Notes: The first fight of the Dark Tournament! I'm so excited to finally be at this arc!

Chapter 7: The First Fight

Kuwabara put up a good fight. He really did.

In Team Urameshi's very first battle of the Dark Tournament, they were to fight against Team Rokuyukai: a team of which two of their members infiltrated Team Urameshi's hotel room unnoticed the night before. With Yusuke still sleeping like the dead, Kuwabara stepped up to decide the terms of the fight, which became a one-on-one elimination match. Rinku, a small, playful demon child who commanded yo-yos, was the first member to represent Team Rokuyukai, and Kuwabara bravely decided to participate in the first fight. The battle had gone back and forward many times. At first, Kuwabara seemed to have the advantage because he was able to keep track of Rinku's movements. But then, Rinku gained a dangerous upper hand with his yo-yos immobilizing Kuwabara. However, Kuwabara made a comeback by demonstrating his new ability to flex and curve his Spirit Sword at will.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Both fighters were knocked out of the ring, but Rinku's yo-yos wrapped themselves around Kuwabara and immobilized him once again, keeping him from getting back to the ring in time. Miwa felt bad for Kuwabara's first fight ending in a loss, but she was proud that he was at least able to apply what he had been trained in. Since her training with him focused on his control over his Spirit Sword, it pleased her to see him use a technique that resembled her control over water.

"Please, I'll handle this one."

Kurama was the next to fight. A blue-skinned demon with hair that stood straight up named Roto was his opponent. He had a cruel arrogance in his thin, yellow eyes, but Miwa did not sense much power in him, nor did she feel that he was much of a threat. She listened to Kuwabara and Hiei talk about how Kurama manipulates his Rose Whip, but based on their calm discussion, even they did not sense much of a threat from Roto. And really, once the fight started, Kurama had a clear advantage. Roto demonstrated an ability to form a scythe based from his wrist, but no matter how often he sliced, Kurama gracefully dodged him each time with very little effort.

"He's clearly no match for Kurama. What a joke of a round." Hiei said before sending a pointed look to Kuwabara. "It's a pity you couldn't have taken him and let Kurama deal with the little child and his yo-yos."

"Hey, watch it, Shrimpy. I just got cheated, is all!"

Miwa wanted to stop them from fighting, but she was too focused on the match in front of her. Something was off about this battle. The things Roto said before the match made her worried about its outcome.

"I know you've been spending years in the Human World..."

"I only hope you didn't say...get attached to one of them?"

Roto didn't seem especially powerful, but such pointed threats reeked of the blue-skinned creep having something twisted up his sleeve. As if...he had a strategy specifically designed to take down the clearly stronger opponent. It bothered her deeply that Roto brought up Shiori Minamino, which to any other cold-hearted demon would be the one method to exploit Kurama's laughable weakness.

Then, just when Kurama had appeared behind Roto with an offensive hand raised, Roto muttered a string of words with a sinister grin, words that, although barely audible to her, made Miwa's blood run cold.

"I have your human mother, Kurama, or should I say, Shuichi?"

Kurama, taken aback by the revelation, retreated from Roto's counter attack, but he was not unscathed. A thin line of blood appeared on his cheek, and it dribbled a grim trail of red on his pale skin. Kurama no longer exhumed the same confidence he held as he dodged Roto's strikes. He had leapt far away from Roto, and everything from his posture to his angry expression showed that, for the first time, Kurama was on the defensive against Roto. On the defensive, but with no opportunities to attack.

"What happened?" Kuwabara exclaimed, just as surprised as everyone else. "He's bleeding. You said no match!"

Miwa clutched her fists. This is bad…

"Allow me to introduce my little button." Roto pulled a black, handheld device with a glaring red button from his pocket. It fit so easily within his palm, that Miwa had to wonder how often he used this trick. Roto explained with an arrogant glee that the device would signal his brother to bite off Shiori Minamino's head. Shiori, the woman who raised Kurama for fifteen years, the woman who had escaped death by her son's crime, the woman who had finally resumed a normal life after her illness, was under threat once again.

Kurama understood the situation immediately, and to Miwa's dismay, he dropped his defensive stance and just stood there, with his hands uselessly hanging at his side. This was Roto's plan all along, and he took full advantage of it. The moment Kurama's hands hung at his side, Roto's scythe disappeared, and he ran up and punched Kurama straight in the face. With his mother at risk, Kurama had no choice but to take the hits, and each hit made Miwa's fingernails dig deeper and deeper into her palm. Her fists shook at her side, holding back the powerful urge to jump into the ring and punch Roto in his smug face, but Miwa couldn't allow that. With all of her willpower, Miwa forced herself to take a step back. She couldn't jump in. She just couldn't.

In between punches, Kurama had managed to flick a pebble that struck Roto's cheek. The blue-skinned demon shrugged it off as a small act of rebellion, but Miwa knew better. She knew Kurama's plan. She had seen it take root right under Roto's stupid nose. But Kurama's plan would need time, and Miwa tore her eyes away from the fight to look at her palms. Small, red, crescent moon lines had already formed across both palms. It's only the first fight, and already I…

She had no doubts Kurama could hold himself back until the proper moment, but could she?

"Now fold your arms behind your back and let me hit you as I please," Roto sneered.

Miwa hated to see Kurama act so submissive. Miwa hated that even with his counter fully planted, Kurama had to submit to such a weak, disgusting creature. This was part of the cruelties of the Dark Tournament. There was the blood, the death, the killing, but there were also the cheap, underhanded tricks. Miwa could hear the cheers of the crowd around her. They loved seeing the demon traitor obey the commands of someone as detestable as Roto. Even if they knew about Roto's threat, they would not care that an innocent woman's life was on the line. To them, a demon showing such kindness to a human was just laughable.

"What's wrong, Kurama?! Let 'em have it!" Kuwabara yelled, trying to overpower the cheers of the demon crowd.

"Quiet," Hiei snapped, eyes fixed on the ring.

Kuwabara looked down at the shorter demon to protest, but he fell silent when he looked past Hiei to Miwa's slowly building anger. Miwa did not look at him, nor did she say anything. A horrible sense of dread was building in her chest, and she had a feeling she knew what was going to come next. If she were to say a word, even to tell Kuwabara that he need not be worried, she feared that her anger would spill out with her words, and she would find herself climbing up the ringside before anyone could stop her.

Hiei cast her a sideways glance, but said nothing.

Roto arrogantly approached Kurama, taunting him, but Kurama only stared forward blankly. Even when he was hit over and over like a punching bag, his emotionless look had never faltered. He was always better at hiding his emotions. The complete opposite of Miwa. She would never have been able to hold her anger back so perfectly behind a mask of pure emptiness. Roto hated that mask. He summoned the scythe on his wrist again and slowly cut another wound on Kurama's cheek, but the fox didn't do so much as flinch. Roto hated that look, the look that he perceived as condescending, that Kurama was still better than him.

"Stop...that...look!"

Roto sharply drew his scythe upward, completing the x-shaped wound on Kurama's cheek, and blood flew through the air in droplets like red confetti. More blood dribbled down Kurama's cheek, over his chin, and down his neck, but his emotionless mask still did not waiver. Roto, clearly tired of this attitude, raised his left leg and pointed his foot to the ground. He leaned his elbow against his raised thigh so arrogantly, as if he held some kind of regal power.

"I want you to lick the scum off my boot. I just can't seem to keep it clean."

Miwa bared her teeth in anger, and she could not hold back the low growl from the back of her throat. Roto was really pushing his limits with her patience. He probably didn't know it, but that would just make it all the more pleasant for Miwa when she finally-

"Stop." Hiei's cold voice cut right through her thoughts. "I know you have better control than this."

Miwa whipped her head towards Hiei's direction, and it felt wonderful to have an outlet, however brief, for her anger. But Hiei calmly stared right back at her, and she remembered what she had asked of him back in the bamboo forest. Right... Miwa knew better than anyone that Kurama would soon be free of his submission. She knew better than anyone that he would soon turn the fight in his favor. She knew better than anyone that all Kurama's plan needed was time…but waiting, waiting while Kurama was being put to such submissive torture, was such a hard thing for her to do.

"I will not."

Finally, finally, Kurama could fight back. He brushed off his shoulders calmly, daring Roto to push the button. And with the calm confidence back in Kurama's demeanor, Miwa could feel her anger abating quickly. This was the Kurama she was so proud of. Roto was very taken aback by the sudden change, and with good reason. Without the threat over Kurama's mother, there was no way he could win, and he knew it. In a panic, Roto held up his hand triumphantly and made to push the button, but before his thumb could even twitch, Roto's entire body became immobilized. His thin, yellow eyes widened to full circles when he realized he could no longer move. Now Roto was the one standing there, slightly trembling as he struggled against his paralytic binding, and with no way to defend himself.

"Fighting on the strength of one threat is a very risky gamble," Kurama said, easily brushing the switch out of Roto's hand. "What if I truly didn't care? Or what if I could just make you immobile?"

The small, budding seed of the Death Plant from Roto's chest was the proof of Kurama's inevitable victory. Because no matter how much Roto babbled that he wouldn't have really pushed the button, no matter how much Roto begged for his life, Kurama did not believe in mercy.

And Roto's pitiful, evil life came to an end when the Death Plant sprouted from all over his body, and gigantic purple and pink flowers bloomed from the last of his life's blood.

"What irony. Such beauty, bloomed from such an ugly soil."

Kurama calmly returned to his teammates, and where there was once anger, Miwa greeted him with a bright smile, but Hiei spoke up first.

"Don't worry about his demon friend. He vanished the moment Roto died," Hiei said, and that made Miwa smile even more.

"So you knew," Kurama said with a small, relieved smile.

"What a relief," a small voice came from behind them. They turned to Yusuke's sleeping body propped up against the back wall. The boy was still slumped over, eyes still closed, but maybe not so shut off from the outside world as they originally thought.

"Yes…" Kurama said, and then he turned to Miwa. "I should have known you knew what was happening. I could sense your anger even in the ring."

Miwa grinned sheepishly. "Well, even though I knew what you were doing, the guy was such a jerk. I dare you to tell me that you weren't angry."

Kurama laughed quietly to himself, but he did not answer.

"Well that was a turnaround nobody expected!" came Koto's cheerful announcer voice. The arena had been cleared of Roto's corpse, and Koto stood in the center of the arena circle with her hand raised high above her head. "Next contestants, please approach the ring!"

Across from Team Urameshi, the next member of a strangely calm Team Rokuyukai stepped forward. Unlike Roto, his skin wasn't a deep blue color, but a toned down, dirty-looking pink. His head was covered by maroon colored hair that stuck up in every direction, and he wore a similarly colored tank top and jeans.

"Ooooooh, Kagao looks like he's ready to go!" shouted Koto, and cheers from the audience quickly followed.

Kagao smirked over at Team Urameshi, and he even beckoned them over by curling his pointer finger. The taunt brought out an annoyed huff from Kuwabara, but Miwa stepped in front of him. "Let me handle this guy," she said, leaping up to the stone arena. She rolled her shoulders back a couple times to loosen them up. "I couldn't stop myself from getting angry earlier, so let me vent it out on him."

Miwa walked forward with her hands swinging casually at her sides, and the two fighters met up at the middle of the ring. Kagao's primarily red attire seemed to contrast with Miwa's blue, and she briefly looked down at herself. Her hair was a very dark blue, so it stood out against her light blue clothes. Her clothes were also much more loosely fitted than Kagao's since it flared out like a skirt over her hips, but as much as Miwa liked her clothes, it was no time to be thinking about fashion.

"The next fight will be Team Rokuyukai's Kagao versus Team Urameshi's Miwa!" Koto called, and she held her hand up in the air once again. "Begin!"

Kagao had crossed his arms across his chest when Koto called his name. His smirk continued on strong, but Miwa did not return any sort of facial expression. She didn't know what this guy was capable of, but from what she could sense, he wasn't that big of a threat, just like Roto. Still, Miwa didn't want to underestimate him, so the cap of her pouch burst open and her water emerged. The stream slithered around both her arms to prepare for any threat.

"You don't seem very threatened by me," Kagao said.

"Should I be?"

He shrugged. "Depends, I suppose, on how well you can keep up."

Kagao clenched his fists and flexed all of his muscles. His eyes squinted in concentration and his Spirit Energy flared to life. Miwa raised her arms in anticipation when a bead of sweat rolled down Kagao's temple. If not for his scrunched up face, she might have thought he was trying to pose for a bodybuilding competition (that he was doomed to fail since he was a rather small, scrawny demon, just barely reaching Hiei's height). Miwa had never seen a technique such as this, and the only clue she had about his abilities was his taunt about keeping up with him. Would his flexed muscles and rising energy increase his speed? Miwa didn't know, but after all the craziness that went down during Kurama's fight with Roto, she didn't want to take any chances. She thrust her right arm forward, and the water stream untangled itself and sped across the air right towards Kagao. She didn't think it would kill him, but she wanted to test what exactly was going on with him.

The water stream slithered ever closer through the air, but just before it could hit Kagao, his white eyes flashed and small splashes of sweat began bursting all over his body. His pink skin bubbled up like he was horribly burned, and from the bubbles, a second hand suddenly sprouted from both of his wrists, and the new appendages peeled themselves away further and further up his arms. A scream erupted from his mouth, and his new limbs pulled themselves off of his body as another Kagao wrenched itself free from the original body in a grotesque splash of pink sweat. The force of pulling the two bodies apart separated them in time to dodge Miwa's water stream, which she promptly summoned back to coil around her arm.

"Did you see that, people?!" Koto screamed into her microphone. "Kagao just split his body into two identical clones!"

Two Kagaos stood in front of Miwa with equally toothy smirks. "Surprised?" they said in unison. "Can you keep up with us?" The two Kagaos began jumping around the ring at an incredible speed. Miwa threw her water streams forward over and over to try and land a hit, but the little bugger was fast. His small, scrawny stature suddenly made sense. Miwa raised her arms again and spun around, unleashing a ring of water around her, expanding and glowing blue reminiscent of her guillotine attack. But as expected of someone of his speed, both Kagaos easily jumped over the ring before it could reach them. "You can't hit us with a long-range attack, Water Apparition!" dual voices sneered at her in a strange barrage of surround sound.

Miwa frowned; her abilities were more suited for long-distance fighting, but that didn't mean she was suddenly helpless. Kagao was fast, but she could still keep track of his movements. The problem was that, unless she managed to catch the two bodies together, she could only attack them one at a time. The two Kagaos had taken to leaping around her in a misshapen circle, and they wisely maintained their distance from each other. Clearly this would not be as easy as chopping down the Cultivated Humans, but Miwa was not discouraged. She summoned the water back to loop around her arms and sprinted across the arena, right into the path of one of the Kagao clones. She raised her right arm, and the water slithering around it glowed a bright blue. Miwa stopped her sprint right in the Kagao's path, and the pink demon skidded to a grinding halt, but it was too late. With a quick smirk, Miwa and her water stream sliced clean through Kagao's abdomen. Little droplets of stray water splashed through the air, giving the gruesome scene a oddly cheerful bright blue twinkle in the air. For a brief moment, Kagao's face had frozen into a look of absolute shock, but the two halves of his body lost their delicate balance, and they collapsed to the ground, Kagao's face still frozen in shock.

"Woah!" Kuwabara cringed.

"Brutal!" Koto screamed into her microphone. "Miwa's clearly wasting no time in narrowing down which is the real Kagao!"

Across the arena, the remaining Kagao clone stopped his leaps around the stone circle, and he gave Miwa a hard stare. He was...not disturbed that his clone had been destroyed. Miwa did not fully understand Kagao's abilities yet, so she did not know whether or not she had hit the true body, but the lack of distress in the demon standing in front of her, despite the motionless torso and legs sprawled at her feet, was...disturbing, at best. Miwa took several steps away from the body, just in case, but still kept her focus on Kagao. Instead of feeling triumphant in her successful strike, all Miwa felt was suspicion.

"Impressive," Kagao said quietly. "But if that glowy water is all you have, you won't win."

Before Miwa could ponder on what that meant, a faint rustling behind her caught her attention. The two halves of the Kagao clone were wiggling violently, and the skin began swelling in disgusting bubbles all over the place. Then, Miwa realized something she should have noticed far sooner: the two halves did not bleed. Instead of blood, the inside of the two halves was just more pink, bubbly skin. Then, the missing half of each part burst out amidst the pink bubbles, and two more Kagao clones stood up, staring at Miwa with a toothy grin.

"Well...that's impressive," Miwa parroted.

"You're too kind," Kagao said. "Unless you can find my real body, every clone that you destroy will come back with one more alongside it. And just to make things more interesting…" Kagao, the apparent main body, flexed his muscles again, and with a much shorter build up than the first time, another clone ripped itself from his body. "If you're not careful…" the four bodies around her said in unison, "the odds can be stacked up against you very quickly."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Kuwabara yelled. "It's four against one!"

"But they each have the same energy signature," Kurama said. "They appear to act independently, but they are all Kagao."

The water around Miwa's arms began to glow again. "So, I just have to keep track of which ones are clones, right?" Miwa whipped around and thrust out her hands "No problem." The two glowing water streams shot forward and sliced a large gash in the right shoulders of the two clones, once again making a sparkling blue splash in the air. Without any blood, the gashes appeared very clean, as if she had pressed a knife through clay, but it was a mark as clear as day.

"Nice try, but a mark like that won't work."

As if to mock her, each clone grabbed their right forearm, For a moment, they playfully tugged at their shoulder, opening and closing the gash Miwa made without any hint of pain. Then, with one powerful tug, they used the gash as a starting point to rip off their own right arm. The limb fell to the ground lifelessly at first, but soon, the pink skin began to bubble and another Kagao emerged, bringing the total number of bodies to six.

"Uh oh…" Kuwabara moaned.

"Let's see if you can keep up now."

The six Kagaos sprung into life, and they raced and leaped around the arena, each demonstrating their impressive speed and agility. They circled around Miwa like sharks intimidating their prey, and their circle gradually became smaller and smaller, with Miwa trapped inside. She whipped her head back and forward, doing her best to keep track of all their locations. Her water streams still glowed blue in a loose coil around her arms, which were raised in case of any oncoming attack. Then, one Kagao leapt right at her with his arm pulled back for a punch. Miwa dodged easily, but another Kagao appeared behind her and kicked her right in the spine. Miwa toppled forward, but out of instinct, she twisted her body and swung her arm. The water stream broke off Kagao's leg, but it was another clone, and from the broken leg, the seventh Kagao body joined the fight.

"Fragile little bastards," Miwa muttered under her breath. The slightest of hits might end up breaking off a limb, which would create another clone. Still, she had find the main body, and the only way for her to know for sure was to attack. Miwa spread her water streams into another circle around her, and once again, the ring glowed blue. The stream condensed itself into small, blue water orbs, and with one outward push of Miwa's arms, they shot outward in every direction. Miwa's variation of the Shot Gun managed to pierce four of the Kagao bodies, but each one left a clean hole in their bodies. No blood. One quick pink skin bubble was all it took for the hole to patch itself up. The Kagaos went on the offensive, and three bodies leapt forward at once with their fists raised, but Miwa blocked it with a large water veil. While the three bodies recovered from the impact, Miwa's water veil flipped them over and flat onto their backs. With her right arm pushing downward, the hardened veil squished the bodies into the stone arena until cracks began to form in the marble. However, one body came up from behind her and landed a swift kick in her forearm, sending Miwa spiraling to the ground. Pain erupted through her arm as her body skid across the stone arena, and the lapse in attention made her water veil fall uselessly to the ground in a dull splash.

"Is that all the water you've got?" One of the Kagaos taunted. "You don't even have enough to kill all of us at once!" said another.

Miwa stood up and rubbed her cheek, bright red from the friction of her slide. She ignored the pink demon's taunts and summoned the water back to her arms. "Oh trust me," she said, "This is more than enough."

The six Kagaos took to their predatory circle again, but their attacks became much more rapid. They kept attacking in groups of two or three, and some even leapt in as a feint. Miwa, on the other hand, had suddenly thrown all caution to the wind, and she just stayed in the middle of the predatory circle, attacking every single Kagao that came near her. Her water sliced, pierced, bashed, and did all kinds of damage imaginable to the various bodies, and she no longer seemed to care whether or not her strikes caused another clone to produce. Her arms swung in every direction at her side as she appeared to dance through the blue sparkles her attacks left behind. She spun, lunged, and stepped within the predatory circle with a fluid grace as her arms guided the water around her, and with each dance move, her water stream lashed out for another attack.

"What is she doing?" Kuwabara asked. "She's just making even more clones!"

"Just be patient," Kurama said calmly.

Suddenly, the Kagaos stopped leaping around. There wasn't much room for it anymore. With all of Miwa's attacks, the number of Kagao bodies had grown exponentially, and Miwa was surrounded by a huge crowd of identical Kagao clones.

"Miwa's barrage of attacks may have turned the odds in Kagao's favor now!" Koto announced. "Now we are looking at at least thirty against one!"

"Now what can she do?" Kuwabara asked. "There's no way she has enough water to cut them all down at once. And I lost track of which guys were clones or whatever a long time ago!"

"If she can't keep track of who she already identified as clones, there is no way she can win," Hiei said calmly.

"What? Are you saying you can keep track, Shorty?!"

"Miwa will be fine," Kurama cut in. "You already know this, Kuwabara, but there are other ways to track your adversaries than sight and memory."

"You mean sense their Spirit Energy? But they all feel the same!"

"Yes, but it is not their signatures you should be looking for."

"...What?"

The Kagaos laughed, but with more than thirty voices, the small laugh sounded more like a dull roar. "What did I tell you? The odds are not in your favor anymore, Water Apparition."

Miwa smiled. "That's what you think. I know exactly where the main body is now. You're the one who keeps running away."

They frowned. "This is no time for bluffs! You couldn't possibly keep track of me when there are over thirty bodies running around!"

"Try your circling trick again, then," Miwa said, her smile turning into a cocky grin strangely reminiscent of her Spirit Detective friend. She raised her arms elegantly again, and the water streams coiled themselves in their usual place. "I will hit you in one shot."

The crowd of Kagaos growled a low rumble. "Fine!" The Kagaos leapt around the arena, once again trapping Miwa in their predatory circle. But due to her calm threat, they all kept their distance, choosing instead to watch Miwa make her move.

"Good, leap higher," Miwa taunted. Due to the sheer number of bodies, the Kagaos stayed airborne much longer than before to keep space in the arena. "It's much harder for you to dodge when you're in the air." Then, Miwa whipped around, looking one single Kagao dead in the eye, and his face twisted in shock when their gazes met because she had caught him at the peak of his jump.

He had nowhere to dodge.

Miwa thrust her arm out, and the water stream followed. It sped towards Kagao at an alarming speed, and the glowing blue stream pierced him right through his stomach. Unlike every other body Miwa struck, this time blood spewed out from the wound and plopped onto the arena floor below. Kagao, whose face was still twisted in shock, feel to the ground flat on his back, and the pool of blood continued to grow underneath him. All the remaining clones suddenly stiffened, and their eyes went glossy, staring straight ahead but focused on nothing. Their pink skin began to bubble again, but instead of a new clone forming, the bodies lost their structure and they just fell to the floor in a pink, bubbling pile of goo. The goo then slid across the floor like the world's fastest slugs, and fused themselves back to Kagao's main body. Kagao thrashed about violently as each clone returned to him, but from afar, Miwa could see the wound in his stomach slowly filling in.

"That's amazing, people!" Koto yelled. "Somehow, Miwa was able to track down Kagao's main body, and she completely gained control of this fight! I'll start the count! Ten!"

Kagao lay on the ground, and although healed from his wound, he was weak and just barely able to pull himself into a sitting position. "How...how did you…?"

"Seven!"

"You didn't notice? Maybe even you had a hard time keeping track of all that craziness. Every single one of my strikes, even ones that created a new clone, were deliberate." Miwa held up her hand, and the water stream coiled around it glowed blue once more. "I imparted a small bit of my Spirit Energy into each body that I attacked, and the energy remained even when a new clone was formed. All living beings have water in their system, after all." The glow subsided, and Miwa lowered her hand. "After that, it was only a process of elimination. Eventually, you were the only one I had not yet attacked."

"Four!"

Kagao frowned, but he did not say anything. He saved his strength to slowly, and wobbly, force himself back onto his feet, and Miwa waited patiently for him.

"Kagao is back on his feet! The fight continues!" Koto yelled.

Kagao may have been back on his feet, but he was in no shape to fight. His breathing was rapid and ragged, as if he had just run a marathon. Sweat was dripping from every pore in his body, and he held his hands over his stomach, as if some pain still lingered there even after the clones healed him. "I'm…" he panted, "not done yet!"

"Yes, you are."

A swift flick of Miwa's wrist was all it took to decapitate the pink, cloning demon.

"What a twist that was!" Koto announced. "The winner by death is Miwa!"

Angry yells and boos from the audience filled the stadium, but Miwa ignored them all and returned to her teammates.

"So by other ways to track," Kuwabara asked slowly, "you meant Miwa's Spirit Energy?"

"Yes," Kurama answered with a small smile. "It's one of her older marking tricks. She just had to sense which body already had a bit of her energy placed inside."

"There is one flaw though. I was lucky Kagao didn't notice its significance," Miwa said quietly as she joined them. "Didn't you see all the blue sparkles, Kuwabara?" She wiggled her fingers to emphasize her point. "They were leftover bits of my Spirit Energy that didn't make it into his body. My attacks normally don't do that because it stays in my streams."

"Well...now that you mention it…"

"Ooooh, get ready everyone," Koto's voice suddenly cut in, "It looks like Zeru is just burning for a fight!"

Team Urameshi's focus suddenly returned to the ring, and Zeru, the pale, muscular demon from the night before stepped into the ring. His Spirit Energy flared angrily and dangerously about him. He glared menacingly at Team Urameshi, out for their blood as vengeance for his fallen teammates being made fools of by demon traitors. But for Team Urameshi, all it did was bring about confusion. Why would the team leader, supposedly the strongest of the team, fight so soon? But Hiei insisted that Zeru was just fighting out of anger and not taking the fight seriously.

"I'll go," Hiei said confidently, ripping off his pale blue scarf and casting it aside.. "This one's been irritating me ever since last night."

"Team Rokuyukai: Zeru!" Koto announced. "Team Urameshi: Hiei!"

Their stare down had grown silent, and both refused to move.

"Begin!"

Notes: Miwa is a very different person when she gets in the ring, but the moment she steps off, she is back to her bubbly self. Her personality has this extreme duality between her cheerful and serious side, so I think that's why she has a harder time controlling her emotions compared to Kurama, but I like that about her. In the last chapter, Kurama once compared Miwa's style to a beautiful ocean suddenly becoming a violent storm, so I guess I can call that trope an inspiration for her personality. We will see more of this duality in the future. I'll see you next time!