As two months had passed, it was time for the Dark Tournament to begin as demons were arriving to participate in this event. They did smell a human which Kuwabara was standing in the middle between Kurama and Hiei while they were waiting for Yusuke and Nezuko to arrive.
"Urameshi still hasn't shown up yet! What could that dummy be doing now?" Kuwabara complained.
"Hopefully he's bringing Nezuko along on this trip," Kurama said.
"Why don't you worry about yourself, Kuwabara? Have you gotten any better since our last fight?" Hiei questioned the weak human out of the rest to wonder how much he had improved during their last fight since he and Kurama were helping out the two humans and a demon that was with them.
"You'll see for yourself, shrimp boy!" Kuwabara claimed.
"The ship is here, maties. Now let's try to get on board without any violence." The captain says as he approached the demons that were waiting to meet them to get on board so they can head over to "Hanging Neck Island".
"Uh, hey wait a minute, sir! Our team still has some stragglers!" Kuwabara cried out.
"Then we'll have to put a mark on their heads and send out a hitman. A standard rule of the tournament!" The captain remarked.
"Now, now! That's not necessary!" A voice coming from the shadows made everyone look directly at the forest as they saw Yusuke standing there wearing a red jacket (with yellow-tinted cuffs and collar) over a white shirt, along with pale blue jeans and white sneakers. On his back, he was carrying Nezuko and he had his other set of clothes in his gym bag over his shoulders.
"Sorry to keep you waiting guys." He said wearing a small grin on his face.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Urameshi!" Exclaimed Kuwabara.
Yusuke chuckles as he leaned against a tree, "These forest hikes really wipe me out!"
"Yeah, you look awful! Oh wait, that's just you!" Kuwabara snickered.
"Did you bring Nezuko with you?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yeah." Yusuke arched up his shoulder to sway the bag on his back. "She's fast asleep like a baby in their mother's womb." He glanced back at her to hear the soft snores coming from the girl.
"Yusuke," Hiei called up to him as the detective looked down at him meeting him eye to eye. The next thing he was prepared for was when Hiei began to strike an attack against the male trying to see how much he has improved during the last two months of his training. When Yusuke caught the tip of Hiei's sword wearing a cocky grin on his face.
"Damn Hiei, is this how you say hello to people now?" Yusuke jokingly asked.
"Hn," Hiei smirks. "I don't know where you've been all of this time, but it seems you improved your skills a little bit."
"Improved a little bit! Oh, man! I'd say he improved a lot of bits!" Kuwabara exclaimed wearing a deadpanned face.
"Don't be discouraged. The fact that you could follow their moves shows you have improved as well." Kurama tries to encourage the orange male not to feel left out for the sake of him being a weakling after training for two months.
"So, Yusuke. I assume that Nezuko is prepared for the dark tournament without any weapon to carry around with?" Hiei inquired.
"Yeah. I did ask her a couple of times if she needed a weapon, but she just refused." Yusuke shrugged his shoulders as the demon looked behind the bag to see the girl was in a trance of sleep not hearing them discussing her terms.
"That's ridiculous! What if she gets herself killed out there by our opponents?" Kuwabara asked.
"She'll be fine. I've been training her and practically studying her moves and skills that are quite impressive." Hiei says not facing back at the male wearing a stoic expression before facing back up at Yusuke.
"Trust me. Nezuko can fight just like she has been before this whole thing started." Yusuke grinned.
As they were boarding the ship, Yusuke sets Nezuko beside him as he decided to fall asleep after all of the training he went through. While they were riding on the boat ride, Nezuko leans forward to make the bag fall she climbs out to scan her unfamiliar surroundings. She wore a dark pink shirt with black hards on the back of her sleeves and a huge one printed on the front, a pair of blue shorts, white shoes, and pink socks to go with her outfit.
"Hey, Nezuko!" Kuwabara greeted. She turned her head to face him and looked over to see Kurama and Hiei as well. As she fully came out of the bag to see what was happening and where they were going.
"We're on a ship that will take us to where the Dark Tournament is being taken place," Kurama explained.
Nezuko tilted her head at the word "Ship" that she never road on before. Hiei remembered after taking her out a couple of nights into the city she has never seen or hasn't heard before.
"A ship is when they carry passengers to travel around over the water to different places." Hiei tries to explain to her as her eyes lit up. She went over to the rail to feel the breeze blowing past her to make her hair blow all the way back as she was in awe at the huge water they were sailing across on.
"She seems excited about riding on a ship." Kuwabara lightly chuckles.
"That's because she never heard or has been on a ship before," Hiei replied eying the happy girl, merely forming a small smile on his lips.
"Shoot, nothin' here but ugly monsters." Kuwabara groaned. "I thought cruises were supposed to have pretty girls."
"I sure hope the island isn't as boring as this." Hiei grumpily said.
"We're not on a vacation, you know." Kurama implied.
Kuwabara lets out a huff," I know, but couldn't they at least just give us a place to eat? With pretty waitresses?"
"Alrighty, maties. Turn your eyes to the captain's deck." We had our ears and eyes focused on the captain who was controlling the ship. "It's still going to be quite a time before the ship finds her way to the harbor. So we'll be having some entertainment to keep you from getting rowdy."
The captain continues speaking, "The preliminary battles of the tournament will be fought here on me a trusty ship!"
"Say what?" Kuwabara exclaimed.
"A preliminary for the competition." Hiei simply said.
That's when they felt the ship began to shake as Hiei regain his balance from not falling off the rail he standing on.
"EARTHQUAKE!" Kuwabara cried out.
"Fool. There can't be earthquakes on the water." Hiei scoffed.
Kurama pointed on the other side to see the middle part of the ship was moving on two opposite ends to bring out a ring in the middle.
"Now I will tell you this straight. Fifteen teams have already been chosen for the Dark Tournament. They're awaiting your arrival. That means, out of all you on my ship only one team will compete on dry land." The captain said.
"Hold on. I thought we were a special guest." Kuwabara said.
"This is the way they operate." Hiei bluntly said.
"All teams bring out your strongest man and bring him to the arena's portside. There they'll fight in a Battle Royale, and whoever comes out alive gets their team a ticket to fight on Hanging-Neck Island." The captain said.
Kuwabara was shaking Yusuke's shoulders to wake him up, but Kurama stops him saying that our friend has been through a lot and we should wait until he recuperates.
"Then who's gonna fight with all the big monsters?!" Kuwabara exclaimed in a slight panic of his voice.
Then they saw they saw Nezuko leaving to go head up to the arena's portside. Hiei says "Hn, it seems we have a volunteer. Good. I'm anxious to see what she can do."
"Are you serious? Not everyone including Urameshi knows anything about that girl. What if she loses and we get booted from the tournament!" Kuwabara questioningly asked.
He grins, "If that happens all we have to do is kill everyone else on the boat before we reach the island. We'll say we're the right team and no one will complain."
"You didn't have too many friends growing up, did you?" Kuwabara's sweat drops twitching his eye at Hiei.
Nezuko was heading up to the ring to see what the other demons in the team were like. Though they weren't friendly looking because in their eyes they had bloodthirst and hunger for wanting to hurt Nezuko. When the match began, the demons were charging straight towards Nezuko as she changed her expression as a sign of danger to face against those demons with no issue. Not a single demon could take on the girl with her amazing combat skills that she didn't need a weapon when she could only use her hands and feet. When she was done taking them all on her expression turned back to normal as she went back to her teammates.
"Holy crap! She knocked everyone with no hesitation!" Kuwabara said.
"I guess that explains why Yusuke can sleep so peacefully on a boat full of demons." Kurama sighed.
Unwittingly, they were surrounded by demons wearing a dark malicious smile on their faces. They had evil in their eyes and snickered around them.
"I think they stole my idea. We'll have to make them pay very dearly for that." Hiei said with a scowl on his face.
They huddle around together as they took advantage to defeat the demons that Hiei's hypnosis was right after all. One demon was left on the boat and he was heading straight for Yusuke, before Nezuko could reach him it seemed as if Yusuke was able to take him on for himself.
"Come on! You can't scare me, grandma! I'll knock you back to your grave!" Yusuke exclaimed swinging his fists around.
"That's a relief. He's finally awake." Kuwabara said.
"No, fool. He's sleeping." Hiei simply said.
"Right now?" Kuwabara asked.
"Quit you, stupid old lady!" Yusuke said as he stopped himself and sat back down still sleeping.
"Even in his slumber, Yusuke is relieving his training," Kurama said. "His preparations should make us all jealous."
"What happened to the fight we were just in?" Kuwabara asked.
"Everyone's dead," Kurama replied, as they walked off the boat with Hiei, Nezuko, and Kuwabara who were carrying Yusuke along with Nezuko's bag.
We then found a place to rest for the night called Hotel Kubikukuri. These elegant hotels are in the center of Kubikukuri Island, they are popular with human guests who come to watch the tournament. As such, teams are allowed rooms at this top-notch hotel to rest and recuperate before and after their battles. The Kubikukuri hotel prides itself that it is a luxury hotel, both in image and service. The 24/7 lobby is always open and bright, intricate lamps hang from the ceilings and illuminate large paintings in the room. Large sofas and chairs are arranged in the living room, for guests to congregate in the main lobby. The rooms overlook the ocean of the island's beaches, each with a small private foyer of its own with a sofa or two and chairs, as well as a bedroom.
"Well, it's defiantly better than the pirate ship!" Kuwabara said.
That's when a tall slim male in a fancy tuxedo approached us, "The best of the evening, lady and gentlemen. The hotel has been expecting you. Please, follow me"
The man leads them to their room where they'll be staying during the tournament. Nezuko was in awe as she kept her eyes locked on the fancy things, although Hiei had to make sure she sticks with the group without getting separated. When they were escorted to their hotel room, Yusuke was still asleep to regain his energy.
"I gotta hand it to them. They sure know how to make things pretty!" Kuwabara complimented forming a small grin. "I haven't seen this much rich stuff in my whole life!"
Nezuko decided to lay on the floor and stare up at the ceiling in a daze. Kuwabara looks at her quite confused.
"Nezuko! You shouldn't lay on the floor. They probably didn't have time to clean up the place." Kuwabara exclaimed.
"Let her lay there. She seems too into her own world anyway." Hiei said with a slight shrug as Nezuko's eyes glanced over to Hiei standing beside her.
"Your coffee gentlemen and lady. Compliments of the hotel." The room service placed the cups of coffee in front of them on the coffee table and left the room. The main three except for Nezuko was grabbing a drink but Kuwabara stops himself.
"Careful, those fancy guys might be trying to poison us," Kuwabara warned as Nezuko perked her head up to see the boys taking their coffee cups.
Kurama takes his cup of coffee glimpsing at Kuwabara questionably, "Does that really make sense Kuwabara? Why would they bring us all the way here to poison us?"
Hiei speaks up, "The organizers want to see us fight. They'll save their murder attempts for tomorrow."
The orange male ignores them and digs through his bag saying, "You guys can talk your logic all you want. I'm sticking with the trusty old aluminum."
"Mmm...Mmm..." Nezuko said as she raised her legs and starts kicking them in the air.
"Don't you want a drink too? Or are you taking my advice Nezuko?" Kuwabara asked.
"She can't drink anything human-related you fool," Hiei replied after taking a sip from his drink.
That's when Kurama noticed something on the coffee table and asked, "Why is there only one coffee cup on the table?"
"That's the one I'm not drinking, remember? Duh, we had this conversation." Kuwabara implied.
"Yes, so there should be two. One for you, Nezuko, and one for Yusuke." Kurama said.
"Wow, you think Urameshi can drink in his sleep, too?" Kuwabara asked.
Then they heard someone drinking behind us as they turned to see a boy who looked like a child sitting on top of the fancy table.
"How did you get in here?" Kurama asked demandingly.
"He-He must have hiding in the room before we even got in!" Kuwabara said.
"Fibber! Fibber! I came through the door after you got here. Isn't that what good boys are supposed to do?" The boy grinned as he scratches the back of his neck. "Oops, I guess I did forget to knock though!" He says as he took a sip from his drink and smiled at them.
"So you guys are the guests aren't you? You're so lucky!" He said. "Oh, my name is Rinku by the way. I'm on the Royuyakai team that you're fighting tomorrow!"
"Is that so?" Kuwabara implies.
Rinku sets the empty coffee cup on the table placing his two fingers to balance himself grinning happily, "I wish I was a guest. They don't have to go to all the boring opening ceremonies or meetings about the rules! You just show up here and fight! Guess you don't have to learn about all the prizes and final round stuff when you're gonna be dead soon!" As Nezuko peeks around the corner of the couch to see Rinku her facial change from a little grumpy look on her face which she was confused to find a child in their room.
"Somebody told me the guest would be special so I got excited. But you don't look special at all!" Rinku forms a mischievous grin on his lips, "Maybe I'll even beat you no-hands!"
"Don't you think your talking too much?" They heard someone else in the room see another person in the room leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest.
"What? Who is he? Somethin's wrong. I didn't sense either of em' coming!" Kuwabara inquired.
"Hey there Zeru! I was just saying how-dee-do to our enemies!" Rinku said.
"Enjoy the last night that you're living. Let's just say that tomorrow will see you strongly resemble your coffee cup," Zeru said sending them a glare to break the cut in half as Nezuko wasn't paying them any mind to them. She did sense that these two were going to be hard to deal with tomorrow. She was amazed at what he just did before he and Rinku left out the room.
"I think that's enough coffee for one night," Kurama said placing his tea back on the coffee table as he glanced over at Nezuko. "Nezuko? Are you going to be sleeping with Yusuke tonight? I know how much you two had gotten along together since he lets you sleep on the floor and he sleeps in the bed." He politely questioned the girl if she would want a room for herself or stay with Yusuke instead since she's always clinging around him the most.
"Perhaps she can stay in one of our rooms. Aren't there two beds in this hotel?" Hiei inquired.
"You're right." Kurama grinned. "Let her share a room with you tonight, and then maybe when Yusuke wakes up by tomorrow. She can return to him like she always does." The fire demon sent a glare over at the fox as he saw Nezuko sitting up looking over at them as her gaze fallen over at Yusuke. She crawls over to where he was ignoring the two demons' quarrel as she reached over to Yusuke's hand trying to do like he does every night when they go to bed is to give her a head pat.
As for Kuwabara who noticed her trying to get ahead pat from him, she saw her frown a little. He set his drink aside glancing over at the girl along with Kurama and Hiei that stopped in the middle of their conversation.
"Nezuko?" Kurama called out for the girl's name as she stares at Yusuke's sleeping form.
As Nezuko let out a low groan she cupped Yusuke's face as she headbutted him and raise her head back up. She faced back at the others as blood coming from the center of her skull started to run and her eyes started to water up as she began to whimper and then tears started to fall.
"It's all right, Nezuko. He's just sleeping and I know you want to see him awake." Kuwabara tries to calm the girl down as she lowered her head.
'She's crying because she didn't get ahead part from the Detective? I guess this is a nightly routine they do.' Hiei thought as he let a sigh escape from his lips.
"I will look after her until he wakes up," Hiei muttered as the fox formed a small smile on his lips.
"I'm sure she is appreciated by this," Kurama said.
As they were all heading to their rooms, Nezuko was a little upset that Yusuke wasn't waking up to give her a head pat like he always does. She had to share a room with Hiei until when Yusuke awakes may in the morning or sometime around the afternoon. Who knows?
"All right, you go run and take a shower while I wait out here," Hiei said walking over to sit on his bed he chose to sleep in while Nezuko went to go run a quick shower. After Nezuko had finished showering she wore a pink nightgown and steps out to dry her hair that was wet. "Hn, you need to put it up so that way it won't get in the way while your sleeping." He approached over to the girl grabbing a hair tye after she finished drying it and puts it in a high ponytail.
"Mmm!" Nezuko said as she turned around to give Hiei a head pat before heading over to her bed. Hiei stares at the girl for a while as he retreated to go to the bathroom and runs a quick shower as well. When Hiei took his shower and exited out wearing a light grey long sleeves shirt and black pants he looked over to see Nezuko was fast asleep already.
'I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow if you can't fight in the ring. Koenma better hurries up with the sample that I ordered for Nezuko.' He thinks to himself as he walked over to his bed and lays there for a while after switching off the lamp before facing away and shut his eyes to fall into a deep slumber.