All I was told about what I missed after that was that we won the fight with little injuries suffered and I was carried back to the room and set to rest in my bed. I slept for several days, enough to miss five whole rounds before I finally began to stir.

I groaned slightly and lifted a hand to my head. Opening my eyes slowly, I cried out in alarm and quickly closed them again. They were still glowing red and everything I saw was through a red haze. I rubbed my eyes vigorously and hesitantly reopened them. They had returned to the normal green, quickly changing blue as I thought about the last fight I was in. I sat up and leaned against the head of the bed, looking around and surprised to see Hiei watching me closely.

"You're not going to grow angry and attack me are you?" He smirked.

I shook my head and closed my eyes. "Please, not now." I whimpered as I felt a tear slide down my cheek. It was followed by more and soon I was sobbing quietly into my hands.

Hiei watched me during a long awkward silence before coming hesitantly to stand beside my bed. He slowly reached out and pulled my hand from my face and spoke harshly yet softly at the same time. "If you cry after every single time someone dies then you'll never get anywhere and will end up getting killed yourself! Now, why was it you passed out after that match? I know for a fact you can take much more pain than that and I doubt it was because of a simple fit of rage."

I whimpered and wiped my face with my free hand as he still held my other wrist. Should I tell him about that night? I thought slowly to myself. "What night?" Hiei asked.

I jumped and stared at him, suddenly remembering he was a telepath. "No fair…" I sighed, taking a deep breath to calm myself. "Ok, you know that someone snuck into my room while we were on the boat?" He nodded impatiently and I continued. "Well that same person came into my room the night before the last fight I was in. It's why I was so scared when Kurama woke me. Anyway, he covered my mouth and held me down, keeping me from even moving and gave this long speech about wanting to know my hidden powers. He warned that he'd have lots of hardships for me to face and said that I'd better make it to the finals and that's where we'd finally meet." I paused, wiping my eyes again. "And then he released me and waved his hand over my eyes before I could react. I instantly fell asleep and it left me with a horrible headache. That's why I was having trouble before the match and wanted so bad not to fight. When I freaked out I forgot the pain but afterwards it came back doubled and I couldn't take it anymore…"

I looked up, meeting Hiei's eyes as he thought over what I said. "Do you think you'll be ready for him?" was his only question.

"You're not going to tell the others?" I asked in surprise.

"That wasn't an answer."

I sighed and said, "No, I don't. He acted like the sleep spell thing was really tiny and laughed at how I was barely able to handle it. I… I'm scared to fight him!" I blurted out.

Instead of responding, Hiei crossed the room and picked up my sword by the sheath. He tossed it to me and explained. "The semi finals were yesterday and we won but suffered damage. We have a day to prepare ourselves and then the finals are tomorrow. We'll train until then."

I nodded without protest and stood, strapping the sword to my waist. Instead of going to the other room and risk alarming everyone, we went quietly out the door to this room and went down the hall and outside. Hiei quickly led the way and he seemed like he knew where he was going so I didn't question him. We arrived in a grove of thick trees and finally stopped.

"Draw your sword." Hiei commanded and leapt at me on the last word. Mine darted from the sheath to reflect his and we went at it, springing off of trees to add to our momentum. After several hours of this, we switched to weaponless combat, though I used my claws. Still after that we continued on to spirit energy use. I grew slowly better at each point and we practiced all night and far into the next morning.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and I leapt at it, adrenaline and suspicions flowing. I snarled and pinned them to a tree only to find it was Kurama. My eyes widened and I released him, backing away. "I'm so sorry!" I cried.

He laughed nervously scratching his head. "It's quite alright. Are you ready for the fight?" He paused and looked at my torn clothes and fresh scratches everywhere. "And are you rested at all?"

Slowly I shook my head. "But I'll hopefully be fine."

He smiled. "You can sleep during the fight. You'll probably fight last and only if needed."

I froze and stared at the ground guiltily at the secret I was keeping as Hiei came up behind me. Kurama gave me a strange look but stayed silent and we all went back to the hotel room. I quickly changed and healed my wounds before meeting up with the entire group and proceeding to the stadium.

This time it was a different one. It was much larger and had no ceiling but instead opened straight to the sky above. Demons filled the seats close to overflowing as we stood in the dark of the entrance. "And now, team Urameshi!" the announcer yelled out and we stepped forward, greeted by the all too familiar wave of boos and curses.

She turned to the other side and smiled, indicating with her arm outstretched. "And their opponents, team Atari!" I tensed as I stared forward and they approached slowly.

They seemed strangely weak to be finalists. I couldn't get a single feel of spirit energy coming off of any of them. I sniffed but couldn't catch the scent of the invader either. I frowned slightly as Hiei's voice sounded in my head. Which one? I shrugged slightly and continued staring.

The announcer continued enthusiastically. "The loser is the first to lose all team members. There is no longer the possibility of a ring out. That leaves either knock out or a gruesome painful death!" The crowed erupted in cheers and I shuddered softly. Kurama rested a hand on my shoulder and sat me down against the wall beside where we had entered that was safely away from the ring. "They certainly don't seem like much but it could be a trick. However, you rest here and we'll get you if it's your turn." I nodded and leaned back almost instantly dropping into sleep. Kurama smiled and returned to the others. They quickly decided Kuwabara would go first and one of team Atari's members stepped up as well.

Kuwabara formed his sword and charged forward. There was a piercing scream and I moaned softly in my sleep as I heard it. Everyone stood in a shock at the sight of Kuwabara with the demon stabbed straight through by his sword. The creature had barely made a move to dodge and had just stood and waited for death. Now it lay on the ground, a large hole through its stomach and appearing through on its back as well. Slowly Kuwabara regained his senses and turned to the announcer. "Well aren't you gonna announce my win?"

"Oh right…" she said uncertainly. "First win, team Urameshi!"

Kuwabara hopped from the ring and crossed over to everyone, smiling proudly. They just shrugged and accepted the easy win as they sent Kurama up.

Again, with one swing of his rose whip the opponent lay slaughtered. The same with Yusuke's after one blast and Hiei's after one swing of the sword. Not satisfied, Hiei stepped forward again as the last member of team Atari did as well. He had shaggy dark green hair, streaked with black highlights from which protruded long, pointy black horns. His red eyes glowed softly from the shadows the hair cast over them. He was tan and had a good build and from the back of his pants a long slender tail with a triangular tip darted around constantly moving. Unlike the others he actually appeared to be a fighter. He laughed softly as Hiei approached him. "You're not the one I wish to fight." He declared.

"Tough." Hiei spat as he glared and drew his sword. The announcer yelled "begin!" and Hiei charged at him quickly. In a flash he was upon the man and had the blade darting at his head. Less than a second later the man's hand darted up and he caught the sword in his fingers. Everyone paused to stare as Hiei stopped, momentarily caught off guard. The man pulled back, kneeing Hiei in the stomach and Hiei fell to one knee, clutching at it.

"You may have dodged unneeded injury if you had listened to me." The man said as he kicked him hard to send him rolling off into the grass. "As you can see, those others made it this far on my skills. I only kept them because of the five person requirement for the finals. I am Kyoshi Atari and the only help I need is my own." He stood over Hiei and raised his hand, an ice blue staff of energy appearing in his hand. My eyes snapped open and I saw that the end was sharp and the point was aimed at Hiei's open back. I sat in shock for a moment, never having seen Hiei so messed up before and also surprised my dream was currently happening.

Quickly I regained my senses and ran towards them, stopped on the way by Kurama and Yusuke. I tried to pull away as each of them held one of my arms tightly. "No, you can't interfere!" Kurama warned as he and Yusuke attempted to push me to the ground.

My eyes swirled blue as I screamed at the man. He slammed the end down, stopping at my voice, the point resting on Hiei's back. I saw blood dribble out and took a shaky gasp. "If you hurt him any more I'll refuse to fight you, no matter what!" I cried out, closing my eyes. I felt Kurama and Yusuke release me and heard the announcer begin to count. I breathed out in relief and crossed over to Hiei as she said "ten". I kneeled by him, turning him gently over. His stomach and side were already purple and blue from being kicked around. Tears came to my eyes as Kurama crouched on the other side of him. Gently lifting him up he said, "I'll take care of him. Apparently you're the one he wants to fight and he won't accept anyone else. Be very careful though. I know you can do it." He assured me though worry showed through all over his face.

I wiped my eyes and smiled softly at him before getting to my feet. I crossed over and leapt onto the stage, steadily glaring at the man, Kyoshi, who so eagerly stared back. "Are you ready?" He breathed gently as he eyed me. I didn't respond and instead watched him with narrowed eyes.

"Begin!"