Author's Note: Hey everyone! I have to apologize for the fact that apparently does not allow me to use asterisks as my break points, so some parts of my stories probably got confusing. I have fixed the previous chapters, and I intended to do the same for Here to Eternity, and my Castlevania stories if I can find the original copies of them. Other than that, continue to enjoy the story and please read and review!

Who rips the child out from the womb?
Who raised the dagger? Who plays the tune?
At the crack of doom on judgement day,
no ocean could wash my sins away.
A tyranny of souls that love has lost.
A tyranny of souls, a pentecost.
Speak in tongues of fire.
Inflaming our desires,
watching as we die on our own cross.
A tyranny of souls-
"Tyranny of Souls"-Bruce Dickinson

Shadows of the Past

Chapter IX

When Yusuke Urameshi and his companions arrived at his residence the first thing he did was to turn to Chu and say, "I'll fix you a drink in a minute, Chu." And motioning his head to the hallway he added, "Hey Kayko, I'm home; are you in?"

Yusuke waited to hear his wife respond before he called her name again. But again, Kayko did not respond. However, their son did respond from his room with a cry.

"Kosuke?"

Yusuke immediately charged into his son's nursery, with his party behind him. But when Yusuke arrived, the scene that he saw caused him to break out into a cold sweat.

Against the wall lay Kayko in an upright position. And sitting in the rocking chair beside Kosuke's crib was the elder Toguro with Kosuke on his lap. Yusuke's body began to shake, as though it was a leaf on a tree.

Kosuke Urameshi was terrified to be on the lap of a stranger, but when he saw his father he believed that his savior had arrived.

"Daddy!" the two-year-old shouted, while he attempted to climb off Elder Toguro's lap. But the elder Toguro would not release him, and Kosuke began to wail.

"Let my son go, Toguro," Yusuke said in a somber tone. "He has nothing to do with your problems with me."

Elder Toguro smiled. "Yes…if Brother was here he'd certainly release your little boy over to you. However…thanks to you, Brother's not here anymore; and me and him have a completely different idea on the concept of honor."

The elder Toguro continued to smile, and he began to run his fingers through Kosuke's brown hair. Kosuke whined, and Yusuke clenched his fists and glared. But the elder Toguro responded with a smirk.

"Oh, come now, Yusuke. You wouldn't want to hurt me, especially when I hold your child's life in my hands."

Yusuke un-cocked his fists, but continued to glare. Elder Toguro continued to display his wicked grin, while he ran his fingers through Kosuke's hair.

"Little children're so frail, yet interesting at the same time. It's interesting to see what traits they've received from their parents. I can see that this child of yours received a great deal from his mother and father. However…I'm curious to see what that baby in your wife's womb looks like."

The elder Toguro raised his arm and his fingers extended. He intended to use them as a weapon to pluck Yusuke and Kayko's second born out of its mother's womb. But when Elder Toguro launched his fingers, Yusuke stepped forward. He became a shield for his wife and unborn child, and received Elder Toguro's blow in his thigh.

Yusuke screamed, and so did Kosuke, while blood poured from Yusuke's leg and soaked his jeans with its color.

Elder Toguro became hysterical at the pain Yusuke and Kosuke experienced, but his humor caught him off guard. Hiei, with his cat-like reflexes, removed Kosuke from the elder Toguro's arms and placed him in the security of his father. Then Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Chu formed a barrier around Yusuke and his family.

"You've no honor! You're nothing but a dirty son of a bitch!" declared Chu.

But the elder Toguro merely responded to Chu's comment with a grin.

"Why can't…why can't you just stay dead?" replied Yusuke, while he did his best to catch his breath and pacify Kosuke.

The elder Toguro chuckled. "I suppose if we were Christians, you could say that I've been resurrected from the dead. But I suppose that it wouldn't hurt if I told you everything.

My story begins one year ago. I was still apparently tied up in that damned fox's Sinning Tree. But, as luck would have it, a benefactor came to my aid. My benefactor was able to free me from that cursed tree, and for the last year I had to slowly rebuild my strength. Tragically, I was unable to retain the power that I received from that fatty—Gourmet—when I took control of his body. Otherwise, I seriously doubt that Hiei could've saved the detective's precious little boy."

"It wouldn't have made any difference," replied Hiei. "I prepared to save Kosuke by not letting you read my thoughts."

The elder Toguro grinned. "Still on top of the ball as always, aren't you, you three-eyed warrior?"

Hiei responded to Elder Toguro's comment with a glare.

"Regardless of which, I wasn't without some success. Although I lost the powers to absorb power or read their thoughts, I'm still unbeatable. Yes! Even if you pierce my heart or my brain I'll still survive!"

"That's nice," replied Hiei, as though he did not care.

"I feel the same as Hiei," added Kurama.

Elder Toguro smiled. "Pretty confident, aren't you?"

"I'm more interested in knowing who your benefactor is," responded Kurama.

Elder Toguro chuckled. "Well, you'll just have to keep wandering. But…I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I gave you one small clue. My benefactor's someone who's familiar with some of the people in this very room. It was through him that I was able to learn where Yusuke was now residing, although it did take a while for us to find it. That should give away one of the people in this room. I'll leave it to you to figure out who else's involved. Until then…I believe I'm going to take off for a while—farewell."

And before anyone could stop him, Elder Toguro leapt from Kosuke's rocking chair and crashed through the window of his nursery and onto the street below.

Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Chu charged to where Elder Toguro had made his escape to see if they could spot him.

"Do you see him?" asked Yusuke, while he comforted Kosuke, who started to cry again.

"Na, mate, the son of a bitch's long gone."

"More than likely he's taken off to wherever this benefactor of his lives," replied Kurama.

Kuwabara was about to add to Kurama's statement, but the only words that came out where "Yukina!" and he immediately dashed out of the shouting, "Urameshi, I'll get back with you later!"

"Sister!" responded Hiei, as he quickly followed behind Kuwabara.

"Where the hell're those two going!" complained Yusuke.

"Kuwabara's concerned about his wife, and Hiei's concerned about his sister," Kurama responded.

"Yeah, you never know, mate. The other person that Toguro said his benefactor knew amongst us could've been Kuwabara."