"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness."
(Woody Allen)
Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
by Chester Castañeda
Original concept by Chad Yang
Battousai's back. Again.
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. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 13: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 1)
The revived manslayer who'd stalked the streets of Kyoto decades past was a peculiar combination of past and present. He had all the memories of Kenshin Himura... memories of a vagabond's journeys after the bloody end of the Tokugawa Shogunate; memories of Sanosuke, Yahiko, and all the other friends he had come to know; memories of Kaoru and Tomoe; and, although his memories of being a spirit inside a sword was strangely lacking, at least the important memories were all locked in his mind. However, the way he interpreted these recollections and his mode of thinking were almost entirely that of the Battousai: emotionless and merciless in a way that was beyond most people's understanding.
He had discovered long ago during his exploits while he was still alive that the Kenshin part of him was the strategist who set the goals to be achieved, and the Battousai was the tactician who did whatever it took to achieve those objectives. As it had been a century ago, so it was today.
With the Battousai taking over his mind, the overwhelming feelings that had been fogging Kenshin's better judgment was finally removed, or at least temporarily set aside.
When Kenshin delivered his 'killing blow' against Genbu, he held back; the monster was probably still alive, albeit barely. He also held back against Fujita, and even though that was ultimately a bad decision on his part, he was mostly unconscious of it at the time. It was as if his instincts kept telling him to uphold his promise to Tomoe Yukishiro all those years ago, despite the fact that his vow was no longer applicable to the 'lifestyle' he was currently leading. In fact, one of the reasons why he sliced Iehik apart was because that type of cut was usually not enough to kill a demon.
Just then, Koenma's century-old warning of not tainting the Demon Sword with sin and murder... even that of demons... came back to haunt Kenshin with inopportune vengeance. Unfortunately, there was no Kenshin present to hear that warning, damnation be damned.
No matter how desperately Kenshin wanted to save Botan, Yusuke, and all the other people he had just met... or had forgotten he'd met from a long time ago... he also knew that the Chojin and his minions had to be stopped before they jumpstarted their holy war against the Spirit World and wreaked havoc all over the rest of the three worlds no matter what the cost. His sense of justice demanded him to set his priorities straight and be more thoughtful of the big picture.
The Hiruma brothers might deceive themselves into thinking that all the abnormal events that had happened so far... the Chojin's approval over their quest to capture the Demon Sword and do with it as they pleased, their rise to prominence in the Chojin's army despite their class ranking as lowly demons, their recently unlocked memories, and their current unearthly abilities... had occurred for their sole benefit, but Kenshin knew better. He could sense it; Gohei and Kihei Hiruma were being used by a greater, darker puppet master, and the fools didn't even know it.
Makoto Shishio had desperately wanted to conquer Japan with fire and blood in order to temper it like steel and make it into a much stronger nation. Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi had risked their lives to stop the potential despot from rising to power because his plans would have caused great suffering to ordinary people and an incalculable number of deaths. However, this time was different. The current threat was considerably greater. Failure was not an option because it would literally lead to a fate worse than death itself.
There could be no holding back, because the cost of defeat was too high. Even if Kenshin had to again pave his road to hell with even more of his good intentions, then so be it; whatever would be, would be. In a way, the Hirumas had done him an unintentional favor; they helped him regain his bloodlust.
Hiruma's unseen manipulator... most likely the Chojin... was hell-bent on unraveling the fabric of the worlds of the living and the dead and reweaving it to match his own warped desires. Indeed, getting a hold of the Demon Sword was probably part of his diabolical plans too, or at least one of his many contingency plans. Being able to use mere D-Level demons as effective pawns instead of worthless cannon fodder was a feat worthy of the Chojin's reputation as well.
He had murdered for an ideal. He had murdered for survival. He had murdered out of rage. He had even murdered for the sake of redemption. He had murdered for many, many reasons and, once upon a time, after the Fall of the Shogunate, he had truly believed that the deliberate taking of life could never be acceptable. He had been mistaken. He was now prepared to kill again for his loved ones.
Hiruma's plan was a flawless one as far as he was concerned. Using Byakko's most powerful defensive armor... the Ultimate Iron Body Technique, if you will... he could now bull-charge at Battousai without worrying about getting chopped into little pieces, the swordsman's change of attitude notwithstanding. Then, simultaneously, he'd sic the God of Dragons unto his luckless target from above so that he'd get to attack two fronts at once with the perfect high-low mind game. He couldn't possibly miss.
In their last go-round, Botan was pulled to her feet in pulse-pounding excitement as both fighters went toe-to-toe, swinging for the fences. Despite Hiruma's ability to answer Battousai's counters with his stolen Fu no Senrei and Bouko Hyouga techniques, it was clear that the swordsman was controlling two solid minutes of the round with acrobatics beyond imagination, smartly using the leviathan's sheer mass to escape his passionate blitz.
Hiruma snickered. "Even though you're the so-called Battousai the Demon-slayer, your thinking is still that of a human; slow, stupid, and predictable. It's almost as bad as the briefness of human life."
The reason behind Hiruma's mirth was that even though Battousai was able to survive his onslaught by tricking the God of Dragon into getting in his way, the spirit guardian had forgotten one thing: Hiruma could also fuse with the Fu no Senrei to become even more powerful. His two-pronged plan actually had a third side to it, assuring almost certain victory.
"But I myself have changed. For me, everything is based on one simple truth. My focus is only on winning. That's the way true demons think."
"Admitting yourself to be a demon in front of the Guardian of the Demon Sword is equivalent to a death wish," Battousai remarked as he unceremoniously chopped the God of Dragon's head off before it had a chance to merge with its current master. This led Hiruma's draconic arm to deteriorate quickly, causing him to scream in true agony.
"Pathetic," Battousai intoned as he unleashed an endless storm of steel and sparks that fell to the ground in a shower of tiny yellow stars, literally scourging the tormented monster piece by gruesome piece. The strikes felt as though the entire universe turned into focused agony just for him.
Battousai's tactic... the same tactic he'd employed against a certain street-fighting punk named Zanza... worked like a charm. As cutting the Gordian knot with Occam's Razor would suggest, the simplest and most straightforward of methods always proved to be the best method. The continuous rounds of Sou Ryu Sen cut through Hiruma's monstrous endurance the same way it had Sanosuke's, and the Fu no Senrei's death was just as significant as the Zanbattou's destruction. The methodical manslayer had done it again.
Hiruma screamed, gnashed his teeth, and stomped his feet in agony, creating shockwaves and tremors with his resulting tantrum as smoke-like jaki billowed from Seiryu's draconic arm like smog from a broken exhaust pipe. Thanks to Byakko's Bouko Hyouga though, the chimera was able to somehow bear with the sheer torture of Battousai's offensive.
Hiruma tried desperately to counterattack using all his remaining limbs, but he did so to no avail. Blood and ichor began to fountain out from all over his body, painting arcs of dripping gore across the decimated patio as Battousai sliced another handful of bloody chunks away, reveling in their warmth and vaguely spongy texture.
He who made it rain blood looked on as Hiruma let out another irritating scream of anguish and rage before going down. Had he won so easily? How could that be? Perhaps the fact that he just turned his opponent into a disabled amputee from merely being a paralysis victim had something to do with it. He chuckled humorlessly before a metaphorical bolt of lightning struck him in between his golden eyes.
Battousai derailed his personal diatribe as he turned and took immediate notice of the creature's mishmash of rippling skin and warping scales. In next to no time, dents appeared from the severed stumps that used to be Hiruma's limbs, almost as if something was trying to get out of his Shisejyu body.
At first, the part of the swordsman spirit that was Kenshin dared hope that he had won the fight before he completely succumbed to the Battousai's influence, interpreting Hiruma's howls of pain as death rattles of sorts. Alas, that fragile hope turned into horror as it became evident that whatever was trying to break free out of the malignant atrocity was not beneficial to him by any meaning of the word. 'Where is all this jaki coming from? Hiruma's body reeks of it.'
The beast was now in severe, unthinkable pain, yet his unbridled anger kept him in check, his mind remaining focused and clear. Indeed, the rage of Byakko knew no bounds. In any case, the juggernaut had all the advantages coming into this fight, and he'd barely damaged the whelp at all! This was unacceptable; it was now time to show him his true power.
No, that wasn't quite right... for, as Rando revealed, body manipulators and fusion experts like them didn't possess any such limitations as having a set amount of their so-called 'true power'. So he should really thank the Chojin that the ambitious, morally bankrupt, and incomprehensively greedy Kihei had merged with the simpler, more uncomplicated, yet extremely brutal Gohei; because now, their boundless imagination was an asset instead of a liability to their potentially limitless power. They roared as one. "ARRGGH!"
The metamorphosis happened immediately. A vortex of jaki appeared before everyone and swallowed the amalgamated brothers whole before Battousai could get rid of them once and for all. However, instead of creating another Fu no Senrei or some other energy blast, the black hole merely served as Hiruma's shield from taking on more damage while he healed himself. Buntings of smoke and flame burst out from the core of the void, arced back and shot into it again; the roaring of magma inside a firestorm. A harsh blaze, like a dark inferno roiling through the endlessly moving surface of a black sun, ended the vigorous dance.
The dark pit ripped itself apart and unleashed a horrifying blackness so foreboding that Battousai's golden eyes recoiled to look upon it. Two points of brilliant crimson shone out from that unspeakable anomaly, and the aura of primal fear poured forth from the torn fabric of reality like some poisonous vapor. The gate of hell crackled and spat arcs of red lightning as Hiruma finally emerged.
'I understand now,' Battousai mused after some thought. 'Very well. Let them dig their own grave.'
The headless Fu no Senrei emerged from the ground and gave Hiruma an extra pair of its own dragon arms. Its lashing tail then served as his third arm, and the thing that was trying to escape his body earlier... the regenerating Kaiwan... served as his fourth arm. It seemed impossible at first, but the chimera somehow managed to make himself even more fearsome than ever before.
Hiruma thundered like an earthquake as he moved, the aura of menace that he radiated intensifying as he slowly rose from the ground like an enormous boa in the grass. But as it was, the emotionless swordsman was by and large unmoved by the lethal display of malicious intent, backing away deliberately as he himself tried to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible while the slavering colossus advanced.
Stooping down as he ran back towards the fight, the Battousai scooped out his sword from its scabbard and spun it around his body before bringing it down in a twisting overhead strike that jarred against the beast's raised Kaiwan and skidded down the length of the muscular arm without leaving so much as a mark on it. Taking advantage of the swordsman's distraction, Hiruma crouched low and dove into his opponent's abdomen, a clothesline from hell exploding in a blast of scarlet energy and swirling debris that sent loose dirt raining down from the cracked earth below them, and the redhead was forced back a few steps.
The Battousai shifted his grip on his sword, wielding the blade like a spear and thrusting its tip into the monster's chest with all his might as he continued driving him back to the ground. The chimera shook his mane and roared a throaty bellow that caused even more dirt to shake loose and tumble onto the struggling sword guardian. Then he started convulsing. He threw his head back and his body forward, then his body went the opposite way. He shook violently. His fists opened and closed. He screamed. This made the Battousai pause for a moment, but at that point, he really didn't give a damn if the noisy bastard had become epileptic.
The former manslayer shook the dirt off of the bangs of his head, thankful for the thick shag of orange hair that shielded his golden eyes from all of the grit and dust that choked the air. He recanted further as the ground trembled under the force of Hiruma's advance, and the skies above them churned even faster as arcs of lightning flashed from one cloud to another in jagged bolts of purple. The foreboding atmosphere made it clear that Hiruma was just about ready to fire off another blast of Seiryu's Fu no Senrei.
Hiruma was actually getting stronger as time passed! He had unbelievable power that was further reinforced by his constant mutations care of Iehik's unique savvy and Iehog's awesome constitution. Instead of bringing his leathery claws around to strike somewhere else, the huge demon pushed down onto the interlocked blade, and soon the Guardian of the Youtou Shinnoken found himself in a contest of brute strength. 'Hiruma's gotten more powerful; still deathly predictable, but more powerful. Case in point...'
Hiruma chose that very second to unload all his available 'bombs' upon the Battousai in one magnificent attack, intending to top the blitz off with an explosive Trial of Negation at the very end. That was the plan, in any case. But just as he swung his wrecking-ball-like tentacle into the air, whipped it around his body, and cast it wholesale towards his prey with such ferocious velocity that even the Battousai barely had time to get his sword up to block, he started to fall apart like a stack of flimsy cards. One of his pair of dragon arms were hacked into little bits, and the dragon tail he had used as a mace was also turned into slices of cold cuts. In fact, his whole body felt like it had been scourged and carved back to its original size before he merged with the draconic Seiryu.
But when exactly did Battousai Himura do his incredible attack? Was it just now, in the split second it took for Hiruma to bash the swordsman into ectoplasm and mince meat? Or was it even before that, during the time the Battousai unsheathed his sword to do a battoujutsu strike that harmlessly clanged against the Kaiwan? Could it be that the assault came right after Hiruma merged with the Fu no Senrei dragon? Was there some sort of delayed reaction to the strike that left the chimera vulnerable for a long time without him knowing it?
Hiruma roared a guttural, appalling sound as he rearranged his remaining arms to how they were put together once before. This time, after he fell on the ground on all fours, writhing in agony as his top-heavy head crashed onto the dirt floor, he decided to wait a moment before getting up. After all, the last few times he immediately stood had so far been met with disastrous results. Seeing Battousai begin his somersault, the monster rolled to the side and stood up as the swordsman landed. The chimera had taken a great deal of damage, and it was time to even the score. "That's it! I'm going to spank you till you can no longer smell pretty things!"
But even Hiruma's unquenchable thirst for revenge was not enough to put the Battousai down. The guardian spirit pushed the demon back, feeling his own power grow in the heat of battle. As he put more and more energy into blocking, he felt his blood lust rise, giving him an enormous amount of leverage that defied the laws of physics themselves. He reached out with his spare hand, reeled back, squatted down, pumped up his legs, and exploded with a perfect Ryu Sho Sen blow that came faster than a heartbeat and stronger than when Kenshin used it against the Shisejyu Genbu or the mysterious Fujita; a blur that swept towards the horrifying beast in the time it took a hummingbird to flap its wings.
Every strike of Battousai's sword brought him closer and closer to his true power; a power far beyond that of even the infamous Hitokiri Battousai, who slew hundreds to usher in a new era for Japan. No, this Battousai... the Youkiri Battousai... was emotionless, calculating, and ruthless in a manner that went beyond most anyone's comprehension. He was relentless; inhumanly cunning with human intelligence; a force of nature without nature's equanimity. The swordsman's own metamorphosis, in cadence to the demonic siblings' transformation, was almost complete.
Just as Hiruma's face split into two like a party favor from hell, the Guardian of the Demon Sword stated, "When push comes to shove, killing becomes as easy as breathing," which left the mostly forgotten and cathartic Botan stunned and near tears. At last, the Youkiri Battousai was finally back on the prowl.
"Very well, then. Kill us if you can, and become the infamous Battousai the Demon-slayer once more! We will help corrupt your pure soul, just as the Chojin wants. Or we'll kill you so that we ourselves could wield the incredible power of your Demon Sword. No matter how you look at it, we will still win and fulfill our destiny! There's no stopping us!" the hideous, bleeding creature cacophonously responded as he stabbed his gruesome Kaiwan forward, extending it out of his body like branches from some rotting, unhealthy plant that sprouted ugly clusters of thorns along its length even as it continued to grow.
"Your 'master' is a deluded fool then, thinking that he can control me like the rest of his pawns," the Battousai snapped as he immediately countered the branch-limb's furious charge with heavenly vengeance. His strikes were delivered flawlessly, the years of sleep-induced peace melting away as the weapon in his hand became nothing more than an extension of his body. "My only master is my divine purpose: to destroy all demons and to bring about a true Utopia. Paradise. Eden. Rakuen. Whatever you may call it. Once I'm done with you and all the rest of the many demons in all three worlds, the Chojin is next."
And now that he was nearing the apex of his higher state of being, the Battousai eventually realized the reasoning behind the Chojin's orders to corrupt the Demon Sword: If he were able to kill all the demons in Makai, then there'd be no one to stop the Chojin from taking over. A simple, direct, effective, and effortless plan. Battousai snorted; just for that, he'd make sure to spare some time in his busy schedule to find and kill this arrogant Chojin before the real massacre began.
Taking advantage of yet another typical Battousai distraction as the swordsman guardian worked himself up to a storm with visions of a demon-free world, Hiruma blasted his arch-nemesis with a gigantic "MEI-KOU-SHOU-KAI-HA!" made completely out of the negative energy he'd failed to unleash after his aborted Fu no Senrei attempt. 'This is my chance! You're going down!'
"Die," The pressure-ridden Retsu Hoko caught the swordsman dead-center, blasting him backwards half a dozen meters. Still, the Battousai kept his footing and tried to advance.
"Die!" Hiruma bellowed, his voice hoarse. He afterwards launched a Byakko Shu Tsuika at his seemingly stunned victim, the horse-like kick pounding into the ghost like a pile driver, slamming him backwards once again.
"DIE!" The Zetsu Hoko grapple hold and throw connected with the Battousai's diminutive form, blowing him completely off his feet and carrying him through the air as his body repeatedly smashed against the ground, shattering its brittle surface to dust.
Wobbly with exertion, heaving for breath, Hiruma espied Battousai's prone form warily, waiting for him to stand, praying that he would not. He wasn't sure how much he had left in him right now.
The out-of-the-blue Hiryu Sen assault caught the monster between the eyes, shooting him backwards a good dozen... or perhaps even a baker's dozen... meters. The Youkiri Battousai was now up and about, whizzing by like a blue and orange comet, as though completely unfazed by Hiruma's earlier chained attacks. Still, the chimera kept his footing and tried urgently to move forward and counterattack.
"Die," Battousai mockingly bellowed in the same manner Hiruma did, his effeminate voice echoing everywhere when it shouldn't be able to do so. He afterwards launched a Sou Ryu Sen at the thing; the attack cut and minced into the youkai like a sharp buzz saw, shredding him apart once more.
"DIE." A sandstorm-like Dou Ryu Sen crashed onto the hapless demon, knocking him completely off of his clawed feet and hauling him through the sky, until he and the attack finally smashed against a mountain of debris, shattering the boulders into a billowing cloud of brown smoke. And so once again Hiruma fell over thanks to the Youkiri Battousai; however, he hadn't quite learned his lesson yet, for he was already attempting to get up just as soon as he'd collapsed. "Not yet! This is not yet over! I'm not yet done!"
"Oh, yes you are."
The Battousai wouldn't even allow the behemoth to breathe, much less get up. In a heartbeat, he was already upon the nonplussed monster, his steel-trap intellect methodically dissecting his and his enemy's next plan of action just as efficiently as his sword was dissecting his enemy. But rather than just slash Hiruma to bits with his bloodthirsty Youtou Shinnoken, the swordsman began to... leisurely talk to his foe. In midair. While his sword was whistling through the ether in speeds that didn't allow for such laidback conversations to take place.
'You see, this is a martial arts move I've developed long ago by fighting alongside other shinigami warriors from a different realm; the attack is telepathic as well as physical, and by the time you realize this sentence seems way too long...'
Hiruma had just gotten the scourging of his life in the time span it normally took people to blink while listening to a lecture that seemed to take the very same normal people an infinity to process and understand. It was quite the surreal experience.
'...It'll all be over.'
Botan felt like she hadn't moved in decades. After all, she didn't want to look away for a split second. On one side, there was the relentless, child-like Battousai, moving like a streak of greased lightning, his kenki as brilliant as a divine halo from an enlightened Buddha, a transfigured Jesus Christ, or an ascended Hercules, unleashing insanely powerful sword techniques that she'd never even heard of. If there ever were a god to walk among men, she thought, he must've looked something like Kenshin did now. 'Except he isn't really Kenshin; he's gone for now,' a voice at the back of her mind that was not her own concernedly reminded.
But on the other side, in contrast to Kenshin's 'godhood' was Hiruma's 'devilry'. The aura of sheer horror that pulsed from this fused behemoth dwarfed the power of anything she'd felt from Iehog before, setting her every nerve on fire with irrational fear. Iehog and Iehik seemed less like two separate beings now, and more like a creature from which one terror after another emerged in an endless supply; a walking catastrophe; the alpha and omega of nightmares and tragedy. 'If they're just the Chojin's pawns, then I'm scared of what the Chojin must be like!'
But as she glanced again at Kenshin, she felt her earlier awe for him melt away into terror similar to what she just felt for Hiruma. Somehow, someway, those golden eyes of his seemed even more fearsome, ferocious, and terrifying than the behemoth's eyes could never be. Just who between the two fighters was the demon more terrible than her worst nightmares?
One thing for sure, the Youkiri Battousai was back.
She felt her insides knot in dread and anxiety as she remembered her last good look at Kenshin. She would never forget the sight of him standing in the middle of Hiruma's strewn body parts as a fine mist of blood and ichor settled ever so slowly out of the air.
And even more unforgettable was the ominous golden glint in his eyes. She had never seen such cold and distant eyes since she last stared into Sensui's gaze. She didn't hate the Battousai, but the sight of those shining irises filled her with dread because they symbolized a part of Kenshin that she didn't know and felt no desire to know. They meant that the Kenshin she knew was no longer there.
'No. That's not really true,' Botan reluctantly admitted to herself. The Youkiri was undeniably different from Kenshin, and yet he wasn't a separate entity wholly distinct from Kenshin.
Perhaps that was what she found most frightening of all... to think that the killer their enemies so desperately want to fight and the silly, wide-eyed rurouni that she had come to care for could be so closely intertwined, even in her eyes. Because if that was true, then that meant...
She shook her head to clear it; she would have none of that nonsense. There were more important matters to take care of right now. After all, she was a shinigami; she was death incarnate. She had power over all human souls, even though she didn't usually exercise it the way those other, more grotesque and amoral death gods did in the Shinigami Realm. The personable work and reasonable hours... plus extra fringe benefits and dental care... under Prince Koenma's wing was more her style, really. But for once, just this once, she wished for the kind of power that the Shinigami of the Shinigami Realm had, just so she wouldn't feel like a a piece of furniture in the middle of Kenshin's important fight. 'What must I have to do to save Kenshin from himself?'
Botan took one last good look at Kenshin... his golden eyes becoming more and more feral as the fight progressed, the remnants of his fleeting humanity drowning inside an all-encompassing need to fulfill the true purpose of the almighty Demon Sword... sighed, and nodded resolutely. She still didn't know what she had to do, but she knew she had to do this vague, indistinct, yet important thing for Kenshin's sake, and she had to do it right now.
A memory of the past... not hers, but of another person... made itself known inside Botan's psyche; an image of Kenshin... of Battousai... standing resolutely over a fallen foe, his reverse-edged sword raised high and flipped over so that the sharp side would easily cleave through his opponent's head. The details were murky, but the ferry-girl had a vague feeling that if Battousai didn't kill the madman before him, then someone dear to him would die in the psycho's place.
'But if he does kill the madman before him, then he himself would die too. Kenshin, the true Kenshin, will not be here anymore. I simply cannot allow that to happen!' Botan thought purposefully, but at the back of her mind, she hazily wondered if it was truly her that was thinking those bold words.
So, just as the Battousai was about to carve the rest of the stolen Shisejyu body parts out of Iehog and Iehik's fused yet bloody form, Botan rushed forward and interposed herself between the both of them, a mixture of mortal fear, confusion, and nostalgic deja vu overwhelming her senses. "Please... don't. Enough. You've won," she beseeched to the former manslayer, hoping against hope that deep inside him, the part of him that was Kenshin would hear her desperate plea. "Please. Wake up."
The tragically familiar picture of a woman diving in front of him to save him was a truly traumatizing and influential scene for Kenshin to witness... although whether it rooted from his internal demons or the usual demons he used to fight on a regular basis was debatable. He reacted thusly, dropping his guard and lowering his sword, his blue vest and topknot hair unfurling and transforming to his more familiar cherry gi and ponytail. His features also became much more mature than before, though for a hundred-something-year-old spirit that died at twenty-nine years of age but still generally looked like a teenager, maturity was a very relative thing.
"K-Kaoru...?" Kenshin asked in an almost disbelieving voice, gazing at the girl before him with glassy eyes, but the visage of Kaoru quickly faded from his mind, transforming from dark blue to sky blue, from cream to pink, from brown to red; from kendo-girl to ferry-girl.
Botan was a bit taken aback by Kenshin's slip of the tongue, remembering the girl of her dreams... wait, that sounded a bit weird... the girl in her dreams that was apparently an important person in the former rurouni's past. Was Kaoru influencing the ferry-girl's inexplicable actions up until now? For one thing, the kendo-girl was indeed the very person who revealed to Botan the true identities of Iehik and Iehog, among other oddities that went from bizarre to downright disturbing. Sooo...
'Just who was this Kamiya Kaoru person, and what exactly is she to Kenshin's life? More to the point, why the heck is she screwing with my head? Why me?' Botan wondered, then blanched at her train of thought as the image of her biting down on the fruit of knowledge flashed before her mind's eye.
"K-Kenshin?" she surveyed abruptly, shifting her whole attention on the diminutive warrior's condition just because the idea of remembering memories that didn't even belong to her was giving her a... serious headache. "Kenshin...?"
There was no response from the redhead for quite a bit, but then with unexpected gentleness, he turned over to Botan. And before she could even withdraw in shock and surprise, he pulled her into his arms without another word and simply held her close.
For a disbelieving moment, the shinigami could do nothing, her whole body burning in feverish uncertainty. After everything that had happened to the both of them, she had been afraid to even dream of being held once again in Kenshin's arms. 'Wait. Wait. Wait. I so did not dream that! What the heck am I thinking? What a sick thing to think about!'
Botan sighed deeply and tried not to over-think Kenshin's embrace too much. It was just that: An understandable hug of relief between two... 'people' who had gone through quite a lot of traumatizing events during the course of several hours. Nothing more.
'On the other hand, I was so worried about him being cold and unfeeling after seeing him lay the smack-down on Hiruma so eagerly. But look at him now. Why, he's not cold or unfeeling at all,' she mused wryly. 'I also thought he would stink of blood, hatred, and fear.' But she had been very wrong about that too. Granted, Kenshin didn't exactly smell like roses right now... more like burnt bacon... but he was most certainly exuding a strong scent of familiarity that Botan couldn't quite place. And smelled of burnt bacon.
"Kaoru, I..." The softness of Kenshin's words did nothing to hide the wealth of feeling in his voice as he slipped from Botan's grasp, quickly realizing his own verbal slip; it was a strange concoction of heartfelt compassion and sheepishness. This time around, Botan almost didn't even catch the faux pas, partly distracted by other things of interest.
"Oh, sorry. There I go again. Botan-san, right? Oh, sorry again. Botan, isn't it?" he repeatedly corrected himself as he wiped Hiruma's chopped-up gunk off of his sandals. Then, as he gently brushed the gritty dirt from the ferry-girl's face with infinite care, he murmured, "I'm glad you're all right. I was so caught up and focused on saving you from Hiruma that I lost myself in the heat of battle. And now here you are instead, saving unworthy old me! This whole thing is a bit frustrating and embarrassing for me; that it truly is."
"Oh no! Don't be embarrassed! You were great! Amazing! Stupendous! If Yusuke had seen you fight just now, he would have eaten his words about you being a big wimp and stuff!" Botan sputtered, her cheeks turning as pink as her kimono, all the while unsure of what exactly she was saying. She then coughed primly, calmed herself, and continued. "I'm just glad you finally came back to your senses. I'm not sure why, since it was your bad self that kicked Hiruma's hairy bum from pillar to post, but I'm still glad that you're now back to your nice old goofy self." Her face reddened further as her eyes darted from side to side. "That's all I wanted to say."
Kenshin beamed at his supposed rescuer; his guardian angel. "Thank you."
"I'd hate to break this tear-inducing reunion, but... Ah, who am I kidding? I'd love to break this gag-inducing sap-fest! ZOINK!" the ragged, handicapped, and torn-apart Hiruma quipped before emerging right behind Botan and, with an unwavering snap of his double-jointed jaws, swallowed the unfortunate shinigami whole in one fluid motion. "I told you that there's a reason for you to be here, my blue-haired honey! Even though you've been troubling me from the very start, you've also helped me in quite a lot of pickles! For one thing, you kept Battousai from finishing me off up until now, so thanks a lot! You've been fulfilling your role as damsel-in-distress and bait quite well for a death god!"
"BOTAN!" Kenshin screamed as a flash of raging sunlight burned his eyes, his Demon Sword at the ready.
"Ah, ah, ah! Stay right there, my dear Battousai! You wouldn't want to accidentally hurt or kill the shinigami inside of me, would you? She's as fragile as a baby inside a womb right now, so be careful of what you do to me!" Hiruma needled his angry opponent, well aware of the demon-slayer's innate yet paradoxical sympathy to both friend and foe. It was the only reason why Genbu's fight went on for so long, and why Yusuke was debilitated in his battle with Rando in the first place. The swordsman was way too soft and compassionate to what basically amounted to as cannon fodder and nuisances, and that usually compromises most of his otherwise one-sided matches. So of course the manipulative 'Iehik' side of the fused chimera would take full advantage of that very weakness.
Thusly, expectedly, Kenshin the Battousai held his ground in fear of hurting Botan, leaving him wide open to a variety of attacks from Hiruma. "Good boy! Just stay there, my pretty! BYAKKO SHU!" The demon violently shoulder-tackled the swordsman spirit, unleashing a metric ton of force that sent the latter reeling backwards, the ground underneath his feet turning into two long dusty trenches as he sailed right towards the entrance of the sealed Genkai dojo. A swirling fountain of fractured wooden chips and sawdust followed afterwards.
"You coward," Kenshin spat as he got up on two shaky feet, wiping his face off of faux blood, wood splinters, and ectoplasm, but did nothing else.
"So what if I am? I'm winning this fight, aren't I? Absolutely anything goes in a real fight!" Hiruma retorted as he finally attended to his earlier injuries, taking his sweet time to regenerate his cut-up body as his foe continued to hesitate to attack. Absorbing Botan into him not only helped in keeping Kenshin at bay, but also assisted him in his healing process. "I fully realize that against Battousai, my incredible abilities are next to nothing; but against Himura Kenshin, I actually have a chance to win! And with the shinigami as my captive, you can't exactly use your ruthlessness and full power to your advantage, can you?"
After leading the Battousai/Kenshin Himura on a long, convoluted fight, Hiruma paused for a moment to give his hodgepodge body a chance to rest, going down on one knee in exhaustion. Even after gaining the powers of two Shisejyu at his fingertips, he could only be pushed so far. He took a quick peek backward, expecting to see Kenshin recovering from his last attack, but there was nobody there. A scowl appeared on his ugly face.
With a feeling of intense annoyance, Hiruma wondered, 'Where did he go to? Did he finally get tired and escaped? No, that's impossible. Now that he's not the Battousai anymore, he needs to feed onto Urameshi Yusuke's ki to continue to exist, or else he'll fade into oblivion. He's got to be here somewhere.' However, the beast's thoughts were also tinged with relief. He was reluctant to admit it, but he had been more than a little bothered by the Battousai's unexpected speed and stamina.
With his Shisejyu body, Iehog's fusion powers, and Iehik's psychic powers, Hiruma shouldn't have had too much trouble outpacing any mortal in a fight. However, it seemed that the Battousai and even Kenshin himself were keeping up with him without too much effort. True, his enemy wasn't able to actually finish him off, but still...
Hiruma quickly shoved the thought aside as trivial. He glanced around, but there was still no sign of his enemy. Finally, after impatiently waiting several minutes, he swore in frustration and stalked off down the patio. He was desperately eager for this battle. He wanted to see Kenshin's ectoplasm spilling all over the ground. He wanted to see the swordsman cease to exist.
Kenshin suddenly appeared in front of Hiruma from out of nowhere, doing a quick battoujutsu strike that would have cut the monster in half had he not faltered in mid-strike for fear of cutting the shinigami along with his youkai nemesis. The attack still came quicker than Hiruma expected, though nowhere near too fast for him to deal with, at least compared to the Battousai's unearthly speed.
Hiruma backed away, watching Kenshin carefully as he assessed the damage inflicted upon him. Kenshin looked on, seeing if he too could gauge the strike's effect from the beast's reaction. Hiruma wiped a small line of blood on his chest, then snorted derisively, "Is that the best you've got? You disappoint me, samurai. It looks like I was right; without turning into the Battousai, Himura Kenshin is less than nothing against me!"
Kenshin didn't answer the accusation, which the chimera took as a cue to resume his berserker assault, but the former reacted immediately this time around, dodging with an impressive duck, roll, and tumble maneuver to avoid the demonic lariat that could have taken his head off had he not been so dexterous. But Hiruma expected all this as he abandoned his blatant open-handed gestures and tightened his stance to that of a more experienced brawler. "Ah, so you still have some fight in you left. Well, well. Just be careful of what you'll do next, Himura Kenshin. Your girlfriend's life may depend on it."
Now that the battle had returned to a more traditional format, the swordsman himself employed a more defensive strategy. He allowed Hiruma to explore his defenses with an early wave of hesitant strikes. When he did not strike back, the youkai grew bolder, lashing out ever quicker with his huge Shisejyu hands and the longer reach his nearly seven-foot form afforded him. The hundred-something-year-old spirit's continued evasions served to increase Hiruma's feelings of self-assurance and bluster as he gradually increased the pace of his attack.
All Kenshin could do was dodge blow after tireless blow; his body fell into an odd sort of autopilot as he tried to figure some way out of this situation. How was he supposed to save Botan's life? How was he supposed to save himself from becoming the Battousai while still saving Botan's life at the same time? How was he supposed to defeat Hiruma without killing Botan? He had no ready answers, and the extra space he had afforded from earlier was rapidly diminishing as the snarling creature drove him in an ever tightening circle. He tried to jump, but lost his balance in the attempt. It was almost all over.
And then Kenshin attacked, straightening his form as he changed tempo through faltering steps. Hiruma's assuredness in fighting someone that seemed unwilling to fight back made him careless. It was the moment Kenshin had been waiting for as he slashed and pummeled the monster with sword and sheathe strikes in the openings instinctively provided. The two blows landed solidly, making the bigger demon stagger back from shock. Perhaps the former rurouni could have landed another hit, but he opted to back off rather than test just how fast Hiruma could recover.
Hiruma smiled a rictus, bloodcurdling grin. "I've noticed that you didn't even bother cutting up my abdomen during your counterattack, unlike before. I wonder why? You've lost this exchange as a result, in any case." The behemoth subsequently did something rather peculiar; he tore apart his already wounded dragon arm and let Seiryu's bluish blood spray against the dumbstruck Kenshin for some reason. This proved to be a savvy tactic, as the subzero liquid quickly froze the redhead solid, hardening like a thick layer of Plaster of Paris on his ghostly skin. The monster then charged fervently, shoving both the Kaiwan and his Seiryu arm onto the immobile warrior's form to induce maximum impact and damage.
Adding insult to injury, Hiruma derided, "By the way, your blue-haired girlfriend tasted absolutely delicious! I only wish I could've eaten her in some other way that would have been more satisfying to the both of us. Know what I mean?" He snaked his tongue out and licked his lips in an evident display for Kenshin's benefit. The latter kept from revealing his disgust; he would not allow the demon the satisfaction of knowing that his taunting was getting to him. Exasperating such a monster could only give him an advantage. If only he could somehow turn the tables in this seemingly hopeless situation by at least throwing some insult that would get under the demon's skin. Something. Anything.
Because Kenshin and the others discovered long ago that the youkai working under the Chojin increased their power by feeding upon the despair, sorrow, rage, and trauma of other people... growing ever stronger from the fuel of negative emotions hurled against them like adding gasoline to a fire... he was highly suspicious of where Hiruma was getting all his current strength. Supporting multiple beings in one body must've taken a huge amount of energy, and that energy wasn't something readily accessible to the colossus.
Then Kenshin remembered the cloaked Onmyouji that appeared earlier; a being whom the Chojin himself entrusted as a conduit for his limitless jaki; the creature of the night who helped Rando and the Shisejyu become stronger; and suddenly everything made sense.
That, coupled with the fact that Hiruma was confused in regards to whether or not he wanted to defeat, kill, or induce the Battousai state upon Kenshin, made the swordsman realize that the demon was merely a puppet to the Chojin's machinations. The Onmyouji had been the one secretly supplying the beast with infinite jaki, and there was more to the current fight than just mere revenge for the Hiruma brothers' fate.
The Chojin had been pulling everyone's strings from the very start, and this fight was his subtle way of gauging whether or not Kenshin posed a threat to him.
As such, the reeling Kenshin decided to let the cat out of the bag at that moment by straightforwardly asking Hiruma, "Didn't you just say that whether you win or lose, you'll still win? So why are you trying so hard to beat me right now?"
"B-B-Because!" Hiruma's voice wavered uncertainly. "You don't need to know! I-I mean, I can beat you at any time at all, b-but even if you do manage to kill me, you still lose! That only means that... that... you're fighting a losing battle! B-But, if I were able to beat you, then I would win... some more! Yeah, a-and I'd rather I beat you and get the sword for myself than merely dying to... to... turn you into the Battousai." Soon, even the merged demon himself realized the contradictions behind his reasoning.
"Are you even aware of your actions, demon?" Kenshin resumed his obstinate advance. "You imbecile. You don't have any idea of what you're doing."
"How dare you!" Hiruma hated the way Kenshin made him sputter, despite the fact that he had this fight nearly won.
"You have no idea of what you're doing because someone else is making you do the things you do, you stupid puppet."
"Bullshit! I know exactly what I'm doing! I'm making you suffer in every way possible! What the hell are you talking about?"
"Can you explain what you want to do with me? Or why your memories are so fractured?" the Battousai callously rejoined.
"Shut up! I'm not a puppet! You're lying!" Hiruma shook his head in frantic denial.
"Then prove otherwise," came Kenshin's sharp retort. "What do you want to do? Kill me and get the Demon Sword? Make me kill you so that I can become the Battousai? Use Botan to save your hide by hiding underneath her kimono, yet still continue to prattle on about me fighting a hopeless fight? Do you even realize where you've been getting your jaki after all this time?"
"That's all part of my plan!"
"What's your plan, then?"
"Like I'm going to tell you! Fuck off, asshole!" hissed Hiruma.
The youkiri stated in a scornful tone, "I don't think you planned any of this."
"I did!" insisted Hiruma, sounding more immature with each passing moment.
The Battousai maintained, "You're too disadvantaged by your plan. It makes no logical sense whatsoever."
"That's complete bullshit!" Hiruma angrily roared and snarled in a combination of denial and aggravation.
At that moment, even though it was just talk, Kenshin transformed into the Battousai once more. And while Kenshin might have sighed and harrumphed at Hiruma's plight in pity and irritation, the Battousai would never do such a foolish thing. He would never provide his enemy the benefit of mercy. Indeed, his lack of compassion during combat was what separated him from Kenshin.
"Think for a minute," the Battousai implored, "and try to remember who you two were. Kihei was a master schemer, and Gohei had somewhat passable sword skills. But most importantly, you two had goals and motivations, no matter how petty and illegal they might be. At the very least, you weren't total morons. Now look at yourself. You're ranting and throwing a fit like a helpless infant, unable to come up with a logical purpose or justification for any of your actions. I assure you, you're no puppet master."
"You're just trying to trick me!"
"Trick you to do what? I thought you had plans. The Chojin may have given you the chance for vengeance, but it has cost you both dearly. You're nothing but mere pawns to the Overfiend's chess game, nothing more."
"Shut up!"
"How does it feel to realize that your whole reason for existence was to help the Chojin decide whether I'm an asset or liability to him and his diabolical schemes?"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" And so Hiruma charged blindly when he should have charged smartly, which was what the Battousai was counting on in the first place. Death and destruction ensued.
Fear was an emotion that all humans felt at one time or another. It made them cautious, careful. Many humans run when they confront fear. Fear could be a barrier, a challenge, or an obstacle.
Hiruma, a demon, was afraid; he was feeling an emotion that his old selves, Kihei and Gohei, hadn't felt for a long time. That wasn't really true, per se, but the kind of fear that demons felt was far different from the kind of fear that humans felt. For all intents and purposes, Hiruma was feeling the human kind of fear.
To be Continued...
Next: Saving grace.
The martial arts technique Kenshin was doing in the middle of a speech about it is based on a spoof found in DC Comic's "DC One Million". The scene where Hiruma's mind deteriorates is based on a similar interrogation scene in MadamHydra's opus, "That Which Lingers". All rights reserved.
Paalam!
Abdiel