I grinned. "'Cause I felt like it. And you remind me of someone I used to know." I reclined against the bed and stared up at ceiling. He nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, or knowing he wouldn't get anything else.

The silence was deafening.

Until, of course, Jin broke it.

"URAMESHI!" Crap. Kuwabara.

I cautiously glanced at the half-dead baka. "Yeah?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. How he managed to stand with those injuries was beyond me. Let alone walk unaided.

"YOU IDIOT! WERE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED! I'M THE ONE WHO'S GOING TO PUT YOU DOWN! NOT ANY DEMON FREAKS!" I blinked. Once, twice.

"Um... Hello! I'm STILL ALIVE!" I shouted back.

"WHAT I HEARD FROM KURAMA, YOU COULD'VE DIED!" Who knew he cared this much?

"I DIED ONCE- ONCE AGAIN WON'T MATTER!" Tell me again, why am I having this shouting-match? I got a sweat drop.

"WHO SAYS YOU'D BE ABLE TO COME BACK TO LIFE!" He argued. Jin and Touya were looking on with sweat drops.

"WHO CARES! I'M STILL HERE! BUT WHAT IF IT WAS YOU WHO HAD FOUGHT! IF YOU HAD DIED! YOU HAVE A LIFE AT HOME! I KNOW WHO WOULD MISS ME IF I DIED! YOU HAVE MORE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU!" I lowered my voice with a sigh. "You have a family, Kuwabara, and more friends, and now that you study, you have a LIFE. I am a street punk that only five people will miss if I die. Well... that are human. And maybe five to six others." I looked at him, he looked taken aback. "You have goals, you want to win over somebody."

I almost snickered. Hiei and Kuwabara, brother-in-laws, now that would be hilarious. Kuwabara would only live because if he were killed, Yukina would be heart-broken. I somehow managed to keep a straight face. I did not want to spoil the mood.

"As for me, the chances of me living to be older then thirty are slim, considering how many demons want me dead. Not mentioning the chances of me getting out of this Tournament alive are next to none. I have nothing at home. If I wasn't around, Ma might be able to find a decent man, as would 'Ko. You wouldn't be involved in Spirit World affairs anymore and could have a normal life. Takenaka would have one less pain in the ass to take care of, and Genkai will probably already be dead."

I gave him a moment to let this sink in.

I laughed bitterly. Then my eyes narrowed. We were being watched. "Well, now that all this touchy-feely crap is taken care of..." As I spoke, my hand slid slowly towards a kunai knife. It slipped out of its wrap on my belt easily. "Show yourself." I ordered. No answer. "I said COME OUT." I snarled menacingly. There was a small poof and a cloud of smoke. A man stepped forward. My eyes widened. I had seen him before... Just before the Energy Pulse. "Kangae."

"Yurei'ha." He greeted me.

I nodded in greeting.

"Very well then." He leaned against the doorframe. A small smirk on his lips. "So you remember."

"A little."

He sighed. "I hoped you wouldn't, but this Tournament..."

I nodded. "So... Are they at the Hakaba?"

"Hey! What's going on here!" Kuwabara shouted. Obviously clueless to what was going on.

"Did you just call her... Yurei'ha?" Touya asked, his eyes questioning.

"Yeah, what of it?" Kangae asked, shrugging.

"The Yurei'ha? The famous assassin, known for killing over seven hundred individual targets? Active from ages seven to thirteen?"

I laughed dryly. "I am flattered that you have heard of me."

"You WERE AN ASSASSIN!" Kuwabara stared at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Close your mouth. You are doing a very accurate impression of a fish." I glanced at Touya. "What of it?" He shivered slightly from my gaze. I had this effect on people.

But he apparently got over my unnerving gaze and his icy eyes met mine. "I want to know why you helped us. Yurei'ha Shidosha was not known for mercy. Especially to enemies who would kill her without hesitation."

I smiled slightly. "You have nothing to fear from this hitokiri if you leave my friends alone."

"That did not answer the question."

"I know. It was not meant to. It was meant to inform you of how not to piss me off."

"Aw, who cares!" Jin asked, standing up from his perch on the edge of my bed. I glanced at him. He grinned, I figured he couldn't take the seriousness anymore. "What's done is done!" I shrugged and glanced at Kangae.

"We'll talk later."

"Hai, Shidosha." He walked out of the room.

As soon as he had, it felt like a curtain had been lifted and the others started breathing a little easier. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, they had reverted back to normal. "So, what now?" I asked cheerfully.

Kuwabara got a sweat drop. "Do you have a split personality or something...?"

I grinned and stood up. "Maybe." I slid my kunai knife back into the wrap I had it in originally. "Maybe not." All signs of tenseness had left the room. I stretched and yawned. "I'm goin' outside for a walk."

"But-" I cut Kuwabara off before he could go on about how I should be in bed resting. Jeez. Well... At least he cares.

I put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "It's not like I'm going to get into a fight."

"Like hell you're not!" Kuwabara glared at me.

I laughed.

He sighed in resignation. "All right, but I want a full explanation when you get back."

I merely smirked and walked out the door.

"WAIT!" I stopped and glanced behind me as Jin caught up. He grinned lopsidedly, his left fang protruding over his lip. "I'm comin'."

I shrugged. "If you want." His grin widened.

As we walked along, he intertwined his fingers behind his head, and began to whistle cheerfully. I laughed slightly.

"So, Yurei'ha or Yusuke?" He yawned.

"Yusuke." I smiled sadly. "As far as I'm concerned, Yurei'ha is just a memory that had to resurface for me to survive. She died a year ago." He glanced at me and cocked his head to the side slightly, seeing the look of pain on my face. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then grinned. Before I could react, he came behind me and pulled me into a close embrace as we rocketed up into the clear sky.

"WHA-!" I shouted, but the word was forced back into my throat with the force of the take off.

"JIN! NO! WAIT! JIN!" I shouted, but ended up laughing as we soared through the air. We slowed and stopped he inhaled deeply. I glanced down. The island... It looked so tranquil... Peaceful. You could see the forest, the waves crashing on the beach...

"This what you were looking at when we were fighting...?" I asked, lost in the sights.

"Yep." He grinned and sighed. "I had wanted to feel the wind in the big wide and open."

I glanced at him. "Sorry." By loosing, he had lost the island.

He suddenly cheered up. "Don' worry 'bout it, so I'd say! If I hadn't lost, I wouldn't be up 'ere with ya!" He grinned. I saw the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "HOLD ON!"

"JIN!" I shouted, startled, as we fell back to earth, completely uncontrolled. But I started laughing in the sheer exhilaration of the feeling of free falling not even a few seconds later. And the thing was, I enjoyed every minute of it. Well, I'll give the Wind Master one thing; he knows how to cheer me up.

Baka: idiot

'Ko: Keiko or Kayko, depending on whether you read the manga or watch the anime

Kunai: knife used by assassins or ninjas

Kangae: "mind" or "thought"

Hakaba: Literally 'graveyard'. Reference to where hitokiri are buried. Each Shuha has a specific area hidden for the purpose of burying their dead.

Hitokiri: assassin

Shuha: sect

Yurei'ha: Ghost Blade

Hai: yes

Votes:

Hiei: 7

Jin: 3

Kurama: 1

Hiei and Kurama: 7