Evasion of Normalcy
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Disclaimer: If I owned it then there would be an American name on it!

ADVANCE WITH CAUTION!

My characters are found, several times, using questionable language that may be offensive to some or many. Several of the characters that are brought forth from my disturbing subconscious are sick, disgusting, gory, loathsome in their entirety, depressing, comically/non-comically deranged, and morbidly insane. A good example of these characters is Li, who is being introduced in this chapter, but his full derangement will become clear in later chapters. Thank you for advancing with as much caution as your own personal derangement will allow.
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Chapter Three
Escape of the Four-Armed Convict
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The sea green-haired koorime looked thoughtfully out the window, smiling as she spied the beautiful castle gardens, the various plants' caretakers hard at work tending to their many exotic flora. Her crimson eyes danced with mirth as she glanced upon one section of the garden in particular, which was devoted entirely to the beautiful ningen flower, the rose.

Lady Yukina's mate had an amusing fascination with the plant, and kept the fragrant beauty in an abundant amount all around the castle, not just his gardens. When she teased her ruby haired lover of his love for the rose, he defensively claimed that their aroma cleared his mind and helped him to focus.

Yukina occasionally claimed, jokingly, that he cared more for the roses than he did for her, and they would both laugh at the ridiculous notion, if just to enjoy their little time together.

Lord Youko Kurama was often away on business in Reikai or Ningenkai. It was on one of these trips to Ningenkai that he brought to his mate, a single red rose, the first one he had ever taken from the soil, and told her that it was the most lovely flower in all of Ningenkai, but that it was shadowed by hey own beauty.

Then Kurama proceeded place two spells on the rose, one that would preserve it for all of eternity, and another that would allow her to whisper his name to the flower, and become able to telepathically communicate with him for a short time. The rose's power, however, was limited and needed to be used sparsely.

Yukina gazed at the rose, admiring it's warm glow that seemed to almost light the room. Then she placed a loving hand on her slightly swollen lower stomach, delicately rubbing it with her fingers. There was a life beating strongly within her womb.

A small smile graced her lips as she remembered the evening in which she and Kurama first found that she was with child.

It had been three days before Lord Daio Enma of Reikai had requested Kurama's presence to judge a trespasser of his territory that had killed several of his border patrol demons.

The Lord and his Lady had been sitting at the window when another ki in the room grabbed their attention. This ki came not from an intruder, but from Yukina. It was a perfect blend of both of their energies, and Kurama took his mate into his arms, kissing her forehead gently, and looking at her stomach with a wide smile on his face. The inevitable would happen eventually, though, and Kurama was called to Reikai. Even if the only thing that he wanted to do was stay in his castle with his Lady, Enma insisted that he should come to the Reikai palace.

Yukina looked upon the rose once more, contemplating if she should use it to check on Kurama. 'No, I shouldn't disturb him...he will be home within a few days...' she thought, looking back out the window to the gardens. During her pondering, she failed to notice a large shadow pull one of the patrol demons from their post and into the dark mori...
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With Youko Kurama
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Lord Youko Kurama stood before the Lord of Hell and Reikai, Enma, carefully listening to his tale. The large demon was drumming his fingers frustratedly on his desk as his deep voice filled the chamber they were meeting in, "I would have dealt with him myself, I'd have been only too happy to do that, but seeing as he had only just entered your territory and killed twenty-seven of your demons, the peace treaty between our two worlds required that the owner of the territory's judgment be given and that we come to an agreement on what to do with the criminal..."

Kurama looked at the Reikai file he held in his hands, startled to see that the culprit had a extra pair of arms protruding from his waist. Extra appendages other than horns and tails were rare, as demon bloodlines had been mixed and mudded, even inbred, sometimes. Tokai Li was a wind demon of the highest caliber, also a mass murderer. Li was known throughout the three worlds for his murder of a member of the royal family in Reikai, 'Which would explain why Enma has taken him from my territory...' the kitsune thought, skimming over the rest of the file.

His eyes became ensnared by a certain word, 'Doppleganger, but the species is extinct...if this is true, and he is half Doppleganger, then Tokai Li can reshape his body at will!'

The Doppleganger species was, before they were massly slaughtered, very common. If a Doppleganger member could transform into a human, they were exiled. Most Dopplegangers could only transform into animals and, though not often, fantastical and extinct creatures. Li's mother must have been able to morph into a human, and was exiled, which was probably when she met Li's father, a Chinese wind demon, and they conceived Li.

The only one who knew of Li's parents' identities would have to be Li himself, as they were both murdered when Li was a young demon. The Dopplegangers that had exiled his mother, attacked and slaughtered his family. Thinking that his mother was still pregnant for Li, they wasted no time with looking in the nearby mori for the young, four-armed demon that they had no idea had actually been born.

Years later, Li sought vengeance for what had been done to his parents. All of the pain and hardships that he was dragged through at a young age tore at his mind, toyed with his emotions, and further increased his fury towards not only his clan, but the entire Doppleganger species. His need for vindication took him to a new level of power, a wondrously high level. His power was great enough that he could create a giant tornado and shoot it from his hand, completely annihilating his clan, which had been the largest, purest clan of Dopplegangers in Makai.

After that, Tokai Li sought out all other clans, leaving only destruction and chaos in his wake. Nearly all of the Doppleganger species were wiped of the faces of the three worlds. By myth only, it was supposed that Li had spared all Doppleganger members that could morph into fantastical creatures and humans, that those Dopplegangers also felt pain through their lives.

Many demons, dark and light, admired Li. They believed that he was justified in the destruction of the Dopplegangers, as all clans shared the same custom of exiling the Humanoids or Mythicals. They felt that he should be revered, and claimed a hero by the three worlds for "freeing a species from it's savage bonds". They thought that way, until Li murdered a member of the royal family in Reikai. Until he murdered Lady Sakura, Lord Enma's mate...

"Bring in the criminal..." Enma called to the oni guards outside the chamber doors. Kurama gazed upon the demon who'd had enough strength to kill twenty-seven of his border patrol demons in mere seconds, and caused the death of an entire species. There were three small horns in a triangular pattern on his forehead, just beneath short-cropped mori green hair that clashed with his lilac-shaded eyes. He was much smaller than Kurama had expected him to be, yet still muscular, and was obviously hurt, blood-stained bandages wrapped around his upper torso.

"Those wounds, did you create them?" the kitsune asked the Lord of Reikai. Though he felt that Li deserved all the punishment in the three worlds, to torture a prisoner, no matter the crime, was a direct violation of the peace treaty between the three worlds.

Daio Enma began to growl lowly, his dark eyes flashing with fury and sorrow, "Yes...but they were created years ago..." His glare became directed toward Tokai Li, who was glaring with equal coldness right back at the master of Hell.

Li wore only black cargo pants, as any shirt he placed on would have been ripped apart by his lower arms. His clawed hands were balled into fists, and shaking with rage as he forced himself to look away from Lord Enma.

When his gaze turned upon Kurama, he chuckled lowly. The red-haired kitsune narrowed his eyes, "You have been accused of murder, and I will sentence you to-"

"You just don't get it, do you?" the mori-haired demon asked, a malicious smirk stapled to his face. His voice was deep and musical, startling for a demon of his size, "You fail to see that you have completely fucked the three worlds? I was only a distraction, your real concern should be on your territory, Youko Kurama, as that is where the threat lies..."

"We have captured you, what have we to worry about?" Kurama asked in speculation. Li laughed loudly, "Someone far more powerful than me is in your territory as we speak...I was meant to create an opening in your border so that he could slip through. His great plan worked, you have come to Reikai, far away from your own territory. It will take you days to get back to your beloved koorime, but even then it will be too late..."

Fear clutched at the Lord's heart as he realized what the demon was saying. He sprang forward, grabbing Tokai Li's throat, "What did you say! If you've harmed her in any way I'll-"

"Do what? Kill me? I haven't done anything except lead you away, but I can't guarantee that Jaganshi Xian won't do anything to her and the whelp..." Li's smirk widened when Kurama's hand slid from his throat, but his expression was quickly replaced by a hate-filled one when Daio Enma sprang from his seat and lifted Li into the air by his shoulders.

All of Li's four hands gripped the larger demon's arms, "Maybe this is why Sakura came to me, maybe you were too violent with her..." he whispered hatefully. Enma's eyes burned, "I'll show you violence!" One of Enma's fists, which was three times the size of a normal-sized fist, collided with Li's jaw with a sickening crunch. As Li lay on the chamber floor, unconscious, Enma started to build up a fireball in his palm. He would have thrown it at the lilac-eyed demon, but was stopped by Kurama, who stepped between them.

"Get out of my way Kurama, you know you want him gone as much as I do..." the master of Hell muttered quietly, barely restraining himself from using his Pyro Hand on not only Li, but the kitsune as well. "Yes, Enma, but he has information that we may need."

Enma slowly, reluctantly lowered his arm, letting the flame seep back into his palm. "Take that filth to the prison..." he ordered his oni guards, who looked to Kurama for his consent, which he gave with a short nod. After the guards had left, the red-haired kitsune turned to the angry demon, his emerald eyes dark with worry for his mate and unborn child, "What do you suggest we do?"

"I believe that we should get the information we need from the criminal, by any means necessary...and that we should employ the help of someone who has faced Jaganshi Xian..." Youko Kurama looked speculatively at his long-time ally, "Someone has survived a confrontation with that cannibal?"

"No, but when two opposite elements are combined, a new power is born, and it lies dormant within the body until the time comes to call it out. The demon whose help we will need is a hi koorime, and also a carrier of the Jagan curse. I think it is time that we evoked his true power, but first Jaganshi Hiei must be revived."

"Jaganshi? He is related to Jaganshi Xian?" Enma nodded before muttering, "Hiei is his son..."
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Reikai Prison
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As the oni guards dragged Tokai Li to an available cell, they failed to pay attention to their captive. If they had actually taken enough care to place extra guards around his unconscious body, one of them may have noticed the slight twitching of Li's lower left hand, or the slight crunch of his regenerating jaw. 'Being half Doppleganger certainly has it's advantages...' the four-armed demon thought to himself as he felt the bones in his jaw start to fuse their broken areas back together.

Tokai Li continued to feign sleep as the two guards brought him further down the corridor, until he heard a woman's voice that sounded oddly familiar. He tried to ignore it, but as the guards dragged him further, the voice got louder.

"Who where you ordered to assassinate?" she asked, apparently becoming frustrated with whom she had been questioning. A deeper voice reverberated through Li's ears as the demon whom was being interrogated laughed, "Someone who wronged my employer, that's all you need to know."

"Who is your employer?"

"That, baka onna, is none of your concern."

"Fine then, how was your employer wronged?" Li couldn't stand not knowing who the female voice belonged to any longer, and wrenched open his eyes only to see azure hair and lilac-tinged eyes look, startled, at his extra arms, before catching his same-colored eyes.

'Sakura...' Li thought, his eyes clouding with anger. He raised his lower arms, small tornadoes already forming on his knuckles, before driving them through the oni guards backs. Botan started to scream, only to have solidified air nip into her neck slightly, a thin line of blood starting to trail along the Razor Blade Wind and onto Tokai Li's already blood-stained hand.

"There's noone to protect you now, Sakura...You're finally mine..." Li's eyes flashed from lilac to a steel grey, before becoming their rare shade again. More oni guards began to show up, escorting a different prisoner to their cell, but froze when Li brandished his nearly invisible weapon dangerously in front of Botan's neck.

"Back off or your precious kato onna is going to find herself to be a bloody mess..."

"Not if I can help it, she still has to find the other half of my soul..." A deep voice echoed from a nearby cell, right before Li cried out in pain, clutching his blackened lower right arm. The nearly transparent Jaganshi Hiei peered through his bars coldly at the guards, fire seeping back into his palm, "Don't just stand there, grab him!"

They all lunged for the mori-haired demon, only to be torn to pieces by seemingly imaginary blades. Tokai Li looked upon the carnage he had created and smirked, his ki focusing around his feet. Then he looked at Botan, "I will be back for you, I swear to you that...There is noone who can protect you now...not even you Jaganshi Hiei!" he exclaimed icily as his gaze turned upon the half-souled demon. Then small tornadoes formed around his clawed feet, sending the powerful demon forward at a rate that was difficult for even Hiei to keep track of.

"Oh no, I have to find Lord Daio!" the azure-haired beauty exclaimed, but turned to the hi koorime's cell, flashing a small smile at his clearly bored expression, "Domo arigatou for saving me, Hiei..." Hiei then growled out, "I'd rather be in Hell than in this damn cell. You had better be finding my soul, baka kato onna..."

Botan paled slightly before materializing her oar and speedily flying through the Reikai Prison, ignoring the cries of the convicts as they jeered at her through the bars of their dimly lit cells. She felt a small droplet of blood seep from her tiny wound, her soft hands reaching up to her neck, as her healing magic soothed the minuscule injury. 'I bet anything that I'm lucky that Hiei had been there...I have a feeling that Lord Daio is not going to be very happy about that demon's escaping...' she thought as she flew through the exit of the prison, the oni guards having recognized her as she came toward them, and into the halls of the Reikai palace.
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With Jaganshi Xian
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The large, red-skinned hi demon looked down at the ugly mess he had created, smirking as he watched his latest victim's blood stain the marble floors of Lord Youko Kurama's castle. Behind the charred remnants of that victim, lay a gory trail of the bodies of every guard that Jaganshi Xian had come up against. His smirk widened as he recalled how silently he had massacred them all, either with his Reikon Settouzai Katana or with his awesome hi.

He searched for traces ki, finding two very close by. To the normal demon eye, it would have seemed that Xian had disappeared, when in reality, he was moving so fast that the most he would have been taken for was a gust of wind.

He only stopped when he reached a set of very large and thick demon oak doors, the chamber's lock having been carefully turned by it's occupant. The dark-haired demon placed his large hand upon the golden doorknob, watching it twist and finally pour, melted, onto the black, grey, and white marble floor. Silently, he pushed the door open, slipping inside with nary a sound. He closed the door, her crimson gaze focusing on the two traces of ki within the room.

Lady Youko Yukina still sat at the window, unaware of the darker presence within her chambers as she stroked her lower stomach. Her intruder focused on the ki from within the sea green-haired onna, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he seemed to disappear, only to phase back into plain sight right behind his target.

Yukina gasped as a golden blade pressed lightly against her neck, and gave a slight whimper as her captor's hot breath grazed roughly around her ears, "For all of his renowned wisdom, your mate should have not been so quick to leave you with mere amateurs for protection."

It was then that Xian let his ki begin to flare, it surprised Yukina enough that she almost stumbled forward into the blade of the Reikon Settouzai Katana, and she would have, had the three-eyed demon not sheathed his blade. Then he speedily bound her with molten rock, which solidified as her koorime powers naturally began to decrease the temperature around her, also healing the burns that the thick liquid had placed upon her wrists.

"What do you want with me!" Yukina cried out as the large demon threw her, none too gently, onto the bed and walked to where she had once been standing. As he peered outside, his Jagan began to glow a dark and venomous purple, 'Come my Dopplegangers...destroy everything, leave nothing alive...' he telepathically called to his sizable army, grinning maliciously as wyverns, dragons, and griffins flew through the mori, slaughtering every living thing they could find. His grin only widening when a group of werewolves and chimeras burst from the underbrush, landing among the startled gardeners before beginning to tear large portions of flesh from their bones. Their cries of agony mixing with the roars of the Dopplegangers that were not Mythical, but Humanoid left to ring horribly in Yukina's ears.

"They have done nothing to you, leave them alone!" the petite koorime screamed, tears falling from her eyes as she ran to her captor to plead for their lives. When she got too close, however, Xian threw a look of utter disgust at the crying onna, before lifting her up by her neck so they could see eye to eye. What he saw only placed his evil grin back onto his face.

"You should lie down, my crimson-eyed daughter," he whispered as he tossed her, more roughly than before, onto her bed, "Now relax, you're going to need to preserve as much energy as you can. If you do, then you just may survive the procedure that I have in mind for your unborn child."

Yukina was stunned into silence, her bound hands hovering protectively over her lower stomach. Her fear was replaced with anger as she heard the triumphant call of a dragon that was most likely feasting on one of her gardeners, "I am of the koorime! I am only my mother, Hina's, child! And you will not touch my child!"

Xian threw back his head and laughed, but soon faced her with a hate-filled glare, "Hina mated with me before she could conceive you on her own! Look at your eyes, daughter, and then glimpse mine! Are they not stained blood-red! Your brother's eyes share that very same color as well!" he bellowed angrily, "He is a male, and that was not your bitch of a mother's doing! My element is that of the burning flame, as is half of yours and your disgraceful brother's!"

In a rage, he appeared in front of her, striking her harshly across her right cheek, "You may have mated into power, but neither you, nor your brother have harnessed the infinite power of your opposite elements! You have lazed about, becoming weak and useless!" he spat venomously at Yukina as she tried to crawl away from the infuriated hi demon.

Jaganshi Xian's eyes glinted as his overpowering anger left him, "Hiei died trying to save a mere ningen from becoming my dinner," at this, Yukina flinched, "But you are not like your brother...No, you have done something that may prove useful and profitable to my conquering of the three worlds...you have conceived a child of two opposite elements and of animal demon lineage..."

Her father, as he had revealed himself, then cupped her swelling face in his large hands and got close enough, much to her disgust, for her to barely hear, "How does it feel...to be responsible for the total enslavement of the three worlds, daughter?" He quickly let her go, smirking cruelly at her tear-stained face as he walked back over to the window, basking in the carnage that he had created.
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Japanese Dictionary:
domo arigatou - thank you very much
koorime - ice demon
ningen - human
Reikai - the spirit world
Ningenkai - the human world
ki - spirit energy
mori - forest
Makai - the demon world
kitsune - fox
hi koorime - fire/ice demon
oni - ogre
Jagan - evil eye
baka - idiot
onna - woman
kato - ferry
hi - fire
Reikon Settouzai Katana - Soul Stealing Sword

As a whole-hearted attempt to gain your forgiveness of my tardiness, I tried to make this chapter longer than all of the others! I also tried to include a little more of the plot (but not too much!) so that this may become easier to understand! And, as a domo arigatou to my readers, I have changed (by popular demand) my translations for Japanese words: they are now included at the bottom of each chapter!

So, what did you think of my new antagonist, Tokai Li? At first I was going to make him a protagonist, but I found that this would fit the story better! I've always thought it would be kind of cool to have four arms, but then I thought about how you would be shunned and feared, which led to the creation of Li (who was created with the best of intentions)!

If you've acknowledged all of my hints at multiple plots (i.e., "Sakura", "The Dopplegangers", and "Li's eyes flashing from lilac to steel-grey"), I would like to confirm that there are several sick and twisted plots throughout this story! Remember the first chapter, when Hiei compares the mating habits of ningens and demons? That's a side plot, too. I haven't created anything that would distract you from the main plot, but enough to make you think.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter of "Evasion of Normalcy"! I got it out late because I have no Internet, extra floppy disks, or a CD drive on my computer (which has all of my story data!), sorry! Please review!