In Alaska, at a portion of Mount McKinley that now appeared like Mount Saint Helens in the middle of its eruption back in May 18, 1980 (roughly 13 years ago)...
The initial sixteen slashes from Hiei all missed this "Sou" person completely like Kenshin Himura's Kuzu Ryu Sen, the bobbed-haired boy disappearing from his midst in an instant before one slash could land.
Of course, at this point in time, Hiei didn't even know who Kenshin was or that the Demon Sword had been retrieved from the Shrine of the Sword, so he knew nothing about the Kuzu Ryu Sen and its similarities with his hand speed.
The flying shadow's Jagan dilated in time to see how this swordsman was able to move from one of Mount McKinley's peaks to right in front of him in an instant.
It was his feet. The speedster's feet and legs were every bit as fast as Hiei's hands and arms, if not more so.
Sou's feet thudded on the ground faster and nimbler than a gazelle or even a cheetah would. It was hand speed versus foot speed, and foot speed won out.
After backing out a hairbreadth away from Hiei's sword range (which was already short enough thanks to Zeru melting the longsword into the size of a dagger), Soujiro counterattacked.
In the middle of Soujiro's attack, Hiei shuddered. His blood spilled everywhere, the cold clutches of Death at his neck.
Sou then said to him, "Seta Soujiro. That's my name. I am the Ten Ken (Heaven Sword) of the Dai Jin Kan. I look forward to seeing you again, Youkai-san. It's been a while since I've met someone as strong as you."
In the haze of red, Hiei flew backwards and stumbled into a crevice, his body bathed in his own blood.
"Humph."
Before his fall ended up becoming a sudden thud, darkness, and silence (reminiscent of how Rui, his mother's friend, threw him off the Floating Island of the Koorime as an infant), the bloody Hiei smirked, his blade covered with blood (or some sort of bodily fluid) that was not his own.
It'd been a long time since he'd met his match. Someone who could keep up with him in a duel.
Since his fights with Yusuke Urameshi, Shinobu Sensui, Shigure, and Mukuro, in fact.
Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Hiei learns a lot about the past history of the Chojin's many minions, especially Gein.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. 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 44: Daydream Generation (Part 2)
Immediately after Hiei's fall into the crevice at the war zone that was Mount McKinley...
"That was magnificent, Sou! As expected of the original Juppon Gatana's Heaven Sword!" the shikigami of Houji Sadojima cheered at Soujiro's performance, the bony hands of the familiar applauding in kind.
"Thank you, Houji-san," said Soujiro Seta while wiping the sweat (or perhaps ectoplasm) off of his brow.
"You can coo at your golden boy later, Houji. Zeru needs to have that jaki you infused him with removed, or else the body I made for him will be destroyed by this excess of power," said the old Gein, who held the wobbly fire demon by the shoulders.
"You should've given your zombies better bodies." Sadojima harrumphed before beckoning the remnants of the Overfiend's abundance of jaki from Zeru, who at the same time released the Dragons of the Darkness Flame to parts unknown.
After the blond devil collapsed, Houji added, "The Chojin would not be pleased to see these ghosts he revived die again thanks to your incompetence. Your Dai Kaijin better shape up."
"It's not incompetence," said the skull-masked puppet master that used to be the original Juppon Gatana's Iwanbo (it was actually a skin suit made from corpses) matter-of-factly rather than defensively. "It was tough enough to snatch those souls out of Reikai, defying the fate they were given. They're not even supposed to be alive, much less in fighting form."
Speaking of which, a clone of Iwanbo soon arrived and picked up Zeru at Edward's behest. "It's such a shame too, since many of the surviving demons that fought in the Ankoku Bujutsukai 'graduated' to S-Class, surpassing the powers of even the fearsome Team Toguro."
Both Houji's familiar and Gein turned after hearing steel... to be specific, a sword... clatter on the dry ground.
"Sou, what's the matter?" asked Sadojima. "You're trembling. Did you overexert your body again with the Shukuchi?"
"Maybe I should give him a new body too," suggested Gein.
"W-What was Youkai-san's name again?" the boy asked his fellow former Juppon Gatana members. "I didn't catch it the first time."
"Huh. Oh, it's Hiei. Hiei of the Evil Eye. Mukuro's right-hand man. He has the same name as the mountain where our headquarters was built, in fact," brought up Houji.
"Ah. Hiei-san. What a splendid name." Soujiro's ghostly frame flickered in and out of existence as a spray of ectoplasm and pinpoints of light escaped his numerous wounds. "He might actually be the fastest man I've ever fought. Faster than Himura-san..."
"SOU...!" the Onmyouji's shikigami barely made it in time, catching the Ten Ken with its emaciated fingers and infusing him with negative energy.
Like he did against his death match with Shigure, Hiei out-sped the speedster, slashing him apart with a kodachi-sized blade during the boy's counterattack at the last split-second.
When was the last time Hiei came this close to death?
Oh right, it was around the time he confirmed that his sister, Yukina, was still alive and received her hiruiseki, one of two tear gems shed by their mother.
It was when he fought the man who implanted the jagan into his forehead, Shigure.
Hiei was willing to sacrifice his life back then because his purpose in life... to find his sister and Hyoga, the Floating Island of the Koorime... had already been fulfilled.
Sure, he didn't murder all of those miserable ice maidens for what they did to him, his sister, and his mother all those years ago in cold blood (no pun intended), but...
Anyway, Mukuro resurrected him regardless after he died alongside his Jagan surgeon in their death match, but maybe she only delayed the inevitable?
He hadn't exactly found a new purpose since that day, except maybe serve as the cybernetic woman's manservant/right-hand man.
Did she even really need him or did he exist solely to humor her? Or was he really supposed to serve as chaperone to lost humans who wandered into the Demon World?
Perhaps it was about time he returned his borrowed life to her.
Hiei then realized something. He noticed the tear gems he lost and so desperately sought spilled with his own crimson blood. His own and Yukina's.
He'd promised to give the gem back to her "brother" if he were to find him in Makai.
"..."
After the pearl-like, dense, and crystallized hiruiseki glinted on his chest, the Imiko of the Koorime opened his eyes, fighting against the beckoning darkness.
By the time Hiei came to, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the cavern he ended up in.
Good. They didn't run after him to finish him off or anything. He'd lucked out meeting Death, his old friend, yet again.
Whether he was Class-C or Class-S, it seemed that he had the luck of the devil on his side. Forget Yusuke and his lucky wins against Rando and Gouki or his lucky breaks every time he died (i.e., Spirit World loopholes and demonic atavism).
Hiei had his share of the devil's luck every time he got out of death matches by the skin of his teeth.
There were puddles of water everywhere, which probably meant that the melted and vaporized snow from that portion of Mount McKinley had flooded or condensed in this cave.
The Jaganshi crawled on the ground, his energy completely spent, and his deep wounds still open thanks to that sudden blitzkrieg from... Seta.
Soujiro Seta.
A human name, because youkai didn't follow the tradition of keeping family names and were mostly known by one name or by whatever they were most famous for (e.g., Legendary Demon Fox Kurama, Hiei of the Evil Eye, or Yomi/Mukuro/Raizen of the Three Kings).
Hiei took one look at his sword. Or what was left of it. On top of being melted and sliced by Zeru, the blade had also been chipped and cracked into pieces by Soujiro's strikes.
Another thing bothered the Master of the Evil Eye about Seta. Had it not been for his Jagan, Hiei wouldn't have been able to sense his presence.
The smiling teenaged boy emitted no killing intent even when he almost killed the demon.
Hiei couldn't take his eyes off of Soujiro because even a mere second of inattention could result in instant death. Somewhat unfortunate, since he had enough trouble tracking the kid with all his three eyes open.
The fire demon reached one of the deeper pools of melted snow water and drank from it. Zeru had somehow been revived, and the Chojin's strongest minions all proved to be A-Level warriors at least (according to the Reikai's arbitrary power level standards).
Zeru, one of the weaker demons in the Ankoku Bujutsukai, ended up reaching power levels greater than the Younger Toguro. He could even bend Hiei's dark flames and control them like his own flames. Like a true fire bender.
The Forbidden Child of the Koorime had a lot to report back to Mukuro when the time came. Especially that Tenro person whom Hiei swore had the same power level as any of the Three Kings.
He then heard a rumble in the distance just now. He gripped his chipped "dagger" blade tight, willing himself to stand on spaghetti legs. He barely had any youki left and his weapon was no deadlier than a Human World prison shiv.
Was this it? Was this how he was going to die?
After hearing a familiar ringing sound, the fire demon sprung into action.
Hiei almost flew right into a familiar circular blade and sacrificed his life again to finish off the surgeon who implanted his third eye into his forehead.
"...Shigure?" the Jaganshi rasped.
The pony-tailed demon (who kind of looked like a scruffier version of Tenro, the fire youkai realized) with more holes, piercings, earrings, nose rings, hoop rings, bells, and whistles all over his body than a wind chime harrumphed.
He was Shigure the Demonic Osteopath (Holistic Bone and Muscle Doctor) and Chiropractor. The former weakest of Mukuro's 77 Elite S-Level Warriors (he eventually became mid-level powerful).
The man who implanted the Jagan on the Jaganshi.
"My favorite patient is at death's door yet again. Why am I not surprised?"
All of Hiei's eyes blinked at the same time. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"DON'T YOU DARE START WITH THAT...!"
The midget demon fell into Shigure's arms after the latter hit him upside the head. Out like a light. "Oh. Whoops."
The pierced and ring-decorated youkai picked Hiei up on his shoulders. "Whoa. You really must've been beaten up hard to go down with just a slap, huh?"
Minutes later, several more shikigami from Houji the Onmyouji descended into the depths of the hidden cave in order to capture the Jaganshi, only to end up empty-handed because he was already gone by then.
"Didn't you kill yourself in shame after Kurama defeated you?" was the question Hiei asked Shigure as soon as he saw him again, alive and well, right after the Demon World Unification Tournament.
The demon doctor even became part of the Jaganshi's cleanup patrol to return humans who accidentally wandered into the Demon World back to the Human World.
Shigure never actually answered why or how he survived falling off that huge tree Kurama made to defeat him.
Casual curiosity and several overheard conversations from both Mukuro and her former right-hand man (Kirin) later, and Hiei discovered the truth.
The surgeon's... their mistress, Mukuro, had revived him herself.
That sounded logical to the Jaganshi, since Mukuro was the kind of woman who did anything she wanted anyway without caring about the sentiments of others, like bringing him (Hiei) out of the brink of death as well.
Besides which, she couldn't afford to lose Shigure's skills as a Makai surgeon. He was a particularly adept doctor when it came to what was known in the Human World as Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), specifically acupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractic services, and psychic surgery.
The Master of the Evil Eye thought that his Jagan surgeon was again resurrected or resuscitated against his will, but he had another "think" coming when the demon doctor told him the following the last time they talked.
"So you're going after one of the bastards that made Mukuro-sama's life miserable, huh? You better kill him quickly before I get my hands on him. I might turn him into a chimera or something."
And it was then that everything made sense to Hiei. Shigure was still alive because Mukuro wanted him to be alive and the demonic doctor was perfectly fine with that.
Hiei awoke from his brief reverie, dreaming about the first thing that always occurred to him whenever he was within Shigure's presence.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"Makai," Shigure answered.
"What? How...?"
"Dimensional rifts. Did you honestly believe Japan is the only place in the Human World that has access to our realm?"
"..."
The Jaganshi opened all three of his eyes. Indeed, he'd returned to a familiar place. Sure, the desolate landscape appeared like any other desert on Earth, but the eternal thunderstorms and lack of sunshine reassured the youkai that he truly was "home sweet home"... in the Demon World.
He looked at himself; bandaged and with stitches placed all over his broken, burned, and scourged body.
Shigure was a doctor after all. The diminutive demon tended to forget.
Hiei also realized that the osteopath surgeon was carrying him on his shoulders. Like a sack of potatoes.
With a grunt, the Jaganshi struggled against Shigure's grasp on his diminutive body and landed on his feet.
The swordsman osteopath with a round, razor-sharp hoop for a weapon... the Rinka Enreki Tou (Will-o'-the-Wisp Circle Stone Sword)... rolled his eyes and snorted. "You're an ungrateful whelp, as always."
Hiei took a look at his own damaged sword and at his comrade-at-arms before throwing his weapon away altogether, deeming it useless at that point.
The fire demon then closed his Jagan and wrapped a spare bandage over it. He also did the same with his right arm, which now had the markings of a black dragon "tattoo" on it.
"Why did you rescue me? I didn't ask for your help," demanded Hiei.
"Hmmm? Oh, Mukuro-sama sent me to pick you up. When she heard about what you were planning to do, she figured out that it was probably a trap. Ever since she'd come to power, most of her father's minions that she couldn't immediately kill disappeared from the face of Makai."
Hiei raised an eyebrow at Shigure. "What are you getting out of this?"
The demonic doctor answered, "Me? Absolutely nothing, but orders are orders. Be grateful to Mukuro-sama, not to me."
The Jagan User regarded his unlikely ally with a furrowed gaze while they walked across the vast expanse of the dark world of the demons, illuminated by ceaseless lightning strikes while nocturnal creatures used to the eternal night crawled around them.
"So she already knows about the Chojin?" asked the fire demon. "Those were his minions whom I fought just now."
The osteopath shrugged. "She and Yomi decided to watch and see the next move of this demon or super-powered human or wannabe god. Even Enki hasn't been actively pursuing this Overfiend for the sake of maintaining peace in Makai. No one knows yet what this Chojin is up to."
"In short, I can't depend on Mukuro or her Inner Circle to deal with the Overfiend or his army," said Hiei.
"Yep. You're on your own, shrimp," said Shigure. "Maybe you should ask your friends from the Human World and Spirit World for help. They seem to be under the impression that they're the world police or something."
"Humph," Hiei harrumphed at Mukuro's "bitch". And to think the Inner Circle had the audacity to call him, the Jaganshi, the personal pet of the demonic cyborg queen.
Many moons ago, in the Second Round of the Demon World Unification Tournament...
Shamed after his defeat against Kurama (who refused to fight at full power with his youko form), Shigure the Osteopath jumped to his death from atop the Okunenju Tree that the redhead used to best him.
Mere hours later, Shigure awoke to find Kirin tending to his broken body while Mukuro herself hovered over him on the operating table, her uncovered face and scowl sending shivers down the psychic surgeon's spine.
"B-But why, Mukuro...?" he had asked. "W-Why won't you let me die?"
Mukuro took one look at her cybernetic body that Kirin and later Shigure (who only joined the Elite Guard shortly after getting Hiei's Jagan operation done) worked on before brushing her hair bangs and turning her back on the doctor.
A look of disgust so exquisite it made Shigure's sadistic heart twinge.
"I resurrected you after being killed by Hiei. You have no right to waste this life I gave you. Your life belongs to me now. You'll die when I tell you to die."
As a demonic surgeon, Shigure accepted payments not in the form of money but instead based on anything he could rob his patient's world of.
For example, the Doctor of Darkness made Hiei promise not to reveal himself as Yukina's brother if he ever found her in exchange for the Jagan implant on his forehead.
The youkai osteopath even became part of Mukuro's 77 Elite Guards using the same bargaining tactic. He'd offer his services to her in exchange for something he could take away from her world.
So that Shigure could join her army, Mukuro agreed to repress her horrible memories of her father's sexual abuse, since she couldn't remove the false happy memories he implanted in her brain to keep her from murdering him.
Because of her deal with Shigure, all she could remember of her past was that she was a sex slave set free after she poured acid on her face, while her remaining fake memories of Chikou were among the happiest parts of her childhood, causing cognitive dissonance within her.
Even so, those repressed memories still kept flooding back to the surface of Mukuro's mind every time her birthday occurred (the one day of the year when her mood was at its foulest, reminding her that she was once born as a plaything made for the pleasure of others).
It was like Pandora's Box opening again and again, revealing her false happy memories that wouldn't go away as lies by being reminded of horrifying memories buried deep in her subconscious.
Perhaps in light of the "expensiveness" of Shigure's lifelong services, Mukuro couldn't "afford" to lose the osteopath.
"...Yes, Mukuro-sama," rasped Shigure, his eyes covered in shadow, his head bowed low. "Do as you see fit with my worthless life. I am forever in your debt."
Who knew that a patient of the demon surgeon would turn the tables on him? It was now Mukuro who took a part of his life rather than him doing the same to her in exchange for his services.
The irony was delicious.
Shigure then laughed, like he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
After a bit of sleep and rest (as well as supper consisting of the delicious roasted meat of a D-Class wild demon bull), Hiei regained enough energy to finally run rather than walk back to Mukuro's camp.
Shigure kept up not by running, but instead by using his Sword Cyclone technique (the same one he used against Kurama in the Demon World Unification Tournament), thus he flew in the air like Jin would while the flying shadow himself sprinted on the ground.
"Mukuro's former right-hand man, Kirin, was the inventor of those healing tanks that could bring people back to life, right?" asked Hiei.
"That's right. The same tanks that revived me after you sliced my head in half! They're amazing. Had Raizen the same technology in his hands, he would've lived on a century longer. Why do you ask?"
"The fire demon I fought back in Alaska's highest peak. He was the first victim of my Kokuryuha back when I was still C-Level."
Shigure chuckled. "Wait. You used the Darkness Flames when you were at C-Level? Are you out of your mind? I've heard of S-Level demons who've been consumed by those Makai flames, you reckless son of a bitch! It's a miracle you survived after all this time!"
The Master of the Evil Eye's right hand and arm clenched in remembrance. "Humph. That's not the point. The fire demon I had fought was supposed to be dead. I turned him into a shadow on a wall, but now he somehow came back even more powerful than ever before."
"Oh ho. And now you're thinking that maybe these minions of the Chojin might have the same life-saving and resurrecting technology that Kirin developed," came Shigure's conclusion.
"Do they?" asked Hiei.
"Who knows?" The osteopath surgeon answered. "I will say this. Besides seeing you struggling against some youkai you've supposedly already killed, that man with the skull mask that he was with seemed mighty familiar to me."
Hiei asked, "Why? Is he a friend of yours?"
"Hardly." The demon doctor cleared his throat. "In my career as a psychic surgeon for hire, I've heard rumors of a skull-masked human doctor with high-level powers roaming around Makai doing experiments on demons. Hired by a group of rich humans to do so."
The Cursed Child of the Koorime's forehead wrinkled, his brow furrowing and his closed Jagan squinting hard. 'Was he hired by the Black Black Club or...?'
The Black Black Club, the Black Chapter Club, or the Black Book Club that Sakyo, the sponsor of Team Toguro, was a member of was responsible for two things:
Attempts to breach the barrier between the Human World and the Demon World, and the Black Chapter Tape.
The Black Chapter Tape was a VHS videotape containing the Archives of Darkness, a secret document that showed all the evil things humans had done. Hiei himself wanted to get his hands on that tape.
It was the video that the upright Sensui searched for after his mind broke from seeing the humans he swore to protect killing demons. The Black Black Club made him decide that humanity should be left as meat for the demons, for they were too wicked to be saved.
It contained thousands of hours of dreadful things, the worst of humanity's sins in one place, including demon torture by humans. Could it be that some of the documented footage and "snuff" film recorded in that cursed videotape were perpetrated by the man in the skull mask that was with Zeru?
Shigure continued. "This mad human scientist was assisted by a demon who instead did experiments on humans in Ningenkai. They exchanged data and even experimented on their own kind from time to time."
"...And?"
"I thought they were just part of Makai folklore until I had firsthand proof of their existence." Shigure lowered himself on the ground enough for Hiei to hear him better. "I was the doctor tasked to undo one of their grisly experiments, in fact. You should be familiar with the skull-masked man's demonic partner-in-crime, though."
"Why?"
"You fought in that Dark Martial Arts Tournament back in the Human World, right? Does the name 'Doctor Ichigaki' ring any bells?"
More than a week later, back in the Human World; somewhere in Tokyo, Japan...
Kurama, also known as Shuichi Minamino in the Human World, was in the middle of his research concerning the infamous Kanji Killer when a familiar, four-foot spiky-haired shadow appeared from behind his window, tapping on the glass.
Shuichi smiled and sighed. He had hit a bit of a snag when the various modus operandi of this serial killer whom had connections with Kenshin Himura, the guardian of the Demon Sword, started to contradict each other, as though two murderers instead of one were sharing the same moniker.
In short, the redhead needed the break. After putting away all the photocopied newspaper and magazine clippings he gathered from the case, he lifted open his window and invited his old friend Hiei inside his room.
"What brings you here in Ningenkai, Hiei?"
"Kurama. Tell me everything you know about the Chojin."
"W-What? How did you...?" Minamino trailed off.
"Mukuro's spies told me about him. You were the one doing research in Makai about the Overfiend under Yomi's orders and with Koenma's approval."
Hiei paced back and forth the room. "They also mentioned rumors about Reikai having some sort of secret weapon against the Chojin."
"S-Secret weapon? Whatever do you mean?" stammered a grinning Kurama, his green eyes darting all over the place. This made Hiei wonder if it was a deliberate ruse to make him drop his guard or the youko truly had deluded himself into thinking he was human sheep instead of a demon fox.
"I mean that special Reikai Artifact we apparently 'forgot' after you, me, and Gouki first stole the Three Reikai Treasures," Hiei clarified before spotting the plain, sheathed katana Shuichi held like a walking stick from behind his back.
"So that's the legendary sword, is it? That's perfect. My old sword got melted after being ambushed by some worthless demon I haven't seen since forever and his new friends. Gimme that sword so that I can take my revenge on those bastards who almost killed me!"
In the last few years or so, the demon had heard rumors of a demonic sword... a Youtou Shinnoken... that could magnify any youkai's power from Class-D to Class-B or Class-C to Class-A or even Class-S in an instant.
If Hiei had that sword instead of the Conjuring Blade or Koma no Ken when he first battled Urameshi, he would've defeated the spirit detective and killed him then and there.
That would've been handy in his fight against Yusuke, when his power dropped from A-Level to D-Level thanks to the Jagan that was implanted on his forehead by Shigure.
However, it was just one of many legends about the Reikai found in Makai. Only time would tell if it proved itself to be true, like the existence of Meikai (the Nether World) or Enma Daio hypnotizing demons to terrorize the Human World and justify the existence of the Spirit World Barriers.
Hiei's bandaged right hand moved towards the handle of the sword, only for Minamino to grab his wrist before he could lay one finger on the Youtou Shinnoken.
"I wouldn't take hold of that if I were you," a golden-eyed Youko Kurama said to... perhaps even threatened... the smaller demon. "I can't guarantee your safety."
Few things made Hiei back off, as reckless of a youkai as he was. An angry Kurama was one of those things.
After the Jaganshi retreated, the demon fox exhaled, his wide shoulders drooping, and metamorphosed back to his human form.
It then occurred to Hiei that it'd been a long time since he last saw Kurama change into a silver-haired kitsune. Was the Reikai sword the cause of this transformation?
"How did you know about the Demon Sword? What do you know about it?" Minamino asked.
Hiei sat on the floor of Kurama's room and shrugged. "Mukuro's spies told me all about it too. Oh, did I mention that Shigure is still alive?"
"Yes, you've mentioned that a couple of times before." Shuichi chuckled. The redhead's lips then puckered inward into a flat line while his eyes became almost as tapered as Karasu's eyes.
"You mentioned something about your sword melting. Who did you fight before arriving here in the Human World?"
After a minute, the Jagan User replied, "...Zeru."
"Oh, the fire demon from Team Roku Youkai." Minamino nodded. "As I expected."
"Why would you expect that, fox?" asked the short swordsman.
"Because the same thing happened to Yusuke when he was asked to retrieve the Demon Sword when the place it was hidden in, the Shrine of the Sword, was infiltrated by several demons hired by the Chojin," revealed the kitsune.
"The same thing...?" the Jaganshi repeated.
"Yusuke ended up fighting someone in his past that was supposed to already be dead. Rando, to be more specific," said Shuichi. "Ever since the Chojin emerged, we've all been facing shadows of our past."
More than a week earlier, when Hiei traveled with Shigure back to Mukuro's territory in Makai...
The Imiko of the Koorime felt his jaw clench at the name.
Doctor Ichigaki of Team Ichigaki in the Ankoku Bujutsukai.
The bastard who infected a martial arts school's master with an incurable illness so that he could manipulate his students to undergo horrifying human experimentation.
"So Gein's partner is Doctor Ichigaki, huh?" asked Hiei, remembering the man's name, surprised that he was a human like... Soujiro Seta. Perhaps the Onmyouji responsible for that shikigami was human as well?
Gein was Ichigaki's partner. They called themselves comrades. That was the kind of person this skull-masked mad doctor was.
"Ah, so Gein is his name. Well, you can confirm everything with Kirin, if you want," said Shigure; although he himself was a psychic surgeon, Mukuro's former right-hand man was a necromancer.
Kirin was the one who invented the life-resurrecting tanks that Mukuro used to revive Hiei and Shigure from the brink of death. It was also the medical tandem of the Psychic Surgeon and the Voodoo Witch Doctor who helped the patchwork cyborg survive her injuries throughout the years without reducing her great power.
"One more thing. Since we're on the subject of the Ankoku Bujutsukai, have you ever wondered why the Toguro Brothers were able to gain abnormal powers and youthful bodies despite being humans?" remarked Shigure.
Hiei pondered that point. Even Shinobu Sensui, for all his power, had to succumb to the limitations of his human body. Genkai herself aged considerably even though she was, at one point, stronger than Toguro by also mastering the Sacred Energy or Saint Light Ki before Sensui did.
Without waiting for the Jaganshi's response, the osteopath answered, "It's because they'd been given demonic bodies. Either Ichigaki or Gein was the one who made Toguro the Elder into an immortal and Toguro the Younger into a B-Class powerhouse even as old, old men in human terms."
The eyes Hiei was born with went wide, his irises and pupils becoming mere pinpoints, seemingly swallowed by his sclera (eye whites). Didn't Gein mention something about giving the resurrected Zeru his own body?
This was a man who could turn humans into demons. The human responsible for the Toguro Brothers and their reign of terror.
"Gein and the Onmyouji's shikigami were talking about doing a special 'experiment' with me and Zeru. Had that skull-masked bastard found a new partner and employer for him to do his perverted research?"
Shigure scratched the stubble on his chin. "The question is, what sort of experiment were they conducting?"
"Something about checking whether or not Zeru's new physical body could handle the power given to him by the Onmyouji," said the fire demon.
"Sounds to me like they're giving his new body a test run," said the psychic surgeon.
It was then that Hiei remembered what happened to the Younger Toguro's body when it went beyond B-Level (B-Plus, to be exact) and was at the cusp of A-Level.
It broke down and shattered like dry clay. If Toguro's body truly was genetically altered to be demonic by Gein, then perhaps at the time, the limits of such a body would be at Class-B.
The Zeru that Hiei fought was at least Class-A or already bordering at Class-S. The Chojin could very well end up with S-Class zombies by the time Gein completed his research.
The Overfiend could become powerful enough to topple even Enki's rule in the Demon World with that kind of ally, reviving defeated enemies and making them stronger than ever before.
"Hiei? What are you thinking about?" asked Shigure after his companion had stopped talking and merely kept on running at top speed for minutes' on end.
"Perhaps it's about time Mukuro and Yomi reconsidered their 'hands-off' policy regarding the Overfiend," answered the flying shadow.
More than a week later, back in the Human World; inside Shuichi Minamino's (Kurama's) room in the Minamino-Hatenaka Residence...
"Where did you fight Zeru?" asked Kurama.
"At Alaska. On some high mountain," replied Hiei.
"Was it Mount McKinley?"
"Maybe. I wasn't paying attention."
"What were you doing there, anyway?"
"..."
"Okay, fine. It's none of my business anyway."
A minute passed before the diminutive demon asked, "So this Overfiend we've been hearing so much about has been reviving left and right all the enemies we've killed in the past?"
"Bingo. That's his entire modus operandi," confirmed the redhead.
"So what, we might end up fighting Sensui or Toguro next, before we know it?" retorted Hiei.
"I wouldn't be surprised if I had to battle with Roto or Gama one of these days," said Kurama. "Doesn't this remind you of when the Gods of Meikai attacked Ningenkai even though they were all supposed to be dead?"
The Jaganshi paused. "One of the people Zeru was with used jaki just like Yakumo did."
The Leader of the Nether World, Yakumo, was able to revive his dead kingdom even with the power of Meikai sealed inside a gem by Reikai, through the unused malevolent energies swirling around the Human World, powered by human strife and suffering.
The revived demon fox residing inside a human shell nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't doubt that the Chojin had somehow harnessed the same power to snatch away the souls of our enemies straight from Hell in order to resurrect them. Enemies whom we've faced that know us like the back of their hands."
"..."
The Forbidden Child of the Koorime looked away, unable to say anything else. That was two theories he'd heard so far on how the Chojin was able to bring the dead back to life.
"Why do you want to wield the Demon Sword anyway?" asked the redhead. "Don't tell me that Zeru's powers have risen so drastically that he was able to defeat you."
"No. Someone else almost killed me," confessed the Wielder of the Darkness Flames. "Zeru had several companions with him. The other minions of the Chojin."
Kurama sat down on the floor along with Hiei in order to better hear what the Imiko of the Koorime had to say, the Demon Sword in tow. "Don't mind me. Please, continue."
"There was a man with a skull mask. A shikigami controlled by some dark priest. A pony-tailed man in olden clothes who stopped my Kokuryuha with one hand. And a boyish swordsman who sprinted faster than me."
"..." It was the demonic kitsune's turn to pause. "If those other people aren't our enemies, then chances are, they're Kenshin's enemies instead. One of them sounded really familiar, in fact."
The fire demon raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Kenshin...?"
"Oh, that's right. I was so preoccupied in keeping the Demon Sword away from you, I forgot to tell you about its guardian!"
Kurama looked like he was about to unsheathe the sword, but instead Hiei saw the redhead tense and hesitate before concentrating hard to bring forth his youki.
Superimposed over the face of Kurama was the spirit of an orange-haired swordsman wearing clothes from perhaps a century ago, his hair like that of a lion's mane, his feet rising up the ground so that his face and the youko's would meet because of his shortness.
Shuichi opened his eyes, his pupils colored bluish purple rather than their usual green hue, then spoke in a voice that wasn't his but sounded like it belonged to him.
"How do you do, Hiei-dono? I'm Himura Kenshin, the Guardian of the Demon Sword. What is this about a boy swordsman who's faster than you?"
More than a week earlier, after Hiei and Shigure finally arrived in Mukuro's palace to report what had taken place in Alaska...
After disseminating Hiei's testimony regarding his fight against the resurrected Zeru while being observed by the minions of the Overfiend, Kirin posted a bulletin alerting all patrols to avoid that area until the Spirit World's Boueitai (Special Police) could close that busted entryway themselves.
This coming from Mukuro's former right-hand man, the necromancer who invented organic healing tanks that could bring the dead back to life and gave the former Makai ruler cybernetic implants that served as life support to the damaged parts of her body scarred by acid and endless bloody battles.
"Oh, how the mighty had fallen," Hiei mocked Mukuro's third-in-command after finding him. "No wonder I replaced you. Are you really this afraid of the Chojin?"
"Shigure told me you'd wanted to talk to me," said the armored youkai adept at all sorts of demonic arts, necromancy just one of many. "What do you want, shrimp?"
"I want to know where your balls are."
"Probably inside your mouth."
For that remark, Hiei unleashed the full-force of a Jaou-En-Satsu Kokuryuha right into the armored man's helmeted head, the conflagration swallowing him whole. If the fire demon was lucky, he might even burn off that stupid helmet covering his stupid face.
As expected of the (longest surviving) demon of the 77 Elite Guard that was with Mukuro for the longest time (according to him, he'd been serving under her command for 250 "glorious" years), he survived the heat of 1.4 to 4.4 million degrees Celsius (or 50 to 150 million degrees Fahrenheit), otherwise known as the black body temperature.
Kirin healed up his burns and "shed" off the melted parts of his armor, intending to probably replace them through Mukuro's armory, like a(n immortal) lobster molting off his shell.
"Are you quite done? If you want to fight the Chojin's minions from where you found them, be my guest. As long as Mukuro-sama has no intention of facing him head-on, then I'll abide by her command, Mister Right-Hand Man."
"Can you take multiple Kokuryuha at the same time?" wondered Hiei.
"Go ahead and try. I'll pluck your Jagan out before you can shoot another one of your Dragons of the Darkness Flame," dared the armored demon.
More than a week later, back in the Human World; inside Shuichi Minamino's (Kurama's) room in the Minamino-Hatenaka Residence...
"How did you know my...?" started Hiei at the man... spirit... that possessed Kurama's body. "Were you eavesdropping with my conversation with Kurama all this time?"
"Now, now. Calm down," cooed Kenshin in a... Kurama-esque manner. "This is just the way the Demon Sword reacts to Kurama-dono. We become one mind. I've seen his memories of you, just as he has seen all of my own memories."
"What? But isn't that sword simply supposed to increase the power level of whoever wields it?" asked Hiei. "The legends surrounding that katana never mentioned anything about becoming one mind with its guardian."
"The Demon Sword reacts to different people in different ways." Himura placed the sword in front of him and the fire demon, finally letting go of the weapon after clearing the air about it.
An eye blink later (Kurama's eye blink, to be exact), and Shuichi Minamino was "back to normal", without a spirit visibly floating inside his body, occupying (roughly) the same space at the same time.
"With me, Kenshin and I end up with a mind-meld of sorts. With Yusuke, Kenshin's spirit solidifies into tangible form," explained the demon fox inside a human vessel. "It's like bleach. It reacts to various chemicals on a case-by-case basis."
"Is that why you didn't want me to touch that sword?" asked the flying shadow. "You're not sure how it's going to react to me?"
"I couldn't risk it. The Youtou Shinnoken is too unstable. You could either go mad with power or there won't be any reaction at all. You could become as dangerous as bleach mixed with ammonia or as benign as bleach mixed with soap."
"..."
"Uh, bleach is a household cleaning agent in the Human World for clothes and..."
"I don't care, fox."
"O-Oro?"
Hiei did his signature harrumph again after seeing Kenshin possess Kurama's (already-kitsune-possessed) human body yet again after the latter grabbed hold of the sheathed Youtou Shinnoken.
"And what about you? Who are you exactly, Himura Kenshin? You're human, right? That sounds like a human name."
"Yes, I am. Or at least I was, until I died and became the caretaker of the Demon Sword," said Himura. "I was also a shinigami. Before there were Reikai Tantei, we had grim reapers who solved spiritual mysteries as well as grim reapers who ferried the souls of the dead to the Spirit World."
"Earlier, what was it about my story that sounded familiar to you? Also, what do you have to do with this Overfiend business?" queried the Master of the Evil Eye.
Kenshin answered, "The part about you being defeated by a boyish swordsman who can outrun you reminded me of one of my enemies in my past life. As for the Chojin, he has also been reviving many of my own old enemies. We're on the same boat, essentially."
The Wielder of the Dragons of Darkness Flame said, "If that's the case, then I'll tell you the boy's name. It's Seta Soujiro."
More than a week earlier, during Hiei's talk with Kirin...
"I know someone who doesn't need to take my Evil Eye out to face down nine Black Dragon Spirit Waves," Hiei said, and this gave even the singed Kirin pause. "He stopped them all with one hand. While releasing energy as strong as any of the Three Kings. Or even Raizen's comrades."
"Even two of the surviving Three Kings succumbed under the might of Raizen's comrades," said Mukuro's former second-in-command. "Aside from Mukuro-sama, the majority of the quarterfinalists, semifinalists, and finalists were all of Raizen's friends: 'Lord' Enki, Saizo, Kujo, and Koko, Enki's wife."
"He's every bit as powerful as any of them, if not more so," said the Jaganshi. "I daresay he might even be a match against Mukuro when she's using her full potential. Before she got a hold of my hirui gem and lost her anger."
"Shut your filthy mouth. You don't know what the hell you're talking about," said the former second-in-command to the present second-in-command, grabbing his head and lifting him to the wall.
"Before you were even born and got thrown off a cliff by scared ice maidens, I was already side-by-side the most powerful demon of all Makai, leading bloody war after bloody war to expand our territories!"
"Were you around when Gein was wreaking havoc in Makai? Or Ichigaki in Ningenkai?" asked the smirking fire demon, his dark flame bursting forth his small body, threatening to sublimate Kirin's hand.
Kirin dropped Hiei like a hot potato, his hand suffering from third-degree burns so severe, the bone could be seen along with the charred flesh and muscle. It then regenerated in an instant, like nothing happened to it.
"I've even heard that Gein was responsible for the creation of the Toguro Brothers' demonic bodies," added the fire youkai while implying something else entirely.
"I don't know who Gein is, but I'm familiar with Doctor Ichigaki and his experiments on humans," said Kirin.
"Because he was a student of yours?" asked Hiei.
"...Not exactly."
Kirin was rumored to know the secret to achieving Regent-Class immortality and instantaneous regeneration among demons (or at least biological immortality found in organisms like lobsters and jellyfish), such that no matter how old they got, they'd never age (senescence), deteriorate, or succumb to mortality after maturation.
That sounded like the type of body the Elder Toguro got, although it could also be a side effect of his ability to manipulate his form in every which way as a shape-shifter.
Both the Younger and Elder Toguro had the capability to regenerate at that rate. However, Kirin's regeneration was faster. More complete.
"You have the ability to regenerate and resurrect dead people, yet you never healed Mukuro's scars. Why?" asked Hiei from out of the blue.
Kirin answered, "She doesn't want to. She was more interested in increasing her powers than mere... aesthetics. She inflicted many of those scars herself. She wanted to always remember what had happened to her."
"..."
"Ichigaki and Gein... well, he was called by another name at the time... were part of a project proposed by Mukuro-sama around 50 years ago, during the Human World's Second World War," began Kirin. "A project partly inspired by certain... events from that war. Events that Gein himself bore witness to."
More than a week later, back in the Human World; inside Shuichi Minamino's (Kurama's) room in the Minamino-Hatenaka Residence...
"Soujiro? Kenshin, is that the boy from the Shinsengumi with the bloody cough?" asked Kurama aloud. "Did he change his name and run after you? You remember him differently from how he was portrayed in the history books."
"Oro? No, no, Kurama-dono. That's Okita Souji. Seta Soujiro is instead Shishio Makoto's right-hand man, the strongest swordsman of the Juppon Gatana and second strongest next to Shishio," explained Kenshin.
"Ah, I see. I was confused for a minute there." The half-youko chuckled.
"You have my memories mixed up. Although I can understand the confusion. They kind of look and act alike."
"That they do. I was wondering why Okita was acting like a psycho and how he survived his tuberculosis to have crossed swords with you again."
"Stop having an argument with yourself. You look like a crazy person," remarked Hiei, his hand on his cheek and his elbow on his knee while looking at Kurama with half-lidded eyes.
A red-cheeked, sweaty Minamino coughed primly. "So you're saying that an enemy of Kenshin from a century ago almost killed you in a swordfight?"
"Yeah. After some other pony-tailed bastard stopped nine Kokuryuha cold, that was when the kid attacked with that teleporting step of his. I couldn't sense any bloodlust from him either, so I had trouble keeping up with him when he attacked."
Himura nodded sagely. "Ah, yes. That's Soujiro, all right. He was using the Shukuchi on you. He also has a frozen heart, so even when he attacks, he does so without any malicious intent. I also almost died facing him."
"Wait. Ponytail? Kenshin, do you remember any enemy of yours with a ponytail?" asked Minamino.
"I can't say I have. I was usually the one with the ponytail for the most part!" replied Kenshin.
"How about that other Shinsengumi captain with a ponytail when you first met him? I saw him in one of your memories," said Shuichi.
"Saito? But I already crossed swords with him, and he now looks a normal policeman with short, sleek hair and bangs," replied Himura.
"I have no idea what you two are talking about," Hiei said, rolling his three eyes. "Get to the point already, fox."
"Long story short, we and Kenshin share common enemies all linked by the Overfiend," explained the redhead. "Who were the other people there in Alaska?"
"Like I said, some masked man named Gein, an Onmyouji's shikigami, and Zeru. Does Kenshin know any of these other people?"
"I've met the Onmyouji back in Genkai-baasan's temple, when Rando and the Saint Beasts attacked," said Kenshin. "He seems to be the minion directly connected to the Chojin. Is he an enemy of yours from the past?"
Kurama and Hiei shook their heads. "We've never actually fought an Onmyouji before. I thought he was your enemy."
"His voice does sound familiar, but that was also the first time I ever faced a practitioner of onmyoudo." Kenshin's spirit compelled Kurama to rub his tapered chin. "Or is Feng Shui considered onmyoudo?"
"...Feng Shui?" chorused the flying shadow and the demon fox.
More than a week earlier, during Hiei's talk with Kirin...
"What does the Second Human World War have to do with Gein and Ichigaki?" interrupted Hiei.
"Well, more so Gein and less so Ichigaki. As you've correctly guessed, he's human. His name isn't actually Gein, he's a Japanese doctor named... Sugino, I believe, involved in government-funded human experimentation for a covert biological and chemical warfare research. Unit 731."
"Unit 731...?" repeated Hiei.
"A unit so shameful, the country responsible for it continues to deny its existence."
Nana-San-Ichi Butai. Unit 731 (known officially as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army).
These words meant nothing to the demon who lived most of his life in the Demon World, but invoked strong emotions from the prewar and postwar generations. Like the word "Holocaust".
As the Jagan User heard more about the unit, it reminded him of the rumored contents of the Black Chapter Tape. If anything, he wouldn't be surprised if footage regarding Unit 731's experiments (using older filming methods and media) was also present in the videotapes' compilation of humanity's sins.
"Sugino Shoji was sparse on the details about his involvement with Unit 731 even though he knew so much about it. However, he did mention he was part of Division 1, which was the division where the actual use of live POW and non-POW test subjects took place," said Kirin. "They tested thousands of them. Men, women, and children. And they have the audacity to call us demons cruel."
"And Ichigaki?" asked the Imiko of the Koorime.
"It was Doctor Ichigaki who vouched for him when we were starting our own little project, impressed by the detail found in his research. In fact, Ichigaki was able to improve his own human experiments thanks to all the data regarding human anatomy, biology, and limitations provided by Sugino's intel."
"What was your project?" queried the Forbidden Child of the Ice Maidens.
"If it was possible to turn a human into a demon," said Kirin. "This was during the time before Mukuro got a hold of your hiruiseki, the gem absorbing her rage. When her gender was a secret to everyone save for those in her Inner Circle. When she was still known as a heartless, violent, and cruel monster."
"What made you go through such an insane project?" asked Hiei.
"To tip the Cold War between the Three Kings to our favor. It took a long time to finally happen, but even then, 50 years earlier, Raizen was at death's door. Yomi himself was tinkering with genetic augmentation, inspired by the eugenics program of the humans... the Nazis, I believe... which eventually created Shura. Some demons were even considering stealing the formula for the atomic bomb, giving even a D-Class demon the destructive power of an upper-level S-Class."
Rather than be horrified by his words, Kirin looked up wistfully at the overcast skies. Probably longing for the good ol' days.
"Before Urameshi's demonic powers activated through atavism, half-breeds already existed. Hanyou capable of destroying mountains, changing landscapes, or becoming their very own deities in the Human World, worshipped by the weak and the ignorant. Unlike demons, where only barely a million were above Class-C, there were billions of humans, so even if S-Levels were one-in-a-million, the humans could produce thousands of them by their numbers. At least, in theory, that was the case."
This was partially true. Among the many residents of Makai, the vast majority were inferior beasts (30 billion, although there could be more depending on how many of them are discovered), the rest were the slave class (120 million, significantly smaller than the 5 billion people on the Human World in 1993 or even the 2 billion people of 1948 after the Second World War), 6 million were B-Class, barely a thousand were A-Class, and barely a hundred were S-Class (most of which competed in the Demon World Unification Tournament).
Only a handful was S-Plus or Upper S-Level. The Three Kings were believed to be the only ones within that level until Raizen's comrades came out of the woodwork.
"Where did you get your supply of humans?" Hiei asked.
"Through rifts like the one you found. The Spirit World Barriers didn't cover every last area out there, plus we could always pay low-class demons who could pass through the barrier to do our kidnappings for us," Kirin informed.
"In Japan, when humans went missing because of us, they were said to have been 'spirited away'. In America, when we took humans away, they supposedly had close encounters with 'aliens' who did anal probes." By this time, Kirin sat down on a nearby boulder, seemingly giddy for the opportunity to reminisce about the old Mukuro and her old Elite Guard.
"Even a whole army of A-Levels could take down a handful of S-Levels if they were to combine their powers, but the population we have in this huge, huge world is small enough as is. Humans, though, there's a large quantity of them. They breed like cockroaches or ants. If we can turn even a fraction of them into demons loyal to Mukuro-sama, the war would be over. We would've won."
"But that's not what happened, did it?" said Hiei. "We wouldn't be here, patrolling for lost humans and bringing them back to their own world if that were the case."
"Let me finish, shrimp. Ichigaki and his human 'assistant' were able to temporarily augment the power levels of our human test subjects, but they couldn't take the power. They were driven mad by it, becoming uncontrollable and bloodthirsty savages no better than Makai beasts. Half-breeds were frail compared to full-blooded demons. Hell, they don't even have a fraction of the lifespan of us demons who could live for millennia. Human 'empires' could barely outlast a demon's lifetime."
A human to a demon's point of view in terms of lifespan was like a fly to a human's point of view.
"Ichigaki began researching mind-control in order to better rein in the insanity of the A-Class and B-Class hanyou, but they ended up no better than puppets. What's worse was that their power levels decreased back to C-Class when under hypnosis. But it was for naught. Our understanding of crossbreeding, DNA, and genetics were primitive at best, especially human DNA and how it would react to our DNA."
That explained why Doctor Ichigaki's methods of capturing Yen, Ryo, and Kai mostly involved mental manipulation.
"As for Sugino, he ended up almost dying in his stay in Makai because, according to Ichigaki, his untrained, frail human body was succumbing to the dangerous atmosphere of the realm. It was proposed he work only in the Human World, but his exposure was already at the fatal stages. To compensate for this, he made a demonic clone of his body. He planned to have his spirit transferred to it using my necromancy to continue his research. He didn't want to test the method on himself, so he waited until a successful test subject could be achieved."
"And his new name... Gein... where did that come from?" asked Hiei.
Kirin shrugged. "Thanks to his failing health, he became delirious. He claimed he saw his past life. He was a puppet master back then, or so he says. He must've gotten that name from that. Regardless, we needed better test subjects... martial artists... because even the top athletes we were kidnapping weren't able to take the injections given to them. That's when our government started to cooperate with organizations like the Black Black Club."
The Black Black Club. The Illuminati of the Criminal Underworld. Them again. Come to think of it, all their members were sponsors of the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, weren't they? Particularly the ones that Genkai and the Toguro Brothers participated in.
"Anyway, when the Black-Black-Club-sponsored Ankoku Bujutsukai ended up with a champion that wasn't a demon, they cooperated with our faction to fulfill the wishes of the human winners: The most powerful martial artists on earth at the time," resumed Kirin.
"They were the Toguro Team, weren't they?" concluded the flying shadow.
"Yes, and two of them, the Toguro Brothers, wanted to give up their humanity in order to be turned into demons. That was their wish after their team won the championship."
"But you were actually successful in doing that. Those two became Upper B-Class demons that terrorized the Human World for 50 years," said Hiei.
"They were. Actually, they reached around lower B-Class when their souls were first transferred to their new demonic clone bodies. The operation was conducted by Sugino, and he intended to do the same to himself. However..."
"...However?"
"Sugino died before he could transfer his spirit into his own demonic clone. Although Ichigaki claimed Sugino stole the more successful demonic-cloning-and-soul-transference technique from him, he couldn't replicate the method. Also, the demon doctor's mind-control method produced half-breeds far too weak to be useful in Demon World combat, and he was eventually fired from the job. The whole project was dropped soon after."
Hiei shook his head and smirked. Knowing Doctor Ichigaki, the likeliest scenario was him killing Sugino/Gein so he could take all the credit for the success of the Toguro Brothers' demonization. Or he could've murdered the human out of jealousy.
The fire demon would even bet good money that Ichigaki poisoned Sugino gradually, claiming the Demon World air was killing him but insisting that he stay in Makai regardless to continue his research. "But wait, if Gein really is Sugino, then...?"
"It's either Sugino found a way to become 'Gein' and transfer his spirit to that demonic body of his or this Chojin upstart revived him with his own jaki and used him and his research to continue a project we failed to get off the ground half a century ago."
More than a week later, back in the Human World; inside Shuichi Minamino's (Kurama's) room in the Minamino-Hatenaka Residence...
"...And that's why I have to be the one to wield the Demon Sword," finished the Jaganshi after relaying everything that Kirin told him. "We should keep those bastards from succeeding on a plan they stole from Mukuro. Also, I want a rubber match against the kid swordsman."
Kurama/Kenshin paused for about a minute or two (they couldn't look at each other because their spirits were made one by the mind-meld) before saying, "Okay. Let's see what happens when you wield the Youtou Shinnoken."
"If you're not going to let me get that sword, then I'll take it... What did you say?" came Hiei's double-take.
"I... we... said, 'Okay.' Go ahead. Koenma is probably curious about the effects of the sword on you too. You might as well have it," Kurama said.
However, the kitsune's body language of backing away and taking a rose seed from his hair spoke of a whole different story.
The fire demon harrumphed, insulted that the redhead considered him no better than humans injected with demon DNA, who went mad with power.
"Shut up and give me that sword."
At long last, Hiei had gotten hold of the Demon Sword.
To Be Continued...
The names "Dai Shin Kan" and "Dai Kaijin" are actually of Tokusatsu (Special Effects) Show origin, specifically my childhood favorite "Kamen Rider Black".
The Gorgom cult refers to the weird priests in that program as "Dai Shin Kan". The monsters that Kotaro Minami (Robert Akizuki in our Philippine dub) fights are called "Kaijin".
Also, yes, the above story is my fanwank explanation on how Shigure, the Schrdinger's Cat of Yuyu Hakusho, ended up alive in the manga although he committed suicide in the anime.
Aloha,
Abdiel