[FFML] [yyh][ry][rewrite] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 13: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 1)

[Abdiel]

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then,
one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to
love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be
happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore,
to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much
happiness."

(Woody Allen)


________________________________________________________________________


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

Battousai has returned. Again.

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 13: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 1)
________________________________________________________________________



The revived manslayer who'd stalked the streets of Kyoto decades past
was a peculiar combination of past and present. He had all the memories
of Kenshin Himura--memories of a vagabond's journeys after the bloody
end of the Tokugawa Shogunate; memories of Sanosuke, Yahiko, and all the
other friends he had come to know; memories of Kaoru and Tomoe; and,
although his memories of being a spirit inside a sword was strangely
lacking, at least the important memories were all locked in his mind.
However, the way he interpreted these recollections and his mode of
thinking were almost entirely that of the Battousai: emotionless and
merciless in a way that was beyond most people's understanding.

He had discovered long ago during his exploits while he was still alive
that the Kenshin part of him was the strategist who set the goals to be
achieved, and the Battousai was the tactician who did whatever it took
to achieve those objectives. As it had been a century ago, so it was
today.

With the Battousai taking over his mind, the overwhelming feelings that
had been fogging Kenshin's better judgment was finally removed, or at
least temporarily set aside.

When Kenshin delivered his 'killing blow' against Genbu, he held back; 
the monster was probably still alive, albeit barely. He also held back
against Fujita, and even though that was ultimately a bad decision on
his part, he was mostly unconscious of it at the time. It was as if his
instincts kept telling him to uphold his promise to Tomoe Yukishiro all
those years ago, despite the fact that his vow was no longer applicable
to the 'lifestyle' he was currently leading. In fact, one of the reasons
why he sliced Iehik apart was because that type of cut was usually not
enough to kill a demon.

Just then, Koenma's century-old warning of not tainting the Demon Sword
with sin and murder--even that of demons--came back to haunt Kenshin
with inopportune vengeance. Unfortunately, there was no Kenshin present
to hear that warning, damnation be damned.

No matter how desperately Kenshin wanted to save Botan, Yusuke, and all
the other people he had just met--or had forgotten he'd met from a long
time ago--he also knew that the Chojin and his minions had to be stopped
before they jumpstarted their holy war against the Spirit World and
wreaked havoc all over the rest of the three worlds no matter what the
cost. His sense of justice demanded him to set his priorities straight
and be more thoughtful of the big picture.

The Hiruma brothers might deceive themselves into thinking that all the
abnormal events that had happened so far--the Chojin's approval over
their quest to capture the Demon Sword and do with it as they pleased,
their rise to prominence in the Chojin's army despite their class
ranking as lowly demons, their recently unlocked memories, and their
current unearthly abilities--had occurred for their sole benefit, but
Kenshin knew better. He could sense it; Gohei and Kihei Hiruma were
being used by a greater, darker puppet master, and the fools didn't even
know it.

Makoto Shishio had desperately wanted to conquer Japan with fire and
blood in order to temper it like steel and make it into a much stronger
nation. Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi had risked their lives to
stop the potential despot from rising to power because his plans would
have caused great suffering to ordinary people and an incalculable
number of deaths. However, this time was different. The current threat
was considerably greater. Failure was not an option because it would
literally lead to a fate worse than death itself.

There could be no holding back, because the cost of defeat was too high.
Even if Kenshin had to again pave his road to hell with even more of his
good intentions, then so be it; whatever would be, would be. In a way,
the Hirumas had done him an unintentional favor; they helped him regain
his bloodlust.

Hiruma's unseen manipulator--most likely the Chojin--was hell-bent on
unraveling the fabric of the worlds of the living and the dead and
reweaving it to match his own warped desires. Indeed, getting a hold
of the Demon Sword was probably part of his diabolical plans too, or at
least one of his many contingency plans. Being able to use mere D-Level
demons as effective pawns instead of worthless cannon fodder was a feat
worthy of the Chojin's reputation as well.

He had murdered for an ideal. He had murdered for survival. He had 
murdered out of rage. He had even murdered for the sake of redemption.
He had murdered for many, many reasons and, once upon a time, after the
Fall of the Shogunate, he had truly believed that the deliberate taking
of life could never be acceptable. He had been mistaken. He was now
prepared to kill again for his loved ones.


***


Hiruma's plan was a flawless one as far as he was concerned. Using
Byakko's most powerful defensive armor--the Ultimate Iron Body
Technique, if you will--he could now bull-charge at Battousai without
worrying about getting chopped into little pieces, the swordsman's
change of attitude notwithstanding. Then, simultaneously, he'd sic the
God of Dragons unto his luckless target from above so that he'd get to
attack two fronts at once with the perfect high-low mind game. He
couldn't possibly miss. 

In their last go-round, Botan was pulled to her feet in pulse-pounding
excitement as both fighters went toe-to-toe, swinging for the fences.
Despite Hiruma's ability to answer Battousai's counters with his stolen
Fu no Senrei and Bouko Hyouga techniques, it was clear that the
swordsman was controlling two solid minutes of the round with acrobatics
beyond imagination, smartly using the leviathan's sheer mass to escape
his passionate blitz.

Hiruma snickered. "Even though you're the so-called Battousai the Demon-
slayer, your thinking is still that of a human; slow, stupid, and
predictable. It's almost as bad as the briefness of human life." 

The reason behind Hiruma's mirth was that even though Battousai was able
to survive his onslaught by tricking the God of Dragon into getting in
his way, the spirit guardian had forgotten one thing: Hiruma could also
fuse with the Fu no Senrei to become even more powerful. His two-pronged
plan actually had a third side to it, assuring almost certain victory.

"But I myself have changed. For me, everything is based on one simple
truth. My focus is only on winning. That's the way true demons think."

"Admitting yourself to be a demon in front of the Guardian of the
Demon Sword is equivalent to a death wish," Battousai remarked as he
unceremoniously chopped the God of Dragon's head off before it had a
chance to merge with its current master. This led Hiruma's draconic arm
to deteriorate quickly, causing him to scream in true agony.

"Pathetic," Battousai intoned as he unleashed an endless storm of steel
and sparks that fell to the ground in a shower of tiny yellow stars, 
literally scourging the tormented monster piece by gruesome piece. The
strikes felt as though the entire universe turned into focused agony
just for him.

Battousai's tactic... the same tactic he'd employed against a certain
street-fighting punk named Zanza... worked like a charm. As cutting the
Gordian knot with Occam's Razor would suggest, the simplest and most
straightforward of methods always proved to be the best method. The
continuous rounds of Sou Ryu Sen cut through Hiruma's monstrous
endurance the same way it had Sanosuke's, and the Fu no Senrei's death
was just as significant as the Zanbattou's destruction. The methodical
manslayer had done it again.

Hiruma screamed, gnashed his teeth, and stomped his feet in agony,
creating shockwaves and tremors with his resulting tantrum as smoke-like
jaki billowed from Seiryu's draconic arm like smog from a broken exhaust
pipe. Thanks to Byakko's Bouko Hyouga though, the chimera was able to
somehow bear with the sheer torture of Battousai's offensive.

Hiruma tried desperately to counterattack using all his remaining limbs,
but he did so to no avail. Blood and ichor began to fountain out from
all over his body, painting arcs of dripping gore across the decimated
patio as Battousai sliced another handful of bloody chunks away,
reveling in their warmth and vaguely spongy texture.

He who made it rain blood looked on as Hiruma let out another irritating
scream of anguish and rage before going down. Had he won so easily? How
could that be? Perhaps the fact that he just turned his opponent into a
disabled amputee from merely being a paralysis victim had something to
do with it. He chuckled humorlessly before a metaphorical bolt of
lightning struck him in between his golden eyes.

Battousai derailed his personal diatribe as he turned and took immediate
notice of the creature's mishmash of rippling skin and warping scales.
In next to no time, dents appeared from the severed stumps that used to
be Hiruma's limbs, almost as if something was trying to get out of his
Shisejyu body. 

At first, the part of the swordsman spirit that was Kenshin dared hope
that he had won the fight before he completely succumbed to the
Battousai's influence, interpreting Hiruma's howls of pain as death
rattles of sorts. Alas, that fragile hope turned into horror as it
became evident that whatever was trying to break free out of the
malignant atrocity was not beneficial to him by any meaning of the word.
'Where is all this jaki coming from? Hiruma's body reeks of it.'

The beast was now in severe, unthinkable pain, yet his unbridled anger
kept him in check, his mind remaining focused and clear. Indeed, the
rage of Byakko knew no bounds. In any case, the juggernaut had all the
advantages coming into this fight, and he'd barely damaged the whelp at
all! This was unacceptable; it was now time to show him his true power.

No, that wasn't quite right--for, as Rando revealed, body manipulators
and fusion experts like them didn't possess any such limitations as
having a set amount of their so-called 'true power'. So he should really
thank the Chojin that the ambitious, morally bankrupt, and
incomprehensively greedy Kihei had merged with the simpler, more
uncomplicated, yet extremely brutal Gohei; because now, their boundless 
imagination was an asset instead of a liability to their potentially
limitless power. They roared as one. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH!"

The metamorphosis happened immediately. A vortex of jaki appeared before
everyone and swallowed the amalgamated brothers whole before Battousai
could get rid of them once and for all. However, instead of creating
another Fu no Senrei or some other energy blast, the black hole merely
served as Hiruma's shield from taking on more damage while he healed
himself. Buntings of smoke and flame burst out from the core of the
void, arced back and shot into it again; the roaring of magma inside a 
firestorm. A harsh blaze, like a dark inferno roiling through the
endlessly moving surface of a black sun, ended the vigorous dance.

The dark pit ripped itself apart and unleashed a horrifying blackness so
foreboding that Battousai's golden eyes recoiled to look upon it. Two
points of brilliant crimson shone out from that unspeakable anomaly, and
the aura of primal fear poured forth from the torn fabric of reality
like some poisonous vapor. The gate of hell crackled and spat arcs of
red lightning as Hiruma finally emerged. 

'I understand now,' Battousai mused after some thought. 'Very well. Let
them dig their own grave.'

The headless Fu no Senrei emerged from the ground and gave Hiruma an
extra pair of its own dragon arms. Its lashing tail then served as his
third arm, and the thing that was trying to escape his body earlier--the
regenerating Kaiwan--served as his fourth arm. It seemed impossible at
first, but the chimera somehow managed to make himself even more
fearsome than ever before.

Hiruma thundered like an earthquake as he moved, the aura of menace that
he radiated intensifying as he slowly rose from the ground like an
enormous boa in the grass. But as it was, the emotionless swordsman was
by and large unmoved by the lethal display of malicious intent, backing
away deliberately as he himself tried to be as quiet and unobtrusive as
possible while the slavering colossus advanced.

Stooping down as he ran back towards the fight, the Battousai scooped
out his sword from its scabbard and spun it around his body before
bringing it down in a twisting overhead strike that jarred against the
beast's raised Kaiwan and skidded down the length of the muscular arm
without leaving so much as a mark on it. Taking advantage of the
swordsman's distraction, Hiruma crouched low and dove into his
opponent's abdomen, a clothesline from hell exploding in a blast of
scarlet energy and swirling debris that sent loose dirt raining down
from the cracked earth below them, and the redhead was forced back a
few steps.

The Battousai shifted his grip on his sword, wielding the blade like a
spear and thrusting its tip into the monster's chest with all his might
as he continued driving him back to the ground. The chimera shook his
mane and roared a throaty bellow that caused even more dirt to shake
loose and tumble onto the struggling sword guardian. Then he started
convulsing. He threw his head back and his body forward, then his body
went the opposite way. He shook violently. His fists opened and closed.
He screamed. This made the Battousai pause for a moment, but at that
point, he really didn't give a damn if the noisy bastard had become
epileptic.

The former manslayer shook the dirt off of the bangs of his head,
thankful for the thick shag of orange hair that shielded his golden
eyes from all of the grit and dust that choked the air. He recanted
further as the ground trembled under the force of Hiruma's advance, and
the skies above them churned even faster as arcs of lightning flashed
from one cloud to another in jagged bolts of purple. The foreboding
atmosphere made it clear that Hiruma was just about ready to fire off
another blast of Seiryu's Fu no Senrei. 

Hiruma was actually getting stronger as time passed! He had unbelievable
power that was further reinforced by his constant mutations care of
Iehik's unique savvy and Iehog's awesome constitution. Instead of
bringing his leathery claws around to strike somewhere else, the huge
demon pushed down onto the interlocked blade, and soon the Guardian of
the Youtou Shinnoken found himself in a contest of brute strength.
'Hiruma's gotten more powerful; still deathly predictable, but more
powerful. Case in point...'

Hiruma chose that very second to unload all his available 'bombs' upon
the Battousai in one magnificent attack, intending to top the blitz off
with an explosive Trial of Negation at the very end. That was the plan,
in any case. But just as he swung his wrecking-ball-like tentacle into
the air, whipped it around his body, and cast it wholesale towards his
prey with such ferocious velocity that even the Battousai barely had
time to get his sword up to block, he started to fall apart like a stack
of flimsy cards. One of his pair of dragon arms were hacked into little
bits, and the dragon tail he had used as a mace was also turned into
slices of cold cuts. In fact, his whole body felt like it had been
scourged and carved back to its original size before he merged with the
draconic Seiryu.

But when exactly did Battousai Himura do his incredible attack? Was it
just now, in the split second it took for Hiruma to bash the swordsman
into ectoplasm and mince meat? Or was it even before that, during the
time the Battousai unsheathed his sword to do a battou-jutsu strike that
harmlessly clanged against the Kaiwan? Could it be that the assault came
right after Hiruma merged with the Fu no Senrei dragon? Was there some
sort of delayed reaction to the strike that left the chimera vulnerable
for a long time without him knowing it?

Hiruma roared a guttural, appalling sound as he rearranged his remaining
arms to how they were put together once before. This time, after he fell
on the ground on all fours, writhing in agony as his top-heavy head
crashed onto the dirt floor, he decided to wait a moment before getting
up. After all, the last few times he immediately stood had so far been
met with disastrous results. Seeing Battousai begin his somersault, the
monster rolled to the side and stood up as the swordsman landed. The
chimera had taken a great deal of damage, and it was time to even the
score. "That's _it_! I'm going to spank you till you can no longer smell
pretty things!"

But even Hiruma's unquenchable thirst for revenge was not enough to put
the Battousai down. The guardian spirit pushed the demon back, feeling
his own power grow in the heat of battle. As he put more and more energy
into blocking, he felt his blood lust rise, giving him an enormous
amount of leverage that defied the laws of physics themselves. He
reached out with his spare hand, reeled back, squatted down, pumped up
his legs, and exploded with a perfect Ryu Sho Sen blow that came faster
than a heartbeat and stronger than when Kenshin used it against the
Shisejyu Genbu or the mysterious Fujita; a blur that swept towards the 
horrifying beast in the time it took a hummingbird to flap its wings.

Every strike of Battousai's sword brought him closer and closer to his
true power; a power far beyond that of even the infamous Hitokiri
Battousai, who slew hundreds to usher in a new era for Japan. No, this
Battousai--the Youkiri Battousai--was emotionless, calculating, and
ruthless in a manner that went beyond most anyone's comprehension. He
was relentless; inhumanly cunning with human intelligence; a force of
nature without nature's equanimity. The swordsman's own metamorphosis,
in cadence to the demonic siblings' transformation, was almost complete.

Just as Hiruma's face split into two like a party favor from hell, the
Guardian of the Demon Sword stated, "When push comes to shove, killing
becomes as easy as breathing," which left the mostly forgotten and
cathartic Botan stunned and near tears. At last, the Youkiri Battousai
was finally back on the prowl.

"Very well, then. Kill us if you can, and become the infamous Battousai
the Demon-slayer once more! We will help corrupt your pure soul, just as
the Chojin wants. Or we'll kill you so that we ourselves could wield the
incredible power of your Demon Sword. No matter how you look at it, we
will still win and fulfill our destiny! There's no stopping us!" the
hideous, bleeding creature cacophonously responded as he stabbed his
gruesome Kaiwan forward, extending it out of his body like branches from
some rotting, unhealthy plant that sprouted ugly clusters of thorns
along its length even as it continued to grow. 

"Your 'master' is a deluded fool then, thinking that he can control me
like the rest of his pawns," the Battousai snapped as he immediately
countered the branch-limb's furious charge with heavenly vengeance. His
strikes were delivered flawlessly, the years of sleep-induced peace
melting away as the weapon in his hand became nothing more than an
extension of his body. "My only master is my divine purpose: to destroy
all demons and to bring about a true Utopia. Paradise. Eden. Rakuen.
Whatever you may call it. Once I'm done with you and all the rest of the
many demons in all three worlds, the Chojin is next."

And now that he was nearing the apex of his higher state of being, the
Battousai eventually realized the reasoning behind the Chojin's orders
to corrupt the Demon Sword: If he were able to kill all the demons in
Makai, then there'd be no one to stop the Chojin from taking over. A
simple, direct, effective, and effortless plan. Battousai snorted; just
for that, he'd make sure to spare some time in his busy schedule to find
and kill this arrogant Chojin before the _real_ massacre began. 

Taking advantage of yet another typical Battousai distraction as the
swordsman guardian worked himself up to a storm with visions of a demon-
free world, Hiruma blasted his arch-nemesis with a gigantic "MEI-KOU-
SHOU-KAI-HA!" made completely out of the negative energy he'd failed to
unleash after his aborted Fu no Senrei attempt. 'This is my chance!
You're going _down_!'

"Die," The pressure-ridden Retsu Hoko caught the swordsman dead-center, 
blasting him backwards half a dozen meters. Still, the Battousai kept
his footing and tried to advance.

"Die!" Hiruma bellowed, his voice hoarse. He afterwards launched a
Byakko Shu Tsuika at his seemingly stunned victim, the horse-like kick
pounding into the ghost like a pile driver, slamming him backwards once
again.

"DIE!" The Zetsu Hoko grapple hold and throw connected with the
Battousai's diminutive form, blowing him completely off his feet and
carrying him through the air as his body repeatedly smashed against the
ground, shattering its brittle surface to dust. 

Wobbly with exertion, heaving for breath, Hiruma espied Battousai's
prone form warily, waiting for him to stand, praying that he would not.
He wasn't sure how much he had left in him right now.

The out-of-the-blue Hiryu Sen assault caught the monster between the
eyes, shooting him backwards a good dozen--or perhaps even a baker's
dozen--meters. The Youkiri Battousai was now up and about, whizzing by
like a blue and orange comet, as though completely unfazed by Hiruma's
earlier chained attacks. Still, the chimera kept his footing and tried
urgently to move forward and counterattack. 

"Die," Battousai mockingly bellowed in the same manner Hiruma did, his
effeminate voice echoing everywhere when it shouldn't be able to do so.
He afterwards launched a Sou Ryu Sen at the thing; the attack cut and
minced into the youkai like a sharp buzz saw, shredding him apart once
more.

"DIE." A sandstorm-like Dou Ryu Sen crashed onto the hapless demon,
knocking him completely off of his clawed feet and hauling him through
the sky, until he and the attack finally smashed against a mountain of
debris, shattering the boulders into a billowing cloud of brown smoke.
And so once again Hiruma fell over thanks to the Youkiri Battousai;
however, he hadn't quite learned his lesson yet, for he was already
attempting to get up just as soon as he'd collapsed. "Not yet! This is
not yet over! I'm not yet done!"

"Oh, yes you are."

The Battousai wouldn't even allow the behemoth to breathe, much less get
up. In a heartbeat, he was already upon the nonplussed monster, his
steel-trap intellect methodically dissecting his and his enemy's next
plan of action just as efficiently as his sword was dissecting his
enemy. But rather than just slash Hiruma to bits with his bloodthirsty
Youtou Shinnoken, the swordsman began to... leisurely talk to his foe.
In midair. While his sword was whistling through the ether in speeds
that didn't allow for such laidback conversations to take place.

'You see, this is a martial arts move I've developed long ago by
fighting alongside other shinigami warriors from a different realm; the
attack is telepathic as well as physical, and by the time you realize
this sentence seems way too long...'

Hiruma had just gotten the scourging of his life in the time span it
normally took people to blink while listening to a lecture that seemed
to take the very same normal people an infinity to process and
understand. It was quite the surreal experience.

'...It'll all be over.'

Botan felt like she hadn't moved in decades. After all, she didn't want
to look away for a split second. On one side, there was the relentless,
child-like Battousai, moving like a streak of greased lightning, his
kenki as brilliant as a divine halo from an enlightened Buddha, a
transfigured Jesus Christ, or an ascended Hercules, unleashing insanely
powerful sword techniques that she'd never even heard of. If there ever
were a god to walk among men, she thought, he must've looked something
like Kenshin did now. 'Except he isn't really Kenshin; he's gone for
now,' a voice at the back of her mind that was not her own concernedly
reminded.

But on the other side, in contrast to Kenshin's 'godhood' was Hiruma's
'devilry'. The aura of sheer horror that pulsed from this fused behemoth
dwarfed the power of anything she'd felt from Iehog before, setting her
every nerve on fire with irrational fear. Iehog and Iehik seemed less
like two separate beings now, and more like a creature from which one
terror after another emerged in an endless supply; a walking
catastrophe; the alpha and omega of nightmares and tragedy. 'If they're
just the Chojin's pawns, then I'm scared of what the Chojin must be
like!'

But as she glanced again at Kenshin, she felt her earlier awe for him
melt away into terror similar to what she just felt for Hiruma. Somehow,
someway, those golden eyes of his seemed even more fearsome, ferocious,
and terrifying than the behemoth's eyes could never be. Just who between
the two fighters was the demon more terrible than her worst nightmares?

One thing for sure, the Youkiri Battousai was back.

She felt her insides knot in dread and anxiety as she remembered her
last good look at Kenshin. She would never forget the sight of him
standing in the middle of Hiruma's strewn body parts as a fine mist of
blood and ichor settled ever so slowly out of the air.

And even more unforgettable was the ominous golden glint in his eyes. 
She had never seen such cold and distant eyes since she last stared into
Sensui's gaze. She didn't _hate_ the Battousai, but the sight of those
shining irises filled her with dread because they symbolized a part of
Kenshin that she didn't know and felt no desire to know. They meant that
the Kenshin she knew was no longer there.

'No. That's not really true,' Botan reluctantly admitted to herself. The
Youkiri was undeniably different from Kenshin, and yet he wasn't a
separate entity wholly distinct from Kenshin. 

Perhaps that was what she found most frightening of all--to think that
the killer their enemies so desperately want to fight and the silly,
wide-eyed rurouni that she had come to care for could be so closely
intertwined, even in her eyes. Because if that was true, then that
meant...

She shook her head to clear it; she would have none of that nonsense.
There were more important matters to take care of right now. After all,
she was a shinigami; she was death incarnate. She had power over all
human souls, even though she didn't usually exercise it the way those
other, more grotesque and amoral death gods did in the Shinigami Realm.
The personable work and reasonable hours--plus extra fringe benefits and
dental care--under Prince Koenma's wing was more her style, really. But
for once, just this once, she wished for the kind of power that the
Shinigami of the Shinigami Realm had, just so she wouldn't feel like a
a piece of furniture in the middle of Kenshin's important fight. 'What
must I have to do to save Kenshin from himself?'

Botan took one last good look at Kenshin--his golden eyes becoming more
and more feral as the fight progressed, the remnants of his fleeting
humanity drowning inside an all-encompassing need to fulfill the true
purpose of the almighty Demon Sword--sighed, and nodded resolutely. She
still didn't know what she had to do, but she knew she had to do this
vague, indistinct, yet important thing for Kenshin's sake, and she had
to do it right now. 

A memory of the past... not hers, but of another person... made itself
known inside Botan's psyche; an image of Kenshin... of Battousai...
standing resolutely over a fallen foe, his reverse-edged sword raised
high and flipped over so that the sharp side would easily cleave through
his opponent's head. The details were murky, but the ferry-girl had a
vague feeling that if Battousai didn't kill the madman before him, then
someone dear to him would die in the psycho's place.

'But if he does kill the madman before him, then he himself would die
too. Kenshin, the true Kenshin, will not be here anymore. I simply
cannot allow that to happen!' Botan thought purposefully, but at the
back of her mind, she hazily wondered if it was truly her that was
thinking those bold words.

So, just as the Battousai was about to carve the rest of the stolen
Shisejyu body parts out of Iehog and Iehik's fused yet bloody form,
Botan rushed forward and interposed herself between the both of them, a
mixture of mortal fear, confusion, and nostalgic deja vu overwhelming
her senses. "Please... don't. Enough. You've won," she beseeched to the
former manslayer, hoping against hope that deep inside him, the part of
him that was Kenshin would hear her desperate plea. "Please. Wake up."

The tragically familiar picture of a woman diving in front of him to
save him was a truly traumatizing and influential scene for Kenshin to
witness--although whether it rooted from his internal demons or the
usual demons he used to fight on a regular basis was debatable. He
reacted thusly, dropping his guard and lowering his sword, his blue vest
and topknot hair unfurling and transforming to his more familiar cherry
gi and ponytail. His features also became much more mature than before,
though for a hundred-something-year-old spirit that died at twenty-nine
years of age but still generally looked like a teenager, maturity was a
very relative thing.

"K-Kaoru...?" Kenshin asked in an almost disbelieving voice, gazing at
the girl before him with glassy eyes, but the visage of Kaoru quickly
faded from his mind, transforming from dark blue to sky blue, from cream
to pink, from brown to red; from kendo-girl to ferry-girl.

Botan was a bit taken aback by Kenshin's slip of the tongue, remembering
the girl of her dreams... wait, that sounded a bit weird... the girl
_in_ her dreams that was apparently an important person in the former
rurouni's past. Was Kaoru influencing the ferry-girl's inexplicable
actions up until now? For one thing, the kendo-girl was indeed the very
person who revealed to Botan the true identities of Iehik and Iehog,
among other oddities that went from bizarre to downright disturbing.
Sooo...

'Just who was this Kamiya Kaoru person, and what exactly is she to
Kenshin's life? More to the point, why the heck is she screwing with my
head? Why me?' Botan wondered, then blanched at her train of thought as
the image of her biting down on the fruit of knowledge flashed before
her mind's eye.

"K-Kenshin?" she surveyed abruptly, shifting her whole attention on the 
diminutive warrior's condition just because the idea of remembering
memories that didn't even belong to her was giving her a... serious
headache. "Kenshin...?"

There was no response from the redhead for quite a bit, but then with
unexpected gentleness, he turned over to Botan. And before she could
even withdraw in shock and surprise, he pulled her into his arms without
another word and simply held her close.

For a disbelieving moment, the shinigami could do nothing, her whole
body burning in feverish uncertainty. After everything that had happened
to the both of them, she had been afraid to even dream of being held
once again in Kenshin's arms. 'Wait. Wait. Wait. I _so_ did not dream
that! What the heck am I thinking? What a sick thing to think about!'

Botan sighed deeply and tried not to over-think Kenshin's embrace too
much. It was just that: An understandable hug of relief between two...
'people' who had gone through quite a lot of traumatizing events during
the course of several hours. Nothing more.

'On the other hand, I was so worried about him being cold and unfeeling
after seeing him lay the smack-down on Hiruma so eagerly. But look at
him now. Why, he's not cold or unfeeling at all,' she mused wryly. 'I
also thought he would stink of blood, hatred, and fear.' But she had
been very wrong about that too. Granted, Kenshin didn't exactly smell
like roses right now--more like burnt bacon--but he was most certainly
exuding a strong scent of familiarity that Botan couldn't quite place.
And smelled of burnt bacon.

"Kaoru, I..." The softness of Kenshin's words did nothing to hide the
wealth of feeling in his voice as he slipped from Botan's grasp, quickly 
realizing his own verbal slip; it was a strange concoction of heartfelt 
compassion and sheepishness. This time around, Botan almost didn't even
catch the faux pas, partly distracted by other things of interest.

"Oh, sorry. There I go again. Botan-san, right? Oh, sorry again. Botan,
isn't it?" he repeatedly corrected himself as he wiped Hiruma's chopped-
up gunk off of his sandals. Then, as he gently brushed the gritty dirt
from the ferry-girl's face with infinite care, he murmured, "I'm glad
you're all right. I was so caught up and focused on saving you from
Hiruma that I lost myself in the heat of battle. And now here you are
instead, saving unworthy old me! This whole thing is a bit frustrating
and embarrassing for me; that it truly is."

"Oh no! Don't be embarrassed! You were great! Amazing! Stupendous! If
Yusuke had seen you fight just now, he would have eaten his words about
you being a big wimp and stuff!" Botan sputtered, her cheeks turning as
pink as her kimono, all the while unsure of what exactly she was saying.
She then coughed primly, calmed herself, and continued. "I'm just glad
you finally came back to your senses. I'm not sure why, since it was
your bad self that kicked Hiruma's hairy bum from pillar to post, but
I'm still glad that you're now back to your nice old goofy self." Her
face reddened further as her eyes darted from side to side. "That's all
I wanted to say." 

Kenshin beamed at his supposed rescuer; his guardian angel. "Thank you."

"I'd hate to break this tear-inducing reunion, but... Ah, who am I
kidding? I'd _love_ to break this gag-inducing sap-fest! ZOINK!" the
ragged, handicapped, and torn-apart Hiruma quipped before emerging right
behind Botan and, with an unwavering snap of his double-jointed jaws,
swallowed the unfortunate shinigami whole in one fluid motion. "HAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I told you that there's a reason for
you to be here, my blue-haired honey! Even though you've been troubling
me from the very start, you've also helped me in quite a lot of pickles!
For one thing, you kept Battousai from finishing me off up until now, so
thanks a lot! You've been fulfilling your role as damsel-in-distress and
_bait_ quite well for a death god!"

"BOTAAAAAN!" Kenshin screamed as a flash of raging sunlight burned his
eyes, his Demon Sword at the ready. 

"Ah, ah, ah! Stay right there, my dear Battousai! You wouldn't want to
accidentally hurt or kill the shinigami inside of me, would you? She's
as fragile as a baby inside a womb right now, so be careful of what you
do to me!" Hiruma needled his angry opponent, well aware of the demon-
slayer's innate yet paradoxical sympathy to both friend and foe. It was
the only reason why Genbu's fight went on for so long, and why Yusuke
was debilitated in his battle with Rando in the first place. The
swordsman was way too soft and compassionate to what basically amounted
to as cannon fodder and nuisances, and that usually compromises most of
his otherwise one-sided matches. So of course the manipulative 'Iehik'
side of the fused chimera would take full advantage of that very
weakness.

Thusly, expectedly, Kenshin the Battousai held his ground in fear of
hurting Botan, leaving him wide open to a variety of attacks from
Hiruma. "Good boy! Just stay there, my pretty! BYAKKO SHU!" The demon
violently shoulder-tackled the swordsman spirit, unleashing a metric ton
of force that sent the latter reeling backwards, the ground underneath
his feet turning into two long dusty trenches as he sailed right towards
the entrance of the sealed Genkai dojo. A swirling fountain of fractured
wooden chips and sawdust followed afterwards.

"You coward," Kenshin spat as he got up on two shaky feet, wiping his
face off of faux blood, wood splinters, and ectoplasm, but did nothing
else.

"So what if I am? I'm winning this fight, aren't I? Absolutely anything
goes in a real fight!" Hiruma retorted as he finally attended to his
earlier injuries, taking his sweet time to regenerate his cut-up body
as his foe continued to hesitate to attack. Absorbing Botan into him not
only helped in keeping Kenshin at bay, but also assisted him in his
healing process. "I fully realize that against Battousai, my incredible
abilities are next to nothing; but against Himura Kenshin, I actually
have a chance to win! And with the shinigami as my captive, you can't
exactly use your ruthlessness and full power to your advantage, can
you?"

After leading the Battousai/Kenshin Himura on a long, convoluted fight,
Hiruma paused for a moment to give his hodgepodge body a chance to rest,
going down on one knee in exhaustion. Even after gaining the powers of
two Shisejyu at his fingertips, he could only be pushed so far. He took
a quick peek backward, expecting to see Kenshin recovering from his last
attack, but there was nobody there. A scowl appeared on his ugly face.

With a feeling of intense annoyance, Hiruma wondered, 'Where did he go
to? Did he finally get tired and escaped? No, that's impossible. Now
that he's not the Battousai anymore, he needs to feed onto Urameshi
Yusuke's ki to continue to exist, or else he'll fade into oblivion. He's
got to be here somewhere.' However, the beast's thoughts were also
tinged with relief. He was reluctant to admit it, but he had been more
than a little bothered by the Battousai's unexpected speed and stamina.

With his Shisejyu body, Iehog's fusion powers, and Iehik's psychic
powers, Hiruma shouldn't have had too much trouble outpacing any mortal
in a fight. However, it seemed that the Battousai and even Kenshin
himself were keeping up with him without too much effort. True, his
enemy wasn't able to actually finish him off, but still... 

Hiruma quickly shoved the thought aside as trivial. He glanced around,
but there was still no sign of his enemy. Finally, after impatiently
waiting several minutes, he swore in frustration and stalked off down
the patio. He was desperately eager for this battle. He wanted to see
Kenshin's ectoplasm spilling all over the ground. He wanted to see the
swordsman cease to exist.

Kenshin suddenly appeared in front of Hiruma from out of nowhere, doing
a quick battou-jutsu strike that would have cut the monster in half had
he not faltered in mid-strike for fear of cutting the shinigami along
with his youkai nemesis. The attack still came quicker than Hiruma
expected, though nowhere near too fast for him to deal with, at least
compared to the Battousai's unearthly speed.

Hiruma backed away, watching Kenshin carefully as he assessed the damage
inflicted upon him. Kenshin looked on, seeing if he too could gauge the
strike's effect from the beast's reaction. Hiruma wiped a small line of
blood on his chest, then snorted derisively, "Is that the best you've
got? You disappoint me, samurai. It looks like I was right; without
turning into the Battousai, Himura Kenshin is less than nothing against
me!"

Kenshin didn't answer the accusation, which the chimera took as a cue to
resume his berserker assault, but the former reacted immediately this
time around, dodging with an impressive duck, roll, and tumble maneuver
to avoid the demonic lariat that could have taken his head off had he
not been so dexterous. But Hiruma expected all this as he abandoned his
blatant open-handed gestures and tightened his stance to that of a more
experienced brawler. "Ah, so you still have some fight in you left.
Well, well. Just be careful of what you'll do next, Himura Kenshin. Your
girlfriend's life may depend on it."

Now that the battle had returned to a more traditional format, the
swordsman himself employed a more defensive strategy. He allowed Hiruma
to explore his defenses with an early wave of hesitant strikes. When he
did not strike back, the youkai grew bolder, lashing out ever quicker
with his huge Shisejyu hands and the longer reach his nearly seven-foot
form afforded him. The hundred-something-year-old spirit's continued
evasions served to increase Hiruma's feelings of self-assurance and
bluster as he gradually increased the pace of his attack.

All Kenshin could do was dodge blow after tireless blow; his body fell
into an odd sort of autopilot as he tried to figure some way out of this
situation. How was he supposed to save Botan's life? How was he supposed
to save himself from becoming the Battousai while still saving Botan's
life at the same time? How was he supposed to defeat Hiruma without
killing Botan? He had no ready answers, and the extra space he had
afforded from earlier was rapidly diminishing as the snarling creature
drove him in an ever tightening circle. He tried to jump, but lost his
balance in the attempt. It was almost all over.

And then Kenshin attacked, straightening his form as he changed tempo
through faltering steps. Hiruma's assuredness in fighting someone that
seemed unwilling to fight back made him careless. It was the moment
Kenshin had been waiting for as he slashed and pummeled the monster with
sword and sheathe strikes in the openings instinctively provided. The
two blows landed solidly, making the bigger demon stagger back from
shock. Perhaps the former rurouni could have landed another hit, but he
opted to back off rather than test just how fast Hiruma could recover.

Hiruma smiled a rictus, bloodcurdling grin. "I've noticed that you
didn't even bother cutting up my abdomen during your counterattack,
unlike before. I wonder why? You've lost this exchange as a result, in
any case." The behemoth subsequently did something rather peculiar; he
tore apart his already wounded dragon arm and let Seiryu's bluish blood
spray against the dumbstruck Kenshin for some reason. This proved to be
a savvy tactic, as the subzero liquid quickly froze the redhead solid,
hardening like a thick layer of Plaster of Paris on his ghostly skin.
The monster then charged fervently, shoving both the Kaiwan and his
Seiryu arm onto the immobile warrior's form to induce maximum impact and
damage.

Adding insult to injury, Hiruma derided, "By the way, your blue-haired 
girlfriend tasted absolutely delicious! I only wish I could've eaten her
in some other way that would have been more satisfying to the both of
us. Know what I mean?" He snaked his tongue out and licked his lips in
an evident display for Kenshin's benefit. The latter kept from revealing
his disgust; he would not allow the demon the satisfaction of knowing
that his taunting was getting to him. Exasperating such a monster could
only give him an advantage. If only he could somehow turn the tables in
this seemingly hopeless situation by at least throwing some insult that
would get under the demon's skin. Something. Anything.

Because Kenshin and the others discovered long ago that the youkai
working under the Chojin increased their power by feeding upon the
despair, sorrow, rage, and trauma of other people--growing ever stronger
from the fuel of negative emotions hurled against them like adding fuel
to a fire--he was highly suspicious of where Hiruma was getting all his
current strength. Supporting multiple beings in one body must've taken
a huge amount of energy, and that energy wasn't something readily
accessible to the colossus.

Then Kenshin remembered the cloaked Onmyouji that appeared earlier; a
being whom the Chojin himself entrusted as a conduit for his limitless
jaki; the creature of the night who helped Rando and the Shisejyu become
stronger; and suddenly everything made sense. 

That, coupled with the fact that Hiruma was confused in regards to
whether or not he wanted to defeat, kill, or induce the Battousai state
upon Kenshin, made the swordsman realize that the demon was merely a
puppet to the Chojin's machinations. The Onmyouji had been the one
secretly supplying the beast with infinite jaki, and there was more to
the current fight than just mere revenge for the Hiruma brothers' fate.

The Chojin had been pulling everyone's strings from the very start, and
this fight was his subtle way of gauging whether or not Kenshin posed a
threat to him.

As such, the reeling Kenshin decided to let the cat out of the bag at
that moment by straightforwardly asking Hiruma, "Didn't you just say
that whether you win or lose, you'll still win? So why are you trying so
hard to beat me right now?"

"B-B-Because!" Hiruma's voice wavered uncertainly. "You don't need to 
know! I-I mean, I can beat you at any time at all, b-but even if you do
manage to kill me, you still lose! That only means that... that...
you're fighting a losing battle! B-But, if I were able to beat you,
then I would win... some more! Yeah, a-and I'd rather I beat you and
get the sword for myself than merely dying to... to... turn you into
the Battousai." Soon, even the merged demon himself realized the
contradictions behind his reasoning.

"Are you even aware of your actions, demon?" Kenshin resumed his
obstinate advance. "You imbecile. You don't have any idea of what you're
doing."

"How dare you!" Hiruma hated the way Kenshin made him sputter, despite
the fact that he had this fight nearly won.

"You have no idea of what you're doing because someone else is making
you do the things you do, you stupid puppet."

"Bullshit! I know exactly what I'm doing! I'm making you suffer in every
way possible! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Can you explain what you want to do with me? Or why your memories are
so fractured?" the Battousai callously rejoined.

"Shut up! I'm not a puppet! You're lying!" Hiruma shook his head in
frantic denial.

"Then prove otherwise," came Kenshin's sharp retort. "What do you want
to do? Kill me and get the Demon Sword? Make me kill you so that I can
become the Battousai? Use Botan to save your hide by hiding underneath
her kimono, yet still continue to prattle on about me fighting a
hopeless fight? Do you even realize where you've been getting your jaki
after all this time?"

"That's all part of my plan!"

"What's your plan, then?"

"Like I'm going to tell you! Fuck off, asshole!" hissed Hiruma. 

The youkiri stated in a scornful tone, "I don't think you planned any of
this."

"I did!" insisted Hiruma, sounding more immature with each passing
moment.

The Battousai maintained, "You're too disadvantaged by your plan. It
makes no logical sense whatsoever."

"That's complete bullshit!" Hiruma angrily roared and snarled in a
combination of denial and aggravation.

At that moment, even though it was just talk, Kenshin transformed into
the Battousai once more. And while Kenshin might have sighed and
harrumphed at Hiruma's plight in pity and irritation, the Battousai
would never do such a foolish thing. He would never provide his enemy
the benefit of mercy. Indeed, his lack of compassion during combat was
what separated him from Kenshin.

"Think for a minute," the Battousai implored, "and try to remember who
you two were. Kihei was a master schemer, and Gohei had somewhat
passable sword skills. But most importantly, you two had goals and
motivations, no matter how petty and illegal they might be. At the very
least, you weren't total morons. Now look at yourself. You're ranting
and throwing a fit like a helpless infant, unable to come up with a
logical purpose or justification for any of your actions. I assure you,
you're no puppet master."

"You're just trying to trick me!"

"Trick you to do what? I thought you had plans. The Chojin may have
given you the chance for vengeance, but it has cost you both dearly.
You're nothing but mere pawns to the Overfiend's chess game, nothing
more."

"Shut up!"

"How does it feel to realize that your whole reason for existence was to
help the Chojin decide whether I'm an asset or liability to him and his
diabolical schemes?"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" And so Hiruma charged blindly when he should
have charged smartly, which was what the Battousai was counting on in
the first place. Death and destruction ensued.

Fear was an emotion that all humans felt at one time or another. It made
them cautious, careful. Many humans run when they confront fear. Fear
could be a barrier, a challenge, or an obstacle.

Hiruma, a demon, was afraid; he was feeling an emotion that his old
selves, Kihei and Gohei, hadn't felt for a long time. That wasn't really
true, per se, but the kind of fear that demons felt was far different
from the kind of fear that humans felt. For all intents and purposes,
Hiruma was feeling the human kind of fear.


***


To be Continued...

Next: Saving grace.

The martial arts technique Kenshin was doing in the middle of a
speech about it is based on a spoof found in DC Comic's "DC One
Million". The scene where Hiruma's mind deteriorates is based on a
similar interrogation scene in MadamHydra's opus, "That Which
Lingers". All rights reserved.

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.

Paalam!
Abdiel