[FFML] [yyh] [ry] [xover] Demon's Sword Chapter 11, To Protect Loved Ones (Part 7)

[Abdiel]

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Youtou Shinnoken
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda (AT) gmail (DOT) com
Original concept by SeventhOne
chadjill (AT) ms3 (DOT) hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel

The Battousai will finally awaken... once Yusuke
descends into the abyss of his mazoku self.

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Chapter 11: To protect loved ones (Part 7)
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"G-Great! You found K-Keiko-chan!" Kazuma Kuwabara cheered to Genkai as
he shook off the remnants of frostbite in his body. He sneezed. <Damn
this cold... and damn Seiryu! I hope he's burning in hell for what he
did to all of us, especially to Keiko-chan.>

The curly-haired youth smilingly sighed at Keiko Yukimura's quiescent
form. <In any case, at least things still worked out in the end... like
they always do. I'm all right, Genkai-baasan's all right, and Keiko-
chan's all right. There's nothing to worry about.>

Kuwabara blinked at the old woman as she proceeded to kneel down beside
Keiko and stare at her. Puzzled, he asked, "Hey... what's up, granny?
What're you doing down there?"

Kuwabara's questions were met with grim silence.

<Don't worry so much, granny. She's okay. Look, she's just sleeping.>
Kuwabara sniffled, tilting his head and gawking peculiarly at the silly
old woman. Honestly, sometimes he simply could not understand what was
going on in that head of hers. <Shit, we don't have time for this. We've
got to get out of this dump.>

"C'mon, Genkai-baasan! Let's move Keiko out of this place and into your
dojo so she could get well, um, soon," Kuwabara pleaded as he started to
extend an arm towards the motionless girl's direction. Genkai hastily
slapped the redhead's hand away.

"OW! Hey! What's the matter? Didn't you hear what I just said? We have
to..."

"Take off your clothes," was what Kuwabara heard Genkai say. No, that
couldn't be right. She couldn't have said that. Why should she? Perhaps
she said, "Take off and go," instead. Truth be told, he'd rather comply
with the latter than the former.

Nevertheless, to Kuwabara's vexation, Genkai repeated her dreaded demand
after a few seconds. As realization dawned to the stalwart young spirit
detective, his heart stopped beating for a full second; it then got
caught in his throat as Genkai started to remove her own vest. "Er...
pardon?"

"I said take it off and give it to me! Stop making me repeat myself! Are
you going to do it or will I do it for you?" Genkai snapped at the
younger man, the urgency in her voice quite obvious.

Kuwabara didn't quite know how to reply to that. His face subsequently
passed through several shades of red, from embarrassed scarlet to a
revolted maroon, as he tried his very best to ignore the implication
behind Genkai's words.

"I don't have time for this," muttered Genkai as she stood up and
pounced on Kuwabara; the two wrestled briefly on the icy ground before
the Spirit Wave Master gained the upper hand. She proceeded to hastily
unbutton the young man's coat.

<What in the BLUE HELL is going on?> Kuwabara thought in nonplussed
distress.


***


Yusuke Urameshi was a simple man, with simple joys and simple dreams.
Some said, if it was in a polite manner, that he was abrasive and
somewhat emotional; too emotional, even. Others said that he was
straight to the point, always getting into the heart of the matter.
There were even others who said that he was a mother-fucking asshole;
usually very discreetly, in low tones and never in his presence.

<I couldn't protect her. With all my supposed strength and power, I
couldn't protect her at all.>

But critics and admirers alike could never imagine him as he was now.
At that point, he was far from the oversimplified brute or perhaps the
no-nonsense badass they thought he was.

It was so because right now, Yusuke Urameshi was surrounded by a halo of
misery and pain, and somewhere inside he was crying.

After all, simple dreams were far more fragile than ambiguous fantasies.
They were much easier to grasp and realize... much easier to take for
granted... so much easier to shatter.

<Why couldn't I protect her?! What use is all this great power if I
couldn't even save her? DAMMIT, WHY? WHY!?>

Yusuke was, to put things bluntly, a broken man. He sat there in the
corner... just as his mother had during his own 'funeral'... trembling
in quiet rage. He sat there, never moving, never allowing himself to
gaze beyond his feet, because beyond that was an awful truth which
stabbed deeper than lies ever could.


***


<I can't believe this is happening,> Kuwabara reflected in alarm, too
shocked to move or struggle. <Maybe if she transformed into her younger
form, then it'd be... No! What the fuck am I thinking? Hell, she might
even transform back into an old crone in the middle of an...!>

Once Genkai got a hold of Kuwabara's upper garments, she got off the
flabbergasted teen and headed towards Keiko's direction. She proceeded
to gently drape both his and her vests over Keiko's prone form like
impromptu blankets.

<Ah. She needed our coats to keep Keiko's body warm. Silly me.> Kuwabara
heaved a relieved sigh, his face still beet red. He shielded his topless
form with his arms and jibed, "So should I do a little dance number
next?"

Predictably, Genkai didn't even dignify Kuwabara's infantile statement
with a response. "All right, all right. So you got Keiko-chan all
wrapped up and stuff. Can we go _now_, granny? This place is givin' me
the creeps," he pleaded.

"We can't go back to the dojo," Genkai brusquely said as she summoned
what little ki she had left, gingerly distributing it all over Keiko's
body. She afterwards grimaced.

"What do you mean we can't go back?" Kuwabara insistently prodded,
crossing his arms over his chest indignantly. "That's crazy! How can
that not be an option?"

"Yusuke and Himura-san are probably still battling Randou and Genbu at
the dojo; we'll be going back to a battlefield. It'd be much safer for
us to remain here for the time being."

Kuwabara sighed as he inclined his head and raised an eyebrow at
Yusuke's former mentor. "Wait. Hold the Udon. There are more monsters
here _other_ than the Shisejyu? And who the hell is 'Himura-san'? Also,
Randou's still alive? Dammit, that little imp still owes me big time for
stealing my precious technique!" he griped, mostly to himself.

Responding in kind to Genkai's lack of a response, Kuwabara noiselessly
observed the elderly woman's strange antics. His eyes subsequently
boggled as she started to remove Keiko's uniform, underwear and all.
"H-hey! What the heck are you doing? Wait...!"

After unceremoniously stripping Keiko naked, the aged martial artist
resumed her ministrations. She this time opted to warm the young girl's
body up by transferring her own body heat with gentle massages and the
occasional warm embrace. Kuwabara couldn't help but stare at the
bizarre scene, flabbergasted beyond words.

Genkai continued to knead the sinews in Keiko's back, feeling the
muscles loosen beneath her fingertips as she worked. Keiko's breathing
grew slower and deeper as the calming massage took effect. <But still,
even now...> Genkai gulped as she wiped the bullets of sweat off her
forehead.

"Have you completely lost your mind? Stop this, granny! This is just...
wrong!" Despite himself and his complaints, he hazarded another look at
the unclothed young girl.

Keiko seemed perfectly fine; she wasn't reflexively shivering and her
complexion was mostly rosy pink and virtually flawless. He felt his own
face heat up at his latter assessment; yep, definitely pink.

<So she couldn't possibly be suffering from hyper, um, bulimia or
whatever, could she? Frostbite's all about blisters, bluish skin, and
endless shivering; Keiko-chan's having none of that. I mean, she looks
perfectly healthy! What's with all the touchy-feely grabbing? Either
granny's gone senile or she's decided to come out of the closet _now_ of
all times.>

Kuwabara's brows furrowed as Genkai again covered Keiko's nude body up
with their coats. Soon, to his bewilderment, she began applying
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Rescue Breathing on Keiko's unmoving
form.

<CPR? Mouth to mouth? On Keiko-chan? What for? She didn't drown or
anything!> Kuwabara bit his lip, wiping his balmy hands on either side
of his pants while trying to ignore the fact that, in spite of Genkai's
best efforts, Keiko could not be roused from her blissful sleep. <No.
Stop it. STOP IT, YOU CRAZY OLD BITCH! She's fine, dammit.>


***


Yusuke was a young man who hated doing things haphazardly. He hated
hypocrites who were only halfway honest through half-gleeful, half-
annoyed sarcasm. When one had an endeavor to accomplish, he must put all
his heart into it, with no hesitation whatsoever. That was one of the
most basic Urameshi principles.

Yusuke hated himself all the more by violating these very sacred edicts,
shaking in quiet rage when all he really wanted to do was to break down
and cry.

He was sinking in a quicksand of lies, purposelessness and denial. Even
his thoughts had become uncharacteristically proverbial, as if it could
cover up the irrefutable facts before him.

Fuck it.

Proverbial bullshit aside, here was the reality of the situation: Keiko
was dead to the world and all was hell for Yusuke Urameshi.

He wanted to thrash around and give in to the despair and frustration
that was driving him to near lunacy. But he'd be bullshitting himself
once again.

He wanted to, but he couldn't.

In his half-state of turmoil and confusion, he was paralyzed; so, in
quintessence, it was just as well. It was still the Urameshi way: all or
nothing.

Then so be it... nothing then.

He was just tired; too tired to be anything more than depressed.

Enough was enough.


***


"Wake up, dammit, wake up!" Genkai berated Keiko in futility as she did
her best to resuscitate her.

Kuwabara was taken aback by the old woman's show of extreme anxiety.
Finding his voice, he finally managed to protest, "Stop that, granny!
Keiko's fine, isn't she?" There was a pause. "Well, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hey, hey! Stop your joking. You're scaring me," Kuwabara said, more in
reassurance to himself than to Genkai. "She's still breathing, see? I
mean, Officer Fujita had already taken care of Seiryu, so the spell or
whatever that the damn Shisejyu cast on her should have vanished by now,
right?"

"No," came Genkai's terse reply. "Even with Seiryu's death, the 'spell'
didn't dissipate at all. I'm afraid... that it might actually have done
some permanent damage to Keiko."

For the second time this day, Kuwabara's heart stopped pounding for one
full second as he held his breath in terror. "Oh my god. Seiryu, you
bastard. What have you done?"

Genkai exhaled audibly, her brow furrowed in thought. <If only I still
had enough energy in me, then I'd be able to do a Rei Handou on Keiko;
who cares if it might not work? But even that small comfort is out of
my reach.> She cursed under her breath.

"What now, granny? What the hell do we do now?" Kuwabara demanded,
almost pleaded.

"What comes, comes, what withers, withers, sunlight does not last all
day," Genkai whispered after drawn out sigh.

Following a rather lengthy pause, Kuwabara growled. "Fuck that. There
must be a way. There's always another way."

"That's enough, Kuwa--"

"I said FUCK THAT! Don't say another word if you're just going to spew
out the same old bullshit." Kuwabara took up a defiant, truculent stance
as he glared at the smaller Genkai. "What comes, comes? What withers,
withers? We're not talking about penises here! What sort of a lame
excuse for a saying is that? Since when did you turn into such a whiny
quitter, granny?" he accused.

Genkai lowered her head, her lips pursed and her eyes downtrodden. She
didn't notice how taken aback Kuwabara was with her reaction. "You don't
understand..."

"There's NOTHING to understand! If Urameshi heard you talk like that,
he'd hit you so hard you'd lose the taste in your mouth. What's the
matter with you, Genkai-baasan? Don't worry so much. There's only one
solution to this problem, and only I have the guts to do it and make it
happen."

Turning towards Kuwabara, Genkai's lips tightened as she spoke. "What
are you talking about, boy? What solution?"

Kuwabara adamantly stared eye-to-eye at the equally defiant Genkai. "My
final solution. I'm going to use all of my soul's ki to wake Keiko-chan
up from her deep sleep."

Genkai exclaimed, "Fool! You don't even have enough spirit energy left
for yourself! You'll die if you try to give away any more of it!"

"Don't you think I already know that? It doesn't matter to me! What
matters is that when Urameshi sees Keiko-chan again, she'll be alive and
well! I already did this before when Urameshi nearly died in the Maze
Castle. Who _cares_ if it'll kill me this time? I'll be glad to kick the
bucket! Dying in order to save Keiko-chan's life is a fucking good way
to die! It's the way a real man would die."

"You don't understand, you buffoon! It doesn't work that way. Your self-
indulgent martyrdom is misplaced; it's too late."

"W-What do you mean?"

"She might already be comatose... or worse." Kuwbara looked at Genkai
with bated breath as the old woman let her pensive, cutting words linger
in the air. "She may be far too gone. Even a full ki-transfer may not be
enough to wake her up. Even the Rei Handou..."

Kuwabara fell to his knees, his eyes staring sightlessly at the ground.
"No. It can't be. It doesn't usually end this way. The girl should
always be rescued by the main good guy or one of his buddies. The girl
should always come out safe and sound after the fight. That's how it has
always been. They're not following the fucking script, dammit."

Genkai bit her lip as even she could not believe the awful truth behind
her diagnosis; Keiko's in a coma, the dreamless death. She looked away,
unwilling to behold the doll-like, ceramic face of Keiko anymore.

It didn't make things any easier. She had had so much--she had _been_ so
much--and what was she now? An old, old woman, a woman who had seen too
much, lived too long... who was tired of it all. She hadn't really been
_alive_ for more than fifty or sixty years; she'd just been marking
time. Standing still, going nowhere through all the decades, waiting,
hoping that somehow, if she endured for long enough, somehow things
might change, that she might be able to get back what she had once had.

So much for that nice and hopeful sentiment, huh? Genkai snorted
miserably. And it wasn't even about her in the first place. Why must she
still be here? What was the point of her being here? Why must Death take
someone so young and let someone of her age survive? It didn't make any
sense to her at all. Not at all.

The Matron of the Spirit Waves whispered one last thing to herself
before she clenched her fists and shut her eyes.

"We are but butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever."


***


"I'll be your Angel of Mercy for today. I'll make sure your death is
swift and painless. After all, I believe that you've gone through enough
suffering already," Randou outright lied to the catatonic Yusuke.

"Now, you should listen to this, because it concerns you. To tell you
the truth, I'm quite proud of what the Kugai can do to a person. Those
crazy Shaolin monks sure knew how to make a technique!" the pale-faced
demon conversationally said, eyeing Yusuke's reaction--or lack thereof;
he knew that the spirit detective could still hear him at this point.
"The Kugai was originally a technique of meditation used by the monks
to, well, 'intercept' and 'collect' the pains and woes of the world unto
themselves, so that they could understand the concept of karma better."

The youkai cackled. "Actually, your bond with the samurai was the very
thing that gave me the idea to use my specialized pressure point
technique. It was designed specifically to make its victim unite
emphatically with everyone that he or she had ever interacted with;
friends, family, enemies, and especially loved ones. You are now
experiencing every kind of woe, problem, and pain that they experience:
every last emotional, physical, and even psychological pain. It's all in
there, in your head."

Randou smiled a sick and demented smile. "So what are you going to do
when the weight of the entire world is thrust upon you, Urameshi
Yusuke?"

Yusuke had only one answer to that. <Who gives a fuck about the world?
What about Keiko?>

Yusuke's eyes widened in incredulity. <Keiko. I felt it. I felt Keiko's
suffering. She's now as good as dead. So it _is_ true... No. No, it's
not. It can't be. It just can't.> His lips trembled. <But I'm feeling
her pain now. All she really wants is for the pain to stop, and to stop
the pain she has to... has to... No. No!> He fought back the tears. <I
won't allow it! But she's in so much... No!>

Words became useless as thoughts became more abstract; more primal.
Yusuke was now reduced to a level of utter unintelligence. The
nothingness inside him ate up everything: every abstract and complex
thought, every level of awareness of his own existence, up until his
very last words.

No! He was a superior breed of beast. He was better than that. Not an
animal.

Yusuke observed in an odd mixture of awe, panic and outright denial his
slowly failing verbal communication abilities as it began to get washed
away by mere human... no, animal instinct. He was beginning to have
second thoughts on his earlier acknowledgement of the situation as he
held on to one last intelligible thought.

For Keiko to stop her suffering she had to let go; she had to pass on.

He said his final word, the only word which actually made sense to him.
He used over and over until it too lost its meaning.

"NO!!! NO! No! No. No. No. Nonononononononononono..."

Not at all caring whether or not Yusuke understood a word he was saying
at this point, Randou looked contemptuously at his piteous captive and
taunted, "Give up, Urameshi. Give up and die within your pitiful shell
of a body."

The demon continued, "Just who do you think you are, thinking that you
can step on everything I've worked so hard to achieve? I'm taking back
everything you've deprived me of, starting with your life!"

Images began to flood the mindless Yusuke: familiar, yet also beyond the
comprehension of his slowly degenerating, half-demonic mind. Images
became swirls of unintelligible color and movement. It was not unlike an
infant's first wake in the world as it looked around an altogether alien
environment, trying to make sense of it all.

In Yusuke's mind, green colorless dreams slept furiously.


***


Keiko came in like a lion, and out like a lamb.

She screamed in like a lion so fierce, while the wind was so cold that
her skin it seemed to pierce. The girl rolled on and Spring drew near,
and she went out like a lamb so dear.

When she appeared, meadowlarks gave lusty cheers. Buds and seeds pricked
up their ears and blades of grass showed eager spears. And only icicles
wept tears when she appeared.

She bustled in on windy feet and swept herself into the street. She was
washed and cleansed with drizzling rains that scrubbed the earth of
winter stains. It shook the grime from carpet green until naught but
fresh new blades were seen. Then, house in order, all neat as a pin, it
ushered gentle Springtime in.

Soon realization accompanied her wits, and that was when Keiko Yukimura
first took account of her surroundings. Where was she, in this beautiful
place so mystifying, so confounding?

<Where the heck am I?> Keiko asked herself as her sun-kissed, tousled
hair danced to the rhythm of an unseen breeze, of which she was
strangely pleased. <What just happened a while ago? Wait, wasn't I...?>

As if on cue, the dark firmament above Keiko transformed into undeniable
brilliance as a vast expanse of stars appeared, glittering with
impossible nearness. Immediately before her, an alabaster bridge
stretched over a small stream that cut a trail through carefully trimmed
grasses before merging into a vast, still pond that reflected the night
sky in all its glory.

Meanwhile, fragrant red petals floated on the pond's silver surface, a
satin bed open to the sky and wet with dew. The air became humid and
heavy with the scent of roses that lined the banks of the stream, and a
gentle breeze whispered through the rustling thorn bushes that relaxed
near the edges of the pond, the pointed tips of their low-hanging vines
stretching out over the watery mirror. An aurora borealis seemed to move
and ripple above her, like a bright, multicolored river flowing across
the sky, bathing the land in neon light.

Most impressive of all, though, were the four pillars of iridescent
light in the surrounding distance. Each pillar seemed to be a point in a
vast, perfect circle, of which the garden stood at the center. The
pillars rose from the ground, stretching up until they seemed to merge
with the light of the stars themselves.

There were buds on the branches, a breeze in the blue, and Keiko without
mittens. <Mittens?> she asked herself in puzzlement, then quickly
disregarded the silly digression. Her uniform unbuttoned, a spring full
of things all before her to do, she took a glance at the road before her
and blinked. Just beyond the alabaster bridge was the road to
springtime, a road of perfect bliss. Strangely compelled by some unknown
force, she took a step forward.

Yet she still felt it; even though her surroundings were that of
paradise, the very personification of rebirth, she still felt deathly
uneasy. It was still there, her forgotten urgency, nagging her in the
gut; visceral, yet very much apparent. It confounded her.

Nevertheless, she followed the road to springtime almost automatically,
as if she was meant to cross the alabaster bridge and traverse the
springtime road; as if that was her only lot in life.

Albeit her current sense of duty to travel the road before her, she
still felt that something was missing. In the corner of her mind, the
nagging sensation was very plain.

Was it a forgotten task? Just how significant was it? This forgotten
urgency could even be a who instead of a what; a faceless, nameless man,
perhaps? These were the questions that formed inside her head which she
couldn't air out. It seemed far too silly, too trivial, to entertain;
and talking to herself would make her look utterly ridiculous, to boot.

After all, she was in the midst of accomplishing a far more important
task; everything else was secondary to that mission of hers. She had
already gotten to that point, so indeed it was time to cross the
proverbial bridge. There was no turning back now.

<Since when did it become a 'mission' of mine?> she idly wondered to
herself as she began her inevitable journey.

And so Keiko took a determined step, her only certainty her doubt. Was
this in any way a leap of faith for her? Most certainly it was. The
whole situation was a leap of faith in and of itself. Eschewing common
sense in this strange world, she would finish what she had started. It
was all for the sense of fulfillment she wished to achieve.

Keiko crossed the alabaster bridge, quickly reaching the nondescript
cobblestone pathway strewn with cherry blossoms. The road was not
winding, but straight and narrow amidst a veritable forest of pink.
After a few more moments, she was able to chance upon one of the tree-
lined rolling hills she saw earlier.

The road continued from there by means of an ostensibly man-made terrace
on the precipice of the green mound. She proceeded to climb the unnatural
veranda until she reached the peak of the knoll. From atop the elevated
mount, she was able to discern the origin of the four pillars of light.
The cobblestone road to springtime apparently ended somewhere near the
luminescent columns. She trudged on as the earlier rain of cherry
blossoms petered out to a mere squall.

<I keep feeling that I've forgotten something, but I can't seem to put
my finger on it. Heck, I don't even how or why I ended up following this
strange road. It's as if... something's calling me from beyond the road.
It's as if there's something really important at the end of this road!>
Keiko deliberated as she slowly descended on another identical veranda.
It eventually led towards a valley of grass and trees marred only by
the out-of-place road.

<If what I'm forgetting is a 'someone', then who could it be? Will he
help me make sense of everything? Or will everything make sense after I
remember him? I hope, for my sake, that remembering him is a _good_
thing.> Keiko started to feel nostalgia as the scenery slowly changed
into something that was far more familiar.


***


The memories flashed through Yusuke's mind mercilessly.

....Tearing up landscape, gouging deep ruts in stone and earth with a
flash of his fist as he fought the younger Toguro... Shinobu Sensui...
Yomi... It didn't matter who the opponent was, he still felt it.

....Senses so sharp, like they were now, he could see the world around
him without eyes...

....Human again, and yet remembering, _feeling_ the mazoku within him...
recognizing it for what it was because of all the locked memories of the
nightmarish day he spent as a demonic spawn from Hell...

Yusuke paused as the significance of that memory struck him to the very
core of his being.

The mazoku was still inside him, still part of him... even when he
wasn't under its influence.

And something more...

....Snarling, hissing, reaching up with a his pointer finger aimed at
Sensui; the wild fury, the rush of power as his ki blasted and cooked
the former Spirit Detective alive...

....Repeatedly blasting Yomi's shield with his demonic You-Gan as his
human side and his demon side literally waged a war in the depths of
his mind before they both converged into one...

He remembered.

He remembered the time when his ancestor Raizen possessed him. More
importantly, he also remembered the time when he transformed into a
mazoku in the middle of his fight with Yomi.

One last nagging memory entered the young man's head. He vaguely
remembered the last words Randou said before he drifted into a waking
sleep. 'Who do you think you are?' the demon had asked.

A shock of realization rippled through him, his entire being, human and
demon soul alike.

He remembered it all.

The mazoku had been a part of him for years. The symbiotic and demonic
aspect of his soul existed within him, even when it wasn't controlling
him.

<That's it. That's my answer.>

The bloodline of warlords, the millennia-old heritage that Yusuke was a
part of, pulsated to new life. Yusuke grinned as shades of malice danced
within his ebony eyes. <This is who I truly am.>

Yusuke awoke.


***


Keiko followed the narrow road until she reached a certain point where
the grass and trees covered a smaller, more compressed area. Bushes and
shrubs now lined her vision, surrounding her with a sense of familiarity
she could not place.

She chanced upon a wooden bench beside one of the trees. When she
turned, she saw a fountain not far from her. She realized that the
rolling hills from behind her had somehow vanished. She was now in
familiar ground.

Curiously enough, the cobblestone road was still there, again defacing
the scenery. As she left the park, the concrete jungle of suburbia
replaced the tranquility of the hills and valley she traveled through
earlier.

She treaded the road to springtime almost instinctively that she didn't
need to check where it led. It was as if she already knew where she was
supposed to go. After a rather lengthy stroll, she finally reached her
destination.

Her eyes widened as a memory flickered in the haze of her mind.

It was a name, actually.

<Yusuke...!>

So she stood there, frozen, in front of the apartment where Yusuke
Urameshi and her mother lived, biting her lip as her heart raced.

"Oh my gosh! It's almost twelve o'clock!" she blurted out to herself as
the repressed memory in her mind made itself known. Yusuke was dead; he
died in a car accident while trying to save a young boy's life. Somehow,
through some miracle, he had another chance to live again. She couldn't
fully explain how she knew this, but all the ghostly clues that had been
occurring around her point to one thing: at that time, only she had the
power to bring Yusuke back to life.

She saw it in a dream, actually; she was supposed to, of all things,
kiss Yusuke before the stroke of midnight to revive him or else she'll
lose him forever. Simple enough, right? Keiko blushed at the thought.
Needless to say, it embarrassed her a lot. The implications of kissing
Yusuke, of all people, made blood rush to her head, making her all
lightheaded and dizzy.

<...Only I have the power to bring Yusuke back to life. If I don't do
it, I'll lose him forever.>

She didn't have the time to think. She didn't have the time to be
embarrassed. She will not lose Yusuke Urameshi for a second time. No
way. She hastily grasped the keys in her skirt's pocket and opened the
locked door of the Urameshi Apartment. She glanced at her watch. Eleven
Fifty-Seven. There wasn't much time left.

She quickly wondered whether or not she should enter the house without
taking off her shoes to save time before taking them off anyway. She
silently berated herself for her moment of hesitation as she sauntered
awkwardly towards the stairs. Eleven Fifty-Nine.

She almost stumbled as she reached the top of the stairs, her breath
barely catching up to the rapid beats of her heart. Was she going to
make it? Or will she fail Yusuke? She didn't have time to dither now.
Failure was not an option. She practically lunged towards Yusuke's still
but strangely luminescent body. She closed her eyes as her parted lips
tenderly touched Yusuke's warm mouth, her tears spilling over her
cheeks. Twelve Midnight.

At that very moment, she had another epiphany. This had already happened
before. Her kiss had indeed revived Yusuke, and he went on to become a
Detective of the Spirit World. In fact, since that fateful day, Yusuke
had died and revived himself at least two more times. What she was
experiencing now was just a memory, a fantasy, a mere illusion. Sure
enough, as she opened her eyes, the doppelganger Yusuke was nowhere to
be found. In fact, she wasn't even inside Yusuke's room anymore.

"Where...?" she started, and then choked as her mouth filled with water.
It was only then that she felt the cool, wet pressure of it against her
skin and her open eyes; felt the mild currents flowing around her,
lifting and tugging at her clothes and her auburn hair.


***


Just as Randou began to charge forward with one final, fatal strike to
his unresponsive opponent, he cocked an ear suddenly. There was a faint
humming sound coming from... somewhere.

<What is that?> he thought to himself in confusion.

The humming sound was louder now; a deep, bass drone. It had been
building for some time, but so gradually that he hadn't noticed it until
almost too late. A faint breeze from out of nowhere entered the busted-
up dojo, stirring the dust around the surrounding wreckage. Then,
suddenly, Randou determined its origin; it was the sound of choleric
tendrils of youki merging and clashing like the waves of the ocean. The
breeze intensified into a stone cold gale as the demon-ki flared even
stronger.

The demonic energy belonged to Yusuke, Randou realized.

The tattooed demon's pale face drained even further of color when he
finally saw Yusuke's answer to his question.

'Who do you think you are?'

"This is who I truly am."

"What are you babbling about?" Randou demanded.

"I'm saying that I'm a devil who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but
now that dream is over and the devil is awake."

Suspicious, Randou sputtered, "W-Wait. So you think that you're the
devil that's going to change me? No, _I'm_ the devil that's going to
change _you_."

Yusuke grinned. "But you have changed me. See me change before your very
eyes."

Rousing his centuries-old mazoku genes from their dormant slumber,
Yusuke metamorphosed into his full demonic form. Ink-black markings
surrounded his body as his hair grew to about ankle-length. As
Randou's horror continued to mount, so did Toushin Yusuke's speed,
dexterity, and incredible tolerance to pain.

"Mazoku... His mazoku self has awakened," Randou murmured in near
terror. His eyes then narrowed as his mouth formed into a sneer. "Humph.
So what? This doesn't change a thing. Not at all."

Yusuke snorted derisively. "You're right. Now, like before and forever
more, you don't stand a chance. You never did."

After all that dialogue, five seconds of the hottest flames anyone
present had ever witnessed reduced the surrounding wreckage and debris
to cinders.

"ZANKUU RETSU JIN!" Randou screamed as he summoned both chakra and
jaki into his battered frame, releasing the chaotic mix of energy from
his bloodied hands.

The last few moments that followed was of sheer madness.


***


Two realizations struck Keiko at once. She was underwater. Underwater,
and she could feel its tingling presence all around her. Another
realization... and this was on the rather negative side of things... her
lungs were starting to burn from lack of air.

She began swimming instinctively upwards, though there was no way to
tell if all this water she found herself submerged in even had a surface
to reach. The water looked the same in all directions; pale blue, no
distinguishing light or shadow to let her know if she was swimming in
the right direction. Her single, surprised exclamation had not even
created any air bubbles for her to follow to safety.

She was thankful that she had joined the swimming club when she was in
junior high; no amount of will and determination could have saved her
from this scenario had she no knowledge of how to swim. Her swimming
became more frantic and determined as the burning in her lungs
increased. Her lungs were on fire, the strength was leaching from her
legs, and her fingertips were turning blue when she finally saw a
wavering light far above her.

Or maybe it was just an illusion; a hallucination not unlike her little
fantasy of kissing Yusuke from before, caused by the lack of oxygen to
her brain. She didn't know, didn't care. Spurred on by the sight, she
pumped her legs furiously and felt a twinge of relief when the light
seemed to grow closer through her effort. And then she could actually
see bright sunlight filtering down through the water, see it rippling
across the surface, and she pushed herself for it. After an infinite
moment, her fingers straining upwards, she broke through the surface
into crisp, clean air that she eagerly took into her aching lungs with a
heaving gasp.

Before her weight could pull her back down, she kicked her legs to keep
her head above water and felt her damp socks touch down on something
soft and silky that pushed between her toes, and yet stopped her from
sinking further.

Keiko, still gratefully gulping air, blinked in surprise and looked
down. The crystal clear water only came up to her mid-waist. Below the
surface of the water, she could see that she was standing on a bed of
gray sand that sifted and swirled around her feet with the current.

"W-What's going on?" she asked in between panicked, gasping breaths. "I
don't understand... Wasn't I...? Didn't I...?"

She looked up above her. The starry nighttime sky from before had
disappeared, replaced by a field of infinite blue, the midday sky. She
quickly realized that the water and the sand bank that she was standing
on had made her socks soggy and soiled, prompting her to remove them.
It was yet another admittedly silly thought to have after nearly
drowning, but she gave it no mind. She proceeded to walk barefooted
towards the riverbank as she struggled to gather her wits and compose
herself.

What happened, exactly? One minute, she was having a flashback of when
she had revived Yusuke with their first-ever kiss, the next minute she
was drowning in a strange and terrifying river that had uncertain,
varying depths. Furthermore--

She blinked as she saw something in the corner of her eyes. <What was
that?>

Then, as she turned towards that which had caught her attention, she saw
something spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that she couldn't help
but cut her frantic thoughts short and look.

There it was. Hackneyed, but nonetheless it was definitely there. She
had finally reached the end of the springtime road. There, just at the
edge of the long river, was a shrine where the pillars of light lay.
They had apparently converged into a vortex of luminosity so bright that
it made their earlier forms look like flickering candles. Daylight
seemed to turn into nighttime at the sheer awesomeness of the brilliant
spectacle.

"It's the light at the end of the tunnel," Keiko noted to herself
dazedly, surprised by her own insightfulness. "But don't people only see
this sort of stuff after...? Oh. My. Go-Goodness. Am I...? No. Oh,
please God no." Once again, comprehension dawned on her features. This
river... this strange, winding river... was the River Styx, the River of
the Dead. The bright vortex at its end was where she was supposed to go.
Because she was already...

"No."

She afterwards unwillingly recalled a recent memory of an event from
the forgotten past.

"Yusuke... Yusuke!" Keiko shouted in panic before coughing hoarsely. She
covered her eyes and ears reflexively as noise and dust assaulted her
senses. As far as she could tell, she was floating off the ground in
unknown heights by a... dusty hurricane of sorts. She prayed that
somehow, somewhere, 'that idiot Yusuke' was safe before she altogether
lost her bearings.

Then, as soon as the earthy tempest started, it stopped. She opened her
eyes tentatively as she patted the ground with her hands... the solid
ground. She sighed a sigh of relief. She was safely back on Earth. She
sat up as she further surveyed her surroundings. It seemed that she was
on a... cliff of some sort, probably on the other side of the mountain,
away from Genkai's place. She wasn't completely sure.

The teenage girl felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Y-Yusuke?" she
queried hopefully as she looked over her shoulder. She noticed that the
hand felt deathly cold... colder than a winter gale. Before Keiko could
shriek in panic, time stopped for her altogether.

As it was, when Seiryu cursed Keiko's body to become his vessel for his
dark powers, she was already as good as dead. But why didn't she
realize this simple fact before, when she first entered this ghostly
plain? Why didn't she realize the simple truth that she had already
passed on?

"NO!"

It was because of her underlying denial of the situation, it would seem.
She wasn't the first ghost to deny the fact that she was no longer one
of the living, and she won't be the last.

"I can't be dead! I mean... Yusuke. Yusuke was supposed to... I was
supposed to... No! It just can't be!" Keiko sobbed. "It wasn't..."

"...Supposed to end this way?"

"...The hell?" she yelped, surprising even herself at the crudeness of
her words. She couldn't help herself. The whole situation was a bit too
overwhelming for her to handle rationally.
"Oh, you don't want to go there," said a voice, and Keiko looked up,
startled, to see a young woman wearing a deep black kimono with an
intricate pattern of gold leaves, kneeling, poised and graceful, on the
nearby grassy bank. There was a strange but familiar wooden paddle just
beside her.

"Who are you?" Keiko asked pensively. <Where have I seen her before?
Actually, she kind of reminds me of someone.>

The kimono-clad lady smiled at Keiko, making the young girl realize that
the woman wasn't as young as she first thought, for there were crow's
feet at the corners of her dark, glittering eyes.

"I am Ayame," she answered casually. "I will be your Guide to the Spirit
World for today."


***


Toushin Yusuke grinned maniacally as he dusted himself off. <I smell like
a barbecue gone wrong. Oh well. No matter.> He chuckled merrily. He had
some fresh game to hunt for tonight.

Randou gulped as he sensed his half-demon adversary's stare all over
him. Apparently (and ironically), the Kugai had somehow activated
Yusuke's mazoku blood, making him stronger than before. Also, it was
quite obvious that petty little parlor tricks like the Zankuu Retsu Jin
just wouldn't cut it anymore.

<Feh. It doesn't even matter that Yusuke had lost all his reiki earlier,
now that his body is filled with mazoku _youki_.> Randou had to think of
something _fast_ if he wished to survive this encounter.

The half-demon noted that things were different when he was a mazoku. He
didn't have to worry about certain things. He was bigger, stronger,
faster... but that was only the beginning of it.

All his senses seemed sharper. Before, the touch of the breeze
originating from the torn down walls of the dojo on his face, his arms
and his bare chest had been almost imperceptible. Now, it was like a
caress, cool and invigorating. The air seemed alive with smells:
delicate, sharp, sweet, pungent, smoky, exotic, faint, overpowering...
tantalizing. His hearing seemed magnified; he could hear Genbu and
Kenshin speaking outside almost as clearly as if he'd been standing
next to them.

And where he had been cringing nervously on the floor before, whining
continuously about Keiko's dilemma, now he strode upright with a steady
gait, perfectly balanced, his arms hanging by his side. He never felt so
_alive_ in all his life.

"Throw me everything you've got, demon. It won't matter. The only thing
that matters now is that you bleed for me. Bleed for me or I'll make you
bleed," Toushin Yusuke said, his booming laughter echoing inside the
remnants of the dojo walls.

"I have no blood left to bleed for you, you half-demon bastard!" Randou
spat as he warily circled his foe while his mind raced for the perfect
battle plan. <What would the Chojin do in this sort of situation?>

"Then die, for that's all you're worth to me." Yusuke slipped into an
offensive stance, his arms outstretched and ready. Randou altered his
posture in kind, shifting his legs just a bit wider. The mazoku
descendant noted the change in weight, recognizing the stance as one
that his mentor Genkai had taught him years ago. It worked best when
your opponent didn't appreciate your skill, as it offered a range of
movement for more complex maneuvers, but very little in the way for more
simple tactics.

<Even now, you still want to fight. I can almost admire your foolhardy
resolve. More is the pity.> Yusuke smirked. This fight didn't feel like
a fight to him. It was more like an impending massacre; the dance of
predator and prey. <What are you planning to do now, Randou? What sort
of complex maneuver will you use against me?>

The Iron Body technique was one of the many techniques of the Byakko's
Claw. These techniques were so impressive that, by order of the Chojin,
Randou passed it on to another 'Byakko' of sorts... the White Tiger of
the Four Holy Beasts, the Shisejyu Byakko.

In so saying, it was in fact Randou, not Byakko, who first mastered the
many techniques of the Byakko's Claw after nearly a century... and he
was now about to show his mazoku opponent what a master-level Kaiwan
looked like.

"KAIWAN!"


***


Kenshin felt something horribly amiss.

<What...?>

Amber flames of malice and anguish replaced the lavender hue of
Kenshin's kindly eyes just as the ground began to rumble. From beneath
the ground emerged the fourth of the Four Saint Demons.

"You're beginning to really piss me off, sa--" Genbu began, but he cut
his speech short after seeing the icy, ruthless stare that Kenshin gave
him. If the Shisejyu had any blood in him, it would have turned as cold
as stone at the very sight.

Apparently, Genbu felt it too: the change in Kenshin. What clued the
Shisejyu in was the look that the rurouni was currently giving him; it
was one of the coldest, most intense stares the holy beast had ever
experienced just short of the Chojin.

Genbu returned Kenshin's look, fire for ice. "What's with that glare,
samurai? If you think you can win this fight with a simple staring
contest, then you got another think coming!"

"Let's start at the beginning once again; I'll show you how this fight
was supposed to go," Kenshin plaintively said before leaping up ten feet
into the air.

<What the hell is that samurai planning? I already _know_ how to counter
all of his techniques,> Genbu said to himself as he braced himself for
the expected impact.

"RYU TSUI SEN!"

In perfect form, Kenshin executed what could have been the Hiten
Mitsurugi Ryu's most powerful leaping attack. Time stood still for both
the swordsman spirit and the Shisejyu beast as the Ryu Tsui Sen hit
Genbu cleanly on the head.

After what seemed to be an eternity, time flowed again as seconds ticked
by; the frozen moment was instantly thawed for all to see. Seconds
insistently passed as it woke up the unwilling, making apparent the
reality of the situation.

At that very moment, Genbu's world was promptly cut in half.

"T-T-T-This is IMPOSSIBLE! H-How could you have done this to ME? What
have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Genbu raved like a lunatic as he
struggled to keep his gigantic head from cracking open like a coconut.
"My Tetsuzan Kou Defense Up is the Ultimate Defensive Armor! How could
it be possible for you to break through it? It just can't be DONE!"

"I have heard this rant before from many of my enemies. It's all the
same; they couldn't believe that what was happening to them was really
happening to them," Kenshin informed. "Here's a word of advice; before
you go on ranting about the impossible, think things through carefully.
Going on and on about the painfully obvious will only serve to make you
look pathetically foolish."

"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Enraged, Genbu gave no mind to the gaping crack on
his stony skull and struggled to get a clean shot at Kenshin with his
gravelly tail.

"SOU RYU SEN!"

The Twin Headed Dragon Flash assured no exploitable openings because of
its two-part sword and sheath strikes. Nevertheless, it was a very
tricky move to pull off. A large amount of concentration and kenki was
needed to make the Double Battou-jutsu attack successful.

As luck would have it, at that very moment Kenshin had both. His
specialty, the sword-drawing technique, had come through for him once
again. His Youtou Shinnoken and its sheath hit Genbu's tail right on
target, shattering it in four places.

Genbu reckoned that he was beginning to run out of jaki just as Kenshin
had run out of kenki earlier; how else could he explain how the Sou Ryu
Sen completely overwhelmed the power of his mace-like tail when it
didn't before?

But the assault didn't end there. Before Genbu even had a chance to
breathe, Kenshin again went on the offensive, quickly sizing-up the
distance needed to implement his offensive. Just as the hitokiri
assessed during the first parts of his encounter with his opponent,
despite the metallic skin exterior and hard granite interior of Genbu's
body, the balls and sockets of his joints were still left bare and
unprotected. This was because joints in general were basically just gaps
that permitted free movement; exploitable openings that were susceptible
to attack.

"RYU SOU SEN!"

These jointed gaps were especially susceptible to the Ryu Sou Sen's
exacting, multi-hit strikes.

Almost immediately, most of the holy beast's iron-coated body blew up
and collapsed into itself, creating a cloud of dust, shrapnel, and
debris. Afterwards, the explosion transformed into an implosion that
sucked clumps of dirt, pieces of iron, and piles of rock together. The
bits and pieces of Genbu's shattered body quickly reformed and
reconstituted themselves. After a moment, the stone golem Shisejyu's
body was whole again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kenshin warned.

"Do what?" Genbu demanded.

"Form yourself back together. It's as if you're asking for more pain and
punishment." Kenshin harrumphed; it was a gesture which Genbu found
curious and odd for a self-proclaimed rurouni to do. "You should have
listened to me the first time. You're not in my level. Stop wasting my
time."

<D-Did that bastard just trash talk me? ME? NOBODY TALKS SHIT TO GENBU!>
Nonetheless, Genbu didn't exactly feel confident enough to give the
rurouni his trademark cocky grin even though he had just survived three
of his opponent's most powerful techniques. Still, he was truly starting
to wonder, <Am I still fighting the 'rurouni' which the samurai claims
himself to be? This swordsman doesn't seem to be the same swordsman I
was fighting earlier.>

Though he couldn't admit it even to himself, Genbu noticed that Kenshin
seemed far more... threatening than before. It was even frightening...
frightening to the point of madness.

"S-S-S-So you think that your personality shift from being an over-
polite and unassuming samurai to a stuck-up, foul-mouthed bastard can
a-a-actually SCARE _me_? I don't even know which personality of yours I
hate MORE! But enough of that shit. For being such a fucking split-
personality basket case, I'm going to punish you tenfold, samurai!"

Kenshin rolled his eyes. "You already said that before. You have yet to
actually do it."

"Maybe this will help. Tetsuzan Kou... OFFENSE UP!" Genbu's outer shell
rapidly acquired a bumpy texture to it. Soon enough, the Shisejyu's
stony body began sprouting hundreds upon hundreds of spiky stalactite
and stalagmite-like outgrowths of all shapes and sizes, turning him into
a gigantic stone-and-metal porcupine of sorts.

Genbu's broken teeth morphed into a sinister grin as he proudly showed-
off his new and improved armor. "I bet you weren't expecting this!"

Kenshin wasn't even fazed by the display. "You are on the way to
destruction. Make the most out of these last moments of your life." With
that said, the former assassin began his attack anew almost immediately,
disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Genbu suddenly longed for the second-guessing, deliberate, and
methodical Kenshin. This ruthless, cunning, and cold-blooded version of
the guardian ghost was just too much for him to handle.

"DOU RYU SEN!"

"BAH! That didn't work before! What makes you think that it'll work
NOW?" Genbu screamed as he again melded with the ground and charged at
the errant swordsman's direction.

The resulting strike from the Youtou Shinnoken unleashed a raging
landslide that completely swallowed the Stony Saint Beast. The thick
clouds of dust that emanated from the crushing waves of earth slowly
cleared, revealing something that left Genbu dumbfounded.

"ACK! I'm STUCK! I can't seem to move around this fucking gravel pit!
What gives?"

Kenshin deadpanned, "Look around you. See for yourself what happened.
You shouldn't expect me to explain everything to you."

So Genbu looked and pondered. Because of the Tetsuzan Kou, his already
heavy body become thrice as heavy as before, making him sink deeper and
quicker into the quicksand-like pit. Add that to the fact that his body
could only travel through _solid_ ground instead of loose and gravelly
land (which he and his opponent produced through their repeated use of
their respective earth-shattering techniques), and the current state of
affairs wouldn't seem quite so mysterious.

Simply put, Genbu was screwed. He was beaten absolutely by Kenshin, no
contest. He never stood a chance from the very start. What made it worse
was that he was only realizing the fact just now. How mortifying indeed.

"Um, s-samurai! I-I-I mean, rurouni! N-N-No, Kenshin! Mr. Himura Kenshin
sir! P-P-Please, spare my life!" Genbu begged and pleaded, throwing
himself at the mercy of his foe. "I've learned my lesson now! I really
shouldn't have bitten off more than I could chew! I-I shouldn't have
challenged you to a duel, and I should have stopped fighting when you
asked me to stop! I-I-In fact, I shouldn't have even challenged Urameshi
Yusuke--"

"'Himura Kenshin', you say? Don't call me that. You don't have the right
to address me like that. To you, and to all others who dare challenge
me, I am known by only one name..."

Kenshin flipped over the trapped youkai, landing just behind him. He
afterwards reversed his momentum, pivoted on his right foot, and
pirouetted with a backhanded sword-strike aimed at the back of Genbu's
thick barrel neck.

"...Himura Battousai."

The resulting Ryu Kan Sen from Kenshin's centrifugal-powered strike
decapitated Genbu's head clean off of his body. Himura Battousai then
blasted the pit with several key Dou Ryu Sen strikes, making the loose
ground crash into the Shisejyu's spiky body with the force of an
earthquake-induced landslide, grinding it into dust.


***


To be Continued...


Next: The ghost-girl, the ex-assassin, and the half-demon

I usually geek out when writing these author notes. You'll be glad
to know that today is no exception. (shrugs) Hell, no day or
chapter is an exception, truth be told. :)

First off, though "Sanza no Kawa" is the correct term for the
Japanese River of the Dead, the River Styx has a much nicer ring
to it. Heck, if "Ah! My Goddess" can mix religions until you don't
know which way is up anymore, then by God Youtou Shinnoken can do
it too!

Secondly, let's see the many techniques of most underrated
Shisejyu ever, Genbu:

Ground Melding: As seen in canon, this technique enables Genbu to
move through and around rock formations like a ghost. But this
only works on solid ground, as seen in the story.

(The Original) Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan: The Explosive Rock Bullet.
As seen in canon, this ability enables Genbu to recombine after
being broken into pieces. It can also make said pieces attack
an opponent separately or as a whole.

(The New and Improved) Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan: Genbu uses his jaki
no power to blast stone and debris towards his enemies. The
pressure lifts dirt and rock that flies in the direction of the
strike, creating a powerful land tsunami. Think Dou Ryu Sen,
except Genbu's doing it.

Ushiro-Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan, Tetsuzan Kou: Actually, this move is
half made up and stuff. :P 'Ushiro' simply means reversed. The
word was taken from one of Genjuro Kibagami's (from Samurai
Spirits) moves. Then the 'Tetsuzan Kou' was taken from one of
Yin's (from Street Fighter 3) moves. LOL... Yin's and Genbu's
Tetsuzan Kou, needless to say, are very, very different from each
other. :P

(Variant) Tetsuzan Kou, Defense Up: This technique gives Genbu's
outer shell a solid iron coating, making his body sturdier than
before. Unfortunately, it also makes his movements a bit
sluggish, straining his joints almost to the point of breaking.
Kenshin actually takes advantage of this in this chapter.

(Variant) Tetsuzan Kou, Offense Up: This technique gives Genbu's
outer shell hundreds upon hundreds of spiky stalactite and
stalagmite-like outgrowths of all shapes and sizes, turning him
into a gigantic stone-and-metal porcupine of sorts. This can only
be used as a follow-up move to the Tetsuzan Kou, Defense Up.

Chou-Bakuretsu-Ganshou-Dan, Genbu no Hoko: 'Chou', FYI, roughly
means 'super'. And no, this is not one of the author's attempts to
make a fan-created move... sort of. :P This is actually based on
the tornado-like desperation move of Genbu no Okina of Last Blade
fame. So Genbu's 'Hoko' is a lot like Okina's... minus the dust
and plus a turtle or two. ;)

Ougi, Genbu no Ikari: Heh. If you really want to know what this
technique is capable of doing, then read the next chapter. Simply
put, the "Rage of Genbu" is Genbu's Super Desperation Move, also
based upon Genbu no Okina's own Super Desperation Move in both
Last Blade and Last Blade 2.

Now, in order of appearance, the rest of Randou's techniques:

20. Zankuu Retsu Jin: The fusion of the Zankuu Reppu Jin and the
Shaolin-Ka-Shou-Happa-Ken technique. It's a really destructive
vacuum heat wave a la Guile's Super Move in Capcom vs. SNK. An
Abdiel creation.

21. Kaiwan: The Arm of Annihilation. From the Byakko's Claw of
Last Blade's Nanoe Shigen. As noted in the story, Randou taught
everything he knew about the Byakko's Claw to the Shisejyu
Byakko.

And here we are... twenty-two techniques into Randou's one-hundred
and one skills. So that's eighty techniques to go.

Also, starting at the end of this first major arc, I'll be making
an 'exciting' new promotion for Youtou Shinnoken. A separation of
the 'brand' has come. In accordance to the wishes of my former co-
author Danyal Herder, I'm now going to give his ideas a try by
branching the story out into two series... the "original" Youtou
Shinnoken and the newer series, Demon's Sword. Simply put, I'll be
working on my story developments in YS while working on Danyal's
story developments in DS. Stay tuned for further developments.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the
rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. This disclaimer
also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too
many to mention here. Don't sue us please, we are very poor.

Ja!
Abdiel

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