Sorry! It took longer than I though to post this! I had it written out shortly after the last one, but then I changed my mind and rewrote it...I like this one now...and I hope all of you will too! Three more! I'm counting down now--and really excited. So far I'm not sure how I'm going to end it. Happy or sad, Yusuke or Rokuro...yall choose. If ya review, tell me what ya want! Thanx!

DiScLaImEr:
me: /sigh/ this is painful to admit...I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho!
yusuke: good thing! otherwise we'd all be screwed!
me: hey! watch it or i'll make keiko go w/ rokuro!
yusuke: /kisses shinsei's feet/ oh oh! so sorry!

ok, enough nonsense (ha ha). read on! don't forget to review and tell me how you want this to end!

Seven Days

Chapter 4: (Wednesday) Roses and Lollipops

There are two types of people in the world. Those who have a sense of humor and can take a joke, and those who can't. The latter are the kind of people who, if you play just one minor joke on them, such as handing them a mudpie when they are very clean, they will forever hold it against you. The two types of people can never get along very well, which would explain why Rokuro and Yusuke weren't the best of friends.

It could also be, that they both loved the same woman.

Either way, Yusuke never liked, or even tried to like Rokuro. In his opinion, Keiko had always been his girlfriend, and nothing could ever change that, not even a bit of demon blood in him. No matter how fancy and handsome other guys may be, they could never sever the bond between Keiko and himself.

Which was exactly why Yusuke loathed Rokuro so much. The prat had somehow found a loophole in the relationship, and was now poisoning Keiko's mind with false love and nonsense. The worst part was, she was buying all of it.

Which brings us to Yusuke's dilemma. How was he, a delinquent with demon ancestors, supposed to compete with, as Botan put it, 'a perfect specimen of a man'? Despite all his trying to clean Keiko's mind of these hideous lies Rokuro was feeding her, Keiko was as stubborn as Yusuke himself; refusing to believe her beloved fiancee would do anything like that.

In spite of Botan's earlier remark about Rokuro, Yusuke was willing to forgive her when she showed an unusual amount of wisdom in suggesting someone who could help him. Yusuke mentally kicked himself on the way down the street for not thinking about that 'someone' who could help by himself.

He trudged grumpily behind his cheery blue-haired friend as she skipped up the steps to the front door of the house. As Botan raised her hand to knock, the door swung open.

"Hello Botan, Yusuke. Come on it," Kurama smiled at them as he stepped aside to allow the two to pass. The group made there through the well-lit hallway into the dinning room. To Yusuke's surprise, food covered plates were set at three places. He swung his head to glare at Botan, who gave him a sheepish look in return.

"What?" she laughed uneasily. "I figured while we're here, we could get something to eat...Kurama's a good cook, you know..." Yusuke opened his mouth to argue, but Kurama stopped him by shoving them both into their chairs before taking his own next to Botan.

Yusuke idly picked at his food while Botan chatted with Kurama about everything that was going on back in spirit world. As they talked, Yusuke felt anger and frustration rising up in his stomach. Botan had obviously used him so she could talk to Kurama, having no real intention to help with his situation. But he resisted the urge to fire his rei gun at her; it was Kurama's house after all, and so far the spirit fox had done nothing to deserve the loss of one of his walls.

Instead, Yusuke used his fork to flick peas at Botan. Botan, who had been talking nonstop since they had arrived, didn't notice her plate slowly become covered with the small green vegetable, but Kurama seem to, because he snorted into is glass. Finally, she shut her mouth and turned to begin eating, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise at her pea-covered dinner.

"Now that you're done," Yusuke told her dryly, sitting up a little straighter, "can we talk about more pressing matters? Like what I have to say for instance?"

"Yusuke, what could you say that could possibly considered important?"

Botan and Yusuke nearly fell out of their chairs in shock. Turning, they saw Hiei perched on the sill of the nearby open window.

"H-hiei!" Yusuke stammered, recovering first, "What are you doing here!"

Kurama chuckled, "Before you two arrived, Hiei and I were discussing his...family matters."

Yusuke rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Oh I'm sure that was a fascinating conversation. Must've taken you a while to get Hiei to shut up about his family..." Botan and Kurama snickered but Hiei gave Yusuke a dark look before turning to look out the window.

"Hey Hiei," Yusuke said. Hiei ignored him. "Hello? Hiei?" He continued to ignore him. Yusuke sighed and flicked a pea at the fire youkai. Even though it hit him in the head, Hiei continued to ignore him. Yusuke, not known for his patience, began rapidly flicking his fork, showering Hiei with peas.

Finally, Hiei whirled around and opened his mouth only to have a pea fly in, preventing him from yelling at Yusuke. He coughed a few times and wiped his mouth in disgust.

As Kurama and Botan struggled to hide their smiles, Yusuke smirked openly. "What's the matter Hiei? Don't ya like peas?" Yusuke stopped and thought. "Speaking of...I've never seen you eat Hiei. What do you eat?" Instead of answering, Hiei sat himself back on the sill and glared over at the former spirit detective. Yusuke turned to Kurama for answers, but Kurama hastily changed the subject.

"Uh...Yusuke, what is it you're here for? Help with something?"

"Botan didn't tell you?" Yusuke glared daggers at his blue-haired companion, who was cowering behind the redhead.

Kurama noticed the looks Botan was getting from Yusuke and quickly covered for her. "Oh...you mean advice for your problem with Keiko, right?" Yusuke nodded. "Good...well, what exactly do you need advice for?"

Yusuke sighed and sat down. "Well you know about Rokuro right?" Blank stare. Yusuke resisted the urge to strangle Botan. "He's Keiko's fiancee. She told me she tutored him and then they just hit it off and wa-la! Wedding on Saturday!" he said in mock enthusiasm.

Kurama looked thoughtful as he settled back in his chair. "Are you looking for some way to prevent this?"

"Naw, I wanna be the best man."

"Well...have you tried talking to Rokuro about your relationship with Keiko?"

"I don't think I could get through a sentence without killing him."

"That bad huh...well what about Keiko? Have you talked to her?"

"What's there to talk about," Yusuke said, getting annoyed. He didn't come all the way here just to be drilled with questions with obvious answers.

"About how you feel," Kurama answered in a matter-o-fact voice.

"Aren't I obvious enough?"

Kurama slapped his head. "If you call lying to her, avoiding her at times, and leaving her for three years expressing your feelings, I can see why she'd want someone else." He glanced up to see Yusuke being restrained by Botan on the other side of the table. "Uh...maybe you just need some way to tell her how you feel."

Botan released the calmed Yusuke, letting him fall face-first against the table. "I've got it!" She slapped Yusuke's head. "Listen up! You need to tell Keiko 'I love you'!"

Yusuke sat up and gave her a look like she was crazy. "While I'm sober? Not gunna happen."

"Then you're hopeless," Hiei put in with a smirk.

Yusuke turned on him. "That's great coming from you small fry! You're the one with more family issues than a soap opra!"

Hiei said nothing, but his hand twitched down to the hilt of his katana.

Kurama offered the two an uneasy smile. "Well Yusuke...you do need to tell Keiko how you feel if you want even the smallest chance of getting her back."

"Why don't you just kill Rokuro," Hiei offered casually. Botan looked appalled at the very thought, but Yusuke chuckled softly.

"Um...that would work, but isn't that a little...extreme?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures!" Yusuke exclaimed, jumping to his feet and cracking his knuckles.

Kurama hastily waved him back to his seat. "Uh, maybe an alternative choice would be better..."

Yusuke remained standing. "Like what?"

Kurama smiled slightly as he rose from his chair and began walking to the door, the three other following him. "Tomorrow, at the beach. Take Keiko on a date to the beach."

Yusuke shook his head slowly as he moved out the door. "She won't go for that. Ever since yesterday," he coughed slightly as Kurama arched his eyebrow, "...she refuses to go anywhere alone with me. Goes against the engaged woman's code or something..."

"Who said you'll be alone?" Kurama's grin widened. "Invite her to the beach–along with Kuwabara and some others. It'll be a party...say for her upcoming wedding. Don't worry about the details. I'll take care of everything."

Yusuke smiled, glad he had listened to Botan and come to visit Kurama. If he could trust anyone to help him with such a tricky situation, the clever spirit fox was the best option. As Yusuke went down the steps, he turned and looked back up at the three otherworldly friends that stood looking down at him from the doorway.

Kurama reached behind him and flipped his long hair, pulling out a red rose and tossed it to Yusuke. "All women love flowers. Send that with the invitation...I guarantee she'll come around."

Botan suddenly hopped down the steps, rummaging through her pockets. "Hold on...I have something..." a look of triumph suddenly shone on her face as she found what she was looking for: a small, deep violet colored velvet box. She handed it to Yusuke with a bright smile. "When the time's right...give that to Keiko. Its from Koenma and me."

"Yusuke." Yusuke glanced up at the steps at Hiei. "If all fails...you can just kill him."

Yusuke snickered. "I'll keep that in mind. By the way...what do you eat?"

Hiei ignored him, turning his face away. Kurama started to laugh quietly before reaching behind his back to pull out a second item. It was a large, multicolored lollipop like the ones you would find at a carnival. Hiei's eyes widened slightly before quickly narrowed as he glared at Kurama as if accusing him of hiding such a treasure from him.

Tossing it to Yusuke, Kurama said, "That's what Hiei likes. He eats regular food...that's just his weak spot. Give that to Keiko from him." Yusuke burst into laugher and he swore he saw the slightest spots of pink bloom in the fire demon's cheeks.

"Thanks you guys!" Yusuke said, making his way down the sidewalk. Kurama merely smiled after him. Hiei turned and grumpily muttered "Hn!" Botan smiled, waving wildly and enthusiastically after him.

Hope you enjoyed! I was so excited to put Kurama and Hiei in this fic, since I didn't in the first one! Hope you liked them! I don't mean to make Hiei ooc (I love him to death!) but I always thought it would be funny if he had some weak spot for candy and sweets...and those huge lollipops are perfect! I hope Kurama was ok...I dont have much expierence writing about him.