Daisy stumbled, her hands bound before her, and had a sack over her head. The chains on her wrists and neck just made it all the more certain that she was nothing. They dragged her along, hooked her like a wild animal to a wall, and went about their work, leaving her alone to stand and wait for someone else to come. She wanted to cry, to pity herself, and hide, but there was nowhere to go, and to do so would be to lose even more of herself. She had to maintain what she had. Daisy resolved herself to wait, smelling the potatoes from the sack. That was all there was for it. Her stomach growled with a vicious hunger at the smell.

Chains jangled and she was yanked ahead, told to wait, then more chains, and she heard herself stumbling along with others. There were three other people with her now, if she was hearing right. They walked for hours, her feet freezing on the cool ground, and her toes complaining every time she hit a rock or a bump that stubbed them.

When at last, she heard the thick, heavy bars close behind herself and the others, and the keys were shoved into someone's hands, she still had to wait as whomever it was removed their chains first, and then the other two, leaving her alone, attached to the wall.

"Where are we?" a little girl's voice asked softly.

"Our new home I guess." It was a male voice, thick and deep. She waited for them to come and release her.

The little girl sighed, "I liked the old one."

"I know honey, but we can't go back." She felt someone touching her hood. They yanked it off. The man who took off her hood was a man with dark purple skin, with yellow stripes, like a tiger's. The two girls had his yellow stripes, but nearly blue skin tones rather than the dark purple.

"She's so peach," There were two girls, twins, and they stood to either side of the man Daisy assumed was their father.

"Where'd you get that scarf?"

"A friend of mine."

"What are you?" The man asked.

"I'm a spirit hawk."

"Oh. Where are you from?"

"B Block?"

He shook his head. "I haven't heard of a B Block. We had Groups where I was. What were you doing?"

"Um, we were digging a tunnel."

"Can I touch your cloak?" One of the little girls stepped forward.

"Yes." Daisy nodded.

She touched it, "It's soft."

"Yes, it was his too."

"Girls, go see if you can find a way out of here." The man shooed them off. He still hadn't unchained her from the wall.

The girls walked away together to find a way out.

"What's your name, Woman?"

"Daisy. What's your name?"

"Urubi."

"What are your daughter's names?"

"Ranami and Urusa. They're twins, so I wouldn't bother trying to tell them apart if I was you."

"You were separated from their mother?"

He nodded. "We were a breeding group."

Daisy's face fell. "Oh."

"Yeah. You were a tunneling group then?"

"A work block, yes. Do you know what we are now?"

He shrugged. "I'd assume a breeding block considering there's only the four of us, three women and one man."

Daisy felt the dread building in her stomach. He was right. They didn't usually put many women in a work block together, they needed strong shoulders and strong bodies to dig. If this was a work block, they must have a lack of men to spread into this group. They clearly were a late joiner to the groups here, but what did that mean? What happened to the others?

Daisy swallowed. "Will you unchain me, please?"

"Not yet." Urubi shook his head.

"There's no way out." The girls came back wet.

"The pool is warm."

That didn't seem like a good thing for her. Daisy held her breath watching the two girls. Why would they put their father with them if they wanted breeders?

"What's your name?" One of the girls asked.

"Daisy, what's yours?"

"I'm Urusa."

"I'm Ranami!" The other girl chirped up.

"It's nice to meet you both."

Urusa smiled widely at her.

"Girls, what did you find?"

"This place is big! There's a giant pool in the back around that corner," she pointed. "Oh, and there are bars over there too into the hallway and we can see the other side."

"There's no one in there."

"Are there any tunnels in the water?"

The girls shook their heads. "Not that we saw."

"We're not good at swimming. It was deep and dark in there."

"Urubi, can you go check for tunnels in the pond?" Ranami asked gently, holding her hands behind her back and wiggling back and forth.

"Of course I will." he kissed her head and handed her the key stepping out.

Usura smiled at Daisy, "Were they a good friend?"

"Yes, he was a very close friend. He was the last person who joined my block." Daisy had too twist to look over her shoulder and see her.

"Did he die?"

"I-I think so, but we never found a body."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Usura frowned.

"It's alright. Is Urubi your father?"

"His brother's our father."

"Oh, so you're his nieces." They nodded.

That boded ill as well. If they were his nieces that meant they could expect him to breed with them when they came of age.

They let Daisy down from the wall after getting naps, when Urubi could stay up and watch her. Daisy settled down against the thick stone wall, and didn't comment, just rubbed her wrists.

After several hours, they were given a lighter for their fire-pit, then dragged out for work. Daisy felt relief in every swing of the pickaxe as the two girls and their uncle used their energy to break up the rock so she could move the large pieces away.

Two weeks passed working every few days before there was a commotion in the hallway. The guards shouted and began running away from the deep tunnels towards the surface, where they could hear the clanging of metal and screams.

Daisy moved to get their small group together, but a hand grabbed her arm before she could get far.

"Daisy! Come on!"

"W-ha-what?" Daisy stumbled being dragged the other way, and turned only to fall off her feet. "Hiei!" she jumped after him, trying to get to him.

Hiei scooped her up, "Come on, we need to get out of here." He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment before bolting.

Daisy hugged him tightly. "Oh my god! You're alive!" tears flooded to her eyes as she buried her head against his shoulder, shaking.

"Of course I'm alive." He scolded, flaring his energy as Demon World's sunlight came up quick.

Daisy had lifted her head for a moment to see his face, but yelped when the harsh sun met her eyes. She buried her face against him again and relaxed. "Hiei," she cried again.

"I'm here, I have you." Hiei told her firmly.

She wrapped her hands into his new cloak, squeezing it tightly in her grasp so he couldn't go away. "Hiei, you're here."

"I'm here." He agreed. Their motion slowed and she felt him jump up and settle down. He sat down and sighed, "I'm here, don't move suddenly out of my grasp or you'll fall."

"Why would I let you go?" she laughed and bit his scarf just to hold more of him. She squirmed trying to get closer to him.

He shrugged and rubbed her back, "I don't know."

"God, what happened? Where were you?" she demanded opening her eyes to see him. She couldn't wait for an answer, she kissed him once she saw his familiar eyes.

He moaned a little and leaned back, "I saw an exit and left my cloak and scarf behind so you'd know I went somewhere. I was in the halls when the ceiling came down, or the wall, something, and knocked me out."

"You scared me. I thought you died!" she shouted at him, still clinging.

Hiei dropped his head, "I'm sorry. I couldn't get back, Kurama found me."

"Kurama? Your friend?" Daisy looked around and gasped at what she saw. They were on the edge of a battle. Three men were fighting off guards on the ground. They were in the trees. As they fought, men and women snuck out of the exit darting into the trees, vanishing in every direction.

"Yes." Hiei nodded, "They're down there."

"Where are, are those the prisoners?"

"Yes." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek softly.

Daisy watched with bated anticipation. "Did you release their doors?"

"Mhmm."

"Thank you." she kissed him again.

Hiei kissed her back and nuzzled against her.

"Did you get rid of the parasites?"

"Yes." He nodded, "Pretty easy actually."

"How?"

"Drink alcohol."

She laughed. "Really?"

He nodded, "Really."

"That's an easy cure to find."

"It is." He kissed her cheek again.

"You came back for me." She stared at him.

"Of course."

"But you came back," She leaned into him and kissed him again.

He kissed her and leaned back for a moment, "Of course."

"But we moved."

"I have a Jagan."

"I know, but how did you find me? I barely have any energy. I don't know how you could have used… how did you? I was so far underground."

"Partly Jagan, smell," he shrugged, "Grabbing a guard and slamming him into a wall until he gave me answers."

She laughed and tightened her grip. "God, why did you risk it? They could have caught you again. They could have..."

"Because I love you."

She pulled back and stared at him. Did he mean that or was it just because they were in that horrible situation together? Did he love her or did he love her act? Did he know her? She stared at him trying to decide just how much that could be true.

He watched her back, silent.

"Well I know I love you, but..." there was so much he didn't know about her. Could it really matter? She didn't know him for sure either. She barely knew if she should believe if he was Hiei Jaganshi, and what that meant if he was.

"But?"

"You don't… do you know me? I mean, could we really know each other?"

"We can."

"Hiei I..." she stared at him.

"Daisy," he murmured softly.

She was distracted by a distinct, vicious cry that shrieked out over the battlefield. She shrunk down and stared up at the energy that bellowed into the battlefield. It landed as a tall gaunt man with shaggy brown hair that was spiked with black, grey and gold. He pulled a sword and launched into an attack against the black haired kid.

Hiei rubbed her back, watching.

"That's Vrishnu." Daisy whispered. She hadn't seen the man in years. She wasn't even sure how long, but she knew he had new scars. She could see them even from this distance. Her eyes focused, exposing the golden rings on the deep inside of her irises as they closed to focus.

"Want me to go help?"

She started to shake her head, but waited, watching Vrishnu attack the man viciously with a flurry of energy attacks of wind. "I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to let you go, but they will need you."

"I know."

"You need to go. You need to surprise him. He'll keep everyone back with those wind attacks, and gradually wear them down. He doesn't play fair, he just keeps pummeling people."

"Alright, stay here." Hiei shifted to trade places with her, "I'll be back."

Daisy grabbed the tree branch to hold on herself, letting him free himself and go help fight.

He kissed her and leapt down to join the fight.

Daisy held her breath as she watched Hiei vanish. She wanted to close her eyes, to respect the man, to get some sort of semblance of honoring the relationship she had to him, but she wanted him dead. All those people who kept pouring out of the caves, all of the other holds he had around Demon World, and for what? What was the goal here? He was work for hire, but the people he put to work, the conditions they lived in, that she had lived in for all these years were disgraceful. He deserved to die, and she needed to know for sure that he was dead.

Hiei got down there quickly, and Vrishnu was dead within minutes.

Daisy sighed in relief as some of the guards saw their bread-ticket die. They began to disperse, running off as long as they weren't afraid of getting caught up on one of the attacks.

Hiei was back quickly after helping with some stubborn guards, jumping up, "Daisy."

"Thank you." She grabbed him but she was too weak to pull him down.

He came to her and shifted spots with her again.

"Hiei, please, I need, I need," what did she need? She squeezed him and snuggled herself close, trying to catch her breath.

"What? What do you need?" He held her tight.

"I don't know," she shook her head and sighed, relaxing against him.

"I'm here."

"That's what I want."

He kissed her head, "I'm here." He squeezed her.

"I love you."

"I love you too Daisy."

"I missed you."

"I did too."

"You came to me," she laughed and pressed her head against him.

"Hey up there!" one of the men called up, waving.

Daisy looked down at him, confused. She snuggled closer to Hiei.

"What?"

"We've sort of got all this wrapped up. You want to come down?"

"Wanna go down?"

"If you are going down, I'll stay with you." She replied softly.

The other two came over as well. Daisy sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Hiei pulled her into his arms and jumped down to meet them.

"Hi there," The redhead smiled softly to her. "Daisy?"

Daisy leaned against Hiei holding onto his arm now as she stood on her feet. "I'm, I'm Daisy."

"This is Kurama." He gestured to the redhead, "Yusuke," he pointed at the black haired kid, "And Kuwabara."

"Hello." Daisy looked between the three of them. They were all bigger than Hiei, but Yusuke was about her height. She wrapped her arm around Hiei's holding him.

"So this is her?" Yusuke smiled.

"Yes Detective."

"I'm a her?" Daisy asked him curiously.

"Yes, you're definitely a her." Kurama chuckled. "Come on, let's get you home." He held out a hand to her, but Daisy didn't take it, she held onto Hiei instead.

Hiei chuckled, "Lead the way Fox."

"We can move faster if you pick her up,"

Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah, I'd like to get back to Yukina."

Hiei scooped her up, "Let's go."

Yusuke led them off.

*Bit of a short chapter, but the next one will be longer!