"It's just so frustrating," Kuwabara complained over his soda. "Every time I go to ask Yukina out or tell her how I feel, something happens to stop it! Every time! Either she misunderstands me, or someone interrupts, or something needs her attention right that second. It's like the universe is conspiring against me!"
Kurama took a sip of his tea and couldn't believe the opportunity that the universe was now granting him. When Kuwabara had asked Kurama to meet him at this café for advice, Kurama had thought that the other teen must be having trouble at his high school or something. He'd never expected Kuwabara to want to talk about his relationship with Yukina. Kuwabara was practically throwing the door open and inviting Kurama to plant seeds.
Kurama set his cup down and considered what he would say. This was a delicate task, and his words needed to be chosen very carefully. "Kuwabara, have you considered that Yukina may be doing this on purpose?"
Brown eyes blinked at him in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Kurama knew the words he was speaking would cause Kuwabara pain, but steeled himself to speak them anyway. "What I mean is that over the past four years, you've made your feelings for Yukina very plain, and sheltered or not, Yukina isn't stupid. She must know how you feel."
"But," Kuwabara protested, "if she knows how I feel, why won't she say something?"
Kurama pursed his lips, making a show of reluctance to speak his next sentence. "Perhaps because she doesn't want to hurt your feelings. Perhaps she is simply waiting for you to…give up."
He watched as emotions played out over Kuwabara's face: confusion, understanding, hurt, disbelief. Kurama didn't relish Kuwabara's pain. He did consider the human a dear friend, even if what Kurama was doing to him now was selfish and cruel. But Kurama never had been able to overcome his selfish streak, and right now Kuwabara was standing between Kurama and something he wanted.
Yukina.
Quite frankly, Kurama didn't think Kuwabara deserved Yukina. Kurama could see things in her that Kuwabara couldn't even imagine. Kuwabara thought of her as a delicate, gentle and naïve soul, a pure angel that needed to be sheltered and protected. On the surface, he was right. Yukina was gentle and caring, but there was so much more to her than just that. She had a deep inner strength, the kind of strength that allowed her to endure immense pain and torture of the worst kind without shedding a tear, just to spite her captor and not give him what he wanted. And then of course, there were the scars on her soul that she hid so skillfully. Many of them had been left by Tarukane of course; one could not go through such an experience and not come out scarred. But there were also scars left by her childhood, from being raised by the women who had tried to murder her brother.
And Kuwabara thought that Yukina was simple. She was anything but, and if Kuwabara couldn't understand that, Kurama would never relinquish her to him.
"But, but I love her!" Kuwabara said, desperation tingeing his voice.
You don't even know her! Kurama wanted to shout. You don't love Yukina! You love the image of her that you've created in your mind! But that image isn't real!
However, Kurama said none of that. Such words would tip his hand to far, and Kuwabara would see clearly what Kurama was trying to do.
"You loving her doesn't guarantee that she'll love you," Kurama said, keeping his voice as gentle and soothing as possible. He met Kuwabara's eyes. "I'm sorry, Kuwabara. You asked for my opinion, and as far as I can see, this is it."
And it might even be the truth. Of course, Kurama couldn't really know why Yukina was so oblivious to Kuwabara's advances, whether she really just didn't understand them or if she was playing dumb. Kurama suspected the latter, but had no way of knowing for sure short of asking her, and if by some miracle she truly wasn't aware of Kuwabara's affections, Kurama would be the last person in the world to point them out to her.
Kuwabara's fists clenched, and his face twisted with pain. Kurama felt a pang of regret for the heartbreak Kuwabara was experiencing, but he felt no guilt. He would do whatever it took to make Yukina his and that meant removing Kuwabara as a rival.
"You're wrong," Kuwabara said. "You have to be wrong!" Determination shone in his brown eyes, but behind that Kurama could detect the seeds of doubt. It was enough. Given time, those seeds would grow, and Kuwabara would give up his pursuit of Yukina. Kurama would see to it.
"I hope I am," Kurama lied.
AN: Written for IamEnVIOS, the 500th reviewer of Bitter Enemies! IamEnVIOS asked of a KuramaXYukina story, and this is what happened. It's my first attempt at this pairing so...yeah, not really sure how it turned out. And apparently I can no longer write any story about YYH and not have Kuwabara in it.