Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Never have, never will.

"Yukina and I are going to head into the city, if that's alright with you. There is some shopping we want to do and Genkai asked if we could pick groceries."

I glanced up from my bowl of cereal to find Keiko watching me from the kitchen doorway. "Why wouldn't that be okay with me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You'll be stuck here all day with only Kuwabara for company and, well, I'm not sure how much fun that will be." Smilingly wickedly, she added, "I mean, who knows, some of his stupidity may rub off on you."

"Hey, I suggest you watch who you're making fun of," Kuwabara snapped. He'd been riffling around in the cabinets looking for something to eat when Keiko mocked him, but he'd stopped immediately and turned accusing eyes on her.

"Yeah, be careful what you say, Keiko. You might make him cry," Yusuke sniggered, appearing in the doorway behind his girlfriend.

"I hope you realize that I was kidding," Keiko said, concern about hurting Kuwabara's feelings clear in her voice. I couldn't help but laugh at her worry, after all the big lug could take more than a few playful insults.

"Yeah, yeah," Kuwabara said, waving off Keiko's distress without a second thought. "The sooner all of you get out of here, the better. Shy and I are going to spend the day having some much needed bonding time."

"Don't bond too much, Yukina might get jealous."

"Damn it, Yusuke," I said, feigning anguish. "You've officially uncovered my plans to steal Kuwabara from Yukina.

Yusuke moved his way into the room and, slinging his arm around Kuwabara's shoulders, said in a conspiratorial whisper, "See what I mean? Women are dangerous. They do everything in their power to trick unsuspecting idiots like you."

Yusuke was in the middle of nodding his head sagely when Kuwabara shoved him away. "You're calling me an idiot? Take a look in a mirror, Urameshi."

I rolled my eyes at their antics and looked at Keiko, who had taken a seat beside me. I raised an eyebrow in question and asked, "Yes? Do you need something?"

Smiling faintly, she asked, "Did Yusuke tell you that he thinks we'll be staying here a bit longer than the originally planned week?"

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "When the hell did he decide that?"

Keiko hesitated, apparently realizing that I'd had no previous knowledge of Yusuke's plans. "I don't know exactly. If you want details I'd suggest talking to one of the guys." At my look of outrage, she said, "It's not like Yusuke wants us all to have to stay here. That's why he, Kurama, and Hiei are going to the Makai today. Yusuke wants to get as much information about Mecca as quickly as possible, so that he can send us home."

"Yeah, I already knew why they were going to the Makai, to go to their respective territories and gather information. That's all well and good, but why do I have to stay here?" I sighed, shoving a hand through my hair. I wanted to get back to my life. Sure being at the shrine provided me with time to hang out with my friends, but it also kept me from doing any of the things I normally did.

"Again, I suggest talking to the guys." She paused and I assumed she was waiting for me to have some kind of childish outburst, but when I remained silent she continued, "The reason I brought it up in the first place is that I'm going to stop by my apartment and grab some extra clothes. I was wondering if you wanted me to go by your place and get you anything."

I took a second to make a mental list of all the things I'd brought. I'd over-packed in the first place and Genkai's washer and dryer meant I would be able to wash my clothes whenever the need arose. I shook my head. "I'm good on the clothes front, but would you mind buying me a few new books while you're out shopping?"

"Sure. Anything in particular you want?"

"Nope, you know what I like so you can buy at your own discretion." Carrying my dirty bowl to the sink, I added, "Let me just run to my room and grab some money. Back in a second."

I hadn't even made it to the door before Keiko was proclaiming that she didn't want any of money. "I've got it covered, okay?"

I took a second to debate the pros and cons of arguing with her and deciding not to bother. "If you insist," I conceded.

"Oh, trust me I do." She stood up from her chair, just as Yukina made an appearance in the kitchen doorway. "Ready to go?" Keiko asked.

Yukina nodded and looked to Kuwabara, "Are you going to walk us to the train station, Kazuma?"

He looked up from the bagel he had been in the middle of devouring and, speaking through a mouthful of food, replied, "Sure thing, my love." Swallowing the remains of his breakfast in one large bite, he wrapped an arm around his fiancée's shoulder. "Let's go ladies."

Yusuke watched him leave, the girls in tow, and said, "We should get going too but I have no idea where Kurama and Hiei are." He frowned, scanning the kitchen as though they might be hidden somewhere in the room.

"Did you know that you're really dense sometimes?" Ignoring his indignant glare, I asked, "Did you check their rooms?"

He stared at me for a fraction of a second, before saying sarcastically, "I knew I kept you around for a reason, you're just so smart." With that he left the kitchen, heading in the direction of the bedrooms.

"No need to hurtful," I called after him. "You can't blame me for your own inadequacies."

"Shove it, Shyle."

Genkai bid me farewell twenty minutes after the others had left. She was going to visit a friend; she'd said something about him being a psychic but I hadn't really paid much attention and didn't know the details. What I did know was that she wouldn't be back until late at night or potentially even early tomorrow morning. I can't say I was particularly upset. I didn't mind Genkai, but she wasn't exactly exhilarating company.

The old woman's departure meant that I had the house to myself until Kuwabara returned and I found that I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the time. In the end I wound up digging through Genkai's entertainment center, trying to find some movies to watch.

When Kuwabara returned half an hour later, he found me sprawled across the living room floor, dozens of movies scattered around me. I was in the process of sorting the movies with potential from those that I wouldn't watch if my life depended on it.

"What in the world are you doing?" Kuwabara asked. He was watching me, his head cocked to the side, a quizzical expression on his faze.

"Attempting to find a decent movie. Genkai has the strangest collection of movies I've ever seen. I never would have picked her as a chick flick kind of gal."

"Oh, trust me, she isn't. Most of these movies aren't hers. Over the years we've kind of just started leaving movies here. Why bother bringing them home when we watch the majority of our movies here?" he asked, a small, reminiscent smile on his face. Looking at him, I almost felt like I was intruding on something, like he was remembering private things that I shouldn't be intruding on.

Clearing my throat, I said, "I'm assuming 'we' refers to you, Yusuke, and Keiko."

"Yeah, and Botan and Kurama." He plopped onto the couch and surveyed me, leaning back into the cushions.

"Ah, I see. Hiei hasn't left any movies?"

Kuwabara laughed. "Hiei wouldn't buy a movie if his life depended on it. Don't get me wrong, he watches them with us, but he'd never lower himself to the level of buying anything so uniquely human."

I frowned, not quite sure I understood. "That's stupid. If he's willing to watch the movies then he must like them, which means he's just being pigheaded and stubborn."

"Pigheaded and stubborn. I couldn't have described Hiei better myself."

Shaking my head at his attempt at a joke, I pushed myself into a sitting position, left the reject movies on the floor, and grabbed the pile of movies with potential. Dropping them unceremoniously into Kuwabara's lap, I sat down beside him. "Pick one."

"Aye aye, captain!" He sorted through the movies, tossing what I assumed to be the rejects onto the floor. When he finally had two movies left, he asked, "Action or horror?"

"Action, without a doubt."

"Fair enough," he replied, tossing one of the two movies onto the ground, where it joined the numerous movies scattered across the floor. "Alright, I'll clean up here while you get snacks and drinks. That work for you?"

"Yep." We stood up in unison and, laughing, went about our business. Ten minutes later we were sitting side by side on the couch, munching on our own personal bowls of popcorn, watching the movie's opening credits. I leaned over to Kuwabara and said, "This better be a good movie or you're going to pay."

"That feels like an empty threat," he answered, unfazed by my attempt at intimidation.

"We'll see, my friend, we'll see."

The piece of popcorn landed in the cup with a faint clink, making itself one of only a dozen to do so. Popcorn lay littered across the floor in a pathetically large circle, testimony to our abysmal accuracy. Or, I should say, my abysmal accuracy. Of the twelve pieces of popcorn in the cup, I had scored none, making me far worse than Kuwabara.

Honestly, I can't say whether the movie was any good or not. We'd watched for roughly twenty minutes before I'd been pegged with an unpopped kernel. I retaliated quickly and we'd spiraled into a popcorn war. At what point we transitioned to the floor and began a strange form of basketball, I'm not entirely sure, but I can say that we'd been playing long enough that I'd lost complete track of what was happening in the movie. It was still playing and the machine gun fire of the war scene depicted provided an interesting background noise, but the actual plot escaped me.

Frowning in concentration, I took aim and let loose a piece of popcorn. It missed to the right and I groaned. "I seriously suck at this."

"You can't be awesome at everything," Kuwabara grinned cheekily. "Although, now that I think of it I'm not really sure you're awesome at anything." He frowned, apparently contemplating how little I was good at.

Eyeing him disdainful, I pegged him in the forehead with a popcorn kernel. "I don't know. I think I'm pretty good at hitting assholes with pieces of popped corn."

"Ha-ha, very funny. It's too bad you can't get any in the cup."

We lapsed into momentary silence as I attempted to prove him wrong and failed miserably. "This game sucks," I muttered, watching as my latest attempt bounced off the cup's rim.

"You're only saying that because you haven't scored."

"So what if I am? I'm entitled to my own opinion."

Pausing just long enough to throw a kernel and miss, Kuwabara replied, "I feel as though we should change the subject."

"Oh, you do, do you?" I asked.

He nodded knowingly. "You appear to be getting temperamental."

"What do you suggest we talk about then?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea. I was simply making a suggestion."

"You're really helpful, you know that?"

"I try," he replied, smugly.

"I suggest you try harder."

Another silence regained, interrupted only by the clink of a piece of popcorn as Kuwabara scored yet again. Suddenly, without even realizing what I was saying, I asked, "Do you think it's pathetic that watching you guys spar made me feel sick?"

"What?" Kuwabara looked up at me, surprised, the kernel he had just thrown missing horribly.

I stared at him without responded, as caught off guard by my question as he was. I'd been trying to think of something to talk about but my current fear of demons hadn't been what I had in mind.

Finally, knowing that I couldn't just skirt the issue now that I'd brought it up, I elaborated, "Yesterday watching you spar with the others guys I felt really uneasy and nauseous. I got all nervous and jittery." I paused for a second, gathering my thoughts. Thinking about the way I'd looked this morning in the bathroom after my shower, yellowing bruises spreading across my cheek and neck, I added, "Remember when you suggested letting Yukina heal my wounds and how I said I'd rather she didn't? I said I didn't want her to for the same reason; I was scared because her healing me would involve the use of her demon energy. And I know that's stupid because Yukina wouldn't hurt a fly but I just couldn't help it. I can't help it." When I finished, slightly out of breath, I realized how badly I'd needed to talk to someone about this, about my fear.

Kuwabara took his time responding and when he finally did it was with a careful slowness, as though he was afraid of saying something wrong. "Why would you think that it's pathetic? I'm almost glad you're afraid –"

"What?" I interrupted. "Why?"

He smiled faintly. "'Cause, Shy, the last thing I want is for you to become involved with all this, with the Makai. If it scares you, if demons scare you, then it means you won't go out of your way to make it a permanent part of your life. The Makai and everything that comes with it is dangerous. Sometimes I wish we'd never involved you." At my slightly hurt look, he laughed lightly and explained, "It's not because I don't love having you around, it's just that I worry that you're going to get hurt, that some demon is going to get it in his head that he can use you to get to us, to Urameshi."

I mulled over what he said for a few seconds and said, "Well, no worries there. If it weren't for you guys and our friendship, I wouldn't want anything to do with the Makai. But my involvement in the Makai aside, you never answered my original question."

Frowning, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion, he asked, "What was your question?"

"Is being afraid pathetic?"

"No, I don't think so. Demons are something foreign to you, something you didn't grow up around. Not to mention that Mecca almost killed you. If you weren't a little freaked, I'd think something was wrong."

He paused and smiled in embarrassment. Rubbing his neck in a way that reminded me of Yusuke, he said, "The first time I went on a mission with Urameshi I was scared out of mind. I didn't show it because the Great Kazuma Kuwabara isn't supposed to be afraid of anything, but I couldn't help it. Considering the fact that I was armed with my spirit sword and you had nothing, I'd say you handled things just fine. The fear will fade with time, once you've learned to differentiate between your friends and enemies. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience."

I studied the piece of popcorn in my hands before taking careful aim and letting it fly. With a soft plink it hit the side of the cup and bounced in, landing on the small pile that Kuwabara had accumulated. Grinning, I said, "I'll take your word for it."

Laughing, Kuwabara asked, "Is it my turn to come up with a topic of conversation?"

"Sure."

He nodded and made a great show of stroking his chin thoughtfully, pretending to be lost in deep contemplation. But when he finally spoke all his previous joking was gone. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing by marrying Yukina?"

It was my turn to be completely caught off guard. "What are you talking about? Of course you should marry Yukina. You guys love each other!" I couldn't help being alarmed. For as long as I'd known Kuwabara his life had revolved around his love for Yukina, that he was now questioning that love was unbelievable.

"I know that, but sometimes I'm not sure that that's enough."

"How is that not enough? What else is there?"

"I don't know, but when I see Yusuke and Keiko and how happy they are, I can't help but wonder if they're doing the right thing by not marrying. I used to think that Keiko was being stubborn by refusing Yusuke's proposals, that she was hung up on some stupid thing, but now that I'm getting ready to marry Yukina I'm having my doubts. Getting married to a demon isn't like getting married to a human. There is so much more to it," he sighed, trailing off into silence.

I had the feeling there was something he wasn't saying, that he was intentionally being vague about what made marrying a demon so complicated, but I spoke regardless, knowing that he needed my opinion. "Personally, I think you should do whatever your heart tells you to do, and yes I know that sounds corny. Do you want to marry Yukina? Because as long as you do everything will work out. I know you, Kuwabara. If you want something to work, you'll make sure it does."

Smiling faintly, he replied, "Thanks for the support, Shy."

"That's what I'm here for."

Chuckling, he said, "Well, since we're on topic of romance, there's something else I wanted to ask you."

"Really? Okay, shoot."

"Why haven't you dated anyone since Hideki? It's been a year. You're over him, aren't you?"

This night was just full of surprised. The last thing I'd expected was Kuwabara bringing up was my ex-boyfriend, if he could even be called that. Hideki and I had gone on two dates and at the end of the second he informed me that he didn't think we should continue seeing each other. While I hadn't been devastated, the break up had hurt and I haven't dated anyone since.

I couldn't believe I was having this conversation twice in under a week. Keiko had accused me of having dating issues the day Mecca attacked me and now it seemed Kuwabara was doing the same thing.

"Shy? Are you going to answer me?"

"Yeah, sorry." Looking down at my hands, I started picking apart a piece of popcorn. "Keiko and I just talked about my dating issues a few days ago. It's like you two are on the same brainwave."

"Great minds do thing alike."

"I can't believe you just said that," I said, laughing. "Anyway, um, after my conversation with Keiko I came to the conclusion that I intentionally find faults with guys because I'm scared of dating."

Kuwabara raised an eyebrow. "You're willing to admit you have a problem?"

"No point in denying it."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"Stop being so critical, I guess." I glanced up at him and added, "Keiko is under the impression that I should date Hiei."

"The shrimp? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. It's stupid, right?"

I was surprised when he actually paused and gave the idea some serious thought. At last he looked up at me, his eyes dancing with amusement, and said, "You might actually be good for him."

I stared at him, shocked, and was about to ask if he was on something when I heard the front door open and the sound of voices in the hallway.

Kuwabara immediately started a conversation, mocking me for my complete inability to throw popcorn kernels with any kind of accuracy. Realizing that he was trying to save us from explaining just what exactly we had been talking about, I played along, throwing a kernel at him just as Yusuke appeared in the doorway, Kurama and Hiei visible behind him.

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to eat popcorn, not throw it." Yusuke grinned and entered the room, dropping down into a seat on the couch.

"You don't say, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked, sarcasm dripping from each word.

"Just figured I'd point it out."

Interrupting before they could start bickering, I said, "You guys are home earlier than expected. Find anything out?"

Kurama joined Yusuke on the couch and Hiei wandered over to the window, where he stood with his back to the room. Yusuke leaned forward, grinning triumphantly, and said, "Actually, we did."

AN: This was just one of those chapters that writes itself. Personally, I like this one, mostly because I got to show Shyle and Kuwabara's relationship. Not to mention, I utterly love Kuwabara. I hope you guys like it as much as I do.

Thanks for all the reviews last chapter, they were awesome. Keep 'em coming! They really do give me great inspiration. There were eight for last chapter, can I get ten for this one?