Ride like the Wind
Chapter 20

Mitarai opened his eyes. Am I dead…? He sat up and looked around. He was surprised to see strangers staring at him, remembering the night before, he asked, "Where…?"

"Sleeping beauty's awake now. He didn't need a kiss, lucky for us…" Yusuke said, half joking.

"W-where am I?"

"Oh. You're dead, man. You…"

"Yusuke…" Kurama interrupted him. "We found you when we were looking for Kuwabara. He told us you were one of the seven. Or the six to be more accurate…"

"So you want us gone…" Mitarai mumbled.

"To stop your plan, yes."

"Then kill me then! That only leaves five of us, then!"

"I'll be blunt with you, kid. For a while, we really considered that. I know you had to be talked into doing all this. We'll try to stop the tunnel to Demon World before stage three or four and keep you all from dying if we know for sure you won't pull this again," Koenma replied.

The blonde turned to him. "But why save me?"

"Weren't you listening to me? It's what Kuwabara wanted, too. He knew you weren't all evil either. Now my question to you is this: Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Why…? Don't you know? Humans are evil. We kill each other for no reason. We're all greedy. We only want ourselves to live. Self centered, blood thirsty, greedy. All these countries that are here right now? They came from war. That's all we're capable of. War. The English Civil War. The Hundred Years' War. Napoleon's Wars. The French revolution In General… The Revolutionary War… And still in America there are people that pushed the Native Americans off their homeland! Now there's slavery and…"

Kurama slapped him. Silence. "You know… Kuwabara told us why he saved you. Like we all said, you don't really want to do this from the bottom of your heart. He thought you were going the wrong way and that you needed to see the light…"

"Not according to that slideshow! Not according to Chapter Black!"

His eyes widened. "You watched Chapter Black?!"

"Yeah… With Mr. Sensui… Just when I thought the demons were bad enough…"

"Huh? Okay, fill me in. What's Chapter Black?" Yusuke asked.

"It's a slideshow that shows the darkest side of humans. It shows humans torturing demons worse that what we've seen them do to us. Just five minutes of it could turn the most loyal human against his own race... And I should know. My father made it…" Koenma sighed at him explanation. "So I'm assuming he made you guys watch it…?"

"Yeah…. But I just don't know anymore… I just don't know…" Mitarai's voice went shaky.

"Hold on, Koenma! What kind of sick bastard was your old man and why the hell would he do shit like that?!" Yusuke growled grabbing the priest by the collar of his shirt.

"Apparently, it was his justification of his studies of Demon World. He wanted to find a better place than the one he was already in. But now we see where that's got him," Koenma answered. "Would you mind putting me down then? It's not like I support this thing any more than you do. I even tried to steal it and destroy it several times, but it never worked…"

"While we're at it Koenma, why don't you fill in some gaps about Sensui. You never gave me an adequate answer," Kurama added.

"Good Lord… Everyone's just ganging up on me today…" Koenma sighed. "Okay. It's like this. Yusuke's working for me as a demon slayer. But he's not my first. He's actually the third. The first partner you really don't need to know about. She's not crazy at all. Sensui was the second. I let myself get piled with stuff to do for a few years and then had Yusuke work for me."

"So what's he doing in San Francisco? Why'd he leave?" Yusuke asked.

"Peace, Yusuke." The priest held up a hand. "I'll get to that. It was his last mission that broke him. I stopped seeing him after that. And… It was the biggest mistake I ever made… He was to go into a mansion and save some demons- sound familiar? Kinda like the thing you do for Yukina. He and his demon partner Itsuki were to stop whatever the psychics were doing. I later found out they were also opening a tunnel to Demon. The same thing that's going on.

"So they went into the mansion. He told me he split up with Itsuki at some point and was looking for him. He figured he was in another room but when he opened the doors he saw something he wasn't supposed to see…?"

"Okay. Knock it off with the dramatic pauses. It's annoying. Did he walk in on an orgy?"

"No… Should've seen that one coming. He walked in on the psychics watching Chapter Black. It broke his view of the world. The humans he vowed to protect were mutilating the demons he was sworn to kill… You see, as a child, he was raised to become an exorcist like you, Kuwabara. He had a strong sixth sense and was able to kill those demons. He told me that in those days, he decided that he was going to use his powers to help everyone in spite of being rejected by the church because of his failure to perform an exorcism their way. So he did what he could to help people with his powers without being an exorcist. That's how we crossed paths… So we both tried to protect the humans we loved… Until Chapter Black.

"It was my fault his world turned upside-down. His eyes opened. He never knew we could be so brutal. He killed everyone in the room, even the demons he was supposed to rescue…" Koenma reflected on what Itsuki told him. Itsuki knew how bad humans could be…

Itsuki walked into the bloody room, bodies scattered about. Eyebrow raised, he called his partner's name out.

"Don't let it bother you, Itsuki. It's okay. I'm just cleaning a spot…" Sensui murmured.

It was really that bad for you? You never knew, Shinobu?

"And the last time I saw or heard from Sensui was when he quit. His last words to me being, 'I want to quit… I want to die…' And this is how he used our ten years apart…" The priest sighed. "Anything else I need to tell you?"

"Save it!" Kurama cried as he slid the door open. He looked up to see Sniper standing with a man on a roof in the distance. He had black hair that he kept slicked back. Blue eyes that had once been filled with innocence but now hatred. Dark skin. An unusually calm face. Sensui… "Sensui and Sniper! I knew it!"

"They followed us here, too, huh?" Yusuke said to himself confidently. "All right. Let's kick some ass!" He ran out.

Kuwabara ran into the room. "You guys, I sensed something weird! I think it's one of the seven!"

"A little late, for that, don't you think?" Koenma sighed.

Kurama stood in the doorway. "How dirty. They're coming to kill Mitarai because they find no use for him anymore…"

"You can hear them from up there?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, I can read lips…"

Yusuke, who stopped when Kuwabara told them he sensed the seven, started running toward the two psychics again. "Then we'll take these bastards out before they take him out!"

Kuwabara ran out with Koenma following.

Kurama turned back to Mitarai before he left. "Your turn. You can stay with us or go back to the other side. If you go back to the seven, chances are, we'll kill you. Or maybe they would get you first. You decide.

Damn... Why… Why… Mitarai burst into tears. "I'm confused…"

---

"So Sensui, what're you here for? Givin' up?' Yusuke asked smugly.

No answer. Sensui held up two fingers.

"You're not getting no victory!"

He shook his head. "Yesterday you had two days. By midnight tonight, it'll be open. Soon demons will be free to come and go as you please. With the exception of one wall… Don't you remember, Koenma? You were the one who put the barrier up in the first place."

"Yeah. How could I not? Look, Sensui. Call this whole this off. There's still good in this world…"

"How are you sure? Frankly humans don't care as long as they know someone is keeping them in tact so they could go on with their schemes."

"Don't feed us your crap!" Yusuke growled as he fired a Sprit Gun bullet.

Sniper! Kurama growled in his head when he saw Sniper was aiming at Yusuke. He cracked his Rose Whip threateningly.

The dust cleared showing that Sensui had only stepped out of the way before getting hit. He lunged forward and kicked Yusuke in the stomach.

"What the…? Augh!" Kuwabara was pulled to the ground and dragged away. "Lemme go you stupid…! Urameshi, help me!"

At that moment Sniper ran away with Kurama pursuing him. Koenma ran back inside to make sure everyone else was alright.

Yusuke's eyes darted between Sensui and Kuwabara. ("You jerk! Are you just gonna leave me here to get dragged away by the freak!" Kuwabara screamed.) I should go help out Kuwabara… But what if Sensui goes after Koenma and Mitarai while I'm gone? I mean, Koenma can't fight, can he?

Sensui cocked his head and ran away.

"You bastard! Don't run away!" Yusuke chased after him. Son of a freaking bitch!

---

No, Yusuke. That's what he wants you to do… Mitarai screamed and ran out.

"What the…? Don't tell me that I have to chase people now!" Koenma grumbled and chased after Mitarai. "What's wrong?"

"They're after Kuwabara. He cut through my Territory and if he can do that… He… He can cut through your barrier."

"Shit! Why didn't you mention that before?"

"Gourmet would have gotten him even if you know!"

"Where're they taking him?"

"Devil's Door. It's just out of the town."

"Well, ain't that perfect? A creative choice for the crap you're pulling."

A cursing priest?

---

"Quit dragging me! Haven't you people heard of carrying people?!" Kuwabara screamed. "Huh. Oh. It stopped."

"I'm hungry…" the owner of the voice walked away.

"Why you…! You get back here or I'll..!" Kuwabara leapt to his feet when Sensui jumped over him. "Holy dammit! He jumped right over me…"

"Come on, Kuwabara! Sensui ain't gonna catch himself!" Yusuke ran past him.

"You people!" Kuwabara screamed just after Sniper barely missed him.

Meanwhile, Kurama was still chasing Sniper, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

"You tired yet, Kid?" Sniper mocked him.

Kurama ignored this leapt for the next roof, but he jumped too early. Just when he thought he was going to make a safe landing, a little girl screamed. If he landed, the girl would get…

"Blood!" the girl squeaked and started crying.

Kurama let out a mental sigh of relief. He caught the Rose Whip in time to save the girl, but slashed his hand nearly in half. He cringed at the pain but tolerated it. No Sniper…

He turned to the girl. "You're not hurt, are you?"

She shook her head and stared at Kurama's wound.

"It will heal." He walked away.

---

Great now we're the ones jumping around on roofs… Yusuke growled in his head.

"Aw, crap!" Kuwabara was pulled down again.

"Oh, you stupid bastards!" He was about to go after Kuwabara when he noticed Sensui was still getting away. "Dammit… Why the hell do these bastards…?" He fired his Spirit Gun at Sensui.

Sensui stopped and kicked a ball of energy at Yusuke's Spirit Gun, popping it like it was nothing. He kicked another ball of energy at Yusuke who jumped off the roof in time.

Now I can get Kuwabara… I need to catch up with these bastards… But how…? He noticed a horse walked by. That'll work.

He leapt on the horse's back. "Ride like the wind!" He was kicked off. "…Bastard thing."

---

"Oh dear… Things sure are going haywire…" Eri mumbled. "Hm… I haven't seen Sayaka-sama or Katsumi-senpai all day, come to think of it. I wonder where…" Somebody whacked her on the head making her pass out.

"Eri, I have better things to do than baby-sit a girl…" Katsumi growled.

"Katsumi-san?" Sayaka gasped.

Katsumi knocked her out, too. First soul for you, Sensui-san… That was when she heard voices coming down the hall- one a man's and a woman's.

"Oh, come on. What was so bad about flying?"

"First of all oars aren't supposed to fly and second of all what if someone saw us?"

"Nothing…"

The door was opened and Eri regained consciousness.

Katsumi threw a knife at Eri and glared at the one who opened the door- Hiei.

"No! Don't kill them!" Eri kicked the lady-in-waiting down. "Follow me before she kills you!"

"Intuition never failed. Good thing we came to Japan, right, Hiei?" Botan asked.

"If that's what you wanna call it…" Hiei sighed.

End chapter 20

Notes:
1. Chapter Black Slideshow- You'll probably slap me for this and tell me that's the lamest thing you've ever heard. Well, I couldn't come up with anything better. I wanted to keep that idea in because it was really important to hoe Sensui turned against humans so I went the historically accurate way… Not very dynamic sounding but…
2. Oh, my crazy chapter, what a place you hold in my heart...

We are at the climax! Four more chapters and we move onto introducing the Three Kings characters… Personally, I kinda like those parts because it gets too weird and it's funny because of its weirdness… With Yomi that's so crazy he would go and cut himself and not mind just for this person he loves. (Not telling you who but one thing's for sure it's NOT an original character…) Don't you wish you had a boyfriend like that?

Did I ever tell you that this wasn't planned to happen until the end of the story? Well, yeah, but I thought about it some more and I shrugged it off and did this now because Kurama ends up going to the US and it just won't make sense at all with the bounty…