NOTE: I DO NOT know the episode with Yusuke's demon blood awakening goes, I'm winging it here, making it up as I go along, so, yeah, it'll be different. And, I am sorry that I couldn't get the page breaks in, I still have yet to figure that out on fanfiction... Sorry! I'll make some sort of page break here to show a change in point of view. And thanks to everyone who reviewed, all the comments were very encouraging.

Chapter 30

Nike's POV

He knelt beside the fallen Shidosha. He... Had failed. Letting his tears fall, he bowed his head and rested it against her neck. He heard something. He paused. Not letting his hopes get up, he hesitantly let his hand trail to her pulse point at her throat. Pressing his two fingers against it. His eyes widened. She was alive.

No one's POV

She lay there in complete darkness, eyes closed. Slowly, almost completely silent, her heart began to beat. The sound of her beating heart grew louder, stronger, until it was pounding in her ears. Her nose twitched. She could smell it... BLOOD! Her eyes snapped open, a fierce gold, thirsting for blood and death. This was Yusuke Urameshi, as a Battle Demon. And nothing could stop her now. Nothing but her soul. And chances of her conscious over riding her demon blood were slim... At best.

She got to her feet, ignoring the fact that she was bleeding, the relaxant having no more effect on her. Within seconds, her wounds had healed as she leapt into the fray, past allies and straight towards Kangae, for, even though his illusions made it seem otherwise, he was the one bleeding the most. An unearthly shriek tearing past her lips, she charged him, claws and fangs bared. He barely had enough time to dodge her attack. Even though he had mostly dodged it, they still left scratches on his chest, blood beaded around the edges of the wounds.

Her friends backed up, unsure of how to handle the current situation. Kangae was slightly relieved at that, though judging from those lines and markings on her body, she was a battle demon. He would not leave this building alive. He gritted his teeth and grabbed his knives. She smirked with a feral glint in her eyes, blood lust radiated off of her in waves. The intensity nearly left him light headed from the fact that it was directed at him, and that it was obvious that she wanted him dead. She snarled, a slight smirk on her lips as she licked the few drops of his blood off of her claws. Her eyes glowed as the sheer raw power surrounded her, causing the remnants of her clothing and now white hair fly around her, wildly, untamed.

This was it.

He, yet again, barely dodged her claws, though he had no time to counterattack with his weapons. Chikusho!

Yusuke's POV

I laughed as I attacked, relishing the feeling of his blood against my claws, the feeling of sheer raw power rushing through my veins. He was pathetic next to me. I was toying with him, and he could barely dodge my attacks. And if he blocked them, it resulted in my drawing of more of his blood. I grinned maniacally. This... Was fun.

Sort of Kangae's POV

It took all of his energy just to dodge or block her attacks. Her attacks were powerful, and it was wearing him down. A lot. He could not last much longer. And if she brought out her Spirit Energy, he was finished. He could barely stand against her physical attacks, forget any others. He was as good as dead if she did. And... Judging from the amount of energy surrounding her, she was about to bring out one of her aura attacks.

Yusuke's POV

I concentrated my aura into my finger tips and smiled at Kangae. He was rooted to the spot. I smirked, licking my lips. The mouse... Was cornered. I lifted my hand and let the aura explode from my body, not even bothering to call it forth with an incantation. I did not need it.

Sort of Kangae's POV

Shit.

Her attack ripped through his chest and bone like it was wrapping tissue. He stumbled back, blood pouring from the wound.

Kangae's eyes were wide, in shock, and fear. He had only seen Yurei'ha like this once, when Doku and the others had died. She had killed their murderer then. He had known she had demon blood, for he had seen her with it dominate once, at their botched assassination, but... Even then, that blood lust was nothing compared to this... Even when she was fighting Toguro... He shivered, hunched over, and threw up from what he saw in her eyes. He was trembling, when he looked into those pitiless eyes, he had seen... Seen what she was going to do to him. He tried to reach her mind, but it was futile. There was only bliss... Bliss that she was about to kill him. Kangae kneeled, clutching his wounds, from which blood was pouring without any sign of slowing down, each breath caused him to gasp in pain. He didn't have much time left... If... If he had remained loyal... Remained one of the best under the best Shidosha... He might've lived to see a few more centuries...

Gasping for breath, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, he looked up at the demon who was in front of him, raising a hand for a finishing blow. He smiled and laughed, though it was more of a cough, at the irony. Still laughing, he smiled up at her. She deserved the title Shujin. He never had. All it had taken was his death for him to realize that.

"DIE!" Yusuke lunged, claws extended, ready to kill. Kangae closed his eyes, waiting for the blow to come. It never did.

He opened his eyes. Her hand was one inch, if even that, from his heart. She was struggling internally. That much was clear. She was strong enough to fight her demon blood...? She really did deserve the title of Shujin. Not many half breeds could control their demon blood, and considering how strong the Battle Demon blood was, and the fact that the remaining half of her blood was human... If she was able to hold back her demonic instincts when the body was in complete blood lust, ready to make a kill... Her soul, and human blood, was much stronger than normal... But her soul... He looked at her. Her eyes were half closed, alternating between her normal chocolate brown and yellow. Her hair and become streaked with black, the white mixing with the raven colored strands. If she could revert back to a half-blood form, she would be in control, but... Even if she did... He was still going to die. If not by her hand, it would be by one of her mates. He glanced at the kitsune and fire/Koorime youkai, they were strong. Very strong.

He would not live much longer. But... The least he could do was aid Yusuke in this struggle. Her demon blood had probably never meant to surface, and it was his fault it had. He would help her, only if she was losing the fight in herself. His intrusion would do more harm than good, things like this must be done naturally. And from the looks of it, Yusuke was holding her own against her internal demon.

Yusuke's POV

Red. Red everywhere. No. Blood throbbing in my head... Adrenaline in my system... Feral laughter on my lips... My claws extended... Ready to kill... I would not... STOP! The demon me glanced at me. She... Yurei'ha... I suppose was what she was... Glared at me.

"You wanted this, Yurei'ha!"

"No... I didn't... I'm not Yurei'ha... Not anymore... YOU are... Not me... And... Even though... He did betray me... Us... I'm... Not going to let you kill him..." I managed to gasp out, the effort of holding her back... Ow... I felt blood slid down from my temple.

"You can't suppress nature! This state is what you really are!" Yurei'ha growled, obviously irritated with me. Too bad for her.

"Just watch me!" I snarled back at her. No... I wasn't going to go back to being a cold blooded murderer. Not now. Not ever.

She disappeared, in a flash of blue light.

Everything was blue... I felt my claws recede, if only a little, as did the fangs. The strength running through me lessened, but remained. I felt... I felt human again... Sane again...

I blinked.

The crimson in my vision had faded and returned to normal. My hair... felt MUCH longer. I glanced at my hands, the fingertips were covered in blood, but not the whole hand, which it would've been if I had made a kill. I let out a breath of relief.

I glanced at Kangae, who was in front of me, covered in blood, and... My eyes widened at the amount of blood gushing from his chest wound. He smiled weakly.

"It's what I deserve... Yusuke."

I glanced at him, then at a few of the ogres in the back ground. "Take him to the medical ward. Make sure he can't escape." I barked out. "And also find a cleaning crew." I glanced around the hallway, everything was covered in blood.

I groaned. Third hallway in one day... Koenma is going to kill me.

I felt something run into me, hugging me. I glanced down at the boy wrapped around my waist. Nike...

"Hey." I gently peeled him off and knelt so we were eye level.

Tears were still running down his face. I smiled and wiped them off.

"Hey, take care of yourself, all right, kid?" I asked as I stood and began to walk away. I glanced at Hiei and the others. "Take care of yourselves. I don't know when I'll be back, but feel free to hunt me down if you need me." With that, I turned and silently exited Koenma's palace. I couldn't stay in this unstable condition.

Fast forward to a month later

I let out a breath as I successfully reverted back to human form. I leaned against a tree. I have been training since the conferences to control my demon form... And I have made some progress... But not enough to return to civilization. If I see a drop of blood, or smell it, I feel the blood lust rise again. I can barely control myself. I sighed. I'll admit, being a half demon has it's advantages, I can run all day without tiring now. I have large reserves of aura, and... My heightened senses are a nice change. Though, I will probably curse them when I get back to the city.

I groaned as I opened the communicator compact Botan gave me, and was faced with the cheerful Grim Reaper herself. Great. Exactly what I need. A blood thirsty demon in me, and a cheerful deity of death talking to me. I really hope my control is sufficient, if I meet Botan face to face, her peppiness might tick me off enough that... Yeah. Don't want to think about it.

"Hiya!" She cheerfully chirped.

I groaned. "Yes, Botan?" 'Say what you want before I kill you' was silently added in my voice tone.

Oblivious to the veiled threat, she began to blabber about who knows what, probably what was going on with Kuwabara and the others. "As I was saying, Kuwabara and Yukina are dating-" Hiei is probably planning an assassination attempt on the poor guy right now... "Shizuru is working for Koenma as a feeler for spiritual unrest-" I wonder if he pays her... "Hiei and Kurama have gone off to train-" So maybe not. Kuwabara might live long enough to date her for a little while, then. I thought, inwardly snickering. "And Koenma has decided to send you to Demon World." That would be- DEMON WORLD!

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I shouted into the compact.

Botan visibly cringed. "Koenma and Raizen have become allies... And he wishes to send you to Raizen's lands to be a dignitary."

I stared at her. "Has. He. Gone. Mad?" I asked. "I can barely control myself, literally, and he expects me to go to a foreign land and not cause any massive mayhem! What the hell is he on!"

She got a sweat drop. "Actually, it was Raizen's request. It turns out, he's a Battle Demon as well, and in exchange for him training you, he and Koenma are allies, in case a war actually does break out."

"That's reassuring." I muttered.

Botan smiled happily. "Oh come on! You might have fun! One of Raizen's sons is Jin! Koenma made a request for him to show you around and Raizen accepted. Touya, Rinku and Chu are there as well."

I smirked. Hm... I might have some fun with this, if that's the case...

Botan suddenly got nervous, I suppose it's because of the expression on my face.

"I got to go, I'll meet you at Koenma's office to give you a briefing. There's a portal at Genkai's, see you later!" She quickly turned off her compact. I turned mine off as well. This presented... Possibilities. I grinned. This would be amusing... To say the least.

Vocabulary

Kangae: "Thoughts" or "Mind"

Doku: Poison

Shidosha: leader of hitokiri

Hitokiri: assassins

Shujin: leader of all hitokiri, the only rank above Shidosha

Chikusho: Damn it

Kitsune: fox

Koorime: ice demon

Youkai: demon

Note

Okay... Updates will be irregular, if at all, for the next week or so. But I will try to update every other day at least. And I told you I'd make this one longer. Thanks to all who have stuck with me this long. And, if anything is inconsistent or doesn't make sense, I apologize. I write at the spur of the moment. In the beginning of the series, I had no intention of making Kangae the Shujin or a traitor. (I didn't even come up with the idea for a Shujin yet) I came up with that completely in the last chapter, so I apologize if things are... Yeah. I write completely on a moment's inspiration, so... I think my subconscious might have planned this, but I hadn't originally, so, sorry if anything is incoherent.