I love this story! In my mind Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara are beautiful together. So I love the idea of the story and finally reread it after a few months so I could see all my mistakes. Now I got it corrected and slightly rewritten and I'm totally happy with the outcome now! Enjoy the revamp!
Started, yet again, as a sweet Kuwabara/Keiko friendship story, but veered off course when Yusuke reared his ugly mug in. Kinda ran away from me a little. All my stories do, but this one I just kept typing going 'Shit! When's this gonna end!' Then I type some more.
Today was not Keiko's day. She'd started off the day with a migraine. Not a headache, but a full-blown migraine. The pounding in her head would not leave. She'd already taken medicine and lied as long as she could with a hot water bottle to her head. School started before too long when Keiko finally forced herself out the door. Halfway there she realized she hadn't packed her lunch for the day.
After her first class, Keiko had to drag herself out of the chair and down the hall towards her next classroom. She was exhausted. At the end of her second class Keiko was putting serious thought into skipping, but she didn't want to have to deal with Yusuke's ribbing when he found out. Then she'd never get his ass in school again.
In Keiko's third class she felt the overwhelming desire to kill someone. Literally get up and kill the person nearest to her. Instead of paying attention to the rest of the teacher's lecture, Keiko spent the remaining time eying the boy sitting to her right. She thought her pencil was sharp enough to stab through his throat.
It was halfway through the day when Keiko's day became one of the worst she'd had. Worse than the time Hiei'd turned her into a mindless slave. Better than when Yusuke'd died. Way better than when Yusuke'd died, again.
Tiredly trudging down the hall, Keiko was doing her best just to stay upright when a body pressed up against her from behind. Too weak to muster up the energy for a slap, Keiko merely glanced to see who it was.
Kuwabara smiled down at her. Moving to the side but keeping his brief bag against her backside, Kuwabara steered her into a corner. Keiko gave Kuwabara a confused look at his odd behavior.
"What is it Kuwabara?" she whispered. She was really hoping Yusuke wasn't off doing something dangerous again. He'd just gotten back from the last mission!
Kuwabara leaned forward blushing slightly and in her ear whispered back, "I think you might be…you know…on that time of the month."
Keiko stared blankly into the eyes of the awkward looking boy in front of her. When her mind caught up to what Kuwabara was saying she ran a hand across the butt of her skirt. The felt of wetness sent a cold shock though her body. How long had she walked around with blood on her skirt?! She felt that everyone passing by was staring at her. Tears gathered in her eyes before streaming down.
Kuwabara shifted a bit uneasily. He didn't like girls crying. Awkwardly, Kuwabara reached out to pat at Keiko's shoulder, but his hand was swatted away. Keiko roughly shoved pass Kuwabara and stormed into the bathrooms across the way. If she could smack half as hard as she could shoulder someone he pitied all the times she let Yusuke have it. Rubbing his tender forearm, Kuwabara dimly wondered if she was subconsciously backing up those attacks with some spirit energy to make them hurt so much.
The bell sounded in a two minute warning for the next class to start. Most students rushed to get to their respective rooms in time, while Kuwabara squatted in the corner. He wanted to make sure Keiko was alright. As a single boy at the age of fourteen, Kuwabara had only witnessed a woman completely breaking down a handful of times with his sister. Once was when she'd ran outta cigarettes and realized they wouldn't be able to afford another pack for at least another two weeks. That had been one of the worse nights of Kuwabara's life. Keiko had the telltale signs of a having one monumentous female moment.
Ten minutes after everyone'd gone back to class Keiko still hadn't come out. Figuring Keiko was having….certain girl problems, Kuwabara stood up and arched his back to pop his spine back into place. A quick walk out the gates of the school and down the block found him at a convenience store. He walked up and down the aisles until he came to the hygiene section. Automatically Kuwabara went to pick up the type of tampons his sister had him get when he went shopping. With a blush Kuwabara stopped to think about whether Keiko even used tampons. Maybe she was more of a pads kinda gal. Having to even think of Urameshi's girl doing that kinda thing made Kuwabara feel like a complete perv. But Keiko needed help. There was a damsel in distress, Damnit! And Yusuke wasn't around to shoulder the responsibility.
Taking a step back, Kuwabara took in the wide selection of feminine products. So many brands to choose from; each with different kinds of absorbencies and the such. He could feel this heart beat drumming through his head to the point where it was the only thing he could hear; which was just as well considering an older woman stepped up to take a box of overnight pads down from the shelf next to his right shoulder. She gave Kuwabara a scornful stare and stalked away muttering 'Pervert' loud enough for the people in the next aisle over to hear.
As other people started to poke their heads around the corners to stare his way, Kuwabara picked out a variety of choices and made his away to the checkout line. In his arms he carried two boxes of tampons; one for sports cause he knew Keiko had gym towards the end of the day and one with two different kinds of absorbencies, these also happened to be scented (Kuwabara really felt Urameshi would kill him if he ever found out how much thought about Keiko he actually had to put into this to help out). Kuwabara also had a little bag of maxi pads and another small box that carried a sampler of different pads. Making a quick detour to the women's clothing section and snagging a skirt that kinda looked like the schools' uniform, he was fairly certain he had everything Keiko might need.
At the cash register, Kuwabara dumped his shopping load on the counter. His uneasy smile was met with an amused chuckle from the cashier. She clicked her gum while scanning all his items through.
"Girlfriend in trouble?" she asked. Kuwabara idly threw a large chocolate bar onto the counter.
"Kinda." He said politely. "She's…in trouble. But she's not mine. She's sorta my friend's girl."
"Oh, really?" she said in surprise. "You must be some gentleman to help a lady in need, no strings attached like that."
Kuwabara shrugged. "That's what any man would do." He said this like it was first nature to him.
The cashier was so charmed by the man in front of her she forgot about the huge gum bubble she'd blown. When it popped, a soft smile emerged from beneath her gum covered mouth. She finished ringing up his purchase, handing him back his change. Not a split second passed before her hand shot back out to clasp his wrist (she was delighted to find her hand couldn't wrap around his wrist completely). Whipping out a pen, she quickly scribbled on the palm of his hand.
"My name's Jin. Uh, let me know if your friend's girlfriend ever needs help again." She said looking up at him from beneath her bangs. With a furious blush, Jin leaned back and crossed her arms over her breasts.
One hand still outstretched and the other looped through his grocery bags, Kuwabara paused in confusion with brows crinkled and his head tilted to the side slightly. "Uh, thanks."
Kuwabara was almost out the door when he heard from behind him, "Oh! And have a nice day!" followed by the smack of Jin's gum. He glanced back and gave her a half wave that flashed what she'd written on his hand, before heading back to school.
The first thing Kuwabara did when he entered the building was go straight to the janitor's closet and nab a 'closed for cleaning' sign. He placed this behind him as he hesitantly walked into the girls' room Keiko was in.
"Keiko!" he hissed in a low tone. He really hope she was the only one in here cause he didn't want any girls running out screaming.
"Kuwabara? What are you doing in the girl's bathroom?!" Keiko's voice screeched from the last stall. After hearing no other voices crying out in shock, Kuwabara relaxed and ventured in further. He stood in front of Keiko's stall door and knocked.
"I went and got you some, uh, stuff," he stuttered lifting up the bags though Keiko couldn't see them. "You know—for you," he ended lamely.
A hand reached out from under the door. Kuwabara leaned down to give her the bags. He stood back up and looked around, taking in this once in a lifetime experience of being in such a forbidden territory.
"Wha?" he huffed in disbelief. "Why do you guys get a couch in here!" Off in the corner was indeed a couch. An extremely comfortable couch Kuwabara discovered upon sinking onto the cushions. He relaxed back and spread his arms across the back of the furniture. God, if guys had this kinda luxury in the restroom, he thought he'd be taking fifteen minutes every time he had to take a leak too.
"For waiting or gossiping. Girl stuff really." Keiko explained, the sound of rustling bags background noise to her next words. "Could…could you get me a few paper towels please," she said in quiet embarrassment. The tremble of a cry was thick in her voice.
Wordlessly Kuwabara got up to fetch the requested items. He ran them under some hot water and rung them out before handing them off. To spare Keiko her dignity, Kuwabara remained silent when she started to sniffle. Several minutes passed before he heard the sound of a flush and the clink of the lock opening. Keiko shyly peered around the door at Kuwabara. He pushed himself up and sent her an encouraging smile that got her to fully walk out. She stood adjusting the slightly off colored skirt Kuwabara had gotten her, the soft crinkling of the bags she held sounded with her small movements. With a gulp of air, Keiko looked Kuwabara in the eye "Thank you, Kuwabara."
The amount of gratitude and sincerity in Keiko's voice made Kuwabara look down in humility. He was unaccustomed to people actually showing their appreciation for him. Mainly he hung around emotionally stunted guys and his sister, so the display of affection shining on Keiko's face caused his own to flush red.
"It's nothin'" he mumbled. Reaching his hand up to rub the back of his neck he saw something on his palm. He stared at the arrangement of numbers before realizing Jin had written her phone number there. Keiko pulled his hand down to look.
"A girl?" she questioned with an unreadable expression.
"Yeah. Cashier at the store named Jin," Kuwabara said, pulling out the thick bar of chocolate from the bags in Keiko's grip and handing it to her.
"You gonna go on a date with this girl?" Keiko said, letting his hand fall back to his side. She couldn't help but notice how horribly Kuwabara's bright red face clashed with his orange hair as he sunk back onto the couch. Keiko sank delicately on the edge of the seat next to him. Tearing opening the candy, she took a huge bite before offering the flustered man next to her some.
"Don't need any extra dates with you and Urameshi dragging me everywhere," he mumbled around a mouthful of chocolate.
Keiko froze at the comment. In her mind she did a quick tally of the last several dates she and Yusuke went on. When she recalled every one of them including Kuwabara, she dug another month back and still came up with multiple dates every week with both the boys. A rush of uncertainty and guilt swamped her as she remembered Kuwabara paying for their entire outing on several occasions. She didn't want her and Yusuke holding Kuwabara back from getting out with other people.
Kuwabara looked up when Keiko didn't respond to his harmless tease. Her scrunched up look of concern and worry had Kuwabara swallowing thickly. He wanted to beat the shit outta himself for bringing up his date crashing. She probably hadn't even thought the threeway dates odd til he opened his mouth!
"Kuwabara. You should go on a date with Lin."
"I-I don't know," Kuwabara stalled, trying to find a way that didn't make him sound desperate to keep things the way they were. "Like I said, I've only been on dates with you and Urameshi. Wouldn't know how to do a normal date."
"Then I'll show you," Keiko said firmly. She felt responsible for Kuwabara's social miss and was determined to fix whatever damage she and Yusuke may have unwittingly caused. "Kuwabara, will you go to the movies with me? Maybe get something to eat as well?"
In response Kuwabara too another big bite of chocolate, giving himself time to think. He had no desire to spend an evening with Jin. His week was packed with school catch up and things he was gonna do with Yusuke and Keiko, but he had a feeling Keiko was about to put some space between the three of them. Kuwabara sighed softly and took the only option he had left to be with the two. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Keiko smiled warmly at his acceptance. Instead of returning to the last class of the day, Kuwabara and Keiko spent their remaining school time lounging in the girls' room finishing up to last of the candy bar.
Two days later Kuwabara was knocking on Urameshi's door to pick Keiko up for their date; one of Yusuke's term's for the date when he found out about it. He opened the front door and glared at Kuwabara.
"I can hear you glaring in there! Stop acting like a jerk and be nice," yelled Keiko's voice from somewhere in the house. Yusuke rolled his eyes then jerked his head inside. Kuwabara made his way to the living room and took his customary place on the loveseat.
"Taking Keiko on a date," Yusuke pouted, plopping next to Kuwabara with a half finished beer in one hand and an unopened on in the other. He offered the half finished beer to Kuwabara before cracking open the new one. Both took deep pulls of the liquid and sighed at the burn.
"Could be worse. Could be Hiei," Kuwabara said back. The two chuckled and tapped the top of their beer bottles together.
"Please! Like I'd even consider Hiei," Keiko scoffed, walking into the room fixing her earring, a clutch purse tucked under one armpit.
"What? You just reject every guy that tries and turn you into a mindless slave?" joked Kuwabara.
"Ooooh yeeeaaah. He did do that," Yusuke exclaimed. Keiko tusked at Yusuke as she grabbed up her clutch and straightened the dress she was wearing.
"Kuwabara wasn't even there and he remembers it better than you," she said dryly. The doorbell rung throughout the house. Yusuke jumped up with a grin and headed into his bedroom.
"Get the door, Kuwabara! I gotta get somethin' done up real quick," was thrown over his shoulder along with his empty beer, then he slammed the door shut.
"Yusuke! We're about to leave!" Keiko cried after him. Kuwabara grumbled as he headed to the door. Opening it he found a pizza guy waiting with two boxes stacked on top of each other.
"Urameshi residence?" the guy asked. Kuwabara nodded. "That's 32.48."
Fishing into his back pocket, Kuwabara paid the guy and took the pizzas. The entire time he was thinking of how much of an asshole Urameshi was. Leaving him to pay for his pizzas! The bum.
He walked back to Keiko. When she saw what Kuwabara was carrying she turned towards Yusuke's door and banged a fist on it.
"You shouldn't make everyone buy your shit!" Keiko said in rage. "Come out here and pay him back! We have to be heading out if we're going to make the movie!"
"Don't got no more cash!" came Yusuke's muffled response through the door.
"I don't got enough cash to cover this and our date. You got any on ya?" Kuwabara muttered as he shifted the boxes to one hand. He was surprised when he lifted the top of one and saw a large extra cheesy pizza with mushrooms and black olives. This was his all time favorite pizza topping combo!
"Yusuke hates mushrooms," Keiko said as she swatted Kuwabara's hand from grabbing a piece. Yusuke opened the door and strutted over. Both Kuwabara and Keiko stared in shock at the nice outfit Yusuke had on, but Keiko knew she'd seen him wearing it once before. "Why are you wearing your funeral clothes?"
"Get off my back." Yusuke bit out, snatching the pizzas from Kuwabara and moving to the kitchen. "They're the nicest things I got. Add I ain't paying you back Kuwabara! It's your turn to pay for our date, specially since you asked for it."
Entering the kitchen, Keiko and Kuwabara had to stop to take in the sight before them. The table had a white bed sheet spread over top with paper plates and plastic utensils arranged neatly for three. In the center stood three tall red candlesticks lit up. All around the floor and the various surfaces hundreds of other candles flickered about. Yusuke hummed as he turned off the lights and started to set the plates with slices of pizza.
"Had to call in candle favors with ya sister and Kurama. The rest I just nicked." Yusuke explained. Kuwabara was the first to break out of his trance. He sat down in front of the plate Yusuke'd loaded down with the mushroom pizza. Yusuke himself sat opposite of Kuwabara with a plate of good old classic pepperoni.
Keiko still stood in the doorway. "Yusuke, what are you doing?"
"'M eaten," Yusuke said dragging the layer of topping off his slice. Kuwabara was picking off every mushroom and eating them first, making Yusuke gag a little around his mouthful of cheese. "Papa's is the best pizza." Kuwabara moaned. Yusuke nodded enthusiastically.
"No! I mean this was supposed to be a me and Kuwabara date! We're trying to prep him for his lady friend Fin." Keiko said coming up close and placing her hands on the table.
"Jin," Kuwabara corrected absentmindedly to no one's attention.
"Yeah, well, no one asked me how I felt! We always go on dates together! The three of us," Yusuke ended sadly. With a glint of hate in his eyes he added to Kuwabara, "And I went to see that 'Jin' girl. She's nothing but a whore! Don't waste time on her Kuwabara."
Keiko put her head in her hands. "OhmyGod," she breathed. "You're jealous of Kuwabara having a love interest." She thought of Yukina. "One he's actually thinking of acting on."
In the background to the conversation Yusuke and Keiko were having Kuwabara sputtered "Hey! I got lots of loving I act on! Ask Eikichi!" Yusuke gave Keiko a hardened look. "Kuwabara's supposed to be here with us. Not off with some floozy." He thought of Yukina. "Not off with some floozy."
"Yukina is not a floozy!" Kuwabara defended, knowing Yusuke was ripping on the demoness. "Just cause you can't man up and tell me you want me with ya, doesn't mean you gotta go around being a dick to nice people. At least Keiko's being up front about her feels for you and me!"
Keiko's confused "What?" went largely ignored as Yusuke bit back angrily, "What the fuck this look like to you doofus! I'm pouring my heart out here! I don't get much more romantic outside the bed than this."
Keiko numbly sat down, trying hard to take in what her two boys were saying. More like yelling. Kuwabara stood so suddenly his chair flipped to the ground. He waved widely in Keiko's direction, getting up close in Yusuke's face, who'd climbed to his feet as well. "Dumbass, you stop to think a minute that Keiko wanted one-on-one time with us? You and I go on missions together for weeks at a time while Keiko just sits and wait for the most part. And you just up and crash her careful planed date."
That brought Yusuke up short. He thought about all the time he and Kuwabara did get to spent together. Hell, he gotta spent way more time with her than Kuwabara did. Now Yusuke felt like an asshole for intruding on their special time. He turned to Keiko, who was by now working her way through a second piece of pizza and paying no mind to the hot heads beside her, and apologized.
"Guess I'm sorry for fucking this up Keiko."
Keiko acted as if she didn't hear a thing. There was a few seconds of silence, then Keiko glanced up with forged surprise. "Oh! We're done ignoring Keiko now. Well then. I just have one thing to say," she threw down her half eaten piece of pizza. "Are we really arguing about our 'relationship' here?! Because last I checked, it was you and me and Kuwabara was our good friend! When'd this change,huh?!"
"A while?" Kuwabara ventured. Keiko rounded on him and poked him on the chest.
"And you! What about Yukina! What about Vin!" she questioned him. Kuwabara rubbed at his chest while Yusuke snickered.
"Yukina and I tried it and it didn't work out. You were there, you should know! And Jin is nothing! Just a girl who gave me her number. You're the one pushing me to take her on a date. I, I just thought it was your way of saying you didn't want me… hanging with you guys anymore. You and Urameshi are better together."
"You were trying to push him out," Yusuke asked hurt and angered at the same time.
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight. All the dates we've been going on for that last few months were actual dates. As in date, date." Keiko asked. Yusuke and Kuwabara shared a looked over her head.
"Uh, yeah. That's what a date is. You know, dating. Going out, going steady." Yusuke said with a roll of the eye. "What the Hell'd you think it was?"
"I don't know! My mind didn't instantly skip to polygamy!" She retorted. Kuwabara added in, "To be honest, I wasn't really for sure what we were doing for the longest time either." Keiko smirked at Yusuke in triumph that she hadn't been the only one in the dark. Yusuke crossed his arms over his chest and puffed up.
"Well it's the three of us! So get used to it. And no side whores!" He threw at Kuwabara, with Yukina in mind.
"Goddamnit, Urameshi! Yukina is not a whore!" Kuwabara yelled back. Yusuke leaned forward and pecked Kuwabara on the cheek. Both boys blushed madly, not looking at each other and shuffling their feet with small smiles on their faces. Keiko shook her head at the two before giving each a kiss. Somehow, it did feel right to have both boys in her heart. The easy transition to the idea was a conformation to the fact that while she may not have been actively thinking what they had was a full-on relationship, her subconscious had her feeling for the two all the same.
Keiko patted the cheek she and Yusuke'd kissed Kuwabara. "No whores."
Yusuke yelled out a 'Ha!' and punched him in the arm.
Their moment was interrupted when Atsuko stumbled through the doorway.
She took in the scene and all the decorations before slurring out "Tha's my son! Yusuke Urameshi! The Great Demon King!" She hiccupped and threw her arms around Kuwabara and Keiko. "Fucking ass and pussy at the same time! Woohoo!" Then she vomited onto her son's nicest clothes and slumped into Kuwabara's arms.
"Fucking Christ Mom!" Yusuke yelled out. He held his arms away from his body and swallowed back the pizza trying to make its escape from his mouth.
"Oh, Atsuko," Keiko sighed. "Herd her into the bathtub and I'll get her cleaned up." She said to Kuwabara.
As Kuwabara did as he was told, Atsuko cried out, "Thata girl Keiko! Use your Polyandry rule!" Then she patted the hand Kuwabara had around her waist. "You getta diff'ent power in the threeway," she said encouragingly. Keiko trailed behind with a laugh. Yusuke stayed back and literally puked at his mom's nonsense. Only he was sober enough to make it to the sink before he hurled.
When Kuwabara came back out he found Yusuke in the second bathroom, stripping his puke drenched outfit off. Kuwabara blushed at Yusuke's flippant skyclad. Yusuke chuckled mischievously while sliding ostentatiously into the tube, careful to flash Kuwabara's heated face everything he had.
"There's something wrong with someone who lacks any kinda modesty," Kuwabara griped from his perch on the sink.
"Good thing I'm perfectly normal!" Yusuke said cheekily, relaxing into the water.
"You know," Yusuke said, "it only takes two people knowing for there to be a relationship, three in our case. Guess those three people were me, Kurama, and Shizuru."
"We're up to five now. Six with your mom," said Kuwabara. He sneaked a peek at Yusuke.
"Nah, I was just shittin' ya. Everyone knows. Congrats! You and Keiko are slow fuckers." Yusuke taunted. Kuwabara balled up his fists. "You little punk!"
Keiko put a clean and clothed Atsuko to bed and headed over to check on the boys. When she walked into the bathroom she was met with a flooded floor, a naked demon, a soaked ginger, and one of the craziest nights of her life.
She really loved this. But next time she was picking out the date.
