Rowan wanted to write a Koenma/Yusuke one-shot, so this was born. She couldn't help it! She was inspired! The muses have been watching too much YYH lately…what can we say?

This story has no spoilers- completely AU!

Serenade

Chapter 3

About three days later, they arrived at their destination, a small island in the Caribbean that glowed with the aroma of strange, exotic spices, and invited the team of weary investigators to relax. Kuwabara finally got better those last three days of the cruise, so Yusuke was able to sleep peacefully at last. He didn't know whether Koenma still walked the deck at night. The thought of the handsome young man, though only young in appearance, walking by himself each night disturbed the detective, but there wasn't much he could do, he felt. If something was bothering the immortal, he would have to deal with it himself.

When they arrived at the hotel, a beautiful, orange clay building with gorgeous red flowers Yusuke had never seen encircling the pillars and hugging the hotel's walls and including a spectacular view of the vibrant blue ocean, relaxation and serenity settled upon Yusuke and his entourage, loosening their tense muscles and livening their spirits. Once again, Yusuke and Kuwabara shared a room, with Kurama and Hiei next door, and Botan and Yukina across the hall. A few doors down was Koenma's room, which, once the immortal settled in, remained closed to all the others, as if shutting out the tranquility that had infected the rest of the group. Yusuke was perturbed by this until Kuwabara, along with the girls, insisted he join them in a trip to the beach. Shrugging his shoulders, Yusuke made a mental note to speak with Koenma later, then grabbed his swim trunks and headed out.

The sun was setting by the time Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the girls returned from the beach. They were joined by Hiei and Kurama soon after that and all six went to dinner. No one saw Koenma standing by his hotel window watching them with forlorn desire; however, when Yusuke, feeling sad eyes staring down at him, turned from the table to glance up at the hotel, he could have sworn he saw a pair of intense golden orbs watching him. But they disappeared so fast he wasn't sure.

Yusuke didn't get a chance to speak with Koenma that night, returning to the hotel so late all he could think of doing was surrender to slumber. The moon was closer on the island, Yusuke noted as he lay waiting for sleep to take over. It was brighter here too, as if something pulled the moon towards the island. Perhaps the spices, the warm beaches, the crystal water, or something else, something as strong as the attraction between two people, or stronger, because physical beauty and lust are not enough to seduce the moon.

Across the street sat a two-story brown clay house that, earlier that evening had been alight with festivities. As Yusuke walked past on his way back to the hotel, he heard laughter, music, and saw beautiful girls in wild, colorful dresses spinning around like tops with their equally handsome partners. In the corner there was a desolate girl no older than Yusuke who quietly slunk up the stairs and into her room. She had been waiting for someone who never came. Now, as Yusuke lay in bed, looking out the window, a light on the second story flickered on and the shadow of the girl crossed to the side window, looking out into the yard. Yusuke, curious, stepped out of bed and went to his window as well.

A figure cloaked in darkness ran lightly over the grass and below the lit window. As the light briefly passed over the darting figure, Yusuke saw a young man with boyish features cradling in his arms what looked to be some sort of guitar or similar local instrument. Leaning forward, Yusuke waited for the next move between the secret lovers, the girl watching out her window and the boy watching from below.

When the boy brought the guitar up and played the first low chord, Yusuke froze, entranced. The girl in her window also seemed to still. The boy began to sing softly in a language Yusuke couldn't understand, but the melody of the song was sweet, soft, and laced with sadness. The girl strained against the window frame, her body leaning eagerly out as though she were waiting to sprout wings and fly down to her unreachable lover. The lover, equally anxious, lifted his body as tall as he could, as though he too would take flight and sweep up the girl in his arms. Though Yusuke couldn't understand what the lover sang to his beloved trapped in her tower, he smiled lightly at them both and, as he drifted off to sleep to the boy's serenade, he swore he saw them fly.

---

"I don't understand why you care so much," Kuwabara grumbled as Yusuke quickly changed his wrinkled clothing for attire more appropriate for visiting the son of Enma. "He's just a brat toddler who happens to be precocious enough to know how to speak."

"Congratulations, Kuwabara," Hiei remarked from the doorway, clapping his hands sarcastically. "To think you actually use big words in your vocabulary. You must have worked on that for months. I'm impressed."

Kuwabara jumped; he had had his back turned towards the door and did not see their demon companions standing there. "Perverts!" he accused, turning on the pair, pointing a long pale finger at them. "Urameshi's still changing!"

Yusuke shrugged. "Ah, let them watch. Nothing they haven't seen before."

Kuwabara, who was not aware Yusuke was gay and had slept with both demons on numerous occasions, stared incredulously at his classmate until he realized that he was staring at Yusuke half-naked. When he realized this, he quickly turned away, blushing furiously. "I have no clue what you're talking about," he stated.

Yusuke smirked, then pulled on a light blue shirt, straightened out the few creases in the fabric, and approached the doorway. "I'm worried about Koenma," he said. "Are either of you interested in checking on him or shall I go alone? Kuwabara has already made it clear that he doesn't care either which way about him," he said with obvious irritation.

Hiei shook his head. "Ch, why should we have to check on him? He's been around long enough to take care of himself. And besides, if he wants to shut himself in his room, I say let him."

Yusuke frowned. "Still, it would be nice, just to show we care?"

"Yusuke has a point," Kurama spoke. "Koenma is the reason we are on this vacation and if something is bothering him, it would be a kind gesture of friendship to show we are worried. However, if we all go at once, it may surprise him so much he'd go into shock." Kurama smiled reluctantly, barely trying to hide his mirth.

Yusuke sighed resignedly. "Fine, whatever. Some friends you guys are. Guess you don't care about Koenma that much," he retorted, affronted at their reluctance to see the immortal.

"Like I said before," Kuwabara replied, "I don't understand why you care so much."

Yusuke pretended to ignore him, but Hiei and Kurama turned on the detective as well. "Yes, Yusuke, why do you care?"

"You seem a bit too eager to see Koenma," Hiei added suspiciously.

Yusuke scoffed. "Are you saying I'm in love with him? That's stupid. I'm worried, that's all. He's my friend."

Hiei and Kurama exchanged glances; there was that look on Yusuke's face again, the inscrutable, puzzling, indefinable look. But before they could decipher the meaning of Yusuke's odd expression it was gone, mainly because so was Yusuke, having roughly pushed passed the demons into the hallway.

"See you guys later," Yusuke called gruffly, shortly waving his hand before disappearing into the shadows of the unlit corridor. It was dark inside the hotel during the day when they sun was rising; none of the windows opened out directly to the east.

Hiei shrugged and stepped into the hallway, closely followed by his lover. "So, what do you want to do today, Kurama?" he asked.

"I wonder if Yusuke is in love with him."

"Excuse me?"

Kurama started and looked down at the puzzled demon at his side. "Sorry Hiei, I was just thinking."

"I heard," Hiei retorted dryly. "To be honest, I think Yusuke just needs a good lay."

Kurama pondered this thought. "Hm, you're probably right Hiei. Oh well, it's not our problem anymore. Want to go to the beach?"

Hiei smirked. "I understand there's a nice stretch of rocks that no one goes to."

"I like the way you think, koishii," Kurama smirked back.

Hiei just grinned and pulled the fox down the hall with him. Kuwabara was more confused than ever, until Yukina came by and he forgot everything.

---

Yusuke marched down the hall towards Koenma's room, his face as set as his friends' mocking words and his stupid retort echoed in his head.

"You seem a bit too eager to see Koenma."

"Are you saying I'm in love with him?"

"I don't understand why you care so much."

"Are you saying I'm in love with him?"

Yusuke shook his head in frustration. 'No!' he wanted to shout. 'I'm not in love with him, I'm not!' Part of him just scoffed and pretended not to listen. The other half was not convinced.

In a foul mood Yusuke arrived in front of Koenma's door. Knocking once on the door, Yusuke barked. "Koenma, are you in there?" No answer. Yusuke rapped his knuckles against the wood a second time. "Koenma, I know you're in there! Open the door!" When Yusuke still did not receive an answer, he grabbed the door handle and turned. The door swung open in front of him and the boy swept inside the room. "Koenma, what's wrong with you?"

Koenma stood with his back to the door, his adult form standing at the window, looking out. Without turning, the immortal spoke. "Hello to you too Yusuke."

Yusuke scowled at Koenma's back. "I asked you a question!" He stamped his foot for emphasis, and if Koenma had been in a more convivial mood, he would have remarked that the detective looked remarkably more like the toddler than he ever did. However, he simply inclined his head towards Yusuke's voice and whispered coolly, "And?"

The boy's frowned darkened. "Aren't you going to answer it?"

Koenma shrugged softly. "I don't have to," he replied. "Besides, nothing is 'wrong' with me."

Yusuke jumped forward, pointing a finger at the immortal. "Ah ha!" he cried, "You just answered my question!"

Koenma shook his head with a barely audible laugh. "No, I proved your question irrelevant. You asked what was wrong with me, not if there was something wrong. Since there's nothing 'wrong' with me, I cannot properly answer your question."

Yusuke glowered darkly. "But you've stayed in your room all day!" he complained loudly.

"I was resting," Koenma whispered. "I…don't travel well." He leaned his elbows on the windowsill, his shoulders hunched together.

Yusuke's expression softened slightly. "Still…" he said quietly, "you haven't spoken to anyone since we got here."

Koenma stood up and slowly turned around to face the detective. His brows were turned down in irritation. "I told you before, remember? I'm a laconic, antisocial person."

"You told me it depended on the company."

Koenma nodded firmly. "So it does."

Yusuke stepped further into the room, taking a measured step closer to the immortal. "Then whose company do you prefer?" he asked.

"Does it matter?"

"To me it does!" the detective barked.

Koenma tilted his head to the side, question. "Why does it matter?" he muttered delicately.

Yusuke scowled. "Because…," he began, fishing for words. "Because I want to be your friend, dammit!"

Koenma froze, then coolly turned his body away from Yusuke. "If it's pity you're offering, no thank you. I'm better off without your empty sympathies."

Yusuke was infuriated at Koenma's lack of understanding. "It's not pity, dammit! I really do want to be your friend Koenma!" he yelled at the immortal's back.

Koenma hunched his shoulders together and flinched at Yusuke's words. "Stop, Yusuke, please. Stop it, before I believe what you're saying is true. I neither want nor need your 'friendship.'"

Yusuke's eyebrows slid down his face at those words. They stood unmoving for a moment and Yusuke faintly heard music float in from the window, lazily weaving the scents of the island into his senses. He sighed deeply then slowly walked towards the canopied bed against the wall between the door and open window. Yusuke plopped down on the side of the mattress, his back to Koenma. The breeze from the window tickled his neck hairs.

"Who was he?" Yusuke whispered after a time.

Koenma seemed to start, half turning to look at him before stopping in his movement. "Excuse me?"

"You know," Yusuke elaborated, "the one you loved?"

Koenma closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "He was…no one."

Yusuke's mouth turned up in a small smirk as he fell upon on the bedcovers and downy feather pillows. "A former Spirit Detective?" he asked lightly.

Koenma nodded again, his eyes still shut. "Yes, you could say that." Yusuke lay on the bed, looking up at the immortal and studying his face intently. The view was different when he looked at Koenma sideways.

"Was it…Sensui?" he whispered. He sat up on the bed, tucking his legs underneath him and gripping his knees eagerly as he leaned forward, a light of understanding sparkling in his eyes. "That's the one, isn't it? You were in love-"

"Enough, Yusuke, please!" Koenma snapped suddenly, his eyes whipping open in an anxious, impatient frown. "Yes, I did love Shinobu," he continued in clipped tones, "but that was a long time ago! He was young, he didn't know-"

"He didn't love you back, did he?"

Koenma's brow creased as he entreated, "Yusuke-"

"Well, did he?" Yusuke repeated irritably. "I don't see what age has to do with anything, unless he shunned you because you loved him," he babbled in a continuous stream of consciousness. "Or did he have an affair and you threw him out? Well, Koenma, what is it?"

Koenma sighed and moved towards the bed, delicately sitting upon the edge of the sheets. "I…didn't want to see him get hurt," he explained. "I tried to shield him from the evils of the world, so, as Spirit Detective, I never gave him a hard task. In a sense, I babied him." Koenma smiled at the joke, but then his face grew serious again. "Eventually he figured out that I was holding out on him, and he demanded that I trust him to do well. I always knew he would, I just…I wanted to maintain his innocence.

Koenma turned his face towards the window and the slight wind played with his hair, ruffling it in an affectionate manner, as if the wind herself were running her fingers through his light auburn locks. "It was my fault, in the end. I taught him to see the world as black and white- that demons are evil, humans are good, and that's how the worlds work. If I had shown him at the beginning all the shades of grey, maybe…" Koenma trailed off, as if unsure how he would finish the thought.

"Maybe you wouldn't be here with me, talking about should have beens? You'd be in Sensui's arms right now, happy as a honeybee." Yusuke's voice had grown bitter, causing Koenma to glance sharply back at the detective.

"He never loved me back, y'know," he murmured.

"I know," Yusuke replied quickly. "He probably doesn't know how to love."

"Hn." Yusuke frowned. Half of him had wanted Koenma to agree with him and was disappointed when he didn't.

Yusuke unfolded his legs and stretched them towards the bottom of the bed, then leaned his back against the wooden headboard. Koenma watched as Yusuke made himself comfortable, his eyes distant as he scrutinized him. Once Yusuke was settled, he turned his head to Koenma and smiled thoughtfully. "How many times have you been in love, Koenma?"

Koenma started in surprise. "I don't know."

"Oh, I've been in love twice," Yusuke remarked easily, closing his eyes as if satisified.

Koenma frowned in confusion. "Hiei and-"

"Keiko."

"Keiko?" he asked. "I thought she was just a childhood crush."

Yusuke nodded, his eyes still peacefully shut. "She is, but back then it was love."

Koenma nodded. "I see. I never had much time for love," he confessed.

Yusuke's eyes opened to reveal a curious light glowing in their chocolate depths. "So where did Sensui fit in?"

Koenma blushed subtly. "Shinobu…came at the right time, I guess."

Yusuke's voice bubbled over with laughter. "Puberty?" he jibed. "So it was convenient to love Sensui?"

Koenma rolled his eyes in mock irritation. "Not that, stupid," he replied back, biting back a grin. "I guess, I was ready to love. I hadn't before then, so I guess I just wanted to fall in love." Yusuke turned his eyes down towards the covers. He felt inexplicably jealous.

"So why are you staying holed up in here?" he inquired after a moment went past.

"I want to-" Koenma began to create an excuse, but Yusuke cut him off in impatience.

"Who are you hiding from?" he accused sharply, looking up into Koenma's eyes.

"Nobody," Koenma said firmly.

"Yes, you are," Yusuke contradicted.

"No, Yusuke, I just like being alone."

Yusuke tilted his head to the side. "But I don't want you to be."

Koenma turned his back to Yusuke. "Don't pretend to care," he hissed. "It'll only hurt me in the end."

Yusuke sat up quickly and reached a gentle hand out to the immortal. "But I do care, Koenma."

Koenma stood up from the bed and whirled on the detective. "Don't lie to me, Yusuke. It doesn't suit you," he spat.

Yusuke jumped off the other side of the bed in a flurry of movement, bed sheets and limbs. "Fine. Waste away in here," he shouted, moving towards the door. "I'm leaving if I'm going to be accused of lying when I only came out of concern!" Yusuke flew out of the room in rage, slamming the door behind him so the whole room shook hours after the mortal had left.

TBC…

Chapter Three is …wow. I love this chapter, because I just love Kuwabara in it. Anyway, that last scene took forever to finish, but it's done! Chapter Four is in the early stages of being written, but I expect it to be done for next week. In the meantime, please review and tell me how I'm doing!