A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting, I was out of work from 6/9-6/14 because of a medical thing and then we spent the weekend preparing for the arrival of our roommate this weekend. I really appreciate you all continuing to deal with me not being able to stick to a damn schedule. Thank you! Also thank you all for reading, following, favoriting and especially for leaving reviews even if it's just a little note saying you can't wait to read the next chapter. They all mean so much to me. I'm not going to lie, reviews really spur me into action more because it's always nice to interact with you guys even it's just reading your thoughts or suspicions or questions. And all that in mind, I have a twitter and a curiouscat if you guys ever want to hit me up with questions about writing in general, this story, head canons or anything! I'm trying to work on reader engagement so I'm trying some new things.
Twitter is WistfulySin and my curious cat is also WistfullySin
Hiei sat on Shinpi's desk, having been careful to shuffle her notes and papers to the side. His boots lay on the floor as his feet perched in her hair. He could have, probably should have, come in through the front door. Instead he'd scaled the wall and pried open her window, which had required some maneuvering since she had locked it, and slipped inside. It wasn't the first time he'd done this. Not even close. Over the years this had become habit when he knew Shinpi was upset with him, or when she might have shut him out emotionally.
For a man who often claimed to be of limited emotional capacity, he certainly despised Shinpi hiding behind her walls.
The irony of that wasn't lost on him, but at the moment it also wasn't his concern.
No, his concern was the woman sleeping a short distance away. She had curled herself into a ball, as she tended to do when she was sleeping alone and in distress. At some point she'd pulled her hair back into a thick braid, the length of which lay atop the comforter. Shinpi slept soundly from his observation. If his absence bothered her, it didn't bleed into her rest. Maybe she really did need to be unencumbered. Maybe he should have accepted Kurama's offer for a place to stay. Maybe the day had been too long for both of them and they each needed their own time to work through it all.
But he didn't believe any of that, because he knew himself and he knew Shinpi and he knew them.
His anger had faded some, but it wasn't gone. Just on the back burner for the moment because he had so much to think about. Shinpi apparently had been dealing with quite a lot on her own. He had been under the impression that the team held her aloft, he hadn't known that they were just as stressed about her situation as he was some days. The fact Shinpi had gotten to a point to refuse to see them for several weeks meant things had been mounting for a while. She adored the team. She would do anything for them. The mere thought that she would withdraw out of anger surprised him. He needed to find a way to help her.
Before that he needed to find a way to make sure she understood how frustrated he was by her antics tonight. He didn't particularly care that she took risks for her job. They both had to, it was the nature of the beast, but she repeatedly did this. She always found a way to limit herself and then use backwards logic to justify it.
How furious would she have been to come in and see him fighting with his hands tied, stripped down, weaponless? What if he had just decided, without warning, to throw himself onto a case that could have resulted in him being taken and tortured? Shinpi never thought things through that way. She had a hard time putting herself in his shoes, which brought him around to another issue he had to mull over. Shinpi saying that he didn't worry about her. It bothered him immensely that she felt that way. This realization answered some of his earlier questions though, like why she hadn't been detailing her interpersonal issues in her letters to him. He slid off the desk silently. Even after all this time did she think he didn't care as deeply for her as she did for him? Did she think he didn't dream of coming home to her whenever he got the chance to sleep?
His chest tightened. His blood heated.
What had he done to make her feel that way? How had he failed to prove himself to her? He knew, without a doubt, that Shinpi cared about him and worried for his safety even when she didn't outright say it.
These questions, on the heels of their calm week together, stabbed at his innards. All that time alone bathed in each other's company and she had said nothing. She'd expressed no doubts. She'd asked for no compromises. Was it that she didn't feel there was a point?
He reached the side of the bed and stood there for a moment, watching Shinpi sleep still. Stripping off his shirt he tossed it on the floor not caring where it landed. He was a man at war, trapped between the desire to prove himself to her, have her prove herself to him, and the searing pang of wanting to consume her. The image of her draped in cotton, skin doused with splashes of scarlet, confidence and rage lining her muscles haunted him. Seducing him was something Shinpi excelled at infuriatingly, devastatingly, and effortlessly. It came naturally to her. She lit him up from the inside, made him weak in impossible ways. He wanted her to feel the same about him.
He needed her to feel the same about him.
She had fled from him tonight because she anticipated him being cold and angry. He was both those things, but not nearly as strongly as he'd been earlier. No, the flame inside him burned far brighter than his icy frustration. He'd make her prove herself tomorrow maybe. But tonight wasn't the time. Instead of fuming and stomping off to his room he funneled the frustration into more productive emotions so he could flip the comforter off Shinpi. He crawled onto the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her in the ball she'd made of herself. His mouth pressed to the bare skin of her shoulder blade then trailed his mouth up the curve of her neck.
He knew he'd woken her because she held her breath when he touched her, when his hold on her tightened, his breath fanning over the sensitive skin of the side of her throat. He hadn't forgotten how she looked, decorated in blood and cotton and lace. Just the memory caused him to falter in his colder emotions as heat surged through him, forcing him closer to her as she slowly unfurled like a fern opening up to the warm spring air.
"You're still in trouble." He warned eyes half open as he appreciated the way her breath hitched at the sound of his voice. "So much trouble."
"I thought you wouldn't want to come home." Shinpi's quiet voice sounded raw.
"You thought wrong." He informed her curtly before kissing her shoulder again. "This is my home too. Why should I go anywhere else?"
"You don't have to sleep in here if you don't want to." She hugged her arms around his where he held her despite her words. "I don't want you feeling obligated."
"Obligated," Hiei hummed the word as he pressed against her from behind before delicately nipping at her earlobe, "is not exactly how I'd describe my mood."
He slid his hand from her ribs downward over the plane of her stomach, stopping just short of his goal. Shinpi inhaled slowly and held it as if waiting for him to move. He didn't.
"Hiei." She whispered his name. "Are you planning on torturing me?"
"Yes."
Shinpi gasped as he abruptly rolled her over, pinning her underneath him. Hiei pulled back so that he was on his knees straddling her waist so he could admire her. He ghosted his fingers over her lips then down her jaw, his touch only barely there as he trailed it slowly down from her throat to her navel, his eyes devouring each inch of skin he came into contact with and several that he hadn't yet touched. Every action was thoughtful, careful, guided. Designed to earn a reaction. Demanding one.
"Hiei." Shinpi arched her back slightly, lips parting. He moved his hand so his thumb could brush over her bottom lip.
"Beg all you want, it's not going to make any difference." Hiei told her, holding her gaze as he ever so slightly shook his head. "I told you, Shinpi. You're in real trouble tonight."
"What does that mean?" She swallowed and he felt it as his fingers once again trailed to her throat.
What a rush that she allowed him this. To lord over her, to move so slowly, to threaten her so gently, but especially this. There wasn't another man on the face of the planet, nor in any realm, who had the privilege of Shinpi's throat but him. Not a single one. She had claimed fingers with her teeth for men daring to even try. But for him? For him she craned her head back so he could skim his fingers over her skin, lightly press his palm against the bones. All his fingers stayed intact.
But he didn't want to push his luck. Shinpi had her limits, even with him, so he instead captured her wrists and adjusted his position to hover over her on his knees and elbows. Teasing her, he got close enough to give her a kiss but refused to actually make contact. He nipped at her lip before finally answering her.
"It means, little wolf, that I'm going to take my time with you."
"I've decided I'm going to follow through on my idea by the way."
"Tying me up to see if I can hold my own?" She guessed, still attempting to catch her breath as she pushed her sweat drenched bangs away from her face.
"Yes." Hiei's hand brushed hair from her cheeks as he sat beside her so he could once again look down at her. At least one of his frustrations had been satisfactorily resolved. It had taken a few hours but he'd persevered. "Kurama's coming too. If I don't manage to beat sense into you I know he will."
"When I saw the way you were looking at me in there all I could think was how dangerous and beautiful you looked." Shinpi told him. "I didn't realize how angry you were at first because all I saw was you roiling with energy and your eyes lit up like embers. When you pulled me closer I hoped you were going to kiss me."
"Flirting again? Perhaps I was too easy on you." Hiei warned her, his lips pulling into a devious smile.
"I'm not flirting. I'm trying to tell you something." She blinked up at him, doing her best to silently tell him she couldn't possibly stand up to another bout of his particular breed of torture. "I felt your anger after, Hiei. It radiated and I knew you were serious. I wasn't prepared for Kurama's. I don't think I've ever seen furious with me before and quite frankly the look in his eye scared me a little bit. A few weeks ago we were joking about how he couldn't beat me in a fight because he had limits while I did not. Tonight I knew, without a doubt, that something ruthless waited inside him and for the first time I thought it was waiting for me."
Hiei considered her story for a few moments. Shinpi had only seen Kurama during The Dark Tournament and then after they all met a few years ago. There was a lot about him she didn't know. He had forgotten she hadn't been there for the inbetween years. She wouldn't know how ruthless he could be, not truly, because in Hiei's opinion Kurama had been rather composed during the tournament. Efficient and calculating sure, but also naively human in many respects. She didn't know that Kurama would do what it took to get the job done because she had never needed to know. If Hiei knew her a little less he'd say that this realization must have rattled her, shaken her understanding of her close friend and maybe made her rethink how she approached him. To her Kurama was a soft presence who could hold his own but ultimately preferred keeping his hands clean.
"You're excited." Hiei told her knowingly and also a little jealously. Maybe he should have took just a little longer with Shinpi so she wouldn't be laying next to him daydreaming about getting beaten up by Kurama. Goddammit. She could at least have the decency to daydream about getting beaten up by him. Instead of vocalizing his thoughts he latched onto her sentiment. "You want to see if he'll follow through with what you saw."
"Yes." She agreed readily. "I'm curious to see what he'll do. Kurama has never been very interested in fighting with me before. All of our training with each other revolved around how we'd best work together, not against one another. I don't know what this side of him is like. Paint me a picture?"
"He trained Kuwabara for The Dark Tournament. Apparently I was too lenient for his tastes and he wanted to prepare him for the true brutality we'd all face if that gives you any indication what you'll be up against. Kurama and I became partners those years ago because I was determined to not make him my enemy."
"Do you think I can win?" The question made Hiei pause for a long moment as he weighed the odds.
"I don't know." He admitted as he shifted downward so he could lay next to her. Shinpi moved to her side so she could look at him as he spoke. "What I do know is that you made a critical mistake tonight and because of that you don't stand as a high chance that you might have otherwise."
"A mistake?" Shinpi questioned.
"You endangered someone Kurama cares about." Hiei informed her. "That is something he won't forgive and it something he will make you pay for dearly. I do want to tell you though, that your excitement over the prospect is making me a little jealous. Am I not enough to entertain you?"
"You are plenty." She assured him and the words came out with warmth. "No one will ever top you in my life, Hiei. This is just an interesting opportunity. A novelty."
"Good." He huffed, closing his eyes. "Now stop talking and go to sleep, it's been a long night."
"I think it's morning, actually."
As if it had been waiting for the perfect lull, Shinpi's communicator sounded off. The shrill sound made them both groan. Hiei released her so she could crawl over him to pluck the device off her dresser. Laying on his back he watched her answer.
"If you want your interrogation you need to get over here." Matsuma's annoyed tone cut through the night. "He's awake. When you get here I'd like to ask you exactly what happened to him because he has no recollection of who beat him unconscious."
"I told you I don't know." Shinpi huffed. "I'm on my way."
She clapped the mirror closed and sighed, marching to her dresser to start getting dressed. Hiei sat up with a frown. He looked at his hands with dismay.
"I'm losing my touch." He complained. There was a shifting of the air, like a breeze had blown through, and when he looked up Shinpi stood in her demonic glory. He couldn't help but rake his gaze over her. Keeping his tone even he went on. "I thought it would take longer for him to come to."
"Spirit World would have had him healed." Shinpi explained pulling on a pair of pants. Now that she had two bodies to clothe she had to keep two separate wardrobes at the ready. "I'm certain you did exactly what you meant to do. Though the fact he doesn't remember is-"
Hiei gestured to his headband with a smirk.
"-Fortunate." She finished. "I'll be back in a few hours, probably."
"We'll get back when we get back." Hiei shrugged leaving the bed to pick his shirt up from the floor. He craned his head back to look at her face now that she stood so much taller than himself.
"You don't have to come."
"Shut up and lead the way. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I can be sure you won't find even more trouble for yourself."
Hiei stood on the hidden side of a two-way mirror with his arms crossed over his chest. This was his first time sitting in on one of Shinpi's interrogations. Or watching, rather. Shinpi had been very clear that he was not to enter the room no matter what happened or what was said. Matusma closed the door behind himself and joined Hiei with a sneer. Neither of them addressed the other and they were both content with that. Inside the brightly lit room was a table and two chairs, one empty and the other occupied. The leader of the sex ring sat there, waiting, looking bruised but very much so alive. Hiei hid his annoyance. The dark bruises marring the left side of the man's face did little to make him feel better. The cast on his wrist did help a bit. So did the stitches on the man's right eyebrow.
That better scar or Hiei would come back and do it all over again until it did.
The door in the interrogation room opened, Shinpi walking in with her eyes on the file in her hands. She kept her waist-length red hair free, allowing to all over her shoulders and down her back. Back when she'd been in that body indefinitely she had kept the locks in braids and plaits decorated with leather string wraps and various metal braid rings, Hiei remembered. It had made running his fingers through difficult but it had helped keep the unruly mass contained. This time she hadn't had the opportunity to decorate the fiery strands.
He liked her hair down and wild, it spoke of her ferocity in his opinion.
Shinpi took her seat without saying a word as she continued to examine the information she held. She set the manila folder on the table with it open, revealing a white college-ruled legal pad within the file. After producing a pen she looked up finally and studied the man across from her.
"Name?"
He stiffened at her cool voice. "You have it right there in front of you."
"You'll find I'm diligent about double checking facts. It's in both of our interest for me to do so." She raised her eyebrows. "So, once more, state your name."
He didn't answer her. Shinpi continued to look him over and then made a note on her pad with a few quick strokes. His eyes followed the movement before he winced as his eyebrows attempted to come down.
That made Hiei smile, a small one, but still.
"What did you write?" He demanded.
"Do you know who I am?" She asked instead of offering him an answer. "I'm the demon they call in to get questions answered. I'm not the enemy I'm just the interpretor. I take their accounts, I take your account and I discover the truth that lies somewhere in the middle. Because it is always somewhere in the middle. Sometimes this truth means you get to go free and Spirit World is told to be a little more mindful of who they are bothering. Sometimes it means you never see the light of day again."
"And who gets to decide that?" He demanded.
"You do." She explained calmly. "What happens going forward will be the product of your truth. If you can't offer that to me then I will be forced to accept the facts that were previously presented to me," she tapped the file, "and make my decisions based on skewed and limited information."
His attention dipped down to the file as he frowned.
"Now that you seem to grasp who I am and why I'm here, I'll ask you for the last time. What is your name?"
He remained silent and Shinpi shook her head. Tutting she closed the folder with her notepad inside and rose to her feet. He watched her step toward the door and for the first time actual concern showed on his face. He glanced toward the mirror behind which Hiei and Matsuma stood. Shinpi left the room with a gentle click of the lock behind her.
"She's good at this part." Matsuma spoke through his teeth as if paying Shinpi any compliment might kill him. "Interrogations. We never used to bother with them."
"I'm aware. I was in your so called system." Hiei reminded him darkly.
Matsuma glared at him then continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "She's the one who made Koenma sign off on this ridiculous space. She wanted a home base on her turf, she said. A place where she could take demons, humans or any being and speak to them. A place where we could examine them and meet to study the facts. She wanted holding cells, multiple interrogation rooms, and two separate rooms where victims could safely wait to be spoken to without feeling like they were criminals too. That's the only reason this little makeshift police station exists."
"Obviously you think this is a waste of time." Hiei noted with a tone so dry it reduced the moisture in the air.
"At first." Matsuma allowed. "But it's been effective. She's been able to gather more information, verifiable, this way than we were able to for years. She may be a mongrel but she's not stupid."
"Call her a mongrel again." Hiei's fist tightened under his arm as he turned his glower on Matsuma.
"And if I do?" The other man questioned. "Will you beat me as savagely as you did that fool?"
"I don't know anything about that idiot. Keep pressing me, Matsuma. I'm not afraid of you."
"No, but I bet you'd like for that woman to keep her standing with Spirit World. If she doesn't her existence in this world might become suspect. Whose to say."
Hiei's temper flared to the point it broiled around him. "Do not hold Shinpi accountable for my actions."
"That's not up to me. That rule comes from someone higher. And she accepted it." Matsuma smiled then and it was vicious. "So, tell me again what you'll do if I call mongrel?"
Hiei took a step toward him and had to pull back. He shouldn't have come here. Maybe this was why Shinpi had told him to stay behind. Is this the level of harassment she dealt with day to day with these ingrates? He was positively seething. Threatening Shinpi's place in Human World was low. This was her home now and while Hiei didn't always understand it he did respect it. If she were forced into exile, unable to live here peacefully then she'd lose everything she'd built. Her home, her career, her relationships with the team. But this also meant that Hiei had to watch himself more. He hadn't been aware that for two years his actions could be counted against Shinpi's good behavior.
The door to the interrogation room opened suddenly and Shinpi returned with the file tucked under her arm as she carried a trap bearing two cups of coffee, sugar, and cream. With care she placed the tray on the tabletop, taking a mug for herself as she reclaimed her seat. Studiously she added a bit of cream and two cubes of sugar, stirring the lightened coffee with a plastic spoon.
"Do you drink coffee?" She asked the man across from her.
"I'm not going to tell you anything." He spoke with a sneer. "And I definitely know better than to drink or touch anything in a police station."
"I'm not after a genetic profile." She assured him. "We already have your blood for that. And I have your fingerprints."
She held up a paper for him to see that she was telling the truth. "Then what's with the coffee?"
"It's getting late and I figured you might want some." Shinpi shrugged. "Would you prefer tea or water?"
"I'll take some sake."
"No."
"I thought you were trying to be nice to me."
"I am, but alcohol with taint your memory and your answers."
He looked her over again as if truly seeing her for the first time. It took a few quiet minutes of his staring for him to reach any sort of decision about her if his face was anything to go by. What he gleaned from her unusual hair and eyes and her navy pantsuit with her white blouse underneath he didn't vocalize. Instead he slowly reached forward to take the cup of coffee. With a start he yanked his hand back as Shinpi tapped it with her pen, his eyes wide with alarm despite the contact being brief and gentle. Then Shinpi laughed and removed the mug from the tray for him, gesturing to the inclusions.
"Forgive me for having a touch of fun. It has been a very long night." She apologized.
He offered a partial, unsure laugh and nod as he began to drink his coffee black. Then the expression shifted and fell as he watched her make another note in her pad. "What are you writing?"
"I'm documenting that I hit your hand with my pen and it startled you. In case you'd like to file a grievance later." Her hand stopped moving as she looked up at him. "Would you like to speak to someone about filing a grievance?"
"Over that? No. That's ridiculous. You barely touched me." He scoffed. "Has that happened before?"
"Once. Yes. That is why I document such behaviors now." She flashed him a quick, professional smile before it faded back into her gentle veneer of neutrality. "How is the coffee?"
"It's fine." He loosened up his posture some, shaking out his shoulders. "Do they always send you in here alone?"
"I work best this way." She assured him. "Other people are distractions, for both of us. I prefer to focus solely on my questions and the answers provided. That is difficult to do if there is someone else in the room who may be impacting the delivery or quality of information I receive."
"I meant it more as in you're a lovely woman and it seems odd that with all the men around they wouldn't want to keep you safe. There are bad men in the world, Miss Interrogator. You shouldn't expose yourself to them."
"Your concern is noted." She taped a few words she'd scribbled. "Right there."
He snorted a laugh and once again looked her over. Then he nodded. "My name is Goro."
"Surname?"
"I don't have one."
She nodded and circled his name on his profile printout. "Perfect, thank you."
"Is this the part where you ask me if I'm guilty?" He wondered casually, growing lax in his posture. His chin tipped up with confidence as he spoke, his feet sliding apart to widen the space between his knees while his back remained straight.
"No. This is the part where I ask you to describe your night." Shinpi moved her pen to the legal pad, astutely aware of the changes in the man across from her. She wrote another note in her home tongue. That was her way of protecting her notes as very few demons outside of Sayol could even speak Sayolian Gaelic, much fewer could read it. "I am particularly interested in the situation that occurred around ten-twenty this evening but you may begin as early as you'd like."
"You're talking about that feral woman attacking me." He surmised and she nodded once. "What did she say happened?"
"Her account is unimportant. We are talking about yours. If I were to give you details of her report then you might change how you describe events in an effort to exonerate yourself."
"Right. The less distractions and influences the better."
"Correct. Do you mind beginning?"
"It was a usual day for me. I operate a business and that requires constant attention. Making sure the girls are doing their jobs. Making sure the patrons are playing by the rules."
"Rules of conduct?" Shinpi asked for clarification. "Could you explain what those are to me?"
"Cash upfront. They have to undergo a quick examination by the girl of their choice before anything moves forward. I can't have my girls getting sick because someone's hygiene isn't up to par. No leaving marks on the girls. No fighting other patrons. No bringing the authorities into my business." Goro sneered then, rolling his eyes. "That idiot Kano apparently didn't get the memo since he's the one who brought that woman in."
"Okay, so you were conducting your usual business when-Kano, correct? Good. Thank you.-Kano brought in a woman you weren't familiar with. How did she get there?"
"I assume he found her somewhere." Goro tightened then, eyes tensing at the corners. "I don't recruit anyone. I leave that to the underlings. They go out, they find willing participants, and they bring them to me for examination and processing."
"So you are not involved with or aware of the way these women come to be in your care." Shinpi tapped the tip of her pen against her legal pad as she looked over at him. Still her face was that practiced, professional neutral mask that hinted at none of her internal thoughts. Which was good because she was sure this idiot was lying to cover his own ass.
"No, I am not." Goro agreed with her firmly. "I didn't get a chance to speak to him about it in detail. All he told me was that he found a new girl and that he was going to bring her to my office so I could look her over."
"I see. You mentioned an examination, what does that entail?" Shinpi went back to writing notes as he talked, looking up from time to time to impress the fact she was indeed listening to him.
"We examine the newcomers to be sure they are healthy and fit for service. Just as we protect them from the patrons we have to protect the patrons from a soiled product." Goro shrugged.
Shinpi nodded while keeping her frustration pinned in her chest. This role was difficult to play through for her but it was one she excelled at. Having two forms was beneficial in moments like this where she could pretend to be someone completely different to earn the trust of someone she had already met. This had changed their interrogation game. An emotionally removed third party was easier for people to talk to than the woman who had put them in the hot seat in the first place. Once they saw her temper is was hard to backpedal and play nice.
Excelling at something and it being easy were two very different things though and every interrogation forced her to dig deep into her reserves.
It took another hour before she felt satisfied with leaving the room, her notes in tow. Matsuma met her in the hall.
"Well?"
"Well what?" She glared at him.
"Was this a waste of time or not? Did you get another lead?"
She stared at him for several seconds before slamming her folder closed and rolling her eyes. Utilizing every last fiber of self-control remaining intact after the events of the night she cooled herself enough to look up at him.
"We saved so many lives tonight." She informed him calmly. "We caught a real bad man and he is waiting for justice. Your justice, not mine. Bureaucracy. So no, Matsuma, this was not a waste of time. No, it wasn't connected to the inhibitor but that's not the only thing that matters."
"It's what we are supposed to be working on." He reminded her harshly.
"Matsuma." Shinpi shook her head and looked at him, filled with exhaustion and more patience than she knew she had. "Tonight you helped save those girls from a life of pain and horror and abuse. You helped do that. All the hours you've put into this case aren't wasted just because it didn't offer the results you were hoping. This is a good deed and there is more to the world than Enma's orders."
He pulled back from her a little, obviously unsure how to respond to her.
"Submit your report to Koenma." He told her awkwardly before marching away.
Shinpi made her way to the room adjacent to the interrogation cell, finding Hiei still there watching Goro from behind the glass with his arms crossed and his eyes unfocused.
"Could you see me?" He asked her, distracted.
"What?" Shinpi frowned. "It's two way glass, I'm not supposed to see you."
"No. Not tonight. When you were put in that cell in Spirit World after telling me your name. Could you see me?" He turned to her, the answer obviously important to him. "You kept looking directly at me and I kept thinking, she's watching me not the other way around. Is that true?"
"I knew you were there." She nodded. "I knew you would be. You wanted answers. I was actually surprised when they hadn't sent you in to do all the questioning. I thought, if he gets in here I am as good as dead because that man will not be swayed by me."
"Knowing I would be watching doesn't explain the fact you kept looking right at me." He pressed.
"That's true. It doesn't. Here's the thing about mirrors though, Hiei." Shinpi smiled at him. "If you put something exuding heat near one for too long, it's going to start to fog up."
He stared at her for several seconds.
"I knew where you were standing because you couldn't control your temper. You gave yourself away but I was the only one who noticed." She shrugged. "Not one of you bothered looking back through the glass from my side. You were all too intent on watching me. A bit careless of all of you."
"You taunted me knowing that if I got in there with you you'd die?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Even from the beginning Hiei I couldn't help but pluck at your strings. I knew how much trouble I'd be in if I told you my name but I had to because god, I wanted that moment so bad. I wanted you to know that I had beaten you before you were even aware you were in the game."
"Was it worth it?"
"I would do it a hundred times over."
"I'm glad." Hiei paced closer to her, then stopped so he could look up into her eyes. "If it hadn't been for that moment of hubris then we might not have gotten to where we are now."
"Can I kiss you?" She breathed the question gently, with a small smile.
Hiei's cheeks darkened just a bit as he looked away. "You're at work, Shinpi. Any Spirit World idiot could walk in here."
"Okay." She nodded, accepting his blushing dismissal. "Just know that I wanted to."
He glanced at her, then twisted his body her way. He made a quick 'get on with it' gesture and Shinpi ducked down to press her mouth to his. It wasn't long or deep but it was a kiss and Hiei still managed to shirk into his shoulders once it was done. It never ceased to amaze her that the same man who could so thoroughly express his desires through his actions could also blush at the idea of public affection. She didn't imagine that would change anytime soon so even this small gesture meant the world to her.
"Are you done?" He asked gruffly, doing his best to cover for his moment of softness.
"Yes. I'll write my report later. I'm ready to go sleep, finally. I can get at least a few hours before Hai shows up."
"The raven is coming?"
"Of course, we have a schedule to keep Hiei. Mukuro may let you run rampant and do as you please but I demand a little more routine from my informants."
"Are you sure you want to complain about Mukuro letting me do whatever I please? Because I'm certain I could propose a stricter schedule to her if that's what you really want. I can revolve my entire life around her needs and wishes." Hiei scoffed.
"You can make all the fun you want Hiei, but that is generally how these things work. Mukuro does grant you an extraordinary amount of freedom. You should appreciate her trust in you." Shinpi edged closer to him as they walked.
Shinpi meant her words. She certainly appreciated Mukuro's flexibility when it came to Hiei. She wondered, if Hayato had ever requested it, if she would have been so forgiving with his schedule. It was nice to think she would have been. In fact, she was quite sure that if he had ever requested that she allow him space to be with his lover or start a family that she would have celebrated with him. One of her great hopes even now was that one day Hayato would find someone truly worthy of the strange pedestal he held her on. A partner to adore and honor for the rest of his life. That's all she really wanted for him.
Happiness.
Like what she had with Hiei.
Her eyes moved to study her partner and she couldn't hide her warm smile. Her brash decision to out herself three years ago had really been one of the best impulse decisions of her lives. It had led her to the team, to Hiei, back to Hayato, to victory over Hiro. It had given her a new life. All because she had a smart mouth and Hiei had a short fuse. Giggling to herself she shook her head, not sure how to respond to Hiei's quizzical glance.
Hiei perched on the back of the couch, elbows on his bent knees as he listened to Hayato run through what updates he had to offer Shinpi, who sat in the easy chair with a particularly well fed raven in her lap, her fingers stroking ever so gently over it's feathers. Hiei had never seen a bird be pet before and he kept glancing her way because it was an odd sight but it surprised him less in the context of Shinpi. Now, if he'd seen Yusuke or Kurama cuddling a bird he'd have questions and heavy suspicions. This honestly just seemed par for the course for his woman. In a wandering thought he considered that if he saw Yukina lovingly tending to a bird he'd actually have no questions. That's just how she was.
How strange that Shinpi could share that softness when the other side of her was impressively dangerous.
The bird turned it's head and stared at Hiei with black eyes then slowly tilted it's head to the side as though it were studying him. Hiei sneered slightly and leaned away.
He didn't like that, not one bit.
Meanwhile Shinpi listened raptly to her own little bird, posture presenting as relaxed but an underlying thread of tension could be seen if one knew where to look.
"I haven't been able to locate a source for recruitment. Their numbers are increasing but there doesn't seem to be an active effort to draw supporters." Hayato finished, frowning. "I've visited as many tentative allies as I could, but none of them report unusual activity. They are, however, concerned over the inhibitor seemingly being distributed. There have been cases of demons being immobilized and then killed."
Shinpi nodded without offering input.
Hiei glanced her way to see if she was going to react to the news but she didn't. He turned his attention back to Hayato.
"In other news, Sayol is stabilizing. The chieftains are working together fairly well. Acting without a king has been a challenge for them to overcome but you were right, they have adapted." Hayato's expression shifted to pointed accusation. "However, I think it should be noted that by having a counsel of so many separate leaders one might expect conflict to arise. There is always the possibility that the territory will end up splitting into factions instead of continuing to be a cohesive unit."
Shinpi cocked her head just slightly to the right. "Then I suppose that's an issue they'll have to address when it arises, hmm?"
Hayato outright glared at her.
Hiei watched the exchange with pursed lips.
The raven had been trying for two years to get Shinpi to retake her rightful place as the king of Sayol and for two years she had staunchly refused. "The crown is too heavy for a single being to wear. It is burden best shared by many." Still he tried, persisting. It was a sore topic to say the list. Shinpi had long considered herself a failed leader when it came to her people and having it repeatedly demanded of her to take a throne she didn't want to sit in chafed her. Worse was that she felt the people wouldn't have her.
And if there was one thing Shinpi loved enough to protect even from herself, it was her people.
Hiei didn't agree with Hayato on this matter, he never had. Shinpi didn't want to be a king and therefore she shouldn't be. He also didn't agree with Shinpi. Sayol had belonged to Hiro for so long that he couldn't believe that they were people any longer. She hadn't been back since defeating her ex-husband, slaying him in a field of mud mixed with blood, rain, and the fallen luminescent petals from Aishling's reborn branches. Shinpi had stayed in Sayol to help create a plan for the future of her homeland, meeting with the chieftains of the individual cities and areas, declaring them the leaders now. When the question had been raised of her becoming king she had dismissed the notion with no room for argument.
"I have stolen enough from you. I have no right to assume I have what it takes to lead. It is now up to you to support your people, to do what is best for them, to answer to them. Sayol will see no more kings if you do your jobs well, which I firmly believe you will. I hope you will all come together to see to the future of this land, and when conflict arises, I hope that you find the merit of thorough discussion before deciding on a course of action. Elevate yourselves from the position of advisers to the king. Your people are depending on you now moreso than any time in the past. You have faced war, faced the tumultuous passing of one king to another to another to another. You have seen where we have failed you. You alone know the details of what your people need. Do not allow doubt to keep you from finding strength in this change. If you rise to this challenge Sayol will grow in ways none of us have ever thought to see."
"There are those that miss your leadership." Hayato pressed tersely. "Some think you should have ascended."
"Rose colored glasses romanticize the past, but they do not change the truth."
"Amon-Shinpi." He sighed and Hiei snorted quietly in humor. Pulling out her full name was a sign of frustration he had also taken to using. "What if what is right for Sayol is you?"
"You're too close to this, Hai." She always responded to Hayato's use of her full name with her pet name for him, as though to undermine his frustration with her own. "Examine this from the outside with a clear head. I destroyed part of Aishling and do not even remember it. I killed countless of our citizens in the name of revenge against Hiro. Not once, but twice. I murdered their beloved king without remorse. If that is what is right for Sayol then I would greatly prefer they follow the wrong path."
"You do love seeing yourself as a villian, don't you?" Hiei shot the jibe at her with annoyance. "That ugly mentality cannot be helpful to you."
She raised her eyebrows at his comment, clicking her tongue once. The sound caused the raven in her lap to turn it's face toward hers.
"You ended a war against an opponent few others could have fought back. You struck a treaty with Alaric. You killed Hiro to end the reign of a greedy, blood-thirsty narcissist." Hayato told her. "How can you just not list your grand accomplishments?"
"Even monsters can do good, look at Hiro. Sayol flourished under him."
Both Hiei and Hayato sighed heavily.
"This attitude is boring." Hiei announced, slipping from the couch. He directed himself toward the kitchen. "It is by far my least favorite trait of yours."
"We'll discuss that later." Shinpi's tone finally broke into something other than even-keeled. Her words were tainted with cold frustration.
"Unlikely." Hiei muttered, walking passed her.
"As much as I hate saying this, he is right." Hayato told her gesturing toward the kitchen. "You view your suffering as punishment but I cannot think of a single thing you've done to earn such retribution."
"Would you like a list? I'm sure I have one written somewhere."
"You're impossible."
"Yet you continue to meet me head on. I would say of the two of us that makes you the stubborn one."
That earned a bark of a laugh from the kitchen, which caused both parties to glare in Hiei's general direction.
"Sayol doesn't need me to succeed and if I were to go back, how would they ever learn that?" Shinpi questioned but before anyone could answer her she changed topics. "I think we should consider that the inhibitor is being tested for a larger purpose. There would be no reason to produce such high quantities if it weren't going to be used on a mass scale."
"Your theory?"
"I think someone is going to try to overthrow a government. If they can manage to take away the physical powers of all demons in a region then those who continue to be able to access their energy would be able to ascend. In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, yes? Continuing to destroy the reserves we find is the best we can do at the moment to avoid this fate. If we can manage to capture one of the perpetrators and question them, perhaps we'll learn more, but as of now we can only work under educated assumptions."
"Your basis for this?" Hiei came to lean against the kitchen doorway to eye her with a sandwich in his hand.
"I put myself in the shoes of this mastermind. I have this tool, which is incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands and could be used to subdue even S-class demons, what can I do with it? Of course the first thing is to test it on the small scale. Then, once I confirm that it works I create more of it. It's an ingenious weapon." At this statement she offered a wistful sigh, thinking of the sample of the base powder she had received more than two years before. She still hadn't deciphered the ingredients. "And now it's a weapon powerful beings are searching for. I need plenty of it and I need to spread it out so they can't destroy it all at once. I'm playing the long game, and I won't be foiled. I now have the power to do whatever I want to do and in theory, no one can stop me. I could bring the world to it's knees. So I begin recruiting the disenfranchised, because the frustrated masses are just dying for someone to speak to them, and I convince them I'm going to change things. I claim we are going to take out the king. Then, I take steps to make that happen."
Hiei took a bite of his sandwich while she spoke and while chewing he gestured toward her loosely with the food. "You seem certain of this."
"It's what I would do." Shinpi waved a hand through the air. "Granted, not everyone thinks the way I do but given what we've seen over the last few years I think my theory has some merit. I've been piecing it together slowly through all our small discoveries."
"What's your take on the camps?"
"They're distractions." Hayato announced, turning to stare at Shinpi with soft surprise. "Bait. A small victory to keep everyone occupied so they don't have time to seek out the real threat."
"Theoretically." Shinpi shrugged. "I could be wrong, of course."
"Have you discussed this with the others?" Hiei pried, curious.
"Kurama and I have bounced ideas off one another, yes. Why, do you need to know they approve before you back this?" She raised an eyebrow and Hiei just offered her a tired look.
"How did I become the enemy in this?" He demanded quietly. "I was just asking a question. I haven't earned your suspicion."
Shinpi frowned as she turned to study the bird in her lap. It took a moment but she finally told him, "You're right. I'm in my head about all of this. It's frustrating having nothing to work with."
"This is about Yomi, isn't it?" A voice broke through the brief silence and everyone turned to watch Kurama walk into the living room. He eyed the bird with some distaste then moved to sit on the couch. Hayato was the only one who seemed to question his sudden appearance.
"Do you just allow everyone to waltz in here?" Hayato questioned Shinpi, annoyed.
"No. Sometimes I have them tango or even foxtrot." Shinpi responded with a smile.
"You used to care about security and privacy."
"And now I care that my friends feel comfortable in my home." She didn't waver with her smile. "Which reminds me, you'll be spending the night."
"Actually I was going to-"
"Dinner has already been decided Hai. You'll stay the night to relax and recuperate. You've been working hard as my eyes. Not to mention you constantly bounce between Hiei and myself, something I endlessly appreciate." Shinpi's smile grew warmer, the genuine nature of it crinkling around her cobalt eyes. "This isn't up for debate, my friend."
"Don't change the subject. What is this about Yomi?" Hiei honed in on Kurama, his gaze demanding.
"I visited with him recently to ask about any troubles with these camps and when I approached him with Hichi's theory he dismissed it for the lack of proof. Not entirely prudent of him, I'll admit, but without any evidence it's hard to garner support." Kurama sighed heavily, shaking out his hair. "Though, to be fair he isn't familiar with the Takani family, so he has very little context for Amon-Shinpi and her wild theories."
"That's why I sent his former adviser to discuss it." Shinpi pouted. "I was hoping it would have more clout coming from you."
"He's always been stubborn." Kurama grinned at her. "I suppose this will have to just blow up in his face for him to understand it."
"Gandara is a formidable land, it would be a strong foothold." Shinpi once again fell into thought as she stroked the fluffy raven in her hold. "Then again, Yomi isn't a fool. He is prepared and strong himself. It would be difficult to catch him off guard from what I know of him through secondhand accounts. In order to disable him, one would have to get close and I doubt he'd allow that from someone devoid of his trust. I suppose, given that, he's likely going to be able to maintain control. Alright. Even if he doesn't believe me at this point, it's doubtful it'll be an issue for him."
Hiei watched her with humor. Listening to her spout her thoughts rapid fire as they entered her brain was a rarity, but he enjoyed it. He'd been inside her head during this process before and it could be dizzying how quickly she assessed issues and came to conclusions. But out loud? He found it impossibly endearing, especially when it was something she was muttering quickly to herself.
"You'll stay for dinner too." Shinpi lifted her head, done with her tangent for the moment. She focused on Kurama. "Obviously. You came so late in the day."
"Is there time to cook?" He frowned at her. "There are suddenly four mouths to feed instead of two."
"Oh, Kurama, come now. You underestimate me." Shinpi flashed a brilliant smile and he offered a soft laugh in response.
"She was prepared for you showing up." Hiei smirked. "Don't let her fool you. She's had food cooking for most of the day in that slow cooker of hers."
"Don't go spilling my secrets darling." She winked at him, tone teasing. "You're supposed to be my confidant."
"Always." He assured her. "But I also enjoy proving you wrong when I can."
"Meager victories that come sparingly." She assured him.
"Oh, but still so sweet on my tongue." He offered a grin. The expression turned dark. "And while we eat Kurama and I can discuss the logistics of how we're going to tie you up and show you just how weak you really are."