"Yu Yu Hakusho"
In a crowded city, as I bump shoulders, I'm all alone.
On an endless prairie, as the wind whistles by, I'm all alone.
Which one is it that makes me want to cry more, I wonder.
Marking it with twin circles, I feel a bit more grown-up!
It must be, that when I run into these terribly difficult walls,
And unexpectedly, for whatever reason,
The courage and power to break through rises up from within,
All because of how, when I run into these terribly difficult people,
They show me kindness, I bet!
Thank you very much!
Urameshi Yusuke, who had traveled to the Demon Tealm at Taizen's invitation,
was spending his days and nights in intense training against S-Class Yokai.
Elsewhere, Hiei had also attained an amazing increase
in his spectral power at Mukuro's castle,
and had progressed far enough to defeat Shigure,
one of Mukuro's 77 attendants.
And, here in the remaining corner of the three great powers,
there was a man who had received an invitation from Yomi.
His human name was Minamino Shuichi; his name in the Demon Tealm-- Yoko Kurama.
"Demon Realm Thieves -- A Thousand-Year Reunion"
"Minamino"
Hello? Shuichi?
Ah, Mom! Is something the matter?
Meals? I'm eating fine.
Earthquake? You're kidding. Are you sure you don't have the wrong place?
I'm fine. Everything is going well on this end.
Mom, you just have a good time on your trip.
You don't need to worry about anything at home.
I'm currently taking a phone call in the Demon Tealm.
It's from my mother, who is taking a trip.
One day in July, the mother who had raised me by herself...
...moved up her itinerary, and remarried.
The service was held with only members of the family invited,
and the two of them seemed very happy.
I'm sorry I won't be able to make it to your old lady's ceremony.
I was glad for what Yusuke told me two months earlier,
as he left for the Demon Tealm a little before I did.
Despite their repeated hesitations, I half-forced the two of them
to take an overseas trip through the end of August,
as a present to them, though it was mostly for my own convenience.
Okay, you take care Mom.
I'm here two months after Yusuke and Hiei arrived.
With the condition that this only last through summer vacation,
I agreed to join Yomi on the battle line as an advisor.
I owed a debt to Yomi.
"Demon Realm City Gandara"
Rose Whip!!
Yomi, I know you're there.
Kurama, you really have come.
Stop horsing around. You even sent messengers to invite me here.
What the hell kind of greeting was that?
Don't be so angry. I'm puzzled at the difference between your presence now,
compared to your presence before.
I wanted to see if you could really serve as an advisor to me.
So this was a test of my skill, then?
We don't see each other for a little while,
and you go and get all cautious on me.
I'm not the same person I was before.
Right now, I am one of the three great kings of the Demon Realm.
I now rival those other two, Mukuro and Raizen,
who used to reign from far above our heads,
and I am out to defeat them.
A thousand years is a long time, huh?
Do not think poorly of me.
If you truly have the power that I expect you do,
then they will be negligible opponents.
And, as such, you will have won.
Kurama, lend me your strength.
Yomi-sama...
Yes, Yoda?
It's almost time for the Demon Realm unification war council.
I know... We will allow Kurama there to take part in today's council meeting.
Escort him there for me.
This man?
From what I can see, he doesn't have that great a spectral power.
Are you serious about letting this man participate
in our national war council meeting?
Yes, I am.
Come with me.
First of all, please take a look at this graph.
This shows the relative military strengths of all three nations,
with our own nation's overall represented as being 100.
Now, as you can see, each nation is represented by their King,
in what amounts to one-man-teams.
I will now include the projections for military strengths a year from now.
Raizen's power is down to zero!
What does that mean?
You're not saying...!
Yes. Raizen will die within the year.
Raizen's strength has already declined to the point where his life is at risk.
This information is reliable.
Consequently, it is thought that any further military planning...
...should aim to acquire the military strength flowing out
from Raizen's nation,
as well as to dig up any able personnel from everywhere else.
Hmm. So that is your position, Yoda?
Kurama, what do you think? I'd like to hear your views.
Yes indeed, I am intrigued.
Since Yomi-sama has recommended you to be an advisor,
Iet's have a look at your ingenuity and wisdom.
Assuming you have any ingenuity and wisdom to show.
Yes, indeed. Well then,
Iet's have a look at the data on the military strength of each nation's King,
together with their second-strongest member after the King.
If you wish,
I can show you data on roughly all of the primary forces for all three nations.
No, the Kings and their Number-Twos will be fine.
Perhaps you cannot completely grasp it all as the numbers get larger.
Very well, then.
I will show you the data on military strength
as measured by our nation's esteemed intelligence agents.
First, Raizen.
Next, Mukuro.
And then, our own King Yomi-sama.
Next, the data on each nation's Number-Two power holder.
On Raizen's side, the Sage Priest Hokushin.
On Mukuro's side, the Malevolent Headmaster Kirin.
And, for our own nation, Military Chancellor Shachi-dono.
That is all. So then, your view?
Hmm... So, in short, for each country,
the Number-Two guy is not even skilled enough to be the King's right-hand man.
Supposing that Raizen dies, it will come down to the two remaining nations.
But there is no difference between the two King's powers.
As such, the struggle would ordinarily come to rest
between the forces other than the Kings,
but the powers of even the Number-Two guys are remarkably weak,
in comparison to the Kings.
In other words,
all of the military might except for the King is insignificant strength,
and of no use.
Until a new Number-Two appears, one that can rival the King,
there's no telling who will win under these circumstances.
Hmph! So in the end, you give up, huh?
That's some shabby ingenuity and wisdom you've got there.
However, in the near future,
this scenario is going to change radically.
What!?
The adjutant general holds the key to the organization.
Within half a year, all of the Number-Twos will be replaced.
What did you say!?
Don't make me laugh! You mean that after the 500 years
since our three nations have been at odds with each other,
the power relationships between us are going to collapse that suddenly!?
Don't get so worked up, Shachi. This is a newcomer saying this.
Miserable Kurama! I'll remember this.
That was the most interesting council meeting in a long time.
Shachi was glaring at you the whole time during your remarks.
Shachi's eyes had surpassed hatred,
and were starting to overflow with bloodlust towards you.
You could tell that much?
The change in his body temperature and his blood pressure,
the tautness of his muscles, the flow of air around him--
I could tell all of it.
Although I have lost the light of sight, I have become stronger.
Kurama, shall we see if you're right
about the composition of the Demon Realm changing in half a year, as you believe?
The child that Raizen had a human woman give birth to, Urameshi Yusuke,
is engaged day and night in fierce, active-combat training,
in order to lead Raizen's forces in the near future.
And I have received reports that your friend, Hiei,
who has gone to see Mukuro,
has also obtained a surprising amount of power in just a short time.
Urameshi and Hiei, as well as you, Kurama.
The three of you are going to reach the Number-Two position in half a year.
That's what you're convinced of, isn't it?
The adjutant general holds the key to the organization.
That was your opinion, right?
Oh yes, Kurama, with the council meeting and all,
I forgot something very important.
There's someone I simply must have you meet. Come with me.
We're here.
Who do you think it is?
It's a man I've continually been looking for over this last thousand years.
He's the one who took my sight from me.
He's here? On the other side of that door?
Yeah.
Lift up your face to him, at least. Your heartbeat has quickened.
What's the matter?
Now, look upon him, at the shape he is in now.
These last few days, he's been wasting away,
and his words have grown remarkably few.
Even now, I can vividly remember when I was attacked by him
a thousand years ago...
Yes... at the time, you were the chief, and I was the deputy.
Our positions were reversed.
My eyes had not yet lost their sight.
Back then, you and I were both bent on making a name for ourselves
among the rising powers of the Demon Realm.
We needed power and wealth in order to make our names,
and build our nation.
The method we chose in order to get both of them at once was to become thieves.
That was the most popular method in the Demon Realm.
At the time, I was strong-willed, and hot blooded.
I was overly confident of my own power, and leapt into whatever danger there was.
In time, I even brushed aside your restraint on me as the leader,
deciding for myself what action to take,
and attacked many castles and villages--
and looked on as many subordinates were killed.
That personality of yours is going to get you killed one day.
Contrarily, you were calm and composed.
You had a different kind of cruelness to you.
You placed great importance on planning,
and always thought three steps ahead of others.
Now that I think about it,
you could say that my foolishly simple ideal of choosing death over surrender...
...is what fueled your anxieties over any future expectations.
I probably wasn't qualified to be your deputy.
Then it happened.
I heard that there was a high-priced treasure gathered inside that castle.
I was taken in by false information,
and led several men toward the empty ruins of a castle.
What's going on here!?
What!?
Who are you!?
What are you after!?
He was strong.
Of course, I mean in comparison to me at the time.
I'll finish you!
W- wait! W- who...!?
"Life is more important than any reward."
That's the dig he got in at me as he left.
I had lost my sight. Without knowing who had attacked me,
or what their purpose was,
Kurama, I waited for you to help me, as I always did.
But no matter how much time went by, you never appeared.
And so, a thousand long years passed by, until now,
we have come to this day.
At length, I did not meet up with you again. Why was that?
This guy, the one who stole the sight from my eyes,
might be able to solve that puzzle for me.
Thinking that, I spent a thousand years until I finally tracked him down.
What's so funny?
I'm impressed. Here you are, standing before him like this,
and your heartbeat has returned to normal.
Hey, wake up!
P- please, kill me... I can't take this suffering any longer...
Very well. You have suffered more than enough.
But before I do, answer my question one more time.
Back then, who was it that ordered you to come after me?
That terrible...
...man with those cold eyes...
...the silver-haired Yoko, Kurama...!
Kurama,
I give you notice that I do not blame you.
Thinking back on it now, I was certainly a fool back then.
I did in fact watch on as hundreds of our men were killed.
If I had been the chief, I probably would have done the same thing.
I probably would not have hesitated to kill me.
What do you want?
As I stated in that messageball,
I'd like for you to lend me your strength as an advisor to me.
Back then, I was of use to you, in my own foolish way, wasn't I?
Now, for the sake of my ambitions to unite the Demon Realm,
I want you to help me, in your own way.
And if I say... no?
Humans seem to enjoy traveling, huh?
What!?
The human that you care most for now is currently traveling by plane, isn't she?
It would be nice if that plane did not crash.
Tragedy befalls a middle-aged couple, on their honeymoon after remarrying...
Even for the topic of some talk show, that's B-grade material.
Why, you...
The human who you, having been pursued as a Yoko by a Demon Realm Hunter,
escaped to the Human Realm as a spirit body and took possession of.
The mother of Minamino Shuichi, Shiori.
The woman who taught you about human love,
and who you so desperately focused your love on.
The first step in military strategy is to gather intelligence.
That was your teaching.
You were puzzled when you first saw me?
Who the hell taught you how to put on such a poor charade?
You are genuinely enraged, and yet somewhere inside that head of yours,
you are still thinking calmly.
Coming up with some way not to lose the person you hold dear...
Already, you have started thinking ahead two or three steps beyond my threat.
Trying to move things in a better direction, one way or another.
Busy thinking first of an intelligent way to deal with this,
rather than of affection or hatred.
What a miserable fellow,
what a cold fellow,
and what a fearsome fellow you are.
The Demon Realm will soon be plunged into great disorder,
and that is precisely when I will need your composure and cold-bloodedness.
Utilize those powers of yours for me.
Kurama has been enlisted as an advisor to Yomi.
However, the two of them, fellow thieves in the past,
both carried smoldering embers of hatred toward each other
that could erupt at any time.
In order to fulfill his promise to Yomi,
Kurama has managed to draw out some pretty bizarre characters.
For crying out loud, what the hell goes on inside that head of yours?
I'd like to have a look for myself.
But you know, there's going to be envious folks no matter where you go.
Watch yourself.
Next time: "Yoko Transformation! A Creeping Bloodlust"
The Other World's not watching for nothing!
When my letter reaches you, don't break the seal,
just leave it alone, and after some time has passed,
I'm sure you will understand how I feel now.
This is my first, and last, request.
As gently as we could, it wasn't very hard,
with one purpose, we foolishly embraced.
As twilight closes in, I shoot an arrow of courage
from a distant window, toward your back, as you leave.
Although it still has not stopped raining outside,
the drenched people and the city still believe in the sun.
An old melody, and a blurred silhouette.
Living the easy life doesn't make for a very good picture.