Rating has gone up because of talk of sexual acts.
"Grandma, I need to ask you something."
The man sat in his ex-master's room. Pu was resting his large head in Yusuke's lap while the demon casually stroked his hair. Genkai put down the tea she had been drinking down and sighed.
"I thought I was done being a mentor years ago. I suppose this is my price for having 364 days of peace, one messy one."
Yusuke's face retained its serious expression. "This is important to me, and if I didn't feel like I'd knock down a mountain if something didn't change, I wouldn't ask you. It's about Keiko."
The elderly woman raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Oh boy." Her words were filled with sarcasm. "The drama of youth and romance."
"Don't make fun of me!" Yusuke barked. Pu raised his head slightly in confusion, and the once Spirit Detective affectionately squeezed the loose fur on his neck. "Sorry Pu."
"So it is serious, huh?" Genkai asked, the previously used teasing tone now gone.
"Yeah." Yusuke nodded. "I..." He closed his mouth. the words had died before they came out on his tongue. It was so hard to put how he felt into accurate terms. He hadn't told anyone about his struggle yet, and the conflict had only grown worse. "I don't love Keiko anymore."
And suddenly, his problem felt smaller.
"Is that all? You had me worried for a moment, you dumbass," Genkai said.
"I don't think you understand,." He looked down at Pu as he spoke. His voice was small and gentle. "She's spent years waiting for me. She was what kept me going while I was in Demon World. I dreamed of making her my mate."
Yusuke doubted Genkai understood what he meant by the word mate, but he had grown so accustomed to the term that he didn't think of explaining it. To him, his mate would be the one person he gave his heart to, who he would die along with.
"And now... I can't stand it!" He squeezed his legs with his hands in an attempt to stop the tears threatening to form. It didn't work. A few tears rolled down his cheek. "I love her, but not like that! And I don't want to hurt her by telling her this! She deserves more than this! She deserves the life she wants, a life with me that I can't give to her!"
Genkai waited for him to recompose himself before answering. "Yusuke, Keiko's not a child. She can handle herself. If you don't love her anymore, you need to tell her."
"I know. I know." It wasn't the answer Yusuke wanted to hear, but he knew it was the best option. "It's just, I wish there was another way."
"Don't we all," Genkai commented. "It would be wonderful if we could stay in love with our childhood sweethearts. Sadly, life's a bitch."
Pu nuzzled Yusuke as if to give him comfort.
It was settled. He was going to have to break things off with Keiko. There was no way around it. Today was yet another night where he was not looking forward to going home.
Yusuke didn't return home until dawn. When he finally did enter the home he shared with Keiko, he found his roommate standing in the doorway getting ready to leave for some weekend meet up. She had her casual clothes on, and there was a purse hanging from her shoulder. She no longer greeted Yusuke with a smile like she once did. Instead, she simply nodded in his direction.
"Yusuke, there's something-"
"Keiko, I-"
They spoke at the same time.
"You go first," Keiko suggested.
"Right." Yusuke rubbed his neck and found his mouth going dry. He had stood his ground against some of the strongest creatures in existence. He could punch through a building. He had died twice and lived to tell about it. He could break up with someone. "It's not your fault or anything, but I feel like we should go back to being friends. I just don't feel what I once did. I know I'm an ass for this, so if you want to hit me, go ahead!"
He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact. Instead, he heard laughter. He opened one eye and saw that Keiko was giggling.
"Funny. I was about to say the same thing."
It took Yusuke a few moments to recover from shock, but then he was laughing right along side her. He felt wonderful. He felt the happiest he had been since he came back to Earth.
"You haven't been the same. The Yusuke I love definitely wouldn't have spent half the time that we were together pouting," Keiko said, still giggling.
"Hey! I had my reasons!" Yusuke laughed again.
"Mh-hm. I'm sure. I bet you also had a reason for taking weeks to tell me you didn't like me that way anymore, right?"
"Well... I-" The ex-Spirit Detective was at a loss of words and more than slightly embarrassed. "I... didn't want to upset you. That's all."
Keiko walked past him and opened the door. She held her fingers out like she was getting ready to shoot a gun, and she was still smiling. "You know, being honest is better than lying, and you're lucky I'm such a forgiving person." She pantomimed shooting a gun. "Now, see ya."
She exited the house, and Yusuke was left thinking how that was better than any outcome he had imagined.
"My my my, you seem like you are in a better mood today."
Yusuke laughed and scratched the back of his neck. "Gee, is it that obvious, Kurama?"
The demon nodded. "When everyone's favorite ex-Spirit Detective starts getting quiet, violet, and pouts all the time, people tend to know. Now, would you like some bread?"
Kurama held out a stick of bread, which Yusuke happily took. They had agreed to meet at a restaurant for lunch after the red head called him last night. Yusuke was more than happy to go anywhere when the words "free food" were mentioned. They were sitting at a booth with a table in-between them.
"Thanks." Yusuke took a large bite of bread.
"You're more than welcome. So what ended up happening with you and Keiko?"
Yusuke pondered for a moment if he would answer or not before speaking. "We broke up. She's seeing another guy, well guys to be more accurate, and I'm..." Dreaming about Kuwabara and trying to figure out what to do with these feelings, "just, you know. Enjoying being back in the Living World, trying to find a job, spray painting butts on teachers' homes, all that jazz. Speaking of which, know anywhere that's hiring?"
"No, but I'll keep my ears open," Kurama replied.
The food came, causing Yusuke to cheer happily. His portion of food dwarfed Kurama's order, and the former wasted no time digging into his food. His love for food had survived to adulthood. Before the fox even touched his food, he was speaking again.
"Yusuke, were you actually planning on making Keiko your mate? She's a fine girl and I think highly of her, but you two have very different life spans." Kurama said flatly.
Yusuke swallowed his mouthful of food. He leaned back and let his legs rest against the bottom part of Kurama's booth. "Of course. Life's not worth living if you take the routes that'll let you live longer instead of the ones you'll enjoy."
"Perhaps, but love, unbonded and human love at least, is fleeting. Had you stayed in demon world a few more years, you might have found someone with a similar sexuality and life span as yours. Now that you've ended things with Keiko, you should return and..." Yusuke grinned sheepishly. "Don't tell me; you've already fallen for someone else?"
Yusuke chuckled. "Guilty as charged! What can I say; the heart ones what the hearts wants."
And the heart wanted a muscular man whose determination knew no bounds.
"I should have known." Kurama sighed. "Who is it this time?"
"Kuwabara," Yusuke said, blushing slightly.
The brawler expected Kurama to be shocked, but instead he heard the fox laugh. It was a nice relief. "Is that so? I should have known. I always thought there could have been something between you two."
"Eh- What?" Yusuke blinked, surprised. "Is it that obvious? And here I was, thinking my feelings came out of nowhere."
With a smile still on his lips, Kurama shook his head. "No, Hiei and I used to joke about. You two always got so worked up about each other." Yusuke laughed, and before he could speak, Kurama spoke again in a more serious tone. "But I insist once again you listen to my advice Yusuke. Come to demon world, find a mate with a similar lifespan, and bound before this crush of your goes any further."
"Kurama." Yusuke waved his fork. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I'm not going to ignore how I feel because it could make me die earlier. It's no worth it. Besides, how do we even know I'm like my dad? I don't need to eat humans to live, so why can't I have a different sexuality as well? Maybe I take after my human side here."
"Then let me ask you a question: have you been able to orgasm since you came back to life?"
Yusuke almost choked on the food. He leaned forward and gently slapped the table. "What the hell kind of question is that?!"
Kurama was backing to smiling. "Mazoku can't ejaculate unbonded except in the body of their future mate."
Yusuke huffed. "Coincidence."
"I'm sure it is. Now, do you have something else you want to ask me? I feel like there's been a question in the back of your mind since we arrived," Kurama said.
"Yeah, actually." Yusuke clapped his hands together. "Could I move in with you?"
"Yusuke..."
"Don't give me that! As much as I care for Keiko, because she's awesome, really, she keeps having guys over all night, and it's driving me crazy."
He frowned with disgust. Keiko had gotten into a habit of inviting strangers into her bedroom. It was experimenting, she would say. It was enough to drive Yusuke mad to know that they had no plans to be together, yet there were just a room away, making love.
"Oh?" There was a spark of curiosity in Kurama's voice. "Yusuke, there is nothing wrong with having any amount of sex with anyone as long as it's consensual."
Great. He was being lectured. Yusuke leaned back in his booth and crossed his arms.
"I know that, but still...! It just makes me skin crawl knowing she's screwing guys just to screw 'em! Sex isn't suppose to be that. It's suppose to be something more intimate, a way to bound you to another per-" Kurama started laughing. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, it's nothing, just that that's exactly what your dad would have said. You really are like the other Mazoku."
Kuwabara laid down on his couch in the living room. In his hand was a large book he was supposed to be reading for school. Shizuru was also in the living room, smoking a cigarette and watching television.
"So, Little Brother, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Thinking about spending it with anyone special?"
Kuwabara shrugged. He attempted to read while he talked with his sister. "A bunch of girls will give me chocolate like always, which will be a pain to return. I might spend it with Yukina, though I doubt she really understand Valentine's Day." He highlighted a passage.
Shizuru blew on her cigarette, filling the room with smoke. Kuwabara had grown up around cigarettes, so to him it was a familiar smell of home. He briefly wondered about Yusuke. Word had gotten to him about his break up with Keiko. Would he be spending the day with a girl?
"Though I could always teach her about it." He closed his book and scooted to the other edge of the couch where a large bird cage sat on a small table. Inside were two doves. Kuwabara opened the cage and took the male whom he named Nageki out. The bird perched happily on his hand. The female, Lemon, flew to his shoulder.
"Yukina Yukina Yukina. That's all you've talked about since Yusuke came back," Shizuru said. If she was hinting at something, Kuwabara didn't know what it was. "There you go again, chasing after girls you have no chance with to avoid being yourself."
Kuwabara huffed. "I don't know what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure I don't like it." He began to stroke Nageki's head with his thumb, and the bird cooed happily. Kuwabara smiled. What a cute little bird.
"Whatever. You'll figure it out eventually." Shizuru blew another cloud of smoke into the air.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Kuwabara sniffed the air. "And go smoke somewhere else. You'll give my birds cancer."
With a roll of her eyes, Shizuru left the room. It was at this time that Kuwabara heard the house phone go off. He sat Nageki on his shoulder opposite of Lemon and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" Kuwabara asked after he picked up the call.
"Yo!" He smiled when he heard the voice. It only took him a fraction of a second to identify to speaker as being Yusuke Urameshi. "Kuwabara! You free next weekend? We need to hang out more."
There was a little flutter in his stomach. "You bet. Name the time and place, and I'll be there."
