Chapter 17 In the Belly of the Beast

Kurama's facial expression never changed as he walked towards Urameshi and the others.

"The deed has been done," he said, throwing a dark look at the cloud of smoke slowly dissipating.

"What does that mean?" Urameshi demanded. "I'd sure like to know who he's screaming at. Got a few creative ideas…"

The smoke finally cleared, revealing Toguro tangled in the branches of some sinister looking tree.

"It's called the Sinning Tree," Kurama said. "It ensnares your mind with illusions of wickedness while it sucks away your life."

"Wow, that's freaky," Urameshi said. "He still thinks he's fighting you, even now, when he's all wrapped up?"

"Yes," Kurama said.

"How did you get him hooked up on it?" Urameshi wondered.

"I used my rose whip to plant the seeds inside him when I took off Gourmet's skull," Kurama said.

"Wow, talk about planting ahead." Urameshi chuckled at his own joke.

The smokescreen was a catalyst, Touya realized. It sped up the effects of the tree as well as hid him from Toguro.

"The tree won't stop until its host is dead and as you said, Toguro, your regenerative powers make you unable to die," Kurama said. "You will suffer for eternity here, torn between your hate, your agony, but so be it. Creatures like you deserve to be damned."

Touya shivered at how empty his expression was. He had acted without mercy to condemn Toguro to a horrifying fate that was much worse than death and he didn't appear to show any remorse. Touya was glad he had not provoked this sort of fury from Kurama during their match at the Dark Tournament.

"If I ever did something to piss you off, I'm sorry." Urameshi was clearly thinking along the same lines.

"Me too," Mitarai agreed with a shiver.

"You may summon your friend now," Touya heard Senusi say in an undertone.

Touya saw a large dark shape out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't think anything of it until he found himself falling. He fell and fell through a dark abyss until he hit his head on something hard and then he knew no more.

.o.O.o.

"Touya?"

Touya moaned softly. He felt a warm hand press against his forehead.

"Touya, can you hear me? Touya!"

Touya returned to consciousness with a sharp gasp. After a few moments, he realized that he wasn't laying down so much as he was floating levelly in some sort of void filled with various pieces of debris, rubble, and other assorted pieces of trash.

"Are you all right?"

Touya looked at Kurama who was kneeling next to him, a worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine," he said, sitting up. "I hit my head on something and I must have blacked out. Where are we?"

"We appear to be inside a Uraotoko," Kurama said. At Touya's confused expression, he added, "It's a very old demon that lives beneath the surface of the Earth and collects human trash."

"And what about the others?" Touya asked.

"They're here too." Kurama nodded to the others, who stood a short distance away.

"How did we get here?" Touya winced as he shifted his position and felt a sharp pain in his wrist. "It couldn't have been an accident."

"No, it wasn't. He did it." Kurama threw a dark look at Itsuki, who stood with the others. "Apparently he tamed it and had it swallow us."

"He's not a human is he?" Touya guessed.

Kurama shook his head. "He's a Yaminade."

Touya gasped. "Truly?"

"Yes. I saw it for myself," Kurama said.

Yaminade were an extremely rare breed of demon that had six arms that could move independently from their master. Touya had met one a very long time ago and it was not an experience he had wished to repeat.

"Let me see your wrist," Kurama said.

Touya obediently held out his injured wrist, knowing there was no use arguing and Kurama gently examined it.

"How long have you known?" Kurama asked quietly.

It was a few moments before Touya was able to answer and he couldn't look Kurama in the eye. "Since Doctor. He told me first and then Genkai confirmed it after. And…" He couldn't go on.

"It's mine," Kurama said. "You're certain?"

"Yes," Touya whispered. "Jin and I haven't been intimate since long before the Dark Tournament."

Kurama nodded and exhaled shakily. He was scared, Touya realized. Not that Touya blamed him; he was absolutely terrified at this life growing inside him. He didn't think he could bear a child, especially not in these circumstances and yet for all his hesitation, he had already made up his mind, hadn't he? Urameshi had been right; he'd a made up his mind from the moment he had decided to shield the baby with his energy.

Touya blinked and realized that Kurama was watching him.

"You've made up your mind, haven't you?" Kurama asked quietly.

Touya let out a long breath. "I have." When Kurama didn't say anything, he continued, "I'm going to keep it. I know it's probably crazy, especially with everything that's going on, but I…I can't get rid of it. I don't care if I have to raise this child alone," he felt to urge to add defiantly. His chest heaved and he forced tears back.

Kurama was silent for a few moments and then he gently took Touya's hand. "You won't have to raise this child alone. I have every intention of helping to raise this child we created. I apologize if I gave you the impression otherwise, but I do want to be there. I know things are uncertain right now and there's a lot going on, but I want to make it work."

"Even if I might have feelings for Jin still?" Touya whispered.

Kurama nodded and gently squeezed Touya's hand. "I think we both need time and space to sort out our feelings for each other and yours for Jin, but rest assured, I'll always be there, for you, and for our child." Touya could only nod. "Now, it appears that your wrist might be mildly sprained, but there are no broken bones that I could detect. And it appears that you don't have a concussion either, though we should keep an eye on it, just in case. Do you think you are able to stand?"

"I can try," Touya said.

With Kurama's help, he got to his feet and walked over to the others with shaky steps.

"Welcome back," Mitarai said with a relieved smile. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit disoriented, but otherwise I'm all right. Thankfully I don't appear to have been hurt badly," Touya said.

"I'm glad to hear it," Mitarai said.

"I trust you two got your shit together while you were talking over there," Hiei said.

"Yes, we've come to an agreement," Kurama said, completely unfazed by Hiei's nasty attitude. Touya supposed that he was used to it by now. "How is the fight going?"

"Fight?" Touya frowned. "What fight?"

"Sensui and Yusuke are fighting each other," Kurama explained. "He had his Uraotoko swallow us so we would not interfere. Unfortunately, because he is the one controlling it, we cannot escape since now we are technically in another dimension." He nodded at Itsuki who stood calmly with his arms folded. "You missed some… rather interesting conversations. Sensui does seem to like to talk."

"Yes, he does talk too much," Hiei groused.

Touya turned his attention to the two holes that he presumed acted as the beast's eyes, allowing them to see the outside world. There was something off, he thought, and it took him a moment to realize the demons who had been guarding him were gone.

"What happened to the demons that were guarding me?" he wondered aloud.

"Sensui obliterated all of them. He didn't want them getting in the way of his fight with Yusuke," Itsuki stated matter-of-factly.

Touya turned back to the fight. Urameshi was in the middle of a flurry of punches and Sensui was blocking every single one of them with only one hand; the other hand held a violet colored energy ball. Sensui almost looked amused at Urameshi's violent attack. Every once in a while, Sensui would leap back and Urameshi followed, never breaking his rhythm of punches. When they neared the cavern wall, Sensui leaped backward once more and used the wall as a springboard to propel himself forward.

The violet orb of energy suddenly vanished which caught everyone, including Urameshi off-guard. Sensui swung around with his leg, but it merely tapped Urameshi's side lightly. Urameshi flipped back and Touya tried to call out a warning, for he had seen the attack for what it truly was, but it was too late—Sensui swung around with his other leg with enough force that Urameshi went hurtling clear across the cavern and into the wall. Touya gasped; he had never thought a human could possess that much raw power in their body.

"Well that didn't work," Kuwabara said.

Touya rolled his eyes. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Urameshi groaned and sat up, rubbing his head, apparently only bruised from his encounter with the rock wall even though several chunks had fallen out upon his impact. Then, he leaped to his feet.

"Dammit!" he yelled. "First you say I'm faster and then you get the heads up on me like I'm an old lady crossing the freeway! For just once I want some honesty from the bad guys."

"You are faster, Yusuke," Sensui said calmly. "But it doesn't matter. Reason one why you don't stand a chance: I can predict your moves."

"Nobody can predict my attacks, least of all you!" Urameshi yelled. "You're not a fucking mind reader!"

"It's not about reading minds," Sensui said. "It's about experience. I watched your moves during our first encounter and knew you'd favor the right hand hook to the jaw after my kick. Thus I was able to turn my head far enough so your fist slid off. Decoding my opponent's fighting style is my strength and I've had decades longer than you to refine my technique."

Urameshi chuckled. "So I guess I can't surprise you. Then I guess you know this too: trusting what people tell me is not my thing!"

He charged at Sensui. Instead of attacking him, he jumped over the rogue Spirit Detective and landed behind him. By the time Sensui turned around, Urameshi was charging at him again, and yet for a second time, he didn't attack Sensui directly. Instead, he punched the ground, sending up a shock wave that sent boulders flying. While Sensui was distracted by the boulders, Urameshi appeared behind him.

"That's called a fake," he said in an eerily calm voice.

He began punching Sensui in the chest and stomach, finishing with a massive punch to the gut that sent Sensui flying across the cavern and into a rock wall much like Urameshi had done previously. Except unlike Urameshi, Sensui bounced off the wall, fell into the lake, and did not resurface. Touya could only stand and watch in silent awe at the sheer power the two humans were displaying. It reminded him of the time he had witnessed two A class demons fighting over some territory. The result had completely reshaped the land for a hundred miles in each direction.

Urameshi stared at the lake's calm surface. "Come out, Sensui! I know you're just hiding. Or did you forget how to swim?" he called out peevishly.

Bubbles appeared on the lake's surface and then Sensui surfaced. He calmly walked out of the lake, now shirtless. Touya couldn't help staring; Sensui's entire body was covered with scars.

"Good punches, Detective," Sensui said amiably. "Between them and the water my shirt practically dissolved."

"Ew, look at all his scars," Kuwabara said. "Guess he wasn't lying about all the fights he's been through."

Sensui turned to them for the first time. "Don't you know what they say about assuming, Kuwabara? These wounds didn't come from enemies; no one's ever hurt me that bad. I gave myself these scars, as part of my training."

Oh, he's one of those types, Touya thought. This could make things more difficult, though things already seem quite difficult.

"How about we fight like there's a little more at stake?" Sensui said.

Urameshi tensed as Sensui walked toward him. Touya didn't like the sinister look on his face. Sensui raised his arm and a violet energy orb rose from within the depths of the lake. It hovered near Sensui's head.

So now he can manipulate his energy balls without needing to touch them? Touya thought. Has he always been able to do that and he was merely concealing that from us? That would make sense. You never want to show your enemy the true depths of your powers right from the beginning.

Sensui began powering up and his body was surrounded by a strange violet aura the same color as his energy ball. Then, Touya blinked because there were far many energy balls than before. He thought he was imagining it, but he wasn't; Sensui had multiplied the number of energy balls hovering by his body.

"Perhaps I should step up my game," Sensui said.

The energy balls coalesced into one large ball that Sensui kicked at Urameshi with his foot. As he did so, the energy ball splintered into hundreds of smaller balls. Urameshi did his best to dodge all the splinters of energy, but he was soon overcome. Touya closed his eyes, unable to watch. He felt Kurama's arm wrap around him and he leaned into the red-haired demon's embrace.

"It's all right," Kurama murmured in his ears a number of minutes later. "Urameshi is all right."

Touya opened his eyes. Urameshi looked a bit haggard, but he was still standing.

"Is that all you've got?" Urameshi demanded.

Sensui laughed softly. "You are foolishly cocky, a regrettable sin. Now reason number two why you cannot beat me: when attacked from multiple angles, your defenses are negligible at best."

Well, he's not wrong, Touya thought.

"You think too linearly, which is a pity," Sensui continued, beginning to power up again. "You've been spoiled. As a fighter, you've grown a little too comfortable with these one on one duels of yours." He summoned more energy balls. "I needed to fight many opponents at once when persuasion failed, so this technique was born out of that necessity."

"Aw, come on. You just did that. Can we play another PE favorite besides dodgeball? You know, I play a real mean game of four-square," Urameshi said.

I have no idea what that means, but it's probably insulting, Touya thought.

"This is no time for jokes, Yusuke."

Something in Kurama's tone made Touya look at him. He seemed very uncomfortable and maybe even scared.

"His energy is…so much stronger now," Kurama said.

"I know," Touya murmured. "I feel it too."

"This brings us to reason number three why you don't even stand a slim chance of beating me: the gap between your spirit energy and mine is far too great. If your spirit energy could fill a fish bowl, mine would fill an ocean."

"There's no way! The difference between them is too much! He'll…he'll be murdered!" Mitarai said.

Touya noticed that neither Hiei or Kurama said anything, but the expressions on their faces said they knew that what Mitarai said was true, they just didn't want to say it out loud. To voice those thoughts meant it would become a reality and they did not or could not accept the reality that Urameshi was going to die.

Touya didn't normally flinch away from attacks as an observer, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to watch the brutal assault on Urameshi. It was only when he heard Kurama's gasp that he dared open his eyes.

He frowned in confusion at the sight of Urameshi taking a swim in the lake. Apparently Sensui didn't know what to make of it either; he just stood there staring silently at the spirit detective. After a few laps, Urameshi jumped out of the lake.

"Ah, I've got to admit, that was very refreshing," he said. "And now I'm ready to go a few more rounds." He charged at Sensui.

"And now we return to your same-old conventional punches," Sensui said with an amused smirk. "It's unfortunate, honestly, to see that your brief spontaneity was merely a passing reprieve."

He moved to block Urameshi's attack, but it never came. Instead, Urameshi ripped his t-shirt off and wrapped it around Sensui's wrist, effectively preventing him from blocking.

"What the hell is this?!" Sensui demanded. "This isn't martial arts!"

"No, it's called street fighting," Urameshi said. "Guess you didn't see it coming!"

Touya had never heard of street of fighting before. It was probably a human invention. It seemed a rather dirty way to fight, but on the other hand, it seemed to be an effective way to fight Sensui. The wet t-shirt also helped keep Sensui pinned so Urameshi could punch him without end.

And then something changed.

Touya wasn't exactly sure what happened, but there was a sound like a bullet being fired and Urameshi went flying back, blood spurting out of his mouth. Sensui got to his feet. His arm had somehow been transformed into the barrel of a gun.

"It must have taken a considerable amount of restraint to hold back on that for as long as he did," Hiei commented.

"He must use his spirit energy as bullets," Kurama said.

Sensui walked over to Urameshi who lay writhing on the ground in pain. "Stop your whining!" he screamed. "You're acting like a little bitch. Suck it up and get off your stinking ass!"

Touya stared at him. He was acting completely different now. Everything about him had changed: his mannerisms, his posture, his speech, and even his voice. He spoke in a deeper, rougher voice now and his speech patterns were also rougher, now littered with foul language.

"His tone has changed completely," Kurama said. "That doesn't sound like Sensui at all."

"It's not him." Everyone turned to Itsuki, who stood with hsi arms folded. "He has been substituted now. The only person who can produce that particular weapon is the ruffian, Kazuya."

"Kazuya? What the hell are you blabbering about? That's Shinobu Sensui. We all know his name," Kuwabara said.

Kurama gasped. "Multiple personalities?!"

"Multiple what? Oh don't tell me this is getting weirder!" Kuwabara said.

"That is correct," Itsuki said.

"Multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder, is a condition that occurs when someone experiences something so traumatic, their mind cannot cope and it dissociates or separates from that traumatic event and multiple personalities form," Kurama said.

"There are seven," Itsuki said. "Each has distinct traits and talents."

"Seven?!" Kurama gasped.

"That night is what triggered it," Itsuki said. "When he learned that his murders as humanity's defender could not be justified. The guilt was too much for Shinobu, so Kazuya was created to take responsibility for these deplorable acts.

"Yet as the plan fermented, he saw that violence would not be enough. He needed to recruit help through lies and manipulation, more sins Shinobu could not face. That's when Minoru was born—the orator. And so it went. At every moral crisis that stood in the way of Senusi's plan, a new personality would be forged to do the work."

The man who called himself Kazuya kicked Urameshi hard in the ribs. Touya wasn't completely sure what to think about the existence of multiple personalities in a person, but on the other hand, he could see the change for himself. Perhaps it was true that Sensui's consciousness had split into multiple personalities to cope with the trauma of witnessing the Feast of Human Vices.

Touya winced as Kazuya began stomping on the bullet wound in Urameshi's side causing Urameshi to scream loudly. As a former Shinobi, he was no stranger to violence and cruelty, but this seemed unnecessarily cruel.

"Kazuya is by far the most ruthless and cold-blooded of the seven," Itsuki said as though he had heard Touya's thoughts.

Really? I never would have guessed that, Touya thought sarcastically as Kazuya continued to kick Urameshi around.

Kazuya grinned down at Urameshi. "We ain't officially met yet, though we do have a friend in common. Minoru's a little too chatty for my taste, but I dug that list of his. I got one to add. The fourth reason why you're gonna get skinned: because, kid, you ain't totally off your gourd yet!"

He fired a shot at Urameshi that narrowly missed his head. He fired several more shots in quick succession, all of which somehow narrowly missed Urameshi. Touya wasn't sure if that was by accident or design. And all they could do was stand and watch helplessly as Kazuya began firing again and this time, several of the shots hit Urameshi's body, littering his body with bullet holes. Urameshi screamed in pain and Kazuya grinned. He was definitely enjoying it, Touya realized and it made him sick to his stomach.

Kazuya grabbed Urameshi by the hair and forcefully pulled him up. "Come to Daddy. My, you've got the face of a little angel. Too bad I gotta bust it." He held the barrel of his gun to Urameshi's chin. "Open your mouth and close your eyes. 'Cause I got a nice surprise."

Touya buried his face in Kurama's chest, unable to watch. He knew from experience that it was going to be very, very messy.

"Not this way," Kurama said.

"But he's our hope!" Mitarai cried.

"URAMESHI!" Kuwabara screamed.

For a few moments, there was only silence, almost too much for Touya to bear. And then, a man's voice rang out through the cave.

"Shinobu, let him go."