File 18: Battle Royale to the island of death

And so, two months went by...

A cold full moon was shining in the dark skies. Bonfires were burning in the ominous forest and illumating the forms of dozens of demons. It was near the edge of a cliff, and at its foot, a huge boat –looking much like a cargoless cargo ship– was moored. The air was reeking of the foul stench of their youki. Most of them were ugly freakish monsters. All of them were already grouped five by five. They had been waiting impatiently for this day where not only could they openly run around in their true forms, but if they won, they would be granted one wish, whatever it was. And then there was this human smell. Humans had come. Did they want to be eaten? And indeed, a group was standing apart from the rest. A group of three, consisting of only Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei.

"That Urameshi bastard sure is late." Kuwabara cursed. He was dressed in his usual blue uniform, his hands in his pockets, and a duff bag strapped to his left shoulder.

"Akari hasn't come either." Kurama remarked. His arms crossed, he was wearing what looked like a white gakuran but Chinese style. The jacket was zipped instead of buttoned, the seam around the zip was yellow, and the collar was dark blue. The hem of the rolled up sleeves and pants were also dark blue, and an amaranth red cloth was tied at his left side like a belt.

"Nevermind worrying about others, how are you? Have you gotten the least bit better?" Hiei asked, sounding like he did not expect anything or even cared to begin with. He too had his hands in his pockets. And he had dressed classier than usual. His pants were always black, a light blue pullover with a rolled collar, and a long navy blue tarbad with yellow trimming held by a yellow belt tied behind his back.

"Keh! You'll just have to look forward to seeing me!" Kazuma retorted, already aggravated by the attitude his teammate was giving him. But the truth was that the orange head had a deeeeep reason (pure or impure depending on the point of view) for becoming stronger and participating in this tournament...

I'm gonna win my way through this tournament, and spread my name throughout the underworld. That'll keep any youkai from ever getting close to Yukina-san again!

Then a small old man arrived, looking like one of those typical pirates with black bushy hair, mustache and beard, black eyepatch, mean eye, wooden leg, and pipe between his clenched teeth. He was also wearing what looked like a furless bearskin hat, and one of his hands was actually not a hand but a hook.

"All of you who've gathered, it is just about time to set sail." He said, darkly.

"H-hey pops! Wait a little bit longer! Two of the guests are late." Kuwabara exclaimed, distressed.

"There is a rule that in such an event, 'e is considered to have fled, and an assassin will be sent after 'im." The captain explained with a hint of malice.

"Hey! Sorry, sorry!" Two voices exclaimed in the same time. Everyone turned around to see Yusuke and Akari who were both grinning. "Sorry to keep you waiting." They said, relaxedly. Obviously, their lateness had not unduly worried them. And both were dressed quite similarily with jeans and sneakers and open jackets. Only the tops were different. Urameshi had a white T-shirt and light brown bomber jacket and Katsuyama a red tank top and a black leather jacket. And for once, Yusuke had his hair down.

"Why, you! You're late, Urameshi, Akari!" 'The fool' yelled at them angrily.

There were murmurs among the youkais. There were there. Urameshi, the one who had defeated Randou and Suzaku, and Katsuyama Akari, the Human Elemental, the granddaughter of master Genkai who had challenged strong bands of youkai one after another and had even gone after one of the Three Kings of the Makai, were there. If they defeated these two, their reputation would rise right away. Akari glanced at them, and heaved a sigh. They were only really low-level demons.

"Stupid Kuwabara, that's because heroes are supposed to show up late." She justified condescendingly, shrugging.

"And what are we?! Your sidekicks?!"

"Now, now, don't get angry. If you want to blame someone, blame Yusuke. He's been training until the very last minute."

"That's right, I'm worn out all over my body, you know?" All bent and dragging his bag behind him, the detective walked not so steadily and helped himself, his hand against a tree.

"Hey, you're staggering there, aren't you? Are you okay?" Kazuma asked, worried.

"Yusuke..." Hiei said with his usual gruffness before suddenly attacking the boy three seconds later. From this issued a swift sparring match with the small demon constantly slashing and Urameshi dodging everything. For untrained eyes they would have only appeared as blurred forms. The youkais wondered what they were doing.

"T-they're fast! I can barely follow them with my eyes!" The tall human punk exclaimed, amazed. At last, Yusuke stopped the blade aimed at his neck with the thumb, second, and middle finger of his right hand.

"That was a pretty dangerous greeting, huh?" Yusuke smiled.

"Hn, it appears you've become a little more capable." Hiei smirked.

"A little he says? You mean he's become outrageously stronger!" Kuwabara yelled, in awe.

"It's alright. If you've been able to follow their movements, it means you've grown quite a bit too." Kurama reassured him with a smile.

"By the way, who's that runt over there?" Hiei asked, as rude as always.

That runt... was indeed even smaller than Akari and Hiei. That sixth fighter whose whole head was covered by a cloth, leaving only his piercing eyes visible, was wearing a white long sleeved top, white pants and a red tarbad with a kimono-like top and green and violet trimmings held around his waist by a green cloth-like belt.

"What?! This guy? I hadn't even seen him! Isn't this some ornamental raccoon?" Kuwabara wondered after having rushed closer to better see the new guy.

"Now, Kuwabara, how many times have I told you not to judge people by their looks? This guy is our sixth member, and he's really strong, at least much stronger than you, even though Kurama and I helped you with your training." Akari grinned, placing her hands on the new little fellow from behind. "He's our replacement, in case one of us would die." She then added seriously and bodefully. The orange-haired boy gulped.

"'One of us'?" He repeated anxiously. The girl looked at him for a time, impassive, then walked back to the guys.

"Who knows?"

"Liar! You looked at me! You looked at me like I was going to die!" Kuwabara cried, depressed.

"There, there, she only looked at you because you were in front of her. Don't take it to heart, that was just her usual teasing. And you've REALLY become stronger." Kurama patted his back reassuringly.

"Humph, who cares? Just I, Yusuke, and Akari will be enough." Hiei smirked confidently.

"So then, everyone, it's time to set sail!" The captain of the ship announced.

Everyone boarded and the ship set sail toward Kubikukuri (Hanging Neck) Island, where the Dark Tournament was going to take place.

The masked fighter was standing his hands clasped behind his back. Kuwabara was leaning against the rail, his elbows resting on the bar, his legs crossed. Next to him, Kurama was also standing against the rail, his arms crossed. Next to the fox, Akari was sitting on the rail with a sour look on her pretty face. Next to her, Hiei was standing on the rail, his hands still in his pockets. And below him at his left, Yusuke was sitting cross-legged on the deck, his head down.

"Geez, there's nothing but monsters. Aren't there any cute chicks here? Besides our Aka-chan." Kazuma complained.

"All things considered, this is a pretty dismal boat, huh?" Hiei noted. He was most probably referring to the desperately low level of the other demons.

"That's true, they could at least give us something to eat." Kuwabara misinterpreted.

"That's right, we're the all important guests here, we deserve a high class full-course meal." The young female agreed crankily. She had had this bad feeling ever since she had learned they were going to participate in this tournament, and yet she had been looking forward to it. She loved fighting and she loved challenges. But what was all that trash doing there?! And when she was frustrated, it made her hungry! And it was night too! Night was for either sleeping, or strolling, or playing games... with night snacks!

"We're not here to sightsee, after all." The fox reminded them, his eyes closed, petting Akari's head in a comforting manner. He could feel her sourness more keenly than the others as he was closest to her.

Then, the old-fashioned captain had another announcement to make. As it happened, fifteen teams had already been qualified and were on the island, and a single team from this boat would be allowed to enter the tournament, so they were going to hold preliminary rounds. The crowd was quite discontent. Kuwabara was too, after all, they were the guests here. Hiei told him that was the way they operated.

"Isn't it a good welcome party?" Katsuyama said, more to convince herself than the little youkai.

"Good? That kind of garbage?"

"Well... I can't deny that." She laughed, slightly embarassed, before sighing dejectedly.

And at that moment, as if to cut short to all protestation, there was a loud rumble and the boat started shaking. The young girl immediately and instinctively put her hand on Kurama's shoulder.

"E-earthquake?" Kuwabara asked, a little panicky.

"Idiot! Do they have earthquakes out at sea?" Hiei corrected the fool.

In the middle of the boat, two parts split and moved back toward the sea like huge balconies while from the empty space in the middle a massively vast arena was rising. There were stairs on each side for the entrants to climb.

And upon seeing that platform, for some reason, Akari had a strange thought for Sakyo. Those rich bastards...

"This is where you will fight. Please choose who you think is the strongest contestant on your teams. They will fight atop 'ere on a battle royale and the one team remaining will be given the right to enter the main tournament on Kubikukuri Island." The old man explained.

Kuwabara wanted to go and show everyone how strong he had become, but again, his credibility fell apart when he saw his opponents. He said –with reason– that he would die if they all decided to pit themselves against him, so he changed plan and acted like he was doing Urameshi a favour by leaving those guys to him so he would be first to show the results of his training. Plus, Urameshi was the team captain... However, Yusuke was sound asleep and would not wake up no matter how much Kazuma shook him. Kurama stopped him. Yusuke had gone through some very intensive training and had entered a deep sleep to recover his physical and spiritual strength.

"Then who the hell is going to go?"

Akari stared for a time at the masked fighter who gazed back at her, then jumped down and walked away.

"Akari?"

She yawned.

"Now I wanna sleep too. So I'll go and get it over with in a split second."

In Yusuke's appartment, Botan was being cornered by Keiko and Shizuru. Atsuko was sitting at the table and sleeping, a bottle of alcohol in hand. She wouldn't hear anything even if a war was raging in her appartment. Keiko and Shizuru forced the ferry girl to tell them where the guys and Akari had disappeared to. And when she told them, Keiko fainted. But when she woke up, she and Shizuru were intent on following them to this tournament.

On the arena, things had become quite clear too: Akari alone on a side and a dozen youkais opposite her. Whether they saw her as the weakest or the strongest did not matter, they were just ganging up on the one who was different, who stood out, who was human. The captain was smirking at her apparent disadvantage.

"Start!"

What stupidly boring low-level barbaric trash, the whole lot of them. But that did not matter either. They all lunged at her. The girl closed her eyes, her hands in her pockets. She did not move a single muscle. The wind picked up around her, taking the shape of large blades that were hurtled at the screaming demonic horde, cutting them to pieces in a second. She opened her cold golden eyes.

"Humph, come back and defy me again in a million years, though I doubt you can hear me now." She turned back, put her hand before her mouth and yawned again. She walked toward the edge, jumped, and landed in front of her teammates.

"It 'as been determined that the sixteenth team in the Dark Tournament will be the Urameshi Team!"

"You really don't have any mercy, do you?" Kuwabara asked, wondering if she were really human.

"Why should I?" Akari questioned back, curious. Kurama laughed a little, slightly embarrassed. "More importantly... behind you, be-hind yo-u." The young woman warned with her chin. The five of them were surrounded, Akari, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and the masked fighter.

"In that case, the rules mean nothing!" One demon said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Anyhow, all we have to do is defeat these guys." Another agreed. Kuwabara was worried stiff but everybody else was smirking.

"Tche, it should have been like that from the beginning instead of making us go through this farce. I would have been able to sleep a few minutes longer." Akari complained.

"Things are turning out as expected. This won't make for much warming up, but I guess it's better than just standing around." Hiei saw the sole good point.

"Agreed." Kurama smirked, a rose in his hand.

The three and the masked warrior jumped away, leaving Kazuma alone to be attacked from behind. But he managed to easily throw attacker off. He summoned his reiken and impaled another demon coming at him from above. Akari and the masked warrior, to make it a little more worthwhile, had decided to fight using only their legs. They easily kicked down every youkai that dared approach them, although the young girl's were more forceful and often made dents where they hit. Hiei unsheathed his sword and left a trail of dead bodies behind him. Kurama grew his rose whip and soon after, he was standing alone in the middle of bloody chunks. One tried to attack Urameshi while he was sleeping, but he was sent rolling to the other side of the deck. When everyone looked, Yusuke was standing there, repeatedly punching the air in front of him.

"You hag! Bring it on! I can still keep going!" He was yelling. Kuwabara wondered if he was awake.

"Idiot. He's talking in his sleep." Hiei contradicted him, as disdainful as always. And indeed, the human boy slumped back in his sleeping sitting position.

Wait! Urameshi said 'hag', didn't he? Then that means that runt over there... Don't tell me that's master Genkai! Nah, that hag isn't the type that would come all this way to help a student... Or was it Akari because they're related and so similar? Kuwabara was wondering, deep in thought.

"For him to be training while still, sleeping, it looks like he was put through some incredible special training." The fox said, smirking slightly, impressed and interested. After all, despite his calm and cool human exterior, he was also a demon... with hundreds and hundreds of years of fighting instinct ingrained in his soul.

"Yep, yep." The pink haired one agreed, going over to Yusuke and bending to his level. "And as you saw earlier, he did improve quite a bit. I would almost be proud of him." She ruffled his hair like a sister would. But as she did, she suddenly felt something on her breasts, something shaped like hands.

"Keiko, didn't your boobs get bigger?" They heard the boy mutter. They all saw her getting redder and redder. Many veins were popping all over her body. Scared out of their wits, their survival instinct took over. They had no time to lose. She was going to explode soon, and when she would, even they were going to get involved. A pillar of flames would appear, reaching up to the skies and down to the bottom of the ocean and burn down the whole boat to ashes. Kurama quickly snatched her back while Kuwabara fled far away to the other side of the ship with a still fast asleep Yusuke on his shoulder.

"Lemme go! Lemme kill him! I'll tear him to shreds! I'll break every single bone in his body into a billion pieces!" Akari yelled heinously, struggling to break free.

"Why don't you just let her do it?" Hiei agreed. What the boy had done had not been to his liking either.

"No, you mustn't!" The fox was having a hell of a time holding her back, even though she was unconsciously holding back since it was him... and he was half-tempted to let her go. He knew that if he was to poison her again or knock her out he would be risking his own life. Same if he was to try and turn her attention toward him by being too intimate, seeing how she tended to react... She might be more permissive with him than with others, but here he just couldn't, that would be too much. There was only one way. "Akari, you love the thrill of the fight, right? Don't kill him now when he's sleeping, do it in a fair fight when he's awake! Wouldn't it be better this way?! At least wait until he's awake!" He begged her. All he had to do was to stall time.

"Kill him… in a fair fight?" She relaxed a bit. After all Kurama was asking her, and he said she could kill Yusuke later.

"Yes, yes, then you can see the fear on his face, and he would have the time to regret his actions, wouldn't it be more fun this way?" He coaxed. After a time, an ecstatic and sadistic grin was splitting her youthful face but she was still hesitating. And so he gave the finishing blow. "Please?" And before his winning and most utterly cute pleading look, the human girl had no choice but to give in and admit her loss, however reluctantly.

"But if there's anything this is all your responsibility." Akari warned him.

"Yes!" The red-haired answered with his angelic and irresistible smile, still holding her as tightly as in the beginning. Her eyes widened in surprise for a second before sighing and slumping against him. Such a straightforward reply, and that smile... wasn't he scared of her like every other guy? Why couldn't she win against him?

"Tche." Hiei muttered almost inaudibly, obviously annoyed. If Kurama hadn't held her back something interesting could have happened. Somehow he resented the fox's power over her, and he resented the fact that the fox enjoyed this closeness more than he should, and he resented the fact that she didn't seem to mind it much. He looked away. He had nothing to do with this nonsense. But still, he clenched his fists. The masked warrior was ignoring everyone. Things were as peaceful as always. Kuwabara was angry at Yusuke for having had the scare of his life because of him. And the captain of this boat did not seem to have appreciated the show.

It's just as Sakyo-san said. They're on an entirely different level than these punk youkais. I was 'oping to judge how much power and offensive ability they 'ad, but there's no telling what this group is capable of.

Then at last, after a two-hours voyage, they arrived at Kubikukuri Island, where a taxi took them to Kubukukuri Hotel. They entered. It was quite the luxurious establishment. Music was playing, and well-dressed people were chatting everywhere. A man, obviously from the staff, came to greet them.

"Welcome to the hotel. I will direct you to your room."

Everyone followed him, with Kuwabara supporting Yusuke. He was starting to feel uneasy, and wondering if this really were the Dark Tournament. But there was no doubt. Akari didn't like that hotel employee. He was keeping a straight face but there was a mocking smile in his eyes, like he thought for sure they were going to die and that seemed to amuse him a lot. And he was not the only one. All the 'smart set' was leering at them, and her ears were picking some annoyingly jeering comments.

"Those are the sacrificial guests this time..."

"Poor things, they're still just kids aren't they?"

"Well, why don't we let them entertain us?"

When suddenly, a series of 'accidents' happened in the same time: glasses exploding in their hands, cigars cut just before their mouths, gems or pearls exploding too, and cuts appearing on their clothes. There were cries. Then they felt an icy gaze on them and turned to look at the origin. That pink-haired girl, her hands in the pockets of her black leather jacket, she was still following her friends, but she was smiling back at them, a sweet little smile. Before them her smile turned into a feral smirk and she looked at them with the eyes of a predator. If they wanted to be entertained, she was going to oblige them. That was just a sort of 'thank-you-for-your-patronnage' greeting, and a warning. "Sacrificial guests"... they were not sweet little lambs, they had natural weapons too, as sharp as any they could find out there, if not sharper... The guests left. The 'right' people had been quite scared, at first. But now they found this situation all the more interesting.

In his office, Koenma was stamping paper after paper, then he stopped, and suddenly hurled all his documents in the air. He began trashing about and throwing a tantrum, yelling he was so worried he couldn't do anything and that he was going too.

"Going? Where to?" Goerges asked, as slow as usual.

"It's obvious, isn't?! To the Dark Tournament!"

"You can't! Koenma-sama, you have very important work here...!" The ogre approached.

"Anyone can do this kind of work." The prince dismissed, stamping his subordinate's left cheek with his red seal.

"How irresponsible and apathetic! You're always like this you know." The blue oni complained reproachfully.

"Oh, is that so? Well, then it can't be helped. And here I was thinking of taking you along... I can't help that now. I'll just have to go by myself..." The toddler trailed off tantalizingly while walking toward the door. Georges completely fell for the provocation and ran after his master.

The first thing Akari did after entering the suite was to visit the rooms. As Kuwabara said, it was really classy, and she liked it very much, to the point that she, like him, wouldn't mind coming to such a tournament any number of times. But no matter how she looked at it, there was something wrong: there were only five beds out of six. They were one bed short. She shared her opinions with her teammates. But there's no way –they– would not have known their right number. Suddenly she had a flash. Akari cracked her knuckles, looking insanely mad, and left. Instead of taking the elevator, way too slow to her liking, she went to the stairs and jumped all the way down at once. She marched toward the desk and her eyes blazing, grabbed the collar of the first receptionist she saw.

"You, call Sakyo right now and tell him to get his dirty ass over here immediately. If not I'll blow up the whole building." Katsuyama threatened him. White as snow and overcome with fear, the man complied without question.

"I hear that Urameshi and the others have entered the hotel." Toguro said.

"According to the information from the captain, the youkais aboard the ship were outclassed." Sakyo, who was watching the sky, replied.

"If they weren't, this wouldn't be any fun."

"Well, tomorrow, we should be able to take a good long look at them. The Urameshi Team will face the Rokuyukai Team in the first round."

"Oh? The Rokuyukai? That will be enjoyable."

The phone rang. Sakyo answered, and hung up after a time, heaving a sigh.

"They haven't been there for five minutes and this one is already causing trouble."

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I think I'm starting to understand why you're so interested in that girl and why you bully her so much. Well, I'm going."

"What is it?" The man asked, cigarette in hand, and other hand in his pocket, arriving at the reception desk.

"You..." Akari said, more menacing than ever as she grabbed Sakyo's necktie and brought him to her level. "Change the room arrangements right now." She ordered harshly.

"Why? Is there something you feel unhappy about?" Sakyo inquired with his usual calm and casualness which contrasted quite well with the girl's anger and violence.

"Stop screwing with me! You know as well as I do!"

"How did you manage in the Makai?"

"The Makai is the Makai, here is here. We're the honored guests, it's only natural to ask for the best. Now change the room arrangements or I'll punch a hole through that heartless chest of yours..." She switched the necktie to her left hand while preparing her right fist for the blow. She was really going to do it. The youngest member of the Black Book Club sighed again.

"I understand. I'm sorry." He said, sounding apologetic.

"Huh?" The pink-haired girl had not expected that.

"I didn't know you had so delicate a constitution. I will make arrangements immediately."

"Huuh?! Hey! Who said I had a delicate constitution?! Don't underestimate me!"

"Then it should be alright to leave things as they are."

"Of course it is!"

"Are you sure?"

"Damn right I am!"

"There won't be a problem?"

"Like hell there will!"

"It's alright then."

Akari humphed and roughly pushed him away.

"But in exchange, I get to order everything and anything I want. The staff will have to attend my every whim, and EVERYTHING will be on YOUR tab, no matter what it is. Surely you can do that, right?" She smirked at him.

"Of course."

"Then it's a deal."

And both left, walking opposite ways. Sakyo was smirking, amused. Despite all her power and everything she had endured, that girl was still a child after all.

The young pink haired human went back to the suite, humming, giggling, grinning, and twirling about, feeling satisfied. She sat down on the right of the right angled sofa besides Kurama. The masked fighter was sitting cross-legged a little further away. Kuwabara was on a pouf, Yusuke, sleeping on the settee behind the pouf, and Hiei was standing next to the table that was between the sofa and the settee.

"You look happy. Did you reach an agreement?" The red head asked curiously.

"Yep, yep! I can ask for ANYthing and I'll have it, and EVERYthing will be on his tab! Isn't it great? I've already ordered a few nice things for dinner, when the first round will be over. But for now, some refreshments should arrive soon."

"Didn't you go for the room arrangements?" Kuwabara wondered. Akari's smile froze for fifteen seconds. She suddenly screamed, horrified. "In other words you've been snookered. Geez, you're so-"

"Kuwabara, another word and you'll be dead meat before the tournament even begins." Katsuyama warned the carrot head in a dangerously low voice. Kuwabara gulped.

"You want to go ask again?" The fox suggested.

"NEVER!" Akari yelled, "I won't lose to him even if it kills me!"

""Even if it kills you" you say..." Kurama sighed, but he was still smiling. Then, as the kind gentleman he was, he offered her to stay in one of the rooms, and he'd do something on his own, but she turned him down, feeling bad for him. Besides, it was her own fault. Had it been anyone else, she could not have cared less. But it was Kurama. And also it was true that Sakyo's provocation had somehow gotten to her a little. Usually she'd have choosen a room for herself and told the others to manage on their own but the fox insisted. It went on with neither of them willing to back down, which seemed to annoy Hiei very much... until Kuwabara silently threw a coin at them (since her order not to say another word was still in effect). A coin toss with the bed at stake... What a great idea from Kazuma. She tossed the 10 yens coin, she let it fall on the ground, swirl, and stop. Everyone looked carefully, even if just from the corner of their eye while pretending they did not care. But it had not stopped on either heads or tails. It had remained standing there, on the edge. The girl and the fox looked at each other. Did it mean they had to share the bed? Wasting a room would be stupid. That was the only solution left. Companionship through force of circumstance... Or was it?

Suddenly someone knocked on the door and came in. It was the room service bringing six cups of tea. Everyone took a cup except for Kuwabara, and Yusuke who was still sleeping of course. The boy preferred to be cautious and took one of his own drinks from his bag.

"Now you're being way too paranoid Kuwa!" Akari said in a slightly overly cheerful manner, like trying to hide the faintest trace of nervousness.

"Akari is right. In the end, the goal of this tournament is genuine fighting." Kurama agreed. Despite the seriousness of the matter and for some reason, there was a tiny hint of beatitude in his tone that he could not completely hide, notably from two little fighters.

"The organisators plan to have us torn to bits in a fair fight." Hiei added, sounding a bit cross.

Then Kurama noticed something strange. A cup was missing. There should have been six. Four had one in their hand. There should have been two on the table, for Kuwabara and Yusuke. But there was only one cup on the table, and Yusuke was still sleeping.

"Oh, that's surely that tiny guy over there." Akari dismissed, nodding toward the dresser. "But still, it's very rude to enter without knocking, eavesdrop, and steal other people's drinks." She then admonished.

"Sorry, sorry!"

They all bolted upright, and turned their heads to see a little brown-haired kid crouching on the dresser. He was wearing jeans, a pink and yellow sweater and a pink and yellow cap. He had three red stars tattooed under his left eye, and a coffee cup in his hand. They were very tense, wondering when he had come in, or if he hadn't been there hiding from the start. Akari merely sipped her drink. The child introduced himself as Rinku, member of the Rokuyukai Team that the Urameshi Team was going to fight the next day in the first round. Then he put the cup down on its side, his two indexes on its handle, and keeping his arms straight, he spreads his legs and raised them. He was doing the splits in midair, with only the fingers he had on the cup handle supporting him.

"Must be nice to be guests! You don't have to go through the boring opening ceremonies or the briefing sessions, just right away to the matches. Oh, that's right! Since you're all going to die anyhow, you don't need to know anything about the prizes, and victory and stuff, huh?" He had been grinning ear to ear but his expression changed into a challenging one. "I heard the guests this time were awesome, but what a disappointment! At this rate, I'll win all matches by myself like this!" He tried to provoque them.

"You speak too much, Rinku." A man's voice warned the kid from their left. It was a tall muscular demon with broad shoulder, short, spiky blond hair, cold blue eyes, and long sharp ears, and wearing a dark blue muscle shirt, khakis, and black boots. He had his arms crossed. Rinku jumped over to him and apologised. Zeru opened the door to leave.

"Enjoy your last evening as much as you can. Tomorrow, you will meet the same fate as that cup." He told them. Naturally, everyone looked toward the cup, and suddenly, the cup was vertically cut in two and the dark liquid spilt over the plate and table. Everyone (except for Yusuke who was still snoring) shot them dark looks as they left. Akari closed her eyes, put down her own cup, and walked toward the door. She had remained calm the whole time, but now there was a glint of malign amusement in her golden eyes. These guys had gone out of their way to greet them; it was only natural to return the favour, wasn't it? She opened the door.

"Please wait!" She yelled from the doorstep. When Zeru and Rinku turned around, she put on her sweetest smile. "Thank you for coming all the way here to greet us and for your generous warning. Please be assured we will properly repay you tomorrow with the interests. Good night, and good luck to you too." The girl waved and closed the door, her sarcasm top notch. She had left them a little souvenir...

Indeed, when the two turned back again to leave, both had a cut in their clothes. They had definitely underestimated her at least. There was a high probability that indeed she was the one from the rumor. The problem was that guy sleeping on the couch. Zeru was wondering if he knew that they had not been out to kill them and that was why he didn't wake up of if it were something else. Rinku simply dismissed it as that guy being a moron. And he was right in that, but it wasn't the reason why he hadn't woken up.

"They're humans who were good enough to be chosen as guests. That girl aside, there must be something to them. We'll see tomorrow... the day of the match."

Not too long after the Rokuyukai members left, the contestants of the Urameshi team went to their respective rooms. After her shower, Akari felt better, refreshed. Like her mind had been cleared. For some reason, she had been nervous to sleep in the same bed as Kurama but now she was back to her usual self. That was just Kurama, and he was a precious and trustworthy friend. What was there to feel nervous about? She just had to go with the flow as usual. But she had noticed there were already two pillows on the bed. That damn Sakyo… then she remarked that Kurama had his eyes closed and quickly thought up a bed time prank. She silently approached and jumped, but before she could fall back on him as she had planned to, he opened his eyes, caught her by the waist, and in a flowing motion, made her lie beside him and climbed on top of her. Akari froze. Kurama smiled.

"You tricked me." The girl said resentfully.

"Don't think you can always win over everyone. I'm a fast learner. But now you are satisfied, aren't you? You will be able to sleep well at last." He replied, looking like he enjoyed the situation they were in. She turned her head to the side, a blush coloring her cheeks. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lay there, on top of her.

"Aren't going to get off of me?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to go and vent on someone else." He tightened his grip on her.

Startled, Katsuyama growled slightly, vexed that he could so easily see right through her. But there was something else, something a little disturbing, but not something bad. And she didn't know how to react to that. So for now, she decided to stop thinking, relax, and get along with him. She sighed, wrapped her own arms around the fox, and closed her eyes. Kurama smiled again and rolled slightly so they would lie on their side. She snuggled against him, searching for a more comfortable position, and soon after, her breathing become more regular. She had fallen asleep. And then, with a contented expression on his handsome face, Kurama inhaled her sweet, fruity, refreshing, and slightly wild scent and closed his eyes too.