Hiei was out at the coast testing his control over the darkness flame when Kagome finally found him. The shortest of their number, the masked Genkai, had talked to her for a while before dragging Yusuke out to train, and Kuwabara was having lunch with his sister and Yukina, while Kurama entertained Keiko and Botan with a card game.

"Ever going to tell her?" Kagome asked suddenly.

"Tell who what?" Hiei demanded shortly, not breaking from his training.

"Tell Yukina what she came here to try and find out – if her brother is still alive, and who he is."

Hiei glared at her over his shoulder for a moment before turning back to his bonfire. "No."

"Got a reason?" Kagome demanded, climbing past Hiei and the flames to sit in the middle of the fire, protected from the dangerous head by a barrier of her energy. It was the only way she'd be able to get him to look at her while she talked to him right now.

"She wouldn't want a criminal for a brother," Hiei retorted. "Besides, I made a deal with the man who gave me my Jagan eye that I could not reveal myself to her."

"First of all, you're wrong about her, and second, I smell a loop hole," Kagome said, wagging a finger at the fire demon who was standing just beyond the flames, directing them with his will alone.

"What are you getting at Higurashi?" Hiei asked, a growl in his voice.

"The thing about family, they may not always love the things that you do, but they will still love you. Yukina knows that her brother, whoever he may be, has most likely had a very hard life. That's why she wants to find him: so that she can love him. There'll probably be times when you'll get on each other's nerves and not like each other much, but that's family. Even when you don't like each other, you still love each other," Kagome explained.

"Love is a simpering human emotion. I have seen the girls who go on about being in love with Kurama," Hiei said, deriding it.

"That isn't the love I'm talking about. I'm fairly sure it's not even love at all, that's obsession. There are a couple of different types of love Hiei. There's romantic love, which is what Kuwabara feels for Yukina."

Hiei snorted derisively, not wanting to be reminded of that.

"Then there's brotherly love, which is what Kuwabara and Yusuke have, even if they don't really understand it."

"Those two fail to understand a great deal."

"True. The last kind of love is called unconditional love. It's what I feel for Souta, my mother, Shippo, even my gramps. It's what Yukina feels for the brother she has never met, and how Shiori feels about Shuichi. This kind of love keeps on going even when the other person does something upsetting. Kurama is worried about telling his mother that he's a demon because he doesn't completely understand this love yet. Yes, it would be easier if she knew about demons first, but she would still love him as her son even if he told her that he was actually a millennia-old spirit fox – because she loves him in this way," Kagome explained.

Hiei summoned the darkness flame into his hand and thrust it into the bonfire, sending it into a raging inferno.

Kagome huffed. "Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," she said, jumping out of the fire quickly before it became too much for her. She knew when something was too powerful for her barriers. Fire she could handle. Fire from the depths of hell and with a consciousness? Not just yet, at least, not for more than a few seconds. She would go and interrupt the Kuwabara's lunch to teach Yukina about aura recognition.

Hiei said he had promised not to reveal himself to her, he never said anything about if she figured it out on her own.

~oOo~

Meeting Yusuke's spirit beast was probably the highlight of Kagome's whole day.

"Hey Koenma? How do I get one of those?" Kagome asked, pointing to the little blue fuzz-ball that Keiko was cradling in her arms.

"I'll look into it for you," Koenma answered with a smile. "But everybody's spirit beast is different. Oh, and I found out about that demon lord you were asking about. He died protecting a human woman from a tribe of panther demons some four-hundred and seventy-five years ago."

Well, there went her good mood. "Thank you Koenma," she said quietly.

"If it makes you feel any better Kagome, none of that tribe came away from that encounter any better than he did. The only one who survived was the human woman."

Kagome smiled gently. "It does a bit. Thanks."

So Rin had wrapped up Sesshoumaru's swords and brought them to the well. That answered that for her at least.

~oOo~

"Master Genkai," Kagome said, approaching a figure sitting outside of a cave, a figure that had first appeared to Team Urameshi with her face covered in a mask. The rain was rolling off Kagome's barrier as she approached. Probably a cheap use of her power, but Kagome preferred to stay dry

"Hello girlie. You've got a question for me?"

"Yes Master. I know that you intend to pass on your spirit orb to Yusuke, but it was not something that was passed on to you. I was wondering how you created it," Kagome asked.

"Long story."

"While he's figuring himself out, I think we have the time. Besides Master Genkai, I've already been at this sort of thing for a couple of years. I can handle the horror stories."

The old woman huffed slightly and grumbled a moment before she sighed and conceded. "Very well."

~oOo~

Kagome walked into the ring for the semi-finals, one of the only three people who actually knew where Yusuke was when the rest of his team was on their way to a semi-final fight – the other two were Yusuke himself and Master Genkai.

"Where is Urameshi?" Kuwabara demanded as they walked down the dark corridor of the new stadium.

"With Master, getting stronger," Kagome answered.

"Master?" Kuwabara asked.

"She is referring to the one who arrived with Yusuke before the Tournament began," Hiei answered.

"You mean the pint-sized guy with the tatty old mask?" Kuwabara said.

"Yes," Kagome answered. "Yusuke will not be needed for this fight, but he will need to be stronger for the next one."

"That is very confident of you Kagome," Kurama said. "Especially since you saw this team's last fight with us yesterday morning."

Kagome smiled at the two demons on her left. "Well, maybe I'm just confident in you two," she pointed out.

Hiei and Kurama both chuckled, flattered but not fooled. Kagome was as confident in her own abilities as she was in theirs and they knew it.

"I thought we agreed on a good fight. Where is your team leader?" The blue haired samurai-wanna-be-in-pink, Shishiwakamaru, demanded when the two teams met at the centre of the ring.

"He said you weren't worth the time," Kuwabara answered.

Kagome bit back a laugh at the way the big lug could rearrange the explanation that Yusuke was busy getting ready for the next fight into such a prickly, ego-poking answer.

It clearly upset Shishiwakamaru.

"It is now time to choose the conditions for your fight," said the new referee, an aquatic looking girl called Juri.

"It doesn't matter," Hiei said. "Let's just see who lives."

Kagome smirked. Maybe her little ego-boost to the two demons hadn't been as pointless as they let her think.

"You're a hasty one, aren't you boy?" the large blonde of the opposing team said, blowing bubble gum of all things. "I take it you're fighting first."

"That's right I am. First, last and only," Hiei answered. "I've been under too much stress lately," he continued clenching the hand that Kagome had been sure to wrap in bandages before every fight since he had first released the Darkness Flame. It was a good tactic to make obvious injuries continue to look obvious, even after they had been healed. "Killing you all should be a good remedy."

Shishiwakamaru chuckled once. "We're all anxious to fight Hiei," he was almost pleasant as he drew a pair of blank dice from his robe. "Why don't we let an outside party decide the pairings?" he continued as names appeared on the yellow cubes. "Each six-sided die represents a team, and has a single team member's name on each side. The sixth side is a free space and anyone can fight when it comes up. You must fight as many times as your name appears, as long as you're still alive."

"Doesn't bother me," Hiei answered, "but one thing, any time it lands on the name of our absent leader, I shall fight in his place."

"Okay! Matches will be chosen by rolling of dice!" Juri declared. "Multiple turns are allowed, and as always in the semi-finals, five wins will advance!"

"Fate makes her choice," Shishiwakamaru declared, throwing the dice.

Hiei's name landed upright for their team.

"Looks like you got Makintaro, Hiei," Kuwabara observed.

"Hn. Your desperate plan has backfired," the short demon smirked.

"Hah!" the large, barely dressed, brown brute scoffed. "You talk way too big, little man."

"Alright fans, it's the first match-up of the semi-finals: Hiei versus the big man Makintaro!" Juri announced. "Begin!"

Hiei's sword barely flashed, and he was standing back where he had been before, Makintaro's dismembered arm in his hand. When Makintaro attacked him, Hiei dodged onto the demon's shoulders before stabbing his sword through the large demon's skull.

"He has such a way with words," Kagome observed, chuckling over the way Hiei had criticised first the demon's nervous system and then eyesight.

"And the winner by death is Hiei!"

"Hiei gets bonus points in my book for both skull piercing and amputation, but next time, let's try to drag it out a little bit more," Koto added from the commentary box.

"Roll Shishi. I want to finish warming up," Hiei said firmly.

Kuromomotaro's name came up next, and Hiei took the place of the blank space on the Urameshi team's die as he was already in the ring and eager to fight still. Kurama heard the bubble-gum-popping blonde asking the old man on the team about the likelihood that Hiei would use the darkness flame, to which the old man confirmed that Hiei was 'clearly still unable to use it', which Kurama relayed to Kagome who didn't have his superior hearing, and they shared a quiet chuckle.

When Kuro removed Hiei's sword from Makintaro, and licked the blade, Kagome felt rage at the way he disrespected a sword from her family's shrine, not to mentioned sickened. She knew the history of all of the swords, and knew that that one had sliced through a large number of rather disgusting things in its time. Hiei had only added more blood to the blade since he had chosen it – though he did keep it in good condition.

"Yeah. Sweet sword!"

"Hate to say, but that's hardly hygienic. You have no idea how many creatures that sword has cut through," Hiei said, aware of Kagome's aura flaring slightly at the sight, and of Kurama calming her down.

"Oh, I'm sure," he answered. "Let me add one more," he said with a smirk, slicing into his own arm and rejoicing in the pain as his own purple blood spurted for a while. "Sharp, not that it'll do you any good now." He took a ball from his belt. "This is the steaming sphere that seals your fate."

"You know what?" Kagome said, staring at the suddenly very hairy Kuro, who had just declared the fine sword from her shrine to be scrap metal, and then made it so by breaking the sword on his 'beast armour'. "I'm going to just go and sit down over there while Hiei plays around before he decides to do something obvious and ends the fight."

Just as Kagome walked away from the ring to sit by the wall, Hiei was thrown out of the ring and into the wall four feet to her left by Kuro, who then started to preach about how Hiei couldn't win against him.

Of course, Hiei proved the large fool wrong soon enough.

"Hiei?" Kagome said, worry in her voice as she got up from where she had been sitting, intent on healing the wounds that Kuro had inflicted on the short demon's body.

"Sorry about the sword," Hiei said, handing over the hilt to the girl. "Save your energy though, I don't need anything more than a bandage."

"I disagree," Kagome said with a growl, but had to concede to a quick bandage as the dice were being rolled again.

Kurama's name appeared on the dice next against Yurayurishima.

Kagome watched intently and silently from beside Hiei as rose whip and fishing line clashed, and a forcefield was slowly planted around the edges of the arena – while Hiei gave Kuwabara a commentary. She frowned as Yura spoke down to Kurama, stepped on his rose, the barrier was noticed and the contents of the demon's backpack was revealed.

Two matching grins appeared on Kagome's and Hiei's faces as they felt the energy within the ring change, and surge.

"Yoko has returned, they cry," a deep voice said from within the mists, clearly pleased.

Kagome stifled laughter while Hiei sniggered, hearing the lesser demon panicking in the face of the opponent that he had drawn out.

"It's like a thunder storm in there! Where's all that energy comin' from?" Kuwabara asked, stepping back from the ring.

"Ha! It's all Kurama, down to the last drop!" Hiei answered with a pleased smirk on his face. He had always wanted to meet the legendary Yoko. To find that he was trapped in a human body had been something of a disappointment to him when he finally did meet him.

"But it's different somehow and a heck of a lot more powerful," Kuwabara protested quietly.

"It seems that fool he's been fighting has turned him back into his demon form, before he was tainted by you humans," Hiei said, a slight sneer to his voice before he explained about the circumstances of Kurama's death and re-birth as a human. "Now we'll see what the purest form of Kurama can do," he finished.

Screams came from within the mist, Yura's screams.

"He hasn't touched him yet," Kagome said with a snigger. "Kurama's just playing with his plants."

Grovelling could be heard from within, and when the mist began to clear, Kagome smirked to hear Koto begging to know who the 'love god' in the ring was, as well as noticing that Shishiwakamaru's sword was stabbed into a beast.

"Wha-! Kuarma really is a fox thing!" Kuwabara yelled. "Gee, and to think I let him near my kitten," he added more quietly.

Before everybody's eyes, Kurama's true form disappeared, leaving Shuichi behind.

"I can't explain it, my silver-haired hunk has transformed into a sadly tail-less Kurama! My whole weekend is shot!" Koto complained.

Kagome laughed. "I think he's handsome both ways," she said quietly.

Kurama's win was written up on the board as he walked back to the team and Shishiwakamaru rolled the dice again – him, against any of them.

The stadium erupted, or at least the female demons in the crowd went wild. Banners and streamers and girls yelling his name.

"Hey, why doesn't someone cheer for me okay? A real man's attractive 'cause he's tough, not 'cause of his charming good looks," Kuwabara objected to the crowd.

"Yes, you with the inferior face, you must be getting bored as a side-show freak, why don't you fight me?" Shishi said to the human boy, sparking a rage that had him charging clumsily to the stage.

"I'll show you, pretty boy!"

"Looks like he struck a sensitive chord," Kurama observed.

"Let me handle this. Shishiwakamaru appears to be their strongest fighter," Hiei said.

"No, I will fight him," Kurama countered. "Anji could be unpredictable. Recover your powers for the final match."

"Kurama, it's obvious you only want to fight him so that you can learn the secrets of that age reversal. We can't allow any priorities to rank above victory," Hiei said, frowning. "You let me fight."

"What are you talking about, I'm gonna fight him!" Kuwabara said, cracking his knuckles.

"You're all idiots," Kagome said flatly, shaking her head. "And I want to fight in this semi-final too. His nose looks very breakable. As we can't agree though, how about we settle it with a game of Janken?"

"Oh yeah, bring it on! I'm a champion and that game!" Kuwabara declared, holding out his fist.

"Janken? What is that?" Hiei asked, getting slowly more and more pissed.

"Gee man, you really didn't have a childhood," Kuwabara said quietly.

"I pursue strength! I do not have time for your trivial -!"

"It's a human game," Kurama interrupted.

"Rock 'breaks' scissors to win, likewise scissors 'cuts' paper, and paper 'covers' rock," Kagome said, showing the different gestures to denote the items.

"Pitifully simple," Hiei said with a shrug, smirking.

Kuwabara won, defeating everybody's rock with his own paper. Hiei began to dispute his win, but Kagome hushed him.

"He'll lose quickly and then one of us will be in the ring, let the fool have his moment of glory," Kagome placated gently. "Besides, his eyes aren't as good as yours and he certainly isn't as fast. If he had intended to do something else and changed his mind, we all would have seen it."

Hiei grumbled, but let it go.

True to Kagome's word, Kuwabara was quickly defeated, disappearing from the ring into Shishiwakamaru's cape of no return, his final words of "I'm not ugly okay!" causing only the faintest amusement to Hiei, and the win was awarded to Shishi.

The women screamed in delight with the quick removal of the eyesore, while the males all demanded blood in his next fight.

"Guess I'll have to please the demon boys with this next fight," Shishi said, throwing the dice once more. Shishi took the place of the free space on the die for his team. For Team Urameshi, Kagome's name appeared.

Silently, she stepped up.

"How awfully disappointing, I wanted a good match," Shishi said. "A female could never fight me seriously, they're all too interested in my stunning good looks."

"Begin!" Juri declared.

Kagome took InuYasha's beads from her pocket. It was a cheap trick, but as long as he was going to talk she saw no reason not to chant the incantation that would make the fight embarrassingly easy.

"What is this?" he asked when the beads started to appear around his neck. "A present from an adoring fan? I'm flattered. It even matches my eyes."

"Sit boy."

Shishi's face was slammed into the floor, raising a cry among his female supporters.

"Kurama, did you know she could do that?" Hiei asked, suddenly less certain about staying in her home while in Human World.

"I had heard about her beads of subjugation from Shippo when we first met, but this is the first time that I have seen them," Kurama admitted. "My understanding is that it takes absolutely none of her spirit energy to activate them either, once they have been placed around the demon's neck."

"So, can you get up before she counts to ten Shishi?" Kagome asked. "If you can't then you really aren't worth me fighting you."

Shishi pushed himself out of his crater, radiating fury, and was on his feet again just as Juri counted nine.

"Well what do you know? There's more to the pretty boy than just his face and his arrogance," Kagome commented with a smile. "I promise, I won't do that again for the rest of the fight, it would be waaaaaay too easy, and I'm sure you feel the need to show off right about now."

"I will defeat you! I will achieve fame when I kill Toguro! By killing a celebrity I shall become one myself!" Shishiwakamaru declared, drawing his sword. "I call this the Banshee Shriek, such a lovely name for a sword don't you think?"

"Never heard a real banshee, have you punk?" Kagome said flatly as the demon began spinning his sword.

"Chorus of a thousand skulls!"

Kagome rose a barrier around herself, another around her team mates, and two separate, smaller ones around each Juri and Koto.

"Now that you've witnessed the most awesome display of power ever unleashed at the Dark Tournament, there should be no debate about who the greatest showman is. Such impact on the audience. They will never forget the famous Shishiwakamaru," the demon declared, holding his sword out before him triumphantly.

"They can't remember anything if they're dead," Kagome pointed out as she stepped clear of the slowly settling dust around her.

"I'm surprised my sword sound alone didn't kill you," Shishi sneered.

"Like I said, you've never heard a real banshee, have you?" Kagome answered.

"You can't evade my chorus of a thousand skulls forever! Humans are weak, frail creatures. You won't last long!" Shishi said, his fury building again as he readied his sword for another attack. "Of course, my sword can do more than just the chorus of a thousand skulls," he declared. Turning his sword to face the ground, Shishi made his next move, stabbing his sword into the arena. "Surround us with the cage of hell!"

Kagome shivered in recognition of the feeling as the souls washed around them in a barrier. She would be able to walk out of this one as easily as any other barrier she had faced, she knew that, even if it had solidified to a certain extent. Kagome also knew that she would not enjoy the feeling of her soul being pulled at as she did it. And it looked like filthy water, which she also didn't like very much.

"Run as fast as you like, you'll run out of breath before you get out. There's no escape for you this time!" Shishiwakamaru declared, laughing maniacally. "It's one hell of a cage match, to the death! Idealists like you who fight for justice make me wretch! Stardom is the purest fuel for strength, and that's how it should always be. You softies are only crowding the room."

Kagome chuckled. "I haven't fought for justice for a long time," she admitted. "Where did you get the impression that I was a crime-fighting hero?" she asked. She may have fought Naraku, but that wasn't justice. That was her fulfilling an obligation.

"I will be a big star!" Shishi yelled, ignoring her.

"I already am one pretty-boy," Kagome said quietly, calmly. "Pay attention, you might learn something."

"Shut up! You are a nobody! No one knows your name as they shall mine!" Shishi yelled as he charged.

"They do. They just don't know the one I've been using for the Tournament. I'm rather surprised that no one has figured it out yet," Kagome answered. "But then, it is a very old legend that I'm part of. I'm sure you've heard of the Shikon Miko?"

"She lived over five hundred years ago! I'll slice you in half, human!" Shishi cried, bringing down his sword, deaf to Kagome's words.

Kagome dodged to the side, placing her foot on the back of the blade when it went into the ground, preventing Shishi from lifting it again.

"I worry for your sanity," she said quietly, laying a glowing palm over each of Shishi's wrists, burning him with her purifying energy. "But you needn't die today," she continued, grabbing him firmly and throwing him out of his own barrier.

"It will take more than parlour tricks to keep a consummate champion like me down! Chorus of a thousand skulls!"

Kagome held her hand out, collecting the energy Shishi was throwing around and at her into a shining orb of power. "Let me show you something I learned from a master," she said, absorbing his energy, his power, and his attack before throwing it back at him. It made quite the bang.

"You really don't fight for justice?" he asked haltingly as he looked up at her from where he lay, sword broken, clothes filthy, hair in a mess.

"Not really," Kagome answered. "I killed demons to reclaim my own property. I killed demons so that they didn't have to suffer from insanity any longer. I killed humans so that the world could be rid of their insanity, and they wouldn't have to suffer or cause suffering any more either. That's mercy and keeping the balance, not justice."

"I think I've just fallen in love," Shishi said. "If things had worked out differently for us -?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "Sit boy," she growled, the beads around his neck forcing him into a deeper crater in the ring. "Thanks, but no thanks," she added, reaching into the crater to take back the necklace before walking away the winner.

When Anji rolled the die for their team and Kuwabara reappeared to fight him, Kurama and Kagome face-palmed simultaneously. Hiei only made the usual comment he had when faced with the tall teen.

"Fool."

A few minutes later and they could only all reiterate the same statement.

"I can't believe he walked right into that trap on his own," Kurama said.

"He is a first class fool," Hiei said again, and that did explain it.

"Agreed, a fool and a moron," Kagome added with a lamenting sigh. "I'll talk to Shizuru about that afterwards." Big-sister bonding, it was a great thing.

As he had been before, Kuwabara was removed from the ring, only without the fancy scarf.

"I know where this one's going: Kuwabara's out of the ring and won't be back in ten. The winner is Anji!" Juri declared.

"So who will I get the pleasure of humiliating next? I have a funny feeling in my old trick knee that it's going to be you," Anji said, pointing to Kurama. "Now I know all the secrets of the Idon Box, so sorry, but you'll have to fight me in your human form."

"Presumptive, as you have yet to roll," Kurama answered with a scowl. At least he knew now exactly who to get that information from.

The die, however, rolled Kagome's name.

"I have a request before the fight begins," Kagome said as she stepped up and her team mates returned to the edge of the ring. "Loose the dumb mask. I don't know who you are, but you're no old man."

"Well, you're the first to notice. I even masked my energy!" Anji said, pulling off some of his face and continuing to go on about how he hated the elderly, and had used the disguise to fuel his rage and power before he exploded in a riot of colour and began to go on again, this time about his own beauty and his plans to be worshipped by all as 'the beautiful Suzuka'.

"He's nuts," Kagome said.

"I'm embarrassed listening to him," Kurama said from the sidelines.

"He makes Kuwabara look smart," Hiei added.

Suzuka ranted somewhat longer about his plans of world domination before Kagome asked if they could get the show on the road.

"Let the battle begin!" Juri said.

"I call this one rainbow cyclone!" Suzuka declared, spinning his energy around and unleashing it in a blast of colour. "It's not only deadly but it's killer to look at! Though I'm sure the poor, plain girl didn't really appreciate it as it went straight through her heart. What are you waiting for?"

"Oh, right, out of the ring, I'll start the count. One!" Juri began.

Kagome stepped out of the settled dust and rubble as the girl reached 'three', unharmed herself and walked calmly back into the ring.

"Forgive me if I'm not impressed," Suzuka said.

"I know you think you play by higher standards, but at least give me credit for the nose," Kagome said, smiling.

Suzuka wailed when he noticed the absence of his false red nose, complaining that he felt naked without it. Kagome just twirled it around her finger by it's string.

"I've seen vital organs ripped off that were real, I've removed a few myself. I've been through hell and back on several different levels. You're about as much of a fighter as my baby brother," Kagome growled. "You know what? You're smart, but you haven't the ability in your body to back up those smarts. You're weaker than your front man."

Suzuka charged her. Kagome didn't flinch, merely drew back her hand in the practised motion of so many high school girls around the world. Her palm made contact with his white painted cheek. A resounding smack sounded throughout the stadium and Suzuka went flying into the wall head first.

Team Urameshi was declared the winner, and with their team captain nowhere in sight.

~oOo~