Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Of Truths and Lies ❯ To Win or Lose ( Chapter 27 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any related names or items. Kiara is owned by Yusuke'sSister.

 

Claimer: I do own the plot line, the title, the Kuro Tournament, Kristy, Jason, Jessica, Chris, Bashere, Rhurac, and anything else related to them.

 

(1) - "Ookami no Mai" means "Dance of Wolves".

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Seer Vixion!

 

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Of Truth & Lies

 

Chapter 27

To Win or Lose

 

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"Shihajimeru!"

 

Quickly moving backward, I glanced over my opponent. I was up against another female, although this one was much small there the other two, with almost willowy limbs. She was, of course, still taller than me, but that wasn't very hard to accomplish. She had wispy purple hair, silver eyes, and pale--nearly to the point of being translucent--skin. She also wore loose and flowing dark purple traditional robe. Like the rest of her team, she had bare feet.

 

The youkai's face was calm and relaxed, but her eyes were sharp, watching my every move as we circled each other. Then, at the same time, we launched at each other, me quickly pulling out my katana and her forming a fiercely spinning ball of air within her cupped hands. We clashed seconds later and I quickly blocked her attack as she shoved it toward my head.

 

Surprisingly, the ball of wind made a grinding sound against my katana. I pushed some youki into my katana, however, and flames suddenly covered the length of the blade, forcing the ball of wind away. My opponent's eyes narrowed at the sight of the flames and the two of us began to circle one another again. I had to hold back a smirk from taking over my face.... good, now she thought that I was a fire youkai. Or, more likely, she thought that I was a wolf youkai with fire abilities. I would lead her along for a little bit by using only fire attacks, before showing some of my other abilities, which she wouldn't be expecting.

 

Even as the purple haired youkai and I continued to watch each other, I realized that I had unconsciously, become fairly confident. Before, while just standing on the sidelines, I had been incredibly nervous, thinking that I couldn't match up to my opponents. However, even though I was still somewhat worried now, those thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind. When entering battle, my instincts apparently automatically took over and pushed any unneeded thoughts away. Instead, I was now completely focused on the battle and my opponent, and above all on surviving and hopefully winning.

 

Suddenly, seeing a slight opening on my opponent's left side, I leapt forward, slashing with my katana as I moved. Seeing this the youkai turned to dodge, but as I swung my katana, I murmured out, "Ookami no Mai(1)." The effects were instantaneous.

 

The fire that had been flickering around by blade roared up, trailing off the katana. As it did the fire molded into the forms of multiple wolves, which attacked and clawed at my opponent. They, and the rest of the fire, disappeared after only a few seconds. When my opponent landed on the ground a few feet further back she was singed, bleeding, and unhappy. Definitely unhappy.

 

The youkai snarled angrily at me and, as she did, the wind around her began to pick up. Before long it was swirling violently, forming a tall tornado around the apparent wind youkai, hiding her from view. I watched this new development with narrowed eyes, but wasn't too worried. Thank Kami Jason was a wind youkai, and so I've dealt with this before. And on top of that, I trained with Jin and Touya a bit, and Jin in a full wind youkai. I finally let my smirk appear. This wind youkai was the best opponent I could have gotten.

 

It was then that I began to do something that I'd practiced many times and come to enjoy using. With just a twitch of my youkai, shadows began to accumulate underneath me, stirring as if alive. Once a sufficient amount was there, I stretched my arm out, my hand spread open, in the direction of the tornado before me. Immediately the mass of shadows flew outwards, stretching across the ground from its base beneath me toward my opponent. Because it was just shadows the attack was not disrupted at all by the violent winds and soon I could feel them reaching my opponent.

 

From the corner of my eye I saw the shock and disbelief on the faces on many within the stands. Some had been a little wary when they first saw my use fire--as only a bare few youkai of animal type could use elements--but seeing me use two elements was probably a complete shock. I felt my smirk growing slightly. It really was too bad that I couldn't show of my psychic abilities too right now...

 

Focusing back on my fight I smirked as I noticed that the tornado was beginning to lose power. My shadows had already reached my opponent, whom I knew was in the center of the tornado, and were doing their job. Only about a minute later the winds dissipated completely, leaving behind the wind youkai, who was covered up to mouth in tightly wrapped shadows, not allowing her to move. Her nose was only free because it allowed her to breathe. The wind youkai's eyes glared sharply at me, furious that she had been put in such a helpless position by what she probably considered an "upstart". And I couldn't completely deny that I was, considering as I had only discovered my youkai heritage within the last year.

 

That crowd around us was completely silent, utterly shocked at what they had just witnessed. I had used two different elements. And I, some no name youkai, had taken down a powerful youkai. After all, you had to be powerful to be invited to the Kuro Tournament. Slowly, Jason, who was still standing on the side of the arena, began to clap. The sharp noise rang loudly through the deathly quiet arena. Breaking out of the stupor that the whole audience was apparently in, people began to cheer. It started out somewhat subdued at first, but quickly rose in power until the sound was deafening.

 

I stood proudly and raised my heard to stare defiantly into Bashere's eyes. Said dark haired youkai's eyes danced with amusement, the corner of his mouth curling up into a smirk.

 

"Winner, Team Kagekaze!" Even the announcer seemed shaken at what had just occurred. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the score board come onto the large screen. The score was now Team Tenki: 2, Team Kagekaze: 2. We were tied and the next match could go either way.

 

I just continued to stare up at Bashere until the medics came out, at which point I released the wind youkai from the hold I had on her. I turned then and began to walk toward the door that led out of the arena. As said door was positioned underneath were Bashere sat, I could feel his gaze on me as I walked, even though I had long since looked away.

 

As I approached the door however, I couldn't resist a look over my shoulder, to where Jason and Jin were. I knew that Jason would fight next, as the captain of Team Tenki would be going next too; they both had to make sure that their team would win. I had faith in Jason's abilities, and didn't doubt that he would win, but that didn't mean that I wasn't worried.

 

Jason met my eyes for a split second and nodded to me. I saw pure pride in his eyes then; pride for me and what I had accomplished. Pride that I had managed to defeat my opponent so soundly without even suffering a scratch, despite how worried I had been that I wouldn't do well.

 

And I smiled.

 

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The second that I walked into the small waiting room that all the youkai who had finished were being sent to, Jessica was all over me, shooting worried question after worried question about what had happened and how I was. It took a couple of minutes just for me to calm her down enough for me to even get a word out.

 

"Jessica, I'm fine!" I said in exasperation. "Look," I continued holding my arms out, "I don't have a scratch on me." Jessica peered at me closely, obviously still not entirely sure, but with her lips pressed in a tight line she finally dismissed the subject.

 

"So..." Jessica began, brightening up. "How'd it go?"

 

My face broke into a wide grin. "How do you think?"

 

"...You won?"

 

"I won."

 

"You won!"

 

"I won!"

 

Suddenly a new, deeper voice broke into our mini-celebration, "Yay! You won! And now you can shut up and stop bothering everyone else here." Jessica and I looked over in surprise to see a youkai dressed in the blue robes of a healer stalking away, a sour look on his face.

 

I glared at him before sticking my tongue out at his back. "Yeah, I love you too."

 

Jessica stifled a giggle at my side. We glanced at each other before breaking out into laughter. After calming down however, we moved onto more important matters.

 

"How's Chris?" I asked. Pausing for a moment, I then added, "And Touya-san."

 

"Gee, thanks for your concern," a wry voice came from behind me. Spinning around I saw Touya there, a pair of crutched helping to hold him up, but other than that only looking a little singed. An amused look was on his face.

 

I sweatdropped and scratched the back of my neck sheepishly. "Sorry, Touya-san," I said apologetically, "But I've know Chris for years, ya know?"

 

Touya chuckled lightly before waving me off and slowly walking--though perhaps wobbling was a better fitting term--over to a nearby wall, which he leaned against, turning his attention away from Jessica and I.

 

Jessica watched Touya concernedly for a moment longer, before finally answering my inquiry. "Chris is fine for the most part, just unconscious. The healers said that he got a concussion, but they were able to heal it quickly. They're just waiting for him to wake up." I nodded, relieved that my long time friend would be fine. Jessica then gestured toward Touya. "As you can see, Touya-san is basically okay. He woke up just a few minutes ago. Apparently his opponent did some damage to his nerve endings, but the healers said that he just needs to rest for a little bit and will be more than fine in time for the next round."

 

I frowned. "That is if we make it to the next round..."

 

"Don't be so negative!" Jessica admonished. "We'll do just fine. It's all riding on Jason-san right? He's the most powerful out of all of us! I'm sure that he'll win."

 

I nodded then, smiling lightly. "Yeah, he'll do just fine."

 

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Ten minutes later found Touya, Jessica, Chris--whom had finally woken up and joined us just a few minutes earlier--, and I sitting on a bench against the wall of the room, eagerly waiting to see how Jason's match had turned out. If he lost then our team would be kicked out of the tournament, if he won then our team would be proceed to the next round, and if Jason and the other team's captain tied, then Jin would have to fight the last member of Team Tenki.

 

Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted things to turn out. Sure, I did want our team to win. If we did then I would be one step closer to fighting Bashere--and hopefully that bastard Rhurac--and taking revenge on the murders of my parents. I would also get a chance to prove myself in front of all of the Makai. At the same time however, I almost hoped that we would loose. If we did then we wouldn't have to continue this tournament and all of my friends wouldn't be in the extreme danger that they are in now. However, I had no doubt that Bashere would just find some other way to dispose of us, and it wouldn't be anything near the fair chance that we had now.

 

Sighing, I decided that this all just really wasn't worth worry myself into a ditch over. The only thing I could do was watch and see how things developed, react accordingly, and then hope for the best.

 

At that moment the door to the waiting room opened once more. All of us jumped to our feet eagerly--except for Touya, who could do no such thing since he was still on crutches--though we also all felt a bit of apprehension. Guided by a pair of healers, in stepped a worn looking Jason. He was dirty and covered in cuts and bruises, but had a large smile on his face. We all immediately perked up and I quickly rushed over to my older brother.

 

"Well?" I asked, helping to guide him over to a seat. I noticed with an internal wince that my voice sounded both eager and apprehensive at the same time. Apparently not noticing, Jason's grin widened. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak a grinning Jin popped up beside him.

 

"How do you think?" Jin said excitedly. "We're going to the next round!" All of us sat in stunned silence for a moment. As soon as Jason had walked through the door we had realized that he had won, but somehow hearing it said aloud was entirely different. It made it real, and none of us were completely expecting it. Slowly however, large grins started to creep onto our face and giddiness started to invade our minds. Only moments later we were all hollering and cheering happily. I noticed with a bit of vindictive cheer that the jerk of a healer whom had spoken to us before was glaring angrily at our group but making no move to stop us.

 

"We're moving on!" Chris said excitedly, slapping my back. "We're moving on!" I grinned happily, cheering with him and purposely ignoring the bad feeling that had started to settle in the pit of my stomach.

 

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A little while later, we were all starting to leave what I now knew was called the infirmary. All of us--even me, despite my assurances that I was fine--had been healed and were feeling much better. The others wanted to race back to the hotel because they were starving, but I just wanted to take my time and so told the others to go ahead. After bit of protesting they did so and I was currently taking my time making my way down a long hallway to get out of the arena. I stared at the ceiling with my arms behind my head, a slight smile on my face, when a voice spoke up behind me.

 

"That was...interesting..."

 

I immediately whirled around to the source of the voice, annoyed at being snuck up on so many times today, but the scowl on my face quickly fell away when I saw just who was standing there.

 

"Bashere," I said, my voice tightly controlled to keep emotions from it.

 

Said youkai smirked at me. His eyes, which had been to entrancing from far away now smoldering with emotions at this close distance and I found myself struggling to keep from drowning in their depths. Bashere chuckled then, a deep rumbling sound that would make most girls swoon. Instead, however, I found myself tensing up even further, very wary. Bashere seemed to find my reaction amusing, as he smirk widened, showing pointed canines.

 

"Kristy-chan," he continued. I felt a snarl come to my lips at his familiar address, but he simply continued to smirk, infuriating me further. "Your match was certainly...different...than I'd expected." As he spoke, Bashere's eyes studied me, to my immense displeasure. I shifted uneasily beneath his gaze, but found that I was once more trapped by his eyes and couldn't bring myself to turn away and leave, no matter how much I wanted to. So, instead, I brought myself to verbally retaliate.

 

"Really?" I questioned with a slight sneer. "And exactly what were you expecting?"

 

Bashere chuckled again, some of his hair falling into his face and covering one eye. With a shiver I realized that having just a single dark eye peering intensely at me was actually worse than two. Instead of answering me however, Bashere took few steps forward until he was standing just a breath away from me. I desperately wanted to turn and run, but found my feet bolted to the floor. Slowly Bashere raised a single slender hand and lifted a strand of my silver hair. I shivered as his pale hand brushed against my cheek.

 

"You look so much like your mother..." Bashere murmured, letting my hair fall back into place.

 

Surprised, my eyes widened. "You knew my mother?" I immediately mentally hit myself over my head for this question-of course he knew her! He was the one to kill her! That thought seemed to break me out of whatever trance I'd been caught in and I quickly took a step back. Bashere just chuckled again though, and I found myself shivering at hearing the sound so close up.

 

"Of course," Bashere replied, his the corner of his mouth lifting up into another smirk. "She was my fiancée."

 

I breathed in sharply. "What? But you-- I mean..." I found myself at a loss for words, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Bashere had been my mother's fiancée?! But what about my father? And why had he killed her then?

 

"Things are not always as they appear," Bashere murmured. "She and I were to be married, to enforce and alliance between her clan and my own. But then Rei came." Bashere spit out my father's name like a curse, his face twisting into a snarl. I unconsciously took another step back, fear coiling itself around in my stomach. Even though I knew exactly who--and what--he was he'd only been civil with me so far and so seeing this darker side of him reminded me that he was indeed the current Battle Lord of the Makai and had earned that place.

 

When he saw my fear however, Bashere's face softened and he took a deep calming breath before continuing. "He hung around for a few weeks; no one knew where he'd come from. And then Shantel-chan ran away with him on the very day that we were to be married." His mouth tightening, Bashere looked over my head, staring off into space, probably lost in memories. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. "He took her away from me. My dear Shantel-chan..."

 

Hesitantly, but indeed curious, I spoke up. "But...I mean, if-- if it was just an arranged marriage then..."

 

Bashere smirked down at me again, though I noticed that this time it was tinged with bitterness. "Yes," he replied. "It was an arranged marriage, but I was also so much more. I'd loved her for so long...so long...and then, just when I was about have her, she was stolen away from right under my nose."

 

Against my wishes, I found myself feeling almost sympathetic for Bashere. This was remedied, however, when I realized that he was speaking about my mother as if she was an object; a trophy. Plus, I thought, a little incensed, my mother had every right to marry who ever she wished!

 

In the mean time, Bashere appeared to have composed himself a little more and had slipped on a mask of indifference. His eyes still studying me, he continued his tale. "So I searched for them. It took me a little while before I was able to trace them to the Ningenkai. Once I did however, I tracked them to their home and killed them." I found myself shivering once more, though this time it was because of his voice. His voice was cold. Cold and satisfied. "I thought that was the end of it, but then imagine my surprise when I found out that Shantel had had two children while she was in the Ningenkai. Of course I just had to invite you here and see you for myself."

 

I narrowed my eyes. "Then why, exactly," I snarled. "Did you send two youkai to kill us, one of them several times?!"

 

"Well, I had to test you of course; I couldn't invite pathetic weaklings here to my tournament."

 

I found my eye twitching. This guy might have been entrancing at first--and perhaps still was, I admitted grudgingly--but he spoke so simply of death! Did lives matter nothing to him?!

 

Of course not, a little voice whispered in the back of my mind, Just look at his eyes...the eyes of a killer.

 

An infuriating smirk plastered on his face, Bashere abruptly swept past me, his feet making no sound as he walked. "I look forward to seeing the rest of your matches," he murmured as he passed me.

 

I stood frozen in place for a moment longer, before quickly gathering some courage and turning around. As I opened my mouth to question the dark haired youkai however, I froze, seeing that there was no one in the hallway. Spinning around the face the other way, I saw that there was no one there either. Shivering, I hesitantly began to make my way out of the arena once more.

 

I never noticed that my hands were trembling.