The next thing Kuwabara knew he was waking up in a small hospital room. As far as hospital rooms go it was fairly standard, lots of white and many beeping and flashing machines that do who knows what. "Ugh" Kuwabara groaned; he felt like he'd just been trampled by a herd of rhino' he was so stiff. "You're awake" a voice to his side said. It was vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place it. Keeping his breathing even in an attempt not to freak out and hurt himself further he carefully turned his head to the side to see who it was.
Sitting in a chair with a book open in his lap he saw Touya, the blue haired ice demon. "Hua? What are you doing here? How am I not dead?" His eyes went wide. "What happened to Hiei and Kurama? Are they okay? Or…or...?" He was unable to finish the thought; thoughts of himself turning to worry for his friends and comrades. "They're both fine, Kuwabara" Touya interjected hoping to still the young man's worry before it got out of control. Kuwabara gave a great sigh of relief.
"So, why are you here anyway?" he asked the demon, confused why a demon he hadn't spoken two words to would be waiting by his bedside. "Not that I mind of course!" He quickly added trying not to offend his visitor. "What happened after I was knocked out anyway?" This time Kuwabara actually paused to let Touya answer. Chuckling slightly to himself about Kuwabara's antics Touya decided to start with the most recent questions.
"I'm here to keep an eye on you and to wait for you to wake up. A lot of people would be disappointed if you never woke up. It started with all four of up watching over you but we've moved to more of a cycle now as it has taken so long for you to wake up."
Kuwabara looked at Touya funny. 'The four of us? Who are the other three? How long have I been out anyway?' The longer he was awake the more questions he seemed to come up with.
"You'll be fine for a few minutes, yeah? I'm going to call everyone else." With that he got up and left the room. Coming out of his stupor Kuwabara yelled "Hua, wait! Who all is everyone else?" But it was too late, Touya had already left.
He returned a few minutes later. "I've let everyone else know, they'll be here soon. Giving off a huff of annoyance Kuwabara asked "So, who all is coming anyways? Oh and where exactly am I?" Touya stared at him not realizing he didn't know where he was. "We're at the hospital on hanging neck island. You've been out for three weeks now. Chu, Rinku and Gin will be here in ten minutes or so but your teammates will take awhile longer, they've all gone back to the human world already." "Hua?" Kuwabara was shocked. "I've been out for THREE WEEKS? Aww man I knew I was beat up but I didn't think it was that bad."
There was a brief silence before Touya spoke again. "I don't think the ancient was entirely responsible for your stay here." He seemed hesitant to talk about it. "I don't know exactly, as I wasn't there, but I do not honestly believe that that hit to the head would have you out for three weeks, especially with Yukina starting to heal you immediately afterward. And, as I said I wasn't there so I cannot be certain, but I thought I saw Koenma do something to you too, I don't know what it was though."
There was another silence while Kuwabara obviously wanted to ask something but couldn't articulate it as his mouth was currently opening and closing without any sounds coming out. He eventually just gave up asking anything else of Touya, though his list of questions to ask Kurama or Hiei about was growing.
It was while Kuwabara was thinking that Chu and Rinku barged into the room. Chu drunkenly kicking in the door while Rinku rode on his shoulders. As they entered the room though Rinku vaulted off of Chu's shoulders and onto Kuwabara's bed, where he perched himself sitting cross legged by Kuwabara's legs.
"Yo! You're finally awake!"
"Oi! Brat, didn't you know you're not supposed to jump on people in the hospital!" Kuwabara yelled at being jumped on.
"Naw man, that just applies to sick people. You're all better!"He replied sticking his tongue out.
"Why you-"
"Whee did I hear that the big orange man is awake!" Jin exclaimed happily as he whirled his way into the room adding even more chaos to the already chaotic, small, hospital room. He came up to Kuwabara and grabbed his hand shaking his whole arm in his mirth.
"That was a wonderful fight you had there! And here I was thinking that Urameshi was the heavy hitter but you whoo! And you actually wounded her! I don't think I've ever heard of one of the ancients be injured in a fight like that, especially not one of the original ancients! Whoo-man!" "Uhh, thanks" He responded, having heard only about half of what had come out of Jin's excited mouth. He looked to Touya for an explanation thinking that if anyone could understand Jin it would be Touya.
Touya chuckled at Kuwabara's confused looking expression. "He's saying he enjoyed your fight and is impressed with the damage you did to her, which I do have to agree with." The confusion left his expression as he blushed and rubbed the back of his head laughing to hide his embarrassment.
"It wasn't that impressive was it? I still lost."The four demons stared at Kuwabara incredulously. "Not that impressive!" Rinku yelled, voicing everyone else's thoughts While Chu bust out in laughter. "Aww come on guys it's true! It's not like she could purify me! I'm not a demon.""That's not the point! Exclaimed Rinku."The point is that you're the first to last that long against her or injure her, regardless of what you are it's impressive"Touya continued saying "Hiei and Kurama combined didn't last half as long as you did."
"We were expecting that. That's why I went first; we knew that I was the only one with any chance against her. They did win didn't they? The ancients I mean, they won the tournament?"
"Of course"
"Good, are they getting their wish?" He looked at them with such hope filled eyes. He truly wanted their wish to come true. The souls of his parents and all of his ancestors were still stuck in limbo too. They deserved better and Kuwabara desperately hoped that their wish would actually be granted.
Touya looked at him curiously "I don't know. We don't know what they wished for."
Kuwabara's face fell. "Why, what did they want?" Rinku questioned.
"Freedom, an end to the process of taking the humanity from spiritual humans and to get the souls of the dead hunted judged."
There was a respectful silence as they contemplated the possibility that the wish would be honored until Touya realized the second half of the wish. "Wait, what do you man to judge the souls of the dead?" When he spoke everyone turned to face him realizing that he had had a point. "Yeah, apparently the souls of the hunted have been stuck in Limbo as they don't have a system to judge them by. We're neither human nor are we demons so our souls aren't able to be judged. As least that's what she said anyways."
They were shocked. "That's what you were talking about on the ring isn't it?" "Yeah, I didn't know anything before that, but it all makes since though and it provides an explanation for why my family has always been cursed to die before their thirty-fifth birthday and why I randomly went into a coma when I was two." The others were confused by the last point. "What does going into a coma have to do with anything?" "Hmm? I figure that that's when my humanity was taken, something like that always happened, normally the person just passes out for a few hours, I figure mine was more serious because I was so young."
The others in the room couldn't believe their ears. He was two; most people were fourteen to sixteen when they developed powers and had their humanity taken. It sunk into all of them pretty much at the same time as they yelled "YOU WERE TWO!" Well, Chu Rinku and Jin yelled Touya simply tried to reign in his shock.
"Uhh yeah? I mean I was almost three when it happened but yeah. Let me guess, that's really early?" Kuwabara sighed. Jin spoke up quickly "Of course it is! The next youngest I've ever heard about was six and she was the child of one of the ancients so it makes since that she would be exceptional. You have to have been the youngest hunted ever!" He was quite excited about the revelation once his shock wore off.
Touya, finally calm and ready to speak, explained. "It's thought that the younger your powers develop the stronger the person will be as their body would need to develop with their powers or risk an overload when they do develop. To develop your powers at two is beyond astounding. Imagine how strong you would be in you had known all along what the power was and were able to start training it from early childhood like that. The fact that you are able to materialize your energy alone is a great feat especially as you would have had to train yourself to do it." The demons were looking impressed at Kuwabara.
Kuwabara himself though was highly embarrassed by this point, 'I'm not that powerful, am I?' Attempting to change the subject away from him he waved is hands as if the topic were unimportant. "So, what are you guys doing now that the tournament is over?" Rinku sat up fully realizing he was asking for a subject change and decided to take pity at the big lug. "We're gonna travel together and train more! That way when we meet with you again we'll beat you even worse than before!"
"What was that you squirt! In a fair fight I would so have beaten you"
"No way!" Rinku yelled back. "I beat you fair and square!"
They continued to bicker back and forth getting louder and louder as the argument continued. The others looked on with varying levels are interest. Chu was following the argument cheering Rinku of from the sidelines all the while showing great amusement in the argument taking place if the giant smile on his face and twinkle in his eye were anything to judge by. Jin was clearly amused by the argument, sitting cross legged to the side, smiling and nodding when one or the other made a particularly good point. Touya simply stood to the side, sighing with his forehead in his hand. "Children, he muttered with a hint of amusement leaking through.
AN So he're chapter three, sorry it took so long to get it out.