[FFML] [yyh][ry][rewrite] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 9: Over the Horizon (Part 3)

[Abdiel]

"Keiko-chan! Keiko-chan, wake up!" Genkai beseeched to Keiko Yukimura
while Kuwabara talked to Fujita. "Everything is fine now. It's all
over. You're free from Seiryu's grasp. You're going to be okay."

Keiko's eyes fluttered open. "G-Genkai-baasan?" The young girl stared
into the night sky blankly, as if she were looking for the twinkle
in her glassy eyes amongst the stars themselves. "I can't see anything
else except the stars, grandma."

Genkai repeated her reassurances to Keiko, even though she herself had
begun to doubt them.

Keiko smiled wanly. "I especially like that bright star twinkling beside
the big dipper. It looks pretty."

Genkai's face paled as she swung her head towards the skies and looked
at the star Keiko was smiling at: the Harbinger of Death, the legendary
bad omen that assured anyone's death within a month of seeing it. 'By
Enma Daio's beard, what has Seiryu done?' 

Keiko's eyes then slowly closed.


________________________________________________________________________


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

Yusuke's true battle is not with Rando, but with his own inimitable 
sadness.

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9: Over the Horizon (Part 3)
________________________________________________________________________



Before Yusuke could even react, the floor beneath him was split in half
care of an incredible, imperceptible force. His blood spilled on the
halved ground shortly after. 

'A blade that can cut through spaces and dimensions--the Jigen Tou!'
Realization dawned upon Yusuke fairly quickly as he looked at the
direction where his nemesis supposedly lay. "You never learn, do you?
This time, I'll break you in half instead of that sword!" the half-demon
hissed before disappearing in the blink of an eye. 

'Yusuke-dono, NO! Have you forgotten everything that I've just told
you?' Kenshin cried out psychically in alarm, but to no avail. It was
too late.

"What? You're doing that again? Urameshi, you're _too_ much," Rando
drolly remarked, smirking. He proceeded to swing the Dimension Sword
around him repeatedly, leaving streaks of light in the air as he ripped
and sliced the hapless half-demon apart from a safe distance. 

Yusuke landed in the most pain he'd ever had in his life. Worse than
Suzako's electrical shocks. Worse than a punch from a full-powered,
hundred-percent Toguro. Worse than the shots he took from Sensui's--
actually, "Kazuya's"--Gun. This exquisite agony was beyond anything
he'd ever experienced. The fact that he couldn't even summon any reiki
to buffer the pain left him in even more pain. He staggered to his feet
and looked at Rando contemptuously.

"It looks like I've made you bloodier than before," Rando observed as
he surveyed the damage his opponent took. 'I won't take any stupid
chances this time. I'll make sure that I'll win. Demons! Dog pile the
human scum,' the pale-faced youkai mentally instructed the survivors of
the Urameshi massacre. They obediently did as they were told.

Rando pondered, "Hmmm. Should I cut your head off with the Jigen Tou or
suck you dry with a Blood Wind used on _your_ blood? Which one, which
one? Which technique shall I use to finally be rid of you once and for
all?"

"Rando, you spineless son of a bitch; you don't have any guts!" Yusuke
raged amidst the numbness and pandemonium that surrounded him.

Ignoring Yusuke's seething words, Rando exclaimed, "I know! I'll use
both techniques on you; first the Jigen Tou, then the Blood Wind. It's
brilliant, I say! Pure genius." He smiled a wicked, harlequin smile, the
edges of his lips seemingly reaching all the way to his eyes. "I told
you that I'd win over you _absolutely_."


***


'Yusuke's in big trouble,' Kenshin deduced calmly as his legs buckled
underneath him, his blood spilling on the ground. 'It's now time for our 
counterattack.'

Kenshin had ascertained long ago that while Genbu was unquestionably
fast and strong on land, his actual skill level was greatly inferior to
his. It was the swordsman's desperation to end the fight--coupled with
Yusuke's reckless imprudence--that led to their current debacle. The
Shisejyu was merely a pawn to the whiles of a bigger pawn, Rando. 'And
Rando, in turn, is the pawn of the true 'King' of this demented chess
game: the Chojin.'

After adjusting his tactics to compensate for his opponent's raw
physical abilities, Kenshin had found an opening in the Holy Beast's
defenses; he could now launch his long awaited counterattack.

Shrugging off the effects of Yusuke's mind-numbing agony, Kenshin darted
out of the way of another Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan and went for broke into
the heart of the devastation.

In a split second, he knew what he had to do. Running with godlike
speed, he hit his sword unto the ground and unleashed a furious Dou Ryu
Sen maneuver.

"Oh please, _please_ don't use that damn technique on me again. I might
die... of boredom," Genbu heckled, unaware of the hell that awaited him.

Kenshin's battle plan was finally complete. The self-destruction
technique was carried out at last. By loosening up the ground with his
multiple Dou Ryu Sen while leading Genbu towards the center of the
desolation, Kenshin had baited his enemy into his unforeseeable trap.

Ironically, it was Genbu who helped Kenshin defeat Genbu. All of the
Saint Beast's techniques were based on grinding down the land that
surrounded him. The combined powers of the Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan and
the Dou Ryu Sen were the main factors to what happened next.

The collective weight of crushed earth caved in, collapsing into the
focal point of Kenshin's strike. Genbu stood in stunned silence as the
ground opened up and swallowed him whole, howling at the last minute as
the force of the falling debris overwhelmed him. The rumbling abruptly
stopped a minute later.

"Y-Y-You lied, samurai. You said that I had the potential to become a
fairly decent warrior. But the truth is, t-that's a steaming p-pile of
demon shit. If there w-were such a thing as a Level-E monster, then I'd
be it. I'm lower than dirt. Hell, I _am_ dirt." Genbu chuckled hoarsely
as he held his inevitable destruction at bay with one last Tetsuzan
Kou. Although his body became as large as a house, its unstable
foundation started to take its toll on him.

Kenshin wanted to reply to Genbu's pitiful outburst, but he ultimately
deemed that there was nothing left for him to say.

'Damn you. Damn you for making me think I'm more than what I truly am. 
Damn you for making me die a warrior's death, even though a coward like
me doesn't deserve it.'

Eventually, the foundations of the Shisejyu's gargantuan mass became so
unstable that the gravitational pull of his own weight overcame the
quantum boundary, eventually collapsing in on itself in an inimitable
vortex of oblivion.

Pure obliteration soon followed as dust filled the air. Tons of earth
merged upward then fell down, with nearly a third of the landmass
collapsing into an eroding sandpit thanks to Kenshin's desperation move.
Much of it fell directly on top of Genbu's crumbling carcass, since
that was where the wave of destruction was aimed. Then, when everything
was said and done, there was silence. For five long minutes, the dust
settled. 

Kenshin breathed a sigh of catharsis and a silent prayer for his
Shisejyu opponent. To Genbu's credit, their fight ended with a bang
instead of a whimper.


***


"G-Great! You found K-Keiko-chan!" Kazuma Kuwabara cheered to Genkai as
he shook off the remnants of frostbite in his body. He sneezed. 'Damn
this cold, and damn Seiryu! I hope he's burning in hell for what he did
to all of us, especially to Keiko-chan.'

The curly youth smilingly sighed at Keiko's quiescent form. 'In any
case, at least things still worked out in the end like they always do.
I'm all right, Genkai-baasan's all right, and Keiko-chan's all right.
There's nothing to worry about.'

Kuwabara subsequently blinked at the old woman as she proceeded to kneel
down beside Keiko and stare at her. Puzzled, he asked, "Hey. What's up,
granny? What're you doing down there?" 

Kuwabara's questions were met with grim silence.

'Don't worry so much, granny. She's okay. Look, she's just sleeping.'
Kuwabara sniffled, tilting his head and gawking peculiarly at the silly
old woman. Honestly, sometimes he simply could not understand what was
going on in that head of hers. 'Shit, we don't have time for this. We've
got to get out of this dump.'

"C'mon, Genkai-baasan! Let's move Keiko out of this place and into your
dojo so she could get well, um, soon," Kuwabara pleaded as he started to
extend an arm towards the motionless girl's direction. Genkai hastily
slapped the redhead's hand away.

"OW! Hey! What's the matter? Didn't you hear what I just said? We have
to...!"

"Take off your clothes," was what Kuwabara heard Genkai say. No, that
couldn't be right. She couldn't have said that. Why should she? Perhaps
she said, "Take off and go," instead. Truth be told, he'd rather comply
with the latter than the former. 

Nevertheless, to Kuwabara's vexation, Genkai repeated her dreaded demand
after a few seconds. As realization dawned to the stalwart young spirit
detective, his heart stopped beating for a full second; it then got
caught in his throat as Genkai started to remove her own vest. "Er...
pardon?"

"I said take it off and give it to me! Stop making me repeat myself! Are
you going to do it or will I do it for you?" Genkai snapped at the
younger man, the urgency in her voice quite obvious.

Kuwabara didn't quite know how to reply to that. His face passed through
several shades of red, from embarrassed scarlet to a revolted maroon, as
he tried his very best to ignore the implication behind Genkai's words. 

"I don't have time for this," muttered Genkai as she stood up and
pounced on Kuwabara; the two wrestled briefly on the icy ground before
the Spirit Wave Master gained the upper hand. She went on to unbutton
the young man's coat.

'What in the _blue hell_ is going on?' Kuwabara thought in distress.


***


Going in sync with Kenshin at that opportune time, Yusuke mentally
shrugged off the effects of his nigh-crippling pain. From there, he shot
out of the demonic dog pile like a bat out of hell just as Rando landed
his first strike.

Blood was spilled endlessly as one demon after the other was brutally
and efficiently sliced to death. Body parts that were as assorted and
varied as the menagerie of beasts from which they came from were strewn
everywhere. Rando slaughtered all of his minions pitilessly and
mercilessly.

"You moron! You killed your own men without even getting a scratch on
me!" Yusuke taunted as he made his way to the center of the dojo.

"They'll better serve me this way," Rando explained equably, then
declared, "BLOOD WIND!"

The multicolored blood of the deceased demon horde coalesced into a
highly compressed and extremely massive maelstrom, far bigger than the
earlier Blood Wind. Its suction and velocity were so strong that its
gale winds literally crushed everything in its path into powder and
dust.

Feeling the intense power that added even more exhaustion to his already 
fatigued self, Yusuke bit his lip as he resisted getting vacuumed into
the wild abyss. Whole chunks of the floor were smashed into bits as
hundreds of sharp and small shards of debris whirled around in frenzy
care of the tornado headed towards his direction. But it still wasn't 
nough for Rando.

"SPIRIT GUILLOTINES!" Rando beckoned as he literally shoved all his
techniques en masse towards the errant Spirit Detective Leader.

"URAMESHI'S EXPLOSIVE PUNCH TO THE GROUND!" Yusuke countered as he did
exactly as he said.

"HA! _That's_ the best you can do against my powerful skills? A stupid
punch to the...?" Rando quickly ate his words, and the plaster that came
with them, as the unexpected happened. They left a very bitter taste in
his mouth.

The wood and concrete foundations of the dojo groaned in unison, the
walls sliding away from one another. The unstable ground buckled into
itself, creating a sinking pit of doom as it finally gave in to Yusuke's
previous exertions. 

'The structure's collapsing into itself because of the unstable floor!'
the anemic demon noted in distress. Then the walls came tumbling down.
Yusuke's last punch was indeed the proverbial straw that broke the
camel's back.

Neither the Blood Wind nor the Spirit Guillotines stood a chance against
the dojo demolition of epic proportions. The devastation filled the air
with tons of plaster falling down and nearly a third of the training
hall collapsing unto itself thanks to Yusuke's desperation move. Much of
it fell directly on top of Rando, since that was where the wave of
destruction was aimed. Then, when everything from above had fallen,
there was silence.

For ten long minutes, the dust settled. Then the calm was disrupted
again by a resounding boom as a fist disintegrated some of the debris.
Slowly, painfully, Rando dragged himself to the surface.

As the demon's head poked into the top of the wreckage, he was shocked
to see Yusuke standing over him and waiting patiently. While the boy
looked dirty and worn out, he was none the worse for wear.

The Master of a Hundred and One Tactics stared at Yusuke in disbelief.
"What? How? What? Dammit, WHAT?"

After pondering for a second whether he should help clear Rando's
befuddlement or not, Yusuke ultimately announced, "I think I'll kill you
now," and smashed a slab of debris on the youkai's head.

Unfortunately, Yusuke missed. The red, white, and blue blur that blasted
off from the pile of wreckage was proof of that. Rando went charging
through the temple, blindly hitting and breaking through the rubble and
the gingerbread columns.

"Shit! What the hell does it take to kill you, you stupid bastard?"
Yusuke cursed as he chased after his demonic foe. Minutes later, Rando
went flying through the rubble-filled temple.

Rando flinched as he slowly got up from the ruins, completely exhausted.
The demon limped across the trail of crushed and powdered fragments of
what was once the floor, a nasty scowl plastered on his face. 

"Is this the best that you can do? Surely you can do better." 

Surprisingly enough, the voice Rando heard wasn't Yusuke's at all.
Instead, it belonged to the one person that he both respected and
admired; the last rational and sane being in the entirety of the three
worlds.

'Chojin-sama.'

"After all, in this world, the flesh of the weak is the food of the
strong. The strong live, the weak die."

'Strength? What a loaded word, master.'

"So what are you? An insect or a god? You decide for yourself."

Slowly, surely, Rando focused his attention to his nemesis; no, his
prey. His heartbeat started to gradually rise. 'I will not give up. I
will never give up. I have never quit in anything in my life, and I'm
not about to start now.' 

"You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you otherwise." As
the Chojin in his mind said those words, Rando let his thoughts turn
black. He raised his hand, palm outstretched, as even now he was cloaked
in a dark aura. He snarled in an abnormally deep baritone as he
struggled to keep his posture straight. 

Yusuke gasped in surprise as the youkai suddenly vanished. He had just
started to turn around when he heard a soft thump from behind and felt
an instantaneous series of taps across his lower back and shoulders.

He tried to react with hooks to his attacker's chest and head, but
instead fell when only his body moved, his arms flopping numbly and his
legs frozen. He hit the floor left shoulder first with a dull thud.

"KUGAI!" Rando stated proudly after executing his stolen Shaolin
Pressure Point Technique.

Before, Yusuke experienced what it was like for his world to explode.
This time, he felt it shatter into a thousand pieces, emptied out, and
silenced.

At that moment, a thousand pathetic moans and cries of agony echoed
inside his asphyxiated mind.


***


Kenshin felt something was horribly amiss.

'What...?'

Amber flames of malice and anguish replaced the lavender hue of
Kenshin's kindly eyes as a fog gradually gathered around him.


***


'I can't believe this is happening,' Kuwabara reflected in alarm, too
shocked to move or struggle. 'Maybe if she transformed into her younger
form, then it'd be--No! What the hell am I thinking? Shit, she might
even transform back into an old crone in the middle of an...!'

Once Genkai got a hold of Kuwabara's upper garments, she got off the 
flabbergasted teen and headed towards Keiko's direction. She proceeded
to gently drape both his and her vests over Keiko's prone form like
impromptu blankets.

'Ah. She needed our coats to keep Keiko's body warm. Silly me.' Kuwabara
heaved a relieved sigh, his face still beet red. He shielded his topless
form with his arms and jibed, "So should I do a little dance number
next?" 

Predictably, Genkai didn't even dignify Kuwabara's infantile statement
with a response. "All right, all right; so you got Keiko-chan all
wrapped up and stuff. Can we go _now_, granny? This place is giving me
the creeps," he pleaded.

"We can't go back to the dojo," Genkai brusquely replied as she summoned
what little ki she had left, gingerly distributing it all over Keiko's
body. She grimaced.

"What do you mean we can't go back?" Kuwabara insistently prodded,
crossing his arms over his chest indignantly. "That's crazy! How can
that not be an option?"

"Yusuke and Himura-san are probably still battling Rando and Genbu at
the dojo; we'll be going back to a battlefield. It'd be much safer for
us to remain here for the time being."

Kuwabara sighed as he inclined his head and raised an eyebrow at
Yusuke's former mentor. "Wait. Hold the Udon. There are more monsters
here _other_ than the Shisejyu I've already seen? And who the hell is
'Himura-san'? Also, Rando's still alive? Dammit, that little imp still
owes me big time for stealing my precious technique!" he griped mostly
to himself. 

Responding in kind to Genkai's lack of a response, Kuwabara noiselessly
observed the elderly woman's strange antics. His eyes boggled as she
started to remove Keiko's uniform, underwear and all. "H-Hey! What the
heck are you doing _this time_? Wait...!"

After unceremoniously stripping Keiko naked, the aged martial artist
resumed her ministrations. She this time opted to warm the young girl's
body up by transferring her own body heat with gentle massages and the 
occasional warm embrace. Kuwabara couldn't help but stare at the
bizarre scene, flabbergasted beyond words.

Genkai continued to knead the sinews in Keiko's back, feeling the
muscles loosen beneath her fingertips as she worked. Keiko's breathing
grew slower and deeper as the calming massage took effect. 'But still,
even now...' Genkai gulped as she wiped the bullets of sweat off of her
forehead. 

"Have you completely lost your mind? Stop this, granny! This is just...
wrong!" Despite himself and his complaints, he hazarded another look at
the unclothed young girl.

Keiko seemed perfectly fine. She wasn't reflexively shivering and her
complexion was mostly rosy pink and virtually flawless. He felt his own
face heat up at his latter assessment--yep, definitely pink.

'So she couldn't possibly be suffering from hyper, um, bulimia or
whatever, could she? Frostbite's all about blisters, bluish skin, and
endless shivering; Keiko-chan's having none of that. I mean, she looks
perfectly healthy! What's with all the touchy-feely grabbing? Either
granny's gone senile or she's decided to come out of the closet _now_ of
all times.'

Kuwabara's brows furrowed as Genkai again covered Keiko's nude body up
with their coats. Soon, to his bewilderment, she began applying
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Rescue Breathing on Keiko's unmoving
form. 

'CPR? Mouth to mouth? On Keiko-chan? What for? She didn't drown or
anything!' Kuwabara bit his lip, wiping his balmy hands on either side
of his pants while trying to ignore the fact that, in spite of Genkai's
best efforts, Keiko could not be roused from her blissful sleep. 'No.
Stop it. STOP IT, YOU CRAZY OLD BITCH! She's fine, dammit.'


***


Yusuke's eyes widened in shock; he afterwards blinked at the feeling of
a forgotten urgency. He felt that there was something different about
himself. He couldn't explain it. Everything was where it was supposed to
be, yet at the same time everything just _changed_. His world swirled
all around him, merging into utter nonsense.

Yusuke almost couldn't believe what was happening. One moment, he was
fighting a good fight against an old foe, and the next moment he was...
he was... what?

Where was he? What was happening?

He went into complete panic mode when his mind was unable to register
what just happened. To make matters worse, an anesthetizing coldness
shocked his system and he felt his whole being start to go numb even as
he strove to swim back towards the surface of sanity and consciousness. 

Then he thought someone took hold of his hand. He turned his head, and
there was a girl beside him, holding him down as though he were lying on
a bed and she was merely dropping by to visit him. He tried to look
closely at her, but his vision was blurry.

All he could make out was her short, brown hair that floated and flowed
all about her lovely face. Yes, he knew she was beautiful even though he
couldn't make out her features. He'd never admit it to her, but he knew.
She then disappeared, replaced by an emptiness that gripped his very
soul.

Deeper and deeper, the impenetrable void pushed him, and because of his
lost bearings, his mind began to wander. In time, a fleeting thought
visited him, only to be replaced by another one more fleeting than the
last. The ideas in his head became desultory, drowned by memories that
may or may not be his. 
He struggled to breathe, to rouse himself back to reality and awareness,
to break through the flat darkness, to make his mind and heart get
him there, but his body did not respond. Then, at that very moment, the
numbness that permeated in his whole being was shattered by a plethora
of...

Coldness. He gnashed his teeth as he felt coldness beyond mere cold. It
was as if Death himself embraced him. Through his chattering teeth, he
was able to stutter, "W-What is this?!" 

'K-Kuwabara? This is Kuwabara's pain?' Yusuke belatedly thought as the
cold agony made the darkness flash before his eyes. He could feel his
longtime rival's presence inside his head, haunting his delusional mind.
'Why am I feeling his pain?'

Yusuke's trembled in searing agony, the pressure of his own injuries too
much for his exhausted state to handle. He felt shame and embarrassment
for almost fainting like a helpless old woman.

'I feel so weak. I wish... No! Genkai-baasan! _She's_ the one who's
feeling helpless, not me! I shouldn't be feeling like this. What the
hell is going on?'

Yusuke afterwards heard a maniacal, inhuman laugh as he stared straight
into the eyes of lunacy.

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

Frustration. Anger. Hatred. Violence. Retribution. Vengeance. All those
emotions, Yusuke felt; they besieged him.

'I've hated you even after the Chojin made me go mad with power just to
prevent me from murdering you. I hate you so much that I would kill you
and revive you repeatedly just to kill you again and again.'

Byakko's last cackle before his body shattered into cold, brittle pieces
echoed inside Yusuke's psyche. 

The Reikai Tantei struggled long and hard to stabilize his panicked
breathing. 'I'm not Byakko. These thoughts aren't mine. Byakko's dead...
again... and I'm alive. This isn't what I'm feeling right now. This
isn't what I'm supposed to feel. Besides, who did he want to kill again
and again anyway?'

As if on cue, pain seared on all four limbs of Yusuke's body while the
numerous other injuries on his person vied for his attention. It was
pain that wasn't supposed to be there. It was pain that he wasn't
supposed to feel because it wasn't his in the first place.

'S-Seiryu...?' Yusuke shuddered in disgust as he felt the Blue Dragon
Shisejyu's reptilian presence in him. 'But he's dead! I don't know how
or why I know this, but he is! So why am I feeling _his_ pain? Is this
suffering coming from his ghost? Why would his ghost continue to

suffer?'

Yusuke screamed as he nearly tore his hair out; the emotions that
brimmed inside him proved too much for his mind to handle.

Yusuke struggled to remember his present situation, pointedly ignoring
the alien pain and anxiety that he felt. Nearly blacking out with the
incredible amount of suffering and emotional trauma he was subjected to,
he clung to one particular thought: His friends were hurt and Rando must
pay.

'I can feel it; I can feel their pain; all their pain. Kenshin's.
Genkai's. Kuwabara's. The Shisejyu's. Dammit, Rando, what have you done
to me?'

He subsequently remembered something he felt he shouldn't be remembering
because it was an event that never happened to him. He had been
replaying in his mind a memory that didn't belong to him over and over.
He recalled and forgot about it repeatedly, up until the point where he
now realized what it meant. He hated himself for realizing its meaning.

As comprehension dawned to him, he wished that the recurring images
would stop. But they never did. They kept on playing continually,
mercilessly, up until all that was left of his mind was madness.

"No."


***


"Botan! Yusuke!" Keiko shouted in panic before coughing hoarsely. She
covered her eyes and ears reflexively as noise and dust assaulted her
senses. As far as she could tell, she was floating off the ground in
unknown heights by a dusty hurricane of sorts. She prayed that somehow,
somewhere, 'that idiot Yusuke' was safe before she altogether lost her
bearings.

Then, as soon as the earthy tempest started, it stopped. She opened
her eyes tentatively as she patted the ground with her hands; the solid
ground. She exhaled a sigh of relief as she sat up and further surveyed
her surroundings. It seemed that she was on a cliff of some sort,
probably on the other side of the mountain. She wasn't completely sure.

The teenage girl looked up the sky and saw the beautiful, sparkling star
just beside the big dipper once more, her round face illuminated by the
pale moonlight. She afterwards felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Y-
Yusuke?" she queried hopefully as she looked over her shoulder.

She noticed that the hand felt deathly cold; colder than a winter gale.

Before Keiko could shriek in panic, time stopped for her altogether. The
bad omen known as the "Harbinger of Death" star had taken yet another
victim.


***


From there, Yusuke's condition progressively worsened. He obviously
'spoke' too soon in regards to his previous thoughts of landing in the
most pain he'd ever had in his life. Compared to what he was feeling
now, his earlier pain felt more like a needle prick. 

Sometimes, Yusuke realized, even the worst expectations were optimistic.


***


"Wake up, dammit, wake up!" Genkai berated Keiko in futility as she did
her best to resuscitate her. 

Kuwabara was taken aback by the old woman's show of extreme anxiety.
Finding his voice, he finally managed to protest, "Stop that, granny!
Keiko's fine, isn't she?" There was a pause. "Well, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hey, hey! Stop your joking. You're scaring me," Kuwabara berated, more
in reassurance to himself than to Genkai. "She's still breathing, see? I
mean, Officer Fujita had already taken care of Seiryu, so the spell or
whatever that the damn Shisejyu cast on her should have vanished by now,
right?"

"No," came Genkai's terse reply. "Even with Seiryu's death, the 'spell'
didn't dissipate at all. I'm afraid that it might actually have done
some permanent damage to Keiko."

For the second time that day, Kuwabara's heart stopped pounding for one
full second as he held his breath in terror. "Oh my god. Seiryu, you 
bastard. What have you done?"

Genkai exhaled audibly, her brow furrowed in thought. 'If only I still
had enough energy in me, then I'd be able to do a Rei Handou on Keiko;
who cares if it might not work? But even that small comfort is out of
my reach.' She cursed under her breath.

"What now, granny? What the hell do we do now?" Kuwabara demanded,
almost pleaded.

"What comes, comes, what withers, withers, sunlight does not last all
day," Genkai whispered after a drawn out sigh.

Following a rather lengthy pause, Kuwabara growled. "There must be a
way. There's always another way."

"That's enough, Kuwa--"

"FUCK THAT! Don't say another word if you're just going to spew out the 
same old bullshit." Kuwabara took up a defiant, truculent stance as he
glared at the smaller Genkai. "What comes, comes? What withers, withers?
We're not talking about pansies here! What sort of a lame excuse for a
saying is that? That's fucked up. Since when did you turn into such a
whiny quitter?" he accused.

Genkai lowered her head, her lips pursed and her eyes downtrodden. She
didn't notice how taken aback Kuwabara was with her reaction. "You don't
understand."

"There's _nothing_ to understand! If Urameshi heard you talk like that,
he'd hit you so hard you'd lose the taste in your mouth. What's the
matter with you, Genkai-baasan? Don't worry so much. There's only one
solution to this problem, and only I have the guts to do it and make it
happen."

Turning towards Kuwabara, Genkai's lips tightened as she spoke. "What
are you talking about, boy? What solution?"

Kuwabara adamantly stared eye-to-eye at the equally defiant Genkai. "My
final solution. I'm going to use all of my soul's ki to rouse Keiko-chan
up from her deep sleep."

Genkai exclaimed, "Fool! You don't even have enough spirit energy left
for yourself! You'll die if you try to give away any more of it!" 

"Don't you think I already know that? It doesn't matter to me! What
matters is that when Urameshi sees Keiko-chan again, she'll be alive and
well! I already did this before when Urameshi nearly died in the Maze
Castle. Who _cares_ if it'll kill me this time? I'll be glad to kick the
bucket! Dying in order to save Keiko-chan's life is a fucking good way
to die! It's the way a real man would die."

"You don't understand, you buffoon! It doesn't work that way. Your self-
indulgent martyrdom is misplaced; it's too late."

"W-What do you mean?"

"She might already be comatose, or worse." Kuwabara looked at Genkai
with bated breath as the old woman let her pensive, cutting words linger
in the air. "She may be far too gone. Even a full ki-transfer may not be
enough to wake her up. Even the Rei Handou..."

Kuwabara fell to his knees, his eyes staring sightlessly at the ground.
"No. It can't be. It doesn't usually end this way. The girl should
always be rescued by the main good guy or one of his buddies. The girl
should always come out safe and sound after the fight. That's how it has
always been. They're not following the fucking script, dammit."

Genkai exhaled ponderously. Even she could not believe the awful truth
behind her fatal diagnosis. Keiko's in a coma; the dreamless, living
death. The old woman looked away, unwilling to behold the doll-like
face of Keiko anymore.

It didn't make things any easier. Genkai had had so much--she had _been_
so much--and what was she now? An old, old woman who had seen too much,
lived too long, and was tired of it all. 

'So much for having a nice and hopeful sentiment, huh?' Genkai snorted
miserably. It wasn't even about her in the first place. Why must she
still be there? What was the point of her being there? Why must Death
take someone so young and let someone of her age survive? It didn't make
any sense to her at all; not at all.


***


"I'll be your Angel of Mercy for today. I'll make sure your death is
swift and painless. After all, I believe that you've gone through enough
suffering already," Rando outright lied to the catatonic Yusuke.

"Now, you should listen to this, because it concerns you. To tell you
the truth, I'm quite proud of what the Kugai can do to a person. Those
crazy Shaolin monks sure knew how to make a technique!" the pale-faced
demon conversationally chattered, eyeing Yusuke's reaction--or lack
thereof. He knew that the spirit detective could still hear him at that
point.

"The Kugai was originally a technique of meditation used by the monks
to, well, 'intercept' and 'collect' the pains and woes of the world unto
themselves, so that they could understand the concept of karma better."

The youkai cackled. "Actually, your bond with the samurai was the very
thing that gave me the idea to use my specialized pressure point
technique. It was designed specifically to make its victim unite
emphatically with everyone that he or she had ever interacted with;
friends, family, enemies, and especially loved ones. You are now
experiencing every kind of woe, problem, and pain that they experience:
every last emotional, physical, and even psychological pain. It's all in
there, in your head."

Rando smiled a sick and demented smile. "So what are you going to do
when the weight of the entire world is thrust upon you, Urameshi
Yusuke?"

Yusuke had only one answer to that. 'Who gives a fuck about the world?
What about Keiko?' 

Yusuke's eyes widened in incredulity. 'Keiko. I felt it. I felt Keiko's
suffering. She's now as good as dead. So it _is_ true... No. No, it's
not. It can't be. It just can't.' His body trembled. 'But I'm feeling
her pain now. All she really wants is for the pain to stop, and to stop
the pain she has to... has to... No.' He fought back the tears. 'I won't
allow it! But she's in so much... NO!'

Not at all caring whether or not Yusuke understood a word he was saying
at that point, Rando looked contemptuously at his piteous captive and
taunted, "Give up, Urameshi. Give up and die within your pitiful shell
of a body."

The demon continued. "Just who do you think you are, thinking that you
can step on everything I've worked so hard to achieve? I'm taking back 
everything you've deprived me of, starting with your life!"

Images began to flood the mindless Yusuke: familiar, yet also beyond the
comprehension of his slowly degenerating, half-demonic mind. Sights and
sounds became blurs of incomprehensibility. It was as if he was staring
into the depths of lunacy itself, his mind shielding itself from
awareness lest the truth of the matter destroyed his sanity beyond
repair.

In Yusuke's mind, green colorless dreams slept furiously.


***


Keiko came in like a lion, and out like a lamb. Instinct, not reason,
guided her to where she was supposed to go. She was surrounded by
visions of Eden and Tartarus; of reprieve and strain; of assuredness
and uncertainty. She understood nothing of what she saw.

Nevertheless, she still felt it; even though her surroundings were that
of paradise and prison, the very personification of the cycle of
rebirth, she still felt deathly uneasy. It was still there, her
forgotten urgency, nagging her in the gut and very much apparent. It
confounded her.

Albeit her current sense of duty to travel the road before her, she
still felt that something was missing. In the corner of her mind, the
nagging sensation was very plain.

Was it a forgotten task? Just how significant was it? This quiet urgency
could even be a who instead of a what; a faceless, nameless man,
perhaps? These were the questions that formed inside her head which she
couldn't air out. It seemed far too silly and trivial to entertain; and
talking to herself would make her look utterly ridiculous to boot.

After all, she was in the midst of doing a far more important mission.
All else was secondary to that task of hers. She had already gotten to a
point of no return, so it was time to for her to cross the supposed
bridge. There was no turning back now.

However, questions and queries still formed at the back of her head,
insistently swimming up to the surface of her mind in droves.

'Since when did _whatever_ become a _mission_ of mine? Besides, what am
I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?' she idly wondered to
herself as she started her inevitable journey.

'If what I'm forgetting is a 'someone', then who could it be? Will he
help me make sense of everything? Or will everything make sense after I
remember him? I hope, for my sake, that remembering him is a _good_ 
thing.' Keiko started to feel nostalgia as the scenery slowly changed
into something that was far more familiar.

Keiko traversed the road so impulsively that she didn't need to confirm
where it led. It was as if she knew beforehand where she was going.
After an extensive hike across a strangely quiet cityscape, she finally
arrived to where she was supposed to be. 

Her eyes widened as a memory flickered in the haze of her mind. 

'Yusuke...!'

So she stood there frozen in front of the apartment where Yusuke
Urameshi and his mother lived, biting her nails as her heart raced.

"Oh my gosh! It's almost twelve o'clock!" she blurted out to herself as
the repressed memory in her mind made itself known. Yusuke was dead; he
died in a car accident while trying to save a young boy's life. Somehow,
through some miracle, he had another chance to live again. She couldn't
fully explain how she knew this, but all the ghostly clues that had been 
occurring around her point to one thing: at that time, only she had the
power to bring Yusuke back to life. 

She saw it in a dream, actually; she was supposed to kiss Yusuke before
the stroke of midnight to revive him or else she'll lose him forever.
Simple enough, right? Keiko blushed at the thought. Needless to say, her
planned course of action embarrassed her a lot. The implications of
kissing Yusuke, of all people, made blood rush to her head. She felt
all lightheaded and dizzy just thinking about it. 

'...Only I have the power to bring Yusuke back to life. If I don't do
it, I'll lose him forever.'

She didn't have the time to think. She didn't have the time to be
embarrassed. She will not lose Yusuke Urameshi for a second time. No
way. She hastily grasped the keys in her shirt's pocket and opened the
locked door of the Urameshi Apartment. She glanced at her watch. Eleven
Fifty-Seven. There wasn't much time left.

She quickly wondered whether or not she should enter the house without
taking off her shoes to save time before taking them off anyway. She
silently berated herself for her moment of hesitation as she sauntered
awkwardly towards the stairs. Eleven Fifty-Nine.

She almost stumbled as she reached the top of the stairs, her breath
barely catching up to the rapid beats of her heart. Was she going to
make it? Or would she fail miserably? She didn't have time to hesitate
now. Failure was not an option. She practically lunged towards Yusuke's
still but strangely luminescent body. She closed her eyes as her parted
lips tenderly touched Yusuke's warm mouth, her tears spilling over her
cheeks. Twelve Midnight.

At that very moment, she had another epiphany. This had already happened
before. Her kiss had indeed revived Yusuke, and he went on to become a
Detective of the Spirit World. In fact, since that fateful day, Yusuke 
had died and revived himself at least one more time. What she was
experiencing now was just a memory, a fantasy, and a mere illusion. Sure
enough, as she opened her eyes, the doppelganger Yusuke was nowhere to
be found. In fact, she wasn't even inside Yusuke's room anymore.

"Where...?" she started, and then choked as her mouth filled with water.
It was only then that she felt the cool, wet pressure of it against her
skin and her open eyes; felt the mild currents flowing around her,
lifting and tugging at her clothes and her auburn hair.


***


The memories flashed through Yusuke's mind mercilessly.

He saw himself tear apart the landscape of the Ankoku Bujutsukai's
stadium with a flash of his phoenix-like ki as he battled against
Toguro the Younger... Hiei... Shinobu Sensui... Yomi... It didn't matter
who the opponent was, he still remembered that intoxicating power.

His senses were so razor sharp, like they were now, that he could see
the world around him without using his eyes. Even when he changed back
into human form, time and again, his body remembered the feeling of
being a mazoku. It recognized the transformation for what it was
because of all the locked memories of the nightmarish day he spent as a
demonic spawn from hell.

Yusuke paused as the significance of that memory struck him to the very
core of his being. The mazoku was still inside him and still a part of
him even when he wasn't under its influence.

He also remembered himself as he aimed his pointer finger straight at a
beat-up and bruised Sensui. He had felt the untamed fury and the rush of
energy as his Rei-Gan blasted and cooked the former spirit detective
alive. He had trembled in frustration as he blasted Yomi's shield with
his demonic You-Gan as his human side and demon side literally waged a
war in the depths of his subconscious before they combined into one.

He remembered.

He remembered the time when his ancestor Raizen possessed him. More
importantly, he also remembered the time when he transformed into a
mazoku in the middle of his epic fight with Yomi.

One last nagging memory entered the young man's throbbing head. He
vaguely remembered the last words Rando said before he drifted into a
waking sleep. 'Just who do you think you are?' the demon had asked. 

A shock of realization rippled through him; his entire self, human and
demon soul alike.

He remembered it all.

The mazoku had been a part of him for years. The symbiotic and demonic
aspect of his soul existed within him, even when it wasn't controlling
him.

'That's it. That's my answer.'

The bloodline of warlords--the millennia-old heritage that Yusuke was a
part of--pulsated to new life. Yusuke grinned as shades of malice danced
within his ebony eyes. 'This is who I truly am.' 

Yusuke awoke.


***


Just as Rando moved to charge forward with one final, deadly strike to
his unresponsive opponent, he cocked an ear suddenly. There was a faint
humming sound coming from somewhere.

'What is that?' he thought to himself in confusion.

The humming sound was louder now; a deep, bass drone. It had been
building for some time, but so gradually that he hadn't noticed it until
almost too late. A faint breeze from out of nowhere entered the busted-
up dojo, stirring the dust around the surrounding wreckage. Then,
suddenly, Rando determined its origin; it was the sound of choleric
tendrils of youki merging and clashing like the waves of the ocean. The
breeze intensified into a stone cold gale as the demon-ki flared even
stronger.

The demonic energy belonged to Yusuke, Rando realized.

The tattooed demon's pale face drained even further of color when he
finally saw Yusuke's answer to his question. 

'Who do you think you are?'

"This is who I truly am."

"What are you babbling about?" Rando demanded in a shrill, panicked
voice.

"I'm saying that I'm a devil who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but
now that dream is over and the devil is awake."

Suspicious, Rando sputtered, "W-Wait. So you think that you're the
devil that's going to change me? No, _I'm_ the devil that's going to
change _you_."

Yusuke grinned. "But you have changed me. See me change before your very
eyes."

Rousing his centuries-old mazoku genes from their dormant slumber,
Yusuke metamorphosed into his full demonic form. Ink-black markings
surrounded his body as his hair grew to about ankle-length. As 
Rando's horror continued to mount, so did Toushin Yusuke's speed,
dexterity, and incredible tolerance to pain.

"His mazoku self has awakened," Rando murmured in near terror. His eyes
then narrowed as his mouth formed into a sneer. "Humph. So what? This
doesn't change a thing! Not at all!"

Yusuke snorted derisively. "You're right. Now, like before and forever
more, you don't stand a chance. You never did."

After all that dialogue, five seconds of the hottest flames anyone
present had ever witnessed reduced the surrounding ruins and fragments
to cinders.

"ZANKUU RETSU JIN!" Rando screamed as he summoned both chakra and youki
into his frayed form, releasing the chaotic mix of energy from his
bloodied hands. An explosion of thunder and pressure quickly followed.

Toushin Yusuke grinned maniacally as he dusted himself off. 'I smell like
a barbecue gone wrong. Oh well. No matter.' He chuckled merrily. He had
some fresh game to hunt for tonight.

Rando gulped as he sensed his half-demon adversary's stare all over
him. Apparently--and ironically--the Kugai had somehow activated
Yusuke's mazoku blood, making him stronger than ever before. Also, it
was quite obvious that petty little parlor tricks like the Zankuu Retsu
Jin just wouldn't cut it anymore.

The redheaded demon harrumphed in frustration despite his growing dread.
'It doesn't even matter that Yusuke had lost all his reiki earlier now
that his body is filled with mazoku _youki_.' He knew that he had to
think of something _fast_ if he wished to survive this encounter.

The half-demon noted that things were different when he was a mazoku. He
didn't have to worry about certain things. He was bigger, stronger,
faster; but that was only the beginning of it. 

All his senses seemed sharper. Before, the hint of a breeze originating
from the torn wooden walls of the dojo on his face, his arms, and his
bare chest had been almost imperceptible. Now, it was like a caress,
cool and invigorating. The air seemed alive with smells; delicate,
sharp, sweet, pungent, smoky, exotic, faint, overpowering, and
tantalizing. His hearing seemed magnified; he could hear Genbu and
Kenshin speaking outside almost as clearly as if he were standing next
to them.

And where he had been cringing nervously on the floor before, whining
continuously about Keiko's dilemma, now he strode upright with a steady
gait, perfectly balanced, his arms hanging by his side. He never felt so
_alive_ in all his whole life.

"Throw me everything you've got, demon. It won't matter. The only thing
that matters now is that you are my game. Entertain me, or I'll make you
wish you're dead," Toushin Yusuke crooned with a deceptively velvety
tone, his booming laughter echoing inside the remnants of the dojo
walls.

"I have not allowed myself to be resurrected just for your amusement,
you half-demon bastard!" Rando spat as he warily circled his foe while
his mind raced for the perfect battle plan. 'What would the Chojin do in
this sort of situation?'

"Then die, for that's all you're worth to me." Yusuke slipped into an
offensive stance, his arms outstretched and ready. Rando altered his
posture in kind, shifting his legs just a bit wider. The mazoku
descendant noted the change in weight, recognizing the stance as one
that his mentor Genkai had taught him years ago. It worked best when
your opponent didn't appreciate your skill, as it offered a range of
movement for more complex maneuvers, but very little in the way of more
simple tactics.

'Even now, you still want to fight. I can almost admire your foolhardy
resolve. More is the pity.' Yusuke smirked. This fight didn't feel like
a fight to him. It was more like an impending massacre; the dance of
predator and prey. 'What are you planning to do now, Rando? What sort
of complex maneuver will you use against me?'

The Iron Body technique was one of the many techniques of the Byakko's
Claw. These techniques were so impressive that, by order of the Chojin,
Rando passed it on to another 'Byakko' of sorts: the White Tiger of
the Four Holy Beasts, the Shisejyu Byakko.

In so saying, it was in fact Rando, not Byakko, who first mastered the
many techniques of the Byakko's Claw after nearly a century; and he
was now about to show his mazoku opponent what a master-level Kaiwan
looked like. 


***


Meanwhile, on Iehog's wide shoulders, a deeply slumbering Botan stirred.
She knew--or rather, _felt_--that Keiko had finally arrived at the River
Styx. Therefore, she decided that she should be the one who must guide
Keiko's soul across the river of the dead.

Fully aware that she was still fast asleep, Botan's spirit left the
Human World and its physical body behind to fly towards the Spirit
World. She didn't quite know how long her Astral Projection would last,
but she didn't particularly care. She only had one thought in mind; to
get to Keiko's ghost before it was too late.

Botan knew exactly where Keiko was supposed to go; she herself had gone
through the same place before becoming a ferry-girl.

"Hang on, Keiko-chan. I'm coming to get you," Botan promised as she
summoned her oar and traveled frantically towards the unmentioned
destination.


***


To be Continued...

Next: The Mazoku has come.

I've again used various quotes taken from pop culture in this fic.
The "god among insects" thing is taken from the second X-Men
movie, X2. The "devil changes you" quote comes from the 8MM movie.
The "devil is awake" remark is based from a quote from Franz
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". The "green colorless dreams slept
furiously" paraphrase (it's actually "colorless green ideas", but
whatever) is an example of a grammatically correct nonsense phrase
coined by famed linguist Noam Chomsky. 

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

Ja!
Abdiel



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