3.
Of course the room you went in just had to be the one for you and Hiei. You looked around and found it to be a cozy suite for a demon couple, turns out that no one cared to explain to the hotel that they weren't a couple. (hah. They probably want to try and help make you two a couple) Everyone sat in a bunch of chairs that happened to be in a circle and have one for everyone to sit in. You reluctantly sat in a lounge chair and change back into your original form while Hiei sat in the wooden chair beside you. Sabera sat on the other side of you and Kurama next to her.
"So what game should we play?" Inuyasha asked bored. 'Bad move Inuyasha' you thought to yourself.
"Well I was thinking maybe, Truth or dare since now Lea and Hiei are finally willing to play," Botan exclaimed. Everyone but you and Hiei once again agreed as Miroku, Sango, Cammi, and Inuyasha apparently haven't heard of or played the game before.
"You poor unfortunate fools. You guys have no idea what the consequences of agreeing to this unknown game are. Especially when Botan's playing the game…It's because of this that me and Hiei here have to share the same room," you remark sourly.
"Oh don't be such a party-pooper. It'll be fun! I'll go first to show you how to play ok?" Botan replied. Kagome's teammates nodded unsurely as Botan picked her first victim.
"Ok, Ms. Sour-puss. Truth or dare?" Botan asked you.
"After the last round I participated in, I pick truth," you reply defeated. You read her mind and knew exactly what she was going to ask.
"I'll start you off easy. Which boy do you like most in this room?," Botan asked.
"That's starting off easy? Sigh Fine, I guess I like…um…well, it's a tie between Hiei and Kurama I suppose. I know them personally the most, but not in the way that you think baka onna," you hesitantly answer and quickly add the last part before she gets any bright ideas.
"ok, Kuwabara, truth or dare?" you continued with a smirk.
"I'm a man and men choose dare," Kuwabara proclaimed.
"No, only you don't notice the questioner's smirk and choose that. Oh well, too late for you. I dare you to kiss Botan full on the lips for one minute. And then later you have to die your hair grassy green," you point with a huge grin on your face.
"What?! Why would you do that Lea?" Botan squealed.
"Because it's my payback for suggesting this game in the first place and holding it in mine and Hiei's room," you explain nonchalantly. Kuwabara mumbled to himself about how he's going to get you back and you roll your eyes. He goes over to Botan and places his lips directly on hers as the time started. Botan literally starts crying as the minute slowly trudges on. When the time is up, Kuwabara parts and leaves to die his hair while Botan leaves to wash her mouth and you, Sabera, and the yyh gang laughs and you get a small chuckle out of Hiei. You liked the sound of him laughing. The time you heard him laughing was the first night you stayed with everyone and ate dinner, and at the lake after killing the demon that stole your voice. When he comes back, everyone starts laughing again at the sight of his bright green pump, except Yukina, she's too polite and likes Kuwabara too much to do that.
"Lea, why did you have this green dye in your bags?" Kuwabara asks curiously. Everyone stares at you in question, not realizing that that was where he got the dye.
"Because I knew that Botan would try to do this and already planned on making you, if not someone else, dye their hair green and kiss Botan. It's called common sense. I just thought that it would be fun to change someone's hair green. Anyways, now that you four have seen how to play, you want to join in? You basically pick truth or dare and if you pick truth, you have to answer the question you're asked truthfully. If you pick dare, you have to do the dare that you are given, no complaints," you reply. They all nod as various ideas pop into their minds. You read them discretely and frowned when you read Miroku.
"Yeah well, now I can get my pay back! Um…hah! Truth or dare shrimp!" Kuwabara shouts. You turn to Hiei curiously, awaiting to see which he would choose and what would happen.
"Hn. Dare you incompetent fool," Hiei replies uninterested. You continue to watch the scene unravel with the others as Kuwabara states his dare.
"I dare you to french Lea for two minutes! Then you have to wear her clothes for the rest of the tournament. You can't wear yours until the tournament has ended. Not even your cloak," Kuwabara shouts triumphantly. You see Hiei slightly twitch as you watch him and your eyes turn a vivid pink with a matching blush. (you still weren't used to him kissing you since it's only happened like, two or three times)
Hiei turns towards you and glares coldly at you. He leans in and gently kisses you. He gently licks your lip with his tongue, asking for entrance and you gave it as the time began. When it was up, he let go and raced upstairs to change into your clothes. You just sit there with your legs hugged against your chest and your cherry red face buried so no one could see you blushing so much. "Lea, are you ok?" Kagome asked worriedly. From where everyone else sat, it looked like you were crying or sulking. Kagome thought that you were upset because she thought that that was your first kiss, knowing that you hadn't kissed anyone before two weeks ago.
"Why are you so down, Lea? Didn't you say you liked Hiei? Plus, wasn't that your first kiss just then, besides the one Bret forced on you? You should be overjoyed," Botan squealed in delight.
"Baka onna. I'm not upset, just a little embarrassed. Besides, I told you it wasn't like that. Oh, and don't you ever again mention that bastard Bret when I'm in hearing range. I'm warning you, if any of you try something like that again, I'll kill you without a second thought, understood?" you hiss out and glare at everyone in the room with crimson red eyes and no blush visible anymore. Kagome sweat dropped a bit at the thought that you, of all people, would actually sulk or cry in front of others while almost everyone else shrink under your death stare. Inuyasha even hid behind Kagome to try and escape your wrathful look. The thought vanished when she finally spotted your color-changing eyes. (boy is she observant)
Soon, Hiei came back in wearing a slightly loose pair of your black cargo pants and a black shirt. He sat down in the chair he was in earlier and continued the game. You were glad that you packed so many clothes, just incase any were ruined during the matches.
"Hn. Monk, truth or dare?" Hiei asked coldly, turning towards Miroku.
"Um…truth I suppose," Miroku answered unsurely.
"What did you mean when you said you didn't have long to live while we were at the dock?" Hiei asked.
"Well, you see…I have a curse placed in my right hand by a demon named Naraku. Around fifty years ago, my grandfather had fought many battles with him. Every time they met, Naraku had a different form that was borrowed from a different human. In their last encounter, Naraku had taken the appearance of a beautiful young woman. My grandfather boasted a lot of energy. But unfortunately, Naraku had pierced through all the sealing charms along with my grandfather's right hand in order for him to run away. 'Now that I've put that wind tunnel in your right hand, someday, it'll swallow you whole. Even if you have children, unless you succeed in killing me, that curse will be passed on through the generations and will one day eradicate your family.' That is what he told my grandfather. As he said, my father soon died after my father was born and soon after I was born, I watched as his wind tunnel swallowed him to protect me and my master. The wind tunnel grows larger every year and its power has increased as well. Unless I vanquish Naraku, in several years time, I myself will be swallowed up. That's why I don't have long to live," Miroku explains solemnly. Everyone but you and Hiei give him a sympathetic look to apologize for his loss. Soon enough though, he cheers up and continues with the game.
"Ok, so, truth or dare…Kuwabara was it?" Miroku continued.
"Dare!" Kuwabara announced. You just stared blankly at his stupidity.
"I dare you to…truth or dare lady Lea next. I can't come up with anything else," Miroku said pathetically. Kagome and her other friends look at him bewildered that he didn't dare anyone to do something perverted. You look at him strangely since he called you lady Lea but figured it was just a way of his to show respect.
"Um ok…Lea truth or dare then?" Kuwabara asked.
"sigh fine, but just this once, I'll pick dare Kuwabaka," you answer.
"Hah! I dare you to go on a date with that Miroku guy this Saturday at 7:00 pm! (today was Thursday)" Kuwabara proclaims excitedly, taking full advantage of your choice since you won't choose that one often. You groan as you fall forwards and hit your head on the coffee table in front of you in frustration.
"Will you look at the time? It's gotten pretty late hasn't it? Well we should get to bed if we want to be awake for tomorrow's first round. They announced that the first matches will be team Urameshi vs. team Kotakiru and team Inuyasha vs. team Hirumewa. Good night everyone," Koenma says before you can say anything and possibly kill Kuwabara and Miroku. Everyone files out of yours and Hiei's room and heads to their own.
You sigh out of irritation and grab a bottle of green tea that you found in the suite's fridge. You chug it all down and throw the bottle away before heading into the bedroom behind Hiei. You go into the bathroom and change into your Betty-Boop pajamas. When you come out, you see Hiei climbing into bed with his black boxers on. You climb in after him and fall asleep as soon as you tuck yourself in.
Hiei's point of view
You watch furiously as Lea sleeps soundly next to you like an innocent little girl. The sight calmed you a little as you recalled the bakas dare. The thought of Lea dating that lecherous human infuriated you to the very core. You just couldn't help that feeling. Your inner demon screamed at you to do something about it but you continued to try and ignore it. When you came back to reality, you noticed Lea had started to sweat and mumble in her sleep and her face was pale and upset. You pulled off your bandana and opened your jagan eye to see what she was dreaming.
She was running through a forest and you could see that she was exhausted and badly injured. Lea stopped for a second when she spotted something in a nearby clearing before hurrying towards it, going even faster than before.
"Hiei what are you doing?! They're coming! Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, and everyone are holding them back the best they can but it won't last for long! We have to go!" she shouted when she reached what had appeared to be you, standing in the middle of the said clearing, looking at the sky. The you in her dream look from the sky to her and she gasps in surprise.
"Leave me Lea. Leave me and go. I don't need you or the others. Did you really believe that I loved you? I only played along because of the prophecy, but now look. We're being hunted for this gate's power. Why keep running when we can just destroy one of the keys that they're looking for? Lea, good bye, forever," the dream you said. Lea's sky blue eyes begin to tear up when she hears this. The you in her dream places his hand on the hilt of his katana and a deep laughter starts up in the background.
A man appears from the shadows with an evil smirk planted firmly on his face. He walks up behind the dream you and places a hand on your shoulder. "My dear child, you seem startled by this boy's actions. Is there anything wrong?" he said in a deep voice, with that same smirk never leaving his lips.
"You bastard what have you done to him?! I know Hiei, he would never abandon his friends. He said it himself, 'Don't worry, Once I pick a side, I stick to it.' That's what you said Hiei! How could you allow someone like him to…to," Lea screamed. Her tear gems now flowed freely down her face as she stood before the man and dream you. You left her dream, not wanting to see her suffering anymore.
You closed your jagan eye and put the bandana back on your head. Lea was still sweating and mumbling in her sleep. You caught a little and heard her say, "No Hiei, don't. Why?" You laid down behind her and went to sleep as you pulled your beloved feline close to you. Unsettling thoughts still roaming your head.
Next morning. Your point of view
You woke up with a start for the second morning in a row. Luckily, you hadn't screamed so Hiei was still peacefully sleeping beside you. It had been the same nightmare that you had the night before, only it had been slightly different. You gently lifted Hiei's arm from around your waist and slipped out of bed to where Hiei didn't wake up.
You walked over to your bags and grabbed a pair of dark blue training pants, your black hat, and a loose black t-shirt with Naruto doing rasengan and the nine-tailed fox on the front and 2nd state cursed-mark Sasuke doing chidori on the back. Above the pictures it said in white lettering, "two friends so alike," on the front and, "and yet so completely different" on the back. You went into the bathroom and changed into your outfit while shape-shifting back into the male form you were in yesterday. You walked back into the bedroom and gently shook Hiei awake.
Before you could blink, Hiei had you pinned to the wall with his katana at your neck. When he realized who had woken him up, he glared at you coldly before putting you down and sheathing his katana.
"I'm about to make omelets if you want one. We have about an hour and a half till our match so we should eat breakfast before we meet up with everyone," you say in the disguised male voice. Hiei ignores you and simply goes over to your bags while nodding. You notice that he grabbed a pair of black training pants and a black t-shirt that had a picture of ANBU Itachi sitting on a telephone pole in front of the full moon on the front.
You left him to change and went into the kitchen to make the promised omelets. When you were done making them, Hiei came walking in wearing the pants and shirt. You had to admit that Hiei looked good in it. You smiled at him and put the food on the table as you thought of how ironic it was for him to wear that shirt. Him and Itachi were so alike in so many ways: murderous, cold, distant even to their own siblings, bloodthirsty, etc.
Hiei silently sat down and started eating without even glancing at you. You walked over to the fridge and grabbed some tea for you two. You didn't notice that Hiei had seen what was on the back of your shirt and remembered what he had seen on the front of it, wondering what it meant and stuff.
"Onna, what is that shirt you're wearing talking about?" Hiei asked. You turned to look at him and smile before going back and handing him his drink and sitting down.
"Well, When it says that they're alike, it's talking about how they both experienced loneliness and stuff like that. But they're different because one, the one on the front, Naruto, had been alone ever since birth because his father died to protect his village and his mother died giving birth. Not only that but he had the nine-tailed fox that was plagiarizing the village sealed inside of him, making the villagers caste him out. The boy on the back, Sasuke, had a family that he grew up with until his older brother Itachi, the man on your shirt, killed off his entire clan except his brother in order to test his power. Because of this, he has instructed for Sasuke to hate him and face him later when he has developed the same mangekyo sharingan that Itachi has. The way he had obtained that sharingan had been by killing his best friend, Shisui. Sasuke later continued to call himself an avenger and, as the name proclaims, thrives to complete his goal which is to avenge his family and kill his brother. In an event called the chunin selection exams, he was bit by a man named Orochimaru and that gave him a curse mark. Orochimaru predicted that he would search him out for power and he was right. On the day that Sasuke left, his comrade Sakura tried to stop him. It didn't work and Naruto was sent out with three other genin, a chunin, and a dog to retrieve Sasuke. In the end, two of the five almost died, one was severely injured along with his dog, and the chunin attained a broken finger while the five that were to prevent Sasuke from being taken back to the village all died. Naruto went and faced Sasuke in a battle at a waterfall and Sasuke had obtained the form that's on the back of my shirt. You could say that their friendship is like with Yusuke and Kuwabara. Best of friends but never admitting it and always competing," you explain as you eat.
When you two are done, the rest of team Urameshi come into your suite as you put up the dishes. "Hey come on you guys! The tournament's gonna start in ten minutes!" Yusuke complained.
"Cool it Yusuke, we're the ones in the very first match so it's no like we're going to check out the competition for possible opponents later on. We were just on our way to meet you guys. Let's go," you calmly reply.
You five walk out of the hotel suite and towards the arena. Five minutes after you got to the locker room, Koto announced for your team to come out. You all walked into the arena itself single file with Yusuke first, followed by Kuwabara, then Kurama, then Hiei, and lastly, you. You waited patiently as Koto called for team Kotakiru to come out.
What you saw from under your hat was a team made completely up of large lizard men demons of all kind. The biggest was blue and about twice your size, he had spikes all along his spine and tail and you could tell that they obviously weren't just for display. He was surrounded by three green lizards that were about Kuwabara's height and had razor sharp scales and claws. Lastly was a red lizard that was the smallest of the bunch. He had beady eyes like coal and was like the others combined but with more spikes. He seemed to be staring menacingly at you as you stood there watching them. You checked their energy signature and found that the small one had the highest. You watched as Yusuke went up along with the big one to discuss how the fights will be held.
"Ok tournament fans, this is the moment you've all been waiting for! It's time for this Year's Dark tournament to begin! Now the captains have discussed the conditions for this match and it has been decided! The fights will be held in a series of tag team duos with the last one being a one-on-one match! The one to win a two out of three will move on," Koto announced to the wildly cheering audience. You look up in the stands and spot Yukina and the other girls almost immediately. You continue looking and soon spot Kagome with her team at the very top as they watch the tournament closely.
Koto explains the rules and calls forth the first four fighters: Kurama and Yusuke vs. two of the green lizards. Everyone watches as Yusuke and Kurama quickly end the match with Yusuke's spirit gun and Kurama's rose whiplash. Koto announces them the winners and calls for the next two participants from each team.
"Who should go next?" Kuwabara asks stupidly. You could see clearly that he was scared of the remaining lizard men and their sharp body parts.
"I'll go, who wants to go with?" you volunteer. Kurama was about to say something when Hiei pipes up.
"Hn. I'll go as long as you don't get in my way," Hiei remarks. You nod and walk onto the platform with Hiei as you spot the smallest one and biggest one, step up as well.
Koto calls for the match to start and you ran towards the smallest one with your katana. He turned out faster than you expected and dodged your attack. You quickly turn before he could strike you with his claws and pick up the pace. You suddenly stop and decide to have some fun with this guy. After all, you didn't tolerate well with dirty and smug looks from others.
You stop suddenly in the middle of the ring and see the red lizard attack you from the left. You smirk and blow ice towards him. He immediately stops as he is frozen in place. You then cause spikes made from the earth to pierce his body as you combine your firepower with the spikes and cause his body to thaw out and become a bloody mess. You make the spikes turn back into the stone ring and watch as Hiei slices his opponent into fifty pieces. You walk back to the others when Koto announces you and Hiei the winners. Everyone cheers you on for the gory match and you smirk at the other three's faces.
"And the winner of this match is team Urameshi! So early into the tournament and I already see blood and onslaught!" Koto shouts enthusiastically. You look up to see team Inuyasha impressed by your abilities. You fall into the stage's shadow when you reach the edge and come out of Inuyasha's shadow.
"Hey you guys. Did you like the show?" You ask, causing them to jump and turn around from alarm.
"Oh Lea, It's just you. You scared us," Kagome says relieved.
"Sorry about that. So did you like it?" you asked once again.
"Liked it? You killed them mercilessly. Did they really deserve that? Even if they were demons," Sango says.
"Well, the one I killed was probably a lower B-class or upper C-class demon to begin with and was the strongest of the team. Every single demon competing here is more than up to no good. They're competing in order to defeat my team, have pleasure in destroying your team, and attain the grand prize. The prize at the end of the tournament is that every member on the winning team gets one wish. Last year, Yusuke wished for his martial arts master was returned to life and they fulfilled it. She now lives in her temple as a peaceful old woman. They do this every year. Calling a new human team to be their prey and entertainment. None of these demons deserve any pity. There is only one team besides our two that isn't conceited or evil," you explain with a shrug. You hear a small meow from by your feet and see a small kitten with two tails and a black diamond on her forehead.
You pick her up and stroke her fur gently while she purrs from the attention. "Kirara, what are you doing? You shouldn't be out where people can see you," Sango exclaimed. You handed Sango the small cat known as Kirara and was about to go back when someone appeared.
"Lady Lea, there you are! You can't just run off like that! There are people out looking for you and Hiei-san to find and open the gate of Ssentearg. You have to be more careful!" Sabera scolded when she appeared from a shadow.
"Sabera I told you to stop calling me Lady! I'm not a princess or a queen or anything. And stop worrying so much, I only came to chat with Kagome and everyone from team Inuyasha," you shouted.
"You may say that Lady Lea, but no matter what you want to believe, you are and always will be, the ruler of the Shadows. You must understand that. You must also understand that it my duty to worry so much and you to be careful even when you're only talking with friends. We still can't trust them yet. We've only just met them last night. I want you to keep guard up at all times, even when you're on your date tomorrow night, understood?" Sabera lectures. You nod as Hiei teleports beside you just then.
Team Inuyasha leaves to go compete in their match, all equally confused and surprised that you were a princess/queen/ruler thing. You walk over to the railing and watch as Koto calls out the teams while you control your temper…