Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Kitsune ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The party was well underway by the time we got
there. Yusuke shook out the bags I brought along over
their kitchen counter scattering boxes, foil packaging
and pouches of assorted junkfood. He let Keiko handle
the serving. I was shaking my head when I realized
that Yusuke's idea of food is Pepperoni pizzas.

Then again, he does get noodles and rice everyday...

The condo is spacious. They have a living room with
couches and 2 bedrooms, a view of the city from a
veranda and a kitchen/dining room opposite the living
room, a mini bar stood off to one side of the living
room near the veranda. The style is semi studio, only
the bedrooms and the bathroom are hidden. This place
costs a lot of money, I see what Yusuke meant when he
said his mom is well taken cared of.

A while ago Hiei got pissed. He was angry enough to
want to hurt someone but Yusuke did a fine job of
getting him to calm down. A couple of Yakuza men was
in the same elevator with us, I should have warned
Hiei but whispering behind their backs where they
could clearly see us in the reflective elevator would
be rude.

So I made a point of excusing myself when our floor
came up. Unfortunately Hiei was too pre-occupied to
notice, he brushed pass them and even slapped away the
hand that tried to stopped him. And if that's not
enough, well you know our Hiei, he didn't hide the
fact that he wants to kill the man.

Yusuke saved us by popping in, acting drunker than he
really was and apologizing for Hiei slip of decorum. I
could see in Hiei's eyes a spark of admiration for our
half human friend. And my own admiration for him went
up another notch, he's going to make a fine king
someday.

When we got into the apartment we were greeted warmly
by Keiko. I congratulated her and gave her the
presents I bought earlier when I was shopping with
Hiei. It was wrapped so she can open it later it's 2
sets of baby clothes one in red the other in pink and
a gift check for more at the baby store we got the
clothes from. I wrote: from Kuarama and Hiei on the
card... sounds like a couple ne? Well, I have a
feeling that by the end of this night that's what
everybody's going to think.

"Hiei!" Kuwabara thumped him on the back and my Hiei
snarled up at him "Your as puny as ever!" he remarked
as he pulled him away from me. I grinned at him as he
tried shrugging Kuwabara's hands off his shoulders, he
was being steered towards the bar.

"And your the same moron I had to put up with. It's a
miracle your still alive but if you keep this up I'll
make sure your luck ends." Kuwabara just laughed and
gave him a beer.

"Hey, drink with me man, I'm a lucky bastard."

Nervously I counted his beers. I don't know how he'll
react to the alcohol, in my expirience, Firedemons go
ballistic when they're drunk. They go on a burning
spree, leaving blackened earth for miles around
depending on how many and how good their brew was. I
have no idea how much alcohol Hiei can take before he
goes volatile.

"Yusuke," I said as I recieved a slice of pizza from
him and a cool can of imported beer "Don't give any of
the hard stuff to Hiei okay? I don't think I have to
warn you about fire demons and alcohol."

"Really? Awwww, I was planning to get him really
drunk, he's so uptight." he shrugged then tossed back
his beer.

"Yusuke." I warned.

"Ah well, how many beers can he take?" We watched as
Hiei sniffed the mouth of the beer bottle then took a
tentative sip. His brows went up in surprise then he
took a deeper drink.

"I have no idea. He seems to like beer though. Let's
limit him to two for now, I think that's safe."

"Better warn Kuwabara then." He said "Oh hey, you
want a mixer? We've got rhum, whisky, vodka, gin,
tequila, lots of the creamy stuff, Baja Rosa, Baja
Luna, Irish cream, kahlua hey Kuwabara we have
amaretto right?"

"Yah we have that. Bombay Blue Sapphire what the heck
si that? Better find out hee hee..." Kuwabara replied
peering over the mini bar counter at the bottles
against the wall.

"Maybe later Yusuke, don't worry about me."

"Mom keeps a well stocked bar for herself and her
friends." he said with a shrug but I can tell he's a
bit concerned "Works for me. You need anything tell me
k? Or better still," he touched my shoulder and
grinned at me " just help yourself, your not a guest
here, your a friend, k?." He slapped my shoulder and
it didn't hurt as much as the punch he gave me, I was
able to smile back.

"Thanks Yusuke I will." He went off towards the
kitchen counter just as Botan hooked her arm into mine
and pulled me into a seat with her, Shizuru, Keiko and
Koenma.

"Oh Kurama-san, tell us, how are things with you?
What's with this trip I heared you were taking?" Keiko
asked as she deposited the bowl of chips on the low
coffee table.

I answered truthfully keeping an eye on Hiei, Yusuke
and Kuwabara. Hiei was smelling the slice of pizza he
was given and tentatively he took a small bite. He
looks so... adorable, he was blushing slightly at the
compliments he was recieving on his clothes. Kuwabara
had taken his coat to put away, Hiei offered scathing
remarks about it and thanked Yusuke for the food. I
couldn't help but smile as I pried my eyes away from
him and tried to pay attention to the questions being
thrown at me.

"Ahhhh, looks like Kurama is distracted by
someone..." Botan said with a smile and a wink at
Shizuru.

I weighed my options and decided to respect Hiei's
would be opinion of the matter. "Really? Who?" I asked
innocently.

"Aw c'mon Kurama!" She said pressing closer Keiko
drank her juice but I could see a faint blush on her
cheeks as she understood what Botan ment, Suzi was
smiling warmly swirling her... (sniff) Baja Rosa. Her
snuffed-out cigarette on the ash tray had a faint
trace of lipstick on it, it was still long so I think
she killed it for Keiko's sake.

"Botan, Kurama's affairs are his own, it's been years
since they last saw each other and they are pretty
close as friends." Koenma butted in. I was going to
bless Koenma... but then he asked, "Are you taking
that trip with Hiei? " he bent close to me with a
hentai look in his eyes.

"He insisted on coming I had to delay my flight to
accomodate him. He needed a passport, some legal
documents, tickets...." I sipped my drink and fished
another slice of pizza from the box in front of us.
Beer, Pizza and chips, this is very healthy...

Koenma is in his grown-up form, he took his pacifier
off as Keiko approached with a bowl of chips and dips.
He stuck the key to the dimensions between his fingers
like a cigarette white he munched on a Dorito. "You
know what we should do? We should play a game." I said
batting for a change of topics.

I always found Koenma handsome but he does not hold
the same attraction to me as Hiei does. Across the
living room he's drinking his beer staright from the
bottle in deep thirsty gulps.

"Great idea Kurama." Bless you Yusuke! "Hey Hiei,
slow down that's not water and your only getting 2 so
pace it." he said pulling the beer bottle from him.

"Two? Why?" he asked petulant as he grabbed his
bottle back.

"Uhh," Yusuke scratched the back of his head thinking
of what to say to the fire demon who was short enough
to look up at him and yet dangerous enough to be wary
of "Because." he said and didn't elaborate. He
chewed on his pizza looking at the stucco ceiling of
their condominium. "Nice light fixture, you know I
never really noticed that before...?"

"Kurama." Hiei turned an irate glare at me. I
swallowed hard, way to go Yusuke, but I have to give
him points for loyalty, he didn't look to me for help
just tried doing what I did but with a lamer topic.

"Yes?" I asked innocently.

"Why?" he asked simply the booze blush creeping up on
his ears his arms crossed.

"I take it you liked the taste of beer?"

"Don't change the subject fox, you said something
about that in the elevator." he said.

I smiled up at him "I'm sorry Hiei, I haven't seen
you drunk and we don't know how it will affect you.
Alcohol makes Ningens crazy and some demons are
poisoned by it."

"Hn."

He moved back to the kitchen counter and the pizza
without another word. Kuwabara who was now holding a
brandy glass of some crystal clear liquor on the
rocks, looked at me and then at Hiei and then back at
me. "I think I missed something somewhere." he said
and I realized everybody was watching what just
happened between us.

Botan forgot her jaw was still hanging, Koenma was
chewing thoughtfully on a Pringle a twinkle in his
eye, Keiko was hovering by a corner with more drinks
along with Yukina who had a bowl of mixed nuts, and
Shizuru is smiling indulgently slowly nibbling her
potato chip. An uncomfortable silence was hanging in
the air... Yusuke broke it by crashing besides me and
jabbing me with an elbow between the ribs. "You sly
little demon." he murmured.

I rubbed my sore ribs and feigned annoyance "I am a
demon but I'm not little and I have no idea what
you're implying with that remark."

"Huh?" Kuwabara looked at Yusuke and then it seems a
light bulb went on in his head because his mouth
formed an "Oh." of understanding.

I stared him down before he could say anything, that
dreaded twinkle was in his eyes. I'm not going to hear
the end of his teasing. And Hiei in the state he's
in...

Yusuke saved me again by asking "What was that game
you were suggesting again?"

Koenma was going to say something equally
compromising but I glared him down. "Now, now
Kurama," he said smiling holding his hands out in
defense "No need to get angry, I was just going to
suggest a game of Bluff." he said gracefully changing
tact, he reached into the pocket of his pants and
brought out a deck of cards. Bet that's a special deck
of cards and he brought that along with the intention
of asking us to play it. He wore the same clothes he
had on during the final competition that settled who
will rule the Makai. I guess thats his uniform.

I saw Hiei following the flow of the half spoken
conversation. He must know what it was about. He
nibbled on his second slice of pizza, observing and
saying nothing.

"This deck of cards is psychic proof," he began as he
took the deck out, I thought so, "No one will be able
to see what's on the card unless you turn it over."
The back of the cards were black but otherwise it
looked like any ordinary deck of cards. "Hiei?" he
called " Could you check something for me please?"

Hiei sauntered over curious popping the last bit of
his pizza into his mouth.

"Can you tell us what the top card is without turning
it over?" he asked.

Hiei frowned then he pulled his ward a little away
from his forehead we didn't see his eye there, just a
soft red glow "There's 5 red hearts on it." he said,
covering his eye again.

"No, without the Jagan." Koenma said shuffling the
deck.

"I couldn't see it, that's why I looked at it."

"I caught one of my research teams playing cards with
these. I confiscated it of course, they shouldn't be
playing cards while they're working. I thought we
might find it useful here so I brought it along."
Koenma said as he looked up at Kuwabara "Touch the
card see if you can tell what the top card is."

Kuwabara knelt down besides the coffee table and
placed his hand over the deck "Uh... nothing am I
suppose to see something?"

"Kuwabara? How come Koenma knows more about what you
can do than you do?" Yusuke remarked.

"Shut up Yusuke." he retorted. I heard Hiei snort in
amusement I hid a smile behind my can of beer taking a
gulp, watching Kuwabara frown at the deck of cards
concentrating.

Botan snickered "It's Koenma's job Yusuke, to know
what his men can and can't do."

"Still that's pretty dumb." he said.

"Oh yeah? I want to see you try it Mr. I-know-what-I
can-do-and-you-don't,"

"Guys." Keiko said with a long suffering smile, as
the two 'boys' were at it again.

"I would but that's not my field, your Mr. Sensitive
remember?" Yusuke said.

The banter would have gone on if Koenma hadn't butted
in to explain the rules of the game he was proposing.
Hiei took a seat in front of me in the other sofa on
my right was Botan and on my left was Yusuke. I stole
a look at my Hiei, he was lounging casually his legs
crossed, his bottle of beer sweating on his knee, he
looked at me and shrugged, just a fractional lifting
of his shoulders. He was saying he will humor this
game. I wish he was besides me and not 5 feet away, I
wish his leg was at least against mine, he's looking
at me and it feels like a caress I want to lean into,
I lowered my eyes.

I could still feel his eyes on me as I listened to
Koenma's game rules, what was he saying without words?
We are dancing the mincing steps of courtship, I know
this but he doesn't, I'm leading him, and he's taken
to the dance with ease.

"So basically we are going to lie to each other to
win." Yusuke said, and I berated myself for the
distraction. This is dangerous, all my guards are
down, I managed to miss the rules because I was too
busy thinking of Hiei. What if... gods.

No, I'm sure Yusuke would know if something bad is
approaching, and he's no pushover either, I'm safe,
we're safe.

"...and to make things more intersting the loser has
to drink a shot." Koenma added. Oh no, a drinking
game. "Who's playing?"

"Wait, you deal out the cards, Deuces are wild, we
lay down the cards face down and say what it is or
what it is not and the next guy either says truth or
bluff," bless Kuwabara and his need for clarification,
he just saved me. "we can add or call it, if like the
other guy says bluff and it is a bluff he gets his
cards back and a shot, if he says it's a bluff and it
isn't other guy gets the card and the shot."
"Exactly." Koenma began shuffling the cards with
expert ease, the key was back between his lips. "Whose
playing?"

"Me. Yusuke sat on the floor close to the coffee
table in front of me. Koenma sat at the head of the
table next to Yusuke, I slipped in between them and
Kuwabara shrugged as he sat besides Koenma.

"Move over a little Kuwabara." Botan said as she
squeezed between him and Koenma, Yusuke moved and we
were all surprised when Hiei quietly sat beween
Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Might as well." Shizuru said as she sat between
Kuwabara and Hiei. I'm positive she did that to keep
those two from killing each other.

Yusuke gave his Keiko a look asking if she wants to
join but she said "I'm sitting this one out," Yukina
who's been sitting quietly on the setee said softly
"Well, Kei-chan will need company."

"Thanks Yukina, Kei?" Yusuke said "There's a bottle
of Stoli in the bar and shot glasses please?" She went
to fetch them. The cards were all laid out when the
drink arrived. The drink is Russian Vodka at 45%/vol
alcohol, damn, I looked at Hiei who picked up his
cards. It's cool inside the condominium, but I began
to sweat nervously.

What the hell was Yusuke thinking? If you pour
Stolichnaya in a saucer and light it, it will burn.
And Hiei wasn't even besides me so I can make sure
he'll win.

Yusuke opened his cards with a smug look and gave me
a wink. I picked up my cards, thinking this going to
be a very interesting night.