I don't own YuYu Hakusho And wouldn't it be messed-up if I did? I would force everyone to wear pink tu tu's.

Chp 40. I'm going to revise it one last time but this is mostly the final draft. Hope it's pretty decent. It's the longest so far.

Kuwabara looked across at his opponent and returned the smirked he was giving him. This new fighter was a tall, bulky fellow, but so was he.

He cracked his knuckles, already feeling the excitement of the fight racing through his veins. "I believe I'm going to enjoy this round," he commented.

His opponent popped his neck. "I believe I will, too," he smirked and unfolded his arms, crouching down into a fighting position.

"At least we both agree on something," Kuwabara said and also took his stance.

"Then that means we both have the desire to win."

"Why else would we be up here?"

Their host raised his arm, both fighters anticipating the next phrase.

"Let the fight begin!"

They didn't hesitate. The two fighters charged, power surging from their fists. A loud battle cry erupted from deep within their throats, and their fist made contact. Knuckle met knuckle. Force met force and a powerful explosion of their energy pushed the fighters back. They only paused enough to recover their balance and to charge again, this time with their left hands drawn and surging.

Both fighters smirked as they were pushed back once again. Wisps of steam were rising all around the arena and from their fists.

"Looks like we're evenly matched." Kuwabara looked down at his smoking hand.

"Looks that way." His opponent flexed his wrist. He thought a moment. "I suppose that means I have to uneven the odds." He looked up at Kuwabara, smirking, and withdrew two daggers from his belt. He twirled the shining blades in his hands. "Shall we?" he asked. The metal glinted maliciously.

"Ch. I wasn't going to play that way but now you've asked for it." Kuwabara grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. Energy began to glow in his palm. "Spirit Sword!" he yelled. A flash of bright orange exploded then took form.

Kuwabara swished his weapon. "Ready?" he asked. He was a little disgusted at his opponent for so quickly drawing his blades.

"You would have done better with an evasive strategy. That sword is just going to slow you down," his other mocked.

"How about we find out?"

The sea demon gave him a smug look, "Perhaps you've never heard of me. I am Kaijou, one of the best assassins in Makai. Demons have gone cold when they see me withdraw my daggers and for good reason."

Kuwabara also noted how his confidence seemed to have risen, too. "That's a very nice speech. My name is Kazuma Kuwabara and I'm the second best thug at Sarayashiki Jr. High. Now that introductions are over, shall we fight?"

"Ofcourse." With that, Kaijou vanished.

"Huh?" Kuwabara gaped and twirled around. Even Kaijou's Spirit Energy seemed to have momentarily disappeared. "That bastard wasn't this fast a moment ago…"

Something flickered above him. With little time to react, Kuwabara threw his sword up, barely blocking the two daggers crashing down on him.

Kaijou smirked. "Having fun, yet?" he jested then disappeared again.

Kuwabara gasped. After all that training, he should have been able to see Kaijou's attack or at least sense his energy. He could barely see or detect anything! His mind wandered back to the day he'd been fighting Rando and a cold pit filled his stomach.

He shook his head, trying to clear himself of the thought and the grogginess that seemed to have settled over him.

There was a glint behind him. He quickly turned around and threw his weapon up. His sword blocked one dagger, but the second slashed him on the arm. "Augh…"

Kaijou disappeared again.

Kuwabara felt the blood trickling down his arm, staining his trench coat. The wound stung like someone had thrown a pound of salt in it. He was very tired now, and it was hard to concentrate. The world was moving dizzyingly fast. Just a moment ago he had been fine... What was wrong with him? He didn't think it was blood loss. Even if the blade had cut a major vein, he shouldn't be feeling sleepy this soon.

He raised his sword, preparing for the next attack. Even that simply movement took enormous effort.

In his haze, Kaijou attacked him on his left side. Either he was too slow or Kaijou was too fast. Either way, he felt the bite of the blades pierce his side.

He watched numbly as the two blades slashed his ribcage, a thin line of his blood painting their edges, the gleaming handles slowly fading out of his eyesight.

"Strange daggers," he thought to himself. The blades were slightly curved with gold handles that resembled lions. The lions' eyes were sparkling, black diamonds.

It was funny that he was taking interest in the two things that were probably about to kill him.

"Ch, I should be attacking instead of sitting on my ass over here," Kuwabara thought bitterly. "I felt fine not too long ago. If that ass, Kaijou, is doing this to me… I swear…"

Before his angry thought was finished, he was slashed across the chest. Kuwabara looked at the daggers again, staring at the black diamonds as he fell backwards. There was a faint line of purple smoke trailing the daggers.

He studied the smoke, trying to understand what it was in his failing mind. The faint, bitter fumes stung his nose, and he felt even dizzier.

Realization struck Kuwabara and his anger snapped. "Why that bastard IS doing this to me! That rotten low-life can't have the honor to have a decent fight!" he screamed and jumped to his feet.

Kaijou leapt away from him, "Well, I see you've figured out my trick but…there's not that much you can do about it now."

Kuwabara glared, "We'll see about that you freakin' disgrace of a fighter!" His Spirit Energy suddenly burst into a surging vortex of flames that danced around him. His anger dissipated the fog in his mind.

"What…?" Kaijou gaped. "But you've already breathed in the fumes."

"You can't even have the honor to have a real fight!"

His opponent glared, his fist tightly clenched around his weapons. A gush of purple smoke rose from the daggers and flew towards Kuwabara.

Kuwabara watched as the smoke merely wisped past his enclosure of Spirit Energy. He watched as it faded into the cold air then looked back up at Kaijou. "Now let's fight like real men this time!" he yelled. With a powerful leap, he sent himself sailing across the arena.

Kaijou had no time to react before Kuwabara's fist made contact with his cheek. The other fist made contact with his stomach, and he was sent flying through the air, his daggers falling from his hands. He crashed to the arena floor.

"Get up," Kuwabara demanded.

He didn't move.

"Get up!"

After what seemed like an eternity to Kaijou, he finally found the strength to rise. He looked at Kuwabara, who was glaring at him from across the arena, and wiped at the trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Fight me!" Kuwabara yelled.

The sea demon cautiously studied the fighter. He was still confused on why the poison wasn't effecting him, but as a trained assassin, he knew that there was no time to dawdle about it. He had to figure out how to win.

Cautiously, he rose, studying Kuwabara. He was human alright, but a freakishly strong one at that. "Damn," he thought. "This shouldn't be happening." He suddenly felt unsure of himself as he stood in the presence of energy too strong to be a human's.

Kuwabara's Spirit Energy was incredible high, much higher than his own. He outranked him in both speed and strength.

Kaijou rubbed the raw spot in his mouth with his tongue, tasting the iron of his blood. He had to think of a way to win… and fast.

"Fight me!" Kuwabara yelled.

"First things first," Kaijou thought. He took a step forward and twirled a dagger from his boot. There was nothing special about it, but the blade was strong and his other daggers were too far across the ring. At least it was something.

This was his one big offensive. He studied his opponent for a moment, making certain it was his only option, then leapt into the air. "May the better fighter win!" he yelled and began his descend on Kuwabara.

Kuwabara looked into the frigid sky at Kaijou. "At least now you have some scrap of a real fighter," he said and also pushed off the arena floor. His sword was drawn and ready to face Kaijou.

Team Urameshi watched the two fighters from below. Their movements looked like a ballet dance as they gracefully sailed through the air. Both fighters were beautifully, but deathly poised. Kuwabara's sword was held with both hands at his side, the crackling blade pointed ahead towards his partner in the dance. Kaijou's blade glowed red with his energy the blade held in front, at level with Kuwabara's neck.

The tension built as the two fighters sailed closer. The dance was about to come to its revealing and decisive conclusion.

Team Urameshi held its breath.

The energy from the two fighters crackled loudly as the barrier between them closed. Bolts of red and orange shot out and fought their own battles against each other as the gap closed.

Kuwabara and Kaijou sailed every closer, the crackling becoming louder, their eyes locked.

When the gap was barely three foot, both fighters erupted a loud cry. Like at the beginning of the fight, their energy met and exploded into a battling ball of red and orange. This time, though, the fighters didn't dare let themselves be pushed back. This time, they relentlessly headed forward.

The only noise in the ring was the loud thunderous crackle of their energy. The two fighters danced around each other, both trying to gain ground. It was an elaborate dance of death.

For what seemed like an eternity but in actuality was only a few seconds, the crowd below watched the standstill. It seemed like an eternity before something gave way.

Yusuke pointed towards the sky with his free hand. The other was shielding his eyes from the red and orange light. "Look," he said over the noise.

Kuwabara had gained a fraction of new ground in their battling field. Slowly, he began advancing more and more towards his opponent.

"Yes! Go Kuwabara," Botan breathlessly whispered. He was so close to Kaijou.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom of thunder and Kaijou's barrier broke. Kuwabara was sent hurtling towards him, his sword more brighter than ever.

Before the onlookers could see the next frame, a loud crackle lightening followed the thunder and surged between the fighters. Its intense light burned their eyes and they had to look away.

It was quite when they looked back up. Both fighters were lying in the arena, neither one of them moving. Wisps of steam were rising in the cold air.

Botan and Julie gasped and Yusuke was staring intensely at Kuwabara's motionless form.

The wind whistled hollowly by. Julie pulled her jacket closer to her. "Please Kuwabara move. Please. You're tougher than that… please," she thought numbly to herself.

A voice started counting and they jumped. They had completely forgotten about their host's presence.

"One…

Two…

Three…"

On the third count, Kuwabara moved, breaking the tension in the air. Breaths exhaled.

"Yes. I knew he'd pull through."

He moaned and slowly rose. "Ahh… my joints feel like they're lubricated with sand." Cautiously, testing his balance, he rose. He looked around the arena and noticed Kaijou lying on the other side. He looked dead.

"Six…"

A slight movement from his opponent caught his eye and he walked over to him. He looked pretty bad.

"Nine…"

Kaijou had one of his eyes cracked. "Kazuma…?"

"Huh?" He hadn't expected him to speak. He kneeled down closer, smelling burnt flesh. Kaijou was in pretty bad shape. He doubted he was capable of doing much. "Ya. What is it?" He felt like he wasn't talking to the same demon he had been fighting just a few minutes ago.

"I would like to say thank you."

"Ten!"

Kuwabara was visible surprised. Kaijou's voice was weak but it was still audible. He wondered if he had understood him right. He paused for a moment then asked, "For what?"

Kaijou inhaled a raspy breath. "I've been an assassin all my life," he said meekly. "I've never fought decently before." A small trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth.

Kuwabara blinked.

"I want to thank you for letting me die with honor," he said quietly, closing his eyes and coughing. When he was finished he opened them and whispered, "thank you."

The wind whistled coldly past Kuwabara but he could barely feel it. He could barely feel the hot sting of his wounds or the stickiness of his blood soaked cloths on his skin.

In the last moments of a dieing man, there is no world. There is only the man and his last, consoling thoughts.

Finally, Kuwabara found his voice. "You're welcome," he said quietly. Nothing poetic or frilly. It wasn't right for that moment. It was just those simple words.

Kaijou gave a small smirk and closed his eyes. For a moment, he didn't move then his battered body took one last breath and he died.

Kuwabara looked down at Kaijou for the last time and gave a silent prayer, wishing that Koenma would have mercy on his soul.

He no longer felt like a winner.

This is the longest chapter it's taken me to write and the longest chapter I've written. I guess that makes since...

Anyway, my note is going to be brief. I have to get ready for school tomorrow. Eck. We're swimming in gym… public pools. Ahh!

Well, thanks SO much for the reviews and the patience. Next chapters aren't going to take as long. I couldn't think of how to end this one but I think it turned out pretty good. I'm officially complete with my LSMSA application. I've finished my interview and everything so wish me luck! All I can do now is wait for the "yes" or "no" answer. Please say yes… please say yes… please say yes…

Thanks again for reading my story! Gotta go!

The life of Pie…

Sincerely,

Queen Chad