Riddle would have thought things would change, now that he was in a 'friends with benefits' relationship with the Leech twins. To his confusion, nothing really did.

Outside of a few comments here or there, no one seemed to really care that he was sleeping with the twins. Floyd was even more clingy now than ever, not that Riddle minded much outside of token protest.

Of course that was when life decided to throw the genderfluid teen yet another curveball.

"What is the Dark Tournament?" said Riddle, confused.

The fact Crowley didn't jump at the chance to show off his school's superiority was a glaring red flag in Riddle's mind. If anything, he seemed visibly unhappy that Riddle had been 'selected' to act on the guest team for this tournament.

"The Dark Tournament is something that the darker side of humanity hosts once a year. The sponsors create a select team usually comprised of youkai and the rare human and have them compete in death matches until only one team is left," said Professor Trein quietly.

"Guest teams are usually comprised of people or youkai who have earned the bad side of the sponsors," said Yukina quietly. "I'm guessing Kurama and the others were selected for rescuing me from one of the now ex-sponsors."

Riddle knew his aunt had been captured by a rather unpleasant human, but had never pried the details.

"Why was I selected?" asked Riddle.

Crowley's frown became even more pronounced.

"From what I've been able to ascertain, Alyssa was selected due to her internet idol status. My guess is the sponsors have less than savory plans should the guest team fail this year," said Crowley.

Riddle had a shiver of disgust and horror go down his spine. He really didn't want to hear any more details as it was bad enough he was being dragged into this.

On the plus side, he wouldn't be going alone. On the downside, he would have to undergo a crash course in how to fight properly.

The sword lessons he had been getting from Lilia were promptly sent up a notch, and his new ability to create a secondary body for Alyssa was tested to the utmost limit.

As Night Raven was a boy's school, Riddle would attend lessons to keep their grades up. Alyssa was the better fighter of the two anyway.

It wasn't just Lilia who was training her either. Yukina, despite being more of a healer than a fighter, would train Alyssa in her limited ice powers. While she wasn't as good at defending herself, Yukina did know the basic techniques all Koorime learned at a young age.

Alyssa could only hope that she survived this nonsense.

~*~*~*~~*

Alyssa knew her mother would be angry at her inclusion to the guest team. Honestly, she had no idea why she was selected beyond the fact that the tournament sponsors wanted to use her for their own gain and dark amusement.

Kurama was downright livid when he saw Alyssa standing there.

"They dragged you into this mess too?"

Behind him, Hiei tensed.

"Apparently I was personally selected as the sub member. The letter made it clear I won't be given a choice in the matter," said Alyssa unhappily.

Kurama said nothing, but it was clear he was furious about the matter.

"We won't be able to protect you in the ring," said Hiei.

"I know. But aunt Yukina was very helpful with a new trick I created. Besides one of my guard will be live-streaming this for the rest of the school," said Alyssa.

"Wait...I thought Yukina-chan went back to her homeland?" said Kuwabara.

Alyssa smirked at him.

"Actually she did for about a week, but then Mama alerted her to where I was so she's been acting as the secondary school nurse. She's very popular with my classmates, though my dorm has adopted her as one of our own."

"How did Crowley explain that one?" asked Kurama bemused.

"I'm the first youkai they've had in Night Raven in over two hundred years. Add in my background, and it was easier to add her as a school nurse to help train and contain my powers than it was to hire someone who wouldn't know how to handle me," said Alyssa. "Besides, most of the school is leery of bothering her after the example my dorm made of one idiot. Once it became known she was under our protection, the worst of the fools backed off very quickly."

Sensing the presence of a powerful fighter, Alyssa tensed. She only relaxed once she realized one of them was Yusuke.

"Shit, they dragged you into this mess too, Alyssa-chan?" said Yusuke.

"Sub member, though I'm permitted to join before the death of a team member under certain circumstances," said Alyssa. "No way was I going to let these fools slip one past us because we didn't read the rules first."

A fact that would come in very handy a little later.

On the island...

Cater whistled appreciatively when he saw the hotel. Floyd looked around boredly, while Che'nya was already marking out who he would be robbing of their shiny toys for later. Jade would be joining them later, mostly so he could do a bit of marketing. Normally they would never be able to afford this sort of hotel and would have to slum with the others.

However one of Kalim's uncles had a few high priced tickets to the tournament, but had to back out due to scheduling issues. Some deal or other that required his full attention. So he had donated all four tickets to the boys, with Kalim sponsoring their hotel room.

He would have come himself, but Crowley barely allowed Cater and the twins to go to represent the school and act as Alyssa's back up. Che'nya had gotten in citing a 'family emergency' which his family backed up.

Alyssa/Riddle was practically family anyway.

Cater felt really out of place in the foyer, so they went straight to their hotel room. He looked in disbelief at the lavish nature of the room.

"This is the cheapest double bed they had? It looks like a four-star hotel's most expensive room!" he said in disbelief.

Even Che'nya was in disbelief. Then he shook it off.

"We're still sticking to the original plan regarding bed arrangements, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, you and I will share one bed, and the twins share the other. It's safer that way," said Cater, putting his stuff down.

He was carrying a large bag on his shoulder that contained special equipment. Part of the agreement was that Cater would live-stream the tournament for Riddle's team so everyone could see them fight. Riddle and Alyssa had a rather large following in the school, and this was 'educational' according to Crowley, due to how rare youkai were these days.

Dealing with Riddle's emerging powers had been a learning curve for everyone involved. And often not in a good way.

Che'nya suddenly perked up, and his eyes went to the window facing the sea.

"What is it?"

"Alyssa-chan is here," he said grinning. Cater stared at him. "I have an internal radar for our Princess."

Cater grinned, and used some his new binoculars to look out to the sea.

"There's a large freighter heading this way, about to dock. You must have one hell of a range," he commented.

"Should we greet her now or wait for them to reach the hotel?"

"Wait," said Cater, zooming in. "Looks like they had an unofficial preliminary, so let's wait for them to reach their room first."

Che'nya grinned wickedly.

In Team Urameshi's room

Alyssa sensed something was off, when Yusuke's cup disappeared.

"Eh? Where's Urameshi's cup go?" said Kuwabara.

"Bleh...coffee. Tea is a better drink," said a disembodied voice.

Hearing Kuwabara yelp at the floating head of Che'nya was deeply cathartic. Alyssa brightened up seeing him.

"Nii-san!"

Che'nya snickered, before balancing the cup on his head. He weathered the tackle hug Alyssa gave him with ease.

"Did you really think I'd let my little sister go to a death tournament without coming as back up?" he said snickering. One hand was wrapped around Alyssa, the other was texting someone.

"Who else is here?" asked Alyssa. Call it an odd instinct, but she sensed some other familiar presences nearby. And they were getting closer.

"Hope we're not late for the party. We brought snacks," said someone outside. Alyssa brightened up, and hurriedly opened the door to reveal Cater and Floyd.

"Friends of yours?" said Kuwabara.

Cater grinned and made a 'V' with his fingers.

"Big brother figures and one half of a friends with benefits deal," said Cater. "Though how Floyd convinced her into a threesome with his twin for her first time, I'll never understand."

Kurama's eyes narrowed, and next to him so did Hiei.

"Really. Please tell me all the details about that," said Kurama.

Call him overprotective, but Alyssa was still his baby. Hiei was much the same, now that he was aware of who Alyssa was.

Floyd...was internally hoping Jade showed up soon.

Alyssa was in much brighter spirits knowing that Cater and the others were there.

Che'nya had his head resting on top of Alyssa's, his tail curled around her protectively.

~*~*~*~*~

Kurama was out getting food for the room when he noticed the mild uproar in the foyer.

Several rich and pompous fools were complaining to the management about their fancy and overpriced items being missing.

Kurama kept up his stride, a slight smirk on his face. Once they were out of range, he turned to his left.

"Not bad. I give you three out of five," he said.

Che'nya appeared out of nowhere, the small bag by his side bulging a bit.

"That's high praise coming from you," he said grinning. Kurama smirked a him.

"Want some tips on how to be better?" he asked. Che'nya grin widened as he nodded. "First let's see what sort of haul you've made."

"I tried to find some sparkles for the princess. That and things I could pawn real quick for some tacky items to take home."

Alyssa...wisely said nothing seeing her mother and big brother having a little chat to the side between matches. She also did not ask where Che'nya found all that jewelry, as she felt she didn't want to know.

Kurama was rather bemused that his baby had been adopted by a rather promising thief. Che'nya was still an amateur but held great promise.

That being said, he planned to have a long, painful discussion with the twins soon. Preferably after the first round.

In the stadium...

"Where'd you go?" asked Cater. Che'nya had snacks, but his bag was suspiciously bulging again. Floyd was eagerly watching the fights with open interest.

"Having a bit of fun. People need a better hand on their wallets," said Che'nya grinning.

"So long as we don't have to bail you out...HOLY SHIT!" said Cater, as all three of them got up and dove out of the way of a massive gout of flame from the idiot challenging the shorter demon. Seeing the char marks on the area where they were sitting was pretty damn scary.

"That was fun!" laughed Floyd.

"Fun my ass! We nearly got roasted!"

Cater didn't hesitate when he saw the tiny spitfire creating flames of his own.
"Roast his ass shorty!" shouted Cater.

Hiei twitched slightly at the short comment, but Kurama was too busy snickering at his expense.

Cater felt some dark satisfaction seeing the asshole who nearly roasted them turned into a charred spot on the wall.

Kurama met up with them shortly after the round was over. At least Yusuke was awake properly.

"So what was your haul this time?" asked Kurama to Che'nya.

Che'nya looked downright smug, as he dumped the bag onto the table in the hotel room.

"Holy...what were you up to during the match?"

"I came back to see Alyssa's mama fox fight, but I had a lot of fun snagging this," said Che'nya proudly.

"Why do you call Kurama 'mama fox', when he's a guy?" asked Kuwabara.

"Because I am her mother," said Kurama. Yusuke and Kuwabara choked, just a bit. "I was very, very drunk and her father was such an adorable little firecracker that I didn't think twice about bedding him. Was not expecting to have Alyssa, but I have no regrets."

Alyssa happily cuddled with her mother in her fox form. Everyone agreed her kitsune form was beyond adorable as hell and huggable.