Zas: So why'd you write this fic again?
Saria: Because I thought Raizen was the most awesome character in Yu Yu Hakusho and they killed him off way too fast! I mean, come on, he was labeled as the Master/God of War! And he literally starved himself to death waiting for the woman he loved!
SA: He actually was awesome.
Tori: So how did Toguro and Genkai get mixed up in this?
Saria: Just was watching the Dark Tournament/Flashbacks of Toguro and Genkai, Yusuke entered the screen, and I thought, "Genkai's eyes and Toguro's hair... OH MY GOD!" Shifting Yusuke into a girl just made it easier to issue a feature that would have been more telling and suspicious: pink hair!
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Hokushin should have known that the fight would not be finished the moment he got Yusuke into the palace. Honestly, what had he expected? That he could just put her to bed and wait for his king's return? Fat chance.
"I said let go you overfed cow!" the little princess shouted as Enki dragged the child back up the hall to her new bedroom.
Hokushin wondered, not for the first time, if he should have tried to have the kid sedated. Thus far, in the hour since his return with Yusuke after the run to reach the palace, the girl had tried multiple times to escape with plans ranging from running out the door to jumping out of the window. She was riled up after what had happened in Spirit World and not entirely happy with the situation as it stood.
Though Enki was doing what he could to help, Kokou and Souketsu were all for letting the girl run off and no one else was currently on hand to assist him since it was almost three in the morning.
"Gonna have to assign a guard!" Kokou shouted at him as she waved a flagon of wine and Hokushin narrowed his eyes. How was that woman able to drink so much and not pass out?
An idea hit him then but he quickly discarded it. He was fine with a little sleep deprivation, especially if the alternative was dealing with a hungover Yusuke in the morning.
Up the hall, a door slammed and he groaned as he stood and sure enough, the girl came darting around the corner a moment later, eyes narrowed angrily. She twisted and dodged Hokushin's grabs for the most part, but a lucky swipe allowed him to hook a hand onto her collar.
Enki rounded the corner a moment later and tripped over the monk's arm, but he managed to avoid landing on the pair.
Hokushin's eye twitched before he focused on Yusuke, who thankfully wasn't laughing at Enki's plight.
"What would it take for you to calm down and go to bed?" he ground out, at this point willing to pay just about any price if it meant a few minutes of peace.
"Stop trying to make me go to bed! I'm not a little kid!" the child shouted at him and Hokushin had to seriously bite back the urge to laugh. King Raizen was about 5000 years old, he was over 1000 himself in fact, and it was quite likely that he was the second youngest in the room. Compared to that, Yusuke's tender 14 years made her seem like an infant. Her current size added to the problem.
Enki sat up next to her, still towering over her even though he was sitting. He regarded her for a long moment then stood and headed over to sit next to his wife.
"Just let her stay up, Raizen can deal with this," he declared.
Souketsu, who Yusuke only recognized as the guy that killed Sensui and tried to grab her before she escaped to Ningenkai, grumbled as he sat back then produced a pack of cards. "Black Snap anyone?"
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Mukuro's mood was decidedly black as she boarded her insect fortress. Kirin and Shigure were both there and both seemed a bit surprised that she was alone.
"Why was-" Shigure's question got cut off as Mukuro gave him a sharp look with her one visible eye then marched past them.
Entering her private chambers, she slammed the door shut and locked it before throwing herself onto her bed. All of her plans, the care they had taken, was all gone now. Raizen seemed like he might survive now and intended to resolve their dispute. She doubted that she was the fish that the War God intended to fry, but he might decide to dethrone her for attempting to interrupt his custody claim.
The king had been certain her plan was sound, that success would be achieved. Koenma obviously cared about his former detective and she had played on that, pointing out that Yusuke's highest probability of survival was under her protection which the girl would have as either the ward of herself or Shigure.
With this custody dispute, Yomi had been alerted as to this kid's existence and knew that the clock was ticking. If he was smart, then he would act wihin the next decade because otherwise, Raizen might have the backup he needed.
Whether they were all ready or not, the ball was in a court now, but the question was whose?
Kirin would not be adequate as a seond-in-command for long, and Yusuke was no longer her ace. Makai didn't have what she needed.
Then what about Ningenkai?
Mukuro opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling as she considered. Yusuke had been closely monitored while she was here and the child had mentioned some people, demons and humans alike, that she knew. One of the demons was named Kurama and the other was Hiei. She had had some reports made on them and thought Hiei seemed to have potential.
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Despite the name, Black Snap was more like Poker than Black Jack. Everyone who played was dealt seven cards and would then make bids on the value of their cards. The magic number in this was 18: you could go over or under but you wanted to get as close to that number as possible. You could trade in up to five of your cards, and the cards themselves ranged in value from -4 to 8.
Yusuke watched the first two games before joining on the third. She lost miserably that first time before her luck quickly turned around. Currently, she owed Hokushin a new pair of shoes and a hat, but Enki owed her a month's worth of ramen, Kokou had lost her goard of alcohol (which Hokushin had promptly confiscated from her), and Souketsu had bet everything except his beret and boxers.
Currently Yusuke was attempting to trade his pants for the hat so she could give that and his shoes to Hokushin in order to square her debt to him when Raizen finally arrived. He took one look at Souketsu before snorting loudly in laughter.
"You started gambling again," the king stated before his eyes settled on Yusuke and the pile of clothes in front of her. "And you taught my daughter to win it would seem."
"Not the only one she cleaned out," Souketsu snapped sourly before tossing his beret over the table to the girl and snagging his pants. "Least I'm not leaving in just my skin."
"Done that before?" Yusuke asked as she passed the beret and shoes to Hokushin who made a face at them.
"Last time he gambled," Raizen stated as he took a seat as well. "Why aren't you in bed? Wanted to see your dear old dad?"
Yusuke's hackles were instantly up. "I don't care what Spirit World says, you're not my dad!"
With a fight brewing, Hokushin saw fit to gather his winnings and excuse himself, but Raizen stopped anyone from leaving at that moment.
"This'll take time," the king admitted. "But you're my brat. You knew it when your transformation was completed during your fight with Souketsu-"
"Wait a minute, you were that voice!" Yusuke yelled as she pointed accusingly at Raizen. "Why the hell did you interfere?!"
Raizen smirked in turn. "You called me 'dad' back then. And you didn't stand a chance against Souketsu otherwise."
"Great!" Souketsu suddenly declared. "Now get your kid to give me the rest of my clothes back!"
Raizen smirked at his friend then pitched him the pile of clothes that had been in front of Yusuke. "You owe both of us!"
Souketsu growled in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah," he replied as he departed. Right behind him was Enki dragging Kokou who was trying to demand her alcohol back. Hokushin left last and for the first time in her life, Yusuke was knowingly alone with her father.
She glared at the man out of the corner of her eye then felt a sweatdrop form when she saw he was regarding her in the same manner minus the glare.
"We need to discuss some things since you're not anonymous anymore," the white haired man stated plainly. "You're not strong enough to fend off my enemies. I trust Mukuro enough to not attempt an assassination, but not Yomi."
Having not met Yomi, only experienced an attempted assassination by a recruiter who thought she was Bui's kid, Yusuke couldn't argue.
"You can run around this city and the palace as much as you want, but no farther. Attempt to run off again, and you'll be sleeping in my room while wearing a cow bell."
Yusuke felt her mouth drop as she tried to think of some sort of response.
"You'll be allowed to choose your own bedtime, but you will be training during the day as well as learning your other duties."
Shock further rocked Yusuke as she realized that Raizen was laying down the law with her.
"Aside from that, just know that you're not above the law. You'll be expected to uphold and enforce it some day. And if you have to think for more than a second whether something is allowed or not, then it most likely isn't."
Raizen then stood and departed, leaving a shocked Yusuke gaping across the table. Her surprise was several fold due to the fact that a demon, supposedly her father, had just set up rules and a promised punishment for breaking one for the first time in her life. The second surprise was that they actually seemed somewhat reasonable.
That didn't mean she was going to abide by them.
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Kurama glared at the wall that Yomi's form had just faded from. It was the second message his former subordinate had sent, this one dropping the niceties of the first and all but threatening him to either return to Makai to serve Yomi or face the consequences.
It seemed that the dispute in custody over Yusuke that he had heard about had caused Yomi some distress and he was grabbing at any possible straws. That didn't make it less annoying, or infuriating as Kurama now viewed it.
A swish of fabric above alerted him to Hiei's presence and a moment later, the demon stood before him.
"Genkai and Toguro returned from Spirit World," the fire apparition stated bluntly. "Yusuke wasn't with them."
"Any idea who she was given to?"
Hiei snorted. "I didn't ask. But based upon the case and the contenders, who do you think?"
The fox took a breath as he considered what he knew. Koenma did view Yusuke as his responsibility, but she was also a tool. Since she could no longer be used, he would have to act as the Prince of Spirit World and make the best deal for Ningenkai and Spirit World. And there was no guarantee that Koenma would be capable of locating the woman he had found in Raizen's file, especially with the very high possibility that she had moved on or been reincarnated.
"Mukuro," Kurama answered honestly a moment later. "Though a tyrannical ruler, Mukuro does abide by agreements, not breaking them unless crossed by the other party first. If Koenma made a deal, then it would likely be with him."
"Hn. And with Raizen likely to die soon, would Mukuro really be the better choice?"
Several minutes ago, Kurama wouldn't have been sure. Now his eyes narrowed as he angrily recalled the threats Yomi had made. "Probably."
Hiei's red eyes widened in shock at the admission before narrowing. "What happened?"
"Nothing to concern yourself with, but you might want to consider which side you will take very carefully," Kurama replied.
"Side? I'm not involved."
"Yet." Kurama's statement hung heavy in the air.
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Yusuke hadn't stayed up long after Raizen had left. She was tired and there was no point in trying to leave right now. She doubted she would get far before someone noticed she was gone. So several minutes after being left alone, she had moved down the hall to the door of the room that Hokushin and Enki had tried to put her in.
It was not the same room she had been in previously, she knew that right off the bat. That room had been on the second floor and consisted of a sitting room and bedroom that had a twin sized bed.
This room started with a sitting room also then you entered the bedroom which had a queen sized bed in the center of the room. A large window revealed that she was much higher up than the second floor now. There was also a bathroom and a closet that she had discovered during her escape attempts earlier. In total, it was a room fit for the daughter of a king. She hated it.
Jumping onto the bed, the now white haired girl crawled into the bed, still finding the experience weird. Everything just felt so... Big.
She wished fervently that they had placed her back in her previous room. It would have been easier to escape from and she wouldn't have felt so dwarfed in the twin bed.
Yusuke had initially climbed into the center of the bed but within moments found the space disquieting despite the comfort and shifted to one side. It helped that she could now feel the side of the bed but now she saw the window that seemed to gape open at a large expanse of empty sky. Turning over just reminded her of the large bed so she shifted to the other side of the bed and found herself staring at a wall.
Shutting her eyes, the girl tried to let sleep find her but no matter how much she wished for it, her mind buzzed and sleep alluded her. The memory of the chaos in Spirit World bothered her and then there had been Raizen's undeniable power. If Raizen was knocking on death's door with that much power, then Yusuke couldn't even begin to imagine him at his peak. Just the memory of that power caused the corners of her vision to go white and...
It seemed like only a moment had passed, but she must have fallen asleep since she was awakened by someone shaking her shoulder and the room now had dim daylight streaming through the window. Groaning, Yusuke wondered after a moment how it was that a memory of power could make her nod off before the sheets and blanket were tugged away from her.
Seitei gazed down at her calmly as she blinked in confusion then a bundle of clothes was pushed into her arms.
"Your schedule will be discussed over breakfast," the general stated before he headed into the sitting room as Yusuke watched him depart.
The former detective stared blankly at the door then groaned as she dragged herself from the bed, eager at the possibility of a warm meal after the past couple of days. At least experience told her that the food here was edible.
Her clothes from Ningenkai were a simple shirt and pants set that were easy to move in, the clothes that she'd been given by Seitei were much the same except in white with a yellow belt/sash. She'd say that the clothes were meant to look a lot like Raizen's by design and if there had been other options then she likely would have run with them.
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Warm sunlight had been what roused Raizen from his sleep and he was less than pleased. His dreams had been of the Lady Doctor, her eyes still haunting him though he had seen her just the night before, even if just for a short while.
Dreams promised more images of her, but duty demanded he rise. He had to come up with a plan for finally bringing this War of the Kings to a close and to do that he would need strength. And strength would come from eating.
For the first time in hundreds of years, Raizen headed downstairs to his dining hall where he had communal meals served with the intent of eating. He was slightly surprised to find that many of his men were there despite the relatively late morning hour.
Hokushin looked tired but was eating from the high table where the king sat with his generals. More chairs could be added whenever his old friends and training companions visited and he noted that while Enki was there, Kokou and Souketsu were absent. There was also an additional chair that had been added.
"My lord," Hokushin stated as he rose at Raizen's approach and he waved his second-in-command away, which also doubled as a signal for the monks behind him to sit as well, seeing as how they had risen at his passing.
"Morning!" Enki declared jovially as Raizen took his seat. "Sorry Kokou decided to sleep in. And I don't know where Soukets-"
Enki's litany died on his lips at the sight of Raizen reaching for the platter of food before him and taking a serving, one that consisted of human. Around the hall, shock and slack jaws could be seen from everyone, including Hokushin. That morphed into murmuring after Raizen had taken two bites then given the room in general a flat look.
"My lord... Are you ill?" Hokushin asked, looking like he wanted to pinch himself.
"Fine, will likely need my strength soon," was his response.
More whispers crept through the room as Raizen focused on his meal before it went silent again, and when the king looked up, he saw that Seitei had entered with Yusuke.
His daughter he would dare to say greatly resembled him that day, even dressed in something that resembled his normal attire. She must have found the sudden silence and stares she was receiving weird though because her eyes turned sharply to glare at those who openly stared.
Seitei gently urged her to the front table where she had paused for a long moment before trying to climb into the chair next to Enki that was likely intended for Kokou. The large demon snorted while Tou'ou, who sat on the other side of the large red demon, narrowed his eyes a bit.
Yusuke's escort glanced at Raizen, who showed no sign of caring, before moving to his own seat. The chair that had been situated next to the king remained notably empty.
Watching the chibified Yusuke proved humorous for those at the table. Previously when they had been trying to keep her anonymous until they could figure out what had happened and had hoped to restore her, she had been kept away from most of the general population. Even meals had been taken in the privacy of some other location. Seeing her having to guess which dishes were 'safe' (aka: didn't contain humans), while being short to the point that she had to practically stand on the chair to serve herself, and her head barely being above the table while sitting was actually a simultaneously cute and funny sight. Enki wound up pointing out which dishes were ones the child wanted to try after Tou'ou tried to nudge a platter into her path that contained some meat from humans.
Seitei had apparently been the one to explain the girl's general schedule and he did so, explaining morning training and the few hours she wuld spend in "classes" in the afternoons, still allowing her a number of hours to either train more or follow other interests. Yusuke made a notable face at the word "classes" and Raizen wondered how she'd react when she found out what those "classes" would actually be. Perhaps he should make it a point to be present.
Finally the meal ended, with only one noteworthy moment where Yusuke had attempted to throw a platter at Tou'ou for trying to slip her certain 'food' items.
Enki was willing to train with Yusuke that morning which freed Raizen's generals to attend a meeting. They convened in a meeting room on the third floor an hour after the meal. Raizen had beaten his generals there because there was a window he could look out of. Yusuke and Enki were pretty much the center of attention on the training ground as his old friend got a sharp surprise at the girl's power level and got knocked over. That didn't happen again but it was a good opening power display.
Hokushin, Seitei, and Tou'ou all arrived at the same time, none seemed surprised at his presence.
"My king, it is good to see you taking care of yourself again," Seitei stated.
"Is it because of the child-" Tou'ou cut off when Raizen made a sharp gesture.
"I made a deal with Spirit World, that is how we have come to have Yusuke," Raizen stated bluntly. "I also made another promise to resolve this situation of kings here in Makai."
The generals glanced at each other, it was a conversation they had long anticipated.
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Sunday was supposed to be a restful day. And this Sunday should have been one to celebrate for the Toguro/Genkai household since Yusuke had passed her exams.
Kuwabara had shown up at the shrine ready to party since he was now in common contact with Takanaka and knew that Urameshi had passed. He had brought Kurama along with him and they had run into Kido at the train station on his way here as well.
The two members of the Spirit Detective team had intended to go to Spirit World if need be but that had gone out the window at the news that Yusuke was already in the custody of her new guardian, this time it was King Raizen.
Bui and Karasu were surprisingly in the compound and were willing to be civil.
Kido was still floored to find out that the little kid that had been brought back from the Makai with the crew was both the granddaughter of the two human martial artists, but also the daughter of a Demon King.
"How'd you manage to get a hand on her?" he demanded sharply which caused Toguro to wince. "I mean, shouldn't she have been in his palace or something? And how are you both so young yet have a grandkid?"
"Long story, but Yusuke was born in Ningenkai," Genkai replied as she gave Toguro's wrist a squeeze.
"Then how did that guy get close enough to knock up your daughter?"
"That's not how it works," Kurama placated when he saw Genkai was beginning to get upset along with Toguro. "Raizen sired his bloodline centuries ago, and his intended child just happened to be born now. It's a sort of genetic time bomb that usually goes off after forty generations."
"Forty generations?!" Kido yelled. "How could they even be considered related? And how many descendants could he have?!"
Kurama took a deep breath. "It's the sort of thing that is tricky to explain. A son or daughter for a demon has to inherit their genes which amongst humans can be recessive, especially amongst the Mazoku. Yusuke inherited those and in the eyes of Makai and Spirit World, that makes her Raizen's daughter. As for how many, that's never really been answered."
Now Genkai looked very pale as she clutched her middle where her unborn child rested.
"I've never heard of there being more than one!" the fox immediately added though the demons in the room knew he had left off the word 'claimed' from the sentence. There had been plenty of occurrences of more than one child being born, but only one if any was claimed.
"I was thinking of heading over there," Bui admitted after a moment. "I could try to pass along messages or letters. Raizen had some strict policies involving coming the Ningenkai but they are all focused on behavior and crime, not frequency."
Toguro nodded to his former subordinate, once again impressed by the man's honor.
"If you do then I might have use for you," Kurama stated which caused all heads to snap in his direction.
"What?" Kuwabara demanded.
"My presence in Makai has been commanded by one of the other rulers, Yomi."
Kuwabara blinked while Karasu and Bui visibly tensed.
"Your crew seems to attract dangerous attention," Karasu stated blandly before a shadow descended into their midst.
Hiei gave Kurama a long, hard look before stating, "I've been invited to Makai by Mukuro."
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For Yusuke, the day wasn't turning out well at all. Though she had been awake in the morning, for the last couple of days she had lacked a good night of sleep and training with Enki had thoroughly drained her. The big red demon had gone easy on her and still run her ragged, using his eminence size to his advantage. One of the ways he had done that was by keeping her at arm-length, literally, by putting two fingers against her head during one of her charges. Try as she might, she couldn't escape those fingers and attack him. Thankfully, he only did that once.
And she had thought it would be an easy day because her initial power-up had knocked him onto his butt.
Lunch had been in the dining hall again and she found out that all meals were taken there, and she was expected to eat there as well now. Unfortunately, Kokou and Souketsu chose to appear for the meal and she was the last to arrive aside from Enki, which meant there were two seats choices left: between Kokou and Tou'ou or between Raizen and Seitei.
Enki grabbed the seat between the former pair before she could decide which was the lesser of evils which left her with no choice.
Glancing back at the hall, she saw no other seats available and didn't feel like going to look, so she dragged herself to the open seat next to Raizen and climbed up. The demon king seemed distracted but he still glanced at her for a moment before grabbing one of the platters of food and situating it in front of her. She recognized the dish as one of the first meals she had had here previously, so non-human containing.
There had obviously been a heated debate going on but Yusuke found she didn't much care as it started up again until she heard a name.
"Yomi is showing signs of moving!" Tou'ou insisted. "He is calling as many warriors as he can, including an A-class in Ningenkai called Kurama. He is the one that is most likely to try to move first. We would be best served taking him down first."
Hokushin disagreed. "Mukuro is less stable and wouldn't hesitate to take any advantage."
"Time is our best option," interjected Seitei.
"Time for one of them to get bold?" Tou'ou demanded before his eyes landed on Yusuke as Seitei passed her what looked to be a bread basket much to the girl's confusion. She hadn't even been looking at the bread, so she set it back on the table.
"Time isn't something we'll get once those two hear that Lord Raizen is eating again," Hokushin snapped. "They'll know for certain before the day is out I'd say."
Yusuke felt her eye twitch a bit but she did file away that Kurama was being contacted by Yomi. Next to her, Raizen was showing no emotion at being mostly ignored by his bickering generals. He had wanted ideas and suggestions, not a litany on which of the other two kings they should attack first.
"We'll be leaving after lunch," Enki suddenly stated, drawing the attention of everyone else at the table. "Kujo and Natsumi are in the area and might drop by in a week or two, especially when they hear you're eating again so be prepared for a fight."
Raizen chuckled in response. "I expect that from all of you."
"We'll be sure to tell Den-hou when we see him," Kokou added, looking and sounding sober at the moment.
Souketsu hadn't said anything yet and didn't look about to despite glancing at Kokou at the mention of someone that Yusuke was now certain she hadn't met.
Lunch concluded quietly enough, neither Yusuke nor Raizen having said a word to each other though the latter did surprise the girl by giving her an almost affectionate seeming head rub as he departed. She found out why less than an hour later: while Raizen took over the training grounds, she was expected to take over his work for her "classes". The king could be seen through the doorway as she was introduced to the work, grinning with a rather vindictive glint in his eye before Yusuke would later swear to seeing him skip away.
For two hours after that, the former detective moaned and groaned throughout her "lessons" under the guidance of Hokushin and Seitei while shooting glares out of the window where Raizen could be seen with Souketsu, both looked to be having a blast.
At long last the reports were dealt with and the two generals had nothing else for her. Yusuke jumped out of the window before they could change their minds, her gaze fixed on Raizen who was taking a breather from his fighting.
Her tiny fist caught him right over his retarded facial tattoo, all her strength and momentum put into that one strike, but Raizen's head barely moved. If anything, his grin widened before his fist slammed into her gut.
The wind was throroughly knocked out of the girl as she was sent flying back a bit, a hand clutching her stomach as she glared at the demon king.
"Seems as though my daughter feels the same way I do about paperwork."
Yusuke felt her anger rise. This bastard had the nerve to dump his paperwork on her and now saw fit to tease her about it?!
"I'll waste you!" The former detective shouted the promise as she rushed at Raizen again but her attacks didn't even come close to connecting. The king easily countered her attempts to strike him and countered with near crippling blows that Yusuke barely managed to weather due to training with Kirin and Yakan, but even the lightest of these blows made theirs seem like friendly taps. More than once the girl barely bit back a yelp or shout of pain before she was thoroughly blown away by a punch that sent her skidding halfway across the training field, causing a number of monks to scatter.
Forcing herself to sit up, she felt further agitated upon seeing that the bastard that was the target of her ire was not even breathing hard.
"You'll be doing that paperwork until you can give your old man a decent fight!" Raizen called at her and Yusuke saw red for a long moment as her finger shot up and pointed at the king and fired her favorite attack.
Raizen's response was to raise a hand, catching the blast with far too much ease in Yusuke's mind as her temper rose and she launched herself at the other right before he flexed his power momentarily.
The power flux was fast and strong, cut straight through Yusuke's angered state as it also cancelled out her attack.
"I'd say it'll be another 200 years before you'll even stand the possibility of making me sweat."
Anger rushed through Yusuke again and she rushed Raizen again, determined that she was going to knock him and his ego onto their asses.
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Yomi dared to never pace in the presence of his advisors, councilors, or generals. He had learned one very important thing from Youko Kurama that he had learned over the centuries and practiced to this day: always appear calm.
He wished that he could say he was calm. That was why he was currently pacing alone in the privacy of his chambers.
Raizen had his heir under his control and was eating again.
All in all, he didn't think that was the worst thing that could have happened, but his rival was regaining his strength at an uncanny rate. He had been only a year away from death not even two days ago, now he was well on the road to recovery, something that should have taken decades.
When his messengers had reported the existence of the child of Raizen, he could admit that he had been intrigued with the notion of bringing her under his control but had discarded it fast. He had preached some much about pure bloodlines and had so many hanyous killed, including an attempt on this one if some reports were to be believed, that there was no way he could even hope to win the case. Instead, his hopes were that Raizen and Mukuro would fight each other for control of the kid until he heard of the human grandparents.
All of that was beside the point now. Raizen had walked out with his kid and Mukuro showed no signs of fighting him for her.
At the moment, power between the kings was comparable but time would quickly change that. He well remembered another lesson that Youko Kurama had imparted on him: that if the leaders were equal, the second-in-commands would determine the victor.
Currently no one had a second that could hope to stand against a king but that would change in just a few short years. And until his daughter was ready to take that post offcially, Raizen had his loyal general Hokushin.
Then there was Raizen himself. Yomi was no fool, he knew of what that particular demon's power was before he made that strange oath. If he regained even a third of his power, then his daughter would be unnecessary since neither Yomi nor Mukuro could hope to match him.
Time, once his ally that ticked down the moments to Raizen's death, had become his greatest foe. It now sped along, and each minute that passed brought Raizen and his heir more power and a greater chance for victory.
He would need to move soon. Forget Mukuro, Raizen was quickly eclipsing that bandaged freak as the more severe threat. That daughter of his would need to die also, to prevent the possibility of another with that much power from arising. It would likely have to happen after the War God was dead since his spies indicated that the child was kept close to either the generals or her father.
He couldn't see whether it was clear or not as he moved to his balcony, but he had been told that it was cloudy more often than not in Gandara. He could smell the rains that were promised as well. The rainy season had come.
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Yusuke stared out of her window at the various tents that had been set up in the city. There was a celebration going on right now despite the rain, or maybe it was because of the rain.
Seitei had mentioned it at dinner but she hadn't paid it much mind. She hadn't felt like going out.
Raizen had completely kicked her ass during their fight. Totally whipped her. And she had kept getting back up. The white haired freak had been oddly pleased and she had comforted herself by thinking of what it would be like to finally beat Raizen.
Maybe she should be worried about becoming like Kuwabara.
Despite her efforts to heal herself, she was still very sore and had a few bandages left over from the fight as well as some of the now familiar markings. It seemed that they appeared whenever she used her demon energy now and would stay for hours on end after.
Reaching out, her fingers brushed the barrier over the window before slipping through and feeling the cool night air and the rain. She had found out that day after realizing that she had not hit any glass when she rushed Raizen that there were no windows in the place. Instead, a seal master had been paid to place seals over the windows to maximize air flow while keeping out the elements and intruders. Raizen and his bloodline could pass through the windows without worry, but if you weren't invited by one of them to enter or that invitation was revoked, then the backlash would likely kill you if you attempted to violently enter. It explained why Hokushin and Seitei had had to use the doors to come after her.
She had been attempting to come up with a plan for getting away from here but... Going back to Ningenkai no longer seemed like a good option. She couldn't stay with Genkai and Toguro now and though she missed Atsuko, she didn't want to live with her again. Kurama was supposedly here in Makai now, called by Yomi, but she was NOT going near that head case.
Idly she wondered after Shigure, Yakan, Hyd, and Kirin. She'd liked them for the most part and honestly wished they were here also. Mukuro hadn't been too bad either once you got used to him. If Yusuke were to guess, he was likely someone that did support justice and tried to defend what was right but just went a little too far. Or just plain out too far. He seemed a lot like Hiei in some ways.
Her eyes began to grow heavy then and she shut them, calling to mind the faces of those she cared for. Genkai, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama crossed her mind first. They had felt the most like family for her. Atsuko, Keiko, and Toguro were next followed by Bui and Karasu and she wondered how the two were doing. Hopefully not breaking coffee tables and hiding the evidence under sofas.
Movement woke her up some time later then she felt a blanket settle over her. Momentarily cracking her eyes, she saw the back of a head of wild hair as it left through the door.
zzzzzzzzzz
Raizen had watched some of the festivities happening outside. It was only the first day so nothing important was happening, but it did disturb him a bit that the Rainy Season Festival was starting a day early. There were several reasons for that, the first was the fact he was eating again and the second was Yusuke.
He was aware that his subjects probably found his not eating to be distressing, and his unwillingness to declare an heir likely exacerbated the situation. That the kingdom would tack on an extra day to a millenia long traditional festival without consulting him when both of those problems were dealt with was more than a little disconcerting.
The good news was that it hadn't gone to anyone's head.
Heading into his own room, he wondered not for the first time since returning from Spirit World how to resolve this situation. Should he dethrone Yomi or Mukuro? Both? Whatever his decision, the results of it would be felt in all three worlds and a massive war was something that Koenma wanted to avoid.
It seemed funny really, Koenma had made a deal with one who was titled The God of War in order to prevent war.