"Kazuma-san, did you really like these ginger cookies I made?" Yukina gazed up at him expectantly, still holding the now half-empty jar.

Surprisingly, Kuwabara managed to smile even with five cookies in his mouth. "Hmmm... dow... mmm... dowlish.. gulp... delicious... can I have one more?"

The little Koorime's eyes beamed up as if struck by a rainbow. She reached him the jar once more, and he stuck a big craving hand in it, fishing another generous fistful of ginger cookies, which immediately disappeared behind another pleasant smile. He munched noisily, groaning unintelligible moans of satisfaction, and gazing at the exquisite and precious damsel looking up at him with the most vivid dazzling ruby eyes shining under soft feathery tresses of aqua hair. The cold morning breeze seemed not to affect her, for she didn't even care to put a coat over the lavender flower-printed dress. Kneeling down beside him on the striped blanket they had laid on the grass, the greenish lake behind her and with all the birds in the park singing merrily for her presence, Kazuma imagined that Yukina could be easily mistaken for an angel or nymph. Or maybe it wouldn't be a mistake at all...

"Hey," cried a voice to his right. "Don't we get to taste your cookies too, Yukina?"

The girl blushed and passed on the jar. "I'm sorry, Yusuke-san."

"I was beginning to think I had become invisible or something..." he muttered, selecting one out of the four cookies left inside.

"No such luck," Kazuma sighed. Around Yukina-san he thought he could forget the whole world and just merge in the flowery scented aura she exhaled, weren't their friends so darn noisy... "Of all days to have a picnic..." he muttered.

"But it's a beautiful day!" Botan complained, taking the cookie from Yusuke's hand. "Thanks, Yusuke!" she winked.

Yusuke glared at the joyful ferrygirl kneeling across from him, and picked another cookie from the jar. He was going to stick it in his mouth when a soft hm-hm in his ear warned him not to. "Yusuke... won't you offer me one first?" Keiko extended a hand with the palm up. "And Botan is right. It's the first sunny morning we have in weeks. If I had to spend another day cleaning the prints of Yusuke's galoshes off the carpet I'd scream."

"Then why did you gave me the galoshes?" Yusuke protested, shoving the cookie on her palm. "You know I hate them."

"Better the galoshes than trying to dry and clean your sneakers," his wife snapped back. "Sometimes I could swear you paddle in the mud just to make me crazy." Still fuming, she tasted the cookie. "This is really good, Yukina."

The diminutive Koorime smiled contentedly. "I can give you the recipe if you wish."

"Don't bother, Yukina," Yusuke grinned evilly. "Keiko can't cook anyway."

Her eyes widening in fury, Keiko grabbed the jar away from Yusuke before he could pick another cookie. "Then maybe I'll let you cook for yourself from now on, baka! Here, Shizuru," she offered her best friend. "Taste it. They're delicious."

"Hey!" Yusuke griped.

Shizuru took one of the last two cookies, beaming a lopsided grin to both of them. "Thanks, dear."

"Shizuru helped me baking," said Yukina.

"Really?" Keiko exclaimed.

"I helped her turning on the oven," Shizuru laughed. "And keeping Kazu from eating the raw dough."

"You deserve a medal then," Keiko chortled. "Kurama-kun, the last one is for you," she said, offering the jar to the quiet figure sitting beside her. Kurama had been awfully silent the whole morning, failing to add any of his characteristic mischievous cracks to their usual friendly banter. Embracing his bent knees and staring ahead absent-mindedly, it nearly looked as if his spirit had taken a trip to another dimension, leaving his body behind under the tree shade with them. Now he blinked at Keiko's offer, taking a second to focus on the cookie jar.

"Only one left?" he questioned softly.

"And I didn't get any!" Yusuke whined. "That's not fair."

"I'm sorry, Yusuke-san," Yukina apologized. "I should have baked a second batch."

"It's not your fault, Yukina." Urameshi glared daggers to Kuwabara. "It's your daft boyfriend here who's a selfish glutton. How would you know he would have the nerve to eat all the cookies and leave nothing for his friends?"

"I have no idea," Shizuru yawned. "You should know he'd that, Yukina, after all these years with my brother hovering around you like a moth."

Kuwabara's ears burned to the point of emitting smoke. Yukina blushed shyly, more for not having baked a second batch of cookies than anything else.

"Don't worry, Yukina," Botan intervened. "I wouldn't have thought Kuwabara-kun would eat like a pig either," she simpered innocently. "I'd have thought it would be Yusuke to do that."

"Hey!!!" Yusuke yelled.

Kazuma showed her a proud smile. "Thank you, Botan, I know you would... what did you call me?!"

The girls blasted on laughter and exchanged high-fives, complimenting Botan for taking the two boys down with a single strike.

Kuwabara and Urameshi traded a very annoyed look, both crossing his arms over the chest in an almost synchronized move. "See what you did?" Yusuke grumbled. "They scored over us again."

"I did? You were the one calling me a daft glutton!" Kazuma shouted.

"Oh why would I say something like that?" Urameshi asked sarcastically.

"You boys are so silly," Botan snorted. "You'll never beat us fighting among yourselves like that. Girls are much more supportive of each other."

"I won't support him when he eats all Yukina's cookies," Yusuke muttered, eyeing the jar still in Keiko's hands. The last cookie was still inside; Kurama didn't take it.

"You whine like a baby," Kuwabara snorted.

"See what I mean?" Botan held her hands out, pointing to the fussing boys. "I rest my case."

"Oi Kurama!" Kuwabara called. "Won't you say something?"

"Yeah, our male pride is at stake here," Yusuke frowned. If he's not eating that cookie...

Kurama laughed softly, although his eyes seemed just as dusky and apathetic than before. "My male pride is very safe over here, Yusuke. I think I'd rather keep it this way."

"He's a disgrace for his gender," Kuwabara murmured.

"Shut up, Kazu," Shizuru snarled in a low harsh tone. She guessed why Kurama seemed so disheartened that morning. Probably the same reason why at the same time her younger brother was feeling so comfortable and relaxed next to Yukina: it was Valentine's Day and Hiei was nowhere to be seen.

Kazuma was still oblivious to Hiei and Yukina's kinship, thinking of the Fire Demon as a threatening rival. And Shizuru suspected she was the only one in the gang who guessed Hiei and Kurama's true dealings. But Kazu's careless comments could cause a lot of unintentional damage to the Youko's already gloomy mood.

"Are you eating that dang cookie or not, Kurama?" Yusuke blasted.

"Yusuke!" Keiko reprehended him, indicating Yukina with a nod. "You shouldn't talk like that about the cookies that Yukina made specially for us. Now you're definitely not having this one." She turned to Kurama and offered him the jar once again. "Please, Kurama-kun, help yourself."

The redhead shook his head with a gentle smile. "Thanks, Keiko-chan, but it's the last one. It would be best if Yusuke had it."

Keiko stared at him, puzzled. "Why? He did nothing to deserve it."

Kurama shrugged, somewhat embarrassed - another very uncharacteristic gesture for him. "It is said in Makai that the one who takes the last piece of a meal shared by many will never meet his soul mate."

"I thought you were too wise to give credit to superstitions, Kurama," commented Shizuru.

Kurama winked, looking more like his usual self. "One is never too wise to discredit superstitions."

She winked back, glad to see the old impish glitter in those green eyes. "Well, I certainly doubt one ginger cookie could scare your soul mate away."

Kurama nodded his thanks, shivering inside. She knows, he sensed. It wasn't much of a surprise. If someone was to find out about his relationship with Hiei, Shizuru was the best capacitated to the task - sensitive, open-minded and a psychic, without her brother's old-fashioned prejudices. Kurama wasn't concerned about her disclosing his privacy; she was nothing like that. The shivering bit was for seeing that Shizuru thought of Hiei as his soul mate - which he wasn't. Not by long. No way. Hiei was... someone. Just someone. Who, by the way, wasn't even there. Right on Valentine's Day. Hn.

Yusuke blinked. "What does cookies have to do with soul mates?"

"It's a superstition, baka," Botan exclaimed. "They never make much of a sense."

"It's a relief to hear that from a Goddess of Death," Kuwabara sighed out, trembling with the memory of all the dreadful tales of omens and diablerie preached by his grandmother.

Botan arched her eyebrows. "Ahn? Oh, don't take me wrong. Superstitions are often wise ancient knowledge distorted by centuries of bad translations. I would never eat that last cookie myself. That's why I took Yusuke's," she concluded with a smirk.

"Gee, thanks," Urameshi groaned.

Kurama took the jar from Keiko's hands and offered it to Yusuke. "Here, my friend, you can have this one. It's not like you're in any danger anymore," he said, nodding to Keiko.

Yusuke shook his hands, shooing the menacing cookie away. "Are you nuts? No way! I still have hope that someday I will meet my soul mate. Don't wanna blow my chances now."

The air around Keiko instantly became so cold that Yusuke wondered if his wife could have turned into a Koorime all of a sudden. On the other hand, Kuwabara was laughing so hard the passers-by had paused see what that commotion was all about. "Yeah!" screamed the carrot-haired boy. "Male pride scores!"

Watching Keiko's glacial demeanor, Botan shuddered. "I'm afraid male pride is about to be pulverized, Kuwabara-kun..."

With slow, barely controlled gestures, Keiko laid down the jar and grasped the unfortunate cookie, pressing it firmly against her husband's mouth. "Now you eat this dang cookie, Yusuke no baka, or you'll be looking for your soul mate in your next incarnation."

Urameshi bit the cookie from her hand and smiled playfully. "Keiko, you shouldn't talk like that about Yukina-chan's cookies. Tsc-tsc..." he reprehended her, munching happily.

Keiko glanced at Yukina, who looked very upset for causing such distress among her friends by having baked one single batch of ginger cookies. How clumsy of her...

"Yukina, don't worry," Shizuru patted the Koorime's arm. "This is all just part of male-female integration. If it weren't your cookies, it would be something else. Anything else."

"Yeah, the penalty for already having met your soul mate," Botan agreed. "Maybe I should have eaten the last cookie after all."

Yusuke showed her the tongue, a very gross thing to do since he was still chewing the cookie.

"Err..." Kuwabara raised his hand, as a student in classroom asking the teacher to speak. "Since we're on the subject..."

Shizuru smiled. Ganbatte, Kazu! I was beginning to think you had chickened out.

"What subject?" Botan frowned. "Cookies?"

Kuwabara scowled at her. "Of course not. Why would I want to talk about cookies?"

"That's what we were talking about," Yusuke replied, after swallowing the topic of their conversation, thankfully.

"No, we weren't," Kazuma insisted.

"Well, where have you been for the last half hour then?" Urameshi countered. "We weren't able to change the subject since you ate all there was in the cookie jar, you greedy belly-god."

"Can't you just forget the dang cookies?" Kazuma snapped back. "I want to say something important here."

"You didn't like the cookies, Kazuma-san?" Yukina asked him hastily, focusing big red doleful eyes on his face.

Shizuru shook her head, disbelieving. "Here we go again..."

Yusuke and Keiko leaned back against the tree trunk, and the others yawned and stretched arms and legs, searching for a more comfortable position on the grass, waiting for Kuwabara to finish stammering his babbling and mortified apology to the little Ice Maiden.

It took a little less than usual this time. Progress, maybe.

"So, get over with it, Kuwabara," Yusuke urged him. "It's not the cookies. What is it you wanna tell us about? And this better be good."

"Oh..." mumbled Kazuma, scratching his nape nervously. "Well, we were talking about... well..."

"Cookies?" Botan offered.

Furious glares coming from all sides toppled over her.

"No!" Kuwabara yelled. "Soul mates!"

Furious glares quickly turned into puzzled gazes and arched eyebrows.

"Soul mates?" Keiko glanced at Yukina, who lowered her head to hide her flushing cheeks.

"I'm not sure I wanna hear this," Yusuke moaned. He had had enough of Kuwabara's prolix recitations on his and Yukina's true imperishable love ties to annoy him for all his lifetimes. I knew a picnic right on Valentine's was a bad idea... But once Keiko had made up her mind about something, not even the combined power of the entire Makai could stop her.

"Oi, cut it out, will ya?" Kuwabara chided. "I have an announcement to make."

"You're always announcing things," Yusuke snickered sarcastically. "You just can't say you're going to the bathroom. You have to announce it."

"Yusuke, let him speak," Shizuru pleaded. "Otherwise we're going to spend eternity in this park and I have to work tomorrow."

Urameshi shrugged, acceding. "Okay, okay..."

"Go on, Kuwabara-kun," Keiko encouraged. "What is this big announcement of yours?"

"Ahn... hm-hm," Kazuma cleaned his throat, distractedly wiping the sweat on his brow away. "Guys... I mean, ladies... Ladies and... ahn..."

Botan giggled. "You won't find many gentlemen here, Kuwabara-kun."

"I'm a gentleman!" Yusuke protested.

Somehow all those cynical glances directed at him didn't seem to be agreeing.

"When?" Keiko muttered.

"I did remember Valentine's this time!" he claimed.

"Only because Atsuko-san reminded you last night, baka!" Keiko fumed. "Kurama-kun is a gentleman. Not you."

Kurama jumped at the sound of his name. "What? I'm very sorry, Keiko-chan," he apologized sincerely. "You were talking to me?"

Keiko held her hands out, palms outward. "See?"

"I don't know," Shizuru winked at Kurama again. "A true gentleman would be paying attention to what you say."

"Only if he were a moronic gentleman," Yusuke grumbled, having his ear immediately twisted by his angry wife.

"Oi, Kurama," Kuwabara complained. "I'm trying to say something important here! Pay attention!"

Kurama smiled abashed. "Gomen nasai, Kuwabara-kun."

"Is there anything troubling you, Kurama-san?" was Yukina's concerned question.

"Yeah," Yusuke frowned. "Not like you to be daydreaming like that..."

"We should find Kurama-kun a girlfriend," Botan laughed. "He doesn't deserve to have that lost-puppy look in his face today..."

Kurama blushed slightly. He felt a lot like a lost puppy, actually. I'm being ridiculous, he thought, And now everybody can notice that. So what if Hiei wasn't here? Why would he be? Valentine's Day didn't mean a thing to demonic beings. And he was sure Hiei would have agreed to stay in Ningenkai for a private celebration if he had asked.

But Kurama didn't ask. His Youko soul kept arguing how sickly were those lonely feelings of abandonment, and how frivolous that emotional weakness of his would look to Hiei, who certainly had better and more important things to do in Mukuro's realms than attending to his lover's foolish whims. Now Kurama was alone and, as a demonic being, he shouldn't care. He should be able to look around at the couples, and the roses, colorful cards and stuffed animals they exchanged, and just sniff 'hn, stupid ningen'.

I want my boyfriend!!! Kurama cried mentally, cursing himself for his stupid pride. Sure, having Hiei looking down on his human facets all the time bothered him a little. Well, maybe more than a little. Especially now that the youkai had free passage between the worlds, which might tempt him to find better company among the thoroughbred demons, better enough to drain Hiei's enthusiasm for him.

And to the Youko's dread, the idea of losing the attention of the Fire Demon had become... undesirable. And just how human is that? he groaned to himself. He had never cared that much before. Not to the point of being jealous. Not to the point of swallowing his need, or of worrying about what his lover would think of him. Or of wishing so badly to be offered roses - roses, among all things! - just because of a silly ningen custom.

"Will you just shut up and listen?" Kuwabara yelled, kneeling up to call the others' attention by his height. "We can find a girl to Kurama later. I've been trying to say something here for hours!"

"They know better than to let you speak, Kazu," Shizuru muttered. "But this time I think you should listen, fellows. Believe it or not, this time he actually has something interesting to say."

Astounded looks fell over the girl. "I don't believe I heard that!" Botan exclaimed.

"So you know what this loud ape is up to, Shizuru?" Yusuke laughed.

She nodded. "Yup. And he's got my endorsement, for a change."

Hanging mouths followed the astounding looks. "I think we're witnessing the end of the worlds," Kurama averred.

"WILL YOU LISTEN???" Kuwabara hollered, readying his fists to the next one to interrupt him.

Massive silence fell upon the group. All eyes were locked on Kazuma's face, expectantly. And since his hollering had been far from discreet, dozens of passers-by had halted their stroll in the park to watch the turmoil. Even a stray dog ten meters away was staring at him. To make things worse, the breeze chose that very moment to pause its constant blowing.

Kuwabara looked around, suddenly very conscious of his tall conspicuous figure and his loud voice. He gulped. Smiled. Sweatdrops tricked down his forehead. The smile grew broader. His fingers twitched convulsively. The smile started to shiver. "Errr... well... you see..." He gulped again. "I sorta... you know... asked... and she answered... so..."

"We are going to get married," Yukina completed.

No one had time to be surprised by the sudden announcement. Even those - namely Yusuke, Keiko and Botan - who had a high bet running on whether Kuwabara would ever have the guts to propose, were offered no chance to brag their victory or mourn their loss. Less than a second after Yukina pronounced that last critical word, a black bulk dropped down noisily from the tree branches, falling heavily right on Kurama's lap.

"Hiei!"

June 12^th, 2000

Chapter One - No Picnic at All
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