Slaughtering one monster after the other, that is what he was doing. Most of them died after a few cuts. Most of them attacked him only out of fear; to defend themselves from the evil that hid within his soul.

He was thirsty. Thirsty for blood. Anyone's blood.

Anyone's.

He ran through forests, fields, seashores, cliffs, murdering every moving creature on his way. There were many of them; much more than in his early years when he walked around these regions showing off with his Hirui stone, so that every dumb demons came to him, right into the brilliant trap.

Miles swished away under him within minutes, but he felt he was getting slower and slower. Not because he wanted to. Nor because he got tired.

He felt he reached his destination; a place he left twice and never wanted to return to again.

Numbing cold alpine air surrounded him, large snow flakes swirled with the wind, speckling his raven-colored cloak wit pure white, not melting when they touched his face. He wandered in familiar streets and houses, all of them crystal blue as if they were built from ice. He remembered every single window, every corner, it never changed since he came here last time.

The only difference was that this town did not looked deserted any more. The koorimes did not start to flee when they saw him; in fact, they all stood there, their looks never leaving him, their forms unmoving, their face calm as ever. They really didn't look dangerous.

The chilling aura they could produce was still there around them all. They signaled it with this instead of words: Leave. Now.

He walked right into the crowd of the beautiful ice princesses; strange as it was, they gave him way. He felt the enormous power in their ki, he felt he could freeze to death instantly if he would attack any of them. But he did not have such an intention. He didn't even really know why he was here. The intention of killing evaporated from his mind the moment he arrived. Was it because of the cold? Or something else?

He knew that this chilling aura did not only freeze the weaker enemies but it could also lower the fighting spirit in the ones who did not die quickly. Hiei could have acquired that knowledge too, but somehow it was no surprise he was not interested in these koorime stuff. The weapons of the ice princesses were mostly based on defense. They were too peaceful creatures. He did not desire to become like them. He wanted to become anything but that.

Still he could not escape the fact that he had koorime blood flowing in his veins. No one can deny their blood.

He could hide it quite well if he wanted to. Even if he did not want to, since there were no outer signs indicating his origin. A small, dark and evil fire demon, that is how everyone got to know him, and with that, he achieved everything he would dream of.

Well, almost. He was still not the greatest fighter in the Universe; he was not feared by everyone, he didn't even win the latest tournament. He lost even against Mukuro.

Although that fight made him happier than any previous battles. Fighting with her was… a challenge. Mukuro was a challenge from the moment she sent the message to him, inviting him to be her secondary commander. Kurama's words planted an idea in his mind:

Be careful. You must train a lot before going there; they say if you join Mukuro, you will have to fight for your life.

Now if that was not for him, then nothing.

He despised Mukuro since he met her. He had no clue then, but thinking back, it was still written all over her that she was a woman. He sensed it somehow, without knowing. And it was so obvious, of course. A woman stays a woman; camouflage won't help it.

That is what he told her during their battle at the tournament. He told it to her to piss her off in sake of the fight, but to be honest, he did not particularly care by that time. Because during his training, he was forced to spend time with her, over and over. And she was something else than his previous opponents, but she was strong at the same time. She knew how to make him stronger; she knew what he needed. A remarkable occurrence in case of a woman. But again, she was a demon, just like everyone else here, and she was a skilled one. She knew many things, and not only about fight, which often made Hiei hate her even more.

But between such occasions, he was desperate to see that he began hating her a tiny bit less.

Hell, it had to be a normal reaction, really; otherwise it had not happened twice in a lifetime.

The first time, it was Kurama who seemed to read the jaganshi's mind. He always understood him so annoyingly well, and Hiei found he liked being understood by this one single person he could trust in not using this knowledge against him.

He never thought Mukuro would provoke him with doing exactly the same.

There was a tiny difference between these two, though. Kurama always detected his soft side and never missed to comment it with some words, a half-smile, a flash of cheer in his eyes. Mukuro saw into the darkest corners of his heart, and Hiei got creatures he could not slay down at his likings, only at the sacrifice of much sweat, blood, fight.

Mukuro always seemed to sense how much rest he needed. He got always less break than that.

Then when he got that overly dumb task to guide lost humans back to their own world, in the meantime Mukuro sent him on missions he could fill out all his rage at. It was a mischievous thing, feeding the dark part of someone's soul.

He loved the feeling.

And then, the bloody missions grew less and less.

Why…?

Were arrogant higher-class bastards growing less, too?

Or was Mukuro trying to break him of his bad habits? Him?

He did not hesitate expressing this assumption of his at Mukuro's.

At which she smiled ever so sweetly, and told him that he began to feel himself too much at home in her room. That he ought to take his boots off her table, or otherwise she will have to take Raizen's fate by losing her appetite for an eternity.

Hiei did not give her the pleasure of seeing him astonished. With a shrugging hn, he left the room, along with the palace, and headed for the human world. To meet Kurama, to linger at his side for a while like he used to do earlier; and even if he came back, he did not intend to return to Mukuro. Ever.

It really annoyed him when he realized the woman followed him soon, without a word of comment or explanation. But he did not care; from now on, he had other ways to go. And he went on his own way which led him to the fox.

The storm was just about to break out.

Fox soul: We'll see. #wink#

Now about one chapter is left I guess... and in that, it will finally clear up who should be Hiei's lovey-dovey! Yeah! XD

Or is it clear already...? #blush# Hell I'm so simple...