Akina's POV
It was now time for us to be heading to Hanging Neck Island for the Dark Tournament. I am currently in the room Lord Riku had provided me, packing up my things. I hear a knock on the door making me call back, "Come in." The door opens for Lord Riku's brother, Lord Kenichi, to walk in with Goro behind him.
Lord Kenichi was just like Lord Riku when it comes to training. He can be brutal when we our sessions were how to handle ruthless opponents, and would mainly be the tutor for Goro due to how Lord Riku doesn't wish to harm his grandson. Thankfully Lord Kenichi had stepped up to the plate without judging Lord Riku and had promised that if Goro was failing the sessions he would end it. The difference between the two is not just the appearance, but how well Lord Kenichi is entuned with the Black Market due to how convincing he can be to others and he is comfortable changing his appearance in a way that doesn't give away his title nor what type of Demon he is, whereas Lord Riku carries his title everywhere. This is why Lord Riku has asked Lord Kenichi to purchase a ticket to the Dark Tournament to keep an eye on us and provide additional training if he believes it's necessary.
"Are you ready, young Urameshi?" Lord Kenichi asks me, making me nod and say, "I am ready to go." Lord Kenichi says, "Then let's go to Lord brother's garden, where a portal has been arranged." And with that he walks out of the room with me and Goro slowly following behind. "Are you ready for this?" Goro asks me, to which I reply, "No." Goro looks to me and gives me a small smile before saying, "Nor am I." This made me giggle a bit as we continued walking, until we walked through the stone archway that had black metal gates open.
Lord Riku's garden is well kept and has designated areas for each thing that grows. At the far back of the garden different types of trees grow. In an area to the left there was various flowers growing, whilst to the right was various veg growing. And lining the rest of the walls were bushes and wild vines. Apparently he had allowed his daughter to decorate Lord Riku's garden however she would like it, hence why Lord Riku makes sure that his gardeners take great care of it.
Lord Riku is sitting on a bench that is stationed in between two trees with a rug strangely placed on a patch of grass in front of him. "Good evening, Lord brother." Lord Kenichi greets his brother as he comes to a stop just a step away from the rug. "Thank you for this, Kenichi. And by the way, when mother isn't present you can just call me Riku." Lord Riku says with a small smile on his face. I see the shock on Lord Kenichi's eyes, making me conclude that he was raised under a strict rules to always be formal even to his own relatives, that he is not used to being told to be informal and personal. I'm glad I never got to meet Goro's great grandmother now.
"As you are aware, I cannot go with you due to my responsibilities and how I will be unable to hold back my disgust on such an event. But thankfully, Kenichi has purchased a ticket and will keep you under his wing." Lord Riku says to us before gesturing towards the rug and says, "Under this rug is the portal all three of you will take, and it will drop you directly in front of the hotel that you and the rest of Team Urameshi will be staying at." This makes Goro ask, "Wait, how do you know where contestants have to stay?" This makes Lord Riku say, "Kenichi looked at the invitation that Akina was given and it has the location of where she will be staying. And when you enter, you will need to hand the invitation to the staff member, who will then lead you to the room you will be staying. Now any questions?" To which I ask, "Will Lord Kenichi be staying in the same accommodation as us?" Lord Kenichi turns to me and says, "Yes I will be in the same hotel, but will have a room elsewhere due to be a VIP member of the audience."
Lord Riku then snaps his fingers and suddenly the rug was gone and replaced with a large rectangular hole that instead of producing golden light, like the previous portal that brought Goro and I here, it produced a strange dark blue and black smoke that prevents us to seeing where the portal would take us. I turn to Goro and say, "See you on the other side." And with that I jump into the portal and watch as the smoke disappears as my Spirit energy glows around me as my body begins to fall down towards the sea, before coming to a halt before coming in contact with the water. As soon as I see Goro appear beside me cloaked in his Spirit energy, we both suddenly end up zooming across the water and towards the strange looking island that is but a distance away from us. "Hanging Neck Island." Both Goro and I breath out, and with that our energy blinds us and we find ourselves in front of a luxurious large hotel called, Hotel Kubikukuri.
"This is where we're staying?" Goro asks with wide eyes, whilst I look between him and the hotel with my mouth slightly agape, until another voice speaks up, "Yes, this is the hotel that has been booked for you team. I must say it is very over the top in Human luxurious standards isn't it." Both Goro and I turn to see Lord Kenichi behind us with a smile on his face, which becomes on of amusement when taking in our reactions to seeing how fancy the hotel is. "Shall we go inside?" He then asks us as he turns us both around and lightly pushes us. We enter to find an old butler waiting to greet us, "Why hello dear guest. Follow me and I'll show you to your rooms." And with that we all follow the old man through the corridors and areas packed with overly dressed rich Human men and women, who let out laughs occasionally along with their usual chatter and sending an occasional glance our way. But soon we don't have to worry about them as we enter a lift with the butler, who presses the button that will take us to the floor our room is on.
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The Butler walks us to our room and opens the door for us. Both Goro and I enter the room and take in the sight of what is clearly the living room of our accommodation, which comes with an open kitchen space. "I apologise for not bringing your complimentary refreshments. After I show Lord Kenichi his room, I will deliver your complimentary refreshments. We were expecting you to arrive with the rest of your team by boat." This makes Lord Kenichi say, "Well these two are more special than the other members of their team, as it says on their invitation." He then takes the invitation from my bag and passes it to the butler who read it before visibly gulping and giving the invitation back. He then bows to me and Goro as he says, "Apologies, I will make sure you get the refreshments as quick as possible." And with that Lord Kenichi and the Butler leaves, making me and Goro look at each other with shocked expressions before we both suddenly start laughing.
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Third Person's POV
Back on the mainland of Japan, Demons of various kinds sit in groups close to a fire as they wait for the boat which will take them to Hanging Neck Island. But their eyes were not on their own members of the team or the flames or even the waters, their eyes were instead on their potential competition. "It's about time this tournament day arrived." One Demon says after releasing a small chuckle. "Now we can kill without those pursuers after us." Another Demon adds, leading to another saying, "And imagine our power once we've gotten that prize." This comment of course does spark some arguments around those present. "We're the one's who are going to get the prize! Just go home if you don't want to die!" One Demon barks at another group seated across from him. "Obviously you haven't seen us fight yet!" One of the Demon's that was addressed by the previous one argues back.
Suddenly a Demon shifts the others focuses from their arguments to something else when announcing, "I think I smell a Human over there!" This causes some snorts to be released by some Demons next to him as they look over the group that was but a distance from the blood thirsty Demon's: Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara. "Maybe he's come here to be our dinner!" A Demon laughs out as he stares directly at Kuwabara, who continues to wear his blue uniform this time occupied with a large white bag. To his right stood the calm Kurama dressed in white martial arts uniform that had what seemed to be gold lining. And to Kuwabara's left stood the unamused Hiei dressed in a light purple martial arts clothing with golden lining.
"Urameshi still hasn't showed up yet, what could that dummy be doing now?" Kuwabara complains, which leads to Kurama answering, "Hopefully, he's finding our fifth fighter." This makes Kuwabara look at him confused and ask, "What about his sister? Even though girls shouldn't fight at all, she has proven to be able to handle herself." Kuwabara fails to notice how Kurama flinched when Kuwabara talks of Akina, but of course Hiei doesn't as he stares intensely at the Fox Demon, hoping that he didn't do something incredibly stupid to affect the alliance formed between them and Akina, who for some odd reason isn't a Spirit Detective. Kurama takes a deep breath before saying, "Akina is apparently away for business she didn't share with me. Also I'm sure Yusuke doesn't want to drag his sister into this dangerous tournament." Hiei seems to notice that Kuwabara is thinking over Kurama's words and decides to prevent those thoughts from clarity as he says, "Why don't you worry about yourself, Kuwabara. Have you gotten any better since our last fight?" Kuwabara glares down at Hiei before spitting out, "You'll see for yourself, Shrimp boy!" He then continues to glare at the other teams that continue to stare at him with hunger. 'If we win this competition, I'm gonna get super famous. Yeah! That way Yukina and I can be together forever!' Kuwabara thinks to himself.
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The boat to the Island arrives and the captain of the boat, who looks like a pirate, walks towards the large groups of those wanting to participate and announces, "The ship is 'ere maties. Now let's try to get on board without any violence." This makes Kuwabara's eyes widen and say in a panic, "Hey wait a minute sir, our team still has some stragglers!" The captain stares at them unbothered and says, "Then we'll have to put a mark on there heads and send out a hitman, standard rule of the tournament." It is then that a familiar voice speaks from behind the three males, "Now now, that's not necessary!" This makes everyone turn to the source of that voice to see Yusuke in a white shirt, jeans and a brown jacket carrying a small bag, along with a masked small figure standing beside him in silence. "Sorry to keep you waiting guys." Yusuke says to the guys. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, Urameshi!"
In finding out that the new Human present was the famous Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi, all the Demons begin to scowl, growl and let out angry words about him to each other. "These forest hikes really knock me out." Yusuke says as he leans against a tree as he ignores the Demons around him and his team. "Yeah, you look awful." Kuwabara says as he acknowledges how tired Yusuke looks before then adding, "Oh wait, it's just you." During this exchange, Hiei had begun to walk up to Yusuke and says, "Yusuke." As soon as Yusuke looks at him, Hiei launches at him with great speed and begins to try and strike Yusuke with his sword, but despite how tired Yusuke is from the hike, Yusuke successfully dodges each attack thrown his way at the same speed Hiei is going at. This of course was confusing the Demons that were watching, whilst Kuwabara tries to watch the fight between the two with sweat dripping down his face. "You guys are so fast...I can barely keep up with my eyes!" Kuwabara admits to himself.
The two come to a stop with Yusuke using his finger to stop the blade before saying, "Damn, Hiei, is this how you say hello to people now." Hiei smirks and says, "I don't know where you've been all this time, but it seems you've improved your skills a little bit." This makes Kuwabara look at the two in disbelief and panicky as he exclaims, "Improved a little bit?! Oh man I'd say he improved a lot of bit!" This makes Kurama turn to him with a smile and say, "Don't be discouraged. The fact that you could follow their moves shows that you have improved as well." Hiei gets up and looks over his shoulder towards the masked fighter as he says, "So Yusuke, I assume the little one over there is going to be the fifth member of our team." This causes Kuwabara to look at the masked fighter and get closer to them for inspection as he speaks, "You mean this little guy here?! He's even smaller than Hiei! And what's wrong with his face? He looks like a mummy or something. Why couldn't you call up Akina and ask her or even that Goro guy who follows her like a lost puppy?!"
Yusuke smiles at him and says, "Trust me, that one's gonna be a lot of help to us. And besides I haven't dared to call Akina as I hadn't said goodbye to her before leaving nor leaving a note to explain the situation so I'm screwed if she ever finds out." Kuwabara still looks worried as he says, "I don't know, he barely comes to my waist." Hiei smirks and says, "Forget him. Yusuke and I are all that we'll require. Although I can't deny having Akina here would have been a bonus."
The captain has enough of all this and says, "Enough of this distractions! Let's all get on board!" And with that everyone gets onto the large boat that instantly begins sailing towards the island everyone was waiting to step foot on. Kuwabara suddenly yells, "WAIT NO ONE TOLD AKINA ABOUT THIS?! WE ARE SO SCREWED WHEN WE GET BACK!" This leads to Yusuke shouting, "THAT'S WHAT I SAID YOU IDIOT!"
Hello fellow stars, I hope all of you had a great summer holidays and had a good start back into the horrors we all know as schools or work. The images below are a friend of mine's drawing of Akina Urameshi in her usual martial arts outfit that Emi had made for her along with the outfit Akina will wear during the dark tournament. I hope you guys had a good weekend, till next time 🙋🏻♀️🌹