Team Urameshi Vs. Team Mashou I

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

"I'll go first." Kurama said, making his way into the ring.

"If you're gonna fight them, Kurama, don't do that shit that you usually do." James said in a solemn tone. "We're already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. So, put them down as fast as you can. We don't need something going wrong just because you're curious to know everything that makes them tick."

Though he didn't say anything in response, Kurama nodded as he walked toward the center of the ring.

"I've been telling him the same thing for years." Hiei said from inside of Ruka's barrier. "But I've had no luck in changing his mindset. I doubt things will be any different for you."

"Well, in Kurama's defense, why would he listen to someone who would willingly walk into such an obvious trap?" James asked with an innocent expression on his face.

"Shut the hell up." Hiei hissed through gritted teeth.

Instead of mocking him any further, James simply smiled. Then, he turned his attention to the ring.

At the same time on Team Mashou's side, they also chose their fighter. As he entered the ring, he removed his cloak, revealing a pale white skinned demon with long, pointy ears and a sharp chin wearing a light green bandana on his head and a green skirt with a red and gold belt. On his elbows, he wore golden elbow pads and grey leg guards on his shins. He also carried a pair of what looked to be paint brushes and small paint jars on his waist as well.

"Match one: Gama from Team Mashou Vs. Kurama from Team Urameshi!" Kuto shouted into her microphone while gesturing to both fighters. "Now... Fight!"

As soon as the signal to begin the fight was given, Gama pulled the brushes off his waste and dipped them into the jars he carried. Then, he began painting patterns on his face, chest, arms, and legs at high speed. However, to James disappointment, Kurama only watched him do so.

"Damn it, Kurama, what part of 'put them down as fast as you can' don't you understand?" James asked in disbelief.

Hearing James' question, Kurama actually had the decency to wear a sheepish smile. Then, he pulled a rose from his sleeve and ran his demonic energy into it, causing it to grow into a thorny whip.

"[Rose Whip]." Kurama said as the whip finished forming.

Unfortunately, Gama was also finished applying his war paint. Then, at a much faster speed than Kurama expected, Gama rushed toward Kurama and threw an extremely sharp punch at Kurama's throat.

Although he was caught off guard, Kurama was able to dodge the deadly strike. However, while Kurama was dodging, he noticed that Gama was trying to paint something onto his left arm with one of the brushes he held.

Pulling his arm away quickly, Kurama swung his whip, quickly removing everything below Gama's left elbow. Used to pain of that level, however, Gama did not even pause his attack. This caused Kurama to end up dodging another attempt to paint something on his right leg.

Like he had done before, Kurama cut off Gama's forearm after dodging his attempt to draw whatever he was trying to draw on his body.

"Give up, without your arms, you won't be able to win." Kurama advised as he stood opposite the heavily bleeding Gama.

"That is something I can't do." Gama said while rushing Kurama.

While Kurama tried to convince Gama to back down, James looked on in exasperation.

"Why the hell is he trying to talk down an opponent in a setting where everyone wants to kill him?" James asked in a flat tone. "If you don't wanna kill someone, just knock them out and be done with it."

"He's just trying to talk it out, what's wrong with that?" Kuwabara asked, not understanding why James seemed so irritated.

"*Sigh* Every team in this tournament has a goal they wish to achieve." James explained. "For some, it's a personal reason, and for some it's for the team as a whole. So, what do you think would happen if you tried to talk down someone who was willing to die so that their team could win?"

"They would fight to their dying breath." Kuwabara replied.

"And they would do everything they could to make sure that the rest of their team could win after their death." Hiei added. "Kurama's actions are indeed quite foolish."

While James and the rest of Team Urameshi had their discussion, Gama continued attacking Kurama. However, since his forearms and hands were currently laying on the ring, every time he swung his arms, his blood was splattered all over Kurama. And by the time he could no longer stand, a pattern had been painted on Kurama's body with messy strokes.

"Why would you go this far?" Kurama asked the dying Gama. "You could have been saved had you given up."

"For my brothers and I's wish." Gama struggled to say. "So that we could live in the light from now on. And with my sacrifice, at least one victory has been secured."

"Ladies and Gentlemen Gama is down!" Kuto shouted, exciting the crowd. "I'll start the ten count! One!"

Hearing that, Kurama had an ominous feeling while Kuto continued her count.

"My make up allows me to strengthen myself or weaken my opponents." Gama said, now wheezing between every word as he bled out on the ring. "And the main component of this make up is... my blood."

That last statement confirmed Kurama's bad feeling.

"Although you have immense demonic energy, what good will it be to you if you can't use it?" Gama said, breathing his last at the end of his sentence.

"And that's ten!" Kuto shouted a moment later. "The winner of the first match is Kurama!"

"Boo~~~~~!" The crowd jeered at Team Urameshi's win.

Meanwhile, on Team Urameshi's side of the ring, James was looking at Kuwabara and Yusuke.

"See, that's what happens when you don't just finish the fight." James said. "Now do you see what I meant?"

Not only Yusuke and Kuwabara, but even Botan nodded in understanding.

"But what wish is big enough to give up your life for?" Botan asked, not understanding why someone would willingly die in a situation like that.

"Something tells me their next fighter will answer that question." Hiei said as he watched the second fighter from Team Mashou enter the ring.

Upon entering the ring, the shortest member of Team Mashou revealed his appearance. Standing before Kurama was a short male demon with slicked back bluish-purple hair. However, he had four jade green strands that hung down over the left side of his forehead. Wearing a long sleeved chain mail top with a dark blue shirt and a lavender, one shoulder tunic on his upper body. On his lower body, he wore a pair of light blue pants, and a lavender belt. While he wore an expression that showed that his eyes were firmly placed on his goal as he looked at Kurama.

"If you'll allow me, I'll answer the question that Gama could not answer fully." The purple-haired demon said. "The reason Gama was willing to go that far is for freedom."

"Freedom?" Kurama asked curiously.

In fact, Kurama was happy to let his opponent talk, even though his demonic power had been sealed in his body, he knew that the seal would not last forever, so the longer the demon in front of him spoke, the closer to having his demonic energy back at his disposal he would be.

"Yes, for freedom." The demon said with a firm nod. "For millennia, we, the shinobi of the Demon World, have lived in obscurity. But this tournament is our opportunity to live under the sun like all the other demons."

"Oh great, the ninjas are rebelling." Hiei said in a disinterested tone from inside Ruka's barrier.

"Well, now that you know our reasons, the demon said as he brought his hands up to his face, "Let's begin our match, Kurama."

"Match two of the round, Touya from Team Mashou Vs. Kurama!" Kuto shouted excitedly, "Fight!"

"[Shards of Winter]." Touya said, naming his technique as soon as the start signal was given.

An instant later, the water vapor I the air was frozen into small, sharp fragments of ice that floated above Touya's hands. Then, he blew them at Kurama, causing them to shoot toward the redhead at break neck speeds.

Using the whip he had been holding since his match with Gama, Kurama tried his best to deflect the shards of ice that were flying in his direction. However, since he was no longer able to supply the whip with his demonic energy, the ice shards ripped through the whip as if it were a normal vine.

Seeing his [Rose Whip] destroyed so easily, Kurama did the only thing he could, he frantically dodged the incoming ice shards. However, although he was able to avoid most of them, a few bloody gashes were left on his left arm and leg.

"*Sigh* I really don't wanna say it, but I told you so." James said, seeing Kurama's current situation.

"Silence, you fool." Hiei barked with his eyes foused on the match.

"Aww, is the tsundere worried for his friend?" James teased with a smile.

"I told you to be silent." Hiei hissed through clenched teeth.

"There's no need to worry, though." James said with a shrug. "Kurama is a pretty intelligent guy, I'm sure he'll find a way to overcome this disadvantage."

And just as James said, Kurama noticed something when he was cut by the ice shards.

"You're quite agile, Kurama." Touya said while following Kurama's movements with his eyes. "I'd expect nothing less from a legendary thief like yourself. But how long can you keep that up? [Shards of Winter]."

"I'm surprised to knew my true identity." Kurama said while dodging another barrage of incoming ice shards.

Unfortunately, like before, Kurama received several more cuts while he avoided taking any damage to any of his vital spots. Then, when the barrage ended, Kurama smeared his hands with his blood and tried to wipe off the seal that Gama left on him. Then, with his hands still covered in blood, Kurama pulled out another rose and tried injecting his demonic energy into it. Unfortunately, his blood was not enough to disable the seal, causing the rose to explode before it could be reformed into a whip.

"Just as I had heard, your intelligence is scary." Toua said. "You figured out that your blood was a major carrier for your demonic energy. Unfortunately, to dispel Gama's seal, you would have to bleed yourself dry. [Shards of winter.]."

Continuing to barrage Kurama with ice shards from a distance, Touya would back away whenever Kurama tried to bring the match into close quarters combat. Though Touya did not fear a fight in close quarters, Kurama's reputation in the past made him quite wary of falling into one of Kurama's traps.

Eventually, after twenty minutes of playing cat and mouse, Kurama had lost so much blood that he was no longer able to stand. As he lay on the ring bleeding out, Touya finally decided to end things up close.

"Kurama is down, let the ten count begin!" Kuto shouted excitedly, causing the demons in the crowd to cheer wildly. "One!"

"You know, in different circumstances, I believe we would have been good friends." Touya said has he closed in on Kurama. "Like you, I tend to fight strategically rather than relying on raw power."

"That is a sentiment with which I can agree." Kurama said with a small nod.

"Unfortunately, we're standing on opposite sides in this battle." Touya said, gathering water vapor around his left palm. "[Ice Cutlas]. But I will send you off with the respect that a warrior like you deserves."

As he spoke the name of his technique, Touya's left hand was covered in ice. Then, it extended, creating a blade of ice, more than three feet (1 m) long.

"I would thank you for your generosity." Kurama said as Touya raised his ice blade to behead him, "but I don't plan on losing this fight."

As his words fell, several plant tendrils shot out from Kurama's arms and stabbed Touya in the chest, stopping his movements completely.

"You sewed... a death plant into your... bloodstream?" Touya asked with labored breathing.

"That was the only way I could access my demonic energy." Kurama replied with his own breathing growing ragged.

"But when?" Touya asked. A moment later, he was able to answer his own question, though. "It was when you were smearing your hands on your own wounds, wasn't it? Brilliant."

With that, Touya fell to the ring while Kurama tried to stand up.

"Stay down, Kurama." James said calmly. "With you taking out two of them, Yusuke and I should be able to handle the rest."

"Hey, what about me?" Kuwabara asked indignantly. "I'm still eligibles participate in this round, too."

"Eligible to fight and able to fight do not mean the same thing, you fool." Hiei said sharply.

"Shut it, short stack!" Kuwabara shouted in return before wincing in pain.

Figuring that James was right, Kurama laid back down on the ring. And since Touya had fallen as well, Kuto had to restart her count. So, Kurama, using his demonic energy that was still sealed, recalled the tendrils of the death plant back into his own body. Then, he did his best to unsew it from his bloodstream.

"Seven! … Eight! … Nine! … … Ten!" Kuto shouted, concluding her standing ten count. "And with that, this match ends in a draw! Now, both teams, please send up your next fighters."