A phone call from Shiori to the Minamino residence is transferred to Kurama's cell phone. She's calling his son to ask about an earthquake that has hit Japan. Kurama assures her that it didn't affect the area he's in. It wouldn't anyway, since he's not even in Ningenkai. Kurama is in Makai, answering to Yomi's invitation.

He remembers his mother's second wedding, on the previous 15th of July. Kuwabara attended it; Yusuke was already in Makai then, but just before leaving he had congratulated Kurama for it.

Kurama presented his mother and stepfather with a honeymoon trip abroad, and he and his new stepbrother went to the airport to wave the couple goodbye. Only when school holidays started, two months after Yusuke and Hiei, Kurama went to Makai. He accepted Yomi's invitation to be his aide, as he has a debt with the king.

Kurama is nearing the city of Gandara when three youkais armed with swords attack him. The redhead slays them easily with his plants, and calls out, "Yomi, I know you're here."

Yomi, a tall, blind youkai with three horns and six ears, steps out of the vegetation. "I'm glad you have accepted my invitation, Kurama."

Kurama is very upset. "Are you mocking me? Why have you done this? You call me here and that's the way you welcome me?"

"Easy, my friend. I did this because you're changed. I was wondering if you still have enough skill to be useful to me."

"So you were testing me? You have changed since I last saw you too. You seem more cautious."

Yomi turns away from him. "Yes, I have changed. I've become king, and my power is on the same level of Raizen's and Mukuro's, who have been kings for much longer. My goal is to defeat them both."

"It's been a thousand years," says Kurama. "A long time."

"If you're as strong as I think you are, we have no reason to fear them. I'm counting on you."

A short demon called Yoda arrives to warn Yomi that it's time for the meeting with his military commanders regarding the unification of Makai. Yomi orders him to escort Kurama to the meeting. Yoda, unimpressed by the ki level he senses emanating from the redhead, has trouble believing the king would want such a weak demon taking part in the meeting.

In a room in the upper levels of a skyscraper in Gandara, Yoda shows through graphics how the military strength of the three kingdoms is equivalent, but predicts that things will change in one year, when Raizen will die.

Yomi asks Kurama's opinion on the matter; the other commanders are curious to see the newcomer's strategy talent. Kurama asks Yoda to show him the available data about the three kings and their seconds-in-command. Yoda shows graphs depicting the skills of Raizen and Hokushin, Mukuro and Kiren, and Yomi and Shachi.

Studying the graphs, Kurama concludes that the powers of the seconds-in-command are too weak to be relevant, therefore the war would be limited to the remaining kings, whose strengths are equivalent. Hence the war would be pointless unless there was a renovation in each king's crew. Shachi scorns Kurama for his "poor ideas", but Kurama predicts that in six months that renovation will occur, and that the new seconds-in-command will be the key of their organizations. Shachi is furious.

Walking down a corridor, Yomi tells Kurama that he found the meeting very interesting, and notes that Shachi's glare at the redhead contained more than hatred. "I believe he's planning to kill you," he says, as if it were something trivial.

"How can you tell, Yomi?" Kurama asks.

"After being blinded, I've become much stronger," Yomi explains. "Although unable to see, I can perceive many things: temperature, pressure, one's state of mind, the mood in a certain environment... Kurama, I can guess what will happen in six months from now. Day and night, Yusuke Urameshi has been training to become the new leader of Raizen's army. I've been informed that your companion Hiei, who has gone to Mukuro, has increased his powers remarkably in a short period of time. Do you believe that in six months Yusuke, Hiei and you will become seconds-in-command to your kings? The key elements in each of the three armies?"

Not waiting for an answer, Yomi tells Kurama that there's someone he wants to introduce to him, and guides him to an underground cell closed by heavy doors. "Can you guess who it is, Kurama? It took me so long to find him. It's the youkai that took away my sight."

Kurama flinches nervously, can't bear to look at the cell.

Yomi notices it. "Why are you so worried? Raise your head and see what's left of him."

The door opens slowly, revealing the silhouette of a youkai cuffed to the wall. Kurama is shocked at his condition.

"His body has already started decomposing," says Yomi, "and he hasn't talked much. A thousand years have passed, but the memory of that day I was attacked is rooted deeply in my mind."

We see flashbacks while Yomi narrates. "Then, our situation was inverted: you were the boss and I was your second-in-command. I still could see, and you and I were eager to form a new kingdom. To make our names known and rebuild the Makai, we needed lots of money and followers, and in order to get those, we chose the most dangerous of the usual paths in Makai: we became thieves.

"I was headstrong, impulsive, reckless. I wanted to be the boss, and I did all I could to challenge you. I started doing things my own way, looting castles and villages, and losing many, many men in those incursions."

We see Yomi's group invading a castle and triggering booby-traps. All his men were killed, and Yomi himself fell in a trap and got surrounded by several youkais. Before they could do anything, however, they were swiftly slaughtered by Youko Kurama, who had come in his rescue. "If you go on like this, you'll meet a bitter end, Yomi," the silver demon warned him.

"You were just the opposite from me," Yomi reminisces. "Very cold and calm. Ruthless but, unlike me, valuing the strategy. Now that I think of it, I guess all along I was nothing but a puppet manipulated by you. I didn't understand your methods. I wasn't qualified to be your second-in-command."

Yomi continues his story, telling about how he was lured with false information into invading a fortress to look for a treasure. There, his group was ambushed and killed by a youkai assassin Yomi had never seen before. This youkai refused to clarify who he was or who had sent him, and he proved to be much stronger than Yomi. With his two swords, the assassin blinded Yomi.

The assassin was wounded by Yomi's sword as well and left. "'Life is worth more than the remuneration.' Those were his only words," Yomi tells Kurama. "I lost my sight, and never knew who did it or why. I hoped you'd come and help me, and I waited a lifetime for you, but you never came. A thousand years passed and we never met again, but I never lost hope that we would meet once more. I thought I could get an answer from the youkai that blinded me, so I searched for him." Abruptly, the blind king lets out a chortle.

Kurama asks him what he has in mind.

"Don't you find the presence of this youkai soothing?" Yomi kicks the assassin awake.

"Please, kill me," the assassin begs, the words coming with great difficulty. "Have mercy... I can't stand... the pain anymore..."

"I think you've suffered enough," Yomi agrees. "But first answer this one question: who gave you the order to attack me?"

Kurama watched with cold eyes.

"He is relentless," says the assassin. "His eyes are so cold... Silver-haired... Youko Kurama."

With a roar of fury, Yomi smashes the assassin's skull with his foot.

Kurama remains composed, quiet, unshaken.

Yomi turns to him, equally calm. "Kurama, you might not believe it, but I understand. I admit, I was stupid, sacrificed too many of our men. Had our positions been inverted, I'd have done the same and killed you without hesitation."

"What do you want from me?" asks Kurama.

"I merely want you to join me and be my second-in-command. I need your strength. In the past, despite my stupidity, I was useful to you somehow. I need your help to unify Makai. I want my dream to come true."

"And if I say no?"

After a pause, Yomi comments casually, "Humans travel a lot don't they?"

That startles Kurama. "What?"

"The human you love is flying on a plane now. Let's hope the plane doesn't crash."

Yomi proves to know everything about how Kurama became Shuuichi Minamino, and about his beloved mother's second wedding. "Good strategy depends on good information. You were the one who taught me this."

"When I first met you, you were very insecure," snaps Kurama. "Who taught you to be this dissimulated?"

Yomi laughs, pleased. "You get angry easily, but never to the cost of your calm and reason. You know what to do not to lose someone important. Your thoughts are always two or three steps ahead into your strategy, and you always know the best path to choose. Intelligence comes above everything, only then come love and hatred. You're sad, cold, ruthless. Makai soon will face hard days, and I'll need a cold, ruthless ally to help me."

With the implicit threat against Shiori, Kurama has no choice on the matter.