It had been the most peaceful sleep she'd had in a very long time. No dreams and no early morning wake ups. In fact she was sure it was the best sleep that she could ever remember having at all. She even felt well rested, a term that never applied to her. So why did she feel so awful? The last time she had dreamt about Kurama he had slipped through her fingers and she had come tumbling down. It was almost depressing how right she was sometimes. For once she wanted to be wrong about things like that, but she never was. Not that it mattered anymore. He had made it very clear that he no longer needed nor wanted her help. Whatever problems he had been having with Yoko had been resolved and he could now continue his elegant, secretive Kurama life and she could continue hers too. It was a good thing. That's what she had to tell herself. It wasn't like she'd be running all over town looking for him anymore, or finding him in her room in the middle of the night. She wouldn't have to wake up at 4:56 am to put on a pot of tea for when he came over at 5:00 in the morning. She could just sleep. She didn't have to buy anymore magazines for him either because it's not like he would be sitting on her couch reading them anymore. This was great. She finally had her normal life back and she didn't have to share it with anyone. She would have thanked Kurama were she not still so angry with him. If he didn't need her help anymore all he had to do was say so. She still couldn't figure out why he had acted so cold last night. It was if he was purposely trying to upset her. Though she really couldn't wrap her head around why he would want to do that.

Next to her, her cell phone buzzed on the night stand and for a moment her heart froze. The screen was lit and displaying numbers, but for that one moment all she could think was Kurama. Then the feeling passed and she released whatever breath she'd been unconsciously holding. It was a text from Yusuke of all people. She had half a mind to tell him to delete her number because he was always mass mailing lame jokes and forwarding chain mails, but a part of her hoped that it would be some kind of world-ending crisis. Anything to take her mind off her thoughts of the fox demon.

It was neither. Yusuke's text was typed in all caps and had five too many exclamation marks and smiley faces, but the gist of it was that he wanted to 'celebrate the anniversary of his return from the demon world', which put into normal people terms meant 'go to a bar and get incredibly, ridiculously wasted'. Shizuru let out a sigh as she massaged her temples. Despite the tough guy image he always tried to show people, Yusuke really was as immature as ever, and the way he typed his texts always made her want to slap him. However, it was a good excuse to go out and drink. Not that she needed a drink or anything. She was just determined to have fun now that her time was no longer being spent on a certain red haired man. In fact she had a red head of her very own.

That's how Kazuma Kuwabara found himself in the same awkward predicament that he had before. He was at a diner. Shizuru was at a diner. They were at a diner, together, with duplicate orders of fries, a chocolate shake, and a cheeseburger filling the distance between them. He didn't want to eat, he wanted to run as far away as possible lest he face whatever fury she had saved for him this time. He ran various situations in his head, attempting to find the one which had landed him in trouble this time, but he could only think of one. The couch. He had punched multiple holes in that old beat up couch and now she would punch multiple holes in his face. Heh heh. It would have been funny if it wasn't going to hurt so much. He cleared his throat and prepared to apologize.

"Uh listen Shi, I-"

"So about Yusuke's party, we should go together."

Kuwabara watched as she casually sipped her milkshake.

"Well...that sounds great and non-weird, but I was already going to go...with...Yukina..."

Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed dangerously into a glare.

"You'd rather go with your girlfriend than your own sister?"

"Well..."

Kuwabara began to shovel in handfuls of fries into his mouth in hopes of thinking of a new topic, but Shizuru crossed her arms and leaned back against the diner booth.

"I see. So you're really going to make me go alone. It figures that you would abandon me like this Kazuma."

"Abandon? What do you mean? You always go alone to things like this. It's just going to be the usual gang. Me, You, Yukina, Hiei, Yusuke, Botan, Keiko, Kurama-"

"What about Kagura, Kurama's girlfriend?"

Shizuru had perked up at the fox demons name and leaned forward suddenly, causing her companion to momentarily gag on a bite of fry.

"Uhhh girlfriend? What girlfriend? Kurama has a girlfriend?"

Kuwabara cursed his life as he sank down in his seat and anxiously nibbled on a fry. He had promised Kurama that he wouldn't speak about this with Shizuru, but he wasn't very good at lying to her. It made him feel bad, but he had promised... Shizuru leaned away from the table looking perplexed.

"I guess I'm the only one he told."

Almost instantly she shot up from the table and started to walk away. She needed to prepare.

"Thanks Kazuma. Finish my food. Oh and-"

Her head whipped around and she hit him with another glare.

"You're paying for my couch."

Kuwabara could only nod his head in acquiescence before she left. Scowling, he sank down in his seat with a fry in his mouth again. Why did he have to get stuck with such a weird sister?

Shizuru took one last peek at her reflection in the bar window, before walking in. She didn't usually put in this much effort when it came to hanging out with Kazuma and company, but as soon as she entered the bar she was glad she did. She had been worried about her choice to wear a leather mini skirt and a red halter top, but felt relieved when she entered and saw girls dressed far more scantily than her. You couldn't really tell from the plain outside, but the Lotus bar looked more like a swanky night club than any bar she frequented. The walls had been painted a deep royal purple and were accented by hanging chandeliers made to look like smoldering red fires. The black floors shined in the dim light, and a trail of mosaic glass glittered seductively towards the bar, which was lit by cool green panels of light that had been inlaid beneath the counter. Shizuru followed the sparkling trail before sitting down on one of clear lacquer bar stools and looking around. Either everyone was late, or she was early. Either way she was alone.

"Should I buy you a drink?"

A voice from behind her spoke and Shizuru swiveled in her stool to see an attractive man smiling at her.

"Should you?"

She questioned. She couldn't quite place it, but something about his perfectly tailored suit and black hair reminded her of someone she couldn't exactly place. Then a light bulb went on in her mind. If he had longer hair he could have been the mirror image of Sakyo. His charming grin widened to reveal pearly white teeth.

"Well, I could say 'can I', but we both know that I can. It's more a matter of if I should."

At that moment a very distinctive voice rang out through the bar even over the sound of the music coming from the dance area.

"Alright. Let's get this party started!"

Yusuke had entered the building. Shizuru turned back to the man apologetically.

"Sorry. I'm kind of predisposed."

He looked disappointed, but got up and walked away, leaving her to give her full attention to those who had just walked in. Yusuke, somehow already drunk, eagerly pulling Keiko to the bar. Kuwabara strutting proudly with his arm around Yukina and occasionally giving death glares to men who gave her appreciative once overs. Botan, also already drunk, arguing with Hiei over who knew what, and he trying to look unaffected when she too grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bar. Last, but not least, was Kurama. If she hadn't known better she would have assumed he was by himself. Compared to the vibrancy -and pre-drunken eagerness to become more drunk- of the rest of the group Kurama looked relaxed and at ease. He strolled behind everyone at an almost lazy pace, hands placed casually in the pockets of his fitted navy blue slacks. She knew who had chosen this place. Before she tore her unwilling eyes from Kurama she was greeted with boisterous shouts of hello as everyone took their seats near her. Yusuke and Botan wasted no time in ordering drinks, while Hiei looked on in poorly hidden disgust. Keiko on the other hand moved to stool closer to Shizuru, handing her a short glass filled with amber liquid.

"How soon do you think it will be before we get kicked out?"

Keiko asked gesturing towards the increasingly rowdy Botan and Yusuke.

"Not soon enough to keep Hiei from attacking Kazuma, unfortunately.

Shizuru looked over to her brother and Yukina who were now tucked away in a poorly lit corner. Keiko nodded in agreement. Shizuru looked up to see Kurama sipping from a drink of his own.

"It's him, isn't it?"

Keiko had asked the question, but it was more like she was stating a fact.

"Kurama is the guy you went out with the other night."

Shizuru downed her drink and waved the bartender over to order another. This time Vodka. She was on her third glass when she turned to Keiko again.

"Yeah, well, that was a one time thing."

Both girls nursed their respective drinks until a loud crash rang out and they both turned to see Yusuke had fallen off of his stool. Keiko rushed over to help him up and Shizuru ordered another Vodka. She had just emptied the glass when another was placed in front of her. She looked up to find the man from earlier wearing the same alluring smile.

"You looked like you had a little time on your hands so I decided to get you that drink we talked about."

"Thanks."

Was all Shizuru managed to say before throwing back the drink. Her gaze fell over to Kurama and for a moment his eyes locked onto hers. They stared at each other for only a fraction of a second before Kurama gave his attention to the busty brunette who had been drooling over him all evening. She then set her sights on the man again.

"Let's dance."

Shizuru took the mans hands and led him to the dance floor. He only stared at her in disbelief before he cracked a smile and pulled her close. They began to move against each other to the music and before long Shizuru found herself lost in the sensations of dancing with the stranger. The second song had just ended when a slightly slower song came on and they began to sway. Shizuru felt as if she was in a haze and only the feeling of someone's body pressing against the small of her back and a pair of arms slipping around her torso and coming to wrap around her waist barely registered before she realized that the man was still dancing in front of her, not behind her. Warm breath tickled the skin on the nape of her neck and Kurama's voice poured into her ear.

"You're drunk."

She huffed angrily and tried to wiggle out of Kurama's hold, but stopped when she felt herself wiggling against his solid chest.

"And your point is? Last time I checked I was an adult. Where's Kagura?"

She could have sworn she felt a chill before the feeling melted away.

"She couldn't make it."

He answered simply, as if the question bored him. Shizuru now noticed that he too was rocking with her back and forth to the steady rhythm. It occurred to her that her previous dance partner hadn't seemed to notice that he was now sharing her. Kurama's arms tightened around her.

"Don't worry about him. Look at me."

Was his voice deeper? It couldn't be. Shizuru turned around slowly. Hazel clashed with yellow.