10.
The battle began like the last one. Hiei charged at you with full force and you analyzed where he would try to hit you. You saw that he was going to try to hit you on your right side. You unsheathe your sakabato and bring it to your right to block his attack. Hiei then disappears while running at you and you realize that he might try to hit your left side by fooling you. You then brought your sheath to protect your left side while keeping the blade on your right. You move just in time to block Hiei on the left, making his blade clash with your sheath, luckily it was made of metal and didn't break easily.
He then took his free right hand and went to punch you in the stomach. You dropped your sword, leaving it to stand in the ground by the blade, and caught his fist in your left hand. Hiei pulled his sword and fist back but you had his fist held tight in your hand. Hiei went to cut your hand off to free himself but you just blocked again with your sheath. You then called forth your elemental powers and encircled your sword in a stream of wind while dropping your scabbard to hang loosely on your side and grabbing it in your now free hand. (kind of like when the wind scar was encircled around the Tetsusaiga on Inuyasha) You struck at Hiei and he blocked your sword, though he did not stop the newly formed blade of wind from being launched off of your sword and thrown towards his chest. You let go of his fist and he flew back a few feet, sending him back into the black side of the ring.
Your ran at him, going right and left in a blur to confuse him and hide the fact of where you were going to strike. It worked and you were able to cut him on the left arm. (not badly though) This goes on for about another half hour with neither of you getting anywhere. You back off to the red side before Hiei got a chance to strike back and say, "Come on, Hiei! I know you can do better than that. After all, you're the one that's able to summon the darkness flame from the pit of spirit world and shape it into the dragon of the darkness flame. If We're going to become strong enough to survive in the Dark tournament and win it, then you need to put up more of a challenge. If you can defeat me then you should be able to defeat your opponents in the competition. I'm not even using any of my more advanced sword techniques."
Hiei came straight at you again, now mad at you when you said that you weren't using any strong techniques, and fell from tripping on something on the black floor. (he heh. Wonder what made him trip. Funny image. Hiei tripping) You look at what he tripped on and see that it was your scabbard that must have fallen off while you were running at Hiei. You couldn't help but have to stifle a small giggle when you watched Hiei get up and curse at the scabbard.
Hiei then threw it to you and told you to not leave your 'junk' on the arena. You caught the scabbard and tied it to your waist. Once you were finished, Hiei continued to run at you with his sword. You sheathed your sword and called out, "Shadow blade." A sword materialized in your right hand and you muttered, "Wind Blades." You sliced towards Hiei, who was still several feet away from you, and blades of wind, that only you could see, erupted from your sword and flew at Hiei.
Hiei, not knowing that the blades of wind were heading for him, continued to run straight at you. He was then hit by the seven blades and received cuts all over his body. The deepest cut was the one that had formed on the center of his chest and cut across. Hiei stood up and coughed up blood. He was breathing heavily but was able to hold out his right arm towards you and shout, "Dragon of the Darkness Flame!"
The bandages on his arm burned up to reveal a black dragon tattoo that erupted from his arm and turned into a large, black, fiery dragon. The dragon came at you with a loud roar. You acted quick and said, "Black Dome Shield" A black shadowy dome shaped force field then formed around you and the Dragon was absorbed into it as it collided with the shield. You fell to your knees from the large amount of energy you just absorbed.
You look over to Hiei just in time to see him fall to the ground and become unconscious. You stood up and finally got your composure back from absorbing the attack (hey that rhymed ). You walked over to Hiei and picked him up. You took him over to the bench where Sabera was and laid him down next to her.
"Sabera, could you watch Hiei while I get some bandages and something to stop the bleeding?" You asked. She agreed to do so and you shadowed to the infirmary. You grabbed some bandages, tape, and gauze and headed back to the shadow you came out of, grabbing some extra bandages and gauze in case Hiei accidentally opened the wounds up again.
You walked over to where Hiei laid unconscious and sat him up against the wall. You lifted his shirt up and off of him so that you could get to his wounds on his chest and stomach. (His pants were cut off and turned into shorts when you launched your wind blades and he didn't where his cloak there) You applied the gauze to the wounds and wrapped them with the bandages and tape. (no you didn't gawk. You had seen him plenty of times with his shirt off from the series, fan art, and the merman incident) You then decided to use your healing powers, that you had from being an elemental demon, to help the wounds heal faster.
Within half an hour, the wounds were healed and Hiei was in a peaceful slumber. You were finally able to relax after nonstop healing for half an hour. Luckily, you didn't feel weak because the energy you absorbed from his last attack was the same energy that you used to heal him. You leaned back on the wall beside Hiei and motioned for Sabera to come over to where you were. You didn't have a single wound so you were in a healthy and energy filled condition. Hiei, on the other hand, would have to get a bit of sleep right now, and eat something.
You pet Sabera as she laid on your lap, and decided to go to sleep as well since you woke up pretty early and went to bed a little late. That was probably the reason why your shadow blade didn't seem as strong as it was when you summoned it all those other times. You soon fell asleep with Sabera soon after. You had a soft, dreamless sleep until you saw a bright flash and felt someone shaking you and saying, "Lea. Lea wake up! Come on! It's already lunch time and Kurama wants me to get you and Hiei!"
The voice belonged to non other than Yusuke. You woke up and replied, "Pipe down Yusuke. Before Hiei wakes up and decides to knock you out because you woke him up. Got it?" He nodded and you told him that you would wake Hiei up and meet them in the kitchen. He agreed and ran back to the housing area before Hiei was awake, but not before you noticed a disposable camera poking out of his right pocket.
You set the still sleeping Sabera on the bench and turned towards Hiei. You saw the peaceful face he had and couldn't help but stare. You soon shook your head to snap out of it. You leaned in and gave Hiei a small kiss on the cheek. You pulled back as Hiei began to stir and awaken. You sat in front of him and gave him a sweet smile as his eyes opened up to see you there.
"What do you want onna?" Hiei asked in an aggravated tone. Apparently he was having a good dream before you woke him up.
"Its lunch time and Kurama wants us to be there and eat with everyone else. Come on," You replied. You then reached for the now awake Sabera and dragged you three through the shadows and to the kitchen where everyone else was.
"Well hello there you two. What, were you guys training the entire morning?" Kurama greeted with a soft smile. You returned the smile and went over to the table while Hiei went to the windowsill.
"No. We finished the fight in about 30 to 45 minutes. After the fight I spent the next half hour healing our wounds and then we got a bit tired and I guess we dozed off. At least until Yusuke came in and woke me up to tell me it was time for lunch," You explained. You left out that it was only Hiei that needed healing and that you won by absorbing the dragon of the darkness flame technique.
"So who won? I bet that you won against, shorty, here huh?" Kuwabara's voice asked with confidence about his assumption.
"Actually it was a tie this time. He used the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and it hit me dead on. Luckily, I was able to start healing myself before I was hit and Hiei only made a small one, so I'm not dead. I just needed a bit of sleep and some food to get my strength back up. That's why I fell asleep probably," You corrected him. Hiei looked at you surprised when you finished because he knew very well that you had won and he lost.
Onna, why did you tell them that. You and I know very well that I lost and you absorbed the dragon. Why tell them something that didn't happen? Hiei asked you telepathically.
I just don't feel like getting bombarded with compliments over something so primal. It kind of gets annoying after a while. You replied.
"Is that true Hiei? Did you really try to use the Dragon of the Darkness Flame on Lea?" Kurama questioned Hiei. Hiei just replied with 'hn' then said that it was true.
"You know that it could have killed her shrimp?! Why would you risk her life like that? Your lucky she's still alive or else I would have…" Was all Yusuke got to say before you interrupted him.
"Or what Yusuke? You would have attacked him and had gotten yourself killed by him? I think that Hiei would have an even bigger threat than you if he killed me. He would have had Bret going after him for killing his precious 'princess angel' and even he isn't much of a threat for Hiei. Besides, Hiei has better control than to make something that could kill his own teammate. I mean he hasn't killed Kuwabara yet now has he? Also, Hiei didn't kill me so stop thinking in what ifs and would haves," You backhanded to him.
"Lea-chan, Where did you get that ring? I didn't see you wearing it yesterday," Yukina asked and pointed to the black gemstone ring on your left ring finger.
"Oh. I found this on my bed last night when I escaped from you guys. It had a letter that said it was for me but it didn't have a name. I don't know who put it there," You told her.
"Oh that's so romantic Lea. I wonder who it was. I mean, for all we know, it could have been one of the guys here. Excluding Hiei of course, I mean he never does anything like that for anybody," Botan exclaimed as she took your hand and began to remove the ring to get a better look at it.
"Sdnah ffo Botan. If your going to look at it that's ok, but it isn't coming off, got it?" You growled and yanked your hand away. Botan nodded and shrank away, settling for looking at it on your hand.
As Botan and the other girls looked at the ring Kuwabara and Yusuke were laughing and getting on your nerves by teasing you about having a secret admirer. Kurama then asked, "Lea, what language did you just speak a minute ago? I don't think I've ever heard that language in the Makai or the Ningenkai."
"I think it's called 'the Language of Shadows' or something. I'm not completely sure though. I learned it on my own as a little kid. I thought it was just gibberish until I read in a book that talked about a legend where a girl spoke in a language unknown to man and that she called that. They even had a small section of something she said. I was able to figure out what it translated to with ease and found out that was the language that I taught myself," You reply. Kurama seemed to ponder about this for a minute while you all ate the lunch that he finished preparing.
"And what exactly did she say?" Kurama asked.
You stopped eating (whatever you want it to be) and tell him, "I think she said 'Eht seno ohw lliw nepo eht etag fo Ssentearg era elba ot lortnoc eht kcalb semalf dna swodahs. Rehtegot yeht lliw dloh eht tsegnorts ecrof ni eht eerht sdlrow. Yeht nac llifluf rieht tsepeed sehsiw dna lliw evah eht ytiliba ot elur eht eerht sdlrow.' Translated it says 'The ones who will open the gate to Ssentearg are able to control the black flames and shadows. Together they will hold the strongest force of the three worlds. They can fulfill their deepest wishes and will have the ability to rule the three worlds' Why? Do you think that it's supposed to be a prophecy about something? I mean the only person that's ever been able to control black flames is Hiei."
"I think we need to see what Koenma thinks about this. He may have some books that you could translate and see if there's something in them about this. My memories as Youko has some rumors from one time when people were talking about the Gate of Ssentearg and that only those that speak the Language of the Shadows was able to find the location and know what the keys were," Kurama suggested. You nodded and everyone agreed to see Koenma after lunch.