Hello again! I'm having so much fun with this story, I'm updating so much faster than usual! I'm planning on starting chapter 4 right after I finish posting this one. Also, thanks to all those that reviewed! Man...I have nothing else to say. Gee, that's a first! Enjoy!

Seven Days

Chapter 3: (Tuesday) Mudpies!

Water leaked lightly down from the clouds, drizzling over Tokyo on the foggy morning. Yusuke pulled his hood down lower over his head, mentally cursing the sky, clouds, and rain. Finally reaching the address on the slip of paper, Yusuke jogged up the steps and rang the bell for room 124. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest as he heard the padding of footsteps coming down the stairs toward the door. The door swung open to reveal a brunette wearing a light green bathrobe. It took her a moment to register who was standing before her, and when she did, her brown eyes narrowed and she placed her arms across her chest.

"What do you want?"

"Well, nice to see you too Keiko," Yusuke said dryly, stepping passed her into the hallway and shaking off a bit.

"Watch it!" Keiko warned as water flung off Yusuke's jacket toward her. She turned to stare out at the street. "It's raining again? Its been raining all week...I hope it stops by Saturday..."

Yusuke felt his good mood slip at the mention of Saturday; Keiko's wedding day. Glancing down at her hand, he couldn't help but notice a very large diamond ring. "It's been raining since the day I got back," he said casually.

Keiko shut the door and gave him a smile. "I'll take that as some sort of a sign..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Keiko laughed and started up the stairs, signaling Yusuke to follow her. "So Yusuke. What are you doing here?"

"To see you of course."

Keiko felt her heart skip a beat. "R-really?"

"Yeah. We haven't seen each other in about three years, so I thought we could spend the day together. You know...catch up on each others lives."

Keiko turned to smile down at him. "Yeah. I'd like that a lot."

By late afternoon, the sprinkling rain had finally come to a stop, and for the first time in days, the sun peeking it head from behind the clouds. Keiko lowered her purple umbrella and closed it, shaking the droplets off. Yusuke took his raincoat, shoes, and socks off and laid them on the wet grass as he began walking down the riverbank.

"Yusuke," Keiko warned, "it's muddy down there!"

"Then take your shoes off. It'll be easier to walk," Yusuke replied up to her. Keiko sighed; she could tell he had no intention of listening to her if she tried to object. She carefully pulled off her shoes and socks and laid them neatly by her umbrella.

"So tell me," she started, hopping down the slope and trying to avoid most of the mud. "how did things go in Makai? I talked to Botan recently...she said there was some sort of tournament. Was it like the one before?"

"Not really," Yusuke answered. "Being similar, I mean. The point wasn't to kill for the hell of it. It's to decide the next king of Makai. I just introduced the idea to be like human democracy."

"Sorry to break it to you Yusuke, but our politicians don't decide the winner that way."

"I know." He turned to face her as she tiptoed through the slick mud over his way. "Did you know everyone was there? Chuu, Jin, Rinku, Touya...Suzuka and Shishi."

"What about Kurama and Hiei?"

"Do you think they wouldn't go?" Yusuke turned and continued walking down the muddy path.

"Botan told me about the three kings...but she didn't tell me what happened during the tournament," Keiko said, quickly catching herself from falling face-first into the mud.

"She didn't? Well Hiei ended up fighting Mukuro. He lost, but put up a damn good fight...even the Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryuhaa couldn't stand up to that demoness..." Yusuke shook his head at the as the memories from the tournament came rushing back to him. "But Mukuro lost later. I fought against Yomi, but lost. But lemme tell ya,"he smirked, cracking his knuckles, "that was the best fight I've ever been in. Yomi ended up losing later too. Enki, a good friend of my ancestral dad, beat him...now he's the king of Makai."

Keiko nodded, letting the new information sink in. "I'm sorry you lost."

Yusuke glanced over his shoulder at her. "Would you rather I won and became king there?"

Keiko snapped her mouth shut, wishing she could take back her words.

Yusuke smiled at her. "So..." his smile slipped a bit. "How'd you meet that Rokuro guy?"

"Uh, it's a long story..."

"We've got time."

Keiko looked at Yusuke, wondering why he cared about her fiancee. In fact, the story wasn't very long, but she felt so odd talking to Yusuke about matters like that. "Well I wanted to move out and live in my own apartment. I didn't have any money, so I started tutoring people in school. I had a lot of boys from the nearby all-boys school coming to me for help...but the real reason they wanted lessons wasn't to learn," her cheeks burned at the memories. "Then I started giving lessons to Rokuro...I guess we...uh..."

"Hit it off?"

Keiko glanced anxiously over at Yusuke who had stopped and bend down. He picked through the mud, looking for rocks. Finding a suitable one, he threw it. Keiko watched at it skipped across the murky water, nearly making it to the other side before plunging into the depths of the river.

"Yeah...I guess you could say that..." Keiko suddenly became very uncomfortable. Spending the day alone with another guy wasn't the best behavior for an engaged girl. She felt the sudden urge to run back up the slope, grab her things, and go back home. Glancing over at Yusuke, she decided that would be rude.

"Yusuke?"

"Hmm?"

"I...want to go home..."

He turned to her, a large bit of mud still in his hand from searching for rocks. "Why?"

Keiko felt herself grow even more uneasy. "I...I, uh, just don't feel like it's right..."

Yusuke stood up, mud slopping between his fingers as his fist closed around it. "What?" he said, anger rising in his voice. "You can't go somewhere and talk with a friend you haven't seen in three years? Are you afraid your jackass of a boyfriend is gunna get mad at you!" In his frustration, Yusuke raised his hand and threw the mud ball at Keiko.

SPLAT!

The ball of mud hit her chest and began sliding down her shirt, leaving a behind a brown trail on her white shirt. They both stared as the mud eventually lost hold and landed back on the ground with a sickening squish sound. As Yusuke began to laugh, Keiko bent down, scooped up a handful of mud and chunked it at Yusuke, hitting him square in the face.

"You wanna play like that, huh?" Yusuke smirked, wiping the mud off his face as he grabbed another handful of mud.

At those words, the mud began to fly. Yusuke had a poor aim and usually ended up hitting Keiko's legs or arms, but he was faster; throwing double what Keiko did. However, Keiko had very good aim, taking her time to throw and usually getting Yusuke's face or chest. After ten minutes of the furious fight, both collapsed on the ground laughing, brown from head to toe.

"What happened!"

Rokuro stared at the muddy duo laughing at the apartment doorstep. He glared at Yusuke before turning back to his beloved mud-caked Keiko. "We were supposed to meet for dinner...I've been waiting for nearly three hours now!"

Keiko offered him a brown smile. "Sorry. I was just catching up with missed time with Yusuke."

This seemed to make the clean person furious. "Yusuke! Of course! Keiko, how did you become friends with such a sloppy, irresponsible–"

"I am right here you know." Yusuke retorted, glaring daggers at Rokuro.

"Of course I know."

"Rokuro! Don't you ever say something like that again!" Yusuke and Rokuro both turned in surprise to the fuming Keiko. "You have no right to say something like that about one of my friends!"

Rokuro opened his mouth to talk to her, but she shoved past him, leaving a streak of mud on his otherwise spotless shirt. Yusuke reached out and grabbed Rokuro's hand, shaking it. "I'll be going now. I'm glad we had this talk."

Rokuro gasped in disgust as Yusuke pulled his hand away. In its place sat a very large, dripping chunk of mud Yusuke had pulled from his pocket. "What is this!"

Yusuke smiled broadly at him. "It's called a mudpie."

Hope you enjoyed this one-it was fun to write. The mud-fight idea was originally for my first yyh fanfic (envy), but that story changed drastically, and sadly, the mud-fight never happened...until now! I really wanted to put it in some story, so wa-la! Here it is (or there it was...)