Yusuke Urameshi stretched out his arms in boredom as he felt the presence of a horde of youkai in the nearby cave he was supposed to enter. It probably looked like an ordinary cavern to the human eye, but that wasn't the case for him. Of course, he wasn't exactly human anymore; not really.
The sleek-haired boy sighed. "As usual, Koenma's dumping another one of his assignments on me, as if I have nothing better to do." Actually, he didn't have anything better to do other than tending to his food stand that he used as a front for emergency Reikai missions such as this, but that little irony escaped him at the moment. "Oh well. Let's get this over with."
The half-demon stopped in mid-step. 'Hmmm. There are a lot of small fry demons in there. Still, I'm sensing something... a lot more powerful.' Yusuke grinned. "Maybe this isn't going to be such a boring mission after all."
Yusuke tensed as he searched in the darkness of the cave entrance, bracing himself for absolutely anything. He afterwards jumped straight up into the stony ceiling as a streak of greased lightning struck the place he was occupying just seconds ago.
The spirit detective eventually let go of the stalactite he held onto and landed on his feet like a cat. "Okay, what's the big...? YOU!" he started, but then sputtered at the end after realizing who it was that fired upon him. He went pale, as though he'd just seen a ghost.
"It's been a long time, kiddo," a pasty white, red-haired, and blue-veined demon from Yusuke's past smugly greeted, his arms crossed in challenge. The infamous "chameleon" fighter known as Rando was finally back in town, after many seasons of absence. "Did you miss me?"
"RANDO! You're still alive? How were you able to escape Spirit World prison? What are you doing here?"
"That's in a need to know basis, and as far as you're concerned, you don't need to know."
"Well, I don't care! I need to retrieve something in that shrine."
"And what make's you think I'll allow you to retrieve it?"
Yusuke rolled his eyes and disappeared.
Before the youkai could even react, a meaty fist was already slammed on his face care of the erstwhile half-demon.
Sure, Yusuke could've went on and on demanding what the hell the previously incarcerated Rando was doing there in the Legendary Shrine of the Sword, but he figured that punching now and asking questions later saved him a lot more time and energy needed to finish his mission.
Urameshi, after all, was not one to dillydally.
Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
by Chester Castañeda and Danyal Herder
Original concept by Chad Yang
My first fan fiction using the original concept of another author while cooperatively writing it with yet another author at that! It's going to be cool. ^.^
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. Don't sue us please, we are very poor.
Chapter 1: Heart of Sword (Part 1)
"Boss! Boss Iehik!" one of the lesser demons called out in a panicked voice, his falsetto tone grating the old, corpulent leader's large, pulsating nerves. "There's a low S-Level presence inside the cavern, sir! We may have some trouble here."
Before Iehik could answer, a brawny, over-muscled, three-toed, bull-like creature chortled mightily. "S-Levels are overrated! Let him come! If it's a true test of guts, S-Levels suck! All they rely on is their oh-so-powerful and limitless store of ki! Well, once they face me, they'll know that I...!"
"SHUT UP, IEHOG! I'm trying to think of a proper strategy to get us out into this fine mess you've gotten us into!" Iehik shouted irritably at his boorish companion. "It's getting to be that a demon can't find good help nowadays, even from his own family!" He shot Iehog one more withering look before again falling into deep contemplation.
"I'm sorry, big brother," Iehog sheepishly apologized, kowtowed. Iehik merely ignored him.
"It seems that something is reacting to the sword; some sort of presence that's different from all the rest of us. The energy I'm feeling in that blade is definitely not youki," Iehik reckoned morosely as he observed the sacred weapon.
"So what the hell do we do now, big brother?" Iehog rowdily queried. "What's with all this 'reacting' shit you're talking about? I thought the sword was supposed to make demons powerful! That's why it's called the Demon Sword, right?"
"Silence!" Iehik shouted angrily. "Speak when only spoken to, Iehog! I'm the leader of this group, and what I say goes!"
"Isn't it ironic for a person to shout silence?" one of the group's youkai lackeys quizzically asked.
"Rikyone," Iehik sweetly addressed the inquisitive demon who made the strange comment. "Would you be so kind as to pull the sword out of that sealed stone altar?"
Rikyone shrugged. "No prob."
"But big brother!" Iehog whined. "Rikyone will get the power of the sword! No fair, no fair!"
"Silen..." Iehik started, but he quickly amended to, "Hush, you fool! Watch and learn."
Before the brainy demon was able to finish his sentence, Rikyone had already turned to dust.
"Whu...?" Iehog started, clearly shocked. "But I thought the Demon Sword was supposed to...!"
"Yes. The sword's a tool, like a magnifying lens. It magnifies the power you already got. It makes your youki rise to incredible levels. It has even made Class-D demons like us into Class-As and higher." Iehik narrowed his eyes. "But that's not the case now. Something else is reacting to the sword. It's not youki I feel in there."
"Huh? Not youki?" came another Iehog spit-take as he boggled.
"It's..." Iehik murmured, "reiki."
Even as the Demon Sword responded to Yusuke's energy signature, the half-demon and his recently revived, fully demonic nemesis continued to battle for a good twenty minutes or so. For some reason, despite Yusuke's current power level, Rando managed to keep up, though only barely so.
The multitude of strikes from Yusuke's iron fists rumbled across the whole expanse of the cavern entrance, sending the hapless Rando flying through the air, hitting and breaking through boulders like they were made out of dry wafers and Styrofoam.
"I don't know what the hell you're doing here in the Human World, Rando, but I'll make sure that this time, you'll never come back!" Yusuke swore as he finally succumbed to the trite old convention of the one-liner. "I sure as hell won't let you get a hold of whatever it is Koenma sent me here for."
Yusuke flinched as Rando slowly got up from the rubble, completely unhurt. The demon arrogantly strode across the trail of crushed and powdered fragments of what was once the cave floor, a nasty grin plastered on his face. "You were saying?"
Yusuke punched Rando on the face again, but the demon barely even did a wince or a grimace in kind. "I must admit, your punches have become a bit more powerful since the last time we fought. Nonetheless, even the physical exertions of a Class-S half-breed like yourself are ineffective against my Iron Body Technique."
"Your Iron Body Technique? Bullshit, it's just another technique you've stolen from someone who's infinitely more skillful that you," Yusuke snorted derisively as he balled up his right fist. It soon brimmed with barely containable spiritual energy. "Anyway, if I can't rearrange your face with my fucking fists, then I'll just blast it off. SHOTGUN!"
'That's exactly what I've been waiting for, Urameshi! I want to see how much you've really improved.' Rando's smile grew even wider. "ZANKU REPPUU JIN!"
Thin, razor-sharp vacuum hoops abated the sheer ferocity of the Shotgun technique, making it easier for Rando to escape its fury. Yusuke, on his part, also evaded the Zanku Reppuu Jin rings that did get through his attack with no trouble, but the grimace on his face was still quite apparent.
"Isn't it fun to reminisce, Urameshi? These were the techniques I used on you and your friend while I was still pretending to be a Shaolin Monk. Speaking of which, think fast! SHAOLIN-KA-SHOU-HAPPA-KEN!"
Countless balls of Human World flames formed on each of Rando's palms as the pasty-skinned demon easily juggled them from one hand to the other. He carelessly and gleefully lobbed them one by one at a very irritated Yusuke Urameshi.
'What the hell is he trying to do? Singe me to death?' Yusuke thought incredulously, not sure if he should be insulted or not by Rando's little parlor tricks. The impetuous young man easily avoided most of the fireballs. "Cut the crap, Rando!"
The youkai merely laughed mockingly at the half-demon. "Of course." From there, Rando shouted, "ZANKU REPPUU JIN!" and "SHAOLIN-KA-SHOU-HAPPA-KEN!" repeatedly as an endless stream of fireballs and vacuum rings bombarded the annoyed Reikai Tantei.
"I said cut the CRAP! REI-KOU-DAN! REI-KOU-DAN! REI-KOU-DAN!"
The multiple arcs of energy effortlessly blasted through the futile techniques, as expected. Then, unexpectedly, silken threads danced amidst the settling smoke and dust, enveloping the impulsive teenager. "Oh, shit. Not again!"
"You must have a really rotten memory for you to forget this particular technique of mine," Rando derided as he tightened the threads of web around Yusuke, the errant Spirit Detective acting like a spool for the demon web. "You may have grown quite strong over the years, but you're still the same bullheaded little boy I knew from before; quick to anger and quite predictably so. Just like old times, right?"
"Humph," Yusuke detailed as he broke and ripped through Rando's demonic webbing with one movement. "You must really be full of it if you..."
Half of a second later, a flaming right hook brimming with a combination of unidentifiable energies smashed through Yusuke's ribs and midsection with the impact of a many-megaton explosion.
Forty-five minutes later...
"Er, boss?" the panicky demon from before started.
"Yeah?" Iehik replied irritably.
"No traps. No S-Level. The, er, reiki from the sword is gone."
"Hand it over, then," Iehik ordered nonchalantly, though he still eyed the artifact like it was a dangerous serpent.
"Sure thing, boss."
The precautious Iehik unsheathed the blade slowly, and then froze. He threw the weapon back to the center of the room.
"Big brother!" Iehog roared in alarm. "What's going on?"
"Get back, guys. We've got an A-Level here. It's the sword," Iehik surmised as calmly as possible, even though his knees had begun to shake.
"Told you, boss."
"Shaddup!"
A mist rose around the sword, and it slowly took form...
"Oro?"
"REI-GAN!" the bloodied and bruised Yusuke was forced to use his most powerful yet equally most energy-consuming technique so early in the battle, which sapped his reiki up. What he didn't realize was that, in contrast to his belief that the higher one's power level, the easier it was to bully lower class enemies to submission, Rando was actually able to use strategy and brains to defeat his overabundance of spiritual force.
Rando was completely absorbed in an orb of blood-red energy as he chanted, "Kyuuketsuki Kakuto Ryu: INNER BLOOD TURMOIL!" Then, as the Rei-Gan made contact with the energy surrounding him, it instantly dissipated.
Yusuke could only stare, dumbfounded.
Rando once again cackled as he pointed dramatically at his nemesis. "That is the true power of the Vampire Discipline. Ancient Vampires believed that the ki of a bleeding fighter, compared to that of an unwounded opponent, is weaker and more vulnerable to dispersing. They have taken advantage of this fact with the creation of this defensive skill. Your reiki-based techniques are useless against these sophisticated maneuvers of mine."
Yusuke slowly got up from his prone position, gingerly grasping his sore shoulder, not at all acknowledging Rando's presence.
Alas, the abilities Rando was currently showcasing were more defensive than offensive in nature. He was so traumatized by Yusuke's offensive capabilities the last time around, he made the mistake of concentrating more on his defense than offense, which basically turned him into a tank without any significant firepower.
"You talk too much," Yusuke assessed as he brushed himself off and started walking calmly towards the now sputtering Rando.
He'd seriously underestimated his enemy's resiliency this time around, which basically meant that he'd now screwed himself twice over, because when it came to offense, a Class-B demon like himself hadn't a prayer against an S-Level.
"Y-You may have survived that attack, but I have a good ninety-something techniques left to use on you! Don't get too dizzy with your own...!"
Soon the demon realized that he was again talking to thin air.
"TAKO NAGURI!" Yusuke shouted as he did another one of his impromptu and improvised techniques, his arms striking Rando so fast that, for a second, it seemed like he had eight arms instead of just two; hence the aptly named "Octopus Assault."
Rando's vision blurred as he tasted the rusty tang of his own blood. The spray of crimson from below his chin was in stark contrast to the pasty complexion of his veined chest, making it look as if he were wearing a tattered red bib of some sort. Upon rubbery legs did the demon fall.
Under normal conditions, Yusuke's powerful strike would have literally beheaded Rando save for two facts: First, the demon was an alumnus of the Dark Arts of Kyuuketsuki Kakuto Ryu, which left him immune to ever sort of ki-attack so long as his blood pressure remained stronger than his opponent's. Second, the Iron Body technique kept him away from bodily harm's reach. Purely physical attacks meant nothing to him. There was no way Yusuke should get through the iron gauntlet of his dual extreme defenses.
So why was his jaw dislocated by a punch that by all intents and purposes shouldn't have hurt him at all?
'Why? How?' Rando mentally wailed to the mocking and niggling fates as he swung his balled-up fists at the unseen hands of circumstance. The answer to that question was actually simple, if a bit frustrating. Unlike he who had to resort to sophisticated techniques and genius-level subterfuge to win fights, Yusuke only needed to try harder to succeed.
If one punch wasn't enough, then he'd use more punches. It was disgusting how overpowered the young half-demon was, but that was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them Enma Daio.
Impulsive as Yusuke was, he charged up his pointer finger with the remnants of his power without the slightest hesitation. Even though he wasn't sure of the consequences of his brash assault, he still did what he did just because he was himself. Consequences be damned, he was who he was and that was all there was to it.
"Who the HELL do you think I am, you BASTARD?!" Rando cried out as he struggled to stand against his approaching doom and its comet-like projectile. Unfortunately, his legs didn't heed his futile attempts to move. He snarled at his numb limbs in aggravation.
By Yusuke's sheer force of will, the situation had changed. The earlier stalemate was about to become a checkmate in his favor.
"No," came Rando's guttural growl of adamant denial. "I won't let you."
Because Yusuke was so reckless, he attempted to shoot the buckled-down Rando with the Rei-Gan once again, despite the fact that it didn't work on the demon the first time. In any case, it wasn't as if he was doing anything groundbreaking or out of character. He was reckless and impulsive because he was Yusuke Urameshi, and that was that.
"Go ahead. Shoot that Rei-Gan and waste your energy. Once you're through, I'll come over there and break your neck," Rando arrogantly bluffed, his rubbery legs trembling after taking the full brunt of Yusuke's Octopus Assault earlier. Nevertheless, his Inner Blood Turmoil technique was on standby, ready to absorb the Spirit Ball when worse came to worst.
Once everything was said and done, Yusuke fired his Rei-Gan despite Rando's Inner Blood Turmoil Technique, and Rando could not move to avoid it because of Yusuke's Tako Nagure Technique. Their impasse was about to end, and the balance was about to shift.
"Kyuuketsuki Kakuto Ryu...!" Rando started to chant, but was surprised when the Rei-Gan blasted the ground in front of him instead of hitting him. "HA! You missed!"
"No, I didn't." Yusuke smirked as an avalanche of debris shot straight for the hapless Rando, breaking every bone in his body.
However, once the high-velocity barrage was finished and the thoroughly bloodied demon was about to fall into a dead faint, Rando defiantly shouted, "Who the HELL do you think I am, you BASTARD?!"
"Dammit, why won't you die?" Yusuke likewise cried out as his steel fists turned into speeding, flesh-colored blurs. "I'll finish you off right now! If an eight-punch combo isn't enough to take you down, then let's see you survive a hundred punches! HYAKU RETSU KEN!"
"No," came Rando's guttural growl of adamant denial. "I won't let you. Kyuuketsuki Kakuto Ryu Ougi: BLOOD WIND!"
Even though the Rei-Gan didn't directly hit Rando, he was still able to activate the Desperation Technique of the Blood Wind by combining the ambient reiki of the surrounding area, the blood-ki of his own bleeding body, and the Rei-Gan he absorbed earlier to form a crimson, energy-absorbing tornado of pure death. It was the ultimate kamikaze attack that allowed even injured fighters a fighting chance for a comeback.
"For the glory of Chojin-sama's eventual rise to power, I will not waste the chance given by him to deliver my sweet revenge upon you, Urameshi! Taste the suffering I've gone through in REIKAI'S HELL! CHOKE ON IT!"
"Chojin? Who's...?"
Yusuke felt his spirit energy get halved as soon as his body went into contact with the whirling scarlet vortex. 'I'm... losing? Rando's about to beat me? But he's only about Class-B at best! I don't believe it. This isn't the same Rando I fought with a year and a half ago. Something's changed in him.'
Just as a large portion of Yusuke's energy was sapped by the Blood Wind, a portal opened from behind him and out appeared Kazuma Kuwabara via the power of his peerless Jigen Tou. He must be going batshit insane.
"URAMESHI! Leave Rando to me! Koenma says that you shouldn't let the Demon Sword fall into the wrong hands or something!" the newly arrived Kuwabara curtly informed Yusuke before braving the storms of Rando's ougi. "What the hell are you waiting for? GO!"
"Damn interloper! BLOOD FIRE WAVE!" Rando shrieked after using the energies that the Blood Wind had gathered to revitalize his battered form, firing off a poor man's version of the Vampire Discipline's ultimate counterattack at Kuwabara.
"Kuwabara," Yusuke gasped as he gingerly favored his midsection, feeling rather worn out. "I owe you one." He proceeded to turn and run into the dark depths of the cave, his silhouette fading soon afterwards.
From there, Kuwabara's Jigen Tou quickly flickered like a candle in the wind as he desperately slashed against Rando's crimson projectiles.
"Fool. By taking the bullet meant for Urameshi, your spiritual powers have now been sapped as well. Your interference is all for nothing," Rando boasted, but was surprised when Kuwabara kept coming forward. "W-What are you doing? You've lost, so get lost!"
"No, I don't think so," Kuwabara growled as he slashed another portal and tackled Rando into it before his Dimension Sword disappeared altogether. After all, a real man made sure to keep his word; when he promised Yusuke that he'd take care of Rando, he meant it.
A few minutes later, they were transported into a mountain forest many, many miles away.
'Finally,' thought Yusuke as he entered the Legendary Shrine of the Sword. 'I sure hope Kuwabara can beat Rando this time around.'
The demons all stared in bewilderment as the murky gas eventually materialized into a young... actually, 'young-looking'... human who seemed to be just as confused with the situation as they were. His orange-red hair dangled over his forehead, and a few scattered individual strands touched on a tiny duo of scars on his left cheek. The man eyed his surroundings and let out a forlorn sigh. "What a place to pop into," he muttered with his eyes closed.
At the spirit's supposed disenchantment of the situation, Iehog allowed a small grunt to escape his lips. "What's that supposed to mean? Who the hell are you? And..." His anger appeared to be rising, but he was silenced by the raised right hand of Iehik, who had decided that this was a matter that should be dealt with delicately.
The awkward silence that ensued for a minute or two was finally dissipated by a cry of terror. The demons all turned their heads to see the shadow of their makeshift guard hurled ten feet into the air by an intruder. A loud thud was heard, and it became apparent that the roof of the cave hadn't treated the guard well. Iehik gritted his teeth and pointed a fat finger at the opening. "Make sure whoever's there doesn't get anywhere NEAR the sword!"
"But that wouldn't be any fun, would it?" the voice of a new figure concluded in as sarcastic a manner as he could muster. The demons first caught a glimpse of their opponent when he leapt onto the head of one of the weakest in the crew and used him as a springboard, catapulting himself right into the chest of a huge, purple demon with a right fist that glimmered with light-blue energy. The punch of the fighter, apparently a human boy, went straight through the luckless demon, causing it to crouch over motionless.
Yusuke grinned, always happy to put a wretched demon out of its misery. He took a quick glimpse at the sword, and cocked his head in confusion at the red-haired being hanging over it. Still, even though Yusuke had more than enough confidence to take on anyone... he just taken care of Rando by blasting him off into the sky like a rocket care of the Rei-Gan, after all... he still knew it'd be a good idea to get rid of the fledglings that had encountered the sword. After all, he was currently low on spirit energy reserves, so he needed to watch out.
The spirit that popped out of the sword looked sadly at the dead demons, then stared at Yusuke in awe. 'Wow. What power! This boy is a bit... irresponsible with it, though.'
Iehik's veins were practically popping out of his head by that point. He simply would not let such a worthless human get a hold of the sword. He looked at the rest of his entourage. "All of you, destroy that piece of shit!"
The remaining demons, of which there were five or six, cautiously looked at Yusuke. Most recognized him from the infamous Makai tournament not so long ago, and weren't looking forward to facing one of the "semifinalists" (Yusuke only made it to the third round, to be honest).
Still, Yusuke inched forward. "Yeah, this piece of shit is looking for some fun." He bent his knees, lowering his body by about half a foot, and charged forward. "Come on, you fucking bastards! SHOTGUN!"
Before the minions could react, two dozen or so fist-sized blasts of blue energy erupted from Yusuke's body, spraying each of them with at least three or four good shots. All of them flailed backwards, either breaking their necks against the hard surface of the cave, or having the fortune of only being knocked unconscious.
Yusuke grinned. No matter how many times he did it, it was always fun to destroy pathetic demons. He looked at Iehik and Iehog, the only demons still conscious. "You guys want to try your luck, or just escape with your lives while you still can?" The boy truly didn't care about their decision; either way, he'd be getting the sword.
The spirit watching over the scene was breathless. He had seen some powerful demons unleash spirit energy, but never a human, and never in this magnitude. He allowed a small smirk to appear on his face. 'What an interesting fellow indeed,' he thought. His eyes remained locked on the human, eager to see what he would do next.
The spirit's smirk looked kind of crooked as he surveyed the pathetic, mangled and unconscious demons scattered all over the cave. 'What a very violent and uncouth fellow. But he was considerate enough to hold back on account of the weaker demons... sort of. There are still some demons that are still alive, after all. To fight with all your might, not caring whether or not the opponent survives; he sort of reminds me of an old friend that way,' he noted nostalgically.
The red-haired lost soul then looked mournfully at the ashy remains of the demon once known as Rikyone. 'That poor demon; so weak, so gullible. If only I was able to manifest in time, then maybe that poor youkai wouldn't have been disintegrated by that strange human's incredible reiki.'
The ghostly swordsman allowed himself to blink. Manifest himself? That was new. Usually the sword was only a focal point to magnify the youki of any particular demon. It usually takes incredible, nigh-exhaustible amounts of spiritual energy for him to attain at least a corporeal form, much less a semi-tangible one that could affect the physical world's reality.
'Could it be...?' Could it be that the human's reiki reacted to the sword in such a way that I can now manifest himself in the physical world without possessing people?'
To test his theory, the 'samurai' spirit tried stepping on the ground. Sure enough, his feet were able to touch it.
"I... I can step on the ground!" the apparition cheered, clapping excitedly. "I haven't been able to step on the ground in a long, long time! This makes me so happy!" The now-corporeal being soon felt three intense and puzzled gazes upon his person. "Oro?"
"He's... a rather wimpy fellow, isn't he?" Iehog noted as his other companions reflexively nodded. 'He looks mighty familiar, though.'
The samurai spirit facefaulted then and there.
"That he is; he's all scrawny, bony and small. Could he actually be the guardian of the sword?" Iehik chimed in.
The ghost of the sword perked up a bit from his precarious position on the ground, blinking innocently.
"No! That's just silly! Maybe he's some low-level human spirit that got absorbed by the sword or something!" the big-headed youkai reasoned.
The red-haired phantom merely sweatdropped instead of face-faulted this time around. "You're both so mean!"
An insistent cough led the three beings back to the reality and gravity of the situation, but the insistent and gleeful cracking of knuckles really was what really got their attention.
"Now, I don't know about you," Yusuke Urameshi started, "but I really just want to get this whole 'Get important Spirit World artifact and shit' mission over with as soon as possible. But..."
A manifestation of intense light and heat began emanating all over the Reikai Tantei's person. "If you insist on doing things the hard way, then I guess I have no choice but to enjoy myself." He ended his rather obvious and gleeful threat with a maniacal grin.
'He acts very much like Sanosuke,' the spirit concluded to himself in silent chagrin.
Yusuke blinked in spite of himself. 'Strange. 'I thought I used up most of my energy fighting Rando, but ever since I entered the Legendary Shrine of the Sword, I somehow I feel more, I don't know, invig... invigor... um... lively?' He mentally shrugged. 'Maybe it's the adrenalin rush of getting a kick ass mission after so many months. Weird.'
"You fucking bastard! My big brother and I have been searching for the Demon Sword for ten years now! Who are you to tell us what to do, you dumbass?" Iehog rowdily spat while his elder sibling wisely began inching away from the entire scenario.
"Me, I'm nobody," Yusuke nonchalantly reckoned, adding, "The two of you, on the other hand, are nothing."
"Fuck that! You may be some weird human who happens to have Class-S powers, but I'm not afraid of that shit!" Iehog proudly harrumphed. "I'll show you exactly why I don't give a shit about the Reikai class system!"
"Do your best, little brother!" Iehik called out a good distance away from the combatants, waving cheerfully. Iehog just growled and grumbled.
"Yeah? Well, enough talk!" Yusuke shouted out as he went into the basic Rei-Kou-Hadou-Ken stance. "Show me what you got, ugly!"
A stray gust of wind that somehow ended up inside the cave blew a small tumbleweed in front of the disheveled, corporeal samurai spirit. "Ummm," he said sheepishly.
"I may be ugly," Iehog conceded as his youki began to spread across the entirety of the cave. The unconscious bodies of their band of demons afterwards got sucked into the brawny youkai's body, absorbed and molded until the demon once known as Iehog was now turned into a multi-armed, multi-legged, and multi-headed monstrosity. "But hot damn, see me kick your scrawny ass!"
The entity surveyed the situation analytically, as if it was an automatic response he had over such circumstances. 'The larger demon is using some sort of body absorption technique that multiplies his power exponentially. He is also able to take in the unique characteristics of every youkai he absorbs.'
The spiritual entity narrowed his violet eyes. 'In theory, even lower, D-Level entities, when they combine their powers successfully in large multitudes, could achieve abilities rivaling that of a Class-S being. This Iehog is using that very technique right now; fascinating.'
In a blink of an eye, despite his obviously heavy mass, Iehog quickly disappeared. A sudden flurry of blows that seemed to come from all directions met up with the hapless Yusuke. The boy easily countered most of the strikes, but due to the mere fact that he was taken completely by surprise, the monstrous Iehog was able to take graze him by the side and hit him by the jaw.
'What the hell?' Yusuke thought as he wiped the trickle of blood from his lips. 'This guy isn't the joke that I thought he was.' To Iehog, he snarled, "Eat this," before he shouted out loud, "SHOTGUN!"
One of Iehog's heads suddenly opened its mouth, absorbing the furious barrage of reiki from Yusuke's fist. Then another head opened its mouth releasing the same amount of youki toward the spirit detective's direction.
"SHIT!" Yusuke cursed as he avoided the blast of demonic energy that destroyed a new hole in the cave wall. "How come I didn't see that demon use that tricky technique while I beat their asses to a pulp just a while ago? Tell me!"
Iehog's original bearded head chuckled darkly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Iehik cackled, getting Yusuke's attention. "It's all very simple, human. The demon with the absorption technique, Rakya, can only absorb ki, not release it. You knocked him out using physical force. The other demon, Kukurya, the one that can convert reiki to youki, can only absorb so much of your incredible spiritual power before he collapsed. Now, with my brother's body fusion technique, he can get all our men's strengths and none of their weaknesses. You're outmatched, boy!"
To Iehik's vexation, Yusuke was already ignoring him in the middle of his rant.
Yusuke narrowed his eyes at the grinning Iehog. 'I know I can take this guy, there's no doubt about it, but at this point he has the power equivalent to that of Toguro, which means I can't hold back now, especially with what that bastard Rando did to me earlier.' He sighed. 'Oh well. It looks like Koenma is about to fill in more paperwork for several soon-to-be-dead youkai.'
The spirit also narrowed his eyes, as if reading Yusuke's thoughts. 'No. This can't be.'
Yusuke soon manifested his true potential, startling even the previously unflappable Iehog.
"W-Wait a minute!" one head on Iehog's body whined pathetically.
"Oh no! I knew it; even with Iehog's technique, we still might get killed!" another head exclaimed, saying his last prayer as he braced himself for the worse.
"Fuck him and his spiritual power! I can take him on! And when he's unconscious, I'll be the one to take over!" the true Iehog declared after recovering from his initial shock. He felt his heart... among many other hearts... beat in synchronization with his excited breathing. 'Once I get a hold of that guy, I'll be fucking invincible! I've got to beat him!'
"Iehog, you fool! You'll get us all killed!" another demon head cried in absolute terror and panic.
A demon with a deadpanned face merely sighed. "It's already too late," he intoned in monotone as he consigned himself to his inevitable fate.
Yusuke and Iehog charged while a large, raging fire of youki fought to survive against the face of a torrential downpour of reiki.
It was a losing battle from the start; Iehog's fate was sealed.
But he would not allow it; he would never allow it.
"NO!" the samurai spirit screamed as he grabbed his mystical sword and charged at the two combatants, a determined glint in his violet eyes. "I will not allow this senseless bloodshed to commence! I, Himura Kenshin of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, will stop this at once!"
Yusuke, right in the middle of running and preparing a punch to stop the world, skidded to a halt, just seconds away from crashing onto Iehog. Yusuke glared at this recently materialized Kenshin and threw up his arms. "What the hell was that for? I'm trying to protect your sword here!" he shouted. "You should be thanking me for getting rid of these pieces of shit!"
The hollering on the part of Yusuke had no apparent effect on the demeanor of Kenshin, who only shook his head. "I can't explain it to you right now, but there are more grave repercussions to your act aside from the obvious moral ones. Besides, you're almost out of reiki, aren't you? You already fought a tough battle before you even got here, didn't you?"
Yusuke was taken aback by Kenshin's assessment. 'How did he know about my fight with Rando?' To Kenshin, Yusuke stated aloud, "That's nonsense! I feel perfectly fine! Ever since I got here, I've never felt better!"
"That's part of the reason why I can't let you fight this monster. It was actually your reiki that woke me up. We now share a bond with each other because you're the current holder of the Demon Sword. Because of that, I'm aware of the current state of your body. Your energy has been sapped care of your enemy earlier, and the only reason you can still fight now is because of the Youtou Shinnoken's energy magnifying powers," Kenshin explained evenly as he took hold of his weapon and stepped in between Iehog and Yusuke.
"Like HELL I can't fight... WHAT?" Yusuke sputtered after he felt his body freeze for some reason. 'What's going on? Who is this wimpy samurai?'
'I'm Kenshin. Himura Kenshin. And what you're currently feeling now is the Kanashibari technique. If you were a little bit stronger, you'd be able to break free, but as is, my hold on you illustrates my point. Now that you've become the designated holder of the Demon Sword, I can't allow you to act recklessly. My apologies, sir,' Kenshin telepathically related to Yusuke before facing off with Iehog.
'The name's Urameshi Yusuke, you pathetic for a swordsman!' Yusuke mentally fired back. 'What I'd like to know is how you're going to beat that B-Level demon without resorting to senseless bloodshed! You'd get killed first!'
Kenshin partly unsheathed the Demon Sword with a flick of his thumb. 'Watch and learn, Yusuke-dono.'
"Like what you see, samurai boy? Well, how about I show you what this hot stud of a body can do!" With that said, Iehog eyes unfocused as he growled wildly. 'He' became an 'It'... a complete personification of a greater, terrible force of nature waiting to be unleashed into the world. Every last vestige of him that was Iehog was blown away like a dry summer leaf in the midst of an overpowering hurricane.
It did not talk any further as it continued to advance on Kenshin at the same even pace. Its gait was strange and unsettling, an eerie amble that hinted at a skeleton horribly warped and twisted beneath the hodgepodge of demon parts.
Iehog closed the distance between itself and Kenshin with a sudden burst of blinding speed, lashing out at the swordsman's head. Even with his lightning reflexes, Kenshin barely managed to evade the attack.
Iehog attacked with a ferocity which was hideous to behold. It lashed out at the ex-rurouni with wickedly keen claws, slicing towards him with blows too fast for the normal human eye to follow.
'Iehog's mind has completely been taken over by the demonic body parts he'd just absorbed,' Kenshin deduced as he continued to dodge. Though Iehog could never be anything more than an exceptionally strong Class-D youkai without it, the Body Absorption technique that Randou taught him put him in three classes higher altogether. He could increase his base power tenfold, perhaps even a hundredfold, by the sheer virtue of that simple yet deadly tactic. 'I've got to find a way to counter these unnatural advantages of his somehow.'
Finally, Kenshin found an opening in the being's relentless offense. The redheaded ghost afterwards blurred into a flash of blazing luminosity as he did a complete three-sixty degree turn to add extra momentum to his powerful strike, intending to end the fight early by brusquely decapitating his horrid opponent. Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances beyond his control, he hesitated ever so slightly with his attack as Koenma's century-old warning came back to haunt him with inopportune vengeance.
"Tainting the Demon Sword with sin and murder, even that of demons, will condemn your spirit to the Lowest Ranks of Hell far worse than Phlegethon or good ol' Fire and Brimstone. And if that happens, the Hitokiri Battousai will probably take over, and it's good-bye to the noble Himura Kenshin as he is replaced by a madman who helps wreak havoc on the world."
Yusuke's eyes widened after seeing a glimpse into Kenshin's memory. 'Is that the reason why he can't allow me to kill Iehog? Because Koenma told him so? Just who is this ghost anyway? Why would Koenma give him such a strange stipulation!
The split-second of distraction was all Iehog needed. It swatted Kenshin with a backhanded blow from his draconic arm that connected solidly to his ribs. Spinning like a top, the redheaded ghost saw the world as nothing more than a swirl of color and motion as he flew out of control.
"BWAHAHA! What are you going to do now, ghost?" Iehik hooted and hollered in uncontainable excitement. "IEHOG, finish him off so that we can finally get that damned Demon Sword ALREADY!"
Iehog rumbled in concurrence to its brother's orders before it galloped straight towards its hapless target, its horrible arms cocked back and ready to strike.
"Wake up, Kenshin! WAKE UP!" The spinning ghost blinked. It was Kaoru's voice. The hazy image in front of him was definitely her... she with the shiny, dark-blue hair that looked like an icy aurora borealis to his blurry eyes.
Unfortunately, Kenshin's lovely hallucination was suddenly eclipsed by a hurtling, hulking Iehog as the monster stampeded straight towards him; all the same, the revived ghost somehow managed to summon enough sword-ki to meet the charge with a rising strike of his own that took them both backwards.
The ruthless Iehog lashed out offensively, making Kenshin fly backwards like a rag doll, slamming into a wall and shattering the rock with the force of his impact.
That was exactly what happened, except for the whole 'flung like a rag doll whilst shattering wood' part: Kenshin had already faded like the ghost that he was by the time the abomination started his counterstrike. Taking advantage of Iehog's momentary confusion, Kenshin crouched low and dove into the youkai's abdomen, cutting precise spots on its exposed underbelly with surgical precision.
Iehog exploded in a blast of black, acidic ichor and swirling debris that sent a fountain of loose dirt and demon blood from the cracked ground below them, and the youkai was forced back a few steps. Kenshin shifted his grip on his sword, wielding the magical katana like a spear and thrusting its uppermost tip into the monster's temple with all his might. 'Careful, careful: Don't put it in too deep,' he reminded himself.
Iehog shook its mane and roared a throaty bellow that caused even more dirt to shake loose and tumble onto the former vagabond. Its previously unseeing eyes afterwards blinked back into self-awareness; Iehog knelt in the crater made by the impact of the explosive rupture of his blood vessels, his arms outstretched, frozen in a world of unbelievable shock and agony.
Then, his lungs remembered how to breathe, and his heart began to beat once again. Iehog tried to double over, clutch his chest and hack violently. Well, one out of three wasn't so bad. After recovering from his wheezing fit, he stammered, "B-Brother! It hurts so bad! What has that wimpy samurai done to MEEE?!"
"It's Demon Anatomy 101, Iehog-dono," Kenshin elucidated as he wiped the nonexistent sweat off of his brow. "Chimeras such as yourself usually make use of special connective tissue that can make all sorts of body parts from different species work as a cohesive unit, even though they shouldn't otherwise. By severing these connections and doing a quick lobotomy of your frontal lobe, I can render your Body Absorption technique moot and void. Your body now perceives your fellow demons as foreign bodies, and it's now trying its best to 'expel' them out of your system."
"B-But that's not FAIR! How can you possibly know about Demon Anatomy? I was already kicking your ass and then some, and now you pull something like this? YOU CHEATER!" Iehog whined pathetically as he struggled to make his chimerical body move in futility.
"I'm not the Guardian of the Demon Sword for nothing, y'know. Though my memory is a bit rusty, I can still remember a thing or two about how to disable and immobilize demons with as little effort as possible." Kenshin sighed and allowed himself to relax. "I am Himura Kenshin, also known as the feared Hitokiri Battousai during my time as a human being, but to you demons, I'm more known as the Youkiri Battousai. You're lucky to be alive at all."
"Impossible! The Youkiri Battousai? Here?" Iehik hissed. "I can't believe that the Youkiri Battousai is actually the Demon Sword's Guardian! So that's the reason why you disappeared four decades ago! To think that such a frightening person still exists in this day and age!"
Yusuke scratched his head ponderously. "Battousai the Manslayer? Battousai the Demon Slayer? Who the hell is Battousai anyway?"
Kenshin turned to see all seven or eight heads on Iehog trembling. "Leave. You've lost, and I don't know how long I'll be able to control the boy when he regains his full power. You're lucky that I was the one who faced you."
The last sentence prompted a laugh from Yusuke. "Pal, if I was at full power I'd have hair down to my ass and a couple hundred tattoos around my body." He grunted and faced the monstrosity of Iehog. "But yeah, the samurai's got a point. Beat it."
Despite their ramblings, Iehog's new friends didn't need much in the way of encouragement, and in a manner similar to a three-legged race, he... or they... scrambled out of the cave. Iehik glowered at Kenshin and Yusuke before realizing that it was probably a lost cause.
If the boy could dispatch of his entire squad, even channeled within Iehog, than this would have to wait. "You think you've won, you worthless human, but you didn't. Chojin-sama will hear of this, I swear!" he growled. Yusuke had to resist the urge to chase him down as he scrambled out of the cave, but he still got a good chuckle out of it.
After all the threats to him had vanished, Yusuke sighed and laid down against the side of the cave to rest; first Rando, then some demon with an unpronounceable name. The mazoku prince really did get a lot more than he bargained for with this latest mission.
Kenshin, still enjoying the wonders of being physical, began touching various objects and watching bugs scamper around. He jumped almost five feet into the air, however, when Yusuke began screaming at him. "Why'd you stop me from killing them? You know as well as I do that those things don't deserve the air they're breathing."
Kenshin turned around, his face a strange mixture of pleasantness and resolve. "You aren't to determine who can breathe and who can't," he remarked in a subdued voice, then bowed. "But I am truly grateful to you for keeping my sword safe."
"What's with you and not killing?" Yusuke muttered, flicking a stone around the floor of the cavern. "Sometimes people deserve it."
"Perhaps, but that doesn't mean that wanton killing, which is what you're doing, should go on. I've killed far too many over the years, and I'm not going to let the weak be destroyed by the strong, which you most certainly are," Kenshin justified, sighing as well. It seemed as though every time he ran into a powerful but arrogant fighter, as this boy appeared to be, he had to give this mixture of speech and lecture. 'Ah well,' he thought.
Yusuke, in turn, rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you've got more morals than Kurama, but at least he knew when killing was necessary," he retorted, flashing back to when Kurama gave a certain demon named Roto the fate he deserved. After a few minutes, the boy did a double-take.
"That's not what I meant! You said that there was something aside from moral implications that made you keep me from killing that demon! It's your shtick, but you had to apply it to me as well because we now share a bond with each other or something! Then I saw some sort of flashback of Koenma telling you that you'll go to hell or something if you kill demons! What's with that?' Yusuke moved behind Kenshin and thumped in on the head.
Strangely enough, the both of them reacted to that one thump, with Yusuke getting as big a lump on his head as Kenshin. "What the hell just happened?"
The swirling-eyed swordsman wiped the tears off of his spiraling eyes before clarifying, "Like I said, your spirit energy was what woke me up from my slumber. We now share a bond... an emphatic one, in fact. Whatever you're feeling or thinking, I will feel and know as well, and vice-versa."
Yusuke scowled. "You have got to be kidding me. I'm now stuck with you, Mister Love and Peace? That's just great. I'd slap you silly and run away if it weren't going to hurt me as much as it does you," the younger man admitted frankly. "You're quite strong, though, manhandling that behemoth without slicing him up to ribbons. I guess the reason you're so nice is because you can afford to be nice."
Kenshin could only scratch his head sheepishly at that, somewhat glad that Yusuke wasn't familiar with the bloody history of both versions of the Battousai. "You're one of Koenma-dono's spirit detectives, aren't you? Well, long story short, I was supposed to be sealed in this cave. I assume Koenma-dono sent you here to retrieve me before those thieving demons could get a hold of me. The seal to the Legendary Shrine of the Sword must have been broken or something."
"Former spirit detective, actually; I'm working freelance now." Yusuke pursed his lips. "Those Class-D demons weren't really the true threat to your sword. Before I got here, I had to fight an old enemy of mine to a near standstill despite the fact that he was about three power classes below me. The that fat, old pig of a demon mentioned someone named 'Chojin-sama'. Does that name ring any bells, samurai boy?"
Kenshin helplessly shrugged. "I've heard of that name before, but I was already sealed into this sword before I even discovered who he really was. Sorry."
"Huh. Really? Okay. But enough of that," Yusuke continued, standing up. Actually, he had a million more questions to ask Kenshin, but the mission took precedence. After all, ever since the end of the Makai Tournament, missions had been rather scarce, so he now had a tendency to overdo things nowadays. Even though the Spirit World Barrier had been taken down, it was surprising how little it actually affected the Human World all in all.
"In any case, your sword is safe, so let's just get it back to Koenma so he can patch things up. Besides, I'm sure some friends of mine will want to take a look at that," Yusuke stated as he rubbed his nose with his finger.
Kenshin smiled. "Yes, that would be nice. I haven't been able to experience the living world in..." He took a second to calculate the numbers. "It's been over a hundred years. It will be nice to do that again. By the way, what did you say your name was again?"
"Urameshi. Urameshi Yusuke." Was the reply of Yusuke, who was already beginning to exit the cave. "And you're... Kenshin, right?"
"Yes," Kenshin assented, following the young man out the cave entrance. The two made their way out of the tunnel in near silence as both felt awkward dealing with one who was so different than them, and each had different thoughts running through their mind.
Yusuke was kind of worried about how Kuwabara was currently doing, what with the monumental task he left him with, and Kenshin was wondering what his awakening all meant, seeing that his peace had been undisturbed for a considerable amount of time now.
The short exit from the cave was soon completed, and Yusuke watched as Kenshin gazed at the sky in wonder. "Oh, this is pure beauty," he appraised, sticking his sword back in his sheath and bending down.
To be Continued...
Next: The true nature of the Demon Sword.
Ah yes; my first cooperative, round-robin fanfic. ^-^ Many thanks to my coauthor Danyal Herder for writing half of the stuff here in the first chapter of Youto Shinnoken, as well as the "Yahiko's Sakabatou" manga forwards. Much coolness, dude. Much coolness.
Kudos goes to Brian Clevinger's "8-Bit Theater" for Rikyone's "Fighter" quotation. Also, I dedicate this fic to the original author; SeventhOne, this concept rocks!
Ja ne!
Abdiel