A/N: ARGH! It was so hard to pick where to stop on this chapter! Things just keep moving and there isn't a good place! ARGH! Oh well...

O/C6: Kurama joins Misaki in watching the matches, then Hiei comes along a while later. Misaki leaves with a headache she believes was brought on by a stare from the Shadow Rider, going into a hallway. She hears people coming towards her and ducks into another hall, but steps out to meet them as they are having a conversation about her. Carlisle rips her apart as she shows herself, making her revert back to her true form: one of mere molecules without any form. Carlisle leaves her thus weakened. Kurama and Hiei come along, and Misaki communicates telepathically with them by being in touch with their skin. She strings herself between the two of them, being too heavy for just one or the other to hold. Kurama and Hiei carry her back out to watch Yusuke, Kuwabara and Genkai's match as she asks them to. They meet up with Botan and sit down. Genkai's opponent gets consumed by the Dragon of Darkness Flame he summons. And Kuwabara's opponent is able to use the Spirit Gun Yusuke is infamous for...

--

"Urameshi! That's your attack!" Kuwabara yelled at the black-haired, swearing boy.

Yusuke finished his string of curses before answering, "I know! You don't have to tell me that!"

"I would suggest you move out of the way, Kuwabara. Unless you want this battle over with you as the loser. The permanent loser." Genkai spoke up.

"Huh?" Kuwabara turned back around to see the blue orb of energy shooting for him. He ducked, Yusuke and Genkai dodged, and it harmlessly hit the arena wall a few feet behind them.

"Alright, that's it little man!" Kuwabara tramped purposefully for the youkai.

"He's not done, baka." Genkai warned.

"Spirit Gun Quad!"

"What the heck's a Spirit Gun Quad, Urameshi?!"

"I don't know!!"

"Well it's your attack!!"

"I know that!!"

"Stop yelling and pay attention to your opponent." Genkai ordered.

Two columns of two shots of Spirit Gun were heading straight for Kwuabara's head.

He managed a jump to the left, leaving Yusuke and Genkai to fend for themselves once more. The attack hit the wall, though they noticed that it didn't even leave a scratch.

"They seem to have reinforced the coliseum to be able to with stand such impacts." Genkai noted approvingly.

"Wait...does that mean you've been here before?" Yusuke looked at her in surprise.

"Pay attention, slacker!" She scorned.

Yusuke rolled his eyes and cupped his hands around his mouth so that his next words would carry to Kuwabara, "He's done!!" Yusuke announced triumphantly, "He's only got five!"

"Don't assume Kuwabara's opponent is limited in the same way you are, dimwit."

Kurama was continuing his advancement on the youkai, though there was a bit more confidence in his step from Yusuke's words.

"Spirit Gun!"

"What the—" Kuwabara's exclamation was cut short as he dodged again. This time the energy skimmed the air right beside his shoulder.

"Spirit Gun! Spirit Gun! Spirit Gun!"

"Thankfully he decides to announce his attack before he releases it." Genkai scoffed.

"Man this is getting annoying!" Kuwabara easily kept his dodges up, catching on to the fact that the Spirit Gun only traveled in one direction: straight. He suddenly got an idea and grinned. "Well I won't have to dodge them anymore. That was getting tiring anyway."

"What did he say?" Yusuke asked.

"He should stop mumbling to himself and keep his eye on his enemy." Genkai said as Kuwabara barely managed to eke out another misfire for his opponent. "Look out!" She shouted.

"What?" Kuwabara glanced up to see one of the blue attacks less than ten feet from him.

Yusuke saw Kuwabara hit for sure, but then the orb whizzed past his ear and dissipated into the wall.

Everyone looked at Kuwabara. His spirit sword was in his hands and he held it like a bat, ready for the next pitch.

Four more blue energy balls shot towards him and he made quick work of them, though his aim was a little off. One of the orbs disrupted another battle as it sliced through one of the participant's arms.

"Sorry! Heh." Kuwabara decided to end it before he did anything else like that. He ran forward, spirit sword comfortably in both hands. He brought the sword up, even as he closed the fifty feet of distance between him and his foe. He swung downward and the sword extended, stopping within an inch of the youkai's throat. The ref blew the whistle, announcing Kuwabara the winner.

He let his sword go and it disappeared. Walking triumphantly off the field he called to Yusuke, "We've won now, just don't go getting yourself killed, Urameshi."

"Yeah, yeah." Yusuke stepped over the ropes.

--

"I wonder what specialty this one will have." Botan mused.

"Better not be anything else of mine." Hiei thought.

"Wouldn't there be mercy rules since Kuwabara and Genkai won the first two battles?" Kurama asked.

Botan shrugged, "Don't ask me. It looks like Yusuke is going to get to fight regardless."

--

The ref whistled a third time.

This youkai ran for Yusuke, leaping in the air and holding his hands together above his head. An orange, crackling beam of a sword appeared in those hands.

"Hey!!" Kuwabara protested.

Yusuke rolled to the left and the force behind the sword caused it to pierce the arena floor by several feet. But the youkai recovered quickly, pulling the sword from the ground and dashing after Yusuke. The youkai got closer the second time, slashing the air were Yusuke's leg had been mere seconds before. Yusuke nimbly leapt away, landing lightly and taking off again as the youkai came in hot pursuit.

Yusuke could see that there was no way he was going to get anywhere near his enemy with that sword between them.

"Rrr...I hate to do this so early on but...Shotgun!" He fired a barrage of bullets which barreled directly for his opponent.

Somehow, the youkai miraculously evaded every single one of the bullets. However, the effort put him off balance and the sword disappeared as he stumbled to recover.

Immediately recognizing the opening, Yusuke closed the distance and before the youkai could regain his balance, Yusuke fired one last shot.

"Spirit Gun!"

It wasn't quite a point blank attack since Yusuke didn't want to waste anymore time. As the energy gathered in his finger, aimed at its mark, something green and spiky grappled his arm. The rose whip, for that was what it was, made Yusuke's arm point just off center right as he released his energy before slamming him onto the ground, hard.

Even though the breath was knocked out of him only an instant, the youkai stood over Yusuke within that instant, bright orange sword sizzling just shy of his neck.

The ref blew the whistle and called the battle in favor of the youkai.

--

"Now he just has to announce the winning team, our humans! Hurray!" Botan shouted happily. "But I didn't see what happened actually... Anyone care to fill me in?"

Kurama and Hiei exchanged slightly exasperated looks before Kurama decided to explain it to her, "The youkai lashed a rose whip onto Yusuke's arm, causing his attack to misfire and also pulling him to the ground. It was a simple matter of reaching Yusuke before he recovered."

They watched as Yusuke shuffled off the field angrily.

"It shouldn't matter though, right?" She said, "Genkai and Kuwabara both won their matches so it's two against one...right?"

"I would assume so but I didn't catch the calling on Genkai's match. Did you Hiei?"

Hiei shook his head.

"But Genkai won because the other guy died." Botan pointed out.

The ref raised his hand on the youkai team's side.

"WHAT?!" Botan shouted, standing up.

Hiei and Kurama felt Misaki take off as a great weight was lifted from them. She shot for the ref, moving at the speed of light. Gently, but firmly, she embraced the ref's body with herself, her sheer weight ensuring that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Why do you say they win?" She murmured in his ear, managing to get her point across with a series of images showing him raising his arm in favor of Yusuke and the others.

The ref's mind raced, muddled through her influence. The rules of this round clearly stated that no one was to be killed. One of those on the youkai's teams died. In the first battle.

"But she didn't kill him, baka." Misaki summoned images reflecting the fact that Genkai didn't even move while the Dragon consumed its baiter. "Don't let your ignorance weigh in on this match." Misaki didn't quite say that, knowing it wouldn't help the situation, but she continued to persuade the ref.

His arm had come down as soon as she put herself upon it and though he struggled to raise it again, he didn't succeed. Misaki steadily removed herself from his opposite arm. He hadn't official announced the winners by word of mouth so he was allowed to change his mind.

"Winners...Team Urameshi!"

Misaki sank to the floor, releasing him. All of the energy she stored up while with Kurama and Hiei had been spent. She knew she wouldn't be able to make it back up to into the stands, much less to the room.

--

"Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah!" Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged high-fives.

"Let's go." Genkai turned to leave.

"Wait a second." Kuwabara started to follow but he stopped, turning his head this way and that. His spirit sense was going off the charts. Something was wrong.

The other team had cleared the ring and the ref was gone as well.

Kuwabara walked around a bit, feeling as though he was playing a game of hot and cold. He would take a step in a direction and either the feeling would grow or diminish. He found himself near where the ref had been standing during the match. He felt as though he was burning but there wasn't anything around.

"Kuwabara, you look like an idiot!" Yusuke called, grumbling something underneath his breath while he followed the red-head.

Kuwabara shook his head, "Sorry...it's just that I felt something...strange." He tried to move back to where Genkai stood waiting for them, but he couldn't lift his leg. "Uh...Urameshi..."

"What?" Yusuke was next to him now.

"I...uh...can't move."

The heat given off by Kuwabara's body gave Misaki an easy way to travel onto his body; she let the hot air lift her off the ground and she floated just off of that body heat aura, tired beyond physical limits. She just barely was able to tell him what happened and that he and Yusuke would have to share the load if they wanted to move.

Kuwabara put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder.

"Wow yeah okay I know, I should have won my battle but..." Yusuke felt as though someone placed weights on his body and his shoulder sagged. But Kuwabara had removed his hand.

"It's Misaki..." Kuwabara said in amazement.

"Been putting on the pounds, eh Misaki?" Yusuke tried to shift. He staggered as she shoved more weight down on him in response. He grinned, "Only a girl would answer like that. What happened?"

She couldn't answer but luckily Genkai walked up.

"Let's go, you can have a party else where, dimwits."

"Uh Genkai, it's Misaki." Kuwabara held up a hand, wiggling his fingers and feeling Misaki weave in and out, bobbing over the heat coming from him.

Genkai frowned. She knew all about the Elements and their first form. She winced just thinking about how much power it would take to revert one back from human form. "Well come on. We can figure this out elsewhere. Preferably without other people around."

They followed her at a slower pace, meeting Hiei and Kurama at the door where they had entered the arena.

"Hn. Bakas." Hiei knew the reason for their slower movements. But they were human and prone to their own little fragility and weakness, so he didn't say anything else.

"Botan sends her regards," Kurama passed on to the winners, "And her congratulations. She had to leave as soon as your match was over."

"Master Genkai? You're needed, if you would follow me..." A polite oni walked up to them and spoke to the short sensei.

Genkai nodded curtly to the oni. "Get back to the room." She ordered the others, unwilling to say why in front of an outsider. Genkai followed the oni down another way.

There was a quiet chime from a corner near them as a circular transporter identical to the one they saw when they first arrived appeared. They walked into it and found themselves at the end of the hall on the floor where their room was.

"Uh, I don't suppose any of you know which door is ours?" Yusuke surveyed the hallway; all of the doors were the same.

"I do." Misaki had recovered slightly and was energized by the warmth she surrounded. She swirled around Yusuke and Kuwabara's legs for a moment, urging them forward.

They obliged and Hiei and Kurama fell in step behind them.

A little more than halfway down the hall, Misaki weighed down their legs so that they couldn't take another step. She pulled slightly to the right, indicating the door next to Kuwabara as the correct one. Kuwabara opened it.

Genkai sat on the couch, a familiar sight to Hiei and Kurama.

"Took you long enough." was her irritable greeting.

"But...you...I..." Kuwabara stammered, pointing at the door now closed behind the group and back at Genkai.

She raised a hand to stop him. "Forget it. You really don't want to know."

Misaki relaxed as soon as the two humans walked into the room, allowing her molecules to float to the ceiling.

"So what do we do about Misaki?" Kuwabara asked as he felt her go.

"I don't know." Genkai shook her head.

"Do about? Do nothing. Nothing can hurt me. I am safe. No longer do they know." Misaki sighed and rolled her molecules around, delighting in the freeness of movement, her mind beginning to revert back to how it had been before her human form.

"I don't know much about the Elements. They're unlike anything else, human or youkai."

"You talk as though you know a few things." Kurama noticed.

"I do." Genkai answered frowning, "But very few. And only what she has told me offhand."

"Wind blows, Fire burns, Rain falls, Earth grows. Protect Life until Death. Light until Darkness. Prevent." Misaki sighed again, reveling through the air, resting and restoring her strength.

"And I've never heard how any Element is given a human body. Though I've never heard of that body being taken away either."

"And how is that supposed to help us get her back to normal." Hiei said coolly.

"She is normal." Genkai shook her head again, "I don't suppose you know how to get her back either, flame-boy."

"I do." Coahtu materialized into the room through a wave of fire. "But it's more a matter of her wanting to than me knowing how."

"Fire burns!" Misaki rejoiced, she would have swooped down and mixed herself in Coahtu's hair if more of her strength had returned.

Coahtu looked up, knowing Misaki was next to the ceiling, though only able to just barely make her out. "Come down Misaki.""

"Who? Me? Is that me? I forgotten seems to have. Come down? Tired I am."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Yusuke asked Coahtu.

"An Element is its purest form is but a mist of consciences. She has to decide to regain a human form, then I can help her to take it. That is our flaw I believe. We are all-powerful and yet we desire the flesh."

"...our?" Kuwabara looked at her.

She resisted snorting, "If it isn't obvious, yes. I was once a dancing spirit of the roaring flame." Her hair wavered briefly as if remembering the long-forgotten steps. "But like all the others..." She indicated her very human form.

"What makes you feel safe?" Hiei asked suddenly.

Only Kurama and Coahtu understood what Hiei was asking. How does Coahtu fall asleep? Or how did she fall asleep if ever.

Her eyes got a faraway look to them. "Cradled in the arms of an ancient myth. The last of its kind, now dead to this world." She refocused on Hiei, "It doesn't matter now. I cannot slumber again."

"An old one made of fire and you slept listening to the roaring flares. This world never saw its glory." Misaki added reverently.

"Misaki what binds you to your present form?" Coahtu called.

"Peace. Fear. Protection."

The others saw the quizzical look on Coahtu's face.

"What did she say?" Yusuke spoke for all of them.

"Fear? Fear of what? What have you to fear?" Coahtu ignored the question. A realization suddenly hit her, "How did you come to be?"

"No harm. No...I...f..fear?" A memory stirred and Misaki faltered. Pain. Ripping from one form to the other. "I come from...all places...I...I am..."

"She didn't just randomly decide to tear herself apart." Coahtu muttered, disgusted with the formless Misaki. "If Ice were here, this would be simple. They understood each other. He could bring her back. I was the Oracle when Misaki was created. I don't know what will draw her out." None of this was helping her. "Something had to be strong enough to do this to you." She continued talking out loud, not appearing to take notice of anyone else in the room. She thought carefully about her next move. Coahtu knew what the end result would be and what her part was in that respect, but if Misaki had not gained that inborn desire along with her form, it was pointless. "Whatever it was, Misaki, it will come back. It will hunt to down and it will destroy you."

Above them, Misaki brooded. Destroy? No longer exist? Such a thing was laughable...and troubling.

"You are not safe."

Safe. That word embodied everything to her. She gazed down at the human forms below her. They looked safe like that. How did that go?

Coahtu could somehow feel the slightest bit of desire within Misaki and she seized upon it, "Forgive me, sister." She bowed her head. When she looked up again her hair flamed blue, almost crackling around her, "Step back." She ordered the others.

They complied, though the burning fire they could see in her eyes involuntarily caused them to do so more than her words.

Oh to have a body! A form! Misaki continued looking over the youkai and the humans, not noticing Coahtu's hair flame up or the hand open in the air facing her direction.

Coahtu closed her eyes, not envying Misaki for what was about to happen, and engulfed Misaki's hovering molecules in white-hot fire.

--

Grr...yes it is a cliffhanger but there isn't any good place to stop without making the chapter super super long!! ARGH!

-lotsm