Kouken Gurentai

by Noelani

This story is about a girl who has been named the new Spirit Detective. Like Yusuke she loves a good fight & she has demon heritage, but can she control it long enough to conquer it? With the help of 2 street kids & fellow youkai, we'll just have to see.

1. Part 01

Part 01

"JIANO!" Mr. Najiru yelled from down the hall. I moaned at the very sound of his voice. He was a teacher who was double my age and a real letch. Mr. Najiru had always scrutinized me when I showed up to class so I just said screw it and began to cut his class altogether.

I stopped and turned around, "What the hell do you want!"

"You skipped my class again!"

"You make it sound as if your class is really worth my time," I waived turning to walk off.

"Don't turn your back on me!" he yelled grabbing my shoulder and throwing me into a nearby wall.

I glared at him, infuriated. I stood up and went to walk off again, just to be thrown into another wall. "Stop that!" I screamed at him. He came over and shoved me backwards and ran his hand down my face. "Get away from me!" I exclaimed shoving him away from me. I turned and ran down the hall, but he caught up and grabbed my arm. "LET GO OF ME!"

A few doors away inside his class was a new teacher at our school who went by his first name, Okubo. He heard my yelling and ran out of his class to see what the commotion was about. I saw him run up behind Mr. Najiru and pulled him off me. Okubo shoved Mr. Najiru into a nearby wall and held him there, "Leave her alone, Najiru!" He glanced over at me, "Are you alright?"

I nodded as I heard a door behind me open. I turned and out of a class came Mr. Takenaka, the school's principal. He walked up to the three of us, "What's going on here, Mr. Najiru?"

Okubo let go of him and he gasped for breath before dissimulating what had just happened. "Okubo was harassing this young girl and I came to stop him, but then he turned on me!"

"Lier!" I snarled at him. He shot a death glare at me and I returned it.

"Go back to class, Mr. Najiru," Mr. Takenaka said to him. He obeyed and left us behind.

Okubo turned to Mr. Takenaka, "Sir, I..."

"Don't be so formal, Okubo, I'm not your teacher anymore. What really happened?"

"I heard this young girl's yelling and I came to find Mr. Najiru holding her too close to him for anyone's comfort, so I pulled him off her."

Mr. Takenaka looked at me, "Is that what really happened?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded, "And this isn't the first time he's physically abused me nor came on to me."

"Stephanie, why didn't you come tell me about this problem beforehand? I would have done something about it."

"It's never gotten this bad before, otherwise I would have, I'm just glad that Okubo was here, otherwise something would of probably happened."

"Okay, here's what we'll do: I'll take care of Mr. Najiru, Okubo, you can go back to class, and Stephanie, I will excuse you from the rest of today. Go home and rest, you've had a rough day." I nodded thankfully and took my leave.

I walked down the sidewalk and as I walked in front of a shop, a girl came running out and ran into me, knocking us both down and spilling her bag of food. "Watch where you're going, lady!"

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you!" I looked at her as I stood and dusted myself off. I recognized her face from somewhere. "I'm so clumsy," she said as she started to pick up all the vegetables and spices.

Finally it dawned on me where I'd seen her before. Her picture was in my school in our Academic Awards case which held awards and showed pictures of all of our school's most talented and intelligent students, past and present. "Hey, aren't you Keiko Yukimura? A graduate of Sarayashiki High?"

She looked up at me and nodded, "Yes, but Yukimura is my maiden name, my name is Keiko Urameshi now."

"As in Yusuke Urameshi!" I exclaimed.

"You know my husband?"

"Who doesn't? He's the best fighter ever known at both Sarayashiki Junior High and High Schools!"

Keiko blinked a few times and then laughed, "He still has that reputation after almost three years?"

I nodded, "Hell yeah." And with that I knelt down and shook my head, "Oh, and don't worry about running into me, maybe it was fate, ya know?" I grinned at the thought of me running into Yusuke Urameshi's wife and then proceeded to help her pick up the last remaining food items.

Keiko bowed, "Thank you so much...hey, I never got your name."

"Stephanie Jiano, the second best fighter at Sarayashiki High School." She giggled at me and I scratched my head. "So, why you in such a hurry?"

"Oh, I'm taking these to my parent's shop not to far from here. If you'd like you can go inside the shop and go talk to Yusuke, we're on lunch break so there's no customers."

"Really? Can I!" Keiko giggled again and nodded. I thanked her and then ran inside. I ran to the counter and looked around, "Um, Yusuke? YUSUKE!" I heard a muffled sound and then saw a guy walk out of the back carrying a bowl of ramen.

"Hiem horry, hiem hon ma hunt ache," the guy muffled as he gobbled down the pasta.

I laughed at him, "Yusuke Urameshi?" He just nodded as he finished up his lunch. "Hi! I'm Stephanie Jiano."

Yusuke wiped his face with a towel and leaned on the counter, "I've heard of ya, you're the one running around causing all the trouble nowadays...well, you and those two kids that are always with you."

I scratched my head, "You got me there..."

He motioned to the back from where he'd come from, "Come on, let's go talk in the back." I nodded and followed him. He sat down at the table as I just stood there. "You can sit down, I'm not gonna beat you up or anything, I swear."

"I know," I said sitting down, "but I still can't believe it's actually you. You're a living legend at Sarayashiki Junior High and High School! The boy I run with is the best fighter at the Junior High, the girl, Sarayashiki Elementary, and I, the High School. We've only been fighters for a few short years, but in that time we've learned so much about you and Kuwabara. You two were constantly at battle with each other!"

"And they still are."

I turned and there stood Keiko. I laughed, "I bet. By what I've heard, I don't think they'll ever stop fighting."

"Hey, I resent that!" Yusuke exclaimed as a girl walked into the back with two young children. "Hey, Rita, how's it going?"

"Okay," Rita said as she put down the little girl and little boy. The two kids looked at me weirdly.

"Don't mind them, they're our kids," Yusuke said getting up and walking towards them.

"This is Miana, and this is Yusuke Jr.," Keiko smiled pointing them out, "Miana is very open and loves everyone, but little Yusuke is very stubborn and doesn't take very well to people he doesn't know."

I nodded as I got up and knelt down in front of the chair I was sitting at. I looked straight at the boy and caught his brown eyes. He started at me and then as Yusuke went to pick him up he walked right past him as if he wasn't there. Yusuke, Keiko, and Rita all watched in wonder as the little boy, followed by his sister, walked over to me. I welcomed the little Yusuke Jr. into my arms and he hugged me. Miana reached her arms out and so I hugged her as well. "He just seen her and he walked to her like they've known one another for ages!" Yusuke said startled.

I laughed quietly, "It doesn't help I've been killed before, now does it? I have amazing spirit energy and only these two little children can sense it because I've hidden it. This proves my theory that children are more in tune with spirit awareness than most adults...unless Yusuke has noticed, but hasn't said anything..."

"URAMESHI!" I looked up as Yusuke fell over and Kuwabara barged into the back.

Yusuke stood up, "Don't you know how to knock first, Kuwabara!" I stood and Kuwabara noticed me. He rushed over to me and took my hand.

"Where did you find such a pretty girl, Yusuke?" I bewailed at his attitude and horrible manners. I snatched my hand away and snorted.

"You came barging into Yusuke and Keiko's shop and you didn't even say hello!" I exclaimed as I clobbered him upon the head. Everyone watched as he hit face first into the floor. "If you're going to be rude then at least make sure it's not around me!"

Kuwabara stood and rubbed his head, "With a punch that hard, you must be Stephanie Jiano."

I blinked, "Huh? How do you know who I am?"

"Tiffany Fuseino is a regular at my Shelter. She is constantly telling me about you, Tyler, and herself. You three have a very bad reputation at your schools."

"My principal doesn't think so, Mr. Takenaka thinks the three of us have very promising futures."

"MR. TAKENAKA! THAT OLD COOT IS STILL ALIVE!" Yusuke exclaimed. Keiko hit him in the back of the head. "What was that for, Keiko! I'm sorry, but I was joking around, okay!" I laughed at them and then turned back to Kuwabara.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"Oh, I need to talk to Urameshi, something's come up."

My eyes flared at the tone in his voice and I took my leave.

As I ran towards Sarayashiki Junior High I thought about what was wrong, that sound in his voice bothered me. I arrived just as the school was getting out and Tyler met me. "Something's not right."

"I know," I nodded, "We need to get Tiffany and then head home." He agreed and we both took off. When we arrived at the elementary Tiffany was already waiting so we didn't stop to talk. Only when we reached our apartment did we stop to take a breather. I walked into the living room with Tiffany and Tyler right behind me to see someone sitting in my chair. I glared at the red haired intruder until he swiveled the chair around and stared at us. "I knew I smelled youkai," I growled at him.

His green eyes flickered, "I have come here to tell you of your appointed job, Stephanie."

"Well, spit it out, Kurama, what's my job to pay back Koenma?"

Kurama laughed quietly, "Koenma has appointed you the new Spirit Detective."

"What!" I exclaimed, "ME! I thought Urameshi was still the Spirit Detective!"

"He has a family now, so Koenma decided that this would be the best way for you to return his favor to you." I grumbled for a few minutes then agreed. "Good," Kurama smiled, "that's the spirit Stephanie. There is a demon whom has risen to a remarkable power in the last few days and he now is searching for a way to send his minions to this world to take it over."

"So that's what Kuwabara meant with something came up...well this is just great, what the hell am I supposed to do? I may have a strong punch, but I'm no contest against a powerful demon."

"Stephanie, that's not the attitude you should have, Yusuke never did," a blue girl said appearing beside Kurama.

I snorted at that comment, "Bull."

"She's flying!" Tiffany exclaimed, pointing at the girl whom jumped off her oar, if that's what you would call it.

"Tiffany, Tyler, there's something I haven't told ya, I've been killed before...it was right before I met you two that it happened. And in the other world, the Spirit World, I met these two, plus Koenma. Koenma is the Prince of the Spirit World and son of the mighty King Yama, while the red head is Kurama, a half-human, half-kitsune, Guardian of the Spirit World, and then there's her."

"What's that supposed to mean!" the girl exclaimed.

I grinned, "She is Botan, the Grim Reaper herself."

"She's the Grim Reaper!" Tyler laughed hysterically. Botan growled at me and I smirked.

"Well, we've not the time for this. Stephanie, you are not a full blooded human."

"What?" I questioned Botan.

She sighed, "You are a half-blood, you are half-human and half-elemental youkai." Everyone stared at her weirdly. "What? It's the truth! It was recorded in your file by Koenma himself!"

"But elemental youkai are the rarest breed of them all!" Kurama exclaimed, "The odds of a mere human being born with the genes is one in a million!"

"Thanks, I feel SO much better, now I'm a RARE BREED!"

Kurama blushed horribly, "I didn't mean it that way! Stephanie, you know I don't mean that!"

I snorted, "Well, after that comment, why should I forgive you...but then again, you yourself are a half breed, am I right?" He nodded and remained silent.

Botan sighed and then turned her attention to Tyler and Tiffany, "And these two here..."

"I am part neko youkai, a cat demon," Tiffany clarified.

Tyler nodded, "I know what I am, I'm an urufu youkai, wolf blood is in my veins."

"Great, I've been living with animals and I didn't even know it! Not even animals for that matter, demon animals! ACK! And I'm a demon as well...this is so not cool..." I whined as everyone watched me, eyes wide. I turned and looked at them all, "WHATCHA ALL STARING AT! TAKE A FREAKIN' PICTURE, IT'LL LAST LONGER!" They removed their sight from me as I plopped down on the ground.

"I can see this is going to be a LONG mission," Botan sighed as she turned to Tyler and Tiffany.

Kurama knew what she was thinking, "You two."

"What?" they both asked him.

"What will you do in this time of crisis?" Kurama questioned.

"Fight to the end with Stephanie of course, she's been there for us and now it's time for us to return the favor to her," Tyler smiled.

Botan and Kurama both nodded as Yusuke walked in with Keiko and Kuwabara. "Stephanie, it's time." I stood as Yusuke walked over to me. "You just got probably the biggest burden placed upon you that you will ever have, but it's also the greatest treasure. The memories I have alone as Spirit Detective plus the memories of fighting along side Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei are enough to last me a lifetime. I will never forget any of them and I know you won't either."

"Hi Kuwabara," Tiffany said walking over to him.

He turned to her and smiled, "Tiffany! It's good to see you again." Tiffany smiled and nodded. "So have you convinced Stephanie on letting you adopt some cats from my shelter?" he said as she shook her head seeing me right behind Kuwabara.

"She doesn't know!" Tiffany said silently to Kuwabara as she pointed behind him. Kuwabara turned around to see me shaking and glaring at him. Tiffany and Kuwabara gulped as I began to pop my knuckles.

"STOP GIVING TIFFANY THE IDEA THAT SHE CAN OWN A PET, LET ALONE MORE THAN THAT!" I screeched at him, "AND AS FOR YOU, TIFFANY, DON'T EVEN GET THE IDEA THAT YOU CAN OWN A PET! WE CAN'T AFFORD IT AND YOU KNOW THAT!"

Yusuke, Keiko, Kurama, Botan, and Tyler all sighed as they all sat down to wait out my mood swing.

After about a half-n-hour I had blown off all the extra steam I'd built up at school. I sighed as I stood and dusted myself off, "Alright, if we're going to do this, then let's get the show on the road." They all nodded as they stood.

"Who is going with us, Kurama?" Botan asked him.

"Just the three young ones, the others have lives in this world."

She nodded as Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara walked towards my front door. "Hey, you three, take care of our apartment for us!" I said to them all as the three of us kids each threw one of them our key.

"Goodbye Kuwabara, take care of all the cats until I can return and help you again!" Tiffany exclaimed.

"I will, Tiffany, you be careful," Kuwabara laughed.

"See you all, nice meeting you!" Tyler said loudly to the group at the door.

"You too!" they all asserted.

"And I would like to say something to all of you. Keiko, take care of the shop, Yusuke, and Kuwabara, I'll worry about them by themselves. Yusuke, stay safe and take care of the little ones, I'll tell you everything that happens when I return. And finally Kuwabara, take care of the animals and maybe when we return, you, Tiffany, and I can talk over the option of having pets."

"I will, Stephanie, I never let them go far without knowing what they're up to, especially when they are together," Keiko giggled.

"Of course! I'm probably the safest person you'll ever meet!" Yusuke grinned and everyone busted up laughing. "What!"

"I'm glad to hear it, Stephanie. We'll be looking forward to your safe return home," Kuwabara said to me.

With that we disappeared from sight and arrived in the Spirit World, directly in front of Koenma's Castle.

We walked inside and saw demons running here and there, working. Tyler and Tiffany enjoyed their sightseeing tour while it lasted. Finally we arrived in front of the door which led to Koenma's office. Botan rang us in and then we all walked inside. Tyler and Tiffany looked around for Koenma. "Welcome back to the Spirit World, Stephanie, and welcome to the half-born demons, Tyler and Tiffany."

"Who said that?" Tyler asked me.

"The Prince of the Spirit World and son of King Yama himself, Koenma Daioh."

"In person, as usual," came a voice as the chair behind the desk began to swivel. Tyler and Tiffany watched in awe until the chair was fully turned towards us. It was then that Koenma stood and they noticed him. I groaned as they began to laugh ecstatically, a mistake that I had made when I was brought before him the first time, as had Yusuke and Kuwabara. "I'd like it if you didn't laugh," he said seriously, "I am Koenma, Prince of the Spirit World."

"But you're just a baby and so cute!" Tiffany exclaimed happily as she ran over and gave him a poke.

Tyler walked over and looked him over closely, "You can't be him, he's over 700 years old!" Kurama, Botan, and I all blushed horribly as we bowed before Koenma.

"Koenma, please forgive Tyler and Tiffany, it's my..." Botan began until Kurama interrupted her.

"It's my fault they are here, they came with my permission, sir."

I laughed and stood up straight, "Don't even take the blame, if it wasn't for my horrible way of raising them, they'd be civilized, but with my past record they ended up inheriting some of my chivalrous ways, along with some of my disrespect for authority and elders."

Koenma nodded as Tiffany and Tyler walked back over beside me and apologized to him. He excepted it, then turned to me, "Stephanie, we've got some trouble."

"I heard all the basic information, just what do I do?"

He laughed, "Eager as always...well you see, Stephanie, a demon has appeared out of no where and his powers are growing at an alarming rate, a rate that is way to fast for any normal demon. And now I'm afraid he's searching for a portal to send his minions through to your world."

"Kurama already told me that," I stated, annoyed that he told me the basic information over again.

"Your job is to infiltrate his lair and destroy him before he gets the chance to send his minions to the Living World. If any of his lackeys do squirm their way through our barriers then Botan, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke will be able to keep them under control."

"Fine with me, when do we leave?"

Koenma shook his head, "What about these two? What are they doing here?"

"We are going to follow Stephanie until we find the ends of the earth," Tiffany smiled and Tyler nodded.

"Yeah, she's taken care of us for well over 5 years! Even at our young age we've still to see her give up on anything, including the two of us. There have been times when we treated her like she was worse than dirt, but she still stood by us," Tyler explained.

"Koenma, sir, she's almost family to us and I know I speak for the both of us when I say that she's the only family we've got and could ever want. I remember the day I met Stephanie, it was before I had learned to fight. I was only four, living in any alley that I could. Stephanie was walking by one day when I was getting thrown around like some rag-doll by kids way older than me. She ran up like the wind and before I knew it, all seven of them were knocked out cold. Stephanie snorted and cussed at them for a few seconds, and then she turned her attention to me. I stood silently as she circled around me and then stopped. She knelt down in front of me and raised my sight to hers, and very quietly she spoke to me, 'Do you have a home?' I shook my head and she smiled, 'Now you do.' Since then my life's been so much better," Tiffany said making clear everyone in the room heard her.

Tyler laughed, "That's nothing compared to when I met her; it was only about a month or so after she met you. I was walking back to the shelter I lived at from school one day when a group of kids from the high school jumped me. I ran as fast as I could to try and ditch them, but ran into their partners and Stephanie in a battle that was just about to begin. I turned back around and as luck would have it, they had the two of us totally surrounded. We stood back-to-back, ready for anything they might throw at us when she tilted her head backwards a bit and asked me, 'What are they after ya for?' I told her that they were after me for stealing from them. After that she laughed and asked, 'So, you wanna help each other out in this? I've got to get to the elementary as soon as possible to pick up someone, and most likely you've got somewhere to be'. I agreed. Within five minutes we had laid them all out and were walking down the street like nothing had ever happened. I asked her where she lived and she said she had a small apartment with a younger girl, and I just nodded. Stephanie then turned to me and asked, 'You needin' a place to stay?' I told her where I'd been living and she said I was moving in with her and Tiffany."

"Those were the days, back when I didn't have to worry as much, but now everything's changing...it doesn't help you two are getting older which means I am as well...why couldn't you two stay four and eight?" They all laughed at me and I snorted, "I'm serious! Now I know what you must feel like Koenma!" He glared at me and I laughed quietly. "Sorry, I just couldn't help it, the chance was right there."

Koenma sighed, "Alright, enough talking, are you three ready?" We all nodded and said our good-byes to the others.

"Take this Stephanie, it will keep us in contact," Botan said as she handed me a communication mirror.

"Thanks, see you around, and keep the Living World safe," I said as Tyler, Tiffany, and I all ran off towards the door to the Demon World.

When we arrived at the gate we were met by two onis. "So, you're the new Spirit Detective and friends?" one asked.

"Yup," I nodded, "And they are Tyler and Tiffany."

"Hey Stephanie, if I know my Japanese right, gurentai means a gang of tough youths," Tyler said to me and I knew what he meant by it.

"But we're not just a gang, or a group, we're different. We're protectors of our world and any others in peril, Tyler. We're not just fighting for the Living World, but the Spirit World and Demon World as well." Tiffany stated.

"From here on out we are known as Kouken Gurentai," I settled simply, "Kouken stands for Guardianship and then Gurentai for Gang, 'of tough youths' is just an add on to the translation in our case." Tyler and Tiffany agreed and the onis nodded as they opened the door, letting us pass into a warp to the demon's castle.