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Yomatsu Hara-Sakai Continuation:
Part 6
by Korogi
Okay: Other than standard disclaimers, this contains
violence (What'd ya expect?), profanity .... of course some yaoi, though
very little of it ... AND ANGST!! And BLOOD! And merciless
harm to animals!!! GAH!!! Please don't kill me ... I've
warned you ahead of time!! Standardm YYH
disclaimer as seen in the Prologue of this fic applies here also.
Koenma and Yusuke watched on as every
cop and bomb-squad in the city frantically tried to vacate the fish market,
blocking off the entire market and half of the surrounding area.
Cars and people flowed from the area in a mass exodus of horns and disgruntled
shouts.
Yusuke crossed his arms over his
chest vainly. "Still think it was a stupid idea?" he turned with
a sly grin to his companion.
Koenma nodded, without saying a
word ... receiving a swat from Yusuke.
The large iron gates were absolutely
no match for the onslaught of the three yokai ... and in seconds, the gates
blocking entrance into Dai-Warugi's fortress crashed into pieces before
them, bellowing great pillars of dust under their sudden weight.
Yo-mawari smiled as he beckoned
a shuriken back to his hand ... the other
four bouncing along and climbing Hiei's leg, rolling to perch
obediently on his shoulders. The little yokai gave all four a
sideways glance and smirked slightly, sheathing his
katana.
The castle loomed a morbid brown
under the star-peppered Yomatsu sky, standing
like a large mass of rock and granite above them.
"You KNOW this place?" Kurama said in a hushed tone, awing
at the obvious architectural marvel. He watched as his twin
nodded slowly.
Above him on a post of the once
erect gate, a raven crowed loudly, startling
them all ... It looked down to them and cocked its head,
babbling to itself in its own language before crowing loudly again
... echoed by several other ravens.
Yo-mawari glanced to the shurikens
on Hiei's shoulder ... and they leapt.
The raven's scattered, continuing
to crow loudly, rumbling the air around them
as the shurikens gave chase quickly ... one by one, the blood-chilling
sound of cracking bones filled the air above them as the
shurikens made their move, easily slicing through the birds one
at a time.
The black , bloody carcasses fell
to the path below in dull thumps, choking
feathers up around them, littering the stone walkway with their
black limbs feathers and heads. Kurama watched the sight in
astonishment, turning to his brother. "What
was that for?"
"Dai-Warugi has ravens everywhere
over his lands ... they're his eyes and ears,
letting him see all that goes on. I think I caught them before
they were able to alert anyone to our presence, but we must all
still be on our guard."
Kurama nodded solemnly. "We
need to get Kuwabara-kun."
The orange mop of hair poked out
from behind a turn in the hall, brandishing
the lead pipe that served as his only means of defense. His
ki was beginning to slowly come back to him, but not enough to
call forth the rei-ken ... and plus, the damage done to his arms
was beginning to throb back painfully into existence,
making any movement he did with his arms send
needles of pain though to his back and down
to his stomach.
The coast was clear ... as far as
he could tell. His psychic abilities were
becoming more and more clear, mapping out the castle as he went
along. Rats scurried underfoot and spiders stared their hundreds
of disgusting little beady eyes at the tall young man as he made
his way along.
One by one, he passed windows leading
out to a severe drop to the grounds below.
Each one, he would check for any movement... even hiding from the flocks
of huge, black ravens that seemed to be patrolling
the castle.
He crept along to the next window
and braced his back against the wall.
He inhaled deeply, wincing at the pain in this arms and peered
around the corner ... His view was littered with strange Yomatsu
trees. He could see the gates to the fortress beyond ... or
what was left of them, at least. The destroyed
gate caught his full attention as he followed
the stone path .. and spotted three figures, two
all in black, and one in a blazing pink. "It can't be," he
whispered. "Kurama ...and Yo-ma and the brat.
But how the hell am I gonna get their
attention from all the way up ..."
A rat squeaked by at his feet, nibbling
on a dead spider. Kazuma stuck his
tongue out at the mangy creature, the gears in his
head beginning to turn. "Guess you're gonna
play telegram for me." He made a face and
with lightning swiftness captured the rat, quickly trying to ignore
the pain that picked at his arms. It squealed in protest as the
tall young man reeled it back, aiming for the smallest
of the three yokai ...
Hiei poked again at one of the shuriken,
it glimmering back to him in his mind .."MUST
you do that, meijin!" it giggled, twirling on
one of the tips happ ily. He smirked ... and then stiffened,
drawing the quick katana to his defense ... his Jagan
had picked something up, heading for them
at a speed unlike ...
SSQQEEEEEEEKKK!!
Hiei turned just in time to be hit
smack-dab in the face by a kamikaze rat ...
he tumbled backwards at the impact, scattering the shuriken
from his shoulder, one taking off to slice the airborne vermin
clean in half.
Hiei shook stars from his vision
and hopped snarling to his feet as the two
brothers joined at his side. "Alright!" he bellowed.
"Who the Hel ..rrmph .. " Hiei was quickly
silenced by Yo-mawari's hand, reeling the
little yokai back to him as the shurikens began their climb
to sit upon his shoulder again.
Kurama held something out with a
morbid curiosity looking it over ... the dripping
corpse of the bottom end of the rat. "Looks like
ravens aren't all Dai- Warugi has working for him!"
Another rat plopped to the ground
inches from Hiei's feet, its neck instantly
broken ... the rodent twitched and kicked, the
last-minute muscle reactions dying out slowly.
"No wait! We're being pelted
by vermin!" Kurama pointed out. He raised
a finger to the castle.
Kuwabara silently congradulated himself
for landing one of his rat-bombs on the yokai.
"They know somethin's up ... " he held the lead
pipe out the window, leaning his body out with it. "Okay ...
it's all er nuthin', Kazuma ..."
Channeling what little energy he
had, he forced his mind to concentrate on
the lead pipe ... energizing an object was easier than energizing
the air... He took a deep breath and clenched his teeth. "REI-KEN!!"
The other two yokai looked up Kurama's
finger to the castle ... but saw nothing.
Just the brown castle A pack of ravens were rounding
the castle side, coming quickly into view and Yo-mawari instantly
set three stars after them.
"Che! I don't see anything!"
Hiei snorted.
The raven flock began to crow ...
and die under the onslaught ... and just off
from the flurry of dismembered bodies, something glowed
a brilliant yellow ... if only for a second.
"Did you see that!!" Kurama pointed.
Hiei looked suddenly as the yellow
light died. "Hmm ... Kuwabara."
"Great! That makes OUR job
easier ... but how are we going to get HIM
down HERE!" Yo-mawari watched as the shurikens whizzed
back and took positions on their masters shoulders.
Hiei looked to one of the stars.
"I have an idea."
Kuwabara fell across the hall exhausted,
ever bit of his energy completely spent.
He fought desperately to catch his breath,
dropping the lead pipe to the floor in a huge,
echoing clang ...
He raised a hand to his chest, ignoring
the aching that followed with each movement.
Then something glimmered into existence.
A small light flashed at him from the window
sill he had just been hanging out. Kazuma pushed
himself from the wall and approached ... it was one of Yo-mawari's
living ninja stars.
The metal weapon glimmered at him
as he bent down to look it over.
"Jump ..."
"What the ..." Kazuma stumbled back
from the star, pointing a finger. "Gah!
It can talk!!"
"Jump ... baka ..." the star thought
to him in an almost childish tone
"Jump?"
Kazuma leaned over the edge of the
sill. Below, the network of trees and
odd plants that marked the grounds below were slowly being
weaved into a network, looking like a large trampoline. "Oh
ya gotta be kiddin' me!"
"KAAAAWW!!!"
"WAH!!"
A raven suddenly blocked his vision,
crowing and flapping menacingly at him.
"Oi!! Shut up, you stupid bird!!" he yelled. He bent
down and retrieved the length of pipe and began swatting. "Shut
up shut up!!"
The shuriken glimmered and shot
from the sill, slicing the raven cleanly into
about five different pieces before returning to the sill.
It glimmered eagerly. "Meijin say jump, baka!"
it insisted to him
"Meijin? Ya mean that little
shrimpy brat!! Hiei! I'm gonna pound
your face in!!" Kuwabara jumped to the sill and teetered on
the edge ... it looked like a good 100 feet down
... "Um, maybe this ain't such a good ..."
the shuriken popped up and whacked him on the
back of the head .. "ideaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"He's coming down," Hiei announced
the obvious, hoping for just a second that
the tumbling body would miss the plant net
Kurama had weaved. But, Kuwabara
hit the mark ... he guessed he would. It would kill Kurama's
human heart if harm came to another member of the team before
coming to him.
The net gave easily, cradling Kuwabara's
large body and bringing him slowly to meet
with the ground. The two brothers were to him quickly,
helping him off the net as it began to unwind.
"AH!! Easy on the arms!!"
he screamed as he was set to the ground.
"What the hell happened to you!"
Kurama panicked, quickly unwrapping an
arm. Kazuma winced in pain as he did, the bandages
pulling back to reveal the damage to
the young man's arms.
The acid had taken it's toll ...
his arms lay split and bleeding profusely,
and what little skin that was left to cover his lowers arms was
brown and bubbly, obviously dead. Kurama grimaced at the sight,
turning his face from the sight as he quickly laid a healing hand
on the arm, flinching as Kuwabara in his ear ...
Kurama began to dump his ki into
the wound ... it was the fastest and most
effective way he knew to ease the pain ... and usually he got
some sort of response, but he was getting absolutely nothing. Kurama
frowned and tried harder, his hands glowing an eerie red as the
ki increase ... but nothing seemed to work. "I .. I can't heal
him... I can't even ease his pain ... it's like ..
like "
"Who the hell cares!" Hiei
spat, grabbing one of the shuriken from his
shoulder. " 'Cuz I'm gonna KILL HIM!!"
Yo-mawari had already caught the
little yokai by the waist and hoisted him
kicking and snarling in to the air. "Now is not the time nor
the place, little Meijin ..."
"I don't care! Put me down
so I can kill him!"
"I can't do that ... "
"WHAT!!" Hiei seethed. "Yo-ma,
I ORDER you to put me DOWN!!"
Yo-mawari held on for dear life.
"You can't bring harm upon another detective
of the Reikai ... I can't allow you to do that."
Hiei stopped squirming a minute,
relaxing his struggle in the man's grasp and
turned to face him. "But ... I thought ... "
"I don't have the time to explain
now, meijin. First, we must get Kuwabara-kun
back to the Ningenkai and to Yukina ... only she has any
hope of healing those wounds."
A huge roll of thunder echoed throughout
the lands, shaking them all in their places.
Yo-mawari gasped, lowering Hiei gently to the ground
before drawing the katana. "He's found us!"
"Ugh ... who's that?" Kazuma asked,
wincing as Kurama helped him to his feet.
"Who do you think, baka!!" Hiei
screamed. "Dai-Warugi!"
Yo-mawari took a step back, beckoning
Hiei with him. "We can't hope to even
scathe him on his own turf .. we must get back to the Ningenkai
if we ever want to defeat him!"
Hiei sheathed his katana and his
anger, calling up a portal back to Makai.
"Then let's get back before it's too late!"
Yusuke and Koenma stood
behind the police barricade ... seconds before
the Tsukiji fishmarket erupted into a huge
mushroom cloud of fire ... radiating you-ki along
with the after-shocks. The humans were
blown back behind them, leaving only the two
standing, bracing roughly against the explosion.
Koenma, braced himself against the wave, watching as Yusuke
easily blew flying chunks of debris apart with blasts from the
Rei-gun.
It took only seconds for the blast
to pass ... and only a few more seconds for
the girls to come running.
"Holy flying shit-piles!!" Shizuru
screamed, ducking as Botan whizzed by overhead.
"What in the crap happened here!!"
Botan leapt off the oar as Yukina
came running in from behind them, sliding
to a stop next to Keiko.
"Everyone stay back!" Yusuke ordered,
pointing that finger of his around the group
of girls. "This isn't the time or the place to get brave!"
From out of the blast sight, a large
orange beast emerged, carrying itself on four
massive legs ... hoisting a huge sword with
two massive arms. It snarled lowly, smiling
down to the two Reikai detectives.
"That's that ... thing ... Yo-mawari
was talking about, ne?" Koenma said.
"Yeah ... uh, Dai- Wa-loogi .."
"No .. Dai- Waterflea ..".
"Dai- Wa roofey ... "
The beast growled loudly,
trembling the ground. "DAI-WARUGI!!" he shouted,
slicing through a section of pavement with
the broad sword. Around him, water spewed
up in a fine mist, coating his scaly body in a shimmering
coat as he stepped forward, threatening the group with the
broadsword.
Just behind Yusuke and company,
Makai portal opened up, spilling four more
figures onto the scene ...
"Kuwa-chan!!" Yukina screamed, rushing from the pack to join the
four new comers.
Kazuma slid to the ground as Kurama
set him down, Yukina falling to the pavement
beside him. "Oh! Kuwa-chan! What
happened!!"
Kuwabara gave a stupid grin and
fought off the pain. "Heh heh ... Yukina-
chan! What are you ... uh .. "
Yukina slapped a hand easily over
one of the most heavily wounded area's and
looked up to the thin, paled eyes. He met the gaze,
but instead of falling all over himself in stupidity, he simply
stared blankly back at her as the pain began to slowly
fade. But there was an enormous pain
behind those eyes, despite Yukina's quick
healing techniques ... it was quite obvious as he switch positions
to sit more comfortably on the cold pavement. Yukina's wild
eyes seemed to speak with his soul, to console his pain, as useless
as an effort as it might have been ... and
Kuwabara closed his eyes, leaning down to rest
his head on Yukina's soft shoulder, letting out a large sigh.
A deep bellied laugh echoed
through the mutilated fish market ... all
eyes turned from Kuwabara and Yukina to Dai-Warugi ... but his eyes
searched the air too. The laugh continued,
forcing them all to look behind them, switching
defensive positions around the girls and Kuwabara.
Standing boldly in the center of
the deserted road, framed in shadows, a figure
loomed with his face turned solemnly down to
the ground. He wore a brilliant purple
and red, laughing charismaticaly on occasion
as he fiddled with long, straight black
hair. The figure stepped forward into the
light of a street lamp, six ears and three
pairs of horns coming into to view adorning a
perfect, handsome face with closed eyes.
Yusuke gasped, as did everyone else
around them ... "Yomi ..." he watched
with wide eyes as the man made his presence know slowly
and regally.
Yomi smiled and laughed again,
stepping expertly forward, feeling his way
along almost without fault. Occasionally, he'd step on
a piece of debris and correct quickly, but managed to pick his way
slowly though, expertly. "I see my feeling were correct," the
deep voice spoke into the air as the blind man continued
forward, pulling all the team into a sudden
posture of uncertainty. "I felt a large
presence pass through the realms to land here ... and I see I've
found it .. and you all as well." The man seemed
to almost delight in his discovery, continuing
slowly forward, eyes closed tight.
Hiei hissed, drawing out the
katana. "What the hell do you want, old
man!"
"Old man?" Yomi paused to
laugh slightly, spreading his arms out for
balance as he stepped over a fallen beam. "I'm not here to
make feeble battles, little yokai ... I'm here to
help," he said with sickening pleasure.
The blind eyes still closed tightly
seemed to pick each one of them out resting
for several seconds on Kurama ... remembering why exactly
he was blind. "But I have my price."
"Yeah .. I knew thereat be a catch!"
Yusuke yelled to the man. "No deal Yomi ...
go and crawl back under whatever rock you crawled
out from under ... we don't need you!"
"Oh you don't?"
Behind them, Dai-Warugi laughed,
amused. "Such rivalry ... such show
of spirit. It almost seems a pity to kill you all!" The beast
threw his head back and laughed, pulling the broad
sword before him. "Who's first?"
Yusuke pushed Keiko back behind
him and stepped forward, pulling his T- shirt
up over his head, tossing it easily to the ground. "Okay.
Fine! I'm first!"
"Are you nuts!" Kurama reached
forward and joined him. "There's no way anyone
of us could take him in a frontal assault...
let alone by ourselves. You're only S-class,
Yusuke-kun ... Yo-mawari said this beast was
the equivalent of a triple S."
Yo-mawari stepped forward.
"He's right. One-on-one will just waste
our energy. This has to be a team effort."
"Then we kick his ass together!!" Hiei
snarled, displaying his katana.
Yomi suddenly stepped into view,
hands neatly in his pockets, placing himself
between the four fighters and the beast. He smiled, his
head still lowered slightly to the ground, possible more in a peaceful
display than anything else. "This should prove
interesting."
"One side, Yomi!" Hiei snarled.
"Or you'll be in pieces!"
Yomi smiled slightly and quickly
raised a hand from his pocket ... Hiei lifted
from the ground and flew back at a phenomenal rate ... but
paused in mid air as the yokai quickly corrected and landed on his
feet. In a flash of black wind he was back to his place, a deadly
grin curving his mouth. "Try again, wizard!"
"Gladly ... but you can't defeat
a being such as the Lord of Malice with simple
tricks and weaponry."
Yo-mawari glared the man down ...
surprised to find that Yomi smiled back as
his eyes laid on the strange figure. "Help on your own
free will ... but stay out of our way!!" Yo-mawari spoke,
putting emphasis to the statement by clanging the
katana on the pavement.
"But my price ..." Yomi's
smile increased.
"How 'bout we give you respect and
call it even!" Yusuke blurted with that infamous
egotistical tone. He took a deep breath and pushed
past the tall demon ... followed by the other guys in a long line.
Dai-Warugi smiled as Yusuke's team
approached minus Kuwabara. He flipped
the blade through the air easily, just missing Yusuke's
exposed chest. "Ha! The next one connects with that
arrogant neck of yours!"
And the battle was on!
Kuwabara watched on as the team began
close combat with the beast. "I need
to be there helping them," he moaned. He raised his head
from Yukina's shoulder. His arms were still a wreck, dully
aching as he flexed his muscles.
Yukina looked up from the wounds,
having only healed 1/4 of his left arm.
"You have no strength ... you have no ki ... you can't, Kuwa-chan!
You'll kill yourself!"
"But I have to do something!
They'll get creamed without me!!"
Yukina frowned and patted his arm
lightly, bringing a string of pain back into
to arms. "Hiei-san and the others can manage
without you."
Kurama and Yo-mawari were both
blown back respectively, landing side- by-side
just outside the battle grounds. "Damn!"
Yo-mawari cursed, helping himself to his feet.
"This isn't working! How the hell did he get
so much power!!"
"I don't know ... but some
of his attacks with that sword remind me of Kuwabara-kun's attacks ..."
"You're right." Yo-mawari adjusted
the high collar as he watched his shurikens
whirl about the beast, clanging easily off the huge broad
sword.
Kurama grabbed his brother
by the arm. "Are you still in touch with
your youko form?"
The other smiled widely, eyes flashing
gold ...
Hiei and Kuwabara both leapt
back, narrowly dodging the flying blade.
Koenma fell back and joined, a neat slice of the scarf that bound
his neck hanging loosely from its position. "This is nuts!
We couldn't beat the guy ... even IF we had Kuwabara
to help us out!!"
Before anyone could say another
word, Youko Kurama sped through the scene,
a barrage of rose thorns surrounding his body ... followed
closely by another Youko ... looking exactly like Kurama, but
brandishing Yo-mawari's long katana.
Everyone but Hiei blinked as they
watched, the two, nearly indistinguishable
youko's making quick, randomly successful
attacks.
Youko Yo-mawari sliced cleanly through
the air with the katana, nicking Dai-Warugi's
shoulder. The beast laughed and fended off the
flurry of red and black steel roses that bombarded him, mixed with
the living shurikens.
Youko Kurama managed to land a slice
to the beast's other shoulder ... just seconds
before a powerful ki blast sent the twins spiraling
backwards into Yusuke and the others.
The pile of bodies separated
quickly and stood to their respective feet.
"There's just no way ..." one of the youko's
breathed, trying to catch his breath. The
other nodded in agreement.
Hiei ... quite possibly the only
one who could tell the two youko's apart,
quickly cupped a hand over Youko Kurama's bleeding arm, a deep
gash running clear to the bone, a landed blow from the broad sword.
Kurama raised the golden eyes and
watched as Dai-Warugi stood patiently, watching
the group. "Take your time, children," he laughed.
"I'm in no hurry to kill you!"
Hiei snarled quietly, taking a shuriken
in his hand. "I hate to say it ... but
this battle's already lost."
"How do you mean?" Youko Yo-mawari
asked, turning his face to his master.
A single trickle of blood flowed from his eyebrow, mingling
with the silver hair. He quickly brushed a hand over his face,
leaving a red streak across his forehead.
"Because what ever power we're
pooling into his attacks," Hiei began as the
Jagan glowed brilliantly ... "he's turning around and using
on us. The more we fight, the more powerful he becomes."
"Looks like you're in a bit of a
jam, so to speak," Yomi's voice put in lowly
from the sidelines. "My offer still stands."
Yusuke ground his teeth together.
"Fine! Help if you want! It won't
do any of us any good!! There's no way to bring him down anyway!"
"My price ... "
"Only if Dai-What's-his-ass is destroyed
will we grant you any sort of 'Price'," Koenma
emphasized.
Yusuke looked the tall man straight
in the face ... watched closely as all 6 ears
twitched ... and the eyelids fluttered. "Name you're price
and we'll see."
Yomi smiled and moved forward, hands
still deep within his pockets. "My price
is simple ..." the unseeing eyes seemed to pick out
the two youko's ... "for one night, promising no harm as long as
no harm comes to me ... I want ... the Youko Yo-mawari."
"WHAT!!!!!!!" the group yelled collectively.
