Chapter Six

Yuki wasn't surprised to see some of the members of Team Urameshi watching the fight from a balcony. If anything, it was expected.

"Today we have Team Toguro facing off against Team Spirit Warriors!" Came Koto's voice.

It was certainly very different to be down in the arena and not watching from the stands. Yuki was looking over at the stands when a cold hand draped over his shoulder.

Yuki spun around.

"Sakyo told me to let you have at least one fight," Older Toguro smirked. "Can you handle that, little demon?"

The blood-manipulator nodded. "I managed to fend you off. I think I can handle this."

There was a flicker of annoyance as Older Toguro stalked back to his brother.

"And next we have Team Toguro's Yuki, who was absent from their first fight, up against Team Spirit Warrior's Gorilla!" Koto's voice blasted throughout the stadium.

Yuki jumped up onto the stage as a large demon carrying an enormous hammer did the same. His hair was long and parted with a yellow headband wrapped around his forehead.

"This is who I'm fighting?" Gorilla sneered. "A little demon like you? I bet you don't even know how to fight."

Yuki didn't respond.

"BEGIN!"

Gorilla charged at the smaller demon but Yuki jumped high into the air, effectively dodging the attack. As he sailed over the ring, he scratched at his arm, the blood flowing down the limb and quickly transforming into a crimson blade. Small drops of extra blood caught the light and glittered before being spattered onto the ring's floor. He landed silently at the other end where Gorilla had once stood.

"Ot'to! It looks like Contestant Yuki has gracefully dodged Contestant Gorilla's mad charge!"

"It doesn't matter if you've got a weapon, cause my hammer will crush it and you!" Gorilla yelled, charging again, this time with his hammer at the ready.

As Gorilla charged, Yuki willed the extra droplets of blood that had fallen on the floor to come to life and wrap around Gorilla's legs, stopping the demon's attack.

"Coward!" he spat.

"As long as I win," Yuki replied, jumping into the air and swinging his sword downwards. Gravity would make up for the brute strength he didn't have.

His mind didn't register what he had done until he felt the blood fly onto his face. Silently, he looked over his work. Gorilla's torso had been split diagonally from his neck to underneath his right arm, the wound spraying blood everywhere. It had been a relatively quick death, the demon only had seconds to gag on blood and register what had happened.

"And Contestant Gorilla has been brutally dispatched! This round goes to Team Toguro!"

Yuki hadn't even realized he had left the stage until he heard a begrudging "Well done," from the armor wearing Bui.

He nodded numbly, the blood sword still in his hand. But it felt heavy.

"That was very well done, Yuki," Sakyo smiled.

"Thank you, sir," came the demon's reply.

"Will you be participating in the other rounds as well?"

Yuki shook his head. "Not if I can help it."

"Why not?"

"I... believe I am not needed. The rest of Team Toguro is capable of fighting more than I am. They are more experienced."

Sakyo nodded. "That is true. But I believe you to be a valuable asset with your capabilities."

"Thank you... but your praise is misplaced," Yuki shook his head. "I have no desire to continue being associated with Team Toguro after the tournament."

"I see."

As Yuki left the arena, he spotted Team Urameshi conversing with the girls from yesterday. While his initial thought was that they were all human, he realized that two were not. One, who he assumed to be Yukina judging from her appearance, was a demon. The other, with bright blue hair and a chipper attitude, was something else entirely. The rest were human like he thought.

It wasn't long before he was spotted by Kuwabara. He gave Yuki a wide smile and waved him over. He hesitated when he felt the masked fighter's eyes on him.

"Hey! Yuki! What're you doing over there!" Yusuke called, realizing what Kuwabara was waving at.

With a sigh of resignation, Yuki made his way to the group. The girls were staring at him as he silently walked up to him.

"Hey Yusuke," Yuki greeted once he was close enough. "Kuwabara."

"That was an awesome fight, man!" Yusuke clapped his hand on the small demon's back, making Yuki stumble and his back sting. "Now I really wanna fight ya!"

"Yusuke!" the brunette with a bob scolded.

"Maybe one day," Yuki tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

"You're Yuki-kun, right?" the brunette girl turned her gaze to the white-haired demon.

He nodded.

"Yusuke has told me about you. Your fight was certainly something."

Was it just him or were her words especially chilly?

"Er, thank you...?" Yuki trailed off, unsure of what her name was.

"Keiko," she told him with great reluctance.

"This is my older sister, Shizuru," Kuwabara butt in, possibly sensing the tension.

Yuki turned his gaze to the taller brunette and they shared a nod.

"I'm Botan," the blue haired girl chirped.

Yuki gave her a nod and a small smile. She seemed interesting.

"I'm Yukina," the small female demon greeted, her smile somewhat forced.

Was she afraid of him? He was barely taller than her. What was she afraid of?

"We seem to have similar names," Yuki smiled as kindly as he could. "Nice to meet you."

Yukina's smile was a little more genuine this time. "Likewise."

"So what technique did you use to kill that guy, Yuki?" Yusuke asked, his voice curious, laced with just a smidgen of force.

"It wasn't really a technique," Yuki began carefully. "It's simply what I can do."

"You can control your blood? Dude, that's morbid. Don't you ever get, y'know, side effects of something?" Kuwabara sounded mildly disgusted.

"I... haven't really found out," the white-haired demon admitted.

Even in that fight, he hadn't felt the effects of using so much blood. Was it because of that strange sense of euphoria?

"How did your fights go?" Yuki wanted to move away from himself as much as possible.

"We won!" Yusuke grinned at that.

As Yuki, Kuwabara, and Yusuke all chatted about their fights, the girls seemed to be discussing something. As soon as Yusuke and Kuwabara started to argue, Yuki decided that perhaps enough this was enough interaction for one day. His presence seemed to be upsetting to the girls.

"Hey, uh, I need to get back to my room, so..." Yuki trailed off, hoping one of them would get the hint.

"What? Why? It's not even sundown yet," Yusuke seemed genuinely surprised.

"I-well, I need to get some training in..."

"But I thought you said that you weren't going to participate in any more of the fights?"

"Uh, yeah, but that doesn't mean I can slack off...?" Yuki was getting desperate at this point.

"We should let him go, Yusuke," Keiko's voice made Yuki jump a little. "I'm sure he has other things to do than chat with you."

Thank you, I think.

Yusuke seemed a little put out by this, but he didn't object, instead wishing Yuki good luck on his training. Kuwabara seemed to be regarding Yuki with slight pity. Where had that come from?

Yuki quickly bid the group goodbye and hurried away from the glare he could feel from Keiko.

"What was that about, Keiko?" Botan hissed under her breath.

"I don't like him," the brunette huffed. "He's with that group of murderers! He even killed that poor guy earlier! You were there! You saw it!"

"Still! Did you have to be so obvious about it? If he was so inclined, he might have ripped you apart!"

Keiko did feel a little embarrassed about that. She had been so engrossed with trying to get him away that she hadn't really thought about it. He hadn't even felt remotely threatening actually. Or even looked it. Maybe a little hurt, but...

"I don't like him," she repeated.

Yuki did eventually start to train, but only after he tried to think about what he had done to make Keiko so mad at him. It didn't take long to figure out.

She probably thinks I'm a murderer. Which I am, but it was in self-defense! Well... not really. I... cut him down... killed him... God, I'm terrible, aren't I. I really shouldn't be surprised with the fact that she doesn't want me around her friends.

He decided to focus on creating different things with his blood to distract himself from the image of the dead demon that had seared itself in his mind. Absently, he created a crude shield, barely bigger than his hand. Then a card, a cartoon heart, and a realistic heart. He had been completely focused on that last one. The heart almost seemed to pulse in his hand. With a shock, he realized it was. His shock briefly made the heart flicker and droop back into a liquid. He focused again and inspected it more closely. It was definitely pulsing. But... how?

He gazed at his arm, surprised to see that the blood had solidified in ribbons curling around his arm. It trailed all the way back to the wound in the pale skin. Closer inspection revealed that there was a thin casing around the wound that stopped the blood and effectively any healing. Deciding to play around with it, he tried to focus on drawing the blood back into his arm. And it did. It was a slow and slightly painful process, but it worked.

He hoped there weren't any diseases that were harmful to demons.

CHAPTER 6! YAAAAY! *cough* I had quite a bit of fun writing this one, actually. I'm a little sad that we're coming close with being done with the Dark Tournament Arc, but I'm sure something will happen before the Sensui Arc... Anyway,

NEXT TIME: WHITE NOISE

DFTBA! :)