Friends and Aspirations

by the Rurouni Idoru

Bara and Yusuke pressed the buttons furiously. It didn't matter how hard they pressed, however, because the little people on the screen did not speed up at all. Bara began frantically jabbing at the buttons.

"No! I am the King of Fighters!" Yusuke took his eyes off of the screen for an instant to look at Bara.

"But you're a...Never mind." The two fighting on the television screen both fell to the ground. Bara threw down her controller.

"Argh! It's no good!" Everyone in the room stared at Bara's sudden outburst.

"Bara, it was a draw," Yusuke stated, confused. "It's not like I handed you your--" Bara abruptly cut him off.

"Not that!"

"...On a...plate..."

"This isn't working! The more I try to forget about it, the more I realize..." she sighed. "I realize that no one's offering me tea, or telling me that I shouldn't swear, or asking me how to use the microwave, or tryting to understand 'kaasan's soap operas." She looked down, and away from everyone else. "Yukina can really grow on a person."

"Too bad you lost her," Hiei said bitterly. His next action was, of course, to dodge the shoe Bara had thrown at him.

"It's not my effen fault." Bara seemed a little less eager to defend her honor than usual. "She just left. Which sucks." She began to twiddle her thumbs. Yusuke put his arm around Bara, in a rare caring moment. After all, when Bara said he was like a brother to her, he really couldn't deny that it worked the other way as well.

"Nobody's saying it's your fault. Well...nobody but Hiei...and Kuwabara...but they don't count anyway." Yusuke smiled confidently.

"And why don't I count, detective?" Hiei raised an eyebrow warily.

"Or me, Urameshi?!" Kuwabara bore down on Yusuke slightly. Yusuke suddenly sprouted a sweatdrop.

"Well, um...'cause, uh...'cause when Bara's depressed, it throws everybody off, and we don't need need any more...um...off-...throwing?"

"Wow, Yusuke," Bara said sarcastically. "You really know how to make a girl feel better." Yusuke stuck out his tongue.

"Well, anyhow, it's not your fault. Hiei and Kuwabara are just upset 'cause they miss Yukina, and soon they'll be back to their oh-so-pleasant selves, and then you can be as loud and annoying to them as you used to." Bara considered this for a moment, then smiled.

"Yusuke?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?" Her smile morphed into an annoyed frown as her fist flew swiftly up into his chin.

"You suck." Yusuke nodded to show his understanding.

Meanwhile, Yukina sneezed, and rubbed her nose. Rikka, who was escorting her to the city, turned to look at her.

"You alright?" Yukina nodded.

"I didn't really want to leave everyone, you know? I didn't want them to miss me. I suppose they're talking about my leaving." Rikka grinned.

"Seems you're good at making friends everywhere, Yukina-chan. Even the ningens love you." Yukina sort of blushed and smiled. "So, whatcha been up to, besides finding your brother and losing the ability to know when you've gone off-topic?" Yukina scratched the back of her neck in embarassment.

"Well, I've made a lot of friends...would you like to see them?" Yukina eagerly paused and slid the bag off of her shoulder.

"They're...um...in there?" Rikka pointed at the bag, and gently prodded it with her finger. Yukina giggled.

"No, I have a picture of all of us together." Rikka raised an eyebrow.

"Like...a drawing?"

"No, there's a ningen machine that can capture a moment in time and put it on paper! They also have things that record sound, and can also capture periods of time for later viewing. At first, it's sort of scary, but it's kind of enjoyable once you get used to it." Rikka blinked.

"So, you have one of these images with you?" Yukina nodded. With that, she pulled the photo out of her bag. Rikka stared at it in awe.

"So many males...right next to you." She slowly began grinning again, and looked up at Yukina. "I tell ya, you've seen more exictement in the past year than I'm probably gonna see for the rest of my life. I mean, how often is this island attacked, much less by males?" Yukina began putting the picture away, as she looked at Rikka, very interested. "You have a brother. That's something none of us can even hope for. I mean, I know the elders were always upset with me for this, but, I've always been curious about males. I've always wanted to meet one, always wanted to fight one, always wanted to know one. It'd be...novel, y'know?" Yukina smiled slightly.

"Can I tell you something?" Rikka nodded. "You have to promise not to tell but..." Yukina leaned forward as Rikka craned her head to present her ear to Yukina. "I want to see if I can bring Hiei here. You know, my brother." Rikka jumped backwards.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" The shout echoed across the snowy hills. Yukina covered her ears.

"Ssh! You'll cause an avalanche, or someone might hear you..."

"The elders'll SLAY you! How could you even THINK that--"

"But it's his birthplace! He has every right to be here! He's very nice if you stay on his good side--"

"Yeah, if you stay on his good side! How can we trust him? We don't know him, he's a male, and a FIRE YOUKAI at that!"

"He's every bit as much koorime as he is fire youkai."

" I hardly think he's an ice maiden."

"I meant he's one of us. It's not like he goes on killing rampages...unless he has to...but then that's because his opponents are evil! He may have a bit of a short temper, and he's not exactly gentle and caring, but he can be kind if you're kind to him! He's not bloodthirsty, not like he used to be..."

"Do you even HEAR what you're saying?!"

"I know it sounds bad but...he's my brother. And I love him. I think he turned out to be a good person, especially for someone who was so unwanted." Rikka paused to consider this.

"But either way, you know...he could be gentler than a baby bird, but the elders still won't let you bring him here. Not unless you can prove it, and to do that you'd have to show him to them. And you can't show him to them without bringing him here, and the cycle starts again. That's how they do things, Yukina. As soon as progress threatens their way of life, they make it so that there's no way to do what's best in the long run. They just can't stand to see anything change." Yukina looked downwards sadly, then brought her head up, a determined look in her eyes.

"I have to try. I owe it to Hiei." She turned her head to look at the distance, the cliff she had just come from, and even beyond. "He deserves to come here at least one more time." Rikka sighed.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Yukina smiled.

"Bara says that's one of my best qualities." Rikka shrugged her apprehensiveness off, and began grinning again.

"This Bara sounds interesting. What's she like? I wanna know everything. All of your new friends. Tell me all about them." Yukina nodded energetically.

"Alright, we'll start with Bara. Let's see, she's sort of hard to capture in words. She's very energetic, and emotional, and very very strange. She's sort of masculine sometimes, but then again, she's really feminine. She talks a lot, and she's proud of all of her flaws. Mostly she's lazy, but sometimes she can get really excited, and when she has to do something, she'll always do it. Provided it doesn't bore her too much, of course."

"Sounds like me, sort of."

"She's a lot like you, only even moreso! She was the one in the picture with the rims around her eyes. Her vision's not very good, so she has to wear those glasses to improve it. I never understood how it helps, and she says she doesn't either, but the thing is, she doesn't care. She doesn't care about a lot of things. But she cares about so much."

"She sounds like a walking contradiction."
"She prefers driving to walking."