A Fight for the Light

One Last Moment

Touya Jin and I sat around in a little room. It was more or less like a locker room at a sports stadium but there were no lockers. There were just some benches, a few weights, a mini-fridge, and a shower, which was off in a side room. Risho Gama and Bakken had already gone out to wait by the entrance to the ring but we stayed behind to soak up what we were all dreading might be our last moments of peace together.

"Huh…? Yay! There's booze in the fridge!" Jin smiled as he poked his nose into the mini-fridge.

"No way in hell! You're staying sober for this, you hear me!?" I pried him away from the refrigerator.

"Aw, but Alicia, lass, it's booze!" Jin pouted.

"And I said NO!"

"Do you two mind keeping it down? I'm trying to meditate," Touya's one eye popped open to look at us.

"Sorry Touya-san," I sighed.

"Oh well… I don't suppose meditation will help much anyway. Shall we go do something? We still have half an hour before the fight starts," Touya said as he stood up.

"Well what I'd like to do is drink some booze but the lass won' let me!" Jin shot a glance at me crossly.

"I agree with Alicia. You shouldn't be drinking before the match, Jin," Touya nodded.

"I say we play games," I suggested.

"Good idea! Le's play 'I ne'er'!" Jin grinned wildly as he attempted to get back to the fridge.

"No alcohol," I growled as I grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Okay, okay! Lordy, lordy, does ye have to be so harsh, lass?"

"She is a bit extreme but I must admit she keeps you in line, Jin," Touya laughed softly. "You two would make a fine couple."

Jin and I looked at each other. Awkward silence reverberated through the room. Jin and I looked at Touya. The awkward silence was beginning to make him nervous.

"You sicko! Jin's like a brother to me! We could never be a couple!" I objected.

"Ne'er in all the years I's known ye have I e'er heard ye say somethin' so dumb, Touya," Jin stated.

"I'm sorry, but it is true," Touya insisted. "It's almost as if you were made for each other."

"Touya, I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that. So, how about we play truth or dare?"

"Okay I'll go first," Jin said with a smirk. "Alicia, lass, truth or dare?"

"Dare and it better not be to let you drink booze," I glared at him.

"Aw… okay then," he thought about it for a bit. "I dare ye…. I dare ye t' go t' first base with Touya." Jin grinned from ear to ear.

I stared. Touya stared. Jin kept grinning. I smacked him, "You pervert!"

"Hey, yer the one who said dare," he shrugged. "Go on now. Ge' on wi' it."

I looked to Touya and Touya looked to me. The two of us sighed and French kissed.

"Damn, tha's 'bout the sickest thing I's seen," Jin laughed.

"Jin, truth or dare," I said instantly, desperately seeking revenge.

"Truth," Jin replied, clearly thinking I could do nothing humiliating to him with a truth. He was wrong.

"Tell us about the scariest nightmare you ever had," I smirked.

His eyes widened. He was horrified.

"Well, come on. What're you waiting for? Tell us."

Jin turned his head aside and mumbled something indistinctly.

"What was that?" I asked.

"For Christ's sake! I had a dream where I was tethered to me bed doin' the 'horizontal limbo' with Biggie!"

I laughed madly. Touya almost vomited. Jin's face turned a beautiful shade of red, which made me laugh more.

"Interesting dreams you have, Jin," Touya murmured, not knowing what else to say.

"Ye think so, Mister Ice Man? Truth or dare?"

Touya paused for a moment to think. "This is one of those 'damned if you do; damned if you don't' situations, isn't it?"

"More like 'damned if you dare; damned if you truth' but essentially, yeah," I answered.

"Fine then… truth…," Touya responded after another moment of thought.

"Tell us who ye've had erotic dreams 'bout," Jin insisted.

In all my years, I had never seen Touya's face grow any redder than the typical peachy skin color that he usually lacked. However, the instant Jin's demand left his lips, Touya's pale face turned instantly to blood red.

"W-what?" Touya asked, hoping he'd heard the question wrong.

"Who ha' ye dreamt 'bout sleepin' wit'?" Jin rephrased.

Now knowing he hadn't heard wrong, Touya resigned himself to fate with a heavy sigh. "The announcer girl, about five random ice maidens, a female fire demon, and…," he trailed off into indistinct mumbling.

"What?" I asked.

Touya attempted to escape by refraining from answering but Jin and I asked again and again, "What? What did you say? C'mon, tell us. What did you say?"

"Fine, I had a dream with a threesome in it," Touya half-answered.

"So shameful," I said harshly before asking eagerly, "Who with?"

"Um… Allow me to put it this way…," he sighed again. "All three participants are within this room."

Jin and I looked at each other and then looked back at him, horrified. "You mean?"

"People always said we made a good threesome; my mind just took the remark to a much sicker level."

"Ah well, at least you didn't have a dream that involved bondage and Biggie," I offered as some bit of comfort.

"So…truth or dare, Alicia?" Touya flashed me a positively insidious smile.

I knew what was coming but I gave into it and answered, "Truth."

"Who have you dreamt about having relations with?" Touya asked. He obviously meant for the question to sound dreadful but the way he phrased it made me think about the irony. Here was Touya - the cleanest minded person I knew - asking me about my personal history of racy dreams.

"Well… there has only been one," I blushed bit as I answered timidly.

"Who was it?" Touya asked. By his tone, he seemed a bit surprised. I admit he had reason to be surprised. Out of the three of us, I was the one who made most of the perverted remarks.

"I'm sure you don't know him. You've probably seen him already but you'll definitely see him soon."

"Is it tha' guy with the red hair fro' the human team we's fighting today?" Jin asked.

"God, no! Kurama's like a father to me!" I shouted. "It's… the black-haired fire demon…."

"Tha' mi'git?" Jin laughed until he noticed Touya glaring at him. He didn't understand why Touya was glaring until he subconsciously pictured Touya standing beside Hiei and realized the lack of a size difference. "Sorry Touya."

"Do you like him?" Touya asked me.

"Hey, you already asked me my truth," I responded.

"Forget the game. I just want to know," he insisted.

"Fine. Yes, I do like him."

"Do you intend to marry him?"

"Touya!" I whined.

"C'mon lassie. He's jus' concerned," Jin remarked.

"Okay, no I don't. It's not that I don't like him enough; it's that I don't think he likes me at all."

"What makes you say that?" Jin asked.

"Well… Hiei… he's… he's kinda hard to understand…"

"Ye mean e's not one t' wear 'is 'eart on 'is sleeve."

"Exactly. Quite the opposite."

"Sometimes even hidden feelings are still very strong," Touya remarked.

"I suppose," I nodded thoughtfully.

"Team Masho fighters please report to the ring," a voice called out over the P.A. We all sighed heavily and began to cloak ourselves in the black garments laid out for us all.

"Time's up," I murmured as I finished.

"It's time to fight. Let's go."

"Right behind you, Touya."

"Wait up for me li'l lassie!" Jin called as he ran after us, struggling to keep his cloak in place.