Shioru: But you make fun of him in this one too.

....

A LITTLE DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters appearing in this fic are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Studio Pierrot, Fuji TV, and Shonen Jump Weekly.

Will You...

by Maiji
 
 
 

Kuwabara Shizuru sighed in contentment as she lit up another cigarette and unfolded the morning paper. Everything was so peaceful and quiet. It was going to be a beautiful da-

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOORNIIIIIIIIIIING ONEECHAN!!!!!!!!!" yelled Kuwabara Kazuma the Man, bounding down the stairs in abandon. "HOOOOOOOW'RE YOU DOIIIIIIIIIIIIIING??"
"Just fine, until you came along," Shizuru muttered under her breath. Out loud she said, "Fine."

Kuwabara cheerfully swept about the room, practically leaping into his chair as he poured milk into his bowl of cereal with gusto (and spilling at half of what he poured, much to Shizuru's annoyance). He then proceeded to devour his breakfast greedily.

"And what are *you* so happy about?" asked Shizuru dryly, mopping up the mess.
"I'm going on a date with Yukina-san today!!!" he answered enthusiastically, not noticing her tone of voice. "I'm going to go on a date with her and then I'm going to propose to her and then we'll get married and then we'll have kids and then we-"
Shizuru quickly left for the kitchen with the dirty dishes, leaving a cheerfully babbling Kuwabara sitting in the dining room talking to himself.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT??!!!"
"Not so loud, Hiei," said Botan, removing her fingers from her ears.
"Calm down, Hiei," said Kurama. "It's not as thought Kuwabara is going to *do* anything. He's very trustworthy, you know."
"But does Hiei know that?" asked Yusuke, glancing at the still seething Hiei.

"Hiei, it's just a date!" said Botan. "It's not like he's, well, you know, proposing or anything."

[Author's note: Hint, hint!]

"Hn," grumbled Hiei.
"If you wanted more say in what your sister does," interjected Kurama, "you should have let her know who her brother is~~ ..."
Hiei glared at the three of them.

"YUKINA~~SAAAAAAAAAAAN~~~!!!!" cried Kuwabara, bounding into Genkai's temple
"Kazuma-san!" Yukina greeted him cheerily, as always. "What pretty flowers! Are they for me?"
"Hai, Yukina-san!!!!"
From the corner of the room, Hiei watched this innocent exchange warily. He still didn't trust this thing they called a ... a ... a date.

"Lovey-doveys," muttered Yusuke.
"Speaking of which," said Kurama, elbowing him, "What about Keiko?"
"Huh?" replied Yusuke brightly.
"Yes, what about me?" asked Keiko, who was standing behind them and carrying a tea tray.
"Oops." Yusuke gulped. Fortunately, Botan came over at this moment.

"Hiei still doesn't trust Valentine's Day," reported Botan. "He wants to do a surveillance of the lovebirds."
"He would," sighed Kurama.
"Don't you think we should follow him," suggested Keiko, "just in case he decides to do something drastic?"
"Who, Kuwabara or Hiei?" asked Yusuke.
"You know who," said Keiko, swatting him on the head.
"Yukina-san and I are leaving now~~!" called Kuwabara from the temple doors. "We'll be back by noon~~~!"
Hiei glared suspiciously after the couple. The other four looked at each other, and shrugged.

"They're going to the mall, if I remember correctly," said Kurama.

Some time later ...
"What are they doing now?" asked Kurama, carrying over the takeout lunch.
"They're going to the ice-cream parlour~," reported Yusuke, looking through a pair of binoculars. "Now they're ordering ice-cream~-"
"Lemme see!" said Botan, grabbing them from his hands. "Ooh, chocolate! My favourite!"
"Stop that!!" said Keiko. "We're here to make sure Hiei stays out of trouble, remember?"
"Oh, right," said Botan. "Hiei is- EEP! CUTE GUY ALERT!" She swung the binoculars around and oriented them on some person walking by.
Keiko and Yusuke facefaulted.
"Hiei's hiding behind that bush over there, if you're wondering," Kurama offered helpfully. "Would you like a Coke?"
While Botan scanned the mall with the binoculars (looking at everything BUT Hiei and Kuwabara and Yukina), the others ate their lunch.

Hiei's stomach growled. He was hungry, but he wasn't about to move from his hiding place and let Kuwabara and Yukina out of his sight.
"Kazuma-san, the ice-cream tastes good!" said Yukina cheerfully, as she finished the last spoonfuls in her bowl. "Now what are we going to do?
"Whatever you want to do, Yukina-san~!!!" came the reply.
[Oh brother,] thought Hiei. Any more of this and he was going to be sick.

"BOTAN!" yelled Yusuke. "Give me the binoculars!!!"
"But there's a shoe sale across from here," said Botan, "And if I can't be there, I have to at least be able to see it!"
"Botaaaaaaaa~~~n~~~ ..."
"Hold on," said Keiko. "They're leaving the ice-cream shop!"
"And there goes Hiei, right on schedule," said Kurama.
"GIVE ME THE BINOCULARS!"
Yusuke finally managed to snatch them back. Botan desperately tried to retrieve them, but to no avail.
"Just one more look~~~ ..."
Kurama and Keiko sweatdropped.

Much, much later ...
"Forget it!" exclaimed Yusuke in disgust. He tossed the binoculars back to Botan. "THREE HOURS!! They must have been to EVERY SINGLE toy and candy store in this mall!!!"
"Yay!" came Botan's reply. She eagerly picked them up and continued her quest for bargains and cute guys.
"Well, Yukina IS sort of a child," said Kurama. "Hiei looks like he wants to commit murder."
"I'm not surprised," muttered Yusuke.
"Wait," said Keiko. "What are they doing?"

Even Botan turned her binoculers over to look.

"Kazuma-san, let's go sit by the water fountain!" said Yukina. Kuwabara happily joined her.
As they watched tiny rainbows forming among the sprays of mist, Kuwabara decided it was time for The Big Question. He took a deep breath and took Yukina's hands into his own.
"Yukina-san," he said, putting on his Most Serious Face, "I have a very important question to ask you."
Yukina tilted her head. "What is it, Kazuma-san?"
"Well-"

"WHAT is he doing????!!!" asked Botan, peering intently through the binoculars. Kuwabara's face had been turning an intense shade of crimson, and you could practically see the smoke.
"Get the #%?(*&%%#@@)%#& off of me!" snarled Yusuke.
"Watch your language, Yusuke!" said Keiko.
[Hiei's not going to like this one bit,] thought Kurama.

"Yukina-san, will you ... will you ... that is, um ... will, um, uh ...."

Keiko and Botan clasped their hands over their mouths.

"*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH*!!!!!!!!!!" shrieked Hiei, practically jumping out of the bushes at them. The shoppers nearby took one look at him, then took off running.
Yusuke and Kurama looked at each other. Then they both frantically ran over before Hiei blew up the entire mall.

"LET ME AT THAT @#(^@#%^*!@)!@@!!!!" yelled Hiei, waving his katana about blindly. "I'LL MMPHMPPPHNNHPHMMPPHHHHPPPHMMMMMM!!!!!"
Yusuke and Kurama sweatdropped as Hiei continued throwing muffled curses about.
Yukina looked over at them.

"Yusuke-san, Kurama-san," she said, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing you should be worrying about," said Kurama.
"OW!!" yelled Yusuke, holding his hand. "HE BIT ME!!!"
Hiei growled at them.
"Just go back to whatever you were doing," said Kurama.
"Oh," replied Yukina. "Okay."

She turned back to Kuwabara.
"What was it you wanted again, Kazuma-san?" she asked.
"Uh ... um .... uh ...."
Yukina noticed something colorful out of the corner of her eye.
"Look, Kazuma-san!" she cried, pointing. "Balloons!" She smiled at Kuwabara. "Can we buy one?"
"Sure!!" he answered, and off they went.

"LET GO OF ME, BAKAYARO!!!!" shouted Hiei.
"Okay, okay," said Kurama, dropping him.
"That's for biting me," said Yusuke.
"Oh!" said Botan, walking over with Keiko. They watched as Kuwabara and Yukina purchased a shiny blue snowflake balloon. "So close and yet so far ..."

Later that day, at the Kuwabara house ...
Shizuru was peacefully drinking a cup of coffee and reading a book when the door opened.
"So, Kazuma," greeted Shizuru, when Kuwabara entered, "how did it go?"
Kuwabara looked at her.
"Next year," he proclaimed, "NEXT YEAR KUWABARA KAZUMA THE MAN WILL PROPOSE TO THE BEAUTIFUL ICE-MAIDEN YUKINA!!!! AND-"

Shizuru quickly left for the kitchen with her empty cup, leaving a cheerfully babbling Kuwabara standing at the doorway talking to himself.