The Last Mazoku
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Chapter 3: A Soul's Journey

Makai
7:43am

Yusuke's first view of the world that his youkai father lived in was that of endless swamp and marshlands, reaching as far as the horizon. If he'd had the chance, he might have gawked as he stared the minuscule, misshaped creatures the size of fleas that were milling about on the murky ground below him. But Yusuke was too busy falling to pay it much mind.

As soon as he and Hokushin had left the strange portal behind them, they had emerged ten of thousands of feet into the skies above Makai. They were falling at exhilarating speeds which were rapidly increasing. The fierce winds, which contained a vile scent of rotting flesh and blood, were blowing steadily across his face. It almost made him want to vomit!

Complete weightlessness overcame his senses, his stomach nearly jumping up his throat and out his mouth; metaphorically of course. A rush of pure, unadulterated adrenaline pumped through his body with the force and momentum of a steam-engine train.

He didn't know when it started. But in no time, he was laughing so hard from the thrill of free fall that he was left breathless. Oh, he was scared of falling to his death. But the rush of this dangerous descent was a drug he'd never tasted before!

Hokushin, merely an arm's length away, had a slight grin on his face when he heard Yusuke's growing laughter. And here he had thought that the boy would start crying out and panicking. Especially since Hokushin had neglected to tell him that the portals into Makai usually were very high in the air.

As he fell, Hokushin peeled off the top half of his clothing. With a mere flex of his energy, the parasite on his back that had restrained his energy was separated and blown off.

Opening his newly awakened reiki senses to the world, he quickly felt the energies of the youkai that lie below them. Hm, mostly D-Class water youkai down there, he realized. Glancing off to the northern horizon, he spotted a signature rock cliff landmark. How fortunate, we must be in the Dead Man's Swampa good week's run from Raizen-sama's domain.

"Hey, Stretchy!" Yusuke's voice called out, drawing him from his musings. "I really don't wanna die right now! So please save me!"

Smiling, Hokushin stretched his arm a bit, grabbed Yusuke's billowing shirt, and easily deposited the small boy onto his back. When he had latched onto his backside with all the strength his small arms could muster, Yusuke watched with controlled fear as they continued their descent.

Just as they reached the ground, Hokushin reached back and securely held Yusuke to his back to prevent him from accidentally sliding off. Then he landed surprisingly lightly on the mushy surface, sinking several inches in the process. If Hokushin hadn't been holding onto him, Yusuke felt sure that he'd have been thrown off his back and collided with the ground very, very hard.

However, as soon as the youkai had removed his hand, Yusuke fell to the muddy ground anyway. With the thrill and fear of the fall over, his body was left twitching uncontrollably from the adrenaline that was still flowing through his bloodstream. Yusuke was so focused on getting his panting breath under control again that he didn't realize that he was currently sitting in a pile of slimy green and black muck. But he did notice that it stank horribly.

Hokushin peered down at the boy. His face was unnaturally pale and he was wheezing very heavily. Those were common symptoms that humans displayed when they entered Makai. But where untrained humans were quickly drained of their energy and die, those that had some experience with using reiki would be able to adjust quite quickly.

As he watched, Yusuke's wheezing very slowly normalized, small amounts of red soon returning to his cheeks as well. He would be fine.

"Young master," he said as he plucked his feet from where they'd sunk and turned to crouch down next to his charge. "I feel I should tell you something. With how strong you currently are, it will take us several weeks to reach your father's kingdom. However, we could arrive there much faster should you allow me to carry you on my back…Would you consent to that?"

"How far is it?" Yusuke asked slowly. Glancing down, he finally realized just where he was sitting. "Eww! Gross!" Jumping up, he tried to find some firmer ground to stand upon but there was none available.

"Little bit more than five thousand miles from here," Hokushin said. Seeing the boy's momentary gawk, he continued, "Like I said, it would take you weeks currently to arrive."

For a moment, Yusuke just wasn't able to speak. Then he finally turned and stared off unseeingly into the distance, thinking of his opinions. He really did want to get there to meet his ancestral father, but at the same time he wanted to see more of this strange, new world. Then again, he would probably be here for some time as it was. Why should he rush to see a world he was probably going to quickly memorize in a few short years anyway?

After wiping and smearing as much of the muck off of his loose pants as he could, he turned to Hokushin and nodded. As soon as he was securely in place, Hokushin took off at his best possible speed.

Yusuke's adrenaline had returned in an instant. He'd never gone so fast before!


Ningenkai
Five days later…

She just couldn't stand it any longer!

With a resolute setting of her jaw, Keiko marched over to the house next to her home and her family's restaurant. In her worry, impatience, and slight anger for the boy that lived in this house, Keiko's knuckles on the front door sounded more like a mallet than her usual gentle knocking.

Waiting for a moment with her arms stiffly at her sides, she strained her ears to hear any movement inside. There came a slight scuffling about, a shattering sound, and a few colorful but muffled cuss words before the door opened. A slightly disgruntled Urameshi Atsuko still dressed in her nightgown stood in the doorway.

"Oh, good morning, Keiko-chan," she muttered, barely stifling a yawn and leaning rather heavily on the door frame. "…what can I do for you?"

"Gomennasai, Urameshi-san," Keiko said, reining in the explosive impulses she had prepared for Yusuke had he answered the door. "I wanted to see if Yusuke-kun could come out. I haven't seen him for days."

"Is that so?" Atsuko asked, becoming more aware by the moment. "Gomen, Keiko-chan, but Yusuke isn't here anymore."

For one infinite moment, Keiko's world stopped moving, completely. "…What?"

"I think he ran off again," Atsuko said, a slight amount of concern making itself known to her. "I only noticed a few hours ago that he was missing…I had thought that he was just at your place again."

Shaking her head, Keiko felt her eyes beginning to grow wet. Yusuke wasn't at her house, she'd even checked before she left!

"Keiko!" her mother called from the doorway to her house. Turning to look at her mother, the little girl spotted the slight frown of disappointment on her face as the woman continued, "Could you please come here for a moment?"

"Hai!" she called back. Turning to Atsuko, she gave a formal bow of farewell before hurrying over to her mother.

Something was wrong, she could already see that. Her mother was frowning quite deeply, guiding her further inside their house. Even her father shot her a strange look before returning to the meal that he was currently cooking for the couple seated at the counter.

Up in her room, Keiko knelt down on the floor and waited for her mother to join her. Sitting across from her, her mother reached into her pocket and extracted a folded sheet of paper. Holding it up, she gave it to Keiko to read.

It was a school report written by her teacher. In the past two weeks, Keiko's grade point average had drastically dropped. No longer were her grades among the top of the class, they were still slightly above average though. Written at the bottom was a note from the teacher that Keiko was spending more and more time daydreaming and not even paying attention to class.

Her temper, which had first truly sparked almost a week ago, had caused her to get into more arguments with her fellow students than she had ever gotten into in the past two years combined. The last argument with some of the boys who had always used to gloat Yusuke had been so fierce that both she and the boys had gotten detention!

"Can you please explain this to me, Keiko-chan?" her mother asked, a frown marring her face.

"I was—I was worried—about Yusuke-kun, kaasan," she muttered weakly.

"I know you are," her mother admitted. "But that does not explain the arguments and the detention. You know that your father and I do not approve of this kind of behavior."

Dropping her head submissively, Keiko couldn't form an adequate response so she remained silent. After a moment of silence, she peeked up at her mother and saw that she was still awaiting an answer.

"They were picking on Yusuke-kun," she uttered. "I couldn't let them do that, not when he wasn't even able to defend himself."

"Keiko," there was a clear reprimand in her voice. "It is not your job to fight Yusuke's battles for him. Besides, why should you care what those boys think of Yusuke? They probably didn't even know that well anyway."

It was happening again. Very slowly, her anger was beginning to rise. "But you've always told me to watch out for my friends and to not let others pick on them, no matter what the reasons!"

Her mother blinked in surprise at Keiko's fast rising voice. It was quite unusual for her sweet daughter to lose her temper so easily. "Yes, I have," she replied. "But the fact of the matter is that you also got a detention because you wouldn't listen to the teacher when he told you stop."

"Fujiwana-sensei didn't tell them to stop until I told them to shut up!" Keiko's voice was quickly rising in volume, almost to the point of yelling. "And he was always giving Yusuke detentions for no reason!"

"Yukimura Keiko!" her mother snapped fiercely. "You stop behaving like a little brat!"

"I'm not being a brat!" Keiko yelled, angry and feeling very scandalized. "Fujiwana-sensei was being mean and you're not being fair, kaasan!!"

Standing up abruptly, her mother moved to the door. Before she left, she turned and said simply. "You will not have any dinner or come out of your room until you've calmed down and done your homework."

With that said, she closed Keiko's door. Only a moment later, she heard a loud thud sound of something slamming into the door behind her. If she was right, Keiko had just thrown her textbooks at the door in her anger. She could only hope that whatever Keiko was going through would pass…and quickly.


Makai, Raizen's Domain
Two days later, 6:30pm

Yusuke stared at the strange fortress that stood before him. It was a gigantic canyon-shaped depression in the earth. Rising out and high above the surface was numerous pillar-shaped buildings. With his very slowly growing sense of reiki awareness, Yusuke was able to feel the presences of nearly many youkai within each of those structures.

Yet the thing that drew his attention was not only the largest pillar but it also contained a solitary presence within. And what a presence it was! It struck Yusuke as highly fitting that whoever was inside that skyscraper of a tower was also the strongest. The sheer size of the tower, probably twice as tall as the tallest building on Ningenkai, was symbolic to the amount of power held within when compared to all the others.

"Wow," was all he could say.

"As you may have already guessed," Hokushin said. "Raizen-sama is at the top of that tower there."

Throwing the badly sweating and panting youkai a 'no duh!' look, Yusuke nodded. Turning back to the view, Yusuke was about to ask a question of how many others there were inside. But his empty stomach let out a loud growl in complaint.

"I see you're hungry," Hokushin observed quietly.

"Hai," Yusuke said. "Can I get something to eat before—?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to deny that," Hokushin interrupted. "It would be wisest for you to not meet Raizen-sama after just eating."

"Why not?!" Yusuke demanded, very peeved.

Smiling knowingly, Hokushin just said, "You'll find out soon enough, young master."


Later…

Never had Yusuke been so tired before. He had just spent the last hour and a half climbing the seemingly endless staircase to the top of Raizen's tower. Even though he used a bit of his reiki to strengthen his leg muscles, he was still too weak and inexperienced to effectively use it.

Now, after what felt like forever to him, he stood before a large and elaborate pair of doors. Rather than enter immediately, like he'd planned on doing his entire trip up, he sat down on the floor to catch his breath and rest his sore muscles.

He was so tired in fact that he was actually starting to doze off when he heard it. It was a loud, deep chuckle from a voice that sounded like gravel grinding against wood. Snapping awake instantly, he glared at the pair of doors from which the noise was coming from.

"What's the matter, child?" the voice called, more than loud enough to be clearly heard. "Too tired to open a pair of doors? Heh, you're such a weakling…Maybe I should just send you back to Ningenkai?"

Something snapped in Yusuke. Jumping to his feet with no regard to his earlier exhaustion and hunger, he rushed to the doors and heaved them open. It took all his strength to manage, but he was able to do it.

Crawling through the small opening he'd managed to make, he rose and glared evilly at the man-like creature that sat on a strange looking throne on the other side of the room. Unlike what he had originally wanted to do when he finally met his father, Yusuke glared at the man who had not only insulted him but threatened to send him away without even an introduction.

This reaction caused the ancient, white-haired creature to chuckle some more. "What's the matter, too macho to give your old man a hug?"

"Shut up, teme!" Yusuke yelled. "I came here for one reason: to learn how to fight! Now teach me!"

Raizen just smirked at the boy's attitude. It was almost like watching a mini-version of himself at that age. He had probably given Hokushin a good amount of humor as well, Raizen guessed absentmindedly.

Stretching out his senses, he searched for the boy's reiki. It was there; only a tiny bit stronger than the average human child at his age. But it was nowhere near the amount necessary to even generate a single reiki attack without knocking the boy unconscious for the rest of the day.

"No," he said sternly. "You're too weak."

"WHAT?!" the boy yelled in disbelief.

"You can't even fully utilize your reiki yet, can you?" Raizen asked, already knowing the answer. "If I tried to train a flea like yourself, you'd die within moments."

"Oh really?" the boy demanded. A smirk slowly spread across his face as he grabbed his right wrist with his left hand.

In the span of five seconds, the boy's reiki began to slowly increase, rising to almost double its previous level. A small of light appeared at the tip of the boy's outstretched right index finger. The boy was channeling as much of his reiki into that single bead of light as he could, though it didn't even grow past the size of a small marble.

"How's this?!" the boy cried as he fired the shot. "Meet my Reigun!"

Yusuke's Reigun was his pride and joy. He had created the last day he was in Ningenkai in an attempt to replicate Hokushin's blast. Unfortunately for him, he'd found that he couldn't perform the attack the same as Hokushin who had used his full hand. It took too much effort for him to concentrate his reiki into such a broad area. It was much easier to do it in his fingertip.

In an effort to surprise Hokushin, he had kept it secret as well as the fact that he'd learned to momentarily raise his level reiki to greater levels of power.

But his pride was blow to the side as was his Reigun by what Raizen did in response. The youkai had merely inhaled deeply and blew out a sharp blast of breath that knocked the pitifully weak Reigun aside. The energy crashed into the wall behind Raizen, only making a crater the size of the boy's fist.

Because he had sent all his energy into that single attack, Yusuke's body strength vanished an instant later. He fell to his hands and knees, wheezing very heavily as the dark edges of unconsciousness began to crawl across his eyesight.

Chuckling again at the boy's bravado, Raizen stood and walked over to where his descendant lay, moments from falling unconscious.

"Well, boy," he said, squatting down near him. "I must admit that was impressive for a brat your age."

This earned a weak glare from the boy. "Sh-shut up!"

"What's your name, boy?" Raizen demanded.

"Ura…meshi Yu…suke," he gasped out.

"Urameshi Yusuke, eh?" he repeated, imprinting it into his memory. At the boy's nod of acknowledge, he dropped the bombshell. "Not anymore, it isn't." Seeing Yusuke look at him in surprise, he continued, "Until you are strong enough to defeat me in combat, your name from until then will Raizen, like myself. Understand?"

Though he hadn't yelled or shown any outward signs of anger, he had raised his level of youki. Tainting the youki with a sliver of his wrath and bloodlust, it helped to accent his final word. Even the most reiki-ignorant human could've sensed just what he was projecting towards the boy, leaving absolutely no room for denial.

The newly-named Raizen nodded slowly before finally succumbing to his exhaustion.


(Author's Note)
Well, that's it for Chapter 3. I must admit that I had a lot of fun writing this chapter for some reason.

I have some very unfortunate news for my Legacy-fans. It seems that I've befallen a rather fierce writer's block for that story. I just can't seem to get past a certain on the current chapter. I'm trying everything I can to get back into the flow, but with how busy I'm becoming here at work, it doesn't seem too likely that an update will be in the near future. Plus, I've been focusing a lot of my attention on helping FictionReader98 write the Ninja Clash story.

Translations:
Kaasan—mother
Gomennasai/Gomen—I am sorry/Sorry
Reigun—Spirit Gun