A New Year's Eve Vignette
By Soyokaze

It was another ningen holiday. New Year's Eve, to be precise. Exactly sixteen minutes before the countdown for the final few seconds would begin, the ball would drop, and a new, fresh year would start.

And of course, everybody kisses somebody else, according to the American custom.

With another excuse to bring the Urameshi team, tons of junk food, and three big bottles of champagne together, no one could resist the special party that Hatanaka Shiori volunteered to hold in her house. Hatanaka Shiori herself would be out and about with Hatanaka Kazuyu, which was good, because all of her son's friends were planning on getting shamefully hammered. Kurama would have preferred such a display not be performed in the presence of his mother.

So Kuwabara Kazuma and his sister Kuwabara Shizuru, jaganshi Hiei and his sister koorime Yukina, Urameshi Yusuke and his wife Urameshi Keiko, youko Kurama a. k. a. Minamino Shuuichi, Koenma (who had managed to weasel George into covering for him), and Botan were all gathered in the family room of the Hatanaka home. In the corner sat a long table filled with sandwiches, chips, dip, and all necessary snack items, prepared by Shiori's own hands.

The popular American custom had happily been adopted, and kissing partners were being assigned (but if you counted how many guests are present, you'll figure out the problem). It was a no-brainer that Keiko and Yusuke were going to be making out the minute the ball dropped, and Kuwabara had, shyly and respectfully, requested that Yukina be the one to kiss him at midnight. Botan and Koenma had agreed to smooch each other, suckered into the tradition by (guess who?) Yusuke, and having no real desire to kiss anyone else, and Shizuru claimed Kurama, saying that though she had no romantic interest in him, she'd always wondered what it would be like to kiss a guy as gorgeous as he was. You can imagine what kind of red the youko turned at that comment.

Guess who that left without a partner?

Hiei sulked, all by himself, in a corner of the room, leaning against the wall and sipping at a cup of something he'd stolen from the snack table. He felt no need to kiss anyone, and was sure as hell that no one wanted to kiss him, so he'd dismissed it as a 'stupid ningen custom' and chosen to lay low while the others performed the ritual, in case any of them got any ideas. Hn. Kurama had forced him to go, anyway. They had wagered on whether or not Kurama could get his driver's license on his first try. After being informed of the procedure, Hiei had not thought there was a chance in hell. Hn. When Kurama returned with a shiny laminated card that allowed him to operate an automobile without parental assistance, Hiei had frowned, protested, but eventually was physically constrained into fulfilling his part of the wager. If he lost, he had to attend the New Year's party. At least he didn't have to kiss anyone. Hn.

Everyone else present, taken by Hiei's innocent, child-like appearance, began to feel sympathy creeping up on them.

Yusuke, in particular, knew that deep, deep, DEEP down, Hiei was feeling rejected again. Of course, it was up to a girl to volunteer, leave their current partner and save him from it, because he liked Hiei and all, but he wasn't that sorry for him. He kept an arm locked around Keiko the entire time, and they sat nestled on the couch, happy as two clams.

Now, Shizuru. Shizuru liked Hiei a lot. Not romantically, don't get the wrong idea. But her psychic propensity enabled her to understand him better than some of their little 'gang' could, and she did truly appreciate him as a good friend. A diminutive, rather nasty good friend, but a good friend.

The problem: she really was curious about what it would be like to kiss Kurama. He was, to put it plainly, the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen. She'd often speculated that his youko natural beauty had somehow affected Shuuichi's appearance. People on the street stopped and stared at him. Come on. Who wouldn't want to kiss him? So she was reluctant to give up a chance that would not come around for another whole year.

Besides, she figured Hiei would bite off her tongue, or something.

Botan. Botan was completely exasperated by the little fire demon. He sulked far too much, in her opinion. Life was too short, she should know. She was not about to kiss him and was thus a lost cause, and chatting animatedly with Koenma and Yusuke besides. Yukina? Sick, she's his sister! Besides, it would only serve to spark another heated argument between fire youkai and orange-haired ningen, one that would more than likely end in blood spurts and nasty bruises. Kurama really didn't want his mother's home stained with two of his friends' blood.

That left Keiko. Keiko was currently tucking her head under Yusuke's chin, watching intently as the countdown began. Or, it seemed intently. Her big brown eyes kept flitting over to the corner where everyone's favorite fire demon had planted his feet. His eyebrows were in what seemed to be a constant frown, his huge eyes fixated irritably on the large, shiny ball that would somehow cause one year to end and another to begin. He looked completely satisfied. Well, to the innocent bystander, he would look pretty pissed, but Keiko knew that Hiei was having as much fun as he would allow himself to, and was content without a kissing partner.

Maybe.

Keiko giggled.

Yusuke noticed the small, sweet noise, and turned to her. "What's so funny?" he asked, amidst all the laughter and chatter in the room. Keiko giggled again. Yusuke followed her eyes, and found Hiei to be her source of amusement. The Reikai Tantei looked back down at his wife, then back at the oblivious Hiei.

Yusuke grinned.

"Do it," he encouraged her wickedly. Keiko looked up at him with smiling brown eyes.

"You don't mind?" she asked slyly.

Yusuke's grin widened. "I'll get mine later tonight." Keiko, not able to help herself, giggled again, careful not to make herself conspicuous. Nonchalantly, she sauntered over to the snack bar, as the countdown began.

"Oi, here it goes minna-san! Say it with me!" shouted the reporter on the television. "Ten-"

Keiko pretended to look interested in the selection of foods, inching closer to where Hiei stood.

"-eight, seven-"

Yusuke suppressed a laugh. It was hurting his gut.

"- five, four-"

Everyone else was preparing for the big moment, and the rest of the occupants of the room had taken up the count with the anchorman. Kuwabara was starting to flush. In fact, the probable reason behind Hiei's being unaware of his stalker was his preoccupation with the big oaf about to kiss his sister. He would allow a kiss- Yukina DID like Kuwabara- but if he started doing some of that foul touching and drooling some ningen were prone to, the man's head would be off his shoulders in seconds.

Still Keiko inched closer.

"-two, one, YEAH!" came the huge cry from the crowd on the television. The glittering ball dropped, confetti and glitter and some women's tops flew into the air, and everyone, tipsy with champagne, began their newly adopted American custom. Kuwabara and Yukina looked at each other modestly, until the ice maiden stood up and initiated a remarkably chaste kiss. Shizuru pounced on Kurama before he knew what hit him. Koenma and Botan were- in Yusuke's opinion- having a little too much fun with their part of the tradition. But the best part of the entire party was watching Keiko seize Hiei's face in her hands and pull him up into a big, wet smooch.

The fire demon was so surprised he didn't move for the entirety of it, and Keiko looked astoundingly pleased with herself when she finally broke it off. Yusuke and Kuwabara were laughing their heads off.

"Hiei, you aren't a bad kisser," she announced, making them laugh harder. Hiei's eyes were wider than anyone had ever seen them as they stared up at Keiko. Koenma and Botan were- erm, a little too preoccupied to enjoy the moment, but everyone else in the room had time to appreciate it. Yukina, in her quiet manner, looked startled, but soon joined Shizuru in a smile. Kurama, the blush elicited by Shizuru's fierce embrace wearing off, could not hold back a chuckle. Hiei's face was priceless.

Keiko looked around, pleased with her effect. "Happy New Year, everybody!"

At the Urameshi home, later that night, Keiko and Yusuke were still laughing about the affair.

"The look on his face was great, Keiko! I could never have gotten that kind of reaction," Yusuke attested, and

Keiko rolled over on her side in the bed, grinning.

"Yusuke, if you kissed him, I'm pretty sure you would have gotten a reaction." Yusuke laughed at that. "So you really don't mind that I didn't kiss you at midnight? I mean, it is kind of a big thing."

Her husband waved her off. "No, no, it was worth it! And you'll get to kiss me next year. When's the next time we get an opportunity like that?" Keiko nodded with a soft chuckle. Yusuke reached out and stroked her brown hair affectionately. "What did you think about Koenma and Botan, eh? You think it was them or the champagne?"

"I tend to think it was a little of both," she replied with a smile. "Koenma would never have made that kind of a spectacle, were he in his sober mind." She paused. "I think they really like each other. A lot."

Yusuke's countenance turned thoughtful. "I wonder if they could get married. I mean, if they wanted to. Can the prince of the dead have a wife?"

"Yeah, could a Reikai ferry-girl have a husband?" Keiko wondered out loud. "I don't know. They're perfect for each other in my opinion, whether they can marry or not."

Her husband raised a dark eyebrow. "How's that?"

"Think about it. They see each other every day already. And Koenma always gives Botan the special assignments, whether they have to do with you or not. She's told me of a few," she added, before her husband questioned how she knew about that. "And they bicker just like they're married. One minute they are completely furious with each other, and then a new topic springs up and they're friends again. Just like us," she added.

Yusuke analyzed the situation with this new information, and realized that she was, in fact, correct. "That's kinda funny."

"How's it funny?"

"I dunno. Just seems funny to me."

"Oh."

There was silence for a moment as they both stared into space, giddy with excitement and not ready for sleep yet.

Yusuke's hand still rested atop Keiko's dark head of hair. Stars shone through the window, but the moon faced the other side of the house. They could hear cars zooming past occasionally, and wondered where the heck some people were going at three in the morning.

"Oh, Yusuke, the ramen shop's going to be closed tomorrow morning. Wanna go out for breakfast?"

Yusuke immediately brightened at the idea. "Sounds great."

"You don't think I embarrassed him, do you?" she asked suddenly.

Yusuke blinked. "What?"

"Hiei. I would hate myself if I embarrassed him."

"Oh," Yusuke realized. "Nah, I don't think so. He's got a hell of a temper, but Hiei tends to let things roll off him easily. He doesn't keep grudges." Yusuke paused. "Except against Kuwabara."

"Good," Keiko breathed, with a sigh of relief. "I mean, not for Kuwabara, but-"

"I know what you mean," Yusuke assured her. His wife's brown eyes showed mild concern.

"I just-" she muttered, "I know it's none of my business, but he seems so sad all the time. I don't know him that well, but I find myself worrying about him sometimes. That's why I used to be so hesitant to approach him."

Yusuke's eyebrows furrowed. "Hiei... Hiei's problem is that he is endlessly loyal to us, and we are to him, but he won't admit it to himself. He won't allow himself to have friends." He paused. "Hiei once told me the only people that would mourn for him if he died would be me, Kurama, and Mukuro."

"But I would mourn. I count him as a friend."

"I know that. But he doesn't. He has a very low opinion of himself. I don't know the whole story, but something really, really bad happened to him when he was a kid. Hiei doesn't go looking for sympathy or anything like that, but, for all the acts he puts on, he really doesn't think much of himself." Keiko looked saddened. Yusuke knew she was feeling bad about what she did at the party. "Hey, your kiss probably made him feel better," he reasoned. "Loosened him up a little?"

Keiko smiled. "Yeah."

Yusuke decided to change the subject. "Hey, what about how slammed Shizuru was?" he blurted out, and immediately regretted it. Keiko's smile did a flip-flop.

"Yusuke, I didn't think that was very funny."

Yusuke rolled his eyes childishly, earning a glare of disapproval. "Well, I guess it'll be funnier ten years from now."

"Oh, don't talk about ten years from now, Yusuke," she breathed, shifting in the tangled sheets. "I'll be finding crow's feet and gray hairs."

"From our kids?" he teased.

"No, from you."

"Ha ha."

Keiko yawned, covering her mouth politely and stretching her muscles out to her full length across the bed. Her husband look displeased. "Don't tell me you're getting tired already!" Yusuke exclaimed incredulously, pulling her closer. "I still haven't gotten my midnight kiss." The two exchanged sly grins.

Keiko gave him his kiss. And we will leave it at that.