Team Urameshi Vs. Team Uraotogi I

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

After Juri's declaration, the crowd once again erupted into loud, excited cheers. Then, after the cheers died down, Juri gestured toward one of the two participant entrances that lead to the ring area.

"Entering first, from the north entrance, Team Urameshi." Juri said in a decidedly calmer tone than Kuto usually used.

With Juri's introduction, the crowd began to boo, loudly. A moment later, James, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama entered the arena. At which time, the loud booing and jeering grew even louder. However, it did not take long for most of the crowd to realize that the team was a man short.

"Where's Urameshi?" One demon shouted

"What a coward!" A second demon shouted. "Is he afraid to die?"

"What do you expect?" A third demon shouted in response. "He's only a filthy human."

As the jeering got more and more insulting, the four members of Team Urameshi continued to walk toward the ring. Eventually, they stopped at ringside and completely ignored the ignorant masses. Well, all of them except for one.

"Hmph!" Hiei snorted. "It's easy to talk when you don't have to fight yourself. None of these fools are even strong enough to qualify for this tournament."

"I'm actually surprised that you would even pay them any mind." Kurama said. "I guess you're more irritated than you let on."

"Silence, Kurama." Hiei snapped back.

"Well, if you're so easily riled up, you'll have no chance of beating me after the tournament." James added in with a smile. "Not that it would make a difference either way."

Gritting his teeth in anger, Hiei ultimately decided to just turn his head away from James' taunt. There was no point in reacting to everything James said, especially since he could tell that James was only saying it to get under his skin at this point.

Before the team could bicker any further, Juri's voice rang out through the arena once again.

"Now, entering from the south entrance, Team Uraotogi." Juri introduced as the gestured toward the other entrance.

Immediately, the crowd cheered loudly, with the female demons cheering much louder than usual.

A moment later, five demons, four of which were, moderately to extremely, good looking young men accompanied by an old man entered the ring area.

"Shishi, I love you!" Shouted an extremely seductive looking female demon.

"I want your babies!" Another female demon shouted.

"Shishiwakamaru, make me your sex slave!" A third female demon shouted.

As the cheers grew louder and more obscene, the members of Team Uraotogi walked toward the ring with smiles while their poster boy, Shishiwakamaru waved at the screaming female demons. All the while, they were being showered by the panties of the demon women in the crowd.

"So, the whole throwing panties thing was actually real?" Kuwabara asked curiously. "I thought that was just something that happened in American movies."

"Well, it makes sense." James said with a shrug. "I mean, look at those pretty boys. They look like a boy band and their elderly manager who molests them casually. I wonder what they're really called, 'The Back Door Boys'?"

Hearing James casual insult, all five members of Team Uraotogi looked at him with glares. However, before any of them could open their mouths to fire back, James continued.

"But the worst is that fake old man." James said. "I mean, that disguise is one of the worst I've ever seen. Hold on, I'll get rid of it."

James then vanished from his spot. A moment later, he reappeared in the same spot with a leathery looking mask in his hand.

"There you go." James said, holding up the mask for everyone to see.

After seeing the mask in James' hand, the entire arena focused on the face underneath it. And what they saw was a face that would probably be quite handsome. Unfortunately, it was covered in face paint that was made to look like a clown. On top of that, he even had a round rubber nose covering his nose as well.

"How did he even fit that rubber nose under the mask?" Kuwabara asked curiously.

"Who cares." Hiei said with a frown. "Can we just start the match?"

While the crowd discussed what they saw under Onji's mask, the man in question slowly raised his hand to his face. When he felt the painted skin and the rubber nose, his facial expression contorted into one filled with rage.

"How dare you?" Onji shouted while theatrically pointing a finger toward James.

"Hiei's right." James said, completely ignoring the clown. "We should get the round started. Does anyone wanna play captain to determine the rules?"

"Don't ignore me!" Onji shouted.

"Why don't you do it?" Kuwabara asked James.

"I don't mind if none of you do." James replied with a smile.

"Just get it over with." Hiei said sharply.

"I don't mind either." Kurama said with a nod.

"Alright." James said with a nod. Then, he jumped on the ring.

"I'm still talking to you, you little bastard!" Onji said, continuing to shout at James with no visible effect.

"Would the leader of Team Uraotogi please come onto the ring as well?" Juri asked into her microphone.

Looking at Onji, who was still yelling at James, who was still ignoring him, Shishiwakamaru gave up on getting the true leader of their team to take up the responsibility. So, he hopped into the ring and made his way to the center.

After a few seconds, James and Shishiwakamaru looked at each other with Juri standing between them. As they measured each other, James took note that Shishiwakamaru was a very handsome young man with long violet-blue hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail, with bangs that framed his face. He also wore a kimono, a hakama, and a katana on his hip that made him look like ronin from the Eto period.

"So, how would the two of you like to proceed with the round?" Juri asked in a professional tone.

"If you wouldn't mind, I have a suggestion." Shishiwakamaru said.

"Let's hear it." James replied.

Shishiwakamaru then reached into his kimono sleeve and pulled out a pair of six-sided dice. However, instead of the pips that one would normally see on the sides of the dice, one had the names of the members of Team Uraotogi on five of the sides while the second held the names of the members of Team Urameshi. Each side also had a free space that allowed the team to choose the firster for the next fight.

"I suggest we use these to decide the match pairings before each fight." Shishiwakamaru said with a smile. "If we roll these before each fight, it will keep the matches interesting and random."

"Sounds fun to me." James replied with a smile. "But you wouldn't mind if I took a look at the dice before we got started, right?"

"Not at all." Shishiwakamaru said with a shrug before tossing the dice towards James.

Catching the dice effortlessly, James let his demonic energy run through them. When he noticed that there were no gimmicks built into them, he tossed them back casually.

"I'm good with the dice." James said with a smile.

"Very well." Juri said into her microphone. "The matches of this round will be determined by dice roll. Both teams, please send your first fighter to the ring."

With that, Shishiwakamaru dropped the dice at his feet. As they bounced around, Hiei spoke from the side of the ring.

"If it lands on the free space or Yusuke's name, I'll be fighting in that match." Hiei said in a tone that suggested that he would not be taking no for an answer.

"We'll see." James said with a shrug. "If I feel like fighting, I doubt you could stop me."

Once again, Hiei gritted his teeth. However, he did not respond to James obvious taunt. Instead, he focused on the dice that were close to stopping.

As they did, the face up sides showed the names of the first fighters.

"Match One will be between Makintaro of Team Uraotogi and Hiei from Team Urameshi." Juri said into her microphone.

"Perfect." Hiei said with a violent grin on his face.

A moment later, Hiei hopped onto the ring and started walking towards its center. On his way, he passed James and smirked at his teammate.

"I'll show you what a real warrior looks like." Hiei said as he passed James.

"Go, you." James said in a playful tone while raising his right thumb at the shorter man.

Seeing this, Hiei gritted his teeth once again in annoyance. However, he dispelled his annoyance quickly. Then, he arrived at the same spot James stood when he discussed the match details with Shishiwakamaru and cupped his hands behind his back.

Meanwhile, Makintaro, the tallest and most physically imposing member of Team Uraotogi, also hopped onto the ring. As he walked, Hiei noticed that he was a dark skinned demon with wavy black hair styled upward and held there by a thin red headband. Also, he wore nothing but a sumo mawarashi on his body.

"From Team Uraotogi, Makintaro." Juri said as she gestured toward Makintaro. Then, she did the same and gestured to Hiei before she introduced him as well. "And from Team Urameshi, Hiei."

After the introductions, like Kuto had done in the earlier rounds, Juri took some distance. Then, she raised her microphone before speaking again.

"Now, let the first match of the semi-finals begin... Fight!" Juri said energetically.

"Ha! Look at you, you're so small." Makintaro said in a mocking tone. "You won't even be a challenge. You should just surrender and let me cut your head off."

While Makintaro was talking, Hiei's image seemed to flicker for a moment. However, if you weren't looking carefully, you would never notice. A moment later, a drop of some liquid landed behind him, causing Makintaro to laugh.

"Ha! We haven't even started fighting and you've already soiled yourself." Makintaro said with a sadistic chuckle.

"With all that unnecessary muscle, I knew you'd be slow." Hiei said in a disappointed tone. "But even your senses are slow. It wasn't even worth getting in the ring for this."

"What are you talking about?" Makintaro asked in a confused tone.

With that, Hiei raised his right hand from behind is back. When he did, Makintaro saw that Hiei had a left arm, that strongly resembled his own from below the elbow, grasped in his hand.

After balking for a moment, Makintaro then raised his own left arm. And what he saw caused him to scream with pain. What Makintaro saw was his own left arm missing everything below the elbow. A moment later, Makintaro's painfilled screamed turned into rage filled growls.

"I'll kill you!" Makintaro roared.

As he did, his left arm extended as if it were growing back. However, instead of a forearm and hand, an axe with the same color as his skin grew from the stump. Then, he raised his new arm and prepared to charge at Hiei.

"Like I said, too slow." Hiei said, appearing above Makintaro.

An instant later, Hiei plunged his sword down into Makintaro's head, with the blade passing through his whole head and exiting under his jaw. Hiei then disappeared from his spot and reappeared in his starting position.

A few moments later, Makintaro, with the light in his eyes snuffed out, fell to the ring lifelessly.

"Eww." Juri said as she looked at the fresh corpse. "Uh.... I mean, the winner of the first match is Hiei of Team Urameshi."

Instead of leaving the ring after he was announced the victor, Hiei stood in place and stared at Shishiwakamaru.

"Roll the dice again." Hiei said arrogantly. "I'm feeling lucky, and I think my name will pop up yet again."

"Better not use up all your luck too soon, Hiei." James said from ringside. "Without it, you'll never have a chance to beat me."

Hearing that, Hiei looked over his shoulder and shot a scolding hot glare at James, who smiled in response. Then, he turned his attention back to Team Uraotogi and waited for Shishiwakamaru to roll the dice.

Without much fuss, Shishiwakamaru rolled the dice. And as Hiei had expected, his name came up once again. And on the other dice the name read, Kuro Momotaro.