Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Battle for One ❯ A Battle for One ( Chapter 5 )

They stepped into the ring and as soon as the signal was made Rocky-D charged for Kurama. The fox dodged every attack he made with ease.

`This guy is so sloppy. It's a miracle he made it to the second round, but I'll change that soon enough.' Kurama thought.

Kurama finally got bored and took out his Rose Whip, slashing the demon's outsides into pieces until he gave up.

"That was a little too easy." Kurama thought out loud as he walked off the arena floor and back to the other two.

Next up was Hiei and Tricky-D.

They stepped up and both were ready to go. The signal bell was given and Tricky-D just did the same thing Rocky-D had done. Of course Hiei with his super speed could dodge even easier than Kurama could. The battle was over before anyone knew it when Hiei got bored even faster than Kurama of moving out of the way of sloppy charges. He gave a blow to the Tree-Rock Demon's head and knocked him out cold easy.

Sazuka saw through the corner of her eye that the Skyler Demon was getting very upset with the way things were going.

"I'm going in next to show you dopes just how a battle should go!" Sazuka overheard him say.

"Well, all that's left is you, Sazuka. By the looks of our `opponent' you're fighting Skyler." Kurama stated; he obviously overheard the leader too.

"If you can even call them that." Hiei huffed talking about the opponent remark. "Where's the challenge in all this?"

Sazuka stepped up and was greeted with a few hundred bright lights above her.

`That's going to pose a problem when he flies up. I'm going to have to find a way to bust them so I can find him when he does.'

The battle began and the first thing that was made was that Skyler flew up. Sazuka was blocked from his sight by the lights and couldn't do anything. It wasn't long before she felt his Spirit Energy coming straight for her at a quick speed. She dodged easily because of this and had enough time to see him fly back up.

"Baka lights!" `I'm going to get real sick of him real fast. Time to freeze his joints and cool things down a bit. Hehehe.' Sazuka's hands started to glow ice blue and a very cold draft shifted in the arena. Everyone could visibly be seen shaking uncontrollably except for fours people: Sazuka because she's an Ice Demon and cold doesn't affect her, Skyler because of the lights, but she was sure he was shivering too, Hiei was using his heat, and Kurama was standing next to the Fire Demon taking in his heat too. Then, all of a sudden, the lights all burst and the blinding of them was gone; Skyler could easily be seen floating directly above the Ice Demon, astonished of the power. Sazuka smiled inwardly so her expression was the same as always and glowed blue like her hands moments before. She waved him a good-bye and he suddenly froze to a block of ice and fell to the ground at an increasing speed. Since Sazuka didn't want anyone killed she used her ki to place him gently to the floor. She was announced the winner and she took the ice barrier away from the Skyler Demon. She walked off the arena floor mumbling something along the lines of `stupid human lights getting in the way'.

"That was easier than I thought it would be. It's a wonder how they got this far with the performance I've seen." Sazuka commented as she walked up to Kurama's other side and they walked towards the exit, hearing the announcer saying they advanced.

Someone in the shadows of the stands smiled sweetly, but evilly and then walked away, disappearing completely into the shadows of the stadium. Sazuka turned her head briefly and frowned as she stared at the empty spot where the being was.

`So, they're here.'

~At the Hotel Room~

"Hey, guys. How'd it go?" Yusuke asked, an ice pack up at his head; Kuwabara the same.

"We won now thanks to you." Hiei snorted and went onto the balcony.

"That's great. I guess we took our win a little too good. Sorry `bout that." Yusuke apologized for both him and the redhead next to him.

"It's alright. We managed." Kurama stated before walking off into his room.

Sazuka just followed Hiei out to the balcony without looking at her teammates sitting on the couch.

Hiei and Sazuka were outside for maybe five minutes when Kurama joined them.

"Sazuka, are you feeling well? You were quiet the whole way here. Usually you'll say at least a few things thing." Kurama asked stepping up next to her.

"I'm fine. I just prefer not to fight unless the one I'm fighting deserves it."

Kurama nodded and then everything went quiet once more. Quiet, that is, until a small beating of wings came into the demons' earshot.

Hiei was annoyed at the bird that was coming towards them. Kurama looked at it with a bit of interest and Sazuka kind of ignored it when she took one glance at it.

It was a pure white bird; snowy, pure white that reflected off the soft glow of the few lights it flew past. In it's beak it carried a small piece of rolled up paper.

Sazuka finally acknowledged the bird was there when it nipped softly at her arm. She took the note and the white flyer took a spot on her shoulder to rest from its trip.

"What kind of bird it this? I've never seen anything like it." Kurama asked in wonder. Hiei just huffed and kept looking off into the sky.

"It's called an Ice Angel and it's not surprising you haven't seen one since it can only be found where I come from and that's very far away. The Ice Demons use them to carry messages from one Ice Demon to another if one has taken travel or something like that if you wish to contact them. The bird can sense where any Ice Demon is even if they are 20 miles away. If it's a clear, good day it might be able to sense a bit farther." Sazuka explained not looking up from the small paper.

"Interesting. So…what does the note say?"

"It seems they know where I am and want me to come back to them." `Which isn't surprising since one was watching my match.' She thought to herself.

Hiei snapped his head at this wording and the look in his eyes were too hard to decipher.

"I'm not sure I'll go back though. I already know they'll want me to destroy Yusuke still. They probably thought if they gave me a while I'd come around." She was getting angry as she spoke and clenched her fist on the small message. She lifted her head to the horizon Hiei was looking at a few moments before and said, "Well, they're dead wrong." As she said this her hands glowed a light blue and the note froze into ice. She handed the now frozen paper note to the bird as waited until it was out of sight before she turned and walked back inside.

"How do know that they'll know you're answer?" Kurama asked as he and Hiei followed her back in.

"They'll know." She answered simply before she walked out the door of the hotel room.

Kurama was about to follow when the Fire Demon grabbed his arm and shook his head at the fox's confusion. Kurama nodded his understanding soon after and hey went off to do their own things in different pasts of the room.

~That Night~

Sazuka came back around 11:45. Yusuke jumped off the couch and was the first to say anything since she left hours before.

"Where the hell have you been!? What if something happened and you couldn't handle it yourself!? Huh!? You could've at least…" Yusuke never finished his sentence since Hiei came and knocked him out with a frying pan he retrieved from the kitchen before he came to join the team at Sazuka's side.

"He was getting annoying." He said to nobody/ He turned to the Ice Demon, who hadn't even showed the team leader was just yelling her at. "Did you have enough time to think?" He asked calmly.

Sazuka nodded slightly and turned to Kurama. "Can I use your room for a while? I need a bit longer."

Kurama, understanding what she meant, nodded and watched as she crossed the small distance to his room and closed the door.

She came out at about one and apologized to the kitsune for taking so long before she fell asleep on the couch.

~In the Morning~

Everyone woke up and didn't say a word as they got ready to leave and as they were leaving for the arena.

They arrived at the stadium and the three full demons went off together while Kuwabara and Yusuke went to go look for the girls.

"Are you feeling a little better than last night?" Kurama asked as they walked to a secluded area.

"A little, but I guess I didn't expect to be so upset about it. That's what's confusing me." The Ice Demon responded after a moment's hesitation.

"Don't feel bad. It's only nature that you miss them so…"

"It's not that, Kurama." Sazuka interrupted. "I don't miss them at all. I don't know much about them anyway since all they did was make me live on my training. It's just getting that message from them reminded me about my past and what I would've done if I had gone along with what I was born to do. I wouldn't have met any of you, as I know you now. No, instead we'd be enemies; me fighting against you. "

"Hn. Baka Ice Demon."

Kurama and Sazuka turned their heads to look at Hiei, who was leaning against the wall looking at them with his red eyes.

"What do you mean, Hiei?" The kitsune asked, confused along with Sazuka, but she didn't show it like Kurama did.

Hiei pushed off the wall and walked the short distance to stand in front of them.

"Think it over; what you just said if it still confuses you."

She pondered over it and nodded that she was done.

"You say you won't miss them and that's the truth, and you know that. It's the reminder the note gave you. You just feel guilty knowing you might've killed Yusuke and fought against us."

She widened her eyes, the first emotion change on her face they've seen her make since they met her but the other two demons didn't show any signs of seeing it. She went back to her normal expressionless face a second later and nodded her understanding.

"Arigato. Thank you, Hiei. I can always count on you." She nodded and walked away.

This time it was Hiei's turn to go wide-eyed, and his expression stayed much longer than the one walking away did. Nobody ever said that to him before.

Kurama just smiled and laughed a little to himself at the Fire Demon's look.

`I should make a note to myself to tell that to Hiei more often, but some other time. I'm sure Sazuka would like to hear that once in a while too.' Kurama thought.

"Hey, Kurama, Hiei, hurry up. We need to catch up with Sazuka." They heard Yusuke call behind them.

They nodded; Hiei went back to his normal self, and walked with the others.

When they caught up to the Ice Demon, she turned around and eyed Yusuke.

He froze in midstep; her eyes looked ready to kill.

"Yusuke, can I fight today?"

Everyone was taken aback by the question. After what she said once before about not liking to fight unless she absolutely had to or the one she was fighting deserved it, they hadn't expected her to ask such a question since it was obvious all their team was there. But it was even more obvious she wanted an answer.

"Uh…sure, I guess that would be fine. Um…how about you take the first round." She nodded. "Anyone want the second round?" He asked, looking at the rest of his team to release some of the tension just made.

"Hn." Hiei stepped forward.

"Ok. Third round?" He knew Kurama wouldn't care unless he said something and Kuwabara would fight if no one else would. Nobody stepped up and so he said he'd do it instead.

"Everyone, welcome back! The first battle up will be the Urameshi Team against the Iro Demons Team!" The announcer started up his commentary.

Sazuka and a demon with gills and webbed hands and feet stepped onto the platform.

"Let the battle begin!"