[FFML] [yyh][rk][xover] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 33: The Other Side of Bloodlust (Part 1)

[Abdiel]

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Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/56473/

The Demon Sword is about to reach its full potential.


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Chapter 33: The Other Side of Bloodlust (Part 1)

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Back in the Hall of Judgment, in the Spirit World...

The astral projections of Kenshin Himura and his cohorts (namely
Sanosuke Sagara, Yahiko Myojin, and Kaoru Kamiya, who was for some
reason stuck inside Botan's body), Daiji Matsudaira and Natsuki Shinkai
(who were the reincarnations of Aoshi Shinomori and Yutaro Tsukayama
respectively), the Spirit World's bevy of shinigami (composed of Botan,
Ayame, Hinageshi, and Uchiko Shikoku, also known as Sayuri), and Jorge
Saotome (the ogre or oni) stood in silence after hearing what Koenma
Daio revealed.

"...I've been forced to change your fates. I used up part of my life
force to alter your destinies and allow you to fight this abomination of
nature known as the Overfiend."

It was Sanosuke who raised his hand like a clueless student and asked,
"What do you mean by... change our fates?"

The Ruler of the Spirit World sighed and hid his eyes with his oversized
hat. "Don't you get it, Sagara Sanosuke? You were never meant to fight
the Chojin. You and Myojin Yahiko are supposed to be in Heaven.
Shinomori Aoshi and Tsukayama Yutaro are supposed to live out their
lives as normal human beings by the identities of Matsudaira Daiji and
Shinkai Natsuki respectively. I'm not even sure what's going on with
Botan and Kamiya Kaoru."

Thusly, everyone looked at the red-faced Botan, who by then had shrunk
back into the background, wishing the ground would swallow her up.

"Despite all your good karma, I've been forced to summon all my power
and tug at your red strings of fate in order to defeat the Chojin and
his fate-defying powers. You and many others who are somehow involved
with either Himura-san or Shishio will now start to awaken and wage
war against each other _not_ because of coincidence or luck, but
because of _fate_. I apologize for doing this, but I'm more than willing
to pay the price of freedom in order to keep our reality from unraveling
altogether thanks to the Overfiend."

'So that's the reason why...' Ayame thought before her stare lingered
over Kenshin's lithe form. 'Now I understand.'

Kenshin caught Ayame's eyes and smiled at the gothic-looking ferry-
girl. "Oh. Hello! I don't believe we've met. My name is Himura Kenshin,
the Guardian of the Demon Sword," Himura bowed and introduced himself to
Ayame.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Ayame," Ayame deadpanned while bowing back.
Her stare lingered for a couple of seconds longer, her throat undulating
as though she wanted to say more, but she thought the better of it and
turned away.

Kenshin felt a shiver at the nape of his neck. 'Ayame, huh? Didn't I
know an Ayame too back in the Meiji Era...?'

"I volunteered for this mission. I regret nothing. If changing my fate
and plucking me out of paradise is what it takes to take the Chojin
down, then so be it," said Yahiko.

"I'm with stupid," said Sano, which earned him a smack to the face care
of the short-tempered Myojin. "I don't mind fighting fire with fire,
especially since this Chojin bastard is cheating by reviving the enemies
we've already beaten long ago. So have you gathered everyone you need
for this upcoming war?"

Koenma shook his head. "No. Not yet."

Botan's eyes twinkled in understanding. 'Koenma-sama must have used a
huge amount of energy to bring all these people from the Meiji Era
together. It's not a stretch of the imagination to think that there will
be even more of us to come in the following months, weeks, or even
days!'

To Koenma, Botan pinched the toddler's cheeks and said, "Why are you so
reckless? Using your own life energy to...!"

"Woman, you should learn your place before pinching the chubby cheeks of
the Prince of the Spirit World," deadpanned Koenma. Then, to the Reikai
ruler's surprise, he saw Kenshin kneel down in front of him. "Himura-
san...?"

"It's partly my fault why you were forced to risk your life in order to
help us defeat the Chojin," said Kenshin, his head hanging low.

Koenma narrowed his eyes. "Oh, so you've figured out who the Chojin is,
as I have."

Kenshin nodded in agreement. "Yes. In light of the fact that Sadojima
Houji is one of the Chojin's minions, and the Overfiend's other
followers have formed a group named the 'Shin Juppon Gatana', it's easy
to guess his identity."

"Shishio Makoto," Koenma practically spelled it out for Himura.

"That's why I have to apologize. If I had been strong enough to finish
off Shishio when I had the chance, then none of this would've happened,"
said Kenshin.

Sanosuke, Yahiko, and a Kaoru-possessed Botan stared down on the floor
in remembrance of that fateful battle. They'd been expecting a happy
ending where Kenshin would come back with them to Tokyo safe and sound.

However, Shishio had other plans. It took a hundred years later and
unusual circumstances to get them back together again.

Koenma chuckled. "But Kenshin, you _were_ able to defeat Shishio. You
didn't kill him, but you sacrificed your life in order to make him self-
destruct. It's Shishio who somehow managed to rise from the depths of
Hell and turn himself into the Chojin. It's not your fault."

"But he is _my_ responsibility. I swear by your name and your fallen
father's name that I will defeat him using this cursed sword that you've
entrusted to me, Koenma-dono," came Kenshin's steadfast reply.

"Thank you," was the only thing Koenma could muster to say. "The three
worlds would be in your debt if you'd again take up your sword again and
take down that megalomaniac once and for all."

"I was going to defeat Xinhai regardless of whether or not the Shinomori
Aoshi inside me awakened. This changes nothing," declared Daiji.

To himself, the detective added, 'I'll find a way to harness the power
of my past self somehow. I won't let the reincarnation of some two-bit
swordsman wannabe who could barely give an injured Battousai a decent
fight make a mockery out of It-chan's memory.'

The astral projection of Natsuki gripped (the spiritual representation
of) her cane (back in the Human World) tight. 'I don't know or care who
this Chojin is. Only I could bring Father to justice.'

"Anyway, anybody with half a brain has probably figured out that Shishio
Makoto is behind all this 'Chojin' business, so it's only fitting that
the group responsible for the dissolution of Shishio's Ten Swords should
be the ones to help Reikai combat the New Ten Swords."

Using his desk as a pedestal, Koenma climbed up the lump of ethereal
wood and stared at each and every one of the souls currently standing
before him at the Hall of Judgment.

"That's the reason why I summoned the people from the Meiji Era that was
connected to Battousai in one form or another, like Zanza the Street
Fighter and the Last Oniwanbanshu Okashira, Shinomori Aoshi."

"'Zanza', eh? I haven't been called that in, like, a hundred years,
Koenma!" Sanosuke smirked.

"Come on, Koenma! What about me and Kurama? What are we, chopped liver?"
quipped Kuwabara.

Kazuma hadn't gotten a word in edgewise ever since Koenma revealed that
Kenshin and his friends were the "chosen ones" to defeat the Chojin
(whom he guessed was an enemy of theirs from a hundred years back that
somehow gained enough power to challenge the leaders of the three
worlds... as usual).

He also didn't realize that the Guardian of the Demon Sword had so many
friends and enemies. They were popping up everywhere! Like daisies!

"Of course not, Kuwabara. I'll also need the help of all my dear spirit
detectives for this mission. I remember how Yusuke and your team has
saved the world countless times, by luck or hard work. Although he's
currently busy attending to... other matters, I want the Urameshi Team
to reunite ASAP and assist Kenshin and his cohorts in defeating this
phantom menace."

Koenma paused for breath. "Your fates are now intertwined with the
Chojin's. I believe that by combining the forces of my Reikai Tantei
and Kenshin's group, we will be able to deal with whatever it is that
the Overfiend... Shishio... throws at us. He failed to conquer Japan
because of the Hitokiri Battousai, and he'll also fail to conquer
Ningenkai, Makai, and Reikai thanks to the Guardian of the Youtou
Shinnoken."

"Hear, hear!" cheered Yahiko, unsheathing his sakabatou and striking a
pose. Kenshin decided to humor the lad and did the same, drawing his
Demon Sword and allowing it to touch blades with his former sword, the
reverse-edged blade that Myojin currently possessed.

Botan also allowed Kaoru to summon her oar and use _that_ as her wooden
"sword" of sorts in order to touch blades with Yahiko and Kenshin.

Shyly, at Yahiko's behest (and Yutaro's encouragement), Natsuki drew her
own metal cane and placed it among the other gathered weapons.

However, Sano trumped them all when he summoned his twelve-foot horse-
chopping blade that made all their swords look like pocket knives.

"Sano, stop showing off!" berated Yahiko while Sanosuke helplessly
shrugged.

Daiji, because he was _Aoshi's_ reincarnation, didn't bother touching
blades with the rest of the Kenshingumi. Kuwabara wanted to join in on
the fun with his own Jigen Tou, but he barely knew these people.

"Oh, before I forget, I've gotten news from Sayaka-chan, Urameshi
Yusuke's designated Spirit World ferry-girl trainee. News about an
'Earth Club', I think...?" began the blonde Uchiko Shikoku, only to be
assailed by a frantic Daiji, who held her by the shoulders and shook
her.

"Who is this Sayaka? What does she know about the Chikyusei?" demanded
Matsudaira while the eyes of Uchiko (also known as Sayuri) welled up.

"Sayuri, what is this about?" Koenma asked. "What is this Earth Club?"

Daiji answered for Uchiko, "The Earth Club is an organization Xinhai
Feng... Raijuta... founded in order to help his master, the Chojin,
gather... what was it called? Oh yeah. _Jaki_."

Uchiko continued. "It was in one of Sayaka-chan's reports. Some guy had
planned to go to a suicide meeting held by the members of the Earth Club
in... Aokigahara, I think. She even has a brochure about it. She'd been
reading the other reports coming in regarding the Chojin, saw a mention
of the Earth Club, and put two and two together."

Daiji took the brochure and read it from cover to cover. "This needs
investigating. Looks like I have a fresh lead on the One-Eight-Ten
Killer case once more."

Kurama had remained quiet all that time, listening to the conversations
relayed in front of him with a pokerfaced look. "Can I please see that
brochure too, Detective Matsudaira? Maybe I can help you investigate
this... 'lead' of yours."

It took Daiji a minute before he handed over the piece of evidence to
Natsuki's redheaded friend. "And what's _your_ connection to Xinhai
Feng?"

"Little to none except for the fact that I fought the serial killer he's
been impersonating," Kurama admitted while scratching the back of his
head. His eyes then turned into calculating slits, his irises glowing
with a hint of a golden gleam.

"However, I'm more curious about what this Earth Club of his has to do
with the Chojin's jaki-gathering schemes."


===


Back at the Kuwabara Residence, after the momentous second major battle
against the Chojin's forces throughout Tokyo and the subsequent meeting
between Koenma Daio and the warriors of Reikai in the Hall of
Judgment...

"You two out-of-town hicks from the Edo Era didn't honestly think I'm a
geisha, right? My makeup at the time wasn't _that_ caked on, I hope," a
pink-faced, slightly "tipsy" (according to her) Shizuru Kuwabara asked
the plastered (as in literally plastered with adhesive bandages and
gauze) duo of Sanosuke Sagara and Yahiko Myojin.

The two spirits from the Meiji Era were actually summoned by Koenma Daio
himself (along with many other warriors from that period connected to
the Battousai) in order to help combat the growing forces of the
Overfiend.

"That depends. Are you going to try and shoot us with your shotgun
again?" asked the spiky-haired Sanosuke. "Also, we aren't hicks and we
didn't come from the 'Edo Era' either. We were already calling Tokyo
'Tokyo' around the time we were alive, lady!"

Unfortunately, Yahiko and Sanosuke hadn't gotten a room in the so-
called Reikai-backed hotels scattered across the city, so the Kuwabaras
(Shizuru and her father) allowed them to stay at the Kuwabara household
for the time being (much to Kazuma's chagrin).

Shizuru sighed and stared at the rooster-headed moron before her.
"Really? What year did you die and how is it that you can associate
'pantsuit' and 'chapatsu' with 'geisha' anyway?"

Even though Sanosuke had all the brooding handsomeness of a Ken Takakura
(the actor that epitomized the anti-hero yakuza in modern cinema) or the
boisterous toughness and swagger of a Bunta Sugawara (another old-timey
film actor hero of Shizuru's that she'd marry in a heartbeat if he were
any younger or if she were any older), he was a complete and total
dumbass.

What a turn-off indeed.

"'Chapatsu'? What in the world is that?" asked Yahiko with a raised
eyebrow. The bickering odd couple ignored him.

"It's the dyed hair color of my big sis," Kazuma answered since both his
sister and the guy in kung fu getup were too busy locking horns to
notice the young samurai. "Of course, you wouldn't know about that term.
We kind of coined it fairly recently."

"So it's just like your hair or Kenshin's hair, then?" Yahiko asked.

"Ah, no. Not exactly. Mine's more red than brown. Kenshin's a redhead
too, come to think of it. His is all-natural, isn't it?" said Kuwabara
while he took a bite out of his wasabi chips.

"Does Kenshin have foreign blood in him? Assuming of course his hair is
naturally red. I heard people from Hirado has tinges of red in their
hair because of their history in trading with Dutch and English
merchants."

Who would've thought that one of the random pieces of trivia Kuwabara
learned during one of his late-night cramming sessions for his history
tests would come in handy during a casual conversation?

"I have no idea. Maybe? I thought he dyed it when I first met him. But
lo and behold, even after he died, he still had red hair as a ghost."
Yahiko shrugged.

"Oh. I see." Kuwabara deflated like a leaking party balloon.

Gah. This small talk was killing him.


===


Inside a gym located somewhere in Shinjuku...

As the leotard-garbed Detective Aiko Tsunemoto attended to her workout
routine for her aerobics class with a group of yuppies, senior citizens,
and aging housewives, her eyes caught something that made her think she
needed another cup of coffee prior to her exercise regime.

"M-Matsudaira-kun?"

Daiji considered hiding his face or turning away as soon as his eyes met
Aiko's, but then thought the better of it and simply continued doing
pull ups on the fixed-mount bar.

"What's a pencil neck like you doing here?"

"Good morning to you too, Tsunemoto-kun. Nice yoga pants."

"Shut up."

Red-faced, Aiko marched right in front of Daiji and hissed, "Do not
breathe a word of this to _anyone_ in the police station if you know
what's good for you. Also, as far as the members of this gym are
concerned, we don't know each other. Got it?"

She then left in a huff for her aerobics session.

Unfazed, Daiji continued his training... this time with dumbbells...
while he etched into his subconscious Xinhai's words regarding his
body's inability to keep up with Aoshi's innate skills in kenpo and
dual-wielding swordsmanship.

Next time, he'd make sure his body was able to take the Oniwabanshu
Okashira's great strength, ninja training, and one-hundred-year-old
muscle memory.


===


Inside the Shinjuku Sports Center...

"It's an honor and a privilege to be working under your tutelage again,
Kaoru-san," said the Yutaro inside Natsuki while wearing traditional
kendo garb.

"Oh, you don't need to be formal around me, Yuta-kun! I also have to
thank you for letting me teach you kendo again. Botan almost never lets
me out and about! So what is it about Kamiya Kasshin Ryu that you want
us to revisit?" asked a Kaoru-possessed Botan.

Incidentally, the pair "rented" a kendo dojo from the Shinjuku Sports
Center (Natsuki's Yamabuki High didn't even have a kendo dojo to speak
of), equipment and all, in the middle of the night.

Yutaro shook his head. "Oh, the kendo lessons aren't for me, although
I'd love to freshen up on my kendo forms."

Kaoru tilted Botan's head. "So who am I supposed to teach?"

Yutaro cleared his throat before stating his ultimatum. "YOU'RE THE ONE
WHO ASKED FOR THIS, TSUKI-CHAN! You could at least have the decency to
talk to your new teacher!"

From there, Natsuki's past self allowed her to take control of her body.
Bowing on all fours, Shinkai murmured, "Please, Kamiya Kaoru-sensei.
Teach me kendo. Teach me Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. I want to become strong
enough to beat Xinhai Feng on my own."

"Oh..." said both Botan and Kaoru in unison. "It'd be an honor for me to
do so, Shinkai Natsuki." They then bowed along with the Taiwanese
national.

Natsuki lifted up her head and let out a small smile. "I'm in your care,
Teacher."


===


Back at the Kuwabara Residence...

Kazuma had only met his sister's new friends from the afterlife _just
now_, so he and they were still at the awkward "hellos" and small talk
stage of familiarity.

Hell, he barely got to know Kenshin Himura himself yet, so of course
he'd have a harder time talking to the friends of the Youtou Shinnoken's
spiritual caretaker.

The younger Kuwabara kind of wished Yukina was there. What was taking
her so long to come back? She said she had to go to the grocery in order
to buy the necessary ingredients for a late-night sukiyaki feast they
were about to get.

Besides which, these ghostly moochers were totally eating away all their
stashed junk food, and they didn't even _need_ to eat! They were dead!
Ghosts shouldn't eat people food!

Still, they sported fake human bodies like Botan did whenever she was
required to interact with Yusuke and the gang in a physical, tangible
form.

The male Kuwabara tried asking Sano about Hajime Saito and their
connection with each other earlier, but he was quickly rebuffed with,
'Any friend of Saito Hajime is an enemy of mine.'

'Goddamn, he fucking pisses me off, that Rooster Head!' Kuwabara had
half the mind to slice up the cheeky bastard right then and there with
his Dimension Sword. Whoever said that he and Saito were friends anyway?

"Don't let Sano piss you off too much. His pride won't let him ask you
what happened to Saito, why he's here in modern times, and how you met
him. However, I'm sure he'll be asking you about him anyway in his own
roundabout way," Yahiko said, as though reading Kuwabara's and Sano's
minds.

"Oh. So Saito and him were close?" Strange, Kazuma never heard of any
"Sanosuke Sagara" in the history books that was associated with either
Hajime Saito or his later alter ego, Goro Fujita.

"Er, not exactly." Yahiko cleared his throat. Had the Tokyo Samurai
known about Kazuma's group better, then he would've compared Kuwabara's
relationship with Hiei and Sagara's relationship with Saito as similar
in more ways than one.

"What is it like to know a historical figure personally?" asked Kazuma.

"I really can't say," said Yahiko with a nose scratch. "I didn't even
realize Kenshin and Saito would end up in the history books during your
time, even though they were already kind of famous back in my day."

"'Back in your day'? You know, the way you talk like an old man yet look
younger than me kind of creeps me out," remarked Kazuma.

"Your sister said the same thing," replied Yahiko.

Speaking of Shizuru, she and Sanosuke were still at it.

"Well, have you seen the funkier outfits that some geishas had to wear?
I totally thought you were one of them, no offense!" Sanosuke insisted
while taking another bite of a snack known as "Pocky" sticks.

He had asked the Kuwabaras if it was an imported snack, and he was
surprised to learn that it was invented in Japan back in the Sixties.
Huh.

"What the hell are you talking about, you moronic ghost? What kind of
geishas were you hanging out with? You're probably confusing geishas
with prostitutes! Even today's watered-down portrayal of geisha doesn't
fit what you're describing! Honestly!"

Shizuru pummeled Sanosuke's head with a baseball bat that she hid
underneath the low-rise table they were sitting under, which caused the
revived spirit to bite his artificial tongue and yelp out in real pain.

"Hey, Kazu-kun! Protect the honor of sister!"

"You're drinking too much again, Big Sis. Don't overdo it," was
Kuwabara's way of washing his hands of the whole affair. He wanted no
part in that silly argument of theirs.

"Shut up. Alcohol dulls the pain," whispered Shizuru with a wistful
half-smile and a faraway look.

'Oh right. Of course there's no way she'd be okay after what happened.
I'm such an idiot.' Kazuma had only heard about the incident secondhand
from Botan, but it should've been obvious to anyone with eyes that
Shizuru went through a nasty ordeal, seeing her own wounds and the
assault she suffered in the hands of an old enemy of his.

Dammit, he should've been there. To think, he had punched Yusuke's face
for not being there during Keiko's own time of need back in the attack
at Genkai's temple. He now knew he had no right to do so. He was such a
hypocrite.

Sanosuke squirmed in his seat cushion, inwardly marveling at the fact
that even though many things have changed in present-day Japan, people
still sat on pillows around a low table like olden times.

"I was being insensitive, Neechan. I'm sorry for confusing geishas with
prostitutes."

It took Shizuru all of five seconds to conclude, "So I was right? You
weren't actually comparing me to geishas, but to PROSTITUTES? YOU
GODDAMN CHAUVINIST PIG! I'LL MURDER YOU!" throttling Sano's
(surprisingly) thin neck.

"WAH! I SAID I'M SORRY, YOU CRAZY BITCH! YOU'RE MORE VIOLENT THAN JO-
CHAN AND KITSUNE LADY COMBINED!" whined Zanza, the renowned Street
Fighter during the Meiji Era who survived both his encounters against
the Battousai and one of the Strongest Captains of the Wolves of Mibu.


===


Somewhere in Reikai, Botan sneezed. Or rather, the Kaoru inside her mind
did.

"I didn't know Death can catch a cold. Can you _die_ from it?" inquired
Kenshin with what appeared to be an unassuming smile.

The ferry-girl rubbed her nose and stared pokerfaced at the ex-vagabond.

"Wow. I never heard _that_ joke a thousand times before. Tell me another
one, smartass."


===


"I'm home," announced Yukina quietly after everyone had settled down,
with the younger Kuwabara grabbing hold of his violent sister while
Yahiko slapped Sanosuke around to revive him.

"Oh, Yukina-chan! Welcome back! Did you have problems getting home? I
was so worried!" greeted Kuwabara while jumping towards his not-
girlfriend and letting her fuming sister stumble back from the
unexpected shift of balance.

Yukina giggled. "N-Not at all, Kazuma-kun." She produced a silken
handkerchief from inside the pockets of her borrowed Human World clothes
and wiped off the sweat on her brow that shouldn't be there in light of
her ice maiden lineage and her higher tolerance against not-so-extreme
temperatures.

The koorime actually arrived five minutes earlier, but she only entered
the house after all the shouting had ceased. "I've bought everything you
asked for, Shizuru-san."

"Great. Now we can start. I'm already starving." Shizuru stood up and
dusted herself off. "Hey, you two. Did you have hotpot back in your time
too?"

"W-Well of course we did! _When_ do you think we're from? The Stone Age?
The Jomon Period?" Sano blurted out before muttering, "Hey, wait. I
thought you were mad at me."

"Oh, that? Forget about it. I was just letting off some steam. Sorry for
choking you earlier. My bad," apologized Shizuru while doing a chopping
motion with her hand.

"_Your bad_? Why I ought to...!" Sanosuke plopped back down on his seat
cushion in defeat. "Whatever. It doesn't matter to me."

Sano already had a niggling suspicion in the past when he met the latest
generations of souls that ended up in Heaven, but now he was
_definitely_ sure that the modern Heisei Era Japanese woman was even
more mysterious, capricious, and infuriating than women of past eras.

Around dinnertime, as the quartet waited for the mouthwatering thinly
sliced beef strips to simmer at the table alongside vegetables, mirin,
sugar, and soy sauce in a shallow iron pot or nabemono, Yukina "broke
the ice" by grabbing hold of the male Kuwabara's arm and announcing, "I
have something to tell everyone."

With all ears aimed at Yukina (especially Kazuma's burning hot and
steaming ones after the side of his biceps touched part of the koorime's
chest), the room fell silent.

'C-C-Could it be...? Oh, Yukina-chan! You're so f-forward! But why tell
everyone about your feelings _now_ of all times? I should've manned up!
I was supposed to be the one to confess...!' the younger Kuwabara
deliberated to himself, even to the point of stuttering in his own
thoughts.

'He's thinking that she's totally going to confess her love to him at
random, which probably means she's going to say something totally
unrelated to love,' was the hive-minded conclusion that Shizuru,
Yahiko, and Sano saw from a mile away.

Sadly, the predictable happened.

While Kuwabara wallowed in the corner in despair and Yukina tried to
figure out exactly why he acted so depressed, the rest of them pondered
the ice maiden's strange announcement:

"I have some interesting stories to tell about Kazuma-kun! I want to
talk about all his fights back in the Black Martial Arts Tournament! He
was so cool and brave back then!"

Yahiko and Sanosuke tilted their heads at Yukina. "Tournament? What kind
of tournament?" It led them to wonder whether or not Kuwabara was some
sort of full-contact martial artist.

'I know Yukina-chan's intentions for bringing up the Ankoku Bujutsukai.
Like always, they're pure as the driven snow. I can't blame her. But to
bring it up while Big Sis is around is...!'

Were his sister not there, Kazuma and Yukina could've spun off the story
as akin to that Jean-Claude Van Damme movie about tournaments while
comparing the Ankoku Bujutsukai to Kumite. However, knowing Shizuru...

Kuwabara felt a chill down his spine when his sister added, "Oh yeah.
What was your wins-draws-loss record for that tournament again, Kazu-
kun?"


===


A little later before bedtime...

Kuwabara's lanky body remained as still as Shibuya's Hachiko Statue all
throughout Yukina's recap of events concerning his abysmal record in the
Ankoku Bujutsukai (with annoying side commentaries care of Shizuru).

He looked around. The samurai boy and the rooster man sported thin, flat
mouths and vacuous stares. Did he have the same expression as they did?
He didn't dare look at a mirror for fear of "breaking" it with his own
mortification.

"What do you think?" came Yukina's innocent, gentle-voiced question. "I
was so proud of Kazuma-kun for accomplishing so much for Team Urameshi!"

Kuwabara's head almost snapped when his head sharply turned towards his
sister at the sound of her chortle. "Is 'proud' the right word for the
situation? Especially for someone like my brother..."

'Don't you dare say it...!' was the first thought that entered the
younger Kuwabara's mind, feeling his vision redden as well as his
muscles and veins tense.

"...Who got beat by a boy with yoyos, turned into a crash-test dummy by
zombie puppets, and was teleported not once, but _twice_ in a single
team competition? Let's also not forget his dazzling display as the
mascot of Team Urameshi!"

With that said, Yahiko and Sanosuke burst out laughing, remembering the
embarrassing details Kuwabara's sister dug up concerning Kazuma's
performance against Rinku, the entirety of Team Ichigaki, Onji (who'd
later turn out to be the "Gorgeous" Suzuki), and Shishiwakamaru.

They even downplayed his success against the Elder Toguro (who revived
himself after being disintegrated by a flyswatter version of the Spirit
Sword) and Rikyo (who probably wasn't as powerful as his other
compatriots in Team Masho were).

What a horrible first impression! His dark, brooding demeanor and
imposing image had been shattered right in front of these total
strangers because of his beloved Yukina's good intentions and his
sister's inability to shut up.

"Man. So he held his own against three brainwashed warriors he wouldn't
kill, huh? That's... really something. It was against Team... Ichigaki,
right?" Yahiko mused aloud.

Damn! His sister made him sound like Team Urameshi's personal meat
shield. Kazuma was supposed to come off like Van Damme's Frank Dux;
instead, he ended up looking like that boastful bearded bear man who was
hospitalized by the main Chinese bad guy in the semifinals of the Kumite
Tournament.

"Hey, Sister, tell us again how your brother defaulted in his matches
against both the old fart who was actually a foppish clown in disguise
and the girly samurai dude with the funky hair!" requested Sanosuke in
between laughing fits.

"You should talk, Sano. Weren't you _also_ beaten by a girly samurai
dude with funky hair once upon a time?" reminded Yahiko before grabbing
hold of his sides.

"Yeah, well _at least_ I was never nearly blown to smithereens by a
circus freak in a bat suit with sticks of dynamite, _Yahiko-chan_!"
Sanosuke quipped. "Ah, I can't breathe! Good thing I'm already dead, I
could've totally suffocated there!"

Kuwabara gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists. He hadn't been this
pissed off since Yusuke didn't tell him about Genkai dying until he
found out about it through Toguro Ani, of all people.

"Ah, Kazuma-kun! No...!" Yukina blurted out too late as the younger
Kuwabara lifted up Sano to his feet and punched him on the face.

The carrot-topped teenager winced. Sagara remained standing, his face
barely even flinching from the impact of the blow. 'Damn! It's like his
jaw is made of titanium!'

It took a couple of seconds more for Sano to register the pain. "OW!
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? BOKE!" he screamed before punching Kuwabara
back in retaliation and making him stagger.

'This guy can punch! That felt like a punch from Urameshi!' To Sanosuke,
Kazuma sputtered, "B-BOKE?"

That did it. No one called Kazuma Kuwabara a knucklehead in his own home!
His fingers crackling with energy, he prepared to bring out his best
weapon, his Dimensional Sword.

"Holy shit, Sano! You didn't need to use the Futae no Kiwami on him!"
Yahiko exclaimed.

"Shut up! He started it! I was minding my own business when he punched
me!" Sano clicked his tongue; he gave the punch his all, and the only
thing it did to Kuwabara was make him lurch. Had the curly haired boy
experienced more powerful punches than his before? "Why'd you punch me
anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're making fun of me and my matches back in the
Black Martial Arts Tournament! As a man, I was _obligated_ to punch you
in the face! I will not be made a fool of in front of Yukina-san!"

"Ah. What a stupid reason..." Shizuru said, palming her face.

"Oh, is that it?" Sanosuke scratched his cheek with one hand while
putting his other arm at the back of his head. "Sorry, my bad. I didn't
mean to insult you."

"...Eh?" Kuwabara blinked. What was with that sudden apology?

"So I can see why you'd be angry about us laughing at the teleportation
thing, but..." Sano had to add before he almost choked while holding
back his chuckles.

"SHADDAP! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU GODDAMN BASTARD!"

Kazuma recovered from his bemusement and tensed up his body, his hands
raised up in a basic boxing stance. "Let's see how funny my failures
will be to you once I send you back to the Spirit World where you
belong!"

"I can't beat you up in your own house, dude! I'm just a guest!" Sano
waved him off. "Besides, I'm serious. I wasn't laughing at you because
you were a joke... for the most part. It's instead because you're a
hilarious and interesting guy."

Sanosuke offered his hand for Kuwabara to shake.

Kazuma frowned and looked back and forth at Sagara's outstretched hand
and face. Was this really the same person who gave him the cold shoulder
earlier for merely mentioning Hajime Saito's name in front of him?

"Hey, don't leave me hanging here! If you're still sore about me
laughing at your past antics, then feel free to call me up later so that
we can settle things like men. I don't mind." Sano grinned.

Kuwabara harrumphed, gripped Sanosuke's hand tight, and shook it. "I may
take you up on that offer. Be careful what you wish for."

"I'm quaking in my boots! Well, I don't have boots, but whatever. So are
you going to use that flyswatter made of energy on me?" asked Sano.

"Actually, I have an even better technique now," said Kuwabara.

"Really? I'm looking forward to crushing that new technique of yours and
showing you how far out of your league I am," said Sagara.

Yukina and Shizuru looked at each other and the two idiots before them
and smiled.

"Hey, Kuwabara-san."

"What is it, Myojin-kun? And you can just call me Kuwabara."

"Sure, and you can just call me Yahiko. I was wondering if maybe I can
have a match with you as well."

"Eh? You want to beat me up too? What did I do to you?"

"Huh? What? No. I mean, weren't you angry with me for laughing at you
earlier? Don't you want to take revenge on me too?"

Kazuma scratched his head. "Not really. You actually had the courtesy to
stop laughing, unlike Rooster Head over here."

"Don't call me Rooster Head, Boke!"


===


A little later, after the typical schedule for "Happy Hour" at the
nearest local Tokyo pubs (according to Shizuru)...

"...It'sha good thing I wash able to shtraighten up my life by the time
Kazu-kun entered middle shkool. It would've been embarrashing if I
ended up a ronin, eshpecially since my little brother shtarted
dishplaying delinquent tendenshees of his own. It'sh my job as a big
shishter to shet him a good example, you know?" the red-faced Shizuru
slurred, her arm over the shoulder of a similarly red-faced Sano.

"Oh. Is that so? Okay." Sano twiddled his thumbs, his usually sharp
eyes now glazed and seemingly begging for mercy at the two worthless
guys before him.

Shizuru continued invading his personal space while his arm went numb.

'I'm sort of glad that she's loosened up a bit after her traumatizing
experience with Musashi, but did she have to share her entire life story
afterwards?' Kazuma shook his head and sighed. 'Seriously.'

Meanwhile, Kuwabara himself couldn't move a muscle or an inch away from
the couch because Yukina had long ago fallen asleep, her head resting on
one of his broad shoulders. 'Well, que cera cera. We've had quite the
day overall, haven't we?'

"Wait a minute." Yahiko's sudden exclamation caught everyone's rapt
attention. "Excuse me, _how_ did you become a... ronin? Are the
Kuwabaras part of a samurai family? Was she an onna-bugeisha that became
widowed and masterless?"

"Eh?" Shizuru stared at Yahiko as though his face suddenly transformed
into Kazuma's, which also effectively sobered her up a bit as if she
received a sudden splash of cold water to the face. Much to Sanosuke's
relief, she let go of him.

"Oh! No, no, you got it all wrong, grampsh. N-Nowadaysh, 'ronin' refersh
to either unemployed people or, in my caysh, graduatesh who haven't been
admitted to a univershity. It hash nothing to do with historical,
shamurai ronin. Get it?"

"Oh. Okay."

To everyone's astonishment (everyone still awake, anyway), Yahiko fell
forward, dropped on all fours like a dog, and bowed his head in complete
and utter disgrace.

Shizuru probed, "Um, Yahiko-kun? W-What'sh your problem?"

"They totally ruined the mystique of the word. Ronin are supposed to be
masterless swordsmen who are skilled in the art of combat and masters of
their own fate. You mean to tell me that the word is now used to refer
to people who failed to go to college? Are you okay with this? Because
I'm not!"

"H-Hey. You're totally overreacting," said Shizuru, but Yahiko wouldn't
hear any of it. 'Jeez. And here I thought Yahiko is the normal one of
these two ghostly idiots.'


===


A couple of days later, at one of the gravel pits where people working
on special effects children shows like Kamen Rider shot battle scenes
at...

"So that's how it is." Sanosuke smirked while wiping the blood on his
lip. "That's one helluva secret weapon you got there, Boke."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! Dammit, you piss me off so much, Rooster Head!"
screamed Kuwabara before he again swung the Jigen Tou at the general
direction of the cocky (sorry) revived ghost.

Sagara slipped and slid across the trajectory of the slices, but yet
again, he failed to avoid all of them. Because of the Dimension Sword's
ability to cut through distances depending on how the strength of the
slash, Kuwabara could attack the wide-open street fighter at will,
leaving his opponent like a sitting duck of sorts.

'I didn't think I'd be using this tactic until the off-chance I had a
shot at fighting Urameshi again. Oh well, I always wanted to test it on
someone anyway, although I did hope it was on Shorty.'

By Shorty, Kuwabara of course referred to the wielder of the Jagan and
master swordsman extraordinaire in his own right, Hiei.

In an instant, Sanosuke cut the distance between himself and Kuwabara...
roughly ten yards, give or take... with a running dash that would've
made an Olympian-level sprinter proud. Kazuma reacted thusly, quickening
his slashes so that even at close range, they'd do damage.

"FUTAE NO KIWAMI! AAAHHH!"

"JIGEN TOU! DORYYAA!"

The scourged and bleeding Sano pulverized the rocks before him with his
Dual Extreme technique once he ended up a yard away from Kuwabara, which
created a dense smokescreen that allowed him to hide himself, ambush
Kuwabara, and deliver a body blow right into the orange-haired
teenager's side.

However, before Sanosuke could follow through with a knockout punch,
Kazuma had already disappeared; in his place was a portal opened by
the versatile Jigen Tou. The street fighter afterwards staggered after
he felt a laceration form on his chest struck by Kuwabara from nearly
twenty yards away.

Kuwabara resisted the urge to vomit, wiping the streams of sweat on his
face and neck, his body drenched from head to toe while his aching
abdomen made every gasp wince-worthy.

'That was close! I thought my insides were going to cave in! The bastard
punches just like Yusuke and he's still standing even though I threw
everything but the kitchen sink at him!'

Sano sneered. "I understand now! You've been teleported so many times
back in that martial arts tournament of yours, you've somehow become a
master of teleportation!"

"GO TO HELL! That's not how it works!" Kuwabara growled, but still held
back on attacking Sagara toe-to-toe. He hadn't been training his butt off
for nothing, after all. He was disciplined enough to stick to his game
plan. 'That smug bastard probably knows I'm a punch away from losing this
bout.'

'That smug bastard probably has me all figured out by now. I can't get
anywhere near him. Every time I cut the distance, he escapes with that
sword of his while also slashing at me from afar.' Sanosuke cracked his
knuckles; to Kuwabara, he jeered, "You aren't man enough to fight me
toe-to-toe, huh? You just had to resort to tricks."

"Don't worry. I'll punch your clock out as soon as you can make me put
this sword down. Otherwise, fat chance catching me, Rooster Head!" was
Kuwabara's rebuttal against Sano's obvious ploy to make him fight the
street fighter's favorite fight.

Sano chuckled. "Since you're going all out on me, then so should I."

Unfazed, Kuwabara continued attacking from the distance. "You're
bluffing. The only thing you have is your super punches."

"Looks like I'm being underestimated. Let me show you something
interesting. ZANBATOU!"

Aided by the special clothes he bought from Reikai's Nalanda Shop,
Sanosuke's spiritual force turned into solid matter. Wood and metal
merged as one in his hands, transforming into a gigantic sword large
enough to cut a horse in half with a single stroke.

'Oh yeah. He also has that big-ass sword. I forgot about that,' thought
Kazuma while he braced himself and resumed his keep-away tactic.


===


"As usual, the only way my idiot Yankee of a brother can settle things
is by fighting," observed Shizuru with a sip of her can of beer while
serving as Sanosuke and her younger sibling's lookout after they
"borrowed" (more like broke in and entered) the local quarry for their
impromptu battle.

Yahiko reassured, "Don't worry. Sano is basically the same kind of
idiot," while he and Kazuma's sister witnessed the explosive (and
protracted) duel from atop a cliff overlooking the entire spectacle of
glowing swords and stone-crushing fists.

"Kazu-kun may have been studying hard all this time to get into Gai
Tech, but you just can't keep the Spirit World Detective in him down.
From what I heard, his chosen sports club is now the Kendo Club instead
of his beloved Baseball Club. I bet he did _that_ to keep on sharpening
his fighting skills."

"Oh. So he wants to train in kendo to improve his sword technique, huh?"
Yahiko said. "It must be tough juggling his school life and his Reikai
Tantei life, though."

"I guess so." Shizuru shrugged. "He doesn't talk about it much, but his
feelings were hurt when he was left behind by his comrades who went to
the Demon World. They became so powerful that they were able to
challenge the strongest Makai leaders. It's hard to keep up with those
monsters, I'd bet."

Images of Kenshin defeating Sanosuke, Aoshi, Raijuta, and Saito flashed
before Yahiko's mind's eye in a millisecond, which made the resurrected
ghost grab hold of half his face and sigh. "Yeah. I know exactly how he
feels."

"Well, I may be biased... and don't tell Kazu-kun I told you this... but
he's not too shabby himself when it comes to fighting. I even heard that
his Dimension Sword is a one-of-a-kind skill. He's a one-in-a-hundred-
thousand talent cursed to be friends with people who are one-in-a-
million talents. I'm guessing he's doing all this for the off-chance of
him joining Yusuke and the others in the next Demon World Unification
Tournament."

"If I were in his shoes, I'd probably do the same," confessed Yahiko.
"Ah. Look. Sano brought out his zanbatou. He's going to go all out too."

Shizuru laughed out loud. "Is he seriously _posing_ after bringing out
that gigantic sword? I wonder if he's compensating for something by
having such a big weapon. Oh, _now_ he's giving some sort of speech to
Kazu-kun! What is this, a children's tokusatsu show? Get on with it
and charge, Sano!"

As his female companion finished her drink, Yahiko felt the presence of
an unfamiliar person lurk from behind them. "Shizuru, let me throw that
can away for you."

"That's awfully gallant, Mister Samurai."

"I try." He grabbed the can and took off without saying another word.

Shizuru crossed her arms and pouted. "Now what was that all about?" The
hairs at the back of her neck afterwards stood on end while she felt the
presence of someone aside from their quartet lurking nearby, her inborn
ESP kicking in.

Someone unknown yet familiar.


===


The black-haired, pale-skinned woman wearing a dark blue kimono had
already summoned her magical flying oar in preparation to leave on board
it when the spiky-haired and casually attired Yahiko caught up with her.

"Hey. You're one of those shinigami from Reikai, right? Did Koenma send
you here to spy on us?" were Yahiko's blunt questions.

"No. I came here by myself." The raven-locked ferry-girl brushed aside
one of two long forelocks of hair that framed her delicate, doll-like
face, the rest of her mane tied in a neat bun on the nape of her neck.

"I don't need permission from Koenma-sama to do my job and research the
current status of his growing Spirit World Warriors."

"I see. So we're now _warriors_, huh?" Yahiko rubbed his chin and
smirked, remembering Koenma's announcement. The teenaged-looking
resurrected soul afterwards sniffed the air around them.

He blinked, surprised that a soul reaper like her would smell so good.
"What's your name, by the way?"

"It's Ayame. Now if you'll excuse me..." The regal-looking shinigami
bowed and prepared to make her leave, her boat paddle on hand.

Myojin mused, 'So was this what Kenshin meant when he described _cool
beauties_?'

"Hey, you're not leaving because I caught you spying on us, right? I
have a feeling you just got here." Yahiko grinned at the woman. "Didn't
you want to know more about us? Ask away. Or is seeing those idiots
fighting inside a rock quarry enough information for you?"

The shinigami hesitated for all of five seconds before dematerializing
her oar and querying, "Where is the Guardian of the Demon Sword at the
moment? How was your reunion with him and Botan... I mean, Kamiya
Kaoru?"

"Oh. So you were looking for Kenshin." Yahiko raised an eyebrow at
Ayame's fidget.

"Well, our _reunion_ with Kenshin went great, thanks for asking. I've
been wondering where he went, and knowing that he has been safeguarding
an artifact from the Spirit World set my heart at ease. Our get-together
also couldn't have come at a more convenient time, seeing that Shishio
may or may not be Chojin everyone is talking about."

The melancholic Ayame cleared her throat primly. "So where is Kenshin
right now?" she reiterated.

"Oh right. He and Botan... or Kaoru, I think... are currently visiting
museums, attending historical tours, and so forth to learn more about
Modern Japan. I should've come with them in one of those trips too, come
to think of it. I've lost track of what my descendants have been up to
since the Seventies. Say, what's the deal with Botan anyway? Is she,
like, Kaoru reincarnated or did Kaoru fuse with her soul or something?"

Ayame replied, "I can't say which is which. There could be a whole host
of possibilities behind Kaoru and Botan's present... circumstances,"
which made Yahiko frown. A politician desperate for a reelection
couldn't have made a vaguer answer.

Myojin then blinked. Although throughout the entire exchange, Ayame kept
her expression neutral at best, he wondered if her eyes somehow became
blanker and her face paler than usual afterwards.

Was it something he said?

She further queried, "So Botan and Kenshin have been getting along fine,
haven't they?"

Yahiko shrugged. "I can't really say. I mean, to tell you the truth,
I've only met with Kenshin recently, and it's been hundreds of years
since I last saw him! I've been busy being a good ancestor to my family
before that. Although the fact that he was able to _also_ meet up with
Raccoon Girl beforehand through Botan's help must've made him feel
ecstatic."

"I see." Ayame gave Yahiko a nod.

He said, "By the way, every time Botan is around Kenshin... which,
nowadays, is almost _always_ the case... Kaoru's personality pops up.
Botan even _completely_ turns into Kaoru body and soul whenever she
unsheathes the Youtou Shinnoken. Maybe it's the sword that's causing all
these changes in your ferry-girl friend?"

"Oh, I see. So the Demon Sword has that effect on Botan. Thank you for
informing me," Ayame murmured to herself before noticing Yahiko's
expectant stare.

"...It could be that the sword has made it possible for Kenshin to
project his memories unto other people. It's rumored that the Demon
Sword is protected by an enchantment of chaos magic: How it affects
whomsoever wields it varies from user to user."

"Really? Thanks. That's some useful information!" Yahiko said.

Because Myojin only learned of Kenshin's situation fairly recently, he
was glad to gather as much information about the Youtou Shinnoken as
possible.

For the better part of the hundred years or so that they were separated,
he'd only heard rumors of Battousai becoming a warrior shinigami or
being part of Enma Daio's Spirit World Special Forces Unit. He only
recently discovered that the spirit guardian remained sealed inside a
secret shrine of sorts.

"It's no problem at all. I'm just doing my job." Ayame gave Yahiko the
softest of smiles while brushing a lock of her hair and tucking it
behind her ear.

In gratitude of the information he got from the ferry-girl, Yahiko
offered, "Do you want me to help you find Kenshin and Botan? I think I
know where in Tokyo they went."

"No, there's no need to go through that much trouble for me. I've
learned quite enough," she said. "Kenshin is lucky to know people like
you and Sagara Sanosuke, Myojin Yahiko. I'm happy he finally reunited
with such good friends of his after all this time."

Yahiko stepped back after the raven-haired woman before her transformed
into a similar-looking yet different person altogether.

The sweet smell of a flowery perfume whose name escaped the boyish-
looking revived ghost wafted all around while Ayame's round face became
thinner, her chin became more tapered, and her eyes became narrower.

Her hair also grew longer while her dark kimono transformed into a
lighter colored and more ornate one. Then, in the blink of an eye, Ayame
went back to normal.

Just now... it couldn't have been Yahiko's imagination at work, could
it? No, it couldn't have been.

Although the samurai ghost wasn't privy to the details surrounding how
the Spirit World chose its shinigami, he knew enough about the process
to know that these grim reapers were themselves human spirits before
they took the task of becoming the ferries of souls.

A ghost could look any age, state of health, mindset, and so forth
depending on its willpower and the memories of the person it was
interacting with.

Ergo, it was only natural for them to have different appearances in
accordance to their past lives and the people who knew them when they
were alive.

Because a deceased ghost's appearance depended on its past identity,
the resulting look of shinigami tended to be trickier to manifest
because their human identities were typically wiped clean care of the
Purgatorial Sector's Elysian Fields and its memory-erasing lotus
blossoms.

'Could it be that I got a glimpse of what Ayame looked like before she
became a ferry-girl?' Yahiko thought.

"So what is Kaoru's relationship with Kenshin?" asked Ayame from out-of-
the-blue, which snapped Myojin out of his reverie.

"Huh? Well, like I said, they're getting along quite nicely nowadays..."

"I mean back in your time, a hundred years ago. How close were they
back then?"

"Hmm. Now isn't that the billion-yen question?" Yahiko chortled. "To
sum it up the best I could, I think there may have been something going
on between them, but nothing could blossom out of it because Kenshin
doesn't think that Kaoru deserves him, and Kaoru is too shy to tell him
she loves him. That's the gist of it."

"I see," came Ayame's default reply, her face shadowed by the late
morning sun's rays from behind her.

"Why do you ask?" asked Yahiko.

"I was just curious." Ayame bowed. "I have to go now, Myojin-san. Take
care."

As Yahiko was just about to ask the question that had been bothering him
since he discovered Ayame spying on him and his friends, the shinigami
with the dark wardrobe had already gotten on her oar and floated
upwards.

She gave the Tokyo Samurai Descendant a wave goodbye before altogether
soaring to the skies.

His question was, "What exactly is your connection with Kenshin anyway?"


===


Back at the Kuwabara residence...

"Oh, you just missed them, man! Kazuma, Shizuru, and their little
friends went out somewhere to settle a score or something," Kuwabara's
happy-go-lucky, mustachioed, pony-tailed, and shades-wearing father
informed the people at the front door of his family's residence.

"Darn it, I wanted to eat out with everyone today," said Botan, pouting.

"Ah! Botan-chan! It's been forever!" a tiny voice from behind the
Patriarch of the Kuwabara Family greeted.

"Oh, Yukina-chan! It's so nice to see you again!" the ferry-girl
cheered. "Hey, Kuwabara... I mean, Kazuma-kun hasn't done anything
weird or perverted to you while you're staying with him in the same
house, has he?"

Yukina tilted her head to the side. "Weird? Perverted? Not really."

The Angel of Death exhaled. "Oh, good. I'm relieved."

Kenshin Himura winced. "...My scar hurts."

"Huh? What was that, Kenshin?" asked Botan.

The redhead shook his head and grinned at his companion, his hand
quickly leaving the cross-scarred portion of his cheek. "No. It's
nothing."


===


Around April, at the start of the new semester at Gaikou Fuzoku High
School...

"Man, those two idiots from the Sengoku Era sure gave me a hard time,"
murmured a half-asleep Kuwabara to himself, rubbing his eyes and
sauntering across the entrance of Gai Tech Academy.

'At least I was able to practice the Jigen Tou's teleportation skills
like Kurama suggested me to do. It wasn't a total waste of vacation
time.'

He was then greeted by his classmates.

"Good morning, Kuwabara-kun!"

"Oh! Good morning, Ayumi-chan!"

"Hey, what's up, Kuwabara?"

"I'm doing good, bro. Take it easy."

"Good morning, you regent-haired Yankee! You don't belong here!"

"Same to you, bud."

"Let's take Inter High by storm, Kuwabara-kun! If you continue to
improve your swordsmanship abilities at the rate you're going, our kendo
team will win for sure!"

"Ah, Captain! Thanks for all your support!"

"Boy, you sure are Mister Popularity here at your school, Boke."

Kuwabara froze after hearing that last greeting. 'No. It's impossible.'
He turned, his jerking movements reminiscent of a broken windup doll.

"Good morning, Kuwabara-kun!" Sanosuke and Yahiko greeted Kazuma the
same way his classmate, Ayumi, did, complete with effeminate falsettos
and swiveling hip movements while they tucked their hands and arms
beneath their chins.

"GEH! Don't do that! It creeps me out!" Something much more important
than the inherent creepiness of boys acting like girls occurred to the
orange-haired student. "AH! ROOSTER HEAD! SAMURAI BOY! What the hell
are you doing here?"

"We have actual names, you know," said Sano.

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!" said Kazuma.

"Koenma suggested that we get off our butts and do what Kenshin is
doing: Learn more about today's Japan, blah, blah, blah. So Sano and I
decided to enroll in your school to 'reintegrate' ourselves to modern
society and learn about whatever event we've missed since we died about
fifty to seventy years ago," Yahiko explained while Sanosuke nodded from
behind him.

"THEN WHY ENROLL IN _MY_ SCHOOL? Go to other schools, dammit! I don't
want you here!"

The Spiky-Haired "Brothers" even wore Gai Tech uniforms that, to
Kuwabara's chagrin, hid the fact that they were time-displaced ghosts
quite well. Also, how were they able to pass the tough entrance exams
that Kazuma painstakingly studied for _just like that_?

"Oh, don't be like that, Boke. We don't know anyone else in other
schools," remarked Sanosuke.

"You shouldn't even be in school! You're way too old! You should be an
out-of-school _ronin_ like Yusuke instead, you gangster-looking, punk-
haired freak!"

"Hey, I'll have you know that this is my _nineteen-year-old_ body! And,
judging by how people changed the way they count everyone's ages in
today's era, this is actually my _eighteen-year-old_ body!"

"Nineteen or eighteen is still too old for first year high school!"
Kuwabara blinked. "Really? Eighteen? You look about thirty to me,
Rooster Head."

"You should speak! You look like a forty-year-old career criminal and a
yakuza goon, Boke!"

"You both look too old," informed Yahiko while nodding to himself.

"WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU, YOU OLD COOT!" chorused Sano and
Kuwabara.

"Huh. Kuwabara-kun sure has many friends. Come to think of it, he even
got himself a girlfriend, didn't he?" the trio overheard a tall, thin
androgynous girl with a short, dark blonde, and parted hairstyle say.

"Oh right, the redheaded tomboy! She was cute, if a bit flat-chested,"
added a willowy, doll-like beauty with wavy, aquamarine, and shoulder-
length hair that walked beside the slender tomboy.

"...."

"Kuwabara, Yukina doesn't have red hair. Who are they talking about?"
asked Yahiko with a far-too-gleeful smile for Kazuma's tastes.

"Yeah, Carrot Top. And I'm fairly sure she isn't your girlfriend either.
You have more of a one-sided, unrequited love going on with Snow Lady,
from the looks of things."

Sanosuke and Yahiko stared at Kazuma while the regent-haired boy sweated
bullets. "I-I can explain..."

"Well, isn't that interesting? I wonder how Yukina will react," said
Myojin.

"Knowing her relationship with him, maybe we won't get any reaction from
her at all," said Sagara.

"WAH! Don't tell Yukina-chan! You've misunderstood! The person they saw
me hanging out with was Kurama! Kurama!" said Kuwabara.

"Oh. So _Kurama_ was her name." Yahiko thought back to where he heard
the moniker before.

"You idiots met him already! KURAMA'S NOT A SHE! HE'S A HE, DAMMIT!"

Unfortunately, the whole school heard Kazuma's protests.

"...."

'Kill me now. Just pluck my soul from this wretched earth, Koenma Daio,'
reckoned Kuwabara while birds chirped and cicadas cried in the
background.

Had his peaceful days at Gai Tech come to an end?


===


About a month after the attack at Genkai's temple and more than two
weeks after the Chojin's forces converged all over Tokyo to fight
against Koenma's own growing army, during the weekend...

It finally happened. Yusuke got an emergency update from Botan as soon
as it had occurred.

A demon had finally managed to steal the Demon Sword and wield its
might for himself.

"I can't believe this. If it's not one thing, then it's another!" said
Yusuke Urameshi while sailing past multiple buildings on a single bound.

"I'm coming along!" said Keiko Yukimura while she and Sayaka phased
through solid objects to keep up with Yusuke's faster pace. Meanwhile,
Puu flew in the background.

"No, you're not! It's too dangerous!" screamed Urameshi.

"What are they going to do? Kill me? I'm a ghost, remember? My body is
in the hospital. I'll be fine."

"What about Puu?" asked Yusuke. "He's no ghost!"

"Puu!" said Puu while flapping his wings... ears... wing-ears as hard as
he could before ending up on Urameshi's head... and that was that.

"We'll be cheering you on, Yusuke-niichan!" beamed Sayaka. "Oh wait,
this is my stop. Be careful, you two. I'll see you later."

The ghost girl turned ferry-girl then said her goodbyes to Yusuke,
Keiko, and Puu before making her leave.

She had other work to do, like contact the other ferry-girls to ensure
that the rest of the Reikai Tantei and the other revived warriors of the
Spirit World were alerted of the dilemma.


===


To Be Continued...

Next: The Demon Sword falls into the wrong hands.

Yukina: Thank you for taking care of Shizuru-san all this time (bows).

Yahiko: It's actually the other way around (laughs). Say, your voice
sounds just like my wife's. Her name is Tsubame.

Yukina: (holds her blushing cheeks as she averts Yahiko's gaze) Eh?
Really?

(an awkward silence between the two came about as Kuwabara absently
cracks his knuckles in the background)

Yahiko: (thinking) Crap. That totally sounded like a pickup line.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi,
Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful
property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios,
Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also
covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to
mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

So long! Farewell!
Abdiel
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