Yusuke loaded a burned out Hiei onto Puu's back. As in their first fight, Hiei had taken on his true form – the one with green skin that was covered in creepy eyes. Yusuke's Mazoku markings had surfaced as well. It was a serious fight, and they played for keeps. Hiei used his dragon, and Yusuke threw out one of his largest spirit-bullets to date. Yusuke had only just won the fight, but he was the one still standing.
"Three for three, Hiei," he told his friend. "Just like I said back on day one."
As they took off, Koto had this to say: "Well, they've burned their skin, shortened their breath, and somehow lost their shirts. Altogether I'd call it a successful fight."
"And the women all said 'amen'," Kagome joked.
"In other news, the fight between Raizen and Koku is starting. Whoever wins this fight is the one who Yusuke will be up against in the semi-finals. Could we have another father-son fight as we did with Yomi and Shura? Or will Koku upset the betting pools and topple Raizen? They do have a history together and hell has no fury like a demoness scorned," Koto said, gearing up for the next fight.
Since the numbers had been so cut down from the first round, the fights didn't have to be held simultaneously any more, and everyone wanted to watch how these fights went. So everything was sequential now.
"Master Yuda? Where's your money for this fight?" Koto asked.
"Raizen was a king. Koku may have been an old flame, but she clearly was unable to kill him when he first slighted her. If this Tournament has proven anything, then it has proven that the centuries of going without food have not left Raizen as weak as we had all been led to believe," Yuda answered.
"Can't argue with that," Koto said. "Still, as something of a feminist, I still really enjoy watching the girls kicking butt. Kagome, what do you think?"
"I think we are going to witness a display of power the likes of which has not been seen in any of the three worlds for a thousand years," Kagome said solemnly. "I also think that Koku may bitch-slap Raizen before they actually get properly started with this fight."
Kagome's second thought was proven right almost immediately, and it was a vicious slap indeed, though Raizen accepted it stoically.
"Feel better?" he asked, looking at her.
"Yes. Now are we going to do this?"
The fight was long, and in Koto's words, perfectly brutal, before eventually Raizen defeated Koku, just as many had expected.
The next fight was between Kurama and Enki.
"And it's the red-head verses the red troll! Enki has been making very solid and decisive wins up to this point, and though Kurama always seems to take a little time at the beginning of every fight to play with his opponent, he has also been making very clear victories," Koto announced. "I can't help but wonder how this will turn out! Kagome, you know Kurama's fighting style as someone from his team, what insights can you give us about the fight ahead?"
"Kurama is a logical fighter. He waits for his opponent to show their weaknesses before he makes his move. Enki's a hard and experienced fighter though, so I'd be surprised if he revealed any weaknesses so easily," Kagome answered.
"Kurama has been toying with his competition for shorter periods of time as the Tournament has progressed though," Yuda pointed out. "Is it possible he is becoming more rash?"
Kagome shook her head. "I don't think so," she answered. "It's my belief that Kurama has spent his time when not fighting watching the fights of those who he would face, so he knows about their techniques and styles going into the fight already. I know he spent a fair portion of yesterday going over the recordings of Enki's previous battles."
"The fight is about to begin folks, all the bookies are no longer taking bets for this one! Dare we hope for something truly horrific?" Koto begged, on the edge of her seat.
Enki smiled at Kurama. "Let's have a good fight."
"I agree," Kurama answered.
That was all the warning anybody had before Enki charged. Kurama immediately reacted by manipulating the grass under their feet to shoot up and wrap around Enki, trapping him so thoroughly that only his face was visible. The large demon found himself unable to move, and laughed when he realised it.
"After all that, beaten by plants," he said, shaking his head at himself. "Alright, I know when I'm beaten. You're a smart fighter Mr Kurama. I'm afraid I have to concede this fight."
Koto stared. "In possibly the shortest fight of the Tournament, we have just witnessed Kurama completely trapping Enki in a prison of grass! From such a position, it would be easy for Kurama to hack off a limb, head or even gut Enki, but Enki has instead recognised his defeat and surrendered the match," Koto said, stunned completely. "I never knew grass could be so dangerous!"
~oOo~
Shippo stood across from Mukuro. He had made it to the quarter finals, and now he was facing one of the most powerful demons in Demon World. If he had met Mukuro when he was younger, and she still wore her mask of bandages, he would probably have been intimidated. He wasn't now though. He had been passed over for too long. He wanted a little recognition for himself.
"You're quite the surprise," Mukuro said. "No one had ever heard of you before, and yet here you stand, so close to the end of the Tournament, and there are questions flying about if Shippo is even your real name."
"As opposed to your move at the beginning of the Tournament to reveal your true self from the get-go," Shippo answered with a smirk. "Well, some of your true self," he amended. A small puff of smoke surrounded him, and a very different figure appeared where Shippo had stood. "Of course, you're not telling nearly everything," the new figure said.
Mukuro's visible eye grew wide.
The original form of Shippo stepped out from behind the new figure. "He's an illusion," Shippo said, and with a wave of his hand, a sword appeared at his feet. "So is this," he said, bending to pick it up. "But my illusions are of a superior quality. You can hold this sword and use it to cut up the illusion I have created, just for you," Shippo said gently. "On the other hand, perhaps I will just -" he stabbed the sword he had made into the man Mukuro was unable to tear her gaze from, then twisted the blade and drew it upwards, cleaving him in two from his navel up through his skull. "See how well I craft my illusions?" Shippo asked. "The way his blood drips, and his bowels stink, it's very real. I can create another for you if you want."
Mukuro ignored Shippo and was gone in a flash, reappearing beside the destroyed figure that still lay there. With her fists she began to beat it, her teeth clenched, sometimes she would scream in rage.
Shippo let this go on for a few minutes, just watching her before he shook his head and, for all appearances, took pity on her. He dispersed the illusion and lay a hand on Mukuro's shoulder, as though to comfort.
"He can never hurt you again Mukuro," Shippo whispered kindly. "You are free of him. Look, even the shackles that bound you are gone," he said, laying a gentle hand over one of her bare wrists, drawing her attention to something that Kurama had done months ago.
Koto, watching the big screen from the stadium wanted to know what was going on.
"Okay, so Shippo created an illusion, which he then sliced in half, and now they're just talking! What kind of battle is this!" she demanded.
"A psychological one," Kagome answered. "It's not as bloody as the battles you're used to Koto, but the pain is just as real."
"Ugh! This sort of fight isn't in the Tournament outline. I want punches, slices, stabbings, eviscerations, amputations, decapitations, fighters turned into a broken and bloody pulp! So far only two of the quarter final fights seems to be delivering," Koto pouted into her microphone.
"Don't make the mistake that this fight won't get brutal Koto," Kagome corrected. "Shippo has inflicted a lot of pain on Mukuro without actually exerting much, if any, energy. Mukuro has yet to retaliate."
Just as Kagome spoke, Mukuro's energy became visible around her, rising in curling waves off her form like steam off of a hot body in the rain – though it was a perfectly sunny day, and her energy was clearly glowing the same orange as her hair. The woman stood and turned to Shippo, and the camera was able to catch her face. Of all things, she was crying.
"Thank you," she said.
Shippo smiled gently. "I hope you're ready to fight now," he told her.
Mukuro wiped her face quickly and nodded before taking her stance.
Shippo transformed again, this time so that he looked like Hiei, and he drew a sword from his side.
"You did want to fight me, didn't you?" Shippo asked, but it was Hiei's voice. "That's why you sent me your message those months ago."
Mukuro frowned, charging. "Can you fight like him as well as look like him?" she demanded, throwing a punch.
Shippo dodged and smirked, swinging his sword as he had seen Hiei do countless times in their training in Kagome's back yard. "You can even check my energy if you like," Shippo offered in Hiei's dry, vaguely arrogant, teasing drawl.
Mukuro paused momentarily in both her attack and defence to look at the shape of her opponent's energy, gasping when she saw that it was identical to the pattern of Hiei's energy when she had met him in the halls of the stadium.
"If you can do all that, I wonder if you can summon Hiei's famous dragon as well," Mukuro said, lashing out a kick. "Somehow I doubt it."
"Hn," Shippo said, gritting his teeth slightly as his smirk grew. He jumped back, and without nearly so much ceremony as Hiei did when he summoned the dragon, sent a great maw of flames out at Mukuro, looking rather reptilian as it streaked through the air towards her. "You wanted fire?"
Mukuro paled slightly and dodged quickly, but the dark flames followed her.
"I don't believe this people! Not only has Shippo transformed himself to look like Hiei, but he seems to be able to replicate even his most energy-draining and destructive attacks!" Koto yelled. "I don't know where he got the power, or how he's doing it, but that looks like a rampaging dragon of the darkness flame to me!"
"You're forgetting Koto," Yuda said softly. "We know that Shippo is a master of illusions. It is entirely possible that this dragon we are witnessing is merely another of his tricks."
"Except that it's destroying everything in its wake as it chases after Mukuro," Koto pointed out.
Yuda shifted. "It could be a highly elaborate illusion," he defended.
"Well, regardless of what it is or how Shippo is doing it, Mukuro is forced to flee before the fiery creature or risk finding out if it's as real as it looks," Koto said.
Mukuro dodged the dragon again, landing behind Shippo, hoping that the flames would eat her opponent before herself and be satisfied. Instead it went around him, spreading out its body of black flames in a circle around Mukuro with Shippo blocking the only way out.
He turned to face her, his sword drawn and levelled at her throat.
"Now, Yusuke said at the beginning of all this that he'd really rather we didn't all kill each other, so that he would have the chance to fight us all again another day," Shippo said, letting the illusion of Hiei fall away, leaving no body behind at all, though the sword remained pointed at her throat, and the black dragon now encircled her and was spiralling around until she was within a dome of the dark fire, though a distance away from them all so that none of the flames touched her. "So what will you do now Mukuro?" Shippo's voice asked, though he was nowhere to be seen.
"Perhaps I will test if the sword and the dragon are illusions or not," she said, stepping forward slightly. The blade pressed into her skin, and blood was drawn. "That's sharp," Mukuro admitted, stepping back from the blade and putting her hand to her throat to cover the wound. Looking behind her, she stepped back again and felt the heat of the licking black flames against her whole body. "And that is hot," she granted, then sighed. "It was a good fight Shippo, and you have outsmarted me."
"Due to Mukuro being completely trapped inside that rather terrifying dome of black flames, and apparently unable to make any bid for freedom, the win of this fight goes to the surprising Shippo!" Koto said, blinking at the screen. "Though, just where he got to, I honestly don't know!"
Shippo held the black flames in place for a few minutes, waiting for the fight to be officially called in his favour. When it was, he sent it racing off to apparently devour a rock and disappear. The sword that had been pointed at Mukuro's neck gave a pop, and Shippo did a small flip as he returned to his own form.
"You trapped yourself inside as well?" Mukuro asked, shocked.
"Wouldn't have been able to hear your quiet voice over the crackle of flames if I wasn't in there too," Shippo pointed out with a grin, showing some of Mukuo's blood on his teeth.
"How did you summon the dragon of the darkness flame?" she questioned. "You don't seem the type to use such dangerous techniques."
Shippo grinned broadly. "Now now, can't be telling my secrets before the last fight, now can I?"
~oOo~
Kagome was waiting for Kurama and Shippo when they returned to the stadium, hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
"Kagome?" Kurama asked softly, worried about what could have her looking so sternly at them.
"You have to fight each other next," she stated. "And did it ever occur to you about what you're going to do in the event that you win this? Or what it would do to me to see my fiancé and my son fighting each other?"
Kurama and Shippo both rushed to hug the most precious woman in their lives tightly between them.
"Of course we've thought about it Kaa-san," Shippo said. "Don't worry, even if we win, we'll be home in a few years when the next Tournament comes. Though honestly, Raizen is the one most likely to win."
"And we were just discussing our fight when we saw you," Kurama added. "I thought it might be interesting to see how we go fighting in our fully fox forms, the way that foxes fight."
"You mean teeth and claws until one of you is limping away with bits of your fur torn out?" Kagome asked with a demanding accusation in her voice. She sighed reluctantly. "I suppose that would be best though," she conceded. "You know, there's a bit of speculation about what kind of demon Shippo really is, because he's used so many illusions throughout the Tournament. Which reminds me, Koto wants to interview you," Kagome informed her son.
Shippo's face turned red. "Koto?" he asked quietly.
Kagome's eyes sparkled with mischief. "My son has a crush!" she teased. "Yes, Koto. You know the one. The fox-girl who loves watching the fights so much that she got the job as mistress of ceremonies. So get over to that commentary box!" Kagome urged, giving Shippo a push in that direction.
"Ah, young love," Kurama observed with a falsely dramatic sigh, slipping his arm around Kagome as he watched the younger fox go. Shifting his gaze to Kagome, he smiled. "And on that subject," he added, leaning in and kissing her cheek softly, then trailing his nose up the side of her face until he reached her ear, which he nibbled on fondly.
Kagome giggled at the treatment, but didn't object. "You're such a flirt. What would your fangirls think if they could see you now?"
"If they could see me now then I imagine some of them would have passed out from the very idea that I am not just the perfect student they all watch and drool over, and those who managed to remain conscious would be plotting your demise," Kurama answered. "Not that they would succeed of course."
"Of course," Kagome agreed with a chuckle.
~oOo~