Holding On Until Tomorrow

Holding on Until Tomorrow

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters associated with Yu Yu Hakusho.

A/N: Sorry it took me so damn long to get this chapter finished. I was stressed out with finals and then I got sort of lazy. Oh yeah, and then my family decided to go up to my grandma’s house for three days where there’s no Internet access.

Warning: Violence, gore, angst, and yaoi (of course).


Chapter 11 The Dragon Revived

There was silence in the stadium at the conclusion of the battle between Karasu and Kurama. The booing resumed when Juri announced the winner. Kurama waited until the verdict had been announced before collapsing. He breathed heavily, clutching his wounded stomach. Yuskue ran to the ring.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
“I…think so,” Kurama wheezed.
“Can you walk?”
‘I can try.” Kurama rose, with much difficulty, and with much assistance from Yuskue. The two of them moved off to the side where Yuskue gently set Kurama on the grass against the ring.
“A lucky win,” cackled the voice of the Elder Toguro. He sprang from his brother’s shoulder and landed in the ring. “Before my wish of watching every last one of those closest to you die a very painful death, I’m going to enjoy watching your demise. Go ahead. Pick your first martyr.” He chuckled malevolently. There was a loud clumping noise and Bui stomped past his teammate and towards the ring. The Elder Toguro watched him pass. “Oh Bui, I didn’t expect you to volunteer so soon.” He turned to Team Urameshi. “You must be special. Bui rarely shows this much initiative. This should be dandy. Whichever of you gets to fight Bui is in for a real treat. He has the strength of a thousand oxen.”
“Well, why don’t you take a look at these big guns I’ve got here?” Kuwabara flexed his muscles. He turned to his teammates. “Let me go at this guy.”
Koenma folded his arms. “Do you want to be buried in that or something decent?”
“Now that you’re my height why don’t you say that to my face?!” Kuwabara demanded, grabbing Koenma by the front of his shirt.
“Do you want a grave or a tomb?” Koenma continued.
“Yuskue, I was going to take the thug with the sunglasses but after what he did to Genkai, I believe vengeance belongs to you,” Hiei said in a low voice.
“Thank you,” Yuskue replied, surprised. Hiei quickly jumped up onto the ring’s surface.
“Hiei?” Kuwabara asked, still in the middle of his argument with Koenma.
“This thug will do just as well,” Hiei smirked, stepping forward.
“Hey, I thought I had the big guy,” Kuwabara protested.
“What about burial flowers? Do you like roses?” Koenma snickered, clearly enjoying his torment of Kuwabara.
“Will you be quiet? I’m trying to think here!” Kuwabara growled, shaking Koenma hard. All the rest of the eyes were on the two combatants who were approaching each other. They stopped several feet away and stared each other down. There was a tense silence.
“Measuring at four foot ten without his hair, Hiei!” Juri announced, pointing to Hiei. “And at nine feet, Bui!” She pointed to Bui.
“Wow! Nine feet, that’s tall! And there’s plenty of man to go around, ladies, although Hiei has proved on numerous occasions that kick-ass things come in small packages too. I have no idea of who’s going to win this one but I can state with certainty that it’s going to be exciting!” Koto cried.

Bui created an axe out of thin air and swung it around.
“Whoa! Is it just me or has Bui’s ax gotten bigger since the last time he created it from thin air? I can’t wait to see how he wields it in this go-round!” There were many cheers for the big warrior and jeers for Hiei.
“Serves Hiei right,” Kuwabara grumped.
“Why is there never a slingshot around when you need it?” Koenma asked.
Hiei was unfazed. “That’s a nice axe you’ve got there Bui, but will all due respect, I still prefer my own.” He took his black cloak off and let it drop to the ground revealing a black tank top and his left arm bandaged up.
“Man, look how tight Hiei has those bandages wrapped around his arm,” Kuwabara commented. “His injuries must not be anywhere close to being healed for real.”
“No, you’ve misunderstood Hiei’s true motives,” Kurama said with difficulty, somehow managing to get to his feet. “The purpose of this particular binding is not to repair.”

“What the hell? So it’s just there to look pretty?” Yuskue asked.
“Not exactly,” Kurama groaned from his injuries.
“Why use a bandage that doesn’t make your hurty spots better?”
I am unable to sense your powers through that binding, Hiei. Kurama thought, staring at his old friend. Is it possible that you’ve re-mastered the dragon in such a short period of time?

“And now, the second match of the finals, ready set go!” Juri cried.

Bui moved faster than anyone expected and jumped in the air when he reached close to where Hiei stood, he jumped high in the air and swung his ax around. He brought it down where Hiei stood only milliseconds before; in the blink of an eye, Hiei was gone. Then, he was behind Bui.
“Your aim is as broad as your axe. Next time at least try to hit me, all right?” Hiei growled. With an amazing show of strength, Bui lifted his axe up, bringing up a large chunk of concrete as well. He effortlessly swung it around towards Hiei, letting the chunk of concrete off the end. Hiei dodged it as if dodging a fly. The block went crashing into the audience. If that wasn’t enough, he brought up several more chunks of concrete that went soaring towards Hiei, who dodged them easily.
“I may be a small target but this is sad,” Hiei growled again. His Jagan eye began to glow from underneath the bandana and then it was vaporized. Hiei held out his hand. “Fist of the Mortal Flame!” He turned the concrete blocks into piles of pebbles. In the middle of all the flying rocks, Bui leaped up and came down towards Hiei.
“Game over,” the Elder Toguro chuckled evilly. Hiei’s fist met the axe and ultimately, Hiei won. The axe broke at the handle and the blade went flying into the audience, narrowly missing Juri. Bui summoned another axe and hurled it at Hiei who merely stopped it with his fingers and disintegrated it.
“Uh, remind me never to let Hiei touch me anytime soon…or like ever,” Kuwabara cried.
“Right. I’ll make a note,” Koenma remarked.
Then it is true. Kurama thought. His powers show no signs of faltering. He can wield the Living Flame with ease so now the only question is whether his body can bear the Darkness Flame as well.
“Do you have any other tricks or are you just that weak?”
“I’m sorry to bore you,” Bui said, speaking for the first time. His tenor voice seemed to make the entire stadium tremble. “I’ll remove my armor.” He began to unstrap his arm armor while continuing, “there are two things you should know, Hiei the swordsman. I was saving this for someone else. And this is the highest compliment I give.” He removed one of his arm plates and let it drop to the ground. It cracked the concrete. Kuwabara and Koenma narrowly dodged the second arm plate though it wasn’t clear if Bui had aimed it at them on purpose or not.
Hiei was unfazed. “Hmm. I’m honored. No really, I am. But are you really sure that you can take a direct hit from me?”
“I’ll survive.” Bui slowly removed the armor from his body. “Most fighters wear armor to protect themselves from their opponents, but I’m the opposite. I wear my armor to protect my opponents from myself.” He removed his helmet and mask to reveal light blue hair. He balled hand into a fist. “You see, my powers are so great I cannot control them on my own.” His entire body glowed a light green color and everyone in the stadium could suddenly feel his spirit energy. He lifted into the air.
“Whoa, how did I not pick up on his spirit energy before?” Kuwabara asked.
“Because of his armor,” Kurama answered at once. “It contains his spirit energy.”
“If it contains it, then why the hell did he take it off?” Yuskue demanded.
“No, that’s what I meant by contains-that his armor keeps his power from escaping. Definition number two.” They watched as Hiei ran forward and tried to dent Bui with his own “battle aura”, as he called it. He quickly found out that it was impossible, but was unnaturally calm about it.
“So it takes a lot more than that to bang you up? Well, here comes a lot more,” he said. He broke the seal on his hand and began to unravel the bandages.
“Hey, Hiei’s taking off that bandage you were talking about, you know, the one that wasn’t doing what it was supposed to be doing,” Kuwabara commented.
“It seems you have misunderstood. On the contrary, it’s doing exactly what Hiei intended it to do. It’s similar to Bui’s armor except that it’s not only Hiei’s energy that is contained, but the dragon’s as well.” Everyone waited in anticipation for Hiei to finish unraveling the bandages. There was a pause, and then everyone could feel the dark powers emanating from Hiei’s body. Bui began to power up. The entire earth was trembling as dark flames leapt from Hiei’s arm. Chunks of the ring began to break off and huge sections of the stadium were falling as well. The sky darkened. Koto managed to get Juri out of the way before she was smooshed by several pieces of the falling rock.
If I can gain control, I can turn the dragon on him. It is not partial to what it eats. If I can manage it, I’ll be able to get the dragon to consume its own master. Bui thought. Hiei attacked. Bui met it head on and managed to coerce the dragon--right back at Hiei. He vanished and Bui landed neatly on the ground. The sky cleared at once. Bui laughed a terrifying laugh. The crowd cheered. The members of Team Toguro and their personal pep squad held their breath. Even Touya was praying silently.
Don’t die, Hiei. I know he loved you. I know you cared for him in your own weird way. He thought. You possibly even loved him. Don’t die. I couldn’t bear to see him sad. Not after all you went through. The two of you share a deep bond, a bond much deeper than one I could ever hope for. He twisted his hands in his lap. He felt a warm hand enclose him and looked up. Yukina was watching him with a sad look on her face.
“Game over,” the Younger Toguro murmured.
“It’s all clear now Juri. It’s time for you to make the official call!” Koto cried. “Juri?” She looked down. Juri was sleeping, tears streaming down her face.
“Tell work I’m sick today mom,” Juri murmured in her sleep. Her tail wiped her tears away and then she started sucking on it.
“Juri, we can’t have this gore-fest without you,” Koto tried to get Juri to wake up. A thought occurred to her. “Juri, all the rich and cute boys will be watching.” That seemed to work. Juri woke up and dazedly looked up at Koto.
“Huh? Where?” she asked.
“Well, we can all see where your motivation lies.”
“Right. Okay, I’m coming,” Juri mumbled, getting up and stumbling out onto the field. She watched the vanishing dragon. “Um…Hiei can’t compete without a body so…” she turned to Bui. “The official winner…” Bui’s eyes widened as something began to materialize “… can only be…” There was a gigantic explosion. Juri screamed and was blown backwards. In a cloud of blue fire, Hiei materialized, quite unharmed.
“This brings up my next attack,” he growled. “It’s a little different.” Yuskue, amidst all his shock, couldn’t help laughing inwardly at Bui’s face; it looked like he was about to wet himself. He quickly regained his composure and charged forward. He began punching Hiei, but the three-eyed demon wasn’t hurt at all. He summoned the dragon a second time and knocked Bui into the stands.
“Finish me,” Bui muttered, barely clinging to consciousness.
“Huh,” Hiei muttered. I thought for sure that would kill him. Maybe he isn’t as weak as I thought he was.
“The first time I fought Toguro and lost to him, he told me that I had the potential to get stronger,” Bui rasped. “He was right. Now that you’ve beaten me as well, there’s no point.”
Hiei straightened up. “No. If you want to die, do it yourself. I don’t take orders from people I beat.” Then, he jumped into the ring as Juri counted to ten.
“The winner is Hiei!” Juri announced. Hiei ignored the jeers and walked over to where his team was waiting.
“This is a no dragon-man zone!” Kuwabara declared.
“That was really wicked Hiei,” Yuskue smiled.
“Yeah wicked. Now go twenty yards that way and beat the rest of them.”
“You ass. It’s against the rules. Besides, my attack expired.”
“Expired?” Yuskue and Kuwabara asked at the same time.
“I don’t know if your tiny brains can process this, but my attack drained a good portion of my energy. I’ll need time to hibernate to regain my strength. I’d rather not do this, but I have no choice. It’s up to you to take the Toguro brothers out. If I wake up and lose I swear to god…I’ll kick both your asses.” Hiei yawned widely and fainted. Just fainted. Kurama snickered softly. Yuskue laughed his ass off. Kuwabara just stared.
“That’s just like Hiei. He faints but he still has time for threats,” Yuskue couldn’t stop laughing.
“He doesn’t look like he just blew up half the stadium,” Koenma murmured, staring at Hiei’s peaceful face.
“No,” Kurama agreed. “He’s gotten a lot more powerful in this tournament. It looks like you’ll have to work twice as hard to stay on his good side.” The others nodded in agreement.
To be continued…
A/N: I don’t mind the skimming. I’m trying desperately to not make this boring because I know you’ve all seen this before. The mystery concerning Touya will be cleared up in time, I promise. :P I couldn’t resist the lines with the bandages Hiei was wearing. Kuwabara’s line about wearing a bandage not making the hurty spots better always makes me squeal. So cute! I skipped a lot of the battle stuff because it always bored me and this fic really isn’t about the battles. It’s about the people and their relationships with others. Speaking of which…I have NO idea where the HieixKuramaxTouya triangle came from. It just randomly made itself known. It’s going to be a lot more interesting now.