[FFML] [yyh][rk][xover] Demon Sword Chapter 34: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 2)

[Abdiel]

Five days later, after the attack at Shibuya and Shinjuku by the forces
of the Chojin and nearly a month after the assault Rando staged against
Genkai's temple...

Kaoru Kamiya, while residing inside Botan's mind, waited patiently at
the pier of Tokyo Bay. For a change (and after some heartfelt pleading
in the kendo girl's part), Botan decided to "check out" of reality for a
bit and let Kaoru take control of her artificial body made entirely of
solidified spirit energy.

The last few weeks had been quite hectic. On top of dealing with the
aftermath of the assault on Genkai's shrine care of Rando and three of
the four Shisejyu, she also had to deal with Koenma collapsing from
exhaustion and the reappearance of old and unknown enemies within
Shibuya and Shinjuku.

This included the reincarnation of Udo Jine as the infamous serial
killer known as the Kanji Killer, Raijuta Isurugi as the Copycat Kanji
Killer, and Houji Sadojima as an Onmyouji Priest whom Kenshin claimed
was the right-hand man of Makoto Shishio.

Luckily, with the bad came also the good. The reason why Koenma fainted
was because he used his own life force to summon all the warriors
directly or indirectly connected to Kenshin, guardian of the Demon
Sword. As such, the present reincarnations of Aoshi Shinomori and
Yutaro Tsukayama as well as the honorary shinigami warriors Yahiko
Myojin and Sanosuke Sagara were now part of their group.

It was nice to see her old comrades from the Meiji Era again, but she
couldn't help but worry as well, because the reason they were gathered
was because they were supposed to deal with some evil overlord who was
resurrecting their enemies as his own personal zombie army.

For all they knew, the Chojin could be Makoto Shishio himself, back from
the dead, as evidenced by the name of the Overfiend's troops... the "Shin
Ju", which was short for "Shin Juppon Gatana" or "New Ten Swords".

She and Kenshin had actually been going on sightseeing tours around
Tokyo the last five days like provincial tourists ("Or newlyweds," she
added to herself,) because of how much the city had changed since the
last time they came there.

Japanese-style homes were replaced with Westernized buildings,
apartments, and condominiums that economically saved space and real
estate as much as possible. She was certainly having a hard time finding
the Kamiya Dojo within the Asakusa district. It was like she ended up in
another country altogether.

For today, she gave up the Tokyo Tour trip to Mount Fuji and the
Aokigahara Forest in favor of a Tokyo Morning Sightseeing Tour through
Tokyo Tower ("We have a tower now?") and the Asakusa Kannon Temple
("Some things never change!"), among many other attractions ("Akihabara?
So it went from being a Shinto Temple for the Deity Akiba to a cheap
electronics shopping district?").

Kenshin and the others were supposed to go to the Aokigahara Forest at
that moment, actually, for the sake of an important mission involving
the jaki-gathering schemes of Feng Xinhai, the Chinese Triad Dragon Head
reincarnation of Raijuta.

That was the reason why she opted out with the Aokigahara Tour: She
didn't want to get in their way and she _knew_ she'd come flying
towards them on Botan's oar as soon as the "fireworks" of their battle
became visible within that damnable Suicide Forest.

They also told her to sit this one out in terms of her usual capacity
as air support and whatnot because the Shin Ju were probably be
expecting them in the Sea of Trees (Jukai or the other name for
Aokigahara) and, as such, they were now going to bring in the big guns
(or, in the Shin Ju's case, the big swords).

There was a distinct possibility of the Shin Ju mobilizing all ten
members of their group while using Xinhai's jaki-gathering scheme as
bait.

In short, they didn't want her... them, Botan and herself... to end up
like Keiko Yukimura, which led Yusuke Urameshi to sit out most of the
Reikai Tantei's latest battles against the Chojin in order to cure Keiko
of her curse and her comatose condition.

She hated waiting and not being able to do a damn thing to help, though.

"We'll be back before you know it," Kenshin had pledged to Kaoru as he
went off with the others. This time around, Kurama had a plan to deal
with whatever the Chojin's Shin Ju minions could dish out.

However, even though Botan had complete faith in Shuichi Minamino's
capabilities, Kaoru herself barely knew the young man (and fox demon,
at that).

Moreover, Kenshin had already promised her a hundred years ago that he'd
return to her, and he broke that promise. He returned to her in ashes
without even saying goodbye.

'Don't think of it that way,' Botan telepathically reassured Kaoru. 'It
just took Kenshin longer than he expected to get back to you, that's
all. A hundred or so years longer. Beyond death. You should have more
faith in your Kenshin.'

Kaoru giggled. 'Fine. You have a point, Botan. I guess we'll have to
wait and take the last Sumida River Cruise available for the day, then.'


========================================================================


Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction Story
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/56473/

The action-packed intro of the first act is about to start.


========================================================================

Chapter 34: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 2)

========================================================================


Karasu was a wanted man. Or rather, he was a group of wanted men all
wearing the same stringy hairstyle and strange, insect-like breathing
mask. The foolish humans actually thought he was part of an extremist
terrorist "group" who all wore the same red-and-black outfit, "wig", and
mouth covering. His series of "suicide" bombing crimes were nothing
short of the stuff of urban legends.

He even heard people claim he was part of the string of suicide _female_
bombers thanks to his effeminate appearance. How many more straws would
the Human World's law enforcement have to grasp before they realize the
truth? It never once occurred to those simpletons that all the "suicide"
bombings were perpetrated by the same man who never once attempted (much
less committed) suicide at all.

Had they figured out he was a one-man terrorist organization, they
would've charged him with murder, attempted murder, damaging of
buildings by explosion, maliciously endangering life, and carrying
concealed weapons in accordance to Japanese Law, among many other
felonies.

He was also compared to George P. Metesky, also known as New York City's
own Mad Bomber... at least those in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police who
believed that he wasn't a group of similarly garbed, same-height thin
men with a penchant for throwing their lives away in order to bomb
different parts of Tokyo.

Unlike Feng Xinhai, his designated boss for the time being who followed
the modus operandi of Jine "Kanji Killer" Udo and the Zodiac Killer
because he was an originality bereft moron, Karasu was quite frankly
insulted by the Ningenkai media's comparison between him and Metesky
(who was currently committed to a mental asylum).

As if a mere human could ever compare to a Quest-Class demon like
himself.

He humored the humans and read up on this supposed Mad Bomber who
terrorized New York from the Forties to the Fifties, only to discover
that George did what he did because he wanted petty revenge against the
company that didn't allow him to get workers' compensation for a work-
related accident that led him to lose his job in the first place.

Pathetic. In contrast to the vendetta Metesky had against Consolidated
Edison, Karasu provided a certain sense of artistry with every bombing
he committed.

There were times when he simply gathered enough combustible particles in
his mouth to explode at will, and there were other times when he placed
real bombs all over the seediest and most depraved places of Tokyo...
like Ginza, Roppongi, and Kabukicho... because they looked much more
beautiful in the blossoming flames of a gasoline explosion.

His efforts in terrorizing the humans in the Name of the Chojin had
allowed him to surpass the powers of his one-time tormentor, Toguro
Ototo, but he wanted more. He felt the power level Kurama, his killer
and beloved rival, had at present, and in order for him to have his
much-anticipated rematch against his most exquisite enemy, he needed to
gain at least the level of power that the filthy pig Xinhai himself had
acquired.

At any rate, even though he didn't approve of Xinhai's methods, the
Chinese Triad Boss's jaki-gathering missions nevertheless produced
results in the form of a mere human gaining S-Class superpowers...
powers even beyond that of the Upper B-Class Toguro.

As soon as he became S-Level, he might consider giving Tokyo a taste of
what Hiroshima and Nagasaki went through... with Youko Kurama himself
witnessing everything unfold in ground zero.

At least, that was the plan.

He went through all the motions of Xinhai's modus operandi as the
organizer of his so-called "Earth Club". He wasn't privy with the
details, but then again, he didn't care much for Sakyo and the Black
Black Club's own shady dealings when it came to purchasing demonic
services either.

Like with the Toguro Brother's employers, the Chikyusei was also funded
by rich and bored old coots who were bored from living in the lap of
luxury and longed to experience forbidden pleasures as afforded by their
huge amounts of wealth and assets.

'Make no mistake. They don't control us. We control them,' thought
Karasu as he made a hairpin turn to the next exit while riding on a bus
headed straight for Aokigahara Forest, otherwise known as the Sea of
Trees, or more infamously, as the Suicide Forest (thanks to the high
number of suicides attempted and committed there).

To be more specific, the bus he was riding on was a school bus. Full of
children. Crying, whimpering, and sniveling little children. So how
exactly did he end up in a school bus full of screaming children? 'Now
that's a funny story.'

Xinhai's Chikyusei... which was partly funded by his career as a simple
Triad henchman (49ers or Ordinary Members) and later on served as his
resource for his own rise to power in the Triad... was an organization
that masterminded the perfect crimes Xinhai himself concocted. Feng was
paid to plan out locked room murder mysteries and crimes that somehow
make out the Kanji Killer as the scapegoat for most of them.

Because of his experience as a contract killer and Triad member, he knew
every trick in the book, from using a rubber band to unlock the sliding
chain lock of a room from the outside to turning a murder into a simple
household accident by the "unintentional" and "careless" mixing of
ammonia and bleach together (which form the dangerous and toxic compound
known as chloramine). However, to avail of Xinhai's services was a
literal deal with the devil. Its profitability, to Feng, was only an
added perk.

It was usually the truly complex crimes that required the "assistance"
of the Kanji Killer, like the times when a third party was required in
order to hide the murder of a unfaithful husband. Karasu remembered
Feng telling him about the time when he recommended the use of an early-
morning newspaper in order to mislead investigators on the time of death
of the victim who was thought to be eating breakfast when he was
attacked "at random" by the Kanji Killer.

These plots served as the Triad Mountain Master's means of taking
advantage of his (actually, Jine's) reputation as the Kanji Killer by
hiding his crimes under the guise of Copycat Kanji Killer crimes. They
also served as a method of gathering jaki by having the perpetrators of
the crimes get cursed the same way the Shin Ju were cursed by the
Chojin.

It was too bad that Detective-Investigator Daiji Matsudaira had been
foiling a lot of those Copycat Kanji Killer crimes, then. It certainly
forced Xinhai to confront his main resource of energy sooner than he
anticipated, although he did claim that Matsudaira's awakening as the
reincarnation of Aoshi Shinomori was all part of his plan.

All of the reanimated corpses and revived damned souls of the
Overfiend's undead army were rationed a certain amount of negative
energy. This essentially meant that all of them had formed some sort of
bond with the evil overlord.

This wasn't an unprecedented event either; the long-dead Kingdom of
Meikai was also revived when Yakumo began gathering the unused jaki of
Ningenkai in order to resurrect himself and his minions with enough
power to overtake both Reikai and Ningenkai in one fell swoop.

This curse was present in Detective Matsudaira in the form of the "Hei"
kanji scar on his chest as well as Xinhai's daughter, Natsuki Shinkai,
on her broken arm. These lingering injuries were the Marks of Cain that
Feng used in order to feed off the suffering of his victims.

True, having perpetrators do his dirty work for him had somewhat diluted
the power he enjoyed from his "slaves" because the sinful energy
produced by their deeds were now distributed between him and "middlemen"
of sorts. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of crimes he committed since
1990 allowed him to gain great power from them nonetheless.

Xinhai was one of the few among the Shin Ju and Dai Shin Kan who was
actually producing and gathering his own stash of fresh jaki not
rationed from the Chojin himself through his Onmyouji, Houji. By
murdering by proxy so that he could victimize people without lifting a
finger, Feng managed to become more powerful than he had any right to
be.

Now what did that have to do with Karasu, Aokigahara, and the bus full
of schoolchildren? Well, it was now Karasu's turn to possibly achieve
Upper A-Class or even S-Class powers using Xinhai's methods of
manipulation.

A suicide pact from several of Xinhai's delusional, zealot Chikyusei
followers and whoever else gullible enough to join them was about to
occur in Aokigahara. Even several uninitiated members were going to join
the meeting, completely unaware of the Jonestown-like experience that
awaited them.

As a reward for his efforts in terrorizing the general populace of Tokyo
with his bombings as well as killing several fresh new Reikai Tantei
recruits, Karasu was rewarded by the Chojin and the Fake Kanji Killer
with the chance to "bond" with his victims the same way Feng did.

He'd been imbued with an extra ration of jaki in order to complete the
task of murdering these wealthy, cowardly murderers for the sake of
letting them get away with their crime with no witnesses or
consequences. It was a swift mercy-killing, if you would.

Even though Karasu found this roundabout way of killing distasteful and
pointless, he did so anyway, if only for the sake of gaining power equal
or beyond what Kurama himself achieved as quickly and effortlessly as
possible.

Like sheep to the slaughter, they would come, and Karasu would be there
to blast them to Kingdom Come, murdering hundreds in an instant, which
should exponentially increase the amount of jaki in his system. Their
deaths would serve as revolutionary suicides: More revolutionary than
even the ones perpetrated in Jonestown, Guyana using Flavor Aid tinged
with Valium, Phenergan, chloral hydrate, and cyanide.

Yes, the revived people in the Chojin's army weren't zombies. They were
instead vampires that craved sin and karmic imbalance instead of blood.

Mere minutes ago, as the expensive cars gathered outside Aokigahara and
the members of Xinhai's murder club gathered one by one into the middle
of the forest, Karasu was all but prepared to cleanse them like the
wicked citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, only for him to be blindsided by
the ugliest human he ever saw...


====


Earlier, in the Aokigahara Forest, as Karasu was about to meet with a
throng of Feng Xinhai's fanatic Chikyusei followers...

"JIGEN TOU!" Kazuma Kuwabara had screamed as he appeared from out of
nowhere (or rather, in hindsight, inside some sort of dimensional
tear like the portals Itsuki created), slashed the space from behind
Karasu, and then kicked him into a newly formed portal.

From Aokigahara, Karasu somehow ended up falling in the middle of a
skyscraper in Kami-knew-where. Then again, just how the monkey-faced,
asparagus-haired hooligan figured out the location of the suicide pact
was of no concern to him; to get as many people to join in on the pact,
Xinhai had the audacity to make a brochure out of it, to be distributed
among the suicidal.

"Gee, it sure is a refreshing change to do this to opponents instead of
this happening to me!" said the wielder of the Dimension Sword, which
Karasu remembered was the mascot of the Urameshi Team who ended up
getting teleported out of the ring not once, but twice with two
different people during the semifinals of the Ankoku Bujutsukai or
Dark Martial Arts Tournament.

Nevertheless, it caught the demonic raven by surprise just _how_ the
Spirit World Detectives decided to go about stopping him from fulfilling
his task and chance of becoming a self-sufficient S-Level like Xinhai.

He was already filled to the brim with negative energy, but it was still
rationed out to him by the Dai Shin Kan Onmyouji from the Chojin's own
power reserves.

In order for that seed of darkness that the dark priest planted inside
him to sprout and mature, he needed to complete that suicide pact one
way or another. He looked up, his hair rippling wildly against the wind
as he fell countless stories high. Hot on his heels was the grotesque
man who put him in this precarious position.

"Taking advantage of suicidal people? I never thought I'd say this, but
you guys actually reached a new low now!" shrieked the orange-haired
orangutan before Karasu.

The crow-like demon didn't even dignify Kazuma's rant with an answer as
he jettisoned himself away from the youth by making small, deliberate
explosions underneath the soles of his shoes that served as his
propulsion system that allowed him to fly away and defy gravity.

For Kuwabara's part, he wailed, gnashed his teeth, and flailed his
limbs around before cutting his fall short with a Dimensional Sword
slash to the air that made him land on the pavement at a shorter
distance before he gained enough momentum to make his landing painful.

Karasu himself landed immediately, unwilling to waste anymore of his
rationed energy reserved for the gigantic explosion that was supposed to
happen in the middle of Aokigahara. He took stock of his situation.
Where was he?

He turned in time to see wanted posters of himself plastered all over a
nearby building, followed by several mouth-agape coppers. He read the
sign. "Shinjuku Police Headquarters".

"It's them! It's one of the Mad Bombers!"

"Holy shit, is he out to bomb our building?"

"Call the bomb disposal unit and the SAT right now! That man may have a
bomb on him!" ordered Officer Shigetaka Uye to the novice policemen
surrounding him.

Uye was the same copper that helped oversee the Quintuplet Murder Case
along with Detective-Investigator Daiji Matsudaira and Detective-
Specialist Aiko Tsunemoto.

By SAT, he referred to the Special Assault Team (not to be confused with
the Scholastic Aptitude Test used for college admissions in the United
States of America), which served as Japan's equivalent of the U.S.'s
SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Team.

Meanwhile, Karasu realized, 'So that ginger kid brought me all the way
back to Shinjuku, huh? Then I have no time to lose.' Good thing the
child didn't have enough power to move him out of the country, for all
the good it'd do. At any rate, Karasu bolted under a hail of gunfire
while giving Kuwabara a going-away present: A Mad Bomb or a Chika
Bakudan.

Karasu didn't bother looking back as Kazuma screamed in agony after
his foot was caught in the bear trap underground bomb, his mind
preoccupied with more important matters.

How was he supposed to get back to Aokigahara from Shinjuku? Should he
take the train, looking the way he did right now? How about the bus?
Regardless, he'd find a way. Of course, if worse came to worst, he
could always rely on _him_ for support. 'He sure is taking his sweet
time.'

The Shinjuku police surrounded him. Bad move... on their part. "Do you
people have a death wish? Get out of my way." Completing this mission
was the chance he was waiting for in order to reach the heights that
Kurama had reached. No dirty, lowly cockroaches would stand in his way
of his impending glorious fight with the half-youko.

He didn't want to waste one wisp of jaki in his person on these dirty
little humans until he completed his mission and blew up hundreds of
them all at once, but it looked like he had no choice in the matter.

However, just as he was about to grab several coppers with his explosive
touch, a familiar face appeared in front of him... or rather than
appear, he flowed and surged into existence, like an open current.

"You."

The police officer known as Detective Daiji Matsudaira... the same
person Karasu almost killed in a failed sting operation in Kabukicho by
literally blowing himself up... used his kenpo in order to shove the
demon's would-be victims away before placing a roundhouse kick on the
stringy-haired man's jaw.

"Hey, Tuxedo Mask," greeted Daiji as he spun around and lifted his
leg up in preparation for a follow-up kick. "Remember me?"

As the modern reincarnation of Aoshi Shinomori, it was appropriate that
he was part of the police force and was off to capture terrorists like
Karasu.

The only thing that occurred to the youkai as he went sailing past the
heads of a crowd of stumbling policemen was, 'So the detective has been
working out...' If he didn't know better, he would've sworn that he'd
been kicked into orbit by the Younger Toguro. Or Yusuke Urameshi.

"What the hell happened?" said Officer Uye as he shook his head to clear
it. He and his fellow officers had been blindsided by something, and the
next thing he knew, the Mad Bomber had gone flying towards the nearest
alleyway.

"Go get help, I'll be the one to apprehend the terrorist," were the
terse words Daiji told Shigetaka as the former helped the latter up.
Matsudaira then took his gun out of its holster.

"Don't be a hero, Matsudaira-kun! He's one of those fanatical Mad
Bomber terrorists! He may have a bomb strapped on his body! Don't you
remember the last time you almost died getting hit by these suicide
bombers?" Uye's words for naught; Daiji was already hot in pursuit of
Karasu.

Karasu tumbled back to his feet after doing a back flip in the middle of
his unceremonious flight. If Matsudaira had the capability to hit that
powerfully with just a kick, how much more effective would he be with
his signature kodachi? As the crow-like pretty boy monster understood
it, the detective was supposed to be the reincarnation of some ancient
elite guard of the bakufu during the Bakumatsu that occurred a good
century ago... or so Feng Xinhai told him.

It wasn't the time to dilly-dally. The thin man still needed to go back
to Aokigahara and harvest the despair of the people there for his much
needed dose of jaki.

Karasu's own eyes narrowed as Daiji stooped down and thrust his hand
forward. Right in midair appeared a short sword that materialized from
steel to hand guard to the straps that bound the handle to the blade. It
was then that the crow-like demon realized that Matsudaira had Quest-
Class demon skills of materializing objects out of thin air.

'Fascinating. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it for myself. So
he's just like Bui and his axes in a sense, because he could also summon
weapons using his ki at will.' The long-haired, masked youkai remembered
Xinhai telling him to take it easy with Matsudaira because he was his
prey or some such nonsense.

'But why would I take orders from a mere human like him? The only thing
that's keeping me from blowing him up is his power level... a power
level that I myself will gain once I'm done with this job. If
Matsudaira Daiji has to die in order for me to get stronger, than it
can't be helped, can it?'

First, Karasu decided to gauge the good detective's speed. One touch
from his finger tips was all it took to blast a limb or expose several
internal organs for all the world to see. So he waited for the supposed
reincarnation of an Oniwabanshu Okashira and started his assault when
they ended up face to face.

However, tried as he might, he couldn't catch Matsudaira or his multiple
afterimages. The detective-investigator kept slipping from his grasp as
though he were made of water.

Karasu had half the mind to take off his mask and explode like the
suicide bomber that he was known for, but he kept such urges in check.

The temptation to become a demon-sized bomb grew as Daiji kept hitting
Karasu on the face, particularly his mask, as well as slashing away at
his midsection with that damnable kodachi. It wasn't as if Matsudaira
was faster than the crow-like youkai; if anything, even the Class-B-Plus
Toguro Ototo at his full power displayed a better propensity at speed
than the police officer.

It was the varying, unpredictable movement that made Daiji too elusive
to touch, much less grasp. The difficulty of wading through afterimages
of fists and blades was also easier said than done.

Although Karasu managed to become stronger than Toguro was when he was
still alive, the corvus demon was faced with a fellow Class-A right
then and there, so they ended up in an impasse.

It wasn't actually a dead heat, come to think of it, because Karasu had
yet to touch the former Okashira of the Last Generation of Oniwabanshu,
while the latter was going to town with him.

These weren't powerless punches and kicks either; they were fully
powered by Matsudaira's inner A-Class strength.

Unlike with his first fight with Kurama, Daiji's hits were actually
landing, plus he kept using his sharp kodachi to defend against the
demon's attempts to touch him and turn him into an explosive.

'Wait a minute...!' Karasu thought. He then shifted tactics and grabbed
hold of the short sword outright. He'd been going about things all
wrong.

With just one kodachi, the reincarnated Aoshi's style concentrated more
on hand-to-hand combat with occasional swipes of the blade. The weapon
wasn't mainly used for offense; it was instead the shield that Daiji
used in order to keep the youkai at bay.

'I see. So like a genuine dual wielder, the short sword only serves as
defense and as a distraction against his kenpo.'

The long-haired masked man didn't need to turn himself into a bomb after
all... just Matsudaira's kodachi.

'It's time to blast through the shield itself,' thought Karasu before
imbuing the manifested blade with his own energy, turning it into an
explosive.

The kodachi exploded right in front of the two combatants' faces, and
it was only thanks to Daiji's ungodly reflexes that he "inherited" from
Aoshi (and the gym training that he took up so that his body could keep
up with century-old muscle memory) that he kept his hand, perhaps his
whole arm, from getting blasted away by the makeshift bomb.

'Should I use twin kodachi against him like I did with Xinhai?' thought
the Aoshi-possessed Daiji as he favored his first-degree burns. 'No.
He's small fry compared to the Triad Mountain Master. Even if he does
end up becoming more powerful than Xinhai as Kurama predicted, then I'll
just have to become more powerful than both of them. I will live up to
the title, 'The Last Oniwabanshu Okashira'.'

And that was exactly what Matsudaira did as he drew his gun, fired, and
when Karasu caught the bullet and made it explode, used his Water Flow
Movement to catch his prey unawares and nearly hack off his arm.

The gun made the detective's job easier, although no simple bullet could
ever kill a demon beyond C-Class. Bullets didn't need spirit energy in
order to move faster than the eye could see or do a great deal of damage
to the body, for example.

Karasu was again on the defensive as Daiji blasted and sliced his way
into making the explosive demon release his stored jaki right then and
there.

The plan was for Kuwabara to slice a dimensional portal at the last
minute that led into the stratosphere so no police officers or civilians
would be caught in the ensuing blast.

Alas, Kazuma was indisposed at the moment, so the reincarnated Aoshi had
no choice but to hold back.

'Annoying insect,' thought Karasu as he again missed the chance to touch
Daiji's forehead to make his head explode. The detective-investigator,
despite his short-range weapon, could now fight from long-range thanks
to his gun (which he quick-loaded using his unpredictable, fluid
movements). The detective was playing keep-away now that he knew that
even his kodachi could be turned into a bomb, attacking only when
necessary and feinting most of the time.

"Enough of this nonsense. Trace Eyes." The Tsuiseki Bakudan... otherwise
known as Pursuit Bombs... were flying explosive bombs with batwings and
a single orange eye that looked for all intents and purposes like the
eye-balled minor demon messenger found in the Gate of Betrayal of the
Saint Beasts' lair.

Karasu let the Trace Eyes home in on the sprinting Daiji, his own narrow
eyes widening as one of the bombs actually managed to detonate before
the detective could steer clear from it. Matsudaira literally ran into
that one.

'Hey, hey. What's going on here?' thought Karasu with a half-pleased,
half-shocked look as the detective desperately fled from the flying
bombs, except in the exact wrong direction. It took the fluid motion of
the Ryusui no Ugoki for Daiji to avoid by a hairbreadth another ensuing
blast from a Trace Eye that would've amputated his leg.

'Oh, I get it.' Karasu smirked from behind his organic mask, his eyes
squinting in mirth. Although at this point in time, the crow demon and
the police officer were both Class-A in power, the energy boost provided
by the Onmyouji helped the youkai reach the glass ceiling separating an
A-Level from an S-Level; a threshold of power, if you would.

In short, while Matsudaira's energy level was bordering between A-Minus
and A-Flat, Karasu's brimming with so much energy that he was already on
the verge of becoming A-Plus to S-Minus. Just as Kurama couldn't see
where the Trace Eyes were, the same thing was happening to Daiji; the
copper's power ranking came up too short for him to actually perceive
where the bombs were.

Even the detective's attempts at long-distance fighting with bursts of
close-range martial arts proved ineffective against the explosives
expert. 'I wonder how furious will Xinhai be once he finds out I've
finished off one of his pet projects? Doesn't matter, I'll be Class-S
just like him and Kurama soon.'

One of the Trace Eyes even managed to turn Matsudaira's gun into a
steaming hunk of molten metal that nearly took out his arm. Just like
with Kurama, Karasu took care not to damage Daiji's handsome face,
opting to instead blast him into oblivion using proximity explosions
and shrapnel from the flying debris.

The raven-like demon licked his lips from underneath his mask. 'To see
that stony face in anguish is as much of a milestone for me as reaching
a new power level!'

"KARASU!" a limping Kuwabara called out, his bleeding feet making a
trail of blood as he hobbled towards the two combatants' direction, his
eyes glowing with a bright, golden light for some reason.

The teenager had managed to cut away the metal snare of the freaky,
talking bomb Karasu attached to him before it took his leg off by
blowing up (after all, he wasn't like Kurama, who had the power of an
ancient fox demon protecting his frail human body from harm).

'Him again? Don't stand in my way, you grotesque abomination.' Karasu's
hidden mouth curled into a snarl as he sent the rest of his Trace Eyes
towards the handicapped teenager as well.

The last thing the crow demon wanted was to have his fun ruined by the
Ankoku Bujutsukai's "running gag" who kept getting teleported all over
the place thanks to both Shishiwakamaru and Onji (also known as the
self-proclaimed Beautiful Suzuki).

Two things happened at once. Kuwabara slashed at the Trace Eyes before
any of them reached Daiji, while the detective-cum-Oniwabanshu-leader
himself turned into a sea of afterimages that went straight after the
flabbergasted Karasu.

Karasu reacted by producing more Trace Eyes, but it was already too late
by then. The Okashira had managed to cut the distance between him and
the demon, so the flying bombs ended up either exploding at an
afterimage or dissipating because the youkai didn't want them to
detonate near him in light of the fact that he was filled to the brim
with negative energy.

Karasu had no choice but to bear the seeming swarm of steel that ripped
him apart bit by bit.

"KAITEN KENBU!"

Karasu did have the presence of mind to let a Tsuiseki Bakudan explode
near him so that the shockwave could send him into open traffic, thus
allowing him to escape the wrath of Daiji's... no, Aoshi's... Spiral
Sword Dance.

"You okay, Detective?" asked an out-of-breath Kuwabara as he finally
reached Matsudaira, hopping on one leg that he almost lost thanks to the
damnable and tricky demon they fought.

"Was that demon using invisible bombs?" asked Daiji. "I can see them as
strange warped space in the air, so I was able to slice them apart and
make them explode before they got to me."

"Invisible...? Oh, that's right. Even though you're a reincarnation of
some ancient warrior, you still don't know the advanced spiritual
techniques," realized Kuwabara.

"Listen, a strong enemy can hide his power or anything he can make using
said power unless you're as powerful as he is. I used my Spirit Sense to
see his bombs, though, even though I'm not necessarily as powerful as he
is. I merely transferred my spirit energy into my eyes."

"In your eyes, huh?" mused Daiji. "That's fascinating."

As Kuwabara talked, he waved his Jigen Tou on autopilot to cut away the
other Trace Bombs that Daiji's Kaiten Kenbu missed and created a portal
that Karasu walked into in the middle of his escape, which made the
demon end up back on the same street that both the police and spirit
detective were occupying at the moment.

"Dammit," Karasu cursed under his breath after he realized he was back
where he started. 'How ironic that the person who kept getting
teleported by his opponents now has the power to teleport other people
around as well.'

"So he can make bombs made of pure spirit energy, huh?" deduced Daiji
before turning towards Karasu, holding up his hand, and focusing his
energy into it. His blue eyes glowed an even brighter blue as his
spiritual might manifested itself into the form of the gun that the
corvus monster destroyed earlier.

It was a good thing disassembling and reassembling guns were among
Daiji's many extracurricular activities as a copper, aside from finding
the murderer of his wife, Feng Xinhai. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been
able to create a revolver using his own imagination and Quest-Class
spiritual powers.

"We have the same kind of power, then. Interesting. On top of
reacquiring my skills as the Oniwabanshu Okashira, I'll also have to
learn more about the supernatural."

Karasu mixed things up, this time throwing sticks of dynamite, a whole
bundle of dynamite, a grenade, and other miscellaneous bombs at both
Kuwabara and Matsudaira.

The two reacted thusly, Kazuma slicing the bombs or creating portals
that sent them to places where they could explode from a safe distance
without producing collateral damage, while Daiji simply shot them with
his spiritually created gun (and its infinite reiki ammo) in order to
detonate them in advance.

"H-Hey, man. You can see those bombs now? Did you increase you spirit
energy or something?" asked Kuwabara.

"Yes, I can see them, although they're still a bit hazy to discern. No,
I haven't unleashed my spiritual energy yet, but thank you for showing
me how to see them without releasing my full power," answered
Matsudaira, his eyes glowing like a neon light (same as Kuwabara's
golden eyes) because he redirected his reiki unto them.

'Jeez, Kenshin was right. This bastard is a genius. He was able to
figure out something I had to train for years to perfect, and _I'm_ the
guy who's supposed to be gifted with Rei-Kan,' marveled Kazuma before he
refocused his attention towards the supposed Mad Bomber.

'The detective might even be on the same level as that Fujita
motherfucker once he 'finds his sea legs' and starts using his spirit
energy properly.'

'This is getting me nowhere,' thought Karasu as he felt actual bullets
begin to whiz past him even as he struggled to shake both Daiji and
Kazuma off his trail.

The nearby Shinjuku police were already on red alert, firing at him
like the detective-investigator was, except they were oblivious of where
his bombs were coming from.

Karasu was at a power level that ensured he wouldn't die from bullet
wounds, but gunpowder technology still provided humans enough leverage
to bring even the strongest demons down. He should know; gunpowder and
other explosives were among his favorite weapons.

He was about to get trapped like a rat, stuck between a busy street and
a police shootout, when he espied the arrival of a school bus. Having
hostages around should at least keep most of these annoying coppers from
shooting him down, at least.

'Hmmm. That looks like a good plan as any,' he thought as he flung a
stick of dynamite in front the bus, blasted the door, and blew the
brains out of the driver with a touch of his hand.


===


And so there they were, with Karasu taking hostage of a bus full of
children while a battalion of police cars were on his tail.

These were all led by a pursuit vehicle that contained Detective-
Investigator Daiji Matsudaira, some woman copper that was probably the
detective's partner, and Kazuma Kuwabara.

"This is Tsunemoto. I've spotted the bus. It's headed for Kawaguchiko.
We're leading multiple patrol cars towards it. Over," said Detective-
Specialist Aiko Tsunemoto over the police radio.

Like a game of Donkey Kong wherein the gorilla was throwing barrels at
the pursuing overweight Italian man, Karasu threw out of the bus bomb
after bomb... from cluster bombs to TNT... some of which were attached
directly to his ever-reliable Trace Eyes so that they could deliver the
payload better like homing missiles.

Fortunately for the Shinjuku police force and unfortunately for him,
Kazuma was inside the lead car and hot on the demonic corvus trail,
swinging away with his Jigen Tou like a madman, cutting bombs up and
detonating them at a safe distance.

Due to some quick-thinking on Daiji's part, he was able to send Officer
Uye to the Inspector of the police force, Masaya Taniguchi, in order to
request several roads heading straight towards Aokigahara to be closed
for the time being.

Karasu had half the mind to start throwing bomb-attached children at the
pursuing coppers, but thought the better of it as the damnable Kuwabara
and his Dimension Sword started carving the bus like Christmas ham. He
had other things to worry about, and he still needed his hostages. 'That
brat has become a lot more annoying than before thanks to that weapon of
his. I should've finished him off first.'

"ORA! ORA! ORA! What's the matter, bitch? Is my Jigen Tou too much to
handle? Suck it!" screamed Kuwabara as, for the first time since he
fought and defeated Rando, he was able to practice using his Dimensional
Blade, particularly in regards to controlling the distance it could cut.

Sure, he took up kendo instead of his beloved baseball around the time
he entered Gai Tech High School, but the rigid rules of the sport wasn't
enough to help him master the Dimension Sword. Only practical
application through missions like this was his only true recourse.

"Hey... You're Detective Matsudaira, aren't you? How'd you and Karasu
meet?" Kuwabara asked Daiji, remembering how the detective greeted the
Mad Bomber as "Tuxedo Kamen" and whatnot.

"It's a long story, Kuwabara-kun. Suffice it to say that I met him in
the middle of one of my cases," revealed Matsudaira while his eyes
darted back and forth between Police Detective Tsunemoto and the Spirit
World Detective.

It was a good thing that Aiko hadn't put two and two together, figuring
out that the man who "suicide bombed" that Kabukicho nightclub and
nearly killed Daiji was the same man whom they were chasing right now.

"Matsudaira-kun, who is this old man and why is he waving around his arm
like he's holding some sort of imaginary sword?" whispered Tsunemoto.

"HEY! I'm not OLD! I'm barely seventeen years of age! Take that back,
you old hag!" screamed back Kuwabara while Daiji rolled his eyes and
began shooting down bombs with his infinite-ammo handgun as well as
using a similarly endless amount of kodachi as throwing knives against
the different explosives.

"O-O-OLD HAG? Listen, you hooligan! I'm not that old either!"

"Yeah? Well how old are you anyway, Miss Office Lady?"

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! And I'm a Detective-Specialist, not an
Office Lady, you yakuza brute who's pretending to be a high school
student!"

"I _am_ a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT! Go back to your desk job and type
documents or something, Auntie!"

"DESK JOB? What do I look like to you, a receptionist? Look here, you
foul-mouthed, sexist PIG! I should arrest you!"

"For what? I'm barely legal age to drink anyway, so see you in Family
Court!"

"Stop lying! You look at least forty already!"

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR LOOKING OLD, GRANNY!"

"WELL, YOU'RE THE ONE TO SPEAK, GRAMPA!"

"Tsunemoto-kun, keep your eyes on the road. Kuwabara-kun, keep your eyes
on the bombs," deadpanned Matsudaira as he picked up the slack and made
up for the lackadaisical job the old-looking teenager was doing in
keeping the flying bat bombs from blasting them and the rest of the
clustered police cars to Kingdom Come.

"Yessir," Kazuma and Aiko murmured as one, their heads bowed low
(although Tsunemoto still had her eyes on the road, as Daiji ordered).
They then chorused, "HEY, WHO DIED AND MAKE YOU KING?"

The Shinobi and the Reikai Tantei missed a bomb, and it subsequently
sent one of the police cars hurtling out of control, causing a pileup
from behind them.

"Kuwabara-kun, we're already nearing Kawaguchiko Station, just as Kurama
planned," said Daiji in monotone. Incidentally, Kawaguchiko Station was
the station that went straight to Aokigahara. As opposed to taking a
train, which took about two to three local transfers, taking a bus from
the Shinjuku Station to the Kawaguchiko Station was the fastest way to
the Sea of Trees, although renting a car and going straight to it was
also a viable mode of travel.

The gangster-looking, curly haired youth leaned in close as the
detective told him their next course of action. "Yeah. By the looks of
things, they won't be unleashing their secret weapon until the last
minute."

Daiji grabbed hold of Kazuma's shoulder as he tossed several kodachi
that pierced the Trace Eyes right dead-center into their irises. "Don't
forget that you're _our_ secret weapon in this mission as well.
Everything hinges on you."

Kuwabara breathed in and out, gave Daiji a thumb's up sign, and grinned.
"No pressure."

"_Those_ three are supposed to already be in Kawaguchiko, aren't they?"

"Well, that's the plan."

Shuichi Minamino (who also doubled as an alleged fox demon) looked like
your average effeminate-looking teenaged heartthrob, yet he with what
little information he had, he was able to predict what their enemies had
up their sleeves.

This was apparently a jaki-gathering operation specifically created by
Feng Xinhai to increase the power levels of the Chojin's troops without
depending on the jaki reserves of the Overfiend himself.

Thanks to a tip provided by one of Koenma Daio's many ferry-girls... a
brochure that looked like a vacation meet-up around the Aokigahara
area... Daiji was able to figure out the next Chikyusei target, which
was incidentally a mass suicide of sorts by present and former clients
of the crime syndicate.

It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to think that the people who were
attending this suicide pact were former Chikyusei clients themselves who
were either filled with guilt over what they'd done or were feeling the
heat of the police closing in on them. As expected of Feng Xinhai; he'd
concocted a plan that even allowed his failures to become successes.

It was Matsudaira who figured out that the brochure was connected to
another Chikyusei plot. The brochure was taken from someone who knew the
Shimamura Brothers, who were the same siblings involved in the
Quintuplet Murder Case a while back that had connections with Chikuysei
(the guilty quintuplet's "perfect crime" of blaming the murder on the
Kanji Killer was concocted by the Earth Club).

Of course, because Daiji had only been recently "awakened" to the
supernatural reality of ghost and goblins, it was Kurama who put two and
two together regarding Chikyusei somehow using their "perfect crime"
modus operandi in order to gather up as much bad karma from humans as
possible without needing to ask the Chojin to supply his own negative
energy reserves to his troops.

Matsudaira wasn't clear on the details regarding how these fiends were
able to harvest despair (of all things) and turn it into an energy
resource. However, the puppet master behind everything... the Overfiend
whom even Xinhai answered to... could prove to be the none other than
Battousai's greatest enemy himself: Makoto Shishio.

After all, it was Daiji's past self, Aoshi Shinomori, who figured out
that the forces of the Spirit World and Battousai's former allies were
up against the New Ten Swords or the Shin Juppon Gatana. It made sense
that the Chojin's true identity was Shishio in light of that
information.

Everything had been going as planned, actually. They were able to
minimize casualties, collateral damage, and traffic accidents because
Kurama predicted that there was going to be some sort of car chase in
their pursuit of Karasu.

The redhead anticipated every last move that the Shin Ju (shorthand for
Shin Juppon Gatana) executed in light of the talents and abilities of
the members they knew of thus far.

Thanks to that warning, Matsudaira was able to get a hold of Shinjuku's
traffic department in advance so that when Uye contacted them, they
could immediately block off all paths and exits leading towards
Aokigahara coming from Shinjuku (he mentioned that a bomb threat by the
Mad Bomber was underway, and sure enough, they were chasing after the
Mad Bomber himself).

'Kurama's predictions had so far been on the dot,' thought the police
detective. 'How many more of your predictions will come true, my
redheaded Nostradamus?'

As soon as they neared Kawaguchiko Station, that was when Kuwabara
finally struck down two of the rear wheels from the school bus so that
it'd grind to a halt instead of careen out of control by having the
front wheels damaged. As a consequence, the asphalt was wrecked and the
bus shuddered; Karasu was trapped.

"Stop the car. We need to get to the Mad Bomber before he harms any of
the children in that school bus," commanded Daiji, and Aiko obliged, the
patrol car screeching to a halt. Immediately, with his spiritually
constructed kodachi and gun in tow, Detective Matsudaira got out of the
vehicle with Kuwabara and Detective Tsunemoto right behind him.

The school bus doors had long ago been blasted open. The children inside
were cheering and clapping as the trio surrounded the public utility
vehicle. It was Daiji who was the first one to intercept Karasu.

"Are you willing to risk having me blow up while inside a school bus
full of children, Detective?" asked Karasu with mirthful eyes. He
probably didn't realize how suggestive his words were.

"No, you won't. You have no intention of wasting the negative energy
you've gathered on them. You can't just kill any human and steal their
energy. You have to observe the proper procedure. You need to mark them
off as yours, like branding cattle, before you slaughter them," said
Daiji as the scar on his chest... the amalgamated "One", "Eight", and
"Ten" characters carved by Xinhai himself... flared as though it were on
fire.

The Kanji Killer... the serial killer that Kurama, Kenshin, and Botan
(as well as Kaoru) were investigating earlier on who turned out to be
Jine Udo... was accused of a string of murders that he didn't commit.

It was the One-Eight-Ten Killer, his copycat, that was responsible for
those crimes, including the death of Matsudaira's wife, Itsumi.
Incidentally, the true identity of Jine's copycat was none other than
the mastermind behind this whole Chikyusei operation, Feng Xinhai.

Karasu cackled. "You're absolutely right, Detective." Just then, a dozen
or so hands and arms appeared from behind the crow demon, grabbed hold
of him, and then dragged him all the way into a pitch-black hole devoid
of warmth and humor save for echoing, mocking laughter. In the blink of
an eye, the Mad Bomber was gone.

"...Itsuki, huh?" Daiji murmured to himself. This was the reason why
Karasu felt quite complacent all throughout the chase and didn't even
bother harming civilians when he had the chance. Itsuki, the so-called
Gatekeeper demon who had the capability of traveling through portals,
was always there to look out for the Chojin's Shin Ju.

From above the bus's roof, before the portal that took Karasu away
completely closed, Kuwabara jumped and used his Dimension Sword to
reopen the pocket dimension where Itsuki spirited away the alleged Mad
Bomber.

"DORYAA!" shouted Kazuma at the top of his lungs. "Yeah! I've been
waiting for this moment! We won't let you get away, Karasu and you
Shinjuku bastards!"

Kuwabara actually meant to say, "Shin Ju" instead of "Shinjuku", but he
only discovered the group name of the Chojin's elite just recently. He
then entered the ripped portal leading to parts unknown.

Just as planned. 'So far, so good.' Daiji breathed a sigh of relief as
he made both of his weapons, the gun and the short sword, disappear into
the ether. He turned his head and saw Detective Aiko with one of the
school kids in tow; a little girl bawling her eyes out.

"Matsudaira-kun! What's going on? That prisoner of yours has escaped! He
just vanished into thin air! Also, where's the Mad Bomber?" asked
Tsunemoto in between calming the grade school student down.

"He got away too. Give me the keys to the patrol car. I'm going after
him. Tell the rest of the squad to head on to our rendezvous point
later on," said the blue-eyed officer, which prompted Aiko to toss him
her keys by reflex while he snatched them in midair without looking.

"H-Hey, wait! How did the Mad Bomber get away? Did he run on foot? Let
the other patrol cars take him, M-Matsudaira...!" blurted out Tsunemoto
too late. All she got in response were screeching wheels and her patrol
car heading straight for Kawaguchiko Station.

"That reckless idiot! It's the Kabukicho case all over again," muttered
Aiko under her breath, her hand on her waist as the rest of the patrol
cars began lining up from behind her, with brakes squealing and car
doors opening all over the place.


===


"It took you long enough to fetch me, Itsuki," said Karasu as he floated
in the barren wasteland of a pocket dimension that the Gatekeeper called
home. "What's the big idea, letting me go on a wild goose chase with the
Shinjuku Police? I don't want to waste an iota of energy on those
humans."

"This was under Xinhai's orders. Something's afoot. There may be a
change of plans. The Spirit World is on to us," summed up Itsuki in
under four sentences and one breath. All around them, ruins and mementos
from past and present floated around like a deep space shipwreck.

The dimension was even big enough to house pieces of building wreckage
that floated around in a zero-gravity environment of sorts; Itsuki's
territory.

"Xinhai? What's that copycat killer planning now? He better not try to
ruin my chances of becoming S-Level," said Karasu as he floated right
beside the teal-haired man.

Had he ground to stand on, the corvus youkai would've tapped his foot
on it. "The Chikyusei suicide pact is about to start. Their despair and
melancholy is at an all-time high. I want to be the cause of their
beautiful deaths. I want to be their Heaven's Gate."

"Patience, Karasu. Everything is going according to plan," replied
Itsuki, his eyes closed, his hair billowing as though they were both
underwater, his crossed legs folded underneath him in a lotus position
or padmasana, his energy flowing all around him like a bright green
corona of light.

The masked demon rolled his eyes. "Of course, it is. As usual, that
mountain of muscle and hot air wants to pretend he's in charge, even
though he's not. Xinhai is never going to measure up against monsters
like Tenro, no matter how hard he tries."

Sensui's closest companion then winced, the scar on his face... the one
that permanently shut his right eye... burned anew. The dimensional
demon wondered if this was the same sensation that Xinhai's Chikyusei
victims felt when around him.

Just then, the man that gave Itsuki his scar... the wielder of the
Jigen Tou that was able to cut through the demon's face, his pocket
dimension, and the Spirit World's barriers between the Human World and
the Demon World... arrived on the scene.

Just as Xinhai predicted, the Spirit World was going to counter Itsuki's
transdimensional powers with their own personal dimension breaker and
portal maker, Kazuma Kuwabara.

"Gotcha, Karasu," said an out-of-breath Kuwabara as he floated towards
the two Shin Juppon Gatana members. "Well, well, well. Look at what we
have here. The necrophiliac and the terrorist."

Karasu harrumphed. "So this is the secret weapon of Reikai, huh?
Honestly. Depending on a fool and believing he'll save them all. A bomb
to your face would be an improvement."

"If you explode here instead of in that suicide pact at Aokigahara, then
all our problems will disappear," supposed Kuwabara while scratching his
immense chin. "So go blow your load already. My sword is ready."

Karasu palmed his face while Kazuma reconsidered his words.

"Uh... that came out wrong."

"No. _You_ came out wrong. Let me fix that. Trace Eyes."

"Not those bat bombs again! KEYEEAOW!"

While the cat and mouse game between Karasu and Kuwabara restarted...
their battle looking like the Chinese New Year or the Tanabata Festival,
complete with fireworks... Itsuki opened his remaining functioning eye,
unfurled his legs, and waved a hand to his side, producing a portal
straight to Aokigahara and the gathering members of the Earth Club.

"The Spirit World is predictable as always, but you made one grave
mistake. Even with your one-in-a-million talent, I'm more experienced
at creating portals and traveling through dimensions than you are,
Kuwabara-kun."

Karasu obliged Itsuki's offer while doing a mock farewell salute at the
scrambling (and slightly singed) Kuwabara. "If you're Reikai's idea of
a savior, then I have nothing to worry about."

"You're not getting away this time, you long-haired, Vampire Hunter D
wannabe!" screamed Kuwabara, only for him to be hit by an anchor. Then a
door. Then a street post. Then a stop sign. Then a house. Then a train.
Then a Buddha statue.

"I'm you're opponent now, Kuwabara-kun," said Itsuki as he flung the
different pieces of debris, working and nonworking vehicles, an entire
landfill full of scrap metal, and whole islands of salvaged real estate
from different eras of mankind at will.

The Yaminade no Ki was a master of this world and everything inside of
it. Thanks to the Jigen Tou, though, Kuwabara was able to cut and/or
avoid the seeming asteroid belt of junk and garbage flying right at him,
his blade scratching at Karasu's portal just as he was about to enter
it. However, the rust-haired Gai Tech student couldn't stop the raven
youkai from escaping.

'It's all up to you guys now,' Kazuma thought before slicing the first-
ever Toyota passenger car, the "Toyoda" Model AA, in half. His jaw
dropped and his face went blue after doing so.

He felt really guilty for destroying such an antique, until his face got
hit by a baseball bat. Then a real, live bat. Then a baseball. Then the
first, second, and third base. Also, part of a baseball stadium. And one
of the stands.

"Dammit, Itsuki! Why did you join this Chojin bastard's army anyway? I
thought you were through with Spirit World business after you've stolen
Sensui's corpse and soul! Why are you doing this now?" Kazuma blinked.
"Hey, where is Sensui's body anyway? Did it become all gross and stinky
or something?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Are you going to serve as my therapist now,
child?" drawled Itsuki with a stony face that would've done Aoshi/Daiji
proud. "As Xinhai predicted, you're the Spirit World's one ace in the
hole against me. But what if I kept you occupied here? Then you wouldn't
be a problem anymore."

As the Gatekeeper spoke, the multiple hands that dragged Karasu into the
pocket dimension appeared all over Itsuki, making him look like the
Goddess of Time and Change Kali or the Asura demigods. "Your
shortsightedness will be your downfall. Xinhai has anticipated your
every move."

Kuwabara held back his laughter, his shoulders shaking as he did
backhanded swings at the empty, waterless fountain headed towards him,
cutting it into quarters. "I don't know about that. I have no idea who
this Xinhai person is, but you claiming that he knows our every move
is really funny."

Itsuki's eye twitched. "Funny, huh?"

"It's hilarious. You should know better than to underestimate Kurama,
Itsuki. Don't you remember what he did to Toguro Ani? He turned that
sadistic imp into a living lawn ornament. Also, haven't _you_ learned
your own lesson? Isn't losing one eye enough?"

"I'd lose an arm and a leg for Sensui, and I'd have no regrets. Reikai
will pay for stealing my beloved away from me."

What seemed like a century's worth of manmade things seemed to orbit
and converge around Itsuki, swallowing him into a flowing variegated
ocean of materialism.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." With that said, Kuwabara did a
mighty swing that missed Itsuki by a mile but created a man-sized tear
beside the dimensional demon.

"You're not going to keep me stuck in this place, I can guarantee you
that," Kazuma pledged.

"Now who's making promises they can't keep?" retorted Itsuki as he
blasted Kuwabara with the ruins and keepsakes of countless civilizations
and generations.


===


To Be Continued...

Next: A sea of trees and corpses.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi,
Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful
property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios,
Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also
covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to
mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

Heto na,
Abdiel
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