Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Mayakashi ❯ Chapter 48 ( Chapter 48 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Bleach, or YuYu Hakusho, or any of the anime/manga characters.

Warnings: Violence, Language

Battle of the Heart

 

“What's with the stares?” Kagome asked, coming up short.

“You just beat Natsume,” Yusuke said with wide eyes.

“Yeah… And?”

“Last time, Natsume's the one who beat me,” Mukuro stated. “And you beat not just her, but also those three other strong ones and the rest in one blow. Not your average feat.”

A mass of youki made itself known behind her, and Kagome slowly turned to find King Enki towering over her, staring down while a green-haired woman stood at his side, glaring at her.

“Umm… hi?”

“How'd you convince Natsume to take a dive?” the woman asked, quickly following the question with a booze-smelling hiccup that made Kagome gag.

“Goddamn! You reek of booze!” Kagome gasped.

“So how'd ya' do it?” she hiccupped. “Natsume wouldn't go down in two kicks like that.”

“It wasn't just two kicks,” Kagome protested. “It was two kicks to the ribs, one of which also went to the kidneys, with bone-shattering force… And who are you?”

“She's Koko,” a voice said to their side, bringing them to an annoyed-looking Natsume. “And you could've killed me with that first kick, couldn't you have?”

“Umm… I guess. That you're up right now is even more impressive. I saw no point in killing you. So you two are friends?”

“Oi, Natsume, how'd you let such a weakling get you outta' the running?” Koko hiccupped. “We were supposed to fight!”

“Sorry… Hey, what the hell'd you do to me? I woke up and you were gone, and my side didn't feel numb.”

“Oh, just a little magic,” Kagome said with a smile. “I didn't want to do any lasting damage, so as soon as you were out, I fixed it up.”

“That's… weird. You're not just any mazoku, are you? You don't feel like a normal youkai, even in regards to how normal any mazoku is,” Natsume said with a frown.

At that, King Enki and Koko turned their attention on her, right along with Sesshomaru, Yomi, if that were even technically possible, and Mukuro.

“A mazoku? I didn't know Yusuke had a sister,” Enki said with a grin.

“We ain't related,” Yusuke said with wide eyes.

“Yeah… My father's an old bastard that doesn't know how to die. From what I've heard of Raizen, he wasn't even close to being scum.”

“Speaking of which, he won the preliminaries. All 48 opponents died in one quick flash that neither I nor Kurama could follow,” Hiei stated.

“I'm sure he'll keep doing it, too,” Kagome growled. “You know, if it weren't for the fact that the bastard probably has someone watching for me, I'd kill him now and get all the bullshit out of the way.”

“Oh, trust me, we know,” Hiei said with a smirk. “Personally, I wouldn't mind getting back at the bastard, either. Maybe shove that sword of his into his throat.”

“Wait. Your father's a Shinigami?” Mukuro asked with a widened eye.

“No. He's a bastard who just happens to have the powers of one. And I'm not sure shoving his sword down his throat'll kill him. He's pulled off being dead twice already,” she added to Hiei.

“Oi, don't just ignore me!” Koko yelled, a booze-smelling hiccup quickly following.

“Sorry about my wife, she's a little high-strung,” Enki said with a laugh, gently gripping the woman's shoulder.

In response, Koko's mouth opened wide and her fangs sank into his hand, making him yelp in pain and release her while Natsume laughed.

“Alright, and that's the last match!” Koto's voice exclaimed over the area, the energetic cat youkai practically jumping in excitement. “What an incredible bloodbath! Unfortunately, there are quite a few matches that ended with all contestants dead or unconscious, so the original number of matches after the preliminaries has been greatly decreased. Once again making it past are Enki and his wife Koko, as well as all of their friends besides Natsume, who many of you remember as the firecracker that took on Mukuro last year, who was beaten by the newcomer hanyo Kagome!”

A wave of `boos' filled the air, and Kagome smirked.

“Also moving on are Jin, Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama, Hiei, Shishiwakimaru, Mukuro, Yomi, an ex-Shinigami, and last but certainly not least, the previous Lord of the West, Sesshomaru! I can't believe it, but somehow the overzealous competitors have decreased 150 remaining fighters to only 16! I have no idea how this happened, but let's just hope the remaining contestants can make up the difference!”

“Holy shit,” Kagome said, eyes wide. “Kurama, you don't think-”

“That bastard's good, but he's not that good,” Hiei cut in. “There are plenty of morons who have no sense of self-preservation, and that's probably all there is to it.”

“And now,” Koto continued, “let's get onto the matches! And what an incredible set of matches it is! For the first match, we have the mysterious newcomer hanyo versus a personal favorite of mine, Youko Kurama!”

At that, the two stared at each other with wide eyes.

“Oh, this is going to be entertaining,” Hiei said with a smirk.

“Yeah, maybe for you,” Kagome sighed. “Shall we?”

With a nod, they took off, Yusuke's eyes bugging out of his head.

“Did I miss something?”

“I believe they're… closer… than when we last saw them,” Hiei said with a smirk…

 

“Don't you dare hold back, or I'll beat your ass later,” Kagome warned.

“Of course,” he said with a smirk. “Don't think I'll let you win, no matter how important it is.”

“I'd feel cheated if you just let me win,” Kagome scoffed as they went onto the island that Koto pointed at.

“Alright! Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the first round of the Makai tournament! Kagome versus Kurama. Begin!”

Kagome launched instantly, her claws growing, and Kurama took a dive backwards. He came up as she soared over him, a rose forming in his hand.

“Rose Whip!”

“Come at me,” Kagome stated with a smirk.

Kurama did, the whip flashing out towards her side. Kagome, surprising him, caught it in her bare hand, blood dripping from the point of impact.

Energy began to shoot through the rose, and Kurama instantly let go and dove back. Just as the whip began to fall, the energy reached where his hand had been and it turned to ash in the air.

“Won't be that easy, I'm afraid.”

“You know, as first matches go, this'll be a hell of a warm up for that bastard. Just sorry I'll have to kick your ass,” Kagome sighed as he brought out another whip.

“Rather confident,” he mused. “Rose Whip Lash!”

Kagome jumped back, hands going to the hilt of the Tetsusaiga on reflex as the ground where she'd been exploded into a cloud of dust and dirt.

“Shakkaho!”

Kurama, unsurprisingly, dodged the fireball and sent the whip straight at her side. Kagome dropped into a roll underneath the swipe, her side just barely being nicked instead of being deeply shredded by the whip.

Kagome came up and her youki pulsed, Kurama's eyes widening as she vanished. Just as she was about to smack him with debilitating force in the back of his skull, the crimson bled from his hair and Youko turned around, smirking as he caught her wrist.

“Ah-ah, little flower. That wouldn't be very nice,” he said with a smirk before twisting, making her go down on her knees to avoid her arm being broken.

“Well, at least I know you won't hold back,” she murmured. “But it's awfully brave of you to come into close contact, Youko.”

Youki flared through her arm, and the fox quickly let go, just as fire leapt up from her skin.

“Well, you're certainly very hot, in all kinds of ways, aren't you?” he mused, making her blush even as she came up and the flames died.

“Flattery'll get Kurama nowhere, you know,” Kagome said with a smirk.

“Perhaps. But then, it certainly distracted you.”

At that, Kagome's eyes widened, and she looked down to find a small plant stabbed into her arm, greedily drinking something from her.

Fire instantly leapt up and it turned to ash, but she swayed on her feet from the loss of whatever it had drunk, be it blood or energy.

Smirking, Youko brought his hand up, and she watched as several rose whips grew and began entwining.

“Drawing your weapon may be wise now, Kagome. Unless you're planning on holding back.”

“The longer I can keep things under wraps and the youkai guessing, the longer I have to kill him and win this thing. Sorry, I don't want to hold back, but I think I can probably put you down. You're hardly going for a kill.”

“True. If you die, I'll have much less to distract me from the tedious boredom I deal with in Kurama's mind. But dead and almost dead are two different things.”

“Oh, trust me, I'm aware of this,” Kagome stated with a smirk as her youki began to build. “Come at me.”

“Juryo Yozanken!”

The rose whips lifted and sharpened, and Youko charged at her, aiming for the middle of her chest. As soon as he was within stabbing distance, Kagome dove forward and came up with a sweep of her legs, knocking the kitsune on his ass.

Instantly, the miko was on him, straddling him with a sharpened claw poised an inch from his throat as they both heaved with panting breaths.

“I win,” Kagome panted.

In response, he attempted to throw her balance off, but she was definitely pinning him down.

“Well played… Still, you shouldn't be so confident.”

A sharp point made itself known at the back of her neck, and sweat broke out anew at the jagged point.

“Always contingencies,” Kagome sighed. “But can you stab me before I burn you and the flower?”

Their eyes met, and he let out a laugh, the sound rumbling up her body and creating a different sort of warmth in Kagome.

“Point taken. Very well, you win.”

Slowly, his smoldering golden eyes shifted, and a blush crept onto her cheeks when an instant later she found herself straddling a smirking Kurama.

“Well done.”

Instantly, she jumped up, face flaming while he let out a chuckle and joined her in standing.

“I can't believe it, but the first match is won with barely any blood spilled! Winner, somehow, Kagome!” Koto's voice exclaimed. “I don't know what's going on, but it's always great to see a girl kick so many men's asses, regardless of how tame a fight it was! And now, the second round. Yusuke Urameshi versus Jin!”

“Well, we'd best get off the island,” Kurama mused before they took off, stopping only when they reached the group, which had barely moved besides Yusuke.

“Man, that plant's kicking my ass,” Kagome sighed, scratching at the spot where it had stabbed her.

“Ah, right. You should be fine in a moment. Though Youko certainly could've killed you if he'd kept silent about it.”

“I sincerely doubt you could kill her if you really tried. Any of us, for that matter,” Hiei mused.

“I'm not some kind of god! Geez,” Kagome sighed.

“Of course you're not. You have a habit of pissing them off, so you'd be obligated to kill yourself,” Hiei mused, making Kagome laugh.

“Good point… And we've thoroughly confused them all,” she added, seeing how all the newcomers were staring at the three of them.

“What are you, really?” Mukuro asked, eyeing her curiously.

“Umm… kind of a hard question to answer. I'm a lot of things,” Kagome said with a sigh.

“Stop being so cryptic,” Koko hiccupped. “Are ya' a mazoku, or not?”

“Yeah. Mazoku's just a base of what I am, though.”

“You're a Shinigami, too,” Mukuro stated.

“Well, partly. It's… complicated.”

“Well, since the next match is your father versus the rockstar wanna-be, we've got time,” Natsume stated.

“Yeah, I guess… But see, if I tell my life story here, there'll probably be a stadium full of youkai that'll try to take my throat as a trophy, and I can't afford to waste that kind of energy before he's dead.”

“Oh? More intriguing by the second,” Mukuro stated with a curious tone to her voice.

“I guess… Well, it'll probably come out when I'm fighting him, since it's just his style to ensure that when he dies, I'll still get slammed. So wait until then,” Kagome sighed.

“You are definitely like Raizen,” Enki laughed.

“I'm not related to Yusuke.”

“Don't be so sure. That slut he had in the human world supposedly had more than one bastard,” Koko hiccupped, glaring at Kagome. “If you're more proof of that ass hole dumping me, I'm gonna' kick yer ass!”

“Settle down, honey,” Enki laughed. “But you really should think about that,” he added to Kagome. “There were rumors that the human medicinewoman that Raizen fell for had more than one offspring, and that both sides of the blood were incredibly strong. It's obviously true in Yusuke's case, and you're holding back an incredible portion of the power inside of you. I'd imagine that if you were to let loose, most of the bystanders would probably die just from the strain. So think about it.”

Kagome's eyes widened as their words processed. And they grew even wider when the realization hit her.

It was more than possible that they weren't wrong…

 

A/N:

Dun-dun-dun! Well, Well, once again I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. I seem to have a good time writing banter during fight scenes. As always, be sure to leave your thoughts, be they positive or not. See you next time!