Mukuro picked up one of the many bounties that lay spread out on the table. This bounty in particular caught his eye because of the generous amount of award money for one individual.
"It's not like I have anything better to do, and if this wanted poster doesn't lie then this could prove to be fun." Mukuro said to himself.
Hiei knew for a very good reason why there had been a bounty placed on his head, and why it said preferably caught alive over dead.
"Damn that bastard." Hiei murmured.
Yomi knew that if he tipped the information to the Vongolas of all mafia families, that they would certainly start to seek him out for the reward money. The downside was never knowing when one of them would make a move to capture him. The wind rustled the trees that surrounded Hiei, but that did not make him too uneasy because of the powers that his Jagan Eye held. He hopped from tree branch to tree branch while keeping a lookout of the perimeter.
Mukuro was not looking forward to looking through a forest of greenery to find the well known demon, but if everything worked out in his favor then all this effort would be more than worth it. Catching the demon off guard was going to be another great obstacle. However, Mukuro came prepared with a formulated plan even if it was not the most well thought out. Though these kinds of things were to be expected with little preparation beforehand. Where Hiei preferred to be up in the trees, Mukuro kept his distance from below on the ground. After scanning the forest for a few minutes Mukuro noticed a black flash from out of the corner of his eye.
"That must be my demon now."
He followed Hiei at roughly the same pace for what Mukuro assumed to have been thirty minutes max. For all he knew it might just be the anticipation that he was feeling that made the time feel like a millennium. The demon eventually slowed his pace down, which made Mukuro wonder if he had been found out. As luck would have it Hiei had decided to take a break, and lay on the tree branch to maybe catch his breath. That is if he even needed to, Mukuro doubted it. His heart rate became more rapid with how close he was to the demon now. It was now or never, and Mukuro decided to take the chance. He was about to throw his trident, but the demon got up from his resting spot and started on the move once more.
How stupid. He honestly thought that I hadn't noticed him, Hiei thought to himself. Even if it took all day he was determined to shake this guy off of his trail. Doing this would put him on the defensive rather than the offensive, which was something that Hiei was not used to doing. At the last minute he decided to leave the comfort of the forest. The new setting quickly shifted to a large bridge that overlooked a lengthy river. The water below could prove to be his best ally in this moment.
"Sorry, can't let you go that easily!" Mukuro exclaimed.
He too jumped straight out of the forest after Hiei. There was no hesitation when he threw his trident at the demon. The trident sunk deep into Hiei's right ankle. The demon did not cry out from the pain of the wound, but that was expected from an S class demon such as Hiei. From what Mukuro was able to see, Hiei threw himself over the side of the bridge, and was suspended in free fall for a short amount of time. In that small time frame he managed to free the trident from his ankle, and continued to plunge downward. Again, Mukuro followed suit. Before Hiei was able to hit the water, Mukuro had caught up to him in the free fall, and struck Hiei's shoulder blade. The more he could wound the demon the easier this job would be for Mukuro. Hiei hit the water a few seconds before Mukuro, and due to the depth of the river they had lost sight of each other completely.
Hiei swam to shore, and was able to get himself back on land. Though swimming had proven difficult with his injured ankle, but that was besides the point. He retreated back into the forest for the time being to gain as much distance from the other as possible. He had to admit that this hitman was far better than he would ever have suspected.
It did not take much effort for Mukuro to reach the shore of the river. His only concern was that if he had not swam in the same direction as Hiei then he would lose the only trail he had to lead back to the demon. Mukuro examined the ground, and took notice of footprints. Now these could be anyone's footprints really, except there was a trail of blood that followed along with these specific set of footprints.
"Luck has smiled upon me again."
He followed the trail to find his next paycheck. It took several minutes to find the demon again, but Mukuro felt like he had all the time in the world to accomplish this one goal, and in truth he did.
"Did you miss me?" Mukuro asked the demon as he dashed right in front of him to bury his trident into the demon's chest.
He did remember the poster saying something about rather having this demon stay alive so Mukuro made it a point to avoid hitting any major vital points. The demon seemed to have passed out from the blood loss. Mukuro wondered why that was because he thought that the demon would have some sort of rapid healing ability. Oh well, why tend to the entity when he was turning him in for money anyways. Suddenly Mukuro's comrade, Dino, appeared from out of nowhere.
"Mukuro don't turn Hiei in to Yomi. It's not worth it." Dino warned.
"And why ever not? Have you seen the bounty on this one's head?"
"Yes, but Hiei's record has been clean since he started cooperating with Spirit World."
"What does that have to do with the bounty?"
"Basically what I'm getting at is that Yomi is evil, and wants Hiei for some questionable reasons. So in all honesty bagging Yomi would get you the real bounty that you're after." Dino explained.
"I dunno..."
"He's telling the truth." This coming from yet another comrade, Hibari.
"So then what do we do with him then?" Mukuro asked them.
"Well..." Dino and Hibari said in unison.
Hiei slowly awoke from his deep sleep.
"Huh? Where am I?"
"So you're finally awake." Hiei heard a familiar voice say.
He looked up to see Mukuro, the man that had been hunting him down for a bounty, looking down upon him. Hiei arose from the futon into a fighting stance.
"Calm down. You're safe now. That's probably not the easiest thing to believe in this situation, but some friends of mind explained some important details to me to set things straight. If it makes you feel any better I'm the one that bandaged your wounds, considering I'm the reason you have them in the first place." Mukuro tried his best to explain. "Come to think of it those wounds of yours could use a new dressing."
Mukuro left the room for a bit to fetch some new bandages. When he got back he quickly got to work.
"Hey I can do that myself." Hiei began to protest.
"Just sit still, but now that I'm thinking about it does your body always take this long to heal?"
"Not that I can recall."
"If you want I know where to find an herb that can help heal the wounds." Hibari interjected.
Hiei nodded in acceptance to that idea. Better to be safe than sorry especially since the wounds went from stinging to full out burning as if to sear the flesh.
"Oh, you're going out too?" Dino said, "I have a job to take care of myself. Guess that leaves Mukuro to watch the house for us. At least we're not mean enough to leave him alone."
"Like you really care either way." This coming from Mukuro.
"I can't help but to tease you every now and again." Dino mused before leaving.
"I'll be heading out now too." Hibari followed after Dino.
The house had become eerily silent with the absence of the other two hitmen.
"Feel free to use our shower." Mukuro awkwardly offered.
"I suppose I could use one after being in the river, but I don't have a change of clothes on me. Even if I did those would have been soaked as well."
"I could lend you some clothes. Although anything I have to offer would be a pretty big fit on you. How about I just give you a shirt to wear? That would cover you well enough."
"Just a shirt?"
"Like I said though, you would be covered...Listen, I know it's weird, but we're all guys so what does it matter? Plus it's just us right now. And it's not like I planned to go homo on you or anything. You know what? I'm just going to stop talking." Mukuro rambled.
Mukuro noticed a slight blush appear on Hiei's face though he was pretty sure that his own face must look ten times as flushed.
"I...will take you up on that offer."
"Oh, okay. I'll uh direct you to the shower, and go get that shirt."
Hiei couldn't believe the situation he had gotten himself into. This was far from ridiculous, but at least the three hitmen were generous enough. He heard a slight knock on the bathroom door.
"I'm coming in." Mukuro warned in advance.
He set the shirt down on a shelf that was to the right of the door.
"You might not want to talk about it since you're taking a shower and all, but what's up between you and Yomi? I mean Dino said that he wanted you for some questionable reasons."
Hiei decided not to answer right away, and just let the warm water wash over him.
"Tell me, what does questionable mean to you?"
"If we're thinking the same thing then this Yomi character is one freaky pervert."
Hiei might have laughed if what Mukuro had said wasn't true.
"Then you are correct. Though I don't feel like giving any specific details."
"Help me out here though. You're an S class demon. So why exactly do you have to be on the run from the likes of him?"
"That's because he is one of three demon kings. Think of them like double S class demons, and believe me when I say I know because I fought one and lost."
"From the sounds of it, Yomi wasn't the one you fought."
"That's right. I fought the demon king that took me under her wing. The only reason I ever even became acquainted with Yomi is due to a friend of mine. Though at the time I thought Yomi had been infatuated with this friend, and not myself. He sure proved me wrong."
"Wait, you said demon king, but then you said her."
"She marauded as a man to keep her position of power."
"What was her name?"
"This is really odd, but her name is Mukuro as well."
"That's true irony at work."
"For the record I'm just about finished."
"Huh? Oh. I see. I'll be out in the kitchen."
Mukuro was starting to get very hungry. It was the middle of the week so they still needed to go shopping, which left a scarce amount of food in the house. He went rummaging around a couple different restaurant menus, and decided upon Chinese. The menu actually had a variation between Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Mukuro hoped that Hiei wasn't picky because he was dying to get a double order of miso soup, crab rangoon, Dragon Roll sushi, and Lion King sushi for the two of them. Hiei slowly crept to the kitchen wishing that this damned shirt would go past his knees rather than right above them. Mukuro looked over at Hiei, then quickly turned his head. He hadn't meant to turn his head so quickly, but any longer, and he might have pounced on the demon. Jeez Mukuro, what happened to not going homo on him, the thought stupidly crossed his mind. For such an infamous killing machine he honestly looked adorable just wearing the big shirt.
Mukuro attempted to clear his throat, "How about some dinner? If you take a look at the menu I circled the items that I wanted to order."
He held the menu out to Hiei while still not making any eye contact. Hiei snatched the folded paper from Mukuro's hand, and quickly scanned over it.
"Looks fine, I'll have the same food items."
Yay he's not a picky eater, Mukuro had a mental celebration to distract himself.
"But what's not fine is..."
Crap, Mukuro slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"That you were able to look at me before when we talked, and now suddenly you can't? If it's because of the shirt don't forget that that was your idea." Hiei reminded him.
"I know. It's just...well...I'm gonna go call the order in." Mukuro almost wished that the food was pick up instead of delivery, but it wouldn't have been too nice of him to leave the demon alone by himself.
Hiei felt that he needed to find out why this Mukuro character made him feel the way he did. Luckily for the both of them it was not the same kind of feeling that Yomi gave Hiei. That fact alone made him feel a little more relieved. Although, right now he would give just about anything to be able to go home to get a change of clothes that he could be comfortable in. Hiei looked down at the bandages on his ankle, and noticed that the wound had bled through again.
"Right, that's one of the main reasons that I'm still here." Hiei whispered to himself.
"The food should be arriving in about half an our to forty five minutes since it's a double order of all four things."
"Perfect, that gives us some more time to chat."
Mukuro gulped, knowing exactly what conversation topic Hiei was going back to. The front door in the kitchen slowly creaked open revealing Hibari.
"Sorry it took me so long. They were out of stock so I had to take the time to search for it myself." Hibari informed them as he tossed the herb to Mukuro.
"Is Dino with you?" Mukuro asked Hibari.
"No." Hibari looked down at the kitchen table, and noticed the menu laying there, "Oh? Seems you've ordered dinner without us."
"I didn't know when either of you were going to get back so I went ahead and ordered for myself, and Hiei."
"Just kidding, I already ate beforehand."
"And that's really why you took so long?"
"Can it. Or I might just hit you with one of my tonfas." Hibari threatened with a grin.
"Fine." Mukuro huffed.
"On that note, I'll be in my room if you need me."
"At the very least we can finally take care of those wounds."
Mukuro made Hiei sit down on one of the chairs at the table. He unwound the bandages, and rubbed the herb over the wound. Hiei flinched in pain, but other than that there were no protests coming from the demon. The herb left a thick sticky layer of what Mukuro decided to call sap. The point of the sap was to keep the blood from flowing out of the wound, which give the skin cells a decent amount of time to repair themselves for the wound to close up once and for all.
"I really hate to say this, but you're going to have to strip down in able for me to apply the herb to your shoulder blade and chest."
"I understand. However, you are going to have to get over this awkwardness between us in order to do so."
Mukuro said nothing in response to stop himself from freaking out. Hiei lifted the shirt up over his head, and let it gently settle to the floor. Mukuro had to bite back the comments that were overflowing through his mind lest Hiei kill him were he stood. He never realized how muscled the short demon was until just now. Alright, you've lasted this long. Now, just don't look any further down, and this should go smoothly, he told himself. Ultimate mistake, he looked further down. Mukuro could feel the heat rising in his face, and he could have kicked himself for making the stupid decision in the first place.
"Are you alright?" Hiei asked feeling more than uncomfortable at this point.
Mukuro held his head in both hands, and let out a deep sigh.
"Never better." Mukuro lied.
He took a step closer to the demon, and started applying the herb to his chest. Once he was finished there, he moved behind the demon to do the same thing to the demon's shoulder blade. Mukuro set the herb on the table, and bent over to pick up the shirt Hiei was wearing and shoved it at him. Hiei took the shirt, and quickly dressed. They heard a knock at the door. Mukuro hadn't realized how hungry he actually was until he assumed what the knock was for. He opened the door to receive a giant bag of food. He felt around in his pocket to pull out the money he owed. The door was shut before Mukuro made his way to the table.
"Eat up." Mukuro said while placing everything on the table from out of the bag.
They had both finished eating, and Hiei offered to help do the dishes if need be. Mukuro said to leave them for Dino to wash up. Things settled down as the evening progressed into the night. It dawned on Hiei that he should be able to change because prior to eating, Mukuro put Hiei's clothes in the dryer.
"Hey Mukuro? Can I put my clothes on yet? If they're not dry by now then you obviously need a new dryer."
"To be honest I was hoping that you wouldn't ask about that. Usually for one set of clothes it takes hardly even ten minutes to dry, but..."
"But?"
"The dryer kinda shrunk them to the point that it wouldn't even be worth trying to see if you still fit into them."
Mukuro expected to get hit for that confession, but Hiei just hung his head low feeling as defeated as Mukuro felt earlier. They heard the door in the kitchen open, and then close. Dino came in looking as energetic as ever.
"Where's Hibari?" Dino asked.
"In your room." Mukuro answered.
"Okay, thanks." Dino's eye caught the sink full of dishes, "And just what are those doing in there?"
"I thought that since I've been taking care of our guest that you could do the dishes for us."
Dino sent his whip flying at Mukuro except he was so off the mark that he ended up breaking a vase instead.
"Dammit, watch where you swing that thing! Your men aren't here to watch you meaning you couldn't hit me in a million years!"
"And here I thought I was getting better with controlling it. Anyways here's the deal, if you do two things for me then I'd more than willing to do the dishes." Dino proposed.
"Okay, name your price."
"First things first, I'll need you to clean up that broken vase so that no one gets cut by any shards."
"Sure thing."
"Second, you'll have to let Hiei sleep in your room."
"Ah, oka-Wait a minute, why!? What's wrong with the guest room we had him in?"
"I checked the thermostat before I left, and it seems it's broken."
"He's a fire demon for crying out loud!"
"Yes, but from what Hibari told me Hiei hadn't received the herb until late. Meaning the lack of blood would make him a lot colder than normal. He's fine right now because we have it at about room temperature in this room. Mind you it is pretty cold outside."
"Alright." Mukuro gave in.
"Fantastic, speaking of which it's starting to get late so you might want to go get some sleep."
"Sounds good to me." Without thinking Mukuro took Hiei's hand, and led him to his room.
"Hey, don't forget about the vase!" Dino called after them.
"In a moment!" Mukuro called back.
Mukuro left Hiei in front of his bedroom door.
"Feel free to go in, and get comfortable. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Hiei finally decided to open up the door to the room, but it was impossible for him to get comfortable like Mukuro had told him to. There he was standing in the middle of the room. It didn't seem as if there were any guest beds in here. Just the one bed near the left corner of the room. His heart began to pound in his chest. He tried to will his heart to slow its pace, but that was proving to be difficult. Hiei was unsure if he liked this emotion or not. It's not like he had never felt love for another before. He loved his younger sister, even if she still didn't know that they were related. Of course he wasn't stupid either. That love was felt for family members, but what he felt now was entirely different.
"I'm back." Mukuro called as he walked into the room, "Do you plan on standing there all night? I did say you could get comfortable, didn't I?"
"I was just...waiting for you."
"Be prepared because we're about to become even. Unless you decide not to look. Not like I have a personal bathroom in here. Neither do Hibari and Dino, I'm just saying. Then, again I'm not stripping down completely either."
Hiei could appreciate that Mukuro was trying to even out the score, but telling him to be prepared was just making his heart rate increase. Mukuro slowly peeled off his suit. Hiei couldn't stop himself from glancing over in Mukuro's direction. He looked even more stunning than he did wearing his suit. Hiei was convinced that Mukuro was trying to torture him because he hadn't gotten dressed right away either. If only he would have layed his pajamas out before going to clean up the broken vase. Mukuro slid into a pair of black and white plaid pajama pants, and put on a plain white T-shirt.
"Ready for bed?" Mukuro asked nonchalantly.
All Hiei could manage was a slight nod.
They layed down in the bed. Mukuro on the right, Hiei on the left. Hiei turned on his right side because that was the side he favored to sleep on.
"It's room temperature in here too, but just to be on the safe side-"
Mukuro put an arm around Hiei, and pulled him closer. Hiei considered protesting, but decided against it because his body had broken out in small shivers. It seemed that the food hadn't done its job just yet. It was strange how safe, and comforting Hiei felt right now laying next to Mukuro. He decided to breathe in Mukuro's scent, which put him in a state of relaxation. The only downside was that Hiei couldn't coax himself to sleep like he normally did. Though in all honesty he normally didn't even need to coax himself to sleep. Sleep was one thing that came easily to him, like the time he allowed himself to sleep after his final match in the Dark Tournament.
It was around three in the morning that Mukuro tried to stir Hiei from his deep sleep. He shook the demon a few times, and soon a pair of red eyes were peering up at him. Hiei rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"What time is it?" Hiei asked with a yawn.
"That's not important right now. What exactly does Yomi look like?" Mukuro asked nervously.
"Well, if you really must know-"
"I definitely need to."
"Right? He has multiple ears, a pair of horns, and keeps his eyes shut because he's blind." Hiei described.
"Run." Was the one word Mukuro uttered before he shoved Hiei out of the bed towards the window closest to the bed.
"It's nice to see that you've cozied up to someone else." Yomi said bitterly.
The demon king was standing at the foot of the bed. Mukuro grabbed his trident that rested at an angle between the bed, and a nightstand. Hiei opened up the window, and looked longing at Mukuro before jumping. He hit the ground with ease besides his ankle stinging from the impact.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yomi followed right after Hiei.
"No!" Mukuro shouted.
He tried to stop the demon king, but Yomi was to quick for him. Yomi hovered in the air a couple of feet away from Hiei. Hiei was about to use his Dragon of The Darkness Flame technique on the demon king, but stopped himself from doing so.
"Aw, why did you stop? Is it because all you're wearing is an oversized shirt? That must mean that you're not wearing anything underneath of it. I know how your most favorite technique likes to destroy any shirt that you wear due to the powerful impact of the attack."
Yomi flew in front of Hiei before Hiei had any time to react at all. The demon king lifted the shirt up to take a peek to see if his assumption was correct.
"What a treat." Yomi smirked.
Hiei was shaking with rage, but frozen by fear. Mukuro leapt out the opened window, and lunged downward to strike Yomi's back with his trident.
"That tickled." Yomi said before taking the trident out of his back, and tossing it to the side along with Mukuro.
"Bastard." Mukuro muttered.
"What was that boy?"
"You heard me!"
"Yes we did!" Hibari said bearing down on Yomi with his tonfas.
He struck multiple times at the demon king. Dino was right behind him expertly swinging his whip unlike any other times Mukuro had witnessed him use it.
"That's our guest that you appear to be bothering." Dino said menacingly.
The demon king released a large surge of power that knocked back the other two hitmen, much like Mukuro had been tossed.
"That's your guest, but also my plaything." Yomi growled.
Hiei was trying his best to break from the fear, but nothing he did worked. He realized all too late that Yomi had picked him up, and taken off leaving the hitmen and their home behind.
"I'm glad to finally have you back. Looks like those hitmen weren't as reliable as I had originally thought. You would think money was enough to tempt them, but oh well. Their loss I suppose."
Hiei screamed out in pure agony. Yomi had ripped open the wounds Hiei had gotten when he first met Mukuro. Yomi stuck a sharpened taloned nail into each wound and made them deeper, and wider than they already were.
"I know it hurts, but this is your punishment for running away. If it's any consolation the taste of your blood is divine." Yomi licked the blood from his nail, "I suppose that you don't need this shirt anymore either."
Yomi took the same nail he licked, and used it to tear one large line in the middle of the shirt Hiei was wearing.
"There, that's better. Now I can see everything that I need to." Yomi chuckled sadistically.
If anyone could permit Hiei to die in this moment he would gladly except it because if he thought things were bad now, there were just going to get worse.
"I have to get him back!" Mukuro told Hibari and Dino.
"I know what you must be feeling, but you can't just charge in there without thinking anything through." Dino tried to reason.
"You know how I feel, huh? Has something like this ever happened to you and Hibari before!?"
"You see..."
"That's what I thought!"
"What he's trying to say is that if you charge in there as you are now then you're as good as dead. Along with Hiei probably. Though that son of a bitch will more than likely keep him alive just to torture him. Is that what you want?" Hibari was trying to smack Mukuro with the reality of the situation.
"But..."
"Exactly." Hibari said coldly.
"Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything." Dino sighed.
"If it's a plan we're looking for then it better not have one single flaw in it." Mukuro warned.
"Every plan has a few flaws." Hibari admitted, "But that's where it gets interesting enough for us to improvise." Hibari showcased one of his rare pleasure filled grins.
"And there he goes. The cogs are turning like crazy in his mind now." Dino said with a look of relief.
"So here's the plan, but first Mukuro, do us the favor of getting dressed. I don't think that demon king would be willing to take you seriously otherwise."
"I should probably have more fun with you before any unwanted guests show up." Yomi purred in Hiei's ear.
"I would rather you not." Mukuro said from the entry way to the demon king's home.
"Aw, here already? But you've come alone. How grand. More so, how foolish." Yomi strode away from Hiei, and walked closer to Mukuro.
Mukuro looked in Hiei's direction rather than making eye contact with Yomi. There were a total of three pools of blood that surrounded the smaller demon's body.
"What have you done?" Mukuro asked between gritted teeth.
"Ah, yes the wounds. From my understanding he got those nasty tears from you. Though I can tell you why the bleeding didn't stop right away. I assume that it was a side effect from the last time I drugged him to have my way with him."
Mukuro tried his best to keep his cool, but this demon king new how to boil his blood, and get under his skin. Remember what Hibari said; lose your cool now and the plan becomes null and void, Mukuro reminded himself.
"What are Blondie and the tonfa user doing up in the rafters?" Yomi asked.
So much for not getting their covers blown.
"Screw it." Mukuro ran at Yomi with his trident at the ready.
"At least you're smart enough to figure out that the old trident wounds have already healed themselves, but I know what you're aiming to do so ultimately your efforts are futile."
"Oh yeah? And what is it that I'm trying to do?"
"You want the opportunity to use your Possession Bullet."
So what if the demon king knew what he wanted to do? It's not like the Possession Bullet was his only option. Though best to keep the use of techniques around this guy limited. He would just have to settle for using his Genjk Gagaia. Mukuro slid the glove onto his right hand. He imagined a tight rope wrapped around Yomi's body, and used Genjk Gagaia to make that image a reality. Afterward, Mukuro made a mad dash for Hiei. If he could get him out of here then Mukuro would be able to feel at ease.
"Don't test my patience blunette." Yomi broke free from the ropes.
Yomi raced after Mukuro to stop him from attaining his goal. Yomi felt something sharp, and cold slice his cheek open.
"Shards of Winter." A voice said calmly behind him.
"Toya? Of course you of all demons would be here Ice Master. Just because Hiei is back in my hands." Yomi looked a little farther past Toya, "Shishi too. I really should have been able to predict that this would happen."
"Who are they?" Dino asked Hibari.
"I'm not entirely sure, but from the looks of things so far, allies."
Hiei felt completely helpless. All he could do was watch the events unfold in front of him, and nothing else. His body began to violently shake from the lack of blood.
"Hiei, stay with me." Toya called to him.
Toya had left the fighting up to the others so that he could attempt to heal Hiei's wounds. Toya had used his technique Frozen Hell to try and slow Yomi down. The entire floor had been surrounded in ice besides the area around Hiei and Toya.
"In exchange for fighting lessons, Yukina has taught be some healing abilities." Toya informed Hiei to help keep his attention focused on something other than the progressing battle behind them.
"Banshee's Shriek!" Shishi yelled his attack.
The attack had no affect on the allied hitmen, but it was a force to be reckoned with in Yomi's case. His multiple ears were extremely sensitive to the sword's powerful shriek. Hibari and Dino joined in the fray doing whatever they could to help defeat the demon king. A lot of things were happening at once making it hard for Mukuro to figure out the right time to strike Yomi with his trident. Hit him while he's down, Mukuro thought. He went in for the finishing blow, but Yomi took him by surprise. Although, it wasn't Mukuro that Yomi was aiming for, it was Shishi. Yomi elbowed Shishi in the stomach, and sent him sliding away from the fight along with his shrieking sword. Dino used his whip to tie Yomi's hands together.
"Now!" Dino yelled at Mukuro.
Mukuro was already one step ahead of him. Mukuro had only taken a few steps before Yomi dashed right past him, and sent a blow to his shoulder. Blood spurted from Mukuro's shoulder with that one lone attack. He clutched his shoulder in pain. Hibari used one of his tofas to hit Yomi in the middle of his back.
"Do us the favor of staying down." Hibari said as he struck.
Sweat was beading down Toya's forehead. He never realized until now how much of a strain it could be on the body to heal another. That known fact wasn't going to stop him from healing Hiei.
"Guys, I hate to put a time crunch on this, but you're going to have to try and finish this fight soon." Toya told the others.
"He's right." This coming from Shishi who got up, and dusted himself off, "He only learned so much from Yukina making the strain worse than it would be on a well trained healer."
"Then we're going to need one hell of a distraction." Mukuro said, gripping his trident with one hand, and his shoulder with the other hand.
Mukuro decided to use his Genjk Gagaia to conjure the illusion of man eating crows. The crows manifested into reality, and immediately set their sights on Yomi. Yomi attempted to counter the crows with his many martial art techniques, but he hadn't left even a scratch on any of them.
"What are these beasts?" Yomi asked Mukuro angrily.
"Sorry to disappoint, but you can't hit what isn't actually there." Mukuro informed him.
"Then how can they harm me?"
"Are you sure you're not just feeling pain based on what you're hearing alone?"
A look of agitation was obvious on Yomi's face. The crows were exactly the kind of distraction that the demons, and hitmen needed. While they distracted what Yomi could hear, the others would land their attacks.
Yomi tried to count how many crows there were as he evaded the onslaught to the best of his abilities. A rope was one thing, but giant man eating crows? Who knew the blunette had this kind of powerful trick up his sleeve.
"Go!" Mukuro shouted.
Yomi wondered what that meant, but by letting his guard down the crows had him pinned in one spot. Dino whipped a few crows away from Yomi's body to enable Hibari to engage the demon king. Hibari got a running start, and made sure to land on the demon king's chest. He pushed all his weight down making Yomi's lungs strain to breathe. He also held a tonfa to Yomi's throat to increase the difficulty of breathing by tenfold. Yomi would have been able to overwhelm Hibari in normal circumstances, but the crows were making that idea more than impossible. Mukuro dashed forward, and drove the trident into Yomi's thigh.
"You're finished." Mukuro said with a smirk.
He grabbed the gun that he had tucked away under his shirt, "Possession Bullet." He said right before shooting himself.
Hibari removed himself from Yomi, and got up to stand next to the body. The crows had also backed away from the demon king's body no longer sensing any ill intent emitting from the body. Yomi's body slowly rose to its feet.
"Success." Mukuro confirmed from inside of Yomi's body.
Hiei's wounds were starting to look a lot better than they had earlier.
"How are you feeling?" Toya asked Hiei.
"Pathetic, but if we want to move onto something else, then curious."
"I sorta meant your wounds. Like, are you feeling okay? Still in any pain? But let's roll with what you said. What makes you curious?"
"I want to know why a hitman who I knew for only a little over a day is here now risking his life to save me from that bastard of a demon king."
"And here I thought it was obvious." Mukuro said as he moved closer to Hiei.
"Then explain." Hiei commanded.
"Let's just say that this is new to me, and I've let myself harbor fond feelings for you."
"What?"
"Need I remind you that I've already seen you naked once? Oops, too late. For that matter I had to refrain from pouncing on you when all I had you wearing was that now torn up shirt. It's a wonder I didn't try anything more on you when we were cuddling together. Though in the back of my mind I probably thought that you would kill me for doing anything more than I had already done. That, and I was trying to keep my promise to not go homo on you."
Hiei looked hurt and relieved all at once. Hurt for not believing in the hitman sooner. Relieved that his own feelings for Mukuro had been met without much effort on his part. Embarrassment? Yes. Effort? Not quite. Now that Mukuro was thinking about it he had mentioned the torn shirt in his speech to the smaller demon. Meaning he was completely, and utterly exposed. Mukuro turned around, and tried to calm himself.
"Get out of my body!" Yomi yelled suddenly.
He was trying to fight the powers of the Possession Bullet. If Mukuro didn't act fast he had no clue what would happen to him if he was forcefully ripped from the demon king's body.
"Shut up!" Mukuro yelled back at Yomi.
Everyone else froze, and only watched what was going to happen. Mukuro willed Yomi's body to pick up his trident. He spun it around so that it was pointing directly at Yomi's torso. Mukuro buried the trident deep into Yomi's gut so much so that the three prongs were sticking out from the other side. Yomi's body spasmed, and started coughing up blood.
"Is Mukuro going to be okay?" Hiei asked with worry in his voice.
"Yes. He may be feeling pain now, but once he returns to his body he should be fine." Hibari informed Hiei.
Yomi's body fell to the ground due to the severe wound. They waited in silence, and kept a watchful eye on Mukuro's body. Mukuro slowly rose to a sitting position.
"Doing that always takes up more energy than I would like it to, but I suppose it's a small price to pay. Oh, and before I forget-" Mukuro dispelled his Genjk Gagaia.
The man eating crows disappeared into thin air. Hiei had the strongest desire to run to Mukuro and hug him, but he knew that his beat and battered body would more than likely refuse him. Considering he wasn't wearing a proper shirt anymore either would just increase the embarrassment level.
"I think that we can all agree that it's about time we headed home or at least anywhere besides here." Dino said.
The three hitmen, and the three demons went on their way, and left the demon king to bleed out. If this was the last of Yomi then it would indeed be a true blessing, but things are never quite that easy.
"Thanks for letting us stay the night." Toya told the hitmen.
"Don't worry, it's no trouble at all. Feel free to sleep in the living room. The couch pulls out into a bed for two." Dino said to Toya and Shishi.
"Wait a moment...I'm so stupid. If the living room was open then why did you force Hiei into my room?" Mukuro rounded on Dino.
"Darn, if only you would have realized that sooner, but at the same time I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of getting the two of you closer together."
"To think that ordeal took us about a day to get through. I'm going to go turn in for the night." Hibari kissed Dino good night.
Dino kissed him back, "I'll be following behind in a few."
Toya and Shishi were already making themselves comfortable on the fold out couch.
"Guess that just leaves the two of you to turn in for the night." Dino pointed to Mukuro and Hiei, "By the way he still isn't wearing anything to cover up."
With that Dino headed off to join Hibari in their room.
"Thanks for reminding me." Mukuro called after Dino.
Hiei attempted to pull any leftover fabric to cover himself, but his efforts were not met.
"Come on, let's go to my room." Mukuro grabbed the small demon's hand. "I'm tired of exposing you for others to see."
Mukuro rested his trident against the nightstand. Afterwards, he took his jacket off, and loosened his tie. Hiei slowly removed what little fabric remained of the shirt Mukuro gave him earlier. Mukuro unbuttoned his shirt, and started to slip it off until he cringed in pain.
"That's right. No one healed your shoulder." Hiei remembered.
Mukuro shook his head, "It's not important."
Hiei moved over to Mukuro, "Look, it's bleeding heavily."
"If you're going to get that close then at least put this on." Mukuro held his jacket out to Hiei.
Hiei willing put the jacket on, and buttoned it up, "Now will you go and get that shoulder taken care of?"
"By who? The guy that nearly drained himself healing you?"
Hiei's patience was giving way.
"You don't by chance have a cell phone, do you?" Hiei asked Mukuro.
"Sure I do."
Mukuro pulled out a phone from his front pocket. Hiei snatched it from his hands, and dialed a number in a flash.
"Hey Al. Yes, I would like your assistance for something. What do you mean? You know exactly where I am. Thanks, see you in a few." Hiei hit the end call button.
"Can I ask what that was all about?"
"Let's just say that you are going to receive treatment for your shoulder whether you want to or not."
"What are you-"
The long blue haired mage appeared from out of nowhere.
"You were right, I knew exactly where you were." Albireo smiled. "So who is it that I'm healing?"
Hiei pointed a finger at Mukuro.
"You know it's not nice to point at others." Mukuro murmured.
"Hmm, that is a pretty nasty wound." Albireo observed, "This shouldn't take long at all though."
He healed Mukuro's shoulder in a matter of seconds.
"Wait a minute. I could have had you bring me a change of clothes, and hadn't even thought about it until now. You're good at teleportation. Think you could grab me a few outfits?"
"You kids have a good night now." Albireo said with a wicked smirk before fading away.
"Remind me to kill him later." Hiei told Mukuro.
Mukuro layed down, and stared up at the ceiling.
"Um, could I have something more comfortable to wear to bed?"
"What if I just told you to take the jacket off, and come in join me on the bed?"
"I might think that you are insane. While we're on the subject you're the one that wanted me to put the jacket on in the first place for being indecent."
"Yes, but now that it seems like there won't be anymore intrusions I wouldn't mind letting myself indulge a bit." Mukuro grinned mischievously.
"I...I don't know."
"Consider it payment for me saving you even when you thought that I wasn't going to. To clear things up it's not like I'm saying we should go all out tonight or anything like that, but I think you would agree that I deserve some kind of reward."
Hiei made his way to the bed, and sat down next to Mukuro. Mukuro propped himself up on his elbows.
"Want me to do the honors?"
Hiei had his head slightly bowed, but nodded all the same.
"Let me just finish removing my shirt first to make things slightly more fair."
Mukuro let his shirt fall to the floor. He moved in front of Hiei to undo the buttons of the jacket. Hiei let Mukuro tug the open jacket from his arms. Mukuro planted a kiss on Hiei's lips without warning.
"Sorry, couldn't hold myself back much longer. For the record, if that demon king ever tries to take you away from me again then mark my words that he'll get more than just a trident to the stomach next time around."
"I would greatly appreciate that."
The two of them decided not to say much more, and pulled the covers up and over themselves. Mukuro held Hiei close. They didn't even have time to decide on starting another conversation because they both fell asleep almost instantly.