Human World, Hanging Neck Island.
After Kuto declared Team Urameshi the winner of the round, once again, the crowd erupted into a symphony of boos and jeering. And like the other times, it did not seem to bother any of the members of Team Urameshi.
By now, Ruka had released Hiei from her barrier. As soon as she did so, she sprinted into the tunnel from which she entered, with terror written all over her face. It probably didn't help that Hiei was staring at her with his Jagan glowing the entire time she ran away. Though it was obvious to anyone who was watching that he only wanted to scare her.
A few moments later, James had hopped off the ring, rejoining the rest of Team Urameshi, who had gathered near the injured Kuwabara and Kurama.
"So, do you think their gonna make us fight again?" Yusuke asked as soon as the team was gathered.
"Probably not." James replied. "After that round, our next match will be in the semi-finals. And so far, I think Team Toguro is the only team that was set to fight in that round from the start."
"So, in other words, we have to wait until the other spots are filled before we'll fight again, right?"
"That's right." James replied. Then, he turned his attention to Kurama. "How ya doin', Kurama? Need me to use my healing spell on you?"
"Wait! You have a healing spell?" Kuwabara asked in an agitated tone before Kurama could reply.
"Yeah, I sure do." James replied with a nod. "I'm pretty sure I told the team that after our match with Team Rokuyukai. In fact, Hiei turned down my offer to heal is arm."
"Then why did you just let me sit here injured like this?" Kuwabara asked angrily.
"Well, there are actually three reasons." James answered raising his index, middle, and ring finger on his right hand.
"Oh yeah, and what are they?" Kuwabara asked.
More than just Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kurama, and even Hiei, who was acting as if he were uninterested, were curious to know the reasons why James left Kuwabara in his injured state.
"Well, first of all, it was to teach you that acting before you think about it has consequences." James said, getting a nod from Hiei and Kurama. "Second, I knew I'd be fighting in this round at some point, so I wanted to conserve my demonic energy. Ah, no offense, Kurama."
"None taken. Kurama replied dismissively.
"And what's the third reason?" Yusuke asked curiously.
"Because I'm sure there's someone, he'd rather be healed by than a tall, caramel skinned, Adonis of a man like me." James said shamelessly, gaining deadpan looks from everyone. Ignoring the gazes of his teammates, James pointed up into the stands and continued. "Oh, and here she comes now."
"Kazuma, are you okay?" Yukina asked from the spectator stands, with timing that would make people believe that she was only there to prove James' point.
Hearing that voice, Kuwabara perked up immediately. Looking in the direction it came from, Erza, Botan, Shizuru, Keiko, and Yukina were standing at the wall that separated the ring from the stands. However, the only one of the five that Kuwabara was currently able to see was Yukina.
With a newfound source of energy, Kuwabara hopped up onto his feet as if he had never been injured in the first place. Then, he sprinted toward the wall and stood below the group of five.
"Hey, Yukina, did you come here to see me?" Kuwabara asked with a big goofy smile on his face.
"Yes." Yukina replied with a nod and a polite smile. "But I fear that is only part of the reason. In truth, I came here to search for my brother."
"Oh, you're still looking for him, huh?" Kuwabara said, cupping his chin in thought. "Well, if he's here like you think he is, I'm sure you'll be able to meet him."
While Kuwabara happily chatted away with Yukina, Yusuke, Kurama, Shizuru, and Botan looked at Hiei intensely. Seeing that, even though he already knew the truth, James leaned down and whispered a question into Kurama's ear.
So, Hiei's that girl's brother, huh?" James asked with a grin on his face. "But I'm guessing it's supposed to be a secret, right?"
"More or less." Kuram replied.
"Well, you guys made it so obvious that only people as oblivious as Yusuke and Kuwabara wouldn't figure it out."
"What do you mean by that?" Yusuke asked in an annoyed tone. "I knew, I'm not clueless like Kuwabara."
"Yeah, but if I had to guess, you found out because someone told you, right?" James asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his face. "Not because you figured it out on your own."
Instead of arguing any further, Yusuke simply looked away in silence. Everything James said was true, after all.
Meanwhile, back in the stands, Botan was sweating bullets. She was not even looking in his direction, and she could tell that Hiei was glaring at her with all three eyes.
'I really wanna tell Kuwabara that Yukina is Hiei's sister. But I know I'm not supposed to." Botan said to herself nervously. 'The real problem is that I'm a blabbermouth and Hiei is a telepath. So, he'll know as soon as I say anything.'
"[Exactly, say anything and you die.]" Hiei's voice rang out inside Botan's head.
"Would you moron's hurry up and leave?" Genkai asked in a harsh tone. "Or did you plan to fight again?"
With that, all the conversations came to an end and all those affiliated with Team Urameshi left the stadium.
While the group chatted as they walked back to the hotel, James thought about what he knew regarding the current situation.
'Currently, Kuwabara isn't the only one who doesn't know that Yukina and Hiei are twins.' James thought to himself. 'I'm pretty sure Keiko doesn't know, either. Other than that, Irene and Erza don't know. But that doesn't really matter. Oh yeah, Yukina doesn't know either.'
In fact, the reason Yukina doesn't know that Hiei is her twin brother is actually quite simple. They were separated at birth.
Both Hiei and Yukina were born to the ice demon Tribe of Demon World, an all-female race. The only way for a male to be conceived among the ice Demons is for one of them to lay with a male of another race. And that is exactly how the twins were conceived. Unfortunately, because of the Ice Demons' culture, Hiei was thrown away by the tribe shortly after he was born.
On the other hand, the reason Kuwabara didn't know who Yukina's brother is, is due to his stupidity. The last case Yusuke solved, sort of, was to rescue Yukina from a crime boss. When he received the mission, it was I the form of a video cassette tape, an outdated form of media that he did not have at his house.
Luckily, Yusuke knew that he could watch the video at Kuwabara's house. So, he took the tape over there to watch it, and Kuwabara watched it with him. Then, when he saw the image of the person Yusuke was tasked to rescue, Kuwabara fell in love at first sight. Then, without watching the video to the end, he ran off to save her on his own. Nothing came of that attempt, of course.
Seeing as Kuwabara had no idea where she was even being held Kuwabara ran around Tokyo for a while. Eventually, after a while, Kuwabara returned and followed Yusuke on his mission.
While James thought about what he knew of the YuYu Hakusho Canon, the group finally arrived at the hotel. And as soon as they did, the group began to party. Advancing two rounds in the tournament with no casualties was as good a reason as any to party.
On top of that, Kuwabara found out that Yukina had learned healing. Naturally, that made Kuwabara wonder how James could know that. Before he could ask about it, however, Yukina asked him about his participation in the tournament, and he forgot all about the suspicion he was holding.
Another thing of note was that Irene left the party for a short while after receiving a communication. When she came back, however, she acted as if nothing was wrong. So, James figured that it was something they should not talk about with outsiders present, and he let it be until they were alone.
Erza, on the other hand, could not read such social cues. So, she blatantly asked about it as soon as Ireen returned to the room. And she was not subtle about it, either. Luckily, James always kept something in his storage space for just an occasion.
'Good thing I asked Grayfia to teach me how to stop the time in my storage space.' James thought to himself as he pulled something from the storage space.
"Hey, Erza!" James shouted, getting Erza's attention. "We can't call this a party without cake, right?"
With that, James revealed the extra-large strawberry shortcake he kept in his space storage ever since he got to know Erza.
According to what he knew about the girl, she was so single minded that changing her mind was nearly impossible. The only thing capable of changing her focus was a good strawberry shortcake.
After seeing the cake, Erza's eyes began to light up immediately. Completely forgetting what she wanted to ask her mother, Erza charged toward the table James was about to set the cake down on. Then, she waited with bated breath as James cut a slice.
A moment later, James had served the cake to Erza on a small plate with a dessert fork. And when Erza received it, she quickly took her first bite. Then, she paused and turned her head upward with her eyes dampening. After that, she released one of the most sensual moans anyone in the room had ever heard.
Meanwhile, while Erza was having her... moment, James winked at Ireen with a smile. Irene returned the wink with a smile of her own. Then, they went back to enjoying the celebration party like nothing had happened.
"So, would anyone else like a slice of cake?" James asked, pointing to the cake with the knife.
Keiko, Botan, and Yukina were quick to raise their hands. Then, when James nodded at them, they all got up and made their way over to get a piece of cake. What surprised everyone, except James and Irene, was that Genkai had beaten the three girls to the cake.
On a side note, Erza would have also been surprised to see Genkai in the front of the cake line, as well. But she was so engrossed in her slice of cake that she did not notice what was going on around her.
When Genkai felt all the surprised gazes on her, she turned to look at everyone.
"What?" Genkai asked without changing her expression. "Never seen an old woman that likes cake before?"
Although it was not abnormal for an old lady to like cake, Genkai's tough as nails exterior would suggest that she liked hard liquor and smoking rather than cake. Don't get her wrong, though. Genkai also enjoyed hard liquor and smoking. But there was no rule stating that liking either was mutually exclusive.
Like that, the party went on for the next few hours. By the end, everyone went back to their rooms, with Yukina sharing a room with Keiko, thoroughly exhausted. Everyone except the devils, that is. Even more than demons, devils thrived at night.
Just as they had done the night before, Irene and Erza entered James' bedroom to sleep. And just as the door was close behind them, James addressed Irene.
"So, is there anything I should know about that communication circle from earlier." James asked seriously.
"Ah! That's right." Erza exclaimed. "After James presented the cake, I completely forgot I wanted to ask about that."
"That was the point, Erza." James said. "You were about to ask your mother about possible, internal matters of the Underworld. So, I thought of something to distract you. And it looks like the cake did the job beautifully."
"Ah! I'm sorry for my oversight." Erza apologized sincerely. "Please, strike me as a form of punishment."
Ignoring Erza's usual behavior, James turned his attention back to Irene.
"So, what happened." James asked.
"Apparently, Slash/Dog Team found out that Rizevim should be on Hanging Neck Island, right now." Irene reported.
"Hmm... He must have found a good way to obscure his presence." James muttered to himself. "I've scanned the entire island many times with my perception and soul sight. Yet, I've never noticed him."
"From what I've heard about him, I wouldn't put it past him." Irene said. "he's been evading detection from the Underworld for centuries."
"That's true, I guess." James replied. "Though I doubt they were actively looking for him. Especially with those old corrupt fuckers that used to be on the council, not to mention the way Sirzechs used to act."
Iree nodded in agreement, while Erza was not sure of what they were talking about since she was a newcomer to devil society.
"Either way, if he plans to do something on this island, I'll stop him. James said with a shrug. "And if he plans to wait until I leave, I'll just sink the island before leaving. Anyway, let's go to bed, it's been a long day."