Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Intangible ❯ My Best Friend's Birthday ( Chapter 6 )

.Six.

The following week was…interesting. Of course, possessing an iron stomach, I was able to overcome the food poisoning quickly but it was during that week where everything in Kurama's plan fell into place as you could say.

I woke up one morning to the phone ringing. I am most definitely not what one would call a morning person so I turned in my bed and ignored it entirely. After a few more rings it stopped and I relished in the silence only to be interrupted once again. Cursing, I grabbed it and forced myself to take a deep breath before speaking. After all, I didn't want the person to be intimidated by my fierce rage. Right.

"Hello," I nearly growled out.

"Urameshi!" exclaimed a familiar voice.

I groaned. "What is it now, Kuwabara?" I asked in exasperation. There was no point in scolding him; it didn't faze him at all anymore.

"You have to come over this afternoon! We're holding a party!" he went on cheerfully.

I arched an eyebrow. Ding! A little bell went off in my head. Kuwabara's birthday. "For what?" I inquired dumbly.

There was no reply for a moment and I had to stuff my hand into my mouth to keep from laughing. Kuwabara is easy to fool and you would think that since I've known him for so long, I would be used to it, but the fact is as time goes on, I still find myself bawling in laughter.

"Well…umm…it's…" he stuttered out finally.

I shook my head. Okay, maybe I was being a little harsh. It is his birthday after all. Sighing, I grinned. "Don't stress yourself, dimwit. I know it's your birthday. I was just messing around. So when's this party?" I said, astonishing myself with my relent in fun making. I really did grow soft in the past few years.

"What? Damn you, Urameshi!" cursed Kuwabara before I heard shifting on his end. His voice became muffled and I arched my eyebrow in question.

"Yusuke," stated a new voice.

I blinked. "Shizuru?" I asked. Hmm…most likely she thought Kuwabara unable to complete the simple task of telling me when the party started and decided to take over. I snickered. My mind was evil, yes.

"The party starts at eight and please, try not to torment him. You know how he gets easily riled up," she explained calmly. I heard Kuwabara's cry of outrage in the background and grinned.

"Sure thing. Thanks, Shizuru. Will do," I replied before hanging up.

Sometimes I had to wonder how Shizuru and Kuwabara were even related. She probably inherited all the brains, which left poor Kuwabara with none. I laughed. Even when he wasn't here in front of me, my mind found ways of making fun of him.

I quickly rose out of bed and stretched thoroughly before heading to the bathroom to clean up. The house was quiet. Oh yeah. Mom said she would head out on a little excursion to some casinos out of town. She probably wouldn't be back until next week. I shook my head. She really did have some weird hobbies.

"Yusuke."

As soon as I entered the kitchen, I froze. Okay, blink once and look again. I did so and found myself with the same image presented before me. That is, Kurama sitting at the table drinking tea from a small cup. He looked very much quaint in that spot and I found myself staring at him dumbfoundedly. Kurama. My kitchen. What the fuck?

"Morning," I greeted in a surprisingly calm tone, one that almost bordered polite. Now I knew I was dreaming.

Kurama smiled at me. "Sorry to intrude. I came to visit. Your mother let me in and offered to wake you up but I decided to wait instead. It was kind of her to let me stay here," he explained.

Ah, my mother. Of course. And here I go thinking Kurama pulled a Youko and snuck into my house. My imagination was crazy this morning.

"Of course she would let you stay. She likes you. Out of all my friends, she considers you the most stable one-besides Keiko, obviously," I replied.

Kurama smiled. "Is that so? I pray you haven't mentioned anything about my earlier days," he commented humorously.

I grinned. "No, no, of course not. I want her to think that I have some normal friends you know. Hiei came over once. Imagine her response," I said, laughing fondly at the memory.

Hiei had only come over to ask me where Kuwabara was. The reason was naturally because of Yukina. He was and still is deathly overprotective of her. But that day, it was mom who opened the door. Hiei was his normal self-calm, curt, and cold. She was astonished by his lack of politeness when he just asked bluntly, "Is Yusuke here?" She was annoyed by his attitude but called me over nonetheless. Later on that day, she asked me what kind of friends I was making. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw her irritated expression and that only fueled her more. She smacked me in the head and told me she never wanted to see Hiei here again. She then went into a rant about how all my friends were either delinquents or mentally unstable.

Then I introduced her to Kurama.

She fell in love with him and her faith in me was restored. End of story.

"So what's the occasion, mon amie?" I asked, wonderingly slightly on where the French came from.

Kurama eyed me. "Kuwabara's party is today," he answered shortly.

I arched an eyebrow. "Yeeees…don't tell me you need help in finding him a gift," I replied, staring at him in shock.

He laughed. "No, I already have something for him," he said.

I frowned. Okay, normally Kurama was a pretty straightforward guy. Why was he dancing around the bushes now? I thought a little harder. Party = People = Hiei. Aah… "Nervous about being around Hiei?" I queried.

Kurama smiled faintly. "Not that, Yusuke. It's just that this will be the first time we'll be in front of people with our…newfound relationship," he replied.

I smiled wickedly. "You're…you're ashamed of me?" I struggled out, forcing a pained tone.

"Yusuke," warned Kurama, narrowing his eyes slightly.

I laughed inwardly. He really was tense about this. Well, go figure. Kurama was more of a introvert than me. "Don't worry! When you're with me, nothing will go wrong. We'll fool everyone there and Hiei will realize his foolishness for being so slow to get to you," I said soothingly. Somehow, the thought of this plan working made me hurt inside but I merely shook it off.

"Hopefully," replied Kurama, though I could see a strange glimmer in his eyes.

I sighed and grinned brightly. "So what'd you get for old knucklehead?" I asked eagerly. Time for a more uplifting conversation, my mind was telling me.

Kurama smiled back. I think somehow he was grateful for the change in topics as well. "A new video game. I know he loves them," he answered.

I tilted my head to the side. "Hmm…good gift. He's a sucker for games. I got him a new watch since his old one is always failing," I replied. Yeah, that same old watch which caused him to call me at five in the morning, go into an emotional depression, and eat poisoned tuna fish. I hate that watch.

"A watch? Yes, I do recall Kuwabara mentioning something about a broken watch," wondered Kurama aloud.

I glared at him. "It's not broken. He just doesn't know what type of batteries it needs," I remarked coldly. The memory of that watch was making me boil over.

Kurama looked at me in surprise. "Are you all right, Yusuke?" he asked with some alarm.

I shook my head and forced myself to think of anything but the watch. Stupid watch. "Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I have a weird head," I said quickly, standing up. "Let's head out for a bit. I have to get something else to finish up my gift."

I think Kurama was surprised by my generosity. Well hey, Kuwabara may be a goofball but he is one of my closest friends and he's stuck around me for who knows how long and never complained about it too much. So in my book, he deserves something big. Besides, what was the point of giving a gift that would replace something that I hated? It was more like a gift to myself. I had to get something else Kuwabara would appreciate.

"You're inviting me to shop, Yusuke?" asked Kurama tentatively. But I could see straight through his tone.

"Yes, oh red-headed one! Do you have a problem with that?" I shot back, pointing a finger at him.

If Kurama was in any way surprised by my usage of words, he didn't show it. He merely shrugged. "I suppose it can't be helped," he said.

He walked up to the door and waited for me patiently. I smiled amusedly and quickly put on my sneakers before heading out the door energetically.

"Onward, comrade! We have an important mission that must be fulfilled by eight this evening!" I declared heroically.

Kurama smiled and shook his head but humored me with his reply. "Yes, Sir Yusuke," he said.

I grinned and clutched onto Kurama's arm firmly, stopping him in his tracks. He looked at me strangely. I winked at him. "We're going too slow," was all I said before breaking into a mad dash.

I think by now Kurama was used to my fast-paced ways because he didn't say anything at all and just followed easily. We sprinted across the streets and the people didn't notice at all thanks to our oh-so remarkable speed. I smiled to myself once we approached the stores. Then I slowed down considerably.

"Here, my fair comrade," I said before entering a store.

"Pardon the break from the chivalric attitude, but why are we in a book store? I got the impression that Kuwabara detested them," remarked Kurama curiously.

I looked at him hard in the eye. "Why, Kurama! Of all people! I thought you would love the chance to promote good reading!" I exclaimed in feigned shock.

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Depends on what type of reading it is," he replied smartly.

I snickered and started heading to the mystery section of the store, taking in Kurama's mildly suspicious look. True, Kuwabara was anti-reading but for some inexplicable reason he recently got hooked onto mystery novels. It managed to confuse me thoroughly. I mean, did the guy like reading mysteries because the main characters were usually the strong, deductive type-the complete opposite of him? Maybe he admired them-I really had no clue.

"Hmm…A Thousand Words, sounds intriguing no?" I remarked, picking up a thick book of about four hundred pages.

Kurama smiled. "Kuwabara likes mysteries now?" he asked.

I nodded and started looking at some of the other books. The cover on A Thousand Words was just too boring for my liking.

"Why not just take him to the Makai? He can find a real mystery there without any difficulty," quipped Kurama.

I glanced up at him. "You really think Koenma would open a portal just for us?" I inquired.

Kurama gave a slight smile. "With the right persuasion," he answered slyly.

I hated it when Kurama gave me that look-like he knew something I didn't. Arrg. Damn kitsune. "Nah…I don't think Kuwabara can handle it. We'd be better off handing him a book. He can cause less trouble that way," I said, finally settling on a hardcover book that read, Midnight's Doom. I sneered at the title. The summary may have been good but I didn't know what the hell was up with the name. The writer must have gotten lazy or probably rang out of creativity for the title since the book itself was comprised of five hundred pages.

This should give Kuwabara good reading for a month.

"You seem to be doubting Kuwabara's skills," remarked Kurama as we headed up to the cash register.

I shot him an exasperated look. "I'm not. I just know what he can and cannot take. Trust me; I've known him for a while," I replied lightly.

"You do seem rather protective of him," suggested Kurama.

Protective? Yeah, I guess I was. But when you have a friend like Kuwabara, it's hard not to be. He's so damn gullible and can be as stubborn as me-a very scary and dangerous combination. Someone has to make sure he doesn't end up getting killed. Shizuru tries to beat these lessons into him but they don't seem to work. I have to sympathize with her for that.

"He's just one of those people," I said offhandedly, while winking at the cashier girl who was packing up my book. She blushed and I complimented myself on my charm. Heh. It was nice to see that I was still able to woo a girl.

I looked at Kurama and saw him staring at me intently. I cocked my head to the side wonderingly.

"¿Qué?" I asked. Hmm, Spanish now…

He blinked and then gave me a slow smile. "Nothing. It's just that…you really haven't changed too much in these past years have you?" he said.

I narrowed my eyes and punched him hard in the shoulder. "Excuse me? I have changed. I'm taller for one thing and a hell of a lot stronger," I pointed out, though I knew what Kurama meant with his words. I just liked to humor him.

And sure enough-"Yusuke," came the calm tone.

I chuckled. "Okay, okay, all joking aside, I really have changed! They're just so subtle you couldn't tell!" I exclaimed.

Kurama looked at me patiently and that only made me glare at him heatedly. Why was this guy so hard to shake? He's even worse than Hiei. At least with him I knew all I had to do was make a poke at him and Yukina and he would blow instantly. With Kurama…he was just difficult. He really had to loosen up more. And I had to wonder if being with Hiei would really do that.

Obviously, the answer to that was a definite no.

"Well, I'm quieter for one thing and not as irrational. Does that help?" I said, giving Kurama that "Are-You-Satisfied-Now?" look.

Kurama rewarded me with that happy look of his. You know, that little shiny gleam he gets in his eyes even though his expression may say otherwise. Since he didn't often express much emotion, you eventually learn to read his eyes. However, even sometimes I can be fooled by what he says. What an enigma.

"And why are we talking about me? It's always about me. I'm getting bored. I already know everything about myself. How about you, eh Kurama?" I said quickly, shooting him an innocent look.

"And what about me?" he shot back, smirking slightly.

I scrunched up my nose and titled my head back to look at the sky. I could feel Kurama's questioning gaze and I merely held up a hand to stop any inquiries he might make. And then I felt it.

"AH-CHOO!"

I think my sneeze was enough to wake up hibernating bears. Everyone around us looked at me disdainfully and I just grinned helplessly back at them. Kurama was shaking his head.

"Hey, when I need to sneeze, I need to look at the sky. It's the only way to get it out and boy did that feel good!" I exclaimed happily.

I don't sneeze often-maybe once a few months, so this was a very happy occurrence for me. Ah, the curse of good health and not to mention a demonic heritage. It made me wonder if I could still catch a cold. I sure as hell never saw Hiei or Kurama sick that's for sure. Well, I did have food poisoning…but that was food poisoning. Even a youkai can't fight that.

"You certainly have a way with attracting attention," remarked Kurama.

"Are you complaining?" I inquired sharply.

Kurama shook his head, carefully hiding a smile-that, I can also read just by the way he covers his mouth with his hand. "No, of course not, Sir Yusuke. So is our mission complete?" he retorted.

"Why, it most certainly is," I replied charmingly as I took his hand and pulled it out before him. "Onward to the fast food joints-err-eating quarters!"

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TBC

Ah, dear me. I did say the party would actually take place in this chapter didn't I? Well, I guess now it's safe to say that will be postponed until the next part. ^^;; So sorry! I got a bit carried away with this part. And look! And update within two months! Aren't you proud? Heh. Well, I promise the next part will be up sooner. It seems I got my juices flowing again. Yeah!