Author's Note: The opening of this chapter is to reconcile some of the things that I wrote in Here to Eternity that did not completely fall in order with the series. As always, please read and review!

Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised.
As they start to cry. Hands held to the sky.
In the night the fires are burning bright.
The ritual has begun. Satan's work is done.
Six-six-six, the number of the beast,
sacrifice is going on tonight-
"The Number of the Beast"-Iron Maiden

An End to Bliss

Chapter VIII

Since the fall of King Yama one year ago and the leadership change of Prince Koenma—now King Koenma—as ruler of Spirit World, the relationship between the Human, Demon, and Spirit Worlds has changed as well. After the first Demon World tournament, and the victory of Enki—one of Raizen's previous sparring partners—to the throne, the way of life among its citizens has been a radical transformation. Under Enki's regime, demons are forbidden to create any mischief in Human World, and—at present—peace exists in Demon World. Furthermore—in a decision that shocked many—Koenma decided to remove the ka-ki barrier. However, to prevent humans from accidentally entering the Demon World guards have been placed in the pseudo space. Hiei has become one of those guards.

"This place never changes," declared Yusuke, while he and his companions walked through the pseudo space, which was nothing more than a black void with a ray of light at the end.

"No, and it never will," replied Kurama.

After a ten-minute walk, Yusuke and his companions reached the light on the other side—the Demon World.

"This place hasn't changed either," repeated Yusuke, as he observed the terrain. Lightning still flashed constantly—even though the sky contained no storm clouds—and hundreds of okunenju plants encompassed the land.

"That's where you're wrong, Yusuke," Kurama responded. "While the geology of Demon World hasn't changed, its residents have."

"So I've heard."

"He's right, ya know," added Chu. "Our way of life has changed since that first tournament. But 'ol Chu'll have to tell you that he kinda likes the new Demon World."

"Halt!" a voice exclaimed.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Chu attempted to find the source of the voice. But Kurama only grinned.

"That's an interesting way to say 'hello' to people you know, don't you think?"

"Wait a sec…" replied Yusuke.

"Well, it's my job, Kurama," the voice said again. "But this is certainly an interesting group. The fox, the ex-spirit detective, the drunken fighter, and the fool have entered Demon World."

From the shadows, the voice stepped forward.

"Hiei!" exclaimed Yusuke.

Kuwabara, however, was not as ecstatic. "Who're you calling a 'fool,' shrimp boy!"

"I call 'the fool' the one who impregnated my sister," Hiei responded, while he pointed to Kuwabara.

Kuwabara gritted his teeth, Chu grinned, and the rest of the party became silent. Yusuke and Kurama were silent because they wondered how Hiei knew that Yukina was pregnant.

"Wait a second," began Yusuke; "how did you know that Yukina was pregnant?"

"My jagan eye, Detective," replied Hiei, while his jagan eye opened underneath his white headband. "It allows me to see many things. Such as the red-haired moron kissing my sister, the red-haired moron fucking my sister, and the red-haired moron impregnating my sister."

Kuwabara now clenched his fists, but Hiei was not done delivering his insults.

"Now I can only pray to whatever god is out there that my niece or nephew doesn't inherit the red-haired moron's bad genetics."

After that comment Kuwabara had heard enough. "That's it! I've had enough of your lip half-pint!" and an enraged Kuwabara leapt from the ground to deliver a hard right cross to Hiei's jaw.

Hiei groaned at the force of the blow. He landed on one knee, as a trickle of blood slowly descended from his lip. But Hiei was quick to recover, and with his cat-like reflexes he counterattacked with a punch of his own to Kuwabara's jaw.

Now it was Kuwabara who fell to his knees. He wiped away a trickle of blood from his lip, and glared at Hiei. But Hiei's response to Kuwabara's glare was to smirk.

"Hmm, not a bad punch I'll have to admit, Kuwabara. Perhaps it's possible that not all your genetics're bad. Maybe my niece or nephew can inherit something powerful from you."

Kuwabara smiled. He felt that for the first time in the nearly eight years that he had known Hiei, Hiei was actually showing him some respect.

"Well," Yusuke began again; "now that we've got all of that taken care of, perhaps we can take care of what we came here for."

"And what exactly did you come here for, Detective?" Hiei replied short and to the point.

"Because we need your help. A few nights ago each of us had a weird dream, and we believe that it might've been an omen."

"What do you think I am, Detective? A psychologist?"

"Perhaps I can explain this a little better than Yusuke," replied Kurama. "A few nights ago each of us, with the exception of Chu, had a dream about the elder Toguro. At first all of us believed that it was simply a dream, but the next day Yukina, Kayko, and Shizuru visited Genkai's temple and discovered that she was dead…murdered."

Hiei gasped after Kurama said the word 'murdered' before he continued

"Genkai was murdered in a style that was similar to the Toguro Brothers—particularly the elder Toguro."

"What do you mean?"

"Genkai's heart had been removed from her chest."

Once again Hiei gasped.

"It was at this point that Yusuke informed all of us about his dream regarding Elder Toguro. And when Yusuke finished telling us his dream, Kuwabara and I realized that Yusuke's dream was identical to ours.

At this point the three of us—along with Chu—decided to journey to the location of our dream—the Demon's Door Cave. Once we reached the cave we walked through the tunnels until we reached the area where Yusuke battled Sensui and I battled Elder Toguro.

When we arrived we noticed that my Sinning Tree was gone, and a corpse was where it once stood. The corpse was undoubtedly Gourmet's. But after close examination I realized that someone had placed the crown of Gourmet's skull with his jawbone. And if you remember correctly, Hiei, I used my rose whip to remove Gourmet's skull before I called out the elder Toguro."

"Yes, I remember."

"That's not all though. When I examined the crown of Gourmet's skull with the rest of his body, I realized that the crown had been decomposing for at least five years, but the rest of his body had been decomposing for only one year. Plus, there was no sign of the elder Toguro's skull among the remains."

"So in other words, what you're trying to tell me is that you believe that Elder Toguro's still alive?"

"Precisely."

"…Question, Kurama."

"Yes?"

"This dream that each of you had about the elder Toguro, did Elder Toguro turn his eyes blood-red and declare that 'death awaits you'?"

The party gasped.

"By the looks on your faces I'll take that as a 'yes.' Yes, I too've had a dream about Elder Toguro that took place in the Demon's Door Cave. And from what all of you've told me I believe that it's something I should look into to. I'm going to return to Human World with you, just as soon as I find somebody to take my place watching the entrance from the pseudo space."

An hour later, Hiei found a replacement to take his job as one the guards of pseudo space before the party of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Chu made their return journey to Human World. But on the journey back, Kurama found a few minutes to catch up on events with his old demon friend.

"So tell me, how've things been lately for you? It's been a while since I stopped by to visit you. Are you having a relationship with Mukuro?"

"That's none of your concern, Kurama."

"Oh?" Kurama replied with a smirk.

"I don't ask you about your relationship with Saki, so don't ask me about mine! But…I did notice something interesting."

"Really…what's that?"

"It's the images my jagan eye has captured for me."

"What images're those?"

"Do you remember me telling you about my mother's race?"

"The ice maidens? Yes, what about them?"

"If you remember correctly, I told you that my mother's people conceive asexually, and they always give birth to girls."

"Yes, you told me that."

"My jagan eye has noticed that since my sister lost her virginity to Kuwabara her body has changed."

"What do you mean?"

"It's hard for me to understand it myself…but since her time with Kuwabara her body chemistry has changed."

"How so?"

"She's become more human and less demon. From what I can tell, Yukina couldn't conceive a child without engaging in sexual intercourse."

"I remember you telling me that you were a twin to your sister, though of the opposite class. Do you believe that Yukina'll have a child that's the opposite of ice; just as you were with your mother?"

"Yukina's not having twins that much I can tell you. But that doesn't mean that she cannot give birth to them one day. As for the child being born of the opposite class…I don't know. My father was a demon, and Kuwabara's a human. It's hard to say. My jagan can't capture those images. All it can tell me is that my sister's pregnant, and I can sense only one child in her womb. It can't tell me what the child's gender is, or what powers it might be born with."

"Hey," Yusuke said, while he turned to Kurama and Hiei. "We need to go some place where we can discuss our next move."

"I don't care where it is," responded Chu. "But I could sure use a glass of bourbon. It'll help me concentrate."

Yusuke chuckled. "That's all fine and good for you, Chu; but a few drinks of bourbon'll keep the rest of us from concentrating. Still, we can go to my place. I think that I might have a glass of whiskey that I can prepare for Chu."

"That what're we waiting for!"