Title: Beach Party

Author: Relick

Rating: G

Pairing: Yusuke X Hiei

Summary: It's summer vacation, and the gang decides to go to the beach! But does Hiei have something to hide?

XOXOX

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Everyone turned their head to see what Yusuke was yelling about, although they could all guess what was wrong. Summer break had started about a month ago, and Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama were starting to get sick of all their free time. Not only was there no school, but no important cases, leaving the group with nothing better to do than stare at each other in the blazing heat.

"THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!"
"Yusuke, be quiet!" Keiko said sharply.
"But it's so hot, and there's nothing to do!"
"I don't care anymore, Yusuke! All you've been doing is complaining, and I can't do anything about it!"

Botan shifted uncomfortably and fanned herself with her hand. "Calm down, Keiko-chan. It's just the heat, and you know it." Suddenly Botan's eyes sparkled, indicating that she just had a brilliant idea.

"Since we all don't have anything better to do, why don't we all go down to the beach? We can go swimming and smash watermelons and light sparklers! It'll be fun!"

Everyone seemed to like this idea very much. Everyone except for Hiei. But then again, Hiei rarely liked anything that humans enjoyed, and going to the beach would be no exception.

"I'm not going."
"What?" Yusuke asked the young fire youkai.
"I'm not going. I don't want to."
"But you've gotta—"
"I'm not going!"

Yusuke was slightly taken aback by Hiei's strong refusal, and couldn't understand why he was so against this. But Hiei was always hard to understand. Yusuke was just about to back off when Kuwabara gave Hiei all the reason to come with them to the beach.

"Hey! Let's invite Yukina! The beach is so romantic, especially at night. I'm gonna go get her right now!" Kuwabara then rushed off to give his true love the invitation.

Hiei stared at the door and then at Yusuke.

"I'm going."

XOXOX

It was a perfect day. The sky was clear, and the ocean sparkled like it was filled with thousands of jewels rather than water. Kuwabara excitedly threw off his shoes and charged towards the sea. It took him a minute to realize just how hot the sand was before he began bounding about like a fool, the bottoms of his feet burning. His friends laughed, and Yusuke smiled even more broadly when he saw that even Hiei was smiling a little.

After setting themselves up, Botan suggested that they play a game and pulled out a watermelon and a baseball bat.

Yukina looked confused. "What kind of game do you play with a watermelon?"
Kurama, being the know-it-all that we all love, went on to explain. "It's actually very simple. You place a watermelon on the ground and try to smash it with a stick."
"That sounds a bit too simple…"
Kurama smiled and tied a blindfold over Yukina's eyes. "Not if you can't see!"
Botan handed her the bat, and Yukina began to swing it all over the place.
"No! No! The other way! The other way!"
"Aim toward the ground, Yukina-chan!"

After several tries, Yukina finally hit the watermelon, smashing it into several pieces. She pulled off the blindfold to see everyone cheering for her. Yukina smiled and picked up a piece of the fruit. "That was fun!"

Everyone helped themselves to a piece, and Yusuke brought some over to Hiei, who was sitting by himself on the far side of the beach.

"Try some. It's good!"
"I'm not hungry…"
"That doesn't matter. It's a treat. Just try it."

With some hesitation, Hiei accepted the piece and took a small bite. Immediately, he made a face and handed it back to Yusuke.

"What's wrong?"
"It's…too sweet. You can have it."

Just then, Kuwabara called over to them, inviting them into the water. Hiei froze and his face paled.

"C'mon, Hiei, let's go swimming."
Hiei shook his head.
"It'll be fun!"
"NO!"

Yusuke didn't know how to react to Hiei's total aversion to the idea of going into the water, and went off to join Kuwabara and the others.

XOXOX

A few hours had passed, and the sun was beginning to fall over the horizon. Yusuke had been in the water practically all day, swimming, dunking Kuwabara into the water, and pulling on Keiko's wet bathing suit, letting it snap back against her body.

She was still a little mad about that, and the red mark on Yusuke's cheek proved this.

Kuwabara swam over to his raven-haired friend as the others got out to dry off. "Hey, Urameshi, has Hiei gotten into the water at all?"
"No. I wish we could get him in here though."
Kuwabara's eyes glinted with mischief. "Do you think we should…?"
Yusuke quickly caught on to the idea. "Yeah, let's do it!"

Hiei was still where Yusuke had last left him, and still by himself. Quietly, ever so quietly, Yusuke and Kuwabara snuck up on the demon. Hiei, sensing their presence, jumped to his feet just as Kuwabara pounced at him. Unfortunately for Hiei, he fell right into their trap, bumping into Yusuke. The spirit detective latched onto the struggling demon, imprisoning his arms while Kuwabara grabbed onto his legs.

"Let me go or I'll kill you both!" Hiei threatened.
"Sure thing, Hiei!" Yusuke shouted back playfully as he and Kuwabara tossed Hiei towards to ocean. After a scream and a splash, Yusuke and Kuwabara doubled over laughing.
"Did you see his face!" But then, all laughter had ceased. Something was wrong.

Hiei hadn't come up for air! He began struggling to remain on the surface, but couldn't stay afloat for long.

"Awww, man! Urameshi, why didn't you tell me he couldn't swim?"
"How was I supposed to know?"

Kurama, Botan, Keiko, and Yukina heard the commotion and ran over to see what was going on.
"Oh God! Hiei!" Botan shouted out.

"OUTTA THE WAY! HERE I COME!"

Yusuke dove into the water to where Hiei was drowning. He was unconscious from lack of air, and Yusuke knew he had to get him to dry land or else he'd die. He stretched his arm out.

"A little closer…just a little closer…" he thought to himself. He reached out, grabbed Hiei by his sleeve, and pulled him close. He swam back to the surface and to the shore. Everyone helped them get back onto the beach.

Kurama's face paled. "He's not breathing."
Yusuke gently pushed Kurama out of his way. "Let me help him. It's my fault he's in this condition."
"Do you know how?"
"Keiko taught me a few years ago."
Kurama nodded, knowing that Yusuke wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Yusuke turned Hiei's head to the side, allowing water to trickle from the edge of his mouth. Hiei still wasn't breathing. Yusuke knew what he had to do, but his face turned bright red. He stared at Hiei's face, his lips.

Yusuke shook his head. "Get over it Yusuke," he thought to himself. He leaned over, closed his eyes, and breathed life into the fire demon. He did this several times until Hiei's eyes fluttered open.

Unfortunately, Hiei came to while Yusuke's lips were still touching his own.

He didn't resist. He just waited.

XOXOX

It was now dark, but the night sky had become illuminated with fireworks, courtesy of Kurama. Keiko and Kuwabara were showing Yukina how to properly handle sparklers. Botan was already chowing down on the yakitori.

Hiei was actually sitting closer to the rest of group, watching the sky explode into thousands of colors. His eyes were calm and deep in thought. Suddenly, Yusuke came up from behind him and placed a blanket around his shoulders.

"You okay?"
Hiei didn't answer.
Yusuke sighed, "Look, Hiei, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't know you couldn't swim."
"There's a lot you don't know about me."

There was an awkward silence. The kind of awkward silence in which you want to say something, but can't find the voice for it. Finally it was broken.

"Yusuke?"
"Yeah?"
Hiei leaned his head against Yusuke's shoulder. "I would like to…try some of that watermelon stuff again."
"Sure."

XOXOX

Wow! That came out better than I expected! Please go easy on me though. This was my first attempt at shounen-ai, so it was kinda hard. But I've been reading a lot of Gravitation lately, so I think I got the mood right.

Okay, I know people are gonna ask this, so I'll answer it right now. Yakitori is grilled chicken and green onions speared on sticks, similar to shishkabobs. I've never eaten yakitori before, but it looks really good.

Thanks to the reviewers for reading the last story! I hope you guys all come back for more.

Also, if you're intending to contribute a romance fic to this compilation, do so fairly soon. I'll be posting the stories I receive from now to the start of summer. Also, remember to follow my rules:

1. MUST be Yu Yu Hakusho related.

2. At least one character from YYH should be included in the pairing. But that's not stopping you from including other anime characters. Heck, you can even pair Vash the Stampede and Genkai if you feel so inclined!

3. Can be shonen-ai or shoujo-ai.

4. NO SEX SCENES! You can make references to sex, but please don't be too graphic about it.

5. Can be as long or as short as you want, as long as there's a beginning, middle, and end.

6. Have fun with it! Writing is supposed to be fun!

7. Include your penname, the title, rating, pairing, and a summary

8. One added rule. Please do not use OCs for the pairing. Only already existent characters.

Email me your stories, or email me if you just want someone to talk to. I'm always here!

Until next we meet!