You catch the scent of blood and run faster in the hospital to see a crowd of doctors and nurses with Yusuke standing near the middle and looking down while thinking aloud. You shout Yusuke's name and push your way through until you're standing beside him to see Dr. Kamiya kneeling near a paralyzed and bleeding Kido.
"Kido, tell me where he is! What does he look like?!" Yusuke asks him and kneels down by him. You clench your fists near your chest in anger as you watch the spectacle while a doctor tells Yusuke to be quiet since Kido was 'in shock.' Yusuke tells him to hang in there and starts to get up when Kido activates his territory and freezes you both in place. Yusuke talks to Kido more, misunderstanding his attempt at helping Yusuke.
"Damn it. This would be hell of a lot easier if Murata or even Hiei was here. Then one of them could read his mind," Yusuke mutters.
"Agreed. I can only put up mental barriers to keep people out. Genkai was never able to teach me on how to invade others minds before this all happened unless they already had telepathic abilities or demon energy," you agree. You watch as Kido's shadow moves and spells out Kamiya using the blood that spilt from his wrist.
"Kamiya?! That's the name of the culprit?" Yusuke asks. Next thing you know, blood spatters against you as Kamiya kills all the doctors present.
"Change of plan. I have to kill all humans in the hospital," he states with an evil look. Yusuke asks Kido to release us and we both jumped away in time before being sliced up by the crazed doctor. Yusuke thinks aloud to himself about Kido's condition while Kamiya rants in disappointment at how he wanted to pretend to be the nice doctor.
"Damn. I've already been cut open with a scalpel once in my life and I would prefer not to be cut open again!" You shout out and make your energy blade appear again before slicing a virus infector in half.
"The virus issued from my mind is very powerful. The weaker the victim, the quicker they die. I guess your friends still have around ten minutes," Kamiya explains before Yusuke points out that he'll be dead by then.
Yusuke then charges him and performs a series of punches, knocking him to the floor. After a little talking, Kamiya hops back up and launches his own assault, only succeeding in cutting Yusuke once on the cheek before Yusuke retaliates with an uppercut to the stomach, knocking him into the wall. Kamiya only smirks while you watch them converse a little more about how he strengthened his pain endurance and blocks out pain.
Yusuke then just attacks him with his spirit gun, cutting off his left arm and stating that the next one was fatal. Kamiya merely patches himself back up, shocking Yusuke.
"Despite my power, the only thing I can do is to kill. I think powers are intimately related to the user's personality," Kamiya explains with his evil smile never leaving his face. You growl out and start to attack, only to yelp out as your hands and feet are bound by large boxes. The one attached to your hands show a screen that lights up and starts showing words.
"Ashley! You ok over there?!" Yusuke shouts over to you.
"Yeah, no problem. Just a little, tied up at the moment. You just deal with the quack," you dismiss and wince slightly as you feel something dig into your wrists and ankles. You look at the screen and see some instructions stating that you would solve a few puzzles that would get harder and harder until you solved ten in a row. If you missed one, the metal spikes inside the box would dig deeper and the boxes would spread to cover your body while your completed score would go back to zero.
"Damn it," you mutter and watch as the first riddle appears.
'Question 1:
What does 1 and 3 equal?'
"B," you solve quickly and watch as your score goes up to one and the next question appears.
'Question 2:
If the size of a prison cell door was 2.5 meters by 3 meters, with the measurement of each bar being 3 meters tall and 8.5 cm wide in diameter and having 16 bars spaced 2 cm apart, what type of key will open the cell door?'
"A skeleton key," you answer it. Your score goes up to two and the next question shows. You continue like this as the questions get harder and harder until you end up missing one when you reach 6 points. You bite your lip and hold in the scream as the spikes inside dig deeper into your small wrists and ankles and the boxes creep up slowly to cover half of your shins and forearms, digging in small spikes of their own.
You continue to solve the many riddles and questions as they get even more difficult and your body is encased with the boxes and more pain when you miss one. You scream out in searing agony finally, as you miss one your third time and the spikes in your wrists and ankles dig so deep that you can feel how close they are to meeting in the center of your bone due to how small your ankles were.
"Ashley!" Yusuke shouts to you and runs over, having finished dealing with Kamiya and stopping the virus from killing everyone. "What the hell is this?!" he exclaims at the contraption encasing your body. You shush him and go back to answering the questions while they all approach. You finally get up to nine points and quickly read the last question carefully.
'Question 10:
What are all four names of the Egyptian cat goddess?'
"Ah shit! Let's see um…Bastet, Sekhmet, Mafdet, and…man what's the last one…oh! Menhit!" you answer after trying to remember all of them. They weren't commonly used so you had to concentrate to remember the two M names. At the sound of your answer, the device beeped once before you feel all the spikes jerk out swiftly, making you scream, and the boxes quickly retract until they were no more. You collapse and breath heavily from the pain and quickly bring up your arm through the pain to emit a cool blue light as you place it on your left wrist to heal while Genkai does the same with your legs.
"What happened child? How did you end up in that position?" Genkai asks and continues healing your major wounds.
"I heard a scream and smelt blood near Yusuke's and Kido's position. I headed for there and when I arrived, Kido was on the ground and surrounded by doctors with Yusuke near him. Kido eventually figured out a way to tell us which doctor was behind this and he killed all witnesses. Yusuke and the doc fought some as he revealed more and more of his powers and when I was about to join in, that stupid contraption latched onto my wrists and ankles and I had to solve ten riddles and questions in a row or else some metal spikes or something would dig deeper into my skin as you see here. One of the ones I missed was as stupid but difficult as the world's hardest tongue twister. I knew it but couldn't say it five times fast. It was no doubt set up by the Cat leader seeing as what that last question was," you explain and slowly get up with Yusuke's help.
"-hiss- Man, this hurts so much more than being cut open with a scalpel," you hiss out with a wince at the pain in your lower legs. You instinctively latch onto Yusuke's neck as you feel the floor come out from under you, only to find that Yusuke had picked you up bridal style. "Warn me next time, will ya!" you shout at him but he doesn't even laugh like the normal, carefree, delinquent you grew fond of. Yusuke just apologized and followed Genkai out of the hospital, eyes narrowed seriously and looking straight ahead.
"Rest for now child, with those wounds you won't be much help. Rest and let your demon energy take effect, it's already adapted to healing at it's intended pace, they'll be gone by the time you wake up," Genkai informs as you all leave the hospital.
"…Yusuke? What did you apologize for? Was it for startling me when you picked me up?" you asked worriedly and look up at him.
"No…I'm sorry I got you into this mess. If none of this ever happened, you wouldn't be involved and you wouldn't be so injured," Yusuke explains and looks down as his eyes soften.
"It's not your fault Yusuke. I put myself in this position. I'm the one that asked Genkai to train me, I'm the one that was stubborn and went with the others to help you instead of just going back to Kurama's house, and I'm the one that specific attack was directed towards. I brought this upon myself…Now stop being so hard on yourself, nothing that's happened to you in your life is your fault, trust me," you correct him comfortingly and rest your head on his shoulder as exhaustion sweeps over you. 'I'm the one that went along with that game. If I'd never written down those initials, I wouldn't be here and that cat demon probably wouldn't be here either. I contacted Genkai to not be a burden and I only become more of a burden to them,' were your last thoughts before drifting off to sleep.
You woke up some time later with Yusuke still carrying you as you feel a lot better. You look at your body to see that the many holes in your limbs were now nothing more than a few pinpricks and hardly noticeable scars that would disappear soon enough. You look around you to see that you were in the Kuwabara residence, more specifically, the living room on Yusuke's lap while he sat on their couch.
"How did I get here?" You ask and rub your eyes.
"About time you woke up," you here coming from Yusuke. You look up to see him grinning down at you amusedly.
"Yusuke? Are you back to normal, rambunctious Yusuke? Serious, deadly Yusuke scares me a bit," you question brightly making him laugh.
"You sure do know how to lighten the mood Ashley-chan. We were thinking you wouldn't wake up for another hour at least," you hear and look around to see that everyone was there but Kido, Hiei, Keiko, and Yukina. You find that the voice came from Kurama, who sat smiling amusedly.
"You wouldn't let go of Urameshi either. For being a heavy sleeper, you sure do have a strong grip. You were basically glued to him," Kuwabara informs teasingly with a matching grin.
"Ah, get off it. I like the two of you equally, Kuwa-kun," you retort with a sly and playful grin. You then hop off of Yusuke and stand up, stretching and popping your back and rolling your shoulders.
"So what's been cracking since Yusuke killed the crazy quack and I past out to heal? How long have I been out anyways?" you ask everyone and plop down in the empty seat next to Yusuke.
"Genkai and Yusuke just told us what happened earlier today. If I understand correctly, you've been asleep for about two hours or so. As I was saying, we were followed as well. I didn't do anything thinking that it was a trap," Kurama explained and turned his attention to Genkai for the last part.
"We heard Yusuke's and Master Genkai's side of the story, but I'd like to know yours Ashley-san. We heard what you told them, but I'd like a more in depth explanation to the Cat leader's actions and how you figured it out from just the last question," Kaito adds in, directed towards you.
"Well…The last question was 'What were the four names of the Egyptian cat goddess?' I suppose game master could have made it too, but I didn't feel anyone open their territory. Yanagisawa's territory is limited to his hands and Murata already had his opened. Also, while I was searching the upper floors of the hospital, I felt a demon energy on the roof and checked it out…I found the woman that Murata heard murderous thoughts from. She introduced herself as the Cat Leader as well as an actual name…Sekhmet…I thought it was one of the four names of the Cat goddess Bastet and she confirmed it, asking how I knew of her other names when very few being knew of them. I merely told her I read a lot of books and asked why she was here. Her exact words were, 'Don't worry, puppet. I am not here for your friends. It seems I've taken an interest in you. I must warn you, these next few events leading up to our main battle will be changed from Dark Angel's original plans. I'm adding a little something in all of them, just for you. Feel honored scum.'
"Then before I could do anything, she just up and vanished from the premises. I didn't see any point in following so I continued checking the floors until I heard a scream and found Yusuke and Kido. While Yusuke was fighting the doctor up until he explain that he could heal himself, I was watching and waiting for a chance to jump in if Yusuke needed my help though I doubted he would. I was about to jump in from frustrations when this, thing, came out of nowhere and clamped around my hands and feet, binding them together. It said I had to answer questions until I got ten in a row correct, and when I missed one, I had to start over with different questions and the box-thing would spread and dig metal spikes deeper and deeper for each I got wrong. The first one was as simple as a children's riddle, '1 and 3 equal B,' but it kept getting harder and harder as they went," you explained with little butchering since there wasn't much that told of your knowledge in these events.
"You met her? Did she do anything to you?" Kurama asks seriously with a hint of worry in his voice and eyebrows.
"No. She merely wanted to talk it seemed. It was as if she was giving me a warning of what's to come. I think she's one of those people that like to watch their prey suffer physically, and also writhe in emotional distress and paranoia at the thought of what might come next. I'll keep my senses up, but I know better than to let my emotions get the better of me in these situations. Worry more about the major problem we have instead of my well-being. Otherwise, we will lose this battle," you inform just as seriously with determination and calculation seeping into your eyes. Kurama just nods his head in reluctant agreement before returning to the main subject at hand. Not much later, you changed clothes and left with Kurama to head home.
Two days passed uneventfully until one day when Kurama didn't appear at school. You hardly paid attention to class all day and just let your mind wander to where Kurama went. Neither the book nor the televised series told of where he went when he disappeared today, that you could remember anyways, so you couldn't help but wonder. At lunch, you just barely heard Kaito ask where Kurama was and what was wrong with you as you stared off into nothingness while eating and leaning on your left hand.
"Huh?…Oh, sorry. I'm just wondering where Kura-kun is too," you mumbled and felt your face grow warm against your hand.
"Hm. I was hoping you knew. Oh, well. So, how have you been holding out with all of this?" Kaito asked, changing subjects.
"I'm fine. Last night I trained more at Genkai's and the night before I took a break to heal more and not worry Kura-kun's mom too much. Thanks to everything happening, I was able to get farther on that book I'm writing. I've already got several chapters more, admittedly I had to change the demons and humans part to deal with vampires, gods and goddesses that have turned against the others as well as change up the names of course," you reply, eagerly taking the invitation.
The rest of lunch consisted of more talking involving books like before, and your training's progress. Afterwards, the rest of the school day went on like the first half, though you were able to think less on the subject of Kurama's whereabouts and more on your training progress and current abilities. After school, you quickly found Yusuke and Botan waiting for you and you three grabbed Kaito before getting Yana and Genkai and heading over to Yusuke's apartment.
It started to pour by the time you all reached the apartment and you watched from beside Genkai as Yusuke threw a hissy fit over Kurama and Kuwabara's absents before Genkai tried knocking sense into him while Kaito and Yana added in their own knowledge. He soon left to play pachinko and you just sipped tea peacefully as you thought about what was going on with Kuwabara and his three friends. The night trudged on slowly while you kept quiet and played out Kuwabara's fight against Mitarai as he regained his powers. Your eye would even twitch in the ghost of a wince every time Kuwabara or the others would take a beating or other serious attack, like Okubo being stabbed in the leg.
Finally, you couldn't take it anymore and closed your eyes, spreading your senses until you found Kuwabara's mind along with his friends and Mitarai. You were glad when Genkai finally taught you how to find and invade another's mind by practicing on reading hers, finding Yukina's in the temple, and Hiei's for a more difficult challenge. It came as no surprise when you found him sitting idly in a tree somewhere in the forest. You continued to watch through their minds as Mitarai just stabbed Okubo in the leg. You were jogged out of this when you felt someone place a hand on your shoulder. You look up to see Kurama, just noticing that he'd arrived, as he asks you if anything was wrong, saying how you were twitching and stuff. You tell him you were fine and give him a reassuring smile just as Yusuke comes in, only to be whacked over the head by Genkai. You watch as Genkai explains why Yusuke should have gone after Kuwabara to protect him and quickly chase after him as he runs off to try and do what he didn't think of before. Botan follows as well and you all hurry off, hoping that it wasn't too late.
You use your senses to guide you and follow them while your mind wanders off to see what happening with Kuwabara and the other four. You bite the inside of your lip at the sight of Kuwabara's beaten form in the rain and his three friends in the water creature. "Hurry up you guys or we'll be too late!!" you shout at them with your eyes still closed and speed up as Kuwabara gets pulled into a water creature as well. You continued watching and running around behind Yusuke and Botan when something dawned on you.
'Damn it all! I forgot Kuwabara drags their unconscious bodies to Yusuke's before he passes out. That big softie,' you think with a smile at the memory of his actions and your own ditsy stupidity. "You guys, I found out where he is," you inform the two, making them stop immediately and turn to you.
"Well where the hell is he?!" Yusuke shouts at you.
"Passed out in front of your apartment with four other unconscious boys," you tell him with a smile.
"What?!" Yusuke and Botan shout incredulously before starting back for the apartment. You laugh a little as the sky cleared up before following the two back. When you get there, sure enough, Kuwabara was passed out with three of the others on top of him. You help carry them in and lay Mitarai on Yusuke's bed just as Kurama arrives and helps Genkai tend to his wounds. You chat with Kurama and Yusuke idly as you wait for Mitarai to wake up. Once he does wake up, he spots you three and asks where he is. Yusuke tells him.
"I spent time looking for him and I finally found him in front of my house with four guys on his back," Yusuke points out and jabs back at the unconscious Kuwabara. Mitarai remains silent with a resentful look on his face.
"The three others are safe, They talked about you, then we erased their memories of everything that happened," Kurama continues.
"Now you're going to tell us everything. There's no use lying, Yana is with us," Yusuke grits out as you sit on the floor by Kurama and watch.
"It doesn't matter, we shouldn't have the right to live," Mitarai tells them.
"Who, exactly, doesn't have the right?" you ask him with a raised eyebrow.
"Mankind of course! I'm sure that if you watched that video, you'd agree," Mitarai exclaims angrily at you.
"A video? Which one?" Yusuke asks.
"One called 'The black chapter.' It'll show all the horrible things human beings do," Mitarai informs him.
"Black chapter? That's impossible," Kurama states.
"You know that videotape Kurama?" Yusuke asks him curiously. Kurama explains of the tape and that Hiei wanted it.
"I knew the document existed, but I didn't think it'd have a link to this mission. It's starting to get clearer," Kurama admits.
"You don't know what humans have done! That's why you're still playing heroes! If you could have watched that tape, you'd change your mind! Humans don't deserve to live!" Mitarai bursts out.
"So What?! Is that why humans should end up as meat for monsters and demons?!" Yusuke asks him, getting in his face.
"Yes!…You don't know what you're talking about. You're just lucky to live in a peaceful place, but you don't know the true nature of humans. Did you ever see a line of children waiting to be killed, or the glance of the torturer that's taking delight in looking at his next victim? The sight of a mother whose child is killed right in front of her? Do you understand how someone can like this?! Humans can kill one of their friends and still laugh!! Maybe you don't know it, but I'm sure you can do it too!!" Mitarai replies without hesitation.
'You've never witnessed World War I or II. Hitler's concentration camps are exactly that but worse. Is that all that's on that tape?' you think to yourself.
"Then…You're one of those too?" Yusuke asks.
"Yes. You can do it too," Mitarai answers with his entire body shaking.
"I asked Kuwabara why he saved you. You know what he answered? He told me you looked like someone waiting for help. I laughed when he said that, but…now, by looking at you, I know what he meant," Yusuke tells him and grabs the chair he knocked over. Mitarai looks at him shocked before tearing up as his anger turns to sorrow and guilt.
"When I sleep, I see that tape in my dreams. I start awake and see all those dead people around me, like I was the one who killed them. I feel guilty and ashamed to live. I don't know what to do. I'm getting mad. I would've liked to be told what to do. I'm fed up," Mitarai admits as his walls completely crumble and he grips the sheets tightly and tears fall from his eyes. Your motherly side quickly takes control of you as you stand up and shush the broken teen while rubbing his back soothingly and looking at him gently.
"Yusuke, Ashley, I think we should let him rest. We shouldn't have anything to fear from him anymore," Kurama suggests and Yusuke follows him in agreement. You quickly sooth Mitarai a bit more to comfort him before telling him to rest and following the other two.
"A videotape that would compile all the dreadful things done by humans, sounds scary," Yusuke says to Kurama as you quietly shut the bedroom door.
"I suppose. An average human wouldn't be able to last five minutes, it must have changed his view of the world dramatically," Kurama informs.
"Not me. He just stated things I already knew and saw about humans. Back in America, it was required for us to study history and it included both world wars with videos that are supposed to provide as historical documents to the public. He was only describing the concentration camps created in world war two. The guy that started all of this was screwy. In the end, he killed his male lover and dog while his female lover killed herself willingly along with her child. Not much later, he followed by committing suicide by poisoning himself, shooting himself in the head, then having one of his servants burn him," you put in blankly.
"Stop it, you're both creeping me out," Yusuke complains.
"There's no need, its only one aspect of humans," Kurama explains before going on. He stops when Yusuke gives him a look to make his point and apologizes.
"By the way, I never told you where I was yesterday," Kurama reminds to change the subject a bit.
"True," Yusuke agrees.
"I went to see Koenma," Kurama says simply.
"Koenma? Why didn't you just use the TV instead of going?" Yusuke asks him.
"I thought I knew where you might have gone! I could feel that I knew in the back of my mind but I couldn't recall it," you burst out suddenly as they look at you momentarily.
"I had to see him. I think Koenma knows who the enemy is. After what we just found out, its getting clearer," Kurama elaborates.
"What?" Yusuke questions.
"Yesterday I didn't say anything, but I think it's time to ask Koe-" Kurama starts off but stops when he sees Yusuke already at the TV in the detective suitcase, demanding answers.
"They use that video? I understand now," Koenma mutters to himself.
"What?! You already had suspects?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Yusuke interrogates him.
"We didn't have any proof. In fact, we had troubles admitting it," Koenma tells him.
"Explain," Yusuke demands. Koenma then goes explaining about Sensui and how he was the previous spirit detective with a strong sense of justice and asked if humans had the right to live before disappearing with the tape ten years ago before warning Yusuke and saying he was coming to earth too.
Later that night, Koenma appeared in his teen form and introduced himself to you formally while you did the same with a smile and a respectful bow. Koenma then began explaining of Sensui's past and how he went from protector of the universe to enemy of Reikai and Ningenkai, telling of the mission that changed his whole world.
"What Sensui saw was the exact contrary of his convictions. A place where humans were delighted in torturing demons," Koenma explains.
"Reminds me of the mission at Tarukane's mansion," Kuwabara comments. Yusuke nods in agreement while you looked down at the ground solemnly as images flashed through your mind of that mission along with Sensui's past.
"There's a fundamental difference from you. Sensui killed every last human in that room," Koenma informs and continues explaining Sensui's feelings caused by the mission and his passion for making the video. Once everything was explained, a silence soon followed.
"It makes me wonder how such a spiritually aware and intelligent man can become so affected by something like that. It's as if he was a blind man told of all the beautiful things humans do, only to finally be able to see and find the world a dark, scary, and grotesque place that he wants to destroy," you comment softly while still looking at the floor until suddenly, you turn to look out the window with Kurama and Yusuke to see Sensui, Sniper, and Sekhmet on the roof of the building outside.
Sniper holds up his hand to show five dice with his other hand poised to flick them. You gasp and look in the direction of Yusuke's room as you hear Kuwabara wake up and save Mitarai and Botan.
"Mitarai, I foresaw your failure in my plans. We were controlling all your actions," you hear Sensui state.
"What's he saying?" Yusuke asks aggravated.
"I believe Mitarai was manipulated from the beginning," Kurama explained as you and Genkai agree.
"What?! You can hear what he's saying?" Yusuke asked us.
"Yes," Kurama replied.
"Basically," you put in.
"I can read his lips," Genkai corrects.
"I'm surprised to find that the man we're looking for is on your side. Sad for him, but I feel what his fate will be. The one of a fighter," Sensui says before Yusuke and Kuwabara go after them. You quickly follow upon noticing their departure and chase after the trio.
"Kuwabara you shouldn't have come!" you shout at him and agreeing with Yusuke's reprimand.
"Didn't I tell you guys yet? My powers came back stronger than before. I don't know why, but my sword is a different shape," Kuwabara tell you two as you reach the roadway.
"There they are!" Yusuke exclaims before you could retort.
Sensui looks over at you three calmly, along with Sekhmet, and holds up two fingers. "Two day left until the gate opens," he informs calmly. You look at Sekhmet as she looks directly at you and gives an excited catty grin towards you. You feel your aura start crackling slightly as Sensui talks a bit more before the others show up. Koenma quickly warns Yusuke not to get close to Sensui and tells of his main ability of energy blasts.
"I see. Let's have some fun," Yusuke says and steps forward, ignoring Koenma's cries. Yusuke walks up to Sensui, staying a good distance away, and talks a bit with him before both of their auras surge and Yusuke charges.
"What?! They wanna fight here?! In the middle of town?!" Kuwabara cries.
You watch closely with the others as Yusuke goes to punch Sensui, only to be blocked and hit with Sensui's kick that Yusuke blocks with his left arm. Yusuke quickly recovers and goes to hit him again only for his arm to be pushed away before Sensui kicks him in the side with his left leg, causing him to skid backwards.
"What's he doing?! Fight for real!" Kuwabara shouts.
"He is. He used all of his strength in that last attempt," you tell him without moving your eyes from the scene.
"He's the kind of opponent Yusuke hates. He doesn't hold his attacks. He deflects them without changing his stance and strikes back like that," Kurama elaborates.
"The reshuken," Genkai summarizes.
"Exactly," Sensui confirms.
"A gift," he says and creates a ball of energy about the size of a soccer ball.
"I created my own technique. Here's the Reyko Reshuken," he names and kicks the energy like a pro soccer player. Yusuke exclaims how it's hot and Sensui calls the attack "Reshuu Kokyuha." The energy curve left and hits Yusuke's apartment building, causing an explosion that led to smoke. You look around and find Sekhmet staring upwards while the others exclaim about the attack's course and Botan and Mitarai. Yusuke tells Koenma and Genkai to take care of the two as he charges Sensui. He goes to punch and feints it to use his speed to try, and fail, to catch him off guard and hit him, getting attacked in the side again, destroying his shirt.
Sensui tells Yusuke how pitiful his fighting style is as Kuwabara challenges him and conjures his normal spirit sword. You watch as he tries to cut Sensui, when suddenly you scream in agony and fall to your hands and knees from a sudden pain in your back. It wasn't like when your wings freed themselves, but somehow felt similar, but worse at the same time, and you looked over your shoulder to see Sekhmet holding a bow made out of energy. You look back to see Kurama and the others too occupied with Sensui to notice what happened as you spot Amanuma and Gourmet near in the jeep. You quickly get up to face the smirking cat demon.
"What do you want now feline?!" you shout angrily at her.