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Botan's cheer when the fighting finally stopped was enough to pull me out of my concentration, and I looked down onto the now destroyed ground where what was left of Toguro lay on the ground, and Yusuke just standing there. I knew how he felt. It was strange, looking at them all again. I had been avoiding it as long as possible, and mere minutes felt like a lifetime. Yusuke seemed so many years older, Hiei and Kurama hardened. I saw the white uniform stained in red and felt bile in my throat, turning around again and covering my mouth so I wouldn't throw up.
"We can go home now Shizuru." Botan hugged my cousin tightly, and Yukina held on to Keiko, shaking her lightly.
"We should find a way out of here before this place collapses on us." I informed them.
"The boys will be able to find us if we stay here." Botan argued with me, kneeling next to Keiko again. "I don't think any of us can move her before they get to us."
I let out a breath, and turned back to the field. My heart dropped into my stomach, and my knees made an impact with the ground.
"Ella!" Yukina was by my side in an instant, holding onto my shoulders. "Ella, what's wrong?!"
"I'm going to kill him." I breathed out.
"Ella?"
"I'm going to fucking murder your goddamned boyfriend." I growled, gritting my teeth and using the rail to propel me upward. Yukina's arms wrapping around my waist held me back, and tears clouded my vision. "That bastard!"
"I'm sure he had a good reason, Ella. You heard Master Genkai; he must have known that faking his death was the only way to make Yusuke take that extra step. You have to see where he was coming from."
"I do, and I'm going to kill him!" I gripped onto her sleeves, sinking down again and just crying. She brushed my hair back and I fell into her ice world, feeling her heart so close next to mine, beating in such a gentle, beautiful rhythm. I felt her and I felt me, and I just wanted this peace to last. I deserved it after today, just a few minutes where someone wasn't dying or someone wasn't ready to sacrifice themselves.
I flinched at the explosion around us, the shifting of the building. It really was going to come down on our heads at this point.
"Hey Yukina!"
We both looked up to see my stupid, idiotic, moronic, wonderful cousin waving like a fool at the blue haired girl holding me. She stood up, her hand still on my head.
"I'm here to rescue you, we can go whenever you want!" He grinned at her.
"Kazuma, there's something really wrong with Keiko." She informed him, breaking our connection to step towards him, hands going to her chest in worry. I stood too, not sure if I was angry or relieved still. It might take some time to sort that out. "She's not responding to anything; we can't get her to move."
Everything seemed to slow down in time. His face fell, her eyes went up, and the cracking wall came down, threatening to destroy her in one simple motion. I felt my body move, but it was so painfully slow. I felt like I was swimming in molasses to get to her, watching brick by brick crumble down as the whole chipped away, shadowing her. Feet off the ground, I shoved as hard as I could, feeling the sting of the debris falling, and felt an impact in my stomach, my breath leaving me.
But the wall never came. My eyes opened to see a torn black tanktop, a wiry bicep. I looked up to see Hiei staring down at me, eyes roving up and down once for an injury check. When he was satisfied, he turned back to Kazuma.
"You're of no use." He said coldly, helping me to stand. He looked at Yukina again, and nodded to her before ushering me toward Botan and Keiko.
"Where's Shizuru?" I asked Botan, and jumped ten feet in the air when Yusuke started screaming, slapping Keiko in the face to try and snap her out of her state.
"Is that really necessary?!" I snarled at him, and Hiei held me back from launching myself at him for smacking around the girl he claimed to love. Apparently Keiko's reactions and I were on the same page.
"Yusuke... How DARE you, Jerk!" Keiko's palm connected with Yusuke's cheek, sending him sprawling, and I jumped in Hiei's arm.
"I don't understand them. I really don't." I informed him, and he gave me a quiet smirk that went straight to my chest. I glanced at the pillars falling, fire rising from somewhere beneath us and beginning to engulf the building in flames.
Keiko jerked back, holding her hand out with her wide eyes searching us. "What... what's going on here? Where am..." She gasped, noticing Yusuke still paralyzed on the ground.
"I think he's dead." Kazuma poked him, and I fidgeted against Hiei's side.
"I really think we should get going now!" I insisted, tugging on his arm as the recorded voice above us informed the audience of the three minute warning until the stadium was thus blown into oblivion. Everyone turned and started throwing themselves after one another, a sense of urgency at last overtaking them. I gripped tight onto Hiei's hand and let him lead me while I moved my legs as quickly as humanly possible.
A group of demons was blocking the way, standing around, and I swore under my breath. A giant cave in blocked our exit, and time was running out.
"Clear a path, man, Kuwabara comin' through!" My cousin announced, and the demons parted for him like the red sea. They must have learned that he tended to just barrel through things regardless of people that might think they can stop him from the tournament. I glanced over all of the heads for Shizuru again, my heart pounding. Where was she?
"Get outta the way, I'll bust through." Yusuke insisted, wincing as he took his weight off of Kurama.
"Yusuke, you know you don't have strength left." Kurama chided him, gripping onto his waist and shoulder to keep the team leader standing.
"Well neither do you, so what's our choice?"
"STADIUM DETONATION: TWO MINUTES." The voice reminded us overhead, and I glanced over everyone's heads again, jumping up to try and see over the crowd. There had to be something here...
"What can we do?! We don't have time to find a new exit."
Cracking rock drew my attention back to the mess in front of us, and I felt relief flood through me.
"Our knights in drunken armor are here." I informed them. Yusuke stared at me, and Kurama was about to say somethign when the rock before us burst out. I covered my face as debris attacked us from every direction and grinned at the tall Australian demon before me.
"How goes it, mate?" Chu smirked at the crowd.
Yusuke stared, and recognition of what was really happening caught up to him with a huge grin. "A lot better now I guess."
"Then don't just stand there like a bludger; let's go. We can't let our champion team get hurt now." He pointed over his shoulder and Rinku smirked down at us from his perch there. Jin and Touya behind him nodded.
"Right 'e is. When the tourney next around comesby and we'll all have to face you ourselves and we'll have new muscles on us and - whowee! - you'll go zippin' and we'll be the champions o' that one!" Jin informed them, excitement lacing his voice. I grinned at him and he punched my shoulder lightly, smirking at Hiei. "Yeh'll have te start gettin' better yerself lassie, and we'll have a real go one day. Yer man'll make a real fighter o' ya yet."
"Right. Whatever he said." Yusuke smiled fondly at the redheaded wind demon, and I punched him in the shoulder back, blushing.
"Quiet, you. Let's get out of here."
He grinned back, ears wiggling, and set off with us. Keiko held onto Puu when he finally found us, Genkai's traces of him gone, and we continued our path of dodging fallen debris. That voice followed us down the winding paths into the grass outside the stadium. We didn't stop until we were a good way away, and Hiei let me fall off to the side, leaning against his legs as the adrenaline started to wear off. The countdown finished with an explosion that blew smoke and dust into us even at the distance we were. I closed my eyes when his fingers rested on the top of my head, almost absently. It was so gentle, yet so encompassing.
"Yeah, with the action hero exit!" My cousin exclaimed, and I whipped my head around to see Shizuru, Koenma, and George running toward us out of the dust and debris. I sank further against Hiei, my body sagging into him at the relief that she was right there with us. I felt sick to my stomach from all of the excitement. Shizuru stopped next to me, kneeling down and hugging me to her. I breathed her in, wrapping my arms around her and watching her face light up with the flames from that stadium.
It was a firm finality, an ending to the horror that was the Dark Tournament to watch the building fall in such a fantastic display. I reached up and gripped Kazuma's hand as he knelt next to us as well, his fingers wrapping in my hair and his arm around his sister. I felt safe in their arms, my family together again after I thought I had lost them both. I felt tears falling down my face at having them with me. I didn't know how much I needed this.