[Application for Adstringendum]
Name: Nikki
Livejournal: diaryxchan
Contact: On file already :3
Other Characters Played: Sango, Yui Hongo
Are you 18 or over? Still nope :c
Canon: Yu Yu Hakusho
Character: Kazuma Kuwabara
Timeline: End of the Dark Tournament
Personality: No woman has a reason to think that chivalry is dead with Kuwabara around. He is the picture of a gentleman, probably because he was practically raised by his sister and she taught him to be polite to women (or perhaps she beat it into him), and though he'd never make an indecent advance on a woman in public, and outwardly condemns such behavior, it's clear from his sleazy excitement at the thought of dirty videos and magazines that he is what he is: a teenage boy. His chivalry is a major part of his personality, and he will often make sacrifices and go to great lengths to achieve this, to protect innocents and people he cares about alike, especially women. He is confident, friendly, optimistic, loudmouthed, hot-tempered and brash, sappy, idealistic, symbolic, casual and familiar. As much as chivalry and honor go hand in hand, so do Kuwabara and honor: he is steadfast and loyal, trustworthy, never breaks a promise and always proves that his word is true. He is, as a general rule, moral and just, and will not hesitate to stand up for what is right or throw a nasty left hook at an offender; he is the kind of person who will chase after a criminal without thinking.(That, or another punk who gets on his bad side.)
Not thinking, however, seems to be a habit of Kuwabara’s. He is remarkably dense, both romantically and otherwise, and can be considered stupid in that knowledge and common sense does not come easily to him. Mostly it's because he lacks the motivation and focus required to be a top student. He is often a clumsy clown and the butt of many jokes, but Kuwabara is dedicated and if he wants to learn something, he will; if he wants to improve at something, you can be sure he will. (Often, people don't give him the credit he deserves, which he recognizes--and resents.) He never gives up, never backs down, even at the cost of his own life and even if he's scared shitless.
Kuwabara is incredibly brave and full of bravado alongside it, if bullheaded. He has the sense, the instinct, to be afraid when calls for, but he refuses to give in to such temptations. He has incredible faith in humanity, despite all its faults, and has a deep love of life. (He's never down for long--there's always something to distract him.) He is stubborn as a mule, capable of great denial. He is very much a hero type and fancies himself one, loudly. Though he's often ridiculous and over the top, he does have his serious moments, when he needs to. He has less respect for authority than he has for his friends, and often the respect he has for people is born from their worthiness as an adversary and an ally (which means that just because he wants to punch you doesn't mean he doesn't like you--it can mean the exact opposite).
He can, on occasion, be witty, but when that fails him he defaults to bumbling insults. Though he loves to play at masculinity and toughness (both of which he has), trolling Yusuke, growing arrogant in the face of triumph, and teasing his friends as much as he's able, under the rough exterior is a heart of gold. He's actually a big softie, as is often demonstrated by his deep-rooted affection for animals and cats in particular. His heart is on his sleeve most of the time, as he doesn't see any point in controlling his feelings or his mouth. He's silly and loves to laugh, even at himself, and out of all of the top four in the series, he is perhaps the most normal, the most human (not just physically): he displays a love of baseball and heavy metal, a variety of little quirks that make him utterly unique.
Background: While canon never makes Kuwabara’s early life and background explicitly clear, it’s heavily implied that he was essentially raised by his intimidating older sister, Shizuru, and that their mother was not the best role model (mentioned in passing by Shizuru). His father appears later in canon, but because Kuwabara was, up until then, unaware of his father’s knowledge of the Spirit World and because his father never appeared around his house in canon, it is implied that his father wasn’t around much.
Kuwabara has always been close to his sister, as scary as she can be. She has likely been the main source of discipline in his life, and though the siblings are very different, it’s obvious that Kuwabara picked up several key values from her (respect for women/chivalry, pride, a desire/respect for masculinity and strength), though his compassion is not one of those qualities. Regardless, she is one of select few that Kuwabara will boy (almost) unquestioningly.
When his real story began, though, Kuwabara was the self-proclaimed toughest guy in Sarayashiki Middle School (though it’s always been obvious that he’s second to Yusuke, so the title is, in all actuality, “the second-toughest kid in Sarayashiki). At that point he hung around his three closest friends, Kirishima, Okubo, and Sawamura-boys that were punks like him and respected him with almost doglike loyalty.
In his quest to usurp Yusuke, Kuwabara had taken countless beatings from the other boy. Though he liked to pretend that Yusuke was little more than a rival, he was very obviously devastated when Yusuke died. During the time that Yusuke was dead and floating around as a spirit, he was both possessed by and contacted in dreams by the other boy (both of which unnerved him) because he is extremely spiritually sensitive. He assisted in saving Yusuke’s body from imminent danger and was expressly glad when Yusuke returned to life.
His spiritual sensitivity bothering him, Kuwabara went to see the psychic Genkai, whom he’d heard could help him, only to be drawn into the tournament to decide who would be the great psychic’s successor-coincidentally, alongside his rival, Yusuke. In that competition, he discovered that he had the ability to create a solid object (a sword) out of his own reiki, or spiritual power-not to mention he took “a respectable third place,” despite retaining nearly crippling and life-threatening injuries. (He was healed by Genkai.) This served as Kuwabara’s official introduction to demons, though he’d already been exposed to the spiritual world through his awareness and through the resurrection of Yusuke. (He didn’t appear all that fazed by it, so it’s likely that he had always been superstitious-and considering that Shizuru was also a psychic and his father later showed knowledge of the Spirit World, he was educated at least vaguely about the subject earlier.) Upon meeting Botan, pilot of the river Styx, during said competition, he developed a crush on her for a while.
Yusuke had been the victor of the tournament to decide Genkai’s successor, and was gone for months training. During that time, Kuwabara also honed his spiritual powers, becoming a great deal stronger and gaining maneuverability for his spirit sword. When Yusuke returned, Kuwabara bravely went with him on a mission to defeat the Four Saint Beasts, demons who threatened the entire city with demon bugs that could possess humans--Makaichu. It was during this venture that he was first introduced to Kurama, a suave kitsune in a human’s body, and Hiei, a surly but speedy pint-sized koorime. Because of his insane determination and pride, he was the one solely responsible for the defeat of Byakko, the giant tiger Saint Beast, against all odds, though he took quite a beating himself.
After the defeat of the Saint Beasts, he returned with the others to the Human World for some R&R. That is, until Yusuke approached him with an unmarked video, asking to borrow the VCR in his room to view the official Spirit World business-after all, Yusuke was a Reikai Tantei, or Spirit Detective, now. Though Kuwabara insisted that he’d learned his lesson since last time (aka very nearly dying in his battle with Byakko and the zombies afterward as Yusuke took on the Saint Beasts’ leader, Suzaku) and vehemently warded off any ties to and responsibility for the case.
The video revealed that Yusuke’s mission was to rescue a sweet, beautiful ice maiden called Yukina, who was being held and made to suffer by a corrupt human for her valuable tear gems. Perhaps initially triggered by his strong sense of heroism and chivalry, for Kuwabara, it was love at first sight. He promptly forgot about any crush on Botan and his insistence to stay away from this case and led the way to the corrupt human’s estate, barreling through nearly twenty demons that tried to keep them out (though he did refuse to fight one of the yokai who appeared female-until he learned otherwise). Those, however, were the small fry. Little did Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan, who had accompanied the, know, but the human-Tarukane-had hired a pair of very powerful, very vicious demons called the Toguro brothers. In the process of locating Yukina, Kuwabara had a telepathic conversation with her, and sensed her youki so that he was able to find her.
Yusuke and Kuwabara had an explosive match with the brothers in Tarukane’s arena. It looked as if the two boys had been beaten, but then, Kuwabara with his psychic sensitivity was accidentally given a view into Yukina’s consciousness-uncovering traumatic memories that enraged him so much, he got back up, his spirit power increasing exponentially in his rage as Yusuke sat, drained, nearby. The fight concluded as Kuwabara pulled a risky stunt, taking the force of Yusuke’s rei gun to his back in order to add force to his own reiken-spirit sword. It paid off, though, because the Toguros were defeated-killed, or so they thought. Kuwabara and Yusuke, exhausted in the arena, couldn’t get to the observation box to take care of Tarukane. Hiei got there instead, and nearly killed the man before Yukina stopped him, saying that she didn’t want any more fighting. Unknown to Yukina, Hiei was her brother, but soon after she went down to the arena to speak with Kuwabara-finding a special fondness for him, even has he tried to convince her that not all humans were bad.
But there is no rest for a Spirit Detective, which, in essence, Kuwabara now was. After all, he had helped claim victory on two very important Reikai missions of his own volition. Yusuke was soon approached by the Toguros, who weren't really dead but had instead been faking and working for Sakyo, a dishonest rich man like Toguro. He was compelled to enter the Dark Tournament or else--and once again Kuwabara found himself dragged into Makai matters. He, Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and a mysterious masked fighter (who later turned out to be Genkai) entered the Tournament together.
The Tournament was long and hard. Kuwabara, either because he was bull-headed or because he was brave or because he had Yukina in the audience to impress or all three, fought the most out of all his teammates. (He also lost the most, but all of these losses were count-downs and there were no proper defeats.) He battled and won against Rinku, the yo-yo-weilding demon, lost to three mind-controlled fighters (who, because of their lack of free will, he refused to fight and contracted serious injuries from), Risho, the leader of the controlled fighters, pulling a victory from the cheers of Yukina, lost to Shishiwakamaru (who totally cheated by teleporting him out of the ring). With the help of the Trial Sword, given to him by Suzuki (the leader of Team Uratogi, whom the main four are on good terms with even after the Tournament), he is able to defeat the creepy shapeshifting Elder Toguro. During the Tournament, Kuwabara also learns of the death of Genkai and is stricken with grief, revealing that he was fonder of the old woman than he let on.
The last battle of the Dark Tournament was between Yusuke and the Elder Toguro. Unfortunately, Yusuke was unable to access his true power, because, in the words of Genkai, he had a "six foot wall of crap between him and his emotions, where his real power lies." If Yusuke didn't defeat Toguro, then everyone in the stadium died. Toguro, wanting to see Yusuke's true power as well, decided to kill Kuwabara to do it.
In the end, Kuwabara knew he was going to die, and met his death running at full-speed with no regrets and a sword out, fighting. I am taking him from this point, the instant that Toguro stabs him in the chest.
Abilities/Additional Notes: Kuwabara is entirely human, but he does eventually in canon come to be considered by Reikai, or Spirit World, the most powerful purebred human on the earth--which means that even right now, he's remarkably tough. The guy has a history of taking hits that would probably kill anyone else and then standing back up to take more. His raw strength is nearly supernatural. His reikan, or spirit awareness, is practically unparalleled, at least among other humans--initially it is what he is known for. He can hear and feel ghosts while awake, but can only see them when asleep; additionally, because he is in tune with spirits, he is a prime target for possession (which can only happen while he sleeps). He may be considered psychic at times, showing selective and temporary telepathy in certain situations and the ability to, again in certain situations, see visions of circumstances surrounding peoples’ pasts and presents as well as future events.
In addition to his considerable reikan, Kuwabara possesses considerable reiki, or spirit power. He generally accesses variations of a single technique from this power: his Spirit Sword, a pulsating blade of electric-yellow energy that he can produce from clasped hands at a moment’s notice. Variations of this tool include the Trial Sword, where the Spirit Sword’s power is amplified by a special hilt and can change shape; Spirit Shards, miniature reiki blades shot like shuriken from his hands; the ability of the Sword to transform into a polevault by changing lengths; the duplication of the Sword, resulting in two individual swords to be wielded. He has the general ability to mold and shape physical manifestations of spirit energy.
Sample Journal Post: [The feed flicks on, and suddenly, there is a big forehead and a pair of narrow gray eyes squinting suspiciously at the PCD, topped off by a swirl of carrot-orange hair.]
--new mobiles? [The voice muttering is gruff, distracted, as the view shakes and twists and flicks to audio and video, back and forth, very quickly.]
Fuckin' Urameshi--
[But the examination is interrupted by the long, angular face turning away from the communicator to cough. It's off-screen, so the camera can't pick up on the blood that he croaks up. However, the sudden pan does reveal that he's in sort of a ridiculous white, ragged biker's outfit, and that he's clutching at his mostly-bare chest with his free hand, blood soaking his palm.]
[He lets go of his chest briefly to wipe at his mouth with the back of his wrist, revealing five bleeding holes in his chest--finger-sized.]
Urameshi better've fuckin' won. If this is the afterlife, I'm gonna kill that toddler--
[And when he accidentally smashes another button, the feed cuts out.]
Sample RP: Everything was happening so fast.
Kuwabara was frozen in grim horror, watching Toguro steal the very souls of the huge audience in the stadium, itching to run in and help out--even though he knew he wasn't strong enough (which killed him), even though he knew this was Urameshi's fight.
And suddenly Puu was flying down from the stands (or, as Kuwabara thought, Genkai brought back to life looking just like Puu), and in the dead woman's voice, told Toguro, told everyone, that Yusuke's weakness was his friends--
And that all Toguro had to do to get Yusuke to unleash his full power was kill one of his friends.
He could feel himself tensing as Toguro turned, contemplative, eyes roving over him and Kurama and Hiei. Though he'd liked to have believed otherwise, truthfully, Kuwabara was scared shitless. This guy was absolutely no joke.
Kuwabara had never felt his blood run cold in his veins (cold enough to freeze) as it did that day, when Toguro's eyes finally rested on him, when the man's mouth moved and condemned him to death. Urameshi seems quite protective of you.
He couldn't believe it. He'd just been staked out as a human sacrifice. Even if some small part of his mind was indignant at the thought that Urameshi wanted to protect him, he was frozen in horror. He couldn't move, couldn't do a thing.
He watched Yusuke yell in protest, watched him renew his beaten efforts to take down the man that wasn't even human anymore, and he felt a tug in his chest, a tingle down his spine. It was little comfort to know that Yusuke didn't want him to die. Yusuke, his friend, would do so much to protect him--
But as he watched Toguro slam Yusuke into the ground for the umpteenth time, his resolve hardened. I don't need Urameshi to protect me. It's me, or it's everyone here--Yukina-chan, Botan-chan, Keiko-chan, Shizuru... Even Kurama and Koenma and the runt. (Though stubbornly, he'd tell himself that it wasn't Hiei he wanted to save.)
His hands at his sides clenched into fists. He turned to the three beside him, who watched as Yusuke fell and readied themselves to go down fighting as well. Only Kuwabara could stop it. Before they could move, he spoke, quietly and seriously, making his last request a nice place in the afterlife and a wake as good as Yusuke's was.
And though he knew he was going to his own death, he was smiling. Because he couldn't ask for anything more than to die a hero--could he? He had no regrets.
He turned back to face his demise full in the face, and though Kuwabara should have been, he wasn't afraid. There was something eerily calming about knowing that it was all over. He felt his reiken, his spirit sword, his trusted friend, materialize in his hand and he gritted his teeth and kept up that smile. He was saving people. That was all he'd ever wanted to do. (Even if he'd never get to see Yukina-chan again after this... he was saving her life. That was enough.)
He ran, full-speed, at Toguro. With everything he had (it wasn't enough--that was okay, though) he stabbed, was brushed away. He faltered, once. That was all it took. Toguro stabbed him with nothing more but his rock-hard fingers, puncturing his chest one, two, three, four, five times, one for each finger. Kuwabara, adrenaline pumped through his veins, barely felt it. He stumbled back, Toguro's fingers still deep in his chest, coughed up blood--
And gave a grim smile to the horrified Urameshi.
He wished his best friend luck, told him it was up to him now. And then, Toguro withdrew his fingers, and Kuwabara felt the pain but not the death blow, and he fell into the arms of Kurama.
Livejournal: diaryxchan
Contact: On file already :3
Other Characters Played: Sango, Yui Hongo
Are you 18 or over? Still nope :c
Canon: Yu Yu Hakusho
Character: Kazuma Kuwabara
Timeline: End of the Dark Tournament
Personality: No woman has a reason to think that chivalry is dead with Kuwabara around. He is the picture of a gentleman, probably because he was practically raised by his sister and she taught him to be polite to women (or perhaps she beat it into him), and though he'd never make an indecent advance on a woman in public, and outwardly condemns such behavior, it's clear from his sleazy excitement at the thought of dirty videos and magazines that he is what he is: a teenage boy. His chivalry is a major part of his personality, and he will often make sacrifices and go to great lengths to achieve this, to protect innocents and people he cares about alike, especially women. He is confident, friendly, optimistic, loudmouthed, hot-tempered and brash, sappy, idealistic, symbolic, casual and familiar. As much as chivalry and honor go hand in hand, so do Kuwabara and honor: he is steadfast and loyal, trustworthy, never breaks a promise and always proves that his word is true. He is, as a general rule, moral and just, and will not hesitate to stand up for what is right or throw a nasty left hook at an offender; he is the kind of person who will chase after a criminal without thinking.(That, or another punk who gets on his bad side.)
Not thinking, however, seems to be a habit of Kuwabara’s. He is remarkably dense, both romantically and otherwise, and can be considered stupid in that knowledge and common sense does not come easily to him. Mostly it's because he lacks the motivation and focus required to be a top student. He is often a clumsy clown and the butt of many jokes, but Kuwabara is dedicated and if he wants to learn something, he will; if he wants to improve at something, you can be sure he will. (Often, people don't give him the credit he deserves, which he recognizes--and resents.) He never gives up, never backs down, even at the cost of his own life and even if he's scared shitless.
Kuwabara is incredibly brave and full of bravado alongside it, if bullheaded. He has the sense, the instinct, to be afraid when calls for, but he refuses to give in to such temptations. He has incredible faith in humanity, despite all its faults, and has a deep love of life. (He's never down for long--there's always something to distract him.) He is stubborn as a mule, capable of great denial. He is very much a hero type and fancies himself one, loudly. Though he's often ridiculous and over the top, he does have his serious moments, when he needs to. He has less respect for authority than he has for his friends, and often the respect he has for people is born from their worthiness as an adversary and an ally (which means that just because he wants to punch you doesn't mean he doesn't like you--it can mean the exact opposite).
He can, on occasion, be witty, but when that fails him he defaults to bumbling insults. Though he loves to play at masculinity and toughness (both of which he has), trolling Yusuke, growing arrogant in the face of triumph, and teasing his friends as much as he's able, under the rough exterior is a heart of gold. He's actually a big softie, as is often demonstrated by his deep-rooted affection for animals and cats in particular. His heart is on his sleeve most of the time, as he doesn't see any point in controlling his feelings or his mouth. He's silly and loves to laugh, even at himself, and out of all of the top four in the series, he is perhaps the most normal, the most human (not just physically): he displays a love of baseball and heavy metal, a variety of little quirks that make him utterly unique.
Background: While canon never makes Kuwabara’s early life and background explicitly clear, it’s heavily implied that he was essentially raised by his intimidating older sister, Shizuru, and that their mother was not the best role model (mentioned in passing by Shizuru). His father appears later in canon, but because Kuwabara was, up until then, unaware of his father’s knowledge of the Spirit World and because his father never appeared around his house in canon, it is implied that his father wasn’t around much.
Kuwabara has always been close to his sister, as scary as she can be. She has likely been the main source of discipline in his life, and though the siblings are very different, it’s obvious that Kuwabara picked up several key values from her (respect for women/chivalry, pride, a desire/respect for masculinity and strength), though his compassion is not one of those qualities. Regardless, she is one of select few that Kuwabara will boy (almost) unquestioningly.
When his real story began, though, Kuwabara was the self-proclaimed toughest guy in Sarayashiki Middle School (though it’s always been obvious that he’s second to Yusuke, so the title is, in all actuality, “the second-toughest kid in Sarayashiki). At that point he hung around his three closest friends, Kirishima, Okubo, and Sawamura-boys that were punks like him and respected him with almost doglike loyalty.
In his quest to usurp Yusuke, Kuwabara had taken countless beatings from the other boy. Though he liked to pretend that Yusuke was little more than a rival, he was very obviously devastated when Yusuke died. During the time that Yusuke was dead and floating around as a spirit, he was both possessed by and contacted in dreams by the other boy (both of which unnerved him) because he is extremely spiritually sensitive. He assisted in saving Yusuke’s body from imminent danger and was expressly glad when Yusuke returned to life.
His spiritual sensitivity bothering him, Kuwabara went to see the psychic Genkai, whom he’d heard could help him, only to be drawn into the tournament to decide who would be the great psychic’s successor-coincidentally, alongside his rival, Yusuke. In that competition, he discovered that he had the ability to create a solid object (a sword) out of his own reiki, or spiritual power-not to mention he took “a respectable third place,” despite retaining nearly crippling and life-threatening injuries. (He was healed by Genkai.) This served as Kuwabara’s official introduction to demons, though he’d already been exposed to the spiritual world through his awareness and through the resurrection of Yusuke. (He didn’t appear all that fazed by it, so it’s likely that he had always been superstitious-and considering that Shizuru was also a psychic and his father later showed knowledge of the Spirit World, he was educated at least vaguely about the subject earlier.) Upon meeting Botan, pilot of the river Styx, during said competition, he developed a crush on her for a while.
Yusuke had been the victor of the tournament to decide Genkai’s successor, and was gone for months training. During that time, Kuwabara also honed his spiritual powers, becoming a great deal stronger and gaining maneuverability for his spirit sword. When Yusuke returned, Kuwabara bravely went with him on a mission to defeat the Four Saint Beasts, demons who threatened the entire city with demon bugs that could possess humans--Makaichu. It was during this venture that he was first introduced to Kurama, a suave kitsune in a human’s body, and Hiei, a surly but speedy pint-sized koorime. Because of his insane determination and pride, he was the one solely responsible for the defeat of Byakko, the giant tiger Saint Beast, against all odds, though he took quite a beating himself.
After the defeat of the Saint Beasts, he returned with the others to the Human World for some R&R. That is, until Yusuke approached him with an unmarked video, asking to borrow the VCR in his room to view the official Spirit World business-after all, Yusuke was a Reikai Tantei, or Spirit Detective, now. Though Kuwabara insisted that he’d learned his lesson since last time (aka very nearly dying in his battle with Byakko and the zombies afterward as Yusuke took on the Saint Beasts’ leader, Suzaku) and vehemently warded off any ties to and responsibility for the case.
The video revealed that Yusuke’s mission was to rescue a sweet, beautiful ice maiden called Yukina, who was being held and made to suffer by a corrupt human for her valuable tear gems. Perhaps initially triggered by his strong sense of heroism and chivalry, for Kuwabara, it was love at first sight. He promptly forgot about any crush on Botan and his insistence to stay away from this case and led the way to the corrupt human’s estate, barreling through nearly twenty demons that tried to keep them out (though he did refuse to fight one of the yokai who appeared female-until he learned otherwise). Those, however, were the small fry. Little did Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan, who had accompanied the, know, but the human-Tarukane-had hired a pair of very powerful, very vicious demons called the Toguro brothers. In the process of locating Yukina, Kuwabara had a telepathic conversation with her, and sensed her youki so that he was able to find her.
Yusuke and Kuwabara had an explosive match with the brothers in Tarukane’s arena. It looked as if the two boys had been beaten, but then, Kuwabara with his psychic sensitivity was accidentally given a view into Yukina’s consciousness-uncovering traumatic memories that enraged him so much, he got back up, his spirit power increasing exponentially in his rage as Yusuke sat, drained, nearby. The fight concluded as Kuwabara pulled a risky stunt, taking the force of Yusuke’s rei gun to his back in order to add force to his own reiken-spirit sword. It paid off, though, because the Toguros were defeated-killed, or so they thought. Kuwabara and Yusuke, exhausted in the arena, couldn’t get to the observation box to take care of Tarukane. Hiei got there instead, and nearly killed the man before Yukina stopped him, saying that she didn’t want any more fighting. Unknown to Yukina, Hiei was her brother, but soon after she went down to the arena to speak with Kuwabara-finding a special fondness for him, even has he tried to convince her that not all humans were bad.
But there is no rest for a Spirit Detective, which, in essence, Kuwabara now was. After all, he had helped claim victory on two very important Reikai missions of his own volition. Yusuke was soon approached by the Toguros, who weren't really dead but had instead been faking and working for Sakyo, a dishonest rich man like Toguro. He was compelled to enter the Dark Tournament or else--and once again Kuwabara found himself dragged into Makai matters. He, Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and a mysterious masked fighter (who later turned out to be Genkai) entered the Tournament together.
The Tournament was long and hard. Kuwabara, either because he was bull-headed or because he was brave or because he had Yukina in the audience to impress or all three, fought the most out of all his teammates. (He also lost the most, but all of these losses were count-downs and there were no proper defeats.) He battled and won against Rinku, the yo-yo-weilding demon, lost to three mind-controlled fighters (who, because of their lack of free will, he refused to fight and contracted serious injuries from), Risho, the leader of the controlled fighters, pulling a victory from the cheers of Yukina, lost to Shishiwakamaru (who totally cheated by teleporting him out of the ring). With the help of the Trial Sword, given to him by Suzuki (the leader of Team Uratogi, whom the main four are on good terms with even after the Tournament), he is able to defeat the creepy shapeshifting Elder Toguro. During the Tournament, Kuwabara also learns of the death of Genkai and is stricken with grief, revealing that he was fonder of the old woman than he let on.
The last battle of the Dark Tournament was between Yusuke and the Elder Toguro. Unfortunately, Yusuke was unable to access his true power, because, in the words of Genkai, he had a "six foot wall of crap between him and his emotions, where his real power lies." If Yusuke didn't defeat Toguro, then everyone in the stadium died. Toguro, wanting to see Yusuke's true power as well, decided to kill Kuwabara to do it.
In the end, Kuwabara knew he was going to die, and met his death running at full-speed with no regrets and a sword out, fighting. I am taking him from this point, the instant that Toguro stabs him in the chest.
Abilities/Additional Notes: Kuwabara is entirely human, but he does eventually in canon come to be considered by Reikai, or Spirit World, the most powerful purebred human on the earth--which means that even right now, he's remarkably tough. The guy has a history of taking hits that would probably kill anyone else and then standing back up to take more. His raw strength is nearly supernatural. His reikan, or spirit awareness, is practically unparalleled, at least among other humans--initially it is what he is known for. He can hear and feel ghosts while awake, but can only see them when asleep; additionally, because he is in tune with spirits, he is a prime target for possession (which can only happen while he sleeps). He may be considered psychic at times, showing selective and temporary telepathy in certain situations and the ability to, again in certain situations, see visions of circumstances surrounding peoples’ pasts and presents as well as future events.
In addition to his considerable reikan, Kuwabara possesses considerable reiki, or spirit power. He generally accesses variations of a single technique from this power: his Spirit Sword, a pulsating blade of electric-yellow energy that he can produce from clasped hands at a moment’s notice. Variations of this tool include the Trial Sword, where the Spirit Sword’s power is amplified by a special hilt and can change shape; Spirit Shards, miniature reiki blades shot like shuriken from his hands; the ability of the Sword to transform into a polevault by changing lengths; the duplication of the Sword, resulting in two individual swords to be wielded. He has the general ability to mold and shape physical manifestations of spirit energy.
Sample Journal Post: [The feed flicks on, and suddenly, there is a big forehead and a pair of narrow gray eyes squinting suspiciously at the PCD, topped off by a swirl of carrot-orange hair.]
--new mobiles? [The voice muttering is gruff, distracted, as the view shakes and twists and flicks to audio and video, back and forth, very quickly.]
Fuckin' Urameshi--
[But the examination is interrupted by the long, angular face turning away from the communicator to cough. It's off-screen, so the camera can't pick up on the blood that he croaks up. However, the sudden pan does reveal that he's in sort of a ridiculous white, ragged biker's outfit, and that he's clutching at his mostly-bare chest with his free hand, blood soaking his palm.]
[He lets go of his chest briefly to wipe at his mouth with the back of his wrist, revealing five bleeding holes in his chest--finger-sized.]
Urameshi better've fuckin' won. If this is the afterlife, I'm gonna kill that toddler--
[And when he accidentally smashes another button, the feed cuts out.]
Sample RP: Everything was happening so fast.
Kuwabara was frozen in grim horror, watching Toguro steal the very souls of the huge audience in the stadium, itching to run in and help out--even though he knew he wasn't strong enough (which killed him), even though he knew this was Urameshi's fight.
And suddenly Puu was flying down from the stands (or, as Kuwabara thought, Genkai brought back to life looking just like Puu), and in the dead woman's voice, told Toguro, told everyone, that Yusuke's weakness was his friends--
And that all Toguro had to do to get Yusuke to unleash his full power was kill one of his friends.
He could feel himself tensing as Toguro turned, contemplative, eyes roving over him and Kurama and Hiei. Though he'd liked to have believed otherwise, truthfully, Kuwabara was scared shitless. This guy was absolutely no joke.
Kuwabara had never felt his blood run cold in his veins (cold enough to freeze) as it did that day, when Toguro's eyes finally rested on him, when the man's mouth moved and condemned him to death. Urameshi seems quite protective of you.
He couldn't believe it. He'd just been staked out as a human sacrifice. Even if some small part of his mind was indignant at the thought that Urameshi wanted to protect him, he was frozen in horror. He couldn't move, couldn't do a thing.
He watched Yusuke yell in protest, watched him renew his beaten efforts to take down the man that wasn't even human anymore, and he felt a tug in his chest, a tingle down his spine. It was little comfort to know that Yusuke didn't want him to die. Yusuke, his friend, would do so much to protect him--
But as he watched Toguro slam Yusuke into the ground for the umpteenth time, his resolve hardened. I don't need Urameshi to protect me. It's me, or it's everyone here--Yukina-chan, Botan-chan, Keiko-chan, Shizuru... Even Kurama and Koenma and the runt. (Though stubbornly, he'd tell himself that it wasn't Hiei he wanted to save.)
His hands at his sides clenched into fists. He turned to the three beside him, who watched as Yusuke fell and readied themselves to go down fighting as well. Only Kuwabara could stop it. Before they could move, he spoke, quietly and seriously, making his last request a nice place in the afterlife and a wake as good as Yusuke's was.
And though he knew he was going to his own death, he was smiling. Because he couldn't ask for anything more than to die a hero--could he? He had no regrets.
He turned back to face his demise full in the face, and though Kuwabara should have been, he wasn't afraid. There was something eerily calming about knowing that it was all over. He felt his reiken, his spirit sword, his trusted friend, materialize in his hand and he gritted his teeth and kept up that smile. He was saving people. That was all he'd ever wanted to do. (Even if he'd never get to see Yukina-chan again after this... he was saving her life. That was enough.)
He ran, full-speed, at Toguro. With everything he had (it wasn't enough--that was okay, though) he stabbed, was brushed away. He faltered, once. That was all it took. Toguro stabbed him with nothing more but his rock-hard fingers, puncturing his chest one, two, three, four, five times, one for each finger. Kuwabara, adrenaline pumped through his veins, barely felt it. He stumbled back, Toguro's fingers still deep in his chest, coughed up blood--
And gave a grim smile to the horrified Urameshi.
He wished his best friend luck, told him it was up to him now. And then, Toguro withdrew his fingers, and Kuwabara felt the pain but not the death blow, and he fell into the arms of Kurama.