The Portrait: Part One

"You know what? Let's just drop this talk and sleep". Yusuke said uneasily after a pause.

"What?" Kuwabara said, a frown showed on his forehead.

"Sleep." Yusuke said as he pointed his finger to Hiei - his uneasiness increasing.

Hiei's eyes have been closed for sometime now. It looked like he have been sleeping.

"What's the matter?" Kuwabara asked.

"Uhmm… uhmm…" Yusuke fumbled for words.

Kurama sat there looking at Yusuke. He have been noticing Yusuke's uneasiness as soon as Kuwabara finished his story about his past girlfriend.

"Uhmm… I want to sleep. I am already sleepy." He said with that same uneasiness, his eyes unfocusing.

"Huh?" Kuwabara was confused. Yusuke was okay a minute ago and now he suddenly got sleepy? Too sleepy to even tell a story of his own about his old girlfriend - it is his turn to talk about his past girlfriend, right?

"AHA!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "I know what you are up to, Urameshi!"

"What?" Yusuke felt cold sweat formed at his forehead, his fingers playing with the ends of his shirt.

Kurama smiled as he figured out what Kuwabara was trying to say.

"Chicken, huh?" Kuwabara teased.

"Chicken?" Yusuke asked.

"Hey, it's okay." Kurama said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean!" Yusuke asked as he turned to look at Kurama.

"Oh, c'mon Urameshi! Don't be shy. We all know it's your turn to tell a little story about your past girlfriends!" Kuwabara said.

"Huh? Who says it's my turn? And who says we are taking turns?" Yusuke retorted defensively - actually a little too defensively.

"You know what? You are unfair!" Kuwabara answered. "C'mon Kurama, agree with me." He turned to Kurama for support.

"Yes, it's your turn Yusuke - it's not right you made Kuwabara confess about Ana and then not share one of your stories." Kurama said.

Yusuke shifted his eyes from Kurama to Kuwabara and then to Kurama again. Then he bowed his head, afraid that they might look in his eyes and see what he had been hiding.

"Just one story, Yusuke. We won't tell Keiko about it." Kuwabara insisted.

Silence.

"Darn it, Yu..." Kuwabara was about to exaggerate.

"Actually…" At last, Yusuke talked - cutting off Kuwabara in midsentence, his head still bowed. "I never really had any girlfriend besides Keiko."

"WHAT!" Kuwabara exclaimed with surprise.

"And there you go, talking as if you had a hundred girlfriends!" Kuwabara continued.

Kurama laughed. A smirk showed at Hiei's mouth.

"But I can still tell you something about Keiko that you didn't know." Yusuke quickly said.

"Hello! We know probably EVERYTHING about you and Keiko!" Kuwabara said back.

"Hey, c'mon Kuwabara - let the guy tell us something so that we can all call it quits." Kurama reasoned.

"Okay, fine." Kuwabara said.

"Wait here, I'll get something." Yusuke said as he stood and went to his room. When he came back he was carrying a large box.

"What's that?" Kuwabara asked curiously.

Yusuke opened the box and got out a framed picture.

"It's my portrait." He said proudly as he showed it to Kuwabara and Kurama. The framed picture showed a charcoal drawing of Yusuke's face. Hiei momentarily opened his eyes to look at the picture but closed them again before anyone noticed he had been listening.

"So?" Kurama said.

"Keiko gave it to me on my birthday." Yusuke stated.

"Keiko drew that?" Kurama asked.

"Yes, she did."

"So?" Kuwabara asked raising his eyebrow.

"It's special." Yusuke said.

"How was it special?" Kuwabara asked.

"Well… well…" Yusuke tried to find words.

"Well?"

"Okay, this would sound A LOT corny, but the day she gave this to me was the day I knew for sure that she is the ONLY girl for me." Yusuke said as his cheeks turned red.

Kuwabara and Kurama let out a laugh as they saw how Yusuke's cheeks reddened.

"There goes the GREAT URAMESHI!" Kuwabara teased.

"What!" Yusuke said, an embarrassed smile on his lips.

"Oh, never mind! Just tell us what happened that day!" Kuwabara said.

"Actually it started five days before my birthday…" Yusuke started his own tale.