Chapter 36: Investigation
Hiei always felt Mukuro's centipede was comforting but like someone else's home. A small contributing factor might be the fact that first time he stepped foot in the place she locked him in a room for almost a year and sent wave after wave for him to kill, but it was also the fact that he was nomadic for a long time. There wasn't anywhere that felt like home for a long time. Once, a long time ago he had the feeling, but now it was buried in a past he didn't want to think about. Still, walking through the grotesque live walls of the centipede was a nice reprieve from all the damn family time. Ryuji and Yusuke weren't speaking to each other and he was sure Kaneko was avoiding Yusuke if possible. Their odd family triangle was a mess but Hiei would let Kurama help them sort that out. After their recent arguing, Kurama decided to stay at the fortress and help tutor Sakura in the meantime. That was fine with Hiei. His main priority was to find out who was sabotaging his supply lines and kill them all to prevent it from happening again. Hopefully, Simran had some good news for him but first, he needed to check in with Mukuro.
He found her in her "Collector's Room." The damn woman had taken a likening to rocks. More accurately, as Kurama would point out, they were precious stones, but to Hiei they were all just rocks. He wasn't sure where the obsession came from but it had something to do with the pearl earrings she received a long time wasn't sure why they were so important or why they held such a deep significance for Mukuro but for some reason the former King found something and ran with it. Now she had a dedicated room full of shiny and dull rocks on stands. She kept a journal and he was sure there were more detailed notes in there but he never cared too much. He supposed she needed a hobby anyway.
Today, Mukuro was inspecting a greenish stone with Natsume, one of Raizen's old friends. The two became mates years ago but Natsume usually came and went as she pleased, mostly to visit with her brother. Hiei walked up to the table they were sitting at and waited. Mukuro would acknowledge him when she was ready.
"Natsu, do you see this here? This isn't as good quality wise but beautiful nonetheless," Mukuro examined.
Natsume's amber eyes glanced at Hiei and back at Mukuro. "True," she agreed. She stood but Mukuro remained absorbed in the rock. "I'm a little thirsty. I'll get us something to drink." She smiled a warm greeting at Hiei as she passed. Hiei was always thankful Mukuro chose an intelligent mate, not that he doubted she wouldn't but you never know… Hiei sat down in the chair Natsume previously occupied and crossed his arms.
"It's a rock," he stated.
"It's precious. This stone is not without flaws and yet it still shines," Mukuro responded. She held the stone in the light and it reflected prettily. For a moment, he was reminded of a swirl of white, green, and gold, but he pushed the feelings away before they surfaced.
"I need to take care of something," he said curtly.
Mukuro put the rock down. She barely changed over the years physically. The only notable difference was the two pearl studs in her flesh ear. Even still, there were times where she stared at Hiei and he had to wonder what she was thinking. It was unnerving and he didn't like it.
"Yes, Simran mentioned it. She can give you more details but these demons are dealing across the border. I assume they are stealing your supplies to fill their own stock but apparently they are in the drug and flesh trade. I want them eradicated," she stated calmly.
Tch, as if he'd do anything other than that. Trading in drugs was bad but humans was worse. The rule outlawing trafficking humans stuck since Enki won the first tournament but as a result the black market exploded. Not only that but captured humans without any spiritual awareness tended to go insane after being in the Makai for a few days. Those that managed to keep their sanity went to the highest bidder to be used as slaves or worse.
"I'll get started," Hiei said. He stood and her blue eye followed his movements.
"Simran is a strong girl and I have plans for her. Please keep that in mind," she instructed. That translated to 'Don't let her get killed.'
"I won't let your pet die," he responded.
Her lips curved upward slightly. "Of course not. You know the consequences."
Mukuro would never kill him but she could make his life a living hell and enjoy every minute of it, the sadistic bitch. He stood and turned to exit the room when he felt her eye on him again. He glanced down at her.
"Spit it out already," he snapped.
Mukuro turned back to her rock. "No. I'd like to wait and see what unravels first."
Whatever. Hiei turned and left without another word. He grabbed a quick bite to eat and some bread for the trip and walked down the winding halls until he came to the barracks. Hiei was always one of Mukuro's 77 warriors so he merited his own room immediately. Everyone else, however, shared their living space. Males and females were separated on opposite sides of the centipede and even though Mukuro didn't care about internal relationships, her single rule was not in the barracks. She didn't prohibit one sex from going over to the other side but her rule was kept strictly by Kirin and most didn't feel like chancing it. While it was odd to be coming to the female side, he walked straight and ignored everyone else around him. No one tried to stop him.
He found Simran by her bed, chatting with another female soldier. She wore a blue kimono style dress that came to her knees. The sleeves were large but stopped at her elbow and the garment was held together by a black sash. Underneath she wore black leggings and black boots. Attached at her hip was a belt that held two daggers and some throwing knives. Her bed was made and her small pack was mostly full but open. Good, she was almost ready to go.
Her demoness friend pointed at him and Simran turned, her wavy hair bouncing as she turned her head. "Hello, Hiei," Simran said.
"Let's go," he commanded.
"Sure, I'm just about ready." Her gaze traveled to the bundle in his hands. "Here, let me take that. Thanks for grabbing some bread."
He tossed her the wrapped bread and she bent over as she started to rearrange her pack. As she shifted her kimono opened slightly at the top and he quickly changed his gaze to the friend. Hiei didn't know many of the underlings Mukuro kept but they all knew him. The friend stiffened, and stared at him petrified. What kind of demons was Mukuro recruiting? He would have to talk to her about finding demons with a spine to them.
"Hiei come over here for a moment. I want to show you some spots on the map before we head out," Simran said as she unfolded a paper.
Hiei walked around, past the friend, and stood next to Simran. She had the map marked with several locations in different colors. "Here," she placed her finger on a yellow marker towards the mountains, "Is the farthest back activity I could find. It's from about six months ago. Red is about four months, blue two, and the green is recent activity. As you can see they started moving further and further into the Makai."
"They hit supply lines throughout the Makai to avoid drawing attention," Hiei observed. His gaze flickered up to the friend that was staring at them intently. "If you don't have anything better to do, I can make sure Mukuro knows you're bored," he snapped at her.
"I-oh no- I-um-well I-" the demoness stammered. "IhavetogoonpatrolsoonandIjustwantedtosaygoodbyetoSimran!"
What? Simran laughed. "Hang on Hiei, just give me a second." Simran walked around and she and the other demoness hugged. Tch, women. They always had to hug things out to say goodbye. He was familiar with this annoying custom.
"Don't get killed, Simran," the demoness said.
"I won't. Good luck leading the patrol, Emi. I'm sure you'll be great," Simran encouraged. Emi flickered her gaze to Hiei for a moment.
"Good luck," she said. Her smile was secretive and Simran returned a similar one. Now Hiei was getting impatient.
"Thanks," Simran grinned. The two girls gave each other another hug before Emi finally left.
"Sorry about that," Simran said as she resumed her position next to Hiei. "We don't normally say goodbye like that but today is a big day for both of us. This is Emi's first time running a patrol and she's really anxious about it and I get to do a mission with Mukuro's second so we're both a little nervous."
Inwardly Hiei sighed. He really didn't care, he just wanted to get the mission completed. "What are the black dots?" he asked.
"Right! Those were harder to track down but they are back door entrances into the human world. Their goods are coming through these known entry points. According to my sources, these three were recently used and that this one is probably next in a couple days." She tapped a black dot in the middle of Widow's Forest. He didn't particularly care for the forest due to the large amount of stupid demons but it would provide easy cover for trying to spy and ambush a group.
"Do you know exactly where in the forest they will be?" He asked.
Simran shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. The entrance is in the eastern part of the forest but that was as specific as I could find."
"That's specific enough," he responded. His Jagan can do the rest. "Let's get moving."
They left the centipede quickly and Simran followed him to the forest. She was slow, but she was trying her hardest to keep up with him at a medium pace. It was annoying to force himself to go slower but Simran was still growing. She was probably on the border of a A-B class demon and not everyone had the desire to train hard and gain strength as quickly as he did. Still, he had to remind himself that she was no match for him and that was fine. As the sun began to set, he noticed that she was beginning to strain herself.
He stopped and she caught up to him a moment after. "When was the next deal supposed to go down?"
She swallowed before responding, "Not for two more days at the earliest."
"Good. We can make camp here for the night."
Simran frowned and her nose scrunched upward. "Actually, I think this is a really bad spot. If we go over aways in that direction we will hit a stream."
Hiei stared at her. "Fine. Lead the way."
She made her way slowly and about a half hour later they ran into the stream. She knelt by the water and put her hand in the bank. "The water here is clean." She stood up and turned to him. "If you set up a fire, I'll go a little ways down stream to catch some fish."
He nodded and she set her bag down and unhooked her dagger belt. Hiei began to clear and area for the fire. She called to him that he was leaving and he grunted a reply. He wasn't sure how long she was gone for, but by the time he had the kindling going strong, she returned with four fish in each hand. She set the fish down on a leaf and Hiei prepped the fish to go over the fire.
The sun was long gone as Hiei stared across the fire at her, watching her eat. He couldn't remember the last time he traveled with someone that wasn't Yusuke, Kurama, Shana, or Ryuji. It was a nice change of pace but he still preferred to travel alone.
Simran sighed. "I wish we had time to cook these over a stone instead. I hate eating fish with the bone in them." She smiled wistfully into the fire. "When I was a young girl, my mom taught me all sorts of fishing techniques one of them being how to de-bone a fish while keeping the meat intact. It's a pretty neat trick, actually." Her eyes glazed over for a moment before she blinked back to reality.
"Anyway, Hiei, what about your mom? Did she teach you how to build a fire?" Simran asked.
"Why the hell would my mother teach me how to build a fire?" His mother a dead ice maiden so, no, she didn't teach him how to build a fire. She didn't teach him anything.
Simran stared at him surprised and then looked uncomfortable. "I just thought that since you're a fire demon that it would be something that you're raised with. I didn't mean to offend, sorry."
Hiei took the last bite of his fish. "We're not talking about my family."
"Oh, okay, sorry," she apologized. She stared at the ground and sighed. They spent the rest of their time eating in silence, but he watched her the entire time. She wasn't interesting really, but she was diligent in her tasks and was eager to prove her worth as she showed before. She also knew how to cook fish over a fire, something he never quite mastered. The damn food was always burnt to a crisp or not cooked well enough. He supposed she wasn't too bad of a companion, despite her shortcomings. Perhaps in a hundred years he'd find her to be more intriguing.
As the fire died down, Hiei moved to a tree nearby and leaned against the base. He wanted to sleep in the tree but when he traveled with others, it made them uneasy. He stared up at the stars and couldn't help but think about his conversation with Yusuke a few days ago. What did he decide in the end? Did he still feel guilty about his feelings for Kaneko? He knew Ryuji was going to take a long time to come around.
"They're pretty, aren't they?"
Simran's quiet question jerked him out of his thoughts. "Yes," he replied.
"When I first arrived to Mukuro's host, I was assigned watch duty with Nose. Sometimes I volunteered for the night shift just to watch the stars. I still go up there now, from time to time… it's a good place to think."
He glanced over at her. She was close to the fire, lying on her back and using her pack to rest her head on. He looked back up at the stars. "It is," he agreed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shift and she propped herself up to look back at him. The fire gave her olive face a soft glow and he wasn't quite sure why, but the way she was looking at him was soft and gentle. It was… nice. Perhaps she wasn't as bland as he thought.
They woke before dawn and packed up camp quickly. Hiei kept his Jagan open for any activity but it was no use. Another day passed with no sightings. On the second day, they combed through the forest but there wasn't any unusual activity.
"Are you sure it was here?" Hiei asked again.
"Yes, my source was very reliable. They are here, somewhere," Simran repeated. She sighed, frustrated. "They're here we-" Simran stopped talking and looked at Hiei, stunned. "Do you feel that?" She whispered.
The cold, horrible feeling like his youki was being ripped in half? Yes. Instantly, Hiei took off. He didn't bother to wait for Simran, seconds could be everything. He took to the trees and sent Koku high into the sky.
"I see them Master. Go left."
He changed direction and Hiei ignored the feeling as he neared the source. He carefully moved from one branch to another until he could see it. Demons were pulling bags out of the torn hole and then he smelled it-human. Damn them. There were four demons, not bad. The demons on the ground made some signals. Five more demons came over and three of them were A-Class. Damn. He could take them all out but it wouldn't be easy.
He felt Simran draw closer and she carefully approached. He signaled to her to keep quiet. The demons were talking about transporting the goods but they didn't say where. Hiei wanted to wait and see where they were going but if he didn't move soon, they were going to miss their window. It looked like each A-Class demon received a different shipment and took it to different places. Smart.
He looked at Simran and made a swiping motion across his neck and then held up a single finger. She nodded. He motioned to the lackeys and to her. Then to the A-Class demons and him. She stared down nervously and nodded. Here goes nothing.
Hiei leapt down and Heiwa slashed right through the first A-Class. He didn't hesitate as the cry of alarm went up. He darted to the second A-Class, and thrust his sword in its back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash and darted to the side, leaving Heiwa in the demon's back. The third A-Class sent a gust of wind towards him and he dodged the blast but the force caused him to loose balance and to fall on his side. An axe came down towards him and he rolled on his side, just barely missing the cut. The wind demon started another gust but this time, Hiei jumped into the trees. Pausing for the moment, he located Simran slicing a demon's throat open. He glanced around and he saw another demon running towards her but just then, Koku swept down and grabbed him in her jaws.
Hiei fired up his youki and jumped down on top of one of the lower class demons, killing him with the sheer force of his youki. The A-Class demon was too slow to charge another gust and Hiei gave him a good fire punch, setting him on fire. Hiei turned towards Simran. She was turning upward and suddenly took out a throwing knife and chucked it as hard as she could. He followed the blade and saw the demon running away fall over. She hunched over, her hands gripping her knees, and was breathing hard.
Finding the demon he left Heiwa in, he retrieved his sword. Looking around, he realized none of them were kept alive. Damn.
Simran walked over to him slowly looking around. "Are any of them alive?"
"No," Hiei said flatly. He wiped Heiwa's blade on the grass.
She sighed tiredly. "I had that one at the end but he slipped away." She shook her head, frustrated, and he noted the disappointment in her eyes.
"Next time," he said.
She paused before giving him a small smile. "Yeah. For sure."
"P-please! Help us!"
Hiei and Simran turned to the sound of one of the hostages. Simran immediately walked over to them and Hiei decided to let her handle them. For now, he was going to search the bodies. He started with the A-Class he burned. Not much luck there. He moved onto the one he stabbed in the back. Hiei kicked the body over and began to search his jacket.
"Hiei!" Simran called nervously. His head shot up and she was walking to him briskly. He stood and she stood closely next to him, keeping her voice low. "There's something wrong with them. I think they gave the girls an injection of some kind to keep them alive. Neither of the girls possess high spiritual awareness and one of them is okay but the other is running a fever. I don't think she's handling the drug or the atmosphere well."
"Get to Mukuro. Now," Hiei commanded. With a screech, Koku sped off.
"Knock them out. We'll go back to the first campsite in the woods," he instructed.
"What if that makes the sick girl's condition worse? I think we should keep them awake, for now," Simran argued. "They're scared and they don't know what's happening. It will be easier to deal with them if we keep them awake. We're going to wipe their memories anyway so what's the difference?"
"Is the sick girl conscious?" He asked.
"Barely," Simran responded.
Hiei darted behind the conscious human girl and gently pressed on the pressure point near her neck, knocking her out. "Take the sick one back to the river. I need to find evidence and look around," he instructed.
Simran's jaw dropped in shock before a look of disgust came over her. She stormed over to them. "That's not right," she argued.
"Too late," he snapped.
Simran glared at him before picking up the sick girl and darting back into the woods. Hiei ripped open the drug bags and pocketed a few before dragging them into a pile away from the scene. He didn't bother watching them burn as he went back to his original task of searching the bodies. He resumed his search of the first body and didn't find anything significant. Hiei kicked the demon over and as he watched the body roll, he noticed one of the hands was odd looking. He picked up the hand and found the first ligament of the pinky was missing. Yakuza? He knew they were becoming more involved with demons but that was only for employment. This demon is a high class so there should be some sort of marking-
Hiei stared at the tattoo on the arm in horror. Oh no... He went to the first A-Class demon he cut down and checked his arm to reveal the same tattoo.
"Fuck," he spat. Frustrated he kicked the body. What the hell was he going to do now? How could he turn in- no. It wasn't going to happen. He couldn't be behind this; it wasn't like him. For now, Hiei needed to hide any link to him. Then, when Hiei got home, he would send Shana to do research. He couldn't let anyone know about this, especially Yukina.
Hiei's spirits sunk at the thought, thinking about if he really was behind this. That would crush her. Hiei was going to get to the bottom of this, for her sake. He gathered all the bodies and threw them into the pile where the drugs were located and burned them all. Then, he took the other girl and bounded off to find Simran.
When he arrived, Simran had a small fire going and was patting a wet cloth on the girl's head. Hiei set the other girl down gently and grabbed a fish off the fire, exhausted.
"Did you find anything useful?" She asked hopefully.
"No," he lied.
She shook her head. "Next time," she sighed.
Mukuro's men came late into the night. Kirin led them and Hiei lied to him too. He, like Simran, was easy to fool. The sick girl barely survived, and both girls were to be returned promptly the next morning with their memories wiped, per the usual protocol. Hiei kept himself busy by eating and washing up, trying not to overact to what he saw, but it was difficult. Going into Mukuro's office to report didn't help his nerves. She was staring at him with a blank expression, her blue eye resting on him calmly as Simran prattled off the report she had rehearsed. He stared back at her, trying not to let the swirl of confusion, anger, and frustration show.
"Then I took the sick human back to our campsite to tend to her illness. Hiei stayed and finished his search of the bodies."
Mukuro's eye never left him. "Did you kill them all?"
"Obviously," Hiei snapped.
"What did you find?" She asked.
"Just the drugs," he responded. He tossed the packets in his pocket to her and she inspected the bag.
"This looks new… I'll have someone analyze it. Anything else?" Mukuro asked.
"No," Hiei lied.
Mukuro narrowed her eye at him. Her gaze moved to Simran. "Out."
Simran looked down to Hiei, confused, and back at Mukuro before saluting and leaving the room. Hiei crossed his arms and stared at the former king. She was trying to make him uncomfortable but he wasn't ready to give up that information yet.
"I don't like it when you lie to me, Hiei," she said quietly. Her eye rested on him calmly.
He knew he wasn't going to fool her, but he couldn't tell her the truth either. He said nothing back and hoped she didn't leave her chair. His back didn't feel like being reacquainted with the wall. Still, he said nothing.
Before he could blink, Mukuro was out of her seat with metallic her hand death gripping his shoulder. It was more of a reminder of dominance than anything, but Hiei was still annoyed. How did he not see her leave her chair? Was he that weak?
"One way, or another, I will have the truth," she promised. Hiei did not want to know what that extraction would entail.
"I need more time," he stated.
Her narrowed expression softened to what he considered to be her natural state. "Very well," she agreed. "How was the girl?"
"Fine," he grunted.
"Good. Continue to work with her and I want the real answers soon," Mukuro instructed.
Hiei gave some form of acknowledgment suitable enough for her standards and left for his room. His shoulder hurt but she'd hit him harder before. Still, he needed to take a hiatus from her service and spend the time training for the next tournament. He normally didn't care about winning as much as making sure he was on par with the upper tiered demons. Glory in winning and the burning zeal for strength left him as the years passed by. What was the point? His competition was Kurama and Yusuke. As long as he was on their level and as long as he could protect the fortress; strength beyond that did not matter.
But now… Tch, how did he get like this? So pathetic and blind that he could let himself be blindsided by Mukuro as though it was the first time they met, or let his nephew fall so far away? Hiei didn't have an answer as he jumped into his shower. The bathroom filled with steam as he stood under the scalding water, staring at the grotesque bathroom wall. He just felt… empty. He was always empty but he was able to ignore it or hide it by paying attention to others: making sure Shana was raised well, keeping Yukina safe, discussing the guards with Honjo. Everything he did was a distraction but there was nothing inside here to keep him away from his thoughts or the feelings of loneliness and failure. Was that all his life would amount to?
When he realized the water was cold, he washed quickly and got out of the shower. There was no point in thinking that way and it would only make him feel worse. Right now, he needed answers about the gang. He dressed quickly and set out to find Simran. She wasn't in the barracks and since it was nighttime, he decided to check the roof. Sure enough, he found her on a secluded corner of the centipede. The night was cool and the centipede was resting for the night so the wind wasn't strong. He sat down next to her and she stared at him somberly as he sat.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"The next location for the gang exchange. We're going back out tomorrow," he responded.
She sighed and looked away from him, back at the stars. "Why would you want to bring me along? I mean, you lied to everyone about what you found so I'm obviously not capable or worthy of working with you."
"You collected all the information on this case. I am going to find out who is behind this," he growled.
Simran's eyes flickered to him for a moment. "Look, I don't know why you lied about what you found. But if we can't talk about this honestly, how am I supposed to help?"
Hiei was starting to get annoyed. "Either you help me or you don't. Decide," he snapped.
Simran stared at him for a moment apprehensively and then sighed, "This is too good of an opportunity to pass up but you can't hide things from me. We have to work on this together to be successful." She paused for a moment before continuing, "I want to be successful. I need to be."
Competition into Mukuro's higher ranks was tough, that was no secret. Hiei didn't think Simran would ever make it close to her 77, but she would make a good captain underneath one eventually.
"We will look at the map tomorrow morning," Hiei said. He stood to leave.
"Why don't you sit for a while?" Simran asked. "There's still time left tonight for some good stargazing."
She was looking up at him with soft eyes and an inviting smile. He wasn't opposed to the idea, nor was he whole heartedly invested. But, it was better than lying in bed and staring at the ceiling alone. He sat down. She began to talk and he pretended to listen, nodding and grunting here and there. Instead, he noticed how she swept her hair to one side, exposing her neck. He noticed rising and falling her chest as she breathed and the flirtatious gleam in her eyes as she stared at him. He long suspected that she was interested in him but he didn't know her well enough before, or care to know enough, to be affected by it. Now he did.
His hand slowly reached out towards her but then Simran turned to him with a small smile. His hand immediately retracted and it didn't seem as though she noticed.
"It's gotten chilly out," Simran said. She rubbed her arms and shivered a little.
Kurama would give this girl his cloak, which meant he probably should to, except he didn't really want to. She interested him more than he originally thought but… somewhere inside of him didn't want anything to do with her.
"I think I'm going to call it a night," she said. Simran placed her hand on his arm gently and smiled warmly at him, "Thanks for sitting out here with me. It was nice." She stood and he watched her walk away.
How much more of an idiot could he be? She was kind, thoughtful, considerate, attractive, and she was interested in him. But he couldn't get those lavender eyes out of his mind. If they went away would he pursue Simran, or anyone? How could he know if he could never leave them behind? A knot twisted inside him, almost damning him for thinking about trying to truly forget about her. Putting her to the back of his mind was a facade and he always knew it.
Koku appeared and circled around him and rested her muzzle in his lap, trying to comfort him. He absentmindedly scratched her neck and she purred softly. He couldn't afford to think this way, Koku's wellbeing rested on it, not to mention everyone at the fortress. He just needed to keep pushing on, like he always did. Everything was going to be fine. He was going to be fine; he would make sure of it.