When we last left our hero he was knee deep in the smelly stuff, trapped inside the Shuren no mon for the equivalent of three months with Toguro.

How have things proceeded without Kuwabara keeping an eye on things?

HEAVEN OR HELL?

LET'S RAWK!

25th period.

Negi gasped as he ran down the darkened hallways of the head temple of the Kansai magical association, staff clenched tightly between his fingers. Things had been rough since Kuwabara had disappeared on them, first Nodoka had come out of left field with a confession that had overloaded the poor welshman's mind, then Asakura had found out about his magic, which culminated in everyone sitting seiza in the hallway as a result of his botched attempts at using Onmyo-wizardry, and his unwittingly creating a second pactio with Nodoka.

Then they'd been assaulted, on two fronts, by the dissenters from the Kansai MA, one group, consisting of Tsukuyomi from the first night, trying to kidnap Konoka at Movie Village, the other involving an Inu Hanyou called Inugami Kotaro, who was hell bent on driving Negi's face into the proverbial pavement in order to prevent the delivery of the message, only for Nodoka and her new pactio to come to the rescue.

Long story short, they had delivered the letter to Konoe Eishun, Konoka's father and the Elder of the Kansai MA, who claimed to be one of his father's old nakama, and he certainly had the battle scars to prove it. Eishun, grateful for the promptness and the care Konoka had been given, offered the group, plus a few tagalongs in the form of Kazumi, Haruna and Yue, a place to stay for the night, claiming the barrier around the shrine to be impregnable. Famous last words.

'I shouldn't have let my guard down!' Negi cursed, recalling the frozen features of the Elder, turned to stone by a high-level spell, even as Setsuna kept pace with him easily 'Now Asakura-san, Nodoka-san and Paru-san are petrified, and the enemy is still at large!'

"Negi-sensei!' Setsuna called, drawing his attention to a scream that sounded vaguely like Asuna, causing a chill to race down their spines, racing for the onsen.

"Sakurazaki-san!" the welsh wizard called out as he ran, looking at the sword-wielding student out the corner of his eye "Has there been any news from Kuwabara-san?"

"None." Setsuna replied, her face grim with concern as she matched his pace "I tried contacting the Shinmeiryuu, but they said he was unavailable." She scowled, "Which means either he's training…or the school is truly involved with the enemy."

Negi shivered, recalling how easily Setsuna had taken him down (subconciously flinching at the memory) and how deadly she'd been against Chigusa, it didn't take a genius to recognize the threat an entire school of such warriors could pose to their mission if they turned out to be the enemy.

"Here we are!" Setsuna yelled, slamming the doors open, only to gape at the sight of Asuna on the floor in a quivering mess "Asuna-san!" the kendo-ka called out, kneeling next to the taller redhead in concern "What happened?!"

"Set…suna…san…" Asuna wheezed, trembling like a leaf, as if each labored breath cost her as she lay in her classmate's arms "They…they took…"

"Oh...Oh God…" Setsuna gaped, her face shadowing in horror as she looked over the redhead's trembling form, various scenarios running through her mind "Asuna-san...don't tell me you were ra-?!"

"I was NOT!" Asuna snapped, recovering miraculously at the insinuation, swatting Setsuna between the eyes before doing the same to a confused Negi "But that guy…He's still here!"

No sooner had she said this did Setsuna react to an incoming attack from behind, swatting aside a strike to the back of her neck, only for the follow-up punch to catch her right in the ribs, sending her flying backwards. Her training allowed her to roll with the blow, ricocheting off the wall in an attempt to regain her balance, only for her injury to slip her up, sending her crashing into the floor in a heap.

"Setsuna-san!" Negi called out, eyes wide with concern, before rounding on the albino youth in anger "you…where've you taken Konoka-san?" he demanded, only to be met with an opaque stare that only increased his anger "How dare you…you've petrified my students, struck Setsuna-san, kidnapped Konoka-san…and done God knows WHAT to Asuna-san…"

Ignoring Asuna's protests of nothing of the sort happening, the son of Nagi Springfield gripped his father's staff tightly as he glared at his for "As a gentleman and their teacher…no, their FRIEND…I cannot forgive you!"

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The youth, ignoring Chamo's yells pf agreement and raised finger, merely sighed, as if bored with all the theatrics "And just what do you intend to do about it…Negi Springfield?" he asked, eyes as emotionless as a dolls "Surely you don't think you can defeat me?" he scoffed, water rising from the floor to envelop him like a ribbon "Right now you aren't worth the time."

"Wait!" Negi called out, cursing in a decidedly un-gentlemanly manner as the youth disappeared into the water without a trace, leaving them to lick their wounds.

"This is pretty high level teleportation magic." Chamo noted with concern, eyeing the portal warily, in case the freak changed his mind and decided to come back "Must be how he got past the barrier."

Negi scowled, only half listening to his ermine companion as he called a towel off the rack to cover Asuna "Please wait here, Asuna-san." He stated, not looking at her as he eyed the woods outside the compound "I'll bring Konoka-san back."

"We should hurry!" Setsuna insisted, limping towards them as Asuna gazed up their sensei dazedly "If I can follow his ki we can-" she cut off mid-sentence as her ribs ached.

"We should listen to what the elder said!" Chamo called out as Negi insisted on healing the swordswoman's wounds "That kid ain't normal, no buts about it, running in half cocked is suicide!" he shivered, a burst of perverse brilliance racing through his ermine mind as he began to chuckle "Setsuna-san…" he drawled, "Do you like Aniki?" he chuckled at her reaction "So would you be adverse to giving him a quick smooch?"

"VERMINE-ERMINE!" Asuna shrieked, flattening the poor sprite into the floor with the palm of her hand as Setsuna and Negi gaped at each other in alarm "What the hell are you scheming at a time like this?!"

"The pactio Ane-san!" Chamo squealed, desperate to avoid becoming an pancake "I'm just saying that since Setsuna-san can already use ki, adding Aniki's magic to the mix would send her power through the roof!"

"B-but a kiss is…" Setsuna stammered, her face redder than a baked beet as she looked at the floor, holding onto her Yunagi tightly "A-after all…I have to think of Oujo-sama…"

"Aw what's the harm?" Chamo teased, puckering up and making smooching noises, eyes sparkling in a truly disturbing manner, right up until Asuna nailed him to the wall "T-tap out...tap out!"

"Anyways…" Setsuna coughed, "I left a message for Umino-sensei when we called earlier." She nodded reassuringly "If there's anyone I can trust in the Shinmeiryuu its him."

"So he'll try to contact Kuwabara-san?" Negi asked, concern for his older colleague and comrade in his tone.

"Hopefully." Setsuna muttered, even as they marched out into the woods "I just hope things aren't as bad as I thought."

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'So they are moving already…' Seiko muttered, hands pressed together in prayer as she sat under a waterfall in nothing but her undergarments, meditating on the matters at hand 'Blood will flow, brother shall turn against brother, and fools will make fools of us all once again…' she scowled, the water falling short as her aura surrounded her 'Not on my watch…'

"Seiko-sama!" Umino-sensei called out, dashing into the clearing, his face fraught with concern, kneeling before the clan head, unabashed at her near-nude form "Tsuruko-sama…she's gone!"

"Gone?" Seiko repeated, standing from her position with the grace of a crane, her nodachi suddenly in her hand as she descended from the raised basin "How long ago?"

"Unknown milady." The instructor muttered, rising to assist his former student with her clothing, unconcerned with her state of near-nudity "But if I may be so bold, she has seemed a little antsy as of late, ever since…"

"The fight with Kuwabara-kun." Seiko finished for him, sighing in that long-suffering manner mothers reserved when children misbehave "Ah well, it will be good to see her skills in use again."

"But…Seiko-sama!" Iruko insisted, looking at the clan head in concern as he held up her Uwagi "Konoka-Oujo-sama is the target! If anything has happened to her-!"

"Then the fool that conceived this farce of a plan is already dead." Seiko muttered, fastening her Hakama in place with a tight tug "Tsuruko shall see to that."

To this Iruko had nothing to say, for he knew first hand what happened when Tsuruko's temper was sparked. Few things terrified the old master, and the 'game face' of the daughter of his former student, and by proxy his own student, was one of them. "But that's beside the point!" he insisted "There's the alliance to think of! If Konoka-Oujo-sama learns the truth-!"

"Umino-sensei…" Seiko called out, snapping the man out of his rant as she held one delicate finger in the air, as if testing for wind "How long has Kuwabara-kun been in the gate?"

"Two days at least." The instructor replied, quirking an eye brow in confusion, "which by itself is an achievement, but what does that have to do with-?" He fell silent as a rumble shook the complex, eyes widening as a burst of demonic aura registered on his senses, several miles from them "B-Bakana!" he exclaimed, whipping around in alarm "The gates…!"

"Umino-sensei…" Seiko called out, her serene smile in place as the instructor turned to face her, her eyes following two decidedly familiar auras as they vanished off the grounds "Please see to it that the trainees understand this isn't an attack."

"Seiko-sama?" Iruko wondered, only for his face to settle into its usual calm mask, bowing at the waist before dashing off to calm the students, who had been roused by the wave of aura and were already scouting for intruders.

"Take care, Kuwabara-kun." Seiko wished, looking out at the moon in the sky with a smile "And good hunting…my daughter…"

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"You brats are certainly persistent…" Chigusa muttered, gazing down at the three interlopers from before, a little annoyed at their constant interruptions, "but I see that Neanderthal isn't with you this time," she noted, rubbing her cheek tenderly, as it still felt quite raw "you think you stand a chance without him?"

"Better than you think, Amagasaki Chigusa!" Setsuna called out, startling the Onmyo sorceress with her knowledge of her name "By tomorrow morning the reinforcements the elder sent for will have arrived, all of them looking for you! If you understand that then you'll surrender immediately and-!"

"Reinforcements?" Chigusa repeated, her tone droll and mocking as she stepped forwards "By all means, send as many as you can after me…once I get to the shrine it's all over."

"You think we'll just let you go?!" Asuna called out, only for her eyes to widen as Chigusa stepped daintily off the boulder and onto the surface of the lake.

"It's time you brats knew just what you were dealing with…" Chigusa noted, arms spread wide as her monkey golem brought a naked, bound Konoka to her "Once I give you a taste of Oujo-sama's power…you'll wish you were still cowering back at the Temple!"

The group flinched, Setsuna glaring at the sorceress as she slapped a slip of paper to the girl's neck, eliciting a scream from Konoka as her magical energies were forcibly brought to the surface. "Oujo-sama!" Setsuna yelled, and would have raced to the girl's side, were it not for the multitude of summoning arrays that were filling the area between them, from which a multitude of horned apparitions were forming.

"I'm still a little sore about the other day." Chigusa called out, her cheek aching as she spoke "So I'll let these guys have some fun with you for a while." She smirked at them "Oh don't worry, they won't kill you…maim and cripple maybe, but I'm not the type that enjoys killing brats."

And with that she left, laughing all the while, with her golem and the white haired youth in tow.

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"Oi-oi what's this?" a member of the bird-clan muttered, tilting his head slightly to ogle their prey in annoyance "We're finally summoned after all this time and all we get is a bunch of children?"

"Tell me about it." a rather thuggish looking oni growled "I haven't had human since the new decree was announced, you ask me Mukuro-sama's got a few screws loose."

"B-Baka! Don't speak her name!" one of his fellows stammered, swatting upside the head as the group looked around in fear "what if she was summoned her too huh?!"

"No chance of that." The apparent leader muttered, though he looked uneasy "There's no-one alive strong enough to summon an S-rank demon to this plain…though I'm surprised so many of us made it." as it were he shrugged his shoulders and sighed "Though it's tough luck for you kids…since we're under contract we can't show any mercy…" we titled his head apologetically "try not to hold it against us."

"Seems a shame tho…" one scraggly character noted with a leer, causing Setsuna to scowl and Asuna to shiver in disgust "These little chicks seem pretty tasty."

"Bah, you and your fantasies you old letch." A random female oni muttered, earning a few chuckles from the crowd, "I prefer mine with more meat on them…though that kid looks pretty tasty…I could just swallow him whole!"

'Most of these guys are D-rank bordering on C-rank.' Setsuna muttered, shivering slightly at the sheer misfortune as Asuna and Negi stood back to back with her 'I can probably handle some of them," she shot the leader and a few others a look "but there's a couple of C-rank primes in there…not something Asuna-san is ready for.'

Negi, trying to avoid the looks some of the demons were giving him, summoned a tornado out of thin air to buy some time for them to strategize, much to the annoyance of the gathered oni. "What are we going to do?" he asked, trying to maintain the spell as long as possible "This isn't looking too good!"

"We've no choice but to split up." Setsuna muttered, drawing looks of alarm from the duo "I'll stall the demons while you two rescue Oujo-sama." She smiled at their protests, honestly touched by their concern "Relax, exterminating demons is my specialty."

"Then I'm staying too!" Asuna insisted, earning looks of shock from the group "We can't leave Setsuna-san alone with these freaks!"

"That might not be such a bad idea…" Chamo muttered, looking thoughtful as he eyed the redhead's harisen in approval "Ane-san's harisen sends summoned creatures back to the ether, logically speaking she's got a one-hit kill when it comes to these guys!" he looked to Negi "aniki, if you only bolster he defense, how long can you prolong the pactio?"

"Five…maybe ten…" the Welshman muttered, running the numbers through his head with a grunt "no longer than fifteen minutes max." he finished at length "And that's being optimistic."

"Crap…but better than nothing." Chamo muttered, actually a little pleased with himself, at Negi's level, less than Ten minutes should've only been the optimistic limit "While we're at it, we should avoid that git with the white hair and focus on getting Konoka-nee-san back…and with Aniki alone he can fly…" he grinned "Got it! Ane-san and Setsuna-nee-san, you distract the demons while Aniki and I grab Konoka-nee-san! Then we regroup and beat feet back to the temple until those reinforcements arrive!"

"I dunno…" Asuna muttered, looking out through the breaks in the tornado at the annoyed horde of demons "there's a lotta holes in that plan…"

"Frankly I'm wont to agree with you but we don't got time to nitpick!" Chamo countered, shaking a paw for emphasis "The barrier's coming down any second now!"

"I understand." Setsuna muttered, her face set in a determined frown as she spoke, her hand tightening around the hilt of Yunagi as she nodded "Let's do it."

"All Right!" Chamo cheered, pumping an ermine fist as he cackled "In that case! Let's try the pactio again!" He cheered, making smooching noises only for Setsuna and Negi to balk "This ain't the time to be squeamish!" the ermine roared, towering over them with drool dripping from his maw "The more cards we have the more firepower we can call up!"

"I-I suppose…" Negi stammered, standing ramrod straight as his friend drew the pactio circle around him and Setsuna, the older girl flushing slightly, much to Asuna's annoyance.

"Could you two hurry it up!" Asuna yelled over the howling wind and the sounds of violence outside "Those guys are sound like their building up to a riot out there!"

"R-right…" the two in the circle stammered, before leaning in, light flaring from the circle as the pactio was completed, Chamo singing with glee as he caught the Pactio card out of the air as it formed.

"Quit staring at each other and get ready!" Asuna snapped, the flush adorning her cheeks nothing compared to the one on Negi's, Setsuna snapping out of her daze with an embarrassed shake 'Good grief, that kids more likely to become a gigolo than a mage at this rate!' she muttered, confused as to why she even cared.

Positioning themselves as best they could, the girls prepared to dash out after Negi, who was readying his Jovis Tempestas, distracted the oni enough to make a clean break for the shrine as the barrier came down.

None of them expected the scene that awaited them when the tornado vanished.

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"D-damn…" the leader of the oni muttered, covered in fresh, bleeding scars from head to foot, one arm cut off at the elbow as he held himself upright with his club, a Kitsune-onna on his shoulder trying to staunch the bleeding "How'd you find us so fast?"

"It was simple really." a mocking voice pointed out, the owner a diminutive, red-eyed figure in a black cloak with spiky black hair and a drawn katana "Without the barrier separating the worlds it's child's play for trash to sneak through the naturally occurring gateways." He smirked, dropping the limp form of a member of the bird tribe as he spoke "There's nothing we can do about those portals, but the ones you and your friends came through were created with summoning magic…MUCH easier to track."

"Damn…" one of the random oni cursed, covered in slash wounds as he and his fellows surrounded the swordsman "We haven't even been here for a minute and already the patrols are onto us…"

"I really don't see why you'd bother to come here." The figure scoffed, snorting in dismissal "I've spent enough time in the human world to know it's populated by fools that don't know what they want." He eyed the woods around them carefully "Though I'll admit the scenery can be pleasant enough, though you slaggards probably wouldn't care for that."

"What the hell do you know Hiei?!" a random voice called out from amongst the crowd "You don't need to eat humans to survive! We're starving here!"

"Then I suggest you follow Raizen's group's example and start cultivating humans like the Shiseijuu used to." Hiei replied, tapping his sword against his leg to shake the blood off it "Though quite frankly I couldn't give a damn."

"Dammit! Stop looking down on us you little shit!" several members of the bird tribe yelled out, lunging at him with their swords drawn, several oni following in their wake.

"You want to die?" Hiei asked, seemingly amused at their bravado, shaking his head in dismissal as he raised his swords "Orokana-me…"

He blurred out of sight, the attacking demons blinking in confusion, only to fall screaming to the floor a second later, some missing limbs, and others merely hacked to pieces, staining the water beneath them a coppery red.

"The rules clearly state that Ningenkai is off limits to denizens of Makai." Hiei stated, the horde whirling round to find him sitting peacefully on a branch, one leg dangling toward the ground and his sword sheathed "If you come quietly then I can at least guarantee that you won't suffer too much."

"Loved to comply…" the leader of the oni grunted, rising steadily to his feet "But the fact of the matter is we were summoned here, which means we have to fulfill the contract or destroy the summoner to go back."

"I had wondered why some of you were disappearing as I hacked at you." Hiei noted, watching the bird-tribe members he'd 'disarmed' vanish in plumes of smoke as they howled, his stare laced with intrigue "Still, it's your own fault for letting temptation get the better of you."

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"Ano…what the hell is going on?" Asuna stammered, pointing at the conversing demons, feeling a little put-on by the turn of events. She been psyching herself up for a major blow-out, instead their opponents seemed to be more concerned with a little slip of a guy that was almost as short as Negi.

"Setsuna-san?" Negi whispered, looking towards the swordswoman as he spoke, noting she seemed even more guarded than before "Is he an ally? Do you think we should all go while they're distracted?"

"No…" Setsuna muttered, shivering as she got a read on the red-eyed apparition's aura, and the barely contained malice that was roiling within it "He's no ally…at least not one of ours…"

"But…he's taken out half of them before we dropped the barrier!" Asuna insisted, waving her harisen for emphasis "Plus they're scared of him! So he has to be a good guy!"

"He's no good guy…" Setsuna muttered, backing up slightly as she kept her eye on the man "And he's certainly no ally, not the enemy's either, if anything he despises humans more than anything else."

"Then why'd he help us?" Negi wondered, wincing as all the hairs on Chamo's body threatened to stand up, tickling the Welshman's neck as he looked between the new arrival and the horde.

"I don't know…most likely he doesn't know we're here." Setsuna muttered, sounding oddly hopeful as she said it "In any case, we should get going while we can before someone-!"

"You there." The dark figure called out, startling the group as he flicked one crimson orb in their direction "Don't even think of going anywhere…I have some questions for you…" he narrowed his eyes at Setsuna "Especially you…half-breed."

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Cue the Nadesico music.

Narrator: A red-eyed vision from the past has arrived!

Hiei: Who the devil are you?

Narrator: Hidden beneath his cold stare lies a passion as fierce as his temper!

Hiei: Are you trying to annoy me?

Narrator: Can Setsuna's steel answer the call of this lonely heart?!

Narrator: Next time on Reikai Sensei Kuwabara: Little Hiei, Big Crisis!

Hiei:...(sound of a Katana unsheathing)...Die...

R&R or face the Kokuryuuha(Dragon of the Darkness Flame)