Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Crow: Spirit Bullet ❯ Until the Sun Rises Up ( Chapter 6 )

  “The Crow: Spirit Bullet” Chapter 6: “Until the Sun Rises Up” Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and The Crow do not belong to me. The former belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi and the latter belongs to James O’Barr. Author’s note: This is it. The beginning of the end, but whose end are we talking about here? Yusuke’s or Toguro’s? Let’s find out, shall we? Previously in “The Crow: Spirit Bullet”: During their battle, Kiyoshi trapped Yusuke inside his hydro-beast, which doubled as his Territory. Yusuke managed to free himself through a dimension-breaching Spirit Gun that also wounded Kiyoshi. After being saved by Yusuke’s blood, Kiyoshi began to realize that maybe humanity wasn’t as deserving of destruction as the traitorous former Spirit Detective Shinobu Sensui had led him to believe. This led Kiyoshi to join forces with Yusuke in saving those that had been captured in Kagero’s raid on the Spirit World resistance force’s headquarters. When they encountered Sensui and Kagero, Yusuke made quick work of them by using their powers against them. Keiko sat in her darkened cell, the only light she could see streaming out from the slits in the door. She couldn’t speak or scream for help, since she had been gagged. She closed her eyes and remembered the attack. Yuriko, a trainee with precognitive abilities, had foreseen an attack on the resistance’s headquarters. In response to her vision, Kurama had arranged for himself, Hiei, Touya, Jin, and Rinku to escape with Keiko and as many of the trainees as they could take. The others would stay and fight. Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone as Kurama had planned. Kagerohad arrived with a veritable army of demons and it had turned into a massacre. Kurama, Hiei, Touya, Jin, and Rinku had managed to escape with some of the trainees. However, Kagero had captured Keiko and his army had slaughtered half of the remaining trainees along with Chu and Bui. The rest had been captured. Keiko’s memory was interrupted by a voice speaking her name. That voice belonged to none other than Toguro. “Time to go,” he said, opening her cell and grabbing her arm. He led her out of the cell and began walking through the corridors of his and Sakyo’s corporate headquarters. He paused in front of a stairway before opening the door and dragging Keiko up the stairs. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Toguro opened the door and walked out onto the roof with his prisoner, where there was a helicopter waiting. Meanwhile, Yusuke was still searching for Keiko and Toguro when a psychic flash interrupted him. A helicopter flew away from Toguro-Sakyo, Inc. while Toguro and Keiko were inside. Keiko was still gagged but her eyes clearly displayed her fear. “Toguro,” Yusuke snarled under his breath. Then screaming with all his rage and hatred, “TOGURO!!!” His aura spiked tremendously with the sheer intensity of his rage, causing all the windows in the Toguro-Sakyo, Inc. building to shatter. His eyes burning crimson with fury, Yusuke was about to jump out through one of the windows that he had psychically shattered when he felt a familiar presence inside the corporate headquarters. For some reason he did not understand, he did not immediately dismiss the presence for his vengeance but instead went to track it down. He found himself in front of a door. He tried to open it, only to find that it was locked. Fuck that,Yusuke thought and kicked the door open. He walked inside and the first thing he saw was a young brunette dressed in a smaller and tighter version of a maid’s uniform. He was surprised when he recognized her, since she looked so different from when he’d last seen her. Her eyes seemed so old, so out of place on a face so young and beautiful. “Shizuru?” “Yusuke?” Shizuru asked. “I’m surprised you recognize me,” Yusuke remarked. “Even Keiko didn’t recognize me and she’s known me for a long time.” “I overheard Sakyo and Toguro talking about you,” Shizuru replied. “An undead Spirit Detective accompanied by a mystical crow slaughtering demons.” “So this is what they did to you,” Yusuke mused. “They got you working as a maid.” “It’s worse than that,” Shizuru corrected quietly. “This is just the costume he likes me to wear.” Yusuke reached out to gently touch Shizuru’s face and was instantly awash in mental images. “You belong to me now,” Sakyo had said to her when he brought her to his base on Hanging-Neck Island. “Never!”Shizuru had shouted. “You bastard! I’ll never forgive you for what happened to my brother!” “Perhaps not,” Sakyo had mused as he advanced on the young woman, “but it won’t matter in the long run.” The rest of the images were blurry but clear enough to prove one thing to Yusuke: That bastard Sakyo had turned Shizuru into his living sex doll. The very thought of it made the “living” wraith want to kill someone or something. “I’m sorry . . . for what he put you through,” Yusuke finally spoke. “And I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them sooner. If I’d just been strong enough, none of this would have happened.” “You’re strong enough now,” Shizuru said, “so don’t waste time on regrets.” “You haven’t changed one bit,” Yusuke remarked. He unhooked the sheathed Kukri knife from his waistband and threw it to Shizuru. “Use it on that bastard Sakyo first chance you get.” A hard light entered Shizuru’s brown eyes. Finally, she would make that scarred bastard pay for the hell to which he’d spent two years subjecting her. “I’ll see you later, Shizuru,” Yusuke said. He kissed her on the cheek before diving out the shattered window with the crow following him. Landing agilely and unharmed on the ground, he stormed into the company parking lot and found Sakyo’s extensive collection of expensive automobiles and motorcycles. He jumped on a black street bike and started it, backing it out of its parking space before driving out of the parking lot. Watch out, Toguro, because I’m coming for your punk ass, he thought malevolently. When I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me to kill you. Yusuke rode down to the docks, not stopping for anything, not even the police sirens. “I don’t have time for this shit,” he mumbled to himself as he removed a hand from the handlebars of the motorcycle and pointed a glowing black finger at the police cars behind him in the gun-firing pose. “This is your one warning, motherfuckers: Step the fuck off or I shoot!” The police cars kept pursuing him. Rationally, Yusuke knew they had no choice in what they were doing, as they were being forced to work for the demons. However, he was not willing to play games with them . . . not when Keiko’s life was at stake. “Spirit Gun,” he whispered menacingly as the black energy exploded from his finger and struck the engine of the police car immediately behind him, causing the car to explode. The police officers inside didn’t even have time to escape; the attack came so fast. As for Yusuke, he just kept riding as the remaining police cars chased him. “Requesting back-up,” an officer spoke into his radio. “I repeat, requesting back-up.” “Back-up’s on its way,” the response came. Soon enough, Yusuke was being pursued by a battalion of police cars as well as police helicopters. He pushed his stolen motorcycle to its maximum speed of 150 mph but the police just wouldn’t let up. “Fuck this,” Yusuke snarled. “I warned the bastards. Shotgun Double Barrel.” A barrage of dark spiritual bullets shot out of both fists, one fist aimed at the police cars on the ground and the other fist aimed at the police helicopters. The police cars exploded and the helicopters crashed around Yusuke while the humans inside were fatally perforated. With the carnage behind him, Yusuke figured it would be smooth sailing from this point forward. However, he found himself facing a blockade of police cars and police officers armed with spirit-powered automatic rifles. “Yusuke Urameshi, you are to cease and desist immediately,” the head officer, a bat demon, spoke through a megaphone. Yusuke didn’t stop; he just rode straight at the blockade. “That’s it!” the head officer roared. “You worthless maggots, blow his ass to hell!” The police officers fired yellow energy bullets out of their automatic rifles, all of them at Yusuke. The energy bursts impacted hopelessly against Yusuke’s stolen motorcycle, some of them managing to strike him but not doing any real damage to him. Yusuke cracked the throttle on the motorcycle and popped a wheelie before leaping over the officers and their cars. The officers fired up at him but Yusuke flipped off his motorcycle and rained down a hail of Spirit Gun bullets on them. Yusuke landed on the ground and fired a Shotgun blast that spared no one, like a wall of death closing in on its targets. When all the police officers, including the demonic head officer, were dead he flipped over the wrecked cars and landed on the motorcycle, riding to the docks. Meanwhile, the helicopter carrying Toguro and Keiko landed on a very painfully familiar island . . . Hanging-Neck Island. No, Keiko thought. Not here again. This is where I lost Yusuke for the second time. Her dark thoughts were interrupted when Toguro pulled her out of the helicopter and began walking to the restored arena, dragging her behind him the whole time. “Here we are again,” the sunglasses-wearing ex-human remarked as soon as they were inside. “Brings back memories, doesn’t it, Keiko?” As Keiko was still gagged, she could only glare at Toguro with the full force of her hatred for him. Toguro just smirked at her and removed her gag, enabling her to speak. “Yusuke’s coming for you, you know,” she spat at him. “Know it? I’m counting on it,” Toguro replied calmly. “My plan wouldn’t work without him here.” “And what are you going to do, kill him here?” Keiko asked. “You already did that and guess what? He’s back and he’s going to shut down your sick little demon regime.” Toguro snickered. “You really do have faith in that undead delinquent. Believe it or not, Keiko Yukimura, he’s not nearly as all-powerful as you seem to think he is.” He grinned evilly and looked into Keiko’s chocolate-colored eyes. “I know his one weakness . . . or should I say . . . his two weaknesses.” “And what would those be?” Keiko asked defiantly. “You’re one,” Toguro replied. “Kidnapping you has made him even more determined to put an end to me and his anger combined with his supposed invincibility makes him reckless. The other weakness is that lump of feathers that used to be his Spirit Beast. Without its power fueling him, he’ll be mortal again and much weaker than I am.” “He’ll still beat you,” Keiko insisted fiercely. “Yusuke’s a lot tougher than you think.” “Your devotion would touch me . . . if I still had a heart that could be touched,” Toguro stated. “As to what I have planned for your beloved Detective, I have cameras installed all over this arena. When he enters, my man will turn them on and they’ll broadcast our final battle all over the world. I will kill Yusuke Urameshi . . . with the world watching . . . and they will know to fear me.” “I don’t believe you for an instant,” Keiko declared. “Here’s a thing you should know about humans, since you used to be one: We don’t take kindly to dictators. No matter what you do to us, we’ll find a way to rise up and beat you.” Toguro did not immediately reply to Keiko, instead taking her to a ringside seat and forcibly seating her before chaining her wrists and ankles. Keiko struggled fiercely the whole time, even after she was chained. “You’re very energetic,” Toguro remarked. “No wonder Yusuke loves you so much.” He smirked when he saw blood seep out from under the chains that bound Keiko’s wrists. “I’d advise you to stop struggling. You’ll hurt yourself.” Keiko growled at Toguro and let loose with a volley of curses that made the demon smirk. “I see you’ve been taking English lessons from your boyfriend,” he remarked. It took only one look at her eyes to see the hope that burned in them. Such hope shouldn’t exist. There is no hope for her, for that damned undead human freak, and certainly not for anyone else. Well, I know how to take care of that. He reached out to Keiko and stroked her hip, slowly moving his hand up to her waist, edging closer and closer to her breast before he finally grasped it. Keiko struggled in his grip as he felt her up. “Now, now, Keiko,” Toguro whispered. “I don’t see why we can’t have a little fun before your boyfriend shows up.” “Actually, I can think of a good reason,” a cold hard voice growled from the entrance to the arena. Keiko’s eyes once again lit up with hope. “Yusuke!” “Hey there, Keiko,” Yusuke greeted with a wintry smile. “Toguro, get your filthy hands off my girl . . . or else.” “Or else what, Yusuke?” Toguro asked. “You’ll kill me? I’ve gotten stronger over the last two years, so don’t think I’ll be as easy as the others you’ve dispatched.” “I’m gonna tear you apart, piece by piece,” Yusuke threatened. “I was going to kill you with just one shot, but that was before you started molesting Keiko. Now I’m gonna have to make it nice, slow, and painful.” As he made his threat, he strode into the arena, his black trench coat trailing behind him and his eyes blazing red like hellfire. His crow flew to a perch near Keiko. “So nice to finally see you again,” Toguro said, releasing Keiko and stepping into the ring. “Ready to die, you bastard?” Yusuke asked as he stepped into the ring on the opposite side of Toguro. “I should ask you the same question,” Toguro replied. “Then again, you’ve already died twice. What’s a third time to you?” “There won’t be a third time, you son of a bitch,” Yusuke snarled. “You’re going to your grave, the same grave you should have been put in a long time ago.” “Like I told you before, I’ve gotten a lot stronger over the last two years,” Toguro stated. “Eighty percent of my power should be enough to deal with you.” He threw off his trench coat and powered up to eighty percent of his strength, his muscles enlarging to freakish levels. “Eighty percent,” Yusuke sneered. “You tried that on me before and that didn’t work. You really think you’re that much stronger than me, do you?” He threw his own trench coat off and shifted into a fighting pose. “Come on, Toguro . . . come on!” Toguro charged at Yusuke and punched downward, intending to shatter Yusuke’s skull. However, he didn’t anticipate Yusuke disappearing from his field of vision. “Where the fuck did you go?” he asked. As he pondered that question, he felt a tap on his massive shoulders. Toguro turned around and found himself face to face with a coldly grinning Yusuke. Then he found himself on the receiving end of a vicious punch that sent him flying out of the arena. Yusuke grinned at the Toguro-shaped hole he’d made in the arena roof. He turned to Keiko and walked toward her, only to get interrupted by the sound of Toguro leaping back into the ring. “Not through with me yet, are you?” Yusuke remarked in a tone devoid of surprise. “Here I am with my back to you, unguarded, a perfect target. Why don’t you take your shot?” “I don’t take those kinds of shots, Yusuke,” Toguro replied. “You should know me better than that. Now turn around and face me like a man.” “You’re one to talk about facing your opponents like a man . . . when you’re not even a man at all!” Yusuke roared, his aura blazing a mix of shadowy violet, pitch black, and blood red. “You gave that up so you could have immortality, so you could be young and strong forever and not have to worry about dying.” “I am not the only one in this ring who has defied death,” Toguro answered calmly. “The crow that sits by Keiko is the evidence of your own defiance of death. We are the same, you and I. We’ve both transcended the human limits of life and death to become something more than what we used to be. You have no more claim to humanity than I do, remember that.” “At least I remember what being human was like!” Yusuke snapped. “And I won’t let go of it! I won’t run away from my humanity like you did!” He pointed his index fingers at Toguro like guns and declared his attack, “Spirit Gun Automatic.” Bursts of black energy came forth from both fingers, relentlessly pelting Toguro. Since Toguro no longer had his older brother with him, he couldn’t use him as a shield to block Yusuke’s attacks and had to rely on his own arms. “Does it hurt, motherfucker?!” Yusuke asked angrily. “Not as much as this will hurt you,” Toguro replied as he charged at Yusuke through the hail of black energy bullets and punched him in the face. The punch hit him so hard that it snapped his neck. “Yusuke!” Keiko cried out in horror. However, Yusuke wasn’t dead. He turned his head, cracking his neck back into place without the use of his hands. “Motherfucker, please. Is that the best you can do?” Keiko was both relieved and frightened at that small demonstration of Yusuke’s power. On the one hand, it was cool to have a boyfriend that could survive getting his neck broken, but it was somewhat scary to watch. Beneath his sunglasses, Toguro’s eyes widened in surprise and horror. “What the hell are you?” “Me? I’m the black angel of vengeance,” Yusuke replied. “I am death personified, a death long in coming and richly deserved.” “This is going to take a lot more than I thought it would,” Toguro murmured. He stepped away from Yusuke and powered down to his normal form before powering all the way up to one hundred percent of his strength, his skin taking on a gray and rocky appearance. “Time to die, Yusuke.” Something shifted under the skin of Toguro’s arm before emerging as an organic bullet that Toguro fired at Yusuke. Yusuke’s response was to smack the bullet aside. “Been there, done that,” he sneered. “Try again.” “I hope you remember that I have an infinite supply of these organic bullets,” Toguro responded. With that said he fired a barrage of organic bullets, one after another in extremely quick succession. Moving in what special effects experts would describe as “bullet time,” Yusuke dodged Toguro’s organic bullets. “My turn,” Yusuke snarled once Toguro saw the futility of his organic bullet technique. “Shotgun.” Yusuke fired a barrage of Spirit Gun bullets in the form of a tightly concentrated wave, punching a hole in Toguro’s stomach. “You hurt me,” Toguro growled. “No shit, Sherlock,” Yusuke snarled. “Now I’m gonna kill you, nice, slow, and piece by piece like I promised.” He pointed his glowing finger at Toguro. “Burning Spirit Gun.” He fired a blast of flaming black energy at the demon, connecting with his arm and forcefully severing it from his body. The Necrotic Energy that powered Yusuke caused the severed arm to rapidly decay into nothing. Toguro resisted the temptation to roar in agony when Yusuke severed his left arm with his Spirit Gun. He would not give Yusuke the satisfaction of hearing his pain. “I’m not through with you yet, motherfucker,” Yusuke snarled as he lunged at Toguro and began viciously beating him with his fists. Each blow was delivered with enough force to kill a weaker demon. “Die, fucker, die!” Keiko watched in horror as the man she loved brutally took his fury out on the man who had once killed him. That horror only increased when he stepped back from Toguro and pointed his finger at him in preparation to use the Spirit Gun. She saw a hellish glint in Yusuke’s eye that scared her deeply. What has happened to you, Yusuke? Keiko wondered in anguish. You were never this cruel to your enemies before. And now . . . it’s like you’re looking forward to hurting Toguro. “Shocking Spirit Gun,” Yusuke commanded, firing an electrified bolt of black energy at Toguro. The dark electricity literally shocked the former human. “Feel that, you son of a bitch? One million volts. That would be enough to kill most people, but you’re not most people.” Yusuke blasted him again, this time upping the voltage to two million. He’s enjoying this, Keiko realized with a deep terror in her heart. He’s causing Toguro pain and he’s liking it! What has happened to you, Yusuke? It’svengeance, the crow once known as Puu responded in her thoughts. Yusuke is not just fighting for himself. He is fighting for Kuwabara, Shizuru, Genkai, his mother, you, and everyone else who has been hurt by this fiend. His cruelty comes from his anger at how this fiend has made you all suffer. Toguro growled in a mixture of pain and rage. How could this happen? How could this undead teenager get the better of him? How? I will not let this punk beat me, he vowed angrily. He summoned an organic bullet and fired. However, he wasn’t aiming at Yusuke . . . . . . but at Keiko. “No!” Yusuke screamed, racing toward Keiko to save her. However, the crow beat him to it, flying to take the organic bullet through its chest. He felt his increased spiritual powers leaving him as the crow bled its lifeblood onto the ground. “Yusuke!” Keiko cried out. Yusuke glared at Toguro and charged up a Shotgun. This time, the Shotgun was its original blue color instead of black. He fired it at Toguro, but it didn’t do as much damage as it should have. “Pathetic, Yusuke,” Toguro said. “But what else can I expect from you now that you’re human again? You’re beneath me now. Die.” He fired an organic bullet at Yusuke and this time, Yusuke couldn’t react in time to dodge. Yusuke gasped in pain as the organic bullet hit him. The pain only got worse when Toguro charged him and punched him in the gut with his remaining fist. Yusuke collapsed on his knees and fell on his stomach. “Already out of it?” Toguro asked. “Shows just how pathetic you are without that lump of black feathers to assist you.” He began firing a barrage of organic bullets at Yusuke’s back, relishing Yusuke’s screams of pain. “How does it feel to be helpless and vulnerable, Yusuke?!!” Keiko watched in horror as Yusuke was shot to within an inch of his life. If she could see his back, she had no doubt that it would be bloody and raw. “When will all this end?” she asked softly. “When will all this death and destruction be over?” Toguro grabbed Yusuke by the hair and stared into his red-brown eyes. “Ready to go back to your grave?” “Fuck you,” Yusuke replied. “No,” Toguro countered. “Fuck you. And just so you know, I’m going to fuck your little girlfriend straight to her grave. She can find you in Spirit World. Then again, maybe she’ll be too ashamed to go near you. Good-bye, Yusuke.” Then he snapped Yusuke’s neck, killing him. “NO!!!” Keiko screamed when she saw Toguro kill Yusuke. As Yusuke’s spirit shook off the chains that bound him to the earthly plane, he was filled with sorrow. I failed you all. Keiko, Kuwabara, Shizuru, Genkai, Mom, Puu . . . I’m so sorry. Do not say that, a voice whispered to him. Are you so weak that you’re just going to give up already? I’m dead, dipshit, Yusuke growled. Not much I can do. And who the fuck are you? My name is Raizen, the voice replied. I am your ancestor. Ancestor? Yusuke echoed. Let me explain, Raizen replied. I am a demon. Centuries ago, I ravaged human villages and ate the flesh of the mortals I killed. One day, I was injured during a battle and a female human doctor nursed me back to health. We fell in love and I vowed that I would never again eat human flesh. Despite the fact that not eating human flesh caused me to wither over the centuries, I kept my word. We had a daughter together, beginning the long ancestral line that eventually led to you. So I’ve got some demon blood in me? Yusuke deduced. Yes, Raizen confirmed. You are mostly human, but you carry some of my blood in your veins. That blood is part of the reason why you were such a proficient fighter even before you discovered your spiritual powers. And now you have an opportunity. An opportunity to do what? Yusuke asked. I can restore your life, Raizen replied, but only by awakening the demon blood that runs through your veins. You will be alive once more, but you will not be human anymore. You mean I’ll become a demon like you? Yusuke deduced. Yes, Raizen verified. No fucking way! Yusuke shouted. Consider what will happen if you don’t become a demon, Raizen spoke calmly. Toguro will rape the girl you love and then kill her. After that, he will be free to continue on the evil path he has chosen. He will wipe out all human life, as well as the demons that oppose him. Do you want that to happen? No, but . . .Yusuke started to say but was cut off by Raizen. No “buts,” the ancient demon said. Either you accept my offer or you don’t. Just remember which way points to salvation and which way points to damnation. Ok, ok, you got yourself a deal! Yusuke conceded. But if I start eating human flesh, I’m kicking your sorry ass! Agreed, Raizen said. In the real world, Toguro walked over to Keiko and held her by her chin. “Now let’s have some fun, just you and me,” he whispered. Keiko glared at him with eyes full of anger and hate. “You bastard,” she spat. Toguro just grinned cruelly at her and bent down to kiss her. However, he never got to kiss her, as he sensed a rising dark aura. He turned to the direction from which he felt the aura and gasped in surprise, shock, and horror. It was Yusuke, but very different from how Toguro had last seen him. Specifically, his skin was deathly white and his eyes were now a hellish crimson. His hair was long and wild, some of it partially obscuring his eyes. His black muscle shirt was gone, exposing black demonic markings on his toned chest and arms. The crow emblem and black lipstick were gone from Yusuke’s face, replaced by demonic markings underneath his eyes. “How did you come back?” Toguro asked. “What’s the matter, Toguro?” Yusuke asked coldly. “Scared?” Toguro laughed. “You’ve become a demon, just like me. And weren’t you the one ranting about holding onto your humanity before?” “This body and its powers are necessary,” Yusuke replied. “I cannot allow your evil to continue. For the sake of all your victims, I will end your sorry life!” “Just try it, Yusuke,” Toguro challenged. Yusuke suddenly blinked out of sight. Toguro had only a fraction of a second to wonder where Yusuke had gone before feeling a brutal right cross to his face, twisting his neck abnormally and sending him flying through the arena wall. “Yusuke?” Keiko asked, startled by his new appearance. Yusuke turned to her and smiled. “Yeah, babe. It’s me.” “But how?” Keiko asked. “I thought Toguro had killed you.” “He did,” Yusuke replied. “Let’s just say I’ve got a benefactor who had an interest in keeping me alive. By the way, Toguro’s about to come back.” Toguro stormed back into the arena, his neck wrenched back into place and looking very angry. “Yusuke,” he growled. “It looks like I can’t afford to play with you anymore.” His form mutated further, signaling that he was summoning even more strength. “You think that’s going to save you from me?” Yusuke asked coldly. “That trick only worked when I was human . . . and as you can clearly see, I’m not human anymore. Do your worst, Toguro. I’ll give you one chance to kill me, since you’re so strong. I won’t attempt to defend myself; I’ll just let you hit me. If you can’t kill me with that hit, then you’re a fucking dead demon.” Toguro glared at Yusuke. That smug little bastard dares to mock me. Well, I will teach him what happens to those who mock me. With that thought firmly in mind, he charged at Yusuke with his fist pulled back; ready to knock his head off. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite get to knock Yusuke’s head off. Sure, his punch connected and true to his word, Yusuke didn’t attempt to defend himself. Despite this, Yusuke’s head remained firmly attached to his shoulders and he didn’t seem to be much worse for wear. “Pathetic,” Yusuke sneered as his aura shaped itself into a black phoenix. Toguro gaped as he realized that the phoenix-like aura was Puu, the Spirit Beast-slash-guardian crow that he had killed. Not much good that had done him, he mused to himself. “To think that I once feared you,” Yusuke murmured as he raised a fist full of smoky black-and-violet aura. “But it’s clear you’re beneath me, you bastard. Time to die.” He pointed his finger at Toguro’s head as the smoky aura concentrated at its tip. “Spirit Gun.” Strangely enough, Toguro seemed almost grateful when Yusuke fired his Spirit Gun, as if he had at last found some deliverance. He was almost smiling as the Spirit Gun blasted his head apart in a mess of blood and brains and his body collapsed on the hard arena floor. “It’s over,” Yusuke murmured. It was at that moment that Kurama, Hiei, Jin, Touya, and Rinku appeared in the arena. Kurama and Jin went to unchain Keiko. “Seein’ a pretty lass like you tied up brings to mind some rather dirty fantasies that I’ll be a gentleman and not repeat,” Jin remarked. Yusuke growled angrily at Jin. “Aw, come on, bloke, you know you were thinking it too!” Jin tried to defend himself. “I assume that’s what’s left of Toguro, right?” Touya stated. “Good. He deserved every last second of pain you gave him.” “Your aura feels different, Yusuke,” Kurama said. “More like a demon’s than a human’s, and like that of an S-class demon at any rate.” Hiei chuckled in amusement. “Yusuke. How does it feel to be superior?” In Spirit World, Toguro found himself before Enma Daioh. “Toguro, you have done much evil since you became a demon,” Enma stated. “You have murdered, pillaged, and conquered entire lands. However, it is also true that you have done much good as a human. And in balancing the good and evil that you have done over your life, I have decided that you are not quite deserving of hell. You can go to purgatory, if that is what you wish.” “Thank you, but no,” Toguro replied. “Hell is what I deserve for my sins and hell is where I’m going. However, I do have one request being going to my eternal punishment.” “And what would that be?” Enma asked. “I want Genkai to return to her life, to have it to live over again,” Toguro replied. “I believe that request is within my vast power to grant,” Enma stated. “Thank you,” Toguro said before walking through the gateway that would set him on the path to hell. As he walked down that lonely road, he found himself confronted with the young Genkai, dressed exactly as she had been during that fateful Dark Tournament fifty-two years earlier. “You were planning this, weren’t you?” Genkai stated bluntly. “You wanted Yusuke to kill you all along, didn’t you?” “He was the only one strong enough to do the job,” Toguro replied. “You’ve heard, haven’t you?” “That I’m going to get to live my life again?” Genkai answered. “Yes. What was your purpose for all this? What were you looking to accomplish?” “When I killed Yusuke the first time, it was to punish him for not being able to kill me,” Toguro explained. “When I discovered that he had returned as an avatar of the crow, I hoped that I would finally get the death I sought. And he delivered.” He smiled sadly at Genkai before going on. “When you return to Yusuke, help him. He may be demon in body and blood, but his soul is still human. Make sure it stays that way. Make sure he never ends up like me.” Genkai looked Toguro in the eye, silently promising him that no matter what happened, Yusuke would never be corrupted by his demonic power. One year later, a demon named Shinato sat in his mansion watching with a sense of trepidation as his B-class bodyguards were slaughtered by Spirit Ops, the black ops team of Spirit World. Before, Spirit World and Demon World had existed in a tenuous balance. However, Toguro and Sakyo’s conquest of Japan via the influx of demons from Demon World had forced the ruler of Spirit World to stop playing nice with the rulers of Demon World. Shinato groaned with a mixture of sadness, resignation, and anger. If only Toguro hadn’t allowed himself to be killed by that bastard Spirit Detective-turned-demon Yusuke Urameshi, Shinato thought. Certainly doesn’t help things that Sakyo got himself stabbed to death by his little slave. He’d learned enough about Spirit Ops to know that they were a team that wasn’t constrained by the rules that had governed relations between the three worlds. Their only objective was to rid Human World of the demons that had taken over. Beyond that, Spirit World didn’t care how they got the job done. The white-haired demon lord’s musings were interrupted by the arrival of Spirit Ops, which consisted of Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Jin, and Touya. “Demon traitors,” Shinato sneered. “Are you going to kill me now?” “Yes,” Yusuke replied, his hellish red eyes glinting coldly as he pointed his finger at Shinato’s head, prepared to fire his signature attack. The End End Notes: So how did you like this story? I know some or many of you may have wanted a more definite ending, but I like this kind of ending. It makes you think about what might have happened afterward. Thank you, Wolf God, for giving me the idea for this story in the first place and thank you, reviewers, for sticking with me throughout the production of this story. Rest assured that I am not done with fan fiction yet and I will keep writing it until the real world prevents me from writing anymore.