Well, time to start wrappn'things up. This is a loooong one but stay with me here. We'll be headin' out on that date next chappie, but for now, here's what's going on around the temple. As always, it starts out slow, but it gets better.

Later on: Bold- Kuwa's lines Italic-Jin's lines. (most will be Jin's.)

Also, time to see who's been payin' attention to one of my other stories, see if you can figure out what I'm talkin about...

I own nothing...

In Genkai's temple...

The crew sat around the TV. Shizuru leaned on a large throw pillow, positioned just off to the right of the TV, so as not to obstruct anyone's view. She was propping up her head with her right hand, her elbow resting on the pillow. She fumbled around for her lighter, a cigarette hanging loosely from her lips. Beside her, Kayko lay on her stomach, propping up her head with both hands, elbows placed on either side of a huge notebook filled with guest lists, menus, color swatches and various other wedding related criteria. Her focus kept drifting back and forth from the movie Shizuru had brought to said notebook, even though Shizuru kept nudging her in the ribs with her foot as a sign to relax and "watch the damned movie" as she'd said earlier. Jin and Kuwabara sat on the couch behind the two girls. Kuwabara leaning on the arm of one end, and Jin sitting Indian style on the other. Both of them looked utterly miserable.

Genkai had decided that since the boys had done so well holding their powers down outside, that maybe they could spend just a little bit longer out here. They seemed to show great improvement in their focus. Maybe the depressing surroundings in that cave had been what was holding them back all this time.

The others had all gone in various directions. Rinku had headed straight for Genkai's arcade. Shishi and Suzuka had ran to two of the bathrooms in Genkai's massive compound, talking about showers with the fondness a man who'd been wandering in a desert for 5 years might have for a water tower. Chu had disappeared somewhere, not that they had put much effort into finding him, assuming he was curled up with the nearest bottle of liquor, provided Shizuru had left one to be found within ten miles.

Where was Touya? On a date with the object of Kuwabara's affection.

That last little bit of information had been kept a secret from Kuwabara. Everyone had settled on just telling him that the two ice apparitions had been curious about the Human World, and that Kurama and Botan, both being a little more experienced with life here, had offered to show them around town. Shizuru didn't exactly like the idea of lying to her baby bro, but if she'd said the words "Yukina" and "date" in the same sentence as another guy's name, she knew there'd be hell to pay, for Kuwabara that is, considering who this other guy was. Baby bro could certainly fight like a whole different person when his girl was on the line, but he'd slacked off of his training since she'd pushed him to worry about his education first, and the Master of Ice, formerly one the most feared mercenaries in all three worlds, now just plain one of the most feared fighters on either side of reality, most certainly had not.

Kuwabara had whined that he could show Yukina around town, but Shizuru and Kayko had told him that they needed him here to help them carry some of those heavy boxes full of wedding supplies. When asked why one of the others couldn't do it, they had told him that everyone else had done enough wedding work already. Thank Yama, he hadn't noticed that the heaviest box weighed less than 15 lbs.

"Why can't we watch somethin' else?" Jin whined.

"Because I said so," Shizuru stated, bluntly, stealing another glance at Kayko.

"This is depressin', that's sayin' somethin from a guy like me!" he continued to complain. This gained a sigh from Kuwabara, indicating he shared the demon's opinion.

"I said we're watching this one and that's final. If you don't like it, you can always go back to the cave..."

"Fine! I'll watch the bloody miserable thing!" he snapped, crossing his arms. He was not happy with this, but watching this was better than watching water run down the side of a cave.

"He's right, Shizuru. This is kind of a downer." Kayko had finally came to Jin's aid. There was no chance of either he, or Kuwabara, getting control of the VCR. The boys had acknowledged that they had no influence around here, whatsoever, after one of the girls had spoken, but Kayko was a female. She might just stand a chance...

Shizuru stood firm. "We're watching this movie." 'Not the Alpha Female. Dammitall...' Jin thought.

"What's with you guys anyway? It's supposed to be a comedy. How are you guys getting depressed watching an Adam Sandler movie?" Shizuru asked, looking at the other three like they were ready for help that she was not qualified to provide. Her question set off a chorus of sighs.

"Shizuru, I've had enough wedding woes recently. A broken engagement is not what I need to be seeing right now." Kayko's voice held a trace of fear, as if she thought watching this movie might jinx her further. Shizuru fought a smile as she thought that this kid had no worries. Her luck couldn't possibly get any worse.

"A broken engagement is the least of your worries. There's no one else out there who could put up with Yusuke until death do they part, and he knows it." She assured the bride-to-be.

Mild snickers, signaling agreement, arose from the couch. This was the first sign of happiness either of those two had shown all night. Shizuru couldn't take this anymore.

"You all look like you've lost your best friend. How about I go get us some snacks?"

Two yeahs sounded from the couch. "Something to drink, also?"

Kayko's head jerked up. " Uhh, no, that's OK, Shizuru, I think I'll pass," she said, remembering the marching band between her ears when she'd woke up this morning.

"Alright. You guys?"

"I'll take some apple juice," Kuwa answered. 'Perfect. There's one down.'

"Aye, an' I'll be havin' some coffee." 'Make that two.'

She would be able to mask the taste of her "special ingredient" in the boys' drinks. Coffee and apple juice were both easy targets. She'd had enough moping this week to last her a lifetime, and that was before she'd caught her boyfriend of 4 months cheating with the waitress at the pizza parlor. If anyone was going to be miserable around here, it was her! These two were going to snap out of it, NOW!

In the kitchen, she found her bottle of Everclear, still unopened. Surprising, considering there was a Suiken master in the room.Chu had passed out still sitting up in his chair. She noted some sort of telephone in one hand. 'Now who the hell would he be calling?' She thought it better not to ask, not that he could have answered anyway.

"Here you go, boys," she said, returning to the living room. As soon as Jin had his coffee in hand, he produced a small, silver flask from the pocket of his gi. The front of said flask, was ornamented with some form of Celtic design. This wasn't the kind you bought for five bucks at the local liquor store. He'd had this baby around for a while...

"What are you doing, man?" Kuwa had a somewhat distressed look on his face at the sight of Jin pouring whatever kind of whiskey this was into his coffee.

"Never heard of an 'Irish coffee'?" Jin grinned. "Just givin' mine a lil' kick," he added. If he'd only known just how much "kick" was already there...

'This should be good..., Shizuru concealed a smile as she sat back down to finish watching The Wedding Singer.

Two hours later...

Kayko and Shizuru were minding their own business in front of the TV when...

"I can't believe the nerve of some people! Humph!" The two girls watched as a blond demon stormed past them and into the kitchen.

"It's not like you were doing all that great!" They turned to see Rinku standing in the door that Suzuka had just flung open, followed closely by Shishi, who, in his imp form, was flapping hard to catch up.

"If nothing else, they saved you from embarrassment. Make that, more embarrassment," the miniature samurai teased.

"What?"

"Your singing was making me begin to wish I had a chalkboard to grind my talons on, to either drown out the sound, or deafen myself. I would have welcomed both methods of relief," the bird-like demon continued. Rinku, now in the kitchen, snickered at this remark, as he continued to try to wake Chu. He was saying something about having to see this.

"I have a beautiful voice. No. Not just beautiful! It's better described as ethereal!"

"Well aren't you the humble one?" Shizuru's dry wit cut the fight short. "Where is my brother? I thought he and Jin were going out to the arcade with you two," she said, looking from Shishi to Suzuka, the latter of which was now placing a cloth filled with ice cubes on his head.

"They did. Blondie's singing inspired them to revolt," the imp answered from his new perch on the back of a kitchen chair. A quick fluttering of his tiny wings lifted him into the air, letting him narrowly avoid the empty ice tray Suzuka swung at him.

"We'd better check this out," Shizuru said to Kayko. Rinku had finally managed to rouse Chu. The two girls followed the demons back to the arcade. When they arrived, the sight made all the spectators stop in their tracks. A few to laugh, a few to gape, and for one big sister, to plan a funeral...

"I told you this was gonna be good!" Rinku laughed from Chu's shoulder.

"Probably not as good as their performance earlier," Shishi added from his spot on Chu's other shoulder. This earned a glare from Suzuka, still holding the ice pack to his head. Shishi didn't like this perch on Chu. The smell of booze mixed with cheap cologne was nearly overpowering, but, he figured he was much safer here than his usual spot on Suzuka.

"Mates, wot'd I miss?"

"Not much as far his performance goes," Shishi sneered at Suzuka. "But the finale was wonderful!"

"Suzuka was singing on the karaoke machine," Rinku began to explain. "We tried to tell him to shut up, but he wouldn't listen. Jin and Kuwabara tried booing him off stage, but that didn't work either, so they just threw him off stage!"

'What have I done?' Shizuru wondered.

When they had entered the boys had been standing on the small platform that served as a karaoke stage, Jin just holding a microphone as Kuwabara tried to sing some western song the group was unfamiliar with. Apparently, they weren't the only ones, since he was squinting at the screen and trying to mumble random words as they rolled across it. Jin, seeming to be in much better shape than Kuwabara, was finding all this very amusing.

"Alright lad," Jin sputtered out at the song's end, "let's find one we know." With this, the now pointy eared demon began flipping through a large list of songs. "Here's a good one, I say!" Jin said, expression changing a little. "Surely you'll be knowin' this one!"

A rather familiar tune started out of the machine. Shizuru knew this song, she'd heard it recently. Where had she heard this before?

Both boys, microphones in hand, got to the middle of the stage. There was no need to look at the words this time. They both knew this one well. A scorned ninja started the song:

You love 'er, but she loves that FOX! And he loves somebody else, ye jus' can't win.

And so it goes, till the day ye die, this thing they call love, it's gonna make ye cry.
I've had the blues, the reds and the pinks, one thing for sure

(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah
(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah
(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah
(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah

Two by two and side by side, love's gonna find ye yes it is, ye just can't hide
Ye'll hear it call, yer heart will fall
Then love will fly...

Jin trailed off, much to the relief of his friends' aching ribs, and Shizuru's burning cheeks. He flopped down Indian-style on the stage and began to think about something. Shizuru finally found the cord to the machine and yanked it from the socket, ending the music.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you jackass?" Shizuru grabbed her brother and proceeded to beat him into what the others thought would be a coma.

"Mighty sheila there!"

"Yeah, no wonder the oaf can't fight. He's probably never got a chance to hit her back!" Rinku said.

After Shizuru's assault had ended, with Kayko's reminder that she had been the one to spike his drink, the crew's attention returned to Jin, still sitting in the same spot, ears now drooping.

"What's wrong with you, man?" a slightly injured Kuwabara asked, sitting, or falling, down beside him.

"Fly... We flew..."

"Huh? What are talking about?

"Botan. Thought I had the lass... Then... THAT FOX!"

"You're not making a darn bit of sense here."

"I was tryin' to ask her out... but... double date..."

"Double date?"

'Uh-oh...' Shizuru knew this was going to be bad.

"Yeah. She went askin' the fox to take 'er instead o' me!" Jin pouted. Again, Shizuru found herself asking what she had done...

"Waitaminute! Double date! That ice guy's on a date with my Yukina? Hold on my Beloved! I won't let that vertically-challenged ninja take advantage of you!" Kuwabara seemed to sober up instantly as his spirit energy shot through the roof. He sprang to his feet and shot for the door.

'Oh no.' Shizuru had to do something quick. As Kuwa ran past her, she stuck out her foot. Mission accomplished. He tripped and his head hit the side of the Jankin game machine on the way down. He wouldn't be permanently injured, but that ought to keep him from getting himself killed for the time being...

In all the excitement, no one noticed the two tiny balls of fur, one blue, one red, entering the room through a small mouse hole...

Like I said, this one was long, but I'm about to get to the end so I figured I might as well have some fun with this one while it's still going. Already started writing the next fic that will pick up where this one leaves off, but I'm not going to post it till this one's over. Hope you guys'll like it as much as you like this one. It'll be longer, and hopefully alot more exciting.

Next chapter: While all this was going on, what's been happening on that date?

Review time! And don't get too mad over the suspense about that date LOL