Live Onward

The time of the demon tournament was starting and there were a lot of demons roaming around excitedly to see any bloody messes in the ring. However, they knew that the three kings would be participating in the event. Yusuke was scanning around amazement by the huge crowd that was piling up while Eri was standing next to him and Hiei to see so many demons as her mouth slightly gaped open.

"Wow, we really might end up with a whacko in charge," Yusuke said.

"Urameshi!" The Chu called out, "There you are!"

"Chu!" Yusuke greeted. More members of the previous dark tournament were with him too as they were greeting the son of Raizen.

"The moment of reckoning is almost upon us!" Suzuki said.

"Uh...yeah," Yusuke said.

"So it's really true? What they're sayin' about droppin' most everybody in preliminaries?" Jin inquired.

"Huh? What?" Yusuke asked a little confused.

Touya asked, "Aren't you supposed to be one of the sponsors of this event? And yet, you know nothing."

"The 6,272 fighters will be divided into groupings of 49 for battle royale paramilitaries," Suzuki said.

"And only the champ from each grouping may advance to the next round," Touya added.

Yusuke rested his hand underneath his chin arching an eyebrow in deep thought, "Simple division...Let's see the number moving on..." He paused to calculate how many fighters will be involved in the tournament. "Only 87 with a remainder of three."

"One hundred twenty-eight." Touya corrected.

Yusuke is terrible with math as he straightens up his poster, "Oh...right..."

"Now, don't go bailin' out till you're matched with me, Urameshi!" The Chu declared.

Rinku nodded, "Yeah the whole reason we came was to fight you, and we haven't been training like crazy to see you beat by someone else!"

Chu forms a slight grin on his face, "Right, I brought a couple of knives just for us."

Yusuke lets out a small laugh, "Well, don't let me ruin the party. But I can only beat once, so you'll just have to share."

"Knives?" Eri asked looking up at Yusuke as he grinned placing a hand on his hip and the other arm was raised with his hand opened.

"It's a long story from my previous fight against the first Dark Tournament I had. You'll be surprised how I manage to survive through it." Yusuke replied as Eri merely return a short nod.

In just short notice, the kings had arrived Lord Mukuro was approaching and King Yomi along with his son Shura were arriving. Yusuke, Eri, and Hiei stood their ground glancing at the two forming a triangle around them as they could hear the demons lowly whispering to see the powerful upper-class demons that were meeting with each other before the tournament began. Eri glanced over at Yomi's son who was like a clone of Yomi, but as expected of a child, Shura can be childish and infantile; however, his father trained him extensively before the tournament, making him an analytical and a ruthless fighter.

"It's been some time since our meeting," Mukuro said speaking out of turn as she narrowed her eyes straight at Yusuke's. "You've developed your strength and skills even more since then, haven't you?" Yusuke returns a short nod. "Don't worry, though, I've got a few surprises in stored myself." Eri and Yusuke stood a few feet away from where Mukuro stood as she removed the scarf wrapped around her whole face to reveal her true facial appearance.

'She's so...pretty.' Eri thought.

"There is no better training than the real thing. So use the experience of these earlier matches to raise yourself to my level." Mukuro said as she stole a glimpse down at Eri seeing the child hid behind Yusuke's pant leg clutching it in her grasp. She then turns her heel and walks away from them. "I'd hate to see you get beaten before it's your time to bow."

"Father, that lady was Mukuro?" Shura asked.

Yomi lets out a grunt, "It was."

"Huh, strange..." Shura murmured. "For some reason, I thought she'd look a lot tougher than that."

Yusuke, Hiei, and Eri approach Yomi and his son Shura in such a quick greeting.

"Well hell, I didn't realize you had a son." Yusuke bents down his hip grinning down at Shura. "Come to watch your daddy, fight, kid?"

"I'm not a kid, I'm Shura, and I'm fighting," Shura replied.

"Is that right? Well, great I didn't realize we had a juniors division." Yusuke teased as he glanced down at Eri who blinks at him questionably. "I happen to have a kid of my own. She's not a fighter, but her power is very unique and she's very kind-hearted.

"Father, do we have to talk to this one anymore?" Shura asked annoyingly looking up at his father. "He seems very childish, and his energy is weak."

Yusuke let out a growl, "You little punk!

The male glances up to see Yomi faintly smiling as his son continued speaking, "Now, father remember...In this tournament, you are not to think of me as your son."

"Yes," Yomi replies in a dull tone.

Shura glances back at Yusuke and then down at Eri who looks at him very intrigued. The boy hides his blush to see the girl tilting her head to the side like a puppy as he faced away from her and looks back at his father, "You have to promise if we fight, you won't go easy on me."

"Yes, I promise you," Yomi said.

Shura runs to the other side and pointed his finger at his father saying, "If you don't give me all you've got, I don't ever want to see you again!"

"He's quite a handful, that one." Yusuke sweatdropped.

Yomi faced him agreeing with him, "Tell me about it. They grow up so fast, it seems like only yesterday, he emerged..." He said as squinted his eyes directly over at Eri who hid further behind Yusuke's pant leg. "...from his embryonic incubation tank. Do you know what woke him? That blast from your terrain. Do you remember?" He stopped his sentence and said, "I, too, was awakened by it, from a long slumber of self-assurance. I indeed have plans for when I gain power. The worlds will transform. But now, I don't want it unless I win here." Yomi declared after turning his heel to walk somewhere else disappearing into the crowd, "May the best destiny win, Mr. Urameshi."

"Heh, I guess he's too overconfident in his mind for him to say such bold words." Hiei flatly said.

"Well, at least he was brave enough to show his face here. I have a feeling that this tournament is going to be so much fun." Yusuke said with a straight smile across his lips.

Kurama approaches over to the three greetings them, "I saw you all having a small talk with the two kings. How did that went?"

"Eh, it wasn't too much. Just to know that they are after me when the fight starts to declare their place if they will run Makai." Yusuke shrugged at the demon fox replying to him.

"I see." Kurama merely nodded.

"You know, Kurama, this would be the first time we got to fight. And Hiei, I'd have to make it three for three." Yusuke says wearing a smile on his face.

Hiei grunted, "The last was a draw, but now, you should hope we're not in the same group. It would be humiliating if the man who planned this tournament were eliminated so early."

"Not as humiliating as standing on a phone book while you fight!" Yusuke backtalk as Hiei faced him with a frown on his face.

"You're starting to make me miss Kuwabara," Hiei said in sarcasm.

"Perhaps, you'd both be better served to save some of this hostility for the tournament," Kurama suggested saying that it would better to deal with that later in the ring.

"I'll-" Yusuke was cut off by an alarm that rang in everyone's ear as the announcer spoke through the microphone.

"Now's the moment you've been waiting for, the lottery for the preliminary match-ups of the Demon Tournament!" The announcer said.

Yusuke grins at the two demons saying, "I guess we better get ready for whoever going to be facing off first in the tournament." The three glanced down at Eri kneeling at her level as the little demon child clutches her purse staring at so many eyes that stared back into hers. "You ready for this tournament to start, Eri?"

She looks at them and nodded, "Yeah."

"You're going to have plenty of fun watching other fighters compete with one another." Kurama chimed.

"D-Does it involves dying?" Eri asked nervously.

"Something like that, yes, but there will be some injured. You don't have to worry because we'll shield your eyes and cover your ears to prevent the blood splattering effect get to you." Hiei reassured the small demon as he reached over to grasp one side of her hair to brush it past her ear as he smiled softly down at her.

"O-Okay. I'm ready." She said as Yusuke and Hiei took her hands to escort them to the other side along with Kurama following behind them.


The fighters were going to pick a number card that will have their faces on the board to see who will be facing in the few rounds of the tournament. The three main demons received their card number as Eri was in 'awe' to see how many will be competing in the tournament.

"You excited? I'm hype up for whom I'll get to face off." Yusuke told the little demon girl as she merely nodded clutching her bag on the side.

"There are a lot of demons," Eri said.

Hiei replies, "There are some that are pathetic or weak to even stand a chance against upper S class demons."

"Upper S class?" Eri asked.

"It's a rank to see how strong you are compared to other demons. If you train you will be stronger and most likely unbeatable when you fight against an opponent." Hiei explained as Eri tilted her head up at the fire demon who grinned at her adorableness.

'She's really curious about all of this. I don't know why Yusuke thought this would be a good idea to bring her here.' Hiei thought.

"What rank am I?" Eri asked.

"Heh." Hiei snorted.

"Wait! You're saying that Eri is already like A or S class rank demon?" Yusuke inquired.

"That's right. It's so sudden that a child probably started from a D class, but with that kind of power of hers I believe she's at the rank of an A or S upper-class demon." Koenma told the two demons that were at his palace discussing Eri's power and what rank she would be in.

"I'm not surprised," Hiei grunted with a small smirk on his lips. "If her spirit energy is so powerful, she might use that to battle and revive others rather than just leaving them to die in the waste of their breath."

Hiei faintly smiles at her and heard them announcing Shura will be facing against his father. He already knew what his number card was and he'll be facing Mukuro.

"Well, this match will be interesting to see both father and son facing off against one another," Hiei said as Eri was deadpanned in the face as she felt his hand grasping her own gently as he said, "Ready to see the first match?"

"Yeah," Eri said as she was being dragged behind Hiei, Yusuke, and Kurama to watch the first fight. Deep down she was excited, but she couldn't quite express it because she couldn't smile like her friends and new friends wanted to see on the demon girl's face.