The Demon Hidden Within {YYH-Kurama}(for girls) Ch.1

“Watch out!”

Before the four girls had realized they were about to be attack, it was too late for the Masked Fighter. The moment she appeared in front of them, she moved her body slightly to the side, which in turn, allowed her to take all the impact and be sent into the seats beside the group instead of at the girls themselves.

The entire Urameshi Team, along with Botan and, Kuwabara’s older sister, Shizuru, stared at the heap of debris that was piled on top of the Masked Fighter in astonishment. Yukina placed both her hands over her mouth in shock while the frightened Keiko shakily gripped onto Yukina’s shoulder as if hugging her.

Kurama slowly got to his feet and walked up to Yusuke, who had ran towards the girls when the incident happen but now stared dumbfounded at pile. “That was…so noble.” The word didn’t seem to give the action justice when it rolled out from his own mouth, Kurama thought.

Koto shuck her head rapidly to clear it before jumping of the ring and running over to the wall that was just bellow from where the Masked Fighter had hit. Looking up at the damage, she took a step back but stopped, hearing a cracking sound from under her foot. Turning her gaze downward, she found her foot stepping something white. Recognizing it instantly, she picked it up and held it up high for everyone to see. “Look people! The Masked Fighter’s mask has been removed for his face!” Yusuke and Kurama turned to look at the item in her hand; she wasn’t lying. “Huh! Right, I’ll begin the count!”

Risho, who was standing in the grass with his arms crossed, grabbed Koto by the collar and sneered at her face. “No counting!” he boomed. “I’ve got some business to take care of outside the ring and I don’t want to be interrupted by the ten count! And after I’m done I’ll come back and finish the fighter off.” Before Koto could open her mouth to protest, the Master of Earth cut in. “Don’t you worry about the Tournament Committee! I have people up there that’ll pay out the ears for me to fight! So I suggest shutting up!” When his was done explaining, he threw her off to the side before walking over towards Kurama and Yusuke.

“Now,” he said, stopping a few yards from his soon to be new pray. “You shall suffer the consequences for defeating my sect members.” The ground below his feet suddenly broke apart and swirled around his body once more. When Risho finally emerged, the small spicks on his armor became larger until they were a foot long and an inch wide at the base.

As the Master of Earth took a step forward, Touya, who had recently awoken, ran in the pathway between his team leader and his enemies. Keeping one of his hands tightly pressed against his stomach wound, he outstretched his other arm as a means to protect the two teens. “Risho! This deceit has gone too far. Don’t you see it’ll make a mockery of our team’s sacrifices?” Touya shouted, struggling to keep his voice raised. “Gama willfully gave his life we could win; Not cheat our way out!”

Risho glared at his teammate. “Hn. Spare me your romantic drivel, Touya. He fought for the light and now we’re going to enjoy it!”

“But honor…” Touya started to protest before Risho interrupted.

“None sense!” Pulling bake his arm, Risho prepared to punch his comrade.

Touya squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head off to the side, bracing himself for a blow that would never come. After a few seconds of waiting, the Ice Master took a chance and hesitantly opened his eyes to gaze at the scene in shock. In between him and his, so-called, leader stood the now Unmasked Fighter, who was holding Risho’s punch a mire inch away from her own face with her own hand. Touya and the two boys he was protecting glanced over to where the pile of rumble once was to find the large mound on the ground below.

After a moment of holding his fist in her hand, she threw it off to the side, leaving him wide open for her free hand to punch his stomach. The force of the blow sent Risho flying back into the side of the ring with a small indent on his, now cracking, armor protecting his torso.

Koto ran over to Risho’s side to get a closer look at the damage before gaping at the Masked Fighter’s unmasked face. “OH MY GOODNESS, PEOPLE!” Koto screamed into her microphone while staring at the revealed face. “The damage from the recent attack has given us a glance at the Masked Fighter’s true identity! It seems the man we all thought was under the mask turns out to be a young woman with black hair and golden-brown eyes!”

Luckily enough for Koto, the girl wasn’t looking at the announcer’s eyes but at the broken white mask in the demon girl’s hand. Closing her eyes and lowering her head, she turned it slightly so one side of her face was in Touya’s direction, once again ignoring the pain it caused her to do so. “Are you alright Mr. Touya?” asked a very appealing voice that came out from the girl’s mouth.

Touya swallowed and nodded his head before actually using words to thank her. “Um…t-thank you very much, Miss.” he managed to say, trying to look into the woman’s eyes that were shadowed by the hood of the cape she was wearing.

The hooded fighter nodded and turned to look back at Team Masho’s leader. “Mr. Touya, I understand your need for honor and I promise you that by the end of this fight, Risho will learn to respect the wellbeing of others. But I suggest that you do not say anything that will anger him further. I do not want any innocent bystanders to get injured because I could not control where his rage was placed.” Touya nodded in agreement before stepping back to stand by the man who defeated him.

“Now,” she started, taking gradual steps towards Risho while slowly listing off all the things he had done that gave her displeasure in the past few minutes. “Attempting to harm the innocent, trying to attack my teammates, then threatening to injury your own colleague despite his beseech for honor.” She stopped, her shadow looming over her adversary as she opened her eyes halfway in something of a bored expression. “What kind of man are you?”

This statement questioning his manhood angered Risho greatly. He quickly jumped to his feet and took a swing at the girl’s head just to be dodged as the girl lingered to her right and flipped over him, landing onto the ring before turning to look down upon the foolish demon. Risho glared up at her then climbed onto the ring himself and ran at her form. The caped fighter swiftly swayed from one foot to the other as the Master of Earth kicked and punched at her figure, eluding each blow. To her teammates below, she moved so gracefully that it looked easy and to her, it was.

Through her eyes, Risho looked as though he was moving in slow motion; but those around thought he moved with fierce speed. After a few more dodges, she dropped down to the ground and swung one of her legs at his feet causing him to fall. Then, before he hit the floor, she flipped backwards, bringing one of her feet to collide with Risho’s chin, rerouting the direction of his descent towards the sky. But instead of allowing him to fly away, she quickly landed straight on both of her feet before pivoting her body on one foot and sending the other into the side of his waist which made him soar into the 6 inch steel doors on her own team’s side.

The force of the blow caused something of a ringing sound to vibrate in the stadium as the rock armor on Risho’s back hit the metal surface and forced a deep dent to form around his body. Everyone stared in complete and utter shock at the strength the girl had just shown them.

“Ms. Koto?” the girl stated, drawing the demon woman’s attention before she herself scrambled to climb onto the ring and run over to the caped girl.

“Y-yes?” Koto asked, her arm trembling in shock as she stood by the girl.

“If you would, please, start the ten count?” the girl suggested, not lifting her gaze from Risho’s form. After a moment of silence, she stated more clearly on what she wanted Koto to do. “I would like a ten count please.”

“O-oh, right!” Koto exclaimed, turning to look at Risho once more before counting off how long he had been outside of the ring.

“Damn, she’s strong!” Yusuke said breathlessly, slightly scared of their mysterious fighter. Touya and Kurama could only nod at his comment.

4...5...

By that count, Risho started to lift himself from the indention despite the pain that ran down his spine and glared up at his opponent. But before he could completely regain his balance, his adversary suddenly appeared behind him and punched him into the back. Within a flash, Risho was laying face down in his own pile of rumble in the center of the ring; a large gash trailed behind him, splitting one half of the ring in two. The girl ran at a normal human pace toward the ring and flipped onto it, making sure not to land in the groove she had created using Risho’s body. Koto paused in her count to stare at the Master of Earth’s unconscious form with her mouth wide open before shaking her head and restarting the count.

Yusuke heaved a sighed of relief and looked over to wave at the girls he had grown to know only to receive one wave back by Botan while the others stared blankly at the fighter on the ring. He then turned to talk to the red head beside him. “Hey Kurama?” Yusuke started, glancing over at his awestruck friend, who turned to look back at him with a sound of acknowledgement leaving his mouth. “Remind me never to get her mad.” he commented as he pointed up at the girl he was referring to. Kurama smiled at his friend’s serious, yet somehow sarcastic, tone and nodded.

“9...and 10! And with that, the Masked Fighter wins the match!” Koto shouted excitedly, spinning around in some form of dance. “Take a note, boys; girls are just as pretty as they are strong! Keep that in mind the next time you run into a hot girl at a bar!”

The caped girl closed her eyes and sighed, knowing that sooner or later she would have to face Genkai and tell about how early the energy and scent sealing mask had broken off. Slowly, she turned and walked to her team’s side of the arena, ignoring the rapidly returning daily pain that threatened her body. Seemingly gliding over, she made her way over to her two teammates and Touya.

“Is everyone alright?” she asked, keeping her head down so the hood of her cape would shadow her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah! We’re fine, thanks to you!” Yusuke exclaimed, placing his fists on his hips and bending over slightly to hopefully get a full glance at her face while give off his goofy grin as a sign to show her that there was nothing to worry about.

The girl nodded, but before she could say anything else, a large whoosh of wind flew behind her causing the cape she wore to fly off to her side in the direction the orange blur had headed. The small group looked over at the group of girls to find three of them holding back chuckles as they stared down at Kuwabara, who was flexing the muscles of his shirtless torso with a small blush painted across his nose as he looked up at the one girl who did not laugh but instead held a shy smile at his display.

“I suppose his injuries are not as bad as I took them for.” the girl said with an unsure expression on her facial features; not knowing whether to laugh or be slightly embarrassed by her teammates bold actions of showing his affections for a girl she had yet to met.

“That’s the power of love for ya!” Yusuke stated proudly before running off to pull Kuwabara out of his fantasy land so he wouldn’t humiliate his team any further.

“Love, huh?” the girl asked in a low whisper to no one but herself as she gazed at the people in front of her.

Hearing what he wasn’t supposed to catch, Kurama turned to look at his teammate questionably. Staring at the side of her face, he noticed how her confusion slowly mixed with the sad emotion that forever lingered in her eyes and wondered what could have happened to make her so depressed.

“Um,” Touya began, tearing his gaze from the scene near the girls to the ground, obvious to the questioning looks the two beside him where giving to one of their other members. Both turned their eyes over to him, urging him to continue. “I’m sorry about Risho, Ms. Fighter; he lets his temper get the best of him. And, huh, sorry about the injuries Kurama.” Touya said, turning to look at each one when he stated the apologizes that were meant for them.

Kurama gave off a small, reassuring smile. “It’s not a problem.” he said, speaking for the both of them before referring to his own apology given to him by the Ice Master. “Besides, my injuries are fully healed now.”

Touya scanned over the red head’s body, looking for any signs of a wound or wariness. He blinked in confusion gaining a small laugh for Kurama. “It seems we know less of our Mysterious Fighter than we thought.” Touya then nodded at his short explanation while gazing at the girl who stared down at the ground in shame.

“Well, I better go a retrieve Jin before he regains consciousness and gets himself into trouble.” Touya said as he turned around and began to run back to his side of arena, waving a goodbye over his shoulder. “I hope to see you again some day.”

“All in all, I think that it was a fairly nice farewell.” Kurama commented, turning his smile over to the Masked Fighter, hoping to somehow brake threw her emotionless façade that seemed to allow her eyes to show her mood.

The girl lifted her gaze for her feet to meet Kurama’s emerald eyes. When she did so, the boy felt a cold grip wrap around his heart once more; this time with a much stronger hold than before. The pressure within his chest seemed to pull the corners of his wide smile down if only a slight centimeter. Noticing this, the girl nodded quickly and shifted her gaze back to her feet, thus releasing her involuntary control of Kurama’s emotions.

Kurama dropped his smile and squeezed his eyes closed; although her attention was averted to anything other than him, the feeling still lingered. Hearing an unmistakable grunt, Kurama push the sensation aside and faced his slowly approaching friend. Despite Hiei’s depressing demeanor, a natural smile graced the red head’s face once more at the thought of why his old friend was so gloomy.

The fire demon ignored his grin and continued to give a piercing glare at his persistent and annoying teammate as he resumed flirting with Yukina. Crossing his arms, he huffed, waiting for Kuwabara to turn around so he could unleash his fury at full force on the unsuspecting teen but knew that he couldn’t for the possibility of either revealing who he was or bring the idea that he wanted the girl that Kuwabara sought after. He could barely imagine how more frustrating the ape could be if the thought even entered his mind; that is, if Kuwabara even had a mind to begin with.

Hiei gave off an evil smirk at his little joke then began scheming how many different ways he could rid himself of such an annoyance. Upon seeing the sneer, Kurama’s lighthearted smile turned into one of uncertainty and worry for the soon-to-be laid Kuwabara. Glancing between the two very different expressions, the caped fighter then turned to see who Kuwabara was conversing with.

She was sure that the boys would introduce her to the small group at some point, but she couldn’t stop her growing curiosity toward the girl who had gained all of Kuwabara’s affection. The girl wore a teal kimono with a blue obi wrapping around her small waste, fastening the clothing into place. Her hair was a very light shade of green, almost a blue, and was slightly past her shoulders even though a strange red ribbon was tied loosely behind her head. A kind smile was spread across her face as she continued to watch Kuwabara’s attempts to woo, giving of a sense of how naïve she was. From her scent, appearance, and aura, she was obliviously a demon; an ice apparition, to be exact.

But, what caught the fighter’s attention were the familiar red eyes that looked down at the flirting man innocently. Suddenly a thought appeared in her mind; a thought that explained why Hiei was in a foul mood. She ran this newly acquired theory threw her mind once more before saying anything she might soon regret.

“Now, I see.” the girl began, startling the two demons beside her, who were oblivious to her existence only a moment ago. “Hiei and the girl Kuwabara is conversing with-” Hiei’s right eye twitched at a sudden thought of those two alone together. “-are related.” There was a long pause.

‘Not good.’ Kurama and Hiei thought simultaneously, staring at the girl in shock before quickly rearranging their faces into a clueless mask, hoping she didn’t see the sudden change in their facial expressions. Unfortunately, she had glanced at them for a fraction of a second at the right moment.

“And judging from your reactions; it is a secret.” She turned to analyze their expressions once more; this time, receiving a threatening glare from the fire demon. “No need to worry. I promise that I shall not utter a word under such subject.” Menacing stare soon softened into something of an awestruck expression as the girl’s eyes bored into his usually uninterested or enraged orbs. “You have my word.”

Before Hiei could reply to such to the sincere oath, the other two members of their team loudly made their way over to them, arguing for some meaningless reason. And meaningless was right; it seems Yusuke had to drag the love-struck Kuwabara which caused the orange haired teen to struggle and complain about how his ear was being ripped off his head as his team captain pulled at it to get him away, saying he’d see them at the hotel. Once reaching the rest of the gang, Yusuke released his hold on his friend sensitive part thus receiving a blow to the back of the head by the very person he had yanked over there. Sending Kuwabara a small glare, Yusuke then punched him back hence creating the meaningless conflict.

The two demons sighed at the sight while the girl blinked in confusion. “I think that’s enough fighting for today.” Kurama suggested with an unsure smile as he took a chance at separating them.

The two huffed childishly, crossing their arms and turning away from each other, their backs only inches apart. Still too angry to look at one another, they made their way towards the 15 foot tall steel doors that would lead them out of the arena and stopped immediately after seeing the large indent in the center of the metal, suddenly remembering the Masked Fighters quick fight.

Kurama was about to suggest that they just leave through the doors that Team Masho had entered from, but when he went to open his mouth to speak, the caped girl interrupted. “Here, allow me.” she said, gliding around the two amazed teens and over to the hinges that held one of the doors to the wall at its side.

The four boys stared at her back for a moment, wondering what she was planning on doing before they heard a long wine from strained metal. Swiftly, she threw her arm off to the side, bringing the steal metal with her as if she was drawing back a light weight curtain from a window. Even when her arm became outstretched completely, the power she had let into it forced the metal to bend and wrinkle as if not knowing she had let go. In a matter of two seconds, one side of the door had been ripped off its hinges and now stood pressed against the wall on the other side.

All the boys of the Urameshi Team and those who had yet to leave the arena gaped at her tremendous strength. “She made it look so easy.” Kuwabara whispered as the girl turned around.

Giving off a smile that didn’t reach her sad eyes, she spook. “Are you all just going to stand there all day or are you ready to get back to the hotel?” she inquired, almost amused by their expressions. Almost; if it wasn’t for the fact that people always stared whenever she showed her capabilities.

She ignored their gazes and turned to walk through the incredibly large entryway she had created. Slowly, one by one, they recovered from their state of shock and followed after her with Kuwabara far being the last one. As Yusuke entered the hallway, he took a quick glance at the door on the side of the wall to find the girl’s fist imprinted into the metal where her hand once was. ‘Damn. She acted like the door was just a large batch of warm play-dough! Now I know why the old hag sent her here.’ the teenaged boy thought to himself, looking up ahead at the back of his female teammate.

Once the girl had reached the end of the end of the hall and exited out into the open air, she waited for the others, not really knowing which way to go now. She quickly scanned the area around her to find that the stadium she was just in was completely surrounded by forest; not that she really minded. After a few moments of analyzing her surroundings, Yusuke had walked past her body and took one of the dirt paths that the girl hadn’t noticed until now.

Staying close behind her team, her head remained perfectly still under her hood while her eyes ran wildly over the scenery before her, not missing any detail of another forest. Soon the greenery disappeared behind the dark curtain around her head and her lingering eyes were forced to stare up ahead at the tall building that stood before her. The large structure was in the shape of a rectangle that stood long-ways, the kind of which she has never seen before. Wide windows striped across the building at least 15 or more times reaching all the way to the top. At the bottom of the rectangle were clear square doors that magically slid open when her team stepped within 10 feet from it.

The caped girl bit her lip as a way of trying to hide her astonishment from leaking through her emotionless façade as she walked into the building and followed her team into a small room to the far right from the doors. Once her entire team was in the 10 by 5 room, Kuwabara pressed a small round circle on the right side of the entrance to the room that was part of a large group of white circles that each had their own number in between 1 and 19 but number 10 glowed a faded yellow. Turning around, the girl saw the doors slide close then the rid upward began.

She resisted the urge to flinch as the slightest amount of pressure was placed on her shoulders as a small bell dinged, confirming each floor they were passing. On the ninth bell, the doors slid back, revealing a dimly lit hallway that reminded her of an eerie image from her past that sent shivers up her spine. She then followed her team over to a dark brown door on the left that had the number ’314’ printed near the top at eye level. Pulling out a faded gold key from his pocket, Yusuke unlocked the door and opened it wide for the team.

The four boys quickly shuffled into the large living room to go into their own area; Yusuke was greedily raiding the a human sized white box in the small kitchen, Kurama quietly sat on the maroon couch diagonal from the main door reading a book, Hiei rested on the windowsill while staring blankly out the clear glass, and Kuwabara squeezed the top part of his legs together while placing his hands in between them then running at the best of his abilities over to another brown door before practically slamming the door shut, his expression slightly pained with cold sweat dripping from his brow; All of them leaving the girl to stand in the door way, looking over the large room placed out in front of her.

The girl scanned the white walls until her eyes landed on one wall that had two doors, one of which Kuwabara had entered into. Against the wall that shared the entry she was standing from stood a tall white box that was about the same height as she was; from what she could see in the door that Yusuke held open, the box stored some kind of food. Next to the white rectangle was a flat countered top that Yusuke placed a glass filled with some kind of white liquid. Right in front of her as the two identical maroon couches that sat right across from one another, each one was able to sit at least three people. Placed at end of couches was a puffy-cushioned chair that was the same color was the other furniture. A wooden table was placed in the between the couches that once held Kurama’s book. Behind one of the chairs, across from the main door was the large window that Hiei gazed out from.

Suddenly, the sound of swirling water entered the girl’s ears as Kuwabara exited the door he entered not too long ago, zipping up the zipper on his blue pants. He stared over in the girl’s direction as her eyes wondered the room in curiosity. “What? Haven’t you seen a hotel room before?” he asked, forcing her to stop her analyzing at look over at him before reverting her eyes down to her feet when she saw his body freeze. Slowly, she shook her head.

“Hn. Fool,” Hiei retorted, obviously still infuriated from Kuwabara display of affections at the stadium. “The mask that she was wearing didn’t have any holes for her to see with. So how do you expect her to act when coming into a new room?”

A vein popped out of Kuwabara’s forehead. “I WASN’T ASKING YOU! AND BESIDES, I ASKED HER IF SHE’S EVER SEEN A HOTEL ROOM!” With that, another verbal fight formed between the two; which Kurama and Yusuke just ignored, returning to their business as the caped girl stared at them blankly, unsure on whether or not to stop them.

Kurama noticed this expression and smiled lightly before turning to her. “I think it’d be wise to let them be; it’s rather dangerous to stop them when they get this angry.”

The girl nodded and quickly remembered something she was suppose to complete. “Excuse me but I have some unfinished business that must be taken care of.”

“May I ask how long you’ll be gone?” Kurama asked, not trying to pry into her affairs despite his growing curiosity.

“I shall be back before the sun sets.” Kurama nodded, satisfied with her answer and waved goodbye while saying words for her to be careful as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sighing, she hid her eyes under the shadow of her hood and glided over to the so-call elevator. Pressing the main floor button, she waited patiently as the small room shifted downward and as soon as the doors slid open, she eagerly walked out, heading towards the main hotel entrance. Once outside the clear doors, she ran towards the familiar and unmistakable Spirit Energy that she sensed. Even at only half her speed, she still seemed almost invisible to those with even well-trained eyes.

Feeling the energy rapidly approaching, she slowed to a stop and looked at the new area she was now in. In front of her stood a large dark entrance of a murky cave; footsteps echoed through its rocky walls as the person in the shadows stepped into the light.

“Good afternoon,” the girl said sincerely, placing her hands on her hood and removing it from her head to reveal her sad smiling orbs. “Master Genkai.”