"How exactly did Lady Minha convince the tournament committee to let Hayate fight in the finals?" Hikari asked in her roost on the ground in the tent. It was not the first time she asked Nanashi that question. "I mean, I thought for sure he would be disqualified for saving Father. Not that I'm complaining about that or anything." She was tired and pale and grouchy now. Likely could use some food, but refused it when it was offered her earlier. She did have a tendency to get hangry.
Nanashi shrugged. "I don't know," she told her tiredly.
She looked over at Izo, who was setting up the TV for them to watch Yomi and Hayate's match on. Minha had been sure to send it to them. She seemed to know how to do everything. Save Hiei and his hand, keep her mate in the tournament, and who knew what else. Maybe she should be queen of the Demon World after all.
There had been a three hour delay from when Hiei and Yomi's match ended and up to now, right before Yomi and Hayate's match was about to start. Hiei was still hibernating; likely could do that for at least three more hours. He did hibernate for six hours after his final match of the Dark Tournament all those years ago.
The TV screen in front of them blinked on, showing Hayate and Yomi standing across from each on the best plane available. The trees on it were reduced to rubble, but there were no holes or craters in the ground. Yet.
Koto's voice echoed over the match, rehashing that Hayate had not been disqualified since he never touched Yomi or Hiei and also that when he did interfere in their fight, it was clear that Yomi had been the winner.
Without further ado, Koto called for the match to begin. Hayate drew his large sword with a flourish; holding it out in front of him. "Are you ready?" he called out to Yomi. Nanashi felt a spur within her chest at the fact that Hayate was already starting to question him.
Yomi narrowed his eyes at him, answering, "of course."
He delayed in answering. Nanashi hoped that would cause him to start having a head ache. Hiei had told her about the time he first met Hayate and ended up questioned him. It started with a headache, could lead to a stomach ache, and if it took long enough, a broken mind.
Hayate charged over at him, asking, "are you certain?"
Yomi growled under his breath. "I told you, yes."
Hayate reached Yomi, trying the same way to overwhelm as Hiei did in his match with Yomi. That seemed like a dangerous move to Nanashi. Yomi jumped away while Hayate swung and hacked and hammered aggressively. He really wanted to take him out. Nanashi hoped it would be permanently.
While Hayate chased Yomi around the plane, he questioned him. "Why do you want to be king?" Hayate asked.
Yomi struggled with that one, unable to give a sly or sarcastic answer. "I'm the last remaining from the three kings living. It should be me."
"What will you do if you are king?"
"Reign."
"How?"
"The way I see fit."
"How do you see fit?"
"Urgh..." Yomi struggled, trying not to speak, distracted. Hayate took the chance and struck Yomi in the face with the broad side of his sword like it was baseball bat rather than a sword.
"I hope he broke his jaw," Hikari grumbled out distemperedly.
Yomi backed away from Hayate, spitting out three teeth from his mouth. Hayate struck him over the back of the head. Nanashi hoped that would have knocked him out.
Yet when Hayate went to strike him a third time, Yomi wretched himself around and grabbed the sword with his hands. "I will repeal the anti human eating ban on the world. They breed like they are going extinct, so if any demon wants to feast on them, they should be allowed to do it. Rather than mate and breed with one."
Hayate held his sword steady between the two of them, biting hard into Yomi's already bleeding hands. "You don't approve of hucking?" he asked questioningly.
Yomi gnashed his teeth. "Absolutely not."
Hayate stared down at Yomi, almost surprised at his answer. "Didn't you once want to mate claim Nanashi Urameshi?"
Yomi growled at him, answering, "yes."
"Why did you want her then?"
"Political reasons," Yomi hissed out. "Back then, she was several influential men connected to her. Kurama, Yusuke, Hiei, and even the Spirit World Prince, Koenma. If I had had her as a mate, I would have pulled the four of them into an alliance with me. Think of what I could have done by pulling them into an alliance with me under the threat of harming her if they didn't."
"So not love then?" Hayate sneered down at him.
"Foolish emotion," Yomi sneered right back. "You're not a demon who lives very long, are you? If you were one like me who could live over a thousand years, you would not get bogged down by trivial emotions." Yomi took a wider stance and brought his knee up to Hayate's lower stomach, just above his hips.
That caught Hayate off guard, knocking the wind out of him. Yomi took the chance and tore Hayate's sword out of his hands with his own bloody ones. He turned it around and plunged it into Hayate's left side. He ran Hayate straight through, the sword poking out his back on the other side. Hayate roared out loud, holding Yomi's hands on his sword hilt so that the later demon could not pull it out of him.
Nanashi felt like the calm before a storm settled over her soul. She wished she knew where Minha and her son Takashi were at this moment. Likely watching the tournament somewhere in the stands. She wondered if she would have time to find them and get herself and her family out of the Demon World. She wished she had brought Kaze with them after all. She had no idea if she would have time to go get him, too. She did not want to leave him behind. Could not imagine ever being separated from him like that so suddenly.
Izo jumped up from his seated position next to Hikari, running out of the tent like a man on a mission. Both Nanashi and Hikari called after him, but he ignored the both of them. Nanashi felt a chill when a gust of air rattled the tent that he had left open. Nanashi thought about getting up and closing the tent flap, but was unwilling to move out of sight on the screen.
Hikari gave her a questioning look, sitting herself up a little straighter. "Stay here," Nanashi instructed her. If things went south fast, Nanashi wanted her nearby. Izo could manage himself, but Hikari had a tendency to be brash and overestimate herself. She might try to attack Yomi if she saw an opening to do so. Nanashi wanted her nearby.
Nanashi turned her attention back to the screen. Hayate held fast to Yomi's hands that held his sword sheathed in his left side. The wound was bleeding from both sides. His face was sweaty and pale.
Hayate heaved his chest, asking, "do you still think you can win?"
"Yes," Yomi growled up at the slightly taller demon before him. Yomi twisted the sword as much as Hayate would allow him, making Hayate groan loudly in agony. "I think that answers your question."
Shakily, Hayate raised his right hand off of Yomi's hands and rested it heavily on Yomi's shoulder. He gulped down a handful of struggled breaths. Then he conjured up a knife from his own spirit energy and brought in down on the top left side of Yomi's chest. Yomi let his own ragged scream in response to that.
"Do you still think you can win while drowning in your own blood?" Hayate stuttered out. He took a wider stance on his unsteady feet. Nanashi wondered silently if he could stay standing much longer.
It was Yomi's turn to groan aloud. That and then start to choke and cough up blood. "Yes," he coughed. "I just have to out last you."
It was hard to watch. Which ever one of them fell first would lose. Hayate kept asking questions. "Have you ever drowned before?"
"No," Yomi wheezed out. Nanashi noticed the wound on his chest began to bubble around the knife.
"How does it feel to drown?" Hayate asked back.
Yomi coughed and hacked, unable to answer right away. "Hard to breathe," he rasped out.
Hayate drove the knife deeper, making Yomi gasp when he likely wanted to scream or shout. "Don't you think you should give in?"
"N- n- n- maybe. But never," Yomi choked out. Frothy blood covered his lips.
Hayate swayed on his feet, he started to lean his weight against Yomi. Hayate moved his mouth, but no sound came out. He could not question if he could not speak.
"Maybe they'll kill each other," Hikari commented. "Both of those wounds look pretty serious."
Nanashi hoped Hayate could outlast Yomi. Yomi could barely breathe; gasping, choking, and being all air hungry. Both would need a healer immediately based on those wounds. Hayate looked like he was ready to collapse. It only took another minute for him to fall on top of Yomi, bring them both down to the ground.
Hayate was on top of Yomi's right side, sword still in him. Yomi definitely was not going to be able to breath with Hayate laying on top of his right side while there was a gaping, bubbling hole at the top of his left lung. He seemed to hardly be breathing.
Hayate rolled off of Yomi, bringing himself down on his back. He was trembling as he tried to pull the sword out of his side. He roared in pain, hardly being able to pull it out half way before he gave up, letting it slide back into him.
"Get up," Nanashi said aloud.
Hayate tried to push himself up to a sitting position, but could only get his upper back off of the ground. Yomi was still on his back, chest hardly moving.
Neither demon was going to be able to stand. The ten count was booming out for both of them. When it ended, neither of them stood up. Hayate lay there with a puddle of blood pooling under his back while Yomi lay much too still.
The fight could not be deemed a draw. Koto took a few precious seconds off of the microphone, deliberating with any tournament committee members that must have been nearby. Nanashi waited on bated breath, keeping her eyes locked on Hayate. His hands rested feebly on the middle of his sword, unable to do much more than that.
Koto did not waste anymore time when she announced that Hayate was declared the winner since he was the one who was still conscious and moving. Nanashi breathed the deepest sigh of relief at that, that Hayate won, not Yomi.
The second after the announcement was made, Nanashi looked up on the screen, seeing Izo on the back of his ice dragon flying down towards the two injured demons. When his dragon landed, he summoned it away, hitting the ground running. He sprinted over to Hayate first.
"What is he doing?" Hikari asked, frowning at the sight of her brother next to Hayate.
"What are you doing?" Hayate asked Izo as he knelt down beside him.
Izo said nothing, but he reached down and yanked Hayate's sword from his side. Hayate roared hoarsely at that. He was still screaming when Izo began to hurriedly heal his side before he could bleed out.
When he finally stopped screaming, Hayate started to yell at him. "No! No! Heal him first!"
"You first, your grace," Izo responded, voice sounding tight.
Izo kept healing Hayate, even as Hayate kept yelling at him to go help Yomi. Izo's face was cold and focused solely on saving Hayate's life. When Hayate was almost fully healed, minus some apparent bruising on his side and back, he shoved Izo away hard, shouting at him to go help Yomi before he drowned in his own blood.
Izo listened that time. He turned to Yomi, looking suddenly unsure of himself. He brought his hands down on the top of Yomi's chest, but one second later, he brought his hands up, recoiling away from Yomi. He reached down to Yomi's wrist, pressing his fingers firmly on the inside of his wrist. He shook his head. He then reached over to the side of Yomi's neck, pressing on it. He shimmied his way back and away from the dead body in front of him. Hayate kept asking him what was wrong and then ordering him to heal Yomi no matter what.
Izo finally told him what Hayate had been trying to deny, "he's dead."
Hayate kept shouting and berating both of them, refusing to believe what Izo figured out first. He shoved Izo away from Yomi's body, railing on it with his fists, as if trying to awaken him from the dead. Then he kept saying over and over again that he didn't mean to kill him. In the end, he sat down and hunched over, arms wrapped around his middle. He cried openly and loudly; grieving over becoming an opponent killer.
That was the new king of the Demon World.