Replies to Reviews:

Prologue:

Sanji and Katsume: Thank you for your praise. I appreciate it very much. And don't worry about any resemblance to my story. I won't get offended. I wish you two luck with your stories.

Chapter One:

Dream x Spirit: Well, that's what I was going for. All the Hiei/OC stuff I've seen lately is all a bit too mary-sue-ish for my tastes. So I wanted to try something different. I'm glad you like it.

Sanji and Katsume: Yeah, both Kiharu and Hiei have that bad-ass quality to them.

Chapter Two:

Dream x Spirit: You're too kind. As long as I'm pleasing at least one person with my work, then it's all worth it.

Sanji and Katsume: Well, here's the next chapter.

Now then, onward with the story

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. Only Kiharu, daughter of Yomi.

Violet Haze
Chapter Three: Unanswered Questions

Key:

Location

Thoughts

Noise

Top of Okunenju Stalk, Group Fourteen

12: 36 PM

Once the door slammed behind her, Kiharu felt the entire room spinning. Her dark green mane whipped her face as she spun faster and faster. She couldn't see anything but white light all around. Once the spinning stopped, she saw that she had been transported to a new place. She looked ahead with her violet eyes.

All around she noticed demon woman who appeared to be riding on giant eyeballs. She noticed that the lens of the eyes were actually lenses for a camera. So they're here to film the fights, are they? Now everyone in the stadium will get to see my true strength, though I doubt I'll have to use it on these losers.

Other demons had come here before her, their power levels not strong enough for her to be apprehensive about. They were all spread out, greedy bloodlust wallowing in their eyes. Kiharu wasn't fazed, even after seeing how much they craved blood and carnage. All of the demons were to wait until the commentator, Koto, announced it was time to begin. A small group of demons were talking amongst themselves but Kiharu could hear what they were saying. They were gawking at her as they spoke so she knew it was about her.

"Hey, look at those horns. Isn't that Yomi's kid?"

"I heard today she killed a demon in no time flat!"

"No way. She's a little pipsqueak."

"Well that guy Hiei's a runt but he did pretty damn good last tournament."

Then the announcement was heard, disrupting their conversation.

"Every demon has just been teleported to their fighting stations. For those who are new here, let me explain how this works. This is the preliminary round where we take only the top demons. This year's turnout for the tournament is less than last year. Only 2, 048 contenders this year, and after the preliminaries we'll have it narrowed down to sixty-four.

"In each group there are thirty-two demons. All contests fight until only one is left standing. You're out if you faint, die, or surrender. As you can see, you're fighting stations are atop an Okunenju Stalk, just like last year so be sure to make use of your provided terrain. With that said and done let the Demon World tournament begin!"

Demons cheered and immediately began attacking each other. A demon came at Kiharu, swinging its long spiked tail. She jumped over it and gave the demon a fierce uppercut to the jaw. It was so intense of a punch her fist shot through his skin and bone, breaking the skull as her fist poked out of the top of its head. She drew her arm back, did a graceful back flip, and watched as a shower of blood shot upward, sprinkling crimson droplets on a few other demons. With a flick of her wrist, she removed the blood that was on her fist.

Who's next?

The next assault was three demons coming for her. She extended her fingernails and spun in a circle as they lunged for her. Three demon heads fell to the ground. "Too easy," she said to herself.

Then came a much larger demon that looked like an ox with black eyes of malice. It lifted a large leg and prepared to stomp down on Kiharu. "Ha! I got her!" it said triumphantly, seeing no way for her to dodge. Then it happened.

The demon felt its leg being moved upward. An immense push tossed him up into the air. It looked down with its beady black eyes and they widened as they saw a blast of green demon energy headed its way. The energy engulfed the airborne demon. Now in the sky only a floating dark green sphere was noticeable.

BOOM!

The sphere self-destructed, obliterating the demon it had swallowed. These demons truly were fools, because even after that display they came for her. Her small, petite frame probably made them think she wasn't as powerful as they were but they were sadly mistaken. The price of that mistake was their life, for Kiharu took it mercilessly. As she continued to kill her opponents, Koto's voice was heard announcing people who'd already defeated all their opponents.

"And from Group Thirteen we have a winner, with Hiei advancing to the next round!"

So he cleared his group already, huh? I can't wait to fight him!

Kiharu delivered a high kick to a demon's head, knocking it clean off.

"We also have winners from Groups Sixty-two and Seven, Yomi and Mukuro."

Kiharu went from her defense, which is waiting for the others to strike first, to offense. She was now the one hunting down her fellow fighters, slaughtering them one by one.

"Yusuke Urameshi, a promising young man, has just claimed a win in Group Fourty-seven."

Less and less demons were around for Kiharu to massacre. There were less than ten by now. Wanting to finish early, she got into a stance where she placed her two palms together like a cleric. "What's this?" hissed the snake-like demon. "Saying your prayers before we kill you?"

Kiharu merely smirked. "Bondage of the Damned!" she yelled. Instantly, large chains shot through the ground, wrapping around all the remaining demons. They all struggled as the chains wrapped tighter and tighter. She extended her arms with her hands out, her palms facing the ground. Her fingernails grew longer and sharper. The additional part of the fingernails broke off, shooting straight ahead like flying spikes. Seven of the ten fingernails drove through the throats of the seven remaining demons. Once they died, the chains that had ensnared them disappeared.

"An impressive feat! I've never seen anything like it in all my years as a commentator. Ms. Kiharu from Group Fourteen is gonna get her chance to play with the big boys."

One of the women flying on eyeballs flew over to Kiharu. "Congratulations," she said breathlessly. "A door will appear for you to return to the stadium."

Sure enough, a steel door materialized out of thin air behind Kiharu. She turned, opened the door, and stepped inside. Once again she found herself spinning rapidly in circles, her green mane blocking her vision as it whipped her hard in the face. The spinning stopped and Kiharu was near a table, where Koto sat, a microphone perched before her. She looked to her left to see a giant screen where dozens of fights could be viewed at the same time.

"Kiharu," came the voice of Yomi. Yomi approached her and smiled. "That was very impressive," he said.

"How would you know? You're blind," she said, crossing her arms.

"One does not need eyes to see," he replied, leading her away from the table. They walked to a place where they could easily view the large screen that featured the different fights. Soon they were joined by Mukuro and Hiei.

"I saw your fight, Kiharu," said Mukuro, glancing at her with her blue eye. "You're quite the fighter."

"Uh, thanks," she said in a low voice. It wasn't like Kiharu to use words of gratitude, but for whatever reason, she had respect for the bionic woman. She looked at Hiei, who looked as poker-faced as ever as he merely glanced at the monitor.

"Yusuke did well, as expected," said Mukuro to Yomi.

He smiled a bit. "Yes, Mr. Urameshi is a very determined contender, that one. Almost got me in the last tournament."

"Do you think he could've beaten Enki if he'd managed to defeat you?" asked Mukuro inquisitively.

"Hmm . . . it would be a close call, I suppose," said Yomi, stroking his chin. "In his prime, Yusuke could probably slaughter Enki with ease but after fighting me he was exhausted, so chances are the turnout would be the same."

"I see. . . ." Mukuro turned her head to view the current fights that were going on.

"And once again, Touya the Ice Master from Group Fifty-one has made his Okunenju covered in ice, freezing all thirty-one of his opponents. And also form Group Twenty-six, Jin the Wind Master has blown away the competition–literally."

"Weren't those two formally part of your alliance, Yomi?" said Mukuro.

"Why yes. Kurama introduced them to me and they were going to serve in my army. Then Yusuke showed up with his proposal for this tournament and here we are a few years later doing it all over again."

Those boys . . . they could prove to be trouble if I let my guard down.

Kiharu had been studying the techniques of Jin and Touya as she watched their fights. Touya froze everyone on his Okunenju and Jin could manipulate the wind and preform aerial attacks. As the two boys came back to the main stadium, she could feel their demonic aura, which was greater than she had preconceived. But still, their aura wasn't as powerful as Mukuro's or Hiei's.

Kiharu glanced at the crimson-eyed male. He was one of the contestants she wanted to fight the most. Not only would he be an interesting fight, but if she could beat Hiei then that would mean she had a chance against Mukuro or even Yomi. The buzz of conversation around Kiharu was muffled as she started to think about the demon with crimson eyes.

This guy's gonna be no walk in the park, and that's good. I wouldn't want to waste my time. With that intense demon energy, I can't help but feel a small attraction. But I'm not sure what the nature of my attraction his.

Kiharu was very confused. She was almost sure her admiration for Mukuro's heir was entirely out of amazement of his demon energy. Before her interest with him was the fact that he fought with Mukuro and came out of it alive and his high demon energy. But lately she'd been having different thoughts.

Right now he wasn't swathed in his black cloak but he was wearing a black tank top and black pants, held up by two belts. She saw his right arm was covered in bandages and fastened at his left hip was a sheath for a katana. She was puzzled mostly by the bandages, but thought perhaps they concealed a secret technique. It seemed unlikely Hiei would have suffered that bad of an injury in the preliminaries, after all.

She kept her head facing the monitor, but her violet eyes kept peering at Hiei. His arms were well-toned with rippling muscle. His flame of black hair with the white starburst and bluish outline was a very unique hairstyle even for a demon. She saw beneath his black bangs rested a white bandana. Somehow she got an odd feeling about it, for there was a level of aura concentrated about that one point in the middle of his forehead.

She averted her eyes quickly when she saw Hiei's crimson gaze.

Did he see me staring?

She hoped not. Just because she was a creation didn't mean she didn't have feelings. She functioned like a regular being, able to process thought and feel emotions. However, it seemed odd that a thing could feel.

Is that all I am? Am I just . . . a thing? I'm not really a person or a demon. I'm just . . . a thing that Yomi created that puts on the facade of being a regular being. And all these feelings, why am I feeling this? Why am I able to feel if I'm just created?

I have no soul nor heart, so I shouldn't feel. And this attraction toward Hiei. What does it mean? Sure, I admire his strength and yes, he is quite handsome, but what does that mean? Why do I feel this strange way when he's near? What power does he have over me? So many questions yet I get no answers. Perhaps I receive no answer because I do not preach the question to anyone other than myself. So I suppose it is up to me to find the answers in time. But still, I have to wonder, why do I bear this strange, indescribable feeling for solely Hiei?

"And that concludes the preliminaries folks!" rang the voice of Koto in Kiharu's ear. Her thought pattern faded once she heard the voice. "Tomorrow we'll start the next round, where the fights will only be one-on-one! Until tomorrow everybody!"

At the end of Koto's announcement, Kiharu learned from Yomi that because of last year, a large hotel had been established for the demons to stay at so they could rest up for their matches. This way, the fights would be kept more interesting since every contender could be in tip-top fighting condition.

However, Kiharu told Yomi that instead of heading to the hotel she was going to train hard. Yomi did not join her, since she demanded to go on her own. Kiharu strayed to nearby woodlands to practice the training. Occasionally, she come across a weak apparition to test her skills on.

Nightfall came when she finally decided to stop. She was panting heavily, her body sore from all the exercises she forced herself to do. Thankfully, her aura would regroup by tomorrow. She walked over to a large cascading waterfall and stripped off her clothes. She stood under the waterfall, letting the cold water run down her nude body. Goosebumps rose on her skin from the cold, but that was all right since she was too numb to really feel the cold anyway. She rinsed the dirt and blood that caked her body, making herself as clean as possible without the aid of soap or other antibacterial products.

After her "close enough" shower she discovered a cavern behind the cave. With a small spark of aura, her hand started glowing as she walked inside. There was nothing in the cave but a small scurrying rat. She put on her clothes, not caring that she was drenched with water, and sat down inside. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She was too tired to go back to the hotel. The rat came near her, and nibbled on her shoe. With a single punch, the rat soared through the air and crushed into the wall. It slid down the wall, streaking body and tiny organs on it. She sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to rest. She had to be ready for tomorrow's match.