Chapter 8 The Tournament
True to her word, the next evening they trained. Her idea of training was different than his; she encouraged him to use his dragon full force. In fact, that was her only tactic. For some reason she seemed to think that every time he used it, the more his body became in tune with the dragon and thus less of a recharge period. Hiei didn't know if she was insane or stupid. At first, he was afraid of killing her but she began to sing and the dragons seemed to resonate with her enough to avoid her. The task she set to him was simple, hit her.
Day after day he tried to hit her as she merely sang but it was useless. At first Hiei felt drained constantly and was unable to perform his duties. Vexed, he tried to get out of bed many times but his maids always stopped him, insisting that Shana and the Princess were handling everything. Weeks passed of the same training and Hiei began to find that he was feeling more and more energized in the morning. The dragon was getting easier to call and he was actually able to make rounds to areas close by, much to the relief of Shana. Apparently making the rounds with an elf wasn't easy or ideal. Two months passed by in this manner.
One evening, about a week away from the tournament, Hiei and the woman were sparring again. Hiei used the power of his Jagan and he turned green, the eyes opening on his chest. He unleashed the dragons and they began swirling around her. He tried to push them through but her defenses remained strong. Hiei smirked as he thought of an idea. Hiei withdrew the dragons and she frowned at him but didn't stop singing. Hiei focused his energy and shot out one large dragon. He saw her eyes widen and she began to sing louder. The dragon crashed against her barrier and shot up into the air. He brought the dragon back down and she jumped out of the way. As it followed her, the song surrounded him. The melody was beautiful and he couldn't understand the words but he felt empowered by it. He sent the dragon after her again and this time the impact of the crash broke through her barrier and it pounded her into the ground. The dragon swirled around her as he jumped over to her.
She was knocked unconscious but the dragon continued to weave around her. He gently turned her over to inspect her for bleeding or any other injuries other than being pummeled into the ground. As he inspected her, the song rang in his ears and with a start he realized that the song was still being sung. He looked down at the woman, it definitely was not coming from her. Hiei looked at the dragon still swirling around them. The muzzle turned towards him and it let out a loud cry before rushing into him. The song stopped. The dragon was back inside of him, resting, but he didn't feel tired at all. He felt… normal. That was an odd sensation, usually he was ready to pass out, even if it was for an hour at this point. He narrowed his eyes at the woman at his feet. When she woke up she had some explaining to do.
She woke up late the next evening. Hiei was in their room examining plans in case there needed to be an exchange of power. He stood up from the chair and stretched, he was exhausted and the time he usually spent training, he now spent it preparing for after the tournament. Though, if Hideki won he wasn't sure he would even deal with the paper work. Suddenly Hiei realized how absurd it was that he was handling paperwork to begin with. He couldn't help but chuckle at the revelation.
"Well, there's a sound I thought I'd never hear."
Hiei turned around to see her groggily sitting up. "How long was I out for?" she asked.
He didn't reply as he stared at her. She still seemed exhausted but he was glad to see that she was alright and that she hadn't woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Their relationship for the past two months had improved, though she still loved to talk back to him. He liked to think though that they were somewhat close to being friends which meant that they would be able to tolerate each other. There were days, however, where she would just be angry. Hiei originally thought it was due to her woman time but after it happened two weeks in a row, he figured that wasn't it. He did notice however, that she never seemed mad at him, though she tried to play it off as that, and seemed angrier at herself. He couldn't imagine why but he doubted he would be able to talk to her anytime soon about it. For now, he just stayed out of her way.
There was a knock on the door and Hiei opened it and Maria and Claudia stood outside holding a plate of food. He moved so they could enter and Hiei pulled up the chair to the bed. She took a few bites of food and he said,
"I heard singing after you were knocked out."
She stared at him curiously but then she smirked at him. "You aren't going crazy on me are you?"
"Tch, of course not," he snapped. That was not the answer he was looking for.
"I don't know, you're hearing voices in your head, that sounds crazy to me," she said. She looked at him for a moment and he must have looked disgruntled because she then said, "You do not know how to take a joke, do you?"
He frowned at her. "Hn."
"That's not a real word you know. Like sweet snow, which is actually ice cream."
Hiei didn't say anything and opted to glare at her instead. She always managed to irritate him somehow, no matter what was going on…
"How long have I been out for?" She repeated.
"A day," he said. She nodded her head and turned back to her food.
Hiei got ready for bed but as he was putting his boots on, he heard he pat on the bed. He looked at her and saw she was patting the spot next to her.
"What are you doing? You can't sleep in a tree, you need all the energy you can get," she said irritably and went back to eating. Her eyes never met his but he thought her cheeks looked rosier. Was she blushing? Hiei felt warm inside and turned away from her quickly as he took off his pants and cloak. He hopped into the bed and slid under the covers. Hiei felt the tension between them was so thick he was too nervous to move. He turned to look at her as she slid out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Hiei took the opportunity to lie down. He had forgotten how comfortable the bed was and he fell asleep before she came out of the bathroom.
The next few days passed by quickly. He wanted to ask her about the song again but he was sure he'd get the same response. She also seemed to be keeping to herself for the past few days. He wasn't concerned though, sometimes she disappeared the entire day. He was sure she found some place to create a small sanctuary for herself. He never tried to seek it out or asked what she did but he assumed she was using it as a laboratory as well. Every now and then Shana would come running to him terrified and she always smelled like smoke. Hiei could smell herbs and other substances faintly and he assumed she was making potions. He was always semi curious but he left her alone about it. If she wanted to tell him then she would.
The day before he needed to leave for the tournament Hiei sat in his office, musing about his impending fight and ignoring the papers in front of him. Yusuke had put a lot of time into the tournament, as usual. He was even able to persuade Yomi to build a separate stadium with barriers for the last three fights of the tournament. Yusuke claimed there was nothing like watching it live. Hiei was initially concerned about the barriers not being strong enough but his wife offered her help in preparing and testing the barriers. Deep down though, Hiei knew that everyone wanted to see the final fight, the fight between Hideki and Hiei, which was the reasoning behind the idea for the live stadium.
Hideki… the demon wasn't any particular elemental class, he was extremely strong and almost as clever as Kurama which put Hiei at a disadvantage. With almost four years without any sort of involvement in the war… Hiei would be naïve to hope that he had rested on his laurels and hadn't gotten any stronger. Hiei hoped he himself had gotten stronger. His improvement was great but against his wife it was hard to tell how much. The only defense she ever did was that singing. Out of all the elves he had encountered, he had never seen or heard of any other elf with that ability. The reflective ability only seemed to work on the dragon Hiei recalled, thinking of a time he threw his sword at her. He missed her but it went right through her light barrier. What was that ability?
Hiei shook his head, that wasn't important. Kurama had advised him to think of a strategy to defeat Hideki since he had fought him once. Hiei had a general idea of what worked and what didn't but that wasn't his style. Hiei lived for the moment. Hiei scrunched his face, or did he? He was ready to give up the position before the war, he had gotten bored of it. Then after, he hadn't given it another thought. Was being king again worth it? If he was alone, he could easily let it go, he was sure. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone any more…
As if she had known he was thinking about her, the door opened to reveal his wife. She was wearing a light blue floor length dress with white trim and her hair was pulled up. When she approached his desk, he noticed that she was holding something in her hand. She sat down in a chair in front of the desk and he frowned when she nervously glanced at him. She hadn't blown anything up, had she?
"Um, Hiei, I um," she stammered. Her cheeks were rosy again and Hiei felt his face begin to flush out of nervousness. He didn't need to be nervous, she was just trying to give him something, that was all. There was no need to be embarrassed.
"Ugh, this is stupid, here," She said as she rolled her eyes. She thrust her hand out to him over the desk to reveal a small bracelet. Hiei picked it up and inspected it. There were two small stones with strange markings on them across from each other, connected by a black cord.
"The stones are runes. Runes aren't my specialty, I'm much better at potions, but I thought it couldn't hurt. One of them is a shield rune and the other is a healing rune. You don't need to worry about activating it. As long as you are wearing the bracelet, the magic will sense when you need them. Hopefully you won't but you never know," she explained. This is what she must have been doing for the past few days.
He slipped the bracelet on his left wrist and looked up at her. Her hands were clamped together in her lap and her eyes were gazing shyly at him. He never expected her to look at him like that and it startled him a little. At the same time, he kind of liked it.
"Tch, of course I won't need it," he said haughtily. His voice was softer than he intended. How did that happen?
Her eyes widened a little and then she smiled at him. Hiei was stunned. He had seen her smile before but she never smiled at him, ever. She seemed happy… Hiei felt warm inside and he didn't want to tear his eyes off her face. She was glowing and he was hypnotized by her pure contentment.
She then smirked at him, "You just had better kick ass."
"Hn, of course," he replied, shaken out of his gaze.
"That's not a real word. So, when do you leave tomorrow?" She asked.
"Early in the morning. Yusuke is already there and I've heard other contestants are as well."
"Hmm… well I think I'll join you the day of, if that's alright. I want to head out to the human world to escort Yukina to the fights. "
Hiei frowned, "Kurama is already doing that."
"Fine, then I'll go to socialize with her so I'm not alone amongst elf hating demons," she said, pursing her lips. Hiei frowned. Something didn't sit right with Hiei about her excuse but he let it slip.
"Hn."
"Again, not a real word."
"Don't you have anything more interesting to do than to criticize how I speak?" He said scowling.
She laughed as she stood and turned to leave the room. Hiei watched her leave, her footsteps quiet against the stone floors. Hiei looked down at the bracelet on his arm. Marrying an elf seemed to have some benefits. About damn time too.
00000
Hiei was in darkness.
He was not afraid, nor did he feel anything evil, but he was surrounded by darkness. He was in his usual attire but he did not have his sword. He felt it didn't matter, that here he didn't need it.
Hiei began to hear something soft, something familiar. He began to walk around, trying to see if it would get louder or if he could find its source. He opened his Jagan and suddenly he could hear a song. He wondered if it was the same song she sung. He listened and realized it wasn't the song she usually sung, but it was still familiar. For some time, he stood and listened. The more he listened the more he began to recognize the melody. This wasn't the song that the woman sung but it was the song that he heard after the dragon hit her, after she had passed out.
"Is this… the dragon's song?" He wondered aloud.
"Can you help me?" A small female voice whispered. Was it a child?
"Who is there?" He asked, looking around. He didn't see anything, all that was there was darkness.
"Can you help me?" the voice was slightly louder now, stronger.
"Where are you?" He asked.
"Can you help me finish the song?"
Hiei turned to his right, the child's voice sounded strongest that way. He saw a hand reaching out towards him and he reached out to grab it when he suddenly felt a jolt within him.
Hiei's eyes snapped open. He blinked a few times before sitting up and realizing that he was in his bed. It was still dark out. He looked over and saw his wife sleeping soundly next to him. A dream? That was a dream? He took a few deep breaths before lying back down. The girls voice was still ringing in his ears, it had seemed so real. Maybe he was going crazy… he shoved it to the back of his mind and drifted off to sleep again.
When he woke up, the light was shining through the window. He turned his head to see Mîrvana stirring slightly. He slipped out of bed and hopped in the shower. When he emerged from the bathroom he quickly got dressed.
"Hiei, good luck," she mumbled to him. He was slightly amused to see her still bundled in the warmth of the blankets.
" See you soon," he said.
Fully dressed with his sword on his side he went into the dining room where breakfast was waiting for him. He ate quickly and went to the entrance of the fortress. Shana was waiting for him there, along with Maria and Claudia.
"Good luck, Hiei-sama," the maids said together as they bowed.
"Thanks," he said and nodded at them.
"Ready, Hiei-sama?" Shana asked. She held out up her hand for him.
Hiei took a deep breath. The tournament would decide everything. He would either return home here or he would be homeless. Mîrvana wouldn't like that… or he would be dead. Two out of three possibilities changed his life. He had better win.
"Yes," he said. He took the shadow demons hand and they were off.
00000
The past two days sped by for Hiei. Everything was in order and all that was needed now were the fights. Hiei stood in the middle of the waiting area, the number 0001 pinned to his cloak. He stared at the blank screen rethinking why he was here. Would he honestly be standing here as a serious contender if she wasn't in his life? He supposed he was fighting for her but a part of him didn't want to. Why should he fight for the woman he once tried so desperately to kill? He shouldn't, he should just go home. Hiei felt something nagging him inside that his thoughts were wrong. His mind drifted back to her smile from the previous day. The thought of it warmed him. Why? What made her so special? Nothing, she was a pampered princess who had been captured and suddenly her life had flipped upside down. Her life was nothing compared to his.
He pulled out the hiruseki stones around his neck and with a start he realized that he had also pulled out her crystal. He stared at the three stones, one from his mother, one from his sister, the other from his wife. How perfect, three stones from the most important women in his life. Or should be the most important, he wasn't sure about the third. Tch, whether or not he liked it, he had made her a part of his life, there was no getting around it. A part of him wished she would show up, just a glimpse would reinforce what he was doing here.
He heard footsteps behind him and he recognized Mukuro's youki. Sure enough, she walked up next to him. They stood in silence for a moment before she spoke.
"You're here early."
"Hn, I didn't think you were fighting this time around."
"I'm not, but did you expect not to see me at all today?"
Hiei didn't respond. Of course he knew she would come. Mukuro had become content with maintaining the border even though she, and everyone else, knew that she was powerful enough to wipe out most of the competition. After their fight in the first tournament however, something changed within her. She didn't need fighting anymore to give any meaning to her life. Hiei was happy for her, knowing that she had found herself. But he felt he wasn't quite there yet.
"Yo, Hiei!"
Hiei turned to the familiar sounds of his friend's voice. Kurama was walking up to him with Kuwabara behind him. Kurama was not wearing a number and Hiei wasn't surprised, he seemed content in the human world, keeping an eye out for his mother.
"Demons have electricity?" Kuwabara asked aloud.
Mukuro turned to look at him. "Oh? Who is this human?"
"A friend of Yusuke's," Hiei answered. Kuwabara stared at Mukuro, terrified. Hiei could sense that he wasn't being rude about her face, it was the amount of the youki radiating from her.
"Kuwabara, this is Mukuro," Kurama said, obviously trying to lighten the tension.
The oaf's eyes widened. "Mu-Mu- Mukuro?" he screeched.
"How obnoxious," she said and she walked past them towards the lobby.
Hiei smirked. He wasn't surprised they shared the same opinion. Demons began to fill the stands and the waiting area as he chatted with Kurama.
"How are you, Hiei?" Kurama asked.
"Fine," he replied.
"I brought over Yukina and Genkai safely. I don't think anyone will mess with them, word is spreading that Genkai is here and powerful as ever," Kurama said smiling slyly.
Hiei frowned. "What about-"
"Yo, everyone! You guys ready?" Yusuke asked running over.
Kurama made small talk with Yusuke and Kuwabara but Hiei was concerned about the fact that Kurama hadn't mentioned Mîrvana. She was going to go with Yukina. If she wasn't here, where could she be? Hiei had an inkling that she lied to him… but he shook it off. She would have no reason to. She would be here. She had to be here, right?
Hiei was suddenly perturbed by his distress of her absence. What did her presence really matter? Hiei closed his eyes in frustration. Women, they were too complicated. He had learned that from watching Boton, Keiko, and even Mukuro, always saying one thing and meaning another or not saying anything at all. Those were the ways of women. Hiei tossed aside his musings, he was having too many stray thoughts on the wrong day.
The preliminary rounds began soon after and Hiei felt refreshed after clearing out his block. He had forgotten how it felt to fight only for himself. The war had forced him to fight for a bigger, higher purpose. To be fighting for his own life, his own selfish or selfless reasons, tasted sweet. Victory in the war was a relief but here his long standing thirst was quenched with adrenaline and his strength. He had to hand it to Yusuke, this was probably the best idea for dealing with the power struggle in the Makai and he wasn't sure that he would have thought of it himself. Only someone as simple minded as Yusuke could have. Hiei looked up at the boards to see Yusuke had just finished winning his block as well. This time, he hoped to face Yusuke to warm him up for Hideki. That was one fight he hoped to get to last.
Hiei walked up to Kurama who was chatting with Yomi and Shura. Yomi was not a contestant and since the war had ended, he continued to wander and train Shura. He had entered Shura in the tournament to help him gain experience, Hiei supposed. One day, he would be a formidable opponent.
"Hiei, how are you?" Yomi asked politely.
"Fine," he replied. He turned to Kurama who was looking down at him curiously.
"By the way, when was Mîrvana supposed to get here?" he asked.
"That is a good question. I was wondering if she would make an appearance for name's sake," Yomi said.
"Is that the evil elf woman?" Shura asked. Hiei scowled at him but it seemed to go unnoticed by Shura as he continued, "I hope she shows up, then everyone can kill her!"
Yomi frowned and bent down and whispered something in Shura's ear. Apparently, Yomi had not disclosed what exactly had happened to the elf at the conclusion of the war. He slowly looked up at Hiei, his eyes frightened. He bowed, stammering out an apology. Hiei didn't say anything and he pushed the boy up. Hiei knew the opinion of the demon world and it wasn't surprising. Shura made an excuse to leave the group and ran off before anyone else could say anything.
"Cute kid," Kurama joked and Yomi smiled.
"He has much to learn about politics, it seems," Yomi said, glancing over at Hiei.
"He had a point though, maybe she's not here because she's afraid of backlash," Kurama said, musing.
"Tch, she's not afraid of backlash. She would probably flaunt herself around instead," Hiei said smugly.
Yomi frowned. "From my encounters with her she seems to have a high sense of decorum. If she is not afraid of dealing with angry demons, then why isn't she here to show her support for Hiei?"
The two men looked down at him, looking at him for an answer. Furious, he wordlessly darted off to look for Shana. He found her up in the press box, handing results to Juri to give to Koto. Mukuro was with her, presumably to keep an eye on her. Pure shadow demons were rare to come upon, he had never met one until he ran into Shana or rather, until she ran into him. He was making rounds with Mukuro, before he was the Demon King and she had run into him, begging for him to help her escape her pursuers. She wasn't more than ten at the time, and he couldn't leave her alone. Ever since then she's been attached to him, happily serving him. The ability to travel through shadows however was rare and powerful, enabling her to travel quickly wherever she wanted going unnoticed. Essentially, she was the perfect thief, spy, or informant and many would kill for access to that. Mukuro was keeping her safe, making sure no one touched his demon.
"Shana," He said. She turned to him happily.
"Hiei-sama! You are doing well so far but that's not surprising!" She grinned up at him, excited. Hiei was thankful for her congratulations but he was distracted by more important things.
"Shana, where is Mîrvana? Where did she go?" Hiei asked steadily.
The small demon frowned at him. "I don't know, I came here with you. Maria and Claudia haven't said anything either. Maybe she's still at home."
"She said she was going to the human world to escort Yukina…" Hiei thought aloud.
"She probably lied." Mukuro's smooth voice cut through his thoughts.
He looked up at her and she continued, "She didn't arrive with Kurama, I have already visited with Yukina and she asked me about your woman."
Hiei frowned. Why would she lie?
Seeing the frown on his face, Mukuro shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what could be more important than this tournament, for her and," Mukuro eyed him with an expression he didn't recognize," for you."
"Hiei-sama," the shadow demon said. Hiei looked down at her, her face determined. "Don't worry Hiei-sama, she's not doing anything bad, I know it! I will go look for her, to make sure she is okay. You focus on winning!" Shana's violet eyes shone up at him, brimming with pride and determination. He placed a hand on the top of her head and nodded to her. She suddenly vanished and for a moment, he thought he saw a shadow move on the wall.
He stood in silence next to Mukuro before she spoke. "I'm not sure about what Shana said. After all, she is here against her will. She could be trying to return to her home while you are distracted."
Hiei touched his chest and he felt her jewel through his cloak. "No, she wouldn't do that." She had too much pride and strength to just get up and leave. He looked up at Mukuro who seemed to be staring through him. Her gaze was unnerving so he wordlessly left. He could feel her eyes on him until her turned the corner. What was her deal today? Hiei pushed his thoughts on Mukuro and the one's on his missing wife to the back of his mind. He needed to stay focused on the fights.
After what seemed like forever, it was Hiei's turn to fight again. His opponents fell quickly until the fighting for the day had ended. The next day was the semi-finals and final match. The only four left were himself, Yusuke, Hideki, and one of Raizen's old friends. He still had not heard from Shana, not that he was concerned. Since meeting Hiei, she had gotten out of many situations before and he knew she could take care of herself. Mîrvana was also someone he knew wouldn't just end up dead in some ditch like a low class demon. He was more concerned about whether Shana found her and where.
Hiei looked up from the main area to see Kurama waving at him, Yukina and Kuwabara standing next to him. Hiei found Yusuke and the two of them began to make their way up to where their friends were when demons suddenly pushed back, making a path way. Hiei's eyes narrowed as Hideki strode up towards him.
Hideki had a human build and was about six feet tall. His face reminded Hiei of a cat, narrow eyes, small nose, pursed lips. His eyes were gold and his hair was flaming red. His clothes were all grey but Hiei always thought they were too tight. He walked up to Hiei, disgust written on his face.
They stared each other down for a minute before Hideki broke the silence. "So I hear you got married. So where is your little elf bitch? I hear she's quite the looker."
His voice was cool and steady but his eyes were fiery and Hiei was suddenly glad she wasn't here. He didn't like the lusty look in Hideki's eyes and he wasn't sure what he would do if he saw it directed at her. He noticed that the demons around them began to whisper. Politics, he hated politics but he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
"You want to see an elf? You should have answered the war summons," Hiei said trying to keep his anger in control. He was pleased to hear the buzzing around him grow louder.
"I didn't need to fight in some stupid war, he said snidely.
Hiei smirked as angry shouts from the demons around them rose. Hideki looked around angrily and then growled, "I'll see you tomorrow," before striding off past Hiei and Yusuke.
"Tool," he heard Yusuke mutter.
The rest of the night seemed to blur by for Hiei. His friends were talking, laughing but he just stared out the window. There was something gnawing at him and he couldn't figure out what it was. He didn't think it was anxiety or nerves but there was just… something. He turned when he felt a cool hand on his shoulder. Yukina was looking at him sadly and then out the window.
"I'm sure she'll come. She told me how she was going to cheer loudest, just for you," Yukina said softly.
Hiei looked out the window as well. She had told Yukina that? Why would she do that? Well… she did seem to be warming up to him. Was he finally warming up to her as well? As he gazed out the window, he realized that the emotion he had been experiencing for some time was longing. He wanted to see her smirk at him and tell him how he needed to win because she was expensive or some other stupid comment similar to that. The aching he felt earlier before the tournament had come back to him. His eyes narrowed as he had a second thought, why? Why did he need her to be here? Why did he want her here? What was so reassuring about her face, her voice, her being?
"Hiei, it will be okay. I'm sure of it," Yukina said. He looked up at her and she was looking at him sweetly and comfortingly. Had she sensed his change of thought? Regardless it comforted him, somehow. He felt her squeeze his shoulder before she went to join the rest of the group. Her cool touch lingered for a moment and he closed his eyes. She was right. Everything would be fine. He reminded himself for the hundredth time that day the he just needed to focus on the fight. Focus on the win. Right now, that was all that mattered.