A/N I changed some diologe at the end. I just realized how stupid I made Keiko sound. Other then that, the chapter is the same.

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Yusukes Date; Part One

Yusuke dodged the mint green colored fist that was flying towards his head with so much ease it surprised him. As the multi-mouth demon fell two reds him, off balanced by the missed blow, the former detective brought a knee up and crashed into the beasts ribs, causing an audible crack.

"I don't understand how they all seem to find me!" He said through gritted teeth.

"They can't fight humans anymore, so it makes sense that they come after you." Kuwabara said, turning off his sword as he gave a final kick to the horned, but otherwise human looking demon he had been fighting with.

The green demon hit the ground with a thud and a groan. The two boys backed up a bit to admire their handy work.

"Wish the dark tournoment had been this easy." Kuwabara chuckled, "This kind of stuff is like cake, now."

The boys left the demons in the ally and made there way back to the street they had been walking down before they had been attacked. As usual, they strutted like they owned the whole world, nodding to everyone they past.

"So what are you going to do about the job?" The taller of them asked, trying to pick up the conversation whare they had left off.

"At the bar? I don't know. I could run there everyday if I really wanted to, but Shiori might get a little suspicious about that."

Yusuke had found out the day after the camping trip that he had gotten a job at the bar he applied at. The ad in the paper had said 'bouncers wanted', but they told him over the phone that they liked his audited enough to train him to tend bar, also. The good thing about the job was that it was in the same city Kuwabara and Keiko were moving to for collage, but the bad part was that the city was a half a days train ride away from whare he lived.

"I don't see why you just don't move. I know Keiko would be happy if you were closer. I wouldn't mind either, you know."

"I know." Yusuke sighed, "But Shiori has been relying on me fore a lot of stuff these days. She barley speaks to Kurama anymore, you know."

"I don't blame her, after all that stuff he said about the mob, and then that argument when we got back."

Yusuke balanced at the memory. It had already been five since they had gotten home from the trip, but so much more time seemed to have past since then. He hadn't seen Kurama since the argument, and he almost doubted that he would before they were all supposed to meet up at Genki's in two days to see off the ambassadors and welcome the new ones.

Shiori had been waiting for them when they got home, all of the family gathered in the living room, along with a psychiatrist. She had told Kurama that they were having an intervention, and they wanted him to get help for his 'kleptomania' and his other dubious behavior.

'It's not uncommon for a child that has experienced a large amount of emotional trauma to get into these sorts of self-destructive behaviors,' The man had said, 'I understand, Shuichi, that you're the one who found your father? Would you like to talk about it?'

Why this man knew that Kuramas biological human father had killed himself and he didn't was something Yusuke didn't even pretend not to be offended about. He protested wildly that this 'shrink' was invading his home, and that families shouldn't need strangers to help them get along, and that 'Shuichi' just needed some time to figure himself out. The rest of the group listened to him bewilderedly as Kuawabara tried to drag the raging teen out of the house. Kurama just stood there, completely closed off.

When Shiori finally got Yusuke to calm down, convincing him that they were only trying to help, the two friends were allowed to stay as part of the intervention. They listened to the man blabber on and on about 'family healing' and being there for someone in a crises while Shuichi played some hand-held video game and Shirori occasionally wept uncontrollably into her husbands shoulder.

'Thank you for your time,' Kurama had said to the man when he had finished his opening speech, 'But I'm not the one who needs counseling. If you know a good grief consoler, perhaps you can give their card to my mother. This is all for her, anyway.' He had shot her a nasty look before grabbing the man roughly by the arm and shoving him out the door.

The fight that ensued afterwards was something Yusuke had never imagined he would see: Kurama and Shiori shouting at the top of there lungs at each other, her pleas choked with sobs and his protests laced with venom. The rest of the group fled from the scene like there lives depended on it.

"Kurama said they used to fight like that, back when he was little, before she got sick." Yusuke reminded Kuwabara after coming out of his thoughts of that night, "And that was nothing compared to the rows me and my mom used to have, at least nobody was throwing beer bottles at anyone."

"I know, it's just weird seeing them like this. You wouldn't think it was the same mother and son I saw at her wedding. How was she today?" She had been closed off, for the most part, since the fight.

"Fine, though if she keeps doting on me like she is I might forget I'm not really her son." He thought of the perfect morning he had with her doing house work. They had cleaned the attic together, and then fixed the leaky sink in the washroom, and over lunch they talked about Keiko and her obsessive wedding plans. "He really should appreciate what he has more then he does."

"Well, he said this was all part of some plan of his, or something. Where's he been, anyway. He usually meets me after school on Thursday."

"I have no idea. He left that night and didn't come back." Yusuke sighed.

"He can be such a punk, sometimes." Kuwabara mumbled as he shook his head.

They rounded the corner that would lead them to both Kuwabaras house and Keikos school in silence. Now that the two weren't fighting to save the world on a daily bases, they didn't have much to talk about but gossip.

"Oh! How's Shizuru doing with all this. All this shit with Kurama made me completely forget that she's going away, too."

"She's alright. She's planning on leaving a note for our mom saying that she's running off to America to elope with some guy she met on the internet. When she comes back in three years, she's going to tell her that the guy only wanted to marry her because he thought all Japanese women were subservient. You know, and she's not."

"Why the hell would she make up a story like that?"

"She just does stuff like that. She could have been a romance novel writer if she wanted with all the crazy scenarios that she lies about."

"You think she's going to be okay in Demon World for three years?" Yusuke asked, though he knew she would be. If anyone would be okay in that situation, it was Shizuru.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't think she was a demon already." The taller boy smiled.

They both laughed at the thought, a rare occurrence for them these days. They continued on up the hill in silence after that, keeping a keen ear out. No mater what any demon king said, demons were still on ever street corner causing some sort of mischief, and they had learned to be ready for it.

When they had reached Keiko's school, they found her, and several of her friends, waiting for them. As they approached, the group stopped gabbing and turned to stare and giggle at the boys, except for Keiko, who promptly made her way to her boy-friend in a huff.

"Where have you been? Volleyball practice was over a half an hour ago!" She demanded as she approached the duo.

"Hey! I ran into some old friends -if you get what I mean- and I just had to stop and shoot-the-shit." He winked in an overdramatic way and grinned like an idiot.

"Could you at least try to stop getting into fights every ware you go? Everyone at school thinks I'm engaged to a thug!" He felt that she was trying to be sympathetic to his unusual situation, but she was just coming off as a bitch, as usual.

"Well, you are a thug, aren't you?" Kuwabara piped in.

"And you!" She turned her attention to the carrot top, "I thought you had stopped fighting? You should try to set a better example for Yusuke!"

"She still treats us like we're still in kindergarten!" Yusuke mumbled under his breath to his friend. "If you don't want me to pick you up from school anymore, then I wont! Don't want you to have to be embarrassed on account of little old me!"

"That's not what I meant!" She quickly tried to back paddle, "I want to trust that I can rely on you for more things then punching monsters! You promised me you'd changed." She finished in a low voice, furry and sorrow evident in every word.

"Well, if they're gonna throw a punch, then I'm gonna throw one back. And you didn't seem to mind it when I was saving your ass from that bug looking guy last week." Yusuke crossed his arms and pouted.

"Hey, Keiko!" One of the girls called from the gate, "We're going to the mall, you can ditch that loser and come with, if you want."

"No, I'm fine, go on without me." She called back to her friends. They all seemed to shrug in unison, and turned to walk away in a flurry of gossipy sounding whispers and giggles.

"I get the feeling they don't like you, Urameshi." Kuawabara said daftly as they watched the girls go, "Are they giving you crap about it, Keiko, because if they are they don't seem like any friends that I would want to have."

Keiko looked away, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Those caddy brats just don't know lucky they are that I'm around to save the world!" Yusuke mumbled at his girlfriend as he started walking back down the hill.

"You now, it wouldn't hurt you to at least try to be a normal human, Yusuke." She scolded as she caught up.

Yusuke trudged on as Keiko huffed along beside him, both oblivious in their furry to Kuwabara following them.

"So were do you want to go today, anyway?" Yusuke asked somberly as they reached the intersection leading to down town.

"I thought we could go to that caterer that I told you about."

"More wedding stuff. . . Great." Yusuke sighed.

"Well if you keep trying to brush it off, if I don't push it we wont be married for another hundred years."

Yusuke chuckled, "Well, I have that time to wait." That comment earned him a rough shove from the girl at his side.

"I don't!" She glared at him for a long time, and he glared back. Eventually he gave and replaced the glare with a wide grin. Immediately, she caved as well, her face softening into a smile, and closing her eyes in anticipation of the kiss Yusuke was planning on planting on her cheek.

"Not to interrupt, or anything," Kuwabara interrupted seconds before the kiss landed, "But I think we have company."

Keiko's eyes snapped open, "This is what I'm always talking about! If you're not ignoring me for Kurama, Captain Mood-Kill is always around to get you in trouble! When was the last time we spent more then three minutes together without you going off to be a superhero?"

Yusuke opened his mouth to protest, following Kuwabaras gaze to a row of bushes across the street.

"Look at me when I'm-" Keiko stopped as she, too, looked over to see what had caught the two boys attention.

"-Yelling at you." Yusuke finished his girlfriends command under his breath as he grabbed her and moved her behind him. "Sorry, Keiko, but you can finish yelling at me after I figure out what theses punks want.

The message seemed clear, even from across the busy street, but Yusuke had learned long ago not to trust first impressions, and he wasn't above assuming trickery was afoot. From behind the short hedge a small white sock on a stick was stuck up waiving erratically. The boys could sense the two demons that hid behind the bush, but couldn't sense there motives, and that's what troubled them.

"You better show yourselves!" Yusuke shouted above the rumble of traffic, "If you're looking fro trouble, you'll have to come find it!"

"Why did you tell them that?" Keiko said with the smallest hint of panic, "Now they're going to come over!"

"No they wont, it doesn't seem like there looking for a fight." Kuwabara sid as he took a fighting stance just in case.

Across the street, after what had appeared to be a small scuffle, a head with bright, big red eyes popped up into view followed by the tall slender frame of a demon wearing a mish-mash of human clothes. The small sock was still waiving hysterically fast next to him. The tall demon waived awkwardly when he realized he was being stared at, and reached down to pull his shorter and tubbier friend into view.

"Well, they don't look like fighters. . ." Yusuke said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. Yet, he had made up his mind, and telling Keiko to wait there, made his way with Kuwabara across the street.

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A/N This one has been giving me trouble, so I'm going to post it in two parts. I'm still not sure if I'm getting into Yusukes half of the story too soon, but I figured, 'what the hell, might as well try it.' I really like his roll in all of this and don't want to rush it, so any input on this matter would be aprechiated. Hopefully I haven't sopiled things :{ Thanks for reading! R&R! -L.