"The Crow: Spirit Bullet"

Chapter 1: "When a Dead Man Walks"

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and The Crow are not mine by any means. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi and James O'Barr respectively.

Author's note: Ever wonder what would have happened if Yusuke had lost to Toguro in the final round of the Dark Tournament? You'll see what would have happened in this story. By the way, I got the title for this chapter from the fifth track on Lacuna Coil's album "Unleashed Memories." Check them out; they're awesome.

Previously in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet": After fighting their way through dangerous demonic foes in the Dark Tournament, Team Urameshi finally came up against Team Toguro. In an unexpected twist, Kurama lost his fight against Karasu, despite the fact that he was still alive and Karasu was dead. This left the rest of Team Urameshi to take up the slack, Hiei and Kuwabara winning their matches against Bui and the elder Toguro. Finally, it was up to Yusuke to seal their victory with the defeat of the younger Toguro. Both fighters pushed themselves to their full power, but Toguro succeeded in killing an exhausted Yusuke.

Two years had passed since Yusuke's death at Toguro's hands. Two horrible, painful years, and not just for Team Urameshi and their friends. The whole world suffered with them.

Koenma and Sakyo had both staked their own lives on the victories of their respective fighters. As Toguro had triumphed, Koenma had been required to give up his own life. Enma Daioh grieved, and he let the world feel his anguish in the form of devastating natural disasters.

That wasn't the worst of it. Sakyo had been plotting to create a permanent tunnel connecting the human world to the demon world. With Toguro's victory over Yusuke, his dream could come true, and so it had.

The demons that had escaped into the human world were far stronger than the demons that had come before. The human police and military forces were helpless against them, and even Hiei and Kurama were no match. The demons' rampage continued unabated and they eventually took over Japan. Now they were spreading throughout mainland Asia, and not just Asia.

The demonic invasion was slowly but inexorably spreading. It would only be a few more years at most before the entire world was under demon control. Of course, Sakyo controlled those demons, so it would be more accurate to say that soon the world would be under his control.

In Japan, where the demons had already taken over, humans were less than nothing. The government of Japan, both national and local, was now nothing more than a bunch of figureheads. It was the demons that pulled the strings.

The humans were reduced to living in slums in the lower levels of the city, while the higher levels and the more affluent neighborhoods were reserved for demons, and not just any demons. The demons that ruled were high-class demons, and many of them used the lower-class demons as their hired guns.

Since the demons took over, the sun had never again shined on Japan. The demons had conjured a wicked black fog that blocked any sunlight. Without the sun, the plants had died, turning forests and meadows into barren wastelands.

It was now a world without hope, without heroes, without life.

During those two horrific years, Toguro had scoured the demon world, looking for four of the strongest, most vicious demons around. Of course, they couldn't be on an equal level strength-wise with him, lest one get his or her own ideas and try to overthrow him. Then again, he could use a challenge, and he hadn't had one since Yusuke.

The four demons he had found controlled opposing elements: fire and water, and light and darkness. The fire elemental was a dragon capable of taking human form, his name being Akuhi. The water elemental was a demonic sea nymph named Mizuko capable of luring unwary sailors to their deaths. The light elemental was simply named Hikari, and she could manipulate light in order to do almost anything. The dark elemental was Kagero, a warrior whose very soul was a tunnel into an endless black void that would consume the souls of anyone unfortunate enough to fall in.

These four made up his new team, and they were the most feared demons in all the worlds.

At present, Akuhi was on his way to his favorite bar. He'd just incinerated some worthless human scum suspected of working for the resistance, and he figured he could use a drink.

"Hey, Akuhi, what's shaking?" an Irish-accented male demon's voice asked. Akuhi turned and saw one of his longtime friends, an incubus named Yue. If one were to describe Yue's looks, they would have to imagine a more sinister but just as attractive version of Colin Farrell.

"Not much, Yue," Akuhi replied. "I just wasted some worthless human suspected of working for the resistance."

"Miserable pack of traitors, the resistance," Yue sneered. "I don't understand why they wanna give this world back to the humans."

"The humans had their time," Akuhi said. "Now it's over. Long live Toguro!"

As always, everyone else in the bar shouted, "Long live Toguro!" Then they resumed drinking.

"I'm going to find a girl," Yue said.

"Every night you leave this bar with a girl and never the same one either," Akuhi reflected.

"Yeah, well, there are three worlds full of hotties and I will not rest until each one of them has gotten a taste of my charms," Yue replied with a wicked smirk. "And of course, I can always take some human girl in her sleep."

"Isn't that what incubi do, anyway?" Akuhi asked. "Prey on unsuspecting sleeping females and drain their life energy?"

"Uh-huh," Yue replied. He spotted a blue-haired cat-girl some stools away. "See you later." He got off his stool and casually sidled over to her. "Hey there, gorgeous."

"Oh, hello," the cat-girl said, smiling at him.

"Mind if I buy you a drink?" Yue asked.

"Don't mind at all," the cat-girl replied.

"What would you like?" Yue asked.

"Blood-cherry soda will do it for me," the cat-girl replied.

Blood-cherry soda was a favorite among the demons who visited the bar. As to how it was made, the answer was simple: One took all the ingredients required to make soda and then added human blood to the mix.

"Bartender!" Yue called.

The bartender, a tri-horned, green-skinned, muscular demon, came up to them. "What would you like?"

"Two blood-cherry sodas," Yue replied. "One for this lovely lady right here, and one for me."

"Coming right up," the bartender said with faked enthusiasm. In truth, the bartender was among the low-class demons and they all hated the high-class demons. "The pretty ones," they called them, the ones who could pass for human. It wasn't just for their pleasing looks that the low-class demons hated the high-class demons; it was also their inveterate arrogance that made them so despised. The high-class demons got the power, prestige, and influence while the low-class demons were stuck either in menial jobs or as common thugs.

In just a minute or so, the bartender had their drinks ready. "Here you go."

Neither the cat-girl nor Yue bothered with showing any gratitude. After all, they were high-class demons and the bartender was just a low-class brute.

"So what's your name?" Yue asked.

"Nekore," the cat-girl replied.

"Nekore," Yue repeated, pronouncing it slowly, as though savoring the sound of it.

Nekore giggled. "You make my name sound so sexy."

Akuhi just sighed in resignation and activated the timer option of his digital wristwatch. It wouldn't be long before Yue escorted Nekore out of the bar and to his place for a night of wanton sex. Still, he wanted to see how long it would take this time.

It didn't take very long, only two-and-a-half minutes, really. Akuhi had long ago figured out Yue's ways. It only took three minutes or less with non-virgins, and he had to invest a minute or three more of effort with the virgins. Still, no woman was capable of resisting Yue's charms for very long.

"I could get a girl if I wanted to," Akuhi muttered to himself. But I don't feel like it. Sex is good, but there's nothing like the rush of having some worthless dipshit's life in my hands and then crushing it. I'll take that over an orgasm any day. Out loud, he called the bartender.

"What would you like?" he asked.

"Some bloody sake," Akuhi replied.

The bartender understood perfectly well what Akuhi meant by "bloody sake." The "bloody" wasn't there as a European vulgarity, it really was sake spiced with human blood.

"Coming right up," the bartender said. Within a minute, he had returned with Akuhi's bloody sake. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Akuhi sneered.

"You're welcome," the bartender replied, hiding his anger. If there was anything worse than not being thanked, it was being insincerely thanked. Of course, he hid his anger for one simple reason: It was a capital offense for a low-class demon to even spit upon a high-class demon, let alone actually assault one.

And Akuhi was one high-class demon no one wanted to fuck with. He was one of Toguro's appointed lieutenants and everyone knew that Toguro's lieutenants were the worst of the worst, surpassed in power only by Toguro himself. Messing with him would get the careless fool a one-way trip to the netherworld and if Akuhi didn't kill the unlucky bastard, Toguro would.

Elsewhere, Mizuko was sitting on a large rock formation emerging from the ocean. Now all she had to do was wait for a ship to come in. If there were humans aboard, then her fun could begin.

Soon enough, she saw a ship coming in her direction. Mizuko smiled cruelly and extended her spirit senses to see if there were any humans onboard. One could usually tell a human's spirit energy by just how scattered and diluted it was. As a rule, no humans who could channel their spirit energy and use it to fight were allowed to exist, for one of them might rise up and try to overthrow the system that had been established when the demons had taken over Japan. To that effect, most humans capable of channeling spirit energy were killed at a young age, when the signs first began to manifest.

Unfortunately, Mizuko mused, so many of them are still alive thanks to the resistance, hidden under our noses, being trained how to fight by those demon traitors. Time to play.

Mizuko sang her siren song, and the humans onboard that heard were helpless to resist her. The demons that ran the ship didn't care; there were always more humans they could get to work for them.

The human members of the crew went overboard and tried to swim to Mizuko, but the waves buffeted them about. The humans realized that they were being pushed toward the rocks where Mizuko sat. At first, they were delighted because they thought they could climb up the rocks and go to her. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't what actually happened.

What really happened was that the waves viciously slammed them into the rocks, killing them almost instantly. Their bodies were broken, battered, and bleeding. One human's head had been almost cracked open when it impacted against a particularly jagged rock and now it was oozing blood.

Mizuko laughed sadistically. Oh, it was just so fun to see an insignificant human life end. She dove into the ocean and glided gracefully through the water. With any luck, she might find a cute water demon to sleep with.

Perhaps I'll find Juri, she thought. I always thought she was cute.

In a skyscraper with a penthouse, Toguro was currently doing his business. Of course, his business happened to be Hikari. She moaned with pleasure as Toguro repeatedly thrust into her warm core.

Not for the first time, Toguro wondered just what had made him get involved with his light-wielding lieutenant. Not for the first time, he chided himself for asking himself such a foolish question. He didn't love Hikari, or feel any sort of affection or liking for her. She was just a convenient substitute for the departed Genkai.

She even looked like Genkai had in her youth, the same face, hair, and eyes. As for the body . . . well, that was where the two women were different. Genkai had been small and slender. Hikari was tall and curvaceous.

Toguro thrust into her one last time, and cried out his release. The name that escaped his lips as he climaxed inside her wasn't the light-manipulator's, but Genkai's. He always liked to pretend that he was making love to Genkai when he was with Hikari, and sometimes it was hard to believe that she wasn't when he looked at her. However, he would never give in to that particular illusion. Genkai was dead, taken from him by time and by his own hands.

He rolled off her and got off the bed to begin putting his clothes back on. Once he was done, he replaced his sunglasses on his face and walked out of the room.

Once he was out, he went to see his employer and partner Sakyo. If anyone wanted to know the real power behind the demon-dominated regime they all lived in, they would not have to look any further than the steel-and-reinforced glass façade of Toguro-Sakyo, Inc.

When Toguro walked in, the sight that greeted him was the scarred man being serviced by a kneeling Shizuru, dressed in a smaller, tighter version of a maid's uniform.

"Ah, hello, Toguro," Sakyo said, somehow managing to keep his composure despite the pleasure he was receiving from Shizuru's mouth. It still amazed Toguro how a mere human could stay so controlled while he was being pleasured. Then again, that was Sakyo, always in control of himself and everything else around him.

"Hello, Sakyo," Toguro answered. "How's business?"

"Business is going rather well, actually," Sakyo replied. Then he gritted his teeth, holding back a moan. "We've just finished building a new corporate headquarters in Hong Kong."

"That's good to hear," Toguro said.

Sakyo managed to keep his face from showing expression as Shizuru brought him to orgasm, but his eyes betrayed the rapture he felt. "That's enough for now, my pet."

Shizuru removed herself from between Sakyo's legs and glared at him before walking away. As for Sakyo, he just refastened his pants and allowed himself to smile in satisfaction.

"I don't see why you keep her around," Toguro mused.

"Truth be told, that is a question I often find myself asking," Sakyo admitted. "And each time, I find myself with the same answer."

"You love her," Toguro deduced.

Sakyo didn't answer that.

"You do realize that silence counts as admission, don't you?" Toguro said.

"I can't have her," Sakyo replied. "Not the way I want. I would prefer romantic dinners with her, moonlit walks on the beach, all those things people in love tend to do. However, she hates me too much and will never forgive me for being responsible for the death of her brother. So this is the only way I can have her."

"You haven't completely broken her," Toguro said.

"Of course not," Sakyo answered. "The look of hatred in her eyes after she's done servicing me is proof enough that her spirit hasn't died. And I don't want it to. Her spirit was the reason I fell in love with her. If I broke her, then the woman I love would truly be dead and all I would have is a hollow shell. I don't want that."

"Suit yourself," Toguro said. "I just thought you should know that the resistance is starting to become a serious problem instead of a mere inconvenience."

"Ah, yes, those fools in Spirit World just won't give up, will they?" Sakyo said. Then a smile slowly formed on his face. "Your lieutenants are taking care of it, aren't they?"

"Yes," Toguro confirmed. "Unfortunately, the resistance has successfully set back several of our long-term operations. However, they are only managing to maintain against us. They have not yet succeeded in causing us any severe damage."

Sakyo pondered Toguro's words. Then, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, he spoke. "But they will do so eventually, won't they?"

"You're right," Toguro admitted. "The resistance's numbers keep growing. They are rescuing humans with spirit potential and training them to fight against our forces. They have attempted to recruit demons that are dissatisfied with the way we run things, but fortunately for us, they aren't dissatisfied enough to throw in with them."

"That won't last forever, Toguro," Sakyo warned. "Eventually, some demons will become so dissatisfied that they will join the resistance, if only to spite the higher-class demons. Speaking of high-class demons, some of the softer-hearted ones have expressed disgust with the way humans are treated in our new order."

"As long as they don't take any actual action against us, I will allow them to live," Toguro said.

Just then, someone entered, a pale young woman in a black kimono with a dark red obi. Her name was Kisuri, a demon blessed --- or cursed, as some would say --- with the power to see into the future. However, it wasn't strictly one future she saw, it was many futures, as the world was full of myriad possibilities.

"Hello, Kisuri," Toguro said.

"Hello, Toguro-sama," Kisuri said.

"What did you see?" Sakyo asked.

"If you are not careful, then everything you have built will come crashing down around you," Kisuri replied. "I saw something rise from the sea. I saw it find its way here and I saw it tear down this order and bury you two in its remains."

"And what was this 'something'?" Toguro asked.

"I could not see a face," Kisuri replied. "However, I saw a shadow accompany it, a shadow with black wings."

"Kisuri, your power is to see potential futures," Sakyo said. "Your vision may not be the future itself."

"Do not presume to tell me what my power is," the demonic sibyl snarled, her lovely pale features briefly distorted in anger. "I know it better than anyone. However, I cannot avoid the feeling that this may truly be the future."

Unlike most demons, Kisuri was not afraid to speak in anger to Toguro and Sakyo. As a matter of fact, she was one of the few that they would allow to speak to them in such a manner, mainly because her powers rendered her an invaluable asset to them. So they were willing to tolerate a little bold speech.

"Whatever this thing from the sea is, it will not tear down what I have built," Toguro vowed. "If it comes my way, I shall crush it with my bare hands, as I have crushed others who have dared to challenge me."

Meanwhile, Kagero was prowling the shadows, stalking his next victim.

It was a habit of Kagero's that he would follow his victims in secret before killing them. He would follow them for days, sometimes weeks if he got really interested in them, but in the end he would kill them all the same.

Right now, he was stalking a teenage human girl. She was rather pretty, with long dark hair and gray eyes. The remarkable thing about her was that unlike so many other humans, she hadn't completely given up on her life. Despite the fact that demons now dominated her country, there was still a spark in her eyes and still boldness in her step.

This girl didn't fear the demons, nor did it seem as though she hated them. Instead, she went through life with a quiet determination to survive and thrive despite them.

Toguro's regime was still newly established and thus everyone still remembered what life had been like before the demons. Many accepted their fate with quiet despair, but there were those who refused to take the demons' rule lying down. Many of them were immediately killed, while others were imprisoned and then executed shortly afterward. Some managed to escape and were now publishing underground newspapers protesting the demons' domination of Japan.

In the present, though, Kagero was stalking the girl. He'd been stalking her for the past six nights and his murderous urges were straining for expression. He imagined he might kill her the next night or the night after.

For now, he was content to keep following her. That was the excellent thing about his powers over darkness; he could become one with the shadows and thus travel through them. This he could do in two ways: "shadow-crawling," as he referred to his ability to walk through shadows, and "shadow-sliding," as he referred to his ability to teleport through shadows. The way that worked was that he could step into a shadow and then reemerge someplace else as long as there were shadows around that place.

Kagero followed the girl to a cliff that overlooked the ocean. While within the shadows, he saw a white-haired teenage boy step out to meet the girl.

"Hi, Kana," the boy said. "I was getting worried that you wouldn't show up tonight."

"I almost didn't," Kana replied, reaching up to stroke his ears gently.

That was when Kagero noticed the wolf-like ears on top of the boy's head and the wolf's tail sticking out of the back of his pants. Kagero stifled a growl of rage, for to him, a demon who fell in love with a human was the worst sort of traitor to demon-kind. One thing to fight against other demons, but to fall in love with a human? That was unforgivable in Kagero's eyes.

"I know how you feel," the (apparently) teenage wolf demon said. "I'm so sick of hiding our relationship. We love each other." He sighed. "Can't we all figure out some way to coexist without somebody trying to grind somebody else under his heel?"

A high-class demon sympathizing with humans and having one as his lover, Kagero snarled in his thoughts.

Kana sighed. "It's completely unfair, and yet in some twisted way I'm grateful that all this happened."

"Why's that?" the teenage wolf demon asked.

"If all this hadn't happened, I'd have never met you, Kiba," Kana replied. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kiba said. He held Kana's face in his hands and gently pulled her to him for a kiss.

Kagero emerged from the shadows, although his black hair and clothes rendered him nearly indistinguishable from them. "So sorry to interrupt, lovebirds."

"Kagero!" Kiba snarled.

"Ah, my reputation precedes me, I see," Kagero intoned mockingly. "You know, if there's anything I hate more than a demon traitor, it's a demon traitor who loves humans." He laughed cruelly. "Don't worry; I'll spare you the pain of being marked as pariahs by your respective peoples. Instead, how would you like to be together forever in the void?"

"Don't worry, Kana, I won't let him hurt you," Kiba said.

"Silly boy," Kagero sneered. "Worry about yourself." He extended his right hand to the couple and then a black hole formed in his palm, creating an unholy wind that sucked the interspecies lovers inside. The void consumed them body and soul.

Well, that wasn't too bad, Kagero thought to himself. He faded into the shadows once more and then returned to the city, looking for another victim.

Botan flew on her trusty oar to Hanging Neck Island, the site of Yusuke's death, with a crow accompanying her. The crow had silently told her that they needed to go to Hanging Neck Island. Botan hadn't wanted to go there at first, since that terrible island had been the place where three of her friends had died and one more had had her heart broken and her soul shattered. However, she knew why the crow had come to her and thus she could not deny it its wish.

Finally, they were there. Botan jumped off her oar and onto shore, while the crow remained perched on the oar.

In the sea not far away from Hanging Neck Island, something wrapped in rags and weighted began to stir inside those rags. That stirring turned into a full-blown struggle and as it continued, the rags began to tear. The tearing rags revealed bare human arms, and the hands attached to those arms tore away the rest of the rags.

A human boy was revealed, one approximately 15 years old. He had black hair, some of which was hanging in his brown eyes, and was dressed in only a pair of blue fighting pants.

The boy tried to swim to the surface, only to realize that something was tethering him to the ocean floor. The boy looked down and saw the weights that had been tied to his ankles. He pointed his finger in a gun-firing pose at the rope tying his ankles to the weights.

Almost without thinking, a black light emerged in a concentrated line from the boy's finger and broke the rope. His energy was so powerful that it pushed him up through the sea at insane speeds until he finally broke through the surface. Water dripping from him, he let out a battle cry.

His energy carried him to the shore, where he collapsed from a sudden feeling of weakness.

"No . . ." he murmured. "Have to . . . get up . . ." The tide washed over him, but that didn't prevent him from dragging himself away from the water and onto dry land. He rolled over and panted.

"Yusuke?" Botan asked.

"Yusuke?" the boy echoed. "Is that my name?"

"Yes, it is," Botan replied. "Your name is Yusuke Urameshi, and you're a Spirit Detective." She extended her hand to him. "Here, take my hand."

Yusuke took her hand, and his mind was suddenly wracked by a painful flashback. In his vision, he saw his first meeting with Botan, when he had died for the first time.

"I know it hurts, Yusuke, but you have to remember," Botan said.

"You're . . . Botan," Yusuke said.

"That's right," Botan said.

"Some Grim Reaper you are," Yusuke said. "You're far too happy and peppy for the job."

"I recall you saying something like that when we first met," Botan said wryly. "Never mind. We're going to the stadium, or what's left of it."

"Ok," Yusuke said hesitantly. They walked to the stadium with the crow accompanying them. Something about that crow feels really familiar.

On the way to the stadium, Yusuke had yet another painful flashback. This time, it was one of an old pink-haired woman dying in his arms. In his vision, he saw the man who'd done it, if a man was what one would call him.

"I will never forgive you," he had said that terrible day.

Finally, they arrived at the remains of the stadium. Once they stepped inside, more painful flashbacks wracked Yusuke's mind. In those flashbacks, he saw Kurama's fight with Karasu, Hiei's fight with Bui, Kuwabara's fight with the elder Toguro, and finally his own fight with the younger Toguro.

There were other things he remembered during those fights, like Kuwabara's pain when he discovered that Yusuke and the others had deliberately avoided telling him that Genkai was dead. However, Yusuke had avoided telling the other members of Team Urameshi as well, leaving them to discover Genkai's death for themselves. Next there was Sakyo's gamble: he would die if Toguro lost, and Koenma would die if Yusuke lost. Then there was the Genkai-possessed Puu telling Toguro to kill one of Yusuke's friends to unleash his true power.

That had been the most painful moment of his young life, seeing his friend Kuwabara murdered at the hands of Toguro. He had given it his all to avenge his friend, but in the end it hadn't been enough. Toguro had killed him, too.

Dark rage rose up from within Yusuke and a black aura surrounded him. He screamed in pain and rage and Botan took several steps back from him. The energy rose higher and higher until it became a consuming flame, causing what was left of the stadium to crumble around him and Botan.

"I'll make him pay for what he did," Yusuke snarled.

"All right, but you must come to Spirit World first so I can properly prepare you for the task ahead," Botan said. "Get on my oar."

Yusuke got on the oar with Botan and they flew to Spirit World, the crow accompanying them. Once they were in Spirit World, they soon arrived at a temple. Botan landed her oar in front of the temple and she and Yusuke got off, the crow settling on Yusuke's shoulder.

"Now let's go inside," Botan said.

She and Yusuke walked inside and once there, Botan guided him to Koenma's office. Upon entering, Yusuke's mind was wracked with yet another painful vision from the past. He saw a pacifier-sucking toddler behind the desk, giving him a mission. Later, he saw the toddler grow into a handsome teenager, albeit a handsome teenager who still sucked on a pacifier.

"Koenma . . ." Yusuke murmured. He'd never had much respect for Spirit World's prince, given that he spent most of his time in toddler form and he was an authority figure. And everyone who knew him knew how he felt about authority; that anyone in a position of it was just a liar and a hypocrite out to shove people around while sitting on their own duffs doing nothing. "It's my fault he's dead. If I'd just won my fight with Toguro like I was supposed to, then he'd still be alive."

"Things have changed since your fight with Toguro," Botan said.

"How?" Yusuke asked.

"It's been two years since Toguro killed you," Botan replied. "In that time, Sakyo has succeeded in building a permanent tunnel to the demon world and now demons have taken over Japan. They're spreading throughout mainland Asia and they're on their way to other countries. The demons control Japan, but Toguro and Sakyo control them. The demon-controlled territories are now class societies, with high-class demons being on top and low-class demons and humans on the bottom. Of course, the low-class demons are slightly higher on the food chain than humans."

"What about Hiei and Kurama, and the other guys we fought and let live?" Yusuke asked.

"Spirit World has commissioned Hiei, Kurama, Rinku, Chu, Touya, Jin, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka, and Bui as a resistance force to take back power from Toguro and Sakyo," Botan replied. "Kurama's the leader and a damn fine one at that."

Yusuke smirked. "You said 'damn fine.' Ha! I knew you had a thing for him!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Botan corrected, although she was blushing. But now that I think about it, he really is gorgeous.

"Back to this fucked-up mess we call reality," Yusuke said, snapping Botan out of her reverie.

"Oh, sorry," Botan said. "The point is, the resistance has been saving and training humans with high spirit potential to fight the demons. However, they're only maintaining. What they need is a weapon that can turn the tables in their favor."

"Let me guess, I'm the weapon?" Yusuke deduced. "As much as I'd love to make Toguro suffer for what he's done, I'm not going to be a tool for someone else."

"I didn't mean it like that," Botan said.

"Wait, what happened to Keiko?" Yusuke asked. "Is she all right?"

"Not really," Botan replied sadly. "Ever since you died, she's been catatonic. Hiei and Kurama have been keeping her safe, but she refuses to speak a word to anyone and she doesn't even act like she's aware of anything around her."

Yusuke's face fell.

"See that crow that's been accompanying us all this time?" Botan asked, changing the subject.

Yusuke turned to look at the crow on his shoulder. That was when he had yet another flashback, this one of a cute blue ball of fluff with a beak, floppy ears, stubby limbs, and a shock of black hair.

"Puu?" he asked.

The crow flew off his shoulder, landed on the desk, and cawed in acknowledgment.

"Yes, that's Puu," Botan confirmed. "Since he was your Spirit Beast, he was linked to you. When you died, so did he, but something unexpected happened. His soul was incarnated inside a crow and he visited me, silently telling me to go to Hanging Neck Island. His link to you must have enabled him to sense your return from the land of the dead.

"As the crow, Puu is now your link to the other side. As long as he lives, you cannot be killed by anything. You won't be able to feel pain and you'll heal from any wound. In addition, your existing spiritual powers will be greatly enhanced and you will be able to see into the souls of others, feeling their thoughts, emotions, and memories."

"Cool," Yusuke said.

"Before you begin this, you have to properly prepare yourself," Botan said. "I'll take you to the bathroom so you can cleanse yourself of all that sand and grime. Your new clothes will be waiting for you in there."

Yusuke mutely allowed Botan to guide him to the bathroom and once there, she left him alone. Yusuke showered and soaped himself vigorously, cleansing himself not just of physical dirt, but also of the detritus of his soul. Once he was finished, he stepped out, feeling like a new man with a new sense of purpose.

Yusuke looked at the clothes Botan had left for him, which looked very similar to his fighting outfit for the Dark Tournament, except that the shirt, pants, and wristbands were black. Nevertheless, he put them on and after that, the black fighter's shoes followed.

"All right, Botan, I'm all dressed up and ready to kick some ass!" he shouted upon coming out of the bathroom and into Koenma's office.

"Not just yet, Yusuke," Botan said. "There's one more thing I have to do to prepare you." She removed a bottle of hair gel from her kimono and applied to Yusuke's hair, slicking it back into his normal style. After that, she took out a paint kit.

"What are we going to do, paint a landscape?" Yusuke asked.

"It's for you, Yusuke," Botan replied.

"You're not painting any part of my body!" Yusuke protested.

"All those reborn by the crow's power must wear a special mask," Botan explained. "One that shows the world the power they possess and the power that all those who do evil must fear."

"When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad," Yusuke conceded.

Botan opened one case, revealing white paint. She dipped her fingers in it and rubbed them together, getting the white paint all over her hands. She touched Yusuke's face with her hands and spread the paint all over it, until everything but his eyes and lips were covered. She dipped a thin paintbrush in black paint and used it to draw a crow on Yusuke's face. Afterward, she put down the paintbrush and picked up a thicker one, dipping it in the black paint and then painting the crow with it. She took the paintbrush to Yusuke's lips and used it to paint them as well.

Her work done, she gave Yusuke a hand mirror so he could see his image. When he saw himself in the mirror, an evil smile formed on his black-painted lips. Botan stepped away from him, his smile scaring her to death.

"Thanks, Botan," he said. "But I think I can find my own way back to the human world now. Come on, Puu."

Yusuke walked out of the temple with the crow and then it flew down back to Earth. Yusuke did a swan dive off the bridge leading to the temple, following the crow.

Toguro, you are finished, he thought. It's not a good day to be a bad guy.

To be continued . . .

Next: Botan again, and this time I have some good news to report. Thanks to Puu the crow, Yusuke's back from the dead and ready for vengeance with even stronger spirit powers. His first act of vengeance seems to be drawing attention from everyone and most of those people aren't that nice. But Yusuke's pretty much invincible, so he should be all right. Right? Next time in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet."