Nanashi and the twins stayed wiith Kuwabara and Yukina until about 4PM and then she headed home to the demon world and to Hikari's castle. She was nervous about all she would tell Hiei about the doctor's appointment and then Yukina and Kuwabara's engagement. When she got to the castle, she dropped the twins off with their nannies and then went and found Hiei. He was out training in the woods by himself. Nanashi tried to sneak up on him, but by the time she saw him, he disappeared quick as flash. She swore under breath and looked and listened for him.

"Dead," she heard behind her, and then she felt the sword on the front of her neck and an arm around her waist. She waited until he removed the sword and then grabbed Hiei's arm. She spun him around and grabbed his other wrist. She went to kick him square in the chest, but he shook off her hands, grabbed her shin, and placed her leg over his shoulder. She allowed herself to fall to the ground and kicked him in the shins. When he stumbled, she swept his feet out from under him, causing him to fall. After he fell, Nanashi started to get up, but once her back was turned, he was behind and grabbed the back of her neck. The sword was at her neck again. "Dead." He back away from her and sheathed his sword. "How did the doctor appointments go?"

"Uh... Fine. We're each healthy as a demon..." she lied quickly.

"I have two letters I need you to read and get your opinion on."

Nanashi stood up and brushed herself off. She held her hand out to him. He passed two letters, folded together way to many times. It annoyed her when he did things like that. She read the one on the top. It was a letter from Yomi claiming his threat to kill Hiei was a way to help her and Mukuro tracked him down, with no intent to kill him. 'Yeah right,' the wind dragon snided. Yomi also invited her to come visit him anytime. While she counted him as a friend, distance would be better with that one. She shook her head at that line. The last line asked for an arranged matehood between Shura, his son/clone, and Hikari someday.

"No," she whispered. "No to any of that."

"I agree. I wouldn't let you go see him even if you wanted to. And I would not want Hikari mated to Shura because I don't trust Yomi. A clone could be just a less trustworthy. The other letter?" Hiei added in.

Nanashi crumbled up Yomi's letter and threw it to Hiei. He caught it easily and put it back in his pocket. The second letter from King Enki's mate, Kokou. Kokou has just had a child, a son, whom Enki and her had named Yusuke after her cousin. Nanashi, Hiei, and the twins were invited to come visit them. The invite also included a request to consider a possible arranged matehood between Hikari and new born Yusuke.

"Hmm..." Nanashi pondered. She looked up at Hiei. "Would it be rude and not at all... I don't know... politically... eh... rude... to accept the king's offer to visit and not Yomi's?"

"I don't care. The king's half fool, but at least his mate stopped drinking once she found out she was pregnant."

"I wouldn't mind visiting them..." Nanashi said after a few more moments of thinking. "But, absolutely no to the arranged matehood between Hikari and their son."

"Really?" He gave her a surprised look. "I hoped you would say no to offer from Yomi for Hikari's matehood. I'm surprised you feel the same way about the king's mate's offer. I thought you liked them?"

"I do, for the most part. I just don't like the idea of arranged matehood."

"It's normal for demon nobility. Both old and new anyway. Didn't it used to be the same for humans?"

"Yes, and I'm glad I didn't have to go through it." She shook a bit. "I loved my parents, but if they got to decide who I married... eck... For sure you wouldn't even be close to being 10,000th on their list. A dangerous, brooding, former bandit demon turned new money lord..."

"Some of your books talk about arranged human matehoods and they don't seem that bad."

"That's fiction Hiei," she laughed. "The lot of them. In real life, few women fell in love with their arranged husbands. Sometimes, husbands were abusive."

"I didn't expect you to feel this way about it. Hikari is growing strong. She can handle herself once I start training her."

"Besides, Hikari is only two years old. She won't be ready to marry in like, what, 30 years? She'll age at 2/3 the speed of a human her age. At age 30, she'll look 20 for a human. So much could happen in that time. A new king... Let her decide then." She refolded the king's mate's letter and handed it to Hiei. "No arranged matehoods or marriages for her."

Hiei nodded his head. Then, he ran off.

"Really, again?" she asked under her breath. She closed her eyes and tried to listen for him. She heard him behind her and managed to catch him in the stomach with a punch. His breath hissed out of him. She pushed him backwards and tried to punch him in the face. He caught her fist and pushed it away. She kept trying to punch him three more times, but each one was brushed away. He kicked her legs out from under her, causing her to fall. Before she hit the ground, he caught her in his arms. She pouted at him. When she sensed he was about to drop her, she braced herself for it. The second he let go, she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down with her. She tried as hard as she might to pin him, but in the end, he had her on her back, legs pinned by his. Her arms were free to smack at him, but while her legs were pinned, she had no force behind her strikes. Exasperated, she laid back and gave up. "You win. I'm dead," she gruffed.

"Not yet. Your alive still."

She tried to kick and buck him off, but he hardly budged. She raised herself onto her elbows. "How do you expect me to fight when I can't move my lower body?" His answer was him drawing his sword. She grabbed his right wrist with both hands and tried to keep him from being brought down to her neck. His left hand kept pulling her hands away, allowing him to bring the sword closer. She refused to use the wind dragon to help her. She wanted to fend Hiei off with her own strength alone. Her stubbornness was her down fall. All to soon though, the sword was on her neck.

Leaving the sword on her neck, he brought his mouth to hers. "Dead," he said against her lips and then gave her a quick peck. He sat back up and put his sword away. He climbed off of her and stood up. He grabbed her forearms and pulled her up. "Why didn't you use your wind dragon?"

"I wanted to fight you off by myself," she grumbled.

"Ha. If that's what you can do without him, then I need to train you more. The demon king tournament is coming up soon enough."

"How long from now?" she asked.

"Eleven months. I want you in it with me. It'll increase odds of me becoming king." He let her arms go.

Nanashi brushed herself off. "If I win, who says I'll make you king if I'm queen eh?"

"Hn," he hummed. "Who says you'll win?"

She put her hands on her hips. "I do."

"I plan on winning this one. The best you can weaken the competition for me. If we end up fighting together, I plan on winning." She crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Just know now that if we fight each other, I will not show mercy to you just because your my mate." She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. "I have a meeting before dinner with the counsel, so I should wash up. You need to go organize the set up of that electric in the library. Two of them shocked themselves earlier. One's in the hospital wing." He held his hand out to her.

Nanashi walked towards him and then stepped around him and angrily headed back to the castle by herself. He ran after her and grabbed for her hand, but she shook it off. She glared at him icily and then kept walking. He did not reach for her again. He was not sure exactly what he said to upset her. She hurried off away from him. He slowed down his pace and watched her from a distance slam the front door shut. She stormed off to the library.

She pushed the door open roughly. "Alright, who isn't smart enough to run a few electric wires?" she asked rudely to the few demons working on the lines. They looked up at her nervously. "Anyone else electrocute themselves while I was gone?" Nanashi wanted to set up the castle with electricity so they could have better lighting and eventually heat without the use of fire places. Hiei agreed to let her set it up and anything else she wanted. She knew she should have hired humans for the job, but Hiei insisted on demons. Demons who did not know red from blue. She helped them work until dinner. On her watch, no one else was zapped.

She contemplated skipping dinner. She was still brooding over what the doctor had said to her, what Hiei had said to her, and how in the world she would tell Hiei that Yukina was engaged to Kuwabara. Between Hiei and the doctor, she was unsure which one made her more angry. In the end, she grudgingly finished working on the electricity, quickly cleaned herself up in her and Hiei's chambers, and headed to dinner.

Since Hiei was the lord regent until Hikari was old enough to rule, he sat in Mukuro's old chair at the head table in the banquet hall. Nanashi sit was on his left-the appropriate place for a mate to sit, and his right hand, a tall, dark skinned demon with long black hair named Yasha, sat on his right. Nanashi did not know Yasha very well, but Hiei seemed to trust him enough to be his right hand demon. He would have preferred Kurama take the seat, but Kurama had turned down the offer.

Nanashi sat down beside Hiei without looking at him directly. She could tell he was trying to look poised and collected, but was really tense and stiff. She tried not to wonder what was worrying him. 'The best I can do is weaken the competition,' she thought to herself grudgingly. 'Maybe I won't compete at all...' Hiei tried three times to converse with her during dinner, but she ignored him; choosing to be silent through out the meal. The only reaction he got out of her was the third time he said something, he also put his hand on her thigh, right above her knee. She stiffened. When he started to rub his hand up and down, she shifted her leg away in a way that only he would know she did not want to be touched by him. When he took his hand away, any on lookers would just think he wanted to take it away instead of her making him stop. She knew another fight was coming when they got to their chambers that night. 'Maybe I'll stay the night in the library,' she planned.

At the end of dinner, Hiei was stopped at the table by Yasha, who wanted a quick word with him. Once Hiei's back was turned, Nanashi headed back towards the library. She stayed and worked on the electricity until sunset and then did a little bit more work by flashlight. She had a fire lit for warmth, but it was too far away from where she worked to get any proper lighting. When the flashlight batteries died three hours later, she realized she had forgotten to buy extras when she was in the human world earlier. She swore under her breath. She stood up, stretched, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. She refused to go back to her and Hiei's room, so instead she opted to sleep on one of the library's new couches she had purchased.

A little after 11PM, she was shook awake by one of the demon from earlier when she was working on the electricity before dinner. She jerked awake and shoved him over without meaning too. She then gave an involuntary shiver. The library's fire was a few glowing embers and she was cold. "Sorry," she muttered, pushing her sleep tousled hair from her face. "What?"

"Lord Hiei was wondering where you were. He asked me to look here for you and wants you to return to your rooms. He thought you might have fallen asleep while working on the sparks."

Nanashi gritted her teeth. She wanted nothing more than stay in the library all night and avoid Hiei, but she could not make him look bad in front of a subordinate. A few people in the castle were not happy that Hiei through Hikari had inherited Mukuro's claims. An obviously troublesome mate would make him look bad. If he could not keep his mate in line, how could he keep a castle in line?

"Thank you. That's exactly what happened," she said sarcastically. "You're dismissed."

Nanashi trudged her way up the stairs to their chambers, wishing it would take longer than it did. She planned on not talking to Hiei, taking a shower, and sleeping in their sitting room's couch. She walked in through the front door and in to the bedroom. Hiei, with only a pair of black PJ bottoms Nanashi had bought him the last time she was in the human world on, had been pacing back and forth around the room and looked both tired and irritable. When he saw her, he stopped.

"Alright, what the hell did I do this time?" he snapped loudly.

She ignored him and went quickly into the bathroom. Even though she was tired and just wanted to go to bed, she took a long, hot shower. She then realized she did not have any PJs in the room with her. Just her clothes from earlier and a bath towel. She opted to put her clothes from earlier on, minus the bra, and sleep in them. Hiei was still up and had been pacing again when she came out of the bathroom. She hesitated for a second, debating where she would go to sleep; the bed or the sitting room couch. She could not leave their rooms without arousing suspicion.

Hiei used that second to speak. "What did I do? I'm half tempted to read your mind for the answer."

Nanashi narrowed her eyes. "You said I'm only good for weakening your competition," she responded tensely.

"And your mad about that?"

She took a deep, loud breath to calm her nerves. "Yeah, I am."

"Really? I tell you the truth and you give the silent treatment for hours? Over one little comment!"

"It's hurtful," she snapped. "You just want to use me to win some stupid tournament."

"You're easily one of the strongest human female psychics, I'll give you that. I can't say the strongest because Genkai is still alive. Hopefully by now your better than that fool Kuwabara. But you are no match for me, Yomi, Kurama, or your cousin and you know it. Maybe through some intense training, you'll have a chance to beat one of us, but I doubt it. You haven't trained since you found out you were pregnant."

"I have to trained! Just not as much as I used too!" She was struggling to keep her voice down. "Well, when you say it like that, I may as well not compete. Find someone else to be your fodder." Nanashi stormed off towards the door of the sitting room. Hiei easily caught up to her and blocked the door. "You proved your point. Get out of my way," she hissed. She was still struggling to keep her voice down, lest someone heard them fighting again.

"No, we have more important things to talk about then your bruised ego."

Nanashi stared him down, but he would not move. "Fuck off," she said irritably. She turned around and went to the bed. She laid down under the covers with her back to him.

"Nanashi, will you stop acting like a child for one damn second!"

"You're one to talk," she muttered against her pillow; knowing full well he heard her.

He walked over and stood by her side of the bed. "Nanashi." He waited. She refused to turn to look at him. "Would you at least look at me when I'm trying to talk to you," he growled. She turned only her head and looked up at him with a very moody face.

"Go ahead my lord. Your childish mate awaits your every word," she stated mockingly.

"We need another child," he stated simply.

Nanashi sat upright and looked at him in shock. "What the hell for?! We already have two? I can't train for a bloody tournament to be fodder if I'm knocked up."

"Hikari needs an heir. We need another daughter."

"Why can't Izo be her heir?"

"You know very well why not. Mukuro put it in her will that only a female relative could inherit after Hikari. The boy is not eligible. If Hikari were to... die... before she had a daughter, we're all disinherited. I planned to just name you her heir in case something like that happens, and in a round about way, the boy could inherit from you, but when I brought it up to the counsel, they all shouted it down."

"Is it because I'm weaker than you are?" she asked bitingly.

"It's because your a human. They won't let a human inherit when I brought up my plan."

"Are you kidding me!? You must be joking! Grr! This day just keeps getting worse and worse! Now I have a racist council to be angry at!"

"Not talking to them won't help you anymore than not talking to me. They want someone with demon blood as lord. You may be the cousin to a part demon like the detective, but you yourself are not demon."

"Then have Yusuke as her heir. The end," Nanashi ruled.

"He's a man. And he has no daughters. His mother's fully human too. We need a female heir and whether your throwing a fit or not, we'll have to make one. The twins were a complete accident with you on birth control tea no less. A purposefully made one shouldn't take that long. You'll stop drinking the tea after today." He stepped up towards her until his legs were against hers. His hands reached for her face.

She grabbed his hands, stopping them. She was not in the mood at all. "Wait, what about Yukina? There's a living heir right there. One that will have a daughter in like five decades. Problem solved."

"We've been over this at least a dozen times. I'm not telling her, you're not telling her, end of story. The council does not and will not know we're related."

"I don't want to..." she softly murmured.

"Nanashi..." he sighed, pulling his hands away and backing up a few steps.

"Hikari is healthy, not sickly at all, and has a healthy female relative that will likely have a daughter someday. Heaven forbid Hikari... ummmmmmmm..."

"Dies," he finished for her.

"That. You can just tell Yukina your her brother, she'll hate you, Kuwabara will go into to shock because he somehow has no idea still, and then they can rule in our stead. I'm sure they won't throw us out on the stree-"

"Wait," he interrupted. "What do you mean they can rule? That lackwit has not place here."

She sat up, brought her face to her hands and groaned. She had to tell him now. She put her hands together. Without looking at him, she answered, "they're engaged."

"What!?" She just nodded. "You're lying! Tell me your lying," he begged. She shook her head. "How dare he! How long have you known about this!?"

"Today at lunch he proposed...she said yes... and she wants her tear gem back..."

"Damn it all! I'll castrate him! I'll kill him!" He headed towards the main door.

Nanashi jumped out of bed. "Don't you dare go out that door! You wouldn't let me leave, so don't you dare leave," she said heading towards him. He had stopped in his tracks. She went around him and stood in front of the door and him.

"You can stand in my way all you want, but if he thinks he can touch her-"

"They haven't done anything," the words rushed out of her mouth. "She's been wanting to, but he has insisted they wait until their married." Hiei looked appalled at this news. "I may not like him a whole lot and I know you like him even less, but I will not let you stand in the way of my best friend's happiness. I'm sure Yusuke said some of the same things when he found out we mated, didn't he?"

"That's different."

"Really? Yusuke didn't approve of us at first. Neither did Mukuro. He loves her and she loves him. I'll will move heaven and earth to make sure you and your sword don't go anywhere near him."

"You have to rest sometime," he hinted.

She countered with a direct threat. "If you hurt him in any way, even by accident, I will guarantee you Yukina will be Hikari's only heir."

He grimaced. "I can wait you out. I've done it before."

"Humans have irreversible surgeries to prevent pregnancy."

"You wouldn't."

"You leave him be, you let her marry him, you let them have their happily ever after and in return, we can try to give Hikari and Izo a little sister."

"You're a bitch sometimes."

Nanashi grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the bed. She was still mad at him, mad at the doctor, mad at the council, mad at Kuwabara, and might as well have been mad at the world. She pulled him close even though she'd rather shove him away. "Agreed?" she breathed, trying to seduce him.

"Agreed," he said through a clenched jaw.