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No one could look at Kazuma, his eyes blazing with indignation and fury. I flinched when he punched Yusuke in the face, so angry he was close to tears.

"What was that for?" Yusuke wiped his mouth.

"I thought that we were a team but I guess I'm just one big joke to you all, aren't I?" He demanded. "Well this joke has feelings! Genkai meant a lot to me too." He gripped the front of Yusuke's shirt and jerked him forward. I bit my lip hard, drawing blood to stop myself from feeling.

"Did you all just sit around and laugh about how clueless I was? Is this how you get your kicks Urameshi? Huh?!" Kazuma continued, gritting his teeth. "Answer me!"

"Kuwabara, listen-" Kurama started, but Kazuma cut him off with a sharp "This doesn't concern you!" that had little effect on Kurama's calm. "Yusuke did not tell Hiei or me either. We were left to detect her passing for ourselves."

"Is this true?"

Yusuke stared hard at the wall opposite of all of us. "I didn't tell anybody. She died in my arms."

I could feel his agony from here, watched as his fists began to shake. I felt useless, heartbroken all over again. I had been so distracted with my own suffering that I hadn't even thought of Yusuke; of how he must have felt. How it must have destroyed him to watch Toguro murder her. I glared at the tall man on the opposite side of the stadium, light reflecting off of his sunglasses. The man who had been helping me along, who I had started to foolishly think of as someone who could help to teach me to be stronger... he had taken away the one person who meant something to all of us.

"Then what?" My cousin drew me back to the current conversation.

"I asked Koenma to take her place. Temporarily; at least that's what I told him. I guess I thought if I never said it, it wouldn't have to be real. I'd like to think I know better than that now. The only way to move on is to give her death the reverence she deserves and to give grief it's due. But that's why I couldn't tell you. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did Kuwabara, and I'm sorry you felt we punked you, but I can't apologize for dealing with this the only way I knew how."

Yusuke walked past Kuwabara, his hardened mask back on his face, and I felt my knees go weak again, thinking of my teacher. Thinking of how much I hurt Kazuma by not saying a word to him about what had happened. Thinking of the red I saw whenever Toguro entered my mind, and how he hadn't left in the last ten minutes.

Warmth surrounded my shoulder, and I stared at the red eyes connected with mine. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. He was enough. I nodded, and blushed when he wiped the blood from my chin. I hissed at the forgotten pain and used the back of my hand to finish the job, wiping the blood on my pants.

Very smooth, Ella, very smooth.

At the sound of confused grumbling, we looked over to see Sakyo taking the center stage. What was he up to?

"I'd like to place one last bet before the fourth match begins." He announced into the mic.

"What is he planning?" Hiei grumbled.

"I bet it's something bad." Kazuma grimaced.

"All in." I whispered, drawing Kurama and Hiei's confused attention for a brief moment.

"Of course, being the team owner, I'm going to wager on Toguro to win. As for the particular stakes, I offer up my life."

Murmuring erupted through the stands once more, every demon in the stadium trying to figure out the play.

"But if Sakyo's dead, who will fight next?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Leave it to Kazuma to have a one track mind.

"Nobody." Koenma clarified for him.

"Sakyo is attempting to make this the decisive battle. Very clever." Hiei droned.

"What I am proposing here is that whichever teams happens to win this match in essence earns two points. I'm doing this as a man of the people, and in that vein I must always strive to give the people the competition they desire. Putting aside my own ego, I know that the fans would find it anticlimactic for this tournament to be decided by two alternates. The public deserves to have the true stars of this tournament determine its outcome; Urameshi vs. Toguro!" He smirked and directed his gaze directly at our very own alternate. Shivers broke out through my body. "Of course, this will only work if their teams owner and the honorable tournament committee agree to my terms."

"His head's gone haywire!" Kazuma burst. "Who just goes and bets their own life like that?"
"Yeah, I'll do it." I groaned at Koenma's ruffled feathers. "I accept your challenge. I am placing my life on Yusuke to win."
The crowd went wild, and I felt my blood go cold. I swallowed hard, feeling my head spinning. I saw red at Toguro following Sakyo back through their own locker room, and sadness at Kazuma coming to stand next to me.

"You shouldn't be down here." He said quietly.

"What happens if you need healing all over again?" I wondered, pulling water from my bottle and letting it float over Kazuma's finger wounds. He winced, but didn't move from letting me. I drifted the water over his injuries and let them heal, feeling warm liquid rushing over my lips and down my chin once again. When I opened my eyes, I felt Kazuma moving me to the wall and setting me down.

"You don't have to heal me if you're going to hurt yourself in the process." He lectured me.

"Yeah, but now I'm too tired to feel." I sighed. "Don't give me that pouty look, I'm fine. I just need to sit here for a minute. In case anything happens, I need to make sure you're okay and can get out of here."

"Nothing is going to happen."

"Don't bullshit me." I sighed. "Let me be your older cousin and protect you as much as I can."

He sighed, ruffling my hair again. "Yeah, whatever shorty."
Kazuma turned his attention to Yusuke as he started giving us his unique version of a pep talk, but I couldn't focus. I kept staring up at the stadium where I could feel Toguro and Sakyo standing. I grit my teeth once more against the rage. Hiei turned to look at me, catching my gaze, and holding me where I was. I touched my bottom lip and self consciously and the familiar sting made me able to break the connection and look down at my feet.

Such strange emotions were racing for dominance in me. It was imperative for me to be paying attention in the here and now, to be mindful and aware of everything around me, but my mind kept wandering to Genkai, to how she must have died. What she must have been feeling. I closed my eyes, bringing myself into my own mind. The sounds of the outside world died away, and a warm breeze blew across my face.

It was peaceful in my mind, but sad. I couldn't shake the feeling of loss that I was experiencing, like I was on the cusp of losing everything dear to me.

I opened my eyes and looked around the crowd. Yukina's face stuck out to me, my vision tunneling into her and those familiar red eyes. She gave me a smile that looked as nervous and frightened as I felt, and a burning need to run to her overwhelmed me. Her sweetness and innocence was... comforting and terrifying in this time of bloodshed and hatred.

"I've been informed that the committee has no objections to Sakyo's proposal." The announcer broke me out of my thoughts. "So this next fight between Toguro and Urameshi will be worth two points, and that means it will determine the winner of this years Dark Tournament!"

I stared at Kazuma, that overwhelming terror back in my chest, and he let me cling onto his arm for some sort of grounding. It was back, that feeling that I was about to be alone.

Toguro and Yusuke squared up on opposite sides of the arena, staring one another down in a show of machismo that anywhere else would have been pathetic. I felt my heart rate soar through the roof, and in a single moment stop altogether at the one sound I swore to every God I had ever heard of that I thought I would never have to hear again; laughter. Crazed, high pitched laughter.