~*~

"Anya?"

"Annie-dono?"

Poke, poke.

"Mmph..." Anya swatted the offending finger away. "No poke. No touchie... mrph."

Her Bishonen collectively sweat-dropped at that. "Anya, get up or you'll miss your round no da!" Chichiri said, poking her again.

"Yeah, Missie, get up!"

"Five more minutes, mommy."

Chichiri promptly face-faulted. Kenshin watched from the door, while Heero raised an eyebrow.

Sano then rolled up his sleeves, assuming a serious expression. "You don't want to do this the easy way, Missie? That's fine. Heero?"

Heero blinked when Sano turned to him, then nodded when Sano gestured towards the bathroom. After a moment, the Bishies could hear the shower running.

Sanosuke took in a breath, then picked up his trainer.

"Meeeh? ...Sano, what're you doing? I'm sleepin'..."

"I got a hangover an' you don't see ME complaining, do you?"

"Sano? Where ya taking... EEEEEEEEEEK!"

Chichiri and Kenshin jumped at the shriek. Anya soon left the bathroom and came stumbling out, shivering and glaring at the lot of them.

"Cold...will KILL you all..."

Chichiri pointed at Sano as the fighting Bishonen walked out, drying his wet hands and arms with a towel. "It was all him no da!" he declared. "Don't blame me!"

"Don't care... you let him..." Then she yawned and fell back on the bed, wet clothes and all.

"Oh, no you don't. Come on, Anya!" Chichiri sat on the bed, frowning. "Remember? You got a match today no da."

"Meh," was her reply.

Then,

"MATCH?! Oh my God, I'm late!" Anya was instantly awake, washed, dressed, dried, and standing at the door before anyone could react to her statement. "Let's get moving, people, we got a match to go to!"

"Daaaa..."

"Uh, sure," Sanosuke said, blinking. Even he hadn't been expecting that reaction.

"Where's Kimiko? She already left didn't she?! Oh my God, what if they moved on already?"

"Anya, the match isn't- Anya?" Sano grabbed her by the shoulders before she could dart out the door. "MISSIE, WILL YA SHUT UP AN' CALM DOWN FER A SECOND HERE?"

"But I'm late-"

"Yer not late, we got a half hour."

"But... I set the alarm clock.."

"It's broken, didn't you know? Tasuki broke it last night on his way in no da," Chichiri said, sweat-dropping. "He's out with Kimiko apologizing to the hotel folk and Kimiko's gonna have to pay for it. That's why they're up and you're not."

"Well actually, Kimiko's apologizing while Tasuki's arguing about why he shouldn't have to be blamed for it's destruction," Sanosuke pointed out.

"Same thing, no da!"

"...Oh. Well don't scare me like that, okay? I got enough on my mind right now!" Anya said. She stretched, feeling a sense of laziness return to her. "Okay, are you guys ready to go already?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"Then let's grab a donut or something on the way out. Then we'll be able to fight without empty stomachs..."

~*~

"Look, the alarm was annoying anyway, it was bound to get broken!" came a familiar bandit's voice.

Anya paused on the stairs, blinking. "Oh dear..."

"It's annoying so you can get up! What'd you expect?"

"Actually, I expect t' sleep in when I get drunk as hell!"

"You are SO not fighting today. Kurama or Hiei will."

"What? That SUCKS! Yer no fair at all, Kimiko!"

"Ha."

Anya peeked around the corner to see that both trainer and Bishonen were busy sticking their tongues out at each other. She sweat-dropped. "And I thought I was bad with Sano..." She rounded the corner and ^_^ed. "Hi, guys."

Kurama and Hiei, who were drinking coffee and eating, glanced up from their table to nod at Anya and her Bishies.

Kimiko turned and smiled back at Anya. "Hey, glad you made it."

"Yeah. Are you guys ready to get going?"

"Uh-huh. Have you seen Abby or Jacky or anyone else this morning?"

"No, why?"

"Guess they're sleeping in..." Kimiko shrugged. "I hope they have afternoon battles."

"Yeah, today they're supposed to have more battles than before, right?"

Kimiko nodded. "Yup. At least ten... I don't remember how many matches exactly, but I think it's around ten today."

"Wow."

"No, wait... yeah, ten or twelve. I heard a few people were dropping out because they were complaining the tournament took like a week or something, and they had better things to do. So the first rounds are cut short."

"Works for me, more battles more often. And more battles..."

"Means more sake!" Tasuki declared happily.

Kimiko sighed and hit him. "Actually, I think she was going to say 'more money, not to mention more experience for you guys.'"

Anya nodded.

"But ya can get SAKE from money! O-KA-NE!" Tasuki sang. "Heh, listen t' me! I can talk like obake-chan!"

"You're STILL drunk, aren't you?" Anya asked.

Tasuki ^-v^ed* and held up a bottle of sake out of nowhere. "Yup! Best way t' cure a hangover's t' get drunk again!"

((* That was an attempt to imitate Tasuki's fanged ^_^.))

Sanosuke crossed his arms and nodded seriously with that statement.

Anya hit her Bishonen on the shoulder.

"Itai, woman! What was that for? I didn't say anything!"

"You don't have to, my dear Sanosuke."

He humphed. "Whatever."

She hit him again and turned to Kimiko. "Well, shall we get going?"

"Yeah, we'd better. We've now got..." She glanced at the clock. "We got ten minutes before the matches begin!"

"Crap! I'm first!" Anya raced over to the breakfast stand, grabbed two donuts and a glass of orange juice, and raced out the door.

"Ano... Anya?" Chichiri sweat-dropped. "You're kinda forgetting US, no da..."

"Missie, WAIT UP!"

With that, the rest of them hurried after her.

~*~

"Whew! Made it!" Anya gasped, touching the door as they reached the lobby. "Safe! Now where'm I supposed to go again...? Oh yeah, I gotta get to a stadium door entrance! C'mon guys!"

Chichiri hung his head. "Anya-dono no daaaa, wait for us!"

"Ever heard of 'fashionably late', Missie?" Sano yelled after her.

Heero gave a "Hn" and merely followed his trainer.

"Talk about a warm up," Kenshin remarked.

~*~

"Weeelcoomee to the SECOND DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT!"

The crowd of trainers in the stadium seats cheered at this.

"We got a great lineup of trainers today! Twelve non-stop matches for the spectator's delight! Watch your favorite characters battle against each other!"

"Kinda like that show where two popular celebs duke it out and end up killing each other in brutal ways, right?" someone called from the watching trainers.

LSS sweat-dropped. "Ah, it's a little toned down compared to that..."

The same trainer who'd been with LSS the other day took the mike again. "Hi! Demoonica here! We're busy as ever working to make you, our customers happy with the Bishie T-shirt stands here! Come by during the day! We'll polish your Bish-balls, sell you T-shirts, and offer you fast food!"

A Bishonen that no one recognized came out and hurried over to her. Sweat dropping, he grabbed her and murmured something to her, glancing nervously at the crowd.

"What? But Zander-! Ooh, fine." She hung her head. "Back to you, LSS-sama!" With a ^_^, the trainer handed the mic back to LSS.

"Uh, arigatou! So shall we start?"

The crowd cheered their approval of this suggestion. Meanwhile, the trainer, Demoonica, was being dragged away by the Bishonen called 'Zander'.

"First off, let's welcome ANYA to the tournament!"

Anya blinked, and turned back to her Bishies for a second of reassurance. Chichiri grinned, went SD, and seated himself on her shoulder. Heero "hnned" again and disappeared into his Ball. Sano cracked his knuckles, and Kenshin touched the hilt of his sword.

"Okay, here we go," she said, and walked out with her Bishies into the battlefield.

Inspiration suddenly struck her when she spotted LSS. "Darn, why didn't I think of it before?" she asked, looking up at the crowd somewhat nervously.

"What?" Sano shouted over the cheers.

Anya tried a smile and waved at the stands, making the cheering continue. "TALKING TO LSS! ABOUT THE BISHIE THING!" she shouted at him.

"OH!"

"WHAT NO DA?!"

"TALK LATER!"

"OKAY!"

By that time, Anya had reached LSS and the cheering had died down.

LSS smiled at Anya and then turned her attention to the crowd. "So tell us, Anya, who are these lovely Bishies with you?"

Chichiri popped back into his full form and waved at the crowd, some of which squealed and cheered again. Sano raised a fist at the watchers, grinning. Kenshin merely looked around himself.

"I got Chichiri, Sanosuke, and Kenshin to help me out," Anya said.

"Very cool, very cool indeed. Got anything to say on the mic?"

"Uh..." Anya blinked. /Should have expected THAT.../ "Not right on the bat, no."

"That's cool. Why don't you take your place?"

"Sure." Then Anya suddenly grabbed the mic and covered it so her voice wasn't magnified.

"What the-?" LSS blinked at her. "What're you doing?"

"I need to talk to you after the match," Anya said.

"Look, I don't mind talking to people, but I'm gonna be kinda busy..."

"Please. It's not fangirly chitchat. It's serious."

LSS regarded her for a moment, eyes narrowed. "That's what they always say."

"It's about the trainers getting kidnapped and halflings. I know who's behind it, and I've had friends kidnapped by her."

That froze up the other trainer for a moment. "If you are lying to me, I swear I'll have you kicked out of this world without question," LSS whispered fiercely.

"I know."

"...Okay, I can talk to you around noon, I get a quick break then. Meet me at that girl- Demoonica's- T-shirt stand. Oh, and buy me a hot dog, will you?" LSS ^_^ed and took back the mic before Anya could respond. "All right, let's introduce the next trainer!"

Anya nodded gratefully at her before heading over to her place on the field with her Bishies in tow.

"Okay, noon at the T-shirt stand. Now I just have to figure out where that IS," Anya mumbled.

"Let's all say hello to Nilladriel! Come on out!"

The crowd cheered again as said trainer made her way out.

Anya blinked. "Wow, that's gotta be uncomfortable out here!"

Nilladriel was clothed in all black, from head to toe. Her skin by comparison looked almost as white as a sheet, though if one looked closer they could see it was actually a bit darker. Instead of the usual Bish-belt around her waist, she had a chain. Anya couldn't help but wonder where her Bish-balls were; there were none in sight.

"So who do you have, Nilladriel?" LSS asked, all cheerful.

"I got a Rune, a Wufei, a Pan, and a Duo."

"Sounds good. Got anything to say to the crowd?"

Nilladriel shrugged, and raised up one hand to give the crowds a peace/victory sign. The spectators roared in return.

"Okay... let the battle begin!"

~*~

Hiei watched from the very first row in the stadium as Nilladriel and then Anya chose their Bishonen for the battle. Nilladriel chose first; she pulled a Bish-ball out of an until-recently-unnoticed pocket and a Wufei appeared. Said Bishonen immediately turned his nose up at the crowd and Anya.

"Hmph. Baka onna."

Anya rolled her eyes and glanced at Kenshin, who nodded. His eyes flashed a bright gold as he unsheathed his sword and stepped in front of his trainer.

Wufei looked over this Bishonen with interest as he too unsheathed his sword. He seemed to note the gold in Kenshin's eyes then. Hiei watched as the Wufei seemed to decide to attack with caution and not headfirst, as he would usually do.

"Smart move," he murmured as both Bishonen walked up to each other. They touched swords, then went into fighting stance.

For a moment, there was no movement between the two. The crowd slowly quieted into hushed murmurs.

"What're they doin...?"

"Not moving..."

"...So tense down there..."

"...Sugoi!"

Then Wufei twitched, and both immediately launched into their battle.

Anya gave an "ooh" as Kenshin and Wufei temporarily went too fast for anyone to see their movements clearly, then came into view.

Chichiri went SD again and waved a banner that had appeared out of nowhere. It said, both in Chinese and English, "Go Kenshin!"

Anya sweat-dropped at him before turning back to the match.

Sanosuke's eyes hadn't left the battle since they had touched swords. His arms were crossed as he surveyed his "nephew's" fighting skills appraisingly. "C'mon kid," he mumbled.

~*~

Paul sighed as he watched the two Bishonen battle. Then he stood and stretched. "I am SO bored," he complained. "I haven't even been mentioned for the past few