A/N: OK so I'm really sorry I haven't updated...also for the mix up in Nikoji's species, which is a neko and not a kitsune, so I'm really sorry. I fixed it though! But characters are still welcome, I always use them, so thank you everyone who has sent me one. I really appreciate it.

ON WITH THE STORY!

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"Until you relocate your team member, your team will accept a loss and go on with the round." the demon smiled.

"No way!" Shira yelled. "We're not gonna take a loss for that asshole! Give us fifteen minutes, and we'll find him!"

"Five minutes." he haggled.

"TEN." she growled. The demon nodded.

"You have ten minutes to find missing team member Thomas Maximillian of Team TianLung feng. Starting now."

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"This is LOW, sir," George whispered into the ear of his new lord. "Even Yusuke wouldn't dream of cheating his way through a tournament, no, Yusuke was always an honest fighter--"

"Honest my royal ASS." his lord yelped back. Thomas stirred only feet away. "BE QUIET, OGRE, HE'LL HEAR YOU! THEY'LL ALL HEAR YOU FOR PETE'S SAKE!"

"But sire--"

"Quiet, oaf! This is my tournament and I'm not gonna let you ruin it!"

"OK sir."

Thomas sat up, rubbing his head. His vision swam before him, lights blurring together to paint a smeared face only feet away from where he sat on the ground. "Bloody hell, what did Shira hit me with now?" he muttered, feeling the bump on the back of his head.

The lord jumped up, scurrying over to where Thomas sat. "Hiya, Thomas!" he greeted.

"Hi," the bard managed to reply, the use of his voice causing his vision to blacken momentarily. "Who are you?"

"Look, ogre, you fat oaf, he doesn't recognize me!" the little lord shouted.

"Could you please stop shouting?" Thomas winced, holding his head. "You're voice is giving me a headache."

"Well your face is giving me a headache, but do you see me complaining? NO!" the little man shouted in his face. "Now I've no doubt that your teammates are out looking for you, as the whole tournament's about to go up in a panic...but what do you say I let you help me? You seem like a good guy, Thomas Maximillian. Not like that horrible Yusuke."

"Yusuke?" the bard lifted an eyebrow. "Who's he? Who're YOU?"

The lord laughed, nearly falling over. Thomas still couldn't see enough to quite make out who he was talking to, but he knew for sure who it sounded like.

Without warning he stood up, clicking on a light overhead. Little sparkling confetti pieces flew into Thomas's face as the ogre threw them all around his lord as he introduced himself as none other than-- "WHY, YOU SILLY BOY, I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL KOENMA, RULER OF THE SPIRIT WORLD!" and proceeded to jump onto a chair that seemed to have come out of nowhere. "OGRE! Fetch my whacking stick!"

Thomas blinked his vision back into place, and sure enough before his very eyes stood the toddler Koenma, blue pacifier and all. He squinted, asking, "Aren't you supposed to be dead or something?"

"Dead?" Koenma laughed, sitting down to calm his celebration down a bit. "Ogre, he thinks I'm dead, silly boy. You think Yusuke the demon king killed me, don't you? Just like everybody else."

"Well...yeah..." he spluttered. "Isn't that what happened? The Koenma followers even believe that!"

Koenma chewed thoughtfully on his pacifier before speaking. "Well actually, contrary to popular belief, your King Yusuke isn't as high and mighty or as cruel as you all believe him to be. He's really, in fact, Yusuke Urameshi, ex spirit detective, working for me. I guess you could call him something like a Koenma-like figure."

"Koenma-like figure?" George questioned.

Koenma smiled. "Well of course he could never be quite as fabulous as the real Koenma, but you get my drift. But in all seriousness, Thomas my boy, Yusuke has become the essence of evil. We don't quite understand what happened, but one day he turned on me in my human form and tried to kill me. Of course I ended up in the Spirit World, and Botan and Hotaru managed to rescue me from the River Styx after I floated there for three weeks." he shot a glare at George for not rescuing him first at this point in his story.

"So then what have you been doing all this time?" Thomas asked, standing. He felt silly being almost three feet taller than the ruler of the Spirit World. "I thought everything had basically gone down the tubes once you were gone."

"Oh, but it did," George chimed in. "Koenma sir went missing and all his paperwork piled up, and his father just about had a conniption and ended up causing a hurricane over in America, and poor Botan had to deal with all the souls pouring in by herself because half the ferry girls quit their jobs, and even a lot of the ogres stopped coming to work..."

"DID I SAY YOU COULD TALK?" Koenma shouted, throwing his whacking stick at George's head. "Now where were we, Thomas? Oh yes, death and all that fun stuff. What I've been doing. Well, this is exactly what I've been doing for the past couple months." More lights clicked on, illuminating a room that looked identical to Koenma's office in Spirit World. The screen in back flashed on to reveal a presentation already waiting for this particular explanation. "Now I had a friend of mine put on the King's staff to monitor exactly what was going on. She ended up sending us footage of Yusuke himself sending out the message for the tournament. We recorded the conversation between King Yusuke and the masked fighter from Team Ukishima under the screenname ku2yu, and ended up retrieving some very valuable information on her identity."

"Who is she?" Thomas asked, curious. He had been wondering who had tried to pull off the same stunt as the infamous Genkai in the Dark Tournament in this newer tournament.

"She's not Genkai," Koenma chirped. "And that's pretty much the only solid information we have. Botan couldn't even tell me who it was, and I specifically assigned her to that team with Kurama and Alianore. Other than that, we know that she's somebody Yusuke knows...and knows well. This girl seems to know exactly how to tick him off and get exactly what she wants."

"What did she do?" he asked.

"She simply wants Yusuke to stop the tournament." Koenma sighed. "But that's the problem. There's such a huge number of powerful demons here that I'm afraid even Yusuke's power couldn't stop them if they revolted against the cancellation of the tournament. You've seen some of the demons here! They're insane! The entire Fugishima clan is here, and that alone poses a problem because they're a well known guardian of the King's! You have no idea what I had to go through just to get here!"

Thomas frowned. "So then what's your plan?"

Koenma shared a look with George before continuing. "I plan on stopping her myself before she stops Yusuke. As much as I would like Yusuke to stop this tournament, we simply cannot afford to have a revolt on our hands. So here's the plan: I am going to remove one fighter from each team from this tournament. None of the teams have been informed, but the information may have possibly been leaked to the public by the wraith Toki Ukiya. Now once I have a fighter from each team, a second tournament will be held underneath the first one. Each team will fight as hard as they can on the surface thinking that it matters how many wins or losses they'll have-- when really, the fights below will determine who advances to the next round."

"Will that even work? Can you seriously have one team win all one fights and then stay behind because one fighter lost a single match?"

"You didn't let me finish. The fights on the surface determine who moves on, but the fights below the surface finish off the points. In other words, you get so many points for a win, lose so many for a loss, and the final fight determines exactly who moves on. But there's a catch."

"There always is." George sighed, and received a slap from a temperamental Koenma.

"The catch," Koenma continued, shooting more glares in the ogre's direction, "is the alternate fighter. Most teams bring one-- but some don't. Each team that has an alternate fighter will have two fighters below the surface instead of one. The teams without alternates will only have one fighter."

"Is that fair?" asked Thomas.

"No," Koenma smiled coyly, folding his arms, "But tournament's never are, are they? Besides, they should have thought ahead to bring an extra fighter. It's their own faults if they lose. Besides, your team has an alternate. Don't worry about it. So, do you want to help me?"

"Sure..." the bard answered, rather unsure of what he was getting himself into.

"Good!" Koenma grinned. "Then I'll page the surface and let them know exactly where you are, since I'm betting your team's looking around for you. After all, there was some foul play with the other team. We'll have your team's fight postponed until tomorrow, and you will be the first fighter under the surface. Does that sound simple enough to you? 'Cause I'm not explaining it again. If you have questions ask ogre." he hopped off his chair and waddled towards the exit. "Besides," he paused, "you're gonna need a full day to round up all the fighters. All fights postponed until tomorrow morning, ten A.M. sharp. Snap to it!" and then he vanished.

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"This is stupid," Fyrea growled. "How could all the fights be postponed? I swear, someone is out to sabotage this team. If I didn't know better I would say it was LanLan, but I fail to see why she would shoot herself and sabotage her own performance." the angry Chinese fighter scowled, her long red nails clicking on the window pane.

"I'm pretty sure that LanLan's just fine, Fyrea, no need to worry so consistently." Nikoji mumbled in sarcasm. He was taking the opportunity the tournament had granted him to sleep-- it was what neko's did best, after all.

She looked at her teammate in dismay. "How you can sleep at a time like this, lazy kitten, is beyond me! You're so full of yourself, you don't even care that we've been forced out of this fight by that THOMAS so that his team would get a second chance!"

"So what?" the neko grumbled. "We're thirty times better than any team here, so don't get your skirt in a bunch." Fyrea huffed at his last remark and pulled a blanket up over her legs.

"Would you two please shut up for a moment?" Akira asked, his tone dripping menace. He pushed aside the curtains to watch the night rainfall from the window beside Fyrea's perch on the sill.

"Move your skinny wolf ass and maybe I will," Fyrea sniffed. "Who're you to talk? You're just as mad as the rest of us--" Akira covered her mouth and pointed outside the window.

"Look at the window three above ours on the other side of the hotel. Do you recognize that man in the window?" She peered closely at the window Akira was pointing to.

"I can't see anything," she mumbled from behind his hand. "Kitten, come here and take a peek at what Akira-kun is looking at."

Moments later a very disgruntled Nikoji appeared at the window, growling from his lack of sleep due to Fyrea's interruptions. "What?" Akira gently lifted Fyrea from her seat, leaning in to show Nikoji exactly where to aim his sights. Fyrea pouted as she landed softly on the carpet.

"Do you recognize him?" whispered Akira.

Nikoji squinted. A man in black sat in the window sill three rooms above theirs on the other side. A faint glow came from the window where the man sat. "I can't even tell where his face is, Akira," Nikoji complained. "I don't see it."

"Look closer." he breathed. "Try not to let him see you."

"Where?" Fyrea demanded, getting up. She shouldered her way to the window, peering for a closer look.

"It's Hiei," Nikoji realized, his eyebrows shooting up and disappearing into his dark hair. "That short jaganshi from the Dark Tournament. He's a Koenma supporter, isn't he?"

"Really?" Fyrea squealed. "I've always wanted to see his jagan eye! I heard about Shigure-kun agreeing to work on him and I just had to see it, he does such fine work."

Akira rolled his eyes. "Come away from the window. Go to bed, both of you. I need to go check on LanLan."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Nikoji saluted, yawning. He dragged Fyrea over to one of the beds with him and flopped down on top of it. The neko promptly curled up, his tail swishing lightly. Fyrea sighed, pouting.

"I don't want to sleep," she told him.

"I don't care," he said, pulling her down beside him. The Chinese woman shrugged and gave in, curling up beside Nikoji and resting her head on his chest. It wasn't long before the two were stone asleep.

Akira's eye twitched at their closeness, but he wasn't one to judge their friendship, so he simply ignored the feeling and flicked off the light switch as he left.

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"Well this sucks," Mar-lo smiled, plopping down on he couch once inside the hotel room. "Shira's short a fighter, the whole freak show might get disqualified, and Shizuru's been here the entire day. I'd say today was a success." His grin spread as Shizuru entered the room.

"Thanks for the flattery, Mar-lo, but I don't think I'm gonna stick around that long. I came here to see Yusuke and that's it. Kazuma's not in this tournament, so I don't have to stay and make sure he doesn't get killed." she announced, lighting a cigarette.

"And she's tired of looking at your ugly face," Kay laughed as she came in with a petrified Ryu linked to her arm. She ducked as a wooden shoe came flying towards her face.

Ryu looked towards the door. Alianore and Yukina had just come in, their arms full of popcorn bags. Yukina dropped half the bags on Mar-lo as she tried to make her way to the microwave in the small cube-like kitchen in their hotel room. "Sorry, Mar-lo-kun," she apologized quickly, gathering up the ones she had dropped and dropping even more bags instead.

"Don't apologize to that loser," Alianore corrected her. "Just leave him there, we'll go make the popcorn ourselves." She grabbed Yukina by the elbow and pulled her into the small kitchen, popcorn in hand. Mar-lo proceeded to make a rude hand gesture and then continued on with his conversation.

"So what ever happened to that Thomas guy, anyway?" Kay asked. "The fight just kind of stopped, and they didn't even say who won."

Mar-lo shrugged. "Not really sure...Thomas isn't really the kind of guy who would just ditch a fight like that. I mean, I don't know him enough to for sure say that he's not a coward...but he doesn't come off as one."

"He doesn't seem like a coward to me," Yukina said from the kitchen. "In fact, I think he's rather nice. I like the music he plays."

Ryu made a face. "Thomas Maximillian is the enemy. As far as I'm concerned, if he's not in the way he's one less thing I have to worry about. He's on a team with Ukiya-sama, so I'll be rather happy if their team gets disqualified."

"What about your sister's team?" Alianore asked. "Ai? What are you gonna do when we have to face her? I mean, you and Ukiya are family, and you're pretty much enemies...so what about when you have to face the Hitokiri team?"

"I don't have a sister," Ryu growled. "and I am not related to Ukiya."

"Stop dwelling in denial," chirped Kay. "It's not good for you. You're face will permanently freeze like that." she pointed to Ryu's soured expression. She gave Kay a scathing look before retreating to one of the bedrooms.

A loud clap of thunder sounded outside. Kay jumped up to sit on the back of the couch. "Ooh, I love storms," she gushed, looking out the window. Rain poured down, making little clicking sounds as it hit the glass.

"Where's Kurama?" Yukina asked, suddenly noticing that their favorite redhead boy was missing.

"Probably out picking up chicks with his beautiful, stunning red hair," Mar-lo said mockingly, flipping his own green hair behind him. Kay made a face at him in the window.

"Stop making fun of Kurama-kun," she frowned. "He hasn't done shit to you."

"I don't think you need to defend Kurama in his absence, but hey, whatever tickles your fancy." he replied, stretching out on the couch. Kay gave him a look of disgust and turned back to looking out the window. She looked down to the street, watching demons and tournament fighters scurry out of the rain beneath the dim street lights. One particular girl had been sitting by the light, immobile since the rain began. She didn't look up at anyone, didn't try to stay dry, just sat beneath the lights and stared at the ground.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Kay?" Mar-lo struck up another conversation. He looked out the window over her shoulder, seeing the girl below the lights.

"Nothing," she sniffed, looking at him. He shrugged and returned to laying on the couch. "Hey Yukina," he shouted, "are you guys done making the popcorn yet? You sure take your sweet time."

Silence. No smart remark from Alianore, no apology from Yukina. Silence.

"Yukina?" He tried again. Still no one answered him.

"Maybe she's finally learned to ignore you," Kay snickered, facing the window again. She looked for the emo girl beneath the street light, but she was gone now.

Mar-lo stuck his tongue out at Kay and hauled himself up off the couch and wandered into the kitchen. "Alia..." he chirped as if they were playing hide-and-go-seek, "where are you...Alianore...Yukiiiiina..." he opened the fridge, half expecting Yukina to be hiding in there. Of course, only TV dinners and a bottle of expired milk greeted him. No Yukina.

"That's weird," Kay said, confused. "Where'd they go? They couldn't have left without us seeing them...and there's no doors or windows from the kitchen..." she opened a cabinet below the sink. "Not in there." she mumbled.

"They're not in the kitchen, I guess," Mar-lo shrugged. "Let's try the bedrooms." Kay nodded, for once in agreement with her teammate, and headed for the bedrooms. She knocked on Ryu's door.

"Ryu?" she said in a loud whisper. "Have you seen Alia and Yukina? They're not out here!"

The handle on the door turned and Ryu opened it enough for Kay to see the wraith's angry red eye. "And you expect to find them in here?" she asked.

"No, I just thought--"

"No." The door closed.

Mar-lo raised an eyebrow. Kay shook her head. "They're not anywhere in here," he said. "And they didn't leave. Can Alia teleport and didn't tell us or something?"

"No, silly, she's a kitsune," Kay scoffed. "Foxes don't do that...they have to be here somewhere...I'll go check upstairs...you go downstairs...Ryu can just...sit and be emo."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, opening the door. "After you, onna," he said, bowing. Kay gave him a look before walking through and taking the elevator up to the next floor. A tall boy with an asteris on his forehead ran up and pressed the down button just as she got off.

"Have you seen a kitsune around here?" Kay asked him, wondering if maybe he had seen her teammates. "Tall, brown hair...black and brown tail...she was with a small girl in a minty green kimono...have you seen them? By the way, I'm Kay."

"Sorry, Kay," he smiled, extending his hand. "But I haven't seen your friends. By any chance have you seen a foul-mouthed blond girl running around? She escaped our room and I can't find her anywhere."

"Nope." Kay grinned back, shaking his hand. Even though she had pledged her life to marrying Yoko, she had to admit that this guy was cute.

The guy coughed uncomfortably, almost like he could hear her thinking aloud.

"I'm Ender," he said. "If by any chance you see our blond running around, let me know...our room's just down the hall...her name is Allie, in case you find her. Tell her I'm looking for her. And I'll keep an eye out for your friends." The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

"Thanks," she kept grinning, watching Ender get in the elevator. She shook her head. Now was not the time to be drooling over cute boys, after all, she still had to find not only Alianore and Yukina, but Kurama and Botan as well. "Gotta find them..." she muttered to herself, walking in the direction Ender had come in. She knocked on the first door she saw.

Toki Ukiya opened the door. Fear stabbed Kay in the heart and she slammed the door closed for her. She sprinted back to the elevator, pressing the up button over and over like a mad woman. Finally the elevator opened, revealing a crowd of tournament participants inside. She got inside, squeezing into the very back.

Two Goth demon girls stood in back with her. One with stunning white hair tapped Kay on the shoulder. "Um, excuse me," she said politely, pushing her brilliant hair behind one ear full of chain earrings. "Have you seen a girl around...short red hair...blue sweater...her name's Hotaru. We can't find her anywhere."

Kay shook her head. "No, I myself am looking for someone...two girls...they went missing about fifteen minutes ago."

"Hotaru ran off around an hour ago," one of the other Goths said. She didn't look at Kay, preferring to look at her friend instead.

The girl with white hair made a face. "I'm Kage," she said. "Hotaru's our team captain. This is Kurai-san."

"Nice to meet you." replied Kay. "I'm Kay."

Kurai nodded. "Come, Kage, we're not going to find our Hotaru on the elevator." she pushed her way to the front as the doors opened, pulling Kage by the hand.

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Always,

-S-chan-