Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Gates ❯ Belated Birthday ( Chapter 16 )

CHAP 15

A month of training passed, and the four members of the Urameshi Team were adapting well to the use of the Water Element. In fact, they had raised themselves to a fair degree of proficiency in so short a time, that they had been forced to move to a different location for fear of doing serious damage to the stream and it's inhabitants.

Karyuu had located a small lake not more than a two miles from where the Temple lay, that had been isolated from other bodies of water for so long that the only life under the surface was of the plant variety. Thankfully, there was an on-going current that flowed through the lake that kept it from stagnating, and thus, there was no smell or sludge growing over the surface, a factor that the four young men appreciated thoroughly.

And so, after securing the area with Protection Wards as she did all training grounds, Karyuu and the four team-mates began to use this new body of water to begin the more fantastic, large-scale aspects of their training. They formed massive tidal waves that transformed into ice-sculptures (an accidental discovery Kuwabara made while experimenting with mixing his talents with Kakai, the Fire Element to leach out the warmth from the water he was planning to douse an unsuspecting Yusuke with). They formed whirlpools that could have swallowed a building and monsters made only of water that did battle over the surface of the lake only to melt into it once again when Karyuu caught them.

The only real drawback was that due to the increased distance between their training ground and the Temple they were living in, Karyuu had taken to waking them up an extra hour before dawn... a development that Yusuke had been predictably less than pleased with.
But in answer to the brown-eyed Spirit Detective's complaints, the elfin woman had simply said that if he could make it there in time, she'd let him sleep...
She could make the trip in less than thirty seconds...
Hiei could make it in half an hour running as fast as his legs could carry him, exhausted by the time he reached his goal, and so, unable to train for an hour or so while he regained his strength...
Yusuke could make it in approximately an hour's time... and then promptly fell over, legs closely resembling tubes of immobile jelly, rather than a pair of legs.
Kurama and Kuwabara had wisely chosen to just get up early.

And so, due to the less than optimal results, everyone, had to be ready two-hours early.
Pouting and swearing commenced, but eventually even Yusuke had relented and agreed on the new arrangement (on the condition that Karyuu had some form of food other than cold milk and Corn-Pops waiting for him when he dragged his butt out of bed).
And so, on one such day, the Urameshi Team gathered once again at the table, munching on the warm muffins Karyuu had baked for them before disappearing to watch the dawn as she did every morning. They sat there waiting for their friend to return before setting off on the long hike to arrive at the training ground, relatively silent and very sleepy.
Absently, Yusuke glanced at his watch, chewing on a bite of the muffin in his hand.
The little breakfast cake had little blue things in it today, that the opal-eyed Servant had called 'blue-berries', which were definitely higher on his list than the 'bran-muffins' she had prepared the day before.
'4:25... Yeesh... I wonder if we're gonna' have to wake up this early for training with the other Stones...'
"The Servant is late," Hiei said, sipping at his tea.
"Only by a couple of minutes," Yusuke said absently around his mouthful of muffin. "I wonder what she's doing..."
They all knew where she was, of course.
As she had told them in the beginning, their training with the Stones would heighten their other abilities as well, and their awareness of Spirit Energy, (especially those of their little group). In the last few weeks, that ability was boosted significantly, and they could locate one another with an increasing degree of accuracy (as long as they weren't suppressing their energy, of course).
What was puzzling was the fact that their team-mate was currently in her room, and not on the western wall as they would have expected her to be, and so, she was not taking an extended amount of time watching the rising of the sun...
"You don't thinks she's tryn' to sleep in, do ya'?" Kuwabara asked suspiciously.
"I doubt it," Kurama murmured. "Rising with the sun appears to be a more natural habit for Karyuu than it is for us..."
"Yah, I guess so, but what's she doin' in her room? Shouldn't we get going soon?"
"Yah, I could'a spent the extra time in bed..." their leader grumbled.
"As you said before, she's only a few minutes late, Yusuke... Hardly a significant loss."
"The more asleep I am this early, the better," the Spirit Detective replied with a yawn. "Every bit counts... so if she's in there sleeping, I'm gonna' kill her."
"Hn. And how would you propose to do that?" Hiei asked with an amused smile. "Use your incessant complaining to bore her to death?"
Brown eyes narrowed in the fire-demon's direction.
"Shaddup, Hiei."
"Hn."
Then, almost on cue, the Servant in question came into the kitchen, sliding open the rice-paper door with one socked foot before closing it behind her, arms full of small to medium sized packages, which she handed out to her confused team-mates sitting around the table.
They hesitantly accepted them and she sat down, pouring herself a cup of tea, but when they didn't open them she looked around at them and nodded at the packages they held, smiling a little.
"Well, go ahead and open them," she said waving a hand at them.
Yusuke and Kuwabara shared a look and tore open their packages to reveal the contents, which surprised them, to say the least.
Instead of something for their training, they found their packs containing gifts…

A rare, first addition Dragon Ball Z comic for Kuwabara (still in it's original packaging cover).

A pair of dark shades for Yusuke made of cobalt blue-steel with bullet-proof lenses (presumably in the hopes that they would stand up against the Spirit Detective's violent life-style).

Surprised, they held up their gifts, thrilled by them, but clearly confused.
"Wow, Karyuu..." Kuwabara said in an awed tone as he gingerly held the comic in his broad hands like a holy relic. "This is... wow, I mean... Thanks, but what's it for? My birthday isn't till August..."
She laughed at that.
"No, no... It's my birthday today," she said with a smile. "It's an old Servant's custom to give presents to your friends and relatives on your birthday. Kind of a 'spread the joy around' thing..." she turned to look at Kurama and Hiei who hadn't open their presents yet. "Come on, guys... open yours."
The two demons hesitated and then opened their respective packages. Kurama had received a small white paper packet, which he careful began to open, pouring the contents into his open palm. There lay three bean-like seeds the size of his thumbnail, a deep blood-red with pale, orange-red stripes running along the length of it.
His emerald eyes widened slightly.
"Karyuu... these are very rare..." he said carefully picking one up to look at it, holding it before his eyes. "How did you come by them?"
She sipped her tea and smiled at him.
"I came across a field of them in the Demon Realm about a hundred and seventy years ago when they were in seed, so I collected a bunch and planted them in a few remote areas in this Realm."
"What are they, Kurama?" Yusuke asked, looking at the beans in his friends hand over the top of his new glasses. "Magic beans, or something?"
"Actually that isn't too far from the truth, Yusuke," Kurama said quietly, carefully replacing the precious seeds in the packet. "When planted, they produce a perfume that gives the wearer energy, alertness and as well as the benefit of a very pleasant scent. So valuable was this perfume, that the plant is almost extinct in the Demon Realm from over-harvesting..."
"Since you're so fond of roses, I thought you might enjoy them..." she smiled a little guilty and picked up a half of an un-eaten muffin and buttered it. "To be honest, it's kind of a double-deal... Gaia wants the species to survive too."
He smiled and slipped the packet into his pocket.
"Thank you, Karyuu. I'd be honored."
Before Karyuu prompted him, Hiei then opened his gift, his face expressionless.
He pulled the paper away to reveal Karyuu's hard cover copy of The Lord of the Rings. His eyes widened a little and he looked at her, genuinely surprised.
She shrugged.
"Call it a graduation present," she said within the depths of his mind.
He blinked and then nodded in understanding, a very slight smile on his face that was surprisingly pleased.
"Um... Karyuu?" Yusuke said as delicately as he was able, the others sharing a glance between them. "Hate to tell you this... but... Hiei... doesn't' know how to read... Kurama's been trying to teach him how forever... and that book's in English isn't it?"
Her opal eyes flickered to the ruby-eyed demon who smirked at her and watched as he opened to a random page and proceeded to read a small part aloud. For fun, he even translated the English he was reading into Japanese for the benefit of his team-mates with ease, as if he had been able to read for years. The three friends almost heard their jaws drop in amazement as their friend read from the book and then closed it, and slipped it into the fold of his cloak, a very distinct look of smugness on his stoic face. There was a moment of stunned silence in which his team-mates stared at him and then at Karyuu who was wearing her best innocent expression as she chewed on her blue-berry muffin, eyes demurely downcast.
"Hiei... when did you learn to read?" Kurama asked bemusedly.
The Jaganeshi just smirked and then stood, and disappeared outside without answering.
They stared after him in mute surprise and then laughed.
"Shrimpy's been keeping secrets from us!" Kuwabara said with another laugh.
"Yah, but it's not like he could've gone to night-school or something," Yusuke said as all eyes turned to Karyuu, who was the only one who seemed to know Hiei had learned to read.
She looked at them calmly, a silent 'What?' on her face.
When they continued to look at her expectantly she shrugged and took a sip of her tea.
"He came into the kitchen one day and I asked him to tell me how much onion I needed for the book. He couldn't read it and things went on from there," she said casually, inwardly just as amused as Hiei at their surprise, "Hiei can read now, and he can write fairly well too... in English at least... He sort of lost interest in any other languages after that..."
Kurama rubbed the back of his head and laughed.
"I've been trying to teach him to read for years," he said ruefully. "And you've managed to do it in only a few months. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. How in the world did you do it?"
She shrugged.
"I don't know, I taught him the ABC's... and then I started to read to him, following the words with my finger," she shrugged again and took a sip of her tea. "He picked it up really quickly."
The Kitsune stared at her for a moment and then shook his head.
"Then he's been able to read Japanese for..."
"Quite a while apparently."
Kurama groaned and put a hand to his head, and Yusuke chuckled, patting the red-haired demon on the shoulder as he tried to fight back the laughter that was tugging at the corner of his mouth without much success.
*****
After they had finished eating, they got to their feet and went outside, dropping off their presents in the safety of their rooms, they got ready for their day's training.
"Hey! I got it!" Kuwabara said, snapping his fingers suddenly. "Maybe Hiei's got a crush on you, Karyuu and that's why he leaned so fast..."
The elfin woman stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face him, ready to deny the ridiculous claim, a faint blush of embarrassment touching the bridge of her nose. But before she could open her mouth, the tall young man suddenly did an abrupt face-plant on the unyielding stone of the courtyard, the cause of which was immediately apparent.
"Geh off uh ee, Ee-eh!" Kuwabara roared, his voice muffled and distorted as his face pressed against the cobbled stone, held down by none other than the irritable Jaganeshi who was standing calmly between the orange-haired warrior's shoulder-blades, hands in his pockets, his sword at his waist.
His eyes met Karyuu for a moment as Kuwabara flailed beneath him and she nodded to the side, motioning for him to get off of the poor young man. He paused as if considering it and then complied, leaping lightly off, landing just out of reach of his team-mate's flailing arms as the human struggled to his feet.

"Damn it, Hiei!" Kuwabara roared. "What'd you do that for?"
"Morons shouldn't presume things about which they know nothing about," he said negligently.
The orange-haired young man moved to reach out and grab the glaring fire-demon by the front of his cloak, apparently with the intention of throttling him to death. Karyuu deftly appeared between them even before Hiei had a chance to blink out of the taller man's reach, and effectively thwarted the imminent fight.
"Come on, guys, that's enough," she said with a disarming smile. "We've got work to do, remember?"
Kuwabara gave Hiei one last glare and then folded his arms over his chest and looked away as if the demon wasn't worth his time, a gesture that made the Jaganeshi smirk disdainfully at him.
"Fine, whatever."
Satisfied, Karyuu lead the way to their training area for the day, making a mental note to keep Hiei and Kuwabara separated for the rest of the day if at all possible...

*****

The day came and went, (arguments kept to a reasonable level all the while), and after a hard day of training, the Urameshi Team returned to the Temple.
Karyuu was immediately met with a very happy, (and decidedly confused) Yukina and Keiko, who had discovered their gifts sitting on the ground just outside their respective doors; an elaborately embroidered ribbon bearing a beautiful snowflake pattern in silk for the demoness and an elegant little digital watch with a gold band and a luminescent face that would allow the concinnities young woman to keep track of time in any light...
Yusuke hadn't been very happy about this, knowing that Keiko's preoccupation with schedules and obeying the rules would be strengthened by the watch's presence... which meant that the strong-willed young woman would probably aim it at him given the chance.
And so, after the subsequent explanations and thank you's, everyone sat down to eat a nice meal, chatting amiably amongst themselves.
Karyuu sat in relative silence as she glanced over at Hiei, who had decided to stay out of whatever conversation they would have. He was leaning against a wall, not having touched his meal, ruby eyes shut as if ignoring his team-mates. He twitched now and then, hearing his name from the babbling group, though he never opened his eyes to investigate.
Karyuu smiled a little as she watched everyone laugh and enjoy themselves just by being around one another.
She was being overlooked, she knew, but it didn't matter.
She enjoyed being surrounded by these people, included or not, it was comforting to have them nearby.

*****

After everyone had eaten, Karyuu had left to take the first watch, leaving the others to relax in the Temple.
Yusuke sat sprawled on the couch beside Kuwabara, ideally watching a program on movie special effects, a slight smile on his lips at how fake some of those "magic" effects looked when compared to the real thing...
His attention was returned to the present, however as his tall friend sat up suddenly.
"Hey, guys?" The others paused in what they were doing and turned to look at him. "Anybody feel like we should be doing something, but we aren't?"
Yusuke opened his mouth to tease his friend, but paused as something occurred to him as he spotted the plastic case that belonged to the glasses Karyuu had given him...
Kurama seemed to be thinking along the same lines and set aside the novel he had been reading, sitting up straight in the arm-chair he had been sitting in.
"It's Karyuu's birthday today," the Kitsune murmured.
"Yah, that's it!" Kuwabara said with a nod. "I was kinda' feeling bad that we didn't do anything for her. We gotta' do somethin' for her birthday... like a surprise party!"
"That's an idea," Yusuke said with a grin. "It'd be kinda' crappy for us not to."
"We didn't know it was her birthday, Yusuke," Keiko reminded him. "She didn't tell us, so she won't be expecting a party or anything like that."
"Yah... but, she's part of the Team, you know? Seems kinda' nasty not to do something... a cake or whatever."
"Hn. Ningens and your little cultural formalities," Hiei scoffed from his place by the window. "What makes you think the Servant would even appreciate a party? She said it herself, Servants give presents to other people, not the other way around. One of your parties would just do the opposite of what she's used to."
"Yes, but she's been around Humans for a very long time, Hiei-san," Yukina protested in her quiet voice. "I know Karyuu-donno won't expect us to do something for her... but she would understand out intentions if we did."
The fire-demon didn't reply to her, but shifted just a little where he sat.
Understandably, birthdays... especially his own, were less than positive events for the fire-demon... after all, he had been abandoned the day he was born, cast into the jungles of the Makai, unwanted and forgotten...
They were so unpleasant, in fact, that when Kurama had asked him when it was, he had refused to tell his friend anything, simply saying that it didn't matter.
"Yukina's right," Yusuke said with a nod. "Karyuu's a friend, and she knows throwing parties for friends is just somethin' we do... even if she's not expecting it."
"Alright, so what do we do?" Keiko asked. "Do anyone even know how old she is?"
There was a moment of silence.
"No..." Kuwabara said slowly. "Guess that's gonna' make it kinda' hard to find a card..."
Kurama chuckled a little.
"I doubt anybody makes cards for anyone over the age of one-hundred, Kuwabara," Yusuke reminded his friend dryly.
"I agree," Kurama said with a smile. "And I'm quite certain Karyuu is at least two-hundred years old... very likely older, judging by her strength."
"Yah... and it's gonna' take us a bit to get anything for her... presents, cakes and stuff..." the tall man slumped a little, not able to help feeling a little rotten, since neither he nor the others really knew anything about the elfin woman they had spent the last few months training so closely with.
There was another pause before Yukina perked up.
"Who has the next watch?"
The four men glanced at one another and then Kuwabara shrugged.
"I do... I think..."
"Well... you could ask Karyuu-donno for help tomorrow..." the demoness said slowly. "Then we could... arrange a party while you distract her..."
The tall young man's face flushed slightly, inwardly wincing at the thought that even his beloved Yukina knew that had been going to Karyuu for extra help... So naturally, Kuwabara was less than pleased at having been assigned the role of 'The Dummy', as he put it, but with some quick convincing from both Keiko and Yukina, the tall young man's dislike of the situation eased.
Thankfully, Hiei had chosen to remain silent, though it was probably thanks to the warning glance Kurama aimed in his direction rather than a stroke of civility on his part.
But then Kuwabara perked up, and fixed her with a grin, puffing out his chest a little.
"Of course my dear Yukina!" He said stoutly. "I can pretend I need advice... anything to help!"
Hiei, in the interests of peace and quiet, allowed the fact that the orange-haired warrior probably was going to ask Karyuu for help anyway to pass, a slight quirk at the corner of his mouth betraying the teasing remarks he had available.
"Alright!" Keiko said in what Yusuke called her 'bossy-voice', clapping her hands together to collect everyone's attention, somehow managing to procure a pad of paper and a perfectly sharpened pencil out of thin air. "Let's make a plan!"

*****

Two hours later, the Urameshi Team had connected an elaborate, (and infinitely complicated) plan of action in which Karyuu would be kept far from the Temple, allowing them to put their plan into action.
Essentially it consisted of Kuwabara asking Karyuu for help in his training... even going so far as to make it appear that the orange-haired young man had forgotten everything she had been helping him with for the last few months in order to keep her sufficiently occupied. In the mean time, Kurama, Yusuke, and Keiko went into the city to buy supplies, leaving Yukina to deal with decorations and Hiei to remain conveniently out of sight.
"You'll have to keep an eye-out for Karyuu, in case she tries to peek," Keiko said firmly to the ruby-eyed demon who had remained silent throughout the course of the party's organization. "Is that alright?"
Hiei glanced at her and then nodded curtly, returning his attention to the safety of the world outside the window.
"Fine."
No matter how ridiculous he thought this endeavor was, he would never refuse a request from his sister, especially since she seemed so happy to be involved in this foolish little party...
"Well, it's settled then," Kurama murmured getting to his feet. "Tomorrow, we'll set our little conspiracy into action... And now, I think I'll retire. My watch is after Kuwabara's and I'll need rest."
Yusuke yawned widely, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Yah... I'd better get some sleep too," he muttered. "See you tomorrow..."
The others bid the two goodnight and soon nearly everyone had left, leaving only Yukina and Hiei in the Temple's living/game room.
Hiei sat tensely by the window, certain that Yukina intended to speak to him, and afraid of what she might ask...
Speaking to his sister was always a difficult thing for him to do, and whenever he was forced to do so he was always terrified of somehow slipping, and betraying himself for who he was and destroying his younger sister's chance at happiness.
"Hiei-san?"
The Jaganeshi barely surpressed a flinch and turned his head to look at her as impassively as possible.
"Yes?"
"Are you... angry with Karyuu-donno?" She asked tentatively.
He blinked once.
That was certainly not what he was expecting... It was a relief none the less, but still, a surprise, and rather confusing...
"No... Why would you think that?"
"Well..." the crimson-eyed demoness got slowly to her feet and came forward tentatively. "You seemed... annoyed with our plan to arrange a surprise party for Karyuu-donno... Is there something wrong?"
He shook his head and looked away.
"No... I just don't see the point of it," he said with a shrug. "That's all."
"Oh..."
Hiei had nothing against Karyuu, and the idea of throwing her a 'surprise-party', however pointless it seemed, was of little concern to him, and he supposed she would appreciate the thought behind her team-mate's actions.

"If you think the Servant will appreciate a party, then by all means, go ahead," he said quietly, almost too quietly for Yukina to hear. "I won't say a word."
She blinked at him and then smiled gently, satisfied that the reclusive demon was not in fact annoyed... He just didn't understand.
"Thank you, Hiei-san..."
"Hn. There's nothing to thank me for," he said absently.
She didn't answer him and simply left quietly, and only after the door closed did he finally relax, slumping a little with a sigh, leaning his forehead against the glass with a quiet `thump' as he stared sightlessly out at the shifting shadows of the courtyard without seeing them.
It was getting harder to remain near his sister...
She was shy and tentative by nature, but the more he allowed himself to be near her, the braver and more comfortable she was becoming with his presence, which was certainly not helpful if he wanted her to stay as far away from him as possible...
'Damn it...' he thought dully. 'Why couldn't I have died? Then there would be no risk of Yukina's innocence being shattered by my corrupt presence, and she could be happy...'

*****

The next morning, the 'Party-Plan' was set into motion, (Kuwabara having secured Karyuu's time for the majority of the day), and not ten minutes after the opal-eyed Servant had left, Kurama, Keiko and Yusuke had slipped away to catch a bus into town in order to fetch presents, food and decorations from the city.
Yukina busied herself with cleaning the Temple and making a few small treats out of various spices and sweet sugar from a recipe she used from time to time while she was on the Isle of Koormie. Hiei remained out of his sister's sight and 'kept an eye on' Karyuu and Kuwabara who were practicing a mile or so away in a dense patch of forest, dozing on and off in the mean time.

*****

Three hours later, Kurama, Yusuke and Keiko returned, baring bulging bags of party supplies, food and a few small, carefully considered gifts that they planned to give their elfin team-mate as a group, (since their limited budget left out the opportunity for individual gifts).
Immediately, they began their preparations; Keiko and Yukina in the kitchen, baking a cake, and preparing various other foods, ranging from pizza to sushi, (disorganized menu courtesy of Yusuke's empty stomach). Kurama and Yusuke took over decorating the living/game room with the brightly coloured streamers, balloons, and ridiculous little chibi cut-outs to add to the festivities.
Finally, just as the sun began to set, everything was ready, and Kuwabara, (now thoroughly exhausted), lead the unsuspecting Servant of Gaia back to the Temple. Making the situation more amusing was the fact that the orange-haired giant hunched down to place both of his hands over her eyes… (the truth of it was, one of his broad hands could have done the job, but steering the elfin woman around by the face seemed kind of dumb... funny, but dumb).
But Karyuu remained compliant, allowing the tall young man to lead her along through the courtyard, a bemused smile on her lips, though despite the fact that she was blind, she seemed perfectly aware of where she was at any moment, carefully stepping over the slight rises in the cobblestones before Kuwabara's rough voice warned her good-naturedly to watch her step...
"What's this all about, Kuwabara?" She asked finally, as he covered her face with the palm of one broad hand while he yanked open the sliding door before leading her in, where they both kicked off their shoes. "What are you guys up to?"
"Nothin' much," he said smugly, the thought that if she were so inclined, she could simply use her psychic abilities to check it out for herself not occurring to him.
"Hm..."
Karyuu continued to co-operate until her friend finally lead her to the short flight of stairs that lead down into the titanic living/game room in which the others had ultimately organized their little conspiracy.
"Can I open my eyes now?"
"Just a sec... Okay... Now!"
Karyuu blinked twice as Kuwabara finally released her eyes with a flourish, only to stare, dumbfounded at the bright decorations and food arranged in the section of the large room they used as the living room. Her opaline eyes widened a fraction as Yusuke, Kurama, Keiko and Yukina leapt up from their hiding-places behind the various pieces of furniture adorning the room, all grinning as they yelled in one voice, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"
The expression on Karyuu's face at that moment was strange. It was almost... innocent a strange sort of expression to find on the face of a Servant of Gaia.
"What in the world?" She murmured quietly as Kuwabara beamed down at her.
"It's a Surprise Party!" He said with a laugh, putting a hand on her shoulder, steering her down the short flight of stairs to the bottom, where the others gathered around the bemused woman. "We didn't know it was your birthday before, so we've set this one up for today!"
"A belated birthday, is better than none at all," Kurama said with a smile, hands in his pockets.
She blinked up at him and then laughed, shaking her head.
"Yes... it is..."
"Are you happy, Karyuu-donno?" Yukina asked, rose-coloured eyes inquisitive and a little shy.
Karyuu laughed.
"Yes... I'm very happy... just surprised is all..." She looked around at them. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble..."
"Sure we did!" Yusuke said with a grin. "You're our friend, and it is... er... was... your birthday... We'd have to be special kinds of jerks not to do something..."
"But..."
The Spirit Detective put a hand on her head, silencing her as opal eyes drifted upward to look at his hand resting atop her head, one fine eyebrow raised.
"Karyuu."
"Yes, oh impavid leader-person?"
Kurama chuckled quietly, seeming to be the only one who understood as the others glanced at one another.
"Huh?"
Not even a hint of patronization touched her expression as she contented to look up at her friend in good humor.
"Yes, Boss-man?"
"Shut-up. Be happy. Eat cake."
"Sure..." she murmured, smoothing her hair absently as Yusuke withdrew his hand, before resting his hands on his hips, beaming smugly. "I can do that, I suppose..."
"Good..." He paused, the smug expression on his face faltering slightly. "Hey Karyuu... how old are you anyway?"
She turned her head to look up at him for a moment and then laughed giving him a fond hug.
"I'm three-hundred and fifty-six, give or take a few years, Yusuke."
"Give or take?" Kuwabara asked with a slight frown. "Don't you know how old you are? Exactly I mean?"
Karyuu shrugged.
"After we become adults, Servants don't really keep track... We live for a really long time, and after a point, it doesn't really matter."
"How long to Servants of Gaia live, Karyuu-donno?" Yukina asked.
The elfin woman smiled a little, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Well... barring an unnatural sort of death... forever, I suppose..."
There was a brief silence before the Urameshi Team began to react.
"Forever?" Keiko asked, her voice heavy with skepticism. "How can anyone live forever?"
"As long as Gaia lives, my people live... And since I won't grow any older than I am now (physically, anyway), I could, possibly, live indefinitely."
"That is quite interesting," Kurama murmured. "I would have thought that Gaia would have enforced the Life and Death Cycle even within her own Servants in the interests of maintaining the Balance..."
Karyuu smiled.
"I'm no immortal, Kurama. I can still die.. If I were to be hurt badly enough, poisoned, or expelled all of my life and spirit energy... or if I were to choose to die... then of course, I'm as mortal as any of you... I just can't grow old and die, or become ill... ever..."
"Oh... I see..."
There was a brief, uncomfortable pause that stretched for a moment, before Yusuke slung an arm around her shoulders and began steering her bodily toward the table where a rather impressive cake stood. As they approached, Karyuu noticed that the one candle set in the middle was shaped like little chibi resembling an elf in a green tunic and cap brandishing a little sword with a grin.
"Never mind the lessons! Party time!"
"Yes, Karyuu-donno," Yukina piped. "Blow out your candle and make a wish!"
The elfin woman glanced at the others, looking torn between being embarrassed and pleased with this development and as she leaned forward, she took a deep breath and blew out the flame atop the little chibi-elf's hat, and was met with cheers and clapping that made her cheeks flush slightly, pointed ears twitching a little.

*****

Karyuu's 'Surprise Belated-Birthday Party' went off without a hitch, and the Urameshi Team spent a large portion of the night laughing, eating and just generally goofing around.
After dinner and cake, they produced their presents, presenting her with the brightly wrapped packages, they gathered around to watch her unwrap them.
They were relatively inexpensive, and in all honest truth, neither Yusuke, Keiko nor Kurama really had any clue as to what to buy their opal-eyed team-mate, a factor that bothered both Yusuke and Kurama quite a bit.
After all, they had spent several months training with Karyuu, and yet, they knew so little about her that selecting a suitable gift was extremely difficult. Eventually, after considerable deliberation, they had settled on the practical as Keiko suggested from the beginning.
And so, when Karyuu unwrapped her gifts, she was met with a stylish, warm looking turtle-neck of fine wool in a soft, dusty green, a cook-book containing over one-hundred recipes for Japanese dishes and a gag-gift that Yusuke had bought while Kurama and Keiko weren't paying attention, consisting of a small jewelry box-like item that when opened, released a spring-loaded rubber tarantula at the victim.
Rather surprisingly, it worked, and Karyuu gave a startled squeak of surprise as the little rubber beast hurled itself at her, landing solidly in her lap, prompting the startled Servant to leap to her feet.
"Mosho-Xecalis!" She gasped, before slumping a little, as recognition came that the maddened arachnid was nothing more than a hunk of rubber, and Yusuke howled with laughter at the look on her face and he could have sworn there was a faint droop to her ears.
Karyuu, shook her head, stooping to pick up the offending toy, regarding it with weary amusement, opaline eyes shining.
"Very, funny, smartass..." she murmured, tossing the little spider at him, where he quickly raised his hands to deflect the little projectile. "I've never seen that one before..."
"Yusuke, you jerk," Keiko growled, cuffing the Spirit Detective lightly on the shoulder. "That wasn't funny..."
He grinned at her.
"Aww, c'mon, Keiko..." he said, waving the little spider at her so that the legs wiggled comically. "It's all in good fun... Karyuu thought it was funny..."
Keiko seemed about to challenge him on that, but looking at the opal-eyed Servant, she saw that Yusuke was right... Karyuu seemed amused, rather than angry, and was inspecting the spring that had launched the little rubber horror at her a moment ago, Kurama at her side, who also seemed amused by the gift, despite himself. Keiko's rort died almost immediately, and she felt oddly resentful toward the elfin woman as Yusuke rose from his seat beside her to stroll over, handing the rubber tarantula back to his elfin team-mate, brown eyes sparkling with mirth as she took it back, returning his smile.
"That's not much of a gift, Urameshi," Kuwabara said with a chuckle, watching as Karyuu placed the little spring-loaded beast back in it's simple little wooden box. "Kinda' childish..."
Yusuke rolled his eyes as Karyuu rose absently, setting aside her gift as she began to make her way to the table, still bearing a fair amount of food and drink with the goal of getting another can of the orange-flavored soda, pausing at Kuwabara's comment to laugh.
"Just about every joke is childish," she said, smiling up at the brown-eyed Sprit Detective. "But jokes between friends are timeless, right, Yusuke?"
He nodded.
"Yah, we're best-buddies now!" Yusuke put arm around her shoulders and she smiled up at him, the friendly gesture surprising her a little, though she didn't pull away.
"Best-buddies?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him quizzically.
He grinned and without warning he put her into a headlock and ruffled her hair, blackened silver locks flying in all directions as he laughed and she swore ineffectually. The others smiled, watching the sibling-like quality of the scene with amusement, but in a blur of motion, Karyuu abruptly slipped out of the circle of his arm and thrown off-balance, he fell over on side with a startled "Whoa!"
In a blink, Karyuu appeared sitting on his stomach and laughing maniacally, she tickled him with strong, clever fingers, prompting strangled yells and half-formed sentences, (broken by bouts of very undignified giggles), as he tried desperately to squirm away. Karyuu's supirior strength, however, compensated easily for her slight weight in keeping her leader pinned helplessly to the ground. Kurama and the others looked on, distinctly amused that a young man who had fought and killed opponents as strong as the King of the Netherworld had finally been bested by a small, good-natured elfin woman who was currently tickling him to death...
"Karyuu!... stop! I can't bre-he-he-athe..."
She laughed and continued mercilessly until a threat of peeing himself finally prompted her to let him go. The elfin woman released him and calmly stood, absently smoothing her ruffled hair as he sat up, breathing hard as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes, trying and failing to glare at her indignantly.
"That was an interesting technique, Karyuu," Kurama murmured from his place on the couch. "Very effective..."
"Shut up, Kurama," Yusuke muttered, finally picking himself up off of the ground, hands brushing unseen lint from his backside with a couple of quick swipes.
"Poor guy," Kuwabara said mockingly, making his friend's brown eyes narrow at him irritably. "Getting beat and by a girl too..."

Karyuu turned, a slight smile that was both playful and challenging playing on her lips.
"And what does being a girl have to do with anything?"

Everyone grimaced slightly, a statement like that made in the presence of someone like Keiko a virtual guarantee of immediate and relentless lectures, and possibly beatings.
"Nothing!" He answered quickly, not wanting to taste Karyuu's fury.
The small elfin woman grinned at him, folding her arms, chin tilted upward and away, in a perfect imitation of the tall warrior's 'Victory Pose'.
"That's right."
Kuwabara winced, but remained silent, not really wanting to make his friend angry, and knowing that if he tried to fight her at his point in his training, she'd still kick his butt without even trying... and judging by the general mirth of the group, he'd never hear the end of it...
The only one not amused by the scene was Keiko, who found herself frowning irritably at Yusuke, fighting down the urge to belt him one, the source of the desire seeming unfounded even as a thought flickered across her mind.
'Who does she think she is?' She looked away quickly, a small frown on her face as she sipped at her soda without really thinking about it. 'Don't be silly...' she chastised herself. 'What're you so worked up about? Nothing, that's what. They were just goofing around... Yusuke's always doing that... I just wish he wouldn't do it with her... Not that he thinks of her like that, but still...'
"Keiko?" She blinked and turned a little to look up at Yukina, who was standing on her right, crimson eyes a little concerned. "Are you alright? You look as if something's bothering you..."
Instantly the frown was gone and she smiled up at the ice-apparition.
"No, nothing's bothering me," she said with a shrug. "I just think I ate too much..."
Her friend blinked, and then smiled warmly.
"I think we all did," she said in her soft voice. "Our dinners here at the Temple are usually quite simple... except when Karyuu-donno cooks on her rest-day."
"Oh?" Keiko asked.
The ice-apparition nodded, smiling gently as her eyes drifted to Kuwabara and Yusuke, who were currently engaging in a game of 'Janken' to determine who got the privilege of eating the last handful of Cheeze-Doodles...
"Yusuke-san, Kazuma and the others are always pleased when Karyuu-donno cooks... Her food is always so nice and new..."
"So she cooks for him, I mean them, the guys... too?" She winced inwardly as her friend nodded, not noticing the slip.
All she could cook were noodles... the kind her parents sold in their shop...
Normal, un-exciting, un-remarkable food...
Forcefully, the young woman pushed that aside.
'I really am being silly...' she thought silently, feeling a little ridiculous as golden-brown eyes turned back to where Yusuke was currently fighting with his orange-haired friend over the bowel containing the precious remaining Cheeze-Doodles, (having lost at 'Janken'). He was hollering something about letting Karyuu decide, since it was her birthday as Kuwabara tried to snatch it from his friend. The elfin woman in question was once again sitting beside Kurama, both of whom were watching the titanic struggle, eyes a little wider than normal as Kuwabara, having finally lost his temper, tackled their dark-haired leader, and in a tangle of arms and legs, won, sitting smugly on the small of his oldest friend's back. Victorious, Kuwabara sat there, grinning broadly, arms folded as Yusuke hurled curses at him, (the Cheeze-Doodle-Prize lying forgotten, scattered over the wooden floor in little orange squiggles).
Yes, Keiko decided, with a fond shake of her head.
She was being silly, and paranoid, like a stupid grade-school ninny, obsessing needlessly that the guy she liked would be 'stolen away' by someone else.
It wasn't as if Yusuke...

~*~ "Mosho-Xecalis!" - "Holy-hell!"
** Author's Comment ** Just so nobody has to look it up, like I did, 'impavid' means 'fearless' or 'brave', and 'Janken' is the same as the western game of 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'.