Urameshi is More Than Just a Name
By Moonraker One
CHAPTER TWO: Son & Father
In The Present
"You didn't answer my question," Yusuke demanded with calm fury. "I want to know who you are." The spirit detective couldn't believe what he was looking at; his mother stood in front of a man who looked the spitting image of Yusuke himself, only a foot or more taller. He sensed that the man's youki was immense; he merely hid the lion's share of it beneath the surface until a battle situation arose. The half-smile on the man's face struck Yusuke as odd.
"You really want to know?" Saotuke answered eagerly. "I'm your father, your dad, your pop, whatever you like to call it." He could see the disbelief on his son's face as he broke the news to the teen across the room from him. However, he understood; he didn't believe Raizen either when the youkai god told the S-rank youkai about his heritage, either. So he approached the concept of telling his son carefully.
"Bullshit!" replied Yusuke. Having said his peace, the spirit detective flung himself towards the man with intent to plow him over with reiki. Saotuke reacted instantaneously: with such speed that nothing had been seen, he punched the air with such tremendous force that it created a shockwave that carried, blasting Yusuke against the far wall of the house with the force of a Mack truck. This was the trademark "shockwave strike;" it made the demon more powerful by being able to blast away enemies from dozens of feet away, or in this case, the length of the room.
Saotuke shook his head. "Sorry; it's true. And get up because it's insulting to think I could even hit you with such a pathetic blow. Atsuko!" he turned his attention to the woman that had always been by his side. "Didn't you teach our son about the use of energy?"
"No," she argued. "I didn't want him to get involved in affairs that concern us! He died twice, and the first time awakened his extra-senses."
"The second time he died, it brought out his youkai power, am I correct?" Saotuke inquired. "Sensui brought about the second death?" Yusuke's eyes widened as he picked himself up; how could this man know such a thing?
"You're not my father!" Yusuke bellowed. "So you're strong, and you look like me-almost exactly like me-but that doesn't relate you to me!"
"Oh yeah?" With that, Saotuke pulled up his sleeve, revealing a birthmark indigenous to members of the Urameshi bloodline. Instantly, he dispelled any doubt. "I'm certain you'll find that your mother has shown you Human members of our family ancestry. They achieved by marriage, the sacred mark of my ancestor, Raizen. No other way can this mark be gotten by anyone." Yusuke growled slightly.
"Okay, so you're my dad," he angrily stated. "How come you abandoned my mother years ago and suddenly waltz back in?!"
"She was better off in this world without a youkai beside her," he explained, "and with the youkai training she got from me, she certainly had the power to bend normal humans to her every whim." The young spirit detective almost laughed; that certainly held true. "I never knew of you. I left when she turned sixteen after the Dark Tournament. I never got any word from her that she was pregnant with my child, much less had a son. But you are mine, and that is that. I'd have returned to her anyway had you not existed."
"There were times I could have used your guidance!" Saotuke seemed surprised by his son's comment. Not one minute prior the boy claimed to have no father, now he wished he'd had the man's wisdom in the past. Perhaps, Saotuke imagined, humans made no sense. "Never did you EVER think my mother might bear your kid?!"
"Admit it; doesn't it feel better knowing you accomplished every one of your achievements by your own skill?" On that, the topic was non-negotiable; Yusuke seemed amazed at what he got just by his blood and pain.
"I'm still not ready for hug-time."
"I'd beat the crap out of you if you TRIED such a thing."
In The Past
The light glow of the artifact in her hand fascinated her like few other things she'd come in contact with. Jewelry of the finest order that she'd seen her parents wear did not compare with the intricate beauty of the key attached to the necklace that rested in her hand. Unable to resist, she took the necklace and put it around her neck, fastening the loose ends of it at the back of her neck. She noticed almost immediately that the key at the end of the necklace began to illuminate even brighter. The young museum volunteer found she could barely able to see over the vibrant glow of the artifact. What surprised her even more was when the glow faded. No longer did she stand in a dimly lit backroom of a museum in her hometown; now she was hundreds if not thousands of feet above a forest below, rapidly free-falling towards imminent doom.
"Ahhhhh! WHAT IS THIS?!" she screamed, her mouth being forced open by the wind rushing past her on her way down. Closing her eyes seemed to be the best idea at the time; instead of seeing the ground rush up to greet her, she'd meet death in silence. Opening her eyes after a few seconds showed the ground gaining ever closer. So she slammed her eyes as tightly shut as possible the last few feet before the ground.
Her rather soft landing caught the better of her curiosity. Looking down, the pendant's glow had returned; it worked its magic to ensure a safe landing. But now that she could not fear death by impact, a more serious question came to mind: where the hell was she? Or was that the answer? After all, the curator of the museum had said that it allowed transportation between Makai and Nigenkai, so perhaps she made it to the realm of the youkai.
"What are you doing here, Human?" a stern voice demanded. "You're not safe here, not with all these youkai of less honor than myself."
"Oh yeah?" she said, preparing to turn around to greet her sudden visitor. When she turned, she saw, standing immediately behind her, the tallest specimen of a man she'd ever met. Standing no less than six and a half feet tall, with jet black hair greased back in typical Japanese gang-member fashion, was someone who she didn't know to greet or run from screaming. "W...Why...hello...there, who're...you?" she stammered, frightened out of her wits.
"Name's Saotuke. Saotuke Urameshi," he replied, a distinct carry in the tone of his voice; apparently, it happened every time he spoke. The fact that he looked as though he could pulverize her in an instant didn't help her mood towards him.
"Nice...to meet you. I'm Atsuko Synchori."
"Well, Atsuko, I'd suggest you use that pendant of yours to leave this place."
"But," she argued, "I don't know how!"
"Hardly my problem," he replied, strolling away. "I'd really get about figuring it out, though."
She wanted to chase after him, shouting and smacking him, but knew he'd probably smash her head in. Instead, she took the key in her hand and held it closer to her face. "Um, artifact? I'd really like to go home now. Do you think you could take me there?"
Predictably, it gave her no response.
"Poof! Send me to Earth!"
Again, nothing came.
"WILL YOU JUST TAKE ME HOME?!"
It didn't even sparkle.
"Heh heh heh...been so long since I've eaten Human flesh," a voice cried out. Instantly, she whirled around to see who had said that, and saw about the ugliest organizing of flesh ever conceived by a god. Next to it was another who looked just as bad. The first one prepared to lunge for Atsuko, but the other one threw up its arm to stop his comrade.
"Think about how long it's been since I've held human flesh, heh heh heh," it responded. She'd been approached by some unscrupulous humans, but two pug-ugly demons were not about to devirgin-ize her. She took off the necklace and hurled it at the two for a distraction, and tore off in the opposing direction with all her speed.
"No way are you getting away that easily!" screeched the demon, taking a long leap and landing on Atsuko's back thrusting her to the ground at once. It grabbed her by her waist and flung her over onto her back and began to claw away at her clothing. Screaming loudly, she prepared as it grabbed her neck.
Not an instant after she screamed, a foot connected with the demon on top of her, hurtling it about a few hundred feet to break its back as it struck a tree. Its comrade cried out for help a moment before a burst of light emitted from the fingertip of a figure she couldn't yet see, and atomized it before it could utter a full sentence. Turning her head, she saw the face of her rescuer.
"I swear," uttered Saotuke, "you've got this huge knack for trouble."
"Thanks for saving me," she complemented him.
"Next time," he continued, "you have to be strong enough to fight off these idiotic lower-class demons. I can't believe you came to makai without adequate power to destroy lower class demons, at least."
"Excuse me! I've never been a fighter!"
"Well, it's time you became one." With that said, he began to walk away. Not a few steps in the opposing direction, he heard her footsteps following him. Turning around, he cried, "Will you stop following me?! Not my fault you're stranded here!"
"I've got nowhere to go!" she pleaded. "Please take me with you. Maybe you can train me to do that light blast thingy you did back there!"
"You're being ridiculous," Saotuke countered. "If you can't even sense ki, how do you expect to be able to manipulate it?!"
"You can teach me!"
Saotuke shook his head; the human female before him probably wasn't going to give up until she got her way, at least that's how he analyzed the situation. He never had much to do besides train and meditate, so it really wouldn't be a schedule problem, but he did not like having to deal with humans much save for when they served his desires. In his mind, he weighed the options; at the very least, he might have another potential servant on his hands. The last time he had one the person had died.
"Grrr...Alright, fine," he began, admitting defeat. "But here's the deal: you do exactly what I say, and don't let me ever catch you fooling around when you should be training. If you aren't sleeping or eating, you'll be doing what I say. We'll be meditating, we'll be practicing the manipulation of ki, and also we'll be sparring after that. If at any time you feel like you can't make it, I'll kill you. Understand?!" She gulped.
"Yuh...yes sir!"
"First, we have to get you to sense your energy, your ki," Saotuke explained. "If you ever want to be able to be powerful, you have to learn to manipulate and sense it. Also, you can learn to fight without the need to see your enemy, if your spiritual senses are high enough. Since you can't utilize your power, I'm gonna have to give you a little of mine to kick-start your spiritual senses." He didn't even finish saying it before he gathered a small quantity of his own aura on the tip of his left index finger, and held the tiny ball of power up for her to see. When he touched it to Atsuko, it assimilated itself into her own aura field, shocking every corner of her body with a severe surge of electric-like power. She desperately gripped her head in agony as his power surged through her, making her feel like her frame was being torn apart. She leaned back and screamed, moments before the pain subsided and her body seemed to return to normal. "Congratulations, few get to experience my power and live."
"What'd you do...?" she began to ask, but he cut her off.
"By giving you part of my aura, two things have occurred: one, my primary goal of activating your spiritual senses have taken effect, and two, you are now a demon, just like me."
His answer freaked her out slightly, but she did not complain. "What happens now?"
In The Present
The initial shock of seeing his father for the first time had died down a slight bit for Yusuke, although by his spiritual senses, he could tell his father's youki made even Sensui's seem like nothing in comparison. He wondered how powerful his father really was, and the prospect of an unimaginably powerful demon being nearby actually made the spirit detective hungry for battle. Looking up at his father, who looked exactly like him save for the visible appearance of a much more mature look, he wondered how the youkai could get through the barrier rebuilt between the makai and the nigenkai.
"So...dad..." he still had trouble calling Saotuke 'dad,' "is mom a demon like you?"
"Yeah," Saotuke responded, "that came about when we first met; she desperately wanted to learn the use of ki, so I gave her a part of my own aura to activate her senses, if you know what I mean. I knew it would demonize her, but it certainly was easier than going through the trouble of teaching her manually."
Yusuke had a major question on his mind. "How powerful is mother, really?" Saotuke shook his head; the last he'd seen her was when she still was just a teenager of sixteen. Even then, though, her power at the dark tournament remained rather obvious.
"Last time I fought alongside her, she was a B-class. Had to be; more and she couldn't have escaped Makai. If you're wondering how I escaped, I borrowed a little trick from her; by morphing into a splinter, I was able to hide in a wayfaring demon on his way out."
"You wanna find a lonely place to spar?" Somehow, his father had been thinking a thought very similar to the question posed by his son; thus, he found himself eager to take his son up on the offer.
"We'd need an area away from the city and rather boring," Saotuke reminded. The sudden appearance of a grin on Yusuke's face indicated he knew exactly where to begin.
"The woods outside of Genkai's temple is crawling with lower ranking demons," Yusuke reminded his father. "No one without spiritual fortification ever goes there."
In The Past
"What do we do next?!" Saotuke boomed. "We begin training at once, that's what!" His slight bit of anger almost caused Atsuko to fall over. "Here's what happens: I'm gonna leave you here in the Makai Forest, and if you survive when I come back in, oh, about a month, we'll begin the second aspect of training."
That left her livid. "WHAT!?" she shrieked. "YOU'RE JUST GONNA ABANDON ME HERE?!"
Using his youki, Saotuke hovered in the air a short bit, and then took off like a rocket into the sky. "Yup, that's the way it goes," he said, his voice slowly receding as he zoomed away. In just a few moments, she found herself very alone, and very frightened, in the middle of a forest infested with demons. She'd just hoped he'd been correct in what his decision was. Well, she checked herself mentally and realized she did feel her own ki as well as several ki signatures nearby that came close to or equaled hers, so perhaps she had some form of protection. At least, she thought, this's better than the way my dad treats me at home.
Not a few moments into her newfound aloneness, she backed up into a hard object. Turning around, the hard object was actually a youkai that looked to be far uglier than anything she'd experienced before. He also felt like two times her power. "Uh, hello there!" she tried to utter, her weak and frightened voice almost giving out on her.
The demon blasted her by seven rows of trees with a thrust to her stomach. When she tried to come up, he kicked her in the chest, hurtling her upwards into a tree. High above, watching the battle from a vantage point too high for Atsuko to see, Saotuke kept a vigil on the Human girl, because if she died he'd be back to his dull life.
Quickly, Human! he thought. Find your power and hopefully, your individual youkai technique! Otherwise you'll be fried!
Wait! Atsuko thought. Pool my ki into my arms! That'll increase my attack power! Her strategy held true, but even so, her punches were pathetically weak. A rising uppercut landed on his jaw but did not faze the demon attacking her. She hurtled a punch at his chest, but he caught it mid-swing with one hand.
"Bye, Human," he said, and with a single burst of energy, atomized all of her, leaving behind only the arm she used to punch him with.
Shit! Saotuke mentally screamed, clenching his fist and unclenching it. Dead ALREADY! MISERABLE!
"Bah," the assailant exclaimed, walking away. "Humans're stupid."
But as he slowly ambled away, he heard a sound similar to dripping, so he turned. Yuck, he thought to himself, the arm I didn't destroy is liquefying!
It was true, her arm slowly began to turn into a bluish-green liquid that looked more like a paste. The pug-ugly demon couldn't help but look at it, inching closer to it as the process continued. Ultimately, his curiosity urged him to touch the arm, causing the liquid to stick to his arm like silly putty. The only problem was, he found he couldn't get it off.
SPLATTER!
In an instant, the entire puddle of bluish-green liquid leaped up and latched onto his face, spreading like spilled milk to cover his entire head. Screams penetrated the woods as it stretched out quickly, until in a few moments, every inch of his flesh was concealed.
Huh?! Saotuke couldn't understand it; what the hell had happened? He saw a large burst of energy from the demon turn the girl into a pile of ashes. Yet, as the demon fell to his knees before Saotuke's very eyes, screeching through a film of fluid, the very structure of it began to move and twist. Then, it began to trickle away, receding like a shoreline to reveal a shocking secret. When the liquid finally disappeared, it revealed that it had taken hold of the demon's body, rapidly restructuring Atsuko onto the very frame of the demon's body, not like a template or a Xerox, but rather, absorbing him into her, regenerating her body incorporating his knowledge and aura in addition to her own.
"Wh...WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" the newly-reformed Atsuko shouted. Her mind showed her the entire picture in slow motion, but she refused to believe the one remaining piece of her rebuilt her, sucking up the demon that'd attacked her. That, she figured, was the stuff of horror movies, not real life.
"I'll answer that," Saotuke quickly answered, descending. "Each demon has one technique perfectly unique to them. Obviously, you lucked out and managed to get one that will be quite useful."
"Oh, so much for training, huh!" she angrily shouted. "You were gonna let me die there?!"
Smiling sarcastically, he quipped, "but you didn't, so that's what matters."