chapter 6

Summary: The action finally starts!

Giyuu, Sanemi, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Muichiro stood at the dock eying the ship they would soon be boarding, they were careful to be inconspicuous so that they wouldn't run into trouble even before boarding, even Inosuke was wearing a plain grey Haori to hide his swords underneath, and was not wearing his precious boar mask.

Sanemi was wearing a longer white Haori than his usual one over his uniform, and Muichiro in his old mist-patterned one. They still stood out with Zenitsu and Sanemi's hair, and their militaristic Slayer uniforms, but at least now they wouldn't attract police attention.

"Are you sure the Demon is going to be on this ship?" Zenitsu asked no one in particular.

"Thats what our Intel says" Sanemi answered, "He has to be… And we are not going to take him on the ship." He now said turning to Inosuke in particular, "We are going to wait until it lands in *Urajiosutoku, and not involve any civilians if we can help it."

"What about Yushiro?" Muichiro asked.

"Your worrying about a Kid like that?" Sanemi answered reassuringly, "That guy's thorny as hell, he'll probably drive Stuhac crazy and escape on his own, he might even take care of the demon himself before we get there."

"Shu Yong!" The translator had been tranquilly enjoying a cigarette while he waited at the dock outside when he was interrupted by this abrupt calling of his name.

He turned to see who the offender was; "Oh, its you Zaya," he said looking at the livid woman, "what are you doing here in Japan?"

Zaya walked over to him, "Where is Stuhac!?" She demanded, "Where is Solovonov!?"

"I have no Idea," he answered with annoyance, "so why don't you leave me be!?"

"Liar!" she accused, drawing close enough to grab him.

"Hoh!? Are you so sure of yourself, woman!?" he spat, "Who do you think you are accusing me so rudely? You barbarians are even worse than the Japanese! At least they try to have some semblance of manners, I don't know where that Russian is! I don't care to know where he is and If I did I wouldn't tell you"

"You know where he is Yong."

"And what makes you so damn sure?"

"Because you're getting on a ship to *Haishenwai" she said.

Yong's overconfident face dropped slightly, he had been caught.

"You didn't just bring him to this country, you're going back with him, aren't you! That's why you're going to Haishenwai instead of back to Shanghai!"

"So what if I am!?"... Silently, and swiftly, he felt the blade of a dagger touch his side, no one else saw it, like a Ninja Zaya had moved in and threatened him.

"You don't scare me," He said cooley.

"Maybe I don't," she said, "but I know a vane man like you isn't going to want blood on his expensive suit, so you are now my hostage, you're going to board that ship with me, and you are going to take me to him ."You don't scare me," He said cooley.

"Maybe I don't," she said, "but I know a vane man like you isn't going to want blood on his expensive suit, so you are now my hostage, you're going to board that ship with me, and you are going to take me to him ."

Yong sighed, He wasn't going to risk his life for Stuhac, and this woman would probably be killed by him anyways, nevertheless; "Judging by those horrible clothes your wearing, you don't have enough money to pay me right now, but I will expect my standard translator's fee after this, plus hazard pay."

"You'll get to keep your organs intact" she threatened, giving her final offer. Yong threw his hands up, "You and Stuhac both, there is just no winning with you."

**Urajiosutoku and Haishenwai are both the same city, (Vladivostok) there's just like, a dozen different names for it, depending on what country or region you are from.

The five slayers slept in their bunks as the ship rocked with the waves that night, Zenitsu was the first to hear it, but by that time the other four had already felt it. They all woke up at the same time and looked at one another, things were already not going as planned, it would seem like the Demon wasn't going to wait for the ship to dock even if they were. The four of them were alone in their room, but outside the door, there was a demonic energy.

Then the screaming began, a cacophony of passengers losing their minds echoed throughout the ship!

"Breath of the beast, seventh form." Began Inosuke, closing his eyes, "Spatial awareness..." He could sense it, the demon was on the deck of the ship, but something was making everyone below deck fight each other.

"It's bad..." he grumbled.

"Look!" Giyuu alerted their attention to the door of their cabin. A thick fog was seeping in through the space between the door and the floor. It quickly became obvious what was causing the chaos. This fog reeked of demonic energy.

With quick thinking on both their ends, Zenitsu and Inosuke sprang into action.

The yellow-headed one shrieked as he stuffed the gap with any fabric he could rip off of their beds. Inosuke smashed the round window of the ship. "AFTER ME MINIONS!" he shouted as he donned his boar's head, and contorted his flexible body as he shot through the small window frame.

"He's just a bag of muscles" Zenitsu grumbled half-panicked as he stared at the small hole realizing that there was no way he would fit through it.Giyuu pushed past Zenitsu and stuck his head out of the window. "He's climbing along the side of the ship," he said, "That idiot is going to face Stuhac by himself!"

"Muichiro!" Sanemi quickly ordered, "Follow him! You're the only one of us who can fit through that window!"

"Umm, Okay! But wh-what about you guys?" he asked. They would be trapped in the room until the fog seeped in, and even if the fog could be kept out for good; they had a duty to the people on the ship (plus none of them knew how to sail).

"We're just gonna have to hold our breaths and fight our way through it" Sanemi said gravely.

"But it's fog, what if it affects you by seeping through the skin?"

"It doesn't matter!" Sanemi barked, causing Muichiro to flinch, "I gave you an order...I'm counting on you Mui" He softened his tone.

Muichiro understood, he nodded and walked over to the window; looking down at the black night sky reflected in the water below, as the ship sliced through the waves.

"Be safe out there kid," Sanemi said.

"Yeah, you too" Muichiro replied looking back, and then, turning to the window once again, he squeezed through it and was gone.

"Shinazugawa" came Giyuu's voice, "I hope you will realize that the three of us won't be able to sit here doing nothing while Tokito and the boar head are out there."

"I know" he replied.

"Then I take it you have a plan?" the water pillar questioned, while Zenitsu looked at him with urgency.

"Yeah I got a plan." The wind Pillar said confidently, he walked over to the door, where the fog was just beginning to seep through the pile of bed sheets,

"Don't be reckless!"

Sanemi ignored this and continued to touch the wisps of white gas with his fingers, nothing. He began to have his hand through it… Nothing.

"Tomioka, Agatsuma" he said as he oriented himself. "I want both of you to take a deep breath… I'm going in"

"Shinazugawa wait!" Giyuu said firmly, "You have no Idea what you are getting into with this, just because a few wisps of the stuff didn't immediately affect you when you touched it doesn't mean we know enough of what we need to know, you could die stupidly!"

"Well our other option is to sit here doing nothing!" Sanemi retorted, "Got any bright ideas Tomioka!?"

"No plan is better than a stupid plan" Giyuu spat back calmly.

"I'll go!"

The two pillars were taken aback, Zenitsu was the last person they expected to volunteer himself for this.

"Look, Im the weakest guy here, so if the fog affects me you two will still continue the fight, besides, my hearing is better than any of yours here, so I'll be able to find my way through more quickly… Sanemi is right, if we sit here doing nothing then Muichiro and that pig are gonna die"

Giyuu wanted to argue but did not, as Zenitsu walked past them. "Nezuko..." He thought silently to himself, "I won't die until I get back to you!" He wrapped his head in a piece of cloth… then double-wrapped it, ripped the barrier away, and taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, opened the door just wide enough for him to for through, and run out into the hall.

"Shinazugawa! Tomioka!" the two pillars then heard him call, "There is nothing so far, just close your eyes and don't inhale, follow the sound of my voice! Were going to the deck!"

The Wind and Water pillars looked at one another, and then, each taking a deep breath, and covering their eyes with cloth, ran into the fog.

"Will you get a look at that moon?" Solonov asked Yushiro, who was sitting cross-legged with his hands bound behind his back. "It certainly does look beautiful on this voyage, and I do love the sea, we will be reaching Vladivostok by tomorrow, a shame about the people below-deck, they along with the Demon Slayers sent to kill me, my fog of Baikal will drive them all out of their wits… Unless you give me what I want, Yushiro-San."

"Hmph, Why would I waste Lady Tamayo's miracle serum on the likes of you? I hate the thought of something made by her hands mixing with your rotten blood."

"But I'm not going to use it on myself," the demon asked innocently.

Yushiro scoffed, "Well then Stuhac, since your being so honest with me, why don't you go ahead and tell me why you want Lady Tamayo's serum?"

"Hmmmm" Solovonov looked up at the sky, It was back during the great war, I was on the other side of the continent, back then, I had recently conquered the sun, and I was on a bit of a power-trip, I thought that I was the most powerful demon alive… until I met him…"

"So you want Lady Tamayo's serum because your afraid of a stronger demon, and want to turn him into a human so you can weaken him?" Yushiro guessed correctly. "Hmph, forget it, you're not getting the Serum, "

"He really is a mean kid, Isn't he Shu?" the demon now asked turning to his translator, who was now sitting on the edge of the ship.

"Leave me out of this" retorted Shu Yong, "once this is over, I'll have nothing to do with you or your evil schemes anymore Stuhac"

"But I enjoy having you around Shu, what if I offered to pay you triple your rate?"

"Forget it Stuhac, now that i've seen what you are, all of the money in the world couldn't get me to work with you anymore."

"Awww, are you still mad that I made you come with me to Japan even though I spoke Japanese?"

No response."I know," said Stuhac grinning evilly, "What if I..." he paused, "Oh my, Shu, You didn't tell me that Zaya was here?"

Yushiro's ears perked up, he did not notice the presence of a fourth person on deck until just now.

"Another troublesome person who I'll be avoiding if I survive this", Shu Yong grumbled.

"Its been a long time Zaya" said Stuhac turning to greet her, "I'm impressed that you got past my fog of Baikal so easily, then again, I wounldn't expect you to fall for it twice..."

She only stared back silently.

"Last time I saw you you were this big," he said lowering his hand closer to the ground.

"And I've grown up since then, with the drive to kill you!"

She pulled back her sabre and assumed an offensive stance. Stuhac's eyes widened, "hoh, so you've learned the same breath as your father?" "check this out Yushiro-san" he now said turning to the other demon and addressing him in Japanese, "you are about to witness a style of fighting completely different from the techniques used in your native country."

"Not that I give a rats ass, but why does this woman hate you so much?" Yushiro asked as the air around Zaya began to shake with her anger.

Stuhac chuckled, "well, I might have participated in the Soviet Invasion of her country with Unger-Sternberg and… pretended to be on their side as a former officer of the white army aaannnd, I might have betrayed and killed her dad… nothing too serious."

"Prepare yourself Solovonov!" cried Zaya, "this is where you die!"

Just then, Inosuke had at about this time; climbed up to the deck from the side of the ship, and even he could not help but feel slightly intimidated by the aura he felt up there, he watched Zaya in wonder, as she prepared to attack.

"What is happening?" Muichiro asked, as he too reached the end of his climb. "I have no Idea..." was Inosuke's response.

"Art of Sygt," Zaya breathed, "fourth note…" Stuhac raised an eyebrow.

Blowing blades of grass"... In a flash, Zaya darted forward! Her curved sword slashing forward in so many rapid motions that even Muichiro would have missed it if he hadn't been so focused, Inosuke's Jaw dropped below his boar mask, "A- Amazing" Yushiro stuttered out, even he was impressed with the elegance and power of Zaya's swordplay, Zaya reappeared on the other side of her target, for a split-second, there was no noticeable change in Stuhac… and then the tips of his fingers fell to the ground, then the rest of his fingers began to fall off at the joints, then his hands, then slices of his forearms, until at last his entire body fell to the ground in a pile of body parts… But it did not crumble.

"Damnit!" Sanemi cursed as their sprint to the top deck was (obviously) starting to not go so smoothly, the passengers were going crazy, and it didn't take long for Zenitsu to bump into a whole group of them. They swarmed the three demon slayers from all sides, and while knocking them out was easy, doing it while blindfolded was hard, now it was even more of a good thing that they didn't bring Kanao along.

Damnit Sanemi cursed again, "quickly," said Zenitsu, "We're right outside the Navigation Deck! But hurry, I can't hold my breath for much longer!"

The other two followed up hurriedly up a short flight of stairs, and heard the sweet sound of a hatch being opened, and Zenitsu leaping out to gasp for air, Giyuu followed right behind him, with Sanemi in the rear, when suddenly he heard the rushing of rapid footsteps behind him, he quickly whirled around and knocked out the man who ran up at him with the hilt of his sword, but as the man went down, he grabbed the cloth over his face and yanked it off.

"Shinazugawa!" Giyuu called out, Sanemi felt the fog burn his eyes, just as Giyuu grabbed the back of his Haori, and pulled him up onto the deck.

The hatch was slammed behind them, and the three of them took off the cloth and sat on the deck panting and gasping for air.

"Shinazugawa, what happened?" Giyuu demanded, but Sanemi did not respond, he sat there gasping worse than either of them, and his usually fierce eyes were red and unfocused.

"Shinazugawa!" they called his name again, but he only heard it faintly the last time, by now he wasn't even hearing them at all.

His eyes were fixated on the hallucination in front of him, wearing purple and black, with a thick black mohawk, the image stared back at him….

"Nemi..." he muttered.

Sanemi was frozen in shock, he knew who that figure was, unconsciously; barely above a whisper, he spoke his name, causing Giyuu's face to drop…

"G- Genya…."Notes: Thanks to Puddle_Pop for helpin me out with my writer's block. I had initially planned more for the OC Zaya, but shortly after writing her in, I realized that that was another story for another time, which I will possibly write in the future if enough people are interested