Coffeehouse Conversations
Part one: First Sips
By Funara
Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, mochas, fraps, Toshimi Arina or Midnight Sun. All of this will make sense shortly.
Notes: This is a four-part birthday fic for mocha cocoa. I hope to release a part every three days or so, and the last part should come out on her actual birthday. Happy Birthday, mocha!
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Yuusuke pushed open the door of the coffeehouse, breathing deep the pleasant aroma. Behind him, Kuwabara did the same. The place wasn't somewhere they usually hung out, but one of Kuwabara's friends had recommended it.
The two boys ambled towards the counter, glancing up at the menu. When Yuusuke realized that all the coffees listed were hot coffees, he wandered over to the small refrigerator off to the side, wanting something cold in the summer heat. He glanced at the contents inside.
There were a number of labeled bottles containing, to Yuusuke's surprise, coffee. In his limited experience of coffee, it had never come in a bottle. Alcohol came in bottles. Not coffee. He shrugged and peered at the label of the bottle nearest him. There were a bunch of English words—gibberish to him—but there was some Japanese written next to the English.
"Mouka?" Yuusuke sounded out the syllables. No word he knew—it must be the Japanese version of the coffee's English name. Willing to try it, he took a bottle. No harm in coffee…unlike kaa-san's last attempt to make gourmet food. I knew something was wrong when she started watching "Iron Chef". He winced at the memory. If he developed stomach ulcers…
After paying for the coffee at the counter, the black-haired boy plunked down at a corner table and unscrewed the cap of his bottle. He took a small sip and decided it wasn't bad. Taking a larger swallow, he realized it reminded him vaguely of chocolate milk. It was sweet and cold, unlike the black coffee he drank the morning after an alcoholic binge, in an attempt to make the hangover go away.
Kuwabara appeared a moment later and pulled out the chair opposite Yuusuke. As he sat down, he caught sight of Yuusuke's mocha. "Whoa. Yours came in a bottle?"
Yuusuke grinned. "Yeah. Pretty weird, huh?"
"No kidding."
"What'd you get?"
"Furapa-something." He turned in his chair and squinted at the menu. "Furapuchinou."
"Uh…okay."
Kuwabara nodded, pulling the plastic cover off his Styrofoam cup. "Yeah, I don't drink this stuff too often either." He drank from his cup. "Hey, pretty good." He nodded approvingly.
Yuusuke slung an arm over the back of his chair and rested his other arm on the windowsill, staring outside at the passerby. Kuwabara took another sip of his hot coffee, not saying anything. The two of them were good enough friends not to let thoughtful silence, unusual as it was, bother them.
Kuwabara glanced around the coffeehouse and noticed a doorway leading to what looked like a bookstore. Hmm…he'd been meaning to buy the newest issue of Shounen Jump…
"Oi, Urameshi."
The green-attired teen pulled his gaze from the window. "What?"
"I'm going to check out the bookstore, maybe buy some manga." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the doorway.
"Yeah, okay." The taller boy got up and proceeded towards the bookstore, leaving his coffee on the table.
Yuusuke sighed and stretched. He'd been unable to escape school for the past week, which had seriously threatened his carefree attitude. Not to mention the fact that he actually had to scrape a passing grade on his final exam or risk being left behind. He tipped his chair on two legs, his arms crossed behind his head. I wonder if there's any chance of getting kaa-san to bring in those yakuza members again…or maybe I could just forge a pass…but I got caught last time…
The off-duty tantei's not-so-honorable train of thought was rudely interrupted by a high-pitched scream.
"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS! URAMESHI! URAMESHI!"
Caught off-guard and unawares by Kuwabara's profane outburst, Yuusuke lost his balance and only saved himself by grabbing the windowsill with both hands. Unfortunately, his hands were wet from gripping his condensation-covered coffee bottle, and they slipped off, leaving the delinquent grabbing at nothing. He fell backwards in an ungraceful heap.
"Oww…" Yuusuke rubbed the back of his head and sat up. Moments later, Kuwabara charged in, looked around quickly, spotted his fallen comrade and rushed towards him, still shouting his name. Yuusuke instantly developed a migraine.
"Urameshi! My god, you have to see this! It's—it's—" Kuwabara grabbed the front of Yuusuke's uniform and shoved a book into his hands. Yuusuke stopped rubbing his head and looked at it blearily.
"What is it?"
"It's volume five of 'Midnight Sun', by Toshimi Arina. Yukina-san reads it, so I—but that's not the point. Look at the last couple of pages."
Yuusuke duly flipped to the back of the volume, wondering what this was about. The title page explained that the last section of the volume would be devoted to a doujinshi from Toshimi's doujinshika days. The teen looked up at Kuwabara. "So what? It's a doujinshi, they stick stuff like that in all the ti—"
"Flip through it!" Kuwabara was practically bouncing in agitation.
"Okay, okay." Yuusuke flipped through it idly. Nothing unusual, just a picture of—wait, was that Hiei! The detective peered closer. It was! And Kurama was there too! And they were—Yuusuke hastily flipped to another page, but was greeted by a similar sight. Hiei and Kurama kissing…Hiei and Kurama hugging…Hiei and Kurama—Yuusuke blanched and shut the volume.
Kuwabara took it from him. "Did you see it?"
Dumbfounded, Yuusuke nodded. "What the hell was that? I-I mean, it looked like them, but it couldn't be—"
The orange-haired teen shook his head gravely. "It is them. Their names were in the dialogue bubbles."
Yuusuke clapped a hand to his forehead. "Jesus, what is this? Are they involved or something? And who's this Toshimi person, drawing all of this?" He tried to banish some of the more explicit images from his mind.
"I dunno. It creeped me out too."
Suddenly, something clicked in Yuusuke's mind and he jumped to his feet. Kuwabara got up as well. "What are you going to do?" he asked warily, noting the strange gleam in his friend's eye.
Yuusuke marched towards the door. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I am a detective after all."
Kuwabara sweatdropped. "And how do you plan to do that?"
Yuusuke turned to face him. "Well, first off, I know Keiko reads this 'Midnight Sun' stuff. I'm going to go talk to her."
—to be continued—
mangaka—someone who draws manga
doujinshika—someone who draws doujinshi
kaa-san--mother
Notes: I don't think there really is an HxK doujinshi in the back of Midnight Sun volume five, so don't harass me if I'm wrong. If I'm right…then, whoa I'm psychic! Otherwise, this was by far the easiest chapter of anything I've ever written. Good sign or bad? You tell me. Reviews?
