[FFML] [yyh][ry][rewrite] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 7: Over the Horizon (Part 1)

[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 true meaning of 'Aku Soku Zan' will finally be revealed. It's more
than a just mere philosophy.

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Chapter 7: Over the Horizon (Part 1)
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With a burst of speed that belied its mass, the dragon avoided Fujita's
thrust. Its claws dug deep into the ground, causing clouds of dust to
form.

'Quick, but it seems he has forgotten the side attack,' Fujita
assessed as he flipped his blade and slashed sideways. To his chagrin,
because of the fierce stream of air that now shielded the serpentine
creature, his offensive merely scratched the dragon's tough hide.

The Shisejyu Seiryu smirked. "After executing the thrust _and_ the side
attack, you're now wide open, Saito Hajime."

The dragon Seiryu overturned an entire plot of land, unceremoniously
flinging it, along with a slightly irritated Goro Fujita, into the air.
The patch of earth consequently crumbled against the dragon's coiling
body.

With his feet off the ground, the police officer could do nothing but
helplessly float in the tornado-like vacuum the dragon had created with
its spiraling movements.

"Aku Soku Zan indeed! All you have are words. I now have the upper hand
in this fight." Seiryu smirked smugly. "Watch your body get ripped apart
by the might of my Fu no Senrei."

'Dammit, Fujita's in trouble!' Kuwabara reflected as he shivered in
frosty agony. 'Without the ground to stabilize his footing, he can't do
any of his fancy strikes!'

Seiryu the God of Dragons soon reared its ugly head at the center of the
spiral. Afterwards, it headed towards the airborne policeman, its sharp
claws ready to tear into shreds anything that passes through them.

"Really now? How presumptuous of you." With that said, Fujita readied
his sword into Hiratsuki stance again.

"Fool. You have no leverage for attack. Die," Seiryu stated.

As the dragon coiled around Fujita, the policeman nimbly stabbed at the
gigantic monster's back. The embedded sword soon allowed him to set foot
on the creature's snake-like body.

He now had all the leverage he needed.

In annoyance, the God of Dragons twisted over its back and charged at
the upstart Miburo with the intention of impaling him with one of its
claws.

Fujita smirked. "Here's where my attack begins." His Hiratsuki stance
swiftly changed into a different stance: with his right leg forward,
sword held in the left hand parallel to the body, right hand held in
front along the blade.

Seiryu winced. 'Could it be...?'

"GATOTSU ISHIKI!" the Wolf of Mibu roared mightily as he charged and
gauged out the dragon's left eye.

"GRAAAAAGGHHH!!!" the Shisejyu Seiryu howled as his own left eye
streamed with tears of blue blood. His alternate self mimicked his
panicked cry perfectly.

Fujita shifted to his Hiratsuki stance again as he sadistically added
more injury to injury by letting out a flurry of stabs at the dragon's
already wounded eye.

An inaudible mental click resounded in Genkai's psyche. 'This Saito
person is fighting the Fu no Senrei with the Hiratsuki not because he's
holding back. The Gatotsu is an offshoot of the Hiratsuki, such that he
could combine his Gatotsu attacks with the Hiratsuki with no trouble at
all.'

The dragon's panicked shrieks of suffering echoed across the valley. It 
violently shook its head in an attempt to get rid of the psychotic
policeman.

'In real combat, it's extremely rare to meet the same enemy twice. When
it does happen, if there is one technique that can bring him down, all
others become useless. To polish one's own specialized techniques until
they become certain death; this is his true strength,' Genkai assessed.

"What's the matter? Can't fight anymore?" Fujita taunted as he
extricated his sword from the dragon's eye and slid off from the
dragon's body. He landed nimbly on the ground while quickly avoiding the
Fu no Senrei beast's whipping tail. "Come on. I have only used the most
basic of the Gatotsu's maneuvers. Giving up already?"

Seiryu's face morphed into that of a hateful demon ogre, his fangs grit
and gnashing in pure, unadulterated anger. Keiko soon became paler than
before as he again siphoned energy from her pain and suffering. Genkai
and Kuwabara immediately charged towards Seiryu, but judging from their
awkward positions, it seemed that only Fujita was within striking
distance.

Through a hiss that did not bother to hide the fact that he was enraged,
the Shisejyu declared, "Fu no Senrei."

"Again? Don't you know any other attacks?" Fujita snidely remarked.
Afterwards, he readied himself. This time he didn't bothering going into
Hiratsuki stance, preferring to shift to his Gatotsu stance immediately.
It was as if he instinctively felt his previous tricks would not assist
him this time.

'This air of tension I feel--' Genkai began, not able to finish her
sentence in time as the fight abruptly started before she even realized
it. 
The titanic Dragon of the Trial of Negation blasted through the air
with speeds that defied the laws of physics. Rising above the edicts of
the physical world, it charged inexorably at Fujita like a blue streak
of greased lightning.

"Fujita..." Kuwabara whispered in uncertainty.

Fujita's eyes widened for a split second as a flash of superimposed
afterimages burned into his eyes like a colorful, flowery explosion of
light.

"GATOTSU NISHIKI!" Fujita roared as he struck forward with the second
form of his Gatotsu a split second later, its wider range of attack
enabling him to deflect the dragon's powerful charge. His blade crashed
hard against the dragon's underbelly as he diverted its path away from
his person. The dragon rose up into the stormy skies.

Suddenly, a vortex of air appeared and arrested all of Fujita's
movements. The irresistible maelstrom pulled him towards the dragon's
waiting claws. Sure enough, the creature of the Fu no Senrei promptly
made a u-turn towards its hapless prey.

'This is...' Fujita started as he struggled against what seemed to be
an intense hurricane. 'This is... The Dragon that Soars the Heavens. In
other words, Seiryu's Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. It has everything; the
quick, unstoppable charge of the first strike, then the air void of the
second strike. But of course, nothing less than an actual dragon can
execute a similar technique. No one can escape the furious winds
produced by a dragon's brilliant ascent into the heavens.'

With his footing uneven and the God of Dragon's Seiryu inching closer
and closer, Fujita had a very little window of opportunity to strike.

'But while the dragon's advantage lies in the heavens, the wolf's
advantage lies on the earth,' Fujita contemplated as he crouched low,
avoiding the intense vacuum and regaining his balance and leverage.

Dragon and wolf were again face-to-face.

'The claws and teeth of the dragon that soars the heavens can't reach a
wolf gone to earth.'

"GATOTSU SANSHIKI!"

The Sacred Beast Seiryu's mouth formed into an 'o' as a fountain of
blood exploded through his split skull. "H-H-how... did... you... Saito
H-Hajime...?"

"That Saito; he used the eye of the whirling vacuum to propel his upward
strike into the dragon's skull!" Genkai said, impressed. "His attack
stance was sunk down low. By maintaining that stance, using the ground's
recoil to the impact of air generated by the dragon's first strike, he
had a chance of withstanding the vacuum. The vacuum can't work on what's
not above it, after all. Then, by using the power of the void to aim,
and half-turning to meet the turning second attack, his attack struck
home. He's good. He figured out how to counter the dragon's attack at a
glance."

"Humph. I haven't really 'figured it out at a glance,' as you've stated.
I merely compared it to a similar technique I've already seen," Fujita
explained after overhearing Genkai's statements. "So far, it seems that
the bastard's technique is nothing more than an inferior copy of the one
I saw. It only goes to show that a technique can only be as good as its
user, no matter how powerful it is."

Finally recovering from his dumbstruck state, Kuwabara demanded, "What
the hell are you two talking about?!" just as he made his way to the
decimated combat zone.

"Something far beyond the grasp of your intellect," Fujita answered.

"HEY! Saito, Fujita or whoever you are! You just shut up, you crazy
cop!" Kuwabara rejoined.

"I agree with the policeman," Genkai grinningly joked.

"Aw, man! Not you too, granny!" the red-haired boy whined.

"Never mind that! We've got to find a way to reverse Keiko's condition!"

"I told you to stop celebrating each and every minor victory. Celebrate
only after you're completely sure you've killed me."

The last statement got everybody's attention. It came from Seiryu.

"Being so presumptuous is the reason why the Chojin defeated you in
the first place, Miburo," Seiryu said through gasping breaths. "Are you
going to make the same mistake a century later?"

"Be my guest," Seiryu dared, unfazed.

"Wish granted." With one fell swoop, the policeman extricated his
sword from the God of Dragons Seiryu's head while completely cleaving
its thick skull in half. The following shower of blue blood completely
covered the errant law enforcement officer.

Fujita afterwards felt his body go frigid.

The Shisejyu Seiryu smirked despite his bloodied state. "In real
battle, there are no rules. Everything can be used as a weapon. There
are people who are described to have 'ice' in their veins instead of
blood. Well, my dragon incarnate literally has 'ice' in its veins, only
colder still. The azure blood of the dragon is colder than even the
coldest of ice. It will spread in your body until you become a brittle
mass of frozen flesh, blood, and bones."

"Not. While. I. Can. Still. Move," Fujita disjointedly but clearly
stated as he struggled against the frigidness of his body.

"No. It ends here." Seiryu unceremoniously shoved his hand into his
skull, which opened up his and the God of Dragon's head wound some more. 
Consequently, a deluge of blue from the dragon Seiryu's split cranium
rained upon Fujita, caking him with hardening, quicksilver-like blood.
Soon, nothing was left of the officer except for a person-shaped mound
of sapphire.

"Saito Hajime-san!" Genkai shouted in absolute shock.

"Officer Fujita!" echoed Kuwabara in disbelief.

Seiryu clutched his head in agony as he experienced the headache to end
all headaches. Genkai could only give him a wary look as he slowly came
to.

'He's supposed to be dead at this point. On the other hand, he should
have been dead from the start, since he had been killed by Yusuke and
the others. Negative energy is what's keeping him alive.' Genkai
narrowed her eyes. She knew where Seiryu was getting generous amounts of
jaki.

Sure enough, the Blue Dragon Sacred Beast yet again siphoned even more
jaki from Keiko in an attempt to heal his wounds. 'That stupid ghost
gave me a hell of a time. Had he been revived by the Reikai with reiki
in the same manner we Shisejyu have been revived with jaki? Oh well, it
doesn't matter at this point. However...'

Soon, though the young girl's face was still doll-like and apathetic,
her left eye bled crimson tears.

"It seems that my new avatar won't last any longer. Damn that Saito and
his Gatotsu!" Seiryu cursed with a scowl.

"It's trash like you who should be damned, Seiryu! Let Keiko-chan GO!"
Kuwabara proclaimed as he rolled up his tattered sleeves. "I was able to
give Rando a sound beating. I don't see why you should be any different!
COME ON! COME AND GET IT!"

Ignoring the boisterous youth before him, Seiryu's eyebrows furrowed.
"The old hag is gone." In the blink of an eye, he quickly blocked
Genkai's attempt at recapturing Keiko.

"Hag. It's over. You've lost. Not even the great Saito Hajime could help
you," Seiryu expounded as he held Genkai's fist at bay with a clawed
hand. "Let me guess. You have no intention of letting me use up the
girl's life essence and you won't dare let me prolong her suffering in
my hands. More or less, is that what you're going to say, my self-
righteous opponent?"

"You yourself already know your sin, yet you go about it like it doesn't
matter," Genkai nearly spat. "You disgust me. HYAKU RETSU-KEN!"

Seiryu spotted and blocked each and every one of Genkai's quick strikes,
but he had to relinquish his hold of the aged martial artist to do so.
Taking advantage of this, Genkai finished her Hundred Punch Rush with a
fierce blow that flung her away from the Blue Dragon Saint Demon. She
immediately reversed her momentum as she thrust her right leg forward
and shouted, "HIRYU KYAKU!"

Seiryu blocked the blow with his knee as he impaled the old woman's
stomach with his extended claws. He reproved, "I've already seen those
moves of yours while you fought Byakko. They're now next to--"

"SUPINE KICK KOUGEKI!" Genkai shouted as she flipped over and struck
Seiryu's left side where his gauged eye created a blind spot.

The hidden attack sent the Shisejyu sailing up into the gray skies
in surprise. "Fu no Senrei," he summoned in annoyance while he remained
airborne, only to boggle in astonishment as he saw a much younger Genkai
charge up an energy-brimmed Rei-Gan.

"Your Fu no Senrei won't make it in time. I'll finish you off right
here and now, for Keiko's sake," the teenaged Genkai announced as she
practically poured her heart and soul into that one blast.

"REI--!"

An inhuman roar was the last thing Genkai heard before she got smacked
away by a maddened, mindless, and beast-like Byakko.

Seiryu could only chuckle as his dragon self finally merged with his
sacred beast self. "My old comrade! It's good to see that even a whipped
dog like yourself could be of some use after all."

The Blue Dragon Shisejyu barely had time to block as a blast of pure
energy exploded right in his face. He crashed hard on the ground a while
later.

Byakko snarled as his jaws burned with energy he stole from Genkai's
half-charged Spirit Ball. He repeated his intense onslaught, shouting,
"MEI-KO-SHOU-KAI-HA!" over and over as he mercilessly bombarded Seiryu
with energy balls.

But Seiryu wasn't Byakko's only quarry.

Genkai herself nearly got pounded with repeated blasts of jaki from
the maddened White Tiger Shisejyu. Not even Kuwabara was spared from
Byakko's attacks. He attacked everything that moved, everything that
breathed. He needed neither logic nor reason to do so.

"Watch out, granny! Byakko's gone berserk!" Kuwabara screamed at Genkai
in panic as he hobbled away from one of Byakko's gratuitous barrage of
wild strikes, his blue uniform bloodied and tattered.

"Kuwabara! Get away from him, Byakko! REI-KOU--!"

Frustration. Anger. Hatred. Violence. Retribution. Vengeance. Those
were the only things that mattered to the fierce, bestial creature as of
now. While he had those emotions inside of him, neither Heaven nor Hell
could stop him. He was a destructive, mindless behemoth that would go to
great lengths just to sate the hate burning inside of him.

"Byakko! What has happened to you?" Genkai shrieked, biting her lip as
her feline opponent's claws dug deep into her calf. She was callously
flung around like a rag doll as Byakko started to literally maul her.

Byakko looked at his bloodied claws in awe, overwhelmed by the power
behind them. With just a few strikes he could literally kill all of
them: the old woman, the human boy who defeated him, even Seiryu
himself. The destructive viciousness that besieged the beast-like youkai
desensitized him of all anguish; of everything. Nothing else concerned
him save for the irresistible urge to kill he had.

"Genkai-baasan! LET GO OF HER, BASTARD!" Kuwabara ineffectually grappled
with the White Tiger Shisejyu from behind, silently cursing his lack of 
spiritual energy due to his fight with Rando.

Seiryu could only cackle in glee as he struggled to get up from the
thrashing his fellow Sacred Beast gave him. "You really are pathetic,
Byakko. The only way you could gain a decent amount of jaki is to
surrender to it fully, body and soul. Yes, you've now become a veritable
killing machine, but all you have now is killer instinct, nothing more!
Go ahead and kill the old hag. Afterwards, I'll kill you again, just
like before!"

'Seiryu was the one who originally murdered Byakko?' Genkai thought
through the haze of her mind as she struggled to protect herself from
Byakko's violent offensive. 'Then that means...!'

"YOU MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD! Stop picking on little old ladies and face
ME!" Kuwabara finally hollered as he clawed at Byakko's eyes and burnt
face. The youkai yowled in pain as he threw the tall, teenage boy at the
barely conscious Genkai.

"Seiryu's right. You really have become pathetic," Kuwabara silently
muttered as he crawled over Genkai's prone form in an attempt to shield
her with his body. 'You couldn't even think for yourself. It doesn't
matter that you have all this killer instinct or berserker strength.
You're not the Byakko that I fought with all those years ago.' He faced
the berserk Byakko with disgust in his eyes. "I know you can't
understand a word I'm saying, but... you're no fighter. You're just
another mindless, out-of-control youkai."

'Kuwabara...' Genkai thought, looking over the young man's shoulder just
as Byakko prepared his lethal strike.

The strike never came. Instead, Byakko instantaneously pounced on Seiryu
again.

"W-Why the hell did he do that?" Kuwabara managed to squeak out
confusedly.

"You caught me by surprise the first time, Byakko," Seiryu growled as he
evaded the one-armed White Tiger's whirling strikes. He caught Byakko's 
remaining arm and broke it in one swift movement. "But not this time; I
won't be killed by a mindless beast."

'I don't understand. Did Byakko opt to attack Seiryu instead of Kuwabara
because the boy had no reiki left in him?' Genkai arduously pondered.
'I'm inclined to believe that, but the look in Byakko's eyes just now--'

Seiryu chuckled as Byakko howled like a mad dog. "And you call yourself
a Shisejyu? Pitiful. You should see yourself now. You're even worse than
a Class-D creature. You're more pathetic than you were after your defeat
by hands of that stripling of a human. You are a mockery of what we
Shisejyu stand for. The only thing you truly deserve is death."

Byakko rejoined Seiryu's comment by literally biting off the Blue
Dragon's forearm. The cold, blue dragon blood consequently gave the
White Tiger Holy Beast lockjaw while Seiryu himself shrieked in agony.
The Blue Dragon Shisejyu tore his fellow Sacred Beast's arm off in
retaliation.

For the second time that day, an inaudible mental click resounded in
Genkai's psyche. 'Byakko's jaki! It stems from...!'

Seiryu gasped for air as he strained to absorb even more negative
energy from his newly selected avatar. It was the only way he could
survive his present injuries. 'Little streams of jaki won't be enough
this time. I have to regenerate my arm and replenish my strength, even
at the cost of a powerful source of jaki!'

However, the strain was too much for Keiko to take. She screamed in
pure agony and pain as her mask of apathy cracked and shattered under
Seiryu's desperation.

"KEIKO-CHAN! Seiryu, you...!" Kuwabara hollered as he struggled to rise.
He fell down moments later as he himself experienced pure agony and
pain; the result of Rando and Byakko's assaults on his person. "Damn it
all to hell!"

Byakko felt it; jaki. The young human girl's beleaguered body was
producing huge amounts of negative energy. The Holy Beast was soon drawn
to the tormented girl the way sharks were drawn to the smell of blood.
He had found his new target.

"MY AVATAR! Don't you dare--" Seiryu started as he pounced at Byakko,
only to get blasted away by unexpected Mei-Ko-Shou-Kai-Ha.

One claw strike was all it took to end Keiko's suffering.

But it wasn't meant to be.

'Genkai-baasan?!'

"Old hag."

"WAKE UP, BYAKKO! Wake up and understand the root of your suffering!
IT'S REVENGE AGAINST SEIRYU THAT YOU WANT, NOT BLOODLUST! REI HANDOU!"

Genkai used up all of her remaining power on that one powerful strike.
Curiously enough, it did not finish off the armless beast as the spark
of intelligence finally glinted in his eyes. Byakko fainted soon
afterwards.

'Rei Handou; I've heard of that move before...' Kuwabara reflected
pensively. 'Wait! Of course! That's the strike granny used on the
Ichigaki Team during the Black Martial Arts Tournament! But wasn't it
used to get rid off Ichigaki's mind control thingies? Does that mean--'

"The Rei Handou is a technique used to even out imbalanced ki-flow. The
Chojin created a disparity in Byakko's ki, which made him go berserk
every time he made use of jaki. I used the Rei Handou to relieve him of
that impediment to his own judgment and reasoning," Genkai explained.

"Bravo. You figured it all out. I'd clap to applaud you, but I'm a bit 
handicapped right now," Seiryu derided. "The Chojin didn't want to
waste Byakko's 'potential,' so that's why he opted to drive him mad with
power instead. Though I personally would have preferred it if he hadn't
revived the whipped dog in the first place. As you can see, he's more
trouble than he's worth."

"You seem very complacent about it, despite the fact that you've already
spent a lot of your strength," Genkai barked as she fell into her
characteristic battle stance.

Seiryu sneered. "You act as if you're still a threat to me."

Keiko was shivering in pain, as if she had a severe fever. In turn,
Seiryu's severed arm restored itself as more and more negative energy
filled his body.

"You motherfucking bastard," Kuwabara seethed through grit teeth while
Genkai remained silent.

Seiryu addressed Genkai once more, avowing, "You're so utterly
predictable; saving Byakko and the girl with one fell swoop. How very
typical, yet impressive. However," Seiryu motioned with his remaining
hand as it brimmed with negative energy, "you have now completely
depleted all your reserves of spiritual power. And, seeing his current
state, that young boy beside you won't be much of help either. You have
now left yourselves completely at my mercy. Your melodramatic sympathies
have just cost you your lives."

A flicker of emotion was seen through Genkai's shimmering eyes as she
mournfully took one last look at Keiko Yukimura. 'I'm so sorry, Keiko.
I'm sorry that I wasn't able to save you.'

Seiryu continued, stating, "Oh, by the way, thank you for sparing my
source of power's life _and_ getting rid of the bane of my existence all
at the same time. As a show of my appreciation, allow me to give you and
your companion a glorious death. Feel the full consequences of your
foolishness."

Again, the deluge of icy rain came as Seiryu released the God of Dragons
from his body. It leaped up and hung in the air, light reflecting off
each shimmering scale as it howled a shrill cry evocative of the
terrifying shrieks of the blameless.

"Kyomei Jisatsu Jin--Fu no Senrei."

With an eardrum-shattering scream, the snake-like creature ascended
further into the dark skies until it was hovering high above the
powerless Kuwabara and Genkai. After that, it quickly descended,
rumbling down onto the luckless duo like an unstoppable avalanche of ice
and snow drawn from the very depths of the Demon World, in the Land of
the Koorime.

But it had been said, "What goes around, comes around."

"BOUKO HYOUGA!" Byakko managed to call out despite his stiffened jaw.
His body quickly grew and hardened as his muscles hypertrophied in the
same manner his Kaiwan had.

The Fu no Senrei pounded hard against Byakko's rock-hard, armless body,
yet he would not give an inch to the relentless assault. Genkai and
Kuwabara could only stare in shock and awe at the spectacle before them.

"You traitor. So it seems that you've shown your true colors. You don't
even know where your loyalty lies," Seiryu derided in revulsion. "I
never thought that you could stoop any lower than you could, but again
you proved me wrong. Die with those pathetic humans."

Byakko laughed maniacally as he stared at Seiryu through eyes of lunacy.

'I hate you.'

He could not scream the words at that point, but the technique he did
was unmistakably the Mei-Ko-Shou-Kai-Ha. The concentrated blast of
destructive force tore through the body of the serpentine dragon,
continuing on with minimal loss of velocity as it headed straight for
Seiryu.

'I've hated you from the time you've killed me in the Maze Castle to the
time we've spent together in Hell.'

Frustration. Anger. Hatred. Violence. Retribution. Vengeance. All those
emotions were released in that one, all-or-nothing blast.

'I've hated you since the Chojin revived all of us from damnation in
exchange of our loyalty and freedom. I've hated you as Suzako became one
of the Chojin's elite. I've hated you as Suzako trained us to become
stronger by means of ruthless torture.'

The subsequent explosion that impacted upon Seiryu's person was beyond
words.

'I've hated you even after the Chojin made me go mad with power just to
prevent me from murdering you.'

If at that point Seiryu gained the ability to turn his own suffering
into negative energy, he would have had enough power to rival that of
the Chojin's.

'I hate you so much that I would kill you and then revive you repeatedly
just to kill you again and again.'

Byakko cackled one last time before his own body shattered into cold,
brittle pieces.

A period of dense tension passed Genkai and Kuwabara in a leisurely
pace.

"I-It's good that that those two monsters have finished each other off,
eh?" Kuwabara asked hesitantly, just to break the ice.

"But who really is the monster?" Genkai mused as she finally recovered
from the energy-draining Rei Handou technique.

"What are you saying, Genkai-baasan?"

"Nothing," Genkai replied, sighing. Next, she added, "Kuwabara, you
weren't able to finish Byakko off when you fought with him, right?"

"So what of it?"

"I wasn't insulting your abilities. Seiryu was the one who killed
him, wasn't he?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess he did."

"That settles it. Everything that happened was meant to happen."

"Um, okay," Kuwabara said, nodding absently. He admittedly didn't
understand the gravity of Genkai's words, but that didn't matter to him
much. "Well, at least now that those two are dead, Keiko's safe, right?"

Genkai narrowed her eyes as she grit her teeth. "Wrong."

"Wrong? What do you...?" Kuwabara confusedly asked. He got his
answer moments later.

It began to rain.

"Be careful, Kuwabara! That rain, it is no ordinary rain! It's...!"

The warning came too late as Kuwabara literally froze in his tracks
like a statue. Genkai tried desperately to outrun the hazardous shower,
but soon Death's icy grip took hold of her as well. Each droplet burned
through her skin as they spread across her body like poison.

It was a bloody rain; the bloody rain of Seiryu's own blood.

The Shisejyu Seiryu rose from the rubble as an icy flood spread across
the ravaged lands. A quarter of his face and parts of his body were
missing, but he was for the most part alive. His next words were simple
and uncomplicated.

"I've won."

He looked ahead and saw that his avatar, though lifeless as a
marionette, was still intact. That was wonderful, since a good avatar is
hard to find. His God of Dragons counterpart floated above her in the
sky, shrieking in victorious delight as it let its blood flood the
mountainside.

"So after everything that had happened--after going through the Miburo,
Byakko, and even Genkai, I am still the one who emerged victorious. As
Saito Hajime is the 'immortal' one of the Shinsengumi, I am the immortal
one of the Shisejyu. And I am even better than Saito Hajime, because I
am still alive and he is now dead. I am the one who killed the immortal
wolf."

"Indeed, Saito Hajime is dead. But I am not Saito Hajime," said a
slightly muffled yet menacing voice.

Seiryu nearly jumped up in surprise after hearing the disembodied
declaration. The Blue Dragon Shisejyu swung his head wildly in all
directions as he desperately tried to find out where the voice came
from. He quickly spotted from behind him a person-shaped mound of his
hardened, coagulated blood. The Saint Demon laughed in relief as he
regained his cool demeanor.

"I thought I've finished you off. No matter. I'll let you feel the
might of my Fu no Senrei for one last time."

"You won't even get the chance to do that."

"Indeed? Prove me wrong, then. Fu no Senrei."

As the Holy Beast said the words, the misty yet unmistakable form of a
giant wolf appeared, its shining eyes glowing in the gathering darkness.
It pounced on the approaching God of Dragons, ravaging Seiryu's
draconic counterpart in the same way Byakko had with Genkai and Kuwabara
a few moments earlier.

A muffled chortle was heard amidst the chaos.

Seiryu growled at the frigid Miburo as more of his cerulean blood was
spilled on the ground. "Seeing your pathetic state, even if my Fu no
Senrei can't finish you off, I still can. Die." The Holy Beast punched
through the unmoving police officer's chest area with no trouble at all.

"You've just sealed your fate," Fujita stated as he began crushing
and breaking through the blue ice that caked his body. Soon, even at
close range, the policeman was able to aim his long katana a hairbreadth
away from Seiryu's neck.

"W-WHAT?!?" Seiryu exclaimed as he tried to back away from the
deadly weapon, but his bleeding legs failed him. His whole body failed
him. His own icy blood, ironically enough, had frozen him as well. "Who
the hell are you? What the hell are you? A ghost? A spirit? A monster?!"

"Saito Hajime is just a person who lived during a bygone era. Fujita
Goro is just a name. I am neither just a person nor a name. I am beyond
that."

"Y-You're crazy! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

"What I am is justice. What I represent are these three words: Aku Soku
Zan."

"A-Aku Soku Zan?"

"With pleasure. GATOTSU ZEROSHIKI!"

The Shisejyu Seiryu--along with the dragon Seiryu--was broken apart in
two like Rumpelstiltskin was after losing his bet. The God of Dragons 
consequently melted away like thawing ice.


***


Acting by some unknown providence, Iehik ceased his panicky chattering
as he felt both the life forces of the two Shisejyu ebb and vanish. In
an uncharacteristic grim tone, he ordered to Iehog, "Grab the Reikai
woman and bring her with us. The two Sacred Beasts have died. We can now
make use of them as leverage."

"I understand, big brother."

"Hold up! This isn't part of our deal!" Botan managed to say despite her
recent breakdown. "And I'm not going anywhere until I see Keiko--"

She was effortlessly silenced by a swift, backhanded strike at the back
of her head care of the monstrous Iehog. "We should have done that in
the first place, big brother."

"No matter. It's of no consequence to us. Today, we shall meet our
destiny."


***


"W-W-Where the hell are _you_ going, F-F-Fujita?" Kuwabara stuttered
through the coldness of the draconic blood that caked his body. 

"Stand still," Genkai admonished as she struggled to thaw out Kuwabara
using what little spiritual energy was left in her person. She herself
shivered in dread, silently cursing her carelessness during her battles
with Seiryu and Byakko.

"To Battousai," Fujita tersely replied to Kuwabara. 

"O-Oh, I see." Kuwabara nodded to Fujita, even though he wasn't quite
sure to what exactly he was nodding to. Licking his dry and frostbitten
lips, he prodded, "W-What about B-Battousai...?"

A sinister smile crept its way into Fujita's mouth as he addressed
Kuwabara's question before the young man could even finish it. "He and I
have some unfinished business to attend to." And so the immortal wolf
left the ice-covered mountainside to hunt down his eternal rival. 

As Kuwabara observed the retreating form of the Last Wolf of Mibu, he
wondered out loud, "H-Hey, granny. What's a Battousai?" Hearing no
response from the Master of the Spirit Light Waves, the adolescent opted
to change the subject.

"H-Hey! T-The rest of the Saint Beasts are also here, right? M-Maybe if
we can somehow trick psycho-cop to help us, then he can f-finish them
all off!"

"We have more important things to attend to," Genkai reproved gravely as
she gave Keiko Yukimura's prone form a pensive, guilt-ridden look.


***


Genbu frantically ranted to himself as Kenshin left him for dead, 'NO!
This is all Rando's fault. Him and his harebrained schemes! He wanted me
to fight the samurai so that he could take advantage of Urameshi's bond
with him. If the samurai gets hurt, Urameshi gets hurt too and vice-
versa. Rando said that I could beat Urameshi by beating the samurai, but
he's really just using me! Dammit! If I had defeated Urameshi earlier,
then I could have been the shining star of the Shisejyu! I would have
been the project, the future leader of our group now that Suzako has
joined the ranks of the Shinju. Hell, I could have been worthy enough to
be one of the Shinju! Not Suzako, not Byakko, and especially not that
creep Seiryu, but ME! It should have been me who's the right-hand man of
the Chojin! I've been screwed by everybody! Screwed by Rando, screwed by
Suzako, screwed by...'

Genbu gnashed his teeth until little bits of pebbles and dust fell out
of his mouth as the apparition of a lithe, effeminate Kurama overlaid
itself against Kenshin's form.

"IGNORE ME, WILL YOU? Well, I will soon teach you to fear the name of
GENBU!" The holy beast shouted, waking the swordsman spirit from his
reverie.

Kenshin's eyes went wide as he felt a Molotov cocktail of jaki and youki
well up anew in his Shisejyu opponent's shattered body. He turned
towards his enemy's direction. His mouth fell open in shock.

Almost immediately, the holy beast's remains blew up into dust and
debris. From there, the explosion collapsed into an implosion that
sucked clumps of dirt and piles of rock together. The bits and pieces of
Genbu's shattered body quickly reformed and reconstituted themselves.
After a moment, the stone golem Shisejyu's body was whole again. Genbu
gave the ex-rurouni his trademark grin.

The recombinant technique was unmistakable. This was Genbu's Tetsuzan
Kou, the maneuver he had used against Yusuke just a while back. Kenshin
drew the Youtou Shinnoken from its sheath once more. "I've already
warned you. I don't have time to play with you, Genbu-dono. This
unworthy one still has to find and rescue Keiko-dono and Botan-dono—-"

"SHUT UP!" Genbu spat. Satisfied that _that_ worked, the tortoise-like
saint demon continued, "I'm sick and tired of your over-politeness and
unassuming behavior. It disgusts me to the very pits of my soul. For
being such a complete and total wimp, I'm going to punish you tenfold,
samurai! Tetsuzan Kou: DEFENSE UP!"

It wasn't noticeable at first, but soon sparkling pinpoints of light
quickly surrounded the stone golem in a hypnotic and enigmatic waltz.
Slowly but surely, these glittery spots converged towards Genbu's
reformed body.

Kenshin observed warily as Genbu's rocky skin soon obtained a metallic
sheen to it. The swordsman squinted. Sure enough, he was able to
distinguish the glistening particles that enclosed the shisejyu, coating
his stony body with...

"...Iron!" Kenshin couldn't help but exclaim.

Genbu smiled horribly as he merged with the ground and charged at the
errant swordsman.

'Ingenious! By melding with the ground, Genbu-dono now has the ability
to move through it at a fairly quick pace despite weighing about twice
as much as before,' Kenshin surmised. Nevertheless, he saw no point in
letting Genbu get the first chance to strike. Calculating his opponent's
trajectory, the swordsman proceeded to jump ten feet directly above the
Shisejyu.  

"RYU TSUI SEN!" 

In perfect form, Kenshin executed what could have been the Hiten
Mitsurugi Ryu's most powerful leaping attack. Time stood still for both
the swordsman spirit and the Shisejyu beast as the Ryu Tsui Sen hit
Genbu cleanly on the head. 

After what seemed to be an eternity, time flowed again as seconds ticked
by; the frozen moment was instantly thawed for all to see. Seconds
insistently passed as it woke up the unwilling, making apparent the
cruel reality of the situation.

Genbu grinned his broken Cheshire grin as the Demon Sword clanged
pitifully against his iron-coated cranium. "I bet you weren't expecting
this!"

'The iron coating on his body is too thick!' Kenshin mentally exclaimed,
barely avoiding the swat of his opponent's gigantic hand by a
hairbreadth of an inch. 'I reckon that I better find a way to get
through his armor.' 

Kenshin flipped over the youkai, landing several feet away from him.
He afterwards charged from behind and swung the Demon Sword towards the
ground.

"DOU RYU SEN!"

The resulting strike from the Youtou Shinnoken unleashed a raging
avalanche of debris that completely swallowed the Stony Saint Beast. The
thick clouds of dust that emanated from the crushing waves of earth
slowly cleared, revealing something that left Kenshin dumbfounded. 

"Heh. That tickled." Unfortunately, notwithstanding Kenshin's efforts,
the Dragon Earth Flash didn't even faze Genbu.

Laughing mockingly, Genbu remarked, "What's wrong, samurai? Is that all
you've got?" With that said, the tortoise-like golem quickly melded with
the ground and disappeared yet again.

'I can still avoid Genbu-dono's attacks and counterattacks from up close
because of the sluggishness of his heavy body, but considering the 
circumstances, he still has the upper hand. He can still get me. I can't
give him that chance, for Yusuke-dono's sake,' Kenshin thought as he
used his heightened senses to feel out the whereabouts of his current
adversary.

"Now it's my turn!" Genbu exclaimed as he suddenly appeared just ten
feet away from Kenshin.

'I have to finish this fight now. I can't risk getting in the way of 
Yusuke-dono's fight with the other demon by hurting myself; or rather,
by hurting the both of us. This bond we share with this accursed sword
has left us both compromised.'

Waking up from his deep contemplation, Kenshin turned and charged
straight for Genbu's serpentine tail.

"I've got you now!" Genbu roared as he swung his deadly appendage
towards Kenshin in a nigh-inescapable spiral. "Say good-bye to life,
samurai!"

During the split-second where iron-coated stone should have impacted
messily with ethereal flesh, Kenshin pivoted on his right foot and
turned. His resulting pirouette helped him avoid the weaving motions of
Genbu's metallic tail. Then, using the centrifugal force of his sudden
body rotation to balance himself, the former Ishin Shishi delivered a
retributive blow at the back of Genbu's thick barrel neck.

"RYU KAN SEN!"

Kenshin executed the Dragon Sword Swathe flawlessly; in the same manner
he executed it against Hajime Saito, even. Alas, all that was for
naught. He did not achieve the same level of success against the fourth
Saint Beast as he did with the Third Captain of the Shinsengumi.

"Good job!" was Genbu's mocking riposte as he shrugged off the revolving
sword strike like it was nothing. He thusly turned and reared back his
twin boulders-for-fists as he prepared to squash Kenshin like an
oversized gnat. 

However, the Ryu Kan Sen was only the first part of Kenshin's assault.
The real reason he used the move was to get close enough to execute his
follow up attack.

Despite the metallic skin exterior and hard granite interior of Genbu's
body, the balls and sockets of his joints were still left bare and
unprotected. This was because joints in general were basically just gaps
that permitted free movement; exploitable openings that were susceptible
to attack.

'If I were to hit Genbu-dono's joints all at the same time with the Ryu
Sou Sen's multi-hit strikes, then his top-heavy body will collapse into
itself,' Kenshin thought as he quickly sized up the distance needed to
implement his counteroffensive.

"RYU SOU--!"

At that very moment, Kenshin's world promptly exploded.


***


Rando's vision blurred as he tasted the rusty tang of his own blood.
The spray of crimson from below his chest was in stark contrast to the
pasty complexion of his veined chest, making it look as if he were
wearing a tattered red bib of some sort. Upon rubbery legs did the demon
fall.

Under normal conditions, Yusuke's powerful strike would have literally
beheaded Rando save for two facts. First, the demon was an alumnus of
the Dark Arts of Kyuuketsuki Kakutou Ryu, which left him immune to every
sort of ki-attack so long as his blood pressure remained stronger than
his opponent's. Second, the Iron Body technique kept him away from
bodily harm's reach. Purely physical attacks meant nothing to him. There
was no way Yusuke could get through the iron gauntlet of his dual
extreme defenses.

So why was he stabbed on the heart by a stolen sword technique that, by
all intents and purposes, shouldn't have hurt him at all?

'Why? How?' Rando mentally wailed to the mocking and niggling fates as
he swung his balled-up fists at the unseen hands of circumstance.

Blood had always been a key factor in the propagation of life. Blood was
one of the factors that influenced ki-flow, dampening or strengthening
it at will. Blood ki was an altogether different power from spirit ki,
sword ki, or demon ki. To put it simply, neither of Rando's 
defensive countermeasures could have blocked the amplified power of
Yusuke's unpredictable attack. His blood pressure was 

'Vampire blood, for all its mutated glory, magnifies and absorbs ki-
energy a bit _too_ well. All energy, ki or otherwise, has a propensity
to flow freely into vampire bodies unfiltered, which explains why
vampires possess nigh-limitless strength and heightened abilities. On
the other hand, it also explains why they have such intolerance to
ultraviolet light. Left unchecked, too much sunlight--pure energy, in
a sense--would quickly burn a vampire inside out,' Rando contemplated
at length as he continued to struggle against the inviting darkness.

Ironically enough, the same blood ki that protected Rando from the Rei-
Gan earlier was what ultimately led to his downfall. The blood ki from
Rando's own blood was the very thing that focused the Jigen Tou's reiki
to the point that it bypassed his supposedly impenetrable shield. By
underestimating his opponent yet again, Rando was compromised once
more.

'But that's impossible! Inconceivable! I had everything figured out.
This shouldn't have happened. Not to me, at least. I've sacrificed too
much to get to this point; too much. Every day, I've dreamed about this
moment--the moment when Urameshi Yusuke would die by my hands. Whether
awake or asleep, vengeance was the only thing in my mind. To me, our
first fight just happened yesterday. Time meant nothing to me as I
whiled away the endless hours of solitary confinement by training doubly
hard so that one day I can finally use the upper-echelon techniques that
I've stolen from countless fighters against him! This is a simple goal.
Can't I have this simple goal? Or is that also too much for even me to
attain?

Darkness beckoned, but Rando didn't answer. He straightened himself up,
relishing the heartrending pain that kept unwanted slumber at bay. 'I
won't be defeated by that little son of a human bitch who's undeserving
of both his great power and demonic lineage. I have infinitely more
talent than he'll ever hope to have. If I had inherited the Spirit Light
Gem and the Rei-Kou-Hadou-Ken School, then I would have reached A-Class,
or even S-Class. I would have become the next ruler of the Demon World;
Raizen, Mukuro and Yomi be damned. That bitch Genkai was stupid to make
Urameshi her student. _I_ would have made her school famous in all of
the three worlds. To think, all that potential and luck wasted on a
loser like Urameshi. He's trash. He threw away his opportunity to rule
over the whole of Makai, of all things! I'll show him. I'll show him
here and now who is the better choice. I'll show him that I'm the only
one who really deserves the kind of life he has.'

Rando's eyes snapped open, ending his battle against oblivion. 'This
fight hasn't even begun. It can't end this way. It won't. I won't let
it.'

Chanting a secret hymn to himself, Rando summoned a unique skill that he
reserved only for last resorts. "BLOOD WIND!"

A crimson tornado that reached all the way up to the ceiling of the dojo
emerged from, surreally enough, Rando's bloody chest. Yusuke was taken
completely by surprise as the red cyclone swallowed him up and whirled
him around in a raging spiral of death.

Rando smirked as he reveled at the destructive power of the Blood Wind.
'By this time, the Blood Wind should have finished siphoning all of
Urameshi's goddamned reiki. Just like before, he'll be helpless against
me without his precious spiritual power.' The demon afterwards scowled
as his legs buckled underneath him. 

Just as Yusuke's reiki was reduced to dangerously low levels, Rando's
physical strength had also been jeopardized. It was the perfect
stalemate.

The Blood Wind was a desperation move created specifically to help a
heavily wounded fighter in battle by the use of his own blood. Utilizing
his blood plasma as heat energy and his natural state of shock as cold
energy, a powerful tornado could be formed. This tempest, in turn, had
the ability to reduce an opponent's ki to zero. 

As Rando mentioned early on, the ki of a wounded opponent was far more
likely to disperse than that of an unwounded foe's. It didn't matter if
the injured fighter was able to miraculously summon large amounts of ki
by sheer force of will; the spiritual energy wouldn't hold for long
against students of the Vampire Martial Arts. 

But the reverse was also true. If a Kyuuketsuki Kakutou Ryu disciple
were injured in battle, then his ki would also be compromised. That was
why the Blood Wind technique was created; to help users of the
discipline during these critical situations.

The Blood Wind had one setback, though. The use of this technique was so
perilous that it could actually kill whomsoever wielded it. Its tendency
of consuming large amounts of its user's blood could put its user's life
at risk. 

That was the reason why Rando shrunk himself a while back after his
fight with Kuwabara; he could recuperate from losing so much blood
faster in a smaller body. The Blood Wind was the double-edged sword that
almost killed him, not the Jigen Tou. 

'Damn it,' Rando and Yusuke unwittingly chorused.


***


As such, as Yusuke was sucked into the vortex that was the Blood Wind,
Kenshin's whole world exploded; the wayward half-demon's current plight
and pain were now his to bear as their emphatic bond with each other
activated.

Seizing the window of opportunity before him, Genbu proceeded to smash
the hapless former vagabond in between his stony fists. He subsequently
whipped him around with his ball-and-chain-like tail like there was no
tomorrow. 

The Golem Saint Beast cackled as he dribbled Kenshin's body in the air
like a volleyball, never letting the corporeal swordsman spirit hit the
ground.

"Y-Yusuke-d-dono..." Kenshin barely blurted out while being roughly 
manhandled by his Shisejyu opponent. "I'm s-sorry..."


***


As the luckless Yusuke was flung around by the miniature typhoon, he
remembered his shared dilemma with Kenshin. The swordsman ghost's
efforts to not get hurt for his sake had somewhat become fruitless
amidst his own failure to protect himself. They were now both trapped in
an endless cycle of mind-numbing agony.

'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, Kenshin. It's mine.'

Yusuke was somehow able to get a glimpse of the weakened Rando in the
face of the dizzying rotations of the red twister. The demon seemed
exhausted by his efforts as he just crouched there and trembled; he was 
practically a sitting duck, even. 'Let me make it up to you, Kenshin.'

Using the momentum he had gained by whirling inside the miniature
typhoon for so long, Yusuke impetuously hurled himself into the eye of
the storm. 

If it was Kurama who was planning the dangerous move, he would have
calculated his trajectory, velocity, momentum, and aim with unerring
precision. If it was Hiei, then he would have used the power of his
mystical third eye and instinctive speed to accomplish the seemingly
impossible. If it was Kuwabara, then boundless amounts of luck and a
sense of foolhardy courage was called for.

But this was Yusuke Urameshi, the incarnate of spontaneity and chaos. He
did not have a third eye, unerring precision, or boundless amounts of
luck on his side. All he had was his devil-may-care recklessness. Most
of the time, that was enough.

Using only his determination and willpower to control the direction of
his unceremonious flight, he went straight towards his intended quarry.

"RANDO!"


***


Kenshin's eyes widened as his body twisted and flew in concurrence to
Yusuke's. The sudden shift in movement inadvertently helped him avoid
further flogging from Genbu.

'What is Yusuke-dono planning?' Kenshin wondered as his body spun around
in a spiraling fashion. 'This is absolutely insane! Insane, I say!' 

Genbu growled in frustration. "GRAAAGH! Stay still, samurai! Stay still
and take your beating like the piece of shit that you are!" 

'So I'm moving in coordination with Yusuke-dono. Fascinating,' Kenshin
reflected in awe. 'But Yusuke-dono's movements are too erratic. At this
rate, the success of his attack will literally be a gamble.'

After a few more seconds of quiet contemplation, Kenshin noticed
something vaguely familiar about the pattern of his aerial flight. The 
synchronized spiraling movements were coincidentally similar to one of
the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's many techniques. 

Altering his trajectory ever so slightly while quickly increasing the
speed and velocity of his bodily rotation, Kenshin executed unto Genbu
one of the many variants of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's Dragon Sword
Swathe.

"Ryu Kan Sen TSUMUJI!"


***


To be Continued...

Next: Turtle versus Dragon, Demon versus Mazoku.

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. Last Blade and
Samurai Shodown are the property of SNK Playmore. Don't sue me
please, I'm very poor.

Ja!
Abdiel


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