It's Wednesday my dudes.
I decided to post on Wednesdays just so I could say that whenever I wanted. Today is also my cake day on Reddit! I made something specifically for my cake day that I'll be posting on r/YuYuHakusho tomorrow, the 13th, because it wasn't finished today. To be fair, I did start it just yesterday, and I haven't picked up my sketch book in over a year, so it isn't my best work. But, you know, when inspiration hits, it really freaking hits. I was just really inspired to draw, and that hasn't happened in a while. So, if you peruse reddit, check it out! I'm an attention whore, but also I really like this one.
So now that I'm finished soliciting you all for your attention on one platform, I do it on another. New chapter, yay! I had some fun with this, and I hope you enjoy. On with the "sho."
Yeah, we should have known it would end this way.
What did you expect? Pretend it all the way?
And all we've got left is a sorry pile of hearts.
I'm getting out- gonna write myself a new start.
Come on, dry your eyes. Meet me on the other side.
Run as fast as you can, and we'll make it out alive.
We know better now. We don't have to live like this.
Go tell them all: We don't have to live like this.
- Get Well - Icon For Hire
Dark of the Day
Evening crept upon us, crawling over the heavens like some fanged creature stalking its prey. The clouds that had covered the sky over the battleground were soaked with the light of the fading red sun, so bloodied by the claws of night that threatened to drag it down under the horizon. It was with great hesitation that the wind even dared cross the grass, tossing hair about as though to distract from the unsettling nature of the air it stirred.
Still the wind was as silent as death, despite the constant motion through hair and over skin, tearing at clothes with a secrecy that would incite jealousy in the encroaching night. The night in itself was far from subtle, clawing mercilessly through the atmosphere, and it was in that same vein that the demonic energy tried in vain to stealthily wash over the rotten earth.
If not the sound of wind, then it was a whispering chant that reached my ears, voiced softly with malice I had yet to hear matched, and simultaneously brimming with underlying anticipation. The voice was wrought with energy, and in the blink of an eye, I could see what was being done.
Though Rando's human disguise was sophisticated enough to transform the appearance of his energy, it was superficial at best, and only worked so long as the energy remained unused. Now that it was being called upon, colors fluctuated. The off-white of the facade faded gradually as splashes of crimson speared their way through the topmost layer. The veins of energy ran red as the blood that flowed just beside them, and even from here, the rusty glint in his eyes was hard to miss. In contrast to the aquamarine beacon that was Yusuke, it was as the burning sand to the tumultuous sea.
Face contorted in a malevolent sneer, Rando chanted under his breath behind the temple created by his hands. I could see the gears turning in Yusuke's head, the inner mechanics of his mind ticking visibly in doe brown eyes. Better yet, I caught the moment when his mental labor bore fruit, lighting his eyes with determination. With a brief spike in oceanic energy, he flashed forward.
Rando could only stare in shock, stuttering to a halt in his spellwork as a fist rocketed towards his face. Skin impacted skin in an audible crunch, and the demon toppled to the ground. Yusuke stood over him with a frown.
"You think I'm just gonna stand here and let you keep doing whatever that is? Come on, even I'm not that dumb." He glared down at his opponent, fists planted on his hips like a mother scolding her young, though without any underlying warmth.
"Now how about you get up and fight like a real man, without any stupid tricks. See, I'd feel pretty bad hitting you while you're glued to the ground."
Rando's eyes were smouldering when he turned his glare back up, but the look was instantly masked with a false congeniality that I would be embarrassed to ever let cross my face. If I could claim anything, it was that my own masks were far superior to his.
"I'll save that one for later then. Or maybe for your girlfriend there." He giggled, rising to his feet. "Of course, she's already quite small, so there may not be much difference."
It took a moment, but I did understand what he was implying. It was amusing at the very least, and simultaneously discomforting. I wondered briefly if Yusuke and I presented such an image of our relationship unintentionally. Perhaps I should ask Asako to check the rumor mill, just in case.
"Are you done talking?" Yusuke asked with disinterest bordering on irritation. "I didn't come all the way up this dumb mountain to chat with a demon."
Rando's eyes lit with interest, and no small degree of caution.
"Oh? So you're aware of what I am? And how long have you held onto this information, I wonder?" I noted his leg slipping back to a ready position, and Yusuke's stance shifted accordingly.
"Taru figured it out after your fight in that blackout room," Yusuke responded with a smug grin. "Although you could say we've been onto you from the start, seeing as you're the whole reason we're here. Just in case you didn't figure it out, we happen to be Spirit Detectives." The change in demeanor was minute, but noticeable all the same. Rando's eyes flashed in momentary unease, energy rapidly snapping with poorly concealed panic. The cornered beast stared down the first of its hunters, both fighters awaiting the other's first move.
"Yes, I thought I recognized that fireball attack," Genkai muttered under her breath, prompting all three of our heads to turn towards her. She glanced up, meeting my eyes for a brief moment before looking back at Rando.
"Ages ago, two renowned masters spent the last half of their lives perfecting the Circles of Inferno and that chant." I tilted my head curiously.
"And the chant does what, exactly?" I queried, and she frowned.
"That's not important, most especially since it seems your partner there isn't going to let him complete the spell. What does matter is the fact that the only people who could have taught this boy have been dead for centuries."
Kazuma made a noise of surprise, and I returned my gaze to the fight.
"Well, he is a demon after all."
The fight resumed, or rather, it truly began. Yusuke made the first move, flying at his opponent with a flurry of fists. Rando, eyes wide with some kindred emotion of fear, seemed just barely able to keep up. He leaped backwards again and again to avoid the glowing fists of the young human boy, mis-stepping every so often and providing an easy enough target for Yusuke to land blows on. My partner continued to push the demon back, and all the while, a small spark of suspicion grew to a whispering flame, then to a full fire.
This is far too easy.
And as if my thoughts were a catalyst, the tides of the fight changed in an instant. The demon let out a yell and propelled himself into the air, his energy surrounding him and keeping him aloft in a bubble of green-tainted crimson. Red collected in his hands, which assumed a strangely specific position.
"Sickle and Tornado," he cried, the energy taking a new and distinct shape at his front. His arms extended outwards, leaving him in a pseudo-crane position in mid-air, circles of energy hovering just at his fingertips.
"Out of all my techniques, this one may just be my favorite," Rando admitted.
"Congratulations," Yusuke groused. "What the hell is it?" Gleefully sadistic laughter echoed over the barren land as the demon released the energy discs, sending them spinning like loose sawblades to carve out gouges in the earth. They sped towards Yusuke, tearing up turf as they went.
Said detective looked on, a determined gleam in his eyes overlayed onto mild panic.
"I once knew of a fighter who made quite a name for himself using this technique," Genkai mused, and I glanced toward her with interest. "It creates a vacuum around the opponent and causes air to escape violently from the body through cuts in the skin."
"Eugh!" Kazuma's face paled at the thought. "So it's like, drying out his body? Gross!"
I felt my eyes grow wide.
"And deplete the blood of oxygen, which would cause a whole host of system failures," I inferred, looking back with a mixture of intrigue and worry.
This dolt…
He braced his legs and crossed his arms in an X-shaped barrier across his chest and face, but the impact still managed to knock him off his feet. His sharp cry of pain was abruptly cut off when his back hit the ground with a dull thud, unfurling his body with the force of the attack to leave him sprawled defenselessly over the damp grass. Blood was minimal, but the hit had clearly been substantial. Yusuke's energy was cut nearly in half.
I watched the attack as it completed its journey, seeing them eventually dissipate into harmless whirlwinds, which were swept away by the natural breeze. The front of Yusuke's white shirt was torn, exposing the skin of his chest where two long, pink gashes lay, refusing to bleed.
Interesting…
"Ouch!" The boy pushed himself up, eyes blazing and teeth bared in a snarl. He scrambled back to his feet, remaining energy pulsing through him in time with his heart.
"Now that's surprising," Rando said with a discontented frown. "Most would pass out from the pain." He once again took to the air, and I pulled power into my eyes to watch the process his energy underwent more closely. It split at his chest, some focused at his back and entering the visible spectrum behind him in a body-sized halo to keep him airborne. The rest branched out into his arms, pulling at the air around him and harnessing wind within a bubble of energy. The trapped air, prompted by its container, began to spin rapidly.
"Shall we try it again?" The question was rhetorical, and Rando released his hold on the whirring blades of air and energy. They took off on their own, guided only by the direction in which they spun. The technique could be refined, as most of the six previous discs had missed their mark. This was meant for multiple opponents then. That in itself was telling. Either he was an ameture strategist, which was unlikely given his implied age, or he had energy to spare on using such draining attacks. The latter was more likely, and more worrying.
And Yusuke's solution to this? It would be difficult to dodge, as the disks seemed to change direction without a moments notice, much like the wind they harnessed. They could not be deflected, as the spinning would prevent that. No, Yusuke's solution was much simpler, and much stupider. Rando noticed this as well, narrowing his eyes.
"I dare you!" And it was a look I had seen too often on the boy's face which solidified his absolute idiocy. It was that expression which clearly spoke those irritating words, challenge accepted.
"It appears your friend is a fool," Genkai spat, and I couldn't help but agree.
Botan interjected hotly, "No, just mad!"
"A mad fool," I offered as a compromise, and Kazuma leaned forward towards the fight, his enthusiasm palpable.
"Come on, Urameshi! Don't be stupid!"
Yusuke took to the air, energy shooting through his legs to power this bold move, and made a running leap straight into the oncoming attacks. His arms crossed defensively with a thin layer of aquamarine as his only shield against the vacuum. The power surrounding Rando intensified, encompassing the demon and the immediate air space around him.
He screamed at the pain of every impact, body flying through the storm of torment like a heat-seeking missile, eyes locked on target and jaw set in grim determination. I could feel my nails digging into my palms, the miniscule pain grounding me, keeping me from interfering. Were this a normal fight, we would have won by now! This tournament could very well be what killed him for good this time. This stupid, asinine, pointless-
"I don't know where he got the will to endure that kind of pain, but he's making it into the eye of the tornado!" I was snapped from my thoughts at Genkai's unusually solemn voice, looking down to find her regarding Yusuke with something akin to wonder.
"Urameshi can handle anything, no matter how much pain it is," Kazuma asserted confidently, though the fear in his eyes spoke of his concerns. I hoped he was right. Perhaps I knew he was right, but that nagging unease still bothered me. Even as Yusuke cleared the energy barrier, and the shock played beautifully across Rando's face, the feeling stayed. It was a cold stillness unlike anything I remember feeling before. A hollow sensation in my chest like a breath catching in the wake of an awful surprise, or a heartbeat skipping indefinitely. Watching his energy continue to drain in his efforts… it was… I felt-
Fear?
With a roar of finality, Yusuke collided with the demon, crossed wrists both pressing into his opponents throat and trapping his neck. Rando lost control of his energy at Yusuke's final burst of power, the boy effectively emptying his veins into the point of contact of the pseudo-choke.
They careened towards the ground, two blurs of color falling at a speed even gravity could not have prompted, and the impact with the Earth came with an almost anticlimactic thump. There should have been a snap. The demon's neck should have broken from the blow. Yusuke used the momentum, rolling to his knees a few paces away and breathing heavily. His eyes were nearly clouded over, resembling the sky above us far too much for my taste, and his breathing was labored.
Botan ran to him immediately, an enormous grin on her face, and Kazuma gave a triumphant cheer, punching the air at the perceived victory.
"You got him good, Yusuke! He'll probably be out for a week," Botan praised, standing beside the boy with arms outstretched as if to support him if he should fall, though he was able to stand well enough on his own.
"Well that's what happens when you piss me off. He wasn't kidding about the pain though." And he turned back to send me a grin much wider and more lively than he must have felt.
"So whaddaya think of that one, huh Taru? Pretty good, right?" I blinked, looking beyond him to the sprawled out form on the ground. The energy seemed to be gone, but that suspicion tugging at my gut was telling me otherwise.
Yusuke began walking back, his face pinched in confusion.
"Hey, what's up with your eyes?"
A flash of red, dark and foreboding, the grass around the body shriveling to black.
Kuso!
"Yusuke, stop!" I shouted, and his steps immediately halted, eyes going wide as he stared at me. But then, I saw the moment he understood my alarm. His face took on an unhealthy pallor, the glazed nature of his eyes fading to a bright panic. He whipped around just as an ominous voice filled the air with sinister laughter. The body of 'Shorin' sunk as the blackened grass beneath began to dip unnaturally. Botan took several steps back toward us, Kazuma immediately moving into a protective stance in front of the Spirit.
I watched as the crimson energy grew to new levels, unbound and undisguised, it clawed and lashed at the air around it like many caged beasts all vying for freedom. Power writhed, shaking the Earth with its wide reach, volatile in the malice it exuded.
"You should pray for your soul, boy. I've never shown my true form to anyone, so I can't go making exceptions now." The Earth split open, marsh water filling into the cracks and craters that gradually grew wider.
"You'll all die in the end, that's no secret," The demon continued. "The only mystery is this: How will I choose to torture you?"
From the largest fissure erupted volcanic energy, shooting into the sky like a massive wall of pure power. A figure bathed in blackness and cloaked in venomous red aura emerged, hair like a cape billowing in the air currents called into being by the sheer volume of the power. His energy carried him up, holding his changing body above the ground as the transformation took place. Muscles contorted and grew, the body reshaping itself into what I could only assume was his so-called true form.
His energy was everywhere, permeating the very ground, poisoning the air, and even polluting my ears with the static. From the featureless face, bright scarlet irises gleamed against stark white sclera, narrowed in sadistic glee at the alarm he found in Yusuke's expression.
"What the hell is that thing!?" Kazuma grated out, pointing at the ambiguous figure. Yusuke took a step back, bracing himself or preparing to retreat, I wasn't sure.
"That is a demon," I replied as the creature's energy lowered it to the ground. Color began leaking into the blackness of his skin as he gave a dark chuckle.
"That's right. I'm the one you're here for, children. Rando." Finally, the metamorphosis was complete.
His new skin was pale, as though he was a porcelain doll that had yet to be painted over. The hair was full and ran far past his hips, a sharp contrast to the bald monk disguise he had been wearing before. His features too had sharpened and grown more defined, no longer the round, almost innocent face of the young Shorin. Stretching over his forehead, across the bridge of his nose and over his cheekbones ran a marking of some kind in deep indigo, something resembling a spider with an elongated thorax, and across the startling definition of his chest and shoulders ran scars of unusual coloring. It was a warriors body, clad only in dark grey pants in the fighters style and a pair of shinobi slippers. Chiseled was perhaps the perfect word, a body cut from marble and shaped by the most careful of sculptor's hands.
In a word, he looked positively lethal.
"This is always the hardest part," he told Yusuke with a laugh, stalking towards him, and by extension the rest of us, with predatory intent. "Choosing which technique to use. Perhaps you can give me a good suggestion. I'd like to make your death particularly special."
The demon stopped a few paces away, his eyes flickering our way- my way- with a malevolent smirk.
"Or maybe you could offer an idea, Little Girl. You're quite the sadist, aren't you? Your two fights so far have proven that." I narrowed my eyes. He was not incorrect. There were several rather gruesome methods of execution running through my head. I could identify with his desire to make the death unique, at the very least. All of mine were.
His would be something quite spectacular.
"Hey, you're fighting me right now, in case you've forgotten," Yusuke snapped, and Rando returned his attention to his immediate opponent, feigning a polite smile.
"But of course. I don't mean to be rude, it's just that I don't anticipate this fight lasting very long." His smile twisted into a vicious sneer. "You're almost empty, Boy."
Yusuke smirked.
"Almost ain't all the way. I've still got plenty of ass-kicking ready for you."
Rando took the bluff with a scoff, crossing his arms.
"Well then, take your best shot," he challenged, standing straight and giving the detective a knowing look. Of course, he knew it. He could feel it just as easily as Genkai or I could. Yusuke, ever the fool, took up the challenge.
… … …
"Call the fight," I demanded of the old woman.
Yusuke hung upside down from a nearly dead tree, dangling over the marsh pool that now teamed with demonic fish. Bound by the white threads of energy from a technique long since lost, he was helpless to the whims of his opponent.
The demon had taken great pleasure in destroying the boy bit by bit, first trapping him and removing his autonomy, then flinging him about to crash headfirst into obstacles, and finally slamming him into the ground. Gleeful laughter filled the air, accompanied by the nearly unbearable harmony of suffering. Yusuke's body and spirit were both resilient, but neither could take much more of this.
I couldn't take much more.
For all the pain I had caused, for all the agony I have enjoyed in the eyes and shrill screams of my prey, for the blood on my hands both a warm comfort and a burning filth, this was not something I could stand. Perhaps it was that I was not the one wringing the shrieks of pain from that fragile throat, or perhaps it was because I understood the elation the demon felt, having his victim at his mercy. It was a feeling like no other, to be in complete control of another's life. That feeling only grew when you knew that you and only you would have the privilege of taking that life.
Life was a delicate thing, an infinity of limited time on an infinitely limited world. Every second ticking by as just one in a hundred thousand million, yet every second seemed to matter most in the final heartbeats, in the last moments when it would be senseless to fight back. With the inevitable so close, what was there to do to stop the hand from cutting off the air to your lungs, stop the knife from reaching your heart through layers of viscera and bone?
Yusuke did not deserve that.
He should not exist in his final moments fighting to turn back the clock. He was above such humiliation. He was not prey, and he should not die as prey. The prey are the weak. Weak of body, of mind, and of will, but that was never enough to convince me. Weakness of character, I now understood, was what drove me to hunt. If there was anything I could comprehend about Yusuke, among all the unfathomable emotions and ideals, it was that his character was strong.
"I said call the fight."
Kazuma agreed: "He's had enough, it's not fair!"
The woman turned away, refusing to look at me.
"I will not."
My head tilted to the side, and I vaguely aware of Rando tossing some example demon into the infested waters. The sounds of carnage reached my ears, the ripping and tearing of flesh and the gurgling of a pair of lungs taking on too much water.
"What!?" Kazuma and Botan shrieked at the same moment, turning on the aged Gankai. "Why not?" She ignored them. I raised my voice over their dramatics.
"Call the fight or this tournament of yours is over." That got her attention, her eyes flicking up to me shrewdly.
"You would interfere and cost yourself an easy victory? The prize would be as good as yours," she reasoned, the tone of her voice suggesting she was tempting me on purpose. I narrowed my eyes. Where once there may have been a choice laid before me, my options were surprisingly slim. In fact, there was but a single path to take, and I did not question the logic behind it.
"The life of my friend is worth far more to me than whatever power you can give. He is strong. Stronger than me, and given time, stronger than you." She pivoted on her toes, facing me fully now with a look full of vitriol and senile obstinance. She seemed to tower, despite her stature, her power angrily clawing and spitting under her skin.
"Your reliance on your friendship with that brat is weighing you down. Hold onto him too tightly, and you will drown with him." My lips twitched, teeth baring a touch while emotion surged up through my chest, raising me higher than I had ever thought possible. If she towered over me before, we were now at equal heights.
"If I rely on him, it is because he has proven that his virtues far outclass any obstacles that have stood in his path." I expected righteous anger, but instead she smirked, a gleam in her eye.
"If you really believe that, then you won't interfere." My eyes grew wide and I recoiled, feeling the sting of her words slapping me across the face. I… I believed in him, didn't I? But that doesn't justify leaving him to certain death, just on the off chance that he may follow his normal pattern and pull through.
And there was the choice I had been missing. Give him the easy way out, or wait for him to make it through on his own? Kazuma spoke again, his voice clear but his words somewhat hazy to me. Botan too added her grievances. Their words meant little in that moment, especially when the scene before us drew my eyes almost immediately.
Rando fired a Spirit Gun.
It was red and expansive, more resembling a flamethrower than a bullet. The energy exited his body in a vast wave, which took a directed shape only after it had been released. Like water conforming to the shape of a siphon, it spun itself into form and jetted towards Yusuke, passing him by with barely a hair's breadth of clearance. The tree it impacted some distance behind him was not so fortunate, splintering into tiny shards like toothpicks before dissolving into dust.
My jaw clenched, but I forced myself to relax. The technique was far from perfect, too much energy being wasted upon the execution and not enough being put behind the actual projectile. He clearly did not understand the mechanics properly, not that the Spirit Gun was terribly difficult to perform. Yusuke's had always been much more powerful, with greater force behind his attacks. If his energy returned to him somehow-
I caught a glimpse of his eyes. The expression was wrong. Such desolation didn't belong there.
"Genkai, you have to stop this!" Botan, her voice ringing with dread. "If you truly believe Hotaru will beat Rando in the next fight, there is no reason to let this go on! You'll just be letting another demon kill off another good human!"
Genkai rounded on the Spirit, eyes blazing with a pain I could not comprehend. Nor did I wish to. Her feelings were of little concern to me. She seemed to be holding her tongue, glaring at Botan as though wishing the woman would go up in flames.
"That's an innocent life you will be responsible for," Botan continued. "How many more people are you willing to let die for something like this? What if he wins the whole tournament? Will you still train him after he's killed off the best chances this world had at staying safe?"
It was subtle, and I did not recognize it immediately, but there was a small growth of something inside me, a little seed taking root in the recesses of my soul that I could easily ignore, if I so chose. However, my ability to reject it did not change the fact that it existed, and appeared to be thriving. A tiny blossom of respect for the blue-haired Spirit made itself at home in my mind.
Her argument, however moving, seemed to have no effect on Genkai. The old woman regained her composure in a matter of seconds, shaking her head in disappointment.
"There are things you do not understand," the woman began.
"Like what?" Botan interjected angrily, and my brother joined her.
"You can't justify letting that evil guy be your student, not after all he's done to Urameshi! It's not right!" Their combined efforts and united front did not impress the psychic, who only moved to get a better vantage point of the fight, positioning herself closer to me.
"Right or wrong, progress is what must prevail. It is a story even I cannot change. My powers must be carried forward, even if they will stay for a while in the hands of the wicked."
And leave her free from consequences, I thought bitterly.
"Do you even hear yourself!?" Botan screamed, just as Kazuma hollered, "You're crazy!"
But even with all the arguments and the meaningless pleading for her to see logic, the fight had continued. Though calling it a fight was being particularly patronizing. It was an execution, slow and drawn out.
And it was coming to a close.
Rando's hand formed the familiar shape, childish in nature but carrying different meaning in the context of the supernatural world. Thumb and forefinger extended, taking so little time to properly set up his shot, he fired.
"Urameshi!"
It was wide and unfocused, not enough to kill Yusuke even in this weakened state, but Yusuke wasn't his target. The tree branch from which he hung was the intended destination, and with a resounding crack that echoed around in the fog, the branch was utterly destroyed. Yusuke's battered body began its descent, falling swiftly towards the water below. The briefest of changes in his countenance was possibly his last, a sudden switch from terror to anger.
"This is DUMB!"
He hit the water with a sickening splash, not even flailing before sinking below the surface. He had expended all his oxygen with his scream, and the fish below would not wait before making their move. There wasn't time to let logic make my choice. Instinct becomes second nature, as I told Kazuma.
I started forward, blade already singing around my arm.
"Stop!"
"Ru-Ru!"
And it wasn't the plea in Kazuma's voice that stopped me, nor the command in Genkai's tone. It was not the threat of disqualification or the fear for my own life. Such things I could never experience. My desperation, my drive to kill that demon where he stood was not enough to keep me going when my body froze from the core outwards.
It was not the cold of the possession, but a complete stillness that enveloped me. I did not fight it, because it was right. I did not question it, because it was good. My power expanded, rippling out through my skin in the violet aura I was so familiar with. The blade faded into the miasma surrounding me. Then, the energy separated from my being in a feeling I can only liken to the sensation of stepping into the frigid winter air after leaving a warm house. It ripped away from me…
And shot towards the bubbling water.
"Hotaru!" Botan's concern was drowned out by Genkai's fury. She darted in front of me, teeth bared in a snarl.
"You idiot girl! Stop what you're doing or you're both disqualified!" Slowly, my eyes traveled down to meet hers.
"I'm… not doing this," I told her, calmly, a hint of wonder creeping into my voice. Her mouth opened as if to refute my claim, but she hesitated. Her penetrating gaze became assessing. My energy stabbed violently into the murky depths, nary a splash or ripple to be seen.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Genkai asked harshly, and I shrugged.
"Ru-Ru! What's going on? Are you alright?" Kazuma approached rapidly behind me, and I could feel him grabbing at my arm. He let out a yelp, jumping away and holding his fists protectively against his chest. It was a noise of pain, but I was certain he was alright. Something this morally correct would not harm my brother.
"What is this?" Rando questioned, taking a few steps in our direction. "I do believe outside interference is against the rules, unless I'm mistaken on how tournaments operate!" But his voice was completely silenced by one much quieter, one heavy with doubt and hope, tired and alert, echoing in my ears.
-"… Taru?"-
I blinked, then smiled. And it was real.
My energy drained rapidly, but that was little cause for concern. I fell to my knees with a gasp of pain, my aura growing dimmer second by second as aquamarine in the distance began to bloom. The last traces of warmth left me, slipping past my fingers and disappearing from sight. I could not have grabbed onto them if I wanted. The power knew where it was needed.
Genkai looked surprised, watching the final beams of light as they went.
"The boy is doing this?"
"You, hag! This means I win, doesn't it?"
Not quite.
The shockwaves broke the Earth.
Light and sound united in a concussive force, breaching the large pond from a point far below the surface. Water was displaced wildly by the surge of pure power, rising with the light and vanishing as the heat evaporated it into mist. More water gathered and was subsequently executed in an endless volcanic cycle.
Then a figure, with the wall of power behind him like a massive aura, shot straight up from the pond. Aquamarine dancing delicately over his skin, soaked to the bone and covered in grime, Yusuke had never looked more alive.
"About my Spirit Gun," he shouted over the water and turf crashing down to earth behind him. "You're doing it all wrong!"
The demon snarled, "Oh really?" He pointed up, forefinger and thumb extended in a mockery of Yusuke's stance, and the boy mirrored it with practiced ease.
Yusuke grinned maliciously, and his aura of my repurposed energy grew brighter, expanding around him to keep him in the air, exactly the way Rando had earlier. He was learning, and very quickly.
"Yeah! You hold too much back!" The light around him sunk into his skin, his very essence now irradiated blue as it focused, the proper way, in his hand. The perfect bullet hovered just beyond his index finger, setting his face alight with an ethereal glow. I felt the moment he pulled the trigger, an explosion of heat in my chest as though I had been shot by the small star. It was not power or energy, but some feeling that continued to grow, like a balloon expanding in my heart.
Triumph.
"Spirit Gun!" The shot released, a bolt of azure careening towards the porcelain target. Rando hastily fired his own shot, carelessly crafted and nowhere near dense enough to stop the true Spirit Gun. It all but disintegrated when Yusuke's bullet punched through the red mass like it was made of paper. A look of horrified shock was all the reaction the demon could manage before he was struck squarely in the chest.
He grunted at the impact, then screamed as the pain hit him. He was flung away from the pond, skidding backwards over the ground and leaving a trench in his wake. He came crashing to a stop not more than a few paces away from our group, face pinched and body trembling.
"Good shot!" Botan cheered.
Kazuma punched the air in celebration, said: "Awe yeah! That's what I'm talking about, Uramesh!"
Yusuke landed, energy dissipating as he crouched on the grass. He smirked.
"Sure, you can use it more than once, but you lose the good old stopping power." He stood on sturdy legs, strutting across the grass towards his prey looking more like a proud peacock than any great hunter. As it should be.
"So, what do you have to say to that, huh?" His taunting fell on angry ears, Rando struggling to sit up from his hole in the ground. The demon was livid, practically foaming at the mouth with rage. He got to his feet, clawed hands curled into vicious fists.
"You…" he seethed, glaring darkly at Yusuke's wily grin. "You have caused me pain, you miserable brat! I do not like that!"
Yusuke frowned, leaning forward a touch and cupping his ear.
"Sorry, what was that?"
The demon opened his mouth, likely to start shouting and cursing, but Yusuke's fist slammed into his face before the enemy could even get a fully-formed word out.
"I couldn't hear you, over the sound of you losing."
Rando staggered backwards with a yelp, but Yusuke didn't stop there. He kept up the assault, slamming his knuckles into every inch of visible skin he could reach. A yell built up in his throat when he landed the final strike, directly on the burnt spot his Spirit Gun had hit.
The demon coughed violently, blood ejecting from his mouth as his eyes threatened to fall from their sockets. As he hunched over, arms moving to cover that sensitive, thoroughly charred area of his chest, Yusuke's elbow came crashing down squarely on the back of his head. The man's eyes rolled back into his skull, mouth agape and with lines of blood dripping from the corners. He fell forward inelegantly, body landing motionless in the grass.
He did not get up.
Panting heavily, adrenaline wearing off to put on display his fatigue, Yusuke stood triumphant. Arms bracing himself on his knees, he cast one wary look back at Rando, who lay unconscious in his defeat.
"And that, boys and girls, is why we don't steal." He then looked thoughtful, and chuckled to himself. "Well, not techniques anyways."
He made to straighten his stance, and promptly collapsed onto the ground. Botan rushed over to him, and I grabbed Kazuma's hand in a silent question. My brother assisted me to stand, and we made it the few steps over to where Yusuke and Rando had both fallen. The former pushed at the ground to roll himself over, breathing heavily and wheezing somewhat.
"Cripes, he must've got me good. I can't hear a thing!" His eyes cracked open and he seemed to notice me, offering a weak smile. "Don't get any ideas about fighting me when I'm down. I may look like I can't move right now, but I'm very dangerous."
I scoffed as Botan laughed.
"Dangerously stupid," I told him. Kazuma grinned widely, a laugh at Yusuke's predicament bubbling in his chest.
"Gee Urameshi, looks like you're out of the race, huh?"
Yusuke frowned.
"What the hell are you saying, ugly?"
In a flash, Kazuma was over him and hauling him up by his battered white shirt, the decidedly ugly expression on his face displaying his displeasure at Yusuke's description.
"Say that again punk, I dare you," the tall boy hollered, but Yusuke's only response was to wrinkle his nose.
"Hell, I can smell your breath, so you're definitely talking. Get a mint or something!" Kazuma fumed, Yusuke ignoring him to pome a finger into his ear. He withdrew his hand with a look of disgust, and I raised my brow.
"Eugh! Swamp algae! Gross!" He shook off my brother to clean out the other ear, grimacing as he flicked the green growth away. A hand rubbed at his shoulder, massaging some pain while he smiled cheekily up at the rest of us.
"Guess I showed him, huh? You can tell me I'm awesome, I don't mind."
I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever, dolt."
Genkai cleared her throat, grabbing all our attentions. Her look of impatience was not as intense as it had been other times that day. If anything, she appeared curious.
"Winner, Urameshi Yusuke," she announced quietly, frowning. "I'm half tempted to disqualify you both, but considering you seemed surprised," she gave me a narrow look, "I'll give you two the chance to explain."
I glanced back down at Yusuke, who blinked in confusion. It took only a moment for his eyes to light in realization, and his head tilted up with a remarkably open expression.
"Oh yeah. Thanks for that, Taru! I thought I was fish food for sure!" My brow furrowed slightly.
"I did nothing- I thought that was you taking my energy." Bemusement likened him to a perplexed puppy, doe-brown eyes completely clueless. He made a quiet, thoughtful noise, gripping his chin with a hand and frowning.
"Well that's weird, I coulda sworn-" He then looked alarmed, staring at the stern-gazed Genkai with a steadily growing pallor. "Hey, wait! You can't kick us out, we didn't do it on purpose!"
She scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the both of us in a way that made her seem somehow larger.
"I certainly can," she refuted, and my breath caught in my throat. Her glare was infinite, cool gaze assessing, calculating, judging. With a deep sigh, her eyes slid shut and she dipped her head.
"However, it is clear to me that the two of you possess capabilities far beyond your years… and your knowledge. You may both move on to the final round."
I could practically feel the complaint before it came, Yusuke griping immediately after that statement.
"Oh give us a break old lady! At least let us catch our breath first!"
"Yeah, he's all beat up and Ru-Ru's all out of energy," Kazuma chimed in. Botan interjected her thoughts as well.
"Surely it couldn't hurt to wait a little longer. After all, it's only down to these two, the fight can happen at any time."
"And waste more of my time?" Genkai spat, glaring at the four of us. "I think I've been lenient enough as it is, considering I'm dealing with Koenma's brats."
I could feel myself flinch at that.
"This has gone on long enough. You will decide the victor here and now. Final match, Urameshi Yusuke versus Kuwabara Hotaru."
…
The temple was somehow bigger on the inside, if that made any sense.
From outside, the rooms and hallways appeared slim, with most of the land being utilized as training fields and rock gardens, things of that sort. It reminded me heavily of a dojo I had once visited with Koori-Sensei years ago. Serene, quiet, not even the sound of running water to disturb the peace. Birdsong too was rare, and even those birds brave enough to pass over the wards would not dare to speak beyond the treeline.
Inside was no different, if only darker. The walls were wood until we reached the sleeping areas, after which they transitioned to rice paper. Artifacts and statues were immaculately clean. The floors were ancient, but polished to perfection with not a speck of dust or dirt to be had. I could appreciate this.
The rooms themselves, once we actually began walking through the compound, seemed too spacious to belong inside the limits established by simply looking at the place from outside. Furniture was sparse, likely adding to the illusion of space, and the only non-natural light was the candles that would conveniently light the moment we stepped into a room.
The floors alternated from wood to stone depending on the rooms use. The onsen, which we took great advantage of, was primarily stone. The kitchen, which we also spent quite some time in, was wood. So much space with so little to fill it seemed wasteful to me, though I supposed there was little for an old woman alone on a mountain to do other than walk around an empty house.
Though with company for the next six months, the temple would be anything but empty, and it assuredly would no longer be quiet.
Each of us was given a room to rest. The hour was late, and returning home now would only be a waste of precious energy. Botan had since left with our demon criminal, and it was unfortunate that I had not had any real chance to interact with him. A connoisseur of such ancient and rare knowledge would certainly be a valuable addition to my collection, however his immediate defeat and subsequent arrest before I could speak with him had effectively nulled my chances of obtaining him as a parolee. Perhaps I could convince Koenma to allow me to conduct an interrogation.
For the purposes of cataloguing and replicating the ninety-nine stolen and lost techniques, of course. It really would be a shame to let that skill and knowledge go to waste, rotting away in the mind of one who would never again have the chance to use them.
If anything, those techniques would be a hefty consolation prize after I lost the one I sought in the first place.
The door to my room slid open, the intruder standing there silent as the grave, but I could feel the anger clawing and chewing just behind closed lips. I looked over from where I knelt on the bed roll, my body facing the tapestry I had just been analyzing.
"Master Genkai," I greeted politely.
"Kuwabara Hotaru," she returned evenly, the simmering enmity just barely concealed in her brittle voice. "Perhaps you can explain to me why you saw fit to forfeit your match, and disgrace the very nature of martial arts."
She did not enter the room, I noticed. Nor did she remove her hands from behind her back. Keeping me at a distance, but why? Surely she realized I was no threat to her at this point. With Yusuke in recovery, my energy was coming back slower than usual. I chose to catalogue that oddity with the rest of our shared traits.
"I have many reasons," I informed her, and the fury nearly boiled over.
"You made a mockery of this tournament! How many reasons could there be to give up something that was as good as yours?" I blinked, tilting my head to the side as a thought occurred to me.
"If you will allow it, I would like to ask one, just one, question of my own, so that I may better understand how to answer you." Suspicion darkened her gaze, but she gave a curt nod of acceptance.
"What is your opinion of Spirit World?"
Her eyebrows disappeared under a faded pink hairline, irritated bemusement playing spectacularly across her face at the question that she clearly had not expected.
"What sort of question is that?" she barked, and I adopted a pleading expression.
"One that I very much need an honest answer to."
She scowled, and I was taken aback by the ferocity in that single expression.
"Don't put on faces around me you little brat! I may be old, but even I could pick apart Rando the moment he walked through my door. I see you just as easily as I saw him." Our locked gazes did not waver, though I did drop the false emotion from my face. That she was perceptive did not surprise me. She would have to be particularly dense not to have noticed anything, given the previous events of the day.
I nodded, an acquiescence to her request.
"As you wish, Master."
She sneered, and I wondered what exactly I had done to earn her ire.
"You don't get to call me that either, unless you forgot. You gave it up to that dimwit!" She jerked her head down the hallway, where I was certain Yusuke and Kazuma were fast asleep by now. It had been hours since the fights, baths, and dinner. I was surprised I was still awake, but the tapestry depiction of an ancient battle on eerily familiar landscape had kept my mind from shutting down.
"That dimwit, as you call him, more than earned the prize," I reminded her, referring of course to his satisfying victory over the demon.
"He had to use your energy to get it done," she growled back. "And don't think I've forgotten about that. You're too intelligent not to know something about it."
I could feel my eyes smiling.
"I will tell you what I know of that, if you tell me your opinion of Spirit World." Her teeth clicked when her mouth snapped shut, and the look she fixed upon me could easily have melted iron with its intensity. It was a dangerous game to play, but something about the way she said Koenma's name before, spitting it like she regretted letting it touch her tongue, made me think perhaps she might be infinitely more valuable than Rando. After all, she was human, a renowned psychic, and apparently of great worth to Spirit World. They wouldn't expect her to betray them.
Her gaze turned thoughtful, not losing any of its venom.
"Alright then. In my opinion, Spirit World's incompetence is matched only by their need to meddle in things that don't require their involvement." She frowned, and this time, I could gather it wasn't directed at me. "They're overbearing bureaucrats with far too much time on their hands and not enough brains to handle it. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Her sarcastic question prompted a smile from me, and it was real.
"In a sense. Will you not come in? This may take some time."
With Kurama, I could easily give the orders in his home and expect them to be followed. With this woman, weakened as I was, the situation required a little more delicacy in the form of polite discourse, starting with allowing her to encroach upon my space. She hesitated for only a brief moment before striding purposefully into the room, sitting across from me. It was clear to me this was to be strictly business.
"As I stated, I have several reasons for allowing Yusuke the victory. First and foremost, we agreed beforehand that the one to defeat Rando would be the one to gain your technique. Granted, I think he had completely forgotten about that at the time, but we did not know exactly what to expect when we came here. In a fair fight, he defeated Rando. In a fair fight, he would have beaten me as well.
"Secondly, I believe Yusuke is the more worthy of the two of us." I did not break eye contact, feeling this point was one that needed to be conveyed most out of them all. "Not only is he the better fighter, he is infinitely stronger of character than I am."
She scoffed, leaning back a touch.
"I believe I made it clear that moral shortcomings were the least of my concerns," she pointed out, and I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Yes, however morality is very important to me. I am not a particularly good person, but Yusuke is. You will likely find him the most difficult, cantankerous and stubborn student you have ever taken on. I assure you, he will also be the one to go further than any other could."
The truth could not be spoken any more plainly. It was his morality that first caught my attention. Where I had both dismissed it as weakness and envied it in the past, I recognized the strength it brought him. It only complicated matters in my mind if I attempted to be more virtuous, but it seemed to come to him like second nature. He would be the one to use her power in the right way, not me.
I've accepted that now.
"You speak highly of him," she remarked, and I nodded.
"His actions speak volumes more. I couldn't do him justice." She sneered, and for a moment I could feel the spark of anger, her expression an insult to my truth. The truth, whether she would accept it or not.
"You place that boy upon a pedestal. You cling to him like a leech and you drink up everything he does with blind faith that he can do no wrong." Her accusations were cutting, or they were meant to be. I replied quickly.
"I hold him in high regard because he has proven to me that he is a person worth admiring." It came out a little more hotly than I expected, and I realized I had leaned into my point, my hands balled into fists. I slowly relaxed, pulling away.
"I do not deny that he has faults, and many of them. I simply pose that his virtues outweigh anything that may stain his reputation. My third reason," I continued quickly, not giving her a chance to interject again. "Is that I have responsibilities at home that I cannot afford to ignore for six months."
"Like what, exactly?" she questioned snarkily, and I fixed her with a wry smile.
"Aside from the image I need to maintain, I am the current parole officer of a demon criminal from a previous case of ours. In fact, he was the one who gave me most of the information I had about Rando. Granted it wasn't much, but he did have prior experience with the target."
I seemed to have surprised her once more, her gaze losing the resentment almost immediately. If anything, she looked almost impressed.
"A demon parolee, and he is cooperative?" She asked curiously, and I nodded.
"Quite. I would say we have a good working relationship. His favorable opinion of humans helps in that regard." She looked down thoughtfully, a hand cupping her chin in a motion that reminded me strongly of Yusuke. However, her eyes were far more shrewd, gears turning much more quickly in her head.
Then, she gave a dry smile.
It was so unlike her smirk or her sneer, though it still appeared as though she only just managed to keep it from a frown. It was a look that spoke of regret, and was not one I would have associated with someone of her countenance. She now lacked the coldness or the heat of impassioned rage that she had shown before. The sudden change was alarming.
"Well now, I see I really missed out," she muttered, giving me a hard stare. "Your abilities are remarkable for someone your age. To be frank, they're remarkable for any human. You and that boy there may very well surpass me, and sooner than you think. But," and her brow furrowed. "You of all people need a teacher. You need direction, and focus. I have no doubt you'll develop your powers well enough on your own. In fact, I'm expecting it. But without proper training, they may just end up growing the wrong way."
I bowed my head, looking at the floor to sift through her words. They were correct, and made sense. She was certainly a worthy person to train with, and it seemed I did not need to wear my masks, just the same as Koori-Sensei. It might be freeing to explore my own power in an environment like this, where I couldn't hurt anyone if… when things went awry. Perhaps Genkai could offer guidance on certain things.
"I found an elderly man at the edge of the Dark Forest today," she spoke, jerking me from my thoughts. It took me only a moment to understand why she was telling me this.
"Oh?" I asked casually. "Alive?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"Yes. Him and the others who were lost in there and didn't make it through. Of course they all had some very interesting stories to tell, but none of them quite so strange as his." I hummed in interest, blinking slowly and waiting for her to ask her questions. She seemed to study me for a time before opening her mouth to speak, brown eyes ever judging.
"He wove quite a tale for me, and you may be surprised to find you feature in it quite a bit." Testing my reactions would not get anything out of me. I knew what he would say. Refuting it would be pointless. It was the word of the holy man against mine, and there was no question on who was more credible.
"He said you staged an ambush with a pack of wolves to attack anyone who made it through to the other side before killing off another man. Or, was it a wolf that killed him?"
"It was a wolf," I found myself unable to keep silent, cursing this growing defensiveness. "Alpha killed the man on my command." Her brows raised.
"Alpha? Interesting. He told me these animals were your familiars. You had a connection with them."
I nodded.
"They helped you through the forest."
Another nod.
She leaned forward, hands steepled before her face, hiding her mouth from view as she stared me down with intention. I did not see her power fluctuate or move in any way, nor did I get any feeling that this would end badly. My alarms were strangely silent despite the fact that she appeared, for all intents and purposes, to want me dead, or at least out of her home.
When she spoke, it was a quiet command, and one I felt rather inclined to obey.
Aaaaaand scene!
So, that wasn't how I planned on ending it, but it was running too long and there was just too much packed in here. So now, let's unpack a bit, shall we?
In the original fight, Yusuke was pretty beat up and pretty immediately succumbed to Rando. Kuwabara's soul came in to save the day and transfer some energy, hence Yusuke jumping out of the water to surprise attack Rando. However, Hotaru had a lot more energy, and it recovers fairly quickly. No need for the surprise attack, and he had plenty leftover to give Rando the most satisfying beat down I've written so far.
Hotaru gave up! Plot twist? And what more is being said between her and Genkai? What are both of their motives? We may not find out for a while, orwe may find out next chapter. It all depends on how I feel about the events to come and what order they need to be in. At the very least, I like this chapter. It was fun, and I hope I faked you out there when I cut straight from the fights! Have a good night/day/time, and Ill see ya next week!
Meow for now!
