Yu Yu Hakusho:Kōrudokēsu

Chapter 18 The Unholy Terror of Neji Yojiki

"What the hell?!?" Hideshi's eyes widened in fear as he spotted the demon Yojiki standing before the three remaining fighters, his hair falling over his face, concealing any and all emotion the demon may have been expressing.

"He's just... Standing there..." Kurama remarked, memorized by the demon.

"Why is he still on his feet?!? I thought that Oppo Whatever was supposed to flat-line this guy!" Yusuke complained to Hideshi.

"It was! And he was down! I don't understand how anyone can get back up after that, not even this guy!"

Despite what Hideshi told Yusuke and Kurama, the form of Yojiki was presently standing upright, blood soaking every bit of his tattered white robes as they hung down around his waist. Despite this, the body did not seem to be alive, nor did it express any sort of animation such as breathing or motion. All the corpse did was just stand there, eerilly leaning on it's black staff for support.

"...Perhaps I was mistaken..." Kurama said deductively, studying Yojiki's battered body, seeing no signs of life within it. "He doesn't appear to be alive..."

"Only one way to find out..." Yusuke said calmly as he stepped forward toward the demon for a closer look, followed closely by Romano Hideshi, wanting to make sure that his Oppo Budoo had done it's job correctly.

"Hey, wait a second..." Hideshi said, hesitating in his stride towards the stiffened demon, noticing something different about the demon. "Wasn't his scythe silver just a couple of seconds ago?"

It was just then when the two Spirit Detectives were but a mere ten feet away from the upright form when they heard a weak, crackling sort of laugh from the creature. "What is this? This carcass you've left for me brother? Were you truly so stubborn as to not die until our body was truly mangled?" The body of Ono Yojiki slowly raised his hands up from his sides, his dead, crimson eyes, still concealed underneath a tussle of white hair studying how the skin was peeling from his fingertips, his flesh raw and red. "...Still... I've finally won... Finally, you're dead brother, and I can pursue my own life!"

"Well then, somebody sounds especially happy with his current family situation..." Hideshi remarked as both he and Yusuke retreated back to where Kurama had stayed behind, not taking their eyes off of the demon for fear of some sort of attack.

"Where the hell did that voice even come from? Ol' uni-jaw here didn't say it, so who the hell did?" Yusuke questioned, his eyes scouring the area, looking for any other presence other then the two beside him and the one directly in front of him.

"Not even two legs to stand on! What an absolute disgrace! I would have never lost so horribly to amateurs such as these..." the voice begins to complain again, seeming to address Yojiki as "brother".

What the hell is going on here? Is the next guy just invisible? Is that his power? Or can he throw his voice? Whatever the case, I'm really not liking this new energy I'm starting to feel... Yusuke thought to himself, transfixed still on trying to figure out from where the voice was coming from.

"Hey Kurama," Hideshi spoke up in a voice slightly louder than a whisper "Notice how this guy is talking?"

"Yes, it's as if this new presence is speaking about Yojiki's body as if it were his own."

"Wait, you don't think that-?"

"It's a possibility, especially since we have yet to put a face to the voice." Kurama nods slowly before directing his voice towards Yojiki's body. "You there! Show yourself!"

Suddenly, the voice originating from Ono's corpse ceased it's complaining and remained silent, giving an uneasy feeling to the three remaining combatants, for even though Yojiki's face was concealed beneath his own hair, they could tell there was a new set of eyes glaring at them at that very moment.