Title: Fruit Salad
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and Inuyasha belong to their rightful owners. This story is the product of a lack of KuwabaraKagome fanfiction. Flames will not be tolerated.

WARNING: In continuation of Fruit Salad. This is a series of one-shots and the chapters may not connect evenly. Flames will not be tolerated and are rude so don't do them, please. Be nice and considerate. This is and will always be a series of one-shot Kuwabara/Kagome pairings.

Fruit Punch

Kagome's favorite thing at a party was the fruit punch. There was always just something about fruit punch that gave a party the personality it needed to continue on late into the night. And when the fruit punch ran out, that meant it was time to get everyone to go home.

Things hardly ever worked that way anymore though. Fruit punch was simply never seen in arms reach of a party. In fact, a person never really even questioned the lack of it either, because people didn't touch the fruit punch with a ten foot pole. Simply put, no one cared about the fruit punch.

"Kazuma, let's stop at the store tonight and get some fruit punch for the party!" Kagome said suddenly as she and her boyfriend Kazuma Kuwabara walked down the street together. She had her arm linked with his and he felt like a million dollars with her by his side. He always felt good with her near, but even after almost a year with her it was still strange.

Sometimes he would even wake up and wonder if he had dreamt it all. He was instantly reassured by the fact that she was sleeping right there next to him, but still he had his doubts. After years of abuse by his friends, and girl after girl turning him down, the diamond that was Kagome had fallen into his arms just all of a sudden.

Actually, he had more accurately knocked her over and tried to catch her. But lately, he always felt so self-conscious because he had a terrible secret he was keeping from her. He wasn't telling her one tiny detail of his life because he knew in his heart that she would freak out and dump him.

His friends kept telling him to just tell Kagome what he did for a living--what he really did--but he couldn't. Honestly, who would believe that Kazuma was a Spirit Detective for a demi-god named Koenma and he killed rampaging demons for a living? Just by continuing to associate himself with Kagome, he ran the risk of putting her in danger. The truly honorable thing to do would be to tell her the truth.

Truth, smuth. No one cared about the truth. Kagome was fine thinking he worked for a detective agency that sometimes required him to have extended vacations from his girlfriend in which he could not see her and didn't know if she would be meeting with some exceptionally good looking model at the company she worked for.

In the year that Kazuma had known Kagome, she had decided that there wasn't any room for advancement at the company she had worked at for several years and she got a new job working as a photographer for a different company and went back to school to take some classes on history and other things related to history.

Mythology and folk lore was a hobby she had. Kagome wouldn't tell Kazuma, but even though she was getting to be older and she had left the past in the past for the most part, there was someone she wanted to find. She knew that Kazuma was keeping a secret from her, but she let him keep it since she did have her own.

Aside from that, she thought she already knew his secret. He had demon friends and he probably thought she would be scared if she knew the truth behind Hiei's stuck hair and crimson eyes. She knew the truth, but Kazuma would have more questions for her if he knew she knew so she kept it a secret.

Hiei knew that she knew what he was, but he was about as likely to tell Kazuma as he was to cut his arms and legs off. Generally people liked their arms and legs; Hiei wasn't an exception. He was short enough.

"Fruit punch?" Kazuma asked his girlfriend, looking down at her for a moment before paying attention to where he was walking again. "What the hell is fruit punch? I never heard of such a thing."

"It's like Kool-Aid but with zest." Kagome replied evenly, smiling at him. She could see herself growing old with the man she was walking with... so long as he never learned that she had spent four years of her life traipsing about in the feudal era to which she had traveled by jumping into a dried up old well. He would have her committed if she did tell him.

"You drink Kool-Aid with soap in it?" he asked with a disgusted look. To be quite honest, he had never heard of anyone putting Zest soap in their Kool-Aid, but then again he had never met a girl before Kagome that would actually date him. Even Yukina turned him down though she never explained why exactly. Kazuma could easily guess by the look on her face as she looked at Hiei.

Yukina had liked Hiei. It had been almost traumatizing to find that out. There was no other explanation for the way she had looked. Other than through Kazuma, Hiei didn't know Yukina and she didn't know him. The two were very dissimilar. The only reason fire apparitions had for use of any ice related demon was to become stronger. If a fire apparition killed an ice demon, their power would supposedly grow exponentially.

Kazuma had always wondered why Hiei didn't kill Yukina. If what the shrimpy guy wanted most in the whole world was power, then he could get that easily by killing Yukina. Of course, the other Spirit Detectives would most certainly not stand for such behavior, but what was stopping him?

Kazuma paused in his step, causing Kagome to give him an odd look. What if Hiei liked Yukina? What if that was the reason Yukina had refused Kazuma? What if they were having a secret love affair? A wicked grin manifested itself on his face; that had to be it.

"Kazu!" Kagome complained, hitting his arm lightly. "You haven't even listened to a word I said!"

He looked at her with astonishment. How did she know? "Of course I was listening. I always listen..." His defense was weak, sounded weak, and he knew it.

Kagome said, "Then what did I just say?" A successful smirk crossed her face as his lips flapped uselessly, no sound coming out. "As I thought."

"You said you wanted Kool-Aid with soap! I know what you were saying," he said, trying to fix the situation. She shook her head, obviously not falling for his little fib. "Aw, Kagome, I listened..."

She flicked her hair over her shoulder and said, "I'm not getting any younger, Kazu. It's not fair if I listen to you but you don't return the favor! What if we had kids? Would you listen then?"

She saw an instant change on his face at the thought of kids. He said, "Kids? Really? I love kids! Oh, just wait 'till the guys hear we're going to have a kid." He was joking, because he knew her tactic. She wouldn't have kids. She said she'd had enough of children.

She paled under her pig tails. "I was only joking, Kazuma," she said in a quiet voice. An embarrassed blush crossed her face and she couldn't bear to look at him. She knew it was a sore spot with him. He loved children, and he wanted to have some of his own.

But she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was the terrible secret she had kept from him that stopped her. If only she wouldn't seem completely insane if she told him she spent four years of high school hopping through a well like it meant something.

Kazuma was a sweet man, he really was. She loved him with her entire heart and soul. But she didn't want to know what he would think of her if she told him. So she simply kept it a secret. If she were honest with herself, she was a priestess; she was trained and ready to kick demon ass at no moments notice.

But then again, she was getting to be older and older. Soon she would be finding gray hairs among the black, and she would have age wrinkles on her face. There was nothing she could do to help that, except to find a successor to the legacy of the Living Jewel.

After the final battle, Kagome had taken the jewel in her hand and she had made a wish that she become the jewel. The jewel's evil had turned that magic against her, so technically speaking she was like a walking, living, breathing genie that lived in an apartment instead of a bottle.

But there was a catch to this particular genie. She got to choose what wishes to grant, even though no wish could ever be granted for her. She blinked away tears that she didn't know where they came from.

Kazuma took his silently crying girlfriend in his arms and rubbed his hands on her back. He pulled her carefully out of the way of other walking pedestrians on the sidewalk and wondered why she was crying. It was the very first time she had ever been sad in his presence, though he had the feeling she was that way more often than he realized.

"I was just kidding about that soap thing," he said, trying to calm her.

It worked, marginally. She let out a wet little laugh. "I know," she said.

He said, "And you know I don't need kids! I'm happy just with you."

"I know," she agreed. She knew he was going to talk again, so instead she looked up at him, kissing him to quiet him. Why did this man have to be so understanding of her? Inuyasha was oblivious to her feelings; he always had been. And Kouga's love for her had been more infatuation toward the fact that she could see the jewel shards.

But this man? He didn't do anything half-asked. He loved unconditionally, and she wanted to give that back to him ten-fold. He brought her the most beautiful flowers, sold at his friend Shuichi's flower store when he came back on his business trips. And when she woke in the morning, he was always there to croak out a goofy song and serve her toast and orange juice and oatmeal.

"That was wet," Kazuma pointed out, wiping the tears from her face with his sleeve. She laughed and he held her in his arms. They were in public, but she didn't care. She was getting to be far too old to care; it was time she started to settle and have something of a normal life. Right?

She said, "Fruit punch. Let's take some to the party."

He nodded. "Okay. But Zest soap is pretty expensive. Can we substitute it with some cheaper brand?" She laughed again and kissed his cheek, then they began walking again. They veered course and stopped at the grocery store for fruit punch to take to the party they were headed to.

Kazuma's friend Yusuke Urameshi, and his fiancée were having a bachelor/bachelorette party together. Everyone was responsible to bring something. When the couple got to the party, they saw they weren't the only ones who even bothered to show up.

It seemed Yusuke had a lot of friends who had a lot of hair color preferences. Many of them were strange looking; one was barely out of high school and kept playing with yo-yos. Kagome saw that Kazuma glared at the young boy with particular venom, but at a nudge from Kagome, he calmed down.

Kagome saw that even Hiei had been coaxed out of whatever rock he liked to hide under and he was most uncomfortably sitting in a window seat of Yusuke's small house, with what looked to be a little girl chattering in his ear ceaselessly. However, the 'girl' was actually a boy, and Kagome knew this.

Kagome smiled at Hiei, catching his eye. He actually did what she asked, finally. She decided she would wait until later to leave Kazuma's side and talk to Hiei. She did want to talk to him, but she decided it would be better to hold off just a little longer.

Kazuma saw where Kagome was looking and said, "That girl's been hanging around him for a month now. Or boy. Geez, it's hard to tell, really."

"It's a boy, and his name is Dyske." Kagome responded automatically. Kazuma gave her an odd look of, 'how did you know?' but she simply smiled in response and said nothing to the unasked question. She knew, simply because she knew.

Kagome set her fruit punch on the table with the other snacks. It seemed very out of place, because right next to it were several trays of various Little Debbie snacks and on the other side was an assortment of soda. She had purchased small paper cups to go along with the fruit punch, and those were also set next to the pitcher.

Just as she finished setting the pitcher down, the boy Dyske came running over to Kagome and Kazuma. He scuffed his pink fluffy bow slippers on the floor, his look bashful. "Ah, hi." He said to Kagome. "Mr. Hiei said to come bother you. What does it mean to 'bother' somebody?"

Kazuma looked at Hiei, then back at the kid. "Uh, look kid… Um." He had no idea how to respond to the kid. He usually was pretty good with kids, but this time he had no idea what to say. The kid looked like he could be six or seven years old, and by that age kids always knew what it meant to be a bother.

Kagome chuckled and bent down to Dyske's level. "To bother someone, it means you are causing various trouble in their life. But no worries." She poked the boy's sharp nose and said, "We're not bothered at all. Hiei is just grumpy because no one is giving him candy lately."

"How come?" Dyske asked, his face filled with wonder. He tried to sneak a look at Hiei, but ended up just looking very suspicious.

Kazuma placed his arms on Kagome's shoulder, bending to speak in her ear. "Sorry to leave you alone, but Yusuke's calling me over." He said. Kagome smiled at him, encouraging him to go. Kagome took Dyske by the hand and led him to a corner of the room. As she sat, she arranged her skirt neatly, and Dyske tried to imitate it.

"Because he had too much candy, and now he can't have it or it will hurt him." Kagome said quietly.

Dyske looked at her with amazement. "Woah! Candy can hurt someone? I didn't know it could do that."

Kagome nodded. "When someone eats too much of it, they can get something called an addiction. Hiei loves all sorts of sweets, but one day all that candy he ate caught up to him and he fainted because he couldn't have sugar. Now he just has to be very careful."

"Oh! And having an addiction makes people cranky? If I eat candy, will I become cranky like Mr. Hiei?"

Kagome laughed. "Probably not. But if have a steady diet of only sugar, there is bound to be some sort of defect. He's been binging on candy for almost a year now, so it's hurting him. And his friends love him so much, they keep him away from candy. But addictions don't make people cranky so much as the fact that they can't have what they want."

"Well!" Dyske huffed slightly. He turned his nose up in the air like someone Kagome used to know. "It won't ever be me!" It was almost like Kagome could see the little puppy dog ears flickering atop Dyske's head.

Kagome watched Dyske with a thoughtful look, and then she smiled. At least someone had found him. "I'm glad you're okay, Dyske." She said to him.

He looked up at her, confused for a moment, and then he smiled brightly. "Yup! No iceberg can stop Mr. Hiei!"

Kagome looked up as Hiei came over. The short man glared at the two of them, but both of them smiled evenly. "I need to talk to you." Hiei said. He felt Kazuma's eyes glaring into his back but he didn't care much for the orange haired guy's jealousies.

Kagome said to Dyske, "You wait here, okay? I'll be right back, okay?" Dyske nodded and Kagome followed Hiei into the kitchen. He instantly looked at her, but he didn't speak right away. "You can't stay quiet forever," she pointed out. "We did have a bargain."

He nodded briskly and said, "I found Dyske in the cave you spoke of. He was frozen in ice, just like you said. Obviously I completed my half of the bargain, but you may wish to know that Dyske wasn't the only one frozen there."

Kagome bit her lip, thinking. What she had done was send Hiei on a mission to find Dyske. Dyske was the son of a very unusual pair: Sesshoumaru the aristocratic assassin, and Sango the demon exterminator. A demon and an exterminator had long ago been brought together although it took place after Kagome returned from that world for the final time, so she didn't know any of the details of why.

Still, it was such an odd pairing that when she accidentally stumbled on the story several months ago she had to do some investigating. She found that shortly after the timeline stated the disappearance of the Genie of the Jewel which was her, a new evil named Myonagi appeared.

Myonagi was a vicious witch and she sought power above all else. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango united to fight Myonagi when they heard of her, according to the story, but were unsuccessful many times. Myonagi, out of hatred for the three fighters, created a powerful poison gas. It affected all the creatures in the area, but worse of all, it affected the demons.

The result was a baby boom. Kagome really wasn't too sure how Myonagi could make it so even a powerful demon like Sesshoumaru was affected (by a poison, no less!). Kagome never really got along with Sesshoumaru much, but she felt bad for him. He hated humans; the only acceptable one was Rin. Yet, Rin wasn't the one he had a child with. Instead it was the enemy of his kind!

"Do you know who else it was?" Kagome asked Hiei, feeling her hands wringing her dress sleeve. Hiei's eyes watched her hands as she tried to tear the sleeve to pieces unconsciously. Didn't she know he was very irritated at the moment? He hadn't had a single bit of sugar in eight days because living with Kurama meant his diet was regulated at home, and working with Kurama meant his diet was regulated every-fricken-where else.

"Sorry, miko. They don't keep plaques up there depicting the animals. People don't even realize those caves exist. Stop wringing the cloth. One of them has a weathered look, like an old crone. She was missing an ear and several fingers and a leg. Another is a woman with black hair." Hiei told Kagome.

Kagome nodded absentmindedly. "I see." He became irritated at her fidgeting and he grabbed her hands, pulling them away from the cloth. She gave him a surprised look, glancing down at him.

"Stop it," he snapped. He took a few breaths to calm himself but he was still holding onto her hands. She looked at her hands, then pointedly looked at him. He dropped her hands like a hot brick even though hot bricks really wouldn't affect him. Come to think of it, neither would ice bricks...

"Thank you," she said. "Will you take care of Dyske? I wouldn't even know where to begin with a demon child." It wasn't true. She'd taken care of Shippou for a good long time, but he didn't know that. Besides, she thought having Dyske would be a leveling thing for Hiei.

"I can't!" Hiei again spoke in a clipped tone of voice. "I'm no better than you with kids, not to mention I hate kids."

She giggled and smiled. "Thanks! I knew I could count on you. I promise as soon as I find a home for him, he'll be out of your hair." She had zero-to-no intention to look for a new home for Dyske. For one, the little half-breed would probably only go kicking and screaming. Kagome noticed they tended to be more on the devoted side when it came to people.

She stepped back into the living room and found Dyske again. The little boy was adjusting his skirts and entertaining a few of the women, including Keiko the bride-to-be. She joined the crowd of ladies, congratulating Keiko and listening as Dyske talked of childish things.

Throughout the party, Kagome went to the table of munchies several times for the fruit punch that she and Kazuma had brought. Mostly she enjoyed listening to Kazuma and Yusuke boast who had the better female companion. Kazuma would say Kagome was good at one thing, and Yusuke would say that Keiko was good at an entirely different thing. She would have interfered with their argument if it escalated to 'bedroom qualities' except the two boys seemed to have sense.

Soon, Kagome found herself talking with Shuichi Minamino, one of Kazuma and Yusuke's friends. She'd always felt there was something off about him, but never could figure out what it was. Indeed, he was a very handsome man, and she enjoyed his company from time to time, but also at the same time he just didn't compare well to Kazuma.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kagome," Shuichi said, a kind smile on his face as they met at the munchies table. Kagome was back for her fourth cup of fruit punch at that time, and Shuichi had come for a bottle of water in the cooler beside the table.

"And in return, Mr. Shuichi!" she said brightly. "You really ought to try the fruit punch Kazuma and I brought. It does do a number on your taste buds."

He waved the water bottle, that same smile still on his face. "I prefer water, but I thank you for the offer." he said, not unkindly. Kazuma always tried whatever she offered him. Then again, Kazuma seemed to harbor some small fear that if he didn't do everything perfectly, Kagome would break up with him. Kazuma was silly like that.

And it made her giggle too, when he sometimes did something that he thought was wrong and then he would begin to panic. But he was just so sweet and so adorable that she loved him. It was as though the rest of the world did not matter; it was just the two of them.

"So how is Hiei doing?" Kagome inquired. If anyone would know, it would be Shuichi since he and Hiei shared an apartment. Although Kazuma had mentioned that Shuichi might move out of that apartment and into his girlfriend's apartment. Apparently it wasn't manly to have to share a one-bedroom apartment with a friend while dating.

"He has not had sugar for days, but it's been hard for him. I honestly had no idea anyone could be so addicted to candy." Shuichi took a drink from his cool water bottle and then recapped it.

Kagome shook her head. "After the severe amounts Kazuma said Hiei would eat, I'm surprised Hiei doesn't have any medical problems." She didn't know the exact details surrounding Diabetes, but she thought it had something to do with candy, or things rich in sugar. "At least he has you all to help him." She didn't even want to think of the teeth problems that Hiei could have. It was a miracle he even still had teeth.

Right after that, Kagome had to go separate Kazuma from Yusuke as Keiko pulled her fiancee away. The two boys, in their argument, had decided that just words wouldn't be enough. Kagome took Kazuma away from the party after that. When they got home, Kazuma said, "You're way better than Keiko." She smiled at him, not entirely agreeing, but she kissed him anyway.

--

Hiei glared at the young boy sitting on his couch. He'd already been stuck with the child for a month. What the hell was he supposed to do with the little crossdresser until Kagome found a home for him? And really, why was Hiei even letting Dyske disgrace the demon spieces by wearing a dress when he was male?

He said to Dyske, "Get your coat and shoes! We're getting you normal clothes."

End.