Love's Denial

Hello everyone. Here is the next chapter. Thanks to all those who have read the Prologue. I hope you enjoyed it (I would not know since no reviewed).



Okay, so everyone is probualy trying to figure out who the hell is with who and what the fuck is going on. That is okay, all will be explained in time. I have to set this story up in order for it to make any sense at all but I will go ahead and tell you all the pairings:



Yusuke/Keiko

Hiei/Kuwa (sorry I could not resist but it wont be anything bad)

Botan/Koenma

Kurama/OC



I will warn you now Kurama is going to be a BASTARD in this story until later. You will still love him but he is not going to all lovey-dovey (even though I love him that way to). So on with the reason you are all here . . .





Chapter 1





“Urameshi Yusuke, you bastard. You are so not getting out of this.” Keiko screamed out side of her fiancés bedroom. She sighed leaning her head against the wooden frame, trying to resist the urge to bang her head until she reached a state of unconsciousness. “Why is it that every time I want to go out and have fun you decide to take a nap yet you always manage to drag me to another boring training session that I get to cook for?”





Yusuke winced on the other side of the door. It wasn’t that he didn’t like going out with Keiko, he loved her, but her friends were so . . . judgmental of him. They did not think he was good enough for her. Hell, he knew he wasn’t half the man she should be with but he didn’t need a group of self-centered bitches telling him that. Kuwabara was doing a good job of that as it was. He walked over to his dresser and picked out a button up shirt to wear. I’ll humor her this once but if I hear one punk joke I will tell some pimp that he needs to get a leash for his whores, he thought mentally preparing himself for the task at hand.





Keiko banged on the door again, making the house feel as though a herd of small children were attempting to tear down a wall. “Fine then Yusuke, I’ll just go without you but if you wake up and find out that your aren’t engaged anymore then know it is your own fault.”





“Oh shit, wait Keiko,” Yusuke yelled, throwing the door open and running down the hall after her. “I’m sorry. I’ll go.” He pulled her into a bear hug.





Keiko attempted to resist Yusuke but gave up knowing that no matter what the idiot did he would always be her idiot. “I know you don’t like most of my friends but you don’t know these girls. Besides Shizuru and Kuwabara will be there to,” she mumbled into his chest.





Yusuke pulled her closer wondering if sex would be a good reason to get out of this get-together, that was until he heard Kuwabara’s name. “Why is that baka coming?”





Keiko giggled and snuggled closer. “Umm . . . well he is one of Aki’s friends. I’m not sure he likes Tai so much though. She reminds him of Shizuru.”





Yusuke pulled back from the embrace and grabbed Keiko’s hand, dragging her to the front door. “Lets get this over.”





Keiko ran to keep up with him, giving him a look of confusion. “Why are you in such a hurry? I thought you didn’t want to go.”





Yusuke stopped causing her to run into him. “Since the idiot is there I now have no choice but to go or I’ll never hear the end of it, and the sooner we leave means the sooner we will get back and since my mom is gone you’re going to spend the night with me.”





Keiko giggled and rolled her eyes in the back of her head. “Perv.”







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“Aki, are you sure you want to do this? We could leave and no one would be the wiser,” Yoshido Tai asked her friend for the tenth time. She looked around nervously, as if searching for an escape route in the karaoke bar. Why Keiko insisted they do this she will never know.





Tokashi Aki leaned down to fix her ruffled, pristine white socks and Mary Jane shoes for the one-hundredth time in that hour. She looked at her much older friend. “This has nothing to do with you. You’re friends with Keiko and Shizuru and that is all. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everything goes according to my plan.” She stood up and smoothed out her skirt and straightened out her sweater.





Tai rolled her eyes. “Only you would go headfirst into a dragon’s cage,” she mumbled.





Aki put on her biggest and most winning smile. “They are here.”







*************************************************







Keiko and Yusuke ran into Shizuru and Kuwabara on the way to the bar. As the group headed inside, Yusuke drilled Kuwabara for information on the two new friends of the three. “Urameshi, you’re going to meet them in a minute. Why the hell can’t you decide if they are bitches for yourself?” Kuwabara asked, having already spotted Aki and Tai at a table in the corner of the crowed room.





Yusuke chuckled. “You just don’t want to admit that you hate that one chick like Keiko says, do you.”





Kuwabara’s face started to turn red. “Shut-up dumb ass.”





As the two boys began to throw insults back n forth between each other, Keiko and Shizuru make their way to the table. “Hey gals, whats up?” Shizuru asks, slipping into the seat next to Tai and throwing her arm around the other woman’s shoulder.





Aki smiled shyly and blushed, lowering her face so one could only see her large glasses. “Hello Shizuru, Keiko. We are fine. How are you this evening?”





Shizuru grimaced but hide it behind a stupid grin. This girl needs to relax or get laid. “I’m good, Aki.” She looked up to see that Kuwabara and Yusuke were still throwing insults at each other. “Yo, Jackasses, get your asses over here, you are in a nice public place not an ally.”





Yusuke blushed and looked at the table. He could hardly believe his eyes. He had never seen two more different girls in his life. One, Tai, he was guessing because she looked more outgoing, had midnight blue hair that was cut to her chin. Yusuke could see the mischief in her large brownish-black eyes. She was slouched in her seat but he could easily tell she was tall and stacked. She seemed to be in good shape, her biceps were tight but still looked feminine. She was dressed in a tight black tube dress that showed more than it covered and Yusuke could see a hint of combat boots from under the table. All in all, he could easily see how she and Shizuru were alike.





The other girl, Aki, was what was striking to Yusuke. While Keiko was modest, this girl took it to another level. Even while sitting down with her back straight as a board, Yusuke could see she was short and petite. She had pale blond hair that was in a bun at the base of her neck with long shoulder length bands surrounding her face. He couldn’t see her body; her large brown sweater and matching skirt that were for grandmas instead of the young girls effectively hide her from view. She had on a pair of large glasses but Yusuke could see the dull blue eyes that were hidden behind them.





How in the hell are these two friends. One looks like a slut and the other a librarian. Yusuke’s mouth gaped, as he looked form one to the other. Shizuru and Kuwabara laughed as Keiko began to blush. “Damn it, Yusuke. You are embarrassing me.”





Yusuke looked confused for moment until he realized he had been staring. “Oh fuck. I am so sorry . . . it is just that, well that . . .” he stuttered, unable to form the words.





Tai laughed, used to the comparison. “That we’re best friends yet are nothing alike?” she asked, fluffing up the front of Aki’s hair in a friendly gesture.





Yusuke’s blush darkened to an even redder shade as he nodded. Aki smiled while Kuwabara laughed like an idiot. “You moron. Haven’t you heard opposites attract. Hell, they are no different from you and Keiko, well except they are not fucking like bunnies.”





Yusuke reached up to hit the taller male when Keiko suddenly cleared her throat. “Yusuke, introduce yourself.”





Yusuke turned back to the table and gave a big stupid grin. “Oh yeah, I forgot. Hi, I’m Urameshi Yusuke. It is nice to meet you.”





Tai smirked at him and raise her hand a little. “So, you are the famed Yusuke Keiko has been droning on about for months. I hope that you live up to your reputation, Yusuke. Sit down; we don’t bite hard enough to break the skin. You to Kuwabara,” she said gesturing to the empty seats at the table.





As Kuwabara sat down next to Aki, she turned and reached her hand out to Yusuke. “Don’t mind her, Yusuke-san. She just doesn’t want to sing. I’m Aki and it is so nice to finally meet one of the men we’ve heard so much about.”





Yusuke stared at the hand before him before grabbing it in a bone-crushing shake. “I hope you didn’t believe everything Shizuru has told. She can be brutal.” He looked at Aki’s face and saw her eyes pinched in pain and then looked down at the smaller hand he was holding. “Oh fuck! I’m so sorry. I just don’t realize my strength sometimes,” he mumbled, letting go of her hand and watched her cradle it against her chest.





Aki hid her face behind her hair. “It is okay, Yusuke-san. It happens all of the time. I know I’m little.” She looked up and smiled showing that all was forgiven. “So who is giving to sing first?” she asked, looking at the stage as the first ‘act’ (if one could even call karaoke that) was getting ready to start.





Shizuru smiled evilly at Kuwabara, who was nervously playing with one of the bar’s napkins. “Kuwabara is going first,” she announced. “He lost a bet with me and now he has no choice.”





Kuwabara looked mortified while the group started taunting him and asking Shizuru what he did. “No, I can’t tell you what we were betting on but I can tell you what he is going to sing,” she told them. Kuwabara paled and began wishing he were Dorothy off of the Wizard of Oz. “My dearest little brother will be singing “Like A Virgin” by Madonna.”





Yusuke hit the floor convulsing with his laughter. Keiko and Tai laughed while Aki began to blush even harder than before. “Umm… Shizuru…” she whispered as Kuwabara stood up and walk over Yusuke to go to the stage.





Shizuru looked at the shy, younger woman, no girl. “What Aki?”





Aki’s blush turned even redder as she watched Kuwabara find the song on the computerized system. “Well… is it really fair to make him sing that song? He is a male after all,” she whispered, looking down at the table as if it would begin to talk back to her.





Shizuru let out a bark of evil laughter. “He sings that song in the shower. Besides you of all people know his deepest secret,” she told her just as the music began.





Yusuke jumped up off the floor. “What secret?” he demanded of Shizuru, wanting to know what the hell his best friend was keeping from him.





Shizuru reached inside her purse and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up and looked past Yusuke to listen to Kuwabara. “Not my secret to tell. Now if you will please sit so I can watch that jackass of a brother of mine make as ass of himself.”





For the next four minutes (I’m guessing here. I’ve never really heard the song. Improvise, improvise, improvise) Kuwabara sang his favorite song and blushed so hard he looked as though he would pass out due to permeate blood loss. The group at the table, excluding the meek and shy Aki of course, never stopped laughing at the oaf. When he finished and finally made it back to the table, he looked ready to kill Shizuru. “You know one day I will get my revenge,” he told her and the group just laughed harder. The rest of the evening was spent drinking, talking, and yes, even some singing, as soon as everyone was drunk enough to forget their own names. What was supposed to be a disaster for Yusuke turned out to be a great night with two new friends and a killer hangover the next morning.