Chapter One
Understanding

"Brother."

A bunch of mourners had gathered, quite astonishing for the kind of street punk that her brother was. Students from Sarayashiki, the parents of Okubo and Akio, Jiro's folks were too distressed to so much as step aside. A blue-dressed spirit floated aimlessly above, eyes bulging when he witnessed the number of fellow classmates and even rival gang members that had shown up. Most were laughing within the smaller, weaker groups he had beaten like the Kazuhana gang and Kokusai Junior High. But there was an equal number of departing, often weeping students from classes he'd never imagined even stepping foot in.

The first omen was that of Mr. Takanaka, the principal of Sarayashiki. He arrived with two other teachers, two very rotten men who's names made him spit every time thought of them. He had watched Mr. Takanaka cry before his grave, in his former home, and spread kind and sincere words about a delinquent street fighter with an "honor code", the kind of student who gave the school an even lesser profit rating when it cam to enrollment and graduation due to a continuous stream of failing grades and violent discrepancies with other students. The Principal, too, even shed a tear for Kuwabara's strange absence today, having called for him shortly after Yusuke's swift disappearance.

The second omen was his sister, Shizeru Kuwabara. On the outside, it may have seemed more obvious that a family member would come to tears to him, but the Kuwabara family was no ordinary household to begin with. He had to note though, to see his sister still in her pajamas without a cigarette to be found or smelled hour after hour, as noted by their guests apparent ignorance of the house's nicotine reak, he found himself tingling with awe just to wait and see the night's stilling hours come. Even as his patience rekindled, twice the number of mourners populated their house each time, not to include his "missing" relatives that dropped off servants and phone calls to say their goodbyes.

And then there was the third, the one that appeared long after even his sister had left the altar. A green-shirted, hair ruffled, brown eyed fellow creeping on the outskirts of the city. It was obvious he was on the run judging from his ragged, dishelved clothing, tears and cuts peppering it and even a small splash of blood smothering his left leg. He was running from the cops after his brutal massacre, he didn't seem to possess the slightest bit

"Grrr....Urameshi..." Kazuma considered striking Yusuke while he was vaulting over a fence, but the boy's luck had risen once again. Kuwabara had been far beyond the state of beating up a hapless rival after all he'd secretly witnessed that night. As promised, as Dusk powdered over the horizon, the pink-robed reaper returned to him, one hand grappled onto her magical floating oar and the other hidden inside her sleeve.

"Well..have you decided?" she asked.

"Botan, whatever happened to my pals?"

"I'm not permitted to grant that kind of information to an Unreveled Spirit, Kuwabara."

"Unraveled what?"

"Uh, nothing. Kuwabara, I'm afraid I can't wait for an answer any longer. Do you want your life or don't you? Because if not, then I have to take you to Spirit World where they can set you up in your own resting place." her voice was grave, sad enough that even Kazuma picked up on the seriousness of this question, and how the choice he made would reflect upon the rest of his life, err....afterlife.

While he was quiet for at least half a minute, he was clearly resolved in a deep thought. He crossed his arms, floated upside-down for a moment before freaking out and floating right side again, and turned to face Botan, pointer finger raised questioningly.

"Botan, if I go through this test you' menchined, what happens to me afterwards? Cause I kind of like being able to SEE the ghosts around me, instead of just getting the tickle feeling every time they pass me or breath next to me. I mean, whateveit is you guys do insteada' breathing, I mean-" he rubbed the back of his head looking for a correction.

"Don't worry Kuwabara, you'll be in tip-top shape in your own body. Come on, let's not waste any time! Ha-ha, off to Spirit World" Botan snatched his wrist and pulled him into the sky, face bright with joy over his decision.

"Hey w-wait, I'I never-r said Y-yes!" he cried, still very unused to such high-speed flight. She carried him behind a bunch of clouds, into what his teachers might have dubbed the Earth's mesosphere, until they disappeared in a flurry of white cloud. Kuwabara's manic pleas for her to slow down and release him fell on her ears.

"HEY! WHAT'S SPIRIT WORLD!?"

OOO
And that's the way it is, after his first day of being dead, Kuwabara has agreed to undergo a mysterious ordeal that COULD win him back his life. But what adventures await him in...the Spirit World?

OOO

The pointed second hand cuts down the life I lead
Mocking off my legacy of worldly deeds.

Tick, tock, tick.

Constantly I think of things I can't complete.
Well, its time to throw them into the back seat.

Son of a GUUUUUN!

Life's a fleeting dream, don't let it go...

You gotta' make the most of it you knooow.
Don't stop now, don't let it slip away.
Live it up while you can and don't delay.

Bored of fleeting dreams...they never staaaaay...