InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Heart Within ❯ Chapter Thirty-Nine ( Chapter 41 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.THE HEART WITHINSummary: She has carried vengeance in her shadowed heart for 500 years, sacrificing her self for that dream. Now, Sango just might get her chance… (IY/YYH crossover) A/N: Another chapter out, woot! I’m on a roll. (Grin) I should warn that this chapter has some dark imagery, but oh, it was so utterly fun to write! (Grinning now like the Cheshire Cat.) On a side note, I have bolded the line I pilfered from the anime to show it’s not mine, and that I am twisting some of the awesome ideas people have left in their reviews. Thank you for taking the time out to leave them---they really do warm the heart. =)
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR YYH CHAPTER BLACK, THE THREE KINGS SAGA, DARK IMAGERY AND DELICIOUS DEMONIC EVILNESS

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sunset tinged the ever-clouded sky in russet fire as an enthusiastic Koto, her short hair only a shade darker, was framed by the glow of lights from the center stage of the packed stadium. The watching crowds roared their approval as she raised her arms and grinned. “Welcome, everyone, to the Second Round of the Great Demon World Tournament! I hope you’re ready for a night full of monsters and mayhem! I certainly know I am!”

Their rowdy response drowned out her next words, and she waited, eyes dancing, for the noise to abate. “All right, folks, this is how it goes. The winners of the first round from yesterday have been paired off with the sixteen remaining contestants of each group---you can consult your programs or the wide screen behind me for who goes against who.

“Again, the first pair from each group will start within five minutes of each other---though who knows how long each fight will take. Tonight is the night when the gore gets good, as each fighter---already tested against forty-nine other opponents---will pull out all the stops to defeat their rival and go on to the next round. I can reassure you that tonight promises to be one sweet slug-fest of blood and carnage, and I, for one, can’t wait!”

The crowd went wild, and Koto pirouetted prettily to face the screen behind her, where the first four pairs were highlighted. “Now, first up, fighting for Group A, we have Natsume versus Boujakubujin. Now, who will win this round? While Natsume appears to be a delicate flower, Boujakubujin shouldn’t underestimate her. That young lady packs quite a punch!”

“Hell, yeah, she does!” Chuu bellowed from the stands, big hands cupped around his mouth so he could be heard. Koto reflexively glared before ignoring the tall demon with the distinctive blue mohawk to detail the other three pairs who were even now taking their places in the center rings of each okininju stalk. The picture of each fighter flashed up on the billboard with their name in kanji beside them as Koto explained each fighter’s known qualities, occasionally consulting her co-host, Yuda, who sat sniffing his disdain from the press-box where she would join him shortly. Koto’s enthusiasm worked the crowd into a frenzy, and she grinned as the final fighter from Group D finally took their place.

The crowd howled for blood, and she pumped her fist into the air as their chant rang out across the stadium. “Hell yes! We’ll bring on the blood, all right! I can promise you that! Now, is the first pair ready? Yes?” She turned back from the flying camera-girl who waved at her, and the main screen switched to show a snarling brute facing the cool demoness who casually struck a defensive pose. “All right, people! Let’s get this party started! Let the first match of Group A begin!”

The thunderous agreement from the packed stadium drowned out the blaring siren that signaled the start of the second round as twilight purpled the sky and green lightning flickered between the omnipresent clouds.


“Now, who be going against who we know, eh?” Jin leaned over to look past Shishi’s shoulder at the program held in the handsome imp’s hands. A neatly manicured claw drew down the list of names.

“Well, no one you care about is in the first match.” The imp gave the wind apparition a sly look as he flushed. “Though Chuu’s already in the front row, cheering on his latest crush.” The patent disgust in Shishi’s voice made Touya frown as Sazuka grinned.

“Well, at least she’s pretty. That one at the bar last night---”

“That wasn’t a woman,” Shishi said in even more disgust.

“What do you mean?” Rinku demanded, brown eyes wide.

“Nothing,” Shishi demurred, and handed the program over to Jin so as to turn the conversation from the curious boy. “Looks like we don’t have anyone we really know until the third set. Unless you’re interested in the second match of Group A, when that Suiketsu is fighting that three-armed giant who beat you, Suzuka.”

Jin grinned down from his floating perch some three feet up in the air. “Ah, that one will beat the giant easy, he will.”

“Hmph.” Suzuka didn’t look too pleased with that assertion, and Shishi’s cerise eyes glittered as he mercilessly teased the golden demon about being a sore loser. The resulting argument was only stopped when Touya deliberately cleared his throat.

“So, Jin, what about our friends?”

“Well, Shishi’s right, lad. It’ll not be until the third match of each group that things’ll turn interesting, seems like. Though that Kuju what beat you last night will be in the second of B, and that Kirin fellow will be in the second of C. That monk Hokushin is slated for the third round of A, and then it’s Kurama, Hiei and Sango one right after t’other. Interesting twist, no?” The wicked glint in the wind demon’s bright blue eyes made Touya’s narrow.

“You seem to derive a little too much amusement from that fact, Jin.”

“Ah, well.” The demon flushed a bit, and scratched the back of his neck. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? That the three of them are what be fighting back to back? Seems like Fate done had a hand in it, lad.”

“Perhaps,” Touya allowed, and then resolutely turned his attention back towards the view screen to see how the next match turned out.


The opened program wrinkled under the sudden tension in her hands, and Sango raised unseeing eyes to the screen where everyone in Group D watched with various interest as the first matches unfolded.

“Hey, you all right, young lady?” A big hand fell on her shoulder, and the red demon gently turned her to face him. “Sango?”

Coming back to herself, Sango blinked. “Um, yes, thank you.”

She flushed at the strangeness of having her next opponent’s husband comforting her before their fight. But then, Koku was all but passed out in the corner, her drunken snores even louder than the night before. Sango wondered how the woman had managed to put down her bottle long enough to get rid of that stupid lizard yesterday, but she wasn’t about to underestimate the demoness.

“You sure?” Enki asked, his black eyes kind. “You know, it’s not unusual to get nervous before a fight.”

She wished it was just nerves. But it wasn’t her coming fight with Koku in the third match of Group D that had her on edge, but the names burned into her thudding heart in the third match of B. Kurama versus Shigure, Surgeon of the Damned.

Shigure. The very demon who had transplanted the heart inside her chest that was even now twisting under the knowledge.


Hiei refused to acknowledge the ironic smirk that twisted across the surgeon’s lips as he mockingly knelt before the former king before going to face the fox. His red eyes lingered on Shigure’s disappearing back as the proud warrior made his way from the room, giant ring-sword resting on one shoulder. It was not for his sake, but Kurama’s, that had Hiei calculating the resolve of Mukuro’s former Elite Guardsman. Shigure had a score to settle, and Hiei wondered if the surgeon meant for Kurama to pay the price of his ignoble defeat at Hiei’s hands. To one as seethed in personal arrogance as the surgeon, this battle would be needed to redress the dishonor he felt he’d acquired when they had fought each other in Mukuro’s dungeons.

But then, there was some strange meaning to this battle for Kurama as well, though Hiei didn’t know what, exactly, it was. He just knew that both fighters were assigning a significance to this fight that was more than just the obvious.

“Which one do you think will win?” Mukuro asked curiously, and Hiei folded his arms.

He shrugged, his red eyes narrowing on the screen.


Shigure studied the seemingly fragile young man who faced him across the battle arena. He, more than anyone, knew how looks could be deceiving.

*He has interesting eyes,* he mused to himself as he drew his giant ring-sword up over his shoulder, bracing it against both hands in a defensive posture as the handsome redhead pulled a pretty red rose from behind his right ear. They measured each other, silently testing one another’s reflexes as they both feinted to the left. The fox attacked first, twisting the delicate rose in his hand into a thorny whip that bounced off the sharp edge of his phosphorous sword but snapped the tinkling bell he wore dangling from the ring sunk into his right temple. But then, he managed to cut through the fox’s light yellow robe, though not into his stomach as he’d truly intended, as the fox hastily retreated.

The bell fell to the ground between them with a jangling sound.

Shigure smiled, and the next exchange of blows delighted him.

The fox was proving a worthy opponent. It was rather fitting that Kurama be the one Shigure redeemed his honor with, seeing as the fox had some type of acquaintance with two of his most interesting patients. He wondered how the fox’s story fit in with theirs, and if Kurama knew the interesting tales Sango and Hiei had to tell. It might be interesting to see the fox’s reaction if he made them known. Kurama derived his formidability as an opponent from the cool detachment he used in battle, but Shigure was a past master in playing a demon’s emotions against them. Getting under the fox’s skin would not only be an asset in this fight, but would provide immense amusement.

He relished the darkness in the fox’s green eyes. There was so much turmoil there, some unsettled question that perked the surgeon’s curiosity. Kurama was as worthy as Hiei or Sango of his surgical skills, and he actually made the generous offer of augmenting the fox’s natural abilities with whatever he wished to acquire through surgery when next they paused to catch their breath. The fox spurned his offer, claiming he had no need for a butcher, just a greater need for discipline.

The emotional bite in the fox’s voice made Shigure smirk, for he was finally managing to get under the fox’s skin. Still, his curiosity grew as the turmoil darkened in the young man’s verdant gaze, and he demanded to know the cause as a swirling vortex of pretty, yet deadly, petals rose around the intense figure.

“Words. Feelings,” Kurama admitted, before coldly adding, “All of which have less than nothing to do with you!”

Really. Then why was it that the fox then attacked him with a ferocity that was almost beautiful in its intensity? Shigure barely staved off the razor-sharp petals sent whipping towards him by summoning the cyclone barrier of his ring-sword. Spinning the winds faster, Shigure fed his powerful jyaki into the cyclone, abruptly turning the defensive tactic into an attack as he struck for the small figure far below. A part of him was astonished when the kitsune did not move out of the way, and the resulting explosion churned so much dust into the air that he could not see any sign of his adversary.

Huh. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps the fox wasn’t as formidable as he’d thought. A pity, but it looked like he had destroyed the kitsune. That was disappointing, but at least his personal honor had finally been redeemed---

But wait, there was a growing electricity to the air, an in-drawing of the very jyaki that snapped and crackled through the dust still swirling around the giant crater formed upon the cyclone’s impact. Shigure braced himself, eyes narrowing in disbelief as a shadow emerged, the dust sweeping aside to reveal a figure straight out of legend.

Youko!


Sango inhaled sharply as the silver figure emerged from the swirling dust that billowed over the crater formed across Group B’s platform. The camera shot a close-up of the spirit fox’s arrogant face. The golden eyes pierced right through the screen in a way that made her heart freeze, though the chilling look was not for her, but the surgeon who stood braced above him.

What did this mean? Where was Kurama? What had happened to Kurama?


Mukuro watched as Hiei’s head came up, his crimson eyes smoldering as the tall figure emerged from the dust. She could feel the turmoil of the fire demon’s thoughts as his normally tight barriers slipped to show his uneasy questions over Youko’s emergence. Not that Hiei hadn’t anticipated the silver fox’s interference, but there was something different this time, something wrong about it.

She wondered idly what this would mean for her former guardsman, and wished Kirin was here to ask his opinion, which she trusted implicitly. But the commander was currently facing his own opponent in Group C’s ring, and the battle looked like it was coming to a close. That meant that her own battle---against Hiei---would be next, and her mind turned from the current unknown to wonder what that fight would hold in store for her.

Hiei didn’t seem to share her anticipation with the imminence of their own fight, and that hurt her in a way. But she knew that when the time came for them to be joined in battle, she would have the fire demon’s attention in full. For now, it was his friend the fox who had the apparition’s preoccupation.

But that all-important battle---when each would pit the darkness they held inside themselves against the other and test whether or not their shared bitterness would win past it in the end---would come soon enough.




Kurama felt himself dissolving beneath the firm weight of Youko’s emerging aura, which surrounded him in a tight embrace, engulfing his awareness into that of the silver fox spirit. Pictures flickered before his mind, the memories most important to him as his life flashed before his eyes in the final seconds before the death of his self as it submerged into Youko’s.

He saw his human mother, her eyes shining with love for him as she held her arms out, dissolve into Hiei, who cast a smoldering red glance over his shoulder. Beheld Yusuke holding his palm over the Forlorn Hope as the detective tried to sacrifice his own life for Kurama’s in the hope of saving Shiori. Saw Kuwabara give him a thumbs up as Botan cheerfully waved. Yukina smiled sweetly behind a glaring Genkai, and Koenma, the prince of Spirit World, gazed at him gravely out of young-old eyes. He glimpsed Jin and Touya, all the other demons he’d made friends with, as a series of rapid-fire pictures that were replaced by Yomi as he was then, so impetuous and rash, and as he was now, so dry and reflective and yet still so intense in his emotions, especially for his son.

He saw Yusuke reborn into the Mazoku, laughed once more with Hiei in the weary field of battle, saw the cloaked figure emerge to draw back her hood to reveal a delicate face with dark eyes full of hidden shadows. Felt his heart tighten as those same eyes lightened into laughter, and then darkened again in desire. Saw them redden in anger as she stood facing Raizen over Yusuke’s body, the crimson scorching into the brilliance of the fire demon who glared so coldly, demanding to know what he was about as he felt Sango cry out in denial as his weak spirit started to fade beneath the overwhelming brilliancy of Youko’s demon spirit.

Youko laughed, a knowing sound of derisive amusement at his expense, so triumphant, and Kurama---

----felt his eyes widening is surprise as his body fell down from the sky, Shigure’s deadly ring-sword swinging for his neck. He barely dodged the blow, and the surgeon glared at him.

“Damn you, fox! Fight me in truth, or die by my hand!”

Kurama leapt away, and felt his body transforming, the red streaks blending across his silver hair as his tail flared out behind him, turning red as well even as it dissolved. He felt the powerful jyaki of Youko’s summoning singing along his veins, but it did not fade like he expected it to, like it had always done in the past when he morphed back into his human form. The demonic energy rose up to surround him in a brilliant flare of fuchsia and silver light, a sweet scent like dying flowers filling his nose as Youko’s mocking laughter faded into the surprise of his and Kurama suddenly knew.

Knew everything. Knew how Youko had played a deeper game than even he could guess. Understood in full how Youko had so masterfully manipulated him just as he’d tried to manipulate everyone else so that he could finally surrender his consciousness to the fox spirit’s. Youko had deliberately turned it about, so that while they were now united as one, it was with Kurama’s awareness dominant, and not the other way around. And they were one, completely, the fox’s particular identity coloring his own thoughts as their souls fused together. Kurama could not know in what ways Youko’s demonic emotions would influence him now, but he was completely dumbfounded as to why.

The answer came, a stealthy seeping of knowledge as he absorbed the odd thoughts of the fox spirit who he was now in truth. Youko, who had loved himself above all others---always so self-focused to exclusion of all else and always so completely narcissistic---could not help but love him, Kurama, as he did himself. For they had always been one, since that fateful day when the fleeing fox spirit had merged his essence into the soul of an unborn baby boy. And in that love, there was the completely selfish wish for happiness, and the knowledge that Kurama could not be happy---and thus, Youko could not be truly happy---without those two who had so utterly touched his innermost heart.

For them, for him, Youko had sacrificed himself. Though, no, he hadn’t really sacrificed himself---for Kurama was now Youko, as much as Youko was now Kurama, and they were one as they had never been before. And even as Kurama stood there blinking in bewilderment, the wild amusement---so dark in its flavor of self-derision, which was so typically Youko---leapt out of him, and he laughed.

An action which stunned the surgeon who glared down at him from the crater’s rim where he’d landed, his giant ring-sword braced for the next throw. “Why do you laugh, human? Do you dare insult my superior abilities, when you have just so foolishly changed into your lesser form?”

“This form is hardly lesser,” Kurama said, laughter dying as he fixed his cold gaze on the surgeon, who stiffened at the sudden flash of gold that flickered through the intense green orbs. “You are a fool to underestimate me, Shigure. You and I have a score to settle. A score involving the revocation of a terrible promise made at the expense of another’s pain.”

Shigure straightened, his smile malicious as his black eyes raked over the intense redhead. “Ah, I see. You wish me to revoke the price I always demand in exchange for my particular services. It has always amused me to give the interesting story a patient brings me an ironic twist to finish it off, and I only demand one paltry promise in exchange for my unique skills.

“But, I wonder, fox, for which one do you refer? The taiji-ya, or the Amiko?”

*Amiko.* The name was not one Hiei bandied about. In fact, Kurama doubted if even Yusuke knew the secret. The fact Shigure did…

“Explain yourself, surgeon, and quickly, or you will die---slowly.” The glitter of gold that sparkled across Kurama’s green gaze promised more than just the single threatening word he used.

Shigure’s pierced lip curled, as if he was enjoying the moment. Sadist that he was, he probably did. “Why, I have no need to keep secrets. Doctor-patient confidentiality aside, you seem to have some concern for the two people who came to me, separately, to have new abilities surgically implanted inside of them.”

His dark eyes glittered. “For the taiji-ya, it was a simple heart transplant, although it was one of my more masterful endeavors, I must admit. And so deliciously ironic, that it was a demon slayer who came with the pilfered heart of a wind youkai in order to slay yet another one. She was so utterly delightful. How could I not resist the unique opportunity she presented me with? The opportunity of being able to perform my particular skills on a willing human, one I wasn’t sure would even survive the operation, strong as her will was. Her screams of terror as I cut into her creamy skin---they were beatific. I can hear them even now…”

Kurama growled, a golden light washing over his eyes as brilliant silver streaks crept across the flaming length of his red hair. Shigure laughed, deliberately twisting the knife deeper as he taunted the darker, if as delicious, memory of a fire apparition desperate for the Jagan.

“Ah, but no less sweeter was the agonized screams of your short little determined friend, who tried to so desperately to keep them clamped behind his bitten lips. But then, they all try and do so--though I make it my particular mission to ensure they cannot hold back their sweet cries as I dig my scalpel into their delicate flesh. The music of their torment is my aphrodisiac, and I savor it like a fine wine, heightening the experience for both of us so that we can savor the full bouquet of their pain and terror.”

Kurama’s eyes glowed like hot coals, and Shigure laughed mockingly, deliberately stirring the fire in their blazing depths as he recounted how Hiei had come to him, seeking the Jagan in order to find his sister and the icy village who had forsaken him so long ago. He spared no detail of the horrendous operation, or the extraction of his terrible price---that Hiei could never reveal to his twin sister their relationship. Kurama suddenly understood the fire apparition’s reticence in revealing to Yukina who he was, and the similarity in both Sango and Hiei’s stories---and the malicious amusement Shigure derived from each---made the anger burn so hot inside him he felt his jyaki flaring and crackling along his skin.

Shigure studied him thoughtfully. “You know, Kurama, I believe you have come to some understanding within yourself. I must admit that I find it quite intriguing. My offer still stands---I would work my particular skills on you, give you abilities you could only dream of---”

“You have nothing I could ever want---except the complete revocation of the sadistic promises you demanded of my friends,” he replied coldly, eyes glinting like twin suns as he narrowed them. “Which you will give me, before you die.”

“You think you can kill me, hanyou, now that you have abandoned your full kitsune form?” the surgeon taunted, bringing the ring casually slung on one shoulder to bear.

“Who says I have abandoned it?” Kurama said, and jyaki flared along his body as the surgeon’s eyes widened. “Know this, Shigure the Damned. You will die today screaming in more agony and terror than was ever suffered by anyone you put under the knife. And I will savor each and every one of them.”

Shigure only laughed at the dark promise in the chilling golden gaze.

It was for the last time.