A/N: Yup. Here's another chapter. –And there was much rejoicing in the land, monotonous 'yay'-

O/C5: Misaki left early in the morning so that she wouldn't miss any of the matches. As things are going however, she could have slept in and not missed a thing. Despite the fact that the tournament is invitation only, the prospects look bleak. Soren and Ike sit with Misaki for a while until their stomachs growl in hunger and they go off in search of food.

--

"You do realize that even if anyone is any good, they will save their strength for more desperate times."

Kurama was sitting to Misaki's right.

"I suppose that's true." She admitted. "That doesn't make it any less frustrating though." Misaki sighed, "But there isn't all that much potential." She complained.

Kurama surveyed the going-ons. "Maybe. Maybe not. Those youkai appear promising." He pointed to the same roped off area that the yellow youkai won in earlier.

"That's were our bracket is. I haven't really been paying attention because our fight is already decided." She mused, looking in that direction.

A dark figure stood in the middle of the fighting area and his opponent had a confused look plaster on his face. They soon found out why.

The trench-coat wearing man disappeared, reappearing almost instantaneously behind his opponent.

"That won't end well." Misaki predicted.

The man made some sort of motion over the enemy's neck and the ref blew the whistle.

"Shadow Rider." Misaki realized.

Kurama chuckled, "I just thought all shadow youkai could teleport between shadows."

"No, that's not what I meant." She shook her head, "He's Shadow Rider. The Shadow Rider."

"I've never heard of him."

"Small wonder. He was more notorious back before I was a spirit detective."

"Old friend?"

Misaki let out a quiet bark of laughter, "I don't think he would put it that way. He's the nominated leader of a group known as Shadow Riders and he became The Shadow Rider. His real name is Carlisle." Misaki leaned forward as if it would help her catch a glimpse of Carlisle. "I can't imagine him being this old though."

"Says the woman who's God-only-knows how old."

"Alright I've had just about enough insults for today." She glared at him.

"It wasn't an insult." Kurama said hurriedly.

In the arena, Carlisle paused as he made his was back to his teammates and sniffed the air. Misaki froze, about to make a retort at Kurama. Carlisle's head turned in her direction and she whipped her head to Kurama, facing him.

"What did you say?" her voice shook, as did her whole body. She trembled under the Shadow Rider's gaze as his eyes roamed over her and Kurama. A chill went up her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. The muscles in her back and legs tensed, ready to fight or flee at a moments notice.

Kurama immediately saw something was wrong but when he started to look down at the arena, Misaki reached up and forced him to look at her, not letting him even glanced at Carlisle. He discreetly placed a hand on top of her other hand which was laying between them, hoping to pass strength to her.

The fingers of that hand were digging into the concrete, leaving scraped holes behind. Eventually a fist was formed but it slowly relaxed as Misaki felt his eyes moving away. She swallowed nervously, actually afraid to see where he was now. Her lungs released a long breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Kurama waited patiently for her to say something.

"He's different." She finally managed, "Much different. That was the Shadow Rider but it wasn't Carlisle."

"What did you mean when you said you'd had enough insults for today?" Kurama gracefully changed the subject.

His effort was rewarded with a smile, wry smile, "First of all, at the banquet everyone kept calling me 'maiden' and 'young'. Then a couple of guys I met there found me a while ago and called me squirt like I'm some snot-nosed kid. Now you mention the fact that I'm really old. I've had just about enough references to my age in the past twenty-four hours for the next century."

"I didn't mean it the way it sounded." He looked away.

"I know. I was just teasing." A moment later, after Misaki checked on how the matches were going, she spoke again, "Last match for our bracket." Two new teams were walking up to opposite sides of their area but the members came fairly nondescript.

"What are you waiting on now?"

"Well, Yusuke and them are part of the last matches of the day, but match two isn't over yet in their bracket." She waved a hand towards the far right area of the arena, "Which reminds me, are they up yet?"

Kurama smiled, "Just as I left, Genkai was coming in and—"

"No need to say anymore." Misaki stopped him, "I just hope she can get rid of their hangovers. She's old enough to know a few remedies but none of them are very pleasant. Be glad you left when you did."

One member from each of the teams stepped into the ropes and the ref started them. What followed was a basic fight of punches, kicks, counter punches and counter kicks. A boring show of fundamentals which reminded Misaki of how much she was disappointed in the invites this year. Though it did take her mind off of Carlisle.

"This match doesn't matter anyway." Misaki decided towards the end, crossing her arms disgustedly and leaning back into the stair behind her.

Kurama waited for her to continue.

"The Shadow Rider's team is who we're going to face in round three."

"Assuming we win round two of course."

She gave him a 'how-stupid' look of exasperation, "And why on earth would you even say that? Why would you even think for a moment that we won't win this tournament?" She made a gesture towards the sad conditions of the fights beneath them, "I could take them all on by myself and still win."

"No need for Hiei or me." Kurama rejoined.

Misaki hadn't said it boastfully, she was merely stating a fact. Hiei sat down silently on her other side but she didn't seem to notice.

"I didn't say that." She answered quickly, "You...Hiei...and...well..." She couldn't think of a reassuring response and her head started hurting, "It's just that the competition is so weak this year...that even you...Hiei...I..." She frowned and blinked a couple of times, looking at the stair beneath them. That's when she saw a new pair of shoes. And then she saw Hiei attached to them. Her eyes widened and she got up abruptly, two pairs of eyes watching her go.

"What did you do to her?" Hiei followed her retreat with his gaze, "I've never seen her flustered like that before."

Kurama's frown mirrored Misaki's for an instant, "I didn't do anything. I don't think..."

--

Misaki left the arena, moving through faintly familiar hallways that made up the interior of the coliseum. Her head was reeling and she paused for a moment, leaning against the wall. The halls were empty, thankfully. Most of the participants wouldn't know their way around because of the—

"Excuse me miss but this area is off limits." Something buzzed by her face, stopping just at eye level. It floated in the air, a circular sensor at the front scanning her face while she squinted, then swatted it away.

It hit the wall fizzling and sputtering, "Come...Mi...Mis..aki..ki.ki."

Misaki heard footsteps coming from down the hall. She quickly and neatly blasted the robot and stepped around the corner, stopping to listen to those coming up behind her.

"So you think she's here, huh? After all these years?"

"That's what the rumors say." Another voice answered.

"Rumors? Ha! There are rumors every year. And every year there's one or two brave enough to claim to be the Ansatsusha."

"She's only actually been here twice: once the first year the tournament was put together." A third voice said.

"That's the only time I've ever heard of." The second one to speak interrupted.

"And again about a century or two later...I think that's right." the third finished.

"Well I've never seen her. Just heard stories. In fact, I think the tournament just made her up. To let the entrants think that someone can actually win this stupid thing." the first grumbled.

"There's always a winner." the second protested.

"Do you remember the names of anyone who won except for Misaki? I tell you, this thing is rigged! There's the final battle, yeah sure, but the winners always disappear!"

"How can you even doubt the reality of the Ansatsusha!?" the third chimed in. "There have been so many stories about all of the stuff she's done! She was even a spirit detective at one time!"

"That's all they are, stories! I don't believe them for a second."

"Oh shut up, non-believer."

"Go shove it yourself." The first retorted, "You know the technology this place has at their fingertips, they could just—"

"Now that's even more far-fetched than the stories." The second pointed out.

Misaki couldn't help but grin and feel mischievous. She let the silver highlights of her hair shine through and she stepped out into the hallway as one of the voices said, "What do you think?" to a party who hadn't spoken.

"Hey, do you know where the bathroom is?" She faced three dumbfounded youkai she didn't know...but the fourth party she knew all to well.

The three just stared at her, open-mouthed.

"Never mind, don't worry about it. I haven't been around here in forever so I think they've moved them." Misaki smiled and turned to leave only to have her molecules ripped apart by some unseen force. The scream of pain that would have been torn from her lips didn't make it before her lips didn't exist.

The four just saw her disappear into thin air.

"Now do you believe me?"

The other two nodded and the three of them turned into the hallway were Misaki had been hiding.

Misaki's molecules floated about five feet from the ground, mixing with the air around her.

The Shadow Rider—the fourth youkai—walked forward but stopped directly under Misaki's scatter atoms.

"You've grown strong, Hellfire." Misaki said to him, speaking without saying a word. Despite the fact that she was incapable of fear in her current form, her molecules shivered as his hand slid through them. Somewhere deep inside her nonexistent form, Misaki knew that he had grown more than just 'strong'. Once an element took on a human form, it was unable to return to the state she now found herself in (though there were words spoken among the Elements that there was a way to change back and forth, however none of them knew how). And yet Carlisle ripped her apart with ease. The power one would have to have to do that knew no bounds.

"Let's see how well you fight without a body." Carlisle snarled.

If Misaki had eyes, they would have narrowed. She literally flew forward and began to tighten herself around his neck.

"Your petty attempt is not amusing." He grabbed a clump of what would look like air to any passerby, but it was in fact a handful of Misaki, and flung her towards the wall.

She slammed into it, drained of energy, and sunk to the floor.

"Misaki?" Someone called.

"We'll finish this in the ring. Do try to get yourself together by then. Though I hold great doubts as to whether you will or not." Carlisle turned to follow the three youkai down the other hall.

Since she didn't have nerves, Misaki couldn't feel the pain that would have paralyzed her in human form. Instead she merely felt weak and heavy, unable to lift herself from the floor. A shoe stepped on part of her, trapping molecules beneath it. She rested.

"I thought she came this way." Kurama's face was bewildered.

"I'm here...you're stepping on me." Neither Kurama nor Hiei was able to hear her unspoken words.

"You've been wrong before." Hiei came up behind him, hands in his pockets.

"You're on me, I can't move..." Misaki realized that they couldn't hear her. How could Carlisle? How could Carlisle see her? She sagged closer to the floor, if possible.

Hiei's head jerked to the left, searching. The Jagan, behind its seal, started humming in his mind. He glanced around, to the ceiling, down the nearby hallway, but there was nothing. The Jagan wasn't going to let him go anywhere. Misaki was hurt, in a sense. Hiei reached out through the Jagan, but he couldn't feel any sort of presence of her mind.

"She's here." Hiei said, still shifting his eyes as if he could catch her at a new angle.

Kurama waited, knowing Hiei sought her out through the Jagan.

"But I can't see her. Or feel her." He admitted as the minutes wore on.

Misaki swirled slowly up Kurama's leg and the kitsune would have jumped back if the combination of molecules trapped under his foot and moving up his leg didn't hold him down. Instead his other foot took a step back, unsure of whether he was being attacked or not.

Hiei's katana came out of its sheath.

"No wait." Kurama held up a hand to stay his partner's attack.

Misaki continued up Kurama's body until she came in contact with the skin on his hand, having made her way up his side and down his arm. He was unable to move his whole side because of the weight.

While in contact with his skin, Misaki was able to use a primitive form of telepathy, flashing images in his mind, images of what had happened. The pictures that came next explained frankly that he wasn't strong enough to carry all of her but that he and Hiei could share the load. She also expressed a desire to see Yusuke, Kuwabara and Genkai fight their round, despite her condition.

Kurama passed on what he could of Misaki's 'conversation'. Reverting the images into words was difficult but Hiei understood. Kurama explained that Hiei had to come in contact with part of Misaki in order for her to move part of herself from Kurama. She was weak and couldn't move through the air on her own for the moment since she had forgotten just how heavy this form was. There was something about contact with a being in human form and being able to move around their body but she couldn't explain it well enough in pictures for there to be much understanding in that respect.

Hiei grabbed Kurama's wrist and his arm began to be weighed down. Just when he thought he wasn't going to be able to move that arm, the weight stopped, distributed evenly between Kurama and Hiei. Now able to speak to Hiei while part of her hovered under his collar around his bare neck, she showed him what Kurama had seen and added, to both of them, that they wouldn't be able to move to far apart as her molecules were attracted to each other. Five feet appeared to be the limit.

Obliging to Misaki's request, the two walked back out to the coliseum's seating. As they went through the halls, Misaki flashed images in Hiei's head. He watched as a movie of the Dark Tournament showed him using the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and then later conquering it. Curious, he saw that arm in his mind's eye, wrapped in the bandage like it was currently, keeping the Dragon under a seal until the time came when he would use it. There followed a complicated series of pictures showing that the arm was still injured and that if he wished she could go beneath the bandages and knit the injuries completely, improving his movement with that arm.

Hiei hadn't noticed any difference in his swordsmanship but he gave her permission to do so if she wanted. Immediately he felt a tingling on his arm as she worked unseen in microscopic ways.

Underneath the seal, the Dragon was tame but restless, longing to be set free but content with waiting. Misaki was careful not to accidentally let it loose.

"Hiei, Kurama! Over here!"

While Misaki talked to Hiei, he and Kurama arrived back inside the arena. The two of them steered for Botan who was sitting in a prime spot for watching Yusuke, Kuwabara and Genkai's matches.

She frowned as they came closer.

"Where's Misaki?"

Hiei and Kurama looked at each other, unsure of how to explain it. Kurama placed a hand on Botan's shoulder and felt the slightest bit of weight come off onto Botan.

Misaki didn't wish to crush the fragile reaper and so she only shifted just enough of herself onto Botan, quickly brushing the girl's cheek and communicating with her before the weight became too much. She slid back to Kurama's arm and Kurama sat down next to Botan, Hiei sitting on Kurama's other side.

"Oh dear." was Botan's response to Misaki predicament.

"Look, there they are." Kurama said, pointing at the trio who had just walked up to the ropes.

"Yusuke!! Kuwabara!!" Botan shouted, waving her arms so they would see her.

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked around for the owner of the voice but it was Genkai who spotted her and showed the other two where she was.

The boys grinned and waved back.

"How did you get here? I thought there weren't any outsiders allowed within the tournament grounds." Kurama wanted to know.

"They don't allow the sponsors of the teams here until the finals. I think. I'm not even sure if the sponsors are allowed to come at all. Anyway, they let me in. I'm here to be Koenma's eyes and ears. And to cheer on our favorite little humans, of course."

Down below Genkai stepped through the ropes.

"Class Es. The whole lot of them." Hiei noticed, looking at their opponents. "I thought Misaki said this was an invitation only tournament."

"It is." Kurama answered, though Misaki swirling irritably around both of their arms was answer enough.

"Then how did they get here?" Hiei scoffed.

Even Misaki didn't have an answer for that one.

The ref blew his whistle, signaling the start of the battle.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" the youkai in the ring shouted.

"That could be how." Kurama said.

"That's my attack." Hiei muttered darkly. He wondered how a puny youkai could manage to summon the Dragon when it was mastered and in his control. He had the markings underneath the seal to prove it.

"And it backfired." Botan noted.

Genkai stood watching impassively as the Dragon consumed her enemy. She calmly walked back behind the ropes, hands still clasped behind her back.

They could see that Yusuke and Kuwabara's mouths hung open—they had never seen the Dragon do such a thing—but Kuwabara pulled himself together and marched over the ropes.

The whistle blew again.

"Spirit Gun!"

Hiei, Misaki, Kurama and Botan could hear Yusuke's explicits from where they sat.

"Well they're certainly going all out, aren't they? They must know they have no hope of winning even the measly first round without replicating the strongest attacks they've seen." Misaki was talking aloud to herself since no one had the ears to hear her, "Weaklings."

--

-lotsm