FicWad

A.N. – Hello everyone! I sincerely apologize for the long hiatus, but at last I’m back and ready to get back to work. I won’t bother making excuses with you all about what kept me away, but I’m gonna do my best to work around the changes currently going on in my personal life in order to finish this (and my other) stories. Please read and enjoy this chapter, and as always leave a review!
Poltergeist Report 2: The Untold Saga
Chapter 8 – Training Day pt. 2
By: Shisoukengo
"What the hell's your problem, lady?!"
Kuwabara's hands were up in a defensive position, his fear of the situation having apparently distracted him from the fact that he was dressed only in a tank-top and boxers. The woman's hands flashed again in response, though she was still a little too far away from him to make contact. It was only due to years of fighting instinct and his spiritual sensitivity that he jerked back reflexively, avoiding having his scalp removed. Instead, a quick glance downward saw a few orange strands of hair float to the ground.
His attention was brought back up to the current situation as he suddenly twisted to the side to avoid a direct thrust to the head from Kuroko's glowing hand. The wooden wall behind him splintered and burst, leaving behind a large gouge in its wake.
'Damn, that's some technique! Not only does it seem sharp as a razor, but the power's pretty awesome too.' His admiration was cut off as he barely dodged another series of strikes, wounds being scraped into his flesh with tattered clothes and cuts on his skin.
"Damn it, I said what the hell's your problem, lady?!"
Hands and eyes still glowing with a humming violet hue, the former spirit detective grinned, a look that managed to hold both a dangerous and seductive quality to it all at once.
"My problem is your bumbling method of defending against an opponent's frontal attack." She paused, crossing her glowing hands in front of her in what Kuwabara recognized as an x-guard. "A method which, fortunately for you, I'm here to correct."
With that, Kuroko dashed forward again, multiple flashes following as her hands traced well-coordinated knife-hand strikes to Kuwabara's vitals. Neck, head, chest, abdomen, and even his groin were all targets which he avoided having struck via a series of comically awkward bending and stretching movements. He finally managed to get some distance from her, tucking into a roll away from a wide-sweeping knife-hand to the neck. He barely glimpsed a vision of another gouge left in the damaged wall he was previously trapped against, before finally being caught again. Performing a step-twist movement he'd only recognized in old Chinese kung-fu movies, Kuroko managed distract him by catching his attention with another right knife-hand strike, this one deliberately not close to touching him.
"Shit!" He cried, realizing too little, too late the feint that had been purposefully used before he was struck with a blast of rei-ki from Kuroko's left-handed palm strike.
The blow sent him sailing through the doorway, having just barely missed wrecking the shoji screens as the door was slid open by the aging master of the property. Genkai stood impassively watching as Kuwabara struck a wooden post, bouncing off of it before coming to rest at her tiny feet. Barely managing to push himself up on all fours, he tried to shake off the effects of what felt like the equivalent of being struck with a wayward wrecking ball.
"I hope, for your sake, you found a lesson in this little late-night exchange of yours." The patronizing voice of the old master had the effect of dispelling the last ill-effects of the blow he'd taken.
Kuwabara glared up at her, only to be met with the same bored stare she cast on just about everything she considered none-threatening, or not worth her time. In this case, the teen was pretty sure it was the former, and perhaps a little bit of the latter too. Grunting, he managed to get himself up to one knee, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his now sore neck and head.
"The only thing I learned is that lady there is as crazy as Urameshi said you were!" He gestured in the direction of Kuroko, who delicately stepped out of the room as if nothing had happened, the glow of her rei-ki having faded.
"Why Kuwabara-kun, what a terrible thing to say to the two people who'll be taking time out to make you stronger," she mockingly chastised.
Walking back in the direction of her room, she left Genkai to finish the late night instruction of her frustrated charge. Kuroko just managed to catch a bewildered Yukina coming out of their shared room.
"Is everything alright? I heard a lot noise." Yukina asked as she was gently ushered back into the room.
"Everything's fine, Yukina-chan, let's go back to sleep now."
"Goodnight Yukina-chan!!!" Kuwabara cried out loudly, breaking the silence of the evening and drawing an annoyed expression from Genkai. A quick, but sharp rap, on the back of his head drew his attention back to her.
“Now if you’re done with your little greeting card moment, I was about to explain to you what just happened.” Kuwabara scowled back at her, but said nothing otherwise. “What you just experienced is the first of many training exercises you will be engaged in during your time here.”
Turning, the old woman gracefully walked back into the chamber, fully confident that Kuwabara knew well enough to follow her. Having regained his bearings, the teen did just that, observing the master with slight trepidation as she reached the center of the room then turned to face him.
“So what tha hell is that exercise supposed to do?” He more demanded than asked.
“Its purpose is to train two things, your awareness and your reflexes, to be ready at all times.”
“Say wha?”
“You heard me idiot, though I guess that like that other moron I trained, you’ll require a further explanation.” When he continued to look at her questioningly, she decided that was answer enough. “Your spiritual sensitivity, or awareness, is without a doubt the greatest asset that you possess. And if you’re going to surpass your current state, then it is crucial that we develop it.”
Gaining a bit of clarity, he nodded in understanding. After all, it was due to the lack of control over his awareness of all things otherworldly, that he even approached the old master in the first place all those years ago.
“The second part, your reflexes, is more physical than spiritual, but should and will be trained nonetheless. Out of all of the fighters I’ve come across, you have without a doubt, the sloppiest reflexes I’ve ever witnessed. In fact, I’d say it’s a wonder you’re not dead already, except that I know as well as you do, that you’ve been relying more on your awareness and less on your reflexes to pull your ass out of the fire, so to speak.”
“Great, why don’t you kick me in the balls while you’re at it too!” He sulked, though his attempt at sarcasm didn’t sit well with Genkai.
“Look, you idiot, I'm not here to coddle you, I'm here to tell you what you need to know! Besides, if you actually gave a rat’s ass about what people thought of your physical capabilities, you’d have spent less time goofing around at the arcades and more time doing something constructive to develop them.” The rebuke was enough to drive the teen back into silence. After all, whether he liked it or not, the old woman did have a point.
“Before you start up your little pity party, know that Yusuke wasn’t in a much better position than you are now. In fact, I’m willing to bet that it’s only because of what we know now to be his demon heritage that he managed to get away with not being in the same boat as you.”
Taking a few steps forward to put herself in front of him, she continued to lay out her future game-plan for him.
“Starting from tonight on, you will have both your awareness and your reflexes tested in order to further sharpen them. Of course, we’ll work on improving these and other attributes of yours during the day. Hence, why I requested Kuroko-chan to take time out of her not-so-busy schedule to come all the way out here. She’s able to do what I, in my old age, can no longer do, and that is to thoroughly test your abilities, and kick your ass if you happen to slack off even the slightest.” Seeing the concerned look on his face, she smirked at his inner conflict.
“You wanted training, well this is what comes with it. When you are given work to study at school, you’re eventually tested on that material, correct?” A nod of his head and she continued. “Well, martial arts training isn’t any different. Your time spent here is to study the secrets and learn what I’m able to teach you. Testing you throughout your course will not only enable me to gauge your progression, it will also enable you the chance apply my teachings in developing your skills.”
Having thoroughly explained herself, she continued forward, intent on leaving the room.
“Baa-san?” His voiced made her pause, and even to this day, she was amazed at how quickly he could change demeanor. Turning her head, she acknowledged him as she gazed at his back.
“By doin these things, can I really get stronger?”
“How strong you become, and how fast you progress, all depends on you and the effort you’re willing to put in. The greater the effort, the greater your results. It all depends on you. Be sure to get your rest, because starting from tomorrow, it’s going to get rough.”
With that, the old master exited, leaving a once again humbled, yet determined Kuwabara behind to anticipate what was to come.
********
“SON…OF…A…BITCH!!!” He rasped, straining to keep his breath with the pronunciation of every word.
It was early morning, the type of early morning where the Sun hadn’t yet broken the horizon. And Kuwabara, who was a notoriously slow starter in the morning, was currently running a course Genkai had directed him toward. To make matters worse, the old woman had him wrap a length of rope around his waist. A rope which was strapped to a worn-out tractor tire, a tire which she was currently sitting on. When asked why she’d chosen that versus an ordinary car tire, her reasoning had been simpler, yet more frustrating than most. She didn’t want to get any dirt on her pants.
As if that hadn’t been enough, the course was mainly uphill, and laden with all sorts of traps. Natural and man-made.
And he was blind-folded, his ears plugged, preventing him from using his main senses.
The aged master said nothing, content to simply read the book she had in front of her. She had already explained to him the necessity of going to such extremes. The only way he could raise his reikan to its utmost limit, is by forcing him to use it instead of his other senses. And what better way to do that than to remove the two senses he relied on the most?
As it was, the teen had been running for close to an hour, and the path he was currently on was a familiar one. After all, she’d had him and number of others, including Yusuke, run it during the tournament to choose her successor.
‘It took him a little over an hour to complete it that time, and he’s on pace to finish it sooner now.’ She glanced quickly over the top of her book, noticing the curls in his hair unraveling as he sweat them out. ‘Still, I’ve got to hand it to the gaki, his reikan is still as sharp as ever. He’s managed to avoid all of the traps and obstacles so far, despite not having run this course in such a long time.’
Noticing they had crested the top of the hill, and were entering a clearing, she reached forward and gave a sharp tug on the rope. It was the signal she had informed him he would receive once they had reached their destination. Knowing the punishment that awaited him if he caused her to fall by stopping abruptly, Kuwabara slowed, gradually coming to a stop within the center of the clearing. Upon doing so, he abruptly bent over, chest heaving with the exertion of trying to regain his breath.
He was so exhausted that he didn’t even bother to remove the blindfold or ear-plugs. Genkai simply waited patiently until he did so, which took him at least a minute to do so.
“You have a 2 minute break before you run back to the temple. This time you’ll take that path,” she gestured toward his left, drawing an annoyed expression from him. “You’ve already used up 1 minute.” This drew an even more irate expression from him, yet he was still too winded to properly protest.
‘Aww damn it!’ He thought, though he outwardly settled for a groan instead.
The run back to the temple was harder, as not only was it the longer way, but the traps were more frequent. By the time Kuwabara reached the front of the temple, the Sun now hung clearly in the sky. Dripping with perspiration, he’d barely managed to make it back, his reikan having to work harder to navigate through the various spiked pits, venomous snake drops, hidden nets made out of vines, and other various hazards.
Having reached the goal line, he immediately collapsed onto the grass, exhausted to his breaking point. So tired was he, that he could barely formulate a coherent thought, his head hurting from the sheer amount of focus and concentration the run had required.
‘If every….morning….is gonna….be like….this, I might…end up…dying…before I….get stronger.’
As if reading his thoughts, Genkai knelt down and tugged the ear plugs out his ears.
“Get used to this, because you’re going to start every morning on a run like this. Now be sure to eat up, because you have half an hour before you go back to the spike exercise.”
With that, she walked inside, sitting at the table as Yukina began serving the breakfast she’d just made. Kuroko sat quietly, intimately familiar with the teen’s struggles as it reminded her of the time when she’d gone through all the effort of losing the weight upon being recruited by Reikai. Her two children, however, were still in the process of waking up, seemingly unaware of Kuwabara’s current state of being. Kuwabara laid there for nearly ten minutes, his lungs and legs burning, while his head continued to throb. Yukina had initially moved to check on him and offer her healing powers, but Genkai advised her not to, wanting to toughen Kuwabara up.
“Running to his aid over every little sore muscle will only make him soft and dependent. Believe me, he’s tough enough to handle this.”
With that, the group ate silently, until eventually they were joined by the teen, who moved in what could only be best described as a lethargic manner. However, once he began eating, he became ravenous as every bite seemingly served to fuel his body and soothe his aches. True to her word, once the 30 minute time span lapsed, he was back in the temple room, balanced on one finger on the spike burning away his reiki. He’d managed to best his previous time by a solid 18 minutes, before collapsing off of the spike and being made to do it over again.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Genkai, Yukina, Kuroko, however, he hadn’t had to deal with the twins’ antics during that time. Once he’d reached the 8-hour mark, Genkai had him working on other basic reihado techniques and exercises. The only thing they’d all had in common, was that each of them held a degree of pain for him.
“Now we’re going to teach you how to catch your opponent’s reiki.” She instructed as he stood in front of Kuroko. “Watch yourself, if you’re not careful, you this could kill you.”
With that, he assumed the pose as Genkai had instructed, feet spread evenly and knees bent for a solid stance. His hands were in front of him, poised in the manner that a catcher might be waiting on catching a fastball. The effect, however, was much worse than catching any sort of pitch as he was sent flying backwards into the temple wall by the force of Kuroko’s reiki.
“We’re going to keep going over this until you can catch it without so much as flinching.” Genkai’s tone gave no room for argument as Kuwabara struggled back to his feet.
********
Time rolled on, and whether he liked it or not, the training soon became routine. Days passed and before long 3 weeks had gone by, and he was beginning to see development. Not only did he train in the exercises he’d practiced on the first day, but Kuwabara had been introduced to various others as well. From learning to conceal his reiki (and detecting others), to forming a barrier out of reiki to ward off low level attacks, his days were filled with seemingly endless training. His morning runs no longer ended in burning lungs and a splitting head, although they had become somewhat more difficult. Every day Genkai had set him off on a new course, blind and deaf to the world around him. Only now he had the discomfort of not only lugging her around by a tire tied to his waist, but also two more tires seating Kuroko’s twin children as well.
The kids seemed to take great pride hassling him during his run, which Genkai didn’t seem to mind as she didn’t attempt to intervene. Instead she welcomed it, as she explained, the children helped serve to make him work harder at maintaining his focus on the task at hand. Any attempt, she reasoned, to sharpen his focus would be gladly welcomed, and so she saw no need to discourage them.
The reihado-catching exercise still bugged him the most, as he couldn’t seem to grasp the hang of it. The most he’d managed to do was not get flung into the wall, instead only finding himself stumbling back a few feet. To Genkai, however, this was a sign of progress, as Kuroko was known to be just about as strong as the old woman had been in her prime. Upon hearing Genkai speak so highly of her helper’s abilities, Kuwabara thanked his lucky star that the mother hadn’t taken too much offense to the colorful names he’d sometimes labeled her with. Nor how much she had taken it easy on him the first night she’d attacked him.
The thing he was most proud of, however, was the spike exercise. He’d went from barely hitting the 1 hour and 20 minute mark on his first day of training, to lasting nearly 7 and a half hours nearing the end of his third week. It was gratifying for him, although Genkai frequently reminded him that he still had a ways to go to reach the 12 hour mark she’d set for him. He’d understood soon after starting his training that Genkai was a perfectionist when it came to martial arts, an attitude which you either accomplished a task or not. There was no praise for middle ground.
The night-time surprise attacks were oddly the highlight of his 3 weeks of training. While running blind-folded and with his ears plugged had been increasingly aggravating, he couldn’t deny the noticeable improvements. Whereas his reikan had been an uncontrollable pain in his ass before, he found that his constant use of it was beginning to pay off. Not only had he developed some semblance of control over it, but that it was getting sharper as well. Gone were the days when ghostly spirits seemingly popped up out of nowhere, haunting both his dreams and his waking moments.
His reikan was no longer a radar to which apparitions randomly beeped, instead it had been honed into an almost x-ray type effect. The most wonderful side effect for him being that he no longer got the chills, nor did he experience terrifying paralysis. He was even able to sense Kuroko’s attacks at a greater degree, to the point that he was beginning to detect her intentions before she made it to his room. For the first time in his life, Kuwabara Kazuma truly felt in control over his innate abilities, and he relished it.
However, that didn’t mean he was complacent in doing only what he was told. He was determined to exceed his limits, determined to put himself on equal footing with guys like Hiei, Kurama, or at the very least the younger Toguro. This led to him performing the spike exercise late into the night a couple of days into his 4th week at the compound.
‘Don’t try to focus on the time,’ he mentally chanted as if it were his newfound mantra, and indeed it was. ‘Makes no sense to do that. Just concentrate on the energy. That’s right, concentrate!’
Allowing his thoughts to be swept away by the focus of applying his reiki, he appeared seemingly unaware of Kuroko having crept silently outside of his door. As still as a shadow, she listened intently for any tell-tale signs from inside.
‘Strange, he’s not snoring like usual. There doesn’t even seem to be any rustling either. Instead, I can feel his reiki active, he’s must be planning an ambush of his own.’ Having drawn her curiosity, she gently, quietly slid open the shoji to the training hall.
Her eyes widened, though she managed to stifle a gasp as she observed him balancing on the spike. His form was still, and straight, having lost the rigidity and shaky balance that he normally displayed. Rather than the seemingly painful grimace that was accustomed, the teen’s face instead was replaced with an odd expression of concentration. Losing her initial will to attack him, she instead backed away, only to be surprised by Genkai standing behind her watching on as well.
“What is it, Genkai-sama?” The expression of scrutiny on the aged master’s face was more than enough to strike the former detective’s curiosity.
“Kuroko-chan,” the old woman spoke uncharacteristically soft, “did Kuwabara give you any physical sign that he noticed your presence?”
“No, he did not. I considered following through with my initial plan to attack him, but seeing him like this made me hold back.” Turning to observe the teen as she spoke, Kuroko turned back to Genkai, who had returned her attention to him also.
“It’s probably a good thing that you did,” Genkai’s comment sparked a confused look from her younger counterpart, “the big lug is actually asleep right now. However, judging from his energy level, I assume that his reikan is still quite active. So he’s probably aware that we’re watching, even though he’s not awake.”
Surprised, Kuroko turned back toward the teen, slightly amazed at the level of growth he was displaying so quickly. This, however, was not all that surprising to Genkai, her previous experiences and interactions with him having long since made her aware of his personal strengths, however few and far between they might be.
“Well, at least the baka got that lesson down.” She closed her eyes in silent acknowledgement. “Let’s see if he can learn the other lesson and complete the time limit by morning.”
“Genkai-sama? Sato-san?” The soft voice of their yokai tenant caught them both slightly off-guard. Turning to acknowledge the Koorime, they watched as she approached the open doorway and peered inside.
“Kazuma-kun is certainly amazing, isn’t he?” The soft smile on Yukina’s face was nearly infectious.
Nodding, Kuroko joined her as they continued their observation. Hours passed, and before long, Kuwabara found himself awakening at his usual early hour.
‘Huh?! Did I fall asleep?!’ The surprise revelation broke his concentration, and he wound up tumbling and falling over off of the spike.
“Well, it’s good to see that you’re late night initiative hasn’t any effect on your personality.”
He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Genkai’s voice, his drowsiness combined with the effects of the fall leaving him too disoriented to pick up the wiry tone she used.
“Wha, was I really asleep?” Seeing the woman nod, his stunned expression continued as he queried further. “Were you watching me the whole night?”
“Only part of it, Kuroko-chan and I retired to our rooms when it was clear that you were asleep and stable.” Turning her back from Kuwabara’s embarrassed expression, she threw in a little incentive. “Yukina-chan did watch over you as well. She was quite impressed with what she saw.”
The teen’s expression instantly went from embarrassed to giddy in record-breaking speed.
“Now stop grinning like an idiot and get dressed! You have a run to get toward.” With that, Genkai made her way out front, giving the still grinning Kuwabara time to get dressed.
His run turned out to be the longest one yet, his course being set in a way that called for sudden direction changes. Of course, he was still blind-folded and his ears were still plugged, but his senses were again sharper than ever. His reikan guided him along with almost smooth precision, almost making it uneventful. However, that didn’t it make too less taxing, as Genkai made sure that his pace stayed as exhaustive as possible.
As the two made it back, Kuwabara managed to detect the presence of Yukina, Kuroko, and her two children mulling about as the morning meal was nearing completion. He once again marveled at the effects of his newly enhanced senses.
‘Man, Ba-san may be a nutty old lady, but she sure knows her stuff!’ He took a moment to bask in the sensation. ‘It’s like everything is in HD and surround sound! So sharp and clear, not cloudy and cluttered like before.’
He suddenly detected two more foreign presences, and mentally kicked himself for not picking them up sooner. Confused, as he was unable to detect any malicious intent, he made to approach the doorway before it was suddenly thrown open, two figures stepping out. Their appearance caught him off-guard in a way that was almost expectantly comical for him. Momentarily too stunned to speak, one of the figures beat him to it, loud and boisterous for it being so early in the morning.
“Yo, kid! Good to see ya still keeping up with your training!”
The cocky grin of Enomoto and the knowing smile of Kanekita gazed down upon the still stunned teen.
To Be Continued…….