After the most embarrassing conversation of his life, Yusuke didn't see his mom for several days and he got bored while waiting around the house and watching cartoons. And also hungry. He'd eaten the last cup of ramen the night before and was scouting out the cheap places to eat down town. Next time his mom was sober he was making her go shopping. He even planned to stash her booze until she did so. He would even drink some himself just to spite her drinking habits.

He'd finally settled on going to Keiko's to let her dad cook for him because they always liked feeding him there for some reason. They were the nicest parents that Yusuke had ever met. They didn't think Yusuke was a bad kid, which was weird because the rest of the city did. It was nice though.

His trip to get food was delayed because when he was a block away from the restaurant, he heard running his his direction. He turned to look and saw a familiar pompadour and three lackeys. Yusuke was confused when Kuwabara planned his foot into the pavement and took up an offensive stance, that same determined look on his mug as every time before. Yusuke was surprised that the redhead was back to fight him. It had only been a little over a week, but Kuwabara looked better than their last encounter. Kuwabara even had a few less bandaging.

"You been avoiding me punk?!" Kuwabara shook his fist threateningly and his gang looked all healed up, but not as eager to see Yusuke as the other guy was. They had the same look as everyone else did at school; fear, and a healthy dose of it. But the tall guy, he wasn't scared at all. Yusuke wasn't sure what to make of that, but he'd be damned if he was going to back down. He stuck his pinky in his ear and glanced at Kuwabara over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" He said in the most blasé tone he could muster. It helped that he was hungry and slightly grumpy. The tall one bristled and his fist clenched close to his face.

"I'm Kazuma Kuwabara, and I'll make you remember it if it's the last thing I do!" Kuwabara charged him with a yell, his gang following him up, but Yusuke could see it was more out of concern for their leader than for a fight.

"Guess I'll get my warm up today after all." Yusuke said with a smirk and caught Kuwabara's punch in his hand, countering it with a punch to the square jaw that suddenly gave him a flash of dejavu, but he ignored it because he was back in the thrill of the street fight. Yusuke took the few seconds of Kuwabara's stunned stumbling to look around, noting that the gang wasn't jumping it. It was a one on one fight. Weird. Kuwabara was back in the fight quickly and Yusuke sideswiped a punch to land a devastating blow to the vulnerable stomach. And when Kuwabara doubled over from getting the wind knocked out of him, Yusuke grabbed his head of orange hair and drove his knee into the already bruised jaw. There were pained gasped from the on lookers, especially when Kuwabara stumbled back, looking dazed, but not falling. Yusuke smirked, glad that Kuwabara wasn't a one hit knock out anymore. But another few well placed punches, Yusuke knocked Kuwabara into the near by trash, and that's finally where he stayed because the red head's body wouldn't get back up. But that didn't mean the guy was unconscious. He shook his fist at Yusuke, yelling as Yusuke continued on his way to the Yukimura's restaurant, shoving his hands back in his pockets

"You got Lucky! Next time you're kissin' pavement!" Kuwabara shouted at him and Yusuke returned it with a smirk.

"Yeah, Yeah. You ever beat me and I'll become a nun." Yusuke chuckled and walked away, hearing the little gang shuffling over to check and see if Kuwabara needed any help. Yusuke ignored the group, his smile turning sour as he walked away from them. He didn't know why he didn't like it when Kuwabara's gang gathered around the ugly lug. They showed their support for him pretty openly. Yusuke had never known that loyalty.

Yusuke scoffed, pushing it out of his mind. He didn't need dead weights like that hanging around him. It wasn't like they helped Kuwabara fight him. They stayed out of his way, like any sane people. Kuwabara didn't though. Yusuke's mouth twitched into a little bit of a smile. He kinda liked that Kuwabara wasn't quite rational. He was the first person who came back to fight him again. And it was the stupidest thing in the world, but Yusuke couldn't really say he minded.


All the fights. I remember the beginning of the show Keiko mentioned that Yusuke didn't have many friends, so Kuwabara's gang doesn't make much sense to him. Yusuke doesn't like them because he's never had friends like that. Not til he gets his little Team Urameshi together.

Ah, I've been getting a few inquiries as to the Dark Tournament, but this fic really won't go to that. So I was wondering what everyone wants to see during the Dark Tournament and then perhaps I'd make a spin off fic on Yusuke's thoughts. Review or PM me and I'll see what I can do with it.