2. She is Approached
. . .
It wasn't a very pleasant sort of party after that. Hiei had announced his intention to punch Kuwabara's face in, only taking it back when Yukina reprimanded him.
Looking at Hiei's fierce scowl, Kuwabara's evident confusion, and of course, Yusuke's intoxicated state, Kurama suggested, "Perhaps I should go take a drive with Kuwabara and Yusuke while you and Hiei talk. I'm sure you have plenty of things to discuss."
Yukina readily assented, and Kurama hustled Yusuke and Kuwabara outside.
Yusuke staggered into the back, and Kurama was about to let Kuwabara get in the driver's seat when he saw the stunned, depressed expression on his face. No, perhaps it wouldn't be wise to put someone so shaken behind the wheel.
"I'll drive," he said curtly, guiding Kuwabara towards the passenger side. He withdrew the keys from Kuwabara's shirt pocket and started the ignition.
No one ever got a chance to explain to Yukina what "romantic" meant. But she wasn't the only one who wanted explanations.
"I don't understand," Kuwabara said blankly, glowing yellow patches sliding across his face as they drove under streetlamps. "What does she – I mean – how can she not know - ?"
"She's trying to get the message across that she's not interested," Yusuke giggled from the rear.
"No . . . it can't be!" Kuwabara moaned. "Can it?" he asked Kurama pleadingly.
"Actually, it makes perfect sense that she doesn't know what you're talking about," Kurama said kindly.
"What? Tell me!" Kuwabara demanded, seizing Kurama's sleeve.
"Kuwabara, I'm driving!" he protested, yanking his arm away.
"Right. Sorry . . ." He let go.
Kurama took pity on him. "Well, I should have told you this before, but I wasn't expecting – I had no idea you were so serious . . .. But anyway, you're aware that Yukina is a Koorime, and that she comes from a floating island with an entirely female population?"
"Yeah," said Kuwabara, ignoring Yusuke's wolf-whistling from the backseat. "That's why they kicked Hiei off, right?"
"Right. Because he was male."
"And an ugly bastard."
"At any rate," Kurama said loudly, "Koorime are self-reproducing. They don't need men to have babies. And since, well, love is a very human emotion which springs from the primal urges of humans to mate and reproduce, Koorime don't usually fall in love. Koorime don't need to mate, and so there's no, er, wellspring for emotions like love to come from. They have platonic love, and familial love, but romantic love isn't an inherent part of their culture."
"Hang on," Yusuke slurred. "That's not exactly right . . ."
"Yeah," agreed Kuwabara, suddenly remembering something. "Hiei and Yukina's mother – she fell in love with some fire demon, and that's how she had Hiei!"
"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "Hina did fall in love with a male fire demon, and their union produced Hiei: a Forbidden Child, in the eyes of the Koorime on the island. You have to understand that what she did was taboo, at least to the Koorime. In Yukina's case, she would have been still more carefully guarded against males and romance, because everyone would have remembered what her mother did."
Taking in Kuwabara's crestfallen expression, Kurama continued more sympathetically, "This isn't to say that Yukina won't eventually be capable of romantic love. She's quite young, by the standards of the Koorime, and I think she'll mature emotionally a great deal – to the point where she can understand your feelings for her."
"How long will that take?" Kuwabara asked frantically.
Kurama shrugged. "As to that, I can't say. Trust me on one point though: Yukina's not stupid, as we all saw tonight. If she figured out that Hiei was her brother, she'll figure out what love is."
"No guarantees that she'll love you, though," Yusuke cracked.
"Yusuke," Kurama said exasperatedly, "shut up."
They drove in silence the rest of the way.
Kuwabara glanced up wistfully at the stars in the black night, wondering if his future with Yukina was written in their celestial dance.
Kurama, sensing that Kuwabara was a bit more sensible now, drove back to Genkai's temple, where he bid them farewell. Kuwabara got behind the wheel.
Once they arrived at Yusuke's house, Yusuke wobbled his way out of the car and leaned against the door.
"Look . . ." he muttered. "You wanna come in for a drink or something?" He was trying to make amends for his thoughtless remark.
"Keiko won't be back yet," he persisted. While Keiko was in college and Yusuke was running a ramen stand, they lived together (though they slept in separate rooms).
"'Kay," Kuwabara grunted.
"Want a beer? I've got Sapporo . . ." Yusuke's voice floated around from the refrigerator, which his head was buried in.
"Yeah."
"Great." Yusuke plunked two cans on the scrubbed table.
On second thought . . . "You probably shouldn't be drinking anymore, Urameshi."
". . . Right." Yusuke got himself orange juice.
"So you're serious about her then?" Yusuke asked, as solemn as a drunk could be. He stared at Kuwabara, but his eyes kept refusing to focus. From Kuwabara's point of view, the way Yusuke was looking at him was just creepy.
"Yeah! Of course I am!"
"Then what are you sitting around on your ass for? Take her out and show her what love is!"
"Eh?"
Yusuke slapped the table. "What are you – an idiot?"
Kuwabara stared. He'd never thought good advice could have come from a sot.
"You're right . . ." He drank his beer thoughtfully. "You're right!" He downed the can in one long joyful swoop, a grin lighting up his features.
"Glad to have been of a – assistance . . ." The sentence was punctuated by a loud clunk.
"Wha -?"
Yusuke had slumped facedown on the table. Damn fool. Still, Kuwabara couldn't be anything but grateful. Grunting with exertion, he carried Yusuke onto the sofa. Let Keiko find him there. Some shouting and slapping would do Yusuke a world of good. Then he went out and drove back to his house.
When he got home, Shizuru was watching TV downstairs.
"You're home early," she remarked, cracking a peanut open and popping it in her mouth. A neat little pile already lay on one side of the table. Ever since she'd quit smoking, she'd consumed an alarming amount of peanuts.
"So are you." The clock said it was barely past eleven.
She shrugged offhandedly. "When the third bar manager in a row threw us out, me and Keiko decided to give it up."
"Right." He wasn't going to ask for particulars.
Kuwabara turned and began heading up the stairs when Shizuru spoke again. "Oh, and Hiei's waiting for you in your room."
Kuwabara stopped, his foot hovering in mid-air. "What's he doing here?"
"Like I know. He got here five minutes before you did. He didn't drop in to say hi to me, but I sensed his ki."
Kuwabara grunted, a leaden feeling in his stomach. Was Hiei possibly here to make good on his threat and punch his face in?
Hiei was standing in the middle of his room, looking around at the heaps of clothing on the floor with great distaste.
"The slob is finally here," he sneered, facing Kuwabara, who was standing in the doorway.
"Did you come here just to insult me?" Kuwabara advanced a couple steps into the room.
"I've been talking with Kurama," Hiei started to say.
"So have I."
"I'm here to say a few things to you about my sister," Hiei went on, with a disgusted look on his face, as if he were washing something very slimy from his hands. "First, you may court her as long as she allows you to; second, I will monitor your behavior closely as long as you are courting her, so you had better watch your step." He paused and glared. "Is that understood?"
"Yes," Kuwabara said hastily, hope fluttering in his heart again. "Yeah, absolutely."
"Hn." And with a final, unsettling glare, Hiei darted out the windowsill and into the night.
Kuwabara sank onto his bed, rolling around and clutching the blankets with glee. Thank God for Kurama, he thought.
. . .
The next day, Kuwabara, who hated to lose any time now that he had the permission of both the bodyguard – er, brother – and the lady, hurried up to Genkai's temple. He found Kurama playing chess with Yukina in an inner courtyard shaded with Japanese maples.
"She's getting quite good," Kurama said by way of greeting. Brow furrowed, he was staring down at her threatening bishop and his vulnerable knight. "I just taught her a few days ago."
Then his expression brightened abruptly. He moved his queen to check Yukina's king.
"O-oh," she frowned, biting her lip. At last, she threw her hands up and said, laughingly, "I'm still not as good as you, Kurama!"
"I'm sure you'll beat him soon," Kuwabara assured her. He said to Kurama, "And, uh, Kurama, thanks for talking to Hiei yesterday . . ."
"No problem," grinned Kurama. "He's really not that bad. You just need to know how to put him in his place."
"Hm?" Yukina was looking curiously at them.
"Nothing important, Yukina," Kuwabara said quickly. "But I do have something important to ask you."
"Yes?"
"Do you – do you want to go see a movie with me this Friday?"
"Ooh -," she paused, considering. "Yes," she said with relish.
"Great!" said Kuwabara, immensely relieved. He beamed at her. "I'll be here to pick you up at five-thirty. We can have dinner before we go to the theatre."
"Okay," Yukina said cheerfully.
"How lovely," Kurama chimed in innocently. He didn't get a chance to say anything more.
"What are the three of you doing?" Hiei had dropped silently from the wall behind them, under cover of one of the Japanese maples. His tone was as hostile as his glare.
"Hiei!" Kurama cried. "How nice of you to drop in. Join me in a game of chess!"
"You know perfectly well that I don't play chess, Kurama," Hiei said coldly. His expression said something else equally clearly: I know perfectly well what you're trying to do, and I refuse to be deflected.
"What are you doing?" he repeated.
Yukina answered him happily. "Kazuma has just asked me to go with him to the movies on Friday."
"Movies, huh?"
"Yes, movies, if you know what they are," Kuwabara said irritably.
Hiei ignored him. "What time are you going?"
"Five-thirty."
"Hn." Hiei turned from Yukina to fix Kuwabara with his stare. "I'll be here at five-thirty, then. Don't be late."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm going with you."
"You are not - !" Kuwabara was furious.
"Hiei," Kurama broke in, "don't you think that's a bit - ?"
"Be quiet, Kurama," Hiei said frostily. "Kuwabara, I told you that I would be monitoring you closely."
"But – I didn't think it would be this closely!"
Hiei allowed himself a grim smile.
"Five-thirty. Don't be late."
He was gone in a dramatic swish of his cloak.
. . .
A/N: Don't believe my – ahem, Kurama's – explanations as to why Yukina has no idea what romantic love is? Well, the proof is in volume 9 of the manga, in which Kuwabara is bragging about his victory over Reishyo (the ugly guy with armor made out of dirt . . .). Kuwa says that it's the power of love, to which Yukina replies, "Ah yes! Even though I don't really understand it . . ."
Also, from "Rocket Hanabi no Love Song," which not only proves Yukina doesn't understand love, but also shows that there is definite promise for Kuwabara/Yukina:
Kazuma: It's love!
Yukina: I don't understand!
Kazuma: I am serious!
Yukina: What a wonderful man!
Thanks to DarkShadowWriter, Spoonerific, and Katzztar for all of your lovely reviews! Keep the input rolling in!
