Yu Yu Hakusho:Kōrudokēsu

Chapter 3 A Familiar Face

"This is my last lead..." Romano Hideshi reminded himself as he was about to enter the warehouse where he would find the third member of the Ginobly Gang, Akimursu.
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"If I mess up and kill this guy here without questioning him, I'm not gonna have any solid leads to finding Ginobly. And that would really suck..."
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The young Spirit Detective paced around the warehouse a few more times, keen to survey the surrounding area before launching his assault on the inconspicuous-looking structure. No other demons seemed to be around. Hideshi was beginning to doubt that Akimursu was even in this complex. Then again, he did feel an abnormally strong demonic presence coming from within that building. It was strange though, seeing as Akimursu was only an upper C class demon.
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After scanning the perimeter for the final time, Hideshi was confident that he and Akimursu would be alone if he were to enter the warehouse.
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Hideshi picked the lock to a small, one-person door and entered as quietly as possible, suppressing his spirit energy. The warehouse was full of all different assortments of crates and machinery such as forklifts to move them.
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Inside, the warehouse seemed to lay silent. But only for a moment. Out from a far corner of the structure, Hideshi could hear someone talking in a deep, demonic voice.
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That's got to be Akimursu! Hideshi thought to himself as he crept around the maze of crates, silently moving closer towards the sound of the demon's voice.
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After a few more steps towards the sounds of his voice, Hideshi could hear Akimursu a bit more clearly. But then, he began to hear another voice, this one much more soft-spoken and mellow sounding.
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It's a woman! Hideshi came to the realization just as he rounded his head around the corner of one of the large crates. And sure enough, now in pain sight, there was a human girl standing a top a large stack of crates, engaging in conversation with Akimursu.
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Something about this woman struck Hideshi as oddly, familiar...
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Even though her back was turned to him, he knew he had seen her before somewhere...
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In his bewilderment, he was careless and allowed himself to be spotted by Akimursu. "Look! It's him! The Spirit Detective who killed Caffa and Raiza!"
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This, in turn, caused the woman to also turn towards Hideshi. Instantly after seeing her face, he began to wish he had never accepted this case...
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No... It can't be! Wendy!?! Hideshi thought to himself, paralyzed with fear for what the girl he once knew had become.
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She had the same face, the same body structure, the same hair. Yet she was very different...
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Most notably was her left arm, which had been enlarged several times it's normal size and had a demonic and dangerous look to it, as if her nails had become talons.
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Wendy appeared in a trance, staring blankly into Hideshi's concerned eyes. It was at this moment he began to remember their past together...
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Wendy Itsūba and Romano Hideshi had been friends for as long as either could remember. They both stood up for one another whenever one was being bullied because of their small, fragile statures.
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While usually the bullies would end up beating on both of them, they at least had each other to help them heal.
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It wasn't too long before both Wendy and Romano came to their teenage years, still sticking close by one another, but now something was different. They began to feel something more than friendship for one another.
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Eventually, the two realized that they had fallen in love with each other, and became even more inseparable.
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The true test of their relationship came when Hideshi became diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 15. At first, he had to spend several days in the hospital to get his sugars back on track and to run some tests on him. Wendy never once left his side the entire time.
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However... Not everything lasts forever...
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The Summer before their last year of High School, Wendy's parents had to move out of the country to Korea for work purposes.
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Romano and Wendy tried to make things work long-distance, but it proved too difficult for them and eventually, things died off. Hideshi stopped calling her after he feel into his slump of depression after being rejected from the Police Academy because of his diabetes.

This was the first time Hideshi had seen Wendy in three years, and now they had been reunited, but as enemies.
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Hideshi had sworn to either arrest or slay demons in the human world when he became Spirit Detective. Wendy, now under the control of Ginobly's gang, now set her sights on killing the Spirit Detective.

Romano Hideshi knew what he had to do, but the question remained: Would he ever be able to forgive himself if he did?

Hideshi stood his ground, facing the woman he had once loved, her hand now disfigured to that of a Demon's. It didn't take him long to see what was up. Either Ginobly or Akimursu had taken possession over her mind. She was now as just as bad as any other demon who illegally entered the Human World.
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He didn't even get the chance to take a look for very long, as Wendy immediately leapt from her position, her claws stretched out and ready for attack. Hideshi did too little too late, he was still in shock. All he could do was take a single step back as Wendy's demonic claws raked into his skin across his chest, leaving deep, bloody gashes.
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The detective fell to his knees, gasping for air through the pain. All the while, looking onwards, Akimursu smirked wildly, barely able to contain his laughter. "You're a bit slow? Aren't you detective?" The demon stated in a taunting tone.
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Romano Hideshi fell face-forward into the pavement of the warehouse, struggling to stay conscious as he bled to death all over the floor. He then felt someone come up from behind him, grab the back of his shirt, and lift him back up so he could view the horned demon as he descended from his position upon the crates.
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"The boss is gonna be so happy when he founds out I was able to get rid of you! You should have heard him before you got here! He was hotter than a hornet about coming all this way from Demon World, past the Makai barrier, and King Enki's security forces just to have two of his gang members killed! I may not have been as tough as Raiza or Caffa, but I was certainly smarter than them. You see detective, we did our research as well. We knew all about your past an how this presumptuous little whore was your woman a good while back. I was the only one who thought ahead and decided to take control over her body! And now she's mine... I wonder what I'll do to her after you're dead and gone..."
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Akimursu's words brought out a terrifying rage from deep within Hideshi. "You bastard! Don't you dare touch her!"
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"Oh please detective! What are you going to do? Bleed on me?" the demon mocked Hideshi as he struggled to even stay conscious. He then felt as a presence pulled his head back, allowing him to see Wendy's face.
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"How's about I give you one final look at your lover before I send you to your grave Detective?" Akimursu said in a devilish tone with a wife grin as the detective looked back on his one and only childhood friend, tears beginning to well up in his eyes at seeing what she had become.
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Evidently, this triggered something in the deep bowls of Wendy's consciousness, as she cast Hideshi aside and swiftly and silently slashed her claw across Akimursu's throat. The demon was dead before he hit the floor. And Hideshi felt as though he would soon join him...
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