When Yusuke returned to Ningenkai about eight months after the end of the first Makai Tournament, Keiko gave him a long, detailed report on "what happened to my life while you were having fun in Demonland". And he actually managed to stay awake to hear half of it -- a solid proof of how much he had missed her. He clearly remembered her mentioning a party in Sarayashiki two years after graduation. She had had lots of fun meeting their former classmates again -- Kuwabara was the only one she had kept close contact with --, learning to which school each one had gone to, seeing who got taller or fatter or crazier, and updating the gossip. But she also spoke of a bit of a heartache in finding how the old school building had changed as well. New colors to the walls, their classroom turned into a computer lab, the courtyard completely renovated.

At first Yusuke had failed to comprehend that heartache. He had always hated the yellow sickening tones of the corridors, the courtyard was in serious need of rebuilding, and a new computer lab sounded like a great idea too, so he had dismissed the whole thing as another of Keiko's sentimental issues. But then he carried no real love for that school in his heart. Too many unpleasant memories. Even when it came to Keiko and Kuwabara, the best reminiscences were from outside the school gates. Takenaka-sensei was probably the only exception.

However, now Yusuke comprehended Keiko's feelings a lot better than he wished to. It was really strange to come back to Reikai and find so many little changes after only... what? One year? No, less...

The huge wooden gate of Enma's palace had been replaced by a sliding pane of smooth, black and remarkably heavy metal of some sort -- a predictable alteration after Yusuke knocked down the old one with a Shotgun in his last visit. It still had the ridiculous Koenma-faced comm beside it, still activated by pressing its "pacifier"; but a computer now checked the fingerprints and retina of every visitor before considering opening the gate, and did that with annoying slothfulness. If Botan weren't with him carrying her ferrygirl ID card, he might have tried his Shotgun again.

Inside the changes were subtler, but Yusuke knew the place well enough to spot them immediately. A new carpet in the hall, a different disposition of the pictures hanging from the main corridor walls, a coffee machine placed where before stood a drinking fountain. Stuff like that. Really, only small, almost insignificant details, supposedly not enough to send someone on a brooding trip over the inescapable passing of time.

Right now though... Yusuke couldn't think of anything else.

"You look funny," Botan giggled.

He glared at her. He didn't feel funny at all.

"I mean, everybody here knows you lack a little something in your brain," she tapped his head with her knuckles. "But I'm sure they think even you are smart enough to know there are better places for a picnic than Enma-sama's palace."

Yusuke blinked and looked down to the basket in his hand. He was looking ridiculous. Keiko probably left this dang thing with me to make me look like an idiot anyway. He considered dropping it somewhere and recovering it in his way out. But he knew himself, and knew he would end up misplacing it. And Keiko was angry with him already.

Well, she seemed angry. That's what not talking to your husband and not looking at him in the eye and not letting him near her and storming away and leaving a ridiculous picnic basket behind for him to carry around and make a fool of himself means, isn't it? As if it were his fault! He hadn't asked to become a youkai, had he? He wasn't the one who determined that demons could live for centuries while humans would too rarely get to complete one. He couldn't be blamed for the laws of Nature! His only sin was perhaps to have married without giving any of it much thought, he could hand that to Hiei. But was that why she was upset? Because he had married her?

"Women!" he spat. "How in hell are we suppose to understand women?"

Botan gave him a very uncharacteristic glacial look. "By paying attention, maybe?"

"You think I don't pay attention?!" Yusuke yelled indignantly.

"I'm sure you don't," she shrugged. "Men never do."

"So tell me what I didn't pay attention to this time," he challenged her.

"I don't have to tell you. It's no good if you don't find out on your own."

"Bullshit. You don't know why Keiko is angry at me either."

Botan sighed and shook her head in dismay. "Boy, you're hopeless."

So was arguing with the blue-haired ferrygirl, so Yusuke chose to ignore her and mutter a few curses under his breath while following her through the long, dark corridors.

It really wasn't a place for a picnic. It wasn't nearly as gloomy as a God of Death's citadel would be expected to look, but it had the unmistakable atmosphere of a "working space", as the subtle smell of weak coffee and just-printed paper always suggested to him. It smells just like Kurama's office... Only the redhead kept half a dozen plant vases there, probably to save him from going nuts and jumping out the window.

The way to Koenma's office seemed longer than ever. Eventually they got to the large office where the onis handled most of the paperwork; this time, of course, there was no Live Mountain of Quarreling Ferrygirls squirming in the middle of it. But the floor had been rebuilt, and the walls repainted. "Green?"

Botan tried to slide her hands inside her pockets, forgetting that her civilian clothes had been replaced by her pink kimono when she crossed the Reikai borders. "Koenma-sama consulted a psychologist that suggested that green shades infuse tranquil and peaceful feelings in the workers' spirits. The ferrygirls had to attend therapy group sessions for four months, and some of psychodrama too. Koenma-sama promised to fire the next ferrygirl caught fighting in service."

Yusuke snorted. "What's wrong with fighting?"

"It disturbs the working environment, lowers our productivity and generates individual stress," she recited automatically.

"Huh?"

"It also made four onis very rich with the bets," she grumbled. "They retired and built their own castles with great views of the Styx."

Yusuke laughed. "Must have been the first time in history that ferrygirls brought good fortune to someone's life..."

Botan banged the pad of her oar on the floor angrily, almost "unpurposefully" hitting the boy's toes. "You're so ungrateful, Yusuke! After all I've done for you!"

"OUCH!" Yusuke hopped on one leg, dropping the basket to hold the offended foot in his hands. "Hey, you can't fight here, you airhead! Wanna be fired?"

The blue-haired girl rolled her sleeves up, raising the oar menacingly. "This is my day off, Yusuke no baka!"

"Botan-san!" called a loud voice from the center of the room, "Are you back already?"

Cautiously, Yusuke ran towards the owner of the voice, and safely away from Botan. "Hey, George! How are you doing, old boy?"

Right now the blue oni was suffering from a common disease among those who saw Yusuke Urameshi dropping by for an unannounced visit: his legs had turned into Jell-O. "Aaaahh! What are you doing here, Yusuke-san?!"

"Came see the brat, what else?" the boy patted the ogre's back.

"Oh my..." Now George's hands were developing the same symptoms.

"What?" Yusuke frowned. "Don't tell me he's not here."

"He's here, but..."

"Great! Don't worry, I know my way around."

Somewhere deep in his guts George found the courage to grab Urameshi's arm and stop his march toward Koenma's office. "I'm deeply sorry, Yusuke-san. Koenma-sama gave me orders not to be disturbed by anyone this morning."

"Isn't he feeling well?" inquired Botan at the oni's back, her oar on her shoulder.

"He looks fine," George shrugged, then twisted a finger inside one of his pointed ears. "And as loud as usual."

"Then what is he up to?" For a second Yusuke considered the possibility of the Reikai Prince having a change of heart about the "Imigo Incident" -- as Koenma called that whole affair now, to Hiei's annoyance. That's not likely, he mused. He wouldn't risk his small victory. Not at Mukuro's prices anyway. Or mine.

"I don't know," George admitted. "He mumbled something about an investigation."

Investigation?! "Did he find a new Tantei?"

Botan shook her head vehemently. "Enma-sama suspended the search for candidates for the job. After you and Sensui..." she shrugged. "...well... let's just say he's not that confident that Reikai can afford any more bad choices."

Urameshi glowered at her, but the sight of the aggressive oar on her shoulder reminded him in time not to add a nasty comment to his glare. "So what's the idea? Koenma is planning to hunt demons on his own?"

"Thanks to King Enki, neither we nor Ningenkai have been having much trouble with youkais," George informed him with obvious relief. "For the few that cross the Makai borders to cause us trouble, we send the Tokubetsu Boueitai."

Yusuke chuckled. "Don't tell me those clowns are actually useful! Couldn't you guys find better material to replace me?"

No one bothered to reply to that.

"Anyway," George stiffened. "I don't think Koenma-sama is worried about any demons. There's been great reformulation in our working system this past year... new sections, service optimization, data banks upgrade, severe reorganization... I'm sure Koenma-sama is busy studying the details of our recent improvements."

After withstanding the Royal Brat for over seven centuries, one would think George would know better. Botan was noticeably biting off her laughter.

"I gotta talk to him, George," Yusuke insisted. "It's really important. Tell Koenma he can read his hentai manga collection later."

The oni almost fainted. "Yusuke-san!!!"

"Listen, why don't I go tell Koenma-sama that you're here and see if he can see you for a minute?" Botan volunteered. "This way George won't be punished and I get to know what he's up to."

But George stood in her way with all his height and brawny arms spread wide. "I'm sorry. Koenma-sama was very specific about not letting you in either."

Pink eyes blinked indignantly. "Me? Specifically?

That hurt.

There was some nasty talking in the Palace about how Koenma-sama had been -- arguably -- privileging Botan out of all the other ferrygirls in the past few years. Or rather, there had been some nasty talking. After the Big Incident, everyone was being awfully careful when it came to spreading rumors. Nobody wanted to see more of Reikai psychiatrists' faces than the strictly necessary...

Botan dismissed the gossip as applesauce. If she had indeed got more attention than usual from their boss, it was all Yusuke's doing. She hadn't asked to be the one guiding the boy over the Styx when he was run over by that car... and she hadn't asked to be appointed as Tantei assistant either. And was it her fault if Yusuke had such a knack to finding world-devastating trouble in his path...?

But this... what would everybody say or think if they found out that now she had the "privilege" of being specifically shut out of Koenma's office? "Why, George? Why me?"

The oni shrugged. "I don't know, Botan-san. He just told me, 'If anyone gets into my office without my authorization before lunchtime, you're fired'." George yelled in a baby voice, in the best personification of Koenma that Yusuke had ever seen. "And then he added, 'If Botan gets in, you're Enma's pet tigers' food'."

Botan shivered in sympathy. She and George had barely made it past the giant beasts when they went to talk to Enma about the developments of the Sensui crisis...

Yusuke glanced at his watch. "And just when do you guys serve lunch?"

"In three hours, twenty-six minutes and forty-two seconds," George answered automatically.

How the oni got to be so precise with Koenma's meals without ever wearing a watch was one of the great mysteries of Reikai. Botan also thought it was rather unfair. The Prince always demanded his meals to be served with absolute punctuality, but too often he would forget about the tray beside him entirely, and when he would finally taste the miso he would throw the bowl at George's head, complaining it was too cold...

But Yusuke was worried about himself. "Three and a half hours?! He lunches in the middle of the afternoon?"

Botan rolled her eyes. "Tokyo is currently two hours ahead of Reikai," she clarified. "And you're exaggerating anyway."

Urameshi couldn't care less. "I can't wait that long!"

"Why not? It's not like Keiko-chan seemed that eager to see you again..."

The boy tried to glare at her again, but he couldn't put any strength in it. Keiko probably wanted to be left alone for a while. And it wasn't like he had any idea of what to tell her at this point. "Kuso... Okay."

George couldn't believe his ears. "Okay? You said... 'okay'? Really?"

Yusuke winced. He had never bothered much about getting George in trouble before, had he? "Yeah, okay, I don't want Koenma to be mad at you because of me. Besides, I'm not eager to open his door and catch him doing whatever a baby his size can do over a hentai manga..."

The ferrygirl jiggled her oar in the air, "accidentally" hitting Yusuke's buttocks with the paddle. "You are so disgusting, Yusuke!"

Slammed out of balance, the former Tantei stumbled forward, practically falling in George's arms. "I'm so glad, Yusuke-san! Now I'll finally have the time to fulfill the promise I made to Kurama-san!"

"Pro-- promise?!" The blue oni was practically dragging him away through a narrow door that led to a corridor he had never been in and to some very unknown destination. "What promise? George, where are you taking me?"

"Kurama-san sent me a beautiful New Years card," the ogre smiled. "He apologized for not being able to visit me lately, but made me promise that the next time you came to Reikai I would show you my family album, so you could tell him all about it when you went back."

"WHAT?!"

"Kurama-san is such a nice and considerate man, don't you think?" George went on, unaware of Yusuke's bewilderment as he hauled the boy towards his private quarters. "He showed so much interest in my sixteen brothers and the family lore. I can't even imagine why everyone says he's sneaky and devious..."

"Neither can I," Botan giggled, and waved at the now frantic Yusuke. "See ya later!" Much later...

"He said I should tell you all the new developments since he's been here last year," the oni informed the boy. "So you can fill him in later."

"Oh I'll fill him in, don't worry about that." Yusuke promised solemnly. I'll fill him with my fists until what's left of him fills up inside a very tiny matchbox...

George was so happy that he started to sing.

Botan ran in the opposite direction.

Yusuke decided a matchbox was far too big for that damn Youko...

~*~

Not her. Specifically, not her.

For the next couple of hours, Botan perambulated between the onis' desks, jiggling her oar distractedly -- every now and then obliviously causing a few of the ten meter-tall paper piles that crowded the chamber to tumble down, to the onis' despair --, her mind focused on that new grim reality.

Koenma-sama didn't want to see her.

Why? This was so not fair... She had always been there for him, to help him, to bring and take news, messages and gossip, to cover up his blunders so Enma-daiou wouldn't find out. And that was the way he treated her?

Not that she expected special treatment after all those years she had been there for him... withstanding his moody days, his infantile whims, his spiteful fits, his pouting and whining... No, no, she was supposed to deserve just as much consideration as he offered everyone else.

That should be little consideration enough, she sighed, thinking about George.

But she was actually getting special treatment. Worse treatment. The Prince didn't want to see anyone, but the last person he wanted to see in the three worlds was Botan. He would severely punish anyone who dared to force him to see her. He would banish her forever from Enma's palace if she dared to disturb him. He would rather have his eyes blinded for life than having the displeasure to see her before him ever again.

Not that George had said anything of the sort, but she knew Koenma and... and.. ahn...

Okay, I'm making a storm out of a few drops of water, she admitted. Koenma-sama was busy. He couldn't be distracted. Maybe he thought there was something about her that could be more distracting than anything else...?

Botan faltered, and an oni shrieked in dismay as the pad of her oar hit his computer screen and sent it flying to the opposite end of the chamber.

It can't be. It can't be. It can't be. But as the repetition echoed in her mind, her cheeks grew redder and redder.

What else could it possibly be? Koenma-sama couldn't concentrate around her. He couldn't think straight when she was near. Her mere presence made it impossible for him to think of anything but her. She caused such a powerful impression on him that he couldn't work, he couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, all he could do was stare at her in delighted fascination...

Not that George had said anything of the sort either.

But that was the only explanation. Unless Koenma-sama thought she was particularly distracting because she was loud or clumsy, and she was none of that.

Absently she wondered -- for a split second -- where all those papers raining over her head were coming from, before focusing firmly on her problem again. This is more important. Not only I'm breaking the Reikai Prince's heart, but this might affect our work relationship, and I don't wanna hear that shrink's blabbering about harmony and productivity all over again...

That was so inconvenient! Koenma-sama should know better than getting involved with someone he worked with. Of course, he was very young, he probably hadn't thought of the consequences...

Or maybe he had. That was why he was keeping his distance, wasn't it?

He was young, all right. But not too young not to have noticed the opposite sex. George had told her everything about the incident with Ruka in the Dark Tournament. And after Yukina was rescued from Taroukane's paws, there was some gossip among the ferrygirls about the strange looks the Prince had given Miyuki during her -- his? -- trial.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't only the opposite sex he's noticed...

But Yusuke was wrong about Koenma-sama. The Prince was not the type that locked himself in with a bunch of hentai manga. Typical of Yusuke, judging others by his own naughtiness...

Koenma-sama was an innocent baby, only 712 years old, naïve, candid, fanciful... and wow, he was also kind of cute...

In the name of Enma, what was she thinking?

Inappropriate. Indecorous. Unacceptable. Two desks were flipped upside down by her distracted oar as she shook her head against those awkward thoughts. She had to talk to Koenma-sama. It would be sad to frustrate his romantic delusions, but it would be worse to let things go on as they were.

I'm sorry, Koenma-sama, the last thing I want is to hurt your feelings, but we have to settle this matter once and for all, she decided, at last putting her oar away, to the onis' relief.

Up in the top of the tallest paper pile, a black shape sighed in relief as well.

Eternally oblivious to all that, Botan marched resolutely towards the Prince's office. She wouldn't barge in, oh no. She knew better than that. But she would make sure that her pretty face would be the first one he saw when he finally opened the door.

I wonder if Koenma-sama knows today's the ningen holiday to celebrate love, Botan sighed, blushing dreamily.

~*~

Up in the top of the tallest paper pile, a black shape scowled down to the pink and blue figure crossing the room. What was that damn girl doing?

The dark silhouette blurred off, flitting from the top of one paper tower to another, silently making its way across the chamber. The silly ferrygirl had made its path a lot more hazardous than the expected, but finally she seemed to have found a better thing to do than creating havoc for her co-workers and trying to unsuspectingly knock down suspicious dark silhouettes.

Hiei looked down briefly to make sure none of the onis had spotted him. Over the years he and Kurama had practiced dozens of methods of invading Koenma's office, his personal quarters and the Treasure Chamber. It was their secret hobby and their private joke over the Prince of Reikai, who never learned of their sneaking activities and even bragged that the new security system he had implanted years ago was infallible.

But they had always worked together, Kurama and him, and now Hiei was on his own. He tried to see it as if it was still a game, the same game that had led him and the impish redhead to funny, unforgettable moments. But his mind was full of bitter words and lonesome feelings now. He had deliberately chosen a long, dangerous way, one to demand his entire focus, so maybe the previous events of the day would recoil to darker corners of his mind where they couldn't bother him. Leaping from pile to pile without causing them to collapse or even tremble was not easy, even for someone as light and nimble as he was.

Doing so with a crazy Botan pulling his "floor" off from under his feet had been unexpectedly harder.

Hiei let out an angry sigh. The girl had stopped that stupid oar jiggling at last. But she had now sat on the floor right in front of Koenma's office, leaning her back against the door. Great, just great... How am I going past her now?

What was she doing there anyway? There must be someone dying somewhere. Go fetch, girl!

But Botan didn't seem willing to go anywhere for now.

I can't stay up here all day, Hiei growled to himself. He didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do, but staying there would be asking to get caught. And even if it was extremely unlikely that he would face any punishment for invading Reikai -- thanks to Mukuro --, getting caught wasn't an option. Getting caught meant losing the game. He had lost enough for today already.

Among the crowd of ogres crouching on the floor to pick up the mess Botan had left behind, a patch of wild blond hair held by a pink bandanna attracted Hiei's attention. His perfect memory produced a name long before he managed to get a glimpse of a face: Ryouhi.

He hadn't seen the girl since his last encounter with the Tokubetsu Boueitai. She had pretended not to know him then, and he had returned the favor. For different reasons, neither of them was too eager to reveal any past connection.

Hiei didn't think of her often. He preferred not to. Ryouhi reminded him of a facet of his character he wasn't very comfortable with, and reminded him of when this facet began to show too brightly for his liking. In a way, Ryouhi pushed him into the first step on the vicious road that eventually led to Kurama, to the hellish pits of misery the redhead had shoved him into.

Hn. What was the point of lying now? To the hellish pits of misery he had voluntarily jumped into, blinded by dreams the redhead had never promised, would never promise.

He had been the fool above all fools. It was ridiculous to blame Kurama or Ryouhi or any other but himself.

The blonde moved to the wall on Hiei's left and disappeared into a large corridor. Out of reflex, he followed her, a flitting shadow blurring on and off, too swiftly to be noticed.

It was not like he had anything better to do anyway, not until Botan decided to move her ass away from Koenma's door. Maybe Ryouhi was going to the Boueitai's training center. Seeing those baka soldiers kicking each other might be funny enough to entertain him out of his bad mood for a while.

However, soon enough it became clear to Hiei where Ryouhi was heading. He and Kurama had once used the air duct over the wing sheltering the ferrygirls' quarters in their way to the Treasure Chamber, and the suffocating mix of strong floral perfumes assaulting his nose now was unmistakable.

He shouldn't have been surprised, should he? If that Valentine bastard operated from Reikai, he should have expected to see the effects of his intoxicating kekkai here too...

Ryouhi came to a halt in front of a bluish door, fluffed her hair worriedly, took a deep breath... and knocked. Hiei, finding a niche to hide over one of the broad rectangular lamps lighting the corridor, smirked at the girl's jittery gestures. Definitely a prey of Valentine's...

"Who's there?" asked a thin, feminine voice from behind the door.

"Me."

"Go away."

Hiei arched an eyebrow. Apparently he wasn't the only one having a bad day...

"Come on, Mai-chan, open up," Ryouhi insisted.

"No."

"Please let me explain..."

"Not interested."

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest, severely disappointed. What the hell have you done, Ryouhi?

"Please, Mai-chan! It wasn't my fault."

"It's never your fault," the other voiced replied sarcastically.

Ryouhi was biting his lip. "This time it really wasn't," she moaned. "I begged Commander Otake to let me come back sooner, I swear I did."

The door opened abruptly, and a short young brunette wearing a crimson kimono stood up glaring daggers at the Boueitai. "And of course, Commander Otake just can't do anything without you, ne?"

If Ryouhi was happy that at least the other had agreed to open the door, she didn't show. "I'm just trying to do my job the best I can, Mai-chan. Just like you do yours."

Hiei suppressed a snorting chuckle. Judging from his memories of Mai, that was the wrong thing to tell her. Mai did her job the best she could, yes, but only as long as it didn't interfere with her own agenda. Ryouhi should know that better than anyone.

The Jaganshi took a long look at the ferrygirl who had been sent to fetch his soul when he died, cut down by Shigure's sword and his own death wish. Her dark slick hair fell loosely over her small shoulders, and even from a fair distance he could see her gray eyes glinting. In her own way, Mai was more of a fighter than any of the Boueitai. Hiei wondered if Koenma would ever find out how far she would go to get what she wanted.

"I waited for three hours, Ryouhi," Mai snarled.

"I'm sorry, Mai-chan, I really am," the blonde pleaded, looking sincere in her regret. "I wasn't any happier with it than you were. You think I like doing the Tantei's job? It's not what I've trained for!"

The Boueitai doing Yusuke's job? Hiei rolled his eyes. What a poor idea.

"Hunting ordinary youkai throughout Ningenkai," Ryouhi huffed indignantly. "If only Enki's patrols in Makai would do their job right..."

What?! For a moment Hiei actually considered stepping down from his hiding place to give the blonde a piece of his mind...

"Hiei-san is with Enki's patrol, Ryouhi," Mai said coldly.

To the Fire Demon's wry amusement, Ryouhi winced noticeably at the reminder. "Yeah, I know. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that..."

"What?!"

"I missed you so much, Mai-chan," the blonde groaned in exasperation. "I wanted to be here. Right now I'm angry at everything and everyone that had anything to do with keeping me away from you."

Mai's eyes narrowed, studying the other's face closely.

"Including myself," Ryouhi amended in a dejected murmur.

Slowly, an impish grin started to soften the ferrygirl's demeanor. "Okay. So at least both of us are feeling exactly the same way about you." But her tone held little of the contempt of moments before.

Hiei felt suddenly very cold and empty. As the two girls leaned toward each other for a make-up kiss, his mind was assailed by memories of another impish smile, another teasing voice, another mouth who would offer him no make-up kisses anymore.

Entertainment? Hah. Now his mood was worse than before.

As soon as Mai pulled Ryouhi inside and closed the door, Hiei moved away from that corridor, away from blithe auras of happy lovers, away from fantasies he wasn't allowed to cherish. He was an intruder here, unwelcome. He had to keep moving on and on and on...

An enraged flare of youki hit his senses hard, mercifully distracting him from his anguish.

~*~

"What do you mean, this is just the first album?!" Yusuke yelled, fingering the phonebook-sized photo album George had just shown him, describing each single picture with more details than the most patient bloke could withstand.

"Well, didn't you notice, Yusuke-san? This one only has my sixteenth brother, Jomi."

The young man gazed longingly at the door, which George had left temptingly open. "Wait... you mean... you have other fifteen albums? One for each brother?"

"Sixteen," George corrected him. "There's one for me as well."

"Ah," Yusuke muttered, feeling positively sick. "And are they... just as big as this one?"

"Oh no, of course not!"

Urameshi wondered if there was any point in being hopeful.

"Since Jomi is the youngest, we have fewer photos from him. The others are a lot bigger."

Of course it was pointless to be hopeful. Yusuke got on his feet and dropped the album on the low table. "Okay, that's it. That's enough."

"Yusuke-san?"

What was he doing here? Why had he let George drag him through half the palace to his small quarters? Why had he stayed there, quiet and obedient, listening to the longest selection of bad family jokes ever imagined? He was Yusuke Urameshi! No one could tell him what to do! Certainly not George, certainly not Koenma! Why was he here, putting up with Kurama's petty revenge, when he should be knocking down the brat's door and demanding the answers he came to get from him?

Easy answer. Because the longer he took to get those answers, the later he'd have to start figuring what to do about them.

Yusuke sat back on the old couch and made himself comfortable. "What's the name of your fifteenth brother again, George?"

~*~

Perched on the lamp just outside George's door, Hiei was having serious trouble keeping his balance. He was clutching his belly with one hand, while the other covered his nose and mouth in a mighty effort not to laugh himself silly.

When the redhead had told him the story about how he had been forced to chat amiably with George for a short lifetime while Yusuke sneaked into Koenma's office to find Hiei's file, the Jaganshi didn't dare to doubt Kurama's vows of retaliation over their former teamleader. He couldn't imagine how the Youko would make it work, but he knew he would find a way or die trying.

And there it was. Poor Yusuke. He'll think twice before challenging Kurama's sense of humor again.

Hiei felt his eyes stinging, and prayed it was still from the refrained laughter. Unshed tears of mirth, that's what they were. He couldn't permit himself any other kind.

"But Koenma-sama, I don't think this can wait any longer!" exclaimed a frantic Botan down the hallway. "Koenma-sama, wait!"

Hiei rubbed his eyes harshly, frowning at the approaching figures. The toddler's tiny legs made an impressive show of a regal march, but as always the pacifier ruined any image of maturity Koenma's seriousness could suggest. However, it was obvious the Prince was trying to put on a noble image, walking neither too hurriedly nor too shyly, and solemnly ignoring the blabbering ferrygirl on his heels. "Later, Botan, whatever it is. Now where is Yusuke?"

"But Koenma-sama..."

"Later, I said!"

"It's too important! It's urgent!"

When Koenma halted, Botan almost fell over him. The toddler turned his head just enough to eye her over his shoulder. "What could possibly be so urgent?"

The ferrygirl blinked, obviously startled at having his attention at last. "It's... I... well... I am distracting you."

"Yes, you are," Koenma agreed.

"And that must stop immediately," she added emphatically.

"Good," nodded the Prince, resuming his march. "Now where is Yusuke?"

Botan stood there for a moment, flabbergasted. "No, that's not what I meant! Koenma-sama!!!"

Hiei had no idea what she had meant, but when Yusuke, alerted by the girl's shouts, showed his smiling face at George's door, he knew he would never find out. "Hey Koenma! Done with your..." Yusuke's grin broadened. "...investigations?"

The Prince of Reikai's cheeks flushed rather suspiciously. "Ahn... No. But I needed a break. Besides, it's my lunch time."

"No, it's not," George frowned, joining Yusuke at the doorstep. "There's still twenty-seven minutes and eleven..."

"It's LUNCHTIME!" Koenma yelled. "Now go and bring me my meal. NOW!"

Wow, Hiei mused, watching the fleeing oni. I wonder if I can run that fast...

"Now what are you doing here, Yusuke?" asked the toddler, not too pleasantly.

"Can't a friend drop for a visit?"

"Last time you visited you destroyed the gates, invaded my office and stole Reikai's property."

Yusuke shrugged. "Desperate times, desperate measures. Not the case here. I just wanted to have a little chat with you."

Koenma munched his pacifier, his eyebrows knitted together. "If this is about Hiei..."

"It's not."

The Fire Demon had to repress a sudden urge to sneeze. Kisama.

The toddler stared at the half-youkai for a long minute -- during which Botan kept mumbling something about disturbing the harmony of the work environment -- then nodded towards the oni's quarters. "All right. Let's talk."

Yusuke grinned and bowed in a mocking reverence, a silly twirl of his right hand inviting the Prince to enter first. Koenma huffed and went inside, head raised high. Yusuke followed and closed the door.

Right on Botan's nose.

Hiei would have found it funny, weren't he feeling pretty much like the ferrygirl looked now. She rested her forehead against the door, trembling hands vanishing inside the long sleeves of her pink kimono. "But Koenma-sama..." she whispered tearfully. "I really don't want to hurt your feelings..."

Fucking Valentine, Hiei cursed. What kind of power was that?

The Fire Demon shook his head. Koenma was out of his office. The coast was clear. Time to win the game.

Botan heard a loud sigh from somewhere above her, and turned to look up at the lamp hanging from the ceiling, eight feet over her head. It was swinging a little.

But there was no one there.

~*~

On his way back to the large chamber -- through the air duct, where he didn't need to worry about being spotted by a passing oni -- Hiei wondered what was going on. He had a certain suspicion about why Yusuke had come to Reikai. But then he must have gotten here hours ago.

Koenma making a visitor of his wait for hours to be admitted wasn't anything surprising -- well, maybe it was, when it came to doing it to a powerful and reckless half-youkai like Yusuke. The Royal Brat had that thing about showing off his authority, and apparently he was also bold enough to impose his whims on a short-tempered Makai warlord. But Hiei would have bet his bed that Yusuke Urameshi would have never agreed to accede to Koenma's arrogant quirks.

A good thing that Hiei had never really made such a bet. Stupidly losing his precious bed after all the bloody effort to earn it, that would probably be too much for his sanity...

It was all too weird. A patient Yusuke, and a Koenma who was humble enough to go to Yusuke, instead of summoning Yusuke to him. He couldn't help being curious about that chat of theirs...

But whatever it was, it wasn't about him, so it wasn't his business. Hiei had enough problems of his own.

Deactivating the alarms along his way, the Jaganshi made it to the office in less than five minutes. Two more minutes to carefully unfasten the grid from the wall -- and that just because he decided to be as silent as possible -- and he was inside, landing elegantly on the carpeted floor in front of the toddler's desk. So much for Reikai's infallible security system.

Hiei smirked. Thieves 63, Koenma 1. Actually it had been Gouki who had set off the alarm that first time so long ago, but Kurama insisted that Koenma should be given that point, since it had been their mistake to drag the gaki with them.

The floor was covered with paper piles, like always. The large monitor was on, displaying the exterior of a suburban coffee shop. Hiei noticed the sign saying Pai Cafe in western letters, but found nothing of interest in the image.

Out of habit, Hiei checked the probing device in the panel just below the screen. Typing a few commands on the keyboard, he asked the computer to search for him, and smiled at the quick answer, 'requested subject not located'. The probing was based on ki samples collected by the Reikai scientists from any creature possessing ki they could put their hands on. It should scan both Reikai and Ningenkai in search of ki flows that could match the collected samples within a fair error range. The computer began to miss him during the Dark Tournament, for the Kokuryu had not only increased but also caused slight changes in his energy waves' outline. But Hiei had wanted more certainty that Reikai emissaries would not disturb him, so he had tampered with the computer and altered the search parameters in his file just before the Sensui incident.

Hiei sighed in self-contempt. Instead I was disturbed by that silly ferrygirl's cussed whistle. His ears ached in remembrance. Some days you just can't win.

And today seemed to be one of those days as well. Out of curiosity, he typed: 'Valentine'. Even if Hiei were not able to stop that saint, or whatever species he was, from ramming the worlds into chaos with that love-driven insanity, he would feel so much better if he could just punch the guy on the chin once or twice...

But soon the monitor flashed with the red inscription, 'requested subject not located; no parameters filed'. Hiei tried a few more different spellings, to no avail. Koenma must indeed be covering for the guy. His ki pattern wasn't even in the files.

Hiei didn't really expect to find anything, but still he felt frustrated. Moving to another part of the panel, he activated the communicator. A lopsided smile crossed his face when he remembered the usual misjudgment of his human friends, who constantly took him as an ignorant on technology. Sure, he didn't know that crazy Game Battler gizmo the kid Amanuma had dropped on them, but why should he? It was just a foolish human plaything, just as that Janken game. And if he had frowned at human telephones was because they seemed so primitive and had the most comical appearance, with that curly wire attaching the base to that conspicuous phone/mike curved gadget. The first time he saw Kurama using a phone, he had asked if the Youko didn't feel completely ridiculous talking to that thing. Kurama had laughed and answered, "Like a hunter taking aim with a fishing rod." His emerald eyes had glittered in satisfaction for having found a friend who felt just as alien in that world as he did sometimes.

And that was it. His relationship with Kurama was simple and straightforward, despite the stupid mix-up he had made in his mind. A Youko marooned in the Ningenkai needed a companion from his own world to keep his sanity. Someone to talk to, someone with whom he could be himself, someone with whom he could share proper sex, someone who could match a Youko's lust and inventiveness. That was his task; too bad for Hiei if his constant solitude made him dream of something more.

Hiei shook his head, trying to banish those thoughts away. Disabling the automatic saving on the console, he typed a long complex code. He was sure that that was a code Koenma didn't have in his files, and the person he was calling would certainly like to keep things that way, believing like Hiei did in the old policy: 'you don't call me, I call you'.

The large screen flickered, and the image lazily settled in the white broad form of his boss's large bed. "Who the hell is this?" said the grave female voice, apparently coming from nowhere.

"You sleep too much," Hiei grunted in his arrant cranky tone.

Mukuro showed up instantly, sitting right before the monitor, her face completely uncovered, smiling ear-to-ear. "Hiei! You just left. Don't tell me you miss me already!"

"Hn. Just thought I should check in so you won't freak out," was the scornful reply.

"Good thing. I was worried you might get entangled in some rosebush and get yourself all bruised by the thorns," she laughed. "But it seems like you didn't get caught yet... Is your fox losing his touch?"

My Fox... "I didn't come to see him," he shrugged. "Just came to check on my sister."

Mukuro sniggered. "Yeah, right. Silly mistake of mine."

Hiei tightened his hands in painful fists. Her mockery didn't intend to be wicked, he knew. But it had always left him uncomfortable and, under these particular circumstances, feeling like the dumbest imbecile of all three worlds. "Anyway, she's fine, so I'm coming home."

Mukuro frowned, leaning back on her chair. "So soon?"

"You're always complaining I spend too much time in Ningenkai," Hiei argued. "And half a day is more than enough for you to make a dirty mess of your kingdom. I thought you'd be pleased to have me back to clean it all up."

But judging from Mukuro's dreary face, she was far from pleased. "He dumped you," she stated.

Every part of Hiei's body tensed at the same second, turning him into a concrete-stiff doll. "He didn't dump me," he snarled through his teeth.

She stared at him for a moment, studying the taut lines on the pale face. "Okay," she conceded at last. "So what happened?"

"Why should I tell you?" Hiei gave up on hiding that something had happened. It didn't make much sense with a youkai who had already seen his naked soul.

"Whom else would you tell?" she countered.

The Jaganshi huffed, shoving his hands in his pockets. Mukuro didn't move a muscle, not even blinked. She just stayed there, leaning on her black chair, looking at him, waiting.

"There's some sacred ritual going on today," he told her at last. "I was not allowed to take part. Is that enough?"

"No, that's not enough. Hiei, where are you calling from?" She turned her gaze to the panel under her monitor, eyebrows rising to their peak. "Reikai?! Oh my, is this Koenma-chan's office?" she asked, looking at the decor behind her heir.

Hiei groaned under his breath. He had forgotten Mukuro could trace the call. "I forgot my intercom."

"What are you cooking up, Hiei? You didn't go all the way to Reikai and invaded Baby-Enma's office just to tell me you're coming back."

A valid question, for which Hiei had no clear answer. Invading Reikai was one of his regular games to rescue him from tedium, one that didn't have the same taste without Kurama beside him. He had no hope at all of finding that heinous Saint Valentine, nor was he concerned with his own status to the probing system. Emptied of excuses to offer himself, he had no better ones to give Mukuro. They knew too much of each other, sometimes more than they could deal with.

He had come to talk to her. Nothing about his return, of course. Mukuro's fortress was his home now, he didn't have to announce his comings and goings. Well, the goings perhaps, he sighed. His boss would never forbid his roamings, but sure made a lot of noise about them - both shouting and laughing. However, he was always welcome there, and if he did want to go back he could already be relaxing in a warm herbal bath in his suite. He was now the kingdom's heir after all.

Still, he wasn't sure of what he wanted to say. Or rather, what he wanted to hear. Between Kurama's rebukes and Kuwabara's gentleness - was the world upside down or what? - his ears were bleeding already. He felt like all day people had tried to unzip his skin, break his flesh apart to get a clean view of his heart. So why call for the one who had already done so?

Nevertheless, talking to Mukuro was like talking to an older, wiser, mature version of himself. He had seen her past and her soul just as deep as she had seen his, and while looking at the grotesque scenes of her youth he had recognized his own pain and bitterness on them. Some of those images had easily merged with memories of his own, his mind oblivious to distinctions, just as his and Yukina's memories of their mother's womb and their first minutes of life. The depth of the psychic link would cloud his sense of individuality.

Of course, talking to oneself cannot be considered a real conversation. Mukuro seldom could give him answers. But at least she could tell him what his questions were.

"Why didn't you let me die?" he whispered.

Mukuro's face softened at the shy murmur. Hiei had asked that same question several times, but always in quite different words and harsher tones of voice. And Mukuro had always answered in kind. Their continuous bantering was the best way they had found to deal with the weird intimacy they shared. They had been made too guarded and aloof to readily welcome the acceptance, comfort and care promised by their affinities. Too used to harshness as the only way of expressing any sort of thoughts, for it seemed that snorting, mocking, heckling and jesting became the easiest method to keep their hearts and also their pride unhurt.

But obviously something had happened. Mukuro could sense the heart and pride of the Forbidden Child bleeding already, hurt and dazed as they hadn't been while that small body was lying prone on her fortress' subsoil, his blood and life gushing away and daubing the rocky ground with dark red. "Why didn't you let me die?" Fearfully uttered like that, it was a question Mukuro had never been asked, and never had to truly answer before.

"Because you didn't come to me to die," she answered flatly.

Hiei stared at her, confused. "No?"

She sighed. "You only needed a quiet place to sleep for a while."

Sleep. Hiei let the word echo in his head, his eyes slowly drifting away from Mukuro's. Sleep was good. Sleep was something really good, and back then often a luxury. Even in those few occasions where he had found a warm, silent, safe place to sleep, that tormented mind of his would insist in poisoning his peace with sharp-clawed nightmares. Tiredness seemed to be an intrinsic part of him then, as permanent as the jagan, as constant as his heartbeat.

As he had told Kurama, dreamless sleep was even better than sex.

Hiei remembered the first time he had managed to invoke all the power of the Kokuryu, in the Dark Tournament's finals, against Bui. He had enjoyed it so much, the sheer dark fire surging through his veins, the unmatchable sensation of soaring high in the air inside the dragon's mercurial body, the feeling of mightiness and invulnerability... But collapsing into deep inviolable sleep after the fight had been the best thing. When he woke up and Kurama told him he had slept for six hours, he just couldn't believe it. Right in that forsaken island, in the middle of a series of harrowing and dreadful combats, surrounded by danger and death, he had slept like a log for whole six hours!

Hiei breathed in very slowly, his face a blank mask. He had used the Kokuryuuha several times against Mukuro's soldiers before facing Shigure. However, for some reason the slumber that overtook him then had brought old nightmares, all-too-familiar memories, and such a fatigue to his spirit he wasn't strong enough to defeat. He was just dying to put it all behind him. Quite literally perhaps.

I was insane, wasn't I? Hiei asked himself, his head starting to ache. Mukuro's answer should have sounded ridiculous and simple-minded to him. Sleep. What would Kurama say about that?

He shoved Kurama's image off his mind as fast as it had summoned it, and came back to the subject at hand. He had done it again, he realized. After all he had heard since early morning, he was wishing badly for a dark corner to crawl into and forget himself. And once again he had looked for Mukuro in search for the proper place. The tip of Hiei's lips curved in an almost invisible smile. Mukuro would offer him a place to sleep all right. And then she would wake him up and jostle him back to life, harshly and affectionately - as only Mukuro could be.

Mukuro watched the emotional battle raging in the crimson eyes, marveling at how still the rest of his face remained. After a few moments she asked, her voice a delicate whisper, "Is there anything else you want to ask me?"

Hiei faced her again, and admitted to himself once more how beautiful that face was to him. "Yes. Do you think I take pains to make people who might like me not like me?"

Mukuro laughed, resting her cheek on his hand. "Absolutely. But you're not very good at that."

~*~

February 25th, 2003

Chapter Six   coming soon
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