Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Of Truths and Lies ❯ The Underhanded Switch ( Chapter 30 )

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) - Because I didn't place it in the last chapter (sweatdrops), you can find a picture of this neko here: http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb85/MrPicklesSporkOfDoom/NekoGirlJessie vs-1.jpg

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Anna Jaganshi.

 

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Of Truth & Lies

 

Chapter 30

The Underhanded Switch

 

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"Shihajimeru!"

 

Jessica quickly leapt back from the neko youkai, her wings unfurling behind her. The neko's eyes widened in shock, before she suddenly smiled widely, causing herself too look even more like an innocent little kitten.(1)

 

In the face of her adversary, Jessica hesitated, unable to simply attack like she had in the last round.

 

The little neko, however, had no such reservations. She immediately hopped toward Jessica, a bright smile still on her face. The neko's claws flashed forward, swiping at the angel before her, while she herself almost threw herself at Jessica. Thinking quickly, Jessica threw her self into the air, her wings beating rapidly. The sudden wind from her wings managed to cause the neko youkai to stop and use her arms to shield her eyes, while Jessica flew higher into the air.

 

The next few minutes of the fight were fairly uneventful. Like a cat watching a bird, the neko youkai prowled around the arena, watching Jessica who was circling around in the air. My best guess was that Jessica was attempting to come up with some sort of a plan to take down her opponent, without hurting the neko too much. I couldn't help but sigh; this certainly was a great contrast to Chris' fight, but then Jessie was an angel, not a youkai.

 

After a couple of minutes of pouncing around, the neko seemed to get bored. She plopped down in the middle of the arena with her arms crossed in front of her and a childish pout on her face. Hesitant, Jessica slower her flight down a bit, not entirely sure what to do next.

 

The neko youkai solved that problem for the half angel rather quickly however. Slowly she stood up and place one arm before her. Then, she made a quick motion with her other hand, slashing herself across the arm. In the air above, Jessica froze, her face filled with shock. I'm sure that my own face mirrored hers.

 

Before Jessica could react any further however, the neko suddenly swiftly brought her arm back, before making a slashing motion with said arm. To Jessica's great shock, the neko's blood that had been on her claws seemed to have somehow formed into solid blades and said blood was now rushing toward her.

 

Thinking quickly, Jessica dove out of the day, but not before she was nicked slightly on the arm. Jessica's eye narrowed and I couldn't help but smile slightly; this was exactly what Jessie had needed to get rid of some of her reservations.

 

Just as I was coming out of my thoughts, Jessica suddenly dove downwards toward the neko youkai, disks of pure light forming in her hands. As soon as she got closer to the neko--who was starting to back away--she tossed the disks at her. They immediately whizzed through the air and hit the young neko, despite her attempts to dive away.

 

Instantly, almost as she was a puppet whose strings had been cut, the girl dropped to the ground, unmoving and her skin hissing slightly where she'd been hit; Jessica's attacks tended to have that kind of an effect on youkai. Jessica circled around in the air a couple of times before she cautiously landed before her downed opponent.

 

Jessica hesitated again then, unsure about whether or not her opponent was truly down, but eventually her concern overrode her caution and she knelt down next to the neko, reaching one hand out to check the girl's pulse.

 

Jessica must have seen something though, for not a moment later she quickly began to draw back. It was too late by then however, and the neko suddenly stuck out with one hand, scratching her angel opponent across the face.

 

Jessica fell backwards from the force of the blow and when she looked up again, the neko youkai was standing over her, one claw pointed at her throat.

 

"Winner, Team Neko!" the announcer called out. The crowd grumbled a bit at the lack of major bloodshed, but cheered anyway. In front of my tam's bench however, I stood frozen with surprised, as well as a touch of relief that Jessica was alright. She was bleeding, yes, but the neko had completely missed Jessica's eyes, so scarring was the only thing that she really had to worry about.

 

As healers came out onto the field, the large scoreboard came up, showing that the current score was Team Kagekaze: 2, Team Neko: 3. My mouth tightened slightly; this wasn't good...

 

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Jason. It was just the two of us now. Both of us would have to win our upcoming matches into order to continue onto the next round, while the Neko team only needed to win one more. And they knew it too, if their smirking faces were anything to go by.

 

Jason turned to face me. "They'll be sending their captain up next," he said. "They'll want to make sure that they'll win." And indeed, just as Jason finished speaking we both noticed that the youkai whom was the Neko team's captain--all of the captains had been pointed out during the opening ceremony--had begun to step forward.

 

Jason turned all of his attention back to me and then began to speak while walked backwards, heading toward the center of the arena.

 

"Good luck with your match, Kris..." he began hesitantly, "...And please be careful."

 

I smirked lightly. "Same to you, Jay!" I called in reply. Then, in a quieter voice as he waved in acknowledgement, I repeated, "Same to you..."

 

However, as soon as Jason turned back around, both he and I froze. Standing in the middle of the arena was not the opposing team's captain, but the other member of the team. Back where the Neko team's bench was, the Neko captain stood with a full-blown grin on his face.

 

We'd been tricked! I realized with shock. When Jason had had his back turned, the Neko captain had switched with the other youkai. I felt my insides go cold. This meant that I was going to have to fight the captain myself. Even if Jason won his match, I would still have to fight and win against the captain in order to get our team to advance.

 

I took a deep breath and released it, attempting to keep my panic at bay. I could do this. I'd won my first match easily enough after all...But that had been just the first round of the tournament. This team had already won their first match as well, and this was their captain.

 

Jason seemed to have realized this as well. The expression on his face was absolutely murderous, though there were flickers of concern as well. I'm sure that he was furious at the Neko team, but I could only hope that his anger would just help him to win his match and not distract him too much. If he got sloppy with his match...I felt a shiver of concern for my older brother and could only hope that he really would be careful.

 

Jason strode the rest of the way to the center of the arena, where he stood rigidly with his arms crossed before him. The neko across from his was female and appeared to be about sixteen or so. She had waist length black hair--that was actually pretty similar to my own--and a studding emerald green eye. I say eye because her left eye was covered by a strip of black cloth that lay slanted on her head. The neko also had a pair of cat ears and a cat tail that were black with deep purple tips.

 

The neko youkai was wearing a fairly interesting outfit, pretty ningen-like in my opinion. She had on a pair of baggy green cargo pants and a black muscle shirt. Over that she wore a dark purple trench coat with a metal-studded belt around her waist, keeping the coat partially open so that her outfit beneath could be seen. Finally, she had a katana by her side.

 

The neko grinned at Jason, but my brother simply glared harder at her. He waited in stony silence until the announcer spoke up once more.

 

"Shihajimeru!"

 

Instantly, Jason had his katana out of its sheath and swinging towards his opponent. The neko had quick reflexes however, and she pulled her own katana out of its sheath to meet Jason's with a loud clash of steel. Jason did not stop there though. He continued to push the neko youkai back, his blade flashing through the air strike after strike.

 

I found myself in awe of my brother. I'd seen him fight before, of course, but I'd never seen him go all out like this. His movements were graceful, but also powerful and precise. He seemed to flow from one motion to the next, while all the while putting all of his strength--which quite considerable--behind his steps.

 

He was like wind, I realized. He was like a quiet, soothing breeze one moment and a harsh cutting hurricane the next. I could honestly say that I'd never seen anything like it before.

 

Jason and the neko youkai continued to exchange blows for a couple more minutes, neither ever gaining the upper hand. Jason was just a little stronger than the neko, but she was just a little bit faster; they seemed to be evenly matched.

 

The neko had a large grin on her face as she fought, her eyes dancing with amusement. Though Jason attempted to keep his face straight for the most part, he too sported a small smile, showing just how much he was enjoying the fight.

 

After a couple of minutes of this standstill fighting, Jason suddenly leapt backwards. Both youkai were breath hard. Jason stared the neko down for a minute, when abruptly a harsh wind swept through the arena, as if it had been summoned--which doubtless it had been. The wind easily stirred up the dust and just moment later the two fighting figures were hidden from view. A few seconds later, when the dust had settle once more, Jason was no where to be seen.

 

The neko quickly looked around--including up--but could find no sign of her elusive opponent. Just then however, I saw movement in the neko's shadow. Quickly, but quietly, Jason rose out of the shadow itself. I felt me eyes widen; I had never seen him do that before!

 

As soon as Jason was completely out of the shadow he struck forward like a viper, firmly pressing the blade of his katana against the neko's throat. The neko youkai froze instantly but, surprising, just a moment later relaxed again, a small smirk forming on her face. She murmured something to Jason, causing his eyes to widen momentarily, and then suddenly threw herself forward onto Jason's blade--

 

--Only to disperse into what appeared to be liquid shadows.

 

I stared on in shock. What had just happened?! Don't tell me that she can manipulate shadows too! Before Jason could even react to the strange turn of events however, the shadows suddenly back and reform into the neko. She was standing behind Jason now, facing away from him, with her katana pointed backward so that the tip was resting on the side of Jason's neck.

 

The two of them stood frozen in place like that for the next few seconds--very long seconds, it seemed to me--each of them waiting to see what the other would do. Finally, Jason suddenly moved away, faster than my eyes could follow. His and the neko's katana flashed through the air once more and they once again began their back and forth battle. This time, however, things were on an entirely different level.

 

I stood there watching the fight with my mouth hanging open. If I had thought the battle was intense before, then this was just insane. Now as they fought they were both adding blows from shadows to harm for their opponent more or to trip them up. At the same time, Jason was adding strikes from his wind whenever he could. Before long they both were covered in still-forming bruises and minor lacerations.

 

Fortunately--or unfortunately, depending on you looked at it--the match wouldn't last too much longer. It was actually kind of amusing to see how the ending happened, especially since it was kind of an accident.

 

Quite simply, the neko slipped on a pebble. All of Jason's attempts to trip her up had done nothing, but a simply pebble beneath her feet made her slip. The neko was, however, able to catch herself by falling forward on her hands so that she was on the ground on all fours. When she looked up, Jason's katana was pointed as her face.

 

The neko stared at the blade--going crossed eyed for a moment--before her in surprise, before suddenly beginning to laugh as she fell back and set on the ground in surrender. Jason blinked, surprised, and then cracked a grin himself. A second later, however, the grin fell and was replaced with a tight frown as he remembered his earlier anger.

 

"Winner," the announcer suddenly called out as several healers came out into the arena, "Team Kagekaze!" The usual cheering preceded the declaration, of course, and then the score came up, showing that we were now tied with Team Neko.

 

Immediately, I felt my good mood drop. Crap. Now it was just my battle. Just my battle to decide whether or not my team would win. Just my battle against an experienced youkai fighter who was hundreds of years older than me. I gulped fearfully and then carefully wiped all emotions from my face. I wondered offhandedly if neko youkai could smell fear...Dear Kami I hoped not.

 

Straightening my back once more, I began to stride toward the center of the arena, towards my opponent. For better or for worse, I was going to fight this battle.