the threads fell and stabbed through his skin, pinning him to the floor. I lifted the bells in the air, which was soon filled with the sound of the koto. The gentle hypnotic sound filled the stadium. "Tatsumaki." I gripped the thread and spun it much like a bola, clearing the stadium of all mist. And as the sun shone through, it revealed my little barrier. There were collective gasps among the audience.
"How... Did you...?" Bakken coughed, held to the floor with the strands of thread.
I smirked. "Ah... You're wondering about my Inazuma-ha Ito Gijutsu, hm?" I smiled as the music continued as the threads gently hung in the air, held up by the light breeze. "You're wondering how these frail koto strings can cut flesh? Easy. It depends on how they are wielded." I gently moved my hands along a string, the sound was haunting. Bakken visibly shivered. "It's all about vibrations. And nimbleness with hands. I manipulate my threads in such a way that they can cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. Using the Inazuma-ha technique, one mimics the forces of nature with the threads. As for my attacks, well, the barrier is like a spider web. Raiu Kyokoku is copying the raging waters of a thunderstorm in a canyon. And Kouryu is simply the rain that falls." I fingered the strings, eyes narrow. "And Tatsumaki is the whirlwind, I merely used my own body and strength as a substitute for the wind." I gently grasped the threads in my hands. "It took me a good seven years to master Inazuma-ha Ito Gijutsu, but it was worth it." I glared at him in my hitokiri death glare from which he shivered. I smirked.
"Please! Spare me! Show me mercy!"
"Right, mercy, the way you showed Kurama mercy when he was laid out on the floor." I had been fingering the bells in front of me, but I whipped my arm to the side, the bells echoed in the silent stadium. Bakken struggled against the blood-soaked threads. "Hn." I whipped my hand back, and they flew back into the bell, at least the ones holding him down. "I'll give you a fighting chance." I eyed his wounds doubtfully about that as he struggled to his feet. "But you know, the funny thing about a rainfall... No matter how much you towel off, you can't get rid of those last drops..." He stared in me in sheer, stark terror. "Shizuku no Yu!" He let out one final shriek as I snapped my fingers, and the threads that I had wrapped around them when I was fingering them caused the rest to tear him apart, limb from limb in an explosion of blood. "Pitiful." I snorted as I, in one quick movement, whipped the bells up into the air, the thread returning into them. I caught them with a slight tinkling sound. I then turned and walked back towards Kurama. I didn't even realize that my eyes slowly returned to their normal size, and the red hue faded.
I kneeled beside him. "How're you doin'?"
He smirked, and laughed; though it was more of a choke. "I'll live, the injuries I got from Team Masho are nothing compared to this Death Plant." He smiled up at me. "We really do reap what we sow, right?"
"Just get some rest, the other to are about to be fish bait soon." I started to stand, but stopped when Kurama spoke.
"Be cautious of them, Yusuke. These last two are without a doubt, the strongest." I nodded and pulled off my coat. And dumped my belt beside it as I saw Jin approach the ring. This guy... This guy I wanted to fight for real. We both walked towards the ring as Bakken's mutilated corpse was dragged off and the blood wiped up.
Inazuma-ha Ito Gijutsu: Lighting Blade Thread Technique (take off of Kazuki's technique in Get Backers)
Koto: Japanese stringed instrument
Ito Kanmon: Thread barrier
Hitokiri: assassin
Shidosha: leader of hitokiri
Raiu Kyokoku: Thunderstorm Canyon
Kouryu: Rainfall
Tatsumaki: Whirlwind
Shizuku no Yu: Drop of Water
Votes:
Hiei: 7
Jin: 1
Hiei and Kurama: 7
And note, I do not make the pairings, the voting is what my reviewers want, and if you want another person to be nominated, e-mail me and they will be added to the list.