"What do you say? Up the stakes a little. If my team wins, I get your body," the greasy doctor said, pointing at Yusuke.
"Sure, but if our team wins then we get to rip your face off."
"Of course."
"Just one more condition," Kagome said calmly, calculating for herself how this fight would go since she had plied Koto with alcohol the previous night and got an overview of the team's previous fight, since she had been training at the time. "We fight battle royal. Three on three all at once."
The doctor turned, and Kagome could see him pulling out a calculator. She smirked at his foolishness. He really didn't have enough data on her to be making that assumption. When the figure 99.95% appeared, Kagome didn't bother to shake her head at how foolish his calculating was when he failed to factor in how little he knew of the human soul. He was only concerned with a body's capabilities and its energy. A foolishness.
"You drive a hard bargain my lady," he said, "but I accept."
Kagome could see him practically cackling with glee.
"Alright we've got a three-on-three battle royal!" Koto announced happily. "It's the Doctor Ichigaki Team versus Team Urameshi! Last team with a member still standing in the ring will be the winner. Begin!"
Kagome stood back and watched a moment as Kuwabara and Yusuke fought, trying to get through to their opponents the only way they knew how. She only deflected the energy attacks that were aimed at her. She wasn't concerned. She was waiting for an opening.
Kuwabara went down, and she slung her bow off her shoulder, watching Yusuke becoming more and more furious with the situation.
Kurama and Hiei arrived at about that point, along with a robot that the doctor had created to keep them occupied. They attempted to join the fight, but Koto stopped them, saying that if they set foot in the ring, the conditions would be broken and the team would forfeit the match.
Kagome drew back her string when Yusuke was opposite her, the three fighters between them and with their backs to the miko. With three fingers pointing straight over her bowstring at the three young men, she called up the energy she used to purify the demons who had been made insane by the tainted jewel shards in the past, and made three arrows of that pure energy. Three glowing pink shafts appeared to her sight.
"What is Miss Higurashi doing as Urameshi fights the three humans of the Dr Ichigaki team? She's drawn her bow, a first for this Tournament, but I don't see any arrows in her hand despite the quiver full she's wearing at her back," Koto said into her microphone, clearly confused.
Kagome released, then watched as her shafts of purification headed straight for the 'Verucci' on the backs of each of the fighters, burning them away from the humans, leaving the humans whole once more. Though they did all faint from the rather sudden removal.
"Oh wow! I'm not sure what just happened, but I love it! The three combatants of the Dr Ichigaki team are down! I wonder if Miss Kagome has invisible attacks just like these guys did?" Koto asked the audience.
"What the hell? I thought we were trying to not kill them!" Yusuke demanded, though Kagome ignored him.
"Well, I've always been able to see what I was doing," Kagome said with a small smile as Koto came up to her. "Now, I believe the doctor agreed to letting us remove his face if his team lost, which I do believe just happened."
The doctor was backing away.
"Wait! I am the only one who knows where their master is and how to cure him!" he tried to plea.
"Sorry, moot point," Kurama countered, indicating a tired looking man leaning against the wall for support.
"After seeing his symptoms Kurama was easily able to make an antidote," Hiei added.
"So Yusuke, are you going to break his face or not?" Kagome asked.
"I might just break yours as well when I'm done with his," Yusuke growled. "But I am definitely going to kick this bastard's ass before I do anything else!"
~oOo~
"You wanna explain that to me again?" Yusuke said as they hopped off the ring and the three fighters were reunited with their master. "You did what exactly?"
Kagome sighed. "Exorcised them. It's a thing that the feudal-era miko's could do, if they had any power that is. Basically, the 'Verucci' were demonic and possessing the humans. I exorcised the demonic... things without harm to their genuine and 'good' human aspect. If I had used physical arrows, or if they had been truly evil people, then they would have been seriously hurt and possibly killed, but as I used arrows of pure energy, and they weren't evil, they were fine. Just a little overwhelmed," Kagome explained, finally pulling her hands from Kuwabara's chest and withdrawing her healing energy from him. "There, all fixed. Rest up, and you'll be right as rain in the morning. So," she continued, talking to Kurama and Hiei as she moved to tend Yusuke's injuries. "What did you two get up to on your nature walk, apart from finding old men and big robots?"
"Oh, you know," Kurama said with a shrug, "just a nice walk in the woods and a battle for our lives against underhanded demons."
"The usual," Hiei added.
"Have fun, or do you need a check up as well?"
"Yes, and probably," the two answered together with a dry chuckle.
"May I have your attention please, the third round of the Tournament will begin immediately," announced a female voice over the loud speakers.
"What? Give me a break!" Yusuke yelled, even as Kagome finished healing his injuries and went to check Hiei.
"Furthermore, the Tournament committee has unanimously decided to begin the round in accordance to the match diagram, starting from the left. Team Urameshi and Team Masho, please report to the ring," the unknown female voice declared.
"What? Again?" Hiei asked, even as Kagome declared him fit.
Yusuke charged Koto while Kagome shook her head and checked over Kurama.
"Hey, why don't you tell your friends up there to let one of the other teams fight?" Yusuke demanded.
"I'm sorry sir, if you have a complaint you'll have to take it up with the committee," Koto answered nervously. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for their decision."
Kagome finished with Kurama, sighing heavily. "Okay, now everybody else is fine and I'm tired," she said, standing and going over to the ring. "Hey, can we at least get some drinks while we wait for Team Masho to arrive?" she asked.
Koto blinked. "Should be do-able," she conceded.
"Hey Botan, get on your oar and get me some orange juice, I'm parched," Kagome said into Koto's microphone, smirking. "Sorry, I know you don't like people doing that, it was just fastest."
Koto smiled weakly.
"Yusuke, leave her alone. She's not the one your pissed with."
"Yeah, yeah," the boy grumbled, following the girl back to the grassed area where Botan had appeared with drinks for everyone.
"Calling Team Masho!" Koto said while the team already in the ring drank their juice. "If Team Masho fails to appear they will be disqualified."
With that, the team in question appeared in a whirlwind that set the hairs on the back of Kagome's neck up on their ends at their familiarity.
"No, Kagura has what she wanted, she has no reason to be here. Besides, I don't feel her aura anywhere here," she whispered to herself.
Another gust of wind revealed that it was actually a tall, rather buff, red-haired demon with bright blue eyes and a horn on his head who was the manipulator of winds.
"Jin, the Wind Master," Kurama said. "Well, that explains who his team is. Masho must be a pseudonym. These are the shinobi of the apparition world."
"Shinobi?" Yusuke asked dumbly.
Kagome smacked her head with her palm. "What do they teach kids these days?" she asked herself, getting up and marching over to the boy. "Shinobi, warriors of the shadows, the hidden assassins, ninja. Get it? And these are shinobi with piles of power, which means: take them seriously," she said, jabbing a finger into Yusuke's chest with every word for emphasis. "Now get up there and make terms."
Five seconds later and Kagome had another thing to say about at least one of the shinobi. "I love the way he talks."
Hiei and Kurama both laughed at her.
"I hope that doesn't mean you're not going to let me take you out on dates any more," Kurama said, slipping an arm around her waist.
"Oh, come on, I can appreciate that he's handsome and has a really nice accent, can't I? You know you're the only red-head I'm ever going to date," Kagome promised, laughing at the way he was teasing her, and then even more as he blushed at her teasing.
"May I have your attention please," the female voice of the speakers said.
"I'm beginning to dread her voice," Kuwabara growled as he squashed his drink can.
"The Tournament committee will be instituting a medical examination before the next round," she continued.
"What is this, gym class?" Yusuke demanded as he hopped down from the fighting stage to the grass of the ring.
"Due to the Urameshi Team fighting without rest, and in accordance to section 13 of the Tournament index, report to the medical tent," the voice said.
"As long as they don't grab my balls and make me cough," Yusuke said.
"Thankfully, we are all fit and fine now," Kagome said, "so there won't be any problems."
"Except that you are still tired from healing us all," Kurama pointed out as they turned towards the tent.
From within emerged a very fine female specimen. Luscious curves and thick red hair all in a short, purple, nurse uniform.
"Scratch what I said before," Yusuke said as he watched her walking towards them.
Kagome rolled her eyes and was very tempted to hit him upside the head.
"Hello gentlemen," she said, her voice low and purring. "Ma'am," she added to Kagome, then extended her hand, likely to feel their levels of energy. "This is very surprising," she said at last, looking over them all again. "After all you had been through, I would have expected you to be in much worse condition than you are. As things stand, Miss Kagome, would you accompany me to the medical tent?"
"You have your clipboard right there, and I promise you that there isn't anything in that tent that's going to help me unless you've got a beanbag I can sit on to watch the fights until it's my turn," Kagome answered firmly.
The red head was surprised and clearly put out. "You aren't in a position to refuse, Miss Kagome. I'm afraid this is mandatory."
"And I'm afraid I'd rather be treated by someone with a medical certificate, not just a pretty nurse dress. Oh, fine," she said, getting up from where she had been sitting. "But I'm telling you, I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
"Do you have medical experience?" the nurse asked as they walked.
"Yes," Kagome answered firmly. "Do you have experience of being purified by a miko?" she growled back.
The nurse pulled up short of the tent and smiled almost nervously. "Please, just a few questions then."
"You have ten seconds, and then I'm going to steal your chair and sit down out there with my team," Kagome informed her.
"I'm afraid you will have to stay right here for observation, exhaustion could cause problems you know," the demoness stated, raising a forcefield and removing her nurse's uniform to reveal her nature.
"See, that's where you're wrong," Kagome said, grabbing the chair just as she said she would, and walking right out of the tent.
"But- but how?" the demoness demanded.
"I've always had this problem with non-physical barriers," Kagome said sweetly. "They just don't seem to stop me, going in or out. I think just about everyone that I know has found this very frustrating at some point," she said as she walked out. "Thanks for the chair," she added with a wave over her shoulder as she went back to her team.
She noticed Jin was sat down by the wall on the far side himself, watching her intently, but clearly not getting up any time soon either.
"He said something about not being in the mood if there were going to be fight fixers," Kurama told her.
"That's real nice of him," Kagome said with a surprised but genuine smile, waving to him.
He waved back with a smile of his own.
"I thought I was the only red-head you'd ever date," Kurama mock-pouted quietly.
"I didn't expect any other red-head to take an interest," Kagome answered with a smirk and a giggle before she sat down on her stolen chair.
~oOo~
Gama had locked Kurama's limbs and he couldn't move, despite having just won the fight by manipulating his whip with his hair.
"Permission to be removed by my team mates please," Kurama said to Koto. "I'm a bit weighed down at the moment."
"Yeah, I'd say we can allow that," Koto said. "Kurama has requested to be removed from the ring, as he is unable to remove himself. Urameshi Team, step up and remove your combatant from the ring."
Yusuke and Hiei immediately went to Kurama and helped him move his heavy limbs from the ring, while Kuwabara stepped up to fight against the next combatant.
"Great, I get the shrimp," Kuwabara said, staring down at his opponent. "I swear, this guy is as short as Hiei."
"And it's Kuwabara versus the Ice Master Touya! Begin!"
"He's going to get his butt frozen off," Kagome said as she checked Kurama for any injuries. There wasn't anything she could do about the paint and its effects. They would just have to wait for that to wear off.
Kuwabara flew out of the ring fairly quickly, his hands and feet locked in icy shackles.
"And it's a victory for Team Masho, making it one all!" Koto declared happily.
"I'll fight him. I've fought ice warriors before, but if anyone is a master, it is Touya," Hiei stated, walking up to the ring.
"Ooh, it's fire against ice as Hiei faces off against Touya!" Koto yelled happily. "Will Hiei melt his competition, or is Touya going to put out the fire? Only one way to know, fighters take your stances and begin!"
"Having your blade attached to your arm like that is impractical," Hiei informed Touya as a sword of ice formed around the shinobi's hand and wrist. "You do not have the manoeuvrability of holding the blade in your hand."
Kagome didn't bother to watch the fight, but chipped away at the ice binds holding Kuwabara. He'd get frostbite if he wasn't released soon. She could treat frostbite, but only to a certain extent.
"Hiei has been frozen solid," Kurama informed them. He had been watching the fight intently. "I believe that Yusuke is getting rather upset by it."
"He should know better," Kagome answered, still not looking up. "Five, four, three, two, one -" she counted, even as Koto reached seven in her own count.
Hiei broke through the ice that held him, bright orange flames licking at his fists.
"The mortal flame has its uses, I think you can agree," he just about purred at Touya before he began a volley of punches, ending with knocking the ice master out of the ring and into the far barrier, just to the left of Jin.
"And ten! Those must have been some absolutely brutal punches Hiei was throwing because Touya is definitely not getting up. Match goes to Hiei of the Urameshi Team!"
The female committee announcer declared it a double knock-out however, as Koto had delayed her count for Hiei when he was frozen solid.
Hiei hopped off the ring, not particularly bothered, and went to where Kagome was still chipping away at Kuwabara's ice shackles.
"Allow me," he said, holding his mortal flame near the blocks of ice. "That should be a lot faster."
It was. It only took seconds to get the rest of the ice off Kuwabara, and then he was up and determined to charge back onto the ring.
"Will you give it up? You lost a fight so your out, end of story," Kagome instructed, pulling Kuwabara to sit down again as the largest member of Team Masho entered the ring: Baccus.
"Don't worry about it Kuwabara, I got this guy," Yusuke informed his friend, walking up to the ring with a smirk on his face. The guy may have been huge, but Yusuke was pissed – mostly at the committee, but he wasn't above using that anger to get him where he needed to be.
"He's being cocky again," Kurama said with a frown.
"It might be justified this time," Hiei answered.
Baccus began to sweat out his mist, and the sounds of fists meeting flesh were muffled in the shrouded ring until a shaft of blue light cut through the rather pungent cloud-cover. Yusuke was then able to be viewed as he pummelled the large man to within an inch of his life before throwing him out of the ring and into the audience.
Even as Koto announced that the winner was Yusuke Urameshi of Team Urameshi, Kagome could see Jin standing up, a curious and very pleased looking smile on his face. It was a hard fight, but one that both combatants seemed to enjoy thoroughly by the time it was over, even if Jin did faint in the stands after the blast of spirit energy he took that finally ended it. Yusuke was just about raging when he was disqualified from fighting again due to having continued to fight when he had been out of the ring and in contact with another solid surface for longer than ten seconds – something that for once had the demonic audience siding with the human team. Including the double knock-outs, it was four wins to three, though in Team Urameshi's favour. Kagome stood as the only member of the team who had not lost, been disqualified, and was still in any kind of condition to fight, and walked towards the ring to face the final opponent, Rishou.
"Hell no!" Kuwabara protested. "I can't stand the idea of you fighting these guys. It's just not right! You're still tired from makin' sure we were all good to fight again so quickly!"
"Kazuma Kuwabara, you can either stand aside and let me fight him, somehow get Kurama miraculously ready for the fight, or we can concede the whole mess," Kagome said. "I am going to fight him."
Kuwabara stood aside, frowning.
"Hey," Yusuke said, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder before she climbed up onto the arena, forcing her to look at him. "Be careful. Something about that guy just seems dangerous to me."
Kagome smiled. "That's sweet of you to worry," she said, pulling herself up and walking up to Koto, ready to face her opponent.
"So, little girl, what will you do when you face me? And so low on your energy as well I notice," Rishou observed with a sneer.
Kagome looked him up and down. "Let's see, skin-tight grey with sashes in two different browns, a fashion mistake if ever there was one, especially for someone as skinny as you. Bandages and small round pieces of armour, I suppose that can be overlooked as everybody on your team seemed to have them. Altogether the wrong haircut for your face, and from how greasy it looks I'd guess you don't even wash it. No, definitely won't lose to someone who looks like you," she said raising a disdainful eyebrow at him.
Koto nearly burst out laughing. "After giving the imposing Rishou a run-down of all his fashion mistakes, I hope Miss Kagome is ready for a fight, cause he looks mad!"
"I am going to bury you alive," Rishou growled.
"Fighters ready? Begin!"
"Now remember, no hitting the face, or girls won't like you," Kagome said teasingly, stepping forward to take her fighting stances.
Rishou by contrast stepped backwards to take his, only growling before launching hits, kicks and punches at almost incredible speed. Kagome took them all, letting herself be pushed back, only defending.
"I can't believe it, Miss Kagome walked into the ring so full of confidence, and here she is now taking what has to be the beating of her life!" Koto said into her microphone. "I love the way this girl takes to pain."
"Actually, it's not that big of a deal," Kagome said, disappearing from in front of Rishou and appearing beside Koto. "He hasn't actually hit me yet," she explained with a girlish giggle. "Just my barrier."
"What?" Koto and Rishou asked at the same time.
"Think of it as an energy shield. You've seen Yusuke's energy being used as bullets, or as extra power behind his punches. Kuwabara channels his energy like a sword, and me?" Kagome said, leading Koto to fill in the blanks before she ducked away from the hostess so that Rishou didn't hit the fox girl by mistake.
"Did you hear that people? Miss Kagome is unharmed thanks to skilful manipulation of her energy! But a gal's gotta wonder, when is she going to do anything about offence?" Koto declared to the masses.
"Now now, have to give the-" Kagome laughed mockingly a moment, "the man a chance to show off his own tricks. After all, we've seen paint made from blood, an ice master, a guy who makes mist from his sweat, and a wind master. So what can Rishou do?"
Rishou scowled. "I will make you regret asking that," he stated, hopping out of the ring and summoning his armour of clay.
"Ooh, well, dirt, that explains why you were wearing grey, so the mud stains didn't show up as clearly," Kagome taunted with a grin. "I thought you said you were going to bury me alive, and here you are pulling all that dirt up around yourself."
"In addition to being excellent for defence, my armour turns my whole body into a weapon," Rishou declared. "Let me show you how. Meteor!" he yelled, jumping into the air
"He's directing his descent towards Miss Kagome, gaining the speed and momentum to lay some serious hurt when he lands!" Koto said, awed.
Kagome pulled her bow off her shoulder, but rather than holding it as though to fire, she grabbed the end and swung it like a bat, her power flowing along the wood as weapon connected with armour. Everything stopped for a moment as the two forces battled to find which would come out the victor. Kagome's feet dug into the floor as she forced her bow further forwards in her attempt to push Rishou back.
"I don't know who is going to give first but the tension is killing me!" Koto said.
"You're not the only one lady," Yusuke growled from the sidelines.
At last, Rishou was pushed back, landing on his shoulders before ploughing towards the edge of the arena. Kagome was also sent back to the opposite edge, and was panting from exertion. It wasn't the way she fought when she had just started. This whole Tournament she had been fighting a different way than she had back then – apart from the last battle, where it had almost been like old times watching InuYasha fight the bad guy and then shooting an arrow, but even that had been different. Kagome clenched her teeth and reached up, drawing a real arrow from the small quiver on her back.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Kagome is drawing a real arrow on that bow of hers, and it's going to be the first time I've seen her launching such a projectile. In the last fight, she fired her energy from her bowstring, what kind of pain will that pointed tip inflict on Rishou? Will it even hit with all the armour he's wearing?" Koto begged of the crowd.
"Oh it will hit," Kagome promised with a growl of her own as she released her arrow, her energy flowing from the tip like a jet stream until it hit the shoulder of Rishou's armour, breaking it apart and sticking into his own shoulder.
He screamed.
"That sounds like he's in pain," Koto said cheerfully, skipping up to him. "Will you tell the fans how it feels?" she asked, holding the microphone out to him.
"It's burning at me, it's impossible, the girl can't have that much power!" Rishou yelled, clutching at his shoulder with his other hand.
"Oh yes," Kagome growled. "I can," she said, putting another arrow to her string, pulling back, and letting it fly, straight into Rishou's neck and through his spine. "Rest in peace."
~oOo~