Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
by Chester Castañeda
Original concept by Chad Yang
I guess it's fair enough to warn you that, well, this is essentially a debate and philosophy chapter. It's TV Tropes inspired, even. You've been warned.
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 17: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 5)
Outside Genkai's dojo, the slightly worn and exhausted Kenshin and Botan continued to idly converse to each other as they did their best to get over their recent trauma.
Botan stared blankly at Kenshin as she covered her mouth, feeling as though she'd just inadvertently burped out an entire soliloquy or something. Not that it was a bad monologue or anything... in fact, she, or at least her subconscious self, had quite the point. Kenshin should stop being so unsure of himself.
The redhead was not a murderer, but a warrior of justice. The peaceful kind, in particular. Disciplined. Kind. Friendly. Good with children. Botan knew the type. Kenshin was the sort of pacifist who'd often try to solve his problems with words first, and swords a distant second, typically resorting to violence only as a last resort. However, when that happened, he'd mop the floor with anyone dumb enough to challenge him. But he would not kill anyone unless he had no other choice, as killing mostly went against everything that he stood for.
'Wait... What? Are you now putting words in my mouth, Kaoru? Who the heck are you in the first place? Why do I keep feeling an extreme guilt trip whenever the subject of, well, you and my past life comes up? Do you have something to do with any of that? ANSWER ME!' Botan mentally screamed at the top of her, well, mind. Yes, at the top of her mind.
"Before I forget, thank you again," Kenshin told the distracted Botan as he smilingly yet unwittingly invaded her personal space once more, putting the shinigami in an even more awkward position than the one they had hours earlier, when Botan had just escaped from Hiruma's trap. "You've already saved me twice this day; first from myself, then from Hiruma. I owe you more than my life... well, continued existence, anyway. How can I ever repay you?"
Forgetting Kaoru's antics in the meantime, Botan giggled a perfunctory yet self-satisfied "Ohohohoho!" before waving off Kenshin's praise and insisting, "Oh, stop. That was the least I can do after getting kidnapped... thrice. Besides, the way you're blowing things out of proportion, you make me sound like Shikoku Uchiko."
Kenshin raised an eyebrow at that. "Who's that? And why does her name sound like something a foreigner who had no idea how to speak Japanese would come up with?"
Botan's eyebrows furrowed, startling the Spirit Guardian as she worked herself up to a storm. "Oh, it's this annoying, foreign-looking shinigami trollop that dresses in black lace even during the time when Gothic still meant 'A Medieval Art Movement'... or so I've heard. I'm not that old."
Kenshin sweatdropped as Botan primly coughed and continued, "She has this annoying habit of going to the Human World in human guise and cheerfully warning a month in advance the people she's about to 'reap' that they're going to die! She even gets away with her behavior because she's an oh-so-perfect angel who has a Swiss-Army-Knife-load of powers and talents that she might as well join the Soul Society's Seireitei district!
"She has saved the day more often than not, doing things outside of her job's jurisdiction and getting praised for it! Can you imagine? She also picks up skills unusually fast and succeeds at almost everything she does, despite the fact that she has the unique charm of a root canal. The worst thing about her is that she wants total credit for everything good that happens and accepts no responsibility for anything bad that occurs. Stupid Miss Perfect Shinigami. Well, once I get back to my outpost in Reikai, I'll let her know the harsh reality of being..."
"Botan?"
Botan blinked, seemingly roused from a deep trance, then blearily looked at Kenshin as if she'd noticed his presence just now. "Uh, yeah?"
"You're blabbering," Kenshin bluntly observed.
Botan blushed. "Yeah, well, my point is, don't put my actions on a pedestal or anything. It's the least I can do after being such a load to you, your fight, and all. I mean, I was captured not once, not twice, but three times by those two youkai punks who used me as kidnapping bait to distract you from using your full power on them.
"I've forgotten that I could fly during critical times where it could have been most useful, acted carelessly in key moments of the fight, and screamed at you to stop just as you were about to finish the Hiruma brothers off, making your battle drag on needlessly. In fact, I shouldn't even be telling you off for being a hypocritical pacifist, since I'm the one partly responsible for keeping you from killing Iehog and Iehik."
Kenshin sweatdropped yet again. "I believe you must follow your own advice to me, then. It's better not to think about it." The Ghostly Guardian of the Demon Sword chortled effeminately at Botan's contrary nature. "You know, when you screamed at me to stop from killing Iehog and Iehik, you kind of reminded me of someone. Actually, you've been reminding me of someone special ever since you've welcomed me back to Tokyo, even."
Botan froze, the hairs at the back of her head stiffening as she smiled crookedly at Kenshin's pinpoint observation. "Oh really? I do? Did I remind you of someone special, then?" Her cheeks heated up. "An ex-girlfriend of yours, perhaps?"
"We've shared the most intimate of intimate relationships, deep in the darkness of the night and within the flames of passion that only the hearts of lovers know amongst themselves," Kenshin murmured to Botan with dreamy, half-lidded eyes.
The Kaoru inside Botan made the ferry-girl's heart skip a beat.
"Just kidding," came Kenshin's tongue-in-cheek reply, which prompted Botan to again repeat the running gag of hardwood-on-noggin hilarity. Repetition made the skit funny... if humor was meant to be repetitious. No, that wasn't a koan.
Honestly speaking, Botan didn't know whether she wanted to coddle the smartass melancholiac before her or whack him upside the head again with her oar for good measure. But by then, Kaoru's constant usurping of her mental and physical faculties on a whim was what bothered her the most. As such, she suddenly felt compelled to 'offhandedly' ask the redhead, "Or maybe I'm reminding you of some bossy and violent pony-tailed kendo tomboy who can't cook for the life of her and has a tendency to get kidnapped despite the fact that she's supposedly the adjutant master of her dojo and whatnot."
Kenshin raised an understandably suspicious eyebrow at Botan's long and loaded statement. "Hmmm. That's... strangely specific for a mere guess, Botan. It's bordering on character assassination, even. How'd you get all that information by yourself?"
Botan wanted to jibe, "Er, Reikai Gossip Circles?" at Kenshin, but her own dainty little hands abruptly wrapped themselves around her smooth, thin throat, keeping her from matching wits against the snarky redhead. From there, the bewildered Guardian of the Demon Sword proceeded to sweat in vexation thrice over as he witnessed the shinigami slowly choke herself out.
"Who's violent? Who's bossy? Who can't cook? Who always gets kidnapped? Who's the tomboy? Who, Botan, WHO?" the Kaoru in Botan's mind demanded in such a way that she ironically confirmed quite a few of Botan's accusations. All the raccoon-girl needed to do now was cook terribly and get kidnapped, and she'd be all set to eat an awfully large helping of her own crow pie.
"Oh, put a sock in it, KAMIYA KAORU! Oops," came Botan spit-take once she regained some semblance of control over her bodily functions. Warily, she looked over her shoulder and checked out Kenshin's response. The shocked expression on the redhead's face after hearing Kaoru's name wasn't unexpected; however, his frantic outburst afterwards was somewhat surprising, considering how reserved he usually was.
"Botan! Did you just say Kamiya Kaoru? How do you know about Kaoru-dono? Please, tell me! Were you her grim reaper when she finally died? How did she die? Did she die a happy death? Was she able to move on after I left her for the other world? I've got to know, Botan! I beg of you!"
Unbidden, Botan's hands started to travel towards Kenshin's cloth belt, the ferry-girl's movements controlled by an overeager and emotional Kaoru.
Many hours later, inside Genkai's dojo, after Rando and the Hiruma brothers' eventual defeat...
Yusuke awoke, not having any idea of how much time had passed, and found himself looking at a wooden ceiling that appeared to have turned into Swiss cheese by unknown forces. Something from the outside must have done a number on the training hall's roof to incur that much interior damage; light from the early morn danced through and across its surface, refracting into rainbow hues that shimmered on the cracked walls. He blinked. "What...?"
Yusuke subsequently scowled, his brow furrowing as his mind refused to yield up a particularly important memory. It was like having a word at the tip of his tongue, or song lyrics to a forgotten tune... in short, it was an overlooked reminiscence at the back of his mind. He may even be suffering from an episode of the Zeigarnik effect, wherein a current and immediate task of utmost importance would stick to his mind up until its eventual completion. Now that Kenshin and Botan were presumably out of immediate danger, he apparently had other things to prioritize. But what was it? What did he need to do next?
The half-demon struggled with his blurry mind, trying desperately to grasp the vague concept of urgency in his head. He was... what? Forgetting something important, something pressing; the memories and images were there, just at the edge of his consciousness, yet maddeningly out of reach. He knew that if he could only focus enough... concentrate over the pain and his own weakness... he would have it. He'd understand how he had come to be there, in that devastated room, staring up at the rafters of a pockmarked ceiling, incapacitated with agony.
How did he get there anyway? He remembered going to work today... at his ramen shop, he definitely remembered that... before he and Keiko went to see some sort of sappy chick movie, which he hated, and strolled to the city park for a picnic, which he kind of liked if only Botan and that red-haired swordsman he'd just met hadn't gotten in the way. No, he was confusing things. He skipped work because the Spirit World offered him a job to retrieve a special sealed sword from some random cave in the outskirts of town.
He subsequently remembered the last thing that occurred to him as he slipped into unconsciousness. Rando had forced him to use up all his remaining spirit energy in their momentous fight, so to make up for his failure to keep his part of the bargain to Kenshin, he summoned... more like begged telepathically... Puu to somehow help the hapless spirit guardian and the captured Botan out. He still felt a bit worried about what happened later on, but once he confirmed the swordsman's strong, warm presence, he let out a breath of cathartic relief.
And then, a flicker of... something... a brief image of Kuwabara, Genkai, and a marionette-like Keiko flashed into his mind so quickly that...
"Keiko," he choked before he willed... forced... his beat-up and bruised body to stand. He felt his world collapse into oblivion, like glass exploding from inside him with a shriek of anguished torment. It erupted from every pore of his skin and every part of his body. Nothing mattered now except his painful remembrance.
Yusuke fought against the torturous yet hallow agony with all the drive and resolve he could muster as he hobbled towards the shut dojo doors. He needed to get to Keiko now, before it became too late for her. Or perhaps it was already too late, and it was only his denial that was pushing him forward.
No. Dammit. It was never too late. Time and time again, Yusuke and his friends found a way out of these tough situations, so it shouldn't be too late for Keiko. And even if it were, it wouldn't be for long. Not even death could stop Yusuke Urameshi from eventually prevailing, the Chojin's diabolical plots be damned. If he couldn't make use of his great power, luck, and influence over death to save his loved ones when it really counted, then what good were they?
The threat of remembering her forgotten memories continued to haunt Botan to this day. Fortunately, the faces of people she had known, the places she had been, the things she had done, and the rest of her memories of her past life were all gone now. Unfortunately, she kept seeing memories of another soul that was currently residing inside her mind care of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge's mysterious side effects.
A tight feeling of apprehension started building in Botan's chest as Kaoru took hold of the hilt of Kenshin's Youtou Shinnoken. 'K-K-Kaoru? What are you doing with Kenshin's sword? Stop touching it! Hands off!' That didn't quite sound right to the ferry-girl, but she didn't know what else to say.
'Let me touch it, Botan! Please! I need to touch the hilt of Kenshin's sword!' Kaoru begged, which didn't sound quite right either.
"Oro? B-B-Botan-d-dono? W-What are you doing? Ahhhh!" Kenshin panicked, not quite sure what to make of the girl who was fiddling with his obi and sword.
'I need to talk to Kenshin, Botan. The Demon Sword... that magical sword that the Spirit World trapped him in... reacts to whomsoever touches it in unique and random ways, doesn't it? Though it's a long shot, maybe if I, with your help, touch Kenshin's youtou, then I could somehow talk to Kenshin at long last,' Kaoru explained to Botan equably.
"Kenshin's youtou isn't a microphone you can talk into, Kaoru! In fact, I'd rather it was as far away from my mouth as possible!" At that point, Botan realized that, regardless of her intentions, she went too far with her tasteless double entendres concerning Kenshin's sword. The look on the redhead's face after hearing what she just blurted out was beyond words, though.
'M-My...?' Kenshin muttered in his mind as his spirit brain got scrambled and fried into a Spirit Brains Benedict.
Taking quick advantage of Botan's shame-induced stupor, Kaoru declared, 'It's been a long, long century, Botan; I can't wait any longer. I have to talk to Kenshin now," as she reached forward, grabbed hold of the Youtou Shinnoken's hilt, and pulled it out of its sheath.
Kenshin was shocked by what happened next. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. In his throat was a glurge of bittersweet sorrow and exultation that choked his voice out. He felt himself at a loss; everything was happening far too quickly for his perplexed brain to fully comprehend.
'But... but this isn't possible!' Kenshin reasoned to himself at length. After all these centuries, she had finally found a way back into his life. Unbelievable. The spirit guardian felt like he was in some sort of fairy tale... a dream that he didn't want to wake up from as he looked closely at the transfigured Botan and gulped hard.
As Botan held onto the Youtou Shinnoken like a cane, embedding its tip onto the stony ground, a strange transformation happened to her. Her face didn't change, nor the color of her hair and eyes, nor the shape of her face, nor the shape and build of her body, but something about her was undeniably different: different yet familiar.
Her demeanor had changed. The way she was looking at Kenshin had also changed. The way she carried herself, the way she handled the Demon Sword so naturally, and the way her current stance reflected more of a martial arts background was also noticeable.
Most of all, the words "Botan" spoke next clinched it for Kenshin. "Don't look so surprised, Kenshin. We all come and go beneath heaven. Why can't our paths simply cross?"
"M-Megumi-dono?" Kenshin sputtered out uncertainly.
"MEGUMI-DONO? Megumi-dono this!" Okay, the next few words after her first few words clinched it for Kenshin. From there, "Botan" proceeded to thrash the swordsman within an inch of his undead life, with the coup de grace of using his own weapon against him.
"ORO?" Kenshin oroed. Thankfully, the shinigami only used the flat and non-bladed portions of his weapon, but it was still a rather harrowing experience for the hapless Demon Sword Guardian. Because of the noise, Puu woke up, looked at the arguing couple, chirped a tired sigh, and slumbered some more. He wanted no part of their nonsense.
"Okay, I get it! It's Kaoru-dono, isn't it? The violence convinced me! I mean, I'm sorry I got it wrong the first time!" Kenshin yelped out after the possessed ferry-girl "forgot" to flip the sharp edge, the "mistake" nearly costing him an arm and a leg.
"Of course it's me! You should have known it was me from the very start!" the Kaoru inside Botan's body berated as she pointed the tip of the youtou at its original owner's throat threateningly.
Meanwhile, as Botan's dazed and confused consciousness drifted in a bottomless ocean somewhere below the surface of consciousness, the usurped personality couldn't help but repeat to herself, 'Kamiya Kaoru; who is she exactly? What's she doing in my head? Was she a soul I helped ferry across the River Styx before? More to the point, what's with that 'It's a Wonderful Life' flashback I had about Kenshin, Kaoru, and the Hiruma brothers? Those weren't even my memories in the first place! What the heck do I have to do with Kenshin and Kaoru? And how dare she use my body to talk to Kenshin without my say so! What a bitch!'
Perhaps it was the lack of a survival instinct after becoming a ghost that led Kenshin to compound the volatile situation by remarking, "What's with that weird greeting about crossing underneath heaven anyway? That's the thing that really threw me off on my first guess, Kaoru-dono."
"I wanted to be poetic and classy during our first meeting, Kenshin! Or is that wily kitsune-lady your only idea of a classy woman?" Kaoru griped as her... well, Botan's... eyes smarted, the sharp tears blurring her vision as she shook her head and scattered salty droplets all over herself. It would've made for a very dramatic scene had Kaoru not transformed Botan's irises into large, red tennis-ball-sized saltwater fountains as she pathetically bit on the sleeves of Botan's pink kimono.
"I see that you haven't really changed much after all these decades," Kenshin appraised as he looked at the girl in front of him in wonder, a flood of nostalgia and reminiscence drowning his senses. He wanted to say more, but he was again grasping for the right words.
Should Kenshin ask for her forgiveness? For leaving her hanging all those years ago? For failing to keep his promise to her to return to Tokyo safe and sound? For dying alongside Shishio after their respective final blows were struck? For depending on the heroes of tomorrow to finish the mission he wasn't able to complete at the time? For not being strong enough to protect both himself and his loved ones? He had so many things to say all at once that he couldn't even manage to follow up his, in hindsight, patronizing greeting.
Luckily, Kaoru alleviated Kenshin's burden by unceremoniously grabbing him in a tight and warm embrace. "...K-Kaoru-dono?"
It was at that point that Botan's hidden consciousness stirred. 'Wait a second. If the Forbidden Fruit is supposed to be a cure for forgetfulness, then the Kaoru in my mind must be...!'
'Yukishiro Tomoe,' Kaoru finally confessed to Botan, much to the ferry-girl's added befuddlement.
'...That's right, Yukishiro Tomoe! Wait, no. What?' bungled Botan as her train of thought was not only derailed, but had also caused a thirty-car pileup that completely muddled up her thinking process. 'Who the heck is Tomoe? I have enough trouble as is wrapping my brain around your existence in my head, so throwing in another surprise personality is simply too much for my brain to handle! ARGH! You're confusing me again, Kaoru!'
'Some things are better left unknown, Botan,' Kaoru enigmatically answered as she held onto Kenshin's body tight, her eyes shimmering in both hesitant exultation and unacknowledged guilt.
At that point, Botan felt like she was back in that flashback scene with the Hiruma brothers, with her not at all having any impact to the outcome of the events happening before her eyes. She had become an unwilling spectator yet again... a voyeur to other people's private lives, in her own body to boot. 'Boy, this day sucks.'
In Kenshin's own perspective, small pinpoints of green firefly light danced around him and Kaoru-Botan, further convincing him of the displaced ghost's true identity. A thousand more questions popped up inside the former vagabond's mind: the very same questions he had told Botan earlier, plus several more concerning Kaoru's current situation.
What was Kaoru doing in Botan's body? What happened to their friends back in Tokyo? What happened to Sanosuke Sagara? Megumi Takani? Aoshi Shinimori? Yahiko Myojin? Misao Makimachi? Tsubame Sanjo? Sekihara Tae? The surviving Oniwabanshu? The surviving Juppon Gatana? How much of an impact had his death left to his loved ones? Perhaps he hadn't left that much of an impact at all? The whole situation felt so surreal to him that he didn't quite know what to make of it.
In any event, Kenshin elected to just stick to the first thing he was supposed to tell Kaoru or any of his friends back in Meiji Era Tokyo once he saw them again. "Kaoru-dono, I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you. There wasn't a day where I wasn't thinking about you. And I'm so, so sorry for breaking my promise to come back to you. I really am."
Kaoru held Kenshin at arm's length and gave him a shy, gentle smile... something that looked rather uncharacteristic on the normally 'bombastic' Botan's face.
'Who are you calling bombastic?' complained the ferry-girl.
If Kenshin had a thousand questions to ask Kaoru, then Kaoru had a million more things to say to Kenshin. She wanted to tell him the impact of his death to all their friends and foes back in Meiji Era Tokyo. She wanted him to know that his penultimate "unfinished business" had come back to haunt them. She wanted to divulge to him how they were able to handle that terrible circumstance and what sacrifices they'd made to survive.
Kaoru had suffered through a myriad of interconnected events that depressed and shamed her so badly that, once dead, she begged Koenma to send her to the pits of hell. Feeling sorry for her, the young god instead sent her straight to the Elysian Fields, where she was purified of her sins and purged of their horrible memory. From that point on, everything was a blur.
That was, until Botan came along and ruined it all by eating the Forbidden Fruit... the one thing that undid the effects of the Lotus Blossoms of the Elysian Fields. Of course, it still begged the question of how Kaoru's spirit somehow ended up in Botan's body, but the answer to that still lay buried within their shared subconscious, its trauma so great that one bite out of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was not enough to fully unlock its secrets.
She wanted to bare her soul to Kenshin and more, but stopped herself short of doing so after seeing the look of concern and reprieve in the ex-rurouni's eyes. Who was she to destroy that expectant gaze with her own sullied fate? She had no right. So instead of confessing to what happened to her more than a century ago, she instead chose to reassure, "Don't worry, Kenshin. It's not your fault. What's past is past. There's no point in worrying about such things. What's important is the here and now."
'Yes, this is for the best. No need to add to Kenshin's worries,' Kaoru assured herself while Botan kept demanding, 'Hey! Who's Yukishiro Tomoe? What the heck are you doing in my head? Why did the Forbidden Fruit work on you instead of me? Why are you so bossy? Aren't you supposed to be friendlier and more cheerful than this? Or was that flashback I got from you a lie? Answer me! Answer me, you freeloading ghost!'
Kenshin's eyes narrowed as he scowled at Kaoru's feeble attempts at hiding her emotions, but not in the usual "Hitoriki Battousai" deliberateness, but more of "Kenshin Himura" worry. His gut told him something was wrong, but he eventually opted to give his instinct no mind. Whatever it was that was bothering Kaoru, it could wait. He never even expected to see her again... and now she was there, right in front of him. Sort of. Kenshin was not a person to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Kaoru-dono..." Kenshin trailed off before smiling and hailing, "Welcome back," in the same manner as she did in his dreams... his unfulfilled dreams of coming back to Tokyo with all his loved ones.
Botan blushed for Kaoru's sake, wanting urgently to not be anywhere near the couple during times of intimacy, feeling too awkward about watching this tearful reunion between the two past... unrequited lovers, she guessed. Besides which, in this world of memories, there was no need for strangers... which was what she was, she surmised.
Kaoru let go of Kenshin's shoulders, took his hand to hers and greeted back, "I'm home," before moving in and tilting her head on the redhead's chest.
To Kenshin's heart, Kaoru whispered at length, "If things were to change, do you think you could ever fall for me? Or fulfill a dream we wanted to come true? The world has already changed. Our world is long gone, erased from living memory. But I'm here now, awaiting my closure... and that closure is you, Kenshin."
"Hmmm? What was that, Kaoru-dono?"
Her lips curled up secretively as she nuzzled the ghostly swordsman's neck. "Nothing."
Kenshin murmured something back, and when it was Kaoru's turn to ask, he gave her the same answer.
Just then, from behind them, the dojo doors opened, and out flew a fettering but determined Yusuke, which startled the Kaoru-possessed Botan so badly that she dropped the sword that she was holding, thus ending Kaoru's control over Botan's body... which was such a shame, because had Kaoru insisted on knowing what Kenshin mumbled to her, she would've found out that he did hear her pensive wish, and that he was actually answering it back with his pledge of:
"Even though I was the Hitokiri Battousai, you kept me from leaving. You said you didn't care about my past, and that made me very happy. So now I'm giving you the same benefit of the doubt. I don't care about what you did after I died, Kaoru-dono. I'm just glad to finally see you again, after such a long time."
Back to the relative present, on the moon-like surface of what was left of Genkai's patio, Yusuke suddenly burst out of the broken-down training hall, his body trembling with fear and exhilaration. He was as spry as a youngster on a sugar rush, not at all minding his various collection of bodily injuries both mental and physical; whether it was the adrenaline or demon blood pumping in his veins that made it possible, he neither knew nor cared.
"Botan! Kenshin!" Yusuke called out after spotting his two other companions in the middle of the damaged temple stairs. "Thank the gods you're all right! Puu was able to make it and help you at your time of need, didn't he? He was able to save you from harm, right?"
"Yes, Yusuke. Puu was able to save our butts," Botan confirmed as she hastily wiped the tears that Kaoru cried using her sleeves and straightened herself up. Her mind's abrupt transition from being a mere voice in her own head to gaining voluntary control of her bodily functions was a bit disorienting to her.
"He did? Oh man, that's great! Good boy, Puu! Good boy! I owe you one, buddy," Yusuke cooed to the large blue bird as he patted him on the head. Puu, in turn, shrieked to his half-demon twin brother in kind.
Before either the freshly roused Kenshin or Botan could get an edge on the conversation word-wise, Yusuke was already demanding, "Botan, can you still fly? Is Puu too injured to fly as well? I need to get to Keiko right away!"
"Keiko-dono? So did something happen to her, Botan?" Kenshin asked the ferry-girl, his own worry and guilt growing after hearing Yusuke's plea. He knew he shouldn't feel responsible for whatever it was that befell the young Yukimura, but his own personal Messiah complex had always left him feeling partly responsible for any casualty that happened near or around him.
Botan nodded sadly. "Yes. I witnessed it myself, while Iehog and Iehik held me hostage. Seiryu put Keiko into some sort of trance, turning her into a living battery that provided him limitless negative energy power. If that weird policeman guy hadn't come to stop him, only Enma Daio knows how far gone Keiko would've been. Besides which, Seiryu would've ended up killing her, Kuwabara, Genkai, and Byakko had he gotten his way."
"Weird policeman guy...?" Kenshin repeated, then thought, 'Saito Hajime fought both Seiryu and me? Why? What's his game? Who's side is he on this time around? In this day and age where the Bakumatsu and the Meiji Restoration were nothing but chapters in a Japanese History Book, what would he achieve with fighting both me and the forces of the Chojin? What's his goal? What does he want to achieve?'
Meanwhile, in his desperation, Yusuke replied to Botan, "But Keiko isn't that far gone yet, isn't she?" Not even waiting for the blue-haired angel of death to respond, the young Urameshi requested, "Keiko told me that you helped her soul get back from the Spirit World to the Human World. Well, do you know where her body is? We need to get to her right now and find a way to get her soul back into that body!"
"Yusuke, it's not that simple," Botan broached the sensitive subject gently, not quite sure what to tell the despairing, do-or-die hanyou. She couldn't blame him for hoping against hope on behalf of Keiko's wellbeing despite it already being after the fact, what with his experiences as an earthbound ghost giving him the wrong message about the permanence and inevitability of death.
The Toguro Brothers escaped it. Genkai, because the plot, er, the Reikai demanded it, was also given a free, if temporary, pass. Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei almost died through various degrees, reasons, methods, and circumstances, but they'd managed to survive anyway. Hell, Sensui was able to live through a terminal disease for ten years by simply being a million times more powerful than the average terminally sick... or even completely healthy... human. Even now, the Chojin had found a way to defy death as well, reviving Yusuke and Kenshin's old enemies by use of the deadly yet all-purpose and versatile substance known as jaki. Most of all, Yusuke himself had escaped death time and time again. There was no way he'd believe Keiko's death was irreversible, given the broken life lessons his experiences gave him.
"It's a mistake, isn't it? Just like my very first death care of a car accident, right? It's just a miscalculation of fate that can be fixed by some sort of side quest, good deeds, and whatnot! She can still be saved! If Genkai can be revived with a snap of Koenma's fingers, then what more Keiko?" Yusuke asserted, his voice high-pitched and near-hysterical as he dementedly tried to convince himself that everything was going to be all right, his expectant smile hinting at the edge of madness.
"Er, not exactly," the shinigami hedged, her eyes darting all over the place. True, she had managed to pluck Keiko out of the Elysian Fields, but it was more because she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place; she was able to sneak in Reikai because Koenma was too busy researching about the Chojin. That, and because Keiko was the only one who could bring Yusuke out of the Kugai's trance. It certainly wasn't because Keiko could still be saved. But how could Botan tell Yusuke that awful truth?
To the sleek-haired, jacket-wearing Houdini of Death, for good or for ill, death was a mere inconvenience that didn't apply to him or any of his closest friends. Just how could Botan explain to Yusuke that, through the diabolical circumstances concocted by the Western devil known as Satan himself, this time around, Keiko couldn't be saved by loopholes, miracles, determination, hot-bloodedness, or hope?
However, in a more cynical viewpoint, the reason Yusuke and his friends had survived for so long was because Koenma was on their side... he was their personal backer who took care of the 'little' details. Once they'd outlived their usefulness, they'd have the same random chance of survivability as the rest of the human/demon race, give or take the factor that their enormous strength and special gifts might still extend their lifespan considerably.
"Botan," Kenshin called out, startling both Botan and Yusuke awake from their states of respective depression and denial.
"W-What is it, Kenshin?" Botan hesitantly queried.
"Tell us where Keiko is. I have no idea whether we're too late or not, but we can't give up without even trying. We just can't!" Kenshin determinedly stated, meaningfully gripping his Youtou Shinnoken tight.
"Kenshin," Yusuke mumbled before grinning and slamming his fist on his open palm. "That's more like it, wimpy! We're not licked yet! I didn't bust my ass fighting Hiei and Suzako just to see her die now! We'll find a way to save her or be pioneers and invent a new way of saving dead people! If the Chojin can do it, so can we!"
Botan looked at the two men as though they'd gone stark-raving mad. She wasn't quite sure what Kenshin's intentions were. Was it to teach Yusuke a lesson on the grim realities of life once his luck ran out, or did he truly believe that they could beat reason to a pulp and achieve the unachievable one more time, against all odds? Therefore, she hoped for the very best and expected the very worst; pragmatically speaking, that was all she could do.
Meanwhile, the Kaoru inside Botan's mind cheered her host and the two determined Spirit World Warriors on, figuratively gripping Botan's hand and encouragingly cheering, 'Kenshin believes that you all can get through this problem, and so do I. Have faith and take heart, Botan.'
After a short pause, Botan finally nodded in assent. "Okay. Let's go. Yusuke, go ride with Puu. Kenshin, you're coming with me. I'll show you both the way."
Genkai had just finished drying Keiko's clothes and re-clothing the poor comatose girl when Kenshin, Yusuke, Botan, and Puu finally arrived at the scene. 'Good. They've made it in one piece,' the old woman reflected in bittersweet relief as she gently rubbed the sleeping school girl's cold hands with her warm, wizened palms.
Even though Genkai could sense all their life forces even from that distance, she was still deathly afraid that they'd suffered a fate worse than death, with them missing several limbs, going blind, or even becoming completely paralyzed from the neck down.
All she knew a few minutes earlier was that they were alive; she wasn't sure if they were still in good condition. It was a morbid yet valid concern, especially considering the relentless drive that the Chojin's minions had. There was no place for honor, dumb luck, or mercy with any of those revived, single-minded zombies.
Kuwabara, on the other hand, was despondent to the arrival of the foursome, even as the wind from Puu's humongous flapping wings compelled the puffy strands of his course pompadour to move... which was understandable, considering that he was currently mourning the recently deceased.
"What took you so long? What, were you ballroom dancing with Rando or something?" was what Genkai wanted to say to Yusuke, spouting off one of her patented insult-greetings that relied a lot more on subtext than context. But she wasn't in the mood for such small talk; one look from her was enough to tell Yusuke everything he needed to know about the dire straits Keiko was in.
However, the old woman didn't like the glare of defiance in Yusuke's eyes for the simple fact that she knew it would do him no good. It was for that reason that she callously yet straightforwardly warned, "Don't even think about it, moron. It's far too late. Keiko didn't make it. She's already dead."
Without even missing a beat, Yusuke kept on walking forward, every last trace of his shambling gait earlier melting away as waves of pure energy started to run a frenetic course... more like a marathon... in his veins.
As usual, his anger and sheer stubbornness was the catalyst for him to unleash even more of his unadulterated power even after depleting most of it in his fight with Rando (not one of his better performances, especially considering that Rando only got up to the Toguro-Ototo-level of Class-B Plus while Yusuke was a powerhouse capable of achieving Class-A-to-S, but that was neither here nor there).
"Oh no. Don't give me that bullshit! Wasn't it far too late for you when Toguro murdered you in cold blood? I seem to remember the Spirit World suddenly reviving you for... I don't know... good behavior? Or rather, they revived you in order to help us out with Sensui." Yusuke harrumphed as his martial arts master steadfastly stood in his way. "You and I both have no right to say that Keiko is a goner. We know better. There's still a way. There's always a way!"
"Yusuke..." Genkai muttered, but then her eyes flared with azure plasma as she quickly punched her stubborn, impetuous student right in the gonads. Yusuke didn't even flinch, though he was certainly sweating far more heavily than before.
"Are you a complete idiot? Just how arrogant can you be? Just because you've risen up a couple of times from the grave doesn't mean you have some god-given right to decide who lives and who dies! Koenma and I have done everything that we could to protect you kids from the realities of life... from reviving the dead Doctor Kamiya in order to stop you from becoming a human murderer, to making Kuwabara only 'pretend' to be dead for your sake... but you can't always rely on us to bail you out. Now stop acting like a spoiled brat and face facts!"
But Yusuke wasn't even listening to Genkai; he was already beside Keiko's body just as the old woman finished her long and involved monologue. A collective dripping of chagrined sweat was had by all. "So you really want to save Keiko, knowing full well that you may only be wasting your time?"
"Yes," Yusuke insolently hissed, blinking away the tears induced by Genkai's low blow as the pain of seeing Keiko's still and doll-like body stung his non-beating heart far more than physical pain ever could. He remembered a quote about brick walls and scaling them in the corner of his frenzied mind, but he felt that his own actions were enough to demonstrate his immovable resolve.
However, Genkai wanted Yusuke to realize that not all brick walls were there to test people... some brick walls were there because you weren't supposed to climb over them no matter how badly you wanted to. Sometimes giving up was the only answer; regrettably, it would probably take a heavier dose of reality to make Yusuke realize that painful truth.
"Fine. Do whatever you want," Genkai ultimately groused as she crossed her arms and sat down on the ground in petulant defiance. She knew Yusuke needed to learn this harsh life lesson the hard way, but on the other hand, she inwardly wished him the best of luck nonetheless.
Meanwhile, in the background, Botan and Kenshin hurriedly scampered beside the Spirit Wave Master, with Kenshin giving a cursory bow and greeting to the dazed and entranced Kuwabara.
"Hello, I'm Himura Kenshin."
"Er, yeah. Kuwabara Kazuma. Nice to meet you," Kuwabara listlessly acknowledged the friendly swordsman, thinking to himself, 'Did Kurama have an orange-haired cousin from the province or something? I could almost swear they have the same voice!'
Keiko's alive-but-not-quite state wedged her appearance firmly in the uncanny valley, which startled Yusuke. Then again, he'd never seen her look more hauntingly beautiful in his life... like a butterfly in a glass case or a marble statue created by one of the old masters. She certainly didn't look anything like the annoying busybody of a schoolgirl she usually was. Alas, for Yusuke, he'd rather have the annoying busybody of a schoolgirl than the creepy yet gorgeous mannequin before him.
As such, Yusuke lifted the prone Keiko's head up and started slapping the bejeezus... or perhaps bebuddha... out of the poor girl's face, which made the jaws of his companions drop to the ground in aghast incredulity; the impetuous Urameshi had that effect on everybody. He must have figured that whatever woke Keiko during her trance in the Ankoku Bujutsukai would be enough to wake her up now. Yes, he was an idiot.
"SUPINE KICK KOUGEKI!" Genkai shrieked as she did her special martial arts move that made pigs fly.
"KNICK-KNACK-PADDLE-WHACK!" Botan screamed as she did her special paddling move that silenced sarcastic swordsmen, giving it a 'cute' name right on the spot.
"Oro? Should I join in too?" Kenshin politely asked a boggling Kuwabara as he began to unsheathe the Youtou Shinnoken, to which Yusuke yelped, "Like hell, you are!"
Once calmer heads prevailed and everything was sorted out... with Yusuke gingerly walking off his latest collection of cuts and bruises... the half-demon swiftly turned towards Botan and asked her, "Where's Keiko's soul right now? Is there anything we can do to help her get back to her body?"
Botan was hoping Yusuke wouldn't ask that, but she knew that he needed to know the truth. "In limbo... that is, her soul is in the Dream World, right in between the Spirit World and the Human World." The blue-haired, pink-eyed girl sighed.
"Listen. It's important that Keiko severs all worldly connections as soon as possible, just so her soul can finally pass on without any trouble. Otherwise, she'll just be another earthbound spirit, trapped by the weight of her guilt and the strong feelings of denial from those who just couldn't accept her death. You have to let her go for her own sake, Yusuke, because you'll needlessly damn her to a life of misery and broken dreams if you don't."
"But she was able to help me get through Rando's Kugai, Botan! I owe her my life again, and I'm willing to offer this unkillable yet worthless life she just saved to bring her back!" Yusuke passionately argued, but Botan's steadfast stare told him far more effectively than words that mere moxie just wasn't going to cut it this time around.
Genkai stirred and froze at Yusuke's revelation. 'The Kugai? Rando knew that deadly technique? That damn bastard is far more dangerous than we initially gave him credit for! No wonder he was the leader of the Chojin's preliminary attack on us!' The wizened old woman scrutinized Yusuke's ki-flow, feeling something was amiss. 'He may look fine now, but empathy to suffering is just part of the Kugai's first symptoms. I better observe him and his health from now on.'
"...Let me try, Botan. Please. If I fail in bringing Keiko back, then I'll let go of her. I'll accept her death. It's just that... I don't want to have any regrets," came Yusuke's ultimatum to Botan as he grabbed hold of his chest, his dead heart throbbing in what he presumed as Kugai-induced pain.
Yes, he knew that he was still infected by Rando's damn Kugai spell, though its influence was far less insidious than before. As such, if Keiko truly was a goner, then the half-demon saw no sense in risking everyone else's safety by letting the World of Suffering take advantage of his grief and transform him into a mindless berserker demon with a taste for human flesh, just like Raizen. But he was willing to take that risk for Keiko's sake.
"Contrary to what you all believe, I do know when I'm licked. But please, please let me try to save Keiko anyway. You all know me, right? Well, not Kenshin, but most of you do. I can't possibly forgive myself if I don't even try to do something about Keiko's condition!" Yusuke beseeched to Botan and everyone else present.
Despite herself, the shinigami nodded to the half-demon's stipulations. If there was anyone who could really, truly defy the impossible, then it was Yusuke. She didn't know how, but she knew that he'd find a way, knowing him. Yet again, the rambunctious teenager demonstrated the effects of his unbendable enthusiasm on other people... giving them a glimmer of hope where there was no hope to be found. Of course, whether his talents was an asset or a liability this time around was yet to be seen.
"I've never seen you more pathetic in all my life, Urameshi. You make me sick," Kuwabara snidely remarked as he slung his arm over Yusuke's shoulders like some sort of drunken fool. "It can't be helped, then. I'll show how I saved your life back when you used your life energy up to defeat Suzako."
"...You will? How? Show me how!" Yusuke enthusiastically insisted, and Kuwabara readily complied, stating, "Hold your horses, son. Watch and learn," as the tendrils of his golden aura rose from the pores of his skin and enveloped Keiko's body.
Once Yusuke had a general idea of how to go about saving Keiko's hide, he followed Kuwabara's lead and turned his unacknowledged rival's shining aura into a shimmering, cool cerulean oasis of untapped power. They were both running on adrenalin. Emotion. Hope. Fear. Desperation. Guilt. Faith. Love.
Yusuke stood with his arms extended beside him, a bestial growl escaping his throat as he gave in, just this once, to the rumblings of the Kugai inside him. The rest of them could see his aura flaring to life: the Jyu Rei Jyou Ante; a bright pulse, like the heart of a blue sun. It became brighter and stronger with each moment that the half-demon concentrated. Even as Kenshin caught Kuwabara after he fainted from exhaustion, Yusuke kept on going.
"I am not going to give up on you, Keiko! NEVER!"
The others figured it out almost as soon as Yusuke did. First, Botan rushed to stand beside the impetuous young man, bringing forth her own brilliant light of shinigami reiatsu to life. Then Kenshin joined on Yusuke's other side, followed by Genkai and even Puu. Those that could hold hands held hands, their auras of kenki, youki, reiki, and whatever else kind of ki they possessed blending, merging, and surging the same way that Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke's powers combined through the Meikai Crystal's help, their hearts and emotions burning as one.
Soon, one by one, they all gave in and buckled down from the sheer exertion of giving away their life energies to Keiko... crumpled to their hands and knees, gasping for air, quaking with weakness... all except for Kenshin, Yusuke, and Puu, who reestablished their bond through Reikai magic and achieved perfect synchronization, which in turn unleashed unbelievable amounts of energy from the bottomless pits of their shared wealth of willpower and determination.
But nothing happened. Keiko's body remained as it was: completely still and as cold as death, unmoved by the fiery energies that surrounded it.
"Enough, Yusuke! Himura-san! Puu!" Genkai panted from her kneeling position on the ground, admonishing, "If you continue to do this, you'll only put yourselves at risk. Also, too much energy with no focal point will burn Keiko's body out. This method only works for people who are mostly dead, not completely dead."
Unwillingly, Kenshin, Yusuke, and Puu ceased their concerted efforts to revive Keiko, the three of them giving in to the unbearable weight of fatigue and failure. Puu wailed in mourning while Yusuke cursed under his breath and punched the ground in frustration, creating a person-sized crater underneath him. "Dammit, Keiko! Dammit! Was it all for nothing? Was our efforts all for nothing?"
"Not really. We're just starting," somebody beside Yusuke and Kenshin staunchly declared. It was Genkai. "I guess it's my turn now. Himura Kenshin-san, may I have your sword, please?" the Mistress of the Spirit Waves politely asked Kenshin as she carefully stood up on her wobbling feet, her shaking hands seemingly suffering from a bout of arthritis.
To be Continued...
Next: Idealism versus reality.
Keiko: Yusuke, meet my cousin, Yukimura Seiichi-chan! A champion player at tennis!
Seiichi: Domo! ^_^
Yusuke: Wow, Keiko! Your cousin's a way hotter girl than you! ^.^
Keiko: -_-;
FYI: Before Mayo Suzukaze ever took the role of Kenshin in the Rurouni Kenshin TV anime, Megumi Ogata (Kurama's seiyu) provided the silly ol' rurouni's voice for the Rurouni Kenshin Drama CDs. I just wanted to let you all know. ^_^
If Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword was exhausting for you, the readers, to wade through (what with all the nuances both obvious and subtle in this fic), just imagine how 'fun' it was to write it! :P Lots of things have been added to the story that probably shouldn't have been added, but in the end, what's done is done, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's all just move on, shall we?
Yosh!
Abdiel