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Part 2
At Last
by NaFiZa
mianker@tm.net.my


George turned his head to Koenma's room. The screeching and shrieking sounds coming from within had grabbed a lot of attention from the workers outside. A few splashing sounds and loud shouts could also occasionally be heard. Each and every oni that passed by the room turned their head for a second, which is still an amazement, due to theirbusiness. After observing for a while, George thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to check out what was going on inside Koenma's room. As if there was a hideos monster inside, George carefully peeked through a little hole he had made a short while ago (which was a long time in Ningenkai) to checkwhether Koenma was in a bad or good mood. He did this as a safety precaution, as he had said to Hinageshi.



In Koenma's room:

"Botan!! Look what you have done!! My shirt!"

"Ano..Yuusuke-kun... it was an accident... gomen... eh... Kuwabara!! You're stepping on my kimono! You baka!"

"Why? It's *your* long sleeve that's on the carpet so it's *your* fault."

"Bakayaro!!"

"Here, maybe this water will wash it out."

"Good idea, Kuwa!"

"Eh, you're not pouring enough, Botan... No! No! That's too much!"

"Yuusuke! You suprised me! Now who's going to mop up the water..."

"Ouch! What the-? Damn it, Yuusuke no baka, you didn't collect all the broken pieces. What's more, that was a big one I stepped on!!"

"Err... hehe... that's okay, right? You're a strong man, ne? Hehe... ouch! Damn, that hurts."

"Wooo... my brand new kimono..."

"Stop weeping about your kimono and give me the brush... oops..."

"Why you..."



George could see the office was like a battleground, messy and permeating tense emotions. The carpet was wet and dirty, the ink stain was growing bigger, newspapers were scattered all over the floor and to top it all off, three clumsy people were making the mess worse as they argued while an irritated toddler, munching furiously on his pacifier, was just waiting to explode.



That's what George saw through the little hole.

He quickly ran to his desk and busied himself.



Five minutes later...

Koenma himself ended up cleaning the whole mess. Within half an hour, the room was back to its usual (boring, according to Yuusuke) look. Within that period of time, Koenma accepted no help from his three companions. Everytime they offered one with a guilty intonation, Koenma's answer was, "No, thanks."

And, of course, Koenma's expression was much more severe than his words.



The surroundings around the Yukimura Restaurant was unusually quiet. It was normally noisy with orders from customers but because it was office hours, not many were there to enjoy the cooking of the Yukimura family. There were a few customers chatting about, but they were just hoodlums with that rowdy behaviour of theirs. Yuusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama took this chance to discuss about things that not many people could understand.

"I simply couldn't stand the way Koenma looked at us." Yuusuke scowled, crossing his legs, and putting up his feet on the other chair next to him. That was his usual attitude when he was in a bad mood.

His oranged haired companion nodded in aggreement. "Yeah, it made me feel guilty from head to toe. Hated it."

Kurama took a sip from his cup of tea and said, "You really can't blame him. We all know he's really tense with all the work he has to do in Reikai, in addition to the big event that changed the whole ruling process inReikai."

Kuwabara nodded again. "Well, you're right. We..."

"Owww!!!" Yuusuke screamed in pain. Next to him stood an annoyed brownhaired girl named Keiko Yukimura, Yuusuke's childhood fiancee. A cane was in her hand.

"That's for being rude in my restaurant. I told you never to cross your dirty, smelly legs and then put your feet up on my clean, new chair. You look like a low class gangster when you do that too!" she said, waving her cane here and there, as if wanting to hit Yuusuke some more.

Kuwabara smiled nervously and slowly swung his feet back to the floor while Yuusuke the red spots on his legs. "I know you want to be a teacher, but don't practice any of those death-like punishments on me! You could havecut my legs, you know!"

Keiko passed the cane into her other hand. "Want some more?"

Yuusuke laughed nervously. "No, thanks."

The brown haired girl noticed Kurama sweatdropping and excused herself. "Gomen, Kurama-san, I have to clean the dishes at the back. Please watch this brat while I'm gone."

Kurama sweatdropped some more."Hai.."

After she went to the kitchen, the boys continued their conversation.

"What were we talking about just now before that brat disturbed us?"

"Er... er... about Koenma."

"Oh yeah, hmm... think we should help him?"

"Only if he pays my salary. This month's not paid yet, remember Yuusuke!"

"But first of all, any suggestions on how to help him?"

The youko, the half ningen half youkai, and the ningen sat there silently, thinking. Suddenly a loud shout from the kitchen broke the silence.

"Oii!! Yuusuke!! Don't do anything bad there!"

"Okay, okay, fierce woman... eh..."

"........"

"You thinking what I'm thinking,Kuwabara?"

"Yup!"

"You're not going to..."

"Sure! He needs a girlfriend!" Kuwabara and Yuusuke said in unison.

"Who needs a girlfriend?" Two voices asked simultaneously. One was from eiko and one was from a cheerful looking girl standing behind Yuusuke.

Yuusuke fell from his chair then stood up quickly. "Botan! You're not going to play Koenma's sick appearing-out-of-no-where-and-scaring-the-hell-out-of-everyone joke on us, are you?" he said, irritated.

The blue haired girl nodded, and then shook her head, her high ponytail bouncing by her shoulder. "Iie, Yuusuke-kun... by the way, it's not a bad joke after all! It's kinda fun..."

Keiko ran from the kitchen to the front with a frying pan in her hand, to Yuusuke's and Kuwabara's alarm. "I said, who needs a girlfriend? Is it you?" Keiko warningly pointed the pan at Yuusuke's head. "Or you?" she added, now pointing the pan towards Kuwabara.

Kuwabara's eyes bulged out and shook his head, beginning his usual speech. "NOOO!! The manly and loyal Kuwabara would never leave the beautiful ice maiden Yukina-chan! He is always faithful to her till the end..." yadda, yadda, yadda...

"One bowl of ramen please??"

"Ahh... hai! You wait there..." Keiko managed to say before she hurried back to the kitchen.

Kurama attempted to calm everything down again by using Botan. "Now... now... let's hear what Botan wants to say. Is it another mission, Botan-san??" he looked up hopefully at Botan, hoping for Botan to say *something* at least.

The ferrygirl stared at Kurama for a several moments, and then turned to the others. "Well, there's no mission like Kurama-san said, but I do have a message for Kuwabara and Yuusuke. First of all, Koenma-sama said, that he would pay your salary provided you keep doing your job until the end of the month."

The two so-called rivals were very delighted about the news. "Ahhhh!! At last... Koenma has some goodness left in him after all...." Yuusuke said, his eyes sparkling. Kuwabara, uncontrolled by his happiness, blurted out, "Yess!!! Ok, come on, let's discuss the preparations for the suprise party!!"

"SHHHHH!!!!(@#$%^&*= added by Yuusuke)"

Kuwabara suddenly found two boys and one girl looking at him and putting their fingers on their lips. Keiko approached them with a puzzled look. Yuusuke turned around, hoping that Keiko hadn't heard what Kuwabara said.

But, of course, there was a fat chance that Keiko didn't.

"What suprise party?" asked Keiko curiously. Everyone except Keiko secretly glared at Kuwabara. Botan was nervous for a moment until suddenly, an idea crossed her mind.

"Aaa... emm... well... it's a suprise party for... our Koenma-sama. You know... he's been getting really tense with his work lately, so... hmm..... I thought.... a party would help him relax... at least for a little while." Botan stammered.

Kurama and the others were relieved for a moment when Keiko seemed to believe Botan's tale, but quickly realized what they'd have to do becauseof this lie.

"Hontou desu ka?? When will the party be held?" Keiko asked excitedly.

Kurama soon realized that Botan seemed at loss for any more ideas. He quickly replied for her, "Oh, the date's not arranged yet. We'll tell you when we have finished our preparations."

Nodding, Keiko smiled. "How kind of Botan-san to think of such idea for Koenma-sama! I would really like to help you, but I'm sooo busy with my..."

"Why are you so late, Keiko?? The customers waiting!!"

Keiko turned around to find her mother looking at her from the kitchen window. "Here are the drinks." Her mother said, shoving the tray onto a table.

"There goes okaa-san!" she said as she quickened her pace towards the kitchen.

Confident that Keiko was no longer within earshot, Yuusuke whacked Kuwabara's head. "Bakayaro!! Now what are we going to do?!"

Kurama smiled, as usual. The other Reikai Tanteis were suprised that he could still smile at such a terrible time. "Well, I suppose Botan's idea is marvellous. Perhaps we should throw Koenma a party, to make him relax, at least for a while." he said calmly.

Botan clapped her hands, her face showing her usual cheerfulness. "Yeah! Kurama's right! I was about to say the same thing! Perhaps after the party, Koenma-sama will finally raise my salary..." Botan drooled, stars in her eyes.

Kurama nodded. "Well, after all, this party will distract Keiko's attention from *her* birthday. Then her surprise party will suprise her even more."

"Hmm... I wonder if that shrimp will come..." Kuwabara said, still rubbing his head.

"Who are you calling shrimp, carrot-head?"

Botan jumped at the sight of the fire youkai in his usual black cloak behind her.

"What carrot-head? Huh?" Kuwabara half shouted.

Ignoring the chaos, Kurama confidently said to Yuusuke, "Hmm, he'll come."

Yuusuke's grin grew wider, thinking of how the party would turn out. "But still, our plan to find Koenma a girlfriend won't be stopped."

PRRRSSHHHHHH!!

A second later, Yuusuke found his face and cloth soaked with orange juice that was sprayed over it. His blue-haired companion was still coughing after she had gagged on her drink.

Yuusuke was dumbfounded at the incident. Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei blinked at Botan, then at Yuusuke.

Finishing her last cough, Botan looked over to the irritated boy in front of her. "Ehhmm... gomen nasai... Yuusuke-kkun... I... didn't... do it on purpose... uh.." she stammered, wiping her lips.

"Of course you didn't do it on purpose!! If you had, you would've received just the same from me!! Got that??" shouted Yuusuke at his bubblebrained friend. He quickly stood up and made his way to the toilet, bumping into Keiko midway there. The glasses and bowls filled with food and drinks onher tray crashed down the floor.

That grabbed the attention from the costumers.

Kuwabara, Yuusuke and Kurama had "uh-oh" looks on their faces.

In the middle of the chaotic situation, nobody noticed the blue haired girl still sitting on her chair, looking more antonished than ever.
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