"The Crow: Spirit Bullet"

Chapter 3: "Mona Lisa Overdrive"

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and The Crow do not belong to me. The former is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shonen Jump, and Cartoon Network. The latter is the property of James O'Barr.

Author's note: Like all the brutal violence Yusuke's dishing out to various demons? Good. Expect more of it, and a few startling new twists.

Dedication: To The Wolf God, because September 22, 2004 --- today --- is his birthday.

Previously in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet": Yusuke returned to the human world, hell-bent on avenging himself, Kuwabara, and Genkai as well as the ruined lives left in the wake of Toguro's conquest. Using his enhanced spirit power, Yusuke made short work of various demon gangs and brutally murdered a demon that had moved into his and his mother's apartment after their deaths. His actions drew the attention of the resistance force and Toguro, who sent Akuhi to bring Yusuke to him. However, even Akuhi couldn't stand up to Yusuke and was viciously slain.

"That was definitely Yusuke," Hiei said.

"Yes," Kurama conceded. "That was doubtlessly his aura I sensed. It's different, colored by wrath and hatred and vengeance."

"I knew it!" Jin cheered. "I knew it was Urameshi! That bloke just can't stay down no matter how hard you try!"

"It seems that this 'crow' you spoke of is real, Chu," Bui said.

"Yeah," Chu said. "Ripper."

"An urban legend at work," Touya mused. "Interesting."

"You can't call it an urban legend if it actually exists, mate," Jin said, clapping a hand on Touya's shoulder.

"Don't touch me," the ice ninja grumbled, annoyed. "You shouldn't celebrate."

"Why not?" Jin asked. "Urameshi's back!"

"Not really," Kurama replied. "A soul brought back to this world by the crow can usually stay only long enough to slake its thirst for vengeance."

"In other words, don't count on Yusuke remaining in this world for very long," Hiei clarified.

"He can still join us, can't he?" Jin asked.

"Yusuke has his own motives," Shishi replied. "He may choose to pursue his own quest for vengeance instead of helping us take down Toguro and Sakyo."

"That's where you're wrong, Shishi," Suzuka contested. "Yusuke's motives may be more personal than ours, but we've all lost something or someone to that muscle-bound fiend. Our goals run along parallel courses. He will find that there is mutual benefit in our joining forces."

"If we can even catch up to him," Rinku added.

"The kid's got a point," Chu said. "That's one elusive bloke we're dealing with here."

"Let's hope that Toguro's luck is just as bad when it comes to finding Urameshi," Jin said.

Speaking of Toguro, he was in an even worse mood than he had been at the start. Of course, how else could he be expected to react to the news of Akuhi's death?

"The police found Akuhi with a giant, bloody hole in his chest and a bird carved around that hole," Hikari informed him.

"Yusuke," Toguro growled.

"That human scum," Kagero snarled.

"Akuhi's death was but a warning," Kisuri said, her voice eerily calm. "He is coming for you, Toguro. Your name echoes in his mind. He is focused solely on your death."

Toguro looked to his lieutenants. "I want you to find him, and when you do find him, I want him brought to me."

"It will be done, Toguro," Kagero said. That said, he and the two female lieutenants exited the corporate headquarters of Toguro-Sakyo, Inc.

Yusuke had returned to the apartment where he and his mother once lived. The body of the demon that had recently inhabited it had been taken to the morgue by the police, and Yusuke had cleaned up everything as much as he could. He'd also replaced his tattered shirt with a tight black muscle shirt.

"My life is such a fucking mess," he said to himself as he lay on his bed. He found himself chuckling bitterly. What life? I'm a frickin' zombie.

The crow perched on the windowsill, silently watching Yusuke. Finally, it spoke.

Your mission is not complete yet. Do you think you have time to sit around and wait for Toguro's lieutenants to come to you?

"Ah, I suppose you got a point there," Yusuke conceded. He sighed. "All those visions I kept getting hurt like a bitch."

Your memories, Yusuke, the crow said. Your memories are returning to you, to guide you on your path.

"It's hard to believe that you were once a cute little blue ball of fluff," Yusuke said. He got off the bed. "But there'll be time for reminiscing later. Toguro knows I'm comin' for his sorry ass. I just have to drive the point home."

He slid the window open and then climbed up onto the windowsill. He leaned forward and plummeted, allowing gravity to overtake him for a few brief moments before he grabbed a phone cable and swung on it like an acrobat. He swung upward and released the cable, launching himself feet-first onto another rooftop.

Yusuke raced across the rooftop, his speed and momentum enabling him to easily leap to the next rooftop.

I know the rest of you are looking for me, he thought as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop. Come and find me. You'll only find your own death.

The crow flew ahead of him, guiding him on his path. He felt a demonic aura, one that flowed like water and yet was hard like ice.

Must be Mizuko, he thought. He ran in the direction he sensed the demonic Nereid's energy.

True to her aquatic nature, he found her on the beach, one surrounded by sharp, jagged rocks. She looked like a teenage girl with blue hair and violet eyes. She wore something that looked like a front-clasp black bra, if the bra was tied instead of held together with the clasp, and a black miniskirt that tied at the side like a sash. It didn't escape Yusuke's notice that the miniskirt's hem slanted, covering her right leg almost to the knee while exposing a lot of thigh for her left leg.

"Mizuko, right?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes," Mizuko confirmed, "and you're the undead punk who murdered Akuhi and that other demon."

"Yeah, that'd be me," Yusuke retorted insolently.

"Toguro granted you a burial at sea," Mizuko said. "You came out of that sea to kill him. Allow me to return you to the sea." Waves crashed onto the shore, and instead of receding, they wrapped around Mizuko's feet. "Tsunami Rush!"

Mizuko launched herself at Yusuke with the power of the tidal waves pushing her forward. She tackled the undead Spirit Detective, pinning him to the sandy ground.

"As much as I like having a hot girl on top of me, you're not my type," Yusuke quipped. He pushed her off him with his legs and then pinned her. "Now this is much better."

"Lecherous human," Mizuko sneered. She grabbed his head and channeled water through her hands, creating a sphere to cut off his oxygen.

The sphere began to bubble. "What the hell?" Mizuko wondered. Then to Yusuke, "Are you trying to speak?" The water sphere broke with a splash, freeing Yusuke's head. "Go on. Say your last words, human."

"I wasn't speaking," Yusuke replied, his hair gel washed out and his bangs now hanging in his eyes. He swept his bangs away, revealing the symbol of the crow painted on his face. "I was laughing."

"What reason would you have to laugh?" Mizuko asked.

"I'm dead, you stupid bitch," Yusuke replied. "I don't need to breathe anymore."

"Whether you breathe or not doesn't matter to me," Mizuko snarled. "You're going to die, anyway." She raised her arms and a tidal wave crashed down on them. Yusuke instinctively raised his arms to protect himself, until he realized that the wave hadn't caught him. He lowered his arms and looked up.

What he saw surprised him. Specifically, the tidal wave was still there, only it was now a churning sphere of water that surrounded him and Mizuko.

"Ok, so you turned the beach into an aquarium," he scoffed. "Big deal."

"Yes, very big deal, indeed," Mizuko said. "You see, you foolish boy, in this zone of water, I am much stronger."

"Yeah? Prove it," Yusuke challenged.

In a motion so fast that Yusuke almost didn't see or sense it happening, Mizuko lunged at him and punched him in the stomach. It didn't hurt Yusuke, but the force of it knocked him off his feet and into the water. He struggled as the churning sphere violently rotated him through its depths.

"Did you really think you could beat me, human?" Mizuko asked.

Stupid water, Yusuke thought. If I could just find a way to stay still long enough to get a lock on that water witch.

"When, oh, when should I finish you off?" Mizuko wondered. She considered that for a few moments before smiling. She had reached her conclusion. "Don't worry, Yusuke. You won't die lonely. I'll be right there with you when it happens."

That said, she dove into the tsunami sphere and swam around Yusuke, striking him so fast she was nothing more than a blur.

C'mon, Yusuke, Genkai trained you a lot better than this! Yusuke thought. He drifted there, letting Mizuko hit him as he focused on his dark spirit energy. His eyes closed and then reopened with a hellish vermillion glow in them.

Just as Mizuko was about to strike again, Yusuke grabbed her by her wrist and tossed her out of the tsunami sphere and back onto dry land. Yusuke jumped out as well, his finger pointed at her in a gun-firing pose.

"Don't worry, Mizuko," he said. "Your master will be joining you soon enough. And by the way, I made up something special, just for you." With a cold smirk, he whispered the name of his attack. "Shocking Spirit Gun."

Electrically charged ebony energy burst forth from Yusuke's finger, aimed at a single target: Mizuko.

Mizuko created a wall of water to protect herself, but the Shocking Spirit Gun broke her wall back down into hydrogen and oxygen and pierced her stomach. The electrified black energy raced through her body, feeling like she was being burned alive from the inside out. She screamed in pain as the dark lightning heated the water in her body.

Finally, she collapsed, her body a smoking heap, beginning to disperse into hydrogen and oxygen like her protective wall.

"Alas, poor Mizuko, I knew her well," Yusuke intoned mockingly. "Well, not really." Chuckling sinisterly to himself, he walked away from the beach and behind him, the water vapor that was once Mizuko had condensed into the symbol of the crow.

Later on, Toguro's remaining lieutenants convened at the site of Mizuko's demise.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kagero repeated.

"There's no point in repeating a single curse," Hikari said.

"That miserable corpse of a human is working my last nerve," Kagero snarled. "First Akuhi, now Mizuko. Those gangs of thugs I could care less about, though."

"Don't worry, Kagero, we'll get that filthy human," Hikari assured her dark companion.

"Yes, we will," Kagero vowed before walking toward a shadow. Hikari followed him, knowing full well what he was going to do. Once Kagero had reached the shadow, he took Hikari's hand and stepped in, shadow-sliding with her back to Toguro and Sakyo's corporate headquarters.

"What did you find?" Toguro asked.

"Mizuko --- what was left of her, that is," Hikari replied. "Interesting how her remains formed into the shape of a crow."

"That miserable human's lived long enough," Kagero snarled. "I say we find him and kill him now!"

"Except we don't know where to find him," Sakyo replied. "He no longer officially exists, so he cannot be traced through computer records. As for tracking his aura, it is not very easy to find. His aura has been fused with the power of the crow and thus it is particularly elusive."

"We'll find a way to ferret him out," Toguro said. "He'll show himself sooner or later, and when he does, we'll be there to capture him." He smirked. "Excuse me. You'll be there to capture him. I will be there to deliver the blow that will return him to his resting place."

The resistance fighters had gathered once again to discuss the subject of the ever-elusive Yusuke Urameshi.

"How the hell are we supposed to find him?" Rinku asked.

"We think like actual detectives," Kurama replied coolly. "Hiei and I knew Yusuke fairly well. Well enough to know that if he were to pick a hiding place, he'd pick a place in which he felt safe."

"His home," Hiei said. "He would go to his home."

"What makes you say that?" Shishi asked.

"It's the perfect hiding place for an angry, undead human teenager out for vengeance," Hiei replied. "The police have already been there, so they wouldn't come back for any reason. And no one would expect him to hide out in the very place where he killed someone."

"So what are we waiting for?" Chu asked. "Let's get the bloke here already!"

"Already done," Kurama replied. "Jin and Touya are already on their way to Atsuko Urameshi's home."

Yusuke was prowling the night, his rage still not quite sated. To the contrary: Killing Mizuko had only whetted his appetite for blood.

Shit, Yusuke thought. When the fuck did I become so bloodthirsty? Yeah, I enjoyed a good fight when I was alive, but I never looked forward to killing before.

However, the more Yusuke thought about it, the more he didn't really mind. They were scum, anyway. They had viciously taken over the human world and spent the last two years crushing any and all opposition to their reign. In almost every manner imaginable they had mistreated and taken advantage of humanity.

They would pay. Each and every one of them would pay. He would take down Toguro and Sakyo, and after that he would ensure that their empire went down in flames.

With that thought firmly in place, Yusuke observed a demonic drug dealer. One of the myriad ways that the demons took advantage of humans was through the sale of demonic versions of Ecstasy, cocaine, and speed. They were stronger than the versions created by humans but also far more toxic to a human's system. The humans didn't care about the risk; most regular users were too addicted to care.

Just the thought of it made Yusuke sick with rage. At the moment, the dealer was selling to yet another hopeless addict.

Enough of that shit, the undead Spirit Detective thought. As silent as an owl flying through the night, he jumped off the rooftop and landed before the dealer and his customer.

"Hello, gentlemen," he said, his greeting tinged with mocking friendliness. "How goes it?"

"You're that crow freak, aren't you?" the dealer spat.

"I see you've heard of me," Yusuke said, unperturbed. "Good. Then you know what's about to happen to your sorry ass."

"I ain't scared of you, you fucking freak!" the dealer yelled. However, it was fairly obvious that his bold display was just empty bravado.

"Really?" Yusuke wondered. "Then I suppose you're shaking from anticipation of killing me."

The dealer drew a gun. "See this, motherfucker? This is a Makai Gun, and I can put my aura in it and shoot it out as bullets!"

"I've seen that already," Yusuke said. "It didn't work on me. But if you insist, I won't move an inch from this spot. Go on. Shoot me."

"You're one fucked-up punk," the dealer remarked, smirking. "It's your funeral, tough guy." He pointed the Makai Gun at Yusuke and fired at him six times: three in the chest, two in the stomach, and one in the head. Yusuke never budged from his spot, not even a millimeter. He just smiled cruelly as his wounds sealed themselves.

"That didn't hurt at all," Yusuke said.

"What the fuck are you?" the dealer asked.

Yusuke pointed his finger at the dealer and black energy gathered at the tip. "You'll get your answer at the end of this bullet. Spirit Gun."

The Spirit Gun burst out from Yusuke's finger in a deadly line that extended to the dealer's heart, through that heart, and beyond. There was nothing the demonic peddler could do except very quickly and very messily die.

Yusuke turned his attention to the dealer's customer. He looked to be no older than 17, which was the age Yusuke would have been had he not died two years ago.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Escaping," the kid replied. "My life is a fucking mess. Ever since the demons took over, my parents have been out of a job. I'm not ever going to be able to go to a good college because they say that 'humans have no need for higher education.' So this is my escape."

"I know what it's like, to want to escape," Yusuke confided. "But there are better ways than this."

"Like what?" the kid asked. He started to spasm. "Shit! Shit! Fuckin' withdrawal!"

Yusuke grabbed the kid by the wrist and drew his Kukri knife. He then made a shallow cut in the kid's arm.

"What are you doing?" the kid asked.

"Saving your life," Yusuke replied. He concentrated, focusing his aura into the kid's bloodstream. The black energy coursed through the young man's blood, forcing the drugs out through the cut Yusuke had made.

"Holy shit," the teen breathed out. "What did you do, man?"

"Instant detox," Yusuke replied. "Now go back to your parents. I'm sure they're worried about you."

"S-sure," the kid agreed and turned around to go back home.

Do you think we have time for humanitarian deeds? the crow asked silently. Two others remain before you face Toguro, and you only have so much time on this earthly plane.

"Who gives a shit?" Yusuke asked. "My whole fucking life was borrowed time, anyway. This is no different."

Yusuke then sensed two auras making their way toward him. He recognized those auras fairly well. One was as cold as ice and the other was like the wind.

"Touya and Jin," he muttered. "I don't have time for this." He leaped onto a rooftop and ran at an incomprehensible speed, figuring that he'd outrun the two ninja. However, they had gotten faster themselves in the two years since Yusuke's death and they were able to keep up.

After running halfway around the city, Yusuke relented and whirled to face his pursuers, his index finger glowing black.

"All right, you two!" he shouted. "I know you're following me so come and get me!"

"Aw, c'mon, mate!" Jin replied cheerfully as he landed on the rooftop. "Don't act like that! We're all friends here!"

"Yeah. Right," Touya said sarcastically.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Yusuke asked.

"Your help," Touya replied.

"Sorry," Yusuke said. "I'm done working for Spirit World. I have a mission of my own now, and that's to make Toguro pay."

"What do you think we've been trying to do?" Jin asked.

"For you, it's a run-of-the-mill 'save the world' job," Yusuke replied. "For me, it's a hell of a lot more personal."

"Of all the nerve," Touya stated with calm rage. "You're not the only one who's suffered losses in Toguro's new empire. The end of the Dark Tournament ruined and ended a lot of lives, you selfish brat. You may think you're invincible because you have the power of the crow, but that will not prevent me from dragging your sorry carcass back to our headquarters if I have to."

"You're welcome to try, motherfucker," Yusuke snarled, pointing his glowing finger at the ice ninja. "You're welcome to try."

Touya just answered Yusuke's silent threat with a ball of icy energy pointed at the undead Spirit Detective.

"Hold on a minute!" Jin shouted, getting in between Yusuke and Touya. "Settle down. Touya, you have to calm down. Yusuke, you have to realize that there is so much more at stake than just your personal mission of vengeance. Speaking of that, I think on some level you do realize it. Why else would you have saved that kid?"

"I felt sorry for him, that's all," Yusuke replied, trying to affect his usual tough-guy, I-don't-give-a-fuck routine.

"Just come back with us, ok?" Jin beseeched Yusuke.

"Fine, I'll come back with ya," Yusuke conceded. "As long as I can leave any damn time I please."

"Sure," Jin conceded.

And with that, Jin and Touya led Yusuke back to their base.

"Your secret entrance is in an abandoned subway station?" Yusuke wondered.

"No, underneath," Touya replied in a tone that led Yusuke to think that Touya was silently calling him an idiot. "There are some hidden catacombs underneath the subway station. Follow us."

So Yusuke followed them through the catacombs and into the resistance's secret base, the crow flapping its wings behind them.

"Whoa!" one of the trainees, a teenage boy with tall gray hair, exclaimed. "Is that Yusuke Urameshi?"

"A kid with a crow painted on his face and a crow on his shoulder," another teenage boy, this one blond, remarked. "How very inspiring."

"Shut up, Kido," a teenage girl grumbled. "If you could feel what I feel coming from that boy, you wouldn't be making all those sarcastic remarks."

"And what do you feel, Miaka?" Kido asked.

"I feel great pain and sorrow," Miaka replied. "That sorrow is the root of his anger and murderous hatred toward Toguro."

"Are you reading my mind?" Yusuke asked.

"No, I'm reading your feelings," Miaka replied. "There's a difference."

"These are three of our trainees," a familiar yet different voice explained to Yusuke. "Yana, Kido, and Miaka."

"Yukina?" Yusuke asked, turning to the kimono-clad ice maiden. However, she was far different from what he remembered. In physical appearance, she looked exactly the same. But she wasn't. Her eyes were harder than and as cold as ice. Her soul felt hard and cold, too, but he felt an underlying sorrow.

"Hai, Yusuke, it's me," Yukina replied, a wintry smile on her face.

That smile scared Yusuke out of his wits. So this is what Touya meant by others' lives having been ruined besides my own. Kuwabara dying must have really fucked up Yukina.

"You'd be right, Yusuke," Hiei said, stepping out of the shadows.

"Hey, Hiei, good to see you again," Yusuke said.

"Likewise," Hiei said and despite his usual indifferent tone Yusuke could tell he really meant it.

"Now where's Kurama?" Yusuke asked.

"Here," the fox demon replied, his voice colder than Yusuke remembered. "Yusuke. It's good that you're here."

"Kurama?" Yusuke asked, looking his erstwhile ally up and down. "Why are you in demon form?"

"I have no reason to hold onto Shuichi Minamino anymore," Kurama replied, his voice filled with sorrow and cold rage.

"He killed your mother too, didn't he?" Yusuke deduced.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "What Touya told you was true. You are not the only one who has suffered in Toguro's regime. Every human in this nation and a good portion of mainland Asia has suffered since Toguro and Sakyo came to power. And many more in the nations of Europe and North America will suffer as well if they are not stopped."

"North America?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah," Chu replied. "Hey there, bloke."

"Hey, Chu," Yusuke said.

"He's particularly after the United States, mainly for its sheer production ability," Chu explained. "If he can get his hands on that country, then nobody else is gonna be able to stand up to him."

"So what's with the kids?" Yusuke asked.

"They're our trainees," Shishi replied. "After Toguro and Sakyo took over, one of their continuing projects became eradicating every human with spirit potential. We saved as many of them as we could and now we're training them to fight Toguro's lieutenants."

"Many of our trainees have the psychic power of Territory," Suzuka added. "What that means is that they can create a zone that follows whatever rules they set. For example, if Kido activates his Territory, then any person whose shadow he steps on becomes paralyzed. Yana can copy the form, memories, and personality of anyone in his Territory. Miaka's powers are not Territory-based, but she has the gift of empathy, feeling the emotions of others."

"A bunch of psychic teenagers, huh?" Yusuke remarked. "A real army you've got there."

"Not really," Rinku contradicted. "They're just a bunch of punk kids."

"Watch it, kid!" Kido spat. "We're older than you."

"Please," a bespectacled boy with an afro said. "I abhor violence."

"That's Kaitou," Kurama explained. "I went to school with him when part of me was still Shuichi. His intellect is on par with my own."

"What's his power?" Yusuke asked.

"Violence isn't allowed in my Territory," Kaitou replied. "And I can forbid anyone inside my Territory from speaking certain words."

"How the hell you survived this long being a pacifist I don't know," Yusuke commented.

"Unlike most of you bloodthirsty lot, I don't like inflicting pain on others," Kaitou answered.

"How the hell do you know what 'pacifist' means?" Hiei asked.

"I never did well in school, but I don't consider myself an idiot," Yusuke replied. "Now where's Keiko? And Shizuru?"

"Shizuru was kidnapped by Sakyo while we were escaping from Hanging Neck Island," Kurama replied. "We don't know if she's still alive or not. As for Keiko . . . come see for yourself."

Kurama took Yusuke to a room which entrance was blocked by a curtain. The silver-haired fox demon moved the curtain out of the way and gestured to Yusuke to enter.

Yusuke walked in and saw Keiko lying on a cot, slightly older than he remembered but still recognizable. Seeing her made him happy and sad at the same time. He was happy because he was seeing her again, and sad because of the vacant look in her eyes.

"She's catatonic, Yusuke," Kurama explained. "It happened almost immediately after you died. It took all of my strength and Hiei's simply to move her from her seat in the stadium. She hasn't spoken a word to anyone since, or done anything to let us know that she's aware of her surroundings."

"I want to be alone with her," Yusuke said, his voice suddenly full of emotion. He didn't bother to tell Kurama that Botan had already told him what had happened to Keiko.

"Sure," Kurama said, exiting the room.

The crow found a nearby perch in the room as Yusuke kneeled down beside Keiko's cot, holding her hand.

"Shit," he said. "It's been two years since I saw you, and you've only gotten more beautiful. Man, if you were awake, you wouldn't believe that sappy shit I just said. It's true, though; you really have gotten more beautiful. I . . . I . . . fuck, why can't I say it?! Wasn't being killed once enough to teach me my lesson on waiting too long?! Shit!"

Yusuke gathered every bit of courage he had and poured it into the four words he said next.

"I love you, Keiko."

He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, not that it was a breath he really needed.

"Damn, that wasn't so hard. Anyway, now that that's off my chest, I can get to the good part. You've filled out, Keiko." A lecherous smirk graced his crow-emblazoned features. "Yeah, you've definitely got some sexy curves on you."

"Yusuke, you pervert!" Keiko yelled, suddenly coming to life and slapping Yusuke.

"Ow!" Yusuke yelled. "Keiko!"

"Who are you?" Keiko asked, not recognizing Yusuke underneath the eerie cosmetic mask he wore.

"Keiko, it's me, Yusuke," Yusuke replied.

"Yusuke's dead!" Keiko protested.

"Yes and no," Yusuke contradicted. "Yes, I'm dead but I'm back from my watery grave now." He gently held Keiko's head in his hands. "Keiko, look at me. Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm not Yusuke."

Keiko looked into Yusuke's eyes, chocolate brown meeting auburn. In his eyes she saw the boy she had always loved.

Yusuke Urameshi.

"Yusuke!" Keiko shouted with tearful joy, hugging Yusuke tightly.

To be continued . . .

Next: Botan again, and things seem to be up so far. Yusuke and Keiko are together again and Yusuke has generously agreed to help the resistance take down Toguro and Sakyo. However, there are two lieutenants left and they won't be easy to beat. Yusuke kills one, but the other one escapes and does something you won't believe! Then again, maybe you will. All this and more next time in "The Crow: Spirit Bullet."