Kyoshi surged forward and I followed his movements very closely as he made his way towards me. At the last moment he leapt to the side and came at me from my left but I stuck up an arm and blocked the attack, biting back the yelp as his fist bruised my skin. We sprang apart and again he came at me, this time leaping into the air at me. I smirked and whipped out my sword, striking at him but he pulled a hidden dagger from his sleeve and countered. He smiled with glee. "So you are going to make this fun for me!" He cried.
With a small growl deep in my throat I leapt after him, catching him off guard momentarily with the sudden change from my usual defensive strategy. The very tip of my blade snagged his long baggy sleeve and another dagger fell out. As he sprang towards it I held out my hand and a coil of neon green rope wrapped itself around it and pulled the dagger to me. I caught it in my hand and held both the dagger and my sword unsheathed and pointed at him.
Instead of showing any sign of fear or nervousness, he laughed joyously and clapped his hands. With a broad smile he said, "I finally get to use these old powers of mine again!" He bowed his head and closed his eyes as I watched curiously. Shaking my head I charged forward, bouncing back as an ice blue bubble of energy appeared around him. Snarling, I attacked it but soon found it was no use and waited tensely for what was to come.
Slowly he raised his hands and placed them, palms together in front of his chest. A slow smile spread across his face and his head slowly rose. Suddenly the eyes snapped open, glowing with an ice blue light as he regarded me. I took a step back as he pointed one finger at me. With a yelp I leapt to the side, seeing some of my hair hitting the ground. A powerful beam of energy had shot from his index finger and fired straight at me, just missing my head but detaching several strands of hair in its place. I looked back to see Kyoshi raising his hand and facing it flat palmed at me. I ducked,falling to the groundonmy stomach,as a hand sized blast shot over my head and heard the crumbling of the stadium walls along with the screams of demons as they were struck in the crowd.
With a glare I squared off my feet and faced him, putting the sword and dagger in the belt loops of my pants. I closed my eyes and held my right wrist with my left hand, both down by my side. I sensed his eyes on me for a moment before I focused harder, sensing his powering up. During his second fire I had noticed he had to open his shield to shoot out and that's how I would get him.
My ears twitched and my hand darted up, firing a neon green blast to meet Kyoshi's ice blue one. I saw him nod with my neon eyes as if he was satisfied and I frowned, sending more energy into my beam. As it neared him he sent more to his as well and they evened out again. I gritted my teeth and concentrated hard, doubling my attack and causing it to leap forward.
I saw Kyoshi's eyes widen for a moment and before he could react, my blast had hit him. I blinked a few times and my eyes stopped glowing and turned their normal green again. I stared at the smoking ring where I had hit and waited for signs of life for I didn't believe he could've been defeated so easily.
Suddenly a huge ice blue beam surged forward and struck my right shoulder. My eyes grew wide as I gasped for air, unable to catch any, and stumbled over backwards. My sleeve was totally burnt away and my arm was charred looking and smoking slightly. I clutched at it but found that touching it just increased the pain. My eyes swirled gray and I closed them, blocking out the startled cries of my teammates and instead focusing on my arm. Soon a green glow surrounded it and the burning ceased to a dull ache. I winced as it began quickly healing and my arm began changing from the almost black back to the normal pale.
"See? If I had known you could do that I wouldn't have bothered but that's what makes it fun I think." Kyoshi was standing over me, conversing with himself as I desperately tried to heal. He reached down and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, lifting me forcefully to my feet and holding me there. I forced open my still gray eyes and glared at him, wincing as he waved a hand in front of my eyes. I gasped and looked down noting the green glow that surrounded my arm had waned into nothing and the burning pain returned. He smiled at my reaction. "Hehe, I've sealed off your energy so now you're powerless against me."
"You've forgotten I'm still a demon!" I screamed, raising my right arm and striking him across the cheek with my claws, wincing at the pain it brought.
He released me and brought a hand to his cheek and wiped it gently, staring at the blood. He smiled slowly up at me, showing fangs for the first time and spoke. "Yes, it's been a long time since someone's made me see my own blood…" He laughed and continued. "But I am a demon too. I specialize in weapons, mostly the mixing of different chemicals and spells to find new outcomes. I brought one with me actually." He paused and pulled a small round ball from his pocket and fingered it, watching as I took a step backwards. "Who knows, maybe it'll heal that shoulder of yours!" He added, noting that I was clutching it once again. With a smile he threw it forward and it burst just at my feet. I buried my face into my shirt as the smoke swirled around me. I felt sick as the blue, green and red whips floated around as if I was in the center of my own personal tornado. I felt so helpless as I stood there with eyes slammed shut, my face hidden and my charred right arm hanging limply at my side. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and began to cough uncontrollably, taking in gulps of the colorful smoke each time.
My left hand found my throat and I fell to my knees as my throat and back started to burn just like my right arm. I groaned and slouched lower still as the pain near my shoulder blades increased. My forehead was now touching the ground in front of me as I sat on my knees with pain driven tears pouring from my eyes. Suddenly my eyes shot open and I heard the back of my shirt tearing as more pain shot through my upper back. It felt like something was piercing through my skin from the inside and I could feel the warm blood flowing down steadily.
Something soft slid through my skin near my shoulder blades where it felt as though there were two large holes in my back. I heard gasps from all around as the tearing sounds of my shirt grew louder and the holes in my skin seemed to grow larger. After a few more minutes of intense pain it finally ceased to a dull ache and I sat up slowly but still breathing hard with huge, shaky breaths. I felt somehow more weighted down than usual and when I sat up I was almost pulled backwards by some extra weight.
Almost afraid to, I turned my head and my eyes grew wide. From near each of my shoulder blades had sprouted a great black feathery wing, dotted with my blood from its forced appearance. A large hole in my shirt surrounded each from where they had torn their way through to reach the surface. Closing my eyes and concentrating hard I flapped them once and was lifted from the ground, set gently back on my feet. I wobbled for a moment from a sudden wave of dizziness that mixed with the pain and unbalancing of the wings and made mealmost fell back over, my hands flailing.
Kyoshi stepped forward and caught them, supporting me. Forgetting that I was supposed to be watching him hatefully, I held onto him so I wouldn't fall as he inspected the wings, looking over my head because of his height. "Well, I didn't expect this result, but it's pretty cool looking. A winged wolf demon…" He laughed as he steadied and then released me. "They looked like they hurt a lot coming in."
That got me angry again. "Well of course they did!" I screamed. "Didn't you see me?"
"Calm down…" He chuckled. "I don't know if they're permanent or not though…"
We both turned as the announcer stepped forward. "Umm… aren't you two supposed to be tearing each other apart?" She asked.
Kyoshi waved a hand at her as if to shoo her away and sighed. "We'll get to it when we're good and ready." He replied simply and turned his back to her, instead facing me.
I stood there breathing heavily and thoroughly inspected myself. My right arm was still charred to a brown and burning horribly. My shirt was missing its right sleeve entirely and had large holes surrounding the wings. The back was drenched in blood as well. I gritted my teeth as I clenched my right fist.
Next I looked up at him. He was still staring in wonder at my wings and appeared not to notice. His sleeve was only slightly ripped and his only physical injuries were the four claw marks I had left on his right cheek. The blood dribbled freely down his face but he ignored it, keeping the seemingly endless smile. He suddenly looked me in the eyes and nodded. "Ready to start again?"
I stepped back with one foot and stared at the ground. "You mean I have a choice?" I muttered sarcastically.
Kyoshi laughed at that and placed a palm to his forehead as she smiled at me. His hair swung in his face, slightly obscuring the red eyes that still seemed so casual and carefree. He was the type of person I couldn't stay mad at, especially because I hated being mad in the first place. I found myself almost smiling as well as I watched him until his shout brought me back to reality. "Go!"
He leapt at me, his dagger raised and I had just enough time to tumble to the side and out of the way. I landed, kneeling on the ground and darted my sword from its sheath to block his next attack before we sprang apart again. We continued doing this for a while with me occasionally whipping out his dagger that I had taken from my belt and swiping at him. The most damage I did was a small slice to his wrist while I obtained several marks on my arms and one on my right thigh. After all, I was fighting without the full use of my right arm and I was right handed.
My sword intercepted his dagger once more but I was sent stumbling backwards as his fist found my cheek. I clasped my hand to it, instinctively my right and only brought more pain by bending the burnt skin. My gray eyes filled with tears as we each stared at each other and he seemed to send an almost apologetic look before leaping at me again. I ducked out of the way, frantically trying to bring back any bit of energy to help heal myself but he had spoken true upon saying it was sealed away. I gritted my teeth as I kept dodging. He managed to knock the dagger from my almost lifeless right hand and took it in his own, now attacking me with two. I bit back a yelp as the cold metal pierced my right cheek and my eyes swirled a darker gray, flecked with crimson.
Kyoshi paused to stare at them and smiled to himself before continuing the attack. I was pushed slowly back and with another yelp I found myself tumbling off the edge of the ring. I rolled to the side as a dagger planted itself in the ground where my head had just been and climbed back to my feet. I held up my sword, countering as many of the attacks as possible but I felt myself quickly weakening.
My shirt was being shredded and my pants had large chunks missing but there seemed to be nothing for me to do. I had trained a lot with spirit energy but even more in sword use. Though the problem was I had trained with my right hand and now I had to use only the left.
I grunted softly as he started his attacks again, pushing me slowly across the grass that surrounded the ring we had stepped out of. Soon I found myself with my back pressed up against the wall surrounding the stage where the demons sat just above. I heard their shouts and screams and closed my eyes, growing suddenly dizzy. That was a big mistake.
Before I knew what was happening, an immense pain shot through my left palm and I dropped the sword quickly. My eyes snapped open as I screamed out as I saw the dagger sticking through my hand and pinning it to the wall. Gritting my teeth I watched Kyoshi back off as if ashamed and turned back to it. Taking a deep breath, I wrenched the dagger out and let it fall to the ground, dropping to my knees beside it. I held my hand tight against my stomach, unable to tend to it with my dead right. Tears filled my eyes as I sat there overcome by the pain I was in.
I regarded myself uselessly, noting my shredded and blood soakedclothing, limp and burnt right arm, pierced left hand, bleeding cheek, and sliced thigh and arms covered in at least twenty cuts. My cheek was bruised as well from his punch and so was one arm. Kyoshi however had one slightly torn sleeve, four claw marks on his cheek and a small cut on his wrist.
I sat on the ground with my head bowed and my eyes tightly shut when a hand appeared on each of my shoulders. I looked up to see Kyoshi smiling sadly at me. "I'm sorry. I just expected you to put up a better fight…" He shrugged. "But I guess I was overestimating you."
My eyes swirled a mixture of gray, blue and crimson as I glared at him. "What? You expect me to fight to my fullest ability with no spirit energy at all? I'll show you… I will get it back and I'll defeat you!" I declared as I closed my eyes tightly. I looked deep inside myself and saw only black. Suddenly a faint green light caught the corner of my eye and I turned towards it in my mind. Concentrating harder, the green light grew faintly brighter until all I could see was vibrant neon green with my closed eyes.
Suddenly they sprung open and I saw Kyoshi take a step back. I regarded him, seeing through a green haze as my eyes were both shining with a brilliant green glow. Slowly a smile spread across my face as my arms both glowed a bright green as well. Next my cheek lit up and slowly the pain ceased, and I was able to stand easily. I flexed both my arms and took up my sword, smirking at him. "Now the fight shall get better." I ignored the facts that my left palm still had blood trickling down from the half healed wound and my right arm still stung.
Kyoshi recovered and nodded with a smile as he stood ready though seeminglyweaponless. I closed my eyes and flapped the great feathery wings, surging forward with great speed that greatly surprised him. He barely got up an energy shield before my sword collided with it. I laughed. "Surprised?" I asked as I spread the black wings above my head, blocking out the light so my green eyes glowed eerily from the shadows. I brought them down rapidly and shot into the air, hovering in front of the sun. Kyoshi shielded his eyes as he peered at me. Suddenly I dove downwards towards him, lashing out with the sword. He blocked it but I got his shoulder hard with my claws before flying back up. I dove from a different angle this time and managed to rake my nails down his back and retreat again before he could react.
"Pretty nice plan you've got going…" He acknowledged. "Time for me to get one too."
I watched him closely with narrowed eyes as he closed his own and stood motionless. I blinked and started to charge again when suddenly he disappeared. I stopped dead and stared frantically around, sniffing the air. My eyes widened and I whirled around to see Kyoshi smiling, hovering beside me with great seraphic wings flapping. My eyes widened as I hadn't noticed them before. I swung my sword at him but he grinned and disappeared again, and this time I felt his strong arms wrap around me from behind. I struggled uselessly but was held tightly, my wings pressed against my back between our bodies so I couldn't move them to fly away.
Slowly we drifted down, resting on the ring once more. He folded in the leathery wings and next placed his head on my shoulder and whispered. "Surprised?" Echoing me from just a moment before.
I shivered and growled softly as I tried to pull away but he held me tightly, laughing softly. "Heh, you put up a good fight but now I'm going to have some fun. I just want to see what you'll do in response to this…"
My eyes widened and I doubled my efforts to escape but he tightened his hold as well and rummaged through his pocket. He came out with a small wooden box and quickly opened it with one hand. He pulled out a white cloth and tossed the box aside, shaking the rag to unfold it. He smiled as I wobbled slightly, already taking in the horrible scent. He held me steady and placed the fabric to my face, covering both my nose and mouth. I heard cries of alarm from Kurama and the others but they couldn't do anything, bound by the rules of the deadly tournament.
My eyes widened and then the lids drooped low as the entire scene began spinning. A splitting headache erupted inside me and I felt Kyoshi loosen his hold. Now unsupported, I stumbled forward a few steps before falling to my knees and then flat on my stomach. My left arm lay trapped under me, dying my stomach red with blood from the pierced palm, and my right half closed beside my face but I seemed unable to move either one. Kyoshi walked over and crouched beside me as I managed to whisper. "What did you do…?" I didn't hear the answer as the world began spinning rapidly at that moment and everything went black.
"Start counting!" Yusuke screamed at the announcer, noting that I was out cold. With a nod she complied and started, making it to eight before stopping suddenly at a withering glare from Kyoshi.
"No, keep going. She's unconscious and down so you have to count!" Botan urged but Kyoshi had other plans.
Taking me gently by the shoulders, he lifted me to my feet and held me leaning against him. "Now she's on her feet so you can't count. I know that's a rule so don't even try to argue." He said, smiling triumphantly towards my teammates and especially at Hiei who had long since woken.
So everyone was forced to wait with baited breath as I stood limply against Kyoshi's side. Finally an eyelid flickered and Kyoshi set me gently on the ground, balancing me on my knees as I came to. I put an arm out, leaning against it as I sat on my knees but it gave out and I fell flat on my face. I lifted my head slightly, blinking in confusion as I stared around. My eyes widened as I saw all the demons surrounding me in the stands and I cried out in alarm. "Where am I?"
Everyone stared at me in shock for a moment at my outburst until Kyoshi slowly approached me. "Hello love, are you ok?" He asked, crouching in front of me.
I placed a hand to my forehead and shook my head slightly. "I don't know where I am…" I looked up suddenly. "Who are you? Who am I?" I added, growing frantic. I had no clue where I was and the smells of the demons surrounding me was adding to the killer headache I already had.
Kyoshi placed a comforting hand on my back and smiled gently. "My name is Kyoshi and yours is Kira." I stared at him and he continued. "I'm going to help you, alright? But first, would you like to know who did this to you?" I nodded and he pointed with his finger at Kurama, Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara and Botan who stood watching fearfully with worried expressions. "It was them, ganging up on you. Those boys wanted to take advantage of you."
My eyes widened and narrowed as I regarded them carefully. "They seem scared to me…" I observed.
Kyoshi nodded. "Scared of if you find out it was them. You're a very powerful demon you know. What say you get a little revenge?" His eyes shimmered as he spoke and I stared into them.
Slowly I nodded and staggered to my feet, holding my head. I stared at the group, focusing hard as they all watched me as well. It occurred to me that if they were afraid of me attacking them for something I had done, they wouldn't have looked so relieved to see me standing. I had expected them to turn and run or something. Slowly I walked towards them with Kyoshi standing behind me still in the ring, arms crossed over his chest. Suddenly I broke into a run and targeted one.
I leapt and Hiei was caught off guard, tumbling backwards as I landed on him, knocking him over and placing my claws to his throat. Almost unconsciously my free hand found the locket that hung around my neck and snapped it open. I stared at it for a moment, lost deep in thought as I studied the faces of the two adults there. Then I focused on the two boys that stood on either side of what appeared to be a slightly younger me. They looked so familiar… Then it clicked. They were my family! I growled deep in my throat and leaned close into Hiei so Kyoshi couldn't hear me speak. "You, does your name start with an "H"?" He nodded in surprise and I continued. "And we're…" I paused, thinking hard. "Teammates I think? And I was fighting that guy alone?" He nodded again and my eyes flashed red. "He erased my memory to try and turn me against my own team…" I muttered to myself.
Hiei interrupted quietly. "Well what are you going to do about it?" He asked, eyeing my claws warily that were still against his neck.
I pulled them back slightly but not enough for Kyoshi to notice. "I'm going to hurt him very badly though for some reason I don't want to kill him…" I leaned forward as my hand started to glow green and hid it with my body. Then with a sudden movement I turned and a huge blast erupted from my palm all in one fluid motion.
Kyoshi's eyes grew wide and he had time only to throw his arms over his face before the beam hit him head on. I stood and offered a hand to Hiei, helping him to his feet as the others stared, unsure of what was going on. I then turned and hopped back to the ring, waiting for the smoke to clear so I could see if Kyoshi had made it. My ear twitched and I realized too late that Kyoshi was behind me. An ice blue beam struck me hard, enveloping my entire right arm and shoulder, a large part of my chest and side as well as my waist. With a gasping moan I fell to my knees, curled in a ball on the ground.
Kyoshi stumbled forward and landed hard on his knees beside me. I turned my head and managed to get a look at him. His shirt had been entirely disintegrated and his hair was matted and tangled together, sticking off in random directions. He was smoking from the entire top half of his body as I was from almost my entire right half except for the legs and both of us were covered in burn marks. He regarded me in silence for a moment before speaking, his smile coming back. "Well that was very deceptive."
"And appearing behind me and erasing my memory wasn't?" I commented dryly but with great difficulty through my shallow breathing.
He sighed and watched me. "Well neither of us can move properly so I'll finish this fight." He laid his burning hand gently on my stinging arm, causing us both to wince and the warm glow that was healing my body suddenly disappeared. He had sealed off my energy again! This time there seemed no hope in recovering it. Next he reached out lazily and snatched up a dagger that lay nearby. Gently he hefted it in his hand and held it lightly over me. I watched fearfully as he spoke. "Well this was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've been through a fight this challenging."
I saw his eyes close as if he was summoning up the courage to land the final blow and I grew desperate. Searching the ring with my eyes, I saw my sword lying some feet away. Sliding my hand towards it I closed my eyes as well and pictured it coming towards me. I heard the soft scraping of metal on stone and found with surprise that the sword's handle was resting in my hand and just in time too. I mentally thanked my father for giving the sword such great powers.
Kyoshi's eyes leapt open and the dagger came darting towards my chest. With a cry of alarm I stabbed upwards with my sword as well, still lying flat out on my back.
A dead silence overtook the stadium as Kyoshi and I both looked down. My sudden action had startled him enough that the dagger had pierced deeply into my shoulder rather than my heart where he had intended. My sword however was stabbing straight through his stomach. My eyes grew wide as he gasped for air, coughing and spitting blood as it dribbled down his chin. "I'm sorry!" I gasped as he fell forward, lying across my stomach. I grunted from the weight pressing on my burning skin.
He managed a smile and whispered, "One hell of a fight…"
Tears filled my eyes as I saw blood forming under his face from his mouth, adding to my already soaked shirt. "I'll bring you back to life, ok?" I promised shakily as my vision blurred.
He smiled and barely nodded. "Thanks…" He said before his body grew still and I closed my eyes, tears flowing.
The announcer stepped forward, thinking us both unconscious and started counting. Hearing this I opened my eyes and slid to the side and out from under him. I used my left hand to force myself into a sitting position, next lifting one knee so I was kneeling and on the number nine I crouched low, sitting on both feet. Gritting my teeth I grasped the dagger that stuck from my shoulder tightly in a hand and yanked it out, dropping it weakly."Ten!" She yelled. "Team Urameshi wins the Dark Tournament!" I breathed out in relief and toppled backwards, the folded in wings acting as a cushion beneath me.
