"The Crow: Spirit Bullet"

Chapter 2: "Adauchi no Rei"

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and The Crow do not belong to me. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi and James O'Barr, respectively.

Author's note: Guess who's back? Back again. Yusuke's back. Back again. Expect various methods of gruesome death.

By the way, Iris Shaw from a Crow comic compilation "Flesh and Blood" inspired Yusuke's look. If you find "Flesh and Blood" in a comic-book shop, a bookstore, or on the Internet, I advise you to buy it. It's good.

Finally, any spoken sentences that are in italics are part of a flashback.

Translation: "Adauchi no Rei" - "Spirit of Vengeance"

Previously in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet": In the two years that followed Yusuke's death, Sakyo created a permanent tunnel connecting the human world to the demon world. As a result, demons rampaged through the human world and eventually conquered Japan, then began to spread through mainland Asia. Toguro formed a new team made up of four extremely dangerous demons: Akuhi, a draconic demon with the power of fire; Mizuko, a demonic sea nymph; Hikari, a light manipulator; and Kagero, a demon with power over darkness. The surviving Spirit Detectives formed a resistance force to topple Sakyo and Toguro but were so far only maintaining. Puu's spirit was reborn in a crow and he and Botan found Yusuke, bringing him back to life. After bringing him up to speed, Botan marked Yusuke with the symbol of the crow and sent him back to the human world with even stronger spirit powers and a desire for vengeance.

Yusuke landed on top of a skyscraper in the human world. "Damn. I'd look so much cooler plummeting to Earth if I had a cape."

Puu the crow cawed at him and began to fly.

"All right, I get it," Yusuke said. "I'm coming, Puu."

Yusuke leaped across the rooftops, following the crow. As he did, he observed the city below him. "So much has changed," he said to himself.

Yusuke spotted a trio of demons trashing a convenience shop. They were obviously low-class demons, judging by their inhuman appearance.

"Please stop!" the middle-aged human man who ran the shop begged.

"Really?" the leader of the trio sneered. "Why?"

The man just stuttered as his wife clung to him in terror. However, she had the courage to ask, "Why are you doing this to us?"

"Because this is our world now," the leader replied. "And you and the rest of the human race don't mean shit anymore."

Yusuke growled in rage. Without really thinking about it, he gracefully plummeted off the rooftop he was on and landed behind the demon.

"You should really leave them alone," he said.

The other two-thirds of the trio turned around with their leader to face him. "What the fuck you all painted up for, huh, ass-monkey?" the leader asked.

"Shit, man, he's got a bird panted on his face," another one of the demons commented.

"Step off, bitch!" the third demon yelled. "Or we'll fuck you up, too!"

"You? Fuck me up?" Yusuke asked disdainfully. He scoffed. "That'll be the day. You punks have barely any spirit energy."

"Yeah, well, you're still just a punk human!" the leader retorted.

"Come on, then," Yusuke challenged. "You talk a big game. Let's see you put your money where your mouth is."

"Time to die, punk-ass!" the leader yelled and charged at Yusuke like a bull. Now that Yusuke thought about it, he really did look like a bull. Putting that thought aside, he simply sidestepped the demon and stuck his foot out, tripping him.

Outraged, the leader rose to his feet again and charged at Yusuke once more. This time, Yusuke grabbed him by his horns and tossed him.

"Drago! Stego! Waste that son of a bitch!" the leader ordered.

Drago (who looked like a cross between a bird and a dragon) and Stego (who had spikes running down his back and a spiked tail) charged at Yusuke. Drago flew at Yusuke and slashed him with his wings. However, Yusuke felt no pain from Drago's slashes and his wounds only bled a little before sealing themselves.

"What the fuck?" Drago uttered, stunned at this new development.

"I'll get him!" Stego yelled and jumped into the air. He coiled and then came down on Yusuke, intending to use the spikes on his back and tail to grind him into dust. Unfortunately for him, Yusuke caught him and tossed him like a giant baseball.

"Had enough yet, or do you little pussies want more?" he asked.

"This shitty store's more trouble than it's worth!" the leader shouted. "We're out of here!" That said, he, Drago, and Stego fled.

"Thank you, young man," the shop owner said.

"Don't thank me," Yusuke replied. "I only did what should have been done a long time ago."

"It's not that nobody's tried to stand up to those bastards," the shop owner's wife said. "It's just that everybody who ever tried was never seen again . . . alive, that is."

"What about the resistance?" Yusuke asked.

"They do their best, but Sakyo and Toguro are just so powerful that there's barely any hope of defeating them," the shop owner replied.

"Who are you?" the shop owner's wife asked.

"Nobody," Yusuke replied. "Just someone who can't stay dead or away from trouble."

He walked away from the couple, leaping up onto the ladder of a fire escape and climbing up to a rooftop. He leaped from that rooftop and onto the next, the crow flying ahead of him, guiding him.

Eventually, he found his way to the apartment building where he had lived with his alcoholic mother Atsuko. He noticed that it wasn't exactly abandoned, and he was about to go inside when a police officer intercepted him.

"Excuse me, but humans are not allowed to visit or reside in this apartment complex," the officer said.

"You're human, too," Yusuke said. "Why are you helping them?"

"I don't make the rules," the officer replied with rueful undertones in his voice.

"Excuse me, but I don't have time for your bullshit," Yusuke said. He grabbed the officer and was about to toss him when a flashback interrupted. In his vision, he saw the officer and his comrades learning that from now on, their precinct and others within the city would be under demonic management. The humans who had run the precincts before had been murdered. Since then, the police had been pariahs, branded as traitors to their kind, for the police force now existed as enforcers of Toguro and Sakyo's new order.

Yusuke dropped him once the vision ended. "You've suffered, too."

"Why do you care?" the officer asked, but not in an angry tone, more like he was bewildered.

"Someone has to," Yusuke replied. "Mind if I go in now?"

"Don't," the officer pleaded. "If you go in there, you'll end up dead. And I'll be dead for letting you go in."

"Don't worry about me," Yusuke said. "I'm already dead. And so is this bullshit empire of Toguro's." Without waiting for the officer to respond, Yusuke walked into the apartment building. Memory and the crow guided him up to the apartment where he'd resided with Atsuko.

Yusuke opened the door and the crow flew in, quickly finding a perch. Once he stepped inside, he received another flashback. In it, he saw Atsuko answering the door, only to find Toguro on the other side.

"Hello, Atsuko Urameshi," he had said.

"How do you know who I am?" Atsuko had asked.

"I'm an acquaintance of your son," Toguro had replied. "And I'm sorry to say . . . he's not coming home ever again. He can't, considering that he's dead."

"Oh, no!" Atsuko had exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes. "Not Yusuke! No!" By then, she had burst into tears.

"Don't worry," Toguro had said, walking into the apartment. "I'll spare you the pain of carrying on in this world without him." He had removed his trench coat, revealing his shirtless torso. Summoning his terrible demon energy, he had powered up to 20 percent of his strength.

"What are you?" Atsuko had asked, frightened.

"The one who will reunite you with your son," Toguro had replied. With one vicious punch, he had killed her. She had fallen to the ground, her blood pooling around her.

Yusuke fell to his knees in emotional and mental agony. "He . . . murdered . . . my mother!" he managed to get out, his voice strangled, fighting back tears.

"What are you doing in my home, human?" a voice asked.

Yusuke rose to his feet and glared at the source of the voice. Said voice had come from a demon, high-class obviously, because he looked very much like a human. However, the pointed ears and the glittering, inhumanly predatory look in his eyes made it very clear that he wasn't human.

"What the fuck are you doing in my house?" Yusuke asked angrily.

"I already asked you that particular question," the demon replied.

Yusuke angrily lunged at him and slammed him into a wall. "How did you get this apartment?!"

"The new landlord let me have it after the drunken human whore who lived here before kicked the bucket," the demon replied with a sneer in his voice.

"You bastard!" Yusuke yelled. "Don't you ever call my mother that!" With a scream of rage, he hurled the demon into the other wall. Said demon got up, mad as hell.

"You'll die for that, you miserable human," the demon snarled, shooting a bolt of crimson lightning at Yusuke, who just let it hit him. The red electricity struck Yusuke in the chest and slammed him into the opposite wall. He then crumpled to the ground. "Yeah, take that, you crow-faced bitch."

The demon was very unpleasantly surprised when Yusuke got up again. "What the fuck?"

"Surprised?" Yusuke asked, cruelly smirking. "You can't hurt me. You can't hurt me because I'm already dead." He pointed his index finger at the demon in a gun-firing pose, the tip shining darkly with black energy. His voice was low and cold as he declared his signature attack. "Spirit Gun."

The black energy shot out of his finger and struck the demon in the head, splattering his brains and blood all over the wall. The body crumpled to the floor.

Later, when the police arrived, that very bloody tableau was what they found, along with something else.

"Check this out," one officer said, pointing at the wall.

"What the hell?" another officer asked upon seeing what was on the wall.

It was a crow, painted in the blood of the very demon that had recently occupied the apartment the police were examining.

When Toguro got the news, he wasn't exactly a happy camper. Actually, that was an understatement.

"Who the hell did this?" he asked.

"Shhhh, calm down, Toguro-sama," Hikari replied, rubbing his shoulders, "we'll figure out who the dirty scum is that did that."

"When you find him, I want him dealt with --- painfully," Toguro said.

"Will do, Toguro, will do," Akuhi said, smiling evilly.

Mizuko scoffed. "You just want an excuse to kill something. Some days, I think you're no better than those low-class thugs."

"Hypocrite," Akuhi spat. "You yourself enjoy luring human sailors to their deaths."

Just then, Sakyo walked in. "Assuming you heard the news, I have some things to report."

"Go on, Sakyo," Toguro said.

"My sources in the police force told me that according to how the contents of his skull were splattered all over his apartment, his head couldn't have exploded," Sakyo explained. "The obvious answer is that someone blasted his head apart and that it was a tightly concentrated blast of spirit energy."

"It's him," Kisuri said. "The thing that I saw rising from the sea has risen from the sea."

"That is only one part of your prophecy," Toguro said. "Rest assured, the second part will never come to pass. Whoever this person is, I will crush him with my bare hands."

"Interestingly enough," Sakyo contributed, "the apartment where this unfortunate incident took place was the same apartment that once belonged to Atsuko and Yusuke Urameshi. The killer also left a blood painting of a crow on the wall."

"A shadow with black wings," Kisuri murmured to herself.

Toguro considered this information for a full minute. Then he smiled.

"It appears I didn't do as good a job in killing Yusuke Urameshi as I'd thought," he said.

"He has risen from the sea in which you buried him," Kisuri intoned. "He will hunt you down, Toguro. He hungers for your blood."

"Let him come," Toguro sneered. "I will still defeat him in the end, and once again, I will end his miserable life." He smiled. "Akuhi, I want you to find Yusuke. Don't kill him. I want to do that myself."

"Sure," Akuhi replied slightly resentfully, as he didn't like the idea of being deprived of a chance to kill.

In an underground cavern, Spirit World's resistance force had met to discuss the recent happenings.

"One of our informants reported seeing a boy dressed in all black with a crow painted on his face beat up a gang of demons," Bui said.

"And in the news, there was a report of a high-class demon being murdered in his own apartment," Shishiwakamaru added.

"Did it say how?" Hiei asked.

"Apparently, his head was blown apart," Shishi replied. "Forensics says that it was a tightly concentrated blast of spirit energy that did it."

"Did you check out the address?" Kurama asked.

"The apartment was the same one Yusuke and his mother lived in before they were killed," Shishi replied. "And here's something interesting you might want to know: The killer used the demon's own blood to paint a crow on the wall."

"A tightly concentrated blast of spirit energy," Jin said. "Sounds a lot like a Spirit Gun."

"There were only three people who knew how to use that technique," Hiei said. "Two of them are dead, and the third's in Spirit World prison."

"A crow, huh?" Chu remarked. "I've heard of that shite."

"You have?" Yukina asked.

Yukina had changed greatly since the Dark Tournament. Despite the torment she had suffered at the hands of Tarukane, she had still held onto her kindness and childlike naiveté. However, both were gone now, thanks to Toguro murdering Kuwabara. Her eyes were no longer warm and gentle, but cold and hard like ice. In short, her eyes and attitude were more like Hiei's now, and that saddened him greatly. His sister had been the one good and pure thing in his life, and she had been ruined by Kuwabara's death.

She truly did love him, Hiei thought. I never did like that baka, but I wish he were still alive, if only so that Yukina could be happy again.

"The way it goes, sheila, is that the crow guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife," Chu explained. "Kinda like the Spirit World ferrygirls, except it has a second function. You see, sometimes something really fucked up happens and the poor soul is so freakin' sad that it can't rest in peace. So the crow brings that soul back to the material world to set things right."

"The crow is just an urban legend in Spirit World," Touya said.

"Assuming it's not, it must be guiding this killer," Suzuka contributed.

"Y'think it's Urameshi?" Jin asked.

"It couldn't be," Kurama replied. "Yusuke has been dead for two years, Jin. I know you miss him; we all do, but we have to live in the present."

"Well, the present sucks," Jin retorted. "We're fugitives, for crying out loud! Every demon aboveground hates us and wants us dead, and we're barely making any headway against Toguro and Sakyo, not to mention that those four demons they got working for them are stronger than most of us here. And to top it all off, we're training humans who are barely old enough to drive!"

"He does have a point," Touya said. "Our trainees have made remarkable progress, true, but none of them come close to the power that Yusuke and Kuwabara possessed."

"All of Toguro's fighters are S-class," Hiei added. "Our trainees can't even come close to A-class yet."

"We'll just have to step up their training," Kurama said.

"Kurama, we've trained the buggers as hard as we can without killing 'em," Chu said. "What they need now is time to grow into their abilities."

"Time we don't have," Kurama said, his golden eyes glittering.

When Toguro and Sakyo had taken over Japan, one of Toguro's first victims had been Kurama's human mother Shiori. In his rage, Kurama had transformed into his demon form and gone out for revenge on the former human. He'd barely survived against Toguro, having required Hiei's assistance in order to escape with his life. Ever since, Kurama hadn't been able to return to his human form, and it was just as well. Shiori Minamino was dead, and now Shuichi Minamino was dead, too.

"Whoever this killer is, we may be able to get him on our side," Touya suggested.

Hiei grunted. "We don't even know what he's after. For all we know, he may be a demon out to overthrow Toguro and Sakyo in order to gain power for himself."

"He's not a demon," Kurama contradicted. "Spirit World forensics confirmed that it was human spirit energy that was behind that blast. However, they also detected a strange power fueling that blast, a power rooted in darkness."

"By the way, if this killer really is Yusuke and the crow is real, then he'd have a damn good reason for returning from the dead," Rinku said.

"How's Keiko?" Bui asked.

"No change," Hiei replied. "Yusuke's death completely broke her. She hasn't moved or spoken since that day. It took a lot of strength to remove her from her seat in the Dark Tournament stadium. Now she's not even aware of her surroundings."

"It's called catatonia," Kurama said.

"It doesn't matter who the killer is," Shishi said. "The point you all seem to be missing is that his actions have probably attracted Toguro and Sakyo's attention, as well as the attention of other demon rulers in this country. There won't be any safe place for him to conceal himself."

"Then it's imperative that we find him before Toguro and Sakyo, or the authorities, do," Kurama said.

Meanwhile, Yusuke was on a rampage. His rage had yet to abate even after killing the demon who had taken over his and his mother's home. So he unleashed his fury on the demon gangs.

One such demon gang was known as the Razors. They were a vicious gang of young demon punks with dreams of someday being in positions of power in Toguro and Sakyo's regime. Like many low-class demons, they were sick and tired of being treated as lower than dirt by the high-class demons.

It was just their luck that Yusuke walked into their turf.

"Hey, there's a toll for crossing our turf," the Razors' leader said.

"I'll pay . . . in your blood," Yusuke replied.

"Let's waste this motherfucker," another Razor suggested.

A Razor took out an enchanted chain and swung it above his head threateningly.

"Oh, yeah, I'm scared," Yusuke sneered sarcastically.

"You will be," the Razor replied, throwing the chain at Yusuke. The aforementioned chain wrapped around Yusuke, binding his arms to his torso. "Ha ha, got ya."

"Oh, you got me," Yusuke answered sarcastically. He smiled evilly, and his auburn eyes glowed a hellish garnet. "Not." Yusuke let out a primal scream as an ethereal black aura surrounded him. He extended his arms outward and the chain broke, unable to hold him.

"What the fuck?" the Razor that had wielded that chain uttered, shocked.

Another Razor had gotten behind Yusuke and was now charging at him with a Kukri knife. Seeing through the crow's eyes enabled Yusuke to sidestep the charge, moving so quickly it seemed as though he was invisible. He grabbed the Razor by the arm and removed the Kukri knife from his hand, then kicked him so hard he flew a good number of meters back.

"Cool knife," Yusuke said.

A third Razor pointed a gun at Yusuke and fired energy bullets at him. One of the bullets hit Yusuke in the hand, making him cry out in apparent agony.

"Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" he screamed, clutching his "injured" hand. He fell to his knees, still clutching his hand.

"Like it?" the Razor asked. "I can channel my spirit energy through this gun and turn it into bullets! Hurts, doesn't it, asswipe!"

Yusuke's screams of agony turned into sick laughter as he looked up at the Razors. He stood up, still laughing, and held up his "injured" hand to look at them through the hole, a hole that quickly sealed up.

"I didn't even feel it," he admitted, sneering. His fist glowed with black energy. "But you'll feel this. Shotgun."

A wave of black energy blasts shot out of his fist, striking all five Razors. Messengers of Yusuke's wrath, the dark energies perforated each Razor, penetrating their tough skin and tearing through the more vulnerable innards. Death was not so instantaneous, and it was definitely brutal. Then again, what else could one expect from a vengeful, undead Spirit Detective?

Yusuke walked to the body of the Razor that had originally owned the Kukri knife and took the sheath from him, attaching it to the waistband of his black pants and then placing the knife within the sheath.

"Excellent work, Yusuke Urameshi," a cold voice sneered.

Yusuke turned to face the source of the voice and saw a young man with flame-like crimson-and-gold hair and hellish red-on-ebon eyes.

"Thanks," Yusuke said sarcastically. "Now get lost."

"Not until I've tested your abilities for myself," the man replied. "You do well against low-class thugs and effete high-class demons. I want to see how you'd do against me."

"Oh, you wanna fight, huh?" Yusuke asked. "I don't have time for this shit. I've got bigger fish to fry."

"You're exactly as he said you were," the man said. "Disrespectful and impatient."

"And who's 'he'?" Yusuke asked.

"Your once and future killer," the man replied. "I believe you know him well."

"Toguro," Yusuke snarled, dark hatred in his voice. "You work for him, don't you?"

"My orders are to bring you in alive," the man replied, confirming Yusuke's suspicions.

"Newsflash, fucker," Yusuke said. "I'm not 'alive.'"

"Just as well," the man said. "You'll be back in Spirit World soon enough."

"Before I kill your ass, mind telling me who you are?" Yusuke asked. "And while you're at it, the names of your accomplices would do nicely, too."

"Akuhi," the man replied. "The others are Mizuko, Hikari, and Kagero, not that you'll live long enough for their names to matter to you." An aura of unholy flame formed around him and lines of fire zoomed out in all directions.

"Ooh, pretty," Yusuke sneered.

"But deadly," Akuhi added, and the flames zoomed in Yusuke's direction. Yusuke simply jumped out of the way of the flames faster than the naked eye could follow. When he reappeared, it was to reach through Akuhi's fire aura and punch him in the face.

"You're not so tough," Yusuke mocked. "Now Toguro's last team, those were some tough motherfuckers."

" 'Not so tough'?" Akuhi quoted angrily. "That was just the tip of the volcano. Once you see the full extent of my powers, you will fear me, Urameshi."

"Yap, yap, yap," Yusuke mocked.

"I'll teach you to mock me!" Akuhi yelled. "Fire Stream!" An orb of flame formed in his hands and he held it out as if about to throw it. Instead of being thrown, though, it exploded into a stream --- that is, if a stream was made of fire instead of water --- and said stream was running toward Yusuke.

Yusuke jumped up out of the way of the fiery stream, but it looped upward. At first, Yusuke thought it had missed him, but seeing through the crow's eyes warned him that the Fire Stream was going to hit him from behind. He turned around just in time for the flaming river to strike him.

"One roasted Spirit Detective coming up!" Akuhi shouted triumphantly. However, when his Fire Stream faded, he noticed that Yusuke had not quite been reduced to ashes.

The vengeful Spirit Detective landed before Akuhi, his skin seared and blistered from the flames and his shirt in tatters. By some miracle, his pants and painted face had survived largely unscathed.

"Is that the best you can do?" Yusuke asked as his burns healed, leaving only somewhat tanned skin.

"What is this?" Akuhi asked, stunned. "You're not dead?"

"Newsflash, fucker," Yusuke replied. "You can't kill someone who's already dead!"

"I can try!" Akuhi retorted. "Flame Tornado Kick!" Fire wrapped around his arms and he spun on his hands, rapidly kicking Yusuke in a manner similar to the movement of a tornado. Yusuke just casually blocked his kicks. "What the hell are you?"

"Vengeance," Yusuke replied. "And it's about time you tasted it." He pointed both of his index fingers at Akuhi in a gun-firing pose. "Spirit Gun Automatic."

He fired multiple Spirit Gun blasts out of both fingers, perforating the draconic fire demon.

Holy fucking shit, Yusuke thought. How am I doing this? I knew my powers got stronger after I was resurrected, but damn!

It was then that an eerie, emotionless voice spoke in his mind.

Now that you are neither of the living world nor of the realm of the dead, your powers are virtually unlimited. As such, you have nigh-limitless ammunition for your Spirit Gun.

Thanks for the heads-up, Puu, Yusuke thought. He looked at the sprawled corpse of Akuhi and then at the permanently blackened sky. "This is just the beginning."

"Yes, the beginning of the end," Yusuke heard Akuhi say. "For you."

"What the fuck?" Yusuke asked.

Akuhi rose to his feet, every movement agony since Yusuke's last attack. "Wait until you see my true form. Then you will know what real power is, Urameshi!"

"Bring it on," Yusuke challenged.

"Consider it brought," Akuhi retorted. With that said, he began to change. His body lengthened, or rather, his torso did and on both ends while his arms and legs remained the same. Yusuke noticed that Akuhi wasn't just growing longer, he was also growing bigger. Akuhi's skin toughened and reddened as his face extended into a snout and his teeth grew and sharpened. His fingers fused together and reshaped themselves into three-"fingered" claws, as his feet tore out of his shoes, exposing three-"toed" claws.

By this point, Akuhi's clothes could no longer fit him and they tore apart. The transformation was complete. Akuhi was in his true form: a crimson dragon.

"Now what do you think?" he asked in a snarling voice.

"I think you're just a bigger target," Yusuke replied.

Akuhi's response was to breathe a stream of fire at him. Yusuke just dodged the blast and retaliated with a Spirit Gun. The black energy shot did hurt Akuhi, but it mostly made him angry.

The crimson dragon roared angrily and took to the sky, relying on whatever power it was that made Asian dragons capable of flying without wings. Then he swooped down and grabbed Yusuke with one of its claws.

"Let me go, or when I break free, I'll rip you apart," Yusuke ordered threateningly.

"I don't think so, Urameshi," Akuhi replied. "See, my orders were to bring you to Toguro so that he could kill you himself. But you know what? Fuck Toguro. You've pissed me off, so I'm gonna waste you myself."

"Waste this, bitch!" Yusuke yelled. Calling forth all the dark power he possessed, he wrenched himself loose from Akuhi's grip. "When you arrive in hell, remember who put you there." He pointed his fist at Akuhi as he fell, aiming for his heart. "Shotgun."

This time, the Shotgun came out as a tightly concentrated wave of energy bursts, all aimed at the same target: Akuhi's chest. Not even Akuhi's tough dragon hide could protect him from that power. The bursts tore through his sternum and came out through his back.

Akuhi roared in pain and plummeted to the ground, reverting to a naked human form as he did. Once he landed, his blood pooled out around him.

Yusuke landed next to him and took out the Kukri knife, then began to bring it down on the dying Akuhi . . .

By the time Kurama, Hiei, and Touya arrived, Yusuke was already gone.

"He's begun, hasn't he?" Touya concluded.

"Yes, and if this is any indication, then the others in Toguro's employ will be in for far worse," Kurama said.

"Serves them right," Hiei stated coldly. "Toguro ruined my sister, made her just like me --- a cold, unfeeling demon."

"We should be leaving," Kurama advised. "The scent of all this blood has already alerted several demons within the area and they will have most likely notified the police."

"Let's go," Touya said.

Yusuke watched the tableau from a rooftop directly above them. A smile came to his blackened lips.

"All I have to do is work my way up the food chain," he said to himself. "And then you're mine, Toguro."

To be continued . . .

Next: Botan again, and you're in for some real excitement now. With Puu's guidance, Yusuke is cutting a swath of vengeance through demon-controlled Sarayashiki. Of course, Toguro's not going to be that happy that one of his lieutenants is dead, and he'll be even less happy when another one turns up dead. The resistance finally catches up to Yusuke and you won't believe the reunion that comes afterward. Then again, maybe you will. All this and more next time in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet."