Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Confused yet? Pay close attention.
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 22: Smile Bomb (Part 4)
Nearly two weeks after the attack at Genkai's temple, at the Shinjuku Yamabuki High School Library...
"...Finally, the victim's name is Kishida Miki, age sixteen. Her sister, Kishida Katsumi, age fifteen, was the one who went to the police to report a possible rape and murder in the hands of the Shimamura quintuplets after she was informed of Kishida-shi's death," Likka concluded.
"Okay, so only three of them are telling the truth, right? That was what the victim's ex-boyfriend said after just one glance at the police report." Natsuki exhaled. "That's our foremost lead, huh?"
Likka nodded to Natsuki. "Yeah, that's what the one other witness said before he died."
Natsuki rolled her sleeves and nodded to herself. "It's time for us to use Occam's razor to cut through all the nonsense and discover the single truth."
Likka slammed her fist into her palm. "Right, Occam's razor! I heard about that during our logic lesson. Um, that's the one that says that the simplest answer is usually the correct answer, right?"
"Well, not 'simple' in layman's terms, but simple in the sense that it's the solution that has the fewest new assumptions. 'Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity' and all that."
Likka put her hands on her hips. "Okay, now you just lost me, Tsuki-chan. Speak in plain Japanese, please."
Natsuki chuckled as she did her best to express her ideas to Likka in the simplest terms possible, even to the point of representing Occam's razor the way laypeople understood it. From there, the young girl's analytical mind concluded the following things that she immediately wrote down on a piece of paper:
Akahito: Ennosuke is guilty.
Katsuhiko: I did it.
Doi: It was either Katsuhiko or Houjo.
Ennosuke: Bunjiro isn't telling the truth.
Fumio: Katsuhiko is guilty.
Goemon: It was not Katsuhiko.
Houjo: It was neither Katsuhiko nor I.
Ippei: Houjo is telling the truth. And it wasn't Ennosuke, either.
Bunjiro: It was not Ennosuke.
"Oh yeah, now that you've listed them up and all, it does make it easier to pick their confessions apart," Likka observed while scratching her chin. "Then again, that's not saying much. It's still a mess of contradicting confessions. How are we supposed to find the killer using these?"
"Well, we have to keep in mind that only five of them are the suspects, so we can narrow down the possible killer fairly easily. Either that, or depend on the 'Only three of them are telling the truth' premise. Either way works." Natsuki underlined the names of Akahito, Katsuhiko, Doi, Houjo, and Ennosuke with a red pen to indicate that they were the quintuplets in question.
"Now I'm even more confused. Do we only take the words of the quintuplets as truth or something? How about the other brothers? I mean, look at this mess! Just look at it! It's a jumble of names and accusations! You might as well have cut up a phonebook's residential listings and pasted them together!"
The unflappable Natsuki disagreed. "Not at all. It's a rather simple premise. Three of these people are telling the truth, and the rest of them are lying. We can use the process of elimination to pick out the liars from the ones who are saying the truth; we only have five options, after all, and not all of the quintuplets are being accused."
"Okay, fine. Let's put that theory to the test, shall we? Akahito says that Ennosuke is guilty, but then Bunjiro says Ennosuke is not guilty! They can't be both lying, and they can't be both telling the truth! I don't understand this puzzle at all!" Likka nearly tore at her braided hair in frustration. "Look, and Katsuhiko and Fumio are doing the same thing! Oh, even Houjo's and Doi's statements are contradicting each other! These confessions were intentionally made to confuse people, Tsuki-chan!"
Natsuki then narrowed her eyes and bit her lip. "Actually, if the deceased witness were able to identify that only three people were telling the truth right away, these confessions might as well have spelled out the killer's name on them."
Likka tilted at the list again, unused to thinking of people as mere names with no faces or personalities. "So... Katsuhiko is the murderer? I mean, he himself confessed, Fumio corroborated his story, and Doi is saying it was either him or Houjo, so that makes three! Katsuhiko is the guilty one!"
Natsuki scanned her list before shaking her head. "Nope."
Likka pouted while stomping her foot loud enough to nearly catch the librarian's attention. "Why? It checks out with what the ex-boyfriend says. Only three people are telling the truth, and Katsuhiko himself has confessed, so I'm right! He's been betrayed by a gold digger before, so it's more than likely that once he found out that the victim was also a gold digger, he killed her immediately because of his previous trauma. My reasoning is flawless! Why do you think I'm wrong?"
"You said so yourself: Akahito says that Ennosuke is guilty, and Bunjiro says that Ennosuke isn't guilty; if it were Katsuhiko who did it, then that means Bunjiro is telling the truth, which also means that four people are telling the truth there, not just three," Natsuki systematically broke down Likka's theory with one shot.
"So who did it? It doesn't even matter that there are only five suspects; all nine of these children have mucked up their confessions so thoroughly that nobody could be implicated by them!" Likka blinked as something occurred to her. "So is this a trick question or something? None of them are actually guilty and they've been leading on the police all this time because they're a bunch of rich, spoiled brats?"
"Relax, Likka-tan. Occam's razor, remember? Let's talk about the possible motives later; we need to solve this puzzle first." Natsuki got out another piece of yellow pad. "Let's round up all the conflicting confessions, remembering that at least one in a given pair of opposing statements is true... like so." The girl rearranged the names so that the contradicting confessions came one after the other, pair by pair.
"Hey, there are two people against one who are saying that Katsuhiko did it: Fumio and Katsuhiko himself against Goemon. How do we pair them up?"
"This actually helps simplify our case further. Because only three people should be the ones telling the truth, and there are already two people who's vouching that Katsuhiko did it, then Katsuhiko is more likely not the killer because too many people are vouching for him for the 'only three people are telling the truth' factor to work. That means that the first true statement we have is that Katsuhiko didn't do it."
After a few hours of intense debate and using the process of elimination to narrow down the true suspect, Natsuki underlined the final solution Likka came up with. "You're right. Now that you've eliminated all of the possibilities and established which statements are irrevocably false, finding out the truth is quite easy," the girl with braided hair cheered.
Giggling, Likka bit her thumb's nail as she looked at the completed list. "They might as well have confessed who it was after the ex-boyfriend told the police that three of them were telling the truth. We have to show this to the police. You'll be coming with me, because I won't be able to explain things are clearly as you just did."
"What? Again? Civilians aren't supposed to do police work!" Natsuki protested, remembering how hard it was for her to get the police to take her seriously without the help of Likka's detective brother-in-law to help.
"Nonsense. Amateur detectives have always been asked to help the police with crimes! Don't you watch TV? The Zodiac Killer case also used the help of amateur detectives as well as the professionals, I'll have you know!" Likka blabbered, which made Natsuki bead up perspiration large enough to possibly leave her dehydrated. "Besides, I want to see the look on Uncle Jiji's face when he finds out that we've beaten him to the punch and discovered who the killer is before he did!"
'Heh. It's more than likely that Daiji-sempai had already figured out the whole thing as soon as the ex-boyfriend confessed and is now looking for evidence to back up that one lead.' Natsuki's lips shrunk into a moue of consternation.
'He probably didn't tell his fellow officers what he found out because of the lack of evidence. Even if I were able to convince the police to agree with my solution to this puzzle, it's still the ex-boyfriend's word against the brothers' words; just another statement added to nine others. There has to be some way I can make the true killer slip up and confess to his crimes...'
One week after the attack at Genkai's temple, in the Human World, at the Minamino-Hatenaka residence...
Kurama grabbed hold of his head as his eyes struggled hard to focus on the double image before him while his head throbbed inside his skull like a second heartbeat. Meanwhile, flashes of silvery hair that glittered gold in the light danced in front of his mental vision, a clawed hand grabbing hold of the toddler-like ruler of the Spirit World.
"Oh, good! You're finally back! Thank Izanagi, I thought we'd have to leave you here all asleep until your folks came back!" came the relieved exclamation of everyone's favorite blue-haired, red-eyed, and pink-kimono-wearing goddess of death.
"Botan! Wait, I'm back? Where was I?" Kurama winced and palmed his face as a renewed wave of nausea overwhelmed him. 'Where am I?' The rose-haired teenager took stock of his surroundings, which then eased his trepidation; the pencil cases, pen containers, bookshelf, bed, cabinet, curtains, and potted plants were all his, or at least the property of his other self, Shuichi Minamino. He was back home at the shared residence that his stepfather and, well, "foster" mother were currently sharing at the moment.
Out of the blue, Kurama stood up in automatic readiness... an instinct borne out of his seasoned experience when it came to handling sneak attacks back when he was still considered a powerful bandit king of sorts... when he felt movement at the corner of his eyes, his dainty hand already holding the stem of the rose hidden in his long hair. He afterwards blanched at the person before him.
"K-Kenshin!" the young adult with rose-red hair exclaimed at the not-so-young spirit guardian with the orange-red tresses. "W-What are you doing out of your sword? Shouldn't you be...?"
"K-Kurama-dono! Ah... I'm glad that you're back," Kenshin mumbled, his purple eyes darting back and forth at the floor and at the teenaged half-demon.
From there, it all came flooding back to Kurama... or, at least the part where he went to the Spirit World to fetch the Youtou Shinnoken and then unsheathed it at the request of the long-dead specter of his former ally, Kuronue.
Because the half-youko tended to be a quick study when it came to puzzles and secrets, he promptly put two and two together and figured out that Kenshin was currently in the possession of Botan, which was why the spirit guardian managed to have a corporeal form. At that point, Kurama confronted the shinigami outright, his human heart palpitating with an inexplicable feeling of dread.
"What happened to me after I pulled the Demon Sword out of its sheath?" was the question Kurama asked that Botan and her "tenant", Kaoru Kamiya, had a very hard time answering.
"Y-You don't remember what happened at all, Kurama?" Botan ventured, her eyebrow raised more in wariness than in suspicion.
Kenshin was the second to speak of the "trio". "Well, you went a little berserk after drawing the sword, Kurama-dono. Apparently, our mind-meld was just part of the effects of the Youtou Shinnoken on you. By unsheathing it altogether, you were able to completely unleash the powers and original form of the fox demon you once were."
Kurama's face drained itself of color until it was as white as freshly plowed snow. "The youko returned when I pulled the Demon Sword out? That's the reaction that my body got from the weapon when I did that?"
Botan waxed contemplative as she remarked, "That's actually the main function of the Youtou Shinnoken, isn't it? Like Iehik said, it's supposed to be like a magnifying lens that enhances your powers to greater heights." She gulped, remembering that she actually checked the redheaded fox demon avatar's power level with the spirit energy tracker she had on hand.
Seemingly reading Botan's mind, Kurama questioned, "What was my power level at that point? You were able to scan it at the time, weren't you?"
After a few seconds of hesitation, Botan revealed, "It was over S-Level. S-Plus, to be exact; upper echelon, conqueror class. You were around the same power level as Raizen, Mukuro, and..."
"...Yomi," Kurama finished for Botan as he sat back down on his bed and contemplated the implications of this latest event. Had he lost control of his senses after brandishing the naked blade of the Youtou Shinnoken? Furthermore, wasn't this what he wanted from the start eighteen-odd years ago? To gain power comparable to that of the Three Kings of the Demon World?
'I did. I went to the Human World to hunt for a prize that would've led to the next evolution of Youko Kurama's legend. Had I possessed the Demon Sword, the balance of power between the Three Kings of Makai would've shifted and, with any luck, I would've ended up becoming supreme ruler. That very dream had been handed down to me on a silver platter a few moments ago, but do I still want that dream of mine? Is it still my dream?'
Unbeknownst to the half-youko, Botan refrained from revealing to him that the S-Plus rating she got was the base level of his power and, had he unleashed even more of his magnified potential, he could've went way beyond that threshold to the point of reaching the power known only to entities like Yakumo, Enma Daio, Amida Nyorai, Daruma, Susanoo, Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu, Uzume, Tenjin, Fujin, Raijin, Ryujin, Izanami, and Izanagi: The Power of the Gods and Goddesses, the Alpha and Omega Class, X-Level.
That made sense, after all... a D-Class can turn into a B-Class thanks to the sword, so it was only natural that an S-Class half-youkai like Kurama could go even higher than that. Had the Youtou Shinnoken reacted to Yusuke normally, then he would've acquired the same type of power as well.
Of course, Kurama's instincts flared with all the usual warning signals that something was amiss. "What happened after the youko inside me awakened?" he picked his words carefully, alarmed by the fact that when he transformed back to his fox demon self, he couldn't remember a thing.
This hadn't happened before; this hadn't happened in a long time, actually. The last time he transformed into his former glory was when he fought against Shigure in the Demon World Unification Tournament.
This harkened back to the time when Kurama's youko self was fighting against his adopted human form's self. His biorhythm indicated that the "real" Kurama was slowly but surely taking over "Shuichi's" body ever since the Dark Martial Arts Tournament where "he" first appeared, and his condition even worsened after meeting with his old comrade, Yomi.
Like a schizophrenic or even a sufferer of bipolar disorder, the intervals between Kurama acting more like his demon counterpart and behaving like his human self had shortened to the point that he could've "snapped" and changed back to the legendary youko at any time.
He never did, though, thanks to his decision while fighting the surgeon behind Hiei's third eye... to seal his demon self and live the rest of Shuichi Minamino's life as a normal human being. Had he made the right decision, though? Should he have abandoned his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother in order to become truer to himself? He had no idea.
Kurama was roused from his deliberations once Botan mustered the courage to talk. However, his senses indicated that someone else had taken over the ferry-girl's body judging by her atypical body language, gait, and swagger more reminiscent of a sporty, tomboyish girl than the fun-loving shinigami.
"Y-Your other self... the tall one with silver hair and narrowed golden eyes... almost finished off Koenma, the Lord of the Dead, using the Demon Sword," Botan disclosed before backtracking and muttering, "Don't listen to what I'm saying, Kurama! I'm a bit frazzled and confused by the events! Kaoru, it's... t-too soon, you blabbermouth!"
Two weeks after the attack at Genkai's temple, inside the Metropolitan Police Department's Shinjuku Police Station during the afternoon...
"Okay. It looks like there isn't much we can do now," the fifty-two-year-old Inspector Masaya Taniguchi of the Criminal Investigation Bureau groused as he took one more look at the "confessions" presented to him. The siblings' outright attempts at perjury and obstruction of justice grated on his nerves, but then again, none of the Shimamura brothers were of legal age and they were all considered, under Japanese Law, juveniles.
Therefore, any offenses outside of the very serious crimes like rape and murder would be dealt with through Family Court and protective measures that, when used on an adult, would be considered as mere slaps on the wrist. 'They can lie and give false testimony all they want, but once one of them is proven guilty of killing both the rape victim and her former boyfriend, then the kid gloves are off.'
"Where the hell is Detective Matsudaira? We haven't gotten a breakthrough since the victim's ex-boyfriend waltzed in here as a witness of sorts," the rotund, tomato-nosed, and tan-skinned inspector grumbled as he filled his lungs with smoke from his stogie.
Akio Oogata, the victim's ex-boyfriend, had arrived in a pompous and blustery fashion along with the victim's fifteen-year-old sister, Katsumi Kishida, a week ago. Then, just a few days later, he was found dead and mutilated in an alleyway within Kabukicho, sporting the very same "Hon" markings as Miki Kishida.
With that said, police suspected that one of the quintuplets perpetrated the second murder as well, save for the fact that the murder weapon used on Oogata was starkly different from the weapon used against the deceased Kishida... a katana instead of a kitchen knife.
'It seems awfully convenient that once Oogata-shi introduced himself to the Shimamuras, he got himself killed by the Kanji Killer.' With that said, the Shinjuku inspector had a hunch why his best detective was distracted by the recent turn of events.
"I'm afraid Matsudaira-kun had gone off to further investigate the circumstances behind the murder of Oogata Akio-shi, inspector," the buxom, thick-lipped, and sultry-voiced Detective Aiko Tsunemoto informed with a smile that belied the seeming concern of her question. 'First come, first served, Matsudaira-kun. I hope there are no hard feelings once I crack this case,' she purred to herself.
Taniguchi rolled his eyes. It was as he suspected. "We have no time to cater to personal vendettas. We have a case to solve right now." The inspector harrumphed.
A crisp slap was heard inside the interrogation room wherein the entire Shimamura clan, their attorneys, the last surviving member of the Kishida family, and her legal representative stayed.
Both Inspector Taniguchi and Detective Tsunemoto hurried into the middle of the commotion, only to see the smarmy Officer Shigetaka Uye bowing and apologizing to the Shimamura lawyers while the tall Officer Takumi Hamada held the crying Katsumi back as she attempted to slap Kunihiko Shimamura, the Shimamura patriarch, for a second time.
"How dare you? How dare you sully the good name of my sister and our family with your lies? The Shimamura quintuplets' identities are protected by law, so the media can't even publish their names! There was no point in defaming my sister!" the fifteen-year-old Katsumi screamed while Officer Hamada maintained a firm grip on her.
The more Katsumi thought about the Shimamura clan's absolute betrayal of her sister's memory, the angrier she got. Because Japanese law protected juvenile delinquents' identities yet didn't extend the same courtesy to their victims, her sister Miki was currently being victimized by the sensationalist media and a patriarchal society that forbade its women from being able to call for help while being molested inside public transportation because they might cause a ruckus and disturb other passengers.
"I'm really sorry about this, Mister Shimamura! I didn't expect her to make a scene," Officer Uye assured the Shimamura patriarch as he interposed himself between the livid Katsumi and the disheveled-but-complacent Kunihiko. Even though the officer attempted to straighten the forty-two-year-old tycoon's business suit, he was brusquely brushed away by the older man.
"Please. Can you even prove any of the accusations you're hurling at me and my family? Your actions are unbecoming of a lady. I should've expected as much from the sister of a loose woman." Kunihiko flinched as Katsumi took another swing at him, but the facemask-wearing Officer Hamada deftly intercepted the attempt.
"More rumors and lies! It was the teachers at school that tried to take advantage of the fact that my sister was a working student and she was struggling in her classes because of her work schedule!" Katsumi ground her teeth and tensed her body.
Screw social expectations; her sister had been victimized enough by society looking down on her and her actions! Katsumi wouldn't let the sacrifices of Miki to get her a better education go in vain.
His nose upturned, Kunihiko straightened his collar and sneered at the young girl. "Is that what your sister told you? You're too naive. That's not what my researchers discovered. She's a social climber who wanted to sleep with men who had significant influence in order to improve her lot in life."
In the background, the eldest quintuplet... Katsuhiko... winced and looked away. "Unfortunately for her, her plans all backfired in her face. You're still here to cash in, though, which is something that I won't let happen."
"Your researchers...? Then you were feeding the media with all that bile, hate, and half-truths, you SNAKE IN THE GRASS!"
Katsumi screamed while also demanding Officer Hamada to release her. The lanky, face-obscured cop that kept the rape-slay victim's sister from tearing Mister Shimamura's eyes out sniffled and cleared his throat, which prompted Inspector Taniguchi to warn him about his recent cold and to take things easy.
One week after the attack at Genkai's temple, in the Human World, at the Minamino-Hatenaka residence...
Kurama licked his lips and grabbed hold of half of his face. "I did that? I can't believe that I... and I don't remember at all? But why? I'm him! He's me! And I've decided to... not be him any longer." He realized that he'd just answered his own question as to why Youko Kurama did what he did; he betrayed his other self in order to live out the rest of his life as a human.
Kurama repressed a shiver as his blood turned cold at the thought that the person he once was... the man he swore was a part of him, his dark id and Mister Edward Hyde of sorts... had finally been unleashed without him being the wiser; an independent personality separate from his present consciousness.
The rose-haired redhead felt the comforting grasp of a fiery redhead's hand. "Don't worry, Kurama. I understand," said Kenshin.
"I guess you'd have to, since we were one and the same man for at least a couple of minutes," Kurama remarked with a smirk, remembering that Kenshin and he had shared one mind, body, soul, and consciousness at one point.
"Well, yeah... that and the fact that I myself have gone through the same thing you've experienced when it came to dealing with your shadowy self. I'm sure you remember the Battousai, correct?" Kenshin replied in kind at the man who shared his voice, his effeminate face, and his methodical countenance.
Kurama looked down on the floor and nodded slowly in agreement, remembering that Kenshin himself had his own problems with his other self: the supposed Hitokiri Battousai (who eventually became the Youkiri Battousai if his revived rival Hajime Saito were to be believed). In many ways, Youko Kurama and Battousai Himura were very much alike.
However, shouldn't Youko Kurama be considered as Doctor Henry Jekyll, and Shuichi, the human version, Mister Edward Hyde? Kurama wasn't sure... or perhaps the mere notion frightened him too much to even acknowledge it.
After a short while, Kurama clarified, "Unlike Battousai, who was borne out of Himura Kenshin, Minamino Shuichi was borne out of Youko Kurama and not the other way around. You're looking at the shadowy self of my true self. I've become the mask."
"I don't know about you guys, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Shadowy self? You've become the mask? Are you trying to tell me that the scary, white-haired demon I saw just hours ago is who you really are, Kurama-san?" the Kaoru inside Botan commented as she palmed her forehead and tried desperately to sum up in her head what was being discussed.
Kurama raised an eyebrow at Botan and blinked. "What are you so confused about? You should already know all this by now. You were there when my demonic self first manifested itself after decades of dormancy, remember?"
"Ah! No, you don't understand, Kurama! That wasn't me talking just now!" Botan stammered, inwardly glaring at the stowaway spirit residing inside her shinigami soul. "That was... Kaoru. Kamiya Kaoru. A... good friend of Kenshin. For one reason or another, when I take possession of the Demon Sword, she pops up. No idea why, but that crazy artifact reacts differently to different people every time anyway."
Kurama sighed with a half-smile of sorts. 'Oh great. All three of us here have split personalities.' To Botan, he reiterated, "Okay. Settle down. I believe you, Botan. So your, uh, new friend isn't up to speed in regards to who I am and who Kurama, well, Youko Kurama is, right?"
"Don't worry. I'll explain everything to her," Kenshin piped up before turning towards Botan and addressing Kaoru. "From what I can glean from the brief 'bonding' time I had with Kurama, this human form of his is an avatar for his wounded kitsune soul."
"K-Kitsune? You mean like... M-Megumi-chan?" Kaoru queried, remembering Megumi Takani's alias among their group. She almost scoffed at the idea that legendary creatures truly exist even though she herself was stuck in even more unbelievable circumstances. "I mean, so he's a demon? How did he get a human avatar? Why was he wounded? Is this a normal occurrence for kitsune?"
"Whenever a kitsune spirit manifests itself into physical form, it has three options. He could go into animal form, the demonic form you say you've seen earlier on, or by possessing creatures. Some kitsune can even change form at will, but that comes at the price of not having an identity to call their own," Kurama said, somewhat fascinated with the idea of "meeting" someone without seeing them.
Her curiosity piqued, Botan pushed Kaoru back into the back of their shared consciousness and asked Kurama, "Come to think of it, I never did learn what's the deal with your kitsune avatar and the baby possession thing. Don't get me wrong, Kurama; I still think you're one of the good guys, but please do tell us how you came to be."
Kurama obliged. "I've been human for nearly two decades now. A kitsune can take over the body of a child or a fox... either very young, or even the unborn. This method is the least difficult way for a kitsune to manifest, plus it's useful to me because I was at death's door at the time I was forced to manifest in some form other than my original self."
Then, Kurama stared straight into Botan's pink eyes up until he could see a hint of blue fire in them. "In regards to 'murdering' the soul of the possessed creature, there have been instances where the kitsune and his avatar merged into a hybrid creature of sorts. Whether you want to view my relationship with Minamino Shuichi as symbiotic or parasitic is wholly up to you."
"This is the first time I've encountered a real-life kitsune myself, Kaoru-dono... and one that possessed the body of a human child, to boot! It was fascinating to pick through the brain of a demon turned human and seeing firsthand the battle between good and evil inside of him!" Unbeknownst to Kenshin, he'd said the exact wrong thing to Botan's and Youko Kurama's respective alter egos.
Simultaneously, Kurama and Kaoru exclaimed the following statements:
"It's an oversimplification to label my demon side and my human side as 'good' and 'evil'. It's a lot more complicated than that, Kenshin!"
"You mean that monster who almost killed Koenma actually took over an unborn human baby like some sort of body snatcher too?" asked Kaoru.
A half-second later, the two "alter egos" faced each other and demanded, "What did you say?"
Kenshin dove in between both the fearful Kaoru and the flabbergasted Kurama even though he didn't have a clue on how to defuse the potentially explosive confrontation.
"I did what now?" Kurama couldn't help but yell at Botan... or Kaoru. Whoever she was at the moment. "You've got to be kidding me. I almost killed Koenma as the youko? Why would I do such a thing? What would that accomplish?"
The ferry-girl visibly winced at Kurama's display of aggravation, and the rosy redhead couldn't tell which "personality" of hers compelled her to do so. However, did it really matter?
If what she said was true, then all he was doing was confirming to her that he was the monster that tried to assassinate the Lord of the Dead himself. "I'm sorry for my outburst. Is there any proof of what you're saying, Bo... Kaoru? That's your name, right?"
Two weeks after the attack at Genkai's temple, inside the Metropolitan Police Department's Shinjuku Police Station during the afternoon...
"As for you two, you should both calm down! The death of Oogata-shi changes nothing in this case. In accordance to all the testimonies given to us, Katsuhiko is our number one suspect because most of his siblings testified against him. We'll handle Oogata-shi's murder as a case separate from Kishida-shi's rape-slay because of evidence linking the actual Kanji Killer to the crime," came the inspector's ultimatum.
"But Inspector, how about Oogata-shi's testimony?" was what Detective Tsunemoto brought up, remembering what her fellow detective was preoccupied with before the grim specter of the Kanji Killer reared his ugly head and murdered the police's one other witness. "He took a look at the testimonies and declared that only three of the nine brothers were telling the truth."
"That's a non-issue. What Oogata-shi said merely confirms our earlier suspicions, and it even fits perfectly with what he confessed in regards to the rape-slay case," Officer Shigetaka interjected as he looked at Detective Tsunemoto as though he were talking to a child. "He said that only three of the nine brothers were telling the truth, right? Well, those three are Fumio-kun, Doi-kun, and Katsuhiko-kun himself. We already have our suspect."
"Like hell you'll get my Katsuhiko! He'd already been burned by a gold digger before, so there's no way he'll even touch that money-grubbing whore!" Kunihiko pledged as he pushed his team of lawyers forward. "Well? What am I paying you clowns for? Defend my son!"
The Shimamura family's head lawyer shuffled forward and declared in monotone, "We will cooperate with the authorities, but the bottom line here is that there's little to no evidence linking any of the Shimamura quintuplets to Kishida Miki-shi save for her sister's accusations and testimonies that amount to nothing more than speculation from all nine siblings. We still haven't gotten the whole picture yet, but we're confident that in the end of the day, this case will be dismissed."
"I don't know about that, honey. From our own research of the Shimamura family, Mister Shimamura has had a penchant for collecting mistresses on the side, and quite a lot of the boys hardly have stellar disciplinary records as well. Even if they're to be tried as juveniles by Family Court, the apple probably doesn't fall far from the tree, as evidenced by the fact that your quintuplets are all bastard children," Katsumi's court-assigned legal representative countered. If they wanted to play hardball, then so be it; let the airing of dirty laundry commence.
It was at that point that the self-assured smile on Kunihiko's face warped and distorted into a frothing, jowl-flapping mess that compelled him to "switch roles" with Katsumi this time around and attempt to strangle Katsumi's lawyer in cold blood. Of course, Inspector Taniguchi immediately held the fuming businessman back.
"Who the hell are you? Damn ambulance chaser! Know your place, harlot! You know nothing about me and my family! You'll rue the day you've messed with the Shimamura Zaibatsu! There will come a time when I'll do serious harm to your career."
"Your idle threats mean nothing to me, Mister Shimamura. Your attitude towards women... your outright misogyny, even... must've carried over to your sons from the way you raised them. I don't care if you have an entire conglomerate and unlimited resources to back you up." Katsumi's attorney rolled her eyes and stood her ground, her hand finding its way to Katsumi's and squeezing it encouragingly.
"I'm sick and tired of having an outdated system of law that sides with the rapist instead of the rape victim more often than not. Even though it's already too late for Miss Kishida, I will at the very least be on her sister's side in honor of her memory, fighting the good fight until the end."
Kunihiko growled, "Idle threats? You have no idea what you're talking about. You've made a big mistake. Watch your back. Your comeuppance is at hand. Once you end up jobless and with a broken reputation, I will call you and tell you it was me." Subsequently, the unmistakable peal of womanly laughter was heard from behind the arguing parties of Mister Shimamura and the last surviving Kishida. "What's so funny, Hikaru?"
Hikaru Shimamura (nee Shinohara) held her palm perpendicular to her chin as she laughed to her heart's content over her husband's flabbergasted state. "OHOHOHOHOHO! Well, you are, my dear! You're simply hilarious. You're actually threatening a lowly prosecutor's career just because she said the truth about your past indiscretions. I haven't seen you so beside yourself with fake rage and obvious defensiveness since I last caught you cheating with your favorite tramp."
"I don't want to talk about the past, most especially inside a police station!" Kunihiko hissed, his right hand twitching as he gave his wife a warning glare before he backed down once he came to his senses and saw all the cops surrounding him. "You weren't the one who supplied this bitch with all that information about our family, were you?"
"I can't say I did, although I am glad that this happened to you even though I played no part in it," said Hikaru with a disdainful sneer. "And don't you dare use that tone of voice on me. The Shimamura Financial Group wouldn't have gotten as big as it is now without my hand in marriage and the merging of the Shinohara Corporation with your failing zombie firm. As I've expected, your quintuplets have proven themselves as nothing but trouble, just like their mother."
"Don't you dare talk about our mother like that," the long-silent eldest quintuplet of the Shimamura family (and the police's prime suspect in the rape and murder of Miki Kishida)... Katsuhiko Shimamura, age sixteen... finally spoke up. "Don't you have any respect for the dead, Hikaru-san?"
One week after the attack at Genkai's temple, in the Human World, at the Minamino-Hatenaka residence...
"We don't have much in the way of proof, but I can confirm that we all witnessed you transforming into... Youko Kurama, is it? Yes, we definitely saw that," Kenshin interposed, leaving out the part where he was half-impressed yet half-intimidated by the fact that Kurama wielded the Demon Sword's power in an even more efficient manner than Yusuke did way back when.
"No, no! I know I'm the relative newcomer of this group, but isn't this guy someone we should be wary of?" Kaoru insisted, and Botan herself was powerless to stop the stubborn girl's flare-up of sorts. "Am I missing something here? He took over the life of an unborn child like some sort of wolf in sheep's clothing! He almost killed Koenma Daio with Kenshin's sword! I don't know what he did to earn your trust, Botan, but maybe he's showing his true colors right now!"
Botan decided it was her turn to berate the person residing inside her mind. "Now look here, missy! Don't you dare bad mouth Kurama like that; he's been through a lot. He's no murderer of babies. Look in my memories and see the truth! He loves humans, especially his mother! Kurama may have struggled to do the right thing before when Yusuke and I first met him, but he always came through with good intentions behind his actions in the end."
The ferry-girl paused and waited for a response. Getting none, she continued. "Didn't you say that Kurama reminded you of Kenshin? Well, like Kenshin, he also had a shady past but has now reformed himself to be a better member of society! I'm sure he has a perfectly logical explanation regarding the incident. Isn't that right, Kura...?"
The trio... technically a duo if you count only Botan and Kenshin, or even a foursome if you count Kaoru, Botan, Kenshin, and Battousai... afterwards saw Kurama collapse on his knees, his body shuddering from the weight of his own realization.
From within Botan's mind, she felt Kaoru metaphorically backpedal, a wave of nostalgia that wasn't her own filling her insides, the visage of Kenshin juxtaposed yet again to Kurama's own face. 'I guess that scary man with silver hair isn't anything like Kurama after all... just like Battousai is to Kenshin, huh?'
"This isn't supposed to happen. I've abandoned that life. I've decided to live my life as a human. The dream I had a while ago showed me merging with the youko, not breaking myself apart from him. This doesn't make any sense."
"Then you shouldn't consider your youko self to be your other you or even the original you," Kenshin reasoned. "He's a part of you, and he is you. There's darkness in all of our hearts, demon or human alike, and the reason why you feel like the youko is separate from who you are now is because of how much you've changed while living your human life; I'm merely presuming, of course. We've only bonded for a short time, so I can only guess what you've been through."
It was Botan's turn to feel sheepish over her actions... or in this case, her lack of action. In one paragraph, Kenshin was able to sum up who Kurama was in terms of light and darkness; something that she should've done, considering that she'd been around the red-haired teenager longer than either the rurouni or the kendo master living inside her brain.
Kurama couldn't help but chuckle at Kenshin's elaborate theory. "Huh. You do understand." Smiling, he plopped his back on the side of his bed while sitting on the floor before his expression turned ominous.
"Kenshin, how would you react if your other self became a separate personality altogether instead of being a facet of you? What if Battousai the Manslayer... or even Battousai the Demon-Slayer... lived outside of your consciousness?"
Kenshin stared at Kurama for what seemed like forever before answering, "I'm not sure. I guess I can accept my other self, but if push came to shove and he went against the principles I hold, then he must be dealt with. Why do you ask? Do you want to deal with your demon self before he hurts anyone?"
Kurama's crooked mouth and razor-sharp green eyes spoke volumes. "Didn't I just tell you? I'm the other self in this scenario. I was just wondering what Youko Kurama would do to me now that he's... well, I've become a separate entity altogether from him. He's already made his move. Just how were you able to stop me... him... from harming Koenma anyway?"
At that moment, for one reason or another, both the faces of Kenshin and Botan... or probably Kaoru, Kurama wasn't sure... turned beet red as they faced opposite directions. This baffled the kitsune quite a bit, which was a feeling he rarely ever encountered.
After a few minutes, Kenshin managed to squeak out, "The sword switched owners. From what I can gather, you can only turn into the silver-haired fox demon after you've unsheathed the Youtou Shinnoken from its scabbard. Now that the sword is in Botan's possession, I'm now in my physical form."
"I... I see," Kurama reluctantly acknowledged even though he was still deathly curious about Kenshin and the twin-personality ferry-girl's reaction concerning his question. "Fine, you were able to take the sword and give it to Botan. So why do you have the Youtou Shinnoken within my arm's reach? Shouldn't you have locked me away instead and put that artifact as far away from me as possible?"
"Well, I for one have the same question!" was the quip Kaoru never had a chance to say thanks to Botan's force of will. At any rate, the trio or duo looked at each other in stunned silence before facing the half-youko and bracing themselves for the subsequent response.
"I'm afraid after the attempt on his life, Koenma specifically ordered us to help you out with the mission with the Youtou Shinnoken in tow," the ex-vagabond informed.
Kurama was beside himself with lividness. "WHY? That doesn't make a lick of sense, Kenshin! According to you, I almost murdered Koenma. If anything, I should be in lock and key by now."
"...Not that that would've made any difference, knowing your legendary thievery skills," Botan innocently noted.
"...That's beside the point! Keep the Demon Sword away from me! Regardless of whatever magic was put in there, it's quite obvious that I couldn't handle its might and it makes me drunk with unmitigated power. I can complete any mission Reikai gives me just fine without having to look after an artifact that could kill us all! I don't even know why Koenma would even order such a thing!"
Botan furrowed her eyebrows in concern over Kurama's uncharacteristic overreaction. However, she herself was having second thoughts about Koenma's plans as well. "Actually, Koenma-sama was very... excited about you reacting to the Youtou Shinnoken the way you did. He even shielded you from getting tackled and vaporized by Captain Ootake of the Bouetai after you transformed back to your human self. He says that your ability to merge with both the personalities of Kenshin and the Battousai will help a lot in the upcoming battle against the Overfiend down the line."
Kaoru chose that instance to put her two yen in the conversation. "He almost assassinated the Lord of the Dead! How sure are we that he can control his bloodlust? I know that he is your friend and all, but can we really trust him when it comes to handling the power of Kenshin's sword? You do realize why this is a bad idea, right?"
"I do," Kurama himself agreed with Kaoru's reasoning. "Although the Chojin is nearly approaching X-Level now thanks to the large amounts of unused negative energy his minions are gathering from the Human World, that doesn't justify letting me get taken over by the corruptive power of the Demon Sword. Kenshin and his weapon must be taken as far away from me as possible despite Koenma's orders."
"I disagree with the both of you," Kenshin declared with gravitas borne out of his decades of human and demon assassination experience. "Koenma-dono believes that you'll someday find a way to take control of the Demon Sword without losing yourself to its power. Kurama, don't you trust yourself enough to be able to handle having the Demon Sword at arm's reach? He essentially gave you the same responsibility that I bear. He trusts you as much as he trusts me."
Kurama turned towards Kenshin and breathed a belated sigh. "With all due respect, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. I mean, there must be a reason why you were sealed in a shrine for decades' on end in the first place, correct?"
Just then, they heard an enthusiastic series of knocks on the younger redhead's door. It then swung open and revealed the presence of an excited woman in her forties who sported slight scars on her forearms. A fourteen-year-old boy that shared the same first name as Kurama's human alter ego was with her.
"Shuichi! Your stepfather and I brought back some beef sukiyaki yes... Oh my." Shiori Minamino looked at Kurama and the people around him with a half-amused and half-bemused stare as she covered her mouth and shielded Shuichi Hatenaka's eyes from the scene. "I didn't know you had... company. Would either of you two like to join us for breakfast?"
Numbly, both Kenshin and Botan (as well as Kaoru, presumably) shook their heads at the same time, unable to explain themselves, their presence, or even their antiquated getup. Even Kurama appeared flabbergasted by the turn of events.
Nodding primly, Shiori Minamino cooed, "I understand. Um, could you please keep things quiet, Shuichi? Your little brother is home for the weekend. If you want to go out and eat with your lady friends instead, please remember to take your key with you. We can leave some leftovers for you in the fridge if you want."
Even though Kurama was usually the sharp-witted sort, it took him about a minute after his foster mother shut his room's door... murmuring something about boys being boys... before the full implications of what she just assumed of him dawned upon him with the force of a slap to the face. "No, mom! You misunderstood! It's not what it looks like! I'm not... that's not the relationship I have with these people at all!"
And although Kenshin was quite quick on the uptake like Kurama, he also came to a belated realization of Shiori's suppositions as well. "ORO? Lady friends? Dating? Wait a minute... I'm not even a girl!" For her part, the ferry-girl could only blush and giggle in sheepish delight or gleeful embarrassment; she wasn't quite sure which one she actually felt.
Two weeks after the attack at Genkai's temple, inside the Metropolitan Police Department's Shinjuku Police Station during the afternoon...
From behind Katsuhiko Shimamura, the rest of the quintuplets... Houjo, Akahito, Doi, and Ennosuke... congregated together, as they tended to whenever the subject of their legitimacy as family members was brought up by their father's legal wife.
"That's quite funny to hear from the person who may actually be a murderer and a rapist; a criminal through and through, if you will." Hikaru snorted at how the bastard sons of her husband huddled together and aimed identical looks that ranged from pleading to hatefulness; she never actually bothered to know which quintuplet was which anyway.
Katsumi Ishida tugged at her lawyer's vest, her eyes swirling with confusion and hesitation over what was happening, but her legal representative merely smiled and gripped her other hand tighter. "Let them fight. They may blurt out something we can use later. Remember, this is all for the sake of getting your sister the justice that she deserves, okay?"
"Like Miss Kishida's gung-ho attorney says, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I wouldn't expect anything less from that homewrecker's son. Karma works in a straightforward fashion, doesn't it? You five killed your mother during childbirth, and now you're living up to your mother's infamy as well by showing your true colors as criminals and delinquents!"
"Leave my brothers and my mother out of this, Hikaru-san!" came Katsuhiko's stern yet somewhat respectful warning. "You're free to call me whatever you want or even disown me for my actions, but please... don't involve my brothers and my mother with this crime. I'm willing to do time, if that's what it takes."
"HIKARU, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Kunihiko boomed in no uncertain terms. "You will not talk to any of my sons like that! Nothing has been proven yet, and that one other witness they have is already dead. They have no case, and if worse comes to worst, I will bail out whichever of them gets jailed. Katsuhiko, you're not going anywhere except home. I promise you that."
It was Hikaru's turn to spew out a tempest fueled by an injustice of love. "NO! No. You listen to ME! I am sick and tired of you playing favorites with that bitch's sons over the sons I've given you! Legitimate sons of your own flesh and blood that deserve the fortune we've both accumulated far more than those bastards ever will!"
"Stop acting so jealous, Hikaru! It was you who I married, right?" Kunihiko gestured in a not-so-reassuring manner, especially considering the fact that Hikaru just mentioned earlier that they were married out of convenience's sake "Besides, can't you even let bygones be bygones? What's past is past. The quintuplets are here now, and they're not going away if I have any say on it. They're my sons too, even if they aren't yours!"
"If it were up to me, they're not going to get a single yen out of the great steel and textiles fortune I've built thanks to the merger we made! The fact that I'm a majority shareholder and Executive Vice-President of this damn conglomerate shows that I do have a lot of say in it!" Hikaru retorted.
"It's an empire we've both made, and I'm the CEO of this company! What I say goes, and I can veto whatever decision you make at my behest! Don't try my patience, Hikaru!" Kunihiko warned.
"I've seen the will and the way that you treat my sons. Instead of preparing Ippei as the successor of the Shimamura Zaibatsu's steel and construction division, you've instead chosen that bitch's son instead! You might as well have slapped me on the face by doing that, as though Kazuko-chan's children are somehow superior to your actual legitimate sons!"
"Who is Kazuko-chan?" Katsumi, who had long ago been released from Officer Hamada's clutches, whispered to her attorney's ear as they (and the rest of the people who were crammed inside the interrogation room) backed away from the ruckus that the arguing old couple created. She didn't know what to feel about the present turn of events. More to the point, it confused her.
"Hikaru-san is referring to Ichijo Kazuko-chan, her best friend and her husband's mistress," Katsumi's lawyer notified, her eyes gleaming with barely contained glee. "When it comes to powerful people like them, it's best that we fight fire with fire. If they want to sling mud at your sister's good name, then they should be careful, or else some of that mud might end up on themselves as well. Zaibatsu or no zaibatsu, they're as human as the rest of us are."
"Ippei? HA! That slacker? He's more interested in being a leech and spreading his seed than actually manning the company! You have it all wrong; if he only showed the slightest bit of responsibility or business acumen, then I would've gladly handed the company to him. Unfortunately, he's the very definition of a trust-fund baby, so of course I have no choice but to depend on the responsible one among our sons."
"RESPONSIBLE? You're actually calling that suspected rapist and murderer responsible? The only thing he's responsible for is the crimes he confessed that he committed! You must be out of your mind! You're having another bout of temporary insanity, like the time you 'spread your seed' into some other woman from behind my back!" was Hikaru's incredulous and hoarse riposte.
To Kunihiko's consternation, Hikaru's mascara began to run as tears flooded her eyes. "More importantly, DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MY SON LIKE THAT! He's the oldest of our children, and he's a legitimate heir to your business at that! If you don't want me to insult your illegitimate children, then I expect at least the same treatment when talking about your legitimate sons!"
"Mom, stop ragging on both dad and the Japanese Jackson 5. It's not their fault that their mother was some social climber who had her plans of wrecking our home backfire on her at the last minute. They're all cool otherwise," came the backhanded compliment of the Shimamuras' eldest son, Ippei, as he combed his gelled hair back and smiled the same smug grin his father gave Katsumi a while back.
To be Continued...
Next: More Shimamura Family drama.
Fast Fact: The Shimamura parts were originally reserved for later chapters.
We're off to find our dreams,
Abdiel