Alright, let's just dive right in, shall we? :)
The suite was beautiful, it even had a small kitchen tucked in a corner. As we explored, we saw that there were two rooms with enough futons in each to sleep all of us. I sat my bag on one near the back in the room the girl's had claimed and then went back to the common room.
"Enki really outdid himself." Yusuke smirked as he plopped onto the plush couch. "When I win, I hope I do as good as him."
"You sure sound confident. Just remember that I'm also in the tournament." Kurama gave him a sly look as he sat across from the slick-haired man.
I smiled as Kuwabara said he was going to start a betting pool then rested myself on a chair and pulled my legs up to my chest. In a few minutes we would all have to get ready for the preliminaries. There was a knock on the door, but I ignored it. Yukina excused herself to answer it as I closed my eyes, leaned my head back, and tried to quell the anxiety building inside me.
"Shorty! There you are! For a minute I thought you chickened out!" Kuwabara's loud voice broke me from my trance.
"Why on earth would I back out of something I know that I'll win?" His smooth, deep tone was cold and irritated.
I opened my eyes and they found him without guidance. He was in his blue tank-top and black pants with white belts around his waist.
"Oh, cocky! And Kuwabara you can't call him shorty anymore, he's almost as tall as you!" Yusuke rose and clapped the fire demon on the back, knocking him forward a few inches.
"That's only because of that freaky hair of his. What is it with everyone growing all of a sudden?" The orange haired man looked a little put down, and smiled as Yukina slid next to him. Hiei scowled as Kuwabara's arm went around her waist. I stood to go and start getting ready, but red eyes caught mine.
I forced a smile and a small wave before hurrying to the bedroom. Botan was sitting on her futon trying to figure out what to wear.
"Oh, Suteki! Which do you think looks better, the blue or the pink?" She held up two different kimonos with large questioning eyes.
"Ah, um… the blue? I guess?" I rubbed the back of my neck, knowing nothing about which would look better on her.
"Right! I do like the blue one better." She smiled and went behind the rattan screen that hid a corner of the room.
I quickly slipped my sweatshirt and jeans off, pulling on a sleeveless white shirt that hung from me loosely and a pair of loose grey cloth pants that ended in the middle of my calf. It was an outfit Genkai gave me, and I hadn't tried it on before. The arm holes were much too big, and showed most of my ribcage.
"Uh, Botan?"
"Yes?" She came from around the screen, tying her obi.
"Do you think you could help me wrap my chest?" I blushed as I spoke, and she did too after hearing my request.
"Oh, yes, of course." I pulled a roll of bandages from my bag and handed them to her, pulling of my shirt. For modesty's sake, she knelt behind me and handed me the roll every time it was ready to pass across my front. After I was satisfied with the covering, I put the shirt back on. A lot of my ribs were still showing, but my breasts were not visible anymore.
"Do you want to borrow a pair of my slippers?" She turned to rummage through her stuff, pulling out two pairs of shoes.
"No thank you, I'm fine." I smiled in response to her kindness and left the room, nodding to Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina as they passed me to get ready. I grimaced as I noticed the only person that wasn't in the bedrooms getting ready was Hiei. Pursing my lips, I went by him to the kitchen and fished out a bottle of water.
"Are you still the weak On'na that doesn't know how to control her powers?" His voice came from the windowsill where he was perched.
"My name is Suteki, if you won't say it then don't speak to me." I leaned against the counter and sent him a glare. A quick breeze ruffled my bangs and his arms were pinning me to the linoleum.
"Fine, Suteki," he hissed past bared fangs, "How do you expect to survive this tournament? Or do you have you finally given up on your pathetic life and don't have to guts to end it yourself?"
"You don't know anything about me, so get away." I shoved back the tingling sensation that crawled up my throat as he said my name and turned it into a growl.
"Are you forgetting?" A smirk played across his lips as he mockingly cupped my chin with his index and thumb. "I know everything about you."
"No," I brought my face close to his, "You know my past. Not me." His warmth engulfed me as I caught his scent, clean and untainted. Unprovoked, his hand slid into my hair, knocking the tie I had in it loose, and his soft lips pressed against mine.
My stomach tied in knots as I felt him nibble my bottom lip. A moan opened my mouth and his tongue caressed mine. All too soon Hiei pulled away and I was left cold and breathless.
"If your resolve is so easily broken on the battlefield, you will die." He brushed his thumb across my cheek and for a moment I saw a softness behind his crimson eyes, even though his words were cold. Was he concerned for me? I wondered if he would be even the least bit sad if I perished.
"It won't. I won't. I am not some child you need to warn. I know what I'm doing." I glared at him, ignoring what read as concern under his stony mask.
"Oh, you do? I find that hard to believe." His hand stayed resting against the side of my face, his pinky and ring finger brushing my neck. I heard the door to the boy's room open and I turned my head to see who it was.
"Hiei." Kurama said, his eyes widening considerably at seeing the fire demon so close to me.
"What?" Hiei snapped at him, eyes closing in irritation but not moving. I felt a blush creep up my throat and flood my face.
"Oh, nothing." Kurama's surprise faded and amusement dripped from his tone.
"You're as irritating as ever, Fox." Another breeze pulled at my hair and shirt, and for a second Hiei nipped my earlobe and lounged on the couch at the same time he moved so quickly. I didn't flinch at the nip, but I felt blood start to seep from the cut. The action wasn't fueled by affection, it was a warning of what was to come if I stayed in the tournament.
As I snatched a paper towel from beside the sink and held it to my ear, the rest of the boys came from the room. They were all dressed in combat outfits similar to mine. Except for Koenma and Kuwabara, who were dressed in a suit and a sweatshirt and jeans, respectively.
"Good lord, are those girls still getting ready? Hurry up!" Yusuke hollered the last as he pounded against the bedroom door.
"Don't get your panties in a wad, we're coming!" Botan hollered through the barrier. Soon they exited. Botan and Yukina were both in beautiful kimonos, while Keiko wore a cute knee-length dress. Shizuru on the other hand had not changed at all, she still wore her sweatshirt and jeans.
After Koenma passed out our badges, I glanced around. Yusuke was 0005, Kurama was 2298, Hiei was 0877, and I was 6855. We walked to the elevator once more and went out the back of the lobby. When I was sure the blood had stopped flowing from my ear, I threw the towel away.
We entered the giant arena and the girls, Koenma, and Kuwabara separated to take their seats in the stands. I made sure to stick close to the others, not wanting the anxiety of thousands of demons crowding around me. In my near panic, I reached out without knowing and grasped Hiei's hand. He threw a glare back at me, but closed his calloused hand around mine and pulled me forward. His touch seemed to ground me and the crowd didn't seem to bother me anymore. We pushed our way to the front and Hiei dropped my hand the second we stopped moving.
"Welcome, to the second Makai Tournament!" A man's voice boomed seemingly from everywhere and ear-drum vibrating cheers followed. I jumped back, whipping my head around and growling defensively. Kurama's hand met my shoulder comfortingly and he pointed to a large red-skinned demon standing on a platform. Short horns poked from short green-yellow hair.
"I'm not much for words, so… Good luck trying to get rid of me!" The man, assumingly Enki, laughed boisterously before handing a black stick over to an excited looking auburn haired girl with fox ears and a tail.
"Hell-o everyone! I'm your hostess with the mostess and your voice of choice, Koto! Tonight we'll be drawing lots to sort into the preliminary matches! There are seven thousand and forty demons in this year's tournament, but only 128 may progress to the main tournament! Out of the fifty-five in each preliminary free-for-all, only one will move on! It's sure to be a bloodbath, folks! A quick reminder that there are visitors from the Spirit and Human World in our audience today, and by law you are not allowed to hurt them." From where I stood, she almost looked disappointed. "Drawing of lots starts in five minutes!"
Demons around us started shouting to hurry up and get on with it. Yusuke started stretching and after the longest, loudest, most crowded five minutes of my life, a buzzer sounded above all the shouting. I gritted my teeth and refused to startle.
"Alright, everyone! It's the time you've all been waiting for! The drawing of the lots to determine who rips who apart! Everyone line up and draw your group number!" The Koto woman had moved to a desk beside the arena, and two nicely dressed women had taken her place, a white box sitting on a pedestal between them. A surge of demon flesh pressed against my back as they pushed forward, overly eager to get this over with. I turned and snarled, daring them to push me again. This caused Kurama to chuckle and he placed his hand on my back, leading me to our spot in line. Koto continued to announce which demon got placed in what group, but I couldn't hear her voice as my bare feet hit the smooth stage. I walked towards the box, my spine made of steel, and reached inside. Group 37. I glanced up at the giant screen above me, not recognizing any high-ranked demons in my group so far, and left the platform.
"We aren't in the same group! That's great!" Yusuke slapped me on the back and grinned, apparently loving the organized chaos. He had pulled group 10. Kurama had group 78 and Hiei had 2. None of us were put with Mukuro, Yomi, or Enki, and I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe I would survive. When Koto finished listing off where everyone was placed, she paused to receive a list from someone.
"Just like last year, folks, we have a long list of people who have dropped from the tournament! We've gone from seven thousand to a mere five thousand! Oh well, I guess they can watch the carnage from the stands! Now, let the Makai Tournament begin!"
My heart started to pound as everyone started to disperse, heading to the floating disks that would fly us to our designated Okunen tree. I shouldered my way to the one marked 37, and tried to take my mind off the fact that my group was one of the only groups that still had close to fifty-five people in it. I told myself that most of these demons seemed either low-class or over confident, there's no way they could kill me. Then I noticed I was the only female headed to this particular Okunen. Sweat beaded on my forehead and I stared straight forward, working out a plan on how I would get out of this unscathed.