Sayomi couldn't tear her eyes away from Yusuke's body. Blood leaked from the fresh wound on his chest. His complexion had already started to drain of color. Yusuke...?
"No... It can't be..." Kuwabara cautiously approached Yusuke. Then he jumped and pointed down at the detective with a cheesy grin. "Ha... Ha ha! You can't fool me! You're playin' possum, an' tryin' not to laugh! C'mon, get up or I'll hold your mouth and nose closed!"
Sayomi's grip tightened on her weapon as her body started to quiver.
"Awright! No play-acting can cover up your heartbeat!" Kuwabara kneeled down to place his ear against Yusuke's chest. "I'll just..."
His expression froze. Then his eyes widened as the truth sunk in. He stared down at his late best friend, his own face pale with disbelief. He slowly got back to his feet and glared hatefully at Sensui.
The former detective sat on top of the television as it emitted white noise. "The movie's over, but I forgot to listen to the music over the credits. It's a very beautiful requiem... and would've been perfect for him." Just behind him, above the lake, the demons started to push their way through the portal. "Ah well... Let's play one last scene. The first door has been opened. You will guide me further in."
"Me?" Kuwabara gritted his teeth. "Fat chance!"
As Hiei unwrapped his bandages and Kurama transformed into the Fox Demon, Sayomi pulled her hood over her head and shrouded herself in shadow. Her expression revealed nothing as she charged towards Yusuke's murderer. Hiei and Kurama ran beside her, their own auras flaring around them.
"Hm..." Sensui waited patiently, not bothering to dodge.
Kuwabara stared at his friends in awe, then looked down at Yusuke. With a resolved smirk, he charged after the furious demons.
"Black Dragon Unholy Fire!" The black dragon flew out of Hiei's arm, incinerating the weak demons. "Let's see what you do with that!"
The dragon changed course and flew into Sensui. However, he only smirked as his aura protected him from the beast's flaming maw. "Nice bit of summoning."
Hiei followed after him with the others close behind.
"Huh?!" Kuwabara looked around in confusion. Inside the tunnel, they were surrounded by darkness with rings of thin light passing by at regular intervals.
"We're in the hyper-space between worlds," Kurama explained.
"There's the force field!" Kuwabara exclaimed. There was a long net of energy that expanded across the grid-like plane before them. "And Sensui's in front of..." Kuwabara gasped when they stopped just before the barrier. "He's not in front of it... He's beyond it!"
Sensui smirked down at them and said, "I possess Holy Chi, and Holy Chi is not evil. The Underworld Force Field is designed to block evil, not what is holy. My Holy Chi extinguished your Black Dragon. As for evil, the force field only blocks power above that of Class-A demons. Urameshi's death awakened your former powers. Ironically, those powers now keep you from crossing the threshold."
Sayomi narrowed her eyes dangerously. She prepared to attack until she saw movement in her peripheral.
"Kurama!" Kuwabara called out worriedly.
The fox demon calmly approached the barrier net and extended his hand. Just as he touched it, there was a large blast of energy. Kurama pulled back his singed fingers and licked them. "Hmm..."
"The girl might have a chance of getting through, though not for long. Even now her aura is gradually increasing in power." Sensui shifted his attention elsewhere. "Kuwabara, your Dimensional Sword is now the only thing that can cut through it. If you need a day to think about it, that's fine. I can wait."
"Shut up!" Kuwabara growled. He summoned the golden sword and jumped into the air. "Raah!" As he landed, he brought his sword down to slash through the barrier. "I'm not dyin' for nothin', Jerkface! I'm takin' one of your arms as a souvenir!"
Sensui smirked and rode through the tunnel with his aura. Kuwabara ran after him with the others close behind.
Before long, they found themselves falling in the sky of the Demon Plane. Forests and plateaus spread across the land and beyond the horizon. The blood-red sky was littered with dark storm clouds and the occasional strikes of lightning. The strong winds carried the stench of blood and decay that Sayomi ignored. She only focused on Sensui.
"So this is the Demon Plane..." Sensui looked down at the land and his eyes shone in wonder. "Magnificent."
"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled. "In case you hadn't noticed, it's a long drop from here!"
"So it is. Where are we?" Kurama asked.
"It's the Fool's Forest," Hiei answered. "We're in luck, the demons here aren't so tough."
Kurama reached for a seed and poured his aura into it. Long vines wrapped around his torso as large leaves spread open behind his back like wings. "Grab on."
The vines tangled around Hiei's and Kuwabara's arms and they instantly held on tight. Ignoring everything around her, Sayomi continued to fall until Hiei reached out and grabbed her hand. He grunted and pulled her up to hold her more securely against his side. He turned to yell at her. "What are you—?!"
"He's dead..." Sayomi whispered apathetically. Her eyes were completely black as she stared down at Sensui's falling figure. Despite her blank expression, tears flowed freely from her eyes.
Hiei stared at her silently, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to her grief. He tightened his hold around her waist.
"Hah! Check out Sensui!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "He'll go splat like a ripe tomato!"
"Heh..." Sensui smirked. He continued to fall without a care until he disappeared into the forest below. Then, moments later, a golden light shone above the trees.
"No fair!" Kuwabara yelled.
As Sensui ascended with his arms spread wide, he said, "The idea of angels may have arisen from seeing people wield Holy Chi. It harmonizes with nature, though harmony here is... tricky."
Kuwabara ground his teeth together. "Doesn't anything throw him?!"
"There's no avoiding this fight, I'm afraid," Kurama said.
"I agree. Let's settle it," Hiei confirmed.
Sayomi said nothing as she shrouded her weapon with her aura.
"Not here, over this beautiful forest." Sensui pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Why don't we take it over there?"
"Chopping Block Plateau." Hiei recognized the large rock formation. "That's a good choice, I admit."
As soon as they were above the plateau, Kurama released the large leaves and dropped down. The others let go of the vines and followed. As soon as they touched down, they dashed.
Sensui stood by calmly. "Let me just say that to me, there's no credit in fighting a losing battle. However, you also mean to honor the departed, and that deserves respect." His aura flared around him, stopping the fighters in their tracks.
"Unh!" Kuwabara grunted and charged. "That's old stuff now, pal! Try again!"
Sensui glared and exuded more power, knocking Kuwabara off his feet.
"Yow!" Kuwabara yelled in pain.
Hiei and Kurama watched in awe as the bright light dimmed. Sayomi stared, unfazed by Sensui's display.
"Steel Chi Cloth!" Once the bright glow of his aura diminished, Sensui stood in golden armor. The armor covered his head, torso, and knees. White cloth covered his arms and legs. "Heightened chi turned into armor and weapons. You're familiar with that technique, Kurama."
"Feh! Meaning yours is better, I suppose?" Kurama smirked.
Sensui felt a spike in aura and turned around to see Hiei charging his right arm. Hiei ground his teeth as the Black Dragon came to life. "Hrrn!"
"Another Black Dragon?!" Kuwabara gasped.
Kurama and Sayomi watched silently as the dragon shot out of Hiei's arm and immediately crashed down over him.
Hiei braced himself as he absorbed the dragon into his body. "Kaaah!" He stood tall, engulfed in black flames. "Hyah!" He leapt forward and pummeled Sensui with a barrage of rapid punches.
Sensui blocked each punch with ease, then kicked Hiei hard in the stomach.
"Unh!" Hiei's eyes widened as the pain stunned him. Sensui quickly followed through with a strong punch to the face. The force sent Hiei skidding back across the ground.
"Demon Tree Spirit Fist!" Kurama yelled, jumping up behind Sensui with vines wrapping around his arm.
"Dimensional Sword!" Kuwabara summoned the golden sword.
Sayomi released the chain and spun the sickle as she ran. Shadows trailed behind the blade with every swing.
"Ahh..." Sensui punched the air towards Kurama and Sayomi, catching them with a large twister of dirt and aura. "Tornado Fist!"
The winds sliced through Kurama and Sayomi in multiple places. The two demons bled freely from the cuts all over their bodies.
"Kurama! Sayomi!" Kuwabara called out in worry.
Hiei watched the display with wide eyes. Then he glared and rushed Sensui with his sword. "You scum!" He quickly engulfed his sword in dark flames. "Blazing Sword of the Overlord!" He swung his sword down, but it stopped as soon as it made contact with Sensui's armor. Hiei's eyes widened in shock. "What the...?"
Sensui smirked and kicked Hiei out of the way. The swordsman landed on his side with a hard thump. Despite his wounds, he struggled back up to a kneel, clutching his stomach in pain.
"Gluh..." Kurama shook as he got to his feet, despite his wounds.
Kuwabara clenched his teeth nervously as he stared at Sensui. "What's he made of...?"
"At my level of power, I hit too hard, too fast. You won't die easy, I'm afraid." Sensui smiled.
Sayomi got back to her feet as shadows began to heal her wounds. She spun her sickle again and darkness began to spill out from her cloak. Her black eyes expressed no emotion as she vanished from Sensui's view.
Sensui widened his eyes and began to scan his surroundings. His eyes looked over Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei and continued searching. At the last second, he jumped up from the ground.
As his shadow grew smaller, Sayomi used it to solidify below him. She swung her sickle in a large figure eight and released two black crescents of dark aura. Meanwhile, dark chains coiled around him, binding his arms to his sides.
Sensui hovered in the air and let his aura shine bright to extinguish the shadows. He felt a sudden pull on his arm and saw a chain wrapped securely to the limb.
Sayomi pulled and jumped up to attack with her sickle.
Sensui used his trapped arm to swing the chain up and tangle the blade with the links. He quickly followed with a solid kick to her back.
"Sayomi!" Kuwabara yelled.
Before she could slam into the ground, Hiei rushed in and caught her. When he landed, he looked down to check on her. She was surrounded by her aura but that wasn't what caught his attention.
As Kuwabara ran towards Sensui, he swung his sword down. Sensui dodged and kicked him in the stomach.
Hiei stared down at Sayomi's arms. Through her aura, he could see the marks that were slowly growing. "This is bad."
Ignoring his comment, Sayomi stood up on her own. With a wave of her cloak, she disappeared from Hiei's view. He clicked his tongue and turned back to Sensui.
Sensui stared down at them. "It's useless, you know. You're not really fighting me. You're fighting your own inevitable end."
"Oh yeah?" Kuwabara grumbled and sat up. He spit out the blood in his mouth and said, "We don't care about what you think, you psycho. We always fight our hardest and come out on top. You're just another bad guy."
"That's a matter of perspective, Kuwabara." Sensui smirked. "From where I'm standing, you all fight for a false justice. As good as your intentions may be, the road to Hell is paved with them."
"Shut up!" Kuwabara yelled.
Kurama glanced over at Hiei. "Where is Sayomi?"
"Hn." Hiei shrugged. "I'm sure she's around. The fool doesn't seem to be in her right mind at the moment."
"What do you mean?" Kuwabara asked.
"She's not fully aware of what she's doing. Her body is acting while her mind is closed off," Kurama explained. "It's a dangerous way to fight."
"Kurama..." The fox turned to Hiei. Without taking his eyes off Sensui, Hiei said, "She's using her aura to attack. If we don't finish this quickly..."
"Right." Kurama agreed. "Things could only get worse."
"Isn't that why she's not supposed to be fighting in the first place?" Kuwabara asked.
"If you recall, Kuwabara, she's been protective of Yusuke from the moment we met her," Kurama said. "His death has likely affected her just as much as the rest of us, if not more so."
"She's focused only on killing Sensui," Hiei said. "At this point, she doesn't care if she fades."
"But..." Kuwabara stared at Hiei with wide eyes. Then his attention snapped back to Sensui when he saw a dark shadow in his peripheral. "Ah! Whoah!"
Sayomi manifested from the folds of her cloak behind Sensui. She punched and kicked, retreating to the shadows after every hit. Every time she manifested, she was in Sensui's blind spot.
Sensui took each hit, unable to fight back. Every time he turned to strike, she was gone again in a cloud of darkness. His eyes narrowed as he began to tire of her routine.
As she appeared behind him to kick him in the back, Sensui stepped to the side and trapped her leg with his arm. Holding onto her leg, he landed a spinning back kick and let her go crashing into the dirt.
She got back to her feet with shadows rising out of her wounds. As her empty eyes stared at Sensui, her mind was in turmoil.
Sayomi sat in the Void, hugging her knees close to her chest. She tucked her head down to keep from seeing the emptiness that surrounded her. All she could hear was the sound of her own voice. "He's dead... He's dead because of me..."
Silence answered.
"I was too weak... I was scared... I am scared..." She hugged her knees tighter and began to shake. "It's so cold... What do I do...? I was supposed to... keep him safe..."
Meanwhile, Hiei was dashing around Sensui. Kurama ran in the opposite direction with the Deadly Vetch wrapped around his arm. Kuwabara clutched his sword, waiting for the right moment to strike. Sayomi vanished into her cloak.
Just as Hiei and Kurama jumped at Sensui from opposite sides, Kuwabara charged him head on. Sayomi appeared behind his back with her sickle raised.
Sensui smirked and said, "You'll need to be more creative than that, I'm afraid." He jumped into the air and watched as they all crashed into each other.
Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara were cut and bruised all over. Their clothes were torn and they were out of breath. The most they could do was sit up or lay down from exhaustion.
Sayomi struggled to her knees. Her body trembled from the lack of energy, though her tattered cloak continued to emit dark aura. Her tears turned to blood as she pushed herself to keep fighting.
In her mind, Sayomi wrapped herself tight with her cloak. Tears streamed down her face as Yusuke's confident grin haunted her. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... Yusuke... Old man..." She bit her lip as her chest tightened. "...Hiei..."
...Mi...
Sayomi froze as a quiet sound reached her ears. She waited for what felt like hours before she whispered, "Who's... there?"
There was another brief moment of silence before the sound reached her again.
...Sayomi...!
When Sayomi lifted her head, she slowly blinked. There was a shadow figure standing in front of her, trying to reach out to her. She stared at the shadow in a daze. "Hello?"
Sayomi...! Hear... me...
Sayomi's eyebrow arched curiously. "What was that? I can barely..."
Sayomi! Are you there?
Sayomi's eyes widened as the voice started to come through more clearly. "I'm here..."
Sayomi... Need you... back!
Sayomi's eyebrows creased and her hold around her legs began to loosen. She tilted her head as she tried to focus on the voice. "What...?"
Need you to come back!
"Back? Back where? Ah!" She clutched her head and squeezed her eyes shut as images of Yusuke's body flashed through her memory. She clenched her teeth in pain and groaned. "No..." Tears started to slide down her cheeks again as her shoulders shook with her sobs. "I can't... I can't do this..."
Idiot...
"Huh?" She looked up at the shadow and watched as it started to take on a more definite shape.
"Do you really think you have a choice in the matter?"
Sayomi's eyes widened as Hiei stood in front of her with an angry scowl. He was covered in wounds and dirt with his hair in disarray. She hesitantly reached out to him with a shaky hand. "Hiei...?"
"Hn. So I guess I finally got through." Hiei smirked. He stepped closer and reached out to rest his hand on her head.
The moment she felt the warmth of his hand, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She cried into his stomach without holding back. Hiei let her get it out of her system quickly so he could have her full attention.
Once her crying subsided to sniffles, she looked up at Hiei in wonder. "Are you really here?"
"Yes, but we don't have time to waste." Hiei helped her get to her feet and turned away as she dried her eyes. "You need to regain control of yourself, or you'll fade soon."
Sayomi's gaze fell to the floor. "I don't care. I failed my mission. If I go back now, I'll be punished..."
"By the one you owe this favor?" Hiei asked, turning back to look at her.
When Sayomi met his gaze, he almost flinched at the sight of defeat in her eyes. "No..."
He narrowed his own eyes and said, "So you're going to quit."
"What else can I do?" Sayomi asked hopelessly.
"You fight back," Hiei snapped. "You fight until your last breath because it's better than living like a coward. Yusuke chose to die fighting."
Sayomi's eyes widened as she listened to Hiei's words.
Realizing he was getting through to her, he pulled her close and growled low in her ear. "If you give up now, I will take it as a personal insult to my training and kill you myself. But if you choose to fight, know I'll have your back."
"But I let him die... I just watched Yusuke die..." Sayomi whispered, on the verge of crying again.
Hiei pulled away to look her in the eye. When she didn't try to look away, he said, "There is no one who does not carry scars on their heart. If there were someone in the world like that, they would be a shallow soul."
Sayomi stared at him in wonder as his words echoed through the darkness.
"If you don't come back now, you'll fade away and not even that fool, Koenma, will be able to do anything about it," Hiei warned.
Sayomi looked down at her arms and realized the markings had spread over the rest of her body. Each line slowly grew thicker, threatening to swallow her up completely. She began to tremble until she felt Hiei's firm grip on her wrists. Her eyes automatically found his.
"You're in control. Just focus on me," Hiei instructed.
Sayomi swallowed and slowly nodded.
"Now just take deep breaths..."
Sayomi slowly inhaled for four beats. She held it another four beats before slowly exhaling. She repeated the cycle a couple more times and relaxed into a relieved smile. "Thanks, Hiei... I needed that."
Hiei smirked and said, "I know. Now hurry up. We're wasting time."
As Hiei faded out of her mind, Sayomi heaved a big sigh. "If I have to choose between fading into the Void in fear or fighting until I died...? Heh..." She smirked. "I might as well die doing what I love with him and the others. Hopefully, I can apologize to Yusuke in the Underworld."