Nanashi stayed with and sat with with Hikari the rest of the time during the tournament. Hikari at first was absolutely grouchy about losing to her brother, growing a little bit grouchier when she saw Izo, Hiei, Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara get up and go to their fights. She was less grouchy when all but Izo and Hiei remained behind with them.

Over the course of the tournament, the semifinals came down to just four: Izo, Hiei, Hayate/ Anonymous, and Yomi. The idea of any of the other three fighting Yomi made Nanashi nervous. Yomi was vicious in his fighting, not holding back against any opponent, save Kurama. Even then, Kurama had to be rushed to the healers. A few of his other opponents were not so lucky in comparison...

Nanashi watched anxiously, wondering when her prophecy would take place, if it did at all. She was certain before the tournament that it would be here, but now she was not so sure.

Nanashi anxiously watched as the semifinal matches were decided. Izo would go up against Hayate and afterwards, Hiei was going to go up against Yomi.

Hayate was still in his all black, ninja styled disguise with his blonde hair dyed black. His face stayed hidden. Nanashi brought her left hand up to her mouth absentmindedly, trying to keep herself from nibbling on her thumb nail. Hayate really wanted to win, but had kept himself from killing his opponents in the process.

Hiei, who was sitting next to her on her right side firmly brought his left hand down on her right thigh. She jumped, looking down at her leg and then over to him.

"Quit shaking your leg," he told her under his breath. She had not even realized she had been tapping it rapidly up and down before he stopped her. "He'll survive." He took his hand off of her leg.

"Are you sure?" Hikari asked on his other side. "Who is that guy anyway?"

"Someone who is determined to keep his identity secret, that's for sure," Yusuke said on Nanashi's left side. Yusuke was trying to hold back his own grouchiness as Hayate had defeated both him and Kuwabara in two separate matches. "But not someone who will try to put your brother in an early grave."

The lot of them ceased talking when Koto announced that the match was to begin.

Surprisingly, neither Izo nor Hayate moved. They were so still, too still. They also stayed silent. Both stood across from each other on their forest plane that had been mostly turned to timber from previous matches. It seemed like both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move. Izo did usually like to let his opponent attack him first, but in his previous matches, Hayate usually charged at his opponents to overwhelm them. Yet he was not doing that with Izo.

Izo broke the silence, giving into to uncomfortableness of it. "When are you going to take off that disguise?" Hayate did not respond, but looked surprised and stood up taller. "I know who you are," he dead panned.

Hikari, next to Hiei, shouted, "how?" She looked over at Nanashi and Hiei. "How did he figure that out?!" She turned back to the screen, crossing her arms over her chest as she scowled.

Kurama spoke next, from his seat behind Nanashi, "he might be bluffing." Nanashi turned back, looking up at him. "Or it might be a rouse to throw Anonymous off before the fight begins."

Nanashi turned back toward the screen. Still stillness and more silence. Izo stayed still, watching Hayate, not even blinking. Hayate got fed up with the stillness sooner than Izo did. He charged towards him, drawing the sword at his hip as he did so.

Izo moved faster than expected at the last second. He jumped, tucked, and rolled away from Hayate before the sword could come down on him. Hayate was right there, sword coming down towards Izo in his crouched position with blinding speed.

And just as fast, Izo had his dragon out in his preferred bastard sword shape. He held it out in front of him, blocking Hayate's real sword coming right at him. Hayate pressed down hard on his sword, making Izo hiss under his breath. His arms were shaking as he tried to push against the bulk and force that Hayate was applying against him.

Izo gasped, voice sounding slightly pitiful as he fell back onto his back with the force. He still kept trying to keep Hayate's sword at bay. Hayate followed him down, pressing the metal sword towards while Izo pressed his ice sword up at him.

It was over too fast in Nanashi's mind. She heard Koto start the count down already. "One... two... three..."

Izo was not ready to give up yet. He kicked at Hayate's legs and torso. Hayate did wince when Izo caught his knee on the side, but it did not shake the larger demon off.

"... four... five... six..."

Izo, without warning, let his ice dragon drop out of its sword form. He split it across his arms and shoulder, one hand had the head and one hand had the tail. Hayate held his sword back so it only pressed down into Izo's left shoulder. There was no blood, but likely there would be bruising. Even as Izo cried out in pain, he was moving. He slammed his hands down onto the ground, freezing it around him and Hayate. Slick ice formed all around them.

"... seven... eight..."

Then Hayate slipped, falling on top of Izo, sword between the two of them. Izo shouted again, a plaintive sound in response to the pain of the sword slicing into his chest and shoulder. Nanashi stared hard, not blinking as both of them shoved each other away.

"... nine..."

Before Koto could reach 'ten,' both of them were off their knees, so they could not be out for the count. Izo crouched on the ground, right hand steadying himself on the ground while his left shoulder and part of his chest bled steadily. His dragon wrapped around the wound, but he did nothing to heal it. He rose up onto the balls of his feet, taking a wide stance with his feet. He was panting and in pain. Nanashi did not want to watch anymore, yet she could not take her eyes off of him.

Hayate, on the other hand, was back on his feet, sword tinged with Izo's blood. He shook it out, blood flicking to the ground. Hayate nodded silently over at Izo's shoulder, but did not say anything. Izo cocked his head in a taunting look.

"Heal it," Hayate growled in a low voice. It was one of the few times he had spoken during the tournament.

Izo shook his head in refusal. "Not allowed to be healed, even self healed, while competing in the tournament. If I do that, then I'm out." Izo winced, standing up straighter. "You didn't mean to do that anyway," he added, looking down at his injured shoulder. Hayate growled low and wordlessly at Izo. Izo gave him a pained smile as he kept the tail of his dragon wrapped and pressed against his shoulder wound while he brought the head down to his right hand. "Too proud to attack a wounded opponent?" Izo called over to Hayate. "Or too cowardly?" Hayate growled again, shifting his weight and tightening his grip on his sword. "You know what I think...?" Izo preempted.

When Hayate went to open his mouth, but Izo then made his next move. With a flick of his wrist, he brought his right arm across his body. His dragon shot ice shards out of its mouth and straight at Hayate.

Hayate brought his hands up to protect his face, shouting in a mix of held back rage and pain as the ice shards struck him in the arms.

Izo swayed on his feet after that. Hayate swore, "boy." He reached over to his right arm, yanking the largest ice shard out of his forearm. The tip was dark red.

"Now we're even," Izo egged him on.

"Hardly, boy," Hayate snapped at him.

"As you say, my g-... lord," Izo kept nagging him.

Nanashi took in a sharp breath. 'He knows. I don't know how, but he does. For certain,' she thought to the wind dragon.

'What do the Hayato clan call Hayate again?' it asked.

'Gunju,' Nanashi twitched her lips. 'And Minha is Gunjueun according to Hiei. And Izo has heard those terms before too.'

Hayate gave in, charging at Izo, injury or no injury. Hayate threw a right hook, catching Izo square in the jaw. Izo staggered and then threw his own punch over at Hayate, catching him in his injured forearm intentionally. Hayate gave a wordless bark, bringing his foot up in line and slamming it into Izo's chest. Izo stumbled back, trying to keep his balance. Hayate took the opportunity now to upper cut between Izo's rib cage.

Izo choked at that, backing away and wrapping his arms around his middle. "Finally decided to treat me like a real opponent? Instead of the child of a friend?"

Hayate stepped over to where Izo was, baring down at him and trying to intimidate Izo with his larger size. Izo hunched himself over, not looking up at first. Then, unexpectedly, he shot his right hand up, dragon included. Both of them gripped and tore at the mask covering Hayate's face. He had not been the first person to attempt that, but he certainly was the one successful at exposing Hayate's face. Hayate shouted in rage at him.

Hayate was done holding back after that. He reached behind Izo, wrapping his braid tightly around his hand. Next, he shoved Izo down to the ground and onto his stomach. His hand stayed on Izo's braid and held him by his neck. He rested his knee over Izo's lower back, ensuring he could not get up without having to pick Hayate up first.

"Stay down, Izo," Hayate told him in an authoritarian voice.

The count down resumed around them. "Get your hand off my hair first," Izo harshed up at him.

Hayate did as he was bid. His knee stayed on Izo's back though, pinning him down. When the count down finished, Hayate hauled Izo up from under his right shoulder. He guided Izo over to the transport that would take them from the fighting plane to the stadium and the healers' tent.