p"A human like you? I doubt you even have Spirit energy." Hiei smirked maliciously. Kuwabara growled at him.
p"I do too! And I learned how to do a few tricks!" Kuwabara shouted.
p"Like what?" Yuiko snapped, herself still in a bad mood from the mess with Genbu. Kuwabara grinned stupidly.
p"Glad you asked!" Kuwabara held his hand out in front of him for a second before his Spirit Sword appeared and he raised it above his head. "Spirit Sword! Get long!" Kuwabara's Spirit Sword grew until it made a small hole in the ceiling. Yuiko didn't look impressed.
p"Uh huh. Very amazing. Unfortunately, I've seen hamsters do better stunts than that." Yuiko insulted. Kurama chuckled and Hiei stared at her. She was good. Kuwabara glared at her for a few moments before he felt dizzy. He swayed for a second and then leaned against the wall. "Idiot! Save the tricks for the fights if they make you dizzy!" She put her hands on his hips, turned on her heel, and stormed off. Kurama stared after her, a cheerful look in his eyes. Hiei raised an eyebrow at him.
p"Kurama?" Hiei asked. Kurama blinked and looked at the demon. "Do you like that human?" Kuwabara blinked and stared curiously at Kurama. Kurama flushed.
p"No!" he replied, a little too quickly. "What made you think that?" Hiei shrugged.
p"Forget I said anything." Hiei grunted, walking after Yuiko, his eyes closed. He had to admit it; he wouldn't blame Kurama for having a crush on the human. Hiei's eyes snapped open when he realized what he was thinking. 'What the hell of Spirit World am I thinking?! She's a filthy human! I feel nothing for her!'
p"Are you guys coming or what?" Yuiko snapped in irritation. Hiei blinked and came back to earth.
p"Yes, mother." Kuwabara retorted, hands in his pockets. Yuiko growled at him and next thing they knew, Kuwabara had a big bump on his head and she was stomping off, grumbling about idiots. Kuwabara rubbed his head as he and the other two boys followed Yuiko to the next Saint Beast. The four of them walked until they exited the staircase from a door and found themselves on a tower with a slim bridge connected to another tower which seemed to have another door leading to another staircase. "So where's the next Saint Beast?" Kuwabara asked. No one answered right away. It was when the ground beneath them began to shake that they found out. Everyone waited until they saw a big, ugly tiger demon with green hair and super sharp claws exit from the door on the other end of the bridge.
pKurama's eyes widened. "Ah!" the red-head gasped. Hiei just crossed his arms and glared at the tiger demon. Yuiko raised an eyebrow and Kuwabara would have wetted his pants if he hadn't remembered when he had accidentally done that in the fifth grade. Yuiko had tormented him for weeks. "That's Byakko, the second Saint Beast." Kurama explained. Hiei just grunted in reply.
p"Alright! Let's see what this big kitty's got!" Kuwabara shouted. He ran out onto the bridge without thinking.
p"KUWABARA!" Yuiko yelled. She was about to run after him before Hiei threw his arm out to stop her.
p"He's a stupid idiot. All stupid idiots are destined to die." Hiei stated in an emotionless voice. Yuiko glared at him.
p"I can't just - he's - ah, forget it! You wouldn't understand!" Yuiko rambled. Hiei decided to read her mind to figure out what he 'wouldn't understand'. 'Kuwabara can't die! He just can't! Except for Keiko, he's my only friend!' Hiei blinked and stared subconsciously at Yuiko. "JUST DON'T DIE ON ME, YOU BAKA!" Hiei directed his eyes to Kuwabara's rash actions so that the female didn't notice his staring.
p"Hn." Byakko growled. "After all these years, when King Yama finally sends some fighters to feast on, they come at me one at a time! What an insult!"
p"Just come on down here, fatso!" Kuwabara insulted. 'Man, he looks bigger up close.' Hiei, Yuiko, and Kurama sweat dropped, Kurama's face in his hand, the red head muttering about insulting demons is not the way to survive a fight. Byakko laughed and pulled out three or four green hairs out of his head. The tiger demon let them fall to the ground and tiger monsters just like Byakko, except on all fours and didn't talk, appeared on the bridge to fight Kuwabara.
p"Attack my pets! Tear his head, arms, and legs off as your meals, but leave the body for me!" Byakko ordered. The monstrosities made from Byakko's DNA ran at Kuwabara, the tall orange-haired teenager waving his Spirit Sword at them.
p"Want a piece of this? Come and get it!" Kuwabara shouted. Kuwabara ran right at the giant tigers about to kill him.
p"Has he lost his mind?" Kurama asked. "He won't survive if he just runs at them. It's more like trying to commit suicide." Yuiko turned to Kurama and grabbed his collar with both of her hands.
p"What are you saying!? That he's gonna die!?" Yuiko demanded. Kurama blinked and stared at her worried face. Yuiko, seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer right away, let go of Kurama and put her full attention of the fight. The tigers were clawing at Kuwabara like he was a cat toy. Blood was being sprayed from the teenager's chest, but the honorable idiot kept on fighting. "KUWABARA!" Kuwabara glanced at Yuiko on the other side of the bridge. He blinked in realization.
p'That's it!' he thought. Kuwabara turned tail and ran all the way back to Yuiko, Kurama, and Hiei, the large tigers following. Laughter came in the form of Byakko's deep, scratchy voice.
p"That's right! Run away! But no matter where you go, you will still die!" laughed Byakko. Kuwabara ran past Yuiko and Kurama, the two latter and Hiei getting out of the way of the tigers. Suddenly, Kuwabara turned around.
p"SPIRIT SWORD! GET LONG!" His Spirit Sword launched itself through the tigers' mouths and rear ends, creating tiger shish-ka-bobs. Kuwabara laughed in triumph before he noticed the tiger monsters were eating his sword. He freaked out and ran around the tower that the four of them came out of. Hiei stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed, muttering about stupid humans, even after Kuwabara connected the two ends of his sword so that the monsters couldn't chase him any more. Yuiko let out the breath she had been holding and she gave Kuwabara a high-five.
p"Oh yeah!" Yuiko exclaimed, smiling. Kurama sweat dropped, but smiled all the same.
p"That was . . an interesting way of defeating them, Kuwabara. Not what I would have done, personally, but one to his own tactics." Kurama commented. Hiei just grunted.
p"Pathetic and absurd." the demon said. Kuwabara growled at him and Yuiko stood in the space separating them.
p"AHEM!" roared Byakko, who was waiting patently for Kuwabara to finish up. "If you are done chit-chatting, I have a stomach to fill!" Kuwabara glared at Byakko and ran at the giant tiger demon. Yuiko put her hands in her pockets, smirking.
p"At first I didn't think he had a chance." she admitted. Hiei snorted.
p"I don't think it would be a good idea to tell him that." Kurama advised. Kuwabara slashed at Byakko several times, seeming to have the advantage. Yuiko's smirk turned into a frown after a while.
p"How come Byakko's not getting weaker? Kuwabara looks like he's about to pass out!" Yuiko commented worriedly. Kurama blinked and gave a small gasp.
p"You're right. But how -?" Kurama cut his sentence short.
p"Probably because Byakko is absorbing the idiot's spirit energy." Hiei suggested.
p"WHAT!?" Yuiko yelled. Byakko chuckled.
p"Guess I've been found out." Byakko said. "There's no way you can defeat me!" Kuwabara growled to himself as Byakko came in for the kill.
p"There has to be a way to kick his butt!" Yuiko cried.
p"Well, there is." Kurama informed. "But it involves possible suicide." Yuiko went numb. Hiei stepped over to Kurama and elbowed him in the gut. "Ouch! What was that for?"
p"Hn."
pKuwabara stood up and charged at Byakko. 'This better work!' the teenager thought. Yuiko watched as her male best friend ran at the tiger demon.
pFlashback
p"Come on Kuwabara, brawl with me! Just this one time?"
p"No! I can't hit girls!"
p"Parents just tell their sons that so that they don't hit their wives. You can fight with me!"
p"No, I can't! It's against my code!"
p"Kuwabara, we're eight years old! We're too young to have codes!"
p"No we're not!"
p"Yes we are!"
p"No we're not!"
pAnother Flashback
p"What do you mean you can't come to the boxing match? You promised you'd be there, you jerk!"
p"Sorry, Yuiko, but my guy pals really want me to go to the arcade with them for Kamada's birthday."
p"His birthday's not until next week!"
p"But he's going to be out of town next week, so he's having the party today."
p"Fine! Miss the biggest fight of my entire life!"
pAnother Flashback
p"Why do they have to have a stupid prom? It's not like anyone has a boyfriend or girlfriend."
p"I dunno, Yui."
p"It's probably just another way for those stupid teachers to embarrass us because at least two of the students will be going by themselves."
p"Are you sore about it because you want to go with somebody?"
p"No, you idiot!"
p"Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off. Guess you won't want to go to the prom with me then."
pEnd of Flashbacks
pKuwabara gave a battle cry and sent all of his energy right at Byakko for him to devour. "KUWABARA!" Yuiko screamed. Kuwabara fainted and Byakko laughed, slowly stepping toward the unconscious boy.
p"I'll crush you now." Byakko stated. Suddenly, intestinal sounds came out of no where. Byakko gave an enormous burp and he flew off of the fighting arena, Kuwabara miraculously getting back up.
p"Ha, ha! Take that you pussycat!" Kuwabara exclaimed, falling to his knees. Yuiko ran up to him quickly.
p"Kuwabara!" Yuiko cried out. She knelt down beside him. "I can't believe you just took down a demon!"
p"Yeah, well, I'm the amazing Kazuma Kuwabara! Of course I did!" Kuwabara laughed. Hiei and Kurama caught up with Yuiko, Kurama smiling and Hiei staring at them with an unreadable expression. The female embraced the carrot-topped teen in a tight hug, making it hard for Kuwabara to breath. Hiei's eyes widened and something in him started burning. He didn't know what, but it was making it hard to watch the scene in front of him. "Uh, Yuiko? Can't breath." Yuiko blinked and let go of Kuwabara. He took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow at her, a light-hearted look on his face. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Yuiko burst out laughing and helped him up. Kurama chuckled a bit, but Hiei glared at Kuwabara. The demon didn't like him.
p"Now that that's over, it's time to go fight the next Saint Beast." Kurama said. Yuiko nodded and the four of them walked away from the area, unaware that Byakko wasn't beaten yet.