Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Of Truths and Lies ❯ The Neko Twins ( Chapter 29 )

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) - Picture of him? Again, there's one in my pic section.

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Anna Jaganshi.

 

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Of Truth & Lies

 

Chapter 29

The Neko Twins

 

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I stared, shocked at what had just occurred. Even as the crowd above me in the stands roared with approval, I couldn't take my eyes off the corpse of the neko youkai. Chris' horrified face didn't even register in my mind; I was to busy focusing on the blood that was pooling around the neko. I could feel my pulse quickening as my blood pounded in my veins and adrenalin filled me.

 

And I was horrified by what I was feeling.

 

I wasn't sure what I was more afraid of: that Chris had killed or that his killing excited me. I could feel the wolf in me howling for more blood, restless to fight. My emotions resonated with the crowd around me and I had to forcefully hold myself in check.

 

So engrossed in my own thoughts and emotions was I that I jumped when a hand clamped down on my shoulder. Turning my head, I looked up at Jason, who was looking down at me with understanding. With a slight shiver I noticed that the pupils of his eyes were slit even more than usual, giving him a feral look. I didn't have to look in a mirror to know that my eye looked exactly the same; slit with bloodlust. Sensing my inner turmoil, Jason squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. As his hand slipped away, I nodded my thanks to him.

 

Turning my attention back to the scene before me, I attempted to come to terms with what I was feeling. I knew that I was a youkai, and that as such I had certain primal instincts, but those instincts were also currently conflicting with my human morals. I frowned, watching intensely as the healers removed the neko youkai's body from the arena and escorted a shaking Chris away. Before today I had known that I would probably have some internal emotional issues, being a youkai whom was raised as a human, but I hadn't really understood exactly how that would feel. Honestly, it felt like a mini war was waging inside of me.

 

My mouth was still set in a tight line; I raised my gaze to look up to where Bashere was sitting. To my intense aggravation, the dark haired Battle Lord was staring at me once more, a smirk plastered across his face. I snarled at him, more annoyed than I'd ever been before; the bastard was taking pleasure in my internal turmoil!

 

Purposely, I turned my head away from him and shoved my feelings away. I was a youkai damn it, and my childhood didn't affect my instincts, as I could quite easily tell. I was a born fighter and would prefer to trust my own instincts that the "morals" drilled into me by society. Humans were generally hypocritical idiots anyway.

 

His voice tight, Jason suddenly spoke up, breaking me out of my reverie. "Jin," he said, "You're up."

 

Jin nodded and, just by looking at his pupils I could tell that he too was being affected by bloodlust. But then, most of the stadium's occupants were too. Looking up at the center of the arena once more as Jin began to make his way onto the field, I noticed that the body of the neko youkai had been removed and that Chris had also been herded away, I couldn't help but wine as I thought of my friend; this had been his first kill and this whole situation was probably pretty difficult on him. Offhandedly I couldn't help but wonder what my first kill would be like, but then quickly pushed that thought away with a shiver; hopefully it would never come to that.

 

But what about Bashere? Abruptly my thoughts froze as this occurred to me. I had sworn that I would kill Bashere but before until now I hadn't really realized exactly what that entailed. Would I really be able to kill him, even if he was my parents' murderer? Would I really be able to take away someone's life...? I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes slightly. I would have to think on this later; right now Jin's match was about to commence.

 

And indeed it was. Jin was standing across from another neko youkai. This one was another guy, although he only looked to be in his mid teens, despite the fact that I knew that he was much older than that. He had a Chinese look to him and had silver-grey eyes and waist length dark brown hair that was tied back. He was wearing a loose gray outfit that was tied at the waist(1). A pair of dark brown cat ears with lighter brown tips was perched on his head and a similarly colored tail hung loosely behind him. Like the neko that Chris had fought, this one also had sharp claw protruding from his fingers.

 

"Shihajimeru!"

 

Instantly, the two were on each other, the neko slashing with his claws and Jin slashing with his wind, both moving with incredible speed. They bantered back forth like this, quite similarly to how Chris and his opponent had, for several minutes. Jin received a couple of scratches and the neko received a few slashes as well.

 

Finally after a bit the two stepped back from each other, panting. Jin narrowed his eyes at his opponent and then suddenly placed his hands before him. Wind slowly began to swirl before him but as the seconds ticked by--and the neko youkai began to leap back--it grew in speed and power until Jin was digging his feet into the ground to keep himself from being pushed away and even I could feel the wind from where I was.

 

A smirk coming his face, Jin suddenly moved his arms as far apart as he could before quickly bringing them together again in a clap. As his two hands reached each other however, the wind that had been building in strength exploded outward, pushing itself forward in a speeding funnel of wind.

 

Seeing what was coming, the young-looking neko youkai moved down into a crouch, his arms crossed before him. The wind funnel hit him straight on, sending him flying backwards. Before the youkai could hit the arena wall however, a ball of light suddenly surrounded him, exploding outward and forcing the wind to dissipate. I could feel that the light that was still surrounding the neko as he stood up was laced with youkai. Slowly, the light receded back into the neko, leaving him standing in the middle of a pit of destruction with a smile on his face.

 

Slowly the neko youkai began to approach Jin again. Before he took more than a couple of steps however, the neko lifted his right arm from his side so that it was parallel to the ground. He splayed out his fingers, palm facing towards the ground and then a small, fist sized ball of light formed just an inch from his palm.

 

It floated there for a moment before the neko suddenly swung his arms backwards and threw the ball of light with all of his strength towards Jin. As it reached my teammate, the ball suddenly exploded, sending dust flying everywhere and blocking the view of the fight. With a grunt, I covered my own eye from the debris that washed over us. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed some sore of an invisible barrier stop the dust and rock from flying into the stands.

 

Turning my attention back to the fight, I saw that everyone--even the neko youkai--was watching the spot were Jin had been, waiting for the dust to clear. Slowly it did, but Jin was no where in sight. The neko was immediately on guard. He whirled around, attempting to catch sight of his opponent, but saw nothing.

 

Suddenly, a voice--a very familiar voice--spoke out, "Looking for me, mate?"

 

Everyone's head quickly snapped upwards, towards where the sound had come from. The sight that met our eyes was quite interesting; there was Jin, floating in the air about 50 yards above the ground.

 

As soon as the neko youkai had looked up, Jin let out a blast of numerous little bullets of compressed air. They sped quickly towards the youkai, whom immediately dived out of the way.

 

Dropping to the ground, Jin then moved rapidly toward the neko, wind swirling around him. The neko youkai retaliated by forming more light bombs in his hands and tossing them at Jin one after another. Jin carefully avoided the bombs as best he could while trying to get close to the youkai.

 

After a few more futile attempts at harming Jin, the neko realized that the wind youkai was too quick in the air to be hit. So he stopped throwing the bombs and instead lunged at the incoming youkai, catching Jin by surprise.

 

As the two youkai collided, I saw a flash of metal as the neko youkai suddenly pulled out a pair of daggers, tossed them at Jin, and then used his own claws to swipe at him. Cursing under his breath, Jin brought up his arms to protect himself. He managed to stave off the brunt of the attack, but had deep gashes in his arms because of it, as well as a single deep slash across his chest.

 

Snarling, Jin shoved forward with one injured arm, creating a hardened blade of wind in his hand as he did so. The blade slashed upward across the neko youkai's chest, forcing the cat back.

 

The neko lay on the ground, panting, and Jin stood over him. Jin placed the tip of his wind blade on the neko youkai's throat, his mouth set in a firm line and his arms dripping blood. The neko's lip curled back in anger but, ever so slowly, he lifted his arm in a sign of surrender.

 

I felt myself let out a sigh of relief. Thank god. For a moment there, I was sure that Jin was going to be killed.

 

"Winner, Team Kagekaze!" the announcer proclaimed over the noise of the cheering crowd. As the healers came onto the field and escorted Jin and the neko youkai away, Jin glanced back at us and sent us grin. I--and probably the others behind me--couldn't help but grin in reply.

 

In complete opposite of the last match, we now were in the lead again Team Neko, two to none as the large screen read. If we could just win the next match then we would proceed to the next round without a single loss!

 

Of course, things rarely go as planned.

 

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Currently, Touya was approaching the center of the arena for his match; he had insisted on going next. Personally, I thought that most likely he wanted to prove himself, like Chris had.

 

All of that aside, Touya stopped in front of his opponent and waited for the announcer to start the match. Shifting my attention to the youkai standing across from Touya, I felt myself blink. For a moment I was sure that the neko youkai that Jin had fought was fighting again. But then I noticed that this youkai had black eyes instead of silver; it was just a small difference, but it was enough.

 

Other than the eyes however, this neko youkai looked identical to the last one; he had the same body type, the same height, the same hair, even the same clothes! He also had the same dark brown cat ears and tail with light brown tips. Of course, this neko also wasn't scratched up and dirty like the last one was after his match, so that separated them out as well.

 

'Twins...' I realized. 'They're twins!'

 

I had no more time to contemplate this strange phenomenon, as at that moment the announcer spoke up once more.

 

"Shihajimeru!"

 

Just like last time, the two were immediately on each other. Touya used his ice to attack and block while the neko used his claws. They traded blows for just a few seconds before the neko leapt backwards, away from Touya.

 

Smirking darkly, the neko youkai lifted his right arm from his side and caused a ball of light to form just below his hand. Unlike his brother's ball however, this one was pure black, to the point that it seemed to be sucking light in rather than emitting any. I stared at the ball with narrowed eyes; that wasn't made of shadows--I knew shadows well enough to be able to tell that--but rather it was more like...darkness, pure darkness.

 

His smirk widening, the neko threw the ball of darkness at Touya similarly to how his brother had done. Touya quickly, leapt out of the way, knowing what was going to happen. Or at least he'd thought he'd known.

 

Instead of exploding outward, the ball of darkness began to implode upon contact with the ground, pulling everything around it inward. Including some of the skin off of Touya's arm. With a hiss, Touya scrambled backward further, holding his now bleeding arm. When the dust cleared from the neko's attack, all that was left was a wide crater.

 

Snarling in anger, Touya leapt toward the neko youkai, attacking with his ice.

 

And so a new pattern was started; the neko would attack with his dark orbs and Touya would carefully avoid that attacks while attempting to deal damage to his opponent at the same time. After about five minutes, Touya had learned that his ice helped to protect him from the dark bombs, considering as it couldn't suck solid ice in very well. Still, it was taking a lot of energy out the ice youkai to have to block and attack simultaneously for so long without really getting anywhere. The neko youkai was similarly frustrated and was beginning to pant in exhaustion.

 

Suddenly, the neko youkai moved his hands down in front of him, so that his palms were facing the ground. Then, just as it had many times before, a ball of darkness started to form. Unlike usual though, this one was forming beneath his two hands and it didn't stop growing. It just kept enlarging and enlarging and, after only a few seconds, it had completely enveloped the neko and was still growing.

 

Watching with wide eyes, I saw the dark ball expand until it was about 20 feet in diameter. Touya, who was also staring at the ball with wide and confused eyes, began back up so that he wasn't touched by the ball. Before he could move any further however, the ball suddenly stopped growing.

 

Everyone, including all the spectators in the stands watched with bated breath, wondering what was going to happen. Before anyone could even blink however, the large ball suddenly imploded. It was similar to what all the smaller balls had done, only on a much larger level.

 

Touya was immediately pulled in, along with tons of dust and rock fragments. A large booming sound was also cause upon implosion, causing me to cover my ears with a hiss. Still, despite the pain that my ears were in, my gaze was still fixated onto the arena, which was currently completely covered in clouds of dust. No one could see what was going on or what happened.

 

Slowly--ever so slowly--the dust began to clear. As it did, I could make out two shadowy figures, but nothing more than that. Finally, after what had probably been a minute but felt like an hour, we could see the field in the middle of the stadium.

 

There were two figures lying prone on the ground; Touya and the neko youkai. They were both unconscious and looking as though they had been to hell and back; the ground was already becoming stained red with blood from their various lacerations. I couldn't help but wince at the state that both of them were in.

 

"Both participants are unable to continue!" the announcer called out. "The match is a tie!"

 

I felt myself release a breath. Well, at least the other team didn't get a point, even if we didn't either. And hopefully Touya would be okay too.

 

"Alright," Jason began, calling us all close. "Who is next?"

 

"I-- I'll go," Jessica stated hesitantly. When she saw that all of us were looking at her, her back straightened, as if she was attempting to prove that she was more than ready. Jason paused before nodding his acceptance. We all then exchanged words of good luck with her before she set out toward the middle of the arena without a backward glance.

 

As my best friend headed toward her opponent, I couldn't help but worry. She had won her last match mainly from surprising her opponent, but nothing said that this youkai would react the same way. Don't get me wrong, Jessica is a good fighter, it's just that she doesn't have the same instincts that all youkai naturally have. Being an angel, her instincts are more geared toward being kind and helping people. The Makai is definitely not the best place for her to be.

 

The youkai whom Jessica would be fighting was unlike one I'd ever seen before. She looked young--as in maybe twelve or thirteen--and had short brown hair and wide purple eyes. Surprisingly, she was wearing a black and white school uniform--one with a short skirt. A pair of small brown ears was perched on her head and a brown tail peeked out from beneath her skirt.

 

Over all, if she hadn't had the cat ears and tail I would have thought that she was a ningen girl. She certainly looked too innocent to be a fighter, let alone in this tournament. That, however, is what made me watch the neko youkai with narrowed eyes. Appearance could be deceiving and, in the Makai, it could help one to survive. Unfortunately, Jessica might not fight her hardest against this opponent because of how innocent the neko appeared. This was probably the worst opponent for Jessica to get.

 

"Shihajimeru!”