I abruptly flitted to where my knife was before anyone could say anything. Re-sheathing it, I glared at Karasu and Suzaku, daring them to say something. They wisely kept their mouths shut, seeing the killer intent I was radiating was enough to make them shiver. Reverting my aura back to normal, I glanced at Toguro.

"All the cadavers gone, then?"

He nodded.

"Good." I rubbed the back of my neck ruefully. "Chu, gather the volunteer guard."

Chu nodded and got up.

"Have some of them search for the corpses of the fallen guards... They'll need to be incinerated..." He nodded and left.

I took a deep breath then took control of the situation. "Toguro, Suzuka, I'll leave getting a watch on the perimeter of the city to you after Chu gets back. Suzaku, you'll take care of the palace walls. And Karasu, you'll be looking after Bui until he wakes up. Make sure he's out of the way." They looked slightly surprised that I was ordering them around, (either that or I was trusting them with this) but they nodded and left.

Turning to those remaining, I rubbed my eyes, I was so tired... And my head throbbed...

"Touya, look after Yukina, and when she wakes up, I want you to devise a training program with her. Seeing what happened today, I do not want a repeat. We won't always be able to be around. You're to be a body guard to her of sorts until she can fend for herself, understood?"

Touya merely gave me a small nod and left with the diminutive ice maiden in his arms.

I grinned with a sudden inspiration. "Shishiwakamaru?"

Said samurai glared at me.

"You're to help Touya look after Yukina. And if I find out you're shirking..." I let my voice trial off. He gulped and nodded before he ran to catch up to Touya. I smirked.

"Jin, will you get our father to his rooms and call for a physician? I doubt they took his health into consideration when they knocked him out." Jin grinned and gave a jaunty wave before he left in a whirlwind, with our father apparently in tow.

After everyone was gone, excluding Rinku who was still in shock, I'd have to talk to him after I finished with Genkai. "Hag?"

"What dimwit?"

"You realize we're going to have to start training tomorrow?" I could feel a migraine coming on...

"I know."

"You should probably get your 'exercises' ready."

She smiled ominously. "Of course." She turned to leave.

I shivered. The words "game" and "exercise" were codenames for torture with her... Brr...

After she had left, I knelt before Rinku, "Hey, what's up?" I asked, giving him the once over to check for injuries, which he appeared to have none. Battle shock, perhaps...?

My features softened as I hugged him. "Shh... It's all right, isn't it? We're both here, without any fatal wounds, so why are you still so worried?"

"Why...? Why did you take that bullet for me!" He near shouted/sobbed, tears rolling slightly down his face.

I closed my eyes then met his aquamarine ones. "My mom... She was never around, so I had to fend for myself... I don't want anyone else to go through what I had to do to survive." I fondly ruffled his hair slightly.

Rinku's POV (Sort Of)

He buried his head in her shoulder, unable to let her see his tears any longer. He had grown up without a mother either; he had Chu later on, but... She grew up as an assassin, and assassins did not get close to their colleagues if they could help it. That was worse then growing up alone in the Demon World... He brushed his tears away as discreetly as possible. He knew Yusuke knew what he did, but she did not indicate it, and he was thankful for that. He looked up at her from the corner of his eye, his head still on her shoulder; his eyes free from tears though half-closed in sleep.

"Thank you..." He whispered as he yawned slightly. "Nee-san."

Yusuke's POV

I froze when I heard "nee-san". Big sister...? Half-laughing half-letting out a breath I'd been holding, I kissed his forehead. "C'mon. Let's get you to bed." He barely protested as I lifted him up. He was fast asleep before I even reached his room. As I was about to set him down to tuck him in, he cuddled closer. I paused, having no idea of how to react to this situation. Smiling slightly, I gently pried his hands off of my ragged cloak and covered him with his blankets. Setting his hat on one of the bedposts, I quietly left and silently shut the door behind me.

Walking back to the throne room, I arrived just seconds before Suzuka, who was panting. I waited for him to catch his breath.

"What's up?" I asked, startled. Please don't tell me we're being attacked, I silently begged.

"Shishi..." I let out a silent breath of relief. "Is trying..." He gasped for breath. "To... Kill... Touya..."

I rubbed my temples. If I was getting a headache from this, I can't wait until I start ruling this country. "Tell him if he doesn't behave I'm going to personally ask my finest torturer to lacerate him in such a way that he will never be able to reproduce." So Toguro had everything under control, if Suzuka left...

Suzuka cringed before bowing slightly and leaving.

Why did I get the feeling that tomorrow was going to be worse...?

"Yusuke!" I glanced up when I heard Jin, and winced slightly at the volume of his voice.

I smiled tiredly. "What now...?" I couldn't help but groan. My head was pounding something akin to a drum...

Jin blinked. "Ya don' look so good."

I winced as my head throbbed. "You think?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I just want to go to bed, but I have to make sure that everything is secured before I do so, and-!"

Before I could register that he had moved, Jin was behind me. And before I could do anything about that, (which is saying something seeing as how I am an assassin and our reflexes have to be razor-sharp) seeing the condition my headache was putting me in, my reflexes were slower than normal, but still... At any rate, I felt his arms hesitantly slide around my waist.

"Ye don' need ta apologize." He whispered softly. "I understand."

I just leaned against him, my head resting on the crook between his neck and his shoulder.

"Thank you." I closed my eyes and relaxed, supported only by Jin's strong arms. I'm sorry, Hiei, Kurama... But I'm just so tired of all this right now... Getting the image of their faces in my mind, I tried to force them out, though it didn't work that well. I could feel the tears well up. Why did they leave...? I didn't even bother trying to hide the fact I was crying, unlike Rinku. I let the tears pour down. I had learned long ago a good cry can release the pent-up emotion.

"Yusuke?" Jin asked, startled, I suspected, by the fact that I was crying.

"Sorry." I wiped them away. "All the responsibility and regrets get to me once in a while..." I laughed slightly, sadly. "After all... I'm just a kid. In demon and human years."

He just held me closer, letting me cry, letting me just let it all out.

"I've done so many things that I wish I didn't have to do. I've taken so many lives by the time I was twelve that there was no way I could repent for all the blood I've stained my hands with. I have to act like I know what I'm going to do even if I'm second-guessing myself. A country and the Kyokai are looking up to me to make decisions that are the best for them. And I have done, and have to do, all of this alone. I can't rely on someone at all for help of support, for at least the Guild's affairs. And I have no clue about what I have to do to run this country. I could barely control my hitokiri Shuha for kami-sama's sake! How in the seven hells am I supposed to run a country? And don't forget a country that might be in war by the time I inherit it! I just- ugh!"

I felt the tears slide down my cheeks.

"I just want to be free to do as I please. I... I just wanted to live my life fighting, maybe get married when I was twenty or become a professional boxer or something. I... Just don't want to worry about any responsibility other than where I was going to live, and how I was going to feed and clothe myself." I sighed. "So much for that, though..." I let out a short bark of laughter that was anything but amused. "Sorry about that. You don't need to listen to my problems. You probably have enough of your own that I don't need to dump all of mine on you."

I extracted myself from his embrace and began to walk away before his hand grabbed my wrist.

His voice was unusually serious as he spoke, "Yusuke, I told ya I would be 'ere for you. I jus' wish I could do more."

He gently forced me to face him, his hands gently cupping my chin. His eyes were soft, understanding as he slowly closed the amount of space between us. I could feel his warm breath, my own quickened. What was he doing...?

"Yusuke... I... Aishiteru."

My eyes widened as I felt his lips meet mine.

Glossary:

Hitokiri: assassin

Kyokai: Guild

Shuha: sect

Kami-sama: God

Aishiteru: I love you (... I think? )