Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Fights are around the corner.
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 21: Freckles (Part 3)
Back in Koenma's office at the Hall of Judgment...
"Hey, if you two are so curious about why Kamiya Kaoru's soul is residing within Botan, then why don't you ask her for yourselves? I mean, she appears whenever Botan is holding the sword, right?" Koenma rejoined defensively, desperate for any possible distraction he could come up with to divert Kenshin's attention from the chaotic magic issue.
Little did Koenma realize that his hasty and defensive proposal made a lot of sense to his appointed guardian for his easily corruptible relic. As soon as Kenshin put two and two together, he thrust the Youtou Shinnoken's handle to Botan's face and pleaded, Please, grab on to my sword and pull it from its sheathe," which prompted her to slap him Keiko-style.
A few minutes later, Botan apologized for her conclusion-jumping and let Kenshin finish what he was saying. "You may not remember, but during the aftermath of our battle against the Shisejyu, the Demon Sword reacted to your presence by bringing Kaoru-dono back in your place for some reason. I want to see Kaoru-dono again so that I can ask her how she ended up with your soul."
"Oh, is that it?" Botan remarked as she looked at the sword warily. "It can change me back to being me, right? I... kind of believe Koenma when he said that Kaoru isn't me, so I wouldn't want her to take over or anything. Not that I'm against you reuniting with your girlfriend and all, but..."
"She... wasn't my girlfriend," Kenshin confessed, remembering that his non-relationship with the orphaned kendo school instructor had been cut short because of his death in the hands of Makoto Shishio before it even had the chance to develop into something serious.
Botan let out a sigh, but she wasn't sure if it was out of relief or disappointment. She had no reason or right to feel either, especially if Kaoru proved herself the reason why she'd been feeling quite weird around Kenshin when she first met him. However, she was surprised that the statement didn't compel the Kaoru in her mind to suddenly burst into her psyche like she did back in Genkai's shrine.
"Okay, here's another ground rule I want to establish before summoning your not-girlfriend. Promise me you won't summon 'Kaoru-dono' without asking for my permission, okay? I may have had my identity purged eons ago, but Koenma's right when he says I'm still Botan. Just Botan. And I think I can live with that."
"I promise," Kenshin pledged, which Botan took as her cue to unsheathe the redhead's sword and close her eyes in anticipation of the switch that was about to take place. From there on end, the Youtou Shinnoken worked its earlier disclosed chaos magic to transform the blue-haired, paddle-wielding, and lithe-shaped ferry-girl into the dark-haired, bokken-sporting, and athletically inclined raccoon-dog girl.
In contrast to when Botan "wore" a humanoid body three weeks ago, it wasn't only her demeanor that changed when holding the Demon Sword. The blue-haired girl's spirit literally transformed into Kaoru Kamiya's soul. As such, the former hitokiri found himself even more overcome with emotion than the last time he talked to the kendo master.
Kenshin had just seen Kaoru Kamiya... the last person that flashed in his mind before he, Shishio, and Shishio's by-then dead female companion were enveloped in a firestorm produced by the power-mad, would-be despot's Kazuguchi technique and his spontaneously combusting body... barely a month back, but for him, it felt like an eternity. Perhaps it was her instead of Botan that welcomed him back to Tokyo just a couple of hours before the Shisejyu's attack on Genkai's temple.
Granted, because of his missing memories and decades-long slumber as the Guardian of the Demon Sword, his death and his hopeful goodbyes to Kaoru and the others at Aoiya were still fresh in his mind. Nevertheless, seeing the Adjutant Master of the Kamiya Dojo then and there in the metaphoric flesh made his insides twist and turn like nobody's business.
"K-Kenshin?" Kaoru ventured as she rubbed her eyes while still wearing Botan's kimono. Even as a spirit without some sort of physical manifestation, she was able to still transform the ferry-girl's astral projection into her teenaged self a century or so ago. The only thing that remained unchanged in the middle of her shape-shifting was her clothes; she still wore Botan's festive light-pink, long-sleeved kimono.
Not that the redhead was thinking of anything else other than his flooding feelings of relief and regret. To be honest, he didn't really care why or how the tanuki-girl, as Yahiko would've called her, managed to end up inside Botan's soul. He was just glad she was there.
With that said, he didn't know what to expect from the slightly woozy and discombobulated Kaoru, so he merely winced in anticipation of either a hug, a slap, a wallop, or whatever else reaction Kaoru could come up with. She opted to instead stare blankly at Kenshin.
"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Inwardly, Kaoru was surprised to hear a voice that wasn't her own exclaim, 'Eh? What happened to all your angst three weeks ago?' within her mind.
The Guardian of the Demon Sword himself was taken aback by Kaoru's continuing bemusement. Whatever happened to her melancholic first appearance after a hundred and plus years? The extreme regret she had back then was so palpable that the swordsman opted to reassure her that whatever it was she did back then, it didn't matter to him. All her eyes reflected back at him at that point was... mystification and bewilderment.
He opted to break the ice with an apology. "I'm sorry for waking you up from out of the blue, but I have something important to ask you."
"You woke me up because you wanted to ask me a question? W-Well, sure. Whatever. Go on right ahead," she murmured as she rubbed her bleary eyes and gave Koenma's office a wary once-over. However, before Kenshin could ask where she came from, she paused, gawked Koenma, and wondered aloud, "Whose kid is that?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me," the toddler prince berated himself before directly facing the apprehensive Kaoru and bowed low. "I'm Koenma Daio, the son of Enma Daio and the current ruler of the Spirit World. It's nice to meet you."
"K-Kenshin? Did this little kid say 'Enma Daio'? He's kidding, right?"
"Er, Kaoru-dono? I'm dead. You're dead. It's been a hundred years or so since we've died, more or less. Don't you remember?"
An awkward and impromptu staring contest between Kaoru, Kenshin, and Koenma ensued.
As the trio boarded one more train station to... wherever it was that Shizuru wanted them to go, Yahiko sighed in resignation, inwardly relieved that Sanosuke... a spirit who was rather forgetful of his years as an older but wiser war veteran before leaving the mortal coil... somehow remembered that he'd already gotten over his unreasoning fear of new technology, so their train ride on the modern-day version of the steam locomotive was thankfully uneventful, even though both Sanosuke and Yahiko were clandestinely stared at or outwardly ignored by everybody else other than Shizuru because of their out-of-date clothing.
'I hope nobody tries to take his picture or anything, or else he'll really be freaked out,' Yahiko mused as he observed the swishing concrete jungle before him that attempted to grasp at the clouds themselves. He heard from his latest descendants to kick the bucket and end up in heaven that the sixties... about twenty years after he died... was a particularly hectic time of industrial growth and progress for Japan. 'I can barely recognize Tokyo right now, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.'
Shizuru opted to continue her small talk with Yahiko from before as she casually broke the hand of the "salary man" that tried to cop a feel from her behind as the congestion of train riders increased to canned sardine proportions. "To be honest, grandpa, I think that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were overkill on America's part. Also, the anti-Japanese sentiment that many nations had and continue to have to this day and age has been somewhat tough on foreign relations."
"So I've heard," Yahiko stared at the train's white floor... or at least what was left of it in the sea of shoes... as the deluge of his undisclosed memories flooded his mind, leaving him with a feeling of bittersweet regret in regards to the mutual atrocities that Japan unleashed and received.
'No, Shishio wasn't right all along despite what had happened. Human nature be damned, might doesn't make right. Kenshin's ideals aren't naive, and it's not wrong to aspire to be the best that you possibly can despite human limitation and the so-called harsh realities of life. That's part of the reason why I've taken this mission as well... to prove that Kenshin's views were right all along.'
To Shizuru, Yahiko said, "It took Japan quite a long time to regain its pride back after its surrender to the Allied Forces. I'm just glad that things worked out in the end. Tokyo today barely resembles the Tokyo I knew from my childhood, but it's still Tokyo nevertheless. I'll do everything that I can to protect the happiness of this new Japan so that it doesn't suffer from the mistakes of its own past."
"Okay, gramps. I read you loud and clear," Shizuru mumbled in begrudged acceptance of the old soul's uncompromising optimism. They ultimately arrived at the Harajuku Station without incident, but Shizuru couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss. She made a footnote to investigate her feminine intuition's feelings of dread later on, opting to focus on her mission at hand.
Yahiko's attitude towards his sense of duty as Koenma's lackey was the complete opposite of his aversion towards the "mindless tripe" of television that the samurai ghost boy and his endless parade of descendants lambasted so much. On second thought, she realized that she shared many of Yahiko's sentiments about the medium; if anything, TV had really become worse nowadays because it was now filled with endless programs about cooking, celebrities eating food, and unfunny comedy hosts.
Add to the fact that she'd outgrown cartoons long ago, and she was left with nothing of interest to watch save for old yakuza movies featuring Ken Takakura or Bunta Sugawara. 'Oh great, now grandpa samurai here has now ruined my enjoyment of TV, of all things. My goodness, it's like these guys are acting like stand-ins for the crazy uncles I've never had!'
She added, "Y'know, for a couple of ghosts, you two don't seem all that scary. I mean, granted, you both look like you're going to a feudal-themed costume party or a new year's festival, but other than that, you're not very ghost-like."
"Well, it helps that we aren't the damned, we've been granted brand-new, flesh-and-bone bodies instead of rotting, putrid ones straight from the grave, and we aren't earthbound, unforgiving poltergeists seeking vengeance upon the living," Sanosuke jibed as he surveyed the flood of people all around them, eager to confront contemporary Japan and stare it right in the face. He was not as prepared as he thought he was.
At any rate, in a complete turnaround of what had happened earlier, it was soon Sanosuke and Yahiko's turn to gawk at the bystanders while the sea of colorful humanity mostly ignored their presence.
"Wow," was the overused word Yahiko and Sanosuke spouted out to Chizuru as they toured the metropolitan urbanity of Harajuku, Tokyo. For the two spirits whose fondest memories of their hometown involved Tokugawa-era housing, trees, dirt roads, cobblestone paths, and horse-drawn carriages... and whose last memories of Japan involved industrialization for the sake of winning the Second World War... it was somewhat of a culture shock for the two of them, to say the least.
Nonetheless, the congestion of taxicabs and economy cars, the endless monoliths of cement and glass, and the palpable smell of smog from the ashen-blue sky wasn't the source of the resurrected souls' dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and perplexed reactions. It was the people that surrounded them that truly confused them to the point of utter speechlessness.
Mingling with the normal, business-suited salary men, stewardess-like office ladies, and sailor-uniformed high school girls were orangey, humanoid abominations of nature that had hair that ranged from platinum-colored to corn-cob-yellow, wore more gaudy bracelets and trinkets than a single flea market rack could handle, and sported harsh pastel rags that even a beggar would be ashamed to wear. No wonder Shizuru wanted to bring them to this place... because no matter how out-of-place they might seem, they would still fit in within a city of misfits.
"Did we take a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the Demon World, sister? What's with the youkai?" Sanosuke asked, which earned him a timely knuckle rap on the head care of Shizuru.
"Stop acting so retarded. Jeez, you're worse than Kazuma. They're just weird, delinquent human girls with dyed hair, neon-color makeup, and horribly tanned skin. They're called kogals or ganguro; I couldn't tell the difference between the two, to be perfectly honest. It's the 'in' thing nowadays for these bimbos. It makes them feel liberated or something."
"I could have sworn they were monsters," Yahiko professed as he made a face. The throng of bronzed non-beauties reminded him of the legendary yama-uba, which were hideous female trolls that lived deep within the mountains and forests of Japan. 'So in my lifetime, I've seen raccoon dog girls, fox ladies, and weasel girls. Once I got resurrected, I was able to chance upon blackface beast girls. What next? Werewolf women? Bat-winged succubi? Sparkling vampires? Seriously.'
As for Sanosuke, he privately compared the horridly tanned monstrosities to the old minstrel shows of yore that were popular within America when he was already an old man who'd traversed the entire world before he did a spit-take on a seemingly random topic. "Wait, tan? What do you mean, tan? Tan, as in making leather? These 'girls' actually turn their skins into crocodile-like bags of flesh?"
Shizuru gave one baleful look at the Guccis and Louis Vuittons that the girls clutched and chuckled at Sanosuke's comment. "Speaking of bags..."
"Oh right. You were already dead when sunbathing became popular. My great grandson or great-great grandson told me about that." Yahiko shook his head in remembrance. "From the talks I've had in heaven, cooking yourself in the heat of the sun while barely wearing anything at all is also an 'in' thing nowadays. It had something to do with a foreign movie about a British spy, I believe."
"Well, that's strange. Back in my day, the only intentionally tanned people were the burakumin or lower class peasants like my dad back in Nagano. Now he was a man of the soil. You're telling me that 'modern' people are intentionally frying their skins to look hip or... pardon the pun... hot?" Sanosuke barked in laughter as he covered his snickering face with his palm. "What next? Are you going to tell me that street food like sushi is now being served in fancy restaurants for a hundred times their actual price?"
"Er, can we skip the history lesson and move on? I've had visits with my grandparents that weren't this involved in nitpicking every last aspect of modern life," Shizuru pleaded as she bit her lower lip and rubbed her fingers over her throbbing temples. The irony was killing her.
Back in Koenma's office at the Hall of Judgment...
"I'm dead? How could I be dead? I don't remember dying, and I don't feel like I'm dead! Is this some sort of joke?" Kaoru demanded to both Kenshin and the weird toddler pretending to be the baby version of Enma Daio while wondering why her kimono was so... pink, stuffy, and ceremonial-looking. Perhaps she misunderstood what they were saying and she was actually attending the funeral of somebody who'd just passed away? That still didn't explain her brightly colored wardrobe, though.
"Actually, for all intents and purposes, you're not only dead, but you're also, well, death, so that complicates matters quite a bit," Koenma commented, feeling slightly perturbed about the circumstances surrounding Kaoru Kamiya's revival.
"Please, don't confuse Kaoru-dono any further, Koenma-dono," Kenshin requested to the Lord of the Dead while pondering about how he was going to prove to Kaoru that they we indeed dead spirits within the Spirit World. At the back of his mind, he was also worried about how different Kaoru was acting from the Kaoru he'd met during and after his long and involved fight against the demonically reincarnated Hiruma brothers.
Koenma opted to go back to his chair and let Kenshin sort this situation out. Even so, although he personally found the idea patently ridiculous and despite all the debunking he did earlier, he was starting to think that maybe Kaoru really was Botan's past self or Botan was Kaoru's reincarnation or something. He just had no idea how that came about, and blaming the forbidden fruit for "triggering" her memories back was blatantly preposterous in and of itself.
On the other hand, Koenma was also quite bothered by the fact that he couldn't, for the life of him, remember judging and sending Kaoru Kamiya to her ultimate destination after she died. Granted, he couldn't be expected to remember one out of the billions of lives he'd judged for his father's sake, but Kaoru Kamiya had ties with Kenshin Himura, so he should've at least had a clue in regards to her whereabouts. However, perhaps she had been an earthbound spirit all this time? It boggled the centuries-old boy's mind.
A visibly upset Kaoru went outside Koenma's office to get some fresh air that didn't exist in the mostly metaphysical Spirit World, only to be greeted by business-suited ogres taking calls and running errands across what looked to be a stock exchange floor. Nonplussed beyond words, the Demon-Sword-wielding kendo instructor stood there in the middle of ogre chaos as stiff as a board until Kenshin retrieved her just in time.
Her head slowly and unnaturally turned towards Kenshin like a windup doll, her face a mask of hysteria and disbelief. "Is it the Setsubun already? Are these people dressed up as oni? Where's my bag of beans, Kenshin? I want to pelt the oni!"
Kenshin wiped the imaginary droplet of sweat on his forehead. "No, Kaoru-dono. Those are real oni."
"Right. Gotcha. And I'm the emperor's blushing bride-to-be."
Kenshin pouted, which really put Kaoru in a loop. "Obviously, you won't believe me until I prove what I'm saying to you. I can't really blame you, but... you were acting a lot differently than you did the first time I saw you again in years."
The redhead stared at the woozy and faint Kaoru sadly. "Can you not recall our first meeting in decades? Have you forgotten what you said to me? What I said to you? What was the last thing you remember?"
"I... I don't remember. My mind's a blank. Wait," the tipsy Kaoru looked as though she was about to fall over, so Kenshin immediately caught her in his arms, which elicited a momentary, "Awww!" from the nearest ogres.
"It's all coming back to me now. I remember Jine. I remember the over-muscled man with the thick eyebrows. He sucked. Oh, and I remember Yutaro-kun, the only other student that the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu had other than Yahiko. I remember Saito's fight with you, and your decision to face yet another hitokiri from your past. I remember you saying goodbye to me, holding me just like this." Kaoru buried her face on Kenshin's shoulder, her spiritual heart bursting with inexplicable guilt, her mind throbbing with a lifetime of memories.
Kenshin gripped Kaoru tight and placed his tapered chin on her shoulder. "I'm sorry for putting you through that." He didn't promise Kaoru that he'd never put her through such a horrible experience again, because the events that happened afterwards showed that he was terrible at keeping promises. After a few moments of silence passed, he prompted the girl to continue her story. "Tell me more, Kaoru-dono. What else do you remember?"
Back at Harajuku...
"Ah, my eyes!" Sanosuke mimed clawing his eyes out for Shizuru's sake as he continuously needled her with the sillier aspects of contemporary, circa-1993 life further. "There's so much... what do they call them again?"
"Neon colors," Yahiko helpfully mentioned while Shizuru led the pair to Omotesando by following the unmistakable smell of freshly upholstered leather on new cars, expensive handbags, and freshly printed money that wafted in the air. The boy boggled at the street signs indicating that they were presently traversing Meiji Street, but otherwise kept to himself.
"That's right. Neon colors! And look at all these harsh pastels and purples! The complete drabness! Also, is leaving your clothes faded, stiff, and starched like two-week-old laundry the cool thing to do? Looking like a walking fruit stand from far away is supposed to be cool? Come on! Hobos have better fashion sense than this!" Sanosuke complained loudly enough to force the rest of the teeming masses around him to avoid him like the plague because he was apparently one of those few Japanese men that possessed no sense of tact or politeness whatsoever.
"On the bright side, you'll fit right in," Shizuru rebutted, now knowing what it was like to take care of foreign exchange students. "Look, the thing with the unwashed acid jeans is that it's supposed to be part of the grunge look. In the last decade, people got fed up with all the manufactured bullshit that companies were putting out, so people started idolizing poor musicians who sang for the sake of art and weren't preppy, materialistic jerks. Therefore, that's the reason why you see so many guys have adopted that... unwashed look. It's all about the anti-fashion movement."
"I'd say it's the anti-fashion movement. More like the anti-good-taste movement. Still, I don't get it. Why are these yama-uba gals making themselves look like toasted girl clowns? Since when was hygiene a bad thing? It's kind of creepy. I mean, what's up with all this shit? It's ridiculous! It's almost as bad as the seventies, where nearly everyone seem to wear bird-nest hair, handle-bar mustaches, and synthetic jackets regardless of how warm it was."
"Even though I was kind of a delinquent myself back when I was in high school, I only have a passing knowledge about kogals." Shizuru tapped her finger on her chin and stared sightlessly at the smoggy sky for a little while. "I think it has something to do with the cuteness trend that has infected Japan. These girls don't want to be overbearingly cute, they want to be sexy, sultry, and liberated, just like those African American foreigners and their hip-hop culture. I heard that the word 'kogal' also had something to do with a brand of jeans in the seventies, but I'm too young to actually confirm it from memory."
Sanosuke chortled in remembrance as they passed Meiji Dori. "Speaking of the seventies, boy, everyone in heaven had a really nice and long laugh when those seventies-era people kicked the bucket and brought their bad taste along with them to the afterlife. It was so horrible, even they had to admit that they didn't know what they were thinking at the time once the disco fad ended back on earth."
"Come to think of it, maybe this was what our descendants kept praying to us about; this was the reason why we kept receiving constant 'eternal shame to your ancestors' curses and whatnot. I completely understand their torment," Yahiko quipped.
"So says the guys who look like they're going straight to a tea ceremony, wedding, or funeral!" Shizuru rejoined once again, taking a cigarette out and lighting it while feeling as though she were arguing with a bunch of old coots who were blinded by their nostalgia and senility.
"Well, maybe Yahiko. I'm wearing pants," Sanosuke contended while staring up at the smoggy sky. He sighed. 'Even the sky looks acid washed nowadays.'
"You? You're worse. You look like an electrified Korean competing for the Tae Kwon Do Event for the Special Olympics," Shizuru spouted out with a puff of smoke right at Sanosuke's face. From behind them, a bunch of ganguro kogals they met before guffawed at the eldest Kuwabara daughter's wisecrack; it looked like they'd been eavesdropping on the motley crew's conversation for quite a while. Even Yahiko had to snigger at that.
"Fine, fine. We'll let those freak shows be themselves, if that makes you happy," Sanosuke flippantly acquiesced, realizing that his jokes had run their course. "Where are we, anyway? And why does everything smell like a cattle ranch in the summer?"
"We're at Shibuya, and a talking paper bill told me to go here." Shizuru took out her wallet from her purse and fished for the currency that was incidentally self-aware. "Okay, Koenma. We've arrived. Which of the stores here accept your legal tender? Or maybe we should go the opposite direction and visit Takeshita Street instead for some bargain-priced merchandise? You know I won't take it against the Spirit Word if the only stores that can accept its money are trashy and cheap ones."
"Spare me your attempts at reverse psychology, Miss Kuwabara's Sister. My father does that better than anyone else," the moving Koenma picture on the yen note drolly admonished before warning, "I'm fine with you trying to play dress-up with these boys so that they can better adapt with Human World life. However, you can only shop at Shibuya's Nalanda Shop and not anywhere else if you want to help with their mission."
"Hey, I thought you said we could visit any shop we want."
"There's been a change of plans. It's now the Nalanda Shop or bust. It may sound cliché to you, but the fate of your mortal realm depends on this."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but whatever. Let's go shopping at this Nalanda Shop, then," Shizuru declared as she went to the nearest ashtray and dramatically extinguished what was left of her spent cigarette. Ergo, it was unfortunate that Sanosuke chose that very moment to ruin her good mood by gibing, "I'd rather check out Shibuya's hotels, if you know what I MEEAAA...!"
Yahiko had to admit, the way Shizuru whipped out her lighter and put Sanosuke's ridiculous hairdo on fire deserved applause. If anything, the elder Kuwabara sister was quite creative with her random acts of violence. Kaoru should take notes from her. 'Then again, maybe not,' the boy concluded as he unconsciously shielded his own gravity-defying hair from the auburn-haired former delinquent and her lighter of fiery retribution.
Back at the Hall of Judgment...
Kaoru blinked back tears she didn't know she cried and relayed, "We met back at your master's cabin. Then you, Sano, and Saito as well as me, Yahiko, Misao, and the rest of the Oniwabanshu protected Kyoto from being burned to the ground. After that, you went ahead and faced Shishio while we were forced to protect Aoiya from the rest of the Juppon Gatana."
Kenshin let go of Kaoru, which startled the girl but jolted back his own memories of his storming to Shishio's fortress at Mount Hiei. The blind swordsman, Usui, had told them that Shishio was prompted by one of his lackeys to send a couple of the Juppon Gatana to Aoiya to kill off the Oniwabanshu. He made a mental footnote to ask Kaoru later on what had happened back then. "Is that all you remember?"
Kaoru hugged herself tightly, not at all minding the fact that she was brandishing an unsheathed sword as she slowly nodded in response, averted her gaze, furrowed her eyebrows, and bit her quivering lips.
"I remember Master Hiko helping us out with one of our tougher Juppon Gatana opponents, and we even won the fight against them in the end. From there, Master Hiko reassured me that you'll certainly win against Shishio so long as you had your school's ultimate technique and your heart was in the right place." Kenshin winced at Kaoru's last comment. "Other than that, my mind's a blank. Do you remember what happened afterwards?"
'That's supposed to be my line,' Kenshin dejectedly mused, feeling disappointed that Kaoru couldn't remember what happened after he died and feeling somewhat frustrated that Koenma disintegrated the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge so hastily. It would seem that the forbidden fruit's effects on Kaoru's memories had already faded away to oblivion, so her reaction over his death and broken promise remained a mystery.
Mistaking Kenshin's unwillingness to reveal the circumstances behind his death as frustration over her persistent selective amnesia, Kaoru explored, "So everything you said was true? About us being dead, I mean?"
Kenshin gazed deep into Kaoru's eyes and mouthed, "I'm afraid so."
Kaoru stared at the humongous tiled floor of the Hall of Judgment for a little while longer. "It's kind of hard to believe. 'Dead' to me means crying over your unmoving body, with your face covered with a white sheet of cloth. 'Dead' to me means mourning over a cold slab of stone year in and year out while you're buried several feet underground inside a wooden barrel. 'Dead' to me is not talking to you right now, quarreling about whether we're dead or not."
An uncomfortable yet refreshing laugh was shared between the two long-lost... acquaintances; they were less than lovers, but they were also more than friends. "If that's the case, then I'm glad that even though we're already dead, we're still able to meet like this in the afterlife."
"To be honest, I still have a lot of explaining to do," Kenshin admitted with that half-cheerful, half-melancholic smile that Kaoru was used to seeing from him. He didn't quite know how to break the news of the manner by which he died, and he would rather show than tell her about her host, Botan, and the fact that it was already 1993 instead of 1878. He also hoped to somehow retrieve the rest of her missing memory. Obviously, the redhead had a lot in his plate right now.
Koenma eventually joined the two nineteenth-century spirits and asked if they were okay. The Demon Sword guardian assured that everything had already been taken care of, to which Kaoru shrieked, "What am I? Chopped liver? Don't you two dare talk over me! I have the right to know where I'm supposed to end up in, Mister Enma Junior!"
Koenma scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "To be quite frank, I'm not sure what to do with you just yet, Kaoru-san; but since Kenshin here has an important mission to take care of right now, I'll be leaving you in his jurisdiction." To Kenshin, he ordered, "I've sent two special operatives over to the Human World, so you'll be meeting a few more familiar faces soon enough. Once Botan... wakes up, ask her for a spirit detector."
Kenshin raised an eyebrow at the vagueness of Koenma's request. "More familiar faces, huh? I'd rather you be straight with me for once instead of making me play one of your mind games, Koenma-dono. This is something that I'd expect from your father, not you." To Kaoru, Kenshin murmured, "Botan, are you there? Are you listening?"
To Kaoru's surprise, she suddenly found "her" body moving in its own accord, particularly its lips and its voice box. "Yeah, I've been listening, Kenshin. Congratulations on meeting your not-girlfriend again. It's too bad she's more forgetful than a goldfish, but I'm guessing you want to find ways to fix that."
"AHHHHH! Kenshin! There are voices inside my head! I mean, outside! I mean, it's possessed my body!" Kaoru shouted, freaked out by her "out of body" experience reminiscent of what Jine did to her many, many decades ago. Unbeknownst to her, that wasn't her body any longer... or was it?
Not knowing what else to say, Kenshin deadpanned, "Yeah, I can see that."
Kaoru didn't take Kenshin's lack of a reaction too well. "DON'T 'YEAH' ME! And don't act so nonchalant, as though you expected me to have voices inside my head, you idiot!"
"ORO?" Kenshin gurgled as Kaoru choked him with one hand while threatening him with his own sword with her other hand. "Botan, please stop her!"
"WHO'S BOTAN? WHO IS THIS FLOOZY? TELL ME! HAVE YOU BEEN SEEING OTHER GHOSTS ON THE SIDE? FIRST MEGUMI, NOW BOTAN? WHO'S NEXT?"
"..." Botan detailed, rightfully assessing that this time around, there were no words that could be uttered in such a situation.
Back at the Nalanda Shop, Shibuya...
The charred-to-the-point-of-looking-ganguro-but-still-alive Sanosuke made a face as he scanned rack after rack of nineties-era apparel and accessories. "What is with these prices? Why are the prices for these commodities upwards to thousands of yen? Granted, we're spending Reikai yen, but it's following the same pricing scheme as the shops outside! None of you use one or two yen coins anymore, even for change? Besides, who would want to pay anything for these ridiculous pieces of shit?"
"Yeah, the inflation rate really did a number on the yen. You're used to paying for coins back in your day, huh? Well, nowadays, if you want to buy something really expensive, you'll have to shell out thousands instead of just hundreds of yen," Shizuru calmly explained while Sanosuke stayed away from her for obvious reasons. "And what's taking the store clerk so long?" she complained.
"Sorry I'm late! Here are the shirts you've ordered, sirs, ma'am!" the flighty and strawberry-haired Hinageshi cheeped as she handed the specialized outfits to the two new warriors Koenma plucked out of heaven itself in order to fight against the vague yet daunting machinations of the infamous Chojin. She was immediately deployed as soon as she was done helping Koenma explain the complicated circumstances surrounding Keiko Yukimura and Yusuke Urameshi's situation. "I do hope they meet your requirements."
Sanosuke slapped his knees and guffawed as Yahiko came out of the dressing room wearing a Hawaiian shirt and skintight jeans. "Seriously, dude. What's up with all the floral-pattern wardrobes? Is there something you want to tell Tsubame? Do you have a thing going on between you and your 'eternal rival', Yutaro?"
"You should just shut up and help me humor Shizuru as fast as possible, Sano," Yahiko scolded as he thought about trying out the black polo shirt with kanji next. "It'll be better for us to get this over with as soon as possible instead of letting it drag on for too long. Besides, I'm not about to get lectured by someone who smells like fried chicken."
Sanosuke grumbled as he used the handkerchief he'd just bought to wipe the remaining soot and burns over his forehead. "Me being a ghost is no excuse for her to set my hair on fire. She can't even take a joke! Jo-chan never set my hair on fire, and she's as violent a tomboy as can be! Man, that crazy bitch may even be worse than Saito. Or hell, maybe she is Saito's reincarnation, or at least a distant relative of his! Man, I'd hate to see that antennae-banged cop be reincarnated as anything other than a bug or a worm."
Just then, Shizuru popped out of the women's undergarment section and glared at the still unprepared Sanosuke. "Why aren't you wearing the Visual Kei clothes I picked up for you yet, Sano? Instead of obsessing about your unrequited feelings for me, you should instead spend these talking yen note thingies the way they want to be spent. Don't you want to complete your mission?"
Shizuru smirked as Sanosuke choked on his own ectoplasmic spit, unsure of which of her many accusations should he answer first. "My mission wasn't to shop for one of your time period's crazy carnival clothes, lady! I'm here to kick demon ass until Koenma is forced to give me another body because I've busted this one to oblivion. There's no way you're going to make me look like a cross-dressing hooker wearing granny makeup!"
"Aw, but you have the waist and build of a really tall fourteen-year-old girl! Speaking of which, how do you feel about the gothic look?" Shizuru condescendingly asked as she picked out some wardrobe fit for a haunting Victorian funeral.
Sanosuke tore at his slightly singed hair and screamed in frustration before hoarsely complaining, "What if I want to look like a thunderstruck karate master? Huh? What then? I don't care what people of the modern age think, they have horrible taste in clothes anyway!" Sano spat while Yahiko snickered from behind the brash and short-tempered street fighter.
Satisfied in confirming that she had the rambunctious spirit wrapped around her pinky finger, Shizuru walked over to the lone attendant in the store and talked to her about something that had been bothering her since they entered the establishment. "I don't understand. Where are all the other customers, miss? It almost seems like we're the only ones here."
"Oh, you didn't know? The Nalanda Shop isn't placed within the boundaries of the physical world. We're actually occupying a separate plane of existence altogether; Yumekai, to be exact, which is otherwise known as the Astral Plane or Level 10 Block 2 of the Purgatorial Sector," Hinageshi happily exposited. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear that that was her reason for existence.
Shizuru's jaw slackened and gaped. "The Dream World? Are you serious?" She afterwards closed her mouth, raised her hands in a defensive posture, and stopped the red-haired, priestess-garbed girl from answering. "Wait, never mind. I'd just argued with nineteenth-century spirits and sentient legal tender about current fashion trends. Of course you're serious. By any chance, are you also a part of Koenma-sama's death squad, just like Botan?"
"It's death gods, actually, and yes, I'm very good friends with Botan," Hinageshi confirmed as she dutifully folded the clothes that Sanosuke and Yahiko discarded and merrily skipped back to the supply room. "Oh, and by the way, you're Kuwabara-kun's sister, right? I was meaning to ask where you were when the Meikai invasion happened. I was able to meet nearly everyone from your group except you."
"Meikai invasion, huh? So you're the miko-like shinigami Kazuma was talking about. What a small world." Shizuru shrugged. "In regards to your question, I may have been out of town at the time. I did see the devastation and destruction that these Meikai people unleashed on the news. It's kind of funny how demons who want to conquer the world always start with Tokyo. Or maybe not, because it's the oriental, Japanese-speaking demons that mostly do that."
"It's wonderful that we don't have to deal with western monsters like vampires, werewolves, zombies, succubi, incubi, devils, goblins, elves, dwarves, fairies, kobolds, bogarts, pixies, gnomes, gremlins, ogres, leprechauns, banshees, sprites, poltergeists, sylphs, nymphs and so on. The world religions aren't just there because people grew up with different beliefs; they also help protect us from having all our demons band together and destroy the world as we know it. Let them all remain in whatever jurisdiction they belong to," Hinageshi elucidated, pleased as a peach that she could finally make use of all her extensive knowledge of the metaphysical in just one day.
"Er, right. We wouldn't want that to happen," Shizuru agreed as she backpedaled away ever so slowly from the bizarre and gibbering shinigami. Ever since her brother ended up becoming a spirit detective, she had had to deal with all sorts of weirdness; it still wasn't enough to prepare her for this character, though.
In any event, Shizuru felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Evidently, Sanosuke was trying to call her attention. "What?"
"Here, I wore your stupid modern clothes. How do I look?" Sanosuke asked while Yahiko was gasping for breath from behind him. He wore a buckle-and-strap-filled black jacket that even Aoshi would call gaudy, a tight leopard-spotted shirt, and pants with elaborate gold trimmings.
Shizuru looked at Sanosuke for all of one second before bursting into unrestrained hysterics. "I can't believe you really wore it! You look just like the handsome Suzuki Matuoka! Now there's a clown if I've ever seen one!"
Just as Sanosuke let out a stream of expletives concerning bestiality and defecation, the wristwatch-looking spirit detectors that Koenma handed the two ghosts began emitting warning signals and some such, which sort of made Shizuru glad that they were in the middle of another plane of existence, because those irritating sirens would have made a scene back in the Human World.
Back in Koenma's office...
Kenshin and Botan had already left. After the ex-rurouni managed to retrieve the Demon Sword from the hysterical Kaoru's hands, she immediately reverted back to Botan. From there, the swordsman bid his farewells to Koenma and his oni and had the ferry-girl transport him back to Ningenkai, where he could better explain to Kaoru the situation at hand.
"Jorge," Koenma said to what he considered to be his most loyal, blue-skinned oni assistant, "I can always depend on you, can't I?"
"O-Of course, Koenma-sama!" Jorge hurriedly groveled, nodding copiously. "You can trust me with anything, my lord!"
"Good old faithful Jorge," Koenma praised, smiling widely. "You didn't even question my decision to revive those two souls, even though you knew that it was an illegal act for me to do so. After all, the dead should only remain as such."
"It was not my place to do so, Koenma-sama." Jorge humbly bowed. "But I was curious as to why...?"
"...Why I broke the precious laws of the Spirit World just to grant a couple of spirits a few more moments in the world of the living even though they have a permanent, binding contract to rest in eternal peace?" Koenma finished for his underling, sighing. "What I did for these spirits was different from what I've done for Yusuke. Yusuke's case was an accidental breach of contract. This was far more..."
"Intentional, sir." Jorge nodded grimly.
Koenma chuckled. "Breaking the very laws of the Spirit World. So many things have happened in such a short period of time." His eyes were again fixated on the ceiling. "The Chojin; he worries me, Jorge. All of the three worlds are now in the grip of a hidden peril, and we can do next to nothing about it, just like with Sensui."
"K-Koenma-sama," Jorge stuttered concernedly, trailing off a bit in the end of his half-thought statement. "No one could do anything about..."
Koenma slammed his fist on the oak table, his eyes aflame with rage and frustration. "I was desperate then, as I am now. Tantei shouldn't fight against tantei, as dead spirits shouldn't fight against living beings!"
"Koenma-sama," Jorge reiterated, only because he did not know what else to say beyond that.
"The Chojin is using the souls of the dead... the evil spirits of those thrown into eternal nothingness... and reviving them somehow through his awesome power. Keep in mind that the living and the dead aren't supposed to fight each other, and if things go on the way they are, then the Chojin will have his own Army of Darkness roaming across the entirety of the three worlds."
"Forgive this humble servant of yours for his stupidity," Jorge stated, bowing, "but what does that have to do with your reviving of these humans?"
Koenma inhaled deeply. "Death was the greatest power the Reikai had over all living things... over both of the two living worlds. Meikai shared that power with us once upon time, but one thing led to another and, in the end, it was Reikai alone who held that power. Once the bind of death befalls any being, then they are now at our complete control. Itsuki knew as much, which was why he kept Sensui's ghost from us."
Koenma stood up, plucked his pacifier out of his mouth, and studied it closely. "The Chojin cancels out our power over the dead, particularly evil spirits. He has somehow gained the ability to revive most of Reikai's most dangerous foes. This... Overfiend of sorts now has the power of life over death, just as we do, because of his uncanny ability to control the once uncontrollable jaki."
"Oh no," Jorge muttered in dismay. "So this Chojin is now as powerful as Reikai itself? As Enma Daio once was? As you are now?"
Koenma nodded. "That's right." The tot gripped his pacifier tightly. "Even at the price of breaking one of our sacred laws, I just had to revive these fighters from the past. They are our only link to the Chojin other than the Demon Sword and Himura-san. It would also put us at least in equal footing with the Chojin himself, with what he's been doing and all."
"If you don't mind my asking, Koenma-sama, did you use the surplus power of the Reikai Barrier to do this? After all, you were the one who approved the destruction of the barrier in the first place. I mean, reviving the dead uses up a lot of energy. You are now responsible for managing the reiki in the entirety of the Reikai since your father's... trial and conviction. Is that how you were able to revive Sagara Sanosuke and Myojin Yahiko?"
"Between the two of us, Jorge, those two aren't the only warriors in Japan's Meiji Era; I've actually awakened each and every last person who has a connection between the Chojin and Himura-san. I believe that's the best way to solve this impending dilemma."
"But that's dangerous, Koenma-sama! You already used up most of your stored reiki while battling Sensui! It'll take at least half a century to get back all the power you've saved, and using an outside source of energy that's too immense for your weakened body to handle... it may even overwhelm you!"
That was Koenma's cue to collapse on the ground in utter exhaustion.
"Koenma-sama...? KOENMA-SAMA!"
Back in the Human World; specifically, Tokyo, Japan...
"Are you sure she isn't your girlfriend? She could've fooled me," Botan deadpanned with a bored expression on her face as she remembered how she... or rather, Kaoru Kamiya... strangled Kenshin with one hand while threatening him with a sword using her other hand; the same thing happened back in the day when they were still both alive and had unresolved sexual tension, except Kaoru used a shinai or bokken at the time instead of a katana. 'Cute. Psychotic, but cute.'
The flying pair soared into a dark alleyway, with Kenshin jumping down from Botan's oar to the pavement below before the death angel landed.
"It was just a misunderstanding. Relax, Botan. Besides, I'm quite glad that after all these years of serving as the safe keeper of a Reikai artifact, I got to meet and be around one of my old friends from my past life. In fact, I believe Kaoru-dono was one of the last people I remembered before kicking the bucket, so to speak," Kenshin relayed with his usual contented, closed-eye expression that belied an unreachable sadness in his heart.
Of course, Kenshin was disappointed with the way the meeting turned out. He wanted to pressure Koenma a bit more in order to learn the truth about the missing years of his life as a shinigami warrior. The power he held as the Youkiri... not Hitokiri... Battousai also intrigued him. During his fight with Saito, the revived historical figure contended that the ex-rurouni had awakened the power of the so-called Battousai the Demon-Slayer by murdering countless demons in his wake. However, the redhead remembered none of these events, and it left him quite perturbed.
On the other hand, he remembered the look on Botan's face while they were still outside Koenma's office; the shrinking of her irises, the bulging of her eyes, the trembling of her lips, and the shudder of her body as for one brief moment, she remembered who she was and became revolted at what she found out.
Therefore, even though he was deadly curious about the missing years in his life, he reckoned in the end that some secrets were meant to be buried. He had Kaoru back in his life after failing to fulfill his promise to her to come back; that was enough for him for now.
The ferry-girl sighed as she felt her heart sink at Kenshin's mention of "old friend"; or rather, she sensed Kaoru's reaction to the spirit guardian's comment about the kendo girl. As a woman, she instantly recognized the tumult of emotions washing all over her, well, ghostly tenant's confused, immature heart: anger at Kenshin for being called a friend, sympathy over Kenshin's plight, self-pity at being called a friend, nostalgia for an era that never quite ended to her amnesiac mind, and frustration at not being able to let go of the "friend" thing in her mind.
'HEY! Stop your... psychoanalysis mumbo-jumbo about my feelings and keep your opinion to yourself, you overly cheerful representation of death!' the Kaoru in Botan's head berated.
Thusly, Botan wondered, 'Uh, if you're a nineteenth-century spirit who can't remember anything beyond Kenshin's death, then how were you able to know about psychoanalysis?'
Botan felt Kaoru roll her eyes at... her. 'Well, duh. I used the same method you used to learn about my past memories of the Hiruma brothers; I rifled through your brain and checked out your memories.'
'I suppose the duh comment was from my brain too, huh?' Botan reasoned with mild fascination before she realized something alarming about Kaoru's words. 'HEY! Stop ransacking through my thoughts and experiences, you Amazonian wench with a sadomasochistic stick fetish! At least when I did it, it was by accident, and it helped Kenshin save all our butts at the time!'
To be Continued...
Next: The Chojin's second assault.
Will Sanosuke and Yahiko prove their mettle in Nineties Japan? Will Kaoru and Botan ever get along? Will Kenshin know the truth about the Youkiri Battousai? Stay tuned.
Meron pa ba akong masasabi?
Abdiel