Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho © Yoshihiro Togashi.

Mischief 101

By Zelia Theb

II: Swoon!

Koenma's words from earlier in the day rang through Yusuke's head, drowning out the ringing of the bell signaling the end of, what could be described as, the most incredibly boring and stupid class ever.

"Don't go picking fights, boys!" the prince had warned, "It'll tempt you to use your supernatural powers just to scare the other students off! Be nice!"

"Hmmph, yeah right," the detective muttered in a rather late response. A tap on the shoulder brought the absence of students (and teacher) to his attention. It was Kurama.

"Yusuke, classes are over for the day," he stated calmly, gathering Yusuke's books into his arms (which wasn't a bother since Kurama had put his away in a bookbag). The raven-haired boy stood from his seat and stretched, wondering how on Earth he had made it through a full school day without skipping a single class.

It really wasn't all that bad, though. The teachers weren't out to get him here, at least not yet, and the overall air in the place wasn't dusty enough to give him a headache. And even though lunch here was free, he still hadn't eaten quite enough for the day, apparent by the sudden grumble in his stomach.

"Damn, I'm hungry," Yusuke remarked as the two boys left the classroom, walking on autopilot toward the school food court.

"The school handbook says that you must pay for snacks between the main meals, Yusuke, and dinner is served between six and nine," Kurama mentioned, adjusting the stack of books in his embrace (which surprisingly enough, had actually appeared to have been used throughout the day).

Predictably, Yusuke kept walking. He was hungry, and almost certain that by the time they reached the food court that money would appear in his pockets. He observed several couples walking together in the hallway; girls with their boyfriends, and boys with their…boyfriends. Even the occasional girl with her girlfriend. It struck him as odd that no teachers or staff made any mention of it, then again, he couldn't spot any around; he figured that was because they were further from the school wing now.

The food court was ahead. Yusuke stopped and patted his pockets. Nope, no magical money. Before he even looked over to Kurama, the redhead had moved over to a lounge area with several couches and set Yusuke's books down. The other boy took heed and sat next to them, looking up at Kurama to silently ask for some food. The fox-demon smiled, green eyes glittering in defeat.

"Thanks Shuichi," Yusuke expressed as his friend walked over to procure food. The detective noticed that the lounge area wasn't all that bad; there was a decent sized television, and a rerun of his favorite anime was playing on the screen. He smiled, only to have that smile turn to a frown when another boy and his two idiotic friends (or in Yusuke terms; "the guy's moronic posse") stood right in front of him.

Turf wars; now that was a game that Yusuke owned at.

"Lookie here boys," the tall unnatural blonde leader of the group pointed out, "That new kid Urameshi's in our spot."

"I don't see your name on it, unless you're "Made in China"," Yusuke snickered, unwavering. Koenma's words traveled through his brain again.

"Hey, Kino," his chunkier and definitely more Japanese featured friend announced, "This guy thinks he funny!"

"Yeah, Kino!" his thinner and definitely more Japanese featured other friend chimed in, "A real funny man!"

The other students caught wind of argument, but only some really cared to pay attention. The rest of them were either friends of the gang, or could have cared less about them. The boy thought that they were probably used to this kind of stuff.

"Well," the wanna-be playboy now known as Kino declared, "Looks like we'll have to put a stop to his stand-up comedy routine." The three of them began cracking their knuckles, that is, until Yusuke stood up. His own strong form was much more apparent now (even though the midnight blue tended to have a slimming effect), and the intensity of his brown eyes infected the group's minds.

Kino saw it; being a street fighter himself. This Urameshi was definitely going to be a real challenge to overcome. He hated his eyes; he wasn't sure if it was the way that they defied authority, the lack of fear, or the story of hardships that Yusuke had seen. He just didn't like 'em.

"Well," the leader said, "We don't like this show anyway. But don't let us catch you in our spot again, Urameshi." With that, the trio began to walk away, only to stop Kurama, who was a few feet away and carrying two to-go snack bags in his hands. Yusuke waited, wondering what they would say and how the calm and composed Kurama would react. He silently wished that a man-eating plant would sprout from his hair and devour them, but getting yelled at by Koenma probably wasn't worth it.

"This here's a pretty boy," Kino smiled flirtatiously. The detective rolled his eyes; was this how the guy tried to get people to go out with him? It was…creepy.

"I'll say," the pudgy one agreed, watching Kino reach for Kurama's locks of hair, only to be lightly elbowed away.

"Minamino, huh?" Kino murmured, rubbing his chin but not the goofy smile from his face, "You should come back to our dorm, it's the biggest one around."

"Yeah, Minamino! Kino can help ya get adjusted!" The two idiots chuckled. Okay, maybe getting yelled at by Koenma would be worth it.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline that offer," Kurama stated, attempting to walk away. However, Kino stopped him, thinking that the Universe was on his side and all.

"It's not an offer, Minamino…" the blonde warned.

"Well, make it one," Yusuke commanded, stepping next to Kurama. It wasn't that he didn't think Kurama couldn't stand up for himself…there were a bunch of reasons that he had to interfere.

One; Kurama doesn't want a bad record for his mother to hear about. Two; he didn't want his snacks to fall on the floor.

So two reasons weren't necessarily a bunch. They were good reasons though, next to the first and foremost reason; because friends stick up for friends, even if they don't need it.

"I thought our conversation was over, Urameshi," Kino noted angrily, trying to step between the detective and the redhead.

"It is, that's why we're leaving," Yusuke taunted, wrapping a roughly placed arm around Kurama's waist. Hey, someone had to claim possession over him, even though the boy didn't really appreciate being made into the servile one of the fake couple.

"But Yusuke," Kurama whispered, "What about your books?"

Mocha colored eyes rolled up, following a gust of air which traveled from the detective's mouth to his falling strands of hair. He let go of Kurama (almost like he was the whipped one in their fake relationship), and obtained said books, then returned swiftly to Kurama's side.

"As I said before," Yusuke scoffed, harshly pushing through the group with Kurama, "We're leaving."

"This does not bode well," the more studious of the two remarked as they entered their dorm. He set the two snack bags on their desk after removing his shoes, and then opened up his bookbag to gather his homework.

"Who cares, one good beating and they should give up."

"Yusuke!" he scolded him, eyes wide. His future as Shuichi was at stake here!

"What? They aren't gonna bother you," Yusuke assured him as he ate in his bed.

"My mother will be far more upset if she finds out that I'm involved in even more delinquent activities."

"Sheesh, hey, sorry," Yusuke apologized bitterly, "Momma's boy."

"What was that?" Kurama quirked up suddenly. Oh, he had heard what Yusuke had said, but he wasn't exactly going to allow Yusuke to get away with it.

"Nothin'," the boy lied, enjoying the candy that was in the bag.

His ally stood from his homework and approached the bed, stating, "Oh, I believe that I heard something." He smirked playfully, wondering if Yusuke would bite back.

"Oh. That," the teen 'remembered', standing to face Kurama, "Yeah, I called you a Momma's boy."

"Well then," said Kurama, wiping his hands together, "I suppose that I will have to prove to you otherwise." In that instant, the two boys began to wrestle, as teenaged boys often do to relieve their muscles. Eventually, after tripping over the corners of their beds, they had wrestled their way over to the opposite wall next to the bathroom door, where Kurama had Yusuke pinned by his hands.

"I see," observed said Momma's boy, "It seems as if my over-mothered being has overcome this freethinking rebel. How will the wondrous Yusuke Urameshi get out of this one?"

Yusuke answered by leaning in really close to his friend's face…and licking it. Kurama winced (though knowing that Yusuke was a licker excited him) and let go to wipe off his eye, being caught off guard and tackled to the ground at his waist, where Yusuke ended the wrestling and decided to tickle him. The tickler had then become a ticklee, with brown and green irises showing signs of excitement (and arousal if one searched for it), and giggles erupted throughout the room.

"Yusuke," Botan's voice called suddenly from beyond their door, along with the sounds of knuckles rapping, "Can we come in?"

"The door's open," Yusuke laughed, still being tickled in retaliation.

Of course that's not what Botan and their other guest saw when walking in (the other guest being Yusuke's tall, chiseled, and carrot-haired ex-classmate and fellow ally Kazuma Kuwabara). They found two boys on the ground, one straddled over the other's hips, wildly blushing with not-so-innocent expressions on their faces.

Kurama quickly threw (not literally) Yusuke off of him and stood to bow and greet the guests. He wiped more of the saliva from Yusuke's previous tongue-attack off his cheek and eye, only to be asked by Kuwabara, "What's wrong with your eye?"

"He licked it," Kurama answered, still rubbing at it, "Excuse me for my rudeness."

The girl and boy (intruders) exchanged glances. Had they just interrupted something? Something unnatural? Something uncomfortable? Something cheating-on-Keiko-like?

"It was the only way to win at wrestling!" Yusuke declared, laughter still evident in his voice. He gripped at his sides, wondering if they had truly split open from their fun.

"Right…" Botan uttered uneasily, "Anyway, I thought that I'd bring Kuwabara by to say hello since I had to update him on your situation." Gee, it must be nice to be a Grim Reaper of Death and still have time to walk around Japan with Kuwabara…or so thought Yusuke.

"Yeah, and it was pretty mean of ya to get Kurama involved," the tallest of them stated to Yusuke. He paused, then added, "And it's really weird being here on another school's turf. What's the name of this place anyway?"

Kurama answered, however Yusuke never heard it as he was trying to figure out how Kuwabara had gotten out of school and made it here so quickly.

"Ah, thanks Kurama, I'll remember that in case any punks try to mess with me!" Kuwabara flexed and then laughed, only to be smacked by Yusuke.

"Well, boys," Botan interrupted, hoping to stop any sort of impending fight between the two friends, "Kuwabara and I were going to the park to meet up with Keiko and let her know what's going on." Botan turned to stare directly at Yusuke; "Since we know that SOMEONE won't do it himself."

"Yeah, whatever, I might not go to classes if she's here to bitch at me, so why would I tell her where I am?"

"It's polite to ease a person's mind and not let them worry, Yusuke," Kurama noted.

"Makes me wonder what ya told your mom before all of those missions…" Yusuke murmured.

"What was that?"

"Nothin'," Yusuke lied again, hoping for a repeat wrestling match (and deniably to himself, for all of the wrong reasons).

"All right," Kurama ended. Damn, Yusuke sure would have enjoyed some more rough-housing.

"Okay, I'm comin' with ya, I guess…" the boy announced.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but we have homework that we must tend to, so Yusuke cannot join you." The detective's face twitched; Kurama was really acting out this whole 'Yusuke is my whipped fake boyfriend' thing.

"Way to go on the homework initiative!" exclaimed Botan, "We'll see you around!" After a wink and a wave, their two visitors left, leaving Yusuke alone with Kurama to do the dreaded act…completing homework.

Story in fast-forward; Kurama plopped Yusuke's books on his bed while he sat at the desk, and they both picked up their pencils and worked away at homework for about thirty minutes, until Kurama finished.

The Universe has a thing for being cruel; and its sights were set on Kurama. Oh, it would make the fox-boy understand what it was like to raise an insubordinate teenaged boy. So of course, Kurama joined Yusuke on his bed, only to discover that the detective had spent the last half-hour drawing cartoon characters instead of doing homework.

"What?" Yusuke quipped, raising an eyebrow at Kurama. His friend was angry, but amazed at Yusuke's talent.

"I've never known that you were some sort of manga artist," Kurama stated, his eyes breezing over the drawing. He grinned as he realized who the subjects of the piece were; "You drew all of us as miniatures?"

"Yeah," Yusuke blushed. No one had ever seen his artwork before, aside from his boss (who had an unhealthy habit of viewing his life whenever he wanted to).

"This is positively too adorable for you!" Kurama's finger traced over the picture, and then landed on Hiei, observing, "I notice that you drew Hiei to be the same height as everyone else." Before saying more, he made certain to take note of any strange demon auras around. He wanted to make a joke, not announce a death wish.

"Well, he's a good guy and just because he's shorter than everyone doesn't mean he isn't cute or anything," Yusuke admitted.

"You think that Hiei is cute?" Kurama blushed, though it wasn't as much as Yusuke was.

The detective stared down at the other teens stagnant finger, unable to look him in the eyes, and replied, "Eer..yeah. He's cute, but I'm not like attracted or anything to him."

"That's wonderful," Kurama jested in return, "I didn't want to have to fight him to the death for you."

An unusual thought of Hiei and Kurama arguing over him made him laugh out loud, nearly ripping the stitches he had placed in his sides earlier. After acting it out a few times in his head, the need for tobacco and nicotine infected his bloodstream, and he suggested, "Hey, wanna come to the roof? I need a smoke."

Kurama nodded, although he detested the fact that Yusuke was slowly killing himself, he enjoyed spending time with him and couldn't possibly decline the offer.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

Thanks for all the reviews so far! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know that I certainly enjoyed writing it ). Don't forget about my vow to finish fics! I've been an updating monster with a lot of them lately, so don't hesitate to breeze through my bio and take a look!

The subject of putting a lemon in this one (since I didn't put on in Alternate Universe (which isn't finished -grins-) ) was brought up. I'm not going to comment on that! Let's just say, if I ever decide to do a lemon, it won't be on but on my personal site.

Anyway, I have a story status update webpage which is in my bio, plus I still have that forum that I want all of you to join! )

Zelia