On his way to work Monday morning, Kurama looked all around him on the train. How many people, he wondered, were in love? How many women had rings on their fingers? And why was he not looking forward to work? After all, that was where he had met Kimiko Sasori—or "Kim," which was what everyone at the office called her.

Kim was one year younger than Kurama, and the new receptionist at his work. She stood about 5'2", on the slim side, with smiling big brown eyes and shiny black hair she liked to wear in one long braid down her back. Most importantly, she and Kurama were an "item."

Kurama's mom rarely tried to pressure him into doing things, but he could tell she was hinting that Kim had to be "the one." Everyone in his family liked her, and everyone in her family liked him. She had good manners—a good upbringing—and she was quite pretty. All that was missing on one long, delicate, perfectly-manicured finger was a big diamond ring.

But for some reason, Kurama hadn't bought one yet. His mother, Shiori, had offered to pitch in, and when Kurama said no thanks, she even offered Kurama her own engagement ring. No thanks again, Mom. Money wasn't the issue here, he knew, nor was keeping Shiori's ring where it belonged.

So what was?

True to form, Kurama always arrived at the office early, because that was just the kind of person he was. Also, he just kind of felt down today. Maybe it was because he was the only one left of his friend group now who wasn't engaged or married? Honestly, Hiei was getting married before he was? But such jealousy would be childish, and he could get engaged if he wanted to. Kim wouldn't argue. That was one of her qualities as well. She always wanted to do whatever he wanted to do. Always wanted to talk about what he wanted to talk about. Always wanted to cook and clean for him when she visited his apartment, though he was always the one who did the inviting, because she thought it was rude to invite yourself over to places.

But that's the problem, Kurama thought. One thing he always did was think his problems through, and the one he was trying to solve today was why he was so reluctant to give Kim a ring. It wasn't because she would turn him down, because he knew she wouldn't. Maybe he almost hoped she would; he missed the give-and-tug that he felt was supposed to be in a relationship. After all, he cared about what she thought, what her interests were. Sometimes he wanted to cook or clean for her. And sometimes, for heaven's sake, he almost wished she would argue with him on something. Joke around. Banter. Anything.

That didn't make any sense, though! Why on Earth would he want a girlfriend, a wife, who was argumentative? She was the kind of woman most men wanted—deferent, sweet, caring…What was it? What was missing?

"Good morning, Shuichi."

Kurama's thoughts were interrupted by the woman of the hour, Kim. Her petite figure maneuvered carefully around to her desk, and she sat down, ready to start the day's work.

"Good morning, Kim," Kurama replied, smiling at her. "How are you?"

"Fine," she said, smiling. "How are you?"

"Couldn't be better," said Kurama, even though that wasn't exactly true. "Anything interesting going on at your house?"

"Not really," she replied. "Yours?"

"No," said Kurama. This was how their conversations usually went. Briefly, he considered telling her about Hiei becoming engaged, but then he remembered that she had never met Hiei, and besides, that might make her think he was on the verge of proposing, that is, implying that they should get engaged, too.

Kurama wished sometimes, in his most selfish moments, that Hiei hadn't gone back to Makai. Of course, he understood why he had; that was his home. There had been this unspoken agreement that if they were really best friends, they had to let each other go to where they felt the most at home. But it just wasn't the same without him around, climbing through the window and startling him, or working together as a team, or heck, even fighting with him. Every day was an adventure when Hiei was your best friend. It was extremely selfish to wish Hiei was still on parole and pinned down to one city—the city in which Kurama just happened to be living. Maybe I should have cherished those times a bit more, Kurama thought.

But still, he couldn't leave Ningenkai anymore than Hiei could leave Makai, even less, in fact. That was just the way it was. At any rate, Kurama was likely to be making the trip to Makai for Hiei's wedding. It sounded like they were having a traditional Makaian wedding—not a lot of people actually in the wedding, just the couple getting married and one attendant each. It was considered a very high honor to be chosen as someone's attendant, since there was only room for one each, and Kurama felt honored indeed.

…

Hiei wasn't the only one who was engaged, of course. Yusuke and Keiko had been married for a few years now, though they had no children yet, but Kuwabara had recently proposed to Yukina, and their wedding was all the gang could talk about. Yukina had reached her one hundredth birthday a few years ago, but upon learning from Keiko that (using a technology called IVF) she could use those eggs any old time she wanted, she decided not to have a clone baby, and wait until she was married instead, so she could have a baby that was hers and Kuwabara's.

Now, that wedding was finally happening, and Kuwabara didn't care what they did as long as Yukina was happy. Upon being hired to work at an office, he had invited her to move in with him, and she had become entranced by the glamorous "Western-style" weddings she saw in movies. So that was the kind of thing they were going to do, though they were getting married outside, on the lawn of a country club.

Several days later in the week, Yukina invited Kurama, Keiko, Shizuru, and Botan to go with her to pick out a beautiful white wedding dress. All four of them were in the wedding party: Kurama was a groomsman, Shizuru was a "groomswoman," Keiko was the maid of honor, and Botan was a bridesmaid. The other groomsman was Hiei, and of course Yusuke was the best man. Kim was another bridesmaid, though she hadn't come on the shopping trip. It was Kim's idea to invite Shiori to be a bridesmaid as well (Kurama's mother saw Kim as the daughter she never had). Despite being almost sixteen now, Kurama's stepbrother had been chosen to be the "Flower Boy," which Kurama had the feeling he wasn't too pleased about, especially since it had caused Kuwabara and Yusuke to tease him mercilessly.

"What kind of wedding dress do you want, future sister-in-law?" Shizuru asked as they entered one bridal shop, the first of many. She made sure to put out her cigarette before they stepped inside.

"Something romantic, with lace," Yukina replied. "But I'm not sure about the rest—there's so much to choose from!"

"That's because brides are all different, so they need a big assortment," Keiko explained. "What looks wonderful on one bride will look hideous on another, and vice versa. It really is helpful to have an idea of what you want, but you can have almost anything."

"I think you would look great in a sheath dress," suggested Shizuru.

"Especially now that you've gotten a few more womanly curves!" giggled Botan, jokingly poking Yukina in the side, and Yukina giggled, too. Unlike Hiei, who just wore his cloak/dress thing everywhere and didn't seem to care that he looked like a child in a Halloween costume, Yukina had changed out of her normal attire. Today, determined to blend in with the human realm, she was wearing jeans and a fluffy white sweater, with a blue peacoat over it, and black ankle boots.

"It's strange, you know, that there are so many different dresses, but the boys probably wouldn't even notice if we all changed halfway through," Shizuru commented.

"I would notice," said Kurama, pretending to be offended.

"You're different," Shizuru replied.

It wasn't long before they were approached by a salesperson.

"Hello," she said in a friendly way. "May I ask which of you is getting married?"

"I am!" Yukina raised her hand, giggling. She really did seem much happier lately. "It's a bit overwhelming, though, to be sure."

"Well, it seems overwhelming, but finding the perfect dress is like finding the perfect man," said the salesperson. "You'll just…know."

So the salesperson helped them navigate the dress shop.

"She's right," said Keiko, the only one of them who was married. "I just knew."

"About the man, or the dress?" Shizuru joked.

"Well, a dress doesn't cut class, abandon you at movie theaters, or try to make you do its homework," Keiko quipped.

"You got that right," Shizuru agreed with a nod, and Botan laughed.

…

They inevitably went to several stores; they wanted to price and compare, since Yukina didn't want to just buy any old dress and then see a better one right next door. Yukina, being an orphan (at the very least, a half-orphan with a missing father), had no parents to help out, so everyone's families pitched in a bit. Once the wedding dress fund was created, Yukina had enough to pick out a decent dress.

Despite two of them planning to be on the groom's side of the altar, everyone was supportive of the bride-to-be. There were a lot of dresses Yukina wanted to try on, and they learned after the first rejected dress that they would pretty much be hunting in the Petites section for the rest of the day. But then, in the fifth store they entered, Yukina found her dream dress.

"I like this one!" she said, taking it gently off the rack. "I'm going to try it on, okay?"

"Sure, we'll help you," Keiko offered. The girls went in to the dressing room stall with her while Kurama waited patiently outside, and he was reading a newspaper when Keiko, Botan, and Shizuru left the dressing room stall.

"Da-da-da-da!" Botan sang cheerfully, prancing on ahead of everyone else. "Here comes the bride!"

"This is the one!" Yukina kept saying as she stepped out in the white dress. "You all were right—I just knew!"

Yukina's dream wedding dress was a ballgown. It was strapless with a V-neck, the lacy top fitted to the bust in particular, but it was modest. The belt part rested just slightly above Yukina's hips and with the fitted top and fuller skirt, it was great for an "hourglass figure" look. But it was the skirt that was truly marvelous. It was layer upon layer of translucent blush fabric, with lacy flower designs throughout.

"Oh, Yukina, you look beautiful," said Kurama, and she really did.

"My baby brother will probably melt in a puddle of love," Shizuru added. "We'll have to scoop him off the ground with a shovel."

They celebrated the location of the new dress by treating themselves to a delicious lunch. Kurama picked up the tab.

"Oh, that's so nice, Kurama," said Yukina. "How can we ever thank you?"

"By enjoying every bite," he replied with a smile.

"You're a great guy, Kurama," Shizuru told him. "Kim sure is lucky to have you."

For some reason, this made Kurama feel uncomfortable, but he didn't know why, so he didn't say anything.

At one point, Shizuru announced that she had to use the bathroom, and all the girls went with her. Come to think of it, these girls actually did everything together when they went out, and that included going to the bathroom, for some unknown reason. But sitting all alone at the table was a little bit lonely, so Kurama was very happy when his communicator rang, and the Caller ID said that it was Hiei.

"Hello?" said Kurama.

"Hi," said Hiei. "What'cha doin'?"

Kurama had to laugh at Hiei's uncharacteristically silly tone. "We're shopping for Yukina's wedding dress."

"Has she found one yet?" Hiei asked.

"Yes, and it's the most beautiful thing," Kurama replied. "You know, I think it's a bit unorthodox to bring a man along on one of these trips, but I can see the importance of a wedding dress just as much as anyone else. You're wearing kimonos for your wedding, aren't you?"

"I guess so," said Hiei. "It's not like we've been engaged for that long, though."

"I'm sure everyone in the demon realm will be scrambling to be at a high-profile wedding like yours," said Kurama. "Reikai will have to shut you down."

"I think it's weird that Kuwabara and Yukina are inviting people to their wedding," Hiei commented. "Don't they think anyone will show up?"

"Well, Hiei, in the human world, you can't go to a wedding unless you're invited," Kurama explained patiently.

"Why not?"

"That's just the way it is," Kurama replied. "There are some things demons do that humans don't understand, aren't there?"

"How should I know?" said Hiei. "I'm not a human."

"I can see why being on parole here all those years ago was such a harsh sentence," Kurama said sympathetically. "I'll bet you had to deal with a lot of culture shock."

"You're right," Hiei said, giving him a rueful smile. "It was the worst. I don't think I would have been able to do it if it weren't for you."

Kurama smiled back; he loved the warm and fuzzy feeling he got inside whenever Hiei said something like that. Hiei didn't dish out compliments to just anyone, and each time Kurama got one, he treasured it forever in his heart.

"Where is Yukina, anyway?" Hiei asked, looking around. "I'd like to say hello."

"She and all the other girls went to the bathroom," said Kurama. "They've been in there for some time now, come to think of it."

"Is that another human thing?" said Hiei, wrinkling his nose. "Going to the bathroom in groups?"

"It's a human female thing," Kurama corrected. "Only females go to the bathroom in groups."

"So human females all get the urge at the same time?" Hiei asked curiously.

"No, Hiei."

"Then why?"

"I don't know," said Kurama. "It seems sort of silly to me. I mean, can you imagine if I had to take you in with me every time I had to use the bathroom?"

"You mean, if you were badly injured and you couldn't manage on your own?" said Hiei. "I would help you."

"Not that," said Kurama. "Just for…moral support, I guess."

Hiei laughed out loud. "I don't think you'd need that."

"Probably not," Kurama agreed. "Anyway…I forgot to ask, is Mukuro coming to Yukina and Kuwabara's wedding?"

"No, she doesn't want to leave Makai." Hiei shrugged. "I can't say I blame her."

"Still, it's something really important to you," Kurama pointed out, because he thought Hiei would be lonely if he went to the wedding without a date, especially since he was in the wedding party.

"She and I don't have to be joined at the hip, you know," said Hiei. "Maybe some days we need our space. The truth is, I don't know a lot about love."

"Like I always say, Hiei, it's never too late to start over," Kurama told him with a smile, but as soon as he hung up, that smile vanished. Perhaps, with those words, he finally understood: If Hiei was going to have struggles like this in his relationship with Mukuro, it wouldn't be because they learned bad habits. It would be because they never learned good ones.