300

"A cop? I thought you hated cops as much as I did," Yusuke said, scowling, cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"A lot's changed since you got yourself smeared across the pavement, Urameshi," Kuwabara replied sourly.

Yusuke scoffed. "Yeah yeah. Thought you were gonna be some great scientist. Can't believe you studied to get into Meiou and then went to college just to chase around punks like us."

"Says the guy who got himself killed twice to run a ramen stand. There's more to bein' a cop than chasin' around kids, you know," he said. "I can really do some good around here, you know, Urameshi?"

"Can't say I do," he said cheekily. "And I do more than run a ramen stand! I'm still training!"

"Yeah, bet you can't wait to get your ass kicked by that Youmi guy again."

"When I'm king, I'll make you take that back," Yusuke snorted.

"Newflash, I'm a human, your rules don't apply to me."

"Hundreds of beings at my bidding? They so do. I could make your job hell."

"You don't always have to be an ass about it," Kuwabara said. "It's a good job."

Yusuke sighed and relented. "Yeah. You'll have a nice middle class home with a beautiful, way-outta- your-league wife, huh?"

"A good happy life," he said, smiling. "It's nice to have things figured out."

"Yeah," Yusuke said, though he didn't really understand. Yusuke, after all, lived for the next big fight. He knew Kuwabara though, and he knew how Kuwabara worked. He needed something to protect, or he would waste away. Kuwabara really was the knight in shining armor Yukina thought he was, Yusuke thought with amusement. "It'll be good for you."

200

It had taken some time for Kuwabara to figure things out. Kuwabara knew he wasn't the smartest man in the world, but still, it shouldn't have taken him this long. It started with a confession.

"Kazuma, I have something to admit to you," his love said quietly.

"Huh? What could it be?"

Yukina bit her lip. "I lied to you, Kazuma."

Kuwabara's eyebrows raised. He supposed she was capable of these things, like all beings, so he nodded for her to go on.

"I wasn't ever permitted to come down to this world," she said. "Nor was I permitted to come back to it the second time."

"What?" he said. "But, Yukina-"

"I'm never allowed back. I've been tainted by the world of men," she said, and she sounded almost venomous. "But that's not true. The Koorime... they shut off their hearts. Just so they can survive. But mine was opened, and that's dangerous to the way they live."

"Yukina- I never had any idea," he said, going to take her hand.

"Someday," she said, "my brother is going to destroy them. I think I want him to."

100

They had their wedding outdoors in the hottest part of Summer. Yukina had a light sheen of sweat across her forehead, but none had ever seen her smile brighter. Her dress was white and red, and Hiei stood next to her. Yesterday, she had cried a bit for her heritage and the tears froze and she kept them. But that was the last time she would. Only the Koorime cried jewels after all, and today, as she declared her love for Kazuma in front of the whole world in the heat and the sun, she was no longer a Koorime.