Disclaimer:  Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, Koenma, Botan, George and anything related to Yu Yu Hakusho are not mine. I also can't claim Nara Ska (she's my sister's) but Aniya, Sani, Sukeisa and Katomi are mine! You can't have them! HAHAHA!!!!! -.- ;

***** = change in point of view or a time warp

words like this, "this", or 'this' = a flashback/dream, dialogue and thoughts (respectively) in a dream/flashback

Dragons in Time

Part Four: Challenges

The group approached the huge castle. Quite frankly, it looked like something that would have come from the Dark Ages in Europe, not an estate for a wealthy Japanese family. Watching from a nearby hill-top, the gang looked at the great stone fortress that they would have to penetrate. The castle was completely surrounded by ocean. It was like an island. Despite the fact that there were many stairs carved into the stones around the castle that apparently led to the fortress, there was no apparent way of actually getting to the stairs.

They looked at the waves crashing against the rocks until Aniya interrupted their thoughts. "Well, are you done looking at the stupid place already? I mean, it's only a castle. Haven't you seen castles before?"

Kurama looked at her, "It is not a matter of our having seen a castle before, I think it is more of a matter of how we are going to get there."

"Isn't it obvious? We get there the same way that we got here. Teleport." Hiei shot out.

"We can't do that shorty! For one thing, how are Urameshi and I going to get over there? We can't teleport."

"That's because you're weak."

Aniya hated to point out that Kuwabara was right, but, "Umm…actually, you can't teleport."

Hiei turned on her, "And why not?"

"Katomi puts wards around the castle to alert her to large uses of spirit energy, i.e. teleporting. If you teleported, she would immediately put up what little barrier protection that she has. Then we wouldn't be able to see it at all."

Yusuke sighed, "So what are we going to do? I doubt any of us could swim there without being pounded against the rocks." The group took a moment to look at the waves crashing against the rocks around the castle. Aniya was once again, the voice of death, "There's two ways to get to the castle, swim or fly."

"But you told us we can't teleport."

"I said you couldn't teleport Kuwabaka, but I never said you couldn't fly. Use wings, then she cannot detect any abnormal levels of magic or spirit energy being used." Aniya finished.

"Ooo, wonderful strategy. Let's all fly," said Hiei sarcastically. "So what are you proposing, that we glue little fairy wings on our backs and use them to glide gracefully to our deaths? You're the only one with wings."

Kurama and Yusuke grinned. The thought of Hiei wearing little, sparkling fairy wings and trying to fly with them was hilarious. Then Kuwabaka stepped in, "Shorty, you must be seeing things. She doesn't have wings, see?" He waved his hands behind her back and showed that there was nothing to stop the movements of his arms.

Hiei smirked, "Idiot, as usual you are wrong." Aniya closed her eyes for a moment before having glistening silver wings erupt from her back. Between the silver bones, were great folds of pearl white skin. She looked at her wings. "It would have been better if they were black, because then I could really be the Black Dragon, but oh, well." Turning, she faced the group, "I guess since none of you can fly, I'll have to fly you over individually." Seeing the painful expressions on all of their faces, she added, "Believe me, it'll be no picnic for me either. All of you will have to be carried. You're too big to sit on my back."

"I am not being carried by you. You'll drop me!" Everyone in the group sighed at Kuwabara's fears. "Don't worry, I won't drop you. I can't because you're not heavy enough. Besides, just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm weak. I thought we'd already been through this." She glared fiercely at the group. "Any volunteers to go first?" Rolling her eyes, she was about to say, "Okay, I'll have to choose for you," but Kurama stepped forward. "I will go first."

Aniya smiled. "Stand there and if you don't like heights, close your eyes." She picked him up from under his arms and began to flap her wings. Slowly she began to rise, Kurama in hand. 'Please let Katomi not see me…please let her not see me…' Aniya knew that if Katomi was in a bad mood that she'd be staring out one of the windows, then it wouldn't matter that they hadn't teleported. She knew it was a risky business flying in the first place, but she had to try. Looking, she tried to find a place on some of the higher rocks, where she could put Kurama down.

Setting him down she said, "I think it is needless to say 'wait here'." He grinned and nodded. Aniya spread her wings and glided back to the spot on the hill where the other three were waiting. "Okay, who's next?" Yusuke pushed Kuwabara forward. "He'll go next." "I never said that Urameshi! Can I swim instead?"

"Do you think that you'd have a better chance of surviving if you went that way? Fool." Hiei said to the baka.

"Okay, okay. I'll go. Can I ride on your back instead?" He saw her shake her head and turned around. He closed his eyes tight and would not open them, even when the wind whistled through his head and he felt the dips as Aniya did some stunt flying. 'She's doing this just to torture me.' He was more than happy to be back on the ground again. Kuwabara quickly moved to stand away from the edge of the large rock where Aniya had put Kurama only moments before. She flew off to get the last two.

*****

Katomi sat in her room in the top tower, staring at the small blue stone that was sitting on a pedestal covered in velvet. 'Why won't the stone give me power? I guess the books were wrong.' Clenching her fists she walked over to a window. 'Why won't it give me the power? I am strong, strong enough  for it.' Looking out over the water she saw a speck in the sky. It was heading away from the castle, to a small hill. 'Looks a bit big to be a bird. Better send Nara Ska to check it out.' Raising a hand, she concentrated hard and made a little pull bell by the door give a tug. Within seconds, a demon entered the room.

"Nara Ska. It seems as though we have some guests that have come without a proper invitation. Please, see them the way out." The demon nodded and bowed out of the room. 'If that fool Aniya was stupid enough to try to come here to reclaim the stone, I might as well have some fun at her expense. Nara Ska will sort them out.'

*****

Aniya landed next to Yusuke and Hiei. "Who's going next?" She stood facing Hiei and Yusuke, away from the ocean. "If you don't hurry up than Katomi might find us. We need to be fast in order to actually get next to the castle. If we aren't quick enough…" She trailed off, feeling a familiar presence near-by. 'She's seen us. She's sent Nara Ska.' "Damn! She's seen us! I'll have to take both of you at once." Seeing the looks of confusion on both Hiei and Yusuke's faces she yelled. "Come on, Hiei, get on my back, Yusuke stand still." They didn't move and she was getting frustrated. "We have to make it to the castle because Nara Ska is coming. Hiei, look for her with your eye. Come on!" Grabbing Hiei she flung him on her back, praying that he'd have enough sense to hold on. She picked up Yusuke and began to fly frantically toward the rock where she had left Kurama and Kuwabara.

Yuske yelled up to her, "Let me get on your back and I can use sprit gun!"

Aniya shouted back, "Try to keep her from touching you! I'll explain everything once we're inside. Whatever you do, don't let her touch you!" She was very close to the rock. "Dammit, I can't carry you two fast enough. Yusuke, I'm going to throw you onto the rock. Can you make it?" "No!"

"I  can." Aniya cocked her ears back toward Hiei, since she obviously couldn't turn to look. "I can make the jump fast enough so that she can't see me." Something blurred toward the rock and Aniya suddenly shot forward, relieved of Hiei's weight.

'Just a little bit farther! Come on you stupid girl! You can make it!' With the last burst of energy, she pushed herself forward and dropped Yusuke on the rock. Whirling around, she put whatever she could into a spirit energy shield. "Get inside!" The group hurried up the steps.

Nara Ska approached. She was a large demon with red eyes. Her claws were constantly covered in blood. No one had ever bothered to ask her if it was real or not. Gliding through the air, she paused about ten feet from Aniya's shield. She began to create an orb of electricity between her hands. Aiming the attack at Aniya, she whipped the thunder ball. Aniya tensed herself, preparing for a hash attack, but then…

"SPIRIT GUN!"

Yusuke hadn't followed the group. "What are you doing?!" yelled Aniya. "Go with the others, I'll be there in a minute!" Yusuke grinned at her, "I'm helping out a friend!" Aniya was about to smile, when she realized that the attack was still heading toward them. 'Oh shit. We have to divert the attack.' Aniya smiled back. "I'll drop the shield so you can get a more direct hit, but aim to hit the orb—not her. You can't let it hit her. Ready?"

"What do you mean hit the orb and not her? I thought we were trying to get rid of her!" Aniya looked at him, "If your spirit energy hits her, your life is in danger. You'd have to change the path of your attack, fast!"  She saw Yusuke nod as he powered up his spirit gun. "Three…two…one…now!!" "SPIRIT GUN!!"

The spirit gun attack hit the electrical orb right on, and passed right through it. Aniya and Yusuke gaped as the electrical orb was coming straight for them. "Get on my back, quick!" Yusuke jumped on her back and Aniya took to the air once again. The rocks where they had been standing were now completely destroyed.

'Thank goodness we were fast enough,' thought Aniya. The spirit gun attack was still heading for Nara Ska, but Aniya could tell that the demon was going to avoid dodging it. "Hit your attack with another attack, now!"

"What? Why?"

"Don't ask, just shoot!" Yusuke released a "SHOT GUN!!!" Light filled the sky and when it slowly faded away to reveal the blue sky, Nara Ska was gone. "Hey! Where'd she go?"

"I think she is gone." 'For now.' Aniya smiled at her friend as he cheered. 'I won't tell him just yet. This mission needs a little victory now and then.' She flew over to a crevice in the huge rocks around the castle. The rest of the group was waiting at the opening of a small narrow cave.

"Urameshi, where'd you go?"

"We had something to attend to."

"Oh, like what?"

"Like something that's none of your business, that's what."

"Urameshi…"

"Just shut up you fool."

"I wasn't talking to you, was I shorty?"

*****

Katomi looked into her mirror. 'So, Aniya. You have come to get the stone back, but with friends? Hmm…perhaps it is time to see if you are still in shape.' "Timbles, come." A butler apparition appeared at her side. "Yes, mistress Katomi?" "See to it that the contests are operating again and then bring the mirror to the guests. They have just arrived at the tunnel entrance."

"Yes mistress. I assume that you wish to communicate with the guests?"

"Go."

****

"Aniya, where is the entrance?" Kurama was looking around the cave. "The stairs ended here and there seems to be no entrance into the castle. Are the stairs duds?"

Aniya shook her head. "Nope, the entrance is right in the back of this crevice. It's kind of tricky to find. You have to go in single file, but I can guide you." Yusuke walked up to the front of the cave and started walking in. Kurama followed him. Hiei walked in next and Aniya started to walk, but bumped into Kuwabara.

"Come on, Kuwabaka. Are you scared of the dark or something?" Yusuke stopped the group partially because he wanted to see what was going on at the end of the time, but also because he was walking in pitch black darkness and he couldn't find the entrance. "Aniya? What's going on?"

"The idiot doesn't seem to want to go in."

Kuwabara frowned. "I'm not scared or anything, it's just that I don't want to be next to that stupid midget." Aniya sighed. "Fine, I'll go between you two, then there won't be any problems." She saw him shaking his head. "What's the matter, you said you didn't want to be next to Hiei and if I'm between you then you're not next to him."

"Actually I meant I didn't want to be next to you." Aniya sighed exasperatedly. "Oh come on, what have I got? Cooties?" Yusuke chuckled as Kuwabara answered, "No, you might attack me."

"I'd be in front of you baka! How could I attack you if I'm in front of you?!"

 "I dunno. Maybe you have psychic powers and could control me, then tell me to smash my head against the rocks."

Giving him a plain look, Aniya walked into the cave. "Oh be serious. Like smashing your head against a rock would help you any." Kuwabara trudged after her.

"Aniya? Where do we go now? I can't see anything in the dark."

"Pity none of us smokes isn't it?" No one but Yusuke got the joke. "I'll explain later. Okay, Yusuke. There should be a perfectly smooth stone in front of you. Or rather, it's a large, smooth boulder. What you need to do is imagine that it's a real rock, a real rock that would hurt you if you walked into it. Then you need to walk into it."

"What?! Are you crazy?!"

"Nope. As I've said, Katomi has a twisted mind. By doing this on all the entrances, she insures that no one comes in. Some one would have to be an idiot or a genius in order to focus all their thoughts on smashing into a rock. It will be a little painful, but I think you can deal with it."

"Of course it's going to be painful, it's a rock!!"

"Deal with it. Just walk into it."

"Isn't there another way?"

Aniya rolled her eyes in the darkness and replied sarcastically, "We could go back out there and find another entrance," she paused as she heard Yusuke say, "Well, why don't we do that instead?" and continued, "but the minute we try to turn around, the walls will close in on us and the rocks on the ceiling will fall as one, like the Gate of Betrayal. We would have to hold them up and this time there is no switch and in any event, Hiei is all the way back here. I doubt we would survive." She looked over her should at Kuwabara. "Baka, this means, don't turn around and try to leave or we're all dead."

He froze. "So you're saying we're stuck in a tunnel that will collapse on us if we try to leave?"

"Yes. That's what I just said."

Kuwabara immediately panicked. "Urameshi, go through the rock right now! Who cares if it hurts? Just go!"

"Okay…Okay…I'm going. Don't freak out." He faced the rock that he couldn't see in the darkness. 'It's a very real rock….it's a very real rock…it's a very real rock…dammit, this is going to hurt like hell…here I go.' Yusuke jumped at the rock, and instantly was smacked against stone. "Hey, Aniya. It didn't work!" He turned around to find that he was on the other side of a wall. Looking around, he saw that he was standing on a bunch of stairs. 'Maybe it did work.'

Yusuke watched as Kurama walked calmly through it and then as Hiei blurred past the barrier. Aniya walked in and turned around. "Now all we have to do is wait for the baka." On the other side, Kuwabara was trying to convince himself that it wasn't in fact a rock, and it wouldn't hurt. It wasn't working very well. Turning around, he thought about racing to the entrance of the cave, to find another door.

Aniya frowned. "I bet the idiot is convincing himself that the rock isn't…" She stopped suddenly. "I don't believe it. Baka!" She began to run toward the wall again, disappearing, she reappeared a minute later with Kuwabara in tow. "Baka!! How could you even think of doing something like that! It's a good thing you're such an idiot or otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drag you through in time!"

"In time? What are you talking about Aniya?"

Kurama answered. "I believe she means that Kuwabara was nearly crushed in the tunnel."

"What?"

"Isn't it obvious? The idiot tried to leave and the tunnel began to fall." Hiei explained impatiently. "Stupid as always."

"Hey, just because I didn't want to smash myself into the rocks…" he turned to Aniya. "What do you mean, 'it's a good thing you're such an idiot or otherwise'? I'm not an idiot!" She smiled evilly. "Well, idiotic minds are slightly easier to control than intelligent people." He stared at her with his mouth open.

"You said that you couldn't control my mind!"

"Actually, you will find that I said that smashing your head against some rocks wouldn't help you any. As you can see, I was right." Turning to the rest of the group, she looked up at the ceiling. There was a ghost like thing dropping from it. Oddly enough, if it had been human, it would have looked exactly like a miffed English butler.

"Mistress Katomi sends a message." He held up the mirror and inside there was a lady with pink eyes staring at them. "Ah, Aniya. I see that you are trying to steal from me again. Don't think I didn't miss the fact that you took my favorite jade dragon."

"Nice to see you again Katomi. As you can see, I'm no little girl anymore. I'm taking back my stone."

"It's not your stone, but since you seem to be so persistent, I will give you the stone. All you have to do is find me and take it." Suddenly, her face got a lot closer in the mirror. "It won't be easy. You know what I mean." She laughed as Aniya clenched her fists. "Come for me. I'm in the watch tower." The butler and the mirror disappeared into smoke.

Yusuke looked at Aniya. "What did she mean when she said it won't be easy? You do know what she's talking about right?"

Aniya nodded and remembered. "Katomi has a twisted mind, as I've said about a million times already. When she was training me, she set up challenges. They were just randomly placed around the castle, right when you least expect them. She was proud of her stupid challenges. They got harder and harder. Then one day, she decided to test me by putting me through an obstacle course of sorts."

She began to run up the stairs. "Whatever you do, don't touch anything. Only step where I step. These stairs are safe, but keep your spirit energy awareness on the hype or otherwise we might all go falling to our deaths. Or we would go falling and wish for our deaths."

Yusuke and Hiei took the lead. Kurama ran next to Aniya. "What sort of challenges did she set up?" Aniya thought. "I can't remember them right now. I'll probably remember them when I see them. Oh…the tunnel we just came out of, that was one of the challenges. I had to get through the wall before the rocks crushed me. I wasn't given the option of choosing whether the rocks fell on me or not."

"Do you know where we're supposed to be going?" Yusuke yelled back to her, to which she replied, "Keep running until you hit the top. There should be a courtyard of types. The first challenge will be there." As Aniya ran, she remembered the first challenge.

"This is Nara Ska. She is your opponent because she is blocking the way to the rest of the challenges." Katomi turned to face the tall demon dressed in red and black. "Nara Ska, you may use whatever methods you see fit." The demonic girl with the red eyes nodded. As soon a Katomi had walked out of range, Naraska attacked. Well, she opened her mouth and white clouds began to pour out of it.

"Aniya, Nara Ska is a special kind of opponent. If you attack her with spirit energy, she uses it as a link to the person. She will absorb all your spirit and life energy, until there is none left. She uses this energy to create followers who do her bidding. These followers will continue to appear until you destroy her, and she cannot be destroyed unless you use magic."

Aniya pretended to be outraged, she didn't want to expose her true power just yet. "That's not fair! I don't know any magic spells that would hurt her! How can you do this to me?"

"Very easily. Go on, try to fight. Attack her with spirit energy or attack her physically. Either way she can use it as a link to kill you."

The group ran to the top of the stairs and pushed open the door. Piling out, they looked around the deserted courtyard, Hiei smirked. "I thought you said there would be a challenge."

"Oh, there is. She's coming."

"She?!" Aniya nodded and then Nara Ska appeared in the empty courtyard. Yusuke looked shocked. "I thought we had killed her!" Shaking her head, Aniya explained, "Nara Ska is unique. She cannot be hurt by any of the normal methods, such as spirit energy attacks. When you  use spirit energy against her or when you touch her, she can use your attacks as link to your life energy. She drains it from you and uses it to create spirit warriers."

As she spoke, Nara Ska opened her mouth and spirit things began to flow out. "You can't touch the spirit warriors either."

"So how are we supposed to fight things that we can't fight?" Yusuke demanded.

"Use swords."

"I thought you said you can't them."

"Yes baka, but a sword isn't you touching them, is it? Unless you've grown yourself an organic sword, a sword isn't flesh, so they can't connect to it."

"So you're saying that Urameshi and I have no way of fighting them?" Aniya nodded. "Personally, I would probably let Kurama take care of this. His rose whip should keep him far away." She turned to face the fellow midget in the group. "Hiei, if you think that you can hit them without being touched, go for it with your katana."

"Hn."

Aniya proceeded to take out a pair of ninja stars that seemed to be as black as the night. She waved them at Nara Ska. "Nara Ska, remember these?" For a moment, it seemed that Nara Ska hesitated, then she stopped making the spirits. Aniya grinned as she remembered how she managed to defeat Nara Ska the first time…

"Attack her with spirit energy or attack her physically. Either way she can use it as a link to kill you."

'Damn Katomi!' Aniya looked as the spirit people surrounded her. Then she watched as Nara Ska took out a pair of ninja stars. She proceeded to throw them at Aniya, who flipped out of the way. Nara Ska smiled and Katomi continued her little exposition.

"Those ninja stars are very special. They are designed to separate the soul from the body. No one can be hit by them and survive. They gravitate back to the owner, but can track down an opponent."

The ninja stars whirled toward Aniya. This time she dodged, but hit one with her sword, so it flew off course. It tried to twirl back to Nara Ska, but it was off course. So it flew past her into a corner.

Katomi laughed, "You can't hit them to hit Nara Ska. They will stop in time because she commands them and she has plenty more of them." Nara Ska revealed five more stars. "Shit." Aniya cartwheeled and somersaulted out of the way, but only just. One of them nicked her pony tail.

Aniya kneeled on the ground and slowly focused on the ninja stars. 'They are controlled by her spirit energy. They're not controlled by telekinesis.' A grin crawled across her face. 'That means I can control her attack!' She stood again as the stars came toward her. Holding out a hand, she could hear Katomi laughing at her attempts.

"Do you think you can stop them with telekinesis? That's funny! These aren't affected by telekinesis! Since you can't control her spirit energy, you cannot control them!"

Aniya smiled smugly. 'That's what you think.' The ninja stars stopped and dropped to the ground. Katomi stopped laughing. "Where did you learn to control like that? Answer me!" Hearing no reply, she yelled to the other demon. "Nara Ska, attack with everything!"

Nara Ska  called the ninja stars back to her, now she was alerted to the controlling powers that Aniya was showing. Carefully, she reinforced them with her energy. She was so focused on making the ninja stars unstoppable, that she didn't notice the rising ninja star. Throwing the ninja stars, she thought that there was no way that Aniya could stop them.

She was wrong.

Not only was Aniya able to stop them, but she aimed the ninja star she had been controlling telekinetically at Nara Ska. Nara Ska fell as the ninja star hit her head. Light burst from her as she faded into nothing. All the spirit people disappeared but the ninja stars still came at Aniya. But they were slowly fading as well as slowing down. Aniya grabbed two of them before they disappeared. In her hands were two normal ninja stars, barely visible. Those ninja stars would become some of her favorite weapons in the Arena….

Waking back up to the present, Aniya tossed one of the ninja stars to Yusuke and another to Kuwabara. Using her mind, she connected to them and the other two, so make sure that Nara Ska didn't get the plan. 'Hiei and Kurama need to fight the spirit people, to be a distraction. Yusuke and Kuwabara, when Nara Ska throws the stars at me, throw those at her. They should stop her.' She could hear the agreements, except for one, 'What about you? How are you going to stop the ninja stars she throws at you?' She answered, 'Don't worry Yusuke, I can always dodge them, but please don't miss. GO!'

Hiei and Kurama immediately began attacking the spirit people as Yusuke and Kuwabara ran so that Yusuke was on one side of Nara Ska and Kuwabara was on the other. Nara Ska threw the ninja stars at Aniya. 'Just like last time,' Aniya thought, 'shows that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.' She managed to dodge all of the ninja stars and Kuwabara and Yusuke threw their stars at her. Aniya landed in a crouch and expected a lot of light everywhere. So, naturally she and the rest of the group were shocked when Nara Ska caught the two ninja stars and sent the others after Aniya. She was barely able to dodge them.

"Yusuke! Someone, think of something!" Aniya was flipping like there was no tomorrow. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the ninja stars to get off her trail. "Don't hit the ninja stars, because they'll go after you!" Her friends couldn't help her because none of them could see her, except Hiei and all they saw was a black blur.

Kurama and Hiei kept attacking the spirit people. "What do you think we should do?" Hiei jumped up and hit one of the ninja stars, but instead of attacking him, it continued on its path to Aniya.

"I  have an idea Urameshi! I have an idea!" Kuwabara was jumping out of the way as the black blur sped toward him. "Good Kuwabara! Spit it out before Aniya gets butchered into ribbons!"

"Hit the ninja stars so they go flying, but attack them at the same time so there's multiple targets. Then Hiei can run around. I'm getting a vibe from that bitch over there. I think she's controlling the path. Right now there is only one black blur, but what happens if there are two?"

Hiei took the hint, and began to run, saying, "Baka, if this doesn't work I'm going to kill you."

"Urameshi, hit the stars with your spirit gun, that should get them off Aniya's tracks." Yusuke aimed at the ninja stars and they went flying back to Nara. Nara caught them deftly and then looked around. With two black blurs to watch for now, she did the only thing that she could think of: take out more ninja stars. After throwing in six more, both Aniya and Hiei cursed because each one of them had six stars after them now.

"Idiot!" They both yelled. Aniya shouted, "It didn't work baka!"

Kuwabara thought again. (My he's doing a lot of thinking today, isn't he?) Suddenly he yelled, "Shorty! Drop your sword!"

"Which one?" Aniya shouted and Hiei yelled back, "No way!"

"Aniya, just drop your sword!" Yusuke yelled. When she asked why Kuwabara answered, "You have to trust me on this."

"I trusted you with the other plan didn't I? Look where that got me!" But she dropped her sword, "It's not like I could all six away in time to fight htem anyway." Kuwabara ran and caught the sword.

"Urameshi, I'm going to attack that Nara person. Have Kurama attack from one side, then while she's not looking, knock her out with Aniya's sword. Once she's wounded I'll attack."

"With what?"

"Spirit sword." He held up a hand to stop Yusuke's objections. "I know what I'm doing." Yusuke turned to Kurama who had just appeared beside them, having fought off a bunch of the spirit people. "You know what to do?" Kurama nodded. "Let's go."

By this time, Aniya and Hiei were annoyed because their companions were standing around talking while they were running from deadly ninja stars. Aniya yelled at them, "Stop standing there and talking idiots!" Hiei decided that he was running, so he aimed for Nara. Whipping out his sword, he slashed at her before whizzing by her and landing in a graceful crouch five feet away. Turning, he expected to see her explode from the wounds. His eyes widened as he saw that she had set up a shield before his first attack.

Now all twelve stars were coming at Aniya and she was having a hell of time dodging all of them. So Hiei ran at Nara from one side with his katana, Kurama from the other side with his rose whip. Nara smiled because she didn't think it would hard to deflect one whip and one sword. What she failed to see was Yusuke coming up behind her with Aniya's sword. The one thought that ran through Nara's mind as she felt the steel go through her was, 'They aren't seriously trying to kill me with a regular sword are they?' Then the next thought that she thought as Kuwabara came at her with the spirit sword was 'Fool, doesn't he know that he'll die.'

Kuwabara's sword hit her and disappeared. Kuwabara seemed shocked for a moment before he fell to his knees. "The spirit sword, it's gone…" Nara smiled but then her smile faded as light erupted from her body. Looking down she saw beams of light and energy coming from her. She looked at the smiling human before her and her last thought was 'shit.'

The group shielded their eyes as Nara exploded. All her energy and spirit people went in every direction. Kuwabara's energy returned to him and he stood up again. Aniya had stopped running from the stars. Trying to catch two of them, they exploded too. "Damn! Those were my favorites! Oh well, you can't have everything." Walking over to the group she reclaimed her sword from Yusuke. "Well, Kuwabara, you had me worried for a moment there. Maybe smashing your head against the rocks did make you smarter."

Kuwabara smiled and said, "What can I say, I guess I'm just smart."

Then Aniya's smiled turned into a glower as she yelled, "But it sure took you long enough to figure something out!! It's a good thing I'm so fast or otherwise you guys would have a butchered dracon and no one guide you through the rest of the challenges."

Kuwabara's smile faded. "You mean there's more?"

Aniya rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically, "Nooo…I was only joking."

Kuwabara sighed out of relief and Hiei muttered, "Baka."

*****

Katomi's fists clenched as she saw the group head over to the tower. 'How could they have defeated Nara? Well I'll let you know Aniya that the games have only just begun.' "Timbles!" Once again, her butler appeared. "Yes, Mistress Katomi?" "Make sure those bastards find their way to the fire hall." "Yes miss."

'You and that other midget are plenty fast, but what about your other friends, will they be fast enough?' She laughed as she prepared herself to watch Aniya and her companions die.

A/N: Hoped you liked this chapter. Yeah! I got one review from someone who didn't review before. Kiakyodragonlover, thank you for your review. Keep a watch out. Katomi might be in for some surprises.