Kitsune no baka, that Fox trusts this man too much
Gomen for taking so long… and I can't find the edited version on my comp so there are some grammatical booboos on this one( as usual) ^__^x

Kitsune no baka, that Fox trusts this man too much. Hiei thought as he raced through the trees after leaving Kurama and his "brother" at the latter's house. But then the Fox was blinded from hope. He liked his new "oniisan" too much at the moment to think of anything else. Ch, he's getting soft. It must be something that Kurama got from hanging around ningen too long he supposed for no one could have survive for more than a handful of years in the Makai without suspecting their own grandmothers if need be. Correction, the clan-less and outcast need to be suspicious even of their own kin not those who had families… Old pain welled in him.

Be that as it may, he needed to investigate the Schwartz anyway. He might as well investigate this Ran Fujimiya as well. It wouldn't do to hurt the Fox unnecessarily but it wouldn't do to compromise the mission or the Fox's safety either. If that man was planning to betray or harm the Fox in any way…Hiei gripped his sword tightly, Ran will have to answer to him.

That surprised him, when did he feel such a thing for the flamboyant fox? Besides Kurama can protect himself very well, thank you. It was probably an unwarranted suspicion anyhow but Hiei can't shake the dark thoughts out of his mind. It was way too convenient for him to appear just now when the affair with Bolshai was coming to head. Coincidence? The way he moved, the steely glint hidden in eyes bespoke of more than passing acquaintance with battle and death. Though the man did not register very much above normal, that could have been a trick to lull the Fox into false security. And that lost sister, was she a true ningen or something the man made up to get the Fox's sympathy, Hiei wondered. Knowing the Fox he'd have taken the man at his word and not a thought to checking. Though the Fox may have his own suspicions.

Though Hiei had no friends or relatives here in the Ningenkai, he had other resources. Mukuro, like Yomi and Yuusuke's regent, had an intricate web of C- and D-class youkai here in the Ningenkai. They engaged in a matter of low-profile trades some criminal but not large enough to attract the attention of the Reikai. Or if they were noticed, Reikai and the Makai lords had an unofficial understanding about such things, for as long as the youkai in question was playing by Ningenkai rules, no official sanction would be taken. Hiei ranked high in Mukuro's command chain. Further more, he had been in the Ningenkai before and not caused any trouble, excepting the occasional brawl with Kuwabara. Therefore he was the logical choice to manage these agents for Mukuro.

***

It was much later and much more confused Hiei retired to the tree in Kurama's backyard. His contacts had offered much more and much less than he'd expected but having some facts had given him more questions than answers. There were no records to access about them in the police files but one of the youkai in question had seen the "short flame hair ningen" with a katana with several others at least two whose descriptions matched Omi Tsukiyono and Ken Hidaka at one time.

The youkai remembered it because he had been robbing a mansion when he sensed some humans using reiki, naturally the youkai had run. He had a gun with ample ammunition and with the speed of one of his kind he could handle any mere ningen or fair number of ningen in a group but he didn't want to chance fighting some ningen with reiki. He had been so preoccupied with running away that he had almost run smack into the group of ningen coming down the hallway killing the guards he had avoided before. He had managed to camouflage himself in time to be passed over but he got an eyeful of the group. They were armed to the teeth and determined expressions that were set to kill. Whatever they were doing in that house surely wasn't legit for they killed the guards with expert precision. Of course, that was all the youkai could tell Hiei for the latter had made good of his escape soon after.

Kisama! The little coward hadn't even gotten a look at the reiki users. What happened to natural curiosity? For the youkai had been adamant that Ran and his team were in his sights when he sensed reiki usage in another part of the house. But to be fair, he couldn't be faulted for all he knew he might have stumbled onto some Reikai business in progress. Hiei had the demon confirmed by visiting the Koneko to verify that it was Ran and his group of seemingly innocuous flower-boys that he had been talking about then had let him off to take care of business as usual.

Were they rivals or enemies? Were they allies? It was no means even certain that Ran and his group were connected with Schwartz for all Hiei knew their presence at the scene was a coincidence. He knew some people were stupid or unlucky enough to attract all the wrong enemies. They tended to get several contracts on their heads as a result. There was two things that was obvious to him at this point though, he couldn't tell this yet to Kurama and that he must be wary of Ran. That ningen bears watching…

***

Kurama looked out of his window to look into the branches of the tree. Looking for the half-Koorime that usually slept there. Seeing the familiar dark shadow in the tree, he fell asleep, assured.

***

Ran unease developed into full-blown paranoia and so he decided to check into the records himself. Though Omi was their computer expert in such things, Ran had learned somewhat of the hacking business in his time as a freelance assassin. He didn't want to bother Omi since the morrow was a school day and he knew Omi needed the energy to be vigilant but was too restless not to try to find any information on Shuuichi's friend. In any case, what he wanted to do first was to browse through the criminal records, which was open enough to them, being as they were Weiß.

Two hours and several files later, he was no closer to finding anything about the man, "Hiei Jaganashi" simply didn't exist in the records. Nor was cross-referencing those distinctive gravity-defying hair and red eyes yielding any results. Which proved nothing either, he had no criminal record yet here he was a top-fledged assassin and so were the Schwartz and he'd bet that they were "clean" as well. Blood can be washed off the records with the proper incentive if not as easily from the hands. He thought wryly as he went to sleep.