Thank you all for the wonderfull reviews.
Some of you asked why Kuwabara didn't notice Sayo-chan earlier. Seriously, with all the insanity that follows 2A do you really think the poor man has time to think straight?
Beside's by this point his awarenss is so keen Ghosts are as visible as normal people to him, so if he DID see her, he wouldn't freak out about it.
That said, on with the show.
8th period.
"I hate exam week." Kuwabara sighed, slumping into his seat in the staff room and putting a hand to his face "Way too many flashbacks of Iwamoto and Akashi."
"It is rather depressing." Takahata agreed, settling into his own chair with a little more decorum "But then again, nobody said teaching was easy."
"And those who do never had to teach the girls of 2A." Seruhiko pointed out with a smile, earning a chuckle from Takahata and a moan from Kuwabara. At that moment the Tantei's watch sounded, eliciting yet another moan as he got to his feet.
"That watch of yours always seems to be going off Kuwabara-sensei." Nita-sensei pointed out in annoyance from behind a stack of papers "Maybe you should get it looked at…or better yet replace it."
"Sorry, but it's a gift from my old employer" Kuwabara lied "And, well, there's sentimental value, y'know?"
Nita snorted but didn't say anything else, allowing the tantei to leave, brushing past Shizuna-sensei as she entered. "Ah, Kuwabara-sensei!" she greeted with a smile "Off again?"
"'fraid so." Kuwabara replied, waving to her over her shoulder "If there are any papers just leave 'em on my desk, I'll sort them later."
"Kuwabara-sensei's so energetic," the well-endowed woman opined, smiling warmly at the retreating form "wouldn't you say?"
"A bit TOO energetic." Nita muttered, "Though I suppose he does submit his paperwork on time."
"Which means he's Nita's favorite." Seruhiko teased, dodging a paperweight as the rest of the staff laughed at the joke.
"Still," Shizuna continued, a look of concern on her face "I wonder what he could be up to, dashing off all the time."
"Don't you worry too much about it." Takahata assured her with a knowing smile as he looked out the window "Kuwabara only has the best interests of this school at heart."
With Kuwabara...
"What in the heck is this thing?" Kuwabara muttered, eyeing what appeared to be a moving shadow as it dissolved slowly. He'd just sliced through it with his reiken after the thing leapt out at him, but even in death it didn't put up much of a fight.
"Just a low class apparition," Botan supplied diligently from her position on her oar "too weak to even make a corporeal form. I guess it snuck through the gateway to reikai."
"So it's not exactly a demon is it?" Kuwabara muttered, watching as the thing vanished silently "Guess this is part of being a reikai tantei too."
"On the subject," Botan pointed out "a matter came to my attention the other day, I think there may be a fixated spirit in the school."
"A what?" Kuwabara asked, looking at the ferry girl in confusion "Fixated? As in stuck or something?"
"Sort of," Botan allotted "basically it's a ghost that refuses to cross over, haunting an area they have great emotional attachment to." She held up a finger "I haven't been able to track her because the range seems to extend a short distance off school grounds, about as far as the local convenience store and an all night restaurant."
"She huh?" Kuwabara noted, feeling sorry for the spirit "Any other info? A name? A picture?"
"Both and more," Botan chirped, pulling out a clipboard from inside her tracksuit with a flourish.
"Where in th' hell were you storing that?" Kuwabara asked, sweat dropping as Botan giggled at the look on his face.
"A woman has her secrets!" the ferry girl replied, handing over the clipboard and reciting the data "Aizaka Sayo, 1940-1953, details aren't clear but we suspect foul play in her death."
'Why does that name sound familiar?" Kuwabara wondered, only to gape at the face gazing back at him in the picture. True the hair was black instead of pale white, the uniform was a darker tint than normal and her skin was lively, but there was no mistaking the face that sat to the right of his recently encountered Nemesis, the Mahora Paparazzi, Asakura Kazumi.
"Kuwa-kun?" Botan called out, looking up at her one-time pursuer in concern "You okay? You just went very quiet."
"This girl," Kuwabara stated, not taking his eyes off the photo in his hand "I know where to find her."
Class 2A...
A petite sneeze sounded in the seemingly empty classroom of 2A, which would have scared the life of anyone else who'd been in there. As it were, the sole occupant of the room didn't need to worry about that.
Aizaka Sayo sighed, sniffing as she sat in her chair, eyes toward the desk as she listened to the sounds of revelry outside. It wasn't that she was unsociable, far from it, she would venture outside and watch everyone play and laugh and try to join in. It was just hard to do so and remain cheerful when nobody knew you were there.
But then there wasn't much the ghost of a long dead schoolgirl could do about that.
Recently, things had become a bit more lively than normal, with the arrival of two new teachers for 2A. Negi-sensei with his adorable charm and innocent looks and the tall, rough looking, yet friendly Kuwabara-sensei, who seemed to exhibit a feeling of ease for the spectral girl.
She didn't put much stock by it, after all, she'd seen many a new professor come and go since dying. Some had even been driven off by her attempts to communicate; one was apparently in a home. Nonetheless she still held out to the faint hope that, someday, she'd be noticed by someone.
The sound of the classroom door opening caught her attention, blinking at the sight of a grim faced Kuwabara-sensei and a blue haired woman she recognized from Asakura's photos. 'I wonder what they're doing here?' she thought, a pink tint rising to her cheeks as she recalled what Asakura had been implying 'Omigosh! What if they're here to make out? Oh No I have to get out of here-!'
"Sayo-chan." Kuwabara called out, startling the ghost out of her thoughts as she gazed at him in shock "You are Aizaka Sayo-chan, right?"
Hope sprung up in Sayo's eyes, silvery tears forming in them as she stared at the professor. "You…you can see me?" she called out, desperation in her voice as she looked him in the eyes "You can…really see me?"
The lanky professor nodded, and the dam broke. Sayo leapt forward with a wail, tears falling and disappearing on the floor as she flew at the sensei, realizing too late that she'd just phase through him. So it came as quite a surprise when she came in contact with his chest, strong arms holding her steady as she felt his heartbeat through the fabric.
'I can touch him…' she realized, face flushing and eyes closing at the realization that she could feel the warmth in his arms 'I can touch him!'
Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks and onto the black shirt of the professor as she buried her silvery head in it.
As Sayo-chan cries...
Kuwabara gazed down at the ghost in awe, and no end of sorrow. How long had she been here like this? How many years had she spent, walking the corridors alone with no one to talk to? To laugh with? To cry with?
Kuwabara couldn't imagine a worse fate than that, and so he let the spirit of the girl cry against him, suppressing the shudders from her touch as he felt her cling to the fabric of his shirt, made solid by the strength of his reikan and sheer amount of reiki.
Botan stood off to the side, hands over her lips as she gazed at the girl sadly. She couldn't begin to imagine the torment she'd gone through, and worst of all she probably didn't even know how she died in the first place; it happened with people who stayed too long, you forgot things. Botan herself couldn't remember her past life in human world anymore, nobody who stayed dead for long could. Those spirits fortunate enough to pass on chose to do so before the memory of their past lives faded.
After a moment the girl's sniffles died down, though she still clung to Kuwabara desperately. Reaching out, the Tantei patted her softly on the head, marveling at how soft and cold her hair was, like chilled silk. "Feel better?" he asked, receiving a nervous nod from the ghost as she backed away slightly, head lowered and flushing a light pink.
"H-hai," Sayo stammered, sniffing slightly as she bowed "S-sorry sensei, I got your shirt all wet."
"Not a problem." Kuwabara assured her, ruffling her hair and smiling at her reassuringly. He took in her features, wondering why he'd never pieced it together earlier that she wasn't of this world, blaming it in part on the madness that seemed to follow his class.
"It's just…" Sayo sniffed "I haven't really spoken to anyone in so long and no-one seems to notice me unless I scare them and then everything seems to go wrong and-!"
Kuwabara put a hand on her head, calming her down and cutting off the rambling with a knowing look. "No need to explain yourself Sayo, it isn't your fault you're here, and normal people generally can't see ghosts or spirits."
"YOU can, sensei." Sayo pointed out nervously "And I can touch you too." She flushed at this, earning a smile from Botan.
"Well, I've always had a sixth sense of sorts since I was a brat myself." Kuwabara boasted, "Though I couldn't SEE spirits until my teens, and only after a friend of mine came back from the dead."
Sayo's eyes widened at this "B-back?" she repeated, looking fair stunned "You mean…there's a way to come back?"
"Sorry." Botan cut in, looking apologetic at bursting the girl's hopes "But that was a special case, he wasn't supposed to die then. Even if it was the case here your body would have been cremated long before now."
"I…I see." Sayo noted, slumping slightly at the news. She blinked s Kuwabara squeezed her shoulder looking at her in concern.
"Sayo-Chan." The Tantei began "You do know you were supposed to cross over, right?"
Sayo shivered, a thrill of fear shooting up her long dead spine "I…I know I'm not supposed to be here anymore," she stammered "B-but I'm t-too scared to cross over! What if I stop being me? What if something bad happens? What if-?"
Kuwabara hushed her with a finger to the lips "No ones gonna force you to move on." He assured the spectral girl "But its dangerous for spirits to linger in one place too long, sometimes they become corrupted and start causing trouble, like you see in horror films."
"I hated the grudge." Botan muttered with a shiver, "True most of the data was wrong but the general feeling was bang on."
"B-But..." Sayo whispered, trembling as she looked at the floor "I…I've nowhere else to go…"
Scene Change...
The trio moved their discussion out of the classroom and out by the convenience store Sayo usually frequented, Kuwabara purchasing some canned coffee from a vending machine whilst Sayo leaned against the wall.
"I usually hang out around here after hours." The ghost noted with a small smile "There's something comforting about a convenience store at night."
"I hear that." Kuwabara agreed "When I was a brat I always used to go running around at night, and my sis told me if I ever got lost to head for the store nearby." He sighed, recalling how Shizuru would bop him on the noggin before leading him home "Good times."
Sayo giggled at the look on his face and Botan chuckled, imagining the normally aloof Shizuru dragging Chibi Kuwabara down the street by his ear. They sat and watched the sun set, for all the world a group of old friends getting together after work, save one could only be seen by certain folk.
"So what now?" Sayo asked looking at the floor as she spoke "Are you…going to take me away?"
Kuwabara frowned at her, shaking his head as he crushed the can against it, tossing the remains in the bin "Wouldn't know where to start, Reikai protocol demands that spirits with attachments need to be satisfied." He looked at the girl "And not just by talking to you, we'd need to find out how you died in the first place."
"Sadly, that information didn't pass along with you because you never passed on." Botan noted sadly "and since you stayed for so long the memory of how you passed has faded."
"So I'm stuck." Sayo noted, looking all the more depressed. Botan had assured her that she would personally escort her back if it came down to it, a prospect made all the more pleasing by the ferry girl's bubbly nature.
"Looks like it." Kuwabara muttered "And if we can't find a way to release you from the campus you could become corrupted."
Sayo winced "I…I don't want to hurt anyone." She insisted, holding onto her skirt desperately as little ghost flames and shadows formed around her. Kuwabara sweat dropped at the sight, wondering if she even knew how terrifying she'd look to ones who didn't know her.
"Isn't there a way to get her off campus without crossing over?" the Tantei asked Botan, who frowned, holding her chin in thought for a moment, before blinking.
"Of course! A Medium!" at their confused looks she elaborated, "If you could find a medium for Sayo-Chan to inhabit she could leave the campus provided you take it with you!"
"So instead of haunting the school she'd be haunting me?" Kuwabara asked, not really liking that prospect too much, only for Botan's shake to reassure him.
"Iie, she'd basically live inside the medium, preferably something you could carry with you, like a talisman or mortuary tablet."
Kuwabara and Sayo blinked, imagining the looks on everyone's face if Kuwabara started lugging a tombstone around. Botan caught the look and chuckled "Don't worry Kuwa-kun! " She assured him "Just leave everything to me!"
Tatsumiya Shrine...
"A mortuary tablet?" Mana repeated, looking up at the guests at the shrine in interest "Certainly we have some, but may I ask why? Did someone pass away?"
"Sort of..." Botan offered, whilst Kuwabara tried to comprehend the dark skinned beauty wearing a shrine maiden outfit. It suited her in a way, but at the same time made her foreign heritage stand out, like a rare jewel in a humble casing.
Unaware of the scrutiny, the dark-skinned markswoman nodded and moved to a cabinet off to the side, removing a tablet and handing it over to the bluenette. "Will you be needing my services as a priestess?" she asked "It won't come at any extra cost."
"That's all right." Botan assured her "This is really all we needed, thank you for your time!"
"See you in class tomorrow, Tatusmiya-san." Kuwabara added with a smile, the dark-skinned beauty nodding as he bowed, returning the bow with one of her own.
'That woman... Isn't human' she noted, eyeing the retreating form of Botan 'And I'm fairly certain I sensed a third presence…a spirit? Are they attempting an exorcism?'
Mana couldn't help but feel intrigued by her new Senseis; on the one hand there was Negi, son of the legendary hero the Thousand Master, and a prodigal mage in the making at the tender age of ten. On the other there was the older, but apparently more powerful, Kuwabara Kazuma.
Mana wasn't one to actually pay attention to what demons said when she was hunting them but she'd noticed that quite a few had been skirting the area since he'd come here, and that those who DID manage to get through the barrier were cut down well before they became a threat by the man.
That, and word on the mercenary grapevine made it quite clear that Kuwabara-sensei had made a rather impressive name for himself as a thorn in the sides of quite a few criminal organizations, and he apparently had some sort of connection with the now disbanded Black Book Club.
All in all a VERY interesting duo, well worth keeping an eye on.
Later...
"Okay," Kuwabara muttered, taking a deep breath, tablet in one hand as he eyed the chalk line Botan had drawn "You ready, Sayo-chan?"
"H-hai!" the ghostly voice echoed, coming from the tablet in the man's hand. Kuwabara took a breath, lifted his foot, and promptly stepped over the line.
All was quiet, no one making a sound as they counted down the seconds, Kuwabara breaking the silence by lifting up the tablet and giving it a shake. "AH!" Sayo cried out, sounding startled and frantic "Sensei stop! You're making me dizzy!"
"It worked!" Kuwabara exclaimed, the ghost appearing in a plume of mist, eyes dizzy swirls as the Tantei spun the tablet, and by proxy her, around "We did it Sayo-chan! You left the grounds!"
Sayo blinked, before smiling as she left the tablet, setting down on the ground as she looked around in wonder. They were at the very limits of her range, the bridge just off campus that led to the city. She had never ventured this far because it always made her sick. Now she stood, or hovered rather, unhindered, and the air felt as light as ever.
"Bingo!" Botan cheered, jumping for joy as she pumped her fist "So long as Kuwa-kun keeps the tablet with him, Sayo-chan can go where she pleases, at least until we find out what happened."
"Uh, little problem there Botan." Kuwabara muttered, holding up the block tablet "I can't just carry this thing in my pocket y'know."
"Not a problem!" Botan chirped, reaching inside her tracksuit again and pulling out what looked like several leather straps and buckles "Here, one tablet holster!"
"Ano…sensei?" Sayo wondered; sweat dropping alongside the Tantei "Where was she hiding that?"
"I don't think I wanna know." Kuwabara admitted a little fearfully, as he allowed Botan to fasten the holster around his shoulder, like in the old detective movies. He placed the tablet inside carefully, blinking at how snug it fit "You've done this before?"
"Sort of," Botan admitted, fastening the straps "let's just say that Reikai does some rather interesting side jobs."
On the other side of the country...
A lazy slacker with headphones sneezed, dropping his 'beloved' Fiancée's bags and being made to run a triathlon wearing weights, as his Samurai spirit wept pitifully for him.
Eva's Cottage...
Evangeline sighed as she sank into the sofa, feeling drained after the tedious day she'd been forced to sit through. She'd done the exams so many times she'd gotten sick of actually trying to pass. It really didn't seem to matter, since she'd 'vanish' as soon as the rest of her year graduated, physically and in regards to memory if the dean did his stuff right.
She wondered idly where young Springfield had disappeared to, he and the Bakas had been apparently dropped off her mental radar sometime in the evening, taking the dean's granddaughter and the library exploration club with them.
'Could they be looking for the Melusedek?' she wondered idly, recalling that the tome WAS rumored to be hidden deep beneath the island, before scoffing 'Of course not, they probably got lost trying to find some lecture notes in that maze of a library.'
"Master." Chachamaru stated softly, "Kuwabara-sensei is late, shall I leave something out for him?"
Evangeline was about to tell the robot to let the man starve when the devil himself entered the cottage, all orange pony tailed 6ft 5 of him. "Tadaima." Kuwabara greeted yawning as he undid his tie, "You girls aren't asleep yet?"
"We're night owls." Evangeline replied, a wry smirk forming on her petite face at her own joke.
"Welcome back, Kuwabara Sensei." Chachamaru greeted, bowing slightly "Will you be wanting any dinner?"
"Sure, just let me put my stuff away first." Kuwabara replied with a grateful smile, heading up the stairs to the guestroom.
Evangeline quirked an eyebrow, wondering why the hell she felt s if there was someone else in the room, putting it down to the sensei's as yet unfamiliar presence in her home as Chachamaru reheated the food.
Later...
"Man I'm beat..." Kuwabara yawned, dropping onto his bead that night after placing Sayo's tablet on the desk "better get some rest while I can."
He climbed into bed, and was set to go to sleep when a presence at the edge of the bed caused him to turn, noting the nervous features of Sayo. "A-Ano…" the ghost stammered "S-sensei…c-could I…s-sleep with you?" She blushed pink at the look on the man's face "I-its just…I don't know this place and I was always scared of being alone and-!"
She trailed off with a blink as a hand pulled her onto the bed, blinking as the blanket was pulled over her. "I got it." Kuwabara offered, rolling over to give the girl more room, "I used to crawl in with my sis when I was little too, no big deal." He smiled at her "Good-night, Sayo-chan."
Sayo blushed, before smiling, eyes closing as she snuggled under the covers, the sound of her sensei-her FRIEND'S heartbeat, providing a soothing lullaby that carried the spirit to sleep.
The Next Morning...
"Ohayo, Kuwabara-sensei!" Seruhiko greeted, blinking at his younger, yet taller, colleague "You okay? You look like hell."
'You try sleeping next to a ghost when your spiritual awareness is cranked to eleven.' Kuwabara thought grimly, not faulting Sayo for seeking comfort after so long but rather himself for forgetting his experiences with spirits prior to becoming Yusuke's partner. Waking up to find your body paralyzed because of some vindictive spirit was NOT a positive experience for a growing boy.
"Have you seen Negi-kun around?" the bishounen sensei asked "He was late to take attendance, Ayaka-kun brought it in, the Bakas and the dean's granddaughter are missing too." He scratched his head "It's really got us worried, do you think you could substitute for Negi-kun today?"
"Don't see why not." Kuwabara reasoned, wondering where his little buddy had gotten off to with six students, several lurid fantasies blurring across his mind as he made his way to 2A. "Ohayo," he greeted, only to blink as he was beset by a surge of frantic schoolgirls "What in th' hey?"
"Kuwabara-sensei! We got trouble!" Sakurako wailed, "It's the worst! Even Worser! It's the end!"
"Whoa-whoa! Calm down!" the former delinquent called out, pushing the throng of hysterical schoolgirls back so he could get some breathing space. Once calmed, he turned to Ayaka, who was wrining her hands fretfully "Yukihiro-san, what's going on?"
Cue Nadesico theme music!
What's this? Negi-kun and the Baka Rangers are missing?
Ayaka: NEGI-SENSEI!
Fear not brave hearts! Kuwabara-sensei will come to your aid!
Kuwabara: What the hell is THAT?
Ganbare Kuwabara! your students and colleague need you!
Asuna: What we need is a freaking tank!
Next time on Reikai sensei Kuwabara: The weight of Knowledge!
Yue: Who writes these things?
R&R or Chibi Nodoka will hate you.