[FFML] [yyh][ry][rewrite] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 8: Over the Horizon (Part 2)

[Abdiel]

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Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel

The battle between Rando and Yusuke rages on simultaneously with Kenshin
and Genbu's own fight. 

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Chapter 8: Over the Horizon (Part 2)
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Genbu was sent flying to the crystal clear fields of infinite blue skies
one follow through of the sword later. After his heavenly ascent came
his hellish descent as he went crashing back to earth. The Ryu Kan Sen
Tsumuji had done its job.

Or so Kenshin thought. 

"Impressive," was Genbu's sarcastic droll as he leisurely got up to his
metal-encrusted feet, none the worse for wear. "This time you've given
me quite the crick on the neck." The Stone Golem smirked and rolled his
neck. There was an audible popping sound. "Ah. All fixed."

Kenshin stood his ground, refusing to be intimidated. The shooting pain
on his charred and bloody shoulder and the fresher cuts and bruises from
when Genbu brutally juggled him in midair were acting up again. He also
felt strangely exhausted for some reason. But he nonetheless refused to
give up. He still had several tricks up his sleeve, after all.

'It's unfortunate that I'm forced to use some of my more advanced
techniques on such a low-level demon, but desperate times call for
desperate measures, I believe.'

Kenshin's eyes narrowed as, once again, Genbu melded with the ground. He
gingerly clutched his aching shoulder. 'This fight has dragged on for
far too long.'

"All your little tricks mean nothing to me and my Tetsuzan Kou Defense
Up!" Genbu spat as he sandwiched Kenshin with his gargantuan body and
his snaking tail. "Let's end this now, samurai!"

"My thoughts exactly," was Kenshin's simple response as he calmly
sheathed the Demon Sword back to its scabbard.


***


Yusuke couldn't believe his eyes. Rando had somehow survived the
devastating power of his Double Barrel Shotgun. Just how the demon
accomplished such a feat, he could only guess; he did take note that the
strands of silk that currently enveloped the youkai's chest like a
protective vest might have something to do with it.

"You're so annoyingly tenacious, Urameshi Yusuke," Rando surmised. He
sneered and harrumphed as he dusted himself off. "But so am I." 

Despite his bravado, Rando inwardly cringed at Yusuke's sharp,
unblinking glare on him. It was a glare of definite challenge that
pierced through the demon's bluster.

'Is that all you got?' Yusuke seemed to say through his fiery eyes. 'Are
you happy with this?'

Truth be told, Rando was far too weak to execute the Iron Body Technique
and the Inner Blood Turmoil properly at that point. So he decided to
make use of a third defensive technique; the demonic silken threads he
used just recently. These durable threads, which had the tensile
strength of one-hundred and twenty pounds per square millimeter of cross
section, were apparently up to the task of protecting him from an
encumbered Yusuke.

Therefore, what could have been a checkmate in Yusuke's favor reverted
to the stalemate of before. Though the Master of a Hundred and One
Tactics had lost a lot of blood and was seemingly paralyzed from the
waist down, the impudent teenager was still completely ki-less at that
point. No one had the advantage.

Needless to say, Rando was not happy with the situation. 

As a demon, Rando wasn't supposed to know what the terms 'stalemate' or 
'checkmate' meant, but the Human World Game of Chess just happened to be
the Chojin's favorite pastime. As the Chojin's special assistant, the
youkai had learned quite a lot, and one of the things that the Chojin 
emphasized to him during their many talks was to never settle for
anything less than a 'checkmate' against an opponent.

"No. There will be no stalemate," Rando declared in between exhausted
breaths, a stab wound, and immovable legs. "I will win against you
absolutely. I will not settle for anything less. I will prove to you
that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you're my bitch."

"Strong words, but it seems to me that I'm not the only one who's in a
pickle right now. All I really need is one more good punch and you're
history," Yusuke countered. "I'm nobody's bitch, but you're mine."

Rando snorted as he returned Yusuke's glowering gaze. "Really now? Well,
you've already had your fun. It's now time for _me_ to play." Just as he
said those words, large amounts of blazing energy engulfed him. "All
that energy you've just lost has to go somewhere; right, Urameshi
Yusuke?"

"Then I simply won't let you use any of it!" Yusuke shouted before
disappearing in the blink of an eye. 

Rando merely rolled his eyes in disdain as he summoned a fresh batch of
Spirit Guillotines using the energy he absorbed through the Blood Wind.
"Bite me, Urameshi. SPIRIT GUILLOTINES!"

'What now?' Yusuke thought as he skidded to a halt and circled around
the demon. Another thought occurred to him. Though his knowledge of the
English language was laughable at best, he at least knew about the
difference between a plural and a singular noun. 'Hey, did he say Spirit
_Guillotines_? As in more than _one_ guillotine? What the hell's a
guillotine, anyway?'

Beams of light energy as thin as sheets of paper appeared in front of
Rando. This beams afterwards ripped apart Genkai's dojo like light-green
disco lights of death. After traveling about twenty feet, they
disappeared instantly and reappeared next to the youkai, surrounding him
like neutrons on an atom.

'Oh. So those are guillotines. Okay then. That means I better stay the
hell away from them!' Yusuke assessed as he weaved through the smashed
columns and tiles while eyeing his deadly nemesis warily. 

Every second that followed, the sheets of light attacked, and Yusuke
couldn't even catch sight of their strikes. He clutched his leg and his
shoulder to keep more of his blood from spilling out. He was beginning
to experience the early symptoms of shock as his arm went limp while his
leg numbed. He was afraid that the muscles and tendons of his appendages
might already be permanently damaged, all because of a fight with one
youkai that just refused to quit.

Smirking to himself in self-assurance, Rando opened his mouth and spewed
out more of his special silken threads, weaving them onto himself like a 
protective cocoon of sorts. 'I can now rest here while Urameshi is
distracted by my Spirit Guillotines. If everything goes to plan, then
I'll have my revenge. I'll have my checkmate.'


***


Kenshin tried to ignore the numerous cuts and lesions that started to
mysteriously appear all over his body as he struggled to get a clean
shot at Genbu and his gravelly tail.

"SOU RYU SEN!"

The Twin Headed Dragon Flash assured no exploitable openings because of
its two-part sword and sheathe strikes. Nevertheless, it was a very
tricky move to pull off. A large amount of concentration and kenki was
needed to make the Double Battou-jutsu attack successful.

It seemed that the fates were truly conspiring against the ghost
formerly known as Battousai. Even his specialty, the sword-drawing
technique, failed him. It was all because of Yusuke Urameshi's utter
irresponsibility during battle.

Just as Yusuke had run out of reiki earlier, Kenshin had also run out of
kenki. Kenshin quickly realized that his bond with Yusuke was more of a
curse than a blessing as his somewhat watered-down Battou-jutsu strike
was completely overwhelmed by the power of Genbu's mace-like tail.

"Gotcha!" Genbu cried out in excitement as he batted Kenshin towards his
waiting palms. Upon catching the hapless ghost, he grappled his quarry
eagerly.

'Nothing I do seems to be working,' Kenshin observed in despair as he
felt his adversary slowly crush the life out of him.

"I told you so. I told you that I'm not the weakest of the Shisejyu. By
finishing off both you and Urameshi right here and now, I'll prove just
that. BAKURETSU-GANSHOU-DAN!" Genbu's iron-coated hands quickly blew up,
sending shrapnel, debris, and Kenshin flying into oblivion.


***


Yusuke coarsely cursed under his breath. The Spirit Guillotines cut him
up deeply and accurately. As of now, there was little the half-demon
could do against Rando and his dangerous techniques.

Speaking of Rando, Yusuke soon noticed that the youkai was presently
wrapped in a silken cocoon of his own making. Yusuke's mouth twitched to
a scowl. 'Shrewd bastard. While using my own reiki against me, he now
has a chance to recuperate in that cocoon of his. Dammit, if only I
hadn't used up all my remaining reiki in that Double Barrel Shotgun
blast...!'

To make matters worse, Yusuke felt as if were being suffocated for some
reason. He accordingly stumbled and fell. 'Dammit, because of the Youtou
what's-its-name's stupid bond, it feels like I'm fighting two battles at
the same time!'

Yusuke's lungs burned in agony as he felt his ribs constrict. He
desperately gasped for air as his vision dimmed. 

'Dammit! Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!'

Then, like Kenshin before him, Yusuke's world promptly exploded just as
every single one of the Spirit Guillotines homed in on him.

This was not the first time Kenshin faced what could have been a
literally explosive demise. He had already experienced the unique
feeling in the hands of another 'monster'.

Like Genbu's exploding palm trick, the damnable 'Guren Kaina' nearly
killed Kenshin during his most momentous battle many, many years ago.
The distant memory replayed itself in the former vagabond's mind. It
was the last memory he ever had before his untimely death. 

Both Shishio and Kenshin were bent over, trembling and out of breath.
As Shishio struggled to pull himself together, steam began to rise from
his body; a scarlet steam.

Shishio's blood was boiling. His temperature was rising even higher,
exceeding the coagulating point of blood. He had finally surpassed his
human limits. As he slowly got up to his feet, the nearby smokestacks
flared. Even then, his kenki was at optimum levels. In this fight, 
Makoto Shishio held the upper hand. 

Kenshin was completely aware of the direness of his situation. The die
was already cast, so there was nothing left for him to do but to
sacrifice himself then and there.

'My entire body is exhausted, and I'm losing a lot of blood. I've felt
death near many times, but this is the first--this is true death. But 
Shishio's lost almost all of his strength as well. How many years later
will he recover? Even if he comes back again, the ones who will bear the
next age should be able to stop him. So the mission entrusted to me will
end here. To protect this country; to protect this city; and...!'

But he did have one regret in his ultimate decision. He remembered the
words of his master, Seijuro Hiko: "If you sacrifice yourself now, a
girl who came all the way from Tokyo just to see you will be very
unhappy."

'Kaoru-dono.'

"Let's go home together, okay?" were the words mouthed by the lovely,
smiling face of the aforementioned girl from Tokyo, Kaoru Kamiya. 

'I'm so sorry, Kaoru-dono. I'm so very...'

"Let's go home together... or else I'll whack you!"

'...Oro?'

Kenshin soundly blinked as his vision of Kaoru suddenly smacked him hard
with a boat paddle. 

Kenshin wrested himself upright, startling the handless Genbu. 'What did
it take to kill the swordsman?' the youkai queried to himself in
frustration.

"What's going on? Y-You can't be a-alive! Then that means Urameshi is
also alive! H-How can you possibly survive my up-close-and-personal
Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan? This isn't part of the plan! You have to die so
that _I'd_ be the one who kills Urameshi! Two birds with one stone and
all that!" the Holy Beast rambled on in aggravation.

Ignoring Genbu's hollow rants, Kenshin said the words he longed for to
say but never had a chance to do so. 

"I can't die. There's no reason for me to die here. There's still
someone waiting for me to come back. Nothing, _nothing_ is stronger than
the will to live!"

"What--Waiting for you?" Genbu incredulously asked. After a few moments,
he started to cackle contemptuously. "What are you blabbering about?
Nobody's waiting for you. You've died a long, long time ago. You're just
a clueless, know-nothing samurai that had the misfortune of getting
cursed and imprisoned by some demonic sword! Get real."

Kenshin's determined features turned crestfallen as his adversary's
words sunk in.

"You can't die, you say? Fool. You're already dead!" Genbu jeered,
laughing derisively as he used his Tetsuzan Kou to rebuild his stony
hands. "It's too late for you to say such things. It's not your 'life'
that I desire to take away, it's Urameshi's. He's the only reason
you're even in this mortal plane! You can't possibly have the so-called
'will to live,' because the life you claim to have isn't even yours in
the first place."

_You're already dead... Nobody's waiting for you... Your life isn't even
yours in the first place... It's too late._ Genbu's taunts reverberated
in Kenshin's mind. The harsh truth behind these biting words pierced
through the remnants of the lost soul's delicate hope and faith.

After coating his newly reconstructed hands with iron, Genbu decided to
add injury to insult by pouncing on the rather distracted and perturbed
Guardian of the Demon Sword. "You poor, deluded soul. Don't worry; I'll
be the one who'll send you back to your long-lost love ones. You'll join
them soon."

Kenshin just stood there, awaiting his miserable fate.


***


There was a part of Yusuke's subconscious that was self-aware enough to 
understand that its host was a passionate man who acted more out of
emotion than reason. It was this portion that made sure that the half-
demon was out of harm's way most of the time. Knowing Yusuke's tendency
to be a trouble magnet, that should be a very busy job for any
subconscious to have.

In any case, Yusuke's mind was currently and feverishly looking for a
recollection that could trigger an impulsive reaction that should
immediately bail him out of his dilemma. It feverishly dug around in the
half-demon's psyche for the perfect memory to wake him up before he
literally became minced meat care of the converging energy blades.

"KEIKO!" Yusuke woke up with a start, grasping his left cheek in alarm.
'Damn. It was only a dream.' He exhaled noisily. 'Dammit, even in my
dreams, Keiko can still slap like she means it!' Sighing, he did his
best to shake off the remnants of disorientation that had washed over
him. 

Yusuke's mind admittedly could have done better than summoning the
hackneyed 'Keiko slaps Yusuke to a bloody pulp' memory, but beggars
couldn't be choosers.

Yusuke grimaced. An urgent, nagging feeling in his gut told him that he
needed to be awake and alert; that he needed to clear his fuzzy memory
and find out why he felt as if--

As the awkward sensation flitted inside of him, he suddenly remembered
something very important. Actually, he remembered dozens upon dozens of
very important things.

Yusuke leaped aside, instinct guiding him as the grazing power of
dangerously sharp ki-attacks destroyed the earth where he had been
standing.

'Holy shit, that was close!' His limbs ached and his teeth were clenched
tight. He pathetically limped as he desperately ran away from the horde
of Spirit Guillotines. 'Damn. How could I've been so careless?'  

But the nagging feeling he felt earlier never left him. Something was
still amiss. Soon enough, this nagging feeling found its voice.

'Yusuke-dono! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!'

The shrill screeching of a thousand fiends ensued.


***


Genbu's massive jaw dropped. Just as he was about to blow up Kenshin for
a second time, his quarry vanished like a ghost right before his very
eyes. Well, technically, he _was_ a ghost, but...

'What in the world...?'

As the holy beast looked around him, he was awestruck by what he saw.

There they were. Kenshins. Hundreds of them, appearing and disappearing
successively like the dancing waves of the ocean.

'Afterimages,' Genbu mused in bewilderment. 'They're just like the
afterimages Rando makes when he's using that quickness technique of
his, only the samurai's technique is much better. Faster. More
frightening.'

The Shisejyu shook his head as if to clear it. 'No, no, no! Snap out of
it. Why am I thinking such things? That wimpy old ghost can barely
even _scratch_ me, let alone defeat me. What's really happening is that
I already have him on the defensive. One more blast of my Bakuretsu-
Ganshou-Dan and he, as well as Urameshi, will be history!'

Meanwhile, Kenshin himself frowned as he feverishly evaded Genbu's
attacks with his slick defensive movements. Afterwards, a pressing,
troublesome sensation in him told him that he needed to clear his hazy
thoughts and...

'Remember.'

Kenshin didn't want to recall anything about his life. He deemed it too
humiliating, too awful, and too depressing to even be given a second
thought. There was good reason why he didn't remember what had happened
to him immediately before he was sealed into the Demon Sword by Koenma
half a century ago. He should let sleeping dogs lie and all that.

Nevertheless, Kaoru's voice tugged at his heartstrings like it always
did; dragging him out his humanity from the depths of his own despair.
After rousing himself from his own mortification, he held his feelings
of hopelessness at bay as his mind's voice whispered to him urgently:

'Remember.' 

He remembered whatever it was that he could still remember, and he
immediately regretted doing so. He remembered _why_ he felt so
mindlessly depressed and hopeless; why he _wanted_ to die in the hands
of some C-Level demon, albeit it was Yusuke Urameshi's life on the line
and not really his.

He had failed. He had failed to keep his promise to Kaoru in the
interest of defeating Shishio. He thought he was strong enough to bear
the loss of Kaoru Kamiya, Sanosuke Sagara, Yahiko Myoujin, Megumi 
Takani, and many, many others after his eventual death. But he
apparently wasn't, or else he wouldn't be feeling so disheartened right
now.

Where were they now? What had happened to them? Would he ever see them
again?

He quickly realized that because of his sacrifice, his existence was
now an empty one. He was all alone in the altogether alien world of the
new age. Besides which, he was eternally cursed to remain a demonic tool
of death and destruction at the expense of his forgotten humanity.

'What is the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu for? What is Himura Kenshin for? Once
again, I've broken my promise to someone I truly cared for. Kaoru-dono,
I'm...' 

But he also remembered the words that he longed for Kaoru to say, but
he instead heard from someone else.

"Kenshin, welcome back to Tokyo," a certain blue-haired ferry-girl 
excitedly declared, taking his hand to hers.

Kenshin reminisced staring at Botan's hand in dumbstruck wonder, his
mouth forming a little 'o' of shock. He smiled a bit, as if somehow this
was the sort of thing that was supposed to happen in his life--his
past life--and the sort of thing that should have happened after he
fought Shishio.

"Never mind empty, unfulfilled promises! You still have people to
protect, Kenshin," Botan and Kaoru seemed to say in unison in Kenshin's
complicated imaginings. "You lose what's most precious to you, then
exhaust yourself body and soul. But if you have something you can't
bring yourself to throw away, whatever anyone says, that's your only
truth." 

'My... truth?'

He gingerly clutched the Demon Sword in deep contemplation. Though it
represented everything that was damnable about his present existence, it
also embodied all that was good in him; his childish hopes and dreams,
even. He clung to it the same way he steadfastly clung to his foolish,
juvenile, and unrealistic credo: "The Sword that Protects."

'There's one thing I can still do. Protect the happiness of the people I
see before me. If one sword can still catch people's eyes, than it's
enough to protect. Even if one person was suffering before me for
whatever reason, I just can't let him be. That is my truth.'

Indeed, he still had people to look after and protect. In particular, he
still had Yusuke to save from harm. That was a more powerful truth than
his long broken promise to Kaoru. He had died to protect his loved ones,
so he would live to do the very same. 

Kenshin blinked. The nagging feeling he felt earlier was still there,
growing stronger by the minute.

As he continued to stall for time by confusing Genbu with his myriad of 
reflections, he concentrated. He focused on the feeling.

And there it was; the Youtou Shinnoken's link to his and Yusuke's soul.
'Is this what the hullabaloo's about? Is my shared bond with Yusuke-dono 
merely acting up again?' he ruminated.

As he focused on the link and felt the brash, impetuous presence of the
current bearer of the Demon Sword, he also felt something else.
Something was amiss, and this was the real reason why the link had been
demanding for his attention for quite sometime now.

Kenshin felt it. He _felt_ the danger that Yusuke was currently in, and
his concern soon found its voice, echoing through their shared
consciousnesses.

"Yusuke-dono! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" 


***


Yusuke shivered a bit. Fear? He was far too reckless and rash to even
give fear a second thought. Cold? His drained spirit energy aside, the
large wooden gates of the dojo remained closed, so no sort of cold draft
could enter there. In fact, he felt a bit feverish. Although, as far as
he knew, his half-demonic body was immune to all the local human
diseases. It must have been anticipation, then. He wanted to get this 
impromptu battle over with as soon as possible.

'Yusuke-dono! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!' 

Yusuke easily recognized the effeminate voice. "Wimpy? I mean, Kenshin?
Is that _you_? Where the hell are you? Man, I never thought I'd be glad
to hear that annoying girly voice of--" he marveled out loud, cutting
himself off at the last minute as his companion's words sunk in. 

He felt it; the dreadful, nauseating mass of malevolent energy that
filled the entirety of the dojo. As he unwillingly focused on the
peculiar and repulsive feeling, he soon discerned the origin of the
miasma of jaki.

He shivered as he felt the tingling sensation of foreboding crawl down
his back like a thousand centipedes. He didn't even bother to turn as he
desperately leaped away from the surge of plain pandemonium that
congregated from behind him.

D-Level imps and demons of various shapes and sizes materialized
everywhere. They were the inferior beasts of Makai, creatures who
physically did not look anything human. A cacophony of sounds came out
of their gaping maws as they eyed Yusuke like a piece of succulent human
meat. The demonic vultures circled the half-human confidently, for he
hadn't even a wisp of spirit energy left in his body. They felt no need
to fear him.

Under normal conditions, Yusuke would have easily annihilated the demons
with no problem whatsoever. In fact, during the Makai Tournament, he did
just that to far more numerous and powerful youkai. However, that was
under ordinary circumstances.

Even Yusuke, son of Raizen, couldn't survive simultaneous attacks by
both the light-green spirit blades and the D-Class demons if he were ki-
less and heavily injured. Nevertheless, with help and a bit of luck on
his side, perhaps he could still find a way to survive.

Startling the demonic horde before him, Yusuke soon outnumbered both the
Spirit Guillotines and the Class-D youkai combined. A myriad of Yusuke
doppelgangers crowded the landscape, leaving the mob of fiends
confounded and confused. Oddly enough, even the non-sentient guillotines
seemed puzzled by the turn of events.

'What the hell am I doing? How am I doing... this? The afterimage thing,
I mean. And how am I keeping this up? I can go really fast if I wanted
to, but not this fast! It's like I'm everywhere and nowhere at the same
time,' Yusuke pondered before regaining control of his bodily functions.
That done, he halted his excited pace and hid behind a nearby fallen
column. Consequently, his numerous afterimages ceased to exist.

A slight migraine manifested itself inside Yusuke's head as he leaned
against the pillar and closed his eyes until it passed. Rookie mistakes!
He had been making mistakes in this fight with Rando that he had not
made since his  first mission as a Spirit Detective. If not for the
afterimage technique he so conveniently learned out of the blue, he'd be
dead by now. 'What was that strange technique anyway?'

Amidst the enraged howls of the army of beasts, the buzzing sounds of
the Spirit Guillotines, his faint headache, and his growing frustration
came Kenshin's sultry voice. 'It's the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's Shinsoki 
technique, The Divine Speed,' the rurouni explained succinctly. 

Yusuke blinked once, twice, then looked vapidly at the darkness before
him. 'Oh, I see. Wait. No, I don't! Why? How?' Yusuke mentally
stammered. Afterwards, another thought occurred to him. 'Hey! You're
talking inside my head! What are you doing in there? Get out of there!'

'Calm down! It's just the Youtou Shinnoken's link to our souls. When
we're in sync with each other, our shared bond has the potential to
become our greatest asset. We can share our thoughts, emotions, even
our experiences with each other. Isn't it great?' Kenshin cheered.

'Yeah, yeah; that's just peachy, Kenshin. So I suppose the mental
tele... tele... y'know, the talking-to-each-other-through-our-minds
thing... is also part of the oh-so-great powers of the Demon Sword,'
Yusuke observed drolly. He contemplatively rubbed his chin. 'Still, that
Shinsoki thing we just did was the SHIT! Man, oh man, this is just what
I need! C'mon, let's do it again!'

'My pardons, Yusuke-dono, but I believe it's a bad idea to--'

Yusuke mostly ignored Kenshin's polite plea, hollering a savage battle
cry as he stood up and wailed on the nearest of the demonic imps. The
beasts didn't even stand a chance against his scarlet fury. 

'My pardons,' Kenshin telepathically apologized as he unleashed the
Kanashibari upon Yusuke, paralyzing him before he could even reach
Rando's cocoon-wrapped form.

Kenshin had already used the Kanashibari--a powerful skill used by
spirits to hold or bind the bodies of the living--on Yusuke before. It
was during the time they first met, when Yusuke was about to finish off
Iehog.

"Kenshin! What the hell are you doing? Let go, dammit!" Yusuke protested
as several youkai and Spirit Guillotines headed straight for him.

'Relax, Yusuke-dono. Let me show you something,' Kenshin all but cooed
as he took hold of the Spirit Detective's body. Yusuke's eyes widened.

'I can feel them. I can feel the presence of every single one of those
disgusting monsters and spirit blades,' Yusuke mused as he and Kenshin
dodged the concurrent strikes of both demon and razor alike.

'This is the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's ki-reading technique. By reading the
intent of your opponent using his aura, you can easily predict his
movements,' Kenshin elucidated affably as he compelled his companion to
again hide himself from his countless adversaries.

'HEY! No fair! We were doing so well, too! Why aren't you letting me use
your damn Shinsoki on Rando? Look at him, he's as helpless as a baby!'
Yusuke expressively protested.

'I believe we must be more subtle with our advances, or else we'll fall
right into the pale-faced demon's trap,' Kenshin responded.

'Trap? What trap? We got him where we want him, Kenshin! With your
Divine Speed backing me, I can easily plow my way through the demons and
the Spirit Guillotines. And once that's done, I can finish off Rando
before you can even say 'sitting duck'.'

'No. I can't let you, Yusuke-dono. This is for your own good. You must
believe me, it's a...'

"Dammit, Kenshin! Make yourself useful for once!" the ki-less Yusuke
couldn't help but exclaim, his temper finally reaching its limit.
"You're going to make me lose this fight!"

There was a lengthy pause, followed by the palpable feeling of regret in
the air. 'My pardons, Yusuke-dono. I'm sorry for...'

"And stop that already! Jeez. I don't need any of your pardons or
apologies. I need action! If you're not going to help me beat Rando,
then stay the hell out of my way! It's bad enough that this fight has
become a handicap match because of your moralistic bullshit and...
and..." Yusuke sputtered the last of his words. '...And your martyr-like
behavior.'

'If you won't let me apologize, then at the very least let me make it up
to you, Yusuke-dono,' Kenshin pleaded. 'Please, give me another chance.'

Yusuke gulped guiltily as he remembered his rather similar promise to
Kenshin. 'I can't let that wimpy samurai get hurt just because I myself
have gotten careless. Hell, I can feel his regret all over me. Dammit,
it ain't your fault; it's mine. Let me make it up to you, Kenshin,' he
had vowed.

Yusuke took a deep, relaxing breath and whispered to Kenshin, "Hey, I
never got to say thank you for saving Botan and Keiko's life. So
thanks." Sighing, he continued, "Look, I was so intent on finishing...
_winning_ this fight against Rando that, well, I acted like an asshole.
But you really have to stop apologizing to me, because I should be the
one to apologize."

'Yusuke-dono, you really don't have to...!'

"Let me finish," Yusuke cut Kenshin off, which was fast becoming a bad
habit of his. "Sorry about that, but please listen. I'm trying to
apologize here." He paused. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk and a dick
to you all this time. When we first met, we instantly clicked. But once
I got to know you, you did kind of irk me with your girly voice and your
holier-than-thou attitude. Well, let's not get into that right now.
What's important is that we should let bygones be bygones, right?"

Yusuke couldn't see it, but he felt the warmth and relief in Kenshin's
hidden smile. 'I'd like that.'

'So what's the plan? We obviously can't hide forever, and Rando's
probably half-healed by now. Also, what's going on with your own fight?
Genbu's not giving you a hard time, is he?' Yusuke inquired.

'Things could be better,' Kenshin admitted sheepishly. 'In any case,
we've both been tricked by our enemies. I've been trying so hard to
finish my opponent off as quickly as possible that you've suffered for
it, and vice-versa. That's their whole plan. Without daring to attack
us directly, they've invited us to destroy ourselves; the technique of
self-destruction is indeed a deviously simple but effective maneuver.'

Yusuke cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. 'Okay. Sure. Fine. So
what's the plan?' he reiterated. 'Don't beat around the bush so much.
You're starting to sound like Kurama.'

Kenshin briefly wondered about the many parallels he and this 'Kurama'
person shared before he carried on, stating, 'I believe it's about time
we forced our enemies to take a dose of their own medicine _and_ used
the Youtou Shinnoken's bond to our advantage. I beseech you to follow my
lead.'

Yusuke shrugged. 'Whatever you say, Kenshin. You're the boss.'


***


The feeling of loneliness was a weight that Kenshin carried like a
stone set upon his heart. He was no fool; he knew Kaoru Kamiya loved him
as much as he loved her, and he knew that she would love him still up
until his death; or up until hers. Perhaps even beyond that. 

The time that had passed from the day Kenshin bid his farewell to Kaoru
up to his present state of affairs were filled with his loneliness. But
he felt for quite a long time now that the word "loneliness" was not
enough to describe what he was feeling. Not quite enough. Not for what
he felt as the stream in his heart that flowed out of a well, the well
of loneliness. Loneliness in his spirit. Loneliness in his heart.
Loneliness in his mind.

Kaoru probably never understood why he left her, or why he died. There
were times when he himself didn't understand why he let things be.

"What comes, comes, what withers, withers, sunlight does not last all
day," Kenshin murmured to himself. He had a more important task at
hand.

"What was that, samurai? Are you talking to yourself? Have you finally
lost it after feeling the true power of my new and improved Bakuretsu-
Ganshou-Dan?" Genbu jeered.

"Hardly," Kenshin confessed, much to Genbu's chagrin. "Though you have
the potential to become a fairly decent warrior someday, you've wasted
it all through your own folly and insecurities. You're about as
dangerous as a toothless old tiger in a cage. It's about time you
discovered the truth about yourself."

The Shisejyu harrumphed. "You wimpy old ghost; you dare say such things
to me? You can barely even _scratch_ me, let alone defeat me. I already
have you on the defensive. One more blast of my Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan
and you, as well as Urameshi, will be history!" he declared  defiantly;
perhaps a bit too defiantly, as he seemed to say it more out of the need
to convince himself than to intimidate Kenshin. 

"That's right. I am a ghost. Right now, I'm just a ghost living in this
sword. Answer my passion; my sword," Kenshin proclaimed as he fell into
his formless stance. "In this battle, there can only be one winner; no
more, no less."

"Pretty words, but I have no use for them," Genbu snarled as he melded
his deadly tail into the rubble-strewn ground. "After all, poetry and
wit never did save anybody's life."

Predictably, Genbu swung his snaking ball-and-chain tail out of
Kenshin's line of sight, intending to strike his quarry down from
behind. But the blow never hit home.

Kenshin, reacting in kind to Genbu's treacherous strike, faded into
nonexistence, reappearing a quarter of a second later behind the holy
beast's back. 

"Ah. The famous speed I've heard so much about; the one that can cause
you to make afterimages of yourself. Both Rando and the Chojin hold you
in high regard because of it. But in a contest of speed, I won't be the
loser," Genbu asserted as he melded with the ground, appearing behind
Kenshin moments later.

"We have the same speed, but I am much stronger. With my whipping tail
and iron armor, I can make use of it the most!" Genbu boasted. "Well?
What do you think?"

"That's nothing to be proud of," Kenshin remarked in deadpan, dodging
yet another one of the Saint Beast's backhanded attacks with relative
ease. "Try harder, Genbu-dono."

As Genbu charged in blind rage, Kenshin flipped over the youkai, landing
several feet away from him. The swordsman then zigzagged to Genbu's side
and swung the Demon Sword at the ground. A devastating and earth-
shattering wave soon followed, destroying almost everything in its path. 

Well, almost everything. "Stop tickling me. Haven't you learned your
lesson yet?" Genbu mocked as he emerged from the thick clouds of dust,
virtually unscathed. He heedlessly charged with his ball-and-chain tail,
sliding through the debris-filled ground like it was made out of air.
"You've run out of options, samurai. Give up."

Kenshin again reacted in kind to Genbu's assault, acrobatically evading
all of the tortoise-like monster's advances with his inborn athletic
prowess. He executed several more Earth Dragon Flashes at random
intervals, directing each and every one of them at his adversary's
direction. Of course, this was all just an elaborate ruse.

Once the attack pattern had finally been established, Genbu quickly fell
for it hook, line, and sinker. All Kenshin needed to do was to bide his
time and pretend to wait for exploitable openings while attacking
sporadically. He was going to teach Genbu his long overdue lesson the
hard way. The stone golem's self-destruction had finally commenced.


***


'Let me get this straight: You want _me_ to punch right through the
floor every time you feel like doing that Earth Dragon Flash thingy of
yours? Are you kidding me? Do I look like an idiot to you?'

'Please, Yusuke-dono. I can't do this alone. As much as possible, we
need to be 'in sync' with each other to win both our battles,' Kenshin 
explicated, adding, 'Besides, I think your 'audience' seems to be more 
interested in stripping the flesh off your bones than laughing at you
for looking like an idiot.'

Yusuke blinked as he stared at the approaching demon horde in all their
guttural glory. 'Hmmm. Good point.' Using Kenshin's Divine Speed, he
easily evaded their unwanted advances. 'Well, what do you know? You do
have a sense of humor. To think, I had you pegged as the serious type--'

'On the count of three, Yusuke-dono,' Kenshin insisted as he carefully
matched his movements with his unwilling accomplice's.

'...And I was apparently right.' The sleek-haired teen grumbled 
incoherently. "Fine. Let's get this over with. One."

'Two.'

"Here goes nothing," Yusuke muttered, shouting, "THREE!" as he plunged
his fist right through the marble pavement. A consequent, bomb-like
explosion followed, blinding the nearest of his demonic nemeses with
dust and debris.

In the middle of the ensuing chaos, several of the Spirit Guillotines
collided with the blinded imps and each other, inadvertently taking
themselves out.

"Hey! Will you look at that? It actually worked," Yusuke said as he
admired his... and Kenshin's... handiwork. "This 'self-destruction'
technique of yours is the bomb. No pun intended."

Yusuke could just about sense Kenshin's sage nod. 'Just keep this up and
we'll be rid of both our problems in no time at all.'

'How could I've ever doubted you, Kenshin?' Yusuke stated with delight
as he gleefully hurtled himself towards the army of low-level imps,
enjoying himself for once.

So the trap had finally been set, and the mindless multitude of imps
and razors fell for it hook, line, and sinker. All Yusuke needed to do
was bide his time and pretend to flee for his life while attacking
evasively and intermittently. He was going to teach Rando his long
overdue lesson the hard, 'Himura Kenshin' way. The pale-faced demon's
self-destruction had finally commenced.


***


Inside his silken safe haven, Rando scowled.

'What's going on? Urameshi was supposed to attack me while I'm still
_helpless_ in my cocoon, but so far he hasn't. Why is that? This is
very uncharacteristic of him.'

Rando had already made his move in his and Yusuke's metaphoric chess
game, fully expecting his rival to fall for his subterfuge. Instead,
the half-demon opted to act very unpredictably, even for him. Granted,
the critically-injured demon now had an opportunity to rest his tired
and weary body, but still...

Rando telepathically contacted his designated pawn. 'Genbu, what's
happening? How is your fight with the guardian of the Demon Sword? Is
it going well?'

'R-Rando?!' Genbu exclaimed. 'I... W-Well, things couldn't be better!'
the holy beast stuttered, failing to reassure both himself and his
superior with his diffident words. 'I have the samurai on the run,
and--'

Rando's eyes narrowed. 'If things are truly going well, then Urameshi
Yusuke should be dead by now. However, the opposite is instead true, is
it not?'

'W-Well... Don't be so smug with me, Rando! The fact that Urameshi is
still alive is all _your_ fault, not mine. I've done my part. The
samurai can't hurt me, but I can hurt him. So what's taking _you_ so
long in killing _your_ prey? What's your excuse?'

'He will die, just as long as you don't bungle things up.' Had Rando
spoken the words, they would have been hissed through gnashed and grit
teeth, his aching lungs be damned. 'At any rate, I want you to take your
battle with the swordsman up a notch.'

'What? Didn't you hear what I just said? I already have him on the run!'

'Of course I heard it. I just don't believe a word of it. You're too
much of a buffoon to realize that the samurai has you eating in the palm
of his hand. This isn't open to debate. Use everything you've got on
him, or else.'

'A-And what about Urameshi? You're not going to lounge around while I do
all the hard work, are you? I won't fight two battles at once for you!
We had a deal!' Genbu whined and sputtered pathetically.

Rando snorted in disdain as he rolled his eyes, fully remembering
Genbu's alleged vow although Genbu himself seemed to have already
forgotten. 

"No, Rando. You can have the others, but Urameshi is mine," Genbu had
boasted, as if he stood a chance against the mazoku descendant.

But they were just words. Genbu could never be anything more than a
pawn, Rando surmised to himself. Weak but proud demons like the stone
golem disgusted him to no end. What the Chojin said was true. The weak
truly were mere fodder for the strong; nothing more.

To the Shisejyu, Rando guaranteed, 'Of course not, my stony friend. I've
taken care of everything. All you have to do is kill the samurai by all
means necessary.' 

'Then consider it done,' Genbu asserted proudly.


***


"BAKURETSU-GANSHOU-DAN!" Genbu suddenly roared, catching Kenshin's
attention but not necessarily surprising him. Instantaneously, all of
the rubble and debris from the swordsman's successive Dou Ryu Sen
assaults  disintegrated into a maelstrom of dust, creating a veritable 
sandstorm wave headed towards him.

Kenshin typically evaded the earthen tsunami and the expected follow-up
strikes from Genbu's tail before either one could do real damage to him.
What he didn't expect were the stalactite-like formations that abruptly
appeared in the middle of the dusty sky.

"Ushiro-Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan: TETSUZAN KOU!" Genbu chanted in one
breath, even though he literally had rocks-for-teeth in his mouth.
Kenshin shook his head clear of the Yusuke-like digression as he
desperately steered clear of the pseudo-stalactites that fell from the
filthy, polluted heavens.

'This is going to be a bit difficult. Unlike the Spirit Guillotines and
demonic imps that Yusuke-dono's facing, Genbu-dono's attacks don't have
ki-signatures. After all, rocks and rubble don't have any aura in them;
they're non-living things!'

"Chou-Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan: GENBU NO HOKO!" Genbu shouted as he
completed his deadly combo.

Just as Kenshin hastily weaved through the torrent of pointed rocks, the
ground underneath his feet buckled, spewing out hundreds of faux
stalagmites that flew wildly through the air as though they were trapped
in a hurricane. The sheer number of converging fake stalactites and
stalagmites was impossible to avoid. The numerous rocks impacted against
Kenshin repeatedly, feeling nearly as painful as the flogging Genbu gave
him earlier in the bout.

In the face of his ungodly speed and reflexes, Kenshin suffered at least
two dozen blows before being laid low. The storm abated just as he hit
the ground, fragments of rock littering the length of what was once a
pristine shrine foyer. At that point, the only identifiable proof left
of the vestibule's previous identity was its rickety Tori Gate.

Kenshin struggled to keep his looming exhaustion at bay. He was in deep
pain, but he gave it no mind. He had to soldier on; how else could he
show Kaoru--and himself--the true power of the will to live? Even
though it wasn't his life--or rather, because it wasn't his life--he
must survive at all costs.


***


"Ouch. That hurt." 

Yusuke thanked his lucky stars for stumbling near one of the dojo's
nearby walls, away from all his present dilemmas. He blinked. "Kenshin!
Are you all right? What happened to you? It feels like a house fell down
on me!"

'Sorry, Yusuke-dono. I slipped up. We've gotten out of sync. Genbu-dono
has pulled out all the stops, and I wasn't able to anticipate his moves.
Our synchronization is affected by pain, it seems. From now on, we need
to concentrate harder to keep our link harmonized.'

Had Yusuke possessed the strength to rise up, exit the dojo, find
Kenshin, and punch him on the nose, he would have done so. He instead
chose to simply tell the redhead off.

'Hey, Kenshin! Stop fooling around!' Yusuke admonished, putting as much
crossness and righteous indignation in his telepathic voice as possible.
'If you had bungled up while I'm in the middle of dodging several dozen
demon and spirit blade attacks, then we'd both be in big--'

'Get up, Yusuke-dono. We don't have time for arguments. We should
concentrate on the plan instead.'

"Huh? Hey, I'm not yet done telling you off! Screw the plan, I...!"

'No matter what happens, we stick to the plan. Even if it's you who made
a mistake, we stick to the plan. Even if we both mess up at the same
time, we stick to the plan. Even if either one of us botches a dodge, a
jump, an attack, or whatnot, we simply get up, dust ourselves off, and
stick to the plan. Understand?'

Yusuke, surprised by the disarming earnestness of his usually polite and
fretful companion, nodded in acquiescence. He proceeded to do just what
the vagabond spirit instructed him to do: Stick to the plan.


***


It wasn't time for apologies or excuses; it was time for action.

Kenshin leapt into the air, drawing his sword back in order to parry
Genbu's tail with a vicious chop, when he sensed an attack. He twisted
his body into a ball and used one of the more difficult techniques of
the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to change his path in midair. It was more a case
of feeling rather than seeing the weighty steel fists flash past him,
creating two gigantic craters on the ground with their metal knuckles.

Landing acrobatically on his feet, Kenshin tried to locate the origin of
the attack. From the look of anger on Genbu's face, he reckoned that the
youkai was ready to use more attacks on him. 

'Genbu-dono's now using his whole arsenal of techniques. Just as I've
planned; so far, so good.'

With a surprising burst of speed, Kenshin lunged for Genbu. The monster
was barely able to deflect the first couple of attacks aimed at his
head. The vagabond's speed seemed to double for a moment before he
landed a blow to his adversary's side. Genbu winced in either
frustration, irritation, or concealed pain. 

A couple of moments ago, Kenshin sacrificed trying to counterattack
Genbu in favor of gauging the prowess of his foe. He went completely
defensive, trying to get an accurate feel of what the Shisejyu was
capable of doing while lobbing endless amounts of ineffectual Dragon
Earth Flashes towards his quarry. Retreating into a defensive shell, he
accepted that the fight would end a lot quicker if he demonstrated some 
patience. He wasn't as hot-tempered as Yusuke, after all. 

Parry. Thrust. Dodge. Jump. Dou Ryu Sen. '...Rinse. Repeat,' Kenshin 
thought half-jokingly to himself as he followed his pattern of attack
methodically. For the most part, he was merely reacting to all of
Genbu's aggressive maneuvers.

Even though Kenshin was fairly sure that Genbu would sooner or later
recognize the method to his seeming madness, he still went on with his
plan. However, he didn't do it out of desperation or pride. The ghost
surveyed his surroundings. 'Just a little bit more.'


***


Parry. Block. Dodge. Jump. Punch the floor into powder while the demons
and razors destroyed themselves in the ensuing chaos. '...Rinse.
Repeat,' Yusuke thought to himself in vexation as he followed Kenshin's
pattern of attack the best he could. For the most part, he was simply
reacting to all his undead and energy-based enemies' forceful assaults.

Yusuke had smashed through the floor so many times that it now resembled
the surface of the moon. ''Stick to the plan,' he says. Fuck, what plan?
Plan Nine from Outer Space? There is _no_ plan here!'

Doing his best to keep in sync with Kenshin's movements even though he
had his own 'personal' demons to handle, Yusuke was just about convinced
that the swordsman's solitary confinement for about half a century ago
had driven him absolutely insane. 'I'm wasting my time here!'  

It was at that moment that a gigantic demon screeched, gaining Yusuke's
attention. He mentally chided himself for forgetting about his numerous
opponents, even for a moment. He looked up to see that the number of
demons and Spirit Guillotines had decreased ever since he started
following Kenshin's so-called strategy. 'Huh. Will you look at that?
It's working.'

The momentary distraction cost Yusuke as a bright blur came from the
darkness at his left. His reflexes were such that he probably could have
warded off the attack, but the frightful feeling of miasma he felt
earlier came back to haunt him, freezing him into place.

He never felt such power since he fought Yakumo, the God of Meikai. The
feeling left him with a terrible sense of apprehension and foreboding.


***


Rando knew from the start that he couldn't depend on Genbu to finish the
job. 

Judging from Genbu's half-hearted lip service about taking care of
Urameshi up to his unwillingness to sacrifice himself like the good pawn
that he was, Rando concluded that the Shisejyu was useless to him. 

The demon with the crimson mane grunted. He finally understood what the
Chojin meant when he said, "If you want something done, do it yourself."

'INNER BLOOD TURMOIL!'

He summoned all his remaining blood-ki unto himself, feeling its power
sear into his flesh until his blood boiled; it enabled him to gather the 
remainder of reiki that he absorbed from Yusuke via the Blood Wind.

'IBUKI!'

Rando fell into the Iron Horse stance, his rather stretchable cocoon
swathe fully accommodating his posture. Slowly but surely, he summoned
up enough chakra to make up for his lack of blood-ki. The chakra and the
transmogrified reiki coalesced with his youki to form a veritable
hodgepodge of jaki. 

"JIGEN TOU!" Rando let out a muffled yet determined shriek, cutting
through the silken cocoon--with threads that had the tensile strength of
one-hundred and twenty pounds per square millimeter of cross section--
like it was made out of thin air. 


***


To be Continued...

Next: A battle against wretchedness.

The parts where Kenshin was reminiscing and the Genbu self-
destruction technique were quoted or paraphrased directly from
the manga, particularly during the Kyoto and Jinchu Arc. 

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is
the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. This
disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that
are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very
poor.

Ja!
Abdiel



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