SailorStar9: Wow, and another chapter goes up. This is Chapter 47. Kurama visits his past and we find out that the Silver Millennium isn't as glamorous as we thought it was. Read and review.

Harpygirl91: Finally! I thought I lost you. By the way, you still own me 16 reviews.

Disclaimers: YYH, Magic Knight Rayearth and Sailor Moon aren't mine.

Chapter Summary: Just as Yusuke and Hiei were forced to confront their demons, Kurama boldly ventures through his own past. Yomi, one of the three Kings of Demon World has summoned his former partner in crime to his inner sanctum. What secrets haunt Kurama? And why has Yomi prepared for the worst?

Chapter 47: Reunion of the Bandits


A phone call from Shiori to the Minamino residence was transferred to Kurama's cell phone. She was calling his son to ask about an earthquake that had hit Japan. Kurama assured her that it did not affect the area he was in. It would not anyway, since he was not even in the Human World. Kurama was in the Demon World, answering to Yomi's invitation.

He remembered his mother's second wedding, on the previous 15th of July. Kuwabara attended it; Yusuke was already in Demon World by then, but just before leaving he had congratulated Kurama for it. Kurama had introduced Icy to his mother as his girlfriend, much to the dismay of his stepfather's single female colleagues.

Kurama presented his mother and stepfather with a honeymoon trip abroad, and he and his new stepbrother went to the airport to wave the couple goodbye. Only when school holidays started, two months after Yusuke and Hiei, Kurama went to Demon World with Icy. He had accepted Yomi's invitation to be his aide, as he had a debt with the king.


Setsuna was puzzled when Icy told her that she would not be heading back to Mercury as planned.

When questioned, Icy merely replied that Serenity had already dismissed her and she was no longer a Sol Senshi.

But Setsuna knew otherwise. Coeus, the Priest of Metis; the Sacred Land of Mercury, had paid his new Queen a visit and revealed the truth about the formation of the Silver Millennium.

As it turned out, before the Silver Millennium was even conceived, there was a kingdom of even greater power. This millennium, known as the 'Rainbow Millennium' was an era in which every planet and moon had a crystal. Keeping these two forces in balance was the duty of a Priest; like Helios, who watched over a holy ground.

Towards the set of the Rainbow Millennium's first thousand years, the Sage Neherenia prophesied that Selenity would come to reign over the entire solar system. Consumed by greed and ambition, the White Moon's Queen Selenity, set out to make the prophecy a reality. She threatened that any moon or planet that did not bow to her would face eminent destruction from 'the greatest crystal of all', the Ginzuishou itself.

The planets, fearing that the prophecy would come true at their expense, submitted to Queen Selenity. However, the more independent Moons of the solar system refused to give in to her rule, claiming that the planets were only insuring that the prophecy would come to be.

Although the moons rebelled against Selenity's rule, they could not hope to defeat her with the balance disrupted and the crystals powerless. Soon, a silver wave of light swept across the solar system, destroying every moon in it's path

Selenity was completely thorough in her elimination of any threat to her power. She first sealed Elysion off from the Earth, causing the bond between them to weaken and the power of Earth to fade. She then sealed the golden crystal inside of the body of the Prince of Earth, Endymion, insuring that the Earth could not compete with her for power.

Icy's rants was still fresh in Setsuna's mind.

"A long time ago... after the age of the Death Phantom, Neo-Queen Serenity was afraid that there could be other evil forces lurking among the mortals. So she gathered all of her energy and the Sol Senshi, and purified everyone on the entire earth, so that the evil would not return. An entire generation of humans 'purified', Setsuna! Purification left them without any negative feelings; an artificial love of everyone. Everyone's love for one another was wiped away into meaninglessness by 'purification'! Selenity's so-called 'Purification' is essentially brainwashing!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Setsuna prompted, she knew where this argument was going.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Icy screeched.

"When people are purified, all of their hatred and unhappiness is removed. It sounds really pretty when Serenity said it, but in reality it does horrible things to a person. It's practically brainwashing! Someone's unhappiness doesn't just mean that they aren't unhappy. It means that everything they ever hated, anyone that ever hurt them... those feelings of dislike are removed, stripped, raped of them. A whole half of their darn personality is completely missing!" she screamed.

Turning a stony look at Setsuna, she continued, "Negative and Positive emotions act almost like a gradient. Together, they blend together and make a barometer, with some things being more negative to a person and some things being more positive. Just take away one side of a gradient, it only leaves one color. So you would like all things equally; you would love all of them. Serenity's 'Great Purification' wiped the entire generation of people, everyone on the planet had their hatred wiped clean, like a chalkboard!"

Before she left, Icy spat, "Whether you like it or not Setsuna, Crystal Tokyo is one darn lie."


Kurama and Icy were nearing the city of Gandara when three youkais armed with swords attacked them.

Icy easily slayed them with her physic device.

That done, Kurama called out, "Yomi, I know you're here."

Yomi, a tall, blind youkai with three horns and six ears, stepped out of the vegetation. "I'm glad the both of you have accepted my invitation."

Kurama was clearly very upset. "Are you mocking me? Why have you done this? You call me here and that's the way you welcome me?"

Yomi smiled, "Easy, my friend. I did this because you're changed. I was wondering if you still have enough skill to be useful to me."

"So you were testing me? You have changed since I last saw you too. You seem more cautious." Kurama frowned.

Yomi turned away from him.

"Yes, I have changed. I've become king, and my power is on the same level of Raizen's and Mukuro's, who have been kings for much longer. My goal is to defeat them both." he admitted.

"It's been a thousand years." noted Kurama. "A long time."

"If you're as strong as I think you are, we have no reason to fear them. I'm counting on you." Yomi replied.

A short demon called Yoda arrived to warn Yomi that it was time for the meeting with his military commanders regarding the unification of Makai. Yomi ordered him to escort the newcomers to the meeting.

Yoda, unimpressed by the ki level he sensed emanating from the two, had trouble believing the king would want such two weak demons taking part in the meeting.

In a room in the upper levels of a skyscraper in Gandara, Yoda showed through graphics how the military strength of the three kingdoms was equivalent, but predicted that things would change in one year, when Raizen would die.

Yomi asked Kurama's opinion on the matter; the other commanders were curious to see the newcomer's strategy talent.

Kurama asked Yoda to show him the available data about the three kings and their seconds-in-command.

Yoda shows graphed depicting the skills of Raizen and Hokushin, Mukuro and Kiren, and Yomi and Shachi.

Studying the graphs, Kurama concluded that the powers of the seconds-in-command are too weak to be relevant, therefore the war would be limited to the remaining kings, whose strengths were equivalent. Hence the war would be pointless unless there would be a renovation in each king's crew.

Shachi scorned Kurama for his 'poor ideas', but Kurama predicted that in six months that renovation will occur, and that the new seconds-in-command would be the key of their organizations. Shachi was furious.

Walking down a corridor, Yomi told Kurama that he found the meeting very interesting, and noted that Shachi's glare at the redhead contained more than hatred.

"I believe he's planning to kill you." he remarked, as if it were something trivial.

"How can you tell, Yomi?" Kurama asked.

"After being blinded, I've become much stronger," Yomi explained. "Although unable to see, I can perceive many things: temperature, pressure, one's state of mind, the mood in a certain environment... Kurama, I can guess what will happen in six months from now. Day and night, Yusuke Urameshi has been training to become the new leader of Raizen's army. I've been informed that your companion Hiei, who has gone to Mukuro, has increased his powers remarkably in a short period of time. Do you believe that in six months Yusuke, Hiei and you will become seconds-in-command to your kings? The key elements in each of the three armies?"

Not waiting for an answer, Yomi told Kurama that there was someone he wanted to introduce to him, and guided the two to an underground cell closed by heavy doors.

"Can you guess who it is, Kurama? It took me so long to find him. It's the youkai that took away my sight."

Kurama flinched nervously, unable to bear to look at the cell.

Yomi noticed it. "Why are you so worried? Raise your head and see what's left of him."

The door opened slowly, revealing the silhouette of a youkai cuffed to the wall. Kurama was shocked at his condition.

"His body has already started decomposing." said Yomi, "and he hasn't talked much. A thousand years have passed, but the memory of that day I was attacked is rooted deeply in my mind.""

We see flashbacks while Yomi narrated.

"Then, our situation was inverted: you were the boss and I was your second-in-command. I still could see, and you and I were eager to form a new kingdom. To make our names known and rebuild the Makai, we needed lots of money and followers, and in order to get those, we chose the most dangerous of the usual paths in Makai: we became thieves."

"I was headstrong, impulsive, reckless. I wanted to be the boss, and I did all I could to challenge you. I started doing things my own way, looting castles and villages, and losing many, many men in those incursions."

We see Yomi's group invading a castle and triggering booby-traps. All his men were killed, and Yomi himself fell in a trap and got surrounded by several youkais. Before they could do anything, however, they were swiftly slaughtered by Yoko Kurama, who had come in his rescue. "If you go on like this, you'll meet a bitter end, Yomi." the silver demon warned him.

"You were just the opposite from me." Yomi reminisced. "Very cold and calm. Ruthless but, unlike me, valuing the strategy. Lady Kallan too, she was quite a strategist. In fact, it was she who came up with the most unexpected ofplans. Now that I think of it, I guess all along I was nothing but a puppet manipulated by you. I didn't understand your methods. I wasn't qualified to be your second-in-command."

Yomi continued his story, telling about how he was lured with false information into invading a fortress to look for a treasure. There, his group was ambushed and killed by a youkai assassin Yomi had never seen before. This youkai refused to clarify who he was or who had sent him, and he proved to be much stronger than Yomi. With his two swords, the assassin blinded Yomi.

The assassin was wounded by Yomi's sword as well and left. "Life is worth more than the remuneration." Those were his only words," Yomi told Kurama. "I lost my sight, and never knew who did it or why. I hoped you'd come and help me, and I waited a lifetime for you, but you never came. A thousand years passed and we never met again, but I never lost hope that we would meet once more. I thought I could get an answer from the youkai that blinded me, so I searched for him." Abruptly, the blind king let out a chortle.

Kurama asked him what he had in mind.

"Don't you find the presence of this youkai soothing?" Yomi kicked the assassin awake.

"Please, kill me." the assassin begged, the words coming with great difficulty. "Have mercy... I can't stand... the pain anymore…"

"I think you've suffered enough." Yomi agreed. "But first answer this one question: who gave you the order to attack me?"

Kurama watched with cold eyes.

"He is relentless." replied the assassin. "His eyes are so cold... Silver-haired... Yoko Kurama."

With a roar of fury, Yomi smashed the assassin's skull with his foot.

Kurama remained composed, quiet and unshaken.

Yomi turned to him, equally calm. "Kurama, you might not believe it, but I understand. I admit, I was stupid, sacrificed too many of our men. Had our positions been inverted, I'd have done the same and killed you without hesitation."

"What do you want from me?" demanded Kurama.

"I merely want you to join me and be my second-in-command. I need your strength. In the past, despite my stupidity, I was useful to you somehow. I need your help to unify Makai. I want my dream to come true."

"And if I say no?"

After a pause, Yomi commented casually, "Humans travel a lot, don't they?"

That startled Kurama. "What?"

"The human you love is flying on a plane now. Let's hope the plane doesn't crash."

Yomi proved to know everything about how Kurama became Shuuichi Minamino, and about his beloved mother's second wedding. "Good strategy depends on good information. You were the one who taught me this."

"When I first met you, you were very insecure." snapped Kurama. "Who taught you to be this dissimulated?"

Yomi laughed, pleased. "You get angry easily, but never to the cost of your calm and reason. You know what to do not to lose someone important. Your thoughts are always two or three steps ahead into your strategy, and you always know the best path to choose. Intelligence comes above everything, only then come love and hatred. You're sad, cold, ruthless. Makai soon will face hard days, and I'll need a cold, ruthless ally to help me."

With the implicit threat against Shiori, Kurama had no choice on the matter.


SailorStar9: Finally, a chapter that focuses on Kurama and Icy. Read and review.