[FFML] [yyh][ry][xover] Demon Sword Chapter 28: Homework Never Ends (Part 3)

[Chester Castañeda]

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Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/56473/

Ghost hunting might not be a bad idea.


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Chapter 28: Homework Never Ends (Part 3)

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"Ah! Big Bro! What brings you here?" was what Shota didn't say from
behind Yusuke Urameshi because the only time they ever interacted was
when the older boy pretended to be a mustachioed bad guy who was out to
bring his deceased dog Jiro to Hell if he didn't stop crying about the
poor earthbound canine.

The little boy instead queried, "Hey, Mister! How much for two bowls?"
as he dug into his pockets for his allowance. "Never mind, I saw the
price list!" He proceeded to pay the man for the food.

'Ah. The little brat doesn't even remember me. Well, granted, he only
saw me twice in his lifetime, and that was when he was dreaming or half-
conscious, but still...' thought Yusuke.

"Shota-kun, I though we were going to go on a picnic! We're supposed to
eat at the park!" complained a girl the same age as the bespectacled
boy.

"I already paid for it, Shiori!" protested Shota. He then tilted his
head to the side as he stared at the gel-haired ramen cook. He'd almost
asked if he met the guy before. Maybe this person bullied him in the
past...?

Shiori noticed Puu sitting atop Yusuke's head. "Wow! That looks so cute.
Is that the mascot of your restaurant, Mister?"

"This?" The cook scratched his head. "Oh... this is a doll." The blue
bird... thing gave the ramen vendor woodpecker pecks on his scalp in
response. "OW! Okay, fine. Not a doll. It's a... What's it called,
Keiko? How am I supposed to...? I mean, it's called a Plate Pussy."

Yusuke flinched as his head snapped back, with one of his cheeks
reddening. Was he having an allergic reaction? Shota hated those.
"PLATYPUS! IT'S A PLATYPUS! Whatever that is... Duck beaver. Yeah."

"...W-What?" Shota's friend Shiori blurted out. "O-Okay. Platypus, huh?
Did you steal it from the zoo, Mister?"

"...Your bowl of soup is ready, Princess! Eat up. I'll get your
boyfriend's order in a minute," the presumably out-of-school youth cut
Shiori off, the supposed "pet" atop his head establishing the pecking
order.

'What a weirdo,' thought Shota as he shook his head, his mouth a
straight, flat line of expressionless disbelief. Regardless, for
whatever reason, the thirteen-year-old kid wanted to punch the ramen
vendor's face, and he didn't know why. What had gotten into him? He'd
never even met the guy, and he wanted to punch him.

"Uh, is there something the matter, kid?" the hooligan-haired cook
asked as he handed Shota his ramen. "Do I have condiments on my face?"

"N-Nothing." Shota waved the short-order cook off.

"Okay. If you say so," Yusuke shrugged as he went about cleaning his
cooking utensils.

"It happened again," Shiori blurted out after she joined Shota on the
bench attached to Yusuke's ramen cart and gently slurped her noodles.

"_What_ happened again?" Shota asked as he slurped his own noodles even
more daintily than his female companion.

"_That_. The thing we talked about before," she answered while lightly
wiping her mouth with a napkin. "It's starting to really freak me out.
Those weird sounds. My dolls and dresses flying out of my closet by
themselves. My stuff moving from room to room without my knowledge.
It's getting really creepy in our house."

Shiori dabbed her eyes with another napkin. "My parents wouldn't even
believe me when I tell them about those weird occurrences. They keep
saying it's all in my imagination. You're the only one I can count on,
Shota-kun," she declared while holding the boy's hands.

The tomato-faced Shota answered, "I-It must be a p-poltergeist. I've
read as much as I could about it in the library, but that wasn't enough,
so I looked through the b-b-bookstore on the o-occult section." He
swallowed the frog in his throat. "Y-You can count on m-me!"

Shiori said, "It's settled then! Let's go back to my house after our
picnic."

The red-faced and fidgeting Shota replied, "Eh? EH?"

"I had my doubts, but you came through, Sayaka-chan! We actually have a
case to solve for Keiko's sake thanks to your insistence on revisiting
Shota-kun," whispered Yusuke to Sayaka after his two preteen customers
bowed and started to leave.

As though waking up from a flowery, sparkle-filled daze, Sayaka crowed
while her wandering eyes followed the exiting thirteen-year-olds, "Huh?
A case? What case?"

Yusuke sweated salty liquids while Keiko perspired ectoplasm. "N-Never
mind," they chorused.


===


The mansion that Yusuke, Keiko, Sayaka, and Puu ended up in while
following the two preteen lovebirds after a day of picnicking sported a
ceiling so high, the house could double as an assembly hall.

The spacious abode sported an overhanging television set that Yusuke
only saw in brochures for five-star hotels and resorts, ornate carpets
Sayaka could've sworn were props for an old-fashioned sword-and-sandal
Hollywood movie, and glass windows and doors galore that reminded Keiko
of the Western saying of, "Don't throw rocks if you live in a glass
house."

"Goddamn. Where the hell did we end up in? A museum or an opera house?
This place is huge! Does this even count as a residential home?" said
Yusuke in a low voice while hiding behind one of many statues, trees,
and other structures across Shiori's equally spacious and bricked front
yard... a yard so big, the trio (or quartet, if one would count Puu) had
a hard time telling where the neighborhood ended and the girl's immense
property began.

As for Puu, he interacted with the local "wildlife", flying around with
the birds and the bees while Yusuke swatted after him. "What the hell
has gotten into you, you stupid bird monster? We're in stealth mode
right now, dammit!"

"I wonder what Botan would do right about now?" wondered Sayaka aloud
as she and Keiko followed after Shota and Shiori within the mansion,
ignoring Yusuke as he made a commotion outside the yard alongside the
penguin-shaped, floppy-eared spirit beast.

"The ramen vendor from earlier is following us," was the first thing
Keiko and Sayaka overheard Shiori say to Shota while sitting across the
couch of the mansion's enormous guestroom. "He's been following us all
this time. Is he a pedophile?"

Shota forced out laughter that strained his constricted throat. "You're
right. I can even see him playing with his flying pet penguin thing
right now. I'm surprised none of your bodyguards caught him yet."

Actually, Yusuke took care of all the mansion's impressive security
details in ten seconds flat.

With moist eyes, Shiori grabbed hold of Shota's sleeves and shrieked,
"Shota-kun! He's like the Otaku Murderer from four years ago! He even
has that strange platypus thing to lure children in his dark-tinted
van! He's even scarier than the ghost I was talking about! We have to
call the police!"

"Eh?" mumbled Shota before regaining his senses and running towards the
nearest phone. "I'm right on it, Shiori-chan!"

"AH, OKAY! I'M GOING! I'M GOING! I heard you loud and clear the first
time! This is not what it looks like! There's no need to involve any
cops!" Yusuke called out to the kids within the house after capturing
Puu.

The last thing he wanted was to ruin Keiko's first mission. He also
wanted to apologize for the beat-up security team within the area, but
he had enough common sense to hold his tongue at the last minute.
However, he wanted to make one thing perfectly clear.

"I'm going... BUT I'M NOT A PEDOPHILE!"

"What a considerate pedophile. Bye-bye, Lolicon-ojisan!" was Shiori's
sudden one-eighty after realizing that the weirdo ramen vendor was
leaving without a fight, seemingly not hearing what he'd said
afterwards.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY? I don't have a Lolita complex and I'm not a dirty
old man either!" protested Yusuke as he jumped over the ten-foot wall.

Unfortunately, Puu chose that moment to escape Urameshi's grasp and
nibble at the half-demon's belt, which caused his pants to drop to his
heels and reveal his black briefs for all to see (he had a Monday-
Wednesday-Friday schedule for briefs, and a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday
schedule for boxers; Sunday was a surprise).

Shiori screeched and covered her eyes while a pale-faced Shota fell
on his posterior, the policeman on the other line shouting, "Hello?
What's going on there? Is this a prank call?"

"JUST GO AWAY ALREADY, YOU MORON!" Keiko screamed at her boyfriend...
or perhaps ex-boyfriend by the time this mission was over... after
throwing a stone that hit the struggling Yusuke straight on the
noggin and knocked him over the wall with Puu in tow. "Jeez, does he
really have to embarrass himself every time?"

"AH! Where'd that rock come from?" asked Shota, his drooping lower jaw
seemingly unhinged from its sockets.

"I told you that our house was haunted!" answered a trembling Shiori as
she tackled Shota, her skin as white as eggshells.


===


'Stupid Yusuke.'

Distracted by how her disembodied (to Shota and Shiori) rock throw at
Yusuke affected the pair of kids before her, Keiko failed to notice the
firecracker gunshots from beyond the wall, her focus reserved solely on
the two petrified children.

"Ah, I shouldn't have done that." Keiko bowed at the shuffling and
turning preteens repeatedly and apologetically, even though they
couldn't see her.

"Never mind that, Big Sis! At least we can now get to the bottom of
their ghostly problems!" reassured Sayaka. The little ghost girl took a
look at her clipboard and filled in her poltergeist report.

"I guess we should first make sure that this really is a ghoul or not.
Anyway, although I'm a student ferry-girl, I'm still authorized to
deliver souls to the nearest shinigami available."

"Uh-huh," muttered Keiko as she scrambled her brains over the stories
Yusuke told concerning his quest for resurrection. No matter how she
rationalized it, all of Yusuke's missions were solved through his own
pigheaded stubbornness and inherent luckiness.

Was that what she was supposed to do to? Recklessly confront challenges
head-first and rely on luck she might not even have to pull her through?
She didn't even have demon blood or an ability to defy fate itself
either!

Three years ago, all she needed to worry about was getting her
delinquent childhood friend to school. How did it all come to this?

"Uh? Keiko-neechan? Hello?" Sayaka waved her hand in front of the dazed
Keiko. "You shouldn't worry about this mission too much. We're just
testing out the waters. Maybe we're not facing an onryo. Maybe it's a
zashiki-warashi like I was before."

"Oh, right! I guess you _were_ a zashiki-warashi. But aren't those types
of ghosts a lot more concerned with pranks than, well... you know. What
you did," Keiko pointed out before realizing her insensitivity. "My
apologies. I said something I shouldn't have."

"Oh, it's okay." Incidentally, the onryo were vengeful spirits straight
out of purgatory, while the zashiki-warashi were the ghosts of children
who were often mischievous instead of dangerous. As a result, Sayaka
appended, "I guess not all ghosts of children are harmless, huh?"

"I-I guess." Keiko nodded while biting her lip. "Although I am hoping
that the ghost we're dealing with is a zashiki-warashi."

Once Shota had Shiori (and himself) calmed down from their encounter with
the "child predator" and the supernatural, they proceeded straight into
Shiori's room, which turned out to be more of an entire wing of the house
than a mere room.

On one part of Shiori's room lay what looked like an exhibit of dolls of
all shapes and sizes: A toy store full of mannequins and marionettes, to
be exact. Were it owned by a thirty-year-old NEET (not in education,
employment, or training) man living in his parent's home, he'd be called
a potential psycho.

"Oh, pretty! Look at all those dolls," marveled Sayaka. "Shiori must have
been born with a silver spoon in her mouth to have this many toys. My
parents couldn't even afford to buy me one doll."

"They're kind of creeping me out, to be honest. It's like they're
staring right through my soul... in a manner of speaking," confessed
Keiko.

While "normal girl" tea parties were held with imaginary cups of tea
while talking to stuffed animals, Shiori's tea party came with lovely
female servants fully decked in uniforms typically seen in Akihabara
maid cafes and ceramic tea sets worth more than a school year's worth of
Shota's tuition to Sarayashiki Junior High.

The imported green tea itself had a foreign name that the preteen boy
couldn't identify. He did remember the maid say that it was manufactured
by a tea company that held all three Royal Warrants or something to that
effect. 'What does that even mean?' he thought.

"Hey, Shota-kun. My parents are away at work for once instead of
following my every movement. The only people here are the servants and
my bodyguards. We're practically alone." Shiori's mouth curved ever so
slightly as she saw her favorite male companion turn beet red over her
statement.

'Eh? EH? Is that something junior high students should be saying to each
other? Even Yusuke never pulled anything like this on me...'

Keiko's eyes swirled at the boldness of the two children before her.
>From behind her, the servants tittered at the scene while she herself
remained unseen to the naked eye.

"Ah? Well... Um. Yeah." Shota fidgeted he stubbed his toe on one of the
table legs, dropped his glasses, and nearly shattered the cup of tea
given to him, his unseeing eyes darting back and forth like he were a
trapped animal of some sort. "D-Do you regularly invite boys back to
your m-mansion?"

Keiko then heard Sayaka sigh from behind her as the spirit guide trainee
reminisced about all the good times she spent with her former puppy
love.


===


As Yusuke nursed his sore head on the other side of the wall he just
fell over, he caught Puu by the stomach and shook him around like a
bell.

"What is up with you today? This is the last time I'm taking you with me
in a mission, y'hear?" admonished Urameshi as he pulled at the spirit
beast's mouth as though he were an errant child. The sleek-haired
teenager then felt a shudder up the back of his neck, which prompted him
to turn around.

"We finally found you, kid... if you really are a kid. Those were some
pretty nifty moves you did there. Did you use some sort of knockout gas
or something on us?"

The retired Spirit World Detective soon found himself surrounded by
a multitude of men who sported greasy hair, tinted sunglasses, black
ties, black shoes, white shirts, and black suits. If he didn't know any
better, he'd swear he just broke into a yakuza hideout, Area 51, or a
black-tie affair for blind people.

"Huh. You're all still alive and kicking, eh? I'm impressed. Usually
when I punch humans, they stay down." Yusuke smirked.

"Who are you? Are you a spy? An assassin? Were you hired by one of our
masters' enemies from rival companies?" grilled one of the men in
black."

"I don't know who the hell you are and how you were able to knock out
the front yard guards, but we won't let you soil Shiori-sama's pristine
virtue!" said the seeming leader of the aforementioned eighty-eight
bodyguards employed by Shiori's parents to safeguard their precious
daughter as they brandished enough weapons and armaments to conquer an
entire city, or at least bring down a drug cartel.

"Fine by me. I was kind of getting bored babysitting those two middle
school lovebirds anyway." Yusuke's knuckles crackled while Puu rested on
his shoulder like a parrot would to a stereotypical pirate captain.
"Wait, did you just say I'm after the little girl's _virtue_? That's
messed up! You've got it all...!"

The wall exploded from the simultaneous impact of a hundred or so
bullets. Nevertheless, it was enough to wake the Class-A Yusuke from his
stupor over being accused of pedophilia and unleash just as many fists
against all those bullets.


===


Meanwhile, Shiori tilted her head to the side and brushed back a stray
strand of hair over her eyes. "Nope. You're the first boy I've invited
to my house."

"Y-Yeah. I-It's because of t-the ghost, right? So that I can h-help you
get rid of it."

She shrugged. "I guess."

"Y-You seem quite f-forward today, Shiori-chan," the boy mumbled under
his breath, his sweaty head as red and piping hot as a freshly steamed
lobster.

"Not really. If you want to talk about daring, then that would have to
be you, Shota-kun," said Shiori, her mouth curved upwards and her eyes
closed in bliss. "You were shy and quiet when we first became classmates
back in elementary, right? You were also a bit of a crybaby."

Shota deflated like an untied balloon upon hearing... or rather
discovering... that her childhood friend of three years was aware of his
days as a introverted loner who was regularly bullied for his utter
spinelessness.

"Y-Yeah. I'm surprised you remembered me back then when I... was like
that."

With sultry eyes and a cat's smile, Shiori asked, "What made you change,
I wonder? Was it love? Was it a girl?"

'It was actually a dog,' Shota thought before waving Shiori off. "I
haven't changed all that much. I still wear glasses. I'm still a huge
nerd. I still get bullied at school."

"You're now friends with some of your former bullies. You're a lot more
talkative now. Even though people do tease you, everyone wants to hang
out with you because you know a lot of interesting stuff," Shiori
countered, smirking. "I was so impressed when you started to become more
confident with yourself."

"I-I'm not all that brave," a turnip bearing Shota's face, hairdo, and
signature glasses insisted. "My heart still does the conga every time
I'm asked to speak in front of class. I-I even nearly drowned in our
swimming class's final exams!"

"I know you're scared. It's kind of cute how you still stand up to
people even though you're the same ol' Shota-kun deep down inside."
Shiori giggled. "But isn't it braver for a person to do things although
they're afraid to do them? That's something I've always admired about
you."

A blushing Keiko and Sayaka flanked the pair on both sides, the floating
specters watching the scene unfold before them as though it were an
afternoon television drama as Shiori and Shota looked away from each
other in smiling embarrassment.

"I wish I were as brave as you. I wish I could stand up for myself. I...
barely get to do anything anymore. It can get kind of lonely here, caged
around in this house like a bird. Even if it's still a couple of weeks
till we start junior high, I'm really looking forward to being there
with you, Shota-kun."

"Oooh! I like the atmosphere that these two are having! They're so
lovey-dovey!" said Sayaka.

"Is it really all right for you to cheer Shota on like this, Sayaka-
chan?" hissed Keiko even though she had no reason to whisper. "Didn't
you have a crush on this kid?"

"It's okay," said Sayaka. "My one-sided love doesn't compare to their
mutual affection."

"Sayaka-chan..."

"Shiori-chan, I..." began Shota.

"Ah! Can you wait a minute, Shota-kun? I have something to show you."

"S-Sure. What is it?" Shota asked, but Shiori had already gone straight
for her closet that, for any normal tenant, was large enough to be an
entire apartment in and of itself.

"Ah, you were almost there, Shota-kun. Hang in there," Sayaka cheered as
her ectoplasmic tears cascaded over her cheeks.

"Um, Sayaka-chan? We should go. I don't think there's a poltergeist
here at all. That was only an excuse Shiori-chan made to get Shota-kun
in her home," Keiko said, while adding to herself, 'I think you already
knew that from the start, didn't you, Sayaka-chan?'

Sayaka pouted. "Just a few more minutes, Keiko-neechan! I swear we'll be
hunting for real ghosts afterwards!"

"WE'RE NOT WATCHING A TV DRAMA! Didn't your mother teach you not to
snoop into other people's business? Let's go!" Keiko dragged Sayaka by
the hem of her dress's collar while the latter shrieked, "I don't want
to go! Things are just getting good! Even my mother would cheer me on!"

After a couple of minutes, while Keiko struggled with an adamant Sayaka,
Shiori came out wearing a familiar uniform that made the ghost of the
comatose girl gasp.

"Wait a second! I know that uniform! That's the same uniform I used to
wear! Oh, Shiori-chan mentioned something about going to Sarayashiki
too..." Keiko trailed off.

"What do you think? Does it look good on me?" Shiori asked Shota, and of
course the thirteen-year-old boy responded accordingly, stating, "Yes!
You look very cute in that outfit, Shiori-chan! It suits you quite well!
I can't wait for us to start going to Sarayashiki Junior High!"

Shiori giggled, her skirt swaying back and forth along with her hips as
she held her cheeks with her palms. "I'm so happy that you..."

"SHIORI! WHO IS THAT BOY AND WHAT IS HE DOING IN OUR HOUSE?" boomed the
last voice Shiori wanted to hear at the time.

"PAPA? I thought you had a party to attend to!" screamed Shiori as her
gaze wandered all over the room for a hole she could crawl through
right then and there.

For Shota's part, he clutched his chest, froze up, held his breath,
sweated rivulets of ice-cold saltiness, and fell sideward to the floor
like a stiff cardboard sign blown away by a wayward breeze. A leg of his
twitched from time to time afterwards.

"I can't believe you'd do something like this, Shiori! How could you
bring back boys to your room while believing that we were away, thinking
that you'd be alone with them?" the pearl-wearing mother of Shiori
berated, her svelte figure, tiara-accentuating updo, and black dress
reminding Keiko of a Hollywood poster for a movie whose name she
couldn't recall.

'The only thing that's missing is a cigarette holder.' The astral
projection of the comatose Yukimura noted.

"I was hoping you'd prove your father wrong when we stayed behind, but
then _this_ happens. I am so disappointed." The mouth of Shiori's
mother puckered for a cigarette holder or cigarette that, as Keiko
observed, wasn't there.

"Why can't either of you trust me? You never let me do anything on my
own! I-I mean, Shota-kun is just a classmate of mine from school! A
classmate! There's nothing between us at all!" a panicked Shiori
blathered to her parents as they both shook their heads and turned
their backs on her.

A different pain entered the pale and worn Shota upon hearing Shiori's
denials; they were pinpricks, but they plunged right into his heart.

"You're forbidden to see this boy ever again. In fact, I'm sending you
to an all-girls school instead of that Sarayashiki Junior High School
you've insisted on enrolling to," came the ultimatum of Shiori's
business-suited and mustachioed father.

"Eh?" Shota blurted out. Everything was happening way too fast. Wasn't
he supposed to help Shiori with her ghost problem? What was going on?

"Father, that's a bit too harsh," balked Shiori's Mama at her husband
while their daughter dropped to her knees, her eyes moist and red.

"It's about time we disciplined her, Mother. We've spoiled her far too
much. This is for her own good," Shiori's Papa maintained as he adjusted
his tie.

"Spoil me? SPOIL ME? You two have SUFFOCATED me! Living in this house
is like living in a PRISON!" Everyone fell silent and held their breaths
after hearing what Shiori had squeaked out. For a second or two, those
present wondered if they'd gone deaf because of how quiet the room was.

Shota in particular clutched his head and covered his mouth as his
vision blurred and warped. Shiori, who was so demure and ladylike that
she'd probably flinch, yelp, and hide away into a corner at the mere
sight of plates breaking, had just answered back her father's decision
to separate the two of them. He didn't know if he should feel happy or
alarmed at such a gesture.

At that point, the predictable shouting match between everyone involved
(save a couple of eavesdropping ghosts) commenced.

"YES! Yes, you're spoiled! Have you taken a look at your room? Your
closet? How can you be so ungrateful to us? We provided your every
whim! Bought you clothes! Brought you toys! Let you go to whichever
school suited your fancy! And you have the audacity...!"

"YOU CAN'T BUY YOUR DAUGHTER'S LOVE! You're always so strict with my
grades! All I do is study and play with dolls! You never let me out of
the house! I'm always supposed to act like the perfect little girl! Is
that all I am to you? A trophy you can brag about to others? I never
get to have any fun!"

"Fun? FUN? What do you want to do for FUN? The next thing I know,
you'll be parading around in pastel clothes, knee-high socks, and dyed
hair while dating middle-aged businessmen who are much older than I
am! THERE'S NO WAY I'D ALLOW THAT!"

"Father, you're overreacting. She's a good girl and she made a mistake.
Hasn't she been a good girl all this time? Hasn't she done all her
homework and passed all her tests with flying colors? Let's ground her
and be done with it."

"We have to discipline her now, Mother! Can't you see she's already
giving us lip?"

"She's right, Sir! She's a perfect student back in our elementary
school! She aces all her tests, a-and she was even ranked high among the
people who t-took their entrance tests in Sarayashiki Junior High!"

"YOU! Keep quiet. Stay out of this! This is a family matter!"

"Papa...!"

"Father..."

"I bet her grades have been dipping slightly because of that boy over
there! She's just a child! As soon as we take our eyes off of her,
something might happen to her, and by that time, it'll be too late for
regrets! Don't you remember the last time we were lax with our
children?"

"Father, please. I don't want to remember that."

"I'VE NEVER FORGOTTEN! S-She doesn't know any better. I'd die before I
let her be friends with a suspicious boy like that! What we're doing is
all for her sake anyway, right? She should stop acting so spoiled and
respect her mother and father for once! I only want to protect Ake...
Shiori."

"...Protect me? PROTECT ME? You don't even remember my name at times!
You keep calling me by someone else's name, even! My name is Shiori! I
AM NOT AKE...!"

In an instant, Shiori's father grabbed hold of his daughter's collar and
slapped her so hard, a button from her Sarayashiki uniform popped out.

"I don't want to hear another word from you, young lady. Stay inside
this room. You're not going to Sarayashiki Junior High, and that's
final. As for you, young man, our maids can escort you out of this
house."

For the longest time, Akemi stared at the towering figure of her father
as she lay there on the floor, her face stinging more with shock and
humiliation than actual pain.

"Shiori-chan, please understand your Papa's..." her mother began, but
Shiori wouldn't hear any of it.

"PAPA, I HATE YOU!" Shiori screamed as she ran past her father and the
boy that inspired her to finally speak up for herself after years and
years of constant academic pressure and overprotective parents.


===


Once again, Yusuke stood in the middle of a devastated lot, surrounded
by well-dressed bodies strewn all around, fighting with only his pinky
finger raised.

He sighed. 'I hate bullying the weak. Maybe I should've stayed in Makai
for more than three years. Hell, if I did, then maybe I wouldn't have to
deal with this Kugai nonsense.'

The leader of the Dark Martial Arts Tournament's Urameshi Team came
face-to-face with the leader of the bodyguards hired to protect the
little girl that called him a pedophilic pervert a while back.

"Haven't you've had enough? You've impressed me, though. If it weren't
for you, then I wouldn't have been forced to raise my pinky at all."

"BASTARD! I'LL CAVE YOUR FACE IN!" roared the captain of the guards.

"A swing and a miss," mocked Yusuke while dodging his enemy's punch.

As the lead bodyguard lost his balance, Yusuke flicked his pinky finger
and, in true Younger Toguro fashion, the force of his action was enough
to collapse the abdomen of the persistent bodyguard and empty his lungs
of air.

The yojimbo's sunglasses fell off his face as he dropped to his knees
and vomited the contents of his stomach. Even at the reduced power level
of Class-A, the half-demon remained a force to be reckoned with against
mortal men.

"No. Not again. I've failed to protect our precious princess. I'm so
sorry, Shiori-sama..."

'What a drama queen,' Yusuke mused as he kicked the gangster-looking
agent around to see if he were alive and breathing. 'He knew he didn't
stand a chance and he still fought me. Who does he think he is? Kuwabara
Kazuma?'

The almost seventeen-year-old boy's eyes furrowed. 'Wait. Did he say,
'Not again'? Did this bullshit happen before?'

Puu squawked at Yusuke just as the ex-Reikai Tantei felt the dark
presence of jealousy and resentment personified appear within the
spacious confines of Shota's (kind of) girlfriend's mansion.

"Holy shit, _there's_ your poltergeist."


===


"We saw something we weren't supposed to see, didn't we?" queried Keiko,
to which Sayaka could only answer with a nod. "Let's go. We've seen
enough."

"How dare you." Three simple words, yet their impact shook the room and
put the world to a seeming standstill.

"S-Sayaka-chan?" stuttered Keiko as her guardian ferry-girl-in-training
clutched her body and moaned in pain. "What's going on?"

"I can feel it... that pain. Loneliness. Jealousy. I can't breathe, Big
Sis. It's the same pain I felt when... when... I tried bringing Shota
along with me to Heaven. Someone else is suffering the same pain."

As the crying Shiori was about to exit her own room, she felt something
tug at her dress. It was her expensive, life-sized porcelain doll that
was about four feet or so tall.

It murmured something at Shiori before it raised its heavyset head. Even
though it lacked the moving parts and full articulation to do so, it
opened its pursed mouth and hyperventilated. Its chest swelled and
contracted. Its shoulders were raised so high that they came into
contact with its stubby neck.

Shiori afterwards fell down to the floor as the Goldilocks-like doll
with golden curls proportionately grew every time it sucked in air like
a sputtering, secondhand car. The girl lying beside its feet gagged and
choked, her complexion turning blue, as the doll siphoned the air within
the room unto itself.

"P-Please stop... W-Why are you doing this?" beseeched Shiori as she
coughed, wheezed, and saw the darkness creep at the edges of her vision.

"No. It can't be. The poltergeist was real?" Keiko said to herself, fear
and awe gripping her as her mind raced on what she could possibly do
against such a beast.

"SHIORI!" Shota and Shiori's Papa shouted in unison while the mother
screamed for her servants and her bodyguards to do something and protect
their precious only child.

At the back of Shota's mind, a mantra of 'The poltergeist is real,'
repeated itself over and over.

"Where are our bodyguards? Where are our maids and butlers? Somebody,
anybody... HELP US!" shrieked Shiori's Mama.

Keiko and Sayaka could only float there in midair as they helplessly
watched Shota and the rest of Shiori's family collapse to the ground
while the (they guessed) possessed doll continued to grow. The porcelain
facade of the toy broke open, revealing hints of exposed muscle tissue
and tendons. Something unthinkable lay beneath that plaything's surface.

"What the heck is that thing? Is that supposed to be a shinentai? A
monster? I've never seen anything like it!" Keiko said as she tried to
figure out what was going on. "And how is it suffocating them? By
sucking in all the air? That only works if we're in an enclosed space!"

"We better do something, Big Sis! Or else we won't be the only ghosts
floating around in this mansion!" Sayaka beckoned Keiko, but the latter
had no clue what to do. It wasn't even about raising her karma to wake
her up from her coma anymore; other lives were at stake this time
around.

"...B-But what can we do?" Keiko asked, and the novice shinigami had no
answers.

"Papa. Mama. I can't breathe... It hurts... H-Help me," Shiori mumbled
as her glassy eyes stared into nothingness.

"SHIORI!" Although he himself couldn't breathe, his chest constricting
so tightly it felt like his heart and lungs were on the verge of
bursting, Shiori's daddy crawled towards his sweaty, breathless daughter
and attempted to drag her away out of the monstrous mannequin's
proverbial clutches.

"DAMMIT, leave my daughter alone!" Shiori's Papa punched the overgrown
doll repeatedly, making its porcelain facade crack until the skin of his
knuckles got torn away by the sharp shards. Inside the toy were strips
of exposed muscle tissue, tendons, and cartilage, as if there were a
living organism inside of it.

"Why her, not me?" was the last thing the middle-aged father heard
before he passed out altogether with a chop on the head by the titanic
mannequin.

"Mister...!" shouted Shota as he struggled to stand and walk despite
his lightheadedness. For one reason or another, a feeling of deja vu
enveloped his heart.

Flashes of Shota battling a mustachioed villain who had his dog Jiro
chained up as well as visions of a long-haired, pale-skinned little girl
in pajamas swam inside the surface of his mind. "LEAVE SHIORI-CHAN
ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"

The blonde monstrosity turned and expelled a blast of air that flung
Shota right into the glass shrine full of a variety of variegated dolls.

"SHOTA-KUN!" screamed Sayaka as she tried to catch the boy in mid-
flight, but he ended up passing through her and crashing into the
display case anyway. It took her several minutes to turn and rush
towards the unmoving body of her first crush.

Keiko winced and covered her mouth at the resulting crash and pool of
blood. Was this really happening? 'Do something. Dammit, do something!'
she inwardly screamed at her frozen astral body. Back in the hospital
where her body lay, her blood pressure and heart rate rose in response
to what her soul was seeing.

"Please don't kill my family! Take me instead! I don't want to lose
another one of them. I beg of you!" beseeched the mother. The ogre of
guts and porcelain grabbed the woman and enveloped it into a hug.
Shiori's mother then heard it say, "We'll be together always," as it
crushed the life out of her.

Soon, only ghosts and goblins were left standing and cognizant within
Shiori's room while the rest of the girl's family, herself, and her
elementary school classmate got knocked out by the oxygen-depriving
fiend lurking inside a cursed mannequin.

Sayaka trembled as she gazed upon the unmoving form of Shota, his blood
pooling underneath him. Then, she heard Keiko gasp as her body grew warm
with a familiar internal fire that spread inside her from head to toe.

'What's going on?' Keiko thought as she saw debris, doll fragments,
broken tiles, and a host of other things not nailed to the ground orbit
around a glowing Sayaka as if she were the sun and they were the
planets.

The behemoth reacted in kind, letting go of Shiori's mother as it
screeched at Sayaka.

The astral projection of Keiko then recalled Yusuke's stories of how he
met the little ghost girl; she was more of a poltergeist than the
monster within Shiori's room.

"If you lay another tendril on this family, I won't forgive you," said
Sayaka as she raised her palm at the thing wearing Shiori's doll as its
"skin" and produced an energy blast so powerful that even Urameshi
would've been proud of it, which obliterated the dollish facade of the
creature. The mannequin's ceramic hide shattered and its frilly dress
unraveled from the concussive force of the spiritual beam.

Sayaka's efforts to save her one-time crush only made things worse. Free
from the confines of the broken toy emerged a creature made of taut red
tendrils intertwined together like strands of toffee, exposed pinkish
meat akin to uncooked ham, long organic tubes that made it look like it
was on life support, and twin spongy, honeycombed sacks that expanded
and contracted in regular intervals.

In a heartbeat, the alien manifestation slithered towards Sayaka before
the ghost could react. Although it lacked a mouth, it whispered in the
little girl's mind, "We're very much alike," before swallowing her whole
by engulfing her with its folds of guts, skin, and meat.

Without thinking, Keiko flew straight at the pink, red, and slimy
eyesore, intent on somehow plucking Sayaka's soul from the depths of its
honeycombed abyss.

The wheezing sounds from the grotesque, sentient meat bag grew louder,
and even though the Yukimura spirit's breaths were more of a reflex
action than a necessity, she felt herself gasping for air she didn't
need to breathe anyway.

The wall facing right at the yard of the mansion burst open right then
and there before the slimy collection of what appeared to be viscera
feasted upon Keiko's ghost.

A gush of fresh air entered the abode from the hole in the wall, which
made Shiori, her parents, and Shota stir from their restless slumber,
the vacuum created by the monster dissipating as the surge of oxygen
filled their lungs and ruffled their hair.

Meanwhile, the slimy mass of blubber and flesh reeled from a world-
stopping punch from one pissed-off Yusuke Urameshi. In turn, Keiko felt
like an entire planet was lifted off of her shoulders as soon as she saw
her boyfriend barrel into the scene.

"Yusuke! Great timing! Sayaka-chan was swallowed by that thing and it
even tried to kill Shota, Shiori, and her parents by sucking out all the
air inside the room!"

The high-pitched hisses and pants from the fleshy, meaty creature
worsened as it again slithered across the room, aided by a green mucus
that lubricated its sluggish locomotion.

"Keiko! Get these people out of here while I finish off this demon or
whatever!" instructed Yusuke as he let his fists fly at what he presumed
was a youkai of some sort. However, the spongy and moist material of the
ballooning twin meat sacks that served as its main body absorbed the
majority of his blows regardless of his Class-A strength.

'H-How am I supposed to do that? I'm a ghost! They can't see me!'
wondered Keiko before she spotted Puu hovering towards her. 'I know!'

'Sorry, Keiko. This poltergeist is too much for you. We'll deal with
improving your bad karma later, I promise,' Yusuke pledged as he piled
on the punishment and combination attacks against his foe.

The ghost-hunting mission was supposed to be a piece of cake, but it
turned out so tough that even his old ghostly self would've had a tough
time dealing with it.

"Spit her out! Spit Sayaka out, you oversized meat sack! HYAKU RETSU-
KEN!" raged Urameshi.

A dazed, bloody, and blurry-eyed Shota looked up in time to see the
ramen vendor that Shiori called a pedophile earlier deliver an uppercut
at the air-sucking ogre.

A flash of insight hit him right that instant as the image of the "bad
guy" that almost took his dead dog Jiro away to Hell a few years back
superimposed itself onto the seventeen-year-old fighter that saved their
lives just now.

'It's him! It's the same guy!' A hazier memory of the teenager saving
Shota from the clutches of a beautiful girl of about his age also
emerged from the depths of his consciousness. "Mister, we've met before!
Who the hell are you?"

In the middle of releasing another volley of fists at the living,
sentient flesh bag, Yusuke turned his head sideways and remarked, "I
guess you can call me your guardian angel, kid."

Shota nodded at the familiar stranger before gritting his teeth,
crawling towards the prone form of Shiori, and shaking her awake. "W-We
need to get out of h-here, Shiori-chan. You're not safe here."

Shiori's eyes fluttered as she smiled. "Thank you. You're always there
for me, Shota-kun." She took several breaths of air. Where's Papa?
Where's Mama?"

"Over here, you two!" squawked a voice from above. "It's not safe in
here!"

"AH! The flying penguin platypus is talking!" Shiori pointed at the
ceiling where Puu flew about, and even Shota couldn't help but gawk at
the sight even after all the _other_ bizarre things he'd experienced
(and remembered) so far.

'Oh no, she didn't,' Yusuke told himself as he wrestled around with the
undead meat sponge while keeping the fight away from the civilians. Puu
talked to the children again, and the teenager recognized who the voice
belonged to. 'She totally did, that idiot. Keiko possessed Puu, just
like Genkai-baasan did in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament!'

"I have no time to explain. If you all want to live, we should get out
of this mansion. Let me guide the way to safety. By the way, here are
your parents, Shiori-chan! They're perfectly safe!" Puu... or rather
Keiko... explained the situation to the two preteens.

"I don't know what's going on, but this nice... talking bluebird helped
us come to," said Shiori's mother as she dusted herself off and favored
her sore ribs.

"PAPA! MAMA!" a tearful Shiori stumbled and fell into her sobbing
parents' waiting arms. "I'm sorry I've said those awful, awful things to
you!"

"Papa is sorry too, Shiori-chan!" Shiori's father assured. "I was only
looking out for you. Always remember, no parent would ever want
something bad happen to his or her own child!"

For a minute or so, the spongy, meaty colossus that ballooned and shrunk
like a beating heart stayed stock-still, its pinkish mass leaning
against the struggling Urameshi.

'Huh. Why did it stop its rampage?' pondered Yusuke before an ear-
shattering screech assailed his ear drums and a flood of green sludge
engulfed him.

"What the hell is this? Snot? It's disgusting!" complained Urameshi.

The color from the faces of Shiori's parents drained as they heard a
tiny voice in their head say the word, "Traitors."

"We don't have much time! Follow me!" insisted the Keiko-possessed Puu
to Shota, Shiori, and her family while the creature behind them
continued to expectorate the sticky substance that the unprepared Yusuke
slipped on. 'Is... Is the monster... crying...?'

"This is the grossest opponent I've ever fought... including that guy
who hid underneath a fog of his own sweat!"

The more the monster hacked, rasped, and violently released the bubbly
liquid from its insides, the more the gel changed color. Soon, the pale
substance turned light to dark yellow, green, brown, and grey as the
creature sucked in more of the remaining air within its vicinity, dirt
and irritants included.

"Ah, isn't that the pedo... I mean, the ramen cook?" a bleary-eyed
Shiori asked no one in particular as she spotted Yusuke fighting the
beast and rode piggyback on her father's shoulders.

"That's it, now you're pissing me off! REI...!"

The meaty monster distended its body many times its original size by
inhaling every last wisp of air it could gorge itself with, went
airborne using a jet stream of exhaled air, and landed smack dab on
Yusuke with a force that created a crater on the floor.

"BIG BROTHER!" screamed Shota, wincing at the wet squelch and flying
bits of crushed plaster.

"YUSUKE!" squealed Keiko using Puu's limited vocal cords in spite of
herself.

"Father, use the car phone and call the police or the SAT or the JSDF!
Maybe even call an exorcist! Call anyone that can deal with that
horrible thing inside our house!" beckoned Shiori's mother.

"No. We shouldn't panic. Don't worry," the feminine-sounding Puu assured
everyone as they exited the house and looked at the scene of destruction
from a distance. "Yusuke is a powerful young man. Something like
that..."

As if on cue, the monster flipped over its back (or whatever served as
its back) care off a simple backhand from Keiko's Class-A half-demon
boyfriend.

"...Isn't enough to kill him." However, despite her bold declaration, a
nagging feeling continued to haunt the back of Yukimura's mind.


===


'Thanks, Keiko. Now I won't have to hold back.'

Once "Puu" had ushered away all the innocent bystanders, Yusuke flipped
the gigantic yet abstract organism over like a hamburger patty with one
hand.

"You know what's sad? I'm still kind of holding back. But if you had
fought me two to three years ago, I might've had trouble dealing with
you. You're tough."

The honeycombed sponge monster shrunk in size as it expelled a dank gas
that filled the room despite the hole in the wall Yusuke made to
"ventilate" it.

"You have to do better than that. I've survived the poisonous atmosphere
of the Demon World without suffocating. You'll have to suck up all the
air in the neighborhood or put me in an airtight vacuum pack before I'll
be in any sort of trouble breathing."

The monster gurgled and spat green and brown slime from its tubular
orifices. Nevertheless, before it had a chance to engulf Yusuke with its
bodily fluids, the ex-Reikai Tantei had already charged, his fists this
time around glowing with the electric power of his spiritual might.

Of course, the monster was no match against Yusuke. It was a foregone
conclusion. It buckled down and crumpled like a sheet of paper after
only the first combo. Every punch landed and exploded onto the ogre's
skin, frying its exposed curtains of flesh as it wailed and wheezed in
agony. If it had teeth, it would've gnashed them. If it had eyes, it
would've cried.

It was as Urameshi expected. The beast went down so fast and easily, the
teenager flinched and offered a silent prayer for its future spiritual
wellbeing. Too easy. 'Hey, hey. Aren't I the one who's looking like the
bad guy here? Ah, never mind. That damn Kugai Rando gave me must be
acting up again.'

He thrust his pointer finger at the shrunken and shriveled form of the
sponge-like organism. 'Sayaka's somewhere in there. I have to be careful
how and where I aim my Rei-Gan.' The mucus that the expandable meat sack
creature released had strands of red on them. At that point, the fiend
sweated phlegm and blood. All it took was one shot to finish it off.

"WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME? WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE ME?"

The Kugai worked its Buddhist magic on Yusuke once again as he became
one with the suffering of the world, or at least those nearest to him.
In the space of time it took a person to gasp and sigh, he felt the
overpowering, suffocating reason why this mutated ghost (of a human,
not a demon) remained earthbound and couldn't rest in peace.

The wave of choleric spiritual energy at the tip of Yusuke's index
finger dissipated as an unbidden moistness invaded his vision. 'You
poor thing...'

This time around, instead of sucking the air around them, the blob of
spongy flesh enveloped the Spirit World Detective, stuck its tubes into
his mouth, and used them like straws to suck out the air inside of him.


===


The Keiko-possessed Puu, Shota, Shiori, and the rest of the rich little
girl's family were sprinting towards the lengthy yard when the airborne
spirit beast yelped and flopped down on the grassy ground.

"H-Hey! Are you okay?" Keiko heard someone say; she didn't know who
exactly did so, her vision swimming for some reason. 'W-Wait, didn't
Botan mention something about Puu being able to feel the exact same
things as Yusuke does because of their special bond?'

The spirit of the comatose Yukimura daughter beckoned the plush and
diminutive Puu to stand upright using its stubby legs and its gigantic
bunny ears. 'Yusuke, what's going on with you?'

'Keiko? Keiko, is that you?'

Keiko blinked several times using the bird monster's round eyes.
'Yusuke?' Apparently, telepathy was possible between the half-demon and
his other, cuddlier self.

'Yeah, it's me.' After a second of silence, Yusuke admitted, 'Listen, I
can't blast that poltergeist away.'

'Why not? Is it because it swallowed Sayaka-chan whole?'

'N-No. That poltergeist is their... that girl's...' Yusuke then screamed
inside his head.

Keiko's blood ran cold. Or perhaps Puu's blood did.  "YUSUKE! What in
the world...?"

The next thing Yukimura knew, Puu's small beak, stubby wings, and entire
bowling pin body changed, the spirit beast transforming into a much
slenderer and larger version of itself. The beastly bird had again taken
on the form of the immortal phoenix.

"N-No way," crowed Keiko as she raised Puu's impressive wings over his
face and craned his swan-like neck low. 'Why did Puu transform into his
big bird form now of all times...? Oh no, Shiori-chan and her family are
totally freaking out! They probably think I'm in cahoots with the other
monster and I'm about to eat them!'

As Keiko suspected, Shiori's father ushered his daughter and wife into
their black limousine while fetching a handgun and pointing it at the
transformed Puu for good measure.

"You got us out here so that you can eat us up, didn't you? I WON'T LET
THAT HAPPEN! I WON'T LET ANOTHER DAUGHTER OF MINE DIE BEFORE ME!"

To everyone's shock, most of all Keiko's, Shota shielded the blue
firebird despite his already worn and bloodied self. "Get out of the
way, kid, you'll get...!"

"Don't hurt Big Brother's pet! I trust that man who saved us earlier
with my whole heart. He's the one who saved my life way before all this
happened. He's just trying to help!"

'Shota-kun...' trailed off Keiko before her mind raced in order to make
sense of what was going on. 'Let's see. If Puu transformed into a
phoenix, then that must mean Yusuke has transformed too. But how is that
possible? Aren't the Spirit Cuffs supposed to hinder his strength?'

While the standoff between Shiori's father and Shota continued, Shiori
got out of the car and breathlessly stood beside her childhood friend.
"If Shota-kun trusts that ramen cook and his talking pet, then so will
I."

Something else occurred to Keiko. 'Oh wait, that Kugai thing that the
pasty kabuki demon used against Yusuke is still in effect. He must've
emphatically felt a strong emotion that affected his energy levels and
self-control. I'm no expert when it comes to spirit energy, but I saw
the same thing happen with Yusuke's fight against... Rando. Yeah, Rando
was his name.'

'YUSUKE! Yusuke, can you hear me?' beckoned Yukimura telepathically, but
she heard no answer. She only felt pain and a sense of... 'Betrayal? By
whom?'

She concentrated hard on Puu's bond with Urameshi, letting the flow of
emotions from the World of Suffering's karmic ability to absorb others'
pain wash over her.

Had her ghost form possessed lungs, they would've shriveled up and
collapsed. Had her spirit owned a functioning heart, it would've
exploded into giblets.

They'd been gone for so long that she'd forgotten their faces. When will
they come back? They promised they would be there for her, right?

She didn't want to die. She wanted to live.

Why didn't they ever come back for her? Why did they lie? Why was she
replaced? Why was her replacement such a brat? She couldn't take it
anymore. She tried to be a good girl, but she had about enough.

With tears in Puu's eyes, Keiko gently pushed the two children who were
shielding her aside and addressed the understandably concerned parents
before her.

"Please, come back with me to the house," she spoke as clearly as she
could using the spirit beast's beak and tongue.

"I knew it! It's in league with that monster. It wants us to go back
there to be eaten or murdered by her comrade!" ranted Shiori's Papa.

Keiko stifled a sob. "That's no monster. That's actually your...!"


===


"I don't want to hurt you anymore," a tattooed and long-haired Yusuke
said after recovering from retching out the tubes and tentacles that the
monster... no, the earthbound ghost... inserted into his esophagus in
order to suck the air and life out of him.

"Please. For your own sake. Stop this." He bit his lower lip until he
drew blood, his teeth tearing deep into the soft tissue. The monster
didn't listen. Or rather, it couldn't. The only thing driving its
movement, its existence, was the pain it suffered before it died. Before
she died.

The half-demon stood stock-still, his muscles aching from the effort of
holding back the ocean of energy flowing underneath his skin, the
quadruple spirit cuffs he and Genkai made to keep his power levels in
check biting right through his bones. In place of his heart, the Spirit
Light Wave Gem pulsed and palpitated in his chest, demanding release.

Regardless, like the Class-S Sensui, the mere act of laughing or
breathing would be enough to tear the mansion apart. If he really
exerted himself, he could probably break a continent in half. It was
only a matter of time, though. Yusuke knew that if he held his power
back any longer, he'd be on the rampage like "she" was. 'Dammit, what am
I supposed to do now?'

He raised his pointer finger at the inflated bag of flesh, a familiar
whistling sound echoing in his ears as his digit grew warmer and
warmer.

The twin bags of spongy pink meat gorged itself with even more air from
within and outside the mansion, which made it swell and distend even
further. It used its hefty mass to crush Yusuke in a sea of flesh, but
nothing it did posed any danger to the half-demon that didn't want to
kill it.

Just as he was about to do make his toughest choice since deciding to
kill Doctor Kamiya for the greater good, Yusuke's luck saved him in the
nick of time... and not a moment too soon; he had enough stored energy
to blow up the moon at that point.

Right by the hole Yusuke made earlier hovered a gigantic Puu and his
four passengers: Shota, Shiori, and her parents. 'Puu? No, Keiko? That
moron! What the hell is she thinking, putting those people in danger
again?'

Yusuke cursed under his breath, knowing that once he released his spirit
energy, it'd cause property _and_ collateral damage from within a wide
radius, even if it was in the form of a concentrated beam of light.

"AKEMI! AKEMI! You're Akemi, aren't you?" Shiori's Papa beckoned, which
made Yusuke choke in his spit and compelled the monster who smothered
him to stop moving.

'No way,' Yusuke thought. 'Did Keiko read my mind through Puu? What is
she planning?'

"We're so sorry we weren't able to be there for you in your final
moments! Because it had something to do with your asthma, your mother
and I thought that the medicine we bought for you was enough to take
care of it!" shouted the father.

"We were so stupid. You must've been lonely lying there in the hospital,
breathing your last breaths with Papa and Mama nowhere to be found. It
all happened so fast..." sobbed the mother.

Yusuke clutched his chest as he felt the monster's... Akemi's... inferno
of hatred burst forth. 'No, no! This is a bad idea. Akemi is now a ball
of pure rage! Admitting to her that you abandoned her, even if you're
apologizing, will...!'

As Yusuke predicted, the enraged Akemi flung its tentacles at her
parents, lashing out like a child would against something it didn't
understand. The Keiko-possessed Puu moved back to avoid the vine-like
tubes, but Shiori's parents actually leapt towards them.

"PAPA! MAMA!" Shiori screamed after them as they were tied up by their
limbs and hung in the air like marionettes.

'Looks like I have no choice.' With one swift movement, Yusuke released
himself from the spongy mass in a spectacular explosion of blood, guts,
and bodily fluids.

"Akemi! Forgive me! I didn't want things to end up like this, but I
won't let you turn into a murderer! Please find a way to forgive your
parents and go back to Heaven!"

"NO! Please don't hurt our daughter!" beseeched the tentacle-bound
father as Urameshi forced himself to stop his S-Level punch from hitting
Akemi, even at the cost of nearly tearing apart his biceps, triceps, and
whatever else arm muscles he had.

"We've made her suffer enough. Let her be. It's better this way," chimed
in the mother as she held her daughter's tentacles with tears in her
eyes. "I didn't realize it earlier, but she told me through telepathy
that she wanted to be together with me and her father."

"Please forgive them, Oneechan! You were angry with me too when you
suddenly possessed my doll, right? You were probably jealous of all the
attention they gave me," Shiori cried out while she held Shota's hand
for support.

"I didn't understand it back then either, but I now know that Papa and
Mama were looking out for me because they don't want to me to end up
like you! They've learned their lesson! I was being a had girl, but
everything they did for me was all because of what happened to you!"

Shiori's tears wouldn't stop at that point and neither would Puu's tears
as his eyes cried for Keiko's sake. "I don't deserve the amount of love
and protection they gave me. If you have to sacrifice someone, sacrifice
me instead, Akemi-neechan...!"

A stray tentacle grabbed hold of Shiori and flung her towards the
monstrous Akemi before Keiko could notice what had happened. 'Did I make
the right decision? I don't want this entire family to die because of my
wrong choices!'

Yusuke grabbed hold of his sore arm as Akemi's inflatable flesh sacks
burst forth with continuous sprays of clear, salty liquid. It... or
rather, her... pulled her estranged family towards herself by the time
the Keiko-possessed Puu and Shota landed inside the room.

Afterwards, the spongy material and the multiple folds of pink flesh and
meat receded and shrunk back until the ectoplasm-ridden, ten-year-old
forms of a girl in a hospital gown and another girl in pajamas appeared
before everyone.

Tragically, only Yusuke, Keiko, and Puu could see the ghosts. For all
Shota and the others knew, the monster had disappeared altogether; the
only people they could actually see were Urameshi and his pet bird.

"See? You found a way to forgive them after all," a misty-eyed yet
smiling Sayaka told the shorter girl. "I'm only a trainee, but I'm
allowed to assist ferry-girls in ferrying souls back to Heaven. You have
the honor of being the first soul I'll ever ferry into the afterlife."

"C-Can you l-let me say goodbye f-first?" came the tentative, breathy
request of the lonely, asthmatic girl. Sayaka nodded.

Keiko left Puu's body as Yusuke and his spirit beast transformed back
into their relatively normal forms.

"Where is Akemi now? Is she in Heaven?" asked Shiori's father as he
grabbed hold of Yusuke.

"I-I'm right here, Papa. Mama. Shi-Shiori," said the Akemi-possessed
Puu.


===


To Be Continued...

Next: Keiko's second mission.

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, Shueisha, Shonen Jump,
Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV.
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.

May kailangan pa ba akong sabihin?
Abdiel