Hiei stayed with the four of them for the night. The shrill woman was a bit standoffish with him, even as the detective teased her for it. It was a good sense of camaraderie, even as he kept on the outskirts of the the two other young men. Watching them was boasting to each other was entertaining. Even when they had a scuffle after the detective defeated the oaf at arm wrestling. He felt confident he would be able to defeat both of them it he was at his full strength.
When the night got late, he stayed the night in the small room he had awoken in earlier. He slept peacefully, waking early at the noise of the detective and the shrill women getting up early and getting ready to open their restaurant. He went downstairs, seeing that Yukina and the oaf were with them as well. He watched them curiously before going out to the larger dining room and settling himself down in one of the many empty chairs.
He pulled his sword out of its sheath, looking it over. He had nothing to clean, polish, or sharpen it with. It had charred marks pocked over the blade that would take some time to get out. He would need some oil and a rag at the very least. He growled quietly to himself, knowing he could get the oil and rag he needed from the castle. He could get a lot of things from the castle. Things he wanted, things he needed.
The realization that he wanted to go back dawned on him. He wanted to go back to the castle, to the uncle, to the king, and especially to Nishi. He jumped up, sheathing his sword. He headed for the door of the restaurant.
"Hey, where are you going?" the detective's voice called out from the kitchen.
"Home," he called back without looking back.
He left the restaurant, hearing the detective chasing behind him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he rushed. The detective came up to him, cutting in front of him in the middle of the street. "And where exactly is that?"
"Hn," Hiei grunted up at him. "Where I please," he challenged, trying to step around the detective.
The detective side stepped to stay in his way. "That would be the castle right?" he asked in a leading voice. "Back to my cousin?"
Hiei gave him a brief study. He looked ready for a fight if he had to do it. Likely he would do it if he thought Hiei was not going back to the castle. He still felt weak from his fight and blood loss on account of the bomber, but the detective could be a worthwhile opponent. Egging him on would be a way to get at that.
"What do you care?" he said with a shrug.
"Because I know you've fucked my cousin and then asked her to marry you," the detective snarled down at her.
Hiei felt a bit taken aback by the brash statement, but did not let it show on his face. The detective was going to be so easy to coax into a fight. "What if I don't want to go back?"
The detective answered that with his fist. He clocked Hiei in the jaw, making him stagger a little unexpectedly. He was not holding back, would not hold back in a fight over this. Hiei kept the smirk off his face when he goaded, "that's all?"
The detective did not stop there, engaging Hiei in one of the best spars he had been in a while. The detective wailed on him, punching and punching. It took Hiei's wherewithal to block and counter most of the strikes. The detective was vengeful, wanting to subdue him and get him to agree to go back to the castle.
Had Hiei been at full strength, he was confident he would have won. Yet being weakened by the bomber lead to him being at a disadvantage against the detective. The passersby on the street kept their distance. Both of them turned a deaf ear to the shrill woman yelling at them to stop fighting or else. The detective straggled him into a head lock in the street.
"Say you're going back and I'll let go," the detective wheezed out. At least he was winded, too. At that, Hiei laughed, giving in. "What the hell is so funny?" the detective asked, loosening his grip.
Hiei gave him the slip when he sensed the chance. "I was always planning on going back," he panted. "You know, it's not a fair fight and doesn't count as win if your opponent is weakened by an outside force."
The detective clicked his teeth, punching him in the shoulder jovially. "Yeah, whatever. If you are that sure of yourself, come find me after you've finished licking your wounds." The detective looked down at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "You really are going back?" he asked heavily.
Hiei rolled his eyes. "Yes."
"To her?" the detective pressed.
"Yes," Hiei agreed. That, and all the drama that would come with it...
The detective gave him another punch in the shoulder, a little harder than the last one. "You fucking better. I'll beat some sense into you if you are lying."
Hiei chuckled under his breath. At full strength, he would have the detective on his knees before he knew it.
"And tell the king you promised he would pay to repair Kuwabara's apartment," the detective pressed. "Come inside first though, take some food back with you to help appease those you ditched."
The detective fitted himself with a small bag of supplies while the oaf and Yukina watched on. When the detective asked after the shrill woman, they said she was angry about the two of them fighting and stormed off.
"She'll be back," the detective said, shrugging it off. "She's has a temper, but doesn't stay angry for long."
The detective was shooing him out the door when the shrill woman came back through the door. She was not alone. The uncle stood next to her with two king's soldiers whom Hiei did not know next to him.
"Did you turn him in?" the detective asked, short with her.
"Don't take that tone with me," the shrill woman told him. "Not after you two were fighting like two hooligans in the street."
"Awe, come on, that was just a friendly spar. I knew he was planning on going back the whole time," the detective grumbled.
How a woman like that could cow a man like that was beyond Hiei's comprehension. He would never let Nishi have such sway over him.
"You were fighting?" the uncle said to Hiei. He had a tone of an adult chastising a child, which irked Hiei.
"Maybe I'll stay after all," Hiei suggested sarcastically up to the detective. The nervous look on the shrill woman's face made him smirk. "Let's go, uncle," he said, taking his leave of the restaurant once more.
"Uncle? What's in that bag?" the shrill woman called after him.
"Just some stuff I gave him," the detective explained for him.
"What stuff you gave him?" the shrill woman asked.
Their voices went muffled as Hiei left the restaurant, wondering when the next time he would see it would be. the shrill woman might be shrill, but she certainly had a talent for cooking.
He walked in front of the uncle and two guards at a brisk pace. the uncle huffed next up to jog next to him. "Where have you been?" he puffed out in a superior tone. Hiei could not help but think that superior attitude was instilled in him by the grandfather.
"Around," he answered smugly.
"We've, the king's men, the angel, Kurama, and Yasha have been looking all over for you in the city and the outskirts. The prince even snuck out once to try to find you," the uncle puffed.
"You found me," he said with a shrug. He quickened his stepped, trying not show how it amused him to see the haughty uncle try to keep up with him. Even weaker than usual, he was able to out strip the uncle.
"Found you brawling in the street with some other fool. You look like that wasn't the first fight you've been in either," the uncle grumbled. "Please don't tell me you had anything to do with those two buildings that were half destroyed and charred a few blocks away from here?" Hiei clicked his teeth, not answering. "What does the angel even see in you?" he grumbled to himself.
"I call her by her name as she pleases for one thing," Hiei bit back.
"She is half a creature from another realm of existence, so addressing her as such is a great honor," the uncle chastised. "Her father was rendered human after that warlock took his wings, but she was not."
"True. If she were fully human, you would have no interest in her," Hiei pointed out. "You only like her for who her father was, rather than who she is."
The uncle only answered with a series of incoherent grumbles under his breath. Hiei felt like he had enough of walking with him. He was going to head back to the castle anyway. Without warning, he took off from the uncle and the two king's men behind them. He heard the uncle call and run after him, but the poor fool was so slow that he had no hope to catch up with him.
He made it back to the castle himself, feeling slightly and unnaturally winded. It was mid morning. He jumped the wall in the back where he knew no one would be around. He landed softly on the other side of the grounds by a set of bushes. He sensed around the castle, wondering where Nishi was. He sensed her in the grounds at the training grounds. Perfect. He slipped his way over to that area covertly. A leafy tree near the training area made for the perfect hiding spot.
He watched from a distance as she was with the fox, standing hunched over. Her hands rested on her knees and she was dripping with sweat. The fox looked a little worn out himself, but not nearly to the extent she did. The keeper- her father, and the stranger sat on a bench in the shade of the castle, watching intently.
"Again," the fox demanded.
"I can't," she hissed out. He noticed she was wearing a shirt with her upper back exposed. She had refused to wear one of those ever since her wings were removed. Her hair was also braided in two braids that hung draped down across her shoulders.
"Again," the fox demanded.
Nishi groaned in annoyance. She rose up to stand rigid and straight backed. She panted, arms half raised and flexed. Her wind dragon coiled around her neck and crawled down her upper back. She panted noisily in exertion. The wind dragon disappeared under the flesh of her exposed back. Whatever she was trying to do, she wanted to do it desperately. He watched as not one, but two semi transparent white coils appeared out of her back. Wings. Dragon-like wings. They grew larger on her back, unfolding behind her back. She screamed out loud in desperation to keep the wings up on her back. She shook visibly. The wings disappeared from her back and she collapsed to her hands and knees.
"Damn it," she swore in vivid annoyance with herself. "I had it, I had it..."
"It was brilliant," the keeper called over to her. "Make them that big again and you'll be able to fly."
"I couldn't sustain them..." she panted out. "... that big."
"Not yet, sweetness," the keeper encouraged. "Soon though. You are getting stronger."
"You know what would really make her stronger?" the stranger suggested. "Expose her to more demons. She'll never get stronger only exposed to Kurama."
"No," the keeper growled protectively. The fox stayed silent, but looked equally annoyed at the suggestion.
"Look, you said it yourself the elemental serpents or dragons or what have you get stronger and their hosts get stronger when they're exposed to demons. Like goldfish who get bigger depending on their habitat. The bigger the habitat, the bigger the goldfish. The more demons around her, the stronger she will become," the stranger challenged. "Lord Mukuro is growing old, says his time is near. He has no heir to Alaric and told the king to send him someone strong to see if they are up to snuff to be his heir. Alaric has the largest population of demons in the kingdom. If Nanashi goes there and becomes his heir, she'll be able to conjure up her own set of dragon wings in no time."
"She could die in the process. The last two people who tried to become his heir died in the process," the keeper argued.
"I'm not going anywhere," she rushed out. She sat herself up on her knees. "Not until..."
There was a tense silence around the area. "He'll come back," the fox soothed.
"When?" she asked shortly.
The fox shook his head. "When he's ready."
"He once nearly lost a match in the fighting pit, disappeared for a few days in the angst of it all," the stranger said with a laugh. "At least now we know where he gets it."
"It's been more than a few days," she grumbled.
The fox's eyes flicked over where Hiei had been hiding to watch the scene. It was like the fox was staring right at him, like he knew he was there the whole time. He probably had known he had been there the whole time. He looked at Nishi and then back over to where Hiei was. He nodded.
Hiei jumped out his hiding place, stepping out into the open where the four of them could see them. He walked over to them, passing the bag the detective had given him to the stranger sitting on the bench.
Nishi stared at him, wide eyed. She rose up to stand. She stepped over to him, moving her lips without any sound coming out. She closed the distance between, slapping him unexpectedly across the face. "Where were you?" she demanded. She went to slap him again, but he deflected it. She punched him in the shoulder. She surprised him by shoving him back. She was trying to start a fight with him.
She followed after him as he backed away, hands raised up. When she was close enough, he snatched up her hands, holding them before she could use them against him. "I can explain," he preempted, feeling suddenly and unnaturally nervous.
"You two should probably take your fight somewhere private," the stranger interrupted. "The minute the king hears he's back, he'll be wanting his own turn to slap him across the face."
Nishi turned to look back at him, giving him a scowl in turn. "Where were you?" she demanded to know. She struggled to tug her hands out from his grip. She stood before him, clearly not amused.
"The crypts are unoccupied right now, so there's no one to tell the king you are down there. No one alive anyway," the stranger commented around them. He jerked his head to the door on the left. "Just over there."
The crypts, where all the bones of the dead kings and queens were buried. His ancestors. He stepped his way towards the door, opening it with a loud creak. He went down there, eyes adjusting quickly to the torchlight down there. He heard and saw her follow him down the stairs.
Once they reached flat ground, she asked, "where were you?" Her voice had a hint of bite in it still.
He leaned against one of the walls. Where to begin... "It's a long story," he preambled.
"Then start at the beginning," she demanded.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Before I was born..." he started. She stood there, listening to him intently. Eventually she interrupted him only once, but only to ask if he minded she sit down since she was exhausted from her training in the morning. His voice grew a little hoarse by the time he was done explaining.
"You were with my cousin overnight, and he did not bother to tell me?" she asked when he had finished.
"His shrill wife wanted to, and she eventually did after she failed to break up our spar," he explained.
"And your sister," she mumbled, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.
"You can't tell anyone who she really is, not even the king," he rushed out. "Let her stay free of knowing all that."
She nodded in agreement, "okay." She rolled up onto her feet, stepping gingerly over to him. She bent down, kissing him in a desperate feeling rush. "Still mad," she warned him. He did not like her telling him that, nor the sinking feeling in his stomach it gave him. "You warn me next time you want to disappear," she ran her hand over his headband, "you check in with me, no matter how long you're gone."
He nodded up at her, meaning it. She kissed him anew, even risking pulling him down to the ground with her. "Not here," he breathed against her neck.
"We'll never reach my rooms before someone tips off the king you're back," she argued.
He looked back at the crypts down the hall behind them, and back at her, shaking his head. "It's disrespectful," he countered.
She looked flustered with him, slipping away from him. "Disappearing for so many days is disrespectful," she grumbled, standing up. She left him down in the crypts, stomping up the stairs as she went. She would come around, he hoped to himself.
He went up the stairs after her at a jog. When he left the crypt, he saw her standing in the yard with the fox, the stranger, and the keeper. The uncle was also there with his two guards. The worst of it was seeing the king moving swiftly up from behind them, his eyes locked on Hiei. He swore under his breath at the sight of him.
"Where have you been?" the king demanded, rounding on him. He was worse than the uncle had been. "You can't just run off like that."
"I came back," he pointed out.
The king held his hands out to Hiei. Hiei clicked his teeth in distaste. The king wanted to read his memories. He figured this would be a faster way to get the conversation over. He put his hand in the kings, letting the king hold his hand in his two hands none too gently. He let his memories from when he left be read by the king, keeping the thought of who Yukina really was to him a suppressed secret.
"What does that Yukina mean to you?" the king asked him.
Hiei mulled over what to answer. "Was easy to steal from when I needed something."
The uncle groaned in annoyance, "brawling in the streets, stealing from friends of the angel, this is my newly discovered nephew."
"Leave him be," Nishi chided the uncle.
"Hiei, can I talk to you privately," the king asked politely.
Hiei knew that even though the request was formal, he did not have much of a choice in allowing it. He followed the king out of the yard in silence and all the way to his presence chamber. The king sat down first, followed by Hiei in the seat next to his.
"What do you want?" Hiei griped at him.
"It's what the angel wants," the king started explaining. "She says you proposed and she accepted it."
"We talked about it before we last met with you," Hiei answered him.
"The queen and I have taken over match making for her as she agreed to it for saving your life, her life, and the lives of those in the fighting pits. She also indicated to myself and the queen that you were one of the men on her list to marry," the king explained.
"List?" he asked, wondering what he meant.
"We had her write names of elvish men she was willing to marry. She needs to have at least one child to carry out the prophecy made over her mother, and I would prefer it was done in marriage to an elf," the king kept rambling.
"Where's that list?" Hiei pressed.
"She only wrote two names. The queen had it burned later," the king answered, looking out of place amused.
"Who else's name was on that list?" Hiei pressed.
"Don't worry about it," the king soothed, a little amused. "You are the only viable name for her. The queen and I want you to be with her. There's just one thing you would need to agree to for all of us to make that work."
"What?" Hiei asked, bidding his time to try and read the king's mind or the queen's mind for that other name.
"A daughter," the king said simply.
"A what?" Hiei frowned, puzzled at that turn of suggestion.
"A daughter. With angel blood. Born within the next two years, so she would age fast enough with being part human to be able to wed Prince Takashi when she comes of age."
Hiei stared up at him, not sure how to to react to him. "You're bargaining with the engagement of an unborn child."
"If you agree, the angel is yours to wed, and I'll even look at getting your own lands up in the north. Alaric is in need of a new lord soon. You would have to fight to earn that though as Lord Mukuro has told me to send him a potential heir to his territory in the north," the king explained. "I can help you with all of that so long as you agree to what the queen and I want."
Hiei found it an absurd offer. "And what if we did not have a daughter in that two year window?"
"Then you are not beholden to your promise," the king conceded.
He could have Nishi and a crack at a lordship, but at the cost of trying to have a daughter. A daughter they might never have. He would just have to make sure he did not get her pregnant, at the very least for a daughter in the next fifteen months. Then the bargain would be for nothing on the king's part and he would get everything on his side of the deal. There was nothing much holding him to the deal anyway.
"Agreed," he conceded, keeping his face neutral.
The king smirked though, amusement all over his face. He rose up, going to the bookshelf that held a bunch of papers and documents. Hiei watched him ruffle through them. He pulled one out, carrying it carefully over to the table. When he sat it on the table for Hiei got a chance to look it over. It was a treaty that contained exactly the agreement they had made: Hiei, or any man who signed it could marry Nishi with the king and queen's blessing so long as they agreed to try to have a daughter within the next two years that could be wed to the prince. He would have to sign it. They would have to sign it. He wanted to bulk at that.
The king ready for it though. "She ought to be married to an elvish man, so a royal bastard like yourself is not beneath her. She was so insistent on you. She'll be beyond disappointed if she hears you refused my offer. If you turn it down, someone else will accept."
"Give me a pen," Hiei stated, letting the king get a rise out of him. Nishi was his. He was hers. She had insisted upon it and he had worked so hard to keep it.
"Not in ink," the king said, producing a thin, sharp knife from his belt. "Blood."
Hiei nearly bulked completely at that. A blood bond contract could not be broken. If any signer broke their promise intentionally, it would mean death.
The king pricked his finger, signing it in his blood. It meant nothing for just him to sign it though without anyone else signing it. The king passed him the knife. Hiei took it in hand, pricking his right pointer finger, and signed the blood bond contract. His stomach flipped as he did so.
When the contract was completed it, Hiei asked the king, "am I free to go?"
"Oh course, cousin," the king consented. "The queen will be very excited to get the wedding for the angel finally planned out."
The queen wanted to plan the wedding, had been planning Nishi's original one to the uncle before she called it off. Nishi had not been excited about it, having let the queen plan everything. It would be a dog and pony show for them all. He was not tempted to let that happen.
Once he left the room, he hid himself in a quiet spot in the hallway. 'Fox,' he said mentally over the distance between the two of them.
'Hiei, what is it?' the fox asked over the distance.
Without including anything about the blood bond contract he signed, he relayed the information to the fox that he was approved to marry Nishi. He included another plan to the fox.
'Hiei, I don't think I can get such a thing done on such short notice,' the fox countered.
'Just get it done,' Hiei insisted.