The warrior enters the shrine.

Enemies flock to waylay him.

Blades dance, Blood falls.

That terrible attempt at Haiku aside, lets get back to kuwabara.

22nd period.

'Okay…' Kuwabara muttered, looking around warily at the row of angry faces 'Did I forget to knock or something? These girls don't feel like the guys hiding in the treetops so I doubt they're the welcoming committee.'

"Vile male!" a shorthaired girl called out imperiously, pointing her nodachi at the man for emphasis "How dare you set foot on this most sacred of grounds!"

"Who? Me?" Kuwabara replied dumbly, looking around in confusion in case someone else had come up with him, he didn't THINK he'd done anything wrong...

"Yes you, you filthy beast!" the same girl yelled, pointing her nodachi at the man "You dare to defile our sacred grounds with your unworthy presence? Begone!"

'Unworthy presence?' Kuwabara repeated, fighting t keep his calm 'Sacred ground? Who's the one sellin' their services to those freaks at the KMA?' Shaking himself he cleared his throat and reached into his jacket pocket "Um…I was sent here ta see a Mrs. Aoyama Tsuruko…" he began, only to blink and trail off as several blades were pointed right under his nose.

"Filth like you is not worthy to utter the name of Tsuruko-sama!" the leader hissed, looking highly incensed "And your lies will not sway us, Tsuruko-sama would NEVER deign to meet with one such as you, let alone LOOK at you." She sniffed contemptuously "Weakling wastes of space such as yourself shall not be permitted here."

--

Kuwabara hid it well but on the inside he was beginning to get more than a little pissed. He hadn't been here five minutes and already he was being threatened by a girl in real need of an attitude adjustment, or failing that a kick in the ass, and her girlfriends; all of whom seemed to have some sort of Amazon thing going on, and not in the way most would interpret it.

'Just great, I ran into a feudal feminine extremists club.' He muttered, suppressing the urge to glare lest they take it as a threat. Kuwabara was all for equality and feminine empowerment and all, and until recently had never raised a hand to strike a woman, not even in self-defense. But there was chivalry and then there was neutering, and last the tantei checked his pickles and eggs were VERY much intact, Setsuna's transgressions in the onsen aside.

"I came here to see Aoyama Tsuruko." He repeated, frowning authoritatively and looking the leader in the eye, causing her to back off slightly "So get your little dyke butt in gear and fetch her or send one of your girlfriends ta do it, either way I'm not moving an inch till she's standin' in front of me."

The girls flushed as one at the man's comments, the leader gaping at him like an outraged fish before raising her sword over her head and bringing it down with an outraged cry of "DIE YOU LETCH!"

SPANG!

Silence fell over the group, their eyes widening as Kuwabara caught the blade with his bare hand, right on the soft bit of flesh joining thumb and forefinger. "B-Bakana!" the leader stammered, too shocked to move "With…your bare hand?"

"Amazing what you can do with a little training." Kuwabara muttered, keeping the flow of reiki in his hand from glowing so as not to let the game away. As it was, the technique was NOTHING like Setsuna or Tsukuyomi's, it had been a simple blow with a katana, albeit with more strength than one would expect from a teenage girl.

The leader snapped back to her senses and moved to pull her sword back, only to find it stuck as if blade and hand were one "Unhand my sword!" she demanded, struggling to release the blade, only to collapse with a yelp as Kuwabara did so, falling on her rump with all the dignity of a sack of potatoes.

The others were on him in an instant, blades held high as they let out a joint battle cry, lunging at the man even as he crouched down, clenching both fists tightly as the blades stabbed down.

"REIKEN!"

The two blades of reiki activated, slicing through steel and snapping the blades off near the hilt, the stunned trainees blinking as they stood over the crouched intruder, two of them getting an up close look at the reiki swords. "The first one to move…Dies." Kuwabara bluffed, his game face on, hoping like hell these girls had enough sense to back down before he actually had to hurt them. He didn't think he could justify away attacking a bunch of delusional trainees, some of which looked like they were about to break into tears as a result of the aura he was leaking, the leader had actually wet herself.

"That is quite enough." A calm, cultured voice called out, everyone's heads turning to regard the woman standing at the front door to the dojo.

--

Pale skin the colour of ivory, obsidian hair that fell to her waist like a waterfall. The Hakama and uwagi suited her perfectly, accentuating her light, supple frame in ways a dress could not. Had Kuwabara not firmly rooted in his mind that Yukina was his one and only, the man would have been head over heals at the sight before him.

As it were, he settled for staring at the woman like a retarded chimp, a look shared by a few members of his apparent hostages. "S-Seiko-sama!" the leader of the girls exclaimed, looking at the woman in alarm and no small amount of embarrassment. "We…we tried sending this vile interloper away but he-!"

"Overpowered you and revealed to you how sorely lacking you are in training and discipline." The woman cut in curtly, voice calm but with an iron strength that gripped those before her "Makoto, while I do not condone your idolization of Motoko-chan, I cannot say the same for your adopting her flawed reasoning as your own."

"B-but Seiko-sama!" Makoto exclaimed, looking embarrassed and mortified at the elder woman's chastising "M-Motoko-sama-!"

"Could not get over her sister's marriage and chose to write it off as corruption on behalf of her husband." Seiko cut in, eyeing the stuttering girl before her with a steely expression "A matter which has nothing to do with your assault upon a guest to our dojo." She nodded to Kuwabara, a warm smile on her face "Pardon them kind sir, they are but novices who have yet to learn the difference between swinging a sword and wielding it."

"No harm done." Kuwabara replied, disengaging the reiken and standing up, several girls sighing in relief "They were just protecting their dojo from an intruder, and it was my fault for baiting them."

"Your words are kind for one who was wronged." Seiko noted with a smile, "I apologize for their transgressions." She nodded and four adult warriors, dressed in the same manner she was, appeared behind the group "I assure you their instructors will see they are properly disciplined."

"No need to get harsh." Kuwabara insisted, earning looks of confusion from some of the girls "They were just doing what they thought was right, can't blame 'em for that can you?"

Seiko's smile seemed to warm a little more as she regarded the man with twinkling eyes "You truly are a gentleman." She noted, "Very well, perhaps a night without supper then, let them have a reason to be so uncivilized, rather than the adopted bias of a headstrong sempai." She nodded towards the dojo "Would you care to join me for tea?"

Kuwabara nodded, aware that quite a few of the girls were gazing at his back as he walked forward, ignoring it with the ease of his years as a delinquent.

Had he known not all the looks were hostile, it was unlikely the tantei would have been so nonchalant.

--

"I see, so Genkai-san sent you." Seiko noted, setting a cup of tea before the tantei, she smiled at Sayo, who blushed, having never seen such beauty even when she was alive.

"Don't suppose ya know why she sent me do ya?" Kuwabara asked, between sips of rather delicious tea "All I know is I'm supposed to give that letter to Tsuruko-san."

"Tsuruko should be home any moment now," Seiko noted with a smile, looking up as the shogi door slip open "Ah, welcome home Tsuruko, we have a guest."

Kuwabara looked up and blinked as what could only be described as Seiko's twin entered the room, a strange bird on her shoulder and two bells on the pommel of her nodachi.

"Ara? I wasn't expecting anyone today." Tsuruko exclaimed with a polite smile, bowing towards the stunned tantei "I do apologize for keeping you waiting."

"Wasn't here that long." Kuwabara stammered, shaking himself in embarrassment before scratching his neck "That is, I only just got here, Tsuruko-san." He held up the cup of tea "Your sister and I only just started on our tea."

Tsuruko blinked, looking at the man in confusion, before lifting the hem of her sleeve to her lips and chuckling, a look of amusement on her face that made Kuwabara suddenly very aware of how small the room was. "Ano…did I say something wrong?" he asked, looking round only to find Seiko was mimicking Tsuruko's actions.

"Gomen," Tsuruko offered, smiling gently at the man "you see, this is my mother, not my sister."

Kuwabara's eyes widened as he looked between the two, only now noticing the slight differences. For one, Seiko's hips were a bit wider, and her bust line, what was apparent through the uwagi, probably had an inch or so more than her daughter. Other than these, there was no perceptible difference between them.

"You certainly are a flatterer young man." Seiko noted, the odd twinkle in her eyes making Kuwabara decidedly hot under the collar "Though I must admit you aren't the first to make the same mistake, only those who have lived within the compound can truly tell us apart."

Kuwabara tried to rein in his embarrassment and settled for fishing around for the letter in his pocket "Erm, I was sent here by Genkai-Baachan." He explained, noting Tsuruko's eyebrow quirk slightly at the master's name "She asked me to give this to you."

Tsuruko accepted the letter delicately and slit it open, unfurling the paper within and running her eyes over Genkai's tidy script.

--

Tsuruko,

I'm sorry to bother you in your retirement but I'm sending a certain lunkhead over to you for training.

He has a good heart and is certainly powerful, quite possibly the strongest human on the planet in regards to raw power, but I fear that having already passed on my techniques to a successor, he would be better suited learning a different style of combat.

He has already mastered the basics of Reiko Hadouken in the past week and is currently wearing the spirit cuffs, so he should have a decent grasp of himself and his limits.

Oh, one more thing; while it isn't really a concern the lunkhead seems to have gotten it into his head that women are defenseless flowers and that no 'real man' would raise a hand against one, even in self defense. Normally this would be seen as chivalrous, but he's been selected as the next reikai tantei by Koenma and you know first hand that not all demons are of the muscular, testosterone reliant stereotype.

Please knock some sense into his head; lord knows he has a brain in there somewhere.

Genkai.

P.S Don't even think of using the Aoyama family charm as motivation, kid's too much of a virgin to have any kind of defense against it, that and he's pretty much smitten as is.

--

"Well now," Tsuruko noted, looking up to find Kuwabara had excused himself to use the bathroom "So the new Reikai Tantei has been selected, that took a while."

"I hear they are being more selective of late, what with Urameshi-san's atavism and the debacle with Sensui." Seiko noted, noting a look of sadness on her daughter's face "It is done Tsuruko, he would not have wished for you to grieve forever."

"I know." Tsuruko sighed, eyes on her hands, "It's just…if we'd known what was going on, maybe we could have done something…"

"When Sensui came to us for training we sensed no evil intent about his person," Seiko noted "he was just a shattered, weary man that had come to seek solace amidst others who knew the burden of defending the world." She sighed "Your father was always quick to make friends, one of the reasons I married him…he merely placed his trust in the wrong man."

They sat in silence for a moment, only to look up as Kuwabara returned, noting a red handprint on his cheek. "Sorry, got lost." The tantei noted, rubbing his cheek tenderly, a red palm print visible "Took a left instead of a right and wound up in the ladies room."

"A simple mistake, Kuwabara-kun." Seiko assured the boy kindly "We will not fault you on it." she waited until he was seated "Now then, it would appear Genkai-chan has sent you for further training."

Kuwabara's eyes widened, as he looked between the two in confusion "Training…here?" he asked.

"Is that a problem?" Seiko asked, honestly a little surprised at his reaction. She wasn't insulted of course, but the discomfort was a little unusual considering how prestigious the school was.

"Well…" Kuwabara began "It's just…one of my students has recently been under threat from the KMA…and a Shinmeiryuu warrior was sent to aid in her kidnapping."

"Are you certain?" Tsuruko asked, and Kuwabara noted her hand had strayed to her sword hilt "Could it not have been a mistake?"

Kuwabara frowned and reached for his shirt, opening it to reveal the thin, x-shaped scar across his chest "I dodged her swords but she still managed to cut me." He explained, buttoning his shirt "She said her name was Tsukuyomi or sumthin'"

Tsuruko and Seiko flinched, eyes growing hard and Kuwabara found his wrist incased in a grip that was deceptively strong considering how delicate the owner's hand was. "Are you certain she said Tsukuyomi?" Seiko asked, looking into the Tantei's eyes, the twinkle gone "Was she a blonde with spectacles?"

"And a frilly sundress and hat." Kuwabara elaborated, grimacing at the strength in those delicate fingers "She fought with a kodachi and Tanto."

"That's her for certain." Tsuruko noted grimly "She was indeed a member of the Shinmeiryuu, a prodigy despite her vision impairment." She frowned "However, when we learned of her more…violent tendencies, we sent her out into the world, as is tradition, to learn restraint."

"It would appear she joined with those rebels in the Kansai Magic Association." Seiko noted with a grim frown "Eishun-kun certainly has his hand's full."

They sat in silence for a moment, before Tsuruko smiled at Kuwabara warmly "Well then, what say we get started?"

"Eh?" Kuwabara stammered, blinking as Chibizaki tugged on his sleeve insistently, looking up at Tsuruko in confusion "You mean…right now?"

"Well, you may want to change." Tsuruko allotted with a smile "But we're going to see what you can do first."

--

Kuwabara swallowed as he stepped out on the court, dressed in his tracksuit bottoms and a vest. He didn't feel like replacing two suits in as many days but still felt oddly out of place considering the number of traditionally dressed trainees and masters there were milling in the background. He felt even more concerned at the fact his opponent was someone even the normally unflappable Sakurazaki seemed nervous around.

Tsuruko stood at one side of the wide courtyard, her sword sheathed at her side and that ever present smile on her face. While it was meant to put the man before her at ease she couldn't help but chuckle internally at how he seemed to flinch. "Relax Kuwabara-kun, this is merely a test to determine your abilities." She smiled "We do not challenge guests to death matches here."

"Uh…right." Kuwabara stammered, looking even more nervous at how nonchalantly she'd spoken of death matches. He allowed his hand to stray to the pocket of his tracksuit, where his Tameshi no ken lay hidden. He hadn't forgotten how it had served him against Toguro-Ani, and figured against one of Genkai's associates it was best to have as many options as possible.

"The rules are simple:" Seiko announced, sitting seiza style on the walkway off to the side, two trainees at her side and Sayo's tablet I her hands "You are to battle at full strength until either you surrender or are defeated…while we frown on the use of lethal force feel free to use it if you feel your life is in danger."

'No death matches huh?' Kuwabara muttered sullenly, a bead of sweat running down his cheek, before snapping to attention and clenching his knuckles.

"Well then…" Tsuruko began with a smile, drawing her sword as she spoke "Shall we begin then?"

Kuwabara barely had time to register how here eyes had begun to glow before all hell broke loose.

--

"Tsuruko-sama is as impressive as always." One of the trainers at the dojo noted, sitting seiza style alongside Seiko as he watched the goings on "As to be expected of the former heir." He frowned as Kuwabara stumbled about the courtyard desperately "Still, this Kuwabara hardly seems worthy of the recommendation of Genkai-dono."

"You think so?" Seiko noted, smiling lightly with her eyes half closed "Tell me then, why hasn't Tsuruko landed a hit, even if she IS holding back?"

The trainer was about to reply when he paused, frowning in thought. Even if she WAS holding back, Tsuruko did not believe in going so easy on an opponent they thought they stood a chance simply because they could dodge. 'Wound an enemy to warn them.' He recited, 'She should have at least cut his clothes, especially with that starting Raikouken.' He frowned as Kuwabara dodged out of the path of a Zankuusen, albeit clumsily, "Masaka…Shingan?"

"Iie," Seiko noted with a smile "if Genkai had encountered someone with Shingan she'd have sent him to us only after training him to his full potential." She smiled "It's Reikan, his spiritual awareness enables him to detect the changes in Tsuruko's energy just before she launches an attack."

'A reikan so powerful…in one so young?' the master noted, eyeing the panting Kuwabara in interest 'warriors of the Shinmeiryuu train extensively to increase their natural awareness…for him to possess it in spades…'

"Still," the master noted, "If reikan is his only strength it won't matter much against-!" he trailed off as Kuwabara captured Tsuruko's blade between his palms "Impossible…he should have lost his hands!"

"Who said his sole asset was his reikan?" Seiko countered, smiling at the glow rising off the man's palms.

--

"Impressive." Tsuruko applauded honestly "Gathering reiki into your palms to form shields, then using them to hold the blade rather than deflect it."

"Not too difficult." Kuwabara grunted, trying to look tough but Tsuruko's strength as giving him a hard time "Just added a little twist to something Genkai-Baachan taught me."

"Still," Tsuruko noted, leaning in so that only the width of her blade separated combatants "now that you have me…what next?" she sighed internally as the man's eyes wrought in confusion "Kuwabara-kun…hesitation means death."

Her sandaled foot caught the tantei under the shin, Kuwabara sailing upward, taking Tsuruko's sword with him. He gaped heavenward for a moment, only to blink as the Kyoto beauty appeared in his vision. "Sumimasen." She offered, and then everything went pear shaped as she spun him through the air in a somersault, colliding face first with the courtyard.

--

"A perfectly executed Ukigumo Sakurasanka." The master from before noted with a small smile "Still think she's holding back, Seiko-sama?"

"He's still conscious isn't he?" Seiko replied with a smile, the master blinking and staring as Kuwabara moaned, sitting up stiffly even as Tsuruko looked down at him, having reclaimed her sword.

--

"You leave yourself open yet have no way to counter a high-speed attack, you wrongly assume that just because I have a weapon I am unable to fight without it." Tsuruko frowned slightly "And while I applaud you chivalry, can you not see that I am quite capable of defending myself?"

"I can't hit girls! It isn't right!" Kuwabara shot back, getting to his feet with a grunt "I broke that vow once because of anger, I WON'T let that happen again!"

"Even if it costs you the life of a friend?" Tsuruko asked pointedly, noting the flinch on the man's face "I apologize for my bluntness, Kuwabara-san, but there are times to act chivalrous and there are times when you must do anything to win…bushido is not as widely accepted as it once was." She frowned "Even amongst the Shinmeiryuu."

She watched as her words sunk in, noting the alarming whirl of emotions that was running rampant in the man's aura. Confusion, anger, determination and most notably stubbornness. It would take a lot to get through to this one it would seem.

"Kuwabara-san." She called out, the fringe of her hair hiding her eyes "When Genkai-san sent you to us it wasn't just for training…it was to open your eyes to the fact that women are just as respectable as warriors as men."

"I understand that!" Kuwabara shot back, only to blink as a cut appeared on his cheek, freezing at the chill the blow left behind.

"No, you don't." Tsuruko countered, her sword unsheathed and pointed at the floor "You stubbornly refuse to strike back even after you had me caught off guard, you flail around like a drunken monkey to avoid my attacks, yet refuse to reciprocate…you have dishonored the duel, Kuwabara-san."

"H-hold on a sec!" Kuwabara began, only to blink as Tsuruko raised her head, stiffening in terror at the unholy glow of her eyes, wondering if the warrior was indeed half demon herself.

"Release your shackles Kuwabara." The demon-sword of Kyoto called out, the Shinmeiryuu battle aura whirling around her, lifting her sleeves and hair and shadowing her face "Unleash your power and face me seriously…or die."

--

Sakurazaki flinched, looking up at the sky suddenly in trepidation as an odd shudder ran down her spine. 'Kuwabara-sensei…' she muttered concernedly, wondering if she should send her shikigami back to see what was going on only for Konoka to leap in front of her with a tray of dango, smiling at her as she suggested they eat together.

Asuna, too concerned with warding off Haruna and Yue, could only watch as the normally aloof kendo-ka made for the hills, Konoka on her tail. 'What got into her?' she wondered, only for Haruna's kick to catch her off guard "PRGH!"

--

Que the Nadesico music

What ho! Kuwabara faces the Demon sword of Kyoto!

Tsuruko: OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!

The blade that has drunk the blood of thousands has awoken!

Setsuna: (Terrified) KUWABARASENSEI?!

Will he survive this battle? Or will the legend of kuwabara be cut short, along with his life?!

Next time on Reikai Sensei Kuwabara; Blades of passion!

Seiko: Oh my, what could you be insinuating there?

R&R or Kuwabara gets turned to sashimi!