Disclaimer: Now, if I owned Digimon I'd be rich. Now I don't even own my liver, that should explain itself.

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The tournament isn't a normal place, but you probably already figured that out by now, haven't you? Then maybe you should be given some information on the group of things trying to eliminate the human species off of the planet. You already know some things about Zanshi, seeing as she made her guest appearance in chapter two. Zanshi is a demon princess who ran away from her destroyed home with her older brother, Kaishi. Zanshi plays the role of something like a temptress in the group, using any means necessary to get what they want. People know her more for her quick temper and hatred towards anyone who gets too close to her brother. Kaishi is the assassin on the group, and more people hate him for a cold murder of people just because Kisei told him too. Eimin is a half-breed obsessed with technology, and has gone so far into the world of electronics he's almost literally forgotten things live and breathe.

Then there's Hinshi, a quiet shape-shifter whose never spoken a word. Kisei is the leader of this group, and would be one of the strongest and oldest vampires around. Timid and gentlemen-like, its surprising he would want to kill off the human species. Whatever his motives are behind this, its curious as to why he would want Kouji to join, especially seeing as the black-haired vampire lives with a human. They are just one of the few very many creatures of darkness and deception that crawl amoungst the leagues of everything wanting to have total power over the next couple of centuries. In the main group of this story though, there is the very rarely seen, but well-known, Ruki. Both her parents dead, Yamaki somehow managed to convince her to join in their cause. Her ulterior motives aren't known, but it is good to have a witch on your side, especially one as powerful as her.

Why do you need to know this information though? Really, what use could it be to you? Perhaps to show this tournament isn't going to be some easy piece of cake. Especially when you slowly come to grips with the reality that there's more than just a few monsters that want to kill for fun. Be forwarned the possibility of someone dying in this little story being told is greater than you might expect. Don't blame anyone for what happens, just read on to see if the one you want to live makes it.

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"Damned alarm clock." Takuya grumbled, rolling on the floor before getting up and clumsily turning it off. It's been four weeks since the meeting, and Yamaki had been training everyone to the fullest to prepare them as much as possible for the tournament. Waking up three A.M. every morning and going to bed around twelve midnight was really wearing down Takuya's reserves. It seemed he wasn't the only one, Izumi was found multiple times standing up and sleeping in school. Tomoki himself fell sick a week ago because his immune system couldn't fight off all the viruses and bacteria entering his system without proper rest. The older blonde man had to realize that if he kept this up they wouldn't be any stronger, they'd be passing out like flies on the arena.

"The clock isn't the damned one in this house." Kouji's gruff voice reminded him. Yamaki had been to several places and managed to make something for Kouji in case he had any daytime fights, but it certainly might help fix the vampire's fright of the sunlight. Especially when Yamaki would occasionally go into the closet and wake Kouji up and make him walk around in daylight with the thing on. Mind you, Yamaki didn't get this done without a fight. You don't just wake vampires up when they're sleeping, it's not ethical.

"Right." Takuya yawned, and got up but not before collapsing back onto the ground. He was so worn out, he could just close his eyes and… "Ah!" The brunette yelped when something cold grabbed him.

"Come on, you got to get up." Kouji sighed, being the cold thing that touched him. Attempting to help the brunette up, they both fell to the floor in a tired heap. Takuya because he lacked any proper sleep and had aching muscles. Kouji because Yamaki kept waking him up and he hadn't exactly eaten in quite some time. It surprised the brunette he wasn't dinner yet. Yamaki walked into the room, and flicked on the light switch making both boys cringe in pain from it.

"Now's not the time to sleep. Come on, we got to get to work." He said, before pulling them both up.

"Too… tired…" Takuya yawned, before falling asleep again. Kouji wasn't asleep, but was eyeing Yamaki in a way that made the blonde man figure he needed to get as far away from the vampire as possible.

"Up up up." Yamaki sighed, shaking the brunette until brown eyes opened slowly. "Get this done and next weekend you all can sleep and eat as much as you want." He promised. This was just barely enough motivation to get the two worn out ones to move around less sluggishly. Mind you, it wasn't enough to keep Takuya from dozing off while walking that no one noticed until a loud thump was heard. It was something you'd think Takuya, Tomoki, and Izumi's parents would notice but Yamaki would cast a spell on Tomoki and Takuya's parents to keep them without noticing (somehow) and well… Izumi's really didn't care.

The week passed by slowly and painfully for all five participants, and the weekend never seemed so beautiful. Even Junpei, a Lightning Demon had reached his limit, and the only unaffected one was Yamaki and Kouichi. Who knows why with Yamaki, but Kouichi was dead so not only he didn't have to go through all that but even if he did… well, he was dead. Can't do much to a ghost, can you? The blonde man entered the house thing where they all decided to escape from their homes and hopefully Yamaki. The blonde man nearly laughed, and became slowly thankful it was already nightfall otherwise he'd be on Kouji's victim list.

Kouichi had stolen someone's violin, and while he was supposed to be making lots of loud, annoying rackets he skillfully played gentle, lullaby-like music. Izumi was snoozing on the lounge chair, limbs sprawled everywhere. A stereo was in the corner playing soft classical music, and from the occasional static it could be guessed Junpei was resting inside of it. Takuya was laying in the beanbag, head hanging over to the side, with Tomoki lying in his lap like a small child would in their parents. Kouji was lying on the floor and using the beanbag as a pillow, and Yamaki thought he'd never see a vampire sleeping at night. Here was one, quite interesting really.

"Have they been sleeping since this morning?" Yamaki asked, carefully walking around to make sure he didn't wake any of them up. They were promised a restful weekend, and he wasn't one to break promises.

"Yeah. Don't you think you've been overworking them? It's kind of ridiculous to do this to them, without any past experiences." Kouichi sighed softly as he said this, still playing.

"They aren't human. While technically Tomoki and Takuya are, there's something about them that makes them different. And while they don't know it, their bodies are beginning to work differently than a normal person's would. A human wouldn't have been able to do all this like they have. They would have been more tired and worn out, I couldn't have been able to wake them with an explosion. But they woke up still. It doesn't make sense, and it seems even impossible but…" Yamaki trailed, and Kouichi arched a brow at him.

"Have you done this before?" Kouichi asked, and the blonde man smiled at him.

"How long did it take you to learn how to play the violin?" Yamaki asked.

"…I just knew. After I died, I mean." Kouichi explained.

"While you 'just know', I had to learn. Remember how when I first approached you and your brother? Well, I learned from it and did some research… besides, how could I have done this before? That would make me more than 888 years old, such a mean thing to accuse me of." Yamaki said waving his finger to and fro.

"May I ask you something?" Kouichi began.

"Go ahead."

"Remember… the last tournament? Well, not really remember, but did anyone ever really tell you about who won it last time?" Kouichi asked.

"Yes, I heard faint tales. A sponsor and a team of vampires did, they wanted it to be so that the witches would feel more of the wrath of human hatred, than them." Yamaki said.

"Do you know who the sponsor was?" Kouichi asked. Yamaki furrowed his brow and pursed his lips, before sighing and nodding his head.

"The same vampire who is the reason I came to ask Kouji and these others for help." Yamaki said nodding his head. "Kisei."

"He is old then." Kouichi muttered. "We can't beat him." He sighed, and put the violin away.

"Yes we can." Yamaki said, a strange twinkle in his eye, then glanced at Takuya. "No matter how old a vampire gets, their weakness to light and fire is still the same." He chuckled.

"Are you trying to say… that if we get far enough in the battle you're going to make Takuya fight Kisei!? You know Kouji won't let you, right?" Kouichi growled.

"I'm not going to make him do anything he doesn't want to. And we will get that far, I'm making sure of that. Ruki wants to fight Kaishi, and I'm pretty sure Kouji wants to get Zanshi back for what she's done. Mind you, Ruki is our back up so she may not be able to get the battle she so desires." He sighed, then chuckled. "That's right, if we face them in the second to last round, we face all of them. If they get a sixth member by then…" He added.

"I don't believe this." Kouichi grumbled.

"Have more faith in them, after all they are the best team entering." Yamaki chuckled, then began to leave. "A vampire with the advantage over a werewolf, a human with an advantage over a vampire… we won't lose." With that Yamaki walked outside. The closing of the door stirred Kouji, who slowly opened his right eye.

"…" Not saying anything, he got up and made his way outside silently.

"Where are you going?" Kouichi asked.

"I'm hungry." Kouji explained, as if this was obvious. Getting outside, he raised a brow at the blonde man smoking a cigarette. "You know that's not healthy."

"You're awake. That's good, I'd have been worried if you slept all night." Yamaki chuckled, and breathed in some of the filthy toxins inside the cigarette. "To some, maybe. Has no effect on me, but its nice to see smoke at night in the moonlight." He grinned.

"Whatever." Kouji said shaking his head, and began to head to the woods.

"Oh, Kouji. Can I speak with you about something? No worry, I'll walk along with you until a certain point." Yamaki said, and ate the cigarette. "Chewing tobacco." He punned, and Kouji merely shook his head at him.

"That's not very amusing. Go ahead, I'm not going to stop you or anything." Kouji responded bluntly, and kept going. Yamaki took great strides until he was slightly behind Kouji. He decided that this was the night he was going to push his luck with Kouji, even though it probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world.

"How long have you been with Takuya exactly? Its always something I was curious about… like if its been a year, two…" Yamaki trailed.

"Four." Kouji said blankly.

"I see… you say Takuya's blood makes you nauseous, right?" Yamaki querried.

"Yes. Why?" Kouji asked, glancing back now and then to check on the blonde man to get some idea of why all the questions.

"So… you hate him?"

"No."

"He's human, right?"

"Yes."

"He evil? Seems nice to me."

"He is nice."

"Why does his blood make you nauseous then?"

"I don't know. It just does."

"You're lying Kouji." Yamaki said, as he took out another cigarette and put it in his mouth. "I did my research, don't think you can fool me like everyone else."

"I'm not." Kouji said, and his pace went a bit faster.

"So why are you trying to walk away then?" Yamaki asked, taking out a lighter and covering the flame before lighting the disgusting drug.

"Because I'm hungry, and you're getting on my nerves." Kouji said, grounding his teeth.

"Would you like to know what I think?" Yamaki asked, blowing some smoke through his nose.

"Not really, but it's not like I can stop you unless you don't mind being dinner." Kouji snapped.

"Getting a bit touchy, aren't we? Here, how about a nice, situation with no questions. No, 'that can't happen', or 'how would we get in there' things. Let's just say… you and Takuya are alone in a room with no windows or doors. They got sealed up or something and you two can't break out. He cut himself on a nail, and when you catch the scent, what do you do? Throw up?" Yamaki asked. Kouji stopped, and stood there for a moment.

"…" No response.

"Probably ram your head against the wall, to ignore the buzzing noise in your head screaming to do things you know you would never want to do to him." Yamaki said. "That's what you would do, isn't it?" When still getting no response, he sighed. "I figured as much. You don't want to hurt him, or harm befall him. The tournament we know he will get hurt, but that's not why you're afraid of him going." Yamaki said, then flicked the cigarette on the ground, them stomped it out. "Glad we had this conversation, just wanted to make sure my guess was right. Don't worry so much Kouji, nothing will happen." And he was gone. But Kouji didn't move, he still stood there shaking some now. But that shaking wasn't from anger or anything like that.

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"Ugh, when is the tournament here?" Izumi moaned, and looked out the window at the snow. It was December, and while the tournament was a mere three weeks away they were just now getting their next bit of rest.

"Soon, don't worry." Junpei reassured her. "We're getting on the train to it tomorrow, you have the ride to look forward to, and meeting Ruki."

"Ah, sweet rest!" Takuya said, stretching his arms and legs.

"You know the only good thing that came from this?" Izumi asked. "Check out this body! I haven't been so in shape!" She laughed before posing.

"Yeah yeah, what I don't understand is how Yamaki did it." Junpei sighed crossing his arms. "Physically we shouldn't have progressed so quickly. Hope he didn't slip steroids into our drinks or anything…" Sighing and shaking his head.

"We'll kick some butt! And we'll meet Ruki! And we can see Kouji more often now!" Tomoki cheered, earning a small laugh here and there. Over the time they prepared, because Yamaki made Kouji be more exposed to light it hurt his eyes less.

"Calm down there, buddy." Takuya laughed watching as Tomoki jumped up and down with excitement. "Hey Kouji, you're more quiet than normal." He blinked.

"I'm enjoying the silence while I have it." Kouji muttered, and Izumi shook her head.

"I am the mascot!" Kouichi cheered and floated around. "It would be nice though if I could change… you know, wear something like a cheerleaders outfit!" He grinned, and laughed as Takuya tried to hit him for that. Then the poltergeist began to sing. "IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! IT'S-"

"SHUT UP!!!" Everyone hollered, and Kouichi laughed before switching to another song. How did everyone hear him singing? Simple, only when Kouichi wanted to be annoying and loud did people actually hear what came from his dead self.

"This is the song that never ends! Yes it goes on and on my friends!" He sang happily, and everyone had at least one vein popping.

"As I said, I was enjoying the peace and quiet before he got here." Kouji sighed.

"Is there some ghost cork we can stuff into his mouth?!" Takuya asked, his eyebrow twitching.

"If he keeps this up I'll make sure they'll make a second dimension just for ghosts who died again!" Izumi hissed, and her eyes changed to a gold colour and were slitted like a cats. Then ears came out standing straight up, and a tail appeared twitching like an annoyed cat.

"Izumi calm down!" Junpei yelped, seeing her start to change.

"Oh, I'll calm down when he shuts up!" Izumi growled like some feral animal, and stretched out longer, sleek claws.

"Gah, Izumi! Calm down!" Takuya yelped, and so he and Junpei tried to help out. Sighing Tomoki took off a necklace his uncle gave him, and put it in front of Izumi.

"One two, buckle your shoe." Tomoki said. Izumi's cat-like eyes returned back to blue, then went dull, and she reached down to tie her already tied shoes. "Now calm down." She closed her eyes, then opened them again.

"Oh, what lovely singing Kouichi has!" Izumi said happily. They all sighed with relief, and Tomoki put the necklace on.

"Nice one." Takuya said, and ruffled Tomoki's hair.

"I'm just glad my uncle taught me some of that hypnotic stuff before he passed away." Tomoki sighed.

"We are too." Junpei agreed, then glared at Kouichi. Izumi was dancing in the house thing to his singing, even though it was horribly off-key.

"You know, maybe we should get something like a mouse as a mascot, this current one is too noisy." Takuya grumbled.

"Hey!" Kouichi yelled, angry at that comment.

"I'm agreeing with you. He hasn't been this bothersome until now." Junpei sighed, putting his pinky in his ear trying to clear it up so he could hear with more ease.

"He's not bothersome!" Izumi said in a singsong voice, and everyone sweat-dropped.

"Uh… yeah." Tomoki laughed nervously, agreeing with Izumi just because no one was on Kouichi's side.

"Ah, such energy!" Yamaki said happily, clapping his hands together as he came inside. "It's good to know you won't be quick to be knocked down." He chuckled.

"Doesn't Kouichi have lovely singing? When he was singing that is…" Izumi muttered, realizing she no longer heard the haunting, off-key voice of Kouichi.

"I wouldn't really know that." Yamaki said, eyeing her warily.

"She was getting a bit too angry." Tomoki explained.

"Right… okay then! When we leave tomorrow afternoon, make sure you have everything you need packed. That includes a hair brush, tooth brush, clothes, floss, extra hair tyes if your hair is long, mouth wash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, belts, some books to read, a magazine to scan through, a sketchbook to draw on, and all other required objects you need to keep yourselves when you have spare time along the ride there." Yamaki said. They all stared at him. "What, you think just because you're doing something for the good of earth you don't have to brush your teeth?" He asked.

"No… just, we already packed everything." Izumi said blinking.

"Well then make sure you have everything!" Yamaki sighed.

"Fine fine fine…" Takuya grumbled, and stretched out on the beanbag.

"Alright then, when we get there you'll meet Ruki and train with her until a few days before the tournament. We're lucky we have some extra time to get ready still." Yamaki told them. "Get here an hour before eleven, it will take some time to get to the train and get everything set. Understood?" A few uninterested, 'yes sirs…' came from the group. "…I guess you'll have to eat rice for lack of enthusiasm." The teenagers exchanged frightened looks (except Kouji and Kouichi), and quickly fixed the error of their ways. "Good! Off you all go." And so they did.

Grumbling, the brunette found himself looking everywhere for his missing CD he had lost awhile back. He had been searching for awhile now, and it was just his luck that he couldn't locate it anywhere. Kouji was sitting on the windowsill and watching the brunette with a raised brow of interest. Though he asked nothing of as to why Takuya was throwing things this way and that, figuring it was probably in his best interest to not know. He hoped to all things that the brunette wasn't looking for that evil CD that he had grown to loathe.

Kouichi was floating around, filling a small bag with things he was… 'borrowing' from Takuya. Kouji also knew his twin was also grabbing things the vampire forgotten, so he wasn't really doing anything except swinging his leg back and forth while watching. After maybe thirty minutes the brunette heaved a sigh, and flopped onto his bed giving up. Normally the brunette wouldn't give up so easily, but he had been searching for quite some time now and he needed to go to bed soon if he wanted to not be left behind. As if Kouji would let that happen any ways.

"No luck?" Kouji asked.

"Not really." Takuya sighed, then put his hands under his head on top of the pillow as a mean of more support. Yamaki was finally sleeping elsewhere for a change and the brunette got his bed back.

"What were you looking for?" Kouichi asked.

"My t.A.T.u CD." Takuya sulked, and Kouji's eyebrow twitched. Mentally he begged Kouichi didn't find it, the ghost did not locate it…

"Oh, I already packed that. A CD Player too." Kouichi said proudly.

"Really? That's great! …why didn't you say so earlier?" Takuya asked glaring at Kouichi.

"Oh, Kouji said to not tell you. Something about an evil repeat button…" Kouichi shrugged, still rummaging through things. Kouji was ready to kill his brother, but Kouichi was already dead so… yeah. Instead he pretended to not hear this, and act like nothing was wrong at all.

"…" Takuya said nothing, but Kouji did feel the eyes glaring into his back. Again, he pretended to be unaware of this.

"I'll go steal from Shinya now." Kouichi grinned, and floated away laughing. Soon afterwards a scream erupted from Shinya's room and they heard the scamper of feet run into Mr. And Mrs. Kanbara's room.

"You hid the CD, didn't you?" Takuya asked.

"…you were in the hospital and I was going to give it to you, until I realized they wouldn't let me in. Then I misplaced it." Kouji said, sounding like he was telling the truth. Sounding.

"You don't misplace things." Takuya countered.

"Yes I do." Kouji pointed out.

"For example…?" Takuya asked.

"I misplaced my brain when I bothered to stay with you here." Kouji retorted.

"You're still here, it must still be gone." Takuya snorted.

"Burn!" Kouichi grinned, floating back in.

"Go away!" Takuya and Kouji both snapped at the stunned ghost. Sulking, he floated off again.

"Glad to see you've withstood him for four years." Kouji complimented.

"It's amazing you tolerated him for ninety." Takuya sighed.

"Hmm, it has been that long hasn't it?" Kouji asked, and got off the windowsill.

"I don't know; I wasn't there for eighty-six of them." Takuya chuckled. Tilting his head at the brunette, Kouji walked over and sat on the bed next to Takuya who raised a brow.

"Are you sure you want to go tomorrow?" Kouji asked.

"Yeah, why?" Takuya asked, then sat-up supporting his upper body with his arms.

"…" For a moment there, Kouji said nothing and it worried the brunette some.

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A/N: 26 reviews for a story that I thought I'd get flamed for. Wow. –Pokes the story- Oh, and super highly big thanks to Sailor Epyon for correcting the grammar mistakes!!! ARIGATOU!!!

Icy Pyro: Yay!! –Glomps- Muahah, you shall get chapter 5 sometime later this week then. Yesh, you have Ruki here, bwahaha! You find out what she is next chapter!

The Chaotic Ones: Junpei and Izumi/JP and Zoe? Nyo? Very happy you like this so far! Yay!! Okay then, since you asked here's the update!

Kyla Minamoto: Hiyas! Here ish your update! Oh, and of course Takuya and Kouji get together! …later. 0.0 Yesh, but they do! Muahahahahah! Oh, sorry about that…

KendoSakuyamon: No, I do not rule at Takouji. KellyQ does. –Nod- Ack, I didn't explain that? Ahh, I'm so sorry! –Grovels- Bleh, I completely forgot to have Serlio mention that part of the after-effects of Kouichi saving Takuya was his body healed quicker than normal. Wow, I am so sorry!! Sorry sorry sorry!! –Smacks head against desk- Oh, sorry Viximon! Hmm… how shall I rescue you? KendoSakuramon-san seems so nice. –Nods again-

Sailor Epyon: 'Course he is! Don'tcha remember? Yamaki knows all. Yesh, Ruki is here, bwahah! –Glomped- Oh, and thank you so much again for checking over this! Thank you!!! –Gets a giant box of Hello Pandas and gives them to you-

Kenzy-Chan: Junzumi? All righty then! –Was partly hoping someone would say IzuRuki- Nah, I wouldn't say that was random. Ruki has to be in the mix, everyone likes Ruki! …okay, so not everyone but eh… You find out about Kouichi's death… later. Maybe. Please remind me too. I forget things a lot. v.v

Rebecca Lyn: Pictureness! Yay! …hey, don't you still need to send me that one from the Destinies (incomplete) series? –Pokes you-

takuya: Nyo! Here is your updated chapter, hope you enjoyed it!

GemmaniGirl: Lol… it might not be Kouichi haunting your house… it might be a muse. Those are scary things… -Shudder-

Dragi: -Hugs back- Nyo, he got even less in this chapter. He just has bad luck with getting sleep doesn't he? J/k, thanks for the pic! Good luck with your stories also!