Last time on Spoils of War: Hiei, Ryuji, and Mîra successfully rescue Minor and destroy Kitigaya and his operation in the mountains. In the aftermath, Mîra abdicates her power as Demon Queen and the demons vote Yusuke as a stand-in King until the next tournament. Yusuke being adverse to any kind of work, accepts and immediately appoints Mîra as his regent.
Chapter 53: Spoils of War
Hiei didn't have to wait long for Mîra to complete her business with Hokushin and Ryuji. She marched over to him several minutes later, and Hiei easily saw that she was annoyed through her regal demeanor.
"Hiei, we have much to discuss, especially in light of these recent developments. Will you join me for the remainder of the day?"
"I don't have anywhere else to be," Hiei replied, trying to remind her that he was there for her. "But I do need to return to the temple tomorrow. I promised Yukina I would be back as soon as possible."
Disappointment flickered in Mîra's eyes for a moment before she turned to Ryuji, who looked at her expectantly. "Before you take off for the afternoon, talk to Juuni. She seemed apprehensive about the land I gave her. See if she has any plans, and, if not, assure her we will be available to provide stability and assistance. Tomorrow, we will be meeting with your father's advisers to discuss several other matters. I expect you to be there even if your father won't be."
"Will do," Ryuji said as he took notes on the tablet. "See you then." He dipped his head to Mîra and as he turned to leave, he wagged his eyes suggestively at Hiei.
When he was far enough away, Mîra turned to Hiei. "Shall we?" With a brisk turn to marched out of the room. She was definitely irritated at him. This was not the way he intended to spend his time with her, but he followed regardless.
He trailed behind her as they wove through the corridors, moving through the throngs of demons in Yomi's palace. She paused to greet some of them, but it seemed she was eager to leave. Her mood seemed to sour with each person that stopped her along the way and Hiei didn't want to deal with it. Once they left the main corridors, Hiei reached out and grabbed her arm.
"This way. For a minute," he said. She looked at him skeptically but she followed him down a side hallway and into an empty room, used for storage. Once inside, she turned to face him, hands clasped in front of her tightly and her head held high. Damnit, why was she always this difficult?
"I can't be king and stay in the human realm for long periods of time," he said bluntly. "I need the ability to move freely."
"You have always moved freely," she said tightly. "But your actions embarrassed-"
"It doesn't matter," Hiei snapped. "All that matters to them are that you aren't in charge anymore."
Her face contorted at his words and she walked away from him. He waited as she found a place to sit on a crate. "You mean I don't matter, even though I am still in charge. Even worse I could easily become a scapegoat for any decisions I make on Yusuke's behalf," she said hoarsely.
Hiei walked over to her and tilted her head up towards him. She was heartbreakingly lovely as her lavender eyes stared up at him anxiously. He stared back at her firmly. "What is our currency here? What do we value more than anything in leader?"
The anxiety dispersed as her eyes hardened with pride. "Power. Strength."
"You won the right to be queen here. Kitigaya was a fool for standing up to you and he paid with his life," he said with a low growl. "Anyone who challenges you knows how strong you are, and knows that I will stand with you. And not just me, you know Yusuke, Kurama, and Mukuro stand with you. They know you. I know you."
She stared at him for a long moment before turning away from his gaze. "Do you know me? Sometimes I feel like a barely know myself," she said quietly. Suddenly, she looked exhausted and Hiei wanted to comfort her, but not here.
Hiei took her hands and pulled her off the crate. "We'll finish this in the hotel. I don't want to spend anymore time in Yomi's palace." She nodded, sighing in agreement. He watched as she breathed deeply before her visage walled over in a neutral, regal expression and she opened the door.
He walked by her side out of the palace and through the streets of Gandara. When they got closer to the hotel Mîra was staying in, a reporter from Makai Television stopped them to ask Mîra about her abdication. She politely responded that demons should be ruled by their own kind and it was only the business with Kitigaya that delayed her decision, and then declined further comments. The reporter knew better than to ask Hiei anything.
As soon as Mîra opened the door to the room, her regal demeanor dropped and she stared at him wearily. He closed the door behind him and bade her to sit. "I'll get us some tea. Sit," he commanded, pointing at the couch. Mîra didn't say anything as she sat down and Hiei moved into the kitchen to prep the hot water. The room was more of a penthouse. There was a large kitchen, complete with an island and barstools, where Hiei opted to cast his cloak. The kitchen flowed into the expansive living room that had a plus L-shaped sectional facing the wall of windows that allowed for a pleasant view of the city. There were three bedrooms in the suite, including a large master with, of course, an unusually large bed to accommodate demons of larger sizes. The place was too big for one person, but she was a Queen which meant everything had to be bigger than necessary.
The water was heating too slowly for Hiei's liking so he fed the gas flame some of his youki to speed up the process. Soon the water was boiling and he poured them both steaming mugs with honey and green tea. As he brought them over to the couch, Mîra was in the process of letting her hair down from the tightly woven braids pinned to her head. Hiei didn't have an opinion on her new hair style, but he definitely preferred her hair down. He noted that today she seemed dressed down, even for her now-normal all black attire. She wore a black silk blouse with simple trousers and even her jewelry was toned down with one set of tear-shaped dangling earrings matching the golden circlet on her forehead.
But no gloves. Hiei knew Yukina ordered her a full wardrobe in various colors and styles that was just sitting in the fortress. Would she begin to add color back into her attire? Hiei wouldn't mind. He always enjoyed seeing her in green.
Hiei sat next to Mîra, leaving a comfortable gap between them. He watched her silently as she finished pulling out all the pins in her hair. With the braids now loose, Mîra began to unravel them as she spoke. "Thank you for waiting for me. I can't believe Yusuke just-" she sighed and rolled her eyes. "I mean, this seems like a classic Yusuke move in retrospect but at the time I didn't foresee this at all." She paused and frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, being regent will take me away from the fortress. I will have to spend a significant amount of time with Yusuke in order to properly perform my duties."
"No," Hiei said firmly. "If you're going to do all of his work for him, make him come to you in your home."
Mîra's hands paused and she looked up at him unsure. "Are you sure? I don't want to impose, especially after all the things I said."
"What kind of nonsense is that?" Hiei snorted. "The fortress will always be your home."
For a moment, she looked at him as though she was going to protest, but she then gave him a small smile. "Thank you. I- well, I've been meaning to say this anyway." She reached out and took his hands in hers and squeezed them tightly. "I'm sorry for some things I said at the temple and treating you the way I did. I should not have used 'abandon.' That was… highly inconsiderate and unfair of me."
She released his hands, and unraveled the last braid. She then picked up her tea on blew on it, her attractive thin lips puckering as she cooled the beverage. Not sure what to say, he reached for his own drink and took a large gulp of the tea. Mîra began to giggle next to him and he turned to her, curious.
"The drinks are scorching hot! I can barely take a sip!" She shook her head, smiling, and Hiei thought that was the prettiest thing he'd seen in ages.
"Hn," he replied.
"Not a word," she grinned. "Although if you can down that no problem, it's no wonder why ice cream melts almost instantly in your hands. It's the universe's way of balancing you out," she teased.
He scowled at her and took another big gulp of his tea. She laughed before attempting another small sip of her own. He set the now empty mug on the table and stared at her. Her cheeks were rosy from her laughter, and her eyes held a mischievous glint in them as she eyed him playfully before setting her own mug down. As she settled back into the couch, she moved closer to him so their legs were comfortably pressed together.
Contentment rose in Hiei and he reached up, threading his fingers through her soft hair. She closed her eyes as his fingers grazed her cheek and let out a sigh. "In the forest," she started quietly, "I realized I became someone I didn't like. Someone I didn't want to be, and I don't know how I got there." Her voice broke a little as she continued. "So full of anger, and rage, and I just- I don't want to be that way anymore. I don't."
Hiei slowly tucked her hair behind her long, slender ear and brought his hand around to gently press against her neck, his thumb along her jawline. "What do you want to do?" he asked.
Eyes still closed, Hiei noticed her hands clench together. "I don't know," she whispered. "I wanted to get away from here. Take some time and sort things out. Maybe Yusuke knew that which is why he appointed me as regent."
Hiei's heart sank a bit at her words. She wasn't planning on returning to the fortress? He hardened himself with resolve. "Forget Yusuke and forget being regent. Where do you want to go?"
Her eyes opened, downcast. "I don't know… just somewhere where I can have space to think."
"I'm already working on it," he said. "I have to return to the temple but when I get back, we'll go."
She looked up at him, surprised. "Already working on it? You have plans to take us somewhere?"
"Just the two of us," he affirmed, wrapping his free hand over hers. "You and I."
At those words, her lavender eyes began to water. "Hiei, I- I don't know. I think I should go alone. This is something that I have to sort out." Her voice cracked as she spoke and he knew it pained her to reject him. But this would not phase him. He still needed to do right by her.
He took a deep breath and thought of Ryuji's advice. Simple. Honest. No games. No nonsense.
"Mîra, back then, you didn't need me. I didn't want you stuck here, a mere spoil from the war. Degraded to truly being a prisoner. My prisoner." Mîra's eyes widened as he spoke quickly, his eyes fixed on her. His thumb lightly ran along her jawline as he continued, "You needed your people, your nation, your birthright. I could not take that from you."
Tears began to steam down her face and she began to shake, but she did not hide her tears or her pain. Hiei reached up and tried to brush her tears away, but she pressed his hand against her cheek and closed her eyes as she began to sob. He drew her in and pressed her into his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her. As he held her, his hands buried into her hair and his nose pressed against her intoxicating lavender scent.
They stayed like that for some time. Mîra sobbing, letting out her pain and burdens of so many years, and Hiei holding on desperately to what he was missing. When her sobs finally ebbed and he was able to find words again, he said,
"I understand what it means to rediscover yourself. I will be by your side when you do. Where you go, I will follow."
She pulled up, her eyes puffy and red but still lovely as ever. "You are too good to me, Hiei."
He took her right hand and tilted her hand so the ring with his mother's hiruseki, his token as her mate, stood out. Then, he looked into her eyes and said, "You are mine, Mîra. You will always be mine." Before she could protest, like he knew the prideful woman would, he took her hand and pressed it against his chest, where her crystal heledh rested against his chest. "Just as I am yours."
She gasped softly as she began to cry, and, this time, Hiei was annoyed. "Why are you crying now?"
"I'm just, I'm just so happy," she sobbed. Despite her tears, she was smiling, but Hiei found the entire situation baffling.
"If you're happy then why are you crying?" Hiei demanded. "Tch, as if you weren't difficult enough already."
Mîra snorted a laugh that ended up being a mangled sound of laughter and crying at the same time, but all the same her spirits seemed to lift. Hiei relaxed as her joy spread to him and filled him with a contentment. It had been so long since he felt this way, and he didn't think that he would feel this again. But here they were.
When her laughter quieted, her lovely lavender eyes warm and peaceful, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his, just above his Jagan. "I love you, Herven."
His response came so naturally, it was hard to fathom that he had difficulty expressing it before. "I need you, Vesse."
Her cool lips pressed against his and he surrendered himself to her taste, her touch, her voice. After so many years part of this felt like a dream, but he knew this was real. Mîra was and was not the same as she was before, but that was fine. Now she was going to change again but this time, he would be by her side. Hiei was sure that time would change him again too, but no matter what happened she would be by his side.
*~0~*
Hiei stirred as the cool, salty breeze gently caressed him awake, as it had for the past several days. Bleary eyed, he reached over to his mate only for his hand to grasp air. Blinking rapidly and waking up his mind, he realized she was not in bed. Her lack of presence didn't bother him, but he would have liked to curl up next to her for a few more moments before getting up. He rolled off the makeshift bed they created in the small hut, threw on some clothes, and stepped outside.
The sand felt cool between his toes as the sun began to peak over the horizon. Waves crashed on the shore and he took a deep breath of the salty morning air. Mîra wasn't far from their hut, practicing her sword work with her beloved Víraserce. Her movements sprayed sand up into the air as the sword swung down, up, and across. It had been a week since they arrived on the island. Kurama informed Hiei that it used to be populated, but with rising sea levels, most of the human inhabitants left. That was perfect for Hiei and Mîra, and they knew how to fend for themselves in the wilderness anyway. Hiei was good at catching fish, Mîra was far better at cooking said fish over campfire, and they foraged the native fruits together. After being pampered in a palace, Hiei though that Mîra would have a rougher time away from civilization, but he forgot that she was raised to hunt and survive in the woods and so she adapted quickly. She was far more excited about being at the beach anyway.
The first day they arrived, they built the hut and makeshift bed and spent all day wrapped in each other's embrace. While Hiei could have spent the entire week in her arms without a thought, Mîra grew restless. She began exercising and training, though Hiei considered it to be a meditative process more than anything.
Hiei made his way towards her but she did not acknowledge him and continued her fluid movements. So, Mîra was working through something. Hiei didn't know what to call it. "Mood" seemed too arbitrary, after all she did warn him that she had issues to work through, but he didn't want to demean or lessen what she was going through. Instead, Hiei chose the opposite approach.
He rolled his neck and reached up at the sky, stretching briefly before relaxing his figure. Then—there it was, his opening. In a dash, he darted towards Mîra, intending to knock her off her feet. Mîra sensed his movement too late and with a well aimed low kick, Mîra went headfirst into the sand. Or at least, if she was a lesser warrior, that's what would have happened.
Mîra discarded her sword and recovered as she hit the ground in a roll that put her back on her feet, facing him. Her piercing lavender eyes glared at him, and with a cry, she charged at him. Hiei dodged, deflecting her punch, with attempting to land one of his own, and so their dance commenced. Hiei didn't think, he just moved. Dodge, swipe, duck, roll, charge, punch, kick, dart, dodge, and repeat. It was a song and tune he fell into easily with Mîra, and one that allowed him to release his tensions as much as it allowed her to channel her frustration and rage.
Mîra feigned a punch and Hiei dodged to the right, but this allowed her to knee him solidly in the gut. Wind knocked out of him, he paused for a second, but that was all she needed. Mîra knocked him off his feet and he landed on his back, coughing, as she pinned him to the ground. She breathed heavily over him as she caught her breath, her hair falling down around him, closing him off from the sun rising in the sky.
Hiei breathed evenly, waiting for her move, either to end or re-instigate the fight. She blinked and her eyes began to water. Hiei hated seeing her like this, but he wasn't able to do more than he was already doing.
"I keep trying to move beyond my past but it won't leave me alone," she snapped, as though Hiei were at fault. She closed her eyes and her grip on him loosened as she lowered her head to his chest. "Sig won't let me go, " she wailed.
Hiei slowly sat up and pulled her into his arms as she cried. He hated to see her cry, but it was better than the guarded walls she put up yesterday. "Tell me," he commanded gently.
Mîra drew back and looked at him hesitantly. Then she shook her head. "I can't, nothing good will come from it."
Hiei frowned at her. "Sigmundr is dead and you are here with me," he said flatly. Mîra flinched at the bluntness of his words, but she held his gaze. "You can't let the dead overshadow the living." That was what Kurama told Yukina when Kuwabara died. He didn't mean to lessen her relationship with the human, much as Kurama didn't mean to insult Yukina, but Mîra needed to move forward.
When Mîra said nothing, Hiei prompted, "What about Sigmundr is in your mind?"
Mîra looked as though she was going to protest, but then turned to look out at the ocean. "The last time I saw the sea was with Sig, soon after we were wed. Though I brought him into my bed, it was clear I didn't want him and didn't enjoy it, no matter what he did. I felt as though I betrayed you, and the whole idea of returning to you, even though I knew that it was likely I would never return to this realm.
"We were visiting a human king, the one on the sea, up on the ramparts overlooking the large crashing waves. We were high up on a cliff, and it was cold and rainy. I let slip that I missed the beaches from this realm, with the powdery sand and warm sun. Sig looked at me surprised and mentioned he did not think I would have been allowed to see such things under the vile Demon King's thumb." She closed her eyes and sighed, "And I responded that if he ever referred to you like that again, I would slice his throat before he even knew what was happening."
"I didn't tell anyone other than Rodyn about my experiences in this realm so the rumors were outrageous as to what occurred during my time here. But I shouldn't have reacted that way to Sig. I think after that he felt he was always in competition with you, someone who was nothing more than a specter I chased after in my dreams. It hurt him deeply. I think… I think that's why-" her voice broke and she buried her face into his chest.
Hiei ran his fingers through her hair and said, "But you grew to love him. You were happy with him." He hated admitting it, but he had to remind her. Mîra herself stated she wanted to look back on Sigmundr fondly and Hiei had to accept that part of her life.
"Yes," she responded quietly. "But I messed up, so many times. I just want…" she trailed off and Hiei pulled back slightly so he could look at her visage.
"Do you remember what you said at Yukina's wedding?" He asked her. She frowned, thinking, so he continued. "Everyone is a little fucked up. I've fucked up and you have too."
She stared at him for a long time before a small smile broke on her face. "I remember now."
"Good," he grunted. "Maybe next time you'll also remember that sparring in the sand is miserable."
She laughed, pulling herself back on her feet and wiping her eyes. "You're the one who brought me here," she teased back. She spun on her heel and brought her fists up, her legs settling into a fighting stance.
"It wasn't my intention to be messing around with swordplay on the beach," he growled lightly. He stood and put his hands in his pockets, feigning disinterest in her unspoken challenge.
"Oh?" She asked, eyebrows raised. "But didn't you?" she said suggestively, grinning.
As a response, Hiei lunged at her and the match began again. He relished the way her body moved with his—forward and back, left and right, thrusting, kicking, and dodging, as all part of their intricate dance. He recalled feeling this way, back at that first fateful match under the moonlit sky on the battlefield.
He supposed that Mîra was, in a way, a spoil from the war all those years ago, but she was one that he had to earn and respect. Mîra never made anything easy, but if she was easy then she would never have been worth it. Hiei never expected to find a mate and companion in his enemy, but for whatever reason, it worked. They worked. And they would keep working, together.
Ahhh! This is it! THE END! I can't believe I'm finally here. This ending was so hard to finalize, and I think it's okay. I think I could do better, but I feel that way in general about the third arc.
Regardless, thank you to all who have supported me throughout this fic! I hope you enjoyed the story and it's conclusion! I hope to post the extras, new and old, as a separate story, but now that school is back in session we'll see how that goes. I probably also need a break from Hiei and Mîra, as much as I love them. Thanks again everyone!