Chapter Five

As Hiei and I stared each other down, I looked at the blade he was brandishing. "So that's the Shadow Sword, isn't it? The third Artifact of Darkness."

"Obviously," Hiei said with a smirk, holding up the blade so I could see it. "Perhaps the most impressive of the three, in my opinion. Unless they have significant reserves of Spirit Energy to act as a sort of antitoxin, any human cut by this sword – even just a scratch – will turn into the lowest form of demon, at the beck and call of whoever holds the sword."

"So if I hadn't saved Okubo…"

"He would probably be eating those other two fools right now," Hiei finished for me.

"You son of a bitch!" Kuwabara yelled, charging in for another swing.

Looking bored, Hiei blocked Kuwabara's swing with the flat of his blade and swiftly kicked his legs out from under him. As Kuwabara hit the ground, Hiei looked me dead in the eye… and gave Kuwabara a tiny scratch on the cheek with the very point of the blade.

"No!"

"Like I said, even just a scratch is enough. This human seems to have some level of spiritual awareness, but it won't be enough to keep him from turning," Hiei said.

"You- Ack! Ahhh!" Kuwabara yelled, pressing his hand to the wound. "What the hell is this!? Is-Is this an eye!?"

Sure enough, the small cut started to open just a little bit, and I could see something white underneath it.

"Brilliant deduction, oaf," Hiei said mockingly. "When that third eye opens, the toxin of the sword will take effect, and your life as a human will end forever."

"Oh crap, what's going on!? I can barely move!"

"That's another symptom of the toxin taking effect. It saps your energy as it turns you into a demon," Hiei explained.

He turned to face me. "Your little friend here has more Spirit Energy in him than I'd guessed; not only is he still conscious, but the third eye is opening very slowly. You have perhaps two minutes, three at best, before the transformation occurs. The only antidote is in the hilt of this sword. Do you think you can take it from me in that time?"

My answer was to throw my butterfly knife at his head. Hiei dodged it casually, even letting it graze his hair and slice off a few long, black strands.

I followed the blade and rushed him, attacking with my Hamon-enforced wooden sword.

"You bastard!" I yelled as I attacked him.

Hiei continued to block or dodge every attack easily, his speed making him more than a match for my wild swings.

"Is this the best you can do? Pathetic. I can't believe Kurama could have ever had trouble with you," he said contemptuously.

"Shut! The! Fuck! Up!" I yelled, punctuating each word with a wild slash.

At the last blow, Hiei stopped moving entirely, and took the blow full-on as I brought the sword down on his shoulder with all my strength. He staggered a bit from the impact, but otherwise barely seemed to feel it.

"Wh-What…?"

"What's the matter? Your blows are so weak right now I doubt you could harm a child," Hiei taunted. With contemptuous ease, he sliced the "blade" of my wooden sword right off with the Shadow Sword. "And you can't even reinforce your weapon anymore. It seems your 'Hamon' is a very fragile thing. How disappointing."

My eyes widened in realization. My breathing had gone out of synch when I'd lost my temper and started swinging at Hiei blindly. And without the proper breathing…

Hiei used his free hand to deliver a hard punch to the gut, sending me to my knees, sputtering and coughing.

"You can't even handle a single punch. Pitiful," Hiei said as he brought the sword up to my neck. "If this is the best you can do, that so-called Spirit Detective will be-"

"Hah!" Kuwabara yelled as he punched Hiei in the face. Out of surprise as much as pain, the three-eyed demon lost his footing and took several staggering steps back.

"Kuwa… bara…?" I gasped. How did he…?

"What!? How!? You shouldn't even be able to stand!" Hiei exclaimed.

"If you think a little scratch is gonna keep me from whoopin' your butt, you've got another thing coming, short stack!" Kuwabara yelled, hefting his wooden sword like a bat. "First you attack Okubo, then you try to use me as a hostage to get to Tenchi! You got a lot to answer for, punk!"

Hiei gave a dark chuckle. "Unbelievable. You actually used your feelings of helplessness and outrage as a catalyst for releasing your Spirit Energy. With as much as I can sense from you now, the toxin will no longer have any effect on you."

I'd realized the same thing. I could sense Spirit Energy emanating from Kuwabara. It wasn't that much – a little less than Yusuke had had when I first met him, before I unlocked his potential for the Ripple – but it seemed like it was enough to do the job.

"Damn skippy it won't work!" Kuwabara exclaimed, pointing his wooden sword at Hiei. "So what are you gonna do now, runt!?"

The eye in the middle of Hiei's forehead widened, and suddenly Kuwabara froze, paralyzed and unable to move.

"Fool. Just because you've got enough power in now you to overcome the toxins of the Shadow Sword doesn't mean you aren't still an ant compared to me," Hiei declared, his voice heavy with contempt.

Before Kuwabara could react – probably before he could even see it – the Shadow Sword lashed out and scored a deep, long cut on the hand Kuwabara was using to hold his wooden sword. It dropped to the ground with a clatter as Kuwabara fell to one knee clutching his hand with a pained howl.

"Sorry, did I touch a nerve?" Hiei asked mockingly. "It looks like it. Probably a few tendons, too. Did that answer your question, oaf?"

With a cruel smirk, Hiei raised the Shadow Sword up for a finishing blow.

"Spirit Gun!"

Even with his reflexes and speed, Hiei only narrowly dodged the Spirit Gun, and was left open when I charged him, blocking a desperate swipe with the Shadow Sword with my re-reinforced piece of a wooden sword and head-butting him right in one of his most vulnerable areas: his Evil Eye.

"Aaahh!" Hiei yelled in pain as he staggered back, bringing up his free hand to clutch at his forehead. "My eye! My Jagan Eye!"

"Don't worry, soon you'll hardly notice it, 'cause the rest of you will be hurting just as much," I said.

"Alright, Tenchi! Let's clean this punk's clock!" Kuwabara said, getting back to his feet. I have to admit, for someone who just got his arm slashed, he was still pretty energetic.

"Damn it, Kuwabara, just get out here!" I yelled. "If you keep trying to fight this guy, you'll end up getting killed! What do you think would have happened if I hadn't helped you just now!?"

"The same thing that woulda happened to you if I hadn't saved your butt right before then!" Kuwabara retorted.

"I don't have time to argue about this!" I yelled as I jabbed Kuwabara hard in the chest, knocking the wind from him and sending him to the ground clutching at his sides as they burned for want of oxygen. While I was at it, I grabbed his wooden sword and dropped my broken one on the ground at his feet.

By the time I turned around to face him, Hiei had mostly recovered, though his Jagan still seemed a bit hazy and unfocused as he rubbed at it with his free hand.

"You're going to pay for that, Ripple Warrior," he said through gritted teeth.

I blinked in surprise. "Where did you hear that name?"

"It's a very obscure legend; I only heard of them by chance some time ago. An order of human exorcists and demon hunters who harness their Spirit Energy in strange ways to use mysterious techniques," Hiei explained. " You're clearly one of them. Your reaction to hearing the name confirms it."

"Call me whatever you want, it doesn't matter," I said, though internally my mind was racing. There were others like me? There were legends about the Ripple here?

Who else might know about it?

"You're right, it doesn't matter. After all, who cares what a corpse is called? It's still a corpse," Hiei replied with a smirk.

As it had when he paralyzed Kuwabara, Hiei's Jagan widened and my body suddenly stiffened. But unlike Kuwabara's paralysis, my body felt only a momentary stiffness in movement; just a slight resistance that was quickly shattered, as though I were breaking through a paper barrier.

"Hmph. About what I expected," Hiei said coolly, rubbing his Jagan like one would when suffering eye strain.

"Let me guess: that little trick with your Jagan only has much of an effect if your victim is significantly weaker than you, right?" I guessed. "Makes sense. If you could do that to Kurama, you could have just taken the Forlorn Hope from him when he decided to split off from you and Gohki."

"Tch. Don't start thinking you're my equal just because that soft fool Kurama was too weak-hearted to kill you, Ripple Warrior," Hiei snapped.

"Yeah? Prove me wrong then, short stack," I taunted.

"Gladly."

Hiei charged in a blur of black cloth and steel as I ran forward to meet him in a one-armed thrust aimed at his neck.

Hiei at first looked like he was going to strike on the side that held my sword, but his feint melted into his real attack, the Shadow Sword slashing at my head. Without time to dodge or block with the sword, I held my hand out to meet the flashing steel.

Hiei's eyes widened in shock as the Shadow Sword failed to cut my hand. "What!? Hair!?"

I smirked as he noticed the long strands of black hair in my hand that had blocked him, and allowed me to grab the Shadow Sword by its blade. "Hair Guard. Turns out demon hair works just as well as human hair. Neat, huh?"

Suddenly, the wailing of sirens pierced the air, causing both of our heads to turn to the sound. At the same time, I could see Kuwabara starting to stir from his napping spot on the ground. Shouldn't he have gotten up by now?

"Tch. We'll settle this another time, Ripple Warrior," Hiei said, taking advantage of my lapse in attention to get the Shadow Sword free of my grip and flee at speed.

"Well, shit," I said, looking around at the battlefield. Knocked-out thugs, a wooden sword sliced clean through, bloodstains… And a semi-conscious Kuwabara.

I hoisted Sarayashiki Junior High's second-toughest punk over my shoulder, ignoring his feeble protests, and ran away from the sounds of sirens.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Kuwabara demanded as soon as he'd recovered enough to make his feelings known, struggling to get out of the position he was currently in, hoisted over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hopefully avoiding some very awkward questions," I explained as I fled. "A midget demon with three eyes and a sword just attacked us, Kuwabara. And the main reason we didn't get diced is because I have magic powers that let me block sharpened steel with a hunk of wood. Tell me, how plausible would that sound to the cops and how good are you at lying on the spot?"

"Okay, I get it, but can you put me down already!?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry. We're probably far enough away anyway."

Once I set him down, Kuwabara started brushing off his uniform until he let out a pained gasp and started cradling his hand. "Ah, crap, I forgot about this. Aw man, my sister's gonna kill me if I get home with this…"

"Wait, you still have that cut?" I asked. His Hamon should at least have started to seal up the wound by now…

"What do you mean I 'still have it'? It wasn't even ten minutes ago!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

I finally noticed something that the circumstances had prevented me from realizing earlier. I narrowed my eyes as I focused on my spiritual senses to confirm my suspicion. Sure enough, Kuwabara wasn't giving off any more power than he had when he'd sucker-punched Hiei.

"Oh. I guess I must have hit the wrong point with that strike," I realized. "Sorry about that. First time doing it under pressure and all. Here, let me take care of that."

"Huh? Take care of wha-Urk!"

I quickly jabbed my finger hard into Kuwabara's midsection, causing him to double over and let out a choked gasp.

"Okay, that should be the right spot."

"*gasp* You asshole! What the heck was that for, huh!?" Kuwabara yelled once he caught his breath, grabbing me by my collar.

"I fixed your breathing patterns. Does your wound hurt as much?" I asked calmly.

Kuwabara blinked in surprise and let me go. "Actually, no, it's starting to feel better. What gives?"

I gave a sigh as I realized I was going to have to explain how Sendo worked again, which would probably lead to explaining a lot of other concepts he had never heard of. "It's going to be a long explanation. Come on, you can come with me to the hospital and I'll explain it on the way."

"The hospital? I don't think my arm's that jacked up, after whatever you just did," Kuwabara replied.

"No, we're meeting some people there… Actually, do you know how to get to the hospital? The one downtown?"

"Downtown? That's halfway across town!"

"What, seriously? Shit, I knew I took a wrong turn somewhere…"

"And keep your hand in your pocket. We don't want people examining your wound and realizing it's closing up unnaturally fast," I reminded Kuwabara as we walked through the hospital doors.

"Yeah yeah, I heard you the first time," the redheaded delinquent complained. "So who are we here to meet, anyway?"

"Yusuke, another demon, and the Grim Reaper," I said casually as we approached the desk.

Kuwabara gave me a look that just screamed "What the fuck!?" but didn't actually vocalize his feelings as I talked to the receptionist.

"Hello. Are visiting hours still… uh, open?" I ask awkwardly, unable to figure out how to properly phrase the question.

The receptionist looked at the two of us with curiosity, and maybe some suspicion. Not entirely unwarranted, given Kuwabara's appearance. "I'm sorry, but visiting hours ended a few minutes ago; the last visitors are leaving right now, in fact. But if you'd like to come another time, I can give you the schedule."

"Ugh, great. Uh… can you just tell us if one visitor in particular has left yet?" I asked. "K-I mean, Shuichi Minamino. We were going to come with him to visit his mom with another friend, but we got delayed."

The receptionist raised her eyebrow at that, but started typing into her computer regardless. "Do you know Miss Minamino's full name?" she asked.

"Uh… no," I said, wincing internally. "I've never met her; Shuichi was going to introduce us to her."

"I see… Can you tell me the names of your other friend?"

"Yusuke Urameshi."

The guarded look dropped a bit at my answer and after typing a little more on her computer, she gave an answer. "It seems they haven't signed out yet. If you'd like, you could wait for them in the waiting room."

"We will, thanks," I said, as Kuwabara and I walked off to go sit down.

"So Tenchi, just what's going on here?" Kuwabara whispered conspiratorially, looking around to see if anyone was listening in and generally looking suspicious as hell. "What's Urameshi got to do with this?"

"Stop acting like we're discussing robbing this place and I'll tell you," I answered, using my indoor voice but otherwise not bothering to do anything to try to hide what I was saying.

"Well it just doesn't seem like this is something that we want people overhearing," Kuwabara said defensively.

"Who's going to believe a word of it? Demons? Spirit Energy? Magical artifacts? They'll probably think we're talking about a manga or a video game or something," I pointed out. "Besides, I think most of the people here have more important things on their mind than eavesdropping on two junior high school students."

"Yeah, fine, I guess you have a point," Kuwabara conceded, relaxing a little bit. "Seriously though, what the heck's going on?"

"Simple. Like you and I, Yusuke has powers. Unlike you and I, though, Yusuke's in debt to the leader of Spirit World – that's the afterlife – and so to pay it off, he's working as the Spirit Detective, which basically means he finds spirits and demons that are misbehaving and beats the crap out of them."

"That doesn't really sound like a detective," Kuwabara points out.

"Yeah, it's kind of a misnamed title," I agreed. "Point is, Hiei and two other demons stole three really important artifacts from Spirit World, and if they aren't returned fast, the shit's gonna hit the fan in a big way."

Kuwabara gulped nervously. "How big?"

"'No more Japan' kind of big."

"… That's big," Kuwabara whispered, the shock and horror of the thought actually keeping his response very low-key.

"Yes. Yes it is. Which is why it's a good thing that Hiei's the only one left. I beat the first demon into hamburger meat after he kicked Yusuke's ass-"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it some other time. And unless things have gone really wrong, the second demon should be about to walk out here after giving up the second artifact to Yusuke and surrendering peacefully."

"What? Why would they do that?" Kuwabara asked, dumbfounded."

"Not really my story to tell," I said with a shrug. "When they come out, you can ask… Oh hey, you can ask right now."

Sure enough, Kurama and Yusuke filed out together, neither looking any the worse for wear. Kurama was saying goodbye to several of the staff by name; suppose it made sense for him to be a regular here.

If all had gone right, hopefully that would change soon.

Kurama spotted Kuwabara and I instantly and made his way to us. Actually, I suspected he had known we were here before he even walked through the door and was just pretending otherwise, but maybe that was just my paranoia talking. Yusuke was definitely honestly surprised, though.

"What the- Kuwabara? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked as the two reached us.

"Hello Tenchi. You seem… a little tired. Did you by chance run into my friend Hiei on the way here?" Kurama asked, his speech guarded.

"Yeah, I did. Both of us did, actually," I told him, prompting Kurama to frown and Yusuke's eyes to widen. "No offense, 'Shuichi,' but your friend is kind of an ass."

"My apologies. He's… fallen into bad habits recently."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, let's just get somewhere private so you can drop the cryptic bullcrap. I've had way too long of a day for that."

"Lead the way."

"Uh… Yeah, best I not. Hey Yusuke, take us to your house, alright?"

"What? Why the hell don't we go to your house?" Yusuke demanded.

"Because it's farther from here than yours," I lied. I had no idea whether or not that was actually true. "Besides, your mom seemed to like you bringing over friends. Won't she be happy that you've made another one? Two if you count Kuwabara."

"Trust me, I don't," Yusuke said, as he and Kuwabara exchanged ugly looks.

"It's like watching two monkeys beating their chests at each other," I remarked. Kurama had the grace not to comment, but the corners of his mouth lifted up in a small smile.

Yusuke's mom was gone when we got there; according to Yusuke, she was most likely bar-crawling. The four of us were gathered in Yusuke's room.

"Okay, so we're at Urameshi's house. Now can someone explain to me what the heck is going on?" Kuwabara asked.

"I think perhaps I can take care of that," a familiar voice said from outside the window. I quickly opened it to let Botan in. "Thank you, Tenchi. Although… I have to ask, just why is Kuwabara involved in this now?"

"Because Hiei's a prick," I said tersely. Kurama sighed, but didn't object.

Kuwabara suddenly held my shoulder in a death-grip and put his face right next to my ear. "Tenchi! Who is this beautiful woman!?"

"One: get the hell out of my personal space," I said firmly as I bent Kuwabara's finger until he let go of me. "Two: she's the Grim Reaper."

"Bingo! Although personally I prefer the title 'Guide of Lost Souls,' myself," Botan said.

"Uh… what?" Kuwabara said dumbly, nursing his finger.

After hearing the full explanation, Kuwabara took a deep breath. "Okay, let me see if I've got this straight.

"Urameshi really did die when he got hit by that car, but he wasn't supposed to die, so the leader of the Spirit World-"

"Who still hasn't ditched the pacifier after a thousand years," Yusuke interjected despite Botan's protest.

"Who still hasn't ditched the pacifier after a thousand years, gave Urameshi a test to pass so that he could come back to life, which he did. But dying and coming back released his spiritual potential, and the immortal toddler decided to make him a Spirit Detective and gave him the job of beating the crap out of demons that acted out. And his first job was to catch three thieves who took super important magic artifacts from Spirit World before the real ruler of Spirit World, found out and wiped Japan off the face of the planet. That everything?"

"Not quite. You forgot the part where I saved Yusuke's ass and took back the first artifact, and Kurama's heartwarming backstory of a demon who became a human and then repented of his wicked ways, which led to him working with the other two thieves to steal the Forlorn Hope to save his human mother," I summarized.

"I can't say I like the way you've phrased that – it makes me sound far nobler than I am – but accurate, nonetheless," Kurama conceded.

"Okay, so big, slow and stupid is up to speed. Now what the hell happened with you two and Hiei?" Yusuke asked.

"What'd you just call me, Urameshi!?" Kuwabara yelled.

"Aw, c'mon Kuwabara, we just got finished explaining everything to you, and now you've gone and fallen behind again?" Yusuke asked in a faux-concerned tone. "Here, let me spell it out for you: big, slow, stupid, you."

"That's it, you punk-!"

While the two of them scuffled (or rather, while Yusuke beat the crap out of him and Kuwabara just refused to stay down), I began explaining to Kurama and Botan.

"… but I had picked up the hair I shaved off when I threw that knife and channeled my Ripple into it to reinforce it. Hair's stronger than steel, but it's not rigid, so that usually don't actually matter. But use Ripple to stiffen it and it makes a decent shield. Then the cops showed up and Hiei scarpered. I didn't want to stick around to answer questions, so I grabbed Kuwabara and left."

"Well, at least no one suffered any serious injuries," Botan said with a relieved sigh. "Although I'm definitely concerned about Hiei. From what you've told me, he sounds incredibly dangerous, and utterly amoral."

"Yeah, you sure can pick your friends well, Kurama," I told the demon-turned-human(?) sarcastically.

Kurama's reply was a sigh. "I wouldn't really call my relationship with Hiei friendship. That said, he didn't used to be like this. I would never have claimed him to be a moral person, but he was never so sadistic, or willing to resort to tactics like those he used against you and Kuwabara. He would have felt them beneath him."

"So what gives?" I asked. That always had bugged me, actually; how Hiei's personality did a massive shift when he showed up again in the Four Saint Beasts arc.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it occurred shortly after we took the Artifacts of Darkness," Kurama explained. "It was barely noticeable at first, but Hiei began to change. Originally, he claimed he had no desire to actually use the Artifacts for himself; he simply needed them to bargain for something. But once he actually had his hands on the Shadow Sword, his plans changed. Suddenly he wished to use it to create a demon army, fed by the Rapacious Orb and empowered by the Forlorn Hope."

"I believe I can explain what happened there," came another voice from outside the window, as Koenma floated into the room.

"Gah! Koenma! What the hell are you doing here!?" Yusuke yelled from where he stood over Kuwabara's bruised and beaten body. "You usually hang around outside of peoples' rooms at night?"

"I notice you didn't object when it was Botan," I pointed out.

"Who would?" Kuwabara muttered; his words were hard to make out, since Yusuke's slipper-clad foot was resting on his face.

For his part, Koenma simply ignored his Spirit Detective. "The Shadow Sword was carved from an extremely toxic stone; it's not actually a sword forged of steel," he explained. "It's commonly believed that the toxin only affects humans, but that's not quite true. The effect on demons is there, just much more subtle.

"By wielding the Shadow Sword, Hiei has been unknowingly exposing himself to large doses of its toxins. It's not just the blade that's toxic, it's the whole sword, except for the special compartment that holds the antidote. Just as it warps and corrupts the bodies of humans who lack enough Spirit Energy to fight off its effects, it subtly warps and corrupts the minds of a demon who is exposed to large enough doses of its toxins."

"So, what you're saying is, the longer he holds the sword, the more of a genocidal prick he's going to become," I summarized.

"Correct. The longer he holds onto the sword, the more his mind will be corrupted, and he'll want to use the sword more and more to wreak havoc and destruction."

"I wish I had known that before we tried to steal them," Kurama said bitterly. "I already had misgivings about the Artifacts, but I convinced myself it would come to nothing. We would simply turn on Gohki and take the Rapacious Orb from him, I would use the Forlorn Hope, and Hiei would use them to obtain what he was looking for and then let Spirit World do what they could to reclaim them. Instead…"

"Yeah, kinda screwed the pooch on that one," I said bluntly. "Giving your mother her health back isn't going to mean much if King Enma just wipes out this entire country to keep his toys from falling into the wrong hands."

"Such are the pitfalls of making decisions based on sentiment and desperation," Kurama sighed. "I suppose there's no point in castigating myself for the decisions leading up to this point. It would be more productive to do what I can to help you recover the Shadow Sword from Hiei… if you're willing to let me."

"You sure you'd be able to help?" Yusuke asked. "I mean, I don't wanna make assumptions about you based on your looks, but…"

"Yusuke, we fought three days ago and he almost beat me. More than once," I said. "So yeah, I'd say he can fight just fine."

"Wait, what!?" Botan yelled.

"Why the hell are you only telling me about this now!?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. It ended in a draw, so I told him my reasons in the hopes that it would convince him to let me do follow through with my plans," Kurama said in my defense. "He promised to keep it a secret in the meantime."

"Anyway, the 'let Kurama help us' plan has my support," I said. "I'd really rather not turn down any help in fighting Hiei. Guy almost made me a whole head shorter, if you catch my drift."

"Yeah, me too. I say let him help if he wants to," Kuwabara said.

"And since when do you have a vote?" Yusuke asked.

"Since my friend got attacked by a three-eyed midget with a sword!" Kuwabara yelled. "I've got powers now, too, Urameshi, and there's no way I'm going to let that little punk run around turnin' people into demons!"

Their argument devolved into a fistfight again, so I turned to Koenma. "So, uh… am I in trouble for getting Kuwabara involved in this?"

"From the sounds of it, Hiei was the one who involved him," Koenma said reasonably. "So no. I'm a little concerned at how casually you're using your Magic Finger thing on people, though."

"… Wow. I have got to start calling it that from now on," I said with a grin.

"Are they… always like this?" Kurama asked Botan, his eyes going from me and Koenma to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"I'd like to say no… but I'd be lying," Botan said with a weary sigh.

Walking through the forests on the edge of town, Hiei made his way to a deep cave. It was off-limits to the general populace due to a large number of mysterious disappearances and grisly deaths, but of course that didn't concern him in the slightest.

At the mouth of the cave, he flared his Demon Energy and waited for the response.

After a few minutes, two huge, hulking figures stepped out from the cave. A human who saw the two of them would probably have turned into a terrified wreck at the sight, but Hiei didn't so much as flinch.

"You… You are Hiei of the Jagan," the one on the left said, in a voice like gravel. It was a huge figure, perhaps twelve feet tall. Its proportions were human – though grotesquely muscled and clad only in a loincloth – except for the cloven hoofs it sported instead of feet and the fact that its head was that of a monstrous horse. To top off the terrifying spectacle, it wielded a massive wooden club with iron studs set into one end of it.

"That sword… the rumors are true. You are the one who stole the Shadow Sword," the other piped up; its voice had a distinctive lowing quality to it. Which was appropriate, as the bull's head it sported was the only thing differentiating it from its companion.

"That's right, I have the Shadow Sword," Hiei said, holding out the blade for them to see. "And I'm going to make a proposition for you two. The two I stole the Artifacts of Darkness with proved useless, and mere humans have managed to take the other two. Help me kill them, and I'll let you have them."

The two massive demons looked at each other for several seconds, then turned back to the diminutive three-eyed demon. "And why should we not just kill you, take the sword, and then take the other two as well?" the bull-headed one asked.

"Yes, yes! Kill them all and take the artifacts!" the horse-headed one agreed, clearly relishing the idea.

In a flash of steel too quick for either of them to detect, Hiei drew the Shadow Sword and gave them both a shallow cut on the arms with a single slash, resheathing it before they even realized it had happened.

As they gasped in pain and fear, Hiei answered them. "Because you brainless oafs could never hope to so much as touch me, and you have no hope of retrieving the other two artifacts on your own.

"So here's the deal, small fries: either you agree to my more than generous offer, or I cut you both to pieces and seek the services of demons smart enough to say yes. Understood?"

Quavering in fear, both the horse-headed demon and the bull-headed one nodded.

"Perfect," Hiei said, a wicked smirk crossing his face.