{ Mizumi }
"Where the heck am I supposed to go?"
"Just turn left and you'll see an entrance right there." Takako instructed on the other line. I turned to my left and saw that it's not what she says.
"It's a dead end!" I exclaimed. I can hear her sigh from the other line.
"Okay okay, I'll get you. Just stay where you are." she said. I didn't replied further not because I didn't want to. But because a demon is here. A guard.
I quickly hid on the path on my right. I can hear the demon's footsteps coming here so I ended up running towards an exit on the same path.
I was busy looking at my back that I didn't noticed the light. And the noise coming from there.
Until now.
"Hey! You!" I heard someone shout from behind. Probably the guard. And when I turned my face to my back, my hunch was correct.
"Oops." I muttered as I averted my eyes on my front. It looks like I got to where I needed to. But not on the audience rack.
"Mizumi!" Kurama called as he ran towards me.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, obviously surprised and confused.
"Uhhh..." I wasn't able to answer because someone held me from behind.
"How dare you trespass—!"
"She's with us." someone cut him off. It's that red-eyed demon. Hiei.
"I have a ticket, you moron." I glared at the demon behind me. He let go of me and huffed before going to the same place I got in.
"You still haven't answered me, Mizumi." Kurama reminded me and I laughed nervously.
"Well... I too was confused of why I'm here." I muttered as I heard footsteps behind.
"Mizumi!" I know that voice all too well.
"Why are you here? I was worried about you! I told you to stay where you are!" Takako scolded me once she got to where I am.
"A guard chased me and I ended up here. What choice do I have." I retorted while pouting, facing Takako.
"And besides, you should thank me for paying for your tickets! I was saving them for a concert ticket and now they're gone." I added and Takako sighed.
"Fine, fine. I'll buy you some snacks you want to eat later after the match." she muttered as she faced Kurama.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, we must go now." she stated. We were about to walk away when Kurama stopped us.
"Wait," we halted "Where are you going?" asked Kurama.
"We're going to protect Keiko. What else?" I spatted. And it made me regret of it.
Right. That's a secret.
"Now you're bodyguards? How pathetic." Hiei commented, not even turning away his eyes away from the fight.
Oops. Koenma won't mind them knowing, will he?
"Hey it's not that pathetic." I tried retorting back.
"If you'll go back there, you will be taken by the guards. Who knows where they'll take you." Kurama stated. It was obvious he just wanted to make Takako stay. Not the both of us.
"They'll only get in the way if they stay here, Kurama. Let them be." Hiei said, glaring at us.
"What a meanie." I mumbled.
"But how about Keiko?" asked Takako.
"Botan and Kuwabara's sister are there. No need to be concerned much." I sided with Kurama—since I wanted to stay here instead of going to the audience rack with all those hideous faces.
"Besides, I'm going to take care of something here." I muttered as I walked my way towards the sleeping form of Yusuke.
I slapped him on his cheek with all I got.
"Yusuke! Wake up!" I shouted.
"Ouch, that hurts, Mizumi." he muttered. I raised an eyebrow.
"Is he really sleeping or not?" I mumbled to myself.
"Don't tire yourself. It's useless. He won't wake up." Hiei stated which made me startle. From what I remember, he was beside Kurama.
"Besides, I can take care of the rest by myself." he added. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.
"Oh sure you can." I sarcastically replied as I watched Kuwabara fight instead.
"Serpent Yo-Yos!" Kuwabara's opponent exclaimed. Ah, that's Rinku. Yep, Koenma also told us to research about them.
I can feel a lot of Demon Energy from this little kid.
"You're finally displaying your specialty, are you?" Kuwabara asked, raising his left hand a little.
"In that case, so will I!" he exclaimed as he formed his Spirit Sword on both hands. That's new.
Kurama and Hiei sure did a lot for him.
"I won't hold back on you! Double Spirit Sword!" Kuwabara exclaimed as he brought the two blades into a form of an 'x'.
Rinku had jumped and attacked his five yo-yos into Kuwabara.
"I'll just take those things and whack them clean in half!" Kuwabara declared, referring to the yo-yos. I have a bad feeling about this.
As the yo-yos made their way to Kuwabara, he launched his two Spirit Swords to the yo-yos but something unexpected happened.
"Rinku's yo-yos twisted their way in..." Kurama muttered. We all watched in shock as Kuwabara landed on the ground of the ring.
"Whoa! Ladies and gentlemen, were you able to see that? Just now, contestant Kuwabara was unmistakably thrown about by that peculair motion!" Koto exclaimed through the microphone.
"Dummy! This isn't some child's squabble, you know! Did you think all I can do was cast these?" Rinku said in a mockingly manner towards Kuwabara.
"Damn!" I heard the latter cursed.
"The Serpent Yo-Yos are receiving plenty of Demon Energy from my fingers. All eight of them individually... move the way I want them to." Rinku explained as he proved it by moving the yo-yos around in a different manner than others.
Now that's what we missed out in our investigation.
••••
{ Kurama }
"What could be the matter? Contestant Kurama seems to be at Contestant Roto's command!"
"Hey, hey, what's the matter, Kurama?!" I heard Kuwabara exclaimed.
"Idiot." I managed to hear the sync voices of Hiei and Mizumi, commenting about Kuwabara's statement.
"I've got it! He's got him under sypnosis or something!" a demon from the audience declared.
"All right! Now slug him as much as you can and kill him!" another demon from the audience shouted.
"I'll slug you first before that will happen!" came from a shout from a girl that I know of.
"Takako, calm down." I heard Mizumi said to her friend.
"You can't do it, huh? No, there's no way you could, huh?" Roto—my opponent suddenly spoke. "Or maybe you'd like to try to quickly cut off my left arm with that whip you're so proud of?" he mockingly questioned as he raised the remote control he was holding with his left hand—a device that if the button was pushed, his errand demon would eventually devour my mother.
"Maybe the pain will startle me and the button will get pushed, huh?" he added, trying to mock me further.
"Contestant Kurama is not moving an inch! Could he have lost the will to fight?" Koto exclaimed.
"Come on, say something!" Roto commanded as he kicked me in the gut. I gritted my teeth, enduring the pain that it brought me.
"This is great! I am having fun!" he said with a smirk. "The most enjoyable toy out there is one that can't put up any resistance!"
He punched me continously and I took all of it, not being that bothered since I've suffered more than this.
"Oh my! Contestant Roto is raining blows on Contestant Kurama! Even so, for some reason, Contestant Kurama is not fighting back!" Koto announced.
"Why, you..." Roto muttered, stopping his punches as a smirk once again creeped into his face, forming his blade through the same finger as last time. He pointed the blade at my cheek—the same cheek that was wounded.
"That gaze of yours is getting on my nerves. I want to be entertained by a face stepped in humiliation! You got that?!" he said, slashing my cheek once again. I think he has intersected it with the other wound, forming an 'x' on my cheek.
"Would you... stop looking at me like that?!" he exclaimed, his smirk disappearing as he slashed me deeper. I can hear gasps from behind—must be Botan's and Kuwabara's.
I can feel the blood seep from the new wound that I got. It stings but it's not something that I cannot endure.
"You are really displeasing me! I will not easily forgive this." he said. But then, his smirk appeared once again as he raised his left foot. It looks like he has a new plan.
"First, you will prostrate yourself and lick my boots. Once you've licked them clean, I will cut off your head! Only then I will excuse you by not pressing the button." he paused, his smirk going widens. "You can't say no to me, can you, Shuichi?"
I maintained a straight face as I spoke after so long. It's time.
"I won't do it." I firmly said. His face instantly said his reaction. Shock.
"What?!" he exclaimed. I remained calm as I brushed off the dust on my sleeves.
"That's enough. If you want to press it, just press it." I stated calmly.
"So, you finally showed your true nature!" he stated as he pointed an accusing finger at me. "Put a little pressure on you, and this is what happens, isn't it? You hold your own life more dearly than your mother's, don't you? In the end, you're the same as the rest of us!" he exclaimed, bringing his finger down.
"As long as you survive, that's enough!" he added, fear mixturing in his voice as he laughed nervously.
"Push it!" I commanded.
"I will push it!" he exclaimed, raising the hand that was holding the remote control. But then, in a matter of milliseconds, he halted.
"My fingers! I can't move!" he stuttered. I walked towards him, slapping the remote control from his hands and catched it.
"Though I am disgusted, let's go over those words that astounded me the more you kept saying them." I said, raising up my right hand, the remote control on hand.
"It was the riskiest bet to try to take what you thought was the shortest and easiest way out." I continued.
"What could this be? Now it is Contestant Roto that is not making a move." the confused Koto announced.
"Earlier, I planted a Shimaneki grass seed inside you. Its roots have just barely spread throughout your entire body." I explained, bringing a hand up to hold my chin. I can see by the look in his face that he's currently in the midst of realization and flashback to what happened earlier.
"The reason you hit me in the face with that pebble is to divert my attention." he muttered.
"When I give a certain word, it's going to grow explosively, and pierce through your whole body." I paused, closing my eyes. "It's a good thing you're such a punk. I can be merciless to you without any reservation." I added before turning and walking back to my team.
"W-Wait! We're both demons! Aren't we?! I was just joking about everything up until just earlier!" he excused. "I was wrong! I apologize, just spare my life!" he continued, pleading. "P-Please! Forgive me!"
I stopped walking and turned to him, glaring at him at the edge of my eye.
"Die."
The moment the words came out of my mouth, the plant had pierced its way through his body—like I had explained earlier.
"It's ironic..." I turned my head forward and resumed walking, closing my eyes.
"The blood from a punk made the flowers bloom beautifully." I muttered to myself in wonder.
"Contestant Kurama comes from behind to win! The score is now even, at one each!" Koto exclaimed. I jumped down the ring and walked towards the others.
"What a stupid bastard. His pleading was the same with saying, 'Kill me'." Hiei scoffed. "Don't worry. His errand demon disappeared at the same time that he died." he added.
"You were aware of it, then?" I replied, smiling in relief.
"That's great..." we heard Yusuke mutter in his sleep. We all turned to him.
"Yeah." I mumbled to myself as a reply.
"Hey, what happened? Explain it to me too!" Kuwabara suddenly asked.
"Me too, okay?" Botan inquired.
"Kurama, are you okay? Are you hurt? Is that wound painful?" Mizumi questioned as she checked the wound on my cheek. But she suddenly stood up straight afterwards.
"I asked you that in behalf of Takako. I can hear the voice in her head asking that over and over again. It's really getting in my nerves." she added. A hand suddenly clasped on her mouth and an arm circled around her neck as the owner pushed her away.
"Sorry about that. Mizumi just can't keep her mouth shut, can't she?!" Takako glared at Mizumi who only giggled.
Well at least she wasn't bothered about the merciless thing I did back there.
••••
A/N:
Weeep! Now that's a long chapter. The lines from the characters are mostly from Youtube (the english subs) so credits to them heheh.
-rozette and denise