Crescent Shrine

Unfortunately my Mother and Father had persuaded me to go to the dark tournament with Koenma – well more like decided for me. Although the departure date was last night, my Mother had made arrangements for me to catch a ride with one of our family friends – yet another I had not heard about.

“Ann, Botan’s here.” My Mother yelled from the door. I slipped on the top portion of my traditional priestess uniform, grabbed my duffel bag and bounded towards the front door. I felt a strong energy, something I’ve never felt – and it was radiating off of the blue haired girl who stood at the door with a broom.

Her grin spread from ear to ear, “It’s so nice to finally meet you Ann! I’m Botan – Grim Reaper of the spirit world.”

“Are you insane?” I asked myself mentally. She thought she was the Grim Reaper, there is no such thing.

“Nice to meet you,” I forced a smile onto my face and shook her hand.

“Have her powers settled in yet?” Botan asked as she took my bag and hung it on her broom – which was floating in mid air. I felt my eyes bulge out of their sockets for a moment. She giggled, “I’ll take that as a no.”

“She did the D.O.D.B. a couple days ago so they should be in within the next week.” My father said, opening my duffle and placing a tattered old text on top, “Special spirit techniques for healing and what not.”

“We better get going, the tournaments already started and our team is up first.” Botan smiled, taking my arm gently and setting her broom down to a lower level so I could get on. “We’ll see you in a week or two!”

“Bye,” I waved as she pushed off and we immediately were hurtling over the forest around our shrine, over water, and with in five minutes we were landing outside of a large arena on an isolated island.

“So you had a taste,” She winked as she flashed the large, scaly guard two tickets. I was on edge as we walked through the halls. Monster after monster passed by us, each one had its own little quirk that was grotesque – whether it be antennae, scales, sharp teeth, horns, or other features.

“I thought that that was just a nightmare, but now I’m beginning to think that it was real,” I said, my eyes darting around the almost empty halls.

“How ‘bout I tell you more about it after the team finishes this round,” Botan smiled, turning around to pat me lightly on the head, “I take it that you’ve never tried to heal anyone before.”

I shook my head, “I’ve accidentally healed the fracture my class mate had in grade four.”

“Accidentally,” She laughed, pulling me along to the large open field where a red hair boy in a blue uniform was getting beat up – by a boy who could not be older than ten, with yo-yos. An ashen haired boy with angel wing tuffs was sleeping against the side of the circle. What really caught my attention was the red hair standing next the masked fighter and the small ‘man’. His green eyes connected with mine as Botan and I grew closer, a look of surprise hidden in him.

“Hello Shuichi,” I said smiling. He had lied to me. He had told me that he was in America working on a student exchange program, not in the middle of some demon fight.

“Hello Ann,” He waved, only to whip his head back to the fight when the yo-yos fell from high in the sky, the uniformed boy plummeting from the sky.

“Oh, that’s right! You two go to the same school.” Botan said as she tapped her chin. “Anyways, the one in the ring is Kuwabara, the one next to Kurama is Hiei, the one asleep is Yusuke, and the one with the mask is – someone who I know you know.” She chuckled. Why was she referring to Shuichi as Kurama? I had to ask him that later.

“Nice to meet you all, well – three of you currently,” I shrugged, turning my attention to the fight like everyone else was doing.

Everything my parents had told me about the Spirit World was true – from what I could tell from the little information I knew. I had heard stories about the Dark Tournament. A deadly tournament where you could die in any cruel and gruesome way your opponent was capable of. The winning team was entitled to a free wish.

Kuwabara ran from the spot where he had been unconscious a moment ago, to gripping Yusuke by the collar, yelling. He must have not known where his priorities were since his opponent had wrapped him in yo-yos once more and held him out of the ring, only letting him go when the referee had rewarded the point to the others. What a wonderful way to start the tournament for Shuichi’s – our – team.

“This is why you’re going to be useful,” Botan said as Kuwabara staggered his breathing. “I want you to put both of your hands over him – where it hurts - not touching but still close. Then just focus.”

“Hey Botan, who’s she?” Kuwabara asked, standing next to Hiei.

“This is Ann, the team’s Medic.” She smiled, “Since your standing and breathing – you won’t be getting any right now.” She turned her attention to Yusuke while we quickly exchanged hellos. “Earth to Yusuke, wake up! Nap time’s over.”

“Don’t let him leave the ring alive.” Hiei said sternly as Shuichi jumped into the ring.

“Naturally,” He replied darkly, taking a rose out of his hair. I had never heard him so menacing in the ten years that I had known him, or known him to carry a rose around in his long hair. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as Shuichi started dodging the blade of his opponent. He looked so graceful as he shifted around him. All of a sudden the two stopped fighting and stood perfectly still. Shuichi’s opponent started to land punches to his body, never bothering to dodge. He only stopped when Shuichi threw a pebble at him.

“You’ve been warned,” He yelled, pulling out a treacherous looking button, “Now fold your arms around your back if you want your human mother to live.” Shuichi folded his arms behind his back and stood still, taking a kick in the gut. I honestly wanted to jump into the ring and claw the blue man’s eyes out with my long nails.

His opponent started to draw a long line where he previously cut Shuichi, then he whipped his hand-blade away, causing more blood to cascade down his cheek.

“I want you to lick the scum off of my boot,” He smirked evilly.

“I will not,” Shuichi said after a moment.

“What did you say?”

“Go ahead; press it now if you wish.” Shuichi said, patting some dirt free from his white outfit. He stole button from his hand and crushed it underneath his foot.

“You believe in mercy don’t you?” He asked, worry seeping from every word.

Shuichi had been walking away, but turned his head slightly once he stopped for a moment, “No.” His opponent collapsed to the ground, flowers sprouting out of his body, “What irony. Such beauty sprung from such an ugly soil.”

“Great job,” I smiled, flashing him a thumbs up.

“Enough with all this secret glancing stuff,” Kuwabara said through gritted teeth.

“That isn’t very friendly of them.” Botan countered.

“Those demons think they’re so damn cool,” Kuwabara finished.

“OK – you guys need to do some major explaining after this,” I said, throwing my arms above my head in confusion.

“Don’t worry, we will,” Botan laughed. Hiei was next into the ring against which he deemed the strongest of the other team. As soon as they were given the OK to fight, the challenger had lit on fire, letting it spill over. I had no where to run as it came bellowing towards me. Luckily I felt the soft hands that I knew all too well pull me out of the path and into the safety of his arms.

“Thanks,” I stuttered.

“You have to be more careful,” He smirked, holding me tightly by the shoulders.

“Yeah, don’t want to be roasted alive on my first day,” I joked.

“Hiei is a great fighter so he will easily come out on top,” Kurama said as we moved out of another blast of flames. Just like Kurama said – Hiei was easily the winner. All that was left of his opponent was a charred outline on the stadium wall. My mouth just hung open in awe. I moved behind Kurama as a man with a blue mohawk stumbled out into the ring in a drunken stupor.

“He has, like, no spirit energy,” Kuwabara said as Yusuke popped into the ring to take him on in a fight.

Apparently he had lost a game of rock paper scissors when they were determining the line up for their team. He had lost so he was made the alternate. For some reason, I had sensed some power deep inside of him.

“This guy is no more that a pathetic drunk!” A man in the crowd yelled. Chu snapped and ran into the crowd, almost breaking the man’s neck. He came back into the ring with a bottle of whiskey.

It seemed that most of the demons around me were having trouble keeping track of Chu’s fancy foot work. I saw every step he took as he stepped. I turned around and rubbed my eyes, hopping that I was just seeing things. But when I turned around – I still saw all of his moves.

“Are you OK?” Hiei asked from behind me. I jumped at his sudden presence.

“My eye’s aren’t working right today,” I chuckled, “I can see each step that Chu takes.” Hiei and Kurama exchanged surprised glances, but dropped the subject.

After a quick fight filled with explosions from Yusuke’s finger and Chu’s stupor, they stood in the ring, laughing at their own helplessness. Not to mention they had somehow lost their shirts when they were dodging their last attack. Alas, they were locked in an all out punch-a-thon which they called a knife edge death match. Everything seemed to darken, and then the ring was slowly lit by spots as the two started to throw punches.

“You’ve got to make Yusuke stop fighting,” A brown haired girl yelled as she ran onto the field from where Botan and I had been just a moment before.

“Oh Keiko, this is Ann – the healer for the team,” Botan smiled as she patted my head.

“Hey,” I waved nervously.

“Hello,” She said forcing a smile onto her face as she clung to Kuwabara. Suddenly a crack of lighting rang through the stadium, and Chu fell to the ground, Yusuke still standing at the end of ten counts – signalling that we had just won. The entire crowd burst out yelling for Yusuke to kill Chu.

“Hey everyone – if you want to say something, say it to my face. Or you’ll have to deal with my fist,” He yelled, the crowd automatically shutting up.