Extra: Cooking

"Then he gave Jorge 100 spankings! Ayame and I had a good laugh at that!" Boton said laughing as Keiko chuckled.

Yukina giggled as she finished chopping up some vegetables. She was grateful for the company at the Kuwabara household as she practiced cooking Kazuma's favorite foods. She intended it to be a small dinner but she invited Boton who invited Keiko and when Shizuru found out Mîra was in town, she invited her too. Mîra had yet to arrive but she said she was going to bring dessert.

Shizuru took a drag on her cigarette. "Where is Mîra? I have beers in the fridge with our names on them."

"You and Mîra have gotten pretty close," Boton commented.

"Yeah, we started hanging out more after we went clubbing that one time. She's a good wing woman," Shizuru said grinning.

"I wonder how she and Hiei are getting along. They haven't been by here in a while," Keiko mused.

"Last I heard okay. They went through a rough patch with some former lover of hers but apparently they got over it," Shizuru said shrugging.

"I heard about that from Yusuke. He said the Makai was buzzing about it since she threw the elf out so radically," Keiko commented.

"You don't even know the half of it! Koenma was terrified about backlash or possible repercussions the whole Reikai was up in arms in chaos! Thank goodness everything seems to be okay," Boton said.

There was a silence before Shizuru spoke. "That's why there's a beer waiting for her. I don't know how she can put up with the runt," she said frowning.

"Who knows? I've never really liked him," Keiko said snidely.

"That's because he kidnaped you," Boton protested.

"Would you be okay with your kidnapper suddenly becoming one of your husband's best friends?" Keiko said glaring at the ferry girl. She laughed nervously and Yukina giggled at the scene.

Boton shot a nervous glance at Yukina and Boton feigned innocence with that silly cat face of hers. Of course Yukina knew that her brother had kidnapped Keiko, before he was with Yusuke and Yukina accepted that he had his less than finer moments. That happened to be one of them. Yukina didn't think any less of her brother, after all he had changed a lot.

"I'm gonna give Queenie a call," Shizuru said, using the title sarcastically as she usually did, and flipped open her phone. There was a loud noise outside and she flipped it shut. "Never mind." The other three girls stared at her puzzled when the door to Kuwabara's apartment opened.

"I SAID NO!"

"Damnit, woman!"

All four women looked at each other and then cautiously poked their heads around the corner at the front door. Mîra and Hiei were staring at each other angrily while Mîra held a large bundle away from her husband.

"NO! This is for dessert! You can have some then!"

"I don't want anyone else having it! It's my sweet snow!"

"It's not your swe- damnit ice cream! I made it for everyone!"

"You made it for me for our anniversary!"

"Okay, Hiei, I made you ice cream as a gift so it was yours. Now I've made ice cream for everyone for after dinner so it's everyone's ice cream," the elf explained, exacerbated.

He scowled at her. "I told you I only want you making it for me!"

"After I finished this batch! And I don't cook so I had to bring something," she snapped, annoyed.

He paused for a moment before saying, "Yusuke's mate is cooking for him."

"That's what peasant wives do," she said shrugging. Keiko glared at her but it went unnoticed. Yukina was amazed at how neither of them seemed to notice the four of them watching the argument. She didn't mind though, she had always found the couple to be humorous.

"Yukina is cooking for Kuwabara. And even that obnoxious ferry girl cooks for Kurama and they aren't even mated," He growled. Yukina looked up surprised as Shizuru and Keiko tackled Boton to the ground quietly to keep her from interrupting the argument. Yukina giggled quietly, happy she wasn't the only one being entertained.

"Are you telling me that you're jealous that I'm not cooking for you? This," she wildly gestured to her face, "is royalty and royalty does not do housework."

Yukina jumped as Shizuru restrained Keiko from giving Mîra her two cents about housework, as she often did when her sister-in-law made the occasional snobby comment.

Hiei glared smugly at his wife and she threw her hands up. "Fine, tell me oh husband of mine, what do you want? What would you like all nice and steamy on a silver platter?"

Hiei's face pulled into a smirk that Yukina had only seen when he was fighting. He usually wore it when he knew he was going to win.

"You," he said smoothly. Mîra's jaw dropped and she blinked, blushing furiously. She then smiled slyly at him.

"Aaaand there's my cue," Shizuru said releasing Boton and Keiko. Yukina blinked nervously as Boton ran around yelling about images in her head she didn't want to see and Keiko made a disgusted face before returning to the kitchen.

Mîra was staring very interested at Hiei when Shizuru wrapped her arm around her friends neck. "Save your breath, runt. She's mine and I got a beer in the fridge waiting for her," Shizuru glared.

Yukina giggled as she watched her brother stare at Shizuru, displeased. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Yukina walked up to them as Mîra sighed deeply.

"Thanks Shizuru for the save. I mean, he can just give me one look and I'm ready to pounce him and-"

"Queenie, I don't want to hear this," Shizuru said flatly.

"- and where would we go from here? Probably somewhere in the woods. And who would end up with their clothes all dirty and messy and be freezing?"

"You, so let's go in the kitchen and-"

"Me, that insensitive asshole! I mean he picks the wrong moments all the time! I swear he does it on purpose! Damnit where's that beer?" Mîra said angrily. Yukina gently took the bundle of ice cream from her.

"In the kitchen," she said sweetly.

"Thanks," she said shaking her head. Yukina heard her muttering under her breath as she stormed into the kitchen. Mîra took a satisfying gulp of her beer as Shizuru lit up another cigarette, Boton dragged herself back into the kitchen, and Keiko glared at the elf. Yukina went to the fridge and was happy to see fresh shrimp.

"What?" the elf asked.

"Let me tell you something about household work!" Keiko snapped and the women cowered as she dangerously waved a ladle. "It is hard working cooking, and cleaning, and laundry, and taking care of children!"

"I know," Mîra said sincerely. "And as royalty, I am so busy doing other things that we have other people to do all that for us. And in actuality, the palace creates lots of jobs for many people so really, it's not a bad thing." Yukina watched Keiko nervously as steam coming out of her ears but she seemed to let it go, knowing that there was no getting through to the elf.

"I am not obnoxious!" Boton suddenly yelled furiously, dissipating the tension. The girls stared at her blankly for a moment. Then Mîra interjected, breaking the silence.

"And you know something else?"

"Here we go," Shizuru said rolling her eyes as she opened her beer.

"He is such a big baby, you know that? First, he is speaking deficient or something so he never says anything and then when he talks it's all cryptic because apparently he's too cool to say what he's actually thinking. I mean that phase ended way back in warrior school."

"Because we all know when warrior school was," Shizuru said dryly taking a swig of her beer.

"70 years ago. And don't even get me started about what happens if his sweet snow isn't right! He just complains and he doesn't stop! He's like Ryuji throwing a temper tantrum except shoving candy down his throat doesn't do any good!"

Yukina giggled at the thought and even Keiko looked amused. Mîra took a long gulp of her beer before continuing,

"And another thing! Okay so demons have this biting they do to, like claim their mates or something, and now I have Hiei cooties in me. Hiei cooties! Do you know how that feels? Violated. And it itched for so long because apparently he didn't do it right! How the hell do you not give someone cooties correctly?"

The girls busted out laughing as Mîra slumped her head over the table. "Why do I even put up with him?" She groaned.

"Because the sex is good?" Shizuru offered, shrugging. Boton froze, horrified, and Yukina assumed she was imaging crazy things again.

"Thank the Ancestors!" Mîra said lifting herself up and toasting her beer in the air before taking another swing.

"You haven't heard of TMI, have you?" Keiko asked frowning.

Mîra opened her mouth and then closed it. Keiko shook her head, rolling her eyes, and went back to her cooking.

"Feel better?" Shizuru asked, blowing smoke out of her mouth.

"Yes. Ancestors, I need to come here more often. That boy is going to drive me crazy," the elf sighed and Shizuru chuckled.

"He hasn't already?" Keiko asked dryly and the elf laughed.

"Mîra-chan, would you like to help me prepare some fried shrimp?" Yukina asked. She shrugged her shoulders and walked over to her as Shizuru gave her a funny look. Yukina wasn't surprised, fried shrimp wasn't supposed to be on the menu but she felt it needed to be added to properly balance the other dishes.

All in all, dinner went fairly well. Kazuma loved the food she made, Yusuke inhaled Keiko's dish, Kurama was practically glowing as he ate, and Yukina caught Hiei feeding his wife a fried shrimp with one hanging out of his mouth. As Yukina expected, there was a fight between Kazuma and her brother when Kazuma almost dropped his bowl of Mîra's delicious homemade ice cream and Hiei chided him in almost wasting his precious treat. Then Ryuji started crying and Keiko and Yusuke began arguing about who would take care of the toddler and Kurama used a nearby plant to stop Hiei from stealing their ice cream, which he claimed was his, and earned him a large bump on his head from where Mîra hit him in response. Yukina sighed as she admired the chaos, happy to see her large family enjoying their time together. It was definitely crazy, definitely fun, and when there was cooking involved, definitely delicious.