[FFML] [yyh][rk][xover] Demon Sword Chapter 36: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 4)

[Abdiel]

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Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction Story
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/

Things come to a head at the Aokigahara suicide pact of the Chikyusei.


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Chapter 36: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 4)

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Right at the meeting place of the Chikyusei suicide pact in
Aokigahara...

"It's happening! It's finally happening!" celebrated a cackling Karasu
as he saw Kazuma Kuwabara get taken down (finally) by a golden lightning
bolt shaped like an arrow from behind him, frying him to a crisp and
electrocuting him to unconsciousness at the same time.

"SUZARKUURK!" warbled Kuwabara incoherently as he fell down in a
boneless heap, twitching every which way as sparks and bolts of
electricity traveled across his body.

The lanky, orange-haired ape would not get in the corvus's way of
becoming Class-S. All Karasu needed to do now was blow up and kill each
and every one of these poor unfortunate souls before him.

The demon had to hand it to Feng Xinhai, the mastermind behind the whole
scheme: He was able to do something that only the likes of the crow was
capable of, which was to stay one step ahead of Kurama.

'Never mind, that. Soon enough, I'll be the one who'll end up more than
a match against Kurama. Then I'll show that human copycat killer Xinhai
the difference between an S-Level demon and an S-Level human."

The Chinese Triad's Mountain Master nodded in acknowledgement of the Mad
Bomber with open arms, the amputated part of his upper limbs covered in
bloodied bandages and a sling.

"Go ahead, Karasu. This is your time in the limelight. They're awaiting
your deliverance."

Karasu couldn't hold out for much longer. He was actually bluffing when
he said to Yahiko Myojin and his "tag team partner", Natsuki Shinkai
(Xinhai's daughter), that he could still control himself in his blond,
pale-skinned mode while using only a portion of his power. When he was
about to do a "Full Body Explosion", all bets were off.

Besides which, the pressure inside him had already begun to build up,
the negative energy imparted to him by the Chojin care of Houji
"Onmyouji" Sadojima (and his own not-so-insignificant Class-A demonic
powers) leaking from his very pores. The thermodynamically favorable
process had been initiated within him, and it was propagating so rapidly
that he had barely enough self-control to contain himself.

A huge exothermic change in the form of released heat and the equally
gigantic positive entropy change involving an incredible amount of gas
discharge was about to take place thanks to the resulting reaction
between the youki, jaki, and the highly combustible particles of pure,
concentrated oxygen that was coursing all throughout Karasu's highly
ignitable body. In short, he was about to blow thanks to the spiritual
energy stored in chemical and ethereal bonds.

However, a portal opened from below the climaxing Karasu before blasting
himself, the suicidal members of the Chikyusei cult, Xinhai (who should
be able to survive the blast anyway), and the curly haired teen that
looked about twenty to thirty years older than he really was.

The raven demon's mouth opened to form a silent scream as he saw two
Kazuma Kuwabaras... one conscious and wielding the Jigen Tou while
wearing the ceremonial robes required for the suicide pact, and the
other unconscious and still smelling slightly of bacon and ozone... fade
away altogether in a blur of misty white and deep blue.

'Two of them? Why are there two Kuwabaras? What's happening? What's
going on...?' The next thing Karasu knew, he was already plummeting from
the stratosphere, miles above Aokigahara... perhaps even the entirety of
Japan. He fell from the sky, looking at the islands of the Land of the
Rising Sun as though he were staring at a map of the damn country.

He could see Mount Fuji from where he was falling.

His subsequent explosion looked no more spectacular than a blast from a
much nearer fireworks display; from that distance, many miles away from
the earth's surface, he floated in a place that was usually reserved for
weather balloons.

As the second Kuwabara rested his hand over his eyes to act as a visor
of sorts, it looked like the promised explosion that was supposed to
wipe out an entire group of suicidal Chikyusei members turned out to be
nothing more than a dud.

Karasu went out with a whimper instead of a bang. From there, everything
went to hell. A different explosion occurred.


===


"What's going on here?" demanded Xinhai as he unsheathed what appeared
to be a long cane but was actually a nodachi without a sword hilt and
attacked the conscious Kuwabara.

Meanwhile, the listless horde of the would-be suicide pact began to
stir, as though waking up from their daze. Were they drugged? Were they
themselves hypnotized by this charismatic madman with a long sword? Or
perhaps they'd ended up drunk by their own depression? The second
Kuwabara couldn't tell.

Many things happened at once. Just as soon as Feng attacked, a second
bolt of lightning traveled, appropriately enough, at the speed of light
towards the other Kazuma (to be specific, it traveled at about 92,000
miles or 148,000 kilometers per second).

The surrounding Chikyusei members began screaming for their lives
(unironically), turning into a frenzy of feet and flailing arms,
unaware of where to go, the threat of them forming into a stampede
imminent.

Just as Kurama predicted, the Shin Juppon Gatana had several other
"backups" as well aside from Itsuki when it came to dealing with
Kuwabara. First, there was Rando and his copied Jigen Tou (whom even
Kazuma forgot about), and next was the person who sniped the original
wielder of the Dimension Sword in the first place.

It was around that time that the Kuwabara clone slashed at the
electrical projectile in an arc, the transdimensional cut dissipating
the electricity into nothingness. Because the slash could cut through
long distances, it managed to reach the spear-shaped bolt even though it
was traveling faster than any human could ever hope to be.

However, "Kuwabara's" skills and one-of-a-kind dimension-slicing talent
weren't enough to allow him to cut an arrow-shaped electrical discharge
traveling at 92,000 miles per second that knocked the other Kuwabara
before him out.

Ergo, even though it was the Jigen Tou that unmistakably turned the
electrostatic thunderbolt into harmless heat, light, and ozone, it
wasn't "Kuwabara" who wielded it. It was instead "Kenshin Himura", the
possessor and spirit guardian of the Demon Sword. To be more specific,
"Kuwabara" somehow morphed himself into "Kenshin".

Xinhai himself was supernaturally quick in the sense that he was able
to compete with the unthinkable speed of the hurled lightning bolt from
out of the blue while wielding his unwieldy, elongated katana with his
remaining hand. "BATTOUSAI! YOU'RE MINE!"

A weighty clash of steel and sparks later, Feng found himself at an
impasse as well care of the sudden fluid appearance of the Oniwabanshu
reincarnate, Detective-Investigator Daiji Matsudaira, his twin short
swords crossing blades with the longsword.

To the mirth of Kenshin, the policeman was wearing the same trench coat
he used to wear back in Meiji-Era Japan.

'Now where the heck did Shinomori Aoshi have the time to buy that?' the
Demon Sword Guardian wondered.

Even after the Triad Mountain Master did a complete "Kanji Killer" kata
of the Hei kanji (which was comprised of the kanji characters for one,
eight, and ten), the dual-wielding detective was able to block all three
calligraphic movements with ease.

"Detective," hissed Xinhai.

"We meet again, One-Eight-Ten Killer. How's your arm?" the blue-eyed,
tapered-chin reincarnation of the Last Okashira of the Oniwabanshu...
Aoshi Shinomori... deadpanned through a grit-teethed monotone. He and
the police car he "borrowed" from Detective-Specialist Aiko Tsunemori
had made it outside the forest at the foot of Mount Fuji just in time.

"I know you're up there. The jig is up," declared "Kenshin" before he
altogether shapeshifted again into the broom-haired visage of Mitsunari
Yanagisawa... one of several Mushiyori City citizens whose special
powers had been awakened thanks to Sensui's opening of the Reikai
barrier to the Demon World.

Mitsunari had the power of Copy, which enabled him to duplicate all the
memories and looks of whomsoever he touched. However, like Kurama
predicted, neither Xinhai Feng nor Karasu were aware of who Yanagisawa
was or what his powers were. The only one who could identify him from
the Chojin's faction, Itsuki, was too busy battling Sanosuke Sagara at
the moment.

"You're the one sniping people with thunderbolts, aren't you? You even
knocked poor Kuwabara out, you son of a bitch!" Mitsunari called out. It
was circumstances such as this that compelled Kurama to call for the
assistance of the trio from Mushiyori City as backup against the
formidable forces of the Shin Juppon Gatana.

"I have no idea who you are or what's going on, but you've impressed me,
human. You're quite powerful to be able to copy the skills of both the
infamous Battousai and one of Urameshi Yusuke's friends," declared the
antenna-haired Suzaku as he emerged from the highest tree within the
clearing.

The blond-with-red-highlights youkai and Leader of the Saint Beasts then
eyed the sword that the literal copycat wielded.

"Oh, I see what's going on now. You were able to gain your special
powers because you're wielding the Youtou Shinnoken, aren't you?" probed
Suzaku, only for him to hear someone rebut, "You're half-right. Yana
already has Copy Powers even before he got a hold of Himura Kenshin's
magical blade."

From out of the darkest parts of the Sea of Trees... with the anemic-
looking Asato Kido walking beside him... strolled the leader of the
Spirit World Task Force assigned to keep Karasu from reaching Class-S by
finishing off Xinhai's suicidal Chikyusei clientele.

"It was the Demon Sword that allowed him to copy special powers on top
of the appearance and memory of any person he touched," explained the
half-youko.

"What a needlessly complex gambit. I don't know whether to applaud you
or to scoff at you," admitted Suzaku. "You're the one who killed Genbu,
right? I vastly underestimated you. You were injured before you managed
to figure out Genbu's weakness. Any of the three Shisejyu could've
killed him without effort back then."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who used Yusuke's own girlfriend
in order to distract him during battle," rebuked Kurama. "You're no
better when it comes to schemes." The redhead was also aware that it was
the Shisejyu leader who "rescued" Jine Udo by shooting the Ankoku-Raiko-
Ha during Kurama's first fight with the original Kanji Killer.

Suzaku chuckled. "I'm not berating you because you were devious. I'm
berating you because of how overcomplicated your plans are. You're just
like Xinhai in that regard. Kidnapping a girl that proved to be Urameshi
Yusuke's weakness was the smart and simple thing to do. I like to keep
things simple."

Meanwhile, Feng himself chortled in reaction to hearing his name,
finding mirth from Suzaku's insult.

"And what could _you_ possibly gain out of assisting Xinhai's plans?"
demanded Kurama while Kido hid underneath his collar like he didn't
even want to be there in Aokigahara. This was understandable, in light
of the fact that he didn't really know anyone there save for Yanagisawa,
Kurama, and the real Kuwabara, who was twitching from one of Suzaku's
electric arrows.

"The answer to that is also simple. The Demon Sword. I want it. Unlike
those two Kanji Killer idiots, Xinhai and Jine, I actually intend to
claim possession of the Youtou Shinnoken in order to increase my power a
hundredfold. I have no interest in battling Himura Kenshin in a death
match, Battousai or otherwise."

This time around, Xinhai scowled and did a behind-the-back slash at the
reincarnated-ninja-turned-detective to keep him at bay. "You? Take
possession of the Demon Sword that's guarded by the Youkiri Battousai?
Don't make me laugh, small fry. You're not strong enough to handle the
job."

Daiji responded by using the Ryusui no Ugoki and getting behind the
mountain of muscle, his blades aimed at the man's immense back that
sported the one-eight-ten scars that Jine gave to him, the twin kodachi
ready to tear the Triad Dragon Head apart.

"Don't move," recommended Daiji. "If you move, you'll die."

"Oh, please. If you wanted to kill me, you would've done so back at the
Hisashi Building," informed the Chinese man with a roll of his eyes.
"You're incapable of killing me the way you are now."

"And you have a stump where your arm was. Things have changed, Xinhai,"
rebutted Matsudaira.

"That's the last thing I want to hear from a mere human," spat Suzaku at
Xinhai's claim as tendrils of gilded light and crackles of electricity
surrounded him like a full-body aura complete with a halo over his
antenna-sporting head.

"You morons are suffering from tunnel vision, unable to see the bigger
picture. You've let the golden opportunity of wielding one of the most
powerful Reikai artifacts of all time pass you by in order to get a shot
at taking down some filthy human who killed a lot of other humans like
himself."

"And you're too simpleminded to think about anything else other than
increasing your own power through cheap and unscrupulous means. You're
no better than Kenshin's former enemies, the Hiruma Brothers. You're a
weak, opportunistic demon seeking a shortcut to immense strength,"
Kurama said.

Although the redhead wasn't around during the fight against Rando, three
of the Shisejyu, and the Hiruma Brothers at Genkai's Temple, his
reaction to Kenshin's sword when he first wielded it allowed him total
access to his memories, which was almost akin to Mitsunari's copy
powers.

Speaking of Yanagisawa, he stood there, laidback as ever, one hand in
his pocket while the other held the sheathed Demon Sword. "How are we
going to do this, Kurama?" was the spiritually powered chameleon's way
of asking, "What next?

"We're going to do this according to my rules," declared Suzaku as from
all corners of the clearing came hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of
shafts of light. His message was clear. Since Karasu exploded many miles
away from them, the leader of the Shisejyu would be the one to claim the
fruits of the Chikyusei's labor and kill the lambs that was meant for
the crow demon.

"YANA! Suzaku has the ability to split himself into seven personas! The
ones firing those arrows are his own clones! There are six more of him
at the top of the trees!" shouted Kurama at the Mushiyori City
Shapeshifter.

Yanagisawa barely had time to react. In a split second, he transformed
to Kuwabara in order to access the Jigen Tou, its spiritual energy
wrapped around the Demon Sword and its scabbard, then he morphed into
Kenshin in order to allow him to create four separate portals that
served as an umbrella to the rain of Roku-Goku-Ankoku-Raiko-Ha or the
Six Hell Dark Lightning Wave.

Lastly, the Kenshin doppelganger created a fifth portal right above
Suzaku, such that the multitude of demonic energy arrows was now
dropping straight towards him.


===


Back in Itsuki's pocket dimension...

"SANJO NO KIWAMI!" screamed Sanosuke as he pounded through the brick
wall that Itsuki used as a shield and crushed the head of the Gatekeeper
like a walnut, his brains spraying all over the zero-gravity dimension
in little giblets.

At the same time, he sheared the wing of an airplane in half, followed
by a portion of the Hishashi Building that the dimensional demon tore
apart during an last encounter at Nishi-Shinjuku.

It was Sano's policy to fight without necessarily intending to finish
off the opponent, although deaths were something that he accepted as a
natural consequence of fighting. However, he had his back against the
wall this time around and was forced to fight with killing intent
because of the bizarre nature of Itsuki's powers.

A portal opened, and out came a completely healthy Itsuki. As the first
portal started to close, another portal opened in order to "clean up"
the mess that Sano made out of the "original" Itsuki.

The problem here, of course, was that there was no "original", and
Zanza had been taking down an army of Itsukis one after another, like an
endless nightmare.

"Is that all you got?" Sanosuke bluffed as yet another asteroid belt of
waste and debris from the Human World bombarded him. The Gatekeeper
might as well have in his possession the biggest landfill in the world
that was even bigger than the Japanese artificial island known as Yume
no Shima or Dream Island.

"No. That's not all I've got," confessed Itsuki as hundreds of his
clones peered through window-sized portals that popped up from behind
him like a gallery of Itsukis. "It's only a matter of time before you
tire out. How much longer will you last, Himura Kenshin's trusted
comrade?"

Sanosuke answered with another swing of his horse-cutting, pole-armed
sword that produced an aerial version of the Futae no Kiwami, which was
based on the Tou Ate or the ground-based, weapon-based version of the
Dual Extreme that Yukyuzan Anji used against the resurrected street
fighter once upon a time.


===


Right at the meeting place of the Chikyusei suicide pact in
Aokigahara...

Instead of getting torn or blasted apart by wave upon wave of lightning
bolts at speeds beyond the comprehension of any normal human (that only
special instruments could measure), each discharge containing a billion
volts and 10,000 to 200,000 amperes of current.

The only thing the deflected attack did was supercharge the Crimson
Sparrow of the Saint Beasts, serving as fuel to an open flame.
Nevertheless, it kept the (ironically) panicking suicide cult of the
Chikyusei safe from harm.

"Ah. Looks like you've made a mistake... Yanagisawa, was it?" said
Suzaku, his lips curved upwards while rivulets of crackling energy
traveled through his hair antennas.

"All you did was make me stronger. Your powers nevertheless fascinate
me. Kurama was wise to recruit you. He was even wiser to use the Demon
Sword to magnify your powers. I have to wonder where Battousai ends and
where you begin when it comes to your talents."

Suzaku pumped his fist forward, which prompted both the Kuwabara-
looking Yanagisawa and Daiji to react. Meanwhile, Kurama and Kido
themselves remained in the backdrop as of the moment, which made the
Shisejyu Leader wonder what else could the two possibly have underneath
their sleeves.

As usual for Daiji, it was Xinhai who blocked his way, and the detective
had to marvel at how sharp and accurate the gigantic brute was with his
stolen Nikaido Heiho techniques this time around.

When Matsudaira changed tactics and switched one of his kodachi for a
gun, the giant reacted in kind, his stump for a right arm forming a fist
made out of the dark flame of his own fiery shikigami.

"You've improved by leaps and bounds. Impress me some more," Feng dared
Daiji as he picked up the ante of their sword fight, never switching to
any other sword style other than Jine's.

Meanwhile, as Mitsunari attempted to create another portal to keep
Suzaku's lightning fist attack from harming the fuel-enriching would-
be karmic deaths of the gathered Chikyusei cult, the latter made a
clicking sound with the roof of his mouth and his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk. Before anything else, let's get rid of that dangerous
weapon!"

Thusly, using his other hand, Suzaku began to draw the energy from
Yanagisawa's Jigen Tou unto himself, converting the spirit energy from
the blade into pure electricity and charging himself with it. "Now
let's see you try and to stop my attack using a mere sword. ANKOKU-
RAIJIN-KEN!"

As Suzaku expected, Yanagisawa was at a panic, unable to figure out
how to deal with the electrical discharge coming his way. What a pity;
the kid had tremendous potential with his copying powers. However, in
a split second, the human morphed into the Guardian of the Demon Sword
and did something he never expected.

"AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI!"

The most powerful battoujutsu strike in all of creation split the air
and created a localized vacuum that sucked up and neutralized the
billions of volts of electricity and the 10,000 to 200,000 amperes of
current into harmless heat, light, and ozone. Even light couldn't escape
a miniature black hole, after all.

In reaction to the bone-chilling technique, the Aoshi inside Daiji
shivered and gripped his chest in remembrance of the century-old duel
the Battousai and the Okashira had, which almost distracted him long
enough to get the top of his head sliced open care of the One-Eight-Ten
Killer's horizontal slash.

It was through this dense void that the reawakened Battousai executed
the second part of the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, only this time he
extended his reach by combining his Dragon Wrap Flash Spiral with the
follow-up move of the Heaven Gliding Dragon Slash together, his
momentum assisting his windup.

"You know, back when the Shisejyu were fighting the Reikai Tantei, I
always wanted to do this to that Hiei fellow who killed Seiryu. No
matter, I now have an even better test subject in my midst."

Kenshin's (or rather, Yanagisawa's) jaw dropped as his sword stopped
mere inches from Suzaku's neck. The Crimson Sparrow's smile widened as
his shoulders and chest swelled with mirth.

"This is the reason why, even though I'm only Class-A, I fear no
swordsman with a steel sword, even an S-Level one like Xinhai or
yourself, Battousai. Nice to meet you. I'm Suzaku. Remember my name."

From there, Suzaku used his control over the magnetic currents...
something he had limited power over when he was still a mere Class-C
demon killed by Yusuke's Shot Gun and Rei-Kou-Dan techniques... to hurl
Kenshin across the clearing by giving the Youtou Shinnoken a positive
charge and giving himself a negative charge, thus keeping a magnetic
barrier between himself and the swordsman's blade.

Kurama summoned a Rose Whip and instructed Daiji, "That was just a
distraction! He still wants to steal away Karasu's victims and turn
himself into a Class-S demon by becoming _their_ murderer! There are
still six Suzakus up there!"

"B-But Kurama! What am I supposed to do?" asked Asato as the redhead
left him high and dry.

Wordlessly, as Yanagisawa-Kenshin stood up on wobbly feet while using
his sword as a crutch, the reincarnated Aoshi rushed forth, tapped Yana
on the shoulder, and "tagged" himself into the fray, moving in to attack
the glowing (and seemingly swordsman-proof) Suzaku.

Following suit, Mitsunari turned into Daiji as well (memories and all),
the Youtou Shinnoken separating into twin kodachi as he served as
Matsudaira's "shadow clone" replacement against the imposing Xinhai.

Daiji attacked with a Onmyou Hasshi that backfired immediately, with
both kodachi ending up going straight back towards him thanks to
Suzaku's control over magnetism and metal. "Didn't you hear what I said,
Detective? No swordsman is a match against me, even shinobi like
yourself."

Using his water-flow movement, Matsudaira avoided getting run through by
his own blades, caught the both of them, then turned one of the blades
into a gun that he fired off at the Crimson Sparrow. That was also a bad
idea, and this time around, even his Ryusui no Ugoki wasn't enough to
keep him from dodging all the deflected bullets.

All the same, he weaved through the hail of lead and managed to bring
the tips of his blades (the gun returned to its original kodachi form)
and have them land almost a hairbreadth away from Suzaku's jugular and
eye respectively. However, if Suzaku had the power to halt speeding
bullets, then he had more than enough power to keep a trench-coated man
with metal blades from stabbing him.

Daiji had enough common sense to let go of his kodachi and simply kick
Suzaku's teeth in, which was an attack that managed to land. All the
same, the copper had to grab hold of his same blades again to keep them
from stabbing him to death, the electromagnetic steel controlled by
Suzaku's mind.

Then, while he was distracted, that was when the Shisejyu Leader blasted
the policeman with a Storm of Torment Fist that sent him into
convulsions.

Meanwhile, the Daiji doppelganger held his own against the One-Eight-Ten
Killer, but he was too busy to actually be of help to the original
Matsudaira.

"Why don't you turn into the Battousai and give me a worthwhile fight?"
Feng dared Yanagisawa, but the broom-haired shapeshifter knew enough
about Kurama and his tactical abilities to strictly stick to the
original game plan.

"What did I tell you, Detective? No swordsman in this world is a match
against me," mocked Suzaku as he fired off blast after electrical blast
of the Ankoku-Raijin-Ken at the copper.

A second wave of thunderbolt arrows began falling on the hapless
Chikyusei members, their proposed (and belated) suicide pact now finally
complete.

Even Kurama couldn't cut down the trees housing the other clones of
Suzaku fast enough to save all of the electrocuted and fried-to-a-crisp
members of Xinhai's cult. What Karasu failed to do thanks to the
desperate efforts of the Reikai Tantei and the Kenshingumi, Suzaku
was able to fulfill, by hook and by crook.

One by one, like birds falling off their nests, came the rest of the
Seven Suzaku. He was the seven, and the seven was he.

From what Kurama remembered, Yusuke had to use up his life energy in
order to kill off Suzaku, because if only one of his clones were to
survive, he'd be resurrected.

It was certainly frustrating that, after everything was said and done,
they had an enemy that kept coming back to life, as though nothing
happened. As though their attempts to kill him were for naught.

'What kind of power does the Chojin and his jaki possess, anyway?'
wondered the half-youko.

As soon as the hypersonic-to-lightspeed blasts came hitting the
Chikyusei members, Kurama, Yanagisawa, and Kido took out something from
their pockets and put it on their ears.

"Yes! YES! YES! Finally! I'm going to be an S-Level! I'm again at the
same league as that bastard, Urameshi Yusuke! If he's going to have
some sort of bullshit power up, then so will I! Fair's fair!" hooted
and hollered the Crimson Sparrow as he awaited the prize he stole away
from Karasu. If he was a problem to deal with at Class-A, what more at
Class-S?


===


Back at the rooftop of the Kawaguchiko Station...

Much to Rando's irritation, Feng Xinhai wasn't the only Xinhai to
totally humiliate him with his immense power; there was also Natsuki
"Shinkai" Xinhai, who had him trapped in the endless spiral of her
fencing technique's Tactical Wheel.

Even when fighting her standalone, she was a handful to deal with.
Every time he attacked her with anything close-range, like one of the
Byakko's Claw grappling techniques, she found a way to use her variety
of parries to stuff down his attacks. When he added feints to his attack
or did a combination of attacks, she could read his movements and do a
counterattack instead.

Finally, when he began anticipating the counterattacks to counter them
with his own attacks... the Gaki Dorota Bu, in particular, had him get
swallowed by a gaki and spit out at certain blind spots... she'd be a
step ahead still, turning her counterattack into a feint and countering
his counter attempt.

The mind games by themselves left Rando exhausted, but the fact of the
matter was that every time he was countered, he got double the impact
because Yahiko was also there to play offense. The Myojin kid entered in
and out within the youkai's striking range unimpeded because Xinhai's
daughter kept blocking his assaults and creating openings for the
samurai to exploit.

He attempted to give himself some breathing room by going the long-range
route. Nevertheless, every time he attempted to blast an assortment of
projectiles at them... from the You Gan to the Hadou Ken, the Repuu Ken
to the Kikou Ken... the pair was able to dodge all of them, while in
Natsuki's case, she actually had the ability to deflect them back at the
pasty-skinned demon.

He couldn't even use the Blood Fire Wave at the pair unless Natsuki's
deflection happened to hit him directly, in which case the Inner Blood
Turmoil would automatically turn the demon energy to blood energy, which
would allow him to blast a shot or two that they also dodged.

Rando was careful not to use anything more powerful than a Psycho Shot
in light of the fact that the girl had the Mugen Dai no Hyogo in her
arsenal, which meant she could deflect full-force and with interest any
energy-based blast he could produce.

Rando shifted from one type of energy to another using his special
energy-transforming technique, the Ibuki, then attempted to do something
different, like the World of Suffering (which made opponents become
emphatic to the pain of nearby people) or the Shoryu Ken (a type of
rising uppercut).

All the same, he couldn't cut the distance between his fist's striking
range and the sword's striking range because of Yahiko's constant use of
the Dou Gami and Dou Ryu Sen. It was also because of Natsuki's parries
and ripostes, counterattacks, and feints into time.

Her Shield to Yahiko Myojin's Sword was so impenetrable that there
wasn't a scratch on the samurai or herself, no matter what sort of
special technique or projectile that Rando produced.

The fight they were having was just like the fight Rando had against
Yahiko and Sanosuke when he first met them, after they were recently
resurrected by the Spirit World. However, this time around, instead of
Myojin acting as a shield to Sanosuke's constant aggression, it was the
samurai boy who was the aggressor and Natsuki serving as his defense.

It was around after the hundredth strike wherein the concussive force of
yet another Dou Gami plus Tsui Gami combo (that Rando had no defense
against) that the demon realized he was about to lose. Badly.

Strike after strike, Rando was beaten up to a pulp, the only thing
keeping him standing was his Iron Body Technique that buffered physical
attacks unless they contained spiritual energy in them.

Come to think of it, the strikes were probably powered by kenki or sword
energy anyway, so the protection was moot. He was fast losing
consciousness. The Yahiko-Natsuki pair was faring even better than the
Yahiko-Sanosuke pair against him, mostly because Yahiko, who had
experience in fighting him, had been advising Natsuki all this time.

Rando's knees buckled as Natsuki shifted personalities with her past
self, Yutaro Tsukayama, which resulted in "him" and Yahiko alternating
Tsui Gami and Kousa Dageki shots to his skull that rattled his brain.
Even though demonic anatomy and human anatomy differed in some respects,
a concussion was a concussion, Iron Body Technique or no Iron Body
Technique.

'I don't want to lose. I don't want all my hard work up until this point
to be wasted just because both Urameshi Yusuke and Xinhai Feng cheated
their way to becoming S-Level. I will not be defeated by these brats!'

In desperation, Rando tried yet another gambit by firing off every last
projectile in his arsenal into an amalgamation of different energies
to the point that they shone like Sensui's Sei Kou Ki. It was the same
tactic he used against a full-power Yusuke in their battle at Genkai's
temple.

"MUGEN DAI NO HYOGO!" came Natsuki's counterstrike deflection, but Rando
was actually expecting that. He received the brunt of the blast full-on
with the Inner Blood Turmoil, turning it all into chiki (blood energy)
even as the swirling chaos of power churned his insides into butter and
made him cough blood... which ironically powered up his Vampire Martial
Arts Technique some more.

From there, instead of doing an energy-sucking Blood Wind that offered
double-edged damage to himself and his opponent, Rando opted to use his
crimson energy to produce, "BLOODY RAIN!"

Razor-sharp scalpels in the form of a raging red rainstorm descending
from ominous nimbus clouds of crimson pelted Rando's two opponents. As
expected, Natsuki blocked the incoming projectiles from the heavens
like an iron umbrella.

Meanwhile, Myojin himself did a Ten Gami that sent him airborne, high
above the barrage of stabbing death and the clouds that created them,
his body doing a full tumble in order to give his subsequent "RYU TSUI
SEN!" extra impact.

"I was expecting that! GRAVITON THUNDER!" countered Rando with his
anti-air technique, seeing that the flying Tokyo Samurai had no
defense against it now that his "shield" was preoccupied.

But even before the electrical discharge overflowing with millions and
millions of volts that would've made even Suzaku proud could go into
contact with Yahiko, Natsuki used her Passata Roto crouch and breezy
footwork (while getting bloodied in the process) to get past the rain
of scalpels, then did a Beat Parry Riposte combo that made Rando see
stars.

It was over. The double team of Natsuki and Yahiko (arguably a triple
team, since Yutaro was also there to assist) had overwhelmed Rando.
However, the kabuki youkai's persistent frustration and willingness to
win spurred him onwards even as Yahiko's Ryu Tsui Sen nearly split his
cranium in half.

"BLOOD WIND!"


===


Right at the meeting place of the Chikyusei suicide pact in
Aokigahara...

Suzaku winced as the members of the Chikyusei squealed like pigs while
the sparks and explosions from his electric arrows were just about to
start a fire of sorts. The cacophonous sounds were annoying, but they
were also music to his ears.

Kido himself had gone into a fetal position and covered his ears while
the other Daiji (actually Yanagisawa) was herded deep into the woods by
a disturbed Xinhai, away from the almost inhuman screeches.

Suzaku and the rest of his six clones looked around in confusion. Where
was the sudden infusion of energy following the murder of multiple
people wishing to commit suicide in what happened to be Japan's most
popular suicide destination?

Sure, the karmic energies within the forest was already giving him an
energy boost of sorts, but it wasn't potent enough to get him past the
hurdle between Class-A and Class-S power.

The Crimson Sparrow looked in askance at Xinhai, who was busy "playing
tag" with "Detective Matsudaira" at the moment, their figures ant-like
from their sheer distance. Feng could offer him no answers even if he
tried.

Was the jaki of utter despair and horror reserved for Karasu alone? Was
Suzaku required to blast the victims all at the same time with a bomb-
like explosion? Why wasn't he feeling any different? Where was his S-
Level reward?

"It seems that your simpleminded scheme didn't work out according to
plan, Suzaku," commented Kurama, which the Shisejyu leader managed to
hear despite the high-pitched howls of the dying Chikyusei members. "The
best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. Apparently, this also
applies to the plans of demons."

"Silence, you redheaded stepchild and half-human bastard!" came Suzaku's
(rather accurate) rebuke.

He wanted to do the Six Hell Dark Lightning Wave on the smug half-
youko... perhaps even a Seven Hell Dark Lightning Wave or Shichi-Goku-
Ankoku-Raiko-Ha since he himself would be doing it along with his six
doppelgangers... but he had a splitting headache at the moment, and
the ground seemed like the deck of a boat.

He soon saw that that his six other selves were suffering from this
phantom tremor that didn't affect Kurama and the others in the least.

After the screams from the dying Earth Club people stopped, Kurama
removed something from his ears... these turned out to be organic
earplugs made from hawthorn that were bound together with a vine. Kido
himself took off his own organic sound blocker. Meanwhile, the fake
Daiji (Yanagisawa) was too far away to need plant earplugs.

"What's going on? Why are you wearing earplugs?" mumbled Suzaku as he
and the rest of himself... or rather, themselves... stumbled around like
drunks.

"Do you know what the mandrake plant is, Suzaku?" asked Kurama while the
real Matsudaira remained out of commission at his feet, not unlike the
real Kuwabara after he was also struck with an energy bolt. The only
people who were conscious that were allies of Reikai, it would seem, was
Asato Kido, Mitsunari Yanagisawa, and Shuichi "Kurama" Minamino.

"Mandrakes, also known as mandragoras, are poisonous plants belonging to
the nightshade family. Their roots were such that they resembled human
beings, while they themselves contained quite a lot of hallucinogenic
tropane alkaloids that helped them appear human-like. Legend has it that
their shrieks could kill humans. Naturally, these aren't enough to
murder demons, but their screams of pain were still quite effective in
ruining your eardrums and giving you vertigo."

Xinhai smiled and blasted fire from his reconstituted shikigami hand
that finally kept the buzzing fly of the Matsudaira double away from
him. He'd overhead Kurama's conversation with the Seven Suzakus.

"Oh, I get it now! Well-played! To defeat people who could make
duplicates of themselves and create dimensional portals, you fought
fire with fire. When did you switch the Chikyusei members with your
mandragora duplicates?"

Kurama let out a long-withheld exhale. "As soon as Kuwabara-kun was
struck down by Suzaku and all the Chikyusei members were in a panic, I
began replacing people with the mandrake clones. I used the roots from
the interconnected trees of Aokigahara itself to transfer your would-be
victims right out of here into the entrance of the forest, where all of
Detective Matsudaira's fellow cops are waiting for them. They should
help blow the Kanji Killer case wide open now."

"Absolutely amazing," Xinhai applauded with open admiration, not at
all minding the presumably first-to-second-degree burns his hand-shaped
fires was doing to his healthy hand, his sword stuck to the ground.

"You bastard...!" Suzaku lashed out with another one of his Storm of
Torment Fists, but he soon found himself sailing across the clearing
while seeing his headless body collapse like a puppet whose strings
have been cut. "Wha...?"

"That was for the cheap shot earlier, you electric eel asshole," said
the reawakened Kuwabara after finally regaining his senses, the squeals
from the dying mandrake clones rousing him up from his deep slumber,
his head pounding after he suffered through the rough equivalent of
urinating near a livewire.

Meanwhile, the remaining six of Suzaku's Seven fired off Lightning
Storm of Torment projectiles at every direction, which prompted Kurama
to grab hold of the slowly recovering and still out-of-sorts Detective
Matsudaira (the real one) and jump away from the wild yet inaccurate
shots.

Kido had hidden himself behind one of the bushes, grumbling at how he
was starting to doubt that he even _had_ a role in this shogi game
Kurama had set up between himself and the newest enemies of the Spirit
World. He was about as useful as a human appendix.

ARRGGGH!" cried out another one of Suzaku's vertigo-suffering, eardrum-
shattered clones as Kuwabara sliced him apart from head to crotch with
his Jigen Tou. He ran interference for Kurama by slashing apart
lightning bolts and doing the same unto the compromised Saint Beast
leader's doppelgangers.

The brief nap was just what the ginger-haired teen needed in order to
get over the exhausting fight he had with Itsuki and Karasu earlier.
Meanwhile, even Kurama was able to take down one of Suzaku's clones even
while he was on a strategic retreat of sorts.

The small, isolated bonfires soon combined into a full-on forest blaze
that could very well take out Aokigahara from the map of Japan if left
unimpeded.

In this burning inferno hid Xinhai, who all but abandoned his duel with
the fake Daiji in favor of fighting someone who, in his eyes, was a
worthier opponent.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the Daiji-transformed Mitsunari
as he blocked the backhanded swing from Xinhai's nodachi that would've
cut through both Kurama and the real Detective Matsudaira.

"Out of my way, doppelganger! Our fight was already over from the
start," drawled Xinhai as he pushed Yanagisawa away from him. "You're
nothing but a copycat anyway."

"What a hypocritical thing to say, you copycat killer," said the
Matsudaira duplicate. "Once I touched the detective, I was able to see
all his memories. You have no idea what he'd been through after you
killed his wife in front of him. It's his feelings and emotions that's
compelling me to fight on!"

"But you're still not him, though." As Feng said those words, the
ceremonial Chikyusei robes of Mitsunari was torn apart in shreds.

"H-How...? B-But I blocked your...!" stuttered "Daiji".

"No, you didn't. And if you were Detective Matsudaira, you'd figure out
what had happened," said Xinhai as he smiled with perfectly even teeth
that wasn't anything like his overbite from before.

As Suzaku's clones dropped like flies from the efforts of both Kuwabara
and Kurama (who'd found a safe spot for the trench-coated Daiji to rest,
which was right beside the hiding Kido), the Crimson Sparrow screamed,
"Enough of this nonsense! KAIFUKU!"

Incidentally, the Kaifuku was the technique that rendered Suzaku nearly
immortal. Earlier, it was revealed that as long as any one of the Suzaku
Seven survived, he'd always revive like a phoenix rising from its own
ashes. That was what the Prism of Seven Restoration basically did... the
last surviving Suzaku would reenergize himself using the ghosts of the
fallen Suzakus.

The resurrection technique also allowed Suzaku to repair the damage done
to him by the screeching mandragoras earlier. His aim wasn't compromised
by vertigo any longer.

"Oh shi...!" Kuwabara barely had time to exit into a portal before
Suzaku's more accurate Lightning Storm of Torment blasted the tree stump
he was standing on into a smoking crater.

Unfortunately for the teen, in his panic and because of his past trauma
from getting zapped by the Shisejyu, he ended up at another part of
Aokigahara, far away from the site of the suicide pact. He cursed under
his breath and sprinted back towards the origin of the smoke while
creating portals to cut the distance from time to time.

All around Kurama, Yanagisawa, Kido, Matsudaira, Xinhai, and Suzaku, the
forest fire grew bigger and bigger. Soon enough, none of them would have
the power to deal with the hungry firestorm, regardless of how high
their power levels were.

As Kurama was about to engage Suzaku into battle, the mountainous figure
of Xinhai barreled through the clearing. For his part, the Saint Beast
elected to act as a sniper once more, shooting out light-speed arrows
that could only be dodged if one were to see him pull the trigger of his
Ankoku-Raiko-Ha bow.

"As Detective Matsudaira claimed, you really are an avid copycat killer,
Xinhai Feng," said Kurama as his Rose Whip clashed mightily against the
One-Eight-Ten Killer's longsword, the sparks flying from their battle
rendered indistinguishable from the rest of the sparks produced by the
surrounding flames.

"I don't know whether I should feel sorry for you or be impressed at how
accurately you copied Udo Jine's Nikaido Heiho."

In the middle of the exchange between a calligraphic-swinging sword and
an organic, barbed whip, Xinhai admitted, "Your methodical planning has
rendered this Shin Ju mission a complete failure. You fascinate me
almost as much as the Youkiri Battousai does. But all is not lost.
Perhaps if I drive you into a corner, then you'll finally wield the
Demon Sword and resurrect my greatest rival."

With that said, Feng grabbed hold of the Rose Whip using his fiery
hand, wrapped it around his flaming fingers, and tugged Kurama with all
his strength just as Suzaku was about to fire another one of his
lightning bolts.

"The best-laid plans of youkai and ningen, was it?" mocked the Electric
Phoenix of the Saint Beasts. However, to Suzaku's surprise, the real
Daiji intercepted his attack with his kodachi.

Just as the Crimson Sparrow was about to chide the resurrected Aoshi for
his foolishness, the Ankoku-Raiko-Ha energy bolt traveled from the
blade to a chain that was coiled in a spiral around the blade to another
short sword from behind Daiji that also had the chain wrapped around it
and was stuck into the ground, the electricity dissipating into the
earth harmlessly.

Suzaku also noticed that instead of traditional bindings, the sword
contained a rubberized handle so that it wouldn't conduct electricity;
as expected of a Quest-Class being who could turn his spirit energy into
any tangible item he could imagine.

"It's a lightning rod," came Daiji's simple explanation before he
produced another rubberized-handle kodachi, sliced the chain on the
short sword he was holding, and did the Ryusui no Ugoki to avoid all
the subsequent thunderbolts that the screaming and frustrated Suzaku
shot off, the wavy, liquid patterns of the shinobi reincarnation
confusing him and his aim.

Meanwhile, Kurama himself had long ago let go of his Rose Whip and
created a sword from a blade of grass, his Leaf Blade serving as his
answer to the one-armed Xinhai's alternating one, eight, and ten
character slashes that had the flourish of brushstrokes.

The former demon fox couldn't tell whether he'd improved when facing
against the Nikaido Heiho, or Feng's version of the Nikaido Heiho was
inherently inferior.

"If you finish Suzaku off now without letting him split off into seven
bodies, you'll be able to kill him," Kurama informed Daiji.

"Like a swordsman would ever be able to finish me off!" spat Suzaku just
as he received a roundhouse kick to the ribs and an uppercut to the chin
for good measure. In fairness to Daiji, that was a logical response to
the Shisejyu's not-so-empty threats; if a swordsman couldn't beat him,
then why not become a championship-level kenpo fighter?

The Shinomori reincarnation halted from delivering a spinning heel kick
as soon as he saw Suzaku struck by lightning from above, which actually
helped kill the forest fire because the bolt out of the blue turned all
the surrounding, oxygen-rich mountain air into ozone in an instant.

The detective narrowed his eyes. Judging by the electricity that was
probably coursing through the Saint Beast leader's veins like blood,
there was no way he could do anymore close-contact hits against him.
He'd be electrocuted as a result. A change of tactics was in order.

Avoiding an Ankoku-Raijin-Ken that seared though his short hairs and
dried out his goose-bumped skin, Daiji turned and delivered a "Kaiten
Kenbu: ROKUREN!" at Suzaku's blind spot.

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? No swordsman alive could beat me
thanks to magnetism!"

Suzaku took complete control of the magnetic field around him, turned
and shifted his polarity so that he'd repel the metal away from him,
which was exactly what he did to Yanagisawa's "Kenshin" disguise and the
Demon Sword.

To Suzaku's shock and awe, one of the kodachi ended up gutting him even
as his magnetic barrier kept the other blade from touching him. It then
dawned to him that the blade that Detective Matsudaira used as a
lightning rod had been magnetized, such that even as he used magnetic
power to repel all metal away from him, the blade would still have a
polarity opposite to the polarity of his own magnetic barrier, thus
attracting the metal instead of pushing it away.

In fright, Suzaku reversed the polarity of his barrier again to remove
the blade from his person before the policeman ripped him apart using
it, only to end up getting stabbed again by the other blade, this time
through the chest.

"I could've turned my blades ceramic or even platinum, but I believe
that this is the best course of action as of the moment," deadpanned
Daiji as the electricity from the cold, clammy body of the bleeding
Suzaku died down, which enabled him to remove his kodachi. "I'm a
detective right now, but once upon a time, I was also a master of the
shinobi arts."

"Now I understand why Xinhai let you live for so long in order to use
you as his personal jaki battery. You're an interesting fellow yourself,
Detective." As Suzaku crumpled to his feet, he chanted the words,
"Ankoku-Yo-Ro-Jin," which signaled to Kurama that despite Daiji's best
efforts, the Shisejyu was still able to survive like the hydra-headed
problem that he was.

The Crimson Sparrow split into seven demons again before he expired.

"ROKU-GOKU-ANKOKU-RAIKO-HA!" the six surviving Suzaku chorused. Even the
Ryusui no Ugoki was not enough to deal with the full might of an up-
close-and-persona Prism of Six Lightning Storm of Torment. The water-
like movement probably even assisted in transmitting the continuous
blasts of energy better.

Thankfully, Matsudaira didn't even need to dodge. The interconnected
roots from the innumerable trees of Aokigahara themselves served as the
detective's protection (and insulation) from the endless barrage of
lightning strikes, one after another.

That was also Daiji's cue to switch places with Kurama and again face
the One-Eight-Ten Killer he'd been searching for so long.

As Kurama and Daiji went in opposite directions in order to change
"dancing partners", so to speak, they heard an amused Xinhai observe,
"Is this another part of your plan? To switch opponents every once in a
while to keep them guessing?"

"You've only been using Nikaido Heiho all this time, Xinhai! What gives?
Why can't you make use of your other techniques, like your fencing or
your past self's Shinko Ryu?" questioned the Aoshi reincarnation.

"I guess you'll just have to figure that one out by yourself," chortled
the Triad Mountain Master as the two ended up chopping more of the
living trees that surrounded them instead of limbs and body parts.

Like with the Okunenju Roots that Kurama used in his Makai Tournament
fight against the S-Level Shigure, the ancient trees on the base of
Mount Fuji served as the redhead's gigantic living weapon of mass
destruction against the devastating and unrelenting lightning strikes of
the six enraged Suzakus headed his way.

The entire scene of a sea of living trees that was half being burned by
fire and billowing smoke while it was repeatedly struck by lightning was
reminiscent of a volcanic or dirty thunderstorm, wherein a volcanic
eruption full of fire and brimstone was accompanied by lightning strikes
caused by thick volcanic plumes that acted as nimbus clouds.

It was the very picture of doomsday.

Because of the sheer number of branches, roots, and trees headed their
way, threatening to suffocate them with their hyper-accelerated growth,
the Six of the Suzaku Seven opted to combine and concentrate their
blasts while at the same time moving side-by-side, their implacable
march staying unimpeded even with the full brunt of Kurama's
overwhelming plant-based powers.

Their mission was simple. The only way to stop the Living Aokigahara
from crushing them under its own seemingly cancerous growth and unending
thickets was to kill the person controlling it, which was the demon-
turned-human Minamino.

The battle between Daiji and Xinhai appeared to be at an impasse, but
the detective couldn't help but feel that something was amiss,
especially in light of the fact that the Triad Dragon Head had yet to
use two of his most powerful attacks: The Tornado Ripper and the Sonic
Shockwave.

Strange. What was even stranger was that all this time, the scar that
the One-Eight-Ten Killer put on Detective Matsudaira's chest had not
burned like during the last time they fought.

Also, for some reason, Matsudaira's body felt like lead. He was slowing
down as the fight drew on. Was this Feng's plan all along? To fight a
protracted battle and turn it into a war of attrition, with the bulky
man's stronger stamina winning out in the end?

'No. That's not quite right...'

"How disappointing. The original was no better than his doppelganger.
Even you haven't figured out what's wrong with this picture," said
Xinhai as he kept slashing away at the lethargic Daiji over and over
with multiple and varied combinations of his one, eight, and ten
character strikes.

Though the Nikaido Heiho style looked predictable on paper, the fact of
the matter was that horizontal, diagonal, and vertical slashes were all
tenets of every last sword style in existence, so it was actually a
flexible and variable technique.

However, even after fighting him before, this was the first time
Matsudaira ever saw Xinhai move so fluidly... almost as fluidly as Jine
Udo himself.

Something dawned to Daiji. 'Wait a second...!'

Xinhai took the sparkle of recognition in Daiji's blue eyes as his cue
to bring up the tempo of their fight and finish the detective off. "It
was an honor fighting you, Detective."

A split-second later, the Demon Sword ended up slashing into Xinhai's
face; it was a robe-wearing "Kenshin", his blade embedded deep into
Feng's nose, cutting it in half, the only thing keeping the spirit
guardian from slicing his head like a melon was his fiery hand blocking
his sword.

"...B-Battousai!"

As Feng pushed him off, "Kenshin" tumbled to his knees, his face and
body returning to that of Yanagisawa, his wounds from his battle with
the muscle-bound ox still present. It took all of his energy to rasp out,
"That's not Xinhai! It's...!" The broom-haired shapeshifter had to turn
into Himura again to keep "Xinhai" from cleaving him apart.

"You're spoiling the fun!" said the One-Eight-Ten Killer. "Don't you
hate it when people spoil the ending before you could read the book or
watch the movie all the way through? That's what you're doing right
now!"

It was then that the detective decided to stab his knee with his sword.
As though woken from a haze, the policeman suddenly found himself in
crippling pain. All over his body were slashes and cuts that he could've
sworn he'd avoided... but he actually didn't. He'd been tricked by none
other than...!

"O-Officer Hamada?" blurted out Daiji in recognition of his fellow
officer's face. Even though he had strange, inky-black eyes this time
around, he was unmistakably Officer Takumi Hamada.

They both belonged to the same precinct and station, although Detective
Matsudaira outranked the older officer. Hamada was the same cop that
ended up hurt when the Kanji Killer killed a key witness in the
Quintuplet Murder Case.

What was going on? Daiji expected to meet Jine Udo, the "true" Kanji
Killer whom Xinhai copied to hide his own crimes. This was all based on
the swordsman's insistence of using only Nikaido Heiho as his only sword
style.

Kurama also mentioned that the real Udo had the hypnotic powers of the
Evil Eye, which allowed him to trick the detective into thinking he was
in a deadlock when in fact he was being slowly but surely bled out like
a chicken.

Was the fact that he looked like Takumi a result of hypnosis too?

Even Kurama had to turn his head and pay attention to what was happening
in the Daiji-Xinhai fight although he himself already had his hands
full with the six Suzakus.

"Udo Jine...?"

However, it wasn't Officer Hamada that Kurama saw (the redhead never
even met the officer that he thought the Kanji Killer was merely
impersonating) but instead Jine Udo.

Both his memories of the crazed serial killer a few weeks ago and
Kenshin's own remembrances of the insane hitokiri and Shinsengumi member
intermingled in his head, confirming his suspicions as correct.

It was around the time when "Kenshin" pushed the skeletal Takumi/Udo
back with several quick sword-sheathing and sword-drawing movements that
both Daiji and Kurama realized the truth.

Jine Udo was Takumi Hamada. Hamada wasn't injured when the witness to
the Quintuplet Murder Case was killed. _He_ was the one who killed Akio
Oogata. He was the Kanji Killer whom the police never caught because he
left no witnesses or a pattern to follow when it came to his murders.

Takumi Hamada was the reincarnation of Jine Udo, and he looked like his
past self to boot.

"Ah, it looks like the jig is up. And here I thought I could go back to
being Hamada Takumi after the coast is clear," said Jine with a helpless
shrug. "Of course, if I were to kill you both right now, I'd have a
chance at keeping my job."

Daiji gulped as he remembered all the times Officer Hamada... no, Udo...
got assigned to cases to hunt help hunt down the Kanji Killer when he
himself was probably the one erasing evidence and finding the witnesses
he neglected to kill.

In fact, he was probably using his job as a policeman to look for
potential victims while keeping the police itself off of his tracks;
like an inside job. Everything made sense now.

All this time, the detective was swapping stories and sharing the
growing pains of Likka Ikumi, his dead wife's little sister, with Jine
near the water cooler, never suspecting that the original Kanji Killer
was right under his nose.

His rage boiling underneath his stony mask of a face, Matsudaira swept
past the overly cautious fake Kenshin and openly attacked Udo, the
black-sheep copper obliging him.

The Nikaido Heiho master barely had time to breathe as Daiji chained
together the Gokou Juji, the Onmyou Hasshi, and the Jissen Kenbu
together before finishing with a Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren that almost
disarmed Jine.

His gym training in order for his body to keep up with Aoshi Shinomori's
Oniwanbanshu ninjutsu techniques had paid dividends.

"You're amazing too! I can barely keep up! It's like I'm fighting the
Hitokiri Battousai himself or even the Youkiri Battousai with the speed
you're going!" prattled a happily grinning Udo. For the second time
since he'd started battling in Aokigahara while impersonating Xinhai, an
opponent of his drew blood.

"However, if I were you, I wouldn't be too concerned about me. You have
bigger problems to deal with."

The purple eyes of the Kenshin-possessed yet slightly scuffed-up
Yanagisawa flickered in understanding. "Kurama! That Jine guy got you
too! You fought him earlier as well, didn't you?"

Kurama realized this as well. Instead of stabbing himself like Daiji did
to wake himself up from the Jagan-induced illusion, he pulled out a seed
from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil found somewhere in Mount
Rengoku (he got it from Botan, who used the fruit in order to cure Keiko
of the amnesiac effects of the lotus blossoms in the Elysian Fields),
and swallowed it.

Kurama's eyes widened as his memories from the past as a youko
overwhelmed him, particularly the moment when he attempted to steal the
Demon Sword in order to gain enough power to take on his former partner,
Yomi, who had become even more powerful than he was since he betrayed
him.

However, the demon fox had no time to reminisce. Cured of Jine's
hypnosis, Kurama looked down in time to see the stream of blood on his
sopping-wet pant leg and the pool of blood below it.

He didn't collapse... it took more than a stab wound to take out a
youkai like him... but he did figure out why his control over the
Aokigahara trees had diminished as time passed by.

Had he not woken up from the hallucination of the Evil Eye, he would've
bled to death.

Then there was also the fact that nothing was stopping the six
unstoppable, hive-minded Suzakus from turning the Reikai Tantei into
vague humanoid silhouettes on the (literal) Sea of Trees, especially now
that Kurama had to use half of his demon energy to keep himself from
bleeding out.


===


To Be Continued...

Next: Ace up his sleeve.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi,
Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio 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.

Heto na,
Abdiel
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