SailorStar9: Wow, and another chapter goes up. This is Chapter 49. Read and review.

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

Chapter Summary: It's been nearly a year since Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama arrived in Demon World, each firmly enmeshed in its tense power struggle. Now, the three former teammates are in high positions on conflicting sides, as they head towards an inevitable clash. With Raizen's time drawing to an end, Yusuke must act fast in order to keep the tenuous peace in Demon World.

Chapter 49: Inheritance


Scene cuts back to Yusuke with darkened skies and thunder roaring overhead.

Yusuke was fighting all four of Raizen's generals.

One threw a punch which Yusuke dodged easily and firing at blast at his abdomen.

Another two leapt up to attack and a series of blocks later, one was punched right in the face without Yusuke even looking.

Hokushin was the only one left standing.

Using his usual tech, Hokushin stretched his neck to avoid Yusuke's kick but was remotely surprised when Yusuke hit him in the chest.

Hokushin came crashing down while Yusuke landed on the floor relatively unharmed.

"Bang!" he commented, firing a mock Rei Gan at him.

"We admit defeat." Hokushin smiled.

"You really are something, to defeat all four of us at the same time." another added.

"Hokushin, you always use your usual tech to deflect your opponent's attack. It's a very bad habit. If your opponent attacks the harder part of your body, you're finished." Yusuke advised.

"You're the only one who can see your opponent's weakness while attacking. Looks like our positions are exchanged in under a year." Hokushin remarked.

"Good! Now to challenge my dad!" Yusuke grinned as he hurried off.

"Huh? Didn't he defeat you utterly last month?" Hokushin reminded.

"I'm all healed now!" Yusuke shouted back.

"He's a monster." Tō'ō noted.

"Like father, like son." Hokushin agreed.

"Wait, what's that?" he frowned.

"What?" Tō'ō asked.

"Raizen-sama's stomach stopped growling." Hokushin noted.

"Could it be…" he gasped.


Meanwhile, Yusuke had kicked the door to Raizen's room open.

"I'm here dad!" he announced.

What appeared before him shocked Yusuke.

Raizen was huffing lowly, foam forming in his mouth.

Letting out a loud scream, he jumped onto Yusuke.

Yusuke did not even have time to react when Raizen blasted through the room, taking him along.

"Food! Give me food!" Raizen growled.

Darn, he's strong! Yusuke mentally remarked as he was blown away with Raizen's power.

Landing in a nearby forest, Yusuke blinked when Raizen seemingly disappeared, only to find the hunger-crazed demon behind him.

Raizen bit down on Yusuke's shoulder before coming back to his sense a while later.

Then Raizen spat out the flesh in his mouth.

"Hey, this is embarrassing dad." Yusuke noted, holding his injured shoulder with one hand.

"You've grown more powerful. Why didn't you fight back?" Raizen questioned.

"Eat already!' Yusuke chided.

"If you must eat humans, then I'll go down and get some for you feast on. Are you satisfied just by starving to death?" he asked.

"Seeing you getting weaker every day, I won't be happy if I defeated you in this state." he added.

"At least tell me the reason why you refuse to eat humans anymore. If your answer isn't satisfactory, I'll force human flesh down your throat." Yusuke threatened.

"You're just like her. The only difference is in your thinking." Raizen let out a small smile.

"Huh?" Yusuke blinked.

"She's also a fiery person like you. It all happened around seven hundred years ago." Raizen reminisced.

"It was a time of major unrest. The country had been governed by a bunch of incompetent fools and the citizens lived a life of poverty. At that time, there wasn't any barriers between the human and the demon worlds. In the eyes of humans, I was merely a demon who ate them for survival. And it was under these circumstances that I met her." Raizen explained.

"She was a weak, pale woman who had the aura of a Kudakusushi around her. But what captivated me was her eyes. She was the only one who had ever dared to look at me like that, with that discerning look." he added.

Raizen went on to explain that she had told him to go ahead and eat her - she was a doctor who ate the flesh of corpses who had died of certain diseases, poisoning her stomach and bowels, from which she would cut pieces and feed the sick to cure the same diseases for potent effect. Thus if Raizen ate her, he would soon be poisoned himself and die. She also told him that if he did not eat her, he would lose all pride and potency as a man-eating demon, thus taking away all his choices - but he fell in love with her instead, resulting in intimate relations. As a flesh-eating demon, Raizen had no choice but to eat humans or die, but the woman chose to eat humans on her own, and thus he found himself weak and inconsequential compared to her. Upon separating, Raizen vowed not to eat human flesh until he met her again, but they had not promised to meet again, and not long after she gave birth and died.

"So you mean to say I have a face of a witch?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"You should be honored. She was an incredible woman." Raizen reprimanded.

"I feel that all three worlds should be one by right. In the Reikai, they do not know where the spirit goes once you die, so they started making guesses. You're my son Yusuke. Do you eat humans?" Raizen posted a question.

"No." Yusuke replied.

"That's right then. So we demons are mutations." Raizen reasoned.

"When I'm gone, the final battle will occur. I reckon you you'll get along better with Mukuro, he has no wish to affect the human world. But it's Yomi you be to be careful about. He wants to rule over all three worlds. If you want to find someone to work with, go to Mukuro." he advised.

"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" Yusuke demanded.

"I'm entrusting Hokushin and the others to you." Raizen said.

With the last sentence, he breathed his last.


Back at Yomi's place, Icy's eyes widened when Raizen's aura flickered and faded away completely.

Jerking her head to the direction of Raizen's country, she went down on one knee to pay her last respects to her godfather.


Back with Yusuke, Hokushin noticed Yusuke walking out of the forest alone.

"Yusuke, where's the king?" he asked.

"Dead." Yusuke replied.

"What? Raizen-sama's dead?" one of Raizen's generals exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hokushin, can you take me somewhere?" Yusuke requested.

"Where to?" Hokushin asked.

"To Yomi's place." Yusuke replied.


"This is Yomi's country." Hokushin announced once the two arrived..

"Thank you Hokushin . You can return now." Yusuke noted.

"No, I'm coming too. Maybe Yomi doesn't know about Raizen's death." Hokushin reasoned.

"Nah, I doubt that." Yusuke disagreed.

"In that case, it's dangerous for you to go in there alone." Hokushin deduced.

"Idiot, that's why I have to go alone!" Yusuke protested.

"You're already our king. It's my duty to protect you." Hokushin told him.

Yusuke sighed, "Looks like I can't argue with that. But make sure you don't act unnecessarily. We're only here to talk."

Out loud, he shouted, "Yomi, you son of a bitch! You hear me? I'm coming, so get some snacks ready and boil up a kettle of tea!"

That done, he added, "We can go now."

Hokushin sweatdropped.

Then, he asked, "Yusuke, what's that in the bag? I have a bad feeling about this."

"It's a secret." Yusuke replied.


Yomi laughed, "Kurama, that friend of your is very interesting."

Same old Yusuke. Icy remarked, hiding a chuckle.

I know. Kurama replied.

"It's earlier than we've predicted. I assume Raizen's dead." Yomi noted.

"Most probably." Kurama answered.


SailorStar9: Chapter 49 is finally down! Read and review.