File 06: Into the darkness!

When everyone began running Genkai explained that the best way to do it was to use their rei abilities to avoid all dangers.

"We're going first!" Akari said as she and her grand-mother and took off and passed the contestants with two light strides.

"If you follow us, you'll be the fastest." Genkai advised them.

"That is… if you can…" The young one added. "Grand-ma, wanna race?"

Both smirked.

"Don't cry after you lose…"

"You wish!" And with that the two ran at inhuman speed, disappearing from the applicants' view, too fast for their eyes. With huge eyes they stared at the spot they were not a second before. These two were like monsters to them. As for Yusuke, he couldn't care less about rei ability. The fastest way from A to B was the straight line. That much he knew. So he dashed, like a madman. As for Akari, she still lost to Genkai. The tiny little tenth of a single mini second. That was all she needed to win. She sighed. In the Makai, her guard had been contantly up so now she was trying to relax a bit. As she knew what to expect of them she had trusted none of those demons for a single second, and she had at least hoped her grandmother would fight fairly and not attack her in the middle of the race like she had done. But that was expecting too much from this evil hag. She was her grandmother after all. The worst was the taunting that followed that inside she was still naïve little baby who needed to train a lot more. But for now, better sleep at the base of the tree and munch some herb. An hour and still no one was there. Though, from the position of their reiki, it seemed like six or seven people could arrive within the next hour.

Kuwabara had tried to use his rei abilities and was doing surprisingly well, since he was currently first. Indeed most ended up lost, prisoners or scared away after an encounter with some demons. These weren't very dangerous to say the least but more than enough for them. Ah, and there were also snakes, wolves, leeches, scorpions, spiders and so on. The girl remembered the many times she had crossed this forest. It was more of a funny tour than anything else, though it quickly became boring. As for Yusuke, since he went straight, he must have stumbled upon the bat demon's lair, that idiot ranting about his speed when he was slower than a slug. Oh well, even Yusuke shouldn't have trouble with him.

And indeed, Kuwabara arrived not much later and six other people within the next fifteen minutes, so Kazuma's joy didn't last very long. But as the minutes were passing, still no Yusuke. One minute before the deadline Genkai said that it should be enough, though there were only seven left. Akari frowned. Yusuke no baka. But Kuwabara said someone else should be coming. He had to be punctual. The seconds passed.

"Hm, time's up!"

"Wait! Someone's coming!" Kuwabara said, pointing to a direction. The girl half opened her left eye. Indeed, Yusuke had just gotten out, all scratched and grunting.

"Damn! I thought I'd be the fastest going straight. Never thought I'd end up in this state! Oh man."

Of course, you do NOT think. But still she had a smile on her lips. Then Genkai said he should have met some powerful bats.

"Ah! You mean this little idiot?" Yusuke said showing the beaten body of the bat demon. "He was pretty irritating flying around like that, but he's a snail compared to Hiei."

That's more than right. Akari smiled again, closing her eyes and getting up, stretching and dusting herself.

Just who is this boy? The master wondered. But then, Kuwabara got angry at Yusuke, saying he hadn't made it in time. Though, since Genkai seemed so interested in the boy's potential she decided to accept him. At this Yusuke and Kuwabara were so happy that they hugged each other and congratulated themselves, before suddenly 'unlocking' themselves. The pink haired had cast them a disgusted look. Now they were snarling at each other. So, eight people would go to the next stage, with demons and abnormal kids among them huh?

"And the fourth test will be...!"

...

"I haven't thought it up yet." Genkai admitted. Everyone fell. Akari sighed again. That was her grand-ma for you.

"Well, granny, while you think about it I'm gonna rescue these guys." Akari said, smiling embarrassedly and referring to those who had failed in the forest. She rushed to the woods without waiting for an answer.

About an hour later, everyone was back at the shrine. Genkai announced the fourth test: a fighting tournament. They entered a very spacious room. The doors closed. It was all pitch black.

"Hey! Baa-san, we can't see a thing!"

"You expect us to fight when we can't even see the opponent?" Worry slightly edged Kuwabara's and Yusuke's voice. The master lit a lantern and a cigarette, puffing all the smoke at the brats. She explained that the point of those preliminaries was to use your reiki to determine the movements of your opponent in this darkness. Weapons were okay as long as the opponent was defeated. The winner was the one still standing in the end. As Kuwabara was slightly sweating and having goosebumps, feeling really nervous, Yusuke asked him if he was scared, to which he replied that he had a bad feeling, a frightening reiki that has been pestering him since they had left the forest. Like there was a monster or wild beast near him. At this, the reikai tantei reacted…

Darn, I almost forgot. That demon Randou is still around trying to get the master's skills. He thought with a face clearly expressing how troublesome he felt all of this was. The two middle school students were wondering who that might be. He was great at disguising himself but something 'in the air' was betraying him.

"Huh? You mean like the smell of sweat?" Yusuke whispered.

"Right, you can say that..." Kazuma agreed still scared. "And where's Akari-chan?" He then asked with a lovey dovey face. Yusuke ignored it but still answered. He was indeed wondering the same thing.

"Dunno, didn't see her since we left the forest."

What only the grand-ma knew was that her granddaughter was up there, just below the roof, and actually thinking the guys were disgusting talking about smell and sweat. She was also preparing the next tests, analysing the guys and doing the pairing, more or less to her liking and what could help improve them all. Then Genkai decided it was best if the remaining contestants would introduce themselves. Now, that would also be useful to her.

First came Musashi, looking like an old samurai with his hakama, wooden sword, ponytail and eye patch. He was a fourth degree black belt under kendo of shibattou school, specialized in destroying demons.

Then Shorin, a young psychic-in-training, in a nation-wide tour to perfect his rei skills, still a beginner in fist fights.

Thirdly came Kibano, with all his scars, specialized in all fighting styles and challenging the extremes of the body.

The fourth was Chinpou, a polite fat mysterious Chinese guy, a wanderer.

Then came the bald ninjutsu user and crappy singer Kazemaru, a bodyguard of VIPs and government officials.

Kuroda was a tall contract killer, wearing glasses and specialized in knives.

Kuwabara Kazuma: Sarayashiki's super delinquent (with stubborn rei abilities).

And finally, Urameshi Yusuke: Sarayashiki's ultimate super delinquent (with limitless stamina for fights).

Akari fired the arrows in the same time. One paper attached to each arrow and two names on each paper. They all vaguely wondered where these arrows were coming from but didn't give it much thought. Weird place, weird people, right?

Now the first match was about to begin. She had paired Kazemaru and Kuroda because she thought a bodyguard against an assassin would be fun. Besides, they were of about equal power. But the killer warned that seeing his 'activity', no matter the opponent, he would always fight to death. The ninja wasn't the type to show any mercy either. He wanted to be sure that if he were the winner, Genkai wouldn't have a problem teaching an assassin. On the contrary she agreed with him: those fearing death didn't have their place in this tournament. She would teach her skills to the winner, the one who deserved it, regardless of the background or personality. Yusuke couldn't believe his ears while Akari couldn't care less. There was always a possibility for her to kill that person or send him to Koenma if anything... AFTER her grand-ma had taught him. Kuroda now assured, walked away with Kazemaru to the complete darkness so they could fight.

While only the sounds of the fight were reaching the contestants, Kibano and Yusuke were annoyed because they couldn't see a thing. Thus they were surprised when Kuwabara commented that the killer was closing in.

"Eh? Can you see them?" The detective asked.

"More like he can somehow make them out, I think." Akari said suddenly from behind Yusuke where she had just soundlessly and gracefully landed, making Yusuke jump, startled, and almost scream.

"Well, at least, I can see them as clearly as if it were daylight. And I've been there for some time." She teased them, though it was true and answered their question as for how long she had been here. But Kazemaru was the winner, using a rather strong rei ball, stronger than Yusuke's reigun, though emanating from his whole palm instead of just his index. He was wounded and didn't think he'd use that technique so soon. He noticed that there was one more person but didn't say anything.

"Same principle, indeed." Botan's voice said, from behind the girl. "Akari-chan is right yet again, that's to be expected of her!" Botan praised her, laughing.

"Of course Botan-chan, who do you think I am?" She asked also laughing and her hands on her hips. Genkai raised an eyebrow at them all, how Botan and her grand-daughter were behaving so girlishly... But from the grim reaper's presence, she realized that Yusuke must have been the Reikai Tentei, hence his power. But her disciple was going to be fairly chosen. She announced the next match: Shorin against Chinpou. Kuwabara was asking who the other hot babe was. He then tried to strangle Yusuke thinking he was cheating on Keiko.

"You can kill him if you want, but Botan is just the assistant detective and the grim reaper." Akari assured. He released yusuke who coughed and tried to hit her for saying Kuwabara could kill him but the girl easily dodged.

It was a quick victory for Shorin. Next fight: Kuwabara against Musashi. As the 'worst punk' walked away, Yusuke told him not to die.

"Like I'd die before I beat you." He replied. At first, Musashi had the upper hand because he had devised a way to suppress his reiki, so Kuwabara, even with his strong ability couldn't see him. But that guy was tough, and proud of being able to withstand Urameshi's killer punches everyday. That forced Musashi to unsheathe his bokuto, made of a thousand-year- old deity wood mixed with holy water. A perfect tool for removing evil, demons and monsters. Kuwabara's struck many times with it. And then with the force of the last blow, the sword broke and he was thrown down. But once again he stood up, a piece of the sword in his hand. Musashi was surprised that Kazuma could hide so much reiki, but said that he couldn't win with just the top piece of the sword. However, he just called him back to fight. The samurai attacked again, from behind, and as the blow was falling, Kuwabara raised instinctively his piece of wood to protect himself. Light burst from it, completing the sword with hiw own reiki and cracking the bokuto. Akari smirked, she had expected something like that. That boy had the ability to weaponize. With only one swing, he reversed the situation and won the duel. Kuwabara himself was surprised that he had been able to do it. He was getting stronger now, Genkai mused, announcing Kuwabara as the winner. Yusuke seemed also interested in his friend's new ability.

"Next fight: Urameshi Yusuke versus Kibano!"

"Don't lose before I beat you." Kuwabara encouraged Yusuke in his own way.

"Don't say that when you can barely stand yourself." He replied, walking a few steps away.

"I won't show you any mercy." Kibano warned.

"All the better." Yusuke said, but then he stopped and closed his eyes.

"What? Are you scared?" His opponent asked.

"Not really, was just praying for your soul."

Genkai seemed quite angry at this show of self-confidence.

"Idiot! Another comment like that and you'll be disqualified!" She bellowed throwing her cigarette at him, which he dodged.

Liar, you were trying to find out who Rando was by concentrating on people's ki. And now that the numbers of contestants had dwindled, it was much easier to figure out which disguise Rando had chosen. It was still too early for Yusuke but not for her. She knew. She knew but she wasn't going to say or do anything about it...

"Keh! If you want so much to see me fight granny, I'll show you." Said Yusuke, confidently, while taking off his blouson and giving it to Akari. She stared blankly at him.

"What do you take me for? A maid? A fangirl? Or maybe a coat stand?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He reacted with a start, also raising his other arm to protect himself although she did not make any movement. His right eyebrow was twitching.

Right, what did I expect when I did that? It just came naturally. That was close. The detective thought. Botan took the cloth before anything bad could happen and the boy went to fight.

Indeed, her friend couldn't see anything at all but he comforted himself thinking it was the same for his enemy. After all, he didn't have Kuwabara's ability. But he was quite wrong in that and only did he believe it when Kibano would describe his movements. Mr good punch had a helmet on, probably blocking his other senses and so enhancing his rei ability. He praised Yusuke's battle ki and attacked. The young one took several blows, dodged some and also gave a few. But his opponent still had the upper hand for now. This battle didn't rely on techniques only. He had to find a way to locate his opponent. Then, Kibano concentrated his energy in his right arm, making it increase in size and attacking power. He lunged at Yusuke and hit him full force, sending him flying backward. Urameshi down! But once again he got up and Kibano praised him again, about his stamina and strength, but also said that he was at his limit. Botan and Kuwabara were clearly concerned about him.

"Don't worry about Yusuke, there's no need to, right grand-ma?" Akari smirked.

"Indeed, the more you push that kid, the stronger he gets."

Then Urameshi tried a conter-attack but it failed yet again, though it seemed he had found a way out of his predicament, judging by the cigarette attached to Kibano's belt. Anyway, his only chance of victory was the reigun. So he provoked him, the enemy fell for it, attacked, and Yusuke beat him with his reigun, also breaking the helmet. That was a good thing kibano had one or the damage would have been much worse, since that idiot couldn't control his power.

Urameshi was declared the winner. But he didn't have much time to enjoy his victory as Genkai was already announcing the first fight of the semi-finals: Kazemaru vs Yusuke! The ninja smirked, saying he had been waiting for so long, Yusuke didn't seem quite as eager to already fight yet another tiring match when he barely finished the previous one. And in the dark again at that! The master reassured him, they'll be changing location for the semi-finals.

"But if you have something to say, Akari will be glad to listen to your complaints…." She added looking at her grand-daughter meaningfully, with a little smirk. The latter shot her a dark look, staring a hole in her back as she was opening the doors, she growled, she just knew she did it on purpose, that god damn evil old hag…. SHE was the one at fault, pushing Yusuke that much to make him exceed his limits. But then again, she understood her decision. And before Yusuke could say anything she gave him the exact same look which did make him shut up. And then, they all followed her toward the light, toward the final stage of the tournament!


Author's note: Because of - and thanks to - Scarlet White Rose, the next chapters will be a few days late. Indeed, she brought a point to my attention that made me think I should revise things a bit and add some (nice) stuff. By the way, I have a question for all of you: would you ship Akari with Kurama or with Hiei?