Chapter One

I was… well, not thankful to that bastard obviously, but the weekend I had to vent my feelings really helped. I moped, I cried a little, I raged, I cursed whatever force had brought me here and I'd grieved that I might never see my friends and family again.

By the time Monday morning came, I was in a fit state to dress myself (though for some reason, my school uniform was white instead of the light blue I'm sure I remember the Sarayashiki uniform being. Guess I needed to look the part as the mysterious transfer student or something) and get to my new school about 30 minutes before the first bell. Life wasn't going to wait for me to make peace with what had happened, and if I was going to have any hope of getting back home, I'd need to put all of that out of my mind for now. Compartmentalizing like that wasn't exactly healthy, but it was necessary.

As I waited outside the principal's office to meet with him, I noticed his secretary giving me sympathetic looks. I wasn't sure whether it was because I wasn't entirely successful in hiding the mildly depressed state I'd settled into, or whether she'd read the sob story that was my background in this world. Either way, I hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come.

As I was called into the principal's office, I could tell already my hopes weren't going to be realized. He was an older man, stout, with slicked-back brown hair that hadn't started to go gray yet and very heavy features, which went well with the solemn look he was giving me. The nameplate on his desk told me his name was Jirou Takenaka. All I remembered from the show was that he rode Yusuke's ass to try to get him to stop skipping school and chewed out those two asshole teachers who were talking smack at Yusuke's wake.

We exchanged greetings, and I declined a seat, preferring to stand in front of his desk. "Tenchi, I understand that you've been through a great deal recently. I won't pretend that I understand what you're going through. But I want you to know that, should you ever need help, or someone to talk to, my door is always open, and counseling can be made available to you at any time," he said gently, concern obvious in his voice.

"Thank you, Mr. Takenaka. I'll keep that in mind," I answered politely. That he cared was nice; it was certainly a good thing for his students, but didn't really help me. I certainly couldn't tell him anything about what had happened.

He might have sensed that I didn't intend to take him up on his offer, as he frowned slightly. He didn't try to press me further on the subject, though, instead moving on to the folder he had open on his desk; probably "my" files.

"Now, it says here in your file that your academic performance so far has been quite good. I hope that you will continue to do so, but please keep in mind that no one will blame you if your grades slip a little bit at first, and that if it starts to become a problem, you have options like tutoring to turn to," he began. I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"I have noticed, however, that you were disciplined several times in the past for getting into fights with other boys," he continued, fixing his gaze on me. Huh; I guess the "Temper, Temper" flaw I'd bought was retroactive, just like my mental enhancements. "I'm sure you understand that this school tries to discourage that kind of thing."

I tried not to look amused at that; I really did. I must not have been entirely successful, though, judging by his sigh. "I see you've already heard that this school has, unfortunately, taken on something of a reputation," he said. "It is true that a few of our more difficult students have achieved a certain level of infamy in this area. I hope you have no plans to do the same, Mr. Higashikata." He raised his eyebrow a bit at the end.

"Uh, no, Mr. Takenaka, I don't. It's not that I start fights or anything, they just kind of… find me," I finished lamely.

He leaned back with a sigh, but didn't press me on the subject. Maybe he was willing to wait and see if I'd be another Yusuke or Kuwabara. Or maybe he was just jaded and didn't think anything he said would have an effect either way. He gave me my class schedule and we talked about my classes and the like for the next few minutes. About 10 minutes before the first bell, the secretary rang him over the phone, telling him that "Ms. Yukimura" was here to see him, and he told her to send her in.

Keiko Yukimura, Yusuke's childhood friend and (once he stopped being a dumbass and just admitted it) girlfriend stepped into the room. "Good morning, Mr. Takenaka," she said with a bow. "Is this the new student?"

"Good morning, Keiko," Takenaka replied. "And yes, this is Tenchi Higashikata. He'll be in the same class as you from now on, and I'm hoping that, as the class representative, you'll be willing to show him around for the first few days."

"Of course," she replied. Turning to me, she gave me a bow as well. "My name's Keiko Yukimura; it's nice to meet you, Tenchi."

. "Uh, nice to meet you, too, Keiko. I'm in your care," I replied, with a slightly awkward bow of my own. Japanese culture was much too big on artificial politeness for my tastes. But, well, when in Rome and all that. Luckily I'd be hanging out with a bunch of delinquents and demons a lot of the time, so it probably wouldn't be too much of a problem.

"There are a few things I'd like to speak with Keiko about privately, Tenchi, so would you mind stepping out for a few moments?" Takenaka asked. It was probably something to do with Yusuke, considering he'd come back from the dead and all. Probably either asking if Keiko knew what the hell was up with that, or just making sure he was actually going to come to class.

"Of course, sir," I answered.

"Excellent. I'm glad we had this talk. Welcome to Sarayashiki Junior High," he said, and we shook hands before I walked out the door.

School… was as much of a pain as I remembered it. Keiko was nice at least, if a bit prim by my standards, though we'd only talked for about ten minutes so far. As I cursed ROB to the blackest pits of hell for making me relive this and tuning out the teacher, I also went over what I remembered of the series. It wasn't much; I hadn't seen the series since I'd actually been 14.

Let's see… Yusuke dies, comes back, and becomes a Spirit Detective, a position which is grievously misnamed since he never does a single bit of detective work and just goes around punching demons in the face. His first case was… right, the one where Hiei, Kurama and some ogre or whatever that nobody gives a crap about stealing some important artifacts from Spirit World. Pretty sure that ogre guy kicks Yusuke's ass sometime today, actually. What was the artifact that guy had? The Orb of… something or other. And it did…

Oh. Oh shit. Gohki. That was his name; ROB had mentioned it in his stupid spiel. And the orb he had stolen let him suck out the souls of children so he could eat them!

It took everything I had not to leap up from my desk and go running after the bastard right then and there, but I managed to restrain myself. I had no idea where the fucker was, and my spiritual senses weren't nearly good enough yet to pinpoint some low-class demon I'd never met and who, for all I knew, could be clear on the other side of town.

As best as I could remember, the souls Gohki ate took time to… digest. Factor that, how recently he'd taken the orb, and the fact that the three thieves were on the run and had to lay low at least a little bit meant he'd probably only just started taking souls with the orb, which meant I could afford to wait and follow Yusuke. Pretty sure Yusuke managed to save everyone, and it took him a day longer than it was going to take me once I'd gotten the bastard's scent.

With that in mind, I had my plan of action. Now I just had to wait for Yusuke to get word of it. Now, how and when did that happen? It was…

"Something troubling you, Higashikata?" the teacher asked archly. He must have noticed I wasn't paying attention.

I managed to keep myself from jolting in my seat, instead turning my gaze to him. "No, Mr. Iwamoto," I answered.

"Good. Then I'm sure you won't mind stepping up to the board and answering these problems," he said.

Keiko raised her hand. "Mr. Iwamoto, Mr. Takenaka said that-"

Iwamoto cut her off. "I'm well aware of what Mr. Takenaka told me, Yukimura. But this is my classroom and I will teach it my way. Now, Higashikata, come up to the board and answer the questions. The world isn't going to wait for you to get over yourself and stop crying about what's already happened, and neither will I." He had the most disgusting smirk on his face as he said that, the prick.

Not that I had any problem with someone not walking on eggshells around me – I've always found that sort of thing more annoying than anything – but this guy obviously just wanted to twist the knife. And I'd remembered as soon as I'd laid eyes on him that he was one of the pair of pricks who gave Yusuke and Kuwabara a hard time. Not that they didn't deserve teachers chewing them out, given their grades, conduct, attitudes, and just about everything else, but some of what these guys had done was both immoral and illegal (stealing from students, altering their grades, blackmailing them, the list goes on). My guess is that he was probably one of those sadists who gets a job that gives them power over other people just so they can get off on being petty assholes with it. Or maybe he's just delusional enough to believe that he's somehow acting like a good teacher? It's hard to say.

Keiko looked scandalized, and it took everything I had to just glare daggers at the smug fucker in front of the class.

I wanted to punch him so hard in that smug face that his mother's jaw would break, but I settled for walking over and putting my enhanced brain to good use showing the jackass up by solving the (fairly complicated for junior high, even in Japan) questions flawlessly. Math had always been my worst subject; it was nice to be getting something good out of this whole mess.

"Very… good work, Higashikata," Iwamoto said through clenched teeth as he glared at me. In return I gave him the biggest shit-eating grin I could. "Now, take your seat." He didn't call on me again for the rest of class.

It took until after P.E. class for something to happen. It had never been my favorite (though I'd always been pretty middle of the road physically, and I had never been terribly out of shape or anything. I'd just never liked working up a sweat very much; exercise was something I had to do to stay healthy, not something I wanted to do), but with my newly enhanced physical acuity I'd apparently broken a few school records. That, plus my new looks and intelligence, meant I was getting a lot of attention, both from guys trying to recruit me for sports teams or clubs and girls who decided I was the new school heartthrob. Which would have been great had I been 14 mentally instead of just physically. As it was, it was just a nuisance.

When we got back to class, I spared a glance at Yusuke, who was just coming in from wherever he'd gone when he ditched P.E. class. Since I was seated to his right, I'd greeted him during homeroom, but got nothing but a bored "Hey" back. He hadn't seemed interested in continued communication, so I'd left it at that and did my best to keep from glancing at him too often; didn't want him getting the wrong idea.

Around me, I could hear the sounds of kids frantically digging through their bags, and exclamations of "It's gone!" and "Where is it?" throughout the class.

"My golden dragon pen is missing!" one of the kids cried out. "That was an heirloom from my grandpa; it's one of a kind! My family'll kill me if I lose it!"

"Someone took my charm bracelet, too!" said another.

"My Gameboy! Where's my Gameboy!?" yelled a third.

Almost in unison, the kids started staring at Yusuke, accusation clear in their eyes. "What? Have I got something on my face?" Yusuke asked, only half serious. He didn't seem to know what was going on, but he knew what it looked like when people were accusing him.

"Someone must have come into this class during P.E. and taken our stuff," one of the kids said. It was obvious who "someone" was, in their minds at least.

"Yeah, and you skipped class, Urameshi," another helpfully supplied.

"Yeah, well what the hell of it?" Yusuke said defensively. "I got better things to do with my time than lift stuff off of you losers."

"Is that so, Urameshi?" Iwamoto answered as he came through the door. "Well, I think you're lying. I think you stole those items, which makes you a thieving rat on top of being a worthless punk. And I also think that you and I are going to have a nice little chat with the principal about this." Once again, he had that smirk on his face that made him look like the most punchable man alive. I remembered who stole the items now.

I couldn't keep quiet. "And do you plan on chatting with Mr. Takenaka about your willingness to accuse someone of something based on completely circumstantial evidence and your own prejudice, Mr. Iwamoto?"

"What did you say, Higashikata?" Iwamoto said. That smirk was gone now. Good.

"Too complicated for you, Iwamoto? Here, let me spell it out for you: I think you're a judgmental prick who's willing to put the blame on someone for something you can't prove he did just because you don't like him," I said, leaning back in my seat with my arms crossed.

Wow, he was actually shaking with rage at that. Must be pretty thin-skinned, or maybe I'd found a button and slammed it. Also, did I seriously just say that out loud? I'd never been a model student or anything, but I'm pretty sure it used to take more than this to get me to mouth off at a teacher. Oh, right; "Temper, Temper." Not sure it was worth the points…

Once he took a moment to calm down, he narrowed his eyes at me. "Well, it seems you'd like to accompany your new friend to speak to the principal with me, Higashikata. You and your partner in crime can both present your case."

Yusuke and I shared a look, before standing up to walk to the principal's office. He didn't look afraid at all, just kind of pissed off and defensive. I'd been there: it always sucked to be accused of things you didn't do.

"Hey," Yusuke said in a low voice, too low for Iwamoto to hear us while he marched us up to Takenaka. "Why'd you stick up for me like that?" He sounded a bit suspicious, and confused as well.

I gave a shrug. "Do I really need a reason? No matter how much of a punk you are, there needs to better proof than 'he could have done it' to just decide that you're guilty and drag you up to the principal like a criminal." I gave a sly smirk. "Besides, I really wanted to wipe that smug look off his face."

Yusuke gave a smirk of his own. "Yeah, I'll admit, it's always fun to see someone tell him how fulla shit he is. Maybe we'll get lucky and get to do it again."

Mr. Takenaka, thankfully, wasn't willing to take Iwamoto's accusations at face value. "So you say these two collaborated to steal items from students, Mr. Iwamoto? And what proof do you have of that?"

"Well, Mr. Takenaka, we've got both motive and means. This little punk," he said as he pointed to Yusuke," skipped out on P.E. class, which is when the items were stolen. Obviously he came back to classroom and simply pocketed the items."

Takenaka looked unimpressed at this deduction. "I see. And what, pray tell, is your logic for claiming Tenchi, a new student whom he's never met, was his accomplice?"

"Simple, sir," Iwamoto said, the smug look on his face telling me he didn't realize just how little the principal was buying into his bullshit. "When I made clear my suspicions, he immediately began trying to deflect suspicions and rile me up with juvenile insults in order to distract me from my investigation. Even if he's not in on it, the fact remains that his behavior towards a teacher, i.e. me, was unacceptable and inexcusable."

"Do you actually hear yourself talk, or is your head so full of bullshit that it clogs up your ears?" I asked loudly. That got a chuckle out of Yusuke, and another glare from Iwamoto. Mr. Takenaka frowned at my choice of words, but didn't say anything.

As Iwamoto went into a blistering, if repetitive, tirade, what should materialize but a floating toddler dressed in blue? So this was Koenma, de facto ruler of the Spirit World. Somehow, he was even less impressive in person than I'd thought he'd be.

"Yusuke, it's an emergency! The case of your life has just come up, you've got to hurry! Three demons have stolen three of the most dangerous artifacts in Spirit World!" Huh, so Koenma couldn't stop time the way he did in the show. Made sense, I guess; otherwise he should have just done it anytime Yusuke got in a fight to give him free hits.

Luckily for Yusuke, everyone's attention (except mine, but I pretended otherwise) was on Iwamoto, so he didn't look crazy when he started talking back to the floating toddler that nobody else (again, except me) could see, making sure to keep his voice low. "Look, Koenma, now's not the time. Some jackass stole some stuff and this jackass thinks it was me."

"You don't have time!? Yusuke, lives are in the balance here! I'm the one who doesn't have time for your teenage drama!" Koenma said.

"Well, that's too damn bad!" Yusuke hissed under his breath. "Unless you want me to knock out everyone here and run out of the school at top speed, it's gonna have to wait!"

"Oh, fine, here!" Koenma said, pulling out a monocle lens and shoving it in front of Yusuke's eye. "Take a look at his right pocket; he's got the items in there! Now hurry up so you can do your job as Spirit Detective and detect some spirits!"

That must be one of the Spirit Detective's Tools that never got used again after the Four Saint Beasts arc. Specifically, the spyglass that let you see through things. Bet the kid got more mileage out of that one than anything else; did nobody question the decision to give a hormonal 14-year old delinquent boy an X-ray lens? Yusuke looked where he was bid, his eyes widening in momentary shock before narrowing in anger. Reaching into Iwamoto's pocket over his protests, Yusuke pulled out a pen with a golden dragon entwined around it.

"Well, lookee here," Yusuke said, anger clear in his voice. "Wasn't one of those guys whining about his one of a kind golden dragon pen going missing?"

"Why, I do believe he was, Yusuke," I answered with a shit-eating grin.

Takenaka was clearly starting to connect the dots, if the enraged look on his face was any indication. "Iwamoto, explain this!"

Iwamoto was starting to sweat, and fumbled for an excuse. "Well, obviously this punk slipped it into my pocket when he-"

I cut him off by reaching into his pocket myself and pulling it inside out, causing several items to spill out: a Gameboy Color, a charm bracelet, watches, keychains, and several other small effects and accessories. "So you're saying he snuck all of this in your pocket in the span of about 2 seconds, Iwamoto?" I asked.

As Takenaka started tearing Iwamoto a new asshole, I looked around to see Yusuke had already cut and run. Making my own escape, I saw him taking a corner and followed after him. With any luck, he should lead me right to Gohki. Assuming I didn't lose him.

"I can't believe I lost him," I muttered under my breath. Somewhere in the seedier part of downtown, I'd lost track of Yusuke. Luckily by that point we were close enough that, by concentrating on my spiritual senses, I was eventually able to sense them. When I'd detected them, all three thieves and Yusuke were in the same general location; the four of them combined had enough energy that I could sense them a ways off, and I'd made my way towards them when I'd felt two powers, obviously Hiei and Kurama, begin to leave.

As I came to the clearing, I saw I'd made it just in time. Yusuke was getting smacked around like a ragdoll while Gohki laughed his head off. There was a sooty circle in his chest where Yusuke must have used his Spirit Gun, which hadn't done more than singe the skin.

Gohki had Yusuke on the ground now, and was kicking him in the stomach. I stopped just short of the clearing. I didn't know how powerful I actually was; was I strong enough to actually hurt Gohki, or beat him in a fight? Maybe I could do what Botan did, and try to scare him off by pretending a bunch of people were coming?

The decision was taken out of my hands, though. As Gohki moved to bring down his trunk-like leg down on Yusuke's skull, I reacted without thinking.

"Spirit Gun!"

Unlike Yusuke's, my Spirit Gun did more than singe the skin. The small, bullet-like projectile lanced right through the ogre's thigh, taking all the strength from his leg and causing him to fall to his good leg right in front of Yusuke, roaring in pain and clutching his wound.

"Playtime's over, big guy," I said, looking and sounding much more confident than I felt as I stepped into the clearing.

Once his roars of pain subsided, Gohki worked himself to his feet (limping, of course) and snarled at me. "Another human?! You're going to pay for that, you little shit!"

I gave a cocky smirk, more for my own sake than anything else. "Sorry, kind of short on cash right now. Do you accept IOUs? I'm good for it, honest."

Yusuke was still conscious, but barely. "N… new guy?" he mumbled.

Gohki and I walked up to each other and stared each other down. Me, maybe about five and a half feet tall tops, fairly muscled for my age but still pretty slim, and him, probably eight or nine feet of pure, muscular ugly. He looked like your typical ogre-like monster: reddish skin, ripped up pants, jutting tusk-like lower teeth, horns sticking out of his forehead, the works. And of course he smelled awful.

"You talk big for such a runt," Gohki growled. "That technique you used… The other punk only used it once, even though it was the only attack he had that could hurt me. I'll bet you're the same; I'll bet you can't do it again!"

"Yep; one and done," I answered happily. Not much point bluffing here; I'd learned what I needed to. I was strong enough. I could hurt him… probably.

Gohki's face contorted into a cruel smirk. "Then that means you're going to suffer even worse than him. I'm going to rip your arms off and peel the skin from your flesh. I'll-"

I cut him off with a mighty blow to the gut, charged with my spirit energy. Using the Spirit Gun took quite a bit out of me, but what I had left was more than enough to bring the giant to his knees, gasping and wheezing as he clutches his gut with his arms.

"Feeling a little short of breath there, Gohki? That's good news for me; you've clearly never heard of breath mints," I taunted. Still coughing and sputtering, he nonetheless managed to force himself up to try to grab me. I instead grabbed his arms just above his elbows, intending to force them up and away from him to leave his abdomen open for a good kick.

Turns out, he was at least as strong as I was, so it was more of a struggle than I'd anticipated. Unable to easily force him down or back, I got a different idea. Readjusting my grip on his arms, I instead lifted my legs off of the ground and swung one back, kicking him square in his chin. This time he landed flat on his back, struggling to get himself back on his feet.

"Looks like you can't take the hits so well when you're picking on someone who can really hit back, Gohki," I taunted him once more. "I guess spending all your time attacking little kids and untrained teenagers doesn't really prepare you for actual fights, huh?"

"Fuck you, you damn human punk!" I yelled out, just a split second before Gohki yelled the same thing. His eyes widened in shock as I continued. "Looks like low-class demon thugs are just like low-class human thugs: dumb as dirt, utterly predictable, and all talk."

He proved that assessment correct by roaring and throwing a flurry of punches at me, but the wound to his leg slowed him down, and he wasn't the fastest guy around to begin with. I dodged each and every one of his blows, only moving just enough for his punches to miss me by inches. As his attacks grew more frantic and desperate, I resolved to end this.

As he tried to land a haymaker, I struck my arm out to brush it aside, putting him off-balance. Then, I flattened my other hand as if to throw a karate chop, but instead rammed it fingers-first into one of his eyes, blinding it.

Gohki screamed in pain, clutching his eye, as I gathered energy into both of my fists.

"I've had my fun; playtime's over. I'm about to give you a taste of the pain you've enjoyed giving to others, you soul-sucking son of a bitch!" I yelled, and let loose with a barrage of energy-infused punches to his face and torso. And hey, while I was at it…

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" I yelled, punctuating each blow with an "ORA!"

The blows came heavy and fast; Gohki never had a moment to counter or defend himself from the the time I was done, Gohki's front resembled nothing so much as a hunk of discolored hamburger meat with arms and legs. He fell to the ground, and this time he didn't get up. The faint groaning and twitching proved he was still alive, though. Have to hand it to the guy, he's pretty tenacious. I was, admittedly, just a little bit glad I hadn't killed him; I'd never taken another sapient life before, though I'd probably need to before this was all over. He definitely deserved whatever Spirit World decided was just punishment for his crimes, though; he'd probably be executed, come to think of it. Well, not my problem. I'm not going to lose sleep over some asshole who feeds on little kids' souls getting executed.

With him taken care of, I checked on Yusuke, still on the ground. He was in pretty bad shape; I knew some first aid, and from what I could tell he had several fractured ribs, his right arm was very broken, and he had some nasty bruises where Gohki had hit him. Nothing life-threatening, but it would take a while to heal, and hurt like hell while it did.

Time to see if I could do something about that. Channeling almost all my remaining energy into my hands, I laid them upon Yusuke's chest and willed it to flow into him. I wasn't sure it would work, but it sort of… felt like it would, somehow.

Luckily for both me and Yusuke, my instincts were correct. Yusuke's breathing, previously short and ragged, began to even out as bruises yellowed and started to fade. Bones made loud popping and cracking noises as they began to repair and reconnect themselves. When it was over, many of his bruises had faded, and his ribs would be fine (if pretty tender for a while). The arm was still kind of messed up, though, and would require another healing session later. Not bad for a first attempt, if I do say so myself.

I was internally celebrating my discovery of Ripple Healing, until I heard frantic footsteps coming my way. Turning around, I saw a very pretty blue-haired girl hefting a baseball bat. This couldn't be anyone but Botan, Yusuke's trusty sidekick/minder. The spirit guide's eyes went from Yusuke, still looking visibly beat up, to me, standing over him, to Gohki, pounded into lunch meat and twitching on the ground.

"Good afternoon, miss!" I chirped, waving my hand. "Lovely day for a walk in the woods, isn't it?"

Botan stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Obviously she was still trying to process what was going on right now.

With a slight grunt of effort, I picked Yusuke up in my arms. "I managed to heal most of Yusuke's wounds, but we should probably get him somewhere safe to finish recovering; the other two thieves know we're here. Do you know where his house is?"

Dumbfounded, Botan nodded.

"Great. You pick up the orb, and… do whatever with this guy," I said, jerking my head in Gohki's direction. "He's not going anywhere for a while. I'll follow you to his house, okay?"

Shaking her head clear, Botan quickly went for the orb and pocketed it. "How did… who are you?" she asked.

I flashed her a dazzling smile. "My name's Tenchi Higashikata, 14 years old, new student at Sarayashiki Junior High!" I said.

Botan continued to stare at me, obviously not satisfied by my answer. "That… doesn't really answer my question," she said flatly.

"Look, we can talk more when we aren't in the thieves' meeting place and the Spirit Detective here isn't unconscious, okay?"

"Alright, fine," Botan said with a sigh. Good, looks like she's decided to trust that I'm on her side for now. That would give me enough time to figure out what exactly I'm going to tell them, considering I'm literally incapable of telling them the real story.

Grinning triumphantly, I started to head off to Yusuke's house.

"Wrong direction," Botan said in an amused tone.

I spun around on my heel, a slight blush forming on my face. "Uh… I knew that."