Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Demon Dancers and PuppetMasters ❯ Chapter Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

-Demon Dancers and PuppetMasters- by Nemesis Q. Ravens

Chapter Eleven

Tomorrow was the long awaited battle between teams Kyrios and Uremeshi. Everyone, fighters and fans alike, tingled with anticipation and excitement.

Nemesis sat before Botan, Keiko and Yukina silently moments before the Dark Tournament finals. Her hood was up like always and the trio felt her unblinking stare. The Demon Dancer didn’t move. She appeared as if she were a clothed statue.

Keiko’s mind burned with a myriad of questions. Why was Nemesis doing what she was doing? What were her reasons? Did the Demon Dancer believe that she was going to get away with everything? She’d hurt Botan. Almost killed her! And who was Nemesis talking about when she told that blonde that she’d given whoever they were talking about a quick death?

Finally her curiosity got the better of her and Keiko demanded, “Why are you doing this? Why!? What did we ever do to you?”

Nemesis didn’t move when she repeated Keiko‘s original question. “ ‘Why?’ ” Her voice grew harsh as she continued. “ ‘Why?’ Do you really wish to know? Are you sure you want into my head? Are you positive you could possibly conceive of my reasoning?”

Keiko’s nod was accompanied by also Botan and Yukina’s. Nemesis sighed softly from within her hood. “Why?… I only do what I’m told to do,” she said in a nearly mute voice.

“Huh?”

Nemesis did not reply because at that moment Damien appeared behind her.

“My love,” he said without looking at her. His eyes stared intimidatingly at the three girls. Nemesis stood from the chair she’d been sitting in and faced Damien.

“Yes?”

“Let’s go. We have an appointment with Uremeshi and his little friends in the arena in ten minutes.”

The trio silently watched the Demon Dancer leave thinking of her contradicting words and actions. When she said that she only did what she was told, Keiko and the other two didn’t know what to say. Was Nemesis just a pawn in this deadly game too? Or was she merely toying with their minds?

“What do you think she meant?” Keiko eventually wondered aloud.

Botan shrugged. “What does it matter? She’s evil and that’s that. No buts, ands or ifs about it. I hope Kyrios and that horrid woman die fighting today.”

Yukina remained silent. Her wrinkled brow however, wordlessly communicating her confusion and deep thought.

Their pondering was interrupted then by the screaming of ecstatic fans. Keiko and Botan gasped and ran to the window to try and see the arena even though they’d already learned that they couldn’t. The ice demon merely turned her head to from the floor gaze at the women straining to catch a glimpse of the fighting ring. She surveyed sadly at them and then the clear blue sky beyond.

By the time Botan and Keiko returned to sit beside Yukina the woman had returned to staring forlornly at the floor.

“This is it,” she whispered.

Botan placed an arm around her shoulders understandingly, as Keiko frowned and asked, “This is what, Yukina?”

“This is the battle that determines our fate. Determines whether we die or not.”

Both girls glanced at one another then at Yukina’s bowed head. Fear crept upward along their spines and Botan tightened her hold on Yukina as Keiko wrapped her arms about the two.

All three held one another and prayed fervently for Team Uremeshi’s victory.

Down in the ring the Dark Tournament finalists faced off: Team Kyrios vs. Team Uremeshi. The audience could feel the hate and tension radiating from both teams. All the fans knew that this would be a confrontation like none other; one to go down in history.

First to fight was Hiei and Jason. The tiny fire demon calmly walked into the arena, blandly ignoring the “boo”s from the fans. His condescending gaze slid over the Kyrios team as he and his opponent neared each other in the ring.

Jason, the earth demon, sauntered into the ring without a care. He waved to the audience confidently while Hiei watched with a disgusted look. As the yeti continued to soak up the audience’s enthusiastic cheers, the fire demon assumed his battle stance and rested a hand on the hilt of his katana.

Finally Jason ceased his ultimately exaggerated entrance and faced the small demon.

“So little man, you think you can beat me?”

Hiei didn’t respond. He just stood with hand on hilt for the announcer to begin the battle. Luckily his wait wasn’t long.

“Fight!”

Hiei charged. Unsheathing his katana, he shot forward to where the yeti stood. His feet barely stirred the light coating of dust on the arena floor. Then there was a clash. The black blur that was Hiei jumped back as Jason’s ball and chain smashed into the ground.

There was a wave of disturbed dust as the force of the Kyrios team member’s hit moved out like a ripple on the surface of a placid lake. The rising dust gathered up in a handful of locations around Hiei as he struggled to stay on his feet as wave after wave shook the ground beneath him.

Roar!

Hiei twisted about. There behind him was a frightening figure. It was a good four feet taller than the Jagan wielder. Hiei didn’t bother to stare, he jumped at the beast just as another shock wave hit his feet. With the added momentum, he was like a bullet flying through the air. As he neared, Hiei swung the blade in a singing arc and sliced through the creature of dust, killing it. …Or at least he would have if it were alive.

The dust being quickly reformed and turned to face Hiei.

Hmm, he thought as he assessed his situation. How do I kill these thing? They’re not alive; dust isn’t living. Hiei however, was not allowed time to answer that since with another hit of Jason’s ball and chain, more dust was dislodged and forming together to create more of the beings of dust.

Kurama watched Hiei cut the dust creatures time and again, yet they continued to rebuild themselves and go after Hiei. Being after being was built and sent after him. As of now Hiei was fighting Jason’s personal army of nearly forty of the dust soldiers.

The katana kept on cutting, but the demon’s attack no longer had any effect. Each of the creatures had molded together into one giant being as Hiei slumped forward and was forced to hold himself upright with the blade because he was so drained of energy.

Across the arena Jason stood with crossed arms and a confident smirk . The yeti looked so proud that Kurama had to clench his hands and teeth to refrain from charging and beating the living daylights out of him.

“Give up yet, little man?” taunted Jason.

Kurama’s fists tightened when he heard that.

Hiei didn’t respond. He merely straightened and glared up at the advancing beast. Behind the creation, Jason widened his smile and began to walk forward.

With a deep roar, the monster picked up its pace and raised an arm to strike Hiei. The tiny figure before it grabbed the katana hilt with two hands and with the last shreds of strength he could muster, spun around twice for momentum and then released the sword.

Every eye there followed the course of the katana. They all saw the beast continue to advance, paying no mind to the hole in it’s stomach from the flying blade. They all saw the flash of reflected light and they all saw Jason pause mid-step. But most importantly, they all saw the katana jut grotesquely out of Jason’s chest. And just as the dust creature was about to strike the weakened Hiei, it stopped and fell away into its normal form: a pile of dust. … On top of Hiei, burying him. The stands were silent as they waited for some movement from the victor. None even cared to watch the towering figure of Jason fall to the ground.

The dust stirred and Hiei stood amongst the dust valiantly. Hundreds of thousands of fans erupted in an excited cheer. Hiei the tiny fire demon, was victorious over the infamous earth demon, Jason.

Over on the sidelines, Kurama and the three other Uremeshi team members breathed a sigh of relief and then cheered him on too. The other team however, either stared emotionlessly at Jason’s corpse or glared across the ring at the Uremeshi team.

Damien turned to Lucky and gestured him closer. “Well boy,” he said as Lucky reached his side. Here’s your chance to prove your worth. Take the red-head out. Uremeshi’s happiness must be crushed.”

Lucky nodded and with a determined expression, walked into the ring to face Kurama.

As he stepped up, the Uremeshi team member nodded once at Janie’s plea -- no command -- that he come out of the fight alive.

Now a new fight was about to commence; Lucky of Team Kyrios vs. Kurama of Team Uremeshi. The two teen boys sized each other up with a calculating eye as they met at the ring’s center.

“Be careful, Kurama!” yelled Yusuke.

Kurama looked over his shoulder and flashed a brief smile. His smile grew genuine however, when he caught the miniscule nod of support from Hiei.

“Fight!” screamed the announcer.

As the battle was begun, neither young man seemed to be inclined to converse with their opponent as they both immediately began the scuffle. Lucky whipped out his foil and Kurama pulled forth the Rose Whip.

The pair of red-heads slowly circled one another, analyzing the other’s weak spots. Then they attacked. There were no pointless taunts or silly mind games as they fought. It was a straight forward battle between two opponents.

Kurama swung the Rose Whip around and snapped it at Lucky’s face, aiming for the eyes. With a sharp move, Lucky deflected the whip and saved his eyes from certain blinding damage. As they paused to assess the other, Kurama nodded once in approval of Lucky. The other red-head acknowledged the praise with his own nod.

Lucky leapt forward intent on hitting Kurama with his foil. Kurama, seeing the attack, backed away while snapping the whip. It hit Lucky along the knuckles holding the foil. The hit initiated an automatic reflex that resulted in the release of the weapon.

Kurama took advantage of the loss of the foil and struck again. The new Kyrios team member dodged the whip by flipping to the side and snatching his foil while doing so.

“Not bad,” commented Kurama. “That flip was a nice touch.”

Lucky smirked. “Not so bad yourself. Not many have gotten my foil away from me. Even if it was only briefly.”

Their conversation ceased to be after those few, brief words. Both knew they weren’t there to chat; they were there to defeat their opponent. They may have to kill the stranger pitted against them. Kurama was deeply saddened at the thought that if they hadn’t been on opposing sides the two may have been friends. The Uremeshi team member knew however, that now wasn’t the time for wayward thoughts.

With a internal straightening of his back, Kurama moved in for the kill. Snapping the Rose Whip with lightening speed, the red-head tried to get Lucky about the neck. His opponent didn’t like that idea, therefore Lucky raised his foil and sliced the offending section of the Rose Whip away before it could threaten his health.

Undaunted by the loss, Kurama tried again. Lucky cut more of the Rose Whip. Again and again Kurama lost bit after bit of his weapon until a small sliver of the thing was left.

Lucky smirked as he stood amongst the plethora of pieces of Kurama‘s Rose Whip.

On the sidelines Janie worriedly watched the proceedings. With his Rose Whip decimated, Kurama had to dodge Lucky’s foil. And from the stains of red growing on his clothing, he was apparently having a challenging time of doing so.

“Com’on Kurama,” yelled Yusuke encouragingly. “You can do it! Kick that bastard’s ass!”

Damien, on the opposite side of the ring, smirked at Yusuke’s words. That “bastard” was currently toying with the boy. He turned to Nemesis and smiled.

“We’re going to win, my love. We’re going to beat these childish fools.”

Back in the ring, Lucky smiled at Kurama who was limping on his left leg and both his arms hung uselessly at his sides. With his prey unable to efficiently fight back, Kurama’s adversary began to close in and corner him.

Both pairs of emerald eyes locked together as Lucky thrust the foil at Kurama. He dodged, or at least tried to, and jumped at Lucky. As he tackled the other lad, Kurama knocked the foil away.

Kurama pinned his opponent’s arms down with his legs and with a quick movement, jabbed Lucky in the eye with two fingers. While doing so, he shoved a small seed into the bleeding socket. Then Kurama jumped off the howling boy beneath him.

All eyes were staring intently towards Lucky as he twisted and turned in agony. Many thought that he was merely in pain from the injury to his eye. As they watched however, they saw tiny green sprouts wiggling between Lucky’s fingers. Now the audience was anxious to what exactly was happening to the maimed boy.

The green sprouts began to lengthen and thicken as Lucky’s screams increased. The lad then started to bury his own fingers into bleeding hole that had once housed an emerald hued eye. He dug his fingers deep seeking something. What he sought was unknown to the fans eagerly awaiting the finish to this exciting battle. Kurama did know however, exactly what the poor teen was searching for. He also knew that Lucky would not find it in time to save himself.

“Ahh!”

Lucky’s voice hit a new pitch. By this time he’d given up finding the thing within. He dropped his hands to his sides and released a blood-curling howl of pain as he finally died.

The seed Kurama thrust into the socket had sprouted hundreds of little roots and the tendrils viciously shoved muscle and other such tissues aside in their search for the finest spot to grow: the brain. As soon as it found the soft matter of Lucky’s cranium, the seed exploded with even more roots and the writhing sprouts pushed and pushed outward until Lucky’s skull cracked and burst.

Kurama inwardly cringed as the stadium erupted with excited chers. They were estatic. But the victor just turned and walked back to his fellow teammates. The red-head ignored the screams of approval; he was not content with his actions. Kurama had not truly wished to kill Lucky; but in order to save three innocents from certain death, it had to be done.

Looking around as Kurama joined them, Yusuke frowned and asked, “Hey! Where’d Janie and Kuwabara go?”

Hiei scoffed harshly and jerked his head to the passage behind them.

“That fool is down there. He got sick at the sight of the boy’s death and Janie went with him to make sure he would be okay and didn‘t choke on his own vomit.”

Kurama and Yusuke exchanged glances and then brushing it aside, looked over to the Kyrios team to see their reaction to the loss of another fighter.

Damien was positively livid and Demontos looked shocked. And unsurprisingly, Nemesis’ reaction was unknown due to the drawn hood.

“Don’t look so confident now, eh?” smirked Yusuke.

Janie’s voice cut through the air behind them. “Don’t get cocky, Yusuke. They can still win. And we haven’t even fought the best of them yet.”