Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Happiness is... ❯ Prologue: Happiness is...Intoxication ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Happiness is....

Authors: Buffybot76 & Sesshiyuki

Email: vampmistress76@hotmail.com & sesshiyuki@yahoo.com

Rating: R (at the most)

Pairing: Kurama/Keiko

Summary: It's Spring Time! Time to view sakura-blossoms, time to get drunk, time to fall in love...

Disclaimer: We do not own the characters mentioned within this fic. They belong to their creator who is, sadly, not us.

Prologue: Happiness is... Intoxication

Yusuke figured it was a good thing that Keiko couldn't see him in this inebriated state. The Urameshi team members were drunk, all of them, except for Kurama, who had left early. Probably to water his plants or something...

'Then again,' Yusuke thought with a frown, 'she might not even say a word.' Keiko had distanced herself from him after their initial break up over a month earlier, and had refrained from nagging him about every little thing, like she used to. Yusuke had at first thought it would be a relief, not to have Keiko 'bitching at him' every time he turned around, but that didn't seem to be the case. He actually missed it - her. Not enough to get involved in an intimate relationship with her again, no. They were better off remaining as friends, but... lately, they hadn't even been that.

And so, for that reason... among others, such as a certain (groan) necessary job, which had to be done whether he gave a crap or not... he and two of the other three Spirit Detectives were all camped out in the middle of Genkai's temple. Drunk off their asses.

"When did the trees get so big?" was the tipsy demand to his right.

'I shouldn't look.' Yusuke thought.

But then, when had he ever listened to common sense anyway? What little of it remained, Keiko had taken with her. He turned his head with interest. There was a small, black blur hanging from Genkai's old pine tree, like a shadow that had somehow gotten stuck in the branches.

A rather absurd giggle sounded from his right, and Yusuke turned to see an equally drunk Kuwabara pointing in amusement at the hanging fire demon. "Shr-shrimp's head is upside down, Uremeshi. He looks funny."

Yusuke tilted his head to the side to observe Hiei through bleary eyes, "Eh, I don't know, Kuwabara.... He looks sorta cute like that..."

The shadow overheard.

Hiei's snort (if it could be called that) was indignant. "I'm a demon. I'm evil, and I kill people. I'm not cute."

Drowning seemed like definite possibility, with all that alcohol swimming through their systems. So Kuwabara and Yusuke twisted their heads gingerly, to exchange their meaningful stare. And promptly burst into laughter. "That's so cute..."

"Shut up!" Hiei was still trying to figure out why the ground seemed closer than usual.

Trying to reach for another bottle of sake, Yusuke hunted among the jars littering Genkai's sakura strewn grass. Nothing. Groaning in disappointment, he crawled around on his hands and knees in search of a filled bottle.

Suddenly, Yusuke found himself staring down at a pair of dainty feet encased in slippers. Blurry eyes to traveled upward. The teen detective found himself looking into the worried gaze of Hiei's twin sister, Yukina. Actually, there seemed to be three of them, but having had his brain addled enough during all his previous battles, Yusuke knew enough to focus his attention upon the green haired Ice Demon in the middle.

"Gomen, Yusuke-san," The lithe Koorime spoke softly. "But you all seem to have had far too much to drink."

Yusuke opened his mouth, on the verge of arguing. Mainly because he didn't really think he was all that drunk, but at the same time not caring if he was. He was rudely cut off by a stampeding Kuwabara who practically tripped over his own feet in his attempt to reach his love. However, he did trip over Yusuke, resulting in the orange headed baka taking a nose-dive into Yukina... or more precisely, Yukina's cleavage.

It was hard to say who was redder. Hiei or Yukina. Maybe it runs in the genes.

"ITEEEETE-te-te-teee... oww Ok, I deserved that... "

"Kazuma-san... Ah! I am so sorry! Are you alright?"

Not Kuwabara, it seemed. The tall human was a decided shade of blue. 'Interesting... I didn't know Koorime had that sort of defense mechanism. Makes sense, I guess. After all, whenever Yukina is in danger, she can turn the air to ice.'

Unfortunately, Yukina and Kuwabara had failed in an attempt to distangle themselves. In their mortified haste, they forgotten themselves, and had rolled around quite a bit, reversing their positions. And Hiei. Yusuke, who felt too fuzzy and mellow to care, felt strangely relaxed, and even snickered at the sight of the fire demon's enraged eyes, which at any other time, would have freaked him out (not that he would ever admit it). He laughed at the overprotective instincts of elder brothers, and laughed even harder when Hiei fell face first on his sister.

"Oi, shrimp! Quit hitting on my Yukina and get your own woman!" Kuwabara's somewhat muffled voice spoke from the vicinity of Yukina's chest.

"Your woman..." Hiei hissed in a way that would have singed the hairs off a ningen's goosebumps. "She does not belong to you, bakayarou... She belongs to... no one. Keep your putrid hands off her..." Hiei was tempted to throttle the baka, but he didn't want to hurt Yukina. He was on top of her. It must hurt to be on the bottom.

"Obviously I was stupid to think that Yukina would be enough to convince you all to stop being asses." An aged voice spoke from across the yard. Everyone turned, except for Kuwabara, who was still flattened beneath both Yukina and Hiei, to find Genkai glaring at them in a most intimidating way. She continued to stare until Hiei, Yukina and Kuwabara had finally succeeded in untangling themselves. The small Koorime made her way to Genkai's side as the old woman spoke again. "Yukina and I are going to visit a patient who is in need of healing. I expect this shrine to be exceptionally clean by the time we return. Got that?"

After they left, the remaining three looked at each other. Unsure of what to do. Usually, Yusuke would have muttered ineffectual insults at the hag to ease his pride, but with the pleasant buzz running through his system, he could only feel mildly irritated.

Ignoring Kuwabara, who was still straining to catch the last glimpse of his beloved Yukina-san, Yusuke turned to Hiei. "You two are so cute..."

"Eh?" Was the intelligent response.

"Almost seems like you were made for each other..." Yusuke quipped innocently. It was always so fun to tease Hiei about his little sister in front of Kuwabara...

"What the hell?!" That had caught Kuwabara's attention.

Especially since Kuwabara didn't know...

Hiei glared, somewhat tipsily at the smirking Spirit Detective. "Don't be stupid, Detective? You know I have no designs whatsoever on Yukina-san."

"Yeah, and it better stay that way too, you little shrimp." Kuwabara glared back.

Hiei ignored him, even as Kuwabara continued his rant. "You are so not worthy of my sweet Yukina. I mean, you're so rude all the time, you'd never make her happy. Unlike some people, I'd do whatever it takes to make Yukina happy. It's the least she deserves having to deal with the fact that she may never find her brother and all."

"You..." the word was pronounced with dripping poison, "obviously know nothing. Mind your own business. You are, and never will be worthy for--"

"Why the hell do you care?! So the little squirt has fallen in love? Like you could ever cheat on Kurama! Wait, is that why he's been so sad lately?" Kuwabara considered, not comprehending his companions' gapes of shock. "Then you're even worse than I thought you were!"

"What are you babbling on about?" The fire demon's annoyance was evident even through Kuwabara's drunken haze.

"You're cheating on Kurama, aren't you? That's why he left early tonight, and that's why he's been so mopey all the time," Kuwabara said, his normally gruff voice slurred by the amount of alcohol in his system.

"Are you blind as well as stupid? Kurama and I are not together like that." Hiei crossed his arms and continued to glare indignantly.

"You're not? Huh..." Kuwabara's brows bunched together in confusion. "I coulda' swore...." He shrugged. "Oh well, just proves you don't know the first thing about making people happy."

Hiei's heated retort was interrupted by Yusuke, who chose this particular time to scoff drunkenly. "Oh please! You people think you're unhappy? I just broke up with Keiko."

Shrugging, he continued to grumble, not at all noticing the shocked expressions this admission had caused. "Guess I'm not too upset... I mean, she is better off without me. I just hate making her unhappy all the time. She needs to be happy, dammit!"

Silence reigned as Hiei and Kuwabara stared at Yusuke before Kuwabara's eyes took on a look of deep contemplation.... at least, deep contemplation for Kuwabara, which to the others, looked more like constipation.

"Don't hurt yourself." Hiei smirked, earning himself a glare from Kuwabara.

Shut up, shorty!" He screamed before falling back into his thoughtful pose a moment longer. Finally, he smiled goofily. "Ooooh! I have an idea!"

Hiei rolled his eyes. "I thought that was impossible. Where are the flying pigs?"

Yusuke chuckled, "What is it, Kuwabara?"

The orange haired boy ignored the fire demon's taunt, so excited was he over this stroke of brilliance, which he proceeded to elaborate on. "Hey, Hiei, why don't you set up Kurama and Keiko?"

"Now why would I do that?"

"See! I told you, Urameshi. He don't know nothing about making people happy. What's the matter, Hiei? Scared you'll fail in hooking those two up?" Kuwabara responded with a taunt of his own. "I mean, Kurama's a really nice person and so is Keiko. They've both seemed so depressed these last few weeks. I bet they would be good for each other."

Hiei was on the verge of graciously (read vehemently) declining, when Genkai and Yukina chose that moment to return from their healing visit. Yukina, having overheard the fact that one of her closest friends was sad, instantly smiled. "Oh, Hiei-san, would you really help make Keiko happy again? I do hate it when my friends are sad."

There was nowhere to hide. On one side, Yusuke and the idiot were grinning at the supposed brilliance of their plan, (obviously, Yusuke had to have come up with the idea.. Kuwabara couldn't be capable of complex thinking, right? Alcohol makes humans stupider, not smarter, right?) On the other side, Genkai's eyebrows were quirked up in that damned, amused expression and Yukina... 'Oh, damn. I owe her my cooperation... But.. damn!'

Yusuke took a step forward. "Well, Hiei, What do you say?" They're closing in... Must... restrain... hand ... from kata... na...

Before Hiei's control could break completely (and remove both the idiot and the detective's heads in one swipe) Yukina was standing beside him, her small hand resting lightly on his forearm. His head whipped in her direction, his eyes widening.

"Oh dear... So, you and Kurama-san really are a couple?" she said, her eyes equally widened.

His anger instantly quelled and he heaved a deep sigh of frustrated regret. "No, Yukina-san. Kurama and I are only friends, nothing more." Once he'd reassured his beloved sister of his sexual preferences, Hiei turned a red eyed glare at the two smirking teens. "Alright, I'll do it." He finally conceded through gritted teeth.

"Then you can start tomorrow," Yusuke said. "Think of it as a mission..." And the Spirit Detectives picked up trash, mulling over their respective thoughts.

'Shit, I never should have left my tree.'

'So they spent the entire time plotting, and just now decide to start cleaning my lawn, hm? What chores are best for punishment....?'

'Kazuma-san didn't mean it, I'm sure... He just wasn't himself.'

'Yukina-san is staring. oh! Must not look! Wait, did I really do what I think I just did....'

'Damn, and I was going to have fun using blackmail, too... '~*~

TBC...