[FFML] [yyh][ry][xover] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 25: Freckles (Part 7)

[Chester Castañeda]

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Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction
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

Fight conclusion and reunion. Editing this was a bitch.


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Chapter 25: Freckles (Part 7)

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Back in the middle of the demolished Yoyogi Park...

Sanosuke Sagara was about to leave the park when, out of nowhere, a
pasty hand grabbed hold of him and pulled him inside what looked like a
portal a la the one Koenma used to send him and Yahiko to Ningenkai.
"What the...?"

He found himself sprawling on the floor, his twelve-foot spear-sword
clanging on the pavement, when he heard a thud and an "Oof!" just beside
him. "Hey, Yahiko-chan! What are you doing here?"

Yahiko punched Sanosuke's eye after hearing that hated name. "It's good
to see you too, birdbrain. Do you have any idea where we are or how we
got here?"

"Would I _ask_ you what you're doing here if I did? I do remember
getting grabbed by a pale, white hand by the scruff of my jacket before
I was thrown here. I think a portal may have been involved, but I'm not
sure." Sanosuke blinked at Yahiko's wardrobe. "Hey, your rainbow shirt
turned back into your old garments too, huh? The same thing happened to
my outfit."

"SILENCE, YOU BUGS!" came the shout of one pissed-off youkai with bushy
red hair, blue markings on his face, and a snow-white pallor that made
him look like a reanimated corpse, which was followed by whispers of,
"The damn human idiots that I have to deal with; I hope the Chojin's
sycophantic Onmyouji figures out that he should never send humans to do
a demon's job."

"Who the hell are you?" Yahiko and Sanosuke chorused, the latter picking
up his broadsword while itching to swing it at the demon that just
appeared.

"I am Rando of the Chojin's Shin Ju," Rando half-lied, because his half-
win, half-failed mission to murder Yusuke Urameshi and friends had made
his position in the Overfiend's elite squad murky at best. Hopefully, by
gate-crashing this latest mission and killing Koenma's newest recruits,
he'd curry favor in his master's court. "I'm here to end what the
Onmyouji's hired humans couldn't; namely, you two."

"Shinju? Never heard of it," Sano replied before running straight
towards the demon with the intention of slicing him in half from head
to crotch. Meanwhile, the less straightforward Yahiko moved to the side
in order to circle around the youkai and catch him off-guard if he tried
to escape.

Rando harrumphed as he summoned Kuwabara's Dimension Sword... the same
one he used to deliver the two in front of the Shibuya museum... and
escaped into a portal before Sano's blade even landed on where he was
standing.

"Silly humans. Don't you know that you're all inferior to demons by
default? Hell, Urameshi Yusuke had beaten someone who's arguably the
strongest human in the world by becoming a half-demon, and he still
didn't end up as the strongest demon in the Demon World by doing so."
Rando sneered as he reappeared many yards away from Sano and sliced
the Zanbatou in half from a distance.

"SHIT, I JUST GOT THIS ZANBATOU BACK AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS!" Sanosuke
cursed before calling out to Yahiko, "Stay clear from this guy's blade
swings! It can slice you from a distance! He's like the Bohemian Jesus I
fought earlier; he can project and increase the range of his strikes at
will!"

"I read you loud and clear, Rooster Head!" Yahiko called back as he
unsheathed the sakabatou, whirled around, and slammed it on the ground,
blasting a crater onto the concrete and hurling himself into the air
while avoiding the space-cutting Jigen Tou slashes by reading the
trajectory of Rando's arm movements.

"Imitation Technique: RYU TSUI SEN!"

"GRAVITON THUNDER!" The anti-air pillar of light electrocuted the kid in
midair and mid-strike, which gave Rando enough time to fully charge up
the laser beam technique he stole from none other than Yusuke himself.
"You-Gan."

The pointblank youki blast that somehow had double the explosive force
of Fuwan's Jaki Ho even though it was only using demon energy instead of
negative energy flung Yahiko all the way back to the same hole he made
earlier by using his Dou Gami and Ten Gami skills together. Even though
his landing wasn't so brutal as to produce a trench deep enough to hide
yourself in, the fact that his body received the full brunt of the Demon
Gun blast made all the difference.

As expected, Sanosuke ran towards Rando with what was left of his halved
zanbatou... a feat that might have worked against a similarly
simpleminded Getsuno, but just couldn't cut the mustard against the
_true_ jack-of-all-trades of the Chojin's army.

As Sano charged, he basically had to endure being scourged and tortured
by the abnormally long range of the Jigen Tou, then once he reached
Rando, he had no payoff because the youkai merely teleported away using
his stolen sword's portal-making abilities or utilized his copied
Shinsoku technique to acrobatically escape.

"Don't you two understand? An S-Level demon is more powerful than an S-
Level human; an anything-level demon is more powerful than a similarly
classed human. Particularly strong humans are called by others 'as
strong as a youkai'. When you admit your weaknesses, you people say that
'you're only human.' Even humans know how weak humans are."

"I don't know who the fuck you are, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd
say that the poor, Jesus-looking freak is suffering from self-confidence
issues and demon envy because of chalk-skinned, witch-voiced youkai
assholes like you," the lacerated Sanosuke spat blood from his split
lips as he threw what remained of his dilapidated polearm away; he
didn't even get the chance to show off his new techniques, he noted with
disdain.

"I don't admire Kazemaru for his cheating ways, but he really brought
the fight to me. I won't let some Kabuki-looking moron insult me, him,
or the rest of the human race without a fight. Bring it on, Pasty," the
lightheaded Yahiko chimed in after recovering from the nigh-paralyzing
jolt he experienced from Rando's energy blast.

Rando stood his ground and commenced cutting Yahiko and Sanosuke up with
his glowing sword, this time using Divine Speed to make his job easier.
In response, both Yahiko and Sanosuke turned the pavement into dust in
order to see where the slashes were coming from even from that great a
distance.

"Clever, but I can blast or cut you to pieces all day. You're the two
humans that Kazemaru and Kibano couldn't kill? Don't make me laugh. Just
two out of my one hundred and one Dai Mugen Ryu techniques are enough to
finish you shitheads off."

Yahiko gestured something at Sanosuke and the latter nodded. "So says
the fucker who picked a fight with us when we're already exhausted and
have used up our energy," the former Sekihoutai member said as, to
Rando's bewilderment, he gripped Yahiko by the collar and heaved him
straight at the demon, with the boy doing a Dou Gami for good measure in
order to accelerate his flight.

"YOU-GAN!" This time around, the hurtling Yahiko was able to duck the
finger-aimed projectile just in time to set himself upright and fall
into Jodan-no-Kamae or the upper-level stance to deliver his hammering
blow. Rando raised his barrier-slicing blade to block the Ryu-Tsui-Sen-
like technique with the intention of following through with either a
You-Gan to the mouth or a chop to the head, but that proved to be a
grave mistake on his part.

"TSUI GAMI!" Yahiko proclaimed, his blunted blade shattering the sword-
shaped energy construct with extreme prejudice while also pounding upon
the veined chest of the flabbergasted Rando.

"Hey, Urchin Head! Get out of the way!" Sanosuke beckoned from Yahiko's
back, and the younger of the two obliged, turning in time to see the
eldest Higashidani son wielding the other half of the broken zanbatou
and slamming it right beside the speechless youkai. "ZANBATOU ATE!
AHHH!"

Because Sanosuke utilized the twelve-foot... well, six-foot... cavalry
sword to execute this technique instead of a ceremonial knife like Anji,
the explosion of rock and debris produced enough force to fling the
hapless, anemic-looking demon from the Ota Memorial Museum of Art to the
middle of the Meiji Street, crashing into asphalt, cars, drivers, and
pedestrians during his violent and agonizing journey through Sagara
Express.

Speaking of which, Yahiko later interjected, "Hey, I can do that too!
Revisal Technique: DOU GAMI! Imitation Technique: DOU RYU SEN!" just as
Rando attempted a Blood Fire Wave or Blood Wind at his pursuers, which
made him go into another odyssey of sorts that turned the Human World
into a blur of metal, concrete, glass, plastic, wood, cloth, and
plaster. Only a wrecking ball would've had more up-close-and-personal
experiences with buildings and streets than the pasty youkai did at the
moment.

After the duo of Yahiko and Sanosuke were through playing football with
Rando's fetal-positioned body... with the trio somehow reaching Kyocera
Building after dragging the youkai through hell and back... they asked
him together, "Who's the Chojin? Why does he want us dead?"

Rando made the Meiji Street's concrete roll like sea waves from
underneath Yahiko's feet while he hypertrophied his right hand and
transformed it into the Kaiwan. One human beating him into a pulp was
enough for him; he wasn't about to let Koenma Daio's human guinea pigs
get the best of him, a Shin Ju elite! "REPUU KEN!"

Alas, despite all of the techniques he had at his disposal... some he
could only do once a day, some he had to spend all his allotted power to
execute, and some that could outright kill him... they crumbled in the
perfect combination of inexhaustible offense and methodical defense of
the Sanosuke and Yahiko team. The wrestling moves of the Byakko's Claw,
the Chinese Amazons' Bakusai Tenketsu, and the Shaolin Monks' Hakkei
pressure point technique served only to anger the insanely durable
Sanosuke.

Meanwhile, every move that Rando chucked at Yahiko worked exactly one
time. The improvisational skills of the seemingly "young" man was
nothing short of astounding. The Tokyo Samurai employed the Dou Gami and
Dou Ryu Sen to counter all projectiles, used the Inga Gami to counter
the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, broke the demon's knees using the Tsuka
no Gedan: Hiza Hijiki to nullify the Shinsoku, and hurled the instinct-
driven Banzen Gami to cover up his openings or counter anything else the
tattooed youkai could throw at him. The boy was one step ahead of the
demon nearly all of the time.

"Ningen fuckers," Rando spat as he shot a scorching-hot Shakunetsu Hadou
Ken towards the over-aggressive Sanosuke. Yahiko tried to retaliate, but
he was too surprised by the demon grabbing the burning Sano by the ankle
and hitting the Tokyo Samurai Descendant with him. Even after the boy
recovered, the follow-up Kuzu Kaze then Nenshou Shoryuken broke through
his guard and sent him lurching.

"VAJRA!" As Rando invoked the Sanskrit word for indestructibility and
spiritual power, two crimson-black spikes emerged from his elbows; a
technique he learned from a demon prince. "There's nothing I hate more
than humans. Come at me. I'll make you learn your place." The youkai was
able to shallowly stab both humans with his elbow spears before the
pinpoint destructive power of "TSUI GAMI!" sheared off one spine and the
annihilating force of the "FUTAE NO KIWAMI" shattered the other barb.

A "DOU GAMI!", "DOU RYU SEN!", "FUTAE NO KIWAMI!", and "SANJO NO
KIWAMI!" later, and the trio had successfully demolished through private
property and established a new shortcut between the main Meiji Street
and the Onden Shopping Street. Rando was back at the point when he
fought Urameshi for a third time; half-dead, yet half-alive; broken,
but not defeated. He couldn't figure out at the time what he wanted to
happen after exhausting both his power and the Chojin's in that one
fight against an S-Class warrior.

Yahiko climbed up on Sanosuke's shoulders with the intention of jumping
high while the older man charged low.

'I don't want to lose again,' was Rando's only thought as the blunt
force trauma of a bludgeoning sword and a fist that hit twice after only
one punch tested his Byakko Claw's Iron Body Technique to its utmost
limits. He _could_ use the illusionary Jagan he had to escape, but he
didn't want to run away from this beating either.

Did he want to die a warrior's death? To burn in a blaze of glory? No,
he wanted to test his limits. Shatter the glass ceiling. Become more
than he ever thought he could be. Something awakened inside him after
the Urameshi fight, and he was burning inside to find out what he was
truly capable of. He had given his all in fighting the S-Class Yusuke
and survived; there was no way in heaven or hell he would let two mere
humans from a bygone era win against him.

"This is your last chance to fess up, Randy or whoever you are! We know
the Chojin is bad news, but we also want to know what he's up to. Unless
you want to get crippled like Bohemian Jesus did, I suggest you talk. I
held back a bit on that martial artist hobo, but since you're a demon,
I'll probably not risk it and go balls to the walls with you."

The shaky Rando grunted, "Blow it out your ass," before sputtering blood
all over himself.

Sanosuke braced his sore knuckles for a painful impact. "Suit yourself.
FUTAE NO KIWAMI!"

Yahiko leaped and felt his muscles tense in anticipation. "TSUI GAMI!"

All of a sudden, both attacks were blocked by sand particles that
gathered from out of nowhere to protect Rando's injured and tender body.

"Suna no Tate," the demon whispered with a smirking sneer, his body
brimming with youki as it recovered enough to get a second wind.
Unnoticed by the two, the spirit detectors' numbers now indicated Rando
to literally be a class above the pair; A-Level, to be exact.

"What the...? A barrier? AGAIN? Fuck this shit!" Sanosuke attempted to
use Sanjo no Kiwami air pockets to penetrate the auto-block sand kekkai
that Rando suddenly deployed while Yahiko assisted in between punches
using the faster-than-thought speed of the Banzen Gami. However, compact
grains of sand then gathered across the demon's skin. Coupled with his
Iron Body Technique that enabled him to survive the combined assault of
two Class-B opponents, the youkai had now found a way to be perfectly
protected from all sorts of physical attacks.

"Suna no Yoroi."


===


Back in Shibuya, inside the empty building where the Nalanda Shop used
to be...

As soon as Kaoru threw Burashi aside like discarded trash and sheathed
the Demon Sword, her body reverted back to that of Botan's.

"That was amazing, Botan! Since when did you learn how to use a katana?
Why is it blunt? Why did you look like a completely different person
just now?" the gingerly hopping Shizuru praised as even she did some
jabs and straights at the half-conscious punching bag that Musashi had
become.

"Botan" blinked at Shizuru, shook the outstretched hand of the woman in
a torn-up pantsuit, and bowed. "Hello, my name is Kamiya Kaoru. I... I'm
a spirit that has possessed Botan-chan's body for the time being to...
help her out with her mission."

Shizuru nodded slowly before bowing back, her eyes never leaving the
blue-haired girl that, she supposed, was acting quite unlike herself.
Sure, Botan was still bubbly, and she also had a violent streak in her,
but her present fighter-like attitude and sense of justice was something
wholly brand-new for her. "Are you sure you're not Botan's split
personality or something?"

"No, I'm not. Besides, there's no such thing as split... oh, wait, Botan
remembers Yusuke telling her about the seven personalities of Sensui, so
there is such a condition. Huh," Kaoru clarified and then corrected
herself... well, Botan did, or something like that.

"Uh, yeah. What you did right now? That sounds very split-personality-
ish," Shizuru pointed out, but gave up after realizing that her
standards for weirdness should be higher than this.

If she could take the idea of talking money, a stalker with a wooden
bokuto that can crush people or turn into a red-tinged steel sword when
broken, her brother swinging around an energy sword that sounded like a
Star Wars lightsaber, and Yusuke producing a rechargeable "Ray-Gun" of
sorts composed of reiki (hence its name, "Rei-Gan") that made
synthesizer whistles, then a grim reaper getting possessed by a ghost of
a kendo master wasn't that big of a stretch.

Sadly for the exhausted, slightly traumatized (she threw a slab of rock
over Musashi's twitching head for good measure just to make sure he
didn't resurrect for a second time) Shizuru, she was about to suspend
her disbelief a tad further.

Kaoru sheathed the sakabatou-transformed Demon Sword, slipped it inside
Botan's cloth belt, and requested, "Kenshin, you can come out now. I
want to talk to you."

Kenshin obeyed and materialized, his corporeal form a lot more tangible
now than before in reaction to Kaoru's intense "sparring session" with
Burashi. Though not without trepidation, he cheered for his comrade's
victory, stating, "Kaoru-dono, that was amazing! You really showed the
true worth of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu and kendo with that dominant
performance...!"

The redhead didn't even see the slap coming, a red welt marking up his
cheek. He was about to say his signature "Oro?" catchphrase when he saw
Kaoru compelling Botan's eyes to cry tears of betrayal and indignation.

"Uh... Botan? I mean, 'Kaoru'?" Shizuru ventured, feeling as though she
had stumbled in the middle of a lover's quarrel.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER THAT SHISHIO KILLED YOU? Why did you
have to hide that from me? Were you taking me for a fool? When exactly
were you planning to tell me? I don't usually pry into your past or
personal business, but this _at least_ had something to do with me! For
all I know, I could've committed suicide right after you died! I... I
don't think that I'd done so, but I'm dead now and I don't even remember
what happened when I died, so who knows what could've _really_
occurred?"

Because Kenshin didn't know what to say at the moment, he prostrated
himself over the cross-armed, Kaoru-possessed Botan, bowing with his
head stooped all the way down to the ground. He looked up and saw
"Botan-Kaoru" (or "Kaoru-Botan") arguing silently over him and his
supposed sins. "You're right. I should've told you the truth about my
demise sooner. I'm sorry."

At seeing the sight of a groveling Kenshin, Kaoru couldn't help but let
her anger fade slightly as she queried, "Hiko-san assured me that the
Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki shouldn't have failed. When you keep away from
the dragon's fangs as it ascends to the sky, a violent gale steals your
body's movement as it stabs you with its claws. Were you not able to
execute the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ougi properly? Please, tell me what
happened."

At that point, Botan took control of her body and, to poor Shizuru's
growing confusion, shouted at, well, _herself_, so to speak, "C'mon,
Kaoru! He already said he's sorry earlier, and you can't fault a guy for
_dying_, of all things! I don't care if he promised you the moon
and the stars; you can't hold him accountable for not returning to you,
even if he promised to do so! Stop acting so spoiled!"

"She's right, y'know," Kenshin confessed to Botan, which stunned her.

"Wha...? Kenshin! Don't let this harpy bully you around! You shouldn't
have to act like a martyr over this mess!"

As Kenshin stood up, brushed the dust off of his hakama, and faced
Botan, he addressed Kaoru and disclosed, "Kaoru-dono, I was able to use
the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki properly against Shishio Makoto. His body
had reached its limits and he was already about to burst."

Kaoru again took control of Botan's body, snatching it under the
flabbergasted shinigami's nose. "And then what happened?"

"Komagata Yumi stopped me from finishing Shishio off. However, like a
snake, Shishio used Yumi as a decoy to stab me at my side. I lost a lot
of blood back then, and my body was also at its limits after battling
Shishio's right-hand man, Seta Soujiro, and having a rematch against
Shinomori Aoshi."

"Were you killed by Shishio at that point?" Kaoru dared question, for
the first time becoming aware of how much Kenshin had to go through in
order to stop Shishio's faction and still come back alive to her and the
rest of their friends. It was certainly a tall order, she'd come to
realize.

Kenshin paused for breath, as though he were bracing himself, then
responded, "Two thoughts entered my mind. One was the fact that Shishio
had lost all his strength, so by the time he reemerges, the bearers of
the next age should be able to deal with him. The other was your smiling
face, asking me to come back home to Tokyo with you."

"And then...?"

"Fire; fire born out of the violence of the Bakumatsu. The fires of hell
enveloped me, Shishio, and his loved one as his triumphant laughter
echoed in my bleeding ears above the roars of the flames and my searing
flesh."

Horrified beyond words, all the trio... well, the four people, five if
Musashi were included... could hear at that point was the wail of the
siren and buzz of the gathered crowd outside the condemned building.

As both Botan and Kaoru tried to digest the implications of Kenshin's
words, the former hitokiri and rurouni himself pondered whether or not
his defeat was because Shishio proved to be too powerful for him, his
body had been weakened too considerably to put up a fight, or if he just
gave up and allowed Shishio to get the last laugh. If Shishio really
were the Chojin, then that just meant that all his sacrifice did was
delay the inevitable.

It was at that moment when Botan took full control of her body,
brusquely shoved the Youtou Shinnoken back to Kenshin, summoned her oar,
and checked the spirit detector that the redhead refused to wear for
the whereabouts of the rest of the Onmyouji's released jaki. "Kenshin,
I'm afraid you'll have to mull over your past for another day! There are
still three more blips of energy we have to follow! Hurry!"

As Botan and Kenshin rushed to the abandoned building's fire exit in
order to fly to another part of Harajuku, Shizuru fell down on her
posterior, looked at the stirring Burashi, knocked him out cold again
with another rock, and then sighed. "What the hell just happened?"


===


Back in the streets of Onden's shopping district...

Both Sanosuke and Yahiko redoubled their efforts in penetrating through
Rando's triple-layer defense while the demon shot back his head and let
out a warbling guffaw at the futility of his opponents' efforts. After a
minute or so of the two humans desperately trying to claw through the
Shield of Sand's barrier, the Armor of Sand's shell, and the Iron Body
Technique's fortitude, Rando decided to go on a punching match between
the two. At that moment, it didn't matter how perfect Yahiko's counters
were because of the youkai's high defense.

Bits and pieces of Rando's armor had cracked and shattered amidst the
assault, but to his opponents' chagrin, he kept on reforming it thanks
to all the rubble and dust found on the ground. Then he had another
idea from all the offense that Yahiko and Sanosuke were deploying; the
ultimate counter, to be exact.

Rando backpedaled, feigning injury at the one solitary part of his body
that Yahiko had been hitting again and again while Sanosuke kept aiming
his punches all over the place, the demon's footwork forming a nautilus
shell spiral as his nemeses followed him like sheep to the slaughter...

"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" The tornado he produced wasn't as big or as faultless
as the ones done by the Joketsuzoku Clan of the Nyuuchezu Village in
China, but it served his purposes well enough to execute a "GENOCIDE
CUTTER!" at the hapless humans while they tumbled over each other inside
the artificially made cyclone synthesized by hot, aggressive ki and
cold, methodical ki. 'But that's still not enough to finish you two off,
is it?'

Sure enough, Sanosuke's willful aggravation had reached its boiling
point, to which his magical wardrobe reacted accordingly by giving him
the power to summon a second zanbatou. As for Yahiko, the nearest trees
surrounding him had their branches shed leaves en masse towards him,
the perfectly healthy pieces of green flora snapping and popping as
though they were burned by the invisible fire of the teenaged
swordsman's kenki.

'Fine. I can still have my fun for a couple of more minutes, then!'
Aloud, Rando mocked his enemies by stating, "It's not my fault that you
don't realize that you've already lost. If you insist on embarrassing
yourselves further, then by all means, go ahead," while his aching yet
keyed-up body enabled him to begin the preparations needed to execute an
advanced martial arts skill developed by a certain Minato Namikaze using
the windstorm generated by the Flying Dragon Descending Wave and a
certain one-eyed arms dealer's trademark vacuum-slicing technique.

First, Rando utilized the Ibuki... his signature energy-transforming
talent... in order to convert some of the demon energy flowing through
his body into tantric energy as well as opening up his chakra
circulatory system and his three-hundred-plus chakra points.

He afterwards unleashed his Shinsoku to rotate the air gathered all
around him into a single hazy sphere at different supersonic directions.
He then released his denser youki into the mix to add strength to the
whirling egg of supernatural forces. Finally, he wielded the miniature
tempest in one hand, balancing both youki and chakra into an Class-A
yin-yang of devastating might.

For minutes, the kenki-effused Yahiko, the zanbatou-wielding Sanosuke,
and the chakra-and-youki-powered Rando just stood there, the crumbling
facade of the Onden Shopping Street filled with stores, restaurants, and
fleeing bystanders properly setting the mood for the face-off.

Then, within the afternoon clouds above the trio emerged the floating
pair of Kenshin and Botan, who had supreme difficulty finding the
persons of mass destruction because of how much ground they'd covered in
such a short time.

Once Sano and Yahiko looked up and met Kenshin's worried, violet eyes
from a distance, their jaws dropped as though they'd been dislocated,
their eyeballs seemingly wanting to pop out of their sockets as, for the
time being, they completely forgot that they were in the middle of a
battle to the death against one of the Chojin's toughest demonic Shin Ju
minions.

"K-K-Kenshin. Damn, it's Kenshin. Are... they flying on top of an oar?"

"KENSHIN! Hey, who's the blue-haired chick with the pink kimono? Does
Jo-chan know about you two?"

"SANO! YAHIKO! LOOK OUT!" Kenshin warned as he prepared to leap off
Botan's boat paddle to help his long-lost, time-displaced comrades out.
However, his presence proved a big enough distraction for Rando to blow
his opponents away via his latest ultimate technique; a power that, when
he was still a C-Level nobody, could drain him of all his youki to the
point of him going comatose for weeks on end, forcing him to hide inside
a self-made cocoon for recuperation purposes.

"RASENGAN!" The squeal of the perfect storm inside Rando's palm had a
maximum sustained wind of about a hundred and thirty miles per hour... a
category-three hurricane right at the cusp of becoming a category
four... that blocked Sanosuke's attempt at a Zanbatou Ate and Yahiko's
stab at a Dou-Gami-powered Dou Ryu Sen, its air pressure causing severe
and costly damage to the nearby manmade structures.

However, before Rando could completely drive the Spiraling Wind Sphere
into Yahiko and Sanosuke's bodies and turn them into unidentifiable
chunks of shredded flesh (or before Kenshin unsheathed his youtou and
challenged the relentless demon, whichever came first), a twister slash
with pressure powerful enough to destroy overhang construction and roofs
by just being near them collided with the Rasengan.

It then formed a strong-enough collection of sound energy that coalesced
into a vapor zone of rapidly condensed air and resulted in an ear-
splitting sonic boom. The apocalyptic waves of wanton destruction blew
back Rando, Kenshin, Botan, Sanosuke, and Yahiko into an unceremonious
flight that reached all the way to the nearby Onden Shrine's Tori Gate.

After the dust settled, the wind from all the surrounding area traveled
into a single source: A seven-foot humanoid lifeform that wielded a
nodachi, his body consumed by the Demon World's dark flames, the
tendrils of his miasmic jaki pulsating in accordance to the direction of
the strong airstream that enveloped him.

"You've done well, Rando. You've gone above and beyond your line of duty
by turning defeat into victory and transforming the jaki given to Fuwan,
Getsuno, and Burashi into this A-Level mesh of unbridled might. You've
done the Shin Ju proud. Now vanish; I want to use this power against the
Battousai himself."

"YOU!" Rando seethed, his shaking hand gripping his weakened ball of
cyclone winds tightly before he stampeded towards the energy being and
used the air surrounding his opponent to bring his weaponized vacuum
blast back to its former strength. "Interloper! I won't let you ruin my
fun _now_! Eat this, motherfucker! RASENGAN!"

"You shouldn't have used the wind against me. It's like pouring gasoline
unto an open flame; utter foolishness. Disappear, you A-Level trash,"
the entity set aflame by a maelstrom of negative energy cut through the
sphere of contradictory forces with his longsword and let loose a
backlash of vacuum slashes that chopped Rando's body up into ten
different pieces despite the combined fortifications of the Shield of
Sand, Armor of Sand, and the Iron Body Technique.

Thusly, the demon was forced to protect himself from utter annihilation
using the Blood Wind created out of his own ichor and telekinetically
slashed a portal using the Jigen Tou held by his dismembered right
forearm. "Is this... S-Level? D-Damn you...!" The rest of the white-
skinned youkai's words were drowned out by the roar that resulted from
the abrupt clash between the Blood Wind and the backfired Rasengan.

Botan checked her spirit energy tracker... the new model that didn't
blow up easily... to see if the monster's energy level was as Rando
claimed; it was. 'Dammit. An S-Level in the middle of a metropolis! If
Enma Daio were still in power, he would've blown a gasket.'

Sanosuke got up from his unexpected trip by grabbing onto his reacquired
zanbatou and using it as his anchor weight to get him to a steady
vertical base. "Great, here's another turd that shot out of the Chojin's
asshole... Yahiko? What's the matter? You're sweating like a pig."

The Tokyo Samurai's pallor was almost comparable to the recently
slaughtered Rando at the moment. "Me? What about you? You're shaking
like a leaf, Rooster Head," he defensively rejoined as he did his best
to overcome the dreadful feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Sanosuke took a look at his body and, as Yahiko pointed out, found his
teeth, legs, hips, and hands trembling even though he himself was raring
to go and fight this new monster of a demon or human, as though his
recently acquired body knew something that he himself didn't. "C-Could
that guy actually be...?"

"...The Chojin? I don't know, but from the looks of things, your guess
is as good as mine. He looks like someone who can take us all on without
any problem whatsoever, though," Kenshin confessed to Sano with a firm
grip on the taller man's tremor-filled shoulder. 'More importantly, what
exactly are we looking at? A humanoid flame?'

Sanosuke let go of his "partner's" polearm handle and grasped Kenshin's
hand in a firm handshake. "I never thought I'd see you again, man. You
look charred and frazzled, but otherwise good."

"It's been ages. I was wondering why you haven't gotten to Heaven yet!"
chimed in Yahiko, and Kenshin's wide smile became even broader once he
recognized the weapon the teenaged spirit was holding as the sakabatou.

In the background, Botan felt rather out of place yet, at the same time,
also experienced heartwarming feelings thanks to Kaoru's own speechless
reaction to the nostalgic gathering.

"I see you've gotten yourself a new sword," both Kenshin and Yahiko
chorused at each other before laughing at their hive-minded exclamation.
Unluckily, they had to stop their shared laughter short once the blazing
newcomer addressed them directly.

"I was about to say something trite about tearful and touching reunions,
but I wouldn't want to be rude or anything," the muscular man... if he
could be described as _that_... of the darkness flame bowed low at the
people who made the Onmyouji's latest experiment with jaki successful.
"Rando keeps saying that humans are inferior to demons. Well, I'm here
to prove him wrong. Outside of the rogue spirit detective known as
Sensui Shinobi, there's another Class-S human in this world: ME."

The "Kenshingumi" had a million questions to ask each other, but they
didn't have the time. The Chojin's research on increasing his reserves
of jaki by means of conflict and war had given birth to this being that
might be the Overfiend himself.

The four kept their eyes trained on the calm and complacent creature as
they conversed. "We'll have to say our hellos later. This is Botan, by
the way. She's a shinigami from Reikai. And these are Sagara Sanosuke
and Myojin Yahiko. They're my friends back in the nineteenth century."

"A pleasure to meet you, miss."

"Oh. My great-great... well, descendant is friends with a shinigami."

"Hey. Um, do you guys have... a plan? This guy is no joke. He's Class-S
and he shouldn't even be in the Human World because of the sheer amount
of power he's exuding."

As Botan feared, her questions were met with a long, pregnant pause.

"W-We'll see what we can do."

"Oh, were you four waiting for me to attack? Okay, fine. I'll indulge
you." Even as the alleged Chojin was speaking the word "attack", he'd
already cut the distance between himself and his intended target, his
lengthy blade aimed for the kill.

Sanosuke immediately used the broadness of his cavalry sword to his
advantage by blocking the nodachi with the thicker weapon as though it
were a shield. However, because the entity had the power of a hurricane
backing him up, his blade was engulfed with piercing air pressure that
enabled him to penetrate through the thicker steel and run Sano right
through.

In remembrance of the techniques Yukyuzan Anji taught him, Sanosuke hit
the side of his abdomen with the Kiwami Hazushi, which allowed him to
cancel out the stab's forward momentum and keep it shallow.
Nevertheless, the hulking Overfiend exploited the wound, drove Sano to
the ground, and dragged him upwards in a spectacular spray of blood.

Then, just as the Chojin turned around, an "INGA GAMI!" that slammed
right through his flaming, incorporeal body and split it in half greeted
him. With the intention of snuffing his jaki flames out for good, Yahiko
followed through with his Banzen Gami, only to realize that the thin
line of air pressure created by the Retribution God allowed the dark
overlord to twist the boy's wrists and disarm him using the air.

Kenshin jumped into action as soon as he saw the Chojin attempt the
body-chopping move he brutalized Rando with on Yahiko, but he arrived a
second too late despite his supersonic speed; the move hit the boy in
full force.

On one hand, strangely enough, the crisscrossing strikes didn't wholly
dismember Yahiko thanks to his ultimate shirahadori technique of
Hadachi, which was a barehanded sword-breaking skill. On the other hand,
the force of the blows made him soar past the Onden Shrine's Tori Gate
before busting the Komainu or Chinese guardian lion statue up with his
back. He ended up face down in several pools of his own blood.
Meanwhile, the piece of the nodachi he broke clattered alongside the
shattered remains of the sculpture.

With a dismissive huff, the Chojin forged his nodachi whole again
through the fires of negative energy produced by the three or four
earlier battles that had just taken place in Harajuku. In any event,
Kenshin's A-Class self went head-to-head with the humongous Overfiend's
wind-enhanced longsword strikes that reduced the entirety of the
surrounding shrine into an indescribable mishmash of powdered ruins,
shards, bits of metal, and confetti thanks to the repeated sonic booms.

'Are you truly the Chojin? Or are you really Shishio Makoto reborn? If
that's the case, can I defeat you _now_ even though I failed to do so a
century ago in Kyoto? Or will I give up now as I did then, comforted by
the thought that the next generation... Yusuke's generation... will take
my yoke and defeat you for good?'

Every last technique Kenshin had in his arsenal... from the Ryu Tsui Sen
to the Kuzu Ryu Sen... he hammered the fiery behemoth with. However, the
indefatigable entity ate all that offense up and became even stronger as
the fight drew on, proving his earlier claims that the entire exercise
_was_ an experiment to see what could be employed to enhance the power
of negative energy. From there, the Chojin reached Chou Shinsoku speeds
and overwhelmed Kenshin with an abrupt and violent onslaught that
scourged him like a common criminal during Roman times.

"IS THIS THE GREAT POWER OF THE DEMON SWORD THAT I'M SUPPOSED TO FEAR? I
want to fight the Youkiri Battousai, not some mediocre hitokiri whose
only claim to fame was to kill a couple of hundred mortals during the
Bakumatsu!" the large muscleman derided as he rushed towards the
Battousai with the recklessness of a mad bull.

"K-Kenshin...?"

"KENSHIN! NO!"

Both the barely coherent Yahiko and Sanosuke rasped in shock, stunned
beyond belief by the ease that the purported Chojin defeated their
idol: the alleged champion of truth and justice as well as the protector
of the weak.

Subsequently, just as the Chojin was about to deliver his death blow,
Botan flew over Kenshin's fainted, blood-drenched, and skin-ripped
body... or maybe Kaoru did, but the ferry-girl neither knew nor cared...
and intervened in every which way she could, even though she recently
discovered what had happened to the last woman who interfered in a match
between Kenshin Himura and a flaming, would-be despot.

In another bizarre twist that left all those involved speechless and
traumatized, the Chojin's slashes didn't cut Botan up to pieces; it
instead tore apart her kimono, leaving her as bare as a newborn babe.

The energy being afterwards pushed her face-down on the ground, her
posterior facing him as he grabbed the naked woman's shoulder and burned
her skin with his flaming hand. Botan shrieked in pain, humiliation, and
fear.

"I'll take you here now, you sweet little thing. Suffer for me. Empower
me as others have done so previously. Make me more powerful with your
tears and hopelessness as I reach ecstasy beyond words. Make your loved
ones suffer as well, so that my abilities will reach unprecedented
heights."

Following Shizuru's actions during her recent traumatizing experience
as an example (even though certain circumstances would probably deem it
as a bad example), Botan and Kaoru's minds synchronized once more as
they shoved an endless supply of boat paddles into the gaping black maw
that served as the Chojin's mouth. "_You're_ the man who made Musashi
turn into a serial killer and sexual deviant! Well, here's some
masochistic action for you, you pervert!"

Just as the sentient being of Makai flame and jaki burned the oars to
ashes and renewed his attempts to satisfy his deviant and gory fetishes,
the combined forces of Sanosuke's Futae no Kiwami, Yahiko's Dou Gami,
and Kenshin's Dou Ryu Sen to the ground he was standing on sent him
corkscrewing into the sky before landing right smack dab in the middle
of the shrine in a spectacular crash.

Nevertheless, all three could barely stand after that particular
instance of physical exertion, with Kenshin being the most exhausted one
of them all thanks to the amount of abuse his spirit had suffered from
three weeks ago to today.

The being of plasma and fire got up from the crater that his sudden
landing created, the very concrete melting at his feet into red-hot lava
because of his burning inferno of a body.

As a mortified Botan scrabbled at the ground for something to cover
herself up, the ever-resilient Sanosuke ran towards her despite his
injuries, took off his jacket, and handed it to her before he looked
away while she put it on. "That was real impressive, lady. You put up
more of a fight against that Chojin fucker than any of us did so far."

Botan smiled shyly at the tall man as she wore his jacket like an extra-
short bathrobe of sorts. "Thank you, Sano."

"Hey, how'd you know my nickname?" Sanosuke's eyes furrowed as he took a
good look at the pink-eyed girl's face. "Have... Have we met before,
miss?"

"Sano, leave your new girlfriend alone for a minute! We've got trouble!"
the wobbly Yahiko cautioned in the middle of trying to find his missing
sakabatou (he'd used the metal sheath to execute his latest Dou Gami).
Sure enough, the fiery behemoth was already barreling towards the
drained and immobilized Kenshin while Yahiko tried desperately to run
despite the unfavorable condition of his own body.

"Let me repeat the words that I've etched into my mind from the day I
died to the day I returned to the world of the living from the wretched
bowels of hell. 'Neither a real sword nor a classic school makes up the
art of killing. That which determines the killing sword is the pain and
suffering that one feels for those he had killed.'"

Kenshin's lethargic body shakily stood up in reaction to the Chojin's
familiar words. It was at that point that the jaki-powered winds started
to change. Literally; they embraced and enveloped the ex-vagabond's
diminutive body like an invisible robe that replaced the kimono torn
apart by his opponent's onslaught. However, the smaller swordsman
remained frail and weak because he was the most recent victim of the
Overfiend's overwhelming might.

"That's it. Stand up. Didn't you say to me way back when that I
shouldn't be satisfied with mere scratches and injuries? Fine, then. I
will finish you off, if you want. But first, use your ultimate technique
against me so that _I_ will have the satisfaction of completely
defeating the supposed Strongest Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu!" the Chojin
stated as he went on a rampage yet again, with every interweaved whirl
of his Japanese longsword rendering the landscape into a mess of cubes
made of varying materials.

To the Overfiend's irritation, Sanosuke Sagara picked up the remnants of
his revived zanbatou, used his inextinguishable fighting spirit to make
his weapon become whole again, and slashed it right at the energy being.

The resulting clash of swords predictably broke the cavalry sword like
glass, but to the Chojin's surprise, Sano managed to reconstitute his
zanbatou then and there for another attack. They exchanged relentless
sword strikes, neither giving an inch as the former Zanza's weapon
continued to regenerate while the burning humanoid continued to shatter
it into a million pieces.

"Get out of my way, small fry."

"Kenshin ain't ready yet, so you'll just have to wait, hothead."

"Sooner or later, you'll run out of touki, which will make your magical
regenerating sword crumble for good. Run away before that happens, you
worthless little prick; you don't stand a chance against me."

"I've already let the _last_ dictator wannabe murder Kenshin right
before my very eyes! I'm not about to let the same thing happen again!
SO FUCK OFF!"

'S-Sano...' Yahiko murmured before his own kenki-filled willpower
teleported his missing sakabatou right into his hand. 'Kenshin has saved
me from numerous jams in the past. Now is my chance to pay him back.'

The rate by which Sanosuke was restoring his zanbatou had commenced
slowing down, which served as the Overfiend's cue to attack the man's
widening vulnerabilities, mistakes, and weak points. Nonetheless, he
couldn't do so; every time he attempted to attack, an invisible force
blew him back with the strength of a car crash. 'What's going on? What's
hitting me?'

The Chojin espied Yahiko holding the Upper-Level Posture of kendo, his
body flickering in and out of existence, which made the dark overlord
realize that the boy charged every fraction of a second after the
zanbatou and nodachi clashed, then snapped back to his ready stance in a
flash like a rubber band. "Enough of this nonsense."

The man made of pure miasma allowed a zanbatou strike to hit him, the
twelve-foot metal blade exploding into searing shrapnel as he aimed a
huge wave that looked large enough to cut a skyscraper in half at the
disappearing Yahiko instead. However, he underestimated the power of
Sano's blow, which was why he got blasted back a good thirty yards away.

The trapped Yahiko... who, as a nine-year-old young boy, faced down
yakuza, an older swordsman, a giant, a flying batman, a whale beast with
a grenade launcher for an arm, and a Chinese martial artist... lobbed
repeated Tsui Gami strikes at the whirling vacuum wave in the hopes of
neutralizing its advance although he didn't know if he had the remaining
strength to break that S-Class technique apart, fully aware that he was
a good two levels behind the Overfiend's current level. Then again, he
didn't really give a damn.

Fortunately for Yahiko, he had enough power to reduce the blast of air's
size to about half before it reached him. He sighed, bracing himself for
another trip back to the Spirit World when Sanosuke shoved him aside and
did a Zankuu Zanbatou Ate at the void, which made it burst into numerous
smaller airstreams that cut the street fighter apart almost as badly as
Kenshin was sliced, his blood spilling all over the horrified Yahiko's
face.

Sanosuke staggered, but kept himself up through the force of his own
stubbornness. "Hey, thanks for the save against that Chojin bastard,
Yahiko. We make a pretty good team."

"Stop trying to act cool, you dumbass! Besides... that's my line. Thanks
for saving my life, but you didn't have to take that bullet for me!"
Yahiko berated with a conflicting combination of gratitude and concern.

"I know you're a pretty tough guy yourself, but Kenshin suffered about
as much as I did just now, and I can't let Battousai beat me in a
toughness contest. It's all I got against that overpowered son of a
bitch," Sanosuke rasped as his blood loss made his body nearly fall to
the ground.

Yahiko grabbed hold of his woozy friend, wincing in agony because of the
trauma his spine suffered just in time to see the kanji for "bad" appear
on the taller man's back like a bleeding wound of sorts. ''Aku'. Why
does he have a glowing tattoo of the word 'evil' on his back?'

The pair afterwards jolted awake as they both felt the spiritual
presence of someone awfully familiar permeate into their
consciousnesses; in reaction to their feelings of wistfulness and
resolve, Kaoru was able to transform Botan's corporeal, half-naked body
to that of hers without the Youtou Shinnoken's help.

"What the...? Jo-chan!"

"What on earth is Kaoru doing here? Where'd she come from?"

"All right, I've had enough of these shenanigans. If you're not able to
fight me now, Guardian of the Demon Sword, then you don't deserve that
Reikai artifact; I'll destroy you now and take that sword for myself!"
the superhuman plasma lifeform threatened, his longsword raised for
another shuddering assault, but he then blanched for a second because of
how weak his summoned winds had become.

The current of air surrounded the half-awake but unconquerable Kenshin
the same way that the mountain breezes of Mount Hiei did a hundred or so
years back. There were no leaves to slice up using his kenki at this
point, so the Battousai settled for popping up the diced debris into
even smaller pieces, his sword energy producing dense clouds of dust
with immense amounts of electrical static and ionized gases.

Even further back, the smiling yet determined visage of Kaoru Kamiya
cheered Kenshin on from behind him, the borrowed piece of clothing that
her similarly borrowed body wore transforming into her normal kendo
outfit from eleven and a half decades ago. She picked her words
carefully in remembrance of what she recently learned regarding
Kenshin's untimely demise.

"Kenshin, whatever happens, I believe in you. Please..." 'Win?' 'Do your
best?' 'Come back home with me in this new Tokyo?' 'Don't die?'

"Live. Live your life to the fullest and with no regrets." Why did she
say that? Stupid, stupid, stupid... Kenshin was already a ghost! She was
a ghost too! How was he supposed to act all inspired by her half-baked,
badly chosen words of encouragement?

Unbeknownst to her, those were the exact words Kenshin needed, his eyes
immediately sharpening into purple orbs of awareness and comprehension
upon hearing them. The Chojin and the Battousai glared at each other for
about a millisecond before they charged forward with speeds beyond that
of ordinary men.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ougi: AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI!"

In almost the same manner as Shishio did, the Chojin took advantage of
the nodachi's extra length and his own supersonic quickness to fully
neutralize Kenshin's Dragon Flight of Heaven's power and speed after
seeing the ground buckle on the left-footed in-step that accelerated his
battoujutsu strike to unbelievable levels.

"Holy shit, the Chojin blocked it!" Yahiko cursed, breathing in and out
as he gathered the strength he needed to join Kenshin in the fight; at
this point, he could still take on a bit more damage, he reckoned.

"It's not yet over. This ultimate battoujutsu has something special in
store for Mister S-Level!" Sanosuke reassured, although he didn't like
the way the Chojin shrugged off the succession technique in almost the
same manner as Shishio did once upon a time. 'Fuck it. Is the Chojin
really Shishio? These ghosts from the past are popping up all over the
place!'

The Chojin almost barked out his laughter at the empty space before him
as his jaki-created body flared up in almost the same way as Shishio's
did when he immolated himself, Kenshin, and Yumi into charred
silhouettes on the ground. "I've already discovered the secrets behind
this move, including the follow-up slash! As both Rando and your
teenaged ally discovered, it's a bad idea to use the wind against me,
Battousai!"

The imperceptible void that arrested Shishio's movements long enough for
Kenshin to combine the power of centrifugal movement and the
frictionless space of split air to hurl his adversary about forty feet
to the sky was overcome by the Chojin's tornado, producing countless
twisters that swallowed the vortex and blew away the ionized cloud of
static that contained Kenshin's kenki.

"This is the strength of a Class-S creature! The might of superior
beings worshipped as gods by powerless humans who didn't know any
better! The incomprehensible power that Judaism and Christianity
believed to have come from angels! Just like before, you will die along
with your foolish beliefs! But thanks to you, I've discovered the true
power of the killing sword! My victims are my strength. Their suffering
will lead me to greatness."

The supposedly expected second slash never came, which confused and
puzzled the Chojin. 'No. I've tangled the coiling dragon's body. His
claws won't reach me anymore! This is my chance to finish him off!'

Again, just like with the Shishio fight, an image of Hiko Seijuro the
Thirteenth appeared before the cross-scarred manslayer. 'If you
sacrifice yourself now, a girl who came all the way from death to see
you will become immensely unhappy.' That wasn't an exact quote, but the
redhead recognized their intent.

"You haven't learned anything from the last time we faced, have you?"
To the Chojin's disbelief, Kenshin had speed-sheathed his sword during
the turn, canceling out the second strike by doing so. "I cannot die
here. There's a person who's been waiting for me for a hundred or so
years to return. Nothing is stronger than the will to live! Hiten
Mitsurugi Ryu: HIRYU SEN!"

Aiming his sword right at the eye of the storm that the Chojin created
using the blocked Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki's vacuum abyss, Battousai
unsheathed his weapon using his thumb and let it fly towards his
opponent's head hilt-first, its momentum aided by the storm winds that
the whirling vacuum controlled. All that gathered jaki then ruptured
open and collapsed unto itself in an instant, the twisting vortices
converging upon that new black hole that sucked the Chojin's energy-
based body until every last wisp of the destructive force was gone.


===


To be Continued...

Next: The Chojin's identity?

Man, the amount of shit I put these characters through is
staggering. Good thing it builds character.

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.

Akin ang huling halakhak!
Abdiel